atonementlogs | Event 001: The Potions

Characters: All.
When: February 1st
Where: Town Square
Warnings: None. Please put any warnings in the comment subject if it progresses that way!

As of this morning, there will be a steady rain over Penance that will darken the skies to black and fall as if somehow tainted and muddied, followed by a cold and harsh wind that will chill one to the bone if they dare to venture out in it... which may be necessary. The ground and roads will be slick and muddied, but there will be power outages due to the weather so staying in may not be necessarily more appealing. The rain will continue steadily for a week and be intermittent the rest of the month.

However, should anyone venture to the town square in search of warmth, there will be a large tent set up that is entirely illuminated regardless of whether the rest of Penance is or not. There will be supplies such as food and water for the taking, as well as a few old blankets for people to huddle under while they wait out the storm.

That's not all, of course. It wouldn't be atoning in the slightest if things were made too calm and cozy during the storm. There will also be letters left to each of Penance's new citizens detailing what this month's punishment entails.

It's time for your hosts to be a little less kind than upon arrival.

A table set up under the tent has five different kind of vials on it, plenty of each to go around. They have the following effects:

Pink. Allows for one to hear the true thoughts of others, including what is thought about them for 24 hours during all interactions. This is to cause some self-reflection and insight into how they're viewed.

Green. Allows for pain to be given to another for 24 hours. It will be agonizing pain and sickness. While this is extremely frowned upon, it will mean that the person in question will have participated in punishments this round and will be excused from drinking any other potion. However, remember that the actions we take now may have consequences in the future. It should also be noted that you won't get to choose who experiences the pain due to your decision, so no trying to take a grudge out on anyone.

Purple. Allows one to feel the pain they caused another during their lives for 24 hours. They will feel what that person felt entirely. Hopefully this will cause some reflection and remorse for the actions that caused another to feel hurt.

Blue. Forces honesty for 24 hours. No lying and one may even be compelled to spill their deepest, darkest secrets and sins to anyone who will listen. Transparency is key to atoning for past sins.

Red Causes significant pain for 24 hours. It may be general pain like an ache in your bones that can't be soothed, or it may manifest in physical injuries such as cuts, bruises, etc. They say pain can be cleansing...

For those eager for punishment (which your hosts love to see), you may take more than one vial to spread out over the month, although taking multiple potions at once may not be entirely wise for most. Citizens may opt to try to avoid punishment this month, but again, remember all choices may have future consequences. Your hosts are here to see that you pay for your sins, not just scrape by.

With your letter collected, you may stay and get to know each other a little better while you wait for the storm to pass or insist on grabbing your items and brave the return to your home. The choice is absolutely yours.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Carefully Eren chose the words "From what I've understood from the letter, it'll stop after one day. I guess it will suddenly stop or it will become slowly less and less."

Does everyone gets a letter like this? he asked himself, while he quickly looked over the people gathered in the tent. He asked himself how many of them had already drunk a vial and what if someone had chosen the one where you send pain to someone else? The young man was sure, once he would reach the table he would find out for himself and find a letter with his name.

Eren quickly glanced at his right hand. There he had the proof that their host was not reserving something for just one but for all citizen.

"So you've taken one of these vials without really knowing what would happen?" he asked curious and raised an eyebrow. "But then each of them is worse in their own way."

No way to reverse it? Dammit, he can't let himself be useless, laid up to convalesce in some hospital bed for a day. He wipes at the blood on his mouth with the back of his hand, glad that the black of his clothes and the dust that clings to them helps absorb the blood on his hands.

"Yes." He answers, because he doesn't want to explain it's because he can't read the letter, because he doesn't have Goody to help him. Certainly, he knows enough English writing to read a few words, but the majority of it is about as good as scribbles on a page.

"What do they do?"
Because hopefully, he can tell Goody about them before he ends up making the same mistake Billy did...

"Perhaps it was a good decision. See, I know now what they do, and I have no clue which one I should choose." He meant it, and hoped that the stranger could hear that and wouldn't assume that he was mocking him for what he did.

Sometimes it is good not to know everything. I know too good how answers can turn your life upside down. I deserve all these punishments and yet I can't decided which one I should endure.

By all means he wasn't thinking desperately what he should choose, it was more an objective way to look at the situation he would face sooner or later. If only he would have someone to talk to and maybe get an advice. But in this life he was on his own, in a town full of people he didn't knew and had to get to know, if he wanted or not.

