annexedlogs | Relief Log #2

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Relief Log #2

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

Threaded | Flat

II: Food glorious food
Link is, on the whole, not usually the most expressive person. He tends to appear stoic and deadpan, his face only rarely revealing his emotions. But when he sees the table full of delicious foods, he gasps with sheer delight.

For a moment he’s wracked with indecision - there’s so much food, and he wants to try all of it. But indecision can't beat his desire to eat, and soon Link is eagerly stocking up his plate sky-high.

But as he stocks his plate, he also puts a few things in his Slate. They won’t mind if he takes some for later, right? Soon some roast herring, several mooncakes, and an entire pumpkin pie just disappear into thin air as Link stores them away.

IV part A: Oranges for ghosts
Link wasn’t really sure why this was, apparently, a test of courage. All of the spirits he’d met - except for the King - had been friends. They knew him. They helped him. So he didn’t really get why anyone would be afraid of them. Spirits were just people, who happened to be dead. What was scary about that?

So naturally, Link didn’t hesitate to grab a magic lamp, a bento, and as many oranges as possible. Then he sets out to find as many spirits as possible. Which, with the magic lamp, turns out to be not very difficult at all.

He ends up in the middle of the cemetery, surrounded by a swarm of ghosts. Regardless of whether the ghosts are friendly, violent, or somewhere in-between, what Link does is the same.

“Orange,” he says, as he hands one out to the nearest ghost. Then a tap at the Sheikah Slate, and he pulls another one out of the inventory. “Orange,” he says again, offering it to the next.

There’s kinda a lot of them though. Maybe he could use some help?

IV part B: Need more oranges
Eventually though, Link runs out of oranges. He’d tried handing out other fruits he had stored in the slate - but while some of the ghosts were happy to take an apple or a pear or maybe even a banana, some insisted on the oranges.

So he’d come back to the start again, to pick up some more.

Though by this point, he’s looking a little rough - evidently, at least some of the ghosts have taken their anger out on him. There are lines of half-dried blood trailing down from his eyes and his ears, and he’s sporting a few bruises from where the ghosts have pushed and shoved him.

But that doesn’t seem to spot him from marching up to the attendants, and saying, “More oranges, please.”

V: Wildcard
[If you’d like to something else not covered by these prompts, let me know and we’ll set something up!]

[a: infirmary]

[Like last time, Mikumo is in the infirmary after the initial return from the missions, brushing up on her first aid. It's something she had to learn back home (or, perhaps, already knew, as is the case with a number of the skills necessary for her job), but it was relatively rare she had to be the one to administer it, so making sure she keeps the skills fresh is worth the relatively short time dedication here.

When approached, whether it's someone also working or whether it's someone injured, she'll have the same question to keep things straightforward.]

What do you need?

--

[b: a fine meal]

[Prior to...a few days or so before coming here, maybe a week or two at most, Mikumo had been on an extremely restrictive diet. Not because of being an idol, but because her creators had kept her on a strict intake as far as particular foods and so on. While she's seen all of the foods on the table, she's never eaten most of them, and the ones that aren't seafood or vegetables she rarely sees locally, since Ragna is a predominantly water planet and that has effects on the kinds of foods it can produce.

Another side effect of her previously structured meals is that she's not very used to eating in front of people, and prefers not to if she can avoid it. The in-and-out nature of the meal helps somewhat in that respect, though, because she does a lot of her eating between people moving between the tables - it is possible to spot her eating, but if someone is anything like close enough for her to notice them watching, she sets her utensils down temporarily. Her plate, when filled, seems to have bits and pieces of a lot of things, even ones that might look a bit daunting at first glance (she learnt that lesson when her first non-diet food was canned Ragnan sea spiders, which turned out to actually be delicious), but it stays right where it is for as long as anyone is close enough to converse.

Not that she's not going to point it out if she feels like someone is watching her too closely (or if someone approaches her rather than the food table), even if it's with mild amusement.]

Are you here to eat, or watch people eat?

