sticks and bones. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sticksandbonesmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sticksandbones2024-08-02 09:35 am
sticksandbonesmods) wrote in sticksandbones2024-08-02 09:35 am
EVENT 015
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.
…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.
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.
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?
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.
UPDATES
❖ None yet!
SUBMISSIONS
no subject
[Timekeeper reaches a hand up and tilts her hat, letting some of the collected rainwater pour from the brim.]
But I see we can both agree that it is not best wasted. I did want to talk to you, as a matter of fact. Opinions aside, we are not that different, are we? You and Siffrin - you are the same.
[She speaks it as casual fact, as simply as one might discuss this awful downpour.]
waves hands consider the rest of this thread an ISAT spoilers warning i'm just gonna go for it
... they still need a moment, to decide how to answer. There's no point in repeating their previous script. Scrap that one, try another...]
I didn't ask for this power. Neither of us did. We never went looking for a way to change the past, or undo our mistakes... it just happened to us. It wasn't a choice. Start again, and again, and again, no stopping, no brakes.
So no, I don't think we're the same. My only interest in Timecraft is putting an end to it.
no subject
[She laughs, a sound like sand in an hourglass, but there's little actual humor in it.]
Hmm. Still, although I sought power and you fell headlong into it, we both were far more normal once, and it seems... have both seen our younger selves break a cycle, beginning to exist on a path where they will not become us.
[It's a lonely existence. It leaves you with things you can never get back, no matter how much time you travel. It should never have happened twice. But Timekeeper leaves these things unspoken, for now.]
I cannot help but wonder if that holds significance, knowing our origins were here, in another life.
no subject
But.
They catch it, a flicker of something flashing across their face. Surprise, understanding... revulsion, suspicion? This could so easily be a trick. They've seen such things play out before. We're alike, so trust me, how could I ever betray you? They can't be that stupid. It's probably not even true. Why would someone like her understand? Out of all the people it could be?
She can't understand, not even if it's true.
Loop scoffs, breaking eye contact to glare off to the side. The grip the knife's edge against their palm.]
Don't talk about me like you know me. You...
What do you want? Just get to the point! I don't care about your sad blinding backstory, you obviously want something out of this, so just tell me what it is and leave already!
Because I don't care! At all! About whatever you think we have in common!! [ignore how mad this is making them, thanks]
no subject
Indeed, I don't know you yet! A shame, usually I've had the chance to see someone's timeline before meeting them in person. I suppose we're doing this the hard way, then.
[Ignoring, of course, the fact that knowing everything about someone before talking to them just creeps them out, and Timekeeper has almost never successfully made a friend that way. One iteration of her own younger self and White Lily Cookie are outliers and should not have been counted.]
If you insist I want something, you are not wrong. About that glimpse through time we were afforded a while back - did you notice the same discrepancy I did, I wonder?
no subject
But seriously, they have no idea what she's talking about. They barely paid attention to that rift—unlike Siffrin, who still holds (too much) attachment to a past neither of them remembers, Loop is (convinced they're) over it. So they didn't really process any of it. They saw a younger Siffrin, and they saw some others, and none of it felt like it had anything to do with them, so they dissociated through all of that.]
Whatever it is, I don't care. That's not my past. Not anymore.
You should understand at least that much, Timecrafter.
no subject
[Does she remember that "Timecrafter" is something specific to Loop? Yes. She's absolutely just fucking with them, and the giggle might give her away.]
Well, I certainly understand wanting to leave a past behind. All of your time is connected, however - short of falling into a time pocket or running afoul of some grievous anomaly, all of your pasts will always matter, even if in tiny ways. Here in this Grove, one is certainly rearing its head and demanding our attention, is it not?
As for the discrepancy... almost everyone we saw in that moment was quite recognizable, no? Myself, Siffrin, White Lily Cookie, Nene... though there was one figure I could not see clearly. Someone next to Siffrin, about the same age. Who do you suppose that could have been?
no subject
[They don't want to know who Siffrin used to be friends with. Wow, good for him!! He can reconnect with everyone if he wants to! And then what, Loop can be an awkward third wheel? A worse version of Siffrin, broken and twisted beyond recognition? Someone they can all point to and go "wow, glad our Siffrin turned out okay"? Pass.
They don't want to think about it. They don't want to think about it at all. It hurts too much, it still feels fresh, there's so much they want and nothing they deserve...
They take a deep breath in, and out. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.]
Enough about me. Let's talk about something else! So, what did you screw up so badly that you had to go back in time to fix it? Must've been a big one!
no subject
...Welp, Timekeeper can't say she didn't try! She'll just take this shiny little suspicion of hers and tuck it away for a rainy day. Er... a rainier one. If that's possible. It's more fun to see if Loop figures it out on their own, certainly, though it does mean she cannot theorize on related things just yet. Ah well, it will come in time!]
Oho, don't you know? I fix things in time all the time! That is my job, after all. You're going to have to be more specific than that!
[As if she doesn't know exactly what they mean.]
no subject
You said it yourself, didn't you? There are things you'd want to change! What kinds of things?
[They lean in, back to twirling their knife between their fingers. Can they make her squirm? It would make them feel better. They want to see her just as miserable and they feel, just this one time, pretty pretty pretty please.]
Was it something big enough to make you split off from your own timeline? Or was that a separate incident? Hah, imagine that, fixing the biggest mistake of your life only to become disconnected from it completely! How tragic! At least I can say mine was an accident, but imaging doing that to yourself and knowing you had a choice!
no subject
[Good news: Loop has correctly smacked the sore spot right on the nose. Bad news: Timekeeper doesn't squirm, she just gets pissed.
A tangible crackle and a golden haze fill the air around them as time itself holds its breath, the raindrops slowing until they're hanging still and silent.]
Should I remind you that a few minutes of time is all I need to accelerate the rain until it falls like bullets?
[The scariest part is probably the fact that her tone of voice has barely changed.]
no subject
But also, they are very, very, very spiteful.
Loop cocks their head to one side, otherwise remaining perfectly in place. Their voice is light and airy, a breath away from laughter.]
And then what? We start over from the top?
no subject
[Her head tilts in response as well, though the movement is stuttering, like a clock's hands. The glow surrounding her is refracting through the suspended raindrops, casting odd scraps of light everywhere and making the space around them seem that much more surreal.]
Why shouldn't I crumble you for simply not watching your tongue, in a place where you can return from death? It could even be quick, if you're lucky!
no subject
[Their own glow feeds into the effect, light scattering like glass beads amidst a chandelier. For an imperceptible fraction of a fraction of a millisecond, two candle flames cast a dazzling show for no one to behold, stretched out into an endless eternity of now.]
You can do as you please, Timecrafter. But unlike you, I don't mind watching the same play over and over and over again, and I always remember my lines.
What does it say about you, that you'd rather throw a pointless fit than answer one teensy little question? Don't dish out what you can't take, sweetheart.
no subject
Is that so? Shall we see if you're bluffing, then? Perhaps I will learn more about you today after all, fallen star!
[She raises her hand, and snaps her fingers. Instantly, with a sound like a shattering hourglass, the spell is broken and time returns to normal. Except for the raindrops surrounding Loop, which shudder for a terrifying microsecond before sounding a series of thunderous bangs and ripping through everything in their path.
Loop is an extremely interesting person of course, but Timekeeper feels no remorse about following through on her threat. Perhaps she will turn back the last few minutes and threaten her own punishing cycle of death and reversal! That usually does the trick when standard intimidation tactics don't, after all...]
1/2
They steel themselves, because it's easier to play their part than think about the meaning of it. Interpretation is for the audience, not the actors.
They close their eyes. The rain comes down.
They imagine a Sadness could inflict something like this—water shot out like an arrow, thin as a needle. The leaves above them are shredded to tatters, but they'll have to mourn the tree later. Their body doesn't fare much better. Red mixes with the rain and soil, light sputters and flares within their fading vision, and]
◀◀
a sound like a tape unwinding, a static-like distortion threading through their mangled form. it isolates, unravels, puts all the pieces back together, blood and rain and soil unmixed, everything exactly where it should be
Loop sits upon their cozy rock, twirling the knife between their fingertips. The scent of burnt sugars hangs in the air.]
Hello hello! How can I help you on this wonderful new loop? Directions? Advice? Fashion tips?
no subject
She's encountered other beings with power over time before, that much is nothing new. Normally, they are an irritation or a rival, something to ensure she surpasses the strength of. How else can she be certain that time unravels exactly as she needs it to, after all?
But this. This is, in some way she can't quite name, thrilling.
The execution is unique. Precise and purposeful, yet rough around the edges in other ways. The mechanism seems familiar enough, yet not entirely like any sort of time manipulation she's seen before. How does it work? How does it compare? She wants to put it under a proverbial microscope, pick it apart, refine it... and for the first time in a long time, messing around with time sheds its veneer of mundanity and stirs a fragment of excitement in her heart.
And then, of course, there's Loop. Restored, unblemished, reciting their "line" as blithely as ever. With one small difference that Timekeeper did not miss, of course. To her eye, it's as if it's overlaid with the moment she approached them earlier, the altered word standing bold and raw as any other anomaly.]
Hm! Cute. I see that your very nature is insistent on defying me. So this is what you call Timecrafting... or is it something else altogether?
[The gleam in her eye is less angry now, at least, though still intense in new and probably unsettling ways. Now she's fascinated. Well, more than she already was, anyway.]
no subject
They don't as much like how she continues to gaze at them with those prying eyes, even as the sugary scent begins to dissipate. They smile back sharply.]
Well, time was certainly Crafted just now, don't you agree? [They're not stupid enough to tell her the "how".] So you can stop trying to show off. I think you've already made enough of a mess of my fine home.
[They gesture up as they say it, at the shredded section of the canopy directly over their head... yeah, it's like a little spotlight of rain pouring straight down on them now. The tree will live, but this is now the worst seat in the house. Terrible. Tragic. And after they spent so long tree-hunting for the perfect sitting spot.]
no subject
[Maybe she'll let it slip to someone she knows wouldn't rest until Loop had more comfortable quarters, just to spite them. That definitely counts as spite. Shame she hasn't seen Pure Vanilla Cookie around lately...]
Still, if you are indeed that much a crafter of time, I see no reason why you cannot simply turn back the tree, as well. What harm would that much be, when it was ruined by my own meddling to begin with, hmm?
no subject
[Is this saying too much...? No, it's probably fine. They want to frustrate her, just a little, but it's not like she'll figure out their method just from knowing it's not exactly Timecraft.
They can allow themselves to be cryptic, especially since they barely understand it themselves.]
If the tree is ruined, then it must be the Universe's will! And that makes you a terrible guest, teehee!