Relief Log #2

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I. In The Aftermath

After the mission is complete, the new recruits are invited back to Central Command for a patch-up and celebration to let loose and socialize a little bit.

The first order of business is the patching up. Anyone who was injured is welcome to go to the Hospital, if the injuries are more serious. Everyone else, those with smaller injuries like scrapes and bruises, minor cuts or burns or abrasions, are welcome to come to the Infirmary in Central Command. There will also be attendants that tell returning new recruits that if they'd like to learn a little first aid and tend to their comrades, they can also head to the Infirmary.

In the Infirmary, anyone who's not injured but shows up will be instructed in basic first aid so they can tend to their teammates and friends. Nurses will be rotating around to check in on people and make sure nothing is more serious than it looks, but generally, the new recruits will be encouraged to tend to their teammates in order to encourage group bonding.

II. A Fine Meal

On an evening a few days after the mission is complete, all the extra-universal new arrivals will be summoned to one of the large meeting rooms in the Central Command for a feast. When they arrive in the room, it is decorated with orange and brown streamers and fall iconography - bundles of twigs and dried flowers, bundles of fragrant herbs, dried pumpkins with faces and fall scenes carved into them, and other decorations. In the center of the room there is a large table laden with delicious-looking fall foods - poultry birds so large they had to have been roasted on a spit, huge roasted portobello-style mushrooms, mashed tubers, gravy, stuffing, bean casserole, candied yams, mooncakes, boiled spicy crayfish, roast herring, various types of stews ranging from traditional stew to fish stew to mushroom stew, and tons of desserts like tarte tatin, ice cream, apple crumble, pumpkin pie, and almost any other fall food you can think of.

Characters will be invited to sit around the table and feast together, while quiet music plays in the background, facilitating conversation. Some of the rebels have volunteered to keep restocking the table as people wander in and out to sit at the table and eat in rough shifts, and these volunteers will encourage characters to share things they're thankful for, things that make their lives better. All of those things that make life worth living, that make the fight worth fighting.

On a table near the door to the room, there is a stack of beautifully cloth-wrapped bento-style boxes that characters are invited to take with them. They are told by volunteers that these boxes aren't just leftovers for later, but a necessary component of the night's test of courage. They encourage characters to take one and participate, as it's a particularly bright feather in the cap of anyone who undertakes it.

III. The Skyclad Light Show

Once the feasting throughout the late afternoon and early evening is about complete, characters will be invited out into the courtyard of the Central Command for the evening's entertainment. The courtyard is essentially a small but beautiful park, with benches, patches of grass, a few ornamental trees and gardens, and plenty of places to spread out a blanket (provided by friendly volunteers!) and watch the show. And what a show it is!

Every year around this time the Skyclad take magical lights that trail behind them, and put on a spectacular light show in the sky. Streaks of vibrant color follow each hoverboard as those riding them in the sky flip, twirl, dive, and perform other feats of hoverboard artistry for the crowd below. The show goes on for about 45 minutes, with the Skyclad twisting and twirling, drawing beautiful designs against the evening sky.

Characters who really bonded with their hoverboards and took to tricks and flips and kicks after the mission would have been invited to participate, especially if they were interested in joining the Skyclad. The Skydance, as they call it, is quite highly choreographed to avoid midair collisions, all with the goal of producing something truly beautiful and ephemeral. Try not to choke!

IV. Night of Remembrance

The final tradition of the evening is a solemn remembrance of the warriors who have fallen in the fight against the Sylphid. After the Skydance, volunteers would have set up another table of those bento boxes from earlier as well as little bags containing 5 mandarin oranges, and would brief the people in small groups about the traditional Night of Remembrance. The Night of Remembrance is a really big deal among the Witches, and is a great opportunity to prove yourself if you're looking to gain respect and rise up the ranks, as it's also partially a test of courage. The tradition involves taking leftover food from the feast to the shrine at the cemetery in the Mages Sector in order to 'prepare a feast' for the dead and honor those who have fallen, and offering oranges to the fallen along the way. The food must still be at least a little warm when it's presented to the spirits. Sounds simple, right?

