logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: TURN THE LIGHTS OFF

EVENT LOG: TURN THE LIGHTS OFF

characters: everyone.
location: around town.
date/time: january 20-29.
content: the lanterns begin to malfunction.
warnings: body horror and psychological horror. please cw tags appropriately.

you'll become one

January 20th arrives the same as all the days before it. There's no great pulse of warning that throbs through the air, no ominous wind that causes the bonfire to shudder. The spirits are neither agitated nor do they hide. You could almost miss the change, if the lanterns weren't always by your side. There's no explanation that comes with the way that it's changed, but it's impossible not to worry when it's happened so suddenly.

Maybe it takes a few days, or maybe it only takes a few hours, but suddenly it isn't just the lanterns that have changed. You, yourself, have become somehow different. It's possible that you won't even have the right state of mind to wonder how long it will last. At the very least, it appears you aren't alone. All across Beacon, lanterns are changing, and changing the people with them.

Out in the distance, the lighthouse's beam has turned green.

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Sora is definitely keeping an eye on those horns too! Mostly to make sure they don't start making his head bleed again, somewhat because he needs to make sure that they don't need to get painkillers from somewhere at some point if things start going south for him.

Two sides of the same coin... being who people need them to be. Huh. Sora shakes his head. "I don't blame them for splitting everything. I mean, they coulda stuck it out, but it would have been really hard after a while."

Reyna, huh... Sounds like a good friend. (He likes brownies? Definitely going to keep that in mind.) "So... Gwen, Bobby, Dakota, and Reyna. And they were all friends with you for the right reasons." He nods. There can be wrong reasons too. "I'm glad you had them. It must have sucked to be around people who wanted you around just because you could do something for them." .... Might be projecting a liiiittle bit here, but Sora is also of the belief that that's a general enough statement for people who don't actually want to be friends with people.

Jason nods, "When it became clear who my father was...people wanted to be my friend or suck up to me because of that. Dakota and the others...they didn't treat me like that. I was just another member of the lowest cohort, trying to make it better because everyone said it was impossible."

And, since Sora had asked, he decides to tell him some memories of his Camp Jupiter friends.

He starts with Dakota who had trouble sleeping, so they'd break curfew a lot and wander around New Rome -- getting into places they shouldn't. Gwen was like the older sister he had missed. They'd saved each other's lives a few times. Bobby was in charge of most of the camp's animals and so would usually take Jason along to help feed and care for them.

"We even had this big elephant named Hannibal. You want to be intimidating, try taking an elephant into battle. It's scary, but when we weren't doing the war games, Hannibal was super sweet. Of course, even Hannibal isn't quite as cool as having your own pegasus. Reyna was one of the few demigods able to stay in the air with me, which I guess is another reason we worked so well together. We were better able to see the battle laid out and call strategies to one another."

Edited 2020-02-03 01:31 (UTC)

Camp Jupiter... and his dad was Zeus, who was also Jupiter. Huh. The demigod thing kinda got brushed to the side after that close call back there, so this is the first time Sora's really picking over the idea that Jason's half a god. He's never met one before! Not in this life. Death. Whatever. Hercules is a memory that rests somewhere important in his heart, and he's going to have to track him down later. Right now, though, is for Jason. Sora's never been good at multitasking, anyway.

So Sora is indeed a captivated audience as Jason goes on about his friends, picking apart details in his head and asking questions, but mostly content to let him talk. He is sort of wondering what a cohort is? He'll ask later. In the moment, though, listening to him go on about his friends, their adventures... going into war on an elephant? He does remember seeing a pegasus before, but he's never considered connecting it to Hercules' world. Hm!

"So wait, was the pegasus for you or for her? Or both?" Sora blinks, rewinds to consider what Jason says more carefully. "Wait, can you fly?"

"For her." Which sort of leads into the next question. Jason doesn't brag on his powers a lot, even if he is pretty open about having them. However, it's always fun to gauge people's reactions when he shows or admits he can fly. He makes sure he's watching Sora when he says it.

"I can fly." He let's that sink in and then adds, "Not as high here as I could back home. Something about this place makes it hard to do...but I can at least get as high as the trees before it becomes a problem."

He stops walking, they've reached a pretty nice clearing, just past the bike shop, "How are you with heights?"

