logsinthenight | INTRO LOG: FEBRUARY

Entry tags:

INTRO LOG: FEBRUARY

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, as well as the rest of town.
date/time: february 1-3.
content: beacon's newest batch of residents arrives on the ferry. rastus gathers the town for a debriefing meeting.
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.

•••

On February 3, after the newcomers have had a chance to settle in, everyone's tablets will ping with a message from @rastus!

Come tob onfier squae.Pl eaas , we wikll disucss our orogress sincereeluy rastuaas I am th ebonfire keeeeeeepr.

...Followed by another message a few minutes later, this time from @keeper

Omg will everyone head down to Bonfire Square for Rastus' town meeting please? He wants to recap what you've all learned so far!!!

And can someone please teach him that he can record an audio message and then send it to everyone instead of looping the whole dang town in on a group text?? 😂😂😂😂

Assuming you do indeed head down to Bonfire Square after all that, what you'll find is this: a series of benches and tables have been set up surrounding the bonfire, and there's enough seating for all of Beacon's residents. As people take their seats near the fire, the barkeeper forest spirits from the Invincible toddle through the crowd with trays of hot chocolate and warm cider, along with a sampler tray of acorns and pinecones, if that's your thing.

Once everyone's here and settled, sipping on hot drinks and maybe busting a tooth on an acorn, Rastus hobbles forward to address the crowd:

"Crrk. Hello. I am Rastus. I tend to the bonfire. I have tended to the bonfire, mrawk, for years and years. You are doing, rmmm, well. Good."

He nods to emphasize the point. Yes, you are doing good.

"Talk. To each other. Share what you have learned. Yes. Crarrk. It is important."

He nods again, and then... shuffles back over to his post near the bonfire, waiting for anyone who might come by with an interest in torches. Seems it's up to you all to get each other up to speed?

Luckily for all the newcomers who may find themselves confused by their sudden arrival here, 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 thrilled to welcome so many new faces into the community, and you've come at a great time! Alongside this intro log, we have our very first cat herd, which is essentially a recap of the plot thus far, as well as a rundown on a ton of great info to help get you started in the game.

But don't feel like you have to read it all right this second! ICly, Rastus will call everyone together for the town meeting on February 3 to give new characters (and players) a chance to get their bearings before smacking them in the face with all the plot. This log will cover both the ferry arrival and the cat herd meeting, so feel free to bounce around in time in your toplevels.

Remember, too, that all of the plot info available in the cat herd can now be considered common knowledge! Newbies and oldbies alike, feel free to assume that your character learns as much of that plot info as you like at this meeting, regardless of whether or not you thread it out.

And of course, go ahead and introduce yourselves on the OOC intro, as well!

DELIVERIES

The following packages can be found in the cargo hold:

The monthly store restock
For Sora: A gameboy(?), 3 CPR/AED kits, a dozen CPR/first aid training manuals, two packages of capiz shells, a set of candy molds, a caldero, and 3 gameboy games: 3-D World Runner, Decapathon VII, and Sheep It Up!
For Crowley: A variety of clockwork equipment, a large clock face, and the goods
For Jason G: 2 bulletin boards with materials for mounting, 3 packs of pushpins
For Lucius: A manual sewing machine
For Castiel: A dozen flasks of holy oil and a pillowcase-sized satchel of various natural spell components
For Duster: A double bass, complete with a case
For Prompto: A polaroid camera with enough film for 50 photos and a folding sword, which is cruder than the example he gave but roughly the same size
For Aziraphale: A large crate of snowshoes, jackets, and coats in various sizes, a bottle of wine, and a bouquet of red, white, and pink roses tied together with an elegant bow
For Javert: A large crate of various fencing gear and 3 fencing handbooks

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

QUICKNAV
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Sora went back and checked out the book on chocolate-tempering from the Librarian again with a promise to bring a proper valentine's care package and at least half the failures to them! Sora has a soft spot for that spirit. What a charmer. He can AND will die for that willowy, billowy, fist-bumpy being.

