hadriel_ooc | Event Post: The Hope of a Child

THE RUNDOWN

Hope's in need of energy to get the city up and running again, and now Confusion's decided to help out Hope by getting a little creative. And hey, maybe it'll be a little bit like a vacation for the inhabitants of Hadriel, right? A blast from your past, as you turn into a younger version of yourself.

That's right. Starting on January 23rd, everyone is going to have a chance to relive their childhood years. Characters will find themselves falling into a deep, unwakeable sleep - and while they're asleep, their consciousnesses will be projected outside of themselves in the form of children. They'll have all memories and experiences of that character as a child, but be totally lacking anything beyond that, with absolutely no memory of ever being an adult.

The city will be full of sleeping adults and unsupervised children - except for the few adults who don't sleep. What are you going to do? Try to play babysitter and wrangle the little ones? Or just let them run wild? Let's hope these kids don't get into too much trouble.

THE DETAILS

How much you want your character to participate is entirely up to you. Not everyone will be asleep the whole time - some people might not fall asleep at all, some might only sleep for a few hours here and there, while others might fall asleep at the beginning of the event and stay that way until the very end. Normal sleep won't be affected: people will still get as tired as normal and when they choose to sleep there will be no child version of them. However, while in that unnatural sleep, they won't need to eat or drink and will have no awareness of passing time.

What counts as a child? Anything between the ages of about 5-14, with a little leeway - we don't want too many actual babies running around, but in the end it's up to you! And if your character didn't have a childhood - if they were created as an adult, for example - it can be whatever they personally consider to be themselves as a child, whether that's an actual child they never were or simply a mentally younger version of themselves.

It's also your decision how much your character remembers from their time as a child. While they won't remember anything with perfect recall, they could have very realistic dreamlike snatches of memory or no memories at all or something in between. Maybe this is finally their chance to have that happy childhood they always wanted, and fill themselves with hope for the future. That's what Confusion is hoping, at least!

THE OVERVIEW

► January 23rd: People start falling asleep and dreaming their child selves
► February 1st: That's all, folks

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Both of my characters will be aged down for most of the event, though I might tag around and do a couple of closed prompts for their adult selves. The kid selves will be open prompts!

~~And hey, Michael has a lot of experience already with falling into an unwakeable sleep and projecting a version of himself into physical reality~~.

Michael: Quick CW that Michael's childhood was not great (shocker). The topics of child abuse and self-harm might come up, so be aware of that. He'll be about 11 or so, and pretty recognizable between the hair and the freckles and the glasses. It's fair to assume that people who know him as an adult can figure it out. The Visitor is not a thing yet. (Though that would be kind of hilarious; what would it look like? puff of smoke? floating skull? bear cub skeleton?)

Around other kids, he'll be shy and awkward and quick to give into peer pressure. Unless they insult his mom or provoke him or something, then he'll fight you. Around adults, he is pretty notably mature for his age, and while he's very curious and will ask a lot of questions (NERD ALERT), he's also very well-behaved and obedient. He apologizes a lot, reacts strongly to both praise and criticism, and cries kind of easily.

Tucker: Tucker's childhood wasn't super great either but no particular CWs here. Tucker is 13 and a tiny foxfaced shitlord. He's still pretty short, but he's skinny as a rail. He's impeccably clean, but his clothes will look worn-out and a couple sizes too big. He's a little harder to recognize than Michael, since he's a Generic White Boy and he will most likely not be turning into a wolf. (Though if he did, it would be a gangly pup with way-too-big paws.) About the only certain commonality between this and his adult self is the St. Christopher medal.

At this point in his life, Tucker has been living on his own (homeless) for a couple of years already, and he's adapted quickly. He is likely to steal things, pick pockets, and pretend to be hurt or sad for sympathy and/or material gain. He might try to convince other kids to do things he thinks are hilarious. He probably won't react well to authority figures. Has quick little fingers. Keep an eye on your phone.