007 - Welcome to VoidCon!

[tabularasa_mods]

Welcome to VoidCon! Event Info ▲ Comments Is It Wrong To Pick Up Stamps In The Convention?
The registration desk for VoidCon rests at the base of Mt. Silver, looking a bit conspicuous in contrast to the natural cave entrance. Lanyard badges have been laid out across the desk, one for each person that dwells within the Void... although, some will still be unclaimed by the time the convention ends. Above the mountain rumbles a thunderstorm, granting enough power to easily keep the convention space powered for a few days. Even if you’re not interested in the convention itself, you might as well take advantage of the stable power source while it lasts.

Next to the pile of lanyards is a stack of cards, each covered with blank squares and the words “Stamp Rally” written at the top. The instructions can be found on the back, along with a list of goals and activities - not all of them make sense, but as long as you think your interpretation is correct, it seems to count. Each completed goal will be rewarded with a matching stamp, which will simply appear on the card on its own. Get six or more stamps and you get “a prize.” It's not clear what the prize is, but it must be something good, right?

The goals for each stamp are as follows, and can be completed in any order:

1. Sign your autograph on ten different surfaces.
2. Wear someone else’s clothes.
3. Hug lovable arcade mascot Potato-Cat.
4. Find yourself in Kyo’s merchandise booth.
5. Reenact the best scene in the book.
6. Win a round in the holo-arcade with another player's abilities.
7. Eat the BBQ.
8. How much is a currency? Can I have it?
9. Tweet a hash tag into the ley lines about your experience at VoidCon.
10. Share and subscribe to the most liked art piece.

Completing at least one stamp prompt will make your character eligible for the March event bonus. Please see the linked event post for details.

So I’m A Fanartist, So What?
In proper fandom-based convention fashion, a small herd of Brushboys have responded to the call for creativity and settled themselves into the convention space. Some have taken residence in their own stalls as they draw whatever (or whoever) comes to mind, but others will take a more guerilla approach to their art as they walk about in search of their newest source of inspiration - you!

Most art can be observed in the form of prints and postcards that are lying about for public viewing on occupied vendor stalls, but other Brushboys have taken some liberties with their mediums. A lucky individual may find an entire mural painted on a cave wall that’s dedicated to them, or perhaps telling the story of the relationship between them and another character.

Styles of the art vary depending on the individual who has painted their respective masterpiece, but most depictions are compliant to “canon” in terms of their content. That’s not to say that every piece is, however - canon divergence is key in fanworks. Pieces with two characters together may have never spoken a word to each other before, or perhaps the nature of their connection to each other has been grossly misinterpreted by the artist. Whatever the case, each work of art is certainly a conversation starter.

In Another World With My VR Headset
Numerous signs and posters found around the arcade direct attendees to the elaborate VR game set-up, the potato-cat mascot proclaiming in a large speech bubble that “Fun and Excitement Awaits!” followed by an odd little nonsense phrase in smaller writing that is probably meant to be motivational but either comes across as nonsense (“what did you do that did”) or simplistic (“wow!”). The posters are not particularly needed, however, as the set-up takes up a large area, and the bright lights and music likely draw more than enough attention to it.

The interactable and realistic hologram display shows a little piece of another world. It could be a room, or a city street, or a little piece of the outdoors, but every world is familiar to at least someone present. It changes by the hour, with every attendee’s world featured at least once. Each world is presented as a game, and while the game does not always appear relevant to the location it is usually at least playable, and frequently allows for two or more players to either cooperate or compete - it’s better with company! Games include rhythm games, stealth games, monster battles, fighting games, card games and more. The goal of each game will also change with the genre, so you’d best beat it quickly if you want to make any progress.

In this VR world, attendees will find that their existing powers work perfectly in-game, as though an intended feature, even if they don’t seem at all relevant to the game. Furthermore, powers can be unequipped or exchanged for someone else’s powers by accessing the menu, allowing for free experimentation and a chance to see what the neighbors are truly capable of. If you don’t have anyone to trade with, just hit the “randomize” option - you’ll be given a completely random powerset, or you’ll be randomly swapped with another nearby player. The possibilities are endless!

If you manage to reach the end of the game, you’ll be greeted with a large and flashy display of “Congratulations!” along with some virtual confetti, followed by a holographic display of everyone’s high scores… which are a bit confusing to read, since every new version of the game has a completely different scoring system and one player might go through several of these before hitting a proper “ending.” Is a smaller number or bigger number better? Why does a farming game even have a combo score? Maybe it’s best not to think about it.

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Comments

Ann Takamaki | Open

[menaretrash]

A - Arrival to NerdVoidCon.

