reddosmod: (Default)
Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2021-09-08 06:20 pm
Entry tags:

All men must die, but first he must live.

SEPTEMBER 2021 EVENT
IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Prompt One
[Image One: Woman holding skull in bag. ]
[Image Two: Plants sprouting out of earth.]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Woman rocking back and forth in dark.]
[Image Two: Woman rowing down river with corpses on stakes on horizon.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Beef cake man breaking arrows off of shield with a sword.]
[Image Two: Beefy man slamming axe into troll-like creature, spraying blood.]

GROWING PAINS
WHEN: September
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Minor blood ritual.


September, for many in Trench, is considered a month of personal sacrifice. It is the month of self-actualization and promise. To grow your future, you must first be willing to sacrifice your past. You cannot walk forwards while walking backward. All throughout Trench, natives can be seen in yards and on plots of land digging small holes and planting a variety of items. Some plant seeds, some drop in a ring, others bury small parts of a body. But the ritual is simple: bury something that represents your past and seal it with a promise for your future.

You can write yourself a note or cut off a lock of your own hair. The ways in which people do this are limitless since it's a largely personal experience. Find a small patch of soil and dig yourself a shallow hole. Bury the item inside, say goodbye to who you used to be, and cover the item up with dirt. Once you are done, you must shed at least one drop of blood onto the sacrifice. It must be your own blood willingly given. Once the blood hits the soil, a small flower will miraculously grow out of the earth within seconds.

A single, powerless flower, but this flower will be completely immortal. You can either keep it on the patch of land or dig it up and bring it home. The flower will be a representation of your progress in Trench: if its petals wilt, you are lingering too much in the past. If it is in full bloom and vibrant, you're on the right path to a better future. If the flower starts to rot, you're heading down a dangerous path.

The flower may not be able to sway you one way or another, but it may serve as a valuable reminder of the kind of life you wish to lead. Some people abandon the flowers entirely and never bother with them. After all, there are no real consequences if you let the flower rot. If a character is dropped, their flower will fleck away like dust. Many believe that the flowers are made of the same stuff omens are made of.

You can dig up other people's flowers and watch their progress (make sure to get player permission) instead. After all, not everyone will care enough about their own flowers to really observe them closely. The flowers can come in any species or size, even fictional flowers, but they will only be replicas. Meaning if your character's flower is typically used for healing, there will be no healing properties in this replica. The flowers cannot be destroyed.

Many natives in Trench will repeat this ritual a few times every couple of years since the ritual is for letting go of the past. After all, the promises you make to yourself now won't be the same promises you make to yourself ten years from now. People change and so too will their flowers. What the characters bury is largely open to interpretation.

RIVER OF REGRET
WHEN: September
WHERE: Some obscure location within Gaze
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mangled corpses of loved ones, birds eating corpses, themes of regret.


You will find raven feathers all over Trench. They may drift through the air, lightly touch you, or you might decide to pick one up. The moment you come into physical contact with a feather, a conspiracy of ravens tears through the air and scoops you up into a whirlwind of feathers and caws. It only lasts a few seconds before you're deposited into a canoe drifting along a still river. Another Sleeper is in the boat with you. You pass beneath massive stone walls carved into the likeness of Never Mind and his ravens.

The world is silent around you. There is no rain here. Instead, sunlight pours through breaks in the clouds. Sunlight dapples across the water and golden-red leaves of nearby trees. It's more serene than most places in Trench.

You turn a corner and smell it before you see it. The picturesque summer day is dampened by the stench of rot. Then you come upon them: corpses. Corpses tied up to posts with barbed wire, corpses put through spikes and suspended in the air. Ravens flutter to and fro, picking at strips of meat. It isn't until you're close enough that you realize you recognize the corpses.

They are the corpses of people you have hurt. And that doesn't just mean people you killed or physically harmed. These are the bodies of people you have deep regrets towards: a lover you wronged, a best friend you lied to, an enemy you wish you had forgiven. Not everything is as black and white as murder, after all, and this grisly graveyard of mangled bodies says as much. Sometimes our regrets haunt us like the dead, and it seems like yours have followed you to Trench. You might even see your own body up on a post or the body of your canoe companions.

You have one of two choices: ignore your regret or face it.

Choosing to ignore your regrets doesn't seem to have any ill consequences at first. You pass by the corpses and continue on your river voyage. But the water grows thicker, and you come across the same corpses only in a worse state. The situation gets progressively worse each time you ignore it, and the river gradually becomes a river of blood and gore. The stench becomes insufferable and you will become increasingly corrupt. Some may even turn into beasts right there on the river.

