Analog Airmail [closed!]

[cyrevan]

⧼ 𝔄𝔫𝔞𝔩𝔬𝔤 𝔄𝔦𝔯𝔪𝔞𝔦𝔩 ⧽
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✧☽◯☾✧

Rules & How to Play

Send mail greetings from the gallery to your friends all over the world! The Manor Gallery curator Grant has recreated some paintings as films that will be delivered to your recipient along with your message. Who knows, if you stick around long enough to send something, you may learn more about the gallery's patrons.

Rules:

✧ Use the form at the end of this post to send other users messages or creative works of their kalons during the duration of this booth (September 22 - October 12)
✧You may send up to 10 airmails for Ghost Wisp rewards, but only the first of the day will count towards story clues, up to 5 days. This resets at rollover and is based on when you send the form.
✧ The PM must be titled Analog Airmail so it sends to our correct inboxes.
✧ Send your forms to whim OR cyrevan within one CS day. After rollover each day, you’re free to switch. If one of us is temporarily closed, it will be indicated on this thread as well as our signature— please pm the other in that case.
✧ Your recipient must be signed up for the Kalon Fall 2024 event sign up thread
✧ Written airmail must be at least 100 words (generally a compliment, thank you note or similar), and art must be at least a neatly sketched headshot of one of their Kalons
✧ Traditional/digital art is allowed, but not commissioned art, and all art must be newly created for this event! Art can have a short caption if desired.
✧ You may send airmail compliments in character to a manor NPC, but only ONE will count towards rewards. Art of NPCs counts as a gift to another user and multiple of these are accepted.
✧ If sending a compliment to an NPC, please link the profile of the staff member representing the NPC.
✧ If you choose to send something to one of us running the booth, send the form through the other person!
✧ Compliments can be anonymous, but if sending art, please include a preferred credit link.
✧ Do not post on this thread, please PM cyrevan if you have any questions, or ping one of us in the discord event chat.

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Send completed forms to whim or cyrevan only, with the title “Analog Airmail”

Code: Select all

    [b]username + id + link to sign-up:[/b]
    [b]recipient username + id + link to sign-up:[/b]
    [b]mail content for recipient:[/b] [at least 100 words or a neatly sketched headshot of their kalon]
    [b]anonymous or signed?:[/b]  if submitting text content
    [b]where to credit you?:[/b] if art content

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You will be awarded 5 Ghost Wisps for each mail you send, for up to 10 messages.

For each day you participate, you will receive a return reply continuation of the Manor Gallery storyline. Keep reading to explore the Manor Gallery story!

✧☽◯☾✧

[whim]

⧼ 𝔚𝔢𝔩𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔐𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔯 𝔊𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔢𝔯𝔶 ⧽
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[ Main Page ] [ Sign-Ups ] [ Prompts ] [ Games ] [ Adopts ] [ Shop ] [ Event Bank ]
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✧☽◯☾✧

The mansion is starting to get to you.

Somewhere in your meandering, the hallways stopped having windows. Instead there are framed paintings of varying sizes and styles. A couple are leaned against the wall or stacked upon the occasional wheeled cart. Anywhere else, you’d expect caution tape for this exhibit in progress, but here you figure anyone who made it this far is going to be wary enough.

As your eyes adjust to the dark, you notice that there seem to be little shadowy wisps wandering about, dusting the paintings and shuffling along the floors of the hall. This hall definitely seemed less dusty than the others; in fact, it almost seemed cleaner the closer you got to the end of it.


✧☽◯☾✧


You keep walking until you see the figure of an older kalon shuffling across the floor, lifting something up to the paintings, waiting for a while, then moving on.
He doesn’t look much like a ghost. Although… In this place, that may not mean anything at all. If he’s a ghost, maybe you’re… also… a ghost?

No! Shake off that thought, and pay attention! That guy, what is he doing?
His head turns. He has a gentle and kind expression.






“Well, come help me out, why don’tcha?”
Dumbfounded, you look at him, then at the paintings. He has a dingy old film camera, and is… recording them?

