hadriel_logs | Event Log: Bad End

Entry tags:

Event Log: Bad End

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the Bad End event
Where: All over the city!
When: August 23rd-September 5th
Warnings: Bad futures, awkward conversations, smashed mirrors

You wake up to find a mirror at your bedside - a pretty nice one, too, a silver hand mirror perfect for fixing your hair in. Only when you try to do that, it's not your gorgeous reflection that you see. It's something else - a terrible future, just about as bad as anything you could imagine for yourself.

Maybe you see your loved ones dead on the ground, and you know it's your fault. Maybe you see the goal you've been working so hard for pulled out of your reach forever. Maybe you see someone you've hurt in the past ruining your life. Maybe you see your hot girlfriend leaving you to shack up with your worst enemy. Whatever you see, it really sucks, and you know that it's possible. This future could happen if you make the wrong choices, give in to your worst impulses.

Break the mirror if you want, but you'll see the same vision in any reflective surface in the city. You can't break them all, but you can sure try. And what will you do when you see your best friend's vision - and it features you betraying them?

Seek reassurance, give reassurance, lash out, vow to yourself that you'll never let it turn out that way, sink into the depths of sorrow because you feel like the future you see is inevitable. Whatever you do, it won't take away those visions - not until the event is over.

► This log covers August 23rd-September 5th.
► 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!
► If you can't handle the idea of your dark future, or maybe you just accidentally slip and fall on a mirror shard, let us know here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Kyna's relief is immediate and obvious, at least until she registers what he's asked and she immediately goes back to being uncomfortable again.]

It's a long story and it sucks and I don't know if you actually want to hear it.

[Or, more accurately, if she wants to tell it.]

[It's tempting to just let her off the hook and close the door, and really, that's what he should do. But also, another human voice gives him something to focus on. Something better than the fading pain in his arm and the mirror he is pointedly not looking into. He decides to be a little selfish.]

I mean, I'm not up to much. I've got time, if you want to.

[He steps back a little, opening the door halfway. If Kyna seems like she wants to come in, he'll let her.]

[It takes Kyna a bit to actually decide—for a moment, she just hovers in the doorway, looking torn, and then she finally steps inside.]

I guess.

[She absolutely doesn't want to, but this is part of that opening up thing she's trying to get better at, so maybe it's time to suck it up.]

Are you seeing yourself too?

[He shuts the door behind them.]

Yes. Yeah. Kind of.

[Isn't that just such a complete answer that resolves everything?

Michael reaches over to make sure the bathroom door is firmly shut. Unfortunately, he's forgotten to re-cover all those kitchen appliances he uncovered earlier. Sorry Kyna.]

[Kyna looks around instinctively, of course, because she's never been in his apartment before and she's desperate for a distraction. All it takes is for her to see the barest hint of movement in the refrigerator door and she turns on her heel, letting out a quiet noise caught somewhere between surprise and panic. Staring stubbornly at the wall is clearly a better choice than taking the risk of seeing anything.]

God. You haven't covered anything?

[Welp. He doesn't have to remember, because Kyna notices first.]

Shit, sorry.

[Michael scrambles past her, bending down for the sheets on the floor. He can see the glint of blue light, the red of blood, but he tries his best to ignore it, instead focusing on covering up the shiny metal.

Of course he's not exactly the best coordinated right now, and his arm hurts, and he drops the fabric that was meant for the fridge- twice.]

[She's trying very, very hard to focus on this wall, but it's clear Michael is having issues, so she lets out a breath and finally turns around, grabbing the sheet from him. She manages to drape it over the refrigerator and jam the corners into the gap around the door without seeing anything. For a split second, she thinks she sees a flash of red, but she ignores it. This sucks.]

Can we talk somewhere without a bunch of shiny kitchen shit?

[Michael appreciates the help, even if he hates that he needs it. He lets Kyna take over the fridge covering, focusing instead on keeping his arm away from her. Out of the corner of his eyes, he accidentally catches the reflection, but as he's about to look reflexively away, he notices that it's not him. It's her.

All he makes out is that she's holding a book before the sheet goes up and the image is gone.]

Uh... yeah, sure. Sorry. [He sounds distracted. He is distracted. Which is why he leads Kyna over to the nearest bedroom without thinking. There's nothing reflective in there- except the mirror he left face-down on the bed.

Goddddd.

He drops it on the floor and kicks it under the bed. Unfortunately, it doesn't break.]

[Kyna sits down on the edge of the bed, making a face at the mirror as he grabs it.]

It's not your fault. You didn't smash this thing?

[That was absolutely the first thing she tried.]

[Michael sits, sort of awkwardly and not too close.]

No, I didn't. I'm not sure why.

[Which is the truth, even if it's stupid.]

So, uh. You were going to tell me a story I think?

Oh.

[Right, that. Kyna picks at a loose thread on the hem of her shorts.]

I guess so. First of all, my dad was an asshole, so don't do that pity thing, okay? And it's a weird story, so that's your warning or whatever.

[Oh hey, same. Michael holds up his hands defensively.]

Alright, no pity here. And it's okay, I've been hearing a lot of weird stories lately. Go for it.

Cool. Okay.

