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sticks and bones. ([personal profile] sticksandbonesmods) wrote in [community profile] sticksandbones2024-02-01 10:46 am

EVENT 009

RULER OF MY HEART
HOW SWEET IT IS
As time ticks on in that strange, wobbly way it does in this place — where the nights feel like they last days, and the days feel like they’re only a few hours long — the fog, ever so gradually, rolls back in, until it’s that oppressive black wall it normally is. It means no more trips into the greater forest for the time being, though the surrounding ring of treeline around the Grove and the burned town to the north remains readily accessible.

The woods, now awake and alert, sends its regards with the occasional roar of a beast in the far distance, and the occasional biblically-accurate deer wandering into the Grove proper to nibble on grasses starting to spring up through the snow. Speaking of things springing up through the snow, there are some new trees near the riverbank, sporting perfectly normal lemons that are growing perfectly normal eyeballs. It’s fine, they’re edible, although they don’t seem to be native. Hmm.

All is peaceful thus far, until you open your dresser drawer. Suddenly, a little  creature flies out at you, or cries out angrily because you woke it up. Perhaps, that creature climbs on you instead, shuffling into your pocket to snuggle up. Or, maybe you lay down for a nap, and your pillow feels just a touch lumpier than normal, and when you move your head, something squeals at you. No matter where you find them, even if they’re being a nuisance and eating your shoelaces, these creatures are harmless: they’re merely cold, and you, a Warm Thing, will now be their space heater.
I REALLY LIKE YOU
One of Ydalir’s secret passions is cooking. You would not know this, because she doesn’t have the ability to eat, but that doesn’t mean she lost the ability to cook. A holiday is coming, you see, and it’s tradition for everyone to partake in cute chocolates and have candlelit dinners! (She will not be providing the dinners, that’s on you.)

What feels like early on in the month, Ydalir will approach everybody with a box of chocolates customized for each person with their favourite flavours. For those of you who don’t eat human food, don’t worry: These are safe for consumption for vampires and robots alike.

Like with most things here, though, things are not as they seem. Eating one of these chocolates suddenly makes you feel very, very cuddly, like suddenly you wouldn’t care who you snuggled up to right now so long as you were comfortable. With the candy in your system, you feel affectionate to anyone who you come across, even if you may not have liked them previously.

As it turns out, mixing magic with cooking makes a potion. Ydalir swears up and down she didn’t mean it, but enjoy your cuddle-chocolates anyway!
LET’S STAY TOGETHER
Sometimes, when you touch another person, your mind goes elsewhere. This isn’t a result of the chocolates, but rather some other force at work. If you see two people asleep somewhere — the ground, the couch, the kitchen counter — it’s best to leave them where they are, unless you want to risk passing out with them and seeing what they see. They’ll wake up in a little while.

What those who get dragged into their own minds see depends on the person, and what lies within their heart. These “heartspaces” are made up of core memories to the participants — important locations, emotional states given form, meaningful items, or anything else, really. When in contact with another person, these heartspaces will combine into one, perfectly interactable and wanderable at your leisure. Touching objects within these spaces will play a core memory before your eyes, or even change the scenery a bit, depending on whose heart it is you’re messing with.

Perhaps now is a good time for bonding and learning about one another, in the comfort and privacy of your own minds. After all, you won’t exit the heartspaces for quite a bit.
PAIN IN MY HEART
…just try not to break anything while you're there.

It might be an accident. Maybe you walk backwards into a table containing a framed photograph, and that photo falls and the glass breaks, the picture inside the frame ruined. Maybe you broke that cheaply-made but still-important toy while fiddling with it. Or, perhaps, it wasn’t an accident at all: You broke that thing on purpose, you punched through that wall, you set that fire.

Whatever broke the thing in question doesn’t matter in the end. What matters is that the memory associated with it begins to fade away like smoke on the wind. Fixing the broken object will bring that memory back, but failing to fix it before you wake up from the dream will have that memory gone forever.

