EVENT & TDM 036

[sticksandbonesmods]

WAKE UP

Whatever you were doing, something doesn’t add up. For starters, you were most certainly not in this strange little village with a mishmash of cultures and strange animals everywhere. You might have been holding your weapon, yes, but maybe you weren’t- maybe you don’t even have one, and the heavy wooden beam or old pipe in your hands is foreign entirely. But as you stop to think, you also realize you were mid-swing, and someone stands before you; another fresh face being urged by whispers untraceable to fight? Or one of the villagers, alarmed and primed to defend themselves before your time seemed to stop and your mind awoke?

Even stranger, once you get that sorted out, is that the wildlife- all animals mixed with plants- are all nervous at best, actively frightened by something unseen at worst. Squirrels whose tails resemble hyacinths more than fluff and fur run through the trees chittering and shrieking, foxes and dogs with reeds and leaves and petals gently growing from their haunches bolt from place to place, alert and stanced for an attack before running off again. Getting too close to a warren may lead to something biting down on your feet.

Should you journey the distance to the beach- or use the Ark gate generously provided- even the Emerald Sea churns and roars violently, the cliffside whirlpool practically a hurricane beneath the sea. Something is amiss in Aldric’s Grove, and you are only the latest victims.

A LANTERN IN THE HANGING TREE

There’s something that wasn’t there before, one day. A dark, gnarled tree with a gaping hole in it- except the hole is pitch black, and a barrier stops you from entering despite the opening being large enough to walk into. Hanging from the almost-bare boughs are metal lanterns, all of them unable to be lit. As fog rolls in, so too does poor weather. It’s almost always raining, if not outright storming. Sometimes it lets up, but not for long.

The fog brings something else though. Golden lights wait in the fog, and approaching them sounds… incredible, actually? They do not move or give chase, but you may find them unavoidable regardless. Walking into the lights brings you to a memory, a scene from someone’s life… but not your own.

As it finishes, you might be where you’d just been standing, but there’s a slim chance you now stand before the owner of the memory; as if you’d walked there in a daze while lost in thoughts that aren’t your own.

With each light met by a villager, a lantern in the tree lights.

GUIDING BONDS IN THE DARK

It’s dark. It’s painfully dark even though your eyes are wide open. As you fumble around, hands outstretched for anything at all, your fingers catch on a metal curve. Instinctively, you slip it on your wrist- and as your sight returns, emotions that aren’t yours slip into your heart and mind. You aren’t alone, but maybe you will wish you were. A silver chain connects the bracelet on your wrist with your companion’s own before vanishing again, and if you try to put more than six feet of space between each other an invisible tug between you stops you. Removing the bracelet blinds you again, but if given the opportunity, wearing more than one overwhelms your mind to the point that you may as well be wearing none at all. Your powers are null, your weapons are not with you. The two of you are alone.

You find yourselves in a dark cavern of dirt and root. High above, a silvery blue light shines.You can hear rain hitting leaves and bark, water trickling down roots. Should you try to climb up, the roots shake you off themselves. Behind you is a solid wall. Ahead of you is a path to take, twisting and winding with ever shifting false routes and a chill in the air. There’s only one way forward.

As you traverse the labyrinth it will quickly become clear you aren’t alone. Something trudges through the caverns with heavy feet, stalking everyone within. Unlucky travelers will find themselves cornered by a minotaur looming over them, ready to fight and give chase- but it can be distracted by other travelers, or killed… temporarily, and it will come back with a vengeance.

Even outside of the minotaur there are other threats however. As you go from hall to room to hall, familiar scents and sounds creep in, all meant to invoke something you dread. Soon enough those scents and sounds will take shape, hunting you down just as fervently as the bull. Lingering in any space for too long also incites rising temperaments and lower inhibitions that you may struggle to shake off. Why would you? Smacking your partner for being a coward is so much more enticing. … Not just a smack. After all, about half-way through, when monsters born of your memories start to haunt the labyrinth too, you found your weapons, after all.

Your goal is to get to the center of the maze, while the maze wants to crush you with the minotaur, with memories of fear and regret, with its own rush of root and dirt while your emotions feed into each other, crashing against each other’s minds like ocean waves against a cliff. And should it succeed, should air leave your lungs one last time, you will not awaken in the Garden. This is a game, after all. No, as your companions filter into the center two by two, they will find you just barely breathing, strung up from the root, and the roots strung up in you. Plants grow from your flesh and blood, squeeze your lungs and heart. They may fade in a couple days, or you may well be corrupted by the Fallen Sun’s touch. You frame a single opening in the dreariness, but the sound of rain is louder than ever.

