March Event: De L'autre Côté de L'eau

[lifeaftr_mods]

MARCH EVENT: DE L'AUTRE CÔTÉ DE L'EAU

Who: Everyone condemned to the Water, and those who see fit to rescue them
What: A rescue is implemented!
When:Predominantly on March 19th
Where: Ai'tuoh, and the small islet just off its coast
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Just Sing For Me All Night

It's time for your captured comrades to be recovered, and by none other than your fine selves! While the Storyteller will detail the elements of said rescue below, they very notably don't say anything about how they plan for you make it through Ai'tuoh, and then to the islet off its coast.

You have their tacit blessing to make your way there however you would like. Through stealth, through diplomacy, by salting and burning the earth...whichever you prefer. It is, as it turns out, awfully difficult to discern the innocent from the perpetrators when they all look alike.

Whatever course of action you choose, bear in mind that there will be consequences. The Storyteller will be sealing off Ai'tuoh's mana pool once everyone who has been retrieved has come through, but that doesn't mean that the island will be gone forever.

And If I Shout For You, Never Doubt

While the details of the rescue's mechanics can be found in the Storyteller's explanation below, we ask that, if your character was captured and needs to be rescued, please let us know HERE. This will make it easier for other players to account for who might be their focus, and why!

A few guidelines for each of the groups:

[ ♆ ] Group One will be predominantly busy fending away militia, who you can assume will be pouring forth to protect the Water from these intruders at a fairly concentrated rate. Most of the fighting will likely be grouped around the Water itself, leading to a risk of being forced into the Water or slipping in yourself. The militia largely fight with spears, swords, and shields, but are not above attempting to sedate you if they can get close enough, to make it easier to tip you into the Water.

[ ♆ ] Group Two will be serving as the tether, meaning they will be holding onto the thread the Storyteller has provided. This means physically remaining on our side of the abyss and holding onto the thread very tightly, as well as mentally focusing incredibly hard on the Water itself. When the thread is deposited into the Water, it will open a dark tunnel into the surface itself, leading all the way through to the other side. The Water will not take kindly to this; it will attempt to close, and exert a tremendous mental pressure upon your mind to do so. In order for this portal to remain open, your focus must be wholly devoted to keeping it open. It may feel very much like a mental game of tug-of-war, and you may very well feel a very physical tug on the thread itself as well; you must be actively concentrating on bringing everyone home.

[ ♆ ] Group Three will then have to grab hold of the thread in some way or another and not let go as they're swept into the dimension and through to the other side. As long as they remain in contact with the thread, they will be able to make their way back and be immune to the soporific effects of the strange void, as well as detect the opening the thread makes in the landscape of the netherworld on the other side of the Water. If they let go, they will lose their way and be vulnerable to the somnolent effects, and must be drawn back by someone who is still tethered.

Just remember: once you've found who needs recovering, you cannot, under any circumstances, look back at them while you guide the home.

You simply have to trust that they will follow, and that will be what leads them back to you.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] March 19th: Characters are taken to the Standing Water, and the rescue is facilitated
[ ♆ ] March 20th: Monthly Storytelling occurs as usual
[ ♆ ] March 31st: Ai'tuoh disappears, and anyone left on it or in the Water will suffer a death

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[ungrieved]

Great, so we're going in. [c l e a r l y this is the only logical course of action. Gabe is already making for the rubble, because fuck precautions.]

[yourattention]

If you die, I'm leaving you here.

[If he expresses actual concern about this plan, Gabe might think he has feelings or whatever and get pissy about it but Connor's like 85% sure Gabe will survive out of pure spite now.]

[ungrieved]

[His smirk becomes slightly edged, at that, his head cocking to one side.]

Everyone always does. [It's like his whole thing!!] You coming, or is someone else gonna have to make sure I don't get forgotten?

[yourattention]

Who said anything about making sure you're not forgotten? [Funny story: Connor doesn't actually know Gabe's name. At this point, he's not asking what it is out of pettiness.] I'm coming, though.

[If only because he's pretty sure they can just loot the place if nothing else. There has to be something lootable. There's always something lootable in video games.]

[ungrieved]

[And here we all thought no one deserved to be forgotten.]

There's gotta be something worth taking in here. 'Sides, they're gonna expect us to be running away, right?

[yourattention]

Sure. Grab anything you can carry that's not bolted down.

[Connor shifts the quiver he made himself on his shoulder. He doesn't have a bow, if we were wondering.]

Well, as long as it's not junk.

[ungrieved]

What would you call junk? [He's being difficult for the sake of it, and not particularly because he has any affinity for junk. Besides the fact that he is, in and of himself, junk.]

[The halls all look the same; the only point of reference is the point through which they've entered. There may not be a proper labyrinth, but there's all manner of twists and turns and he's not about it. It's either sit and ponder or pick a direction and commit to it.]

[Unsurprisingly, Gabe is sold on the latter.]

[yourattention]

Their rules. Pet rocks. Shrunken heads. Mayonaise. Other people's diaries.

