October Event Log (HORROR PLOT)

[kaisoumods]

OCTOBER EVENT
Dominant Element: Earth
Waning Element: Water

Full Moon: 6th - 8th October

※
The fall weather continues as October begins. Kaisou's weather is perfect for the fall; the air is crisp and cool, and the trees are dressed in brilliant autumn hues. As they fall, they leave you with perfect crunchy leaves to kick through. The weather is cooler, but you can still go out with only a light jacket. The spirit vein is alive with browns and dark oranges, heralding an Earth dominant month .

TRIGGER WARNING: This event features heavy use of mental manipulation and gaslighting, strained relationships between CR, characters acting out of norm due to external factors, hallucinations/illusions, physical injury, and death. Please proceed with caution.

The Carnival's In Town

ALERT: SPIRIT REALM ANOMALY DETECTED
Element Classification: Earth
Danger Level: Medium - high
Designation: Omatsuri Carnival
Zodiac has detected a Spirit Gate at El Nido. We have noticed flyers attracting people to this area. Please visit the Zodiac offices for more information.

The Zodiac offices are not their usual bustling selves this month. Oh, sure, there's Halloween decorations up, it's clear that people are trying their best to enjoy the holiday, but something's off. Some staff members look worried, some look annoyed, buried under huge piles of paperwork. Luckily, Professor Barbie is soon on hand to shed some light on the situation.

She asks if you have seen the flyers going around town, advertising the Omatsuri Carnival - she then explains that a team of Zodiac workers when to the carnival as a team building experience. The strain to her smile tells you that this is the sort of corporate enforced fun office managers like to drop onto their staff from time to time. The problem is, the team went two days ago and they haven't come back. They have managed to get in touch with one of the team, but he only sent one message "staying on the beach, this is worse than the time you made us go bowling" and then stopped responding to any more messages. She knows Jarry doesn't like answering his phone to colleagues, but they're worried!

Barbie isn't quite sure what is going on - but she does say the earth elemental energy in this place is through the roof. There are readings for earth elemental energy like she's never seen before - even if this is an earth dominant month, this place is powerfully earth aligned. There's either a lot of earth energy spikes here, or there's something big. There's only one real way to find out!

A Little Slice of Paradise

Regardless of if you went through the El Nido gate to help Zodiac out, or if you simply woke up there as if some invisible force pulled you into the gate, the first things you'll notice is the spirit gate slamming shut behind you. It turns out people can come into the gate, but they cannot leave it. The beach looks pretty normal, thankfully, with a few people milling around, complaining to the bird staff attempting to run it - as if they have any control over the gate. You will also find a familiar face, lounging on a beach chair with a cocktail in his hand - it's everyone's favourite Zodiac employee, Jarry! He looks about as pleased to see you as he always does (which is not at all) and confirms Barbie's message, that they went here for a team building exercise. But the second Jarry saw the pathway to the carnival, he knew it was blatantly cursed and wouldn't go near it- the rest of the group went in, and he hasn't seen them since. He can't leave El Nido, so he decided he was just gonna wait it out on the beach until "you altruistic idiots went in and fixed it like you always do." Great, thanks Jarry. As you turn to the path he mentioned, you can see little twinkling lights and the far-off sounds of wurlitzer carousels and roller coaster tracks. Nothing unusual there- but those who have a sense evil power will find the vibes coming from this place are rancid. But you can't fix the problem by standing out on the beach - so off down the path you go.

A you walk along the jungle path, you find the air has a strange scent to it. It's like the heavy-pollen scent of a field of flowers on a summer's day. The more of it you breathe in, the more you forget about what you were here to do, or the desire to go back to the safety of the beach. By the time you pass through the jungle and into the clearing, you don't want to leave at all. And why would you? The carnival in the clearing is a beautiful place. Lights are strung up around the palm trees and classic carnival rides can be dotted around everywhere. A carousel with horses - paint still gleaming, turns round and round, a roller coaster races around a track to the delighted screams of the people inside the cars, a mighty ferris wheel rises up above them all - giving stunning views of the island. There are food stalls serving up delicious looking carnival fool - the smell of which wafts around, tempting you to partake. Beach cabins line a quieter space to the side - providing a place for people to sleep if they so wish - after all, why would you want to leave and go home to do that when you can do it here! Finally, there are games upon games upon games - it's clear this is the main focal point of the carnival. Ring toss, hook a duck, water pistols, milk cartons - there's just about every game you can think of and all are set up to encourage people to play with their friends, with notices saying the game can only begin if two or more people are playing.

