deercountry | I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't

I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't

DECEMBER 2021 EVENT

Hello! We are trying a new style of event this December with archival-like entries that characters can ICly find in the Archives. This should allow characters to be able to plan against certain events that occur in-game and do research ahead of time, during the event, or after the fact.

The idea is that these prompts will provide you with all the possibilities characters could theoretically face from the prompt. We hope this leaves more open-ended opportunities for people to engage with. Anything mentioned in the excerpts could be an experience characters encounter. You can always ask for clarification on any prompt on the plotting page.

This is a way to keep all event prompts relevant since new characters would be able to "read up" on these events/excerpts by visiting the Archives or other such resources for information about past events and what they can anticipate from the setting.

We hope this new style makes sense and is fun for players to work with! They will rely on players creating more of the atmosphere than the prompts, but we think that the prompts will provide the perfect guidance as to what the atmosphere should feel like. Enjoy!

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Holiday themed antler decoration.]
[Image Two: White stag with perfect, circular antlers with bits of ice attached.]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Sculpture of white rabbit with neck caught in a snare. Non-graphic.]
[Image Two: Person in red cloak and wolf mask turning around.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Puppet making bloody snow angel in snow.]
[Image Two: Bloodied hands wrapped in bandages clenching.]

[NAVIGATION]

Prompt 1 • Prompt 2 • Prompt 3 • Plotting • Newsletter

[JUMP TO COMMENTS]

WINTER MOURNING

WHEN: Begins in December and can last until the end of Feb.
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Spoilers for various canons, survival situations, forced memory share

[A passage from Rituals of Trench: Remembering Our Pasts reads the following:]

"A long-standing tradition to celebrate Bone Season is for Deerians to collect antlers and bones salvaged from natural resources and create decorative home accents. These antler-bone decors are known formally as Winter Mournings and can be found in almost every residential home throughout Deer Country. Winter Mournings can be made to look like wreaths, candle holders, or simply an antler with a bow hung up on a wall.

Winter Mournings is seen as a way to honor one's past tribulations and how one has managed to survive and overcome hardships during their life. Winter Mournings serves as a testament to survival and a willingness to keep surviving even when things look bleak and dismal.

Creating Winter Mournings is considered a blessing to the Pthumerians Dorothea, Remina, and Argonaut. You will know if the blessing was accepted once your Winter Mourning begins to glow like the moon. Touch your Winter Mourning and you will be pulled back in time to a memory of a specific time when you or someone else had to survive something physically or mentally challenging. For some, it is merely a memory that cannot hurt, but for others, you may want to proceed with caution as it has been known to pull people physically back to times of war.

One cannot choose which memory they wind up in if it is their own, a friend's, or a complete stranger's. Winter Mournings was designed to create a sense of union and empathy among residents and is meant to open your mind and heart to those who have suffered around you. It is time you explore your past, or someone else's past, with an open mind and see how the other side has lived through hard times. These memories are known to be from adolescence, adulthood, or sometimes even futures that have not yet happened or timelines you have never known. After all, Remina sees all past and all history. That means they see all of your past and history too.

No memory lasts forever though. Once the memory has been concluded, you shall be brought back to the present by the Winter Mourning Stag: a great white beast with a circle of frozen antlers. It will come to you when the time is ready, and you will return to the present like waking from a dazzling dream.

Experiencing Winter Mournings can stabilize one's mood and provide restful sleep after, even if the memories may be difficult to swallow. It truly is a tribute to honor past horrors and traumas. Some memories are painful to remember, but forgetting them will never do anyone any good either. So hang your Winter Mournings and remember what matters.

Survive another day. You are worth it."

FAQ

1. Winter Mournings can produce new memories every time you touch them or the same memory.

2. Characters cannot choose what the memory is.

3. Characters can arrive in each other's memories regardless of if they already know each other. Multiple people can experience the same memory.

4. You can either experience the memory as a memory you can't touch or experience - or you can physically be in the memory and have to survive the situation as well. If you die in memory, your body will die wherever you had been touching the Winter Mourning.

