hadriel_logs | Event Log: The Hills Are Silent

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Event Log: The Hills Are Silent

Who: Everyone!
What: The Silent Hill event
Where: Throughout the city
When: June 15th-20th
Warnings: Silent Hill comes to Hadriel, and with it, a few personalized monsters

On the morning of June 15th, a thick fog rolls into Hadriel. There's nothing quite terrifying about it yet, but it manages to drain the city of color, forcing a grey backdrop onto everything behind it. Feel free to go try to check it out if you want, just be careful, because it won't be too long until the sirens start blaring.

There's not exactly a reasonable explanation for where the sound is coming from: Hadriel doesn't have a speaker system, or any warning sirens in place for when something horrible happens. But you'd better find cover quickly, because shortly after the sirens start wailing, the city begins to change. Walls and furniture start to peel, revealing a bloody, hellish version of the city that you once knew. In addition, the monsters from the bestiary will roam the city, as well as a few other monsters that might hit a little closer to home.

Some characters may run into monsters which embody their own sins or insecurities. Some characters may be pursued by their friends' hellish mirrors. One thing is clear: you don't want any of these things catching you. Luckily, it isn't long before Hope makes a post, declaring the god temples as safe zones from all the creatures that are now loose upon the city.

The sirens will fade within a few hours, and the city will fall back to normal, the monsters will retreat back into the fog as if they were never there, and everything seems to be fine again, as if that terrifying experience was just some kind of twisted dream. You can tell yourself that, if you like... but that won't help much the next time the sirens start again.

► This log covers June 15th-20th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► Any number of things could murder you here. If you wind up on the unfortunate end of Pyramid Head's chain, please remember to hit up our death post!

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[ Gansey looks up at Newt, who's pacing like he wants to wear a hole in the floor. Gansey sympathizes, to an extent; he doesn't do well with waiting, and doing nothing.

He doesn't see that they have a choice, though. Not even the gods know exactly what's been done here. Gansey thinks that it's some kind of magic, but it's far bigger than him. Whatever it is holds more danger than he knows how to deal with; clearly, even the gods' power isn't enough to drive it back.

Currently he's running his thumb over his lip, lost in thought. Newt's murmured words interrupt him, quite by chance. ]

I'm open to suggestions. If the woman who cast it refuses to stop it, I don't know what chance the rest of us have.

We need to wait it out.

[Newt jolts a little bit as someone actually replies to his rhetorical question. He blinks, glancing over at him, before he shakes his head]

Dude. I know there isn't much we can do, but there has to be something other than waiting it out. We just don't have enough information about the situation. How this world works, and how her powers work. There has to be some info somewhere. The Gods, at least, should know something.

But they said they didn't.

[ Gansey shakes his head, and then comes over to sit by Newt. He, too, would prefer to solve his problems intellectually. His short time in Hadriel has taught him that this is not a very easy thing to achieve here. ]

If they could fix this, don't you think they would? Hope's power was keeping the monsters in the caves, and now it's not. That means he's stretched, and if he's stretched it's because he can't stop this yet. And if this isn't from this world, then the books in the Library wouldn't help us even if we could read them.

That woman needs to stop this. Christ knows why she hasn't already.

Because she's 9 crayons short of a 10 crayon box. [sarcasm] Maybe he's stretched thin, but if we knew more about this world, how magic works here, we might be able to find a way to help. If we could read them. [js]

There's some things they don't want us to know.

[ Gansey leans back a little. He's aware that he's talking about the gods and their preferences in one of their own temples. There's every chance Hope is listening to everything they're saying. ]

Like what happened to the people here before us, and what the language in the books are. It's the only language barrier there is here.

But that doesn't change the fact that this doesn't come from them. It came from that woman. We can't pretend all our problems come from the gods anymore.

Well, I just got here so I can't say that's something I've done as of yet. [Newt shrugs] But dragging me here from somewhere else and then telling me that there's things they don't want me to know seems really suspicious if you ask me.

All our problems may not come from them, but if we're not getting full disclosure, all I'm getting out of that is that they're hiding something and people only do that if it benefits them.

Oh, of course it benefits them.

[ Gansey shrugs his shoulders, and gives Newt a little smile. The thing is, this is pleasantly distracting. Focusing on this, a problem he's been invested in since he got here, is preferable to thinking about what's hiding in the fog. There's something to be said about concentrating on the devil you know. ]

Our emotions are benefitting them even now, and it's not in their interests for us to leave so long as we're giving them power. If the people who once lived here knew anything about the Door, I feel sure it's in that Library.