Once characters who wish to participate find their way to the cemetery, they will discover a couple more volunteers with a variety of lanterns. For some reason, nothing electric, battery-powered, or at all technological will work in the cemetery, and they haven't for as long as anyone can remember. Any light source must be either very old-school or magical in nature, and texting someone for help would be completely impossible. But why would you need to call someone for help?

Well, it wouldn't be a test of courage without a little danger, right? On this night, every year, the spirits in the cemetery are stirred up and come back into the land of the living. Yes, ghosts do really exist. The ghosts have a variety of temperaments - some of the ghosts are very pleasant and will chat with people for a while before accepting their orange, some are playful and mischievous and will play pranks on people coming into the cemetery (these pranks are sometimes harmless and sometimes very not-harmless), and others are angry and resentful at being dead and won't hesitate to viciously attack interlopers. Some of the more unfriendly ghosts can be calmed down with pleasantries and shows of respect, but others cannot be and will continue to attack interlopers until offered one of the oranges that they've brought.

There are two types of lanterns available: traditional lamps that are simply a candle in a glass bell that can be easily carried with a ring on the top, and magic lamps that attract spirits and appear as a glowing blue-green orb floating in a glass bell fitted with a ring for portability. People carrying traditional lamps are seen as quite brave, but those who take a magical lamp are absolute legends.

Participants will need to take a bento, some oranges, and a lantern of either variety, present the oranges to various ghosts as they make their way to a shrine on the other side of the cemetery, where they will set out the food from the bento as beautifully as possible...and don't let that food get cold, or your offering will be worthless - who wants congealed gravy and soggy stuffing?! At the shrine, they will find an assortment of delicate beaded charms attached to the branches of a large weeping willow tree. These are protected by magic, and can only be taken by someone who's completed the tradition. They will light up a different color depending on what kind of lantern the participant is carrying. These charms will provide a one-time magical boon to whoever takes them.

Characters carrying traditional lanterns will find their charms lighting up orange and these charms will, when used through the calling of a keyword by either Heba or Tian characters, summon the spirits of the dead in an area with a radius of around 50 feet to attack an enemy or group of enemies. The keyword can be set simply by speaking it to the charm. This charm can be offered to another person as a gift or kept for the character's own use, and can be used only once. If the charm has been gifted to someone, it will turn red, but will still be functional.

Characters carrying magical lanterns will find their charms lighting up blue and these charms will, when carried on a character's person, provide one resurrection from death without the loss of memory that usually comes as a side effect of resurrections. This charm can be offered to another person as a gift or kept for the character's own use, and can be used only once. If the charm has been gifted to someone, it will turn purple, but will still be functional.

Regardless of which charms are given, characters are encouraged to show them off as evidence of having participated in the Night of Remembrance. Anyone who is gifted one of these charms should be grateful, they are regarded as high-value gifts to be given only to someone you care about a great deal. Many people, regardless of whether they've earned the charms themselves or been gifted them, will attach them to their network devices to show them off.

NAVIGATION

Comments

Darth Vader | Star Wars

[nouskaiananki]

II

Vader didn't (often) eat - and not in public. But that didn't mean he didn't attend the feast, despite not being able to go on the mission. He was still feeling his self-surgery, and had retreated into himself and an inner fury over the loss of his wife and daughter. That didn't mean he didn't take one of the cloth-wrapped boxes. A test of courage he felt up to and tucked one of the boxes away.


III

Vader watched the Skydance with a naked sort of envy. It's not that he can't be distracted - he could - but he keeps looking back at them. Given his desire to fly, it's not hard to imagine why he's so fascinated and what he wishes for.


IV

While he does listen, Vader doesn't hesitate to take a magic lamp. Not just because of course he must prove himself, but also for the offered reward. He does wish his lenses still had their enhanced function in order to better see in the darkness. And it only takes a moment for him to cross the threshold into the cemetery to begin his 'test'.

III

[maskedtyrant]

Having finished her impromptu nap during the first part of the Skydance, Codi has settled now into her usual habits of people-watching and, subsequently, nosing her way into their business. Vader is an easy target for this; she has no idea about his machinations for flight, but his jealousy for the hoverboard riders radiates off of him like an aura. This might deter others from wanting to confront him at all. Codi, on the other hand, sees it as a curious puzzle to unlock.

She sidles up beside him on the lawn, flopping into the grass with a drink in her hand and a casual grin on her face.

