sticksandbones | EVENT & TDM 012

EVENT & TDM 012

IT'S GONNA BE MAY

WAKE UP

You open your eyes, and with a jolt, find yourself within the clearing of a miniscule town surrounded by trees and thick, black fog. Despite the ominous backdrop, nature seems to be thriving — it’s a pleasantly chill spring day, as far as anyone can tell, and everything is vibrant and blooming… even some of the animals. At some point, a friendly old dog with red fur approaches, carrying a basket in his jaws. Inside are blackberries and apples other fruits. Did he find this himself? Or did someone give them to him to bring to new arrivals? Regardless, he very clearly hopes that you’ll share.

A giant golden brown turtle sits by a tent, napping in the sunlight. Two statues sit in the courtyard by an old well — a haloed woman marked as the Goddess of the Sun, Beiwe, and a gentle woman looking adoringly at her counterpart, marked as the Goddess of the Moon, Ourania. If you pay your respects, the air feels gentle and warm in the day, and like a fresh cool breeze at night.

As you explore more, perhaps the bloomed animals will approach — a mossy squirrel, or a frog who happens to also be a lilypad. It’s charming, almost. Whimsical and kind.

Shame that the wall of fog looms ever on, watching. Waiting.

SHINING, SHIMMERING, SPLENDID

cw: hallucinations, compulsions, near-death experiences

For a while, spring seems gentle, almost. Peaceful. The previous month may have been full of jokes, but things are actually safe. Of course, that can’t last forever. Every night, a purple, shimmering mist floods the town. It does not breach the doors and windows, even if left open, but looking at it is… enticing.

Should you give in, the mist is cool and gentle, swaying around you like smoke. The longer you stay in, the more your eyes feel blissfully heavy. Soon, you find yourself surrounded by loved ones, in a place that brings you joy — a childhood home, a vacation spot, some place warm and safe and dear to your heart. Everyone is playing and having so much fun. Join them! Join them!

Of course, by the time you do jump into the fun, you’ll find yourself awakened with a start, just about to fall into danger. Perhaps you climbed a tree and were about to leap to the ground from too high up. Or maybe you stuck your head in the river and your lungs were about to empty. Regardless, the happy dream shatters with imminent danger, and perhaps you’d better hope that someone else is nearby to help you. … Especially since with each night you give in, the more enticing the mist is the next night.

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

At some point, the mist is forcibly dissipated and instead the moon shines brightly, almost like a spotlight. Investigation will reveal an absurdly large capybara that seems more like a vehicle than an animal, even with the jasmine flowers hanging off of it, siting down with the ‘door’ accessible to anyone willing to climb in.

“Come with me, and I will bring you to a night of festivities.” is all that it says when asked. And it knows that you will — you’re all curious as kittens, after all. Once the last person takes a fuzzy seat within the capybara, it slowly stands up and begins walking through the woods, and for the first time, everything seems peaceful. Normal, even. Why, there’s not even a monster or misshapen, grabby tree! Just a moonlit forest, and fireflies in the distance.

Eventually it brings you to a small but beautiful cabin, crouching down to let everyone out again. Outside is a layer of marble surrounded by pillars decorated with sheer fabrics and an abundance of lilies and calendula, jasmine and marigolds, hydrangeas and gladiolus. A buffet table has also been spread out, and within the cabin are changing rooms with a multitude of ornate gowns and suits, alongside sitting rooms and other potential necessities — though you get the feeling that you should still be on your best behavior here.

Gentle music plays from an unknown source. The capybara is resting, until it’s time to leave come sunrise. For one night, everything is at peace. You may as well enjoy it, and dance to your heart’s content.

SPARK NOTES

CLICK TO EXPAND!

WAKE UP

Welcome to Aldric's Grove! The fog wall is a little creepy, but worry not: A dog has brought you a snack, and the plant-bearing wildlife are pretty friendly. If you've been here for a while, no worry: You, too, are getting a basket of treats from the dog.

SHINING, SHIMMERING, SPLENDID

A purple mist fills the Grove at night, and stepping into it makes you experience a euphoric dream... shortly before you wake up because you nearly walked into death. Be careful, because the mists are addicting, and you may not have an easy time avoiding their temptation the following nights.

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

For one night, the mists clear up and peace settles over the forest. A giant capybara gleefully takes everyone to the site of a grand dance, where the clothing and food are all free, and the music swells with joy. Dance your hearts out until dawn breaks, and then the capybara will take you back home.

OOC

Happy May! This is a reminder that TDMs are game canon. Enjoy your dreams, enjoy your prom night, enjoy the capybara. OOC Plotting Lives Here if you'd like to plot anything out!

UPDATES

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PAST-LIFE PLOTTING

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( she can't even blame the child for inspecting her hair- she was doing the same just moments ago, after all. )

Please, do be careful. It can hurt if it's pulled too hard, I've found.

Why? What does it get out of doing so? Does it eat those rotted?

