ioduanlogs | [EVENT] 4th Wall

Characters: Everyone
Date: July 16-31, 2018
Location: Aifaran and the rest of the archipelago.
Situation: 4th Wall! Temporary Dreamfolk have begun appearing in Aifaran.
Warnings/Rating: None. Though please warn for things in the headers at your own discretion.

Khu Ioduan's first 4th wall event is here - so we'd first like to extend a warm welcome to anyone newcomers to the game. We're excited to have you here and hope you enjoy your time in Khu! For everyone, this is a great opportunity to try out new characters and bounce around ideas - we hope everyone has fun!

And the silence of short days, the silence of the year, the shadow...

ANOMALIES

July had already been a strange month for the inhabitants of Aifaran. The Narrakra returned with more questions than answers about its crew, and the thick fog and and the oppressive heat lingered like an awkward and unwanted houseguest who couldn't take a hint to leave. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, or perhaps it was just the torrid weather getting to people, but some could swear to seeing shadowy figures in the persistent haze.

By the 16th, the sanity of these individuals is no longer in question. The shadowy figures had become abundant for all to see, wandering the city as though in a daze before fading into obscurity.

ARRIVAL

The strange shadows that had appeared throughout the city have manifested… people. Perhaps even people other Dreamfolk recognize. As they step into existence, the obscure phantasms have taken on a sinister countenance. They peer at the world with blank, hollow eyes, and bare a mouth of invisible teeth with malevolent grins. They are otherwise indistinguishable from other shadows save for these alarming features, and they are attached to the newly-arrived Dreamfolk, marking them as somehow...different. Hovering at these visitors' heels, following them around at every step, impossible to banish.

The citizens give them a wide berth, some even crossing the street or outright fleeing in terror to avoid these new arrivals. There have been so many bad omens of late, none are keen to take any chances.

The shadows can't physically affect anything, but boy do they have personality; there's a lot of sinister grinning going on, and they tend to mimed mockery, sometimes going so far as to mimic the emotions of the person they're attached to -- sometimes even those emotions that person might not wish were shown. The extent of this is, of course, within your discretion to play with.

FESTIVAL

The arrival of these especially transient Dreamfolk is usually met with celebration, an impromptu festival that aims to give them a condensed experience of Aifaran in the short time that they're here. The grinning shadow companions that come attached to this particular batch of Dreamfolk has put a slight damper on the usual festivities, but some people are determined to make the best of it.

In order to help make the new Dreamfolk feel more at home, some enterprising individuals have taken it upon themselves to paint the town… greyscale. Instead of the usual riot of color, a small area around the Dreaming Bridge is quickly decorated in greys and blacks. An few enterprising confectioners start selling candied versions of the grinning phantasms; some of them are true to nasty form, but others have been made to look much cuter than the actual shadows attached to people. All, of course, are delicious. In the same fashion, some tailors have conspired to provide plushies in similar form.

It's not all fun and games. A theatrical troupe takes over a shopfront for rent and turns it into a haunted house featuring spooky legends from around the archipelago. The troupe makes a serious effort at being scary, including a convincing representation of the Night Fisher lurking in the building - although if anyone comments on this creature, the staff will only give them confused looks and insist that wasn't one of the attractions.

OOC Notes:

4th Wall visitors are going to be arriving with a maniacally grinning shadow dogging them for their stay in Aifaran. These specters cannot be banished or destroyed, but nor can they interact with anything physically, including the visitor themselves! They make up for it in BIG PERSONALITY though, because they're kind of shitheads.

* * *

Just a quick reminder that anyone is welcome to the 4th Wall event whether they play or have ever played in Khu Ioduan or not, and that both canon and original characters, as well as CRAU and canon OCs are allowed. If you are unsure whether your visiting character falls under these categories, check out our Application FAQ for more detail!

Please note that we do not accept AU characters like genderbends/Rule 63 characters, crack versions (like fandom Abridged series), etc. If you have any questions, please ask us!