"Cool show, eh?" Codi hums. "How long do you think they have to train for this kind of stuff? Months? Years? Or do you think it's just natural talent?"

[nouskaiananki]

Vader looks down, and down, and down. As he was standing, he didn't expect someone so casually lying down to address him. Much less with that look.

Some Imperials on his staff, possibly. One of his men, yes that was a certainty. Fett, possibly, at least until this last job.

Leia? No. There were some thoughts he refused to have.

"If it's a natural talent, years measured in months. If not, years spanning decades. If one is naturally talented and assisted by a gift or another, months not spanning years." He answered simply enough, confident if still envious of those in the sky.

He almost ached for it.

[maskedtyrant]

Codi cranes her neck up at him in turn, like this is a totally normal conversation they're having. Honestly, from her perspective it is; none of the local Jedi have given her The Talk about who Vader is and why she should probably not toy with him, and even if they had, she'd probably test him anyway. Curiosity mixed with a desire to utilize someone with that kind of sheer emotional power over others is a potent motivator.

Meanwhile, it's just the curiosity part of that equation driving her now. Codi recognizes Vader's answer as mere speculation that doesn't match his body language in the slightest. She endeavors to try and draw it out of him more bluntly instead.

"Something you want to work towards?" Codi asks, taking a sip of her drink.

[nouskaiananki]

"I'm a pilot." It's a simple answer, true if leaving a lot of information out. But he was a pilot, the best, and anything that flew was something he desired to master.

[maskedtyrant]

It's a simple answer that could leave a lot up to interpretation. If he's a pilot, then surely he should be up there with them, right? Perhaps he's not as good at is as he thought he'd be and is stymied by the competition. Or someone specifically forbad him from participating. Or something is keeping him out of the air. Codi casually looks him over, assessing each idea, then decides it's safe to just ask him directly.

"Then what's keeping you on the ground?"

[nouskaiananki]

Vader motioned to one of the hoverboards. "Lack of equipment"

Clearly. Otherwise he would be up there.

[maskedtyrant]

Oh - well, that's easy enough to rectify.

"And if I got you one?" Codi asks, tilting her head with a little, lopsided smile. The 'what would you do for me?' follow-up is left implied.

[nouskaiananki]

"A matter of cost, not price." In other words - no, he was going to have her demands spelt out before he entertained any idea.

Trust issues, what trust issues.

[maskedtyrant]

When it comes to Codi, this is probably a wise stance to take. She huffs and leans back on an elbow, taking a long sip of her drink.

"One favor," she says after a beat. "Since I'm doing one for you, it's only fair, yeah?"

[nouskaiananki]

"As I do not know you, I cannot speculate as to the price." Nor would he offer. "However if you would to name the price, something may be arranged."

Because yes, he'd go for one.

[maskedtyrant]

Codi's small smile wraps around the edges of her cup. This man is very untrusting, which could be a problem - but it sounds like he's at least willing to negotiate, and besides, she does enjoy a challenge.

"You want me to name a favor before I even know if I need it, or if you can fulfil it?" she asks, tone playfully incredulous. "Awfully bold of you. I like it. How about you tell me what you'd be willing to do, and we can work it out from there?"

[nouskaiananki]

Untrusting is an understatement. Vader is paranoid and that may be underselling it. But that probably is to be expected when the man who often professed to love you was also seriously abusing you and designing you worst traumas and nightmares, then demanded a vow of fealty and only after told you the price would be to slaughter small children who came running to you for salvation.

Which he wouldn't admit to still having nightmares of.

Often. More so now that has brain could too easily put his small daughter's face among the children.

"This is a war zone. Of course you'll need a favor." There's a scoff to his voice. "Which could range from clean drinking water to rescue from interrogation to needing someone silenced."

IV

[tech_nically]

Tech isn't here to prove anything either. His reasons are purely for experience, which wouldn't be surprising for anyone knowing him. Many cultures celebrated or revered or feared the dead in different ways, but this would be the first time he'd be able to do more than just read about it.

Of course, it seems a little strange to go armed with a box of food, a bag of oranges and a little lamp, which really is the most fascinating thing. He'd purely chosen the magic one because it was supposedly a guaranteed draw for these spirits. And he finds himself mildly surprised at who else this venture has drawn as he catches a glimpse of a familiar figure entering ahead of him.