[ So, it's not a big secret that something has been going on, considering the weird flyers that have been popping up, advertising... whatever the heck this is going to end up being, and now that the day has arrived, Ann's a little skeptical. Granted, the last strange thing that'd happened like this was a party, and that had been a whole lot less lethal than she'd originally thought it'd be, so maybe this will be something along the same lines.

She's pretty sure that these badges probably don't matter, but whatever, she's going to find hers because rules are rules, and it's then that she takes note of the cards that are sitting there. Blah, blah, prize... she hums, turning to the person standing closest to her. ]

Hey, you think if we get some of these done, we'll be able to meet whoever dragged us here face to face to get our "prize"? Or do you think it'll be like one of those deals where it'll just pop out of no where?

[ There's a sudden memory of Akechi that hits her, sitting and trying to sip tea, while a burst of random confetti and a medal slowly being lowered around his neck while a random sword had suddenly gotten stuck to her hand at the exact same time... it does make her smile, a little bit, because the whole thing had been so stupid, and yet. The Void. ]

...Guess we won't know until we try.

B - So I'm a Fanartist, So What?

[ Once further inside the 'convention hall', this isn't like any con she's seen or been to before. It's preferable, right now at least. No sweaty nerds in weird cosplay trying to ask for her number, something she can appreciate! She's noticing, though, that a lot of this fanart looks... familiar. And of course it would, because a lot of it involves people and creatures within the Void, it seems, even if those people aren't entirely here anymore.

She's found a few really cute drawings, too. A few of Seto, some of Parsee. They're cute -- even one she's found of herself is pretty adorable, mostly because this is clearly from their Destinyland trip, before it all went to shit. It's cute enough to get her to smile brightly at the Brushboys responsible, and in turn, they seem to puff their chests out with pride. ]

Wow, that's really cute! Thanks so much!

[ The creatures seem pleased with their glowing praise, even as Ann moves along to inspect some other things drawn by other Brushboys. The next piece of
art has her left eye twitching, however. ]

Whoa, hell no! I wouldn't be that desperate-- [ She turns to face the trio of Brushboys responsible, but they're not paying attention. They have, what appear to be, paper bag puppets on their hands, two of which bear a hilarious resemblance to both Ren and Ann, the other being a doofy looking black and white cat. All of the puppets have uneven googly eyes which doesn't help, and all she can do is stare in horror as they make the 'Ren' and 'Ann' puppets lean in. ]

What!? ...no! Hey, don't you dare!

[ They look up from their activity, tilting their heads, then back at each other, then down at the puppets. For a moment, it almost seems like they're going to listen, until they suddenly smash the puppets faces together in what she can only assume to be a 'kiss'. ]

NOOOOOOO! Give those to me RIGHT NOW!

[ As if she's going to be able to catch them, the trio of Brushboys scatter and Ann is left chasing after them with the absolute rage of someone who could breathe fire if that were possible. It's probably a good thing she can't call on Carmen right now. ]

C - In Another World.

[ As if she hasn't had enough exercise, Ann's found her way to whatever the hell this is supposed to be. The Brushboys from earlier are long forgotten at this point, at least, now that she's had time to cool down. She's busy taking out what little rage she's got left in this VR thing, at least, she's trying to -- this is way too weird.

Don't. Mind if she flails around a little as Carmen appears at her side, hovering in all of her supernatural glory and dragging those poor, heart headed men around like the dogs they are. This is. Different. ]

So uh... what exactly are we supposed to do here?

[ Of course, if this turns into a rhythm game... good luck. ]

D - A small break.

[ Much, much later on, Ann can be found just wandering around, covered in various pieces of random con swag, though the most notable is probably the plushie she's carrying, clutching it close to her chest, all while decked out in an oversized hoodie with a familiar logo on the front. She may also have stuffed the large pocket in front full of stickers.

Does she probably look stupid right now? Yes. Does she care? Absolutely not. She's hungry, and she's on the search for food. Specifically, the one mentioned on the card. She glances over to the person closest to her, sighing. ]

Hey, have you seen any barbecue anywhere? I think that's one of the things we're supposed to do, eat barbecue, to get a prize, and I'm starving... also, have you seen any crepe stands anywhere?

[ Please. Tell her there's at least ONE, because she hasn't found any yet because she's been too busy grabbing random bits and pieces of swag and she's still on the hunt for more... ]

Es | OTA

[xblaze]

Stamp Rally...? [i]

[ Es stares at the card she picked up at the table with the lanyards. She twisted it every way, trying to make sense of the prompts given to her. The prompt "wearing someone's clothes" makes the most sense to her, so without warning, without any sort of buffer, she tugs on your character's sleeve and asks her question. ]

Excuse me, but may I wear your clothing?

end gazer [ii]

[ Es finally explores VR. She has an idea of what it is-- it was similar to all the combat trials she's run back at the agency. But even so, it was different wielding controllers compared to her normal sword, so of course, her giant swings are bound to hit someone.

