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

May 3rd

[quaerit]

[ Being from Virginia, Gansey is technically from the Upper South. He's used to calling these particular bugs fireflies, though. His general appreciation for anything that sounds more rustic than he is has him smiling at Sam's question. ]

Fireflies. Yes, I suppose so. They remind me of home.

[ Not his own home, specifically, but Ronan's home - The Barns, close enough to the town of Henrietta to still technically be part of it, and far enough away to hold a bit of rural isolation. Ronan loves that place, and Gansey interminably associates it with him. It's full of fireflies.

That, potentially, is why Gansey isn't afraid of them. Generally speaking, insects - especially the flying kind - have a way of setting his nerves on edge. He dislikes tiny things that fly, especially if any element of them buzzes. His mind is always so determined to jump to the idea that it could be a wasp, or a hornet, or a bee.

These are so clearly not that, though. And even if his anxiety had been a factor, the general feeling of benevolence coming from the fireflies would have eased it away. He likes being among them. He's standing almost perfectly still, letting them fly around him, and thoroughly enjoying the fact.

The why of that hasn't quite occurred to him yet. ]

It's a bit of a sudden infestation, isn't it? I wonder if the Door brought them. I quite like them, though.

[hollowly]

( he's been through parts of virginia more times than he can count by now – and the cases that had brought him and his brother through are all a part of memories that jumble and tangle themselves together regardless of whether or not he tries to keep it all separate, compartmentalized – and it's almost funny, because when gansey speaks, he can hear and identify the accent immediately. it's a bit comforting in a way that he can't quite put his finger on, but he rolls with it, chalking it up to sheer circumstance.

he gives a small laugh, an even smaller nod of agreement. ) Me too. Kinda. ( or what home could have been when he was younger, if he'd been allowed to have a home with four walls that didn't constantly move themselves around, a bed that was fitted with his own sheets instead of those of some dingy motel with threadbare carpet that always, no matter where they happened to be, felt a bit tacky beneath his bare feet. ( this might lend to the fact that he wears socks constantly, even as an adult, but that's neither here nor there. )

he can't say he has the same aversion to insects, but he can definitely relate to the feeling about the ones that buzz; he'd stepped on a bee once, when he was very small, and the thing had only done what had been in its nature to do – but he'd ended up stung and sullen about it, with a swollen foot and a laughing brother for the better part of an afternoon. the moral of this story is: flying, buzzing bugs are bad. there is nothing good about them.

sam hums a small note that seems to catch in the back of his throat, and it's an affirmation. ) Kinda seems like it, yeah. I've never seen so many in one place before. ( there's a thoughtful pause. ) It's weird – but they aren't hurting anything. ( right?

he chuckles. ) They're pretty, at least.

[quaerit]

I don't think they're anything to worry about.

[ This is not actually true, but Gansey can't really see that for the moment. There is danger in obsessing over the fireflies, just as there had been danger of overdosing at Delight's bar, or spending too much time focusing on Hope's mirrors. There's always a danger.

But when the thing tempting you in is sheer happiness, it's not very easy to step back. ]

My guess is they're from the gods, and since they seem to make everyone feel good, that must mean either Hope or Delight. Delight, probably, since they don't overly make me hope for anything.

[ They're just a natural high. Gansey moves while they flit around him, unconsciously lifting his hand towards them. It's a moment before he remembers what else Sam said. ]

Oh. Where's home, for you?

[hollowly]

( there's always going to be a danger in focusing too much on one thing, especially here. granted, his problems had all previously been due to the fact that he had either stuck his nose where it didn't belong or he hadn't fully thought things through – which, for him, is pretty par for the course – but he can see how this could be incredibly dangerous, especially if one were to allow themselves to be dragged down into an effectively drugged stupor. all for want of a little bit of happiness, and even that isn't entirely genuine.

everything has its price; he's known that for far longer than he can remember, but it still comes as something of a surprise when new and innovative scenarios are presented to him without context.

he nods, though, at the explanation. it's along the same lines as what he's been thinking, himself, but hasn't gotten around to putting a voice to. and it's a little comforting to know that, at the very least, it doesn't sound so strange coming from someone else. ( because you know how something might sound perfectly sane to you, but then you say it out loud … yeah. )

they both watch the fireflies for another couple of silent moments, and then: ) Kansas. Born in Lawrence, moved around a lot when I was a kid, ultimately went back to Lebanon. ( he doesn't mention what exactly had brought him back to the state of his birth, but a different city – but only because it isn't of much consequence. )

What about you? ( a beat. ) Have you been here long?

