lifeaftr | June Aftermath: Magic Lantern Strange

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June Aftermath: Magic Lantern Strange

JUNE AFTERMATH: MAGIC LANTERN STRANGE

Who: Everyone!
What: A celebration!
When: Evening of June 21st, and well into morning
Where: Ensō, E3 and E4
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Slide the Light Off You
As promised, the evening of the 21st finds the Jormun hosting a party on Ensō's largest beachfront. Near immediately, it should be clear that they've spared absolutely no expense when it comes to showing their story-walker brethren a good time.

Of course, they may also be...showing off a little.

The stalls and comfortable seating supplied around multiple firepits appears to be a mishmash of Jormun built contraptions and items requested from the Storyteller- many may be delighted to see the variety of beach cushions and blankets, items the Jormun will be happy to let their story-walker friends take home at the end of the festivities. A veritable smorgasbord of food and drink is also readily available, from the kid-friendly options of brrshavak (a spicy drink with a taste akin to liquified chili pepper) and molkavarr (a rich chocolaty broth) to the alcoholic rakvrhak (a rich wine that tastes oddly plumlike). Do be warned, however, that the last is incredibly potent.

Large slabs of driftwood have been laid out to form impromptu tables, bristling with the Jormun's culinary expertise: fried squid, seaweed wraps, spicy pickled kelp, kebabs of roasted eel, hard-boiled snapling eggs, and so on. The vegetables and meats of the sea have been laid out for all to enjoy, so tuck in!

Throughout the evening the air will be filled with the sound of music, with multiple Jormun eager to show off their skill in instrumentation. Conch-shell horns, carved driftwood flutes, urchin-needle harps, and countless more contraptions engineered by a deep sea-dwelling people fill the air with the most peculiar but nonetheless not unpleasant sound. Most of the bands will be set up in the shallow waters, however, as their instruments are not made to be used in open air - try playing them above the surface of the water at your own risk.

Of course, there's plenty more to entertain even the most difficult of people.

You're Living the Strobe Light
Those interested in proving their strength and skill will be encouraged to enter one of the many tournaments across the shoreline. The tournaments vary, featuring such challenges as play fights with the schlacknorkcvic to prove who is the greatest warrior, timed events to see who can stay on a bucking tigershark for the longest, and even a tourney of brovonkosshk, a board game somewhat similar to chess. Don't see anything you're interested in? Make your own. If you can think it, the Jormun will happily accommodate it - impromptu challenges are the highlight of such evenings, after all, though the Jormun won't be taking any responsibility for the first poor soul that decides to usher in a drinking contest.

A small variety of walker games are also available. Jormun children are more than eager to play such games as hide-and-seek or red light, green light, while Connor Murphy will be bringing his Cards Against Humanity deck, for those ready to completely screw with the idea of a fourth wall. There's even a game of Spin the Bottle... except the bottle is being spun overhead like a mace. Being hit by said bottle requires you to do a stupidly ridiculous task, so perhaps it's best to avoid that particular adaptation...

And of course, there's the lightshow.

As mentioned previously, the main show of the evening is the show of brssticca: bursts of magical light beneath the water that will put any fireworks show to shame. The lights are safe to wade and swim through, do keep in mind that the phosphorescent algae tends to cling to the skin. And should you reach into those spiraling, fluorescent nebulae of patterns beneath the surface, some of the configurations of light may abruptly shatter like broken glass.

Additionally, skilled Jormun will be happy to assist those who care to dress up for the event with intricate applications of shellivthiss - a style of waterproof body paint that is not only bright, but luminescent. Something the Jormun may forget to mention, however, is how similar shellivthiss is to henna; should you decide to get all dolled up, except to shine bright light a diamond for weeks to come.

Lastly, those who wanted to bring their own adventures are welcome to as well! Supplying some dope roast? Bringing those sweet, sweet greens? Have some alcohol to supply? All is welcomed by the Jormun - and undoubtedly, your fellow adventurers as well.

You May Find Some Peace
Feeling a tad adrift? Make sure to check the OOC Event Post, which has details regarding the event timeline!

