Event Log: Bad End

[hadrielmods]

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.

Comments

ellie / open (tw implied self harm)

[survivorsguilt]

[For Ellie, the end had already come. A world ravaged by disease, people she loved turned or clawed to death or bled out on a makeshift hospital bed. How much worse can it get?

Now she knows.

The mirror shows her home without resistance. The fireflies suppressed, beaten down, gone. Then the military, too, collapsing from the inside. What small bastions of safety remained in the world are overrun, sheer numbers of the infected leaving them no chance for survival. She sees Tom's town in bloody shambles.

She's alone. The girl with hope in her veins, and no one left to save.

The image that remains, no matter where she looks, is what scares Ellie most of all. The fungus that has always remained scattered around her long-healed bite wound spreads up her arm, up up up past her shoulder, crawls up her neck. Her head and fingers twitch sporadically. Her immunity wasn't bulletproof, in the end. It just turned her into a time bomb, counting down painfully slow to the bitter end.

She has to get out.

Ellie busts out of her house, breathing heavy, with the intention of throwing herself into the lake. Maybe if she scrubs her arm clean until it bleeds, digs it all out, she'll stop feeling like it's growing inside of her.]

[drabsolutelynot]

[Rosen had been distracted pointedly not looking anywhere that might have a reflection and as such he is taken off guard by a small figure nearly knocking him over as she rushes past. He manages to steady himself, blinking a few times in bewilderment before realizing he recognizes the figure who just pushed past him]

Ellie? Ellie!

[He calls after her, concern evident in his voice, and after a moment he quickens his own pace to try and catch up]

Ellie?!

[survivorsguilt]

[It definitely takes all three calls of her name before Ellie even realises someone is trying to grab her attention, and she spins on her heels to face him, eyes wild.]

I- doc?

[Her hands twitch, an unconscious imitation of what she saw in the mirror.]

What's up?

[drabsolutelynot]

[Lee slows as he approaches her, a hand held out slightly ahead of himself as if he were going to touch her shoulder, but it never makes contact. He doesn't know her well enough yet to know if that would be helpful or more detrimental to the situation]

Ellie, are you alright? Are you hurt?

[He knows the first question is rather pointless but it is said almost as an instant reflex.]

[survivorsguilt]

[It's a wise move on his part. In this state, touching Ellie may do more harm than good. She takes a careful step back as he draws closer.]

I'm not hurt.

[That part is easy to answer honestly, so she latches onto it.]

I'm... Uh. Fuck. [She glances down at her arm. The wound is covered by her jacket sleeve, but it feels loud and obvious all the same.] I don't know. I saw something.

[drabsolutelynot]

Saw something... do you mean something in the reflections?

[Rosen lets his arms hang at his sides, taking note of Ellie's body language signaling for him to give her space]

[survivorsguilt]

[So it's another widespread event. Of course. She doesn't feel even the slightest surprise at learning that.

Ellie nods, grateful for the space.]

Yeah. It's not- it's not real, is it? It's not the future? It's just meant to scare us, right?

[drabsolutelynot]

[Rosen nods, keeping his voice low]

I'm fairly certain that is the case, yes. Its the gods and their tricks again.

[survivorsguilt]

[Some of the tension drains from her body, but Ellie still doesn't look calm by any means.]

That's good. That's really... [She wipes a hand down her face.] Shit. Hey, can you- can you walk with me somewhere? I need to do something, and I...

[It's embarrassing to admit, so she just trails off. After seeing a world where humanity was a thing of the past, she kind of wants to keep a real, breathing person nearby.]

[drabsolutelynot]

[Had she not asked, Rosen still would have offered to stay with her for a while. He doesn't like the idea of her being on her own in such a state. As such he agrees right away]

Yes, yes of course. Where would you like to go?

[For the time being he refrains from asking about what Ellie saw. He doesn't want to push where he's not welcome. First things first was making sure she's safe for the time being]

[survivorsguilt]

[She's very used to just not talking about things, and it feels natural to let the conversation continue as though he hadn't just found her wild eyed and running alone through the streets.

Ellie gives him a relieved, tired grin.]

Thanks, dude. I'm heading to the lake. Know the way?

