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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With this she stands, a hand offered to assist him if only as a gesture.

"Sandwich or something. Low effort. Just to fill up and give me a minute to fight with the sheets."

[It is kind of weird. But also weirdly liberating. Soldat is talking about memories with a handler. This is a big fucking step away from the Asset, and they can't help but recognize it.]

I. Asked Aziraphale for a happy memory. He's a technician, he can do that-- dig around in my brain and find things. I. Needed. Had to prove there was something in here that wasn't all. War and torture and killing people.

[The metal hand waves vaguely in the direction of their own head.]

Both the ones he found were of Steve.

[He jams one pole into the dirt. This takes more effort that carrying it around.]

I was born with the ability to carry heavy weights. Unfortunately, this does not directly translate to forceful strikes. [He lifts another thick pole with one arm and sticks that into the ground using both arms.] I would image that they do not mind being hit, seeing that these stones from from the lights.

[ The heavenly abode would be synonymous to the skies overhead. That's how Somnus, who hails from a time of deep religious fealty, interprets it. By itself, the sky means nothing.

But fighting? That's different from an argument. There was only one time he ever raised a weapon at his brother outside of a mock battle, and that can only mean that Sora saw the moment where he'd put on airs in the hopes of persuading the crowd to see reality as he saw it.

Those airs came from him. Somnus closes his eyes, then reopens them to look at Sora. When he thinks about it that way, he was being himself. ]

You and I are as good as strangers. Perhaps what you experienced is who I truly am.

The look Somnus gets is one part dry and one part resigned and one part the fuck did you just say. "The Inspector and Misty are my handlers. Aziraphale is my technician. Maybe I picked them this time. But that's still what they are." They shake their head just a little. "And I don't have a ton of ideas. Is the problem. But the magic stasis space was one. Checking the books at the library to see if they change, because Sora's did. That's another. During the siege I had some, but that was a siege. I think better in combat situations."

Sora is more than welcome to return to the topic, though for the moment Jason doesn't mind talking about Hades and, by extension, Nico. Although, if he knew that Sora was imagining Nico and Leo together he would lose it.

"Heh, well, that part isn't too different. Hades wasn't really honored as one of the 12 Olympian gods, despite being related to pretty much all of them. He didn't even have a cabin at Camp Half-Blood until Percy got the gods to agree that they should build cabins for all of the gods -- before that if you were a demigod child of a god other than one of the twelve then you were stuck in the Hermes cabin." Which, while nice in terms of having lots of people to hang out with, meant you often were over crowded with demigods you didn't necessarily relate to. It was probably the one aspect of Camp Jupiter that Jason preferred, they didn't sort by your godly parent there. "Hades could feel bitter sometimes, but he's certainly not evil. I'm told he was pretty important in turning the tide in the Second Titan War -- savior of Olympus I think -- and in our battles against Gaea later on."

Camp Jupiter hadn't seen that part of the Titan War of course, fighting their end of it without much help from gods and doing it on the west coast. Still, Percy and Nico and some of the other Camp Half-Blood demigods had filled in a lot of the gaps as far as the east coast front was concerned.

"If I find any more stones with Nico in them, I'll be sure to share."

Alchemy? No. Not as far as I know.

[It's only a word he's vaguely familiar with. Some sort of science, or magic? He's not sure if it's fact or fiction, to be honest. Definitely not his area. But he's curious now, whatever this explanation is.]

"I suppose I have," he nods. "But I imagine it holds less meaning to me, as someone not from your world, than it does to him. Which isn't to say I'm not interested, I just... The succession of kings and emperors in your world is probably a little like me telling you the history of Marine leadership in mine."

The important parts are not Cao Pi's father himself, but what Cao Pi's reaction to all of this is. He's bothered, he gives it a great deal of importance. He almost certainly resents the man. Cao Pi is someone who had power and who willingly gave it up for the sake of his own political survival. All things he'll file away in his mind, should they become relevant later, but knowledge of his father is slightly more... academic.

Well, honestly. Seems an easy enough thing to try, kind of surprising nobody has yet. "Can try that. If Aziraphale doesn't find it and throw it out." A pause, thinking of Aziraphale's face at finding random uncooked food sitting somewhere, even if it's Soldat's bedroom. "Maybe Misty's house would be a better idea. Think she'd appreciate the experiment more."

"Suggest it to her, then," he says with a shrug. "Just have to keep the spirits from eating it. Or maybe Gregor himself might want to do it, but she could speak to him about it. Maybe try meat as well as something else. Bread. Something already cooked."

Or the more science-inclined probably will come up with their own ideas as well as smart ways to go about testing all this stuff. There are probably signs of decay other than just smelling bad or turning green that they could track, but he's no expert. He just supports anyone who wants to do something that will help them learn more about their situation among the dead.

"Don't fight too hard," Soldat says, taking her hand but mostly pushing themselves up, instead. She's no waif, but they're also extremely heavy, thanks metal arm. "No wars in your cabin please. I'd have to avenge you and I'm too tired right now."

"What if I'm in the sheet reserves, huh? This is my big shot."

Big smile. Getting back to normal, buddy.

"You're gonna sleep like a rock, and you're gonna feel great after."

[Following that line of thought, since they know perfectly well how attached Matt and the tree baby are to each other, Soldat shakes their head a little.]

Too young. To make that kind of decision. Gotta be. They'll stay.

[They hope they're right.]

Should be with them. Not just hovering around back here.

[ well - he's right, but probably not in the way he means. ]

Not literally. Figurative ghosts. It was filled with figurative ghosts from which we could not escape otherwise.

Or possibly they're going to have nightmares and wake up grouchy, but eh. Maybe she'll be right. "Hope so." They do extract their hand almost immediately, albeit with a hesitation and then a little pat to her forearm right after. Then they slink over to the fridge, pausing to squint at the bowl of eggs they never did manage to do anything with.

Maybe they can scramble them up real quick. Wouldn't want them to go to waste. That won't take long. Not as exciting as omelets, but quicker, and still protein. Maybe with some cheese and tomato diced in.

[Ashford pulls in his lower lip, biting it for a long moment before nodding to the dirt near his feet.]

You can put tha'one down.

[Part of him has the urge to try and crush it underfoot. Another part, however, yearns to clench it tightly in his fist and relive that pain on a loop to remind himself of everything he's failed to achieve. For the moment, however, he'd rather leave that decision for later.]

I have enough to remember that. [He reaches his hand not holding Stone's opal up to indicate his scares] Don't need a rock.

[He then holds Stone's memory forward again, offering to him]

These were your people?

[ Yes, Sora 100% stands by that cuteness evaluation. He named a twenty foot ice golem Marshmallow almost directly after it tried to kill him twice. He doesn't put a lot of stock into visuals!

Sora softens after hearing that, looking up to meet her eyes after making sure the button on his top pocket is fastened. ]

Yeah, any time. He seems like a good friend. Well, I mean, I can't think of a single friend of mine who hasn't made my life hard at least once, you know? [ He peers at her. ] Any other friends I can help you find? Just in case I pick up one of yours and it doesn't happen to have Fuzz in it.

It is not something I ha'seen before. Not exactly priests running around the Belt.

[He nods towards Aziraphale]

Is that what you are? A priest?

[An eyebrow arches and Ashford hums curiously. He hadn't expected such an intense response to what seemed fairly inconsequential.]

Is there something you are worried I saw?

[The corner of his mouth quirks, finding this all somewhat funny.]

[ There's an evaluation going on in Sora's head here. Besides his purpose to be Sora, which he hadn't realized was a purpose until Riku had pretty much made it clear that whatever Sora-ness he'd reclaimed in the past few years wasn't enough, he'd made it a touchstone in his life to assume that he deserved nothing in life. There wasn't a prophecy or a grand design. Everything he did he did by accident. If he died, it would most assuredly be for no reason. He'd accepted that on his first week here.

This is it, he realizes. No two reincarnation journeys are the same. Especially if one of them had inherited a great quest and a magic sword and the works, and the other had inherited the delivery boy. This is where the analogy breaks.

How does he help someone who had their destiny taken away?

You were just the delivery boy.

Oooooh. ]

Okay. Then that's my destiny. I'm going to make it so you get back to your people before anything bad happens to them.

"Hope's good, run with that." And with a thumbs up, she'll be off sprucing up the bed. Ten minutes in the dryer across the board, remade as quickly as she can manage. Pillows fluffed, even. Torch carefully transferred - warmth, and safety. Short of leaving a mint on the pillow or cookies on the nightstand, this is as good as it'll get.

Whatever he busied himself with, she's quick to chime as she hops downstairs, "If there are dishes, I'll get 'em. Bed's ready whenever you are, no focusing on anything else."

Yeah, they will. (Possibly not for a few days, as various Things will get in the way, but. Eventually.) "Milk, maybe," they offer, as well. It's pretty clear when milk starts to go bad, between the smell and the curdling, plus it goes bad much more quickly than most things when left out.

They finish off the cigarette, right down to the tiniest bit, since it's not like the metal hand can get burned by the tip. They roll it into the metal palm and crush the remains, holding it there until they can get to the nearest building to trash it. "I am sorry about those memories, again. That second one was probably confusing as hell." It was confusing enough even for someone who'd apparently lived it, but for someone from a world with such different kinds of tech, to start with, it had to have been completely incomprehensible.

People still do that? That's. Okay, that's kinda cute. Soldat watches her head upstairs, then actually kind of zones out for a few minutes, until Misty comes back down with the blankets, which shakes them back into motion. Scrambling eggs, building two sandwiches. Tea, this time. (Soldat almost never voluntarily chooses tea. But it seems more soothing for nerves than cocoa and it's late enough that they're not making Misty coffee.)

By that point, the actual physical signs of the crying jag are gone. Supersoldier serum is good for a lot of things, including healing a raw throat and red eyes, apparently. They work their way through their (second, probably) dinner more mechanically than usual, not really tasting it, listening to first the hum of the dryer, then Misty bustling around upstairs putting the bed back together.

The tea comes with as they drift across the living room in response to her comment. "There's more tea and a sandwich left. If you want it." No more eggs, though. They ate all those, oops.

"I'd be happy to take them off your hands, thank you." Saved her a meal's worth of effort at least, which makes up for any potential finger-wagging effort on her behalf would rouse, had that been his intention. The room is presented with a flourish; it's not shabby for a room only intermittently occupied, and on short notice.

Really, it's a means of killing time. Tucking in of any sort is both unnecessary and unwise, but she would - prefer to see him settled before she leaves. Something like comfort, that would be nice. "Rest for you. If something playing quietly downstairs might help, this is your last chance to say so."

The previously established 'don't enter spontaneously on account of nightmares' rule has held.

[Wait, stay there? How does Sora know where he is? Actually, he hasn't moved much in the past few days, so maybe it's not a surprise. And anyway, there are only so many good spots to watch the aurora from.

Will does indeed stay there.

He waits until he sees Sora barrelling through before standing up to make himself easier to spot. The opal in question is in his hand, but he's not touching it without heavy winter gloves.

He holds it out, just expecting Sora to take it and maybe go. He doesn't know this is about to be an exchange.]

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EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

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