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In the Night Moderators ([personal profile] inthenightmods) wrote in [community profile] logsinthenight2019-07-12 01:00 pm

EVENT LOG: GRAVES


EVENT LOG:
GRAVES


characters: everyone.
location: Bonfire Square.
date/time: July 12-19.
content: mysterious shrines appear and bring visions of death.
warnings: likely violence and potentially gore.

time to pay your respects.

It happens when no one is looking, when most of the town is asleep and the rest are inside. A makeshift cemetery has come to Beacon, taking up residence in the middle of Bonfire Square. Each monument, shrine, and altar is dedicated to someone who now resides here, a memorial of their previous life.

Some may be drawn by curiosity, others by fear, and some may simply have to pass through this strange graveyard to get to the Bonfire itself. Whenever a person gets near, the altars beckon with a mysterious urge— an urge to approach, and an urge to leave something behind. They will feel compelled to make offerings at the various shrines, but doing so has a curious effect; it causes one to experience the death of the person whose grave they've honored.

Whether you resist the compulsion or give in willingly (or something in between), you'll also have to wrestle with the fact that a grave exists for you. Will you let your death be known, or try your best to keep it secret? Destroying it sure won't work, as it will return— with a duplicate somewhere else in town.

However you choose to deal with this, one thing is hard to ignore— this a tangible reminder of your death, and the fact that it's probably permanent.

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evulsed: (57)

[personal profile] evulsed 2019-07-16 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Are those the rules?

[ Vanitas grins, then, but there's no joy in it. It's mean and hungry, and he shoves her back away from him. She's small, and he's stronger than he looks. When he gets the space, he takes another step toward her grave again— taunting her. ]

I don't think you're trying very hard, Mary. I thought you wanted to stop me from seeing what's in here?

[ He raises his hand and points at the memorial. It would be easy to knock her out, but he wants to know, now— will she really try and hurt him? Or maybe she doesn't have the stomach, despite that manic look on her face? ]
withsadness: <user name="ebii-tan" site="livejournal.com"> (we were once together)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-16 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[Mary hits the ground hard, crying out as she crawls back up onto her hands and knees, and then her feet. Her head...it hurts. She grabs a fistful of her hair.]

Stop it! I said no!

[The girl barrels forward, halfway between crying and screaming as she thrusts her knife forward at him, again and again and again and again. She won't stop, no, she can't stop. Not until she hits him! Not until he's gone! Not until he's covered in pretty, pretty red colors! Even if she did hit him, though, would she notice? Would Mary even have the control to relish any sort of victory from this?

This isn't fun anymore.]
evulsed: (10)

[personal profile] evulsed 2019-07-16 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He watches her crack with manic glee, staying weaponless and coaxing her closer and closer as he dances his way nearer to her grave—

The problem is that there is no rhyme or reason to the violence of her onslaught, and Vanitas isn't treating the fight with any level of seriousness. The blade glances harmlessly off his breastplate a few times, and it makes him laugh time and again— until he isn't laughing anymore.

Maybe it's accidental, maybe she aimed for it— he doesn't know, but the palette knife slips into the space between his armor and the fabric. It drives in deep, right up to the hilt in her enthusiasm, and Vanitas huffs out a startled: ]
—Unf.
withsadness: (170)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-16 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[Aaahhh...that's better. Mary lets out a breath and smiles sweetly. Or maybe it isn't sweet. Maybe it's a bit like Vanitas' smile: cruel and taunting and happy just to feel something writhe.]

That's better.

[In that stillness that accompanies his shock, Mary twists the knife.]
evulsed: (51)

cw: violence against children

[personal profile] evulsed 2019-07-16 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It sucks the breath out of him, and the shock of getting caught is really what stops Vanitas from reacting immediately. His eyes widen, the yellow luminous in the dark, and his pupils blow when she twists the blade inside his body. It's that second, grinding, physical pain that spurs him into a response. ]

You little—

[ Vanitas grabs her by the throat, the whole width of his palm fitting around her neck, fingers pinching into the tendons. He squeezes when he lifts her clean up off the ground, high enough that he needs to lift his head to keep looking into her face. The pull of his mouth is so vicious that it doesn't even resemble as smile anymore, and he holds her there— strangling the breath from her lungs with the vice of his fist. ]

Not bad. I was starting to think you didn't have it in you.
withsadness: (093)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-17 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
[Mary was nearly starting to laugh herself, but finding herself lifted, her breath cut off so suddenly, that saps out any of that renewed, animal joy. Her mouth opens wide as she tries to breathe, but she's absolutely no match for her captor. Eyes bulging, Mary loses her grip on her weapon and it's all she can do to kick her legs and try and pry his fingers loose.

