Event Log: End of Arc 2

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters
What: The event log for the End of Arc 2
Where: All over the city
When: November 25th-December 12th
Warnings: A full-scale battle, including character death, NPC death, and various other ways to suffer

It was bound to happen. The Null warned you, after all, and this has been building for awhile - and now it's here. First comes the initial attack, the agents of the Null attacking Hope's temple. Then, an SOS, warning the city of what's happened: a betrayal, and Hope being injured. Luckily for everyone, thanks to the actions of his guards Hope survives the attack. Unluckily, his attacker, the goddess Delight, escapes and lets the Null in.

Flooding into the cave, the Null will attack anyone who they believe is resisting them. They'll destroy buildings and deploy dangerous crowd control weapons, in addition to their sheer strength and speed. Confusion empties the monsters in the tunnels into the city, to help distract the Null. Some gods fight, others provide safe havens, but everyone is in danger.

After about a week and a half of the attack, Fear summons enough power to teleport the city. This stops any new Null from arriving through the tunnels, but the remaining Null must be hunted down and destroyed, or else they'll signal their location to the rest of their species. The danger will lessen as Null are taken out, but things won't really be safe until Fear moves the city again, so don't get too comfortable.

What will you do? Run and hide? Fight? Help the fighters? Turn on the gods yourself? Whatever you do, it's time to make a decision.

► This log covers November 25th-December 12th.
► 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 get taken out by the Null, please let us know here.

Comments

julie grigio.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[ooc: all top levels for Julie will be here. If you want to plot a thing, hit me up on my plotting comment or plurk me at hardtostarboard!

OTA; Nov. 25th - Dec. 4th

[redwinekindofgirl]

i. fighting; nov. 25th - 27th

[She sees them bypass some people entirely to come right after her, and it doesn't take her long to realise why. Fuck their fucking list and fuck every Null that thinks they can just take her down without trying.

Julie doesn't head for a safe zone, even if that's what her better instincts are telling her to do. She's never been very good at listening to her more sensible side, always a person more ruled by her heart than her head, and she finds that a few well-placed bullets take down the smaller Null easily enough if you hit the right spot.

She tries to stay off the streets as much as she can, but they always seem to know where she is and more than once she finds herself pinned down in one place or another, having to scramble out of the way before she's impaled or fried by an electric current.]

ii. fighting; nov. 28th - 29th

[It doesn't take long for her bullets to run out, and by the time that happens she's running entirely on adrenaline and the few minutes of sleep she's managed to grab here and there. Stubbornly not relying on anyone to protect her (as much as she can, since R refuses to leave her to her own devices) she makes short runs out into the city attempting to find anyone who still needs help. Without ammunition, she's wielding her assault rifle like a blunt weapon, but it makes her a far easier target.

They're still after her. By now, she's scraped and bruised and while not all of the blood on her skin and clothes is hers, a good amount of it is, seeping through cuts and tears in her clothes. The stress of it is starting to show, too, in the times she stops for breath and closes her eyes for a moment to bump her head back against whatever she's using for cover.

If she's going to die in here, she's going to make them work for it.]

iii. safe - bunker; nov. 25th - 29th

[When she isn't running through the city like someone who is trying to get herself killed, Julie hunkers down in the bunker that Delmar told her about. While she's there, she isn't terribly communicative, and if she isn't sleeping she'll be sitting and looking at the wall opposite like she's trying to burn a hole through it with her gaze.

She barely eats, preferring to let other people have the supplies they managed to collect before the invasion. Insisting, even, that people eat rather than her.

Each time she goes out, she comes back looking a little more worse for wear. After the clinic burns down, she doesn't come back to the bunker.]

iv. safe - hot springs; nov. 30th - dec. 4th

[After she finds Delmar hurt in the city, and after the clinic and most of the important buildings burn down, Julie takes refuge in the safe haven that Love creates at the hot springs. Much like at the bunker, she doesn't stay put, but it's far easier to stay there when the place needs vigilant defending.

