2nd Event: Choices We Make

[upcyclingmod]

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Arrival


Not all characters (known as Wickie, singular or Wickies, plural) arrive at the same time, surprisingly enough! That’s life for you. Some Wickies find their way to the island at a pivotal (or very mundane) point in their life, or even after or during their death.

Wickies who were standing or walking often find themselves entering the town South Sister, located on Lighthouse Isle, through an open doorway. Those that were laying down, or sleeping, tend to be found lying prone in beds, bathtubs, showers, couches, and similar places within the cottages on Cottage Row. There’s no rhyme or reason to it all! To Wickies familiar with the era, they will realize that everything looks as if it’s come from the ‘90s.

The house which a Wickie finds themselves within could already be occupied. This includes walking into a fellow Wicke, waking up in the same location, or accidentally scaring a room full of people with their sudden appearance.

Oops.

C-C-Changes

Thankfully the fog has gone down to what it was before, a slow creeping crawl over the ground. And too, the monsters of before are gone, leaving the town much like it was before. Well...close to what it was before.

For now the season's have changed, from a lingering summer to a cooler fall.

There’s new foods to try, even if some things like lattes cause people to slip into warm boots and tie up their hair, and soups make people curl up under blankets on the couch. And it also means decorations of all sorts, made of the leaves from the forest, orange, yellow and red things and...we can not forget...

Pumpkin overflow

Pumpkins! They're everywhere. Wickies will find pumpkins infused into all sorts of things, like coffee, ice cream, even spaghetti options! It's wild.

There’s also many jack o'lanterns. They have been placed everywhere in town, outside homes, and even small ones have been made into table decorations. The Jack o lanterns have very cheerful faces, and seem to watch Wickies every single move.

That is, until a Wickie bashes or otherwise abuses a pumpkin. That's when it changes- there seem to be more of them. Their expressions change to that of anger, sadness and disgust. None of them attack- yet. But their faces become more and more horrifying, as they follow the Wickie more and more- outside of the bathroom perhaps, or found on top of them as the Wickie wakes up in the middle of the night.

It shouldn't matter right? They're only pumpkins.

What a ride

Funny enough, with the pumpkin invasion, there also comes a dull colored horse wandering about the island. Its head is drooped, and it looks depressed and lonely. The horse is tame on approach and will accept pats and treats, even from those who are obviously not human.

But it also wants something, for all that it seems to be begging for attention. It wants someone to ride them, seems to even be begging for it with its big eyes. The horse will help Wickies to figure out how to mount; it will even stand beside the Town Center benches, rocks, or even go down in order to make it possible for the Wickie to get onto the horse’s back.

That’s when it changes. The Wickie is immediately wrapped in chains from their barrel to the Wickie’s waist. The horse turns a coal black and the Wickie’s clothing changes into that of a soldier's uniform, with a hand either holding a whip modeled after a human spine, or a jack o'lantern.

The Wickie cannot get off the horse on their own, no matter how much they struggle. As the horse moves throughout the town, they will go anywhere from a walk to a full canter, seemingly impervious to any magic or physical attacks. The same cannot be said for their unfortunate rider.

If the rider is hit, or simply in pain, the Wickie will feel an impulse that grows and grows until they scream a name of someone in town, someone they know.

And the named will drop, paralyzed. Paralyzed wickie are likely to die within minutes, more so if they are too close to horse and rider. The horse will happily trample anyone on the ground to death.

Even without the impulse, should the Wickie rider use anyone’s name, that person will drop, paralyzed, and unable to breathe.

There is only one way to possibly save the rider: scatter golden objects in their path. The horse will shriek, and promptly buck the rider off, before running away. Just make sure to catch the rider, or at least cushion their fall: they have no way of saving themselves until they hit the ground.

Heart game: confession

Current residents of the island may remember this particular beeping alert, and how it doesn’t go away, no matter what they do! That is, unless they open up the Heart Game, and answer the question.

Welcome back everyone! It’s so good to see you again! Now let’s play that game, Confession! And the question isssssss…

How do you celebrate the changing seasons! Don't be shy!

Comments

Questions

[upcyclingmod]

Ask anything about the tdm!

Re: Questions

[pureawesome]

So what if someone tried to get rid of staring jack o lanterns by eating them

I play serious characters with serious methods

[upcyclingmod]

Technically, the flesh is edible! It's not as sweet as, say, a pumpkin puree- it's kind of tangy and would be easier to eat when roasted.

It would get rid of them for a short amount of time out of sheer shock- there's going to be a lot of pumpkins with :O faces before they back off.

And then they'll come back, looking very angry. Because technically, they did do something terrible to one of their comrades!!!

[doubtfulknight]

OKAY SO, ya boy here needs to kill something sapient (or at least sentient) every few days to keep from suffering Serious Pain.

Do...the pumpkins count as sapient? Or sentient??

[upcyclingmod]

....yes. yes they do.

