EVENT | ALL HALLOWED

[cherrywood]

Characters: Everyone!
Date: Oct 27th - Nov 2nd
Location: The City of Keeliai
Situation: The kedan have decided to participate in an Earth tradition: Hallowe'en! But there are other mysterious things afoot this holiday and when people start disappearing they'll have to find a way to reverse the effect... though all of their selves might not make it back.
Warnings/Rating: Please indicate content warnings in subject headers as applicable.

As the weather turns crisper, the nights and mornings carry with them a hint of chill promising cooler days to come, the month starts drawing to a close. This is a pleasant time, soon to be the season of harvest even on such a nomad as Tu Vishan. Yet the relations with the kedan have been good lately and even the Emperor's latest warning has not dampened the resilience of her people (both willing citizens and not) and so today marks a new tradition to Keeliai and it starts with receiving a simple, handwritten invitation.

"Come and celebrate the Keeliai of ages past..."

---

OOC: See the OOC plotting post for event details and this post for assorted subheaders outlining various parts of the plot. Feel free to start your own thread header if none suit, or make your own logs for various threadings... this is just for a central post for the event. Any questions can be directed HERE. Thank you!

NOTE: NPC tagging will be mostly in the Palace Rewards and Touch of Memory threads unless specifically requested elsewhere! Normal rules for players writing NPC interactions remains the same as always.

MID PLOT UPDATE!
Through the course of investigations will be discovered that every Foreigner who went trick or treating has acquired themselves at least one pot of what appears to be iridescent paint, sometimes more than one. Experimenting with these pots (because lbr who doesn't want a few randomly shimmery possessions) oddly enough lets ghosted characters interact with them completely solidly. Which, if you've inadvertently been ignoring someone, might mean you get your new shiny lamp thrown at your head.

Now if people get the smart idea to the paint the paint, that would let ghosted characters get hold of this stuff themselves...

TL;DR - Ghosted characters can paint themselves back into phase. Eating the stuff is also acceptable.

I. GIVE A LITTLE, GET A LITTLE!
Trick or Treating (All Sectors) | Palace Rewards

II. SHADOWS AND SHADES
Tangible: Kedan Museum | Disappearances | Investigations
Ghosted: Sense of Loss | Touch of Memory | Shift of Perception | Poltergeisting

Comments

Ghosted: Shift of Perception

[cherrywood]

As these phased out characters explore the city, they will discover that certain random landmarks without rhyme or reason (a fire fountain, a water sculpture, a particular street intersection, the side of a building, someone's kitchen sink, etc) have some unusual effects on them.

These landmark spots will push characters partially back into sync with regular Keeliai so that they'll appear as transparent images to other people. While kedan who witness this will just shake their heads and move on, characters will now be able to communicate with their fellow Foreigners, albeit they will sound like they're being heard over a terribly static radio connection. This effect lasts approximately ~5 minutes and then can't be triggered again for a few hours.

10/28 morning, closed to 616 Tony

[bacondivination]

[ Being incapable of affecting anything besides others stuck in these insane circumstances, Loki's not had a lot to do. Panic seemed like a good idea, but he was hardly prone to it. Besides, Thor was here.

That meant that he had at least someone here that would care to look into getting him back. Maybe they'd get lucky. It wasn't like he could count on anything else while he thought the problem through. He was hitting a wall on what to do already, though he has figured out that he can rattle things and generally cause disturbances. Not the best way to pass the time, but it was at least a minor inconvenience. And if he can do it while spying on one of the people that has it in for him here? Why not?

But because he was Loki, he could hardly do so silently. ]

For once, for once, I've done naught all to deserve anything and they turn something like this on me.

[ It turns out there's a point in Iron Man's living room that happens to do something he's yet to experience so far. He doesn't even recognize it as he steps upon it that he's brought partially back into sync with the living plane. ]

Stupid, stupid, stupid! And none of you are any use to me, the least of all you! Can't you at least be entertaining?

[definingfuture]

[Tony hasn't been doing much celebrating, even though the Kedan have been trying to facilitate it. He tried a little, but his heart wasn't into it. He's pretty sure that his friends would laugh if they knew how much of a shut in he was being lately, but they don't know. And they won't.

