expiationlogs | { 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

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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.

.̸.̷.̵.̴.̷.̸.̸.̶.̴.̴.̸.̷.̵.̵.̷

…

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!

♡

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Her back is still turned so she can pay attention to the boiling liquid in front of her, but her curiosity is plain in her voice. ]

"Weird" how?

[ She assumes more than just discovering the cookies are missing. ]

[He bites his lip. How much does he go into if she doesn't seem to want to?]

Uh, well, the missing shop and a few other things. I haven't seen any birds. Its just...weird in general.

[ The tea is finished steeping so she pours it through a strainer and then transfers it into two teacups. She brings them over to Levi and puts one in front of him and leaves the other one on the other side of the counter for herself.

In lieu of replying right away she claps her hands together once. ]

The cookies should be done, I'll be right back! Oh, and be careful with your drink, it's very hot!

[ She grabs a tray out of the case and disappears into the back, reappearing not long after with the tray full of cookies. She puts the tray back in the case but grabs a small plate, using tongs to grab two cookies and place them on the plate. This she brings back over to Levi and places it in front of him. ]

There! The cookies are earl grey shortbread. They're not too sweet so they'll pair well with the chai.

[ She pulls over a chair that's behind the counter and sits down opposite of him, blowing on her tea but not drinking it. She really meant it when she said it was hot. ]

I haven't been paying attention to the birds so I haven't noticed. Maybe they're taking a little vacation?

[He smiles and mumbles a thanks for the tea and cookies before trying one of the cookies. Not bad.]

Uh, I guess some birds migrate? I don't think I've ever seen them all migrate away, though.

[ Sandry thinks about that for a bit. ]

I guess not... I wonder where they went. Maybe something in the environment is bad for them?

[He can't help but think about rats deserting a sinking ship at that.]

...does that mean we should leave too?

[ Sandry shakes her head. ]

Of course not! I don't see why we would. After all, Aldrip is much safer than out in the wild.

Yeah, but...

[Okay, that was true. He couldn't deny that there were monsters out there, especially when he'd be out hunting and seen them himself a few times.]

...why would they leave, though? Animals don't just up and leave for no reason...do they?

[Maybe they did? He doesn't really know much about animals.]

[ Sandry shrugs. ]

I don't know very much about birds. Maybe one bird found something really tasty outside of town and all the rest followed it?

Maybe...like dogs can hear things people can't, right? Maybe they can do something like that and don't like whatever it is we can't hear or smell or whatever.

Yes! I'm sure it's something like that. Or maybe it's not that they don't like something here, but they do like something elsewhere!

[ Sandry is very cup half full. ]

[He is not sure its something like that, but he's not going to push it. It seemed the same amount of reasonable as 'birds just don't exist anymore' to him with all that was going on.]

Uh, yeah. I'm-I'm sure that's it.

[She seems to want to believe it, though.]

[ Sandry practically beams. She thinks its a great explanation ~~even if something about it seems off~~. ]

How are you enjoying the tea and cookies?

Oh! Right, s-sorry. Its all very good!

[ Sandry gives a reassuring smile. ]

I'm glad you like it! The cookies are a new kind, I'm glad you're liking them.

[Ah, maybe that's why they're free. Just in case they're bad...but at least he lucked out and they're good.]

Yeah. I'm sure they'll make a good addition to the menu.

We already did a trial run and they went over well, but you never know? But I'm not using you as a taste tester! They're free because you had to wait for me to make any cookies.

[ Her "trial run" was just Kakashi and her family, so she's glad they're going over well with actual customers and not just people willing to eat whatever she makes. ]

Oh, uh...well, they're good so if I was a taste tester its okay.

[Its not really her fault he had to wait, but he's barely got any money so he's not going to point out anything that might make him have to pay.]

[ Sandry gives a big smile. ]

Thanks! I came up with these ones myself.

Really? Do you do that for other things here too?

[At least her stuff wasn't as...out there as Jinx's.]

[ Sandry shakes her head. ]

This is the first time we've added a cookie to our menu for a while. All the other recipes are ones that I learned when I started working here.

Ah.

[He eats another one.]

I look forward to whatever you add next, then.

{ event 7 } A▒ E█SI▓Y ░▒▓25░9.▒░█

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