EVENT 015

[sticksandbonesmods]

BUY MORE CRYSTALS

COME RAIN OR EVEN MORE RAIN

Today, progress has been made in the Grove. The sun shines brightly on the cleaned-up remains of what used to be the “Burned Town”, now lovingly just called “north” for lack of a better term. At night, a small handful of stars finally shine in skies that have been empty for millennia, and birds sing loudly throughout, overjoyed now that they’ve felt the stirring of the long-dead Sky Guardian. All is peaceful. All is right with the world.

…and then there’s the sound of familiar, watery laughter from the Lake Guardian himself, having returned to the Grove for whatever reason he could possibly have, standing by the well and performing a jaunty dance on his scrawny legs. He spins around the well once, twice… and then the skies darken and the clouds swell, and suddenly it’s raining buckets, soaking you and everyone else to the bone immediately.

“It’s a gift for freeing me!!” Callan shouts joyously, unaware of the fact that gifts are usually nice things and not biblical floods. “Enjoy it!!”

Well, it seems like this will be the rest of your month. The rains don’t abate at all, but they do come with one gift that actually seems worthwhile: Any plant that stays out in the rain for long enough will suddenly spring out of the earth at gargantuan size. Enjoy your giant crops — they’re still edible! — and your flowers the size of pillows, everyone.

FURNITURE STRIKES BACK

If staying out in the rain isn’t exactly your thing (who could blame you, really?), you might consider heading back inside and spending some nights in. It’s been a while since everyone had a break without being exposed to water for way too long, and what better way to spend a night than curled up in bed in a nest of blankets?

As you drift off to sleep to the serene sounds of the river flooding, there’s a sudden loud bang, like someone slammed a door. You open your eyes and don’t see a thing… so back to bed you go, only to hear it again. This time, as you lurch out of bed and desperately try to figure out who the hell is slamming doors this late, you’ll see your door opening and slamming itself. Opening again, and slamming. Soon after, the windows follow, and as you rub your eyes, your bed suddenly bucks and throws you to the floor.

Cool. Phenomenal. What just happened?

Perhaps you go to the inn couch to try sleeping there, but alas, the old couch has had enough of you and will summarily flip you back onto the floor, losing its cushions in the process. If you turn your anger toward the furniture, it will — strangely — attack you right back, chasing you down on bizarrely-animated legs that furniture simply should not have. The coffee table might bite, or the cabinets might start flinging cups at you.

If you are patient, however, and if you clean the furniture off — wash the pillows, scrub that mustard stain out of the cushions, sew up a hole your dog chewed into the mattress — it will stop throwing a tantrum. Finally, you can use furniture for its intended purpose.

GET (GEM)STONED

A bit of raw chaos in Aldric’s Grove is not uncommon; perhaps furniture unionizing and non-stop downpours are the least of your concerns in quite some time. After all, you’re not trapped anywhere. You aren’t underwater, you aren’t playing in some twisted life-or-death game, no one is making the passage of time here any worse than usual…

Of course, if chaos is preferable to true horror, you can always have more of it. On your bedside table or under your pillow, you’ll find a drawstring bag containing a small handful of polished gemstones. As you hold them in your palm or between your fingers and inspect them under the light, you’ll feel something within you stirring.

Perhaps you’re holding rose quartz, the gemstone that symbolizes unconditional love, and you suddenly feel empty and loveless. Perhaps it’s amethyst, the gemstone attributed to calm emotions, and yet you’re feeling the most anxious you’ve ever felt in your entire life. Whatever the gem may be, its meaning is now inverted, and you get to suffer the effects of it.

Luckily, this curse — a gift from, who else, the Fallen Sun — can be broken quite easily. Simply clutch the gemstone in your palm and perform an act that embodies its true meaning, and everything will be back to normal. You’ll be holding a mundane rock to do whatever you want with, including throw it into the forest in hopes that it hits the Fallen Sun in his big, stupid head.

I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

When the rains stop at the month’s end, the clear skies yet again show the stars, and it’s a beautiful sight to behold. It’s no galaxy, even with every light in the Grove off so you can see them all — but it’s special nonetheless, especially to those who have been here under an empty sky for so long. The moon itself feels like it casts joy down upon everyone, and a sense of overwhelming peace settles like a blanket over the entire settlement.