Facing your regrets means talking about them, even mildly, to your canoe companions. You simply need to acknowledge the corpses, acknowledge the slightest truth to your feelings towards those regrets. When everyone in your canoe has acknowledged their regrets, the ravens will come for you once more. You will be brought back to Trench and awaken in the School of Mutter. Those who faced their regrets will discover that they have been gifted a white gold compass. The compass's needle will always point in the direction of the nearest Lamp Friend no matter the chaos going on in the world. But the compass only works once you have calmed down and focused.

QUICK FACTS

1. Each boat can hold up to 4 people. There can be multiple canoes in the same area.

2. If you try to leave the boat, you will drown in the River of Regret.

3. This does not have to encompass every regret someone's had. It can only represent one or two things. The regret should have to do with another individual or one's self. Something like "I regret not going to college" wouldn't necessarily work within the parameters of the prompt.

4. The river can only be accessed by touching a fallen raven feather. Touching a raven feather attached to the bird or a quill does not count.

5. Characters can engage with this prompt as many times as they touch a raven feather.

6. Characters with no regrets will not see corpses, but they will still be able to interact with characters who do have regrets.
BLOODSPORT
WHEN: During the Blood Moon
WHERE: Everywhere but specifically, The Gate
CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, fighting, forced aggression/violence, forced fighting.


The Blood Moon invokes religious reverence among Trenchies. September and October are the ultimate months of sacrifice to pay tribute to the gods and the blood that rules this world. An energy begins to swell among Trenchies and you keep hearing the same word whispered excitedly around the city: "Bloodsport."

As the Blood Moon floods the streets in red, you begin to feel antsy, like you don't know what to do with yourself. You're not necessarily angry, you just have an abundance of energy. You don't need to be told what it is: your blood is reacting to the moon. The Blood Moon enhances blood powers significantly and you're simply not used to that yet. You don't feel in control of your own power or maybe even your own mind. At least until you exert some power, some force. Slam a door shut or swing a sword, shoot some electricity or spit some poison and you'll feel at peace with yourself. That nervous energy will ease out.

Only to come back twice as strong. It starts to put you in a real fighting mood and you start to realize why the locals call this Bloodsport. Hunting down beasts and monsters might seem like the fun thing to do right now, but the real attraction for Bloodsport takes place at The Gate. You can hear the roaring crowd blocks away. Hundreds of Trenchies have settled in to watch Sleepers duke it out with each other or with locked-up monsters. Maybe join in the fight. At least you know the other Sleepers there want to be there...Right?

Unfortunately not. Those who resist Bloodsport will find themselves passing out more and more frequently. Eventually, they will be taken by Mysterious Forces to The Gate to be pitted against other Sleepers and monsters. Some Sleepers will be forced into a gladiator-style fight that they either must win or die trying. Most fights at the Gate do end in death, but there are some circumstances where someone surrenders. Of course, that never stops their opponent from killing them anyway...Hopefully, you're fighting someone who is still relatively reasonable. Both parties can be resistant to fighting, but they will feel obligated to fight each other. If they don't, monsters will be unleashed into the arena and your situation will get a whole lot worse.

Bloodsport can greatly enhance a Sleeper's ability and many believe it is a gift from the Pthumerian gods. It is generally considered an advantage to Sleepers during the Season of Blood to prepare them and train them to hone their skills for the Season of Bone. Many believe it is wisest to submit to Bloodsport and let yourself get used to the motions of violence in order to survive the remainder of the year.

QUICK FACTS

1. Casual physical training will alleviate Bloodsport feelings. You could get through the month just by jogging around a lot.

2. Characters forced to the Gate will not remember how or when they arrived - they will just wake up and be thrown into the Gate by some shadowy force.

3. Characters who willingly participate in violence/fighting will feel temporary relief from Bloodsport only for the feeling to increase.

4. Effects of Bloodsport last as long as the Blood Moon shines through September and October.

5. You can treat symptoms of Bloodsport with calming techniques such as aromatherapy, meditation, medications, etc. Can be based on what would ICly help calm your character but it should require a lot of it.

6. You can invent the monsters/beasts that are at the Gate. They should be killable creatures and easily captured for the purpose of the Gate.
CODING
incandescentfaith: (Leaning Forward)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-01 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
...Yes.

[Rei leans forward, frowning at the swaying corpses. A trio, all...the same? It's curious, and she shifts her attention back to Ange. Her eyebrow rises in an unspoken question, but she doesn't let the silence last for very long.]

You know them.

[Not a question, but a statement. She doesn't know these people. So, they must be from Ange's memories this time.]
entreats: (before long)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-03 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
They're my friends from my own world.

