Event Log: May, An Inauspicious Arrival

[faileas]

Event Log: May, An Inauspicious Arrival

I. Boaltinn (1st - 3rd) Boaltinn comes around again. A handful of Mirrorbound will remember the holiday from last year, but for others, it will be brand new. In both Residential Districts, bonfires burn in central locations through the night, frequented by the residents celebrating another summer come to Aefenglom. Curiously, while last year the bonfires seemed quite segregated by human or Monster, this year, there is more of a noticeable mix at each, and Mirrorbound are invited to join the games and festivities quite happily. Characters are invited to try and jump through the bonfire's flames to burn away any poor relationship experiences, be it romantic or platonic, past or present; to aid them in this, those at the Eastern Bonfire will give those participating rune-etched accessories to protect them from the fire. The city has quite a bit to offer for this holiday: shared rose baths at public bathhouses and pleasure establishments that increase feelings of friendliness and talkativeness, poles draped in ribbons meant to be danced around, wrapping a ribbon around the pole to bring good luck for the summer, food stalls whose offerings are meant to be shared, and fortune-telling set up by Divination students of the Coven, who can tell your day is going to go. To see last year's Boaltinn prompts, you can take a glance right here! Much of it, including the bonfires, baths, and entertainments will be similar this year, so feel free to use those in your top levels.

II. An Unusual Arrival (3rd on) A full year from the arrival of the first group of Mirrorbound, the 1st passes quietly, with no one showing up in the mirror-lined halls of the Looking-Glass House. Dates and times are important in most kinds of magic, and this is strange enough that some Witches of the Coven get together on the night of the 3rd to try a probing ritual, attempting to gather some kind of clues that could be useful in prying out the cottage's secrets. Boaltinn is the best time for such things, when the boundaries are thinner, and magic is stronger. Those who are awake that night at 3 am might notice a pulse of harmless silvery light that spreads like ripples on water throughout the whole city, originating at the Looking-Glass House, but nothing further happens, and the Coven receives no answers. Well, nothing happens in the Looking-Glass House. Before long, the reports start coming in: people are emerging from mirrors, regular old mundane mirrors, all over the city. Anything with a particularly reflective surface could be an entry point for someone from another world! Inhabited homes, businesses closed and locked for the night, pools of still water in fountains or the river, these unorthodox Mirrorbound pop up anywhere and everywhere, causing chaos for the City Guard (folks aren't happy to find strangers in their bathrooms at 3 in the morning) and the Coven both. Out of nowhere, a glint of light catches your eye; your heart thunders in your ears as your body moves on its own, your mind consumed with inspecting the source. Your reflection stares back at you, just as curious from the surface - a mirror, a pool of water, your most trusted sword, something fleeting that your mind can barely remember - then ripples at your touch. If you are one of these unfortunate arrivals, it's likely a rude awakening for you, to find yourself somewhere inconvenient, somewhere other than where you've been. It only makes sense to be confused. Hopefully someone finds you and explains to you what's happened to you. Resident Mirrorbound will hear a message from Miss Nessie shortly after it begins, a call to arms: "Dears, I'm quite sorry to disturb you, but it seems your fellows are arriving elsewhere than the Looking-Glass House this month! We're trying to track them all down for the usual welcome, but we could use a hand or several! If you could just bring them by the Coven, the usual spot, that would be lovely." She'll give her usual orientation and pass out Watches, but no doubt the Mirrorbound will be more helpful in this regard, with so many arriving.

III. The Goblin Market (All Month) Life goes on in Aefenglom, despite the addition of so many new residents. With the City Guard decidedly busy dealing with the sudden flood of break-ins (or, more accurately, break-outs?), the vendors of the Goblin Market find opportunity to set up their stalls more openly than they have since the crack-downs some months ago. They pop up all over the city, but clustered more often in the Residential Districts and the Harbor District, where there are even fewer law enforcement agents out and about to run them off. These sellers, while not as devoid of morals as those major players of the Black Market, still have very few compunctions when it comes to lying, cheating, fencing stolen goods, and misrepresenting their wares to unsuspecting buyers. It's also the place to find those things that are- not quite legal, shall we say. They won't say a word if you don't. If confronted, they are quick to pack up their things and slip away, however; they know this city and its hiding places a lot better than you do. With a brand new batch of what the natives assume are Mirrorbound, many undergoing rapid transformations into their Monster forms, many of the wares on display are potions: supposed cure-alls for aches and itches, calming draughts for the full moon restlessness, some even claim their brews can halt changes entirely! Some concoctions are meant to increase a Witch's magical ability, or decrease it, or provide them a finer control. They offer potions that they say will eliminate the need for a Bond, or temporary Bonding potions of their own that they claim are more pure, stronger, than the ones offered by the Coven. Claims are only claims, though. A few remedies for the pain of changing or some regular temporary Bonding potions can be found here and there, but for every potion that works, there are twenty more that have less than pleasant side effects. A brew that will cause everything you touch to turn to solid gold for up to an hour; a potion that will invert your sense of direction - trying to turn right will make you turn left, trying to go forward will cause you to walk backward; a potion that will remove all traction from your feet, causing you to slide around as if cobblestone are the slickest ice. Worse, some shadier vendors sell things more sinister, including a potion that gives you the appearance of being moderately to heavily infected by the Cwyld. Even if you don't drink any, the vendors are not at all careful where they're sloshing those bottles around, trying to show them off, and they all activate on skin contact.

