deercountry | magic, madness, heaven, sin

magic, madness, heaven, sin

JULY 2022 EVENT

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: A statue of Lady Justice with her sword against a man's throat. ]
[Image Two: A pair of hands covered in blood. ]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Two people trying to reach one another being pulled back by multiple, disembodied hands. ]
[Image Two: A feminine figure lying on a boardwalk above the ocean. ]

Prompt Three
[Image One: A pair of black scales held by a statue. ]
[Image Two: A single hand reaching up from the water, implying drowning. ]

[NAVIGATION]

Prompt 1 • Prompt 2 • Prompt 3 • Plotting • Newsletter

[JUMP TO COMMENTS]

GOOD AND EVIL

WHEN: July
WHERE: All over
CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, revenge, possible torture, possible death, mental manipulation

An excerpt from the book Thus Comes the Reckoning:

Are we inherently good or evil? Are we hard-wired for empathy? Or is violent behavior our innate reaction when the world has done us wrong? This is something that has been debated for centuries, even in the times Before Sodder. Have we evolved since the Dreamless World? Since the Nightmare? Have the Pthumerians and their blessings made us more peaceful and understanding?

While it is true that our world is more generous and caring than the ones we have read about in the Dreamless World, where in spite of our shortages, we want for nothing that we truly need, the very existence of corruption and beasthood should speak of our true natures and of the true natures of Sleepers. There is no time that this is more prominent in our world than in the month of July, when the Reckoning holds sway.

It is unclear if it is the unbearable heat, the Pthumerian's influence, or perhaps just our true selves coming forth, but each July is the prelude to chaos. The pleasantries die off, the generosity wanes, and we forget the lessons of our more kind and gentle benefactors. Fist fights over minor disagreements, people attacking one another with weapons when they don't get their way or wait too long in line, and murders over the loss of a game. Does the summer make monsters of us all? Or does the Beast Moon simply encourage what is already inside of us?

Sleepers will find themselves encouraged towards violence. Many will be drawn to do evil. They will feel a pull to hurt others, particularly those who have hurt them first. Anger will seem like a natural state and many will find that they have lost all ability to reason when they become even minorly frustrated. Vigilante justice will seem like a great idea. Did someone hurt your loved one? Then tear them apart! Did a person borrow something from you and never return it? End them. Criminal activity will skyrocket, particularly violent criminal activity, throughout the month of July. People will feel more inclined to steal, to damage property, to kill, and to get revenge. Torturing others will seem like a perfectly reasonable idea. It is the month to do so and it might even feel good to hurt other people.

Sleepers will also feel violently protective of those they love. They will want to make sure that the violent crimes happening to other people doesn't happen to their people and they might go to such extremes as locking their loved ones up so that nothing can get to them. It's an obsessive need to protect and not let go. Someone might even feel so inclined as to kill their friends just to make sure that no one else can hurt them.

On the flip side, those who manage to resist the violent urges will be more inclined to help those who are violent. Even if you are someone who has never wanted to help another person, you will be drawn to do good. It's not impossible to talk others down, to sway them to being better people and to remembering who they are. It's just a lot of work. But still, those who are impacted by the good will feel that same need to protect others; only for them, it doesn't have to necessarily be someone they know. They want to do the right thing, to protect people from themselves. Unlike the evil, they will know there are limits, and they will not hurt others in their attempt to protect them. But they may end up being willing to, possibly uncharacteristically, sacrifice themselves to do so.

QUICK FACTS: 1. You can only be impacted by The Good or The Evil at one time. Someone who is Good can be corrupted into becoming Evil. If someone is talked down from being Evil, they can either go back to being their normal selves, or they can become impacted by The Good instead. This can happen as many times in the month as possible, but they can only be Good or Evil at one time. You can not be both at once.

2. Characters who can usually heal demons/possessions/etc. can cure Evil in people. Their powers will work the same as they would in their canon/from their blood powers. Game based items that would normally cure corruption however will NOT work to cure Evil. They will still work to cure corruption/beasthood.

