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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:03 pm
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This thread will be used for any and all Heartfelt Adventure Active Time Events.
Please use some manner of header format; for example:
You don't have to use those exact symbols and format if you don't want to, but the post must have all of the information in some way.
——— What is an Active Time Event? An Active Time Event (hereafter ATE) is, put simply, the telling of events that happen during a time period that is passed over or skipped in the roleplay, or occurring in the background in such a way that the 'main book' would lack its information. The information in an ATE should not be required reading; put another way, if the events of an ATE are required reading, then they should be in the main thread instead so that people know what's up, or the events should be summarized in the first main-thread post where they chronologically matter.
For instance, we may have a time-skip so as to speed things up. If you wanted to explain what your character(s) were doing during the skip, you would make an ATE.
Another example: something happening behind the scenes, such as within one's thoughts or somewhere out of the story's main spotlight.
What can I do during an ATE? Well, it sort of depends on the amount of time it was supposed to take place during. If you make the ATE occur while everyone in the actual RP is taking a 30 minute nap, then you only have 30 minutes in the ATE to do something.
I did something in the ATE that drastically changed my character, but nobody noticed! The issue with ATEs is that they shouldn't be required reading. That's the point of the main thread: the main thread tells the story, while this is more of a collection of short side stories, or an appendix even. To be clear: all players are responsible for properly reading the main thread, but no one is required to read the ATE Thread.
As such, if anything occurs in an ATE that would significantly affect how those in the main thread react to or perceive your characters, you should make note of the changes in the first main-thread post that occurs chronologically after your ATE's end. This way, people will get the gist of the changes, and their characters can react accordingly.
———
Table of Contents Chronologically* * - Note: This is a work in progress, and to be honest, timelines have always been fuzzy with some people. I'll try my best. Disclaimer: While the actors of each ATE are listed, some are left vague or unlisted because I know someone is slowly working through them (aka Banshee).
Days One Through Seven
Day Eight
A Force of Nature {Kyle; ???} : Full The Broker ~ Case of the Huntress {Ashley; The Broker} : 1, 2-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15, 16, 17-End The Broker ~ Case of the Accuser {Dusk; The Broker} : 1, 2, 3-11, 12-16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22-24, 25, 26, 27-28, 29, 30-32, 33 The Broker ~ Case of the Recluse {Janex; The Broker} : 1, 2, 3-4, 5-7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13-15, 16, 17, 18-19, 20, 21, 22 Old Acquaintances, New Friends {Ashley, Delia, Hati} : 1, 2-3, 4, 5, 6-7 Project PHOENIX {Adam, ???} : 1, Final Reassessment {Joe} : Full Good Friend 'Captain Morgan' {Feather} : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5-9, 10-13, 14, 15-19,20-25,26-28, 29, 30 Echoes of Shadow {Xehanort; Shadow Lord} : 1-2, 3-5, 6-10, Final Discordant Relics {Fiends; Lugae} : Full The Broker: Case of the Warrior {Broker, Saint} : 1, 2-5, 6-7, 8-11 Closing Wounds {Dawn} : 1, 2-6, 7, 8-9,10-12 The Master's Failure {Yen Sid} : Full Here Comes a Thought {Dani, Joseph} : 1-5, 6, 7-8 A Twist of Fate {Chaos, Lugae, Ultima} : Full The Wheel of Fate is Turning {???, Adam, The Broker} : 1-2, 3-17, 18-End The Path of Resolution {???} : 1
Day Nine
Day Ten
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:26 am
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{ ATE : A Force of Nature : Final } { Kyle : Station of Awakening }
The dive felt like any other, but that was a surprise itself: to be honest, he hadn't been expecting much of a shift at all.
The Guardian had recommended regular meditation after the events of the past week, especially with the training currently underway, in order for the Earthlings to not only better understand themselves, but to better attune themselves to the shards of power lying within. Kyle had done so eagerly, hoping to uncover more aspects of dragon-based magic; the training sessions of their first week in time compression had been otherwise fruitless by virtue of being physical training, and his own explorations were equally disappointing—dragoons had a limited spectrum of magic, and he'd plumbed it pretty dry already. Still, this particular evening, he felt determined after a nice day's workout. When he sat to meditate, he did so while focusing less on his specific goals and more on his general finish line: doing what was necessary to ensure his family's safety, his friend's safety, the world's safety. He tuned in to that growing spectrum of light and warmth that the Guardian radiated even in the Mirage Arena, and as he controlled his breathing... he found himself here, falling, landing upon his mosaic.
