EVENT 30

[sticksandbonesmods]

I CALL MYSELF A SHELL

A USED UP BULLET CASING

The air is cold, the sky dreary. Ever since your return to Aldric’s Grove, the chill in the air is as bitter and sharp as a knife. The scent of stew from the General Store’s windows is comforting, almost as much as the teas Ydalir is handing out if you pass by her tent. Nene puts baskets of her fresh produce on every doorstep or before the doors of people’s rooms in the inn, and Evan and Rillian join her sometimes, the two also handing out sweaters or cloaks. It’s not going to be as bad as last year, but a bitter winter is coming. It’s best to be prepared, isn’t it?

As the winter approaches, plantimals busy themselves to prepare as best they can, too. Pinecone squirrels harvest away nuts while one by one birds move as close to warmth as they can — and that may well just be Sehul and Aurora’s domains. The river water is clear as ever and even colder, with only the blessed trees and bushes still flowering and bearing fruit.

Yet nothing prepares anyone for the green mist, knee-high at the lowest, waist-high at the highest. It smells earthy and grassy, almost floral like a garden,and it pours out of the research hall.

There’s a chill in the air. Something… strange is happening, yet again.

THE AFTERMATH OF SOMETHING LETHAL

The mist is not the only thing that follows. In your homes, walking around the slowly rebuilding town, resting in the inn — all over, there are ghosts, and they all look painfully familiar. After all… it's not every day you get to see your face without a mirror.

Ghosts of the former residents of the Grove have followed where the mist flows, fragments of history that are part of you given form. Some look pristine, like they’d simply gotten up and got dressed like any normal day. Others look bloodied and wounded, clearly killed and still persisting. None seem bothered by their state — if anything, the lot are curious about the changes that have been made to the Grove, or about you.

Of course they know you. They know your pains, the life you’ve lived, they’re part of you after all… though some ghosts know the full extent better than others. You must have something you want to say, don’t you? Or… maybe you’re approached by the ghost of another soul, with something else in mind.

AN ECHO OF INFLICTED EVIL

cw: a brief instance of animal death

Within the heart of it all stands a woman almost eight feet tall, maybe more. There is an unearthly glow to her green eyes, and she wears a black gown that looks like it’s meant for a funeral and a garden party in the same day. Draped in her arm is a basket as she talks to various blooms, and occasionally she may… pluck at a passing by animal, placing a silvery light within the basket as the animal comes to a stop and finds its final rest.

She looks at each resident of the Grove as she walks, poking and pulling at things that cannot be seen — from the air, from the buildings, from you-

And then she keeps on walking, pausing only at the fog barrier.

“... What a troubling scene this sets. And the rot in the roots… beastly, isn’t it? What a shame that I cannot be here in full to set this straight.” She hums thoughtfully, before finally she stops and sits down.

“Come along now, then. I’m sure you all have questions.”

So, will you talk to Morrigan the Lady Death?

... SO COMES SNOW AFTER FIRE ...

With talking to Morrigan comes a task: close the door once more. Once this is done, the Grove settles again, a blanket of quiet settling over the little village finally. Time passes, and once the first snow starts to fall, Heimr calls everyone to the inn. White snowdrops are painted along the banisters, the door frames and windows, and warm spices and savory smells waft through the air.

Renard is dishing up different plates as you come in, and he smiles radiantly with a wave. Later on he might show off some of his creations, or hand you an instrument.

Music flows through the dining room as Ydalir feeds the fire, and some of Callisto’s meads and wines — flavored or simple honey — eventually turn up on the table. It’s nice not to be alone, right?

Unfortunately it might be ruined when Heimr sets out what looks to be a deck for UNO. And a stack of other board games. But UNO is the killer, here. UNO may just ruin your carefully-crafted friendships with everyone here. …please don’t let it do that. You’ve already been through so much together, and there’s so much more to come.

