[OPEN] DERSE MINGLE

[patriachy]

You are now on DERSE.

If you've awakened in this kingdom, your DREAM SELF is free to leave their TOWER and explore the city below. There may be a few things out of the ordinary, however; some of the resident DERSITES appear to be on edge...

If you look closely, you will find a series of golden posters plastered up on the walls of the kingdom: these posters are headlined with LIES AND SLANDER, though that might only be the case if you actually like the people pictured on them. You might see one of your TEAMMATES or even just a FRIEND, beneath the headline...

HEROES FAIL TO AWAKEN! ROGUE AND THIEF CONTINUE TO BE AT LARGE!
THE FALL OF PROSPIT'S HEROES REVERSED! A NEW ARMY HAS RISEN FROM THE ASHES!
THE PRINCE IS DEAD? THE PRINCE IS ALIVE? HAS TIME GONE CRAZY?

The headlines are uncountable - you're willing to bet that there is one for every player in your session. You wouldn't be surprised if there were one about you on your opposing moon!

Perhaps you'd better locate one of your teammates, or ask the DERSITES what's happening. This has to be a setup by the BLACK QUEEN.

Comments

[patriachy]

They do that well enough themselves. I get to watch.

[ He gives a little nod that it could be a lot worse, but then he chuckles as she comments on the blowing up the moon, and the brightness of Prospit. ]

Precisely. But for now, it's just us here on Derse. Up t'you if you want to lend a hand, get out and do stuff. It'd just make things easier, really, which'd be great. There's always stuff to do. [ He pauses briefly, before... ] ...like burning these posters.

[austereastronomer]

Well, it's true that I've never really been particularly fond of yellow myself...

Not that you really like purple, either. You squint at the posters, trying to get a better look at your own.

The Sylph is useless?! Well, I never. It's a difficult problem to solve. What did I do to deserve—

Actually, that's a pretty good question. Is this some kind of game mechanic to let you know that you're proceeding too slowly?

What did I—we, I suppose—do to offend whoever printed these posters, anyway? Why do they hate us?

[patriachy]

You pause, looking from the poster to this hero, the Sylph, and then you just offer a shake of your head. She asked a simple question, honestly.

You're wearing purple, not yellow. That's what you did.

For emphasis, you point at the little Prospit symbol on the yellow poster. That little thing, the representation of Prospit's glory, was certainly particularly obvious. Nothing like Derse's moon symbol.

Either way, no rude gesture goes unpunished, especially not one this insulting. D'you like fireworks? S'gonna look like that from here.

[polygraphing]

[ she crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow ] Ok, I guess I'm torn, because on the one hand I'm not really a fan of doing shit, usually ends up a pain in the ass. But on the other, I am ridiculously bored up in here, there is actually nothing going on up here and none of the fucking electronic things work. So I guess if you have stuff to do that's fun, I'd be down for that?

[ other eyebrow raise, plus grin ] Like burning shit, I could get behind that. [ also she kind of wants to get another look at those posters. she is actually starting to think that the real fun thing to do would to be sneaky and find some shit out ]

[patriachy]

[ He's a thoughtful listener when it matters, and he even offers a nod of agreement at her comment that doing shit can be a pain in the ass. She understands. ]

Then, shall we? It sounds like that's first up for our things to do. [ He pauses. ] Oh, right. Here.

[ Rummaging in a pocket, he pulls forth a little badge with a lanyard to wear around the neck. It bears the Derse symbol and definitely has a sense of AUTHORITY to go with it. ]

Flash it when needed and you can go anywhere. [ ...a pause. ] Just avoid Jack unless I'm around, he's fond of stabs.

[ And, already, he starts making his way down the stairs of Mandya's tower. Down to the bottom they go. It's not far to the incinerator, after all. They've got a lot of posters to burn. ]

[polygraphing]

Whoa, cool, Derse swag! [ she hangs it around her neck and feels ridiculously legit for a minute. bitches better get out the goddamn way, she has a badge now ]

Stabs? [ a pause. sudden doubt of her choices. whatever she's in too far deep now, gotta make it work ] What does this Jack dude look like and how do I avoid the stabs, that doesn't sound like anything I wanna do.

[ oh shit, there he goes. Mandya floats out of her tower after him, thinking that this whole flying thing is pretty cool actually ]

[patriachy]

[ He pauses thoughtfully before explaining. ] He looks like I do, honestly, just a bit shorter. And he's got a spade on his uniform. Also honestly he's always got his knife in-hand. Keep around me and he won't bug 'ya.