[ There's a brief moment of silence after Ange says it, but then she manages to tear her gaze away from the bodies, instead looking back at Rei. Ange is - mostly - still looking relatively calm on the outside, but the look in her eyes is a little more complicated. ]

I guess they really are just showing us people who aren't here with us. And in the most grotesque possible way.
Edited 2021-10-03 07:45 (UTC)
incandescentfaith: <user name=cupcakegraphics> (Deeply Concerned)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-03 05:30 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm still sorry.

[It's not easy to look at such a sight, even if she doesn't know these people. Scooting a little closer, she keeps herself in front of the younger woman, intent on taking as much of the sight out of her field of vision as possible.]

This is pretty messed up. Are...your friends at least safe at home?
entreats: (where do i go)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-04 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ Rei's action, no matter how small, doesn't go unnoticed by Ange. It's a weird sort of kindness to be thrown towards her in this situation - weird mostly due to the fact that she isn't used to it. But she takes it all the same, lowering her gaze, as if she wants to try and not look at the corpses if Rei is trying to protect her from them in the first place. ]

They're not human. It's how I know this is fake. It wouldn't happen to them.

[ And while that is something she would have shared with anyone asking that question, Ange does continue after a moment. If Rei is being kind to her, she at least wants to be a little more open here. Though doing that always leaves her feeling so vulnerable, so she can't quite meet the other girl's eyes as she speaks. ]

I.. didn't really have friends back home. Not regular human ones, I mean. Everyone always thought I was weird. They bullied me, and told everyone to stay away from me while calling me a witch and saying I might curse someone. [ It's hard to talk about, and hard to think about, even though it's been such a long time by now since she's been in that situation. ]

So I made friends with a group of demons instead, because they were the only ones who accepted me. That's these girls here.
incandescentfaith: (Not Pleased)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-05 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Rei's eyebrow arches a little bit, because witch? That doesn't really seem like an Ange thing to her. But then, she's not really in the same age group, and she admittedly dealt with similar accusations, so maybe she's biased? It's hard to say.

It is easy to empathize for her at the very least.

Demons though? That...well...actually that doesn't sound all that far fetched. Recalling her earlier life, before Usagi, Rei could easily see herself cavorting with demons if they were kind to her.]


That...definitely means that this couldn't be them.

Did they wear human shapes, like these, I guess?
entreats: (and we are so fragile)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-05 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah.

[ With what she has already said, it's not hard to answer this question as well. ]

This is what they usually looked like around me. Just.. you know. Less.. gross. [ Less mangled up, compared to how these corpses look. It sucks. She technically hasn't seen them in the flesh in so long, and now the first time she sees them again, it has to be like this. Ange tries to put it out of her mind, but even though Rei is blocking her from fully looking at the bodies, it's like they're already burned onto her eyelids. ]

They must be messing with me like this because I miss them.

[ And surely Rei misses that person she saw earlier as well. It's the one trend she can see here. ]
incandescentfaith: (Not Pleased)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-06 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
Of course. That's the only reason I can think they'd bother.

[Well, other than to just be assholes.]

Perhaps it's a conversation starter. Or some other morbid thing. I imagine, given the ravens, that it is related to Never Mind.

[And he's all about that nonsense.]
entreats: (and we are so fragile)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-06 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
A conversation starter? [ Ange's tone suggests that she finds the idea ridiculous, though she realises that's no fault of Rei's.

It's true that beings with way too much power - whatever they specifically might be - often view these sorts of things that way, huh? Even though they'd be utterly traumatic to regular people.

It's annoying. And hurtful. Ange releases a breath before looking a bit more hopeless, glancing at the bottom of the boat. ]


I really hate this.
incandescentfaith: Icon by <user name=palpos> Colors by Naoko (Contemplate the Future)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-08 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
And I hate it as well.

[Frowning deeply, she rolls her shoulders, glowering back at the corpses on that little hill.]

...Tell me about your friends?
entreats: (and we are so fragile)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-08 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ange seems to slump even a little further, moving to bury her face in her hands now. It's mostly because she's trying to let the anger and annoyance that's being induced by the thought that they're being played like puppets once more sail for the moment, but that just leaves her with an empty feeling, bordering on despair. ]

I don't know.. Wouldn't anyone say the same thing about their friends? They were great. [ It's a little mumbled behind her hands like this, but still audible. ] I never had friends at school, but they were just like how I imagined having friends like that would be. We'd play games, talk late into the night, and they'd try to cheer me up after bad days..
incandescentfaith: <user name=cupcakegraphics> (♂ Wistful)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-09 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
Yes...that's what friends do.

