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

[torpour]

[clearly diluc is used to fending for himself-- and looking out for others, and then disappearing. he's unused to letting others help.

bah, he's one of those, the erune thinks as he accepts the bag of seeds from zuo and tucks it into his coat with the other bag.]

It's October here, is it not? At home, that would mean Halloween is coming, and that means beasts from the land of the dead start coming into ours for just a few days. Some of them need to be fended off, others just want to have a party.

[searingwing]

Halloween? [Diluc leans forward like a cat judging the distance before a leap. The holiday is so unfamiliar to him. But it sounds like one.]

It’s merely part of the harvest season at home. For Liyue, when Moonchase festival begins. What all does Halloween entail?

[torpour]

Dressing up in costume depicting monsters and asking for candy. It's primarily for merrymaking nowadays, but people forget that they're not the only ones having some fun.

[that's spoken like a person who hasn't participated in halloween... ever. only watched from a distance.

because he is that sort of person.]

Seems here, the people are more aware of it-- perhaps because there are more dire situations than those at home.

[searingwing]

[Diluc glances down the street, but his gaze is distant.] It’s possible,

[He says, as he turns and sets to constructing meat skewers. He sets them on a rack as the grill in the stall heats back up under his direction.]

They keep saying it isn’t about dressing up. It’s about looking different so we won’t be noticed.

In the previous month we were forced onto a river of blood to share our regrets and encouraged to fight when a strange blood lust hit all of us. They called it preparing for the year to come.

[torpour]

I don't doubt them in the least. The unknown is always something we should be wary about. [as he says that, zuo noses at his left hand, before slipping under it to hold him up.]

So if they want to prepare for the new year... [that's just under three months.] Then they anticipate it to be worse than what you've already experienced, for preparations to start this early.

Which means you have a lot to prepare for.

[searingwing]

Yes it does. [He glances to the barrels then takes a rag and wipes down his counter. A mug left by someone else before he drifted away is picked up and cleaned. He does it all with the smooth ease of practice.]

Given what's already happened and how it seems to focus on honing the self and growing past things. I'm wondering...

[He trails off and shakes his head. Then he seems to come to a decision.] In the dream realm it was all about death, escapism, and clutching desperately to a past that couldn't be changed.

I wonder if the waking world is the exact opposite and meant to bring about...what holding onto a dying god would not.

[torpour]

[nehan has... a number of thoughts on that. personal growth... ah, that just evokes so much from him. but, as his usual, he keeps those thoughts to himself.]

So, you were in a world connected to this, beforehand... For instance, was asleep somewhere that's not your home, and dreamed? With many others? And now here.

[that's actually a bit of a concern for nehan-- but also brings him some relief. he was asleep for a long time, and never came here or that supposed dream realm, as far as he can remember, and that is a good thing.]

[searingwing]

[Diluc looks a little tired as he drags a hand over his face. He shakes his head.] I think we didn't dream it. We were pulled into the dream. It was set up that way to keep a dying higher being alive.

Or should I say a being who was all but dead but those involved in her story refused to let her go. It's a long story. But this is the waking world tied to that dream. But the rest is accurate. We were all together, some of us.

[He drops his hand to the counter and resumes cleaning.] I went home from that dream realm but a door to this one appeared and I made the choice to return. I had a promise to keep.

[torpour]

Hmm. [so he woke up from that shared dream, but then chose to come here.] You're a man who clearly has something happening in your world, because you're just that sort of person. Yet you chose to be here, than there.

That promise must be something important. [which nehan doesn't understand. what could be so important to leave what you had behind? then he raises his hand.] I don't need to know. I'm just thinking out loud.

[searingwing]

And you are quite perceptive. [Diluc says mildly as he rests both his hands against the counter. The full weight of his gaze settles on Nehan as all of his attention is briefly devoted to watching him.

It ebbs as he resumes his self appointed task. He draws a mug of his cider and sets it on the bar, clearly for himself.] If this place is like there, one can be returned to the exact moment we left our timelines.

When I went back until a piece of the dream found its way to me I remembered nothing of Deerington. That’s when things began to change and reality started feeling less real than the fragment.

Until I remembered everything and the door appeared before me. No one else saw it.

[torpour]

No wonder you're comfortable with leaving your home behind. [but it's settled an issue nehan has been having, hasn't it? on and off, he's been thinking about the possibility of being stuck here forever, and once again leaving his son to his own devices, growing up without his father. but this time, without a body to watch over, what would mugen even do with his time?

nehan is more comfortable now.]

But I doubt I'd make the same choices. [he looks down at his omen, where the wolf is busy tugging at his sleeve and glove, fussing over the rumpled fabric and trying to cover him back up. nehan never even noticed, he cant feel anything.] No judgement to your own, but this place isn't to my taste, with the sheer lack of plantlife and overreliance on blood.

[searingwing]

It's not to my taste either. [He picks up his mug and takes a sip. It's not bad apple cider, but he could make it better. The little additions he'd added to his batches help a lot.]

The more I learn about it the less I like it. [His mug makes a soft tap as he sets it down on the counter. He rests his hands side by side.]

But yes, that's why I'm comfortable stepping away from my homeland. Because technically, I didn't.

[torpour]

[nehan huffs, as zuo snuffles into his suit.]

Nothing at home to miss, hm. [now he's getting an idea of the kind of person diluc is, because nehan specifically means no one to miss. other people place quite a bit of importance on bonds, and the fact that diluc just left those people, even if they wouldn't notice...

it's telling.]

[searingwing]

There is everything to miss. [Diluc says flatly with his hands around his mug. But all he can see is his father's face as he passed one once more this time without his aid. A battered and worn Kaeya whose dead vision is in his belt pouch.

