isleofavalon | EVENT ✨ Something (Celli)Wigged This Way Comes

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EVENT ✨ Something (Celli)Wigged This Way Comes

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Autumn, despite the chillier weather, is a season of warmth and gathering. Perhaps moreso this year than normal, given the rather unplanned gathering of Celliwig and Lestari underneath Camelot's roofs. Though significant contributions from otherworlders have made food, shelter, clothes and other productions and donations, medical care, security and protection, and childcare an amazing group effort, typical individual celebrations for the departure of the dead from Avalon aren't being held, like Lestari's Death Ball. After looking at all the support they've been given, Lestari and Celliwig have looked at what they have to offer to help both their own people and the people of Camelot and other worlds.

The people of Lestari excel in cognitive magic, and while there are those who use it for mind-altering magics, there is a good portion who dedicate their studies to emotional and psychological support. One such method is the enchantment of origami paper into something affectionately called Worry Monsters: an specialized counseling technique used to help form support bonds between people with negative emotions. Having spent a portion of the month enchanting paper, two square sheets of paper are handed out to anyone the encounter. The first paper says: "Personifying your emotions can give them a tangible form and make them easier to face. Write down something that causes you worry, stress, fear, or sadness. This is your Worry Monster." The second paper says: "When your Worry Monster is present, how does it make you feel? Any reaction is valid."
When both papers are written on, the writing on both will disappear as if absorbed by the paper, then the pages will animate and fuse, then begin to fold into a monster! Halloween is this month, is it not? There is no sense in not having a little fun. These little Worry Monsters will stomp off and begin roaming Camelot until they find a match-- someone who shares those feelings. Once they find an emotional matching Worry Monster, the monsters will return to their creator and grow to the size of kaiju. They are very light, enchanted paper, so even if someone or something gets stepped on, they won't be hurt or damaged. However, they are strong enough to pick their makers up and carry them to the matching monster who will do the same. Don't worry-- characters will be invisible while being carried by their monster, so their identities will be protected until they are brought to their match. The paper monster will turn to butterflies and fly away once their task is complete. What matches do after they are brought to each other is up to them-- but they will know, undoubtedly, that they share the same worries-- they are with someone who understands. Do it as many times as you'd like, for as many negative emotions as your character wants. For finding something to do, Celliwig offers a solution. While Lestari's people have spent their efforts this month enchanting papers, the people of Celliwig are less apt to share so openly. Instead, they take their time learning about a variety of holidays from other worlds, and come to find one they can apply their particular talents to. While most of their showcase in the past has been on light magic, a holiday such as Halloween plays in particular to their talents in dark magic. A number of locations that have opted in and won't interfere with other relief efforts have been enchanted with dark magics for brave souls to venture into and test their courage! What's more, each of these locations will yield tokens for the victors that can be used to gain prizes. All courage tests must be performed with partners. Costumes are encouraged but not required.
	The library has been converted into a haunted art gallery, many of which have had their paints and other implements enchanted. Some paintings will seem like they're watching you, others will seem like a small figure in the background is following you throughout the library in different paintings. A painting of fruit may start throwing the fruit at you and materializing it into real fruit, so you may find yourself pelted with tomatoes if you don't run fast! A single painting filled with black paint might start leaking and filling the room you're in, pulling you into shadow until you're stuck in the library's underground labyrinth. (Reference monthly quests here and here for more info about the labyrinth.)
There are a variety of paintings with different curses applied. Navigate through the library and escape the haunted paintings-- pairs who make it through without turning back will gain a Celliwig Token.
Another token can be gained via scavenger hunt in the Broceliande. Find cursed dolls from within tree hollows. The dolls will giggle and try to run away, may move when they're only visible in the corner of your eye if you set them down. What's perhaps a little spookier is that they take on the appearance of the first person to touch them, though they will never exceed three inches in height. Beware during your search, however, as there are a good many trees that have been transfigured into mimics. Though the mimics are not going to attack anyone, they do have giant hidden, wriggling tongues that will reach up and wrap the unalert up above the ground for capture. The only way down is if a partner fights the mimic, so don't go alone! Find a doll of both you and a partner and make it back to Camelot to obtain your token. The curse will break once they're exchanged for a token, so you can keep the cute little doll for yourself if you'd like.