[ Zazie tilts their head back and seems to be listening, stretching out. Listening, trying to feel. But the bugs here aren't worms, and though they can touch their minds and they can communicate, they're tiny and fragment further out. If there's something in the woods, they can't tell past a certain point.

With an annoyed ugh, Zazie reaches into their mouth and pulls out a slimy eye, letting it uncurl its wings and then take off into said woods, the mask sliding back onto their face as it does as one of the eyes on it begins to swivel and move. ]

[ And? We're waiting? expression as Vash fumbles over his words, before rolling their eyes as he gives up. Yeah okay. ]

Yikes, you really are kind of pathetic, huh? Just say you want food.

[ One of the bugs comes over and drops a cupcake on Vash's head. At least it's not covered in weird bug slime or anything. Zazie tries to understand Vash. They really are trying, snorting out a laugh though. ]

You're looking far buggier than I am.

[ They stick their hands up to their head and point their fingers to make antennae. ]

Love what you're doing with the wings though. Looks familiar.

We are out.

[ Words that come from the bugs, that pull away to being swatted, that let go of the spots they were pinching. This is funny, actually. Hilarious. He's only ever seen one other person react this way to the worms, and that was the girl. So they can't help but laugh, a buzzing sound. ]

We are the Worms. You don't need to be scared. We're not hungry, so we're not going to eat you.

[ There's an implied yet there, though the eyes that make up Zazie are more scavenger than actual predator, and the baby dirt movers are too baby yet to do anything but grab smaller bugs. The hive takes off again and settles back into Zazie's form. ]

[ Why do humans have pain receptors for their HAIR, seems bizarre. However, they're intrigued by Lily cause they smell like nothing they've ever smelled. This entire place does but this is the first time a human has. Unless it's perfume. ]

What are you?

[ They'll ask what Dayterrors are in a second, and if the movement thing is like camouflage or teleportation. They're busy processing the tentacle, however, taking in the slight "taste" that is different (tastes are still new to them, so they can't pinpoint it anyways), letting it be snipped and dissolved by the poison they produce as they close their mouth, rubbing their jaw in thought.

And does anything happen? It's hard to say. They're used to hivemind think, the hum and song of their own minds, but slowly, faintly, a new song comes into focus. It's distance the way something underwater might be (they don't understand what underwater is but at the same time they slowly do as the Seaborn call) and though they can hear it, it doesn't particularly have any sway to them. Their own buzzing overwrites it. ]

Seaborn are pretty cool too! I think we hear them! It's very quiet though. You are very very old.

[ Like them. They are and have always been. As far as they can remember. Zazie ponders the song, the taste of Mizuki. ]

I like it. It doesn't feel as lonely. We don't have any of our larger selves here, our older beings. Great worms that can swallow ships whole. It's quiet without them, but your singing is very nice. I wish you could hear us too. What's a dayterror?

I am a Cookie. ... But right now, I seem to be human. It's very strange.

( of course, she only knows about 'humans' thanks to some books in the library of the villa. it's- it's very weird. she doesn't like it. fingers are boss as hell tho- )

[Churches are very, very familiar to her. She is, in Livio's language, an angel. Unfortunately she scrapped the lifestyle for (checks notes) roaming around fantasy Germany and playing music because fantasy Rome wants her dead but y'know! It's fine.

She hears that discomfort in the melody of his heartbeat. Notes it... but doesn't do anything yet other than swing herself into a pew nearby and reach for her cello.]

I did pull someone's head out of the river earlier. [So yeah, probably down a sinkhole.] Until it clears, I suggest we both stay in. Why not have a seat? You seem a little...

...flighty.

[This guy is spitting straight-up nonsense. She has to study him.]

Do you model with your pretty face? Have you ever tried the runway?

[ Mizuki’s honestly surprised they’d heard anything at all. Then again, they aren’t one people-sized person, so realistically the portion size was not correct for them. Unfortunate. Something to keep in mind. Zazie wasn’t growing coral or tentacles or anything like that, though. That’s… a good thing? Right? What was the thing Mizuki wanted out of something like that??? Hmm…

The call is meant to evoke emotion, anyway, and Zazie did just say they didn’t really get that. Maybe this was fine, then? Is this good?

What is it you want, Mizuki? ]

We were there for the world’s conception. I’m only 22, though.

And I wish I could, too… maybe I just didn’t eat enough? Or maybe there’s something else I’m missing. Maybe that’s something I can look into, since we’re gonna be here a while. You can test some theories I have about this stuff with me, even!!! ‘Cause I’ve definitely got a few ideas.

And a dayterror is… something one imagines either by hallucinations or getting lost in their thoughts, but with stimuli to the amygdala, which triggers the fear response in people. So like someone afraid of spiders hallucinating spiders.

[At this point, Wolfwood isn't really capable of holding a conversation. He's caught up in the music and- in turn- the pictures the music is weaving for him. Arturia is playing him like a fiddle, so to speak, and he's fallen for it completely and utterly.

Is the climb impossible? Is there no way for him to reach the top?

