COLLAPSE THE WAVE MEME

[rampantfantasy]

Collapse the Waveform Meme

A meme for characters CRAU'd to heck and back.



image source

How many times now have you used that journal? How many places have you played that character?

How many friends, lovers, families have they found?

Well, here's some headache-inducing news: Ultimately, they're all the same person.

And now, the wave form has collapsed, and they actually are the same person. All of those memories, plus any new abilities and scars, smashing down into a single soul, a single incarnation.

On the bright side, at least whatever universe this is, you're not alone in it. On the less bright side, good luck navigating your relationships now.

Any CRAU character can respond to this meme, though of course, it's more interesting for characters who have been to at least two games. Meet your old friends, your new friends... Your friends' friends? Whatever. Consider noting down not only what games your characters have been to, but if you're open to three-people threads, for extra juggling-of-memories fun!

Comments

Asch | OTA | too goddamn many games

[bloodyashes]

[Tower of Animus/Changed/Maison de Portes/Lifeaftr/maybe Exsilium/any other bullshit you want? Look there's a lot.

Notable changes: Portes Asch has major burn scarring around his eyes, Animus Asch got a tattoo of a broken chain around his throat, Changed Asch gives him some shiny gold inlay patterns along the backs of his hands and forearms, also he has an obnoxious supplemental magic sense now and might randomly leave magical background music on.

Also he has different clothes even though he still looks like a reject from a renfaire. Shut up it's an aesthetic.]

[shatteredlenses]

[At first, Ignis is so shocked by the fact that he can see that nothing else around him registers. He strips his gloves off, almost dropping them in his haste and feels around his eyes, especially around his left which should be sealed shut with scarring. Instead, not only is is open, but he sees out of it as well as he ever has. There is some very minor scarring still, but the majority of it is gone. His right eye, now that is more familiar territory. The scars over his eyebrow, nose and lip remain the same and the eye itself is blind as it should be, though open. How it is this possible? The question causes his mind to race and while his first thought is to insist this must be a dream, very real memories soon press themselves upon him.

There's a world. A world where they drove back the darkness. A world where Noctis lives to take his rightful place on the throne. A world where he and an 'alternate' version of Ardyn...

Ignis suddenly finds himself coughing, cheeks tinting very vaguely pink. Well, wouldn't Laurent love to know about that?

Wait? Who is Laurent?

Ignis rubs his temples as more memories wash over him. Another world. He's completely blind in this one. A tropical island and a fight for survival. He fears in this one. Altissia so fresh in his mind. Will he find a way to ensure Noctis' safety with so much against them?

So many worlds, so many memories. Why does he suddenly have access to them all?

He takes a deep breath and then moves to pull his gloves back on. The answers are not something he will find standing still, so he turns his attention outward and is quickly rewarded when his eye focuses on a familiar--at least to one version of himself--shock of long red hair.]

Asch, is that you?

Maya Matlin | OTA | Where to start...

[lastexit]

((Xavier Institute (twice), Halfbloodhill, Ascension, Eudio, Witchy Willows.))

Once upon a time she was a normal, broken, clinically depressed girl. But now she's that, and a little bit of a hedonistic sex freak, a witch, a demigod (twice), and a mutant (not twice, same mutant). And she's still a depressed broken person just for more reasons. She remembered Campbell Saunders dying twice. Once to his own demons, once to monsters. She remembers all these lives.

She remembers being happy. What a weird memory to have.

She's able to sing. Expertly shoot guns, bows, throw knives. She can heal with magic, manipulate light and sound. She's been stabbed, shot, blown up, and dated a lot of different people. It all just felt like too much in her head. Especially since she had the ability to hear everything for several miles.

That's what she needed, an even louder world. Joy.

Casey Jones |OTA| HeyFreemMagic, Forest Covered, The Legion

[jonesiseverywhere]

[Kind of amazing how little Casey's appearance has changed. That's what happens when you're a sloppy teenage boy, but he's still got his torn paint-splattered hoodie, his homemade hockey pad armor, and his missing teeth.

