logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

characters: everyone.
location: the path from downtown beacon to the harbor; all over town.
date/time: february 16-21.
content: the forest spirits send off their friends to join the aurora. memory opals drop from the eerie green lights above.
warnings: n/a.

i had all and then most of you, some and now none of you.

For most of the day on February 16, all of the town's forest spirits can be found along the stretch of road between downtown and the harbor, clearly setting up for, uh, something. They're piling snow onto the pathway, creating a miles long sled trail that starts outside the Landmark Inn and ends at the very end of the harbor's dock. Not only that, but the forest spirits are also not super willing to explain what they're up to! They're busy, you lantern-havers.

By the time evening rolls around, the spirits have set up wooden railings alongside the snowy path, as well as a warming tent, hot chocolate booth, and announcer stand outside of the Landmark. Oh, and a starting banner for the race! It's dogsled time!

Throughout the event, Beacon's downtown and harbor areas will be completely overrun with forest spirits, all there to bear witness to this holiday celebration—this holiday is for them, though, not you weirdos with your naked faces. Point is, none of the spirits will be hostile at this time! They're more interested in interacting with each other than with Beacon's residents, though if pressed, a kind spirit might be willing to explain what's going on:

The aurora arrives in Beacon for about a week each year, and the forest spirits believe it to be "friends in the sky". The lights are old friends of theirs, it seems! And each night while the aurora shines above the town, the forest spirits send off a handful of friends to join the aurora! The spirits ready to join the aurora build sleds of their own and assemble mighty sled teams, sometimes comprised of dog spirits and sometimes... other stuff. Then, when the aurora is at its peak in the wee hours of the night, the sled teams will ride off one by one, racing down the snow-covered path all the way down to the harbor, where they'll finally rocket off the dock and out over the lake, picking up more and more speed as each team gallops wildly over the water before arcing up into the sky. Once the spirits are barely a speck, they'll hit the aurora and burst into a shower of light. Beautiful stuff!

See, since the aurora is made of light, forest spirits launched into it are killed on impact! Isn't that wonderful! The forest spirits seem to think so! What is death to a dead thing!

All of this information can be learned through handwaved/played-led interactions with the forest spirits during the event. They'll all be focused on saying goodbye to their friends and cheering them on as they stream through the sky, but they're happy to welcome lantern-havers to join in the celebrations. The hot chocolate is free and only tastes a little bit like mud, so. Enjoy!

•••
For the entire duration of the event, the aurora will dance in beautiful silence overhead, lighting up the whole town with its eerie green glow. Every so often, handfuls of opals will rain down like meteorites from the lights above, and these opals each contain the memory of someone currently in Beacon! They can be found all over town, landing on paths and atop buildings and maybe even rocketing straight through your ceiling to crash into your living room. Perhaps a forest spirit decided to hide some shiny rocks in your cereal box or under your pillow... Better hope the Postmaster General doesn't find your opals before you do, though. That spirits sure does love their rocks. Point is, who knows where the opals might turn up?

On that note, if you signed up for a random event, we'll be RNGing characters to receive these random events throughout the event! The event may happen in response to a toplevel on this event log, or we might turn up in your IC inbox... 👀 These events will be entirely random, meaning we could dole out any number of them at any time, so it'll be a fun surprise for all of us.

If you missed signups and would still like to toss your name in the ring, go right ahead! Signups will remain open throughout the event, though we can't promise everyone who signs up will get something.

And finally... Each day, we'll post a list of the forest spirits joining the aurora! What, did you want to know in advance? The forest spirits have never been a particularly organized bunch, so they're winging this—which means more surprises for you. :)

Enjoy the races and the lights and the opals, residents of Beacon, and remember: WHAT IS DEATH TO A DEAD THING!

