Too Many Illusions

RP blog run by @Zalpacka for all their AUs of Illusion/Reality Steve

[toomanyillusions]

(INTRO POST)

"I think I finally got it working..."

Someone with long, light blue hair (specifically #d0f1f3) tied back into a low ponytail with dark purple streaks in the front and, strangely enough, silvery star shaped confetti mixed in, stands holding up a camera to their face. Their right eye has what looks to be a very pixelated Google Chrome symbol over it, the other looking relatively normal if not for the pinkish purple iris.

"I don't know if anyone can hear me or will even find this, but... Hello, my name is Reality Steve and- in some sick twist of fate, as per usual- I've ended up stuck in this place with a handful of different universal versions of... myself?"

"If anyone finds this, please, reach out. Anything is a welcome distraction from... all of this."

OOC LIST OF PEOPLE HERE:

Artful Agony AU Reality (the one talking here)

Genderbent Illusion

The Epic Saga AU Reality

Other Friends AU Reality

Out Of Bounds AU Reality (and sometimes Sabre)

Alt Saga AU Illusion

Hero/Villain AU Illusion

Server Not Found AU Illusion

Game Master AU Illusion

Backrooms AU Illusion (recently added)

[toomanyillusions]

He thinks for a second.

I'll follow the trail and check it out for myself. You don't have to follow, but knowing what happened might help me figure out where to look next.

-----

Fake Illusion meows up at GB, before settling down in her hold, resting its head and closing its eyes, but keeping its ears pricked and alert.

"Hm- tempting, but I think I'd rather eat sand then go back there."

He stands still, clearly not having any intention of going with him. It could help find this world's Illusion if he went with Origin, but being in a lab with HIM of all people sounds like a genuine nightmare, so he isn't going to be doing that.

-----

GB keeps on walking back, carefully holding Fake Illusion in her arms. She really wishes that she had a free hand to pet the kitty, that would be nice...

[toomanyillusions]

*She happily takes the cube,still admiring it. Beautiful <3*

Thank you!! Ah,I should have brought you a gift...

"No problem! You don't have to get me anything back, I have too many of these things anyway"

Reality looks over his shoulder at Cosmonaut, before signing to him,

{ "Do you want any mac and cheese?" }

"No thanks, I'm good."

Reality shrugs, then goes back to... whatever it is he's doing.

[toomanyillusions]

Mhm!!! I love the colors...

*Invi is immediately mesmerized by the object. Of course.*

"You can have it, if you want, I basically have an infinite source of them back at my workplace."

They offer the cube to her, holding it out for her to take.

[toomanyillusions]

No worries! I'm glad you're back!! Oohhh shiny ✨^✨

...

*Illusion looks helplessly up at the ceiling,which offers no guidance*

"Oh, this?"

He holds up the fidget cube for her to see better. Reality goes back to doing Kitchen Things, dragging Sabre along with him due to the chains. It seems that neither of them are going to be helping Illusion out either. He could try to start another conversation with them if he wanted, if his pride would allow it.

[toomanyillusions]

O...k?

He has a look of concern, which only grows at the mention of the lab.

Do... you know what happened?

-----

The cat, after staying still for a bit, gives GB's hand a swipe of its tongue.

GM shakes his head, answering honestly for once. He doesn't even want to know what happened there, actually, the less he knows the better (and the less nightmares he'll have).

"Well... I guess I have some clues..? I don't exactly wish to put them all together though. I already get enough nightmares about labs..."

-----

She smiles at the cat, amused by its actions. It's adorable in her opinion... Maybe she should calm down so she doesn't scare the kitty. That's probably a good idea.

"Aww... Your owner must miss you a lot..."

She sighs, before starting to walk back the way she came. She is really, really hoping that Origin would have left by now...

[toomanyillusions]

He looks towards the stain and droplets.

Do you know where that trail lea-

He's startled and cut of by GB's yelling echoing through the woods, now staring towards where the sound came from.

????

