hadriel_logs | Event Log: Assassin

Entry tags:

Event Log: Assassin

Who: Everyone!
What: The Assassin event
Where: Throughout the city
When: April 15th-23rd
Warnings: Inevitable character death, potential horror and gore and unpleasantness. Please remember to tag for warnings in the header if it things get too bad!

The morning of April 15th in Hadriel is cheerful, with artificial light streaming through your window. Your blankets are warm, jabberjays are shrieking, and you're probably going to experience a murder attempt today.

Maybe it'll be from a stranger, maybe it'll be from a friend, but the bottom line is that everybody is after somebody and nobody is safe (...okay, twelve people are safe, but that's beside the point). Time will only tell when you'll be overcome by that murderous rage and try to kill someone else. The best thing you can probably do at this point is stay calm, keep your head high, and try not to die for the next eight days.

Helpfully, Rage will have restocked her armory for the event, for those of you have yet to arm themselves. Additionally, for a limited time only, the armory will be stocked with bear traps, tripwire (in both 'general wire' and 'barbed wire' flavor), and voice recorders. Use all of them, use none of them, just get on out there and kill each other!

Oh, and one last thing...

► This log covers April 15th-23rd.
► 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!
► Did your assassin catch up to you? Please remember to hit up our death post!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

["Mad enough to kill" has always been a figure of speech for Nick, though she wouldn't deny she's felt anger running intensely hot all through her before, enough to break bones, enough to go right up to that edge and almost, almost tip over. But she hasn't gone over. Some shred of humanity has always stopped her, pulled her back from pushing too far, even at her worst, her angriest, her most hurt and wishing for nothing more than to cause pain in return. She's never actually killed someone before, and she's never considered that she would. "I'm gonna kill you" has always just been talk, an exaggeration. Everyone knows that.

But that's not what's happening here. Now, Nick knows she has it in her to go right up to that edge and gleefully hop over, because this bitch needs to die. It doesn't matter what her name is, or who she is, or what she's done - she just needs to cease existing, and Nick needs to be the one to do it.

Maybe, she thinks, idly, she's always been this monster underneath. Maybe she's just been fooling herself for the past twenty-six years in thinking she's a person. Maybe it's time to embrace her monstrosity, because then at least she wouldn't have to hide it anymore. She's tired of hiding, tired of pretending, tired of caring, tired of being something she's more and more certain she's not.]

Believe whatever you want about me. Just get outta my fucking way.

[It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about her. Nick knows herself, and that's all that matters.]

[This is hardly the first time that someone has stood tall in front of Maketh and spat that they hated her, that she was going to die under their hands. It had happened once in training, twice with bounty-hunters on Lothal, and once with Henry, when she'd given orders and he had followed them with the quick professionalism of a true soldier. It's been years since Maketh has thought about that night in the Academy but she's remembering it now, the way Cadet Clee's face had twisted into something strange and mask-like. How she'd been so confused in the moment, but then suddenly calm - aware that nothing she could do or say would change the accuracy of his blow, or the inevitability of it meeting her skull with killing force.

She hadn't been afraid then. Just -- emptied out, in a way. She feels that way now, staring at the thing that was hiding under Nick's skin. If not for Chris, this would probably be a quiet moment.

Maketh holds herself very still, hands at the ready. When Nick lunges - because she will, Maketh is very sure - then she'll push Chris out of the way. Flatten him to the ground if she has to, because he is not going to die. It is not allowed.]

[For all his calm and ability to make decisions under pressure, Chris doesn't particularly consider himself a brave person. He's afraid of being hurt, even more afraid of dying, afraid of failing and letting down his friends and hurting someone's feelings and unexpected noises and the illusions of shadows he sees out of the corners of his eyes. Ever since that night on the mountain, there hasn't been a moment when he hasn't on some low, subconscious level been afraid.