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[ peter didn't mean to see it, fingers accidentally brushing along bruce's opal while reaching for his own. he thinks if maybe he can gather enough of them quickly enough, it'll spare more people the chance of seeing his memories. he doesn't know how long they'll fall, if they'll last for the whole time the aurora is around or not, but it's hard to resist the shine of its light even if he's only been in beacon for the short amount of time he has.

in any case, peter has both of them in his hand now and he pockets his own while tossing bruce's lightly up and down in his hand. true north, huh? he doesn't know who alfred is, barely knows who bruce is either, but the memory stirs something in him that he hasn't felt in a long time.

he thinks about going off to find bruce, to give it to him personally, maybe. but he thinks about alfred's face, about bruce's, and he thinks better of it. there's a few leftover wax paper bags that clark had from his valentines adventure and peter takes one of them, tucks bruce's opal inside and folds it up into a neat square. ]

I got something for you
In the church, back left pew

Oh no, that was so cute. That's ridiculously unfair, that Rosinante had to see two of their more terrible memories, and the one they find for him is pleasant and adorable and kind. As promised, though, Soldat tracks Rosinante down, whether downstairs at the Invincible, or out at the harbor.

They're a little steadier today, with almost 24 hours since the last time they saw him. The headache problem hasn't gone away, but they did manage to review and incorporate the second memory-- didn't want to throw up, after that one, but did wind up basically gone for an hour before awareness came back; probably for the best they hadn't done that in front of Rosinante-- and find a way to avoid thinking too hard about Steve-the-target. Mostly by thinking very firmly about other things. Routine. Origami and experimenting with Kal-El's cupcake recipe.

But this is a nice change, being able to give Rosinante something happy to remember and hold onto. So their expression is relaxed when they offer the metal hand, and the stone wrapped in a scrap of fabric on top of it. "As promised. It's a good one."

No!

[ daylight startles forward and - with a motion of his arm, and a strange hum coming from his frame - he generates a little forcefield around the opal. as if he's afraid madam lutece will take the opal now.

when he realises what he's done, day looks embarrassed and apologetic while willing the shield to disapparate. ]

Sorry... But- No. I want to keep it. I don't want anyone else to see this.

[ but. ]

... Can I ask for your thoughts on the situation then? The one you observed?

[Gardening is not something that Kuai ever did back in his world. He didn't have time, and few things would grow in the frigid mountain of Arctika. But it's undeniably relaxing. Something to take his mind off the fight they should be prepping for.

As someone who has trained his entire life to save the world repeatedly, he feels a little justified in taking a bit of time off for himself now and again. He is dead after all. So he goes to the greenhouse a few times a week, making sure the little green sprouts that will eventually be beans are thriving.

When he spots the opal on the ground as he's leaving he instinctively picks it up, something that bright is immediately visible and his hand closes around it before he realizes it might be a bad idea to touch strange rocks that appear randomly.

The memory washes over him and he almost drops the rock afterwards, feeling uncomfortable and a little voyeuristic to be seeing this. But he tucks the opal in a pocket, going to look for Xayah. If nothing else to apologize for inadvertently intruding.]

[NOPE. Nope nope he doesn't want this. This is intrusive and wrong and probably treason?

What does he do? Can he hurl this rock into the woods and pretend he never saw it? No because then someone else will find it and that seems like an even worse breach of Cao Pi's privacy. Maybe he should mail it back; then he doesn't have to see him.

He takes a deep breath, composing himself to go find the Emperor and give it back and hopefully say nothing about this.]

"Traditions exist for a reason, even ones such as these." There's something to be said about a culture that's so dedicated to their ceremonies that they're literally killing themselves in a very festive way. He doesn't exactly condone it, but he won't do anything to stop it.

"They seem to be enjoying themselves."

[ It does sound pretty bad, doesn't it? Kal's consciousness doesn't bother trying to argue it. But when you're the only one of your kind in a world full of humans...

The point is, though, Soldat's hands land on the holds pretty easily. They glow beneath his touch, warming the skin that touches them, but as they move over to the next side, they feel the pain in their ribs with the stretch of their body.

One of their feet doesn't make it onto its next hold; the leg can't stretch enough. Hopefully Soldat can keep their balance and make up for it, though, because it's only when they do that more crevices in the crystal wall appear, directly above where he is now. ]

[The majority of the memories he's found have been benign, but he's still hesitant to even pick the opals up. He doesn't want to pry into people's memories without their knowledge. Kuai wouldn't have touched this one if it hadn't literally fallen from the ceiling in the Invincible to bounce a few times on the table ahead of him.

