piper90npcs (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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goneawayworld2020-12-01 08:29 pm
piper90npcs) wrote in goneawayworld2020-12-01 08:29 pm
HERE, HAVE SOME SPIRIT
Who: Three Ghosts and the little New Hires
What: Sharing the Christmas Spirit
Where: Good question
When: Post-Rose Tattoo
Warnings/Notes: Possible violence, angst, likely visions of death.
Are you sleeping?
Maybe. Maybe not. It's hard to tell. This could be another ARE, after all. What you can tell is that the halls are filled with mist, the smell of pine, and the sound of jingling bells off in the distance.
And then comes the wailing.
Tearing past you, screaming like a damned soul, skeletal figures flood through the halls. Some of them wear business suits, weighed down by chains crafted from ledgers and money boxes. Some of them are soldiers, bound by their own twisted weapons. Police, politicians, no one seems spared. Someone whispers, warning you, begging you to pay heed. For you will be visited by three ghosts who are on an errand of great import.
And then something charges with a howl and all goes white. Slowly, the light dims, and the mass of spectral entities is gone. Instead there stands a figure, or maybe two or three of them. For each person, it's different, as they'll have different messages and purposes for each.
One is neither male nor female, the only certain features being a well-muscled, well proportioned body, wearing a white tunic and a beautiful belt of pearl. Its hair is long, white, as if ancient, but no matter how its face changes, there's no sign of age upon it. There seems to be an aura of white flame around its head and, in a voice that belies nothing but charitable warmth, introduces itself as the Ghost of Christmas Past. It will show scenes of someone's past, offering enlightening details with little judgment.
The middle one is a large man on a veritable throne of food, tantalizing and delicious, wearing a fur-lined red robe and a crown of holly upon his head. The Ghost of Christmas Present is a big man, with brown hair, and a booming, jovial voice that can turn blisteringly harsh and back in a single sentence. He'll show what the character was doing immediately prior to their arrival upon the rig. Perhaps what they're doing right now. But he'll also be content to walk either the character's home world or this Gone Away World, viewing the sights and people enjoying Christmas with the character.
And the final one, a phantom in a dark, green robe, green smoke billowing around it. Its skin is pale, pulled gauntly around whatever body part it exposes. The gaze underneath the hood is as cold as the grave, and it would be wise not to try to match that for too long. It remains utterly silent, simply guiding its guest through the Christmases Yet To Come with a pointed finger. It will show how a character dies and how they'll be remembered by others after. It acts cold and merciless, but this very visit is a mission of mercy, one it silently prays will succeed.
The surprise, though, is that they aren't showing the character that history. Instead, they'll be guiding their guest through someone else's life. Maybe just a fraction of it, maybe a full span. But when it's all over, it's as if no time has passed. In fact, no. The characters are returned to an hour before the ghosts visited them.
[[Remember, this isn't your typical memshare. The ghosts are NPCs, but they'll be controlled by the players. They will not show characters their own histories, presents, or futures, only those of different people. They can show the same scenes to different people or different scenes to different people. One person might not even see all three of the Ghosts.]]
What: Sharing the Christmas Spirit
Where: Good question
When: Post-Rose Tattoo
Warnings/Notes: Possible violence, angst, likely visions of death.
Are you sleeping?
Maybe. Maybe not. It's hard to tell. This could be another ARE, after all. What you can tell is that the halls are filled with mist, the smell of pine, and the sound of jingling bells off in the distance.
And then comes the wailing.
Tearing past you, screaming like a damned soul, skeletal figures flood through the halls. Some of them wear business suits, weighed down by chains crafted from ledgers and money boxes. Some of them are soldiers, bound by their own twisted weapons. Police, politicians, no one seems spared. Someone whispers, warning you, begging you to pay heed. For you will be visited by three ghosts who are on an errand of great import.
And then something charges with a howl and all goes white. Slowly, the light dims, and the mass of spectral entities is gone. Instead there stands a figure, or maybe two or three of them. For each person, it's different, as they'll have different messages and purposes for each.
One is neither male nor female, the only certain features being a well-muscled, well proportioned body, wearing a white tunic and a beautiful belt of pearl. Its hair is long, white, as if ancient, but no matter how its face changes, there's no sign of age upon it. There seems to be an aura of white flame around its head and, in a voice that belies nothing but charitable warmth, introduces itself as the Ghost of Christmas Past. It will show scenes of someone's past, offering enlightening details with little judgment.
