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 herself, she knows she’s Ineligible for marriage as it is, so its not like she’s too concerned about herself.

After a moment she quietly nods, squeezing his hand.] ...Okay. I guess, if you’re really sure...

[She thinks a moment and then asks] Who’s Lan Zhan?

[weiward]

I, Wei Wuxian, am completely sure.

[she gets a promise salute and everything! he squeezes back, gently, and swings their hands a little as they walk.]

Lan Zhan? He's my Bonded. We came here together. He looks really stern and boring, but he's actually very good. [there's a fondness in his voice that says more than his actual words. he smiles at her.] I bet you'll like him.

[shinkunochou]

[She tries to think of the last time she held someone’s hand that wasn’t Yae and comes up blank. It’s so weird. In the village, after everything, her touch had literally been a touch of death—no one survived the concentrated amount of darkness that had swirled within her. Before that, everyone had been too scared to.

‘Bonded.’ She glances up at him, frowning a little, and feels a stir of some darker emotion in her chest.]

Bonded... Those are...The witch and monster pairings, right? Isn’t it— It’s almost like a marriage, isn’t it? [That had been the closest approximation she could get to it to help her understand the brief rundown she’d been given.]

[weiward]

[there's no darkness swirling around her here. and even if there was, well wei wuxian would be voted most likely to be able to handle it, the least afraid. maybe that's why he feels so comfortable around her. fond.]

Yeah. [he smiles at that description. there's a little more to it than that, or a little less depending on your point of view. a bond can be strictly professional, but he still gets confused at the more casual viewspoints.] You help each other in ways that no one else can, and you experience things together.

[wei wuxian looks at her, and gives her hand a reassuring squeeze.]

Don't worry, you have plenty of time to find a nice witch to bond with.

[shinkunochou]

[Sae looks down at the ground, brow furrowed. She didn’t particularly like the idea of being ‘Bonded’ to anyone that... Well, that wasn’t Yae, even though she knows deep down it wouldn’t be possible. She’s not sure how this place would view siblings being Bonded and Yae wasn’t here anyhow. She’s pretty sure Yae will never show up, but she shoves that traitorous truth from her heart firmly.

And besides, Sae was...]

N-no, that’s okay... I wouldn’t want to make anyone have to deal with me. There’s much better matches out there for people. I’m... I’m weak, and not very smart...I’ll just hold someone back. I’m bad luck...

[She shuts it down before she can even try to get her hopes up, shaking her head.] And I’m a twin. No one ever willingly marries a twin... [Which sounds Really Weird, all things considered, but it’s the truth as far as she knows it, from her limited perspective of what she’d noticed in her own village. It was the only sample size she had to go on.]

I never thought about these sorts of things anyhow. I always knew it’d be like this and I’d never get the chance. So it’s fine. There’s no use in fantasizing about unnecessary things.

[weiward]

Who said you're any of those things?

[wei wuxian frowns, but not at her. someone must've told her these things for her to believe them too, or said them where she could hear.]

Being a twin is a blessing! Some people would even say that you're good luck if anything. I'd marry Lan Zhan if he had a twin or...two twins. [what is that even called, he doesn't know.] Anyway, I think that anyone would be lucky to bond with you because you're you.

[he doesn't tell her that it sort of is a necessary thing. no point in panicking her when she's been through so much tonight already.]

You can have whatever you want here. I'll support you, and I know a lot of other people will too.

[shinkunochou]

That’s what I’ve been told my whole life. I was the younger twin, so I’m the weaker one. It’s just...how it is. [her brow furrows a little, as if confused as to how this isn’t obvious or more well-known. The more he talks, the more confused she becomes, opening and closing her mouth a couple of times. She doesn’t want to argue with him, exactly, but she can’t seem to wrap her head around it either.

After a long stretch of silence from her she speaks up] In my village... Twins are considered something like guardian deities and worshipped as gods. But... People were terrified of us too. They respected us, but it was out of fear. We were considered saviors, but no one wanted anything to do with us.

I... My mother... Killed herself when we were born. After she was told she’d given brith to twins. If she’d known before....I think she would’ve killed herself and taken us with her...

[Sae looks down at the ground, her brow furrowed.] The outside world is... so different.

[weiward]

[he doesn't want to tell her that her home sucks, but based on the beliefs and fears and attitudes she describes...

yeah, he thinks her home might suck. guardian deities? saviors? that shouldn't be expected of young girls. it doesn't make sense to him.]

Different doesn't have to be bad, no more than things are right just because it's what's always been believed, or done. You get to decide all of that for yourself now. And I know you can.

[shinkunochou]

[Once again Sae doesn’t say anything for a long moment.]

...I’ve never really made decisions on my own before. [It feels—strange, to admit. Embarrassing, childish. Softer she continues] I’m a little...frightened.

[weiward]

You don't have to do it alone. You can always ask us for advice.

