Possession Event

[lucetimods]

Who: People in Luceti
What: Spiritual possession
When: The 26th to the 1st
Where: Luceti!
Summary: Check out the previous mod post.
Rating: If it gets smutty, move it somewhere private.


Starting at midnight on the 26th, Luceti and its inhabitants will find itself the focus of the Filial spirits, usually quiet and reclusive, now stepping out to deal with one of their own.

As promised, here is some additional information to help figure out how to play around with the spirits and interacting with similarly possessed people.

First off, each spirit has a certain time or place when they are at their most powerful. Consequently, characters possessed by them will enjoy these boosts and this in itself can be a deciding factor in what would otherwise be a stalemate. Here’s a quick run down:

Sona - She’s most powerful around lakes, rivers, and the ocean. Mostly this is concentrated at the southern lake.

Kipinn - He’s most powerful in high places, like mountain tops and the roofs of community buildings.

Faeren - She’s most powerful in the farmlands alongside things that grow.

Tsinku - He’s most powerful in the village itself, where technology thrives.

Eferin - He’s most powerful in the center of the forest where his heat may cause trees to burn. In fact, the upcoming forest fire may cause some trouble if his followers get too rowdy.

Hyt - It’s most powerful during the daytime under a bright sky.

Twila - It’s most powerful during the night time.

Nala- She has no domain and is generally welcome wherever she goes.

How possessed characters will deal with other possessed characters will depend on the interactions of the spirits themselves. A useful spreadsheet sums up these relationships. Those that have a friendly attitude to one another will generally allow ‘trespassers’ into their domain, but those they are not so friendly with may cause conflict.

Finally, to elaborate on Twila-possessed characters. Those with a natural affinity for darkness are likely to be possessed first. Once they have, they can try to recruit others less-compatible candidates to ‘join the cause’. Their goal is numbers. The more who are working with Twila, the better. Once they do, they’ll be inclined to act in their own self interest and if necessary, deal with others who try to get in their way. In the long term, the spirit Twila wants to stay this way, bonded to the Lucetians as hybrids, that way it cannot be imprisoned again. Think of it as pure survival instinct of an animal that’s spent way too long in a cage.

All isn’t lost. The other spirits may not be able to cage it again, but they won’t accept Twila reacting in this manner. Though it’s hard to tell what their beef with Twila is, they have an instinctive familiarity with the dark spirit and seem to act as its jail keepers.

They have the power to free people from Twila, but given their poor communication skills, figuring that out might just be a challenge. After all, the spirits can only communicate in shades of feeling and intentions, but not actually verbalize directions or marching orders. However, there will be a Malnosso post mid-event that will give everyone, possessed or otherwise, the info they need to turn things around.

Comments

[originaljackass]

"You think I get a kick out of seeing people injured?"

[herotypical]

"I think it's a long leap between not being worried and receiving kicks of any kind."

He's not himself; stop probing; you'll only be disappointed.

"You should just trust me. Not to injure myself, I mean."

[originaljackass]

"... or you could give me the knife," he suggested hopefully.

[herotypical]

"Make me, Jack."

It wasn't that she was raring for a fight. It wasn't even that she was particularly fond of the knife. She just really didn't like being told what to do -- especially by a man whose core self was so warped by whatever the hell had grown out his wings. Either way, she didn't expect much retaliation from this strangely softer him.

[originaljackass]

He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. But then he said nothing, shrugged, and proceeded to find a rag to clean the counter. All the while he looked incredibly tense. Caring about people was super stressful.

"Just be careful."

[herotypical]

...How hollow rang her victory. Buffy's cheeked puffed with a sigh and she watched him move while staying rather still. Still, at least, until a funny urge prompted her to occupy the space to his right and hold out an open hand. She touched the knife's edge against her palm's centre.

"Look, I'll show you. Careful doesn't even enter the equation. I heal great--"

[originaljackass]

Now Jack looked panicked.

"Don't!"

