The house disappeared behind them; in fact, there was no way back. It was if there had never been a house at all. Their various protections, whether natural or crafted, held fast, deterring interest from the strange things that dwelled in this Place Betwixt and abating the ambient entropy.

It took a bit to orientate themselves in space. Moving wasn't so much walking or standing or moving; this place was ruled by many currents, and managing your position was about paying attention to the right currents and carefully avoiding paying attention to others. Space folded in strange ways like a hall of funhouse mirrors combined with heat-haze and vertigo.

The part of the Void wasn't . . airless. It was a place of folding spaces and obscuring mists. True emptiness was out there - distant, watching, hungry. Here though, so close to the Bright Moon, there was something like 'atmosphere' that made it all easier to bear.

It took a bit of doing, but there was strength in their numbers, and the more of them that 'got it', the easier it became for the others to 'get it' and begin drifting closer to the Bright Moon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:03, Tue 23 Aug 2022.

This is weird, Haloise notes despondently. Seeing as it doesn't have much to do until it's wielder follows its suggestion, the firepoker instead decided to see if it was more 'independent' in this Formless Void. Maybe it could 'move' ahead at a faster pace than it's compatriots.... hm, that might be a decent idea. While keeping it's position in the spear held by it's wielder, it tries to 'move' towards the moon, hoping to make a short distance between itself and the spear while still staying attached. In essence, Haloise is trying to flex it's [Blindsight] and [Weapon Possession] in such a way that it's range of visibility can increase by shifting itself, the the same vein as someone dislocating their shoulder to get it around a binding.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 04:23, Fri 26 Aug 2022.

[Grimalkin] found the proposition of floating through the void odd. He ended up spiraling and more then a few times bouncing off the others.

"Sorry, I will learn this sometime !"

Eventually he started to think of falling and his feet and legs always aimed at what he thought was the ground. "Ah so that is true about cats."

He watched the others hoping for a little help.

The Old Bones is almost immediately at ease in the formless void that is this strange place. She was a lucid dreamer in life; she was no stranger to simply willing direction and order out of chaos. Usually reality was a little bit less accommodating of her desires but it seemed that, at least in this strange place, thought reigned over matter. There were some strange quirks (she never had to do this without the sensation of laying in her bed to ground her) and even with her instant ease she still wasn't exactly sailing like a graceful swan upon a glassy lake.

"Since it seems like we might have a few minutes to catch our breath -- metaphorically speaking -- can we maybe talk about what just happened and what the flying fuck we're all doing in this distinctly not-earth hellhole?" she asks. "I sort of got the impression that some us know a lot more than the others. I really need to get back to the real world as fast as possible. A lot of peoples' lives rely on my work."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:09, Wed 24 Aug 2022.

Euphoria felt herself floating through the void and she didn't like it. Mostly, she didn't like her body feeling so floaty, so out of her control. It was a sensation she learned to hate in the other world. Although graceful on the battlefield, she found herself struggling to right herself in the currents that slowly pulled them through the void.

She and Grimalkin managed to collide painlessly into one another. Like balloons drifting in the sky. If he wished to stick with her, he was welcome to, but there wasn't much she could do in the way of assistance other than being a body he could cling to with his claws. He might be better off aiming at someone else, truth be told. Unless he wanted to do slow summersaults with her. She was not the sort to easily give herself over to other powers and she gripped Haloise tightly, like a security blanket, even as their spirit attempted to drift further, and further away.

Aside from clumsily tumbling through the void, Euphoria knew that continuing to hold her companion as a weapon held it back. She needed to speak with the Earthborn, and possibly the Grimalkin too about magic and other frilly stuff she was so far out of her depths with.

In the meantime, she would accept any help she could as they all drifted closer to that far-off moon. Old Bones seemed to know what she was doing, so Euphoria turned to her and spoke up. Hoping a little that the skeleton would extend a hand while they conversed. "I admit, I was coping a lot better in the house... with a floor. Now I'm not so sure. I didn't expect there to be all... this out here..." she said, gesturing to the void that surrounded them. She seemed incredibly nervous. Strange that floating into nothingness was more disturbing to her than everything else they experienced.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but we're in a game," she began, leaving a pause for one of the experts on the subject to fill in. "Like a video game. There's also some books and stuff... not that I've ever read them," she said, defensively. "Theoretically... if we win the game, then it's over. Right? Maybe that's how you all go back." But she wasn't entirely confident that was the case. She also left herself out of that category. She had no intention of ever going back.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:11, Wed 24 Aug 2022.