The newcomers are Dreamfolk and will ICly be referred to as such by the native residents of Aifaran, but there are a couple of important differences between them and the Dreamfolk who live in the city long-term, namely:

Fourth-wall characters will not have Talent tattoos. In a nutshell: Dreamfolk usually get a magical tattoo with that provides them with a new ability upon arrival. This tattoo is also what keeps Dreamfolk anchored to Aifaran's world, Konryu.

Fourth-wall characters will be able to reply to network posts, but not create their own. This will be explained as a Dreaming glitch -- the consoles and yimos will register their names, but not let them make their own broadcasts, similar to how a real-life forum distinguishes between someone being logged-in and someone being logged-out while still labeling their replies with a nickname. Fourth-wall characters can also reply to character's IC inboxes using this same reasoning. Similarly, due to the way the community’s posting/membership allowances work, fourth-wall characters will not be able to make their own logs but are encouraged to make use of the mod-posted or catch-all posts made by members of the game. (Catch-all posts are essentially those made to cover a great length of time or a particular setting.)

We'd like to remind everyone that this is a "live" 4th wall, meaning that what happens during the event will be completely remembered after the event ends, and any setting impact/changes/decisions that occur because of the 4th wall characters will be upheld.

If you are bringing a character back that you've played during a previous 4th Wall event in our legacy game Tu Shanshu, you are welcome to have them remember that previous time! Or, if you'd prefer to bring them in "fresh", that's fine too. And of course, any characters who were previously played in game (either Tu Shanshu or Khu Ioduan) can retain those memories.

Don’t forget the Setting page is available here as well, for your setting-related needs as the event progresses. Please note that while powers are typically not nerfed in the Khu Ioduan setting, we do limit world-or-game breaking powers as a matter of course. We welcome everyone to try out the game’s setting, but characters who are brought in solely to disrupt or "break" the game will be asked to leave.

For organization purposes, we'd greatly appreciate it if logs and network posts involving 4th wall characters could be tagged with the %4th wall comm tags. Your mods thank you!

CHARACTER SIGNUPS & POSTING

Our 4TH WALL EVENT CHECK IN comment for characters wishing posting access for the duration of the event is open! Remember that you can request new characters to be added even after the beginning of the event, up until July 31st, the last day of the event and the day when the fourth-wall characters will ICly disappear from the city.

After that point, posting access will be maintained for any guest characters up until August 8th, to allow any threads still being played out to finish up. However, we do request that no 4th wall characters tag any posts dated August 1st and onward, as ICly their characters would have left the city by that point.

If you have any questions regarding these rules for the 4th wall, please ask them in the OOC Questions comment below.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The elf standing on a street corner and studying the passersby with immense and calculating eyes could perhaps be mistaken for a longer-term resident of the city, were it not for the grotesquely mugging shadowthing attached to him at the hip. It's the only thing that truly perturbs him, though he pays it no visible mind. The Fade has brought him to stranger places before--

--no, that's a lie; this is without question the oddest collection of sights his dreams have ever subjected him to, but it is still a dream, and any mage worth his salt knows how to navigate the dangerous streets of sleep. Whatever demon is leaning over his shoulder and trying to get a rise out of him, it's not doing a very impressive job of it. It could, at the very least, be trying to tempt him with something he wants.

Still steadfastly ignoring it, he shoulders his staff and makes for the sounds of celebration.

Kit's tolerance for weird magical shit has increased exponentially during his time in Aifaran, but the Dreaming's latest stunt is definitely testing his limits.

He's standing outside the impromptu haunted house that some earnest entrepreneurs have set up to take advantage of the spooky atmosphere that has descended upon the city, but quite frankly there's not enough rhinn in the world to make him set foot in that place at the moment. His reluctance is clearly not shared by everyone. On her way out of the house, an enthusiastic little Bresilykian girl exclaims to him--or to anyone within earshot, really--"you should go in, they've got a real replica of the Night Fisher in there!"

