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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[He's on his way to the Landmark, going about his usual daily routine, when the light from his lantern glints off of something in the middle of the path. It's another opal and, as he's done countless times now, he picks it up. Jason doesn't think much any more about picking up memories. He tells himself that surely nothing can beat picking up one about King Mickey or another about Donald and Goofy, but boy is he wrong.

The memory immediately feels different than others, though Jason would have a difficult time explaining why because the sheer contents of the memory throw him for a loop. Sora's voice is recognizable at first, but why is he so small? And why does he feel so stiff?

Oh...OH!

He barely has time to process that he's a toy (an action figure?) when he, Donald, and Goofy are attacked (because Donald and Goofy are in this memory as well). A keyblade (seriously?) appears at his/Sora's summoning and they rush forward to fight among Legos, giant skateboards, and toy chests.

And that's just the beginning of the memory. It all becomes a bit of a blur. There's other toys to work with, a giant toy store to navigate, more Heartless to fight. Probably Jason's favorite part (once he gets used to the whole 'I'm/Sora's a toy now' thing) is fighting in the mechs. It's intense and there are times where it feels less like a memory and more like he's living it.

Which is probably why it's a good thing that when the mech takes a particularly nasty hit, Jason finds himself not only expelled from its cockpit, but also knocked back into his own body in the present. He stumbles a bit from the force of the memory, landing on his butt just off the path in the snow.

The opal is flung from his hand into the darkness. Jason's eyes go wide.]

Oh crap!

[ Sora's heading back to the Landmark after his Downtown patrol only to hear a very familiar voice scream something mildly alarming? He looks around for a lantern in the darkness before belatedly remembering, duh, there's light now. (Kind of weird how light's jarring now.)

Eventually, he spots Jason between the Landmark and the way back to Beacon. He jogs forward, frowning. Why's he on the ground? ]

Jason? You all right?

[Even as Sora is approaching he's getting back to his feet, brushing away twigs and leaves and snow.]

Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Was having a bit of a wild ride in a memory and when I got knocked in the memory it apparently knocked me back to the present. I was so surprised I accidentally threw the opal.

[He holds his lantern up, smiling sheepishly at Sora. He knows he should be more concerned, but he's still kind of on a memory adrenaline rush. Fighting Heartless and the weirdness of being a toy aside, that had been all kinds of fun.]

I think it might have been one of yours, actually. Sorry about that.

[ 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. ]

Yeah, it just slipped out. It's not like I--[Okay. Woah there. Jason blinks, looking confused as he realizes what Sora is doing. He just doesn't know WHY he's doing it.]

Dude, it's freezing. Why are you taking off your shoes?

Just my sock! I put on extra socks today. Good thing. [ And indeed, he does have another layer of sock under the first. He quickly stands up and stuffs his foot back into his shoe, distracted, his eyes sweeping the undergrowth. (He doesn't realize this explains exactly nothing.) ]

It was red, right? Was it red? Please don't tell me it was green, I dunno if I can handle that today. [ And he's just going to step his way into the undergrowth, pulling his sock onto his hand. ]

[Maybe not, but when the socks are put on his hands Jason has a better idea of what he's doing. He doesn't do the same, but he does follow Sora into the undergrowth, holding his lantern up in the hopes of casting more light in addition to the aurora.]

Yeah, it was red. [Pause.] It was a little different from any other opal I've picked up so far. I guess some memories just play out differently or something...

[ Sora sighs in relief, then returns to his search, the additional light definitely helping his endeavors. ] Okay. I can deal with that.

You musta got one of my weird long ones, huh? The kind where it feels like you've been there for days? [ He may still be worried, but he really is looking forward to getting more of those ones. He needs them! Hearing that Jason found another one is very heartening. ]

((ooc: We have a go for two people experiencing the memory at the same time. LET'S GO TOGETHER!))

Yeah. A lot happened.

[Jason pushes aside from branches of a bush, he feels like they're hunting for Easter eggs. There's a pause and he figures since they're still trying to find it, he'll press. He looks over to Sora.]

Sora, as of right now, what's the weirdest adventure you remember going on? Donald...he mentioned something about you guys using magic sometimes to blend in with that world's inhabitants.

