pluviosa | EVENT LOG: Leave a Light On

Entry tags:

*event

EVENT LOG: Leave a Light On

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Casper... doesn't respond. Bob however finally hears Shang Qinghua's voice and cries out as loudly as he can. Obviously it doesn't translate, but there's a definite note of panic in his voice somehow. It'll take a bit for him to get there, as he's crammed up near the ceiling of the deck. There's thick vines forming a sort of net in front of him and a sturdy woody-stemmed plant behind him, so he can't really move.

Bird noises! Distinctive bird noises! Bob kind of sounds panicked, as much as a bird can, and he doesn’t hear anything from Casper!

Shang Qinghua channels spiritual energy into his sword, enough that it glows and cuts just a little harder, and makes carefully towards the sound of the raven. The plants might be closing up behind him, but he doesn’t care, be can worry about getting back out after he finds Casper.

Finally, sound brings him close enough that he can look up and see something dark moving behind a wall of vines. “Step back, I’m going to cut you out,” he warns Bob, then a moment later cuts into the vines with desperate precision, until there’s a hole big enough for a moderately sized raven to fit though. He pulled his sword back. “Can you get out? Do you know where he is?” His voice is urgent, desperate. The rustling of the plants is too loud to try and listen for his breathing.

Bob pulls back as much as he can, pushing through the hole once the other pulls his sword back. Bob can't see in the dark either, but he can sense Casper. He points with his beak through another mass of vines and plants. If the man listens closely enough he'll be able to hear the faintest sounds of... shuffling? Crying? It's hard to tell through the rustling, but it's definitely something that isn't plantlike.

Casper doesn't realize that he's crying. He's just staring into the darkness, his breathing shallow. Everything's shaking - no, it's him that's shaking. Now that it's dark again he can see... mostly nothing. A wall of leaves obscures most of what he can see and the tears obscure the rest. He rests his head against his arm again, his nose barely above the water.

Once the pair cut through the vines they'll see a sneaker tangled in vines, and another. Casper's almost entirely covered in vines - which normally wouldn't be a problem, except there's an extremely large, woody plant that's almost a tree but not quite. It's fallen across his back, pinning him in an awkward position that's sunk his hands deep into the cold mud.

Fuck. He should have grabbed a saw.

“Casper? Fuck, Casper, can you hear me?”

He can at least chop off the bits that are definitely away from Casper, and maybe that’ll get it down to a piece he can move?

He rummages in his bag, remembering belatedly that he has a night pearl he was too panicked to use on his way down, which he pulls out and hangs around his neck, because he decided years ago that he wanted to be able to use both light and his hands simultaneously and had a cord made with a space to slot a night pearl into that he could wear. The dim, cold light of the pearl thankfully doesn’t seem to activate the plants.

Now that he can see what he’s doing… hell. Casper is pinned facedown in the mud, and… he’s crying, he thinks. At least that means he’s alive. Shang Beida aims a vicious enough sword glare at the root end of the tree, at least two feet away from Casper, that it bisects the trunk entirely, somewhat to his shock. He chops off the crown, too, while he’s at it, leaving a six foot section of wood on Casper’s back, still tangled in vines.

He’s a goddamn cultivator. He can pick up a six foot log. He grabs it and rips it free with a snarl, throwing it into the mass of plants behind him to be a problem for later, and drops to his knees in the mud next to Casper, pulling his head away from the water and up into his lap. “Casper? Casper, I found you, it’s—it’s okay, you’re safe.”

Casper isn't sure what's going on - his entire body feels far away. His head lolls to the side and he's still breathing shallowly, his legs still tangled. His eyes close against the light - no, he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to go away again. Bob is alive, so what happens if he dies? ... He's not sure. He doesn't want to find out.

His body still shakes like it's crying, but there aren't any more tears to be had. He can feel himself being moved, but he's just - he can't...

