deercountry | Because one day, I'll leave you a phantom

Because one day, I'll leave you a phantom

OCTOBER 2021 EVENT

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Band playing on moving float with people in masks walking behind.]
[Image Two: Woman in gas mask and elaborate ballgown.]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Man looking away while creepy corpse-like woman puts hand on window.]
[Image Two: Two contorted girls crawling across floor with blood flowing out.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Headless horseman with jack-o-lantern rearing on horse.]
[Image Two: Annabelle doll rocking on its own in chair.]

[NAVIGATION]

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

[JUMP TO COMMENTS]

WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE

WHEN: During the daytime every day of October
WHERE: Throughout the streets of Cellar Door and Willful Machine.
CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A

The Black Parade has begun in Trench. You will begin to see residents painting skulls and monsters onto their faces, even the ones who abide by practical lifestyles. By the first week of October, you won't see a single resident of Trench without facepaint or a mask of some kind obscuring their face.

"It's for the Black Parade," they say, "It's to keep us safe. You should start painting your face too. You should disguise yourself so they can't find you."

Who, you might ask? Anyone dangerous. It's vague and unsettling, but you think maybe they are onto something. Call it intuition or basic common sense. Stalls pop up all around Trench selling cheap masks and costumes. They aren't exactly Halloween costumes. There's less of a focus on becoming something and more of a focus on looking different than you currently do.

Then the Black Parade really takes off. Black and white confetti seem to fall from the sky and you can hear the distant sound of trumpets and drums. You can feel the earth give small tremors and Trenchies begin to flock to Cellar Door and the Willful Machine. They line the streets and you can see why: a literal parade is coming through. Stages are set with talented musicians rocking out, singing into wireless, floating moonlit mics. Incredible, giant puppets walk through the streets guided by a dozen talented Architects. Other people move about in stilted costumes, elaborate gowns. Some performers set up small, stationary areas to perform for smaller crowds. The sky is filled with massive and unusual kites. Find one among the many stalls or make your own!

Stalls hand out candied applies, foil-wrapped candies, and roasted pumpkin seeds by the bundles. Hot ciders are kept in barrels ready to be served up in tin mugs, with or without alcohol. It's a festive atmosphere that seems to go nonstop 24/7 throughout October but exclusively in these areas. It's a good place to go to avoid some of the haunts of October and to have a good time. Why not get involved? Make your own puppet, float, or costumes, and join in the fun. Chunks of the road are reserved for parades, but others have been sectioned off for people to dance and mingle about. You quickly learn that face-paint and masked/concealed faces seem to be a good way of avoiding the attention of beasts, angry Pthumerians, and other unusual creatures in Trench.

It's not a foolproof method, but October largely celebrates the safety of ambiguity and is one of the few times the practical and pleasure factions get along. Get your face painted up or pick out a costume - it's both aesthetic and life-saving! The Black Parade is held annually every October all October long and is considered a significant Trench holiday. Many people refer to the costumes specifically as "Black Parade" costumes and sentiments commonly exchanged at this time include: Have a blessed and safe Blood Moon; May your Seasons pass unseen; Bless the many faces of cleverness; May you go unseen by the blood; Blessed Black Parade.

QUICK FACTS

1. Halloween costumes you can buy at the store won't be available unless a character intentionally makes one. Most of the costumes in Trench are more or less eccentric make-up looks and unusual masks. They look a lot more like Cirque du Soleil costumes than Halloween costumes.

2. Characters can have multiple costume/face-paint/mask changes throughout the month. No one will be forced into these - but it is strongly, culturally encouraged for everyone's safety to dress up!

LONELINESS KILLS: THE CURSE OF CLOVERFIELD

WHEN: October
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Psychological-based curse, feelings of intense loneliness, mental health.

It is said that the Blood Moon reminds Cloverfield of those he has lost over the decades. They say that the howling wind is actually the sound of Cloverfield's cries and there seems to be some truth to that. He can be seen wandering the Farther Shores and watching the moon. If you seek out Cloverfield and offer him comfort and companionship, he will bless you with a worn picture of a loved one or someone you miss desperately or even just a place you miss...Even if it's impossible for such a picture to exist.

