CROSSING PLANNING #1: LIGHTS OUT

[thecrossingmods]

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It's Time to Cross...

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Title drop! 👻 It's here, our very first Crossing event! The Ferryman gave you their offer, and now the toll is coming due. It's time to choose.

The event log will go up at 12PM ET on Saturday, January 18th. This is to give everyone plenty of time to thread out their Crossing trials before the formal setting changeover in February (which will have its own separate announcement/world-building post later in the month). Don't feel pressured to wrap up all your adventures in The Cavern before next week, though! What's time to an afterlife, anyway?

THE BASICS

The Ferryman said that you would all feel it when the time was coming, and they weren't being metaphorical. Those who took a stab at the river quest already got a preview; as time goes on, that feeling only gets stronger and more widespread. It's a metaphysical draw, pulling everyone to follow the flow of The River out into the darkness of The Cavern. It starts as an inkling, noticeable only if you wade out into The River, but it grows until it's a nagging urge in the back of every mind: it's time.

You feel it in your body, too. You've always felt real, as solid and corporeal as you've ever been -- but, maybe, there are some things you don't notice are missing until they're back again. Again, it starts small: maybe you get an itch that just won't scratch, and when was the last time you were itchy, anyway? Maybe you get the hiccups for the first time since your tragic demise. Maybe it's heartburn, or nausea, or dry eyes.

Last to come, at about the same time the pull towards The River starts to get impossible to ignore, is pain. Aches in your bones, scraped knuckles, a stubbed toe: did they all really hurt this much, before? Or has pain just been duller since you first broke the surface of The River?

The Ferryman sends a call out, the same way they did before: the time is now. If you're traveling with them, gather at The Lantern.

And then...

LIGHTS OUT

The lights go out.

Specifically, The Lantern's Light goes out, and it becomes very clear very quickly just how much literal light it was providing. The darkness is sudden, and it is crushing; if you've ever been in a cave with no artificial light, you have an idea of how claustrophobic it can be. The only saving grace is the dim glow of the bioluminescent plants that have been helping you out thus far, and anything you might have scavenged from the city on your own.

Keep an eye out for any reflections off the surface of The River... you don't want to fall in, not at a time like this!

From this point forward, characters will be separated into two groups: those traveling with The Ferryman, and those making the journey on their own. They will not be able to interact face-to-face until The Crossing is complete, but will still be able to write messages to each other via the "network" if they want to keep tabs on each other. Provided you can figure out how to see down here...

PAYING THE TOLL?

The Ferryman said they would guide you, and it's time for them to make good on that promise. Provided you're willing to pay the toll, of course. Have you made your peace? Are you ready to let go?

Here are the IC parameters for the toll, as a refresher:

A toll to be levied for safe passage
from the cavern to ǝɹǝɥʍǝsʅǝ

Hear a voice that causes you pain
words spoken with rage or grief or envy
fueled by hate or love or suffering

offer it to The Ferryman
and let go

We're leaving the interpretation of this open to player discretion. Some OOC guidelines:

• The offered memory must fit with the theme of the toll. In this case, there must be a voice or words associated with the memory, and it must be something that causes the character some kind of distress. This could be the memory of a particular person's voice (but not the memory of the person themselves, or any specific memory associated with them), it could be a specific incident where someone said something painful to the character, or you could go full ham and wipe out the entire memory of someone in particular! Similarly, this could be the voice of a hated enemy, someone beloved who it's painful to think about, or anything in between. If you're unsure, just let us know! We're happy to workshop with you.
• The memory must be offered willingly. The Ferryman will not take anything beyond the exact cost of the toll. Characters might not fully appreciate the consequences of losing this memory, which is completely fine, but nothing "extra" or "unexpected" will be taken. (For now, anyway. 👻)
• This also means that The Ferryman will not take more than what's asked for. Characters can't wipe everything out at once; stay on topic!
• Remember to update the memory bank with whatever it is you've chosen. If you can do this in advance of the log going live, it's helpful for us, but not the end of the world if you need some more time to decide!

Characters who decide to pay the toll won't need to do anything except show up when The Ferryman calls, and follow where The Ferryman leads. Even without The Lantern's Light, all wraiths will still be repelled from anyone under The Ferryman's protection, no matter how far they might straggle behind, and no physical harm can come to them, from any source. Not that there would be any in-fighting among you guys, right? We're all aiming for the same goal here.

That doesn't mean the journey will be easy, though.

As The Ferryman has suggested, The Crossing is a trial. Paying the toll ensures your protection, but it isn't a free pass from doing the work.