IV. A Wilde Hunt (7th - 22nd) All Mirrorbound, temporary or not, are likely to feel it. Monsters are always affected by the full moons, but this month, it is more. Stronger. Instincts rise to the surface as the Sisters emerge full and visible in the night sky, and for many Mirrorbound, they are undergoing rapid transformations into whatever type of Monster they are meant to be. Curiously, the natives get along like they usually do, noticing nothing out of the norm, other than the increased agitation and restlessness from Mirrorbound Monsters. Monsters' aggression fades when the Sisters start to wane, but as the new moons approach on the 22nd, Mirrorbound Witches will notice their magical reserves overfilling, and will find themselves stricken with the overwhelming urge to use it, until casting spells, pushing one's magical limits, is almost a compulsion. Those who are not in proper Witch-Monster Bonds will feel it even stronger, with no stabilizing magic to consume (for Monsters) or avenues to expend magic (for Witches) other than casting spells. (For those who are interested, the Coven does offer temporary Bonding potions which can be used to help alleviate the effects somewhat.) The Coven Witches notice the signs, and they take decisive action on the morning of the 6th, the day before the full moons. So many Mirrorbound, likely to be so heavily affected by the lunar cycle this month, many of them coming into new features and abilities at a breakneck pace, only spells danger for the city. They barricade off a massive chunk of Wilde outside Aefenglom, largely free of Cwyld and totally bereft of farms, homes, and Wilder outposts. They invite anyone who feels the effects of the moons too strongly to control to come out for a Hunt. The hunting grounds will be open nightly to anyone who needs to work off restless energy or overflowing magic; all participants will be warned that their safety cannot be guaranteed from others, but they won't be able to harm bystanders out here. The woods are thick, with the river cutting through them, and full of wildlife. There is room to run and chase prey, or room to play with your developing magic. Play cat and mouse with your friends or Bondmates, or stalk a stranger. If playing games isn't your thing, there is something else to hunt out here as well. With the deep Wilde entering into Winter, this patch of land so close to the city is much warmer, and fearsome Shades have emerged to search for prey. These were once living beings, Monsters, Witches, or animals, who have been overtaken by Cwyld infection long ago, leaving them dead but for the infection, white-eyed and seeking out sources of magic to consume and infect. Anything could become a Shade, but the most common out right now are the ferocious remains of bears, wolves, and nomadic Arachne and Turnskins. If not killed, these Shades threaten the people of the Outer City, when they inevitably escape the barricade. Careful to limit your contact, though; anyone infected upon their return to the gates will be escorted straight to the infirmary.

Welcome to May's Fourth Wall event, An Inauspicious Arrival! The comms are now open to comments from all registered users and will be until June 1st. Current players, if you don't want fourth wall characters tagging your posts, just say so in your text. Fourth wall characters can use this post for their own network top-levels, or this post for log top levels. This event is game canon; threads from this fourth wall can be used as application samples later and current players may use these threads for AC. As always, be courteous to each other! Let the mod team know if there are any problems and we will handle things.

As always, please direct your questions to this thread!

Comments

[shinkunochou]

[She chews on her bottom lip for a moment, considering.] But I don’t... [’want a different form,’ she almsot says and then goes quiet. It’s not like she has much of a right to complain about anything when she was here and miraculously alive.]

...Big brother, which are you?

[shinkunochou]

[Sae had never been the adventurous one. She’d never made decisions or anything like that—Whtever her sister had decided, Sae had followed along with. It was strange, then, to feel an urge to, you know, make a decision herself.

But after a moment she nods and stands, brushing her hands off before holding one out to Ann to help her up]

I think...There isn’t anything to lose by trying. We might as well try everything first before we figure it’s a lost cause, right...?

[bravelyathome]

I found them!

[Bernie holds them up, proud of her finds. And then she looks at Petra's hair again. Maybe... Maybe she won't mind?]

Maybe I could braid them in your hair? They'd be so pretty...

[marmoron]

[Keith's shoulders tense up immediately as Shiro places his hand on one. There's so much he could be saying to this, so many questions he could be asking. He glances at Shiro's hand, biting the inside of his lip. He doesn't know where to begin unpacking any of this, but for a split second he's just so damn relieved to see his best friend again that his guarded expression melts into a warm smile.]

You got it. I know a quieter place we can go.

[Then in what may or may not seem like an overreaction, Keith pulls Shiro into a tight hug. One hug. Then he pulls himself together and lets go.]

I'm really glad to see you.

[Again. But he holds onto that last word for now. He doesn't want to open a direct conduit to confusion just yet.]

[hypomeneo]

Twenty three.

[Waver's fingers press down a little harder on the table. The hand that bore Command Seals twice.]

I've seen him in glimpses, but not quite as the man we know. The first time was on the eve of the Fifth War, underneath the Clock Tower deep in the Spirit Crypt Albion. He was summoned as a Divine Spirit to be used as a way to tap into back into magecraft lost with the passage of the Age of Gods.

[Divine Words. High Speed Incantation. Age of Gods Magecraft doesn't depend of magic circuits - that was a system set up by the King of Magic, himself, Solomon. It instead is granted by a bestowal of pieces of the god's authority to the casters themselves.]

That couldn't stand. I wouldn't allow him to be used. [A pained pause.] I sent him back before...

[There's the shake of a head.]

Then his younger self as a child much later. I last remember being on a battlefield with many Heroic Spirits, fighting alongside him and Darius the Third, and trying to keep between the two of them. A chaotic mess... then I was here.

[He's neatly avoiding mention of the Singularity and Septum for now. No youth needs that knowledge. He's still coming to terms with it himself.

If he can ever come to terms with it.]

[exarchal]

Understandably so. I ask that you keep an open mind as we continue. Though the facts are difficult to believe, the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

[He smiles a little up at Rorik before returning his gaze to the road. It's not far now...]

One would think that time is linear, and in most situations, it is. At eight bells, you have tea. Three bells later, you have your supper, and at the end of the day, you go to sleep. In the morning you awaken again, and a new day begins, and thus normal people live their lives.

However... time moves differently as your distance from it grows. The light we see during our beautiful night shines from stars that are long, long dead. And in the same vein, there are forces that might exert their will upon it, and change the flow of time for an instant. There are some magicks that do this already, but on a grander scale...

[His tone is very light.]

One might be able to visit a different world entirely, or avert the consequences of a fated choice altogether.

[notjustahacker]

[ By no means was she a strong girl at all, so the amount of discomfort she'd felt by falling so inelegantly into someone's tub was hard to put into words. Mostly having been this way because of her attempt to not break her laptop amidst the fall, grip tight on the thing in question even as she tried to regain her bearings.

It's as a face peeks around the corner that she almost squeaked, not having expected someone to actually be here. Of course. This just happened to be someone's house. Way not cool. ]

Thought I was dreaming, but it hurts too much for that, so... yeah. Uh... definitely lost. Can't say I have an idea of how I ended up here, though.

[ This guy talked like he belonged in some kinda old-timey Shakespearean era. What's up with that? It wasn't a thing Futaba knew she should focus on, trying to get up while being careful of her laptop but also... still ow. ]

Sorry for ending up in your tub. Promise that wasn't my intention. If I wanted to go somewhere new, i'd have gone somewhere other than... well.. in someone's house.

[notjustahacker]

[ Finding someone who even had a shred of knowledge about this kind of thing and understood it was an incredible, rare occurrence. So the fact that the one person who she'd talked to happened to do so but even answer back in the same fashion had her eyes go wide for a second before just nodding her head, a look of disappointment on her face. ]

It probably would have shown up in our menus for us to find and set by now. [ A shrug of her shoulders follows that. ] Maybe we're not high enough of a level to be able to access the log-out function yet.

