beaconkeeper | IN THE NIGHT IC INBOX

Hey Maes. Thanks for checking in!! I hear your guys' lanterns have been turning colors and causing weird effects too... Not fun!

I'm OK though. Time keeps uhhhhhh getting away from me?? I don't like it. :( But it's proooooobably not super dangerous, I guess, as long as it's just a temporary thing...

How are you holding up? And oh tell Riku I said hi!!! :O

[Maes studies the response for a bit before replying. He could be reading too much into it. Robin's hidden things before. But in this case he figures he can ask just to say that he asked and gauge her response. Man did he wish he could get more than a text though -- there's so much left when you don't have facial cues and body language to judge.]

I’m glad to hear you are feeling better. I am doing just fine now, all things considered. I will make sure to pass word along to Riku that you said hi. He was dealing with an injured friend when I sent the original message, so it wouldn’t surprise me if you hear him for yourself sometime soon.

There was a point where I also experienced strange effects from time, but I don’t think I actually lost track of any. It just seemed to move extremely slow one minute and then speed up the next. Made me a little nauseous if I’m being honest. It sounds like this was your first time experiencing this sort of effect as well. So this wasn't something that had occurred with previous groups? I did my best to make a note of the different colors observed and the effects if you’d be interested in such a thing. Could prove helpful to you should it happen again. At least you’ll know more of what to expect.

It is strange though. Previously, your lighthouse was the only lantern to demonstrate the ability to shift colors. I've noticed in the past that the light from the lighthouse changes to red at certain times. Prior to this, I assumed it was a kind of warning, given what tended to happen after the light changed. I’m not sure if anyone has asked you this before, but is that light change also out of your control? And do you think it has any connection with the light change that we just experienced?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the matter. I apologize if this response was longer than you expected, but I’ve been mulling over this a lot the past few days and you seem the best person to ask.

Oh, :( I hope his friend is OK!! But I'm glad you're alright.

I've never encountered this kind of this specifically, though that doesn't mean it's never happened before - in fact, I guess it kinda has? I've been researching in the archives I got up here and there's some records of similar events happening in past resets. I didn't see anything about color changes, but there have been cases of lanterns changing in appearance that result in weird effects kinda like the ones we're dealing with.

From the sound of it, sometimes the effects are one-and-done, like, they'll go away after the event is over? Buuuuuuut sometimes they stick around for a long time, or they come and go randomly.

I don't want to worry you guys!! But I don't know which one of those is going to apply to us now. :( All I have to go on is what past keepers have reported. If you want to send me your findings though, I'll add it to the archives! That'd be really helpful just in case we need it in the future.

Oh! But I can explain what's up with my lantern, at least! The lighthouse is designed to project a red light at all times because it's the most invisible color for World Eaters!

If I was up here just shining a big ol normal yellowy or white flashlight around, they would find us way faster!! The red color lets us fly under the radar....... stealth mission!!! 🐱‍👤

So, no, I can't change the color even if I wanted to because it's just part of the lighthouse. My OG lantern wasn't red or anything. I kinda don't know what will happen if I'm just stuck as green forever??? I'll ask Maridel about it.

And don't apologize for asking me stuff!!! That's what I'm here for. :P We gotta work together.

Does it describe those changes at all or the effects? That's pretty vague otherwise.

[Especially compared to his own notes about the colors. Granted, his research is still limited because he has only recorded what others have told him or he has witnessed himself.]

The shades or intensity of the colored lights vary, but so far we've seen Green, Red, and Blue. Green seems to be hallucinations or altered memories.
Red causes physical, often painful, changes to the body. Blue is the only one giving me trouble right now, as I haven't really interacted with anyone with a blue lantern and no one wrote about it when I asked for information. The most I could get was that it also seems to be some sort of psychological effect. People have experienced different colors, but never at the same time...at least so far. The length or duration can also vary.

That last part sort of matches up with what you're saying about them coming and going randomly, but I guess we'll have to see if this is a long term come-and-go or a short term one. I appreciate you telling me what you do know. I'm not as worried now that I've gotten information from you, though I would be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about what this means for us or our future here.

That name is familiar. That's the person who's a native here, right?

((ooc: So I wanted to be careful about IC/OCC bridge here. Both Dr. Solis and the name Maridel appear in the Beacon Log Book, but not in relation to each other -- I only just now realized they were the same person because of the tags on the Log Comm. While it's an assumption Maes could make (after all, they haven't been given a lot of names), I thought I would make sure that is okay by you/the mods first before doing that.))

[ooc: you're fine! <3]

Some of the other Keepers described the effects like they're temporary versions of how sometimes people don't come back quite right after Dr. Solis revives them? There aren't a lot of examples but I guess they mean stuff like how Winters' arm was all scaly and he lost all his memories of his kids, that kind of thing.

There's nothing in the archives about lanterns changing COLOR, but there are a bunch of mentions of psychological stuff kinda like what you're describing... There were some records of people having REALLY intense moodswings, like getting really manic or really depressed.

Oh!! Yeah that's Maridel. Dr. Maridel Solis if you wanna get technical.

[He's glad he's in the privacy of his cabin because reading that gives him a bit of a panic. Losing the memories of his family? The one thing that has kept him going this entire time? Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. A good motivator not to die, but Maes knows he won't be able to resist going out there and still exploring and digging into the mysteries of this place.

Dammit all.]

I haven't had the pleasure of being revived here. This process...how much do you know about it? Why does it eventually cause problems like that? Is it the lanterns themselves or something with us or the doctor?

I know a little bit! Maridel knows wayyyy more obviously, but apparently the reviving has to do with mechanically fixing the lanterns? So like, if you die, she puts your lantern back together, but the more times you try to fix something broken, the harder it gets. I guess the problems come from tiny mistakes or parts she can't fix... They tend to get worse each time you die.

Liiike with Winters, the thing with his arm happened way before he started losing memories. His memories went the very last time he died, before... Ok so the second to last time he died, I mean.

It's a bummer he didn't get to meet Maridel. :( I think she would've been able to maybe fix up some of his problems... She does that sometimes.

So our bodies aren't part of the process at all. Guess I'm still trying to process just how much influence these lanterns have on us, even beyond the side-effects we just experienced. I may need to chat with this doctor at some point. She sounds like the person to be asking these questions of at any rate.

Winters was gone before I got here, which sounds like a pity, I get the sense we would have gotten along pretty well.

Nope, no body involvement! I don't really know what happens to dead bodies around here, but they usually vanish not too long after people die.

Awww, yeah I bet you two would've really hit it off. :( He was a good guy. I miss him! There's still kiiiiiiind of a chance Dr. Solis will be able to bring him back at some point, but she's been busy with other projects lately.

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