lifeaftr | October Event: Feeling Like a Ghost (Part I)

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October Event: Feeling Like a Ghost (Part I)

OCTOBER EVENT: FEELING LIKE A GHOST

Who: Anyone and everyone
What: Your past returns to haunt you
When: October 10th and onward
Where: All over!
Warnings: Character death, as well as potential for discussion of trauma and suicide ideation - please mark as you go!

Try and Hear Me, Then I'm Done

You can find most of the information you need in the OOC info post! In the meantime, feel free to use this log as a catch-all for the duration of the event. While this log will focus on the past portion, you're free to use it for the future portion. As always, you can also make your own logs if that's your preference! Come the 21st, however, we'll likely get an additional log up for those who want to play around with their future echoes as well. Remember also that the present portion will be played out in Mu, during this month's Storytelling.

Remember to let us know if your character dies during this event. Bear in mind, however: death penalties will NOT be reduced for this event.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] October 10th: The ghosts of the past appear.
[ ♆ ] October 20th: The warped Storytelling occurs, the Storyteller returns, and those who have died are revived.
[ ♆ ] October 21st: Future echoes replace the ghosts of the past.
[ ♆ ] October 25th: With equilibrium restored, all visions vanish, and life returns to how it was.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

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[The Drifter moves at a staggered pace, at an awkward limp. Their dark twin remains persistent behind them, a drone of intention boiling at the back of their neck. They walk like a shadow separate from the Drifter's crimson cloak, and Judgment's eye stares always, always, always out at them.]

[They've tuned out the litany of formless words being issued at their back, ignoring it in the way they never could dismiss Judgment - ]

[ ᴄᴀʀʀʏ ɪᴛ ᴄᴀʀʀʏ ɪᴛ ᴄᴀʀʀʏ ɪᴛ ᴄᴀʀʀʏ ɪᴛ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ʙᴜʀɴ ɪᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ ʙᴜʀɴ ɪᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ ʙᴜʀɴ ɪᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ ɴᴏᴡ ɴᴏᴡ ɴᴏᴡ ɴᴏᴡ ɴᴏᴡ ɴᴏᴡ ɴᴏᴡ ɴᴏᴡ ]

[A steady, endless stream of words funneling into the base of their brain. It pulses pain behind every step, behind every blink. They've not been able to sleep. They've not been able to do anything but strain to keep it from reaching them.]

[There is someone in the water. There is someone in the water, and the static crackle of lightning fuzzing the surface. She is advancing, and if she goes any closer...they can see the potential of what might happen before it does.]

[They do not like the water.]

[ ʙʟᴇᴇᴅ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ ʙʟᴇᴇᴅ ɪᴛ ʙʟᴇᴇᴅ ɪᴛ ʙʟᴇᴇᴅ ɪᴛs ᴄᴏʀʀᴜᴘᴛɪᴏɴ ɪɴ ɪɴ ɪɴ ɪɴ ɪɴ ]

[They sprint forward anyway, a charged dash of violet streaking out into the shallows. Snap out with one gloved hand, the slightly claw-tipped points of their fingers, and close around her wrist. The cobalt of their skin is stark beneath their gray helm, their eyes twin dark pits.]

[They shake their head.]

[Don't go in.]

[ ann lets out a yelp when she feels claws dig into her skin. it won't scar, but the slight pain does jolt her back to her senses. she falls backwards, nearly tripping on her heels in the sand, and pulls back. ]

Hey-

[ she's frazzled. there are circles under her eyes. it's clear she hasn't been sleeping. but...shiho.

she hears the crackle of lightning and sees shiho's form in the water, staring at her. shiho's eyes are hollow...but they feel like they're staring into ann's soul. she looks back at the stranger and sees them shaking their head. ]

I - I need to save her! I can't just leave her!

[The Drifter shakes their head again. The bright tone is burning in their thoughts. Static, ripping open their head. Peeling their mind back. Judgment waits. Judgment lingers. Judgment braces itself to break open their spine and crawl out of the broken bow of their body.]

[Form signs with their hands? One-handed. They cannot. Words, then.]

[Their sprite chimes, throwing up a transparent block of text. It's difficult to project it when their head aches the way it does, reverberating with each intrusive word their shadow executes upon them like an unbreaking wave.]

NOT
REAL

W...What?

[ not only does the transparent block of text surprise her, but what they say is also alarming. NOT REAL.

maybe a few days ago, she would've believed it. she certainly did when shiho first appeared. but ann has spent too much time with shiho's ghost these past few days and her slow, gradual transformation from being a shadow to feeling tangible and real has made ann question everything.

she doesn't know what to believe. ]

How do you know that?! She's right there!

