Event Log: Senses Fail

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the Senses Fail event
Where: All over the city
When: May 14th-May 20th
Warnings: None

You wake up on the 14th, and something is different. Maybe it's something small - you can't smell anything, or your hearing on one side seems to be on the fritz. Or it could be something large and impossible to miss - you've gone completely blind, or you seem to be missing a leg. You've lost something, and no matter what you do, you can't seem to fix it.

Will you ever get it back? Probably, but it's impossible to be sure. And even if you're thoroughly convinced that this is temporary, that still means you have to figure out how to live like this for the next week. Even small things can be huge difficulties. Your sense of taste doesn't seem that important, until you accidentally eat something that'll make you sick. And sure, maybe you can figure out how to live without one hand, but what about when you wake up three days from now and you've also lost your magic?

Do your best to keep yourself calm, but remember: it can always get worse.

► This log covers May 14th-May 20th.
► 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 lost sense turns out to have been essential to your survival, please let us know here.

Comments

lup l may 17th l Open

[restinglichface]

i; words that kill, would you speak them to me.

[Waking up without her body brings a jolt of fear that Lup isn't at all prepared for.

It isn't so much being in her lich form that leaves the vague sense of worry coiling within her spectral body, it's more the how the fuck did this happen that eats her up. Is she missing time? Has her memory been tampered with? Did she do something that she no longer has any recollection of? The questions that run through her head are terrifying even in this form where emotion fogs around her, always blurry instead of the sharpness she's used to.

But it doesn't take much digging to put her fears at ease. There's no immediate answer as to why she's lost her body - Barry hasn't, which makes it that much
weirder - but Taako can vouch that she hadn't wandered off during the night or lost any real time. She'd gone to bed physical and woken up incorporeal. It's as simple as that.

So those first few days, Lup's just stuck in her lich form, a ghostly figure cloaked in red floating around town, often floating straight out of walls to glide right into other's paths.]

ii; with your breath so still, it makes me believe. (cw: Violence and Death)

[Besides not having her body, everything seems fine at first. Until it suddenly isn't.

"It's not you, it's me."

An afternoon date meant to be full of tender, loving glances and brushes of her spectral fingers against his fleshy hand turns into a nightmare instead. Barry can barely look at her. He apologizes over and over. He says he still thinks of her as family, just whatever used to be there is gone. Sixty-some years of companionship, months working back towards reconciliation. And that's all he has to say to her.

Everything after that is a blur.

The lich tears through the city with a scream, bolts of red electricity arcing off of her cloaked figure, striking out and leaving scorched marks anything it touches. Anyone who gets in the lich's way is certainly walking right into danger while she's like this, out of control and unable to be reasoned with.]

[OOC: If you want to plot, my comment is over here!]

i

[puzzlingly]

「Wandering is all he can do for now, he feels no hunger, no tiredness, it should be fine, but... it isn't, specially not when he realizes that leaving the city doesn't give him back his body. He's heading back... where was he heading backto? Why go home if he doesn't need to sleep? But the Pharaoh's ghostly figure perks up when he recognizes her in the dark, what happened to her? Why is she...?」

Lup! 「He calls for her, unaware of how his fear and anger could affect the surroundings, how his probably inaudible shout makes the street lights flicker. Can she hear him?! He doesn't know, so he goes after her.」

Lup, wait!

[restinglichface]

[Of course she would hear him. Of course Lup would always hear him.

The lich turns at Atem's voice (does it even count as a voice when it's between ghosts? probably not), red cloak swishing above the ground, her heavy hood tipping his way.]

Well. Shit. [She floats closer to him, needing to close that distance.] What the heck happened to you?

[But even as she asks, the answer comes immediately after.] Same hat, I'm guessin'.

[puzzlingly]

「He cannot begin to explain to her how happy it's makes him that she can see him, hear him... One only needs to see him regaining some of his colors together with a weak smile, to call it in some way.」

... My hat is way more fabulous than yours, though.

「There is no real need to state the obvious, the being bodyless part, not the hat.」

ii

[hot_mes]

[let it be known on this day that Trafalgar Law is a dumbass.