Little by little you make your way through, exiting from the gnarled tree strung in lanterns. The bracelets drop from your wrists and crumble to pieces. You’re free.

SOMBER RAINY MORNINGS

It’s been a trying month, and the rain does not stop. The lights do not dim, the lanterns in the tree do not flicker. All you can do is try to cope, in whatever way you can. And when something tugs at your mind again and the scent of dirt floods your nose, something roars in the distance.

The clouds in the sky are cut in half as a serpent made of the cosmos flies above, an iridescent rain falling from its body. Those corrupted in death will find themselves trying to avoid it, for its waters purify the rot in their bodies. Others may simply enjoy the warm beauty as the world seems to settle into a calm. The lantern tree seems to bloom and heal before vanishing into a flurry of petals, leaving only a few broken lanterns behind on the ground. Nene, the girl with flowers growing from her hair picks one up with a far-off gaze before returning to her cottage, leaving the rest behind.

Flowers begin to spring to life, embracing the warmer days of summer in the wake of spring, and gradually the wildlife begins to calm down.

For the first time in weeks, a sunny day awaits and the sky is stained with rainbows.

Spark Notes (Click to Expand)

summary

WAKE UP: New arrivals in Aldric's Grove arrive holding weapons, covered in blood, and most likely pointing them at someone. Surprise! On top of that, all the animals are on edge, and some might attack you if you agitate them or get too close.
A LANTERN IN THE HANGING TREE: A tree appears one day with hanging lanterns. Getting close to a golden light means that memories of others will enter your mind, and with each person who touches a light, a lantern on the tree lights.
GUIDING BONDS IN THE DARK: Within the labyrinth, everyone is connected by a bracelet and are therefore sharing emotions. Getting more than six feet apart will stop you from moving further forward, but without a bracelet, you'll be fully blinded in the maze. Your weapons and magical powers aren't with you, and threats loom around every corner.
SOMBER RAINY MORNINGS: To potentially cure the Corruption that some characters may have endured by dying in the labyrinth, the Cosmic Serpent rises from the sea to spew purifying rains across the Grove. Flowers bloom where the corrupted ground was healed, and you're given a break - for now.

out of character

Happy May! This is a reminder that TDMs are game canon. Current players in the game may redeem TDM AC this month (meaning: if you tag a new player/character and the thread reaches 5 comments from you, your AC is that entire thread for the month if you want). We'll find a better way to clarify this rule in the future and we're sorry for anyone it's confused in the past. Have fun with the event!

updates

Any potential updates, such as characters damaging something important or whatever else, will be put here.

submissions

❖ Questions
❖ May Plotting
❖ Past Life Plotting (Closed to Game Members)
❖ Investigations

code

Comments

[lotusflower]

[Kanda would rather not stand here, and if Lavi is going to stand there processing, then Kanda will simply grab the redhead's wrist and start dragging him in the direction of home. Surely those stupid little lightballs aren't indoors? If they're lucky, anyway.]

I don't know, [he snarls,] I don't fucking know, but I suggest moving your ass unless you want to have your brain invaded again.

[inkandhammer]

O-oi! [Yoinked!!!

At least for the first few feet, then he gets his uh...feet under him and is following along with Kanda.]

Not really, yeah?

[Grumble grumble grumble.]

Didn't want it invaded the first time.

[And how the hell does he bring up that whole...kerfuffle.]

[lotusflower]

[Kanda isn't letting go for now, at least until he has dodged all of the glowing orbs of Bullshit and has sufficiently gotten them both home in one piece. The front door gets shouldered open, and he gives no response to any other comments until they're there, in too much of a rush.

No light balls in the house. Good. Kanda immediately lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding and shuffles toward the couch to collapse into a heavy sit.]

Outta the fucking woods for now. [In a literal sense of the word, too.] We don't need to talk about it.

[But maybe they should — commiserate, or at least exchange platitudes and call it there. Kanda is no good at comfort, but even he knows that's a pretty sour memory to have to live at all.]

But, [after a minute:] s...orry.

[There is an attempt.]

[inkandhammer]

[Lavi shuts the door behind them, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest. Pointedly not looking at his friend, for a few moments it might seem like Kanda's looking at a mirror, with the redhead decidedly giving off an air of "don't interact under penalty of injury" as he gathers back his thoughts.

The details of both fights tangled, faces superimposing... He knows he can easily pick them apart by focusing. But the feelings attached to both memories is raw still, and they feed into each other what with being so similar... Friend pitted against friend unwillingly or unhappily. But survival is necessary to the holder of the memory.

