Event Log: The Hills Are Silent

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone!
What: The Silent Hill event
Where: Throughout the city
When: June 15th-20th
Warnings: Silent Hill comes to Hadriel, and with it, a few personalized monsters

On the morning of June 15th, a thick fog rolls into Hadriel. There's nothing quite terrifying about it yet, but it manages to drain the city of color, forcing a grey backdrop onto everything behind it. Feel free to go try to check it out if you want, just be careful, because it won't be too long until the sirens start blaring.

There's not exactly a reasonable explanation for where the sound is coming from: Hadriel doesn't have a speaker system, or any warning sirens in place for when something horrible happens. But you'd better find cover quickly, because shortly after the sirens start wailing, the city begins to change. Walls and furniture start to peel, revealing a bloody, hellish version of the city that you once knew. In addition, the monsters from the bestiary will roam the city, as well as a few other monsters that might hit a little closer to home.

Some characters may run into monsters which embody their own sins or insecurities. Some characters may be pursued by their friends' hellish mirrors. One thing is clear: you don't want any of these things catching you. Luckily, it isn't long before Hope makes a post, declaring the god temples as safe zones from all the creatures that are now loose upon the city.

The sirens will fade within a few hours, and the city will fall back to normal, the monsters will retreat back into the fog as if they were never there, and everything seems to be fine again, as if that terrifying experience was just some kind of twisted dream. You can tell yourself that, if you like... but that won't help much the next time the sirens start again.

► This log covers June 15th-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!
► Any number of things could murder you here. If you wind up on the unfortunate end of Pyramid Head's chain, please remember to hit up our death post!

Comments

Muscovy | Open!

[muscovy]

I. Monster - a cold embrace | out and about, all days

Muscovy is not alone when the fog embraces. A man is with him, or rather, a being resembling a man for the most part - a coat and a helmet, clothes in dark, drab colours, white hair and a white moustache, a friendly face... but no legs, his body dissipating somewhere below his torso.

He doesn't seem aggressive, simply hovering shortly behind Muscovy and spreading cold, icy gusts of winds coming with him. Muscovy shivers sometimes, but otherwise just looks ...the saddest and loneliest that he has looked since arriving, his smile gone.

But if Muscovy meets someone that he has spoken to before, even liked perhaps, or if he stops and stalkswatches someone for too long (and he will watch everyone, stealthily and unnoticeable, the cold making him lonely so that any stolen feeling of company is better than that) the ghostly man will change his face, like a keychain doll with rotating expressions, springing into that of an Asian middle aged man or a Scandianvian teenaged boy. And then attacking the person that made Muscovy feel a bit less lonely.

Not in a bad way. He will simply give them a hug... and his hugs freeze people, turning them into ice and covering them with more of the same until they are literal blocks of ice.


II. Temples

At first, Muscovy spends a lot of time in the temples, but he soon stops doing so entirely. For a long time now, his emotions have been his and his alone - over two years of being an individual and counting, and once he had learned to be truly by himself in his head he has started to settle into it and even enjoy it. To not be overwhelmed by a general feeling of fear or joy but to only feel his own little fear and joy.

To not be alone responsible for his emotions anymore, and for the source to be truly external now... He can be found outside a temple more than once, lingering at the gates, throwing cautious glances to the left and right to look out for monsters, shivering in the cold gusts of the ghostly appearance behind him. Close enough that a few more steps would carry him to safe territory...

And then turn away, wrapping his arms around himself. No. He won't sacrifice his individuality for safety, not unless he needs to in order to help someone he cares about.


III. Healing | Anywhere

The ghostly creature is not always with him, and when he is alone, he will be on the lookout for people who got injured or might otherwise need help. He's his backpack with him that contains all kinds of medical equipment, but also a long piece of rope that he found earlier.

If he sees someone injured and not yet treated, he will come up to them, no matter where they are, point at their injury and tell them: "You should let me look at that, yes?"


[If anyone is interested in a personalized starter, or wants Muscovy's medical/healing abilities in another thread, PM me or poke me at narwa]

I.

[federalbureauofimmortals]

Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. This place, these changes, that thing following that weird kid. Victor's not having any of this. The voice calling out of the fog is far from friendly, "Hey! Asshole! You better not be another shitty monster stalking people around here or I am going to take you down and make you eat dirt."

Victor comes striding out of the fog, whatever this is it can't stop him. Or so he thinks. Monsters aren't real. Or at least they can't really hurt immortals, right? Maybe. Victor's not the best at judging threats. And this thing is a bit out of his league. Victor comes stalking towards the kid, glaring at the thing behind him. "You okay kid? Need to get out of here?"

[muscovy]

Oh. The lively guy.

That cheers Muscovy up by a lot - he's still cold, but now he feels a lot less lonely. Liveliness in his general surroundings always does that, and he's talking to him on top of that.

"You can make him leave?"

He hadn't even thought about that - sure, this is not General Winter, not really, even though he looks a lot like him, but the idea to make him go away hasn't occurred to him. Because he would not, could not do that back home. But here he has no land and people, and there is no pact...

Still. He wouldn't know how to make something that is so selectively tangible go away.

[federalbureauofimmortals]

"You want me to try? There's only one way to find out." Now Victor's acting cool. Strutting out of the fog like he can handle this. He can't. He's not that cool. Still, he's playing the part a the moment.

He points at the semi intangible guy floating behind Muscovy. "And you, ghost freak. Yeah you, pay attention when someone's talking to you. You know what they do people who hassle kids back home? The police beat the shit out of them and then they throw them in jail. I haven't met any cops so I guess that's my job today. You want to get hurt, huh?"

