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

christ.
ur supposed to say no hh its fine ur right this aint no thing.
dont fucking confirm the shit im tryin to talk myself out of. wtf.
wtf does that even mean?
whats in ur mirror?

sorry.
maybe yours is wrong.
maybe I'm just easier to read.

[He considers for a minute, then decides he was stupid for considering.]

I shouldn't show you.

so dont show me. just tell me.
w.e ur workin w. its not as bad as mine. trust me.

I feel like that should be my line.
I shouldn't tell you either.
wouldn't make any sense.

[...Hm.

He shouldn't, but.]

are u home?
ofc u are if ur this guiltridden.
ill be over in five.

[He'll even do you a courtesy and knock first instead of just Dimension Dooring in. Sorry, Michael, you'll need to level up that social link if you want HH to appear in your living room without warning.]

[He tries to scramble for a reason that Harlan shouldn't come, but they're only two flights of stairs away from each other, so by the time he might've thought of something, there's already a knock at the door. Uggghhhhh.

He takes his sweet time answering, and doesn't look Harlan in the face when he does.]

I didn't say yes, you know.

Say yes to what?

[Harlan's coming in. Hey. He heads into the living room and drops himself onto the couch before Michael can stop him. Not that he would, Harlan figures. Like, what's he gonna do?]

I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

[Michael shuts the door and follows Harlan to the living room, and no, he doesn't try to stop him. He doesn't sit, either, just stands there awkwardly scratching at his arm.]

That's not... I don't think that's a good idea.

[Harlan thinks his is bad, but it probably doesn't potentially implicate him in murder. And anyway, Michael already admitted that his is probably true, so...

He crosses his arms.]

You first.

[Harlan tilts his head to the side. Huh, look at Michael putting up a bit of resistance. Not bad, M&M.

Not good enough, though.]

No deal. [But he does pull his mirror out of the inside of his jacket. Face down, of course.] Same time.

[Mmmmm he doesn't like this. Harlan could back out at the last minute and not flip his over. But then Michael guesses he could just hide his again before Harlan sees anything? Still, this is stupid. He'd be practically pointing a neon sign at himself that says "I'm a monster".

But then... What's the worst that could happen if he did?

What's Harlan going to do? Get the guards? There aren't any laws here. Practically everyone knows magic, so they won't think he's crazy. Well. Not that kind of crazy. Really, what's the worst that could happen?]

Okay.

[He ducks into the bedroom for a second, retrieves the mirror from under the blankets on his bed. He keeps it pressed against his leg so that Harlan can't see as he returns to the living room and sits at the other end of the couch.]

This stays between us, though, right?

[Huh. Harlan wasn't exactly expecting that to work so quickly, but he's glad he doesn't have to put in the effort. He's struggling to keep his cool, here. If Michael's is really as bad as he's acting like it is, then Harlan can rest easy knowing this is bullshit. It has to be bullshit, right?

Knowing Michael, his reflection is just him accidentally stepping on a puppy's tail or something, but... He's talked to Michael enough times that they have a rapport, but they're not close enough to where Harlan has put any real stake in their relationship yet. He likes the guy, but if his mirror freaks Michael out to the point where they don't ever speak again, it's not like Harlan's missing out on much. Michael's too much of a chicken shit to make it weird in public. He'll probably just do that thing where he pretends like he's texting to avoid making eye contact when they pass each other on the street. Whatever.

He's dropped the cocky nonchalance when Michael returns with the mirror. This is serious for both of them, even if Harlan's sure he's about to get a peak into Michael's oh-so-horrible puppy-tail-stepping future.]

Yeah, and that includes Kyna. Especially Kyna. If you say a fucking word to her about this, you're dead, okay? [He smiles when he says this like he could be joking, but Michael's not stupid. He's not joking.

He holds out both of his hands, his mirror face-down in one and the other left empty so he and Michael can trade off at the same time.]

I won't tell her anything.

[He means that, too. Even if Harlan's thing shows him like, massacring kittens, (unlikely, given Harlan's established kitten-owner status,) Michael won't say a word. Because if he does, Harlan could either kill him with magic or, worse, tell someone about his mirror.

This is mutually-assured destruction.

Michael holds his mirror out in one hand, aimed at Harlan's empty one, then hesitates. This is... still really stupid. But whatever. He's not that smart anyway.

He reaches for Harlan's mirror as he places his own in Harlan's palm. Mutually-assured destruction, remember? It's fine.]

[Mutually-assured destruction has crossed Harlan's mind once or twice. Mostly, he's banking on the fact that his mirror won't really mean anything. Michael wouldn't recognize anyone other than Kyna, and shit, if he wanted to, he could excuse Kyna and all of the other bodies by claiming it's something related to his job. It's not like adventuring doesn't have a constant threat of death attached to it. He's sure he could convince Michael that this is just some bullshit "I couldn't save them" thing.

And he's not gonna recognize James. He won't recognize Harlan's mom, either. She looks like she did when he last saw her, when he was 8. Harlan's older than she was then. Michael won't be able to parse what's going on here.

He lets Michael take his mirror, and he takes Michael's. Alright, time to see what all the fuss is about.

...

He frowns, more confused and concerned than anything else.]

And, what, you think this is a glimpse into your future?

[He'll wait to see Michael's reaction before he decides whether he's going to press harder on that or call bullshit right away. His mirror can't be true, and if nothing else, he can't let anyone else think it would be.]

[Michael takes the mirror, almost afraid Harlan won't let go of it. If he's honest, he's tempted not to let go of his own, but he does. He flips Harlan's over. He's not sure what he was expecting, but it sure wasn't this.

