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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1. the parade // for Bolin

[ Mako has finally resigned himself to the fact that this parade is just... kind of happening outside their door all month. He wakes up to the sound of drums and music and goes to bed with laughter and drunk crowds, and that's just... life.

Which is probably why today, after he and Wu and Bolin had a sedate breakfast crowded around the low table in their loft, Mako has yanked Bolin outside to muscle through the festival instead of trying to avoid it. ]

Remember, we're looking for stuff that doubles as decorations. We're opening in two weeks and Wu's been stressing himself to death. We also need way more alcohol if we're really doing the open bar thing Wu wants.

[ These boys are on a mission, and nothing is going to stop them! Not even the street performer up ahead doing cheap fire tricks—not the Coldblooded kind, but rather the kind with alcohol and a stick and a whole lot of charisma. There's already a little crowd gathered around them. ]

2. missing home // for Ange

[ Mako's been throwing himself into work—meaning, mostly, getting the Raccoon Rom up and running—and that's been helping slightly with the odd feeling of settling into a new place he isn't entirely committed to yet.

It helps that Wu is. Wu has an opportunity he'd never get at home, a chance to actually make something of his dreams, and Mako really is happy for him. Loneliness aside—and that's solved, at least, for Wu—Wu's been a ball of energy, throwing himself into every tiny detail. It's good to see him so dedicated and working so hard. It should be enough to ground Mako here, and most mornings, it is. He wakes up and makes breakfast for the two of them and they pull out the to-do list and get working, and it's enough.

But there's also a festival outside, and Mako keeps having to head out into it for various supplies, and that—when he's away from Wu and their dream—is when it gets him. He'll see a red kite shaped like a dragon, so much like the ones from home, or a particular kind of smell will hit his nose, and he's just struck with enough homesickness to wash over him in a wave until he can shove it down.

Today, it's enough to stop him in his tracks.

Mako is frozen on the sidewalk, caught in the crosshairs of a dumpling vendor selling mushroom dumplings that smell exactly like home and a jazzy, brassy band playing music that almost sounds familiar. Festivals in Republic City were just about the only time he and Bolin could feel like normal kids: they could usually rustle enough yuan up to afford some street food, and there were enough free things or vendors who'd take pity on kids to make it fun. One time Mako had won Bolin a little stuffed toy, and he'd treasured that thing for weeks.

This is the closest the city has come to the bustle and noise of home, and Mako is so caught up in it that he doesn't really notice the sad, younger-looking version of himself standing behind him with a hand almost on his shoulder. He looks half-rotted, his limbs stiff, his face pale and at least four years younger than Mako currently is. ]

3. it's party time // for Wu

Wu. Hey. Wu.

[ Mako is... buzzed.

This doesn't happen very often, and it wasn't exactly intentional. The parade, really more a festival, is full of ciders both alcoholic and not. Mako accidentally downed a brandy one, liking the burn and the way it warmed his always-cold limbs, and now he's sort of red-cheeked and grinning, letting Wu tug him toward a more populous part of the festival. Wu dragged him out here in the first place, and reluctant as he was, Mako's having a pretty good time. It reminds him of festivals at home, vibrant and bright and noisy and most importantly: full of cheap, good food.

Mako tugs at Wu where his arm is slung around Wu's waist, changing their course. ]

C'mon, you have to try street noodles. Actual street noodles. Not from the street. Well, from it, but not... you know. From it.

[ The real question is: has Wu noticed yet that his usually stoic boyfriend keeps laughing and maybe stumbling a little? ]

[ Ange wasn't really planning on going to the festival. She isn't used to them, and places where a lot of people gather in general just.. aren't her style.

But there's only so much festival-refusing you can do when your girlfriend is abundantly social, and so of course she ends up being pulled along to the festival sooner or later. And when Ruby bounces off to something interesting she spotted, it leaves Ange to wander around the festival grounds by herself, idly looking around at things.

.. until she spots something that makes her look a little less idly. She spots Mako first, but it doesn't take very long before she notices the figure behind him.

