Event Log: Flu Season

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters
What: The event log for the Flu Season event
Where: All over the city
When: March 20th-March 30th
Warnings: Gross sneezing, sick people, and paranoia

It starts with a cough, a sneeze, a sore throat - something small and simple, easily ignored. But then your symptoms get worse. It's probably been awhile since you've been sick, that sort of thing doesn't usually happen here. You might be able to raid the shops for some tissues and tea before it gets too bad, and hopefully you've got a friend to help out until you get better. Surely it'll be over soon, right?

Until the fever sets in, and you start to understand why your friend is really there. They don't want to take care of you. They want to make sure this is the last anyone will ever see of you. They want to learn all your secrets. They want to steal your most precious possession. You know they're plotting against you, you know they're keeping something from you. What will you do to find out what it is?

Then, as the sickness fades, you realize it was all in your mind. Let's hope you didn't do or say anything too awful. But that friend of yours... they seem to have picked up your cough. Maybe you should help them out?

► This log covers March 20th-March 30th.
► 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 your paranoia ends in murder, please let us know here.

Comments

Michael Munroe | Closed | CW: probable violence, possible death

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael is pretty sure he's losing his goddamn mind. He thinks that a lot, actually, but this time it's not because something impossible is happening. This time it's because things are somehow too possible. The ideas in his head make complete sense. And that's far more terrifying, if he's honest.

Usually he can fight the dangerous impulses in his brain, at least for a while. If he thinks something irrational, he can usually tell, can usually talk himself down, eventually. But now he can't convince himself that he's wrong, he can't find evidence to contradict it. He's so sure that Harlan got him sick on purpose. He's so sure that this plague was planned. He's absolutely positive that if he goes outside, someone is going to hurt him. That they're probably outside his door right now, listening to him cough, deciding how best to get inside, how to drag him away or kill him. And why shouldn't they? He's a murderer. And they all know it. They have to.

For the first few days after the fever sets in, Michael barricades his apartment, locks his phone in the spare bedroom, and hunkers down to wait them out, sitting flat against the wall. He doesn't know how much time passes, but most of it he spends staring at the door, knife in hand, his own senses on high alert- but not just his. The Visitor believes him, apparently, or maybe it's just more proof of the truth. They watch together. They wait together. And nothing happens... until eventually Michael realizes he can't last like this. He's still sick, and he's running out of food. He has to go out. That was probably their plan.

It takes him a day to convince himself, and when he finally does unblock the door and very cautiously step outside, he doesn't do it alone. The Visitor's awareness moves through his limbs like adrenaline, (with adrenaline, probably,) directing his attention, his movements. Its entire existence is violence and threat, so it seems only logical, in that too-sure, frightening way, that it would know best.

Michael leaves his apartment building with his hood up and a knife gripped under his sleeve. Anyone who approaches him can only be doing so for one purpose, and he's not going to make it easy for them.]

let's do dis

[hot_mes]

[By now Law is on the mend, he's just returned the hearts he removed and is finally getting somewhat clear-headed. At least, he's no longer raving about the mysterious source of the outbreak and not viewing everyone he passes as a threat. In fact, he's not even carrying Kikoku with him, in some sort of foolish attempt at appearing non-threatening.

On his way back to the clinic, he spots someone heading more or less in his direction and wonders. Is that who he thinks it is? Are they trying to meet him at the clinic or is this just chance? Either way, if he can get close enough to make some observations, he'll know whether they need treatment or for him to just back off and leave it.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Maybe Law should appear non-threatening without an obvious weapon, and maybe he should appear especially non-threatening to someone he knows quite well. But all Michael sees right now are potential enemies.

Unfortunately, Law is in the direction he needs to go, and there isn't a convenient turn-off. Michael slows down, adjusts his grip on the knife up his sleeve. He doesn't stand much of a chance if Law tries something; he's much shorter and physically weaker. But that's fine. He doesn't even need the knife. He's got something better. They have something better.

He approaches, eyes intent, watching Law for any sudden movements, any giveaways. From the outside he knows he looks sick, like easy prey. But he already decided. He's not going to make this easy.]

[hot_mes]

[All it takes is a moment of locking eyes, and Law knows he's got work to do. He's tired, the illness drained him more than it should have, but he pushes past it as he notices that yep, it is Michael and he looks rough.]

Oi. Michael-ya...

[he stops, blocking the path, ready to look him over and offer advice. He can't heal this flu, but he can ease the suffering, quiet people down. If Michael is anywhere near as altered as he was just a day or two ago, he might be afraid to get treated. So, maybe it isn't wise to completely let down his guard. Law's hands remain in sight, but he's an intimidating figure and he's not going to just back off and leave.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael freezes when Law steps into his path. Rather than keeping eye contact, his gaze is all over the place, twitching between Law's hands, his face, over his shoulder.