Have you had the chance to see it?

Not yet. [but you definitely have his attention now] I just got here. What's it like?

Oh, it's a huge, glass building.

[ Gansey maps out the shape with his hands; it's notably more square than anything else in this place. ]

You can't miss it. The books are all in there. I've spent long days studying inside, and I've yet to find any in a language I know. My friend and I are trying to map out a key for a symbols, so that we have a long list of them at least. I don't know if we'll ever be able to translate, but we're trying.

[Hello yes did someone say code?? Newt perks, then, thuroughly distracted from the door and moving to sit next to Gansey]

Yeah? Really? What methods have you tried so far?

[except, before he can answer, Newt flails his arms at him a bit in a pause motion]

Wait wait wait--my boyfriend'll wanna hear this.

[and thus saying, he turns towards the rest of the temple and waves a hand needlessly in the air, flagging down someone across the room]

Hermann! Hey, Hermann, get over here!

[ His colleague. On hearing his name shouted across the temple, Hermann looks up from his task (a notebook and pencil in hand, his eyes moving between the medical supplies and the page, pencil marking). His eyes narrow, then roll, and he's tucking the pencil into his blazer's breast pocket and the notebook below his arm.

Grabbing his cane from its lean against a table, he starts over.

Once closer: ]

Refrain from yelling, Newton, there are people resting, what's wrong with you, and what do you want?

[ With about a meter left, he glances from Newton to the other man, then back to Newton. Not... saying hello... sorry... ]

[ All things considered, this has escalated quickly. Gansey's eyebrows lift, and then he smiles, his manner every bit as welcoming as Hermann's is not. He shifts slightly, moving so that he's facing both of them equally. ]

Hello. We were just talking about the books in the library, and your boyfriend thought you'd like to hear.

[ And so with that, Gansey pulls his notebook from his messenger back, and starts leafing through it to the page where he's been noting down the symbols in the library books. ]

All right, so. Obviously, the first thing I did was search for something like a Rosetta stone. I was hoping something in there would have a language I recognise. So far, that's not proven fruitful, but at the same time, the building is huge. I haven't gotten through even a quarter of those books yet.

These are the common symbols. I mean, right from the beginning, there's obvious problems. We don't know whether we should be reading from left to right, or from top to bottom. We don't even know whether these correspond to letters. They could be pictographs, each representing a word, or a feeling, or -

Well, you get the idea. Laurent - that's my friend - thought we should make a list of symbols, so that we could see which ones repeat most frequently, and I suppose also identify what counts as a word and what's punctuation. It's like trying to read a code without the key. Endlessly frustrating.

[ Except that Gansey sounds like he enjoys it, which in a way, he does. He's good with puzzles, and this is a very large one. ]

[Newt scoots closer, leaning in as Gansey pulls out the notebook and explains what they've done so far in terms of symbols]

And the gods haven't been very forthcoming in helping translate, I take it.

[ The other man's friendliness, easy-going and inclusive, sands down some of his edges. By highlighting his prickliness through contrast, it makes him feel his rudeness in failing to introduce himself, and now the explanation's started.

Which doesn't stop him from shooting Newton a glare at boyfriend, or snapping in a mutter, ]

Colleague.

[ Symbols and the confusion of the library are much more interesting. Hermann leans as well to have a proper look at the pages. Patterns and puzzles aren't so far from his own work, but even Dr. Turing had worked without half so many challenges.

Newton says what he might have. Hermann nods. ]

After all, logically, we can't possibly be all speaking the same language. Something must be translating. If it can be done with conversation and on the network, why not with those books?

[ Other than ruining the puzzle. ]

[ Gansey, who is more than comfortable with holding this court, points at Hermann like he's hit the nail on the head. Which, really, he has. ]

That's exactly what I thought. Even a small amount of sociability here will show you people from different countries, and different worlds. Not even everyone from Earth always speaks English, and yet here we all are, communicating without a problem. The only place there's a language barrier is here, in these books.

[ He taps the pile of symbols, his hazel eyes lit with energy. ]

As for the gods, they're not forthcoming on anything that relates to the history of this place. Hope has outright said he doesn't want to talk about it. Ostensibly, that's because he doesn't want to talk about what happened to the people who used to be here.

