songerein | { stroke of midnight }

Entry tags:

{ stroke of midnight }

STROKE OF MIDNIGHT

Although the Masquerade is being held on the night of the Fourteenth, some new problems arise in the days after. This log is split into two sections, the Masquerade and Around Town. Everyone is free to participate in either or both, whichever catches your interest.

More details on everything can be found here and here. As a reminder, events double as our TDMs and information can be found here with arrival details here. Any outside characters participating in the log are canonly logged as appearing in Songerein in February and will remain in Songerein from the IC date of February 14 through 28. TDM only characters can only thread within this log. Anyone who apps in and is accepted will have their character count February as their first time in the game without any disruption, so all content will carry over. Those who do not apply will disappear which should not seem too unusual, however players in game can choose to retcon and pretend a character was never there to begin with if it would be easier; or even think their presence was just a dream.

IMPORTANT! All outside characters MUST have "TDM" in their subject line, even if you might not app. This will help people differentiate those who are already in the game and those who are not.

TDM threads are required for samples. Refer to the Game Info for general information and feel free to toss any questions here. Reserves will open Wednesday, February 22nd and Applications will open on March 1. Our next cycle after won't be until JULY.

TDM Toplevel Link Directory (click to view, updated 02/22)

Avatar: The Legend of Korra - Korra
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Iroh
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Miriam
Chainsaw Man - Power
Dr. STONE - Dr. Senku Ishigami
Elsworld - Noah Ebalon (Nyx Pieta)
Final Fantasy VII - Cloud Strife
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - Zack Fair
Final Fantasy XIV - Erichthonios
Final Fantasy XV - Noctis Lucis Caelum
Final Fantasy XV - Prompto Argentum
Genshin Impact - Shikanoin Heizou
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist - Solanaceae
Katekyou Hitman Reborn - Hayato Gokudera
Kingdom Hearts - Ienzo
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Link
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Sheik
Marvel Cinematic Universe - Kate Bishop
NieR: Automata - 9S
Percy Jackson & the Olympians - Jason Grace
Percy Jackson & the Olympians - Nico di Angelo
Persona 3: FES - Shinjiro Aragaki
SinoAlice - Sleeping Beauty
Tales of Arise - Shionne Vymer Imeris Daymore
Tales of Symphonia - Kratos Aurion
Tales of Symphonia - Martel Yggdrasil
Tales of Zestiria - Mikleo
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Sena
Your Wings and Mine - Shealtiel

We will request any thread submissions for certain prompts during AC and TDM threads will count. For more information, refer to the Game Notes.

I. MASQUERADE

It's time for the masquerade and the carriages will start arriving before sunset. Upon arrival, everyone who leaves the carriage (or mercilessly spat out if they try to resist) will be greeted by fairy godmothers with an eye for the most dramatic and extravagant fashion. It's a masquerade, after all! For those who already arrive with their outfits, the fairy godmothers may add a little embellishment here and or just change it completely if they think it could look better. For those who did not, they will create a whole new outfit that would fit the wearer perfectly—with magic of course. They will also create the masks and half of the glass slipper brooch that everyone will wear. The masks are enchanted so that regardless of obvious personality or physical traits, they are somehow unrecognizable at first. While it is possible to figure it out through interaction, or if it's someone they already know well, it's more likely they need to reveal their identity first. These outfits can be kept even after the masquerade is over.

A. Get in the Carriage. As the pegasus drawn carriages begin to arrive to transport those who have decided to attend the masquerade, there is some commotion from others. The pair of coach mice—who are only about four feet tall—can be found smiling and cheerily squeaking about the masquerade as they grab and literally throw protesting individuals into the carriage, whereupon the door will immediately shut behind them. Ho ho ho, it'll be such a grand time! Will anyone try to help the poor soul? Or perhaps help the mice? Maybe you're a struggling victim instead. Should anyone want to try and drive the carriage, they might have a chance…but good luck having the pegasi listen to them. Eventually the carriage will land and take them to the front of the castle where the masquerade is hosted.

B. Half of a Pair. Near the entrance, everyone is encouraged to pull out one or more of the shoe brooches contained in a large bowl. The rules are simple: 1) use the brooch to lead them to the person wearing the other half; 2) spend whatever time or activity with them, be it general socializing, a dance, a walk in the gardens; 3) keep the brooch or return it to a designated "Used" bowl. The brooches will absorb whatever kind of dreamotion energy is formed between the two, and the stronger it is, the brighter (if positive) or darker (if negative) it will glow. The interaction can be romantic, platonic, or hostile. For those who do happen to "click" and wish for some privacy, there are numerous terraces and balconies available. Some are public, but there are quite a few with curtains, so be sure to close them to signal the balcony is occupied!