But although he's scared--that Nick will kill both him and Maketh, that she'll do so and then after the event is over be so consumed with guilt that she can't get over it, that dying again will be too much for Maketh to deal with, that it would be too much for him to deal with--it's all secondary to the much more important need to protect his friends. It's Maketh who is in physical danger but Nick needs help too, just in a different way.

He'd let his fear override that need to protect people once before, and that had nearly led to Emily's death. Of all the things he regrets doing that night, that's one of the things he regrets most, and he won't make the same mistake twice.]

I'm not going anywhere, Nick.

[The unspoken addition that if she wants to attack Maketh she'll have to attack him too is clear, and he hopes it'll be enough. That she'll be able to control herself--that she'll care to, even if she's angry with him--and that everyone can get out of this situation alive.

But if not...

He can sense the shift in Maketh's posture, so hyperfocused on everything going on, and he really hopes she won't intervene. But he knows he would, if the situations were reversed, and the hand still at his side moves just a little to shift the hem of his hoodie. It had been hiding the handle of the gun he has tucked into the back of his belt, but if he had to grab the weapon in a hurry it needs to be out of the way, and this way hopefully Maketh can see that he has a backup plan even if he really doesn't want to have to use it.]

[She hears exactly what it is that Chris isn't saying, and it burns her from the inside out, like this flame of hatred and rage is burning her doll-hollow insides. Of course he'd choose this other woman over her. Everyone always chooses someone else over Nick. When will she ever learn.]

Fine. You think that fake Lifetime-special bullshit speech about friendship that you fed me means I won't kill you too? You're wrong. If you're not with me, Chris, then you're against me. And right now, you're in my way.

[She's hesitated long enough. This has all gone on long enough. Nick slowly raises her hand again, feeling the build of dark energy in her porcelain palm. If Chris wants to get himself killed for this bitch, that's fine by Nick. Nobody asked him to stick his nose into this business. He's just getting what he deserves.]

[Things happen quickly then. Maketh hears the strange echo of Nick's voice, the twist of the thing that's become her face, and remembers the Inquisitor. Remembers the way he smiled before killing her men. As if he'd enjoyed it. Enjoyed making them watch. She thinks, not again, and barrels into Chris, striking at his knee to knock him down. It's going to hurt and she knows it's going to hurt, but he needs to be out of the way. Maketh makes a grab for his gun but can't quite get her hand around, it in time. The move has left her exposed to Nick's attack.]

[Nick's response isn't the one he was hoping for, but Chris had been prepared for it and tries to ignore the sting of her words and reminding himself it's an event. She's being influenced and that's why she's doing this, and that's why he needs to stop her. Why it will, hopefully, be best for her to stop her, not just him and Maketh.

Decision made, he's ready to pull his gun--

Then something slams into him, followed by a shock of blinding pain through his bad knee, and he hits the ground a moment later. But for all his lack of grace his reflexes are quick in a fight and he twists around, both so he can aim a kick with his good leg back toward whatever had struck him--it's Maketh; some part of him knows it's Maketh but he's too caught up in reacting on instinct to really register it--and so he can draw his revolver.

Taking a shot from the floor is not exactly the form Bob had taught him, and not exactly something he's done before, but it doesn't matter. The giant doll that Nick's become just seems even bigger and more threatening now and for the first time he wonders if shooting her will even hurt her, but it's too late to try to figure that out. Instead he raises his gun, aiming for one of her doll eyes--the only place he thinks it might hut a wendigo to shoot, so maybe it would work on her too--but then he sees the crack in the porcelain of her forehead.

In a moment he shifts aim just a fraction, letting instinct guide the motion rather than conscious thought, no room for worries about whether this will work or if he can even make the shot. Then he fires.]

