Event Log: The Hope of a Child

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the The Hope of a Child event
Where: All over the city!
When: January 23rd-Feb 1st
Warnings: Youths

By now, the gods have probably done enough weird crap to you while you're asleep for you to be a little suspicious- but it's not like you can just not sleep, especially when there are a few supernatural forces making your eyes droopy and your body feel heavy.

And now, when you fall asleep, you'll wake up somewhere else and you'll likely have quite a different temperament- you'll be younger, maybe a little more naive and innocent, and you won't exactly remember all the wild stuff that's happened to your adult self. Maybe now you'll be a little more trusting and emotional, hm? The gods could definitely use a little boost in power, and what better way to do it than to harness the power of overemotional kiddos!

Or maybe you aren't affected at all and find yourself surrounded by youths. What are you going to do when your best friend doesn't know how to cook for themselves? Or your bitter rival is throwing a temper tantrum because they broke their favorite toy? Nobody asked for this kind of responsibility, but think about what would happen if nobody was around to take care of these babies...

► This log covers January 23rd-Feb 1st.
► 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!
► If you trip over a kid and die, please let us know here.

Comments

[pocketspa]

[Damn right, now he's done it. Taako rolls his eyes, crossing his arms sharply as Barry starts to cry, but the rest of his body language looks more scared than confident as the realization sinks in. He doesn't feel bad for doing it-- why should he, when apparently this is the worst thing to happen to this kid, a crying level offence when Taako's metric for that sort of thing is already so past this-- but there's some forgotten worry in his gut, something he can't place. But more than that, now he's making a scene. What if his Adult shows up? Taako hasn't seen any cops around here, but that doesn't mean they don't exist, and they don't like people who live on the streets.

So obviously, he's going to calm him down. Right?

Nah.

Taako instead just clamps a hand down over Barry's big, loud mouth. Yep. This is helping.]

Shhhh! You're gonna get us in trouble! Stop yelling!!!

[barold]

[The elf rushes over and puts his hand over Barry's mouth, holding tightly, and just makes everything worse. Because now, in addition to hurting and having sand all over his face and not having his glasses on, Barry can't breathe on top of it. So he just screams louder, wriggling and fighting in Taako's grasp, hands clawing at the elf's fingers to get them off, tears streaming down his cheeks.

This is just like daycare all over again.]

G-Get off me! It hurts!! You're hurting me!! [He's shrieking, panicking, still wailing and crying and kicking in the sand. This kid is afraid they're gonna get in trouble? Good. He deserves to get in trouble. Barry's damn well gonna scream and cry until trouble comes a-knockin'.]

[pocketspa]

No, you big dumb idiot—

[THIS IS GETTING WORSE, THIS IS SO MUCH WORSE. What’s he even going to do now? People have to have heard him screaming. There are cops probably arriving. Adults. A whole hoard of people and he’s going to find out this chubby kid is actually the son of like, a baron or something, and they’re going to cut off his head or something and then what’s Lup gonna do??

No, no, he doesn’t just need to get out of here. He needs to get both of them out of here.

So he releases Barry’s face, and instead clamps both hands down on one of his arms and starts to drag him the nearest direction of a building.]

Stop crying!! Come on and stop crying! Adults aren’t gonna like it when you do that either, okay! Stop!

[barold]

Ow!! That huuurts!

[Barry may be a big kid, heavier than most boys, but Taako is strong enough to drag him several feet through the sand, away from the ruins of his sand castle. He doesn't want to make it easy for the elf. He's the one who made him cry in the first place!

... But what if he's right? What if he gets in trouble for crying? His mom isn't here to kiss him and make it better. And some adults get real mad when kids cry. What if they think he started it?? He did say some mean things to the elf... who kinda sounds scared of adults coming to find them...

They're gonna get in trouble, aren't they?

Barry relents then, stops fighting Taako as he pulls him away, resigning himself to being abducted. He's too scared and upset to struggle, whimpering and crying as he's dragged through the hot sand.

Getting in trouble with adults is scarier than being kidnapped.]

[pocketspa]

[Good. Good, he's stopped wailing, holy shit. Taako proceeds to drag him through the nearest doorway into an abandoned building, plopping him against the wall just on the other side. He takes a moment to let him go, duck his head around the outside. Okay. Nobody's coming yet. Maybe he's gonna make it out of this one.

