Shards of a Broken Sun [Deprecated; see link in final post for remake]

Amu
[x] Check what's happening behind her.
-[x] Reflexively, she spun around, scanning the room behind her for changes, trying to catch whatever was doing this in action.
[x] If it's not immediately hostile, attempt to merge with Dia.
-[x] She considered her options. Decisiveness felt like a good trait to have now, she certainly couldn't afford to waste time! "Dia?"

Io

[x] Pull up some demons instead, to save on energy. [0.5x]
-[x] Watching the all-devouring flames destroy the spiders was calming, but it quickly became clear she couldn't sustain this forever. She needed allies. She pulled out her phone.
 
*Looksat situation* *looks at dawn abilities* ... haha... fuck. ... *Looks at occult* Can we learn to cast spells on the fly?

This is going to end badly.

Also wanting to kick Hotsuin in the dick even more now.
Amulet Dia has some kind of shield thing and a couple of attacks that probably count as thrown weapons, where we have an Excellency+Joint Wounding Attack, so even if we do have to resort to fighting it won't be completely hopeless.
 
Amulet Dia has some kind of shield thing and a couple of attacks that probably count as thrown weapons, where we have an Excellency+Joint Wounding Attack, so even if we do have to resort to fighting it won't be completely hopeless.
Thrown is the one I know the least about out of Dawn Caste abilities and charms stuff.

Its also the main reason I'm just going, "Oh god dammit" instead of "fuckFuckFUckFUCkFUCK!"
 
Thrown is the one I know the least about out of Dawn Caste abilities and charms stuff.

Its also the main reason I'm just going, "Oh god dammit" instead of "fuckFuckFUckFUCkFUCK!"
You also have a perfect defence, and IPD is remarkably useful against spirits that like to shape your environment. Amu can be surprisingly crunchy.
 
Yeah, Dawns don't go down easily, even shitty Dawns like Amu.

The question is figuring out what the fuck is going on here. Dia should help with that quite a bit. Not sure what the right choice for Io is though.
 
Another thing I noticed, the summoning option for Io has a .5 modifier. Fire has either none (for burn everything) or .8 (for more controlled pyromania). So she seems more inclined to act on her own than summon. Not sure if that's important right now, but I found it an interesting thing to note. I'd guess it's probably more due to the place messing with her, but still.
 
Tuesday's Disquiet 4
Amu

Reflexively she spun around, scanning the room behind her for changes and trying to catch whatever was doing this in action. She immediately cursed herself, as what happened was that the changes moved back to the door, fully closing it before she could quite realise what was happening.

She bit her lip. It didn't matter; the door hadn't been an exit to the outside, so if she'd gone through she'd probably just have been trapped in a different room. Instead, now…

"Do not split the, um… sun?" She read, squinting at the kanji. "But there isn't one to split. Or do you mean Kagutsuchi? I'm not familiar with that letter…"

The entirety of one wall had been replaced by very large, very poor writing. The calligraphy was awful, she could tell that much even if she didn't know what some of the kanji meant. Do not open the sun? Do not open your clothing? She most definitely hadn't been planning to!

Another odd sensation told her that it was trying again, to her left this time.

"Don't release the seal," Dia said softly. The sensation abruptly cut off, then started again before slowly petering out, and Amu turned to look.

"Do not release the structure which is—" It cut off in mid-sentence, then started on a different sentence, the letters growing smaller where the writer ran out of space on the wall. "Or else, by treaty…"

She couldn't read the rest, even when looking up close. The letters had simply blended together too much.

The next wall was full of very tiny letters, which she could hardly have read even if she'd understood half of them.

"Ugh." It was probably just trying to waste her time, but if it'd leave her alone for another minute then she wouldn't mind. She considered her options. Decisiveness felt like a good trait to have now, and there were usually more perks, so... "Dia, do you think you're up for a character transformation?"

"I can try," a timid voice replied.

She paused for a second, then set her expression. "All I can ask. The others might need our help."

She ignored what felt like more scribbles on the fourth wall, the one she'd originally come in through. Dia. The Humpty Lock could paper over a lot, but she'd never tried it with a character guardian that was actually hurt, before. It might go either way, but if her guess was right—if she was lucky—Dia would come out of this better than she'd started, and something that was a deep mental wound for Dia should be little but a nuisance to Amu.

"Ready or not—"

Her mind tried to tear down the middle.

