logsinthenight | INTRO LOG: JANUARY

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INTRO LOG: JANUARY

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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[While the 'chaos reigns' outside with "festivities", Ignis enters the Invincible and heads for the kitchen. The way he looks is, well, he's seen better days, that's for certain- his hair could use a brush tonight. But he's honestly happy enough to just dodge the forest spirits before they rope him into some of their "celebrations".

He knocks on the kitchen door a few times, not wanting to give her a fright. As always, everything smells good in the kitchen- she's taking good care of it all. He makes a mental note to drop by more often.]

Good evening, Midge. Are you busy?

[While he does have something to give her, he doesn't want to interrupt her if she's busy. He knows how that feels.]

[ She's honestly a little distracted, looking out the window at fireworks. It reminds her of the Catskills in the summer, and she feels a strange little pang in her chest as she thinks about the last time she saw any. Her father had been drunk, laying down on the blanket they shared, insisting pickles would sober him up. Her mother and her wound up trying to describe the fireworks, which didn't work, and most of it was just the two ladies dissolving into laughter.

She misses them. The New Year is wonderful, sure, but--well. She doesn't have her Mama or her Papa, and as horrible as it is, a part of her feels like no one else should be celebrating.

She has got to get over herself. It's the second knock that jolts her out of it, and she jumps not because Ignis is particularly frightening to her but she'd been so wrapped up in her own thoughts. The smile is there, still dressed, as ever, to the nines. She seems to have a bottomless wardrobe.

Maybe that's her superpower? ]

Ignis--not busy at all! Hiya.

[ She's crossing the kitchen from the window to the door, head canting to the side, and her hands (they're clean!) automatically sneak up to try to fix Ignis' hair. ] Thought you'd be out with your friends.

[Ignis isn't in much of a festive mood either, so they can bond on it. He's not sure there's much to celebrate here. After things that happened recently, Ignis is trying not to let himself fall into that defeatist mindset. But without knowing whether Noctis is alright or no after disappearing, he just can't find peace within himself. Even though he needs it if they are to do something about all this mess.

In the meantime, he'll do what he does best- help others and work himself to the bone. He doesn't have to sleep here either- coffee and cooking constantly will keep him awake.

He returns the smile with a slight one, and a nod, a bit surprised when her hand reaches out to clear his hair from the snow. ~~Too many memories~~. He doesn't say anything though, nor does he stop her.]

Unfortunately, the Spirits decided to spread 'holiday cheer' by making snowball and food war outside. [He sighs,] Besides, the only place to go 'out' is Invincible, so I'd still be here.

[-Oh. Right. The reason why he's here. She completely distracted him.] I came to thank you for the gift you sent me for Christmas. I apologize for being late with mine, but it had to arrive with Rastus.

[He'll wait for a moment for her to step to the side so he can approach the counter to summon two wooden spice boxes, similar to one he has, from the armiger.]

Every cook's weapon, I believe, [Ignis says with a smile.]

[ Are those some fucking spices??????? ]

[ Please make sure you're holding onto the box, Ignis, because Midge doesn't say a word--she squeals, hands balling up into fists, and proceeds to launch herself at Ignis, hands around his neck, hugging him as tightly as a 5'3" girl who's light as a feather possibly can. ]

[He did manage to leave them on the counter before she threw herself at him. It's an unexpected thing, so unexpected, and he finds himself lucky to have good reflexes. He returns the hug happily (her feet might not be touching the ground now, you'll forgive Ignis' height), the gesture even drawing out a smile from him- it's been a while.]

I will take that you like your gift, [Ignis chuckles, teasing her in good humor, after letting her go.]

You. Are. My. Favourite!

[ She may or may not have kicked her feet a little while she was lifted up, elated, and goodness, Ignis' smile is pleasant to look at. She's over the moon, and once she's set down she moves to her tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek. By sheer force of 1950s housewife magic, there's no lipstick smudge. ]

Have I ever told you that? That you're my favourite?

[Perhaps a few of her well-placed jokes can draw it out again. For now, seeing her happy over such a simple thing as spices, is more than enough to keep a smile on his face. The peck on his cheek is also very unexpected so if there's any color on his face, it's not her lipstick or his blush- it's the cold from the outside.]

Not that I can recall. Thank you.

[He was wondering if there was any other type of gift that was more suitable for her, but he couldn't think of anything. Ignis is really happy that his guess was right.]

I can't wait to see you put them to good use.