The evil sense has not gone away, but the pollen in the air has made you feel less bothered about that with each passing minute. For those with an affinity to sense elemental powers, they will notice that this place is lousy with earth elemental power, even more so than you would expect in an earth dominant month, just like Barbie had said. This can be dismissed by the carnie staff running around, as they are all some form of plant people. They look vaguely human shaped, but have roots for arms, or sprouts growing up on the top of their heads. They all seem pretty cheerful, if not with that usual sense of suspicion that you're being scammed that come with all carnie workers. They greet everyone happily, enticing you to partake in all the carnival has to offer. Then an imposing figure with a flower on his shoulder appears. The flower has a happy smile and while it doesn't talk, it's clearly listening to everything around it. The man introduces himself as Baron Omatsuri, the owner of this carnival. He tells you that so long as you are attending with friends and loved ones then everything in his carnival is free. Personal bonds matter a great deal to him, he explains, and he wants his carnival to be an experience that people go through together, one that they will never forget! He encourages you to enjoy his carnival as a group, have a great time, and if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask his dear friends and staff and they will see to getting that done for you! If you question him about the disappearances, he waves you off, saying he's already looking into the matter, all you should have to worry about is enjoying the carnival. Another lungful of the pollen laced air, and you can't help but agree with him.

Breaking The Bonds That You've Made

It starts innocuously at first. Perhaps you won a game against a friend and they took the loss harder than usual, perhaps you crowed about your victory more than you normally would. Perhaps your brother stole your delicious sugar covered donut and crammed the whole thing in his mouth before you could protest and that really got under your skin. Maybe your friend was too short to ride the roller coaster and you decided to make a few ill-timed short jokes that genuinely upset them. No matter how it starts, the bonds you have with your loved ones feel more frayed the longer you stay here. Personality traits in your friends you normally grin and bear because you love them become unbearable. Suddenly that weird nervous tongue click your friend does is the most annoying sound on earth. You snap at each other far easier than usual and start to struggle enjoying being in one another's company.

It steadily gets worse, the exaggerated personalities you have been showing become more prevalent the longer you're in the carnival- your worst traits brought to the light to act as direct attacks on the people who you are with. If that wasn't enough, the pollen starts to make you hallucinate. You might hear voices in your head - perhaps they sound like the person next to you, making you think it came from them, saying something hateful, dredging something from your past aimed to hurt you badly. Perhaps you see someone else from your own past, pointing out what a danger your companion is to you - how you absolutely should be removing them from your life... Immediately. Maybe you see a hallucination of your friend doing something terrible, and feel the need to intervene in this behavior. Auditory or visual, the hallucinations feel so very real, and combined with the almost suffocating feeling of distrust, anger and betrayal you're feeling towards your companions, it isn't hard to lean into it. To push them away or straight up attack them. If that attacks end up with someone badly injured (or worse, a fatality) the plant people in the carnival quickly show up to take the person away - assuring you they will be taken care of. Considering how angry you feel about that person right now, you don't much care.

However it happens, some of you might get sick of this - of the screaming and the fighting and want to get yourself as far away from these people you thought you knew and trusted as quickly as possible. That, it turns out, is exactly what the residents of the carnival want. As you walk your way further into the jungle, away from the carnival, you start to realise that someone is following you. If you try to run, try to fight, it's as if the whole jungle itself is working against you. Vines reach out to grab you, roots rise up from the ground to trip you. When you're eventually cornered, some of the plant people show up from the darkness, they're quick to tie you up, holding you at spear point, pushing or even carrying you further into the jungle. If you struggle too much, the plants on top of their heads release a pollen which knocks you out. Either way, you're going where they want you.

