INTRO LOG: JANUARY

[inthenightmods]

INTRO LOG: JANUARY
ALLES NEU

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, as well as the rest of town.
date/time: january 1-3.
content: beacon's newest batch of residents arrives on the ferry. the forest spirits engage in some new year's shenanigans.
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 glowing 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.

•••

A small crowd of forest spirits have shown up at the harbor to welcome the newcomers and to ring in the new year! They are very excited to promote and partake in the following traditions:

• Making lots of noise! Forest spirits are passing out a variety of noisemakers of all shapes and sizes with which to create a lively ruckus. Happy year!!!


• Setting off fireworks! Sort of! More like firecrackers, sparklers, and bottle rockets, but close enough, right? None of them cast light, but they're still pretty glowy things.


• Hanging bunches of onions from doorways! And also trees! And fences! And people! Hanging onions on everything! The more onions the better! Where did they get all of these onions!


• Smashing stuff! Specifically, the forest spirits are yeeting whole-ass pomegranates into doors and smashing every plate they can get their hands on before sweeping the debris into a pile. In fact, the forest spirits seem to be having small contests to see who can amass the largest pile of broken kitchenware. Hide your fruits and fine china, Beacon bits, because the spirits have a loose definition of "pomegranate" and "plate".


• Banging loaves of bread against walls! Maybe the tradition doesn't call for actual destruction or maybe it's just hard to smash a loaf of bread, but forest spirits are definitely running through town whapping hunks of bread on anything (and anyone) they run into. Some of the loaves even have coins and... acorns? Inside? Sure. All the better to bruise you with.


• Tossing flowers into the lake! They're all white flowers... mostly? Flowers are tough to come by this time of year, so it's more like white "anything that looks like a flower"s that are getting hucked into the water.


• Ringing bells! A couple of forest spirits have been tasked with scurrying up into the rafters of the church and town hall's clock tower, ringing the bells madly. Problem is, the spirits are trying to count and coordinate how many bell chimes peel through the town, but counting is hard and so is coordinating across a distance. So, uh, the bells are just kind of going hog wild for the day.


• Melting lead! One forest spirit covered in fur with a long tongue lolling out from their mask seems to be in charge of a lead-melting booth, where lantern-havers can melt bits of lead over a torch borrowed from the bonfire. The molten lead is then dropped into the lake and fished out with the spirits long, long tongue, after which they'll examine the lead's shape and hoot... something at whoever's dropped it in. A fortune for the new year? Tough to say. Even the other forest spirits don't seen to be able to understand this tonguey gent.


• Drinking burnt stuff! Be prepared for a forest spirit to run up and shove a scrap of paper and a glass of something bubbly into your hands. The idea, after some miming from the forest spirit, seems to be to write a wish or resolution onto the piece of paper, burn it in a bonfire torch, and mix the ashes with the glass of... something. Maybe you got lucky and it's champagne, but there's no telling what's in that glass. Bottoms up, though. You have to drink your wish to make it come true!


• Burning stuff! The forest spirits are making cute little dolls of each other and other folks in town! How cute! Less cute is that these cute little effigies are getting chucked right into the bonfire and swallowed up by the flames. Rastus is moderately distressed by this development, though he won't stop you from making your own effigies to burn.

By the end of the week, the forest spirits will have cleaned up their festivities, but for now, eh, get in the spirit of the holiday. It's a new year, after all.

Luckily for all the newcomers who may find themselves horribly confused by this welcome committee, their tablets and the town have some resources available for getting acquainted with their new situation! 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.

ooc.

Hey there, wonderful players, and welcome to In the Night! We're super jazzed to kick off the new year with a fresh crop of new players and characters.

For these New Year's festivities, you're all welcome to play out your own forest spirit interactions! NPC away, my dudes.

Go ahead and introduce yourselves on the OOC intro, and as you settle in, we'd like to ease everyone's minds with a little spoiler: More housing will be unlocked soon! A location discovery announcement will go up in the next week or so, whenever that exploration wraps up, and a whole crop of new housing options will then be made available. In the meantime, don't stress about finding lodging for your character. So long as everyone's settled by the end of the month, we're good to go!