— — —

Io

Fire billowed around her, howling and tearing at the substance of the world. It tugged at her limbs and clothing, an updraft that held her away from the base earth that she'd chosen to burn. Her body felt as light as a feather, moving without the intervention of muscles, sinews or indeed normal physics.

Fire does not fragment, does not bludgeon, does not shock. It destroys.

Her mouth opened in a silent laugh, as the faces of demons and creatures less wholesome formed and faded in the fires around her, and the fires roared their approval.

It felt like tanning on a sunny beach.

Like resting with a favoured pet.

Like a massage, from a master artist, soothing not just the body but the mind. The fires comforted her, sinking inwards as much as they spread outwards.

Her mind burned, too, the familiar burn of exercise that she'd never felt before this week.

As the spiders, and the webs, and the things less wholesome sparked and turned into itty-bitty flames and joined the conflagration. As the walls, the floor, the substance of everything around her resisted, failed, faded away only to be replaced by more, endlessly, and the flames pulsed and pushed outwards with greater force.

Fire devours.

—As she gasped, mind momentarily gone blank, and she reluctantly forced herself to let it go. Fire devoured, her willpower first of all, and if she lacked the power then she could not force it to obey her. The fire sputtered, the corridor went dark, but as a final act it let her gently down onto what remained of the floor. Her shoes hit the ground with a click, settling down on ash; though the walls around her were little more than black nothingness, the floor remained lit by embers still glowing from random spots on her body.

A skittering in the distance told her that she would only have so much time before the spiders came back.

Watching the all-devouring flames destroy the spiders had been calming, but it was clear that she couldn't keep this up forever. She needed allies. She pulled out her phone.

MP zero, of course.

The "MP bar," the summoning app's summary of her mental readiness, blinked red; as it had since Monday. It wasn't very reliable, and it wasn't stopping her from what she was about to do.

Her finger trembled over the "summon" button…

Ridiculous. She stomped down on the reaction. Whatever else, they were capable allies, and she couldn't do this on her own. She pressed it.

"Hairy Jack," she muttered, barely loud enough to be heard. "High Pixie."

The phone must have caught her meaning anyway, for a moment later an understated 'woof' announced the arrival of Hairy Jack—and, with an explosion of glitter, High Pixie Teagan. For a few seconds the corridor filled with noise, as they both searched for any immediate threat. Teagan's wings sounded like those of a startled, particularly massive hummingbird.

Io's stomach churned just looking at her.

"No danger?" Teagan turned in mid-air, relaxing when she spotted Io. "Oh. I was afraid I wouldn't see you again, you've got a real talent for getting in trouble. What'll it be this time, a murder of redcaps? A gathering of gargoyles?"

"Spiders," she said simply. "Lots of spiders, and I'm a bit trapped. I'd like you to help me get out of here, then you can go back."

Teagan glanced at the walls. "Shard realm, I see. I'll help, but Io, we have to talk."

"We don't," Io said irritably. "I'm doing fine, and I'm not one of your flock, so stop treating me like one."

"You know," Teagan said tentatively, "You never actually defeated me. I don't have to go back if I don't want to, I'm only following orders because I feel like it—"

"Forget it," she snapped. "I don't want your help, and I especially don't want your pity. We're getting out of here, then you can go back to whatever you were doing before I summoned you."

"I keep telling you, but he was already dead when you got there. It wouldn't have mattered if you'd picked up healing by then."

"I said forget it!" Io shouted, flames flickering around her.

Teagan looked unintimidated. Her wings sped up, lifting her up closer to Io's eyes.

"Ah—" Io's voice choked. A small hand patted her cheekbone, brushing away moisture.

"I swear, you get more like the younglings each time I see you," the High Pixie sighed. "Well, have it your way. I'll do as you want—this time." The air around her filled with sparks, several of which leapt out to smash spiders that had crept up on them while they'd been talking. Others flashed around Teagan in intricate patterns, forming a nearly solid sphere of electrical discharge that lit up their surroundings.

A shaggy, half-transparent dog head-butted her from behind, insistently pushing at her knees until she finally gave in and settled down on its back.

"She swears," Io mumbled as she buried her face in its fur. "I'm the one who wants to swear. Dammit, Daichi, why'd you have to go and get yourself killed?"

Her dog whined sadly in return, slowly padding after the miniature thunderstorm.