"I'll pass, thanks," Kit says flatly around his cigarette, glances away from the shopfront towards the streets--and goes quite still.

Vandelin. Vandelin, near exactly as Kit remembers him, making his way through Aifaran's crowded streets, unmistakeable with that pinch to his brow and set of his jaw. He is not figment of Kit's imagination; he's as real as the shadowy tagalong hounding his steps. And very soon, he will be lost in the crowd.

Unthinkingly, Kit pushes his way past a gaggle of Erol'an kids waiting their turn to snoop through the haunted house. They dither and ogle him, but he ignores them, instead calling out, "Vandelin..!" before his former lover can round that street corner and be lost from view.

What the grimacing shadow couldn't manage with all its mimicking and mocking, Kit's voice does with a single word. Vandelin jolts as if struck, turns--

He shouldn't turn. He knows perfectly well that he shouldn't. He's asking for deadly trouble if he does anything but keep walking, because a demon clever enough to know exactly what he wants to hear is a demon to avoid at all costs, but damn it, he wants to see the face that goes with that voice. He wants to see it warm and living and open-eyed and smiling, not ashen and bruised and still as the tomb it lies in.

But looking is all he can allow himself. He meets Kit's eyes, jaw set as determinedly as ever it's been, fighting every last drop of weak and visible emotion.

"I don't negotiate with desire demons."

Edited 2018-07-26 11:09 (UTC)

Ancestors, if these damn kids don't get out of his way--but they do, as bumbling and awkward as Kit is fast and desperate as he strides through the crowd, and it's only the hardness in Vandelin's eyes that stops him from reaching out to touch him.

"I don't negotiate with desire demons."

For a weighted moment he almost looks as though he's been struck; the flash of wounded hurt across his face, vivid in his eyes, is impossible to miss. But no, of course, Vandelin is a mage. How else could he possibly interpret Aifaran? Even Kit had taken some days to truly believe the staff at the Dreaming Bridge upon his arrival, though that somehow feels like a lifetime ago now. Still, he takes another cautious step forward with his hands spread out plaintively to either side.

(Desperation isn't a good look for anyone, but he's sure it's in his eyes anyway.)

"Try and dispel me, then," he suggests, even though he flinches a little at the thought. "Whatever test you want, lay it on me." I'm real, he wants to say, but keeps the words to himself for now. That's what a demon would say, after all.

All of it, in its way, is what a demon would say--but not the cleverest of demons after all, because it's an opening, an opportunity for legitimate challenge. Whatever the treacherous denizens of the Fade might have gleaned from Vandelin's dreams and gathered that he wants, there are questions they can't answer and things they've never seen.

He lets his gaze linger on Kit's face, drinking it in even as he considers the challenge. (It's too real--could a demon really have replicated every last detail this well, no matter how well Vandelin knows his love's face? He knows that expression too intimately, too; that flinch of pain and stomach-sinking disappointment. He's been the cause of it too many times.)

"The man you kept having to escort out of your house," he says finally. "What was his name? And describe where he lived."

They had both disappointed each other time and time again in Kirkwall, though correctly or not all Kit can see when he looks back over the course of their relationship are his own mistakes--missed opportunities to let Vandelin in, to share his burdens with a man who wanted nothing more than to be close to him. That closeness, that love, seemed like something that belonged to other people, and he'd been unable to accept it.

Is that what this is supposed to be? A chance to make that right?

"Chuck," he says, and after a beat makes a sound like a snort or a laugh, reaching up to scratch the side of his beard. "He lived down by Anders' clinic. Shitty hole-in-the-wall hovel, yea big--" he approximates with his hands, "--barely big enough for a passle of nugs to bed down in on a good day, even shittier when it rains. Vandelin, please," and he doesn't mean to beg, truly he doesn't, but he can see something in those green eyes he'd thought was gone forever. He takes another step forward, swallowing, and reaches out. "Please."

[EVENT] 4th Wall - SHADOW WALKERS

Vandelin Elris | Dragon Age OC/Fade Rift CRAU

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