logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: FEAST OF LIGHTS

Entry tags:

EVENT LOG: FEAST OF LIGHTS

characters: everyone.
location: around town.
date/time: december 23 - 30
content: Holiday cheer is here!
warnings: n/a. please cw tags appropriately.

a show of lights

When characters wake on the "morning" of the 23rd, they'll find all of Beacon is lit up beautifully. Spirits have carefully placed candles all around the town, lighting up the familiar buildings and streets with a warm, comforting glow. If others wish to help, they're more than welcome, but it won't take too long: they've clearly spent all night getting things ready. If asked, Rastus will explain the spirits do this every few years, and yes, those candles are lit from the bonfire, but he'll get them back before the end of the event.

Once the spirits finish their task, it's time to hand out dreidels! While the four-sided toy has the usual Hebrew letters on it, characters will soon realize that they've little correlation to the typical rules. Instead: each side offers a certain kind of prize (listed below). Characters can play against the spirits or among themselves, but either way, they'll find a personal dreidel in their possession for the duration of the event.

secret santa

Of course, the spirits aren't the only ones in a holiday mood. Thanks to the tireless (and secretive) efforts of Eleven, quite a number of people wake up to find a present nearby. The wrappings vary from elegant to, well, an effort, and the gifts range form big to small, but there's no doubt each was given with at least a little thoughtfulness in mind.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ah yes that time you died good job.]

Ah, good. Frankly, every new place envisioned in the dreams is worth finding, sooner or later, but I was quite torn between a potential cache of supplies that will benefit us in another battle, or a place that may hold a variety of information. As I say, both are important. I'll be interested to hear what you find, and focus my efforts on the medical center then.

Unless, of course, it snows before we get out there.

Snow already delayed this current trip, but I asked Rastus to bring in snowshoes and skis on the next ferry. And I'm bringing the Grandmaster.

[Look, if they can't get through snow with Kuai along then really what are they even doing.]

Medical supplies will also help for the next time the spirits attack, so I agree they're a good priority. Hopefully at that point we'll have enough of the basics where we can then completely focus on more long-term problems.

[GOOD WORK man he's so impressed with that planning]

Precisely. The fewer supplies we have to requisition from Rastus, the better. Waiting on the ferry all the time could turn into a detriment rather quickly, all we need is a spirit attack right on that day.

[he changes the subject slightly, gesturing to what remains of any decorations or extra candles still left in the tavern; he knows there are more outside] Do you think any of of this is some sort of attempt to apologize for that mess? They held a festival after the last attack, after all.

[An actual professional, this one.

He sips at his wine as he assesses the room and its decorations.]

Could be. I know it's supposed to be part of some Earth holiday, but that doesn't explain why the spirits would want to be so involved. The idea that they're trying to make up for what some of them did is a good one. At some point it begins to feel hollow, though. "Sorry we killed some of you, here are some trinkets."

Some Earth holiday. [d r y as the desert] Not mine, even if I hail from the same world. Sometimes I wonder what our descendants have done with the world we left them...

I'm still annoyed with the merchants and their ability to just flitter off and leave us to our own devices, but we shall see what comes of their next visit. No mysteries here are going to be so easy to solve, it seems. [huffing into his wine] I will still take the spirits waving candles at us over those folks.

They weren't so bad.

[Sure, vanishing without an actual offer to help isn't great, but Pluto was plenty forthcoming with him and happy to answer his questions without him having to barter for her answers. People here just seem to start off abrasive, and that's their downfall. Catch more flies with honey, and all that, when he's not just listening and absorbing whatever is said around him. The latter doesn't work so well here on account of people's attitude problems.]

I'm looking forward to their return, actually. But in the meantime, the spirits have plenty to tell us too if we can figure out how to make sense of any of it. We're not without resources and information, we just need to make better use of them.

[better you than him, apparently, he got nothing]

Yes, I'm aware. If only my wife were with me, she would have made sense of the flutes immediately and perhaps gained us a real understanding of the spirit-language.

[but, that also condemns his lady to death which...yknow selfish or not he can't do that]

A musician, then?

[Hopefully asking about the man's wife doesn't venture too far into too emotional and depressing a realm of conversation. He doesn't know much about Cao Pi's prior life, really. Not the personal side of it, aside from the poetry and Go.]

[it's the perfect time for this, what with the wine and all...]

She is. An expert flute player. It wasn't why I married her, but finding out her talents only confirmed that I made a good choice. [but since he could ramble about Zhenji all night...] Have you ever fallen in love, commander?

No.

[Flatly, as if rejecting the whole idea with one word. Which calls for another drink of the wine, and a shrug.]

Sounds nice, but it's not for me. Maybe someday, I always used to think, but now I guess I've run out of time.

[oof yeah that's sure an answer. No judging, though]

For anyone you might have known before. In this place, who is to say?