The last test of courage invokes a temporary blindness hex on one of the partners. Both partners are walked into a soundproofed room, entirely silent in a way that truly seems to mess with one's head.

The unblinded partner is only allowed to answer "yes" or "no" questions, though no one will fault them for giggling as long as they give no clues otherwise. The blind partner is to stick their hands into a tank of water with mystery items hidden within. These items may be mere objects like peeled grapes in soggy noodles, or perhaps the tank is filled with chicken bones and those tiny garra that eat dead cells and are sometimes used for pedicures. All the items are set up to feel spooky, but ultimately are unharmful. As long as the partner who can give clues doesn't break the yes/no rules and the item is guessed within 3 guesses, a token will be rewarded!

Bring tokens to the inn where a stall has been set up, with Gwion working the booth to exchange tokens for the following prizes:

1 Token: Celliwig glasswork glass set of 4-- spooky themed! It's filled with candy upon receiving, so they are friendly for everyone.
2 Tokens: Recipe: Smokescreen - Cast this spell on any liquid to make it billow plumes of fog. The smaller the water surface, the smaller the billow. A shot glass might just create a small whisp, but two mop buckets would be enough to fill up a medium room. Will not effect the contents of the liquid. Cannot be used on water bodies larger than a swimming pool (could screen about half a block).
3 Tokens: Recipe: From the Void - Summons a disembodied tentacle from the shadows. It takes a lot of energy, so you could probably manage up to three casts a day at most before becoming exhausted. Great for binding enemies, sneaking in small spaces, and reaching places you might not be able to otherwise. The tentacle will follow whatever command you have in mind upon summoning, so be sure to concentrate on the task at hand!

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[Gokudera isn't the only one hanging onto their Worry Monster the moment they were picked up and taken...somewhere. Ochako had thought her little paper fox was just that, a simple fox, but on no. When the little paper creature returns, its one tail unfurls into a set of nine tails - a kyuubi - and Ochako is riding up on it's head, between those pointed ears. It's surprisingly gentle, and very careful as it trots through the city and she's not quite sure what to say, do, or feel about all this. It's nerve-wrecking, knowing that she may have to face someone, a complete stranger (or worse, someone she knows) about something that clearly bothers and worries her.

Thank goodness she's invisible throughout the travel, it's mortifying enough being paraded through Camelot like this, and Ochako hides herself a bit behind her monster's ear, wondering if there's a way to back out of this. It feels so...so troublesome. She's not sure whether she wants to just talk about all her fears and worries - her perceived weaknesses - in the open like this. It's so against everything she's used to and--]

H-Huh? We've stopped...?

[Indeed they have. Because Ochako's monster has found the matching one it was searching for. Time to face the music, you two. Accept that your troubles and worries are not so different, despite the opposing sides you may think you're on.]

[Gokudera's worrigami gargoyle waddles up and unfolds its wings before offering Gokudera up to the large monster fox. He clings to one of its claws, peeking around it at whoever he's been brought to in much the same way a child would look around the leg of their parent, shy and curious all at once.

Considering how accepting of death he's been, even if what he leaves behind or how it could be seen worries him, there is comfort in knowing he isn't alone.

He's not lost his will to live, or that powerful drive to survive this. Gokudera is trying to make peace within himself. This is personal, this worry, and he doesn't know if he can or should share it. It all depends on who he meets here.

The worry about being strong enough resonates even more. Which worry does he share with this person? Will they think less of him for being so accepting of his worries? He's not avoiding them. Not able to address them directly either. Because ultimately, he only has so much control over what will happen.]

[And the kyuubi, for it's part, stands perfectly still as its match is met and deposited slowly down on it's head. Ochako blinks, still holding on to the fox's ear, but seems to blink and go a little still when she realizes who it is. O-Oh...ah, um. W-Well, this is a bit awkward, isn't it? She can't exactly hide the way she shrinks a bit, not quite sure what to do or really say. It's been rough since they had their little spat, and she's not fully forgiven him for everything, even if she understood the reasoning...a little bit.

