forgeabettertomorrow: Do not Take! (☀️ Absolutely Platonic)
Darin Altway ([personal profile] forgeabettertomorrow) wrote in [community profile] shellphones2026-01-19 03:24 pm

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 [plurk.com profile] 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!)
magehater928: Made by the-blue-wraith on tumblr (pic#17899843)

[personal profile] magehater928 2026-01-21 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
If you do not know these things perhaps you should not be so enthusiastic to do what you wish regardless of consequence. I have seen what happens when people disregard the danger of magic. I would prefer it not happen here as well for those that wish to live here even if I personally want to leave.

[He listens, an processes. He’s no mage, the magic in this world is rather foreign to him as well, but his experience with magic is enough to get some semblance of knowledge. Perhaps some of it is the trauma talking, but he won’t participate without concern]

I am concerned that if time magic is possible, then logically the consequences of it are as well. We do not know what was changed because we were removed, and we do not know what will happen if we are put back, correct?
multidisciplinary: (🌻 038)

[personal profile] multidisciplinary 2026-01-21 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Your concerns are not unreasonable, but I hope you will believe me when I say we do not undertake this research lightly. Riftfarers have traveled to and from this world for quite a few years now, and yet we know worryingly little about the whole affair. What if there is already a danger present that we unwittingly amplify through our own inaction?

[ Zelda is well versed in the dangers of magic, but that experience doesn't mean much in this world. It operates so differently than Hyrule that she cannot confidently say one way or the other what's the best course of action. In times like these, she's learned to follow her heart. ]

That question is rather more tricky to answer. It is known that the flow of time in this world does not align with that of other worlds. In cases where a riftfarer has traveled between this world and their own more than once, they typically describe themselves as returning to the same point in time which they last remember before arriving here, as if time did not pass in their world at all. My theory is that this world actually exists outside the typically-understood rules of space and time.
Edited 2026-01-21 23:43 (UTC)