[ ...and oh my god she's floating. He forgot the heroes could do that. After he gets back to the street, he eyes her idly for a moment before commenting: ] That's useful, y'know. You stand out, but it's useful. This way.

[ And he's leading the way to an incinerator building nearby. Once there, he has to set the posters down. ] ...and we have to burn these one at a time, or it doesn't work. What a pain.

[artful_transgressor]

[As Kappy gets closer, Lyn curls up tighter, shifting uneasily in his sleep - maybe he actually senses the proximity. But at least it suggests a defensive reaction rather than an aggressive one.

He's actually very close to waking up now!]

[flowerwhisperer]

[Wait what why is there a hat on his head. --]

Urm. Thank you...?

[flowerwhisperer]

...I never took you as someone who'd be this hard to wake up...

[artful_transgressor]

[There's no reason this should be what wakes Lyn up, except that Kappy's efforts have gradually roused him more and more to the point where he barely needs any more prodding at all. He finally cracks an eye open, and it focuses on Kappy.

Somewhere in the next two seconds, there is the sound of someone violently launching off the bedsprings and a complete visible absence of any troll in the room - though if Kappy has watched Lyn enough as his server in their waking hours, he may be familiar with Lyn's psionics by now. For the split second he was still visible, Kappy may have caught the sight of Lyn reacting like a badly startled cat, going from 'restful' to 'mad scrambling leap' at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light.]

Who the fuck are you?! [Kappy will be reassured by the fact that Lyn's voice is coming from the extreme far side of the room. Of course, Lyn hasn't seen his server before.]

[flowerwhisperer]

[...Ah, yes, he'd almost forgotten that Lyn had never seen him before at this point. Whoops.]

I, urm. I'm Kaprao.

[artful_transgressor]

[This statement is greeted by silence, as Lyn takes a moment to assess the situation, Kappy's appearance, and just generally starts piecing shit together. Mainly along the lines of 'okay, not about to be murdered'.

Apparently Lyn is paranoid and twitchy even in his dreams. Short, too; perhaps he's so resigned to his runt status that even where he can be an idealized version of himself, it doesn't occur to him he can be any other way.

After about a minute, he reappears, still near the far wall and looking wary.]

How'd you get here?

[flowerwhisperer]

Uh. First of all, do you know where you are?

[So he can figure out where to even begin his explanation.]

[patriachy]

[ Whatchu talkin' about "a" hat, singular? Kappy, have you lost your mind? Droll here has plunked three hats on Kappy's head! Three glorious, fantastic hats! ]

Oh, don't mention it, you look great! Just look at you, hats to the heavens! Spectacular! A few more and we could climb your head to Prospit! Wouldn't that be a scene? Huhu!

[flowerwhisperer]

[WHEN WERE THERE MORE HATS.]

I think I might fall over before that happens...

[...No one ever said Kappy had a sense of humor, either.]

[patriachy]

[ There were more hats just then, and more hats right now! Just look, seven hats! And they're so wonderfully balanced! Kaprao, you look great! ]

Oh, no, I promise, you won't, you would just need more hats!

[ Make that eight hats. ]

[flowerwhisperer]

[Okay you know what he will just be standing very still until the hats inevitably fall off.]

You seem to like hats a lot.

[patriachy]

[ The hat stack makes it to twenty-seven before they all come tumbling down. Oh no OH NO. CUE PANIC. And also gathering the hats in a flash. ]

Of course I like hats! Don't YOU like hats?

[flowerwhisperer]

[This is one of the more bizarre conversations in his life, just saying.]

I've never really worn hats before, so I can't say.

[patriachy]

[ Kaprao is now wearing a jester hat with the Derse symbol on it, it looks OFFICIAL, and Droll is doing a little dance. ]

There! Now you have the perfect hat for you!

[flowerwhisperer]

[...Huh, he didn't think jester hats could even look OFFICIAL.]

Oh, urm. Thank you.

[patriachy]

[ Of course it can look official! It's purple and it has the Derse logo! Kaprao could probably pass for someone important while wearing it! ]

Don't tell Jack I gave you one! Or Recreant! Or Dignitary! Or Brute! And especially don't tell the queen, ah, nope!

[flowerwhisperer]

...Who are they?

[He figures it's important that he knows this! Especially since this carapace is doing something he probably shouldn't be.]

[patriachy]

[ Wait. WAIT. WAIT WAIT WAIT. ]

How do you not know- How do you not know who the queen is??! How?! How how how how?!

WHO ARE YOU...???! [ Droll takes an impressive leap back from Kaprao. ]