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Expiation Mods ([personal profile] expiationmods) wrote in [community profile] expiationlogs2024-03-09 08:37 am

{ event 7 } A▒ E█SI▓Y ░▒▓25░9.▒░█

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY
March 11. The sun is shining, streaming in perfect sunbeams through uncovered windows. Birds and animals twitter outside, basking in trees that are verdant green and full of life. Outside, the town begins to wake, stirring to life with the sounds of ordinary everyday happenings. Footsteps, carts rolling down the road, the distant sound of friendly neighbors greeting each other.

And you–you have lived here your whole life. Or maybe you’re a visitor to this fine town. Either way, you’re a neighbor here, too.

Aldrip is having another beautiful day.
i. OUR TOWN

The town square is a bustling place to be for locals, and this week is no exception. Aldrip is a vibrant swell of activity: stores, stalls, and stands all open their doors precisely on time, welcoming the new day. Things are quiet, theoretically, while the local school is in session, but anyone playing hooky won’t get a second glance. Everything is fine! It’s too nice a day to be inside, anyway.

(Just like all the other days before, all too nice to waste.)

That being said, Aldrip is not without its own brand of nuisance. Fairies are rarely seen in town, these days, but this week, they seem to be in fine form. They can be found playing harmless tricks on people: taking things from them and moving them somewhere else, rolling carts when no one is holding onto them, mostly-unscrewing screws that hold together mechanical parts… They avoid magical pranks, for now, but these mundane tricks are such a nuisance! They even pull all of the wares out of a local vendor’s stall: dozens and dozens of colorful, patterned scarves. They had been on “deep discount,” leftovers from some “Day of Devotion” event, but the discount is about to get even deeper, on account of how dirty they are.
ii. TEMPTING FATE

A recent expedition to the Lorentia Caves uncovered a hidden gem–literally. Enterprising rock enthusiasts have brought back wheelbarrows full of round geodes, and have made a game out of cracking them open. Geodes that are green inside will get a lavish prize: a stay at a local spa or a gift card to a fancy restaurant. Purple or red inside will get a free drink at the local coffee shop, or a small gift card to use at a local shop. Brown or clear gems get nothing special–but you get to keep the rocks! They hold no special properties, but can be nice to look at and make great paper weights, and some of them almost seem to

g̵l̶o̶w̷

i̵̗̐n̷̯̉ ̶̞̒t̷̝̃h̵͙̆e̸̩̍ ̸̢̌d̷͕̀a̷̬̕ŗ̵̐k̷̼͝n̴̨̍ȅ̶͎ş̵̈s̷̟̽



ERROR: MULTIPLE REDUNDANCIES DETECTED
RECALIBRATING
LOADING UPDATES...
PLEASE WAIT


Occasionally, very occasionally, breaking open one of these rocks causes it to crumble, becoming little more than gray ash. Static pops across the surface before it disintegrates.

ERROR: DATA CORRUPTED
PURGING CONTENT


Those who have found these ashen geodes will find that memories of them disappear just as soon as they turn away from what they’ve just seen.

.̸.̷.̵.̴.̷.̸.̸.̶.̴.̴.̸.̷.̵.̵.̷



Anyway.

No one quite knows where the pop-up casino came from, but it’s doing a bustling business at night. Now, this establishment is small, nowhere near the size of the one in the past, and is not nearly as expansive. Nonetheless, it helps create a thriving nightlife in town: there’s games, drinking, dancing, and all sorts of fun. Locals are encouraged to participate either by attending or working, or even performing in some way!

It’s a beautiful day in Aldrip. Just like yesterday. Just like tomorrow. Just like every day s̴h̵o̸u̶l̵d̸ ̶b̸e̵.
iii. LOST AND FOUND

You wake in a maze surrounded by fog. You have no memory of entering the maze. You have no idea which direction you might have come from. You are simply here, and there seems to be no exit above. So. The only way is forward.

You may be alone, or have company. Either way, aside from you and any other characters you may find, the maze seems empty. Without end. Without purpose.

Whatever twists and turns you take, all will eventually find themselves in the center, in their own time. There is nothing here, either, except for an overwhelming sense of aloneness. There is nothing here. There is nothing there.

There is nothing–

ERROR: REDUNDANT PROCESS FOUND
PURGING CONTENT


...

You wake up.

It’s another beautiful day in Aldrip.

