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

Lucia Corina | Tabletop OC

[luciacorina]

i. Send Help

Lucia Corina appreciates the sky, of course, but staying in only the cafeteria and lounge has been making her feel a different kind of trapped. And she needs to understand where she is, even if she’s not equipped for it, even if the technology here is worlds beyond her. But surely somewhere there’s something that the previous passengers left behind, something that she could learn about them from.

She’s exploring one of the lower residential decks, one that hasn’t been cleaned up by the ship yet, using her lantern and one of her precious candles—she should see if the ship can get her more—when lights even more dramatic than the strange ones that led them to the cafeteria flicker on.

She doesn’t have long to think about how strange the lights are, because the plants still covering the floor begin to grow explosively. A tangle of vines throws her into a rapidly-growing tree, and by the time the lights go out, she’s lost her lantern and all she has the mind left to do is claw desperately at the plants holding her in place.

She has to get out, before they catch her, before they enthrall her again. She has to run while she can think. She has to get away.

ii. Aftermath

Lucia Corina checks her zither for damage, once she makes it to the cafeteria, but puts it away afterward. She can’t stand the thought of playing right now.

She pulls a chair over to sit with her back to the wall, looking out the windows of the cafeteria, hands folded tightly in her lap, trying to hold onto where and when she is. Her breathing is shaky and every blink is a fight to keep focused on her surroundings instead of getting lost in the past.

She’s not eating. She can’t trust the food, not today.

Casper LeBlanc Jr. | Tabletop OC

[helborn]

Trapped (extra cws: panic attacks, dissociation, mentions of death)

Casper is exploring down near the lowest decks they can get - he wants to see if there are other bodies in the bog that he should take care of or look at for information. He only gets a little ways into digging, muck already coating his body, when the lights flicker on. He winces, throwing a hand up above his face as he tries to switch from seeing in the dark to seeing in the light again when he feels something moving, and fast. He turns and - ah, shit.

(Is this what that last person was running from? He has the briefest moment to think it before survival instincts kick in.)

He runs, and he's fast - but not fast enough. In his panic he trips over the roots of some plant, landing face-first in the dirt. He tries to rise but he can't, and suddenly he feels feathers brushing past him. Bob... at least he's not going to be squashed... he can hear the bird flitting between the branches, finally coming to rest somewhere - but it's not so easy for Casper. He pushes up with all of his strength and finds his body tangled in some mass of plantlife. He tugs and ivy pulls free, only for a whole mass of branches to fill his vision. He tries shoving up, but there's just too much mass and he's in too awkward a position to move.

Casper snarls in frustration, spitting mud out of his mouth. He tries to move to get to his leg - nope, his leg is trapped under... something. If he could move he might be able to push free, but he can neither see what it is nor move it in any significant way. He cries out - "Help!" - and hears his own voice echoing back at him. It sounds panicked, and that only makes him feel more out of breath. He's not in pain - well, none that he can't handle - but he can still see things growing around him. He smacks his hands down and pushes his head and shoulders up - he doesn't want to drown here. He can't. He can't. Something falls across his back and he yelps in surprise rather than pain, but it's enough that he can't push up more.

The lights finally turn off and he can see the shifting plants stop. Bob chirps down to him - at least he's okay, though he can't get free. Casper closes his eyes and rests his head on his hands, breathing hard. In... out... in.. out.. in. out. in out inout inoutinout - the darkness isn't helping anything, as comforting as it usually makes him feel. He's trapped and he can feel his body shaking. He tries to breathe calmly but his body simply won't listen to him. Instead of breathing he starts crying quietly. Is he going to just be down here until he dies? Is he just waiting for the end?

He loses track of time, of himself. Even if there's some sound of shifting, he can't hear it anymore.


Rescue

Once he's free - before he really should be moving again, but once he's free and has cleaned off at least a little of the mud - he goes searching for other people. Where it's too thick to get through for a human-sized body he sends Bob in to scout. Anyone hidden in the brush where they're looking might suddenly see a raven appear in front of them out of the leaves.