Characters journeying with The Ferryman will hear all of the voices given up to the toll speaking to them from the darkness. They will heckle and harass the group all throughout the journey, bidding them (directly or indirectly) to stop, go back, or otherwise let themselves be separated from the group.

(You don't want to do that, probably...)

As a final note, the chosen memory will be fully lost at the conclusion of The Crossing; in other words, characters will still recognize the voice speaking to them during the trial -- the one that belongs to them, anyway.

... OR TAKING THE LONG WAY?

As for the rest of you... You've got a trial of your own.

Characters who traveled with the Lantern shard saw a glimmer of what's waiting for you in the darkness. Just as you have been settling into the less-than-comfortable aspects of your renewed corporeality, so have the wraiths -- and they aren't happy. Their wispy bodies have partially-solidified into something resembling dry ice: ghostly and ill-proportioned, but solid, and with newly-grown claws, teeth, and (apparently) unrelenting rage.

The good news is, you know where to go. Even in the darkness, you can feel the same pull guiding you to follow The River. There's no telling how far you have to go or how long the journey will take, but as long as you don't panic and keep moving, everything should be fine. Right?

Again, the scope of consequences here is largely up to player discretion, but some OOC guidelines to help out:

• The longer a character has spent outside the protective bubble of The Lantern since pulling themselves out of The River the more aggressive the wraiths will be during The Crossing. If you've just been chilling in the city this whole time, good for you! It's not safe, but you'll fare better than someone who spent a little too much time getting lost in the Catacombs.
• If you'll recall from the TDM, some wraiths may have taken a particular liking to your character; they would have followed them around for longer periods of time than other wraiths, and sought your character out again the next time they ventured beyond The Lantern's Light. These wraiths will be the most aggressive toward your character in particular during The Crossing.
• Characters traveling without The Ferryman's protection are susceptible to all types of physical harm during The Crossing, which will translate to memory loss when The Crossing is complete. You can see the FAQ for more detail on how this works, but in general losing memories this way is unwilling, uneven, and unpredictable. You are not constrained by the parameters of the toll in this case; this type of memory loss can be whatever you like.
• You can plot out how your character fares during The Crossing yourself, or if you'd prefer you can comment here & the mods will roll severity for you and give you a prompt to start with.
• As above, remember to update the memory bank with whatever losses you decide on!

INTRO & PLANNING

Lastly, we want to welcome our newest players from the most recent app round! They can use this post to introduce themselves -- and everyone can use it to start planning for the event! Here's a form to get you started, but feel free to tweak as necessary for your particular needs.

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS:
CONTACT:
ETC?:

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME:
CANON & CANON POINT:
FIRST TOLL:

CROSSING HOW?:

CR WISHES:

CR OFFERS:

ETC?:

<span style="font:600 clamp(12px,3.5vw,20px)/1.25 Georgia, Garamond, sans-serif; font-variant:small-caps; text-shadow:0 1px 3px #1d1d1d3c;">🕱 OOC INFO 🕱</span> <blockquote style="border:none;color:#000"><b>NAME / PRONOUNS</b>: <b>CONTACT</b>: <b>ETC?</b>: </blockquote> <span style="font:600 clamp(12px,3.5vw,20px)/1.25 Georgia, Garamond, sans-serif; font-variant:small-caps; text-shadow:0 1px 3px #1d1d1d3c;">🕱 IC INFO 🕱</span> <blockquote style="border:none;color:#000"><b>CHARACTER NAME</b>: <b>CANON & CANON POINT</b>: <b>FIRST TOLL</b>: <b>CROSSING HOW?</b>: <b>CR WISHES</b>: <b>CR OFFERS</b>: <b>ETC?</b>: </blockquote>

c

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Comments

QUESTIONS?

[thecrossingmods]

we got answers

[blindluck]

Can characters bring items they collected in the city with them during the Crossing, provided they can carry them?

Re: QUESTIONS?

[perfecttune]

This relates specifically to Mari and her memories. In the game it’s a bit vague what Mari actually does remember or was involved in given the nature of her character. Would it be allowed to make up memories for her since not a lot is shown/mentioned or does it have to come exactly from the source material? Sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask.

[protectorofkouka]

For the offered memory, could it be two voices connected to the same memory or do you have to choose just one?

[hasapoint]

Need's first toll is the name she had in life. The memory she's offering now involves someone who knew her when she was alive and would feasibly use that name - would anyone hear it? Does it just not come up (or is a conspicuous blank) since Need doesn't remember it?

[blindluck]

Nagito is going to recognize Makoto's voice, and it's someone who would also recognize him. Will he hear Junko address him directly, or will it be more generalized?

