tabularasa_rp | King of Clubs [OPEN]

Entry tags:

King of Clubs [OPEN]

Who: Bowser, Open
What: August catchall
Where: Many places
When: August 4th to August 8th-ish except time's not real.
Content Warnings:

MERLAUT APARTMENTS

Bowser stands in front of his apartment. It is the one that he did not find to be identical to the others when he'd first found it. It is the one that contained the Regain. The object that, among the fusions of places and animals, undeniably belonged to someone, that was, him. Bowser opens the door and enters the apartment.

The Koopa then walks to the desk and opens the drawer. He then removes a case from the drawer, takes a deck of cards from his shell, places the deck in the case, and puts the case back in the drawer. If he is for some reason interupted during this process, he jumps back and shouts "GAH!"

THE HEAVENLY BLANC

At some point later, Bowser travels to the Heavenly Blanc to share his discovery. Or at least, he travels to the Bar & Cafe with the Regain in hand willing to discuss it, though his actual intent is simply to get drinks there. He sets it down on the booth, a power chip case with Bowser's emblem on it.

When someone passes by, he asks, "Have you seen something lying around here that's just yours? Not weird fusions, like the buildings or animals, but something small, and definitely yours. Like this." he points at the emblem on his case.

WALL MARKET

Exploring the Wall Market with his pipe weapon, Bowser notices a silhoette in the distance. He approaches the shadow slowly, unable to clearly see. Then he shouts, "Who is that!" demandingly.

WILD CARD

Perhaps Bowser may be found exploring a location that is not in one of the prompts.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(They were attempting to get a good look at some graffiti when they're rudely interrupted by someone shouting at them. They spring to their feet with a burst of screeching mechanical chatter threat detected! and whip around to stare at Bowser.)

This unit is non hostile!

(Though the fact that the silhoette had not appeared entirely human was unnerving, Legion quickly stating that they were not hostile was reassuring, at least.)

Not what I asked, but good enough, I guess.

(They calm down.)

Greetings. We are Legion, relict.

(With his initial question now answered, Bowser follows the introduction with his own.)

Well I'm Bowser. King of the Koopas.

... what do you mean "we?"

Acknowledged, Bowser-King.

(They're a bit weird about names.)

1,183 programs exist within this platform.

Edited 2020-08-12 20:23 (UTC)

(Bowser stands there for a moment, wondering how Legion managed to get the idea that Bowser-King was what he should be called.)

... Just call me "Bowser."

So there's one thousand... over a thousand of you in one robot body? (Bowser asks, trying to comprehend what exactly Legion means.)

Affirmative.

(Bowser was gonna have a hard time breaking them of their weird name habit.)

We are a swarm intelligence.

(If there's anyone with the sheer stubbornness to get someone to break such a habit, it's probably Bowser.)

(Nonetheless, Bowser had no clue what a 'swarm intelligence' was.)

You're a... what? Explain.

We are not a singular entity but a composite of many smaller minds, acting on consensus.

(One body, many minds. Over time, their perspectives have altered, and they have become more cohesive, a distinct personality, but they're still plural. If they wished, a part of them could leave, provided there was a network to travel through and somewhere else to go.)

Huh. OK. (Bowser did not entirely understand, but further questioning would not change that.)

You here to try to find answers for this whole mess?

Yes. (They always seek answers.) Though it is unlikely answers will be found.

(A pause.)

We are also interested in the newly emerged native life.

(By which the mean the paint tailed creatures and their markings.)

Is Bowser King also seeking answers?

Yeah. I'm looking for answers too. And they will be found. One way or another, someone's gonna find 'em. Maybe not yet, but it's gonna get figured out. (Bowser is unwilling to accept any alternative. He is certain that, at some point, he will return home.)

You mean the graffiti artists or the hand chickens? (Bowser asks, now speaking of the 'newly emerged native life.') Or just the new locals in general?

... and it's still just "Bowser."

We refer to the "graffiti artists". They appear capable of advanced communication, though they are currently incapable of doing so with words.

(Even if success is certain, they are unsure what answers will be found. They do not say this, however.)

Can they understand us? (Bowser himself has not interacted with any of the creatures Legion speaks of yet, but the fact that they can communicate is an interesting lead.)

Yes.

