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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[ tf kind of princess jasmine shit

Emerald hums for a moment as she stares at him. ]

This was my first time finding a place to live on my own. I mean- a real place to live. But I learned a lot from it, I could probably help if you're willing to compromise on the spoiled attitude. I'm willing to bet you can't afford a palace here if you've even landed a job.

[ She doesn't even know that there are any palaces, but that's neither here nor there. She's also definitely giving him attitude because she's offering to help, to cover up for the fact that she's trying to be nice while there are giant paper monsters above them. ]

[This is not the first time he's been told he's spoiled and it will not be the last time probably. He glares because honestly he's tired of hearing that.]

Who even said I'm looking for a palace? Or for help?

[Set gives attitude when he doesn't have to and after knowing this person might potentially know what he's going through? Yeah, he's feeling defensive.]

[ She holds her hands up like she's usrrendering. ]

Nobody, I'm just nipping it in the bud. And I guess.. friends don't have to ask for help, they just get it. [ A beat, then she adds. ] Not that we're friends. But I wouldn't mind it, that's all I'm saying, so I was offering. I don't.. really have friends. I have one guy who says he is but I'm pretty sure he decided that within 5 seconds of meeting so I don't really count him. But I mean, if we're friends, that also means we can talk about [ she points up at the worrigami ] and are bound to secrecy because friends don't talk behind each others' backs.

[ If.. he wants... she's so awkward right now. She lifts her shoulders up in a shrug, but keeps them up, making herself look a little small. ]

[Are they friends? Set knows nothing about this and it wasn't until Thanatos that he'd had a friend. But she is right. Friends don't tell things that are told in secret and he looks at the paper animals and then to her.]

I have one friend. Before here in this world, I never had one. [It feels strange to say this but:]

We can be friends. You do not annoy me. [Apparently that's the criteria?]

Me neither, I guess.

[ Well, he annoys her sometimes but who doesn't annoy her sometimes? She keeps quiet about it. It's fine. She gets quiet for a moment, then gives him a look as if to say 'don't interrupt.' She doesn't usually talk a lot at once, but she kind of wants to get it out and doesn't really want to answer questions throughout it. ]

I had.. a partner, and a woman I thought was my family, and a man who took care of me even though I didn't really realize how much until it was too late. My partner Mercury would tell me constantly that Cinder- the woman- didn't actually care about me, that she was just using me. But he wouldn't believe me when I said the woman we were working for was trying to destroy our entire planet and everyone in it. I think he finally believed me after it was too late, and he was on a ship with Tyrian who.. in no uncertain terms had told me if I tried anything, he would enjoy killing us. At the same time, I had saved Cinder's life, and she was angry because I had interfered. She went off on her own, and I don't know how Hazel knew I wanted to leave, but he told me he would get both Oscar and I out-- Oscar's this kid, it's a long story. I got caught, though. The only way to stop her from killing us all was for him to hold her and die holding her down in this huge explosion...

[ This is the first time she's talked about it. The first time she's even acknowledged that Hazel was important to her, and she was grateful to him, and that he died so she could get out. Her throat closes up a little though, and she looks visibly upset, but she isn't sure what to do about it. She doesn't expect him to give her emotional support or anything, but they're supposed to share or whatever, and having him listen is more than enough. ]

I ran while Cinder and Mercury were on their own missions, after Hazel died because I got caught. Oscar let me come with him, but none of them are really friends. I abandoned my partner, and betrayed the woman who saved me from starving on the streets and taught me most of what I know, and the only person to ever put me first died because of it. I don't really know if I can ever make up for that, and I guess that's like.. something you get... or these paper monsters are full of crap.

Edited 2021-11-16 20:28 (UTC)

[Set does listen to her story and is laying attention. It's a good thing she doesn't expect emotional support because Set struggles to think about what he should say at all. It's a sad story and there's parts that he doesn't understand at all. Things he can't relate to.

But he can understand not understanding how much somebody can mean to you until it's too late.]

That's...[He tries to think of a word and settles on:] bad. I don't know what to say. I'm not good at talking. I think I understand, though. When I was born, my mother died during childbirth. I killed her. Or that's what my father said. He hated me after that and I remember he tried to kill me once. When I was small. I can't forget it. Everybody hated me. Except for my brother. My brother Osiris. [When that siren had turned into him, Emerald had been there.] Lord brother was always, always looking out for me but I didn't realize it until he died. Until he was murdered. I was sent back in time because I thought I was meant to stop it after he died and I was executed for it. Then the second time, I had to put him out of his misery. But maybe if I hadn't been so blind to what was going on around me...to see how much he did for me and what was happening to the person who did it... Maybe I could have saved him.

[He frowns and looks to Emerald.]

Are you angry at yourself?

