hadriel_logs | Event Log: Predator vs. Prey

Entry tags:

Event Log: Predator vs. Prey

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the Predator vs Prey event
Where: All over the city
When: March 13th-March 21st
Warnings: None

It all starts with an explosion, because Rage is excellent at managing her anger. But an explosion isn't enough - she hasn't worked out all her feeling yet. Not until the city itself has gotten caught up in her anger at Fear for being unable to save Delight. And yeah, that means you.

So now you're a predator (Rage) or prey (Fear). You want to hunt, or you're being hunted. Maybe you were defenseless before, or maybe you're the sort who no one could be afraid of... but it's different now, because the gods are passing on their blessings to you. All the better to catch and kill, or run and hide.

What will you do? Try to resist the urge? Good luck with that. Who would want to resist, anyway, when it feels so right to give in? Hunt someone down like a cat after a mouse, or flee like a deer before wolves. Maybe you can find someone to help you, whether that means hunting in packs or looking for safety in numbers. Who knows, maybe you'll even make a few new friends while trying to kill your old ones.

► This log covers March 13th-March 21st.
► 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 caught by a predator or have things turned on you by your prey, please let us know here.

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[ Perhaps the best part of this is just how well they work together. It's not that Lucretia had ever stopped trusting Taako - even when things had been roughest for him, even when he didn't know her and had no reason to trust her, her faith in him had never faltered.

The irony of what she's trusting him to do now, as he adopts a terrified expression and calls out in a soft, trembling voice, escapes Lucretia entirely. She steps to the side, out of sight of the front door, and lets Lup get a good three seconds of tearful, relieved reunion in before she steps back into view, smiling in a way Lup has probably never seen her smile before. ]

We missed you too, Lup.

[ And she raises her staff, casting Hold Person. Lup is just too powerful. Lucretia's not about to let her get the jump on them.

Besides. It's only right that Taako should get the first blow. ]

[He should have texted her. Had let her know when he left when he got axed, making a supply run before Lucretia, before Nate. By then it had been two days, rage's influence worked into the fabric of his revival, clouding his mind and leaving him drifting in the sea of his own power.

Maybe something in him didn't text her, despite knowing she was not the hunter this time, as the final protection from an addled mind. Maybe now it doesn't matter.

He holds her for just an extra second, some part of him reveling in the touch, the connection they have no matter what. But he feels the spell cast and steps back out her arms, and she'll be able to see his face for the first time. Something's wrong, something's so wrong, the way his eyes look cloudy and unfocused, the small but serene smile grin on his face as he steps back to give himself some room.]

You were right to be, babe.

[He knows Lucretia is leaving it open for him, and he takes it, gripping at the Krebstar as he casts Cone of Cold, ice and snow slamming from him in a cone directly for her.]

[It doesn't hit Lup at first.

She's standing there, holding her brother, teary-eyed with relief at the sight of him standing safe in front of her again, and then Lucretia slips into view. It just seems so normal. Just a family drawn together in the middle of a city gone mad, brought together through their old pain to reunite again under the hardships of this city, finally able to push past old hurt and be together again. For just a moment, Lup feels her heart flutter happily at the sight of the two of them standing side-by-side, at the hope that swells in her chest that two of the most important people in her life have repaired their relationship.

But then it hits her. And then it literally hits her.

Before Lup can even react, Lucretia's casting hold person and taking the elf's control over her own body away. There's enough panic that comes with that normally since the Umbrastaff, a cold, twisting fear that sets off her panic almost immediately. But that isn't it. Of course that isn't it.

Taako looks at her with a look she can't comprehend, with a face she can barely recognize, and attacks her. There's no chance of dodging, no chance of throwing up a counter spell. She can't move. She can't speak. She can't scream.

Lup can do nothing but just take the full force of the blow, the pain of this betrayal more significant than any damage their spells can do.]

[ It's about to get worse, Lup.

Lucretia watches intently as Taako casts the spell, her lips curving up into a satisfied smirk as the blast hits.

