methuselah (
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singillatim2025-01-09 11:05 pm
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Entry tags:
- *event,
- benton fraser: lorna,
- bigby wolf: jelle,
- chloe frazer: tess,
- cornelius hickey: kates,
- edward little: jhey,
- eren jaeger: lyn,
- john irving: gabbie,
- kieren walker: cheryl,
- konstantin veshnyakov: jhey,
- levi ackerman: dem,
- levi jordan: cirape,
- randvi: tess,
- raylan givens: arma,
- sameen shaw: iddy,
- snow white: carly,
- the doctor: kris,
- thomas jopson: kota,
- tim drake: fox,
- wynonna earp: lorna
even though it's a cruel world
JANUARY 2025 EVENT
PROMPT ONE — THE HUNTED, PART ONE: Interlopers find themselves stalked and hunted by seemingly supernatural presence.
PROMPT TWO — TIES THAT BIND: Those little blinks of light noticed by Interlopers finally take form, showing Interlopers just how they're connected.
PROMPT THREE — WINTERSTILLE: A new winter storm hits, with a terrifying twist at the very heart of it.
THE HUNTED, PART ONE
WHEN: The month of January, continuing into February.
WHERE: Everywhere, but especially Lakeside area.
CONTENT WARNINGS: supernatural creature; hauntings; supernatural experiences; themes of hunting, being hunted/stalked by an animal; bear ‘attacks’.
Methuselah once warned an Interloper of the changing behaviours of animals within the Northern Territories. Perhaps this is something of this kind of instance, or… perhaps it is something else entirely.
There are old tales, some of which might be found within the Camp Office like Nor'pogo: folk stories about the area — and not just of Lakeside, but further afield. One is the story of The Old Bear, and those who tried to bring it down.
In the early days of inhabitation of the Northern Territories by European settlers, a gigantic bear had already long made its home in these wilds. It was said that the bear was incredibly long-lived and unusually aggressive. The settlers had angered it by cutting it off from its feeding grounds and chased it off from where it had once freely roamed, encroaching on its territory.
Incensed, the Old Bear began to hunt and kill the settlers — determined to win back its world. It was said, however, that their weapons were no match against the creature. It was as if nothing could ever truly bring it down. Firearms could barely affect it, and its thick hide was filled with old, broken arrows that had tried and failed to injure it.
Three hunters, determined to fight back against the bear’s attacks on the settlers, and bring the animal down for its pelt to hoard as a trophy, decided to pursue the bear. Thus began a bitter hunt that lasted months. They chased it down all over Lakeside and then to the east, up towards the muskeg that lay in the shadows of Timberwolf Mountain. It is said that they went out onto the muskeg, never to return — with Old Bear disappearing with them, too.
Perhaps the four of them all met their end, both men and bear. But something has begun to stalk the Northern Territories once again. Footprints can be found in the snow, tracks of a bear far larger than anything found in the natural world. Prints that smell like bear, but there's something off about them. Prints that disappear into nothing, as if a ghost walks through the silent, snowy wilds.
Out in the wilds of Lakeside and Milton, Interlopers will start to find themselves being watched. A distinct prickling at the back of their neck. In the distance, they will hear the heavy thuds of a large animal trekking through the snow, the low grumbles of an angry beast.
At first, they are distant enough that perhaps you might be able get away from the sounds without incident. Fleeing for the safety of the indoors, or creating enough distance for the sounds to fade into silence. Surely the creature will not follow you, especially indoors. And you’re right. The indoors will seem safe.
But over time, the sounds draw nearer. Near enough to make you think it's almost upon you. You turn to look to see where the creature might be, only to find nothing in the immediate vicinity. You cannot see what huge, hulking creature is heading towards you. The woods are still and silent as they always are, save for the animals you would usually find in this place.
Or worse, you suddenly feel the heavy huff of breath behind you: hot against your neck, snarling. A beast upon you, ready to devour you whole.
And then, as you turn. Nothing.