5. Palebloods are capable of altering memories or how they or others experience memories.

6. Characters can be pulled into memories at random - as long as one of the characters in the memory share is touching a Winter Mourning at first.

RUN, RABBIT, RUN

WHEN: Month of December
WHERE: Everywhere/the woods
CONTENT WARNINGS: Themes of hunting, ghosts, curses, attempts at animal violence, hunting people based on blood types.

[An excerpt from Legends of Trench: Curses and Causations reads the following:]

"One of the most notorious legends of Trench is without a doubt the tale of The Huntress and the Hare. Most Trenchies have been told this tale since they were children, but for those unfamiliar, settle in.

This story begins with a mischievous god and an ambitious huntress. The Pthumerian Dorothea loved to play tricks on hunters trying to survive the Bone Season, setting animals free from traps and remaking the traps to catch the hunters instead. One day, a darkblood Huntress was fed up with Dorothea preventing her from catching food for her family and decided to settle the score. The Huntress began to hunt for Dorothea specifically, but it is no small feat hunting the god of trickery and survival.

The Huntress started to rely on her darkblood powers to alter reality to make the perfect traps. Innocuous trees turned into glue traps that anyone would stick to until they were freed by a darkblood or death took their pain from them. Walking through bushes would snag legs and necks, effectively trapping whatever creatures were unfortunate enough to wander for food. Magical snares and beartraps lock around victims with unrelenting force, leaving people and animals to try for help until they cry no more. While this took many innocent lives in the woods, animals, and people alike, it never seemed to work on Dorothea.

Dorothea continued to outwit the Huntress until she eventually drove the Huntress insane. The Huntress died without ever catching Dorothea, but they say her vengeful spirit awakens in winter and begins to set her traps yet again. The Huntress sends her traps and her dead animals after vilebloods and warmbloods to spite Dorothea and hope to maybe catch the god's attention. But Dorothea is no passive god. Dorothea spurs vilebloods and warmbloods to defend themselves against darkbloods and coldbloods.

Infamously, this has created enormous tension between the blood types during December some years, and it is said that the blood lust has caused the types to begin hunting one another regardless of old friendships and alliances. Beware the Huntress's curse. Some believe darkbloods and coldbloods can still hear her haunting commands and cries from the Trenchwood.

They say there is no ease for the tension between the bloodtypes until December has passed, but some believe palebloods may provide relief if they are willing."

FAQ

1. Characters will increasingly feel the urge to actively hunt one another using traps/etc.

2. The Huntress's curse includes undead animals/beasts chasing after warmbloods and vilebloods and magical traps. Players can invent unique traps for their characters.

3. There will be an innate urge to chase/hide from one another.

4. The curse can be broken by paleblood intervention, character death, or a gradual wearing off by the end of the month.

LOCKJOINT

WHEN: All of Bone Season
WHERE: On Sleeper bodies
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mild body horror, blood magic curses, physical curses, cures through blood ministration/blood letting, possible skin removal, injuries, possible death via starvation/exposure.

[An passage from The Sleeper Condition; Chapter 13: Bodily Aches and More. Found exclusively at the Lumenarium:]

"Generally speaking, Sleeper blood allows Sleepers to navigate this world without the fear of illness and disease. However, no organic body is perfect, and Sleeper blood has its own set of ailments to fret over. Blood Ministers have studied the phenomena of Lockjoint for years now and believe that it is linked to the crystalization found in Sleeper death, though the exact connection remains unknown.

Lockjoint tends to begin and last throughout Bone Season. Some Sleepers may never experience it, but for many, it becomes a reoccurring issue to dread each season. This condition forces blood magic to gather at the joints and effectively lock up. Sleepers find it difficult to move their bodies at the bends, fingers, knees, shoulders, etc without some form of discomfort. Minimal lockjoint can be painful and annoyance, but critical lockjoint can be fatal.

The most severe cases of lockjoint documented have shown Sleepers to have crystalization form over their joints, rendering parts of their bodies completely immobile. Some Sleepers have been found dead in this condition, all their joints crystallized, and it is believed most died from natural causes thereafter.

