Event log: Mirror, mirror

[hadrielmods]

Who: Anyone and everyone!
What: Hope gives everyone mirrors with visions of their most hopeful future inside.
Where: Throughout the city.
When: March 14th-18th
Warnings: None so far!

On March 14th, all characters will stumble across mirrors at some point on their daily journey. Maybe your mirror is right under your pillow, maybe it's on your bedside table, or in the sink in your bathroom. It could be in a random store that you're scavenging, or somewhere along the path that you're taking to go to a friend's place. Wherever it is, it's positioned perfectly for you to find it- though you might want to be quick so someone else doesn't nab it first.

Each mirror is predetermined to hold one person's future and will be placed somewhere that they can find it on that day. Upon looking in their own mirrors, each character will see a version of their future that will fill them with hope. This vision has to be possible- or they have to think it's possible- even if it's unlikely. Picking up someone else's mirror will not change the image inside; you'll instead see that person's vision for their future.

In addition, during the first four days, until March 18th, characters will want to look into any mirror they can find, not just their own. So be a little careful if you want to guard your innermost hopes- someone might be trying to peek.

► This log covers March 14th-March 18th.
► 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!
► Please report any character deaths right here!

Comments

[unfollowing]

Fucking answer me.

[Maketh's opinion doesn't mean shit to Emily right now.]

Look at me.

[mismanagement]

[No eye contact. Stand up straight and take your punishment. Maketh holds herself very still.] You called me a monster.

[Those weren't the words and Maketh knows that, she knows, but something--there's something angry and wrong inside her still, a bit of wendigo that hasn't been burnt out just yet. And then Emily had the nerve to fucking say it--

Well, that's no excuse.]

[unfollowing]

What?

[Fine, don't look at her, Maketh. It doesn't matter. At least she's answering Emily's question.

Though come the fuck on. Emily has no problem saying what she thinks and owning up to her words. If she'd called Maketh a monster, she wouldn't deny it.

But she didn't.]

No I didn't. I said nothing like that. [A pause for breath.] Where the fuck did you get that?

[mismanagement]

[It's one of those things that got twisted, the meaning taken away from the actual words and it really doesn't matter what Emily said or didn't say. In the end it's what Maketh heard and what she did about it.

There's no excuse for hitting a civilian. There's not.

She exhales through her nose and doesn't say a word. No excuses, no avoiding responsibility. Maybe if Emily hits her back, they'll be even. Is that how it's done?]

[unfollowing]

[Emily wishes she had the strength to slap Maketh at least as hard as she hit Ashley. That's exactly what Maketh deserves, and it still wouldn't be enough to match what she put Emily through just now.]

I said report back. About wendigos.

[Wait a minute.

'You called me a monster.']

You became a wendigo.

[The statement isn't half as livid as everything else Emily has said, because she gets it now. She was there too. A monster. A cannibal. She attacked her friends.

Emily frowns at the floor.]

Get the fuck over it. So was I. It's over now.

[mismanagement]

[Report back. Somehow this girl knows the right words, and there's no ignoring a direct order. Maketh clicks her boots together, standing tall for inspection.] Situation dealt with. Threat contained.

[unfollowing]

[This bitch-- this bitch is fucking crazy. A soldier, obviously, and for long enough that she can't help but follow orders. In another situation, Emily might take advantage of that. But right now, she just looks at Maketh with disgust. Not at Maketh, though. Just-- at the programming she's been subject to. It's fucking creepy. Can Maketh even think for herself? Does she need orders to do the simplest things?]

You could've just fucking said so. That you got turned. Why didn't you?

[Well, maybe she is going to take advantage of it, after all.]

[mismanagement]

[Under better circumstances, Maketh would scoff at the notion that she's been programmed. She's been trained, that's all, the Empire took a stupid child and made her useful. Nothing wrong with that, because now she has a purpose and a place in the universe. But right now, there's relief in the ability to shut down and respond on instinct alone - feel nothing, respond as trained. It's much easier that way.]

Irrelevant.

[Past incidents are no excuse for present behavior.]

[unfollowing]

[Yeah, no, that sounds an awful lot like programming, but whatever.]

Cut the bullshit, Maketh. Tell me why the fuck you thought it was okay to do this.

[Emily has dealt out way worse and gotten nothing but insults flung at her. This is insane, and she is not ready to let Maketh fuck off back to wherever she's living in this shithole.]

