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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Jason sat at a table in The Invincible, trying to stay out of the crowds for the sled races. The table is covered in a few balled up pieces of paper, colored pencils, an open sketch book, and a cold mug of formerly hot cocoa. Sora had made a request and he was determined to do it justice. It'd be easier if he still had the memory, though you would think that two figures as distinct as Donald and Goofy would be easy to capture.

Not so much.

Jason sighs, reaching for the mug to take a sip. He frowns at how cold it had gotten and rises from the table. He crosses to where they have a set up for the hot drinks and pauses when he notices Naminé at the door. She looks like she's looking for someone. Actually, seeing her gives him an idea.

"Hey Naminé! Got a second?" He finishes filling his mug and then, since he's getting her attention, "Actually, would you like a mug of hot cocoa too?"

Naminé turned at the familiar call of her name, her eyes landing on Jason and then down his collection of papers spread across the table he was sitting in front of. She closed the distance between them and glanced down at the crumples of paper.

"Yes." She paused as if only realizing then that he'd asked her two questions and she'd only given him one answer. "And yes."

She picked up one of the pieces of paper and carefully uncrumpled it. "What are you drawing?" Naminé loved drawing and she was naturally curious when it came to the arts.

"Great. Give me a second," he starts to make another mug of hot cocoa. As he prepares it he continues talking, noticing that Naminé has already started to uncrumple one of the discarded drawings. "That's actually why I asked if you had a second." When she unfolds it, she'll find a drawing. It's a rough sketch of a duck wearing a familiar hat -- though the bill is slightly deformed and the eyes are just...wrong.

Jason crosses back over with the two mugs, offering one to Naminé, "I've been trying to draw Sora's friends, Donald and Goofy, for awhile now, but it's harder than I thought." He'd told Sora awhile ago he would draw him something, experiencing the Donald and Goofy memory had given him the idea to try for this. He hadn't thought it would be so hard.
"I only have a memory of a memory of what they look like. You've met them...I was kind of hoping maybe you could help me out?" Drawing Sora had been easy, there was a reference at the time and he he doodled people before. This was more outside his previous sketching experience.

"Oh. Thank you." This was the first time that she's actually had hot chocolate and after her first sip she cannot wipe the smile from her face. It tastes so good!!!

"I can help. I like drawing." It wasn't a topic they had covered before but she'd be happy to show him some of her drawings in return and maybe she can help him draw Donald and Goofy too. "Sora asked me to do that too. I wonder what for." She didn't know that it was to collect more memories of them… which might be problematic since some of those memories could be hers.

She'll have to cross that bridge when its time.

"Oh. I found this. I think it belongs to you. It was… a very happy memory. I thought that you should have it." She fished the opal out of her pocket and held it out for Jason to take. "I'm sorry for watching it. It's the only way I knew what it was."

He nods, a silent 'you're welcome' as he takes a sip for himself. It's nowhere near as good as the hot cocoa from the cafes in New Rome, but he supposes it's close enough.

"He didn't ask me exactly...but when he first got here I did a drawing of him. He liked it and said he wanted me to draw him something else sometime. He hasn't mentioned it since and I haven't really had any ideas until now." He'd seen some of Naminé's drawings when he had visited the Landmark and Sora's room. They had been of the beach, but Jason hadn't exactly put it all together until recently.

"I think he likes the reminders...but also I think he's the kind of person that gets excited about his friends' talents. If he was any older, I'd say he's like a dad who puts their kids pictures on the fridge." Jason takes a sip, smiling around the mug, "I'm waiting for him to start giving out gold stars or something."

It was a pretty easy thing to imagine. He lowers his mug when the conversation shifts away from the drawings. Oh. Naminé had found one of his opals as well. By now Jason was starting to notice that most of his had the lightning pattern in them -- though the colors always seemed to be different. "Thanks," he finally manages. He studies her for a moment, a little unsure of what memory it could be and her expression isn't really giving anything away.

He sets the mug down and accepts the opal. He knows it will be over in a flash, but at the same time he doesn't want to be so surprised that he spills hot cocoa everywhere. When the opal touches his skin, he's greeted to one of his favorite moments with Piper...before everything started to go sour for them both. He'd never stopped caring for her, even after they'd ended things. He still wishes they hadn't and the memory serves as a reminder of how good they could have had it.

He looks a little sadder when he comes back to the present, but he blinks and pushes it aside as quickly as possible. He doesn't want to make Naminé think she did something wrong. "Thank you...for bringing this to me."

"You're welcome. I'm sorry if it's painful but I wanted to make sure I returned it to you." Even if it was a little awkward. "I had promised not to hold onto someone's memories again. So, I hope this is alright." She watched his features with nothing but open understanding and kindness in her gaze. Naminé didn't know if there was anything wrong with the memory but she could tell that there was something on Jason's mind.

If he wanted to talk about it, she would be here sitting with him, otherwise she'll offer him a change of subject.

Naminé smiled. "Maybe I should make Sora gold stars to give out?" As silly as it was, she thought that Sora would like that. He was entirely the kind of guy who wanted to celebrate and reward his friends talents while directing attention away from his own.

Her expression softened as her fingers gently glided down the page she held in her hand. "Memories are precious and sometimes hard to remember. I think committing them to paper is our way of keeping them forever. That is one of the reasons I've always loved drawing." She was grateful that Sora was so keen on accepting her drawings... even if they weren't very good.

"They aren't exactly like the opals. Drawings can be expressed however we want... making even sad memories happy because they are ours to share and hold."

