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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
monoceroscaeli: <user name="amayaicons-anime" site="tumblr.com"> (16)

[personal profile] monoceroscaeli 2021-10-22 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Guess it doesn't matter if it has its head or not. Thankfully he was ready just in case, blocking a few slashes. The spectre doesn't seem to be having any of his shit though, and she grips the blade with a ferocious strength, surprising even him.

She's about to take another slash at his face when Kaeya's attack slams into her, loosing her grip on his blade. He skids backwards away from her, blades back up at the ready. Wow. Absolutely no fear whatsoever. Guess the dead have nothing to fear, or they simply aren't capable of feeling it.

He launches his next attack- it's a direct swing at her arm right where the shoulder meets. Taking her arms off seems like the safest option right now.]


unmelting: (Default)

[personal profile] unmelting 2021-10-25 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
Careful! [Kaeya cautions with a grin in Childe's direction.] Careful, shame to ruin a pretty face.

[Though he's certain -- by the way Childe moves along -- that the other man knows how to handle himself in a fight.

The ghost however, seems a bit torn by which assailant she wants to counter-attack first. Childe's attack connects and she spins, her arm more or less shearing off. Well, now they've both pissed her off. She reaches down to pick up her head, plop it back on her shoulders, this time turning on Kaeya and coming at him teeth first -- which actually shuts Kaeya up long enough to bring his sword up to defend himself.]
monoceroscaeli: <user name="optimisty"> (135)

[personal profile] monoceroscaeli 2021-10-26 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
[Yeek. She just put her head back on, and it attaches like there was glue there. The idea of removing her arms doesn't matter now- she can probably reattach it just as easily.

No matter. It doesn't affect him either way whether she has her arms or her head. His movements are swift, and he skates along the ground as water splashes up around him to close the distance between himself and the charging ghoul. The tip of a hydro blade appears in front of Kaeya, coming through the back of her head and popping out through her mouth. An awful and sickening gargling noise wretches out from the ghost, even more angry with the two of them. Childe doesn't let go of the blade so she can't bite Kaeya, and quickly slices the other arm off.]


I don't know if she can die. Even now she's trying to free herself with just as much strength as when we started.
unmelting: (kaeya052)

[personal profile] unmelting 2021-10-26 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
So we're fighting an uphill battle. Our mistake for being alive, I suppose.

[A frown as he considers.]

Between the two of us we could freeze her.

[Like. They could freeze the hell out of her honestly, and either hack her to enough bits that putting herself back together will take a lot of time or figure out a way to banish her spirit or trap it more permanently.]

What do you think?

[His weapon is up, vision pulsating with light, ready to strike.]
monoceroscaeli: <user name="amayaicons-anime" site="tumblr.com"> (15)

[personal profile] monoceroscaeli 2021-10-26 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
I don't think this fight is going to be very interesting going forward. It's like fighting a zombie. Sure, it could go on forever and ever, and that's fine with me, but I can already tell it will bore me shortly.

[She tries to kick at one of them, being in the awkward position that she's in.]

Remember that mirror I've got with me? Let's freeze her and trap her in that.

[He lifts his free hand that carries his other blade and holds it above her head. Usually, his blade would just disappear, but now he lets it explode into a small waterfall that soaks the zombie in water. And as swiftly as he does that, he backs off and the blade is removed from her head, ready for Kaeya to do his thing.]
unmelting: (kaeya101)

[personal profile] unmelting 2021-10-31 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
You're an interesting man.

[That's what Kaeya has to say about this. It's true enough. Kaeya is still figuring Childe out, but he's interesting and that's good enough. Allies of circumstances and all -- until circumstances change, maybe -- at least it's enjoyable.

But he's also right. This will be an infinite cycle if they keep at it this way.

He steps out of the range of that kick, nodding.]


Good plan.

[Kaeya waits for Childe to finish, happy to take his cue and bring his sword around to bear, Vision flaring icy blue as all the water that Childe so kindly provided freezes solid around their ghost.]

So how do you trap a ghost in a mirror? Are their magic words? Fancy chanting? [Just holding up a mirror?]
monoceroscaeli: <user name="amayaicons-anime" site="tumblr.com"> (14)

[personal profile] monoceroscaeli 2021-10-31 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Childe fishes the mirror out of his pocket, holding it up for Kaeya to see once again. It's so small and plain, not something you'd expect to catch a ghost with. He looks at it, hoping it will work.]

Well, I was instructed that all I had to do was tap a ghost with this and it'll trap it inside.

