reddosmod: (Default)
Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2021-10-08 06:14 pm

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.]

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
fusrodaaaah: (Uhhhh?  Yes?)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-16 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
O-oh, I... I liked him. He um. He helped get you letters.

[Way back in Deerington, because letter writing was easier than sending texts.]

Dragons... they usually are. They are... they're um. 'Made to dominate'. Think they're uh. Stronger, better. Than mortal people.
droptheious: (Practice my confident face)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-16 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
He did! I had to bribe him a lot to do that, but it was nice that he helped with that- packages too.

[Who needs super-fast text when you can semi-rely on a shitty, fat raccoon to do the work for you?]

Ahhh, she definitely wants to make it a big thing, then. Dragons in my world are so rare and so avoidant of people there's very little known about them. It's pretty neat to be able to meet any kind of dragon.
fusrodaaaah: (oh ok that's fine i guess)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-17 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
I like him. He... he was very helpful.

[You don't see many raccoons where Melius comes from.]

It... You're. You're lucky. That there aren't dragons. Or - or what you said.
droptheious: (I love you signed anonymous friend)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-18 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
He's helpful on his terms, anyway.

[Usually if food is involved. ]

I don't know, they seem pretty cool? I don't think they're as...involved as yours though- you know with a complex language and everything.
fusrodaaaah: (this is my determined face!!)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-19 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
A-at least he's... cute?

[He's trying, here.]

No. [On that, he is absolute. Looking down at the alchemy table, and not at Varian.] They... they just destroy things. They're ... coming back to take over Tamriel again.

[Except one.]
droptheious: (Look at me still talking)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-19 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh yeah, he's definitely got that going for him.

[It's how he gets away with all his Crimes.]

Oh. [That's a soft, quiet 'oh'.] Yeah that's- that's really bad. Maybe she won't be like that, though?
fusrodaaaah: (Uhhhh?  Yes?)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-20 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
Furry things... they um. They do that.

[They have cuteness going for them. That's always how they get away with crime.]

[He shifts a bit, looking at his omen.]


She um. She - I don't think she's really a dragon. Like in Tamriel. She doesn't Shout. Or speak Dovahzul...
droptheious: (In your shadow)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-20 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Hah, they...they sure do.

[He nods, canting his head at her again.]

Well, she's technically a part of you? Uh... I think that's how they work, anyway? So I guess she'd be more intuned to you than one of those dragons.
fusrodaaaah: (Uhhhh?  Yes?)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-21 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
Part... of me?

[Yeah guess who never studied Omens 101.]

[But apparently their conversation has bored the dragon. She's currently harassing a crab.]


She... she should be. Like them, then. [Melius? You've never explained one goddamn thing about your whole Dragonborn thing. Do you know that.]
droptheious: (Maybe it's just as well)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-21 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh, buddy.]

Part of you, yeah. Like... that's what the Omens are. They're like...linked to our souls or something.

[This is so helpful friendo, thank you.] Like...what? The other dragons?
fusrodaaaah: (oh ok that's fine i guess)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-22 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh. Oh. So that's why it's a dragon. Great - a flapping, squeaking reminder of what he has to be, huh?]

I... I didn't know that.

[He proceeds to do that thing where he hunches up into a scaly ball at his alchemy table. Decidedly Not Looking at Varian.]

Yes. [One hand lifts, claws picking at scales on his neck. Nervous tic get.] Like... other dragons. Because um... that's. I'm... related to them.
droptheious: (In what I just said)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-22 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
That's what I've managed to figure from what Ruddiger's told me and what I could read in the journal we got when we arrived anyway.

[Oh no. Varian doesn't like it when he does that thing. He is not a fan of That Thing. His expression softens as he moves a little closer- worry being very much engrained in his features. ]

B-because of the whole being able to understand their language thing? [lOOK, at least he knows at this point it isn't because of the Argonian thing.] And that's...bad?
fusrodaaaah: (pensive lizard thoughts)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-23 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
He... tells you things?

[What the heck are you talking about, bud.]

[The Thing continues. Keeping his head ducked down. Physically withdrawn as much as possible.]


N-no. No. Anyone... can do that. It's - just a language. [Oh boy his hands are fascinating.] But um. Normal... people can only um. Learn a few pieces of their magic. Their Shouts.