C. Dancing in the Air. The main draw will be the dance floor, and the ballroom is wide and spacious to accommodate numerous pairs to dance to their hearts' content—the music is played by enchanted instruments so they'll keep going without much of a break! Of course, what makes this dance floor truly special is how it uses dreamotion energy to lift everyone up—literally. Pairs who are having a fun time may find themselves floating up and dancing in the air instead of on the ground. Somehow they can maintain some balance…but it's just as easy to lose it.

D. Royal Banquet. There are numerous tables one can use and be served an assortment of foods. In fact, one could make special requests and somehow the dragons serving will be able to make it, or at least as close as possible. One just has to imprint the idea of the dish onto a special card that the chefs will use to recreate it. There are also two bowls filled with special tear drop chocolates, one with only white, pink, and red, and the other filled with the other colors. The "game" is to randomly choose one from each bowl and share a kiss depending on what is picked.

E. Out in the Gardens. Every castle has extravagant gardens, and this one is no different. Filled with numerous pink, red, and white flowers, the gardens have their typical fare…with not so typical effects.

Extravagant mazes that one could easily get lost in are common, but what's special about these gardens is that the flowers will emit a soft, sweet scent that will feel as if they are walking through a dream. In fact, the section they are going through will begin to change to look like a place from their world and must now find their way out. When this change happens, only those who are in the area will be affected and no one else can enter the area until the main person affected gets out. Those inside can help, and there are no threats—it's all in simple fun…unless the place evokes certain memories and emotions for the person. Might not be as fun for them, then.
A crystal greenhouse where the temperature is perfectly warm (or cold!) and houses various different flowers. Here some may recognize flowers from their world, the scents also creating nostalgia. There are instructions left that indicate anyone can try to help grow the flowers. The key ingredient will be dreamotion energy, and should they succeed in creating a blossom, a small marble containing a symbol of their home. There are also special daisies that can be used to play the "they love me they love me not" game. If the last petal is "they love me," then become extra flirty and clingy. If it's "love me not," they become angry, jealous, and possessive. The effects only last for a short time…unless they keep plucking flowers.
The white fountain in the center of the gardens will have a bit of a musical playful side. It will splash colorful water at any who pass by, chime-like notes playing out as it does. But if one were to drop a flower that has absorbed positive dreamotion into its water, it will calm and let people sit to look and relax. There is also a strange frog wearing a crown that claims to be a prince. For those who believe its words that a kiss will free him from the curse, they will be sorely disappointed as nothing happens and the frog just laughs and hops away.

II. AROUND TOWN

A. Mask Up. Attracted by the masquerade, some enchanted masks have found their way to town and are now finding their way onto people, be it by tricking their victims to be put on or just forcibly latching themselves on. Depending on the type of mask, the wearer will behave based on a festive, dramatic emotion. While wearing the mask, the dreamotion that is projected is stronger. Examples are angry emotions will cause tremors and cracks on the ground, happiness could blind people or will cause confetti to fly everywhere, while sad ones will cause clouds and drizzling rain to appear overhead. The only way to remove it is to somehow make the other person feel the opposite of whatever emotion the mask is using. Once the mask’s emotion is countered and stabilized, it could be removed or even fall off if the countering emotion is strong enough. Masks can also be captured and collected before they attach to someone.

B. Special Messages. Throughout the month, valentine's are being delivered to people all over town. Some are even receiving some from the fae and dragons who live outside… Perhaps some caution should be had from those. Regardless, while the messages are brimming with both platonic and romantic (and questionable) love, the messengers are a bit… Well they need help.

Insightful Mockingbirds. Special mockingbirds are flying around and perch on random shoulders. They have the ability to "read" a person's thoughts and repeat them out loud. Without warning. Hope there aren't any secrets because that bird is going to make it public, especially if it's an observation or thought—good or bad—about another person. Good luck shooing it away, too—it'll stick around for a while because it might enjoy sowing this bit of chaos.
Arrow Delivery. The group from last year have decided to use their prank arrows for good and start a business in delivering special Valentine's messages via arrow. A "shot to the heart" in the less literal sense this time! While some of their archers are skilled, others are…less so. Some are hitting a bit too close to comfort or way off the mark. Some messages are going to the wrong person entirely. Help avoid, retrieve, or even deliver these messages around town.

