Event Log: A Jar Full of Sunshine

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone!
What: The Jar Full of Sunshine event
Where: Throughout the city
When: May 3rd-May 9th
Warnings: Fireflies as a conduit for drug use. Annoyingly catchy songs.

On May 3rd, you may wake up and notice that something is different about the cave. Are you sure it's the daytime? Maybe you didn't sleep long enough, because it still seems pretty dark outside. Or, of course, the gods are messing with the lights again.

This time, however, it seems like it's actually a good thing. Sometime around the afternoon, some smaller lights begin to appear around the city, trickling in from Delight's temple and flickering on and off. These fireflies are brighter than what you might be used to, but being illuminated by their light will mysteriously allow a small surge of joy to rumble through you.

By May 4th, the shops are stocked with large mason jars, and you can start distributing them and using them to catch these fireflies as you wish. They're most concentrated in and around Delight's temple, but by now, the delight-erflies are pretty fairly spread throughout the city.

Be careful (or don't) of how many you catch! 1-3 fireflies in a jar will be enough to give you a mild emotional boost, at 4-6 you might be able to realize that you're definitely happier than you used to be, at 7-10, you can definitely tell that something is making you more cheerful, warm and happy. Beyond 10 fireflies, the additional effect gets smaller the more fireflies you capture, but it will still continue to build until you may just spend the next few days wrapped around your firefly jar in a pleasantly drugged stupor.

Just, uh... don't forget to eat.

► This log covers May 3rd-May 9th.
► 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!
► Did you OD on fireflies (is that even possible)? Please remember to hit up our death post!

Comments

BLU Scout || OTA

[bring_the_beatdown]

Scout hadn't been super interested in the fireflies at first, he'd seen tons of them back home and at the base. It was kinda cool how many of them there were and that they were actually lighting the place up. But catching them in jars was kids stuff. And he was nineteen . An adult.

One of the fireflies had alighted on his hand and crawled around and it felt sorta cool. It was neat you know? And then it flew away and he was a little sad about that.

So he broke down and got a jar, a healthy stash of fireflies inside buzzing around as he grinned at the jar like an excited little kid.

[synthedick]

While he's seen people here and there catching fireflies, Nick has mostly been avoiding them himself, carefully brushing the insects away when they start landing on him. Even though he's a machine, he can feel the upswing in his mind that they bring easily enough. It's best not to let himself get swept up too much into anything the gods throw at them, he reminds himself, even if that something is as seemingly innocuous as mood-lifting bugs. A little pick-me-up isn't so bad, but in a town where emotions are manipulated by the people in charge, there can definitely be too much of a good thing.

However, not everyone is taking the same level of caution with these bugs as Nick is, so he keeps up his patrols, watching the rest of the town for any major changes in the populace, especially dangerous ones. So far, so good, but there's no telling what the next street will bring.

As it turns out, the park has a surprise for him when he makes it there -- one he never expected when he started his route, setting off to make sure people weren't getting too happy from the infestation. As he passes through the area, he spots someone among the trees, a jar in his hands, his face dimly lit from the flickering within. Nick heads over, keeping his pace slow, relaxed -- he doesn't want to unsettle anyone with his appearance, given the glowing eyes and torn skin, but he gets the feeling this stranger is probably too enthralled by his prize to worry much about an old synth like him.

"Looks like quite a collection you've got there," he says, still closing the gap between them.

[bring_the_beatdown]

"Yea!" Scout doesn't even really react, totally entranced with the bugs in the jar. "I should get more huh? Like this is a lot but is it enough?"

He shakes his head finally looking up at Nick. "Holy crap."

Jumping to his feet he starts to get closer, because this dude looks like he's made of metal and that's super cool, but as he takes a step away from the jar he gets a really weird feeling. Like sudden sadness or something and he glances back at the jar. When he moves closer to it he immediately feels better.

This should be a lot more alarming but Scout isn't known for his critical thinking skills. He opts to grab the jar and tuck it under his arm as he approaches the stranger.

[synthedick]

Nick stops as the kid shows clear apprehension regarding his appearance, opting to let Scout come to him instead. He's found it makes it easier for some folks if they can come to terms with what he looks like in their own time; some never do, but those who can look past his worn appearance are met with someone more human than he looks.

His eyes glow bright in the dim light around them, yellow like the fireflies lingering in the air as he looks the kid up and down, trying to put a finger on why he seems vaguely familiar. Maybe he's passed him a time or two on his route. "You ought to be careful about getting too many of those things, especially if they were sent by one of the gods."