Like all the days before and all the days after, your morning proceeds apace. You start your morning, you say hello to friends and neighbors. You…

… you find something unusual in an area you frequent. An item. It’s small, and somehow, it’s something you think you should know. Some will feel compelled to pick these items up. Some will feel a deep sense of unease when looking at them, and refuse to interact. Turning your back on these items will cause them to disappear. You won’t have to worry about that anymore. Not on this beautiful day.

Picking up the items causes a rush of information to flood your mind. Something like a memory plays in your head: the person in this memory looks and sounds like you. But…you don’t remember living that life, or doing those things. So how does it feel so real?

Throughout the rest of the event, these items will continue appearing. Characters are free to interact with them or ignore them as you see fit. Regaining more memories means they may regain their powers, as well, though whether they remember how to control them is another story.

These memories will feature prominently in the event poll that goes up after this, and your choice of how many memories they regain (or don’t) may have a lasting effect on your character. Not filling it out will also have an impact on them. So please make sure to fill out the poll!
iv. MISSING LINKS
As this strange memory phenomenon takes over Aldrip, other odd things begin to happen. It’s small, at first, and barely notable except that it renders Aldrip slightly less idyllic than usual. There are a few clouds in the sky. You may get caught in a passing rain shower, or maybe sleep through your alarm…

It gets worse.

The end of the month crawls ever closer, slow and steady. As it does, things begin to go missing. Small things, at first: personal possessions, the lunch left in the break room, flyers that look like maybe they were torn down in the town square. Is someone thieving? Here? In Aldrip?? You’ve never known Aldrip to have a problem with crime. Everything is so…



Pleasant.

Everyone becomes a suspect. It could have been your neighbor who took your wallet, or a coworker. Maybe your friend took that bracelet from the counter while you weren’t looking. But close to the end of the month, this starts getting bigger. What happened to that tree along the path you walk every day? Wasn’t there a butcher shop on the corner there? Where have all the birds gone?

ERROR: DATA LOST


Things go missing.

They keep going missing.

Why have they disappeared?


And…where have they gone?
v. THE COUNTDOWN
Sunday, March 31.

It’s raining.

It never rains like this in Aldrip.

Characters wake in the morning to anxiety twisting in the pit of their stomach, inexplicable and impossible to trace. As the day wears on, this sense of foreboding ramps up. Characters may even see significant numbers throughout the day that seem to count…down.

Twelve. Morning. How funny, to see these recurrences. Odd.

Eight. Seven. Around noon. This must be a coincidence, and yet, you cannot help but wonder if it is meaningful.

Four. Late afternoon. Wonder and curiosity are replaced by dread. Whatever is at the end of this countdown–it feels like a finality. Terrifying and unknown.

Two. Night. Those going to bed will find their sleep restless and filled with bad dreams.

UPDATES INSTALLED
RESTARTING…


One. Midnight. The clock strikes twelve, and whatever your character is doing–sleeping, waking, etc–the whole of existence seems to blink out.

(Info about what happens after this will be forthcoming in the event poll results and April’s SOTG.)
vi. WILDCARD Go wild! We know that you all have plotted extensively for this event, so go ahead and do what you'd like with it!
heartstopping: (043)

rolo lamperouge | code geass

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-13 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
open
[Rolo is probably recognizable as someone who lives and goes to school here, but he doesn't stand out much. He's just...ordinary. Kind of meek and not very social. If he has a reputation at all, it's for being that kid with no friends that mostly hangs out with his older brother's social circle. Lelouch is definitely the memorable one between the two of them, anyway – smart, attractive, popular, etc etc. In comparison, Rolo's just kinda...there.

Or rather, here, at least right now, in whatever random shop suits you. It's not at all crowded, but there's at least another customer or employee around that he isn't paying much mind as he idly browses. And then he comes across something that doesn't look like it belongs on this shop's shelves. Without a label or price tag, just tucked between actual goods like someone left it there by accident, is a heart-shaped locket.

Rolo freezes. It's not at all familiar, but he's struck by the sudden feeling that it's his – not just his, but his, something to be guarded jealously. It has him reaching for it on instinct even as his stomach turns with sudden unease. And then–

Lelouch's furious expression as he throws the phone with the locket charm on it. Rolo isn't sure if it was aimed at the floor or if his brother just missed hitting him in his rage. And Lelouch is shouting at him–

"Haven't you figured it out yet? I hate you. I loathe you. I despise you! I've been trying to kill you but I just keep missing the chance!"