C. Candy Kisses. A special assortment of flat bottomed, tear shaped chocolates are currently selling like hotcakes and can be found practically everywhere. Their main selling point is they come in different colors and each color has a special effect that will make the eater want to kiss the person near them in a certain way (see chart). Some people are deliberately swapping the wrappers around, so be careful!

D. Bleeding Hearts Return. It's Valentine's, yet Cupid is nowhere to be seen. That is because he's still corrupted from last year and now he's thirsting for love, any love. Using the Bleeding Hearts from last year, Cupid is using them to gather all that jealous, possessive love, but of course that's going to make it worse. We're not tackling Cupid here, but the main goal will be helping those who are afflicted by the Bleeding Hearts and purifying them via dreamotion instead of just destroying them. Purifying the Bleeding Hearts with pure love—romantic, platonic, familial, reminders of how they are loved and cared for by others—will help Cupid. Of course this could backfire and make the person feel worse, so be careful!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Anya was just walking around, minding her own business with Pooka tagging along when she overhears someone causing some ruckus at the fountain area. Pooka is trembling in fear, never expecting to hear confetti exploding so much.

Wondering to see what the fuss is about, the Grand Duchess runs to the fountain, with Pooka tailing behind, to find a very upset white haired young man yelling and trying to find something. She didn’t expect the splashing of fountain water to make a part of her dress wet a bit.

“Bozhe moi! What happened in here?” she asked with her eyes looking rather surprised.

“There’s a lying frog in this fountain, and I’m gonna kill it, that’s what!” Gokudera says. He hasn’t seen it since it hopped away laughing at him, but he’s still furiously attacking where he last saw it, wondering if it’s hiding.

“Killing a lying frog? I guess that it likes to mess with people a lot more than I was expecting. Do you think that it is hiding somewhere in the fountain right now?” Anya speaks when she notices that Pooka has decided to join Gokudera in his search for the lying frog in the fountain.

“Well it looks like my dog has joined in finding that frog at the fountain as well. I guess that I could join in the search too.”

“He claims he’s a prince, but he’s a liar! It’s just a frog that wants people to kiss it!” Gokudera says. He knows it sounds ridiculous, and he probably looks like he’s lost his mind, but he’s insulted. He kissed a frog and for what?!

“Get him! C’mon!” He encourages the dog, suddenly a lot less angry, and more amused at the creature trying to help him.

“Right, some prince huh? Pfft. He deserves to get a verbal scolding for being a total liar,” says the actual royalty (a Grand Duchess even).

Anya didn’t think that Gokudera was making stuff up: in fact she truly believes every word he said. She may not have the misfortune of kissing the liar frog but she would love to verbally roast him big time once they manage to capture him.

“Bark, bark, bark!” Pooka begins to search for the lying frog as he swims in the water and sniffs for any amphibian scent in the fountain.

“I’ll feed him to my Gatto Tempesta.”

It’s not enough to verbally scold a frog. Feeding it to a leopard made of Storm flames sounds much more satisfying.

Gokudera can’t see the frog, and that water doesn’t look warm. He leans down and scoops the dog up and out of the fountain before setting him back down. “Tch-! It’s long gone and now you’re all wet.” The silver-haired teen takes the brooch from his ascot and slips it off before using it to dry the pup. He doesn’t care about how fancy he looked before, Gokudera’s always had a bit of a soft spot for animals. “Hold still.”

Oh well, the frog must have went off to find more people to mess with and, unless someone else can track him down, he will continue on his lying spree all night long. Now Pooka is all wet from the fountain water so she is glad to see that Gokudera is helping him dry up.

“I guess that frog is going to find more people to mess around with in another part of the garden,” says Anya while she watches.

At least she is not judging the white haired man for being all wet since she is the one among her sisters who is often climbing trees and has scratched her stockings and knees from doing it.

“Someone else’s problem, but now.” Gokudera says and once he’s got the puppy as dry as he can, he’s wringing his ascot out over the fountain.

“You two from around here?” He hasn’t met any kind of… local here yet.

“Not a local sadly, but me and Pooka have been in this world ever since the beginning, around more than a year ago in fact,” Anya informs him, “If you’re here much earlier around that time, the town was mostly barren and not many people were living in here.”

“That’s practically a local!” Close enough, and far longer than anyone else he’s encountered at this party.