And when he does find someone? He starts ripping the plants out as best he can, not caring if he gets scraped or cut. He can heal himself, it's fine. He's not worried about diseases in the mud - can he even get sick anymore? - more than he's worried about the people who are stuck there, afraid and alone. "Don't... worry! We're coming!"


Aftermath (extra cws: PTSD, possible breakdowns, dissociation)

Casper looks dirty and utterly miserable, sitting in the corner of the room. He doesn't even want to sit at a table for fear of getting it irreparably dirty. He's staring at the floor, not even bothering to eat - not even the shaved ice. He feels like he has a lump in his throat and that he's going to cry at any point now that the adrenaline of rescuing people has worn off.

Bob, on the other hand, is more than happy to eat some of the fruit. He's picking it off from wherever he can get it - even the plates of other passengers if they aren't looking. He already tried bringing some to Casper, but the boy just won't eat. Bob knows better than to try to force it, so he's just grabbing what he can.

[airplaneskyward]

Shang… Beida? was being Very Normal about Casper exploring the lower decks while he stayed up in the cafeteria. He’s definitely not a clingy weirdo. But he also hadn’t really wanted to go corpse hunting, and he couldn’t see in the dark, so it hadn’t been that hard to convince him to stay up in the marginally more pleasant parts of the ship, avoiding wasting his talisman paper by attempting to describe how great Casper was (in Chinese, not Magical Mystery Language, he’s not an exhibitionist) directly onto the wall, where the ship can clean it off if it wants.

He’s thoroughly startled by the lights coming on, but he doesn’t think too much of it until they click back off and then the ship says something about an overgrowth incident. On R3. Casper is… below R3.

Airplane shoves everything back into his qiankun pouches and sprints for the starboard side elevator.

He pauses at the tool cart, but decides his spiritual sword is probably going to be more effective than any mundane steel. So he starts hacking at the plants, heading down whenever he can, using sword glares small enough to avoid either exhausting himself or hitting someone if he gets too near another passenger.

He’s not sure exactly how he’s going to find Casper, so… hopefully sound carries. He alternates shouting Casper’s name with Bob’s, hoping that one or the other will be able to audibly respond so he can triangulate.

[helborn]

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.

[airplaneskyward]

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.

[helborn]

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.

[airplaneskyward]

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.”

[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.”

Childe | Genshin Impact

[astraldownpour]

⟨ GROWLIGHT ⟩
[After spending the last few days in a sort of cleaning frenzy, desperate to get energy out of his system in ways that didn't directly involve violence, Childe had laid down across a fold-out bed in the lounge, arm crossed over his eyes to keep the light out as he napped.

His body was a little sore, but that was nothing a good nap and a hot shower couldn't fix.

Unfortunately, his rest is very suddenly and rudely disturbed. There is a noise that tears through the ship, but to him, it's just part of his dream. Until something tips over the couch, thrusting him roughly into the growing mass of branches and ferns. The fatuus awakes with a start and a snarl.]

HEY? WHAT THE FUCK?

[It takes him a few moments to register what exactly is going on, and that's just long enough for the rapidly growing foliage to twist around his waist and legs, trapping him, taking him upwards WITH its growth. Childe struggles, summoning his hydro blades--- the water just trickles back down into the depths of the writhing mass. He tries again, with electro, starting at sawing at the binds over his waist, but the plants are growing faster than he can cut.

Quickly growing frustrated, the Harbinger tries to stab at what he thinks to be the main trunk(there was so much. so many.). All that ends up achieving is allowing the surrounding plants to tangle around his his wrists and bind him to it further. He snarls, leaning forward and biting the foliage, tearing at it with his teeth.

Childe attempts to stay calm, but the ceiling is approaching at a rate that he really doesn't like! The outside was inhospitable, this was bad. He has half a mind to transform and try to tear through the foliage, but this was just a bunch of stupid plants, surely he could handle this, right?

