logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: GRAVES

EVENT LOG:
GRAVES

characters: everyone.
location: Bonfire Square.
date/time: July 12-19.
content: mysterious shrines appear and bring visions of death.
warnings: likely violence and potentially gore.

time to pay your respects.

It happens when no one is looking, when most of the town is asleep and the rest are inside. A makeshift cemetery has come to Beacon, taking up residence in the middle of Bonfire Square. Each monument, shrine, and altar is dedicated to someone who now resides here, a memorial of their previous life.

Some may be drawn by curiosity, others by fear, and some may simply have to pass through this strange graveyard to get to the Bonfire itself. Whenever a person gets near, the altars beckon with a mysterious urge— an urge to approach, and an urge to leave something behind. They will feel compelled to make offerings at the various shrines, but doing so has a curious effect; it causes one to experience the death of the person whose grave they've honored.

Whether you resist the compulsion or give in willingly (or something in between), you'll also have to wrestle with the fact that a grave exists for you. Will you let your death be known, or try your best to keep it secret? Destroying it sure won't work, as it will return— with a duplicate somewhere else in town.

However you choose to deal with this, one thing is hard to ignore— this a tangible reminder of your death, and the fact that it's probably permanent.

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[ wanda holds mary's face in her hands, fingers threading softly into her hairline. ]

Why is that, Mary?

[ she's already had an onslaught of memories of the fight, and she does her best to let the child speak for herself. ]

I wish to get ice for your bruises, your neck that hurts, and keep you safe.

[ wanda glances at the memorial marker. ]

Are you afraid to leave it? The grave?

[Shuddering, Mary nods.]

I have to keep it safe. I have to keep my secret safe.

[ wanda nods back. ]

I understand. Secrets are important, sometimes, as long as they do not hurt anyone.

[ she places her fingers lightly under mary's chin, just a feather touch. ]

What if I take you to your room, then I come back and guard it for you? Would that be alright with you, Mary?

[It had been enough, when others had asked her. And Wanda's being so nice and so kind, it should be easy to say yes. But then he's in her head again. That boy...that boy. Instead of answering right away, her gaze darts down until she sees her blood-covered palette knife. And then, after that, she sees a rock placed at her humble grave, and she knows.]

He saw it! He saw it...he saw! He saw! He'll tell on me!

[ wanda places one hand over mary's, covers both it and the knife, covers up the blood, right in mary's lap. she hasn't seen anything yet, she hopes not to, for the girl's sake, as fearful as she is of this great secret — this side of herself no one must know.

wanda knows exactly how that feels.

her hand is warm and protective over mary's much smaller one, and the weapon beneath it. ]

His name is Vanitas. I know him. I will make sure he keeps your secret.

[ wanda tilts her head down, to make sure to catch mary's eyes, keep them steady. ]

But you must not play with him again. Understood? Not safe.

[Mary breaths heavily, frantic, but as her words sink in she nods.]

You promise?

[ she continues to hold mary's hand; soon she adds her other, like a bond, a covenant. ]

I cannot be everywhere at all times. I know Mary understands that because I am not a god. Wanda died like Mary died. Yes?

[ wanda pulls their clasped hands into the center of their embrace, the child still shielded in her lap. ]

But if I see Vanitas try to harm you, or tell on you, I will stop him. I promise.

[ she leans forward and presses a kiss to the top of mary's forehead. ]

I am going to speak with him about the way he played with you. It was wrong.

[Mary blinks, hiccups, and wipes her face.]

You gave me a kiss!

[It hits her suddenly after a moment--not just the way Wanda's speaking, but the way she's acting, the way she's holding her so gently, like she's something precious.]

That's never happened before.

[ something deep and aching throbs in her heart, a sorrow that pumps through her circulatory system all the way out to her fingertips, where they still hold one of mary's little hands. wanda lets one go, only to thread her fingers through mary's tousled hair, and her smile for her is reverent and steady — like the lantern glow beside them. ]

Is that alright with you, Mary? It is what my mother used to give me. A kiss on my head when I felt sad or hurt.

Is it nice to have a mother? I always wanted one...I thought...I'd be so happy if I had one.

[As Wanda smiles, Mary begins to smile, too, wider and happier, seeming, at least for the moment, to completely forget about the ordeal she just underwent. Maybe it's a coping mechanism, or maybe just a symptom of what she is, the way she can so quickly compartmentalize.]

[ wanda tilts her head down at mary; her smile remains, but she lets the honesty billow through carefully, like spreading out lace. ]

It was nice. I lost her when I was just a little older than you.

[ she keeps her gaze level with mary's. ]

Mothers are wonderful, sometimes. Some mothers are not nice. But I will tell you one true thing — you can be a good, strong, brave girl... a happy girl... with or without a mother.

You lost her? Like I lost my father?

[That's so sad. Why do people go away? Especially when you love them just oh so much? Mary responds with an equal level of honesty, if tinted with the innocence of her evident youth:]

I still want one, even if I don't need one. I want a family! More than anything!

[ this little girl is every beat of wanda's broken heart. the day she lost her parents. the day she lost pietro. then vision, and everyone else.

despite any misgivings, despite all her inner voices telling her not to mislead the girl or disappoint her (for how many times now, how many exactly, has wanda failed everyone she loved?), wanda's will crumbles. she takes mary by the shoulders, her heart brimming in her eyes, and says with every fiber of solemnity she possesses, ]

I will be your family, Mary, if you want me.

[Mary drops her knife. As it clatters against the ground, she throws herself fully into Wanda's arms, wrapping her arms around the woman's neck.]

You mean it? Oh, you'll be my family? Of course I want you! I'll want you forever and ever!

[She just can't take it back. Can't ever, ever, ever take it back.]

[ wanda holds mary tight, knowing full well she has gotten herself in deep with a little girl who has some hyde to her jekyll. but she's handled tougher, and more terrifying, and every bit as precious.

there is nothing more horrifying than a miracle.

that was a lie. foolishness.
what's more horrifying is losing one.

wanda will safeguard this one, right here. for whatever amount of time they have together. ]

You are my family, now, [ she murmurs fiercely into mary's hair, ] and I am yours. Mary and Wanda.

[It's so easy. She never thought it would be so easy. She thought that if she'd ever have a family, she'd have to work so, so hard to find it. But here...this magical place, it's full of people just like this. People who will have her. Who don't look at her and see a monster.

Maybe it's not so bad in the dark, with a great big fire.]

I'll draw you pretty pictures so you know that I love you from now on!

EVENT LOG: GRAVES

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