ROLL FOR MISHAPS

[thecrossingmods]

Is your character making a go at The Crossing on their own? Do you want them to get into trouble on the way, but want to throw a bit of randomness into the mix? Let us roll some trouble for you!

Give us any parameters you like (eg, if you want to keep the severity low-medium, or want to crank it high, or if you'd like one prompt or multiple ones), we'll roll some dice, and write you a prompt or two!

Mel | Nagito Komaeda

[blindluck]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Mel (she/her)
CONTACT: maiiau; PM
ETC?: Feel free to add me on plurk!

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Nagito Komaeda
CANON & CANON POINT: Danganronpa, post-Danganronpa 3; slight AU where Nagito dies from his terminal illnesses
FIRST TOLL: Nagito has forgotten whether or not he died alone.

CROSSING HOW?: Nagito will be taking the Ferryman route! He'd like to see how the non-Ferryman group does before making any attempts like that.

Nagito is giving up the memory of the serial killer who kidnapped him in middle school. He considers this fairly low-impact, a good way to test the waters. Having to deal with the voice of a murderous serial killer alternately demanding money and threatening to violently kill you on your trip may be kind of unfortunate for the rest of you! Nagito will seem absurdly okay with this. (He may actually feel a little less okay with this than he acts.)

Incidentally, Nagtio's network device is smartphone-shaped, which means he has a screen that gives off some tiny amount of light. Not enough to see anything by, but if anyone wants to crowd around his network device trying to see if the non-Ferryman group is extra dead or attempt to use it as the world's weakest flashlight, that could be funny.

CR WISHES: I am 100% aware Nagito easily gathers negative CR and I am totally cool with that. If your character can put up with Nagito, or is even as weird as he is, then that's great. Having actual friends is good for him even if it can be difficult. Debate him about his weird opinions on hope. Question his calmness in the face of death and trauma and absurdity. Depending on how much stress all these voices put on him, this may be a good ("good") time for Nagito's more... Dramatic side to come out. Or maybe he'll continue to act like this is all just a casual walk through some sort of death-themed Disneyland! Either way, characters are free to notice his unusual behavior, be it unusually calm or unusually manic.

CR OFFERS: Nagito is good at dealing with weird people. He tends to act very calm in the face of 90% of terrible situations... Until he doesn't, which may or may not be happening here, we'll see. He is very likely to try to offer encouragement during the Crossing! His version of encouragement is not always the greatest! Expect him to try and keep an eye on people he thinks need it, which is not necessarily a good thing but also might not be a bad thing. He isn't at a point where he'd want people to be separated from the group, so he'd probably nudge stragglers.

ETC?:
previous CR post

(source)

[marblenest]

I absolutely want these two to meet at some point. I just think it would be an awful time. For them. Lovely for us.

I have arrived!

[cloversandcranes]

I need Makoto anxiously crowding Nagito while they check on the non-ferryman group on Nagito's phone! >:)

[urtitan]

What Nagito said at the meeting threw Frieda into a whole crisis (which I enjoyed tremendously!), and she won't enjoy his kidnapper's voice at all either (though she'll have her hands full with her own killer's already). Let's see how the two of them fare under the Ferryman's care! For what it's worth, if he has a breakdown over hearing Junko's voice, chances are she'll try to calm him down (if she isn't breaking down herself).

[knockingatthedoor]

Considering Kel is going to do the Stupid Thing and get hurt not paying the toll, do you think he could ask NAgito to keep an eye on the sunny-Mari duo? and maybe keep in contact with him during the crossing?

Yarrow | Daniil Dankovsky

[marblenest]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Yarrow | he/they/it
CONTACT: voidstrangers on discord or pming here is ok
ETC?: feel free to add me on discord for plottin, im sorry I do not have a plurk anymore it's been over ten years i just dont have social media anymore

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Daniil Dankovsky
CANON & CANON POINT: Pathologic 2, Day 11
FIRST TOLL: All memory of the Polyhedron.

CROSSING HOW?: Dankovsky will be going the long route as he does not trust the ferryman whatsoever. :'D

Luckily he's stayed inside the city this entire time but I do wish for him to suffer regardless. His first memory loss has been rather large though, I am thinking of something more medium or small as his next losses, or maybe several if necessary. I would like him to suffer physically on the route over for sure though. He shall have a bad time.

CR WISHES: Daniil is bound to have negative CR and I'm totally okay with that. People who can put up with him or are even endeared to him being a pompous ass are more than welcome also. He'll absolutely want to become associated with any sort of doctor or intellectual academic types, he'll want to have all of the dead doctors be in sort of a society, just in case they're needed for some doctoring or something. Who knows.

