sticksandbones | EVENT & TDM 020

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EVENT & TDM 020

WAKES AND AWAKENINGS

Are you one to find yourself plagued with nightmares? Do you dream at all? Well, worry not, because tonight you find yourself in a somewhat alarming peace. You’re asleep. You’re aware of this. Yet, you feel incredibly lucid, all the same.

You hear the sound of water, like you’re under the ocean waves. You don’t see anything, but it’s almost as if you can feel others around you, despite not touching anything at all. They’re your… family? No. Friends? No. You don’t seem to be able to find a word to describe them. They’re important to you! …You think. Who are they, again?

You think they’re trying to speak to you, but all you can hear is the sound of gentle currents and air bubbles. Or maybe this is what they’re saying to you? You don’t know. Dreams are weird, aren’t they? But then they sing. It’s the prettiest sound you’ve heard. It’s the most haunting sound you’ve heard. It encourages you to move, at last. You didn’t realize you could. There’s a light that filters through the surface of the water…

…and you wake up. You feel strangely refreshed, like that’s the best sleep you’ve gotten in ages! You also feel… distantly sad, like you’ve just remembered something horrible that happened a long time ago.

It’s probably nothing.

For the rest of the month, you find sleep comes easy, and dreams are soothing. How uncharacteristically nice! Maybe don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

A BITTER ARRIVAL

You wake up to bitter cold. It's dark, the winds howling and whipping through the air, snow battering anything not sturdy enough to stand tall against it... and even the trees seem like one more push could knock them over. This isn't a forest you know, yet it seems like home. If you're not prepared for the cold, the warm lights of a small town will guide you, call to you, and your heart yearns for warmth. As you stumble through the heavy snow and harsh winds, something heavy hangs from your neck and the winds begin to form words with your own voice- SACRIFICE... END THIS WINTER WITH SACRIFICE.

As more voices join the wretched wails, your eyes feel heavier. You're almost to the town, though. Is it one of the houses that you wind up knocking on? Or do you manage to get to the inn, big and tall and radiating more warmth than anything you've ever felt? Regardless, you are no longer alone, but the cold still aches and clings, and something with your voice still calls it's omens outside. Only when you melt the heavy snowflake-shaped amulet hanging around your neck in the fires does the cold abate and the foreign copy of your voice fall silent.

A COLD RECEPTION

In the forest of the lost, the worst winter you've ever seen has finally set in full. The lake and river are both frozen over completely, and even the most hardy of beasts have hidden away from the cruel blizzard. The sky is dark, the winds are sharp and the freezing temperatures permeate most buildings, creeping in like a thief ready to steal the breath from your lungs if you aren't careful. Even fires seem to bend to this cold, save for the ever-burning, ever-blinding light of the fireplace in the inn- though she's long since gone, it seems one woman's faith still protects those in the Grove. Shadows haunt the clearing and amongst the winds and even the deafest ears can hear the voices howling alongside the storm, always demanding the same thing: a sacrifice.

When shadows flicker across the window, that is when you know you aren't alone. Ghastly wraiths of frost and ragged sleet fly through the air, and it's hard to tell if they are commanding the winter winds or if they are working in tandem. Regardless, the cold seems to be enhanced by their presence and if they catch you alone outside, they curse you with a frost so deep it pierces the heart and spreads. To some, it may be familiar, like turning to ice from within. To others it may be entirely new. But it spreads slowly and with agony while the wraiths make their demand once more and then vanish. Thankfully, a bit of kindness can melt the ice, but the winter wraiths are always willing to inflict the curse again...

... But you are not powerless. So long as you don't go alone, so long as you have a weapon, you can fend these things off, for a time. But they will be back.

They must have their sacrifice, after all.

BEACONS

Not everyone can fight though. Not everyone should. The only peace that can be found is in the sleep that follows that odd dream... but eventually the large shadow woman known as the Trader, Ydalir, makes her way through the snow to find you. With a warm furry blanket and a cup of tea, she gives you a small kit.

"Build these lanterns and hang them in the window. Be a light in the dark, loves." Is what she says.

The lanterns consist of wood, paper and a little cup for a candle. They can be in any shape and color, and when you hang them in the window the candle sparks into light. As frost clings on the other side of the window and the snow shrouds the outside world and veils what lies beyond, you can see other lights. Other lanterns, shining brightly. It may not be much, but it is still a sign. A reminder. You are not alone in this blizzard.

