Event Twenty-One

[awashmods]

Sometimes I feel happy, Sometimes I feel sad. Sometimes I feel curious, Sometimes I feel mad. Sometimes I feel silly, Sometimes I feel surprised. How many feelings, Do I have inside?

t's another regular, normal day in the Town. There's absolutely nothing to show that anything could possibly be wrong; the birds are chirping, the sky is bright, and everything is absolutely, entirely wrong. This time, though? The problem is internal. Slowly, bit by bit, people are going to stop feeling entirely like themselves -- or maybe even stop feeling at all. And suddenly that nice, bright day doesn't seem quite so nice and not quite so bright any longer after all. Welcome to Awash's Twenty-First event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to make your own logs and posts for this event! If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

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[espritdecorpse]

[ His eyes flick down, gazing at the floor. He was cruel to Wen Ning. He should never have used him as a weapon. But Wen Ning was his finest work: a fierce corpse with a will and mind of its own. No one had ever done such a thing before he did. But fierce corpses were his best weapons, as a demonic cultivator, so why shouldn't he keep his best fierce corpse close by and use him as that. Wen Ning had been eager to serve him, treated him as his master. It was so easy to do. It fed his ego, displaying Wen Ning's power for all to see, the mighty "Ghost General."

After a while, he recalls two memories. One, Wen Qing's joyous, tearful face when her brother's corpse awoke and called her name. Another, of Wen Ning carrying lotus root soup up the mountain, so someone else might enjoy it, as he himself of course couldn't eat it.

Wen Ning probably was grateful, despite everything. That's the sort of man he was. ]

The trees are brimming with malevolent magical energy. Since they started encroaching on the town, and since the dragons attacked, people have been cutting them down much more frequently. I've got a theory that they're fighting back, and that this—what's happening to people and their emotions, all over town—is related to that. It seems to me that the people who've cut down the most trees are the most significantly affected.

[pyrafect]

...And the more trees one cuts down, the less they feel.

[ Or so it would follow....

Hm.

There is one solution, she thinks. ]


Then. I will cut down as many trees as I can. [ She pushes herself off from the floor, rising slowly. ] ...I would rather feel nothing at all, than hurt someone who I know I care about. [ Even if she can't feel anything for him right now, it doesn't mean she's not... scared of the possibility of hurting him again. That seems to be the only thing she's doing now, hurting him, pushing him away. She's trying so hard, she really is. ]

1/2

[espritdecorpse]

[ Quickly: ]

No. Don't do that. It might take you longer to recover, if you cut down more trees.

[ He stands up at once, putting his hand out to stop her. But even as he does that, he knows it's an empty gesture. How can he possibly stop her, when she is so much stronger than he is.... ]

[espritdecorpse]

[ ...his eyes widen. He'd never allowed himself to think about something like this before, but now that it's crossed his mind, he realizes that it might be very possible. ]

There might be another way. If you trust me, that is.

[ He's self-aware enough that asking her that, after she'd rightly accused him of using Wen Ning, is beyond hypocritical, but it's the best solution he can think of. ]

[pyrafect]

[ She looks at his hand that is out.

She looks at him. ]

What is it?

[espritdecorpse]

[ He clears his throat. She might try to kill him again when she hears his idea but he can't not explore this. The idea of Pyra hurting others, fills him with so much empathetic pain, he can't bear it. ]

Humans have lines of energy flowing through their bodies, called meridians. Illness affects those energy lines, and you can heal a person by repairing them.

[ A beat ]

Conversely, you can fight by exploiting them, too. Pyra, I think your body also has something like meridians.

[ He's seen the way she can generate pure energy from her finger tips; it must mean that energy flows through her body as well. ]

If I can map them, I'd be able to stop you.

[pyrafect]

[ She thinks she would be happy to hear this. But she can't even bring herself to even smile at him when he talks about it, let alone say a very grateful thank you!

She wishes she could feel something more here, but she can't. And then there's the feeling that she still wants to cut out his heart so?? Yeah, she doesn't want to risk that! ]

Not today.

[espritdecorpse]

[ He swallows hard. He's treading on dangerous ground, of this he's well aware. But she needs help, desperately. Well, probably in her current state it was a bit much to ask, trusting him. He thinks about it some more. ]

In that case, you should leave this public place. Go home, or better yet find an empty, abandoned house. The best place would be in Flavo, the houses are more separated there. Stay there and don't leave until you feel your emotions return. I can—

[ come and check on you, he was going to say, but what if she took it into her head to try to kill him again? ]

—send someone to check in on you. Somebody strong, whom you'd have a hard time hurting.

[pyrafect]

[ She blinks slowly at him, her expression flat at first, and then she smiles at him, softly.

Except it's one of those false smiles back in its place, just like before, her tone entirely dispassionate and disconnected from her expression. ] Send no-one. It will be all right.

[ And then she nods, quietly, as if approving of her own input, and walks past him. ]

[espritdecorpse]

[ He watches her leave, gazing after her with a complicated expression. Once she's almost out of sight, he brings his fingers to his lips and blows a long whistle. He'll summon one of his puppets to keep an eye on her. If she destroys it, that's fine.

In the meantime, he knows: with or without her consent, he needs to figure out how to stop her safely, and soon. ]