He's coming into the living room with a mug of coffee when he hears a very familiar voice. And, just his luck, it's the one voice he really didn't want to hear. It's fuzzy, but unmistakeable. Tony sees a flicker in the room and drops the mug to point at the shape invading his room.]

No! Oh, hell no! Not you. You don't-

[He stops himself, rubbing his face. Maybe he's hallucinating, he thinks. That has to be it. The alternative means that Loki is somehow really in his home, and that kind of invasion is the last thing he wants to accept.]

[bacondivination]

Well, that's entertaining.

[ The quip comes mildly, more because he's half-stunned. No one unaffected had been able to recognize him yet. He shakes himself out of it quickly, though. He didn't live this long without responding to surprises with incredible reflexes. ]

Now how the Hel can you even tell I'm here? Wait, no, first things first! We've a very serious problem here. Do you have jam?

[ He also had a tendency to sound utterly mad when he was thinking a little too quickly on his feet. ]

[definingfuture]

[Tony wants to write this off as a prank. Maybe Loki was just casting an illusion into his apartment and not breaking in. That was always possible, right? But at the same time it feels off. The explanation sounds weak even to him.

So maybe he really is having some kind of problem. Either that, or the worst thing that could happen has just happened.]

Get out. You can't be here.

[He turns his attention to the spilled coffee, intentionally trying to brush Loki off. If the god really is there, then Tony isn't about to play at his pace.]

[bacondivination]

Oh no! Oh no-no-no!

[ He only ever seemed to repeat himself when he was particularly agitated, and today is no different. It's probably hard to tell from Tony's side of things, not that Loki is sure of how any of this works, but the boy is practically trembling from a sudden fit of barely suppressed rage. ]

You will not ignore me, Iron Man! You'll damn me if you do!

[ Wait. That wasn't going to help. ]

Which probably sounds great, I know, but I'll be taking innocents with me.

evening; closed to Jack

[backwordscompatible]

[To say she'd been having a rough day would be an understatement.]

[Sighing to herself, Zatanna closed her eyes as she leaned back against the thick tree trunk. She'd realized after a while that she could simply phase in and out of her front door...for all the good that did. She still couldn't touch the console. Couldn't even pull back the blankets to bury herself in there until morning. Whatever it was separating her from the majority of the population of Keelai, it was also keeping her from being able to make contact in any way possible.]

[Complete isolation. Oh, sure, she could see the people who were apparently suffering from the same thing. She'd run into Kyle earlier. A small handful of her friends had been affected to. But not Jack. The one person on her mind who might have some idea as to what was happening to them, or what they could do about it, and she couldn't even see or talk to him.]

Talk about irony.

[It came out as a small murmur to herself. What she didn't realize, though, was that the Wind had been able to catch it, carrying her words into the night air....]

[wintershepherd]

[ And catch it the Wind did, whipping it back to the spirit's ears so quickly it was almost as though he'd heard it himself and he stopped, turning to survey the area. ]

... Zatanna?

[backwordscompatible]

[She thought she heard someone call her name. Her eyes opened, glancing around. The light from the evening sun made it difficult for her to see beyond the window glass, and she didn't notice Jack looking her her direction right away.]

[What he'll see, however, is her sitting very casually against the tree, although her petite form appeared to...flicker? In and out, with each subtle movement. As if she were having a difficult time maintaining her presence in this particular realm of existence.]

[wintershepherd]

Zatanna!

[ This time the call would be clear as he registered only that she was there and no longer missing, bounding to the window and throwing it open, reaching to pull her inside. ]

[backwordscompatible]

[And suddenly, there was a cold hand reaching out for her, pulling her inside through the window. Zatanna barely had time to realize why she was suddenly smiling before she was staring up at a pair of familiar big, blue eyes.]

Jack! [It came out as a laugh to her ears...but there was a bit of odd distortion behind it to his.] You have no idea how relieved I am to have you suddenly drag me into your bedroom with you.

[Teasing. Partially.]

10/28 // evening // ota

[disfavored]

[Of all the things Tarrlok hated, being ignored was close to the top of the list. The possibility that he'd just fade away altogether, while not something he'd actually thought of before, quickly found its way near the top of that list as well.

He realized fairly fast that going around shouting at people did nothing but make him look ridiculous, as no one seemed to even see that he was there. Just now, though, a kedan turned to look at him before walking away at a hurried pace.]

