//Eh yaknow what since we're still lacking our rp spark and the whole arc's been junked we might as well share our own persona things.
Firstly, the personae themselves
Empowerment skills refer to skills triggered under the effect of an Empowerment Seed or similar.
Tsukiyom-inari(Ice/Ailment):
“Inari is a flexible deity in myth, being portrayed in many different aspects and interpretations across Japan, depending on the individual. This one combines them with the moon god Tsukiyomi, who rules the night whence foxes prowl.”
Meteoric Ice Magic that can leave misty residue behind, Ailment inducing physical skills boosted by Ailment Boost, Ghastly Wail around midgame, Ambient Aid to pair with Jake's Snowscape. Counter skills. Maybe tetrakarn. Unfortunately only has an average SP for a magic build.
Empowerment Skill: Malicious Reap
Medium Phys damage, high fear, high crit.
Trait: Cursed Harvest.
Increased Crit/Ailment chance for physical skills after a few turns.
Amateras-usagi(Fire/Phys)
“In one telling of The Hare Of Inaba, Amaterasu - in search of a site of a temporary palace - was suddenly led atop a mountain to the perfect place, Ise Ge Naru, by a white hare. As suddenly as the hare appeared, it disappeared. Perhaps it is the same Hare God that tricked a group of sharks into helping it cross the sea.”
Fire and Healing Magic, Fast, powerful Phys damage boosted by baton passes, High HP, but middling endurance, low survivability up until she learns…
Empowerment Skill: Rising Sun.
Halves cost of physical skills while regenerating HP each turn.
Trait: Blessed Rise
Increases healing amount/buff duration for the first few turns of battle.
Amatsu-Mikaboshi(Light/Dark/Almighty):
“An enigmatic God, if it is even that. Whether a disobedient god of stars, or a primordial nothing that all life has sprung from, one thing is clear: Amatsu Mikaboshi is not to be trifled with. It is known as the Dread Star Of Heaven.”
Trait:
None…yet.
We never made this design so just imagine amatsu mikaboshi but with the fox proudly standing on the black hole hands and the cloak being white and gold.
This one is a bit of an odd tier 3 persona, only manifesting if both users are Empowered.
Amatsu-Kami:
“Kami born in or residing in the higher plain of heaven, Takamagahara. On Kuni-Yuzuri, their descendants descend to earth to pacify the earthly realm and its own Kami.”
Trait: Gaze of The Universe
Enhances all skills when landing a critical hit. Increased Ailment chance, Healing Amount, Buff Duration, Decreased Skill cost and crit chance.
Light, Darkness, and Almighty magic damage.
And the shadow confrontation. I'm actually kinda proud of it, with it going a few months untouched.
“Wait, hang on a mo…”
Guardian paused in front of a particularly lopsided building, pawing at his fur.
“Ugh, this place makes my fur all frizzy…” He grumbles, trying to smooth it, groaning when it springs right back up. Scarlet pauses her advance to try and help. “Here, let me try.”
"Pffahahaha…Oh, oh that is rich…”
The pair's ears twitch and they turn around, scanning the twisted landscape for the disturbingly familiar voices. But what they see peering down a pair of jagged windows explains what made Guardian's hackles involuntarily raise.
One was a boy with short blue hair, a blue leather vest over a white diamond tee, and a singular spiked blue glove on his right hand. The other, a garden variety Cinderace in a hand knit sweater with ears lopped down in agitation. Both sneer down at them with piercing golden eyes.
“Is that…Me?”
Scarlet and Guardian couldn't believe their eyes. Indeed, The figures were mirror images of what they had looked like just before they'd fallen into the starlight universe.
"'Oh, having fur and a tail is sooooo cool, isn't it?" The past Guardian continued mockingly, "It's soft, it's cute, and it's comfy. I don't even mind getting snagged on things all the time," He muttered, tightening his glove with a scornful look. "But what about matting? And if it's spilled on its hell to clean...So many unbearably strong stenches I never knew...”
"What the fu...?" Guardian can't help but mutter. Paying no mind, the boy continues with, "While yes, my senses were weaker, I had more of my brain dedicated to higher thought before falling, didn't I? Never seen a pokemon create anything worth a damn in my life! And He thinks he can handle something as complex as a multiverse simulator? Pahah!" He laughed to himself.
The color drained from Guardian's fur. "Wh…How could you say that? A-And you have the gall to mock him wearing MY old face?!" He snarled.
"Hehehe…Cuz it's an old truth, why shouldn't I wear my old face alongside it?" Crooned the boy, framing a sickeningly deep grin with his hand.
"Wh-! T-The hell are you talking about!?"
Scarlet tightens all four of her hands into fists, stepping in front and raising one to deck a fool, "Oh, bugger off, you don't know the first thing about him!!"