Of course, not everyone will visit Cloverfield. Cloverfield's loneliness begins to curse the city of Trench. Sleepers will be impacted the most heavily as their blood will directly react to this curse. Sleepers who have a good sense of relationship may be able to avoid the curse, but those who often feel lonely or homesick will start to feel worse and worse as the days go by.

Eventually, their loneliness begins to manifest as a corpse-like version of themselves or the person they care about most. This corpse follows them around everywhere like a shadow. You won't notice your own Loneliness, but other people might, especially palebloods, Night Walkers, and Disciples. These corpses don't seem to care about anything or anyone and at first don't seem violent...But eventually, this Loneliness becomes consuming.

Once it does, you too will contort, and you and your Loneliness will soon be crawling about on all fours, blood floating out of you in thin streams. You'll be lost to your feelings of loneliness, stalking the streets with your Loneliness, looking for companionship. Of course, you're completely corrupt at this point, so your version of finding companionship most likely involves accidentally suffocating someone or other violent actions. Some people may never become violent once they are in the Final Stage, but the blood constantly flowing from them will create heavy blood pollution and may draw in far more dangerous creatures. You really don't want Lonely People walking around!

Better start some conversations - even if these Lonely People are creepy as hell. But, then again, they are just lonely. Hopefully, you will find peace of mind and find your people. Hopefully, you will banish loneliness...For the time being.

QUICK FACTS

1. This curse will impact people who are more isolated than others. Interaction with other people or animals will alleviate the curse and may completely stop it for some.

2. You can stop the curse at the corpse stage by confronting a Sleeper and opening up an emotional conversation about their loneliness. This may not always work, but the more the conversation works for the Sleeper, the more effective. The corpse will fleck away once the curse has been reversed.

3. Curses can continue to come back throughout October, but once you've experienced it once, it's less likely to occur again.

4. The Final Stage of the curse is the hardest to stop and most of the time, it's easiest to just kill the Cursed. It's easier to kill them than talk them out of their loneliness, but it is not impossible to talk them out of it. It requires dedication, patience, and some serious cleverness on how to survive a monster trying to kill you at the same time.

5. Loneliness can be widely interpreted once in the Final Stage. People should generally still look like themselves. How people act in this stage can vary from character to character and should be centric to how characters deal with their loneliness in general. If they're prone to shutting people out, then maybe their Loneliness is aloof and distant. If they're prone to clinging to toxic people, then maybe their Loneliness is accidentally violent. It's open to interpretation.

LEGENDS OF TRENCH

WHEN: All October
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Ghosts, Themes of death.

Unfortunately, not everyone can gain control of their loneliness. As blood is spilled throughout Trench over loneliness, this blood pollution festers and begins to claim poor souls. Corruption leads way to beasthood and people lost to this find themselves transforming into familiar, legendary ghost stories of old-world lore. These Legendary Ghosts come out primarily at night. As the Black Parade established, anyone who keeps their faces disguised with make-up or masks will be completely safe from the Legendary Ghosts. Though if you go after a Legendary Ghost in a costume, you'll only be safe until you attack them. It's not a bad move for a sneak attack though!

...But those who forgot to dress up or felt like such superstitions wouldn't work...

Congratulations, you might come across the path of a Dullahan: a headless horseman carrying a whip made from a spinal cord, ready to throw basins of blood on you and draw in other beasts. Or maybe you encounter a far more subtle Legendary Ghost. Maybe you see a hitchhiker on the side of the road and decide to give them a ride, but when you look in your rearview mirror, they are no longer in your backseat. While most of these Legendary Ghosts are intending to harm you and spread more blood pollution, some just seem to be genuinely lost souls, lost to corruption, lost to their own failures and loneliness. In some cases, freeing them is protecting yourself and others, but in other cases, freeing them is just simple kindness.

