hadriel_logs | Event log: Mirror, mirror

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Event log: Mirror, mirror

Who: Anyone and everyone!
What: Hope gives everyone mirrors with visions of their most hopeful future inside.
Where: Throughout the city.
When: March 14th-18th
Warnings: None so far!

On March 14th, all characters will stumble across mirrors at some point on their daily journey. Maybe your mirror is right under your pillow, maybe it's on your bedside table, or in the sink in your bathroom. It could be in a random store that you're scavenging, or somewhere along the path that you're taking to go to a friend's place. Wherever it is, it's positioned perfectly for you to find it- though you might want to be quick so someone else doesn't nab it first.

Each mirror is predetermined to hold one person's future and will be placed somewhere that they can find it on that day. Upon looking in their own mirrors, each character will see a version of their future that will fill them with hope. This vision has to be possible- or they have to think it's possible- even if it's unlikely. Picking up someone else's mirror will not change the image inside; you'll instead see that person's vision for their future.

In addition, during the first four days, until March 18th, characters will want to look into any mirror they can find, not just their own. So be a little careful if you want to guard your innermost hopes- someone might be trying to peek.

► This log covers March 14th-March 18th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► Please report any character deaths right here!

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[ Pell is in the same shop, coming around the other side of the shelves. He hears the girl here mutter and spots the mirror... and finds himself desperately battling the now-familiar urge to grab it and look. No. It's not his. But the images on it are flickering and catching his eye and-- no. He busies himself surveying the items on this shelf instead, then glances over at the girl curiously. ]

Hope?

Yeah. He's the one providing for us or whatever, right?

[Emily doesn't even look at the guy talking to her, too busy inspecting a shirt that might be nice if the fabric weren't cotton that has clearly never been washed after the shirt was made. It's ... come on. At least get them soft clothes.]

Is he? That's good to know. I just got here. [ He finds himself glancing at her mirror again and tears his eyes away to riffle through the stack of shirts in front of him. The sizing in this place is baffling -- things are labeled but it's all guesswork and holding things up to himself anyway. ] He's definitely inconsistent.

...

Do you think he's where these came from?

[ If she looks at him he's now holding up his own mirror, not looking at hers this time. It's turned halfway, images flickering temptingly over its surface. ]

Sorry your life is so shitty.

[She's not sorry. You can definitely hear it in her voice. Honestly, he's lucky he wasn't here in time to enjoy cannibal cuisine.

At his question, she has to look over and see what he's referring to. Before she answers, she folds the shirt and shrugs.]

Probably. It's kind of a dick move, but it's a lot less dickish than Fear and Rage would do.

[See also: last month.]

I've heard worse goes on, yes.

[ He was told to avoid the meat in the stores because of happy cannibal funtimes. While he's glad he missed that, it makes him worry for what else might be in store. Pell tucks his mirror back in his pocket after a quick glance and turns to face the girl. She doesn't seem especially friendly but she's not telling him to fuck off, either, so he'll keep talking. ]

You've been here awhile?

[Buddy, you have no idea.

Pell is lucky he's met Emily when he has. Last month, she was extra vicious, upset about the mountain, about being dragged here, about everyone being an asshole simply by virtue of being here. She'd been even worse when transforming.

Now, she's... thinking more, before she acts. Sort of. It depends.

Either way. Here we are.]

One whole month. Best month ever.

[She rolls her eyes, then picks her mirror up off the table, holding it close.]

Don't get comfortable.

[With the city. With the gods. With her. Definitely don't touch her mirror.]

Hope acts all good and giving, but he's still a dick.

[ That's a terrible time to arrive, from what he's been told. He feels for her -- his arrival has been bad enough without the horrors of the month before. ]

It sounds like they all are. I tend not to trust anyone with that much power.

[ He tucks his own mirror away again, then eyes the shirt she was looking at and smiles. ]

You should take it. It's a good color for you.

[Yeah. It sucked. And Emily has no faith that things will get better. But whatever, she doesn't want anyone's sympathy. She doesn't need it.]

Don't let them soften you on them.

[Which is to say, she doesn't trust anyone with that much power either (effective her arrival date). It's like a compliment, actually.

She looks at the shirt, wrinkling her nose at it.]

I know. [Duh.] The fabric is shit, though.

[She glances at him.]

Pretty much everything is shit. I don't know how Hope even survives. This is the most hopeless situation I can think of.

[Okay, not true. But it's definitely not hopeful.]

[ Emily gets a very serious nod for that; he won't soften on them, no matter what nice things they might do. He hasn't actually seen any kindness from the gods yet, it seems like they're just a presence to get used to, not to trust. ]

Everything? There must be something decent in here... I'll help you look.

[ That's a good point, though. He's feeling pretty hopeless at the moment. ]

How does it work? They feed off what we're feeling, right? Rage and Fear make sense but Hope? I guess there's no stopping some people.

I heard we could trade them, emotions for things we need.

[At his offer, Emily shrugs, not even looking at him as she answers.] Knock yourself out.

[Emily herself just frowns at the shirt in her hands for a few more seconds before tossing it aside. As Pell talks, she casts her gaze around the store, silently judging Hope for his taste (this is pitiful, goddamn) -- but the mention of trading gets her attention, and she turns to look at Pell.]

