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goneawayworld2020-06-22 01:25 am
goneawaymod) wrote in goneawayworld2020-06-22 01:25 am
Entry tags:
UNICORN HUNTING
unicorn hunting
PLOT DESCRIPTION
Wanting to strike up a good relationship with a town with many magical resources the group is dispatched to help the town with a magical plague harming its children. The only thing that can cure them is the unicorns in the nearby magical woods. However, due to past attempts at capture, the unicorns no longer trust any of the townspeople and can reocgnize them on site. The town wants the New Hires to try their hand at luring them in.
The only catch: the unicorns aren't attracted to virgins, they're attracted to emotional vulnerability, and they'll only come if the whole group displays it. Loudly. Which means the New Hires will have to shout their insecurities into the forest and submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.
After the unicorns are caught they'll also have to navigate a difficult moral choice.
SCENARIO
Meanwhile, one of the locations Jorgmund is building connections with is a small village in an wooded area that one could easily distinguish as “enchanted”, on account of the overgrown mushrooms and general sparkliness of the air. Sunbeams lance down, rainbows seem to sprout out regardless of lighting. Lush berries hang from the bushes and shiny red apples dangle from the trees.
Unfortunately, the idyllic aura of the town is besmirched by the sad fact that the children in the town have all been struck by a mysterious disease - a pox that puts children into an endless sleep and has been debilitating this town for weeks. The locals know that the only cure is fresh emotional wounds for the unicorns that inhabit the woods, but their own fear and sorrow over their children isn’t sufficient to get the wily beasts to cooperate. In exchange for their allyship, they require assistance luring in the healing unicorns, which will require public displays of emotional vulnerability from the hires. Beat poetry readings, a cappella ballads, merely shouting into the woods - so long as the hires bare their wounds and weaknesses to the forest, the unicorns will approach.
There’s still a little struggle involved, though - just because a unicorn gets close doesn’t mean it’s willing to give its forces over to the sick children of the town, or to humankind in general. Unicorns must be lured and lassoed and forced into the role of caretaker, which the Jorgmund insists is both for the best and a task that will be well-compensated.
This is, naturally, even more difficult when other forest denizens decide to interfere; in addition to the mortification of shouting your deepest fears into the forest, a hire might find themself accosted with tricky imps trying to steal their belongings, or pixies trying to pluck out their eyes. The local fae are particularly sneaky, trying to play pranks or draw the hires into loser’s contracts to prevent them from ever going home. One might find that the mortifying ordeal of being known is small potatoes compared to the trials the magical beings in the woods are setting up.
For now.
➤ Characters have been given enchanted golden lariats to catch the unicorns with. Once they get them around their necks, they'll be far more docile.
➤ This is a multi-part plot. A later part will involve some moral choices about what to do with the unicorns after the children are cured.
➤ The vulnerable thoughts they shout have to shout have to be fairly extreme, though characters who have very few insecurities can get away with less serious ones. They have to shout them at a fairly high volume.
➤ Other signs of vulnerability like crooning a love song dedicated to someone they have a crush on are also valid.
➤ Players can make up mystical annoyances or minor threats in the forest, and have the freedom to make them anything that might be reasonably found in your average generic enchanted forest.
➤ Feel free to ask questions in the question top-level below.
no subject
Kevin might be the only person he knows here who's better at Being Fine than he is.
But that thought forces a short, helpless sort of laugh out of him in the same swing, just on the whole principle of thinking it and acknowledging it. Seeing as, go figure: ]
Are you sure you're not a psychic? Because I was gonna say something pretty close to that, too.
[ He's starting to wonder if they are maybe genuinely not okay in a serious capacity, as people. Time to tuck that thought right away beneath the floorboards for now. ]
no subject
Alright, deal.
[ He already knows he can't shut off the worry machine, but he can at least like. Try to keep his mouth shut. That's doable, maybe? ]
If you need a minute I can go, but if you got something bro then like. The uh, forest floor is yours I guess.
no subject
It's a big relief just to have this mutual agreement out there.
Like, at least they get to call the shots on that much. ]
I can go. Uh... [ He shuffles through the ol' mental rolodex with grave consideration. Turns and takes a couple of steps away. Not too many: with the volume requirements, distance won't make much difference in the hearing, and staying closer than not at least means having a shield handy if something tries to pluck their eyes out. ]
I-- [ Oh, wait, volume. Deep breath, because he is committed and he refuses not to pull his weight on a mission of any nature, then: ]
I think I'm too much of a Gem to fit in with normal humans and too much of a human to completely fit in with Gems, and I don't really know what to do about it!
[ These unicorns better be freaking incredible. ]
no subject
And... man. Man.
He had something he was mulling over, but this distracts him immediately.
He squares up, actually removing his hands from his pockets and straightening his back for once. ]
Wow, shit, um! That reminds me of something, actually?
