tushanshu_logs | EVENT | ALL HALLOWED REDUX

Entry tags:

EVENT | ALL HALLOWED REDUX - RITUALISM

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bakura was silent for a moment, his mind running through dozens of possible scenarios. This was definitely not the kind of ritual requirements he'd planned for... these were personal rather than physical. And he had to maintain the persona of his host-- so if the magic could detect a lie? That was a dangerous line to toe where he and Ryou didn't overlap in many places.

Like shame.

So he glanced at Balthazar with an uncertain smile, silently inviting the other one to start them off.

Right. He noted the look on the other's face. So it looked like it was up to the angel then. Perfect. Balthazar can provide plenty of shames. The only question was if a certain shame would be more potent given their current circumstance. It was a shame indeed that they had to be here performing this odd ritual instead of it being just something like drinking a potion of some kind.

Nothing in life was simple then, was it? The angel gave it some more thought before nodding. Nothing like a little confession to set the mood.

"I feel a great deal of shame over allowing myself to be betrayed by somebody I thought was my friend. I should have seen it coming."

Holiday looked between the two of them for the quiet moment, wondering which one was going to speak up first, when she also noticed that it wasn't going to be the new guy.

She looks back to Balthazar just as the angel starts speaking and immediately frowns worriedly from the confession. It wasn't like he knew what was going to happen, but it did make her thankful that he was at least trusting enough of her to help like this. Wanting to say something reassuring but not really sure what to say or even if it was completely needed, her hand just fell on his arm.

With the moment hopefully passed, for the time being, she looks back to Bakura and offers a little smile.

Bakura likewise gives Balthazar an appreciative glance and played it as though he had recovered his nerve. In truth, it was simply easier to allude to things both he and his host could be considered proud of without endangering his cover.

"I'm very proud of the things I've built," he demurred. "They were complicated but worked as I wanted."

The Monster World diorama, the Memory RPG.

Duplicitous as his statement was, whatever the ritual used to gauge it still accepted the answer and the water they stood in glowed faintly for a moment before going dark once more.

Balthazar was momentarily surprised when he got that hand on his arm. It just wasn't something he was used to from many people. He nodded to her before sitting there for a moment and thinking about the next part of what they had to do. It didn't really sound so delightful really.

"One wound and one balm? That sounds...wonderful. Does that mean we provide the wound or what?"

He thought for a moment.

"It might be best if I am the balm. Call it something I am a little more practiced in."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Holiday's face fell. "I... was hoping that was figurative."

It wasn't like she really wanted to get it wrong, though, and how would they do this figuratively anyway? Well... she at least trusted this new guy enough to not fatally wound her, but she was definitely worried about the balm part not coming through...

No. It'll be fine. Her eyes darted back to Bakura before giving him an awkward smile. "Um... ready when you are?"

Bakura had purposely left his knife (a random gift from the Emperor, delivered after her death) in his suite, unsure what the policy on weapons at a gathering like this would have been and again thinking it was inappropriate for his host's persona. So he made a show of patting down his pockets before coming up with a much smaller and harmless looking folding pocket knife.

"Ah... perhaps this would work? I'm really very sorry," he said apologetically to Holiday. "I think just a small cut would suffice?"

"I don't think it will be quite so simple as being figurative."

Nothing was that easy. It would be nice of course, but he knew better. He was more than confident that he could be the balm in this situation. An angel did have a few things up their sleeves after all. What sort of angel would he be if he couldn't heal somebody? He took note of the pocket knife and nodded.

"I would imagine that would be fine. I can take care of the balm for that. Ready when you are."

He gave Holiday perhaps one of his more genuine apologetic looks.

Holiday took a calming breath and rolled up the sleeve of her jacket. "I trust you," she said to Balthazar, before sending a reassuring and confident smile to Bakura, too. "I've had much worse than pocket knife wounds. Don't worry."

She relaxed her arm - as if this were only a shot - and prepared for the oncoming sting. At least she told him the truth. Rebecca's been through much worse than a little cut.

Bakura very carefully places the blade against applies the edge of the blade to her skin. Though the thief knows very well how much pressure it takes to cut skin, he seems to fumble with it until he barely draws a thin line of red and immediately backs off.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he says right away. "Do you think that's enough?"

Almost before he can finish the sentence however, the water around them glows to signify the requirement met.

It looked like that cut would suffice. That was good because in all honesty Balthazar was not sure how much healing he would be able to do. He was not necessarily DISCONNECTED from Heaven so much as he had pretended to be dead. He still should have a little bit left in him to do a bit of healing for somebody else.

He reached out to put his hand over the wound and smiled.

"Let's go ahead and take that nasty bit of business away, shall we?"

He concentrated all that he had into healing that cut. His gamble appeared to be in the right as a soft white glow appeared beneath his hand. He didn't have to see the wound to know that it was closing up.

Holiday stiffened a bit from the small, sharp cut, but didn't jump or let out any sounds. She didn't want to spook the kid, after all.

However, she did watch quite closely as Balthazar worked his magic. She wasn't sure what she expected, but something like that wasn't it. "You are well practiced," she said in shock, only barely noting the glow of the water to signify its completion.