Thus she hesitates, and only seems to move when her Worry Monster gives a trill and starts to shake its many tails at them both. Go on then, you two. You have more in common than you realize - worries of guilt, worries of failure especially are strong. Failure to support people they care about, failure to do their due diligence... Failure is the greatest weakness of any Hero, and the one that is heaviest on their shoulders. Failure... Ochako knows it well, has experienced failure in its rawest form once already, and she still has nightmares about it, from time to time, and the worry itself now seems to be the one pounding in her head the most, making her pick at the pads on her fingers a little.

How do they even...talk about this? To each other? Ugh. This was a bad idea.]

Um...

[Gokudera isn’t certain what they’re supposed to do. What he wrote down covers a lot of ground, after all. He isn’t as proud as he used to be, humbled by death and cowed by the prospect of its inevitability and possible permanence. He wonders if he has to admit what it is, explain what his worrigami is made for… to find the common ground.

But he worries that she would react much the same way he would… or used to. That she won’t want to hear his reasoning, or see it as an excuse for what happened, when they both know nothing can change what happened.

He needs to make amends.]

I’m sorry… for fighting you, and for being a criminal… when you had different expectations of me. We don’t know each other very well, and I—-

[Gokudera sighs and shakes his head, clearly defeated.]

I’m not a good person or a good friend.

[Ah, this probably isn't what they're supposed to be doing, but the first step to whatever they need to do is probably being able to talk, right? And with bad blood mixed in, that's not going to be necessarily easy... Ochako opens her mouth, but Gokudera beats her to the punch, and she closes it to listen politely. He apologizes, and she immediately feels that deep sense of guilt settle heavily in the pit of her stomach. She wants nothing more than to avoid his eye, and maybe for a second she does stare at her feet, but Ochako forces her gaze up to at least look at the man before her.]

...I understand why you did it. That was the hardest part, actually. [She can't help it this time, those eyes look down again, but only for a moment, just to stare down at her hands as they wring together.] Because, um...if things were different in my life, I think I'd have done the same thing. I'm not a criminal, but I don't...have a lot back home. I think out of everyone, I'm probably one of the few people who understands what those poor refugees are going through. Not having enough, having to work hard, to struggle...wishing things were easier. Or better. I don't really talk about it much. Heh, s'not exactly a great topic for conversation.

[Being poor, that is. So poor that you skip meals every so often just to save money. That even coin is squirreled away, and your budget is so tight it's almost unimaginable how anyone can live off it.]

But you don't have to apologize for who you are, you know. It's not bad that we're different, and I don't dislike you for it. Not really... I just have my own code I have to follow, being who I am. It's not...always easy for me, either. [Following the law, even when every inch of you is screaming to disobey. For the sake of someone suffering. Someone, or several someones, who desperately need to be saved.] But I don't think you're either of those things, Gokudera-san. Just different from me.

And that's okay.

[Gokudera listens and looks down while she’s talking, not making eye contact, but not hiding his gaze beneath a furrowed brow. He relaxes, watches her feet, and gives a sigh when she mentions not having a lot growing up. He understands how homelessness feels as a child growing up. He may as well mention so and rubs the back of his neck before peering sheepishly up at her.]

So uh… I was homeless for six years. Since I was eight. Then for a while I was doing whatever I could to get by or get taken in by whatever mafia family saw me as useful to them.

It’s also not something I bring up often. Not like the collar, anyways…

[Which will bring him to the real worries the large enchanted paper gargoyle holds and is there to make him face.]

Did… Midoriya already ask you? I uh… I don’t know if you’d want to help, it’s a lot to ask.

[He’s shy, awkward about it, but not because he doesn’t want to talk about the collar, but because it’s just a very very tense situation… the procedure he wants her help with. Gokudera is looking at her now, imploring guilt now morphing into obvious worry and hesitance.]

