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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( she pauses, considers, and then purses her lips, saying without saying that she can accept that logic. why should satan be a goat man with cloven feet when a beautiful lure is so much more effective? you get more bees with honey than vinegar, and all that.

she skirts behind the bar and fishes out what she wants with intent, rather aggressive movements. there's far more thuds involved than need to be. )

Spoon talk is always complicated, ( Carmilla agrees wryly. no, she can imagine there's more involved that involved that kind of ire, but she still has the glowy static of contentment flitting through her from the comfortable afterglow of that moment. while it ended ugly, there was at least a little good to look back on. )

Did you make all these invasive pebbles fall from the sky? Because if that's the case, maybe. Otherwise, not worth the effort. ( not to say she isn't annoyed enough to take it out on someone that doesn't deserve it, but she's been crushing opals with a hammer for most of her day, she isn't really feeling clocking somebody on top of it. )

His smile stays on, still friendly, but there's something that saddens in it at the mention of a spirit joining the race. Drawing it to commemorate it, no matter what happens. When he's so worried about the mandrake spirit, that hits a little close to home.

"That's very thoughtful of you. To make a memory of them, no matter how the races goes." It's not a memory that can do anything for him, sadly, but... he likes the idea.

She doesn't have to worry about being in his way. He shakes his head, lifting his hand armed with cocoa. "I'm just trying to warm up. I've been over by the races." And it's a bit colder over there, away from town and the bonfire. That phrasing is far less depressing than the actuality of what he's been doing, though the whole truth seems a bit heavy for a total stranger. "I'm Matt. I'm sorry, I hope I didn't interrupt you." He's never going to admit it, but, after the emotional soul sucking of listening spirits run to their eventual doom... he was kind of fishing for some company.

[ Kylo has spent the better part of the month trying to get acclimated in this new life and it's been difficult, to say the least. He doesn't like that the only sources of light are their lanterns and torches, there's no technology, nothing he's been used to since birth - it's primitive. He misses the sterile, cold environment he had become used to while living on a star destroyer. ]

We've worked under the same leader for five years, yet you've never shown anything but disdain toward me.

[ They worked together, but spent most of the time actively trying to take the other down. Snoke pitted them against each other and Kylo knew it; it was obvious. ]

Has death changed you that much?

Soldat makes a little face, but does bring their own lantern around, opens the metal shutters (displaying a little bit of a crack in the glass and the tiniest bit of green light leaking from said crack, if Rosi is paying attention), opens the glass shutters, and dips the tip of the cigarette into the flame there. That feels weird as hell, actually. Maybe next time they'll find a torch.

Then there's the process of locking it all back up again, cigarette dangling from their mouth. Only once it's locked and they can take the smoke back in hand do they say dryly, "Maybe I should start asking for some, myself, so I don't have to keep bumming off of you."

They know Aziraphale and Crowley probably won't mind. Would Misty or Javert? Hmm, intel needed.

That's... kind of a relief, actually. They'll let her worry about it; she's the one with healing magic. She and Aziraphale could probably fix anything, if it turns out there's a real problem.

So they smile warmly and say, "Yes, Misty."

Food is good. They'll take that plate, and have one bite just in time for the kettle to start whistling. Down it goes again, so they can pour water over the cocoa so they have something warm to drink, too. Misty gets hers offered to her wordlessly, and then they go settle on the couch with sandwich and cocoa to find some nice music to listen to, and hope the damn headache goes away.

Rosinante is always paying attention, or so he'd like to think. He's been trained to do so. He's curious, anyway, about the lanterns of others in general - but that slip of green, that trace of a crack through the glass, that's unexpected enough to cause his expression to slip briefly from neutral to somewhat alarmed. His eyes widen and he straightens his back a fraction of an inch, as if about to sit up rather than slouch forward as he's been doing, though he doesn't end up doing more than that slight but perceptible flinch.

Is it just the light from the aurora reflecting off the glass? He peers upward and exhales a breath of smoke. "Yeah. Rastus doesn't seem to mind so long as I pick up after myself. No litter, that's his rule."

He can't help it. He glances back again, looking to see if the green is still visible - or if Soldat has shut the lantern back up altogether. It can't be one of those malfunctions from the previous month, can it? All of these so-called events, as Robin had named them, seem to finish up in a week or two. They don't linger.

They have, sadly. It's habit, keeping their light shuttered up so it doesn't give their presence away, and also because yeah, they're well aware of that crack and some of the questions people might have about it. Sometimes they show it to people on purpose, but usually that's for a reason. And it's not like they need it, with the aurora shedding plenty of light.

And they're observant, too: they saw that look. But he's got to ask if he wants to know.

"I remember. I'll be careful." It's nice to just have a drag of smoke and blow it back out again. The Sergeant in particular, in the back of their brain, just seems to unwind. It almost makes the headache feel a little better, too. "Thank you."

[Hux snorted with amusement, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Death had changed him but he hardly allowed himself to get emotional about it. There were days when he refused to admit that he had truly really died.]

Don't get sentimental on me, Ren.

[Even in death Hux wasn't going to tolerate that. He wasn't going to indulge that in Ren even now.]

What would be the point of fighting you now? You have no authority over me and I'm your only ally here now. We have to work together now.

[Hux didn't have to say that he would plunge a knife in Kylo's back as soon as they got home though. That throne would be his.]

[Once he straightened up he could tell how tall the other man was. But he didn't step back, no intimidated by his unusual height.]

I'm Hux. That's possible but it's a pleasure to meet you in person then.

[He looked at Rosinante's hand for a moment, not sure what he was doing. Handshaking wasn't a custom he was familiar with but after a few seconds, he awkwardly took the other man's hand.]

Have you been here long?

[ At first, Eliot doesn't think it's directed at him. Why would it be? Eliot barely knows anyone around here, and certainly not the guy angrily shouting in his general direction. Except that Eliot realizes there's no really anyone else around to be shouting at.

He glances over his shoulder, then looks at the stranger. ]

Uh. Hey?

[ Does Eliot look confused? He's definitely confused. ]

Oh?

[whatever's going on in his head, he pushes it down and turns bravely to his favored comrade]

And what, I wonder, did you see in that stone?

"Yes, I have. I noticed." The casual approach is appreciated, though. Before he actually reaches for it, though, Cao Pi regards Hughes cautiously. "What makes you say that?"

"Perhaps, but...semantics."

The number doesn't really register with him at first, he hears civil war and fighting and nods like he understands. "Then, if you are at least familiar with hierarchies and wars, do you not have comrades with which you might, at times, trade jibes with when things are quieter?"

He's just trying to figure out this strange metal warrior and his reaction to Ishida. Then again, Ishida does take some getting used to if one isn't versed in sarcasm.

What the fuck -

[ Eliot drops the opal that had been in his hand.

He watches it bounce a bit, the light from the aurora playing a guide for his eyes as it glints off the smooth surface. He looks around, to see if anyone else saw that, a guy dressed in a ridiculous costume fighting another guy in a ridiculous costume and people dying (and you know it's fucked up if Eliot thinks it's fucked up) - but he seems to have been the only one. His gaze goes back to the little stone.

Eliot's not sure how he knows, but he knows it must be the culprit. He also feels, somehow, like it shouldn't be out in the open like this. It's too intimate a scene. Maybe it's not even real but it doesn't just belong to the public. And, shit, maybe it doesn't belong to anyone at all, but someone around here has to know what to do with it.

So he takes the pocket square out of his vest pocket and carefully picks up the opal with it, then he wraps it up and sticks it into the pocket of his trousers. Next, he walks a bit until he sees a guy that he decides to approach. ]

Hey - This is going to sound really fucking weird, but. Do you know anyone around here by the name of - [ What was it? Spider Guy? Bug Man? ] - Uh. Mister Parker?

Back when we were only slight younger but a whole lot stupider.

[ He sighs, nostalgic for the good ol' days. Back when Eliot's biggest worry was what to wear so the new boy thought he was cute. He still worries about whether or not Quentin thinks he's cute, but it's not a top priority.

He closes the door behind Quentin. ]

I guess I should find a safe place to put it.

[Unlike most of the people around town, dodging falling rocks, Gregor is actually hunting them like Easter eggs. Whether they're pleasant memories or terrible ones, they're always incredibly interesting, and there's no way he's going to pass up the opportunity to see all these different worlds.

For the most part, he just winds up leaving the opals somewhere after he's seen the memories, only pocketing the really fascinating ones for later return. This one definitely qualifies, and he actually gives it a second "watch" to comb for details. He recognizes the Vatican, even if he's never been there, and he has to admit he's impressed with the effort to blow it up. It's not something he'd ever bother with himself if he had the chance, but he certainly wouldn't be sorry to see the place go. The determination to see it explode is kind of admirable, really, even if it doesn't end well.

But the memory doesn't cover the why. It does give him some clues, mostly the use of magic, but the more he thinks about it, the more he wants to know. Time to seek out the source.

Just about everyone comes through the Invincible at some point, so it seems like the place to start. Gregor waits around until he recognizes Ambrose from the memory. He approaches where he's sitting and places the stone on the table.]

I believe this belongs to you.

"Right? They're cute." Sora is going to happily back up this discovery, thank you. That was one positive thing his second life afforded him - the chance to be an older sibling, for once - and he's sure as hell going to be supportive about that. "Ari used to be that small, too. Just as demanding. Bratty." He grins. "An advantage to being bigger is like, being able to just pick them up and walk away whenever you're done arguing with them and you just wanna play. Not much they can do but enjoy the ride."

[ Sora's had a hell of a time with this alien memory, man. He doesn't have his usual return policy problems with it. Unlike a lot of the others, he has a name and even a face and a network ID to tag this guy with. Finding him isn't going to be the problem.

No, it's the part where he'll probably have to just chicken out and just stick it in his post-office box even though he has SO many questions because, good gosh, he does not want to meet the guy who gave him weed last month. Not because he's necessarily frightened of him! He's just, you know. Wary. Aware that he needs to give those who Skyler didn't immediately push away some space. After all, should Skyler come back again and see that Sora tried to make friendly with his friends, that could do nothing but deteriorate things. Better to let Skyler keep his connections if he's going to come out randomly. Maybe that'll convince him to leave well enough alone.

(But WHAT WAS THAT BIRD PERSON? WHO WERE THEY??? SORA IS SO CURIOUS)

Anyway uuuh right texting back: ]

stay there i'm coming

[ And he's out the door before he realizes that, yes, this does mean he's going to meet this Dr. Ingram guy again again (a quick u-turn back to pick up that opal and back out again), and yes, he DOES have to get his butt out there to go grab it now - he doesn't know much about this guy, but he doesn't seem the type to do charity work. It's now or never.

So about 35 minutes later (thank God for flight), Sora will come running up the way, looking for that guy under the aurora. He might be coming at a full gallop. Might want to wave him down so they can both get this over with! Haha! (Lord, Sora hopes that he doesn't make Dr. Ingram hate them both. He really does want Skyler to have someone to talk to.) ]

Soldat is definitely not the only one hunting for opals. Gregor has been grabbing as many of these things as he can, though he typically leaves them somewhere obvious when he's finished taking a peek. Only the very interesting ones get returned personally.

This one is very, very interesting.

There's so much implied here. Who are "they"? Why does this person feel compelled to do these things? Who was the couple, and for that matter, who is Sergeant Barnes? The fact that this memory is mainly centered on two violent murders is almost unimportant. Almost.

It doesn't bother Gregor much to see people die, and he's reserving judgment until he knows why. Sometimes people need to be killed. Sometimes the world is better off without them. But something tells him this is much more complicated than that.

It's the metal arm that gives away the identity of the memory's owner. He's made a point to acquaint himself at least somewhat with everyone around town, and he's definitely noticed a metal-armed man doing patrols. The set routine makes the guy easy enough to find, but the village isn't the best place for this conversation. Gregor wanders out to the museum and leans himself up against the statue of the long-haired woman outside. He has a smoke and watches the aurora until the person he's looking for appears.

"Hate to interrupt your schedule, but have you got a minute?" More than a minute, actually, but whatever.

This is someone Soldat has seen once or twice around, but knows next to nothing about. They hesitate a moment, looking over their own memory, trying to see if they ever heard a name-- nope. No idea.

Well, it's probably related to memory stones. Why else would a stranger be approaching somewhere other than the bonfire or the Invincible or something? Which means... probably one of the Winter Soldier memories. Since nobody really had recognized the short-haired guy with two arms and an actual name, so far, who hadn't already known the name.

Also, apparently he has cigarettes. Maybe he'll share. "Sure," they say, deviating from their path past the museum to approach. "Everything okay?"

Oh, good, now he can blow his nose without feeling guilty about gunking up this nice handkerchief of his. He'll proceed to do that, maybe a little loudly before he realizes that he can't hear what Minato's saying, before nodding. A robot. Someone who was programmed and didn't have a heart before.

"I could kinda tell, but only because I have a friend kinda like her." He sniffs, checking on those nasal passageways. "Tron. He was a computer program. He... wanted to protect us, too." He nods firmly. "I could tell, you know. They were kind of alike. I guess... that's the other reason why I was so worried." There are a lot of reasons why he's just like this, but this one seems obvious. "Imagining her just learning about friendship and stuff like Tron did, only to lose you right after... That was the worst."

[ Hm. Sora's starting to notice things about Aziraphale that Soldat's pointed out about him, sort of. Not enough to really, you know, put words to it, but there is something about the way he talks...

Well. Sora's not going to think about it too hard. Doesn't want to! ]

I'll sit down and sort them later. [ He wrinkles his nose. ] Some of these can hurt me if I'm not careful. I have to be somewhere safe to fall over. [ Shrug. Occupational hazard. ]

Worth it if I can get them all back to who they belong to after. Some of them are pretty nice! I wouldn't want to lose any of mine after the festival is over.

What?

[Okay, so most of that just-- flies straight over his head, except for the tone of voice, which... asshole.]

You got lucky, why would you want to bet on getting lucky again just to throw rocks?

[Why not a boat? A raft? A way to get to the lighthouse that isn't fraught with monsters and spirits and things that will rip you apart without a second thought?]

You threw stones at me, jesus. Just... watch where you're going? That could have been someone's memory or something.

Sora thinks about that one for a second... then makes sort of a sound of both amusement and a little dismay. "You know that horned lady you saw? Her name's Maleficent. She's the kind of fairy you're probably thinking about." Ticks all the boxes, more or less.

"They came in all sizes, dunno why. I remember three who were only a little shorter than me. They gave me a new set of clothes one time? Man, that took ages. They kept arguing about what color everything should be. I was standing there for hours." He's annoyed and laughing at the same time. It took him a while to get fed up and tell them to just decide! Even Sora's got limits to his patience with people and their harmless whims, apparently.

Right? I thought they were dreams at first? Or, maybe hallucinations, because there's been-- something like that before.

But these feel different.

[Like small slices of someone else's life, with all the emotional baggage that comes with that and Quentin turns his head away from the spirits, watching Somnus in profile.

That thing tickles the back of his brain again, the scent of wood-smoke and disease.]

Lord Somnus?

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EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

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