Spark Notes

summary

wakes and awakenings will bring you into a strange dream of being with many being, important ones, and a haunting song. Despite the melancholy feeling, it also brings a month of restful sleep no matter what.

a bitter arrival is how our new arrivals find themselves: lost in the woods in the middle of a terrible blizzard with only the faint lights of the Grove to guide you to safety. While you wear the snowflake amulet, the winter wraiths can use a mimicry of your voice to make their demands and curse you with a lingering freeze- only melting the amulets in a fire will set you free and silence the copy of your voice in the cacophony.

a cold reception shows just how bad the winter's gotten, with impenetrable ice freezing both the lake and the river solid. the wraiths curse whoever they see with turning to ice from within, but a genuine act of kindness or love will save their victims. the wraiths can be fought, but only with a companion or two, and definitely not with your bare hands. ... they will return though, again and again.

beacons grants perhaps a bit of hope in this dark winter- ydalir brings people supplies as best she can since the cold doesn't affect her shadowy body and there is nothing for the wraith to freeze, and she also brings a gift- a lantern to craft and hang in the window to show the others in town that you're all still here, cutting through the darkness.

out of character

Welcome to the first TDM of 2025! Regular AC resumes this month and as you can see, we're changing things up a little. TDMers are welcome and encouraged to reach out on our plotting post linked below. We're so excited to start the new year with everyone, and may the horrors stay in writing... because they are resuming now.

updates

❖ AFFOGATO COOKIE has used a magical artifact as a sacrifice. This has resulted in the blizzard lessening but still being present and the wraiths being banished from the grove, but still haunting the forest. There are further effects but they will come in to play during a player plot. ... Get your sacrifices in still though.
❖ MAYOI'S prayer to Ourania the day of the fight with Suri invoked a blessing: an aurora shines through the sky, and anyone in it's lights will be gradually healed and soothed.

submissions

❖ Questions
❖ January Plotting (Open to TDMers)
❖ Sacrifices (Plot relevant, open to all)
❖ Past Life Plotting (Closed to Game Members)
❖ Investigations

code

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[Okay then! He'd gotten the impression that Dipper does Not mess around, and welp. Just another day in his life really. Danny drops to the ground immediately, lying as flat as he can manage considering the ground is where all the snow and ice is and his body is basically trying to curl into a ball on its own to conserve heat.]

Right, g-go ahead!

[Danny’s sole warning to what Dipper is about to do is the sound of a gun being cocked and the earth shattering Blam! erupting over Danny’s head. If he chanced a glance, he’d possibly even see the roar of blue flames as the coldblood crafted shot smashed into the dome. Ghost Ice meet bloodborne fire.]

[It sure is a good thing Dipper hung onto these in case of emergency, haha. Anyway, Dipper fires off the second round for good measure, busting an opening big enough for Danny to hopefully escape through.]

[The ice is extra sturdy thanks to the supernatural weather bolstering Danny's also supernatural ice powers, but yeah, bloodborne fire sure does do the trick. Danny flinches as the top of the dome cracks, then gets fully blasted off by the second shot, flying away in pieces over his head. It's more than big enough for him to get through, but...

...it's so hard to move. Danny tries, but can't really even get a grip on the edge of the hole, can't get his hands properly under him to push himself back up, his limbs are so stiff and won't really do what he wants. He only really manages to get kind of onto his side, and that's it.

So, what else can he do, he smiles dorkily up through the hole at Dipper, the ice still climbing over his chest and up his neck, making his voice thin and wheezy.]

Man, I'm so glad you're a better shot than my parents.

[And yep, that sure is Danny, if looking notably different from the last time Dipper saw him. Probably a lot more ghostly too on the supernatural senses side of things.]

[Don't worry, Dipper wasn't going to just let you fend for yourself. Once it's super clear Danny is hella not getting out on his own, Dipper leans into the hole to.]

[To see him smile up at him like a dork while being possibly on the verge of Actual Death, slowly freezing over and also being insanely more Ghost-like than he remembered.]

[S-Sigh. Dipper shakes his head, reaching his arms in to grab him and literally drag him out of the ice in as clean a movement as he can manage. Luckily Dipper's got both Sleeper strength and enough weapons training on his side that he's a lot stronger than he looks.]

C'mon man, tell me all about it later. I'm getting the feeling you got really lucky that I was in the area just now.

[Hope you like getting flung over his shoulder like a sack of Ghost Potatoes.]

Edited 2025-01-04 04:34 (UTC)

[It's no effort at all, because Danny is also startlingly light like this. He might actually drift in the air a little, like a weird balloon, but only for a moment - as soon as Dipper has him properly over his shoulder, he's slumped entirely against Dipper's back like the aforementioned Ghost Potato Sack.]

Yeah... thanks. Sorry.

[Which is about all the words he can manage right now. But, as Dipper hauls him away... it does remind him of his other friends, who always pull through for him despite the roller coaster of absolute bullshit that their lives have become. They're not here, which sucks, but having someone immediately on his side here too is unexpected and nice. Warm too, Dipper is warm. It doesn't quite abate the persistent cold in his core, but Danny clings to the sensation like a lifeline, and it... might be helping, actually?]

[Dipper probably very nearly flung his weightless ass into the air overestimating just how much strength he needed to haul a fourteen-year-old over his shoulder. It's cool, though, he totally didn't almost fall the fuck over and instead has him very securely on his shoulder.]

It's cool, I'm just glad I was here.

[Danny in one hand, his gun holstered in the other, Dipper starts trekking ...not towards town, but a little further into the woods.]

Have you been back in town long? I feel like I haven't seen you in months, dude.

[Before long, a log cabin starts to come into view. Or would if Danny wasn't facing the opposite direction.]

Errrrgh...

[The most intelligible of answers. But Danny is slowly starting to feel better, for some reason, some of the chill seeping away. He flexes his fingers, and it hurts, but they actually move this time.]

Dunno, half a day? Thought this was some weird dream...

[He manages to pull his head up, staring listlessly at the forest as it passes. Uhhh. Wait.]

...isn't town in the other direction?

[Huh. Did Danny not get lost in the woods all this time? Questions for later...]

Didn't waste any time picking a fight with the Forest I see.

[Which Dipper explicitly remembers warning Danny not to do. However his voice is more of a tease than it is a scold.]

Yeah, my house is a lot closer than the Inn. You're in such awful shape I was worried we might not have enough time to make for town without you freezing over. Don't worry, we have like six fireplaces.

There were ghosts! Making everything cold and demanding sacrifice! What was I supposed to do, not fight them??

[But that outburst makes a wave of cold roll through him, causing Danny to groan and slump back against Dipper.]

Good, I feel like I need at least six.

Generally, yeah. Especially since we have no idea what’s going on with those guys. You’re lucky they didn’t turn you inside out or something. The last time I had to deal with hideous winter ghouls, they were frost zombies that broke into your house and tore you limb from limb so they could reanimate your corpse into their messed up undead army.

[Danny will hear the sound of Dipper making contact with wood as they finally reach the front porch of the shack. He stomps the snow off his boots as he pushes open the door. It is immediately warmer in here, though clearly even the shack is suffering from the winter, too.]

[Dipper is totally gonna drop him into the livingroom chair.]

Hang tight in the living room while I find some blankets.

Oh. Uh. Yikes.

[Yeah, that sure shuts him up, at least for now. Not a hint of disbelief, though.

Danny will gladly sink into what he's convinced has to be the comfiest armchair in the universe, wrapping his arms back around himself. Being in here is a relief for sure, but there's still a chill inside him. The same one that hasn't gone away since he arrived.

He's probably going to have to vent his core energy somewhere, huh... and inside Dipper's cabin is no place to do it. At least the layer of ice that had started crusting over his chest has almost entirely retreated for now.]

Thanks, but I don't think blankets are gonna work.

[Yeah, Dipper can look back and peg like maybe 40% of his paranoid hyper-vigilance on that particular December in Deerington. Fuck Whitewalkers.]

[Anyway, despite whatever Danny says, he's still getting the blankets out.]

Do you not want blankets, dude? [That sounds very incredulous!! And he also hasn't stopped what he's doing. Get blanketpiled idiot.]

I'm open to suggestions, though. Do you have any idea what I could do to warm you up? Your ghost thing looks way crazier this time than it did last time.

[OOF. Blanketpiled it is. Right on top of all of him in a big heap. But yeah, Danny can tell right away that it doesn't help. He goes intangible - hey, that doesn't hurt to try anymore! - and sticks his head and shoulders literally through the pile.]

Not really, they need body heat to work, and my ghost form is kinda-

[That's when his brain catches up and he shrinks back, a look of panic flashing across his face.]

Oh no, my ghost form. I- Did - You... how did you know it was me??

You're kidding, right?

[...]

Dude, you're literally just palette swapped.

[That was stupid, he knew it was stupid the moment he blurted it out. Dipper's like the smartest person ever, of COURSE he can tell. Danny smacks his palm into his face, dragging it down with a groan.]

I know, I know, look it works on everyone back home, okay?

[He floats upwards, just enough to pull himself out of the pile and sit on top of it instead, pulling his arms back around himself with a shudder.]

Just... don't tell anyone, please? I don't want to get shot at here too.

People where you're from sound about as stupid as people from where I'm from. You don't have a memory erasing cult running around frying people's brains do you?

[Is that a joke? No, Dipper looks dead serious. Anyway...]

I-...you're not going to get shot at here, but sure, I won't tell anyone.

[Pause.]

You won't get shot at here for that, dude, are your parents shooting at you? Is that what I'm supposed to put together about your funny little quip earlier? What the hell?

Not that I know of?

[And let's be real, he'd probably end up knowing about it. That sounds like about the kind of thing Danny gets caught up in regularly, only with fewer ghosts, maybe.]

No! Well, I mean, when I'm Phantom, yeah? But they don't know it's me!

[Danny shivers again. Yeah, okay, the novelty of being inside a warm building is starting to wear off. The chill is getting to him again.]

Can we come back to that later and focus on the fact that I think those ice ghosts are making my core go haywire?

Sure, but my uncle absolutely wrote the book on infuriating deflections so don't think this conversation is over, man.

[But he does see they do have a more pressing issue at hand, and that's whatever the fuck is going on with Danny's powers.]

So, your core's going haywire, how do we fix that? You said blankets don't affect you because you don't have body heat. If you're implying you're an actual honest-to-god ghost right now then my only idea is ...I dunno, maybe trying to exorcise your access energy?

My sister wrote the book on never forgetting to pry into anything weird I've ever said ever, so believe me, I know.

[But!!! More pressing issues indeed.]

I mean, technically I'm half ghost. The way this worked last time was - actually, that's not too far off, but I'd rather not get exorcised and possibly killed all the way or worse? I just had to use up a ton of the cold energy that'd built up.

[He shudders again, rubbing his hands over his upper arms. It does nothing.]

If that doesn't work, I don't even know where to begin.

We have to go back outside, got it.

[Well, it's a good thing they're out in the woods. It is kind of dangerous out here, though, and Dipper isn't keen to do this.]

[However he really doesn't have a better idea. He doesn't actually know much about Danny's weird biology to properly brainstorm a better solution.]

Let's go out the back so you can aim towards the forest. I've got a couple more rounds of the coldblood ammo in case something tries to get too close.

Yyyyyyeah. Sorry. At least you... seem really prepared? Is that like, magic bullets or something?

[Moving at least helps him shiver less, but Danny's still visibly uncomfortable as he slides off the blanket pile to hover a few inches off the ground, ready to follow Dipper back outside. He's not too worried, yet. So far this just seems like whatever's going on with the cold... ghosts? Magic? here made his core's ice energy build up super fast or something. He'll probably be fine after freezing a few hundred trees solid, right?]

Yeah, you’d be surprised how much my innate paranoia and hyper vigilance comes in handy around here.

[He’s already loading his gun, though he keeps the safety on for now until they can get outside. He definitely handles this thing like its second nature.]

Something like that. My family’s blood is unique. It’s a long story how, but my uncle’s blood has a special elemental property that makes it super useful for modifying weapons.

Great! I'll fit right in.

[Sigh. He knows those terms. He listens to Jazz's psychology rants too much to not know those terms.]

Sooooo, weird elemental blood magic, got it. I can't believe it even seems normal for me to be saying that.

[But like, he can't deny that magic is very definitely real, either. Danny's seen a lot of bullshit that can get explained by "ghost powers" or "ectoplasm is weird and science was done on it," and a lot of bullshit that definitively can't. He just hasn't really had the space to parse it as "huh, guess magic is real" yet.]

I'm just gonna let you lead the way to wherever I can freeze a bunch of stuff, then.

"Prepared means no worries"!

[A truly paranoid and deranged person told him that once. He also became one of Dipper's psuedo-uncles in a previous world. Dipper misses Xerxes Break.]

The easier you can roll with weird stuff the better off you'll be, honestly. Maybe once we're sure you're not about to experience Turbo-Death I'll show you what my weird blood magic does.

[And with that he will lead the way! He takes them out the side door to the parlor, pretty much everything around them is woods. Dipper does a quick pass to make sure none of the frost ghosts are around before he motions to Danny.]

Straight into the trees should be fine? Just make sure to face away from the house.

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the_halfa_it - 2025-01-19 03:15 (UTC) - Expand

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ghostharasser - 2025-01-20 08:07 (UTC) - Expand

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EVENT & TDM 020

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