At this, the boy and bunny above chuckle. "Oh? Just because you're in each other's heads means you know every little teensy tiny thing about each other? Every secret?"
Scarlet glared daggers as the other bunny continued speaking. "Which is strange, considering how fantastically powerful I am. Such things should be privy for an Angel, from her pet."
Guardian froze. "W-Wait, huh?" He whimpered, Tears forming in his eyes.
"Pet?!" Scarlet roared, over the copy’s cackling, “I…Do you WANT to get atomized?!”
“Ooohohoho! Such passion, such fervor, and all of it SQUANDERED on saving one singular, pathetic little imp,”
The thing's smile was almost bigger than its face could hold. “Don't we remember your wish? You need to be EFFICIENT with such magnificent might, right? He's dead weight! Nothing without you!”
Blue Boy rolled its golden eyes. “If only I weren't such an affront to Arceus, maybe such a High and Mighty Angel needn’t waste her time on such a ‘hopeless case’…” It scoffed, facepalming in amusement. “I mean, look at him! The hell kind of pokemon are you even supposed to BE?!” He sighs, leaning over the windowsill as Guardian looks down at himself.
“You could have any form at all and went with THAT? Are we human or not?? You could have redeemed humanity after RR fucked it up for us here!!”
///quick ooc aside, this was Guardians design at the time....
////...which was going to be replaced with this one after this thread.
//Okay back to your regularly scheduled oncoming meltdown.
“I…N-No, that's…I…” “I mean, it's the least you could do after leaving everyone we loved to DIE after all.” That was too much. Guardian begins to break down, and with his mind his body follows suit. He barely stays shaped like himself as a panicked Scarlet snatches him up. “Jake!!! No! Nonono, it wasn't your fault! You're no burden…” The Angel's eyes turned from darting worry to burning rage as her shadow continued to chortle from her high and mighty perch.
“And yet, the thought breaks him all the same. And yet, I still try to protect, help, even “save” this FRAGILE little whisper? I'm much above that, aren't I?”
Scarlet growls, wiping a drop of herself off her brow. It was getting to her but she couldn't show it. She must hold firm. She must. It was wrong. A trick. A ruse. A-
“I'm an Angel now, I'm destined for way more than him. Moooore heroics, More Fans - No, WORSHIPPERS!!! AHAHAHAhahaha…”
“...Grr, Some angel, you doomed our world the same as me,” Other Guardian spat, which drew a glare. “S-Silence, mortal!” Other Guardian shrunk back in fear, but Scarlet's copy…It looked so unbothered by the other Guardian’s words. It made Scarlet sick.
“No way, I'm his partner, even after all of that! And they're NOT worshippers, they're not!!!
Who the hell even are you two?!” She shrieked, thumping her paws angrily.
“We told you,” droned the amber eyed pair, “We are you. And you are us.”
“Bullshit!!” Rei cried into the blackened sky. “Nobody thinks like that, e-especially not us!”
“And yet,” “Here.” “We.” “Still.” “Are.” They passed the verbal ball with nightmarish ease, unnerving them more and more with each volley. “If it's wrong, why are you so freaked out? Admit it already…” Scarlet blinks away a tear, and they're gone.
Guardian is wildly losing his cool, and Scarlet isn't far behind, wildly twisting her head back and forth, dreading an ambush.
“I don't want to let this puny wisp tie me down. You want to break free, just let him disappear, so you may light the whole world!”
“I should be putting my human mind to use for the multiverse! Not risking my life day in and day out for these dummy dungeoneers!”
“And most of all…”
The shadows reappear right behind them, revealing what their high perch had hid: A grotesque, bloody black mass connecting their torsos in place of legs.
“You MURDERED a whole world, and have yet to even BEGIN atoning!”
The atmosphere in the realm shifted, violently. “Mehehehehe…YAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! Oh, you couldn't be more right!!”
“And if you're not us…Then we have no more need of you!!”
Power surged from the conjoined shadows, and Scarlet had no time to react as a wave of pain washed over her. Her body rapidly destabilized like Guardian, and they both splattered to the ground.
They could only watch from the ground as the worst of them both assumed it's most powerful form.
An emaciated, bifurcated torso in shackles. One half Red, the other half Blue. Red had a great set of iridescent Angel wings coming out of its temples. Its face was cute enough, but bore the ferocity of a spurned god behind its shallow eyes. It held a massive black shield. The Blue half’s face was a mishmash of human, vulpine, and lapine features, hiding a great sadness behind a sneer. It held a heavy black cutlass.
Connecting them was a caged sphere of desolate rock, which sat at the apex of a stomach turning mass of what could only be described as a mountain of corpses, some of which still living enough to grasp for something, ANYTHING, forming writhing legs with which to drag itself. A chain of arms reached up from the cage and wrapped around Red’s wings, pulled Blue’s tail as if trying to rip it off, and grasped their necks…
The two halves clanged their weapons together with fervor, the “soul skirt” wailing as they moved. It readied its sword, charging it with a curse. Scarlet tries to raise her ear arms to catch it, but nothing in the silver mass of their combined form will move, no matter how much she cried for it to.