[this is precisely the time for wine and gossip, so] I never thought I would marry for love. I was raised to expect to be pawned off to an arranged marriage to form political alliances. Essentially, I got very lucky.

[Right, sure. Love in this place, where they're all dead and things keep getting worse. Where after another couple of years, they might all be wiped from existence. How romantic. Besides, he is convinced that he's wholly undesirable.

Of course, he keeps finding people who insist on friendship and he'd thought that previously unlikely too, so who indeed is to say?]

Lucky in that you beat the system, or that you fell in love with the woman whose nation you were to be allied with?

[don't count yourself down yet Rosinante, people here are DTF at least. Everybody get lucky!]

The former. My father actually destroyed the Yuan family shortly afterward so it was something of a moot point. My lady was fierce and prepared to fight me, but I confess I fell for her at first sight and could not raise my blade against her.

[That's the sort of cute love story one would find in fiction, rather than real life. Rosinante can't help himself - blame the alcohol, maybe, but he smiles.]

And then - what? She laid down her sword also?

[Because as charming as it is, you typically don't just fall in love with someone who was about to try and kill you. Whose father killed her relatives, presumably. So yeah, cute, but also a little weird when you think too hard about it.]

[it's all romantic so long as he doesn't bring up the fact that their army killed her husband, conveniently widowing her in time to get charmed by this asshole]

Oh, not at all. Fortunately, another general intervened and attacked me instead, so she was free to escape. She fled from me twice before finally coming to me, the third time I crossed her path, and changing sides. It is quite the tale, something I plan to tell our children once we have any.

[He's tactful enough to decline to remind Cao Pi that he's dead and won't be having any kids at this point. Sorry, man.]

It really is quite the story. Do your people believe in fate?

[WELL....yeah ok shh it's fine.

He rolls the word around in his head, in its various definitions, before answering.]

In the sense of something pre-ordained, no, not so much. Admittedly, I am neither a Taoist nor a Confucian but I know the philosophies. It is ideal to fulfill one's destiny, but knowing what that means is not exactly an obvious and easy thing.

I just had to wonder. Repeatedly running across her, only for her to finally change sides, I could see that being called fate in some societies. Especially if you tell it later as a story.

[He, of course, doesn't have a particularly strong belief in fate - except for those edge cases where he does have to wonder. Is there some force that guided Law's survival? Maybe, maybe not. But the will of D does make for one compelling myth. Maybe he just wants to believe in it, as if doing so would ensure that Law is still doing all right out there.

God but he's bad at this drinking and forgetting thing.]

[more drinking, the forgetting comes as a result]

Perhaps. I, for one, believe in my ambition and seizing the opportunities. Though, a little bit of luck doesn't hurt.

If there is nothing more that I can do but reminisce, then so be it. I would rather she lived and carried on for our people than be here with me. Destiny is apparently cruel and not at all what any of us anticipated.

[He nods, for he knows the feeling. Not romantic love, but love all the same. He wouldn't want one of the tiny number of people he truly cares about to turn up here. They should live on without him.]

It is, but what you gave might be exactly what she needed to survive. I'm sure she remembers you with all the care she had when you were there with her.

[Or are you just projecting, Rosinante.]

Yes, I'm sure...

[he and Zhenji have always been madly in love, there's no doubt there. But he can perhaps guess at the sense of commiseration in those words, and thinks back to that death vision so long ago. Finally, that curiosity he's held to himself all this time can resurface.]

Who was the boy?

[That's the sort of question that would raise his hackles, were he an animal that had them. He regards Cao Pi with a long look, realizing that given the obvious tension on his face from the sheer unexpectedness of that question, he can't just pretend he doesn't know what the man is talking about.]

When did I mention him?

[He doesn't remember doing so. Where did this come from?]

[SURPRISE here let him top off your glass to make up for it]

The visions of each others' deaths we had, shortly after arriving. The sheer force of emotion I experienced through your eyes took my breath away, I rarely have the chance to ever allow myself to feel so vividly.

[he won't ask further questions until he gets that one answered. All the same, that's a vulnerability offered in exchange for the explanation. He really does envy anyone who can just feel and not guard themselves constantly.]

[He relaxes a little, frowning, and focuses more on the drink being poured than Cao Pi's face for now. It's at least a small relief to know he hadn't somehow spoken about Law without intending to. He's nowhere near drunk enough for that.]

You've been holding onto that for a long time, haven't you.

[Bastard. That deserves a drink to give him a moment to collect his thoughts and recompose himself.]

He was sick. I took him into my care so as to find a cure. It would have killed him, otherwise.

[his only answer is a raised eyebrow. Yep he sure has been. There was a 'later' requested and boy, it's later all right.]

Truly an altruist. Were you successful?

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