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sticksandbones2023-08-04 10:59 am
- !event,
- !tdm,
- arknights: gnosis,
- arknights: mizuki,
- arknights: shalem,
- baldur's gate iii: astarion ancunín,
- elsword: elsword,
- fate: bb,
- handead anthem: gara ukai,
- i'm the grim reaper: brook,
- jujutsu kaisen: toge inumaki,
- original: caoimhe ailbhe,
- original: felicity morais,
- original: rennuid tathviel
Event & TDM 003
You open your eyes.
It feels like you’ve been here before, like you’re finally home. Today, the sun shines brightly, brilliantly, on the open forest clearing making up Aldric’s Grove. Vines wrap around old buildings, overgrowth covers ruins of what once were homes and shops, and weeds poke up through the cracks of foundations. Before you stands an inn, a well, and one hundred beautiful flowers peppered throughout the clearing. Be not fooled by their beauty, wanderer; should you stray too close, the flowers are happy to bite.
Fret not, however; should you seek escape from the carnivorous foliage, the inn is plenty safe from attacks. Perhaps you ought to get acquainted with others like you, lounging in the lobby with nowhere to go. Perhaps you should find yourself a room, a place to stay. After all, room and board is completely free of charge! Should you dig through the bedside table of your new room, you’ll find only one thing within: A Polaroid photograph of yourself from years ago. You were younger, then — or, if age doesn’t define you, you were different. Still, you remember posing for this photograph… don’t you?
If the photo is too much for you, a trip to the river might offer respite. The oppressive fog wrapping around the grove and obscuring much of the distant forest some miles out won’t let you wander too far. Luckily, there’s a stretch of river perfect for a round of fishing, playing in, or simply relaxing by. Mushrooms grow along the banks and on the trees, but remember to say “thank you” to the forest if you take them. You wouldn’t like the consequences otherwise.
cw: madness, hallucinations
You might have had luck avoiding the gnashing fangs of the flowers thus far, but they begin to get restless and aggressive the longer they go without feeding. They can’t quite uproot themselves and chase you down, but they will stretch their stalks as far as they can, unfurl their petals and try to wrap sharp leaves around your legs and anything else within reach. If you aren’t careful, their fangs will pierce your flesh, and they will drink from you until they drain you dry. Shout for help if they latch on. Surely someone will come to your aid.
…just try not to look at them much. The flowers take passive abilities of anyone they feed from, and that means they possess powers of their own. Stare for a moment too long, and you’ll begin to see your nightmares brought to life, feel a crawling down your back like one million insect feet, a grappling at your ankles as something tries to drag you under the metaphorical tides. Black tendrils sweep over your eyes, they grip the facades of buildings, they tear your friends to shreds and eat them whole. Focus. Focus on that voice telling you to snap out of it, on the people around you waving their hands in front of your eyes. It isn’t real. Blink, shake your head, and clear your thoughts.
Or don’t. “Give in,” a sultry voice murmurs, “Let me consume you.”
cw: auditory hallucinations, animal butchery
From the fenced-off, locked-up manor to the northwest of the Grove, a spill of magic begins to leak out from boarded-up windows. It’s gradual at first before it suddenly bursts, and that’s when everything starts to go haywire. The Manor’s heart aches, friend. Something in that house is oh-so-miserable with no way out… and it intends to make you feel its pain.
Every regret you’ve ever had — every word left unspoken, every lie you’ve told, everything you believe you’ve done wrong — those feelings are brought to the surface and magnified. No matter where you look, what you do, or how much you try to distract yourself, those emotions will always bubble to the surface.
You might think wandering into the forest will help you flee from yourself for a time, but as soon as you cross the threshold, the path back to the clearing closes behind you in a rustle of leaves. The only way out is forward, it seems, but the forest won’t play fair. The path will shift unexpectedly, blocking your route, forcing you to backtrack, but never quite allowing escape. All the while, voices fill your mind, chasing after you no matter where you go. They are the murmurs of those you have wronged, the murmurs of a conscience slighted.
Seeking out a companion in the labyrinth will quell them, for a time. Should your heart weigh too heavy, confessing to your labyrinth-partner what you’re grappling with will absolve you of your guilt and leave you feeling clear-headed enough to escape. At that point, the forest, too, seems content to let you solve the maze without interference.
Should you escape fairly, without harming the labyrinth, you’ll be rewarded: A freshly-hunted game animal from your homeland is dropped at your feet just as you step back into the clearing. Enjoy it, for you will not have the opportunity to get another. The forest only allows one round per person.
The residents of Aldric’s Grove have had a rough time here, but not everything has to be bad. On the night of the new moon, the Shopkeeper leaves his store for the night, and alongside the Trader — who normally sits outside the inn by her stall and her giant turtle — he constructs a bonfire some distance from the carnivorous plants. Nearby to it are tables with a feast set upon them, free for everyone to enjoy. There’s music playing from… somewhere. Don’t think about it too hard. The wispy, sentient shadows that comprise the Shopkeeper and Trader are happy to dance with you, too, if you ask.