[herotypical]

But the deed had already been done: a tiny sliver of a cut, slicing open just enough skin to let the blood well. It soaked into the tinier crevices of her palm before slowly flooding the larger. And Buffy stared for a moment -- minutely disturbed at what she'd pushed herself into doing. A background voice in her brain tried to blame Jack. He made you do this. However, even her best delusions couldn't make that lie stick.

The only solace was that Jack's interjection forced a shock through her system, and she dropped the knife onto the counter with only a bare half-an-inch of palm cut. Tiny, really. Hardly a scrape, in the grander scheme of wars and causes.

"...It's no biggie," she whispered. Half to him, half to her.

[originaljackass]

Jack would have none of that. He immediately took her hand in his, keeping her palm upward. He seemed pretty upset by this, but he set his other hand on top of her palm and closed his eyes.

"I can fix that."

[herotypical]

"I don't need to be fixed--" Buffy gave her hand a preliminary tug. Nothing violent. Nothing hard. Just enough to let her intention known. After all, she didn't enjoy using her strength against others. Not like this. "I'm not broken."

[originaljackass]

He shushed her and continued to concentrate. Slowly but surely, his concentration yielded results as he began to seal up her cut again.

1/2

[herotypical]

In the end, the Slayer didn't wrench free. But she did every other little thing to display her displeasure -- including a roll of her eyes and a temperamental stamp of her foot. Moments like this made her feel so hog-tied: resistant but still too decent to make a bad scene even worse. The proper Horner would probably counsel her to do whatever the hell she wanted. Be selfish. Look after herself. But she couldn't bring herself to swat at him for doing what was, in the end, a good act.

2/2

[herotypical]

She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she almost missed a familiar and cool tingle as it spread throughout her hand. It wasn't often that Buffy allowed anyone to inflict Filial magic upon her, but it happened now and again. Usually from Raine, if anyone. But it was hard to mistake that feeling.

"...It's Nala. You've got Nala in you, don't you? Huh." Her eyes lifted. Her tense arm went slack. She stopped protesting out of sheer surprise.

[originaljackass]

Jack made sure her hand was okay before he let it go. Then he stepped back and picked up the knife, wiped it clean with the rag, and made sure to put it away safely.

"Beats me. I don't know anything about that stuff. What's Nala?"

[herotypical]

She rubbed her thumb against the place where the cut used to be, trying to dredge up the energy and inclination to thank him but finding her good will rather sparse.

"...Nala. One of the spirits. That's -- that's what this is. What it was, last time. People got possessed and acted weird and sprouted big old grown-up wings. I should've realized it from that first warning but -- dammit. I never would have thought you and Nala would be tight under any circumstance."

[originaljackass]

Jack tossed the bloody rag away and collected a new one. He soaked it in hot water and soap before returning to the counter.

"Why's that? Nala a snob or something?"

[herotypical]

"No. But she's..." Sigh. "It doesn't matter. What does matter is that things are now making much more sense."

[originaljackass]

Only one part of that mattered to Jack.

"... she?"

[herotypical]

"Oh. Gimme a break. That's what you land on?"

[originaljackass]

"I think it's obvious." Jack flashed a very him smile. "Even spirit chicks can't resist me."

[herotypical]

"Ugh. You're unreal. You know -- we were like three seconds away from having a moment. I was gonna thank you. It was gonna be touching."

[originaljackass]

Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine, fine. The important thing is that you're alright. Just try to be more careful."

[herotypical]

...And that's when it hit her. It wasn't just Nala influencing Jack, it had been Nala entirely. Hijacking him. Being him. Surely, that was the answer? Surely, that explained the behavioural whiplash.

She crossed her arms. Protective. "Yeah, fine. Whatever. Let's not make a battle of it."

[originaljackass]

He couldn't tell what was going on in her head, but he felt like it was something. He frowned thoughtfully before speaking up.

"Is something wrong?"

[herotypical]

"You mean...besides you?"