--

[c: light show]

[It's been a little while since Mikumo watched a light show, though the thing it brings to mind from Ragna is a very different tradition to this particular part of the night. The time of year where the jellyfish would rise from the sea, glowing from their depths, to find a mate, and the festivals that surrounded it, were impossible to miss even for someone as reserved as she had been for much of it.

Her watching spot is one of the gardens, a slightly rarer sight in the very sea-oriented city she came from, and while she's not actively avoiding people, she's somewhat out of the way of the festivities. If someone comes her way, though, she's not against striking up conversation.]

Not quite the kind of performance I'm used to, but not too different from it either.

--

[d: remembrance]

[Another one of those oddities of Mikumo being an artificial human designed to regularly work on battlefields is that she rarely feels fear. It took a good three or so years of her existence to feel it for the first time, and that was over genuine unknowns, things that had woken up and begun to crawl within her before she had any idea of what she was. Things that were more an existential question of who am I, and what have I forgotten than an external influence.

So once she hears about this tradition, the potential danger does nothing to dampen her curiosity about it, and she takes a magical lamp without hesitating on it. With that, the bento, and some oranges (which end up in a "bag" fashioned of water from the canteen she's taken to carrying with her now, hanging from her belt), she moves into the graveyard, alert to surrounding movement, but still seeming far more curious than trepidatious or afraid.

With so many people crossing, though, she's not averse to pairing off - both to see how others react, and to potentially move across the graveyard more quickly. So while she'll start out whether there's others around or not, she might drift over to others over time, or respond to people seeking out company on the walk.]

I was starting to wonder whether their farewell traditions here were as dramatic as the ones back home. [There's almost a sort of nostalgia to how she says that - it's clear she means "dramatic" in an affectionate sort of sense.]

--

[e: wildcard]

[[If you want to plot anything more specific, hit me up at

reviseleviathan or on the game Discord.]]

( ooc: throwing some general open scenarios and closed top levels here. feel free to jump in or ping me if you'd like something more specific! also I'll follow your lead with action or prose. )

Edited 2022-10-22 19:45 (UTC)

III. The Skyclad Lightshow

[ 'It reminds me of the Eye of Aldhani'. Obi-Wan though to himself as he stood beneath the colorful, aerial display.

He had allowed the positive emotions brought on by the combination of adrenaline high into endorphin rush to buoy along a good mood for the past few hours, but that was beginning to fade. It left him feeling nostalgic, allowed memories he'd long thought forgotten, to come to the surface.

Obi-Wan had only just begun his apprenticeship with Qui-Gon Jinn the first time they had gone to Aldhani to witness the atmospheric event known as The Eye of Aldhani. It happened that the three year period had fallen in line with a bit of mandatory leave. Mandatory leave, meaning that Qui-Gon had defied the Council and said Council was debating the next best course of action with their resident Maverick.

Qui-Gon had serenely decided that this was the Force telling him to indulge in the opportunity to participate in the pilgrimage. He'd packed up a protesting Obi-Wan -how could they leave the Temple with the Council angry at them???- and flown them both to Aldhani.

The memory of their whirlwind trip continued to unfold as Obi-Wan stood, arms crossed over his chest, watching the light show above. His lips twitched in a melancholy smile, gaze far, far away. ]

IV - Night of Remembrance

Oranges

[ There was never any question of which lantern Obi-Wan was going to pick up. Still, he was slightly embarrassed by the way the volunteer had practically fawned in his direction as they'd handed over the magical lantern. Taking his oranges and the bento box, along with his magical lantern, Obi-Wan made his way into the cemetery.

Here he could be found stopping to speak with the ghosts who approached him. It did not matter if their approached him with friendly intent or with anger, the old Jedi calmly met and spent time with each and every one. Even those that appeared angry, violent at the start left the encounter with an orange.

With the amount of time Obi-Wan took, sometimes sitting and listening to a ghost for what felt like hours, one would assume that he was going to fail at keeping the food warm. ]

Memories

[ By the time Obi-Wan made it to the shrine, he appeared almost painfully withdrawn. Serene, peaceful even but openly sad and lost to memories.

