logsinthenight | INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, as well as the rest of town.
date/time: october 1-3.
content: beacon's newest batch of residents arrives on the ferry. scavenger hunt prizes are awarded. the ferry capsizes in a blaze of glory.
warnings: n/a.

welcome to beacon.

It's dim, and the room won't stop swaying, gently rocking you back and forth. A loud sound startles you fully awake, a deep, moaning call: a foghorn. As your eyes adjust, you note faint red light streaking through the room from a tiny, round window.

You've found yourself in a private room, lying on a bed. The last things you remember are the events that led up to your death. Beside you is a folded tablet and a lantern that glows steadily with a healthy flame.

You're on a ship. And that ship is docking.

Making your way to the deck, and eventually the pier, you find only moonlight to greet you, and a dark forest beyond. There are other people here, each with their own unique lantern, and many of them look just as lost as you are. On the ferry you've just disembarked from, the speaker system begins to play a song.

In the distance, across the waters of the lake, you can see the tall silhouette of a lighthouse, its red light slowly turning.

•••

Luckily for all the newcomers, the tablet and the town have some resources available for playing catch up! In fact, as soon as they're prompted to enter a network username, an app containing all sorts of useful welcome information will launch. Newcomers can always check out the weekly bulletins and the records in town hall as well, and everyone's welcome to get in touch with the NPCs through their inboxes.

When the ferry docks, it seems as though you've been spared from any weirdness this month! It's good to have a break now and then, isn't it? And if you participated in the scavenger hunt, you're probably eagerly awaiting your promised prize—

But, ohp, what's that sound? Is that the ferry's engine firing up again? The ship roars to life again as some brave mutineers overthrow its autopilot system. Crowley and the Winter Soldier man the ferry's control room while Aziraphale flits between the cargo hold and the deck, attempting to assuage any accidental kidnapees with reassuring words and cake.

Unfortunately, the joyride is shortlived. Between the ferry's complex control panel and the haphazard attempts to override it, all the group manages to do is send the boat charging full speed ahead—which would be great if it wasn't facing the beach. The ferry jolts forward and careens smack into the dock, tearing down the entire structure and punching a sizeable hole in the ferry's hull.

Well, that could've gone better. But there's no time to dwell on the mistakes of the very recent past! The ferry is sinking, and quickly! Looks like you'll have to scramble if you want to save what's left in the cargo hold before the whole thing goes under... And that's gonna be awfully tricky without a dock.

Oh, and maybe save the new arrivals? Make sure they don't drown? But, then again, if they go down with the ship, they'll just show up again in the church... The same can't be said for the restock for the general store!

As smoke billows from the damaged ferry and the last the harbor disappears into the lake, the Lighthouse Keeper appears on the network with a pretty straightforward question. Also, the ferry's song changes, so. That happens.

ooc.

Hey there, wonderful players, and welcome to In the Night! For this intro log, you are officially without a chaperone. Rastus is back at the bonfire, Will is characteristically elusive, and Robin is, well, you know where she's at. It's up to the veteran residents to fill in the new folks.

And regarding the ferry disaster... Well, you have some options. Here's what you need to know:
This is a player plot organized by MJ, Xy, and Gail! A big thank-you to them for providing us with this intro log event!

Whether or not your character and any packages addressed to them are affected by this plot is up to you! If you would like to assume your character avoids dealing with this chaos and somehow grabs their delivery without issue, go right ahead!

Similarly, if you're looking for an opportunity to make your character's life harder, injury and death are always on the table! Or maybe it's your package that takes the abuse, lost forever to the lake's depths or washing up all waterlogged a week or two down the road. In short: How you engage with this plot is entirely up to you.

What happens to the ferry and the dock? Within a couple of hours, the ferry will sink completely, and anything on board when it goes down is lost forever. Which bodes super well for the ferry, huh? Sure hope the next batch of newcomers has some strong swimmers. Oh, and the dock is gone, too. If you want it back, you'll have to rebuild it.

