ORP with Steals Fire (Bring Back the Light Event)

[phoe]

The darkness had thrown the Vale into an uproar.

With Bird's Eye View and Wood Spider left in charge to wrangle the area back into control, it had fallen on Wintershadow -- or, rather, he had volunteered -- to make the trek elsewhere, to see what was going on. It was dark and the shadows no longer stretched towards him; they engulfed him entirely, and by the time he made it to the clearing where there was some light, he was surly and short-tempered.

He had done his fair share of stumbling and getting snagged on things; there were leaves tangled in his hair and he'd barked his shin more than once. Overhearing the acha talk about stories, however, soothed his temper. This he could do. This was familiar, and it removed a shred of the urgency he felt fluttering around in his ribs.

"How can we collect them?" he asked of Steals Fire, his musical voice only a little tense. "And who has stolen the light?"

[Mima]

It was shockingly dark.

There was some part of Merry Berry's mind that said she had ought to be scientific about all this, had ought to check the mountains, the desert, the plains- to see if their sun had been snatched from their sky as well. But at the same time there was an equal and opposite part of her brain, perhaps the acha part of her brain, that just wanted to see what all the fuss was about first. The drama was palpable, heavy like the weight of the darkness itself.

The wolf-shaped beast seemed to rise up from the silt, her shape like Bath's before her more silhouette than kin. In the darkness it was almost impossible to tell what she was- kin or massive, kin-sized wolf. Despite herself she seemed to stalk and skulk as she moved, still finding this form more amenable to observing than participating.

Still, as she approached, she seemed to idly chime, "I would say some balance somewhere has been tipped." She didn't quite know what she meant by that, they were words she felt more than she understood.

[lolternative]

Air was used to darkness - traipsing around haunted woods and deep underground caves. But this.. this wasn't like anything she'd ever experienced. There was always a promise of the darkness ending - whether she returned to the surface and the sun warmed her face or the trees thinned and the light broke through the thick canopy, rays slicing through the darkness.

Here, they huddled around fires and glowing fungi and plants but it was not enough. They needed the sun to survive - to grow, just like the plants they needed for food and shelter. The doe didn't need any convincing - she was determined to get to the bottom of this and also be a part of the solution. It was just another mystery that she was ready to give her all to solve.

The doe shivered despite her closeness to the fire. This darkness sent a chill down her spine that no warmth could reach.

"We need to act quickly - before it's too late," she said, to no one in particular. "Who knows what damage this could do to the swamp. If we leave it too late...,"

[Baneful]

Steals Fire laughed at this but shook his head. "I wish I could say I was part of any of this. I'm just here to help fix it, but agreed though, there's no reason for us not to have fun while we do so."

[Baneful]

Steals Fire overheard Air's comment and was quick to agree with her. "Absolutely! Time is of the essence. One long night is passable, many long nights and we will rapidly start to lose all of the things that are important in the world. The swamp cannot thrive in the darkness. I'm grateful for all of you who understand the urgency."

He pawed the ground impatiently.

"When we have the motes, we will depart to where we must be."

[Baneful]

Steals Fire pauses to wrinkle his brow just a little at the arrival of another shadow to the gathering, giving Merry a frown.

"It would seem like it." he said. "I don't think I've seen this many Changed in one place before. It's certainly caught someone's interest. Will you be assisting us tonight?"

[Baneful]

Steals Fire gave Wintershadow a thoughtful look, his expression softening at the foliage snarled up in his fur. "There are different ways to coax the motes in, the Helpers will have their own respective thoughts on how we can best go about gathering all that we require. For the moment though it is just by hoof or mouth, until we can organise the group more adequately."

He smiled. "Though do be a little careful with them, they have strange effects."

"As for who has stolen the light, I can't hazard a guess. The old stories vary so widely, some say it was a massive caiman, others say it was the folly of a single kin, still others say that it was a hole in the world that sucked out the light. None of them give us a solid answer as to the culprit, but they do align on how to solve it."

[Ruriska]

Illuminating loved the sun. She had followed it from below, left the caves behind for good, in order to feel the sunlight on her back. She’d gotten used to that morning warmth, the flickering of dawn light behind her eyelids. It felt right. Even in her dreams, the sun had always been there.

And then it was not.

The Zikwa had woken that fateful morning and waited, and waited, and waited. For a sun that did not return. At first she thought she was dreaming, and then she thought she had somehow been transported to the caves again. But she could still hear the animals and birds and the sigh of the wind.

The world seemed confused, agitated. An uneasiness was settling on it like a thick fog.

And when she finally realized the sun was not returning, as it should every dawn - she mourned.

Illuminating wandered like a ghost, searching aimlessly, from one bright fire to another, hoping to find answers. Until she found this one. And there was an Acha here who claimed he could bring the sun back. She could only hope that he was right and she would endeavor to help as much as she could in the process.

If asked, she would gratefully give her life to feel the sun one more time.

She stood quietly to the side, troubled, listening intently.

[lolternative]

Air was silent for a moment - the thought of the sun not returning was almost too much. How long would they last? Could they ever come back - adapt? Perhaps the zikwa, down in their caves and already used to the dark would. Some of them might not even be aware of what has happened. Would they emerge one day to find the world above gone?

"Well," she rose from the ground, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. "I'll get right to it." With a nod in the other kin's direction, she turned on her heels to head off in the direction of one of the helpers to ask for advise. She glanced in the direction of a zikwa - worry clear in her expression and stopped short before she closed the distance between them and offered a small smile by way of greeting and reassurance.