[Connor pulls a piece of charcoal from a pocket and starts marking the turns. He's not about to get lost in this place because Gabe is an asshole who's just turning random directions.]

Expired cans of soda. Moldy food. The concept of time itself. My father.

[He'll just keep monotonously listing crap off like this forever if you don't stop him.]

[ungrieved]

Shrunken heads. [On the contrary, Gabe sounds completely enthused over the prospect.] Cool.

[But you really have to hand it to Connor's dry delivery. Gabe snorts, a short little huff of laughter. No wonder the pair of them seem to...get along as they do, even if they don't really get along.]

Not too fond of your old man?

[yourattention]

Who, me? I love my parents.

[The delivery there is distinctly sarcastic.]

[ungrieved]

[lol]

[Something about that seems to appeal to him, albeit in that typical Gabe-style ironic fashion. He can only appreciate things ironically, just like how he can only be alive ironically.]

And now you're aiding and abetting a bomber. They must be so proud.

[yourattention]

Oh, definitely. Larry's going to be overjoyed.

[Connor shifts into a slightly deeper, more serious tone:]

"Finally making something out of your life, Connor? It only took you eighteen years to do something useful."

[ungrieved]

It only took me tw - [And then he abruptly cuts himself short. No one needs to know that, right? No one who doesn't care, who doesn't ask, who doesn't needle. And Connor probably...doesn't.]

[Why would he?]

I guess you're also helping other people set other people free. Like some kind of...hero.

[yourattention]

[Connor snorts.]

Too bad I ended up here before senior superlatives. I could have been voted "Most Likely To Be A Big Damn Hero" instead of - [He's about to say something damning but stops himself.] "Mostly Likely To Drop Out of College."

[ungrieved]

[There's no one around. Maybe they haven't heard the boom, or they're all busy at the islet. Either way, he doesn't care. Makes their job easier, doesn't it? Turning a corner, turning another, and the winding halls don't make much sense to him. It's probably for the best that Connor's keeping track by marking the walls the way he is; Gabe sure as heck isn't.]

"Most Likely To Bomb A Building," [says Gabe, entirely too prophetically.] Or, hey, most likely to sail a boat with a bunch of snake people. [Or sneople.]

[yourattention]

The Jormun aren't snakes, stupid. They're fish. [He's not even going to comment on the other thing. That is way too fucking on the nose, Jared.] Unless you've got something you wanna tell me about being a reptoid.

[ungrieved]

Stupid. [He scoffs at the word, even if it's one hundred percent fucking accurate.] I'm not the one who hangs out with them.

[He's missing out, please rub it in.]

[yourattention]

Exactly. That's why you're stupid - I made friends with them and now they bring me food sometimes.

[That's a slight reordering of the truth: sometimes the Jormun go sailing with him and bring him oysters and shit while they're sailing. They don't literally bring him food, but Gabe doesn't have to know that.]

[ungrieved]

That's your prerogative. I already have food.

[Read: he made friends with the local spider lady mom friend who makes sure he doesn't starve to death, which is good because if it weren't for her he probably would be. Or just subsisting off the mana pools for days.]

[yourattention]

I'm pretty sure if you only eat coconuts, you'll go crazy and die so have fun with that.

[He's only slightly exaggerating. Connor can't imagine that Gabe does anything but eat coconuts and maybe some of the weird grassroot things. The only reason Connor himself has survived for this long is a lot of half-remembered things from boy scouts.]

[ungrieved]

And mana pools?

[Said in a tone that clearly indicates that he thinks Connor is a moron, which is at least equal opportunity name-calling as far as their relationship goes.]

You know those can feed you just fine, right?

cw: poop

[yourattention]

Yeah, I did the all-liquid diet thing once when my mom decided to toss all the food in the house and replace it with smoothies. [Connor shudders.] Never again. I am never again spending that much time running to the bathroom because my body decides it needs to shit right now and it can't fucking wait because everything it's trying to expel is fucking watery poop soup. If you wanna fucking deal with constant diarrhea, though, be my fucking guest.

[It's possible Connor is, occasionally, kind of a drama queen.]

[ungrieved]

[WOW THAT SOUNDS HORRIFYING]

[But he tries to play it off, because of course he does.]

Oh, c'mon. You get worse side effects taking the kind of drugs my mom does.

[Or doesn't, because he flushed them for her. At her behest, naturally, subconscious or otherwise, but he certainly had his hand in that vein of reasoning. One way or another.]

[yourattention]

I would literally rather eat the coconuts and go crazy than subsist off the mana pool.

[Which he doesn't have to do, thankfully, because his neighbor has a vegetable garden he keeps fucking mooching off of and he has seafood up the wazoo.]

[ungrieved]

Maybe 'cause you're already crazy.

[shut up gabe]

[He turns another corner and hello there. This must be where they throw everyone's belongings once they've nabbed them. And here he was suspecting they might've burned them or something, but it looks like they haven't had the time.]

Jackpot.