[Everything that happens next unfolds like a scene from a movie, one of those hyper-real moments in life that are too sharp to be real, except they are, and you know they are by the aftermath, how you're left breathless and spinning and struggling to stay upright. You look back and remember it later, replaying it over and over in your mind, and the moments stretch out slowly, so far you forget they're moments and not an actual eternity. When Kennedy broke up with her, Nick remembers those high-contrast moments feeling the same as this; so too when Andy said they were through being friends. It feels like the entire world bottoming out underneath her feet.

It's what getting shot feels like.

She's been shot before in Morphus, but the bullets only chipped her porcelain skin, leaving bruises and scrapes behind once she was back to resembling a human, quickly healed over and forgotten. Nick never knew she had such an obvious weak spot, though she'll think about it later, after she's regained consciousness again, and laugh bitterly under her breath about it, because it's obvious to the point of being a farce.

She doesn't laugh now, though. Chris pulls a gun on her and fires, and the world stops with the sound of the blast ringing through the room. Nick doesn't move, or at least she thinks she doesn't move - can't move - but what happens instead, since she's lost her focus, is that she shrinks back into human form, dazed and wide-eyed, now with a deep gash in her forehead where the crack was in the doll - the spot where Chris shot her. Nick stumbles, then sinks to her knees and coughs up a bloody mouthful - including the bullet, which clatters on the floor in front of her. Then she slumps forward onto the floor, breathing but entirely unconscious.]

[Down he goes, lashing out in the fall, and Maketh feels a brief sense of sharp satisfaction - this small thing has gone according to plan - before Nick's blow catches her. Not in the face, as was intended, but in the meat of her shoulder. There's the smell of burning meat and then impact, but no pain.

Strange, that there's no pain.

Maketh watches Nick go down and then reaches out to touch her shoulder. Her hand comes away red. She can see the white of bone shining through her jacket, the spit of connective tissue rolled back and burnt.] Oh.

[It's both expected and surreal that he hits his target--he's never missed before--but as soon as he does, and the doll turns back into Nick, he really realizes what's just happened. He shot someone, his friend, and she--

She doesn't look dead. Hurt, but not dead, and there's a sudden flood of relief amidst the tension and fear and underneath his pounding heartbeat. She's not dead. They need to get her some help and figure out how badly she's hurt, but maybe she'll be alright; he hadn't killed her.

Next goal in mind, Chris gets up to his good knee so he can shift to look at Maketh, and then he sees her face and her hand and follows her gaze to her shoulder. For a moment he's not sure what happened or what exactly he's looking at, so focused on shooting at Nick that he hadn't noticed the attack, but then it clicks together.

His stomach lurches and he feels nauseous for a moment at the sight of the injury, but he's seen worse and freaking out won't help right now. Stay calm, don't panic, do something.

Chris gets painfully to his feet, managing the one step it takes to reach Maketh and trying to catch eye contact.]

Okay, okay, sit down for a sec.

[First thing first; she needs to sit down, they need to stop the bleeding--right? He doesn't know what to do with an injury like this--and then he needs to get her to the clinic or a healer or something. He needs to do the same with Nick too, and he's only one person and how is he going to do this?

Don't freak out. One thing at a time.]

[You are going into shock, Maketh tells herself. This is a process. First you will feel nothing. Then you will be cold. And then, if it gets worse, you will be very tired. Maketh sways, then goes down abruptly - falling more than actually sitting. It accomplishes the same thing in the end.

She blinks at Chris, trying to assess him for injuries. She got him in his bad knee, but he's alive. He'll recover.

Remember the protocol. Remember your training.

Maketh takes a slow breath, tries to assess the situation. She can smell burning meat. There's blood on her hands. She can see bone shining through the mess of her coat, ruined now. The blow cauterized the worst of it. So maybe --

Focus, Maketh reminds herself.] Did it hit an artery? You can tell. If the blood is pulsing.

[Her voice comes out remarkably calm.]

[He does his best to help guide her to the floor when she drops, sinking down to his knees again as well; the motion sends another sharp jolt of pain through his leg, but he can ignore it for now.