[Ochako winces, and she looks away a moment because that's just... It's not fair. It's really not fair how people have to suffer like that, because they don't have enough. It's not fair that they're looked down on for it, despite being good people in the end, or working hard, or just trying to get through a single back. It's really not fair that those are the kinds of people that constantly need to be saved, but no Heroes ever really go out of their way to "save". The media never covers things like that - the percentage of people who are homeless, who are unemployed, who have to resort to crime because they have no other choice. It's...really heartbreaking. It's really heartbreaking that Gokudera had to claw his way from door to door, that his life was put to value by how useful he could be to someone else.

Ochako's jaw clenches. She has a bit of a bias for mafia types, considering the absolute mess that was the Hassaikai and...a-and Eri--

Looking up, Ochako's eyes jerk to the collar and she lets out a long an shaky breath, not realizing she'd been holding a while. Nodding, rather stiffly, she offers a bit of an awkward smile.]

Yeah, he reached out to me a while back. Honestly, I ought to punch you for not telling someone about how bad it was sooner...but of course I said I would help. I know it probably sounds lame, considering what happened, but this is what Heroes--...what I do. If I can help save someone, I will. No matter what, and no matter who they are.

I'm not...going to turn my back on you just because we don't see eye to eye on some things, Gokudera-san.

[Gokudera folds his arms at her mentioning that she ought to punch him. He lifts an eyebrow at her and shakes his head gently.]

We hardly know each other! I've been walking around with this... self-destructing jewelry and not telling anyone because it is a major weakness.

I wouldn't just message someone I barely know out of the blue to say 'hey I need you to hold this collar up so it won't cut off my head!'

[His tone goes a bit imploring and he's looking at her with shame.]

I didn't know I could trust you.

[Gokudera isn't able to keep eye contact with her, even if she is smiling at him. No matter how awkward or kind, he can't shake the fear of death. Of admitting to it's possibility in this matter. That makes it too real.]

[Ochako mirrors the action, crossing her arms over her chest with a frown for a moment before she sighs and shakes her head.]

I'm not talking about me. You owe it to the people who do know you better, and who care about your well-being to let them know you were in danger all this time. You shouldn't have had to suffer - it's... [She squeezes her eyes shut, biting her lip hard.] It's not weak to ask for help when you really need it. ...It's not.

[Said more in general than to him specifically. Pride is a strong deterrent to rational thought. Ochako knows. She's dealt with it time and time again in various people she knows and in herself as well. Fear. Weakness. Not being able to perform on your own, do things yourself, with your own power. All sort of things just pile up. She gets it.

A pause, long and stiff after the last part. It doesn't hurt, not really, because it's the truth. They've only really just met a little while ago, really, mostly to fight, or through mutual friends. And more recently...to fight for a far more serious matter. Still--]

...Can you trust me to help save you?

You don't know shit! I don't owe anything!

[Gokudera glares at her, drops his hands to his sides in tight fists, and his eyebrows knit back up as if they never ever relaxed. It's such a regular expression that honestly, it's probably easy to assume he frowns even in his sleep.]

I told the people I'm close to about the collar! The person I love put it on me! He didn't know this would happen! I thought he'd-

[That's too personal. He clams up, stifles his anger a bit, grits his teeth, and lets out a scoff.]

What I'm going through is my fault, and it's not that I didn't want anyone to help me! It's that no one could! Hell, there's no guarantee this procedure is going to even work!

[And he's scared. There's that looming fear that he'll die. That it will come off, and that will be the last time he sees anyone. Watching shock and failure as the last expressions on people who want to help him and it will be his fault. All his fault, and he doesn't feel weak for asking for help. He feels very much human. Very weak for being... weak. For coming to terms with the fact that he could die.]

It's the best option we've got.

But... look... if it. If I...

[A sigh.]

If I die, it's because of my collar. Not you, or Midoriya, or Emet-Selch, or anyone else involved. Okay? I get the feeling that you hero-types are the kind that will blame yourselves. But... I already know how unlikely but possible my end is with this procedure.

So if you want to help, I can trust you. If... you really want to.