The small goat floated in the darkness, the small legs moving as if it was trying to walk - or perhaps swim - but it didn't appear to be in any distress. The darkness and quiet seemed to almost comfort it somewhat, but it turned its head about while looking around, casting its gaze (blind as it was) around as it inspected the area with both its [Internal Oculus] and [Appraisal], seeing what it could learn in this new area as well as about the new necklace he had been gifted from the House.

It did speak up again, in its quiet way, but still in the language that only a few seemed to follow (and would have to translate for those who couldn't):


Game no game : reality is reality : before the game : here now : focus on survival : adapt : die
This message was last edited by the player at 02:07, Fri 26 Aug 2022.

The [Lunarian] Starling suddenly was floating here as well, his misty aetheric form actually moving much more swiftly and quickly than his physical one would as the strands of mist easily latched onto the spatial void-currents and he streamed along, somehow staying coherent yet misty. Despite this, he could control his movements on these spatial currents and did so almost instinctually - he didn't understand it himself but he felt almost natural for him to be flying around out here, especially in mist form, and rather than be torn and carried off helplessly by the currents he coasted and sped along them like someone being pulled along by a speedboat who was having a good time.

Perhaps it was partially because he was a [Lunarian] who technically was a unique spawn of two stellar entities, and even his ribbon cloak was related to Stellar forces. That lineage had to stand for something, after all.

Swirling around and zooming, Starling suddenly materialized neat [Grimalkin] and grabbed gently onto its fur, hugging the cat. The sight was surprisingly endearing, given that Starling currently had a child's size and frame despite having a man's mind. Soemtimes, one's body affected the mind and Starling couldn't help but hug the now-larger cat li9ke a security blanket.

"C'mere fire kitty!" he said with a hug. "I'll orient you. This void stuff is easy for me. You did a good job back there helping with Eri and the Ghost-Eater. Just watch what you eat though, okay? I don't know what we can all eat even if we are supposed to be able to consume gods and lord knows what else." he said as he gave the cat a pat before beginning to help him stabilize his form in void-space, and helped him begin to glide through the current rather than stumbling along.

[Grimalkin] looked up thankful to [Unblooded Shage]

"I feel like I am falling in every direction at once and need to pick a direction to fall in." As he spiraled away and [Starling] caught him he determined not to spiral away if he could help it and clung back. His eyes getting very kitten like.

"I both like and don't like this void, it's easier to talk to everyone, but it is messing with my cat senses which I am still getting used too."

He felt how the [Starling] was navigating and started slowly to get the hang of it.
"Thank you also, and I couldn't help it. Eri treated us good you know. She might be the reason some of us got a second chance."

He let his eyes look off towards the moon.

"As for watching what I eat, I agree. I was just so full of emotions, fear, anger, victory and even some vengeance because I knew he would eat me, and any of you, after he was done with me. I am coming to terms with so much. I have heard this is a game and I even feel that to some degree but, how can that be possible ?"

Willpower is a funny thing. It could be said that there's a distinction between 'intent' and 'will'. One is a conscious drive to reach a goal, or perhaps a simple focus on a set of specific actions, while the other might been considered a defensive instinct; an unconscious resistance to whatever forces were acting on the mind. In the [Young Dwarf]'s case, specifically as it applied to navigating the void, it was an unconscious thing driven by discreet memories of how cartoon characters might traverse such a place. So while, by all outward appearances, he was sprawled out and appearing more than a bit befuddled as he cartwheeled through space, internally he had the 'intent' to stick with the others... and so he did.

"A video game? That tracks. So it's an Isekai thing." Yeah, he watched anime. He knew at least that much, though for all the rest going on he still felt like he was wandering aimlessly in the dark.

Without thinking consciously about it, he drifted closer to [Old Bones] and [Demilupine].