In a matter of a moment Ange is already by the other's side, having taken quick steps towards him before stepping next to the other. ]

Mako. [ The girl says, trying to draw his attention. Her gaze glides between Mako and the odd, corpse-like mini-Mako, before resting back on the actual Mako's face. Does he even know? ] .. Are you alright?

Huh?

[ It's not like Mako to get so distracted by memories, of all things, but it takes him a second to place himself back in Trench. The remembered bustle of Republic City falls away, and Mako is kind of surprised to feel his throat going oddly tight, even when he sees Ange looking concerned in front of him.

He looks back out across the street for a moment, and then back at her. ]

Uh. Yeah, fine, just...

[ Remembering, he doesn't say, and hunches down into his own shoulders like he's trying to hide his face. There's no scarf to hide his frown, but the Mako behind him tugs at a red scarf, yanking it up to hide the bottom half of his face, and steps closer to them both.

Mako's never going to see Republic City again, most likely.

The thought crashes into him like a wave, snatching at his breath. He barrels past it, shoving the feeling down as best he can. ]

Republic City used to have a lot of festivals like this.

[ She shakes her head, still looking at him. ]

No, that's not it, are you--

[ Her gaze momentarily falls upon the younger Mako now and his half-obscured face, and she frowns, cutting herself off in the middle of her sentence. Right, how does she even explain 'you have some really weird version of yourself hanging out near you' without sounding like she's crazy? Especially when there's never any telling if he's the weird one for not noticing, or if she is the weird one for noticing it.

For a moment she looks conflicted, but then Ange shakes her head. ]

Can you come with me for a moment? I-- We can talk about that. [ That thing Mako just mentioned, about festivals back home. ] I just need you to trust me and come with me.

[ Because no matter how she's going to choose to tackle this issue, doing it in the middle of a huge crowd doesn't feel like the right way. ]

I—what?

[ It's an alarming thing to be told that by anyone, but it's especially alarming coming from Ange. Mako is already in a sort of strange, aching fog, lost in memories of home and what he can't go back to, and her urgent words make him frown for a long, quiet moment.

But this is Ange, he reminds himself dully, as the younger version of him creeps closer like a furtive shadow, watching them both with sharp gold eyes.

This is Ange, and Ange wouldn't be saying something like that without a reason. ]

...fine. I trust you.

[ He spares another glance for the vendors, for all the colors and the half-familiar scents, wondering how quickly he's going to forget the specific sound of festivals at home, and then refocuses on Ange just as the small corpse reaches out for him. Mako takes a step toward Ange, unseeing, and avoids its cold dead hand. ]

What's going on?

[ Maybe it's the fact that the weird other-Mako-figure almost touched Mako that makes her more worried and paranoid, or maybe she just wants to get out of the crowd quickly - whichever reason it is, it seems to drive Ange to grab a hold of the other's hand, despite usually not being too great with physical contact. She uses it to tug him along. Not fully away from the festival, but at least over towards the side of it, where they can sit down for a moment and talk without having to deal with people pushing all around them.

She glances over her shoulder though, realising the younger Mako is still following them.

Ugh. Great. Terrific. ]

This is probably going to sound crazy. [ Ange acknowledges, since she figures the other can't notice what's going on if he hasn't done so yet. Mako is too clever to be oblivious otherwise. ] But there's something following you.

[ That touch is a grounding thing: it pulls Mako a little more into the present, away from the hazy memories of a past he can't actually touch anymore. Isn't that the problem? Republic City is becoming a memory, a distant thing like his childhood. Mako is a fierce protector of what few memories he has: he's written them down as best he can, recorded them in notebooks to look back on when he needs to, and even that isn't enough. He's terrified he'll forget the smell of his mother's garlic sauce or the sound of his dad's laugh. How do you record the sound of Satomobiles whizzing past your apartment at night, or the feeling of a city slowly waking to a busy day in the winter?

No. Wait. Ange. Those fingers are still reaching out, still trying to catch and failing, as Mako focuses on words, alarm spiralling through him in a cold sort of awareness. He straightens up, his eyes darting briefly into the crowds they're leaving behind. Is there a shadow following? There must be. ]

I knew it.

[ Mako bites the words out, feeling oddly vindicated. ]

I kept thinking—thought it must be the crowd, or... I don't know. What is it? Where? How do you know?

