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]

[A place where time doesn’t matter sounds about right, but she can’t bring herself to feel very alarmed about it. She’s not a time traveler, exactly, but she has seen the passing of hundreds of years already so she doesn’t want to outright lie either.

The question of if it’s a dream or not makes her look over again and, without saying a word, she reaches out to pinch Ann’s leg hard.]

[confectionerie]

[ ...Ann doesn't see it coming at all, and so completely unprepared for the pinch, she yelp loudly, eyes widening as she slaps her hand over her mouth a moment later. ]

Shit, I hope the guards didn't hear that...

[ And it wasn't all that painful, just surprising! With a groan, she shakes her head. ]

I guess the dream option is out, then...this is real.

[shinkunochou]

[Sae winces and waves her hand placatingly, looking guilty at the initial yelp.] Sorry, sorry...! [And then looking bewildered at the bad language. Ann?? You’re a girl what are you doing??

But after a moment of listening she can conclude that there doesn’t appear to be anyone coming to their location at least so she reels in her shock.]

I suppose so. As weird as it seems... I’m sorry, Ann-san. I’m afraid I’ll have to be a burden to you a little bit, since... All of this seems much more foreign to me than it might be to you. [Everything here seems a lot more advanced to her than what she’s used to, anyhow. Her fingers curl uncertainly against her kimono, which she looks to with a dull feeling that the blood should be evoking some kind of reaction in her. Well, something more than ‘oh well would you look at that?’

Ah, well. This is more important to focus on.] Where are you from...? Maybe where we were has something to do with this? You said you were...in a class?

[confectionerie]

Huh?

[ She thinks..she's being a burden? The thought hadn't even occurred to Ann, and even after Sae spells it out, it's hard for her to see it that way. She might have a little more experience winding up in strange and unusual worlds, but that doesn't mean Sae is holding her back, or anything. ]

Oh, don't worry about that. I'm just glad to have someone with me. If I were alone, I'd be freaking out even more right now...

[ A warm smile. ]

Let's just watch each other's backs, okay? [ And with that settled... ] And...yeah. It was just a totally normal day of school. I remember losing my train of thought and staring at myself in the window, and...then I was here.

[ She's not sure it's safe to bring up the Metaverse or anything like that right now, and it's not like it would help much anyway to know what this place isn't. It just means she's totally without the help of her Persona here. ]

[shinkunochou]

[Sae looks a bit surprised, just sort of staring at Ann for a moment before she forces herself to look away at the opposite wall, face a little pink. It was so strange to her for people to be so nice, just because...they felt like it? If people were nice back home, it was more out of fear than anything else.

She doesn’t dislike it at all.]

Sorry, it was just strange to me... I’ve never been to school. I’ve heard of them, but I wasn’t really encouraged to go.

But... You were looking at a window... I touched a mirror... [She chews on her bottom lip, considering.] Maybe if we find another window or a mirror we could use it to return?

[confectionerie]

[ She's never been to school? But then again, if Sae is really from the year she says she is...well, back then, educating women wasn't really the thing, was it?

It's still a lot to wrap her mind around, that she's talking to someone from the past, but Sae is in the same boat, talking to someone from the future.

But their current ordeal is more pressing, so she can worry about that more later. For now, she nods, brows lifting. ]

Now that you mention it, I didn't try to go back through the mirror I came through...do you think any old mirror would work?

[ Because she's not so excited about the idea of trying to get back into the apartment she just fled from. ]

[shinkunochou]

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

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

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

[confectionerie]

[ That's a line of thinking Ann can certainly get behind. She might not be the most clever problem-solver in the world, but she's not one to give up until their options are exhausted. They will figure out how to get home from here, no matter what it takes. ]

Alright. So...we should find some place with a lot of mirrors to try, right? Maybe...a public restroom? A salon? Or, hm...a department store?

[ Not that she's sure this is the kind of place that has department stores. At least, not in the way she knows them. ]

[shinkunochou]

[Sae stares blankly for a moment, expression clear that she only has a vague idea about what Ann’s talking about. Context clues kinda fill her in, but she turns away to look up and down the alley as if any of those things might appear suddenly before them.

With a soft hum she moves away towards the mouth of the alley and peeks out.] I think things have settled down enough... It should be safe to walk around.

[in the distance, however, she can hear what sounds like the rest of the city beginning to wake up again despite the late hour. Still, Sae gives Ann a slight smile, trying to be reassuring, and gestures for her to follow her out.]

If you see any of those things you mentioned, would you be able to recognize them on sight?

[confectionerie]

Yeah, I think so...

[ Though she appears less confident than she sounds. This city is completely foreign to her, and seems to be several centuries in the past. Still, they surely still have public restrooms, right? And people all throughout history have needed to shop and cut their hair.

So she nods, starting down the street and slipping her hands into her pockets. ]

I just hope they're open. I don't suppose you have any idea what time it is, do you?