EVENT & TDM 020

[sticksandbonesmods]

BITTER WINDS HOWLING

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

Comments

[reydelostests]

Yes.

[He doesn't just say "Yes". He sighs it like he's falling onto a fainting couch, or sinking into warm water. It's a relief to be able to say so, insomuch as these two have already been all over each other the entire time they've been friends. Thorns laying across Elysium the way he is right now? That's not abnormal. It's just...very much charged now in a way that it wouldn't have been if Elysium hadn't just kissed him.

And now, all he can do is think about kissing him again as he plays with the back of his hair.]

Sometimes...sometimes I don't think you realize just how irresistible you really are, Estimado.

[sailingfor]

I had no idea. [About... any of that.] It's not as though I put much effort into my appearance.

[Yes, Mr. Wears-his-shirts-inside-out, we know. Everyone knows. Oblivious to himself, oblivious to everyone else... truly a mental match made in hell.]

You're the one who spends an hour in front of the mirror every morning. [Thorns.]

[reydelostests]

[Yeah Elysium it's not like you made it obvious...though, even if you did, Thorns wouldn't have known. You know the kind of person he is.

The retort gets a laugh out of Elysium because yeah, he can't argue with him there...but god, all he can think about is how much he wants to kiss him again. He is STARING at his lips and barely managing to be normal-]

I have to look my best. Not just for me.

[It's for you too, goes unsaid as Elysium flutters his light eyelashes in Thorns' direction.]

You're really so...

[He huffs, and really he's just...oozing love and adoration for this man. Like, good god, it's gross.]

Can you kiss me again? ...please?

[sailingfor]

[Honestly, if it weren't for Elysium having a morning regimen, Thorns would probably simply roll over and just get started on work half-dressed. Which, truth be told, he absolutely does when the man isn't there. He'll roll out of bed, hair a mess, braid still in from the prior day, chug coffee... and just. Work. God willing he'll be wearing a shirt when it happens. At Rhodes, usually someone turns him around before he gets far down the hallway.

Usually.

It's not that they're co-dependent (they're co-dependent). Thorns just has severely undiagnosed ADHD or something like that. Nothing about this man is diagnosed, really.

He breathes out a very soft, breathy laugh through his nose at the question.]

Yeah.

[Still laying on Elysium, he'll press their lips together again.]

[reydelostests]

[Listen...you can have ADHD, and autism, AND be highly co-dependent on your partner who just might actually be your soulmate. Like oops! Whoops! Elysium has been let off his leash and now he's never coming back.

The moment Thorns starts to kiss him again, Elysium's tailfeathers go crazy. They fluff up and tremble in a genuinely excited way that Thorns has probably not seen in a while, and with the way the feathers on his head are all fluffy, it makes him look comically large as he kisses Thorns back with the eagerness of a golden retriever. He'll even make a soft sound as they kiss, another sort of bird-like coo in his chest as he toys with the hair at the nape of Thorns' neck.

Sigh. He sighs through his nose. This is the best fucking day of his whole damn life, he's convinced.]

[sailingfor]

[Best day of your life: Getting transported to the Torture Dimension for eternity, but you got to kiss your crush of several years while he lays on you without a shirt. They'll be making up "would you rather" scenarios based on this for years to come.

But now they both know that they're into each other (one of them made it far less obvious than the other, but that's just how he is), and now it's over for both of them. Thorns is lying over Elysium with a hand tangling in his feathers, noting how very fluffed out they are and making the connection that he's been Fluffy for a While now. Since he's no longer balanced off to one precarious side, it means his full weight is balanced on Elysium, their legs locked together a bit awkwardly now.

Thorns is still a bit of an awkward kisser. The lip movements, he figures out after a second or... sixty of them, shut up — but there's no practice to it. No finesse. At least this time it's less wet?]

[reydelostests]

[It's awkward, but that's okay. Elysium isn't at all going to complain about a little sloppy kissing when they're kissing at all. In fact, he's happy to let Thorns explore and get a feel for it, though he will do his best to guide him where he can. Tilt his head a little there, press their lips together just so...

He doesn't want to push him too far too quickly, but it's already such a wet kiss that Elysium doesn't feel too bad about the way his tongue briefly flickers out for a taste of Thorns' lips. He groans softly under his breath the moment he does it, because it's truly like he can't get enough of this man. He's had his first taste, metaphorical and literal, and now he just wants everything all at once.

And his hands...they wander, starting to move down his back, feeling up the muscles in his shoulders and back and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-]

[sailingfor]

[this thread hit 100 comments and legally these two need to exit my comm for gay reasons]