(At least, they behave as though they do.)

(Bowser moves to observe the graffiti Legion was studying.)

What's the 'advanced communication' then? Can they write? Can they talk?

They are capable of understanding both writing and speech, though they do not speak themselves.

(They haven't yet learned that they cannot communicate through writing either.)

Do they make any noises? Are you sure they're not just speaking a language we just don't get? (There are many species Bowser knows of, after all, that don't seem like they use language that are capable of communicating verbally just as well as humans.)

(A likely possibility. He is of sound judgement.)

Uncertain. However, if they are, it is likely visual in nature.

(They seem pretty focused on painting.)

(Yes, the Smeargle-Moombas having a written language did seem likely. Though that wasn't necessarily the case.) I dunno. Bloopers can shoot ink, but they still have a spoken language. They're not artists like the things here though.

(They've never heard of a 'blooper' before, but they'll take his word for it.)

Acknowledged. We will continue to observe for any signs of written or spoken language.

She paused in her walk to the bar, glancing over at where the ... hmmm... dragon? He looked like a small dragon turtle. Yes, she'd go with that for the moment. Maybe best not to mention 'small.' She glanced at what he was indicating and leaned against the booth opposite him to look at it.

"I don't really have anything," she rumbled out. "So there'd be nothing like that, but no. I haven't seen anything small show up. Just my bridge. And it's my bridge, or at least my memory of the bridge. No weird fusions. But little things? Not yet."

"This bridge," Bowser says, "it's exactly like the one you know?" He's gathered from what Blue soon after the world began that Mount Silver was like that. Though Mt. Silver had changed somehow. "Did it change at all after the apartments and the church showed up?"

Edited 2020-08-14 03:58 (UTC)

She slid into the booth across from him, assuming he was essentially inviting her to speak. This was more comfortable. Like so many of the conversations here, it turned to the metaphysical of what was going on.

"I didn't see any changes. It still looks and feels like my bridge in hell. But, it's in the wrong place obviously. And it's like if I remembered it. Nobody has a one-hundred percent perfe... well, ok. There's one person in my world who has an absolutely perfect memory, but she's a historian. That's her damned job." Grunt. And it was all she was good at. "But nobody has a perfect memory usually."

Bowser wouldn't argue whether people had perfect memories, but that Parsee hasn't noticed any differences is a satisfactory answer to him. Still, he has one question.

"And this 'hell' place, that's where you come from?" Normally he might not ask such a question, as it does not really relate to the topic at hand. However, since Akechi informed Bowser that Parsee was a demon, he's been trying to figure out what exactly that means.

"Most recently. Old Hell's where the spirits and demons went when humans forgot about us," she said with a shrug. "I watch over the bridge that leads into it. The hell where people go when they die got moved. Got full."

She snorted and laughed. "Apparently humans breed worse than moon rabbits. They needed a bigger hell."

A new, bigger afterlife? Just for humans? And what are moon rabbits? Bowser has many, many questions. However, he's now certain that Parsee's dimension is very different from his.

"Spirits, demons, hell, I don't think those mean the same thing in both of our dimensions."

Rabbits ... on the moon! Only anthropormorphic. It really was as simple as it sounded, and probably just about as stupid. She was equally certain in his case, mostly because he looked nothing like any creature she'd even heard of.

"Solid odds they don't. The whole idea of different dimensions is weird enough. And honestly, my world's strange even for me. There are days when I'm glad we got the hell out of the rest of the world. Quieter." Usually.

"This isn't the first time I've had to deal with other dimensions. It's definitely the weirdest, though. I went to my dimension's afterlife, once. I thought it was every dimension's afterlife, but if 'hell' is where humans in your dimension go when they die, I'm not still sure that's right."

"I've never thought my dimension was weird. But I get the feeling that all the other people here wouldn't exactly call it normal. It definitely isn't 'quiet.'"

"Lucky you. At least you have a leg up on that," she muttered, shaking her head and frowning some. As for Hell, from what I've gathered, I think that word has a ... meaning that it doesn't for us. It's a place of the dead, not necessarily punishment. I hear Hell's supposed to be a bad place for some folks."

Pffft, westerners. "Yeah, 'not quiet' might be a better way to put it for me too. It's just weird depending on which youkai got bored this month. Their antics vary and some are strange even for me."