Okay, focus. He listens to Maketh's question, turning his attention back to the injury and forcing out of his mind just how horrific it looks and the memories it dredges up. Look for any signs of an artery or vein being hit.]

No, I don't think so.

[His own voice is calm as well, but distant; his mind is in too many places at once for his words to have much thought behind them, let alone emotion. He takes off his glasses briefly so he can pull his hoodie off over his head, shoving them back on with one hand and then pressing the fabric firmly against her shoulder. It'll probably hurt, but even if an artery isn't damaged controlling the bleeding is the first--and pretty much only--step he knows.

He casts another glance briefly back at Nick, checking that she's still alive and hasn't moved, and there's an anxious twist in his chest at the sight of her and that he can't do anything to help her right now but he needs to focus on Maketh for the moment.

And he needs to call someone. He can't get either of them to the clinic--even if he could walk well enough to carry one of them he'd still have to leave the other and therefore need someone else to help anyway--but he doesn't know who to ask for help. Ash would come, but he doesn't want her to see any of this and she probably couldn't help much anyway; Em would also help, but there's only so much she could do. Josh is strong enough to carry one of them, but relying on Josh is risky at best. Jess is still too fragile to do much.

That leaves people he's met here, who he runs through his head; Bob and Koda are options, if they're not dealing with their own event-related issues, and while he knows who Nick's target is he doesn't know who's after her, or who Maketh's target for the event might be. He could just make the whole situation worse.

Don't panic. Think.]

Is there someone I should call to help?

[Maketh probably has friends he doesn't know. Maybe she has an idea, and it'll give her something to focus on besides the injury.]

[That's good, holding pressure against the wound. Maketh presses her hand to it without thinking - waiting for the pain to come and steal her breath, but strangely it doesn't. She can barely feel anything above her waist. Her hands are cold and strangely clumsy. Maketh has the strangest feeling that she's watching the whole mess as it happens to someone else. A stranger.] Lilith.

[Maketh focuses on her breathing, making it slow and steady. Lilith would get there the fastest. She could call Henry, but he doesn't know enough about medicine to be of much help and Lilith is fast. That's going to matter in a moment or two. Something stutters in her chest, the first stab of pain, and Maketh grimaces.] I think, uh -- did I break your knee? I didn't mean to...

[He can feel how cold her hands are when she presses one against the fabric, and he knows that means she's probably going into shock. He knows the basics of first aid, fortunately, enough to know what to do next.]

You need to lay down, okay?

[She's supposed to lay down, prop her feet up on something--a chair would probably work, if he can actually get to one--but laying down is the most important part. He nods at the mention of Lilith, pulling his phone from his pocket and tapping through menus to try to establish a connection with her.

His attention is one that when Maketh asks her question, and he shakes his head even if he doesn't actually know the answer; he isn't thinking about the pain shooting through his leg, so while it's definitely there he doesn't have any idea how serious it might be. It's pretty unimportant at the moment anyway, considering Maketh and Nick's conditions.]

It's fine. I think I can forgive you for like, trying to keep me from getting killed.

[Maketh nods vaguely and does as she's told. The ground is cold. Everything is starting to get cold now. Her coat is ruined now, which is a shame. She's grown fond of it. Perhaps overly so. Such sentiment is discouraged by the Empire and it's only an object, anyway. A collection of fabric and buttons and metal zippers that reminds her, strangely, of her father. She'll have to find a new one now, unless Hope is kind enough to provide a fresh one when she dies.

If she dies, Maketh corrects silently. That would be -- unwise. At this stage.] You're doing well.

[It feels important that Chris knows this. That he's doing exactly as he ought to in this situation. Maketh breathes out through her nose, mouth thinned into a sharp line. It hurts now, a deep throb inside her chest.] Is she -- ?

[There hasn't been any movement, so Nick is either down or dead.]