[But that isn't really answering her question. She shakes her head, looking sympathetic.]

But Ange, how did they cheer you up? Were they energetic, were they quiet? I...have a feeling that this place will want us to talk about that kind of thing.
entreats: (and we are so fragile)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-09 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
...

[ She glances up at Rei, even though her facial expression is definitely still kind of a mess now it's no longer hidden. ]

You do? [ She trusts Rei. Ange doesn't think the other would say she has a feeling without actually having a real feeling of some sort. Rei always seems to have good intuition, after all.

So she sucks in a deep breath, trying her best to talk on, despite it feeling like there's lead in her stomach. ]


They-- They were energetic, of course. Way more than me. They'd always chatter away, to a point where I sometimes thought they'd never quiet down..

[ Though she sounds faintly nostalgic as she says it, like she's thinking about something from long ago. ]

But eventually, I.. I found out that they couldn't protect me when I needed it the most, and I got really mad at them.
incandescentfaith: (Downcast)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-11 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
That sounds familiar...

[Well, some of that does, anyway. The feeling of being the least energetic, and the least chatter-boxy of friends. She's quiet, really, though she has no trouble making her opinions known. With a sigh, she turns back to Ange, meeting her eyes as she nods.]

My friends are like that. You've probably met Usagi, so...imagine that but in four others.
entreats: (as if hurrying the sound of rain)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-12 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Four times her?

[ Thankfully it's easy for Ange to switch track from her own story to this, considering she'd really rather not put herself into the spotlight at any given moment.

So in this case thinking about Rei's friend group is a whole lot easier. ]


.. that must be a handful. Not that she isn't really sweet, but she's.. very present. [ To put it mildly. ]
incandescentfaith: (Fuck Off)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-13 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. It is a handful.

[Ami is the only somewhat normal one, and that's...well, it's offset by Chibiusa.]

They're all sweet, but they are a lot.
entreats: (and we are so fragile)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-13 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ange can imagine it being a lot. It'd be a lot for any average person, and.. well, temperament-wise, Rei seems to be a lot more like her than like Usagi. Not the sort of person who might be able to put up with that sheer amount of sociable people all at once. ]

It must be.. strange, though. [ Ange says. She's speaking a bit slowly, as if she's trying to look for the right words.

As if she's trying to be delicate, in the middle of this situation where they're thinking about things that could potentially be painful. ]


To be here without some of them.
incandescentfaith: (Not Pleased)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-14 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Three of the four are here. Only Ami is missing.

[It's been almost three years since she saw Ami, even. It's been tough, but it is manageable. Ami, at least, has been spared the horrors of Deerington. Trench though, might be more her speed.]

I'm...well, it is strange, but I'm happier she's able to live her life elsewhere.
entreats: (the curtains rise again)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-14 01:29 pm (UTC)(link)
.. yeah.

[ It's a slow answer, but as Ange looks back at Rei, she nods, as if to answer again. ]

I guess it is better in a lot of cases for people to stay in their own worlds. [ Since Ange likes to imagine at least some worlds are better than having had to endure Deerington - or the shenanigans they apparently have to go through in Trench, if this is anything to go by. ]
incandescentfaith: (Poleaxed)

Figuring we can wrap this up shortly!

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-15 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
It is, yes. I...!

[Rei breaks off as a pair of Ravens wing down out of the sky, intent on the two of them.]

...Look out!
entreats: (hit me with lightning)

yeah, that's cool!

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-16 06:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There's a slight surprised noise coming from Ange, but by the time she looks up, the birds are already on them. It makes everything go black for a moment..

.. and when light seems to return to them, it's all gone. The boat, the corpses, the weird surroundings. Instead they're just standing inside of the school, and Ange frowns a little when she looks around them. ]


It's over? So sudden?

[ Granted, randomness is something that's a little to be expected when it comes to these sorts of things.. but still. ]
incandescentfaith: <user name=cupcakegraphics> (Worried)

[personal profile] incandescentfaith 2021-10-17 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[Rei squawks indignantly as she's carried away, and when she comes back to herself, she reaches out to steady herself on a column.]

...Christ. Are you alright?
entreats: (the curtains rise again)

[personal profile] entreats 2021-10-22 04:44 pm (UTC)(link)
That depends on in what sense I'm supposed to be alright.

[ Physically? Sure, Ange looks unharmed. Mentally? She's.. not too sure about that one.

But on the other hand, that's also the one she never likes admitting to, so Ange is already shaking her head before she wants Rei to get any weird ideas. ]


I'll be fine though. You too, right? This is nothing we aren't used to at this point.