hadriel_logs | Event Log: Flu Season

Entry tags:

Event Log: Flu Season

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.

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Taako, what're you--

[After finding a better living situation with Atem and getting back in touch with Lup, Barry has been in a much better mood. He's been sleeping, eating, trying to take care of himself. Even sending the occasional text to Lup out on her expedition, letting her know he's thinking of her and committed to fixing what he broke. It feels nice. Not that he's been very social - Atem warned him about an illness going around, people getting sick, and the last thing Barry wanted on top of everything else was a sore throat and a runny nose. No thank you, ma'am.

So he's been keeping to the apartment, trying to clean it up and make it feel more like a home - for the time being, at least. But now that things seem to have calmed down and people aren't sneezing up a storm anymore, Barry feels safe heading outside for a stroll and some sunlight. The apartments and shops aren't too far from the Coliseum, so Taako is easy to spot, skulking around, looking like he's searching for something. Barry hadn't even thought twice about going up to help him out.

Apparently, approaching him was a bad idea. Because now he's got the business end of the Umbra Staff almost poking into his chest, with a disheveled and wild-looking Taako on the other end. He looks pale. Angry. Almost frightened. Is he imagining that..?]

Wh-What's gotten into you, bud? You okay? I-It's just me, Taako.

[Thankfully (or maybe not) this isn’t an event that takes his memory- it might be worse if he didn’t recognize Barry, if he had no qualms about killing the other man for his assumed slight. That said… Barry is one of the few that knows Taako, and knows him well. Knows his tricks, and how to best get him. The way the fear has him gripped, just seeing Barry conveniently here makes worry churn in his gut, has him thinking of a thousand different ways this could go bad. Besides, he told him to his face he wasn’t going to go against Lucretia. He’s the perfect man to bring him in again, and then he’ll forget, he’ll lose everything. He knows it, he knows it.

Taako’s eyes flick between where the staff is pointed and his face, looking for a sign that this is some sort of accident. But the gods won’t let him off like this so easily, and he jabs the tip forward, into his chest.]

Yeah, I know, and you know what I said. Don’t goddamn move.

[He hasn’t slept well in days, between the sickness and this, and within his self isolation there’s been no one to force their way in and break him out of this fake assumption. He’s good at not showing his fear, but he’s at the end of his rope. On the edge of doing something he’ll regret.]

You think I wouldn’t suspect you? I’m not letting you take me, alright? I won’t. Not again, fucko.

[Through the haze of sickness and paranoia clouding his eyes, Taako still seems to recognize him. That's good, right? This is just a mistake, just a silly little--]

Ow. Taako, what's...

[He doesn't seem to be kidding. He pokes him in the chest with the staff and tells him not to move, and Barry stiffens, goes quiet, very slowly raises his hands in a gesture of surrender. Palms out, fingers spread, not armed. Not a threat. He must recognize that, right? What's gotten into him? Is he having a fever trip? He certainly looks sick, all gaunt and ashen.]

A-Again? [Barry's clearly confused, frowning with concern at the elf. He's seen fever trips before, but not like this. People aren't usually this articulate when they're hallucinating.] I-- I'm not gonna take ya anywhere, Taako. Okay? I'm not gonna do anything to ya. Why would I take ya?

[Good. Not moving. Caught in his act, trying to get away with it further, hah! Taako’s too smart for that. Always has been. Barry must think he’s stupid if he’s going to fall for this.]

Don’t play stupid! I fuckin’ caught you, alright? Caught you sneaking around, don’t fuck with me, alright?

[The worst part of this is that, while Taako’s great at putting anger and force forward, the root of this is fear, not rage. He is afraid, desperately so. Even now, he’s thinking so heavily of Lup, of what he has to lose, he’s barely listening to Barry at all.]

Y-You’re not, not gonna make me forget again. Won’t give you the goddamn chance. Blasted you over the edge of the ship once, you think I can’t do it again? You’re sympathetic, I know your tricks, you, you— you want this to be over, but I fuckin’ wont!