[The Drifter draws their blade. It's nothing but a red handle, at first, until it ignites with a blaze of cyan energy - hard light made into a cutting weapon. Every movement aches. Their muscles squeal and protest. The illness has wormed into their marrow, pooled in their lungs, squeezes tight at every atrophied muscle.]

[But they move anyway. They move because they must, because they have to, because one act of kindness can change an entire world, and they - they start to swing their blade at the empty space in wild, chaotic arcs, hoping that some of them pass through the apparition.]

TRYING TO TRICK YOU

Stop it–

[ she's about to try to stop them, but their blade passes straight through her. shiho doesn't even react. she's jsut staring hollowly at ann...and ann looks on with wide eyes. but the eels are coming towards the drifter as their words flash in front of her.

this place tricked her into trying to save someone who really isn't here. but she can save someone who is.

she runs into the water and grabs onto the drifter, trying to pull them out before the eels can get to them. ]

[oh well okay this is happening]

[The Drifter just - isn't used to people being willing to initiate contact unless it is in the context of violence. The lack of violence is a violence in and of itself, a mental dissonance like a lateral jerk, a flare-and-spin of instinct jarring at their blade, still ignited, blazing, because someone only grabs hold of you to hurt you and the only solution is to hurt them first if they have you pinned - ]

[ ɢᴜᴛ ɪᴛ ʙᴜʀɴ ɪᴛ ᴋɪʟʟ ɪᴛ ɴ ᴏ̥̫᷾ ᴡ̴̶̢̱͇᷿̘̦᷂̍ͮ́̅͟͟ ]

[They twist on the spot.]
[Don't hurt her.]
[Let go.]
[Don't let go?]

[Don't hurt her.]

[Their expression is wide and unfocused, and their blade hums across the surface of the water, but - they - ]

[It fttzes off, and they start splashing back. They do not like the water. They do not - like - the water. The instinct catches up to them. Ride it, instead. That is far, far preferable to what they would have done, what they were about to - ]

[ ann doesn't even realize the dissonance going on in their head. she's simply reacting on instinct; it's in her nature to help. and she's not going to let this kind stranger get shocked to death for trying to save her.

she catches a brief glimpse of shiho, standing in the water behind them. watching with hollow eyes. the eels continue to spark around her, but she doesn't move. she doesn't die.

they were right. she's not real.

ann leads the drifter out of the water, trying to tug on them even though they're splashing around. she needs to hurry before the eels catch up to them--this is their element, after all. ]

Hurry!

[Run. Move. Run. That's instinct. That's simple. That's something they know, without question, how to do. She is following them, which is...preferable. It is ideal to what else has transpired, in their attempts to save others from seeing who they've seen. What they've seen.]

[They would never call it a relief to, at long last, be capable of calling someone back from that. A welcome change, maybe.]

[It is simply for the best that it happened.]

[The Drifter can hurry. They speed forward, but the water impedes their movement from being the blurred dash it is on land. Still, they do not let go of her. That would be an oversight, so close to their goal.]

[They make it to land quickly.]

[ good. good. they both make it to land before the eels can shock them both. ann brings the drifter away from the tide before she sighs heavily and lowers herself onto the sand, sitting with her forehead leaning against her knees for a moment.

finally, she looks up at them. her eyes are tired. she tries her best to ignore shiho—her apparition. ]

Thank you.

[ it's quiet, but it's none the less sincere. ]

Who...who are you? You saved me.

[A weak, sputtering cough hitches their chest - water and blood, startlingly pink, dribbles out from behind their cowl, but they recover quickly. The high, piercing tone of their double's corrupted not-speech is like a direct line into their nervous system.]

[This is a familiarity: hunched over, huddled on the ground, spitting out the taste of their own blood. It sizzles away, flickering black and ooze and static dissipating into nothingness.]

[The presence of company that is not hallucinatory, some figment intent on piercing them through their heart - is not.]

[But, still, they've the wherewithal to answer.]

drifter
you

[ ann hears them cough—it's what reminds her that there are other people out there who are suffering, too. not just her. not just shiho. she's lost sight of that, these past couple of days. she's been selfish.

when the drifter hunches over, ann kneels down and puts a hand on their back. she still isn't aware of how strange physical touch is to them. sorry, drifter. ]

I'm Ann.

[ but there are more important things than introductions right now. ] Hey...you don't look so good. Can I take you somewhere safe?

sick

[This is normal, for them. But others still react with visible concern when they see it - blood, and the weak, staggering coughing that hitches their lungs and hunches them over, arresting their breathing and their pace.]