The truth is he would've been afraid of treatment even before this. Now it's completely off the table. Not that he assumes that's what Law's here for.]

What do you want? Move.

[He sounds on the verge of panic, but it's a warning.]

[hot_mes]

[Michael is a lot worse at concealing his fear than some. It's so telling. But Law isn't here to take advantage of it or manipulate it, he needs to work quickly to try and get Michael somewhere to help him. Before he does anything crazy, and Law knows full well what level of crazy could be suddenly unleashed on an unsuspecting population]

I want to know how you're feeling. Do you need anything? I'm here to help.

[not terribly aggressively so, but he's still got the squared shoulders and determined stance of someone who isn't going to be gentle about it]

[aroundthecoroner]

[And that's the part that gets him, the posture that says "I'm not giving you a choice", the phrase- I'm here to help- that, filtered through a haze of sickness and fear, sounds all too uncomfortably familiar.

This isn't, technically, all that unusual. His brain makes bad connections all the time, it's part of the condition. But normally he can look past it, see that he's being unreasonable, that this person actually is here to help him. Not today.]

I don't need your kind of help.

[He slides the knife into a better position in his hand, so that now the tip of it is sticking out of his sleeve, and takes a half-step back. His eyes are still wild.]

[hot_mes]

What are you...?

[the movement catches his eye but as of yet he doesn't see the tip of the knife. Everything about Michael's posture radiates danger, though, Law doesn't need any special senses to tell that. And knowing what he knows of Michael, danger is not something he wants unleashed on the city while everyone is fighting off this plague.

His gray eyes shift, hunting around for a quick scope of all options. Without his sword he's going to have to get creative.]

You know full well my kind of help isn't going to hurt. Come on, don't make this difficult.

[his fingertips splay, ready to bring up a Room the instant it becomes necessary. A moment too soon and Michael, like his other patients, might see it as a threat]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Nope. Wrong response. The shift is pretty instant and visible; Michael goes from cautiously aggressive to completely afraid. He thought he was ready to defend himself, but he isn't, the wording sets off too many alarm bells all at once. "It isn't going to hurt." "Don't make this difficult."]

Don't-

[He can't even articulate it. He wants to run but he's convinced Law could catch up to him in no time. His hands come up to the sides of his head, the knife now clearly visible as the flat of it is resting against his temple.]

Stay away from me!

[It's a warning and a threat, and one he knows Law will understand. The Visitor is clamoring for release, and for once- no, this makes twice now, doesn't it?- their thoughts are fairly aligned: Law is dangerous and he's going to hurt them. The howls it makes don't really translate to words, but if he had to, Michael would say it meant something like, allow me. And he is very close to saying yes. It... might be more a matter of when than if.]

[hot_mes]

[Yep he sure stepped in it that time. He should have known better than to try to rationalize with an irrational person.

Law slides back a step in alarm, almost as if to leave a cushion between himself and Michael, but then he spots the glint of metal. Even without the creature inside him, this guy needs to quickly be rendered harmless. It worked in the dream, why wouldn't Mes work here? Timing, it's all in the timing.]

Room. Michael-ya, don't! You have to control it!

[the aura swells around them as he charges, trying to get in close before it's too late.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Control it? Why would he want to? Or rather, it's not that he can't. He and the Visitor are on the same page, here, after all. Which is why, when Law moves, he gives it what it wants: permission.

Michael's eyes roll back in his head and he drops like a sack of bricks. He's lucky enough not to land face-first, but he hits hard enough that his glasses get knocked to the side. And the instant he's down, a skeletal arm shoots up out of the air around him, followed immediately by a skull with snapping jaws. The Visitor is wasting no time in manifesting itself, screeching as it hauls its body up from the ether, clawing furiously at the ground, with both hands now, to make the process go faster. The black, ashy vapors that surround its bones are restless, shifting and glitching wildly.

The blue lights that serve for its eyes are focused solely on Law. If he's going to charge, it's going to meet him.]

[hot_mes]

[it would almost be funny, the flailing of Law's arms and legs as he does his best to screech to an abrupt halt before he plows head-first into the Visitor, except that there's nothing funny about this at all. He manages to stop and yank his head and arms backwards before the first snap can take them clean off.