[ She pictures Set and that image of his brother down in the pools, but smaller, as he tells his tale. He's more concise than she was, but she understands why. It sounds like no one involved was untouched by pain the way he phrases it. Emerald doesn't have much to say about the situation either, but she does lift herself off the ground finally. Only enough to push herself next to him and give his upper arm a nudge with her own, staying close. It's a physical gesture, which has always been easier for her to understand and share than words ever were. Empathy is hard when you've never been shown any yourself. ]

Mercury's dad was like that. My partner, I mean. The first time I saw him was standing over his corpse and his burning home. He hated Merc, and he made sure he knew it. It's not.. really my story to tell, but I don't think either of you deserved to be hated any more than I deserved to be abandoned or used. Then sometimes I wonder if it is me, who did something to deserve this. [ Even if she knows better. ] And I realize trying to get what I thought I deserved, just anyone to care about me for a second, I killed hundreds of people. I tried to make Cinder happy and joined a group who wanted to kill everyone. I didn't even question it because I wanted to believe her. I spent my whole life fighting to survive without a single person who cared about me, and I almost helped destroy everything because I didn't want her to have a reason to leave me behind so I didn't even think about what we were doing. I made so many people lose everything they had, and lost maybe the one person who ever did give a damn in the process. [ She makes a gesture with her hands like she's strangling something but there's nothing there, and she releases it and pulls her knees up to her chest. ] I'm so angry I don't know what to do with myself. Aren't you?

[ They have very, very different circumstances. But in the end, it was their own stupidity and blindness to what was happening around them that lead to where they are now. After a second, she remembers to mutter this too. Set's.. not the only one bad at this. ]

I'm sorry about your brother. That sucks.

Edited 2021-11-19 00:46 (UTC)

[Set tries to think about what he should say but he only comes up with blanks in his mind. Part of him does know that Emerald isn't expecting him to say anything to make her feel better. Just like he doesn't think there is anything she could say to help him. Simply put, things are just bad. Words will not bring back the people that are gone from their lives nor will it make the anger and pain go away.]

I am angry at myself but I guess I...don't have time to be so angry. I was angry for a long time and it didn't get me anywhere. Only losing my lord brother and all I can do is keep his last wish true. That I lead like the king he was.

[So he is angry and yet day by day, he feels like that angriness is being taken from him. Replaced by something far more passive that he can't put a name to.

But him saying this out loud makes him think.]

The person that died for you. What do you think he would have wanted? I don't know if it's the same but I guess it helps me knowing that I'm trying to be somebody that Osiris would have been proud of.

Hazel was fighting because his sister died fighting someone else's war, while they knew it was unwinnable and didn't tell them. That was before we knew that Salem just wanted to end everything. He died so that I wouldn't be forced to fight her war, but I can't just let everything end either. Not when I know I'm.. maybe one of the only people left who can help.

[ She's pretty sure RWBY, Jaune, and Penny are dead. Which leaves her, Oscar, Ren, Nora, and Winter. And a buttload of Atlesian refugees she blames herself for helping happen. ]

If he would've wanted anything, it would be to make a world where kids didn't get sent off to certain death for the sake of people who couldn't care less what happened to them.

[ It may not have been her exact circumstance, but it's close enough that she can empathize with it. Emerald grew up with no one who loved her, left her on the street to fend for herself, and then was treated like a criminal merely for trying to find a way to feed herself. This, in turn, attracted Grimm-- creatures who could sense negative emotion and hunt it. If not for her ability to make both people and those creatures see and hear whatever she wanted, she probably would've been given a death sentence at the hands of those people who didn't care. Those people happened to be her parents, but she can see the intentionality of recruitment of kids toward a certain death while lying to them about the circumstances was pretty bad too. ]

I don't know how to do that. It's like you said, back home there's no time to be angry or scared, you just have to act, and everything else just becomes... background noise to what's right in front of you. Except here, it's quiet. Somehow the middle of an apocalypse is the quietest it's ever been, and it somehow makes it worse because now I just feel like there's nothing I can even try to step forward with. You know?

[ Maybe he doesn't. He can work on himself here just fine. Emerald just feels trapped and stuck. ]

Back home, gods have magic. But I don't. I was never born with any. [And so he'd only had his strength to rely on, standing out all the more from his siblings. He'd been the black sheep in so many ways.] My brother was the god of agriculture and fertility. I never knew what he did until recently but he used to go to villages and help them with their crops. Here, I have healing and green magic. [Even Set knows the hilarity of this. Emerald was there for the blow-up that was Set feeling like a joke that he'd gotten magic and it had been something so opposite from him.]

It isn't much but I try to practice my magic as much as I can. Helping here should help our worlds, right? I think anyway. [Admittedly, he's not the brightest tool in the shed and there's a lot that's going on in this world he does not understand. But he tries because he has to do better than he would have five years ago.]

I don't know. As mad as I am at myself, I guess the time here has let me think. Not that it always helps. Sometimes I just lay awake and I feel like I could go crazy. But it feels a little better to think when I do something here, anything, maybe I'm doing something okay.

[That sounds very dumb to him and he frowns.] I don't know if that makes sense. I guess I just think that if you just existing can help in your world, because you'll help, then you just...have to keep going? And that guy just wanted to help people and protect them then he'd be proud of you for doing that here. Maybe. I don't know the guy.

[Real helpful, Set.]

