methuselah (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
singmod) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
singillppl2024-01-06 11:27 pm
singmod) wrote in singillppl2024-01-06 11:27 pm
Entry tags:
January 2024 Event Plotting
JANUARY 2024 EVENT
PROMPT ONE — THE AURORA: NASCENCE: Following the strange dream at new year, a three-day Aurora takes place. During which, Interlopers discover a possible ally in the mysterious woman heard in the static and heard in the dream — potentially earning new abilities.
THE AURORA: NASCENCE — CONTENT WARNINGS: potentially disturbing dreams; dreams of being burned alive; some minor supernatural horror; some minor ‘ghost’ horror/hauntings; death of npcs in various ways including suicide, murder or exposure to elements.
PROMPT TWO — ADUST: The Interlopers find out what happened to the owners of long-destroyed Milton House in the form of hauntings.
ADUST — CONTENT WARNINGS: fire; house fire; death of a child/children; hauntings; ghosts; mental manipulation; illusions of burning/being burned; potential injuries via falling/unstable building collapsing.
PROMPT THREE — THE VISITOR: Interlopers find themselves with an unwelcome visitor — a shadow doppelganger here to make everything absolutely worse.
THE VISITOR — CONTENT WARNINGS: supernatural beings; dream-related horror/disturbing dreams; doppelgangers; themes of depression; themes of self-harm; themes of isolation; potential themes of suicide.
THE AURORA: NASCENCE
In the middle of the month, it happens. A herald. The noise starts: faint at first, but then growing louder. An ethereal, high-pitched chorus of sounds difficult to place. There’s a kind of electrical buzzing with it all, a low, endless hum punctuated with cracks and pops. The sky is alive with sound, and with it comes the swirling streaking of colour against the inky black of night: The Aurora has come.
Much of what happened previously happens again: Streetlights, illuminating the town’s roads; lights in stores and homes will come alive, buzzing and flickering at times. Previously abandoned cars will turn on, their headlights blaring. Electronics that had previously seemed broken flick on — and whilst there are no broadcasts available on televisions, and the radio waves only drone on in static, both only occasionally blaring standard emergency broadcasts. Any computers and phones will turn on, but will have no internet or reception. Instead, Interlopers may find texts and emails — many of them unsent. The everyday lives of their users stored within, now readable.
There are still some instances of the ‘ghosts’ from the previous Auroras, but they are now only faint outlines, and far fewer in number. However, whilst the Aurora would usually only last until the next morning on sporadic nights over the month — this time it will last for a full three days. The world is plunged into darkness, a seemingly endless night with only the Aurora to light the skies.
On the second night of lights and noise, a voice calls out to you: static-like, and distant — as if someone speaks over a radio. A woman’s voice. It is the same one you’ve been hearing for a few weeks now, but finally it is far stronger than the scant whispers of name and the word ‘help’. She is far clearer now.
“You.” she says. She may whisper your name, too. “I see you.” You’re unable to speak back, the communication is only one way. She sounds upset, but there’s something more… a kind of wonder, perhaps.
”It’s not just a regular aurora borealis, but then you probably worked that out already, haven’t you? It’s so much more than that. Everything is… changing.”
”I don’t know how you can go back. But— but I can help. Maybe. Maybe I can make this place easier, somehow. I need help, but I’m stuck—” There’s frustration in her voice for a moment. ”It took from you. Took you away. It doesn’t always have to take. We can take, too. Sleep. I will help you take back. You will survive this. You will not go into the Dark. This is not the end.”
You have no idea what that means, for the most part. But you might just end up taking the chance and doing as the woman asked, even if it’s difficult with the noise and light with the Aurora. Sleep, and a dream may come to you.
FREE RUNNER: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream you are a magnificent stag, galloping through the snowy woods with ease. You seem to go on and on, never tiring, never slowing. You feel like the wind, or perhaps the very wind itself carries you. Not once do you stumble or fall, even when the snow is thick and deep, or the ground is shaky and uneven beneath you. You feel free.