Shit shit shit shit how is he going to handle this without a weapon? He can't run, it's too fast. He could Shambles, but that would just leave the Visitor on the loose with unsuspecting civilians everywhere. He doesn't know what would get Michael to reel it back in, if its target disappeared. He remembers the Null battle, it only stopped when the enemies were gone. The way it's looking at him now, he's sure that the definition of enemies has changed.

It's a good thing he already brought up the Room, because he needs it already. One Shambles to put some distance between them, but he didn't make the Room very large so he can only reach its boundary, some twenty feet away.]

Takt!

[any loose rubble or stone within the boundary rises up. With the flick of a finger, Law sends it flying toward the Visitor, trying to slow it down.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[The monster steps out onto all four legs just as Law teleports away. It doesn't get the chance to reorient itself to his new position before there's incoming debris, so instead it sort of backs up and hunkers down over its host, using the solid parts of its bulk to deflect most of the rubble. Michael is fine, but the Visitor is less than pleased.

It shakes off like a massive dog and then lunges, barrelling forward in a kind of lumbering charge, the end result of which will be a pouncing leap if Law doesn't move out of the way.

There is still the knife in Michael's hand if Law really wants a weapon. Unfortunately, it's past the Visitor.]

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance doesn't usually get sick; fortunately, considering his life experiences, he has a strong immune system and only comes down with anything worth skipping work over maybe once every few years. So when he became sick a few days earlier it was a bit of a surprise, but he found it more annoying than anything else and just spent most of the time sleeping.

But once the fever and paranoia set in, things took a turn. Lance is already naturally a little paranoid and skittish, and the illness barely has to amplify anything to make him enough so that sleeping soon becomes easier said than done; instead he starts mentally going over everything that's happening in Hadriel lately, from the individuals he's been counseling to the issue of the rogue Null.

It's the latter that prompts Lance to eventually decide to leave his apartment, because he has the sudden need to make progress on this issue. What if his delay in talking to people and taking action causes something to happen? A lot of the people here are difficult and untrustworthy, and most of them he's only spoken with over the phones so far. He has to talk to people face to face to get a good sense of how much they mean what they're saying, and so that's what he's going to do.

Lance doesn't choose Michael to talk to first for any real specific reason; he's just on the list of those to seek out. But he happens to be the first person on said list that Lance notices when he heads out, and although Lance doesn't miss the tension in Michael's posture--and it's concerning--he's too worried about the issue of Name to let it deter him. Instead he heads in Michael's direction, speaking up to catch Michael's attention, although not loud enough that it would count as raising his voice.]

Michael?

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael hears Lance about the same time he sees him, turning perhaps a bit too sharply in his direction. Lance is normally not someone he's nervous about, they've talked about some serious stuff, and overall he trusts the guy. Or, he used to.

Now he feels like he's been let in on some kind of secret. Maybe Lance wasn't always plotting against him, but he is now. He was probably the first one to figure it out, actually, that Michael was someone worth getting rid of. He's an FBI psychologist, of course he'd figure it out. It was only a matter of time.]

What? What do you want?

[It's not exactly sharp, but it's got an edge to it all the same. He knows what Lance wants already, this is just buying time. Though for what, exactly, he isn't sure yet.

He looks... not good, to say the least. He's pale, even under that deep tan the twin suns have given him, and there are even darker circles under his eyes than usual. His gaze isn't steady, but flickering here and there, watching Lance's hands, his face, his posture. Even as he waits for an answer, he's trying, unsuccessfully, to hold back a cough.]

[lifetothefullest]

[When Michael turns back to face him, suddenly the concerns that Lance been ignoring about his body language seem a lot more pressing. The flighty gaze and terse response set Lance on edge in response, and would've even without the effects of the event, although the latter causes all sorts of explanations that Lance would typically brush off to sound a lot more likely.

Lance knows Michael has some problems, after all, and although Harlan had said things were getting better, what if they weren't? And there's the issue of the creature sharing Michael's mind, which is basically an unknown factor; there's all sorts of danger here, and not just in regard to Lance's original concerns about whether Michael was trustworthy in regards to dealing with the rogue Null. That worry isn't gone or anything, but it's suddenly been replaced with a more pressing fear that Michael might just be dangerous in general.

But Lance is still aware he might be overreacting, despite the event's effects, and so he tries not to act on his fear just yet. A step back barely counts, right?]

I had... I had wanted to speak with you more about the issue of the Null in the city, but this seems like a bad time.

[Doesn't it? Everything seems kind of bad right now, actually.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Oh. Well that's... not what he thought Lance was here about, but it could still be a lie. Probably is. His eyes steady a little, zeroing in more on Lance's face than the rest of him.]

What about it?

[He's not going to say it isn't a bad time, but the drastic subject change from the one in his head is at least enough to keep him where he is.]

