EVENT 007

[sticksandbonesmods]

EBB AND FLOE

A WINTERFUL LIFE

cw: food scarcity

The December snows roll in heavy, and with it, the fear-monsters and little pranksters that harassed you all month disperse into black mist. Whether they were about to kill you, stalking you, or pulling your hair, as soon as the moon hits its zenith, the beasts are gone. The mists float harmlessly into the air, hopefully to never be seen again. Hopefully.

For now, you’re free. The Forest and the Creature within slumber, as the cold seeps into every corner of the confined space you reside in and beyond. No longer will the entities within the woods try to kill you just for putting a toe past the fog wall. No longer does anybody sense a lingering danger. Finally, the Grove is peaceful. You can only hope it’ll last.

Unfortunately, while no mysterious monsters are working to murder you in cold blood, nothing can be done about the river freezing over, cutting off access to fish, and nothing can be done about the General Store running out of meat. The river’s ice cannot be broken nor melted. The grasses and flowers have shrivelled under the extreme cold; the trees are twiggy and leafless. Mysteriously untouched are the gifts from the Guardians — the blackberry bush on the opposite side of the river and the apple tree on the bank near the school continue to fruit throughout the month. Remember to say “thank you” before you feast from what remains.

At the very least, the General Store has plenty of trail mix, vegetables, and crackers. It’ll be a difficult month — but so far, you’ve endured much worse. Surely a little hunger can’t kill you now?

FREEZE THE DAY

During the day, the cold isn’t that bad. Sure, there’s a foot of snow on the ground and more keeps falling, and sure, snowball fights aren’t exactly fun anymore because your fingers get way too chilly way too quickly — but the sun still shines, and sometimes you can stand out in a sunny spot and feel a whole five degrees warmer than you were a moment ago. It’s tolerable. During the night, however, the temperatures dip well below freezing, and the air is so frigid that it dries your skin out on contact. Frostbite threatens to set in within minutes if you aren’t properly dressed.

Fires are harder to light, too, even if they’re indoors. You’ll find that, should you get one lit, it’ll go out within half an hour. None of the buildings stay warm for very long past night, and though they aren’t completely frozen-over, it’s the least bit uncomfortable for those who aren’t cold-faring to cope with. What is there to do, other than grab as many blankets as possible and make a nest or a fort, or maybe even grab a friend and leech their body heat? They don’t need that, right?

While you’re bothered by the weather, the Shopkeeper, Trader, and the two Guardians present within the Grove are entirely unaffected. Rusty, however, is merely a dog. He’ll help himself to cuddling against you whenever he can, including letting himself into your room at night and getting under the covers while you sleep. He will thank you in the mornings by leaving you a simple gift at your feet: A bone he found outside, because he loves you.

…one has to wonder how he broke in in the first place, though.

PARTING IS SUCH SLEET SORROW

Midway through the month, the snowfall begins to pick up. While the Grove hasn’t quite hit blizzard territory yet, the snow is consistent and unending, especially late at night. On occasion, mixed in with the delicate snowflakes, are tiny golden lights. Should they go untouched and unobstructed, they’ll simply fade away when they flutter to the ground. But should you, say, catch one on your tongue with the other flakes, or have one brush your hand, or purposely try to grab one?

It will float through you, into you, and your mind will be transported elsewhere. To the past, as you were when you were here originally. It is a vision of your past life, of memories long lost, of a “you” that isn’t “you” as you are now. Whether the golden light has you spectating as if you’re seeing yourself on a television screen, or acting the part of the old “you”, that matters little to the vision the golden light wanted to show you. It will end when it wants to end, you see. You could get an hour of a memory, or a single minute, or three whole days. It might have even dragged in another with you, someone nearby who was hit with a ball of light themselves or happened to pass by.

For those of you who have avoided this fate, you get to bear witness to those that are affected — they’re standing stone-still wherever they last touched the golden lights, eyes closed, as if asleep while standing up. You can try to rouse them, but they won’t wake until they’ve fully experienced the memory being shown to them. The best thing to do might be to drag them inside so they aren’t icicles when they come back to reality.