“Come on, now. Take a camera—there’s plenty—and get with it. They’ll be here, alright.”
There is indeed a bucket filled to the brim with equipment and you get the sinking feeling that previous explorers left some things behind, in one way or another. Unsure why you’re playing along, you pull out a camera.


✧☽◯☾✧


At first, all seems normal with the paintings, if you discount the fact the subjects seem to be looking right at you, but as you peer through the lens the corners of your eyes start to swim with motion. Kalons and all manner of creatures are appearing in the paintings, canvases changing from mostly blank to populated, and some are even talking, walking, dancing!

“Trade that camera out for another one. I’ll get your film processed in the meantime.”
Just as it was beginning to get interesting! After taking your camera and walking past you, he remembers something and turns his head very slightly.

“I’m the Curator of these halls. Friends call me Grant.”


There seems to be an especially playful kalon dancing in the paintings, following after you by leaping from artwork to artwork. Only this time, her movement does not cease when you stop looking through the lens of the camera… She seems to be a bit more vibrant than the others, decorated with gold jewelry and a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Perhaps she is more than just a painting? Regardless, she wants your attention.






“Mon ami, my name is Rose! It’s been a while since I’ve had visitors… Maybe you can help us out, hm?”
Did that painting just talk?! Her voice is sweet and she flashes a bright smile.

“You see… These paintings are home to the resting souls of ghosts. But… They cannot leave their paintings! Unless… they are photographed or recorded! Curiously, photographs seem to be a way for these spirits to get a look of the real world, much like a window. To make them happy, why don’t you share a couple photographs of them so they can see the world?”
She leans on the frame, and you swear you can see her pop out of the painting… Or maybe your eyes were deceiving you. Who knows at this point.


“So, what do you say? Want to help us mail these photographs and films across the globe?”

✧☽◯☾✧

[kaisisles]

⧼ 𝔄 𝔓𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯'𝔰 𝔇𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔰𝔢 ⧽
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You fiddle with the lens Grant has given you, testing things out. After snapping a few times, you realize that you’re…out of film? …the manufacturers are gonna seriously need to reconsider this type of product design.
Either way, you've got to find Grant again for some help.


✧☽◯☾✧


You approach the wizened kalon near the far end of the hall in the deepest part of the gallery. He’s standing before a grand wall of paintings, hands clasped behind his back. Rose has settled in a painting nearby, a simple scene of bright grass. You wonder if she can feel the sunlight and scenery of the painting she inhabits.

“See these?”
Grant addresses you without turning around.



“Decades of work, and I only have this much. Hard ta' recover something that’s been gone a millennia, even harder if it’s been actively erased I suspect. I came to the manor trying to find any pieces that weren't completely destroyed over the last ten centuries or so.”

Encouraged, you lean in from behind him. Unlike the other paintings in the hall, these are rendered in greyscale, forming objects and sceneries on their pale canvases. But unlike the rest of the Gallery, something bothers you deeply about these paintings. You peer at them in turn. (Click the golden plaque/signs to view each painting up close.)

Each painting seems to be missing its focal point, as if you were looking at a puzzle that was complete except for the piece containing the face. Like the painting's subject walked right out of the canvas and left a void in their place. But that’s not possible...right?

Then again, you've seen stranger things in the Manor.

Grant looks at you steadily. He seems to feel you mentally putting the pieces together.



“Problem is, a lot of these subjects have ah, "run away" from their paintings. It is peculiar and there is certainly more to it than just the age of these works, but as of the moment I haven’t had the energy to be able to chase them down.”

You ask Grant who made these paintings, and why he is so intent on recovering their work. Grant smiles at the wall.


“Do you know how when they tell you to not chase something, it only makes you want to pursue it more? This artist was intentionally wiped from records. It was only by chance I found a singular work and a way into this mystery.

I’ve dubbed them Yuumo, after their moniker...and this manor is the only place I have ever found any concrete evidence of their life and work."


"A story nobody has ever listened to before is a story most valuable to an old curator like me."