Bob squawks quietly, concerned. He hasn't seen Casper like this since... well. He never had time to be like this after he died. It's somehow worse than how he was then. Bob's a raven, he has no idea how to deal with human mental health. He just looks at Shang Qinghua. ... Help?

Fuck. He’s not equipped for this. “Casper?” He pulls him up farther out of the mud, bundling unresponsive limbs into a lap not really big enough to fit. “Casper, it’s—Shang Beida. Can you hear me?” He smooths a shaky hand over Casper’s forehead. “Look at me, 心爱, Casper, please? You’re okay. We’re okay. Bob is okay too.”

His forehead is cooler than it should be, but he's naturally a little cooler than normal so it's not like it's different. He's breathing at least, and he blinks slowly. "H... uh?" His throat is raspy and his voice hoarse, so it's barely above a whisper. Coughing, he sputters up some mud and bog water, his body shaking against the other.

He pulls his legs towards himself slowly, breaking through the vines that are left and lifts his head. He almost looks okay until he just... sits in the mud, his eyes still a little vacant. His head feels fuzzy and he doesn't want to get up. "H... hey." Okay. Okay, his body is gradually starting to come back 'online'. It's taking a while, though.

Shang Qinghua channels some spiritual energy carefully into Casper through a hand on his back, hoping it will do more good than harm. “Hey, Casper. 心爱. Are you… here?” He smooths Casper’s muddy hair back from his face. “We’re okay.”

He jolts a little bit, his body not rejecting it but... it's also hard for it to really reach him due to his soul not being quite... there. He blinks a bit more, trying to gather himself. "I... how long was I away?" He'd lost track of time a long time ago - or what felt like a long time ago.

Maybe he should... clarify. "I mean... how long has it been since you saw me?" He can't tell. He can hear the plants growing around them and he grabs the other's robe, fingers curling into the fabric. "I'm... alive." Sort of. For now? Whether he's 'here' or not... even he's not sure.

Oh thank fuck, he’s saying sentences. “A few hours? The ship… tested something with lights, I guess. I don’t think it… went well. I started heading down as soon as I realized what was happening, but it took me a while to get this deep.” He presses a kiss to Casper’s forehead. “I came looking for you immediately.”

"... I would have been okay. Is there anyone else missing?" He should have looked for them first - Casper would have survived. He would have been okay. It would have been just him and the dark and that would have been fine and he's trying to talk intelligibly but his brain feels like it's been replaced with cotton wool.

“Casper, you—you weren’t okay. You were face down in water and insensate. Bob was worried, weren’t you Bob?”

And there’s… Casper being a better person again. “I don’t know who else was downstairs. I just— I knew you were. And you—you’re still not okay, 心爱, you—you’re allowed to worry about yourself too, and I’m not as good a person as you because I didn’t even think about anyone else, I just knew I needed to make sure you were okay. And you can—you can judge me for that, but I just—need you to be safe. So I’m here with you. There were—other people working on the overgrowth, I’m sure they’re helping anyone else. But I’m the one who knew you were going deep. The ship only said assistance was needed on R3, I don’t… know how long it would have taken someone to come down this far, if I hadn’t. I… you needed help, and you deserve help too, and I couldn’t have lived with myself if I hadn’t come for you.”

He can't process the word 'insensate' right now. Too big for cotton ball brain. But Bob chirrups in affirmation and Casper sighs. "... I... I can't..." His eyes water with tears again and he blinks them back. "I... just... wanted to help..."

Shit, his voice is scratchy as hell right now. He's aware he's not making a lot of sense, but it's going to take a while until he does and he hates that. "I just wanted to find more... about what was going on... and I didn't want you to get hurt..." Speaking of hurt, his arms are kind of scratched up and his back is definitely going to bruise. But he's not sure if he can heal himself right now in this kind of state.