The middle one is a large man on a veritable throne of food, tantalizing and delicious, wearing a fur-lined red robe and a crown of holly upon his head. The Ghost of Christmas Present is a big man, with brown hair, and a booming, jovial voice that can turn blisteringly harsh and back in a single sentence. He'll show what the character was doing immediately prior to their arrival upon the rig. Perhaps what they're doing right now. But he'll also be content to walk either the character's home world or this Gone Away World, viewing the sights and people enjoying Christmas with the character.
And the final one, a phantom in a dark, green robe, green smoke billowing around it. Its skin is pale, pulled gauntly around whatever body part it exposes. The gaze underneath the hood is as cold as the grave, and it would be wise not to try to match that for too long. It remains utterly silent, simply guiding its guest through the Christmases Yet To Come with a pointed finger. It will show how a character dies and how they'll be remembered by others after. It acts cold and merciless, but this very visit is a mission of mercy, one it silently prays will succeed.
The surprise, though, is that they aren't showing the character that history. Instead, they'll be guiding their guest through someone else's life. Maybe just a fraction of it, maybe a full span. But when it's all over, it's as if no time has passed. In fact, no. The characters are returned to an hour before the ghosts visited them.
[[Remember, this isn't your typical memshare. The ghosts are NPCs, but they'll be controlled by the players. They will not show characters their own histories, presents, or futures, only those of different people. They can show the same scenes to different people or different scenes to different people. One person might not even see all three of the Ghosts.]]
no subject
"No wonder Dan's so good with people," he remarks. "I don't think we ever prayed together, my family, though. Kind of interesting."
hope a little ghosty infomod is okay - lmk if it isn't!
Grace finished, the family happily tucks into their meal, chattering about plans to ride the horses out to the lake and sharpshoot some ducks. The Ghost appears pleased to have found such a warm, wholesome memory, having come across so many in the minds here that are anything but cheerful.
"Do you have siblings, Agent?"
looks good!
"One. A sister. My twin."
Re: looks good!
There is, very suddenly, a piercing alarm and flashing red lights. The youngest children clap their hands over their ears and cry, but the older ones and the parents just calmly put their forks and knives away and and look around at each other. Dan gets up from the table and walks over to a panel on the wall, disarming it.
"Who this time? You did the last one, Tab," Dan says, gesturing up at the lankier girl.
"And I'll do it again, this time, since none of you ever seem to do it right." She gets up, with her father, and starts to take a rifle off the wall.
"No condescending on Christmas, Tabby," the father says, giving her an affectionate pat on the shoulder.
"Maybe you'll get to shoot someone!" one of the boys says.
"She don't have the heart," Dan says, but it's in a fond, loving way, and his little sister rolls her eyes at him.
The Ghost sighs. "Are you close with your sister? Would you be upset at her death?"
no subject
He watches the scene unfold as the girl takes her weapon.
"What are they fighting?" North asks. "Where is she going?"
no subject
The hatch opens again and the girl and her father come back down. "False alarm. One of the horses probably tripped the wire," she says.
"We need to fix that corral already," the eldest girl says. "Danny, you and me tomorrow, we patch it up."
"Ugh," the younger version of Dan says, but he's smiling. "It's cold out."
"Then wear gloves," his big sister says, playfully jostling his arm.
The Ghost looks to North again. "In eight years, every single member of this family besides Dan will be dead."
no subject
no subject
In the memory, the dinner draws to a close. The family dynamics start to becomes clear. The eldest two children - Dan and his similarly-aged sister - are playing as much a role as parents as the actual parents, the two of them occupying their younger siblings, cleaning them up, directing and encouraging them with chores, carrying the youngest two on their hips.
"For the record," the Ghost says, "Dan won't tell you about this. Dan will lie about this, and anything else, right to your face and think nothing of it."
no subject
"Why would he lie?" North says after that. "It's better to deal with the pain than deny it exists."
no subject
Having cleared the table, the kids all settle around the wood-burning stove as their father reads to them from the Bible.
"Because lying comes naturally to him, and because he disagrees with you on that point."
no subject