CR OFFERS: I mean. If you need a man who is very full of himself and also very much in deep denial that he is dead I have one for you. He is incredibly used to dealing with absolutely dire situations. He's not the best at dealing with them always but by god he does pull through. Daniil is a genuinely good person deep down, and a doctor. If he sees someone suffering on the way over, he's going to try to do something about it. He's willing to take on someone's suffering to ease their pain. The Hippocratic oath means something to him.

ETC?: hi I'm new

[witnessvelama]

They may or may not be interacting during the crossing as Celehar will be going with the Ferryman, but either before or after then, I would love for Celehar and Dankovsky to get into it about whether or not they're dead! So far everyone he's talked to has accepted it, so he'll probably get pretty frustrated about someone being that much in denial, which is likely to get him more scathing than he's so far been in game

[ghostmoder]

HELLO..... i am so excited to see ya boy the bachelor here!! yusuke is unfortunately a) loud, b) annoying, and most importantly c) stupid, so there is like. no shot of this going well at all. BUT I'M IN IF YOU'RE IN??? regardless i'm just thrilled to stalk daniil tbh, i love him in all his shitty glory.

yusuke will also be taking the long route, though, and will absolutely help out the less combat-oriented folks as needed, no matter how Totally Fucking Annoying they may or may not be. he can help make sure we all have a bad time but, like, a medium amount.

Ptero | Thara Celehar

[witnessvelama]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Ptero (they/she)
CONTACT: dm is fine! Or here
ETC?: ovo I am very excited for this one

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Thara Celehar
CANON & CANON POINT: Goblin Emperor books etc etc
FIRST TOLL: His god's true name!

CROSSING HOW?: Going with the Ferryman! He's been a regular advocate of that, and will continue to do so up until it's time to leave, if anyone wants to get in fights about that. He might also offer to try and make the journey alongside any others who are nervous about this first Crossing, because he's (mistakenly) telling himself that he's going to be Fine, he's ready to move on and give up his memories. That said, he might not be able to fulfill that, because...

He's compensating for some feelings of doubt by giving up a very precious and painful memory! tl;dr he helped convict the man he loved of murder, and as such he'll be giving up the last words that man said to him before he was beheaded. It's going to fuck him up, and he'll almost certainly fall behind and be at threat of being separated.

OTHERS WILL HEAR: a man's voice, nervous and quiet and even a little bit bewildered, begging for help and asking for Thara. There's never any cursing, or anger, just exhaustion and fear.

CR WISHES: While he'll still try to be a mentor afterwards, during the Crossing Celehar is going to need some help. He's done some processing of Evru's death, but the rest of his life has been shaped around the guilt of that event, and his feelings of self-worth are all tied up in that. During the Crossing anyone who's able to provide support and keep him from getting lost will be a big help, and he'll be grateful to them for it, once the end has been reached and the memory is gone.

And afterwards, those who heard the voice are free to offer their perspectives on it, whether it's sympathetic or to use Celehar as an example of why there are risks to accepting things on the Ferryman's side. Or just to argue with him about his choices lol

CR OFFERS: Once the memory itself is gone, Celehar is going to be talking to others about their experiences, and establishing a (new) place for prayer so that people can reflect on and recover from the journey. He'll probably also want to check on those he's had some previous interaction with, and make sure they got through all right! If they weren't there helping during the Crossing. For those who made the Crossing on their own, he's going to express concern and have a lot of questions about how things went.

ETC?: I'll just note it here, but canonically there's some ingrained homophobia in Celehar's world, and it's there around Celehar's relationship and the way those events play out. I won't be bringing that into play here, but it does have some impact on the kind of guilt he has and how he talks about it. Let me know if you'd like to discuss more about it!

[hasapoint]

hey hey not allowed to fall behind, Need will pick him up if it comes to that

Hope | Sunny | OMORI

[solitarynote]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Hope (she/her)
CONTACT: DM this journal or HopeOnWings on Plurk ^^
ETC?: EST Time Zone, though my job is pretty free so tags can come at all hours of the day~! Also, still haven’t figured out how to “fancy link” my Plurk profile, sorry! XD

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Sunny
CANON & CANON POINT: OMORI (post-a certain Faraway fight with a certain someone - if you want specifics, see below:

Spoilers for OMORI here

Post-fight with Basil, Day 3. Post-the Truth, pre-Memory Lane

FIRST TOLL: The smell of his sister’s cooking. Might not seem that big of a deal, but when Sunny doesn’t have many comforts as is? It’s big to him (he just doesn’t realize how much).

