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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
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no subject
I asked for an Inquisitor's fireplace. The undying flames will get us through this cold. She just asked that in return, I decorate. I figured that was a reasonable trade, but... seems I forgot to... take into account how poor of a job I am for this.
no subject
[Does "decorating the sea with corpses of Seaborn" count... probably not. Gnosis creatively uses some of his ice Arts to hammer nails into the wall, since he's otherwise having to balance on a crutch here and holding a hammer and garland seems like an awful idea.]
no subject
[ After pinning the wreath to the desk, she sets a few snow globes and nutcrackers on top of it. ]
I imagine there wasn't a whole lot of decorating in Kjerag, either?
no subject
You'd be surprised. Kjeragi people are highly religious, and decorating with anything we can get our hands on is a pastime. Before I left, it was frequently with statues of the Saintess and Kjeragandr. [...] I never had much time to do it myself. If Ensia happened to be home, she'd decorate Enciodes' office when he was out.
no subject
Our decorations, outside of holidays, were usually... functional, somehow. Lots of Inquisition Flames - lanterns, lamps, candles, bonfires... burning stakes of Seaborn corpses. [ Welcome to Iberia, everything is intense all of the time. ] The flames of the inquisition repel Seaborn. Of course, we don't... [ ... ] We hopefully don't have to worry about that here. I did wake up covered in blue blood, but I'm hoping that just happened to be a trick from the forest is all.
Regardless, the fireplace won't go out. The flames run on a mix of Originium and the Will of the people around it. So long as we don't lose heart, the flames will always burn. It's why you've probably heard many o' Iberian's songs and shanties. Helps us keep our spirits high even if things seem hopeless.
no subject
[Thorns voice: Iberia fucking sucks]
...shanties, though? [Oh no he's grinning, why is he grinning] Surely you aren't unwilling to belt one out here? I'm afraid I'll need an example to understand the full breadth of your high spirits.
[gnosis]
no subject
[ I support you, Gnosis. I say keep pushing-
Irene is just going to try and busy herself with the bells she's pulling out of the box so she can put them preferably somewhere away from high traffic. Pretty, and the occasional jingle, but nothing too annoying. ]
no subject
[He hums, mockingly, and then starts on a few bars just as he finishes with the long string of garland around the walls:]
From outcast to kingpin
Was born up on the sea~
[Singing is popular in Kjerag, too, just not... shanties. Clearly.]
no subject
That's a pirate shanty, you idiot. Pirates are some scum of the earth, you know? The Inquisitor's would never. [ Mizuki's right to hate them. They're deplorable, even if ships on the sea aren't common since the Silence.
She sighs, clicking her heels against the floor to get a rhythm going. And she doesn't sing, but she does begin chanting. ]
We are all brought forth out of darkness
Into this world, through blood and through pain
And deep in our bones, the old songs are waking
So sing them with voices of thunder and rain
We are our mother's savage daughters
The ones who run barefoot cursing sharp stones
We are our mother's savage daughters
We will not cut our hair, We will not lower our voice
no subject
So you do know them. [...] You may not be much of a singer, but I appreciate getting to know a real Iberian shanty.
no subject
[ Walks over to hold out some of the garland that's clearly supposed to go up to higher places. Hi, she's very short, and this is hard. ]
But I'm glad you liked it. Iberia is certainly not a fun place to have a vacation, I concede to that much.
no subject
So I've heard. Thorns has spoken of it before, but not at length, merely in passing. Then again, it seems like most of us agree that our home countries aren't ideal vacation spots. I certainly wouldn't recommend anybody visit Kjerag, [hint: this is going to happen anyway,] and I've heard that Sargon isn't so friendly, either, not that I intend to go.
[He will Melt.]
no subject
And outside of the people here, I wouldn't mind taking time off in Bolivar, either. ...Theoretically, Laterano isn't the worst place, either, but you'd never catch me dead there. At this point, I hope that place crashes and burns. [ Imagine enduring one of the worst disasters that has ever happened to Terra. Imagine asking for help from the holy city only to have them tell you in so many words that you should be able to handle your own problems. Maybe fuck Laterano. ]
Before the Profound Silence, Iberia was also such a lovely place, too. I wish I could show you, Gnosis. When we get back, I have some old records from back in the day. Would you like to hear some of those?