DELIVERIES

The following packages can be found in the cargo hold:

• The monthly store restock
  
• For Midge: A menorah, a seder plate, a mezuzah, and a siddur
  
• For Rosalind: A dozen elegant eyepatches and the equipment necessary for her to construct her Lutece device
  
• For Hux: Equipment and tools to create mouse droids
  
• For Aziraphale: A fountain pen and two bottles of blue ink
  
• For Maes: A large crate full of collapsible cots and sleeping blankets, and an additional crate of various bedding and pillows
  
• For Crowley: A book of prophecies from home, a bottle of white wine, a box of various sizes of PVC tubing, a water pump, the goods, and a variety pack of seeds
  
• For Bucky: Bucky's armored vest from home
  
• For Daylight: A dozen packets of Soldiers' Kisses seeds
  
• For Rosinante: Two newspapers from Rosinante's home published in the months after his death, three bottles of nail polish (red, green, and pink), four cartons of cigarettes, and a crate full of various winter equipment
  
• For Peter: Webware
  
• For Rhys: A froyo machine
  
• For Kol: Kol's daylight ring from home
  
• For Elektra: A make-up case with a full set of make-up, six sets of good quality clothing (three for men and three for women), two bottles of fresh honey, three bags of coffee, and a Braille Bible (which comes in the form of seven very thick volumes)
  
• For Scully: A poster, three sets of medical scrubs, two sets of silk pajamas, and a bag with enough medical supplies to treat 5 major injuries or 10 minor injuries
  
• For Matt: An orchid-scented perfume, twin sai, a bottle of fancy tequila, three classic rock records, and a record player
  
• For Ignis: A violin, two dozen containers of various spices, a dozen skeins of knitting wool, and a dozen spools of colorful thread
  
• For Javert: A dozen outfits comprised of all 19th century clothing and a crate full of bedding materials

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

QUICKNAV
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Comments

[arsarcanum]

[ A ]

[ After dealing with the Hana situation, he'll wander back into town late at night to enjoy the festivities. He isn't the best at keeping his mind off the fact that he's, well, dead - even he, a staunch believer in optimism, can only do so much to keep his spirits up - but he's always been a curious kid! Not even death can keep him down. He isn't one-hundred percent certain that Hades or another death adjacent baddie isn't behind this! (He is hoping that the solution is that simple. That's about the level of complex problem solving he can handle here.)

He's sitting next to the lead spirit, with a cup of evil smelling... burnt.... wish juice. He's making a face! He's already sipped a bit of it, and he's peering into the cup to see how much he has left. He'll look up and see... You, presumably. And he'll spot your cup. ]

Hey, what'd you wish for? [ ... ] Wait, is this like stars? Like, if you tell someone, your wish won't come true?

[ B ]

[ Sora has a box over his head, playing a game of keep away with some extremely persistent spirits. He has no idea what is in the box! He has smashed his own share of boxes, so he is pretty sure there's something important in it, but he has a feeling that this box is carrying something important. It just came off the boat, after all. He also, inexplicably, has an onion chain looped over his neck. ]

Oh, no you don't. C'mon, at least let us take a look at what's inside before you start throwin' it all over the place!

[ ... They mob him. ]

AUGH-!

[ C ]

[ He'll be sitting anywhere, seriously struggling with the tablet. He's going to beat up the tablet if you don't intercede. See, look. He's going to slap this thing with his whole-ass hand. Ridiculous. ]

Why - won't - you - unlock -!

[ D ]

[ choose your own adventure!! let's make a snowman! or something! ]

C

[featherknives]

[She wants to tell him to take it easy on the device- but then remembers that she threw her own in the bonfire the first night she arrived here. So she doesn't stop him. Merely tilts her head a bit, wondering if he'll be able to figure it out.

Now that she thinks about it, were tablets always locked like this?]

How did it get locked up? [Xayah asks, crouching in front of him.] Did you do it or did it happen by itself?

[arsarcanum]

[ An immediate, reflexive reply. ] I didn't do anything! [ Beat. He stops slapping the poor thing and looks down at this stranger, then back at the tablet, considering. ] Okay, rewind. If I did something, I don't know what it was. I'm not really good at... stuff like this.

[ ... He'll look at her, eyes wide with hope, and gesture at her with the tablet. ] Do you know how to work this thing? I just tried a button and it froze on me after a second.