One can determine they are experiencing lockjoint when the coloration around the joints begins to darken in color, typically looking like a bruise. Calcification may occur rapidly the more magic a Sleeper uses or the more they expose themselves to outside elements. It is imperative that Sleepers remain properly clothed during Bone Season, even if they are coldbloods, and to invest in enchanted clothes that can lock in heat.

A known cure for lockjoint is the art of bloodletting. Puncturing the joints with small incisions seems to allow a release of the built-up magic and can provide immediate relief to the Sleeper. Catching lockjoint early is imperative. Alternative methods are soaking in hot springs and salted water.

Those who are in a more severe state will have to carefully have the crystals removed. This will likely remove the skin as well. Local anesthesia is highly recommended for the procedure. This process is known to leave scarring. The crystals can be saved and used as bloodstones from whoever they were harvested from. If you find a Sleeper dead from lockjoint, make sure to harvest the crystals as they are incredibly valuable.

This curse is believed to stem from Sleeper blood magic congealing within the body in contrast with the atmospheric magic of Bone Season. There is no known prevention for lockjoint. Lockjoint can impact all Sleepers regardless of bloodtype or the material their bodies are made from."

FAQ

1. This impacts characters regardless of blood type or their body - meaning it can impact characters with metal/plastic/plant/wood/etc bodies.

2. Players can choose how rapid or severe this gets and how quickly they can be healed.

CODING

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Having endured injuries to his joints in the past, Midoriya is quick to notice the unusual stiffness. When his usual remedies didn't work, he consulted a Blood Minister, who told him the best cure was hot springs or a saltwater bath. He's spent a lot of time cooped up at home resting. Hot springs sound amazing.

The Rocks were mostly populated by those who didn't or couldn't go to Achelliac. Today, it's mostly families, mixed groups, and the asocial. Midoriya is the last, not because he dislikes people, but because he's used to everything being separated by gender back home. The local Trenchies here are blasé about it, as on a nudist beach, but the last thing Midoriya wants to do is freak out if he accidentally gets too close to someone's boobs.

Their voices murmur quietly along with the sound of surf below. He finds a pool that's out of the way and gets into his towel behind some rocks. In addition to the old scars on his right arm, he has a lot of new ones everywhere from last month. They're light though, because he was able to get to the Blood Ministers quickly. Like everyone else, he keeps his clothes very near at hand. Beasts don't frequent the Rocks because it's so inconvenient to get here, but one never knows. The average Trenchie covers up well for safety.

He sinks into the water all the way up to his chin. His joints tingle pleasantly, healing warmth spreading all the way to his fingertips. He breathes in the steam and sighs. Heavenly. He recalls how, when he was healing from injuries to his arms in the past, he used heat as directed to stimulate circulation. He realizes how much he needed this, body and mind, after last month. He was smart to come here.

The hot spring is... well, boring, much to his great disappointment. From the human television he'd been able to see, scenarios where humans go to hot springs were supposed to be exciting, filled with romance, drama, and sometimes even things like ghosts.

But this was just people milling about. Mostly families. He idly watches parents with their young children for a bit but it stirs something in him that feels acidic and sharper than the pain from the Lockjoint.

He turns to see who else is about, wondering idly if Shinji-kun (the human, not the omen) would have come to a place like this with him if he'd asked. Even if he'd needed it to survive.

Then his eyes turn on someone a boy... not quite his age, but only a little older. Someone who is definitely a Sleeper like him. Immediately, he crosses over and sits down next to the other boy.

"So, are you here to cure the Lockjoint too?"

Edited 2021-12-14 22:25 (UTC)

Midoriya, of course, came here to use the springs for their intended, boring purpose. He can be very boring and plain sometimes, without a hint of romance, drama, or the supernatural. All he's doing is sitting with his eyes closed for a bit, earnestly trying to relax...

"Wha--?!"

His eyes fly open and he jumps a little. The cold air hits his shoulders with a winter bite. This person has the entire pool to lounge around in, and he chooses to sit next to him? Contrary to Midoriya's open expression of emotions--which seems to invite people to speak to him for some reason, he can't imagine why--he's not great in social situations.