As he slowly flipped into his standard landing, he did what he could not to let his mind run away with the possibilities—why was he here, what could be happening, was this good or bad—and instead just struggled to live in the single moment of awakening, as the station was meant to represent. Especially since there, standing before him, was Ultima in her white-dressed glory.
"Ah, you've been quiet today," he remarked, giving a light-hearted laugh. It didn't seem to affect her. And then he noticed her eyes: not her own, a strange white glow blotting out the irises and pupils. His tone grew instantly defensive, even in this sanctum within a sanctum. "Who are you?"
"Every heart is unique. Yours is... peculiar," she spoke, a strange three-fold voice trilling through the air; one was Ultima, the two others were androgynous but unique. "You have redeemed the rebel such that she would sacrifice some of her own power to fuse with another for you. Quite fascinating."
"You haven't answered my question."
"Because you know the answer."
"... you're the shard of light?" he asked hesitantly, lowering his instinctively defensive stance. Ultima nodded. "Okay, then... what's going on?"
"As you suspect, the same as Joseph, Noelle, and Nicholas," the tri-tone explained. "Except for you, there is... time. To think, to ponder. To question."
"As I'm doing now."
"Not your questions."
"Oh. Uh... then what do you want to know?" he asked, suddenly confused. Wasn't this thing... a part of him? It would already know the answer to anything it would expect him to answer, right?
"Someone rushes for your brother with a blade. What is your first desire?"
"Destroy them," Kyle replied, fast enough to have been by instinct alone.
The entity hummed, raising Ultima's brow just slightly at him. He grew nervous. "Well, I mean, I guess protect him? Jump in the way...?"
"You misunderstand. There are few wrong answers, and that was not one of them," the voices responded, shaking their head with a light chuckle. "I am not gauging if you are more like him than you let on. Do not place such weight on yourself."
He exhaled in relief, a breath he hadn't realized he'd held alongside a concern he hadn't consciously been aware he'd had. "Well... that's my answer."
"So it is," they said, tone contemplative, head just slightly tilted.
"There is much anxiety in you. Before, you merely worried if there was anything to save. But now," they said, glancing down at his mosaic, "you worry that you must save everything."
"Well, that's not so much a worry as a given fact, to be fair," he said, curling his lips in displeasure. "The darkness wants to consume everything, and the only thing capable of stopping it is... what, a couple dozen green people from a destroyed world and a handful of kid keybladers?"
"You would discredit every living soul in this realm?" they asked, raising a brow in questioning; he could not tell if the accusation was serious or teasing.
"No, but... you... I mean, you're the one that chose me and the rest of us."
"We gave you each light not so that you might bear the mantle alone, but that you all might guide the worlds toward the one thing you all know they will need to resist the growing shadows."
"Oh. Unity."
"Yes." Ultima's form seemed to glow brighter, but only barely. "Does that ease your mind by the slightest?"
"Yes, though only consciously," he said, looking down and scratching his head. "I don't think I'll ever stop worrying."
"Perhaps not. But now you are aware. Now you will be more wary of your lust for power."
"I mean, I wouldn't call it a powerlust, just—"
"—a craving to be able to do everything."
"... okay, fair point."
The entity shook Ultima's head. "You are not content with what you were given."
Kyle threw his hands up defensively, pleadingly. "Wait, don't think I'm not grateful, I am! I'm just not... It's not that I'm unhappy, I just—"
"You worry that the burden you accepted is ill-fitting now."
He paused, standing still. A moment passed before he slowly lowered his hands and gaze. "Yeah. I dunno, it just... it doesn't feel right. At the time, all I wanted to defend, to strike back and keep away the heartless from my brother. And I still do, I just... now it's different. I don't feel like I need to be a wall anymore, and frankly, I've been a terrible one for my friends this past week, anyway."
"Indeed."
The casual tone of their response stung, but he simply grimaced. "I want to be the best help I can. I just... don't know how."
"Because there yet lies conflict in you." The esper seemed to vibrate, only to begin trembling as if becoming undone; her poise remained unmoved, but her form shifted to and fro relentlessly, until finally there was little more than two contrasting essence-clouds beginning to encircle him, like serpents sliding around their target. Both coalescences of mist were colored a faint white-gold, and both had radiant white eyes staring down at him.
"You seek to defend."
"But also to prevent." ____"To shield."
"To assault."____ ________"To inspire."
"To terrify."________ They circled round him, speaking one after another, their identical voices echoing here and there.