[He shrugs. That's really, truly was he was told to do.]

Here goes nothing.

[He walks up to the frozen statue, and taps the mirror against her. A strange flash of light goes off in the darkness, catching him off guard. But when his eyes adjust to the darkness once more, the frozen ghost is gone. His jaw drops; it really worked.

He turns the mirror over, looking into it. He's not met with his reflection. Instead, he can see the ghost inside, silently screaming back at him. He looks over to Kaeya, mouth still agape, showing him.]
unmelting: (kaeya059)

[personal profile] unmelting 2021-10-31 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
[Kaeya, admittedly, is a little skeptical. It sounds like the sort of superstitious game one might tell a child (not a Childe) about. But in this place who can say?

And then he watches it work right in front of his eyes.]


Well, fuck.

[Kaeya blurts out before walking closer to look into the mirror, laughing.] That's terrifying. You could really ruin someone's day with that. [Kaeya. No.] But I guess that works. A captured ghost.
monoceroscaeli: <user name="optimisty"> (129)

[personal profile] monoceroscaeli 2021-10-31 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
The magic behind this came from someone else's world. I never could have imagined it working here.

[He tucks it back into the safety of the inner pocket of his jacket, crossing his arms to take a minute to take it in.]

Well, that was the only mirror I'd prepared for the night. Anything else we'll have to kill or fight until our bodies give out.
unmelting: (Default)

[personal profile] unmelting 2021-10-31 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
Impressive. But then, I suppose our Visions have kept their abilities. I wonder if there's a limit to what magics from other realms can do here.

[Could it give them an advantage, perhaps? Something to consider.]

I guess those are the options. I mean, I'd prefer not to fight myself to exhaustion, but... [Honestly wouldn't be the first time. Ah well.]

Just, try not to break the mirror. I can't imagine that ending well. It's bad luck, you know.
monoceroscaeli: <user name="optimisty"> (141)

[personal profile] monoceroscaeli 2021-10-31 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
[He definitely wouldn't mind fighting all night, but he can understand why someone else wouldn't. Not that he expects many others to have the exact same attitude about battle as he does.]

Oh, don't worry, I won't. I'll make sure it's delivered to our resident ghost expert safely. I'm interested to see what his work will show. There's a good chance that it will aid us in the future here.

[He looks around...there's no other dangers in the area that he's aware of, so he looks back to Kaeya.]

I may continue on hunting down something more entertaining to fight. I won't force you to come with me, though you'll be missing out.
unmelting: (kaeya084)

[personal profile] unmelting 2021-10-31 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
I'm curious about this ghost expert of yours.

[He informs him. He's all for someone puzzling out how things in this strange place work.

Kaeya shrugs, hands splaying out.]


How could I possibly pass that up? Besides, I've got to keep myself sharp here.
monoceroscaeli: <user name="optimisty"> (82)

[personal profile] monoceroscaeli 2021-10-31 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Alright, but I'm warning you, I really can do this all night.

[Though he appreciates that Kaeya was willing to continue on. Not a lot of people are so keen on that. And what's more fun than battle, really?]

But if you want to talk to my...contact, let's say- his name is Dipper. He's the one that has an ongoing compendium regarding ghosts, and how I learned to make this mirror.
unmelting: (kaeya090)

[personal profile] unmelting 2021-11-01 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
Promises promises. I've heard that before.

[Kaeya chuckles at his own joke, because of course he does. But in all honesty, this is a good distraction for the time being.

More than that, he's very interested in seeing what Childe is like in a battle that actually challenges him. Maybe they'll get lucky and find such a thing.]


Dipper, huh? I'll keep it in mind. I'd like to talk someone who's an expert on the subject.
monoceroscaeli: <user name="optimisty"> (59)

[personal profile] monoceroscaeli 2021-11-02 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
He seems very approachable. You should have no difficulty getting a hold of him.

[The hospital area seemed like a great place to look for more ghosts, but he wants a challenge. And what better place to go looking than around the one place that has tortured souls to spare?]

There's a place around here named Soma. I've heard they house those who have corrupted right into beasthood. Their deaths may have spawned more challenging and frightening foes. Shall we head there?
unmelting: (Default)

[personal profile] unmelting 2021-11-04 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
Good to know.

[Kaeya takes that information and tucks it away like a paranoid squirrel storing acorns for winter. He'll have to reach out to this contact of Childe's.]

Ooh, now that's promising, isn't it? Lead on.

[Corruption in general is something that Kaeya is curious about, needs to know more about, since apparently it's a threat they all face in this place.]