Entry tags:
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- * fourth wall,
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Event Log: May, An Inauspicious Arrival
I. Boaltinn (1st - 3rd)
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)
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)
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)
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!
As always, please direct your questions to this thread!
oh my god
he whips his head up to retort and glare but catches himself, confused at the familiar golden robes but the unfamiliar face. he remembers most faces of the Jin sect, so who is waltzing around in their robes if he doesn't know who it is?
not that it matters, he's not going to show weakness in front of someone, not even someone who's supposedly familiar (least of all that!), and he rubs at his eyes furiously with his sleeve, glowering. ]
I'm fine. I was just—
[ just sitting down. just gathering his wits. just taking a break?? that's a weak excuse and he knows it, so slowly gets to his feet, fingers curled around Suihua like a life line. even if the sword is just a regular piece of metal here, it's still his piece of comfort. ]
I fine. Who are you anyway? I don't recognize you.
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How do you not recognize me? I'm--
[ He cuts off as soon as he recognizes not the boy's face, but the sword he's holding. His grip tightens on that very same sword in his hand. ]
Where did you get that replica?
[ Because obviously it can't be the real Suihua. He has the real Suihua right here. ]
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how dare this random stranger come and insult his father's sword, imply it's not even real. he takes one step forward, holding the sword to his chest protectively. ]
Replica?! It's not a replica! This... this is... it's my sword! How dare you imply it's not real! It's—
[ his eyes flicker down to the strangers sword and he just goes quiet, eyes widening, before he looks back at him. no this can't be right, this... pompous man in front of him isn't anyone he knows, and he started this! he's the one with the replica! he points with a shaky finger. ]
You're the one with a replica! How dare you carry around a copy of my father's sword!
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His heart skips a beat. He looks dumbly, from the boy's sword, to his own, then back to the boy's face. If he looks closely, can he see traces of A-Li's features there? The Jiang clan chin, perhaps?
All animosity is gone from his stature. His brow is furrowed with concern, but his eyes are open, and pleading. ]
...A-Ling? Can it be you?
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what?
he has no recollection of what his parents look like, only a kind of specific warm presence and gentle sounding voices he doesn't quite recall surrounding him. the sword and his Jiang clan bell are his only items to not remember them by, but represent them, because there's nothing there for him to remember. still.
the way the other's demeanor has completely changed is throwing everything off. because it's familiar and at the same time it's not. his arm drops to his side, and while it looks like the sword will slide to the ground too, he grips it hard, knuckles turning white with the effort as he tries to unsuccessfully swallow the lump in his throat again and again. he cannot cry, he doesn't cry, goddammit. he can already tell that's going to be a losing battle, but that doesn't stop him from fighting it with all he has.
but this... this can't be. but he's addressed by name and... and... and what does he even do in this situation but nod dumbly, slowly, looking completely withered and lost. ]
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How old are you now? [ How long has it been, that they have been separated? And, more importantly: ] Why do you not recognize me?
[ How could Jin Ling not know his own father? His voice, his face. They should be intimately familiar to him. What is going on? ]
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he knows that his parents are dead. so why can't he just dismiss this random stranger with the same robes as himself as some kind of impostor, only here to poke more fun at him for being alone. lately has been all kinds of chaos, and while he's refused to believe all the kindness his uncle showed him was false, having recent events dropped on top of him, the expectations he knows will suddenly be on his shoulders as the Jin clan heir, and the emotional whiplash of finding out the truth about everything is kind of. a lot? for a teenager.
his voice strains when he tries to use it once, and he narrows his eyes a little, feeling defensive in the face of his own emotions threatening to spill over because he did not ask for this. ]
F... fifteen. And why should I recognize you? I don't... I don't know who you are.
[ he thinks? he doesn't want to assume, doesn't dare assume something that is impossible. fierce corpses exists, of course, he's seen it, he's heaped his hatred over Wen Ning and then found out it wasn't entirely warranted. but his own father? if... if that's what this stranger is implying, anyway. what is there to believe anymore...? ]
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It's not hard to guess why Jin Ling doesn't know him. He would never have abandoned his son for fifteen years, not even for one second! So that just mean he... Wasn't there for reasons entirely out of his control. He's about to put two and two together to guess what those reasons would be. ]
What... [ His voice is quiet, small, choked with emotion. Very unlike his usual confident tone. ] What about your mother? She never told you about me?
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[ his voice absolutely cracks, small and vulnerable and scared, and he hitches his breath, unable to get air into his lungs without hiccuping. of course his mother never told him. how could she have, when she died almost at the same time. he doesn't know her either. ]
H-how...?