GM flinches at the yelling, but relaxes once he realizes that it's GB's voice. He looks unimpressed now, which is better than him being afraid, but still not the best.

"She's fine."

"Anyway, we actually accidentally found where this trail started, and I don't think that it's best to go back there... Nothing good has ever come out of a lab and I will stand by that."

[toomanyillusions]

That would certainly help, thank you.

-----

Meanwhile, the kitten is looking up at GB with a tilted head. It gives a small mrrp? Of confusion.

GM nods, just now realizing that he just offered to help none other than Origin Steve himself... Dear Colors, what has he gotten himself into?

"Y- yeah, of course! Do you have any ideas on where they could've gone from here?"

------

GB stops running once she's sure that she's far away enough that they won't catch her, leaning against a tree and gasping for air as she tries to catch her breath. Now, her fear turns to anger. Even if Origin could still hear the words she's saying from here, she'd repeat them right to his face.

"There... is no way... in HELL that I'm staying ANYWHERE near that 'phobic FREAK."

She sighs and looks back down at the kitten, her hatred softening.

"Sorry little guy, you shouldn't know what any of that means..."

[toomanyillusions]

I'm just. Worried. The strange man said something about "running a few tests" before he disappeared with Illusion, and that's. A concerning thing to say.

"Oh."

He still doesn't exactly trust him, but this sounds a bit more promising than what he was assuming. Maybe he can use this to his advantage, he has to find this world's Illusion to return that cat still.

"Maybe I can help you look..? I haven't found any other people- besides you- around here, but if you're this worried then surely another set of eyes won't hurt."

[toomanyillusions]

He stiffens a little at how uncomfortable GM seems around him, but answers anyway.

The player - Illusion - was taken by some strange winged man who stole my powers. Elemental - the steve I've been looking for - went out to find him, but he's been gone for too long. I wish to know what happened, and this is the last place he was searching.

Despite his more formal tone, he seems genuinely worried, frowning when he sees the stain on the ground.

If it was even possible, GM goes more tense when he learns that not only was one of these people confirmed to be Elemental, but the other is this world's version of Illusion. G r e a t. Since when could any version of hi be a player? He didn't know that was possible. You'd think he'd get used to be baffled by the multiverse by now, but you'd be wrong.

"O h ."

"Uh- are these two... dangerous..? Why exactly are you trying to find them?"

[toomanyillusions]

w-WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?

He calls after GB, before putting his head in one hand.

I don't have time for this...

He's looking at GM now, semi-curious about them, but now's not the time.

Have you seen two people, one a steve with vines in his hair and liquids on his arms, and the other a player with mostly grey hair and glowing lines on his skin?

GB is long gone, having disappeared to... I would say Origin knows where, but he doesn't in this case. She'll come back eventually. Maybe. Hopefully. GM slowly turns back to Origin, smiling extremely nervously while standing straighter than a board. It is visibly obvious that he is extremely uncomfortable around Origin, that much is painfully clear.

"No."

He answers without skipping a beat. Even if he had, he wouldn't have told this guy that. There's no way that he has good intentions for them. And plus, the first person sounds a lot like Elemental- even if he doesn't know who the second person could be, there's no way in the Spiritless World that he'd tell Origin of all people if he'd seen Elemental.

"Uh- wh- why do you ask..?"

[toomanyillusions]

Wh- WAIT, HOLD ON-

He moves through the woods towards them, following the noise GM creates and the sound of the two voices. Once he gets into the clearing, though, he looks visibly disappointed, dusting away the stray leaves that had gotten themselves stuck on his pants and shoes.

Oh, you're not the ones I was looking for...

GB immediately recognizes that voice, suddenly understanding why GM is so freaked out. The two of them freeze up and go extremely tense at the sight of Origin, looking at him as if he was some kind of terrifying monster. After a moment of owlishly staring, GM tries to speak, but can't find any words to say. GB suddenly bolts, taking off into the forest away from them both.