3. The Reckoning can still punish you. Just because you're being influenced by outside forces won't matter to her. If she catches you doing something bad and it isn't for revenge purposes, she will punish you as she sees fit. This is left up to player interpretation.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

FORTUNE'S FOOL

WHEN: July
WHERE: All over
CONTENT WARNINGS: Star-Crossed lovers, encouraged suicidal ideation, possible death

Love. A complicated feeling that puts people into complicated circumstances. And yet, people will find themselves focused on this emotion more so than usual this month. For someone who is already in love, the emotions will become even stronger, almost overwhelming, wanting to burst out of them like a song. For those who were not in love before, they may find themselves suddenly easily falling for others. Maybe they will love multiple people or maybe just one, but love will be an all consuming emotion to those who fall victim to it.

The only problem is that love isn't always accepted. People who are deeply in love will suddenly start to feel persecuted and judged from those around them. They will feel as though their love is unallowed, that the person that means the most to them is being rejected by their family, their friends, by society itself. It doesn't matter if that's the truth: there's just something inside of people that makes them thoroughly convinced that their love is not meant to be. Star-Crossed. Unattainable.

There will be an increased urge to solidify that love as being real and unbreakable. Maybe this is done through fighting back against those who are saying no. Maybe it comes in the form of secretly saying vows and loved ones spiritually tying themselves together forever. Or maybe in the end, the only true way that lovers feel they can truly be together... is in death. All of these will seem like reasonable options— or maybe even the only option. Love is never ending, after all, even if life is.

QUICK FACTS: 1. Anyone can fall in love with anyone else. It doesn't have to be the character that you're already shipping with if all players agree! You can fall in love with someone you know, someone you've just met, or even a total stranger. Love is a gift to everyone, right??? Who needs pesky things like introductions.

2. You do not have to commit suicide. You can, of course, and many will definitely feel drawn to it with the basis of the prompt, but it is not required. Please make sure to mark all threads accordingly!

3. The persecution against your relationship does not have to be real. You can, however, tie this into the first prompt, and have even the smallest slights be reason to think that your love is persecuted. Similarly, people who are impacted by the first prompt may be more likely to actually shun those who are in love. Feel free to work with it however you see fit!

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

OUR OWN PRISONS

WHEN: July
WHERE: All over, but particularly by the ocean.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Self-hatred, judgement, suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, possible drowning.

Everyone has personal flaws. Things about themselves they don't like, reactions they wish they didn't have, habits that they want to break. Sometimes the awareness of flaws can outweigh the awareness of our strengths as well. It's easy to get caught up in the feeling that we're less then perfect, that we'll never be able to fix ourselves no matter what we do.

This month, those feelings seem to be amplified. Sleepers will see flaws everywhere; in the people they love, in the Trenchies, and most heavily in themselves. Feelings of self-hatred and judgement will be amplified and even those who are usually confident in themselves will find that they're suffering from it. Sometimes these feelings may manifest as a simple bout of anger and depression; but for others, it can become more severe quickly.

Those who find themselves suffering heaviest from these feelings will feel called to the ocean. Maybe it's a desire to go back to a squid form, a place that's simpler and more straight forward. Or maybe it's the unbearable heat that's putting these thoughts in someone's head and they'll feel like going for a swim would cure it. But there's something inside everyone that knows that if they go into the ocean, they might not come back out again.

Sleepers will feel like the ultimate judgement is waiting for them out there. If they are seeing flaws more in themselves, being by the ocean will amplify feelings of suicide. If they're seeing flaws in everyone else, they might feel compelled to bring those people down to the ocean to drown them. The ocean, associated so heavily with rebirth, could be the very thing to cleanse people of their imperfections, after all. Maybe it would be a favor to everyone if someone just gave in and tried to fix themselves and others. For the good of Trench.

QUICK FACTS: 1. These feelings can cause people to become more corrupt. The longer they are exposed to these feelings, the closer they will get to high levels of corruption, and eventual beasthood.

2. Because these feelings can cause corruption, they can also be relieved through the same methods as corruption. Talking, touching, Moon Drops, get some therapy, whatever the player chooses.

3. People who do not address their feelings and/or who spend too much time by the ocean will inevitably deal with feelings of suicide and/or homicide. Please be sure to handle these topics appropriately and content warn your threads.

