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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Inside Keldor's head is a roiling storm of memories and dreams and revelations dredged up by this hellish place; merging together into a nightmare he'd like very much to wake up from, now.

If Scareglow were here it would only be too fitting.

You were never loved swirls around with He's using you as his key into Eternia, and it's enough to almost make him scream.

It's certainly enough to bring him to his knees, hands tightly clasped to his head; face twisted in pain.

No wonder he got the memory reel as well as the voice. Keldor is not someone who deals with his traumas very well, and the mirror realm knows it, so it drove the point home as clearly as it could, because it knew that once he was out of here, he'd be back to trying to bury his worms. Pretend nothing is wrong.

You must accept help from the others and face your traumas, the one clear thought he has left in his mind says, Or become the thing you fear most.

Somewhere in all this, a voice manages to filter through, but he can't tell if it was said just once and what he's hearing in his head are the echoes, or if someone's been trying to get his attention for some time.

Keldor's reactions are only serving to worry Radley even more. He's really not sure Keldor even heard his question, and at the moment, he's most concerned with bringing him back to the present time and situation. Keldor is clearly far away from that, lost again in the swirl of memories and pain, no doubt.

Radley kneels down to be in front of him. "Keldor, I'm really sorry about everything you've been through and all of these new thoughts and realizations that are bombarding you all at once. But while people were cruel and unfeeling and used you in the past, things are different now! You have a home. You have loved ones!"

He hesitates, then reaches to try to grip Keldor's shoulders, hoping maybe physical contact will penetrate this state if his words alone don't.

"Keldor..," he hears someone say.

A woman.

Lyn.

"Lyn?" he rasps out. "Lyn? It is you?"

"Keldor. Let them help you."

"Help me? How?"

"Trust them. Tell them the truth."

"But I am afraid..."

"No small thing for you to say. You try so hard to be brave. And facing your fears is bravery, though you don't seem to think so."

He's quiet for a moment in this realm-within-a-realm.

"Running from that which frightens you will only bring you closer to it. Will only make it come true."

"The... My... Future..."

"It is a future, love, not the future. One out of many possibilities. But it will be the future if you don't face your demons and finally break the hold he still has on you."

"How...?"

"Trust your friends. Reach out. Be brave. You can do this."

Where... Where the hell is he? And who is it yelling things at him or grabbing him?

"Lyn..."

Sorry. Wrong answer. He blinks a couple of times to clear his vision.

"Who..? ...Ra.."

Shuts his eyes for a second. Damn. His head hurts.

Then, in a tiny voice.

"I want to go home..."

And curl up into a ball under a blanket and just try and make the rest of the world disappear ~~forever~~ for a little while.

While Radley has no idea of the conversation going on in Keldor's mind, he is supremely relieved when Keldor seems to start to come out of his head enough to hear him.

"Home, Keldor?" he repeats. "Which home? Eternia home ... or Pokemon home?"

He knows Keldor wants to ultimately get back to Eternia. He really hopes Keldor can someday ... but only if this Hordak won't be able to get at him. As long as that's a danger, Keldor is better off here, where there's support and stability and people who can try to help. And sweet Pokemon who just love their people and don't judge, as cruel people do.

"I want to take you home," he continues. "The home where you're safe...."

There's a difference? Home is ... home. Right?

"Home. Safe. Yes."

I guess he wants to go to the home that's safest. And Eternia doesn't seem like the safest option of the two right now. Not with the threat of Hordak looming over everything, even if he has friends there.

In the pokemon world, he can do what needs to be done without coming to harm.

Though, it might take a little more prodding yet to get him started on that road ~~stay tuned!~~...

"Okay. I want to take you there...." Radley looks around at their surroundings. They're definitely not out of this place yet. What else could be needed? Keldor wants to go back, and he seems to be accepting these parts of him.... Radley has talked of the Pokemon world, reminding him of it....

"Maybe we can get there together if we both think about it hard? If we think about ... going back together?"

Radley is trying to think of what would have helped him back home if someone had come for him in his deepest despair, what they could have said that would have helped the most. He hopes it might help Keldor too. He can see Keldor is still reeling, still struggling with his memories and thoughts and all of the pain. He wants it to be clear that he wants to help Keldor through it.

If we think...

Keldor would much rather not do very much thinking right now, which is saying something, given how he's someone of a more cerebral type. But this place has taken a lot out of him and just not thinking about anything seems very attractive right now, and going home and have someone care for him—help him get over all this emotional onslaught until he's ready to face it again sounds really good to him.

"...we ... could...," he mumbles, trying very hard to not think or feel at all.

Which seems to be having an effect on the environment anyways.

