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

[helborn]

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?

[airplaneskyward]

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.”

[helborn]

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.

[airplaneskyward]

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.”

[helborn]

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.

[airplaneskyward]

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.”

[helborn]

"... 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.

[airplaneskyward]

“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.”

[helborn]

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.

[airplaneskyward]

“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.”

[helborn]

"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."

[airplaneskyward]

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?”

[helborn]

... 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.

[airplaneskyward]

“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.”

[helborn]

"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.

[airplaneskyward]

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.

[helborn]

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.

[airplaneskyward]

“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.

[helborn]

"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.

[airplaneskyward]

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.

[helborn]

"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..."

[airplaneskyward]

“Even if you can see, you clearly don’t like it. So, light.” He’s going to do anything he can think of to help. He slashes a wider, less focused sword glare at the frozen plants, and they smash into satisfying bits. “See, we’re not going to have any trouble.”

[helborn]

"Yeah. I can..." He reaches the baseball bat out again and freezes the nearby plants - but also a bunch of plants in a line after that. He can't sense what it is, but he can hear the crack of frozen vines a ways off. "If you have something that shoots in a line."

He's pretty sure that's what the guys on that one show do. He's seen pictures online, even if he didn't care for them. "Don't want to use up all my power, but... can clear out a good bit."

[airplaneskyward]

Hm. He doesn’t usually, but he thinks he can… he aims the point of Kao Ci down the line of frozen plants, and channels spiritual energy out through the tip in a narrow bolt that smashes a long hole through the frozen mass. Necessity breeds invention? A slash and a normal sword glare smashes down after it, taking out the edges. “I think I can see the stairs? Don’t— don’t push yourself. The spiritual energy here is weird, but I can pause and cultivate a bit if I run out. Just… stay with me, okay 心爱?”

[helborn]

"I'm fine, I'm fine." On that front, at least. In general he is not fine by nearly every definition. The stairs are a welcome sight, and he lets out a long breath at the mere mention of them. Stairs. He can get out of here and start checking for other people. He's going to be okay. He'll have a mission.

There's not really that many people here so he can't rely on getting power back as easily as normal... though he feels bolstered by Beida. ... Maybe that's just being in love? He's not sure, he has zero experience.