Because one day, I'll leave you a phantom

[reddosmod]

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

Comments

Ryan Akagi | Infinity Train | OTA! (cw: alcohol/drunkenness)

[chickenchoicejudy]

A. PARADE

[After everyone going on and on about how terrible October is, Ryan had actually been kind of freaked out? It was like the sky was going to fall as soon as October 1st hit.

...And then it didn't. It really didn't. Instead there's a celebration happening quite literally all month.

All throughout October Ryan can often be found at the Black Parade, despite the headache tugging at his brain all month. It's not exactly something he could have avoided even if he wanted to, since it's marching right through his neighborhood, but he's always up for a party. Or at least, that's what he'll keep insisting.

He gets really into different face paint looks and trying out new clothes, and he'll gladly dance with anyone who wants to. He drinks more cider than is probably wise and attempts to live on roasted pumpkin seeds, but generally has a great time every time he goes. For once, he doesn't bring his own guitar - he knows what he's about at an event like this, and he doesn't want anything to happen to it.

He'll gladly slide up to people whether he knows them or not, grinning with his tin mug in hand.]

Man, these guys really know how to throw a party, huh?

[Alternately, he can be found either dancing the night away, or off to the side leaning just a little too much along with the music.]

B. LONELINESS
[It starts small. Ryan isn't a stranger to loneliness, or to covering it up with a million distractions so he can't feel it anymore. None of it registers as anything particularly unusual.

What actually strikes him is how as the month goes on, sometimes people shy away from him in public, as though they're afraid of him. Even his otter omen Tomo seems to know something's off, and refuses to walk behind Ryan for any reason. Without knowing the true cause though, all of this exacerbates the problem.

Following him like a heavy shadow is a corpse-like version of himself. His loneliness looks miserable and sullen, and exudes an upsetting and heavy energy - but it's a heaviness Ryan is used to carrying with him. When it first starts, he stubbornly continues to go to the Black Parade anyway, determined to party away these dumb feelings. Obviously if he dances enough, if he drinks enough cider, if he has enough fun, it will stop.

But it doesn't.

Eventually though, it feels worse to go than to stay away. That doesn't mean he doesn't attend - the route really does run right through his neighborhood, so he can be found sitting on the front steps of his dilapidated townhouse, watching the Black Parade go by. On these days his face paint isn't done and he's just in his regular clothes, letting black and white confetti rain on his hair. There are moments where Ryan and his Loneliness wear the same, sad expression. There are other moments where it flickers to be a different person entirely.

He does still make himself go to the Raccoon Room, to help with getting it ready like he promised he would. But there's something uncomfortable under the surface of that too, a familiar loneliness scratching at him. He likes to think he's good at faking it though, offering his input when it's asked for and helping with whatever her can. And it certainly isn't that he's not excited - he is! He loves the Raccoon Room. He loves everything it's going to be.

...But, he's not sure he loves possibly having to face a solo career again.]

C. WHATEVER
[Wildcard! Got something else you wanna do? Hit me up at goodhotcocoa and we'll figure something out! ♥]

A (/SLAMS IN hi i love ryan)

[azurestar]

[Lance has had a couple mugs of his own and is holding… his fourth? He's not sure. As a fellow paleblood, the headaches are killer this month and alcohol may not be the best idea, but that's a future him problem. The devils nectar dulls things in the moment and that's what he wants.

He's got some skull face paint on only one side of his face and it looks almost like it's glow in the dark and swirly. When Ryan approaches him, he's in the middle of examining one of the floats going by down the street holding musicians jamming out on stilts.]

Well, you gotta know how to let loose sometimes when you live in a world of monsters and death! [He says it cheerily and snort-laughs after.] We had parties all the time in the nightmare, but they usually had some sort of trap hidden in them somewhere… hey, you think those guys up there on those stilts can win a dance-off?

AHHH hello and thank you!!!

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Ryan has been of exactly the same mindset, right down to the headaches, but he's happy to have a quick fix and with enough cider it's easy to forget that there was anything wrong with that plan in the first place. Besides, in the morning he can just pretend it's a normal hangover and not his blood trying to split his brain in half!]

Ha! You said it, man!

[He holds up his tin mug to clink in a toast with his new friend he met approximately ten seconds ago.