"Don't worry. If we're all working together we're bound to fix it. We just need to collect the motes - that seems easy enough, right? Like catching bugs to eat but less crunchy maybe."
She sucked in a breath to stop herself rambling. "I'm going to ask one of the helpers if they have any advice on how to catch the motes if you'd like to join me."

[Toshiful]

"No, no," Bath said, "Not that he's particularly monogamous. Not that I'm particularly monogamous. But we haven't err, we know each other on a purely diplomatic level. Which is, was, going well? I think."

Barth was very excited about the subject of slimes. "Yes. Fascinating, aren't they? A variety of species. No, I'll stop by soon. Do you have any recommendations? It's hard to rate them comparatively on charm."

[Beejoux]

The sun failing to rise was certainly a big deal, Born knew that, but compared to most they had yet to really notice much of a difference. Blind since birth, their world had been black for as long as they could remember, they were very much used to it, but they could sense the unease from those around them. Death seemed on high alert, and Haven had been keeping up a worried whine for a while now.

They didn't see the notes, but the sanddog had, and he'd gotten to his feet, pacing around Born where the zikwa had been laying on a bed of soft grasses. They lifted their head to listen, rising up at the urgent yips and whines. "Death," they called softly. The buck was there, somewhere nearby. They heard the occasional heavier breath or quiet sound from a hoof landing on soft ground. "Is something there? Haven wants us to follow him."

[Lutz]

The clearing was easy enough to spot once she got close enough: the fires and glowing mushrooms lit the way once the trees cleared out. Hang The Moon had been drawn in by the voices that made it through the trees first and then felt relief wash over her when the light finally became apparent. She was nervous about the darkness and having the comfort of other kin - even if she didn't know them - and light was too irresistible of a draw to ignore.

Her plan was to stand at the edge of the clearing to observe quietly, but a dark kin with a kind voice and a literal glow about them ushered her further into the space to stand among the other kin and the light. She'd given a shy 'thank you' when the helpful kin had left, but then fell silent. She wasn't used to all these different creatures, some with magnificent antlers and tails and all sorts of adornments, and she decided it was best to try to be as small as possible and perhaps no one would speak to her. She just wanted to know what was going on, so she tried to focus on some of the conversations going on around her.

---

Make It Work sauntered into the clearing without a hint of hesitation, his flowing tail swishing behind him. He looked around the clearing at those gathered, trying to suss out who was in charge, if anyone. It seemed some of the kin that were here were like him, coming to try to make heads or tails out of what was going on. But there were five kin that stood out, literally glowing, and he assumed they were either the source of the problem or the solution. They'd certainly be helpful to have walking around in the dark swamp right now. There was one of the dark, glowing kin that seemed to be the spokesperson, so Make It Work made a beeline for him.

"I'm sure you're getting tired of answering the same questions over and over," he drawled, his tone bored and mildly annoyed. "I know I would be. But do you have any idea what's going on here? I do need the sun for my coat, it needs a certain amount of light every day to maintain its sheen." And. You know. Food couldn't grow if the sun was gone. But those were minor details.

---

Echoed Chorus had spotted the light coming from a clearing and had bounded over to it without hesitation, the glow helping him avoid branches and rocks and trees. Once he made it to the source he gave a soft 'whoa!'. There were so many kin here! And some of them were glowing! Wow!

"Hey!" he said to the kin closest to him, an Acha like him, though her markings were that of bones rather than wings. "You know what's going on? The sun is like...gone! It's wild!" Despite the cheerful tone, Echo really was quite concerned. How was he supposed to explore if he couldn't see? That was definitely going to put a damper on things.

"I'm Echoed Chorus, nice to meet you," he added with a grin. "I was kind of freaked out when I woke up to the darkness but now this is actually kind of turning out to be a good thing. I love meeting new kin!" And there were certainly plenty of those around. The Acha was still a fairly new visitor in the Swamp, though the Ache was making sure that he was slowly turning into a resident that visited other places rather than the other way around.

[rexcorvus]

"Balance is nice," Sleepy Time said agreeably. "I mean, I think I would much rather, you know, things already be balanced so we wouldn't have to go out there and, well, try and fix it ourselves. It's probably going to be very tiring."

There was another pause. Then he added hopefully, "Maybe there will be snacks to help us. You know, energy and all that. And some breaks. To regain strength and everything."

Yet another pause.

"I'm still going, though," Sleepy Time said, just in case that wasn't clear. "I probably should. Everyone else is going. Wouldn't want to be left behind and be all alone."

[rexcorvus]

"Strange motes of light," Death responded, voice low and even. He stood nearby to Born, not quite close enough to invade the zikwa's space, but near enough to make himself available should Born need anything. "It's quite dark out; I've not seen it like this before. I imagine it's somewhat like what you see all the time."

He spoke more around Born than he did his own family sometimes, his level of comfort growing each day they spent with one another. Death's tail slid along the grass, rustling leaves and twigs, and he turned his head to look in the direction of Steals Fire, Death's frown of thought deepening somewhat.

"They want us to follow these motes," he observed. "To return the light."

[Beejoux]

The dainty zikwa hummed a thoughtful note. Trying to imaging what that might look like, if they could see for themselves. Sometimes, when they dreamed, it felt like there was explosions of colors, but Born didn't know if that was actually what color looked like or just what their brain was providing in its place. It was impossible to tell, and so they tried not to dwell on it.

"That must be very strange." Born gingerly rose up on spendy legs, ears perked to follow the sound of that large tail slithering through the grass and leaves so they could move closer to him. Taking comfort from the feel of shared heat filling the space between them.

They nosed up under his chin, a silent reassurance, and Haven paced over to sit between the pair of them with a soft whine. "If they believe it will help, we should aid them, yes?"