Although, there are some pretty bad memories out there… if the memory broken was terrible, or if the item in question showed someone a dark secret you didn’t want them to know… shouldn’t it stay gone?
SPARK NOTES
CLICK TO EXPAND!
HOW SWEET IT IS
The fog is back. The creatures are clinging to you because they're cold. The eyeball lemons are, uh... lemon...y. Enjoy your completely normal slice of nature.

I REALLY LIKE YOU
Ydalir has made everybody chocolates! They're delicious and induce feelings of affection and a deep need to cuddle others. Surely this won't go terribly awry. Also, she's very sorry.

LET’S STAY TOGETHER
Sometimes, touching someone else takes you to a combined mental space made up of the important things to you and the person you touched. You can touch things within the space to play memories, or explore the environment together. Outside, you're just asleep on the floor somewhere probably, so hopefully no one trips over you.

PAIN IN MY HEART
Be careful in the heartspaces. Anything you break will take a relevant memory with it. If you can find a way to repair it, the memory will come back. Although, sometimes memories need to stay gone, don't they? Maybe leaving it broken is okay?

OOC
Happy February! The mod team will not apologise for the amount of pink in this event log. If you'd like to plot with people for this event, head over to OOC plotting. We will allow you to make up various plantanimal creatures for this event, they don't have to be like the images linked as examples. Have fun, enjoy creatures, they're here to stay. Reminder this month will have Heimrquest, so if you want to sign up, please do so on the OOC plotting post.

UPDATES
❖ None yet!

livlaughlove: didn't start to wonder if it's mine to keep (259)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-04 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think it's too much. It's pretty.

[alright, alright, he'll try... but he only ends up sort of looping one lock around another. it comes loose as soon as he gives it slack, and he sighs at himself.]

I'm sorry, can ya show me how to do it proper?
unheiring: (And You've Taken on the Rest)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-04 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[Luca watches Livio begin to wind the hair. It's clear from minute one what's going wrong but he doesn't chide the man. Instead, he finds himself grinning as it untwirls itself. At least he fixes a sympathetic look on Livio once it's all said and done.]

That's okay. Here.

[He rises up to his full height, moving away from the warmth of Livio's lap, but only for a second. He quickly clambers back over, straddling the man's lap. He reaches out, taking three strands of white hair into his fingers.]

Beasts, what do you wash your hair with, my friend? Your hair is... [He trails off with a playful grimace.] It could use some love.
livlaughlove: am i too attached to a memory? (036)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
[okay, this is definitely a lot. he didn't take luca for being quite so friendly. livio isn't even sure how to react, besides try to fight off the warmth in his cheeks... both from the positioning, and the gentle dig at his haircare.]

Soap? There's bars in the bathhouse... [luca would have a field day with how long he'd have to do without on nml...]
unheiring: (Hunt You Down)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
[Normally, Luca isn't like this, not on the surface at least. So much weighs him down on a regular basis. Years of grief had smothered the gentle, loving boy that he had been.

With that oppressive weight lifted and shunted far from his mind, however, some of that youthful energy starts to creep through once again. Which is exactly why Livio now has said young man in his lap, preening at him with a shy smile.]


Bars? Oh, no. That's terrible for your hair...
livlaughlove: frail pieces of my mind (261)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
[bless his heart, livio just blinks at luca and tilts his head.]

Soap is soap, isn't it?
unheiring: (Unholy)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
[Siiiighs.]

You're lucky I'm too cozy to drag you to the bathhouse right now.
livlaughlove: didn't start to wonder if it's mine to keep (259)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
[livio may be accepting of the cuddles, but the idea of bathing with somebody is too much, maybe.

refocus.]


You were teachin' me how to braid, Luca?
unheiring: (Ascended)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
Right.