Sympathy wins out against his own awkwardness. This is a fellow Sleeper suffering the same problem. Japanese-speaking, too. He smiles tentatively, even while subconsciously leaning back slightly at a more respectable speaking distance with a stranger. He wants to be polite.

"Yes. It's good I noticed it very early. If I'm lucky, this is all I'll need to do. Kind of nice, right?"

"It is nice. It's like a bath but the air is less stuffy. You can see the sky. Everything is more real."

Ah, so he speaks Japanese too. It's funny, no matter what language anyone speaks here, he can understand it, but he can also feel when someone speaks a language he knows. He likes it.

"I suppose. I didn't even know that there was a problem until someone told me so."

He tilts his head up at the sky as Kaworu mentions it. He hadn't really noticed. It's steely winter gray and always threatening snow, but the daylight is heartening and the air is clear. The last time he looked appreciatively at the sky was... two months ago, when he taught someone to fly a kite. That feels like eight million years ago.

"Really? Didn't you feel like it was difficult to move?"

“I didn’t realize it was something that happens in the cold. The world that I live in is nothing but eternal summers. Cold like this is a distant memory.”

He shrugs a little, then raises his hands up out of the water to watch it cascade back down. His arms are covered in bruises from the lockjoint and cold and beyond that, scars from incisions and injection points. Clearly, this boy has not lived the life of a teenager his age.

He delays slightly, staring. He remembers the scars on Eri's arms, caused by someone else. He can't know what caused this boy's, but something twists painfully in his chest anyway. Whatever it is, be it numerous visits to the doctor for a terrible condition, or something more insidious, he forgets the oddness of how this boy chose to greet him.

Though this person is definitely candid, Midoriya isn't by default. Out of respect for him, he doesn't ask about it.

"Is the water helping?" He can't help a little softening in his voice.

"I think so. I always heard humans thought hot springs were healing. But I assumed it was just an expression rather than something said in truth."

He reaches into the water and lets it flow through his hands. The water is good... it's different from the showers where he had to scrub himself with soap that burned to get the smell of LCL off of his body.

Now that he's tried this place out for himself, he's ready to convince his friends of the benefits of soaking in a hot spring. He doesn't care if it goes as poorly as trying to convince Karkat that jogging is good whenever he's got a lot on his mind.

If only Midoriya recommended self-care to himself more often. He had very carefully managed his blood corruption last month, but only with the intention of being well enough for repeat raids on the Sleeper Farm. He had set his mind on rescuing as many people as he could from it, and obstinately would not stop as long as he was able.

He smiles a little. "Even if all they did was calm us down, that's healing too."

He rubs his shoulder where new scars and aches stretch and bother him. They couldn't be completely eliminated with Blood Magic, and the aches blend annoyingly from one affliction to the next. He sinks further into the water again to submerge it.

"I suppose, but otherwise you could just take a bath."

NERV had baths. He'd always wanted to go in them but the thought of sitting in them alone was unappealing. Shinji never wanted to go so instead he would shower and go home instead of relaxing.

The dorms he lived in back home had communal baths, but the onsen at summer camp was a step above that:

"Oh--hot springs have natural minerals that are good for you. Not sure about the specifics, but that's a reason people come here instead of just taking a bath at home. So... this is your very first one? I guess because it's always summer where you're from?"

What would that even be like? Even places near the equator had seasons, though mostly just "rainy" and "not rainy". As this person referring to "humans," well, it might be rude to just ask about that so soon. Midoriya doesn't feel inclined to.

"There still are hot springs, but I've never been to them. I'd only been in Japan for a few weeks before coming here."

He watches his hands under the water and then looks up at the other boy, like he's curious to see how he'll respond to that.

He smiles with a gentle, pleasant surprise, pausing in the middle of massaging the scars on and around his hand where he could feel the lockjoint in his wrist. It's an old, familiar gesture from past injuries.

"Huh? Where did you live before? You speak Japanese so well."

The complement is heartfelt.

"Germany. But I was taught to speak Japanese from an early age. I think the expectation was always that I would end up there. Though it doesn't matter here: language seems to be something that doesn't create barriers."