____________"To reinforce."
"To eviscerate."____________ ________________"To create."
"To destroy."________________ ____________________"To heal."
"To burn."____________________ They grew faster, like a growing cyclone somehow formed of winds cycling in opposite directions. The winds blew chaotically, finding no pattern or order, only the whisking of magic.
"To be the unstoppable force—"________________________ ________________________"—and the immovable object." "Is—" "—this—"_ "—not—"_ "—so?"_- The winds calmed, the mist settled into a thick fog around him, but Kyle remained standing, his eyes cautious, his body tense. He could not answer at once, too anxious from the dramatics, too uptight regarding the blatant show of power that had just happened in his own heart. The entity's chuckle, lighthearted though it was, only barely calmed him as the essences fused into a single, ephemeral mist.
"You aspire for two sides of a coin," they spoke, and he could feel their knowing smile yet not deduce its insight. "But you think too much. You see two opposites, and in trying to reconcile them, you miss that they are of one nature."
He did not answer then, either; at least, not at once. There was contemplation in his eyes.
"You begin to see."
"Two sides of a coin are still one coin," he said, doing his best not to end it in a question mark. "I am both."
"Someone conspires to kill your loved ones. How do you respond?"
"Destroy them."
"In that instance, are you the force or the object?"
"I am both."
"You still question who has greater hold, Kyle or Ajora. Who are you?"
"I am both."
The mist seemed to thicken in front of him, as if beginning to manifest into solid form, but it did not do so yet, seemingly content with becoming opaque.
"On your first awakening, you were running to protect your brother from forces beyond your control. Your heart cared only to become the armor that would protect him," the three-voiced entity spoke. "Now, you know him to be safe. Now your gaze turns outward—to the forces that would hunt him and all others down. Your response?"
"I would hunt them down," he said, assured, determined. "I'm done being afraid. I want them to be afraid of me."
"As so many say, yet the truth remains: you are done weathering the storm," they spoke, and as their words echoed outward, memories fluttered to the surface of his mind. Images of the battle against Seyhanort in his heart, wherein he threatened to detonate himself to stop them; an image of himself through someone else's eyes during the battle of Atlantica, his entire body aglow with magic; a twisting and raging image of himself unleashing his fury upon his own heart after the events of Narnia on that seventh night.
Finally, the mists before him parted, revealing a pedestal, above which floated two unique gauntlets that would cover nearly up to his elbow. "You aim to be a force of nature all your own."
He began to approach, the odd, almost similar voice originating from all directions:
Your will, given form, will grant you strength... can you wield it? He neared the pedestal and reached forward, the gloves floating toward him and slipping over his arms with supernatural ease. In the center of their palms were medium-sized, brilliant opals which did not obstruct his curled fingers but seemed to hum with power and... hunger.
The power of the sorcerer. Ardent tenacity. Gauntlets of esoteric authority.
Can you bear this burden? Magic crackled between his fingers as he smiled.
"Yes."
"Good," the voices spoke behind him, appearing once more as Ultima. "Now, perhaps a piece of advice from an old friend?"
"Of course, anything," he said, dismissing the gloves and turning to face them.
"You concern yourself with being too much like one or another. Indeed, you are both. However," they spoke, slowly approaching, "be wary of your... impulsive zealotry. Or, perhaps as your family would call it, your stubborn refusal to forfeit. You know as well as I that sometimes victory requires a step back to find a new path, not simply 'more power'."
He cringed slightly. "Right. I just... sometimes, it feels like there are no other paths."
"And if there are none, then power you may seek. But stay vigilant; this universe is not like your own," they said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Here, wishing for more power... can actually grant you that power. For a steep price."
"Right."
They both nodded to one another, and Kyle began to feel himself fading; their conversation was wrapping up, it would seem. Still, something bugged him. "Why are you three voices?"
They chuckled. "You think your original aeon had no voice of its own?"
His expression warped in disbelief, but before he could say anything, he was overcome by a flash of light... and gone.
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 12:09 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 12:30 pm
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{ ATE : The Broker ~ Case of the Recluse : 1 } { ??? : 1900s London }
It was roughly mid-day in London, and the crowd was at its liveliest. People were bustling about, getting their daily errands done, going for lunch during the work break, complaining about how long it would be until tea time.
Mostly, though, they were more panicked, more fast moving. There was a peculiar sense of passive urgency in the crowd, as though such trivial tasks had become more dangerous for some reason. And hadn't they? The worlds were fused now. Barriers were broken.
Who even knew who their neighbors were...