— — —

It might have the work of minutes to reach as far into the labyrinth as Io had, but it was the work of many times that, and an uncountable number of spider-scale thunderbolts, before they were able to leave the tight, decaying confines of the spider-nests that had at one time been corridors. At times Io had to help, using her own magic to clear away particularly dense thickets of sticky web; at other times, only Hairy Jack's bursts of speed let them escape fighting pitched battles with particularly large or mean-looking spiders.

Teagan, who'd started out confident, grew rapidly less so after she realised that some of them were powerful enough to be a challenge even in small groups. Although she was several times the power of an ordinary fairy, which was already more dangerous than these near-mundane creatures, the spiders seemed endless and there were only three of them to form any sort of defensive line. Worse, from Teagan's perspective, was that Io shared both the unwieldy size of a mortal and the weakness of a merely mid-ranking fairy, although one with a temper to suit a Hua Po.

But then they were out, into a normal-looking room that nevertheless had no windows or openings other than the door they'd come in through. Which, she saw, had just disappeared behind them.

Normal, if you ignored the barely-visible red veins magatsuhi that flowed through the walls.

Teagan sighed, taking stock of her reserves. So that's what was going on.

A group of kobolds, entering through a door that wasn't there, underscored her observation.

Io
[ ] Smash them aside, then move on.
[ ] Pace yourself. See what will happen.
[ ]
Write-in


— — —

Amu

"Whoa—"

She wobbled on her feet, her mind full of stars. What had been a vague sensation had exploded into view, and now she was sure she could copy the exact letters that the spirit had written behind her, without even looking. At the same time, she felt boxed in—she was in a room, she could feel the room, and she felt nothing beyond.

She felt brilliant, and she felt lousy, and she felt like she'd been torn apart, and she felt like she was finally back together. The transformation had been agony, parts of their mind slipping and grinding their way to their rightful place. The transformation had been wonderful, a breath of fresh air that reminded her of who she was.

She was Hinamori Amu, the Joker, and she remembered—she frowned. Her memories were fuzzy, and out of focus, but she was sure she'd never been to Easter's headquarters.

She put it out of her mind, however, because her opponent had finally decided to make its move.

STOP

Pure, unrealised denial that such a thing as movement was even possible. It punched through Dia's aura, like an icicle through her brain, then scattered off Integrity-Protecting Prana.

Now, how could she fight this thing?

Destroying the physical locus of its presence should render it unable to affect you for some time, a period of days, Exa noted. As to permanent solutions, I'm afraid you lack any at this moment, but spirit-killer charms are common and easy to acquire.

She recoiled at the thought. Kick it out, maybe, but kill it? It hadn't even made any serious attempt to hurt her, yet. Well, she still needed a way to get past it.

+1 limit

Amu
[ ] Discuss the problem with Exa
[ ] Look more closely at Dia's abilities
[ ] Ask it nicely to let you go, or just talk with it
[ ] Try to punch through a wall
[ ]
Write-in
 
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Worrisome... still it seems like it might be willing to discuss it a bit more if we asked for more detail. Just so long as Amu makes no immediate moves to escape...

Also, gained some limit there... seems like that merge was very unsafe. On the plus side... we probably have a lot more understanding of Magutsuhi right now... for how ever much that's worth.
 
Worrisome... still it seems like it might be willing to discuss it a bit more if we asked for more detail. Just so long as Amu makes no immediate moves to escape...

Also, gained some limit there... seems like that merge was very unsafe. On the plus side... we probably have a lot more understanding of Magutsuhi right now... for how ever much that's worth.

It also seems like it may have been good for both of us even as it was painful? Kind of like resetting a broken bone so it heals back properly?
 
It also seems like it may have been good for both of us even as it was painful? Kind of like resetting a broken bone so it heals back properly?
I think it was good for Dia and bad for Amu. The state they're in right now probably feels like an improvement to the part of her that was Dia, but the Amu part likely found it painful.

Any idea what the bit about Easter headquarters could mean?
 
So something doesn't want us unsealing something here. Either the god we came here to unseal or something else that's also here. Which doesn't help with figuring out what we're facing, since it could very well be what we came here to meet. And there might be a small store of magatsuhi here judging by the walls in the room Io's in, which might also be related to our captor.

[X] Pace yourself. See what will happen.
Might not need to waste more energy than we have to. And they might be trying to find a way out themselves. They are the only demons we've seen in here, and whatever been trying to stop Io has been using (admittedly unnaturally huge) spiders instead of demons.