There may be members of the Guard there, but she doesn't think to ask if they need any help. By this time she's abandoned the assault rifle (somewhere safe, but without ammo it isn't much use) and simply picks up whatever she can use as a weapon. If there is one thing that Julie hates it is feeling useless, and she refuses to feel useless here. She won't sit down and let other people protect her.

Still, she does know when to back down and won't try to take on any of the larger Null on her own. The smaller ones, though? The ones she can beat down into the ground and scream curses at while she rips out their cores with her bare hand, to hell with the electricity burns? Those ones are all fair game as far as she's concerned.]

ii;

[knockthemdead]

[Kravitz is in the fortunate position of not needing to worry about ammunition, his scythe as reliable as ever, and his magic coming in handy more than once already. When he spots Julie, bloody and messy and looking exhausted, he feels a twinge of pity.

Good lord. What is happening to him.

Careful not to give Julie's position away, Kravitz moves to her side when the way is clear, and kneels beside her. His suit will be getting dirty, but there's no helping that.]

If you need safe passage to rest for a moment, I can open a portal.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[She shouldn't stop, because when she stops the bone-deep exhaustion seeps out from her core and sinks into every aching, tired muscle in her body. Closing her eyes, even for a moment, brings her dangerously close to sleep and she doesn't notice the person approaching her until the moment they speak.

Julie jumps, jolting away from him with a half-stifled yelp quickly muffled with a hand pressed over her mouth. She stares at him with wide eyes for a moment, as if needing a moment to process what he's saying.]

... A portal?

[Like magic? She's still getting used to that.

A noise nearby draws her attention away from him and she pushes herself up to peer around the wall before moving quickly back.]

Shit, more of them.

[knockthemdead]

[Kravitz huffs in aggravation, and, seeing as their time is running short, takes the decision halfway out of her hands.

His skin and hair melt away piece by piece, exposing the skeleton underneath. Normally, this wouldn't be necessary to open a simple portal, but Kravitz is tired. Without waiting for a reaction, he summons his scythe, and slices open a portal.]

Well?

im so sorry kravitz

[redwinekindofgirl]

[He's probably trying to help. In a different, calmer situation, it could certainly be interpreted as helping.

What happens, however, at the moment Julie realises that this person's hair and skin is literally melting off, is the girl's back slamming to the nearest wall and both hands coming up over her mouth to stifle a sound that would have no doubt drawn anything nearby to them had she let it loose.]

Ohmygod.

[She whispers through her fingers. What the hell is this guy?!]

i

[anoshe]

[Rhy is perhaps not the best suited to fighting the Null, given his lack of advanced weaponry, but he has other useful qualities. He has been out doing what he can, though all he's got is a sword - which means he hasn't really taken down any Null himself. What he has done is helped people, given them a chance to strike where he can't or a chance to get away.

And that's what he does now, when he sees someone cornered by one of the creatures. Rhy does not hesitate, he throws himself right in the way, raising his sword to block the Null's blow. He does not seem at all worried about being injured.]

Are you all right? Can you hit it?

[redwinekindofgirl]

[She expects the thing to come down straight on her head, bracing herself for the impact and the probable pain that would come after, but what happens instead is an arm in front of her face, a sword-- (a sword?)-- blocking the blow, and she doesn't waste the opportunity.]

Yeah. [The word comes out almost as a grunt and she shoves the barrel of the assault rifle straight into the robot's chest cavity, the sound of gunfire rattling out loudly as she lets loose two volleys directly into the creature. It doesn't struggle for long before it falls limp.]

... I can fucking hit it.

[anoshe]

Very nice.

[The compliment seems both honest and as if Rhy is somewhat impressed - which of course he is. Modern weaponry is still impressive to him, and people who can use it are as well.

He steps back, looking around them for more Null. The area is clear for now, but he knows from experience that it's unlikely to stay that way. Still, a moment to breathe is valuable.]

Are you hurt?

OTA; Dec. 5th - Dec. 11th

[redwinekindofgirl]

i. sorrow's death; dec. 5th

[It hits her like a solid thing, while her hand is half way to jamming a knife into some nasty Null humanoid's already sparking core to finish it off. The weapon drops from her hand and she lets out a soft sound like a strangled cry, her legs immediately giving way beneath her. It's like being told her mother was dead, multiplied a hundred times and the grief and sadness throbs through her in time with her heartbeat as she sits on the ground and realises very suddenly that she is silently crying.

