EVENT & TDM 008

[sticksandbonesmods]

LET IT GO

WAKE UP

It’s strange, how as the dawn of a new day finally arrives, coinciding with the howling winds dying out, classic, adorable snowmen seem to have popped up all over the Grove overnight. The fog wall has yet to surround the barren remains of a town that once was, but it’s visible once more in the great distance.

Not that you can see it immediately. Something covers your eyes, and you can feel something heavy and frigid wrapped all around you. As you struggle more and more, the crunch of snow echoes through your ears as you step free- and when you turn back to examine their prison, you’ll realize one of the snowmen was you.

Meanwhile, old residents will get to deal with more and more people popping out of snowmen like daisies, and must remember that this is just their life now. It’s just another day in Aldric’s Grove.

Though, maybe you ought to help them before frostbite sets in.

MIRROR, MIRROR

The quiet couldn’t last forever. You should have known that something would happen, especially with the fog beginning to make itself known again. And this time, it’s something quiet. As you wake up one morning, there is a mirror on your nightstand — it’s silver and round, able to fit comfortably in your hand and wreathed in crystalline snowflakes.

And as you look into it, your reflection twists into something still undeniably you, but… have you a temper problem? Too many lies? A sadistic sense of humor? All of your worst traits are dragged out and reflected on the mirror, and no matter what, it keeps ending up wherever you are — and whoever else looks into the mirror will see this awful, terrible you, too. All of your worst characteristics, all the things you try to hide, unable to be hidden.

Maybe you keep trying to hide it. Maybe you let it stay wherever it keeps turning up, following you like a particularly terrible walking salesman, or maybe you break it. Regardless, nothing seems to happen… for now.

WITH SHARDS OF ICE

“For now”.

Late into the night, everyone wakes up to a sudden, terrible chill. When you open your eyes, you’ll find that you aren’t in your inn room or home, but instead within a giant castle made of ice. It must be a ballroom of some sort, a grand hall glittering in the moonlight — but looking out the window shows that the world beyond the castle is but a frozen wasteland of more blizzards and nothing else. Though you’ve been granted some of your gear — weapons and some supplies, and coats if you’re lucky — you’ll find that the temperature is dropping steadily, while something approaches…

Peek out the door to the main hall and you’ll see what’s coming so noisily. An army’s worth of hallowed ice knights with all sorts of weapons are marching to the door, intent on slaying the intruders. Should they get close, they’ll attack; should they land the killing blow, you’ll instantly freeze into a solid block and shatter.

And if you broke the mirror that haunted you? On top of all of this, you can feel yourself gradually growing colder, physically and emotionally, and your magic, if you have it, takes on an icy flair that you may find difficult to control. Maybe it's your feet that start to turn to ice first — maybe it's your fingertips. But as the night goes on, you’ll steadily freeze solid, and like any fairy tale, only an act of true love could possibly save you. Good luck figuring out what that actually means. True love’s kiss? A genuine compliment? A hug? What could possibly save you from your fate?

Those of you who survive until morning, who don’t become solid statues of ice or die within the castle’s walls, will be lucky enough to witness the sun coming up through narrow windows the size of your forearm. All around you, the castle starts to melt, dripping freezing water onto your head. For as much as you try to run before you, presumably, drown terribly…

…your eyes will close, and you’ll wake up in your bed, drenched.

FOOTPRINTS IN THE FRESH SNOW

The morning after that dreadful night, things… settle, again. Aldric’s Grove is quiet, and clear sunlight glistens across the snowy plaza and radiates off of frosted trees. Even now, the apple tree and blackberry bushes are unfazed by the cold, though the fruit may taste crisper and chillier than usual. Those that died within the castle return to life, feeling colder than normal for the rest of the day, but there seems to be no lasting damage. And, everyone who participated in the castle “game” receives a mysterious gift: A wooden coin with a sigil on it, resembling a clock with backwards hands behind a shield, attached to frosted pinecones, red berries and sprigs of mistletoe. It feels warm and protective.

You go outside. It’s been some time since anyone’s seen anything from the woods, let alone something that doesn’t want them dead — so imagine one’s surprise when a small family of deer can be seen walking amongst the trees. Birds alight to the branches on rare moments, and it’s surely a sign of something, that life has begun to return to the forest despite the deep snow and deeper chill.

Never mind that one of the deer has an extra set of antlers and another has three eyes. Never mind that the birds sound like people. Never mind that the rabbits have blood on their maws.

It’s just another day in Aldric’s Grove.