Mentions of hidden traps just flat out do not absorb through the alcohol at all. Three and a half drinks in is enough for him to willingly ignore the possibility of danger at this rockin' party. The important part is the dancing ability of the guys on stilts. Ryan squints, like he needs to get a good look at them.]

Oh-- oh definitely. My money's on the bird. [He gives a conspiratorial stage-whisper that isn't actually all that quiet and points at the stilt walker in question] They could toootally break dance, just look at them!

[azurestar]

[Lance meets that toast easily and then takes a long drink from his mug. He's been to so many parties that had hidden traps both awful and benign that at this point he hardly cares himself anyway. Something in his gut (maybe paleblood intuition?) tells him this party/parade is safe as can be, anyway.

When his new friend immediately nominates the bird as a breakdancer, he decides they are gonna get along well. He tilts his head, considering the bird stilt walker for a moment as he tries to assess what it is about them that looks breakdance-worthy.]

Well they got the right rhythm. But I guess the only way to know for sure is to throw some cardboard down in front of them and see what they do… that's how it works, right?

[He asks with a slight slur and a grin. It's not a genuine question, he seems assured in the knowledge that yes, that's how breakdancers work.]

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Ryan has that same intuition, though he's had enough cider that his reaction time with his powers is not as instant - still! It's a safe party, probably!]

Ha! Totally!

[Said with the confidence of a drunk guy who doesn't know shit about breakdancing. He doesn't have cardboard though and also that might make a stilt walker have a horrible accident, so it'll just stay a terrible hypothetical for now.]

Plus it's-- it's more than just the rhythm. They've got like. Stage presence and that's half of dancing anyway. You just act like you know what you're doing and people're like "wooooah, you're sooooo good!"

[azurestar]

[Lance snort laughs into his drink and then takes a sip as he eyes Ryan like he's a little lost duckling who has never realized other animals don't waddle. But a duck he likes and wants to be pals with, so he's not gonna be a dick when he disagrees.]

Oh man, I dunno about that. I've seen some pretty confident looking dancers with zero rhythm. No, not- haha- not even zero, like… negative a zillion. [He snort laughs again and devolves into some giggles, apparently at a memory of a bad dancer. Then he looks to the stilt guys.] These guys're definitely the whole package tho… heeey, maybe it's the stilts.

b)

[lightinside]

[ Laurel thought she was seeing things when she noticed shadows following behind people. Not the kind of shadow the sun or light would cast, but like an actual figure. She didn't seem to have one of her own so there was no real explanation that Laurel could come up with.

She was taking a look around different neighbourhoods today, wanting to see if there was an empty house that she could choose for herself. Much as Laurel would like to stay with her sister, she wanted to give her own space too.

On her way down one street, Laurel almost misses Ryan seated outside of his house with a shadow version of himself lingering nearby. She pauses and backtracks, walking over to him. Laurel stands at a comfortable distance away, a look of concern on her face. ]

Hey. You okay?

[chickenchoicejudy]

[The house he's sitting in front of isn't exactly the kind of place most people would choose for a home, with its sad exterior and broken windows, but it is what it is.

With the mood he's in, Ryan is legitimately surprised that anyone would bother stopping to check on him, much less someone he's never met before. It shakes him out of his haze for a moment, and he realizes he's not actually sure how long he was watching the same parade he's seen daily all month go by.

There's a brief short circuit in his head as he tries to understand why someone would stop for him, but then he forces up a very tired smile. There's a number of things wrong, but dumping them on someone he's never even met before is just weird and rude.]

Oh. Yeah, I'm. Fine? I just...figured I'd catch the festivities from home today, that's all. I've got an okay view here, so...might as well use it, right?

[His Loneliness barely reacts. It's a horrid, deathly pale version of Ryan and unlike him it hasn't had much to say. It just lingers, soaking up the little energy Ryan has.]

[lightinside]

[She's always had an annoying habit of looking out for people, no matter if she knew them or not. It started with Laurel looking out for her younger sister, then her dad when things went to hell at home. Eventually, it progressed to Laurel working at a not for profit that helped people with legal issues that they couldn't pay for. Then she became a vigilante and protected the city.]

It's not a bad view, yeah.