[JUMP TO TOP]

CODING

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[good/evil, open, gun violence cw]

(in which the Bachelor has not yet cut his strings.)

[it's a ridiculous turn of events that leads daniil to point his revolver at a man's skull.

if there is one skill learned in a relentless plague and dismantling of civilized society in the mad desperation that followed it is scavenging. rummaging through bins became second nature when a few bent needles could mean trading for bullets or even, rarely, food. if it's a habit it's one his pride is not too delicate to keep up here, in this dreadful place, where he has yet to settle in one place for too long and feels the unpleasant glare of the natives grate down his back.

he is doing just that, picking a glass bottle out of a bin when he hears a small group snort behind him. 'disgusting' is certainly said, perhaps 'pathetic'. meaningless, and yet, for a brilliant and blinding moment, every care daniil has ever had for people, for life, for the faceless mob and turning the other cheek or merely offering a snide comment in turn- all of it flees his head.

it feels so excellent to turn and pull the gun from his coat. it feels even better when two people flee and the man now staring down the barrel of his gun glares at him in a mixture of fear and impotent rage.

it would be so very easy to pull the trigger.]

Could you repeat that, sir?

[closed for satoko, xenophobia and violence cw]

(in which the Bachelor receives a lesson in denying death from a true expert.)

[the raised voices alert daniil to trouble first. angry mobs aren't exactly new, though here he has even less authority than he did before, no head families to try and sway the fickle whims of ignorant idiots intent on making trouble for everyone. here the best he can do is slip into a nearby alley and observe what seems to be a small but no less angry group of natives.

some have knives, one an axe that looks comically large if not for the less than humorous situation. from the energy he can tell well enough they want blood. a further glance out and he's surprised to see it's apparently the blood of a little girl.

at least the blond hair and stature seem so young from where he's standing. he hesitates as one of the men point at her, calling her a bottomfeeder, or sleeper scum. there's some sort of rant about the trouble that follows sleeper's wakes, about the sea and the storm.

in a moment of irritation daniil steps out of the alley, hand going to the revolver in his coat. he has so few damn bullets but maybe he can scare them off or something, this is ridiculous.

surely this will not escalate, even if the man with the axe is clearly on a hair trigger himself.]

[ooc; wildcard is also on the table! note for the first one if you absolutely do not want him to kill the townsperson let me know, otherwise i will play it by ear!]

Edited 2022-07-16 00:17 (UTC)

[ the girl appears young enough, that's certainly true. fifteen - maybe sixteen, on a good day. her figure's not quite as petite as it once was, but the telltale signs are all there: cheeks that haven't quite lost their baby fat, a sense of style that looks more fitting for a young teen than a young woman.

and then she speaks, and the illusion might as well have crumbled into dust. ]

Bottomfeeder? My, that's quite the long word for someone with your faculties. Consider me impressed.

[ her voice is sharp and precise, with a lisp from her childhood that's receded some but never quite given up. she speaks far too calmly for a girl facing down a mob; her voice is cold and imperious, her back held straight without any sign of flinching. and perhaps most importantly, she doesn't even make a single attempt to run. ]

Why don't you run along now, hmm? I'm not in the mood to deal with you blood-drunk wastrels tonight.

Edited 2022-07-16 03:41 (UTC)

[everyone seems thrown by this, daniil included. he stops in his tracks, wondering a moment if he mistook the figure for a child when she must be far older but-

the crowd snaps back too quickly though, all that senseless rage fueled. a man lifts his knife and hollers 'one less of you will do it! one less!' like an odd, frothy mantra. for the first time daniil notices the tell tale signs of higher corruption on some of the people, signs he learned in his rounds at the lumenarium.

his resolve to step forward is too late, because the man with the axe is quicker, raising it with shocking ease to slash right down upon the girl's skull. daniil shouts, a formless sound as he tries to rush forward and draw his gun.

it will be too late, too late, damnit all, even if he missed there was no way this crowd of knife wielding beasts in the making weren't going to descend like the animals they were.]