[X] Ask it nicely to let you go, or just talk with it
It seems to be trying to communicate with us, we can see if it can be more clear about what it's saying.
 
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Fire does not fragment, does not bludgeon, does not shock. It destroys.
Fire devours.
Saying something about Io's nature?


"Do not split the, um… sun?" She read, squinting at the kanji. "But there isn't one to split. Or do you mean Kagutsuchi? I'm not familiar with that letter…"
Amu = Sun
Charas = split sun?
STOP

The entirety of one wall had been replaced by very large, very poor writing. The calligraphy was awful, she could tell that much even if she didn't know what some of the kanji meant. Do not open the sun? Do not open your clothing? She most definitely hadn't been planning to!

Another odd sensation told her that it was trying again, to her left this time.

"Don't release the seal," Dia said softly. The sensation abruptly cut off, then started again before slowly petering out, and Amu turned to look.

"Do not release the structure which is—" It cut off in mid-sentence, then started on a different sentence, the letters growing smaller where the writer ran out of space on the wall. "Or else, by treaty…"

So what we're doing it messing it up.
It could be that we're a danger to the seal, whatever it is sealing here.
It could be that it's warning us against 'releasing the sun', aka anima(however it knows about our anima).

It REALLY didn't like us Chara-changing, and tried to use UMI to stop it.

[X] Pace yourself. See what will happen.
[X] Just talk to it, try to figure out what it's trying to say.
-[X] Look more closely at Dia's abilities as you talk.

We don't need to force an exit yet, verbally or otherwise.
 
I think it was good for Dia and bad for Amu. The state they're in right now probably feels like an improvement to the part of her that was Dia, but the Amu part likely found it painful.

Any idea what the bit about Easter headquarters could mean?
It seems like a memory from Amu...


So if we interpret that in the most straight forward manner then... Dia is Amu, thus if Dia remembers this, then Amu must have done this; despite so far I know never going there. It can't be a Dia separate exploration as she's only just woken up as well... and so far we know we've never lost sight of her with all the worrying over her we've done.

Thus in this super straight forward interpretation Dia must then have gotten the information from elsewhere some how.
Leading us to: (Or skip to the end if you don't want to read a lot of attempts to limit the possibilities)

- Dia is confusing this memory from some one else. But aside of Midori who would she have gotten it from? And would Midori ever have been in the HQ, and even if she did would she be so sloppy as letting those memories slip over? (Assuming it's not part of some further plan, but this seems potentially overly complicated for her... she's not one of the top players) No one else comes to mind as an option further, unless Dia can actually pull memories from other people, which would admittedly be an interesting discovery in and of itself, but would she really confuse those for her own? And who of the recently met people would actually have been there then? And why would Amu specifically only noticed those memories as odd then? As in, of all the memories she purviewed in the time frame she had, why did she only notice those as being potentially wrong? Other people should have given more inconsistencies one would think

- Alternately the memory is actually really from Amu/Dia, which is inconsistent, as she hasn't done that. Thus we must postulate alternate ways of how you could get a true memory. For instance it came from the Collective unconscious and that it carries all memories of Amu from all cycles (Speculative, is this really the case or possible?) Or alternately it comes from a previous cycle of this world and Dia survived it. (Considering this world seems to have been reset a few times this is possible, but it implies Dia survived the last end of the world some how. This is possible in theory though I suppose, considering the Nocturne plotline)

Splitting the two options of Collective Unconsciousness and surviving Nocturne or some other reset even apart:
- - Assuming the Collective Unconsciousness route, Every reset Amu's memory ends up there and Dia can access those... but is that actually really a real possible mechanic with in this universe? Or would each reset delete the CUs end data as well? I don't know, so I can't really properly evaluate this option. Still it seems possible.
- - To alternately survive the Nocturne plotline would have taken quite a bit of luck, it would require her to survive till the end and survive the new world creation event. Even with Dia being the most OP of chara, this would be quite a task. In such a world Dia might have been able to survive with out Amu I suppose... but she'd probably have picked up some deviations over time from that, just like the other Chara are now. This would complicate reconnecting with an Amu from another cycle one would assume. Or alternately Amu survived the event, and got till near the end... but that would still lead to a some what different Amu/Dia, which might complicate connecting to the reset Amu. Also in this branch you'd likely need the support of some one powerful, as surviving that world with out might be fairly challenging and surviving the world reset with out that could be quite difficult as well... though maybe Dia could some how trick herself through that? Still, if you had the support of say the winner, then they could probably pretty much wish any of these problems away in a new world reset. Thus it's possible I guess.