The Shadows cackling, Scarlet curled protectively over Guardian, trying desperately to at least protect him as the sword fell…But a Green energy barrier surrounded by runes put a stop to the attack, blowing shadow SG back into the building. It roars, brandishing its blade. “Who DARES-?!”
(Gang gang, the cavalry's here, Futaba and the thieves, Emma, and some other people we didn't get to hash out. They say some things and ready for battle.)
“We are shadows. The true selves.” “Hmph, so you'd come to the aid of these wretches?” “Th-Then you'll join them in Hell!!”
(Le epik anime battle that also seeds the pairs true insecurities)
A pair of grunts and groans sounded off from the opposite end of the platform. Scarlet and Guardian slowly got back to their feet. “Oof, thanks for the save, all…”
“Ugh, that was terrifying.”
The shadows were back to their normal shapes, connecting black ooze and all. They just stood there, idle. This…irked Guardian.
“What, nothing else to say?” “....” “No more dirty little secrets??” The shadows still said nothing, and stared vacantly at their counterparts. “Say something, damnit!!!” He shrieked, raising a claw and advancing on them.
(Futaba stops them and explains what happens when a shadow dies and her own shadow turning into her persona)
Guardian paused at this. Scarlet seemed to have a similar realization.
“...Okay. Lets…We'll try something. Try talking.” They both looked at each other, then back at the shadows, taking a breath, and a step forward. Then another.
Guardian was first to speak. “...Yeah. Yeah, As much as I say I prefer this form to my old one, I…I miss it. My old one. But not just because I didn't have the baggage of stronger senses.
I just…I…”
He wobbled, then dropped to his knees, sobbing. “I miss Mom, Dad, Hop, Penny, Everyone…!!”
“...And what are you going to do now?”
“!?” He looked up, and the shadow was kneeling to his level, the black ooze having receded down to its ankles. “I…*Sniff* I…I can't bring them back. Not even with the awesome power of Scarlet Guardian.” Wiping his eyes, he couldn't meet the shadows gaze. It extended a hand. “You didn't answer my question.”
“I…I'm going to…”
“Go on. I'm not going to hurt you again.”
Guardian knew it wasn't lying. Slowly, he reached for the extended hand. “I'm going to fight in their memory, try to preserve the good parts of humanity in spite of…no,” He grasped it. “BECAUSE of the bad first impression.” Shadow Guardian smiled, nodding as the ooze let him go.
//reminder, rainbow rocket was this universes introduction to humanity.
It was Scarlet's turn. Throughout the Guardian's talk, she'd just been staring down at her shadow over her chest, at a loss for words or…even what to do. She grimaced, closing her eyes.
When she opened them again, the shadow was eye to eye with her. She blinked in surprise, then finally it came to her, being on the same level as everything she didn't like about herself.
“I’m. A bit of a bighead, like most Cinderace can be. I will admit there's no thrill quite like a big crowd chanting your name. It feels so….powerful.”
She looks down at her hands. Both sets.
“I like to think I'm better than that when I'm not on a stage, but…when I'm not a champion, I'm an angel. Kind, wise, strong…I hate feeling like I'm better than any one person just because I'm lucky.”
“The point?”
“I…Right. I say all that and I even wound up looking down at MYSELF for a bit there.
Feeling strong and loved and adored is incredible, and the power I wished for us even moreso but…Having all of that, but being unable to help those closest to you? It burns worse than anything.” She sighs, looking at Guardian. “If I was just a little more caring, I'd have probably found a way to go to our old universe and save it as Scarlet Guardian.”
“So what now?” Shadow Scarlet extended her paw.
“I…I’ll accept I'm not perfect. That I'm fallible, even if everybody wants to convince me otherwise.”
“Oh really?”
“...No, you're right. I don't need to be perfect,” They clasped paws. “and I never did.”
The black ooze is completely gone.
A light shone from the shadows. It grew and grew until everyone had to close their eyes from the intensity. It transitioned from a blinding white to a soft blue, revealing the shadows' new shapes.
“I am thou.”
Guardian held paws with a statue of a fox blacksmith erected atop a black moon, with golden cracks blemishing its stone skin. It slung a large harvesting sickle over its shoulder, the blade resting against its own neck. A great tail of ice crystals stretched behind it.
“Thou Art I.”
A winglike hand enveloped Scarlet's paw, belonging to a large woman rising from a white star. It wore a 3 pronged crown like her own, but the points elongated and bent behind it in place of ears. Its arms were wide and long, with one wearing a round orange shield adorned in 4 pointed blades. Its smiling face was adorned with an imperfect infinity symbol.
