victory_road | Event: The Reveal Glass

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Event: The Reveal Glass

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.

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At first, it comes as a relief to see McDuck Manor. Not only has it been a while (too long, really, but only when he stops to think about it-- so he tries not to do that) but in this strange and ever-changing place? He'll take anything he recognizes, albeit not looking at all normal. And... Louie's still piecing together what little he can about all that's going on. He doesn't have much figured out, but there's enough for him to suspect who he'll find in the mansion.

The colors he's seeing don't leave much to the imagination, anyway.

But as his once-again-duck-feet plod down the halls on the familiar path to his and his brothers' bedroom, Louie soon realizes he might be in for a rough time, judging by how things look around here. But... Sure, he knows that for all his nerdy uptightness, Huey also has a temper that could just about rival Uncle Donald's. But that's not the only or even the first thing his mind goes to, because frankly, he's already seen some strange things with whatever's going on. He just knows he should brace himself for intensity as he pushes open the bedroom door.

It's strange, how it seems so easy to know what he's looking at without it exactly being what he's looking at. The colorless shore, that he doesn't understand. But he also barely considers it, really. And that's because he sees his brother in a rage-- to a degree he hasn't seen often and not in quite some time. And he sees who his fury is aimed at, but not for the eagle and cougar they appear to be, and well... It feels really, really bad.

Louie, normally so attentive especially in cases of danger, doesn't register Huey stop or even turn on him. Even once the blue and green animals vanish, he's still looking at the space where the cougar was.

"That's me, right."

It's not a question.

At first, the only thing out of Huey is a bullish snort, complete with breath puffing out his nostrils. He scrapes his foot a few times, preparing to charge; there's a deep rumble of a growl in his throat. Momentarily, a voice snaps somewhere all around, words garbled but sounding panicked. But Huey shakes it off, bends down, and begins to run straight at Louie.

Doesn't look like his brother is going to get any different treatment than the animals. Decision, Louie?

The snort does get Louie's attention. With a yelp, he is quick to try and scramble out of the way. Maybe he's the older one now, technically, but he's sure not feeling all that wise. Huey's mad at him, and Dewey, and clearly that goes beyond the big animal symbolism versions of the two. But Louie can't figure out why! There's always sibling stuff on and off, sure, but this has got to be bigger than that.

As the immediacy of stumbling in on a scene that made him feel like a terrible brother fades, and the adrenaline of stress and fear takes over, Louie can't help but find the whole thing sort of frustrating. Especially in light of the timing-- Huey hasn't been back for long and now this?

"Hue! What the heck?"

Unopposed directly, Huey finishes his charge and makes a leap for Louie, which misses when he ducks out of the way. Flying past, Huey catches himself with his claws and flips around, hunched over and preparing to go again.

The disembodied voice snaps against the back of his neck like a whip, causing him to flinch and stagger back momentarily. But he recovers with an angry snarl, and starts his second run.

Louie knows he likely won't hold out evading Huey for too long, and certainly won't do much fighting back. The best is to evade while making his way towards an escape, until he can make a break for it... Even if Louie does feel gross about leaving his brother like this, in a way that mingles unpleasantly with his frustration.

And because he's still talking through this - of course, because that's what Louie does, and even if it won't help calm Huey down it helps him feel a little more in control - those tense feelings come out in his words as he moves to duck out of the way of the next move.

"Dude, come on! What did I do? You're the one who left me behind!"

It doesn't make sense. Louie knows all too well no one gets to decide when or if they go back home from this place. But despite that, the emotion behind the flawed logic is sincere.

Huey goes flying past again, but this time rather than catching himself, Louie's statement- much as the ambient voice had also done -hit him like a physical blow. He goes tumbling with a cry, rolling over a few times before coming to a stop near the "shoreline" on his back. He lays there for several long seconds, breathing deeply.

Then a fist came up, slammed back down against the ground. There was a stretch of silence and then, "It's not- fair!" He sits up, and there's a good enough look at him to see he's back to himself now, before he curls up into a ball. "I was doing so good before this...! It's not-!

"Not fair."

As Huey stumbles, Louie hurries after him. He only stops - abruptly, with a quick skid - not when Huey lands, but rather, when he angrily punches the ground. He doesn't know what's going on, but at the mention of things not being fair, there's one last flair of frustration. The feelings of indignancy at his brother leaving, which Louie had set aside for a long time, have been pulled back front and center.

"Lots of things aren't!" he exclaims, but then with a heavy sigh, he nears Huey, holding down his hand as offered help getting up. "Sorry, that's not... I don't know. Not gonna help, or whatever. But I don't get it, Huey. What's all-- Why?"

There's a long pause before it but he does eventually take the hand, pulling himself up to his feet. He doesn't look up at Louie though, his head staying down, eyes downcast.

"It's dumb. I- I thought I had control of this...!" A sharp gesture around him. "Then- then I came back, and discovered how much you'd evolved, how much you'd grown." That's when he looked up, eyes wide and almost panicked. "Which is great! I'm not saying that it isn't!"