[ If she cares to actually look at the thing, the problem is actually that he opened the paint app, then somehow zoomed so far into the empty canvas that it appears that the entire thing's blanked out. All he needed to do was swipe up or zoom out. It still works perfectly well. He is just a moron. ]

[featherknives]

Alright, alright, don't panic. [She raises her hands up,] Even if you did break it, you'd get a new one. It's no big deal.

I chucked mine into the fire when I arrived and got a new one, without a scratch on it. [Not something she should be bragging about; her temper did go mild since then.] Let's see.

[She does take a look; she already crouched down so she might as well check out what's going on. She stares at the screen, moving her finger over it, left and right, until it finally clicks with her.]

Ah, you're in that shitty [cover your ears kids] drawing thing. Here, you go like this, [she swipes,] and this, [she presses 'X'.] There. Back to the main screen.

[arsarcanum]

A new one, huh... [ ... Kinda begs the question from where. He figures that smarter people have already asked that and probably got a few answers for their trouble, too. He'll just stick with being happy that he's getting free replacements at all.

due to crau shenanigans, not only has he heard worse, he has said worse. sort of. listen, it's not relevant right now! What matters is the tablet, which he will peek at upside as she works, probably crowding her headspace a bit. Sorry. He'll whoop when she's returned the tablet back to the home screen. It's a miracle! ]

You did it! [ ... He looks at the tablet ruefully. ] Probably shouldn't have started hitting it. Wasn't really thinking about it. [ He'll look her in the eye, a little embarrassed but thoroughly grateful. ] Thanks!

[featherknives]

Yup. [That she doesn't know. And she's been here for a while. It didn't really cross her mind to ask either because it didn't really matter- they were free, they were for communicating so it was good enough. Unless it proves they are using them for tracking where they go, she doesn't really care.

She's not used to seeing youngs around, especially kids, so there's no control to her language

Xayah doesn't mind that he's crowding her, she doesn't notice it at all, and hands over the tablet once she's done and nods, her tall ears twitching, visibly pleased he's not smacking the device anymore. Hypocrite.]

No problem. Don't hesitate to chuck it into the fire if it won't work though. [Pause.] Or if you're angry. It's very therapeutic, and this place tends to piss people off more often than not.

[arsarcanum]

[ do not worry! he will let the swears sail on by like they never happened

He's a fan of the ears! Especially once he notices them twitching - oh, that's real! Just like an anime furry from Earth come to life. It is very fortunate that he has enough common sense not to mention this. ]

I'll try to take care of this one! If I'm mad... Well, I've had enough of being mad for a while. [ He peers at her, curiously and with no judgment. ] Is that what you do to blow off steam? Is that what everyone does here?

B

[lunchbreaks]

Oh, do get away from him, you are all making it worse!

[ Aziraphale goes over to whistle at some spirits in a chiding tone. A few of them seem to get the picture and slide away, even if some of them don't seem to care and continue to harangue Sora. ]

Very sorry, young man, they are really just trying to help.

[ He narrows his eyes at one in particular as he tries to wrest a crate away from it. ]

Aren't you?

[arsarcanum]

[ The spirits look back, telegraphing an amicable lack of understanding. They are helping! They are celebrating the new year! This is how you celebrate it! Apparently. ]

How - is this - helping - [ Sora holds a crate aloft in one hand, balancing it precariously, and peels a spirit off his leg by the scruff of its neck. At least, he thinks that's its next. ] You can smash something else. [ And he'll lower it to the floor and nudge it away with his toe. ]

What's that whistling thing you did? How's it work? [ And can you teach him before these other three spirits successfully climb their way up his body and accidentally smother him or something. ]

[lunchbreaks]

Their language is musical. I don't really know it, but I think I tend to be able to communicate annoyance. And hunger.

[ Those things aren't related, Sora, but very relevant. ]

It helps to make the noise bigger if you put your fingers here.

[ He's starting to sound strange as he tries to speak over his digits. ]

An' bluhh

[ Very annoyed whistle. This seems to at least unnerve the remaining spirits who are wondering why Aziraphale is cross with them. ]

[arsarcanum]

In music? [ Yipes. Congrats, Aziraphale, you have encountered the one weakness that I did not put in his app. He squinches up his mouth in dismay, trying to push down overeager spirits with a free elbow, and with his free hand, he puts his fingers in his mouth as demonstrated. He does know how to whistle like this, but not like... in a way that isn't a sharp piercing thing you're supposed to hear at a high school football game. But! It's best for him to learn by getting tossed into the deep end anyway.]

