melodiesoflife | Dancing All Night

Entry tags:

Dancing All Night

Who: Everyone
What: A slumber party at the Observatory so the Heroes can experience something nice for once.
Where: Old Observatory
When: Night of May 12th - Morning of May 13th
Warnings: If your character comes, there's a huge change they'll catch the sickness from someone else who's infected but doesn't show the symptoms. Duster will have many regrets in the future.

[All those that had been invited to the Observatory tonight would see all the windows on the bottom floors lit up before sundown. Duster and Zelda had spent most of today setting up bedding and rearranging the furniture in preparation, and then Duster had to run back home to change into his new suit.

There were multiple rooms with lights set up. One has a corner turned into a makeshift stage where musicians could perform. Two had tables of food. Several rooms were left alone for partygoers to have private moments (Tamekichi suggested that). There was also a box of beer bottles as a sad attempt at a bar, with an empty bottle marking the area where party games were to be played, Spin the Bottle included (all that was Tamekichi's suggestion, too).

Duster greets the arrivals at the door with a soft smile, wearing a periwinkle suit, a white dress shirt, a red shit, and black dress shoes.]

Welcome to Club Ixen! It's time we had some fun.

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Only three minutes? I dunno if that'll be enough time.

[Santa stands up and clears his throat, just to make sure he's got everyone's attention. He taps on his wrist in Akane's direction, a signal to start the timer, not that they actually have one.]

The horrifying tale of the Funyarinpa begins when a researcher named Sheldrake discovered a strange picture in an ancient, cursed tome. The picture looked like nothing in particular when he looked at it, just abstract blots of black ink on a white page. Someone that he showed it to thought it was a fish, another swore it was a dog, or a lady, or a vase. Sheldrake thought nothing of it. He showed the picture to many people, and everyone's guess of what it was were varied, with no single answer occurring more than any others. He used it to study how people would interpret an abstract picture.

But one day, Sheldrake had an epiphany. He suddenly just knew the answer to the puzzle of the strange picture. It was the only known depiction of the mighty Funyarinpa.

And the strange thing was, now that he knew, more people seemed to know, even though they'd never even heard of it, and he hadn't told anyone. "Yeah, that's a...um...a funyarinpa," they'd say when he showed them the picture.

So Sheldrake did an experiment. He broadcast the picture of the Funyarinpa to a isolated community, telling them what it was. So now, a few hundred people knew the answer to the question. Then he went across the world, to another isolated community, that had no way of contacting the first place. When he showed the people there about the Funyarinpa picture, many of them knew the answer.

How, you ask? The Funyarinpa is not anything that lives in the world where you can see it. It is from the unseen world, in the Morphogenetic Fields. It grows stronger when more people know about it, and it can send information about itself, unseen and unheard, into someone's mind, infecting more and more people and harvesting even more power. Once someone knows the Funyarinpa, they can never unknow it. They remain in the Funyarinpa's grasps for the rest of their lives.

And now you, too, are a carrier of the Funyarinpa. But don't worry, the Funyarinpa only curses people who anger it or disrespect it in some way. I'd tell you how to avoid the Funyarinpa's terrible wrath, buuuuuut my three minutes is up.

[Santa takes a bow, and then sits back down in the circle.]

[Akane stops counting the seconds in her head. Almost three minutes exactly! He's good! Akane casts him a secret little grin, and a single nod of approval. Junpei had told Akane about the funyarinpa as a joke when they were kids, and she'd thought it was so funny that naturally she had to tell Aoi. It makes her happy to see that childhood inside joke still lives.]

Wow, I've got goosebumps!

[Aoi gives Akane a serious look.] That could be a physiological response...or maybe it's the Funyarinpa, reaching out to you from beyond this world.

[OoooOOOOHhhh, spooky! This is all for the audience, since Akane and Aoi are both in the know on the Funyarinpa deal.]

[Akane claps her hands to her cheeks, her eyes wide.]

Oh no! That's too scary for me!

[Sure they're just playing along. ...But secretly there's a tiny little bitty seed that says MAYBE it's true because others believed in it. Morphogenetic fields are still a big mystery, and they can have profound effects on people.]

[OK, it's a big brother's job to tell his little sister scary stories at a sleep-over. It's part of the fun. So he brings out the big guns.]

You wanna know my theory? I think the reason there have been UFO sightings is because the Funyarinpa has grown powerful enough to reach out to other civilizations in space, and it's pulled them here. Soon, it's going to have it's reach spread throughout the universe. So respect the Funyarinpa, Akane.

No, that's crazy.

[Akane props her fist up under her chin, holding her other elbow.]

The Funyarinpa is an entity of mythical origins. If it encountered beings from other planets, they would have to fight. It would be a clash of intergalactic titans.

[She actually looks like she might believe what she's saying.]