[Which, Jason could understand, though he was trying to figure out how Goofy and Donald managed to not raise more eyebrows on EVERY world outside of maybe their point of origin. Still, it reminded him a little of the Mist and how it was supposed to prevent mortals and sometimes even demigods from seeing what was really there. He wondered if it was a similar magic, though experiencing it in Sora's memory had felt different.]

Edited 2020-02-25 02:53 (UTC)

[[ ooc: OH SHIT LET'S BE TOYS ]]

The weirdest, huh? [ Sora's plenty distracted! He's been hunting for these particular memories for a while, he really needs this search to pan out well. ] Let's see. Might be the one where we went to the past? Everything was black and white, it was like being stuck in one of those old cartoons back in the 20s. We were all in black and white too! [ He looks up briefly and grins at Jason before returning to his search. ] I can actually show you that one, I think. Rosinante gave me that one back, but I haven't been able to check it yet.

There was also one where I wasn't able to talk outside a certain tower? And everything I did sounded like a musical instrument going off. It was like being inside a painting made of music, but there was nothing to explain it. No disguises there though, it was just me.

Hmm.

I think...well actually I don't know if this is weirder than being a black-and-white cartoon. I have never experienced that either.

[Jason wonders if he should tell Sora or just let him get the surprise for himself. Maybe he should just ask. He glances back over his shoulder at the path and then back into the part of the woods.]

It should be here. I swear I didn't throw it too far.

[Jason starts peering more closely at the roots and bushes on the ground and the light catches something red. He stops and holds it up higher.] Ah hah! Found it.

Edited 2020-02-26 02:11 (UTC)

Trust me, there's still a scale, but it's more about what kind of weird than it is the amount of weird. If that makes sense.

[ And Sora will immediately nyoom over there! Oh, thank goodness. He'll start poking at the undergrowth carefully, unwilling to lose that little red flash to a sudden shower of dead leaves or snow. ]

Man, what a relief. Imagine how much harder this would be if there weren't any lights on? I'm gonna miss this. [ And he'll gingerly grasp the stone with a besocked set of fingertips, immediately rolling the sock down his arm a little. He rises to his feet, peering at it. Yup, those are the cumulus clouds. He breathes out gustily. ]

Safe. [ And he'll bag that little sucker up in the sock. He'll take it to Naminé later. ] That wasn't so bad. Thought I was gonna have a heart attack, haha.

[Jason considers some of his own life experiences and nods.]

It makes sense.

[He watches Sora examine it. Might as well tell him then.]

You become a toy in this one -- Donald and Goofy too. Like, full on plastic action figure. [He can't help but smile as he recalls the experience.] Once you get over how bizarre it is, it was actually kind of fun.

[ Sora turns to Jason, keyhole eyes wide and blinking. ]

Wait, not just toys - I was a toy too? [ ... RAPIDFIRE QUESTIONS. ] Was there a toy named Woody there? And Buzz? Was there, um, a green dinosaur, and a piggy bank named Hamm, and a bunch of toy soldiers, and a bunch of plastic aliens who talked really weird?

[ Sora's physically standing now, and Jason's probably never seen him look quite this hopeful or desperate. Pathetic? Yeah, that's there somewhere too. He's clutching that sock to his chest like it's something very precious. ]

Isn't that what I -- [And before he can get the rest out, Sora's throwing all the names and descriptions at him of the toys he'd just spent a good 30 minutes with. He's not sure what to make of Sora's expression, unsure if he should tell Sora to calm down and give him a minute or if he should just flat out hug him.

Honestly, Sora probably could use more hugs, but it might be weird with him clutching the sock-rock like that.]

Yes. Those toys.

[ He drops his arms, and, well. Tears in his eyes? Tears in his eyes. Sora wouldn't be expecting a hug at all, he's just the type to get caught up in his own emotions. ]

I see. It's them. [ He laughs. This is a happy emotion! Wedding tears lite. ] I always wondered if they ever found Andy. Never ended up finding out. [ And Sora never did, unless KHIV has another Toy Story world! ]

I, uh. Sorry. [ He wipes his eyes. ] I guess I just miss everyone. Weird, right? [ Because technically, he's never met them. ] Maybe we should go back, um. [ He gestures back to the path. ]

[Jason cocks his head, trying to puzzle this out. The smile is reassuring, but he's not used to someone being so openly emotional. He relaxes a little at Sora's words.]

