JOURNAL ENTRY NUMBER: ACTUALLY, SCREW IT What a disaster. I can't believe I'm in a position where I have to be [i]grateful[/i] to Shoykyo. Guh. Gah. Urgh. Noises. Just barely spared the agony of having to explain what a 'Ninja Gaiden' is and how that factors into the sorting of good or bad 'bzzzts'. I mean, what was I gonna do, tell her to go back to walking around in the rain? Little idiot doesn't understand her own mortality down here. She's so cute, though. I can't stand it. Regardless! My real problem right now is this overwhelming compulsion I feel to join a musical competition despite the fact that I a) can't dance b) can't sing c) have zero (0) sense of rhyme or rhythm d) hate it when other people look at me So anyway yeah obviously I'm just going to do a cover. I could build a machine to spit mad bars and maybe, like, some kind of hell pony to autotune whinny my backup vocals and draw the most perfect vision of my innermost thoughts into lyrics out from the purest crystals on earth, but... y'know, like, I've got plenty enough to be getting on with already. That's why instead of that, I'll be testing out my Adaptive Suit. It's the very latest in both Adaptive [i]and[/i] Suit technology! Well actually point of fact it's not so much a 'suit' as it is a... hm, what's the word? Oh yes, a bio-mechanical, chitinous exoskeleton. It's got morphic camouflage features and mechanically perfect muscle memory recorders, such that it can always repeat back the physical motion you [i]intended[/i] instead of the one your dorky useless body actually wound up doing! With a sufficient power source, it could even enable voice alterations and project upwards of seven independent Solid Holograms (Soligrams) for much more intricate choreographs. Plus! And this is the [i]really[/i] good part! The shoulder spikes spit acid! The feet have retractable dewclaws! And on top of that for some reason it can also spontaneously grow human-scale dragonfly wings capable of limited flight. So you may be expecting this part to be my project right now. But you are wrong, Hypothetical Journal [s]Rinely[/s] Person! Point of fact, the Adaptive Suit is already built! I finished it a month ago, actually, put it through all its initial tests. Works perfectly, except that it's very power hungry. And, uh, by default? It draws energy by feeding on the unwilling flesh of the wearer. Which is... you know? Not? Ideal?? So instead I'm spending my time trying to develop an alternate energy supply. See, first I'm gonna... Actually, wait. Wait wait wait. Hold up. Why do I already have something like this? Usefulness notwithstanding, it's a heck of a coincidence to have something so bizarrely purpose built for something I didn't see coming until last ni-- hm. beerb, checking my archives for a sec. JOURNAL ENTRY NUMBER A MONTH AGO (THE RETROACTIVE ONE) “She got me,” Retroactive Dulcinea said of the Wishing Machine. "That f***ing Shoykyo boomed me." Dulcinea added, “She’s so good,” repeating it four times. Dulcinea then said she wanted to add Shoukyo to the list of people she competes with in a music contest next month. JOURNAL ENTRY NUMBER ?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?! I gosh darned KNEW it! That stupid wishing machine! I swear to... how did somebody like her even BUILD something like th-- I just! Do you have any idea how hard it was to build the Nightmare Engine? And I mean, like, I really don't mind the comparisons at all, even though the Engine is literally incomparable and therefore any such attempts to are pointless by their very nature. I don't mind! I don't! I just don't understand HOW it works. Or WHY. Whydoit? Mark my words, there's something incredibly fishy going on here. And I'm [i]not[/i] talking about the lake. Or the fishery. Or the eel farm. Or the... you know what? There's a lot of fish here, now that I think about it. That's weird, right? I should look into this! Regardless! The true tragedy here is the realization that I've just had an entire project thrown into my lap from outside the proper flow of time by a wish, which means I'm probably going to lose it when it's done enabling all this nonsense. But I'm not going to let it get me down! Temporary or not, the Adaptive Suit will still be an excellent test of the Theoretical Sympathetic Cables, and my third (3rd) attempt at generating a stable portal to the realm of eternal Nightmare. Last time everything exploded because all of my cabling got caught on things it shouldn't have and destabilized my experiments before they were finished drawing on the UNLIMITED POWER OF THE VOID, AHAHAHAHA... oh dear. The, uh, the point is... well I mean, kind of that thing I said? With functionally unlimited, if slightly horrible and distinctly icky tasting power to draw on, the Adaptive Suit should fully realize my vision for this contest with power and functionality to spare. I won't [i]win[/i], I should think, but now that I know why I'm here I don't really care about that anymore. In fact, I'd have have a mind to blow the whole thing off, except personal experience has taught me that when wishes are being granted it's best to just ride the wave until it passes. I've gone against them before. That's, uh... story for another entry, yeah? It wasn't pretty, I'll tell me that. Double Regardless! I am determined to be able to stabilize this portal, because it would make material gathering vastly simpler if I could just step into the world of everybody's collective bad dreams instead of needing to keep cutting my way in there any time I need a cup of xorth angles or whatever. And just think about how many inventions I could build without needing to design power sources! Incredible. The knowledge is worth the risk. The plan is to fully shield this one except for the small holes I'll need to connect the Theoretical end of the Sympathetic Cables to. I'll write the runes with the intent that the portal will be self collapsing inside of three (3) weeks. It's going to work this time. Everything's going to be perfect...