Grant’s somber tone evaporates.



“Anyways, I’ve found that recreating these images in my device created a sort of two-way looking glass- how fascinating is that? Tell you what. You help me out and pick a few here to send to your friends around the world, and maybe these subjects will feel like stayin in their paintings now that there’s more to see than this drab wall. Come to me if you manage to catch any, please. I can’t seem to get ahold of them”

Grant leaves you alone with the incomplete paintings on the wall.
From the corner of your eye you catch movement, and turn towards Rose who is squinting down at you playfully from her field of flowers.



“You saw them earlier too, right? The little shadows cleaning up in the halls. The old man couldn't see them, so how can you?"
She gives a teasing gasp

"Are you a painting as well, mon ami? Haha, just kidding!
How interesting! Tell you what, I’ll help you get them back in the paintings, if only to help that monsieur who gave up chasing after them ages ago. Come with me! Oh, and if you see the ghosts with axes coming at you, they shouldn't be solid, so please do not panic or feel obligated to dodge their swings!”
She skips out of the hall through the paintings on the walls.

You gulp. A-axes…?
Suddenly you're not sure if you want this part time job anymore.

But...it's not like you could just leave things be. With Rose being able to see but not catch the wisps and Grant being able to catch but not see the wisps, they would be stuck here forever if nobody intervened. You heave a small sigh and brush off the thought that you really should be getting paid more for this. With one last look at the empty gallery, you turn to catch up with Rose

✧☽◯☾✧

[ Back to top ]

✧☽◯☾✧

[kaisisles]

⧼ ℭ𝔯𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔱𝔰 ⧽
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✧☽◯☾✧

cyrevan | gallery director, booth lead, grant NPC
whim | booth lead, rose NPC, NPC chat icons
kaisisles | story/lore writing, yuumo NPC, gallery & chapter art

special thanks | estate and all NPC cast of the Manor

posts below this point are for interactive sections of the above posts

✧☽◯☾✧

[kaisisles]

⧼ ✧☽ 𝔔𝔲𝔦𝔩𝔩, 𝔬𝔯 𝔞 𝔉𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯? ☾✧ ⧽
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You lean in to inspect the smallest painting, a simple square canvas with a loose ribbon.
The torn area is shaped like that of a quill or a feather, and vaguely you wonder how a non-living object can gain sentience, much less run away on its own

✧ Grant: This was painted using a very traditional technique. Quite a hallmark for inkwash painters of the time, if I do say so myself.
But the painter could not have used a quill in their time, so this painting must have been the hollow feather of a bird.

✧ Rose: Ah, oui- But quills? What century are you from, Monsieur?
She laughs
This subject should not be too hard to find, so we can start from here. What would you like to see next?

✧ You:
> | Let's look at another painting!
> | Give me a moment to think about all this

[kaisisles]

⧼ ✧☽ 𝔄 𝔣𝔬𝔴𝔩 𝔟𝔶 𝔞𝔫𝔶 𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔫𝔞𝔪𝔢 ☾✧ ⧽
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You approach the painting to the left of Grant, a pale canvas with the shape of a bird cleanly torn from its surface.

✧ Grant: No, no...there must be some form of significance in this work...would not have painted this and the quill separately...but...

He shakes his head wearily and mutters something to himself that you don't quite catch. You sense that the relationship between some of these paintings is a topic that he is greatly invested in.
Rose seems to understand the intensity of his focus, but she gently intervenes

✧ Rose: Perhaps we are reading into this one a bit much, Monsieur...how about we take a look at a different painting instead?

✧ You:
> | Yes, let's.
> | Give me a moment

[kaisisles]

⧼ ✧☽ ℑ𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔖𝔦𝔩𝔢𝔫𝔱 ℭ𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤 ☾✧ ⧽
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You walk to the left most painting in the gallery. It's a scene of a clearing, and in the center you make out the cutout of a beast. Unlike the paintings to its right, it's fully composed.