"Painful doesn't seem like the right word for it." He hesitates, because so far he's been good about avoiding talking about it, but she saw this memory and so it seems like its as good a time as any. "She broke up with me recently," although technically since he'd been here awhile, Jason adds, "well a little before I wound up here."

So maybe it is a little painful. But he still has such fond memories of her and especially this moment. This is probably what people mean by bittersweet.

He returns his attention to the drawing. He imagines, like with any hobby, that everyone draws for different reasons. He likes Naminé's reason for drawing, though it makes his own feel a bit silly. "I just started drawing because it gave me something to focus on during lessons...but I did start to use it to make plans for the future. I've been drawing buildings and temples more recently than I have living people." Which might explain a bit about why his duck doesn't look quite right.

Naminé frowned. "I'm sorry." She didn't really understand relationships like dating but she knew that they must have been very close. "I um... I've never had someone like that." It was awkward to admit but she wanted to explain why she might not fully understand. "But, even if it's sad. I don't think it should be forgotten because it was happy then. It's painful now but memories aren't like that forever."

This she knew to be true.

She smiled. "So you draw things you like! I think that's wonderful. Sometimes I worry that I draw too much of the past but you draw the future."

"I think that's amazing."

"I know. I got pretty lucky meeting Piper and I'm grateful for the memories we have together." He'd already spoken to Naminé about his memory problems before, and since then he'd definitely become rather sensitive to just how precious they could be to a person.

He considers her assessment and nods, "I guess I hadn't really thought of it that way. But, like I said, I could use your help with the past right now. I thought the duck -- err Donald -- would be easier to draw. But it's a lot harder and I haven't even made an attempt at Goofy yet."

He takes a seat at the table again, sipping at his cocoa.

"Maybe we could help each other. I can help you think of things in the future to draw and you can help me with this." He pauses, an idea occurring to him, "I've never had someone else to draw with before actually."

"Really?" Naminé looked up at him, meeting his gaze with warm crystal blue eyes. "You know. I don't think I have had anyone to draw with either. I spent a lot of time alone in the Castle and drawing was my way of escaping that place, of not being alone. It helped me realized my powers and more about myself than I ever thought."

She smiled the more she thought about it. "Drawing really is amazing. I- I'm really excited to draw with someone else. I don't know if it will change things, how I draw or how I think, but I am excited." Naminé giggled a little bit. "It's wonderful experiencing new things!"

There was a lot about herself that she still had to learn but it felt like she might have time here in Beacon. "Alright. Let's start. Should I draw them first or... I can try and explain it."

He nods. "I didn't even think about drawing as something I was even very good at until recently. I wasn't encouraged to do it at all because it wasn't very...son of Jupiter. I mostly did it to pass the time during boring lectures or later, when I was a praetor, during boring senate meetings. Reyna used to tease me that I wasn't paying attention, but actually I found that drawing helped me focus. She was the only one I really showed my drawings to anyway." Which had been unavoidable since, as his fellow praetor, she sat next to him during all of their meetings anyway. At least she'd complimented him after the initial teasing and he did remember sharing a good laugh over the drawing he did of some of the senate members that got on their nerves. Watching Reyna try to conceal her laughter had made for a particularly interesting meeting.

The memory makes him realize that having a bit of art like this -- something that isn't really tied to this place -- might do them all some good. He'll have to pursue that idea later, but for now he's content just sitting and drawing with Naminé.

"Let me see how you draw them. I think seeing how you do it might give me some ideas how to translate it to flat paper." He flips to a clean page of his sketch book and moves it over to Naminé.

She looked over at him and frowned. "I don't know what... son of Jupiter means. I think you should do what you enjoy. No matter what anyone else says." She smiled. "That way you'll be happy and since we're friends I'll be happy too." So it was a win-win situation.

She took the side of his sketchbook and began to roughly draw out Donald first. Her art wasn't amazing by any means, it was almost like a cartoon but she eventually darkened clear lines and tried to smudge or erase the others, outline the familiar shape of her friend.

It was coloring that she usually went outside of the lines because she thought it looked better when the subject was part of the setting. In made it look as if everything was connected through variant lines of color.

When she was finished, she placed the pencil down and pushed the sketchbook back so he could see. "This is Donald. He is a duck that walks on two legs and welds a magical staff. He is very skilled at using magic and usually wears blue but I don't think ducks wear pants." She'd never really thought about it before.

"I can do Goofy next. He looks a little bit like a dog but with a very long face."

Jason wondered if he should explain that fact or not. It wasn't what they were focused on at the moment and her words give him pause to do it anyway. As far as Naminé is concerned, his parentage doesn't matter and...wasn't that how he'd always wanted it? "It just means I was expected to lead and fight...not draw pictures," is what he finally said.

When she started drawing, he made sure to watch her carefully, making note of what shapes she starts with and how her hand moves across the page. Sure enough it's easy to make out Donald on the page. He smiled when she was done, "Wow. You know it's still hard for me to believe a duck can do magic...but I guess the universe is a big place."

He picked up a pencil, "Let me try Donald again first." He'd rather master one first before attempting another. Jason studied over Naminé's version once more and then started drawing as well. He started with simple shapes and then added the details. That made it easier. It took him longer than Naminé simply because he wasn't used to it, but eventually a fairly decent Donald takes shape on the page.

"How's that?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

I do have an idea so 8D

Yay! Also sorry for my super slow T-T

<3 it's okay -- I understand

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