He's just barely gotten dry after nearly drowning when the attack swoops near to his position. He knows full well he can't use his ability, but something about this drives him to turn around, go back in the house to grab his sword, and then start off in pursuit of the entity. Maybe it's guilt over not being there to fight demons a month ago. Maybe it's a touch of recklessness, needing to prove to himself that he's still capable. Whatever it is, Law's racing after Lup with Kikoku bared, looking for his chance to strike]

[restinglichface]

[The chance comes quickly enough.

For all of her anger, for all of the rage and hurt and betrayal that makes up her magical form, the lich isn't specifically seeking out humans to hurt. Not yet, at least.

Her back is turned to Law when he approaches, head bowed into her skeletal hands, dangerous lightning arcing off of her body every second or so, shooting out to scorch earth and zap anything close enough to approach her.

But her back is turned, her attention momentarily drawn elsewhere.]

[hot_mes]

[it's that lightning that's the problem. Law still has use of haki, so he can anticipate most of the strikes and dodge around them, letting them miss him literally by a hair. It's like he should be getting hit and just doesn't. Then, he does - one good zap, rattling him down to his bones and stopping him in his tracks. Ow.]

What are you doing?!

[can't catch up to swing a blade, better to confront while he shakes off the jolt and comes after her again]

i.

[outofthefire]

[she glides right into Laura's path on her way to the Speakeasy to work. Laura's had the better part of a day to get used to not being able to hear. she's picked up a notebook and a pen at the store, trying to get around her lack of hearing. for the most part, it works.

but when Laura sees Lup glide out of the wall, she says a little too loudly]

Holy shit! You scared me!

[restinglichface]

Told ya I was dangerous.

[And there's no seeing beneath that heavy, dark hood, but Laura knowing Lup, knowing her voice, would be able to hear the curl of a teasing grin in her tone. The only real identifier as to who this dead woman used to be.]

Let that be a lesson to never doubt me.

ii, part one, just 4 us

[pocketspa]

[The start of this event was pretty low-key, for the most part. It was pretty jarring, for one second to be normal and the next second for Lup to just half not be there and him to drop the plate he was holding with his Mage Hand immediately. There was some cursing, some denouncing of Fear as a little bitch, but as the days went by, they just sort of settled. It was dumb, but it was fine.

Most of the frustration, Taako feels like, is that he doesn't want to leave the house. Even though Lup doesn't have the completion to compare him to, he's beginning to go stir-crazy somewhere where only his family can (and thankfully, won't) ask questions. But more than anything, he feels something wrong before he hears it. He's alone in their bedroom, laying on his stomach with his spellbook in front of him, when his hand raises to his chest to clutch above his heart. It felt like a snap, something unconscious. Something wrong.

He's up and out in minutes, cursing that he can't move faster, unconsciously trying to flex a now missing muscle into a bird or cheetah or something fast. But he's left with his feet and an increasing sense of dread when he hears the scream tear through him, and when he rounds a corner and sees her, he feels like he's about to pass out, panic instantly clouding his vision and terror rising in his throat.

No. No, no no no no, they can't, they can't do this, this isn't happening, it's not happening--

His hands are shaking almost too hard for him to grip them into fists, voice trembling at the same cadence.]

Lup...?

[restinglichface]

[Their impossible bond persists, even without his magic or her body. Lup falls headlong into danger and Taako just knows almost immediately.

When he rounds the corner and finds his twin, she isn't very far away from their home, the lich floating ten feet up from the ground, flickering in and out of sight, her whole frame trembling there.

"If I was gonna destabilize, it woulda been years ago. I'm good. And so are you. We're both gonna be fine."

If only Lup could have known then what she knew now.

Taako calls her name, voice soft and trembling and vulnerable in a way that only Lup has ever known, and the lich looks up at him, meeting his worried gaze with a dark, shadowed look from beneath her hood. At first, there's nothing. No reaction, no answer, she simply stares unflinchingly at her brother.]

ii, part 2, for Hell

[pocketspa]

[Okay. Okay okay okay okay. Leaving Lup out there was the worst thing he could possibly concept in the world, but he needed help. He's cursing himself for not having any fucking magic, not being able to just handle this, but for once he's put his pride away. He has to do something. This can't be over, not until he goddamn says so, but with most of their crew out of commission in some way or another and Barry nowhere to be found, he has to resort to drastic measures.

