Halloween 2021 FAQ

[indigo_league]

Uh. hey. Uh. Oh, yes. Hello. So, my character was just touched by an alien. Cool. What is that about? That indeed was a thing that happened. And while it sounds very much like you were just put into an episode of the XY-files, it is, in fact, VR’s 2021 Halloween event! Unfortunately no competent (if paranoid) government employees will be saving you this time. You’ll have to do it all alone! Or, actually, not so alone. You might just find a friend or two in an unlikely place. --- On the night of Friday, the 29th of October, Beheeyem will be appearing in various characters’ bedrooms. Well, probably Beheeyem. They are certainly Beheeyem shaped, but then there are those rumours that Beheeyem didn’t originate here on this Earth… In any case, they will be appearing in character’s bedrooms where they will touch their bare skin and vanish again, leaving no trace of their presence there. On Saturday, the 30th of October... nothing will be happening. Literally nothing at all. Whatever that strange nighttime visit was about, there are certainly no answers on Saturday. Maybe it was nothing at all? Just an odd nighttime pokemon swarm? Completely harmless, right? On Sunday, the 31st of October, on that most hallowed of eves, anyone who was touched by an alien on that fateful Friday night will go through most of the day feeling absolutely fine. But when dusk approaches, they start feeling tired. Very tired. The sort of tired where, no matter how hard you try or how many cups of coffee you drink, you just can’t manage to stay awake. Whether they give in gracefully or fight it until the end, by the time the moon is high in the sky, all who will have had a nighttime visit will be deeply asleep and dreaming. Except, this isn’t quite a normal dream. It seems more like a memory, really. Too bad it isn’t your memory. Memory share event!! That’s right! This year’s Halloween event will be an alien (?) induced memory share event. Because let's face it, sometimes the only way some people will share their memories is through a little intervention. (we are not looking at anyone, you know who you are) Awesome! How can I torture my characters participate in this event? The way this will work is that on Friday night, the ‘Beheeyem’ will be going around collecting significant memories from various characters. Whether positive or negative, they are looking for memories that are emotionally charged. On Sunday night, the ‘Beheeyem’ will use their powers to put the people they took memories from into a deep sleep. Or, at least, to the outside world it will look like a deep sleep, but in reality, characters will be experiencing the memories of other people and will be forced to progress through those memories, and fully experience them, to wake up again. Luckily, they won’t need to do this on their own. The original owner of the memory will be there to guide them through the memory in the correct way. Which is certainly helpful because characters will soon realise that if they don’t go through those memories as they should, they will just find themselves in an endless loop of reliving said memory until they get it right. Or you can try and find the ‘Beheeyem’ controlling the memory (they should be nearby, right?) and see if you can’t just beat them up and get out that way. That is also a possibility. We realise this is a lot! And it might not yet be fully clear. We’ll try to explain the plot to the best of our ability; however, if by the end of this FAQ you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to ask them! Okay, first things first -- what memories will the ‘Beheeyem’ be taking? The ‘Beheeyem’ are looking for significant, emotionally-charged memories. Essentially what this comes down to is any memory, positive or negative, that had a huge effect on your character. Now, of course we understand we are all Like That and all jump at the opportunity to torture our beloved characters just that extra bit. Which is absolutely fine. This is certainly the kind of event that lends itself to exploring the darker memories of a character’s past. However, if you’d rather have some levity -- or perhaps a mixture of the two -- feel very free to have the ‘Beheeyem’ steal some happy memories. As long as they are emotionally charged, they are ripe for the taking. Of course, the one thing we do ask, and we will also post a reminder of this on the eventual event post, is that we are well aware that many canons have scenes and events that could be distressing to others. So please make sure to mark each memory with the right content warnings. After all, this event is supposed to be troublesome for our characters, not for us! Can my character fight off the ‘Beheeyem’ on Friday? If your character is awake when they show up, they can certainly catch them in the act/fight back. Feel free to try and use your pokemon for this if you wish. The ‘Beheeyem’ will