[Laurel says with a slight smile, indicating a spot next to him on the step.]

Mind if I watch the parade with you for a while? I've got nowhere else to be.

[She didn't want to assume, but maybe he could use the company and a conversation. Laurel could manage both easily, hoping that he will respond in a positive way to her offer.]

I'm Laurel by the way.

[chickenchoicejudy]

[He feels like he should probably say no - he's not exactly going to be fun to watch the parade with when he's all gloomy like this - but the moment passes too quickly for him to catch it, and suddenly it feels weirder to turn her down.]

Uh. Sure! If you really want to, I mean.

[Ryan scoots over to make more room, even though he wasn't taking up a ton of space to begin with. His Loneliness doesn't move at all, and just watches this play out.]

I'm Ryan - nice to meet you!

[The energy and cheer is still a little forced, but it's not like he's never done that before.]

[lightinside]

[When he makes room for her, Laurel takes up the spot next to him and turns slightly so they can have a proper conversation and watch the parade at the same time.]

Nice to meet you too, Ryan.

[Laurel gives him another friendly smile.]

Where are you from?

[Starting with a simple question that she hopes wouldn't be too instrusive. Laurel can feel the presence of the other figure, though she isn't paying it much attention. Apart from that, she doesn't know if she can even interact with it in the first place.]

b

[royalfling]

[ Wu can feel the loneliness pulling Ryan down. All the time they spend together, at the Raccoon Room, at Ryan's awful apartment, out shopping, he can feel it. He tries to move past it, talking and laughing with Ryan, and Ryan meets him there, but he notices as the days go on that he isn't laughing as easily.

And then there's that shadow. That corpse. That version of Ryan. It terrified him the first time he saw it. But he tried to be there for Ryan anyway. Maybe that can help. But it hasn't. It hasn't helped. He can't make it go away.

He finds Ryan in the Raccoon Room one evening, working on the stage or on a song, and drops down next to him with a soft smile. ]

Hey, buddy! That song's sounding really good.

[chickenchoicejudy]

[From a distance, it's actually easier to see the Loneliness version of Ryan staring out from where he's sitting on the stage. This is because the real Ryan has decided to lay on the stage floor while he plays guitar with his legs dangling off the side as he struggles to figure out the chords he wants. He needs to work on this, he has to work on this, but he's lost the energy to be upright.

E...E, G#M? A, E, G#M? ...A, E, G#M, BBBBBBBBBB!!!!! Ugh! He hates it. It's not working.

Nothing ever works when he's solo.

He doesn't notice Wu approach until he's sitting right next to him though, and he glances up at him without sitting up. Wu's been with him a lot lately, though Ryan's...not sure it's more than normal? Maybe it is. He's been over his house more often than normal, and he feels kind of bad about that because his house sucks and he's caught him hungover more than once, and even though he attempts to keep up appearances, there's something in him that's certain he must be miserable for Wu to be around right now.

But here he is, by his side anyway for some reason he can't really fathom right now. Ryan shrugs.]

It's...not that great. Still a work in progress, you know?

[Which as far as Ryan's concerned is just a nice way to say it sounds like garbage. Because it does sound like garbage.]

[royalfling]

[ Oh, boy. He realizes too late that that isn't Ryan. It's that other Ryan, the one who's been a shadow for him for the last few weeks. It doesn't seem malicious, but it sure is creepy and Wu yelps when Ryan, the real Ryan speaks, and finds him on the stage with relief.

He quickly sidesteps toward the real Ryan, putting Ryan between himself and the Other Ryan. ]

No, no! I think it has good bones. You, um. Wanna sing it for me again?

[ It's kind of humbling being around a musician with an actual process. Wu's process has always been to just sing, to improvise as he goes and maybe he'll write it down, but Ryan is a real musician with real songs and who can play an instrument and Wu is always somewhat in awe of him ]

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Not really, if he's being honest. But he hasn't wanted to do much of anything, and has been sort of forcing himself along through the motions. His Loneliness looks down on him, and that blank face feels judgmental.

He heaves a sigh and pushes himself upright, and adjusts his guitar accordingly. He's been playing unplugged, since that's usually how he tests out chords - an old habit from having to practice in places where siblings would bang on his walls if he didn't, or risk lectures from Min-Gi's family. It makes the song sound softer than it would otherwise.]