They managed to hit someone before, she doesn't doubt it'll hit someone else.

For now, she seems immensely concentrated on beating a girl wielding fire magic. She pouts when she slips off the headset. ]

.. She's being mean again.

Seto Kaiba | Open

[blue_eyed_obsession]

[OOC: I had way too many ideas for this plot and not enough restraint, I'll be replying to this top comment with my prompts to divide them up more. They'll be about 5-ish total but one of them will come later since I'm still working on something for it. C O U G H.]

Legion|Open (+1 closed)

[forwearemany]

A) The cute stuff

(Legion came to the convention both because of curiosity, and because they wanted to know why they were apparently an honored guest. Attending provides some clarity, in that this is apparently a celebration of them and other non natives.

They begin to explore the attractions and offered items, and are quite intrigued to discover stuffed toy forms of both native wildlife and allies. They immediately start perusing the selection, inspecting the craftsmanship and occasionally picking one out to take with them. The most noticeable is, perhaps, a very large plush fluffy mimic, but they also grab some other stuffed robots (Including one of them? They are very curious.) and any plushies of their friends they happen to find. Perhaps they've found one of someone you know? Or even one of you?

Or maybe you're just really interested in that gargantuan mimic plush. That thing looks so soft and cuddly.)

B) What a terrible day to have eyes

(And well, now they've found the less cute and fun fan stuff.

Options here include...

A fanfic of a high school AU romance between Legion and Kaiba, where Kaiba behaves like a shy schoolgirl and Legion is the handsome robot senpai.

A print of Legion ... in a very very revealing bikini. It does not look good on them. It also doesn't make any sense, because they're basically naked all the time anyway. The "sexy" pose they're in does not help.

Somehow, they've found ... an entire calendar of extremely cursed pinups? Feel free to say your character is one of the ones featured in here.)

C) Closed to Viridi

(Well, other people might disagree, but this? This is probably the worst thing they've found so far.)

Error: we have no desire to engage in physical contact with this individual.

(What contact, and which individual? Well ... the large painting on the wall should answer that. In it, they and Viridi are sharing the most adorably sweet hug.)

Indigo, Open

[indigloaming]

1. Stamps

Well, this is... something. Even with her strong spirit of exploration, the native painters pressing papers into her hands, begging for autographs, is a little much. Still, she doesn't have the heart to just refuse the cute little things, and it eventually gets her a stamp, anyway. She looks down at the card warily, not sure if this 'prize' is necessarily a good thing, but again, the spirit of exploration calls to her.

Surveying the rest of the goals, 'Eat the BBQ' is simple enough; as a Novakid, BBQ is in her blood plasma, and she thinks she remembers where the food stalls in this place are. After getting some for herself (and watching a Novakid eat can be a strange, even disturbing, experience if you've never seen it before; she clearly doesn't have a mouth, but bite-sized pieces of meat disappear when she raises it to the lower half of her face anyway) she wraps up a few more pieces in foil to keep them warm and goes to explore the convention some more. If she meets anyone who needs the BBQ stamp, she can share her leftovers, and maybe arrange something for this 'wear someone else's clothes' goal....

2. Games

Indigo doesn't think she has any abilities that could be considered 'powers', but to her delight, all of her tech works within the VR booth -- including her rifle. She's eager to use it, going after any combat games that allow the use of ranged weapons and setting impressive scores.

The game might have some other ideas, considering the abilities of her tech and her natural capabilities as a Novakid to be 'powers' for the sake of swapping. Would you like to use her spike sphere and double jump in a platforming game? What about her Novakid marksmanship in a shooting game? Let's hope you don't receive her glow in a horror game about hiding from monsters....

3. Fanart

Her good luck couldn't last forever, as Indigo comes upon a poster-sized artwork of herself, dressed in a somewhat skimpy 'cavewoman' outfit that is familiar to her if not anyone else in the Void, and arranged in a submissive, 'sexy' pose. She makes a terrified squeak as she stumbles backward from what she's seen, and the plasma of her face begins to glow even brighter in her version of a blush. Novakid are pretty hard to miss normally, but as bright as she's glowing in her embarrassment, it's like a beacon.

She backs onto a nearby bench, plopping down on it and trying to hide her face in her hands, softly moaning a meek 'Noooooo'. She hasn't even thought of the possibility of someone else seeing this poster, or Heaven forbid, even 'buying' it....