----

- A less straight forward explanation would for instance be that perhaps she's delusional or some such. Though one would think this might lead to more odd memories then just that one, and throw up more danger flags... Then again Amu is time pressed right now, so hard to be sure.

---------

Thus in summary I've managed via some logic to identify 5 possible interpretations at this point, specifically:

- Dia is confused about where specific memories she has are coming from and thus thinks other memories are hers. Amu how ever only notices one discrepancy when comparing with her own memories of events, perhaps due to time pressure.

- Dia is digging up past lives information from the Collective Unconsciousness, because seemingly she's Over Powered like that as well.

- Dia got help from the winner of a world reset event and got included in their wish. (Not so OP Dia theory)

- Dia managed to survive an end of the world event and its reset. And then either still has a connection to Amu afterwards because she's simply considered connected being her Chara, or managed to manipulate a new connection to Amu.

- Dia is Hallucinating up new memories or worse. Amu only notices one sign of it though, perhaps due to time pressure.

(To consider in these theories is that Dia had seemingly no problem reading the text properly that Amu couldn't, though this might be a Chara ability of hers)
 
More attempted stunting:

Io

[X] Pace yourself. See what will happen.
-[X] Looking warily at the dog-like figures entering the room, she focused on the spot they entered through. Could she try breaking her way out there? "I don't suppose you could tell me what's going on?"

Amu
[X] Just talk to it, try to figure out what it's trying to say.
-[X] "Look, I don't know what your trying to tell me. Why don't you come in here and explain?"
[X] Look more closely at Dia's abilities as you talk.
-[X] While talking, she focused on the new sense Dia had given her. She could feel the writing, could she understand some of it now? Could she find what was making the writing?
 
Io
[X] Pace yourself. See what will happen.
-[X] Looking warily at the dog-like figures entering the room, she focused on the spot they entered through. Could she try breaking her way out there? "I don't suppose you could tell me what's going on?"

Amu
[X] Just talk to it, try to figure out what it's trying to say.
-[X] "Look, I don't know what your trying to tell me. Why don't you come in here and explain?"
[X] Look more closely at Dia's abilities as you talk.
-[X] While talking, she focused on the new sense Dia had given her. She could feel the writing, could she understand some of it now? Could she find what was making the writing?
 
Io
[X] Pace yourself. See what will happen.
-[X] Looking warily at the dog-like figures entering the room, she focused on the spot they entered through. Could she try breaking her way out there? "I don't suppose you could tell me what's going on?"

Amu
[X] Just talk to it, try to figure out what it's trying to say.
-[X] "Look, I don't know what your trying to tell me. Why don't you come in here and explain?"
[X] Look more closely at Dia's abilities as you talk.
-[X] While talking, she focused on the new sense Dia had given her. She could feel the writing, could she understand some of it now? Could she find what was making the writing?

I like these, they're pretty solid.
 
Pft, what kind of 12 year old can't read at a college level? Disgraceful. I was doing it when I was 6.

(True story. Bookworm since before I was even in school.)
 
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Pft, what kind of 12 year old can't read at a college level? Disgraceful. I was doing it when I was 6.

(True story. Bookworm since before I was even in school.)
But that would cut into her time spent playing football, and running around town!

Also, she's ten. If she'd been twelve, she'd actually know that letter.

Also, it's Japanese, and learning your letters takes until high school; it isn't something you can reasonably do by six, I'm afraid.
 
Pft, what kind of 12 year old can't read at a college level? Disgraceful. I was doing it when I was 6.

(True story. Bookworm since before I was even in school.)
Some languages are substantially more difficult then others. Japanese for instance has a lot of unique characters with their own meaning, I think you're expected to learn a few thousand of them over your schooling, which means quite a bit of memorization.
 
Some languages are substantially more difficult then others. Japanese for instance has a lot of unique characters with their own meaning, I think you're expected to learn a few thousand of them over your schooling, which means quite a bit of memorization.
IIRC ~1000 elementary school, 3-5k (Jr)High level, 6-8k university level, 10-12k good education and knowing by memory 30-40k out of 50k is expert linguist.
 
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