[ Futaba swears she's seen an anime with this set-up before but hey. Not gonna think about it, looking to the guy beside her as the disappointment from before shifted to a full on grin amidst her clear happiness. ]

Good to see someone speaks my language here. Didn't think i'd find that in a place like this. Talk about having good luck stats.

[ She is all about the references so be prepared for a lot of them. ]

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this :(

[notjustahacker]

[ Once she was all settled in comfortably, which did include a cursory glance around the cafe before looking back to him, her expression shifted to become a little less casual and a bit more... grim. If that could even be the word used here. All of this place still felt very surreal to her, but it was happening and it was far removed from some video game or the comfort of her own room.

There was no comforting hum of computers to listen to, familiar keyboards to type on or even the same house to take comfort in at all. That wasn't even going into the fact this place was SO not tech-friendly either.

Futaba knew she had to tread carefully here, considering the track record between the Phantom Thieves and Akechi but it wasn't as if she really blamed him entirely for what happened. Shido was an extremely awful person and had hurt so, SO many people and Akechi had been one of them. ]

Right. I'll start with something easy, then.

[ Hesitation flashed across her face, and she had to almost struggle to keep facing him head on and not look away when she finally continued. ]

What's the last thing you remember before showing up here?

[brushworkmother]

[Ammy whuffs agreement, her tail picking up as she bounces on her feet. She's definitely up for trying new food. Lead the way!]

[yesdoubt]

[Haku is all about this development, and attempts at being careful with her flowers might be stymied a little bit by how insistently she drives her head into Ryuu's fingers. But they seem a little less fragile than your average flower, and Momo only keeps half an eye on the situation as he keeps talking.

They're moving into a nicer part of the city now, clearly a richer area, and Momo makes a vague sort of gesture to the surroundings.] Yeah, the city's broken up into a bunch of different districts. This is the fancy one, and they took a section out of this to use for the Haven. So for the less posh people, there's apartments and cottages, but I know two people from the same world who've also got a couple of others from their home here, so they just took one of the mansions and all live together.

[He's not even going to call this place the Aristocratic District because "the fancy one" sums it up perfectly fine, as far as he's concerned.] The amount of space someone needs kinda depends on what they turn out to be in this world, though.

[Yeah, he's...going to be the one to bring up the Witch and Monster thing before Miss Nessie does it. He'd feel bad if Ryuu had that sprung on him without him even mentioning it.]

[yesdoubt]

[Momo manages to get Haku and Sen to stop for a moment so they're all in something resembling a line, and then holds his fingers up to count them off.]

Alright, in three...two...one...go!

[He starts running as soon as he says the last word, and he's very fast for a human - years of strengthening his legs for sport plus generally having a lot of stamina is a good combination for this sort of thing. On the wolfy front, Haku is considerably faster than Sen, but Sen isn't exactly slow, more just pacing himself so he doesn't wear out early.

In any case, Momo and his two petalwolves know where they're heading, so that might help Amaterasu figure out where exactly this is supposed to be ending.]

[yesdoubt]

[Momo spends a lot of time with people who are about as prone to show their gratitude properly as cats are, so he'll take the purring and kneading for what it is, and with a cheery grin. It does kind of make him want to pet the cat, but he's not sure if that would be insulting when it's talking to him.

The remark on magic gets a knowing nod out of Momo.] Yeah, if you had magic in your world, it doesn't carry through to here. I couldn't tell you why, since my world didn't have magic anyway, but every single person I've met who did says it was replaced by what this world has. I've only been here a couple of months, so I'm not as familiar with it as I could be.

[Or as familiar as the people who've actually been studying the magic system and not just how to use it might be with it.]

[thevanguard]

[ Too late. He heard that. He scoffs, peering down at her skeptically. Normally, he'd be a little nicer, but hey she started this. And she didn't seem like the type to burst into tears at the sight of someone like him. There was nothing worse than crying girls.

Except for maybe yelling ones. ]

You're the one yelling!

[ ...he yells back. ]

[brushworkmother]

[She whuffs, tail wagging. Close enough. She makes a surprised sound, and backs away from the stall a little bit- she'll pass on having her fur dyed, thank you! She imagines someone would like it- thinks of Waka having truly pink hair for a moment, and makes a sound suspiciously like a laugh. Ah, if he were here… she'd definitely try.

But, hm. Oh, that's trickier to explain. She gives a wolfy shrug, and sneezes. She's been in this form for a long time, now, and she's pretty fond of it. Communicating gets to be a problem sometimes, but usually people manage to work something out one way or another, with an Envoy beside her or not.]

