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OPEN PSL ❖ paradoxium fragment.
- At some point in your day, whether you're working on a school project, have found yourself tuckered away after a long battle, or even if you're just already dead - you find yourself falling asleep, even if you may not have the normal capacity for it.
The world turns pitch black, darkness overtaking their sight.
In this world of dreams, filled with nothing but the void, all there is left is a light.
It's distant, sparkling. You can't help but want to reach out for it -
But it is simply out of reach. Too far from your outstretched hands. You try to run, to get closer... but it never does.
And eventually, a voice can be heard from the depths.
"Please," it begs. "won't you help us?"
The voice, strangely enough echoes familiarity in your ears. But you cannot seem to place the voice in your memory. You just get the sense that this is someone kind, gentle. A person you can trust.
Regardless of whether you respond to the voice, it continues.
"If you help us, we will grant your one true desire. A wish."
While many may have doubts, you get the feeling that what this voice speaks is the truth.
"There is a curse that plagues our land. We offer you a choice: to come and save our land. To help us. We are the kami that reside over this land. But fear not, child of man. We will not leave you alone in this journey. We shall make sure to protect your soul as you traverse each Fragment until our land is cleansed of the evil that befalls it.
It may be difficult.
However, we believe that you will be able to help us."
Just as you open your mouth, trying to answer back or protest -
You find yourself submerged completely into water, hearing the sound of ringing chimes as you finally open your eyes.
- You blink awake as the sunlight hits your eyes - ending up on a stone pathway. For some strange reason, you find yourself feeling a little uncomfortable, as if you had been sleeping on solid ground for quite some time.
The chirps of the hummingbirds can be heard in the distance, loud and clear, as you find your bearings.
The weather is nice and temperate; typical for a spring morning in the city.
When you check your person, you find that most of your items have gone missing, but in its place are three mysterious things that you swear are not yours: a sleek, silver touchpad cellular phone, a striking red debit card with the symbol of a hummingbird that graces it, along with your full name that denotes that it is yours, and a key. And regardless of whether or not you have knowledge of these items, you find yourself intimately familiar with their basic workings.
Looking around, you notice soon enough that you have awoken at what seems to be a shrine. And while the building is mostly intact, it seems to be old and worn down. Dried leaves pave the entire area, too.
There also seems to be a small garden nearby, but all the plants there just seem to be withering away.
It takes a couple of minutes before someone finally arrives to greet you, but you get the feeling that leaving the shrine grounds immediately is a very bad idea.
The doors of the shrine eventually open up -
Who they see revealed depends on the person. They may be familiar face, or perhaps a stranger. But what is clear, regardless of who this person is that they seem to be wearing the typical shrine garb, that of a miko.
Eventually, they speak up:
"Welcome, everyone, to Yawara-cho.
Many of you may have questions, and I am here to answer many of those that may be plaguing you, as well as any additional ones that may come up.
I am the temporary miko here at this 'Tokimoto' shrine, and I, like many of you, am not from this world. I simply act as the mediary between all of you and the kami, so any questions you have for myself personally or the kami will go through me.
All that the kami wants is one thing: to get rid of the curse that plagues these lands, and in exchange, they will grant a single wish.
That is the gist of it. I will now open the floor to any questions."
[ OOC: Welcome, everyone to a long form PSL in the form of Paradoxium Fragment! This is a timeloop horror mystery PSL that has elements from the When they Cry series and Iwaihime, but will also loosely incorporate other series as well.
Horror elements will primarily be psychological, but body horror may be incorporated depending on the player.
In terms of moving things along, I will try to make sure that things move smoothly at least once a month. If you need to contact me for any questions/comments/concerns, please ping me either on plurk (
Locations can be found here for any investigative purposes. ]
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[That's certainly not bad. Her father had his setup for so long that she can't even begin to imagine how much it all cost, let alone just the synth. But she'd need a whole computer setup, programs to find that might be similar to what she's used to working with. Recording equipment for vocals...
... Hm. She could start smaller. See if she can find a nice guitar and just write her compositions on paper until she can get something better to work with...]
I think I can work with that, for now.
[At least she has a starting idea of how to help.]
But this... curse. This evil. What does it look like...? How exactly is it hurting the world?
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The world gets destroyed in two months if it isn't stopped.
[Iori answers grimly.]
I do not know what form it takes, only that... it's oppressive. And bad things happen to the people who are around it for too long.
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[If Kanade wasn't so pale already, all the color would have completely drained from her face.]
B-But that... that's barely enough time to figure out what's going on, isn't it?
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Yeah. I was shown the end of the world by the kami, that's how I know. But... they still believe that things can be solved in that amount of time.
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[That sounds. Terrifying.]
Can I ask... what happened? Maybe knowing what happened will have some clue to figuring out how to stop it.
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It's not the same every time.
But one thing is consistent: the curse ends it all, and the world's miko has her existence ended.
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If we can protect the miko, would that help keep the curse at bay?
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I don't know. It's possible that they're correlated -- when the miko died in previous iterations of this world, the world ended.
I would really like to not die after having taken this role, though!
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[She doesn't really know this girl, but the way that this is all framed as some sort of sacrifice... it rubs Kanade the wrong way. Besides, if she's supposed to be helping this world, what good would she be if she couldn't help the miko, too?]
Is this shrine the only safe place? Do you think there might be somewhere else you can go that might make it a little harder to find you?
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If the curse reaches the kami... it'll all be over for good.
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Do you think... there might be a way to bind the kami to something else? The shrine itself, or... some kind of object? That way we can help you, while working on a way to better help the kami.
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Hmm, how do I say it...
[She taps her chin, contemplatively.]
They could cut their connection with me and I would be able to leave, but that would cause this place to no longer be safe, and we would lose communications.