After instinctively grabbing it before it falls to the ground, he immediately regrets it. Not because he's feeling intrusive this time, but because he hadn't seen an act of cruelty on that scale since he'd come here. Destroying realms was apparently a past-time in multiple universes.

On the other hand he doesn't recognize Hux from the memory. That is until he's walking on his patrol and passes him watching the spirits hurl themselves to oblivion.]

Enjoying the view?

[Kuai's standard monotone growl is a little less friendly than normal.]

[Prompto is definitely a little scared of Ravus. The older man is very intimidating and while he's sort of missing most of one of his arms, he still has the intimidating figure and status as Lunafreya's older brother to his advantage.

He's also definitely startled when Ravus more or less corners him just outside the village area, attempting to take a photo of the Bonfire Square from there.]

Huh!? [Time to nearly drop the tablet! Fumble it, anyway.] Something of mine?

Well... these plants'll need a lot of attention, with the need for watering. [ He has a bag full of corn seeds now, and carries it in one arm once it's opened. ] For elderberries you're gonna want to check for weeds about th-thrice a week especially, since their roots are so shallow and weeds'll choke 'em.

Foxgloves have to be maintained well, or else they'll grow everywhere, roots and all. It'll put the edible crops here at risk, too.

But... [ Clark regards Lutece with a curious look, mouth tilted somewhat. ] Do you plan on growing a lot?

[Soldat has had intensive training in balancing, gymnastics, and even dance, and a lot of time spent climbing buildings and occasionally trees to get into position for good shots. This really isn't that hard, even with broken ribs. It's really more like annoying. They dangle from their hands and one foot, brace the soggy shoe against the wall itself just to keep the damaged body from overbalancing, and use their arms to haul them up to the next set of hand-holds. Slow going, but they can do it.]

Couldn't have put in stairs, Kal? Gotta be a magic climbing wall? Christ.

[(If I were in my own damn body, I'd be at the top already. Weak. Good to know the creepily-powerful alien can actually get hurt, I guess. Don't think this is a normal thing, or he'd be able to float up. Probably why there's no stairs. Rude. You said it, Asset.)]

[Even once he's addressed, he continues to watch the spirits. But he does unfold his arms to have them hang at his sides.]

They perceive death differently from us. Even if they understood, the faith that drives rituals like these bears far greater weight than our words.

[So long as it's of no detriment to others, let them do as they please—that's Somnus' approach. And, so far, the spirits have yet to do outside harm.]

[Hm. She regards him silently for a few moments, quiet.]

My thoughts are that there are situations in which sacrifice is necessary. And no matter the individual sentiment, no matter how horrific the prospect, there are causes bigger than one's life, one's self-- or one's children. It sounds as though your mother was angling for some kind of universal peace? There's always a price for everything. And the larger the prize, the larger the price.

. . . but.

There are also a great many people who do things for petty, selfish reasons. For reasons that they deem important and just, but aren't. And who will use others for their own ends, wringing every bit of usefulness out of them-- no matter how much they supposedly love them, no matter how they supposedly believe in righteousness. And til their dying day, they'll be convinced they did the right thing, no matter how many bodies they leave in their wake.

[She sighs softly and reaches for her wine glass.]

I don't know which your mother was, Daylight. Do you?

...Yeah. She's an opera singer.

[Or was, he supposes. More to that point: Rosalind's phrasing is distinctly past tense. It's accurate, yes, but it's another thing to hear it out loud.

It's disorienting, being dead, especially when he sure as hell doesn't feel dead. It doesn't feel like the issue with his mom will always now be unresolved, but that's how it is. Had he even wanted to meet her? Not particularly, no, but... It should've been his choice, and if he died never having made it, he wasn't supposed to hang around in the afterward to regret it.]

Nah. I thought about tracking her down when I was younger, but what would've been the point? She had my entire childhood to get over her shit and reach out, and she didn't, so whatever. Fuck it. She's the one who missed out.

