logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: BURY A FRIEND

EVENT LOG: BURY A FRIEND

characters: everyone.
location: around town.
date/time: october 9-17.
content: the hallucinations begin...
warnings: psychological horror. please cw tags appropriately.

it's probably something that shouldn't be said out loud

October 9 feels like a normal day at first, save for the red lighthouse beam cutting through the darkness overhead. You know by now—or you've heard—that the lighthouse is only active during ferry arrivals and events... And there's definitely no ferry docked at the, er. Beach. The town is quiet, the forest spirits behave business-as-usual, Rastus doesn't know what's up. Whatever's going on, you'll have to figure it out for yourself.

And you will, though the hallucinations are subtle at first: objects moving when they shouldn't, people's proportions looking just a bit off, voices in an empty room, and so on. Is it just your mind playing tricks in the darkness? Might be! Will did warn you all about the effects of living without a sun and a proper day/night cycle.

As the days go on, the hallucinations are harder to ignore, no matter how much you may wish to wave them off as flukes. What's wrong with everyone's faces? When did all the howling start? Who do you hold onto when the world drops out from under you? And those hands...

While you might know it can't be real, it certainly feels real. But at least it can't last forever!

...Right?

QUICKNAV
comms	\|	network • logs • memes • ooc
pages	\|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Giving us time to prepare before the real attack commences? I'm not sure, all I have are conjectures and ..." He's about to say more when the other man suddenly reaches out his expression changing to surprise.

Kuai backpedals, unsure what's happening or what he's seeing. As far as he can tell nothing has changed, but what if this time he's not seeing it and someone else is?

"What is it?"

There he is: solid, not disintegrated, alive, looking at the Sergeant like he's insane. "Shit. Sorry. I saw-- you exploded. HYDRA weapon, somethin' from-- from the war I came from. Jesus." He steps back once, himself, and scrubs a hand down his face. "You're fine. Right?"

"Exploded?" Well that's a new one for him. He's not sure what HYDRA is but he can guess the rest of it given the context of war and explosions.

"I am not exploded, however; fine may be an overstatement." He looks around, wondering if he'll be seeing something that's not there next. Everything seems the same: ominous hands and shadows at the periphery of his vision. "There must be some way to make these stop."

"Yeah, if we could find out what's causing it, maybe. Not all of us are human, so it can't be a gas or poison, can it? There's a fuckin'-- robot guy. How would somethin' that affects you affect him?" The Sergeant looks around, a little twitchily in the aftermath of seeing a guy disintegrate in front of him, but not as bad as he could be. (Not real. None of it's fuckin' real.) "And I've got some kinda stupidly-high metabolism, I can't even get drunk and I'm hungry all the damn time. They'd have to pump three or four times any drug they tried into me compared to most of the people here. So it can't possibly be somethin' ambient, or I wouldn't be as fucked up as the rest of you."

Which basically leaves: magic. The Sergeant hates that idea. There's not a damn thing he can do about magic.

"No if it were some airborne poison it would affect us all differently. Same if the food was tainted; some I've met do not need to eat. It must be a sorcery of some kind. Though to what end..."

He doesn't like that idea either, it's familiar to him, but the kind of magic that would manipulate their senses like this is powerful and alarming, "A magic to make us see things from our past? What makes us uneasy amplified? If it's specifically tailored to each person, given the population, that is a powerful spell. I know little of sorcery but I would imagine that would take some time."

Unless there's a whole bunch of sorcerers which is a terrifying thought.

"Shit, I can't even remember most of my past, so whoever or whatever is behind this, they've got more idea of what to scare me with than me." The Sergeant shrugs helplessly. "You're right. It's gotta be magic somehow. I don't know jack shit about magic except that you can probably shoot whoever's making it and it'll stop. Maybe."

"Beheading them is always a viable option." And in his experience a good way to get them to never cast more spells ever again. Though it didn't do much for the ones already cast. "It's worth a try should we find who's behind this. If I was a sorcerer I would want to see my work, so they can't be terribly far away."