As the month goes on, these instances increase. Other times, you catch sight of it. A huge shadow from the rocks above, shining golden eyes in the dark and a wide snarl of teeth. A bear, bigger than anything you’ve ever seen. Impossibly so. A mass of dark brown fur, broken arrow shafts protruding from its hide, watching you with a keen and ferocious intelligence — staring you down until suddenly, it is gone. Nothing but the shapes of rocks and foliage.
Sometimes, it leaps down at you. Charges at you.
Turn and run, and it will give chase — but you’ll find yourself simply running from the wind.
You are not just stalked, but haunted. Hunted.
TIES THAT BIND
WHEN: The month of January, into February.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: red strings of fate; possible themes of co-dependency; shared empathy/telepathy; potential forced empathy/mood/emotion alternating/mental manipulation; supernaturally induced pain; forced feelings of sadness, low mood.
In the Quiet Apocalypse, Interlopers face the harsh and unforgiving climate of the Northern Territories alone. Or so they think. Interlopers are all connected to one another in some shape or form. At the start of the month, the strange flickers of light that Interlopers previously noticed will begin to form a little more solidly and can be seen appearing at their fingers. They are incredibly weak at first, but in time the Interlopers will find that some of these strings of light will become far more stronger in their appearance.
The strings are completely intangible. They cannot be touched, your fingers going right through them if you try. But Interlopers will find that these strings of light will eventually lead somewhere: to another Interloper.
Some may have heard of strings of fate, red strings that lead others to their romantic soulmates. These strings, however, are not limited exclusively to romantic soulmates and the strings can have far broader meanings. And they do not simply connect Interlopers to one another, but have abilities that come with them. Connections are powerful things, after all.
For those who crave connection or have particularly strong bonds with others, these strings may be incredibly influential on Interlopers, and these abilities may come very naturally, like breathing. For those who relish in the solitude, they may find their strings far weaker — although they may come to find they do not like this. That it disturbs them in some indescribable way. Others may note that their strings are frayed, they seem more fragile — noting a tense or strained relationship. This too will be something that Interlopers will find troubling or disturbing to them. It sounds like you might need to work on things to make things better.
There are four types of strings that will appear:
The Red String: This string represents close relationships of a positive nature but specifically romantic interests or lovers. Concentrating on these threads will bring a kind of intuition similar to that which is experienced by Interlopers who share the Moon Touched Feat. You speak a kind of secret language, almost like talking telepathically but not quite. You become fully in tune with one another, conveying meaning and understanding without uttering a word.
The Gold String This string represents close relationships of a positive nature, specifically friends, familial relationships, and comraderie. Interlopers will find that concentrating on this kind of thread shared with another will find themselves more in tune with one another's emotions, and know exactly what the other needs at any given moment. However, it may sometimes become difficult to identify who an emotion belongs to. Emotions can be passed to one another: one Interloper might be able to purposefully soothe another's anger, or raise another's spirits if they feel upset — for example.
The Black String: This string represents antagonistic relationships. Rivalries, enemies, or those you simply mistrust. However, concentrating on this kind of thread shared with another will bring pain to the Interlopers. Sometimes this might feel like an electric shock, other times it might feel like a slow, dreadful ache. After this initial pain, Interlopers will find that they are more prone to picking up the thoughts of the other person that they are connected to. This may be in the form of specific thoughts of what the person is thinking at that time, or it may be picking up the thoughts the other has had about the Interloper previously — possibly providing useful insight into the minds of those you dislike most.
The White String: Every Interloper will have one white string. It seems to lead towards the east, but Interlopers will find it very difficult to follow it and will not be able to follow it for long. At first, concentrating on this string will bring a sense of sadness, heaviness. But for some, they may even feel a sense of comfort, or the feeling of being uplifted.
Each string will give off some kind of impression of the Interloper it belongs to, something that comes to mind in terms of identification: a scent, a colour, a sensation, a food item. Whatever it is, it is something that is related to the Interloper the string belongs to. The white string will give off the impression of feeling alone, along with campfire smoke, blood, and the saltiness of tears. Underneath that, there’s something a little more subdued: warming winter-spice.
