mods of the vestige. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
vestigemods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
vestigelogs2020-11-28 01:15 am
vestigemods) wrote in vestigelogs2020-11-28 01:15 am
Entry tags:
(mingle) PLEASE ACCEPT THESE ROASTED BIRDS
PLEASE ACCEPT THESE ROASTED BIRDS
NOVEMBER 27TH
► TRYPTOPHAN MAY BE A MYTH, BUT WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED
- On the morning of the 27th, every claimed phone in the containment zone once again emits that terrible sound for the third time in as many days. This time, however, it comes with what amounts to a GPS navigation map set to guide each person to a location near the center of the available section of town. With it, a message:
The navigation leads you to a building labeled 'THE BAR' (creative, right?), which those who've spent any real time in town might notice looks... a little less run-down than it used to? But the real change is inside - which many of you will discover at precisely 4 PM, when the plywood covering the door falls away to the sidewalk, revealing an unlocked wooden door.
It's truly a shame that no one yet bothered to break inside in the past couple of months, because only they could truly appreciate how much The Bar has changed. Though still quite dimly lit, it now looks more like a well-worn alcoholic haunt than a desolate broken-down waste of perfectly good booze - and speaking of booze, the shelves are lined with it. The bartop itself, meanwhile, is covered with an array of food, the rich aroma of which welcomes new arrivals in the moment they enter the door. The spread is quite diverse, with cooked turkeys and various Thanksgiving side dishes, some traditional and some a bit more offbeat, and a number of non-alcoholic drinks can be found refrigerated behind the counter.
As for the ambiance, it's festive but not overwhelmingly so. The Bar seems to have bought into whatever Foodland is selling, with a few recognizable decorative items scattered here and there to make it look appropriately fall-themed. A faintly-glowing jukebox sings out from one end of the room, cycling through various classics from the 60's, 70's, and 80's (it particularly seems to like Elvis, the Beach Boys, and Motown hits). A peek through the offered albums, however, will find a variety of other options on tap - Christmas music, heavy metal, banjo-laden hoedown music, who knows what you might discover (and force everyone to listen to) at one wrong press of a button!
All in all, the atmosphere is... weirdly uplifting, considering the month and the recent days' visitors. There's a distinct chance that there's a teensy-weensy artificial mood-enhancer in the food - but it's not much! Just a little! The Technicians are just trying to help. It's not nearly potent enough that anyone starts acting unlike themselves. Just... maybe the tiniest bit less weighed down for a couple of hours, y'know? It wears off naturally after five or ten minutes of fresh air, and it's generally mild enough that you likely don't even think twice about your good mood. The festive environment put a little distance between you and the chaos the visitors wrought, at least for an evening.
► MOD NOTES
- This is a catch-all log for top-levels pertaining to November's Please Accept These Roasted Birds event, taking place on the IC date of November 27th (the day after Thanksgiving). Go ahead and utilize vestigenet for any event-related network posts you'd like to make.
- The original event briefing can be found on the November Bulletin, but most of the concrete info is here on this log.
- A note that not only does the mood enhancer enhance mood, but it also dulls the event after-effects briefly while characters are at the feast. They're still present, but not nearly as intense/potent as they are outside of the bar.
- As of this mingle, the bar, #9 in the 'town' section/map, is now an active location within the game and can be revisited at any time. Alcohol remains stocked and the jukebox continues to play. It'll be added to the Locations page when I have a minute.
- Any questions can be directed to this top-level or, for a quicker response, to Trace on discord/plurk.
no subject
[ The girl startles as he begins to tip, nearly dropping her own plate in her haste to raise a hand in case he needs steadying. Her palm hovers uncertainly near Vivi as she watches him steady himself, and only once he's been perfectly still a moment does she finally let her arm lower away, exhaling her held breath. ]
Careful, [ she murmurs late, more to finally let it out than because he needs to hear it now, when the danger has already been proven. Looking relieved, she nods immediately to confirm the arrangement. ]
Of course.