You may meet a ghost bride who is waiting eternally for her wedding by one of the shrines in Cassandra. Maybe you meet a ghostly scholar at the Archives in Gaze. The spirits range widely and seem to haunt every corner of Trench - including your own homes. The only real way to deter a Legendary Ghost from your home is by heavily decorating your home with things like jack-o-lanterns, fake blood splatters, fake gravestones, and various other death-centric decor. This seems to repel Legendary Ghosts as they see it as a reminder of their own fate. Some are angered by the decorations while others are terrified by them and seem incapable of telling the difference between real blood and fake blood.

QUICK FACTS

1. These corrupt souls can be saved through blood rituals/magic/ghost banishings relying on blood artifacts. This will usually put the soul to rest - it will not bring people "back to life."

2. While it is mostly Trenchies turning into these beings, Sleepers can also be transformed into Legendary Ghosts. We provide a general outline, but the idea is that people are turning into legendary ghost stories so you can play with your own ideas/canons.

While Trenchies cannot be saved, we leave it up to you if a Sleeper could be brought back to themselves or if they will have to "die" to be cured of their Legendary Ghost status.

3. You can use famous Legendary Ghosts from around the world. We gave a few examples, but have fun with this! The Legendary Ghost-like creature you go with should generally be "ghost-like" / have to do with death specifically. They do not need to be exclusively evil/violent spirits, but many are.

CODING

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( The nightmare continues and Peter's not sure how much time is actually passing, but all of a sudden he feels the pressure of hands on his shoulders, and there's a voice breaking through the static of his panic. One he recognises — and he's looking up at Kyle with wide, terrified eyes, hands still clamped to his mouth. )

Ky— ( There's a gag that interrupts the name, and a hitched sound after, a kind of whine, like he needs to cry and can't. The appearance of someone else somehow makes it all more real, because he's been here before. Not.... hacking up ants, but panicked, choked out of himself. Breaths that feel tighter and tighter and tighter and it hurts.

Peter tries to do what the older boy says, breathe through his nose, and though a few wayward ants do (horrifically) end up snorted up and out his nose in the process.... he's at least able to breathe that way, though it's tense and tight and his heart's pounding way too fast. )

I don't know, I— it just started happening! ( More ants spill out through his fingers and they're scattering all along the ground now, just as panicked as he is. ) I don't know how to make them stop— please make them stop—

Okay, it's okay, shhh. [Breathing. That's the thing.] Okay, I need you to keep breathing while I figure out... while I figure out how to help you. Because I'm gonna help you, dude.

[He has no idea how, but he's sure going to try.] Breathe through your nose, you're doing good, and try and like... okay, breathe in time with me, okay? I know it's hard but try, it'll help.

[At the very least it might keep him from fucking passing out. Kyle breathes in four counts because it's what he does when he's near panic, and he keeps his hands on Peter's shoulders. Mentally he runs through a dozen ideas to stop what's happening.

Make him puke and see if he's somehow... what? Swallowed an ant hill? That's stupid. Squish all the ants? Pointless. Scream for help? Yeah, THAT isn't calming. Pray? Sure, and to who or what?

He keeps breathing with Peter.]

Good, okay, exhale, you're doing great, keep it up... uhm, okay, does your throat feel like it has something in it? Just nod if so. We might have to make you puke something up.

Edited 2021-10-12 04:29 (UTC)

( It always feels like the world's ending, when he's this panicked. It's all he can see, feel, understand, except.... no, it's not all, not now, because there's someone else here with him. And over time in Deerington, that became something that happened for Peter. Other people there to help him through these times.

Other people to help him stay grounded. He knows to try and focus on Kyle's voice, instructions: Peter clings to those words like a lifeline.

'It's okay'

'I'm gonna help you'

It's hard to do it at first, it always is, but having someone directly tell him what to do... that helps. Breathe through his nose, breathe in time with Kyle, in and out, slowly. He's still panting and whimpering for a few moments, but the hands on his shoulders remind him that someone's holding onto him, and Peter's holding on right back, and— he's finally able to breathe thanks to the other's coaxing. The panic doesn't take full hold of him, kept there at the edge. In and out.