WINTERSTILLE
WHEN: 24th - 28th January.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: extreme weather; storms; blizzards; supernatural weather; themes of survival; possible character cold-related injuries; possible themes of peril; themes of weather-related horror; possible npc death; possible character death; possible animal death.
Those versed in reading the signs will note the approach, those who have learned to read the weather, nature itself, if they pay close enough attention: the shifts in pressure, the restlessness of the weather, how wildlife absconds. Something is off, something is coming. For the rest, Methuselah arrives into town. He is hurrying, as fast as his aged body can take him. The old man was right the first time when he came with warnings. Hopefully this time the Interlopers will heed him again.
‘Something is coming.’ he warns Interlopers, breathless. Methuselah is worried, even someone as long-lived as he. He has seen many storms, but something troubles him about this one. ‘A great storm. But, in the signs— something is wrong and it is coming much too quickly, I cannot say when it will arrive, but soon. We do not have much time to be ready.’
Interlopers will have only a day or so to prepare. To batten down the hatches, to gather supplies and hunker down. The Community Hall is a good place as any to gather in, and it makes sense to gather in there again to wait the storm. Many can go there, but others are free to wait it out in their own homes, with their select company.
Free Runners and Aurora Callers are invaluable in getting messages around the town and further out to those who live in Lakeside. As will those little strings of yours. It isn’t much time to get ready, especially if this might end up lasting several days, but some warning is better than none at all.
The skies darken and in comes a violent squall: snow thick and fast, winds roaring. Buildings creak and groan, as if they might tear themselves apart. Trees will come down, some buildings may not survive it. Day and night, the storm rages around. A complete white out.
And then, suddenly, in the early afternoon of the next day… it stops.
The snowfall ends. There is a strange whistling of the winds, and then it drops completely. Everything is still, silent.
The sky is clear. There is light, the precious few hours of daylight afforded to Interlopers at this time of year seems impossibly bright — no clouds can be seen in the sky. There is nothing but clear, pale blue.
But looking toward the skies will reveal a circle of clouds surrounding that clear, blue sky. Almost a perfect circle. The eye of the storm.
For those in the Community Hall, looking to venture outside, Methuselah will shake his head. No. — ‘I do not trust it.’
It’s slow at first. There's a strange sound in the air, something coming downwards. The highest trees and buildings are the first hit by it. They crack and shift ever-so slightly, freezing instantly. From the very top and moving downwards...
If you are outside, maybe you feel it in your bones: run.
The strange ice descends, freezing everything it touches, the strange white pattern crawling downwards. Run for cover, inside, out of the elements and into dry and warm shelter. Even inside, you'll notice it crawling downwards and towards you: white frosting over walls and furniture close to it. Everything crackles and groans as it freezes over— some unprotected windows will shatter, especially those of the long-abandoned cars still scattered around the town. Mugs and plates will shatter, even mirrors — potentially sending shards flying to unsuspecting Interlopers.
You'll need to move into the center of rooms, or close to lit fires and gather close. Keep the fires going. Keep the temperature high.
And hopefully the ice will not reach you.
This strange frozen stillness will last for the next twelve hours. You will be trapped, huddling, away from the edges of your shelters.
The silence ends. And then the storm returns, the howling winds and furious blizzards. The storm will rage on for another day until it finally fizzles out and the world becomes calm again. It will be safe to go out now.
There’ll be a lot of damage to the town due to the storm, and windows and doors will likely be frozen shut and difficult to open again, meaning it will take time for Interlopers to actually leave their places of safety. In the aftermath, Interlopers may find just how deadly that stillness was, how deadly that crawling ice: the bodies of the unfortunate, human and beasts alike, frozen on the spot — dead in an instant and left stuck there.
FAQs
1. Interlopers will be spared by any form of physical attack at this time. The attacks on Interlopers will only be instances of striking fear, and giving chase.
2. Other Interlopers who see a fellow Interloper running away from a chase will not see the bear chasing them. It'll look like they're just running from nothing.
3. While the bear will not come indoors, Interlopers will still note it stalking around outside, even scratching or thudding at doors or walls. These will appear completely untouched when later inspected.
