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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(CODE)

Comments

[livlaughlove]

[of course this is all difficult for livio to talk about out loud, now that he isn't forced to keep all of his emotions in check every waking moment. he's allowed himself to feel so much in the short time he's been here. and somehow, the more he feels, the more it hurts to feel. he hopes nick has just a little bit of patience for him as he parses his words.]

Master -- [no. his body trembles again, but he shakes his head firmly. he'll never use that word again.]

... Chapel laid a trap for you at Hopeland. He knew one or all of us could bring you down. Except... we couldn't. You defeated every one of us, without killing. Me, Chapel, Razlo. You could've let us die, but... you took a blow for Razlo. I just barely got control back before he could kill you while you were down.

[he winces. the latter feels... foggy, and it makes his temples throb.]

Miss Melanie 'n the kids were leaving. I... think I was going to ask them to wait for you...

... Then I was here.

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood listens intently to what Livio has to say. And it's...as he'd feared from basically the word go.

By the time he finishes, he can feel his own nails cutting into his palms. Instead of refuting what Livio tells him, he decides to rebuttal with what he remembers.]

...Vash and I were headed to JuLai on a Sand Steamer. You showed up on the thing out of nowhere and attacked us both. You were completely out of your mind, no questions asked, just...shooting everyone and everything that stood in your way.

[Mostly them.]

The ship...went off course. It was headed straight for Hopeland.

[His eyes close tight after that, because he's wondering how much he should actually...divulge? If it's something Livio really doesn't remember, but...]

I got through to you for just a second. Long enough for you to take matters into your own hands.

[...]

Then...we stopped the ship, just barely. [Then he saw Vash interfacing with the Plant, but that part isn't his story to tell.] ...Then I was here.

Livio, I never saw Chapel. I didn't fight him. I didn't fight Razlo. It was just...you.

[livlaughlove]

[livio can't deny that that sounds like him -- at least, like livio the double fang. not crybaby livio, or just... livio, the human being. but he doesn't remember a second of it.

even when he takes time to prod tentatively at his other consciousness, there's nothing.]

... I've never been on a sandsteamer with you.

[what the hell does that mean? wolfwood has memories he doesn't. he has memories wolfwood doesn't. but...]

I don't understand. You're Nicholas. I know you are.

[livio makes a quiet, pained sound in his throat. his head hurts so terribly he has to hold himself upright on the windowsill.]

[lupusxylem]

...I know. And I know...you're Livio.

[No matter how much he's changed, physically. It only took a moment of talking to him to know that for a fact. Despite this version of him being a world apart from the one he very briefly knew back home...it's still Livio.

But now, with this new context...things are starting to make more sense in ways he wish they didn't. Why Livio looks so different, to start.]

I don't get it either. We both remember different things, but what you're sayin' is so specific that I don't think you'd be making it up even if you wanted to.

[livlaughlove]

[why does he end up crying every time they talk, now? wolfwood is just feet from him, speaking to him, but suddenly it feels like livio has lost him completely, and that pain comes pouring from his eyes. the reality is that his oldest friend, who taught him what love really was and saved his life more times than he cares to count, is not actually here. and that hurts. so much.

but it doesn't change how he feels at his core about this man; he knows as much. he knows that even if this, somehow, isn't the boy he grew up with for a short time years ago, livio knows he loves him, anyway.

he just can't be sure of what goes on in another person's head. especially a person he has to admit he might not know as well as he believed.]

Does this... change anything?

[lupusxylem]

[...oh.

Livio cried so much when they were kids that Wolfwood is pretty sure he became desensitized to it within the first week of knowing him. Crybaby Livio got his name from somewhere, after all...but Livio now? He couldn't imagine it.

So now, watching tears course down his cheeks, Wolfwood suddenly feels lost. He immediately shifts forward on his feet so he's not leaning back against the bed anymore, taking a step away from it towards Livio. He doesn't go further than that, afraid to get too close when things are obviously very uncertain, but...still. It's alarming to see, especially now that they're having to come to terms with the fact that they don't actually know who the other is.