[lifetothefullest]

[He's greatly regretting the entire plan to have this conversation right now, but then again maybe that means it was a good idea after all; if he's nervous, then he probably has reason to be concerned about his motives. Right? Right.

So although he really wants to make an excuse to get out of the conversation, he resists the urge and focuses on explaining.]

I wanted to go over more details on attempts to find it, and how to handle the issue of those here who might want to cause it harm.

[And of course get a better sense for how Michael feels about the whole subject, but he decides not to mention that.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[He's listening, but his mind isn't hearing it the right way. It's like there's something underneath Lance's words and he's sure it's there, but he can't pinpoint it. He's suspicious that Lance would choose now, of all times, to go over this. While everyone's sick? While someone's making them sick on purpose? It seems strange, doesn't it?

He should play along, he should wait until he's figured out what Lance is after. Trick him into thinking he believes the excuses. But then... what if it's too late? Whatever, he's not good at keeping his mouth shut anyway.]

Are you sure that's what you're here for?

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance is a surprisingly good actor when he plans to be, but despite that he's also a terrible liar when put on the spot. Being asked directly, when he hasn't prepared for it, makes it almost impossible for him to answer convincingly unless telling the truth.

So he always has to decide if he wants to deal with the consequences of the truth, or the consequences of being obviously lying. Sometimes one is much better than the other, and sometimes they're both probably about the same; this is one of the latter cases, and he thinks that 'same' is probably going to be bad.

So might as well go with the truth, and hope Michael understands the caution. Normally, Lance would expect he probably would even if he might not like it, but right now it's hard to believe that and he's subconsciously getting ready for a negative reaction.]

Yes, but also because I want to get a better sense of how you feel about the situation. And same for everyone else too, not just... You, specifically.

[Nailed it.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Under normal circumstances, Michael would find this to be completely reasonable. In fact, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have questioned Lance's motives at all. Before he got sick, he wanted to help. Now he doesn't want anything but to know who's plotting against him. Which is... maybe everyone.

So his virus-addled brain decides to take everything the wrong way, to twist it to fit its skewed ideas. It's confirmation bias to the nth degree, and then some. Once his mind makes one bad connection, it just snowballs until it's unrecognizable.]

So you came here to secretly interrogate me or something, is that it? And why now? How did you even know I was leaving my apartment? Are you watching me?

[lifetothefullest]

[Likewise, Lance would normally have been handling this situation very differently; he would typically be focused on figuring out what the sudden shift in personality was caused by, but right now he's just too easily accepting that right, of course he had reason to be concerned about Michael's--and everyone else's--motives. The people in this place are so unpredictable and volatile, and even without the event's effects it's difficult for someone like Lance not to be able to consistently and accurately gauge how they'll react; it makes him nervous and defensive, and with the added paranoia that all just amplifies.

So at the accusations he lifts his chin, eyes narrowing a little, and his response is sharper than his tone usually is.]

We're in public; it's not very secret. And no, you were just the first person I saw, and I chose now because who knows what people are doing? What if someone who wants to kill it is looking for it right now, while everyone else is preoccupied?

[Maybe that's even what Michel's doing right now.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[His eyes narrow. He doesn't like that tone, completely ignoring that he's using a similar tone himself.]

You think that's what I'm doing? Why would I-?

[He cuts himself off because of course. Of course Lance would think that. Wouldn't anybody? He suspected this from the beginning, that everyone knew about him, about what he's done, and they were going to hunt him down for it. In his warped version of reality, Lance is just confirming that.]

You know. I knew it. [He glances around like he's looking for an ambush.] There's no way you came alone.

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance is about to deny the first accusations, because that wasn't what he'd thought initially, but he stops because now he's not so sure. With a reaction like that, maybe that really is exactly what Michael is doing.

But the last comments seem a lot more important to respond to, his mental alarm bells going off, and he considers for a moment saying that yes, someone is with him. But it seems like another situation where the truth might be a better choice, although he delivers it with another dose of snappishness.]

Who exactly would I have brought with me? I don't need backup for talking.

[As long as it remains talking--which it hasn't always, whether here or at home--and that thought continues to add to the paranoia.]

You seem to be taking a lot of issue with the idea of a simple conversation.

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael doesn't see anybody, but that doesn't mean they aren't there, that they aren't coming.]

Talking? Is that all you were planning to do? I'm not stupid, I know better.

[And the way Lance keeps accusing him, acting like he's the one being unreasonable. He hates it. It makes him frustrated and scared at the same time.]

This isn't just a simple conversation, don't lie to me. You're here because you know.