Regardless, far enough to be separate from the crowds but close enough to mock them was a certain half-heart, sneering derisively from the shadows of Big Ben.
One moment, Janex felt "normal"; the next, it was like something had suddenly... vanished. Her hatred wasn't as strong, her loathing wasn't as intense, her heart wasn't as strained. It was like something had suppressed a modicum of darkness to which she'd grown accustomed, but not exactly--she suddenly felt more like she did two days ago. Her thoughts were... clearer. Less driven by anger than before, though it was still there, still her own.
Before the strange voice gave her power that, now, she knew was being restrained.
"Please don't kill me," someone said off to her side. A figure came forward out of the shadows from farther down the alleyway she was near, garbed in a full-body Organization cloak with their hands up in a defensive, non-hostile manner. They stood approximately six feet tall, and their voice was... an androgynous tenor. "I just want to talk without the darkness listening."
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:09 pm
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{ ATE : The Broker ~ Case of the Accuser : 1 } { ??? : 1500s Paris }
It was late morning in Paris, and the streets were... eerily silent. In the past days, Judge Frollo had become more vindictive, more obsessed with removing the "gypsy scum" infestation and any of the "voodoo blasphemers" that came across the river from New Orleans.
It was a city now mostly ruled by fear. Fear and Heartless, controlled by Frollo, which he justified as the manifest sins of the people being used to strike them down. Only the guilty attracted the sin, he insisted.
It was here that Dusk paced back and forth, something clearly consuming her thoughts. True, as a half-heart of darkness, she attracted more Heartless than most, but as someone touched by the Darkness itself, the Heartless did little more than gaze at her, seeking command. Typically, that command was 'go away'.
Midstep, midturn, something raised the hairs on her neck. Something within her was silenced. Her emotions were dampened, but still her own; she could still feel rage, but she gained no power from it, no... encouragement from the shadows inside her. It was like a haze of emotional adrenaline was gone--one that, now, she realized had been there since she'd received power (now repressed) from a dark voice.
Off to the side, having somehow appeared without notice, was someone cloaked head-to-toe in an Organization robe, hands at their side.
"Forgive the intrusion, but I'd hoped to speak without the darkness spying in," they said, their voice as androgynous as their features. "Please don't kill me."
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:14 pm
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{ ATE : The Broker ~ The Case of the Huntress : 2} { Ashley: ??? }
They were late, or so Ashley thought as she started typing furiously at a laptop in a dark corner of the apartment. She could have sworn that she had ordered her bread with cheese. Only that was nearly an hour ago. This was one of the few moments of reprieve since she came to this area of the planet. Heartless after heartless were following her. Sure it made for good munny profit but it was taking away from what she was originally supposed to be doing. This lateness was definitely going on the list of things making her anxious as hell.
After some time later, however, she heard a knock at her door. “I am coming! Jesus what was the holdup?!” Ashley shouted before walking over to the door and opening it.
The moment the door opened, Ashley felt… different. Less, almost, as the fury and frustration in her heart seemed to dampen. She realized almost immediately that some measure of darkenss she’d had inside her was suppressed the moment the door had opened, and she was suddenly more vulnerable… but also of clearer thoughts. Like because it was gone, she was almost more herself.
More like she was before the strange voice had promised her power.
In the same moment that sunk in, she took in the person on the other side of the door. Six-ish feet tall, entirely covered by the familiar Organization cloak, holding her food in one hand and holding up the other passively, waving it slightly.
“Hey there!” they said jovially, though apparently hesitant, with a voice that was neither masculine nor feminine. “Please don’t kill me.”
She took in a second to breathe what she thought was a breath of fresh air before saying “It’s alright. At least I hope the food is still good. I assume you want to chat with me about… something?”
Ashley, not as loud as before, opened the door wider to allow the cloaked figure into the apartment. “I was in the middle of a project I am trying crack but I guess I could spare time for you. I hope you know I have a lot of questions.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:43 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:59 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:05 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:15 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:29 pm
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{ ATE : The Broker ~ Case of the Huntress : 7 } { The Broker : ??? }
Again, they did not speak at first. Silent. Watching.
"You may call me the Broker, I suppose," they said, looking off to the side for a moment to really take in the surrounding details. "Nobody 'sent' me, though I am one representative of a group who oppose the growing tide of darkness. I found you because our intelligence network is... extensive."
