EVENT | ALL HALLOWED REDUX - RITUALISM

[cherrywood]

Characters: Any affected by the ghosting and Losses, their sponsors and nosy observers anyone else who feels like tagging along.
Date: January 11-12
Location: Keeliai
Situation: A moonlight ritual designed to restore lost balance and return Losses and unwanted gains back to a neutral state.
Warnings/Rating: Please indicate content warnings in subject headers as applicable.

The kedan messengers who had originally brought the information to the various Foreigners who'd been affected will return to those same suites on Friday evening. They will let them know to arrive with their sponsors at a quiet field area just to the south of Palace grounds on Saturday at sundown so that the "cleansing" can begin. They don't need to bring anything to aid in the ritual itself though it's advised that they might consider having a spare change of clothes on hand.

The next evening is bright and clear as though the weather itself wishes success upon this strange endeavor. The Foreigners making their way to the field as instructed by their kedan guides will find a large area cleared of snow, right down to the grass and dozens of round pools constructed of what appear to be interlocking stone blocks, so carefully and precisely arranged that they're able to hold water without leaking despite not using any standard mortar or sealant. Each pool stands about three feet tall and is filled three quarters of the way full of water which shimmers in the moonlight, bearing a very similar sheen that people will remember from the iridescent paint.

Does this bode well? Only time will tell.

---

OOC Information

See the OOC plotting post for event details and this post for assorted subheaders outlining various parts of the plot. If your character wants to learn more about the rituals or ask Milyn questions, she will be tagging in the Case Studies thread. Otherwise, feel free to use general affected kedan and their respective sponsors under normal rules for players writing NPC interactions. 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!

RESETTING THE STAGE
Pre-Ritual Mingling | Strike the Balance | Case Studies | Greeting the New Day

Comments

[backwordscompatible]

"So...what you're basically saying is that we could have been contaminated?"

She wasn't being glib. She wasn't even being sarcastic. Kedan DNA. And it had been used on her.

That sounded...worth a few questions, at least.

[cherrywood]

"It's possible," Milyn responded with a surprisingly energetic nod. "It's not so strange, really. Some of us have picked up some things from you Foreigners too."

[backwordscompatible]

Sure. Why not?

"Like what?"

[cherrywood]

"Hiccups," the healer replied, with a totally straight face.

[backwordscompatible]

She stared back.

With an equally straight face.

In absolute silence. For roughly ten seconds. Only then she did dare blink.

"...hiccups aren't contagious. You're just messing with me."

[cherrywood]

"They certainly are," Milyn shook his head. "They're just like yawns. Haven't you ever noticed that when someone yawns and you see it, you want to yawn as well?"

[backwordscompatible]

"Not the same thing. People yawn because you plant the suggestion in their heads. Like a magic trick..." As if on cue, just thinking about yawning caused her to yawn right there. "...see what I mean?"

[cherrywood]

The kedan woman smiled wisely. "Everything is a little bit like a magic trick," she responded. "Perhaps some people will call what they see tonight magic? But in the end, it's nothing so flashy."

[backwordscompatible]

"Magic doesn't always have to be flashy. It comes in all kinds. There's the literal..." She held up a hand, murmuring a quick spell. The wind swirled around her palm, leaving a single object behind. A small, wooden turtle. Her smile widened as she took a good look at it before casting it away. Back to the little shelf in her room next to her console. "...and the not-so-literal."

Flexing her fingers, she then placed her hands behind her back and turned back to look up at the kedan woman.

"If tonight really does what you say it does, then I don't see why we can't call it magic. Whatever floats people's tophats, you know?"

[cherrywood]

Milyn watched the display, flipped open her notebook and added something else to the page before looking back at Zatanna with a happy expression. "That's why I just adore having you Foreigners around so much!" she exclaims. "You're all so very interesting! Why, hardly a one of you is like the others."

[backwordscompatible]

...o...kay...?

That was. An extremely cheerful reaction. Better than the alternative, she supposed, but no less strange, given the majority of kedan reactions in general. Especially ever since she accidentally blew up the Turtle magically for a week or so.

"What did you write down just now?"

[cherrywood]

"Oh, my observation of what you did just now," Milyn replied. "Being a healer after all, it's important that I keep record of everything. It's really just a habit I don't bother turning off! Good practice, good organization and such. So you do a lot of that?"

[backwordscompatible]

"Random acts of magic? All the time, really. Though I'm not really sure what that has to do with you being a Healer."

Having magic abilities didn't change her human biology in any way. When she got sick, it was no different than--say--Kyle or Korra getting sick. Unless the reason for her illness was magical in nature, but that wasn't anything unique to her family's lineage.

[cherrywood]

"The writing things down part has to do with being a Healer," Milyn replied, not minding the correction. "That and I'm just the type of person, I suppose. Odd, our dear Alderwood Commander called me once. Ah, the Alderwood Emperor, have to get used to that. Yes, can't be mixing that up out in public, can I?"

[backwordscompatible]

"Hey, I'm not going to hold it against you if you do."

Her attitude towards their current reigning Emperor was...apathetic, at best.

[cherrywood]

"It'll be our little secret then," the kedan woman smiled, holding a finger to her lips. "So might I take a little bit of a sample from you, dear? It'll be quick and you'll hardly feel it, I promise you that."

[backwordscompatible]

You know something? Zatanna decided she liked this woman. She was funny. A bit too cheerful for her tastes (as if somebody merged Dick and M'gann's personalities together), but better a smile than a permanent grump like some of the other kedan she had met.

On the other hand...

"No offense, but that's not happening." She smiled apologetically as she offered an explanation. "Dad warmed me a long time ago about letting too many people have access to our kind's blood. Just...to be on the safe side."

For all she knew, it could be harmless. Especially if her intentions really were genuine. It just wasn't something Zatanna would be willing to risk.

[cherrywood]

Milyn nodded understandingly and placed the empty vial back in her medical bag. "That's just fine," she replied. "Perhaps a snippet of hair instead? You can even clip it yourself, though I've the steadiest surgeon hands in the whole city if I do say so myself."

[backwordscompatible]

A snipped of hair...Zatanna wracked her brain to try and think if there was any special restrictions towards a lock of her hair. None came to mind, so she conceded.

"Yeah, okay. One second." It wasn't hard to magically cut a small piece from the nape of her neck. and since she almost always wore her hair down, it would go essentially unnoticed. "That good?"

[cherrywood]

"It's perfect," Milyn beamed, holding out a different container for Zatanna to drop the tuft of hair into where it was carefully labeled, surprisingly in English characters.

"Thank you ever so much," she added. "If there's any trace of what happened to you, I'll find it."

[backwordscompatible]

At that, Zatanna's nose scrunched up in an unusually childish manner.

"Is that what you were looking for? Because I know what had happened to me. More or less."

[cherrywood]

"More or less isn't good enough for me," the physician shook her head. "I like to be prepared. Random effects aren't fun at all, are they?"

Her tone doesn't change but it could definitely be applied to Zatanna's spell mishap as well.

[backwordscompatible]

Yeah, don't remind me.

No, really. Don't. The best thing that had happened to her during that whole fiasco was gone now. Leaving very little reason to want to relive that week any longer.

"Forgetting the person closest to me at the time doesn't sound all that random to me. Particularly if he was the only person erased from my memories."

[cherrywood]

Milyn looks surprised by the statement. "Forgetting someone?" she echoes. "That's an effect that doesn't seem to fit at all, how strange."

[backwordscompatible]

"Now that's an ironic statement, considering I wasn't the only one who suffered from short-term memory loss."

There was also Korra. Only Korra had forgotten everybody.