All For The Love Of You

"Where they want you" ends up being the top of a hill in the jungle, where a strange, almost apple stem-like construct is sitting. They drag you up the spiral of the stem, to the pure white tip. You can see strange, black shapes laying on top of it- slowly sinking into the stem. After a moment, you start to realise with horror that those are people - people being slowly absorbed by the stem- those captured before you, the injured and the dead from fights, anyone who got separated from their groups. And they clearly plan for you to join them. No matter how you try to struggle, the plant people make sure that you can't fight back, can't escape, and casually push you onto the pure white surface. It's like being stuck to it by glue- and you can feel your whole self sinking into it. If you're lucky enough, you might have been unconscious for the entire process. If not? Well, you certainly get to feel your life essence slowly ebb away, into the stem. You can scream and beg for help, but you have abandoned your friends. There's no one left to help you.

If you have not been captured, you likely noticed your friends missing - even if you no longer see them as such at this point. If you're smart, you go looking for them in groups - you will not be hunted if you stay together. You'll find parts of the jungle where fights clearly broke out - where your (ex?) friends were fighting for their lives. Go further in and you'll find the spot they were last. While your companion's body is gone, what is left is a perfect replica, made of plant matter, just laying there - open eyed, staring in horror at something. It's very clear something is killing you all, one by one.

The entire time this has been happening, Baron Omatsuri has been mingling around you, watching the breaking bonds with a smile on his face. Notably, as people start to go missing, the flower on his shoulder is continually chewing something. When he's finally confronted about the missing people, he'll try to brush it off by telling you that they abandoned you, so they're not true friends, are they? If you push him enough, eventually he snaps. He tells you they're better off where they are and you're better off without them. You likely didn't want a sob story now he's told you that your loved ones are dead, but you get it anyway. He tells you that he was a pirate captain, and the plant people you see dotted around are his crew. A horrific storm wrecked his ship and killed his crew, leaving him with no one. The island he washed up on had a sentient flower- the Lily Carnation. It brought his crew back as plant simulacrums - but he had to keep feeding it with other people to keep them functioning. As he fully believes all friendships do end painfully, he has taken it upon himself to destroy friendships - the pollen from his plant sows discord and well, all those lost people might as well be food for the plant, right? To keep the carnival and the inhabitants of it alive and running.

So now there it to do is fight the baron - you might not be able to get your friends back, but it's clear if you don't fight him, you will not survive this experience. With the charade well and truly up, the baron's plant changes. It grows large and sinuous, like a thick vine, and within the vine? You can see the bodies of those killed by the plant, pressed up against the green "skin" of the plant. They scream and moan as if they're still alive, though they're definitely not. The ones of you left will need to band together to fight the baron and the giant, snapping Lily Carnation on his shoulder. It's clear you cannot do this fight alone, he is quite literally a two-in-one battle. Teamwork really does make the dream work though, and once you have beat him down, the plant on his shoulder shrieks in rage as it dies- the baron dying with it.

Aftermath

With the baron and the Lily Carnation dead, all the plant people die with it. The carnival shows itself to be an illusion. What was once a shinning, beautiful space is instead shown to be a rotted, abandoned space, covered in plant growth and fungus. Those who had been devoured by the plant wake up on the beach, largely unharmed. Except for the trauma. That's definitely there. The denizens of El Nido are grateful, happy to be able to get back to the rest of their realm. Jarry looks less thrilled to have his coworkers back, but them's the breaks sometimes. You can now leave the El Nido gate, to return to Kaisou and try to mend the relationships the experience has damaged.

OOC plotting post can be found here.

Comments

[kowase]

...But I am sure if it. It is what you...

[ confused, the devil shakes his head. Had Zulius said that stuff? Just like how Diarmuid had somehow turned into Dante.

It doesn't matter. Arguing this line of semantics didn't matter. Because what did matter was two different parts of the conversation. The fact that he'd done it 'For Zulius'--and ...

... ]

In the moment, all I could think about was the times you came home after things happening on this date. How you--and others--spoke about being attacked by their friends, and how people turned on each other. I was determined to keep that from happening. ....In the moment, I thought even if you got angry at me for it, I.

[ You, what, Vergil. ]

I would be able to shoulder that anger so long as you did not have to die again.

[ where

is

diarmuid. ]

Diarmuid is...

...Was.

A servant.
It's... likely that when he died he. Didn't leave a body. [ what was it that Waver told him.

