lifeaftr | March Event: De L'autre Côté de L'eau

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March Event: De L'autre Côté de L'eau

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It’s too much.

She’s been walking and stopping and idly turning behind her, rubbing at her eyes that never quite shook the sedative effect that put her in the jail to begin with, hoping to see Seto appear. There had been too much chaos-fighting, pushing, pulling people out of the water and away from the people trying to get them all in. The woman who tried to save that kid-what caused the uproar to begin with and-

She’s so tired. It doesn’t matter how desperately she hums that same old shaky melody to herself or how many times she spins to look behind her, trying to catch the eye of a brown haired boy who absolutely has to be safe. He has to be okay. The water can’t hold him back and his heart is strong enough to out, to reach out to those who had been wandering in, to do anything to survive because that’s how he is.

Her heart’s already pounding wildly and there’s a tightness to her chest that forces her pace to be slow and languid. There are multiple points where she just has to stop and rest-trying to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand and she doesn’t pass out. Not great. Not good.

Because she just needs to get home. Seto will be there-she can make sure he’s safe and warm and covered in blankets. She can make sure Magnus made it back. Can see the elves, maybe, one more time before she has to force herself to leave if her pills don’t make their way back into her hands fast enough. But those are all problems for another day and if she thinks about Seto, then she can make it back.

Feel free to run into this sleepo beepo post ai'tuoh madness anywhere on the island. She’s moving like a sleepy snail, hiding behind rocks when she needs to rest and humming to keep herself awake.]

[It's absolute chaos. Even with the haze covering her mind like a crappy blanket, the loud sounds and noises and people blurring into friend and foe-it all combines into one absolutely terrifying being she needs to run away from. All of it. From the woman who turned from guard to friend, when she tried to save that child, from people she recognized and others she didn't-it's scary. It's too scary.

She forces her eyes open, frantically looking for Seto. For Crow. For the last two people she had seen before-

And now she can't see him at all.

There's no way he fell into the water. No way someone wasn't out there trying to save him. His kind heart was probably trying to lead others to safety, to find a way to get everyone out because that's what he does. He protects and helps and she's not like that. Not at all, but this time-

With her heart pounding and beating and thrashing in her chest like it's going to explode out her body, she inches her way back into the crowd. Towards where she last saw him. Towards where she thinks she can help him because he can't be alone in a place like this.]

[He should be running by now. He knows this. Broken free of his bonds, there's next to nothing these humans can do to stop him, save all piling on him at once, and he's such a blur of claws and red fur that they have no opportunity to do so. But this, the fight, the hunt, the bloodlust is too heady to ignore and Edward shouts and fights and buries himself in the rage of it.]

[But he's not entirely lost to it--out of the corner of his eye he sees a tiny, slight figure trying to force her way through the crowd, against all logic rushing in to the last place she should be. In a flash he goes from aimless violence to a directed push, storming through and tossing men and women aside, a voice ragged from roars calling out--]

Ren!!

[There's a single minded focus driving her. One she has to concentrate on-where she has to constantly pull from the same part of her that was able to walk up that flight of stairs when she saw electricity and heard static, an angry voice, and-

She hears it now, almost. Another voice calling out to her. Not the one inside her, trying to pull her back to safety, but a man saying her name. It's one she recognizes and while it doesn't belong to the few she thinks of first, it's someone safe all the same.

She glances towards the voice. A place where people are being thrown about and she freezes, blinking the sleep from her eyes to try and understand the picture forming in front of her.]

Ed? You're here too?

You think they'd let someone like me run around?!

[Ed pushes his way through and reaches to scoop Ren up--there's no time for permissions or worrying about how scary he must seem right now. Above all else he has to get her out of here, and now.]

Hang on tight, I'll keep you safe. Okay?

[The gratitude she feels at being off her feet is vastly outweighed by the terror of being off her feet. The slow realization that someone has grabbed her, that she isn't on the ground, that this isn't Seto holding her all comes together around the time he says okay and she wants to croak out an okay in turn, but-

She clutches his arms and tries to raise her voice to be louder than the noise around them.]

