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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Strength - real fortitude - these things don't usually come without struggle, without pain to challenge one's limits. It's not like Riku needed some glittering stone fallen from a glowing river of light in the sky to tell him something he'd already known about Soldat. That the soldier exudes an understated, even lethal power honed by discipline, Riku doesn't have to know the soldier personally all that well to notice.

But he thinks he understands a little bit better what sort of trials have molded Soldat into the person before him today.

"That's kind," Riku says, placing the stone into the metal hand, "It's yours, so I'm sure you can handle it... but this one," he cuts his gaze away thoughtfully, "It's..." Sickening and sad all at once. The things they did to the soldier, the horrific wounds they inflicted, just because they could.

Riku, who has seen how human hearts can manifest deep Darkness, can't say he's surprised. That doesn't mean it isn't abhorrent, that it's any less--

"Awful," he says, it's not pity. He looks again at Soldat, his hands fists at his sides, "I wish I could've given you something happier, but you deserve to have a say in where this goes."

"Most of my memories are awful," Soldat says, somewhere between apologetic and resigned. Their metal fingers close over the stone, carefully, then they hold their fist up close to their chest, as if even awful memories might be precious. "Thank you. I'm looking for these. They're all-- new. So far." Did you know Soldat doesn't have most of their memories, Riku? There's a hint of it, at least.

"What was this one? Did I have the arm yet?" That will tell them just what flavor of awful it is, at least.

Riku observes the gesture, recognizing elements of it that resonate with him, with personal experiences and those he's seen in the people precious to him. There are moments in their lives - painful, pleasant, and everything in between - that are treasured even if they aren't overtly positive.

Soldat asks if they had the arm yet, and given what Riku had seen, he thinks they mean the metal one. He thinks about how, as terrible as it was to lose his body to Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, it was still an experience that set him on a path that changed him, eventually, for the better. It tore him from his friends and then... brought them back together again, if temporarily.

"Your arm was gone," he admits, "And you lost someone precious."

Before the worst of it, then. Thank fuck for that.

Not that the rest is great, either. If the flesh arm was gone, then it had to be after their capture, and there's only one person they know of that counts as precious. "Steve," they say softly. Had to be. Their memories of Before were only family, and Steve. "Must be new, then. I don't. I didn't know he died." Beyond the certainty that with so much time spent between the war and their death, he must have died at some point.

"I'm sorry that you found out this way," Riku says quietly. He thinks back on what he'd seen, his fist tight enough that he feels his fingernails printing crescents into the palm through his cloth gloves.

He saw it, though... it was terrible enough news that the soldier gave up, it's how those awful people broke their prisoner at last. Can a heart shatter its own memory links to protect itself? He knows just the person he could ask, but. That feels like an invasion of Soldat's privacy.

"You don't have to answer, it's just, what you said keeps bugging me."

He pushes on, "Do you have amnesia?"

It's fine, kiddo. They don't mind, it's not like half of Beacon doesn't know already, or like they hide much of anything. All anybody really has to do is ask. Their expression does twist a little sour, though, before answering, "Does it count as amnesia when the memories were burned away instead of lost?" They open their hand to look down at the opal. "I was wiped before and after every mission. Electricity." The flesh hand waves vaguely at their own head. "I'm getting things back, but slow. In pieces."

"But... memories," he starts to say, his gaze cutting away thoughtfully, "Memories are never really lost. They might be disconnected," Riku furrows his eyebrows at this new information. So they used... electricity to burn away a person's memories? That's so completely different from everything he thought he understood about them.

Is it, perhaps, that like time, even things like memories work differently on other worlds? Maybe he doesn't feel comfortable telling her about Soldat's situation, but maybe Soldat would be okay speaking with her?

"Someone recently arrived to Beacon. You could say memories are her specialty. Her name is Naminé. She's an important friend from home, I believe you can trust her to help you, if you want."

"I know her. Good kid. She even offered once." Their arm plates shift restlessly, internal bits tightening and loosening again with a little whine of servos. "Not sure I really want her seeing those memories. She seems awfully innocent. And I got some bad shit in here." The idea of Naminé watching the memories of torture, programming, and excessive amount of murder seems really, really wrong.

They shake their head a little. "Aziraphale helps, too. Just can't pull too many at once, or they get bad. And they come back on their own, some. Just not usually when I want them." They spent hours chasing Hanukkah memories, and never got a damn one. So frustrating.

"I'm not surprised," Riku says, a little relieved to hear it, "She's kind and always wants to help."

Honestly? He's not sure how exactly her powers work, if it's like... playing with those toys where you build stuff by slotting different parts together, or if she's really experiencing each memory as she shuffles them. He wouldn't have blamed the soldier for seizing the opportunity to get something back. That Soldat thinks of the risks to her only increases Riku's respect for him.

"I hope you can be whole again, but on your terms."

It's a nice sentiment, of course, and kind of Riku to want for them, but as they told Naminé: "Don't think whole is in the cards, not after everything." They shrug a little. "But I'll take what I can get, if it don't hurt anyone else to get it. Done enough of that already." They hold up the opal on their metal hand with a small smile. "This is a new piece, even if it's sad. So thank you."

Riku nods. It sounds like the soldier is listening to what the heart wants. Another important friend had insisted that this is the sort of decision that one must never interfere in. He stands at a conversational crossroads - where he could leave the soldier to that patrol or linger. One is better for Beacon. The other satisfies something more selfish.

As usual, the choice he makes is the one that doesn't benefit him, "Just paying it forward. You do a lot for us.

"I'll see you around."

That earns Riku a slightly baffled look. Soldat doesn't do that much for Beacon, c'mon, man. They look between him and the opal on their palm a couple times, then say, bemused, "Okay. Glad to help. -- If I find any of yours, I'll make sure to bring them to you."

Riku needs to just have a sit-down with Soldat and ask questions. It'll be fun. And traumatic! But fun.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

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cries he's almost 20....

sorry, bro, he's like 100 almost, you're still a kid

1940s draft age :eyes:

he was apparently 27 when he fell, plus time on training/missions, so 30 something?

old geezer!

get off his lawn, you damn kids! (except don't, he loves people)