But he's had magical fire powers, he's been an actual for-real superhero in a superhero team, he worked for a spa as a bouncer and got turned into a pig and eaten...

A lot of strange things have happened to Casey, and not all of them stranger than home.]

Naoya | OTA | Too many games

[crouching_sin]

[[Syn, Animus, Purg, Destiny Strings, Marina, Sol Raveh, Route/VR just to name a few... not to mention various PSLs.]]

[He's been locked up in some places. He's gained strange new powers in others. He's had things given to him and taken away.]

[Still, through it all, he's a grumpy old man.]

Ranmaru Kirino | OTA | Holy Relic/United One/Xavier Institute

[doingthemistything]

[He's been trapped in a weird MMO world, a Pokemon trainer, a mutant...

... Like home wasn't weird enough. But that's okay. Kirino can roll with the punches. His appearance has barely changed--his hair's a little longer now but that's about it--his more unusual belongings have been stashed in his inventory for now.

His Altaria (slightly confused as she is) is out at his side though.]

Papyrus | OTA | FV/IS/LC/memes

[spaghettimonster]

[(Fabulae_Victoriana, Interstellar, Lost Carnival, and various meme threads)

By and large, the skeleton has been a skeleton. There were a couple times he died, a few jaunts where he was temporarily human, and several very different interactions with the fallen human.

There's coatings of orange crystal all over, and his feet are long and there's a tail flicking about behind him. There might just be a goose following at his side, distressed about it all. And, maybe, his skull is detachable - if those memes are influential enough.

In enough of those varying lifetimes, he learned of the looping time nonsense his home is going through, and it's easy to assume that somehow all the loops are catching up to him. Just give him a few minutes to figure out... whether the human who killed him, multiple times, is a friend...?]

Ardyn [static noise] | ota | airlocked/lifeaftr/psls

[burninglight]

[Ardyn is just a bit different; tall and thin as ever, with a patch of heavy scarring over a permanently closed left eye and a very tired and distant look on his face.]

[That's probably fine.]

I'm assuming this is sometime after running into Ignis idefk what's continuity

[bloodyashes]

[Hey you didn't ask for the eye scars club but that's who we are, that's what we are today.

But the first sign Ardyn gets of Asch is probably not visual. It's a ping, like some kind of magical sonar, a brief humming sensation over his skin. Nothing harmful, just a blip of Seventh Fonon going hi, hello, what are you?

Soon after that, the familiar red hair comes into view - Asch, at least this version, has left his bangs grow to fall kind of in his face, and the length of it is pinned up with a carved comb behind his head. And indeed, Ardyn isn't the only one with some horrific burn scars across his face - in Asch's case, around both eyes.

Miraculously, however, as damaged as the skin around them is, his actual eyes a just fine, though the irises are no longer pure green but instead flecked with a reflective, almost flamelike gold.

And when he catches sight of Ardyn, Asch blinks hard and sends out another one of those little fonon pings, because the feedback he's getting seems off. If the Scourge is there, it should be... more than that, right?]

...Are you okay?

[Yeah just. going to check on him verbally instead this is fine.]

proceeds to almost reply to my own comment

[founderinglight]

[HERE'S A FAMILIAR FACE.

Not a happy one, mind, but a familiar one. Like looking in a mirror.

...Except the tattoos, those don't match, but might well be familiar. Depending on the universe. Other than that, though, it seems that Izunia doesn't much change.

There's a hesitation, though, and why wouldn't there be?

There is no universe where Ardyn and Izunia get to live happily.

... Or wait no Clarita exists that's technically a thing.]

...Ardyn?

[STILL. HESITANT.]

