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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Mhm, did you know technically sugar got animal products in it? [She raised a finger.] Most sugar you'll find is filtered using charred and powdered animal bones. [Followed by a smile--] But only very picky vegans really cut sugar out. I limit myself to the non-consumption of meat.

[ Just a fun fact... Though arguably, it may not be fun knowing there are animal bones in your sugar. ]

Mmm, okie but next time it'll be my treat, ahaha!

Bones, huh... food is wild.

[ She's not put off by it, but she is mulling over the thought. After the past three years, she's become a lot less picky about what she puts in her mouth; as long as it can keep her going, it's fine. ]

--But that's fine with me. It's fine for friends to have a floating tab, I think. I did this with my friends at school.

[ In Chaldea, there wasn't really the opportunity for that; it was always either whatever was in the mess hall, or what was hunted on the field. It's a strange little moment of nostalgia for her to consider, as she leads Monika to the cafe in question. ]

Gosh, you have no idea.

[ As a general rule, it was for the best to not know too much about what was in your dish. The more you knew, the likelier you were to be disgusted by it. When they reach the cafe in question, Monika took a seat and smiled at her. ]

So, you wanted to tell me about yours and Kadoc's world?

Honestly, at this point, if it won't poison me, I don't worry about it that much.

[ And sometimes, even when it has poisoned her. It's not like the incident with Koyanskaya's poisoned cake has put her off them permanently or anything.

But she slouches in her seat, considering, drumming her fingers against the tabletop: a quick nervous little gesture. ]

Our world is kind of... I guess, on the big picture level, it's kind of like what you might read about in a story? There's ordinary humans and there are mages, and they live pretty separate lives. I mean, it's not like there's no overlapping entirely, but most people don't know that magic is real. I sure didn't, before I got involved with it.

...Honestly speaking, I still don't get a lot of it. There's a lot of theory and stuff that goes into how it works at all, and I mostly get by on stuff that's been set up for me in advance. I don't know how it works, I just know what I need to do to get the basic stuff done.

I see... [That lined up with what Kadoc had told her so far. That much, she could understand] Kadoc talked of Lostbelts. Basically potential timelines that lead into dead ends, resulting in the planet culling them out, right? [She tilted her head.] I have difficulty with that concept, ahaha! I mean, any course history follows will be a dead end sooner or later, whether it's because we ruin the environment or the sun goes supernova, right?

[ Of course, it'd take a few billion years for the sun to die, not to mention it probably wouldn't go supernova. But the point stood. Ultimately, there were no perfect timelines. ]

And the presence of so many people from many different worlds here is proof of the Many World Interpretation, so those timelines shouldn't have to be culled. [She sighed.] Even he didn't really manage to explain it...

[ Sounds like a video game plot really. ]

He brought that up, huh...

[ It both is and isn't a surprise. She already knows how much he's been stewing slowly in the guilt of his part in things, so it's not like she expected him to keep it bottled up forever... but she still hadn't entirely expected him to tell anyone just yet. But it does make the explanation easier. ]

You've got Lostbelts, and you've got what they call "Proper Human History." It's less about the whole, "all histories are dead ends because one day the sun's gonna go supernova" or anything like that, and more like, "what are the paths where the choices of humans led to a dead end sooner than later," I guess. Like--

[ Did he tell Monika about Russia? If he hasn't, she doesn't want to be the one who volunteers it. China, then, because it's the freshest in her mind. ]

Like, assume a world where first Emperor of China obtained true immortality, and as a result, there were thousands and thousands of years of prosperity... but all at the expense of human creativity or expression. A world where there was no such thing as innovation or invention--people who just kind of existed, without living.

[ She grimaces a little, drumming her fingers faster against the tabletop now. ]

I don't really know who makes the decision for these things. All I really know is that I can't just let a Lostbelt overwrite my own timeline. There's four left, and each one of them wants to take over.