When you awaken, you feel the most refreshed you’ve ever felt since you first came here. For the final day of the Aurora, you are bursting with energy and even when the lights in the sky fade — that revitalised feeling within you remains. There’s something within you that understands: you are the Free Runner. The ground will yield beneath you, your energy will not desert you, the wind will carry you.
LIGHT BRINGER: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream of sitting by a lonely campfire in the mouth of a cave at night, warming your hands. As you sit, a strange feeling comes over you, a desire to reach out to the flames. And so you do, reaching with both hands into the fire — gripping at the white-hot embers. It burns you, and for a moment there is blinding hot pain as the fire suddenly explodes around you, consuming you whole. But the pain soon stops. The fire doesn’t burn you. No, you have become the blaze — your body warmed. You burn bright enough that the darkness around you turns into day.
When you awaken the next morning, you feel warmed and comfortable. As if even the coldest of winters couldn’t reach your bones. The warmth remains even when the Aurora ends, and you are left with the innate understanding:you are the Light Bringer. The power of flame is at your very fingertips. You master the light, life, warmth.
AURORA CALL: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream you are standing in the very sky itself, at the Aurora’s height. Colour and sound twirls around you, within you — and you feel it curl into your body. Your head fills with noise, a chorus of voices calling out, snippets of conversation echoing within you. A woman’s voice calls to you, it is the same voice that spoke to you before you slept: “Don’t you understand it now? We are all connected. The Aurora connects us.”
And you do, you do understand it.
When you awaken, you feel connected to the world around you. To the very people who live amongst you. You feel less lonely, a kind of kinship with others. You have heard the Aurora’s Call and you have answered it, unlocked a connection with your fellow Interlopers. You will be heard.
NOTHING: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape, but only for a moment. The edges of your vision begin the blur with black, slowly closing in until everything goes dark and you fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. You awaken, and although you feel rested, as if the dreamless darkness has helped you feel a little more ready to take on the day — nothing else about you has changed.
ADUST
There is a reason why it is advised to avoid Milton House other than the simple fact that it’s a miracle the house is still standing. Once one of the largest buildings in the town of Milton, it is now a former shell of what was once a fine and grand house. It has lain in ruin for many years, dilapidated and host to a great deal of fire damage.
While he is in town, Methuselah will not speak of the place, but he often looks sad when it has been brought up in conversation. “A great tragedy.” he will say before falling into a pensive silence. “A blackened mark on the town’s memory.” He does not wish to say much more of what happened: sometimes there are things that are just too painful. He will continue to advise the ruin is left alone, out of respect, and the fact that the place is a danger.
Of course, advice will not stop anyone from attempting to get into the ruins and exploring the house, even if it is in fact highly dangerous.
The sounds of voices and whispers may be enough to pique anyone’s interest. You're sure you heard something, maybe you should go to check it out?
It is true in the fact that the house itself is incredibly dangerous structurally: floors and stairs may give way and you’ll find your foot (and half of you) falling right through the floorboards. Damp and rot that have long since set in, and it will be dangerous to breathe in. But you’ll find that the house itself is pretty ordinary: this was once a family home. Just about the entirety of the house and its contents aren't salvageable, but you’ll be able to find out a little about who once lived here.
There are faded, half-destroyed photos that show a family of five: a father, mother, and three young children all under the age of ten. The father with warm, beaming smiles, the mother has kind eyes, the two oldest boys with toothy grins much like their father, the younger girl looks shy, wanting to hide against her mother. They look happy. Just a typical family. In a world where so many strange things are happening, it feels so strange to look upon these family photos and around this home to realise that they simply lost their home in a house fire.
But as you hold a family picture, or some half-destroyed trinket: a toy, a shoe, a book, a vase, you’ll find the item will suddenly catch alight, bursting into flames in your very hands. The flames do not burn you, and as you discard the item, it will fall to the floor as if nothing had happened.
Then, it comes to you. Here and there. Different sensations that stop and start suddenly: the house groans and creaks around you; the smell of smoke enters your nose; the sound of fire cracking and popping with a roar fills your ears; the sensation of heat against your skin; the clawing and suffocating feeling in your lungs that makes you cough and choke; the sounds of terrified shrieks of children echoing above you. Feelings flood you: fear, panic. When you next turn around, the entire house is aflame around you, and you can’t tell if this is real or if you’re reliving some terrifying memory.