I... learn them. By reading them. Because um... I'm... Dovahkiin. Dragonborn.
droptheious: (Everything you planned)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-23 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
He does, I can understand him? But that...uh- that was a thing from back home? So I don't know if that's actually a here thing?

[It's so much more complicated now and Ruddiger is not the best baseline animal to choose to figure out how different they actually are.]

Oh... right. So- so it's because of....a connection to them? That- that you can do that?

[He reaches out to put a hand on Melius' arm- The Thing is becoming far too worrying.]

...Meli, are you okay?
fusrodaaaah: (oh ok that's fine i guess)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-23 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh. I um. Didn't know you could talk to him.

[That's pretty cool. Really cool. Which he'd say if he weren't so focused on trying to get the other words out.]

[Varian's not wrong. It is a connection to them. But it's not one he likes. It's not one he wants to acknowledge. So he's very quiet. Until there's a hand on his arm.]


... I'm a. Related. To them. Dragon born. Dragon blood...
droptheious: (In what I just said)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-24 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh yeah, it's a thing everyone can do back home. I never even thought it was weird until I got to the dream.

[It IS pretty cool, he's come to appreciate it a lot more.

Varian's concern is growing, because this is clearly worrying Melius a lot.
]

And that's a bad thing? Having... having their blood?

fusrodaaaah: (pensive lizard thoughts)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-24 11:24 pm (UTC)(link)
O... Oh. I don't think. People can do that where I'm. From.

[It's really, really not a good thing. Even without the weight of destiny down on his shoulders.]

[There's the rest of it. What Paarthurnax had said.]


B-because. I'm. One of them. And dragons... Dov wahlaan fah rel. Dragons - are born to dominate. Take over.
droptheious: (But in my defense)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-25 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think it's common in other worlds? So you're...you're not alone in that one.

[Oh. Varian's hand on Melius' arm tightens, steady and stalwart. He's not going anywhere.]

That doesn't sound like you at all. And I... I like to think that we can choose who we be. If that's not what you want, then you can fight against it. I sure think you're more than that.
fusrodaaaah: (oh ok that's fine i guess)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-26 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
Y... yeah. But um. Glad he... talks to you.

[No, really, he is. But more importantly, the conversation at hand.]

He... he said - Paarthurnax said... it's in the blood. Dragon blood. N... no, I don't want it.

I want to ... be an alchemist. That's all.
droptheious: (Colours slide into place)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-26 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[This is so much more important than his weirdo raccoon right now, wow. ]

Then be an alchemist. You don't have to be anything but what you want. I don't- I don't put much stock in fate or destiny or...whatever. All that does is hurt people and make them think they have to follow a certain path when that's not the case at all.

[Destiny and her pursuit of it near damn destroyed Cassandra. ]

So don't be what he said. Be who you want to be.
fusrodaaaah: (this is my determined face!!)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-27 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
But if - if it's - Blood then - then there's n-nothing - there's nothing -

[The words barely come out. Melius stammers his sentences at the best of times, but this thread of conversation is clearly making things worse.]

Is it - is it destiny i-if it's - if it's - blood?
droptheious: (While you're dying I'll be still alive)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-27 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh, oh no. Varian gives Melius' arm another squeeze.]

I don't know. Maybe it isn't, but that doesn't mean you'll take over the place. You- that's not the sort of person you are. I know that. I- even if your blood does go...weird on you, I don't think it's in you to be like that.
fusrodaaaah: (oh ok that's fine i guess)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-28 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
... What ... what happens i-if it.

If it does?
droptheious: (Things change when)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-28 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[Varian is quiet for a moment, mulling over his answer- what he plans to do is simple, the easiest thing ever. But he wants to voice it right. ]

Then it will be this place messing with you and that's different. [Varian's been at the whims of this place before, and he's seen plenty of people he cares about be changed because of it. Hell, the reason he died a second time was because of Deerington playing games with Maul's head.]

We'll figure something out. Between us. I won't- you won't be alone in any of it.
fusrodaaaah: (pensive lizard thoughts)

[personal profile] fusrodaaaah 2021-10-29 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
[Is it different?]

[He's not sure. He doubts it. How are you able to tell if it's this place, or if it's your blood or - ]


But... but if it's... really bad. Th-then you shouldn't - you shouldn't... be around.

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