CROSSING HOW?: Via our kind Ferryman friend! Sunny isn’t very physically apt and is scared of almost everything, so he’s putting his hopes in the Ferryman’s offer of keeping them safe! His toll for this? See below! (Going to spoil the specifics aside from the phrase, just in case ^^ Warning, spoilers below the cut)

“You are not my son.”

Oh boy. A bit of speculation here, but this might be one of the last phrases Sunny is told by his dad before the man leaves their family for good. Even in the midst of Sunny’s repressed memories, this phrase - accompanied by the sound of an axe hitting wood - still stuck with him. It more than distresses Sunny, and is one more reason for his guilt over why his father said this and the circumstances splitting their family apart multiplies Sunny’s blame of himself.

CR WISHES: CR has been wonderful so far T.T Sunny is skittish and doesn’t talk much (going with the head canon of selectively mute), but I’d really like to build on his current CR and branch out for new, especially if you can get him to trust you on at least a surface level!

CR OFFERS: …Good thing I’m writing this and not Sunny? ^^; If you want a good listener and rather perceptive teen who randomly panics over a multitude of different fears, feel free! (Sunny is a walking trigger, so he does have an opt-out/content warning on his journal. Omori isn’t a problem and not appearing for now?).

ETC?: We are going to have so much fun XD Such a fun hike through our trauma. I’m too happy about this. Sorry Sunny!

[marblenest]

Dankovsky is actually quite good with kids for the most part, despite the way he is. He'd actually be fairly patient and attentive with Sunny since he gets that, you know, he's a child likely facing some sort of troubles and wouldn't be harsh on him like he would an adult.

[hasapoint]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Joys or Joysweeper (she/her)
CONTACT: I'm joysweeper, also on discord
ETC?: Add me on either! Ideally I know your handle first, but if it happens in the next short while I'm assuming it's someone from this game.

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Need
CANON & CANON POINT: Heralds of Valdemar; just after Storm Breaking.
FIRST TOLL: The name she had when she was alive: Lashan. It's not the first time she's forgotten it, but...

CROSSING HOW?: Ferryman this time. In her sword era Need freely shared this memory and other upsetting ones, so she's just going for it with a nasty one - uh, I'm gonna have to put warnings for suicide in the toplevel.

if you wanna know

In life Lashan "retired" into a remote fringe religious community of martial/magic/trades-based women and made magic swords to sell to support them. When she was out making a sale a warlord rolled up, killed almost everyone, and abducted a good number of the young women, leaving only Lashan and her teen apprentice Vena, who'd hid and watched and was pretty distinctly traumatized. When Lashan returned she got the explanation out of the poor girl and came to a decision, that there was only one possible way to rescue the living, avenge the dead, and stop the warlord (keep him from getting away with it) - something she'd seen done once, long ago. She convinced Vena that they had to do something, but knew the girl would not want her to do what she needed to to pull this off.

So she sent Vena on a bit of busywork to get her out of the way and killed herself with a white-hot sword so she could trap her soul in it. You're really not supposed to just spontaneously decide to do this and then do it on your own, but it worked. Vena found her body impaled on the sword and uh. Was even more traumatized. Need connected with her as Vena was trying to tug the sword out of her corpse while crying. In that scene as written Need is. Really cold about it, too.

tl:dr She had a teen blacksmith-mage apprentice who looked to her like a parental figure and was very upset when she died, and is forgetting that part of the aftermath. This voice is not cruel and not obviously manipulative, but begs and sobs and wails about being left behind.

CR WISHES: Need cares about people more easily than she likes to admit but is mostly brusque about it. She's also moved and doesn't entirely know what to do with it when they care about her - she's always the pillar of strength who needs nothing and is reserved and unbothered by enmity, what the heck. I like her taking a mentor/parental role, it's fun when she bickers and thinks she knows best, and it's also fun to play her against someone she regards as a little closer to an equal. It's hard to get all the way there, she's kinda arrogant and thinks of most people as basically children.

She's also really mysterious and inclined to think that anyone who learns anything about her will be hostile about it. Need's not happy about Vena's voice but she won't appear to be as affected as you might expect - she'll forge on and urge people forwards and look for anyone falling behind. Ignore it if she's tense and wipes her eyes. (or don't)

CR OFFERS: Need's an experienced mentor who can be gruffly supportive, philosophical, or snipe back and forth, so she's open to anything in that vein. She may be old but she's also tall and muscular and has way too much experience fighting, so it might take some convincing but she could spar or wrestle in a safe period.

