lazybox | COLLAPSE THE WAVE MEME

COLLAPSE THE WAVE MEME

Collapse the Waveform Meme

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

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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!

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[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.]

((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.

Edited 2018-01-31 00:42 (UTC)

[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.]

Edited 2018-01-31 01:59 (UTC)

[[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.]

[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.]

[(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...?]

[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?

Ow.

[Does that answer your question, Ignis?

Asch has his hands pressed against his face, completely obscuring his face. He's kind of having more issue with the sudden addition of a way more sensitive fonon sense.

So they're peas in a pod in that regard. Sensory overload isn't a fun thing, even disregarding the overload of memories.

Perhaps Asch is, somehow, better equipped to deal with that, given who he is. What he is. And he's triggering his own fonon sense because he went and got a replica body and...

Uggggggggh. A long groan.]

Hey, Ignis.

[At least his memories are in order and he... only knows one version of Ignis. The response doesn't come with a removal of his hands from his face, or even a movement towards the other man, but there is, if Ignis is paying attention, a tickle of fonons.]

My head hurts.

Edited (nd then i found a typo) 2018-02-03 06:57 (UTC)

[He barely feels the fonons brush over his senses like the lightest breeze or touch of a hand, but he pushes the sensation away for the moment, more concerned--as is his way--in the condition of his friend, especially since he is in obvious pain.

Quietly, Ignis steps forward so he's standing in front of the redhead and raises his hands with the intention of covering those Asch has pressed over his face. He stops short, though, realizing the comforting touch may only cause more pain. Best to figure out if there is anything he can do to help first.]

Are you wounded? May I see? Perhaps my healing can help?

[It's only a precious little. That sadly, hasn't changed, not even with him being close to as skilled a healer as Ardyn. Still, he will do whatever he can.]

No, overstimulated. Just need to adjust.

[He knows exactly where Ignis is, even without being able to see. When he pulls his hands away from his face, they slide into the other man's upraised ones in a way that Ignis, of all people, will know that someone who isn't looking shouldn't be able to do.

And indeed, at least for the moment, Asch isn't looking. His eyes are still closed, but the scars around them will be obviously less organic than the one that ought be over Ignis' left, but still nearly as severe. No eye-socket-bound cradle of flames, this, but something that was done deliberately, though they are old enough - perhaps a year? - to be as healed as they are going to get.

And for a moment, it seems like that's all, until Asch opens them and reveals the eyes underneath - miraculously whole, sighted, a bright green now tossed with flakes of gold that almost seem to sparkle. To a keen eye, even more obviously unnatural than Ardyn's yellow is that gold.]

Look, we match.

[A glance over Ignis' face, taking in the details that fonon sense alone can't give him - the restored eye, the shade of green.]

Though not as much as before, I guess.

[A little squeeze of Ignis' fingers. It's okay. He's okay.]

I understand. Take your time.

[He'd been overwhelmed at first too. The rush of memories had been too much in and of itself, but adding his restored sight on top of it--even if it was just a partial restoration--had taken things from 'too much' to 'extremely painful' in an instant.

Quietly, Ignis waits for Asch to adjust, not wanting to say anymore until the redhead settles himself to avoid making things worse. However, everything he's preparing to say--preparing to explain--vanishes from his mind as soon as he sees the scars. He knows better than others what they mean. Even if his own scars are less now thanks to Ardyn's gift, he still knows the signs of injury that would taken vision from someone and it pains him beyond measure to see them on Asch's face.

Unconsciously, his hands tighten around Asch's as he speaks in a soft, but angry tone.]

Who did this to you?

Don't.

[The response to the question is quick, heading off anything Ignis might be thinking.]

It's not worth it.

[He squeezes Ignis' fingers back, trying to ground himself, unwilling to remember the experience.]

It's over now and wherever we are, it's not there, so don't... Just don't.

[He closes his eyes and lets himself just feel that, that relative blankness where things of that world would be in the environment around them.]

I'd rather talk about yours looking better than mine looking worse.

[...

How can he deny such a request? As much as Ignis wants to make the person who hurt Asch pay, what will it change? The injuries remain. Remembered pain remains. The way is forward, not back.

Ignis shakes his head, anger draining away, replaced--surprisingly enough--by laughter.]

What one takes, the other returns. It was Ardyn who pushed me to put on the ring in Altissia, and it was an Ardyn from another world who sacrificed the vision in his left eye to heal my own.

