⛧ Aʟʟᴇɴ "ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ᴘʀɪᴇsᴛ" Wᴀʟᴋᴇʀ ★ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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deercountry2022-05-17 12:57 am
likethelight) wrote in deercountry2022-05-17 12:57 am
[open] Sᴀɴᴄᴛᴜᴀʀʏ - May renovations
The Sanctuary - RENOVATIONS START
MAY BEGINNINGS
Following the discovery of a guardian sapling within an abandoned and ruined monastery on the edges of Crenshaw and the sudden growth of purified plant life around it, there's a growing bustle of activity around it. Word of mouth first from the boy who first found it talking with those on the street he knew and had helped before, asking if they might help him clear some of the debris in order to reach it more easily, and then people they told, and so on and so forth. Small, relatively nonviolent and previously animal Beasts have been observed flocking there where they begin to slowly regain themselves, and so inhabitants of Trench start coming as well to see it for themselves. Those suffering corruption or despair come to sit under its boughs and let its tranquil aura help set them at ease. People start chattering on the street, marveling at it and the unprecedented greenery it's brought with it, and begin setting up small shops and carts out front to peddle wares to those who are basically pilgrims. Some are useful... some aren't. Incense is common.
Residents of the Trench and Sleepers both can be found milling back and forth, sweeping, dusting, moving debris, or taking hammer and nail to build anew, and anyone who lingers and looks for too long might be asked to help pitch in and quickly saddled with tools they may or may not know how to use. (It's fine.) Alternatively, someone might try to just slip by and explore to see what else there might be that hasn't been fully uncovered yet.
A white-haired boy in a wheelchair is there almost every day, and most inhabitants if asked "how did this place come to be" would point and say "Ser Allen" seemed to be here first and began asking people he knew to help him start to clear out the debris. Others followed and began lingering around, curious and drawn by the idea that something new might be starting, as well as feeling and marveling at the tree's tranquil aura that now blankets the grounds. If the boy is asked, he'd say it started because of Lady Amaterasu planting one of her trees here and it's something they should take care of. That it was meant to help give people hope and some comfort. "What is this place called?" Well, most people would shrug and look a bit confused as well about that at first. Before answering, finally:
"It's a Sanctuary."
Residents of the Trench and Sleepers both can be found milling back and forth, sweeping, dusting, moving debris, or taking hammer and nail to build anew, and anyone who lingers and looks for too long might be asked to help pitch in and quickly saddled with tools they may or may not know how to use. (It's fine.) Alternatively, someone might try to just slip by and explore to see what else there might be that hasn't been fully uncovered yet.
A white-haired boy in a wheelchair is there almost every day, and most inhabitants if asked "how did this place come to be" would point and say "Ser Allen" seemed to be here first and began asking people he knew to help him start to clear out the debris. Others followed and began lingering around, curious and drawn by the idea that something new might be starting, as well as feeling and marveling at the tree's tranquil aura that now blankets the grounds. If the boy is asked, he'd say it started because of Lady Amaterasu planting one of her trees here and it's something they should take care of. That it was meant to help give people hope and some comfort. "What is this place called?" Well, most people would shrug and look a bit confused as well about that at first. Before answering, finally:
"It's a Sanctuary."
WHAT
Humane beast purification efforts. Renovations begin on a ruined monastery in Crenshaw following the discovery of one of the purifying Guardian Saplings. Join in! Or not! Heckle and pry!
WHEN
Mid-late May
THINGS OF NOTE
➢ only a handful of rooms are currently cleared/accessible.
➢ the guardian sapling/sakura tree is in full bloom
➢ the primary focus is on renovating the space, protecting/cultivating the guardian sapling and cloister, and providing for/protecting those that show up for help with their corruption
➢ community/NPC involvement is heavy, especially at the beginning as more Sleepers are filtering in and taking roles
➢ actual organization around beast purification efforts starts next month
➢ permanent roster and location info HERE!
➢ the guardian sapling/sakura tree is in full bloom
➢ the primary focus is on renovating the space, protecting/cultivating the guardian sapling and cloister, and providing for/protecting those that show up for help with their corruption
➢ community/NPC involvement is heavy, especially at the beginning as more Sleepers are filtering in and taking roles
➢ actual organization around beast purification efforts starts next month
➢ permanent roster and location info HERE!