[He's partially right, she doesn't know much of anything. She doesn't really know what the collar is, how it became affixed to Gokudera's neck, or what it is, really. All she knows is that it can and will kill him if they fail in their mission to remove it, and... And maybe that's why he kept is secret. She doesn't like it, but she gets why he would.

Hell, how many of her friends knew she almost died to a venemous spider bite? One? Maybe two, if Izuku actually told Bakugou about it. Ochako kept it to herself - she lived, had the scar to prove it - so it wasn't...important? Hah.

Flinching a little at he gets worked up, Ochako doesn't so much as back down as she frowns, absorbing what he says in realy time, but not being able to really take it all in other than bits and pieces at once. It's so much to process and the charged air is just...suffocating. She's so sick of getting into these sorts of high-intensity situations. So sick of feeling apprehensive and stressed out. So sick of the headache throbbing at her right temple.]

It's going to work.

[She says it with so much conviction it startles even her, for a moment. But Ochako finds her resolve and digs in her heels, eyes fierce and determined. Maybe even stubborn. ...Definitely stubborn, but she doesn't back down from people who need her. She said she'd help, and she will. She will help and she will succeed. Heroes save people. She saves people. She will save him.]

...You're right. Even if it's not any of our faults, Deku-kun and I won't accept that. Because now that we're involved, this is our fight just as much as it is yours. Us 'hero types' are exactly like you imagine us to be - we don't give up. We don't accept death as even being an option...even if we're taught it can be. Everything we dedicate ourselves to is to prevent that outcome. Even if we have to give our lives for the sake of someone else, then that's how it has to be.

I'm not helping because of that, though. Not just because I feel it's my duty to, as Uravity. I want to. Me - Uraraka Ochako. If you can't believe in the possibility of this working, then at least believe in me and Deku not accepting defeat in any way.

We want you to live, and you're going to.

[Ochako will make fucking sure of it.]

[Gokudera has been in high-intensity situations all his life, it feels. The collar just made it a daily pressure. He could tell her how awful it is, whine and complain and cry, and that would do nothing.

He doesn’t bring up things like this because it’s just so permeating his daily life and he’s trying to just… function without considering the stupid torture-device around his neck.

Once he’s stopped talking and she verbally puts her foot down, he stares.

He is afraid to hope, casts his gaze down.]

I just don’t want anyone blaming themselves…

[He looks up and the knit of his brow is eased up significantly.]

You won’t fail. I’m going to live.

[He doesn’t sound like he has a lot of conviction.]

I’ve spent a long time… seeing my worth as what I could give away my life for. My life was my only worth.

[He takes a deep breath, a rattling sigh, feeling guilt wash in for how he’d been so upset a moment ago.]

But… I know it’s more than that. The collar is… a mark of ownership. I was property. That was my worth, and… I haven’t been free in a long time. Years now.

I think… I still struggle with seeing it.

Why some hero-type would want to help me.

[Gokudera looks down, hiding his face. He may be crying.]

I don’t feel like I deserve it.

[It doesn't take much for Ochako's stony disposition to fall back into that warm, gentle, kind face at the admission Gokudera gives her. She doesn't want to pity him, and she won't - because no one really wants anyone's pity, that does very little in the true scope of things. Pity isn't something a Hero gives anyway - what they offer is the help and support people ask for, beg for, cry for. They are the voices taken from the masses, the strength that has been robbed of their wary bodies, and the hope that still stokes the dim embers of their soul.

If she has to be anything, that's what she wants to be - someone's hope.

They're going to do this, and they're going to succeed. It's not just trying to convince herself anymore, it's a promise she brands onto her heart. This is what she trained to do, and she's going to be scared, she's going to doubt, she Ochako will not, IS NOT, going to falter.

Gently, she takes Gokudera's hands in her own and holds them firmly. She understands, a little bit. Understands why he was the one picked by her Worry Monster to talk to, and she understands a lot of his worries, too. They're similar to a lot of her own. Worth, in her world...was determined by many things. Wealth, power, status, but also someone's quirk. A good quirk, a strong quirk, a useful quirk determined one's future in society. Their 'worth' was determined at the meek age of five years old, when their quirk would manifest. That was how Hero society balanced the scales. Heroes lives were never theirs to live. They lived for the society, died for the society, breathed and bled for the society. Their 'worth' was determined solely on what they provided to that society.]