Anyway! It's propped up with some spare pots and utensils in the kitchen of Miner's Castle #3 since no one in the place besides Aziraphale has enough cultural context to understand how these gifts work and Sora wants it to be a surprise for everyone he knows (and maybe a few he doesn't know yet? He's still trying to get the nerve up for some of his potential recipients.) He's got a bag of chips and some potential fillings out - nothing fancy, today's meant to be kind of a low stress test run just to see if he can do it. In a couple of days, he'll be churning them out for real.

Pot. Water. Metal bowl. And... chocolate. "Okay," Sora says to himself, then distractedly puts a couple of chips in his mouth. Hey, he has a lot! Enough. Okay, maybe he'd better head himself off right now before he vacuums up everything he's trying to experiment with.

Soldat is hovering, half because they were threatened with being roped in a few days ago, half out of plain old curiosity. "How are you starting," they ask, leaning on the other side of the counter, the living room side, to watch.

Yes, it's a question despite the unquestion-like tone. Sora oughta be used to that.

He is! Sora turns and aims a pair of fingerguns at them. "Just gonna follow the directions for tempering chocolate! After that, I have no clue." He takes the very edge of the metal bowl he's using as a double boiler to check the water underneath - no bubbles yet, the bowl's pretty cool to the touch. It seems like everything's dry though!

Sora pauses... then sighs. "Hey, can you uh, rinse out the molds? They just came on the ferry, I just forgot to clean them." They're still in their packaging too! If the Soldier chooses to pick them up, they can have fun reading the cheerful messages on the bottom.

They do, in fact, peer at the messages on the bottom. Then they wrinkle their nose up a bit at them, but do peel the wrapping off, come around to the sink, and start washing as requested. They're probably pretty clean as it is, but better safe than somebody get food poisoning off chocolate.

"Thanks." Sora looks over, spots the look on the soldier's face, and chuckles before turning his attention back to the bowl. He's... pretty sure he's supposed to add a couple of chips now to measure when they melt? And then you add more once they start melting? He'll take a few chips and let them tumble into the bowl. Now he definitely can't leave.

"I asked Rastus for Valentine's themed molds, but uh, I didn't realize he'd get stuff with messages. I thought he'd find like, hearts and stuff."

Soldat reaches over to snatch a couple of those chocolate chips to munch, with a perfectly bland expression, then sets the candy trays down next to the stove. "I can pour, when you have it melted. Might have steadier hands." Even if most of the messages are dumb.

Sora looks up at them, at first grateful, and then a bit huffy. "Yeah? I mean, wait, I wanna try it first!" He's not actually terribly put out by the idea! This is just him remembering that he likes to do things first, especially when they're new and novel.

Honestly, he'd been thinking about asking them to use that temperature sensor so he can get the exact temperature the book calls for, but he kind of got the feeling they'd made themselves scarce after last week and doesn't want to pry into their alone time. Having them around now is surprising and gratifying enough, in Sora's opinion.

They have made themselves scarce. It's been a rough adjustment: realizing they've changed, that the way they were before is wrong and not something they want to be again, making the admission that they know their actual name and just can't use it and then promptly locking it back up again. Settling the voices in their head, one of whom is monotone and spooky, and the other cranky, particularly about the name thing. Trying to figure out what any of that means and mostly failing.

But they smile a little at Sora's tone. Today is an okay day, and they're both safe in the kitchen at home instead of somewhere exposed. So they can tease a little. "However you wanna do it. Just remember how you were with the cabbage leaves."

Sora groans, giving the chips in the bowl a pathetic poke with the end of his spatula. Just because he has to keep the chocolate moving so it doesn't burn doesn't mean he has to take all the fun out of being a dramatic teen. It's fun. He kind of needs fun, these days, and he knows other people need it too.

"That was before I figured it out! Now I got it! Sort of. I only broke four leaves last time!" Which is three better than last time! Baby steps. "Now that I'm better at doing knife stuff, I'll bet one of these days, I won't break a single one!"