SPARK NOTES

CLICK TO EXPAND!

A WINTERFUL LIFE

The Forest has gone to sleep for the month. Unfortunately, the river is frozen, and it's hard to come across much food, save for what grows upon the Guardians' gift plants by the river. Luckily, the General Store seems to have some sparser amounts of food throughout the month.

FREEZE THE DAY

It's cold outside! Below freezing, actually! And for some reason, heat indoors just doesn't stick. Luckily you can cuddle with friends, in your own nest of blankets, or with Rusty, who is somehow breaking into everybody's bedrooms even if you've locked all your doors and windows. Hello, hi, he loves you and he is cold.

PARTING IS SUCH SLEET SORROW

Golden lights fall amidst the snowflakes. If you come into contact with one, you'll close your eyes and dream of your past life within the Grove. You might even unwillingly pull someone else in with you.

OOC

Y'all how is it already December. If you'd like to plot with people for this event, head over to OOC plotting. Reminder that AC for the month of December is check-in only, which means that if you're not feelin' it you can simply put in a "hi I still go here" comment and exit for the rest of the month. It's the holiday season, after all, so we don't expect you to give up family time for our silly little game. Regular AC will resume in January, and that will also be when our next TDM occurs. Happy holidays!

UPDATES

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Comments

Sesa | Arknights | OTA

[sesa]

A) I had a dream the other night

[Being freed from the clutches of the monsters from the previous month is more of a blessing than Sesa realized. He hadn't been sleeping well, obviously, and thus had been instead working to not only keep himself occupied, but to try to keep himself warm. The only thing that had been staving off the miserable numbness in his extremeties had been constant movement, for even the hottest burning fire barely seemed to touch the core of the cold.

It may not be surprising- then- to find Sesa on the first day of the month passed out asleep in the lab across one of the tables he'd been working at with his grenade launcher opened up near his elbow, bits and pieces of it scattered across the table along with papers filled with notes and diagrams. It isn't all just about his work, either.

B) About how we only get one life

[It doesn't take more than a month of living here to realize that their primary food source is fish from the river. It's not the only food of course, but during the winter it's vital to have access to a protein of some kind for energy, of which they currently have none. Though Sesa has been made aware that animals don't live in the forest, he has seen at least one thus far...and has seen the tracks of other, much larger ones. Neither are promising, but now that he's explored things a bit with Elsword, he feels less concerned about striking out into the woods all alone.

And now, they're running low on food. They have food to eat of course, but it could easily run low, or something could happen to the supply they do have. That's why- despite the snow- Sesa is tightening his boots and pulling his jacket closed in front of the Inn, ensuring his grenade launcher is loaded and primed. If he notices you looking, he'll stand up from where he'd been sitting and dust snow off his pants.]

Ah, good morning! The bitter cold tests even the most resilient of hearts, does it not? And yet here we are, defiant in the face of mother nature's wrath.

[He does not try to explain what the hell he's even saying, nor is he giving any clues as to what he's planning on doing, turning towards the forest as he talks with his weapon on his shoulder.]

C) Woke me up right after two

[You've been sucked into a memory.

The version of the Grove you're currently standing in is not one of the present day, but many, many centuries ago. It's a town that's bustling with life, with buildings still in the process of being constructed. You won't have much time to take it all in, though, because there's a young boy approaching you from the distance with hair as firey red as the sun that's been pulled back into a low ponytail, hailing you with a toothy grin. He looks a little battered but not necessarily in a bad way, obviously dirty and bruised from long days working on construction sites. He's limping along as he makes his way, one of his legs outfitted with a wooden prosthetic, but it seems to slow him down little as he shoves something into your hands.]

Here ya go! I told you I'd get it fixed right up for you, good as new.

[It is a toy train, which presumably had a broken wheel in a past life, seeing as how one of the wheels has been made with a slightly different color of wood. And now the boy is looking at you expectantly, like a golden retriever waiting to be praised.]