You need to leave, get out of here. For some, it will be what comes naturally. You’ll have to fight through the flames and escape the house before it burns down completely around you. You’ll have to fight your way out, find an exit not already consumed by flames — through a window, perhaps. Crashing out of the house and into the snow, you’ll look back and see Milton House just as you entered it: nothing more than a half-burned ruin.
But for others, there will be another pull. You are drawn upstairs, to the screams of children. You need to get to them, to help them, save them. You will battle through the flames, heading towards the ruins of what was a child’s bedroom, or towards the bathroom. Inside either, you will find a figure cowering, engulfed wholly in flames: one in the bathtub or one in the closet. You recognise them as the two sons from the family pictures.
Mom. They will call you. Or Dad. They weep, terrified of the flames. I’m scared, I’m scared. I want the fire to go away. Help me. Stay here.
The tragedy of Milton House is before you. More than just a fire. What is more tragic than the death of a child? What silences voices? Breaks spirits? Leaves one helpless to act in the wake of such a passing?
There is something to be done here. You are not so powerless. Calm the child. Offer gentle assurances. They will get out. They are safe. You are there for them. You will stay. Embracing them will set you alight. Too hot. Too bright. It will hurt, but you won’t burn. But don’t let go; holding them will eventually calm them down enough for the flames to grow dim, to slowly ease their spirits to rest.
Soon enough, the flames will go out and the child will disappear, leaving you alone in a decaying, dilapidated room.
In the churchyard of Milton, there is a family grave by the name of Barker. Three lie within it: Thomas it reads, and his beloved sons, Patrick and Christopher.
THE VISITOR
It seems the dream of the New Year and the Aurora dreams are not the only odd sleep-related instances occurring this month. You first notice that something is off when a strange dream pulls you from sleep. The dream may feel like any particular dream you have, whether it be a usual nightmare or strange concoction your brain has conjured up for you this night. Maybe it’s a dream you’ve had before, maybe it’s a new dream entirely. But no matter the dream, there is one thing that is odd about it. In tiny moments within the dream, you notice that there is something different, something that feels out of place. Something is there that shouldn’t be.
A figure, tall and silent, entirely made of shadow stands lurking in the background. It looks human, but there is not much more that you can really describe further. It is a sad, unsettling presence.
When you awaken, eyes bleary from sleep, and you look about the room, to the bottom of your bed, for a half-moment you see that figure standing there silently. That unsettling sadness permeates the room, and after a few seconds of blinking and sitting up — the figure disappears. Perhaps it was just some trick of the mind, some half-awake illusion.
But the next time you sleep, it appears again. The same figure, the same emotions surrounding it. And when you awaken, it stands at the bottom of your bed once more. Only this time, it lingers, and you find yourself staring down the figure before it disappears once more.
Over the next several days, the presence continues to linger more and more. It stands silently in the corner of the room of your home; it hovers by the window, staring out into the snow; it stands in the middle of the road as you go about your business. More and more, it is there. Always standing, always watching — silent and sad.
No one else seems to notice it, only you. And over time, the shape of it seems to change — the vague, undefined shape of it slowly shifts into something you recognise. The same hair, the same height, the same way it holds itself: it is exactly like you. A perfect doppelganger, a second shadow. And with it, it exudes an oppressive sadness, a particular kind of loneliness. It is suffocating, bleeding into you.
It makes you withdraw from the world around you, from the people around you. Perhaps you stop spending time with others, retreating into solitude. You hide from others, keep to yourself. You find yourself not sleeping at all or perhaps sleeping too much. Perhaps what little you already eat becomes nothing. The shadowy doppelganger draws ever closer to you, close enough to touch you - ever hovering at your shoulder. Its presence bores down on you, making you feel small and more and more alone even with its ‘company’. No one else can seem to see it but you, mentioning it to others will earn odd looks, or even concern. It seems you and your double are alone together.
Hopefully, those around you will notice the change in you. How you stopped reaching out, how you’ve stopped taking care of yourself. Hopefully they will see something isn’t right and reach out. You are doomed to the doppelganger's company otherwise.
