Tanabata but with ⚜ (🛋️🙏)

[ohlord]

WHO: everyone!
WHERE: the pasture
WHEN: day 22, all day

[so you're taking in the sights and sounds and smells of the fun activities and food of the festival that's going on right now. you're probably having a great time putting off all the concerns and worries and totally aren't overwhelmed or anything.

unless you are.

in which case, GOOD NEWS! another booth has opened up and it's LILY BARN offering up their ritual rites. they have put together a small sized room-like space that looks very plain on the inside, but maybe very different on the inside (illusions, man, they're great for that).

Styx is chilling against the structure waving at people as they stop by. he's even got a helper ghost sheep to hold your shit if you got things from places. it's fine.]

Comments

WHAT'S UP? aka Styx Explains Shit/Ask Styx Shit

[ohlord]

We're supposed to be offerin' up some sympathetic ears and life changin' advice or somethin', so if ya got somethin' to get off yer chest--don't gotta be anythin' huge, just whatever helps lighten the load, go on in and a Lily'll help ya out.

Illusions mean we can make it so ya don't haveta show yer faces, or we can even make it so ya don't have to know which Lily ya get. Go off. Let it out. Get it off yer chest--hell, confess to some sins if you're feelin' particularly sinful, we got at least one Lily that's done the preachin' thing before.

Can't promise it'll fix anythin' but maybe you'll feel better, after.

((ooc: YOU CAN PRETTY MUCH CONSIDER THIS AN ANON POST. JUST TOPLEVEL WITH AN ANON ACCOUNT AND EITHER SPECIFY:
- IF YOU WANT A SPECIFIC LILY
- PARTIAL OR FULL ANON EXPERIENCE
IF YOU DO NOT SPECIFY A LILY, YOU WILL BE ASSIGNED A LILY BY THE COMMITTEE OF LILIES AT RANDOM

ANON ACCOUNTS YOU CAN USE CAN BE FOUND IN THE LINKS CHANNEL IN DISCORD

YES YOU CAN GO MULITPLE TIMES, YES YOU CAN SPECIFY THIS IN YOUR TOPLEVEL AS WELL OR JUST START A NEW THREAD.

HAVE FUN!))

Shhh

[herdtestimony]

I like to watch my flock-mates sleep. I believe in part it is for security, yes, but more than that, I like to see them still and at peace. As if no harm lies waiting in their future. As if they will never die.

Re: Shhh

[whitecollarcrime]

O-okay, well. You probably shouldn't do that without permission.

[ pause ]

B-but you're like... forgiven I think? I-if that's how this works...

Re: Shhh

[spinebuddyandme]

[ this has startled Ananke right out of his own Anonymous Illusion ]

...Uh...





Are there...other times when they're at peace? And not asleep?

[whitecollarcrime]

Is that something strange enough to confess about? I do that too.

Re: Shhh

[whitecollarcrime]

Okay, well. Little creepy there, buddy, but maybe the issue's more you should be talking it out with your flock-mates about why you feel that way about it.

[herdtestimony]

Are ... are we supposed to confess sins like this?

[whitecollarcrime]

Up to you if you wanna.

Can't say it'll get to whoever does the cleansings of souls, but might help lighten the load.

[herdtestimony]

I hate all of you.

[whitecollarcrime]

I see.

Is that a blanket hatred to all?

[stirtheblood]

Sins, huh...?

[Edgelord is neither participating in disguises nor headed inside the booth. He is just hanging out nearby. However, he summons a column of black flame to his hand, and he will address anyone who is confessing, or even appears to be confessing, with—]

You wanna own your sin, or you wanna let it own you?

[ohlord]

... that's not how this goes, man.

[herdtestimony]

I don't know how to handle my anger. I wasn't permitted such a thing- it would be unfitting of the image expected of me. I don't remember ever once having the ability to acknowledge it beyond swallowing it down and ignoring it. But now I've found something that makes me furious and I don't know what to do or how to handle it. I don't want to lash out at someone or make things worse...

[whitecollarcrime]

Okay well stop swallowing and ignoring it for one thing. If you wanna vent it get a punching bag or scream into a pillow or something. If you let that kinda thing build the chances of an unrecoverable Blot incident rise exponentially so get it early.

full anon

[herdtestimony]

...

[ it takes a while before this sheep works up to talking. ]

The first time... the very first time I killed someone, I knew what I was doing. But I didn't KNOW, yet, I don't think.

...

It took a year after that. Guessing. It wasn't like I didn't have plenty of opportunity to figure it out. Inventing the idea that it's tragic when someone dies, really dies, probably shouldn't take that long, but one day, I got there. And I think things really could have been... different... for me, if when that happened, I...

I...
I don't know. I just know they could have been different. Because it's not like I stopped, back then. I didn't cease to dig. At no point, did I ever cease to dig. To dig graves. Until it was just too late.

Re: full anon

[whitecollarcrime]

Death and its enactment are volatile, but the impact varies from person to person and situation to situation. Disturbing to contemplate, perhaps, but true. That you did not rate is a tragedy immediately is worth examining, but neither is it objectively an added wrong.