[serrata]

[ There's not a lot of things Yuuri feels comfortable calling constants, with how much is packed into her head. But Ardyn's a common enough reoccurance that she feels a jump of relief in her chest when she spots him. And then almost immediately, her heart sinks when she registers that in none of the histories she remembers them having together has that ever happened to

(?which name is the right one again?)

him. ]

What-- [ IT IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT FINE ] What happened to your eye?!

[andthenyoudie]

Oh.

[That's all she says at first, just oh, as she looms a little bit out of the way and regards him thoughtfully, her stance poised and at the ready like an autumn leaf clinging to its tree by its last threads — trembling on the wind, blown by the breeze, ready to embark on something new.

She looks at him for a long time, seeming to size him up, and then walks a little closer. Her way of walking like she's floating is vaguely reminiscent of an Astral, in its way — light, like her feet barely need to touch the ground to take her forward.]

You're the one he mentioned. I know you.

Prompto Argentum | OTA | Airlocked, The Far Shore, PhanRift, Arimoi, Fate/ AU

[photoshooter]

[Honestly, it's hard to tell just how many different stories have just been crammed into Prompto. He's about the same size and shape he always was, twenty years old and slender with his stupid birdboy hair and slim-fitting black clothing.

On the other hand, he appears to be halfway changing into this handsome fellow, going dark and insubstantial while a few strands of him glow from within. Magically, he doesn't ping as daemonic, at least. He might, however, ping as at least half ghost.

Whatever he is, he's curled up on the ground, whimpering a little, arms wrapped around his head like that'll help him contain everything he remembers, somehow.]

[missleadingquestions]

[Ghosts are about the most familiar thing to our witchy zora ghost-channeling super-hero-fan breadmaker('s assistant), so upon seeing strings of ghosty material rather than flashes of bright blonde hair, Maya makes her way over. As much as she's dealing with, though, it's always others that need attention first, and she follows the same story all of her other lifetimes have.]

Are you okay?

[She asks, from a partial distance, not too close but not too far, pushing hair out of her face to further take in the sight before her. He looks super familiar, and super unfamiliar all at once.]

Yuuri Wakasa | ota | Forest Covered, Airlocked, too many frickin AUs to count

[serrata]

[ Yuuri doesn't look like she's changed much. Not at first.

Oh, she's dressed different but nothing that looks too outlandish for Yuuri. But then you take a closer look and some off details pop out. Her eyes, usually a warm, deep olive are brighter now -- gold, with just the slightest sheen of green to them. Her hair's loose, with none of her usually accessories. But going by the look on her face as she stands there, cradling her head in her hands like she's trying to ward off a migraine, there's been more crammed into her head than is apparent.

There's so much of it, a whole knotty mess of timelines and histories. Some that start off in Megurigaoka, some that don't. Some that end in Megurigaoka or some far off world, or a tacky mall in the middle of space. Sometimes she's a little younger, sometimes she's a little older -- there's no constants. Not even her name.

She's Yuuri Wakasa, Kotori, Clarita Lucis Caelum, Thorn -- all of them at once and trying to sort through them is just too much. ]

[founderinglight]

[No constants, but... some constants.

When he sees the girl, his immediate impulse is concern, to call her name - but it dies on his lips, because which name. Yuuri, the spirited violent girl who he made (and failed to keep) a promise to, who survived so much; Clarita, the girl his brother made, the radiant little light in the one world where they are all, for the moment, happy.

It doesn't matter, does it? Either way, she's his brother's daughter and he loves her. And that, more than anything, comes out in Izunia's voice - a little hesitant, a little strained, but gentle and concerned.]

Are you alright?

[Don't ask questions you know the answers to, Izunia. Nobody here on this meme is alright.]

Ryuunosuke Uryuu | OTA | The Velvet Key, Tower of Animus, Arcanarum

[kindofademon]

[The golden-colored tentacles coming out of his sides are new. So is the collar with violet liquid flowing through its tubing, but the tentacles are way more fun? The Persona's fun too but kind of a pain to have out when he's not actively using it.