SPARK NOTES

CLICK TO EXPAND!

WAKE UP

Good day, new arrivals! You are now a snowman. Hopefully people who have been here a bit longer are willing to give you a blanket or ten.

MIRROR, MIRROR

A mirror appears and starts following you around, reflecting what you think are your worst traits or worst version of yourself is. Other people can look into it and see the awful you, too. You can break it and it'll leave you alone, or you can let it stalk you all month.

WITH SHARDS OF ICE

Welcome to the ice castle! It's cold, but you have your stuff with you, and it's not unlivable. Well, until the frozen army of knights starts marching in with the intent to kill everyone inside, anyway. One lethal hit from them will make you shatter into pieces. For those of you who broke your mirrors, you'll gradually grow colder both physically & emotionally, and eventually start to freeze solid. Don't worry, though, you can be saved through the power of love.

FOOTPRINTS IN THE FRESH SNOW

Dawn rises on the Grove and the dead come back to life. Everyone who participated in the castle game receives a magical charm, though they don't know what it does so far. Animals come back to the Grove as well! ...why do they look like that?

OOC

Happy January! TDMs are game canon as a reminder, and if you'd like to plot with people for this event, head over to OOC plotting. While it is not known to player characters at this time, the charms granted as a reward for the ice castle can undo one future negative effect (i.e. a major death). They are a one-time use item. As for how characters discover this information... idk, we'll see how y'all decide to utilize those. :)

UPDATES

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SUBMISSIONS

QUESTIONS
INVESTIGATIONS
PAST-LIFE PLOTTING
INTEREST CHECK

(CODE)

Comments

[oleaeuropaea]

[The odd angle of Nai's leg isn't lost on him. Vash's first assumption might have been that he'd injured it. The sight of the frost in his hair, however, is enough to rapidly change his mind. He isn't sure how Nai could have gotten so cold, but it's reached a very dangerous tipping point.

He doesn't think as he shrugs off his jacket. Since Nai isn't moving well, he settles for draping it over his shoulders, then pulling the hood up. When that alone isn't enough. he moves to start rubbing his hands over his twin's shoulders.]

I'm not going anywhere, Nai. Not without you. Not without my brother.

[twisttheknives]

[Nai attempts, however slowly, to take Vash's jacket off of him and hand it back — but his shoulders, he's realising, are too stiff to move properly. They still move, but he feels like he's losing control of his body rapidly, that his muscles are stones and soon he won't have locomotion in his arms at all. To that end, he can't grab the jacket, not really, and so Vash wins this round.

The jacket is warm. Of course it's warm. Vash was always the warmer of the two of them, whether physically or emotionally. Even the metal fingertips that graze his shoulders are warm, or so Nai thinks. Perhaps it's just that he's so freezing, anything that touches him suddenly feels like a blazing sun.

He shakes his head, and something underneath his skin creaks.]

...Take it back. [He says, in lieu of being able to shove that jacket back in his brother's face.] I won't be able to follow you. I can barely move.

[He pauses. Takes a breath, the freezing air like needles in his lungs.]

You've been fine without me before, [a quiet, unbidden admittance, one that he would ordinarily hate were any of his emotions actually functioning now,] so go.

[oleaeuropaea]

Yeah, I have. And I hated every second of it.

[It isn't a lie. He might have been unwilling to join Nai, but it wasn't as if he liked being separated from his twin. Even now, decades later, Vash feels best when he's at his place by Nai's side.]

We have a chance to put things right between us. So I'm not - going to leave you behind. Don't ask me to leave you behind.

[He doesn't give Nai a chance to protest. The hands on his shoulders slide over, then down his back. He doesn't care how could his twin is, or how stiff, solid, and frigid he feels beneath his fingers. He manages an embrace between them, all but clinging to Nai as he tries to make him see.

At least like this, the tears that Vash sheds can't be seen. They're a secret between himself and the ice.]

Don't ask me to lose you again.

[twisttheknives]

["I'm asking," he wants to say. "You need to keep moving," he wants to add; the both of them know that Vash is best at running, after all, and it might be the only thing that keeps him from freezing to the damn floor, too. In this moment, Nai cannot give less of a flying fuck about anything else. Is he dying? He might be. He should be — would be — furious with these circumstances, knows he would be, if the fury would only reach his brain and register. The only thing he can say with confidence he feels is that need to see Vash make it out alive.