[She probably doesn't even know he's dead.]

She is.

[But it would be better if she knew just how badly she ought to feel. Rosalind pauses, knowing precisely what it is he's feeling and not having any idea how to deal with it. She's never tolerated it for herself, burying it under work, but with Newt . . .]

What other opals have you found?

[Emp-ty? His brother was saying something about the empire producing daemons, which is another highly disturbing thought. If this Niflheim has been weaponizing the Scourge somehow, they're foolish beyond reason.

His gaze drops to Prompto's wrist. He remembers seeing something there, too. There's so much that he doesn't understand.]

What are you, then?

They sure are.

He can't say. If there's a limit, he doesn't know it, other than not being able to put living creatures or something truly massive inside. (A morbid part of him wonders what that means for them as the animated dead.) That being said, reaching into the Armiger has always been an instinctual maneuver on his end.

"I call and it answers. There is no finding."

She shrugs limply, eyes turned downward.

"Sorry. About that. To you and him, I guess. I didn't-- I don't know."

Guilty, maybe. Apologetic. Drained. That was more intense than it should have been, sooner than it should have. Upsetting him is a horrid, heavy feeling. "Shouldn't have brought it up, maybe. Or not like that."

"Right. Breaks are good, sometimes." Although for some reason, Sora's not quite happy with the idea of taking a break. He's not morally opposed to it, but... something about the shortness of time they have here, something about wanting to keep busy. Something's making him antsy about the whole thing.

He shakes his head. Enough of that. "There was an aurora over Locke City when everything first started. Pink one. We all started getting memories faster after that." Sora huffs a laugh. "That one was only four seconds, but everyone caught it. It was huge. Really weird." A lot of things started that day. "I like this one better. At least we know what it is."

Speaking of memories... he's going to get some paper packets and start shuffling through them. They are all indeed opal sized! The paper is there to make sure that he doesn't get hit by a round two. It's pretty distracting.

[ Very interesting reaction coming up! Sora will grin as he walks forward, making sure Jason hasn't bumped anything in his fall, will be opening his mouth to maybe make some smart comment about how he should probably try sitting down for the next one-

And then Sora turns pale when Jason says that the memory was his. He blinks a couple of times, like he didn't understand quite what Jason just said.

Then he sits down, right next to Jason, and with cold gloved fingers starts taking off his right shoe. ]

Okay, glad you're okay. Where did it go? Just, like, in there? [ And he makes a chucking motion with his chin toward the forest edge as he finally pulls off his shoe and gets a hold of the lip of his sock. He will start removing that as well. ]

That tone of voice, that listless shrug, manages to be slightly alarming even despite the headache and emotional exhaustion. "Hey. No. Not your fault." Soldat reaches over to pat her forearm with the flesh hand, just cuz that's the side she's on. They don't even look, they just know where she is and pats. "Was important to you. To know what it meant. Yeah? S'fine."

[ Sora has a few opals himself, his tucked away stash of yarnbomb gloves coming in clutch to keep them separated and organized, when he hears Rosinante calling to him. His head... basically whips around, his entire body galvanized as he all but throws himself to his feet in his eagerness to get over there. ]

Really? Really? It - oh, ah, I gotta stop asking what it is. [ Sora shakes his head, but he doesn't look concerned about his tied tongue. No, he looks just straight up desperate. ] Where is it? Do you have it with you? [ Big sad puppy eyes? Big sad puppy eyes. Have mercy, Rosinante, this kid is beside himself. ]

[His shoulders sink in relief as she suggests the topic change, releasing all the tension he hadn't realized he'd been holding since he sat down.]

Right, uh... Oh! I found a couple with my dad and uncle.

[Which, from the way he perks up, he is clearly quite stoked to have.]

And I have one with Hermann, and then one with Hermann and our boss. Just lab stuff, mostly.

[And another one of Hermann from before they worked in Hong Kong together buuuuuuut he'd rather not dive right into that can of worms in the wake of a conversation about his mother.]