[Of all the days not to wear his coat, of course it had to be a day when he could really use having it. The thing's somewhat scorched and beat up, but it's still big and warm and would've been a huge help with staving off shock.

But right now they have to work with what they've got, which isn't a whole lot, but he gets through to Lilith and so hopefully things are going to be okay. He's going to try to believe they will be until proven otherwise, at least.

He offers a shaky attempt at a small smile at her words, but it's kind of difficult to manage.]

Yeah, you too.

[At her question he glances back at Nick again--she still hasn't moved--and then towards Maketh once more.]

She's not dead.

[There's an echo in his head of a memory, of saying those words before to Ashley, of being in that terrifying abandoned hotel and finding Sam and not knowing what was wrong with her--

He takes a deep breath, pulling his focus back to the present again; this isn't the time, although he does allow himself another quick glance back to make sure there isn't anything--or anyone--behind him before looking at Maketh again.]

Y-You're both gonna be fine. Just hang in there.

Oh. Good.

[Maketh doesn't really know Nick. Before this moment, they'd never even spoken to each other. A friendly distance, so to speak. They'd known the same people but never had occasion to speak in person. Perhaps it wouldn't have mattered. Perhaps it would have made this hurt. Maketh grimaces as her chest throbs again. She's taken a bad hit, maybe even worse than the one that she carried through the Door. It's hit her lungs, she thinks, maybe done something to her heart. Either way it's starting to hurt when she takes a breath, a sharp pinch on the exhale. She hopes she won't die in front of Chris. Has a feeling that's happened to him before.

This place brings out the very worst of their nightmares and gives them flesh.]

[Outside, there's a flash of light and a muffled boom: Lilith is here, and she's 4 whole seconds early. She wastes no time in shoving her way through the door, pistol in hand, the fresh bandages from her bout with Tyki and Kanda already beginning to bloom red.]

Chris, what's going o-- [is where she begins, but the sight takes the words from her throat.

She'd prepared herself for putting a bullet in someone to bail Chris out. The lingering odor of burnt flesh, the still body of a stranger on the floor, and Chris beside Maketh in a pool of her own blood? Not so much.]

Maketh!

[Change of plans. Big, big change of plans. It hurts her, too-- there's a cut on her leg from whatever weird magic shit Tyki had sicced on her earlier-- but she drops immediately to her knees and to Maketh's other side.]

No, no, no, no, no. I got this. You're good, you're good. Stay with us, okay?

[God. There's bone showing, and it looks like most of her blood is on the ground around them. Where the hell is that healing kit she had on her? She's got it in here somewhere. Lilith's pistol lies abandoned on the ground as she rifles through her pack for it.]

Chris. [There's panic in her voice, but she's slowly managing to bite it back. Keep calm. Maketh's not dead yet.] I've got an emergency healing kit from back home. It's an injection. You'll need to make sure she doesn't move-- when I find the damn thing, anyway. Deal?

[The noise from outside is unexpected and Chris flinches on reflex, but then it's just Lilith and he's so glad to see her. She seems like the sort of person who knows what she's doing, and although Chris doesn't know her all that well he likes her, and Maketh obviously trusts her since she'd requested her call her. She's going to be able to help.

The sight of her gun prompts him to wonder, briefly, where his own is; he's forgotten about it in the midst of everything, but it's pretty unimportant at the moment as Lilith kneels next to Maketh and he turns his attention to focus on what she's saying. Okay. Right, he can do that, and he nods firmly to try to instill confidence both in Maketh and Lilith and in himself as well.]

Yeah. Got it.

[He has no idea how this healing kit or whatever might work, and Lilith looks injured herself and he still needs to help Nick, but right now doing as Lilith asked is most important and he wills his focus back to that once again.]

[Oh, there's Lilith. Maketh recognizes the sound, almost like a sonic boom, and smiles up at the ceiling. That's better. It's safer to be around people, isn't it? Maketh exhales, wincing at the sharp pain - it feels worse now, somehow. But it's okay, she has her allies. She has friends at her side.