✧ Grant: This painting is the bridge between the lighter and darker works. I haven't been able to figure out exactly what caused the paintings to progress in such a direction, but I am almost certain this one is the transition point between the two.

✧ Rose: I find this scene alluring and fascinating as well. I wonder if this is a sight the artist saw with their own eyes? ...ça devait être beau

She gazes at the painting with a hand on her cheek, deep in thought

✧ You:
> | Let's look at another painting.
> | You guys go on ahead, I need a moment

[kaisisles]

⧼ ✧☽ 𝔗𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔮𝔲𝔦𝔩 𝔗𝔲𝔯𝔟𝔲𝔩𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢 ☾✧ ⧽
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You weren't able to quite reach the painting in the top right of the gallery, so Grant shows you to a stepladder. You climb up and come face to face with an underwater scene with the subject neatly torn from the center.

✧ Grant: For a traditional painter to depict the views from underwater...while unlikely, it seems that they could easily have been painting what they saw.

Rose turns and looks up from the patch of grass she'd temporarily inhabited.

✧ Rose: I find it so uncomfortable to travel to this painting, I feel as though I cannot breathe while I'm in it. Even when it's just there above me, I can feel the pressure of the water. How exquisitely painted it must be!

✧ You:
> | I'm ready to look at something else.
> | I'd like to take a break for now...

[kaisisles]

⧼ ✧☽ 𝔑𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔯𝔰, ℭ𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔯 𝔒𝔫𝔢'𝔰 ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔱 ☾✧ ⧽
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You take a step back from Grant to view the topmost painting in its entirety. Even without the extra lens assisting you, you can make out the night sky racing across the canvas. A twisting feeling in your stomach makes you aware of the violent and haphazard soul of the painting. The ink is almost carelessly slathered onto it, with bits of splashes that look more accidental than calculated. In some places you can see layers and layers of pigment buildup—this painting very clearly has more texture than the others. This painting's bold style makes it stand out from all the others, though you can still tell it was painted by the same artist. Grant steps back next to you.

✧ Grant: Puzzling, isn't it? When I was new here, I nearly dismissed this one thinking it was fake. This...is not inkwash. It's closer to calligraphy, but it's a poor example of even that. Perhaps this is the painting that awoke their interest in the inkwash they pursued for much of their life. I believe this Yuumo was a genius, but I suppose even geniuses have to start somewhere—perhaps as troubled youth.

He chuckles fondly, eyes glittering as he looks at the artwork.

✧ Rose: The night sky is beautiful...but it is drawn so desperately, I feel that the artist must have been battling powerful and conflicting emotions. I have so many questions! Was this the first work or the last of these here? Did art soothe their turbulent soul, or did it aggravate it?

✧ You:
> | Let's look at the others and see
> | This is quite a lot, let me digest

[kaisisles]

⧼ ✧☽ 𝔗𝔞𝔩𝔨: ℜ𝔬𝔰𝔢 ☾✧ ⧽
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You step towards Rose and compare her to the painting she's inhabiting. The grass field has more of an abstract oil paint feel, while Rose herself appears to be printed canvas. The painting sticks out like a sore thumb next to all the muted, grey canvases nearby.

It looks as though Rose is leaning out of a window frame from a sunny patch of grass, warmed by the rays of an invisible sun from the painting. It definitely looks more comfortable than the still air and steady chill of the Manor Gallery.

✧ Rose: Mon ami, over here over here!

✧ You: Rose! This painting looks so different. Don't tell me it's by the same artist who made the rest of these?

At this, Rose giggles

✧ Rose: Of course not! Monsieur Grant just spends so much time here that I requested him bring me...what do you call them? Ah, the "cushiest couch" to somewhere I can watch him from. Isn't it nice?

You suddenly have a thought

✧ You: Rose, you can freely inhabit paintings, are you-

She squints mysteriously at you

✧ Rose: A ghost? A painting? Me, maybe, maybe not! But if you're curious about the Monsieur curator...why don't you have a chat with him yourself?

You may chat with Rose by pinging @Rose in the NPC-chat channel!