They're back at my place, but I'll show 'em to you later, if you want. What about you?

Shocking no one who's known Kuai for more than thirty seconds, he's not exactly pleased about this current situation where he keeps seeing other people's private thoughts without their consent. It feels intrusive and his delicate sense of propriety is taking a beating.

On top of that he's trying to ignore the fact that if he's seeing other people's memories, then some out there are seeing his. He'll just stand by the edge of the dogsled track and watch the spirits and try to not think about it.

1. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

[The memory starts in darkness, before INITIALIZING flashes on screen.

Screen? Weird.

Words continue to scroll as if the memory is inside a computer, more than half is in Chinese, which translates to a few ice puns along with the important knowledge that Sub-Zero is best kept at temperatures of negative 54 degrees Fahrenheit. The distorted face of another person in a mask appears, taking up his vision. ]

Sub-Zero? Can you hear me?

[Kuai sits up, shaking his head as if that will stop the robotic analysis that's happening with everything he looks at. Instead he stares down at his hands, blue and metallic, turning them over and back and flexing his fingers, his robotic legs stretched ahead of him and giving a good view of his new metal body.]

Yes Smoke. I hear you.

[He's taking being turned into a robot pretty well honestly.]

2. The Aftermath (cw: Suicide)

[Kuai is in a puddle of blood, it stretches out ahead of him, pooling in the ice that surrounds him. His vision is blurry from pain and bloodloss, and he closes his eyes in resignation.]

At death's door again Kuai Liang?

[The voice sounds jovial, and Kuai groans as he's dragged to his feet by a very large man who clinks with bottles of wine strapped to all available spaces on his person.]

I've done terrible things.

[The portly fellow bellows laughter as he continues to drag Kuai away, past an entire city covered in ice with small protrusions here or there that are clearly people. Well, were people anyway. They'd been running towards a temple that's now glistening as the ice encasing it begins to melt. ]

The dagger possessed you. Do not be so melancholy!

I should end it. I can't be redeemed after this. Kill myself. Be done with it.

HA! Of course not. There's more than enough wine to forget about this. After what you've been through, Raiden owes you a favor or twelve.

3. The Fire Garden

[Kuai is kneeling alone under a tree that's brilliantly pink with cherry blossoms, gazing out at the small compound beyond, trees dotting the landscape with trunks ember red or orange and small pointed wooden buildings now covered in fallen petals.

Behind him there's faint footsteps of someone who is trying to be stealthy, and wouldn't have been heard by anyone who hadn't been listening.]

I assumed you were training.

[There's a disgruntled huff behind him and the shnnk of a sword being sheathed.]

You should not be here. One day, someone will catch you.

No, they will not. Would you like me to leave?

[Kuai's voice is light, almost playful.]

If you are already here...

[The memory fades before he turns around, the identity of the man behind him a complete mystery.]

Edited 2020-02-21 07:22 (UTC)

Oh, man, smooth! Mr. Hughes probably does not suspect a single thing. (He already knows and is counting down the minutes until he rains righteous fury upon him. Sora is going to DIE. At least, that's what it feels like.)

"You don't?" He feels like he remembers Maes going toward the bonfire last month after the yarnbomb... but it's definitely equally possible that that was the fastest way back to wherever he lived, which didn't have to be the Invincible specifically. Or maybe he moved! Or maybe he was just biding his time until Sora did something incredibly foolish like let his hand brush the rock that had a memory of him kissing his wife on his birthday. Really! Could be any one of these perfectly reasonable explanations!

"I. Dah. Um." Sora rummages through his pocket, holding his breath as he tries to stop his imagination get the best of him. It's going to be just fine! It's going to be absolutely fine. "I got one of your. Um! Memories!" Sora is already shaking his head. "Don't worry, it's not a bad memory! It was your, um." Anyway, he's just gonna grab this plain white paper packet and shove it toward Maes. "Happy birthday! I mean." Hahahaha! What an excellent and totally super normal way to give someone something that belongs to them anyway! (Sora is doing GREAT.)

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EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

family and identity.

Re: 4. Law

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Kuai Liang || OTA

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