Maketh bumps her free hand against Lilith's arm, squeezing briefly.]

[Thankfully, Chris isn't all talk when it comes to getting things done. He's holding it together much better than either of them are, which is a big help while her hands are feeling this clumsy.

(Lilith remembers digging bullets out of the broad, sinewy mass of Brick's shoulders; she remembers his big knuckles, worn bloody and raw, near, too, to the bone. The gore is no different. She needs to get it together.)

Lilith wastes a precious second to slide her arm lower, squeezing Maketh's hand back. As luck has it, it calms her down enough to find the healing kit and the precious crystal vial-and-needle she's been hunting for.]

This might sting a little, Maketh.

[She gives Chris a nod. After administering healing kits to herself and her teammates so often, the actual act doesn't faze her at all anymore. With no more time wasted, she prepares the needle, hastily cleans up a section of Maketh's arm with a bit of loose gauze from her own bandage, and stabs the injection into her. It's not enough to restore her to complete health, but she definitely won't be bleeding to death in a few minutes.]

[When Lilith finds the needle and nods at him, Chris takes one hand off the hoodie where he'd been still applying pressure to the wound in order to set it on Maketh's other shoulder; he realizes idly that he's probably going to leave a perfect bloody handprint there. It seems utterly wrong to holding her still, even though it's necessary and he's being almost timidly gentle about it, but considering he just shot Nick in the face he's pretty sure he's already crossed any and all lines regarding acting appropriately toward women.

He isn't squeamish about needles and so it's with sort of a morbid fascination that he watches what Lilith is doing, not sure what exactly it is that she has or how much it's going to help, but something is better than nothing.]

I-Is that it?

[He asks toward Lilith once she's done, casting another glance back towards Nick and then returning his attention to Maketh and Lilith, unsure of what to do next.]

[Maketh nods slowly, bracing herself. She's had bacta injections before. It can't be much worse than one of those, can it? Sometimes they sting, or there's an ache as the muscles repair themselves, but it's always over quickly. This can't be much worse.

It is. Maketh feels her body jerk, going rigid at the sensation - wrongwrongwrong - and makes a hoarse sound that might have been a scream in different circumstances. If she'd been able to get enough air.]

Yup, that's it-- oh, frick.

[Forcing your body into literally reconstructing itself can't feel great when it doesn't do so normally. She's used these so many times by now; she'd almost forgotten about how awful they feel on a first go. She squeezes Maketh's hand again.]

If you feel like shit, that means it's working. It'll pass in a sec, I swear. [Lilith casts her a sympathetic, slightly guilty grin, then looks up at Chris.]

Thanks for calling me. You worked fast. If you'd been any slower-- well, let's just be glad you weren't slower.

[Chris watches Maketh's reaction with no shortage of concern, but Lilith's response means it must be normal; he takes his hand off Maketh's uninjured shoulder, though he isn't sure if he should remove the other one or not. He has no idea how much these healing kits do.

At Lilith's next comments he just sort of gives a weak nod, not really feeling like he did anything worth thanks, but just really glad that things are apparently alright. Are they? He thinks so, by Lilith's tone, but--]

S-So she's just... Gonna be okay now?

[He needs to know for sure before he moves on to checking on Nick.]

[After the initial shock rolls over her, Maketh closes her eyes and lets the injection work. She remembers this part from the Academy. In some ways - a lot of ways - it's no different from the bacta injections. Breathe through it. Relax your body. Don't fight. Just let it happen. Try not to scream in the process.

She's doing okay on that count, at least. So that -- that's something.

Maketh gives Chris what she hopes is a reassuring bop to the arm. She can't quite manage talking right now, but she isn't dying. Part of her knows that now.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

cw blood

cw gore

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

barrels in

no subject

no subject

cw needles!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject