sticksandbones | EVENT 015

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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.

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.

UPDATES

❖ None yet!

SUBMISSIONS

QUESTIONS
INVESTIGATIONS
PAST-LIFE PLOTTING

(CODE)

Threaded | Flat

Please use the following form for investigations:

Character(s):
Location:
Action: What are they looking for? What are they doing?

A) Come Rain | Workshop first, then later Bathhouse Vicinity | OPEN

[Rain, or rather this amount of it, is completely unheard of for deserts like Sargon. To that end, Sesa finds himself handling the rain...incorrectly, given that it's still plenty warm out which makes his Vouivre brain want to be out working regardless. While his workshop provides plenty of shelter from the torrential downpour, you know what wasn't ready for it?

The garage. The garage portion of his workshop, whose door had been left open. Thank you, Callan, for now Sesa is contending with half of his workspace having been completely flooded, and when you're dealing with a lot of metal parts and complicated machinery? IT'S KINDOF NOT GREAT-

Anyway, assuming you're a kind soul who isn't predisposed to pointing and laughing, you might want to help Sesa at the Workshop as he frantically drags his tools and other half-made parts out of the water and gets them into the workshop proper onto some thick towels as he tries to dry them off. The real issue is going to be getting the water out of the garage, but with the rain still coming, there's nowhere for it to go but IN.

Eventually, he'll get some sort of setup put together where the workshop is barricaded off from the garage, which is still very flooded with water rising all the time, but at this point he'll have to deal with it when the rain stops. For now, he's at the Bathhouse and understandably a Little Grumpy, peeling off his wet clothing near one of the lockers. If you stare long enough he'll notice and look over out of the corner of his eye.]

Ah...pardon me. I won't be in your way long if you need to use the showers.

[He wants to soak. He's cold and grumpy :(]

B) Furniture Strikes Back | Workshop...again | OPEN

[Yeah so remember how Sesa was trying to get his Workshop in order a couple of days ago? Well yeah about that.

If you happen to be anywhere near the workshop/lab combination, you might want to jump out of the way before you get bowled over by a collection of Things running out of Sesa's workshop that he hadn't yet been able to save from the water. A metal table (it was bolted to the floor???), a cabinet, and shelving unit to name a few, all come running on weird little furniture legs into the open Grove while Sesa staggers out of his workshop after them, once more soaked to the bone and screaming:]

COME BACK!!!

C) Get Gem(stoned) | The Magic Lamp | OPEN

[Sesa is having :( a bad time :(( Literally what did he do to deserve this he was SO happy just a couple weeks ago he got ENGAGED

But now his things are wet, he's wet like 90% of the time, half of his workshop furniture fled into the forest, and he's fucking going through it about it. Elliot's cafe seems to be the only safe place for him right now since his workshop is conspiring against his best efforts to keep it afloat currently, so here he sits in a pile of cushions and blankets on the floor looking miserable. He's drowning his sorrows in a cup of coffee and a piece of Knafeh that he's barely touched, sniffling every so often before eventually dragging one of the blankets up over his head to drop it down on the table when a couple of the pillows he was sitting on just suddenly decide to get up and leave.]

C) Wildcard

[I did not post on ooc plotting this month bc ive been busy im sorry but if you'd like to do anything specific/different hit me up on discord!]

A) Furniture + (Gem)Stoned | Luca's Bar | OPEN

[Sparkling feels like he's gotten himself more-or-less settled into the Grove by now. He has a routine, which largely involved spending most of his time working the bar for Luca. Suffice it to say, while there's nowhere near the amount of clientele he had back in the Kingdom due to the sheer volume of Cookies there in comparison to here, it's still nice to have something familiar to do with his hands.

Except there's...something clearly off about the resident bartender as he works this morning, cleaning up empty glasses and doing other tasks around the bar. Perhaps you came in for a drink, told him what you wanted, and he was like "Okay coming right up!" and wandered off to make it...