You have a lot of friends who care about you...I don't think it's weird to miss that at all. Especially since the memories are reminding you of them.

[Jason nods, starting to make his way towards the path.]

[ Sora follows Jason, quiet. There's been a misunderstanding, of course, but it's taking Sora a second to gather himself enough to clear this hurdle. To try and say this as reasonably as possible, without sounding pathetic. ]

They care about him. Not me.

[ He says this sort of out of nowhere, he realizes immediately, but he has momentum now. Might as well finish the thought. ]

I mean, I can miss them all I want, but that doesn't make me the person they miss. I'm just some memories and a heart in the wrong body. [ Sora points to himself. Shrugs, tries to make his voice light. ] If they decided I wasn't the right person, not the person they miss? They'd be right. I can't force them to feel something that isn't real.

[ The problem is him, of course. Him and his incomplete heart connecting these scraps of memory to inconvenient emotions like sadness and yearning. He shouldn't feel this way. These bonds were never his.

And that was all a terrible, huge thing to say for some reason, and it doesn't feel like the truth even though it is. He snaps his mouth shut and climbs back onto the path, sniffing. Something good just happened. No time for crying. ]

Edited 2020-03-04 07:54 (UTC)

[Jason stops. They care about him. Not me. Gods he can be an idiot. It's easy to forget, at times, just how complicated Sora's existence truly is and that these memories are just more pieces of a past life. It's not something he can go back to and that version of Sora -- the one among the toys -- was not exactly the same as the one trekking back to the path wearing socks on his hands. They're similar, but as Sora had explained upon their first meeting, they are also different.

He doesn't know what to say. Nothing he can think of really applies here and he doesn't want to make it worse than he already had. He watches Sora move ahead of him, continuing to reach the path. Jason shakes his head and strides forward. Maybe he can't think of what to say, but he does have an idea of something he can do.

He reaches out and pulls the other into a hug. He hadn't given many hugs in his time here, but Sora seems like he could use one.]

I care about you. This version of you. I don't know how much it counts for...but this is the only version of you I've met.

[ Jason is perfectly justified in his presumptions, actually! After all, when Sora and Jason first met and had their conversation on the general store floor, for all of the differences there were, Sora would have agreed with Jason. There wouldn't even have been a shadow of a doubt in his mind. He would have agreed he was Sora. On a very personal level, he knew he was Sora. Who else could he possibly be? Skyler? Skyler was a different person. Sora's entire existence depended on the fact that he was absolutely not Skyler, even if they happened to share the same memories. Even if being called "Skyler" feels right, too.

So of course those memories of Sora belonged to him. Those friendships belonged to him, too. Of course his friends would be happy to see him if they ever met again. (Big if. Sora had always considered that a dream. A pie in the sky fantasy "what if" that would never happen because it was impossible. Everyone was long dead.) Why wouldn't they be? He'd really, really thought he was Sora back then. Of course it'd be wonderful to see them again, as long as he was ready. Those were his friends. He missed them. They would miss him, too.

Meeting Riku changed a lot.

His first reaction to the hug is oh, that's very nice, because he's realized a few weeks back that he likes hugs a whole bunch and Jason is very tall and it's nice to feel small sometimes. The second is a little embarrassment because, geez, he didn't get his point across if Jason seems to think he needs a hug, did he?

He's about to clarify that it's fine, except Jason has something to say, and then Sora still has something to say, probably a thank you, that really counts for a lot, even if he's not a person at all, even if Soldat keeps insisting that he is. Except when he tries to open his mouth, nothing comes out because his throat refuses to work, and there's saltwater in his mouth and oh, okay, he's crying now. Sure. That's not embarrassing or excessive at all. ]

Oh. [ More of a sigh than something voluntary. He's not crying in earnest - it's just some blobby tears that he can't stop at this point - but there's something wound up very very tight and it's taking what he's got to hold whatever it is down. Since Jason hasn't seen his face yet, he is pretty sure if he doesn't move an inch he can still save this, so this might be Sora going very very quiet so Jason doesn't worry his way into letting go. This is an extremely nice, warm hug and he doesn't want it to end. ]

Edited (specificity!!!) 2020-03-06 20:31 (UTC)

[It's a fine line: giving someone space while still comforting them. Jason had walked that line so many times in his life. The need for reassurance, a hug or holding someone's hand or even a light brush on the arm can be balanced by not necessarily acknowledge when someone is crying.