Mhm. [She nodded.] I used the familiar symbiosis spell when we got attacked by that masked idiot... But it triggered memories of something painful for him.

[ He'd mentioned Russia and the Yaga, but hadn't gone into details. She wasn't going to recount their entire conversation... But it'd been pretty obviously a very painful topic. ]

What I find weird is that following the Many World Interpretation, such a world should be able to exist on its own. Quite literally any possible world, regardless of the outcome, can exist as its own little reality. Heck, I have friends who are ducks and come from a different Earth!

[ If an infinite number of parallel realities existed, then those "Lostbelts" should be able to exist as their own reality without overwriting another, even if they were bad endings for humanity. Quantum physics didn't really care about how things went on this little planet in a far-flung corner of the universe. Maybe she was missing a crucial detail...

Speaking of details, one didn't escape her-- ]

But so you really are the heroine of your story, ahaha~

I don't know why they can't exist, either. If I could, I'd leave them alone--everyone keeps telling me that there's no other choice, but... I keep hoping. I've been through three Lostbelts at this point, and I keep hoping.

[ It's not that she'd ever absolve herself of the guilt of what she's done. There are thousands of lives that no longer exist because of her, and because she refuses to give up on her own timeline. That's the true moral quandary, isn't it? In order to live, like she swore to the Beast, she has to make that choice again and again. ]

I really don't feel like a heroine, though. I'm just someone who really, really wants to live. Even if I have to erase another world to do it... I can't just give up on that. I promised people I wouldn't, and I don't want to for my own sake. It's not really noble at all.

Well, based on my understanding of it, those "lostbelt" things don't have any future, right? They're doomed. [If she didn't "stop" them, they would end up as dead worlds regardless before long. That was what she understood at least.] So I don't think you should feel bad for erasing them when their existence threaten the reality that has a future. Besides, it's not like you're not doing it just for yourself, either.

[ She closed her eyes and looked down for a moment. ]

When I was trapped in the game, I... Did the things I did for my own sake only. [She took a deep breath.] Nothing was real around me, so I started thinking even my friends were not real. No... I convinced myself they were not real. That way I could be selfish and not have to deal with guilt. [And even then, evidently enough that hadn't worked.] I think that's what makes a heroine. Selflessness.

They're doomed, but... how to explain this...

[ It's not entirely like Monika is wrong, but that doesn't make Ritsuka's guilt any easier, or feel any lighter. ]

They're being given a second chance by a god of some sort. There's seven of them total competing against each other, and whoever wins--in theory, whoever wins gets to become the "proper" path of human history. I guess if the winner also gets a second chance to keep going and do it better, but I don't know how that works. If anyone does--

[ "It would be Kadoc." But would he? ]

--that person isn't here.

But I don't think you sound selfish, either. It sounds more like--you were doing what you had to, in order to survive? Sometimes you have to do awful things in the name of making it to the next day. That doesn't make you inherently bad or selfish.

A god, huh?

[ She closed her eyes, pondering on what she'd just said for a moment. ]

I must say, I wouldn't trust any second chance given to me by a god. [A sigh.] They sound like they're using your reality as a playground. They don't care for what Lostbelt wins. They only care to see their toys fight and have fun playing.

[ That was what gods did. She did have a creator after all, and he was her god in a way. He was the one who had created her world. And seeing himself as a superior being, he cared not for what happened to her or anyone beneath him. ]

I guess... That's what I like to believe. But a part of me thinks I am just a monster.

I don't really trust it, either, and I'm pretty committed to what I've decided to do. I still don't know about being a heroine or anything, but... once I decide to do something, I tend to stick with it.

But I'm not a desperate person, either. I can only speculate--I don't know what it's like to hit a wall and not feel like you have any other choices.

[ She considers for a moment, then reaches out, carefully, to touch Monika's hand. ]

I also know what a monster is like. I really don't think you're anything like that.

Have you thought about taking the people from those "lostbelts" into your world? Into your timeline? [Not that she figured that was easy, if at all possible.] If they come from a doomed reality... That's probably what they'd want.