“So then, this is a lot of people compared to how it usually is?”

“Yes that was very little compared to what we have here,” Anya explains to him, “In fact, most of the first arrivals here were mostly from other worlds.”

Gokudera nods and gives an acknowledging hum at that.

“Is it often like this… uh, with the parties and magic?” Or is he supposed to expect this whole place to change suddenly into a world with a different tone? He can adapt, he’s pretty sure.

“Sometimes there are big events held in town, usually on February, April and September, maybe even December. What kind of parties we might have would depend on what is in the season or who is hosting it. We just had a big wedding last December and it went very well,” she tells him before jumping into the world’s magic.

“Magic on the other hand is pretty vital in this world: you see, this world is made of dreamotion energy which is a mix of dreams and emotions. And there are these things called Nocteare who would try to disrupt dreams and bring in more nightmares. And the most terrifying thing is that anyone can become a Nocteare though not of their own choice. That is why all of us are here: to ensure that the balance of dreams and nightmares won’t tip over. Any and all magical abilities or powers you might gain in here all stemmed from this source of energy.”

“A wedding?!” That doesn’t sound like something he’d be into. He’s been to his sister’s wedding, but ultimately it was all crashed by the groom (and Gokudera’s boss, though he’d never blame him). “For who? Someone important locally, or some people from a different world?” Did everyone get married to each other? Was it random? That would be wild. There’s an unpleasant thought…

“Anyone can become a Nocteare? How can you tell?” Should he be worried about changing into one all of a sudden? Is it contagious? Gokudera has a lot of questions.

“For two people hailing from different worlds and there is going to be another for two other dreamwalkers too (though they appear to be from the same world),” Anya adds in before she gets into the Noctaere portion.

“Well if one starts to accumulate plenty of nightmare energy for too long and there is no immediate way to cure it, then they are more vulnerable to slowly become into a Noctaere in the long run than those who don’t.”

“Have two dream walkers gotten married before that? Was it just that they were the first, or something?” He can’t see why it would be worth mentioning otherwise.

“How do you gather nightmare energy in the first place?”

“Yes they were the first to get married in this world,” she replies in return, clearly remembering Eustace and Tifa’s wedding from months back.

“As for the nightmare energy, how it is gathered is very similar to dreamotion energy, which is often harnessed by emotions, but it is more difficult and very dangerous. Unless someone has better control over it or is more inclined to negative emotions or nightmares, anyone could fall victim to its toxic and volatile nature.”

“There’s got to be a way to manage something powerful and dangerous like that.” To weaponize it, really. Of course he’d be thinking of how to turn it into a weapon. If it could help him help the Vongola, it seems like something worth looking into.

“That is a good question. How does one try to harness the nightmare energy without it slowly trying to corrupt them? Right now I don’t know if I could manage it on my own. But I might know of a certain individual who has experience using it in the past.”

Could a demon help in teaching him about nightmare energy? Anya should check with Alastor whenever they get to meet up again to just be sure. She could even tell him to visit Trahearne’s Songerein Wikki Archives and read up on nightmare energy as much as he could.

“Would meeting someone like that be safe?” He feels it’s a perfectly valid question. Considering he’s thinking weapons, what else might someone need to collect nightmare energy for?

“Oh yes. He is practically harmless for the most part and I am sure that he would be helpful in learning about the nightmare energy,” Anya replies in return while Pooka barks out of curiosity.

The dog has no idea that one can trying to make weapons of the nightmare energy since he is just a dog.

“Does he have a name? I can find him on my own, probably.” Never mind that the gathering of information like this feels… sketchy.

“Oh yes. My contact’s name. I do believe that his name is Alastor,” Anya informs him, “It shouldn’t be hard to find him. Sharp pointed teeth, red eyes, deer horns, sharp dresser, carries a cane with him. Quite a standout guy if you ask me.”

“How well-acquainted would you say you are with him?” Gokudera is a little nervous to be asking so many questions, but this is all a bit too new and scary. It’s not as bad as traveling to the future and being hunted like vermin, but it’s still a complete upheaval compared to a normal person’s life experiences by the age of 16.

Edited 2023-02-20 20:33 (UTC)

“For around a few months by now. We would do a dream board quest once in a while, one time we freed a siren from being stuck inside a block or ice,” she tells him.

She does not want to inform Gokudera that he is currently one of the few people who know about her past to some extent. Now is not the right time to do so.

{ stroke of midnight }

White Fountain

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)