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

[mywayistheway]

Wrinkling her hands a little bit, both due to the pain in her right hand and her emotions, she looks at Harry with a grim expression. She never wanted him to see her in such a state, or anyone for that matter. These were things she had to bear alone.

“This?” She looks around and waves at the dark and empty surroundings. “This is my life.”

She didn’t like to admit it but it was an accurate depiction of how she felt, what was in her head. All the things she tried to hide and sometimes failed to. But this place had a way of drawing the truth from her. If asked the right questions.

[phoenixwiz]

Harry has seen much worse things in life, many of which most youth should have not gone through, so he is quite understanding of the situation even if he has no idea of what had happened to Bo in her world. Despite his noble efforts, the tears couldn’t hold back for a long time, they have to be shed out from his wet bright eyes eventually.

“Ah okay. I, um, I know that is very tough for one person to have been through so much hardship and pain for a good chunk of their life,” he does his best to sympathize with her while struggling to find the right words to say at this time, “It, it, it almost reminds me of what I have to struggle and deal with back in my world. A major conflict tore my community apart and many lives were lost as the result.”

[mywayistheway]

Seeing him cry makes her look away. She too doesn’t know anything about Harry’s past. So she doesn’t know if he can really understand.

“It’s made me who I am,” she says plainly. Whether it’s a good or bad thing she’s not sure. Maybe some of both.

“My people have faced many such conflicts, some that I participated in or even caused. If you can’t handle hearing about that then you should leave.”

[phoenixwiz]

As he notices that Bo had to turn away from him for a bit due to the tears, he decides to wipe them off as much as he could. A difficult thing to do, but he’s going to push through against them. And there is no way that he could just leave this mirror dimension on his own right now.

All he wants to do right now is to reach out to her and lend her his ears. He has already known by now that some of the adults he knew in his world (like Snape and Dumbledore) did a bunch of questionable things in the past despite being decent people in their own way and he himself too did commit some of his own questionable acts as well.

“Oh no. I’m not ready to leave just yet. I can handle what tales you are about to tell to me. Trust me, I’m willing to listen.”

[mywayistheway]

Watching him cry was difficult. Especially since it had to do with her. People might cry because of her but nobody cried for her. That was just not a thing that happened. She probably didn’t deserve it anyway.

She looks back at Harry when he gives his intentions to stay and listen. He certainly didn’t have to. Clearly he could have found some other place in this… whatever this is. The fact that he wants to stay though has her reluctantly giving in.

“It started when I was very young. My father died defending Mandalore when I was six years old.”

[phoenixwiz]

“It sounds like he did what could to protect your world and he didn’t went down without a good fight,” Harry understands the loss of a parent very well as he listens, he had lost both father and mother at a much younger age (he was a baby at the time) than when Bo lost her father, “It is not that easy to lose a parent at any age, especially at a very young age at that.”

[mywayistheway]

She nods quietly in agreement. “He was a great man and died honorably. My sister saw it as a waste. She was the heir and decided that we should abandon our ways and live as pacifists. It caused war to break out between those who followed her ideals and those who wanted to keep our traditions. Her side won, and the traditionalists were banished. I joined them when I came of age.”

Two sisters. Two different viewpoints. Their family torn apart after their fathers death.

[phoenixwiz]

“Wait, did she just say to give up the tradition of fighting in Mandalore? That doesn’t seem to be right nor is it fitting of the culture of your people at all,” Harry is quite appalled by Bo’s sister’s not so great decision to just abandon fighting as part of the Mandalorian life: he is used to seeing Bo in her armor often so he is pretty certain that the way of the warrior was indeed a part of her world’s culture.

Still he is willing to listen more so he can get a bigger picture of Bo’s troubles and emotional pain and perhaps understand her a little more.

[mywayistheway]

She nods, her gaze distant as she thinks about it. It’s been a very long time after all.

“We lost many Mandalorians during that war. The surface of our planet was ravaged. In a way, I understand why, but you’re right. She wanted to throw away what made us Mandalorian. It’s something I could never agree with, and I was willing to fight her over it. Because of that I was willing to do… terrible things, believing it was best for my people.”

[phoenixwiz]

“I see. I can see where you’re coming from. Everyone is bound to make a lot of mistakes at various points in our lives, thinking it could be for the benefit for everyone. Sometimes they can lead to some, um, unfortunate outcomes. I certainly made a couple of mistakes too, thinking that it could improve anyone’s situation, but they did eventually come to haunt me instead.”

[mywayistheway]

“I was young and stupid,” she admits with a nod. “And I was being manipulated by the man leading our movement. Though I willingly participated.” She can’t put all the blame on Pre Vizsla even though having one of the royal family on his side did benefit him.

“I’m responsible for the deaths of innocent people, including other Mandalorians. Though the most unfortunate consequence was the assassination of my sister.”

[phoenixwiz]

“Oh gee, that is really terrible. I have seen many lives being kiled because of one man’s horrible actions although I can’t be sure if I’m responsible for directly taking away some of them. But there was this one time when I was a teenager that I did attempted to murder my own godfather because a lot of people thought that he was a terrible person who reveal my family’s hiding location to that man only for that to be proven false as someone else managed to frame him for that and some other unsavory stuff,” Harry must have cringed at thought of his first attempt in actively trying to kill someone who is very important and dear to his life.