You! Can you hear me?

[The kedan looked back, but kept walking away and didn't respond.]

Hello? Is anyone there?

[mightythinice]

[what's that out of the corner of your eyes.

It might be. A very familiar mask.

But it's definitely being worn by a small, dirty teenaged girl. With red hair. Where she's darting off to, well...]

[disfavored]

...Brother?

[Except whoever that is was a lot smaller than his brother. Definitely the same mask, though.]

You! Where'd you get that mask?

[mightythinice]

[no response. She's collecting some beads from the Kedan shop keepers. Trick or treating! But otherwise she didn't seem to notice or care about his words.]

Okay, this? This is fucking awesome.

[she looks in her bag, pawing through the candies and... other things. Who was she to argue with what they gave her]

Damn, I wish Joel were here. He'd know what the fuck's going on.

[disfavored]

[Wow, such language from someone who sounds quite young.]

Hello? Can you hear me? Where did you find that?

Re: 10/28 // evening // ota

[gathersnomoss]

[Zelgadis had been ghosted long enough to figure out that no one could hear him. And to lose his sight and become nearly completely disoriented and lost. After his panic, he found he could navigate the streets (sort of) by listening to crowd sounds. It was probably the only thing that kept him sane. He wasn't sure what he'd do when he was going to sleep, though if no one saw him, he couldn't be arrested for vagrancy.]

Hello? Can you hear me?

[disfavored]

You too? [...Assuming he could actually be heard.]

Can you hear me?

[gathersnomoss]

Yes. No one else can see you either, can they? That would be my luck.

[he moved closer to Tarrlok's voice, stumbling a bit because it's hard to navigate without sight and touch]

[disfavored]

...Is something else wrong? [He noticed the way Zel was moving, like he was in a completely dark room.]

For Kyle

[demon_brat]

Rayner doesn't show up for practice.

Damian waits for the entire time their training would be taking, doing katas and more on his own, but.

This never happens. When there is a reason for the Lantern not to show up, Damian knows. There is a warning - a message on his console, prior knowledge. Something.

When the time is up, the boy grumps back to his suite to check the console once more.

Nothing.

He bites his lip - and takes out the one thing that will give him - he believes - a definitive answer. The crystal glows a soft green, pulsing a tiny bit. Damian watches him for a long moment, then steps back outside the door, ready to run, if he has to.

"Find Rayner."

Sure, he knows (in some way) that he might end up looking through the window at two men doing things Damian isn't interested in.

But his friend might be in trouble. He might be hurt and unconscious, unable to call for help. Well, that's what this thing is with Damian for, isn't it?

Thankfully, the crystal doesn't take off vertically. It heads off to the side, and Damian follows.

[imaginate]

Kyle, by now, has figured out the basics of his situation. He's intangible, he can only make objects rattle and mirrors fog up, and he's incapable of feeling fear. While individually appealing to him (if only for the experience), as a cocktail, he finds it distasteful. He can't even bring himself to use his new circumstances to spy on anybody.

Having spent much of the morning walking around trying to get answers, he stops at a street intersection and ponders his next move. Without realising, he flickers back into phase.

[demon_brat]

The crystal is hovering and Damian is looking around. And then, without warning, the green stone whizzes to the side, making Damian's head whip around to follow it. And.

He can sort of see a man's back that the crystal goes to - passing right through his palm.

Because the man's transparent. And, apparently, not exactly tangible.

Damian's running towards him, anyway.

[imaginate]

He yelps as the crystal passes through him and hovers near his hand. He can't touch it, but it knows he's there and it's waiting for him to pick it up. Curiously, he swipes a hand in its direction, and passes right through it.

Typical. Just typical. Someone's looking for him and he won't be able to - hang on, someone's looking for him.

He turns abruptly (spraining his ankle? it certainly hurt) to scour the surrounding area for whoever it could be (not Olivia, she doesn't have hers on her, it'd either be Jim, Dick, or Damian), and lights up when he sees it's Damian.

Then his face immediately falls. 'It's not like he can hear me.'

[demon_brat]

"Not if you mumble under your nose. It's kind of... tinny."

Grumpy-grumpy... but also definitely relieved. Damian's eyes are focused on the transparent image, taking in the pain, the joy and the disappointment.

"Did somebody attack you? What happened?"

Important things first, right?