EVENT LOG: A GIRL, A BOY, AND A GRAVEYARD

[nextnightmods]

EVENT LOG:
A GIRL, A BOY, AND A GRAVEYARD

characters: everyone.
location: Helix Station; Solis Labs; Bonfire Square
date/time: February 14-22
content: Preparations are underway for what may be Beacon's final battle, while remaining forest spirits do their best to spread love and cheer. See details here.
warnings: n/a, mark threads as needed

Much remains to be done, and time is of the essence. Somewhere in the darkness to the east, Beacon's greatest threat to its remaining life moves. Will you be ready when the time comes? Will you have made time to let those around you know how much this second shot at life has meant?

helix station

Weaver bounces from group to group, checking in on people. "Anything you need help with? Let me know," she offers - whether that's a hand to hold some part you're trying to weld, or assistance operating the portal to pull in some specialty materials.

You have all the station's resources at your disposal, and backup and escape plans to make. Which is the priority, though? Is it something you even all agree on?

And what is that low, barely-audible buzzing drone? It pulses in and out of detection, settling into your skull. The station's machinery keeping the heat on and the air moving have their own constant drone, but this is different.

Feel free to address Weaver in your replies if you like. Note that any remaining spirits in the station (such as the large one wearing corpses, or any that might have turned up later) have become less-predictable and prone to lashing out in aggression when they're not trying to hide from you.

solis labs

Clara busily retrieves documents and samples as any are requested. While she doesn't know how to work a computer, she does generally understand the file system and is eager to point you to where you might read up on previous portal and lantern tests, find coordinates for worlds that might host key materials, or just enjoy some vintage poetry in the library upstairs.

A pair of badger-like spirits snuffles through the labs, eyeing you and your friends nervously. They don't seem much interested in conversation, but they will stick their noses in anything - your drinks, your sleeve, your ear if you're not careful, and their noses are cold.

If two or more people head outside together for a few minutes, they'll hear a stilted growl and a flash of green eyes in the trees - and then an attempt at a word.

h̶͈͝ẻ̴̢̛͖l̷̛̜̝̉p̴̓͝ͅ

Note that as stated on the ooc post, engaging with the green-eyed spirit carries the risk of violence and death, as always. Do so at your own risk.

stick by me and i will stick by you

There may be defenses to be built, weapons handling to teach to those few remaining who want to learn to defend themselves better, and general plans to make. When the World Eater arrives, who will be on the front lines to try and delay it while the bomb is made ready? Who will defend the rest from any spirits bent on following its instructions to slaughter every one of you? If things go south, how will you make your way to a portal to escape, and who will operate it?

Meanwhile, spirits hand out their cookies with chirps of encouragement. It's not all doom and gloom, they insist - they believe in you! And they want you all to believe in each other, to feel a little lighter and happier, if only just for a short time. The messages on their heart-shaped cookies (the whole candy heart concept didn't quite land right, it seems) are all a little odd and who knows what they do, but it all seems to be in good fun.

Feel free to decide for yourselves what the heart effects are, how long they last, if you can have more than one at a time - so long as they generally follow the ideas on the details post.

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Comments

Bucky/Soldat | OTA

[worthallthis]

I. Helix

Soldat is kind of concerned about the local spirits, actually. They'd been shy before, but able to be soothed with snacks and origami. They'd been gentle. They bring plenty of food and paper and after finishing some task for Weaver, and after settling as many extra torches as the rest of the town could do without in the safest place they can find, goes looking for the spirits. They settle down somewhere they found them last time and waiting, food out and slowly making little paper shapes for them, singing soft welcoming, come-find-me, please-talk-to-me phrases.

Even the corpse-wearing one would be welcome. They're practically friends, right? Besides, by now, the smell is probably all but gone, the bodies hopefully desiccated by the recycled air and low humidity down here, rather than really rotting... hopefully.


II. Cookies

Because the local spirits are honest about it and so certain they're positive effects, Soldat takes a break from their self-imposed project of copying out the majority of Beacon's history and understanding of what happened to seal into sturdy jars and store, to try some cookies. "Maybe I can help you with the next batch," they offer with half a smile.

And then for the rest of each day they try one, while they sit in the Invincible on their off-hours between meals and patrols and write, seal jars, and listen to quiet music, they might also be getting up every few minutes to find a spirit or a passing Beaconite to ruffle hair or grip a shoulder, or swing them into a dance if the song's beat is right-- needing to test and expand their comfort with touch. Maybe they beckon people over: "Sit with me, talk to me while I work." Maybe they're not even writing, they're recording onto Sora's old tablet: spirit language with direct translations, to seal into another jar for any future generations, because they need to talk and this seems like the best way to do that. Maybe they're distracted, staring off into space with chin in hand, thinking about Steve or Becca, or Sora or Crowley, or Ellever. Happy memories of people they've lost.

