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

LET'S ALL BE CIVIL HERE

[coherer]

(a glance back as the door is pushed open, sasuke's appearance a relief in the wake of a stressful afternoon. the drawing of a sword, however, isn't and jonas is moving back towards the fireplace to stand more conservatively aside.)

Oh, no, no– no killing! (blurted with a raise of his arms, bat lifted with them.) I did not ask you to come over for something like that.

(not only would witnessing that likely scar him for life, but that level of punishment for an intrusion and mild bodily harm is excessive in jonas' mind; the raw lines on his neck will heal. the witch considers deidara a bit of a loose canon, and he doesn't seem trustworthy—still not a good reason to off him. he ashes his cigarette, too stressed to worry about smoking up the room.)

Of course, I didn't expect you two to know each other... you're seriously from the same place?

THEY CAN'T, JONAS

[eyeforaneye]

And yet I left our encounter feeling like I'd succeeded, [ he bites back calmly, tone measured but there's something revealing in the way he has yet to blink. Deidara's gaze doesn't lock with his and there's a dual sense of self-satisfaction and irritation that springs up in him as a result – that training to view a red stare as a threat is warranted and he should be wary of it (more so even than he was during their bout), but he has nothing with which to back that up here. It's just one more reminder of what he's lost, the memory of which has his gaze briefly dropping to Deidara's palms. ]

This man's name is Deidara. He's a former terrorist and member of the criminal organization Akatsuki, where his specialty was explosives. [ In keeping with his personality. And the reminder of it? Is more than enough to convince Sasuke to take action.

There's a flash of movement courtesy of vampiric speed and strength, suddenly, as he leans his body back just to make room for the bruising kick he delivers to the blond man's midsection, sending him back down onto the couch when the backs of his knees are caught sharp by cushions. This time there's more impetus for him to stay down in the form of a sharp blade that is immediately positioned against his right thigh, its point just shy of puncturing the sofa. ]

Three years ago he attacked me and attempted to kill me. It'll feel far more recent for him since he didn't leave the battle alive. As for you, move again and I'll cut your femoral artery.

💣💣💣

[detonatability]

[ His hands are stilled tied at the base of his spine, but Deidara still knows exactly what Sasuke is looking at. It's a stinging reminder of exactly the position he's in, and Deidara takes comfort in the idea that Sasuke will be similarly depowered. If he's only left with taijutsu, Sasuke will be in the same position. Even with no arms, if it comes down to it, they shouldn't be that unevenly matched.

So it catches him completely off guard, how quickly he attacks. Deidara doesn't even have a second to appreciate just how fast Sasuke is, like that first time — one minute he's standing and the next he's staggered back on the couch with a wet gasp.

He should be angry about it, but Deidara finds himself laughing instead. It's a breathless sound, courtesy of the intense pain in his diaphragm now. How fucking typical. The Uchiha just always have to be special, don't they?

He drops his head against the couch, conceding to the vulnerable position he's been backed in to. Escape isn't possible if Sasuke is this quick, and Deidara without anything else at his disposal. He can feel the cold steel of that blade against his inner thigh and his legs twitch, like he's going to spread his knees wider to get away from the danger, only to think better of it at the last moment. He doesn't doubt this bastard will follow through on that threat even with so harmless a gesture. ]

You should never have survived. That beautiful moment should have wiped you off the face of the earth, nn.

[ He tips his head against the couch, sobers as the full weight of that statement settles on him like a blanket. It explains why Sasuke doesn't look how he remembers, and the truth of it — that he impossibly survived that blast — would probably hit harder if everything else wasn't also happening. As it stands, he gazes somewhere around Sasuke's throat, like he's contemplating ripping it out with his teeth. ]

That was the closest you'll ever come to true art.

🧯🧯🧯

[coherer]

(they tried to kill one another, and here they are again with the same attitudes. what is left for there to say when so much has already been said?

deidara's swiftly kicked back onto the couch, the blurring speed processed a beat after the back of the furniture strikes the wall with a dull thud in response to the abruptly added weight. jonas sucks in a sharp inhale, helpless to watch, hand even coming out in the beginning of an attempt to stop sasuke from cutting into the terrorist's leg—evidently, he doesn't mean to. the threat is still present, though, which leaves him standing between the wire-taught tension.

this level of violence is beyond his comprehension. bombing people, maybe innocent civilians, and committing crimes on a scale wide enough for their group to be called an organization... jonas simply stares from one to the other, then to the sword that's held against an inner thigh, frightened into speaking.)