[quaerit]

Kansas.

[ Gansey can't help a little smile. One of the fireflies is brushing his fingertip, and he lets it land for a moment before it skips away again. ]

And now you're over the rainbow. Must be wonderful.

[ The murdercave is hardly the Emerald City, but there's enough magic here that Gansey doesn't think the comparison is too far off. The fireflies make him feel so calm and happy that he isn't really concentrating that hard, and again, it takes a few moments for Sam's words to crystallize in his mind. ]

Virginia. Henrietta is home, but I don't know if you know it. Most people here don't.

I've been here four months. [ A pause. ] Christ, it really doesn't feel like that long.

[hollowly]

At least if I see the Wicked Witch, I'll know how to handle it. ( he has no idea how many wizard of oz jokes have been made whenever he mentions where he's from, but they never fall short of a laugh, even if it's short-lived. ( what's a little humor in the face of, say, everything he's met up with since he'd woken up in the colosseum? ) ) But the novelty's worn off, I gotta say.

( he doesn't think he's met a single person here, yet, that can say they're complacent with their current situation. no matter what sort of things they'd been facing at home, no matter what they'd left behind – they all want to get back to it, and he has a feeling that it has to have something to do with familiarity trumping the unknown, even when it means life isn't as bad as you thought it was.

henrietta … he tries to think if he and dean have been through there before, and it wouldn't have surprised him if they had – but he can't recall off the top of his head, though he has seen enough of parts of virginia to draw up a good enough mental image. ) Virginia, I know. Henrietta doesn't sound familiar, but that doesn't mean much. I've been through so many small towns since I was a kid that most of them are just a blur.

( he pauses just long enough to watch another firefly land on him. ) Just a month longer than me, then. ( and there's a humorless sort of laugh. ) It really doesn't, does it?

[quaerit]

It's in the Appalachians, more or less. A few hours' drive from DC. It's one of the areas sitting on Virginia's ley line, if you've ever heard of that.

[ 'If you've ever heard of that', says Gansey, casually, as if it's not the entire reason for his being in Henrietta. He also has a general interest in discovering whether the people around him either know about, or have interest in ley lines. ]

Anyway. My friends have been here even longer. Apparently I was here with them, and then got sent home and returned, and now I don't remember any of it. Fascinating place, this cave.

[hollowly]

( he's not exactly well-versed in the location of ley lines - but at the very least, he does know what they are. he's read about them before, surely, in either a book from bobby's personal library or during some of his own personal research, but they've never really come into play with regards to what he and his brother do for a living.

he nods. ) Okay, yeah. ( just as easily, as if talking about things like the supernatural or ley lines is completely and utterly normal. because ... well, for them, it very much is, isn't it? ) What's it like? Being so close to one, I mean. ( because now you're piqued his interest and if there's one thing that is very difficult to get rid of once it's come out, it's a curious sam winchester.

ah, but what he says next sounds familiar, at least from what he's heard from others. ( mainly chris, but that poor kid has already been through hell and back, it seems, so things like temporal shenanigans might hit low on the priority list when it comes to figuring this place out. ) I've heard of that, people coming and going, and not having any memory of being here when they come back. ( he shakes his head, clearly baffled. ) It's weird, isn't it? Like the gods are purposely messing with people's minds.

( way to put that out there, sam. )

[quaerit]

[ That's a good question. Gansey had looked for his ley line for so long, had looked for magic for so long. Finding it had not been what he thought. It had been... ]

It's everything people say it is. Strange things happen, there's hauntings, unusual powers, fluctuating electrical supply.

But it's more. Magic feels alive around the ley line.

[ It is life. It's strength and vitality and creation, giving form to dreams, and lending power to spirits.

Gansey is in awe of it.

In fairness, this cave gives him a similar feeling, though his awe is tempered by fear. And by frustration, on top of that. ]

I don't know if it's the gods. They claim they don't control the Door at all, and...that may be a lie, but if it's the truth? Then we've more problems than we know.