OCTOBER EVENT + TDM 02

[ride_technicians]

↞NAVIGATION

event | ƨγɒbiloʜ γqqɒʜ

Curfew lifts on 10/06 as thunder booms overhead, the dark clouds writhing as they roil and twist with unshed waters. Over the past few days, no rain has fallen from the turbid skies, but the threat of downpour remains ever present.

It’s on such a dark and stormy day that the doors to the Gift Shop are propped open by two wooden crates, full to the brim with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. Inside the shop itself, a stack of pumpkin carving kits sits on the checkout counter, alongside a row of colored candles. The masked individual that works as the shopkeeper is as silent as ever, though through the act of gesticulation it manages to convey that the carving kits and the candles are complimentary, and are given for free alongside the purchase of a pumpkin from the bin outside.

You could definitely try to steal one, sure. But the signs above the bin state that each pumpkin is only priced at one Park Token, so it’s not too much of a net loss overall.

Characters will find that after they’ve made their choice of one (1) pumpkin and one (1) of the colored candles, they are not permitted to try and return for another one of either. If more grand theft pumpkin is attempted, no matter how strong the character is they will be unable to lift the second choice up from the bin, almost as if it carries the weight of the whole world within that orange rind. You are only allowed one pumpkin, so be sure that you consider your options carefully.

Of the candles themselves, the following colors are available to choose from: red, blue, white, black, purple, green, and yellow. Each candle will cause a different event to happen, but the side effects of lighting each candle are not advertised anywhere in the shop. Please note which candle your character chooses in the mod comment below, so that you can be informed of what your character has inadvertently unleashed upon the park.

Strangely enough, despite not being provided with a lighter or a match of any kind, the candles flare to life regardless the moment they are placed within one of the carved pumpkins.

You are free to do whatever you deem fit with the pumpkin innards. Go ham.

event | wolɘd

It starts as a glimmer, a flicker of illumination that can be briefly spotted below the surface of the lake. It's quick, something that could easily be excused away as your eyes playing tricks on you, nothing more. That would be the case, at least... If it didn't keep happening. And if the lights didn't get brighter with time.

The flashes are almost rhythmic, a pattern without explanation. Gold and white, brightly shimmering beneath the waters before going dark once more. Over and over again, almost as if controlled by something sentient. Almost as if the lake is beckoning you in to investigate it. Should you give in to the urge, however... Well. Whether you attempt to find the source by either swimming in or renting one of the swan boats, the end result is the same; blackened hands grab at your limbs, clawing at your ankles and dragging you down below the surface. Down... down... down... Until fighting your way back up to the open air would be challenging. Difficult, but not impossible. Then the hands retreat, and you're left alone.

Down here, there are no lights. It's impossibly dark, and something is moving.

tdm intro prompt | !woʜƨ ɘʜT oT ɘmoɔlɘw

You open your eyes to the burn of salt in your lungs, panic clawing up the sides of your throat and settling in your pulse. There is black water all around you, frigid in a way that cuts like a blade and seeps into your very bones. It’s then that you become aware of a minimum of two things:

You’re floating suspended within what could either be a lake or an ocean, roughly twenty or so feet below the surface.

There’s something moving in the blackness beneath you.

You can’t see the bottom, and you can’t see whatever is down there, but you can feel its presence as it disturbs the water below you. Whatever it is, it’s big. And it’s coming closer. You can practically hear it now, a quiet hum that rumbles and resonates at such a frequency that it seems to rattle your teeth in your skull. Silent, yet at the same time somehow impossibly loud. It builds and builds, until you can't seem to focus on anything other than the noise. It crowds your senses, dulling your reactions and dimming the drive to flee.

Suddenly, the hum stops. Several feet away, a massive amber eye blinks closed; you can't remember ever seeing it open in the first place. The water around you shifts, displaced as the thing begins to move away.

Might be a good idea to start swimming for the surface.

Crawling your way to the shore of a lake only to find an amusement park waiting for you isn’t the strangest thing to happen to you after all, is it?

ooc

Feel free to have your character wander about the various park attractions as you see fit! Everywhere listed on the locations page is currently available, with the difference being that the temporal displacement within It'z Quite The Large World has been soothed, causing the ride itself to function in entirely normal ways with no spooky secrets hidden anywhere. TDMers may also participate in the carving of pumpkins.

Comments

[beathollow]

( you're supposed to have your own dreams, and not have them be overwritten by your parents. for the first time in her life, something clicks. and when she speaks, her voice wavers. )

... That... is what happened, isn't it? I wanted- I wanted to be a nurse and that wasn't good enough for them...

( why is her vision blurring...? )

[starsmoothie]

[Noah sets his pumpkin down, and then steals hers away too for a moment to move it safely to the ground. Then, he leans in for a side-hug, awkward but meaningful all the same. It feels like the correct thing to do.]

Yeah, that's... what I mean. You should follow your dreams. Don't give up on them.

[beathollow]

( no her physical support- yes mafuyu does fall forward a little and almost hits the table it's propped on. it might be funny if she wasn't about to cry. if the first hug, however awkward and not entirely a hug it may be, she's gotten in years didn't break the dam completely.

hiding her face in her hands, her shoulders hitch in quiet sobs. )

I- I don't know what I want a-anymore...

[starsmoothie]

[Noah rubs circles into her back. Slow, comforting circles, while his head comes to rest on her shoulder.]

You don't have to know right now! They say life is a journey, and that Fate takes you where you need to go. I just...

I just think you don't need to follow someone else's dreams. That's all.

[beathollow]

( mafuyu listens, takes everything in- the comforting touch she hasn't felt in so long, his words... why is it that she's only getting these explicit comforts and reassurances in this hell?

when she tries to speak, nothing comes out. so for a little bit, she'll just cling to noah and cry.

even if she thinks she kind of hates that, actually? )

[starsmoothie]

[Patpat... there there...

Honestly, he doesn't mind. He used to be still kind of is a crybaby. Like, throw that toxic masculinity shit out, this man cries all the time.

Maybe it would've been better if he gave her a real hug, and not a weird side hug, though.]

[beathollow]

( maybe it would have but a bitch is still touch-starved and being fed. ... and has been awakened to the fact that she needs hugs. you will be giving her more. this is not optional.

eventually, those painful sobs die down to quiet hiccups, and her throat hurts again. her head, too. her eyes always sting after crying... people say that crying helps release the pain, that you'll feel better afterwards. she's not sure if she believes it. )

... Do you think your brother could have escaped that life...?

[starsmoothie]

...probably not. Not with me in the way.

[Er— uh—]

He wanted the best for me, [Noah backpedals,] and to him, maybe that was through becoming a Master.

Or maybe, he just wanted to become a Master to escape. Masters are supposed to cut ties with their families, from what I'm told. He might have seen that as a way out, but I don't... I don't know.

[beathollow]

He loved you very much.

( this is something even she can see, just from how noah talks about him. )

... You don't have to know. I don't know why I asked.

( yes she does. but she doesn't know if she'll believe any answer if she asks, 'do you think i can escape'. )