However, those around you can push the shadowy double away, and can break its influence and hold over you. Genuine care and concern for you will have it shrinking back. Perhaps it is a kind word, perhaps it is the gentle but insisting coaxing to eat. Perhaps it is an attentive ear to listen to your thoughts, to how the presence has made you feel. Maybe it is even the simplest of touches, an embrace or the holding of a hand, the grip of a shoulder. Continued connection with you will slowly have the visitor’s power diminish.
And hopefully it is done before it is too late, or it may be all too easy to fade into the Long Dark.
FAQs
1. Aurora Feats are now unlocked! Please see the following page for more information. Aurora Feats are completely optional.
2. Interlopers will only receive ONE Aurora Event. The only time this is available is this month. After January, players will have to wait for the next Feat round for another chance at an Aurora Feat.
3. This Aurora will last a full three days. It will be a period of only night.
4. For more information on the ghostly loops seen during the Aurora, see this previous event, under 'The Aurora: Aftershocks' prompt.
5. For new players who would like a little extra context regarding the woman can look at December's Tales From The Northern Territories, under the 'New Happenings in December' section.
1. Characters will not be physically burned in the fire, but only feel as if they have been. The effects of this illusion will last a short time after they're out the house before they will fade.
2. The only real injuries characters can sustain will be from fall damage, or if the floor gives way and their feet go through, etc. whilst in the house.
1. An Interloper's Visitor can't be seen by anyone but the Interloper themselves.
2. The Visitor can be spoken to, but it will not speak back. It cannot be interacted with and is intangible.
cheryl | zombie boy + angel girl
Player Contact:
Pacing: I will call it safe and consider myself a slow bean. I am clawing back from holidays, and my IRL just kinda went to shit so that's fun :)
OOC Limits: No character death and no maiming/injuries for Kieren.
Character Name: Kieren Walker
Canon: In The Flesh
Wanted CR: Anything and everything. Friends would be great. Even if he's mostly a sad and incredibly anxious wreck, Kieren's a sarcastic little shit when he wants to be and is still just a teen, but also just having people to hang with. Anyone who's Not Quite Human would be dope. Also people to slowly find out that Kieren Isn't Quite Human, too.
Unwanted CR: I'm not actively looking for romance, just yet. Kieren's not really in the right head-space for it, considering he's not long after losing the love of his life. Also the whole... zombie thing. It's not to say it's off the table, however for the world's slowest slowburn.
Event Ideas:
— AURORA FEATS I'm actually really torn on this one. I'm considering giving Kieren Nothing this round. He's a zombie, he doesn't need anyone seeing he's anything other than Very Normal. On the other hand, I'm also considering being The Worst and giving him Free Runner — with the caveat that Kieren will need to begin eating brains (animals will do tbh) in order to sustain himself. This'd be... fucking traumatising for him, not to mention how the fuck is he going to go about getting them. It's going to be a lot for him. But I'm still deciding.
— ADUST Kieren is down for being around for this one. He canonically has a soft spot for Spooky Kids (thank you, shooting scripts), and will want to comfort the ghost kiddos. It'll be a terrifying situation for him with the fire, even if they won't physically hurt him but hell yeah I'm down.
— THE VISITOR I'm... considering giving Kieren a Visitor. He's already a pretty withdrawn and isolated person and suffers a whole lot mentally, given his whole situation. Kieren is also a successful suicide — so he's already Been There. A really interesting thing could be Kieren would even be brought so low he won't even care about covering up the fact he's a zombie, since he'll be convinced he's just going give up and die anyway. That being said, I'm also down for Kieren also helping others at some point in the month once he's dealt with his own Visitor, too!
Character Name: Kate Marsh.
Canon: Life is Strange.
Wanted CR: Pretty much everything! Friends!!! People around her own age to befriend!!! Mentors/people to help her with this absolute hell of a world with survival skills — she's not worldly at all. People to keep an eye on her/look out for her since she's literally just a teenager and is Really Not Coping. Fellow religious folks or folks who fell out of their faiths.