"So it is like the Underwhere..." Bowser says. He speaks of his own world's afterlife, which was also less a place of punishment than simply where souls not worthy of going to the Overthere went.

"Demons, youkai... what exactly do those mean in your dimension?" Bowser asks, deciding this is the time to do so.

"Underwhere, Underworld? Yeah, I'm going to guess that it's similar or at least as much as your world is similar?" There were definitely similarities. "You kind of look like how humans think Kappa look, by the way. Only a lot bigger."

His question had her tap her lips. "So, they're words humans use. We picked them up and ran with them because they're handy. Demons, Oni, are a specific sort of thing. Big, powerful, tempermental. Usually drunk all the time to keep their rage in check. Most of them are pretty minor, but there's some big muckity mucks that usually add titles."

"Youkai's just sort of a catch all for spirits and monsters that humans don't understand. Thousands of different kinds. All different, all weird. Usually one comes into existence because something got regretted, and there's a wrong to redress. And when it's done, they sort of ... stuck around." It was a bit of an oversimplification, but a lot of youkai were like that. Revenants who lingered because something got screwed up and needed to be fixed, and afterwards pandora's box was already opened and they were there.

"I'm what's called a Hashihime, a bridge princess. Kinda a vengeful spirit but I took care of that a long... long time ago." Snort.

"My afterlife's seperated into The Underwhere and The Overthere. The Underwhere's the dark lower part, ruled by a lady named Jaydes. The Otherthere's made of clouds, and it's run by a dude called Grambi. Grambi and Jaydes have a kid who turned into a multiverse-saving artifact for a bit, and there's a demon that's sealed somewhere who we had to fight." If there were similarities between the afterlives of their worlds, that should be enough for Parsee to find them, Bowser hopes.

"There's something like koopas in your dimension?" Kappa. Koopa. It was too similar to be a coincidence. "Most Koopas are smaller, and way less powerful. It's only the royalty and nobility that have draconic traits."

Bowser can't help but feel jealous of the implication that the spirit of envy managed to accomplish her goal as a vengeful spirit. He's been stuck trying to accomplish his own goals, his own percieved life's purpose, for about six years now. "And now that that's over, what do you do?" It's fairly obvious to Bowser that it has something to do with the bridge, but he hasn't been told exactly what. "And what kind of powers are you supposed to have as a vengeful spirit?"

Edited 2020-09-01 05:01 (UTC)

"Hmmm. Ok, underwhere and overthere's about where things stop being similar. There's an underworld, and heaven. The rest? Different," she could assess quickly enough, but she got the feeling that afterlife had a bit of a basic structure as a rule, unless things got needlessly complicated. "Kappa? Humans draw them like you, but they usually look like human girls actually. Most spirits are female and humanoid. They're all ... I guess you'd call them obsessed specialists and nerds. Always trying to do their own thing, usually all at once and making a mess of things."

So... same name, similar visual origins, but definitely not the same. "For the last thousand years and change, I've guarded one bridge and then for the last century, another. People come to me for help crossing or when they need help breaking a thing up that needs to end. Usually divorces, breakups. I guess they figured I dealt with an old cheater, so I can still help them?"

A shrug. "As for powers, I'm a spirit of envy, so controlling envy is about the size of it. I can make people insanely jealous, and I get jealous easily. Different methods, but always amounts to the same thing."

Knowing the similarities between Kappa and Koopas were only in how humans thought Kappa looked made the coincidence even stranger. Perhaps it was just that, a coincidence, but there seemed to be a lot of them.

Still, the next thing Parsee says gets Bowser attention. "Do people ever... uh, ask you for help breaking other people up?"

Not like Bowser would have a use for such an ability.

"Yuuuuup. And if I like the prayer enough, I've taken the job. I don't intervene unless there's something way too schmaltzy or loveydovey about the couple. If they're too sweet and loving, it'll make me jealous. Totally easy to justify then."

Yeah, she'd totally screw with Mario and Peach. In a heartbeat.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

King of Clubs [OPEN]

Wall Market

so are we saying that Bowser and Legion did not meet as they did in the TDM, then?

I've been operating on the assumption that the TDMs aren't canon, yeah.

very well.

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Heavenly Blanc

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