Event: Mirror Image

[trainmasters]

Who: everyone!
When: Day 19 evening and on
Where: outside

[As darkness falls in the jungle, an unusually chill breeze rustles through the trees. In its wake is silence, the purified fauna going quiet as if in dread.

Is it just you, or is the night darker tonight?

You may find the cause if you leave the train. Those who are caught alone outside will see the shadows grow suddenly long. The darkness coalesces into a vaguely human form, vague and faceless but radiating cold.

Before you can react the shadows surround you. Deep within, your most bitter, unpleasant feelings rise up in your chest. It's overwhelming, threatening to consume you, but just before it can it suddenly stops. The shadows recoil, dissipating into the jungle.

You're safe, but those negative feelings might be closer to the surface than usual.

Good luck, especially if you're one of the newbies just waking up.]

[NOTES: This event will OOCly end on Wednesday, but feel free to ICly push time forward as much as you like. There will be a followup post at that time, and you can schedule player-run trials any time after.

The emotional effect of this event can be as severe as you want. Your character could just be a bit grumpy, or they could find their emotions totally out of control. The effect lasts a couple of hours or until the character counters it with happier feelings.]

Comments

[bad_crowmance]

[ On the one hand: Crow is excellent at not looking as annoyed as he feels. His expression doesn't even flicker from his casual, ever-present grin when the wave of black feelings courses through him-- through all of them. It would almost certainly be disconcerting for anyone who could read minds and realize the sheer depths of the cognitive dissonance.

On the other hand: Once the shadows retreat in to the jungle, Crow sets up some targets and is practicing shooting with his orbal guns. One, two, three, four, five, six. Reset the targets. Repeat. One, two, three-- ]

[saddleclub]

[Wow you know who is probably not safe to be feeling as angry as Jusis guesses Crow is feeling based on how angry Jusis himself is feeling? It's Crow. Crow's not safe. So Jusis wanders out to watch for a moment but decides fast that shooting targets looks more frustrating than relieving.]

Spar with me.

[bad_crowmance]

[ It's a good thing Jusis realize how super unsafe an angry bird is, because unfortunately not a lot of people here do. And he's not wrong, target practice is boring and unsatisfying and doing nothing at all to relieve the pressure building up inside of him. The grin he flashes at Jusis has an edge to it as he turns aburptly from the targets to face Jusis. ]

You're on.

[saddleclub]

[He summons his sword, flicking it to the side with his usual nonchalant flourish.]

Well then, don't hesitate and come at me.

[He'd like to say "don't hold back" but even with an amnesiac Crow he's not entirely sure he can withstand that. Well, he can always just fight defensively and keep his guard up to the point that Crow can't land a hit, but it's a bit unsatisfying to himself if he can't fight back, too. He's also frustrated, filled with annoyance and anger to the boiling point.]

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow remembers enough with his guns to be good and more than enough to be dangerous. He doesn't remember everything, obviously, but it'll be more than enough to face Jusis one-on-one.

That being said, he doesn't hesitate at all when he points his guns at Jusis and fires. He doesn't have the CP to pull off anything big to start with, but that's honestly probably for the best all things considered. ]

[saddleclub]

[That's fine it's not like he's never been shot at before. He never expected Crow to hesitate in the first place either, and he's certainly not going to hold back in his attacking him with a sharp sword.

They're both going to end up pretty bruised and battered if Jusis has any say.]

[bad_crowmance]

[ Sharp swords are very effective fighting tools, Crow would miss his if he remembered it in the first place. That being said, while Crow is really good even with amnesia, there's absolutely no way Jusis isn't going to get some damned good hits in too-- and Crow doesn't even have any Tearal Balms with him. Then again, that wouldn't be very satisfying either.

Crow's going to keep fighting until one or both of them are too exhausted to keep going. ]

[saddleclub]

[Jusis won't stop until he literally just can't stand anymore. Dropping gracelessly to his knees and flopping back. He's exhausted and sweaty and worn out but it's actually dispelled a little of the anger. At least, he's too worn out to feel passionate about anything but catching his breath.]

Enough.

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow's not quite at the point of dropping, but he's hunched over and panting from exertion, so it's close enough. He hadn't even notice the tension bleeding away from him, the pressure easing-- He enjoyed their sparring session, there's no two ways about it. He doesn't holster his guns immediately, mainly because that would require him to lift his arms up even a little and he's tired. ]

Heh... had enough?

[ As if he isn't close to that himself! ]

[saddleclub]

Come here and I'll show you how much I've had.

[Getting up and going over to Crow is too much effort but no way is he taking that comment laying down. Aside from the fact that he's laying down.]

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow laughs at that and flops down next to Jusis.... sitting, not laying down, but within arm's reach. ]

I'm sure you'll get right on that.

[saddleclub]

[He lifts a hand and like. Punches Crow's thigh. Lightly.]

Don't sass me you incorrigible ruffian.

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow lets out a huff of laughter. ]

Pretty sure that's just who I am as a person.

1/2

[desirestruth]

[See, she was trying to sleep it off. the problem is she picked a jackal form, so the orbal shots absolutely woke her up which is probably while she walked outside, walked right onto the range, ripped whatever he put the target on right out of the ground over her head, all before she's aware enough to realize who she walked past to get here.]

2/2

[desirestruth]

[Oh. It's Crow. We like Crow. We should probably not throw this at Crow.

...It takes a worryingly long couple seconds before she puts the target back down.]

[bad_crowmance]

You know, you really shouldn't get so close to someone's line-of-fire when they're in the middle of shooting, Naeva.

[ His tone is mild, pleasant even. ]

[desirestruth]

And you really should try to remember some of us aren't diurnal when you're doing something that can be heard for miles, but here we both are.

[Hers isn't. It's actually audibly irritated.]

[bad_crowmance]

Whoops, my bad.

[ It might help if he looked or sounded at all sorry about that. ]

It just seemed like a good time for some target practice!

[desirestruth]

Does shooting still targets actually help?

[Naeva do not sass him you don't have your combat abilities back.]

[bad_crowmance]

It's not as good as live practice but I've gotta keep my skills sharp.

[ It's very hard to keep himself from just shooting at her right now for disturbing him. ]

[desirestruth]

[That would end extremely poorly for everyone involved.]

...The geckos are still there.

[She hovers on the edge of saying something else, but instead leaves it at that, throwing the statement out like a gauntlet.

She wants to bite something. A gecko might do.]

[bad_crowmance]

[ He's still got just enough self-control on his temper to not shoot her, anyway. Crow takes a moment to consider her words, and then holsters his guns into nothingness by his hips. Don't think too hard about that. ]

In the jungle, right? ....You coming with?

[desirestruth]

It's better than the alternative.

[She considers this, huffs at the air...and growls, since she still can't smell anything.]

Try not to lose me.

[POP. Now she's a jackal. Now she can track them by scent. Good thing her collar's bright orange, isn't it?]

[bad_crowmance]

[ It's a good thing that her collar's bright orange and he's athletic enough to keep up with her as long as she isn't going faster than a human is capable of. That being said, he's also keeping his ears out for geckos or any other monsters in the area himself. ]

[desirestruth]

[Well, they'll find a gecko pretty fast. there are just...two problems. One, naeva bought her strength back but not her hand-to-hand combat, so instead of shifting back this tiny ass jackal just latched on to a gecko's leg and yanked it off a tree like the world's weirdest terrier.

Two, uh. She's a melee combatant. He's not. Please don't shoot the dog.]