"We ain't heard about any-- sorcerers," the Sergeant says, looking around as of they might see them right now. All he sees are hands trying to dig themselves out of the dirt, quite possibly to drag bodies after them, who the fuck knows. "Would the Keeper person have warned us if there was somebody like that around? Or d'you think it might be the spirits." He hoped not. The Soldier really liked them. "Or, shit, that Keeper person herself?"

"If she wanted our help she might have warned us. If the goal truly is the defeat of these world eaters. But there is so much knowledge that she has that she won't share, I'm dubious that she has our best intentions at heart." Kuai is ever polite, but he doesn't trust her one bit and she can go fuck herself for all he cares. Someone should go take what she knows by force.

"It may be the spirits, not all of them are friendly - but there are enough that are I would think they may have showed up to warn us. Or at least be around. The Keeper seems more likely."

"Some of 'em are," the Sergeant says with a sudden frown. "Friendly. There's one it-- there's one I met. This guy with an owl head and feathery arms and a kinda musty suit. Knows Morse Code, so we could kinda talk. He warned us about other spirits that would want to-- well." He gives a grim little smile. "He said 'chit chat then chomp chomp'. Not quite like this, but still dangerous. So maybe it is the spirits doing this."

"If they enjoy the darkness and we are trying to bring back the light that could be catastrophic to them. I cannot blame them for fighting." Strange that he'd never considered that before now. The spirits were able to navigate the forest, and could apparently see in the dark. If they were adapted to the world as it is now, they may not want any of that to change.

"I have talked to a few, they didn't seem like they had any sort of powers. And if they did why strike now? It would have been easier to dispatch us all when there were much fewer of us."

He sighs, everything just brings more questions with no answers, "I'm not sure whats to be done. Especially when we cannot trust what we see."

"This ain't killing us," the Sergeant reminds him. "If they wanted to do that, they know how. They killed a whole bunch before we got here. This is somethin' else. Still think it's some kinda test or fucked up message."

He shakes his head. "We're just talkin' in circles. And I'm gettin' antsy standin' still." He peers into the trees. "C'mon. You got magic, right? Maybe if we make a circuit you can find some more. If we stick together, we can tell each other when shit ain't real, right?"

"It's not.." He cuts himself off, now is not the time to argue that cryomancy isn't magic. When it basically is, as much as he hates to admit it.

"A solid plan. Assuming we don't both start seeing the same things." That's uncharacteristically pessimistic of him and he pauses before continuing, "No, this is a better option than being on our own. Besides, should we be attacked we'll be able to defend with the two of us instead of alone."

He eyes that metal arm, "I assume you can fight hand to hand?"

What kind of a question is that? The Sergeant dredges up his best wolfish grin, and produces a knife from one of the many hidden pockets and sheathes stashed about his person, flipping it in his hand, catching the hilt each flip. "Can I fight hand to hand. Jesus, look at me. I'm a goddamn tank." It sounds almost sour, on top of the flippancy. His few memories of before HYDRA make him think he used to be more slender, more of a dancer's build, but it's obvious what he's made for, now. "Can you?"

He shrugs, from what little he knows of him he looked military and what he knows of special forces is that they prefer guns over more traditional combat. And he hasn't seen too many guns here. Or a place to get more ammo. "Looks can be deceiving."

But he does look like he can take care of himself which is reassuring. "I have some experience in that, yes," says the Grandmaster of an entire assassin clan.

At least they're on even ground as they make their patrol.

He is pretty fond of his guns, even has three of them, but he's always been good at both. He's pretty sure he has, anyway. And yeah, conserving ammunition is absolutely gonna be a thing. "Good. Guess we'll watch each other's back, yeah?"

He slips the knife away again, and picks up on the Soldier's usual patrol again. "I do this every day, anyway. Ain't like it's a problem doing it with company."

"I am starting to realize that many of us make the same patrols without each other's knowledge. We are likely covering the same ground repeatedly." He went on daily patrols as well, as had Hanzo, and he's fairly certain that he's seen others doing the same thing. It might be in their best interest to coordinate those. Maybe a discussion for when there aren't shadowy hands threatening to drag them all into the forest.

Hands that he is repeatedly reminding himself aren't real.