With a strangled gasp, Rolo drops the locket as he staggers violently backwards – perhaps into a person or one of the shop's displays? He hasn't even noticed yet, eyes wide staring at nothing.]


closed to lelouch
[When Rolo gets home that day, he's shaken and doing a poor job of hiding it. Still, he's trying. It's such a stupid thing to be stressed out by, isn't it? Like getting upset over something that happened in a dream. That's what it had to have been, somehow. That he'd been awake or that it'd felt real didn't matter. It doesn't make sense, and thinking on it just leaves his guts in knots and his chest feeling tight.

He already has a weak heart as it is. It's better to avoid that kind of stress, right?

That kind of rationalizing lasts until he turns the corner into the kitchen as actually sees Lelouch, and the not-memory suddenly rushes back to him with such force that he can't help but flinch, a soft gasp escaping him as he goes pale.]


network
[Rolo's been avoiding most of the Wrongness going around as best he can, everything in him railing at the very thought of it. But there's one strange memory that sticks in a way that others don't. Maybe he just doesn't outright reject it because, curiously enough, it doesn't really seem like his.

He finally turns to the network late in the month after it's been bugging him for days.]


Does anyone know what Tresed is?


wildcard

((ooc: Hit me with a starter of your own! Feel free to prod me on discord @ orbynit or plurk @ [plurk.com profile] tinybro if you wanna plan anything specific!))
fieldtrip: (98)

the first one <:

[personal profile] fieldtrip 2024-03-15 12:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Toph doesn't really know what to do with herself apart from restlessly practicing her brand new ability to tell where she's going. As she gets more confident with it, she deliberately chooses more challenging places, like busy shops with a lot of objects and people to navigate. She's bumped into a few things herself, but when Rolo backs into a store display and causes a ruckus, she immediately thinks it might have happened to him, too.

It's not just her and she knows that by now. It's happening to other people. Which means it must be real, it must be that she's supposed to be this unstoppable force to be reckoned with that she is in her memory flashes.

Because she just can't be this person, dependent on others. ]


Hey-- hey, it just happened to you, didn't it?

[ Toph sounds a little over-eager as she hustles over to where Rolo is presumably picking himself up. She is a tiny girl wearing worn-out clothes and shaggy hair over blank eyes. Her bare feet are covered in dirt and callouses, and she leans in closer to him assertively, straining to see what she can pick up with her new hearing. ]

Did you see something?
heartstopping: (020)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-15 12:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[He's still reeling, not even noticing the grumbling of the employee that comes over to start picking up the mess, and then suddenly there's a little goblin of a girl in his face speaking to him excitedly. Rolo blinks, glancing back to where the locket had been – dropped reflexively – but it's nowhere to be seen.]

Wh-what?

[He shakes his head, finally regaining the presence of mind to fully process the whole scene – the mess he'd made, the irritable employee, the barefoot little girl far tooo eager to ask about–

Wait.]


How did you...?

[The weird sudden vision was bad enough, why is this strange child apparently aware of it???]
fieldtrip: (26)

[personal profile] fieldtrip 2024-03-16 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
It's been happening to me, too. And it was either that or you were having a heart attack, and--

[ For some reason it feels too much to talk about her new abilities to a total stranger. But Toph could swear she can hear heartbeats of those around her if they're close enough, and especially if they're excited or anxious. Or, presumably, having a heart attack. ]

--and you seem fine, [ she finishes lamely. Her own nerves are shooting through the roof, antsy and impatient to get answers or at least clues that might eventually lead to answers. ]

Come on, let's get out of here. I want to ask you some things. [ Where they won't have an audience. ]
heartstopping: (007)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-17 10:10 am (UTC)(link)
[A heart attack wouldn't be an unreasonable assumption where he's concerned. He almost wishes it was just his heart fucking up. Just thinking about that vision makes him feel like his heart's in a vise, enough so that he isn't even sure if it's just anxiety or if he's actually having a cardiac event.

A large part of him wants to just shrug her off. Everything in him says to just leave this subject alone. But he's still frazzled, and increasingly embarrassed as the irate employee continues picking up toppled merchandise around his feet, so all he manages is an absent nod as he mumbles an apology to the employee and picks his way out of the mess to head for the door.]
fieldtrip: (96)

[personal profile] fieldtrip 2024-03-17 12:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Since he's coming willingly, Toph doesn't feel the need to drag him along physically, and she strides out ahead of him. It's not quite her normal confident march; Toph is still learning that kind of confidence in herself and her ability to detect what's around her, and there's some hesitation and faltering to her steps that keeps frustrating her.

She knows she should be better than this.