The best cure for a headache is trying out all the fun things he can do with this combination of abilities.

Right now that means figuring how far he can stretch these tentacles. One might wave hello at you.]

[breatheinthefog]

[Kaoru's wearing some weird mix of her normal clothes and some ratty, old-fashioned skirt, corset, and rag holding back her hair. She stops when she sees Ryuunosuke.

The reason she's dead. But she came back.
But he didn't kill her, it was someone else. And she's still dead.
But she's alive.
But she was a ghost. That red-haired boy exorcised her. It had nothing to do with this man.
But it did, because he scattered her across two city blocks.
What?]

...What are those.

connor walsh | ota | ryslig & hadriel

[iustitiae]

[ since ryslig got in here, he's a demon - that's kind of a big change. wings, horns, hunger for human souls, the whole bit. but i guess when your sudden mix of memories is two horror games and the truest horror of all: failing your 1L year, you're probably a little more equipped for that.

maybe?

nah lbr he's still freaking out ]

ryslig + way too many others

[fourthsaken]

[The rush of memories from too many different places, doesn't throw Jade off as much as her physical changes, the transformation from human to shade and all the complicated issues with tangibleness that come with it. But that's not Jade's primary concern at the moment. She's not focused on piecing together her memories or remembering how to be a shade. No, she's focused solely on making her way to a familiar face and immediately pulling him into a hug.]

Connor!! Holy shit, I can't believe it's you...

Kokichi Oma | OTA | TNDG R3, Eway and also some memes

[shslliar]

[Whelp, Kokichi is wearing a different uniform than usual. He's also going to pretend that he's from a world where he escaped to Los Angeles, Japanifornia because that seems a lot better than remembering that canon update which happened in Wonderland.

This is fine. Totally. Gonna go troll people now.]

Sayaka Maizono | Dangan Ronpa | Hunter's Game, Trustfell Rounds 3 and 6, some PSLs (optional)

[destage]

[...Okay, how many murdergames has she been in now?

The sole thing this headache is making her realize is that she seems to be a magnet for this kind of shit. Prayer's Pass was bad enough, and going to the afterlife and almost squarely fucking herself up? That was bad too? Even the fucking virtual reality, where she just...well, she ended up pretty happy there, but she's gotta wonder for how long, now. And those other memories...god, this is just a mess.

Don't mind the girl just kind of looking around everywhere she can while rubbing at her head, probably muttering something about 'the rules'.]

[lackinginfaith]

Ugh... don't tell me this is Lisbeth's revenge somehow. I don't understand that Stand of hers, but after treating us like we were our other selves, actually making us one with our other selves is not something I'd put past it.

Zack | ota | Ryslig and Magical Girl Raising Project + PSLs maybe

[zackthekiller]

[Zack turned into a killer robot and has a magical cell phone that lets him transform into a fucking magical girl.

Neither of these are his original form. What the hell.

At least the magical girl is waterproof.]

[telecosmetic]

[Well...Eliza might have been in two games, but at least they were concurrent with each other. Even the mock trial she was in was connected to her experiences in those two other games. But to make things more interesting and because her mun is a terrible person she also remembers that time she was the mastermind all along. So...that's several centuries of memories of being bound by a god of glitches and errors piloting your body and barely allowing you moments of freedom. So she's just collapsed to the ground, rubbing her arms in shock at being free. Those other memories, though...was there another timeline where she could have been happy? Where...things were fine? She slowly looks up at the creature looming above her...dressed very familiarly.]

Z...zack?

Dorian Gray | OTA | Eway and Jingle Hell

[theothermrgray]

[Excuse him for wearing something that's about a decade after his time. He got that from helping defeat the last murderous mastermind...

At least he's dealing with this better than most. You see, people tend to forget Wonderland when they leave for good, and he's pretty sure he got sent to the Hale residence at a later point in his life. So it all checks out.

Probably.]