When he opens his mouth to voice any of that, he finds that his vocal cords feel impossibly stiff for just a moment. A single second. Vash hugs him for the first time in centuries, and then, very gradually... feeling starts to return to his leg, and his shoulders feel less locked in place. There's a very sudden warmth throughout his entire body in the seconds following after, and at first, Nai is too shocked to move. Of all the things he expected, getting a hug that's far overdue was not on the list.

The feeling of surprise hits him just as fast as every other emotion that's been bottled up since he started to freeze solid. The frustration that Vash won't — doesn't — listen to him, ever. The exasperation, with how he has that red coat draped over his shoulders, and Nai almost can't believe how alike to Rem he sounds when he thinks put your fucking jacket on, it's cold. The warmth and affection and overprotectiveness and love for his fool of a twin, someone who Nai does everything for simply to see the two of them flourish as they were meant to.

His arms wrap around Vash's waist as the hug is returned, and his chin falls to his twin's shoulder. Nai doesn't know what the hell Vash did other than save him from the brink of death, and so...]

...thanks.

[That's all he says. One word with so many layers of meaning it would take them hours to pull it all apart.]

[oleaeuropaea]

[There is only one way Vash can think to explains what follows. He has always been able to heal their brethren, granting them pieces of his own energy and vitality as he drained out whatever was rotting them. It's why he traveled so much in those early years, and what he still tries to do today, even if he's beaten to the punch more often than not. The ability to heal is baked into who he is as a person, and it only makes sense that it would also apply to his brother.

He can't tell if he feels colder, or weaker, or if it's simply the effect of hugging his brother as he nearly turned to ice. He also can't quite tell if he cares. They are both alive, after all. Close as they're pressed, he can practically feel the thumping of Nai's heart beneath his own. The warmth is slow to return, but return it does.

Thanks, he says, and Vash hears it for every intention. It wounds him in the same way it patches up his soul. Gratitude and compassion from his dearest sibling — how long has he waited for this.]

Please. You know I'd do anything for you.

[twisttheknives]

[The hug lingers, because, to be honest, a part of Nai is having a near-impossible time letting go. Vash is his, has always been his, and even if their ideals rip them apart, Nai still won't let go of that idyllic paradise built for him and his brother and their kind. Vash will understand one day, he always tells himself; a hug long-overdue is merely the first step.

Even without thoughts of world domination and the fantasy they could live in, though, what matters is that they're both here and alive and sharing a moment they haven't shared since they were very, very small. Since they'd get into stupid amounts of trouble just being rascals as kids, since Rem used to drag them both into her lap and kiss their cheeks, since their rather oblivious-to-it-all childhood.

Nai's chin falls to Vash's shoulder. Softly, he whispers, with all the love a brother can muster:]

In that case, put your coat back on. It's freezing.

[Vash is still dumb as hell to give up his jacket in what is, essentially, an oversized freezer. And, frankly, Nai will not see his sibling suffer the same fate he just did.]

[oleaeuropaea]

[Vash isn't a liberi, he doesn't have the ability to puff up like a Ghibli character. Nevertheless, his shoulders do hunch upward as he steps backward, and his arms cross over his chest. It's his best amalgamation of anime-esque frustration. He even tops it off with his head tipping upward, nose pointed at the ceiling in his agitation.]

You could have waited at least 10 more seconds to start being bossy. [He grouses this to the air as he reaches out with one arm, then snatches his jacket back. He fully breaks the pose in favor of tugging his jacket on, but only because the chill finally gets the best of him.]

You try to save your brother, and all he does is harp on you for trying to be the good guy! Jeez!!

[Yet for all his complaining, Vash still fixes a fond look on his brother. It's good to see the color, what little he did have, returning to his cheeks.]

[twisttheknives]

[That may as well be "puffing up".

Vash gets probably five seconds of standing there before Nai, childishly, drags Vash into what might've been a second hug, except his arm winds up around Vash's neck in a headlock. It's not rough by any means, other than Nai's raw grip strength, but surely Vash can handle that much. ...the noogie he gives Vash a second later, though, might be another story.]

You could afford to be selfish one time.

[Nai's comment might be drier, if he weren't... weirdly touched about the hug. It's the little things. Let him have this.]

[oleaeuropaea]

[How long has it been since he's laughed, unbidden, with his dear brother. He stumbles into the noogie with a half-protest, half-chortle. He paws at Nai's hands, but there's little bite to any of his efforts. Eventually even the protests stop, and he finds both hands clinging to the other man's forearm, as if to somehow cling to him.

Or at least prolong the contact just that little bit longer.]

No can do, Nai. We're stuck together. No leaving one another behind.]

[Somewhere, a laugh track plays.]