The Null creature would have had the perfect opportunity to finish her off, but just like her it sits on the ground and it looks at its hands (almost hands, but eerily unlike hands) while Julie scrubs the tears from her eyes and tries her hardest to pull herself together. Her foe manages the feat far more quickly than she does, and she's still shaking all over when it begins its attack again.

Julie doesn't hesitate further. She grabs her knife and lets out a loud, primal scream as she launches herself at the robot and tackles it to the ground, stabbing at it repeatedly in all the wrong places until, by luck, she hits the right one. A few more stabs, then she's crying again, and though the initial pulse has faded she can't stop, hunched over the now motionless Null with tears spilling unchecked down her cheeks.]

ii. fighting/scouting; dec. 5th - 11th

[Julie finds somewhere to collect herself first, scaling one of the less damaged buildings and finding a corner to curl up in and pull her shattered nerves back into herself again. After that, she doesn't so much fight as dart in and out of Love's safe zone at the hot springs, taking down smaller Null where she can but mostly offering to help with moving them and keeping watch for those undertaking that task. Something has happened, and though she doesn't know what it is at first some subtle questioning brings out the truth.

The god called Sorrow is dead. Julie isn't sure what that might mean for them.

For now, she can be satisfied with the pause in the endless waves of Null flooding out of the tunnels. It had to only be a matter of time until the ones searching for them connected with the ones still living here, and no matter how tired she is, she isn't going to sit around doing nothing. She's never been the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing.]

Need a hand? [It might be when you're in the middle of trying to shift a Null corpse, or trying to clear a doorway or scavenging for supplies when a tired-looking blonde teenager with her hair scraped back and blood and dirt covering her clothes asks you the question. She sounds tired, like she doesn't much care about the answer you give, but her eyes say something different.]

iii. safe; dec 5th - 11th

[When she's in Love's safe haven, most of what she does is sleep. If there's danger, she'll drag herself out of any kind of rest to deal with it, but there is only so much that one person can take and Julie reached her limit some time ago. As the second week of the attack wears on, she's seen in the haven less and less, however. Whenever she returns, she only looks more worn.

Sometimes, she appears at the clinic are of the springs, but she rarely speaks to anyone and never stays for long. It would take only one observant and caring person to notice that she is clearly pushing herself too far, but she seems determined not to stop no matter how much she feels like falling asleep on her feet.]

iii

[wantsnudes]

[Fox has also been using the springs as a resting spot. Though he'd been lying low for a good deal of the initial invasion and working behind the scenes, weapons theft was enough to get him added to the Null hitlist, and now even his best attempts at stealth have resulted in a lot more fighting than he's accustomed to. He hasn't felt this exhausted since he first awakened to his Persona, and now he's having to summon Goemon to aid him constantly, day in, day out. The intense mental and physical fatigue is unlike anything he's experienced before.

He has to manage his energy carefully if he's to survive this. Heading to the springs, still dressed in his thief gear and mask, he intended to find somewhere to curl up for a nap before rejoining his fellow thieves and heading back into the fray. But before he can, a familiar face gives Fox pause.]

Julie? [He gives her a once-over, and offers his blunt opinion--] You look exhausted.

[Even with the kitsune mask covering his face, she would be able to identify Yusuke through his build and voice. He has no real reason to hide from her anyway; right now, it's the Null who concern him most.]

[redwinekindofgirl]

I am. [She doesn't look up right away, recognising his voice and finding no cause for alarm in it. Julie rubs her face with both hands then lets her head rest in them for a few long moments, before she looks up.]

... What the hell are you wearing?

[Aren't you a little old for dress-up, Yusuke? Is this really the time for that kind of thing? At least it offers her a very good distraction from her own thoughts.]

[wantsnudes]

What? [He looks down at himself, and realises what she's referring to.] Oh... Right. I wear this in order to fight.

[He taps the mask that houses his Persona. Normally he'd be more concerned about people seeing him like this, but in this world, it's less important. The Null are more what concern him right now.]