So...you're a squid now
And you're wondering just what you did now
What the hell did you do now?
If I had to take a swing...maybe another wormhole thing?

But at least...
At least you're a squid with me.

[Ryan frowns a little. He clearly doesn't like how those pieces connect together, and he comes to a halt.]

...This sucks. [Then, heavily, as though it's some big confession.] None of my solo stuff's actually any good, Wu.

[royalfling]

Hey, hey, hey! Where's that Ryan energy? That, that it, you know?

[ Wu claps him on the arm, squeezing a little with a smile. ]

It sucks because you're not selling it! You know how to do this, I saw you. And I think it's great!

So you're a squid now! Totally relatable!

[ He sings it in his nasally but at least on-key voice, leaning into Ryan's side as he studiously ignores the corpse on Ryan's other side. ]

And, yeah, maybe you're solo, but some of the best artists are solo! We can't all be BTS, Ryan, sometimes we're Beyoncé.

b, at the raccoon room

[arclightning]

Ryan, hey, come here for a se—

[ It would seem like Mako wouldn't notice the loneliness.

His blood is cold, and he has none of the empathetic powers that Wu is struggling with. He's certainly not the most emotionally-available person in the world.

Still: he sees loneliness everywhere.

A lifetime of having to rely, against his will, on the goodwill of others, on understanding what people want from him and his brother and for what price, has taught Mako to look closely at the way people are feeling. If he's going to play the part they expect, if he's going to do the things he's supposed to do in order to not make enemies and keep the all-important peace, then he has to know how people are feeling and why.

Somehow?

The dragging shadow-thing behind Ryan, trailing him as Mako waves him over to help him with this ridiculous sconce, is less surprising than it should be.

Startling, yes: Mako is halfway through calling him over, pauses on that last word to stare at rotted face he only saw in memory.

But not actually surprising. ]

Re: b, at the raccoon room

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Ryan's Loneliness has been shifting, moving from one appearance to the next, and in the general vicinity of Mako it often presents as Min-Gi - because really, how could it not?

Ryan hadn't actually been working on much, just fussing over some papers without much success - writing lyrics has been going miserably, both from his mood and the headaches. But he tiredly looks up and pastes on a smile, disregarding the corpse lurking behind him as much as he possibly can.

By now, he knows it's there. He doesn't always know what it looks like, but he can feel it there now that Wu's pointed it out to him. That heavy, familiar weight has a name and a face and is just completely uncanny. It might be a curse, but it's a curse that's almost intimately familiar to him, in a strange sort of way.]

Hm? Sure, what's up?

[He knows that pause too - he's gotten a lot of that this week, from people who suddenly looked scared of him the moment he isn't all smiles and light. So, he keeps trying to fake it and force himself along. He makes himself get up and head over to Mako, and unfortunately the lonely corpse of Min-Gi follows him.

Part of him almost wants to challenge him on it, dare him to say something to his face about it, but...most of his energy was spent just getting up, honestly. So all he manages is:]

...Nice sconces.

[A different pang of nostalgia hits him. He can't help but wonder - how are Kez and Morgan and their ten billion sconces doing right about now? He doesn't want to dwell on that either though, so he just sort of prompts Mako along, as if they can pretend the awkwardest bits of this didn't happen.]

So...did you need a hand?

[None of this makes the half-dead Min-Gi vanish. If anything, he feels more present than ever.]

[arclightning]

[ It's hard not to look at the thing—such a strangely similar face—and it's harder still not to catalogue the differences. Wider nose, wider chin, same worried expression, slack in death.

This can't be how Ryan wanted to actually find Min-Gi again. Who wants their boyfriend lingering behind them, a half-dead thing reminding them they're alone here, the only one from their world? Mako remembers that pain, after Korra disappeared. He knows what it's like to be singular.

More than that, he knows how much Wu hates it, which is probably the only reason he doesn't immediately bring it up and instead looks back down at Ryan, expression twisting in a sort of awkward grimace that has to look familiar. ]

They, uh... I got 'em at the market. They match the chandelier— [ He gestures vaguely up at it, a dripping crystalline thing dangling over the middle of the lobby ] —so Wu wanted them.