[ He's talking loud, and delaying while sorting this thought into an acceptable shape to get out there. Responding at an angle to what the other person says won't break their agreement, right? ]
I am not good at being a vampire, alright?
Like, this is not news to any vampire that has ever known me, and being good at being a vampire is kind of bad anyway!
But now I am starting to not remember what how it feels to be an alive human person either, sometimes!
[ ...Once he says the words, they feel easier. Terrifyingly easier. Some more come spilling out. ]
Like I knew this was going to happen to me because it's just what happens to vampires, but guess what, unicorns! It sucks! I'm scared of it!
no subject
He waits for a few seconds. No unicorn comes charging through the trees to feed on... frankly their misery, because that's all it feels like, just a big miserable experience. There are, maybe, the distant sounds of other people yelling their issues into the void. ]
This is awkward. I mean, it- it's a little regular awkward but--
[ He fumbles because maybe it's dumb to say that like that. He doesn't want Kevin to think it's because he's judging him. ]
The thing is, my mom left so much damage behind to deal with that I never figured out what to do when I ran out of damage to deal with! I think I just assumed I'd be dealing with it for the rest of my life? Only it turned out that I got that over with in like, three years, and there's still a ton of "rest of my life" left!
Everyone's doing great and moving forward back home, but I don't even know how to make friends if I'm not helping someone work through exactly the kind of stuff we're yelling about! So I'm-
[ Preemptively sorry if the no-worrying clause gets broken at the end of the day, because it's such a big part of what he does. Also ready for a stress nap. ]
I'm kinda glad to be stuck with Jorgmund because at least it means I know what to do! And that freaks me out!
no subject
[ What the fuck even is this? Kevin lets out a long breath, mostly out of habit because "out of habit" is the only way Kevin does any kind of breathing to begin with. ]
It's not the same thing but I feel you cause like.. I'm like... there's a whole rest of my life, or my death I guess? That was all out in front of me forever. But I've just been me for ten years now, man, and I don't... nothing changes for me? Everybody moves on but me.
[ ...That came out a lot more sincerely than he wanted it to. He's focusing more and more on what's being said here than on the theoretical mythical horse situation. ]
Like don't get me wrong, the whole apocalypse thing I was dealing with was fucking horrible and this is a really selfish thought nobody should ever have. But uh.
[ He holds out his hands. ]
At least it meant that's... things got no choice but to change now.
And here, things got no choice but to be different like this.
And maybe I don't know what to do, but like. I've never known what to do? And having no choice but to do something sort of feels better than spending forever doing nothing again?
[ Kevin manages a half-smile, and that expression is much more tired than anything he's shown thus far. ]
It's a couple kinds of fucked and it's scary as shit and I promise I'm not like, worrying, but also bro I'm sorry you got anything close.
no subject
He's good at empathy. It's his thing. Someone has something going on, and he stops and he thinks about what he can unpack for them. 'I'm not the same as you, exactly, but I understand enough of this to have a foot in the door, to know what you mean when you tell me about it and why it hurts.' Or sometimes he doesn't really understand it at all, and all he can do is listen, bear what comes his way until they're tired enough, until they've vented enough of it out to go forward.
So this is weird. As many times as he's dug out pieces of himself to offer, it's kind of like being a one-way mirror from one of those cheesy TV shows. Showing people pieces of themselves they can recognize. They're looking at them. He's also looking at them.
It's really rare that Steven looks at another person and thinks there's enough big pieces to reflect that they both might... be looking at each other through a window, with themselves sort of also laid over in the reflection?
Rare because he doesn't look for it. Rare because people don't tend to do what he does back at him. Which is fine, obviously, it's not like that's why he tries to help them.
Usually this kind of thing only happens when he's, uh. Literally looking at himself. (He looked at Amethyst once and felt it. And it was a good thing back when he did, because it meant they weren't totally alone feeling like they were. But it changed.)
Steven hears nothing changes for me and everybody moves on but me and having no choice but to do something sort of feels better, and he thinks you're like me-- oh no, you're like me-- turns to Kevin with a heavy, helpless laugh that strains on the way out. ]
Yeah, it sucks, right? [ Relief like this has never meshed well with guilt for feeling relief, but he can multi-task. ] But hey, if you ever wanna... not wish it on anyone else together, at least we know where the other one lives?
[ Local teen offers to form "well it's too late for me probably" support group with fellow emotional workhorse for home universe adults. ]
no subject
Yeah. That's... that's very true. I'm good with that. It actually sucks less to admit that I got these problems than I thought it would?
[ One of those things to feel? That weird sort of relief that comes from letting go of a lie. Kevin swings one arm lazily and lets his closed hand thump against a tree trunk, thoughtful. Then he sighs. ]
...Shit, I already forgot yelling.
[ He eyes the trees. ]
I don't like yelling, by the way! It's too much attention usually!
[ He'll make up for it, it's fine, it's good! It's not like the plan was to yell everything. Or that they even had a plan that was in any way detailed. ]