If you need to sleep, don't mind me. I'll keep watch for you.

i is going to turn in to a yikesfest

[ghoulaid]

Ghoul's alone when it happens. One second he's squeezing through a space between two damaged buildings, and the next he's dropping to his knees like a corpse, crushed beneath the weight of overwhelming sadness. But why? It doesn't make any sense. He's fine, Girl's fine- there's no cause for him to feel so miserable. He fights against it as best as he can, but he's still pinned to the ground by the force of it. Curled in on himself, arms squeezing tight around his middle, holding his breath in a failing attempt to prevent his body from sobbing for absolutely no fucking reason.

He stays there for a long time- way too long to be safe, yet he can't make himself move. When he does finally stand again, it's on dangerously shaky legs and with hiccuping breaths. He's lightheaded from the struggle against emotions he doesn't understand, but he still staggers forward unsteadily, towards another source of anguished noises that he's been distantly aware of. Whoever it is sounds horrible. He can't stand the thought that it could be Girl. It's not- it shouldn't be. He knows where he left her, and this voice sounds different... But Girl herself is very different from what he's used to. What if he's wrong?

It's hard for him to see; his eyes are red and wet with tears, and he has to stumble much closer than usual before he can finally identify the girl having a breakdown on top of a scrap heap. It's not his girl (that much he can tell by the blonde hair), but he still stops and croaks out a weak, "Hey." Resenting the pathetic whimper that his voice has become, he growls and tries again, this time snapping out a firmer, angry-sounding, "Hey!"

yikes yikes

[redwinekindofgirl]

She isn't sure how much time she loses, sitting over the body of the robot with her hands clasped tight around the handle buried deep inside it. It can't have been all that long at all, or maybe it was hours, but she hears the movement like a shiver right up the centre of her spine.

His voice - the quiet first try - doesn't get much of a response but the second, more angry-sounding snap makes her flinch, and she snatches the knife out of the Null corpse to snarl back at him.

"What?!" Tear tracks are still fresh down her cheeks and she doesn't know why she's suddenly so angry, just that she's so angry and he has made himself a very convenient target. She gets up to her feet, wobbles, but brandishes her knife (fairly harmlessly) in his direction. "What the fuck do you want, Ghoul?! God!"

[ghoulaid]

"Don't fucking yell at me!" He yells back, in a very yell-y manner.

Because the yelling is the most significant thing happening here. Not her waving a knife in his direction- he seems strangely unbothered by that, enough that he takes his eyes off her, reaching up to scrub both hands over his face. Instead of helping, it only makes his cheeks flush redder after he pulls his hands away.

"What the fuck are you crying for?" He tries to force anger in to that question as well, but midway through his voice cracks and it ends up sounding more upset and lost than intimidating. "You hurt?"

ii

[64th]

[ Cashmere has finally been convinced to be helpful to others instead of just herself. which is what she's doing now. at the moment she's digging through a pile of rubble in hopes of salvaging something useful. she's aware of Julie as she approaches, but doesn't turn her heard to acknowledge her until after she asks to help. ]

Whoa. [ sorry, Julie. you kind of look like you've been to hell and back. that gnaws at her in a weird way - she remembers very well being a tired, blood-covered teenager who had to keep moving despite her exhaustion. ]

You hold, I dig? [ she shrugs off the bag that's slung over her shoulder and offers it to Julie. ]

[redwinekindofgirl]

Oh-- Cashmere.

[It's the first time she's seen the other girl in person and she can see very clearly why Cashmere was so unsettled by her. They could easily be twins, and she spends a few moments longer than she should just studying Cashmere's face before she jumps into action and takes the offered bag.]

Um, sure. [She sneaks another look, finding one uncanny similarity after another, even right down to the way their hair curls.]

What are you looking for?

[64th]

[ feel free to stare, Julie. Cashmere's used to it. plus it's completely fascinating. what kind of life did Julie have before? and how many people out there look like them?]

Anything useful. Knives, medical supplies that someone else stole, rope. Food? I have't decided if I'd eat anything I found. [ she'll figure that out later. ]

How are you holding up?

i!