One memorable day, their hair turns bright gold with white tips, and the metal arm shifts to match, burnished with white filigree. That's a funny one. Another memorable day, Sarge is out all evening, because the cookie apparently swapped them and they can't switch back until it's been fully digested. "Ugh, this is awful," he grumbles, trying to focus on the work and failing.


III. Patrols and Searching

Though their patrols don't last as long as they did for a while, there, while they were desperately searching to lost lanterns, Soldat does take them at double-time these days. Both against the cold, and to give themselves leeway to search a little further afield than usual. Lanterns, yes, they can't quite help themselves, but mostly spirits.

They're slowly disappearing. And they need to make sure they're disappearing somewhere safe. So they trot through the freezing woods at the edges of the explored, safe territories, forgoing snowshoes so they don't slow them down, sending out calls in the spirit tongue: "Looking for friends! Please confirm your safety!"

They happily bring other people with them, if those people promise to keep up. The buddy system is smart, too, but they won't sacrifice speed and distance for company.

All that work makes them super hungry, though. Sure is a good thing they don't have a lot of people in town anymore to share food with. ... Sure is a depressing thing, actually. They might be kind of melancholy if you find them in the kitchen adding meat and veggies to their ever-simmering siege stew and grilling up cheese sandwiches for comfort food.

Cao Pi | open

[pure_havoc]

1. Solis Labs

[most of Cao Pi's planning, aside from the plutonium retrieval, has been silent and solo - working in his room as if it were his office, writing, organizing thoughts, plotting in notes, crossing out dumb ideas and taking new tactics. He can't stay there forever, though.

He shows up at the lab to nose around, compare the localized portal to the big one he's already seen, and generally try to suss out where people are most intent on being. There's so few of them now that he can't order anyone as a commander, only nicely ask.]

What do you think?

[it's a very obviously vague question and could be about anything - the plans, the weather, the spirits and their hearts, the World Eater...leaving it up to the listener to guess at what he means and answer. Or ask him what the fuck he means because come on Zihuan not everybody speaks in riddles like you.]

1a. Green-eyes

[his attempt at learning from Soldat has gone dismally, and it's a shame he's bearing stoically - how dare he not be good at something. So if the green-eyes finds him in your company...]

...what? Was that...is it not going to attack?

[his hand hovers over his swords, just in case]

2. Hearts Hearts Hearts

[look, he's basically given up all notions of what's weird anymore. Cookies? Yeah sure why not. Cao Pi still doesn't have the sweet tooth most do but if he nibbles cookies out of boredom or distraction, it happens. They have the effect of making him extremely handsy. He doesn't even know he's doing it, so you could be having an innocuous conversation or deeply discussing bombs and there will probably be some overly affectionate touching going on. Nothing inappropriate...unless you want that (pm me and give me the thumbs up)! Just come at him and see what happens, it'll probably be ridiculous]

Kuai Liang | Open

[paletteswap]

1. Research Phase
It's taken over a year but Kuai finally sort of understands the network and has actually been looking at it. However some of his paranoia is justified and he doesn't want to conduct any serious planning where the spirits could potentially see it. He likes the Postmaster and the Librarian but he knows they can use the network, which means other less savory types could too. Hell maybe the World Eater can read.

So instead he'll go up to people in person to ask them a few simple questions, "Were you with the group that went down to the Helix Station? Do you know anything about the concoction that was made to minimize the impacts of the green-eyes?"

Because he wants to make more and hasn't the faintest idea how it was done.

2. The Lab
If no one knows, or even if they do, he'll be heading to the Lab to research if they can make more of the anti-green eyes potion, and maybe if they can make it oh... a hundred times stronger to protect against the world eater. He'll work around the snuffly badger noses as if they're no more threatening than house cats, because he has a mission and all his focus is on that.

He is not nearly as technologically inept as he pretends to be, and he can use the computer easily. However; Doctor Solis' physics formulas don't make much sense and anything involving real science is beyond him, but he's giving it a go. Hopefully someone can give him a hand trying to figure out more about this thing. If nothing else any information that's helpful in the fight will do.

2.1 Lab Distress Call
"Did you hear that?" Stopping in his tracks and staring out into the night at what is most definitely the green eyes of one of the spirits that continually torments them.

That sure sounds like it's trying to speak, which is new. "That sounded like a word."

3. Bonfire
He actually chuckles as spirits keep handing him cookies with nearly thematic phrases like "Heat Group" "Hot Give" and "Knife Yes". Well they tried. He will politely take them all, but he couldn't possibly eat all of these even if he liked sugar cookies, but he does eat one of them because the spirits are so insistent and making sad noises about it. There's no outward manifestation of anything, which he's grateful for considering it may have turned him pink. And that's because all it does is make him feel slightly more relaxed.

For him, that's a lot.

He'll be trying to surreptitiously hide the rest of the cookies so he's not forced to eat them all out of guilt and the masked spirit version of puppy dog eyes.