Which is why he's enlisted Kravitz into this venture. Kravitz who, well, has probably the most experience with dealing with out of control liches, even if his request is slightly off kilter for his usual M.O.]

We just-- we just need to keep her somewhere for a few days, alright? Just buy some, buy some fuckin' time so nobody hurts her. She won't hit me, we can just make it work.

[He doesn't look good, and Kravitz can probably tell; not just because of the spell, the unsteady nature of him wracking through his being, mind racing and heart moving at a million miles an hour. Kravitz will help. Krav will help him contain her and then he can go to Hope and they can figure something out, or maybe Tranquility can calm her down, it's-- it's fine, they just need more time.]

There's tons of buildings around here, we just need-- wards or some shit, can you do that? You have to be able to fuckin' do that.

[knockthemdead]

[The plan is entirely insane. Kravitz knows this, knows intimately how difficult it is to incapacitate or capture a lich as opposed to clean wiping one out, especially one as powerful as Lup, but it's not something he's about to say to Taako.

Even as he struggles to adjust to his newly, uh- grounding body, he's ready to give absolutely everything he has into this. For both of them.]

I- hm. Well, to start with-

[With little effort, eternally thankful that his magic hasn't left him despite all else going to shit, Kravitz casts a buff over the both of them. Taako should be able to feel the protective spell resting over him.]

I know you said- I know she won't hurt you- but now she'll struggle to cast anything on you, too. And I, uh. I'm a little more protected.

[He looks down at his Stupid Meatsack TM dubiously, still not convinced this thing is working the way it should be. Is his head meant to be hurting this much??? Gods, but his chest aches.

A heart is such a heavy burden.]

This... this is going to be difficult. I can't banish her, obviously, and we want to cause as little harm as possible, so wearing her down is out of the question.

[He says this like he doesn't need to even hear Taako say it, because he doesn't. He already feels sick about the possibility of hurting Lup, and it shows plain on his face.]

I think our best bet is you try to talk to her. Keep her calm. And I do have a little in the way of wards. An imprisonment spell, of sorts. If we caught her off guard...?

[His hands are shaking as he speaks. It could be the adrenaline he's entirely unused to, or the sheer volume of what they're about to do. Either or.]

ii. oh boy, lets go

[sneaklizard]

[ This has been a really couple of days.

Not the first time, no, and specially not in this place. The last few months here have been peppered with sometimes entire weeks of just downright suckage. Emotion tampering, random intensified feelings of guilt and sadness, losing the people she loves and feels she's barely got a hold on here - she's dealt with it, her friends have dealt with it, the other citizens - prisoners - have dealt with it. But, man, these days have just been annoying.

She's found herself just extra...clumsy, for starters. Stumbling, walking into things, bumping her often uncovered feet into table legs. Well, she thought, everyone has off days. Everyone has times when they just can't get stuff right. That's fine, yeah? Yeah, until she found herself unable to do even the easiest, most basic maneuver, battle tactic or trick in her arsenal. You know, her rogue thing? That she's been doing for literal years?

So she's been off. Distracted, frustrated, staying on the move for sheer stubbornness, but nothing's working, and she found out pretty quick that it's another trick by the gods.

Another trick that causes her to barely notice the commotion until she's too close. Until a bolt of lightning hits a building and she's startled. What the fuck--what was what? Who is--?]

What the-- Lup?

[ She notices the figure, down the street. The figure of her friend as she's been all week, the same figure Carey saw leading an army against an impossible enemy just a little over a year ago.

What she doesn't recognize, however, are the red bolts leaving her body and burning marks into buildings.]

[restinglichface]

[The lich may be recognizable by her distinct red, hooded cloak, but nothing else about her comes close to reading as Lup. Even without a corporeal form, Lup's lich body still possesses all of her usual mannerisms, the haughty way she throws her bony chin up, the wave of her skeletal hands through the air while she tells a story, the ridiculous way she'll suddenly float through walls to frighten folks and then dab in their faces. But this lich has none of those gestures, none of her poise or overconfidence.