Enjoy your night, friends. You’ve made it to the end of the month, and you deserve a break.
CLICK TO EXPAND!
❖ Several patches of the murderous flowers seem to have been electrocuted, lit on fire or cut.
cw: blood and such—
But I don't think my picture was one anyone took. [ And that much is apparent when Mizuki hands over the polaroid. He doesn't seem incredibly fussed to do so — at the end of the day, this is something he accepted to have happened. A picture of a young Mizuki, looking much smaller than he already is, but overall pretty much the same. His skin is just a little bit paler, but maybe that's because of all the blood spattered out from a rather lethal looking cut on his neck. For what it's worth, it looks like a fairly clean cut — one swipe with a very sharp blade. But maybe it's hard to tell what with, you know, the gore—
Mizuki doesn't seem ashamed or traumatized, for what it's worth. Just a little embarrassed? In a very "mom, stop showing pictures of me as a kid in the bathtub" sort of way. If he could cut that part out so just the background were there for Gnosis, he would've done so… ]
Umm, I don't know how helpful it is, but I hope you can figure something out from it, at least…
no subject
Gnosis is about to say yes, his mother was very fond of the camera; yes, all she did was take pictures after everything calmed down for their family; yes, when Enciodes saw fit to attend university in Victoria with him, she yet again whipped out the camera and Gnosis could only groan into his hands about his mother's proclivities for scrapbooking. Mizuki's photo completely derails any thoughts he might've had. RIP backstory.]
That's the hope.
[Who the fuck is taking these photos of them? Or rather, who took them ten, twenty years ago and simply left them here to be found? Gnosis squints at the background; the camera is focused on the subject, so the foliage and what he thinks is water behind Mizuki is blurred. Hm.]
You didn't see anyone slipping photos into anyone's rooms, did you? [Mizuki's stalker tendencies... would make that easy to find out, he hopes.]
no subject
Well, so long as I can be of some use, that'd make me happy. But, no, I didn't see anyone going into anyone's room to put them there. Must've been while I was sleeping? Or, perhaps, they had been there all along, just invisible? There's a lot of things that could've happened now that I think about it...
no subject
1) Access to Rhine Lab's top secret information
2) That's it
Those are all viable... hmm. If only we had Operators who could see through invisibility—]
I rarely leave my room, [which is going to double as something of a mini-lab until he can find a way to get a full lab up and running,] so it's likely that whoever or whatever left these here waited until I was gone. They would have been waiting for some time. [Smug look. Get fucked you stalker bitch.] Likely at the party... otherwise, I don't know when it could have occurred.
[Again, unless invisibility is a factor.]
no subject
I'm pretty sure I could sneak a photo into your room even if you were inside of it~! It wouldn't be that hard! …Not that I did, I'm just saying that it's not totally impossible!
[ Mizuki doesn't even have any pictures of Gnosis? And if he did, they'd be on his phone, not polaroids… so… ]
no subject
What an ominous thing to say, Mizuki.
[Do not come into his room and slip his baby photos in here he was awkward, his headfeathers didn't sit right and he looked Leithanien with those stupid suspenders he wore—]
no subject
Oh, was it? I was just trying to say that it’s possible, is all, I didn’t mean to sound scary. If it makes you feel better, I have no intention to do so, even if I could?
no subject
[Like he's pretty sure there's a photo of him from when he was seven hanging up in the Silverash Estate but that's because Enciodes' uncle is a bit sentimental, and also because there's no way Enciodes himself has burned that thing like Gnosis asked. Sigh.]
no subject
I'm a little jealous, honestly. I don't have any of my photos of home anymore. Even if it's a bit unsettling because of the setting, there's something still reminiscent about it, right?
no subject
[Stop being sentimental around him you don't need sentiment you need PROGRESS or something.]
I'd gladly trade you in that regard.
no subject
I think it's for the best you still have your home, Mr. Gnosis. I wouldn't want to trade that with anyone. Besides, I quite like how you turned out.
no subject
How I turned out? [What the fuck. What the fuck you can't just say that. He is So Shocked that he affords a bit of face emotion here.] Respectfully, Mizuki, you barely know the first thing about me. Are you quite confident in that declaration?
no subject
[ Plus, he's at Rhodes Island, so that must mean the Doctor trusts him, so- ]
I also take the time to watch as many of the battle records we have as I can, and I have seen quite a few with you in them. You're incredibly skilled, Mister Gnosis. Skilled, smart and kind is such an admirable combination. [ Hope you don't mind getting psychoanalyzed by an optimistic jellyfish, Gnosis. ]