{ 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

[mapsio]

Well, Father can get a little more than concerned with the business side of things. I suppose I’m the one that likes to think about the quality side.

[Though her father hardly listens to her.

She makes a “hmm” noise when Scott inquires her about asking something weird.]

Of course, what is it?

[laserguy]

Seriously? He should listen to you! [He's totally on Haru's side here.] You have to care about the products you're selling, right? I can't make my sandwich with ingredients not grown out of love and care.

[Wow, smooth. Well, Scott thinks he is, tossing Haru a wink as he says all this. But that's as far as that ease lasts, because now may come off as a little strange now. He only has himself to blame, but he couldn't help but ask. Shouldn't he know most of the people that live in their lovely town?]

Well, okay, uh. [Now that he's brought it up, there's no going back. That would be even more weird and awkward. Nope, it's all in now, and Scott gathers some courage, regaining some confidence as he tosses a slightly lopsided smile.]

Have we met before? I feel like I know you-- but uh, just ignore me if this is the first time we've talked. It's cool.

[mapsio]

Exactly! That was my thought too. Like, shouldn’t he care about what he puts out as much as he cares about what it brings in?

[At least she can diss her dad in front of Scott, he doesn’t seem like someone who would tell. ]

Oh…

[She blinks a few times, it’s like she wants to remember something…but her brain just isn’t allowing it right now. ]

Mm, it’s like you’re an old friend. I noticed that too. Have we met? Maybe we have?

[laserguy]

He definitely should. [Hmmm.] Maybe you just have to convince him that caring more about the products he puts out will help with what he brings in.

[Not that Scott's in a habit of dissing adults and everything, but this is for the right cause. Maybe it's a bit too far to tell everyone not to get food from his business, because then that would probably make Haru sad, but he'll definitely find a way to support her. He's next in line for the sandwich shop, so guess that holds some weight.

But yeah, that apprehension is back, especially seeing her blink in succession. Probably not a good sign--]

Oh, good! [He breathes out, relief clearly in his voice as he places a hand against his chest. He's not totally weird now.] But yeah, it... feels like we have, but I'd like to think I'd remember my friends.

[.....] Maybe we met when we were young?

[But he was at the orphanage around that time... and if she's talking about her father, she probably wasn't there. Unless she's adopted too.]

[mapsio]

[Haru is technically next in line for her Father’s business as well. So it would make them competing businesses. But Haru never could care much for those sorts of things. She feels like she would rather work together with surrounding businesses.

She seems lost in thought for a moment before snapping back to their conversation.]

I’m not certain, perhaps? But I don’t really recall.

It really does feel like we know each other somehow though.

[Yeah she’s got nothing. ]

[laserguy]

[His unguarded eyes consider Haru for a moment, as if trying one last time to place her somewhere in his memories. Still, nothing comes up. Maybe that's okay, it's not a strange start of something bigger going on, right? Right. That sounds like some super strange conspiracy straight out of a movie. Nothing like that happens in their town.]

Maybe it will come to us later? [He tries to suggest with that smile, figuring that there's no real point dwelling on it.] And I guess I'll be kicking myself in the butt for forgetting you in the first place.

[Scott laughs, smiling bright once more.] I'll bring over your favorite sandwich as an apology. So, maybe you should tell me now.