The cloaked figure floats at least five off of the ground, her whole frame crumpled in on itself, hands curling at her unseen face beneath her hood. She's trembling, shaking in and out of view, like she's a flickering lightbulb, red electricity peeling off of her in dangerous arcs. At first, Carey's presence had gone completely unnoticed, the stray bolt of magic just happening to strike near her.

But then she calls the lich's attention to her, the spectral elf looking up from her bony hands, meeting the other woman's gaze.

She says nothing.]

you know which one ;)

[abbatis]

[And of course it just happens that Edgar is outside all alone when Lup -- or whatever was left of her, both figuratively and literally, rampaged the streets.

The changes that had taken places within him (heartbeat, need to breathe and rest. Not to mention the sensitive skin and pain) were alarming, yes. In such state it would have naturally been a wise thing to stay home and be safe but.. He really wanted to see what all this new body -- the strange limbo between being a human again and his usual vampire-self, could do and what not. The long-gone warmth was back to his body but still his fingers felt cold and the insatiable thirst yearning from deep inside from him

It's the scream that catches his attention first. It comes from behind him just in time to warn him from what comes next: a freaking thunderbolt. ]

Hey--!! [He shouts as he dodges the first attack, jumping much higher into the air than any normal human being and landing on the ground softly even if he lacks some of his usual gracefulness.

The first thing he notices after his landing is how fast his heart beats in his chest. The loud drumming sound in his ears is alone enough to make him feel dizzy and nervous.]

What are you doing!

[restinglichface]

[He just so happens to pick the absolute worst time to adventure outside, to see just what this new body of his can do.

Because the lich certainly has some ideas for him.

Lup shrieks from where she hovers in the air, at least ten feet off of the ground, her cloaked form convulsing above Edgar. The sound she makes is horrifying and piercing, a mix of monstrous while still being so distinctly human, the kind of noise that would leave anyone shivering. There's no hiding the intense pain in that scream, the boiling anger that rolls in over it, the emotions all consuming, blurring everything for Lup. She's no longer herself, she is betrayal and hurt and rage all rolled into one, not an elf, but a storm of emotions.

Edgar yells her way, the lich's attention shifting to him immediately, her skeletal face hidden beneath the impenetrably dark hood she hides within. And without a warning, even as the red electricity continues to arc and jump around her body, Lup raises a bony hand up just as it catches flame.

And with another scream, she hurls a fireball right his way.]

ii >D

[storyseeker]

[Elena doesn't immediately identify the screech as coming from her friend. It shouldn't be possible for it to be a monster, but she knows immediately that it's not human. Something about it speaks of anger and deep pain and, most certainly, danger.

She walks in its direction anyway, because she's curious and she can't think why not. When she sees her, she knows who it is, although she doesn't know the why.]

Lup?

here we gO

[restinglichface]

[It's the calling of her name that drags the lich's attention straight for Elena.

At first, there's nothing. Lup turns towards Elena, to one of her best friends, to one of the women whose relationship still means so much to her, and she says nothing. Does nothing.

Her whole body looks like it's flickering in and out of sight, her lich form racked with pain as she crumbles in on herself, skeletal hands clenched into too-tight fists at her side, electricity shooting dangerously off of her robed form. But still, she stares Elena down. Waiting.]

ii yo fuck this town

[abyssalarcana]

[Caedra hears it before she sees it - the lightning crackling through the air, striking the ground, buildings, and people with thunderous power. The stench of ozone is thick in the city and Caedra momentarily forgets about her lost abilities in favor of heading straight for the party.

And what a party it is. People are scattering as the person Caedra vaguely recognizes from a previous conversation seems to be making her way through the open air, devastating everything within reach. It's an impressive sight, and she would happily join in, normally, but one bolt comes too close. She has the lich's attention, accidentally, and that means cooperation is going to have to be put on hold. She reaches for her sword -

And of course it doesn't come. Shit. Hard to get used to that, when it has been with her for nearly her entire life. She sprints out of the way of another bolt, feeling heat too close to her head, and her eyes go wide. In retaliation, she flings a bolt of darkness the lich's way, eager to fight, even if she feels like she's missing a limb.]

[restinglichface]

[At first, Lup had just been looking to escape, to run from the pain that cut straight through her nonexistent heart, the betrayal that left her feeling like her entire world was crashing down around her.

