logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: TURN THE LIGHTS OFF

EVENT LOG: TURN THE LIGHTS OFF

characters: everyone.
location: around town.
date/time: january 20-29.
content: the lanterns begin to malfunction.
warnings: body horror and psychological horror. please cw tags appropriately.

you'll become one

January 20th arrives the same as all the days before it. There's no great pulse of warning that throbs through the air, no ominous wind that causes the bonfire to shudder. The spirits are neither agitated nor do they hide. You could almost miss the change, if the lanterns weren't always by your side. There's no explanation that comes with the way that it's changed, but it's impossible not to worry when it's happened so suddenly.

Maybe it takes a few days, or maybe it only takes a few hours, but suddenly it isn't just the lanterns that have changed. You, yourself, have become somehow different. It's possible that you won't even have the right state of mind to wonder how long it will last. At the very least, it appears you aren't alone. All across Beacon, lanterns are changing, and changing the people with them.

Out in the distance, the lighthouse's beam has turned green.

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"Oh, but we're not really dead. Not all the way."

And Quentin steps up close, really close, and puts his hand against the side of Kuai Liang's neck. Fingers probing around until he can find it-- there! A heartbeat!

"Feel that? Your heart is beating. So's mine, and that means-- well, I don't really know what that means, but we can't be fully dead."

Still standing much too close, Quentin nods and giggles. "They're dangerous. They're the ones who made us see things."

Kuai recoils because he is very, very, unused to being touched. He's also frigid to the touch, but his heart is definitely pumping blood around.

"True. And we do bleed and can be injured." Okay so maybe they can be dying. He was optimistically assuming that they'd either be alive or dead, a simple binary. But injuries could occur and then need to be healed from which throws his theory out of sorts.

"Yes, we need to figure out a way to shield ourselves from that. But now we're all seeing the same things - the same shifts in our lanterns. It must mean something to happen all at once."

And stepping away now, he doesn't want to be this close to anyone.

Quentin lets him go, and blinks back slowly, the slime on his face stretching his mouth too much, a cartoon smile that hurts.

"We die and don't come back. We've been over this, you know."

Since Kuai Liang steps back, there's no reason for Quentin to move and he doesn't, he just stands there, hands by his side. "We do, but nothing I've tried works. It just keep changing, no matter what I do. And stepping away from it really doesn't work."

"It's this place. These spirits."

"You tried to abandon your lantern?" Well that's a first. He'd accidentally left it once and it'd been physically painful until he'd retrieved it, he'd not heard of anyone purposefully getting rid of it.

"It definitely is. We need to strike back at them, or they're just going to keep doing such things."

Conversing with someone smiling that big is incredibly unsettling. None of this is funny, and even though it seems that something is messing with Quentin's ability to be serious, it's so odd that Kuai is having trouble ignoring it. He takes a few more steps away, wanting to put more distance between them.

"I'd like to find out where they are coming from. The green-eyed ones. They must have a place they reside."

"I think they have a nest. I wanted to go look for it, but--" He shrugs, giggling. "Something happened and I didn't. I forgot."

It seemed like something happened every two weeks here, and maybe they should try to keep track of that. Like circumstances for magic. Maybe the spirits got worse in tune to the waxing moon or something. The tide? He grins wider, still giggling through it as Kuai Liang steps back.

"I did. I left it and hoped that, well. Maybe if I got far enough away, it would reset. Like turning it off and on again."

That's not what happened and even the horrible, skin-searing pain had been funny at the time.

Well there is a certain amount of sense to that, that maybe if the lantern is the cause of all this then resetting it and letting it ... boot back up, so to speak, would improve things. It's an interesting experiment and if nothing else Quentin learned the hard way that it doesn't work.

"They must have, they're coordinated enough that they likely have a base of operations where they assemble. Or live. They're smarter than animals, but don't seem to think like people." On the other hand they may communicate via telepathy or a hive mind, but he'd like to go the simple route first of the spirits all being a pack that works together.

And Quentin keeps right on laughing and Kuai is going to find a way out of this because wow is it unsettling. "It's a shame that did not work. It would fix a lot of things if we could control our lanterns in such a way, rather than them controlling us. I wish you luck in the future with.. fixing this."

Whatever this is. Thinking that everything is funny? Laughing at the distress of others? It's potentially the oddest thing the spirits could have done but it's definitely effective in being very weird and creepy. So maybe it was a good attempt on their part.

"Like I said, they have a nest somewhere. We should go look for it."