[ Delicately setting her own plate aside, she busies herself reaching for the provided utensils to procure the food in question, gets a bit gathered onto the spoon, then turns back to look at his platter. There's not a lot of room, but-- ]
Here.
[ She'll just. Have to try really hard not to drip potatoes anywhere else while she's figuring out where to put them on his plate. ]
no subject
He'll watch eagerly as Namine kindly helps, offering up a "thank you" when she takes his plate.]
Do you wanna go eat at one of the little tables?
[Vivi will helpfully point over at a couple tables not far away. It would probably be easier than trying to eat at the bar which was starting to get a little crowded.]
no subject
Here. I hope that's enough...!
[ With a glance in the direction he's indicating, ]
Yes - that seems like a good idea. You can go ahead of me, if you'd like. I'll catch up in a moment.
[ Since she, you know, didn't really get very much on her own plate before helping him with his. ]
no subject
I'll save you a seat, Namine!
[Not that it's THAT full in here, but he does as he said. Sat at one of the tables, he makes sure there's a spot for her across the table from him. There's definitely too much for him to eat all at once on his plate, but he just wants to try a bit of everything! It all looked so good! He could take it back to his place surely if he didn't finish.
When she does eventually make her way over Vivi is sampling the mixed veggies and chewing happily. After swallow he waves at her.]
This stuff is really yummy. I don't think I've had a big meal like this since um... gosh I think it was with Regent Cid in Lindblum. That feels like so long ago now.
no subject
Okay...!
[ It doesn't take her a terribly long time to make her way over to the table he's chosen. When she arrives, it's immediately obvious that despite her curiosity about the new kinds of food, she's somewhat more restrained than he is and actually has a little extra room left on her plate. (That is, she knows her limits; she's never been a big eater.) ]
Is it? [ As she's listening to the rest of his words she tries a bite or two herself, pleasant surprise on her face at the taste. The yumminess cannot be disputed, it seems. A bit shyly, ] I don't think I've ever had a meal this big. Was it a special occasion when you were in Lindblum...?
no subject
He's happy to see his friend seems to be enjoying the food as well. Good food and good people are two wonderful things.]
Oh well- [Excuse him as he swallows down some food, talking with your mouth full is rude.] We had to get to Lindblum to talk to Regent Cid about Dagger's mom and the bad stuff she was doing, but we went there more than once.
no subject
But she's about as pleased to see him having a nice time as he is to see her doing the same. She munches quietly as he explains, only to tilt her head by the end. A bit quicker than he was to clear her mouth before she responds, ]
So you were there for important business. [ Well, would that be reason enough for a feast...? ] Did all of you eat like this every time you visited?
no subject
Hehe, nu uh, but sometimes with all the traveling we did it was hard to eat a lot. So it was always nice when Regent Cid let us eat in the castle. Though Zidane always said the food at the pub was better.
[Before it was destroyed... but that's another matter for another time.]
no subject
Mm...! It does seem to be pretty tough to get a good meal when you're on the road. [ Anyhow, that clarifies some things. ] I guess it makes sense that they'd eat this well in a castle pretty often.
[ Must be nice. Castle Oblivion wasn't exactly the feasting time of place. Presently, though, Naminé seems a bit bemused. ]
Actually... I've been wondering, did they have anything like that in Lindblum?
[ Turning, she indicates the turkey. She was giving it a funny look earlier, too, so something's probably been bugging her about that part of the meal. ]
no subject
[Vivi blinks at her asking about the turkey and if that was something he'd seen before in Lindblum.]
Mhm, it looks like some kind of roast bird. I don't know what kind though... but it tastes yummy!
[They have all sorts of weird strange bird monsters where he's from. As long as they're not eating roast Chocobo he's fine.]
no subject
[ Her half-wistful agreement comes just before she remembers herself and amends almost guiltily, ]
Not that I've travelled very much. But I know a few people who have done it a lot...!
[ And she was along for the ride in a secondhand kind of way, even if it might not count as having gone anywhere herself.
