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singillppl2024-09-05 06:00 pm
singmod) wrote in singillppl2024-09-05 06:00 pm
Entry tags:
September 2024 Event Plotting
SEPTEMBER 2024 EVENT
PROMPT ONE — PAINFUL REMINDERS: An Aurora briefly connects the Interlopers to their homeworlds, and with it are able to receive items from home — but these ones will bring no comfort to them.
PAINFUL REMINDERS — CONTENT WARNINGS: potentially upsetting themes; themes of loneliness/isolation.
PROMPT TWO — THE ENEMY WITHIN: Strange and familiar occurrences begin in Milton and Lakeside, growing in frequency and danger for the Interlopers. Who can truly be trusted among their numbers?
THE ENEMY WITHIN — CONTENT WARNINGS: kidnapping/attempted kidnapping; attempted murder; murder; vandalism; arson; assault; animal mutilation; corpse mutilation/manipulation/desecration; themes of peril/terror; possible character/npc injuries; possible character/npc death.
PROMPT THREE — BAD BLOOD: The Forest Fighters finally come to Milton, and with it: they bring the yawning grave.
BAD BLOOD — CONTENT WARNINGS: attempted murder; murder; vandalism; arson; assault; mentions of blood; themes of peril/terror; possible character/npc injuries; possible character death/npc death; actual NPC death.
PAINFUL REMINDERS
WHEN: 5th - 9th of September.
WHERE: Everywhere.
For many, the sight of the Aurora is now one they have become used to. There have been plenty of them over the year that has passed since the Interlopers first came to the Northern Territories. Often, they have been a sign of great danger, with plenty of unsettling and unnatural things happening when the skies light up. Other times they have been the herald of aid — a link between Interlopers and Enola, gifting them with abilities to help them survive in this world. There is no real knowing what kind of force the Aurora is, truly. And there is a tension that holds amongst the Interlopers as the day turns to night and there is the soft sound that grows louder.
The ethereal, high-pitched chorus of sounds, is difficult to place. Perhaps it sounds like voices, or discordant strings. And with it, the low-drone of electrical buzz — punctuated with the echoing pops and sharp cracks. The sky is alive with sound, and with it comes the swirling streaking of colour against the inky black of night, growing brighter and brighter as time goes on — greens, blues, pinks and purples shifting and dancing across the night. And much like every Aurora before this one, the electricals of the world come to life too. Homes, streetlamps, cars long-stranded in the snow. Man’s world comes alive, buzzing and flickering precariously.
But there are no ghosts like there once was a year ago. No terrible weather, no poisonous fog. If one could call it a ‘normal’ Aurora, that’s what it appears to be. But there is something else in amongst all the light and noise. Snatches of things: whispers of conversations, names called, laughter and tears.
You realise you recognise these voices. They are the voices of home. Perhaps you hear your mother, your siblings or friends. Whoever they are, you can hear them. And although they might not be able to hear you — for one brief night, the Aurora has connected you, bridged the gap between your world and this one. You may sit for a while, simply listening to the voices, relishing in hearing those from back home. If others join you, you will find yourself compelled to speak of them: to share in stories about those from back home — the connections you share with them.
It’s strange, though. These voices do not fill you with comfort or joy. Instead you are left with feelings of sadness, anger, and isolation. The Aurora has connected Interlopers, but now you feel so cut off from home, cut off from friends and loved ones — reminded of everything left behind. Everything you long for. Everything you have lost.
Something strange skips through the sky, a warping of the sound. It’s unsettling. Something feels... wrong, somehow.
It’s not just the voices that will remind you of this. Something else comes through the Aurora after that night. A small token will be brought through. Whatever the item may be, when you go to sleep and next wake, you will find said item. It may be placed on your bedside, on your desk or dining room table.
