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!

QUICKNAV
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Look, I've had the dream about being back in high school more times than I can count.

(And I'm a scientist, I can count real good.)

Normally, it's just me that's naked in those.

So... Why?

Actually, forget the why.

Everyone was wearing clothes.

[ A PAUSE AND A DELAY. ]

Books have sex in your world?

"You'd scuffle because of singing? That's terrible, everyone should be able to sing. Even if they're bad at it." They're smiling, though. "I think. I think maybe I sang a lot, too. I'm good at it, though." That said almost like they're teasing.

If Sora had said any of that out loud, he would have seen the Winter Soldier literally throwing up their hands in exasperation, like a 40 year old 1930s mother exasperated at her nearly-grown children for being so fucking stupid. Just him, Sora says. Just him. Are you kidding them, Sora. Come on.

Forget Riku. You have a soldier now. And a witch, for that matter. And a demigod, and probably a bunch of other people Soldat doesn't know for sure about but is sure are there.

Sadly, all they can address is what he's said out loud. "Wanting to is getting there. You must be pretty poor student, though, if you're still stuck at 'wanting' when I've been telling you this almost every damn day. Either that or I'm a worse teacher than I thought." Remember that promise a few weeks ago to remind Sora often of his worth? Guess who has been keeping it. Maybe not every day, but pretty often, usually along with their network message for the day's observational goals.

Yeah. [ it's weird, hearing it come from someone else. he's not really said it because it didn't need saying — it just is. peter parker misses mary jane watson, fact of life. ] But at the same time, I think I'm lucky, you know? Because I don't know what I'd do if she was here.

[ he stops, just for a second, gaze flickering back to quentin and he thinks of eliot, thinks of how important they are to each other. ] I think I'd lose it. [ a beat and the corners of peter's lips twist, just a little. he's thought about it, time and time again — every time the ferry arrives at the shore, he feels a pit of dread in his stomach and he wonders what if this time is the time that mj walks off that ferry.

he thinks he's gotten a glimpse of that answer with gwen, but it's just that: a glimpse.

it's a moment before he adds anything to that, because quentin has eliot here. he had him and he lost him and he has him again, and peter's seen what that had done to him, and peter's not sure if he'd find having mj here at all would be worse than losing her here. ] I don't have the answer and for once in my life, I'm actually okay with that. You — with Eliot, here? I don't know how you do it.

[ the easy answer is "because he has to", peter supposes, but that doesn't make it easy.

but back to the magnetic fields— ] —Oh, sure, but do you also think magnetic fields have the potential to be romantic? Because I did at 22.

Someone stabbed you with a sword.

[Translation, not that any of them need it. He watches the spirits, in high-- spirits, partying like it's going out of style. Like they don't have a care in the world except for the ones who will throw themselves at the bright light in the sky.

What the hell would they do if the sun came out?

He blinks, coming back to the conversation.]

I don't know. I think maybe no? But honestly, I have no idea. They don't seem to get the concept of dying. They killed a lot of us, and they mentioned on the network that they didn't get what the fuss was about.

[They used smaller and more words for it, but it all came down to - why are you even bothered, you come back.]

"Shame I'll never meet her myself, but thank you for sharing this," he says as he passes the stone back.

Well, all right, there's probably some slim chance she'll end up here. Sometimes the portal likes to bring in people known to others here - it's a common enough theme. And the fact that it can select from across time, not just space, means there are opportunities for people like Lady Zhenji to arrive after having lived a long and successful life, as opposed to having died young. But given the sort of things that happen in Beacon, Rosinante isn't entirely sure if the second shot at life is one everyone should be subjected to.

Hell, even when it's not peaceful. They haven't forgotten how complete and useful they felt during the siege, exhaustion and losses aside. Soldat opens their metal palm to consider the remains of their cigarette, then admits, "It's nice. Yes. But don't mind having something to hit now and then, either. Gonna try and take out the spirits that hurt the Inspector once my rifle scope comes in." It makes them feel a little like a failure, that they still feel so comfortable with and ready for violence. But it's not like the training and purpose programmed into them has exactly gone away. Loosened its grip a little, maybe, but not gone away.

"He was alive last I saw him," Rosinante confirms, though it isn't strictly necessary. Cao Pi had indeed seen that in the first month. "And I hope he's well. I asked Pluto to search for his name in the newspapers from my world. She said she can search any point in time. I'm not expecting anything, though."