Courtyard
The heart of the Sanctuary, one of the special guardian saplings planted by Amaterasu. The old monastery revolves around a large courtyard that is surrounded by cloisters, at the center of which is a large sakura tree in full bloom. The whole of the courtyard is covered in greenery and flowers unlike can normally be found elsewhere in the Trench aside from where there are similar such trees, and a pool of forever-pure water looks like it's just waiting for some fish. It's in full bloom this month, and some residents have started trying to make a tea from its petals. It's said to be very relaxing (and delicious, delicately floral and positively... heavenly. But don't drink in excess.)
It's the most common place for both residents of the Trench and Sleepers to be, as its tranquil aura helps soothe one's mind and ease corruption. Napping at its roots or in its branches seems quite popular, and birds and small animals can often be found there, drawn by it. Because of this, one Sleeper has started leading meditation sessions for corruption relief there.
Small and non-violent Beasts also seem drawn in, similar to how they are with the salt lake under the full moon. Twisted little fairies that are not so consumed that they don't still desire to be saved, they can be found resting there before slowly beginning to slip back to their formal selves; perhaps a dove, or maybe mice. Perhaps one could find similar such Beasts, either non-violent or easily restrained, and help bring them there in the hopes that they might also be able to be healed...?
It's the most common place for both residents of the Trench and Sleepers to be, as its tranquil aura helps soothe one's mind and ease corruption. Napping at its roots or in its branches seems quite popular, and birds and small animals can often be found there, drawn by it. Because of this, one Sleeper has started leading meditation sessions for corruption relief there.
Small and non-violent Beasts also seem drawn in, similar to how they are with the salt lake under the full moon. Twisted little fairies that are not so consumed that they don't still desire to be saved, they can be found resting there before slowly beginning to slip back to their formal selves; perhaps a dove, or maybe mice. Perhaps one could find similar such Beasts, either non-violent or easily restrained, and help bring them there in the hopes that they might also be able to be healed...?
INFIRMARY WING
Many of those who have come seeking some sort of tranquility are taxed, injured, or suffering in a way where they may need to rest within the confines of safety. One of the first spaces that has been cleared and made useable is a makeshift infirmary. There are simple beds and cots, a series of rooms for some privacy for those who simply need a clean and restorative place to stay temporarily versus those who need more medical attention. It's no Lumenarium, no place with any advanced medical treatment, but there are basic supplies for treating wounds and illness that have been donated. No one will be turned away, though violent individuals would be... dealt with in order to not be violent or cause harm, and anyone is welcome a bed for a night if it's needed. Some healers filter in and out, and most medicine practiced here is not the blood ministry common in Lumenwood but a mix of Sleeper powers from their worlds and basic aid.
A stockpile has been started for various items known to help reduce corruption or Beasthood as well, notably orbs of hope and a few precious moon drops, though most of those have been reserved for study. Anyone helping to assist, or who gets care, would be asked to just help return the favor for the ill and corrupted by donating what they can when they can.
A stockpile has been started for various items known to help reduce corruption or Beasthood as well, notably orbs of hope and a few precious moon drops, though most of those have been reserved for study. Anyone helping to assist, or who gets care, would be asked to just help return the favor for the ill and corrupted by donating what they can when they can.
KITCHEN AND DINING HALL
Where there are people and the needy there is a need for food! A ramshackle affair currently, lunch and dinner is usually provided in the dining hall for anyone who is helping with the renovations or assisting in some manner, as well as anyone who has come there for aid. All the food is brought in via either donated supplies from local merchants or farms, some Sleepers, and pot luck style.
The kitchens are easy to access though, currently dominated by a stout Crenshaw woman named Abigail who is very thorough in how she wrangles any lollygaggers into chopping mushrooms or gutting fish. No one is safe from her. No one. Heaven help you if you make a mess of her kitchen. She is there almost every day, will lecture a grown man like he's her child, but has a soft spot for young people and will sneak them extra helpings even if she'd deny it. Heaven help you also if you have cooking skills or show any interest in it, because you will find her immediately recruiting you.
Her daughter often comes by bearing a huge bushel of sometimes-questionable "fish", a middle-aged fisherwoman named Joanna.
The kitchens are easy to access though, currently dominated by a stout Crenshaw woman named Abigail who is very thorough in how she wrangles any lollygaggers into chopping mushrooms or gutting fish. No one is safe from her. No one. Heaven help you if you make a mess of her kitchen. She is there almost every day, will lecture a grown man like he's her child, but has a soft spot for young people and will sneak them extra helpings even if she'd deny it. Heaven help you also if you have cooking skills or show any interest in it, because you will find her immediately recruiting you.
Her daughter often comes by bearing a huge bushel of sometimes-questionable "fish", a middle-aged fisherwoman named Joanna.