But the more he moves, the worse the tangle gets, the plantlife gripping him tightly, every new movement leading to a new plant growing around his body and trying to reach the light.

Maybe it was safest to stay still.

The top of the growing mass presses against the ceiling, and he's not far from it, weaved into the depths of the plants. The glass shatters, and the growth does not stop there, but he can feel it begin to stagnate.

The fatuus is very close to that broken ceiling, chips of glass falling on him with bursts of wind from the outside of the ship. His mouth tastes like grass, with strings of plant matter between his teeth.

Childe is absolutely fucking miserable.]

UH. Help...?


⟨ PLANT HELL (cw: dissociation) ⟩
[After being rescued, the Harbinger tears through the foliage in the lower decks with his electro glaive. He travels towards the sounds of people that may be trapped with a sort of quiet fury, taking his frustrations out on the plants around him. The only sound he makes are those of exertion as he throws his blade with force, and the violent chopping through tree and fern and flowers.

Stupid fucking boat. Stupid fucking plants.

Childe keeps his mask affixed to his face, expression unreadable. It's mostly to keep the hacked up plants out of his eyes, but there is a dark sort of anger in his eyes, and a distant glaze to them.

He's not wholly mentally here.]


⟨ DINNER ⟩
[When everything quiets down, he is exhausted, covered in plant filth and dirt, leaves and moss stuck to him, in his hair and folds of his clothes. Childe lingers to a corner of the cafeteria, counting heads, making sure everyone was accounted for and had all their limbs.

He's not really in a place to do much of anything even if someone did lose a limb, aching and sore.

Childe quietly eats the shaved ice dessert, but not much else. His mask is laid on the table next to him.]

[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?”

Dinner

[helborn]

[Casper's still muddy and gross himself and still feeling... awful... but he approaches Childe carefully. His steps are a little heavy but somehow he looks like he's trying to keep his balance with each one.]

You're... okay?

[His voice is rough, but at least he's there. ... Mostly.]

[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.”

Growlight

[featheradrift]

[ Much like Childe, the Wanderer had been caught up in the sudden explosive growth of plants, but he was fortunate to be in a position to easily blast his way out and fly to safety before he got stuck.

And the safest place was easily the airspace above the ship, so that's where he is right now, observing the growth from above. If he had suspected the plants weren't normal earlier, this all but confirms it. Plants don't explode in growth like that from mere exposure to sunlight. Not even Nahida could force something like this without expending a considerable amount of energy. The sunlight was a trigger for the energy already residing in the plants. Something deep in the depths of the ship must be supplying that energy.

But that wasn't the main point of concern right now. The explosive growth would have posed a danger to everyone else. He scans the plants and strains his ears for any signs of distress from the others, assuming they weren't instantly crushed by the flora, and—

Strange that it's that stupid kid he hears again so clearly. Maybe he's just too familiar with Childe's voice. He doesn't really like what that might imply. But he flies over to where he thinks the source is and looks for a shock of ginger hair, which he doesn't find immediately. Welp, time for the next course of action. He readies some Anemo energy in his hands as he calls out. ]

You better start screaming for your life, you pathetic worm, or you might actually be killed!

[ And he starts throwing his wind blades into the plants haphazardly, cutting them into pieces as he searches for Childe. ]

[astraldownpour]

[His eyes don't quite register Casper walking over to him until it's very clear that the blond man is heading his way. Childe blinks a couple times, noticing the way the other carried himself--- like even walking was a monumental task. Casper seemed to be struggling with his balance.

The redhead reaches out to him when he gets close enough, intending to lay a hand on Casper's shoulder and provide him a bit more stability. His expression softens, and a quiet worry gnaws a hole in his gut. He doesn't think the other man should be standing and moving around much right now.]

Hey, yeah. I'm fine. You?

[Don't worry about me, look at you!]

Crazy day, huh? You look rough. Come sit down, relax a bit.

[Childe pulls up a chair next to him.]