What were the exact words? ]

[bebest]

Well, it wasn't. You're my freaking rock, why would I ever say that about you?

[Vergil provides an explanation, and Zulius can feel his stomach sink. He's always known who Vergil is. What Vergil is. And he's loved him because of that. He knows Vergil is jealous and possessive. Willing to do just about anything to keep him safe.

He just never realised until right now how far that "anything" might take them. His breath catches a few times as he tries to keep himself calm. As he tries to stop himself from crying his heart out. No no no no. When he looks at Vergil again, he doesn't look angry. He looks hurt. He looks scared.]

Please tell me that - that killing people I care about was just... was just whatever was going on here. It was just the crazy from that Baron? You wouldn't do that if you were in your right mind, right?

[ There's a desperation to his tone that's almost never there. He's terrified of what the response might be and it's very clear he is. It has to be because of the Baron. It has to be.

He frowns at the explanation, shaking his head.]

I don't understand. What does that- Does that mean he won't come back?

[ Please, god, don't make this permeant. ]

[kowase]

I don't know. I don't know, it's what I... [ he's sure he said it. He's sure--he's sure Dante was there too, now that he thinks about it, now that he has the moment to straighten out his wild thoughts in the moment. Why was Dante there? He shakes his head with a sharp twist again--hands free of his sword, they're free to drag through his hair, to try to straighten his thoughts out.

And then, he freezes. His eyes sliding over to look at Zulius, to take in that look of fear that absolutely sinks his guts straight down into hell.
No, no of course he wouldn't, he--he wouldn't, right? He wouldn't. ]

No. No, I wouldn't --no. No, Zulius! [ he reaches out to try to take the others' shoulders with his hands, but--how scared the other looks makes him hesitate, his hands hovering over him but not sure if touching the other right now would be a comfort or another reason to fear him. Fuck. Fuck, fuck fuck-- ]

There was something wrong with--everything in the moment. The magic in the air, it changed things. It changed-- I aimed to kill because He--Dante, for a moment all I could see was Dante. Such a blow would never kill him, I wasn't considering who my target was, otherwise I'd have just -- gotten him to back off, to retreat, to run...

[ he killed

Diarmuid. ]

When ... Servants die.
They don't leave a corpse.

They turn back into magic and ...disappear.

[ waver's magic released and... Diarmuid would be just. Gone. ]

[bebest]

[Zulius watches Vergil, unsettled, ears pinned back. He watches his partner trying to muddle his way through all of this. He loves this man with all his damn heart, something that's taken a good long time for him to allow himself to do. To give his heart to someone else without the fear of it actually being broken again.

For a brief, horrible second, he'd been scared of that choice. When Vergil had been so damn determined to kill anyone that he deemed was a "threat" to him. It had seemed so... unlike him. But people can change. Oh, Zulius knows how people can change.

It's when Vergil reaches for him, though, looking so devastated and sorry, that cements it in Zulius' mind that his worry wasn't needed. Vergil assures him that he wouldn't do that in his right mind and Zulius puts faith in him for that. So he exhales softly, bridging that gap between them to take one of Vergil's hands in two of his, pulling it closer to him - pulling Vergil close to him. ]

Okay. Okay, mi amor, I believe you.

[ He listens to the explanation, nodding. That makes sense. That makes horrible, terrible sense. ]

You were talking to him like he was Dante, and he was talking to you like you were... someone else, too. I- [ he hesitates, he doesn't like talking about the cabin, but: ] our minds were totes altered in the Cabin. It made us act like we never would've otherwise. It... I guess this was that again. But somehow WORSE? Especially if you were both seeing things.

[ He lets that final piece of information settle on him. He swallows hard. ]

What- Verg, what does that mean? [VERGIL is a Servant now. What does that mean for him? Was he right to be so frightened about the potential of him dying so long ago?] Is... is he just gone?

[kowase]

[ when Zulis hugs him, it's like he was given some sort of unspoken permission to finally touch the other back. His arms moving to surround the other with a full embrace--he keeps it loose, just in case--he'd just spent *days* smothering the other with a possessive, dangerous air, after all. He just wants to--comfort the other, not freak him out furthur. Especially with the conversation he knows he has to have, now. ...Especially with the reality of the situation being what it is. He's going to have to leave this place, he's going to have to face Waver... ]

I cannot just... entirely blame the Baron's magic. I lost myself. And I will spend as much time as I need to mending it so you feel safe around me once more. Even if it takes months. Or more than that.

