EVENT LOG: Leave a Light On

[pluviosamods]

LEAVE A LIGHT ON

You aren't scared of the dark, are you?

The dark is safer than the light. It's the light the reveals the things you'd rather not know. It's the light that's essential to knowledge and to growth. It's the growing things you should be worried about around here. They've been waiting for you for a long time.

... Of course, so has everything thing. But it's the growing things that have the opportunity, now. No matter how dark and stormy the night, morning always comes.

This is the event mingle post for Leave a Light On. This event includes general content of rapid plant growth and the possibility of infection by the Growth (plant-related body horror element) for participating characters. The IC duration of this event is the afternoon and evening of Day 4.

This is not an event with heavy moderator involvement. Players are welcome to make their own top-levels on this post.

Further information on the event can be found here.

Comments

[luciacorina]

“You have to pass a test to go to a different country? How do they stop you from just… walking in? Surely they can’t guard every inch of the border?” The concept of government ID has very much not reached Vankrik.

[helborn]

"It's... complicated." And he's too fuzzy-headed to get into it right now. "But no, they don't guard every inch. But you need to prove that you live there to get a lot of services." And a lot of people don't, but like... he's not going to get into that. He barely understands a lot of it himself.

[luciacorina]

Lucia Corina sighs. “Other worlds are strange and I hate being unable to understand so many things. No one else here seems to be as much at sea as I.” Her shoulders hunch in a little, her posture a little defensive, a little defeated. Look what came of her last attempt to learn.

[helborn]

"That's fair, but... um." He gets up and stands next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at explaining."

[luciacorina]

“It’s not your fault! I understand much more of what you’ve said than what Mario did. You’re good at explaining, I just… everything is so alien. I’m a historian, I’m supposed to be able to… but no skill of mine is of use here.” She forces a smile up at him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel badly of my account.”

[helborn]

"If you don't have a point of reference it's hard to imagine what something is like. I could tell you something is 'four football fields' long, but you'd have no idea how big that is. And it would be wrong of me to expect that you do." Cautiously he gives her shoulder a little squeeze, careful to control his strength.

"But if you told me that your civilization is like some other civilization you know of, I'd probably have no idea what you meant. It's only natural that we have to explain a lot to each other."

[luciacorina]

"Everyone else seems to... understand this ship better, or at least acclimate to it easier. I don't know." The hand on her shoulder is comforting, and she covers it with one of hers. "I hate not-knowing. I hate being abducted. I hate-- it was like I was first escaping all over again, I--" She squeezes her eyes closed. "I can't even bear the thought of music, now, it feels like I'm barely free of the Hall again."

[helborn]

"... I know. I know..." He rubs her shoulder gently, not really sure how to comfort her in this kind of situation. "I hate not knowing, too. I hate being abducted as well. But you can't let the people who hurt you take away the things you love. You can't let them win over you like that."

[luciacorina]

"I don't want to be a caged lark again. I can't." Her hand tightens over his, her breathing shaky. "I am, I have, one thing of worth. Nothing else I've tried to--I am no historian here. I am only a songbird." She leans against him, head against his chest. He's solid and incontrovertibly human, his clothes alien in a way that is comforting in their contrast from the elves, the most grounding thing here.

[helborn]

"You won't. You're not going to be as long as I can help it. And you have more than that. You're a good person and a good friend. Something like that is rare. And who knows? Knowing how to examine history might be helpful. What if we find a log or something like that? We'll need someone like you."

He drops his head to her shoulder and wraps his other arm around her gently, keeping it loose in case she wants to escape. "I'm here. You have value just by being you. And I know that's hard to accept, but I believe it."

[luciacorina]

Lucia Corina takes the arm around her shoulders as encouragement to wrap her arms around him in turn. “…Thank you, Casper.” For the words and the hug both. Her voice is a little shaky and her grip a little tight, but she relaxes a little bit. Casper wouldn’t let them have her again. She’s safe with him.

[helborn]

"Of course." He chuckles and tightens his grip slightly, just so she knows she's safe. "I've got you. You're safe. Or as safe as I can make you here. You're a good friend and I want you to be able to breathe easily here."

[luciacorina]

She sighs and more of the tension leaches out of her taut frame. “I’m glad that—well, not that you were kidnapped as well, but… to have met you.”

[helborn]

"... I'm glad to have met you too. You're... the first person to have treated me well." Casper rubs her arm carefully, trying to not seem... weird about it? He doesn't like girls like that and doesn't want to give the impression that he does, but.

It really is true, however. She's not been cruel to him, which he knows is the lowest bar but she's cleared it by a mile.

[luciacorina]

“That’s… awful. I’m sorry, you deserve so much better. You’re so terribly sweet, and caring… I can’t imagine why anyone would be less than kind to you.” She leans back a little to smile tremulously at him. “I am fortunate to have made such a friend, and to have such as you to value my safety.”

[helborn]

"Mm." He's not going to argue whether or not he deserves it - also, Shang Beida is like right over there and he would probably yell if he put himself down - but he turns to give her a more proper bear hug.

"I'm glad you're here with me, too. Not... that I want you stuck in this place, but you're... you're an amazing friend." He pats her back carefully and smiles.

[luciacorina]

She leans into the hug, squeezing back with her much slighter strength, and leans her head on his shoulder. "If we are to have been abducted, at least we have had this fortune, to have... someone to trust in this place. It... would be much harder, without." She's trying so hard not to think about her swing, about endless days a caged lark. She had no one, in the elves' hall. She wasn't even really a person, there.

[helborn]

"Yeah. And there's other good people here, too. ... Mostly." Hat Guy. "And we need to be able to stand together against... whatever it is that we're fighting." He's not sure how you like... comfort a girl? Or a guy, but especially a girl. He settles for running his fingers gently through her hair, careful whenever he hits a knot or anything.

[luciacorina]

There are a lot of knots to hit, and also leaves and bits of twig. Her hair is like, twice as bad as it usually is.

“It would be nice to stand together. Most all I have met have been polite enough, though you are by far the kindest.” She sighs. “I wish we knew what we stood against. Other than apparently the plants, now.” She shivers a little at the memory, the echo of her body crumbling in a tangle of thorns. “Grasping,” she says, and her voice echoes a little in a way this room shouldn’t allow.

[helborn]

He just tries to gently tug through them and pick out the debris. Someone's got to help her take care of her.

"... The kindest? I... oh." Well. He isn't going to deny that he makes an effort to be kind, but still. "I'm sure we'll figure out what's going on here sooner rather than later." He gives her a gentle pat and nods. "Hey. Hey, it's okay. We're not trapped there anymore. I... I also had trouble getting out from there. It's okay to have been scared. ... I was, too."

[luciacorina]

"It was-- I couldn't-- the plants around the Hall tried to keep me in, when I pulled free from the enthrallment enough to try to leave. It-- like I was back there, I felt like it was the first moment all over-- trying to drag me back under--" She trembles a little, hanging onto him for comfort. "I forgot the ship entire."

[helborn]

"Hey." He presses his cheek against hers. "You're here. You don't have to think about that anymore. And if you feel yourself getting lost again, come find me. I'll keep you here." He'd do his best to, at least.

[luciacorina]

"Thank you, Casper." Her voice is almost a whisper. "You're so-- thank you. It helps."

[helborn]

"... That's what friends are supposed to do, right?" He's not... totally sure? But he thinks that's right?

[luciacorina]

"I had not... though to find such a friend while-- abducted. Not after... there was no one, there. I'm glad I have you."