Yeah, we can. [She doesn't even bother with answering about how Hope feeds. Doesn't matter. He's stupid anyway.] I've heard of people doing that. ["I've heard" meaning "me, it was me, I bargained for something but haven't been able to get what I want because how the fuck do you inspire hope in people in a place like this.]

[ Pell moves down the rack, testing fabrics before anything else. He's determined to find her something halfway decent now. And himself, as he's used to decent clothes himself now. It won't be too hard to go backwards, but comfortable garments are a small thing to ask for in this situation. Especially since food has been compromised. These are the basics, Hadriel, come on. ]

What can we ask for? Small favors, or just anything, and they'll respond at their discretion?

[ He's not beyond asking the gods to bring someone else in, miserable as the place is. ]

[You know, Pell, if she finds that out about you, you'll have a friend in Em.]

I'm pretty sure they'll give you anything if you can argue why you want it.

[No lie, Pell, she's thought about that too.]

[ Perhaps she will, as he's frowning now, unable to find much at all. ]

I could argue their stupid godly ears off for him. But I'm almost afraid the more I want something, the less likely they'd be to give it to me.

[ Whoops. He freezes, realizing he let the 'him' slip out. That doesn't make him seem like a very good person now does it? To cover, he huffs and drops his hands from the racks of clothing. ]

Isn't it bad enough there's food off limits, that all the clothes have to chafe?

Edited 2016-03-19 21:13 (UTC)

[The 'him' doesn't faze her. She's still thinking about Matt. If Jess is still alive, then maybe Matt is, too.

She shrugs at Pell's assessment, though.] It's kind of like supply and demand. Economics. They're the only ones that can give you something you want that badly, so they can ask you for whatever they want in return.

[When he starts shittalking, though, she looks up at him and gives him the most indignant ugh she can muster.] Right? I mean, I just don't understand how a god can't get his shit together for long enough to get us good clothes. Like, at least give us softer cotton? For fuck's sake.

[ Economics isn't a term he's heard but he gets her point. Supply and demand; the gods can make them pay whatever price they set for things. ]

You're right, and it's not fair. But nothing about this is. [ He sighs angrily, all the frustration of the past week coming out. ] It's like you said, they're the only ones who can give us things. Maybe poor quality is less effort and he just doesn't care. Maybe they just want to watch us be miserable and the shit we have to eat and wear and live in is a subtle way to make things worse. Who knows? All they need is us alive, not comfortable, right?

[Yep, that's pretty much it. Emily nods and rolls her eyes. That's what frustrates her most about this mess. The absolute lack of control she has over what happens to her. Shit, she'd turned into a wendigo last month. She'd committed fucking cannibalism, and not by choice.

The least the gods could do is give them good clothes.]

Right, but isn't it fucked up that Hope doesn't give enough of a shit to try doing something that actually makes us hopeful? How is he even still alive?

[ Pell thinks back to his mirror, and wonders if he actually felt any hope seeing that, or just misery. He laughs bitterly. ]

Where's the god for despair? They'd be strong enough to do whatever they wanted.

Oh, totally. There must not even be a Despair. Or if there is, I don't think Hope will bring them back. Too much competition.

[Fear is bad enough, thanks, and nobody needs help feeling despair in this hellhole.]

I mean, god. Just looking at these lame excuses for clothes is killing me on the inside.

[ Pell holds up another item that's nice enough if not for the fabric, and frowns. ]

I wonder if there's some way we could make our own, if we had nicer fabrics... I've done that before. No idea where to find the supplies here, though.

You could try trading for good fabric, I guess.

[Truth told, the thought hadn't occurred to her yet. Given she still hasn't been able to get skin cream, though, she's not exactly inclined to try again. She's not one for acquiring debts, even if nothing is owed unless she gets something first. It's the principle of the thing.]

You know how to sew?

Just the basics. I used to help my mother and sister... and back in Saltrock it was hard to get clothes sometimes so we made our own. I got better at it there.

Leather isn't fun to stitch.

Oh. So like, hand stitching. [In a place with a weird name. Okay. Still cool, she guesses.] How long would it take you to make a shirt?

[She's genuinely curious. All her knowledge on that aspect of garment-making relates to sewing machines, so her estimates will be really off compared to his.]

That's all I know. I could probably do two a day, if I wasn't doing anything else.

[ And he's wracking up other things to do here, like working in the garden and clinic. ]

That's more than I know. [About sewing itself. Emily is perfectly capable of holding a discussion on clothes and fashion, patterns and fabric, types of stitches and all the rest as if she were already in the industry.

But actually making a garment wasn't something she'd ever done before. There was no need to try when plenty of talented people could do it.

Here, though... who knew?]

Maybe you could show me sometime.

[ The fashion and patterns side will be up to her, since in his world they just make things practical. He knows the styles of each tribe but it's probably nothing Emily would wear. What matters is that he knows how to work a needle. ]

Sure. I've got plenty of time. We could use a sheet or something for practice, the fabric's terrible but there's plenty of it. All I need is a string to measure, scissors, a needle and thread. I'm sure I can find that.

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unfollowing - 2016-03-31 14:42 (UTC) - Expand

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