Also, she's been collecting glowing plants and weaving them together, so she can provide a bit of light! Possibly in braided necklace or flower crown form if you want to be a little silly about it. It's practical! You might need both hands!

ETC?: I'm slapping this together but I gotta get back to bed, it's a work night, I'll comment later. here is the last plotting comment where I link the Need filk her author wrote.

[marblenest]

hi I feel like I have nothing to say except for to tell you that I'm not canon familiar at all but that I love Need and I love the thread we have going so far. Keep up the great work.

Coming in late with starbucks!

[cloversandcranes]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Anne (she/her)
CONTACT: CeyahWolfsong and anne2511 @ Discord
ETC?: Feel free to add me on plurk or discord. Just let me know afterwards so I know who it is! ^^

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Makoto Naegi
CANON & CANON POINT: Danganronpa, specifically an AU of Danganronpa 3 (his death)
FIRST TOLL: The memories of his family (Parents and little sister)

CROSSING HOW?: With the Ferryman. This might change later if he feels it's wrong for some reason or if someone he knows is going on their own, but Makoto is mostly passive unless there's injustice. So I think unless something really bad happens with the Ferryman, he'll go with them.

The memory I'm thinking as the toll, is the execution of Junko Enoshima. He will hear her delighted laughter and her yelling ecstatically, "It's punishment time!"

CR WISHES: ANY! Both positive and negative. He'd of course prefer positive but I do love negative CR too. Since he is from an AU of Danganronpa 3, Makoto will be more openly regretful about what happened with his death and what he fears will happen to his friends without him. He will try to hide his negative emotions from others, showing more of his optimistic side instead. I'd love if someone made him actually face some of his feelings and show him that he can show such feelings without consequences.

CR OFFERS: Makoto is a good boy so he will offer mostly positive CR. It takes a lot for Makoto to dislike people. He's even friends with people like Byakuya Togami and Toko Fukawa. He's usually quite passive and can be quite a pushover if he thinks it's not worth it (usually about himself). But if you hurt his friends, he can be quite determined. But honestly, I'd love if he got into some fights with people. Maybe protecting someone else?

ETC?:

[blindluck]

oh my god junko nagito is going to have a complete meltdown

I am delighted

Schmitt(chen) | Frieda Reiss (Attack on Titan)

[urtitan]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Schmittchen/Schmitt / ♀
CONTACT: DW DM or schmoechen on Discord - don't hesitate to hit me up anywhere!
ETC?: The first Crossing!! I'm excited!

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Frieda Reiss
CANON & CANON POINT: Attack on Titan / After her (offscreen) death in S1 E1
FIRST TOLL: She forgot all about her beloved half-sister Historia.

CROSSING HOW?: Frieda will pay the second toll and stay with the Ferryman. Anything else would just feel like unduly trying to cling to life... although, does she really deserve to let go of the pain either? The debate has turned her mind into a maelstrom all over again!

AoT titan lore / spoilers below...

The memory she'll give up is the confrontation with Grisha Jaeger right before her death since his words haunt her terribly. The others will hear a desperate man begging the "King of the Walls" to stop the invading titans and save his people. The address may cause some confusion since Frieda is female, but he addressed her as King knowing that she was afflicted by her male ancestor's vow of non-aggression and essentially channeling him. (Sadly he didn't know how thoroughly said vow turned her passively auto-genocidal and thereby admin-locked most of the powers that could've let her take action. Alas.)

CR WISHES/OFFERS: (I can never neatly separate these..!) Frieda will be troubled and distressed since the guilt over her inaction has already been eating away at her, so anyone wishing to comfort her will be welcome (though she may struggle to accept the kindness) - but I also welcome people confronting or questioning her!! On her part, meanwhile, she'll gratefully latch on to opportunities to support people who are also struggling. Anything to distract herself and others from her own memories! She'll fret over the group roughing it out on their own, too.

ETC?: I'm still undecided (though the rules may determine this on their own) how much she'll forget once the Crossing is complete - as little as the identity and motivations of the one who killed her (she and her predecessors had been anticipating invasion and elimination, but from that faction!), or as much as the entire circumstances of her death including the fact that the Walls were breached and her people suffered.

[cloversandcranes]

FRIEDA-SAN! Come back!

I can't wait for more of these two's interactions. I so want Makoto to find out the truth and reassure her that she's not a bad person. T_T

Emily | Mari

[perfecttune]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Emily, she/her
CONTACT: Either on Discord or Plurk emirisuika
ETC?: So excited to play with everyone! Let's get this trauma train rolling shall we?