Should you visit Ydalir or Heimr at all, they will both encourage you to spend a night camping out, providing you blankets to lie out in the grass with. While it isn’t much, Ydalir has pulled an old telescope from her mirror for those of you who want to nerd out a bit. Snacks, tea, and hot chocolate will be provided to anyone staying out for the night, too. For better or for worse, you’re all here together, so why not bask in a moment of peace?

SPARK NOTES

CLICK TO EXPAND!

COME RAIN OR EVEN MORE RAIN

Callan is giving gifts as all Guardians do. His gift... is a whole tempest. Luckily, the plants will get massive from this. Enjoy your giant produce and flowers!

FURNITURE STRIKES BACK

What could go wrong if the furniture went on strike? Surely it won't toss you out of bed or buck you onto the floor or try to bite you. ...oh, well, if that's the case, you might want to give it some TLC so that it stops.

GET (GEM)STONED

The Fallen Sun's "gift" to the residents is a lovingly-customized bag of rocks. Each stone represents some kind of meaning, but that meaning will be inverted and make you feel the opposite effect from it. To break the curse, all you need to do is clutch the gemstone and perform an act that it originally embodies.

I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

Finally, the rains clear up, and Heimr and Ydalir are encouraging everyone to stare at the night sky. It's beautiful with those few stars in it, isn't it?

OOC

How is it already August?? We don't know either. OOC Plotting Lives Here if you'd like to plot anything out! If you need rocks randomly assigned to you for the gemstone portion, head there and drop us a comment, we will give you rocks.

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Comments

[eidxiety]

i. night of the living mannequins

[The furniture coming to life doesn't bother Ain at first. He doesn't need sleep, so the bed isn't necessary for him. If everything is going to buck him off, he's just going to do his tailoring in the shop from sunset 'til sunrise, because like... what's the floor gonna do, attack also? Yeah, didn't think so.

What Ain does not account for is the fact that the mannequins have minds of their own now, too. It's late at night and the lights in the shop are still on, and everyone else has probably gone to bed for the night. He's currently trying to sew a pocket onto this jacket, thinking maybe it'll look better with one, and then maybe he'll embroider a cute leafy pattern onto it. Then, he realises he's almost out of thread, truly an amateur mistake, and he turns around to grab more from his supplies which currently live On The Floor because his usual table has stolen away into the forest.

When he turns around, the mannequin is frozen and reaching for him, and Ain screams the most girlish, shrill shriek an adult man with a baritone voice can manage.

Ffffffuck that. He sighs and wallops the head off of the mannequin thinking that, hey, things without heads can't move. And, indeed, the arms go slack, and he sighs and gets back to work. Sure, fine, whatever, back to work. It's when Ain accidentally sticks the mannequin with a sewing needle while moving onto the embroidery portion of his project that the thing suddenly lurches forward, grabs him around the neck, and throws him out his own window. There's the startling sound of glass breaking, Ain yelling for the second time, and the horrifying sight of a mannequin with no head crawling out of the window at him. Fret not because the other ones are after him too now and Ain is suddenly having a horrible 1am.

Logic is out the window along with him. He is a slave to the anxiety rocks in his pocket which are screaming RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIFE even though Ain has, historically, faced worse things than walking mannequins that freeze when they're looked at. He is booking it, in fact, and the first person he spots (or who lets him into their room, whichever) while he's being chased by angry mannequins gets the whiniest, most desperate, tear-filled stare—]

Please help me they're gonna kill me!!!

[The half-dressed mannequins behind him only freeze when your eyes are on them. One of them has scissors in its hand.

Oh boy.]

ii. "a" is for "anxiety"

[Everything in Ain's life has forsaken him. He has no furniture. His owldog is off digging a hole somewhere and abandoning him to his misery. He can't even work in his shop because the mannequins want him to die. In times like this, what does a man do?

Well, he goes to the giant hydrangea bushes outside the shop, finds the biggest one he can...

Lays underneath it in his fluffy coat.

Fucking cries about it.