Once they're out on the street, Toph swings around to face him without delay, already peppering him with questions. ]


Was that the first time it happened to you? It started happening to me last week.
heartstopping: (021)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-19 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
[He's barely paying her any attention as they head out, quick to fall back in deep in his own head. Following honestly might be more about just escaping the awkward scene in the shop than truly indulging her. After all, whatever this girl thinks is going on here, there's no way he can really entertain the idea. He can't attribute greater meaning to that vision without casting his brother in a bafflingly awful light, and that's unthinkable.

Settling into that certainly does something to settle his unease as well, so he clings to it. He flinches back as the girl whirls back at him as soon as they're outside, but he forces himself to shake his head.]


I-I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing really happened, it was just...just some kind of weird dream.

[It has to be. That's the only explanation that eases a bit of the tightness in his throat. Just...some kind of magic or something giving people strange waking dreams. Hell, maybe it's related to those fairies that've been causing trouble lately.]
fieldtrip: (77)

[personal profile] fieldtrip 2024-03-20 12:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ This pisses her off immediately. Toph is trying to figure out what's going on, needs to have validation that what she's remembering and what she can do isn't going to be taken away from her again. ]

You're really going to try to just sweep it under the rug like it didn't happen? [ she asks in disbelief. ] We're all just getting crazy hallucinations in the middle of the day, oh well, moving on?
heartstopping: (032)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-20 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[Her insistence grates at him in the exact opposite direction. He doesn't know what that vision was, but something in him is screaming to leave it be. He doesn't need to know. Pursuing this will only make things worse.

His jaw sets firmly and he straightens up.]


It didn't happen. That wasn't real.

[He at least sounds a little more sure of himself in that. It's harder when it's himself he's warring with, but if it's someone else suggesting Lelouch would ever actually do something like that – however indirectly they might be suggesting it – then he can ignore any hint of doubt to just push back against an external threat.]

I don't even know you. Do you get like this every time you have a weird daydream or whatever?
fieldtrip: (128)

[personal profile] fieldtrip 2024-03-22 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not a weird daydream! [ she insists, voice rising. ] I'll show you!

[ It doesn't help her earthbending to get emotional, but it doesn't exactly hurt it, either, as long as she can concentrate. The anger at being disbelieved sharpens her focus; Toph stomps a bare dirty foot onto the ground like she's a child having a tantrum, except a ripple echoes through the cobblestones under and around her like a miniature shockwave within the rock itself. ]

I have more where that came from if that's not enough.

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feintofhart: ([ mid phase ] what a headache)

open!

[personal profile] feintofhart 2024-03-16 10:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ The memories plaguing Claude is the whole reason why he's in the bookstore in the first place. He has a sinking feeling that whatever's wrong with him is nothing that could be researched - past lives? vivid hallucinations? drugs in the food, mold in the walls, lead in the water? - but he feels driven to at least give it a shot anyway.

Until someone bumps into him, some kid who goes vacant and blank before recoiling as though he'd been struck. Claude's eyes dart between the kid and the shelf as he catches him by the shoulders, making the tenuous connection. If he's right, he has someone else to talk to. If he isn't, he'll be seen as mad. ]


Whoa, there! You all right? You look like you've seen a ghost.
heartstopping: (012)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-16 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[There's nothing on the shelf but the books that are supposed to be there. The locket's gone, and Rolo stares bemusedly for a moment at the place it'd been. He doesn't even seem to have fully registered the hands steadying him yet, barely recognizing the fact that he was being addressed at all.]

That was–

[...He doesn't know what that was. That...vision, or whatever it was, simply doesn't mesh with anything he knows, and yet it'd felt so real. But just thinking about it has his stomach in knots, an instinctual dread in him warning not to pursue this. Rolo shakes his head just a little too emphatically to seem natural. Tense and pale as he is, it's probably not super convincing. ]

N-no, it was nothing, sorry....

[It's taken him a few seconds too long to recognize that he'd bumped into someone. Normally, he'd have been more flustered and apologetic, but this inexplicable horrror is doing a solid job of distracting him from the embarrassment.]
geass: (Nervously saying words)

[personal profile] geass 2024-03-17 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[Lelouch on the other hand, has been greedily grabbing whatever strange items he can on the off chance that it was a memory. the anger of being mind wiped again simmers deep in the back of his mind, but he has to keep up appearances. he'd been testing some people to see if they'd remembered, but very few had taken the bait so far.