He glances over at the other boy, curious.

"But it can also still connect us. Does it make you feel more at ease that we speak the same language?"

"Uh... yes?"

This person seems a little odd, and not because he grew up overseas or came from a world of endless summer. Midoriya thinks about the scars on his arms again and resists the urge to look at them under the water. That's rude. How would he feel if people stared at his own? When clothed, Midoriya usually covers the large one on his right arm because it looks gross. He elaborates,

"It does. Sometimes I find that things are lost in translation... Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. Sorry about that. I'm Midoriya."

"Midoriya... what?"

He doesn't have much interest in surnames. They relate to family, something he doesn't have. He was only given one as to not seem suspicious.

"Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you..."

Perhaps he should feel like he's just given his name to a spirit who could curse him with it, but he's too placid for that. Anyway, most people call him Midoriya, his surname. He supposes that will happen here too.

“Nagisa Kaworu. Glad to meet you, Izuku-kun.”

The comparison to a spirit isn’t that far off. Though he’ll more likely bother you than curse you.

"Uh..." He's not used to a stranger being that familiar with him, using his first name and all, but he's too much of a pushover to really object.

"Why come to Japan, then, Nagisa-kun?"

Smalltalk will make that less awkward, right? Midoriya, who is awkward on his good days, makes an attempt.

"The committee sent me there to fulfill the mission I had been raised for since birth."

He responds, a little disappointed at the use of his surname. Shinji did that too. It's odd? He feels that it's easy to become familiar with others. ...Isn't it?

A small, soft "...Eh?" escapes his throat.

That raises so many questions, none of which he wants to ask for fear of upsetting Kaworu. Ironically, some of them might even fulfill Kaworu's wish to be more familiar with him. Midoriya can feel his own shoulders tense. He clears his throat.

"Did... um... Did you go to school?"

Going to school isn't necessarily a sign of a happy childhood, but he's got to start somewhere.

"No. I had instructors assigned to me by the committee. My existence was kept secret from most of the organization."

Of course, he had supposed to have gone to school once he arrived in Japan. Only to get lost in the wreckage and encounter Shinji Ikari, who didn't want to go to school. So then, suddenly, neither did he.

Like Snow White, Kaworu is very frank about his blighted childhood. But unlike Snow's stepmother, the motives of this "committee" are still unknown to Midoriya. Otherwise it'd be easy to ask What were they thinking? and Are you sad? But those questions place the burden of an outrage on someone Midoriya still doesn't know much about. Kaworu's feelings could be very different from the icy pit that drops into Midoriya's stomach despites the hot spring's warmth.

For all his faults, Midoriya has always been drawn foremost to the wellbeing of those who seem to need help, rather than making himself feel good by helping. The latter is just a welcome side effect.

He asks gently, "How did you feel about all that?"

"Feel?" Kaworu's smile twists into something almost like a sneer, though with no venom, it's almost like he finds the question to be hilariously naive. "Humans care so much about feeling. But it was all for the purpose of my destiny. Feeling would change nothing. So there was little point to it at all."

Though perhaps, that's not the entire truth. Perhaps at some point, it simply became easier decide to feel nothing to keep himself safe. And perhaps he doesn't even know.

It's not exactly a conversation starter, particularly with someone he just met. He only asked because Kaworu seemed so open to discussing it. Now they suddenly hit a wall, but that is also telling.

Midoriya knows someone who is not human can definitely have different emotions than what he might expect, but he isn't ready to believe Kaworu has none. Kaworu seems to like the sky and first names. He also seems to like to speak the same language as someone he's talking to, if he can.

"It's because our feelings can end up changing our destinies," he explains, "when we work every day for what we want. It might not always succeed, but it does change things.

"There's no committee that I know of here." At this, he can't disguise a slight frostiness in his tone regarding them. His eyes drift to somewhere on the opposite side of the spring, then move back to Kaworu as his frown clears. "So, what you feel is more important here." The polite warmth directed towards him returns.

one Lockjoint, extra awkward, on the rocks

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CW: medical

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