She stares at him with her blue eyes as big as plates, the quiet let me go clear in her fright. Feeling more than anything like an animal caught in a trap, there isn't a shred of logic she can think of to scrape together. Just scratch and bite and kick--and it all seems to reach nothing but air.]
evulsed: (67)

[personal profile] evulsed 2019-07-17 08:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ The blade stays stuck in his body when she lets it go, but Vanitas doesn't grab for it— fixed on watching her struggle in his hand. It would be easy to kill her, and she wouldn't be the first person he'd tried to snuff the light from—

but then, if rumour was true she'd just come back. And besides, what fun was there in finding out her secret if she wasn't around for Vanitas to lord it over her? He tightens his grip, waiting for her to pass out. ]


Let's play again sometime.
withsadness: (009)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-17 07:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[With such a small stature, it doesn't take too long. Tears well up and pour from her eyes, certain she must be dying as her skin purples and her vision fades. There's a loud ringing in her ears, and panic makes her heart work overtime--but she hears him, still, somehow, those words burning themselves into her conscious.

Right. This is just a game, isn't it?

Her limbs go slack as everything goes dark.]
evulsed: (14)

[personal profile] evulsed 2019-07-17 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He eases his hold once her eyes roll back and she goes limp, dead weight in his palm. There's no real change in his expression, beyond a slight narrowing of his eyes, and Vanitas carries her those last few steps forward to her memorial— where he unceremoniously drops her without taking heed where she might land.

As he pulls the knife out, blood comes with it. It's not the first time he's seen his own blood, and probably won't be the last, but he tosses the blade down next to her body with a clatter and presses his palm against the wound to cycle darkness back into his body and stitch it up.

When he finally leaves the gravesite, satisfied with his discovery, the only other thing left behind is a little inconspicuous rock in front of her shrine. ]
hext: (swept ✖)

[personal profile] hext 2019-07-22 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ she was nowhere near the scuffle — fight to near death — but approaches cautiously amidst her wandering when she feels the cold sharp stab of pain and thinning consciousness.

not death.
but not life after death, either.

then, wanda sees the crumpled form of little mary (the network nine year old who curses, the wandering sprite), and the life force is so frail and web-like wanda gasps aloud as she reaches for her. she's down on her knees, covering the child like a shield, and her hands go around mary's head — fingers threading into her hair.

bending near her nose and mouth, she can't feel breath, no exhalation.
she could waste time with CPR attempts, or she could focus her energy on the tiniest psionic pulse—

—to mary's mind, to her lungs, light as a feather...
]
withsadness: (122)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-22 10:35 am (UTC)(link)
[Although the bruises around her neck are still clear as ever, the constriction eases on her breath, her chest rising and falling with more regularity, and as the oxygen flows properly, her eyes flutter open. And, without seeing, without properly processing the situation at hand, Mary whimpers and bursts into tears, writhing in panic.]
hext: (infer ✖)

[personal profile] hext 2019-07-23 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
[ wanda backs her torso away, enough space to give mary room to breathe and re-orient her body and her mind, but she keeps her hands on her shoulders. ]

Mary, mary... [ she hushes in her warm, accented tones, releasing a pulse of calm between the two of them, nothing very invasive (but oh, does she reel with flashes of mary's thoughts, the flashes of fear and rage and vanitas), ] ...Mary, it's alright now. You are safe with me. I am Wanda. You are safe with Wanda.
withsadness: (120)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-23 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
Wanda...safe. I'm safe with Wanda.

[As she cries, Mary touches her face, her neck, looking around wildly. For a moment, she's more like an animal than a child, but then she calms, mostly due to the influence that the woman uses to soothe her.]

Everything went dark.
hext: (delay ✖)

[personal profile] hext 2019-07-23 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ gently, carefully, she pulls mary into her body — picking her tiny frame from off the ground and cradling her into the cavern of her arms, smoothing her hand through her ruffled blonde waves.

she'd caught the bruises in the dim lantern light. already dark, purplish, angry. how the child's neck hadn't snapped in two is a wonder to her.
]

Safe with Wanda, [ she repeats in a soft murmur, rocking the girl very slowly. ] I saw the darkness. But it's gone now, Mary. You are safe with Wanda.