[nouskaiananki]

Vader will claim to be afraid of nothing. Fear has long since been driven out of him. It's not true, but he presents it as truth, and even he believes it most of the time. He's certainly not afraid of spirits. He's seen ugly ones. Only ugly ones, really.

He can sense Tech behind him and isn't too surprised - the Clones were (cruelly) deprived of a culture of their own, even if Vader, more than any other, was aware of their creation of one. A larger Clone culture, the culture between batch mates, squads, even those who shared rank, and other groupings. He respected it and allowed it even if under the Empire especially he shouldn't have. His men weren't droids or cogs, no matter the propaganda, and men fought hardest when they were a part of something. Tech being inclined to learn about other cultures frankly made sense.

Even if he did wonder how the man was finding himself, even the annoying lack of technological function. Which was why he was near a rock, balancing his offerings and lantern on the ground as he used the Force to unlatch his helmet and start stripping it off.

[tech_nically]

The most immediate annoyance Tech finds of the whole inability to use technology within the cemetery grounds is that it will keep him from taking any images or recordings. Well, that and the inability to have a functioning tablet to tap at along the way in general.

It's not a difficult thing to work out why Vader has started to remove his helmet, although he must wonder that it is a good thing at all for someone so reliant on technology to function to venture here. He certainly wouldn't recommend it to Echo were he here.

"Sir," he says as he approaches. "Won't the properties of this place be a hindrance?" He isn't completely sure how much Vader relies on artificial means to function, only from what he's been able to observe, although that already suggests quite a bit.

content warning: typical non suited Vader gore

[nouskaiananki]

Is it a good idea? Almost certainly not.

Is that going to stop him?

When has it ever?

Vader is already having to delve deep into his Force connection to have some limited hearing and vision, his eyes taking on an orange-type look giving a sunset appearance to his blue eyes as he pulled on the Dark Side. "Indeed. I'll be reliant solely on the Force." The helmet removed reveals numerous tiny pinpricks of blood from the needles which feed into the central computer, a fresh deep scrap along his scarred cheek from one component, a scarred over mass on his left where an ear had been and about one-third of an external ear scarred into the tissues on his right. Minus the collar, implants in his cervical spine can be visualized as he bent to put the helmet down.

[tech_nically]

For a moment he can't help but stare, although as one can expect from Tech, he doesn't grimace at the raw display of wounds, speaking of the history left unknown to him that the former Jedi general had suffered. Analyzing things simply comes as a habit and that's what he mentally begins to do as his eyes glance over the scars and the impressions left from the removal of the helmet itself.

He'd say it's dangerous, but it's clear Vader knows this. And considering who it is, Tech figures it would be pointless. Relying on the Force... To what extent does that go? Or does the Force know no bounds? It seems to have been suggested, but he's quite aware his understanding is only skimming the surface of this great energy.

"Do you mean to go alone?" Not so much seeking that direct answer so much as indirectly extending an offer.

[nouskaiananki]

He knows it's Tech's nature. He knows there's no offense meant. He still bristles a little at the staring. He equally can't help it - there's too much tied into how he looks and what little choice he's almost always given in who gets to see.

"I'll need to remove my limbs, dragging them with just cost me more energy." He dodged the answer because he was mulling it over.

Yes he'd intended to do this alone. But it seemed he didn't have to. Not that he was sure he didn't want to do this alone.

He didn't know.

[tech_nically]

At least it seems that the clone eventually realizes he's being a little rude, and so he redirects his attention, looking out instead towards the deeper parts of the cemetery. Just how large is this place anyway? He supposes it must cover some considerable ground if it's meant to be some sort of trial.

The response, or rather the lack of an actual answer to his question doesn't go unnoticed. "I imagine either way will produce the same end result," he observes. Removal of limbs, use of the Force- they would both likely be tiring. Just as venturing alone or together would see them to the shrine. The difference is just the method.

[nouskaiananki]

It dawns on him only as he sees Tech scan the grounds. "Tech, have you ever been in a cemetery before?" It would make sense if he hadn't, and he doubted many would have explained in detail beyond 'burial ground' to him - most people had something like it.

The Clones, however...they weren't allowed such things.