He's hugging Sora, so it's not like he can't feel the sob catch in Sora's body or the feeling of something wet dripping onto his arm. But he has a feeling that Sora doesn't want him to "know" about those things. So for a moment he's just quiet, hugging his friend, and not saying anything.

He wished he'd had something like this a few months ago. He's glad none of the memories seem to be of his time here. Of the real reason he keeps returning to the roof for privacy. For his own tears over his lost life. It seems so selfish, especially when everyone else is in the same boat.

After a moment he gives Sora one more reassuring squeeze and pulls away. He gives Sora's hair a ruffle, which might mess it up more than usual since there's a bit of static thanks to Jason's powers, and he offers him a small smile.]

Come on. You should put your shoes back on. You look silly with socks on your hands.

[ Man, Sora's gonna give Jason a piece of his mind if he knows he's been thinking about these things on his own. Friends are there for you at times like these! Jason's sadness is valid! Just because other people feel sadness doesn't make yours less real! And so on and so forth.

Sora's just a doofy kid who doesn't know when or how these rules apply to him anymore. Or if they ever did. (They probably do! He just has trouble remembering that.)

So he has his little cry, and when Jason lets go and ruffles his hair, he puts his wrists up to his eyes very quickly and blots them. He's, perhaps unfortunately, a very distractible human being, so the simple act of transitioning to the next part of this process is enough to effectively wipe away most of the heaviness. It's just good to keep moving. Always has been. He's never been good with staying too still. ]

Yeah. [ A bracing sniff. ] Wow, uh. Haha. Yeah.

[ Sora looks around, and indeed, it seems like his half-shoved on shoe left his foot a step back there. Huh. He's going to strip the other sock off his hand, then put both opal and non-opal bearing socks into his pocket. He'll then go down and grab his shoe and sit down on the ground next to the path, unlacing it so he can put it back on his foot properly. ] I, uh. Sorry, don't know what's gotten into me. Guess I needed that? Haha.

[If you find out.

Jason knows Sora is distractable and he has a sense for when things need to be put aside. It's why he was such a good leader, or at least one reason. Having to stay active is definitely one thing he and Sora share in common.]

You definitely needed that, but you don't have to be sorry about it.

[ ~~You. Me. CR meme tomorrow. We Battle.~~

It's enough for Sora to come back to the path, shoes tied and hands in his pockets, and besides the still red nose and eyes, he looks as fresh as a daisy. Despite his doubts about what he deserves or how he should feel or, like, whatever, he looks infinitely lighter for all of this.

At Jason's words, Sora opens his mouth, probably to follow up with his usual protests, that he needs to be stronger or better or at the very least he needs to try and accepting who he is. But then he pauses, looking at Jason seriously. ]

I do. I do have to be sorry about this. [ He sniffs, looks at the snow, then back up at Jason firmly. ] I keep thinking about how I've told you so much, but not about anything that's important. And then I keep pushing you away and giving you crap whenever you try to do something nice and, like, not only does it come out of the blue, I don't tell you what's up, or even give you a way to like... feel good about the fact that you try. I don't even think about that. It's just... been about me.

[ He frowns a little, but not in a disapproving way. He's just figured out a very wrong thing he's been doing, and he'd like to make it right. The frown is for how serious this is. ] You've been... really patient. Thank you.

[~~Yus~~

Jason blinks in surprise, but listen patiently as Sora justifies his need for an apology.]

We're friends. [And he's not sure what to add to that, since that says a lot in his mind. But he adds.] I don't feel like you've been giving me crap or pushing me away. [Sora was nothing compared to Nico.] Not to mention, even if you were, I think given the circumstances it's not necessarily wrong.

[Jason considers something.]

Is that why you're always trying to get me to talk about myself? So you don't feel like it's just about you? [Cause he didn't feel that way at all, but he was wanting to understand what Sora was going through right now.]

EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

let's play this out -- i had an idea i wanted to try!

OMG.... JASON......

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is this the one you were thinking we could wrap?

yup! let's go ahead and cut it here!