[doubtfulknight]

...uh oh.

But also, how convenient....

[doubtfulknight]

How...would the pumpkins respond if he were to apologize for committing unintentional gourdicide?

[upcyclingmod]

yeah they're not going to be mollified with a spoken apology. You just did in their family!!!

How could you!!!

[doubtfulknight]

Big Oof.

What would the pumpkins find reasonable restitution for the lives of their family? 8|a

[upcyclingmod]

They would think that planting new family members would do. Any gourd would do, so long as they're planted and tended to.

But also, get the good fertilizer. These children only deserve the best.

[doubtfulknight]

He'll see what he can do to make amends. 8|a

Final question! How long are the pumpkins and the horse around? Just a few days, a week or two, all month?

[swordjock]

two quick questions about the horse! if the rider is dismounted before the person whose name they yelled dies, does it stop the whole dying process? (i know it'd be a short timeframe, but.) or are they doomed no matter what?

second, re: the gold items... most of the actual armour bits on she-ra are probably not made of Actual Gold, for practical reasons, but i imagine the tiara is + the other parts of it are possibly gilded. if she... say... threw herself in front of the horse, would that count as scattering gold items?

[upcyclingmod]

So long as someone got them CPR in time, they could be saved! Not the best chance out there, but there's a chance!

That would work!

So yes. Yes Adora, throw yourself in front of the horse like you're going for a home run.

[swordjock]

fuck yeah, time to be a hero stupid.

also random setting question, but... given the general fog/dreary atmosphere, are there any stars visible at all in the sky at night? the planet adora's from literally does not have them (at least, not at her canonpoint), so it's the sort of thing she'd notice.

[upcyclingmod]

That's the funny thing!

Currently, the fog is actually low and patchy against the ground (which is something current residents are thankful for) so should Adora look up, there are stars.

But if she asks around, none of the constellations are ones people know about.

[swordjock]

toto we're not in kansas anymore

Pumpkins.

[fuelingfire]

Is it possible to communicate with them, presuming a generalized universal translation skill?

.... and would a jack o lantern or two or three mind terribly being carried around. Set in different places. Get mildly modified via spooky means to suddenly have viney legs.

Edit: furthermore what should happen to a person, jack o lantern or horse were a j-o-lantern to be set on the horse.

[upcyclingmod]

Nope! You would need a general speak to plant skill in order to speak to the pumpkins! Weird that it's not covered in the translator, but that's how it is!

But also, the pumpkins wouldn't mind! So long as they're not eaten, defaced, or smashed, they're actually pretty cool with viney legs and set around different places.

If there's a person on the horse well-they already have a jack o lantern of their own! And if there's no one on the horse, neither of them would be impressed.

which means...nothing will happen. adding or subtracting pumpkins doesn't mean anything to the horse, and the pumpkins don't care about the horse.

[fuelingfire]

Alas, Lahabrea lacks specific plant communication skillz, Halmarut stole that specialization! He just gets generalized sapients.

time to find new places to leave pumpkins. including on horses, because why not even if nothing exciting happens.

[upcyclingmod]

Indeed. Though if the pumpkin falls off and smashes...well, their wrath will be inflicted on Lahabrea, not the horse.

[fuelingfire]

As well it should be, he put it there, AND he deserves everything he gets and more. Let's see where the pumpkin rolls!

so about that horse

[usurpurr]

chiming in late with starbucks and questions!

When riders are thrown from the horse, how long does it take for the chains, uniform, and whip/lantern to disappear? If they disappear at all. Are some people just getting free bone whips out of this. If they do disappear, does the horse return to being sad and dull at the same time?

Can riders direct the horse? Like, you know, an actual rider. I'm so eloquent. Or are they just along for the ride?

And, final question: is the horse deliberately out to kill people? Or is it more of it just doesn't care if someone's in its way?

[upcyclingmod]

Can't go wrong with starbucks and questions!

As soon as they hit the ground, it comes off! So...if they don't touch the ground with their full body, the uniform stays on for about a day. Oops. So Catra gets a bone whip for a day, sounds like the start of a fun book.

Whether the uniform disappears or not, the horse bolts, and goes on a bucking spree until they're out of sight. When they're seen again, they're back to the sad ol' horse wanting to just give people a ride.

Riders can try to direct the horse. While characters can attempt to direct with their knees if they're willful enough and cool under pressure...mostly Horse is having a GREAT time, and will ignore directions.

Also, Horse doesn't really care if someone is in the way. When it does move to trample someone which it can do (gleefully) it seems more on reflex then being bent on a murder spree. Though it IS very good at trampling. It's like someone trained Horse to be a very awful horse.

[escardos]

What potential do the pumpkins have of becoming an Actual Threat aside from staring at characters in a menacing manner?

[upcyclingmod]

None! They really think that if they scold silently, it'll make people apologize.

...though there may be one or two pumpkins that will drop from buildings on top of peoples heads. Those are the super angry ones.