The item, you will find, will bring you a reminder of pain. Of sadness. Of horror. Perhaps it’s something you haven’t thought of in some time. Maybe it is something that has lingered in the back of your mind. Perhaps it is a part of you, waiting to be uncovered. A sign of something to come. A painful reminder of your past, or an ominous omen of your future.
THE ENEMY WITHIN
WHEN: The month of September.
WHERE: Everywhere.
It starts with strange happenings at night, things left to be found by the next morning. Those within Lakeside many find themselves unsurprised by it, given their location, but the scenes found in Milton are a foreboding sight.
Mutilated bodies of animals: rabbits, ptarmigans, even deer — mangled and strewn about the streets, blood upon the snow. Some may awaken in the middle of the night to the sounds of their windows breaking, with houses on the Outskirts being targeted more than those in the middle of town. There is… a kind of unrest in the world.
It escalates.
Some may leave their home for the day and return in the evening to find the place trashed: items broken, precious foodstuffs thrown about the place and destroyed. Those within the Outskirts are once again particularly vulnerable, as are those within Lakeside. Fires are started in some of the abandoned buildings of Milton. Something, someone is targeting the Interlopers.
It is hard to pin-point who exactly, and it only puts the Interlopers on high alert. Nothing like this has never happened before. This is new, especially in Milton.
As the month progresses, the acts become more serious. Fires may be started in the middle of the night in Interlopers’ homes while they sleep. Some are attacked in the night, others are taken from their beds. Some killed within their very homes. Of the Interlopers that go missing, their mutilated remains may be found days later out in the wilds.
In Milton, soon enough, someone is bold enough to come out from the darkness, out from the gloom of the night. Interlopers may be attacked in broad daylight — by those they may recognise as newer Interlopers of the community, who appeared from the wilds: lost and shivering, with nowhere else to go. Some of them have been within Milton for a few months now.
Those in Lakeside will face something similar: Forest Talkers are making a move, rogue and isolated incidents — done with sabotaging attempts at hunting and taking a more direct approach.
They have no qualms about being captured or killed, only determined to get rid of as many of the Interlopers as they can. They whisper, they scream: “You don’t belong here. You should never have come here. It wants you gone, it wants us all gone. The end is here, it’s too late for any of us. Nature must run its course. The yawning grave has been opened.”
The attack is on two fronts: the first of Forest Talkers in Lakeside amplifying their actions. The second in Milton, enemies within the ranks of the Interlopers, Forest Talkers hiding as Interlopers.
Within Milton, newer Interlopers will likely be met with suspicion as being some of the Forest Fighters as a result of these individual acts of violence. As the numbers of Milton have been infiltrated, and it’s easy to have mistrust amongst those newer to the community. In-fighting is likely, and the entire town is stuck in some terrible, tense state — unsure of who to trust within their own numbers. In the days and weeks that follow, it remains like this. Acts of violence and vandalism — chaos and disorder.
BAD BLOOD
WHEN: The night of 27th - 28th September.
WHERE: Milton.
Towards the end of the month, the moon is full. They call it the Harvest Moon, but colour seeps into it — oranges and reds: a blood moon, partially eclipsed. The night is calm and cloudless, but there’s an uneasy feeling in the night.
The earth groans, the rumble of another quake that’s plagued the Northern Territories since the beginning of August. It is the only warning Interlopers will get — if they may realise it as a warning. To some, when they look back, it’s a omen, a starting pistol.
They do not come through the Mines. Thanks to the efforts of Interlopers to guard the entrances of the Milton Mines, they know better. They come to town from the south, not the north.
The quakes of August and September have opened a new way from Lakeside to Milton. They are led by their Leader: a man dressed in white, a large deer skull upon his head. And while their numbers are small in comparison, they come armed and with the determination to get rid of the Interlopers once and for all. As they come into town, they launch their attack.
More fires will be set, Interlopers will be attacked with abandon. Shot at, stabbed, beaten. It is a mass execution. They will not stop until the Interlopers, or them, are dead.
