January Event: Setting Fire to the Sky

[lifeaftr_mods]

JANUARY EVENT: SETTING FIRE TO THE SKY

Who: Everyone!
What: The sun dies, and the creatures of the night emerge from the depths
When: January 21st - January 28th
Where: Everywhere! Ensō, Monsun, Chol, and the Islets
Warnings: Character death, possible body horror and violence. Please mark any additional warnings as needed!

So We Can Take the World Back From the Heart-Attacked

The night of the 21st, the sun begins to dim. It dips in the horizon, sinks to nestle itself in the center of Chol like a star falling in slow motion, where it begins to smolder quietly - massive, smoking, and hot, like a massive egg. The night grows colder, the sky reduced to an inky black. The surface of the surrounding water is still but for the occasional ripple, the odd, strangely subdued wave, with not even the hollow lights of distant stars to glint off its reflective waves.

The Jormun gather around the sunken, dying sun with their scaled hands on their weapons, their expressions grim. They fan out across the island of Chol with arms in hand. Their fortifications have settled around the island's center in a dense ball of bristling weapons. They have been preparing for this. They are ready to fight.

Are you? No island is safe. From the well-trodden mainland of Ensō and its islets to the stark dichotomy of Monsun to the craggy shores of Chol, all manner of strange things have begun to haul themselves, dripping, from the watery dark.

No more preparation. No more running.

From here on out, it is fight or die.

One Maniac At a Time, We Will Take It Back

As the Storyteller has promised, there is sanctuary in their temple on Ensō, which will keep out the worst of the creatures. It will not, however, protect characters from the cold and dark, and so they will have to keep themselves warm some other way.

The Jormun fight fiercely, but they do not fight alone. Aside from the help that the willing of your number have offered, you may glimpse the Storyteller battling alongside the rest in a flurry of strange, shifting animal shapes: a heavy-antlered reindeer, a shrieking owl with outstretched talons, a slavering grizzly bear with the Storyteller's signature tome strapped across a broad, furry back, to name but a few. Those creatures that the Storyteller defeats will burst into a flurry of paper and dark, spattering ink, rather than being felled in the conventional manner. How odd.

As this is an event with a high risk of death, the Storyteller will impose death penalties for one week only. However, deaths succumbed during the event will count towards the character's total.

Then I'll Raise You Like a Phoenix

Come the sunrise on the 28th, the sun will launch itself into the air with a victorious shriek, its wings trailing plumes of fire behind it. The phoenix takes flight, reborn from the ashes. The shores of Chol are littered with corpses, both shadowy and scaled, along with an even smattering of crumpled paper and splotched inkstains. Despite the triumph of the fight, it did not come without its costs. The Jormun gather their dead and prepare to mourn them quietly. Those who perished in the fight will not see the sunrise from this unique perspective, watching the murk of the night tint to soft, milky yellow and pink, and then to a glorious new day.

Munin will greet the survivors with a mixture of solemnity and relief, thanking them profusely for their help. There is not much more that her people can offer you, at this point - they must grieve their dead, and she must return to the sea to prove that she has cemented her worth as a leader in the eyes of the other Jormun - but that does not mean that your stories will part forever.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] January 20th: Monthly Storytelling occurs as usual
[ ♆ ] January 21st: The dark arrives, the temperature drops further, and the first hostile creatures begin their assault
[ ♆ ] January 28th: The dark ends and the sun rises
[ ♆ ] January 30th: Those who perished are revived, suffering from a reduced death penalty

Event Specifics

[ ♆ ] If you have any questions, feel free to look over our OOC Info Post.
[ ♆ ] Feel free to make your own logs if necessary!
[ ♆ ] If your character perishes in this event, please let us know!
[ ♆ ] Item trades with the Jormun can be found on the OOC plotting post here! Even if you were only recently accepted, you are free to participate!

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[bloodyashes]

Don't mention it.

[The response, in contrast to Ignis', is virtually immediate, though Asch takes care to say his words carefully, in case the man's senses are still muddled. It may be enough, however, to subtly change his accent, as that's one of the things he tries to minimize in the words.]

I'm glad you're recovering.

[shatteredlenses]

Too slow.

[These words come out more quickly perhaps because Ignis feels so strongly about them. The many embarrassments that come with being taken care of as if he were a small child aside, he should be out there helping to defend the camp instead of being one more thing that needs protecting. It stings knowing he's once again being a burden to a group of people he calls family and friend.]

[bloodyashes]

[The passion in the words definitely comes through, and Asch's response is to awkwardly bump his shoulder against Ignis', in a gesture of comradery that doesn't quite come naturally.]

Better that than not at all.

[Monsun's desert, ever making Asch more emotionally open, even with its sun and heat days gone - ]

...I was really scared when Ardyn first brought you back. So were a lot of people.

[Which Ignis might have had some awareness of, but he can't know for sure, which panicked voices reached him and whose hands he remembers taking his pulse and checking his injuries.]

[shatteredlenses]

Sorry.

[Ignis pulls in on himself as much as he can almost as if he is trying to hide from the shame this whole thing has caused him. He hates worrying others; he hates being a burden, but most of all he hates remembering how much his condition when Ardyn brought him back reminds him of how he felt laying on the alter after all was said and done. So much vague awareness, so little he could actually do.]

I didn't mea-

[His voice cracks then and he falls silent, shaking his head sadly.]

[bloodyashes]

Don't be stupid.

[That means, you have nothing to apologize for. It means of course you didn't mean to and you're not causing me trouble and half a dozen other things that Asch is never the best at expressing.

So instead he drops his hands from Ignis' and instead pulls the man's shoulders closer, up against his own. It seems he isn't completely unable to initiate a hug.]

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis doesn't try to say more. Instead, he lets himself be pulled into the hug. It's...odd being on the other side of the hug for once, but it's an oddness he can get used to. He squeezes his good eye shut, head resting against Asch's shoulder, focusing on the warmth and comfort that the redhead's closeness brings.

It hardly touches the bone-deep chill that took up residence in his body once the fire of the Ring vanished, but perhaps one day such hugs will.]

[bloodyashes]

[They sit like that for a while in silence, until eventually Asch starts to hum again. And then, eventually, the slow, quiet hymn finds words - ]

Seas invite in the evening sun
To light the somber abyss...

[It's not likely that Ignis has heard the words to this one before, though the tune is perhaps familiar from some few of those dazed days.]

[shatteredlenses]

[He does recognize the tune in the same hazy way he recognizes so much else from that time. Even though the haze, Ignis had found it memorable, but now hearing the words brings a wetness unconsciously to his eyes.]

So beautiful.

[bloodyashes]

...My singing voice tends to surprise people. I think it's a Lorelei thing.

[He doesn't sing often. Not in spite of being good at it, but because of it. The inexplicable ability tends to make him feel set apart.]

[shatteredlenses]

A pleasant surprise.

[Ignis manages to bring a small smile to his face.]

Sing another?

[And forgive him if he falls asleep as he listens.]

calls this one good?

[bloodyashes]

I don't know that many.

[And he's willing to sing fewer of them, given the origin point of most is things overheard at Order services.

Still, he settles in and starts to sing again, quietly, one arm around Ignis' shoulders.]