Except he never. Makes the drink. He's instead washing dishes, or taking stock, or anything BUT what he was doing originally. Please help him he doesn't even realize what's going on-]

B) I Can See Clearly Now | The Grove | OPEN

[The weird day-night cycles of the grove had understandably been wrecking untold havoc on Sparkling, a nocturnal creature of the night. He hadn't even realized mentally how bad it was until the stars finally return, and instinct, well. It takes over, in instances such as these.

In the sky flutters a little white bat, making soft, excited squeaking noises as it flies overhead. It does little rolls in midair, fluttering to and fro and just having itself a grand old time. It's quite small for a bat too, and...are its wings sparkling? Maybe you're imagining things.]

C) Wildcard

[Hit me up on discord for additional plotting yeye]

i. wet rat

[It's kind of a relief to see some stars here. There're unfamiliar ones, but they're a comforting sight all the same, and the black expanse of sky dotted with those few tiny lights is a lot less harsh on his eye then all the colors everywhere. It's nice. Until the weirdo in the well summons down a sudden rainstorm, hiding the stars behind the cloud and ruining Siffrin's stargazing with a sudden downpour. He is truly the Universe's favorite punching bag.

Soon after the rainstorm begins, Siffrin staggers back into the inn, absolutely drenched. He leaves a trail of puddles, grumbling as he strips off his cloak and wrings it out and then settling down by the fire in the lobby to dry off. It's not like he has any alternate outfits to change into.]

ii. property damage

[It's bad enough he's been feeling especially terrible since getting that stupid bag of rocks, but now he can't even sleep. It's like someone snuck in and Crafted all the furniture to dance around as a prank. The photo is the last straw. He just got it from the trading post, and they even put it in a nice frame for him, and he'd set it up on the nightstand in his room (after having a private little emotional breakdown over it, of course). But the nightstand decided to join in on the furniture dance party, sending the frame toppling to the ground and cracking the glass.

The photo itself is fine, at least, but Siffrin's nerves are shot and he just can't take this shit any more. He lashes out, smashing a fist straight through the top of the nightstand and caving it in with a great bang and the sound of splitting wood.

There's a moment of silence, Siffrin breathing heavily. And then before he can properly calm himself, the broken pieces of the nightstand hop right back up and begin smacking him with their jagged, splintery edges. He shrieks in frustration and grabs at whatever pieces of it he can to shatter them further, destroy every goddamn piece of this fucking thing and any other piece of furniture that decides to test him right now–

It's noisy as hell. Whether you're a passerby who's concerned about all the screaming and banging around, or just someone else staying in the inn struggling to sleep through this racket, well...the door is unlocked, at least?]

iii. into the woods

[Siffrin hits a breaking point.

They can hardly be blamed. All this fresh new bullshit going on is just salt in the raw, gaping wound of they don't want to be here. It'd be fine if the Universe had at least deigned to bring their friends along too – they'd be happy anywhere, on any adventure, as long as they were together – but no. It's like Siffrin is doomed to always be alone, denied that little bit of happiness they'd found with the people they called family.

But it's not the Universe this time, is it? It's a different god, some cruel other deity imprisoning everyone here, and unlike the Universe it's apparently tangible and within reach. Heimr had told them of the temple deep in the woods where their tormentor resides. The one "cookie" lady had said it could be killed. So what are they waiting for?

The rain is still coming down hard when Siffrin comes downstairs to the lobby of the inn, wrapped in the cloak of night Heimr and recommended with the golden glasses hooked in its collar. Hopefully someone will stop him, because he's heading straight for the door, and his expression is....unsettling. Cold. He looks like he's out for blood, honestly.]

wildcard.

((ooc: Hit me with a starter of your own! You can pester me on plurk @

tinybro or on discord @ orbynit if you wanna plan out anything specific!))

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. flowers (size XL)

[Flamebringer sleeps until noon the day the plants start to become gargantuan, so he completely misses a) Callan being... himself, and b) the fact that it's storming, until he steps outside and whistles at the amount of rain coming down. He did not even bother to look out the window, he's just now finding out about this. There's a complete lack of caring as he steps outside with his hood pulled up and a cigarette lit...