[It's doubtful he doesn't, the cave being so small and all, but it's nice to know if she needs to take the lead or not.

Ellie feels a sting of worry at how she's going to scrub her arm clean with someone else around, but she'll cross that bridge when she comes to it. Ask Rosen to step away and give her 'privacy' or something. That should work, she thinks.]

[drabsolutelynot]

[Lee's brows raise at being 'dude-ed' but he rolls with it]

The lake? Yes, I am familiar with it.

[He tries for a small smile]

Lead the way.

hope this is ok! :x

[armcollector]

Huh? Oh, hey, An--

[Ellie doesn't seem to notice him as she hurries to walk past Magnus, headed singlemindedly to the lake.

Magnus realizes she has no intention of stopping, and instantly moves to grab her by the shoulders as she passes and halt her in her tracks.]

Angel! Hey!

[He's not an idiot: he knows what's going on around town right now. He knows she's seeing something horrible wherever she goes, and he knows she can be rash sometimes. He knows because he's the same way.

He's worried about her.]

yes!!!!!!

[survivorsguilt]

[She flinches and reflexively tries her hardest to squirm of his grasp, even kicking out blindly with one leg before she realises who it is.]

Mag- Magnus. Hammer.

[She swallows thickly, and stares over his shoulder.]

Let me go.

[quacked]

[ Duck's reaction to seeing his reaction this morning was also to get out of his house, though this was to seek out and see as many people as he can - not to talk to them, just to see, to convince himself, that nothing has changed. He just needed to know he wasn't left alone in a town of nothing but the walkers of people he knew, like he'd seen in that mirror.

Eventually though, he does want to talk to somebody. So, he's heading right for Ellie's place when she pretty much bumps right into him. ]

Ow- [ He falls back, but doesn't fall over, relaxing a little when he sees who it is he's bumped into. ] Ellie! ...Are you okay?

[survivorsguilt]

[There's not much that could stop Ellie right now. It's practically lake or bust. But Duck, jostled and concerned and looking up at her with big eyes, just about does it.

She hesitates, ruffled and agitated, and tugs hard on her sleeve although it's already covering her arm.]

I'm fine. Yeah. All good. You okay? [Probably before he can even answer-] I need to get moving. Why don't you go stay in my place for a bit?

[quacked]

[ Duck doesn't answer anyway, frowning and watching her with wide worried eyes. He really doesn't want to stay in Ellie's place without her. Not by himself. Being by himself anywhere is the last thing he wants after seeing that mirror, but especially being by himself in the home of his friend. ]

Why? Where are you going? [ It comes out as a bit more of a scared accusation than he means it to. ]

[survivorsguilt]

[The words catch on her heart, and Ellie's reply comes out reedy, thin and full of emotion she's struggling to control.]

Nowhere. [She winces at the obvious lie, disappointed in herself.] It's fine. Please-

[He looks so fucking scared. Ellie remembers in bits and pieces; his parents are probably dead, aren't they? The infected are in his world, too. He's younger than her, and it doesn't feel like he grew up hard. What did he see?

Ellie looks at him, and she knows she can't leave. She thinks she might be crying.]

Nowhere. I'm staying with you. Okay?

[quacked]

Ellie. [ It comes out as more a murmur, something stuck in his throat as he watches her. She's scared too. She saw something.

He grabs her hand, holds it tight, because it seems like the right thing to do - for his friend. But for him too. Someone solid, to clasp onto. He doesn't want her to disappear. He needs to feel that she's here and she's alive. ]

Should we- [ He looks back at her place, before remembering the mirror standing next to his own bed. There's gotta be a mirror in there too. ] Where...? Do- D'you wanna go somewhere else?

hey, hope this is good o/

[citytraveler]

[ Kyrii is sitting near the edge of the water when he hears a disturbance in the water. When his eyes find the source, immediately his HUD is examining what's happening in the distance.

A girl? Maybe blood...? Well, he'd better check it out.

He stands, calmly walking in the direction of her panic. She doesn't seem to be drowning. At least not yet. Though it takes him another solid minute to get to her, he doesn't anticipate it to be a difficult task to pull her out. Even easier if she's unconscious.