Well, the majority of them. There are just under a dozen teenagers and younger people amongst their ranks who have shown hesitance toward violence in the past. Perhaps they can be reasoned with. Perhaps there may be a way to convince them to abandon their cause. There is fear in their eyes. Some of them do not want to die. They fear the yawning grave.
What will do you then, Interloper? Are you willing to fight for your life? Are you willing to take another’s to save your own, or a friends? Will you hide, or run? What choice will you make? The Forest Talkers have long since made their own choice. Now you must make yours.
It is another night of chaos on a town already scarred by the events of June. Interlopers will note two familiar faces in the fray: at some point during the night both Methuselah and Young Bill will arrive. While Methuselah will concentrate on aiding the wounded and trying to shelter Interlopers the best he can, Young Bill will help protect Interlopers from the Forest Talkers with his rifle in hand. But fortunately, it is just for one single night. Ammunition runs out, sides are switched, and people are killed. As dawn approaches, Forest Talker numbers dwindle. Either killed, incapacitated or defected. In the early morning light, bodies lie in the snow both Interloper and Forest Talker alike.
Those trying to hunt down the leader will see him slipping inside an empty cabin, heavily wounded. Following after him, they will find him settling himself down to kneel on the floor. The white of his tactical gear stained red with blood as it blooms from his wounds. Slowly, he removes the deer skull from his head to reveal a clean-shaven man in his late twenties with a shock of white-blond hair. His eyes are blue, calm.
He sets the skull down, panting and sweating. He is dying. He is not afraid.
“My name is Mallory, not that it matters now. We are dead, you and I.” he says softly. “We exist in a dying world.”
He is in much pain from his wounds. He moves again to sit cross-legged on the floor. A hand touches the bloodied fabric of his front and he laughs humourlessly.
“You don’t understand, do you? The end must come. That is the order of things. The end must come so the world can be reborn. That is how it’s always worked. When the world is swallowed, it will grow again from the earth.”
It is a story. The story of the Darkwalker. Some believe it to be the end of the world, but Young Bill had once said there is another telling of the tale. A creation myth. The Darkwalker swallows the world and returns to its slumber within the earth. Within it, everything its swallowed grows again and the world returns.
“We fought against man’s actions to ruin this place, not knowing our true purpose. The Devourer has shown me the truth, and I sought to put that into action.” His head tilts to one side. “The yawning grave is opened. Does new life not grow from the decay? It is a cycle. The grave and the cradle.”
He finds it difficult to breathe, but he presses on.
“You fight to live. You come here and you do not see what you are. You are only delaying the inevitable, perverting the true course. Prolonging the suffering. You are the Interlopers, you are not part of nature’s design. The Darkwalker does not want you here. And where it fails, we have tried to succeed.”
There’s another laugh, something catching in his throat. He coughs, blood bubbling from his lips.
“And failed. For now. The First Cursed cannot hold it forever. She, too, delays the inevitable." Even as he is dying, he still have the energy to sneer. He speaks of Enola. "A woman who plays at being a god. What right does she have? All must go into the Long Dark. ... As will I. Return me to the grave.”
Mallory’s head dips, his body sagging. He inhales once more and then stops.
FAQs
1. Players must sign up for items. See the toplevel below.
2. Items will face the same warps/nerfs as everything else that is brought into the game.
3. Items can be no bigger than something your character can reasonably carry.
4. While items do not have to belong to your character, there has to be a good reason why they’d receive such an item — ie. something related to your character.
1. The Forest Talkers within Milton are a number of NPCs that have been pre-selected from NPCs who arrived in April and August. Not all of them will show their true intentions as the month goes on but will continue to stay hidden.
2. Two NPCs killed in the June Event were also Forest Talkers. … Good… job?
3. The following NPC Interlopers will out themselves as Forest Talkers at this stage: Devon Busswood; Rita Yee; Realm Lovejoy.