So? What do ya think?

D) Stayed awake and stared at you

[At some point later on, Sesa can once more be found back in town proper, though today he's hanging out at Mizuki's therapy building. Not for therapy reasons, he's totally well adjusted he promises, but mostly because it feels more..."relaxing" to be here than the lab, even if the latter is more like a home to him currently. He's sitting in the lobby, but instead of playing with the various gaming consoles, he has what appear to be a few star-shaped rocks in his palm, turning them over with the tips of his claws. They flicker and glow every so often when he touches them.]

[OOC: I told myself I wouldn't write a million words and I did it anyway I'm sorry- anyway if these prompts don't work lmk we can do something else, I'm flexible!]

sighs gimme C thank u

[simplicitas]

[The person Sesa walks up to is a small kid, bright red and covered in freckles, and also dirt and carrying a wooden stick with some tape on the end of it made to kindof be a sword hilt but not really because It Is Tape. He's five. It ain't art.]

Woooooooooooow, that's cool! How'd you do that anyway?

hehehee

[sesa]

It was easy! Just had to carve a new one! Lemme know if it runs a bit wobbly...I tried to sand off all the rough parts.

[He points to the wood as if to demonstrate, which has a very handmade quality to it. It's obvious this was made with a lot of love and care not to mention time, since each part had to be hand cut and carved before it was fitted together.]

Yaknow if you want, I can make you a sword too! Like, a real sword.

[It will not be a real sword. His father would not allow him to make anything sharp, so if anything it would be more like a blocky minecraft interpretation of a sword. And Sesa, who is 15 currently, is not thinking about how that might also be too heavy for Elsword to lug around.]

[simplicitas]

[Sesa's dad being a good dad meanwhile Elsword's is already fucking gone RIP who's raising this fucking kid

He immediately brightens at the offer.]

You can do that?! [YEAH HOW DO THEY MAKE SWORDS ANYWAY] Can you make it this big?

[He's holding this stick out for Sesa to see. He'll trade the stick-sword for the train yes thank you.]

[sesa]

Yeah, of course!!

[He's already getting excited about the possibilities as he mentally takes measurements of the stick based on how long Elsword's arm is. Yes, yes this will do nicely.

He will take the stick temporarily, passing it off in exchange for the train.]

I'll need this to base it on, but it'll only take me a day or two, don't worry. Then you'll be able to go on a real adventure. How's that sound?

A

[oleaeuropaea]

[Out of place as he's felt, and as solitary as he is, Vash has been making a point of laying low of late. Mostly, he spends his time observing others, trying to get a feel for his new surroundings, and understand what role he's meant to take.

The diagram at Sesa's elbow catches Vash's attention as he moves through the various buildings and areas that make up his apparent new home. He feels a little guilty, snooping like this but... this is his special interest! And this poor guy looks so exhausted anyway. Maybe he can just help out a little!

His intention had been to silently put the rocket launcher back together. Unfortunately, Vash very quickly not only drops a screwdriver, but also proceeds to bonk his head on the table with a yelp.

Uhh... Good morning Sesa?]

[sesa]

[The weapon in question seems like a normal grenade launcher on the surface. It's a heavy thing, clearly something a normal person wouldn't be able to easily heft, and currently isn't loaded. There are three stacks of ammo sitting on the table nearby since he hasn't actually had reason to use it...not yet, anyway.

Despite Vash's own knowledge of weaponry, he may notice that there are things about the weapon he can't quite understand. It seems like it's been tampered with, modified to function on a higher level than it would be able to normally, and the components inside...well, they're Originium, which isn't present anywhere but on Terra. It's a curious thing, and would warrant some questioning, perhaps...

Which may get to happen, because as soon as Vash hits his head on the table and causes it to jostle, Sesa jolts awake with a start. He's lucky he doesn't go tumbling out of his chair wholesale, managing to catch himself with his claws gripping the edge of it, looking around frantically like he's expecting to be attacked.