[He gives Asch's hands another squeeze before releasing them and running a hand through his hair.]

Even with all I've learned--all I've seen--thanks to this...whatever this is...the strangest thing is thinking of Ardyn as 'beloved,' but that self of mine loves that self of his dearly. They don't have an easy road ahead of them, but the sun shines upon them and Noctis sits upon the throne. They have come so far and they will continue on.

[Another chuckle slips from his mouth.]

We were right to not give up on him. No matter what he said, and oh, how I imagine he would hate to know that.

Honestly, I can't say I'm surprised. You seem to have a thing for people older than they look.

[He's not directly saying that the version of you he knows also looks pretty into Ardyn, Ignis, but. He's got eyes, he's not dumb, he's...

Technically also dating your other way too old boyfriend, okay. That's a thought. Asch blinks for a minute and then presses a hand to the side of his neck, almost like he's feeling for a bite mark. There's a little color to his cheeks that he ignores.]

It takes a hell of a lot more than what he's done to make me give up on someone. And the fact that we know there's something else under there...

[He sighs, briefly, then.]

I don't have anything to call that person, because I can't imagine him being 'Ardyn Lucis Caelum' any more than I am 'Luke.' But I do think he's in there.

[He drops his hand away from his neck, and the solemn aura around him loosens up a bit.]

And here I was ready to start showing you the tricks I used to get around blind. I guess I don't need to worry about that now, huh?

[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.]

[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.]

[Ardyn blinked his good eye at Asch in faint confusion, as if he was trying to process just who he was and what this sensation brought with him might be. He was more than used to having his thoughts and memories in all kinds of chaos, but this was...different. Worse, in that there were too many separate lines to untangle, sanity and madness and things in between all knotted together like a thousand crossed wires in an engine built by an amateur.]

Ah-....I don't quite know, actually.

[...Well he's not pissed off so that's a good sign.]

Need a checklist?

[Ever helpful! He will come over at least but stand just a little out of touching range.]

Though if it's anything like when I woke up here, the disorientation is... probably the worst.

[Hi yeah we're just jumping straight into that no brakes.]

[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.]

Edited 2018-02-23 19:38 (UTC)

You're...it's Asch, right?

[Ardyn pressed a hand to his head briefly before raking it through his hair; registering vaguely that it was just a little too long. Wasn't it?]

Where's- [leonard, ignis, yuuri, muffet-] ...what do you want?

[Odd, how it felt easy and yet wrong to slip into the slightest traces of cold bitterness first.]

Yeah, that's at least consistent.

[Last name... Mostly Fabre, but with Ardyn here, he remembers the taste of bitterness about what exactly his family did after his death and -

But at least there aren't any 'Lukes' that he can tell crammed in there.]

And I'm worried about you because I said as many times as it takes and I've never seen you this vague-looking even then. Or ever.

[Auldrant to Ardyn, come in Ardyn.]

[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.]

I'm...sorry. [He answered with a vague smile and hesitant laugh that wouldn't have even fit the brief glimpse of an old healer Asch would have recognized; it was something else, between 'selfless savior' and 'ageless monster'.]

[Something very, very tired.]

I'm afraid I'm having a bit of trouble keeping focus right now.

[He starts and uncurls just a bit, blue--very blue, glowing blue--eyes peeking out from between shadow fingers.]

I...

[His voice comes out faint--not just because he's weak, but like it has to come from far away. He blinks rapidly, closes his somewhat-glowing eyes, and shakes his head. When he tries again, this time the voice doesn't come from anywhere, far away or not. It's in her head.]

I think this is easier.

[He sounds shaky, but it doesn't seem to take as much effort as forcing air to vibrate with his semi-incorporeal body.]

...Maya...?

[He remembers her, and more than half of him has never met her at all.]

Yeah.

[Just... agreement.]

I've got... at least five? versions of myself crammed in here and one of them isn't even human, so I can only imagine how bad yours is.

[A beat.]

If it helps, you don't seem as Scourge-filled as you probably should be if you got the body from the islands, but it's still kind of there.

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COLLAPSE THE WAVE MEME

Asch | OTA | too goddamn many games

Maya Matlin | OTA | Where to start...

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

Naoya | OTA | Too many games

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

Papyrus | OTA | FV/IS/LC/memes

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

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

time is fake

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

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