The less he thinks about anything, the more indistinct this place gets.

Radley has no idea what Keldor is thinking, or not thinking, but he definitely sees the place growing more indistinct.

"That's good," he encourages. "Keep going. Keep thinking about the safe home ... about us going there. Everything's going to be okay. I'll be right here."

He has already helped several others, but they were okay upon leaving this place. He's not sure Keldor will be, and in fact, really fully doubts it, so this will likely be his last foray into this dimension. Keldor will still need his help when they fully leave. He will stay with Keldor.

It'll take a little longer for things to fade away enough that at least we're not in the palace anymore—save for one ornate mirror; just in that midpoint between dimensions.

One mirror. One very-decorated mirror [it is from the palace]. Standing there. The only clear object to be seen.

If a mirrored surface is the way in, then it is also the way out?

Should it be so, Keldor will take it so he can go and rest and not think or feel or whatever for a while until he's properly recovered ~~or, merciful Zoar, he's dragged back in, but the narrative wouldn't do that, would it?~~.

Radley certainly hopes it's the way out. A mirror hasn't been needed for the other people he's helped, but it could certainly be the case here. Anyway, there's not much choice but to try it.

"There's still a mirror," he says. "It might be the way out ... the way home...."

He starts to stand and reaches for Keldor's hands to try to draw him up too. "Let's try to go through it, alright?"

In a place like this, who knows what it'd offer up as the way out. Perhaps it's one of the few logical conclusions it could come to: the way out is the way in.

Keldor nods, accepting Radley's offer...

Or maybe it was just random chance.

He's kind of weak, but he gets up. Slowly.

Who can say?

Radley braces himself, trying to support the much bigger man as best as he can. It wouldn't do to fall over right now. Then he tries to steer Keldor towards the mirror.

"Maybe you just have to look in it?" he suggests. "That seems to be how we get in."

Of all the times it doesn't pay to be size Eternian, it would have to be this time.

Crushing Radley right now wouldn't go over so well. Hard to help out a friend with their emotional problems while lying in a hospital bed, unable to move because of the body cast you're in.

He might not be as coordinated now as he usually is, but Keldor manages to keep his legs and feet mostly under him as he stares at the mirror, trying to will it to send them back.

.....there's no place like home...

Radley manages to support him somehow, trying to add his will to the mirror as well even though he's not sure he can do anything. He would reach out and touch it, but that might warp things the wrong way too. It probably has to be Keldor, at least at first.

"You can do it," he encourages, and hopes that's true. The mirror has to behave....

It's a nice mirror. It really is. He'd looked at it often as a child, and, perhaps someday, he'll get to look at it again. But right now he has a journey and a task ahead of him.

A painful one, but if he goes through it, it just might make seeing this mirror again a real possibility.

But...

Maybe he could just get another close look...

...before heading home...

Radley is getting nervous that it's taking so long. He's worried to get Keldor out of here. Is he still not ready to go? Is the dimension itself going to act up?

"Keldor?" he says after a moment. "Are we going back?"

Maybe he should try touching it. But if he tries to will them back, will it work? Or will it just send him alone back? That would be the worst thing that could happen right now. He resists trying to do anything with the mirror and just continues trying to hold onto Keldor.

To be fair, he's not exactly "with it" right now. His mind is a little too fractured to be able to do very much.

Probably why, when he presses his hand to its surface, not much happens right away. All it'll reflect at first is what's in front of it.

Not for too long, though; it'll only take a few moments to show more than just the mirror realm's elements. On the opposite side is something very familiar: Goldenrod City's city scape and everything in it.

It's enough to get Keldor's mouth to working.

"Fascina—"

Blink.

You're all alone now.

Radley is relieved when Keldor is able to pull himself together enough to get himself out of there, since he wasn't sure he would be able to get Keldor out himself and was worried for Keldor's sake how he would get out if he, Keldor, was unable to do it himself. Radley has been in and out several times now, helping others, so he's able to cross over again easy enough. But did he come out in the same part of the city Keldor did?

He looks around worriedly at the familiar Goldenrod scenery. "Keldor? Are you here?"

Edited 2024-03-17 02:00 (UTC)

"Here" as in "in the city"? Yes. He's here.

Just not where Radley is; only a little ways off. Having a sit while Pidoves peck at his feet looking for seeds to nosh, because standing upright for very long doesn't make him feel so good.

But no worries. Shouldn't be too hard to find someone of Keldor's size, right?

Just how many linebacker-build offworld trainers are there in Goldenrod, anyways?

Radley wanders for a bit, calling for him. Apparently it's near Radley's place, as several Eevees hear and come out to dance around his feet and start calling too.