MAIN HALL
Wide open at the moment, this is used primarily as an open community space at the moment. It leads directly through to the cloisters that surround the courtyard, and so all foot traffic passes through here. At the moment, it's used as a staging grounds for all donated materials that are being used for the reconstruction effort.
Intricate carvings, statues, and faded paintings are throughout the nave and altar area -- but all have been damaged or worn in such a way where it's hard to make out what sort of shrine this was originally, or to whom. Some people will chime in and say it was to Moon Presence herself. Others to Argonaut, or perhaps The Reckoning. Maybe something else entirely, some bygone remnant of another civilization. Who's to say, there doesn't seem to be any consensus or proof yet.
Lunar flowers have begun to grow again around the monastery grounds, so perhaps there's something to be said for it.
Intricate carvings, statues, and faded paintings are throughout the nave and altar area -- but all have been damaged or worn in such a way where it's hard to make out what sort of shrine this was originally, or to whom. Some people will chime in and say it was to Moon Presence herself. Others to Argonaut, or perhaps The Reckoning. Maybe something else entirely, some bygone remnant of another civilization. Who's to say, there doesn't seem to be any consensus or proof yet.
Lunar flowers have begun to grow again around the monastery grounds, so perhaps there's something to be said for it.
What is this? The start of a long term player-based movement of characters pushing for more humane treatment and purification of Beasts using canon and blood magic abilities! Questions? More information, character sign-ups, and questions can be asked over on the location page!
no subject
I feel the same way sometimes... [ It's soft, nostalgic. ] I suppose that seems strange to some people, but even in a terrible world...
Being able to feel like you belong somewhere, that there are people you belong with, can make it all a little easier.
no subject
[maybe in small spaces but in such a large space, with so many people, many he hasn't met? odd is a word for it.] It feels it shouldn't be as easy as it is.
Did you have a place to belong, that you can remember? [since allen's memories are more of a thing now.]
no subject
...Mm, I did. [ His gaze lowers, still with a quiet sort of nostalgia and hooded eyes. ]
All Exorcists are taken by the Order as soon as they're chosen by their Innocence; as soon as they can fight, no matter how old they are. I suppose most people would consider it a terrible sort of place, being made to fight there whether you wanted to or not... But because of that, some people tried so very hard to make it all a little easier for us. To make us feel welcome, so we'd be happy returning there. They didn't have a choice and we didn't have a choice in being there [ technically he did, but... that's a different story ] but... everyone tried to hard to make it as kind as they could for us. Like they were trying to protect us the only way they could, so we would be comfortable enough to smile and say "I'm back".
[ His throat threatens to tighten up, so he just takes a moment to swallow so it isn't obvious. ]
It was home.
no subject
he glances back to the sky.] Making the best of what you have is close to what we are doing here. I suppose it's similar in a way. [no one can leave, fighting. not quite as heinous as the order sounds, honestly. the trench at least had a chaotic air that was hard to place.]
writing this physically hurt me
People here are free, even if we can't really go anywhere else. [ Does it... make him a terrible person to think this? Does it invalidate his experiences?
No, it doesn't. His feelings for the Order are as true as they ever were, even with all the complications. Even with having to leave it. It'll never change the importance it had to him. And yet the thing he's realizing, the thing that broke free when Shouto made something shatter in his chest and start to rebuild-- ]
...Somehow, I think I like it a little better.
[ He'd have wanted his comrades to be free, too. ]
no subject
We are less imprisoned and more relocated. [another look back up to the branches, as if to give allen some privacy with these thoughts.] Our choices are our own, down to how sleepers have been deciding to deal with beasts.
And you've done a great deal with that freedom. I hope you are aware you are doing good work here, Allen.
no subject
The same goes for you too, Viktor. Aren't you the one making a legacy? [ He says it like an affectionate chide. ]
We've all come a long way I think, haven't we.
no subject
I think I care a little less about legacy now and more about surviving to see where this goes. [he admits after a beat. it feels more possible now than it ever did, and shockingly he has people he doesn't want to leave behind? weird. allen is one of them, another true shocker.] Back then, after the catacombs, I was still so focused on my old world.
Which is to say we really have come a long way, in several areas. Your memories, my focus.
no subject
...does that mean you're more interested in living now, Viktor? And not just leaving something behind when you die?
He so very touched by that possibility, so awestruck by something that might be quite fragile that he doesn't want to risk saying it aloud. Like it could spoil his joy at that spark of something. And his expression just smooths a little then. "Still so focused on my old world." ]
You never really talk about your world a whole lot... [ Not beyond his science and work, at least. ]
Was there someplace you felt you belonged there as well? [ Somehow in his gut, from how Viktor had asked him about that himself, how he had been the one to first comment on feeling that sense of belonging here, some instinct...
