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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
What it means is: he does have people. Maybe they're not always around, but that does matter in the grand scheme of things. He's not quite as isolated as one might assume.]
Mmm.
[He hums lowly, breathing out more smoke out of the corner of his mouth.]
So you get stuck with stragglers. Little Missy. Uncle Downer.
[And Wolfwood, of course.]
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[Unlike Wolfwood, he's not going to let that go unstated. They've had their disagreements. They don't see eye to eye. Morally, they're diametrically opposed. But the fact remains that Wolfwood has still saved his ass multiple times.]
The thing is... unlike the other two, I don't feel as scared around you. [He should stop talking before he says something stupid. Now that he's started though, he can't bring himself to stop.] You can protect yourself if somethin' goes wrong. And you're not afraid to smack some sense into me when I need it.
[He draws in a slow, deep breath. The faint smell of cigarettes burns his lungs, even from this distance. Even if he doesn't like it, it's come to feel familiar to him. A few weeks sharing the backseat of a truck would do that, wouldn't it?]
Of all the people I could be stuck here with, I'm glad it's you.
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At least, not anymore.
I don't feel as scared around you, he says, and that actually gets Wolfwood to stop puffing for a moment to just look at Vash. If Wolfwood were a more emotionally mature person, perhaps he could say something meaningful and profound here.
Instead, he huffs a laugh and sticks the cig back between his teeth.]
I knew you were self-destructive, but that's taking it up a notch.
[How is he supposed to handle that? He's glad he's here? Vash doesn't know what he's talking about.]
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That's me. Self-destructive to a T! You're not still surprised by that, are you?
[He grabs himself one last piece of toast, before picking up the plate. He carries it over to Wolfwood, then holds it out.]
You can have the rest. I'm pretty full, now.
no subject
[There's a reason they call Vash the Humanoid Typhoon, for it is incredibly apt. He is a disaster, inviting chaos and destruction wherever he goes simply by existing. Why not have that apply to himself as well?
He's being offered the rest of Vash's toast now- excuse me, their toast- quirking a brow at it.
Even though he's already reaching out to take the plate. One wonders when he ate last because it sure wasn't recently.]
It doesn't taste as good if you're just letting me have it, you know.
[It's more fun when he can steal off your plate-]
no subject
As Vash stands there with the plate, there's a brief moment of hesitation. Vash absolutely entertains the idea of flipping the toast down onto Wolfwood's lap. It wouldn't be the worst thing those clothes had never seen. Coming from No Man's Land, however, he's far less inclined to want to waste food.
Instead:]
Then I hope it turns to ash in your mouth.
[And with yet another wink, he flounces back to the desk.]
no subject
Wolfwood just sort of sits there, slack-jawed as Vash walks away from him, because he can't really figure out why all of that hit him the way it did ("all of that", he winked at you. Twice). The only way he can describe it as is weird. Like, this sort of feeling, you know?
Gestures to Vash's everything.
It honestly probably would have only been exacerbated by Vash dumping the toast in his lap, because Vash doesn't do things like that. It would have been..........
Hot.Surprising.In the end, he can't find words. Vash will instead be treated to the sound of Wolfwood aggressively munching toast across the room.]
no subject
For more reason than one.
While Wolfwood eats, Vash pulls out his gun. He doesn't have his usual tool kit, so cleaning her up is out of the question. The least he can do is make sure none of the snow caused any rusting by opening up the cylinder and giving it a few test spins. He doesn't love that he's already down one bullet, but he'll fret over that more later.
The fact that Wolfwood hasn't left yet does occur to Vash. It's strange, but Vash chalks it up to him simply wanting to finish eating. Then he can leave Vash the damn dishes, even though he went through all the hard work of cooking it.]
no subject
Though in fairness, smoking and eating at the same time does kindof make it seem more like he's eating the ashes. Hm.
Only the sound of Vash fiddling with his gun breaks the silence, and given the way he sees him looking at it pensively, Wolfwood is pretty sure he knows what Vash is worried about.]
...you should go to the shopkeeper. He'll probably sell you ammo.
no subject
[At least Wolfwood could charge out of the ass for his priestly services, or whatever it was that he did. Not that he was any good at it. Between his scamming and his actual abilities, he could probably wind up running the town.]