Because the person following you is you.

[ Well aware of how ridiculous that sounds, Ange just tries to say it as directly as possible - as if she's just trying to get it over with. Especially since she already sent out the 'this is going to sound crazy' preface, so she assumes Mako is prepared for hearing something that sounds totally ridiculous.

.. or, well, totally ridiculous by the standards of anyone unused to Deerington's or this place's shenanigans, anyway. ]

I'm assuming that you can't see him, judging by your questions. But I can. He looks a little younger than you, and he keeps trying to reach out to you.

[ It's really only because it's Ange that Mako chooses to skip over the disbelief, the what and making her explain herself. Ange wouldn't be telling him something like this to fuck with him, and she does look kind of worried.

Mako's real question is why, and it's unlikely that Ange can answer that. Still, he can't help the prickle of awareness at the back of his neck, raising goosebumps as the other-him catches up with them both and then just stops, his hand half-outstretched. He looks too-thin, a little starved, his cheekbones jutting and his knuckles stark against pale skin.

Mako swallows and looks almost at the thing over his own shoulder, and then back at Ange. ]

What does he want? Is he attacking anyone?

[ Mako thinks, oddly, about familiar alleys and his own defiant stare as he yanked Bolin into an opening to keep him away from Creeping Crystal goons.

It'll take him forever to learn Trench that well. Mako doesn't have nearly the escape routes he used to, doesn't know how he's going to get away from this thing safely with Ange in tow like he's thinking he should. ]

[ 'What does he want' is a good question.

And while Ange is inclined to assume the answer is 'nothing too great', considering what Deerington was like and what Trench now seems to be like, the truth is that she isn't sure. She can infer some things here, but not the other Mako's intentions. Sure, it doesn't seem to be attacking them, but Ange likes to think that it is a 'yet'..

She's staring right at the other Mako now though, which means that the actual Mako might just see her staring at nothing in particular. Yet the stare is so pointed, as if she really can see something.

Why is the other Mako looking like this? Almost more dead than alive. ]

No. [ She finally answers. ] For now. It's just that he looks a little weird, and he keeps reaching out for you.

[ And she doesn't like it. Because it's a potential threat to Mako, and Ange hates the idea of anything happening to him. ]

.. maybe him appearing has something to do with what you were thinking about just now. You seemed really lost in thought. [ Would the power of those thoughts be enough to conjure forth another Mako? Ange doesn't know, but it's a working theory for now. Especially when she has nothing else to go on. ]

[ Unnerving, to see Ange watching air so intently. There has to be something there—Mako cannot have been making up the eyes on the back of his neck all month, the awful feeling of being tailed around the city, watched by eyes he couldn't find—but he twists, and there doesn't seem to be anything there.

He hunches down against the unseen thing anyway, his shoulders bunching with energy that can't go anywhere. Behind him, the other Mako tugs his ratty scarf up further on his face, takes a step closer with his eyes locked on Ange now. The red of that fabric is the brightest thing about him.

Mako twists back around to face Ange, his face set like he's trying to hide his fear with a sharp kind of anger. ]

I...

All month. I've felt like something was following me, but just now I was, uh.

[ It shouldn't be this difficult to get out the words, should it? Mako hesitates. This is Ange. She won't judge him for his useless wishing. ]

Thinking about home. Or. What used to be home. Which is pointless. I know that.

Maybe that's why he's here.

[ Not that she knows for sure. But how could any of them? The thing Ange hates the most about places like this and Deerington - and even her own situation back home, really - is that the beings or the powers that play around with them never bother to ever explain something to them. You're always left to struggle and figure these sorts of things out by yourself.

Would it ever kill anything to just give them a manual? A slight explanation? Anything?

She sighs before she can let that frustration, currently driven by worry for Mako, take over her. It's not productive right now. ]

If he's you, but younger, perhaps he's somehow manifested by you thinking about that. [ Again, full disclosure, it's her going entirely on hunches. On grasping at any faint logical strand she can find here.

Her gaze finally shifts from the younger Mako over to the real one. ]

Have you thought about home more often lately?

Mako | Legend of Korra [closed prompts]

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