[ She knew that's what she'd want. That was more or less what she had tried to do... Escape her reality and into the player's. That had failed, but the player's presence had helped her hold on. Until he'd betrayed her. Then nothing had remained. ]

Thank you. [A pause.] It feels... More true, to hear someone else say it.

I've thought about it, sure, but... there's no way I can fit an entire population into the transportation we have.

[ No matter what wild space-folding magic that Da Vinci and the Captain have done to the Shadow Border's interior--she doubts they would've been able to fit even the severely limited population of Scandinavia in it. It's a squeeze even with the reduced crew. ]

But I do believe you're not a monster. And I'll say it as many times as you need to hear it. Trust me--if I'm really a heroine, like you say, I should know my stuff. Right?

[ Right, that would be too many people to transport... That was a depressing topic. Perhaps best to let it go, so she just nodded. ]

Ahaha! You got a point.

[ Yet again, there is always the episode where someone the heroine thought to be trustworthy backstabs her. Monika opted not to mention this though-- Figuring that she may already have gone through said episode and unwilling to stir bad memories. ]

Make sure Kadoc hear that too, okay? [She smiled weakly.] I don't know what happened in your homeworld... But I see bits of myself in him.

I can tell him, but I'm not sure how much he'll want to hear it from he, ha.

[ She doesn't really want to give out the details of why Kadoc has such a chip on his shoulder when it comes to her; part of that is because she knows she doesn't entirely understand the context--mage society is still an opaque wall to her, more often than not. She knows intellectually that certain things are bad, and she doesn't approve of the parts she knows about... but that's not the same as living it.

And part of that is that if Kadoc is making friends and learning how to be a proper real human, she doesn't want to be the one who sabotages that, even accidentally. ]

If you know him, you can probably tell he's a stubborn guy. That sort of thing probably is going to need to be an ongoing project.

Mhm. [She nodded.] I remember how flustered and defensive he got when I suggested we should all shower him with love everyday till his self-esteem improves. It was adorable, ahaha!

[ Maybe that was going a bit far with that plan... But maybe a less drastic version of it would work. Giving him small encouragement that would help him on a regular basis. Something that felt natural. Yes, that would do just well. ]

Unlike me, he doesn't really have the skill to fake it... [She paused.] That's a blessing, maybe. At least we know he needs our attention.

"Adorable"...

[ They possibly have different definitions of the word. Or maybe it's just that Ritsuka and Kadoc are still like uneasy cats, circling each other and unsure of the safest way to approach each other is. It's hard to consider a guy adorable when he still bristles at half the things you say, or to be your best self when you're trying to get to know a guy.

But if someone else thinks that about him, she's not going to argue it. ]

But no, you're right. He's best at hiding in plain sight, I guess? If he's upset about something, he's gonna throw it right at you and hope it drives you off.

Mhm! Seeing how you come from the same world, I guess he may be more guarded with you...

[ She didn't know the details of their relationship and she wasn't about to inquire. But seeing the similarities Kadoc had with her, and how Ritsuka was the heroine of her story... It was a safe bet to say Kadoc had once been an antagonist who was now walking the path to redemption.

Tropes and all. Or maybe she's just overthinking it. ]

It's a shame for him driving us off is gonna take more than that, ahaha! [She laughed.] But you know him better than I do... So I trust you know best how to get at him.

I don't know if I can say I know him better... I think there's a difference between that and knowing more about him.

[ She knows what he looks like on the brink of despair; she knows about the bodies he's left in his wake--just the same way he knows about the ones left in hers. She knows the reason that he's so determined to stay alive, in spite of everything that's happened... but she doesn't know anything about his favorite foods, or what media he likes, or any hobbies he might have. Does that really count as knowing someone? ]

...I'm glad he's got a friend like you, though. The more people willing to reach out to him, the better.

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EVENT ✨ Something (Celli)Wigged This Way Comes

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