He breathed in, sighed, walked past Louie. "...I'm upset I missed it, is all. I'm upset that- that everything you've got is everything I ever wanted to see you or Dewey achieve! And I'm just upset- no, mad -that I don't feel like I have a place anymore!"

Huey stiffened a moment, but was able to pull himself back with a calming breath. Seven seconds, four seconds, eleven seconds. Okay. "...Which is dumb. The dumbest thing I've ever said. So go ahead, make fun of me for it. Get it over with."

Louie can't help but wonder if maybe he should've seen this coming. Some of it, anyway. After all, Louie had dealt with feeling like he doesn't have his own place in things, back home. And it was impossible to miss the way Dewey was constantly trying to carve a spot out for himself. But Huey? Louie didn't think of him as questioning where he stood, not the way the other two brothers did.

So while the statement about having things "under control" is puzzling to him - aware of Huey's temper though he is, he doesn't think of it as something to quash down - the rest makes sense. It's familiar. And, okay, yeah, maybe Louie's realizing that he's still mad at Huey for leaving. But it wasn't a choice Huey made, and it seems like even despite that fact, he's already beating himself up for it enough.

"You're right," Louie mumbles, as he hugs Huey from behind. "That's a really dumb thing to say, especially for someone so smart. You'll always have-- You're my brother, Hue, and you've been looking out for me as long as I can remember! That means a lot."

He sighs, and starts to stand back from the hug, but winds up leaning into it more instead.

"But if you feel like you don't have a place, you know, that's how you feel. I don't think that part's dumb, it just stinks that you do. And it stinks that I helped make you feel that way. I don't want to do that."

Oh. That hug felt nice. It wasn't like they just didn't do that, they did. ...He guessed. Then again, hugging in relief after dodging the latest deadly threat is something a bit different than a comforting, familial hug. Sure they did those too, and it didn't have to be frequent or not to feel good in a moment like this. Fine, forget the way the hug felt, just listen to the words.

Hearing Louie kinda just. Validate those feelings also felt kinda nice. There was a brief little smile there and then it was gone as he sighed.

"You didn't actually do anything. It's not like you could've stopped growing, just like I couldn't control leaving." He turned in the hug, facing Louie now and wrapping his arms around him. "And I'll- always be there for you, just like I've always been. Dewey needed help sure, but then he got Webby, and picked up flying from Mom and all that..."

It was Huey who broke the hug, though he only stepped back so he could look at Louie directly. "But I always especially wanted to be there for you. You weren't good at a lot of stuff and you got scared a lot and got hurt a lot. And I was the big brother taking care of you, and that worked out great...! Until it didn't. I came back here, and it was like no time for me but all the time for you, and now you don't need me taking care of you anymore. It's..." A weak, humorless laugh.

"It's been kind of a hard pill to swallow."

"It's also a wrong pill to swallow," Louie points out, followed by a huff at his own clunky phrasing. His whole thing is conversation, talking, but when it really matters in an emotional it's much more difficult. "What I mean is... I don't know, I guess I don't need you to take care of me anymore. Not as much. Yeah, that's kind of true.

"But that's a good thing. 'Cause I needed to grow up more anyway. You're my big brother, and you're good at that, but we're still triplets. And it didn't always feel like--" Louie gave a little shrug before reaching up to his hoodie, each hand fussing with one of the hood's pulls. "Sure, I don't have everything figured out. I still need help with things, and a lot of it can be from you. I bet it will be. But now that I know more about some stuff, or at least about being here, I can help you with things, too. We can take care of each other, and I think that's... You know, pretty cool."

He was silent for a good, long moment, just staring at Louie while he digested that. Louie definitely had to grow up, that was for certain. Happened to everyone! More or less. And sure, he'd missed a lot of it, but he could be there for the rest of it, going forward.

Besides... Louie had grown up. That.. that was amazing. How could he even dare knock that down?

"You're right. It is pretty cool." Huey offered him a warm, genuine smile, though it faded to an apologetic look after a moment. "Sorry about all this, and not telling you or anything. I really thought this," he waved a hand around them again, "wouldn't be a problem anymore, and I guess it just made the whole deal about coming back and missing stuff that much worse."

Louie's brow furrows as he frowns, letting go of the strings on his hoodie. He's glad he got through to Huey about all of that. At least, he hopes he really did, and Huey's not acting out of some feeling of brotherly duty to be an adult. But...

"You're gonna have to help me understand that part, too, man. You keep talking about controlling this, but I don't think I know what you mean by that."

Huey gave Louie a long, uncertain look, then sighed. After gesturing for him to follow, he started walking; such was the mindscape that in a blink they were by the iron doors. He gently pushed on one, putting it back on its hinge and shutting it inelegantly.

"The representation of my inner emotions. Pure, unstoppable rage, unreason, chaos. Back when we all hunted the pieces of the Sword of Swanstantine, Lena helped me see my way to harnessing it and controlling it." He shut the other door, letting the scrawled, clawed paint reading The Duke of Making A Mess be fully legible. "She told me that you've gotta accept all the parts of yourself, even the bad ones. I thought I had.