But there's no danger here. No shadow monsters or Reunion members. It is just......a man.]

Ah- hello? My apologies, I hadn't meant to fall asleep in here, if you needed to use the lab for something.

[Then he notices the screwdriver Vash is holding...and the parts of his weapon that have been reassembled.]

...what are you doing?

[oleaeuropaea]

[Perhaps at some point, Vash will grill Sesa about the details. He might not be much of a fighter, but he does have a curious mind. He'd love to know what makes the gun tick, if only to have something to do. For now, though, he's rubbing at his forehead and muttering to himself. He doesn't seem to immediately notice Sesa until he speaks and — ]

Eep! [He jumps with enough force to send the screwdriver flying off into the distance. It lands with a tink. Vash stares after it, shame creeping up from the base of his spine and settling at the tips of his digits.]

I, um. Well, you see I just - [He takes a deep breath. Focus.] You looked pretty worn out! And I know my way around a gun so I figured I could help put the thing back together. Only I didn't get very far and uh -

Is this weird? This is weird, isn't it.

[sesa]

[Ah.]

Hohoho...I think I understand.

[Sesa brings a hand up to his forehead, looking Very Serious suddenly.]

You perceived me as someone in need. Well, fear not!

[And then Sesa suddenly stands abruptly, causing his chair to fall over behind him.]

I, the Great Sesa, whom needs no introduction, also needs no assistance!

[Then he goes to sit back down, realizes his chair is Gone, and awkwardly picks it back up before sitting again.]

...that is, I'm fine. My gun isn't broken, I just took it apart to make a few adjustments.

B) Brook wakes up everyday and chooses violence sorry-

[reaperbunny]

[ Brook often comes to the river, looking at his reflection in the water or just following along the bank, or just watching the fish flop out of the water. He had feared this, though - the currents of the water were too calm, so of course it would be easy to freeze over. It's not like the rivers back in Russia, too violent, too fast, too resilient to freeze over.

He doesn't miss them, though.

There's someone else here, though. There's the briefest of moments where Brook thinks maybe things aren't so bad here and maybe he can try to make friends again. There's comradery in adversity, right? He can move on. He can get better. He can forget about everything that happened. He can have a fresh slate.

And then Sesa opens his mouth and all those thoughts are out the window. ]

Are you LARPing at me or just pretentious? Either way, do everyone a favor and slip on the ice - maybe a concussion will help.

CRYING I LOVE HIM SM

[sesa]

[Well that's just fucking rude honestly]

Haah? If I was LARPing, I would have informed you.

[He knows what LARPing is, he's a gamer, but he's just being his normal Sesa self right now!! Who pissed in your cornflakes, Brook.

Sesa's brow pinches together as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other.]

Have I done something to offend you?

[reaperbunny]

Yeah. You talked to me like I was an employee at a renaissance faire. Honestly, not being offended would be a testament to my lack of self-respect.

[ Satan would piss in his cornflakes, so him probably.

Brook's also just full on walking barefoot out in the snow, so, like, clearly he's got some issues he's working out- ]

[sesa]

[Clearly! Sesa, meanwhile, has not stopped shaking since he's stepped out into the snow. Man's Cold.]

Well...I apologize, but this is simply how I speak.

[Which is the biggest lie he's ever told, but throw that onto the pile honestly.]

D

[mooninthewater]

[ Mizuki doesn't realize that Sesa is there for some time, far too engrossed in his run of Frogger underneath one of the piles of stuffed animals. Hell, Sesa himself might not even realize that Mizuki is there for some time - not until he pops out of the pile and forces a few of the toys to come toppling down. ]

You brought snacks!!!!

[ Mizuki Don't Eat Rocks Challenge. Difficulty: Impossible. ]

[sesa]

[Sesa did not, in fact, know Mizuki was there. He jumps rather violently when he pops up out of seemingly nowhere, somehow managing to not drop or crush the fragile stars in his palm when he does so. He chuckles, sitting forward a bit.]

Splendid timing! [You scared this shit out of him hello] I was going to come find you eventually. Come, I want you to see these.