"So... you both seemed to have pretty strong attachments to the, ah, 'old world'." He looked specifically at [Old Bones]. "... and at least you and I are the same 'no idea what all this is' boat." He continued to cartwheel lazily through space. "If you don't mind me asking, what are your names, and what did you do before we all ended up here?" He then craned his neck specifically to look at [Demilupine]. "... and more importantly, are you okay? You kinda seemed a little upset back there, before the house fell apart."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:06, Thu 25 Aug 2022.

The Old Bones does her best to rein in anyone who seems to be drifting out of control. Moonbeam seems to have the situation under control (she is glad her Appraise ability can give her unambiguous identities because the Lunarian seems to have more forms than a bad Sailor Moon OC) and is helping the cat-creature (who is now on fire for some reason), so instead she elects to extend a thin bony helping hand to the Unblooded Shage and Scapegoat, pulling them all into something at least vaguely approximating a group. It is slow going; as a lucid dreamer she generally preferred to "smash cut" to whatever scene she wanted to pay attention to, and never got particularly quick at freeform freefloating. Nonetheless, she learns quickly.

"Well duh it's a video game," she says as she collects the drifters. "We have stats, with numbers. We're gaining experience points. I can't say I know any video game with these particular stats though. Any idea what game we're in?"

She looks at the rat-dwarf. She can't tell if he needs help or not. "Do you want me to stop you spinning?" she asks quietly, the parenthesis practically audible around the question.

"Isekai, huh? That's a strange notion. Normally there's a thick coat of Japanese strangeness all over anything with that label attached." She shrugs. "Call me Ken. I'm from Seattle and I woke up like this. I probably should tell ya'll this, but I'm part of the Neo-Kira investigation. Maybe this is what happens when Kira kills someone. Pretty shitty afterlife if you ask me."

Aaron talks a little about himself and his understanding of Godhunter, and does his best to further his arcane knowledge as regards the creation of things of substance.



"I don't think we can go back," Aaron said quietly. The void didn't seem to bother him much either as he got the hang of the bone-sheathed XO suit. He moved his fingers experimentally, reaching one hand to the opposite forearm to trace the stellar runes there. "I don't know much about videogames, but I knew this - most of this - under a...different mode, I suppose you'd say. I was a scholar of the esoteric. I collected enlightened writings, journals and guidebooks, that sort of thing. There was a club, I - we looked for commonalities. We found them. It's how I - well, nevermind the specifics. This...awakening was presented as a kind of efficacious thought experiment, in the strata I'm from. Nirvana, if you like, or Sophia without Her shadow. The true architecture of reality. It's not..."

He hesitated, not wanting to distress, not wanting to withhold.

He'd been a showman and a seducer into mysteries. The familiar won out. "...I don't think it's reasonable to say that this is in some sense false or fleeting because it was represented that way elsewhere. Rather in the way that great weights produce gravity and vast towers lay deep shadows, I think this is so real it's...breached, in various senses, many lesser layers. Like waterstains on a book, if you like, implying the ocean to the reader separately from the story they've immersed themselves in. You might enjoy the story and find the stains a diversion from the main plot, but in the end the plot is ephemeral, and the sea is actual.

My name is Aaron Withers," said the [Earthborn]. "In the other world, my other world, I was a performer. Magician, actually, which - I was someone who performed very complex acts of entertainment, meant to evoke wonder. Publicly, that was my job. Privately...I studied this. I just didn't exactly know it at the time."

The [Earthborn] drifted, aimless for the moment. The armor consumed his attention, reassured him. Something to focus on that wasn't the void or the possibility of his death. A potent sense of loneliness and fear radiated from him to those sensitive to such things, and perhaps even to those with just a decent sense of how people cope with things.



Aaron seeks to [Appraise] the stellar runes of the bone armor, and see if his knowledge of [Runic Decryption] and his fledgling Phantasmal Copy ability can be combined to activate and/or alter them, either manifesting new constructs or shoring up the shadow-hewn copyblades with whatever stellar energies the armor can channel - shadows being born of light, after all, and darkening in contrast to its intensity.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:21, Thu 25 Aug 2022.