As for Crowley, Aziraphale, Bucky, and anyone else on the ferry or dock during the collision... Hope you boys like concussions, bruised ribs, and a broken bone or two, because you've got 'em! The exact injuries are up to you, but they're the equivalent of a semi-serious car accident.

One last thing: The fate of the shop restocks, including all of the food for the month, depends on you! Let us know if your character will be participating in the rescue attempt. In exchange for letting us beat up your character, you can save a portion of the month's supplies! We'll let you all know on October 3 what the rations for the rest of the month will look like.

DELIVERIES

The following packages can be found in the cargo hold:

The monthly store restock
For Daylight: A variety of gardening tools piled into a wheelbarrow, as well as packets of seeds for the following plants: Boneset, dogtooth violet, starflower, Carolina springbeauty, pipsissewa, bloodroot, red columbine, narrowleaf blue-eyed grass, harlequin blueflag, and purple pitcherplant; he will also receive a translation for the following: An invitation to join the speaker as company
For Aziraphale: A record player, the complete discographies of a variety of bands (Abba, Rob Zombie, Tool, Hanson, Eiffel 65, and Spice Girls), a two-tiered wedding cake, and packets of seeds for the following plants: Strawberry, cherry tomato, cucumber, blackberry, carrot, potato, raspberry, and pumpkin; he will also receive a familiar copy of a familiar book: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, along with a blue ribbon that reads "BEST IN SHOW"
For Bruce: A handheld metal detector and a rechargeable battery for it, a chisel, a climbing harness (that, according to the packaging, is the #1 Safety Rated!) and a 50 ft. coil of rope
For Cao Pi: A go board
For Rosinante: A sextant, and 3 cartons of cigarettes; he will also receive a translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Danger! Run and hide!"
For Kuai: A basket of 16 mooncakes, as well as incregredients for more
For Javert: 3 pairs of handcuffs, a greatcoat in Javert's size, and a trunk full of swords in varying styles and conditions; he will also receive an electric chainsaw
For Kol: A record player, the complete discographies of a variety of bands (New Kids on the Block, Weird Al Yankovic, Sound Garden, Ke$ha, INXS, and Spinal Tap), a cooler full of blood bags and ice packs, and an assortment of stamps; he will also receive a translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "I'm lost" or "Need directions"
For Elena: A journal; she will also receive a portable generator (powerful enough for a single power tool or small appliance; can be charged through a typical wall outlet)
For Xayah: A thick journal and a glass vial of black ink; she will also receive a sizeable roll of barbed wire, as well as a stuffed animal
For Ignis: A spice restock (with a few new ones mixed in!), 3 paired of leather gloves, and... 12? pairs? of glasses? They're all in slightly different prescriptions, though. A variety pack!; he will also receive a power drill (runs on a rechargeable battery or can be plugged directly into a wall socket)
For Riku: A wood stove, a set of paints, and 5 canvases; he will also receive a translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Looking for water" or "Thirsty"
For Matt: A rosary and a Braille Bible... which is more of a collection of volumes, really; he will also receive a translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Looking for food" or "Hungry"
For Noctis: Two complete sets of the Lord of the Rings series (except, wait a minute... they appear to be the novelizations of the movies); he will also receive an SD card that, when plugged into a tablet, will upload GPS directions to a new location...
For Rosalind: A crate of basic all-purpose lab equipment, a fancy microscope, an emergency eye wash station, a mortar and pestle, a lab coat, a Lite Brite, and... the things she needs to make things float, whatever those are; she will also receive a pair of dousing rods (that will actually point in the direction of water, checkmate atheists)
For Jason: A translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Sympathy" or "I'm sorry"
For Coraline: A translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Teach me"
For Eliot: A bottle of hospital grade painkillers (it contains 10 doses and functions similarly to Vicodin)
For Allie: A bottle of strong antibiotics (it contains 10 doses and can fight off most any infection)
For Vanitas: A portable camping stove (runs on a portable battery or can be plugged directly into a wall socket)
For Hope: A soldering iron (runs on a portable battery or can be plugged directly into a wall socket)
For Quentin: A cannister of foaming bandage (can be used 5 times to immediately close a wound/stop semi-severe bleeding)
For Mary: An SD card that, when plugged into a tablet, will upload GPS directions to a new location...