Eren looked again at the letter, just a useless gesture, since he had already memorized everything. After every color and their effect he looked up.
"You have five colors to choose from. You've taken the red one, the one that causes a significant pain and can lead to visible wounds. The blue one makes you tell the truth for a whole day. Then we have the purple one, that makes you expire all the pain one person had felt do to your actions. The fourth is the pink one, that makes you heart the true thoughts of everyone and you also hear what everyone really thinks of you. And the green one gives pain to some random person for a whole day."

It dawned on Eren that the pink vial could lead to trouble afterwards. Out of curiosity he asked "Would you have chosen a different color, now that you know what they do?"

There's a soft roll of Billy's shoulders, as if he doesn't care. Maybe Red was the right choice, or purple. At least purple would have been quick. Painless. Dead for 24 hours and back to life the next day, right?

But Pink... Pink is something he stops on. Hand moving over one of the vials and slowly picking it up. Sliding it into one of the pockets of his pants. Something for later, maybe. If he's brave enough to drink it. Hearing someone's inner thoughts- that could be terrifying.

"Purple, probably." He comments, taking a deep breath as he tries to ignore the taste of blood in his mouth.

"Forgive me this stupid question. Afterwards it is always easier to say that you would've made a different decision, no matter what the decision is about."
He thought back of all the hours of playing "What-If" in this thoughts, whenever he couldn't find any sleep.

Eren whistled when he saw that the man was picking up a pink vial. I would be too scared to pick this one. "Sure it is tempting but isn't it scary to know exactly what everyone thinks about you? If you really drink this one day, I hope you won't end up with being disappointed from the people you know. The truth can hurt more than the sweetest lie."

He couldn't speak out the sentence without pain. Most of his life had been a lie and part of him wished that he would have never discovered the truth. Especially about his parents. This was probably the only reason why he wouldn't choose the blue vial.

There's a slight fear- always a slight fear- that perhaps the poetic words of the man he loves aren't always said in truth. It lurks at the darkest corners of his mind, and it's a risk, a dare, to possibly drink this in his presence.

"I'm certain what I'll hear will be good." It's a confidence he has, because when hasn't Goody been good to him? He trusts that Goody's intentions, his thoughts, are just as poetic as his words usually are. He has to trust that.

"... What are you going to drink, then?"

"You're really optimistic. Once I've been more optimistic than now. Let's say fate had decided that I should learn a lesson or two."

When he spoke out the words, Eren was aware how pessimistic he had been in the last time. Something that was so not like him. But there was another reason why Eren would never chose the pink vial. His second self that could easily gain control over him, if he would find out someone was just playing with him. So far there had been no reason to show his second self and Eren hoped that he didn't have to.

But this had just been a though he had, when he had read the letter. He was glad that in this new life he didn't have to constantly think about what he was. Here he was a human who had sinned. At least for now. His host wouldn't forget about it, that was something Eren was sure about.

"I guess I will choose the purple vial, this one seems like the safest for the start. Or maybe the blue one, if I can convince myself that I'm ready to share my sins with the town's people."

Optimisim has nothing to do with it. It's trust. He's cynical, too, of strangers and the world at large. He's seen the darkest parts of some men. Enveloped himself in that role. Life taker, blade man- he's killed scum of the earth for scum of the earth.

Goodnight, however, was faith restored.

"Blue sounds dangerous. The truth without filter." One a man of privacy such as himself would hate to take. Perhaps he should be careful in the next few months or so that no one laces his drink with such a thing...

Eren nodded at this remark. "Depending on what you confess, you might up ending becoming a target for most of the town's people." But their mysterious host wouldn't like to cause more trouble than necessary in his town, or would he?

With a low voice he continued "Could it be possible that, if the wrong person drinks the blue vial, said person could trigger with their confession the population to turn against them?"

Suddenly a shiver was running down his spine and he got the impression that it was much colder in the tent then just a couple of seconds ago. With silent horror he saw the scene right before his inner eye: someone who couldn't walk on the street without being harassed from everyone around him, someone who got pushed away from society and then suddenly all he saw was the color red.

He swallowed hard, being fully aware that it was visible on his face that his thinking had been busy. Yes, he could just murmur the words of the stranger "Blue sounds dangerous."
Maybe that is why the ocean is blue. This thought crossed his mind in a split second.

Event 001: The Potions

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