lifeaftr | January Event: Fade to Black

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January Event: Fade to Black

JANUARY EVENT: FADE TO BLACK

Who: Anyone and everyone!
What: Your true self comes to roost
When: January 21st - 23rd; January 25th - 28th
Where: All over!
Warnings: Dark subjects such as violence and self-destruction are likely to come to the forefront - please mark your content accordingly!

Down in that Darkness

This log is primarily for the Shadow and Light portions of the event, for ease and convenience. Your Shadow can be either the Persona-inspired sort - a "brutal, bitterly honest recreation of a character's worst flaws, darkest fears, and deepest secrets" - or the edgier, more laughable variant. The Lights, on the other hand, will do their utmost to convince their real selves of their best qualities, no matter how little they want to hear them.

Remember that the Shadows will be present from January 21st to January 23rd, and the Lights will be present from January 25th to January 28th.

On January 25th, we will post a separate log for Rejection Rooms!

Some useful links, for reference:

[ ♆ ] OOC Event Post
[ ♆ ] Rejection Room Sign-Ups; remember to note your interest in these as soon as possible!
[ ♆ ] Deaths Page; death penalties have been reduced for the duration of this event, but still do let us know if your character dies regardless!

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] January 20th: The monthly Storytelling occurs.
[ ♆ ] January 21st: Shadows of both initial variants appear.
[ ♆ ] January 23rd: Shadows of both initial variants disappear.
[ ♆ ] January 25th Lights and Rejection Rooms appear.
[ ♆ ] January 28th: Lights and Rejection Rooms dissipate. Those still trapped in their Rejection Rooms by the event's end will suffer a character death.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

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"You seem happy."

And nothing wrong with that. He wasn't about to complain about someone else' happiness. "Just trying to make a little more shelter. We keep getting more stuff, then house will be overflowing if we don't make more room for it all. We got an anvil now, so I thought maybe have an area for hammering...?"

They hadn't had it for very long and stuff had immediately started happening, so there hadn't been much of a chance to do anything with it yet. "Extra pair of hands always help. You could always hold these while I tie'em."

He made some room for Jules. While he was capable of this, things always went way better with help. "Something good happen to you?"

He happily takes the posts and holds them steady so Prompto can lash them together.

"I simply have the opportunity to provide things that others may need. It is something that I find pleasure in since it provides the opportunity to try and redeem myself."

This Jules doesn't seem to think that's an impossible task like the true Jules does.

"Dude, you're so bad at being an asshole I don't know how you manage to maintain the rep."

Of course it was teasing, but it wasn't necessarily untrue. Jules had never really been a jerk towards Prompto, and from his understanding of everything didn't deserve to be labeled an asshole. He pulled the strings taut and moved to start setting up the next pole. "You don't need to redeem yourself... I mean, just cause other people have labeled you something doesn't make it true. You've never done anything to me."

"The answer to that is simple. It isn't something that needs to be maintained. People of all species tend to focus only on what they already know. They judge from the past and not the present, and that past can color how the present is viewed."

Nobody could truly understand a situation unless they were living it too. Nobody who had interacted with Jules on a daily basis had known the reality of what was happening between him and his grandmother.

"I have done quite a few things wrong in my life time both through action and inaction. There is much I have to redeem myself for, I assure you."

"Not for me. We're totally even, dude. You don't have to worry about having any redemption arcs here."

He quickly wrapped some rope around the next poles to get it attached, but paused to turn from his work to offer a fist to Jules. "But you could always help 'cause we're friends."

"You can't always redeem yourself with the people that you caused harm to. Think of it more as karma. I have much to pay back to even bring my score back to neutral."

Jules glances at the fist, somewhat confused. That's not something he's ever seen before.

"Is that not what I'm doing? Though I do not understand what you are doing."

"As long as we're on the same page here." He didn't want Jules to feel he was indebted to him in any way.

He hung his hand in the air for a moment, but it seemed pretty obvious that Jules didn't know what he was doing. Awkward.

"Uh, it's a fist bump. It's like a bro version of a handshake? Just, uh, put your fist up, like this."

Even Prompto's explanation leaves Jules completely confused. He has no idea what "bro" is either. It's not exactly like being able to read minds is helping in this case either since Prompto doesn't have to directly think about what a fist bump is.

"Uh... okay?"

He does as asked but has no idea what the purpose is. His hand is just kind of hanging out there.

"Okay, good, noooow..."

Fortunately he had an expert teacher for this. Prompto lightly bumped his fist against Jules', a little bounce in the movement as he let his hand drop back down with some extra enthusiasm.

"It's what cool dudes do when they're friends."

Whether he was 'cool' or not was questionable, but his friends thought he was cool enough, so that's what mattered. With a smirk at Jules, he got back to work tying the pole more securely. "So, why're you in such a good mood today?"

Then it clicks. Not what the fist bump is really. That feels rather unimportant. It's what "bro" means that clicks.

"So bro is drey. Or at least something close to that?"

He's so busy trying to puzzle this out that he doesn't even realize that Prompto probably can't translate that Andarian word even with the weird magic of this place.

"I am in a good mood? Is there a reason I should not be?"

"Depends on what a 'drey' is."

He might say it with an accent but he tried. Sometimes it was easy to forget that they were all from different worlds and were supposed to be speaking different languages. "I dunno. Just never seen you so happy before, is all. Get some good news?"

Because heavens knew they could all probably use some.

