Event: The Reveal Glass

[indigo_league]

Across the Pokémon world, characters may have spotted a falling star last night. Or at least, one would think that's what it was: a naturally occurring phenomenon, rather than a legendary artifact. Specifically, the Reveal Glass fell to earth during a fight among a group of legendaries started by the return of a long-lost family member. But it's probably best to leave them to handle all that themselves, while your characters deal with other consequences.

The Reveal Glass shattered upon impact, and the shards scattered throughout Kanto, Johto, and the Sevii Islands… And made their way into the hearts of your characters. But bleeding isn't the concern here. Instead, the impact will hit when a character first looks into any reflective service. An eerie feeling hits them as they're transported to the Mirror Dimension.

While this realm can be many different things for different characters, one thing is always true: It is a place of honesty, where true selves are revealed. Those struck by a shard will find themselves facing truths they are no longer able to hide, and now must accept. Fortunately enough, even those who haven't been struck will be able to enter the Mirror Dimension during this event via a reflective surface to offer help. By the end of the 29th, things will return to normal. Characters will be back in the usual Pokémon world and their hearts will be rid of the shards, but time is strange in the Mirror Dimension, and the experience may feel like it goes on far longer than a day. Or, maybe that's just the emotional exhaustion.

The Reveal Glass plot is here. You can swing by the event info post for additional details and FAQ, and play out your characters’ enforced therapy on this post. As with most VR events, this plot is entirely optional and your characters don't need to take part at all.

Comments

[behindblueskin]

He's still wary.

"Father wasn't expecting guests today."

He should still get Dekker or the guards. This intruder could intend to harm someone. He's managed to get this far into the palace, and who knows what he did to get past the sentries without an alarm going up.

[crystalmaster]

Radley ponders what to say. Normally he's good at smooth-talking, but this is certainly not a normal situation.

"I wasn't expecting to be here either," he finally says honestly.

[behindblueskin]

That, if anything, just makes Keldor feel even more alarmed. And frightened.

It's just the sort of thing an assassin might say, especially to a child, to convince everyone that they're not the danger they are.

Aimlessly blundering in. Sounds innocent to most people. But he's not "most people"—he's one of the royal family. An ideal target for any assassin.

Which means Keldor should be shouting at the top of his voice right now to get every guard within hearing range to arrest and apprehend this stranger.

"How did you get in?" he asks, preparing to do exactly that.

[crystalmaster]

"I know it will sound crazy, but I started out somewhere else and then I opened a door and was in here," Radley says with a sigh. He would fib if he thought he could get away with it in this potentially dangerous situation, but any lie could be easily checked out. "It was like some kind of a portal."

[behindblueskin]

And now he's practically freaking out.

"Magic?" he asks, voice full of fear.

It'll be a while yet before things finally break out—years yet—but already there's talk about what's going on in the Dark Hemisphere. Word has reached the palace that there's someone going around stirring up resentment against the Light Hemisphere. A wizard of some kind, using the general feelings of dissatisfaction towards those residing on the Light side of the planet. Life in the Dark is difficult even at the best of times, but the Dark residents feel as though things are even moreso because of the rule of the kings of Eternos, who supposedly have historically ignored their sufferings—Miro being an especially egregious example.

And these rumblings are not doing the already-strained relations between father and son any favours.

"Marzo?"

He's heard the name, but has yet to have seen the face of the one leading the rebellion, so anyone could, in theory, be this Marzo.

And if this stranger is indeed Marzo then all of Eternos is in danger. Not just an unloved, bastard-born prince.

He needs to get out of here. Now. Raise the alarm.

But why isn't he getting up? Or screaming for that matter?

Has this stranger already used his magic on him? Is that why Keldor is still here?

[crystalmaster]

"Probably magic, or maybe science," Radley says. He cringes at the fear. He knows there's no reasonable way to explain what happened, but making poor Keldor more afraid is the last thing he wanted.

The name just results in a blank look. "Marzo? My name is Radley."

[behindblueskin]

Radley? Keldor has never heard anyone going by that name. It's certainly not an Eternian name.

Not that it matters any. 'Marzo' could come up with any name he wanted to in order to conduct his affairs more clandestinely.

That'd be the smart thing to do.

Smarter than cowering in fear and not doing what he knows he should do.

"I— I— I've ... gotta go get ... Dekker. Get the guard.

...get..."

Oh, father will be even more upset with his son for failing to do even the most basic thing anyone here could do.

Should do.

".....warn..."

[crystalmaster]

Radley sighs sadly. "I'm really not here to hurt anyone," he says. "If you show me to the nearest door, I'll just leave." He smiles wanly. "I don't want to get you in trouble."

[behindblueskin]

Two things go through his mind. The first is the conversation with Miro he knows he'll have with Miro about once again being a disappointment [among other things] to his father and to the title he's supposed to bear.

The other are the words "don't want to get you in trouble".

No one ever says such things to him. Nobody save the queen, his brother [who seems to idolise his elder half-sibling], a couple of the guards and staff, and, of course, Dekker, whom Keldor is already coming to regard as another better father type.

No one is ever really concerned about whether some half-Gar child has caused trouble or not; only that he can be blamed for it.