...

You reached a tipping point. What qualified as 'too late'?

[herdtestimony]

I'm not a person anymore. ...But, you know! Everyone here is so interesting and strange that it doesn't really matter at all! It's super refreshing! It's so nice watching all the freaks and monsters in daylight being happy and making friends and having fun! They even all pulled together and did Tanabata, wow!

It's kind of relaxing. Nobody knows me and nobody's looking for someone that's not here. But, you know, it's a little hard, because I have to-- oh, oops. I shouldn't say that part or it's tooooooo obvious...!

[whitecollarcrime]

—Sorry, uh... It...sounds like you have some mixed feelings. Are you happy with...not being a person?

[herdtestimony]

I think I'm going insane.

[whitecollarcrime]

I'm not a licensed professional so I don't think I can give an official diagnosis or anything. But do you want to tell me why you think that?

[herdtestimony]

I think I have a crush on one of my teammates but I don't know how to tell if it actually is or not.

[whitecollarcrime]

Romance can be felt in many different ways, some unique to one person or the other.

How do you feel when you are around them? Is it different from others?

[herdtestimony]

In this tasteless place we have found ourselves captive in, I feel frustratingly, painfully useless at times. Everyone has such spectacular, incredible abilities and strengths. It feels as though everyone has come equipt with an arsenal of tools at their disposal.

No matter how hard I try, however, I keep falling short. I am human, no mage, possess no fantastical abilities, and am not trained in how to fight. Neither am I very talented in domestic chores or mundane activities.

Every time I think I might have found a way to contribute, someone has come along who can do it much better than I and has rendered the need no longer necessary. My attempts come down to nothing.

I feel... frustrated. When I desperately fought to protect my friends, I was pulled away from the battle and informed I would only be in the way. That the best thing I could do was to stay safely aside so that while my friends fought, I wouldn't be a distraction.

I know that I am being prideful, but hearing it so bluntly spoken cut me to the core. Bemoaning this does little good. It is no more than a child crying at their own ineptitude. It is silly and foolish. Naturally, I will not cease doing my best. But I have become discouraged, to say the least.

I greatly dislike that we have been dragged here by an incompetent sheep. But if we were brought here to somehow make a difference, I cannot help but believe there must have been a mistake when fate chose me.

[whitecollarcrime]

[quiet for a long, long moment.]

... damn.

You're valid.

[herdtestimony]

My confession is...


... that everyone on Lily is so adorable, I don't know what to do. [😔]

[whitecollarcrime]

I bet this is Rubato.

[herdtestimony]

For some peculiar reason, I think that people like to bully me. I cannot understand why. I do not believe there is anything particularly strange about my face or demeanor that would prompt this phenomenon?

What should I do to be regarded as the mature, sophisticated person that I am, and show them exactly their mistake?

[whitecollarcrime]

Before you move on to being regarded as mature, I think it would be best to start with why you're being bullied. Is it just one person bullying you, or many people? What exactly are they doing? You can come up with a good counter-attack if you look at that information!

[herdtestimony]

Suppose there is someone who vexes you quite a bit, but for the strangest reason, they will not get out of your head. Are some people simply born with such a personality that even when they are not present, you find yourself unable to escape thinking about them?

What a truly terrible ability. It is distracting.

[whitecollarcrime]

I think they call that a crush, man.

[herdtestimony]

Um… I can’t remember if I’m married yet or not.


This isn’t Blossom.

[whitecollarcrime]

Why can't you remember?

[herdtestimony]

I don't really...get...how to deal with this place. A gigantic snake showed up and ate a guy 4 days ago, and now I have to have weird family dreams with my flock like everything's normal? Are shared dreams even normal in the first place?!

How is anyone calm enough to talk about having crushes and which team is the cutest?

[herdtestimony]

What do gigantic snakes eat where you come from if not people?

[herdtestimony]

Oh wise Lilies... What am I meant to do? My overflowing charisma and raw sex appeal is wasted on this small-town farm. Woe is me!

[whitecollarcrime]

While we have all been strongly advised to keep this confessional a judgement-free zone...

I believe the correct colloquialism to use here is: "put up, or shut up."

[anonymutton]

I've never done anything wrong in my life.

[whitecollarcrime]

So

[herdtestimony]

. . .

. . .

. . .

[ (soft rumbling purrs) ]

[whitecollarcrime]

. . .

. . .

. . .

[(soft rumbling purrs back)]

[herdtestimony]

I must confess some disappointment with the reactions I've seen amongst my fellow captives here. We should be slaughtering livestock and razing barns, not holding festivals and playing house.

[whitecollarcrime]

Destructive urges are not productive, friend.

Have you considered hunting?

[herdtestimony]

Ugh, why do we have to look like sheep?

[They shake their head.]

Whatever. I need help with how to grow taller. I'm not done growing yet but I'm way shorter than others in my age group. Drinking milk doesn't seem to be helping. What can I do?