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sticksandbones2023-12-01 09:16 am
sticksandbonesmods) wrote in sticksandbones2023-12-01 09:16 am
EVENT 007
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?
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.
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.
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
❖ None yet!
V. hits u twice
Of course, he's not expecting to see gifts just sitting there. Hello?? He gets a gift? Why?? (Local man baffled by friendship, more at 10.)
Is Mizuki in the lobby because Gnosis is going to conveniently pretend he doesn't see the little guy and instead sit down on the couch for a bit. Where's the little guy.]
you hit me!! :(
Thus, when Gnosis enters. He waits, he watches.
And if Gnosis doesn't make a move for the present after about a full 60 seconds, Mizuki will move from his spot and meander over to the present he got for Gnosis. Gnosis will see a shimmer as Mizuki's hands come very briefly into view to grab the gift, but then both it and his hands go into the camouflage. He slides over to Gnosis, and the present is plopped next to him. Mizuki remains in his camouflage, even if he's quite obviously there. I mean- Wow! Crazy! How did this get here- ]
with my lips :0
He just chuckles, picking up the little friend and turning it over in his hands. No one really gives him gifts other than Enciodes, obviously, and sometimes Matterhorn tries to wrangle him into special Christmas dinners... so he's touched, and it shows in his eyes, even if he's trying (and failing) to not have face emotions about this.]
You didn't have to get me anything, you know.
no subject
[ And, from his tentacles, Mizuki procures yet another gift before sitting next to Gnosis and holding it out to him, finally dropping his camouflage. Mizuki is bundled up in his hoodie and the rest of his AS outfit — something that's just a little warmer than his usual getup. ]
There's this one, too. I think maybe you'll like this one a little more than that, it's not as… um, childish, ehe…
no subject
[Gnosis takes this second gift. Is it wrapped? Boxed? He's going to unwrapbox it. Unboxwrap it.]
no subject
[ Congrats! It's booze. If Gnosis is a connoisseur of any kind, he'll know that this Liqueur specifically is a very expensive and no longer made alcohol since the technique was lost along with the country of Gaul. These bottles can be bought in high-end Leithanien stores for an arm and a leg respectively.
Fortunately, the Trader didn't charge Mizuki that much. ]
no subject
...yeah, he's going to be chugging this later.]
You know, in ordinary circumstances, I doubt either of us would be able to afford this. [Or, rather, in Gnosis' case: He tends to be on the frugal side, it's kind of a horrible idea to spend research funding on fancy booze, so he wouldn't be buying this.] I suppose there are some small boons to being here.
[...]
Thank you, Mizuki. It means a lot to me that you'd get me anything at all.
[He's gonna clip the Friend onto his bag, you know, the one he always has on him.]
no subject
I had made enough money to comfortably travel and enjoy the world for the rest of my life, really. [ Or, uh, most of it. Being practically immortal meant that that was a roughly false statement. ] But I'm not really into these fancy drinks. I prefer rum-based drinks, usually, like daiquiris or… my favorite is rum and coke.
And of course I'd get you something! Christmas away from Rhodes shouldn't be totally miserable, right? I think we all deserve something special.
no subject
[And god knows if he came into the lab with something Cool, Closure would be all fucking over him for the foreseeable future.]
Though, I suppose here, I can afford one from time to time. Any research I was conducting has stagnated... [ :( ]