[ how could she have told him? how is this situation even possible. how is this person his father? how is he alive? how is his life this messy? how does he even manage this kind of situation, how does he obliterate this huge lump threatening to fill all of his insides and choke him to death with emotions?
he doesn't, so he just slides down to the ground, face crumpling up, clutching Suihua to his chest and starts bawling, unable to stop, because what is even going on anymore. ]
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Obviously he failed as a father, but not in any of the ways he expected. He failed by not being there. He failed by dying. But... What about A-Li? She would never have failed as a mother. She would be the perfect mother, Zixuan knew she would. So why is even the mention of her enough to make his son break down crying?
There's a part of him that wants to run. The way he used to run from Yanli, from his feelings towards her. But he hasn't been the man who runs for a while now. No, he has to fix this. He has to do right by A-Ling and get to the bottom of this, somehow.
He kneels, reaching a tentative hand forward, unsure of every inch of movement, before it lands solidly on Jin Ling's shoulder. ]
Talk to me. Please. What happened?
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so he doesn't know how to accept support from anyone, least of all someone who claims to be his father while he's still trying to wrap his head around that fact, and again thinking about that he has no parents, they're gone and—
expect apparently not? he doesn't understand. there's so much that happened... how could he even begin to describe the chaos and intrigue he's apparently lived through none the wiser. he has to get a hold of himself, to do... something. he hiccups, reaches up with one hand to really try and rub his tears away but they just won't stop, so his words are a mess between tears and a shaky voice. ]
I don't h-have parents... s-so what that I never knew them! It doesn't make me weaker!
[ it's a trained line, it's something he's repeated more times than he can recall, sometimes while crying, other times yelling in indignation. it might not be quite what he needs to say, but it's the easiest thing to say when his mind is otherwise just a jumble. ]
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He pushes all of those thoughts and the looming existential crisis out of his mind. His son is crying, and he needs to be a strong father right now. Even if it breaks his heart to think of leaving his son, of losing Yanli, their family...
No. Pull yourself together, Zixuan. This is what you need to do, here and now. Don't think of what is yet to come. ]
You... You have one now. I'm sorry I left you. But I'm here now. I won't leave you again.
[ Is he doing this right? He's so far out of anything familiar he can't be sure what are the right steps to take... ]
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his heart does something like a painful squeeze at his father's (because he knows it is, he just doesn't understand it) words, because how can he trust that. how can he trust anyone's words anymore. it's like he's back at the temple, his life upended over his head, feeling both betrayed and lost, and he doesn't want to feel that way, not in front of what should be something he should be happy about!
it takes another moment before his shoulders sag as he takes another couple of hitching breaths, halway leaning against his father's hand, swallowing hard. this is all right, isn't it? if... if it's true.
and he wants to tell him how he died... but... the details surrounding that involves so many intrigues and misunderstandings, and if he's to believe what different people have told him about his father, he'd probably jump to the wrong conclusions at first, and Jin Ling doesn't feel coherent enough to explain everything, hell he barely understands the circumstances himself beyond that everything he knew was somehow wrong.
but he doesn't know what to say. how do you interact with a parent? ]
I...
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(There's a lot about this scenario he doesn't know, or doesn't understand. He's trying his best to muddle through despite all that anyway.) ]
You don't have to tell me anything. [ He'll want to know eventually. He'll want to know everything. But he can understand that A-Ling is perhaps too emotional to explain. And, if he's honest, he's not exactly prepared to learn how he will die. ] You don't have to say anything. But if you do, I will do my best to listen.
[ The night hunt is going on around them, Zixuan can tell. He can hear the animalistic growls of people-cum-monsters running through the forest, chasing prey. It seems silly, how he had looked forward to the hunt, before he had the fortune of running into A-Ling. Who could focus on a hunt now, when faced with their own son all grown up without them? ]
Can you stand? We should go somewhere more private.
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and then he's reassured and it's strange. to consider this and apply it to "this is my father" because it's... unheard of? so maybe if he pushes all these weird confusing thoughts to the side, he can bring himself to speak. or maybe he just continues to hiccup, though more silent than before. he was excited for a night hunt, but then the transformation stalled him and now ... all of this. it's everything and more, it's what he always wanted, to meet his parents, or at least one of them.
but it actually happening is something he never ever thought would be possible in his lifetime, because people simply do not suddenly come back to life! Wen Ning he's been told was never actually dead. he's not entirely knowledgeable about fierce corpses anyway, the details still muddy and part of a piece of cultivation he's been raised to abhor and hate. (thank you, Jiujiu.)
either way, it's something happening now, and he'll just have to deal with it. preferably with less crying involved, if he could just stop his eyes from leaking.
he shifts a little to get to his feet again, carefully, somewhat unsteady with emotion, but doing his best to straighten and show that he definitely isn't a weak little runt. what if this is all an hallucination brought on by the pain of the transformation? it could be an elaborate ruse and he'd be none the wiser the moment they move somewhere else... but he has to know. he's not quite comforted, not yet, and he doesn't trust his dumb teenage voice to not crack again so he just swallows down another lump and nods, watching his feet. ]
Mm.