Sora pauses with him, turning back to look at Jason, then up at the treeline, then back at him. A slow smile creeps along his face, turning his eyes to mischievous halfmoons. "I'd say I'm pretty good with 'em. Is this an offer?"

"You ever go on one of those amusement park rides that lifts you up and then drops you several times?" It's nothing like that, but he figures it's the best analogy he can come up with. Before Sora can overthink it though (and because Jason has learned that if he lets people think about it too much they start to over think it) Jason is taking action to get them into the air.

First, moving a little too fast, he slides next to Sora, bending to put Sora's arm over his shoulder and then SWOOSH. The wind swirls around them both and pulls them into the air, Jason keeps a firm grip on Sora and makes sure he's careful of the air currents not blowing out any lanterns (he'd gotten good at that since he had to keep his own lantern safe from the wind).

He can't maintain it for long, but he gets them to the tree line. As he goes higher he definitely feels the unfamiliar pull of gravity and the winds loosening their grip on him. He can hold it a bit, but he knows he won't be able to maintain this height for long. Still, what's the fun of a good flight if you don't take him up towards the tree tops.

After a moment they drift a little lower and Jason keeps them hovering for a bit at a more comfortable height. Just below the tree line, but definitely several feet off the ground. He's strong, so he can afford to hold Sora aloft for at least a few minutes.

He decides to finally ask, with much amusement, "You still good?"

(ooc: Visual of how Jason is carrying Sora)

"Yeah, bu-WHOA!" And off he goes on the Jason-coaster! Nothing to worry about with Sora's lanterns - parol lanterns are almost fully closed off - but he does yelp a little and hang on tight as Jason literally sweeps him off his feet and into the sky, his heart going a little fast from the suddenness of the maneuver. He wrenches his eyes open to at least enjoy the sight of the ground slipping from under them, then turns his face up to the stars as they swing a little closer.

He laughs after a second, watching his shoes dangle in the air. This is fun.

Once they're hovering, Sora gives Jason a nod. He's smiling again after the brief shock.

"Yeah. Good. Phew, you surprised me." He peeks over at Jason. "It's a nice view of the stars up here. How long can you keep us up?" He pauses. "Also, do you trust me?"

Jason is grinning at Sora's reaction.

"At least your first time was by choice. When I first learned to do this it was because I was falling and Gwen and I were about to die." He wasn't sure who had been more surprised: him or Gwen. It was funny, but he'd done the exact same thing several years later when he'd lost all his memories and had to save Piper.

He thinks about it, "If I keep up below the trees I can keep us up here for awhile...a few hours? If I try to go back up higher though that's when it gets harder." He looks to Sora, it's an odd question to be asking while mid-air. Shouldn't Sora be questioning HIM on trust? "Sure."

Sora's other hand is still screwed into Jason's shirt, but he slowly lets go, still smiling to himself. He's still working out how to do this without giving Jason too much of a heart attack... but he does want to surprise him too. Probably best for the gentle approach.

"That sounds pretty scary. Glad you ended up getting out of that one. Sink or swim, huh?" Sora laughs, but it might be a bit too hard for just an idiom. He's holding something back.

Sora pauses, and then Jason's going to feel his burden lighten a little. Sora's clothes start floating just a tiny, tiny bit. "If you trust me, you should try letting me go."

Jason raises an eyebrow. It's not exactly that Sora is creeping him out, but he's definitely picking up on something funky. Of course, that's nothing compared to the actually request where Jason's eyes go wide.

"You want me to what?" Strangely enough it was not the talk of multiple selves or past lives or anything like that which made Jason think Sora was crazy. It was this request right here. Still, he had said he trusted him. Jason glances at the ground. They're high enough that it might not kill him, but in some regards that is even worse. Jason could also probably catch him worst case scenario. Was that it? Was Sora one of those thrill-seeker types?

Jason let's out a breath. That doesn't seem right either and it's as he's pondering this that he notices Sora's weight getting a little lighter. Huh? Yeah...something's happening. Jason looks Sora in the eyes as if to confirm and then, well, he let's him go.