GM almost goes to chase after her, but just reaches a hand out towards where she went and calls after her.

"Wh- GB-! DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME HERE, DAMN IT!"

[toomanyillusions]

The cat continues purring, not particularly worried about the noises.

A figure is annoyedly trying to make his way through a particularly undergrowth-filled patch of woods on foot, searching for someone. He hasn't noticed GM or the clearing yet, trying to detangle a twig from his short, dark brown hair. He's wearing a relatively plain outfit; just a light blue tee-shirt, some dark blue jeans, and some grey shoes. His skin is tan, and when he looks in GM's general direction (still not noticing him), he can see he has dark blue, almost indigo eyes, their sclera a normal white.

(RD!Origin looks closer to regular minecraft steve for ✨️lore reasons✨️)

There's only one person that GM knows who looks like this.

He immediately backs up, accidentally making enough noise to draw attention to himself in his panic. In an instant, he's back at GB's side and has grabbed her by the wrist.

"We need to leave, NOW."

He tries to tug on her wrist, but she doesn't budge.

"Woah- hold on- what happened-?"

"I'll explain LATER, we need to LEAVE!"

[toomanyillusions]

While some of the leaves in the area had been crunched down, particularly in the area the stain is where it looked like someone had been lying down, only to move to sit up against a nearby tree, there's no signs or trails showing anyone had left the clearing; it's as if whoever was there had teleported.

Speaking of crunchy leaves, the kitten's ears perk up as the sound of rustling in the underbrush can be heard from deeper into the woods, somewhere near a nearby pillar.

GB stays in place, petting the cat while GM moves over to the sound out of curiosity. Maybe it'll be the person they're looking for! Hopefully. GB is assuming that it's going to be some kind of animal, so she's not exactly very interested in checking- especially since the other one seems to have it covered.

[toomanyillusions]

The drips, one every few feet now, lead to a clearing, stopping where a small glowing stain on the ground is visible, as if whatever was leaking was set down and patched up.

Both of them stop again when the trail ends, GM glaring at it as if it had insulted him (I would say his mother, but he doesn't exactly have one). GB does a slow spin, trying to see if there's any other nearby clues for where this person could have gone.

"Well. Good for them, bad for us."

GB stops to look at him again.

"You could say that again. So, where to next?"

GM stops looking at the stain to give her a confused and stressed glare.

"Why do you think I'd know?"

"Seeing as you got us this far, I can only assume you've got an idea already."

GM huffs and puts his hands on his hips, not also trying to see if there's any more clues to where this person could have gone. Any broken branches, footprints, anything at all...

[toomanyillusions]

*Illusion jolts*

Wheredidyoucomefrom--

Oh,Hi Cosmonaut! :D

*Invi seems unbothered by this*

Cosmonaut smiles as if he didn't just scare 3 different people at once and walks closer to them.

"Sorry for disappearing like that, I got distracted."

He shrugs and pulls an Illusion Stone colored fidget cube out of his pocket before beginning to mess with it.

{ "Sure you did." }

Reality doesn't look convinced, while Sabre is just happy that the attention is no longer on him. His wings settle back down and he's back to normal. Well- as normal as he gets.

[toomanyillusions]

They reach the pillars fairly quickly, and the other side of the other exit comes into view, an obvious staircase downward with 4 disconnected walls, one at each corner of this fancy hole in the ground. Each wall is topped with a lantern, both metal and flame colored green. The droplets of liquid continue from the stairs, though much more sparsely than in the hallway. They dot out a trail through the dry leaves and grass of the forest floor.

The dirt pillars are scattered across a fairly wide battlefield, but no other blocks have been summoned, as if whoever was being attacked wasn't fighting back, at least not physically.

"Huh..."

"You recognize this?"

"No."

"Oh."

They both stand there, observing for a moment, before GM starts following the trail of liquid again. It didn't steer them wrong last time, so it likely won't start now. Although she's not sure if continuing like this is a good idea, GB follows him, still petting the kitten she's carrying.