After all, everyone knows that the Gar are nothing but trouble. Why should being the son of a king make any difference in that equation?

He's crying again, and this time he doesn't know why.

Or maybe he won't admit why.

[crystalmaster]

Radley would like to hug him, but he wouldn't dare under the circumstances. He looks around the hall for a door he could slip out of, but he sees none. He knows now what this place is, but he has no idea how to help Keldor when there's understandably no trust and no recognition in this era.

"... I heard some of what your father said to you," he said at last. "I'm so sorry. No one deserves such treatment from those who should care the most."

[behindblueskin]

Saying that Keldor needs a hug [and therapy] is something the narrative likes to say elsewhere. Because he does.

The boy can only look away as the tears fall. If this is Marzo under an assumed name, he's being awfully kind to him. Of course, that, too, could just be a ruse, but in this moment, it no longer seems to matter. It's the first time anyone he doesn't know—especially anyone human—has said anything kind to him in recent memory. Usually they just give him looks. The kind that says what they'd like to do were the crown not in the way.

And the crown is the only thing he's got to protect him.

It certainly makes it hard for him to say anything right now, other than something that sounds like a mumbled "I guess so".

[crystalmaster]

Radley thinks he senses the feeling towards him softening a bit, but he's still cautious about what to say since anything could get taken wrong. He stays there, ready to do more yet not sure what would be accepted from a stranger. His eyes show only kindness and concern, if Keldor looks back to him.

[behindblueskin]

Instead of making eye contact, Keldor just keeps looking away. It's almost as if he's once again unaware that he's not alone here; he just stares off into the distance while he rubs one arm with the opposite hand, wrinkling his clothing [no doubt another thing to be scolded over].

And then..,

"What did I do wrong?" he suddenly bawls in pure childlike impulsivity to this maybe-Marzo. "Why is he like this? Why is he always so angry with me?"

[crystalmaster]

"You didn't do anything wrong," Radley is quick to tell him. "He's the one in the wrong for not recognizing that he should be grateful to have you."

[behindblueskin]

That's not the expression of someone who's convinced by could-be-Marzo.

"But I'm a Gar," Keldor protests, as if that should be reason enough. "No one's grateful to have a Gar."

Certainly Miro thinks this. If anything, he acts like he's been saddled with the care of some child he'd sired with some Gar woman the king insists to all and sundry had ensorcelled and bewitched him at a time when he was at his most vulnerable; having been shipwrecked upon their ancestral island home of Anwat Gar.

He was in a weakened state, Miro might say. He'd never have done this willingly. None of this is his fault, but that of the boy's mother's. If anything, he's the one doing favours here.

[crystalmaster]

"Then everyone is an idiot," Radley replies. "You're a wonderful person."

[behindblueskin]

Still not convinced, maybe-Marzo. One person alone isn't going to just overturn what everyone including the king himself thinks, and their opinions matter more around here than some stranger's does.

A stranger he still hasn't called the guards upon yet.

"How would you know?" he protests, voice more pained and sad than angry or hostile. "You don't know me."

He certainly doesn't know you either.

[crystalmaster]

Radley certainly doesn't expect to be able to convince Keldor, especially under these circumstances.

"... You remind me of a friend of mine," Radley said.

[behindblueskin]

"Dunno how I could," he mutters miserably. If this person is anything like he is he's probably living an unhappy life somewhere else at the moment.

Unhappy. Wishing he was somewhere else. Like the home Miro keeps threatening to send him back to.

The Gar home.

At least there he'd be surrounded by people who not only look like him but also care about him. People who would welcome him and accept him as their own for all that he wouldn't be a pure Gar like they are.

Maybe he'd even finally see his mother again.

His real mother.

If she's still alive, that is.

[crystalmaster]

"He's also Gar," Radley says. "He's very kind and very determined to right the wrongs in the world."

[behindblueskin]

"You know a Gar?"

Poor Keldor just looks confused. How can not-Marzo know of another Gar?

"Where do you come from?"

The Gar tend not to leave their island much, save for perhaps those who engage in [limited] trade with the outsiders, and if this stranger is human then the odds of him going to Anwat Gar are effectively non-existent.

Humans never willingly go there.

Anwat Gar is effectively isolated by law and tradition.

He'd had to have met one of the traders. That's the only explanation.

[crystalmaster]

"It's a place far from here," Radley says. "I've currently been living in a place where people from many lands can meet who wouldn't normally be able to. A Gar came there."

[behindblueskin]

"How far?"

It can't be located along the western coastline—he knows of no settlement there that would willingly welcome in a Gar. Even those run by non-Eternians, as they do not wish to incur the wrath of humans for being Gar sympathisers.

It would have to be somewhere really far away, this strange place where many different peoples meet.

[crystalmaster]

"I'm not even sure," Radley sighs. "I was in a place with doorways to other worlds and one led me here."

[behindblueskin]

Well, we can safely rule out Radley being Marzo now—even a wizard as powerful as he's reputed to be couldn't create a door to another world.

That's what Keldor's concluded, anyways.

"So that's how you got into the palace? From a place with doors?"

One hell of a wrong turn, there, stranger-friend.