[ask a lan. do not ask wei wuxian. do not pass go, do not collect $200.]

[shinkunochou]

[She gives his hand a light squeeze and smiles faintly.]

...Okay. Please take care of me.

[She goes quiet for a moment, watching him curiously before she asks:] Do you have children? Or younger siblings?

[weiward]

I promise.

[a decision that he'd already made, even without asking. she is the promise that he made years ago while releasing lanterns with lan zhan.]

Just the bunnies. [he smiles at her and shakes his head.] No children. My parents died when I was really young. But then Uncle Jiang found me and brought me back to Lotus Pier, where I grew up with Jiang Cheng and Shijie. You'd like her. She'd really like you too. She was always kind and there was no one prettier, and she made the best soup.

[shinkunochou]

[Honestly she assumes ‘Shijie’ is like, a name of someone. He certainly says it like it’s a name, so she doesn’t think to question it.

But speaking of names—] Oh! I— I met a Jiang Cheng! When I first arrived here... He helped me. He was very nice.

[weiward]

He was?

[at first he raises his eyebrows at that, like he's surprised to hear it. but as grouchy as he is towards him, he wouldn't take it out on a girl. probably]

Yeah, of course he did. He's a Sect Leader now. A lot of people rely on him. It's a big responsibility so he gets tired sometimes.

[shinkunochou]

He did seem really responsible... [She nods to herself as if in agreement with this.]

Sect leader... That sounds terribly important. [And given that he called the other person ‘Uncle’ Jiang...] Then you two are family?

[weiward]

We were raised as brothers.

[and then he was cast out. jiang cheng's story would continue where wei wuxian's ends.]

Shijie is older. She always took care of both of us, tried to keep us out of trouble. [the grin that he shoots her practically spells that word out.] It was a neverending job, but she still always smiled and made me feel loved.

[shinkunochou]

It sounds nice... She sounds a little like my sister. [Sae giggles and her expression is light, smile a bit easier]

She was so smart. She taught me how to read and write more than anyone else and never gave up on me. She was always thinking of me and caring about everyone. She would’ve made a really good leader for our village... But I know that’s not what she wanted.

[Sae sighs a little, as if disappointed in that, but then smiles] But I’m sure she can do whatever she sets her mind to! I hope— Maybe...She’ll come here... You’d really like her too.

[weiward]

[it's the first time he's heard her laugh, a bubbly sound that makes wei wuxian smile too. she's a girl, young and with bloodless hands, to be protected from danger and evil.

what, he's a little bit of a himbo too.

her sister sounds equally good, and he nods to show that he hopes she'll come here too. it would obviously make sae happy.]

What did she want, if not to be a leader? And what about Sae for that matter?

[shinkunochou]

She wanted a quiet life. [She tries to think about it more, but none of their plans had really gone beyond ‘get out of the village.’ Itsuki’s friends were going to help them out, but beyond that... They hadn’t thought of any of the logistics behind their running away.] We promised we’d be together forever, no matter what... [But even Sae had started the painful, terrifying realization that it couldn’t possibly last. It couldn’t truly be ‘together forever’]

That’s all I wanted. It didn’t matter what we did or where we were, as long as I could be with her. [She’s talking in the past tense here, but doesn’t seem to notice too much.] I’m nothing without her.

[Her identity began and ended with being Yae’s twin.]

Yae could be anything she wanted, but I’m not sure if she’d really thought about it much beyond just being ‘free.’ There wasn’t really a lot of options for girls where I’m from... [Honestly being the leader of their village was the highest she old easily hope to obtain, but Sae still can’t blame her for wanting to run away from it.]

[weiward]

That's all about to change.

[it's funny, because he doesn't think she'll like hearing that. there are so many things in her story that just feel wrong though. the limitations, the way she talks about herself. she clearly loved her sister, but so much of herself is tied up in another person.

he hopes she'll have the chance to be her own person. he'll help, however he can.]

I can teach you archery. Lan Zhan can show you books. I bet Zewu-jun would teach you about music. You can play with rabbits and make friends. And one day, your sister may show up, and you'll be all set to help her.

[shinkunochou]

[Wei Wuxian already knows her so well! At his comment that things will change, her brow immediately furrows and her mouth turns down in a little frown.

But the more he talks the more the expression slips away to something baffled and wondering. It all sounds like something out of a fairy tale, truthfully.]

Archery? Music? [RABBITS?? Friends? She feels a little dizzy from it all, honestly.] I... Do— Do you really think I could do all of that? But what if I’m bad at it...?

[But it’d be nice to show Yae all the things she could do now if or when she showed up... Sae looks a little hopeful about it all, anyhow.]

[weiward]

Then you'll practice until you'll good at it.

[he smiles and makes it sound easy, but all it takes is wei wuxian levels of pig-headedness....

a little determination.]

We don't spring forth knowing how to do everything perfectly, do we?