Lup's literally frozen, her eyes wide with shock and confusion, as much a victim of her own blind trust as of Taako's attack. Lucretia lets her spell drop; it hardly seems necessary anymore. Besides, she's got more interesting ways to paralyze the elf.

Before Lup can react either to Taako's spell or to being freed from Lucretia's, she casts Phantasmal Killer, and waits to see what manifests. There's no compassion in her eyes, just hard, cold hunger. ]

[Lucretia's all too right on this one.

It's nearly instantaneous, the immediate return of her movement to her, Lup crashing to the ground while she's no longer held stiffly in place, and the quick change of scenery, the familiar walls of their Hadriel home shifting from dulled paint to billowing, black curtains. Taako and Lucretia disappear along with it, the elf immediately curling her arms around her middle when she sees the curtained room she spent over a decade in materialize around her, no one else in sight.]

N-no - [Her voice comes out small, trembling and frightened, so unlike Lup it would be funny if the situation itself wasn't so tragic. One moment, her dearest friend and brother are working together to attack her, to hurt her, and then the elf is right back here, in the place all of her nightmares stem from, trapped and powerless and alone all over again.

Her whole body shakes, fingers digging hard into her own arms, Lup's breathing already going ragged, like every breath takes so much effort now.]

Don't. Please don't. N-not again. I can't. Taako - Taako, I can't. Lucretia, please.

[But she can't see them, can't see the pair standing there right in front of her, watching Lup fall to the ground and shiver, casting her wild gaze all around her, seeing a barrier around herself that neither of them can see.]

[It's weird. It just feels exhilarating to see her catch the trick to his spell, the ice hitting her as she stumbles back. He's readying for another spell, but Lucretia steps forward and something... shifts. There's no push back, no response from her, just a collapse and something that can't yet break through the haze shoving him forward like a marionette. She drops and and cries and something is just wrong and he unconsciously reaches up to press a hand against the side of his head, trying to steady a dizziness he's creating in his mind.

The other hand starts to reach for Lup, then redirects, and touches Lucretia's shoulder.]

Hey, woah, that's no fun-- she won't fight back if you do that. Thought we weren't just finding a scrub out here.

[He looks a little pale, and doesn't even know why.]

[ Lucretia doesn't react the way Taako does. Lup's not her twin, and she hasn't shared her memories the way Taako has.

He's right about one thing, though. Watching their target curl up helpless on the floor isn't satisfying at all. Hadn't they picked one of Hadriel's most powerful magic users for a reason? She still rolls her eyes, contemptuous of Taako's lack of nerve, but she drops the spell. ]

Ugh, fine.

[ Immediately, though, she casts Lightning Bolt, though this time Lup is free to fight back. ]

Come on, show us what you got!

[For once in her life, Lup doesn't fight back.

The spell drops and so does she, falling to her hands and knees, hitting the ground hard and with a ragged gasp, the pain shuddering through her slender frame. She barely realizes she's been released before Lucretia's casting another spell her way, lightening that shoots through her body and rips a scream from her mouth, before Lup's head is hanging down towards her chest, tears dripping to the ground below.

It hurts. Everything hurts. But what makes her heart ache the most is the faces of the two people she loves most doing this to her. Taking such casual glee in hurting someone they've spent so much of their lives with. These people that she's trusted and loved with the whole of her heart.

Lup's shared so much of herself with Lucretia, been there to help the other woman through this transition into Hadriel, into sharing space with her brother again, to keep her from isolating herself. And Taako's just Taako, her twin, her heart, the other half of her everything. But both of them are standing there in front of Lup now, just so willing to hurt her.

But whatever it is inside of them that makes the pair want to attack, Lup isn't at all wrapped up in the same emotion. Instead she just shakes and cries, too afraid to move or keep herself composed.]

Please don't. I don't - I don't want to hurt you. This isn't right.

[Something is wrong.