Memories that had been initially stirred up when he had taken on the towers in magical combat. Memories he'd done his best to shove back under various mental rugs as he made his way through the missions and initial aftermath. But Obi-Wan had learned, after ten years of trying to avoid these emotions, that ultimately he had to face the shatterpoints that littered his past.

At the shrine he paced out a small five by five foot space and with a deep breath, spoke a small cantrip. He'd learned the cantrip while he'd been studying for the more complicated magics they'd needed to use out in the field, and in short order a small bonfire flared to life in front of him.

It wouldn't last long, but he didn't need it too last long. The meal he'd prepared and set into the bento box would benefit from the heat, warming enough to be palatable upon the tongue of phantoms who resided only in his mind.

When the box was heated, Obi-Wan walked to the shrine and artfully began to lay out the food. There was something of ritual to his motions, as if he were setting a table or perhaps merely going through the motions a Padawan learned in order to prepare a meal for their master and themselves.

'There is no death. There is the Force' he repeated to himself as he finished setting out the food, then sat back on his heels. He ran through the Jedi Code again, and again, but there was something in about the night. Perhaps it his experience speaking with the ghosts in the cemetery, perhaps it was a hold over from the fears stirred up in the battle; probably it was a combination of both.

Whatever it was, for the first time, Obi-Wan allowed himself to say words he'd never spoken aloud. ]

I miss you, Master.

V. Wildcard: [ooc: Want something that doesn't line up with these prompts? Feel free to throw it at me! ]

Edited 2022-10-23 21:34 (UTC)

[ Want something specific? Hit me up on Discord or

speaksincolor; will have a few various ones up OTA shortly! ]

I. Infirmary

Codi's first stop after the mission is the infirmary. Unlike last time, it's not necessarily because she needs medical assistance - although her tattered, bloodied clothes and developing bruises would suggest otherwise. In fact, doing time with medical professionals in the camp is a requirement of her healing magic classes. Something about understanding how bodies work in order to mend them or whatever, Codi didn't pay too much attention at the time and is continuing to not care very much now. She'd picked up healing magic to avoid doing stuff like this.

Unfortunately she's completely tapped out on magic reserves and she recognizes a few of her instructors mingling at the periphery, so there's no choice but to try. At least there are others here that are probably more knowledgeable that she can cheat off of. Codi walks up to the first such person she can find and, trying to be as subtle as possible, leans around them to see who they're working on.

"Need any help?" she offers casually.

III. Dinner and a Show (but mostly the show)

Codi picks a nice spot in the center of the courtyard to set up her blanket and bento box, with the intent of taking notes on the show - or rather, which of her teammates decide to participate in it and how well they do. It's a fine goal and an excellent distraction from thinking about all the other shit that's happened to her today.

However, a combination of that shit, plus magic fatigue, plus her rapidly developing food coma, all work together to undermine her plans. Two minutes into the show and Codi is out cold on her back, twitching in a deep sleep.

IV. Ghosts | CW: Injury

Thankfully someone either wakes her up or she wakes up on her own in time for the main event. It's not something Codi was expecting to happen, but once she learns about it, there's nothing that can stop her from participating. This mission did not go according to plan for many reasons, leaving her ego fractured into many little shards that keep jabbing her whenever she thinks about them; so what better way to mend it than to do something reckless, impressive, and rewarded with a powerful magical device that she can show off to everyone she meets? The world Codi comes from has 'ghosts' and they don't scare her. They don't even accept fruit as bargaining chips! Comparatively speaking, this should be a walk in the park.

And it is...for a little bit. Codi's magic lantern does attract quite a few spirits, and she's quite casual about making conversation with those that linger after she hands them an orange. It's the logistics that end up biting her: There are simply too many ghosts. No matter how stingy she is about it, Codi runs out of fruit.

Now she's making a mad dash for the shrine, sprinting down the narrow path as best she can while also limping from a stab wound to the back of her leg. The culprit is following close behind in the form of an especially irate ghost, brandishing the top foot of a spear in one hand and the broken shaft of it in the other. And, like a lost flock of sheep, a gaggle of mostly curious spirits floats further back in her wake. Codi has no idea if any of them will also object to her lack of oranges and she has no intention of finding out.