Oh, please. It isn't as if you have the resolve to kill me, and even if you did-

[ with daniil's new vantage point, he'll be able to see the sudden look that crosses her face. to be honest, it's a bit out of place given her current situation! there's no fear, no rage, no real motivation to go this way or that. it's a look of utter boredom, metamorphosing in a split-second into puzzled interest. it's not the face of a girl regretting her deeds - it's the face of someone thinking, at the last moment, "huh, he's actually going to go through with it."

for about half a second, that expression stays on her face, even as she tries to raise one hand to defend herself. the other hand reaches down, grabbing at the skirt at her hip, trying to retrieve something.

but half a second simply isn't enough time, and even her plans aren't weighty enough to stop a hunter's axe.

the blade cleaves into her skull with a sickening sound, the sudden fragmentation of frontal and parietal bones alike almost masking the sounds of tearing tissue beneath. the girl's corpse falls without even a token resistance. and just like that, daniil is left there, with the mangled body of a teenage girl and a crowd of trench's bloodthirstiest natives pouncing upon it like wild animals.

just like that, a life stolen, taken with all the effort of chopping a single log of wood. a testament to life's weakness; an undeniable triumph of death's grip.

just like that-

-just like that, daniil is in an alley, watching a crowd yell at a young woman.

the girl appears young enough, that's certainly true. fifteen - maybe sixteen, on a good day. her figure's not quite as petite as it once was, but the telltale signs are all there: cheeks that haven't quite lost their baby fat, a sense of style that looks more fitting for a young teen than a young woman. a slight flush across warm skin, vibrant and alive.

things proceed differently this go. she reaches down, casually pulling her skirt up before pulling out a weapon. a handgun - a tokarev tt-33, at that. old soviet manufacture, if it's the sort of thing the bachelor knows to look for. she cocks it and pushes the safety off with a single quick motion, raising to aim directly at the axeman's head before anyone's had time to react.

the crowd falls silent; one woman holds her breath. and then she speaks once more, and the illusion might as well have crumbled into dust... assuming he hadn't already seen past it, of course. ]

Let's try this again, shall we?

[ the tone of her voice barely changes. calm, cool, precise. like someone narrating a court document instead of threatening murder. ]

By my count, there are five of you. Yes? [ she taps the side of the handgun. ] Just so you're aware, there are eight bullets currently chambered in this gun. Normally, I'd be firmly against the idea of "shooting nonlethally." I'm far too frugal-minded for such wasteful behavior, you know. However-

[ there's no variation to her voice's tempo, no speeding up as her heart races. she looks, for all the world, like she might be having a normal conversation with a friend. ]

-at the moment, I'd really quite like to make my point clear. Clear enough for even imbeciles like you to understand. [ her gun stays level, stable and easy. ] If any of you try to lay a finger on me, the first four bullets will go to your friends. Of the remaining four, two should be enough to shatter both your kneecaps. At that point, I still have two bullets left to use at my own discretion while you bleed out. Have I made myself clear?

[ the crowd stays silent. after a moment, satoko sighs, pursing her lips and asking more firmly: ]

Go on, then. Speak up. Have I made myself clear?

[he manages to get the gun out just at the first sickening crunch. it's a gruesome sight, indulgently horrific in ways even the sand pest didn't often manage. it's senseless and cruel, it's inevitable and such a wrath fills his chest at that fact, at the immovable nature of it all, that he swears it could eat him alive.

the world shifts with a sickening lurch.

or perhaps the lurch is in his head, the image of the dead girl staying firmly in place despite the rest of his mind thrown relentlessly back to the mounting dread he felt in the alley. it takes several beats to right himself, to ease the rapidly whirling confusion that tries to make sense of what he knows and what he knows, memories that now couldn't be and yet-

he storms out of the alley, sees further proof of madness in how the girl is alive and well. for a moment he swears he can superimpose it all, how her skull looked caved in, grey matter leaking against shards of her devastated skull. no, she is here, she pulls out a gun and the group before her suddenly go very still.

she is here, and she is rerouting the whole scene without batting an eye. she just speaks to the growling mob like wasting the bullets would be the only true inconvenience, as though she's walked in line with death too often to waste breath on sympathy, or faltering.