Until. Until he spots the sunflowers, which were normal sunflower size yesterday and are now towering over him. Holy shit?? Holy shit. This owns, dude. They have, unfortunately, snapped the ribbons that were once tied around their stalks, but a quick trip to the store means that's a fixable issue.

If you don't find Flamebringer tying ribbons around giant sunflowers with his tail wagging the entire time, you'll probably spot him coming out of the greenhouse with potted medicinal herbs in his arms. If he spots you, he'll comment—]

I think the rain is making everything grow huge. If we move the herbs outside, we might have more to use. Wanna help?

ii. some days are fucked and cannot be unfucked

[Unfortunately, excitement can be quashed by a bag of rocks, unless you are a geologist I guess. Flamebringer's in particular make him completely apathetic to the world around him. Not even the giant flowers make him happy anymore, nor does fighting things, nor taking care of the Kids™ or doing anything at all, really.

Ugh. This sucks. Is this what depression is? He usually gives a little bit of a fuck, but today, it feels like there's no point. The flowers will go on without him. The children here can take care of themselves. The fights are in abundance, he doesn't need to take part in them. Life is so boring and dull and dreary.

Like a normal man would when the Depression and Apathy wombo-combo hits, Flamebringer simply goes outside to the middle of the clearing and lays in the mud. Maybe the rain will consume him or he'll get washed into the flooding river? If you pass by and see him he just throws up a peace sign like this is the most normal thing to be doing right now.]

iii. wwwwwildcard

[hit me with whatever!!]

Edited 2024-08-02 21:14 (UTC)

A) Come Rain (Or even more Rain(tm)) | Kiera's Barn | OPEN

[Though the church roof has been dutifully repaired thanks to Livio's efforts, that does not mean it's the best at holding out the deluge of a rainstorm. The church pigeons roost in the rafters and shiver, huddled close together, until one too many cold drafts and getting themselves uncomfortably wet is enough for the birds to pack their bags and leave en masse. Bye, they're going to The Barn, which is considerably drier. Which means it's going to be considerably louder and more bird-filled, and you'd THINK this would encourage Wolfwood to stay at the Church, but...

No, no. He's at the barn because he's at the barn semi-regularly as it is, because he has more than just the pigeons to look after in a storm like this. There are two fluffy blue chicks sequestered in their own little pen that he's crouched inside of currently, hand-feeding them grain from his palm. He's murmuring to them softly, though it's hard to make out what he's saying, using the edge of a finger to scratch their heads every so often. He's being surprisingly gentle, honestly.

And when he isn't feeding them, he's letting them clamber onto him and roost on his lap, shivering every so often when the thunder claps overhead and startles them into trying to hide in his blazer. The pigeons look on jealously, meanwhile, why the fuck doesn't Wolfwood hold THEM like that :/ ]

B) Get (Gem)Stoned | Grove | OPEN

[Wolfwood is not beating the depression allegations.

Usually, he can deal with shit better than this. And by "deal", I mean "compartmentalize. Therapy has helped. Talking about it has helped. Hell, he's arguably in a better position now than he's been in...months.

But that doesn't mean shit isn't coming down on him in waves that he isn't sure how to handle all of a sudden, and it's frustrating. It's like he's back at square one again, unable to deal with revelations upon revelations upon missteps upon regrets, which is why he's struck out alone today. It's still raining, but there are some plants with leaves large enough at the edge of the Forest that he can sit under them without getting soaked, which is just as well because he's fucking sick on top of everything else. His head aches, his chest hurts and his nose is stuffy, and more than anything he should be in bed but he's never been a smart man about taking care of himself when he's self destructing so why should he now?

He's miserable. He can't even easily smoke when it's this wet and humid out, so he's returned to an old vice: a bottle of vodka clutched loosely in one hand as he leans against the plant keeping him dry, staring listlessly at his lighter that he keeps flicking open, staring at the flame until the wind from the storm puts it out.