[thevanguard]

[ He huffs out a dismayed sigh but scrambles back to his feet to follow Saru. ]

Fine. [ Then he pauses and actually gives Saru a very intent once-over as he hurries to fall into step beside him. Damn Saru's longer legs. ]

You haven't started sprouting feathers or anything yet, have you?

[ Why is it just him, dammit? ]

[thevanguard]

[ Yata is grateful for that, too. Cats are the worst and that was his opinion even before he got here. Then again, Neko gave her sorta-species a very bad name.

Still, he teeters on his branch a moment, keeping a precarious sort of balance, even though he doesn't seem too concerned about it. ]

To the north, huh? [ He makes a face at that. ] Of course we gotta go traipsing through more of all this damn wilderness.

[ His city boy sensibilities are highly offended. ]

[mensrea]

[ The scandalized look and protest that his comparison earns him has Stiles rolling his eyes in bemused exasperation. So much for trying to relate. Art was never his strongest subject – maybe this is simply beyond him to understand. Or maybe the guy is a quack. We just don’t know. Time to stick to what he does know. ]

One’s an incident, [ he begins, holding up a finger. ] Two’s only a coincidence. Three’s a pattern. Since I’m not dead back home, you don’t have a pattern yet.

[ Returning his notebook to a pocket, Stiles takes a moment to stretch. ]

That said, there are others in Aefenglom like you. But if you’re looking for consistent commonalities among Mirrorbound, you’re out of luck. I’ve been hunting for those answers since I arrived.

[brushworkmother]

[Her tail is wagging furiously as they get organised, but she keeps on the line. When Momo reaches the end of the countdown she takes off, excited to be running. Though being here is affecting her- she's not going to let that get in the way of a good race, doing her best to give it her all.

Lagging a little more than she's used to does give her the opportunity to see which direction they're going, as she does her best to build up speed.]

[unsacrificing]

It sounds like he's grown a lot. I am glad you have him here.

[a little pat her head.]

It sounds like he's...quit some bad habits.

[trost]

[ That kind of uncertainty is really annoying, but unfortunately, they're quite used to it. They've never had the full picture of how things work and it's no surprise that it's the same in this world. At least he knows Mikasa will be returning home to pick up on where she left off. She might lose her memory of this place, but she'll be alive. ]

It's just been a day or two. [ She's seated down now. He does think it's unfortunate he doesn't have enough money to buy her anything from the restaurant. ]

You're going to be by yourself when I leave, aren't you ... [ He doesn't like the thought of that. He would prefer they return back at the same time. ]

[unsacrificing]

[and byleth smiles - a genuine, very blatant smile. his gaze relaxes, warms, as he looks at the man he's fought beside and fought for.]

There's nothing to thank me for. I know you- even if I don't know your past or all your thoughts, I know who you are as a person. And that's enough for me.

[he returns the shoulder squeeze with a little back pat.

....then he hits his fist into his open palm, as if just remembering something.]

Oh- if we are to be bonded, should I also wear full Leicester Alliance regalia? [though they are fighting for a better overall world and not something as small and petty as nations and patriotism-- he wonders if claude would like it if he wore his colors.]

[unsacrificing]

Mm, I don't know. I was thinking maybe some sort of fish.

[he points at the peek of scales crawling up over his collar.

he is definitely not a fish, but a man can have his dreams.]

[unsacrificing]

Huh, well that's a lot of words and overexaggerations to describe their relationship. Byleth cares about Dimitri, certainly, and he has always sought him out to make sure he's all right during their free time around the monastery- but maybe Dimitri thought more of those little chats than Byleth did, and for that Byleth feels a bit guilty.

He nods. "Yes, as long as I am here, I want to do all that I can as well."

His eyebrows knit together, a bit worried. "But I do not want you to lose yourself, either. I can't truly understand what you went through, but please... I don't want to see you become unlike yourself again."

[unsacrificing]

Byleth feels a sense of accomplishment and heightened rapport with the other at finding his lost item. It's a good thing the other spotted the feather, as Byleth would have proceeded to ask if the ten or so items on his person belonged to him, and this guy does not look like the patient type.

Well, Byleth has experience with those types, at least.

"No, there's no payment necessary. It doesn't feel good to lose something, so I want to ensure people are reunited with their possessions." And it's a good way to make friends! As this current interaction shows. "Oh- I see we have the same scaling. Do you know what monster we are?"

Byleth is still kind of hoping he's a fish.