[Taako hasn’t lowered the tip of the Umbra Staff, but Barry can probably feel the edge of it trembling, his hand shaking just enough to be felt, not seen.]

[Barry twitches as Taako shouts at him, his face scrunching up with concern, brows pulling together tightly. What's he saying? Is that what he really thinks of him..?

It can't be. They've certainly had arguments in the past - one fairly recently, the memory of Barry's hands taking hold of Taako's shoulders and shouting in his face still clear in his mind - but Taako wouldn't ever think that of Barry. He knows Barry had nothing to do with them forgetting. He knows Barry was also made to suffer by Lucretia’s actions. He must know Barry can't make them forget.

And Barry knows that even if Taako sincerely thought these hurtful things about him, he wouldn't let that fear get to him like this. He's clearly terrified, the Umbra Staff vibrating against his chest. He wouldn't confront him like this. Not unless something was wrong.]

Taako… L-Listen to yourself. Would I hurt ya like that? [He's not advancing on him, doesn't dare, just speaks very calmly, slow and easy.] I was th’one who asked ya t’kill me back then. Remember? I begged you, Taako. I-- I was scared too. I wouldn't do that to us again. Y-You know that, right? I… I think you're real sick, Taako.

I think it's th’liches.

[Not advancing is very, very good. Taako's on a hairline trigger; and where he usually has more patience, more control, the only way to describe him right now is messy. Barry's good at logic, but permeating the emotion that's suffocating him is difficult when he's alone and everything has flipped directly to panic. Taako feels small, outside himself, afraid in a way he doesn't think he's been since he was a child. But it's not enough for recognition. It's not enough to break the hold yet, this deep in.

Would've been nice if Taako had reached out when it matters. Might have not gotten this bad.

Funny, how he talks so much about being in control. But Barry of all people should know how much of a struggle he has to keep it.]

Shut up. You can't-- you can't make me trust you.

[Barry's too close to it all, right? Why wouldn't he backstab him? Why wouldn't he want to make Taako forget, keep Lup to himself, stop all the fighting and problems Taako brings?

He knows it. He knows he's a problem. He's a problem to the world.]

I get it. You don't wanna deal with me anymore, I mean, who, who fuckin' does, right? But you can't lie to me. I know what's going on.

I'm not gonna lose her again, Barry, no matter who the fuck gets in my way.

[... Barry knows it's the sickness talking. He knows that the fever inflicted by the liches in charge is making Taako say these things. Things he never would've said if it hadn't been for the liches, the cloying artificial fear gripping tightly around his heart.

He doesn't really mean it. He doesn't really mistrust him. He doesn't... He doesn't really think these things about Barry.

Right?]

That's not true, Taako. Y-You're my family. I-- I love you, I would never hurt ya.

[The elf doesn't seem to be backing down. Should Barry..? Would it be safe to move? Barry takes a slow, tentative step backwards, not lowering his hands, not taking his eyes off Taako.]

Listen t'me, Taako. You're not gonna lose her. Okay? Nothin's gonna happen, I-- I promise. I hear ya, okay? Hard t'trust anybody right now. B-But... she's not goin' anywhere, okay? It's you an' her. From th'beginning. I know that.

I wouldn't get in th'way of that.

[He probably doesn't. Barry thinks he knows the man pretty well, after a hundred years of time, and now more from Faerun and Hadriel. But it sure looks like he means it. He sure looks like he thinks he's being threatened. But he backs off, and he doesn't advance. But he doesn't back down.]

Yeah. It was. But she wrote her out like it was nothing. And it'll happen again. It's-- I'm fuckin'-- you can't make me forget again.

[It's not even just fear, anymore, it's panic. It's a level of backed into a corner Taako almost never is, a level of where he'll do anything to defend himself. The problem is that the gods are stopping the connection, the rationality, any attempts he has to stabilize himself. His heart is pounding in his ears. His hands are shaking. Barry can even see some water at the bottom of his eyes, like he's on the verge of tears.

At this point, Barry might be better in knocking him out. If he can.]

I won't lose her. I won't go back to being like that. That fucking-- thing she made me into.

It's not gonna happen again, Taako, please.

[Seeing Taako panic like this is making Barry's throat close up, going tight with concern. He doesn't know what to do. There's nothing he can say that will assuage his fears. The outside influence is making that impossible.

With a pang of shame, he remember how he'd been when Rage claimed his mind. There was no convincing him then.]

Taako, Lucretia's gone. She's gone, o-okay? She's not here, nobody's gonna make y'forget. I can't make ya forget. You know I can't.

[Without thinking, Barry reaches into his pocket with one of his hands, trying to pull his phone out.] I-I'm gonna call Lup for ya, okay? Hold on--

[Yeah, huh, funny how that is. Funny how Taako thought he had it all figured out and now he's here.

Huh.

But Barry's hand disappears into his pocket and something leaps in his throat, a spike of uncertainty. He could be getting his wand. He could be preparing for a fight. He could lose everything.

And in that moment, he forgets.]

STOP!

[It's a low level spell- he doesn't have the concentration for anything else- but a Thunderwave surges out from him, shoving him and Barry apart and leaving Taako teetering on his feet as he pulls the Umbra Staff in, gripping it close. He's already exhausted, but he's fighting, head whipping up to Barry to see if he has the time to run.]

Taa--

[It's as far as he gets before a surge of electricity courses through him. The feeling hits him before the sound does, the feeling of being weightless and immensely heavy at the same time as the force of Taako's spell knocks him clean off his feet, sending him flying, forcing him far away from the panicking elf.

This is the second time in as many months that a Taaco twin has cast Thunderwave to push him away. It would be funny if it didn't hurt so badly.

Not that he even registers the pain until he hits the ground.

Barry slams into the ground and rolls for a few feet with a pained cry, body twitching and shaking as the currents work their way out of him. His ears ring, a loud persistent shriek of noise after the thunderous boom that followed the spell. Everything hurts. He can't unclench his fingers or relax his jaw, he can't rise to his feet for several seconds, just left reeling on the ground long enough for Taako to start running. If the hot desert sand hadn't cushioned his blow, he might have seriously injured himself.]

T-Taako! Taako, please!

[He wasn't going to attack. He wasn't. But now he is reaching for his wand, on instinct, ready to shield himself if Taako tries attacking again. This isn't good. This isn't like him.

He's really sick, isn't he?]

[It takes him as long as it takes Barry to fall to regain his footing, his whole body shaking and his heartbeat thrumming in his head. His ears are tilted down, whole body curled in on itself as bits of static roll off him, the Umbra Staff held protectively in his arms.

It's not her, of course. But it brought him comfort in a way he never understood. And now, it's power.

Unfortunately, he's too blinded by Fear's influence to concede, to really comprehend what he just did. Now it's just worse across the board, that he hurt Barry, that Barry could hurt him, that there's too many what ifs and the lack of control is stifling.

He's still until Barry actually reaches for his wand, and that's finally it, as he digs in his heels and starts to run.]

[Barry hears the shuffling in the sand, the scrape of feet pushing off the ground in a heedless, desperate run. Taako is getting away. This isn't good, this-- he's too sick, he can't be left alone like this, he can't--

Even though he'd just attacked him, blasted him away like a frightened, cornered animal, Barry can't in good conscience let Taako run off on his own like this. What if he hurts himself? What if he picks a fight with someone who has no qualms about hurting him? Killing him? Lup would be devastated.]

Don't! C-Come on, listen to me!!

[He's still on the ground, still too jittery and stiff with lingering electricity to get to his feet. But with his wand in hand, he manages to point it at Taako and cast Hold Person with a desperate cry, hoping beyond hope he can immobilize the elf, keep him in place long enough to contact Lup and get him some help.

