shellphones | Seeking Interested Parties

Entry tags:

Seeking Interested Parties | VIDEO

Type: Video
Sender ID: forgeabettertomorrow | (Darin Altway)
To: Public
Subject: Darin and Zelda have an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT to make
Warnings: N/A

[As the video blips on, Darin walks onto screen from the left. He looks…anxious? Excited? Definitely more energized than usual. He leans forward, the top of the frame cutting off his head so you have a close-up of his torso and not much else.]

Did I do this thing right, Sunshine? I kinda wanna frame this up right.

[ The video feed wobbles a little, the camera going out of focus. Zelda's voice is audible from somewhere off screen. ]

Almost! Don't forget to activate this setting here.

[ The video feed wobbles again, the camera coming back into focus. ]

Alright. Alright, let’s do this.

…Oh holy crap, we’re already recording.

[Darin immediately stiffens as he realizes that he is, in fact, broadcasting.]

Damn piece of— whatever, just go. Okay! Hey everyone! So, I wanted to put this out there publicly because…Zelda and I have some exciting news.

[Darin takes a step back and reaches towards Zelda to take her hand with a wide, excited grin on his face.]

So…I’ve been working on a…on a project. An experiment, really. About the rifts that brought us all here.

[If you were waiting with bated breath for a certain matrimonial announcement, sorry, this isn’t gonna be that. It’s gonna be BETTER. It’s gonna be about SCIENCE.]

I…I’ve made no real secret of the fact that I want to figure the rifts out for…obvious, personal reasons. So, over the last couple of months, I designed something.

[Darin reaches off screen and returns holding what looks like a wireframe cube with a spherical chamber suspended in the center by eight converging rods anchored to the cube’s points.]

This. I call it the Beacon Box. I figured that the Rifts were too…potentially volatile to be controlled but hey, like any other force of nature, you don’t try and tame it, right? You learn to navigate it. I won’t…bore you with the science of it but the short version is I imbued it with an essence of me and my world with the help of the Leviathans and had it cast into the rift. I wasn’t expecting much but…

[Darin excitedly looks at Zelda.]

But we got some data. Zelda got some readings that we’re still parsing but…well, I’ll let her tell you.

[ Zelda, grinning just as excitedly as Darin, gives a little wave to the camera with one hand. In the other, she's holding the Purah Pad. ]

It took a little bit of doing, but I was able to program the Purah Pad to receive periodic transmissions from the Beacon Box while it traversed the Rifts. I believe a number of us have conducted research on the Rifts before, myself included, and a prevailing theory I came across was that the Rifts are related to the Leviathans-- possibly even created by them. So I expected that the energy signature of the Rifts would resemble that of the Leviathans.

[ And here, her grin gets wider. She looks like she's almost vibrating as she clutches the Purah Pad with both hands. ]

But that is not the case at all! Now, these remain preliminary readings, but the energy signature detected from the Rifts differs significantly from that of the Leviathans. Nor do they match any other signatures I've recorded in this world. The Rifts are far, far more powerful.

But that's not all! We recorded a few sudden influxes of energy-- "spikes," if you will-- the timing of which seem to align with the arrival of a few new riftfarers. I believe these spikes are indicative of people-- or even objects-- passing through the rifts. I posit that the same spikes occur with departures as well, although these are rather more difficult to verify.

Now, I've been examining the data produced by these spikes to see if I can't find any patterns or measurable specificity-- things which might help us determine when a passage through the Rifts will occur, or if any of these readings might indicate the world to which they are connecting-- a "world signature." As of now, I've not found any, but employing additional Beacon Boxes will expand the data pool significantly and allow for a much more thorough study of it.

[Darin chimes in now, tossing the Beacon Box back and forth in his hands like a kid waiting his turn to give a presentation.]

I know…it doesn’t sound like much. But it’s a start and this is where I want some help. Creating a Beacon Box requires…well…it requires you to give up something of deep, personal value. Something that can tether you to your world and can, in turn, call out to it. But…if I’m right?

If I’m right, people we’ve lost might be able to find their way back. And the people who want to go home? They might be able to do just that. But like Zelda said, we need more data. If you want to be a part of the project, please reach out to me or Zelda. I’ll be offering the construction of these boxes for free for anyone interested and if there’s anyone out there with even a passing interest in…dimensional space and time rifts? I’d love to work with you.

[At this point, Darin turns to Zelda, grinning from ear to ear. Unable to contain his excitement anymore, he sweeps her up into a giant bear hug, twirling her off screen to cries of “I did it!”]

(OOC NOTE: This is the start of the EXTREMELY LONG RUNNING BEACON BOX PLOT. ALL ARE WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE. I'll draft up an OOC write-up later but the short version is that Darin is looking for ways to navigate the rifts. If you have any questions, please feel free to DM me here, hit me up at Bitterbearface n Discord, or ping me on plurk at bitterbearface For the purposes of this post, please place in the subject line if you'd like to speak with DARIN or ZELDA specifically. If you have no preference, leave it blank!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It is still well worth exploring, dead end or no. On top of that, it isn't just the knowledge that could be gotten that is worth the time, but whatever else may come with the search itself.

[There he was rolling back, plucking a notebook from one of his shelves—]

Being told so, along with a special treasure map. Both the artifact and map pieces are that of rumor that sprang up around the time the rifts started appearing and bringing people here. It's a rather interesting rumor.

Map pieces and an associated relic...

Does the relic do anything as far as you know?

[The gears in Darin's head start spinning to life almost immediately.]

Map pieces scattered all over, to the point no one has found any of it as far as I've found; other than loose ends that cut off.

[No description of the artifact either, which was just as puzzling—]

It is supposedly what creates the dimensional rifts, pulling people through from other worlds. Its said to be of ancient magic. What doesn't help is I've never gotten a discerning description, nor found one, of what it's meant to look like.

... ... ...

Are we sure there's a relic at all?

[Because the look on Darin's face suggests he might be coming to a different conclusion.]

Given there are those out there searching for it? No one is quite sure. To some I'm sure it is something of hearsay, started by someone that thinks they saw something as any of it does.

All I know is that something physical, the ship in a bottle, is something reoccurring amongst those of us that remember it.

...Hear me out.

Say there was something really, really powerful out there but you didn't have the manpower to hunt for it yourself otherwise you'd probably spend your entire life doing so?

What would you do?

I've encountered something such as that before, and I helped build a time machine to do it.

[Which was something he didn't speak up of much, simply because it hardly ever came up in most conversations.]

A life spent in its upkeeping, and studying that which was pulled from the future into the present. Time that could never be gotten back no matter, and losses on multiple sides due to the dedication and seeing no time for anything else.

[And yet his tone was soft, rather than firm. A life he remembered for the most part. His head tipped, notebook still rested open in one hand.]

For all I know this ancient artifact is real, and all of my research has been going assuming it is given the number of people that spoke of it— but I feel that if even map pieces were assembled, who says that it doesn't move? If it was powerful enough to create dimensional rifts, what if it didn't stay in one place?

No no, what I'm saying is, you recruit people from across the dimensions and tell them to find the relic that will send them home, when the relic actually does something else.

It always bothered me why so many of us were brought here with so many different abilities and vocations. It never seemed like "chance."

Ah, I see. Those hunting it certainly do want control of it, and some of the deeper rumors say the power it holds is far more than that. As I said, if you'd like some deeper reading I can easily provide those.

If not directed, this could be more... it seeks those that hold power of some kind, no matter who they are otherwise.

[To him 'Power' certainly could take a few definitions.]

There's phenomenon going on like this in my world, to some degree. People being pulled out of time, and perhaps out of their own dimension just to be dropped into another with no memory of who they are makes it somewhat different. Fallers are no Riftfarer, by that regard, but there isn't much information on them since most are trying to keep it quiet.

"Fallers?" As in "Fallen out of time?"

Quite literally. Of course their missing is... noticed, from what I could gather. They tend to be reported missing along with those who haven't fallen through some Ultra Wormhole.

So, okay...let's back up a second. You built a time machine?

Does that mean you've got a reliable way to plot coordinates through time?

I did, yes. It was something of a one-way trip if a person stepped into it, but pokéballs could be sent in and retrieved safely. The time machine was built to make a naturally occurring phenomenon within the area more controllable to study what had already been appearing.

[Was used far too often as far as he had gotten concerned, but that was that.]

With a little guesswork added, yes. Given the Ultra Wormholes, Hyper Space itself, and other dimensions connected to that it can make getting exact coordinates a bit... loose? For my world, at least.

Edited (accidentally a whole sentence on top of way way) 2026-01-20 10:04 (UTC)

...I understood half of what you said. You lost me at Ultra Wormholes.

Ultra Wormholes are essentially what one travels through in Ultra Space, and come out the other end of. These can at times lead to Hyper Space, which of themselves are dimensional pockets that can be utterly broken or appear as familiar yet empty spaces; unstable copies.

They're quite interesting phenomenon, truly.

... ... ...

So like

Does science in your world use random-ass words as units of measurement or scientific qualifiers?

If we travel fast enough can we hit "Radical Space?"

The naming of these sort of phenomenon tend to be up to the person who discovered them; the Ultra Wormholes, and Ultra Space, were named by an Alolan Professor by the name of Mohn of the Aether Foundation.

...Are we sure this professor wasn't a ten year old?

[Well, there was a laugh. Was Terastal/Terastallizing/Terastallized much better?]

Completely. The names tend to either be straight forward, or express something for them if I had to take a guess at it. Easier to have a young trainer grasp them as well when being taught of what could be ran into.

Okay, naming things in a way that helps people grasp the theories behind them makes a lot more sense.

But okay, back to time nonsense.

Right now, what I want to plan for is mapping out chronological coordinates. In the event these things manage to guide us to any worlds, being able to accurately navigate time and any branching paths would be necessary.

Think you could help crunch those numbers with Zelda?

Given how young some are allowed to start, yes.

[A hum of understanding at Turo listened, eyes only shifting away briefly just towards some noise in the background. Likely a cat. Right back towards the Shellphone and Darin.]

I believe so. What was figured out in patching with the time machine could certainly be adapted, a far better chance in working with her- even if it will, of course, take some time as anything of this nature can.

Oh believe me, I don't have any expectations on a timeline here. I'm just amazed the damn thing actually worked.

I want to do this right. Not fast. When weighing the happiness of damn near everyone into this?

Accuracy counts.

It is quite the feat to have accomplished, and one to undertake as well given how some people feel of the coming and going.

Even I would have stake, given it... isn't my world I wish to return to. [The first time he had spoken it aloud to anyone but Dojima since that Winterstide night.]

Indeed it does, and that is the type of thing some people take value in a little bit late.