The blood catches his eye first, because of course it does, and then he sees the bodies. A lot of bodies. And in the middle of them is Harlan, covered in gore and holding what's probably the thing that killed them all. There are other people there too but who cares about them because Harlan is a murderer and even before he's made that connection consciously he can feel the full attention of the Visitor shift to the person in front of him.]

Shit.

[He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, trying to will back the tide. Stop it, this isn't real. His isn't real, not yet at least, so Harlan's isn't either. But it will be, so they might as well stop him before he starts. Except this whole thing isn't a guarantee. It's not enough to go on, not enough to make that call. Last time they acted on less than certainty, they might've got the wrong guy. Fuck.

It takes a bit, but Michael manages to reel it in, to get his breathing back under control. What did Harlan even ask him again?]

Yeah, probably. What do you think yours is?

[He is maybe watching for Harlan's answer a bit too intensely.]

[Harlan licks his lips, thinking. How should he play this? How does he want to play this? He hasn't sorted out his actual opinion on this mirror thing yet, but... He was expecting Michael's mirror to clear everything up. And it should, given what he's seeing, but it just confuses the issue.

Harlan's mirror is everything he's afraid of. More than a few therapists have told him that it's not going to happen, though. It's just part of dealing with anxiety. He has control over his urges, even if he doesn't always feel like he does. This isn't going to happen.

So what's Michael's story?]

Why... would this be your future, exactly? [Lucky for Michael, he was too busy trying to interpret all of this to notice his strange reaction to their mirror sharing.]

I don't know what mine is. I'm not sold on the future thing, that's for sure. It's probably some fucked up trick designed to freak us out.

[And it's working, obviously.]

You don't believe me.

[It's not a question. He's more disappointed than he should be. It's a good thing. Harlan doesn't need to know.]

Whatever, I get it. Just forget about it, I'm probably reading too much into it.

[Harlan frowns.] That's not what I said. I know you as the wet blanket that spent a day following me and my friend around because you didn't know what else to do with yourself, then you show me this and say it's your future. Clearly, I'm missing something.

[And clearly he wants to know what that something is.]

[He doesn't appreciate the wet blanket comment but... it's not entirely unfair.

He shakes his head.]

You're still not going to believe me. It sounds fucking insane.

[He says, to the guy who turned himself into a potted plant with in five minutes of arriving in a cave city in another dimension- after which he said that wasn't unusual. Fine. Okay. Harlan gets a little credit.]

God, okay, I can't believe I'm saying this. [He takes a deep breath.] I'm... possessed, I guess.

...Hm. [He glances at the mirror again.]

It doesn't sound that insane. Granted, you did balk at the idea of interdimensional travel, so in retrospect I don't know where you get off, but I've seen possession before. You make a deal with a demon or something?

What? No. It's not a demon. It's a ghost... thing.

[Ghosts and demons aren't the same thing, even if the ghost is sort of like a demon?]

And listen, this is the first paranormal thing that's ever happened to me. [He thinks.] Where I'm from, demons and ghosts and magic and stuff? It's not real. Or at least nobody believes in it.

[Harlan just "hm"s again. Sounds kind of like that whole fiasco with the shapeshifter and the innkeeper... Whatever. It's not important.]

Well, that shit's plenty real. [Which Michael is already aware of, apparently, so. Moving on!]

And you think the ghost possessing you is going to turn you into this. [He gestures at the mirror.]

Sort of. [He's not sure if the image in the mirror is literal or symbolic.]

It wants me let it kill people. And by that, I mean it hounds me over it. Sometimes it's weaker and sometimes it's stronger, but it's always there, it never shuts up.

[This is all probably way more info than he should be sharing, but again: they've come this far.]

If I keep giving in to it, I feel like eventually there won't be any difference between the two of us.

[He'll realize in a matter of seconds that he actually has overshared now, but that hasn't sunk in yet.]

[Harlan almost doesn't catch it. He's tired and jittery and stressed out of his mind right now.

But, wait.]

Keep giving into it. [He shifts a little, sits up a bit straighter. Maybe he should be afraid, given that this guy he's just met has basically let it slip that he's a murderer, but... What's Michael gonna do? If he tries anything, Harlan can literally just teleport up to his own apartment and lock the fucking door. Better yet, if push comes to shove, Harlan's a sorcerer. Michael is not. Check and mate.

And anyway, Harlan is now very, very curious. He's not going anywhere.]

How many people have you killed?

[Michael stiffens, his entire body going rigid. Fuck. Good job, idiot. It wasn't enough to tell Harlan that he's possessed, now he's told him he's a killer, too. Might as well just broadcast it all over the network, save everyone the time.

Except, weirdly enough, Harlan isn't freaking out. He's not running, or even acting like he wants to leave. Instead, he almost seems... interested? Michael's not sure what to make of that, until he remembers what he saw in Harlan's mirror.

Maybe they have more in common than he thinks?]

Two. [He flicks his eyes toward the mirror in his lap.] How many people have you killed?

[Harlan nods slowly, dropping his eyes to Michael's mirror. He turns it over in his hands, fingering the ornate designs etched into the silver. So Michael has killed people. That's not necessarily a dealbreaker... Harlan's killed people too, though he has a feeling Michael isn't talking about casualties from his job.]

I don't know. Kyna and I are in one of those adventuring guilds. Kairos. [...] Maybe they don't have those where you're from. People hire us to do dangerous shit like hunting down magical artifacts or exterminating dragons, shit like that. I've killed some people through my job. Usually, they were trying to kill us first.

[But that's not what Michael's asking. He knows that. His point is: His hands aren't completely clean.]

Um. Recreationally? No one. Even if you include the people I've killed as part of my job, the number in that mirror is a wild overstatement.

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cw for gore???

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