Listen, we all have those days, okay?]

iii. wildecarde

[you know the drill etc]

i did you want more WW? No? Anyway-

[lupusxylem]

[Ain may not need to sleep, but most other people in the Grove do, and unfortunately Wolfwood counts as one of that number. The shit the Eye did to him did not make him impervious to needing sleep, and given how dogshit he feels right now, it would be nice if he could get literally any. He was already tossing and turning due to just feeling sick, and Angelina keeps barking at the thunder all night, so suffice it to say he wasn't actually asleep asleep yet in the Trigun house before Ain starts screaming in the Grove.

And, well. He recognizes his voice by now. Well, by now. Of course he isn't just going to just lay there and do nothing.

He's on his feet the moment Angelina starts really barking, snatching the Punisher up from where it's leaning against the wall so he can charge out into the rain. It doesn't take long to get over the river and back into the Grove proper, to where he's met with the sight of Ain running from his shop, one of the windows blown out with glittering glass shards everywhere, and honest-to-God when Wolfwood sees one of those Mannequins flop out of the window he genuinely thinks he's looking at zombies at first.

Which is why, the moment Ain gets close, he'll grab a fistful of his shirt and pull him in, dragging him behind his arm so he's not in the path of the bullets he fires in a deadly barrage at the encroaching mannequins, choosing to shoot first and ask questions later.

Good thing it results in fallen inanimate(?) parts and not. A real living person-]

Christ, what now!?

on what fucking planet do i not want more ww

[eidxiety]

[The mannequins all tumble together in a heap of parts, stilling for the time being. They are Totally Definitely Dead and will Totally Definitely Not get up again later when the Grove's magic repairs them or something like that. It's like how stuff in the inn doesn't stay broken, after all.

Ain does not realise this, and instead looks at Wolfwood with big, watery eyes. He is so small and sad :( :( :( :( He has no money and you can imagine the stress he's under—]

The mannequins are attacking meeeeee...

[He has cuts all over his face and shoulders from being tossed through a fucking window. Luckily he was wearing his coat at the time of the incident, so there isn't any other (visible) damage, but still.]

[lupusxylem]

Yeah, that much I saw...

[Wolfwood huffs, keeping an eye on the mannequin parts on the ground for a moment more before standing the Punisher up in the wet earth for a moment so he can turn and look Ain over properly.]

Are you hurt? Lemme see.

[He asks, as if he isn't already reaching out to gently manhandle his face, turning it this way and that and brushing his bangs off his forehead.]

[eidxiety]

[The mannequin parts do not move. They are full of holes and being Watched.

They will, however, begin some form of weird self-repairs when Wolfwood and Ain aren't looking at them. :)]

Yeah... I have a couple of bruises, I think, from when they threw me out the window. I can heal it all, I just need a minute to make sure there's no glass in my face.

[Or anywhere else, but his clothing protected him from most of it. It's just the exposed skin that's an issue. He does have a glass shard embedded in one shoulder, it's very small and will be hard to grab though.

He can't even be mad about Wolfwood blowing holes through his half-dressed projects. He'll just remake whatever his ideas were, it's fine... The mannequins ruined most of it anyway by crawling THROUGH GLASS to get him.]

[lupusxylem]

[He grimaces, sort of dusting at Ain's face just to make sure there aren't any smaller glass pieces still stuck to his skin. Otherwise, he is completely oblivious to whatever the mannequin parts might be doing behind them, seeing as how he just blasted holes through them all.]

If it ain't one bullshit thing it's another.

[Huffing, he'll let Ain go after a moment to adjust himself, reaching back towards his gun.]

We'll worry 'bout the window later. Let's get inside so you can look in a mirror.

[eidxiety]

[That one mannequin is gonna scuttle back and go get its head. In the meantime—]

Okayyy...

[Sniffles... scrubs his eyes.]

Your place...? Mine? I'm not going back into the shop right now.

i of course vash and wolfwood respond to the same prompt.

[oleaeuropaea]

[Vash has never been the best at sleeping. Even when he has lovers to curl up with at night, it's still... difficult for him. Thus, he occasionally has to get up, stretch his legs and -

go sprinting toward a screaming man? Okay. That's fine.