[A lock on thy heart is broken. And from its ashes arises a new conviction.]
[Thy heart is a Sword and Shield. That which carves a road through dusk to dawn.]
[Betwixt and Between, know thy road is forward, and yours alone.]
The personas shimmered gently before them. With a final nod, they melted into light and shadow and merged into their bearers. Guardian flexed his hand, then scratched the back of his head sheepishly, while Scarlet pressed a hand to her heart with a deep breath.
Slowly, both held out their hands in front of them.
Bluish white embers gathered and pooled in Guardian's palm, which stretched and spiraled into shape. A thick spiraling shaft, ending in a large spearpoint adorned with a moon, with a smaller axe head just below, and a massive hammer head on the opposite side. A round hand guard cradled his paw, decorated at the bottom with triangular notched ears pointing outwards. A charm of a navy blue Fox holding a Star connected to the very bottom by its tail.
With a crackle and fizz, crimson sparks gathered between Scarlet's fingers, and with a murmur of thunder a long, zigzagging yellow blade appeared, ending with a pink axe head shaped like a heart. A guard shaped like her voluminous red hair connected to the blade via a sun shaped jewel. A chain of lightning bolts extended from the handle, ending in a charm of the crowned heart on her sweater.
//gfdi I don't mean to keep reblogging things to here
I've literally not deleted this already because we're gonna do one more thing first but it's taking a billion eternities to happen and our patience is more worn than a Cinderaces canvas running shoes.
Okay, I have been meaning to say this for a while, because I think this is a noticeable problem in our community:
Every ask matters
And yet there are NONE
Do you feel bored in this RP fandom?
Tired of browsing a rarely updating tag?
Notice how half the community is joining ask games?
Ever wonder why many OS RP blogs go almost completely inactive?
Notice how there's half a dozen boring and slow as hell arcs going on recently?
This is because many blogs get NO asks at all. Popular or not.
Even OS Game RP giants like @diginiko-asks and @nyat-a-cat (currently shadowbanned so ask @the-kerfus-machine ) can experience a complete lack of asks sent sometimes!
And we need YOU to send some to the blogs you follow!
No matter what you send, no matter if they get answered or not, having asks to answer is good for everyone!
If you find yourself constantly waiting for asks all day, without actually sending asks out yourself, you are a part of the problem!
This community thrives on interaction, not waiting!
Want to help this community? Want to improve people's days?
Try sending three or more asks to random blogs a day!
Feel anxious to send asks? Nobody in this RP will do anything to you, and the characters do not reflect any of the blog runners intentions. Also, the anon option is there for a reason! Always remember that you have good intentions!
Feel like you will worsen someone's day by sending an ask? As long as you follow the rules set by the blog runner, you won't! At worst, it's a forgivable annoyance.
And if you are running an RP blog, remember: you are not obligated to reply to any asks sent, do not let this hobby cause you burnout.
"Oh, but I don't know who to ask!"
Just browse the "#OS game RP" tag, it's more effective than you might think at finding new blogs!
Check the blogs you follow, there's likely an RP blog or two you forgot about.
There's already large lists of OS game RP blogs out there, check out Mapmaker's interview list and the fifh masterpost!
"Oh, but I don't know what to ask!"
Here's some ideas:
Philosophy, hobbies, and specific preferences are simple topics to form questions in, and can tell a lot about a character!
Ask something as YOUR character! - Have a casual conversation between two different characters with someone else in a thread, share lore on the way, tell stories, and have fun!
Question some lore! - If you can ask something regarding a character's backstory, especially to fill in the potential plot holes, that can be very healthy for the writing side of running an RP blog!
A lot of blogs are actually fine with M!As, if they are simple or interesting!
Found yourself questioning or answering something interesting out of RP? Great ask!
Found something interesting in a quiz? That's a great ask idea!
Came up with something that would probably cause funny reactions? - Ask away!
Heard a silly question in general? Great! Guess who you can redirect it to!
Remember: Questions do not have to be complicated! Don't feel bad if something of yours does not get answered, because you had good intentions in the end!
But I am never going to tell you to send people random nonsense just for them to not have empty inboxes, so try to avoid:
Random memes/words - These are hard to work with and are unlikely to lead to interesting things.
Basic compliments - Most characters will probably say "thanks", unless they have a backstory for it.
Repeating jokes - No one's gonna have fun if you just send "Fifh" to Freeware entity for the 15th time without putting a unique twist on it.
Spam, NSFW, exc. - Just no.
In general, it's best to put thought in your asks.
If you have anything to state on the topic, please do so in the reblogs. I encourage you to check them.
Share this around and tell your friends to send out asks regularly!
gummygunk
blakekathryn
theartofmadeline
janainaart