The bird, though - Naminé frowns a little more deeply. ]
That's what I thought, too. [ Oh, boy. Well, even if Vivi's eating it, maybe she'll just. Nudge her piece of meat to the side a bit, remarking quietly, ] I hope it's not a duck...
[ Donald would be quite upset, surely. ]
no subject
[Vivi looks at a fork bite of turkey and then over at Namine and her plate. Aww, did she have duck friends? Maybe they were the ducks Jiang had told him about at the lake.]
I think ducks would be a lot smaller... but there's a lot of other stuff to eat, so that's good.
no subject
[ Or maybe that just had more to do with the fact that she was always pretty much trapped in them and unable to fully enjoy what they had to offer. ]
But I've heard about a lot of much better things. Like... castles, and ships with pirates, and great big trees with branches so large that you can slide down them for a long way. There's even a world full of ghosts and monsters. [ Although the two of them are sort of in a place like that last one right now, so she amends to, ] Nice ghosts and monsters.
[ Truthfully, Vivi's assessment does give Naminé some comfort, but she still murmurs hesitantly, ]
I've met one much bigger than that. But maybe... there are different kinds of ducks?
[ Does. Does that alleviate the moral complications of eating one? ]
no subject
[A lot of exciting stuff, but also a lot of pain and suffering. Loss. Still, through it all he'd learned a lot. About the world and people. Himself.]
Oooh, nice ghosts and monsters. Hmm I think if there's different types of monsters and people, different types of ducks make sense too!
no subject
Was it just the two of you? You and your grandpa?
[ Perhaps she's only projecting, but there's a certain loneliness in the sound of that. Letting the thought go more easily than she usually would, she smiles warmly at that other matter. ]
I guess it does make sense, doesn't it. Like - how not all dogs can talk.
[ ... Which would imply that they usually can, wouldn't it? ]
no subject
Mhm, just us, um until he stopped moving.
[The tasty food doesn't let him dwell sadly on that, after a beat he'll have a bite of potatoes and swallow that down.]
I've never met a dog who could talk like us, but we have all sorts of people back home. Humans and then people with animal parts like Zidane has a long monkey tail!
[Vivi chuckles.]
And Freya is a Burmecian, they're um, they look like people sized rats? Or rats that look like people? I think that one's right... oh and there's bird and dog like people and then we met these funny little trolls once too. They spoke kinda funny, but the weren't afraid of me!
no subject
And, you know, the food helps. Even with that, though, her brow scrunches immediately at his description. Lifting her eyes, Naminé stares across the table at him for a moment, trying to gauge from his expression whether or not he realizes the implications of what he's just said. This is very difficult, not least because he doesn't really have recognizable facial features. ]
I'm sorry, [ she says, because she doesn't quite know what else to say. The sentiment's there, at least.
Still attempting to digest this, Naminé listens as attentively as her munching allows. Perking a little at his description, ]
Oh - you've met people like that, too? [ Would it be weird if she asked if he knew their names? It'd make sense if he'd bumped into Donald and Goofy-- only that last bit catches her attention enough to stop her from attempting to figure out how to work that other question into the conversation. ]
... Afraid? [ Her head tilts, just a little. ] Are people usually afraid of you?
no subject
[It's still a scary thought. Scary and sad. Just not while he's eating this delicious food!
Thanks Technicians.]
Well, sometimes. Bigger black mages who look like me were made to do a lot of bad stuff. Hurt and kill people, b-but they didn't know any better.
[Thankfully a lot have woken up and escaped that life, but still.]
Some people think I'm just a mindless puppet that'll hurt them, by it's okay. My friends protected me.
no subject
Even through the comfortable haze of the food, Naminé feels a weird sense of responsibility, like she ought to say something, but... what is there to say, really? He seems to have learned the reality of the situation well enough without her input. Swallowing, she decides to let it go; perhaps that's the kindest choice.
Fortunately or otherwise, there's sufficient distraction in the form of the picture he paints. ]
Bigger... black mages?