He resists the urge to reach for it as he continues.] I just can't ignore this and I promised to see it through. That's all.

[torpour]

Hmm. [nehan really has to wonder what sort of promise that is then, that would take a person away from "everything".

outside of protecting that "everything".]

All right then. [it's because of nehan being nehan that he can say that easily, brushing off any sort of ire or negative feelings he may have incurred. because, in the end, what does it even matter if yet another person is angry at him?]

I wont pry anymore if you give me a drink.

[searingwing]

[Diluc pours Nehan a mug and places it before him. Like a fire dying back down his ire vanishes.] You can pry if you want to. That's all there is to it.

[He returns to his own mug and sips from it. He is by nature and upbringing a protector. Dellingr hisses and wings from his perch. Like as if he's done it for years Diluc lifts his arm up in a falconer's style. The dragon settles on his arm.]

...who knew dragons weren't that different from birds.

[torpour]

It's said in some circles that reptiles and birds share a common ancestor, and dragons are either a distant offshoot of said ancestor, or that very same one. It all depends on how dragons are related to dinosaurs. [but nehan is not going to deny that they are related. because he knows they are.

he takes a sip of his cider. is he really going to have a nerdy little rant, right here? yes, yes he is.]

I've never dissected a dead dragon before, even if I've dealt with a few in the past-- they're not suitable for medicine-making. But just looking at the structure of one, they're definitely related to birds in some way. The keel, for instance.

[searingwing]

[Dragon and man both turn their heads to look at him. Interest sparks in Diluc’s eyes. Learning things like this is one thing he doesn’t mind doing. And, frankly, it’s easier on him. It’s like work in a way.]

The keel? [He prompts as his dragon shuffles closer to Nehan. While Dellingr is a companion of his soul, he has his own mind. His mind right now seems to be closer to the man who knows things.]

I am no scholar, but I have been close to a dragon in recent memory. One of the four lords of the winds, is Dvalin. Unlike Dellingr here his wings are more feathery.

[He reaches beneath his counter and lets Dellingr shuffle over to the edge of the counter near Nehan. He drops a journal on the surface and turns to a blank page. Then he sets a pen to the page, starting to loosely sketch the dragon now known to many as Stormterror.]

[torpour]

Touch a bird's sternum from the base of the neck and follow it downward. The keel is the bone that makes the chest of a winged animal protrude outward, like their ribcage is naturally massive. But the keel is a separate bone altogether, and is what the muscles of the wings anchor to.

[nehan eyes the dragon shuffling closer to him, and zuoyou raises its tail in alert. but nehan simply squints at the movements, as if the creature wants nehan to use it as a visual teaching tool.

which... fine. he raises his hand and points at the dragon's chest.]

That's the keel. It doesn't matter what the wings are made of-- if it has wings, there's likely to be a keel. If it doesn't, it may be held up by magic instead, and thus the remains could be used for medicine but is unpredictable and thus dangerous.

[searingwing]

[Dellingr spreads his wings and shifts so that Nehan can in fact use him for the demonstration. Diluc focuses on them both, pen paused. He knows birds. He has hand raised falcons since he was a boy.

He sets the pen down and reaches out to lightly touch Dellingr’s chest. The dragon stays poised for the demonstration, but leans into his touch. He smiles softly an expression that makes him look like the boy he had once been.] Looking for scratches again, are you?

[His voice is gentle as he coos to the reptilian friend. He scratches under his chin and says to Nehan.]

I see it now. I hadn’t even thought to look at it in dragons. But it’s one of the things taught to me as a boy. We put a keel into our wind gliders.

[Some of the softness remains in his voice and brightens his eyes. A shadow of his old nature peeking through.]

[torpour]

[nehan, so far, has managed to not touch the dragon, simply because he thinks it's inappropriate to touch what is in essence the extension of another person's body, and an intimate part at that. like touching genitals. he may be a doctor, but even he doesn't do that without permission during an examination.]

You people fly-- of course you do. No wonder your omen is a dragon.

[searingwing]

[He pauses, thinking that over. He nods once,] Thinking on it like that with the added benefit of what I’ve heard of dragons in other worlds.

I see why my omen is a dragon too. So far, everyone from my country has an omen with some form of wings. Mondstadt is the city state of freedom and the wind. Prehaps part of that is deep in all of our souls.

[torpour]

[nehan is going to refrain from saying that the dragons he's met are... often his prey, because the captain needs their products for one reason or another. fortunately, from the coloring of both diluc and his dragon, they're clearly fire, and nehan doesn't have to worry about his light magic influencing them if he has to punch the man.]

Hm. Dragons and birds...

And many dragons are associated with fire, as well.

[searingwing]

Dragons vary in Teyvat. I have only met Dvalin but I’ve heard of others.

Rex Lapis was said to have been a great stone dragon. [Dellingr folds his wings and moves closer to tuck himself into Diluc’s touch. He hisses happily while Diluc speaks,] He appeared once a year and descended to tell his people their fortunes of the year.

There was also Durin. He is the reason that Dvalin and I met. Centuries ago he and Dvalin fought. His corrupted blood got into Dvalin’s wounds. He fell. There are those who exploited that. And Dvalin became Stormterror.

I helped stop him from terrorizing our land while he was caught in corruption. A bard here named Venti could tell you more about him. He seems to have regular conversations with him.

[torpour]

[... well. he wasn't expecting a whole spiel, here. not that anything would come out of his ears, when nehan is incapable of forgetting anything.

he's just going to opt to not make mention of any of those, not right now.]

I was pointing out the fact that you would clearly be aligned with fire, if you had magic not associated with your blood type. Your dragon is red, after all.