Event Log: Prisoner Exchange (City)

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone in the city
What: The city event log for Prisoner Exchange event
Where: All over the city
When: February 24th-March 3rd
Warnings: None

There's no warning or notice- one moment, you're going about your day and the next, you're suddenly hit by an overpowering wave of happiness. It lasts for several minutes, and during that time, you can do no wrong. Sadness and melancholy are simply emotions that don't exist anymore for you, and it feels like you're on top of the world.

But it can't last forever. Once it fades, it takes everything else with it, leaving a hole where happiness used to be. It feels empty, like you'll never be happy again- and that's simply unacceptable. For the duration of the event, characters will feel the need to try and get that happiness back, through whatever means necessary.

Perhaps it would be easier to manage if it were only that, but a deep-seated feeling of fury also begins to bubble up from Rage's temple, affecting anyone nearby and sending them into a mindless rage of their own. For those who are missing their happiness, it seems as if destruction is the only way to fill that void- so get out there and burn some houses down!

► This log covers February 24th-March 3rd
► 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 someone kills you, or if you do something really stupid, please let us know here.

Comments

[evocation]

Kyna takes a deep breath as she pulls her phone out of her pocket. There's no reason that if he's not on Wash's list, he'd be on hers, but she hopes for it anyway. Unfortunately, she's right—Maine's name is missing.

"He might come back. He probably will come back."

[hardwearing]

Normally, Wash wouldn't bet on that -- he won't bet on that for Julie, or Carolina, but for Maine... he really really needs Maine to not be back home and dead. He needs to not have failed his best friend. His breathing is uneven and shaky as he turns to sit back down, feeling completely drained all over again. All the energy he'd managed to muster up to train is gone, there's just despair. Loss. Pain.

"I hope you're right," is all he says, staring at the list on his phone blankly.

[evocation]

Oh, Wash. Kyna scoots closer, right up against his side, ignoring the discomfort of the armor.

"Hey, people come back all the time, right? Even from the last possible second."

[hardwearing]

When Kyna scoots in for a cuddle Wash realizes that's more likely to make him feel better than training, so he starts taking his armor back off. The pieces are unceremoniously dropped to the floor beside his abandoned helmet.

"Not everyone comes back, Kyna. I don't... know if I should hope for it."

[evocation]

Kyna pulls away, biting her lip as she nudges the discarded armor away with her foot. "But you shouldn't just assume he's gone for good either, you know?"

[hardwearing]

No... no, he shouldn't. That feels too much like giving up on him.

"What's in between?" he asks tiredly, standing to bend and free his legs of armor too. Then he's sitting back down and pulling Kyna into his lap, wanting that comfort. He can't go off the rails, this time. Not like when she left.

[evocation]

She's not really sure what in between is, to be honest. She settles against him, tucking her head against his shoulder.

"No blaming yourself. And no convincing yourself he's gone until after the next batch of arrivals."

That's fair, right?

[hardwearing]

"...okay. I won't give up on him." He can't promise anything about not blaming himself, though logically... there's no way it could be his fault, or his fault that they haven't figured out the Door yet. Those are things he has absolutely no control over. But he still feels like Maine is his responsibility, that he needed to be looking out for his friend more closely, that maybe if he was he wouldn't have disappeared....... it's not true. It just feels like it is right now.

Fuck this hollow despair, honestly. It's helping nothing. Wash rests his chin on top of Kyna's head, sighing.

"I hate this."

[evocation]

"Me too."

Kyna slips her arms around him, squeezing tight.

"It won't last forever. We just have to get through the shitty parts."

[hardwearing]

There are a lot of shitty parts, but what else is new? Overall his life is better here than it ever was back home... Wash nods quietly, holding Kyna to his chest.

"Are you okay?"

[evocation]

She shrugs a little, nuzzling against him. "I mean... I don't know. Better than you, I think?" So, no.

[hardwearing]

Wash huffs, even as he tilts his head back to give her more room. "That's an incredibly low bar right now."

[evocation]

Kyna presses a little kiss to his jawline.

"I know. I'm sorry everything keeps piling on you."