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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[For someone dropped in an unfamiliar place and chased through a strange forest by frost ghosts, he doesn't look too worried. Just confused and wary, brows knitting together slightly.]

You seem a little too casual about this.

[Also, "wards"?? Sounds like stuff out of the holonovels he used to read as a kid, all changelings and dragons and magic and shit.

Dys lingers by the door for an uncomfortable few seconds longer before just stiffly following and crouching by the fire. His pantlegs are definitely also cold and wet, but he is absolutely not taking his pants off in front of a stranger, thanks.]

I’ve been cross-dimensionally kidnapped twice. My sense of normalcy has been busted for years, dude.

[Dipper heads off to the parlor but makes no effort to rush Dys. Once he joins him in the other room, Dipper hands him a blanket.]

Chill here as long as you want. I’ll make some coffee. If you find a weird snowflake pendant on you throw it in the fire, it’s cursed.

[And off he goes to the kitchen.]

[Part of him wants to question all that, but he holds his tongue. If he can accept Sol's whole "alternate universe visions", then he guesses this isn't too far off from that. This is what he gets for being mildly jealous he wasn't the one with the weird wormhole powers.

Dys takes the blanket with an awkward little nod, pulling it around his shoulders. This is already more human interaction then he has most days that he doesn't hang with Sol or check in with Utopia, and small talk has never been his forte.]

...Do you have tea?

[Dipper pauses at the threshold of the door and thinks. Ah-]

Actually, I think I do. I'll go see what kind it is. I think it's something like chamomile and ginger, if I remember right. Is that cool?

[A slight movement under the blanket that's probably a shrug.]

Never had it before. But I'll try it.

Sweet, I'll see what I can do.

[Dipper vanishes out the door! It'll take him a few moments of messing around in the kitchen, looking for the tea stuff before he comes back, leaving Dys alone in the Pines parlor.]

[It's a nice sized room, furnished with a large couch and a few chairs centered around the fire place. It's probably used for entertaining. There's some pictures on the walls of people that greatly resemble this weird kid that seems to be looking after him right now.]

[Dys isn't necessarily a nosy person, but he is an explorer by nature, and also it's kinda awkward just sitting in a stranger's quarters alone. So once the chill eases, he eventually wanders a little, absently peering at the pictures on the wall. They're real photos, like in the old holovids, on that paper-y material and everything. He recognizes what looks like a younger version of the guy in the kitchen, plus–

Huh.]

You have a twin?

[He's not very loud. It'd probably be debatable if he's talking to Dipper in the other room, if they weren't otherwise alone.]

[He's coming back with the kettle and some mugs when he hears him ask. It doesn't take him long to spot him by the photos and ...]

[The expression on Dipper's face softens considerably.]

Yeah. Her name's Mabel.

[He sets everything down on the table.]

Twins kind of run in the family. Both of my uncles are twins, too.

[Oof. That soft expression definitely makes him regret asking, and he averts his eyes, busying himself with grabbing a mug and sniffing at it tentatively.]

Me too. I mean, the twin sister part. I don't know if it ran in the family or not...?

[He frowns, actually thinking about that for maybe the first time. The concept of "runs in the family" is kinda weird and foreign, but he doesn't know how to explain it, nor does he really want to. How do you say "my parents were part of a non-religious cult that held lotteries to decide whose genetic material would be used to produce communally-raised kids, which isn't really conducive to tracking family history"?]

[That uncertainty tells him enough, that maybe this guy doesn't know very much about the rest of his family, which paints a picture.]

It tends to be genetic. [He offers without prying into anything Dys might not want to talk about. Luckily that bout of melancholy seems to pass with the thought of talking about mutual twin sisters.]

[Dipper picks up his own mug, since honestly hot tea had sounded like a good idea.]

But that's cool. [Genuinely.] My name's Dipper, by the way. Sorry for not introducing myself yet. What's yours?

Edited 2025-01-16 10:23 (UTC)

[It sounds like the sort of thing Tang would dwell on a lot and overthink. Which means it's the kind of thing Dys would kinda prefer to not think about at all.]

Dys.

[He finally takes a sip of the tea and makes a face.]

It's...pretty herbal.

[Warm, though. Warm is good right now. He shrugs and continues sipping at it.]

Yeah, I think chamomile is some kind of flower. I think there's a few other ingredients ...like something called feverflower? I was having some headaches a few weeks ago and the healer types I know recommended it.

[So yeah, it's a little bit medicinal. Sorry man.]

Anyway, Heimr at the general store probably has like, actual normal tea you can get. The weather hasn't exactly let up since the beginning of the month, but once you're ready to leave, I can show you how to get to town.

I've heard of them before, just...never been able to try it.

[Such herbs were not among the precious selection of Earth plants the Stratospheric brought along on its one-way trip. That space was generally reserved for crops and a few of the Chief Cultivator's favorite flowers.]