[A breathy laugh as he turns his attention to those three strands. Steadily, he begins to weave them together. He does his best to keep the effort slow, holding the combined trio out so that Livio can watch as he layers each section.]

See? It's almost like a rhythm...
livlaughlove: save yourself, leave me here (001)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. Yeah, I get it. I had too few, huh?

[he's patient as anything, waiting with a soft smile for luca to finish his work.]
unheiring: (And You've Claimed Yourself a Throne)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
Too few for a braid. If you kept at it, you could have made quite the nice knot, though.

[He finishes the braid, but keeps the strands pinched between his fingers. Unfortunately, he's without a stray hair tie, so the moment he releases it, it'll unwind itself anyway. Nevertheless, he shows off his finished efforts with a hint of pride.]

What do you think?
livlaughlove: in the solstice of your ever-light (055)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
[he peers out of the corner of his eye, getting the best view he can.]

I think I might have to ask Heimr for some hair ties. Thank you.
unheiring: (Unholy)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
I think you might be right. It looks good on you.

[He lets go of the braid, allowing it to at least partially unravel. His hands drift back toward the rest of Livio's hair, carding through it.] It really isn't so bad. I apologize for implying as much.
livlaughlove: you take, take the pain away (066)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
[liv finds himself leaning into that hand, even as he sets to trying again, with three locks of luca's hair this time.]

You don't have to apologize. Yours is a lot softer.
unheiring: (Then He'll Find You in a Dream)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
I have a routine. [He sounds a little sheepish, head tucking downward a bit.]

I was not able to keep up with it as much when I was traveling, but now that I'm in one place...
livlaughlove: heading into a pure, black void (256)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. I mean, you don't gotta share your secrets with me or anything...
unheiring: (God Hunter's Gonna)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, the very carefully guarded secret of soft hair? Yes, clearly it would be a travesty if I revealed it to you.

[Sounds like some of his snark is coming back. Maybe he should eat another chocolate?]

It's just conditioner. Heimr probably has some, if you asked.
livlaughlove: i don't know which one's me (090)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
[livio takes it in stride, even smiles.]

Hey, I didn't know if you had a monopoly on a special product made'a unicorn tears, or somethin'.

I could. Feel bad bothering him over trivial stuff, though.
unheiring: (Ascended)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Hah. [His shoulders tremble with a bout of swallowed laughter.] Unfortunately, no one's seen a unicorn for some time, where I'm from.

[That seems to net a quirked brow from Luca.]

His job is to provide for the town, is it not? You would only be giving him business.
livlaughlove: or just for your pride? (205)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[... livio honestly has no reason to question whether or not unicorns are real. as far as he knows, they actually existed on earth and platypuses did not. or vice versa. or neither. or both.]

Sure, but I think people need food and survival supplies more than luxuries. At least... I don't need that stuff.
unheiring: (Hunt You Down)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[Wait 'til he tells Livio about the Platypus Beast - ]

That may be true. But people... support one another here. You can allow yourself a little treat, knowing that others will hold you up if you need it.

It is... a kind community.
livlaughlove: and i don't think i'll escape (035)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
... It is.

[he finishes up this braid, and hesitates to let go. it'll become unraveled just like his did...]

I'll think about it, yeah?
unheiring: (Default)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[Please don't let go. Mostly because Luca is angling his head enough to nuzzle against said hand. Oops.]

I think that's all that can be asked.
livlaughlove: half a heart beating (258)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-05 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[somehow, livio manages to pinch the ends of luca's hair between two fingers and still hold his cheek with the majority of his hand.]

... Yer sweet.
unheiring: (Like Me)

[personal profile] unheiring 2024-02-05 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[Does his expression waver, just a little? Absolutely. Something sad crosses through those eyes, brief though it may be.]

No one's said that about me for quite some time.
livlaughlove: i am only an aimless soul (255)

[personal profile] livlaughlove 2024-02-06 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
No? [he tilts his head, observing but not prying.] Well, they should.

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