Unwanted CR: I prefer not to have negative CR for the sake of it. She's also getting a lil school girl crush on Benton Fraser because he's very crushable, so that's something both me and Kate are focusing on right now lmao
Event Ideas:
— GIRLS NIGHT There's going to be a Girls Night party post happening this months, thanks to OOC talks! Ruby'll be hosting it, but Kate will 100% be there for some good, wholesome fun!
— AURORA FEATS Kate will be getting the Aurora Call Feat! She's going to be having the usual struggling of keeping her thoughts to herself, and also be kind of freaking out/getting some headaches hearing the other folks with Aurora Call ability spilling into her head. Also sure do love them isolation themes going strong for her, rip.
— ADUST Basically, much like Kieren, Kate will also be down to help with the ghost kiddos! Is she going to be freaking out with the fire illusions and the fact there's ghosts? Absolutely. But she'll also really want to help soothe the kiddos because they're just kids, and they'll partly make her think of her younger sisters. Kate's a baby, but she's also a big sister too? Not to mention Aurora Call will make her even more empathetic. SO YES. :')
— THE VISITOR I'm actually going to be nice and not give Kate a Visitor, especially since she was so affected by the Voice a few months ago. However, I'm down to have her help others with their own Visitors. She can be here to hold hands and offer affirmations and possibly even....... a hug.
no subject
Kate: Sam is a non-practicing, not-entirely-believing Catholic but she wears a necklace with a Saint Christopher medallion that Kate might notice/recognize.
no subject
Ohhh. 👀 Kate's some flavour of Protestant (canon doesn't specify but she's either Lutheran or Anglican), but I think she'd very likely notice a Saint Christopher tbh! Not to mention Kate wears a cross all the time, which is often visible!
no subject
Wynonna is going to need Help with her visitor and she's not going to accept it from someone she doesn't know. But potentially Kate could get through to her???
Also Fraser and Kate are SO CUTE and I'm super excited both to do more with them and for Wynonna to be like "BLECH" if Kate admits to her crush at Girls Night.
no subject
omg.... I am so down for Kate trying to beat her Visitor back and would just try to be gentle with her. Make her eat some soup, listen to her and stuff. She's a good support role character so 👀
LMAO Kate kicking her leggies and just chinhandsing over her blossoming crush on Fraser and Wynonna fake retching is EVERYTHING
no subject
That would so cute, honestly, please... she needs someone to be gentle with her because she absolutely won't be with herself. Imagining Kate coming to find her and seeing the photo Wynonna now has of her and her two sisters before everything went all wrong...
NOT THE MOUNTIE UGH:
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
Re: cheryl | zombie boy + angel girl
Kate: Run into the fire? Dad mode activated. Hilarious that Louis would try to calm down both the kids and Kate at the same time. He's not, like, projecting feelings about his own daughter or anything!!
no subject
LMAO Louis doing some serious dad juggling right there
no subject
Louis might even tell Kate about his daughter! The coveted Claudia lore
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
maybe it'd be a nice chance for kieren and billy to get stuck in a dangerous situation together, so maybe the burning house spooky kids scenario?? forced trauma bonding..
no subject
gasp.... trauma bonding.... yes, we gotta do the thing...
(no subject)
no subject
you can count levi as one of the people looking after kate btw ^^;
no subject
also bless levi, he's a good lad
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
i also know you're still on the fence about the aurora feat, i'm just tossing into the ring that renny would feel sympathy for kieren if that does happen, so if he needs a moral support uncle......
no subject
But hell yeah I'm down!! I'm considering the possibility of having Kieren just out without his cover up or contact lenses in all 'au naturale' bc of how his Visitor is affecting him so that'd be a real throwing in at the deep end there?
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
if you do give kieren a visitor
points at eyes points at you
no subject
I think it'll likely end up happening, since I think I can in-part tie it in nicely to people finding out he's a zombie (and later helping him next month). He'll likely just start not giving a fuck about putting in his contact lenses or putting on his cover up mousse and just be all au naturale around town.
He will, of course, deeply regret it once The Visitor is gone. But. Y'know. People had to find out one way or another.
(no subject)
(no subject)
Re: cheryl | zombie boy + angel girl
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
no subject