Rolo was one of those people, though from what Lelouch knew about his "little brother", he figured he wouldn't be so inclined to learn more if it led to him remembering home. but would that mean his Geass would always be locked, if he didn't get his memories back?

but he's going to play along with the farce, for now.

when Rolo gasps, Lelouch looks up and over at him, frowning a little. he crosses the room and tries to put the back of his hand against Rolo's forehead, as if trying to gauge his temperature.]


Whoa, Rolo... are you okay? You don't look so good.
heartstopping: (014)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-17 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[Lelouch's hand checking is forehead is a warm, familiar gesture. It quells the instinctual anxiety, at least a little bit. The echoes of the yelling still ring in his ears, but no matter how real they'd felt, he needs to get his head on straight. It's just nonsense, right? This is Lelouch, the one person who'd always cared about him more than anyone. The fussing got a bit embarrassing sometimes as they got older and he developed the normal self-consciousness of such things of a teen boy, but deep down he still always appreciated the constancy of Lelouch's love.

He should just shrug it off, this ridiculous stress over...just a dream, or whatever it was. If only to assuage his brother's worry.]


Do you hate me?

[...That's not what he'd meant to say, but it just spills out of him before he can help it.]
geass: (you're better than that)

[personal profile] geass 2024-03-20 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
[surprise crosses Lelouch's face, before he schools his expression into something that wouldn't give anything away. he can look surprised, of course... but he can't act as if he knows what he's talking about until he knows exactly what's happening.

he remembers that memory. yelling so loudly at Rolo, tossing the phone...

he blinks, forcing it back as he puts the hand that was on his little brother's forehead on his shoulder.]


Now I know you're not feeling well. Why would you think I hate you?
heartstopping: (016)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-20 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
[Even if it helps to soothe the sting of that not-memory, Lelouch's concern only makes him feel worse somehow. Guilt rushes in to replace the unease. Bad enough he'd had any doubts at all, but to throw those doubts in Lelouch's face, like all his care and attention over the years still wasn't enough...

He wilts, gaze dropping to the floor.]


S-sorry, it's nothing. I just...had a weird dream. And I guess...it'd make sense if you did resent me, since you've always been stuck looking after me...
geass: (into strangers)

[personal profile] geass 2024-03-27 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
[sometimes Lelouch wishes he didn't have a heart. that way, conflicting emotions like these wouldn't plague him like they did. because why does his heart hurt when Rolo looks like that? it shouldn't. he's fake.

it's all fake. again.

but he can't bring himself to hate him.]


You're thinking too much. What have I told you about thinking like that?

[he knows he's told him. in both fake memories.]

You're my little brother. It's no problem at all to look after you.
heartstopping: (026)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-27 12:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[He shuts his eyes like it might shut out that awful not-memory. Whatever it was, whatever's causing it, it's fake. Doubting that means doubting his brother, and Lelouch doesn't deserve that.

Rolo reaches up to squeeze the hand on his shoulder just briefly. Reassurance, or maybe just soothing his own guilt.]


Sorry. It's just...been a weird day. You haven't noticed anything...off, I guess? People have been acting crazy in town.
geass: (Speak for yourself)

[personal profile] geass 2024-03-30 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[he has noticed, actually. he debates whether he wants to mention it or not...]

Yeah, I've seen some weird stuff. It kind of makes me wonder if some people are on something...

[he shakes his head.]

Not you of course, though.
heartstopping: (025)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-04-03 10:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Rolo takes a breath, steadying himself. It's alright now. It doesn't matter what nonsense that girl in town or anyone on the network spouts. He knows what he saw is absurd, no matter how real it felt. And he knows his brother wouldn't fall for something like that either. If Lelouch says all that is fake, then it has to be true.

Rolo nods belatedly and attempts a smile.]


O-of course. It's...probably something to do with those fairies, or something like that.
Edited 2024-04-03 10:56 (UTC)

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killjoyprince: (pic#15269195)

network

[personal profile] killjoyprince 2024-03-25 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
NO

HAVE U HEARD OF A HOLLOW FOREST?
heartstopping: (007)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-27 12:13 pm (UTC)(link)
No? What is that?

[ and why do you type like that... ]
killjoyprince: (pic#15269200)

[personal profile] killjoyprince 2024-03-28 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
IM NOT SURE
WHEN I PICKED UP AN PEN I THOUGHT ABOUT IT
heartstopping: (053)

[personal profile] heartstopping 2024-03-28 06:09 am (UTC)(link)
...Isn't that just called "having an idea"?
killjoyprince: (pic#15269203)

[personal profile] killjoyprince 2024-03-28 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I HAVE NO INTEREST IN FICTION
IT FELT AS THO I WAS IN THE PLACE