Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

[BUMPER]

 

is there any way I can join this this far in or do I have to read through 78k posts

 

There's the disappearance I'm known for. Ack.

Due to a sudden decline in health, I'm going to postpone a formal start of the intermission (as in me showing up regularly to oversee things) until after I graduate in May.

I'm okay though. Just need to take it easier than I have been.

It is not narrated from my PC's viewpoint - VR has shifted to a more traditional format (particularly since their death) as far as narration goes.

You can absolutely start a fight, I just wouldn't do it inside the archives. You're free to go out through a portal into basically any sort of area you want there to be, given the intermission is supposed to be a nebulous "just set the stage for any character interactions"

We're currently in hiatus, though an intermission is (hopefully) starting soon. I'll reorganize the original post to show the intermission setting information... ideally later this week.
You can join both/either the intermission or Chapter 2 once that gets going. No need to read through all of the mess, summaries for key points will be provided (once I'm done with reorganization, at least)

 

Gonna bump

 

[BUMP]

 

Guess I should bump this or something

 

"Quiet 'round here, huh?"
"Not with you constantly talking to me when it is."
"What, I'm not allowed to talk to you when it's quiet?"
"You don't have to fill every space of silence with conversation."



"It is quiet around here though."

 

"Ah, I'll be over in a minute. I've got just a little left to finish. Well... before I can help you lot, at least."

 

"Oh, uh, sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you. You weren't meant to hear that anyway."

 

"No worries. I've been here the whole time anyways, just gotta..."

...

"...and there. That's sorted. I think I might take a nap first, though. You don't mind waiting a while longer, do you?"

 

"I suppose if I've waited this long already..."

 

Imp-chan took in a deep breath. Blood slowly trickled down from her forehead - her third eye had been opened.

"You can see them too, can't you?" She asked out loud.

"I can see what you see, but you're going to need to be more specific than 'them'." Another voice echoed from within her.

"This place, it's filled with memories. They're like threads, weaving together to form a story, but so many are...tangled, twisted." Imp-chan stated.

"No," Imp-chan corrected, "They're not...threads. It's like...an image on the surface of thin water. It's there, but it's intangible - you can cup your hands and feel like you're holding it, but it's not really there. Or maybe it never was there to begin with."

"I've been here before." The dark voice from within spoke, after a brief pause.

"We both have. At least, two people that are similar to us have. That girl who looks like me, she isn't - wasn't, me. But, she was. The same goes for you." Imp-chan replied.

"Ghosts in the rain, a girl born of fire hiding her identity, a dark being playing with the power of a god and facing the consequences, a demon trying to learn magic, that demon stepping out of her world - her reality, splitting, and being reborn. The descendant of a goddess, heart pierced with strings and forced to dance to the will of some unseen puppeteer...these all, were. And, they're not," Imp-chan lamented, now only her third eye open, gazing around aimlessly, rarely focusing in a random direction, "Realities clash, collide, and collapse into one another. Rules are created, only to be forgotten - laws and logic ebb and flow like a lost musician trying to find their rhythm. Nothing stays, yet for every change, some remain resolute, forced to bear witness as their kingdom crumbles to dust only be rebuilt, perverted."

"I think you're losing yourself in expired memories," The voice warned, "These are just what once was. Not what is, right now."

Imp-chan's eyes opened again. Her third eye closed, though it still remained visible above the skin.

"It's something to fill this empty space I suppose. I just wish I'd brought more here with me from when we left." Imp-chan muttered.


"Do you wish you'd brought her with us?" The voice spoke up after a long period of silence.

Imp-chan felt the gun on her hip, cradling its bumps, letting her fingers run along its textures - smooth, metallic; rough, gripping. A gunshot rang in her mind, the image of a shining bullet casing trailing smoke rotating alongside.

"No."

 

A robed figure glances over at her.

"Ah, you're here again. You'll have to pardon those thoughts - they're just... symptoms of being at the edge of everything. Do take care should you run into one of their many physical manifestations, though - you might start to get pulled in yourself."

Pause.

"...Nice piece of magitech you've got there. Simple, reliable, effective. Not one for personal connections, I take it?"

 

"Hm?" Imp-chan hummed, glancing over at the figure speaking to her, "My gun?"

Imp-chan slipped out the pistol from it's holster, giving it a twirl in her hand before gripping it tight. She grinned, proud of the weapon.

"I'll...take care, with those manifestations."

 

The figure half-raises a draconic hand that sticks partway out of their robe, a few fingers somewhat shriveled and wrinkly for a scaled appendage.

"Easy. Library's not the place for that, yeah? Treat it like hers. Besides, there's no need to get serious on this side of the event horizon.
...You aren't here for them, anyways, I'm assuming."

 

Imp-chan slotted the gun back beside her hip, before her look became a little more distant.

"I'm...not quite sure what drew me back here. I want to say it was some kind of...unfinished business, but I- Well, she was only really a visitor passing through." Imp-chan explained.

"The...world, I was in before this one. It had traces of this place everywhere. Familiar faces, people remembering things they shouldn't. I don't think anyone from there could have come from here, but it almost felt like an omen." Imp-chan continued.

Something about Imp-chan's posture seemed to stiffen for a moment, before she relaxed.

"Not that any of that's important anyway."

 

The figure lets out a slight chuckle.

"Ah, I guess that would be far more surprising to you than it would be me. You're spot on about a lot of that - I suppose," they say, summoning a simple chair and sitting down, "and you're right about most of that. Granted, I can't speak for the unfinished business... but there is certainly plenty of that around here."

They summon a second chair about a pace away from Imp-chan, gesturing for her to sit.

"Up to you, of course, but you still seem to be getting your bearings here."

 

Imp-chan's distant look seemed to fade, and she grounded herself in the present as she noticed the chair.


Imp-chan takes the seat; though her right hand seems to twitch a little, as if ready to move.

"I get the sense I'll probably be here a while, at least," Imp-chan says, "What currency does this world take, by the way? Shaped metal coins, gemstones, written money...?"

 

The figure hesitates before letting out another chuckle.

"All and none, I'm afraid. See, you're... past the point of no return, so to speak. Fragments of everything are through the infinite portals, including physical manifestations of other versions of your friends... and you. Usually I hang out in 'The Interim,' but someone you're with had been waiting for me for... longer than I'd like to admit," they sigh, gesturing to a central gateway flanked by countless other smaller portals.

 

Imp-chan takes out a silver coin from her pocket, studying it for a moment, before flipping it in the air. It hangs for a moment at its apex, before falling, and being deftly swiped.

Imp-chan contemplates a little longer, rolling the coin between her fingers, before putting it back in her pocket and standing up.

"You said you saw a manifestation of me?" Imp-chan asks, "Where?"