Event Log: Predator vs. Prey

[hadrielmods]

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.

Comments

[restinglichface]

[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.]

[pocketspa]

[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.]

[madamdirector]

[ 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. ]

[restinglichface]

[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.]

[pocketspa]

[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.]

[madamdirector]

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. ]

[restinglichface]

[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.]

[pocketspa]

[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.]

[madamdirector]

[ 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 -

[pocketspa]

[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.]