1. Following the events of this prompt, Interlopers now have an additional way into Lakeside. It’s still rather dangerous: it’s through a partially collapsed cave system that ends into abandoned bunker on the Lakeside side. The game map will be marked accordingly in due course.
2. Some Interlopers may recognise a familiar face in the Forest Talker ranks: the man who was kidnapped by Interlopers previously in July has returned. Looks like he made good on his promise. He's come back to cause problems.
3. The following NPC Interlopers will out themselves as Forest Talkers during the attack: Jackie Blackmore; Ross Huguet; Jennifer Kitchen; Daniel Kresco.
4. As a reminder of numbers: around fifty Forest Talkers will show up for the attack.
5. There is an OOC vote on the fate of the remaining Forest Talkers, the link is here.
no subject
Having read the prequel novel I feel like he definitely does genuinely love Galen and is very fixated on him and furthermore needs him to fulfill his emotional/social needs, but that sort of begs this almost philosophical question of, what is love? Where do we draw the line in terms of selfish fixation versus genuine love, who decides what genuine love is, and is love determined by how society defines it or whether the person having the experience defines it as love, because the only kind of love they know is whatever they're defining it as? Kind of like the age old question of 'well is first love Actually Really Love' etc etc. Especially because for a normal person, what Orson does to Galen over the time that they know each other is diametrically opposed to feelings of love for someone and isn't something that could really coexist or something a normal person could bring themselves to DO to someone they love, but like, he decidedly is not normal, and as someone with ASPD his perception of reality is such that anything he does is justified, and so of course it's fine to treat Galen like that and doesn't mean that he doesn't love him (which could potentially come up when they're talking depending on how deep you want to get with it... like this first hint of something being a little off about him bc he's like yeah I "had" to do xyz BUT I loved him at the same time, which... most people would not say...).
And then it's like, with her, I think he simultaneously obviously does not experience real empathy/compassion, but he's shown to be incredibly perceptive in the surrounding lore and has a really high social IQ, so he does have this cerebral understanding that what she's describing feeling about Rick and then how she feels about the loss of Rick parallels what he's going through right now. He doesn't necessarily relate to people in the way that those who feel empathy do, but I think that like pretty much every living thing Orson still finds familiarity reassuring - so it's reassuring to talk to someone whose emotions are very familiar to him, and he gravitates towards people whom he sees traces of himself in, which would very much be the case with Michonne.
And there's this angle of like, right now he is very profoundly alone for the first time in his entire life, whereas Michonne already went through that pre-canon in TWD and given that she's observant I'm wondering if she might clock that he's going through something similar - he only has that one connection and now that Galen's dead his emotional needs are going entirely unmet at the same time as he's grieving this massive loss, which I think may also compel him to seek out her company after this encounter if he feels like she is pleasant to be around and will give him attention and make him feel seen and acknowledged.
Like I think he and Michonne both have this 'no man is an island' element to them, like they'd love to not be reliant on anyone but in reality as a human being there are innate psychological needs and one of them is human company. I would think that maybe some of what he describes in terms of the deep emotionally intimate friendship element of this and then feeling like Galen was torn away from him by Lyra, whom he hated (love that that's canon, Krennic babygirl you are so petty and messy) and whom he felt like was bad news from day one might also be very familiar to her given what happened with Andrea?
GOD sorry this turned into an essay but the more I think about the parallels between the two of them the more I feel like this meme
no subject
Andrea is a HUGE factor here that doesn't really get to be explored much, especially in the context of Rick x Michonne as a love story, but there was Andrea before him. And Andrea was the one who literally kept Michonne from staying in her uhh...slightly less than sane phase, could we call it? She was gone, fully, but then she let Andrea in after what was probably the most frustrating 6-8 months of Andrea's life, even accounting for the walkers. She let Andrea in, she loved her, and then Michonne had to kill her, because an evil fucking maniac left her to turn into a monster. The same evil fucking maniac that Andrea chose over her. Then that same man destroys her home.