If you submitted an item request last month and we've missed it here, let us know!

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Woah, hey.

[ and he's off the bench, in front of eleven with one knee bent and the other in the dirt. the movement's accompanied by a quick wince because wow, he'd forgotten about his wrist. he crouches so that he's eye-level with eleven, so that she can see his face. there's an earnestness to his expression, almost as if he's asking eleven to believe what he says. ]

You wanna know how many times MJ's broken up with me? More times than I can count. [ he tells her, in a hurried breath. they'd even tried to get married, and— well, things hadn't worked out. but somehow, they'd always ended up back together again, and peter had thought that maybe this time, they could make it work — really work, without anything getting in the way.

(that'd been a thought, because then he'd ended up here.)

but that doesn't matter, not right this second, because this isn't about him. it's about a heartbroken girl, who's never had to deal with this before. ]

You wanna know something else? I always find her again, or she finds me, and it is okay. Whatever else there is? None of that matters, not really, because when it comes down to it, we've got each other. I'm not going to say it'll be easy, and I'm not going to say things are going to be okay now, 'cause they're not. This — everything here is messed up and none of us are supposed to be here. But d'you know what else that means? Because we're not supposed to be here, we'll be able to go home and make things okay. [ beat. ] Okay?

[ he doesn't know how much of it is the truth — about making it back home, about things being okay, but he's got to believe it because if he doesn't, what else is there? he'd like to think he'll find his way back, too, but if he doesn't, that's — it's not okay, but he can live with it if it means kids like eleven get a fighting chance. ]

You've just gotta hold tight. Mike'll be there.

[It's painful and comforting, the way his words ring of what Max had said.

Eleven had been so sure, because Max had been - that breaking up was no big deal, because Mike would come back like Lucas did, that it would be fine, and Eleven had no reason to assume otherwise or know better.

... because I love her and I can't lose her again.

Mike...]

What if... what if the Mind Flayer gets him?

[And she rubs at her eyey, tries to quell the burning, hot tears that leave her skin tingling and make her breath hitch and the words catch in her throat.]

It wanted me first... and then.. then all my friends... if I'm gone...

[It's why she hung her heart so hard onto Aziraphale's promise of trying to get her home. She needs to go home - she needs to save them. Her own life or death doesn't matter unless it's the difference between saving them and leaving them vulnerable.]

Wh-what if I come back.. and they're gone?

[What if she never gets to reconcile with Mike - never gets to call Hopper 'Dad' for him to hear...

There's something tight in the way her shoulders shake, too small for the weight they carry.]

It's... all my fault...

[ it wanted me first, she says, and then all my friends. peter's heard those words before, countless times, in slightly different variations, but hearing them from a child is different. he doesn't move, but he does lower his head, just slightly, just for a moment. ]

I can't answer that. [ peter admits. ] But you can't let yourself give into thoughts like that. All we've got are what ifs and it's — human nature, I guess, to think that maybe we'll go back to the worst, because we weren't there to help.

[ he thinks, suddenly, of mj calling his name, and it's a thought he swallows. mj had beat the chameleon, right? she'd be fine, she would be—. ]

I could lie to you and say that I know it'll be fine, but— [ he presses his lips together into a line, then sighs, resolutely. he doesn't have the answers, not here. there's still so much that none of them knows, and if robin or the doc know, they're not telling. ] But Mike's not here, right? So that's gotta count for something. [ he catches himself before he says your friends aren't here, because he doesn't know what nancy or steve mean to eleven, and even then, he can't say he'd wish this place on many people. ]

I'm going to tell you a secret though, alright? [ pause. "it's all my fault". ] A couple of secrets, but you can't tell anyone, okay?