"It means my brother, only not one that is necessarily biological. Drey is a common word among the Tavali, particularly among my friends."

Has the real Jules ever mentioned that he has friends? If he has, it's not usually this openly.

"I do not believe that I have, other than finding I have some things that could be beneficial to others and was able to provide them. Have you some good news for me?"

"Yup, that's what it is, then."

He hadn't thought of anything in particular, but it didn't hurt to celebrate sometimes. "Well. I have an anvil now. That's pretty cool. I have my friends. If we could just all stay safe for a while, I'll be happy."

He set down the first two poles that were attached by a 'beam' and pulled over another piece of wood to start creating another one. "You should come over more often like this. Actually... Gladio is gonna build a bathhouse. You should come try it out when it's ready."

"I do realize that humans have a far different aesthetic and view of the physical beauty and revulsion than Andarians; however, I do not believe that even humans would approve of my presence in a bathhouse."

Jules' scarring is rather extensive. Even humans, who don't view scars as disgusting as Andarians do, would likely not appreciate the sight.

"Dude, if I can go in a bathhouse, you can go in a bathhouse. I'll probably wear some bottoms, though. I don't see the big deal."

He was rather taken by surprise, given that he never got that sort of lack of confidence from Jules. But, he himself had a lot of body issues. He wasn't about to put anyone else down.

"I am afraid that bottoms alone would hardly cover the damage. That would rather defeat the purpose of it."

He wasn't remotely self conscious of his body. Jules had marked his body with multiple tattoos even that they were rather taboo on Andaria. The scars were worse though, and even after Ushara he can't quite fathom how anyone can look at the number of them, particularly the injection marks, and view them as anything other than disgusting.

"Damage?"

Prompto frowned a bit. But it wasn't because he was upset by Jules not living up to some sort of beauty standards. He'd struggled with accepting his own appearance for a long time, and he knew how much it could hurt to feel isolated.

His body image problems were less obvious now, though. So, though he wasn't sure about using it as an example, he went to something a bit more obvious, responding softly, "...You've seen Iggy, right? Dude, we don't care if you have scars or anything. When we make fun of each other we don't really mean it, we're just busting each others' balls. I... can't even imagine asking Iggy not to join us just 'cause he has some scars."

He focused on tying up another corner.

"Gladio has a few of his own, too. And I have some marks. It doesn't make any difference to us, trust me."

"Humans have a far different opinion of scarring than Andarians. I am well aware of that. However, my scarring, and general appearance should I be frank, have never sat well with humans either."

He wasn't much of a public type of a person anyway. Prompto was asking him to hang out with multiple people. That alone was beyond Jules' comfort zone even before the thought of revealing his track marks. Scars were one thing. Track marks were another.

"Well. They weren't us. When we get baths all set up, you're welcome to join anytime you want."

At this point, he honestly felt he could handle whatever. He hardly even noticed Ignis' stuff anymore he was so used to it, and he'd seen a lot of different type of races.

With that he knotted the rope and moved on to connect the next pole to the beam. It was coming along.

"I certainly appreciate the offer."

Though he wouldn't be taking Prompto up on it. He wasn't going to argue the reasoning behind that either. Instead he goes back to helping helping hold the beams so they can be tied together.

"Here, hold this one up."

Now that they had two sets of U-shaped poles and beams tied together, he just needed help holding them up while he tied them together with two more beams at the top to make a square shape. That, at least, would be a good start on his construction.

"But seriously, dude, good to see you getting out some more. It's good to have friends."

Jules happily takes that pole and keeps it dead steady while Prompto works. He likes being helpful, especially when nobody is complaining about him of accusing him of things that aren't remotely true.

"Do I not get out enough?"

Truly, he gets out and interacts with people far more here than he ever did back on Andaria or any of the other planets he survived on.

"I dunno. You usually seem to try and stay away from people? I guess it makes sense if our thoughts bother you... But it's still good to hang with friends. You could always come over more if you'd like. I think the guys would be cool with it."

Not that he kept a daily log of Jules' activities or anything.

And Gladio would be proud of him, at he managed to put together a decent square outline for a gazebo thing, going to each corner to strap it together and reinforce it.

"Aaaand this goes over the anvil." A nice 200 pound one, which he hoped to protect from some of the weather and he started pulling one side towards it.

"Solitude is the life that I lead, true enough. It is one that I have always led, even around other people. There were many times in my life where I wished the fake solitude of being around others and yet still alone had actually been true solitude. There is far less pain involved in true solitude."

Jules' eyes flick from the outline to the anvil Prompto was talking about. It is a decent distance away.

"And this needs to go over it now?"

Which seemed like the logical answer given moving the gazebo once it was fully constructed would be so difficult. If the answer is an affirmative, Jules will simply pick the structure up and carry it over there himself. It shouldn't bee too hard except for the awkward size.

"I know what it's like to be alone. It was a lot better when I found a friend who finally understood me."

Which was luck, almost. Just because he'd obsessively worked hard to try and become Noctis' friend hadn't meant that Noctis would be a good person. He just happened to be.

"Yeah, hold on, I'll hold this part to keep it steady."

Not that it was that heavy. He just didn't want too much pressure on one side. "I spent a lot to get this thing, I don't want it to get destroyed by the weather or something. I'm not sure exactly what kinda setup blacksmiths used to have but they probably had to protect them."

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suspecteverything - 2019-02-28 01:58 (UTC) - Expand

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