"Guess I hadn't." Which itself was extremely frustrating. At least it hadn't quite spilled out past his mentalscape like had happened a few times back home. Yet.

Louie looked from the doors to Huey and back, confusedly trying to figure out if he was missing something.

"Are we even sure it's a bad part of you? Going to far with anything is one thing, but I don't know..."

His frown deepened for a moment as he continued looking at those doors. Maybe he wouldn't get it, because while he didn't like it when things didn't make sense and got too unpredictable, he couldn't say he cared about reason and order the way Huey did. His own views on all of that were different, so maybe it was just a disconnect...? He shook his head just a little before turning back to Huey, expression lightening a bit.

"To me it's always felt like you get worked up sometimes because of how much you care about something. Or someone, because maybe you call it a Duke... I just see the same part of my brother that would - and has - knock a Beagle Boy out with a shovel to protect me."

For a moment Huey was truly touched by that sentiment. Louie... thought it was cool? At least between the lines it sounded like that. But Huey just couldn't get past his own problems with the inner Duke to really let Louie's words get much purchase.

"Hurting people isn't cool, Louie! That's what I'm like when that part of me is in control. It's like Uncle Donald's temper but even worse. And the more I try to push that away, the harder it gets to push it away. Even when I think I've actually got it under control."

He sighed, shoulders defeated. "I really don't."

Louie fixed his brother with a flat stare, one eyebrow raised. How was this the same person who was worried any part of himself was too purely chaotic?

"Yeah, it's not cool to just do it because you can. But that's not the same as protecting someone else... Also, I'm sorry, did you miss the parts in all our adventures with Uncle Scrooge where butt-kicking saved our lives? Not even starting with some of the things people here have had to--"

Louie blew out a frustrated raspberry. Okay, he was getting off the subject, here. That wasn't the big thing they were dealing with.

"Sorry, sorry." He rubbed at his forehead. "You're fine, I do get it. But I gotta ask, if trying to push it away stresses you out, and it just makes it harder to deal with your temper anyway... What's the point?"

"The point-!" His voice echoed unnaturally and he stopped, sighed, pulled himself back again. It was all too easy to let it all out in this place, he had to be extra vigilant. Louie was who he wanted to hurt least.

"The point is that I've learned I can't control you or anyone else, or anything around me. I can only control myself. Except I can't! Not until I get permanent hold on this part of me. Especially because I don't wanna hurt people."

"No, no," Louie sighed. But there was more fond amusement than anything else in that sigh, as he shook his head. "I mean: What's the point of trying to control this stuff in a way that doesn't work? I'm not sure pushing it away should even really count as controlling it."

Thoughtfully, he rubbed at his beak with his fist. "Either way, you said dealing with things like that has only made your temper harder to control. That's diminishing returns, Hue."

Louie pauses for a moment at his own phrasing. He thinks that's a correct way to put it, maybe? Or maybe he just really needs to finish the book Armin got him for Christmas... But it's fine. It gets the point across.

"Anyway, wouldn't working with all of it be better?"

"Well I- Yes, it would." Frustrated with all of this, Huey paced away, hand furiously scrubbing at his head. For just a moment there was a red flash in his eyes but he was able to pull it back, breathing deeply. Long hold. Loooonnng breath out.

"I have before. And I know how, which just makes this- even more exasperating!" Whirling around, he stared at Louie almost imploringly, hands out. "I should be better than this!

"...Shouldn't I?" He's the big brother. He's learned how to control his temper! Had used it to defeat FOWL! And now he was just back at square one. Square zero, even.

Louie just looked back in confusion at first, before realizing Huey was asking that in all earnestness.

"I don't know, Hue. I have three years of growing up on you, not thirty..." He shrugged awkwardly. "But I don't think so. Someday, maybe. Right now we're just kids. We're gonna mess up a lot, right? Even Uncle Scrooge isn't always better than doing things you'd think he knows better than doing. And he's super old, so..."

The mention of the three years brought a hardness to his eyes, for just a breath of a moment. Then he shook it off, literally so as it moved into a general shake of his head.

"I know it's just a human thing to mess up. And we're kids," he had to bite back the bitter 'Some of us anyway' that bubbled in his brain, "and are just gonna mess up more. I'm just upset that it's over something that doesn't even matter! And that it's over something I'd already made peace with in me!" He sighed in frustration, scrubbing at his face. "Or I thought I had."

Louie nodded at what was a fairly familiar sentiment, then rested his hand on Huey's shoulder.

"Nah, it's frustrating. I'm not going to argue with you there, but I also know you too well to think you'd give up on something that takes time and work." He sighed softly, looking off a bit. "You'll figure it out, Hue. And while you're still working on it, I'm not going to be impatient about it. I'll be there for you through it all, okay?"

He looked back to his brother. "I have a really good example to follow on that stuff."

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Event: The Reveal Glass

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