I'll get out of your hair soon. Sorry about this.

Normally this place has all kinds of stuff growing, but the winter basically ruined all that. It's a huge bummer.

[To Dys admission, Dipper quickly waves his hand. He certainly didn't plan to kick him out or anything.]

There's no rush, man. It's awful out there and our house happens to be on the outskirts of town, so you are not the first person to come knocking at our door. I'd much rather people chill out here for a while then freeze trying to reach the Grove proper.

[There's a pause that seems wary somehow, like he's searching for any hint of insincerity in that reassurance. Most people usually prefer for him to move along quickly. Everyone's happier that way, himself included.]

...It's fine. You can just point me towards the nearest shelter aside from your quarters here. Or maybe somewhere I can just find more seasonally-appropriate gear.

[Frankly, he'd still be out there in the woods if he was at all equipped for this weather.]

[And that's fair. Dipper catches that look and tries to continue looking as nonthreatening as possible. He gets being wary of kindness, really he does.]

No problem. If you want somewhere to stay, the Inn is where most everyone lives. No one's actually running it so you can just grab whatever room and stay. For clothing that's gonna be Heimr's shop, which I mentioned before. He can get you taken care of easy.

[Dipper drinks down the rest of his tea and stands up.]

I'm not gonna make you stay, but you should probably at least be dry before heading out again. Luckily the Grove really isn't a far walk, ten, maybe fifteen minutes with the weather.

Edited 2025-01-17 11:44 (UTC)

[Dys grimaces slightly, eyes flicking towards a window and the storm raging outside it. Fifteen minutes would normally be no big deal, but in this weather? In a sleeveless shirt??]

...I'll finish drying off, then. Maybe the snow will die down some in that time.

[Probably wishful thinking, but he can dream.]

[Hm. Dipper is getting the sense that this guy doesn't like asking for help. He really doesn't want to let him go out into the cold like that, but if he comes on too strongly, he might scare this guy off.]

[Sometimes he really feels Mabel's absence in moments like this. She probably would have found a way to phrase it right.]

Maybe. Hold on a second, I'll be right back.

[He'll scurry off, Dys might hear the faint sound of him tromping up the stairs. He'll be back in like five minutes, provided Dys doesn't try to bounce while he's gone.]

[It's a valid concern. He does have a tendency to just disappear sometimes. Fortunately, common sense about his chances of survival in this weather are outweighing the sensation of needing to crawl out of his skin dealing with people.

So he just nods quietly and waits. When Dipper returns, Dys is sitting close to the fire and fussing with what appears to be some kind of small hologram projection emanating from his palm.]

[Oh good, he's still there. When Dipper comes back, he has some clothing in his hands. He'll drop them on the back of one of the chairs.]

[He spots him looking at the hologram, decides against calling attention to it for now.]

So, I don't think we're the same size exactly, but one of my coats should fit you enough to at least get you to town without contracting hypothermia.

[Dys' eyes flick back up as Dipper returns and he casually turns off whatever the holo-thing is – clearly not a secret or anything, and it appears to have come from a device embedded directly in his hand.]

Oh. Uh...if you're sure.

[There's an odd twist to his mouth like he doesn't even know how he's supposed to react to this. Hell, he'd probably just turn down the favor in better circumstances, but common sense dictates he should just accept the goddamn coat.]

[Yes, he was hoping this guy wouldn't be so stubborn that he'd be stupid about it. This guy strikes him as ...pragmatic, which hopefully means if something is logically laid out, it's hard to decline. It's almost like Dipper has known people like this in the past-]

I am, and this is definitely one of my spares, so not having it for a few days won't be a problem. Just return it when you don't need it anymore, and we're good man.

[A thumbs up.]

I've got an experiment in the kitchen I'm working on, so just let me know when you're ready to go, and I'll show you how to get to town.

["Pragmatic" is definitely an accurate assessment. Dys accepts the coat with a little nod, and he can't help but examine the garment idly. The fabric and construction is just a little off from anything he's ever seen before, and it's...weird.]

"Experiment"?

[It's a black coat that's about knee length, maybe shorter depending on Dys' height. The construction of it does seem pretty old fashioned, like something out of a period drama. However the fabric itself is unique, like it was woven so tightly together that it might repel water very well. This is the coat Dipper wore to Zahliyaquest and was the coat he'd woken in the Grove with. Clothing from Trench is often made to repel blood, which makes them great for both rain and snow, as it turns out!]

I'm trying to perfect a curry recipe. I'm on try like ...I dunno, twelve? Curry is surprisingly complex!

[Dys nods, fingering the strange material absently.]

Does that mean you're in charge of cooking here?

[It'd be good to know where to go for food, if he's really stuck here for an extended period of time.]

Edited 2025-01-20 14:10 (UTC)

EVENT & TDM 020

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