Then again. Over and over. He needs to talk to somebody, or maybe just a shoulder to lean on, but. He won't seek that out.

So he'll stay here until the feeling goes away.]

C) Wildcard

[Hit me up on disco if you have something else you want to do yeye]

i. come rain

[When the rain first starts, Cacao is a bit annoyed. They just LEFT water. He may not get soggy anymore, but so much water still makes him anxious. But spotting the garden growing fat under the pour is honestly as little delightful. So much so he goes to find Vanilla to show him.

Only... Vanilla is not home. Strange. Usually he tells someone if he is going out. But he is a grown cookie and doesn't need Cacao fretting over him.

It's when he doesn't come back that night and none of the other cookie house residents have seen him either that Cacao starts to get Distressed. So have fun with him knocking on your door around bedtime (and maybe having the door knock back, considering). His Dragon Lord hat is even manifested to try and keep the rain out of his eyes]

Ah, forgive me. But is Pure Vanilla Cookie here?

[ Options running low he even hits the therapy building to ask Affogato...

Ha ha, so about that-]

ii. get gem(stoned)

[After last time he promised to not go charging into the woods again. If Fel didn't kill him, White Lily would. So he eventually goes to bed. And spends the next day once again searching. Nothing found he intended to head towards either the beach or lake to continue. Somewhere safe to travel but further out.

But for some reason the next next morning he doesn't even come out of his room. A low moaning groan escapes under his and Vanilla's door eventually, but no sign of Cacao at all...]

[A - home is where the hardwood is]

[They find the tree they like the most, eventually. It's not a Favor Tree—anything big enough to count would probably be deeper in the woods, not exactly the safest place to make your camp—but it's large, it has a nice sitting rock near the roots, and the branches hang low enough to form a cozy curtain of leaves. Far enough from the main settlement to feel some privacy, but not far enough to feel alone. A familiar breadth of distance.

Anyway, they live here now, so everyone can get used to the weird glowing light under that one tree by the river.

It turns out to be a good pick, once the rainstorm starts. It's still humid and damp, but at least their head is dry! Mostly! Sort of!

It's not unreasonable for someone to wander in, trying to get out of the rain, so they try not to be too bothered by it. Instead the star forces on a smile, putting aside their current distraction to greet their visitor.]

Hello hello! How can I help you on this wonderful new day? Directions? Advice? Fashion tips? [loop you don't even wear clothes—]

[B - depression rocks]
cw: potential for self harm or sudden violence, but just say they're looking at rocks if you want to avoid the possibility nbd.

[Staying outside in the rain is fine. It's new, right? They're used to this, right? But the longer the storm drags on, the soggier it starts to get. Even under cover... really, there's only so much you can do when the rain goes on for days, weeks.

They're being stubborn, they know. But it's hard. They still don't feel like they fit, even if they've gotten used to being seen. They don't feel like they should be welcomed. The feeling gets worse, even when things seem to be going better.

So... so it's easier, when it's somewhere that doesn't feel as lived in. Loop can be found lingering in the entrance of the school, the rec centre, the church—or anywhere that isn't the inn or a house, as long as the lights are out. They just want somewhere quiet and dry to sit for awhile, that's all.

Their body is caked in mud, staring blankly at nothing with their back to the wall, rubbing their thumb into one of the gemstones they've been gifted... or fiddling with the hunting knife they bought for themselves, running their fingers along the edge of the blade concerningly. There's a fifty-fifty chance they've passed out like this, but it doesn't take much to wake them. Approach?]

[C - Wildcard]

((sorry Loop continues to be antisocial lol i am doing my best....... but also, pls feel free to bug me if u have a different idea, am in discord/BlueFlewFedUQueen i am ALWAYS up for shenanigans, help me socialize them do it do it do it))

Edited 2024-08-06 16:56 (UTC)

[The Chairs Are Unionizing.]

[It's an average day at the Inn. It's been pouring cats and dogs outside for days. You are minding your business while sitting in the lobby, enjoying some quiet by the fire or something.]

