{ event 7 } A▒ E█SI▓Y ░▒▓25░9.▒░█

[expiationmods]

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

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…

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.

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…

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!

♡

Comments

iii;

[laserguy]

[...You know, it's not common in their lovely town of Aldrip that he comes across everyone's favorite local deliveryman just standing in the fountain. Scott would probably normally snicker, maybe even good-naturedly tease and laugh at the other, but... he looks like he's pained, his hand clenched in his head as if experiencing some sort of headache.]

You know, I don't think that's an effective way to get clean.

[Scott smiles a little, at first displaying that 'wholesome' sandwich apprentice that gets along with most people in town, before that smile shifts into something a little more serious. Worried. He wonders if Cloud's been having... weird moments like him, but is it something to ask another in this town where everything is nice?]

Hey... are you alright?

[identitycrisiscore]

[ Cloud snaps back to attention as he hears someone call for him, looking up from the fountain and where the green orb was just moments ago, to take a look at who's trying to get his attention. ]

Oh... Scott. Uh... hey.

[ There's certainly something off-kilter about the way Cloud addresses him, as he sort of... gingerly makes his way out of the fountain. ]

I'm... alright, I think. [ Not exactly a ringing endorsement. ] I just... saw something weird in the fountain. But it's not there anymore. Must've been out too late last night because I've got a killer headache now. Practically seeing things.

[ He gives a nervous little chuckle under his breath. It's meant to be reassuring, but something about it rings hollow — Cloud doesn't even really believe himself. Something about what he saw was too... real to be swept away as a hangover migraine. ]

[laserguy]

[The reassurance really doesn't have its intended effect; the teen only seems to frown just a bit more in concern.]

Those late deliveries sound exhausting man.

[Is it really just that though? Maybe any other day, he'd wave it off, fully agree that Cloud was probably just pushing himself a bit too hard or just stayed up way too late the night before. But with the things he's seen so far, objects disappearing before his eyes, along with those strange red visions... it's getting more and more difficult to ignore.

Does he bring it up though? He doesn't want to sound too odd. What if he just gives Cloud a bigger headache? Right, that probably needs to addressed first.]

Maybe you should lie down somewhere for a moment? I can get you some water in the mean time, maybe a sandwich and some medicine? That'd probably help.

[identitycrisiscore]

You know, I keep telling people I don't do late night runs, but one thing leads to another and...

[ As soon as he pulls himself out of the fountain, he sits down on a nearby bench, shaking off Scott's worries. ] I'm fine. It's already ebbing away. Wouldn't mind some water, I guess, but no need to go grab meds or anything serious.

[ He realizes that an 'it's fine' isn't gonna really placate Scott, so he adds. ] ...Really, the most disorienting part isn't the headache. It feels like I... black out, but only for a split second, you know? I figure it's just stress, 'cause my imagination's running wild when it happens.

[laserguy]

You can't say no, huh?

[Because that's the type of person Cloud is, always wanting to help, even if he's pushing himself too much. Well, he probably doesn't mind the extra cash as well, but Scott's willing to bet he just wants to aide others. Almost everyone in Aldrip is like that, right? ...Not that doesn't make Cloud any less kind.

Really, he should be getting him some water, but Scott doesn't yet move from his spot, still standing around with that deep concern. His furrowed eyebrows only deepens when Cloud starts mentioning about black outs-- that sounds worse than headaches, man!! But it also sounds familiar, perhaps scarily so, and he's not sure if he's relieved or not that someone else is going through the same thing as him. Feels less alone, but also, he doesn't want others to experience it either.]

...Um, they wouldn't happen to feel like... strange visions, would they? Like, they feel so familiar and real, but definitely never happened before. [This is so specific.]

[identitycrisiscore]

...Yeah. [ Cloud looks up at Scott as he says that, the word leaving his mouth almost breathlessly. And lingering tension in his face from the headache seems to slacken as Scott describes exactly what he's talking about. ]

I wanted to write them off as a dream — you know, you black out and you dream for a second, but it feels like you've been asleep longer... that sort of thing. But they feel too consistent. Too... lifelike, even with how strange they are.

[ There's a bit of a pause as he leaves that hang in the air, as the expected question comes. ]

You've been getting them too, Scott? [ There's some relief that he's not just crazy, but if it's something that's beyond just him... then something weird really is going on. ]

[laserguy]

[He half-expected Cloud to look more stressed out when he mentioned the visions, but he's glad that it's honestly caused the opposite reaction. Guess he feels the same way as Scott, as in it's kind of nice to face something like this together, instead of entirely alone, even if it sucks for your friends. It makes Scott feel like he made the right decision as well, something important to him as more strange things keep happening.

As he starts having doubts about... his own identity.

Still, he listens, his uncovered eyes watching Cloud. It's almost scary how similar his experience is to Scott's.]

That's pretty much been my experience, yeah. [The teen shifts awkwardly in place for a moment, before nodding in a slightly more determined manner.] It all feels too real to just be a dream.

[He bites his lip.]

Not to mention... I normally don't dream in red and whenever I get these visions, they're always in red for me. [And that's really messed up, right? What does that even mean? Some sign of the end??]

[identitycrisiscore]

In... red? [ That catches Cloud off guard, some, but it's probably just some difference between his own visions and Scott's. He shakes his head. ] I can't say that's been my experience, but what I saw was... it's weird.

I remember a girl in a church. And a... hole in the roof? I woke up in a bed of flowers, but I got the distinct feeling I'd been falling for a while, there. And there was a red-haired man in a suit who wanted to take her away. And we fought. I called myself a 'first-class soldier'... so I was... military?

[ His face softens a bit, slacking. ] Too real to be a dream, too strange to be a memory. Certainly can't have been anything that happened here... right?