Sora's eyes widen right before he slips out of Jason's grasp. Not with surprise or fear, but with the knowing excitement of someone reaching the peak of the first drop of a rollercoaster. Hands up, ready to fall. (The huge, animal grin that splashes on his face probably helps the impression too.)

So, yes, one of those thrill-seeker types. Probably crazy too. But, you know, also able to fly.

Sora won't let himself slip too far, nor too quickly. He just needs to get low enough that his next move, a midair leap, won't push him past that weird treetop barrier Jason had mentioned. Still, that is a bit of a fall, and Jason would be forgiven for having himself a heart palpitation or two before Sora spins in midair and flies straight back up, coming to a hover at Jason's side.

Sora will turn to Jason, just at eye level, and begin to float, sinking ever so slightly as time goes on. That's it. He'll just float, eyes crinkling fondly at Jason no matter how he reacts. "Guess Reyna's not the only one who can keep up with you, huh?"

Worry quickly melted into surprise and then shock before finally settling on amusement. It was weird, he didn't detect any wind magic at play, but he certainly wasn't making Sora do that. Some other way of flying then? There certainly were a few of them around, though most of the others Jason knew had some kind of wings to help with it.

"You can float. That's not a guarantee you can keep up," Jason retorts. He cocks his head, a million questions about how Sora was doing it and how long he'd been able to, but mostly he's not even more curious about what Sora can do in the air.

"Height-wise? Nah, probably not." Sora looks down at himself. "There was a world back home - way back, Red Sora back - where I could just fly all the time. Pixie dust." He looks back at Jason, stretching his hands back and settling them behind his head. "I guess it wasn't my main thing, though. There were better fliers in, uh, Green Skyler's world."

"Speed-wise? I dunno. I go pretty fast." He has to. Had to! He used it a lot to run from huge spells, angry magical people, flying skyscrapers.

It kind of amuses Jason that ever since his doodles, Sora had taken to referring to his different selves in the colors he had used to draw them in. It's definitely an easy way to distinguish the two he supposes.

Jason drifts down to Sora's level, feeling weird flying over him, even if he is naturally taller anyway. He looks back towards the ground, "Could be dangerous...but you know there's really only one way to find out, right?"

If they could find a clear stretch of path and not go tearing through the trees it might not be quite as dangerous.

Oddly enough, there's a fair chance that Sora would just be referring to the two as himself and Skyler had things at the beginning of the month panned out differently. How strangely the past month has gone.

Sora swings around in the air to catch Jason's eyes. He's grinning wide, bordering on a sharp grimace, but his eyes are still definitely brimming with glee. "Dangerous, huh? Name a time and place." It's ON.

"What? You got plans that we can't do this right here and now?"

Apparently Sora has done an excellent job of distracting Jason. He's totally focused on this challenge and not on the strange light effects happening throughout Beacon or his own bright red lantern.

"Just checking. I mean, eating my dust won't take too long, but you never know." Good job, Jason, you've graduated to the trash-talking level of friendship. He'll slowly start descending until he's in the airspace just above the path. Ready to go?

It's also safe to say that the subject of Riku is the very last thing on his mind, let alone the lantern changes plaguing the town. (He is still keeping an eye on those horns, but he's also a competitive human being and wants to Go.) Excellent distraction jobs all around! They will both probably need this.

Jason snorts. Because there is no way he's about to let some guy who learned to fly from pixie dust outmaneuver him in the air. He was a son of Jupiter for gods' sake. If Sora did win, he wasn't sure he'd ever live it down so it was probably a good thing he was dead. Except he wasn't going to think like that because Sora wasn't going to win.

Jason makes sure he's even with Sora. "The Scrapyard is ahead. First one to touch the crane wins. Careful of the dog." He looks over at him, "Go on three..."

Vroom vroom. Sora catches the look in Jason's eye. With that kind of confidence, Sora knows he's the underdog here. That's fine to him! He just likes knowing that he's got someone to chase. He'll answer that snort with a bracing rub on his face with his fist before looking at the path ahead. The scrapyard... he's been down there once, but doesn't really remember the path. That should be fun.

He turns back to Jason and nods. "On three. One, two..."

And he'll nyoom on three! Who wins? Who knows! Probably Jason, since he's the windy specialist and knows the area better. Sora will have fun either way!

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EVENT LOG: TURN THE LIGHTS OFF

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