Dude, how about you don't talk shit when you look like that? I don't care if you're Michael fucking Angelo, I want you outta' my goddamn house, (mustering the courage to point his cigarette sharply at deidara—with a growing light around his hand, the spell holding him recast and renewed—whose ropes only tighten around his wrists with a snakelike coil that begins to sting,) because you're straight up nuts.

And because, shockingly– (glancing over at sasuke with an inscrutable look, but his mood is sour and it's impossible to hide how uneasy the entire encounter's made him.) –I don't want to see you get your leg cut open.

(eyes trailing back to deidara, his head tilts and disturbs stinging lines scraped into his neck, hand lifting to brush at welts with shaky fingers.)

The sooner all that happens, the better.

🤜🤜🤜

[eyeforaneye]

[ There's no time to wonder who Michael is and why he's fucking Angelo, not now. It'll have to wait, and the fact that that will be sitting in the back of his mind as an unanswered question is something he also decides to blame on Deidara. Some transient final masterpiece... If it were really so fleeting and dynamic then he'd still be dead, not dragging out his final arc even further.

Eyes cut to Jonas when he uses magic, feeling the tug of power within himself and marking it with a quiet exhale. His grip on his sword tightens nevertheless. He meets his gaze, his own expression one of unwavering pointed stubbornness as he glances back at Deidara. Listen to him, it all but screams, how could I be the one in the wrong? ]

I can take him out of here and deposit him somewhere in the Wildes. If he wants to practice his "true art" then that's a suitable place for him. [ Right, the place infinitely more dangerous than Aefenglom itself. Not that it matters too much to him, and not that he can imagine it'll matter to Deidara. ]

I want to return to forgetting him.

[detonatability]

[ It's not the first time Deidara has been called crazy, and doubtfully will be the last — but he's long since carved out what he wants his existence to be. His goal has always been singular and focused, he'd wrapped himself covetously around the idea of being an artist at any means necessary. The only person Deidara had ever known to appreciate his art was Sasori, even if he disagreed with it, so it isn't anything Jonas says that incites him.

Unsurprisingly, that falls on an Uchiha, yet again. I want to return to forgetting him. Any other sentence and Deidara might have kept his mouth shut.

The cooled fury inside him rushes back up to the surface, and although Deidara still doesn't move from his place on the couch with that dangerous blade against his thigh, his eyes sharpen. His hands curl into fists where they're pinned against his low back, the rope biting marks into his skin. He looks away from Sasuke, over at Jonas. ]

You shouldn't let your guard down around this guy, nn. Do you know anything about his family? His brother Itachi killed his entire clan, and you know that kind of thing runs in a bloodline.

[ Deidara's eyes flick back to Sasuke's face — he still doesn't meet his eyes. ]

Who knows when he'll just snap. At least if I kill someone it's over quick. You Uchiha like to play with your food.

lmk if this is okay😭 poor deidara and his terrible no good very bad day

[coherer]

(jonas senses sasuke's obstinacy, sucks a tooth at it, unimpressed. it isn't as though he doesn't agree that deidara is the one causing the problems here, but more violence won't help defuse the situation. at least that's what he thought before a pair of narrow blue eyes find him.

it's obviously news to him. he's never heard the like, and his expression widens vulnerably in the moments it takes it to cloud over with a violent temper that's stayed dormant for the months the witch has been in aefenglom. after the memory sharing, what he saw in sasuke's mirror—a massacre, an anonymous killer's bloody spree—and in itachi's—a field of the dead, a boy of four ending a man's life at the behest of his father—has set him on an edge he's yet to fully back away from. this makes him mad, scared, and panicked. a couple of questions, yet an entire dialogue he's too intimidated to have.

so it comes out as a bitter spit instead, teeth setting.) The fuck?

What do you know about it? Huh? (the only warning before the heel of jonas' shoe slams into the edge of the low coffee table, kicking it forward in a bruising hit to deidara's shins, so close to the sword balanced against his inner thigh. the bat follows suit in a loud smack to the wooden surface that dents beneath its tip; he's heard enough.) Hope that makes it hard to walk out there, shithead. Maybe the shades can teach you not to badmouth someone's family in front of them!

(his heel remains balanced on the table until it's kicked in a fraction harder, then is returned to the floor with a sharp turn, head low, that accidentally knocks his shoulder into sasuke's.)

–screw this, I'm outta' here. Text me when it's done.

(cranky eighteen-year-old: exeunt stage left. he needs jesus and now has plenty to think about.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c2bKZMxEQg&feature=youtu.be&t=135

[eyeforaneye]

[ Sasuke, naïvely, assumes that this standoff is one that is now winding itself down to a resolution. Jonas is safe, Deidara is contained, and he'll remove him from this household without further incident. Then again, he'd thought something similar in Deidara's final moments.