That's even worse. It'll be like when Godzilla and Mechagodzilla fight. They'll destroy everything in their path, and the people trying to live in the cities below them won't even stand a chance

[Dramatic shudder for effect. If anyone else was trying to scare Akane like this, Aoi would punch them in the face. But it's him, so it's fine.]

Then they'll just have to duke it out on another planet! That would be the respectful thing to do.

[Okay, she's having more and more fun with this.]

Aliens ain't concerned about respect. Don't be naive. [Way to ruin his creepy story, Akane.]

But they have to be! Aren't there intergalactic peace treaties and accords to keep in mind? How can they conduct Cosmic Diplomacy with other alien nations?

[She looks oddly invested in the morality of these fictional beings. And upset that they're not being as civilized as she want them to be.]

[He sets his jaw stubbornly. He's gonna win this, Akane.]

Well, yeah, there are Alien Diplomats, but the ones that show up and start stealing cows and shit? Those are the rogue elements. Like, the criminal and pirate aliens. The bureaucrat aliens ain't gonna get here for another decade, at least.

[He doesn't believe in the alien stuff like Akane does, but he does formulate opinions on their fictional society, if for no other reason than to have discussions with Akane.]

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sesenta - 2016-05-31 04:50 (UTC) - Expand

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21stcenturyguy - 2016-06-01 00:36 (UTC) - Expand

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sesenta - 2016-06-01 06:10 (UTC) - Expand

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21stcenturyguy - 2016-06-04 03:41 (UTC) - Expand

...Wait, really?

[This is the same thing she read on the board, right? Rialynn leans forward, a little concerned.]

What does it look like, can you draw a picture of it?

[This story sounds really dangerous, if it's true. That makes it one of the few stories Rialynn actively decides against telling to an audience.]

Yeah, it's pretty terrifying. Wait, had you heard of it before? [He pauses, letting his eyes go wide in faked-horror.]

Shit, it's power must really be growing!

[He looks around for paper and pen.] Now, I can try to draw it, but that will only give it even more power and influence. You sure you wanna see it?

[That sounds bad! That sounds really bad! How can you stop that kind of power from growing? You can't force people to be ignorant! It's impossible!]

I mean, I do...I want to make sure I recognize it if I see it...but I'm not sure it's a good idea to give it a boost like that!

Just know that if I do this, you're taking responsibility for this picture. If it gets out, it could be disastrous.

[Not listening to any protests she might have, Santa scribbles out a picture that looks something like this. He holds it up to her with a flourish.]

[Rialynn squints at the picture. Then blinks. And looks at Santa.]

I don't really see it.

[She rubs the back of her head, wondering if this is a good thing.]

[Santa starts to trace different parts of the picture, explaining what they are as he indicates them.]

Clawed arm, wing, mandible, weird leg appendages. It's pretty horrifying, even in abstract form.

[Yep, totally not a dog. Not even a little bit. Be terrified, Rialynn. Dwell in fear and awe of the mighty Funyarinpa.]

[The effect he has on her is obvious. Her furrowed brow slowly rises, and confusion transforms into horror, as some of the color drains from her face.]

That's...!

[There are no words. It's too scary! ~~It's just a dog.~~]

You've seen it with your own eyes?!

Oh, no way. I hear if you look at it directly, you go crazy. I got a picture of it through the morphogenetic fields. One day, I just woke up and I knew about the Funyarinpa. That's how it works.

[He shudders, all about the dramatic effect.] That's how it gets you. [OOooOooHHHHHhhh, so spooky.]

Can that happen here?

[She glances nervously at the others to see if they're as uneasy about this as she is.]

I mean...the way this place works, there aren't any fields for it to inhabit.

[And she's totally thinking of the kind of fields where grass and wildflowers grow, because she's never heard of it used in another way.]

Yeah, dude. The morphogenetic fields are in invisible fields that allow people to share knowledge. They're nowhere, but everywhere. They're beyond our understanding...and the Funyarinpa uses them like a secret passageway into your mind.

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rialynn - 2016-05-31 05:20 (UTC) - Expand

[Raises hand.] ...What happens if you wipe their memory of the Funyarinpa?

[It's a totally serious question. Can it exist in their conscious? In the Morphogenetic fields?]

Nah, wouldn't help. The memories are in the Morphogenetic Fields, so even if you forget them or lose access, they're still stored there.

[He chews his lip.] I mean, I guess for individual purposes, that person would be temporarily free, but the Funyarinpa would still have grown, and would be able to reach them once again.

[Huh. Huh. Duster folds his hands and holds them up to his chin. So the Morphogenetic Fields store memories as well, but the Funyarinpa existed outside of them...It had to be a powerful, magical creature.

Truth or not, this deserves all of Duster's attention.]

[Santa winks at Duster.]

Don't worry. The Funyarinpa isn't usually malevolent...as long as you don't do anything to piss it off.

[He smirks. He didn't think these guys would eat it up quite as much as they did. Maybe this little party isn't completely lame.]

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