February Event: Just One Mist-ake

[lifeaftr_mods]

FEBRUARY EVENT: JUST ONE MIST-AKE

Who: Everyone who ends up on the floating islands
What: February's event
When: February 15th to February 20th
Where: The floating islands above Ensō
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Sky High

Those curious floating landmasses far above Ensō have only grown more prominent in the coming days. Whether you've chosen to explore the islands purposefully or have ended up there via a mana pool malfunction, you'll doubtless discover their unique properties soon enough. You might even take advantage of their impressionable nature to mold them to your own desires, shaping pieces of the places you once knew, or maybe a place you wish you could be.

Either way, the repercussions to using the floating islands as your modeling clay will be evident by the time midnight rolls around, each night, and the islands impose a regular reset cycle to wipe away whatever changes have taken place, including that peculiar, almost volcanic texture that seems to affect the lands sculpted by your mentality. Just make sure you're not caught outside the depressions in the shape of mana pools centered on each island, lest you bear some unpleasant consequences for a day.

If you haven't signed up for a Reset Penalty and wish to, you can still do so here!

Check Your Wishlist

But of course, it's not all doom and gloom. It's quite the opposite, in fact. If there's something you've been wanting, simple or complex, something that has been making its way into the texture of your thoughts with a frequency that's almost noteworthy, the islands will attempt to see to it that this wish of yours, this yearning, is satisfied in some way or another. Some of the effects will be temporary. Some won't.

Regardless, at some point during the event, if your character visits the islands, the possibility is there.

If you're interested in a Wish Request, let us know here! Remember that filling out this form is required if you want to take advantage of the islands' "giving" nature.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] February 15th: The floating islands appear
[ ♆ ] February 16th: The mana pools begin malfunctioning, and characters begin ending up on the floating islands
[ ♆ ] February 20th: Monthly Storytelling occurs, along with a vote as to the next land adventurers will brave. Upon waking, the Storyteller returns everyone to Ensō, and shrouds the islands in cloud once more

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[hellawrath]

And there goes the last of her misery, dissolved in a teary-eyed laugh at Ren's eager explanation. "Oooh, pumpkin!" she shouts down like that cleared everything up. Why didn't she say so right out of the gate, gosh. She shoots Ren a thumbs up and, "Hang on, there should be--" she runs her fingers along the railing searchingly until she finds a button exactly where it should be. Let's see if this place is at least making good use of her illicitly externalized memories.

She clicks the button and a ramp extends smoothly from the deck to the ground with a soft whoosh. Say what you will about the elves' original home world, but they knew how to build a boat. "Come on up!"

[catpiper]

That's all well and good and she's happy to be accepted into this weird boat island life in the mythical land of elf oz, but she's not used to things moving like that? Elevators are okay-she knows what that is. Construction cranes and robots are lowkey familiar. Ramps that extend out, are not, and the closer it gets to her, the further back she moves. The hell is this?? Come on up no-there's a ratio of weirdness to safety she needs to work out here. This isn't gold star division and it's going to take a hot second.

Cautious, she slowly places one foot against the ramp. Pulls back. Steps back down on it. Places both feet at the edge. Waits. Looks up at her aunt, perfectly fine on the deck, and-

Bolts for it. Before her fears come to pass and the ramp begins to fold back into the ship-boat-building, she's gotta make it up there oh my god. Don't collapse under her bare feet, thanks. The deck isn't far from the ground, but it sure feels that way during this uphill battle. Horrible. When she makes it to the top, she lets out a breath she held the entire way up, and asks-"Are you and Uncle Taako hiding on this weird thing?"

[hellawrath]

Aw beans, she should've probably, maybe she should have warned Ren, should've known that Ren might not be familiar with this kinda technology. She still knows almost nothing about her old homeworld, it's so hard to tell what she's used to and what will startle her. But like, it's generally a good bet to just assume startlement? Darn it.

But before Lup can offer encouragement, Ren braves the ramp admirably and, most of all, quickly, and Lup cheers extra hard for her at the top. "You did it! Good job!" That's one for the character building column and she didn't fuck up in her auntly duties at all. Lup grins proudly at her, only interrupted by a surprised chuckle at the question.

"It's not a weird thing, ya doof, it's a ship! It's-- it looks like the ship we used to travel on with our friends. It was called the Starblaster. Cool, right?" She lets her gaze sweep over the gleaming deck again and her heart twists, wishing it wasn't still so empty even with Ren here. "Taako's not here right now though." And neither are her friends.