He takes off as predicted, reaching Ain's shop in record time. Unfortuntaely, even having all the time in the world wouldn't have prepared him for what he was seeing.]

W- what is - [He turns to Ain, half-amused, half horrified.] What did you do?!

where's liv, we could be 3 for 3

[eidxiety]

[Immediately on the anxious-defensive here—]

I didn't do anything! The headless one threw me out the window!

[Pointing!! At the mannequin trying to get him!! It stops moving when Ain looks back at it, but know that it and its jean jacket are reaching out for both of them now.]

I was just trying to sew!! [it's 1am, please get other hobbies]

[oleaeuropaea]

[Fucked up as the situation is, Vash remains mostly in high spirits. It's probably because he's the one not causing weird problems for once. It's nice to be able to help without being the cause in the first place.

Still, Ain is obviously upset, and Vash isn't about to laugh in his poor face. So, first things first, he'll kneel down close by and hold out a hand to help him up. At the very least, they can get away from the menacing mannequins.]

Okay, okay. Let's... start from the beginning. The mannequins just started moving, right? Did you do anything to start it? I don't know, uh... touch a button? Cast a spell? Something like that?

[eidxiety]

[Vash's high spirits are appreciated because Ain's anxiety is going (BURHRUBRRURRHBRURRBRRBRB) at him. He might just clip into the ground with the force of how much he's shivering, and he'd like to blame the cold, but uh.

He takes Vash's hand and gives it an "I'm totally fine!" squeeze and lets himself be hauled up.]

I was using the one with the jean jacket and sewing a pocket onto that jacket. When I turned to get more thread, it moved and startled me, so I slapped its head off. [...] I think I jabbed it with the sewing needle when I was embroidering, too. ...Do you think it hates the jacket?

[ain.]

[oleaeuropaea]

[There is a reason why Vash and Ain should not be around each other, and it's because they feed off of one another's stupidity. Ain asks about the jacket, and Vash turns to seriously take a good look at it. He doesn't get too close, but he does eventually turn around gravely.]

It might. [A somber nod.] Not that I don't think it's great, just... maybe it's not its color! Maybe he's more of a coral guy. Or a mint! What do you think?

[He turns to the mannequin as if it could A) speak to begin with or B) even had a damn head to do so. Don't mind him.]

[eidxiety]

[The mannequin, in the time they were both looking away, has gone from looking menacing to having its hands up like "really dudes??" The others are merely peering out the window now. These people... they are very stupid, aren't they?]

Oh... I didn't think about that. I don't know how coral would look on a jacket, but mint is pretty cute, right? Oh! What's Mr. Plant's favourite colour? It's red, right? Or do you also like mint? Or blue? Green??

ii.

[ezellotry]

[ We do all have those days. Ezell isn't sure his emotions are working anymore, and the feeling of everyone's emotions being out of whack around him just make him more tired. He would like to nap, thanks.

He does spot Ain lying down, though, and dips for just a moment so he can come back with an umbrella and huddle in next to Ain. He knows the big hydrangeas are doing enough to shield him from the rain, but extra protection is always nice, right?

He doesn't say anything, just... reaches his hand down... rubs Ain's back. ]

[eidxiety]

[Waaah... Mr. Nine-to-five...

Ain is a sad, pathetic, wet little bug and pops his head up long enough to blink tears out of his eyes, perceive the umbrella, and then wholesale flops his head into Ezell's lap.

And then he cries harder. He's sorry you must hate him because he's annoying and bad and evil or whatever—]

[ezellotry]

[ Ain doesn’t know about his job yet don’t do this to him—

Ezell is miserable and lost basically all of his passion, but he’s nothing if not amazing at faking a smile. And he does so, for Ain. He pets his hair the moment his head is in his lap and gives a very gentle hum. ]

It’s alright, Ain. I’m not going anywhere until you feel better, okay?

[eidxiety]

[You know he will.

He scrubs at his eyes and sniffles, but at least Ezell is helping... while Ain's brain goes on about how he's being an inconvenience and he's bothering Ezell and Ezell is going to get a cold like Ain has and die and—

Sniffles, sobs.]