Hmph! "What do you think you'd want in your chocolates, anyway? I'm doing some of these with filling, so I need ideas." He has some walnuts and dried fruits behind him, and he doesn't think he can do anything fancy like truffles or liquers, but he at least wants to pick the soldier's brain for ideas.

They think on it a moment. "Jam. There's strawberry and plum in there." A nod at the fridge. "Maybe a cherry if there's room." A pause, a smile, and: "Peanut butter."

Suggestions made, they add, "I should teach you origami, too. Like your frog. Good for fine control. Also, soothing." Remember how they'd said the think of folding paper when stressed out, to calm down? That's it, right there.

Hang on... Sora's gonna frown and get his tablet out one-handed. And pause again. Paaause. And sigh. "I can't do this and watch the stove at the same time. Can you send me a message so I remember later?" Sorry, soldier, the kid only has a bare handful of braincells to work with.

"Origami, huh..." He used to watch his sister and Holly make stuff from paper, but they generally made things like little hearts to exchange or boxes to keep notes in. He'd never done any for himself. "I liked that frog. What else can you make? Have you been working on anything big?"

"I'll remind you. Put that down before you drop it on the stove." Said gently, though, rather than with the obvious expectation that Sora will drop it. Even though they're half-sure he's gonna drop it. "I did try to make a star, based on a star I got at the Night Market, but that one was made with magic. Couldn't manage it right. I can do a few animals other, though. Crane. Lion. Fox. Frog just seemed to suit you best of those."

Sora pauses, looks back, then sets his tablet down obediently. He's actually not sure if this means the soldier is going to remember it for now (Sora will still need it) or later on, when he does his actual real batches (which, again, he doesn't know how much alone time they'll need), but he figures that's something he can save to ask once the actual experimentation process is underway. Right now, it seems like the chocolate is getting a little melty, but not enough to move around the bowl.

Crane. Lion. Fox. Frog. Sora nods along, but pauses as he mentally goes through the list, then looks back at the soldier, a very froglike frown on his face. "Why a frog? Do I look like a frog?"

Hey, Soldat will remember this forever, or until they decide to forget it. Maybe not even then.

Soldat grins a little at him, at his expression. "Not really. But you're fresh. Cool. Not a bird, not a hunter. And hoppy." The last is probably the most important one. (And no, they don't mean "cool" as in "awesome", but "cool" as in "not warm", which is... not meant as not warm but... it's hard to explain, okay.)

Aaay, that good ol' Kingdom Hearts style of persistence of memory! Now the soldier's getting it.

Sora will frown a little at that, really giving that a good chew upstairs. "That makes me sound like a really hyper cucumber," he decides with a both reluctance and a bit of cheer. He accepts this, but he is going to be a very powerful frog, thanks.

He turns back to the pot, trying not to poke the chips too much. A watched pot never boils. "Let's see... there are three other animals. What would you give to your other friends?"

You are a hyper cucumber, Sora.

"Eleven gets lions. Because she's brave." Braver than they are, certainly. She's managed to claw her way into properly being a person. "Misty is the crane. Tall and graceful and liable to peck. Crowley would be." They stop. "I've never made Crowley origami before. He needs a fox."

They leave the kitchen for a moment to grab a piece of paper, coming back and taking over a small portion of counterspace to start folding.

~~Agitated Produce Complaints Intensify~~

The girl with the number for the name again. They seem to talk about her a lot? Sora wonders if they'll meet someday. Misty makes sense; she looks like she has lots of grace, but she can be extra goofy if she feels like it. She might be louder than him, if he's being honest.

He'll lean back from the pot to watch the soldier walk off, kind of wondering where the paper is in the house (hey! They may not need it for note-taking, but you never know!), before remembering that the chips are still on the stove and he probably needs to pay attention to them. When they come back, Sora will be slowly adding more chips, folding them in and watching them out of the corner of his eye.