There's silence for a while as he tries to figure out how to ask the next question in a way that isn't... well.. strange, "You sound different than when we last talked."

More talkative for one, but also.. different.

"Yeah, I've noticed that, too. Better that than not enough of us, though. Inspector Javert and I coordinate, and I kinda keep an eye on what the bird-girl Xayah does so we're not overlapping too much. Guess I'll start watching for you, too." This place. So disorganized. Mostly because people just don't talk to each other.

(We'd probably still wind up doing it even if it does overlap with people. What the fuck else we gonna do with our time.) That, the Soldier has no answer for.

The silence isn't bad, but it's definitely better than the question. The Sergeant actually winces. "Yeah. Uh. I do, don't I. It's kinda complicated..." Are you gonna make him try to explain, Kuai? That's gonna be a weird conversation.

"Xayah does as well? Hm. I suppose communication is a bit of a problem. I'm used to working alone and we have no hierarchy here. Not that I think we need, or anyone would respect one if we did have a single entity in charge, but it makes coordination needlessly complicated." Maybe if he ever paid attention to the network and did more than train all day and then play Sudoku until passing out...

He notices that, deciding not to push it. It's not any of his business. "You do not need to explain, I was merely curious."

Nothing seems out of place, other than the ever present hands. If that's all this is, it won't be too bad. Maybe it'll just pass after a while. "Were you here when the graves appeared? After a while they vanished with no warning, just as abruptly as they had appeared. Maybe this will be like that and suddenly stop."

The Soldier monitors the network pretty closely, and it still hasn't really come up, you're not missing that much, Kuai. "Surprised more people don't even notice, or mention it," the Sergeant mutters, but gratefully accepts not having to explain. People tend to get weird over people who hear voices and undergo complete personality changes sometimes. He'd had to ruin this potential ally for the Solider.

"I missed the graves thing, but I've heard about it. It really just... stopped? How long did it go on for?"

Good, more time for him to be an old man and drink tea and play Sudoku.

"They likely have more tact than I do." He may be honorable, but he can be offensively blunt sometimes. "About a week. They appeared overnight, and one day they were no longer there. But everything that had been placed at the graves was at the post office to collect. And addressed to the appropriate recipient. If someone went through and organized everything then left it at the post office it would have taken quite a while, and it seemed to vanish overnight."

His voice lowers and he looks away, "I'm glad they're gone. Those were things we should not have seen."

"You saw each other's deaths, right?" the Sergeant asks, frowning a bit, though his eyes are roving around the path ahead, the trees, even the sky, just in case. "It's already been almost a week since these hallucinations started. So if it's the same, it'll be over soon." He's not gonna hold his breath that it's going to be over soon, but it's a nice thought.

"What did you guys leave at the graves?" he asks.

"Yes but it was .. more than that. It wasn't simply witnessing them as a bystander. It was being transplanted into their body and feeling their emotions and thoughts and what they experienced. But without realizing that's what would happen nor with their permission." He still feels a little bit dirty having seen things he shouldn't have, especially those who he didn't know well.

"Candles. Small crafted objects. Some left food or drink, but we didn't have much to spare." He actually has the first amusing thought he's had in a while, "I wonder if those who were left drink got a soggy package of spilled wine or tea amidst everything else."

That sounds pretty horrible. The Sergeant makes a face. "I think I'm gonna be glad I missed that. Don't think anybody would've wanted to get stuck in my head, death or not, and my brain is fucked up enough without experiencing other people's deaths, too." He can only imagine what the Soldier would've done with that. It would've been bad.

Though at least then maybe more people would understand why it's as messed up as it is, and it wouldn't keep having to explain.

"There were some that were fighting off anyone that came near. Who slept on their graves to try and prevent anyone from seeing their deaths. I've still yet to discover if they died in some embarrassing fashion or it was something dishonorable they wanted no one to know about." So there would have been an opportunity for the Soldier to prevent it, but it seemed excessive to Kuai. He was more upset about seeing others than he had been about them seeing his own.

"It was unsettling, and probably best to be missed. Unfortunately we now have.. this." He gestures around at the hands that he can see, and assumes the other man is seeing some version of it himself.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject