Event Log: A Hope for the Future

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the A Hope for the Future event
Where: All over the city!
When: April 15th-April 19th
Warnings: Stealth Rock

It's finally time to reap the rewards you've earned from all that hard work collecting and returning the Hope orbs! Be careful walking the streets during the small earthquakes, but feel free to admire the scenery as your beautiful city reassembles its way back into its former glory.

There are new houses where the destroyed buildings once were, and they're perfect for a single person or pair of lovebirds. In addition, you'll find that the electricity to these new houses, and all other homes and shops in the city is restored. The food is better, the monsters are gone- hey, this city might be livable again!

To cap it all off, we've got a feast waiting for you on the 19th! Come one, come all, and enjoy all of your favorite foods, drinks, and party games. It's been awhile since we've all gotten together to celebrate something good, so get your party on and toss all your troubles away!

► This log covers April 14th-April 19th.
► 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 hit by levitating rubble or eat a food that wasn't meant for you, please let us know here.

Comments

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[murderpotato]

[Gren's minding his own fucking business-- read: slowly descending into an endless pit of alcoholism-- when there's this... fucking happy-ass smiling motherfucker hanging around looking like he's sitting on cloud nine. And, like, he's seen this guy around, seen him talking to Lup at the party with this whole awkward duckling kinda vibe and puts two and two together.]

[This is that guy. The one that Lup cut her hair over. The reason that she crashed at his place. The guy that she wanted to get away from.]

[Gren had offered to bring Barry's dick back on a plate for her. She'd refused then, but she never said a damn thing about not roughing him up a little, and Gren's been spoiling for a fight all night.]

Fuck you.

['Isn't this great', isn't this great his fucking ass. He'll show you his great foot up your ass, Barold.]

I oughtta kick your fuckin' ass all across this fuckin' room. [He thinks he'd like that. It'd be therapeutic, or something. Stress relief.]

[barold]

[For the first time in weeks, Barry’s first assumption isn’t that this has something to do with what he did to Lup.

It’s, in fact, the furthest from his mind it’s ever been. He’s had a wonderful evening with Lup. Eating and drinking and dancing... sneaking off to make out in a corner... He couldn’t have imagined a better first date after what they both went through. They deserve this. They’re taking it slow, getting to know each other again, rebuilding the trust they broke.

Given that, Barry is much too happy to realize why this stranger is being so aggressive. At first, he isn’t even sure this man is talking to him at all, but there he is, scowling at him, threatening a beating. Barry frowns, confused.]

C’mon, buddy, I-I’m not lookin’ for a fight. [Some people get so aggressive when they drink. Barry doesn’t get it.] I think y’got th’wrong fella.

[murderpotato]

[Maybe Lup forgave this asshat. Maybe Lup's a better person than Gren is, because he doesn't forget and he sure as fuck doesn't forgive, and that means that in his eyes, Barry's going to be 'the guy that hurt Lup' for a long time.]

I think I got just the right fuckin' guy.

[You know what Barry probably didn't want today? Some asshole getting all up in his personal space in the most aggressive way possible. You know what he's getting? Exactly that.]

What, you ain't all that big on pickin' fights with somebody your own size? You can dish it out but you can't fuckin' take it?

[barold]

[He's so confused. What is this guy's deal? What did Barry do to piss him off? What does he mean, dishing it out? Barry hasn't dished anything out...

... Wait. Oh. Oh.

He's talking about Lup, isn't he?]

I... [What can he even say to defend himself here? Barry had done something completely reprehensible, there's no denying that. He hadn't been in the soundest of minds, but... that's not really an excuse. His chipper attitude disappears almost instantly as the gravity of the situation hits him like a punch to the gut, his heart dropping.]

Listen, buddy, i-it's not what y'think. [Hands up, palms out. A submissive gesture. One of surrender.] It didn't happen like that, I-- I'd never wanna hurt Lup. I-I did, b-but I'd never would'a laid a finger on her if I could'a helped it.

[murderpotato]

Sounds like a bullshit fuckin' excuse to me.

[Submissive gestures don't placate Gren. This squirrelly little motherfucker is the guy that Lup was head over heels for? The one that she said was worth the risk of love and loss? Lup had picked at Gren's history of terrible choices in men, but he's got a few questions for her about her taste, too.]

None of those asshole gods came down and fuckin' possessed you. Everything you did was your. Fuckin'. Choice.

[Gren steps closer. His hand is clenched into a fist, and he's just itching to use it. This guy would look better with broken teeth, he thinks.]

Maybe I oughtta show you what it's like to get tossed around by somebody bigger and badder'n you. And let me tell you, buddy, you should be real fuckin' grateful that's all I'll do, because if I had my way? I'd be givin' her your fuckin' balls on plate. But Lup's a better person than me.

[barold]

C-Come on, please…

[He gets it. Of course he does. There's no excusing what Barry had done to Lup. No whimpered pleads of “the gods made me do it” is going to be good enough. It wasn't even good enough for Barry. He'd isolated himself, kept his distance from the one he'd hurt in hopes that it would blow over. That if he just hid away, things would fix themselves for him.