[mismanagement]

Irrelevant. Officers of the Imperial court may not strike a civilian without sufficient provocation or threat to the Empire.

[And if it sounds like she's reciting a passage from a rule-book, well. You're not allowed to hit civilians no matter what they say, unless it's against the Empire and in that case they can be shot. Emily said nothing against the Empire, therefore she is a non-combatant and should not be touched. Maketh stepped over the line, oh so carefully drawn, and that is not allowed.]

[unfollowing]

[God that's fucked up. That Maketh just recites shit like that. That it has to be a rule in order to prevent soldiers from attacking civilians. What kind of fucked up world is Maketh even from.]

In case you hadn't realized, this isn't your empire, and no one's threatening it. Cut the shit and talk to me like a fucking human being.

You were a wedigo. So was I. It sucked. Why the fuck would you hit me over that?

[It takes a lot of strength to say that much. Emily leans more heavily against the table, wincing as she breathes as deeply as she can.]

[mismanagement]

[Again with that - word. Wendigo. Monster. Maketh feels her mouth twisting and tries to make her face go completely blank. Look straight ahead, don't make eye contact, stand up straight and take your lashes, soldier. You fucked up, broke the rules that you helped to enforce, and so there must be a reckoning.

Except that Emily hasn't tried to hit her back yet.

This might be worse, somehow. Maketh swallows, tries to make her voice work. There's something caught in her throat, a lump she can't force out.] I don't know.

[unfollowing]

[Emily sneers at her, rolling her eyes. At least those things don't cause her additional pain. At this point, she'll take what she can get if it means expressing her anger without hurting herself.]

Fucking pathetic.

[Groaning, Emily tries to straighten a little. Her back is starting to hurt, on top of all the rest.]

Have a point when you're a bitch.

[Even if that point is 'I'm better than you, so there.' This whole 'I don't know' shit isn't acceptable.]

[mismanagement]

[Pathetic. Yes, well. It happened. This is the aftermath. Maketh stands perfectly still, waiting. She's been called worse things, though not for a long time.

Maketh keeps her eyes straight ahead, waiting.] Well?

[unfollowing]

[Well, if there's one thing Emily can say about Maketh, it's that at least she doesn't run away crying when shit hits the fan. Emily watches her carefully as she replies, then arches an eyebrow at her question.]

'Well' what.

[mismanagement]

[Maketh frowns at her.] You're going to hit me.

[It's the rules. It will make them even.]

[unfollowing]

[Is Maketh serious.

Does. Does she see Emily right now. How she can't even fucking stand up straight.

Damn, Maketh, you're a bigger idiot than Emily thought.]

I can barely stand. How the fuck am I supposed to hit you right now.

[mismanagement]

[Unless she managed to break some of Emily's ribs - doubtful but not impossible - the girl should be capable of striking back. Maketh glances at her briefly, brow furrowed. If not broken ribs, then perhaps a pre existing medical condition?

In that case, Maketh has made an even bigger blunder than anticipated.]

Do you need medical attention?

[unfollowing]

[Maketh clearly doesn't know what it's like to be only as strong as regular trips to the gym make a person. Emily isn't weak by any means, but she's not a soldier, for fuck's sake.]

Go fuck yourself.

[She doesn't need Maketh's help. She has friends. She'll be fine.]

Give me a week. Then I'll hit you back.

[Honestly, Emily isn't expecting to, but if it'll make Maketh stop obsessing over this damn point, then so be it.]

[mismanagement]

[Imperial cadets are encouraged to ignore pain and recover quickly from injuries. There are classes on this. Maketh happened to receive very good marks in the Academy. In every subject.

Maketh nods slowly.] All right.

[This, at least, she can understand.]

[unfollowing]

[Goddamn hurray for Maketh and her creepy as fuck training.

Good. Maketh is dropping it. Now if she would just--]

Get the fuck away from me.

[Once she says that, Emily shuts her eyes tight and winces, wrapping one arm around her middle. She'd rather be alone as the pain and the shock pass more completely.]

[mismanagement]

[Yeeeeah the Empire's fun like that.

Maketh thinks about saluting, but decides that would be inappropriate. She doesn't think Emily is dying, or anything like that. So the best thing is just to turn around and leave.

She does that.]