[catpiper]

Given the nature of the islands, Taako's lack of birdly presence should be expected, but it's always strange to not see them side by side when it's such a commonplace sight at home. It happens though and she watches her eyes to see if any tears start forming at the mention of his name, while taking in the explanation with a quick glance all her own. It's buzzing. Big. And super weird. All the auntly cheering in the world doesn't change that, even if her good job bolsters her spirit enough to make her look around out of curiousity, instead of checking every nook for a potential hiding spot. She looks down at her bare feet, up to the sky and over her shoulder to glance behind her.

"Does it blast stars?" Is the first of many, many questions to follow and she barely subdues the next ten from tumbling out. "Is this where you played hide and seek?" Nine. "Were you a pirate?" Eight.

[hellawrath]

It's not hard to tell that Ren is maybe not as into this whole thing as Lup was hoping, but that's okay. It can be kinda intimidating, if you haven't lived on it for a century. Not to mention how unnaturally quiet it is, save for the buzzing.

But it's not long until Ren's curiosity wins out and fills the silence with some excellent questions.

"Oh dang, we totally shoulda been pirates!" Lup exclaims like that was a huge oversight on her part. "Nah, we were explorers and scientists. The very best, back on our old world. Your aunt and uncle were like, super famous." She's putting a bit more excitement into her explanation here than she's maybe feeling, not wanting Ren to think she's bummed out because of the ship. It's, it's a good ship. It carries good memories, that's what she's trying to focus on.

"It blasted hella stars," she chuckles, a little thick with emotion. "We soared among them, in between visiting all kinds of worlds. And uh, played hide and seek with it kinda, yeah..." Nothing gets past Ren, it's a surprise every time.

[catpiper]

Here's the thing-

Lup says scientist and her instant reaction is to tense up and regard her with a quick, fleeting look of fear. The connection doesn't even form in her mind. There's no way the elves were scientists, got along with them, or held any kind of relation with that occupation-she's far too kind, too loving, not cold and interested in the end result of a goal. Taako's the same, quieter in his affection, but it's as powerful as the outward displays Lup regularly shows. There's no way and for once, she realizes, there's something they don't know. Her aunt used the wrong word-they were explorers and-something else. They collected stars, played hide and seek, visited worlds and showed those places their kind hearts. That wouldn't be possible with scientists on board.

"That's the wrong word-those scary people weren't with you." She says that with the finality of someone who was there and witnessed it all, when nothing could be further from the truth. But she wants to make it clear, to her aunt, that she's wrong about this. They can figure out the right word when they get home-Storytellers? Chefs? It's probably one of those things. "Does this place make you happy? Did you smile a lot?"

[hellawrath]

Boy wouldn't it be nice if Ren had elf ears too, just sometimes, just to maybe make some of these emotional potholes a little easier to avoid? It's clear Lup said something wrong in there but she has no clue what it was, all she's got is a clearly unnerved girl with a dislike of what, fuckin, celebrities? Or--

Oh, okay. Scientists. So that's horrifying.

And a bit familiar, it suddenly clicks - Taako had mentioned something, after that whole memory drive-thru thing, about a hospital room and a dead kid... Fuck. Does she, like, say something? Does she explain that there's good scientists who don't fucking experiment on children and if she ever met any who do she would shove an entire fucking Fireball down their throats-- But that's in Ren's past and she's generally in agreement with Taako that her past isn't gonna be a thing here or ever again.

What's gonna happen when they take her home and she meets the rest of the crew, though? They can't all pretend to be pirates forever. She doesn't want Ren to be scared of people for the rest of her life just based on their job. She wants Ren growing up free of fear, relying on her instincts and keeping herself safe but-- open to people. Maybe that's how you make her past not be a thing, too.

That's a whole lot of math to be doing when somebody just asked her an innocent question and Lup chuckles a little, ears flicking back and forth uncertainly.

"It-- yeah, I did, we did. We had a lot of good times here. I mean, on the real Starblaster, with our family. But listen, Ren..." Her expression softens and she sits down on the deck, just to be a little closer to Ren, on like, hugging level. Just in case.

"I know scary people hurt you, but they-- It's because they were bad people, not because they were scientists. Somebody can be a good scientist, or a-- a bad pirate. It doesn't matter what their jobs are, it's... It's what their hearts are like. And you know how to tell that, don't you?"

[catpiper]

At the end of the day, she knows that. It was their initial love for humanity, something good in their heart-a desire to foster evolution in others that lead to her birth and why her failures, the ones of all the artificial kids, were disappointing in every respect. Because they were tools for humanity's growth and without that success behind them, they were a waste. Any scientist could see that in a heartbeat.

Because of that, she understands the meaning of her words. There are bad people. There are good people. Good people can become bad with enough pushing and bad people-they sometimes change. Shin's heart flip flopped between both-it's not a stretch to think some might remain kind.