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

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There's a poem that's like. No man is an island, we're the continent of humanity and the bell tolls for you or whatever. [He has a point, but he needs a second to get there.] And it's like - it seems so stupid? For every island to have one god, like they're all just. Screaming into the void or whatever, at the edge of infinity, and just. Lonely. They're all fucking alone.

[He picks at the edge of his shorts, unraveling and fraying the edge further.]

It's a stupid way to write a story.

[It's possible, if only distantly, that Tim's read this poem at some point, in some GE class that he has no memory of - but mostly, he just takes Connor's word for it. Mostly, it's what he says after that sticks.]

Chol didn't have one. I mean...not that we could see. But I guess - yeah.

[The frown, coupled with the wondering hum, is the sole indication that this is something he hasn't considered before.]

It is kinda weird that they're all...separated like that. Do we know if any of them ever...visit each other or anything?

The sun is the god of Chol, if you want to think about it that way. [Chol only exists for the sun to be reborn, from what the Jormun said, and that's pretty much the same as any of the other gods they've met.] I'm pretty sure they can't leave their islands, though. Storyteller's said it a bunch of times, and I don't think Balance knew about Bliss. Someone told them.

[And the thing is Connor knows what it's like to stand at the edge of an infinite island and scream while you hope that someone, anyone is waving back. And he also knows that's a him problem, not the way things are supposed to be, and maybe it's foolish to apply human things to gods but this whole thing doesn't feel right. It feels like something got broken and it needs to be fixed.]

[Did the sun - well, the sun did eventually leave, so to speak, so either it's the exception or...something else, maybe. He's not the expert here. The only expert they ostensibly have is the Storyteller, and he's - not sure where he stands with them, if he's honest.]

Do they...need the islands? Or the islands need them, maybe?

I think . . . [Connor's fiddling with the edge of his shorts, trying to put all the half coherent thoughts he's had into a cohesive statement.] Something made it this way, but it isn't supposed to be. I think it doesn't make sense for the Storyteller and Balance to be so upset about Bliss if they were always isolated like this. I think -

[Connor's eyes flick over to the water. For someone who has saltwater drying on his skin, he looks remarkably uncomfortable at the thought of it.]

I haven't asked the Jormun about the water.

Isn't the...I mean, those city people were kinda all about the water, and they definitely didn't like the Storyteller.

[That? That was...hell, frankly. Not so much the rigid conformity, but everything that came after.]

But I guess these people do live in it. Might be different for them.

. . . There's buildings in the water. [Connor gestures in a direction that's more for show than an actual indication of what direction they're in.] I saw them when I was looking down from the floating islands and trying to decide if I should just jump off and die to get back down.

[He didn't, in the end, but it was a close thing. Most of the reason he didn't was because the fear of losing something was fresh in his mind and he just. Wasn't ready to deal with that again.]

I told Shion I'd ask the Jormun about them, but I haven't yet. I don't - I don't know if I want to know the answer.

[That's news to Tim - not the jumping part, because that's not news to anyone who's known Connor for any length of time - but the fact that there were, in fact, buildings of some sort underwater.]

What makes you scared of the answer?

[Not knowing was worse, in some ways, than knowing why It came into their lives - but he'd rather have known it.]

[Rather have known that it was his problem, and his solution that he would be taking into his own hands.]

Dunno. I feel like -

[If the Storyteller doesn't like the water, he doesn't know why the Jormun like the Storyteller. He doesn't know if it'll ruin something, to ask them a question that they might not want to answer. He doesn't know what he'll do if a huge chunk of his newfound, fragile support system is ripped from under him.]

- they're my friends. I don't want to risk that.

[In some ways, he's the polar opposite of Jay. Jay, who would drive headfirst into answers at the expense of everyone and everything, particularly himself. Jay, whose self-preservation was blisteringly evident in all ways except the fact that he would risk himself for the sake of breaking open some mystery only tangentially related to himself.]

[Can't help but wonder morbidly how the two would get along. Decides they probably wouldn't.]

If they were dangerous to us in some way...that underwater stuff? I think they probably would've mentioned it. They like us.