[ he's serious about that. especially with their anniversary coming up in the coming month--the worst gift to give would be to break the others' heart again, honestly.

though he feels there's no avoiding that as he... knows he has to tell Zulius what. 'He's gone' means, exactly. ]

When someone with a large amount of magic takes care of--or summons a Servant, such as Gilgamesh or Diarmuid. It's their power that keeps them grounded. Solid, in the world. It is why when Gilgamesh returned into his own power, he needed a human anchor. Someone to tie him to the world.

Waver Velvet is Diarmuid's anchor. ...But, when a Servant is killed, instead of leaving behind a corpse or passing away like a normal being would, it ... 'releases' that anchor. The human tied to the servant is forcibly severed from their contract with the spiritual being, and their magic is returned. ...But it also means that the Servant... disappears, from the world. As if they were never in it to begin with. As their body is that of magic, not flesh and blood.

[ Diarmuid is

just. Gone. ]

[bebest]

[Zulius can feel the looseness in Vergil's embrace. He pushes back any leftover hurt wanting him to keep his distance, because he knows that it wasn't Vergil. Not truly. Vergil told him that he would never do this otherwise, and Zulius will take that as an absolute fact.

So, heaving out a soft sigh, he wraps his arms tighter around his partner, giving him a solid, strong squeeze. Showing he was going nowhere - absolutely nowhere.]

I mean, it sounds like that was that guy's whole Schick. Like, messing with things already there. And yeah, YEAH, you've got a lot of people to apologise to later, Honey- that'd be a good start. [He lets out a soft huff, fingers moving to tangle in Vergil's hair. He leans in to press a little kiss on top of Vergil's head.]

I'm not- look, Babe, I feel safe around you. I wasn't afraid for me. I just- [he's quiet for a moment, unnaturally so, mulling over his response ] I was scared for other people. I know you'll never hurt me, but the thought you might hurt other people I care about? That's what freaked me out. I don't want people I care about to be hurt - way less over me!

[ He lets that information sink in, and it makes his chest hurt. ]

So... so he's just- [ His ears pin back. ] Nope! No! I can't believe that. This is Kaisou, there's GOT to be a way around that, right? He's got to come back.

[kowase]

...So long as you feel safe. I don't want you to feel anything but secure at my side. Otherwise I'd hate myself for being another blackened scar across your heart. You do not deserve such pain.

[ he ... likely really needed that solid, hard squeeze. the reassurance that he can fix this, even if it takes time, even if he has to spend more years than he has making sure Zulius knows He'd never act like--That Vergil were he in control of his own actions, his own mind. Perhaps he'd have still fought Diarmuid, but he would have never wounded him so greviously, he wouldn't have DARED turned his blade towards his heart--and he certainly wouldn't claim his violent acts were on behalf of another.

He listens to everything that Zulius has to say, closing his eyes a little to rub at his face with a rough palm as he tries to get his head back from wherever it's gone floating off to.
breathe.
think.
consider.

don't lose it to despair just after coming back from literal death. this wasn't the end for him and the rest--so maybe there was
something
some way

that Diarmuid would return. ]

I need to contact Waver.
When I get out of here, I need to speak to him. [ and yet. ] But I can already feel the cowardly part of this human's heart wanting to do anything but face the man right now.

[bebest]

Well, you're absolutely not allowed to hate yourself. I'm never gonna let you do that. I promise I'll always feel safe with you, Baby. [Though having the fact this heart of his has been scarred acknowledged does matter a lot. Zulius is bad at doing that. Remembering it deserves a little extra care at times.

As Vergil rubs at his face, he leans in to press a few gentle kisses to his partner's forehead, to his cheeks, the tip of his nose. Little loving pecks to chase away the spectres lingering there.]

Shhhh, shhh. Sono qui, ti amo.

[ But Vergil is right. He has to speak to Waver. He can't not. Not after everything has happened. Zulius brushes his fingers through those silver locks a few more times, before sighing softly. ]

...Yeah, Babe. I know. But he has a right to know. Do you want me to go with you?