[It's calming, and Eleven doesn't quite understand why, just accepts it. Someone else might theorize it's because in the fact of her storm of emotions, Peter remains calm and patient and earnest, and she needs that. Her own emotions are quick to turn volatile if aggravated, and they don't need the risk of her powers going haywire right here and now. More than anything though, it's his honesty that helps her, that feels like Hopper's hand in her hair. Soothing. Good.

Eleven still sniffles, breath hitching on the intake every now and again, but she's calmin down, the onslaught of emotion ebbs and is gentled. Still she reaches up, wipes at the tears, and then drops her hands back into her lips. She doesn't look at him for a moment, instead reaches down to the hair tie around her wirst. She pulls it up, off her wrist and into her fingers instead, so she can twist it a little, toy with the material. If he happens to look when she does so, he might spot it in the light of their lanterns and the bonfire; "011" in black against the thin skin on the inside of her left wrist where she wears the blue hair tie that is now clearly something of a physical reminder to her, of comfort and good things.

Finally she looks up at Peter, eyes still wet and red and puffy, but tear tracks drying on her cheeks. Eleven nods.]

Yes.

[And then, carefully, as if she's unsure whether he'll understand the importance and what she says in between the words:]

Friends don't lie.

[ he waits for her to calm, patiently; his attention's caught by the movement, by her fiddling with the hair tie on her wrist. he'd guess it's important to her, from someone important, and maybe he'll ask her about it one day, but not now, not when she's processing the fact that the people important to her aren't here.

but then she speaks — friends don't lie, she says, and he glances down, expression flickering into a momentary wince. it's a nice, neat sentiment, one that says, he thinks, more of her age than anything else. it'd be great if it were that simple, if sometimes the truth didn't get people hurt or worse. sometimes it's safer to tell a lie than to tell the truth.

a breath then, and he looks back at her. ] Right, [ he answers, the corners of his lips quirking up into a slight smile. ] Friends don't lie.

[ he shifts his weight and moves until he's sitting on the ground, legs crossed, looking up at eleven; he opens his mouth as if to speak, then pauses, just for a second. glances up at the sky, lips twisting; his expression says, just for a moment, 'so how am I going to say this?' ] —I have a friend. Something like this [ he holds a hand out, palm facing upwards. (this.) ] has happened to him, a couple of times. He always thinks it's his fault, too, but d'you know what? He's an idiot. He blames himself for everything, even when it's not his fault. Sometimes things just happen, Eleven, and there's nothing we can do to change them. The things that we can change? The things that we can make better? That's what we've got to focus on.

Can you promise me you'll try?

Edited 2019-10-14 16:06 (UTC)

[She listens, because that's something she's good at - listening, learning, understanding - or trying to, at the very least. She gets it wrong sometimes - or gets only the very basic idea of it.

This, though, she thinks she gets.

We are not stupid.

She pullsher legs up and folds them. If Eleven's aware that there on the bench, she's copying Peter's posture, it doesn't show. It just appears that she's thinking, and mirrors him quite unconsciously. It's what she does - he'll notice that more and more the longer he knows her. She mimics people. It's how she learns. it's how she becomes a person - by taking on bits and pieces of the people she attaches herself to. Eleven has barely ever been her own person - she is, instead, a reflection of the people who help her grow.]

Focus on what we can change.

[She repeats it, earnest and attentive, like a valuable lesson learned.

Friends don't lie.

We are not stupid.

Focus on what we can change.

Right now, she can't change many things - she can't fix the fact that she's here, that Nancy and Steve are here. She can't fix the losses that Hopper and Mike and the others have to go through as a result. She can't fix the danger she's left them in.

But she can help keep Nancy and Steve save here. She can help this place, in whatever ways she can. She can't save her friends, not yet - but she can still try to save who and what she can, here and now.]

Yes. I promise.