one man near the back flees, followed by another soon after, animal panic that suit the violence daniil swear he saw before. the last three are more stubborn, the man in the axe more so, teeth bared in a snarl. there's something too his tension that looks cornered, a big fish sensing a bigger fish maybe, which would be comical if not for every aspect of the gory situation.

his friends begin to back off, knives lowered. the man, slowly, lowers his axe. even still he bites out 'you're beasts. all of you.'

daniil steps closer to the scene, his own revolver in one hand, unnerved but with impossible to hide fascination. not at the crowd, not the gun, but the girl before him who seemingly denied death in a way his mind is still wrapping around.]

Call me whatever you will. I'm simply glad we see eye to eye on this.

[ it's only when the two at the front start to back away that she allows herself to unwind. she sighs, more exasperated than relieved; she dusts her skirt with her left hand, making sure her presentation is acceptable for the outside world. it'd be an almost human gesture if it weren't for the present circumstances. the man's grip tightens on the axe's handle; he hisses something out-

"foul creatures, laying waste to our city-"

without hesitation, satoko's aim shifts to the left, squarely and surely pointing at one of his little henchlings' heads. her finger curls at the trigger, stopping just a hair shy of pulling, and she says- ]

I've made myself clear already, and I don't intend to repeat myself.

[ the man draws back- wavers in his convictions, for a moment- and finally spits at the ground in front of her. and then he turns, leaving with the others.

satoko doesn't turn away from them. her aim stays fixed and true. and when the bachelor begins to draw nearer, she speaks clearly and cruelly without even bothering to look at him- ]

And you? Are you here to clean the city up as well? [ an easy enough assumption, especially with how these weeks have been going. her jaw clenches. ] I'm really, truly not in the mood to play games. If you're here to pick a fight, just say it now so we can get this over with.

Edited 2022-07-16 05:42 (UTC)

[daniil's eyes only stray for a moment to the retreating forms, to the way they scatter rather than regroup- good, it seems they were properly cowed for the moment. he has no doubt this will happen again, maybe with them or maybe with others. irritating, pointless. wholly unsurprising.

it takes him beat to realize he's being spoken to, a glance back and still he swears he can see where the axe split her skull. he puts his gun away, a pointed gesture. frankly he has no interest in testing her, not in the slightest.]

I saw you die. [just blunt. he needs to chase this, whatever it is. maybe a hallucination, maybe not.] That man and his axe- and yet here you stand.

[ her facial expression seems immutable, unchangeable. even as the bachelor puts the gun away, making his actions loud and clear, she still keeps that same cold disinterest as clear as day.

and then he says those words-

"i saw you die."

-and for the first time tonight, for the first time in a good few weeks, satoko hojo's eyes light up. ]

My, did you now? [ even her voice has shifted, an almost predatory interest laden in each word. she turns on her feet, facing daniil head on - giving him her full attention. ] And you've even remembered the method. I must say, I'm quite impressed, sir.

[ in any other situation, it might pass as sarcasm. but here, the unfortunate truth is clear: she's being entirely genuine. for better or for worse, daniil dankovsky has made himself an Interesting Person to the young woman death forgot.

she holsters her own gun - a mutual courtesy. and then she gathers the ends of her skirt in her hand and curtsies, like some antiquated young socialite. ]

Satoko Hojo. A pleasure to meet you, sir. [ a beat, as she waits for him to return the favor. ] You're new around here, I take it?

[daniil half expects surprise, perhaps a laugh, dismissal of what must be some hallucination brought upon by any number of things. yet he knows hallucinations, knows the feel of them a little too well now, after so little sleep for so many days and all the fevered madness. this didn't feel the same.

and as if to prove that the girl- Satoko Hojo apparently- confirms it. more so she says it like she's done this before. death, an old companion.]

Daniil Dankovsky. [he offers a little bow in turn, the sort of formal flair of the capitol, perhaps a touch tongue in cheek but for once not at the expense of his companion.] I am. I washed on shore this month to a most unpleasant welcome. Not quite the level you jus experienced.