But she doesn't want to talk about this, when Lup's home is directly under them. When she should be smiling and thinking about fun times with her family-not worried about a hopeless kid's deep rooted fears that caused her shudder when she uttered a few words. So, she listens. Understands and she's-

Afraid.

Lup's not terrified of understanding others and that's the incredible, blinding, part of her Ren can read from her heart, in that moment. She doesn't need to worry about getting close enough for a hug because Ren closes that distance, kneeling on the ground and reaching up to cup her face in her hands, fingers trembling from having to unexpectedly broach this this topic. "I can tell things like that, but I can't stop this-it always happens."

It doesn't matter how how scientists might act in other worlds, when they were shoving her in machinery for hours. When she would sit alone, waiting for her eyesight to return. When she would ache and hurt and feel sick to her stomach in the corner of her lonely room. "Your heart can feel it too. You can say things like that and be very strong because other hearts don't scare you. Someone like me can't do that."

Someone like her, who requests help from other children, because she can't deal with the memory and-

It doesn't matter. She keeps her shaking fingers against Lup's face for as long as she can. The contact might be enough to make them stop. Because she thinks if she concentrates on Lup's heart long enough, she might be a little bit like her. Stronger. Braver. Better. And she's desperately seeking that out now, so she forces a smile on her face, which is easier to do when her aunt's this close to her and says-

"You can talk about your family. That'll make you smile. You can do that for a long time-I'll sit here and listen."

[hellawrath]

Oh it hurts to see Ren afraid, to feel her trembling fingers on her face and Lup quickly reaches up with her good hand to cover hers and steady it. She doesn't know all the horrors those scientists put her through but she gets the gist of it, reflected in her eyes shining with fear and-- and a quiet bravery. There's no doubt in Lup's mind of how brave Ren is, for enduring all that and still loving with all of her heart.

It would be easy, and maybe even a comfort, to tell Ren all those amazing stories of her grand adventures on this ship, paint pictures of the worlds she's seen full of incredible people and sights, fantastic foods, puppies, full of so much kindness and joy. But that has to wait, for just a bit.

"They're not here right now," Lup says gently, smoothing a thumb over Ren's hand. "You are, and you make me smile. I wanna talk about you." Because Ren is about as eager to deflect conversations as Taako is and sometimes you gotta dig in your heels for their own good.

"It's okay to be scared, you know? It's, like, it keeps you on your guard, gets you out of dangerous situations, it keeps you safe. And that's so important, you always have to be safe, okay? But you're not-- you don't have to deal with any scary people on your own anymore. You've got Taako and me now, we're gonna keep you safe now, so you don't have to be quite so scared anymore."

[catpiper]

The first time she tried to wish on a star, it didn't work. She had whispered to one of the golden shapes on the wallpaper in her room for something small. A piece of candy. A cookie. She can't remember now, but she knows it wasn't on her plate that night or the ones that followed.

She tried again, after they walked her through how many pills to take to wake up in the morning. She wished for something bigger and-

Nothing happened and she didn't bother to waste her time on it-another thing that wasn't for it. It was easy to accept, but she felt her heart yearn whenever her eyes would glance at the shapes on the wall-

The shapes in books-

The beautiful glimmering stars that twinkled every night and scattered across the sky on occasion. Her heart would leap in her chest and remind her of the possibility that existed-she would eagerly hold a cat up to make a wish in her stead and hope that they would be lucky enough to reap the benefits.

Something in her would try to wish, but she knew better, thought better, understood better than anyone that it didn't matter.

Listening to Lup's kind words, feeling the conviction and truth in what she says, having a steady hand prove it now, while she's shaking and scared, and being given a support she hadn't realized was missing helps her recognize what that feeling was all those years ago.

She wants to concentrate on how Lup said you make me smile, because it won't last, and we're gonna keep you safe, like she's trying to let Ren hide and pretend this will last forever, when she knows otherwise.

Seto promised to save her. Chara said they would protect her. Her own family-her family-wants to keep her safe and she's never had a feeling be so mutual in her life. And while it's scary sitting on this unknown, shapeshifting island, the constant, pulsing terror in the back of her mind starts to ebb away. Her fingers no longer tremble and everything is lighter.

They were her wish all along. Her heart reached out and her unknown request became a boy on a mission, an uncle that plays along with every whim, an aunt that puts a fire in her spirit, a drifter that sings with flowers, a talented cat that can read her heart, a child that doesn't always act like one, a gruff man that gives her courage and-

"That star-it found you, even though you were very far away. I'm happy you were my wish," There's a tiny, soft smile on her face as she reaches up with her free hand to smooth down some of Lup's hair. "So I'll listen for your heart when I'm scared and you can-if you're scared sometimes, you can reach out to me too. Because we're 'family'-that's how it is, right?"