Spark Notes

summary

A USED UP BULLET CASING Fall is here and winter is fast approaching. The residents of the Grove are trying to help take care of player characters after the past two months of hardships... but one night, a green mist spills out of the Research Hall.
THE AFTERMATH OF SOMETHING LETHAL All throughout the Grove, the ghosts of your past lives linger waiting to speak to you- or to the ones you love. They know your life, though the intimate details may vary, and can be touched. And linger they will! They're very curious, you know.
THE ECHO OF INFLICTED EVIL Morrigan the Death wanders the town, poking and prodding at the magics in play. Whatever she's found, however, they have decided can wait. After all, you probably have questions, don't you?
... SO COMES SNOW AFTER FIRE ... After the Door to the Afterlife has been closed- presumably by you, someone's got to do it- and Morrigan has presumably also left, Heimr decides it's time for another community meal. And this time, he brought board games! Please do not kill each other over Monopoly.

out of character

Welcome to November! Thank you very much to Jami for allowing us to use their past life plotting and location for this event, and to Aspen for helping facilitate it ICly!. This has been a long time coming, and now you get to meet another force of nature: Death!

AC will be check-in for November and December before resuming regularly. September and October are the last TDM of the year, and we encourage you to reuse them as desired if current players wish to test new characters, or if new players want to break the ice! We check the TDMs regularly.

updates

Any potential updates, such as characters damaging something important or whatever else, will be put here.

submissions

❖ Questions
❖ November Plotting
❖ Past Life Plotting (Closed to Game Members)
❖ Investigations

code

Comments

ii

[infinitemist]

[ He's been a little thrown into the deep end as far as all of this past life stuff goes, but it's not like he didn't believe in it. He just- hadn't thought it would be so literal in this case.

Where Genya is considerably older than Muichiro expected, this might as well be a blast from the past for Genya. He watches the man pace around the town and stop at that patch of grass. It's only about then that Muichiro approaches fully, offering his presence for support, though he doesn't know what the grass patch is. He can kind of infer. ]

Are you alright?

[namuthing]

[Generally, the elder Genya has been able to take most of this in stride. Given Muichiro's relatively recent appearance, though, he finds that he's actually almost surprised to see him there. As such, he finds himself staring for a long few moments, before shaking his head. A small huff leaves him, but it's closer to a flustered laugh than any kind of frustration.]

Y'know... I really didn't think I'd see you here. [He lifts his hand to scratch at the back of his neck.] Don't worry about me. Just bein' all sentimental.

Uh... What about you?

[Like... you're staring at the older counterpart of your friend after being here like, whole five minutes?]

[infinitemist]

[ He accelerated into the "this might as well happen" portion of his stay in record time due to Kyojuro's demon smooching ]

Hm, why not? From what I was told it seems kind of inevitable that I would end up here, right?

[ inter-world soul snatching or what the heck ever. Absolutely wild whatever it is. ]

I'm managing alright. You surprise me far less than Hakuji did.

[namuthing]

[Yeah that'll do it...]

A guy can hold out hope, right? [He shakes his head.] I hadn't seen you around. Maybe I started hoping you'd get lucky.

["Lucky." Considering just how close Muichiro's own end came with his counterpart — a fate he is all too aware of, unfortunately — he has a pretty good idea of what went down. Still, he's pretty sure death in his home is much better than whatever life he's going to lead in this place.]

That guy is a bit surprising, huh? For you, at least. The pink version of him was pretty weird to me, so I guess I know how you feel.

[infinitemist]

[ Calling him "the pink version" actually gets Muichiro to laugh just a little bit, attempting to avoid wincing after from the pain. ]

If it were just a poor decision in hair dye it wouldn't have been so surprising. But yes, more or less. Suffice to say Akaza and I are not on particularly friendly terms.

[namuthing]

[Well, that draws a wider smile to Genya's face. It looks a little more natural on him compared to his younger self. He's had a few more reasons to smile than he has, after all.]

Shame it wasn't. [He scratches the back of his head.] Hakuji was a good guy. I learned from him myself. Like the guy you knew, I was never good with a sword. Hand to hand was a bit easier, though.

[A shrug.]

A lot of shit seemed to turn out shitty where you came from though. [He pauses, cheeks turning a faint shade of pink.] Wait, uh. Is that rude of me to say?

[infinitemist]

It's a fair assessment... Though even with all of the bad things that happened, we did have good times.

Funny how things like that transferred over, though. I still need to ask my Genya what he thinks of the situation with Akaza.

[ After all, Genya hates demons similar to himself, and has similar reasons for it. It's better to get a second opinion. ]

Were things better here?

[namuthing]

Hey, that's something.

[He recalls some of those good times from his own idle watching of his counterpart. Still, he couldn't help but feel sad watching it all play out, knowing how fleeting those moments would be.]