My theory is, if there's anywhere that we can find information on the Door, it's in that Library. We just need to know how to read it.

[ He leans back, smiling. ]

So, tell me. Do you fellows have an interest in this?

Oh, definitely. [Newt's still parsing over the symbols in the notebook, tracing a couple with his finger] If we can find out more about that door, we may be able to figure out how to work it.

[ It isn't a bad theory.

Hermann nods, musing, resisting the urge to take out some paper and begin copying. ]

After all, even if the gods aren't inclined to put any energy into translating them, as they must've for our basic communication -- [ a brief pause as he wonders, was that Hope, Mr. Hope? When the first batch of them had been pulled through the opened Door, when there hadn't been food because he hadn't understood -- had they been wandering about, babbling in tongues, unable to communicate?

What if instead the Door translated?

Hermann shakes his head, attempting to regain his original train of thought. ] --er, or however that works, the, they, it ought to be possible to provide a, as you say, Rosetta Stone. If a request's been made and rejected, then it does suggest a desire to keep something hidden.

[ Whether it's about the Door, which may have predated those people entirely given the purported uncertainty of some of the gods, remained unknown. If it's deliberately hidden, it's worth pursuing. ]

[ Gansey risks sending a smile between the two of them. ]

Well then, gentlemen. Can I take it you're on board with this research?

Obviously it will need to wait until all this - [ He gestures around them, meaning not the temple, but the horrors it's currently keeping out. ] - is finished with. The Library isn't exactly safe territory right now.

As soon as we can, I'll be back in it. I'd be happy to see you there.

Dude, totally. [Newt looks up, grins] This stuff is hella interesting. And the sooner we can find a translation, the more we can learn. And maybe even get out of here.

[ Maybe that. Perhaps that. Still, a worthy pursuit. He's good with patterns, hasn't this sort of experience, but could fancy himself dabbling into another field of Dr. Turing's, which appeals.

Hermann is less broad in his enthusiasm, but he straightens with a thin smile, which is about tantamount for him. Well -- until he really gets going. Then he's embarrassing. ]

Yes, I imagine we'll see you there. We'll want to consult with you first, so as not to do what you already have.

[ Gansey nods, honestly delighted by this outcome. The more people involves, the better the chance of them finding something they can use. They're an interesting pair, too; one eager and enthusiastic, one more careful and reserved. He imagines they'd make a good team, complementing each other's attitudes.

All good news. ]

Yes, of course, and the sooner the better. I don't do that well when I can't move forward, honestly, and being caught in the middle of this new mess doesn't make things any easier. I hope they're able to cut through it soon, for all our sakes.

[Newt sits back on his haunches from his study of the book, glancing outside] Yeah, the sooner this crap goes away, the better. [anyway--] So we'll hit you up after this is all over?

[ It's a sentiment he understands well -- the need to move forward. Progress, utility, production... not to speak of the limitations imposed by this sort of thing. He hasn't been able to leave the temple without an escort.

Nodding then, at Newton's question. ]

Yes. Can you be more specific as to when? That is, are you there daily from a certain time? There isn't a clock yet, but perhaps you could estimate by the light.

[ Gansey lifts his eyebrows at that. 'There isn't a clock yet', as if there's going to be one. ]

I suppose early afternoon? Or at least when it appears to be early afternoon. And I'm there at least every other day - sometimes every day, depending on what's happening here. Obviously at times like this, when there's danger, adjustments have to be made.

I'll let you men trust your judgement, and hope to see you soon.

[ Oh there will, and shortly. The damned fog's impeded, but not entirely stopped it.

Until then: this loose precision will have to do. Their days are hardly so filled that stopping by the library in what amounted to early afternoon would be so inconvenient if this young man wasn't there. ]

Right. Soon then.

[ With that, he's leaning on his cane and pivoting, starting back toward the supplies he'd been tallying. At some point, he'll likely realize he'd never introduced himself or gotten the young man's name (or even properly said goodbye).

That point is not now. Ta ra. ]

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fortunefavored - 2016-07-29 12:05 (UTC) - Expand

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quaerit - 2016-08-01 01:48 (UTC) - Expand

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Event Log: The Hills Are Silent

Hope's Temple

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cuts in line; also i started reading the raven cycle TOP SHELF

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