'ike diff? [ He makes a fairly neutral whistle that elicits a fairly neutral reaction in the spirits! Which is to say very little. They react as though he's cleared his throat in their presence, but are very confused that he doesn't follow it up with... something else. ]

[lunchbreaks]

Yeth, bu' wiff mo--

[ He takes his fingers out of his mouth. ]

--Sorry, that was getting a bit ridiculous, just need a bit more trill, and act, ah, angry!

[ He gestures this by putting his hands in front of his chest and having his hands spring open as he tenses, furrowing his brow. Apparently this is supposed to connote anger. ]

[arsarcanum]

Ack' ang'y, wight. [ It IS a bit ridiculous, but Sora opts not to remove the fingers from his mouth, seeing as how his arms and legs are in an extremely precarious balancing act trying to keep everything in place - box, spirits, elbows, and all. Best not to upset the balance.

Act angry. The problem is that the absurdity of the situation has caught up to Sora and he's actually at the verge of laughter. His rescuer's war face definitely does not help; he seems very pleasant and proper and the anger is a bit mismatched to the rest of him. Give him a second, Aziraphale, he's going to balance and let himself have a bit of a chuckle, even as the spirits redouble their efforts to climb him like a tree. ]

Pff' - 'kay, uh'ay, uh, ang'wy. [ He focuses. He can do angry. If he can just - stop - giggling -

He lets out a piercing whistle that has lost the trill in the face of a more? Overwhelmed sort of emotion? The overall effect seems to be a general yet very strong plea for some space. The spirits crawling up his shirt shrink back a bit, then slowly back down his shirt, clearly confused as to why to why he needs it, but unwilling to disobey. Sora removes his fingers from his mouth. ] Oh wow.

A

[notthatjason]

[Jason has found little evidence that Hades is behind this unfortunately and by this point Jason had given up on any of his gods stepping in to intervene -- unless Pluto's appearance last month had been a hint of some kind. But he had to stop looking for signs in everything.

And yet, here he was partaking in some sort of...wishing ritual? He had slacked off on practicing his ocarina skills for awhile and so communicating with the spirits was a little more difficult...not that they were easy to understand even on a good day. They were excited about something though and Jason was having a hard time finding a reason to NOT drink the mysterious liquid.]

Hm? I don't know...I'd be more curious to know what's in the cup as opposed to what the wish is.

[He offers a small smile.]

Although, if it's like most other things I've tried asking for through offerings in the past I'm not sure we're going to get any answer on a wish.

[arsarcanum]

[ Well, crap. Next on the list of folks to hit up: Davy Jones.

Sora squints into his cup. This stuff is twice as thick as vegemite and three times as nasty. Not that he's ever eaten vegemite. ]

Same. It kind of tastes like... the way a dumpster in the back of an Arby's smells? But alcoholic, sort of. Is yours any different? [ He's got more questions about offerings and wishes but he figures he can save that for later. ]

[notthatjason]

[It's Jason's turn to make a face and he actually leans away from the other's drink.]

Mine...does not smell like that.

[He sighs, looking down at the liquid. It smells like over ripe fruit that was then set on fire. It's overly sweet, but with a smokey quality on top of it that makes him think of poorly done barbecue]

I haven't tried it yet. I've drank literal poison and I think I would do that again over this.

[Of course, in that case he'd also consumed barley cakes to protect themselves from the effects of the toxins and there had been a LOT more at stake than a wish.]

Granted...it's also probably a bad idea to refuse to drink from something the spirits have given us.

[He glances at the direction the spirits were congregated in and considers what occurred in November. He'd rather not see a repeat of that, even if it means drinking this mysterious liquid. He takes a deep breath and offer his cup.]

So cheers?

[arsarcanum]

[ Actual, literal poison? Another thing on the list of possible conversation topics should they survive possibly the worst drink imaginable.

He'll look over when this guy does, then look back at him. Huh... What happened there? He'll file away that info too. Honestly, he should be taking notes now.