[ It's not as though she hasn't noticed that Vivi, er, resembles certain entities. But surely he'd know the difference if they were Heartless, so... ]
Have you ever met one of them before?
no subject
It's not fair, but it doesn't seem like life is interested in that. Considering where they are now.]
Mhm. We've had to fight a lot... they weren't awake and we're hurting people. I didn't like having to stop them.
[Oof, he's already getting full. He needs a break.]
But the awake ones made a village away from all the fighting. It's nice... maybe when things are better I can stay there with them too.
no subject
Case in point, how she wilts as his description. Being forced to do harm to others is a familiar story for her; if someone had had the means, would she have been the one being stopped in such a way? ]
That isn't right. [ She says it before she catches herself; her fork pauses on her plate as she stills briefly, then tries to rearrange her thoughts into something intelligible. ] I mean - it isn't right that you had to do that. It doesn't sound like it was fair to you or to them, even... if it was necessary.
[ Because she recognizes it as such, grudgingly though that might be. Letting go of her curiosity about who was behind that matter - for now, anyway - she exhales a quiet sigh at the mention of a better situation. She can't quite muster a proper smile, but she gets close with her, ]
I hope so too, if that's where you want to be. But-- will you miss your friends if you stay there?
no subject
She's right, about it all really. Vivi has found that there's never an easy answer to stopping bad things from happening. A lot of the time even the "good" way will still hurt a lot of people.
It's a terrible feeling.]
Yeah... we did the best we could, but people still get hurt. They still... stop.
[Hmm, this is getting too sad! Thanksgiving dinner won't allow that! He does perk up a wee bit.]
I'm still not sure. I almost stayed before, but my friends needed me- I mean. They didn't force me to go with them, I wanted to.
They would have been happy for me if I'd stayed at the village. I would miss them though. I miss them a lot being here, but I've made a lot of friends here too.
[His eyes turn to arches as he smiles.]
Like you, Namine!
no subject
Nodding understandingly along with Vivi's answer, Naminé spends most of her time listening with her fork idle in her hand. Gently, ]
It sounds like you've got a lot to think about.
[ Wouldn't you know it, though - just when she's finally picked up another bite, he goes and says that last part. The girl stops short, head tipping back up to look at him, her eyes subtly rounded. A bit of mashed potatoes droops back down toward the plate. ]
Me?
[ Clearly she was not prepared for this. She sits up a little, looking as if she's received an honor she wasn't expecting; her expression has just a hint of wonder in it as she processes this. ]
I'm... so flattered that you think of me that way. [ Even if she seems not to quite know how to accept it at first, she's still quite pleased about it. ] And-- glad, too. I was hoping that we could be friends. [ Even though he's said it first, she seems to nevertheless feel like mentioning her own view could have been a step too far, and softens it with, ] So that we can look after each other, that is.
no subject
If there's anything Vivi is thankful for in this place is that he's made many more new friends. Even if he one day can't see them again, the time they shared will be precious regardless.]
I'm glad we can be friends too.
[In his very short life the one thing that's really enhanced it has been the friends he's made along the way.]
If you're ever in trouble Namine I'll protect you.
[He was made to hurt and kill, but Vivi wanted to use his magic to protect his friends and that's what he's gonna do!]
no subject
Here she'd been hoping she'd be able to protect him if it ever came to it. She's been practicing lately - or trying to, anyway - in the hopes of making more defensively useful forms of magic part of her skillset. It hasn't exactly been progressing as quickly as she'd like, but the efforts have been slowly paying off. ]
Oh...?
[ The Vivi in her world didn't seem like he had much experience outside of Struggle, but she knows better than to limit her expectations based on that. From what this Vivi's said so far, it's pretty clear that he's capable of defending himself. (Or perhaps that his friends were, but it sure sounded like he was part of it all.) Openly curious though she is, she's careful not to get ahead of herself; ]
That's very brave of you. I'm grateful, but... I wouldn't want to put you in danger, too.
This is a million years late I'm sorry
SHHHHH there's no such thing!!
<3
<3!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)