[Andthen she repeats the other lesson she's learned:]

A promise is something you can't break. Ever.

[So she'll keep trying to focus on what she can do, not what she can't do for home.

Eleven looks at Peter, and nods as if to underline her conviction. She's still sad - she will never not be sad - but she'll be okay. He's given her a rope to hang onto for the time being.]

[ peter's learned over time that there are some things that aren't so black and white, some things that make a lot more sense in theory than they do in practice. promises, though? she's not wrong, although it's less a case of can't and more a case of shouldn't, and the ones that you do, you take responsibility for.

(he should know.) ]

Good. [ and he exhales. it's an audible breath, not exactly one he'd been holding, but it still manages to be a tangible release of tension. ] I promise too.

[ he pauses and all at once seems to relax, leaning backwards and resting his weight on his (good) arm outstretched behind him. ]

So, El— Eleven. You've got to be hungry, right? [ or, what he means by that, is he's hungry and this has been quite the conversation, and food is one of those things that helps to make everything a little more tolerable. the food in beacon isn't exactly good, and there are things that peter misses, intensely, like his aunt's wheatcakes; and there are things that he misses a little less intensely, but still manage to be intrinsically linked to home, like joe's or cucciniello's, or that one place that mj likes that does the bagels the size of her face.

food, for peter, is kind of like home. ]

[ Something in her demeanor changes, then, very subtly. Turns the troubled soul back into a child. And with that she seems...

Shy.

She's shy with Peter, then. ]

Friends... call me El.

[ Not a statement. An offer. It means something. ]

Mike suggested... El. I tried Jane, but... El.

[ Eleven swallows a little, but then nods, to herself and to him. ]

I'm El. Also, yes. I'm hungry.

[ peter has nicknames — petey, petey-boy, tiger; gwen had called him mr. p — but there are none he can really offer her in return. he glances at her then, expression thoughtful: he doesn't quite know how 'jane' and 'el' sit together and honestly, he imagines they don't, but that's a question for another day; a day when eleven hasn't almost drowned, when she hasn't been told there's a chance she's dead.

mike sounds like a good catch, he almost says, before catching himself and deciding that opening that can of worms (again) isn't quite where he wants to take this conversation. instead, then: ]

Okay, El, [ he repeats, with emphasis. ] That's great, because I'm starving. [ peter wouldn't describe himself as always hungry, but he's prepared to concede that he can just about always eat. ] And I was planning on swinging by the store to pick a few bits up. You want to check it out with me, or are you going to wait here for Nancy and Steve? I could bring you something.

I will go with you.

[ It's okay - she trusts him enough for this, and will trust him more after.

Eleven pushes to her feet, hesitates for a bit while Peter does the same.

Here's the thing: He's been kind to her. He's nice, she thinks. Peter let her cry, and told her truths, and he treats her like a person, not a fragile, broken, jagged thing, even though that's what she is, too.

Her warms wrap tight around him as she steps into his personal space and hugs him, face hidden in the fabric of his shirt. It's almost more clinging than hugging, and a little stiff. She's gotten used to this with family, and is still more hesitant about physical contact with others. Peter's a friend though. She's already decided that.

There's a muffled 'Thank you' that almost gets lost between them. ]

[ peter's surprised by the hug: his eyes widen, just for a second, and he looks down at the top of eleven's head with brief bemusement before hugging her back. he's good at hugs, although given his wrist, this one's a touch more careful and awkward than it'd ordinarily be. he squeezes her tightly for a count of three, letting go when he feels her speaking more than hears the specifics of the words. ]

Hey, you haven't seen what the store has to offer yet. [ beat. ] Although I have gotten pretty great at cobbling together a gourmet meal from mystery can number one, mystery can number two, and this bread that I'm kind of convinced is more preservative than, like, yeast.

[ he gestures in the direction of the store - it's not far, and from there, peter figures he can either point her in the direction of "castle miners", or accompany her there. ]

—It's this way.

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INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

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