[which turns him back around on that, fascination (obsession) clear in his tone.] I have never seen such a clear denial of death itself. It was as though you simply willed yourself beyond its reach. How?

[ This is how things happen here in Trench, apparently. One moment you can just be walking down one of the streets, the next moment you're witnessing someone you actually kind of recognize holding up a gun towards what seems like one of the local townspeople.

Some people might opt to just walk on. To not get involved in this sort of thing.

Daniel LaRusso has always been notoriously bad at ignoring these things.

It's why he approaches. Not full on, since even he isn't dumb enough to walk straight into a gun, but he at least gets a little bit closer to the situation going on, just enough so he can call out and not have to yell while doing so. ]

What's going on here?

[a very good thing he did, because that moment of distraction scatters daniil's increasingly sinister thoughts on the situation. truly unpleasant matters about how the satisfaction would be worth wasting the bullet, wouldn't it?

hearing daniel's voice stutters that, an odd moment of clarity, the faintest confusion before the tendrils of it settle back in on his very worst impulses.] This man was just repeating himself for me.

[said man glances between them, uncomfortable, scared but also angry. 'sleepers' is muttered under his breath like it's a vile word, and daniil's eyes narrow as he cocks the revolver. poor daniel, what a day already.]

[ What a day indeed.

And while Daniel is definitely Worried with a capital w at the use of the gun here, he thinks that both sides are not exactly doing great here - which is exactly why he's immediately so tired the moment he came upon this. Sure, the Trenchie is not exactly showing role model behaviour over here, but on the other hand, surely an insult shouldn't be something that immediately allows for a gun to be involved in the entire situation.

It's like every single notion of common sense in this town is just lost, somehow.

He'd focus on just trying to get the insulting party to apologize, but he's pretty sure that if he isn't doing it under threat of a literal gun, then Daniel's words aren't going to do much either. Which means his only option is turning towards Daniil. ]

You can't-- You aren't going to shoot him just for saying that, right?

[ Listen to this pleading tone, Daniil.

Daniel is mostly trying to speak to reason here. Because surely there's got to be some of that left in this situation, right. Please. ]

[funnily enough reason is the most useful tool here, rather than emotional swaying or empathy or anything else. reason is what daniil clings to each day, as bad as things got, and daniel's pleading tone is less effective than the truth that it's a very valid question.

he blinks once, finger moving a little off the trigger.] That- no. Of course not. It wouldn't be worth the mess.

[he doesn't sound convinced of that, not really, part of him very much thinks it'd be worth any mess but- no, he's a doctor, not a street thug. those he killed before were self defense or... necessary. this isn't.

he lowers the gun, looking grim. the trenchie he just threatened looks torn between saying something stupid or running himself.]

[ Daniel looks like he's about to remark something else - most likely about the fact that Daniil seems more concerned about the mess than anything else - but then his attention is kind of drawn to where it's a little more needed right now when he remembers the Trenchie is still there.

Right. Better take care of that first, before this escalates all over again.

Though Daniel only starts to look more exasperated when he notices the person still looks like they're ready to say something. Despite being threatened by a gun only a moment ago. Why can no one in this place ever make a single good decision for themselves? ]

Look. [ Daniel's tone is serious, sure, but it also sounds infinitely done. It's the tone of a teacher who's had to deal with a rowdy class for just ten minutes too long. ] Just get lost, or I'll leave you alone with him.

[ Gesturing at Daniil. Yes, he is the 'him' here. Clearly this is a good cop, bad cop situation. Or maybe exasperated cop, cop with a gun. No one wants to be stuck with the latter, if not just on account of said gun.

It seems to be a good enough argument for the Trenchie anyway, because that one turns on their heels and starts running off quickly.

That's one problem solved. ]

.. can we please just not shoot random townspeople? [ Is that too much to ask. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

magic, madness, heaven, sin

Daniil Dankovsky | Pathologic

LET'S FUCKIN GOOOOOO; i'll loop when it's her tag next!

excellent!!

1/2; cw: graphic depiction of death

2/2; cw: gun threats, satoko being the literal worst

cw gore and death, the satoko special

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cw xenophobia! probably in the rest of the thread too

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