I'll see what I can do, at least. Maybe I can do them a favor or two.
no subject
Are you kidding? I just gave him shit from the riverbed. There's all kinds of crap in the dirt.
[WHICH SOUNDS. BAD. Until he continues:]
Apparently could afford two packs of cigs on top of this jacket I didn't want.
no subject
No joke? Maybe I'll see if I can get bullets and donuts for the guy. [Wouldn't that just be a miracle!
Unfortunately, he can't dwell on the joyous thought. Unfortunately, he spots the cigarette. He watches the ashes float down toward the ground and makes a very put-upon face.]
What did I say about making a mess?! They're gonna charge me for that, you know!
no subject
[The Shopkeeper will also exchange things for favors though, which Vash may be more inclined to do. Wolfwood doesn't have any sort of ethical code that says he can't give somebody crap from the ground for what he wants.
But then Vash is negging him about the ash, to which Wolfwood just smirks and crosses one leg over the other.]
Just sweep it under your bed. Who's gonna notice?
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Maybe I'll want company! You ever think about that! I can't just have someone in my room and have a bunch of ashes under the bed, what would they think!
no subject
[He takes a looong pointed drag while he says that. Can't imagine anyone like that couldn't be him lol]
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Do you smoke? I don't think I've ever seen you try.
[DO not peer pressure him he is only 150 years old]
no subject
[Look at him, Nick. You know it's true.]
no subject
Wolfwood wraps his lips around his cigarette to take one more puff. It's not completely smoked to the butt yet, but it's getting there.
Then, he turns his hand around and holds it out towards Vash.]
Wanna bet?
no subject
Eventually he does lift it up. He takes a careful drag in and - absolutely swallows down the smoke. Immediately his lungs burn, and he starts to cough and sputter.]
H-here. Take it - back! [He shoves his hand toward Wolfwood.]
no subject
I said smoke it, not eat it.
[Wolfwood you didn't even try to explain to him what to do-]
Here. Watch. You pull the smoke into your mouth first, like you're drinkin' through a straw. Then you hold it for a bit. You can't just inhale it immediately, unless you want to set your lungs on fire. Then you breathe it in, slow.
[He demonstrates by leaning his head back and doing just that, pulling a drag and holding it, taking the cigarette away from his lips. He hasn't actually brought it into his lungs yet, as Vash will see by the way he seems to be holding his breath almost. Then, he inhales slowly, before exhaling up towards the ceiling again.]
no subject
Can he taste Vash there? Does he like it?
While Wolfwood leans back to exhale, Vash shakes his head minutely, pushing the thoughts from his head just as quick as they came on. Pursuing that particular line wouldn't end well for either of them. Vash knows that.]
Yeah, uh. I think I'll pass, thank you. Leave more for you and all!
no subject
But Vash won't miss it. He's not fully human. These things he probably sees with uncomfortable clarity, as a matter of fact.
The cigarette is nearly smoked through now as Wolfwood settles back into his seat again, once more crossing his legs at the knee.]
Suit yourself. I'm sure you'd get used to it eventually. Probably a worse habit than drinking, though.
[And he's pretty sure that Vash has done.]
no subject
It's dangerous. Even worlds way, Vash is still a disaster. Anyone who got caught up with him would get hurt. Even the near-invulnerable Nicholas D. Wolfwood was no exception. And despite everything, the grousing and the inevitable betrayal he knows his coming, Vash still cared for the man.
Which meant he couldn't dare to get close.
His gaze dances away, back toward the ceiling. He lifts his arms up, yawning loud enough for his jaw to pop, then lowers them once more.]
I'll stick with my occasional booze, thank you. [He wipes at his eyes, more for show than anything.] And my recovery naps.
[With that, he makes his way toward the bed. He knows he's only just gotten up, just as he knows he's not actually tired. But maybe it'll encourage Wolfwood to leave, before things go too far.]
no subject
He works his jaw in silence, rubbing his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
Peanut butter.
Vash stands, and then Wolfwood swings to his feet, too. There's no more cigarette left, having been smoked all the way down to the end, but he doesn't take it from his mouth. He just keeps it there as he shoves his hands into his pockets. eyeing Vash as he turns and heads for the bed. He's been sitting up in here for a while now, and his back is really starting to hurt.]
Right. If I get back to my room and see you waltz past my window, I'll kick your ass.
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