logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: FOR EVERYTHING A REASON

Entry tags:

EVENT LOG: FOR EVERYTHING A REASON

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor.
date/time: september 6-7.
content: characters and forest spirits send off paper lantern boats in honor of those who have died..
warnings: character death

a somber kind of serenity.

When you arrive at the harbor, there are already boats in the water, and the lighthouse's red beam flares in slow pulses over the lake. The moon's a bright first quarter and the stars are out in force today, all reflected on the glassy surface of the water. It's uncharacteristically calm, this weather, so take advantage.

Rastus is down at the water's edge, tending to a large mound of pebbles that looks not unlike a miniature bonfire from a distance. The stones are all ordinary, having been collected from the beach, except Rastus has enchanted them to glow with a soft, yellow light. The enchantment will only last a week, but that's ample time for this little ceremony to send off those lost over the past two months. Or to send off something less literal, perhaps.

Next to the pile of stones is an array of craft materials—just the basic supplies like paper, markers, glue, and scissors, but more than enough to accommodate everyone in attendance. A handful of forest spirits (some you may recognize from the party!) are standing nearby to assist in paper-folding or boat-crafting if you're out of your depth there. They, along with Rastus, urge you to join in. This memorial is as much about you as it is anyone we've lost, after all. The boats can look like or represent anything you like.

Releasing boats lit with pebbles out onto the water will fill you will a sense of peace. It's a somber kind of serenity, but it's a relief nonetheless, whether you're mourning the loss of a friend or letting go of some other part of yourself. You're welcome to release as many boats as you like, too. It's not like there's a shortage of rocks around here, and even if the craft materials run low, there's plenty of other stuff around town that could be used in a pinch.

The forest spirits are in attendance, as well. Some are helping with the crafting, yes, but most are taking part themselves, building their own little boats to send out over the water. Their crafting involves more of a hands-on approach: Chomping and tearing and crinkling into unique shapes and textures. They stand out from the townsfolks' designs on the beach, but once the boats drift far enough into the surf, it's impossible to tell which vessels belong to which group. Feel free to NPC your own forest spirits for this event and refer to the OOC info post if you have questions about how they might behave.

On the final night of the event, a sound starts up along the treeline, one you haven't heard in some time, perhaps. Crickets. Cicadas. Katydids and beetles and the shrill hum of a mosquito in your ear. It seems insects have returned to Beacon from... wherever they were hiding, and the night air is now vibrant with their music. No more eerie silence back in town, where the sounds of the lake are snuffed out by the trees. It sounds almost like a real forest now.

And it will stay that way after this event ends, too. Maybe you were enjoying the time away from bugs or maybe you were longing for some sign that, yes, this world was alive once, but either way, the insects are here to stay. Well, until winter, at least.

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[ The graves that appeared as mysteriously as they vanished, back when the first ferry arrived, seemed to be meant to encourage newcomers to come to grips with their own deaths, their own losses. A whole host of other issues cropped up around it, something that was perhaps done with good intentions with poor execution.

This is the gentler gesture. They're permitted to share their private grief as explicitly or as implicitly as they want. There's the true distinction: choice.

Riku had been helping a forest spirit patch a hole in theirs so that their little craft would float instead of sink, conducting all of that business in almost total silence, except for the occasional trilled whistle. It doesn't mean that's taking all his attention. Riku's always looking around, at both newcomer and forest spirit and old hand alike, marking who is present, their interactions with the spirits, whether they're helping. Hindering.

It's a way of gauging the heartbeat of Beacon, he supposes. Some paint. Some write. Like that one over there, tears standing unshed in her eyes as she writes letters around the edge of her boat.

He drops his eyes, because there's observing and then there's intruding on another's private moment.

Riku approaches. But it's only later, when she kneels by the water, and only because when Riku thinks about it, leaving someone alone doesn't seem like something his friends would have done. Not Kairi, certainly not Sora. ]

...Don't think I've ever seen it this calm.