Just because it's not dangerous to us right now doesn't mean it's not dangerous. The shadowy shit came from the ocean too.

[Like, the Jormun are his friends and he trusts them to bring up things that pose an immediate danger but he also knows that sometimes you don't tell people things for their own good. Or because you forget and it never occurs to you that ypu have the information.

Either one.]

[All right, good point. He'll admit that.]

You think it'd make it easier if someone else was doing the asking? Or is it just the..."after" that gets you?

[The not having control. The fear that you pried back answers you shouldn't have, and the consequences of it won't simply go away, and things won't return to normal like they never went wrong.]

[shrug.]

Someone else could ask, but I don't know what answer they'd get versus whatever answer I would get. But if I ask -

[Stop pulling this shit, Connor! You can't always get what you want, and we can't keep dropping everything because you decide you want attention.]

- if you ask people for too much, they stop wanting to answer your questions.

[And then suddenly you show up, pointing a camera in my face, bringing back old memories like it couldn't possibly have any effect on anybody else.]

If their help was that conditional, maybe it wasn't real good help to begin with.

[He's been on both sides of that little problem, hasn't he? Been the guy led through the dark, and the guy withholding the answers. The manipulated and the manipulator.]

[How long until everyone starts to figure that out for themselves?]

Everybody's help is conditional. Why would that mean it's bad?

[He sounds vaguely confused. Everything is conditional, as far as Connor knows. His father is a lawyer, and the only useful thing he ever taught Connor is that there's always terms and conditions.]

I wouldn't blame them. It's not like I give them anything useful in return.

[He thinks he spots some flaws in that logic, buddy. Namely:]

You've been giving me furniture and baskets without asking for literally anything in exchange.

[He had to more or less force a trade with the flare gun the first time, and after that point had run out of things to offer in return. The barter system had always been pretty loose to begin with, but at this point Tim has started to lose track of who owes him what and vice versa.]

But I am? You're still my friend.

[Even those two statements don't exactly seem related, they are to Connor. In his mind, most gifts are kind of like paying people to put up with him. He literally made Shion a special basket to make sure Shion didn't stop speaking to him after Ziziphus. Also to apologize for fucking up so badly he skipped friendship and went straight to crush.]

. . . right?

[Once that might have tensed his shoulders, jackknifed his heart in his chest like a kickstarted engine. Friend would have slammed into him, a fucking brick of inescapable you fucked this up and spawned something violent and sickly and if he could be, if he, if he could act normal, if he could not lose his head over everything, over this, like what's he even worried about what is out there that is so goddamn terrifying to him because it's been years but it was years before it was years and It still showed up to flay them all alive - ]

[People don't really call him their friend. He's just a guy some people know. A cover story. A means of getting by. A convenience.]

Most people don't...

[There's a shake in his voice. Get the fuck over it, Tim. You're more together than this. You're supposed to be. You're the fucking rock in this, right?]

Yeah. I - yeah.

[Once upon a time there was a barely in the background kind of guy who lived on a planet that was hardly any bigger than he was, and who needed a friend -]

Two is a lot of friends. [It's said quietly, more like he's thinking out loud than anything.] For me, anyway.

[- and who apparently had more than one now, which was a little bit overwhelming but in a good way. The kind of way surprise birthday parties are overwhelming for children and sudden raises are for adults, where the world feels like it's perhaps imperceptibly shifted and the day cannot possibly go wrong.

Which was, of course, super fucking dumb because something can always go wrong. But for the moment, Connor is marvelling at the fact that he has two whole confirmed friends that aren't, y'know. Hallucinations of a guy he barely knows.]

One was a lot for me.

[One friend was the thing that got everyone else in his general radius murdered, and worse. Eviscerated beyond recognition, left to bleed out in darkened woodlands, the siren scream of a house that was no longer his. You're the source, snarled Alex, his eyes flashing.]

[Lighting everything in a flare of gasoline.]

It didn't really end well.

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June Aftermath: Magic Lantern Strange

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cw: suicidal ideation

...same

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cw: larry murphy

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