And Quentin face lights up with glee, the smile growing larger with a purpose and a goal. "We should go find it right now. I mean, how hard can it be? And if we die trying?"

He giggles, cupping his hands in front of his mouth, "If we die, at least I'll die laughing? That's not nothing."

It should be terrifying. Every other time, trying to go in to the woods, was always accompanied with a liquid feeling of fear rushing through him. But not now.

"How about it? Want to go in to the woods with me?"

Completely unarmed and even doing magic like this is close to impossible. Magic comes from pain, and Quentin really isn't feeling any of it right now.

"Now?" He looks down at his clawed hands, at the scaled skin that now adorns his arms. "That seems a terrible idea."

Could he still shoot ice like this? Yes. Was it all horribly wrong and malformed and kind of melty? Also yes.

"We do need to find their nest, but you will fail any attempt at stealth and I am.. not at my best for defense." All they need is Quentin to start laughing and get torn apart by the alerted spirits.

"Do we need stealth, though?"

Quentin didn't think so. Just walking in to the forest, armed with absolutely nothing and see how far that got them. That was a good plan. If they died-- well, worst thing that can happen is that they come back, and get to do it all over again.

His smiles grows impossibly wider. "You look awesome like this, come on. If something comes, just-- fist those hands in to their chest cavities. I bet you can do some damage with those."

"Do you have a death wish?" Because walking into the forest unarmed with no idea where any of these creatures are sounds like a recipe for disaster. It's pretty much guaranteeing they get to see the underside of the church in close up detail.

"Possibly, but I'd rather not find out while being ripped limb from limb." He's not sure he agrees with the 'awesome' assessment, but he does have claws and that's gotta be good for some amount of damage. As if he needed more knives.

"You're not thinking straight, whatever has been done to you.. it's affecting you."

That just makes Quentin giggle even harder, doubling over to curl both arms around his middle and sucking in his breath in harsh gasps.

"I do, yeah. I kind of always been like that? That's nothing new. This is new, though. The laughing." And he giggles again, high-pitched and wheezing in the cold air. "Suit yourself. I think I'm just going to keep walking, see where that leads me. But let me know if you want to try using those claws, I'd like to see that, I think."

"How about this: When you are thinking more clearly we can organize something with slightly more of a plan? I wouldn't mind taking down one of those green-eyed creatures. Might be useful to find out what happens - if they come back as we do, or if killing them keeps them dead."

Because he does want to kill one, or at least fight them again. But not.. like this. The claws may be useful, but he's more concerned that Quentin will do something unexpected and dangerous. Kuai isn't about to take an unnecessary risk like that.

"Hey! I am thinking clearly," Quentin laughs, tilting his head. "I'm just not-- I can't feel if I'm scared anymore. I think that's it, maybe."

The total lack of fear, the bubbling of laughter in his belly? Could be the same thing.

"But you know what? Once I'm... not quiet so happy? I'll come find you and we can go in to the woods. How about that?"

Not having fear might be a gift at some moments, but watching Quentin laugh about everything doesn't really feel like it. This seems more like a curse.

He nods, managing something like a smile. Sort of anyway, given the circumstances and that his back is still in loads of pain, "Good. We can bring the fight to them, and maybe learn something in the process."

Looking at those claws again he smirks, "Or at least get some revenge for what's happening."

"Sure!"

Quentin agrees willingly enough, but then again even the thought of stepping in to the woods to take on the Green Eyed ones seems hilarious right now. So does Kuai Liang and his claws.

"Oh wait, how will I find you? Should I just look for a scratching post or something?"

Because claws, get it? And Quentin laughs quietly to himself.

Wow. Very funny. He sighs, the long suffering sigh of someone who has had to deal with someone very much like Quentin for a very long time. If he wasn't homesick and almost missing Johnny Cage he would have left already. But he's a nostalgic old fool and Quentin is one of the more likable ones here.

"Kuai Liang. I am in the devices as Grandmaster. You can simply call me. I am not going to go around clawing up the residences." Though he almost does want to try these claws out. Too bad his back hurts bad enough that he realizes it's a good idea.

"When you are recovered message me. We can take the fight to them, and you can practice some of that battle magic you are so eager to be good at."

"Alright, I'll find you. One way or the other."

And Quentin twiddles his fingers in Kuai Liang's general direction as he walks away, still laughing and still just watching the dead world around them without fear.

Does he walk in to the woods? Who knows, because Quentin sure as shit doesn't. He just walks until the urge to laugh fades and the fear and hopelessness settles in to his bones like old friends.

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EVENT LOG: TURN THE LIGHTS OFF

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