There are other angles for other times too; moral things that I think could be super fucking interesting to explore. I think this could be a CR goldmine, tbqh and an unexpected one, at that. I'll be super curious what her gut instinct tells her about him, how wary she is, how fast she decides to open up, beyond what they're hearing etc. She still tries to clock so much, silently, with almost every person she meets. It gets so much more intense in canon after she misjudges someone she thought was a friend, and while it's softened because of Judith's empathy, this whole situation (being brought to this place in general) has put all those walls back up and fortified them.
and yet—she hears those voices, and it's going to be like a knife to the gut; she hasn't seen or heard her kids in over a year, Rick in almost a decade. One dead son she couldn't protect. A lover she left behind who was then ultimately murdered. It'll put her in a very unique position of wanting to keep it to herself and wanting to share, and for Krennic to be there for that is a whopper of a jumping-off point.
no subject
Not to be like that wojak using his brain as a chair but seeing as I am in the presence of a scholar, my take is that in order for Rick/Michonne to work you have to read Michonne/Andrea as canon and genuine love because I think that Andrea is the first time she loves again and shows her that she is ABLE to love again (whether she wants to or not) when Michonne doesn't necessarily believe that she CAN love again.
Like I think she really thaws her out after this trauma response to her pre-canon backstory of just sort of shutting down because the pain of losing anyone else and the pain of her overall situation is just Too Much.
And RIGHT, same with Krennic - mourning alone is deeply unnatural, and he doesn't want ANYONE to see his soft underbelly... but he also doesn't want to be alone, because I think being bored and being underrecognized are the only things to him that are scarier than the idea of solitude, because despite (or even partly because of) his ASPD he has really, really high social needs.
So if anything I think that the compulsion in the prompt is like... The little spark to instigate it, the like little push that they both need to do something that is something they already subconsciously want to do but can't overcome their more conscious reservations to do.
For the setup I'm almost thinking like... They end up just sitting on the front steps of Krennic's little place he has now and having this conversation, starting in media res, but I'm not really sure what would bring Michonne over there when she's in such a reserved state. The one thing I'm thinking of is maybe she's heard talk about the bridge and wants to get more information directly from the source? And then after he sort of tells her what he's thinking they start hearing the voices midconversation and end up reminiscing that way?
no subject
OKAY BUT ANYWAY LOL. I hate what the writers did to Andrea, but I love so much that they gave it to us. It's bittersweet, and not enough people read between those lines and will play Michonne as leaning into what that relationship was. Andrea's line about pain never going anywhere, you just make room for it, is something that I think Michonne took to heart. I wonder what their final words were, all the time. That loss caused a backslide, but I feel like Andrea made her promise not to be the way she was when they found one another. Then Michonne realizes she can find Rick and Carl, and that's it. Andrea has forced Michonne to reconsider whether or not she can actually face being alone.
The truth is, she can't, and I think Krennic and Michonne both having that in common, is so good. She wants to open up, she has emotions that she refuses to acknowledge until they refuse to be ignored, and the times she breaks down in front of people are really interesting. She goes off alone most of the time, but if she gets caught in her emotions, she doesn't deny them. So that being said, I do have an idea!
When she gets her note from the future, she is going to rage. She's going to go out where she thinks she's alone, and she's going to fucking scream. Although I think that might be backward now that I think about it, her getting the note would be after the voices.
So then option two(!) is 100% going to the bridge after defending her and the Doctor's cabin, and asking Krennic...something something make it up then. And yeah to kick it off, what if it is Andrea's last words that we actually hear to Michonne: "I tried." And Michonne's response, which I headcanon is just a simple "I know." Then even more headcanon along the lines of 'Don't go back to who you were when I found you. go find them,' etc etc.
This is very rambly of me and loose, BUT that would for sure get a reaction that Krennic could observe and comment on 100%!!
no subject
no subject