Law doesn't need to do anything newsworthy - and in fact it's probably best if he stays out of the public eye. But maybe he'll be recognized for some sort of miracle surgery, or for the building and operation of a good hospital. Something worth a note somewhere. Not every member of his mysterious clan has to be the center of destruction, after all.

"A life well-lived is all I want for him. I hope he gets to have it."

I can’t.

[Ravus looks away, his hand opened and closing into a fist.]

Not with you, nor with Lunafreya. Not with anyone who loved the King of Lucis. He...

[He hears the venom rising in his voice and bites it off.]

It would only cause more pain, were I to speak truly and freely of what was done that day.

"Because I got to have it at all. Even if I lost it. There's a-- there's this saying, where I'm from and too many people put it on t-shirts or in songs, but--"

Quentin licks his lips, it's not as trivial as the quote will make it seem and he doesn't want to diminish the importance and impact of love. After all, where in the hell would he be without it?

Without loving Alice, he never would have saved her from her Niffin Brother in the first place. She would have done the spell and blasted herself and her soul in to pieces trying to reach him. She was determined and strong, and she found the magically hidden Brakebills even without an invitation. That never happens. But Alice Quinn did it.

Without love, he never would have found Fillory. Never would have been a King and he never would have killed Ember to save Julia, his best friend since forever and childhood crush. Without love, he never would have had fifty years and a family with Eliot. He never would have killed himself to save them all, if it hadn't been for love.

The world would have ended, several times over, if Quentin hadn't fallen in love and lost it all over and over again.

"It goes - it's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. I love Alice, and even if I never see her again? Because I'm dead. I can still feel it, in here-"

And he holds a fist to his chest, just above his heart.

"And I guess-- so I guess it makes me feel alive? In a way. To love. To be in love."

Man, weird how not really liking to talk about things that hurt because they aren't fun pans out into negative feedback because he never get perspective on his own toxic thought patterns! Wild, right?

Anyway. He'd try his best to forget Riku, if the soldier really thought that was for the best, and he'd maybe be able to get it down to a dull ache, but he really, really can't. He'd try, though. He'd try for the rest of his life.

Sora reminds them right back about how it's okay if they don't get any farther and if they stay just like this because they have value now! Hey, he's certain of all of that. "I guess... it's an uphill kind of thing, right?"

It feels like his heart goes back and forth on this. One day he'll feel good, like a whole person, but the next, something reminds him of Riku, of the past, of the Keyblade, of Vanitas, of Skyler, and he spirals back down again. It's like there's a switch in his head that gets shoved back and forth depending on what he's told and what he thinks about and there's nothing in between. He's either a person or he's not. It drives him up a wall. It's his heart. His weak heart. (Or, like, hey, there's a spike up there too, but we don't talk about that.)

We have really gotta get someone to find out about that spike, man. Like really really need to. Might not fix all the issues, but it sure can't hurt.

"Good thing I'm very patient, then, huh," Soldat says, half grouchy and half affectionate. "Because I'm gonna keep doing it until you fucking believe it." Sorry, Sora, they love you bunches but it's been a bad couple days and that was some stupid shit you just said. The grouchiness remains despite the affection.

[Ah. The past tense because they're all dead, or because Ib betrayed Mary? Both, maybe.]

Until she picked someone else over you.

"For someone that looks so innocent, you're sure cruel, aren't you?" He smirks, watching her expression closely. It's more than obvious that this isn't a memory she's proud of. The horror is writ all over her expression, in the stillness of her shoulders. Vanitas is probably the last person she might have wanted to see this particular memory.

"What a way to treat someone loyal to you."

~~YANK! THAT! SPIKE!!!!~~

Sora loves the soldier lots, but love unfortunately doesn’t save people from being real stupid. Sora’s gonna keep plugging away at it, though. These kinds of patterns did literally save Sora’s life at the beginning of the month, after all. He doesn’t think of himself at all, but when he accidentally goes down that mental path, it’s nice to think of himself in terms of a person with value. It’s nice when he remembers what they say.

“Thanks.” For being patient. He knows they don’t have to be. He’s determined to pay them back, somehow. “I’ll keep working at it. I don’t want you leaving me in the dust. Gotta keep up.” If nothing else, at least his overactive competitiveness is good for this.

His eyes drop to the gesture, and maybe more than anything else, it resonates with Vanitas. Like a focal point to all the words, pulling them in to the a middle place and cementing it where it belongs. In his heart. What would it have been like, to have that for himself? Is this what Ventus felt, on the other side? Is this the feeling that drives Sora to such outrageous ends, throwing himself with reckless abandon after his friends? Is this what makes Riku so dedicated to his cause?