Did you-have you seen Seto?

[Does he know who that is?? Probably not. Does she seem to realize that in the midst of her panic?? Not at all.]

[ The Knight comes across Ren when she's resting; they look up at her with concern, trying to check her over for injuries from their low vantage point. She was taken, they knew that much - is she hurt?

They have their pack now, so they dig into it, offering some of their food to Ren - is she hungry? Bigger creatures need more food, right?

It's cooked fish and seaweed kebabs - they haven't quite figured out sweets yet - but probably better than nothing. ]

[It takes a second for her to register the offer coming from the ground-from the tiny, kind bug who seems to appear when she needs it most. It makes her wonder if they trail behind others, ready and willing to dole out kindness when they least expect it. The temptation to grab the kebab is there, but she knows it won't make a difference-she'd just be taking food from someone that needs it, when it would do little to stop her racing heart.

If Seto were here, maybe. He's probably hungry and she forces her head up to look around the area again.

Nothing.]

It's okay.

[Sorry little friend, she's so tired. The words are hard to push out and while she's unwilling to take their food because it'll be meaningless if she can't get her medicine again, she does pat the spot beside her leg.]

This is...it's a good hiding place. You can eat that here.

[YOU WILL BE SAFE.]

[ When the food isn't taken, it's so unlike what little they know of Ren's behaviour that they droop a little. They place the food in her hands instead - maybe later? - and then climbing the rock to get the best vantage point, tiny sword drawn.

They don't know if anything would come to attack them, here on this part of the island (they've come to associate it with safety, now), but it's worth keeping an eye out. So they'll guard Ren, while she rests.

She might want to keep them safe, but they can keep her safe too. They are only a small thing, but they have enough strength in them to do that much. ]

[They shove the food into her hand and-

It hurts, for a moment, to know this might be the last time she sees them. To know they're trying this hard to protect her, to give her small comforts in the form of food and safety, without knowing how pointless it is. That she can't tell them it's useless and they should keep the food and move on.

But she's exhausted. Her heart's beating too fast, her eyelids are heavy and the food in her hand presses against her in a painful way she can't fully understand. In an effort to stay awake, she forces herself to talk and quietly asks-]

Is that weapon your special treasure?

[Crow has also come back, with the hope that Seto and Ren had made their way back here too after they had gotten separated. He would never say it, not out loud at least, but he had been worried that they were still back in that city, or god forbid, in the water, but upon spotting Ren here, he's a little more relieved.]

Oi. [Here comes a hand on her shoulder, shaking her a little from where she's crouched behind a rock.] What are you doing sleeping out here?

[Let her live, Crow, my god. The jostling rouses her from nearly falling into a deep sleep and for that she's grateful. It takes a second for her to adjust, to recognize that she's here on Enso and that he's here too. It's not Seto, but it's someone she's happy to see all the same and a person who wouldn't be far from his best friend.

Instead of answering his question, she rubs at her eyes and asks the far more important-]

Is Seto with you?

[To be fair, that is a very important question.]

... No. Have you seen him anywhere?

[No-bad news, but not entirely unexpected given his personality. He would be one of the last people out of there, trying to help anyone, protect everyone and-

She wishes he was here.]

No. He might still be in that scary place.

He better not be, or else I'm gonna beat up whoever's keeping him from meeting up with us.

[He even starts to turn like he's about to head back, before he pauses to look at Ren.]

You wanna come too?

[WHOA hey there buddy pal friend. She's way too tired to deal with his shenanigans and is 200% sure going back to the island is the worst possible choice he could've landed on.]

We should wait. He'll find us.

Yeah? Well how long have you been waiting here so far?

[Look. She can't answer that-time is fake and while it's been the entire day, she's not eager to say that aloud. It somehow makes his absence real. Harder to accept when she realizes how many hours, minutes, seconds have passed without him.]

He'll be here soon.

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March Event: De L'autre Côté de L'eau

Ren | ota (enso)

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