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME:
CANON & CANON POINT: After in canon death
FIRST TOLL: Memory of the Recital

CROSSING HOW?: She is going to trust the Ferryman, after all they haven't give her a reason to not trust them and some guidance in this new scenario would be helpful! :) Her toll for this Crossing is based on an argument she might have had with her parents after injuring her knee.

CR WISHES: Loving all the CR so far even though I still owe a lot of you some tags (sorry sorry!). Would like to build on relationships but also meet some new people! And just overall have fun with all of our characters. :)

CR OFFERS: While it's clear that everyone- including Mari- has their own trauma they are going through, she is still a Big Sister to the core. Despite the fact that internally she will be struggling with certain things, she's definitely going to be more concerned with making sure the rest of the party is ok and get through this- then go freak out in a corner when she's alone. And maybe start a therapy group for everyone after this? Lol we will see how this goes. XD

ETC?: Let's all have fun! Can't wait to see what we all encounter!

[marblenest]

o/ Howdy! Dankovsky is... certainly a dude but is very kind to children. But also the mental image of her trying to take care of him after the crossing while he's having a mental breakdown is just too sweet. Poor girl.

katsuki bakugo | MHA

[reflashed]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Ru They/Them
CONTACT: worldtype
ETC?:

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Katsuki Bakugo
CANON & CANON POINT: My Hero Academia - after his death
FIRST TOLL: His memory of apologizing to Deku for his past behavior

CROSSING HOW?: By himself! He does not want to give up his memories willingly and would rather (un)die trying than just give up.

CR WISHES: ANTI-FERRYMEN FOLK LETS GO. But genuinely open to all types of CR. Positive, Negative, whatever!

CR OFFERS: Bakugo is fiercely determined to make the crossing without losing himself and will adamantly protect and fight to ensure the successful crossing of those who do not take the Ferryman's protection.

ETC?:

[witnessvelama]

Considering the kind of messages Bakugou was leaving in the book, if he's anywhere near the ferry start point I could see these two getting into a bit of an argument about it before things start and they go their separate ways

pi | yusuke urameshi

[ghostmoder]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME / PRONOUNS: Pi (they/them)
CONTACT: radians or a PM works too! i'm not super active on plurk but i do check it, and i'll see you if you ping me!
ETC?: ET, work is currently raking me over the coals but i'm getting back into the swing of things!!

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Yusuke Urameshi
CANON & CANON POINT: YYH, after he's killed by Sensui (ie, death #2)
FIRST TOLL: His mother's face

CROSSING HOW?: WE'RE GOING THE LONG WAY, BABY. he's not quite sold on the premise of the Crossing, though he's also not quite as diametrically opposed to the idea of it as some of the others. also he just. likes to fight stuff. and fighting stuff without his powers is fun and novel!! this is a win-win scenario for him, okay.

CR WISHES: I want to tap into the part of him that understands what the toll is going for, and knows that being able to let go is an important part of all the death bullshit. So keeping in contact with some folks on the Ferryman's side would be amazing, and especially debriefing with them afterwards.

CR OFFERS: ngl, ya boi's gonna get a lil feral. fighting weird monsters in pitch darkness with no powers will be like. a fun exercise for him. he'll absolutely help people along who might be less combat-minded, but he will totally also just fight wraiths for the sake of having something to fight. I haven't decided quite yet what level of Trouble he'll get into, but if anybody needs somebody to take a hit for you, he's your guy. he's pretty crafty and resourceful when circumstances call for it, and this isn't his first rodeo having to fight assholes without being able to see, so. lfg fam.

ETC?:

[witnessvelama]

Sadly I don't think Celehar is going to be able to write messages during the Crossing, but I'd love for them to run into each other for debriefing! Unless maybe he comes across Celehar when he's starting to fall behind and decides to fight off a wraith or two, but I'm not sure how much Trouble that might get him into either

Nicholaj | Soo Won

[protectorofkouka]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

NAME \ PRONOUNS: Nicholaj (she/her)
CONTACT: Nicholaj, Discord@25thNicholaj, or PM, feel free to add me on both
ETC?: PST, I'm a tired snail and my tagging tends to be a bit inconsistent orz

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Soo Won
CANON & CANON POINT: Chapter 249, with a slight AU for his death
FIRST TOLL: the memory of when he, Hak and Yona first met

CROSSING HOW?: It's Soo Won's first crossing! While he does want to explore other options besides crossing with the ferryman, he's not the type to recklessly charge into the unknown without a plan, so he's playing it safe this round. He will be very interested in how the people who chose to go the long route fare on their own. Light will be a fun challenge though since his network device is an ordinary book.