1. Weaker or frayed strings will be less powerful, and Interlopers may feel compelled to rectify this as the sensation of having a frayed or fragile string will be unpleasant to bear.
2. It is even possible to have strings that are connected to people who are not present within the Northern Territories, including people who are in Interlopers' homeworlds. Interlopers may try to follow these strings, but will find that the strings will lead to nowhere — like looking for the end of the rainbow. You will not receive power benefits of these strings, only have an impression of who it belongs to.
3. You cannot see an Interloper's other strings, other than your own connection with you. However, you can see other Interloper's White Strings.
4. If a relationship isn't really black and white, a mixed-colour thread would be acceptable of a relationship that could shift either way or is more complicated in nature. There would be a more dominant colour of the two, however, and the abilities would be from the dominant colour.
5. Concentrating on a string gives off the impression of who it belongs to, you do not have to follow it.
1. Interlopers with the Cold Fusion Feat will be able be out during the storm at any point and be completely unaffected.
2. Interlopers with the Lightbringer and Moon Touched traits will prove valuable for providing warmth/heat when hiding from and waiting out the ice.
3. Players are welcome to either camp out in the Community Hall or within their homes!
the hunted
He knows immediately what Irving is talking about. So many people are, aren't they? If they're all imagining things, at least they're all doing it together. Not that that's comforting. ]
Yeah. I saw it.
[ He subconsciously adjusts the bandage on his injured hand. ]
I don't know. If it's winter all the time, maybe it doesn't know when to hibernate.
no subject
He turns his pale, sea-water gaze towards Eren, tucking his clipboard below his arm. ]
If it's native to the area, then its natural instincts should be telling it otherwise.
[ He isn't disagreeing, per se — although it may sound that way, he has an unfortunate habit of sounding mildly critical no matter his intentions — but rather, turning the thought over, the implications of both statements. What if it's not native to the area? The legend he'd read before certainly seemed to suggest otherwise, but Irving should know better than to believe in urban legends...
He never used to. At least, not blindly, but what's real, likely, and logical seems to mean nothing anymore. Does he actually believe this could be that bear, though? Let alone the bear from before?
It surely can't have followed them here. ]
There will be little to no food to help sustain them in wintertime, compared to Arctic Spring and Summer, save for...
[ Save for them and their supplies. Irving lets his sentence trail off, shaking his head as his face grows more pale. ]
And it's likely to get even colder. [ He notes Eren adjusting his bandage, then reviews the supply list. ] Are you in need of any medical assistance?
no subject
[ It's a genuine question. Eren knows a little bit. Obviously he knows what bears are, that they hibernate. He's pretty sure that where he came from, they don't get that fucking big, though. Well…maybe somewhere in the world, though nothing in his jumbled memories helps him out there. On the island, there was never a bear that big.
Arctic, Irving says. Eren has only heard that word one other time, from Billy, and didn't know what it meant. He still doesn't entirely get it, knowing nothing of the geography of the world. Arctic. Tundra. Even Canada. They're words he doesn't really understand. ]
It gets colder than this? And people seriously just live this way?
[ The people here don't have a choice, sure, but there was a whole town here already. Who the fuck wants to live in the eternal winter?
He glances down at his hand, but shakes his head at Irving. ]
No. I made a mistake. I'll heal.
[ He shoves his hand in his pocket. That injury is embarrassing and he can't easily explain it. It only bothers him because he's used to healing more or less instantly. ]
Have you seen the bear?
no subject
He can only smile faintly, a bit ruefully, in answer to the questions. ]
No, I daresay it'll not likely get much colder than it currently is now— [ (Although don't quote him on that, because Irving's no climatologist, either.) ] Not now we're about halfway through the winter. The rest of the year may still not feel like much of an improvement, however.
[ It absolutely does make a difference — winter vs any other season, that is — but are they all still pretty bleak, cold, and miserable?
For the most part yes, unfortunately. But with spring and summer will usually come more game, too, as well as blooming and/or newly flowering flora, and most importantly: sun. ]
Well, if you're sure, [ he continues warily, a bit uncertain. ] Though we do have supplies here, should you need them.