He'll wrinkle his nose, but hey, he isn't the expert here. If one of them gets, like, deathly poisoned, hopefully he will suddenly echo back a spell that will save both their lives. Only one way to find out, though.

He holds out his cup, raising his eyebrows in a very wry "here goes nothing" expression. ] Cheers. See you on the other side.

[ Aaaand he'll slam it, not checking if his drinking bud does the same. Hey, when he commits, he commits. ]

[notthatjason]

[Jason may only be 16, but he's done A LOT in both his life and now afterlife. Sometimes it was a wonder he hadn't ended up dead sooner than he did. He realizes it's not normal, but so far no one has challenged his stories or called him a liar. Perhaps because most people here had also lead some pretty crazy lives.

Jason doesn't hesitate after the 'cheers.' After all, he's not the kind to back down. The strategy is similar to Sora's and he knocks it back like he's used to tossing back strange concoctions on a moment's notice.

He shudders all the same, but despite the taste he doesn't think he's going to die.]

Eugh.

[From nearby the spirits cheer for both Sora and Jason. Jason decides to play nice and gives them a thumbs up.]

Thanks...guys.

[Glancing over at his companion.]

Okay, yeah, that was...I need something else to wash that down with. Preferably something that doesn't require a wish mixed in.

[arsarcanum]

[ Sora's lived many lives, but this? This one is arguably the grossest for this one moment alone.

Sora's put down his cup and is now doubled over. That was! Disgusting! He is trying not to retch for a second, hang on.

After a second, he'll straighten up, looking a bit queasy. ]

Great! We did it! Let's never do that again.

[ He gives his new friend a pat on the arm. (They braved death together. They're pals now.) ]

Do you know a place? I just got here. [ Literally fresh off the boat and bombarded with your weird Beacon customs. Death is bizarre, man. ]

C;

[rhyses]

Woah, woah--!

[BUDDY PLEASE DON'T SMACK THE TABLET. Rhys, with his blue eye already whirring and his mechanical arm waving, comes by, grimacing as he does.]

Dude, that won't help! Seriously, has nobody on this backwater planet ever touched technology? You can't just smack it, it's not that kind of tool!

[arsarcanum]

[ He looks up, catches this guy's eye - hey there, dunno if Rhys is ready for electric blue eyes with keyhole irises like a cat's, but there they are - only to slap the tablet one more time. His brain hadn't caught up with the rest of his body in time. Sora now realizes this probably came off as a weird intimidation tactic. Oops. ]

Oh! I, uh. [ He will look down at the tablet, then quickly remove his hand from it, hiding it behind his back. Look, no culprit! Nothing happened. ] Well, there's technology like this back where I'm from, but like, I still have a slide phone? I've never used, like, an iPad before.

[rhyses]

Did your slide phone tell you to hit it? I bet it didn't! I super bet it didn't.

[So they're just two boys with weird eyes, fantastic. Actually, Rhys takes note of that with interest, because if this kid has cybernetic implants, that'll finally make two of them.]

Just . . . tap it, gently. That's all you need. Here, sit down, let me show you.

[arsarcanum]

[ He knows that's just a figure of speech, but damn it, his phone has never told him to slap it! It can't! It doesn't have a mouth! Geez. Rhetoric.

Oh hey, he got it in one. Sora just chalks up this new guy's weird eyes to the general air of weirdness to the folks he's met here. He isn't one to put two and two together until he absolutely has to.

Sora is very stubborn, but even he knows when he's beat. He'll plop down wordlessly on the nearest sittable surface, like some nearby brickwork wall, and shove the tablet at the newcomer, more out of general frustration than spite. ]

Here. Can't promise I'll remember what to do, though.

[rhyses]

Oh, come on. It's not that hard.

[Easy for the guy with the cybernetic hand to say. Metal fingers tap carefully at the screen's surface, flipping around the network.]

It's, like, three buttons. It isn't even locked. Just poke at it.

[arsarcanum]

[Sora will take some interest in this stranger’s metal appendages - it’s a much more apparent addendum to this person’s whole deal than his own - but mostly he’ll look at what he’s doing! Which still looks like magic to him, basically. ]

So... like this? [ He’ll poke at a button at the same time as him and jerk his hand back when it makes a soft “click” sound. They just took a screenshot! Sora does not know this. ] Okay, what was that?