simply disappear when challenged. If your character is already fully asleep, they won’t wake up when their strange nighttime visitors come. If your character is not the type to sleep but you do want to participate in this event, feel free to assume that the ‘Beheeyem’ will drop a little Hypnosis on them before making their visit. It will not be possible to capture the ‘Beheeyem’. Can my pokemon stop the ‘Beheeyem’? They certainly can... but that would prevent you from partaking of your friends' (and enemies'?) memories! Do your Pokemon not sleep? That's worrisome. It's probably something to talk to the Joys about later, but for now, maybe they're in their Pokeball, for once. Or maybe your insomniac Noctowl tottered off to the kitchen for just a second. Feel free to get creative! How many memories will the ‘Beheeyem’ take? Just the one? That is entirely up to you! Maybe your character’s head is just filled with tasty, emotional memories and the ‘Beheeyem’ will get a little greedy, maybe they just go with the one. What will things be like for our characters on Sunday after falling asleep? Essentially what will happen is that when they fall asleep, your character will find themselves inside of the memory of another person, taking the place/role of the person who originally experienced the memory. It will be like a scenario in a video game, where your character has to progress through the memory as it happened for the actual owner of the memory and see and experience everything. If they choose not to act, the memory will remain static and won’t progress, which means they will remain trapped. If they deviate hugely from what the person who originally experienced the memory did, they will find that the memory suddenly loops back to the beginning and they have to do things over again until they get it right. They will not be alone, however. The memory’s original owner will also be there with them to guide them through the memory. The memory’s original owner cannot progress the memory on their own. They will need the other character for that. Until they manage to do this, the characters will remain stuck in the ‘Beheeyem’s’ dream realm and they will not be able to wake up. How will our characters be able to break free from the dream realm? There are two ways. The first way (which is how the ‘Beheeyem’ intend for this to go) is for the two characters to fully experience the entire memory sequence. So if, for example, someone’s memory is of the time they ‘got a bad grade, fell down the stairs at school, fell in a river going back home and then got grounded’, they would need to experience all those events before the memory is considered done and they are released. And the second way? The second way, which is very much not intended by the ‘Beheeyem’, is to find the ‘Beheeyem’ in the memory-dream and beat them up. The ‘Beheeyem’ will be hiding inside the memory, observing everything that happens. The closer two characters are to the end of the memory, the easier it will be to find the ‘Beheeyem’. When you say beat up the ‘Beheeyem’, what exactly are you thinking of? You know how they say you can do anything in a dream? You can do anything in a dream. Regain your lost powers! Find that cool sword Arceus stole from you! Have your pokemon there by your side! Feel free to even come up with completely new powers once your character realizes that there are no limits in dreams. Essentially, if you want to go with this option, feel free to get crazy. This is not actually happening (just in your character’s minds) so the normal rules of lost powers and no violence don’t quite apply here. How will this event be structured OOCly On Saturday, we will put up a log post in which people will be able to post with the memories that have been taken by the ‘Beheeyem’. Again, the memories in the post can be positive and negative, and it is entirely up to you how many will be taken. Please mark any memories with relevant content warnings and whether they are open threads or not. ICly, everything will be happening on Halloween Night, but to give people the chance to take advantage of the weekend, the log itself will go up a bit earlier. Why are the ‘Beheeyem’ doing this? Why do any of us do anything? This isn’t really my cup of tea... That’s fine. This event, like all VR events, is optional. If you’d rather not have your character’s memories stolen, feel free not to engage and have a normal little Halloween. It’s also fine for your character to only experience another person’s memory while their memories remain with them. The only thing to keep in mind is that if your character is not affected by this event, they will not be able to do anything to wake up the sleeping characters on Sunday. No matter what they try, they will very much remain asleep until they deal with the ‘Beheeyem’. I have another question! Please ask it below in the comments and we’ll get back to you ASAP.