I'm still working out a few details for his memory but I'm planning on having him offer the memory of Yona and Hak's reactions to him killing King Il at the very beginning of the manga. He doesn't regret killing King Il, but he does regret how he hurt Hak and Yona.

CR WISHES: Everything! Unexpected CR can be so fun so I try not to put many limitations on CR. Soo Won loves people. He's friendly and curious with an open mind so it's easy for him to get along with most people. Smugglers, information brokers, rich or poor, he doesn't judge and treats everyone fairly. It is hard for him to truly hate someone although he dislikes those who take advantage of others' kindness or use people's lives as mere tools. As king he knows violence is necessary sometimes and excessive violence can be useful in deterring your enemies from retaliating but Soo Won tries to avoid that strategy and he's less understanding of meaningless violence or cruelty. So negative CR is possible but difficult with him.

Soo Won is a lovable martyr who has put his kingdom before his own happiness almost all his life, even when he was still a child. He deserves to be happy and I hope he can find some happiness here before his journey ends. It will be a uphill battle though. He has never prioritized his own happiness and he has a lot of unresolved feelings that he buried so he could be a good king. I'm also very curious to explore this fascinating setting and uncover its secrets! Soo Won has a particular interest in the wraiths but he doesn't have enough information to rage a war on death, yet.

CR OFFERS: Soo Won is a skilled strategist and a good listener. As king, he preferred to be a guide for his people rather than have them follow him blindly, and he would frequently go undercover as the humble merchant Won, instead of using his title to take control. He's good at offering gentle encouragement and guiding others to their full potential. Despite his love for people he can be quite cold and the morally grey character when he needs to be. He even murdered his kind uncle because it was necessary to save his crumbling kingdom from the king's weak rule so there is little he won't do if he deems it necessary.

ETC?: Please let me know if you want to avoid spoilers for Akatsuki no Yona. I try to keep things vague since Soo Won tends to be very secretive, however certain secrets are a vital part to how Soo Won feels about his death and it may come up in his inner thoughts.

[urtitan]

These two have some commonalities, though I'm not sure what Soo Won will think of Frieda... while he killed his uncle to save his kingdom, she ate her uncle to inherit his Founding Titan (and with it the memories of their world that their ancestor had erased for everyone else in their country). Son Woo seems to have done his best to steer his kingdom in a good direction, meanwhile Frieda kept everyone in hers in ignorance (granted, it was her ancestor's will taking control of her, but even so!).

They'll both be hard-pressed to communicate with their books in the darkness, so maybe they can stick together in person for a bit and hear each other's memory voices, which will surely be a great time!

[knockingatthedoor]

🕱 OOC INFO 🕱

Fey / He/Him:
CONTACT: mostly discord over _erichthonios_ but also plurk over Erichthonios because i have no fantasy
ETC?:Add me wherever!

🕱 IC INFO 🕱

CHARACTER NAME: Kel
CANON & CANON POINT: Omori - Post 'Oyasumi' ending (and dying during it)

FIRST TOLL: He wanted to pick that time Aubrey got upset with him and yelled at him over orange Joe during their first reunion. It was painful because even after returning as a group, she still yelled at him over something basically minuscle- but that doesn't matter.

I want him to forget THE most important thing ever: how much he loved his brother. He may still remember he had one, but Hero would go from one of the people he loves the most to someone he barely remembers from his early childhood, wondering why he disappeared when Kel was just a baby.

Is this a big CR thing? Yes. But my hopes for a Hero (as much as I'd pay for one) are non existent, so... I can take the pain of having him not know who a person Very Important to Mari should mean a lot to him beside being someone who was 'family' at some point.

CROSSING HOW?:

He's not paying the toll to see how dangerous actually is. he has two dear friends there meaning he wants to experiment as he can. He will traverse as he can on his own and do his best to help others on the way- I'm also open for him to sustain almost any injury, if you want your charcter to heroically handle support for someone else.

CR WISHES:

Mostly contact with fellow 'we are taking the risk' people, even if his goal is more learning more about the situation for those he loves than strictly defying the ferryman. I know i'm late to the party, I had one heck of a fever for a bit, but i'd love to find people he can work with AND people he can keep in contact network wise.

CR OFFERS:

Your friendly neigb- huh... fellow dead kel. He's friendly, warm, tries to put up a brave face, all that.

ETC?:I'm doing all this from the phone so, sorry, no funny gif here today.

[solitarynote]

/cries in Hero
So valid though. We will see if Sunny can keep his promise!