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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!
no subject
Hmm? [He sounds every bit distracted as he actually is when Mizuki presses further. His head tilts, squinting as he tries to remember what the hell he was doing, and then - ]
Oh! That! Um, mostly I'm just trying to figure out how it works. howe we got here. Maybe how we get back? Things to watch out for, all that?
no subject
Things to watch out for… [ He hums, and falls silence as he "traps" himself in a corner, then goes for the big dot so he can chomp all the ghosties that eventually go back into their center cage. ] There's a lot of monsters in the forest. Don't give anyone out there your name, they'll probably take it. Don't give anyone a name, either, 'cause names got power here. Umm… There's probably some other stuff that I'm not thinking of right this moment. Sorry, you caught me in the middle of a kinda intense run here.
We tend to have Grove meetings where we inform stuff to the new people who show up here every handful of weeks, so maybe we'll have one of those set up soon?
no subject
I can't say I am. But she sounds smart. Maybe I ought to get to know here. [If Mizuki thought it wise to consult her, then she probably had some sort of worthwhile knowledge, even beyond getting home.]
Names have power... [A shiver trickles up his spine. Even if he doesn't understand it, he still doesn't like the sound of it.]
I can leave you be, if I'm bothering you! Just trying to get my feet under me, sorry about that!
1/3
no subject
[ Mizuki stares as his little yellow mouth guy runs into the pink ghost upon getting cornered, and thus ends his run. Last life and all that. Oh, cruel fate.
RIP Pac-Man.
He clears his throat after a moment of surprise and finally turns his full attention to Vash. ]
no subject
Well, there's probably not harm in asking ]
Mister... Vash? Is that you?
no subject
[His head tilts just a little. He tries to rack his brains for who it might be, and -
A grin cracks his face]
Does that mean you're Mizuki?
no subject
I've been here for about... mmh, four or five months? I haven't really been keeping track. I nap a lot, so I have a real bad grasp on time. But I can try to answer any other questions you got. You asked what to look out for, right? Unfortunately, the answer is sort of... 'everything'. Outside the barrier has a lot of stuff that just wants to kill us.
[ He lulls his head to one side, trying to recount everything that's happened so far. ]
Um, when I got here, there were flowers that tried to eat us, and if they managed to they'd copy abilities or traits or powers we had. I think the forest can use that stuff now, too...? So, um, don't let things in the forest eat you! [ Duh, Mizuki. ] And if you do go out there, let me know, I'll give you an anti-toxin to take with you just in case. [ You know, just a casual "oh by the way" thing. No explanation for what it's for or anything. Realistically, Mizuki is probably shotgunning quite a lot of information at Vash without explaining himself... whoops! ] And you should talk to Zahliya, too. He can give you something to help stave off corruption if it gets to you.
Oh, and it's possible you might see loved ones either corrupted, dead, or in pieces in the forest, but don't worry because those aren't the loved ones you know and remember. [ He's still smiling despite all this. ] Umm... I can't think of anything else off the very top of my head. Is there anything specific you wanna know?
no subject
"Corrupted loved ones" sits particularly uncomfortably within his mind. There's no question that several faces come to mind, each one more unpleasant than the last. It's a comfort that it's not actually them, but only just barely.]
That's. Quite a bit already. Definitely more than expected. [He chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment.] How are you guys surviving with... all of that to go up against?
no subject
[ Pause. His voice trails off a moment and he glances up at the sky very briefly, then back to Vash. ]
Um, sorry. I know, with the flowers, everyone else burned those, and Irene, Elsword and Add had killed or maimed quite a few monsters. They’d be the best to talk to.
no subject
[Vash doesn't yet know about returning to life here. For him, life is one and done. And so his soul aches for Mizuki.]
Irene and Elsword. I think I've bumped into them both. [He definitely remembers being yelled at by Irene, and how could he forget sleeping with Elsword!] But I'll be sure to ask them more under... better circumstances.
no subject
But, anyway, if you ever need to go out into the forest, you can let me know, okay? I don't mind going with you.