He really does has to make a fucking impression, doesn't he? The anger in those unreadable eyes is something he's still trying to cool when suddenly Jonas reacts for him, feeling no similar need to retain control over the situation through forced calm and hidden emotion. When Sasuke expects shock and a need to explain he's instead immediately defended by the other teen, feeling a half-second of concern when Jonas lashes out – before very firmly reminding himself of Deidara's bindings and the threat of his own sword – that's soon replaced by a strange out of place gratitude. Someone standing up for his family name... when's the last time that's happened?

The shoulder-check and Jonas's abrupt exit aren't even enough to sour the moment, sword tip suddenly flicking upward to catch Deidara's chin with a warning press.

Oh, he'll have explaining to do. But not now, and any of the negative emotions adding to the swirl in the pit of his stomach are the kind he can at least briefly take out on this poor tortured artist. ]

Get up. And bear in mind that nothing you've done has made me any more eager to keep you unmaimed and alive.

LMFFFFFFF

[detonatability]

[ Deidara is tough — he's had his arms ripped off, he's been impaled, he's been half blown up — but it doesn't mean that the table cracking squarely into his shins doesn't hurt like hell. He shouts, doesn't bother trying to smother the angry yelp when electric pain fires straight up his legs, sizzles through his thighs and all the way up his torso. He clenches both fists at the low of his spine, and feels the too-tight rope sink into his wrists. ]

Fuck!

[ Somehow, through the whole thing, he manages not to give the full-body flinch instinct demands of him, though he bends just slightly at the waist — a blond cascade of hair falling into his face. Maybe that controlled movement is the only thing that prevents him from accidentally getting sliced open by the blade between his legs. He's hissing a breath between his teeth when the chokuto quickly changes positions, and Deidara tips his chin up when the naked blade finds the slip of his throat.

The bright blue of his eyes gleam, vindictive even though they shine with the reflexive water that bruised shins have given him. His attention stays on Sasuke's face, and he stands in tandem with the touch of the chokuto at his throat. It infuriates him that even standing, he still needs to look up to find Sasuke's face, now. Something sizzles under his skin, a feeling that feels so similar to chakra but stronger, like he's being seared from the inside out. It's like the moment before an explosion goes off — that same, ozone tingle.

What do you know about it? Jonas had asked — and viciously, Deidara knows he's privvy to much more than anyone else around. ]

You're never going to fit in with those civilians.

[eyeforaneye]

[ Jonas leaves, his anger well-appreciated and vindicating, but the second he's gone is the second Sasuke looses a derisive snort and his gaze turns even colder. If they were back in their world, would he have even hesitated? Sure, an interrogation would've been necessary. But if he confirmed that he had been brought back from the dead, unchanged, would he allow him to live? Even he doesn't know the answer.

The flat of that sword slides along his neck now as he adjusts, applying pressure with cold steel to literally guide him away from the couch and towards the entrance through which Jonas had escaped much more quickly. No worry of running into him now. ]

Your last attempt to upset me was better.

Your life was dictated by your inferiority complex. Do I have to put up with you shaping your death around it as well? Move, outside. [ If he has any qualms over marching him through the streets like this, they aren't showing. ]

[detonatability]

[ He can feel that wickedly sharp blade shave the side of his neck as it slides, and it's clear that it's only Sasuke's incredibly deft control that it doesn't nick him even once. That, and Deidara's compliance as he steps in tandem with it. The steel winks in the low light, because Deidara steps backward instead of giving Sasuke his spine. ]

This coming from the littlest Uchiha.

[ Whipcrack fast, he should probably know when to shut his mouth, but that's never been his way. What's the easiest way to get someone to misstep, after all? To lure them right over the bomb, not knowing that it's always been underfoot. ]

Always living under nii-san's shadow.

[ Itachi had never spoken on it, and any time Deidara tried to wheedle the information out of Kisame he came up perfectly blank — but it doesn't take a genius to read between the lines. Even if Deidara only knows what the world has been told, Sasuke's antics hadn't exactly been secret. ]

[eyeforaneye]

"Littlest"...?

[ The word trails off, a smoothly spoken insult whose true weight is only felt when he lowers his eyes to Deidara, all the unspoken commentary in the world doing his work for him. What does that make you, then? ]

I've grown since you saw me last.

Now, turn around and walk properly. Or do you really think you're any safer facing me than not? [ Usually with an Uchiha it's exactly the opposite, though Sasuke would have to credit Deidara for his forward-thinking in devising a plan against the sharingan unlike so many similar and overly cocky opponents. Not that it helped, he might add. ]