“I let those perceptions of him tainted my views on him for months before we even got to meet each other. It was among the worst things I could’ve done to anyone close to me.”

[mywayistheway]

“It sounds like you had good reason, even if it wasn’t true.”

She couldn’t excuse her own actions quite so easily.

“The man who killed my sister was an outsider that we had recruited to our cause and were using for our own gain. He turned on our leader and killed him, claiming himself leader of our people by tradition. Half of our forces followed him, but I couldn’t. No outsider can ever rule Mandalore. So I lead a resistance against him.”

[phoenixwiz]

“Clearly that man really doesn’t deserve to rule over your people for what he did to your leader and selfishly tries to manipulate your side into accepting him as a leader. A good leader doesn’t normally resort to tactics like that to begin with.”

It seems to him like that man whom Bo tried to fight against would be a very dangerous man to have a run in with. Not exactly a great role model for anyone to look up to.

“To be fair, with how he tried to run your group and turned on your original leader, I honestly can’t blame you for putting a resistance against him.”

[mywayistheway]

“The only reason he could was because he won the darksaber from our leader. It’s a symbol of leadership among our people. A good leader or not, those that followed him felt honor bound to do so.”

She huffed out a bitter laugh.

“That sword has been the cause of a great of trouble for me and my people.”

[phoenixwiz]

“Yikes, did not expect a sword to have such a big sway over people with a huge legacy to bear,” Harry admits, “Maybe he wanted the sword so badly so he could prove that he was a better leader. Which I doubt that he was one compared to your leader or even your father. Then again, most people aren’t smart enough to spot the difference between good leaders and bad leaders all the time.”

[mywayistheway]

“No, I think it had everything to do with the power, not the sword itself.”

But speculating about Maul and his intentions wasn’t really worthwhile.

“Regardless, I was able to push him and his followers out. With some help from the Jedi. I was made regent of Mandalore, though that didn’t last long.”

[phoenixwiz]

“Ah okay. That is understandable. Power can be very tempting for anyone to seek out. I have seen some people who did fell for its dark side greatly. Well, at least he won’t be bothering you for the foreseeable future and Mandalore did get to saw see peace afterwards. It must be tough to having to fight for your world and people against someone who got so close to ruling over them with unsavoury intentions and a thirst for power.”

[mywayistheway]

"It didn't end there," Bo-Katan says sternly. Harry only have a fraction of the story.

"The peace lasted only a moment when the Jedi were destroyed and the Galactic Republic became an Empire. An Empire that had demands that I refused to obey. Because of that they removed me from power. They then controlled Mandalore through rival clans that did their bidding."

[phoenixwiz]

“What, the Jedi got destroyed and an Empire overthrew the Galactic Republic?!? That is pretty horrible: somebody from the Empire must have secretly gotten into the Republic and dismantled every facet of it from the inside,” Harry gasps in horror, “I can’t believe that they were able to do such a thing and overthrow you from ruling Mandalore for refusing to bow before their rule. I think that you’re absolutely right not to listen to them.”

CW: Genocide

[mywayistheway]

"Well... it was a long struggle against the Empire. Over 20 years. They ended it by destroying the entire surface of our planet. Slaughtering my people, and scattering what few were left."

There's a deeply angry and bitter tone to her voice now.

"And I couldn't do anything to stop it."

[phoenixwiz]

“The Empire was killing your people and destroying your world’s surface?”

He is trying not to visibly cry in front of her again: Harry has to stay strong for her and he needs to let her know that it wasn’t her fault that Mandalore fell apart this much. Sure, they both did some bad stuff before for what they believe in and the better of others but the groups they have fought against did much worse things imaginable. The deaths of so many Mandalorians by the Empire’s hands begin to echo Voldemort’s vain attempts to take out all the Muggle born and half blood wizards to create a supposedly pureblood only society.

“I’m so sorry that the Empire did such horrible crimes against your people. But it wasn’t your fault that it got so bad: the Empire just got too greedy with power and they have truly believed in their own lies that they would resort to commit terrible things like what they did to your world.”

[mywayistheway]

With her daze downcast, Bo-Katan gave a single shake of her head. Harry didn’t know the details, he was making assumptions. Though he wasn’t entirely wrong either.

“I wasn’t strong enough. A princess who had the darksaber given to her instead of being earned. I gave up that sword and my throne to the enemy to spare my people, but even then I was betrayed.”

Taking a breath, Bo-Katan tries to steady her emotions.

“I spent years trying to get it back. And just when I had gotten it back and reclaimed our home, I was brought here.”

[phoenixwiz]

“I don’t think that you’re weak just for trying your best. You did what you could to ensure your world’s independence and fight for your people with courage and great inner strength,” Harry tries to reassure Bo in the best that he could, “Even the best leaders and fighters can have difficult times under their belts, they can sometimes crack under the pressure too. All the pain and suffering we all go could have broken any one else who isn’t strong enough to push through and stand for themselves and what they believe in. I’m sorry that a lot of bad things did took a toll on you to some degree.”

[mywayistheway]

"Sometimes your best isn't good enough. People still died, Harry. My people nearly wiped out, and I was their leader. I was selfish to think that I was worthy of being Mand'alore, and I'm scared that I'll fail again."

She wrung her hands again in anguish.

"And the one person that I thought believed in me, is gone."