"He needs a fox?" Strong words. "Does that remind you of something? Crowley and foxes."

"For when he wakes up," they say absently, most of their attention focused on their work. It might actually be partly a weird, almost superstitious hope that maybe if they make something for him, Crowley will wake up sooner. They miss him, particularly after the obituary that went out for Scarlett. "Maybe it will make him smile when he does." The paper is specifically for origami, perfectly square and colored-- they cut it specially. Please don't use it for scratch paper, Sora.

Oh no, his heart. Well, he doesn't know if that'll make Crowley smile, but that certainly makes Sora smile over his little bowl of chocolate. "Did he ever smile before? He seemed pretty grumpy to me." Sora will not use it for scratch paper, somewhat because even he understands that square pieces of paper are definitely for purposes other than note-taking, and mostly because he knows that the tablet exists now! See! He learns! Sloooowly.

"He smiles. You just have to make sure he knows you like him. He's used to people not liking him." Crowley is, in some ways, like them-- only Soldat reacted to their programming by shutting down so they might be hurt less, and Crowley reacted by acting out, by pretending it didn't matter, by being as outrageous as possible. It's still an act, either way. "When he wakes up. I'll introduce you properly."

Sora makes a face. "Oh, no, I have to show someone I like them. That sounds so hard." He cracks up. "I think I might run into a different kind of problem when it comes to people like Crowley." It's hard to get them to trust him. Sora gets that now, though. People can be bad. "I'd like that. An introduction. I only ever got to see him once or twice, so all I have to go on is what you and Aziraphale told me."

"He'll understand about the name," Soldat says, turning their creation for one final fold and examining the result. A little orange fox, well-made, fitting on the palm of his hand. "He calles me 'human soldier person'." Which technically should set off their issues with the word "person", but somehow doesn't. It's a nickname, not a statement of being. "And he's the one who said I shouldn't be an it. Got real upset about it, actually."

Okay, this seems shiny enough, and it's enough chocolate to experiment with! Sora will turn the stove off, grab a pot holder, and lift the metal bowl up. Round one: just regular chocolates.

"He sounds like a really good guy." Seriously, in a lot of ways. Crowley seemed kind of grumpy, but he never set off any alarm bells in his head the same way other people did in the past. "It's really hard to believe he's a demon. Everything you tell me about him makes him sound like his heart's in the right place."

Soldat pulls a pen from a pocket (or, well, from a knife sheath hidden in a pocket) and draws and colors in a little star on one of the fox's little paper ears, just in case Crowley has somehow missed that his housemate makes paper animals like this. It's possible.

Then, fox finished and pen put away, they turn back to Sora. "From what I hear. He's not a very good demon. He says it was just a job. Not really a lifestyle, or anything. Want me to hold that?" Meaning the pot. With the metal hand that feels no pain. They even wiggle the fingers at him meaningfully.

Sora doesn't get a real good look at it since he's preoccupied with positioning the bowl over the mold, but he thinks he sees that star right before the soldier puts it away. Cute.

"Not a lifestyle demon..." Sora pauses. He supposes that makes sense, although he doesn't really thinks he gets the idea of being evil on the clock. If only he remembered that the guy with the cuecards he mentioned a week ago was indeed the punchclock villain type.

He'll bite his lips trying not to laugh at the finger wiggle, but he'll shake his head at that. "I, uh, wanna try doing this myself." A pause. Okay, just informational! He is really not trying to guilt the soldier into anything. "These aren't the real things? They're just test runs. I'm gonna start doing the real batches next Friday. I, uh... need to make sure that I can do this by myself. Just in case you need more time." The statement comes out with more conviction at the end, which helps him stick the landing on that awkward thought.

He does want to be patient and wait for the soldier to come back at their own time! It's just a hard thing to express without sounding like he's begging them to be around. He's a tiny bit afraid that he'll come off like that.

III. VALENTINE'S DAY COMIN' CHUCKLEFUCKLES [airhorns]

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