Finally Radley spots him and hurries over, while Evie happily greets both Keldor and the Pidoves. "Keldor! You made it back. That's great!" He smiles.

Is Keldor feeling any better to be back in this world? Radley hopes it's helped at least somewhat. He's sure there's still much damage control and healing to be had.

Ahhh, the million pokedollar question: is Keldor feeling any better?

It might not look like he is at first, as he seems unresponsive. Oh, he heard Radley all right; Evie too. But it seems that his mind's reaction centre isn't, well... Reacting, just yet.

On account that the energy that would've gone to it is being spent on digesting all of what had just happened.

All that had been revealed to him. And to at least one other, too.

Miro never loved him. That was the truth he both acknowledged and denied at the same time. He acknowledged it by trying to do whatever he could to finally have his father show his son some paternal affection, and he denied it by believing that all these efforts would ever work. And when Miro was banished, he was left with a gaping hole in his heart; a need for someone to fill the role of "father". Something the then-Man-at-Arms Dekker helped fill for a time, but it was not to last, for a soldier must be a soldier at all times in war.

And it was this truth that made him vulnerable to Hordak. Someone who was taking full advantage of this in order to mould the young man into something Keldor has some idea of what it might be, for he sees it often in dreams.

And yet, even now, he wants to erect barriers to keep others out; to avoid feeling the pain he needs to feel if he's to finally move on, break free and realise his potential. He's gotten used to doing so, and habits are hard to break if they're long established.

So, when he finally does respond, it's just with tears in his eyes.

Deep down, he's still just a little boy who needs his father.

Radley sobers, not surprised to see the pain and the tears in Keldor's eyes but saddened all the same.

He kneels down and lays a hand on Keldor's shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he says quietly. For so much.... That Miro never appreciated or loved him.... That Keldor has finally had to face that.... That having Dekker as a father figure couldn't last.... That Hordak wretchedly manipulated someone so vulnerable and so desperately in need of love....

Radley feels anger swell in him, directed at that monster as well as at Miro. Why ... why is life so cruel and unfair for some? Everyone has trials, but it seems that some really get more of a short end of the stick than others.

He will stay there with Keldor until he's ready to get up.

The Eevees, sensing this is a serious situation, sit down around them and look up. Evie tries rubbing Keldor encouragingly.

The franchise itself, Radley, is—not to put too fine a point on it—not very kind to Keldor. Like it exists to subject him to things like horrors unfathomable, or to become the person people come to hate and fear.

Thanks a lot, Mattel.

At any rate, it'll be just before his face is all red and blotchy again before he stops crying. Just because he's letting a trusted friend see him cry doesn't mean he still doesn't have some pride over things like expressing his emotions in such a fashion.

Especially when it affects his looks, which may be why he's hiding in his hair a bit.

There is a little vanity in him, after all.

"I do not know," he begins, offering his lap to Evie, "What I am to do. I know what I ought not to do, but not what ought to be done."

There's a pause before one of Keldor utters one of his biggest understatements.

"I am not used to dealing with or facing matters of this nature."

Evie hops in his lap and starts to purr. Purring cats are supposed to have healing properties. Perhaps purring Eevees do too.

Radley ponders the problem: all that they were shown, what those things meant ... what might need to be done. He ponders how he himself dealt with the problem with his grandmother.

"I think ... you have to get to where you're not so desperate for a father figure that you latch on to anyone who might be able to fill that role?" he says at last. "You have to get to where you can stand on your own without that, because it's a problem that's stifling and hurting you, to say the least. You have to focus on yourself, and on the ones you have who do care about you.

"And I know that's easier said than done. I had a situation like that with my grandmother. I always wanted her to love me ... even just to like me. Nothing I ever did was good enough, but I kept trying. I tried for years to be what she wanted me to be. There's still a part of me that hopes someday she'll care about me. But ... I had to move past that, to be my own person ... even if that meant being someone she'll never love. I had to accept that she probably never will feel that way about me. I'm still not happy about it. I still wish it would be different. But I don't let those feelings dictate how I live my life."

Keldor wants to protest; to say that a grandparent's approval isn't the same as that of a parent's. He'd never known his, and that thought had never bothered him—especially considering how kings become kings in the first place.

He understood that.

But that's not why he's not voicing his disagreements.

Does it really matter who you're trying to get approval from, if it's affecting you like it does? Putting you in harm's way like it is?

In the end, not really.

"I ... am not sure how to embark upon such a process," Keldor admits while patting Evie. "It feels so monumental an undertaking. A nigh-impossible feat."

Well, there's always seeking counseling or therapy, Keldor. Zoar knows how much the narrative has said that, elsewhere.

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