As he comes to the water's edge nearest her, he wades into the water until he's close enough to find a hold on her and force her over his shoulder. And despite any objections or acceptance, he's using quite a bit of strength to restrain her there and he strides back out of the lake. ]

definitely!!! cw gross wound descriptions and self harm

[survivorsguilt]

[Objections is putting it lightly.

She's hardly knee deep in the water; Ellie can't swim, and she's not an idiot. She wants to punch herself for not noticing Kyrii sooner, but it's hardly surprising. All of her attention was elsewhere, singularly focused on stripping back the skin on her arm, scrubbing at it, nails picking at fungus and depending on adrenaline to get her through the pain.

Now she kicks, struggles and screams as he carries her out. Any initial wash of shame she may have felt is buried under layers of panic and anger. She's been here before. Carried against her will, restrained, and she knows what to do.]

Put me down, or I'll bite you! I'm infected, and I'll bite you! You'll get really fucking sick and turn into a monster! Do you want that? Huh?? Fucker!!

[She tries to dig into her pocket for her knife, but it's difficult from the way she's being carried.]

[citytraveler]

[ The way he restrains her on his shoulder with a single arm is certainly inhuman. He can feel her reach around for something in her pocket, which he gives a small glance to check for any obvious weapons. Nothing he can't handle, he's sure.

Her verbal threats of infection obviously don't take either; It isn't until they hit a patch of grass away from the water that he calmly begins to let her down. Before the opportunity for escape comes to her, he firmly takes the upper of her wounded arm into his grasp as her feet touch the ground.

The blue scroll of data runs across his retinas as he stares at the mess she's made. Markers go off instantly. Not for Safeguard— but mutation. The infection she talked about. He realizes now that her blood is splattered across him from her thrashing. Again he seems indifferent to it.

Data is still speckled in his eyes when he looks into hers. ]

I'm immune.

[ He lets her arm go. ]

Cover that. It'll get infected.

[survivorsguilt]

[It's definitely off-putting, and Ellie feels terror creeping into her gut at the way he seems to be able to shift her around with the ease of a rag-doll.

The second she feels the ground beneath her she kicks out, scrabbling backwards, and when that fails, aims at his ankles with all the strength she has left. She cries for help, loud and scared, because she has no reason not to be, at this point.

But when his eyes meet hers, Ellie does a double take. That isn't normal. Not by any means.

I'm immune.

And that has a million implications, doesn't it? How could he know? He couldn't, unless he was from her world and got bit. And he- he can't be from her world. Not with eyes like that.

The second Kyrii lets go, Ellie is on her feet, racing backwards several paces and drawing her knife. She spits her reply more than she speaks it.]

Yeah, fucking hilarious. Funny joke. What's one more infection at this point, right? What the fuck are you?

[citytraveler]

[ He stares as she backs away. The blue flitting from his eyes to watch without the HUD.

With her knife drawn now, she's more of a threat. Smaller and lighter than him— She could be pretty fast with it if she knew how to use it. He's heavier, maybe a little slower because of it, but has his own blade tuck away on the back of his waist though. And he's skilled.

Kyrii wonders if her response implies that she can't get sick at all. But answers her more pressing question first. ]

I'm... human.

[ Where he's from at least. Maybe not that most 'human' he could be to fall into that category, except his heart beats and he breathes through his lungs... As artificial all of them are. He's definitely synthetic compared to the little girl standing in front of him.

He watches her knife carefully still.

All he saw was a mutation, marked by a red blip— not what it is or what it does to people. Going purely off context clues that she said he'd get sick; meaning normal humans weren't built to withstand it. He isn't concerned in the least for his own safety; He has to make sure she'll be alright from what she did to her arm. ]

Are you immune to all? Or only the one you carry?

[survivorsguilt]

[She certainly can still get sick, but the idea of succumbing to infections will never stop being bitterly amusing to her, at this point. Ellie narrows her eyes, looking doubtful and ready to bolt.]

Uh huh. Sure. And I'm a superhero.

[She realises a little late that a statement like that has less sarcastic power here than it might back home. Never mind.]

What's it to you?