[dedikated]

( The only signs that come from Kate are a flinch, a brief noise somewhere between a strangled gasp and a grunt, as the wave sends a moment of stillness through Hadriel. The Null she's fighting stops dead in its tracks and it's the second she needs to crack its core with a splintered and shattered piece of window pane and duck back as it collapses to the floor.

The ache in her chest, the one that has nothing to do with over a week of solid fighting and pushing her body to the limit, still pools through her, but right now there's no time to let it take over. She's used to it, anyway. Though that doesn't mean that the next attack she does - using the decapitated limb of one of the Null like a baseball bat - is anything less than unnecessarily vicious, but it's quick enough to shatter the core. And to let her hear the scream nearby, the flurry of noise that accompanies the knife slashing through metal and wire. There's enough time for Kate to suck in a breath and look for the source, dropping the Null limb and making her way over to the young woman sobbing over a metallic corpse, wrapping her hands around the woman's shoulders and trying to pull her up. )

C'mon. Don't have time for this.

( Her voice is quiet, trying not to pull more attention their way. Who knows how long they have before these things regain their bearings? )

[redwinekindofgirl]

Get off-- Get off me.

[The touch to her shoulders gets the same reaction that a scald or electric shock might. Julie cringes under it, already seated with not many ways to move away from the entirely unwanted contact, feeling every nerve in her body screaming despite the softness of the voice. She doesn't shout, though she does protest, but at least her efforts to get away from the hands on her has her scrambling up to her feet.]

Don't touch me. [She says, the words coming out with no vehemence attached to them, her body still shaking from the sudden onslaught and everything it had dragged up along with it.]

[dedikated]

( Alright. Kate isn't going to fight against the not wanting to be touched thing, especially as the girl gets to her feet anyway. That's all she really needs. This girl on her feet and either fighting or getting to safety. The how doesn't matter so much. )

Need to get moving or fighting. Can you?

( Despite the blunt words, the exhaustion and the dulling ache in her chest, Kate's words are matter of fact, tinged with only the barest hint of impatience.

Maybe she's getting soft in her old age, who knows. )

iii

[romeoeatsbrains]

[ R has no idea how to comfort Julie, the pillaged memories that make up what remains of Perry's soul aren't as helpful as one might hope. He knows she hurts, knows that there are only so many wounds a heart can take before it's too damaged and stutters to a halt. So he tries to be there for her, to fulfill that promise he made her a lifetime ago in his plane to keep her safe.

How does he protect her from herself? He's a piss poor guardian, the lingering effects of Sorrow's death making the new hunger flare up now and then, forcing him to keep away from others so he doesn't cause any incidents. He hasn't eaten anything, anyone in months and he doesn't want to end his streak now.

In the end he corners her as she leaves the clinic area. The suit jacket he wore for years is gone, lost in the conflict, though the red tie remains as the sole splash of color on the monochrome white palette of his body. ]

You need to rest... going too hard.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[Julie doesn't exactly help R in his efforts to keep an eye on her. She disappears regularly, running out into the city to search or to fight, and always comes back looking worse than she did when she left. Sometimes, he's missing, and she wanders the springs to see if she can find him.

He's one of few people that she doesn't entirely object to being cornered by, though she still looks physically uncomfortable - more a side effect of the situation than of his presence - as she shuffles back half a step and wraps her arms around herself.]

I can't rest, R. How do you expect me to just sit down when all this is happening?

[She scrapes a hand through her hair - lank and dirty through days of fights and difficult living.] I can't even close my eyes without seeing them coming for me.

[romeoeatsbrains]

[ R has tried to give Julie her space, has been wary of forcing one more worry onto her plate when the world seems like it is, quite literally, falling apart around them. Except giving her space has done nothing but give her room to run herself into the ground and he can't... he can't watch that anymore. So he takes another dangerous step into her space. ]

You're not dead. You need sleep. [ He reaches out to her, tentatively rests a hand on her shoulder in the hopes that maybe she'll listen to him. ] Keep leaving me behind. I can't protect you... from here.

I can't... [ He swallows, the words bubbling up before he can stop them and they rip their way out and bare his unbeating heart to her. ] I can't lose you.