[ The silver haired stranger is wearing a t-shirt and jeans, there's heavy dirt stains on the knees like he's been doing some serious yard work before he came here. He stands there on the shore, staring out at the mirror of the lake. ]

[ Elena hears someone approaching, but it's as distant as if she were under the water of the lake, trapped in the darkness as cold liquid pressed in against her. The memory of that very sensation is brutally vivid as her gaze remains fixed on the water that she can just barely see moving in the gentle light of the floating lanterns. It isn't until the words drift down to her that she's pulled back above the surface and able to turn toward him, a few moments passing before she's able to really take him in. ]

What's it usually like?

[ Her own jeans are wet, the damp from the ground seeping into the fabric. Her thin plaid shirt does little against the fall chill but she doesn't really feel it. One small perk to being doubly dead in the afterlife. ]

Little rougher.

[ He sinks to sit on his heels, steady as a stone, without any of the ungainliness of someone who might still be growing into his skin and bones. In the months he's been in this dark world, his hair has continued to grow, through the scatter of his silver fringe he peeks sidelong at her, curious.

Maybe a little concerned. The way she'd been staring off like that reminded him of survivors of attacks from the dark forces of his own universe, shellshocked. They didn't really meet in person, he only recognizes her as one of the more recent arrivals. He feels it's safe to ask: ]

How are you holding up?

[ She watches him watching her for a moment before turning back to the water, not really taking much time at all to think over the answer to his question. Usually, she would lie through her teeth, but she doesn't have the energy for it right now. ]

Life sucks. Why should death be any different?

[ But once the words are out, she feels a bit guilty about it, so she shrugs and lowers her gaze to the nearest boat, floating gently by just feet away from them. ]

Sorry. When people ask you that, they don't usually want to know the answer.

[ She's honest.

Although that draws more scrutiny, he shakes his head. ]

Sorry? No need.

[ He tips his head away from her, half-shrugging. The motion is uncomfortable, like he might be embarrassed. ]

I'd rather the truth. It's a lot better than wondering if more could've been done if someone fell to ruin in the dark.

[ That's a weird thing to say. ]

[ That's a very weird thing to say. Fell to ruin. It's the phrasing itself that catches her attention, along with the fact that he says it so easily. In a way, it's almost a neon sign signaling that they're from very different backgrounds and more than likely very different worlds. ]

You too, huh?

[ The words are soft, the comment more about the Life Sucks part than the falling to ruin, but honestly, some of that could be in there too. ]

[ You too, huh?

It implies a mutual understanding, like by valuing her honesty he might have exposed something himself. Riku would clam up at a moment like this, but releasing that lantern for Dawn had left him feeling centered, like a great internal sigh had loosened the knot that had been tightening in him for months. ]

I didn't die with any regrets, if that's what you're asking.

[ It isn't, he thinks. Which makes that a dodge on his part. Habits die with greater reluctance than everyone here. His glance is less sidelong and more openly appraising, this time. ]

...Riku.

[ Had she? Were there regrets that haunted her every waking moment and stalked through her dreams? Yes. Dozens of them, but none so great as all the time she'd wasted, all the things she'd left unsaid because she'd thought there would be forever stretched out before her.

But she doesn't say that. This isn't the time to talk about those things, he hasn't earned that yet and she isn't ready to share.

It takes her a second to realize what he's said is his name; it's not something one would normally hear in Mystic Falls, that's for sure. ]

I'm Elena.

[ He hadn't been as honest with her as she was with him.

Riku did have a regret, a pretty significant one. About taking second or third chances for granted, for not having enough time to say what was in his heart before the opportunity was lost.

Funny how it's the things they don't say are probably the parts they can most relate. ]

...

[ Initially, Riku acknowledges her name with a small nod, but his eyes dart away and come right back a little rounder in recognition. Oh. Oh. Now he realizes. ]

Did that donor thing work out?

[ She won't always be so honest. Hit the right topic and she'll clam up, deflect the conversation, and refuse to talk about things. But she's trying hard to be open here, to build a safe space where she might not feel so alone because as miserable as she is, she knows that will at least help a little.

Blinking at the sudden question, it's kind of nice to just have it come up like this. Now she knows that he knows, unlike some of others she's run into since her arrival. ]

Yeah, I have a few people who have been helping. I don't do it often, though; I'm trying to test my limits.

[ She doesn't want to hurt anyone. ]

[ They're similar. Fingers closed protectively around hearts soft enough to be hurt, tight-lipped, and for their own deeply-personal reasons, are learning the value of trying to say the things that are important in the borrowed time left to them. He-

-exhales, a little relieved. ]

Good. It can't be easy, being the only one. Having that uncertainty... not knowing if you'll have what you need to get by.

[ Since he was young, he's had this habit of saying things others considered weird or strange or beyond his years. It's made him more reserved as a result, but these are weird circumstances. ]

Sorry. Where I'm from, there are worlds full of people who-- they're not exactly like you, but similar enough.

[ He looks back out over the lake, a gauzy mirror dotted with softly glowing lights. ]

We all have to be at our best. It's why...
I want you to count me in. Not lightly. But you didn't ask lightly, either. Did you?

[ No, it hasn't been easy. She's lost so much in just a few short years that to suddenly be so completely alone has been... Well, if she hadn't already been broken, this would have done it. Instead, she's just been pulled deeper into the ocean of misery inside her, the surface so high above that she no longer feels any hope of reaching it.

It's surprising enough to hear that there are other worlds where he's from, let alone some with people like her. The knowledge makes her turn her full attention to him, as if trying to uncover a mystery she isn't even aware of. And then he surprises her again with that insight. ]

Back home, people don't know what I am. My friends do, but some of them are vampires too, or other things that aren't what people consider normal. We all hide what we are so we can stay safe and try to live normal lives.

[ She's lost so much in a few short years. The sacrifice, the loss she experienced is no small thing. It's an aching hole in her heart, her ability to carry on in spite of it a testament to her strength.

Riku spent his time apart, thinking he could protect those most important to him by maintaining his distance. Now? It feels like time wasted, because now he has nothing and no one. Just a promise to keep going in the hopes that his last remaining bastion might use him as the beacon, the lighthouse to guide him here. ]

It's hard.

[ An understatement. Riku keeps watching those receding lights. ]

Being different. Until you find the people who accept you, who see you as who you are, whatever the face you wear.

I'm sorry you were separated from them.

[ Hard is absolutely an understatement. It was unbearable at times, and yet here she is. Here they are. Sitting there in the darkness, watching little specks of light float across the water, carrying with them hope and pain and healing. ]

I lost most of them before I came here.

[ The words taste like ash on her tongue, but they're the truth. Damon was gone. So was Bonnie. Jeremy had been grieving in his own way, Caroline clinging to the border of Mystic Falls in a desperate attempt to carry on like everything was fine. And Stefan... He'd been searching for a way to reach Damon, and while she'd clung to the hope he would succeed, there had always been a part of her doubting it would ever be possible. ]

[ Heavy.

That's a staggering burden for a heart to bear. How lonely she must feel, how bereft of those who matter the most; it makes sense that this is how he found her, staring out into the great black dotted by specks of light, kneeling in the wet sand.

Has she ever considered, in some wild moment when the emptiness yawns huge and aching in her heart, just going for a swim? Riku's hand fixes to the hook of his lantern slotted into his belt loop at his hip. ]

When I look around... I realized everyone here has lost people precious to them, we're all fighting to stay strong.

You're not alone.

[ Of course she'd considered it, more than once, especially before coming here. Ever since her parents died, there had been moments when she'd considered just giving up, but rarely had they been more than just brief moments. The closest she'd come to doing anything about those thoughts had been after killing the Hunter, when the hallucinations had plagued her and her own mother had tried convincing her to wait for the morning sun without her daylight ring. ]

Knowing you're not alone is nice, but it doesn't really matter if you don't feel it.

[ Again, the harsh truth comes out, the filter that would have kept her to polite conversation gone for the time being. She doesn't feel like putting on the act right now; what does it matter if he knows she's really not okay. Are any of them? ]

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EVENT LOG: FOR EVERYTHING A REASON

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