"dreamcatcher" miniplot!

[limitstorm]

Around the July 16th (date subject to change in case of any plots) someone's gonna be taking a trip to the VR room, and while they've done it before, it's not been on this scale before. So, the question becomes: who likes cute animals and sleeping well?



This plot'll enact some bonding time with an adorable loving pet, possible CR, and if your character has nightmares--possible help with banishing those bad dreams away. For a little therapy after the past few months, Riku's decided that giving a little bit of cheer and giving a place to release pent up frustration might help.

The virtual dream world that Riku's going to create will be full of Dream Eaters--these are creatures from his canon, and there are two types.

Spirits: The good ones! Spirits are nice Dream Eaters; they eat bad dreams and leave good dreams behind in their wake. They're usually pastel-colored and adorable. They are complacent to bounce about and if your character should start interacting with one, they'll likely bond with them immediately. Expect lots of sparkling and hearts, notes, etc. If they have bonded with you and you encounter Nightmares, they will fight Nightmares for/with you.

Nightmares: The bad ones. Nightmares eat good dreams and plant good ones; they're available to fight against if that's more your character's thing. They are very aggressive and will immediately start to engage in a fight if your character approaches them, or might just materialize in front of them because they want to be jerks. Nightmares are neon or mostly black colored with a definite mean streak. Note: Nightmares cannot birth new bad dreams in your characters; this VR is based in Riku's mind and Riku himself is a Spirit; even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to birth new nightmares.

Here is a comprehensive guide to both Spirits and Nightmares.

Cute animal therapy will help in relieving some nightmares, as Riku has the power of a Spirit Dream Eater himself. (Which also means if anyone comes in contact with him, he'll probably sparkle and shimmer just like the other Spirits.)

However: if your character has a slew of bad dreams, Riku will likely be able to sense this and will confront your character to ask if he can help get rid of these nightmares. Characters can refuse this extra help, of course, but it will be offered to everyone and anyone who has a lot of nightmares or is constantly plagued by recurring nightmares/trauma/etc. Think of it as personal dream therapy by one Dream Eater.

If your character does agree, Riku will dive into their heart (it won't hurt I promise) to fight off their nightmares outside of the VR. This will be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

Anyone is welcome to this plot, if it gets off the ground! I'd like to see if anyone is interested in this first before implementing/talking it over with other muns.

Comments

[galactically]

Can Sheryl ride on this? :)

[limitstorm]

Yes! Pegaslick looks to be pretty big, I'd say around 6ft tall minimum and 8ft max, so she could definitely ride on it. c:

[wilder]

Dream eaaaaaters. /makes grabby hands

I would definitely be interested in this! I...don't know if my character that has nightmare problems would agree to any sort of help since he's super untrusting, buuut I definitely at least want to be part of the VR part!

[limitstorm]

Well, the Dream Eaters will at least help somewhat through this VR session. ;_; But he can't help you if you don't let hiiiim whoever you are who has nightmare problems.

[bloodyashes]

I AM SO ON THIS I've been needing a way to get CR with you anyway so HIIII

Asch has REALLY FUCKING EMOTIONALLY PAINFUL NIGHTMARES full of loss and trauma and yes

he'll probably have to be dragged though [faceinhands]

[limitstorm]

asch no

don't make him shonen hero at you??? we all saw how well that turned out 8|

riku wouldn't force him, though, he'd just be kinda... well, blunt-careful. 'so... i feel that you've got a lot of traumatic nightmares. if you're okay with it, i could help push some of them away.' SO DRAGGING might have to be something someone who's not riku'll do 8(

[feel_nevermore]

Raven has recurrent nightmares about her Prophecy and her Father Trigon. She won't be pleased when she finds out Riku knows about it. And she'll likely refuse extra help but she used to be close to Riku (in another RPG), so she won't mind as much as if it was a perfect stranger. And it could be an opportunity for building CR anew. ;)

And a Komory bat seems fitting for a goth girl, don't you think? XD

[limitstorm]

I'm actually the Riku that was still here from the beginning of Exsils. Riku would be pretty quick to assure her that he wasn't prying, he can just feel it because he's a Spirit himself. If she refuses help, he won't press.