II - Feast

She is doing her best, thanks to Harley's influence, to actually participate in social activities. Still, though, she sits at the outskirts of the gathering, close to an exit. Call it habit, really. Because she's already overwhelmed by senses. Her sense of smell, being a Cathar, is already very well developed - and that fish stew by itself, by the Force...

She sits with a bowl of it, just sniffing it, taking very small sips. It's a revelation, quite frankly. A sizeable portion of the crayfish and herring sits on a plate next to it - more tantalizing treats she almost feels guilty consuming.

You didn't eat like this at the Enclave, that was certain.

III - The Lightshow

The Lightshow, however, she wouldn't possibly miss. It was such a joyful thing, so full of craft and delight - a symphony for a Jedi's senses, quite frankly. Amazing in its own right, certainly - but it leaves her with a smile, sitting casually.

She might not be terribly good with social - but this? This brings her true joy to watch, and amazement.

It might be the first time she's fully let her guard down since coming here.

IV - Night of Remembrance

She's not troubled by the idea of spirits. There are enough stories, where she's from, after all. Enough rumours and legends, even among the Jedi.

And so she takes the magic lantern without hesitation, and sets out. The ghosts she encounters are, for the first little while, simply there for what she had been told to expect. A bit of respect, an offering, and they were on their way.

But the one she encounters next is angry. And what will be seen in front of her is a large, thin spirit, colours shifting between greys and reds, hard to make out but vibrating, a bit. And in front of it, seated calmly, Juhani.

"You must find peace," she says, gently. "Anger will not serve you, not now. Wouldn't you prefer to rest?"

I. Aftermath

Ever feel like you kicked the door down and rushed into the building, only to find all the good guys down and the criminals fled? Yeah, that's sort of what arriving just after all the missions go down is like. One quick surgery to get out the chip that is literally enforcing static reality on him almost feels like too much time to waste, but having gone through it here he is, ready and willing to offer some medical assistance!

No matter what the wound or the ailment, though, Morgan shows up with just one tool: a case that looks more like it ought to hold drill bits than bandages and sutures.

"So, ready for your day to get much better?

IV.A. Due to the Dead

"..so then, the rain starts," Morgan says, prompting a burst of laughter out of a couple ghosts. "And we're dragging the table out of the tide, both the bride and the groom are soaked, the wind knocks over the pavilion, and that's about when Stephen's talking car decides to try to catch the bouquet, and never mind who's in her path."

Oh, how he WISHES he's making up this story! Whether the spirits believe it or not, they certainly get quite a laugh out of it, and that seems to satisfy them enough to accept his oranges and drift away. Morgan's smile lasts until they're well and truly gone... at which point he just lets out a low sigh, bows his head, and stands with his eyes shut.

IV.B. DOOM to the Dead

"Look," Morgan said, to the ghost pinned on its stomach beneath his knee, its arm wrapped up in Morgan's own two as he maintains a pin that by all rights makes not one damn lick of sense in this scenario. "We can do this two ways. The first way is that you take the orange."

Instead of explaining the second way, though, Morgan glances up at the sound of someone approaching. "Hey, do me a favor and hand this guy an orange. I'm pretty sure," and here he leans into the pin just slightly more, "he's ready to accept."

[ below will be some open threads or plotted things, lmk if you'd like to plot something out ♥ ]

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'.

“Shiver me timbers! They ‘ave classes ‘ere! D’ya think they ‘ave one fer drivin’ this thing?,” the pirate exclaimed, while ending in an inquisitive tone as he pointed at the broken hoverboard that he previously placed at his feet.

“Aw!” Unfortunately for the patient, Jack’s sudden switch of attention unintentionally resulted in a slightly tighter bandage.

“Ah, me apologies!,” the temporary pirate medic quickly responded in a surprising apologetic tone, while proceeding to loosen his work.

Threaded | Flat

Questions.

Link | Breath of the Wild

Mikumo Guynemer | Macross Delta

the doctor (12) | doctor who | open + closed