[ Magic is much more complicated and weirder in her world. Things people consider magic here aren't magic there, but there is magic, and only like 6 people max have it at any given time, and Emerald has definitely killed people over it- even if she never got it herself. It's an odd situation, and her feelings about magic are rather confused in general back home. This world is simpler. It seems like Set's is oddly simpler in some ways, too. It's too bad this conversation is about something else, she has things she'd like to ask about it. Emerald has always had an interest in different cultures- in people. She had a lot of anger toward people, but the truth is, she wanted to learn more. She existed on the outside of cultures, so they really were all something new to learn about. ]

You can like, call me or whatever. If you can't sleep and are feeling like you're losing it. I don't sleep much either. I used to...

[ It's a little bit of a diversion from what they've been talking about, and yet not. ]

Years of sleeping light so I didn't get eaten or ganged up on in my sleep mean every little sound wakes me up even on nights I don't have nightmares. You won't bother me if you just feel like talking so you aren't stuck in your head.

[ She folds her hands in front of her, fidgeting a little. ]

If we both keeping practicing magic here, maybe we are going to make a difference. Maybe being proud of us is a stretch but... maybe it's enough to make sure their efforts weren't in vain.

You could call me too. Not that I'd know what to say. [He is nothing if not honest.]

I think my brother died in vain no matter what. He died for the world but if it hadn't been for the person who killed him, I don't think he would have needed to die. [So Set thinks. He is still unsure but in reality, it doesn't matter. Osiris was dead and the only thing he could do was keep his last wishes alive.]

But...thank you? For the offer. And I do know what you mean. [And he is trying to be polite. Trying to remember that right now, Emerald feels very similar to him. ] I haven't been able to talk...about this or anything. I don't think I have ever talked as much as I have now with you. My words don't need to be heard often.

Me neither, but I don't think it matters. We barely know what we're saying now, right? I still feel like this pressure isn't as bad as it was before.

[ It's cathartic, is what she means, but she isn't sure of what exactly it is. It's not something she's ever really felt before. Everything has always been tension-laden, and no one's ever just listened and been there for her. There's a very good chance that if Set ever needs someone killed and is trying to avoid blood on his hands, she'll step in in the future. Even if she can never figure out how to be the kind of person Hazel would be proud of, she can help Set be the kind of person he's trying to become. Her first real friend deserves that much. ]

All you can do is take care of the things he would've taken care of, and be the kind of person he would've wanted you to, right? Then the things he was trying to achieve at least won't be lost, I think that counts as much as it can. Since there's no way to take back what's already done...

[ There's a quiet gust of wind as their paper monsters start turning into butterflies and fluttering off into the sky above their heads. ]

[As Set watches the paper monsters flutter away as butterflies, Set feels like watching them fly off means something different for him as well. As if one of the many burdens he carries flies off as well. Nothing has been solved because these problems can't be. What Emerald said was right: there's no way to take back what has been done. Osiris is gone and Thoth won't turn back time once more to save Osiris' life. That cannot change.

But being able to talk about how he feels, which is something he's never done before, has been more helpful than he thought.]

Even if you don't know what to say now or in the future, this has helped. All we can do is keep going forward. There's no other choice. [And something about that is a little sad and yet...]

But at least someone understands.

Yeah...

[ Emerald doesn't know what else to say besides that. Set really summed it up nicely. So instead, she lifts her arm up and balls her hand into a fist, holding it out in between them. ]

Bump yours gently against mine- no punching. It's a thing friends do when something good happens.

[ this.. seems like something good, anyway. ]

[He does as she tells him to, staring mostly in confusion.]

They tap knuckles? [He doesn't quite understand why but he's also not going to complain. There have been many things in this world that confuse him but he is getting used to it much better.]

[ Once the fist bump is done, she shrugs. ]

We don't have to do it again if you don't want. I kind of like it, though.

[ She's just glad he tried it with her. She does like it. It feels... like having some kind of solidarity between them. Emerald does avert her eyes when she gives him the option to say he doesn't like it, though, since she admitted she did. ]

I didn't dislike it. What was there to dislike? I just don't understand the customs of other worlds.

[Growing up in just the palace, just in one place, has never done him any favors in learning about different cultures.]

Most people barely understand the customs of two cities over. I'm not going to B.S. you and pretend I understand why fist bumping is a thing. What do people do where you're from?

[ She looks back at him curiously now. ]

It depends. Since I am a god, you have to be careful. Shaking one's hand can be seen as presenting your power over to them.

[Not like Set had much power to give. His was just pure strength alone.]

So if you offer your hand to me, then it's like showing power over me, or is it how firm it is? [ A beat. ] I used handshakes a lot as a pickpocket. People focus in on the physical contact, then usually get caught up in my chest or face so my other hand is free to sneak into peoples' pockets.

Maybe it is like stealing then.

[It isn't at all???]

It would be as if giving you my power although I have none here.

Can you actually transfer power that way or is it symbolic? That seems like stupid dangerous if you can just sneak a hand-grab and steal a god's power.

It is why you do not just touch a god.

But it would have to be more willingly from the god, at least. We're not that defenseless.

[ Emerald's impudent ass gives him an elbow nudge at that moment, playfully. There's a little smirk on her lips to show she's teasing him. ]

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EVENT ✨ Something (Celli)Wigged This Way Comes

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