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

[trost]

[ The hostility in the air is familiar but at the same time a stranger to him. Four years ago, this would be where they would start hauling insults around and pushing and shoving. Not the kind of conflict that results in any real emotional wounds, but a release of energy between two young boys and the only way their awkward selves could relate. Now all he's sensing is distance, like Eren's holed himself in and no amount of pointed words or buttons pushed can coax him out. Jean still tries, though. He doesn't know why he does when some would walk away, but he tries. ]

You think that just because you've grown a few inches, I should be scared of you, you Scaled Wonder? I wasn't afraid when you were 15-metres tall and butt naked, so nothing's changed.

[ He'll always be afraid of being eaten by a titan, and if he met a full-sized dragon he would most certainly be fearful of it, but with Eren he feels no such fear. Just like he had a feeling Eren had a good reason for hurting Mikasa and Armin (not that it makes it alright that he did), there's a part of Jean that ... believes in him? It's nauseating to admit, even to himself, but it's there. It's just frustrating to him why things have to be this complicated, why this huge mess of a situation had to happen when they all could have put their heads together to find a better way weeks ago. They all want the same thing, and he has a feeling Eren does as well: To live together, and be safe. All Eren had to do was talk to them. ]

We were looking for you back home. Didn't expect to find you just walking around here.

[usurpers]

[ eren scoffs sardonically, a click at the roof of his mouth that breathes into a hiss— jean afraid of him would be more of a laugh if he laughed so often. was it his way of saying “it’s not going to work on me”? asshat.

fucking asshat. after everything, jean (and connie) still covered his ass and, apparently, went to find him. he can fill in the blanks of time and could only assume the space he’s from is . . . trans-rumbling, and that realization sets a massive stone in eren’s gut. the farthest it shows is the dull frown he wears, which isn’t much. ]

All I’m saying is stay out of it. [ jean would argue otherwise and probably knew what he even said to armin and mikasa at this point, but push comes to shove. he’s not taking any chances so soon. he won’t get into how time works here, or how long it’s been since he’s actually arrived. too much time to waste and— he doesn’t want to ] If you want to say something, say it.

[ it won’t matter, but they’re here, aren’t they? ]

took me 4 days to figure out how to talk to ereh...................

[trost]

[ Sorry, but he's not staying out of it. You're stuck with him Eren, whether you like it or not. If Jean were any good at minding his own business, he would have spent the last 5 years being comfortable in the Military Police like he had originally intended. There's a defiant grunt at that, as if to say 'why should I do what you tell me to?' ]

I should be telling you that it's wrong, but you probably already know that. [ Eren's not stupid nor is he as deluded as the fanatics who kiss his feet. Even if Jean has enjoyed calling him 'stupid' for most of their lives, he's always known that that isn't true. ] I've got no right to be preaching anything, anyway.

[ Seeing as he faltered, the temptation of a safer and, perhaps, happier life all too strong. Seeing as he doesn't quite have the same conviction he used to because he's always going to have some hesitation about the cause. Stopping Eren could mean dooming Paradis. Why does the right decision always have to be the one that gets them killed?

He doesn't elaborate any further on what he means by that, why he doesn't think he can claim higher moral ground. He hates showing weakness in front of Eren more than anyone. Eren can probably guess on his own, however. ]

Why couldn't you tell us what was happening with you?

a stellar tag just in time for all these icons

[usurpers]

[ eren can hardly believe that it’s jean who’s still talking to him and jean that sounds the most leveled of all of them when it came to, well, eren himself. he hits the nail right on the head and gives no room for the dragon to argue. there’s no room to throw back even hurtful truths (or insults) when jean has taken the opportunity away with a single joust: i have no right.

eren falters, mentally. he told himself not to break but he cracks, fissures under the pressure of silence, of years of keeping to himself. he would not flare out, wouldn’t slant his brows dangerously and prepare to strike. his pointed ears and spines behind them are expressive, folding back to the sides of his skull as his eyes become just as sullen as the last time jean had seen him in liberio, drifting downward to hopefully curtain them with all the hair he’s grown.

jean asks not what he’s doing and why. he’s asking about him and it catches eren off guard. he inhales, and from it came quiet words, with no conflict. he missed them all dearly. ]

It’s my choice, [ he lifts his head, but doesn’t seem any less ruined in his core. his frames of support are still holding strong, with the way his pin-slit pupils narrow into thin lines and how his jaws tighten, how he doesn’t waver with his tone or even his decision. he’s dead set. ] not yours.

[ it wasn’t a rebellious jab. it was the truth. the reason eren said nothing and said even less when a bullet pierced right through sasha. jean’s last words to him still buried so deep that his distance had grown thrice, and he’d go far enough to be someone, superficially, that he wasn’t, but someone internally all the same as eren could ever be. they didn’t and couldn’t get involved again just because he asked, and they really didn’t have to— at least they had a choice, now, one that eren had once stripped from them.

and look where it led them. ]

now that i have changed all my icons i must use them

[trost]

[ While Jean's spent a good portion of his formative years trying to one-up the boy in front of him, trying to beat him in arguments or fights or find some other way to prove his superiority, it's never actually nice seeing Eren go quiet like this. Leaving Eren of so few words, retreating into himself, is never a victory. Jean first saw this four years ago when Eren began to change. He would often slip deep into his thoughts and stopped reacting at every push of the button. It was a bit like watching a candle lose its light. He doesn't like it. When he speaks to Eren he wants the guy to push back, to yell and shove and proclaim his often stubborn notions. Their relationship isn't a normal one, but that's how it works. ]

Shouldn't we get a choice too? [ On his side of things it just feels like they've been thrown through loop after loop, and every time they try to make sense of a situation everything flips around again. Going to find Eren was the only decision they actually managed to make on their own, the only time they were moving toward something rather than chasing the chaotic circumstances. ]

I'm not stupid, and I'm not idealistic like the others. I know exactly why you did it.

[ Because he's cowardly, he understands the fear of having the whole world come against you. Because he's been trying to do the right thing, he understands why genocide is wrong. Because he's known Eren for so long, he knows that Eren's doing all this because he cares about them. Jean's in a unique position right now, standing at the crossroads of so many different perspectives. ]

I want to live, but ... Eren. You don't have to save us.

[ Eren's not the founder, and he isn't some messiah the Jaegerists make him out to be. To Jean, he's still the jerk who flipped him when they were 12 and forced him to get better at fighting. He doesn't think they've ever asked Eren to save them, but have they been putting pressure on him all this time? It's likely. He remembers the many times he's told Eren 'We're counting on you.'

He wants to believe that if they all put their heads together a better option would arise, but even he isn't sure it will. ]

i too will one day tag at a timely pace

[usurpers]

[ freedom wasn’t so romantic. someone would have the shorter end of the stick, and yes, eren would compromise their own choice if it meant protecting them, even from himself. nothing had to be this way. their enemies now could’ve been their friends, but the stain was way too far back into history for them to fix so cleanly.

eren is a nobody, but his choices and his drive bring him to the specialty everyone was born with. the only thing he ever did was seize it by the throat: he was free. the notion takes hold of him and swallows him, consumes him and leaves him with eyes that don’t care for the weight he carries, the pressure that threatens to squeeze him flat until he could barely move.

he keeps carrying it anyway, just like that boulder in trost, and he’ll only drop it when he seals this goddamn hole for good. ]

You’re right. I don’t.

[ the problem wasn’t have to. it always came down and settled into i want to and that in turn has, well. brought about all this destruction. ]

There’s more than that involved, Jean. [ things he’s not quite ready to say, or, perhaps, a waste of his energy when all could be forgotten by the end of the month. it didn’t make a difference right now. this type of conversation . . . wouldn’t get them anywhere, now. ] Maybe you’ll find out on your own.

[ there’s nothing else to say, and the sting at the curve of his lower eyelids dare to make his slit-eyes glaze against the light of day. a light that is blocked by the grey clouds that bring rain. only stray drops pelt the cobblestone floors, but eren already lifts his hood—

and tries to get away. ]

1/2

[trost]

[ He wants to...? That just stings more, because he's even more confronted with the reality of just how much Eren cares about them. He's giving up the rest of the world, just for their sakes. Eren has to know that that's burdensome on them too, right? Living a peaceful life, while the rest of the world suffer. But he also wants that peaceful life; for the tangible world around him - his home, and the relationships he's built - to be safe. This is just the kind of cruel world they come from, that simply existing is a right they cannot have without quite literally trampling on the lives of others. ]

How can I find out ... [ He's not a shifter, he couldn't begin to understand the swirling mess of memories and knowledge that must make up a shifter's mind. He barely understands the deeper workings of their world and only really knows what's told to him. Jean's just a common man. ] I can't understand if you don't tell me.

[ But even he knows there's not much point, because anything that is shared here will just be forgotten. Soon he will return, knowing nothing, and the last thing he had said to Eren will go back to being 'Sasha died because you called us here.'

(Said in the heat of the moment. He knows Sasha was just another casualty in a violent, perpetuating cycle; as painful as it is to think about her.) ]

[trost]

[ For a second, before the first raindrops hit, he's certain he had seen that hint of a shimmer collect by Eren's lower eyelid. He doesn't know if he had imagined it. ] Wait, you're --

[ And then the other boy is moving in a direction that can only be away from Jean. ] Where the hell are you going?

[ Away from all of them again, and retreating back into his shell? Off to do more incomprehensible things that none of them can understand? Jean doesn't even know why he tries to reach out and grab that cloak of his - it isn't like he has anything left to say - but he does, because it feels like he wants more time. ]

[usurpers]

[ it was the last and only words that stuck with him like a bane he’d have to carry for the rest of his life— and the reason why he’s come to walk alone when things needed effort. eren dips his head where his hood would veil his eyes, indeed wet and seconds away from rolling down his cheeks like a bead, had it not been for the fabric that touched them. his sleeve has momentary resistance of fingers nabbing for his to stay still, and eren smacks the hand away with his talons hidden: a swing of a half fist that snaps away from the hold that reaches for him. he doesn’t say anything beyond that, and shoulders himself into a wedge of a few people. the more it rains the more townsfolk begin to scatter for shelter, witches put up umbrella spells, and the momentary chaos eases his getaway.

jean would find that he’s fast and abnormally slippery for a seven foot tall monster, but such was being a bit of a lizard. ]