Of course, it doesn't work like that. Barry has had to bust his ass to make what he has with Lup work again. But if her friend here has only heard the first part of the story - Barry putting his cowardly hands on her - that doesn't matter so much. Neither does the fact that she hurt him too. He's the one at fault here. Too weak. Too stupid.]

Y-You’re right. You're right, i-it was my choice. But I didn't-- please, y’gotta believe me, I-I didn't mean to. I've never regretted anything as much as I regret what I did t’Lup. [He glances nervously at Gren’s tightly clenched fist, and takes a very slight, very careful step backwards. It's enough to make the small of his back bump into the table.] There's n-no need for that. Please…

[murderpotato]

[Gren only knows what Lup has told him, and that's really all that he cares to know. Some guy hurt his friend, and he's known too many women who've gotten hurt by assholes to bother digging too far into the story. They'd all been pretty similar.]

[Barry's backed up against a table and Gren gets a vicious sort of satisfaction at his discomfort, at the stutter in his voice and his nervous little glances. Squirrelly little fuck, Gren can't figure for the life of him why a woman like Lup would give this guy the time of day, nevertheless, like. Tie the fucking knot.]

[The same could probably have been said of him and Wade, but that's beside the point.]

Yeah, I bet you fuckin' do. [Gren crowds him up against that table, narrowing the ways that this twerp could get away from him.] And when I'm done with you, you're gonna have a whole fuckin' lotta things to regret.

[He fists his hand into Barold's shirt, right at the collar so that the constriction of the fabric chokes him a little. Might want to call in the cavalry if you want to avoid this beating, Barry.]

[barold]

[Gren steps closer, and Barry is effectively trapped between him and the table. He could wrench away from him, could bolt for the exit, try to lose him in the crowd - but there's no doubt in his mind this guy would follow him, and he looks much faster than Barry could even hope to be. The only people even around them right now are too drunk or too busy dancing to even notice, to see the confrontation angrily boiling up between the two men. Would they even take Barry's side though, if he tried to call out for them?

Would they take the side of the wife beater over the concerned, rightfully furious friend?

A part of him thinks he deserves this. Gren's fist clenches at his shirt, collar pulled painfully tight around his throat, and even as his hands go to Gren's wrist, trying and failing to pry his fingers off him, he thinks he deserves this. For what he did to Lup. He deserves this and more. The fear he caused her isn't even a fraction of the fear Gren is making him feel now.

Another part of him - the cowardly part, the decidedly dominant part - wants to get away. Barry squirms, shaking hands pulling at Gren's wrist, trying to wrench his grip from his shirt, but getting nowhere. His eyes are wide behind his glasses, fearful, pleading with Gren to let him go.]

P-Please! Please, st-stop, y'don't have t'do this! Lup! [He calls her name, but she's too far away. Having fun on the dance floor with her friends. Barry's all out of defenses.]

[murderpotato]

[Barold's fingers scratch at his wrist and it's easy for Gren to ignore. For the first time since everything went to shit, it feels like he's doing something right, putting a little fear of God-- or fear of him, same difference-- into some lowlife little shit. He's got all this stupid strength, monstrous fucking thing that he is, so it's about time that he uses it for something good.]

[He looks down at Barry's terrified face and thinks of Georgie, thinks of Woody, thinks of the fucking Crooked Man, all those motherfuckers that beat and used and abused the girls they could get their hands on. Faith, her face busted up from Woody's dumb fucking fists and then killed by assholes with something to hide. Lily, with cinderblocks weighing her down to the bottom of the river. Nerissa's scared eyes and tiny, hunched shoulders.]

[Lup taking a pair of kitchen shears to her hair.]

You think you're gonna hide behind her, motherfucker? Fuck no, you're takin' what you deserve.

[He lifts. Barry might as well weigh as much as a sack of flour, Gren hefts him up so easily. Having a Fable's strength in a mundane world is like being a bull trying to tiptoe around in a china shop, but he's not going to be dainty with this asshole. He's going to bring his back down on that table like there's a nail in it and Barry's the hammer.]

thank you for being patient with me!!

[barold]

[He’s expecting a punch in the face. Bracing himself for a fist to crash into his nose, his jaw, knocking loose a couple of teeth, making an eye swell up. It will hurt, but he can deal with that - Barry, for all his cowardice and faults, is a pretty big guy, padded all over. He can take a punch. He’s used to taking punches.

Being as big as he is, he wasn’t expecting being lifted clean off the ground. For a moment he’s stunned, disbelief etched in every line of his face, making his breath catch in his throat. His feet aren’t touching the ground anymore, dangling uselessly underneath him.

Gren’s arms pull back before jerking forward, and in that split second as he feels himself falling, Barry belatedly struggles. His legs kick fruitlessly, his whole body squirms against nothing, he shouts and yells for someone to come stop this - but he’s already falling, his resistance much like his apology. Too little too late.

His weight in combination with Gren’s unexpected, formidable strength makes the table top crack with an ear-splitting noise underneath him, the wooden legs groaning and complaining, barely keeping the table standing. The air is knocked right out of Barry’s lungs, the back of his head crashing into the hardwood surface, making bursts of light obscure his vision. It takes a greedy gasp of air for Barry to start screaming, struggling, fighting both his attacker and the pain.

Did Lup feel like this? Was she this afraid?]