[And he'll hold his palm steady so Mizuki can see the little faintly glowing stars when he approaches.]

Not snacks, but rocks Elsword and I found in the Deep Woods. Ydalir called them star shards, typically full of magic that have now dulled as their power has been used up.

[mooninthewater]

Oh! Yeah, the star shards are what Miss Ydalir uses to get us our stuff from back home.

...

I didn't realize they could be "used up" like that. Is the moon and sun shard the same way, I wonder...? [ Mizuki, Sesa has no idea what the fuck you're talking about- ]

B

[cursedwords]

[ Toge doesn't seem super bundled up, but he is checking out that rocket launcher from afar.

Nope, he certainly doesn't really follow what Sesa's on about but that doesn't matter.

He responds by coming up close and gesturing at the rocket launcher.

What's up with that, hm? ]

[sesa]

Hmm?

[He lifts the weapon off his shoulder, holding it at an angle more easily observed.]

Oh, this? This is my grenade launcher. A weapon with a sublimated soul, just as much of an extension of myself as I am for it.

[cursedwords]

[ Grenade launcher: Cool. The rest of it makes him cock his head to the side. ]

Tuna? [ Toge's not sure what he means by sublimated soul. ]

B

[cleavethetides]

[ Irene is just doing her usual patrols in the morning, making sure no monsters have snuck their way into the Grove, when she runs into Sesa. She recognizes him very vaguely as a Rhodes' operator, but beyond that she's just kind of squinting at him, his words going completely over her head. ]

...Who are you? [ Irene, you literally helped him? Last month? Now that there's no dangerous peril going on, she seems to have just forgotten. ] And where are you trying to go?

[sesa]

[Ouch. Ow, Irene...you've wounded him....]

Eh? You...don't remember me?

[Like not just from earlier in the month, but also yall are literally coworkers hello-]

It is Sesa! We weathered the horrors of the cold together, remember?

[Clearly she does not.]

And, well...I thought that I might attempt to do some hunting. We are running low on food, and if there is anything out there that could provide us with sustenance, I mean to find it.

[cleavethetides]

Oh, yes. The... [ Long stare. ] Draco. [ No- ] I do recall that now. Sorry, I lot has happened here. [ Also there's like a million people who work at Rhodes Island, do you really expect her to know everyone who works there? ]

If you intend on going out into the woods to hunt, I advise against it. One, you'll need those golden specs from Heimr, and two, most of the creatures within the bounds of the fog are corrupted by that bastard that controls the forest. If you tried to hunt any of them and feed them to us, you might quite literally be poisoning us. It would be akin to eating Seaborn flesh...

B

[interestingtimes]

[The confusion on her face is probably pretty clear, she's not trying to hide it after all. Confusion melted into a slightly amused smile as she watched him getting ready, her arms crossed over her chest.

The more she got to know Sesa the more he reminded her of Halsin. Same energy. She could even hear Astarion doing the same mocking expression of Sesa that he had done for Halsin and everything in the back of her head.

Not that she was going to voice that to the man, but it was endearing nonetheless. Made her feel like she had known Sesa for longer than she had.

It was a strange comfort.]

That's true for a lot of things. What exactly are you planning on braving this fine day?

[Because really, there's no way fishing with a grenade launcher was on the list of things that she would have even considered doing.

Espeically because she had no idea what a grenade launcher was.]

[sesa]

Why, this Forest, of course.

[Oh. Oh that's maybe bad-]

I thought it might be wise to see if I could hunt for something, seeing as our food supply dwindles ever more by the day. My kind can survive for great lengths of time without eating, so I'll be alright...but I'm not sure if it is the same for the rest of our companions.

[interestingtimes]

[The food situation was something that had been worrying her, especially considering how she spent last month starving half to death. It's not something she wants to replicate or keep experiencing for that matter.]

Well, do you want a companion? The woods are dangerous.

[And she can't imagine something like that being good for hunting, but then again, she's seen weirder stuff.]