EVENT LOG: AULD LANG SYNE

[nextnightmods]

EVENT LOG:
Auld Lang Syne

characters: everyone.
location: Everywhere
date/time: December 31-January 1
content: Another year gone by, and a sunny future ahead
warnings: n/a

Most of a year has passed since the World Eater was defeated and light began to trickle its way back in to the world. Spring brought new green growth, summer brought the first few pale flowers, and fall saw ever-longer days even as the crispness of frost returned to the air. Now, the longest nights of winter have passed (which still were shorter than those in that first spring), and as the sun rises on the new year, it does so with reassuring warmth that cuts through the ice and snow.

we've wandered far beneath the stars

Many left in those early days, lured by the chances to take the portal home, or to new worlds - and hopefully they made it successfully. The few who stayed behind in Beacon have worked hard on making the place into a home, or at least a solid base of operations for future work, whatever that might entail. Exploring has become easier thanks to the longer, brighter days, revealing a seemingly endless expanse of forest pockmarked by ruined, overgrown cities. Beacon stands at the center of it all, somehow harbors the brightest light, and so out at the edges of the explored areas, forest spirits still linger. They're generally friendly and curious, encouraged by stories spread by the spirits who fled Beacon and its sunlight in order to carry news of the lantern-folk and their success at bringing the aurora to the ground.

All right, so the story may not always be accurate, but it has been told.

And given the spirits still understand the emotional meaning to the start of a new year, counted not on a calendar they follow but on one they barely remember, they begin a strange sort of pilgrimage in those long winter nights. On the night of December 31 they swarm the darkened town of Beacon with whoops and hollers and gifts of ancient decayed (but possibly still viable) seed packets looted from broken cities, crude jewelry made of bones and shards of pottery, and something that looks a bit like it was probably modeled after bread, but are actually buns of baked clay. Before the sun rises, they depart again, leaving Beacon quiet in the snow except for the strange, eerie noises of ice breaking around the edges of the lake.

Should anyone, intentionally or by mistake, break one of these clay buns, they'll find there was something inside. Is your luck good or bad, or will their token object be too obscure to decipher?

and we ran into the night

You probably have your own way of celebrating, too. The portal works, and experimenting with it and the old lighthouse keeper's notes have provided a means to bring in gifts, food and drinks, and even sometimes living creatures, plants, or fungi, though things don't always go intended (an order for goats one day instead brought in a pair of these).

Those who live in Beacon have generally agreed not to bring in new people, but accidents sometimes happen. If you're new on the new year, this must all be awfully confusing, but if you've been here a month or so, maybe you've had time to settle in. It's certainly been made easier by those studying lantern repair over the last many months, as small dents and cracks can often be patched back up, usually with good success (but sometimes with temporary side effects).

Enjoy the new year from the shore of the lake, the warmth of The Invincible, or wherever you like - you've chosen to stay, at least for now, and Beacon isn't a bad place to call home.

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Comments

CLAY BUNS

[nextnightmods]

Want to know what's inside the gift the spirits left for you? Feel free to invent your own, but if you prefer, comment here and let the spirits pick for you.

Rosinante | OTA

[callada]

December 31.
Rosinante's eagerness to explore has only grown in the last year. With the help of any who would offer a hand, and tools from the Helix Station and Dr. Solis' former lab, he managed to get the boat he and Soldat had worked on out of the scrapyard and into the lake eventually.

Before the ice could lock it back up, he hauled it onto the shore into a makeshift dry dock with a ramp up to the deck, and it's there he ends up hosting his own little New Year's Eve party. Yes, it's absolutely frigid out here, and it probably won't last long before he flees for the warmth of The Invincible, but should any wish to come join him, he's got alcohol, scraps of paper and a pen, and a lighter that these days produces the tiniest little functional spark.

"Saw a thing on an island once where they'd write their regrets, or wishes, or whatever onto a scrap of paper, set it on fire, then toss it into the sea," he explains, should you ask. "And I thought, I dunno. Might feel good to try it."

January 1
Yeah, it's the dawn of a new year and yeah, he'll take a break, but first he's going to finish shoveling snow that fell overnight away from The Invincible's walkway and a few other paths worth maintaining around the old Bonfire Square. Nobody wants to slip and fall on ice, after all, and these days the weak sunlight is just enough to melt what powder remains and leave dry paths, which makes it feel worth the work.

His lantern rattles a little as it swings from where it's attached to a belt loop, but it looks in good condition these days, with only the smallest dents and scratches marring its surface. He'll take that. His own skin is covered in similar imperfections, but at least his bones are back inside where they belong.

"Yeah, I'll be in in a bit," if anyone tells him to quit working on account of it being some sort of holiday. "If you want to do me a favor, get some coffee started."

--

But afterward, he's inside where it's warm, seated at a table with some newspaper scoured from another world via the portal. Who knows what any of it means, but it's mostly readable, and kind of interesting for the novelty. "They've got volcano-bows," he says, laughing. "See this? Volcanoes erupt, somehow light hits the ash and makes colors. Never heard of anything like that."

Of course, if you choose not to interrupt his reading, he'll ask the required question on a day like this.

"So. Any resolutions for the new year?"

Bucky/Soldat | MCU | OTA

[worthallthis]

I. Pre-Holiday Catch-up

Soldat is one of those who stayed behind in the world. Most of the time, they're at the outlying farm, where they spend a few days at a time tending the field, feeding goats (and not-goats) and chickens (and not-chickens) and the one dog and cat that got portalled in more on accident than anything else, and putting the old farmhouse back together to make it more liveable. They never did repair their lantern despite the increased understanding of how, preferring to let their headmates all remain. They mostly get along, these days.

But twice a week they're back in town for a full day, checking on people, exchanging books at the library, and making food for everyone to collect in the Invincible should they want it. Most of it will keep in a freezer or in a big pot on low simmer on the stove, or gets delivered to doors and porches of any others remaining. They can't manage without people; being out on the farm alone, or even just with Misty, makes the paranoia and nightmares and internal bickering worse.

So they visit. Regularly. And beg for social interaction.


II. New Year's Eve - Invincible

Today is a day when they're in town, because they remember the calendar, too. They bake up some warm pies for Rosinante's little party, though they don't expect very many people to show up, and their fluffy sheepdog gets the scraps from it as they bake. (The cat stayed back at the farmhouse, getting by on the bits of wildlife starting to sneak in via portal or spirit-animals still hiding out from the light, plus plenty of home-made kitty kibble.)

Then night falls and spirits pour into town and Soldat-- Soldat is delighted. They greet any spirit who wants one with, of all things, a hug, and singing greetings and excitement in their own language. They're a little rusty, as it's been a long time since they've had any need to use it, but their voice is still good and their memory still impeccable.

While they've been content, working and helping and checking in with people, this is the happiest Soldat has looked since the sun started to return. "They're still here," they tell anyone who asks, smiling. "We're not alone yet."


III. Sunrise

Soldat stares after the last departing spirits, rather than watching the sun as it comes up, but they're still outside, bundled up against the cold, hands in their coat pockets, dog at their feet huddled close to share warmth.

"It was nice," they say quietly, maybe to themselves. "Seeing them again. Even if they're not our friends, exactly, it's still nice." Then they turn a little to whoever came up to see them in the dawn's light, and say, "Oh. I have a Christmas gift for you. Didn't come to town then, but the snow was too thick, so. I have it now, if you want it."

They pause, and add, "No, it's not another funny hat. Though I did consider it." A reminder of last year's early Christmas gifts which were in fact all silly, but still very warm, hats.