Taako's looking for a real fight here- the push and pull of battle, the dodging and exhilarating feeling of the hunt, of exercising power, of that feeling of being alive that can only come from bringing down something big after a grueling encounter. He wants Lup to get up, to come at him with all her strength, to leave them locked hand in hand as they find something incredible in the blows.

But that's not what's happening. She just falls. She's taking attacks back and forth, but she isn't fighting back, isn't preserving herself. Does she think they'll hold back? Leave her alone? Why isn't she doing anything?

He has to figure out a way to get this to work. If it doesn't... he doesn't know what's clawing at him, here. He doesn't know why he can't accept the alternative. What he does know is he casts Evard's Black Tentacles, grabbing Lup off the floor and holding her in place. It's not an attack- not really- just a way to force her to talk to them, to see if she'll put up any resistance at all.]

Why aren't you fighting back? You have a billion fire powers. You could roast us easy. We came here for a whole ass challenge and you're just-- this isn't working, right?

[He looks at Lucretia, like maybe she'll have a good answer for what the hell's going on.]

[ But Lucretia just looks back at him, just as unnerved. He's right. Something about this isn't working.

It sucks. She'd been in such a good mood, she'd been so excited for herself and Taako to really show off and prove themselves, but this is just...uncomfortable. It's not fun. And it's making her mad, that Lup won't play along.

She doesn't cast another spell. Instead, she just steps forward, shoving Lup back hard into the tentacles holding her. ]

Fucking fight us, come on!

D-don't...

[Lup feels it building with every word spat her way, every shake of her aching muscles, with each new tear streaming down her face.

This isn't Lucretia. This isn't Taako. It can't be them. They'd never do this to her, never try to break her like this. It just can't be them, Lup refuses to believe that the so-called gods of this place have that much control. Even when they'd influenced her and Barry before, they'd never set out to kill one another, never lost the love between them. So this feels that much worse, more out of control, like the whole of their love for Lup was removed just as easily as feeding a journal to the Voidfish.

Trapped so completely in the tentacles, her whole body trembles violently when Lucretia shoves her, her hands curled tight at her side, red energy beginning to crackle at her fists.

Even like this, Lup doesn't want to hurt the two people who mean so much to her. She's so fucking scared to. But with every passing moment, she realizes they aren't leaving her much choice.]

Taako, don't. Please. L-let me go.

[He grits his teeth, the anger coursing through taut muscles and clenched teeth to an outlet he needs but doesn't know why. Lup was supposed to provide that push back, and addled as his mind is, he doesn't get why she's so emotional about it all. It's just a fight, and he'll say so.]

What's wrong with you? We fight all the time! We fight every fuckin'-- you can get out of this! I know you can! Why the hell are you taking the easy way out?

[The grip from the tentacles tighten, pulling at her limbs, like he's trying to start tugging her apart.]

I thought you'd actually do something. Or is this where you give up, huh? Can't give us the satisfaction?

[ She glances between the two of them, anxious and unhappy. This isn't how this was suppsoed to go at all. ]

Let's just - let's just kill her and get out of here, Taako.

[ She doesn't like this. She doesn't want to be here any more, doesn't want to hear Lup begging them (for what?) or see the way she trembles and cowers before them. She's supposed to fight back. She's not supposed to - to cry and keep looking at them like that.

Lucretia raises her staff, waiting for Taako to do the same, and avoids Lup's gaze. ]

Come on, let's just finish this. We can find someone better.

[And still they come for her.

It would be so easy to give in, to just let herself be killed. It's happened enough times in Hadriel, hasn't it? What's one more death even matter? They all know Hope will just magic her up a new bod in a couple weeks, right back to the same body she'd been in pre-death, free of her new scars and pain, just the same as if she was back in the cycles. Would it really hurt to just die? Would it really be so bad to not fight against two of the most important people in her life?

This - None of this is their fault. It can't be. Lup doesn't want to believe they'd come to kill her out of nowhere. She doesn't want to hurt them for this when they can't help it.

Dying would be as easy as laying down and shutting her eyes, letting their magic wash over her until everything faded.