[ Sure, blush, and Midge's nose wrinkles as she grins. She's over the moon--she's always gracefully poised, always prominently graceful, especially in the kitchen courtesy of her mother, but there's an extra bounce in her step: a little fresh, perky movement. ]

Nuh-uh, no way in hell you're getting away with not using some. You're gonna bake something for us. [ She points emphatically at the box. ] There's cinnamon in there.

[This was the entire point to his gift- to cheer her up a little in this very bleak place without rising sun. It becomes oppressive. And she looks super cute being all excited and it makes him smile.]

Ah, so there is. Perhaps an apple pie? Unless you wish to try something else. [He peers into the box,] Perhaps cinnamon rolls?

Carbs. [ It's automatic, the word tumbling out of her mouth like an acrobat before she can edit herself--but Ignis, he's at that level where she feels she doesn't need to. Cinnamon Rolls is what she really means, but she can't help it if all she can focus on is the idea of what they are versus actually communicating properly. Not when she can practically smell them. ]

I can't believe you're unmarried. Do you have any idea what the market is where I'm from for guys like you?

And we are dead. [Food here probably has a nutrition value of water, except it tastes better. A sort of a distraction from the world you're stuck in. But her comment does make his lips curl into a smile. Cinnamon rolls it is.]

No, I do not know, [he chuckles as he goes through spices. Should he make it now or...] But, aside from cooking [and sewing and cleaning and planning] I would make a terrible husband.

[ Judging from the way she's eyeing the spices? He should definitely make them now. ]

Oh--stop--[ she swats him on the shoulder with a tea towel, light and hardly perceptible, like a fly landing on his shirt. ] --Royal guard, neat and tidy, British accent, amazing chef--who doesn't want a literal knight making her breakfast in bed?

[Ignis chuckles as he opens the cupboards to get the stuff he needs for the cinnamon rolls.]

I came to realize men appreciate it more than women, [he jokes with a tilt of a smile on his lips as he washes his hands before preparing food.] Then again, it could be a lack of decent experience.

[He pulls out butter from the fridge to get soft in normal temperature and starts measuring flour in one of the bowls.] As for the accent- I truly wish it left any positive effect on people where I'm from.

'Cause most guys can barely boil water, let alone cook. Joel barely knew how to turn on a stove--but that's fine, because girls cook, girls clean, boys go out to work and make money.

[ She glances over, rolling her eyes, still grinning. The boys and girl comment will take a moment to sink in, hang on a second. ]

[She can have a second, and more, because he's moving around and getting stuff to prepare the dough. He slips off his jacket and rolls up his sleeves, taking off the gloves and watch.]

That is truly a stereotype a lot of people still believe in. It makes me nothing short of happy when someone proves them wrong, [he says washing his hands and then turning to the flour to make the dough.]

We had some terrifyingly strong women among the Glaives in the Crown City, working directly under our King's command. They could wield magic and fight ten times better than some of the guys among the ranks. A woman named Crowe Altius had people say "Remind me never to make her mad" after she summoned a fire tornado.

Is a fire tornado exactly like it sounds...?

[ No, no, nevermind that. Midge blinks away the slightly confused and slightly worried expression, crossing her arms as she observes a cook in his natural habitat. ]

If I had to hear 'women aren't funny' one more time back home I was going to summon a fire tornado myself. We just call it arsenic.

[Ignis' lips twitch-] It's exactly like it sounds.

[No, no, he'll answer happily. He too has elemental prowess, but not to that extent. His main focus was mostly weapon wielding and he added elemental affinities as an enhancement.]

Ah, we have those too. They end up in jail. Fire tornados are mostly licenced by the Crown. [He laughs a bit.]

Good thing there's no Crown here. Can you imagine how much easier barbecuing would be? Fourth of July would be smooth sailing.

Oh--do you have fourth of July? Probably not. Shit. Independence day at all?

No, we don't have the fourth of July. Or Independence Day. But we do have the Day of Founder King. I suppose it is similar? We had festivities throughout the town, with music and food.

Unfortunately, the fire tornado would ruin all the roasts and briskets. We can't have that.

We can't have that, but sometimes I really, really want to. [ And she's laughing now, clearly on cloud nine. ]

Fireworks? Fireworks are very important.

[ She's jerking a thumb in the direciton of the kitchen window, as if to say, 'see'? ]

[Ignis stops kneading the dough to look through the window at the fireworks going off and spirits throwing stuff in the air.]

Clearly, [he says in the most deadpan voice ever- and then snorts a laugh himself. It's been a while.]

So long they don't set us ablaze.

Edited 2020-02-08 19:01 (UTC)

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INTRO LOG: JANUARY

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