I have... [flips his wrist around] ...I'm anxious.

[ :( ]

[ezellotry]

[ Pet the Ain. Pet pet pet pet- ]

It's okay. These feelings have gotten worse for a lot of people - you're not alone in this. Especially not right now. Until you feel better, you can stay here, okay? Would you like me to keep talking to you? I can give you a decent distraction.

[eidxiety]

I have to stay here because the mannequins and stuff in my room keep attacking me. I live outside now.

[Sniffles more, scrubs at his eyes. He is sad and pathetic and needs to be held.]

I'm gonna become one with the ground and diiiie... [no,] and everyone's gonna forget about me because I'll be dead...

[...yeah Ezell might need to distract him.]

ii

[theuniverseleads]

[A moment passes. Slowly, cautiously... a hand parts the bushes from the other side, light shining through.

Loop is also here, sulking. And it was nice! Sulking in peace and quiet where no one would try to bother them! Until this guy showed up!! The star sighs, unwilling to mask their irritation as this idiot sobs his heart out under a bush.

Still... it's kind of a mood? They wish they had the energy to cry about something. It's a little less annoying, thinking of it that way.

They pause, pulling away for a second before sticking their whole arm through the gap, holding out to them—]

Flower for you? [it's technically already Ain's, but whatever.]

[eidxiety]

[Would you like these anxiety rocks Loop :) They'll give you so many emotions you won't know what to do with them :)

Really, his brain is now spiralling into the whole "wow you sure are annoying bucko :)" typical anxiety symptoms, but he sniffle-blinks at the flower and takes it regardless, pausing to marvel over it. The damn thing is the size of his head. This was not what he asked for when he told Moder he wanted his flowers to grow "large and healthy, instantly".]

Sorry, haha...

[Twirling the stem in his fingers.]

...thanks.

[theuniverseleads]

Hah, don't mention it. You looked like... [Something about... flowers? Plants? They pause, struggling for a few seconds before huffing another quiet laugh.] You looked like you needed a pick-me-up.

[... it's kind of a stretch. That's the best they can come up with right now, though, so it'll have to do for a pun. Humour requires too much thinking.

They're not that funny, anyway. If they were, the jokes would come easier. It's just another part of their fake personality.

...]

So! [getting a little too real!!! cheeriness: GO!] Do you normally hide out here to bawl your eyes out? Or are you trying something new?

[eidxiety]

[The cryptids, starring in: emotions are hard can we get rid of them?

At least fake-cheerfulness is something Ain relates to. He can do that much! ...or so he tells himself anyway, and then his entire mood gets quashed right back down by his own overthinking. Cool.]

...I guess it's new. I don't normally cry, but I keep having horrible things happen, and I'm more anxious than usual and I guess it's taking a toll or something, I don't know, I hate this. I liked it better when I didn't feel things.

[theuniverseleads]

Emotions are so gross, aren't they? So messy! Glad I don't have any snot to worry about, teehee! [not that they'd admit to crying, ever. they're not even sure if they can.]

Well, what's bothering you? Talking about it helps, I've heard. Maybe you'll feel better! I'm a good listener, I promise!

[eidxiety]

[Not having sinuses and tear ducts must be nice!! Why do humans have these anyway? Human bodies are so inconvenient he wants to be a light ball again.

What's bothering him... well, right now, it's everything. And he can't even "it all started when I was born" about it, so he'll just start from a few months ago instead.]

Oh, um... first, I have no idea where any of my friends are or how they're doing. They probably forgot about me, [Ain it has been a year or more since that happened,] it's fine. Then I get here, and everything is okay except Mr. Jellyfish died and Mr. Flirtatious sucks, and he wrote me an apology letter but I'm still not sure I want to forgive him. Then everything was fine for a little while, but the mannequins in the tailor shop attacked me, and Mr. Priest's dog wouldn't stop barking, and the furniture in my room tried to kill me, and I have some weird sickness, and nothing I do matters ever because if it did I could fix Mr. Plant and everything here and we'd all be okay and no one would be dying.

[Sniffles. Does not explain who any of those people are.]

I'm okay, though! H-haha...