"What I want—what we want—is to free you from your current position," they said, turning back, staring into the young woman with eyes that could only be felt, not seen. "You are a half-heart, a duplicate who's only claim to existence is as a tool made to destroy or be destroyed. Were you to reclaim your full memories, your existence would be erased because there can only be one Danielle. We want to offer you something different: a new, genuine you."
"At the cost of some effort on your part, and the payment of something you would never have had anyway, I can give you a new, authentic heart. The memories of your original self would be open to you, but only as... information, not memory. It would be like a movie you watched or book you read and memorized, but not a part of you—only the memories you, personally, have claimed since your creation would make up your heart," they explained. "It will be... an uncomfortable shift. Not for pain or suffering, but because you will be going from having no light or conscience to having both. Yet because of your heart's youth, you will have no inclination either toward good or evil—every choice, every step will determine your new identity."
"Of course, such an action would turn the darkness against you, and so part of the deal is also various forms of power and protection," they said. "You could say that my goal is to give you a chance at life you would never otherwise have, and the potential to protect that chance alongside new allies."
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 4:33 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 4:33 pm
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{ ATE : Project PHOENIX : 1 } { Adam : Castle That Never Was : Labs }{ Cue : The Phoenix – Fall Out Boy }
Adam stood in one of the laboratories of the castle, some objects sitting on the desk before him: a glowing, grapefruit-sized blue sphere, and a baseball-sized onyx sphere. The black sphere, once pulsing with negativity, was now largely dormant; the primary essence of it had contained was long gone, leaving only echoes of memory. But all he needed were those echoes for now. Picking the obsidian orb up in one hand and the sapphire orb in the other, he focused intently, using the Geist magic he’d learned from Prototype I to shift the memories around. The broken chains from the dark sphere slowly slipped through his mind, and he… organized them. Made some greater, made others smaller. And, he was not ashamed to say, he planted others—new ones that were not lies, but were not necessarily where they belonged. Memories of corruption. Of betrayal.
Of revelation that had once come too late, but would now be known retroactively.
In taking the last echoes from the shadow orb, the magic holding it together dissipated, and the sphere became little more than dark smoke that soon vanished entirely. From there, he began to link the memories of the orb, remixed as they were, into the new memories he’d gathered the night before. These he altered, too, in small but important ways. He did not change them outright—he wanted the memories to represent the person as they should have been, not as they were, not as they had been made. Part of him questioned his actions—after all, did this not make him the same as the culprit?—but he found he simply didn’t care. Ajora might have cared. Ajora, for vindication more than honor, would have left the memories as they were not because it was right, but because he thought that any alteration at all would be cheating. Adam did not have such scruples.
He paused. What a peculiar difference.
He justified his actions by what he intended to do: undo the manipulation. Shed light where only shadow had once prevailed. He wanted to give this person the chance at life that they’d been denied. And frankly, he owed a debt that he didn’t want on his burgeoning conscience. So, linking together more of the chains, giving weight to some and lessening others, he began to pool the entire identity into the blue sphere.
At the last second, and on one memory in particular, he hesitated. An ambush on the sea. A plan, torn asunder. Terrible things put into motion based on a single misunderstanding. Could the chain exist without this memory? No, it was too critical a juncture, too vital to the rest of the identity.
But… one little detail shifted wouldn’t change all that much. Adam finished planting the proper memories before pulling up another, empty sphere and taking a seat. He stared into the sphere for what seemed like a small eternity. The choice nagged at him far more than he could have every predicted—to be honorable and risk earning his ire, or be a hypocrite and risk not only a stain on his own heart but the other discovering his manipulations?
… I can’t. The entire reason I’m doing this is because I screwed with things in the first place.
But just in case.
He duplicated the memories from one sphere to the other, but this time, when he got to that memory, he changed it. The intricacies of the glyph faded. That corrupter’s words shifted. Now complete, both spheres began to shine with cerulean luminance. He decided to store the one with the altered memories; it would serve as a back-up measure in case his conscience ended up causing more harm than good.
He turned toward the multiple machines, all fused together to form one unique creation. Stepping forward, he placed the true Spiran memory sphere into the reader-projector’s open slot, and with a heavy click, a locking mechanism slipped down. Circuitry and gears sprang to life as the machine read the chain of memories contained in the sphere and began to project them into the second machine: a biopod fitted with magitech used for replication. Adam didn’t have a Geist to hold all the memories, and he didn’t have the means to present them in the same way Vexen did, but with the Spiran projector…
Surges of electricity began to jump throughout the pod’s fluid as organic matter responded to the memories released. The replication—no, the revival had begun.
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 4:52 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 5:09 pm
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