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

[strangelyliteral]

So... it's gone. Probably for the best, right? I mean, we didn't really expect that after that fight that it would be safe. Wasn't that why the plan was to leave in the first place?

[herotypical]

Probably for the best. [ though -- she would still mourn for the dead left in that pit. the dead littering the halls. anya. and all the attendant memories with a town she hated and loved at the very same time. ]

Hey. This probably isn't the best time, what with the wings and all...but you should probably have a seat. I'll get us a drink. There's something we need to talk about.

[strangelyliteral]

[Her emotions felt tugged another way, urging her to remain suspicious, to flee if necessary. If she couldn't convince Buffy to let herself join them, then why was she still here?

Sunnydale, gone.]

... What more do we have to talk about that we haven't talked about already?

[herotypical]

Sunnydale wasn't the only thing we lost.

[strangelyliteral]

... You already said Spike blew up. Except he didn't really.

[herotypical]

[ buffy is in the process of pouring a double shot of whiskey. you know, just in case... ]

There were casualties beyond Spike. And you really should take my advice about sitting down.

[strangelyliteral]

[Next leap in logic...]

Did something happen to Xander?

[herotypical]

Xander's fine. It's...

You were protecting Andrew.

[strangelyliteral]

Andrew's dead?

[herotypical]

[ if she now speaks harshly, it's not because she doesn't mourn anya. it's not because she doesn't feel that loss keenly, because she does. she feels every loss incurred on he watch, but anya is a particularly complicated case. it's difficult not to imagine the death, though buffy had been underground and unable to see it.

and when she imagines it, she always sees the same haunting image: anya pinned to the school wall, a sword through her chest. such an image always makes it easier to blame herself.

so, she finds herself pushed uncontrollably towards a hard truth: ] No. Not Andrew. You, Anya. You died. Protecting him.

1/3

[strangelyliteral]

What-

[She had been poised for a comeback, but that freezes her, her mouth opening and closing as if she hadn't heard the other woman properly, though the color drains from her face.]

2/3

[strangelyliteral]

[No.

Some part of her clings to few precious facts: there was too much going on in that battle. And Buffy - she could just be tricking her, tricking them - because she was angry. Because Anya had gotten under her skin.

That's where the dark spirit clinging to her inside attempts to guide her. This was something that - but Buffy had no reason to lie, did she? And once her thoughts stopped dancing around deciding what the Slayer's motivations might have been for even saying that - stating it as if it was a fact, then -]

3/3

[strangelyliteral]

... I can't be dead.

[She backs away, all price tags forgotten. Flee, her emotions scream, tangled up in knots that shouldn't have been.] I-I can't be. You're - you're wrong. How could you -?

[herotypical]

I'm sorry. I truly am.

[ her gaze doesn't waver. it's as if she doesn't dare blink. this poor soul. dragged from its last minutes, shoved into this topsy-turvy world, and put through a gauntlet of weirdness. it's worse, she suspects, to be told in the middle of wide-winged confusion.

but -- buffy reminds herself -- she had to be told. it isn't as though anya's present had been far removed from the moment. it isn't as though she could have lied just to preserve her sanity. because she thought about how giles had lied about death, and it sours her stomach. ]

I wish none of this had to happen to you.

[strangelyliteral]

[And then she had to go and use that word.

Rubbing salt into the wound.]

No - you're wrong. Y-you weren't there. You're wrong.

[herotypical]

...Andrew told us.

[strangelyliteral]

[For some inexplicable reason, she almost laughs.

The laugh turns into a choke.]

[herotypical]

[ buffy rounds her bar's counter, stepping into the patrons' side and marching down the negligible length until she was roughly at anya's side. ]

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, but...with how close you were to it, I -- [ she falls silent. ]

[strangelyliteral]

... When I get home, I'm going to die.

[The words are half mumbled, as she struggles with half-absorbing the slayer's words and the dark comfort that the spirit attempts to provide.]

I'm - I'm going to die? [Denial struggles to rear it's head, her voice moving toward a steadier tone as she takes another few steps back from the approaching Buffy.] What makes you think you can just - say things like that?

[herotypical]

Trust me -- [ she desperately tries to claw back whatever authority she can muster. power in the face of the overwhelming guilt. the self-doubt. wondering whether she ought not to have blurted anything at all. ] It would have been worse had I lied. It always is.

[strangelyliteral]

[Her hands bunch up into fists and press against the sides of her temples as her thoughts and the spirit's desires begin to overcrowd one another.

If she was dead, all she would have was here, and that would be fleeting, but there was the darkness and she could have that for as long as she wanted to draw from it -

Death was stupid and mortal. She was stupid and mortal. It wasn't as if she hadn't nearly sacrificed herself before. It would have been different. That would have been walking into it. D'Hoffryn had even known that, hadn't he? But he had tried to have her killed as well. No solace there.

And maybe she had put that all in motion herself after helping revive Buffy. They wouldn't have gotten that urn if it wasn't for her, for one thing, and -]

Just - stop it! Shut up! I - I'm done listening right now!

[She feels like throwing up. She hadn't even had the drink yet and she wants to throw up.]

[herotypical]

[ i'm sixteen, giles. i don't wanna die.

buffy breathes in through her nose -- letting the old aches wash over her and remind her how sour such news could be. hearing it from her watcher, back then, had lacked all the peace and resolve found years later when she leaped from glory's tower. all had been turmoil and tears and thrown books.

she flattens a hand against her chest, as if she could hold her fast-beating heart still. keep it from leaping out and betraying her. ] You're not alone, Anya. There are others, here. You could...

[ what? talk to them? start a support group? buffy swallows hard. with a strained voice, she falls back on what she always tells jack sparrow: ] Knowing is always better than not knowing.

[strangelyliteral]

[Knowing was better than not knowing.

That didn't make it any less of a bitter pill to swallow.

That didn't make it any less frustrating to hear it from the woman who once tried to kill her, the woman who died twice and still had a future ahead of her.

It didn't make her head stop throbbing any less. That urge to flee was still strong, but where would she even go? Where did she have to go? Nothing was even hers, here.]

Please stop talking now.

[herotypical]

R-right...

[ and buffy dutifully falls silent. it's not your place to moralize on this point. but she does leave a bottle of liquor on the counter -- nudging it gently in anya's direction -- before turning back to her work.

in some small gesture of goodwill, buffy leaves the rest of the price-tags in place. ]

[strangelyliteral]

[An offer of peace?

She can't stay there. She has to get away to - think. Or not think. Not thinking sounded about right. One bottle might not be enough, unless it was strong enough. Hopefully.

The next time Buffy turns around, both liquor bottle and possessed ex-demon will be gone.]