logsinthenight | 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
comms	\|	network • logs • memes • ooc
pages	\|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's a very big for now! And there will be some unsettling surprises once those reports come in... but that can wait until the ferry comes in.

Sora will nod at that! "Right! You should tell me more about your brother and sisters on the way." Don't think you're getting away with not having a normal human being talk, buster. (Sora should really call him that out loud someday.) Sora would like Soldat to enjoy nice things like siblinghood, thanks, and if Sora can't meet them, talking about them is the next best thing!

"I don't know a lot," Soldat warns, heading for the Landmark for that drink, accepting the change of subject a little awkwardly. It's not easy to talk about, to be honest, every word or thought about it banging up against that wall of "not a person" and knocking another mental brick out of it.

But for Sora they'll try.

"I bet you know a lot more than you think you do." Sora's super pleased about being able to use the restaurant facilities for drinks now! Just another step to making this place feel more livable. (And hey, Sora can roll with some word hiccups. If the soldier could sit through Sora stumbling through all those dissociative I - Hes during his first month, he figures it's his turn to reciprocate.) "Just start with little things. Like names, ages, what they looked like. Good memories. Stories."

They only have three solid memories of them. One on top of that of hearing them yelling at each other through an open door. Not much. But they'll try. "Becca is. Was the oldest. Younger by a year and a half, I think. Then Toby. Then Susie and Jeanie was last. Not actually sure about the exact ages in that memory. Except Jeanie was less than a year. Maybe a lot less, only a few months maybe."

Sora will listen quietly, pushing the door open for both of them. That's good. Sora thinks he might have been an only child before, but he isn't sure. Getting this kind of specificity is worlds away from what he has. It's something to celebrate. "And Becca was a brat, and the others liked to play, right?"

"She wasn't a brat. Not really. Just... kids. Annoying each other. I. There was. Feeling there. Good feeling." They don't know how to put a name to it yet. ~~It's love. The feeling is love, my dude.~~ "My only other memory of them, Becca was making a pinky promise, the way Daylight does. Toby had died. And she. The promise was to stay together, to not go anywhere, and take care of the others, Susie and Jeanie." They hesitate, then say, bracing themselves for the personal pronouns, "My promise was to me, not her. I'd take care of her, too."

"That's good." Sora's never been really concerned about whether Soldat's ever been out to feel more or less human - again, his conception of personhood has always been very, very flexible - but good feelings? Being around siblings, annoying each other? That's a connection. That's important. And promises? Promises are way important.

"You made that promise. That was something you did. Now you two are connected by that promise. Especially if it was a pinky swear." Sora grins. "Promises, connections, bonds - those make your heart strong."

Maybe at the time. Maybe all the little promises meant there was something to start to grow again once away from HYDRA. That's something to be thankful for. But at the same time.... "Didn't keep it," they say quietly. "The promise. Couldn't be there for her. It's been at least seventy years since HYDRA captured me. She had to've died ages ago."

Sora grows quiet for a second. "Broken promises mean things too," he says after a moment, firmly. "Sure, like... you can't keep the promise now. But you made it because you cared about her. You can't undo that. It's still there."

And broken promises have to be important or else the pain Sora feels whenever he remembers that he's not allowed to know if Riku's okay, that he failed Kairi when she needed him, all of that means nothing in the bigger scope of his entire stupid persistent existence. He's just a stubbed toe in the door of life. Just another accident.

"It put you here today even if you didn't remember it until now. It did. And then you met me." He looks down at the sleeves of his sweatshirt. Soldat has probably noticed by that every single sweatshirt Sora owns have frayed edges where he's picked mindlessly at the cuffs. "It's a coincidence, but it was all important. Has to be."

That drags Soldat back out of melancholy, glancing over at Sora with a little smile. They reach over to ruffle at his hair-- or snatch his hat and ruffle at his hair once it's gone, if he's got a hat on. "And I'm glad for that. You're good to have around." They can't know what Sora's thinking, that's just an honest assessment. They still haven't quite recognized love, but it's definitely a strong positive feeling towards the goofy kid. Nobody else makes them laugh even rarely, and Sora's managed it a couple times, now.

He does indeed have a hat on! Some knit thing from the yarnbomb that probably clashes with his outfit, but it's the only one that can tame his hair. He tries to duck, but gets a ruffle on his way back up, a grin popping up on his face. Melancholy? Gone. He did something nice, and now the soldier is smiling. Sora's a simple creature! That smile cheers him up instantly.

"Thanks! But my hat! Gimme." And he lunges for it. Yes, he is short and they can play keep away infinitely as long as Sora doesn't actually jump for it or anything.

Playing keep-away from the hyperactive teenager is actually kind of fun (and good practice, for that matter). In the end, Soldat only gives it back when they reach the Invincible and head inside for their hot drinks, before they continue their patrol.

EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

wrap here mayhaps? they're done with the serious talk I think