- But Lup knows Taako and Lucretia better than anyone. The real them. The crushing guilt that would come from killing her would destroy them, would leave them hurt so much more than anything her magic could ever do. They'd be shaken apart completely, raw and vulnerable and suddenly all too aware of how out-of-control they'd been.

Hasn't her brother spent too much time already feeling helpless and used?

Fighting them off isn't what Lup wants to do, turning her own powerful magic against her own twin and friend, but what other choice does she have? The elf doesn't rise from where she's kneeling on the ground, but her shoulders and ears pull back at the same time. She hates this. She wants them to know she hates every second of this. But Lup's not fighting for her own life, she's fighting for them.

Without any warning, she casts thunderwave, aiming to knock them both off of their feet and away from her with the tremendous force of it.]

[He almost isn't expecting it when she finally retaliates. The thunderclap sweeps out, disrupting his concentration and causing the tentacles to disappear just as if they were never around, losing his footing as he falls backwards right into the doorframe. Taako feels like his heart has gone from 0 to 60 in his chest, beads of sweat are forming on his forehead, but--

He isn't afraid. This is exhilarating. He feels alive, adrenaline in his system, an actual challenge. This is going to be so, so exciting.

Taako pulls himself to his feet as quickly as he's able, magic already buzzing at his fingertips.]

There we go!

[He doesn't want to go so hard right out of the gate, but he also doesn't want to insult her by pulling his punches, so out come three bolts of scorching ray shooting towards her from his outstretched hands.]

[ Lucretia isn't expecting it either. She'd been sure that was it, that getting Lup to do anything at all was just a lost cause and they'd be wasting their time trying any longer to goad her into reacting. She'd been ready to finish this and move on.

But then Thunderwave crashes over them both, and Lucretia flies back with an oof, hitting the wall and sliding down it. She shakes her head, blinking dumbly, and looks up just in time to see Taako casting his spell, looking exhilarated and triumphant.

Oh, yes.

Grinning, Lucretia gets to her feet, using her staff to steady herself. No more trying to restrain or weaken Lup - at this point, she wants the elf to fight back as desperately as possible. But she does want to hurt her. Want to see her scream and stumble and eventually fall under their combined onslaught. She raises her staff and casts Acid Arrow, streaking after Taako's Scorching Rays. ]

[Lup's screams ring out in the home they've made here in Hadriel, voice echoing off the same walls that've bounced off their laughter for nearly two years now, pain and fear and hurt mixed together in that awful sound.

They aren't playing around and neither is she, but Lup isn't aiming to kill. Can't truly unleash the full extent of her magic like the two of them are. Combined with the nauseating fear she can't quite slip free from, she already feels handicapped in this fight, lightheaded and unsteady, barely able to keep her shoulders pulled back while her skinny frame trembles.

She doesn't call back out, doesn't laugh in the face of danger, she just sobs out while casting sunbeam, aiming to blind more than to hurt, a mote of brilliant radiance shining in her hand, lighting up the whole house.]

[He wants this to be more satisfying than it is. He sends attacks, but Lup isn't smiling back, isn't finding things to say or trading jabs. She's crying. Why the fuck is she crying?

In his puzzlement, though, he doesn't have the chance to defend from her attack. Taako slams his hands over his eyes and stumbles backwards, ending up taking a few steps outside the door and leaving the path clear. If for some reason Lup wanted to try and get her brother out of it, now might be the time, but the quarters are still close with Lucretia in the way. This may be harder than it might have been if it was just him; provided, of course, Lup is still trying to convince them at all.]

Shut up!

[ The shout bursts out of Lucretia without warning, startling even her. She can't help it. She hates the sound of that scream, full of such awful hurt and fear. Of course they'd wanted to scare people, but not like this. She's supposed to fight back, not give up.

Not do this. Lucretia shrinks away from the blinding light Lup casts, squeezing her eyes shut and ducking her head. She screams herself then, in rage and frustration and unhappiness (this isn't right, this has to end, why are we doing this) and raises her own staff. ]

Shut up, just shut up!