Since Riku's own Dream Eater is a Komory Bat, he'd be happy to find a kindred spirit.

[concealingeyes]

Ahhhh I'd love to join in on this!!! Dream Eaterssssss!

Kido hasn't been sleeping well. She's getting better but she's had a lot of stressors recently ahaha...

[limitstorm]

aww, kido. well, there will be a bunch of cute animals clamoring for attention and loving on her. c: do you think her dreams are especially bad and due for some intervention?

[interspace]

Let us do this. Misha has recurrent nightmares just from, you know, fighting crime and abandonment issues and terrible near-death scenarios ever since her mid-teens. She's pretty deeply distrusting in general, but... idk, if she actually knew Riku/what he usually stands for, she'd be a lot more at ease and might accept without explaining why or any of that stuff.

So yeah, it's circumstantial to a vote from the KH cast and if all of you'd be comfortable with it (she wouldn't, like, say anything, just... know that Riku is a Good Guy and not distrust him for being some random weirdo), but I would really like to join in on this if possible. :3

[limitstorm]

/COMMENTS TO THAT ASAP for posterity

i am a-okay with her knowing about him/what he stands for/his arc etc! he'll definitely ask her if she wants his help and be kind of confused if she just automatically accepts it but he'll just. assume she's very trusting. 8|

[hbisea]

I don't think Mera has recurring nightmares as much anymore, but maybe every now and then she has terrible dreams about losing her husband again and her dead child. Nightmare not pal??

[limitstorm]

aw, mera :c cute things will help. riku will step in if needed.

--and oh no fin fatale oh nooooo i actually hate fighting that one tbh have fun with that jerk mera

[skennen]

SHRIEK so glad you're doing this VR again. Definitely Eaglider-ing this time. And strong possibility of bad dream talk.

[limitstorm]

it came at a bad time so it seemed best to actually implement it and tell people i'm doing it before c:

oooh, he'll be very concerned about that. badass assassin having bad dreams, we can't have this.

[duplicitoussight]

i'm still on hiatus but... i want to try this too!! kano needs to take care of a lotta repressed stress & trauma somehow

[limitstorm]

aww, kano :c

come one come all to the dream eater petting zoo, where all the critters are adorable and keep you from having bad dreams

[ringbeast]

Nitoh has to kill the guy who ate his rival/guy he kind of likes and stole his body, so he's gonna be having some nightmares for a while about that. MMMHMMM. It'd be nice and probably a lot less annoying for Haruto if he stopped having those nightmares pretty fast.

[limitstorm]

... did someone call say nightmare buffet, riku's all over that

he'll definitely offer o7 but will nitoh accept?

[attheclocktower]

Oh wow how did I miss this.

I am very very much interested. Especially since I've basically headcanoned that Day 356/7 nightmares are definitely a thing for her. ^^;a

Also interacting with dream eaters yes so much *^*

[limitstorm]

what would xion's dream eater be, i'm curious

[candystar]

Ally is ALL OVER VR AND CUTE THINGS. She sometimes has nightmares (probably lately some really creepy ones about being like vivisected, Ally you shouldn't have watched those corp human experimentation vids)

Nate has a ton of nightmares buuuut I'd have to think of a way for him to get involved because he's Mr. 'NOPE TOTALLY FINE HERE NOTHING TO SEE MOVE ALONG'.

[limitstorm]

Riku can unfortunately not help anyone who won't be willing to agree to be helped :C Naaaate... (Riku's the same way, though, so really...)

Ally and Nate are welcome, though! Please tell me if you'd like to sign either of them up for willingly accepting Riku's help if their nightmares are really bad.

[heirwithouthope]

Freaking out with excitement because I'll be back from hiatus for this! ;w;

But yeah, Thorin hasn't been sleeping all too well since the last world jumping plot. And I'm way too amused at the prospect of him being followed around by something pastel-colored. Count me in if this doesn't get pushed before the 12th.

ETA: Since I'm kind of feeling Lord Kyroo, would a character have to go through the same process of talking to him and getting challenged into a fight?