He ducks back around, pressed to the wall, and takes a moment to breathe before looking down at Barry and speaking in a hushed whisper.]

What was that? It was just sand! I didn't even hit you that hard!

[barold]

[Taako finally lets him go, and Barry immediately curls up in as tight a ball as he can on the ground, hiding his face, still crying. He still doesn't understand why the elf would be so mean to him. He didn't do anything!

At least it doesn't seem like he's gonna beat him up. A small relief.

Trembling hands wipe at the sand sticking to his wet cheeks, having gone from painful to itchy, leaving him beet-red in the face Every breath is labored still as he weeps, scared little hiccups coming from the ball of a boy on the floor in front of Taako. He keeps his head down, too scared to look at him - can't anyway, no glasses. That's gonna have to be a problem for later.]

Wh-Why'd you push me though? What did-- did I do? I got-- I got-- I got scared!

[pocketspa]

[Truthfully, Taako has no idea why he pushed him. He was just— mad. Mad at this boy’s nice, cushioned life, a future he and Lup would never have. He would get things handed to him, school and food and niceties, and never have to want.

Maybe, for once, Taako wanted to feel what it meant to really take something. To have it. But he didn’t… get anything. So why?

He averts his eyes from Barry, grits his teeth.]

Because you were being stupid! And you— you—

[He can’t think of anything else to really say, so he just punctuates it with a frustrated half-growl. This sucks.]

Look, just— don’t move, okay? Don’t move.

[Taako looks out towards the landscape, does a quick back and forth to determine no one’s coming, and sprints out to the now destroyed sand pile, making it look less like an assault happened here and more like it was just a mound of dirt. While he’s there, though, he grabs Barry’s glasses, and runs back in to where he’s stashed him.]

If I give you these back, do you swear not to tell on me? To anybody?

[barold]

[ ... okay, so maybe he was being kinda stupid back there. He did say all sorts of mean things to the elf, things he didn't mean. They just sorta came out of him cause he got mad. But the elf started it! He's the one who's mean, not Barry!

Doesn't change that Barry was mean back. If he hadn't started yelling at him, Taako wouldn't have pushed him like that...

The elf runs off, leaving Barry to sniffle and cry on the ground by himself. He honestly thinks Taako just abandoned him, ran off before any adults could come yell at them, before he hears his voice once again. Looking up, Barry sees him holding his glasses. That's where he went? To pick them up for him? The boy pushes himself up slowly, wiping at his red, raw face. He wants to tell on him. He really does. But he doesn't want to get in trouble... and thinking real hard on it, he doesn't want to get himself in trouble either. ]

O-Okay... I s-swear, I won't-- won't tell on you. C-Cross my heart.

[pocketspa]

[Some ugly part of him wants to do something else mean, to break them or keep them; who knows what he could sell them for. But they’re his bargaining chip in case this kid really is important. Hell, even a poor parent can sick the cops on him. So he surveys Barry for another few seconds, like he’s looking really closely to make sure he’s not lying, and thrusts his hand forward to push them near his chest. They’re still covered in sand and probably need to be wiped clean, but Barry can do that himself.]

Fine. Here. This didn’t happen, alright?

[barold]

[His glasses are shoved into his chest, and Barry is quick to take them before Taako changes his mind, cradling them as soon as he gets them out of his grip. It feels bad, being bullied into silence because this kid is scared of being caught, but... at least they won't get in trouble now.

And he got his glasses back. That's important. He can't see without them at all. Pushing them clumsily back on his face, he finds he can barely see with them, the lenses covered in dirt. Gross.]

O-Okay... Didn't happen... [He curls up on himself, leaning against the wall, sniffling as he starts shakily wiping his glasses clean.]

... 'm sorry.

[pocketspa]

[He’s much too deep into this to properly apologize now, even if he feels a little guilty seeing this kid crying like that. Oh well. The damage is done and he has no time to cry over spilled sand. He needs to get out, and fast. Taako looks back towards Barry, still feeling a bit of regret as he locks eyes with him again.]

Yeah, well, maybe… it didn’t hafta happen, or. Something.

[That’s probably the closest he’s getting before Taako breaks eye contact and starts scurrying towards another door. He stops when he gets to the doorway, looking back at the other boy, sun illuminating his hair, the shape of his ears.]

Next time, you should fight back. If it’s important to you.

[And then, off he goes, into the city again.]