[Until Dipper explodes out of a door on the other side of the Inn. With a shriek, he quickly slams the door shut behind him and puts his back against the door to try and hold it shut. Something loud and heavy slams against it, nearly knocking him to the floor, but he manages to dig his heels in and hold fast.]

[He snaps his panicked gaze on you.]

I thought the furniture was possessed by some angry poltergeist and tried to exorcise them but all it did was make them angrier!

[Get (Gem)stoned!]

[Dipper found some rocks. Of course he was interested in them. He's an arcane nerd who likes to conduct scientific seances and use blood magic. He's basically a witch, though being called that feels pretty weird actually. Don't worry about it.]

[What you should worry about is that Dipper is standing on the roof of the Inn without a shirt on in the rain. He has carved runes into his skin, which do appear to still be bleeding a little. He is also ....way more feathery than he should be. tufts of inky black feathers trail down his back and shoulders. There is a wild expression on his face while he seems to be doing ...something up there.]

[If he singing? He's singing. Or chanting? There is something insane going on up there. Someone should really get him down.]

[Get (Gem)stoned!: Prompt B]

[There is a small grapefruit sized feathery creature at your door, scratching at it with frantic abandon. They screech at you with urgency, looking up at you with their wide, worried, glowing red eyes.]

[Whether or not you know Dipper, Alcaid as come to acquisition your help getting their lunatic of a person off the roof.]

I. And I'll use you as a makeshift gauge (Wherever; Open)

[ Mizuki is extremely upset that the bouch is being mean to him suddenly. He just wants to relax on it and play video games, why is it being rude? Obviously, this means that Mizuki does the completely reasonable thing of... abandoning the Grove entirely and going back to the beach. Fuck that! If he can't be comfortable on the furniture, than he'll be comfy in the ocean. Thus, for a few days, you might not see Mizuki.

And when you do, finally, he's carrying back a... uh what the fuck is that?

Whatever it is, Mizuki is setting it down in the middle of the Grove to try and teach it to sit. He does this by sitting down himself and giving it a hand motion. Sharkitty just stretches and bumps it's head against Mizuki's leg for more treats. So, you know, it's going well! ]

II. Of how much to give and how much to take (By the well; Open)

[ The copious amount of rain is likely getting mixed reviews from a lot of the Grove. From Mizuki specifically, it's definitely a positive. The growth in plants is great, but the rain itself is absolutely welcome. While it's going on, Mizuki forgoes staying inside unless he wants to play his video games (since they are, sadly, not waterproof), and sleeps on the various rooves around the Grove to enjoy the pitter patter of the rain against him as he lulls off.

To help even more, Mizuki will eventually begin to set rain drums around the center of the Grove, by the well, and can be often found sitting there to listen to melodic sounds they play with the rain. The sound helps to relax him, and... he does seem a bit anxious lately, for some reason. His eyes always on the forest... ]

III. I'll use you as a warning sign (Therapy Building; Semi-Closed but also just slam in here anyway tbh)

[ Mizuki invites quite a few people out for a massive roast he's obtained. Some of you might've seen him hauling a Way Too Big moose through the Grove (not Moder) (he did apologize to Moder-), and absolutely struggle to figure out how to get it inside somewhere. Apparently his solution was to set up a tarp outside and roast it out of the rain that way.

It's mostly for Callan, who he invites immediately once the moose is roasted thoroughly, though he happily invites people to come meet his "new friend". Specifically, the offer is extended to Sesa and Dipper, though anyone is more than welcome to join, really. ]

IV. That if you talk enough sense then you'll lose your mind (Edge of the forest; Open)

[ If anyone tries to go to the therapy building after they'd received their rocks, they'll be met with a sign posted up just outside, pinned to the front door. ]

Hi! Feel free to use the amenities inside, like the rage room, the sensory deprivation tanks, the paint room, the reading room, or the physical equipment room while I am not in office. However, as of right now, talk therapy is temporarily unavailable with myself (Mizuki), as it seems these crystals have made it hard for me to care about... much of anything? Talk to Heimr if you need something immediately. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[ You'll find him, otherwise, at the edge of the forest, aggressively attempting to communicate in the best way he knows how at the moment: By blasting his phone at max volume with the sound of his Hatsune Miku text to speech- ]

