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ateratooc2023-01-05 09:05 pm
STOG
Temperatures remain cold as one year shifts to another, keeping the snow that fell through most of December thick on the ground. Scattered snow flurries throughout the month will keep residents busy keeping sideways and throughfares clear for pedestrians and carriages alike.
The children of Aterat seem to have made the most of the snowy season, as snowmen of various shapes and sizes have been constructed in neighborhoods, the market and well, everywhere, almost. And they seem to have sprung up overnight. That's not strange, is it? More on that later. First off, some OOC tidbits:
» The Test Drive is up, so invite your friends!
» Don't forget to get your activity check in!
» As always, if you see any broken or inaccurate links, let me know!
(Includes violence, memory loss, more violence, and the potential to regain some memories from the world before Aterat)
The weirdness begins around the 8th. It starts innocuously enough: during your daily commute, you may have gotten used to seeing a particularly amicable snowman along the route, top hat jauntily canted atop his snowman head, only to find him missing one morning. Nothing to think of it, though, right? Or that happily grinning snowman down by the Tavern, it...wait, had it ever been smiling, because it isn't now?
Be wary of you happen into a dark alley at night, because you might be cornered by one of these snowmen. They're quick for balls of snow with wooden appendages, too, and if they touch you, you'll find something...missing. Maybe it's several small memories, or maybe it something major, like all your feelings for someone you care for. It leaves you disoriented and somehow less, and when you come back to your senses, your frozen attacker will be gone.
You can still sense it, though, and if you focus on that connection, you might be able to find the snowman responsible for whatever happened to you. Destroying the proper snowman will return what was taken from you, but you'll also gain something in return. You see, these aren't normal snowmen, but possessed by spirits who used to call this place home. Killing one, you'll know that.
And you'll also get a memory of their time here before. Please comment in the thread thread below if you're going to be maiming one of these possessed snowman and I'll provide you with the memory you receive!
Failure to destroy the snowman that stole your memories will mean they stay gone when the snowmen disappear on the 18th, so if you're worried you can't handle your snowman on your own, you might want to look for a hand.
Ignis made a request of Halcyn and she was more than happy to provide! It will take place over the course of a week in the park and surrounding areas, there will be food, a small train, beautiful lights, and many other things. Be sure to look for Ignis' log on the 22nd!
Most importantly, during this event, the boundaries between other worlds and Aterat will be thinner, meaning characters not currently in Aterat can interact at the event! That's right, the event log itself will serve as a sort of 4th Wall event! Invite your friends to try out the setting, try out characters you may have been thinking of, the sky really is the limit!
If you have any questions regarding any of the events, please ask here.
Please use this post to plot!
Important Note: None of the events are required, of course!
Questions
Snowmen Requests for Memories
no subject
no subject
It was a small automaton, really, a new sample of your father’s latest work, but it was a bunny, it followed after you like it was alive, it asked for treats, and even foraged for seed like a real rabbit. You’d always wanted one, but you always heard your mother arguing with father, telling him you weren’t ready for the responsibility, and so no pet did you have, but your father, a famous toymaker, could only take the sadness from your eyes for so long.
You knew for months he was staying up in his workshop late into the night, but it wasn’t rare when he had a new project or a hefty order to fill for the aristocracy, but when your name day arrived, you learned the truth: he’d been toiling at such late hours for you!
And you loved the thing, with its artificial fur and its glittering eyes carved of obsidian. It was perfect, and aside from a little winding how and again, required no care.
But children can be cruel, and one day, while you’re playing in the park, watching your new friend enjoying the summer sun, a group of girls from the Academy happen by. They want your new friend for a moment before the lead one, a girl with dark hair who never liked you, laughing all the while, strides toward him and gives him a good, solid kick. Her friends scream with laughter.
“Who’s stupid enough to have a clockwork rabbit?”
The girls laugh more as she looks over to you pointedly before stalking away, friends in tow. You recover the remains of your friend, eyes bleary with tears. Father will never repair him, and the answer is clear. You, you’re stupid enough to have a clockwork rabbit, and not good enough to even take care of one.
Memory 2 » Illyana
“What you’re suggesting is preposterous!” You feel the words harsh in your throat as you look to the hooded figure across the round table. Meetings like this are common for the Council of One, which makes sense considering it is your sole responsibility to further the understanding of the scientific arts and how magical theory plays into them. The Academy is looking to you, after all.
Your fellow councilman seems to have other ideas, though, as he stands from his seat, the deep shadow of his hood obscuring his face from view. “Preposterous or not, it is the only way of understanding the cycles of the Voidcryst.”
“Or,” you say, standing yourself, “You could set off a chain reaction that destroys the entire Academy. Or worse.”
“Either way, we force the Cryst’s hand…so to speak.” Your peer is insane, you’re sure of it.
“Now, now,” Your dear friend interrupts, standing from her own seat at the council table. She’s smaller than you, than most of the gathered scholars, but her voice commands authority. “I’m sure we can come to some sort of understanding…”
That last voice is vaguely familiar to the viewer of this memory.
Memory 3 » Mitsuru
The cobblestones gouge into your bare feet as you speed along the street, shoving through throngs of people rushing about in a panic. The sky has been black for hours, a thunderous cracking filling the air as though it’s come alive. The wind tries more than once to rip you from your feet, but your force of will propels you forward.
The explosion that ripped reality off its bearings originated from the north, that’s what people were saying as they were rushing to grab what precious possessions they insisted they needed to evacuate, the very land rumbling beneath your bare feet as you make your way north as well, to know the truth. You have to be strong, now. People are rushing in the opposite direction, but evacuation without your son is out of the question.
Why had he needed to return to the Academy just yesterday? What was so pressing he was needed? You would chastise him as soon as you were able to clutch him to your breast, to smell his hair, to feel his warmth and to know he was safe. The street leading through the northern gate was empty, the citizens already moved far south of you. No guards stayed behind to make sure a distraught mother didn’t proceed beyond the city walls.
But reality did. You can’t believe what your eyes see north of the wall at first: great, gaping emptiness filled with a whirling void of light and darkness. The wind here has reached a crescendo and there is a high-pitched keening sound filling the darkness. No, not a darkness, that would be something. Instead, what you gaze into is a bottomless nothing, a space where nothing can exist.
You don’t realize that high-pitched scream is coming from you until your chest begins to ache with it.