He's able to process the question, trying not to think about the nauseating rolls of revulsion shuddering down his spine. Is there something in his throat...? He's.. he's not sure, but... vomiting up sounds horrfically appealing right now. Whatever the fuck's going on, it needs to stop as soon as fucking possible. So even though he doesn't necessarily feel something in his throat, Peter nods anyway, a quick gesture, more ants spilling down his front. He does manage to speak again, unable to stop the hot moisture trickling from the corners of his eyes. )

I think I should— try to throw up—

[How are there still so many ants?! Whatever is wrong with Peter isn't natural, and Kyle thinks he'll have to add this incident to his growing collection of notes about Trench, but that will have to wait. For the moment, the only thing to do is to induce vomiting.

Being rather attached to his fingers, Kyle decides against using his own unless Peter absolutely cannot manage it.]

Dude, I'm going to hold you, and you're going to stick your fingers down your throat. Okay? Like way back until you gag. Then just fucking hurl, sick it all up.

[He shifts so he can sling an arm around Peter's back so that eh can support him easily if need be.]

Nice and fast, okay? Close your eyes and just do it.

[Don't look at the ants, is what he means.]

( Making himself puke is not a thing Peter has ever done before, and so the instruction is immensely helpful in his panic where he otherwise probably wouldn't be able to do it himself. He's nodding quickly, desperately, tensing up into Kyle's hold, like he's steeling himself there.

His heart's pounding so hard it physically hurts, and Peter's taking a few moments to try to work himself up to this, some part of his mind and body knowing it doesn't Feel Right, wanting to resist the concept.

Then he's sticking his fingers in, and it's a horrible sensation of pushing past the swarm of insects, like countless grains of sand sifting around and around. Peter whimpers again, his other hand grabbing for the older boy's arm so hard it's probably enough to draw blood, nails digging in. But he has to make this stop, it has to stop.

He shoves his fingers in, hard, finds the spot where it makes him gag like Kyle said, and then keeps pushing until his throat convulses and he's suddenly doubling over, retching hard. As he does, he squeezes his eyes shut. It's horrendously unpleasant — a violent steam of ants forced up and out of him, more coming out of his nose in the process, some even coming out of his eyes.

There's another heave and a second big spill of the tiny black things and then Peter's sputtering fewer out until it seems like the flow.... has maybe stopped. And he's left trembling uncontrollably, gasping loudly as he continues to sputter the few remaining ones out, eyes wide and wild, mind spun into some weird lost state. )

[It's gross to say, but Kyle is really, really used to puke. He barely flinches when Peter grabs him, just holds him a little tighter. He keeps his eyes open and so sees the ants, the horrific, impossible flood of ants.

He has no idea how to explain it. He wonders if it even matters.

Kyle wraps his arms around Peter and holds him as he trembles and gasps, shushing him gently the same way his own mother would when Kyle was a little boy.]

Shhh. It's okay. You're okay. You're alright, you're okay. Breathe, just breathe.

( It's some childlike state he finds himself in — as soon as the older boy's arms move around him, as soon as he's held, Peter's clinging on like a much younger boy would, tight and desperate. Face buried into the side of Kyle's neck, like he's trying to hide. If there was ever a lingering shame in him once, it's all gone by now; when someone offers comfort, Peter goes to it.

The gentle shushing feels soft and safe and he's still shuddering in odd spasms, but the fretfulness is slowly ebbing away. Panic starts to level off; he can breathe. In, out, his body matching Kyle's, pressed tight enough that he can feel when his ribs move.

It takes a little while of this, but eventually, Peter's sharper gasps slow down, and he's just breathing. He stays where he is, the both of them a tangle of long limbs, and then he goes limp. Not asleep — but exhausted, words coming out slow and hazy. )

Mmmmm... is it over...?

[Luckily, Kyle is also very used to hugging someone through a bad emotional time. He holds Peter until his breathing finally evens out, until his body gives up and relaxes. Softly, he pushes Peter's thick, dark hair back from his forehead before he pulls back enough to see his face.]

Looks like it is, yeah. You're okay, dude. You made it.