Because you deserve to live. Your life is worth living the way you want. [Her hands tighten around his.] And that's not coming from a Hero, that's coming from me. Ehehe, if you want the Hero's answer, well...

It's simple, but I'll let you figure it out.

[You looked like you needed saving.]

[There was a time Gokudera had tried to remove his own collar with the intent to end his own suffering. He’d fought with so much determination to experience a second death, to end his exhausting fight with the Pet Ring when Aurora had stepped up to help him.]

[She did pity him, but in doing so, showed him how much she cared, that she was trying to help him shoulder his pain, to support him through it and allow him to feel what he felt.]

[It’s easier to open up to people when they just let him feel whatever he’s going through. This worrigami helps him accept his concerns, to visualize what weighs him down and, seeing Ochako’s monster, he knows he isn’t alone.]

[The boy looks up at her as his hands are taken firmly and he listens to her, giving a gentle nod. His eyes drift back down, shoulders slumping. He could really use a hug.]

[He feels awfully needy.]

Thank you…

[Ochako no mind reader, nor is she an empath or anything, but she can read body language pretty well, and just how Gokudera looks. She squeezes his hands once more, just for a second, then pulls him in for a loose but warm hug. He looked like he needed one of those, too, despite whatever bad blood they had earlier. It's clear that they're different, but also have a lot of the same fears and worries. The two monsters that brought them here are indicative of that.

But, that's why they're here, right? To realize they have someone to lean on, to...fall on, when they need it. To accept help and to avoid any future failures because there will always be people around to help lift them up, no matter what. Deep down, at their very cores, Ochako and Gokudera are like that - they're loyal to a fault, and have good hearts that just want to do good and help people. In different ways, but the principle is the same.

She exhales and pulls back after a minute or so, rubbing at the corner of her eyes, which got a little glassy. O-Oops.]

Ehehe...it's fine. We're all gonna be fine!

[He’s always been the kind of person to struggle through and try to prove himself. His boss never wanted to prove himself, and Yamamoto was always a natural. Gokudera’s struggle to be happy or successful in any capacity has usually included some kind of rug getting pulled out from under him. The squeeze on his hands is comforting, but not nearly as warming, comforting, and reassuring as the hug he receives.

Gokudera needs one.

The sooner he gets to his procedure, the more often he should probably get hugged. This moment is helping in more ways than his own words could describe.]

Thank you.

I believe in your strength.

[And when she moves out of the hug, he’s clearly letting tears fall, but does not look sad. There is a part of him that thinks that if nothing goes right, he’s grateful for this moment.]

Neither of us need to worry about failure. We aren’t alone.

[They both need a hug it seems, because Ochako tries to hide it, but there's a definite quiver to her shoulders that belies her steadfast determination. She's nervous, and she's scared, because failure will never not be a deep-seated worry for a Hero, especially a young one in training. She's still very much a child, just sixteen years old, so there's a lot of pressure on her shoulders constantly. It's a life she chose and accepts, but that doesn't ever make it easy.

So a hug every now and again really helps. But also being believed in. Ochako's lower lip trembles a little, even though she tries to stop it, and her eyes get glassy, but she bites the inside of her cheek and takes a deep breath to push all that away. It's fine, it's going to be fine.]

That...r-really makes me h-happy. [Her smile is wobbly, but it's genuine.] Yeah...yeah. Even if we trip along the way, there's always someone there to pick us back up, ne? Let's...l-let's keep walking together after everything over with!!

[And Ochako sniffles, loudly, then swings Gokudera's hands in hers and plasters a big, kind of wet grin on her face. It's going to be fine - because they'll have friends by their sides. Always.]

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EVENT ✨ Something (Celli)Wigged This Way Comes

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CW: Mentions of past self-harm

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