[ she evens out her breathing, pressing her chest up against the little girl's rib cage. ]

You can breathe with Wanda, yes? [ a confident whisper in her ear, coaxing, calm. ] In... and out...
withsadness: (100)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-23 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Shakily nodding, Mary sucks a breath in and out. In...and out. It gets easier, but it hurts, a throbbing beneath her skin. Even as her tears slow, she wails.]

Owie...ouch...I don't like this. How mean, mean to me, poor Mary.

[It's hard to say if she's talking to herself or Wanda, her disjointed thoughts miserable and confused. In truth, the girl isn't quite so sure what she's feeling. Pain isn't altogether foreign, exactly. She's died, after all. But this is different, somehow. It lingers.]
hext: (tread ✖)

[personal profile] hext 2019-07-23 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ wanda presses a quiet kiss to mary's temple, smoothing her fingers through the girl's hair again. ]

I know, Mary. It was mean. I know it hurts. It will get better — just take slow, calm breaths.

[ she leans back just a little, wipes mary's eyes and cheeks, even her nose, with her sleeves. ]

Do you want Wanda to take you home? Home to your room?
withsadness: <user name="ebii-tan" site="livejournal.com"> (075)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-23 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
N-No!

[The offer, as gentle as it is, causes her to sit up in a panic.]

I can't go! I have to stay here!
hext: (solitary ✖)

[personal profile] hext 2019-07-23 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
[ wanda holds mary's face in her hands, fingers threading softly into her hairline. ]

Why is that, Mary?

[ she's already had an onslaught of memories of the fight, and she does her best to let the child speak for herself. ]

I wish to get ice for your bruises, your neck that hurts, and keep you safe.

[ wanda glances at the memorial marker. ]

Are you afraid to leave it? The grave?
withsadness: (030)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-23 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
[Shuddering, Mary nods.]

I have to keep it safe. I have to keep my secret safe.
hext: (beware ✖)

[personal profile] hext 2019-07-23 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ wanda nods back. ]

I understand. Secrets are important, sometimes, as long as they do not hurt anyone.

[ she places her fingers lightly under mary's chin, just a feather touch. ]

What if I take you to your room, then I come back and guard it for you? Would that be alright with you, Mary?
withsadness: (150)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-23 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
[It had been enough, when others had asked her. And Wanda's being so nice and so kind, it should be easy to say yes. But then he's in her head again. That boy...that boy. Instead of answering right away, her gaze darts down until she sees her blood-covered palette knife. And then, after that, she sees a rock placed at her humble grave, and she knows.]

He saw it! He saw it...he saw! He saw! He'll tell on me!
hext: (memory ✖)

[personal profile] hext 2019-07-23 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ wanda places one hand over mary's, covers both it and the knife, covers up the blood, right in mary's lap. she hasn't seen anything yet, she hopes not to, for the girl's sake, as fearful as she is of this great secret — this side of herself no one must know.

wanda knows exactly how that feels.

her hand is warm and protective over mary's much smaller one, and the weapon beneath it.
]

His name is Vanitas. I know him. I will make sure he keeps your secret.

[ wanda tilts her head down, to make sure to catch mary's eyes, keep them steady. ]

But you must not play with him again. Understood? Not safe.
withsadness: <user name="ebii-tan" site="livejournal.com"> (Default)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-23 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
[Mary breaths heavily, frantic, but as her words sink in she nods.]

You promise?
hext: (revert ✖)

[personal profile] hext 2019-07-23 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ she continues to hold mary's hand; soon she adds her other, like a bond, a covenant. ]

I cannot be everywhere at all times. I know Mary understands that because I am not a god. Wanda died like Mary died. Yes?

[ wanda pulls their clasped hands into the center of their embrace, the child still shielded in her lap. ]

But if I see Vanitas try to harm you, or tell on you, I will stop him. I promise.

[ she leans forward and presses a kiss to the top of mary's forehead. ]

I am going to speak with him about the way he played with you. It was wrong.
withsadness: (027)

[personal profile] withsadness 2019-07-23 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[Mary blinks, hiccups, and wipes her face.]

You gave me a kiss!

[It hits her suddenly after a moment--not just the way Wanda's speaking, but the way she's acting, the way she's holding her so gently, like she's something precious.]

That's never happened before.

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