« I don't want these rocks, Uncle. You can take them back, I'm not going to use them! »

I. I don't remember what it is that I just said to you

[If it weren't for her own curiosity about the contents of a very nice leather bag with golden embroidery that had appeared on her desk overnight, Timekeeper Cookie might have figured out the irritable furniture. She might have noticed that the only thing not trying to attack her was the ottoman, which she'd patched a threadbare spot of fabric on just hours earlier using some fancy stitchwork of her own. Out of boredom, of course, and perhaps out of a small bit of frustration at not having everything around her just exactly the way she likes it.

Unfortunately, it's a lot harder to notice things when your mind is suddenly a chaotic whirlwind of distracted pessimism. She was just finishing something else when the furniture became uppity, and since her scissors were already in hand, she met the violence in kind. There's a few minutes of loud noise echoing down the inn hall - scrapes, bangs, the sound of wood cracking - but no voice.

By the time anyone gets there to throw open the door and see what's going on, Timekeeper herself is gone, the window wide open. Most of the furniture is destroyed - sliced into pieces most commonly, though some survivors may yet be moving. Most strange and notable, however, is that there's a big pile of something golden and gleaming - almost glowing, really - on the floor.

On closer inspection, it's hair. For those capable of sensing it, it's hair utterly saturated with the essence of time, and well that can only belong to one person, really.

Something rattles near the closet. There's a small chest that's avoided destruction, and it's desperately trying to keep itself closed as something bumps around inside it.]

II. I've got Anubis on my back and something in my shoe

[Isolation is a hard thing to find in a small town. Timekeeper has taken a frantic, distracted path through it, stopping in various places, but never for long. If she sees anyone, she leaves. Rooftops, uninhabited buildings, public buildings that are simply empty and quiet for the moment - you might find her in any of those, if you can successfully corner her. Even if it's out in the relentless rain, she doesn't seem to care that she's getting soaked.

It's immediately apparent that something is wrong.

Her hair is cut short - roughly too, simply chopped off at the back with only enough left to still curl around and frame her face. She's carrying the Sonic Embroider with her as always - but it's damaged. Broken in half, actually, only one blade in her hand, and it looks somewhat crumpled at that. It was never a thing made to brutally destroy furniture with, that's for sure.

(If you're lucky, perhaps you found the missing half at some point, embedded in a random tree near the edges of town and looking just as sorry in state. The poor tree is probably suffering some sort of temporal anomaly until that thing gets pulled out.)

As she tilts her head towards you, you might notice that her eyepatch is cracked. Something glows behind it.]

III. Don't walk backwards, don't be jealous

[After having the absolute roughest time of it, Timekeeper is probably the least keen person on going stargazing. But, well, she had needed quite a few repair materials from Heimr, and the man was strangely convincing. It couldn't hurt, at least - and the cosmos and time are closely related enough.

Anyone familiar with her might be forgiven if they don't recognize her at first.

Her hair's been properly trimmed down to its shorter style by now, and she's not wearing her usual outfit - instead, she's wearing black suit pants and a loose but simple white shirt. No brooch or cravat - the shirt simply sits slightly open at the collar. Her top hat and scissors are both missing - she's still in the process of fixing them - and she wears only a simple black cloth eyepatch tonight.

But she's here, lingering on the edges of the group and nursing a hot chocolate. Her presence might be somewhat betrayed by Continuum Cog, who is much more openly relieved and is happily wandering around making upbeat clockwork noises at people and accepting any food (or random objects) offered to it as snacks.]

Hmmm, I might have to do something about that begging habit you've developed.

[She directs the comment in Continuum Cog's direction, but the little singularity might not even be in earshot. Still, it doesn't quite hold her usual level of glib. She's tired, folks.]

IV. Wildcard

((I know these aren't the most active prompts in the world - surprise, TK clams up and isolates herself when under duress! - but if you have further ideas or twists absolutely feel free to go for it! You can hit me at

ioniconeirologist or ionicOneiroi on Discord if you wanna discuss a thing first, too \o/))

A. GET (GEM)STONED

[As awful as all this rain is, at least it's something A.B.A. could deal with. She's stubborn, strong, resilient. If it was just the horrid downpour, this month wouldn't be so bad. What she isn't so great with is her own emotions, her thoughts, her self control, and it would appear all the rocks she was gifted amplified those for the worst. SO...]

i. [Throughout the beginning of the rock madness, it's easy to find A.B.A. anywhere in the Grove, because she's screaming and wailing like a wild animal. Drenched and hunched over from the weight of the water, she grasps her head as all her worries drown out any reasonable thought. Nothing is safe, everyone is a stranger, everything is so scary. She's forced once again into a life of imprisonment and a life without Paracelsus, the rocks make sure to keep reminding her of this. The moment she sees anyone through the curtain of water, it's always the same.]

W-Why...? Just go away!! Why can't you leave me ALONE?! [She screeches, but it's hoarse, probably from all the previous screeching.] Just LEAVE!!

[Getting too close will cause flailing and attempts to claw anywhere she can, but joke's on the rocks, A.B.A.'s always been a worried hot mess. Which means, even with her thoughts exaggerated, she STILL has her self soothing methods. After a good bout of flailing, A.B.A.'s keyring goes flying from her pocket, the jingling catching her attention as she watches it hit the ground.

She stops, like she just did something unspeakable, like she just hurt her precious little babies-]

...

[The keys themselves are wholly unremarkable, it's not like they even open anything being from another world and all. ...Except one. One key stands out by how silvery and shimmery it is, as well as the big crescent moon that decorates the head. It's fine, it's normal, we don't play favorites in this house. Paracelsus notwithstanding. Either way, she silently reaches out for them, as if asking you for help. Pick up keys?? JINGLE KEYS???]

ii. [Having knocked out two rocks with one stone, A.B.A.'s reign of screeching terror ends relatively early. That means the rest of the month she's tormented by a single rock, one she can't just jingle her way out of. Dreams. This rock is supposed to give good dreams. Which means A.B.A. is having nothing but nightmares every. single. night. How does one even perform an act of Good Dreams?!

She doesn't, that's how. The nightmares have gotten so bad, that she's pretty much been refusing to sleep, so any public place may find one very soaked, very exhausted homunculus collapsed in an uncomfortable looking ragdoll position in the most inconvenient of places. Did you want a specific table at the café? Too bad. Favorite comfy chair in the therapy lobby? Taken. Hoping to step outside your porch without tripping over something? Here's the worst cat.

Anyone who acknowledges A.B.A.'s existence will find that she's still awake, just barely so. She halfheartedly claws at the air the moment she hears anyone.]

Stay back... Or die...

[Very threatening. Better watch out.]

B. I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW (cw: casual blood drinking)

[When all is said and done, A.B.A. will happily join the camp out and enjoy some peaceful slow time. And by "join," I mean "set up her blanket as far from people as she can." She's still visible, if only because she loves people-watching too much to hide completely, but anyone who approaches her will be met with wide-eyed surprise. Like...why? What was she doing that was so interesting that you had to go out of your way to join her? She looks terrible, her hair still kind of a mess from being constantly rained on, her clothes in that awful state of not-being-fully-dried-yet, you know the one.]

...?!?!

[She doesn't say anything, if only because she's currently occupied sucking on some sort of...package. A pouch??? The liquid inside is...red. A very familiar red.

Oh lord, that ain't juice.]

C. Wildcard

[For anything and everything else!]

Edited 2024-08-13 19:30 (UTC)

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Sesa | Arknights | AKA I can't believe Wolfie gave 2/3 of my men depression

Sparkling Cookie | Cookie Run Kingdom (CRAU) | Sings "adhd man" to the tune of "Ocean Man"

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