logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: FEAST OF LIGHTS

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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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[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?

I don't know. I hope so. I found a possible cure, and he took it, but I have no way of knowing if it worked.

[And he doesn't expect he'll find out, except that if he had to place a bet on the answer being yes or no, he'd bet yes every time. Law is brilliant and so very, very tenacious. He had the knowledge and the tools he needed. Hopefully he also had the time and energy to solve it, had escaped the family, hadn't suffered too badly from what Vergo did...

To keep from slumping in his seat, he drags his lantern over and lights a cigarette. He needs the distraction and he doesn't care right now if it's obvious.]

[Cao Pi regards his demeanor, considers the answer, and puts two and two together rather easily]

It was that shortly before you ended up here? Mm.

[there is a moment of discomfort, as he places their situations side by side and considers something he's more or less buried since that first day on the ferry - it's the same for him. He has no idea whether Ishida and Zhenji were able to defeat that monster, or collect what remained of their shattered army and get out of Hulao alive. All he has is the fact that they haven't shown up here, which means almost nothing. He shakes it off, though, with a quick toss of his head.]

Such is our curse: never to know. Not only is the future no longer ours, we can't even peer into it from afar.

Now, that may not be entirely true. I asked Pluto to obtain newspapers from my world - whatever she could manage to get from the months between then and now. We'll see if she manages to deliver, once the ferry arrives.

[Law's fate won't be in them, of course. Whether good or bad, the life of one small boy is hardly world news. But he's eagerly looking forward to hearing whatever else might have gone on in those months, even if it continues to be a series of disasters stemming from the so-called Sun Pirates and Germa and others' actions. At least he'll know.]

Oh? I should be curious to see what comes of that, for good or ill. Do let me see, would you?

[an actual polite request! Not a demand. But he's curious how things come from their home worlds and how effective this whole trade system is.]

That said, I remember what I saw. You sacrificed at a level many of us aspire to but may never be able to match.

[And he'd almost succeeded in rerouting the conversation toward the newspapers. Damnit. He does nod at the request though. Sure, Cao Pi, read his foreign newspapers - after he's had time to comb through them himself, both for his own satisfaction but also to verify there's nothing in there he doesn't want shared with these people. Depends on if the disasters wrought by his brother are in the papers Pluto manages to get.]

Well. I... appreciate that. I did what I had to do to keep him safe and that's all that mattered. I'd do it again if I had to.

Then, I hope there is at least a glimmer of good news for the future. The youngster seemed like he had gone through as much hell as you had.

[if he knows anything he knows battle damage when he sees it. Even his fairly new education in bullet holes, well, he gets it. But he takes a delicate sip of his wine, lowering his eyes in concession that he knows as much as he needs to know and Rosinante doesn't have to tell him any more than that]

His name is Law.

[A small concession, to show he doesn't actually hate having been asked all this. Despite his mixed opinions on Cao Pi, they've both been here longer than most now, and have shared things the rest will never know, like living through each others' deaths. They've all earned a little bit of honesty with each other, he figures.]

I have a feeling he's all right, somewhere. Despite everything. He's a survivor.

Law...

[odd name but sure, why not. I mean, not much odder than the tongue-twister that is the commander's name. He'll remember it, just in case.]

I wish I had your confidence in those I left behind. They're all strong, valiant, excellent warriors...but the thing we faced. I simply cannot know.

And realistically, of course, I can't say anything for sure either. All I can do is hope.

[After all, he can't bank all his optimism on something that might just turn out to be one big myth. Childhood fairy tales - or, bogeyman tales, more accurately. Even without the D in his name, though, Law is so tenacious that if he's ever going to just have to place faith in one thing for the entirety of his life, it's that boy. It's optimism, but not completely blind.]

Maybe next time Pluto and her crew come to town, you can ask her. She might know a way for you to find out.

[given that he had zero luck even getting to talk to her this time, he's not holding his breath]

We shall see. It's a loaded line of questioning, isn't it? Asking if they survived, and should the answer be no...what would that mean? In reality, not in terms of any previously-guessed notions of the afterlife.

[if his lovely lady went on to a better place...or to nothingness? Yeet him at the World Eaters so he can die for real at that point]

It would only mean they didn't survive. It's nice to know the answer, even if you can't do anything about it.

[He would want to know. Better than to keep on falsely hoping. But then, he values information. Likes to know what's true and what isn't. Many people are comforted by ignorance but he isn't one of them.]

Death is far less separate from the living world than I would ever have imagined.

[he shakes his head slightly, looming over his half-empty wineglass] But if they did not, why are they not here? Are they the lucky ones, who've not been brought back in this place, or am I?

[boy he sure doesn't feel lucky. Happy damn solstice to him]

We're the ones lucky enough to get a shot at protecting all the rest in all the worlds. Make the best of it.

[Everyone has their reasons to miss home and sure, it's fair that some will dwell on that sorrow to the point of paralysis. That's the real problem with knowing, he supposes - some might be so deeply attached to their people at home that if they find out they've died too, they might lose all motivation to fight. The World Eaters threaten everyone but not everyone cares to the degree that Rosinante does about everyone else, even those he has not met and will never meet.]

[Such wisdom. That's why they get along. Cao Pi considers it and then smiles very slightly, offering his glass for a tap and a toast]

So we shall. Even if no one in the living realms knows what we did. Glory is highly overrated.

[easy for him to say, he already knows how famous he is]

[Glory isn't even remotely a part of it, and nothing about this very simple statement requires a toast, but he raises his glass to clink against Cao Pi's anyway. It's polite to play along.]

I'll just be happy if we manage to do it at all. Don't need recognition for it.

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EVENT LOG: FEAST OF LIGHTS

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