...no. It isn't. At least, he doesn't want it to be, he thinks as he turns his face against the rug, which has shifted back into that tiny cell with seemingly no way out. Arturia will see another flash of a memory, of Wolfwood stealing as many vials as he can carry and attempting to escape the facility, jumping towards a window...only to be thrown back down at the last moment.

But that is at least fleeting, as he thinks about Vash. And Livio. ...and even more faces from the Grove appear in turn, whether he wills it or not. Gnosis. Mizuki. Even Elsword...

He closes his eyes, exhaling on another mournful sound, but the music has no longer got him in a death grip of despair. If anything, it's...more soothing, now.]

[ A cookie?? They don't understand. They never had Plant made food due to respect for Knives. ]

Well, you definitely seem human, but you smell funny.

[ Hm, Zazie circles her, thoughtful. Looks human. Are cookies different types of humans? No, she said she was a cookie but is now human. ]

What's a cookie?

( she lets him, and thus he is the first to officially see the glimmer of an almost metallic ink on her back. )

We're beings made of dough and sugar and frosting... and other ingredients, which we take our name for, usually. I was made with lily flowers, and as such, my name is White Lily Cookie. Those flowers must be what you smell.

Good.

[He does not believe for a second that Zazie will keep their word, but. Maybe something else will distract their attention long enough that they'll forget, if he's lucky.]

This place has enough shit goin' on as it is. Consider this a temporary venture. You and I both don't got a stake in who this world ends up belongin' to, cause it was never ours in the first place.

[Extra precautions...Wolfwood doesn't yet realize how literal Vash is going to get with those.

But for now. He coaxes Vash back into movement again, sweeping him slowly across the dance floor.]

Then let's not worry about that right now. Dance with me.

[ That makes Zazie nod. They don't know if they were there for the worlds conception, but they don't think so. The world was there before they were, but they became the world. Every living organism is them. Or was, until the fall.

And to be fair it does invoke some sort of emotion. They like the song, it's warbly instead of buzzing. In and out, up and down, instead of constant. Zazie moves to lay beside Mizuki, staring up at the starless sky. Where are they? Distance plants, distance suns? Is there something large and black covering them? ]

We can test it later, if you want! I can keep making as many eyes as you'd like. I don't have any larger worms to offer, but humans often eat us cooked and don't have any changes, so I'm not entirely sure that'd work anyways.

[ Zazie listens but doesn't understand. They don't hallucinate. It takes them a while of conferring to come to understanding and he nods. ]

Like if someone was afraid of us and saw us, even if we weren't there. Neat! You're really cool, you're far more interesting than humans. You're a lot like Knives.

Oh, don't worry, I have no desire to make this world ours. I'll respect the original owners. We're not human.

[ They don't automatically assume every planet they land on is theirs. Their mask slides away now that they've located Vash, and they beam at Wolfwood. ]

No need to be so scary~ We can all be friends, we just want to survive.

[ And they promptly forgets they saw it because humans like to ink themselves. Apparently cookies do too.

And they understand none of that! Except flower, he understands that. ]

Oh! You're part Plant.

[ Is she more like Elendira? She seems far calmer. ]

Ah... in a sense, yes.

And you're very curious, aren't you?

( not that she's complaining. the boy seems sweet. )

Huh? No, I don't want to be eaten.

[ It's bad enough that humans hunt kitsune for their fur. He'd like to stay alive, thanks! Not eaten! ]

Soooo, plants aren't... plants? They're not like, trees and bushes?

[ The voice makes the fox's ears twitch and flick, but he doesn't stir immediately. Conversational talk means it isn't a threat - probably - and so there's no need for reflexive action. Instead, he yawns, stretching out for just a second, all the way down to the toes on each paw. Nine tails? ]

Oh, I'm not in trouble. I'm just napping!

[ The fox then opens his big, reddish-brown eyes, expecting to see just a human, but there's something else, too. His nose picks the human-sized badger up just about the same time he spots it. What is that? ]

Sorry, is this a bad spot? I thought it was pretty comfortable.

[ A big sleepy creature!

... whose ears begin to twitch the moment the music begins. It's not a familiar instrument, deeper than what he's used to hearing, and so it draws him out of unconsciousness. It's a slow process, because a part of him is enjoying listening to the song, and while his eyes remain closed, his tail beats out a slow and steady rhythm against the ground. ]

What a pretty song...

How else are we to learn?

[ Curiosity helps them figure humans out but humans are still so confusing and weird that every time they think they learn something, it gets countered by something else. ]

How long have you been human?

Boring!

[ There's some joking tone there, thankfully. Maybe. And Zazie shakes their head. ]

There are no trees or bushes in our world. Our world is rock and sand. Plants are living creatures in humanoid shape.

Oh, I wasn't admonishing. I think curiosity is a very good thing. I'm something of a researcher, you could say.

( how long...? how long indeed. she hums softly, twisting the staff in her hands. )

Maybe a couple of days? It seems strange, but I've had difficulty tracking time here.

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EVENT & TDM 012

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