( Peter knows better by now, but he can't help that strange flicker in him that thinks, for just a brief little second, that it's his mom or dad brushing his hair back like that. Soothing and worried and safe.

...It'd be his dad, mostly. His mom wasn't very hands on with him, but when Peter's reverted back to that state that's almost like a little kid, he can't help thinking about his mom too. Despite everything, he misses her.

But that strange little flicker is over, and he's blinking up at Kyle as the older boy pulls back enough to look at him. Peter's still stunned and yet capable of understanding the reality of this, that it really fucking happened. His mouth opens and closes a few times, like he doesn't know what the fuck to say. What comes first is— )

I'm sorry. I don't know— I don't know why that happened, I— it's never been like that before. I'm sorry.

It's okay. [Still in a soothing tone. He offers Peter the smallest of smiles.] You're okay.

Uhm. How has it been, before? Does something like this happen often?

( There's another odd flinch, a sort of spasm that ripples down him, and Peter's staring widely at the ground. There was a time when he'd try with everything he could to cover up the fact there's something extremely fucking wrong with him. These days... he doesn't, can't, try so hard. And he's... tired.

That doesn't mean it ever really gets any easier to admit to it. He seems to wince with every single part of his body, tensing, frowning so deep it looks like it hurts. )

Yeah. T-there's something... wrong with me. I think this place is— making it worse? ( His voice hitches, and then he just says it, the confession spilling out of him like the ants. )

There's kind of a demon inside me.

[Kyle often introduces himself as a 'normal dude from the boring earth' - he's not a superhero or an alien, he's just a wannabe law student. As a result people tend to assume then that he's led a very basic, sheltered life. It's an assumption Kyle's happy to perpetuate.

But.

Kyle's seen more weird shit in his twenty-four years then even some of the superheroes and aliens could dream of.

So at Peter's confession he takes a moment to shelf his skepticism - the guy DID just barf ants - and pats his shoulder reassuringly.]

That sounds, uh. Inconvenient. Do you know what kind?

( It feels so incredibly anti-climatic after the very dramatic display of vomiting insects that Peter might've found it funny. In another life where this was happening to someone else besides him, at least. As it is now, he's just feeling kind of numb and frozen, like his own mind's not sure how to feel after just saying it like that. It's definitely not the kind of thing you just fucking spring on a person.

...Especially not a person you might have only met one time before but thought was really cool and wanted to hang out with sometime.

But maybe Peter doesn't have the luxury of worrying about things like that, anymore. He's learning that he has to take a certain... responsibility for what's wrong with him. Other people deserve to know. And besides, trying to explain why he's so fucking gross without mentioning the demon part would, weirdly enough, make it all harder.

But he's completely surprised by that hand at his shoulder again, the comforting gesture. Kyle should, by all standards, be wanting to keep as far away from him as humanly possible. Peter looks up, stunned and hazy and still looking fairly nauseated. )

Oh. It's like... The.... Ars Goetia kind? ( What was it called? The Lesser Key of Solomon? Or was it the Greater? One of those damn Keys. )

....Some kind of old school shit. ( He almost whispers, looking back down. Saying it always makes it seem so achingly real. )

[Kyle frowns for a moment before he nods.] Okay, I think I've heard OF that. I did a little studying on, uhm, esoteric Judaism a few years ago for fun, and there was some like, weird adjacent crap that basically ripped off Qabala for some weird rituals and had old rich white guys conjuring demons and none of that matters, sorry, I'm rambling.

[Kyle gives Peter a quick hug because godDAMN it looks like he needs one.] Hey. Hey, it's okay. Well, maybe not OKAY, but like... I mean I'm sure we can figure out what the fuck is going on, like why that would happen now.

[He smiles.] Dude, we have like the biggest library EVER in this city. We can totally find some shit that might help.

continued here!

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Because one day, I'll leave you a phantom

cw: panic attack associations

cw: panic attack associations, vomit talk

cw: continuing the panic attack associations & vomit talk tbh... this ain't gonna be pretty!

cw: continuing the panic attack associations & vomit

cw: self-induced vomiting, insect horror things

cw: self-induced vomiting, insect horror things

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