“Baobei, 心爱, I’m fine. You didn’t do anything wrong. You had no way of knowing this would happen. It’s okay.” Shang Beida gently smooths tears off of Casper’s cheek. “Just… we can just sit here until you’re okay, and then we can work on getting back upstairs together.” He kisses the younger man’s forehead again. “When Bob answered me yelling and you didn’t, I was… I’m so glad you’re alive, Casper.”

"Uh." Until he's okay? He's not sure they have enough time. "We should... we should go. Before we get stuck. I don't want you to get stuck." It's horrible and dark and even if they had each other it would be pretty awful. Casper tries to stagger to his feet, body swaying dangerously and threatening to fall over again with each movement. "I... thank you. For... for caring."

Shang Beida surges to his feet and wraps his arms around Casper, steadying him before he can fall. “You can barely stand. Either we wait here until you recover, or you climb on my back and Bob perches on you and I carry you while I cut a way back up. But you’re in no shape for anything, you— please, you have to take care of yourself. The lights are off so they’re not growing so fast anymore. We’re okay to wait a little while. I can cut this clearing bigger while we wait, if you want, if you agree to sit down.” He bites his lip. “Please, beloved?”

... Fuck. The pet name strikes home and he sighs, leaning on Beida. "I'm not - I know you could probably carry me, I just don't want to make trouble for you and I just... I'm sorry, spatzi." He closes his eyes. He's trying so hard...

"I just don't want you to be trapped. I just... I can see in the dark, but there's not much to see when there's so many leaves. You... shouldn't be stuck down here." It's too much like death, to be honest.

“I won’t let us get trapped. I’ll get us out. But you need to recover, and I need you to be okay. You’re not making trouble for me. I’m here for you because I… because 你是我的心爱, and I want to be able to be here for you when you need it. I’m not much of a hero, but… I’m here.”

"You're a hero to me..." Casper says it quietly, just loud enough to be heard. "... I'll... I'll trust you." Maybe that's an easy thing to say for some people, but it isn't for him. He rests more of his weight on the other, a little more certain he can take it now that he's seen (or felt) what a cultivator can do strengthwise, but he's still uncertain of putting his full weight against him.

Shang Beida takes Casper’s weight without trouble, shifting to lean them both against a clear patch of wall, and kisses his temple. “Thank you, 心爱. We’re going to be okay. I’ll do anything to keep us okay, remember? Between the two of us, we can definitely take the plants. Because you’re super cool and strong and can freeze things, which should help kill them off, and I have Kao Ci—my sword—and I can chop them up. And we’ll get back upstairs and away from this bullshit and we’ll be fine.” He has no idea how to be comforting, he’s just Saying Things.

The Saying Things seems to work, and he puts an arm around the other's shoulders. He reaches down and taps his leg, a baseball bat appearing in his hand. It's clear with a blue center, and it seems to radiate cold, though there's no frost on it.

"Yeah. Yeah... that'd work. We... we just need to get through it. Just need to..." He slumps slightly and Bob squawks. Casper blinks and straightens up again. "It's fine. Bob, you should... stick with me. In the pocket, I mean..."

Bob looks uncertain (somehow) but he flutters over to Casper's hand and hops into the hoodie pocket, shuffling a bit so he can poke his beak out.

“We can wait until you can walk, Casper. There’s no rush.” He doesn’t know whether Casper is physically injured or just mentally, but either way, he’s worried. He tightens his arm around the other’s waist, trying to steady him.

"I want to be out of here. I don't... I need to see the sun again. Please. ... I don't want to be trapped in the dark, even if it's with you."

It's too much like being dead. He can't stand being trapped and afraid.

Shang Beida pulls the cord holding his light pearl over his head and drops it around Casper’s neck. “Here. So you won’t be in the dark. Lean on me if you need to, and we’ll… we’ll work on going up.” He pulls Kao Ci free again and slashes a sword glare in the direction of the staircase, chopping through a section of plants.

"I can see in the dark, it's just... dark -" But okay. He starts working on freezing the plants for Beida, touching them with his baseball bat and letting them freeze before the other cuts through them. "Just... tired..."

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