But suddenly, that's exactly what was happening. In her world, lich's are bound by powerful, meaningful memories. Their phylactery is never an object, but an emotion. And the last thirty years, since the night she met Barry's eyes and they died hand-in-hand, bonding them through both life and death, their love for each other has kept their sanity's intact with no issue.

Until the Hadriel gods decided to interfere.

Without that emotional anchor, Lup feels herself slipping away and away until there's nothing left but just a feral lich roaming the city, striking out at any living creature in their path. Caedra happens to step onto the scene just as a bolt of red electricity hits a trembling bystander, dropping them instantly, before Lup's attention shifts quickly to the only figure not running from her.

It's impossible to make out any definition beneath her hood, which keeps the former elf in constant shadows, but there's the briefest flash of shining teeth when Lup lifts her head towards Caedra. Proof the lich is grinning.

The other woman makes her attack and Lup shrieks, high-pitched and grating, taking the unexpected hit and briefly stumbling back through the air before she's raising her skeletal hands and allowing them to catch flame. With the bolts of electricity still arcing off of her body and striking out every which way, Lup adds a bit of fire into the mix too, whipping up a fireball and sending it straight at the other woman.]

i

[so_dark_a_road]

[ It is only a day and a half since Curufin experienced a night of horrific nightmare, having lost the ability to fend off an intruder into his dreams. But that loss was only for that night. He doesn't regard his experience as anywhere near the worst that could happen. He's seen family and friends with missing limbs and worse.

And now he sees a ghostly red-cloaked figure suddenly glide into view. He's right outside of Guard HQ, and the figure seems to have drifted right through the building and out the other side. He stops in astonishment. He's never seen Lup in her lich form, and so doesn't recognize her. ]

Who are you?

[restinglichface]

[The lich turns, floating through the air, her skeletal hands peeking out from beneath her robe, to regard Curufin with an unseen grin. Her head tips curiously to the side before she pauses and just stares him down.

And then she dabs.]

Duh, who the fuck do you think it is?

[At least her voice remains unchanged.]

ii MASH THIS MURDERPOTATO

[murderpotato]

[Losing his glamour-- because of course, what else could this goddamn place take from him?-- makes it a lot harder to do basic shit like go around the stupid city without someone freaking out at the sight of him. And his massive bulk is straight up not made for sneaking around to begin with, and Gren's seriously considering just saying fuck it and drinking all his meals for the next month when there's a goddamn light show in the sky.]

[If Wade was here, he would probably tell Gren not to get involved. He would probably tell him to turn around and go home and let whatever the fuck that is blow over, because it's fifty shades of Oh Hell No. It's certified USDA Grade-A Nope.]

[Well, Wade's not fucking here anymore, so Gren does whatever he fucking wants.]

[And what he wants, apparently, is to go right over to where that laser show is going down and see if whatever bullshit is happening can be solved by the liberal application of murderpotato.]

...Fuckin' A.

[That sure is a skeleton ghost tearing her ass through this city. That's a thing that's happening right now. And that lightning arcing off of her body? That's a thing that's coming way too close to Gren right now. Also a thing. Gren moves out of its path so that he won't get fried.]

Lup! [Yell at the angry lich lady, Gren, that's a great idea.] The fuck crawled up your bony ass and died?

REST IN PIECES

[restinglichface]

[Wade may be gone, but at least Lup remains.

Unfortunately, there's just so very little of her left, it's hard to say if the creature hovering in front of him even counts.

Knowing her as well as he does, in both her corporeal form and this one, Gren wouldn't have any problem in recognizing the woman, the long flow of her red robe, the flash of bones from beneath her sleeves, the haunting permanent grin stretched across her skeletal face. But even if she looks so much like Lup, it wouldn't take long for the man to question himself, because the lich before him doesn't move like her in the slightest.

The lich shudders, hunched in on herself, flickering in and out of sight, like a dying lightbulb, her whole body trembling there in the air. Red electricity peels off of her unstable form, striking out every which way, the attacks unintentional but deadly all the same.

At first, she notices nothing, hunched and shuddering, bony palms pressed beneath her hood against her face. But then Gren calls her name and the lich raises it's head and smiles at him.]