...he thinks maybe he didn't? ]
no subject
[that may require some explanation, he realizes, so he turns his head to allen to say,] I was born in the undercity and moved into Piltover proper when I started Academy. It eh... well, Piltover doesn't care for reminders of what they consider the slums.
no subject
Allen blinks though, as something about that clicks. ]
--you didn't, though. Consider them the slums. [ Why else phrase it that way? ]
You never went back?
no subject
[he glances to allen, wonders if he can maybe understand in some way- the order, the troubles with it but finding bright spots and seeing good people. the way it shaped him into who he is today, that can't be too far off, could it?]
Sometimes, but not often. Less when Hextech came into being and we became busy, went into the public eye. Wouldn't want to upset the sponsors. [ah, there's that bitterness hidden behind a dry joke again.]
no subject
He meets his gaze and holds it though, expression thoughtful. He doesn't understand it, but he understands it enough from reading between those lines to be able to relate a little: it's complicated and a part of you. ]
Sponsors? [ He blinks. That's new. ]
no subject
It was more Jayce's job than mine, thankfully. He is Piltover's golden boy. [a shake of the head.] They even put his face on mugs.
no subject
Still he shakes his head a little, smiling for a touch as he considers that. Dials it back to recalling more what he had wanted to ask him about in the first place. The bigger picture. ]
Do you miss it?
no subject
the question makes him frown though, a hesitation that tells he maybe is feeling uncertain about his answer. not because of the answer, that comes easily enough, but the fact it comes so easily.
he should miss it more than he does. he shouldn't think about returning to that life with a certain level of uneasiness, especially not when it would imply leaving jayce on his own.]
I don't. [he finally admits, because it is allen and he does not want to deflect, not to him.] I should, but I don't. Honestly Allen? The more I think of my life there the angrier I get.
[one of the leaves at his chest wilts rather suddenly, though he himself looks fine and doesn't notice it, just frowning as he considers it all.]
no subject
But that answer catches Allen be surprise. Not that Viktor admits that he doesn't miss it, because honestly Allen rather got that sense anyway. But Viktor, who is normally so even-keeled and while yes, very wry occasionally... ]
Angrier? [ He blinks, head tipping back to regard the older man more thoughtfully. Missing the leaf as the other man's clothes do block that and sitting side by side as they are.
"Angry?" Viktor? ]
Why angrier?
no subject
but that hypothetical aside viktor sighs, clearly unsure how much he wants to say. it's allen though and viktor's tired, giving in to a level of bitterness he's always kept firmly under wraps.]
I was always a sumprat to them, regardless of what I offered. I could handle that, the looks and the backhanded comments, the endless pandering, if only I could do my work. That work that was supposed to make a difference for the people that mattered, and did it?
No. We jumped through hoops again and again to line the pockets of the people who didn't need it. And what did I do? I told myself eventually it would be worth it, a little more time. One more party where they call me Jayce's assistant, one more rumor about how I must have tricked my way into my position, one more person speaking slowly as though I could not understand them. Honestly, how could I have been so blind to it? I had the gall to be shocked when even our most basic, rudimentary attempts to help the undercity were delayed.
[his jaw is tight and several more of the plants are wilting now, enough that he notices them, snapping him out of his irritation to blink and touch.]
no subject
But it's surprising to him, the bitterness coming from someone who he's never heard be anything more than dryly sarcastic before. It's real though, and genuine, which is why Allen's a little startled. Viktor, you... that makes a lot of sense, actually. Why he always threw himself into his work so much, why he wanted to do something that might help people and leave that sort of legacy. Why they both got along as people who wanted to get straight to doing something and didn't care much for pleasing people along the way, even if the goal of it was to help people.
Underdogs frustrated with the system.
But his surprised revelation is cut short by realizing that the greenery that had been overtaking him begins to rapidly wilt and shrivel, curling up like dying flowers. And Allen jerks up, alarmed. ]
Viktor! You're... the leaves-- [ Startled, he reaches over to touch his shoulder but stops short, unsure if that would be a good idea or not when parts of him are... dying? ]
Are you alright?
no subject
he carefully tugs it out entirely, brow furrowed before-] Oh for- is this another matter of self discovery? Truly? I did not need to become a... a human planter box to know Piltover was a deeply flawed place.
[so exasperated, even if he's aware that's not really the point.]