Rebecca, once she had blinked back to reality, offered a little smile to Bakura. "Not so bad, right?"

Bakura nodded rapidly as though glad that the wound had been taken care of so easily, though the thief made a mental note to look into Balthazar at a later date. "I've never seen anything like that before," he said, shaking his head wonderingly.

"Ah, but! I don't want to get off topic. One truth and one lie, that should be easy! Let's see now... a truth. Well, this city is definitely nothing like Domino! I confess I've been treating the whole thing rather like an adventure..."

Which, in the strictest sense, was true and so the water glowed briefly before going dark again.

"Call it a gift. Just born with it."

Which was true. All angels were technically born with that innate ability. He would have to wait until another situation to see if that would still go as well as it had here. It had worked here and this is where it really mattered. He noted the glow in the water before smiling at the both of them.

"Almost like a fancy lie detector. And treating it like an adventure is definitely something I feel as well in a place like this."

But for him, he had to think of a lie. It should not be all that tough to begin with. He told them something on his mind before which was a fact. He shrugged his shoulders. Well, he was never shy about his age.

"I'm only as old as I look right now."

The immediate glow was telling enough that it had been a success. It was simple lie. He was so old that he forgot what age he actually was.

An adventure. It was either that or maybe a very lucid dream that she didn't know if she wanted to be woken up from. That was a whole other topic, though. For now, she smiled to Bakura's admission. "It's hard to think of this as anything but an adventure sometimes."

Holiday rubbed the skin that Balthazar had healed, marveling at such a useful gift. "If it helps, that lie counts for me right now, too." He was definitely becoming more and more interesting as this went on.

Then the next part gave her pause... "A possession and debt, right? How's that going to work?" She thought ahead to the next bits of their little puzzle, too. Everything was beginning to get more interesting...

"I think it's best to take it literally," Bakura said. "I think one of us has to give you something."

Balthazar nodded with a smile. Indeed he found them to be quite interesting to him at the moment as well. They could all get more acquainted another time. This was not exactly a meet-and-greet type of gathering. As for giving a possession, he was not really sure what he could offer...hmm.

He reached inside of his jacket and pulled out the standard blade that all angels were given. He held it out towards Holiday.

"If you promise to give this back at some point soon, I'll tell you a little about it."

It was an interesting move on his part, but...he did not have a bad feeling about handing it to her.

Well, they had taken the wound and balm thing literally and that had worked, so she wasn't in any place to refute that idea again. Though, she hadn't expected to be handed a... weapon? It was a blade, but unlike any sort she's seen before and that's saying something.

Holiday smiled and took the sword from him. "I'll treasure it, until I give it back after all of this." She did take a second to examine it closer while the water glowed around them, but looked back to Bakura again quickly enough.

"A debt... I suppose that means you're to owe me something later on?"

"I don't mind that!" Bakura said brightly, accepting the statement and then looking expectantly at the water. When it did not glow however, he seemed puzzled. "Oh, goodness. Maybe you have to say what it is..."

Balthazar smiled back.

"I appreciate that."

Now it was the other's turn. He watched the water with anticipation. There was not anything he could do after he had just given Holiday what he did. This kind of magic or whatever it was happens to be unlike anything he has really seen before.

She frowned at the water, definitely not happy with finding a road block in all of this. The instructions were already quite vague to begin with. What sort of debt could she ask for? Did it have to be something important? ... Some sort of favor. Hmm.

After a bit of thinking, Holiday looked back to him curiously. "We can get lunch one day. My treat. I don't mind paying so long as you're willing to accompany me." A few of her friends had left and making new friends would be really nice, all things considered.

"I'd like that very much, Doctor Holiday," he agreed and abruptly, the water glowed again. "Ah, that seems to have done it. Now we're onto... one joy and one sorrow? This ritual does certainly call for some subjective things..."

Well, that was indeed a relief for that to have worked. He was afraid that they would be stuck here all day. As for the next part of this little ritual, he was not certain what they were meant to do. Was it a feeling they had to procure or simply sharing one of their own instances?

"Hmmm...show-and-tell or...I'm not really a fan of all of this. I'm open to suggestions. We're so close to being done."

This certainly was an odd way of getting to know others though. He almost has to wonder if the creation of this entire process was meant for just that.

They were close to being done. Not that she wasn't enjoying quality time and everything, but Holiday would greatly appreciate being... generally healthy again.

"Show and tell?" She thought on that for a moment. "I suppose if you each shared one that you've experienced, it'll cause the emotions. Cover all bases, maybe?"

Everyone at Providence called her a bleeding heart, anyway, so it wasn't like she didn't understand empathy.

"I think perhaps it's because we're all strangers," Bakura replied sheepishly to Balthazar's observation. "Perhaps this is something usually undertaken by friends or family? In any case, ah... a joy."

Like the previous set, the thief now had to find something that overlapped with his host in order to maintain his cover and still make the magic water work. At this point, he was belatedly reconsidering this offer to help, as it was becoming an annoyance. Next time, he vowed, he'd get a little more information about what would be involved.

"Do we have to give one of each?" he asked instead, stalling for time.

EVENT | ALL HALLOWED REDUX - RITUALISM

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Apologies on the wait c:

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