[Maybe this isn't a super weird story, compared to others she's heard, but she hates that look she gets whenever she mentions her dad wasn't around or, god forbid, when she tells someone he's dead. It's a precaution.]

My dad was really obsessed with magic. He was always looking for new spells or magical items or whatever, right? That's all he cared about. He pretty much disappeared when I was like, ten, so it didn't matter, but then we were given this job to find a bunch of magical weapons in this mountain and bring them back to our guild, and he showed up.

[This is going to be a lot, but now that she's started talking she's not sure she'll be able to keep going if she stops.]

I mean, of course he was after the same shit we were, right? But at some point he managed to find some fucking cursed book, and he got possessed by a demon, and... I don't know. It was really fucked up, like the magic was rotting him from the inside or something. Harlan helped me destroy the book and we got rid of the demon, but... [She shrugs.] All of his magic was gone, and he couldn't fucking handle it, I guess, so when I got him home he killed himself.

[Yeah, okay, that was definitely a lot, all said in a near rambling rush, and she looks embarrassed when she stops.]

So I'm seeing myself like that.

[Michael has to reorient his listening to the idea of magic being commonplace enough that someone could wind up with a weird addiction to it, but after that, it all makes sense. Too much sense, actually, and probably from the wrong perspective.

At least the idea of giving her a pitying look doesn't cross his mind? It's pretty clear from her tone that there was no love lost there.]

So you see yourself possessed? Or... dead?

[He tries to walk a line there between blunt and delicate.]

I mean, either way, that's gotta suck.

[Understatement???]

Edited 2017-08-26 06:47 (UTC)

Possessed. Dying, I guess.

[Whatever. God, this is awkward.]

What about you?

[He guesses that explains the book he saw in the fridge door for a second. So she sees herself following the same path as her dad? Which seems like something very unlikely to happen, especially since she already resents her father for doing it in the first place.

But Michael's isn't just something he has an irrational fear of. It's not something someone else did that he hopes he won't do, too.

It's actually happening. Which means he... really doesn't want to tell her about it.]

It's uh. It's something like that, I guess. It'd be pretty hard to explain.

Oh, god.

[Kyna drops her head into her hands. This is why telling people stuff sucks, Harlan!]

Don't do that. There are like, five fucking people who know about that bullshit with my dad, and now you're going to get all closed off on me?

[Ughhhhh. It's not like they had a deal. He never agreed to tell her if she told him. And she offered in the first place. Well, okay, he asked, but he was doing it to be polite. She seemed like she needed to talk. He doesn't.

That's not entirely fair of him, but none of this is fair, so whatever.]

It's not- I'm not trying to be like that. It's just that this is... kind of different. Like I said, it's hard to explain, and if I did it'd probably change things.

[What things? They're not like, friends, are they? They're on good terms, though, and that might change.]

Change what? You think I'm going to judge you or some shit?

[Kyna stands up a little too quickly, crossing her arms.]

Harlan wouldn't tell me what his is either, and now I don't know if mine is normal or worse or... God, you guys fucking suck.

It's not worse.

[He stands up with her because he's not sure what else to do.]

I don't know if anything about this is normal, but yours isn't worse.

[He doesn't want to tell her, but she's getting obviously pissed, and it's making him really anxious. Since she brought up Harlan, he realizes he's being a little hypocritical, too, but... It really is different. He crosses his arms.]

Yeah. I do think you might judge me. [Because that would be the smart, logical reaction.] Sorry. It's just really fucked up, okay?

[God, he can't even look at her, and there's an obnoxious waver in his voice. This is the worst. He should've just kept his door shut.]

I'm not—

[She stops herself, scrubbing her hands over her face. It's impossible to miss that waver in his voice, and she thinks maybe she's not being very fair, either. This is so wildly uncomfortable that she doesn't know how to handle it, but when she continues, her tone is softer.]

I'm not gonna judge you. I wouldn't ask if I was going to be a dick about it.

[Great, now she's being gentle with him. Like he's a stupid kid or something. He hates it. This bullshit mirror thing has him all fucked up, worse than usual. He takes a second to steady himself. He is a god damned adult.

What did he do with Harlan? He decided that the worst thing that could happen wasn't all that bad. That's still true here, right? He sits back down again.]

Don't say that yet.

[He leans down and retrieves the mirror from under the bed, then hands it over, face down. But before he lets go of it-]

This has to stay between you and me, okay?

Promise. I won't tell anyone.

[Which sounds genuine enough, because she really does mean it. She hesitates for a second, then reaches out to take the mirror, glancing up at him one last time before flipping it over, and it's, well...]

Oh.

[It takes Kyna a moment to absorb the scene fully, and even then, she's not sure she fully understands. It's horrific, sure, but she has no context for it. She lets out a breath, frowning.]

That's... I mean. I'm not judging you.

[He's bracing himself for worse than that, so this is... good??? Relatively. But it also feels like she's holding something back, maybe.]

That's it? Nothing else? Be honest, you don't have to sugarcoat it.

I'm not sugarcoating it. I've seen worse stuff outside of a mirror.

[Is that comforting? She's not sure if it's meant to be. She's winging this in the worst possible way.]

Why are you keeping it? It's freaking you out, I can tell.

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cw suicide???

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