[limitstorm]

I'm happy it aligns with your schedule! o7

As for Lord Kyroo, yes! Instead of jumping worlds, since that's a no-no, it might just change location, however--unless Thorin is strong enough to defeat him within one battle.

[got_it_memorized]

/MAKES GRABBY HANDS AT A RYU DRAGON

[limitstorm]

JUST DON'T SET HIM ON FIRE, AXEL

AND BY "HIM" WE MEAN RIKU

[invocation]

Kyouko is a Puella Magi so it's a given she has nightmares, but they happen far less often now! They are usually horrific when they do happen though.

Mostly though, I just want her to get followed around by some cute thing so she can be annoyed by it.

[limitstorm]

bb :c he might just be an overprotective not-brother and ask anyway.

meow wows are good for obnoxiously following around. ... tama sheep too 8D tama sheep are especially adorable and fluffy. kyouko had a little lamb-- (don't eat it, koko)

[5055034455]

OH MAN. This could be great. :|a Saul's been having a ton of nightmares recently.

And an edit, to add a question: What long term effects will this have on the characters who participate?

[limitstorm]

would any of them happen to involve riku training him to the bone--i mean

I'd like to say that once nightmares are eaten/cuddled away, they won't return unless it's a recurring dream--this is up to the player, though. They'll also, of course, get happy dreams in place of their nightmares. People who participate in a personal cleansing (I need a better term for this, it sounds. Weird.) will probably have much longer effects, though, and that's on a case-by-case basis!

[sweetling]

oooooh yesssss

Halfpipe is a desensitized little shit and probably won't have need of this very much, but Sango. Sango is a ball of trauma, and being homesick as hell and spoiled about her own "death" is NOT HELPING so nightmares are p much a given

Not really sure if she'd let Riku help though? Having talked to him several times means points in his favor so I'm... leaning towards probably, if you don't have too many takers for this already!

[limitstorm]

I'll be tallying up who'll have personal Riku time in a bit, actually! I'm surprised this actually seems to be getting off the ground.

Sango at the very least will probably get quite a few Spirits following her around, at any rate. :c She could always refuse and once they're closer, could ask if he was still up for it.

[maddeninghatter]

Xerxes Break is canonically a poor sleeper, who has recurring nightmares based on past misdeeds, and is having even more of them these days, related to current events.

At his canon pull-point, his tendency to not accept help caused a major crisis. His friends staged an intervention of sorts, and he has admitted that he needs to change, and has started to move towards this - with varying degrees of success. So I think it's likely that he would accept help, though with a great deal of ambivalence!

Question: how does leaping into a person's corrupted heart affect Riku?

[limitstorm]

Leaping into a corrupted heart canonly does nothing to him but give him the possibility of being trapped in said corrupted heart forever if he should fail his mission.

You know, just the usual.

In essence: this wouldn't stop Riku, but more than likely, a corrupted heart probably has a big boss battle at the end and would be harder than usual. This would certainly be a cause to talk it out before it happens.

But it's implied that Riku is pretty incorruptible himself at this point in time, so it wouldn't do anything to him except up the stakes. However, if you meant for that to affect him in some way, it could be talked about?

[blossomgale]

Oh my gosh, it's my first time seeing pictures of all those Dream Eaters. sdfjkll They are too cute. ;A; AUGH.

Sophie's nightmares haven't been too big of a problem, but when she does get those bad dreams... they're usually about being unable to protect her friends or losing her loved ones too early in her life because she's an immortal kiddo.

Aaand I just want Sophie to interact with cute things so she can tell her friends all about it later...

[limitstorm]

dream eaters are adorable, it's true. at least 95% of people who played this game are distracted by petting and feeding and playing with dream eaters in-game. this is fact.

if they aren't too big of a problem, he'd just let her play to her heart's content! c: no big there.

[therealrisette]

I'm very tentatively interested in this, depending on the timing of plots/events in my other game(s)!

Nightmares haven't really been a thing with Rise normally, but with everything that's happened in Exsilium lately, she might have a few really bad ones from time to time. Mostly about either losing all of her friends and being alone, or more related to the sickness/bombing/world destroying that's happened in the past couple of months.

So yes, she'd definitely be up for some cute animal therapy if I do get her involved in this!

[limitstorm]

Noted! Cute animal therapy is definitely available for Rise. If said nightmares are bad enough for personal nightmare vanquishing, just tell me whenever you can, with your games in mind! o7

[ensorceler]

Oh this is interesting!

[limitstorm]

I'm glad it seems to be! c:

[substitutable]

I'd also like to show tentative interest! July's a bit of a busy month for me, but this sounds like a lot of fun so I'd like to poke my head in here, too.

Shintaro's at a weird standing point with his dreams. He's got two years of bad escapist tendencies under his belt during which he, while shutting himself up in his house, would cling to dreams of the time before his best friend/not!girlfriend died. For the most part he felt it was a positive thing because there he got to meet her, but recently it's been causing him a lot of stress because he's making friends (so seeing the dreams makes him stress out that he's forgetting her!!) and also because said dead best friend is also in this game! So seeing her and having the dream is a reminder of his failures to prevent her death.

SO it's kind of a nightmare to him? But it's also something he clings to because he's afraid of changing. They're definitely causing him a lot of stress though and I'd like him to confront it sometime... if Riku would be up to dealing with that!

[limitstorm]

He would be! It could be spun that those dreams are 'corrupted' or that there's something wrong with them, rather than they be outright nightmares, and Riku would definitely both give advice/try to fix them.

[buttpunch]

tsuboms is in, give her a wheeflower and they'll be cute and pink for literal days

she doesn't really have nightmares much though, it'd be mostly her bouncing around with her cute fairy friend and poking at riku.

haruto certainly has nightmares. while a week ago i'd say he'd beg off at this point he might be willing to give it a go. :Ia

[limitstorm]

omg is that a name change i see

riku would withstand her poking at him as long as she doesn't go gaga for him sparkling and heartsing. it's not on purpose i swear >8( he says as his disposition changes from grumpy mcbutt to tsuntsun tree (the biggest irony here is that riku has horrible nightmares and he can't do anything about it, natch)

ooh, alrighty ovo both kids for dream eaters then

[inhumanity]

...Oh my god they're really cute???

I'd be interested! Um Christopher's nightmares are all pretty bad. Five decades of fear and suffering bad. The flipside is we've got a kind of dark heart going on here so I don't know how that would affect things. But he likes cute animals (and scary ones) and totally needs some nightmare help.

[limitstorm]

and you haven't even seen them in action they're so adorable when you pet them

christoper's dark heart would just be a matter of if his heart has always been dark, or if it was caused by trauma/bad events. a heart that's always been dark will be simple, but one that was burdened by trauma will likely make it harder for riku to overcome.

[fraternize]

aaa FOREVER LATE I AM SORRY riku cr yes pls-- i would definitely be interested in this hehe. oswald has recurring nightmares/trauma (re: not considering himself a human being, erasing his sister's existence, ordering and aiding in the slaughter of everyone in the capital in order for them to reincarnate, his best friend having cut off his head, the world falling into the abyss, somarium being destroyed, being cut into and almost cut in half, et..c...), but i think he'd be really wary to let riku try to purge anything because all things considered, he doesn't just dream of his own trauma. he dreams of the other glens's trauma. he forgets those nightmares when he wakes up though - just with added stress and more tired. he's always, always tired. if anything, he'd think they would just come back and he'd feel terrible after everything riku'd have to go through in his heart just to get ease it.

that, and he trusts absolutely no one right now (not even his best friend/boyfriend/what not) due to having been betrayed by everyone's he's ever trusted. it might take a little more than blunt words for him to agree to let him in. oswald would admit that his nightmares don't really go away, but - i was actually wondering, if he suggested it, would riku dive into someone else's nightmares/heart instead? oswald worries more about his best friend than himself and if riku would be willing to ease jack's nightmares, he'd let him try at his own heart.

obviously i'm gonna grab jack's mun to ask her if she'd be cool with that too, but i just thought i'd ask. o:

[psychopath]

Just to add, I am ok with this! Riku just has to explicitly tell Jack that Oswald suggested it.