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
facultative: (pic#13524486)

[personal profile] facultative 2021-10-16 08:46 am (UTC)(link)
He watches her add to his plate and luckily doesn't react to it at all. This was all beneath him, she was beneath him. Anakin pushes some of it around on his plate before he decides to set it aside for now.

"It's Vader."

He steeples his hands and he's insistent as he adds, "Don't call me Anakin again." Anakin was weak, conflicted. He wanted to leave that behind. He wanted to be strong and he couldn't do that with the chains of his past weighing him down.
lightthedarkness: (Usagi)(Luna) (Lost in her thoughts)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2021-10-16 06:04 pm (UTC)(link)
She lifted a brow at that and tilted her head.

Vader?

"Vader?" she blinked. "Why Vader? Does it mean something?" Look, if he wanted to be called by a new nickname, that was fine, but she scowled at his last comment. "No reason to be in such a bad mood, I didn't know your new name."
facultative: (pic#15028435)

[personal profile] facultative 2021-10-17 08:22 am (UTC)(link)
It's because he understands that Usagi won't know right away that he hasn't started with losing his temper. However his restraint seems unappreciated here and he scowls right back at her. There really was no reason for him to ever be polite if no one got it.

"It's the name my master gives me."
lightthedarkness: (Usagi) (Is something wrong?)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2021-10-17 04:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Your restraint is appreciated, Anakin.

"Doesn't Obi-Wan call you Anakin?" usually as a sigh but she's 100% sure it's definitely still Anakin.
facultative: (pic#14638890)

[personal profile] facultative 2021-10-18 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
"He's not my master." Not any more. Although he had instinctively still called the man master the last time they spoke, but that didn't count. It only counted when he said so. And he wasn't a Jedi so he had no right to do so.

"The Chancellor is."
lightthedarkness: (Usagi) (I'm sorry what)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2021-10-18 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
Usagi had a distinct feeling she knew the answer to who Anakin's new master was. Maul had mentioned how his old master was trying to get his claws on Anakin.

"I... see... and is the Chancellor here?"
facultative: (pic#14638882)

[personal profile] facultative 2021-10-18 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
He shakes his head.

"No, but he's always looked out for me."

Everyone else started with obligation; a promise, a prophecy, a child too powerful to be left alone. Palpatine was the one person who looked at a terrified child and offered his hand without reservation.
lightthedarkness: (Usagi) (Default)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2021-10-18 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
About that, Anakin.

She watches him for a moment.

"What about here? You don't have to be look out all by yourself here."
facultative: (pic#13463228)

[personal profile] facultative 2021-10-19 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't need anyone."

There's a difference between getting help as a child and feeling grateful for it even now and admitting any sort of weakness as an adult. He doesn't want to be weak, that's what got him into this in the first place. He had to be able to protect her himself.
lightthedarkness: (Usagi) (What's wrong?)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2021-10-20 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
"No one?" she tilted her head. She never even once considered herself as someone important to Anakin Skywalker, she still didn't. But he went on often enough about Obi-Wan and his wife that Usagi knew better.

But she frowned.

"You may not need anyone, but is there someone you at least WANT to be with?"

facultative: (pic#14638961)

[personal profile] facultative 2021-10-21 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
Anakin was the kind of person who got attached immediately or he'd keep his distance forever. Someone like Obi-Wan, he had latched onto straight away, but it was a very different story with the rest of the Jedi Order. He'd never quite felt like he fitted in and while he was on friendly terms with some of his peers there was still a distance that he maintained. Unfortunately he cultivated more of the later here than the former, too preoccupied with his problems to think of others.

"No one here."

And then he stabs something at random off his plate and shoves it into his mouth. He doesn't know what it is, doesn't care about the taste, only that it gives him something to do instead.
lightthedarkness: (Sailor Moon) (The darkness seeks me out)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2021-10-22 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
If Usagi knew his personality sort, she supposed she'd know he'd never actually like her then. Which was fine, she was used to being disliked. She watches him eat and frowned, closing her eyes and leaning back.

"Sa, how lonely," she smiled though that he was eating. There was that, at least. She sighed. "I'm sorry you feel so alone. You really shouldn't have to keep feeling that way time and again."
facultative: (pic#14638911)

[personal profile] facultative 2021-11-01 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
He paused then roughly put his fork down. "I'm not." Was she making fun of him for all those times he's cried in front of her? For feeling like he had nowhere to go? Anger was easier to reach for.

"I don't need anyone and I don't like what you're doing."
lightthedarkness: (Usagi) (Unreadable)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2021-11-04 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
Anakin was pretty much always volatile around her. So him roughly putting down his fork was not exactly a worrisome action, but she already knew to tread carefully when he first popped up. She watched as his face seemed to darken.

Well...

Darken more.

"What is it I'm doing?" she asked without any intonation, not wanting to make it sound one way or another.
facultative: (pic#14638863)

[personal profile] facultative 2021-11-06 09:27 am (UTC)(link)
It is due to her trying to be careful that keeps him on that edge without tipping into an extreme. Anything more or less risked a far more volatile response.

"You're trying to hold me back. Trying to keep me weak and pathetic."
lightthedarkness: (Usagi) (Unreadable)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2021-11-06 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"All I want is for you to be happy," she tilted her head. "I've only ever wanted you to be happy. I imagine you can use the Force to know that too. You're always filled with sadness and anger when we meet."
facultative: (pic#14638894)

[personal profile] facultative 2021-11-08 08:49 am (UTC)(link)
"Why do you even care?" He couldn't even get the people most important to him to care as much as he did. Why did she want to insert herself into this? It wasn't fair that this isn't coming from who he wanted it to and instead of directing that into a more positive direction he uses that to stoke his anger.
lightthedarkness: (Usagi) (I'll help however I can)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2021-11-10 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
She can't help that concern is coming from her and not from those he'd rather have. She can only be herself. She knows, somewhat instinctively, that if she tells him, even honestly, that she loves him as a person and that everyone deserves happiness, it will be received poorly. Simply because she is able to exhibit universal love for others does not mean it is well-received universally.

No, she is silent for a moment, trying to think on how best to word her feelings for him without coming off as disingenuous or worse, making him angrier. Then again, she has a feeling everything she says will make him angrier.

"Because... life shouldn't be lived with only constant sorrow and anger as your companions," she offered. "Because even if you don't think of us as friends, you don't deserve to feel as miserable as you always feel."

Even if it so often seems his choice.