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Ryan nods along, but it feels like he's only half there. He's just going through the motions, looking up when directed, and then suddenly it's his turn and he has no idea what to say.]

...Cool! Cool.

[He catches that look - it's hard not to, when it feels like half the city's been looking at him that. He heaves a heavy sigh and just rips the band-aid off himself.]

I know, I know, there's...something hanging around me. And now you know, and we can skip all the "hey Ryan, you've got a creepy zombie version of yourself behind you!" and just...I don't know. Did you need help with the sconces? Let me help with the sconces. Let's sconce these sconces.

[He's trying to breeze through it, to rush through the discomfort to get to the part where everything is okay and normal and better, but it doesn't work that way. Especially when his current Loneliness looks doesn't look like him at all - it looks like Min-Gi, and it's reaching out to touch his shoulder.]

[arclightning]

[ At least he's aware of it...? Mako doesn't want to bring too much attention to it, but it's also going to be really hard to mount sconces with a creepy version of— ]

It's not you.

[ That's the jarring thing, the thing nagging at Mako's thoughts, the thing making him frown at that unfamiliar face. ]

I... think it's your boyfriend. The guy you showed me? Min-Gi?

A

[shiro2hero]

[Look, sometimes, you're just hyper-aware of people around you. Sometimes that has nothing to do with October, or what your weird blood is doing this month. Because sometimes, it's just the feeling you develop knowing so many teens, kids, and in betweens.]

[You just get drawn to the one swaying slightly on their feet.]

[Shiro's lion mask is pushed up onto his head by now, his real face on display. Probably better in the long run, anyway. Easier to talk to people. Especially new faces.]

Hey. Maybe we should get you sat down.

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Ryan's lost count of his ciders, which is probably not great, but right now he's feeling light as air and not thinking about it at all. There's still a half-full mug in his hands when Shiro comes over to him.

His reaction time is off and his eyes are a little unfocused, so it takes him a beat to process the stranger in front of him. When it hits though, he gives a soft gasp!]

Lion!

[He points up at Shiro's mask, even though it's not on his face anymore. Ryan can still tell what it is.]

Dude. Your mask is siiiiiick. It's like...like-- you know, Ridge Irvine?

[Ridge Irvine and his album Carnivaliant are exclusive to Ryan's world so no, he probably won't. But Ryan bops his head a little and sings a couple bars anyway.]

My heart is on the prowwwl! I'm stalking prey into the niiiiIIIght! I need myyyyyyy Lion Tameeeerrrrr!

[Something about that is very funny to him and he dissolves into giggles. Yeah, maybe he should probably sit. Shiro is welcome to help with that.]

[shiro2hero]

... Yeah, buddy. You're gonna need to sit down.

[If this were someone he was familiar with, he'd have lifted them up and plunked them down into a chair. But this is a new face. Someone he hasn't met yet, and despite how energetically he's been received, he doesn't want to overstep.]

[Or scare the poor guy.]

C'mon. Over here... [So instead of hoisting him over his shoulder, Shiro's just going to gently guide him toward a bench.] Just. Have a seat, and we'll get you some water. Okay?

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Ryan stumbles a little when they first move, as his legs don't quite get the memo from the rest of his body that they're going somewhere, but he catches himself surprisingly well all things considered. At first he's not totally sure where they're going, so there's a moment when Ryan makes an attempt to tug Shiro over towards one of the dance areas, but it's futile. He's not nearly strong enough to make Shiro budge even if he was sober, so it's just sort of a tug and a desperate lean in that direction that doesn't really amount to much.

When they get to the bench he seems to put two and two together though, and pouts like a child when he's guided to sit. He does it, because honestly sitting down doesn't sound like a terrible idea, but he doesn't have to be happy about it.]

Dude, relax, I'm fiiiiiine. I've got a drink right...hm?

[He looks down dumbly at his empty hands. His drink - the half finished cider he should absolutely not have been finishing - seems to have disappeared in the move. Did he drop it? Did someone take it from him? Did he just stupidly put it down somewhere? It is a mystery he will never actually solve, but he's sufficiently distracted enough by looking around his general vicinity for it to stay put for a few minutes.]