He asks a question Wolfwood genuinely can't answer, at first. Does it? Ever since he left Hopeland, Wolfwood only ever saw Livio the one other time, back when Legato was gloating over his broken, battered body. He was used as a bargaining chip then, and yet none of that ever mattered.

What, then, has this version of him seen? Been through?

What is going on?

For a moment, he tries to figure out what to do. What to say. He hazards taking another step closer, ending up somewhere in the middle of the bedroom.]

Liv...it didn't change anything for you when you saw me like this- [He gestures to himself. Older, a serial smoker, with facial hair] -did it? I'm still me. Nicholas.

...and you're still you. I ain't- [His breath catches, brows furrowing into something...angry.] -I ain't gonna lose you again, Livio. Don't you fucking dare.

[livlaughlove]

[livio isn't entirely sure what nicholas means by that, but he's right. it doesn't matter what he looks like, his habits or interests. it matters how he feels around him, which even now is like being at home. at peace, even with the bouts of badness and chaos.

he inhales sharply, regretting the way he chose to word it. also regretting the tears that he can't quite stop, although he tries to wipe his eyes on the sleeve of his coat.]

'm sorry. Ain't goin' anywhere, Nick... [he wants nothing more than to close the distance and let wolfwood wrap him up in a hug, but that feels so childish. selfish. pathetic.] I'm sorry, too, I keep... pulling this. 'm a grown man. You shouldn't have to deal with me crying all the time...

[lupusxylem]

[It probably is all of those things. Childish. Selfish. Pathetic.

But that doesn't mean Wolfwood didn't regret not doing it more when he had the chance. Before he left Hopeland, and saw Livio as he was meant to be for the last time. Before he saw him transformed into a monster just like him. Before he watched him die.

It's hard watching Livio cry like that, and it isn't because he's a grown man. It's because of what is causing those tears. For once, it isn't an outside source.

It's...him.

Wolfwood steps closer, the wooden floorboards creaking underneath his boots. He won't even get to finish that sentence before he reaches up and pulls Livio into his arms, both wrapped around in his neck in such a way as to force him forward, his head ducked into Wolfwood's shoulder.]

Shut up. Quit that, alright? None of this...makes sense.

[His fingers pull at the back of Livio's coat.]

But I ain't gonna stop being here for you. I don't care who you are.

HEE HEE KILLS YOU WITH MY ICON. JUST FOR YOU CHI JUST FOR YOU

[livlaughlove]

[the way wolfwood knows just how to hold him -- treats him like he's still a little smaller and a lot more openly sad than nick, but only openly -- is more than enough proof to livio that it doesn't actually matter where either of them came from. doesn't matter whether he's nick's livio or nick is his nicholas. whatever fuckery this forest has shoved off on them, they're still wolfwood and livio, and there's nobody livio loves more on this or any planet.]

Sorry. I mean -- hah. Okay.

[his own grip tightens a bit, a sturdy hug. one hand rubs at nick's back.]

I don't care, either. I still love you... And I hope you don't blame yourself. You didn't do anything wrong.

[lupusxylem]

[...Livio has said it multiple times by now. It makes Wolfwood realize that maybe he should put it into concrete terms too, before there comes a very real possible time where it's too late.

He takes a deep breath, one that makes the hug feel even tighter than it is, somehow.]

I love you too. [Slightly muffled.] If it helps, this is one of the few things I don't blame myself for.

[How can he? It's not like he has control over the whims of time and space, or whatever it is pulling the strings here.]

[livlaughlove]

Good.

[by all rights, it wouldn't make much sense, logically. but livio can guess how hard wolfwood is on himself. he'll be damned if he gives nick another reason to direct the blame inward.

right now, he's just grateful wolfwood can't see his face for it being buried in his shoulder, because hearing that back makes the tears fall faster.]

I'd do anything for you, Nicholas. Follow you anywhere.

[lupusxylem]

[He may not be able to see, but that doesn't mean he can't feel the dampness from them. Far be it from him to judge though, not when he's got wetness clinging to his own lashes.

That comment gets Wolfwood to laugh a little, thick and low under his breath.]

I dunno how good of an idea that is, if I'm honest.