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sticksandbones2024-02-01 10:46 am
sticksandbonesmods) wrote in sticksandbones2024-02-01 10:46 am
Entry tags:
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.
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!
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.
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?
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
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SUBMISSIONS
no subject
at least his answer is nearly instantaneous.]
Yes, I am. I'm fuckin' burnin' up.
[wait. they're not actually talking about the fireplace, are they.]
no subject
Listen, you said it, not me.
[He's still looking at Livio, watching the way the man turns red all the way to the tips of his ears. Poor guy.]
Pretty sure it's kinda dangerous for me to be this close to somebody this smokin'.
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[look. his brain is desperately scrambling to find any explanation possible for all of this. because there's no way in hell it's what it looks like, right?
right?
he's probably even redder, under wolfwood's constant gaze. redder, and increasingly nervous. his next words comes out soft and shy.]
... Nick? What're you doin'?
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But Livio...is different. Livio is still the most important person in Wolfwood's life, and that makes it a lot easier for them to just talk. And for him to talk to him like this. The chocolates having him under the influence just add on to making it all a perfect storm of affection.
So when he asks that question, Wolfwood does at least relent for a moment. He sits up a bit, smile faltering just a fraction.]
Just calling it like I see it. I know you're not usually able to see it for yourself, but...
[He gestures vaguely with his free hand.]
You're a handsome as hell guy, Liv. Think people should tell you that more, that's all.
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and even if it wasn't for that, he has to admit, it's so, so nice to feel nick's arm around him. he can't help leaning into it a little when wolfwood straightens up, as if to discourage him from leaving entirely. even disregarding all the confusing emotions, this just feels safe in a way he hasn't gotten in years, not away from nick.]
... You know I'm not great at... social etiquette or whatever. But -- do friends call each other "handsome?" ["handsome as hell," no less.]
no subject
Wolfwood falters for a moment more. He doesn't pull away or anything either, just sort of reflects for the first time on what he's been doing. What he's been saying.
Like...yes. He's thought these things. But that's where it ended. He thought them and then left it at that, because he wasn't about to make things weird for Livio, never mind hurt Vash after everything they'd been through. So why...]
Uh...I guess. Probably not.
[Yet he's still staying put, his hand flexing nervously where it's resting now on Livio's other shoulder.]
I'm not makin' you uncomfortable, am I?
no subject
[for once, livio is slightly more confident -- or maybe just more desperate -- enough so to raise his hand so he can set it over nick's. he just hopes it's even half as comforting for wolfwood as it is to him.]
I just... You 'n Vash... I don't wanna come between you. [he isn't worth it. and he doesn't want to hurt vash regardless.]
no subject
That said...Wolfwood doesn't move his hand. He doesn't move at all, in fact.]
I know. And you know I'd never...do anything to jeopardize that.
[He's not going to make any kind of moves without Vash's input. He hopes that isn't what Livio is worried about.]
But...this is fine, ain't it? I can't explain it, but I don't wanna be apart from you right now.
no subject
[livio's sheltered enough that it doesn't even occur to him people might be anything but monogamous. the things he has seen indicate that humans pair off and call it good. and he's seen firsthand that as much as vash can irritate nick, nick cares so much for him, and they bring each other comfort. happiness, even. so... to liv, nick is far out of bounds.
as wolfwood says, though, there's nothing wrong with this. even if somewhere inside his chest, it does sadden livio deeply that he'll never know what it's like to be even closer to nick.]
Neither do I.
no subject
[That's the best he can offer. Especially since they're so close right now that Wolfwood is practically grafted to Livio's side, at this point.]
I don't spend time with you enough. And...I ain't gonna end up left regretting that like I did back home.
no subject
[wolfwood could ask damn near anything of livio and he'd respond in a heartbeat out of a sense of duty to him and a desire to please him, but this, he agrees to for himself just as much.
he doesn't quite understand how the feeling is anything near mutual, though. at no fault of nick's; he's made it clear enough that livio is important to him. liv just doesn't understand why. maybe he never will.]
I'm here. Whenever you want.
no subject
[Wolfwood sits back, pulling his arm from around Livio like it had been before. It almost seems like he's going to leave for a moment, at least until he opts to open his arms instead.]
You're actin' like I've got cooties. C'mere.
no subject
... Thanks, Nick.
no subject
I should be thankin' you. I'm pretty sure it's thanks to you that Razlo didn't pop my head like a grape.
[You know if you wanted the mood to be slightly ruined-]
no subject
speaking of popping like a grape. livio's muscles all tense, including his fingers suddenly clinging far too hard at nick's shirt, straining the seams before he thinks to tear himself away again. he looks wolfwood over in a hurry, eyes wide and panicked. when he doesn't see any injuries, he finds his voice again. it's quiet and quivering.]
Nicholas. You told me you haven't met Razlo.
no subject
I haven't. ...well, hadn't. But we-
[...]
You...don't remember?
no subject
Oh, Christ. When? Did I hurt you?
no subject
[Again, he doesn't stop him from checking him over, but he's realizing now that idle comment may not have been the smartest move. He had...no idea that Livio didn't remember what happened though, so it's better late than never he guesses. And while he wouldn't say Razlo didn't hurt him at all, it may as well have hardly been a scratch for people like them.]
It's more weird shit being caused by the forest. I dunno if you've had it happen with anybody else yet? But, uh...sometimes when you touch people, you get pulled into their mind somehow. You were in mine too, it was like our thoughts were mashed together.
'Cept it was...Razlo, in there. Not you.
no subject
god. liv can't fucking stand the way the forest messes with his already shitty perception of time and reality.]
What do you mean, he's in there? That's... not possible.
no subject
[Wolfwood shakes his head a little, glancing off to the side.]
But I was definitely talkin' to him. I could tell.
[Well. If the way he talked to Wolfwood wasn't indication enough, the Everything Else sure was.]
We were in...a room I didn't recognize. But one of these was on the table, so.
[He lifts his blazer so Livio can see the pouch strapped around his waist, with that cross emblazoned on the front. It's half-filled with vials, about three.]
That told me enough.
no subject
his panic shifts ever so slightly; it's in the same vein, but more focused on nicholas than himself.]
Wolfwood. You have to be careful with those. You know that, right?
no subject
[If it were anyone else, Wolfwood would snap at them for trying to "lecture" him. Livio doesn't get the same treatment, though.]
They showed up with me, and this is what I got left. It's just if things get really bad. Just a precaution.
[He doesn't use them recklessly. Not for a minor scratch or bruise. It'd have to be a life-threatening wound, like when he nearly had his shoulder bit in half by the rose hounds.]
no subject
I mean even if things get bad. Especially if things get bad.
... Nick, I'm sorry. If I'd known, I never would've...
I don't want you to be in danger just bein' around me.
no subject
[I mean. He WAS. He absolutely was in danger. Razlo threw his ass across a table, he could have killed him if he wanted to. But it's not like Wolfwood...really helped either, escalating things by shooting at him.
Livio pulls him in, and Wolfwood lets it happen. He sinks into the other man's arms, a pang of guilt in his chest as he grips his shoulders, fingers pulling at the back of his shirt.]
I'm okay, see? I'm not hurt. Sure, he didn't...enjoy seein' me, but...
[He shrugs one shoulder. He doesn't want to lie, but he doesn't want to needlessly worry Livio either.]
no subject
[maybe once upon a time, he and razlo had an agreement, formal or otherwise, that livio doesn't snoop into what happens when razlo takes total charge. but their professional partnership is as good as dissolved, and livio doesn't feel beholden to razlo in that regard. not when it comes to wolfwood.
nick's privacy, on the other hand...]
... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.
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