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

[braveoff]

[ It's contagious. He pushes himself back up from the chair and leans in, not caring who's watching as he gives Ephemera a soft kiss. Stays close, afterwards. ]

Come on, try to eat something.

[requiemshark]

[Even though he sees it coming, the kiss still catches Ephemera by surprise. He hesitates a moment, then bumps their foreheads together.]

Yeah, yeah. You gonna stick around for a while?

[He hopes the answer is yes.]

[braveoff]

Yeah. I'm not leaving you again. Almost couldn't the first time.

[ It was a struggle, staying down. ]

I hated not being able to do anything to get you back.

[requiemshark]

It was the right move.

[No matter how much it hurt.

Ephemera exhales slowly.]

I know.

[He wants to say that they'll fix it, they'll figure something out, but he doesn't. There's no way to know for sure.]

Hey. I've been in some nasty fixes before. This? This is bad. But we're still here.

[He nods.]

Focus on that. It helps.

[braveoff]

I know, it still hurt like hell.

[ He'll be the one to say it, his hand coming up to stroke between Ephemera's shoulders. An excuse to stay close. ]

Just take your time, we'll get back out there soon enough. See it through.

[requiemshark]

[Ephemera closes his good eye, sighing. Feels his shoulders drop. It's nice like this, having Drake close, and he doesn't want it to end.] Damn right we will. They thought we'd just roll over, but we showed them.

[braveoff]

[ They can take a moment. The clinic site is safe, protected by gods and guard alike, and Ephemera's still hurt enough nobody's going to kick them out just yet. ]

They did think that, huh? The way they just kept sticking people on the list. [ He frowns, thinking. ] I wonder if the original hosts didn't fight back.

[requiemshark]

Dunno. People usually fight, when it comes down to it.

[Ephemera closes his good eye. Listens to Drake breathing.]

Sometimes the other guys are just better at it. But us, we're something else. They shouldn't have tried. They've committed a lot of resources to this attack and it didn't gain them any ground. They lost their inside man.

[braveoff]

I still can't believe it was her...

[ He's been dealing with Delight since he got to Hadriel, and never would have guessed. But she sure did beat him to a bloody pulp and declared her betrayal right in front of him. The whole thing makes him feel stupid to be so fooled. ]

They did gain some ground. But maybe Hope can bring Sorrow back again.

[requiemshark]

[Ephemera just shrugs. He's not sure the gods are as powerful as they claim and doesn't really care for them one way or another. Hope helps Drake, and therefore Hope is necessary. But the others are still an unknown factor.] Wouldn't surprise me if they could. Who knows how strong they really are?

[braveoff]

I don't know. I've got no reference for the magic part of it, anyway. Just that Delight punches like a freight train.

[ Individually, Drake's got his opinions on the gods, but as a group in control of them it's more complicated. Harder to trust. ]

Anyway, it'll take awhile. And this fight's up to us.

[requiemshark]

[Ephemera is quiet for a moment, thinking.]

Yeah. But I've done that before. Fought wars for other people. I can do it again.

[braveoff]

It's kind of our war now, too. I mean. I can't leave here, anyway.

[ Maybe if Sorrow gets resurrected and figures out how the Door works well enough to send him somewhere else, but he doesn't have anything to go home to. ]

[requiemshark]

Guess it is now.

[He sighs. Flexes his hands. Then:]

You thought about what you're doing when this is done? Assuming it does get done, eventually.

[braveoff]

[ Drake hesitates, not sure what Ephemera's asking. His hand stills on the other man's back. ]

When what's done? This fight?

[requiemshark]

[Ephemera exhales slowly.]

When the Null are dead and the gods work their shit out. You can't go home. That mean you're staying here?

[braveoff]

[ Yeah, that's the question. He shrugs uncomfortably. ]

If I go anywhere else, I have to worry about staying fed. It might be worth it, though. Depends... where will you go?

[requiemshark]

I don't know, [he admits.] At first, thought I'd go back to Chorus or wherever Washington and the others were hiding. Finish what I started. But it's different now. I don't know.

[braveoff]

[ Drake tenses at that. He wants to say no, don't go back. Not to that, not for revenge and not to die. But he's not sure it's his place to even have that conversation. And Washington could be lying about having killed Ephemera, but Drake doesn't think so. His fingers curl into the material of Ephemera's suit, and he lets out a slow breath. ]

Different how?

[requiemshark]

[It's impossible to miss the way Drake goes suddenly tense. Ephemera tips his head back and just breathes.]

Killing them won't change anything. They'd just...stop.

[He's quiet for a long moment.]

My family can't--hnn. They're gone. And I thought I was gone, too. That if I waited, if I was strong enough, fast enough, I could avenge them. And then it'd be done, and I could be with them. I wouldn't have to swallow the hurt anymore.

[It's admitted quietly. Ephemera looks away.]

Now...

I feel like a person, here. I think I want that. To be a whole person.

[braveoff]

[ It never gets any easier to hear that. Ephemera's told him before, how he felt back home. What he'd wanted, what he thought should have happened to him. But this time he keeps talking, and it turns into something hopeful. Some of Drake's tension eases. It doesn't mean Ephemera will be able to let go in the end, but it's an important change. ]

You don't have to decide right now. Neither of us do.

[ He debates whether or not to continue, to express anything he's feeling because it doesn't seem right to try and influence a decision this personal. More than he already does by just existing, anyway. In the end there's just one thing he needs to say. Ephemera is a whole person. ]

I think the person you are is pretty great, you know.

[requiemshark]

[Drake listens. He stays and he listens and when it's all been said, he's still there. Ephemera huffs. Tips his head back with a faint smile.] Hnn. Guess that's all right, then.

It's a mess right now. But we'll see it through, you and I.

[He believes that. It's not always easy, but he does.]