All he wants to do is help. Taako has to see that, right?]

[Barry is yelling, but he can't even really hear. He's going to catch up. He has spells and brains and Taako didn't stop him, he couldn't, he has to leave he has to go--

He barely makes it away before the spell hits him, feeling the paralysis crawling up his legs and limbs and choking around his throat. Taako's mind is racing, trying to think of counterspells or some way to fight this, but even as he jerks against the bonds, shoves every part of himself against those limits, he can't move.

He thinks he might be crying. Or at least, he's certain started. He can barely speak, but words are still ripping out of his throat, hot and wet.]

You can't! You can't take me back to that fucking jellyfish I-- I won't forget! I won't!

[He's ticking down the seconds in his head, he's got a minute, less than, if Barry can't keep up he can do something he could cast something with sight, maybe, his jaw is locking but he can still see, if he can just think of something.

But for the moment, he's well and truly stuck.]

[Good. Good, he caught him before he could get away. Barry sighs, loudly, trembling, pushing himself up on his feet as quickly as he can with the lingering effects of Thunderwave still making him feel unsteady.

He doesn't have much time. He knows that. Taako's going to break away and start running again, unless he can...

What? Convince him he's not dangerous? Convince him he's not going to make him forget? He's too sick... There's no way Barry can get through to him.

But Lup. Lup could.]

S-Sorry. I'm sorry, Taako, I'm sorry. [He's mumbling softly as he hobbles over. If it's any comfort to the elf while he's immobilized, Barry looks and sounds sincerely apologetic.] Didn't wanna do that... I'm n-not gonna take y'back anywhere, okay? Nobody's gonna make y'forget, Taako, I promise you.

[As he's talking, he's taking out his phone, trembling fingers dialing Lup's number. He prays she's not busy.] Just-- Just gonna call Lup for ya, okay bud? [Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight... Still ringing...] Lup's gonna come get ya, you're gonna be okay.

[Unfortunately for this entire scenario, Lup is well out of the city, her girl trip leaving her unknown to this situation and therefore missing a sorely needed piece of this puzzle. Of course Lup could protect him, if he just had her he could run with her somewhere far away. But she's missing and he draws conclusions he shouldn't, things he could normally pick apart if the adrenaline wasn't so on him.

Taako tries to jerk a shoulder, running through spells in his head on what he can do on sight line alone, but he shapes things, not this. He needs words and motion and he has nothing but to keep his own countdown of the spell until he can do something to get away. He looks towards Barry as he approaches, hears what he's saying but can't believe it. But Barry can finally see him up close, something murky behind his eyes and the bits of water that gather there, the almost literal cloud of fear plaguing him right now.

He just needs out, he thinks. He needs to be away from Barry and everyone and eventually he can get Lup and they can run and run and run and never be caught again. Just them. No forgetting or fakes or people wanting them hurt.

She's all he needs, right? She's all he needs.]

[Thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty...]

C’mon… come on, Lup, please...

[But of course she doesn’t pick up. She’s far away, far outside the city, completely unaware of anything painful or frightening happening to anyone. For all she knows, everyone are doing great - or, as great as one can be in Hadriel. For all she knows, she’s going to come home and her brother is going to be waiting for her with some snarky comment about how much action she missed, or how boring her trip must have been without him.

She doesn’t expect to come home to a sick, terrified brother convinced his family is out to get him, convinced he’s going to lose absolutely everything. Forty-three, forty-four, forty-five…

Barry hangs up. She’s not going to answer. Meanwhile, Taako struggles, desperately trying to break free. A gentle hand settles on Taako’s shoulder.] I’m real sorry, Taako. I-It’s gonna be okay, okay? You’re just sick, you’re just-- one of’em got into yer head, okay, this isn’t you. It’s gonna pass. Please, Taako, just listen t’me. You’re gonna be fine.

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Event Log: Flu Season

ii;

im sorry about him already

please go Full Goblin

he is Already Getting There

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