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He begins to walk, slowly, waiting for A-Ling to keep up. The hand remains set on his shoulders stiff and awkward. ]
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damn it Jin Ling, get your act together! this can't be easy on this man— his father either. ]
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They walk, as slowly as necessary, out of the gate and back towards the quiet of the city at night. They come across a square, with a small fountain surrounded by stone benches. Zixuan ushers the pair of them over to one and sits down, urging A-Ling to sit beside him. ]
Why don't you talk to me. Tell me about-- [ There so much for him to learn. Even putting aside the circumstances of his and Yanli's deaths, there's Ling's childhood, his likes and dislikes. Who has been raising him and caring for him in their absence. It's... A lot to ask for, all at once, Zixuan realizes. Better to start small. ]
Tell me about yourself?
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so he ends up in a sort of half-way situation, not leaning into, but walking closer and just focusing on that this isn't yet another one of his childhood pretend shadows he made up when he was feeling the most down on himself. this person is real, tangible.
he doesn't lean back as they sit down, but rather stays upright, sword still clutched close to his chest as he considers his lap, picking at the edge of his sash with his other hand, considering the question.
he opens his mouth, then closes it, and realizes he's embarrassed. because he's not sure what to say that doesn't include his reckless escapades that frankly has him yelled at more often than not. that's not impressive or something to be proud of. ]
I have a spirit dog, her name is Xiānzǐ. Xiao Shushu gave her to me when she was just a puppy.
[ nailed it?! ]
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[ Is that nice? He doesn't know anything about dogs. (Oh no, he's terrible at this.) He makes a mental note to do some research into dogs-- especially now that his son is turning into one, apparently???
And Xiao Shushu... Does that mean Jin Guangyao? He can't imagine his father would let any of his other illegitimate sons buy a dog for his only grandson. He's glad that Yao is looking after A-Ling after his death. He may not entirely like or trust his half brother, but learning this has definitely brought him higher in Zixuan's estimation. ]
What is she like?
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he relaxes somewhat at the continuation of the subject, finally letting his shoulders sag and he manages to look a little exasperated instead of distraught. ]
She always runs off everywhere and makes me run after her. It's troublesome and really a pain, but...
[ he pauses, because of course that's just a small part of it all, and Xiānzǐ was, instead of a inanimate object like his sword, a warm and welcome comfort. so while he doesn't puff his chest out while he says it, he does sound proud, regardless. ]
But she's mine and she's also the best spirit dog.
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I am glad you have her for... [ Support? No, that's the wrong word. ] ...Companionship.
Do you have any other friends?
[ Please tell him his son isn't spending all his time chasing after a dog and doing nothing else. ]
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friends... he has friends. Lan Sizhui, Ouyang Zizhen and... even Lan Jingyi though he argues with him all the time. they go on night hunts and they've been through a lot together, so he'd like to think they are his friends, at least. he hopes they are his friends, though he would never ask them that outloud.
but before them, he absolutely spent all his time chasing his dog around and got yelled at by Jiang Cheng. sorry, dad. ]
I guess... I don't know if I'd call them friends, but I know a few juniors from the Lans and Baling.
[ this is embarrassing. he's only known them for a little while, and before this it's not like he had any "friends" who also didn't talk about him behind his back. ]
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That's good. The Gusu Lan sect is respectable. I trust they won't lead you astray.
[ Of course, the image he has in his mind of the Lan sect does not include someone like Lan Jingyi, but... oh well. What Zixuan doesn't know can't hurt him. ]
What, um. [ Okay, what do they talk about now. They've covered pets and friends. What's next? Hobbies? ]
How do you like to spend your time, with these other juniors?
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We've been going on night hunts together a lot.
[ ...and a whole lot of other things he's not sure how to breach. ]
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I'VE NO IDEA HOW HE'D ADDRESS HIS PARENTS BUT HEY...
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GMAIL NEARLY ATE THIS TAG
gmail quit that!!
gmail rude!
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new username, still me
get the imposter
wow who are you what did you do to my dad
I revealed his inner truth