Lavi grunts, his eye flickering with an emotion; regret or pain...and then it's shuffled aside.]

Don't. [He shifts on his feet, arms dropping and shoving his hands in his pockets, still avoiding Kanda's gaze.]

Both of us did what we had to do. Our... [Shaking his head, correcting himself.] My feelings about it... Don't matter.

[lotusflower]

[There's a tsk on his lips faster than he thinks he's ever tsk'd before.]

Don't let Beansprout catch you saying that. [But is Allen really the point? It's not like he's here to get on Lavi's case about it.] They clearly do, though, or you wouldn't be standing there brooding by the door.

[Just callin' it like he sees it.]

We don't have to talk about it. God knows I wouldn't be much help if you wanted to. I'm just... empathizing. I guess.

[inkandhammer]

[And while Lavi could easily spit out those hateful words he's had to hear time and time again for years—"A Bookman has no need for a heart"—he bites his tongue. Because at the moment, it's kinda hypocritical of him.

Shaking his head again.] I'm pissed off. [He says that flatly.] My memories are supposed to stay that, mine.

[Perhaps he's still being effected by Kanda's memory emotions, the rage in there.

A lengthy pause here.] ...If anything, I'm the one who should be saying that. [Although. Right now, he's not sure how sincerely those words would be taken. Lavi rubs at his face with his hand.]

It happened. That's all. He was there, and then the Earl got his hands in him. Same as your...friend.

[lotusflower]

Agreed, and that's why I dragged both of us inside before more of those light balls clocked us. Who knows who else is going to see something? Some stranger?

[Which would be a helluva way to meet someone. Kanda loathes the idea more than he can possibly say. For now, he pats the seat next to him on the couch in offer.]

It always ties back to the goddamn Earl. It's a part of life and we both know that, but it's a goddamn stupid one. Look, when we get out of here, I'll race you to see who can slug the motherfucker first.

[inkandhammer]

[If anything, being reminded of those balls of light make Lavi tense right back up. Still, there's a call to the tree that he can't shake.

He shifts on his feet, unsure about the seat-offer. Mostly because it's un-Kanda-like behavior. And he's sure as hell that it's not his own memory influencing the swordsman. And honestly, he doesn't even want to punch the Earl.

Sure, he should. But the rage from Doug's death has long since simmered down. His primary target is Desires now. As much as he would be able to do anything to the Noah in question...]

I'll let you and Allen duke that one out.

[Sorry if you're trying to cheer him up, doesn't seem to be working.]

[lotusflower]

[This is why he doesn't do the comforting thing. He fucking sucks at it every time, and he knows he sucks at it, and any attempt he makes is usually killed by him saying something stupid. Shout out to telling Allen to vent to him and Allen said "yeah, my dad's dead" and Kanda said "okay but are you sure?" for some goddamn reason.

What is wrong with him, he wonders every day of his life.]

...great. [Fuck dude he's so bad at this.] So, what now? Don't tell me you're going to go mope in bed all day.

[There. That feels a little less forced from Kanda's perspective, even if he knows by this point that is Not The Comforting Thing To Say. He fucking tried man. It was not a good attempt but he did try. Tiedoll, wherever you are, please be proud of your son.]

[inkandhammer]

[Kanda's personality doesn't lend to him being believed, sadly. Perhaps as they grow closer, Lavi will eventually take him at his word. But their growing together is slow! And Lavi does appreciate the attempt, especially considering they were just in each other's heads unwillingly.

Snorting a little and the tenseness starts to leave him. That's the normal Kanda.]

Hardly. [Though, honestly, doing nothing physically would help him get this nonsense in his head sorted. So that means...meditation is the next best thing.]

Can I borrow your garden for a bit? So I can avoid those bobs of annoyance.

[lotusflower]

Don't care if you do or don't. Link's in there all the damn time and Beansprout pops in. It's not exactly mine.

[Even if he's the one who rolls out of bed at 4am every day to go meditate. He flips his wrist dismissively, like they're talking about the weather and disagreeing on what the cloud cover means.]

[inkandhammer]

[Lavi pushes himself off the doorframe, heading towards the garden area.] 's still your space.

[He pauses at the entrance, looking back at Kanda.]

'm sorry about your friend, yeah? Feel free to grab me for a spar later if ya need.

[lotusflower]

It's been nine years. I'm fine. [He's not fine and they both know that.] ...I'll kick your ass later.

[This is a promise and not a threat. He's going to Get you, Lavi.]