[The touch is less unexpected, now. It is still odd. Difficult to place in terms of whether they do not like it, or if they are simply unused to it being given so freely.]

it will pass

[ oh, goodness. it's painful to see (and hear). ann wants to help. return the favor and the kindness they showed her. she keeps her hand on their back, trying to drown out shiho's cries for help. they're not real.

it's so, so tempting to turn back. but she doesn't want to dishonor the drifter's efforts to help her out. so...she wraps an arm around their back, trying to hoist them onto her shoulder. ]

Let's get out of here. Will water help?

[The people here are strange.]

[They touch them, as though they are not a smear underfoot. They do simple, small things that would not be noteworthy, except that they do them to the Drifter, of all people, whose cobalt skin and strange eyes and inability to speak and aching lungs make them a difficult creature to approach at best. It is, perhaps, the one thing in this world that they will never get used to:]

[That others consistently see them to be something worth their time.]

no cure

[But she says let's get out of here, and they are inclined to agree. Despite the ragged heaving of their chest, the clotted ichor they spit onto the ground, they still get their feet underneath them, force themself upward, stagger upright under their own power.]

[They seldom need another's support to walk.]

[ she's only just met the drifter, but ann has already concluded that they are more than worth her time. she's grateful for their help. she believes they're kind. they put themselves in danger to get her to realize shiho wasn't real, and for that...she'll always be grateful. ]

It's okay. I can bring you back to where I'm staying and you can get some rest. I know it won't cure it, but sleep might at least help you feel a little better. Sounds good?

[ if the drifter no longer needs her support, she'll let go. but she keeps her grip on them steady for now, just in case. she's trying to gauge how well they are to walk on their own. ]

[How to explain it to her: that they don't live anywhere, that staying with anyone is a temporary measure at best, and that they have been taken in by exactly one person and that person might have died because of it?]

[Cannot change it. And they cannot change it and so they do not wonder - ]

you
are you ok

[...so they just ignore the question entirely, the offer, and instead focus on their initial goal. Ensure she is safe.]

...Me?

[ are they...dodging her question?

hm. ]

Yeah. I'm fine--as fine as I can be. [ aka not all that fine, but...managing. she tries to hide her sadness. she tries to hide how disturbed she is that this island would concoct some kind of fake version of shiho--and that ann fell for it. ]

Anyway, I'm taking you back with me. You can use my bed for the night.

have hammock

[The offer of hospitality is - ]

[It's strange, how even now, they have no notion as to how best to handle this sort of kindness. She is not like the Guardian; she does not know what it is to have those needles gathered up in her lungs, they don't think, and so that foundation of understanding what it is to keel over and retch blood while visions haunt the edges of one's soul is not there.]

[Or maybe it is. The visions are, in any case. They are already seeing too much, all at once.]

do not need to repay

[...that is what this is, right? Or it could be something else entirely. It could simply be a desire to be kind in a way that has nothing to do with debt, or the payment of it.]

[They are not sure what haunts, terrifies, enamors them more.]

...Well... It's not entirely about paying you back. I'm worried about you, too.

[ it's not entirely wrong. she does want to repay them--and that's honestly the first thing on her mind--but she's grown to really care for the other inhabitants of these islands. she wants to make sure everyone's okay. ]

Can I at least follow you back to your hammock? Make sure you get there safely?

[ so yes--there is a part of this that does have to do with ann just simply being kind. she's just that kind of person.

it's not the first time she's faced someone who wants to turn down her offer to help, after all. ]

[The longer this goes on, the more they're realizing that they are operating from two distinct frames of reference. They do not particularly sleep anywhere regularly. They simply...set up where they end up, and sleep there, and then resume wandering the next day. Staying in one place reminds them too much of a set of circumstances that led up to one innocent creature's death, for a certain value of innocent; the Guardian did not deserve to die for their aid.]

not a place

[They are a wanderer, a nomad, so...they shift their pack slightly on their shoulders to dig at it, pulling out a corner of the thick, fibrous material of the hammock. It's always near the top, for ease of access.]

Oh.

[ ah.

ah. she understands, now. is that why they're called the drifter? because they don't stay in one place for too long? it's kind of a funny thought, she thinks. ]

I get it. Okay, that makes sense. Look, I'm sorry I'm being so pushy about all of this--I just want to make sure you'll be okay.

[ because she fears that if she turns her back on them, her decision will turn into one of her biggest regrets. ]

[It's not that they don't...understand that she's concerned about them at the possible expense of her own well-being. They understand it because they are the same way. They understand it because they know that they are sick and no amount of fretting or concern will make that go away, hence their commitment to ensuring that others do better than they. There is no fixing their sickness, but they can ensure that others are not suffering.]

[But the circumstances do not translate neatly from one to another.]

you
almost
drowned

[never mind will they be okay will YOU be okay???]

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October Event: Feeling Like a Ghost (Part I)

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