[bring_the_beatdown]

"Dude. You look freakin awesome." Up close it's evident that he's missing some skin and there's visible wires and a distinct mechanical look to him. He looks like Engie in a few years actually.

If Engineer was also some sort of private investigator.

"What's wrong with 'em?" He clutches the jar to his chest possessively as if Nick is some sort of firefly thief.

[synthedick]

Well... that was not the reaction Nick had expected. His looks had been called a lot of things, but 'awesome' was not one of them.

He fights down that smile that edges onto his face and answers his question. "They're from the gods. Given what all they've done to us in the past, that ought to be answer enough."

[bring_the_beatdown]

Scout shrugs, eyeing the bugs in the jar. "They look okay."

Not that the food that had turned him into a wendigo had looked different. "I want 'em."

[synthedick]

Nick shrugs. "All right. But don't say I didn't warn you."

He looks down to the jar. In the dim light behind the glass, there's a metallic glint against Scout's chest, one that draws the synth's attention. His eyes narrow, focusing on the details, as usual: blue shirt, dog tags—

Dog tags. Of all the people he'd met in Hadriel, seen face-to-face, he hadn't met a single one sporting a set of those -- not that he thought others wouldn't have them, but now that he's looking the kid over again, he knows where he's seen this picture before. Tags; the scraps of a tattered, blue shirt; a lanky, emaciated body with long clawed hands that still had some taped wrapped around them -- the wendigo.

He's silent as his mind puts the pieces together, but his expression is one of immediate, muted horror.

[bring_the_beatdown]

Scout doesn't understand, clutching the fireflies tighter. "Don't look at me like that. I don't got that many like that guy who's not eating or whateva. I got this under control."

He looks down at his precious fireflies, can't help but grinning as he watches them flit about. "You guys hungry? Gonna introduce you to the magic of pizza. You're gonna love it."

[synthedick]

Scout doesn't recognize Nick; he doesn't remember his time as a wendigo, that time Nick tried to help him... that time Nick was forced to put down a person who'd been changed against their will, manipulated into becoming a monster. And somehow, that just makes Nick feel that much worse for what happened. He hadn't been able to save the boy -- he'd played right into the gods' game, had to choose between his own life, or that of the monster that was hunting him down.

No, not a monster -- a kid. A damn kid. The gods might have no shame in what they do or who they affect, but the synth certainly does.

"You can't feed 'em pizza, kid," he remarks, his eyes locking on the jar so he doesn't have to look Scout in the face. "They're bugs. They require a certain kind of care."

He pauses. "I could probably show you a thing or two if you want." If Scout would trust him that much.

[bring_the_beatdown]

"Oh yeah? And what do you know? Everything eats pizza, it's like ... the most pure food in existence." He grins down at his little bugs, totally missing Nick's internal crisis.

"Sides, what do you know about eating?" He's assuming a lot here, especially after having met Nick about five minutes ago, but he can see the wires through the missing skin in his neck, assumes he's some sort of automaton thing.

[synthedick]

Nick sets aside that internal crisis for a second; someone is getting a smart lip with him.

"I know more about eating than you do about fireflies," he cuts back. Scout may have some semblance of a point, though just because Nick doesn't have to eat doesn't mean he can't if he wants to. The Institute was kind enough to load him up with the correct parts before trashing him.

[bring_the_beatdown]

"Prove it!" He looks at his jar of fireflies, then back at Nick.

"Aight smart guy, what am I supposed to feed 'em?"

[synthedick]

Crossing his arms, Nick assesses the jar carefully. He's no expert in pet care, and certainly not in that for insects -- most of the ones in the Commonwealth were irradiated, gigantic, and hostile. He has, however, read a few things, has a few memories from the original Nick Valentine, and once tried to help a man who really wanted to train a radroach to be a pet. Strange folks came through Diamond City sometimes.

"You're going to need water, first of all. Maybe a mesh over that jar instead of a lid so they can breathe." He pauses before adding, "I'll help you look, if you want."

[bring_the_beatdown]

Scout tilts the jar a bit so he can see them better, analyzing if this is some sort of trap to kill his precious little glowbugs. It doesn't seem to be, but he's suspicious. This guy is a robot, and he kills robots daily, and he's also kinda dressed like Spy. Two strikes against him already.

"They'll drown if they get wet though. They're bugs, they're kinda stupid." That's the extent of his insect knowledge is watching curious flies get to close to Demo's scrumpy and then dying instantly.

"Aight, screen. That makes sense I guess." Air is good, more air is probably better, and then they won't squeeze out the holes in the top. "Yeah okay. Whaddeva."

He starts walking off in a random direction, clutching the jar to his chest as he begins the hunt to make the best firefly cage ever.