Malcolm Reed | ota | holy shit too many games

[tactical_alert]

[Fade Rift, Sanctum, Bete Noire, Spider's Walk, TLV (twice), Sky of Diamonds, Site B, I might be missing some! He's been...around.

Physically he looks completely normal! How the fuck did he manage that. But his left leg from mid-thigh down is a very sophisticated technological replacement. So there's that. His clothes look like they're from the middle ages, with a symbol stitched to it.

Mostly it's the combined psychological trauma you have to deal with, so, y'know, have fun with that?]

Leonard Church | ota | VR/Route, Fade Rift, Sanctum, Airlocked, etc

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Little Hades, at least one aborted game, ALSO GUNS FOR HIRE because idc that he looked different and had another journal it's still him, PSLs maybe if you want--

Hi. Church has some tattoos! A big ol Kingsglaive in black on his back, the Blue flag over his heart, and, shit, looks like he had something on the inside of his right arm, but now it's a big burn scar. Instead of incandescent green, one of his eyes is light blue, and the other one is white. They glow in the dark. His left hand has some weird green energy in the palm of it. He can make a shield out of it! It's neat.

Bother him! For the love of god.]

+airleft alt continuity

[founderinglight]

[Hey Church you know a familiar face when you see one?

... Blue scarf though, darn. Also if you hadn't heard, Izunia kind of got a few more crows added to that tattoo.

He's. Also in a pink folding chair, scribbling away in a sketchbook like his life depends on it. The whole thing is very surreal considering that there's nowhere the chair could have come from if you didn't know that Lucis Caelums carry all kinds of weird shit out of habit. There's a can of soda balanced on the edge of his lap desk as well.

The drawings are pretty good, though.]

gabranth || ota || exit void, eachdraidh, eudio, recolle, etc

[judicatus]

[ ("etc" for anyone else who remembers some livejournal games... it's been a minute!)

in any case, only the drabwurld left any physical marks on him: the space where his right eye should be is sunken, scarred, and encased in a fine yet uneven patch of glittering silver. every other world has left only memories — memories of a steam train and a dark wood, of an impossible city that knew no conflict, of fey wilds ravaged by war, of...a world without the color blue? and dancing, smiling fruit?

it's all a bit much. he needs to sit down. ]

ohai

[wipedclean]

[Well shit that’s a lot of memories for a guy who’s had trouble with them in the past. But in the midst of all that, yeah, he sees that fuckin eye and remembers exactly what caused it.

Namely, him. He did it.

So he stands a few feet away, awkward as hell.]

Uh... I guess there’s no good way to go about this, but I’m sorry about the eye.

Muffet | Undertale and LifeAftr and Paranoia Notice because you people are enablers

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet seems like she might be having some trouble.]

[The timelines from home were... a lot, to start with, but she could more or less understand them. Different people living and dying, in different ways and orders and reasons, leading to different results- but in the end it was all one world, one story with the ending or the dialogue changed here and there and she owes Frisk so much more than she realized but it's at least something that she can understand.]

[But then there's stories and there's storytellings and a Storyteller, all for a place she's never been to and people she's never met except she has, and where is that island now, did something happen is everyone okay she needs to find them-]

[Except that worry for her friends sparks another series of memories and mental images, a group of friends too young to be adults and too old to be children and too late to stop the terrible thing starting to gather on the horizon before it comes down to shatter their peaceful lives with the words of a letter and the sound of a car hitting a body hitting the pavement.]

[And this is the one that's too much to hold onto right now- because even if the world changes, she should have still been the same...]



[...But then she flickers and blurs and suddenly that isn't a constant either.]

[For several long moments, a lovely young human woman in standing in the place where a spider lady was, and then she's a charming monster again, and then she can only hold onto herself with two arms or six and squeeze however many eyes she has shut miserably as she starts switching back and forth rapidly, unable to settle on one shape.]

[The memories were a lot, yes, but she could handle them.]

[This is more of a problem.]