"One will be more wear on me. I've had to do it before when the suit was damaged." Which had given him more practice than anyone - even Palpatine - really knew about surviving in the state he was left in. Maul, maybe came close. "I will need to focus to remove them without damaging them. I would be grateful if you would stand by." He didn't think his life would really be at risk of losing his life. But he wouldn't pretend that not damaging the cybernetics while removing them wouldn't mean he'd really be vulnerable to being jumped.

[tech_nically]

"Well, no," Tech admits. Certainly he knows about them, seen images, perhaps even caught glimpses of burial grounds from a distance during missions. But he's had no reason to visit them, and regardless of how close or distant they were to the Regs, it was sadly true that many of their dead likely were never recovered or brought home. It's not something he's thought about, but it's a sobering realization as Vader's question prompts it.

He turns his head back towards the man, brow arching before he nods. Prior experience at least serves as an advantage, and Vader knows his limits better than Tech does. ...of course, he's also someone who obviously pushes those limits, so there is that. Perhaps that's why the request made then is somewhat of a relief to receive even if it hardly needed to be asked. Again, Tech nods. He understands how delicate such attachments can be.

"Of course."

[nouskaiananki]

Vader has seen one burial ground for the Clones. For his own men, graves marked by orange-painted helmets placed on sticks. One lone helmet of 501^st blue painted with jaig eyes at the second position. Two lightsaber hilts marking the first position.

What have I done? the words echoed in his mind as the memory formed almost as real as the moment he'd found it, and he had to stop himself from stooping to pick up hilts that weren't there. Even for his bone-pale completion, Vader paled to an ashen color as he shook himself away from that. "There is one on Mandalore. The 332^nd company. Ahsoka buried them." He didn't know if Tech wanted to know, but if he ever thought to look it up, it would be there. He'd forbidden it from being touched, even after the assault on Mandalore. "Most cultures, most beings in my experience with them, consider it rude to step directly on a grave. If you can avoid it, you should." That was certainly something that would help Tech tonight.

"Kamino wasn't my choice, by the way. I didn't know until after." Because Vader would have at least attempted some kind of fight pull off the best for himself. And to save some of the Cloners as well. For his men, for himself.

Arms first, he thought. They took more focus to use and weren't needed to keep him upright. Left first, as it was more simply connected.

[tech_nically]

Tech was watching again. He's not sure what he was expecting to come next, but those words somehow aren't it. He knows about the 332nd, or at least its ultimate fate. He knows that Rex had survived despite the listings. That's...all he'd known. Vader's words suggest at least one more survivor, which starts to make things a little clearer regarding how Rex had managed the effects of the chip.

It's strange, the little knot of emotion that forms in his gut. It's unfamiliar, but here in this place it's been easier for such previously almost foreign things to slip in, to take hold, a side-effect to the chip's suppression, he's suspected. "Mandalore," he muses, no doubt making note of that. It's the most he can do for now.

"I see," he says, nodding at Vader's advice as he once again lets his gaze travel back towards the cemetery grounds beyond. With the other beginning the process of removing his limbs, Tech does his part in keeping an eye out, as well as give him what little privacy that can be allowed.

Kamino wasn't my choice, by the way. The clone's feelings on that had been mixed, as he's sure it was for his siblings. It was home and a prison, but the only real place they could identify as where they'd come from. Watching the remnants burn, sinking into the sea, it had been a sobering sight. "I didn't think it would have been," he acknowledges. "But the Empire certainly makes it clear as to what will be done to those no longer useful to their purposes."

[nouskaiananki]

He can imagine it's a rough crash course in emotion here for Tech. He isn't trying to pile on with him, he really isn't. For a few reasons, mostly the fact Tech brings him a sense of comfort and he doesn't want to lose that. Doesn't want to inflict pain on someone who he cares about. But there isn't a way to not inflict pain, sometimes.

"Even those of use. There's a reason the person best suited to working on my life support was an archeologist who specialized in technology. Palpatine won't have risks to his control, nor the Moffs. There's a reason I've seen twenty-two years in it, parts of my body rotting away while still attached. Punishment, for failures with Ob-Kenobi. For everything I failed. You and your squad - you ran. I'm grateful you did." Because he knew, knew, they would have been eliminated.

Vader's eyes bled back to blue from yellow, flinched a little as he detacted the right arm.