[ Then, Irving shakes his head briskly, as if trying to shake the subject off of him, or else casually minimize its threat. ]
I haven't, no— not exactly, but nor have I gone out looking for it, either. A creature so unnatural as that must needs be... avoided at any cost. [ Well, that probably goes without saying. ] Lest it decide to hunt us for lack of other alternatives.
no subject
[ It's mostly rhetorical, thinking out loud. He doesn't mean those of them, present company included, who got whisked here from their own worlds. But the town already existed. People definitely live here, or used to. If there's a whole world out there that isn't cold and dark, why stay? Maybe he's missing something. Maybe his twisted idea of freedom just gets in the way. ]
If I need anything, I'll look.
[ He's a little dismissive, but he does mean it. Eren isn't a survivalist. He's never been entirely on his own. He's not here, either, since he has Levi. He has Reiner, too, though that's messier. ]
I didn't go looking for it. It kind of just…showed up suddenly.
[ Eren swears it was there in an instant, though it seems impossible. ]
There's more, though. It…I'm not sure it's real.
sorry for how late this is! been having health/rl issues; feel free to disregard if it's too old
[ See also: the primary, if not sole, reason(s) why anyone ever visits Antarctica. Not that Eren really asked... except, well, he kind of did?
Still, Irving flushes mildly after speaking for having answered something so obviously — or at least, more than likely — rhetorical, realizing that this boy probably does not actually care much about having that question answered; the point is simply just how uncomfortable it's been having to live here. Still, he can empathize to some extent with the town's former inhabitants, having been in similar positions before where he'd been relocated to live and work in less than ideal locations and/or circumstances.
Clearing his throat, Irving nods quickly in acknowledgement — Eren is old enough to make his own decisions, at least certainly by Victorian standards — but then frowns at the younger man, either concerned or troubled (or quite likely, both) by what he's just said. ]
More? [ He questions carefully, his voice quiet and curious. ] Which part aren't you sure of?
no worries! i hope you're feeling better
[ He repeats that word slowly, like he's never heard it before (he hasn't). He can sort of guess at the meaning, that people were just born where it was cold so they're used to it, or something like that. ]
What kind of work do you do that you'd wanna be in some freezing place?
[ He knows Billy and some other men — some of whom ended up here — went to what Billy called "the arctic" (another word Eren does not know). He doesn't make the connection between Billy and John, though. There are too many people from too many worlds to immediately assume everyone who went somewhere cold was from the same place. ]
The part where it disappeared into thin air just before it reached us — me and the man I ran into in the woods.
[ Raju had run into him and not the other way around, but, details! ]
cw (non-graphic) mentions of whaling and fur-trapping, colonialist implications
[ So certainly none of it easy work, nor anything Irving himself might ever particularly fancy doing (does he look like someone cut out for doing round-the-clock shifts of hard manual labour?), but plenty of men can, do, and will for lack of many better prospects. ]
And as for the indigenous tribes, they've been surviving out here since long before we'd ever so much as clapped eyes upon this land— goodness knows why any settlers dared to try.
[ His pale blue-green eyes fix steadily back upon Eren, brows knitting further into the same troubled frown as before. ]
To be honest, I-I'm... I'm not entirely convinced that it's truly of our world— which is to say, of flesh and blood and earth... yet it is real, surely, for how can it not be?
no subject
[ This time it isn't just a repetition of a word, but an actual question. If Eren knows what a whale even is, that knowledge is buried under too many people's memories. He's certainly never seen one.
The other things, at least, make some sense to him.
His mouth twitches at that last part. He can accept this supernatural bear easier than he can accept some mundane things. While he doesn't consider anything from his own world to be magic, they've certainly dealt with some unbelievable things. Eren himself is one of those things, though this place de-fanged him. ]
Well. We're not really of this world either, if you think about it.
[ He considers before continuing. ]
I don't think it was a delusion, so…it must be real. I don't know what it means, though. Were we safe from it because of the fire or because it couldn't actually touch us? I've thought about it since it happened, but…I don't know the answer to that.