[ And she casts Symbol, inscribing a death glyph on the floor right under Lup's feet. ]

[She sees the path to leave, wide open and silhouetted from the outside in, a shining, beautiful exit. But Lup can't stop trembling, can't control her limbs enough to stumble to her legs, can't shove past Lucretia to burst free to the outside. Can't summon enough of her composure to call upon the Raven Queen's gift. There's just nothing left in her, not even the familiar tingle of magic in her fingers.

All she has left is begging.]

T-taako. Taako. Puh-please -

[But then Lucretia inscribes her worst magic at the elf's feet and begging won't help.

It's a death Taako would be familiar with. No longer a living creature, no longer a lich, Lup fades away the same as Kravitz did. The glyph tears her to pieces when she can no longer hold her form solid through this pain and panic, body faltering and flickering and melting away. First her flesh fades, leaving a familiar skeleton in Lup's place, but it takes no time under the pressure of the glyph for that to disappear too, nothing left but a bright, shining ball of light.

Lucretia and Taako would be able to hear Lup's scream in their heads, to feel a rushing wave of her overwhelming panic in that moment, just before even that light fades into nothingness. And she's just gone.]

[He wants to move forward as soon as Lucretia's yelling, his own magic slamming into something the liches have brought down on them in confusion and mess, but Taako looks up with just enough time to meet eyes with his sister and hear her beg.

And then it happens. And he's left standing, wide-eyed, at all they've destroyed.

Taako stumbles backwards, and he finds himself clutching his own neck without really knowing why until he realizes he feels like he's choking. He heaves a breath without knowing, uncertain on his feet as emotions hit him from all sides and he just can't-- can't--]

Lup!

[It's not as loud as he wants as he clutches his head, finally looking towards Lucretia as any remaining lifeline before something snaps.]

[ She does it without thinking, driven by the gods and by forces and emotions she can't understand, can't process. She hates this, she wants it to end, to be over, she can't bear to hear Lup crying and begging for mercy another minute, and so she just lashes out, desperate to make it stop in whatever way she can.

But then Lup does stop crying. She stops begging. She just screams, a heartrending sound that chills Lucretia to her core. There's Lup, twisting and writing in pain, and then there's her flesh melting from her bones, and then there's nothing at all.

She stares, shocked and horrified. She doesn't snap out immediately from under the gods' influence. It's not that simple. That release, and the pure guilt and horror and self-loathing that accompanies it, will come in a moment, maybe, or an hour. All she knows right now is that this is wrong wrong wrong, that she feels sick to her stomach, that she'd give anything to undo what she'd just done.

Taako turns towards her, and she turns towards him too, eyes wide, struggling to understand and terrified to. ]

Taako - what did we - [ She swallows, mouth dry, voice faint. ] What did I -

[It's never that simple. Taako has done this so many times before, and like the breaking of an illusion, it comes in slips. It's when magic leaked into Tranquility's fake town, it's when the scene in glamour springs warped and he knew it was a dream, it was the horror of realizing he had imprisoned Lup in a fight as she fell and shook. And this, too, falls there-- the slip of his hesitancy, not knowing what he was ever seeking, that became watching her disappear in front of his eyes.

It's not a break, it's a handhold, and Taako is as always an opportunist.

His hands fly to his head, teeth gritted as he punches the feeling that he now knows he would never really feel, a hatred for Lup, a desire to kill her, and things fall back into place. He died, he came back so mad, he didn't seek her and that's not right and now she's gone gone gone--

Lucretia's voice warbles through, and it's just too much. He's still mad, wants to fight her but she's supposed to be his companion but the horror and sorrow lie just at the edge for when that burns out. So instead of any other response, he turns, and starts to run. No magic. No usual worries about covering tracks, or turning his back. He simply runs.

He doesn't know where he's going. He just knows he can't be here.]

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Event Log: Predator vs. Prey

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