It makes me feel alive. Remembering what it felt like inside that memory, the way Alice made his heart pound...

The only things Vanitas ever felt were rage, and despair, and loneliness. A hatred that consumed him from the inside out. But if he didn't have those things, he wouldn't have felt anything at all. At the time it was better than nothing— until the pain was unending, until all Vanitas really wanted was peace. Having a good feeling to replace the bad was no longer important in the end.

Bitterness is tangy on the back of his tongue. Riku had said something similar, that it was worth it to try. But Vanitas can't shake the fear of losing the things he's gained.

"I'd rather feel nothing at all." Vanitas finally says, and pulls Quentin's opal out of his pocket, opening his palm to offer it back to him.

Soldat gives him a sidelong look of what is now grouchy bafflement. "I'm not leaving you anywhere." The context does not immediately make itself clear, that Sora is talking about improvement as a person.

Sora sticks his hands in his pockets and sort of flaps his hands so his jacket puffs out. "I'm not the only person here who needs to work on the whole thinking I'm an actual person thing, y'know." A sidelong look back. Two can play at that game, mister.

Edited (english hard) 2020-03-04 21:14 (UTC)

Of course not.

[ Vanitas turns the stone over in his palm, hearing the whispers of Ephemer and Skuld and Laurium and Brain. It's strange... he had remembered them, in pieces. But he'd never been able to recall their names. ]

You didn't even exist yet.

[ The words come without his really thinking about them. It's knowledge he didn't even really realize he had until his tongue makes the shape around the syllables. ]

"Did you?" Oho, that's a nice nugget of an idea from Pluto. If information is as viable as trinkets and clothing, well, he just might have to broker a deal in a couple months. "I should be curious if she can actually follow through for you."

Sure, curious to find out what become of that kid, but mostly curious whether the market can actually fulfill that order. If so, bonus.

Cao Pi takes it and puts it back in the pouch with the others. Chances are good the opal presently stashed in his armor will actually be chucked in the lake and not added to them, but he's not making that decision here and now.

"All things considered," he says dryly, "I would rather no one here got to meet her themselves. This is a small token of good will, I can accept being able to see her face whenever I want now. It's better she stays in the land of the living." And gets to enjoy a nice long stint as Empress Dowager, yes. "Although with the number of memories of her I've collected, there are now a fair number of people who know my dark secret...that I have a soft spot."

I doubt it will, but then again, I should hardly expect that I know everything that is going to happen. [a bob of his head] Thank you, again, for bringing me the stone. I would like to collect those small glimpses of a better life.

"I don't know who else it could belong too. You are in it but… it isn't you. Not this you." Her voice was gentle and kind but she couldn't mask or hide her worry. "I know that you are a different Sora. So there are even more of your memories that I do not know but… I know that this belongs to you." She placed the opal into his palm and then hesitated.

"I'm confused Sora. I know that things are different but… what is this? Who is it?" She didn't want to ask because it wasn't really her place to know but Sora was the person she was closest too here and she wanted to know him. She wanted to be close to him and it suddenly felt like there was a rift between them that threatened to pull her in. This was Sora's darkness. There was darkness in all hearts.

As thoughts tumbled, repeated and darkened in her mind, Naminé couldn't help but wonder what her darkness was. What form did it take?

There was darkness in all hearts.

"I will." She smiled up at him. "I am stronger than I look."

Riku knew the most about her past but he didn't know everything. He didn't know about her birth or the days she spent in the Castle both alone and with the Organization. He and Sora had found her later and had saved her in ways that neither of them probably knew. If she can survive her time in the Castle, she could withstand whatever memories she happened to stumble across.

"Yes. He taught me about grilled cheese and has been teaching me to protect myself." Naminé frequented the training sessions that took place in the mornings. She didn't have a weapon but she was learning more about how her body moved and how to get out of nasty situations.

"I knew Xion. From before the beach. She was the one who asked me to look after Roxas." Xion had held another piece of Sora that was required for Naminé to finally wake him up.

"I-" She hesitated briefly but it was only for a moment. "I found her name, written in the log book at the inn. The landmark, where I've been staying. It looked old. Years old. Like she was here before… well, decades ago."

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EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

3/4 i am so sorry

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I finally get to use this icon

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GO FIGHT WIN ! K O !!!

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LOVE IT. the shakea shake icon

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