Pfft, you should. I've seen how those two talk to each other here. It's worth the laugh, I can tell you that much.

[Which... who knows if that's what Muichiro is expecting him to say. Oh well. He gives a shrug, looking a little... forlorn at the question.]

They were until they weren't. [Idly, he toes at the patch of dirt he'd been kneeling at.] Still didn't have the best upbringing, but 'nemi and I were able to pool enough money to move Ma and our siblings out here. We were part of the guard out here for a long time. And barring some of the weirder stuff in the woods, it was pretty normal.

Then it all went to shit in the blink of an eye. [He snorts.] Probably sounds familiar, considering the way things seemed to happen where you were from. Only we didn't really get the chance to live on after all of that.

[infinitemist]

[ It's not, but well... it being a shitshow was in the realm of possibility. Those two seem the type to butt heads one way or another. ]

Unfortunately... I'm glad you both at least had your time in the guard. It seems like at least that part was happy.

[ There's more he wants to say, but can't really bring himself to. It would sound weird, likely. ]

Were you and the other me friends?

[namuthing]

[They were still hot-headed, sure. They probably even squabbled. But there was never any reason to doubt that they were family, at least.]

It was. And, y'know, even after everything that happened, I don't regret coming here, or anything like that.

[He nods a few times, smile turning fond.]

We were, yeah. You would watch the siblings from time to time, if all of us were busy. We also hung out at the dojo, even if we were learning from different guys. And Senjuro was always around to patch us up if we ever got too banged up.

s'part of the reason I don't regret it. Wouldn't have met you two if not.

[infinitemist]

Senjuro... I never actually got to meet him properly. Kyojuro told stories sometimes though.

[ That he doesn't remember because he didn't consider it important enough to remember when he had amnesia. ]

It's nice knowing we were friends during your lives, though. Maybe we can all be friends again this time.

[namuthing]

He was a good guy, when I knew him. Learned medicine from his mom where Rengoku learned his swordsmanship from his dad. Whole dynamic seemed pretty nice.

[And not at all like what it was where Muichiro was from.]

I'm sure he would like that. Seemed pretty worried about you already. He really is a good kid, if you give him a chance.

[This is not the first time he's said this to someone.]

[infinitemist]

Admittedly I'm the reason we haven't met yet, not him.

[ He has no doubt Senjuro is a good kid. With Kyojuro looking out for him, there was no way he wasn't. ]

I didn't know their mother knew medicine, admittedly. It makes sense, though.

[namuthing]

You've had a lot to take care of, I bet.

[He's pretty sure Hashira don't know how to rest. At least not from what he's seen.]

To be honest, I couldn't tell you if that was just a here thing, or a there thing too. Guess it doesn't matter, though. She was good at it, as far as I know. Probably had to be, keeping the Rengoku family in one piece.

[They do have a habit of throwing themselves into danger.]

[infinitemist]

Well, that. And the fact I have a tendency of being a bit rough with my words.

[ He's better about that now, but it was still kind of true. And even if there was no malice in what he says, that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. ]

I wouldn't doubt it was both because of that. Some things certainly don't change.

[namuthing]

Now where have I heard that before.

[His younger self is miserable when it comes to using his words. Likely as Muichiro had seen by this point.]

Guess you make a good point. Someone probably had to patch those guys up in your time, too. They seem real good at getting into trouble.

[infinitemist]

I'm not sure what they were up to during your life or how much you've seen... but they were a family of demon slayers in ours. They specialized in flame breathing and always served as flame hashira.

[ Which, he's realizing, places a lot of strain on that one family. No wonder his father crumbled like wet tissue paper.

But given what happened to Kyojuro's mother... well he had little room to talk. His mother also fell ill, so he's sympathetic. ]

I'm sure her boys kept her busy. It's a dangerous job.

[namuthing]

Yeah, I picked up on that. It gets a little muddled, since my guy here didn't exactly cross paths with Rengoku all that often. But I picked up on the important parts. And I, uh. Saw when my younger self heard what happened.

[Even if they hadn't been close, the younger Genya had still been upset to learn of Rengoku's death. After all, he was a Hashira, the best of the best. If one of them could fall, then what did it mean for him?]

They definitely did. But she knew how to keep them in line, too. 'm sure you know the type. Gentle, to the point that you'd feel bad getting on their bad side. And capable of being plenty scary, too.