[muscovy]

The ghost turns to faces Victor with his stern but benevolent expression, studying him as he speaks. Muscovy in turn has turned his eyes from Victor to the ghost, having tilted back his head and looking up at the being.

Which leans forward, over Muscovy and half through him - which makes the young nation shiver with the sudden gust of icy cold and hunch his shoulders - and thus comes closer to Victor, studying him from closer up now.

It doesn't speak, though, and indeed makes no sound at all.

[federalbureauofimmortals]

Victor, in an act that should sum up his self preservation, points his finger out at the thing. If he can he'll shove it right through that ice mist of a face it has. Victor tries to glare it down. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Leave the pipsqueak alone and pick on someone your own size."

Not that Victor really wants to face down something incorporeal, but it seems this just isn't his week for getting what he wants.

[muscovy]

He can shove his finger in there. At first it is like shoving it into very cold jelly, but after a few centimetres his finger will get

stuck

and start to freeze over, the cold attempting to make the flow of his blood stop, creeping out along the finger and over his hand.

Muscovy doesn't like this at all. That looks bad. It looks like the not!General is trying to kill this man, and he definitely doesn't want that. But finger and face are too high up to reach them, so he can't really do much.

And Victor said that he could make this being leave.

[federalbureauofimmortals]

No, no, no, no, no. "What the hell is that!?"

Okay so he doesn't have this. He literally has none of this. Victor yanks his hand as hard as he can, hoping to get his finger free before he has to lose the hand and instead whips around hard to try and kick his heel into the general's face. Or through it. "Come on you asshole. I'm sick and tired of this god damn fog and all these monsters. Can't one of you make. Some. Fucking. Sense!?"

If the finger doesn't budge there will be some painful breaking and a twist of his arm behind his back. He just hopes his foot either impacts the general or goes through enough for him to back up a bit. If he can't beat this guy maybe he can draw him out.

[muscovy]

The finger doesn't become unstuck, it seems pretty frozen into the ghost's face - and the foot will hit the General's chest... and slow down a bit when entering it, again with the feeling of jelly and the immediate cold that starts to freeze what part of it has entered the translucent body.

The General... chuckles, a deep rumbling sound like thunder in the distance. Or at least it probably chuckling, because it does sound like a weather phenomenon more than anything else.

[zen_en_vert]

In one of the temples, Bruce comes across him in the half dark, and seeing him feels compelled to ask, quietly;

"Hey there. You doing all right?"

Food, water, those sorts of things- he assumes none of them are actually all right right now.

[muscovy]

When Muscovy looks up at being addressed, it becomes clear that he isn't really all right. He's curled up on himself, knees against his chest, elbows on his knees and hands over his head, and how stiff he looks when he unfurls betrays how long he must have been sitting in that position.

"I am not hurt."

Not anywhere on the surface, anyway. He's also not starving, so he figures that he counts as all right.

[zen_en_vert]

"I'm Bruce."

He says, introducing himself quietly. Muscovy looks not particularly all right, and he'd just like to make sure he isn't too badly in shock.

"I don't think we've met-?"

[muscovy]

"I'm-," he hasn't had to introduce himself since his encounter with Rey, and for a moment he hesitates because he can't sort through his feelings and reasons for introducing himself one way or the other (only first name and father's name or last name too) and ends up deciding on using the last name too. After all it is Firo's too, and was his first. "Muscovy Maglorion Prochainezo." He just assumes that Bruce doesn't have a last name to add to his and that is why he only introduced himself by one name; a lot of people only have one name.

[zen_en_vert]

"It's nice to meet you, Muscovy- is it all right if I call you that?

He checks still looking him patiently in the eyes.

"I'm the doctor here, and I know you said you're not hurt, but I do want to double check, no bumps or scrapes or anything?"

[muscovy]

He shakes his head at the question, but what Bruce said makes him perk up for a completely different reason and he drops his hands to look imploringly at the man.

"Are you Doctor Banner at the clinic?" The last five words sound like a quote - because they are. That is how Bianca described him to Muscovy.

[zen_en_vert]

"Yes, exactly, that's me."

He says, with a bit of a smile- it's nice, in a way, that that's what he's known for. Not the murder machine.

"People have told you about the clinic?"

[muscovy]

Not because he was asking about medical treatment or anything - he asked if Bianca knew how many people there were and she pointed to Bruce as the guy who might have kept track of that - but he has, and nods.

And his great interest in the clinic is caused by yet another factor.

"I have training as a medical assistant and a healer. So I should help you and you should teach me more, yes?"

Everything else would just be silly, in his opinion - when the world is so small that it is possible, all the medical types should clearly team up.

III.

[circumitus]

Perhaps ill-advisedly, Rey has not been one to seek safety under the roofs of the temples. Not because Sharon had said so, but because she knows the influence those places have on her emotions. It was bad enough when Rage had forced them to try and kill each other, or when Delight had turned the whole city into Shiny Happy People with her damned fireflies... Or every other time the gods have decided to fuck with them, really. It seems about time that one of them has decided to fuck right back.

Also against her better judgment is the fact that Rey is not one to hide. When dealing with danger, she would rather face it head on. Look it in the eye rather than turning her back to it. That includes not finding a dark hole to climb into and hope for the darkness to pass. It isn't her style, anyway.

The darkness has passed for now, though. Rey is left in regret as she makes her way through the foggy street, clutching her bloodied shoulder from her most recent encounter. She had been doing pretty well fending for herself so far, but recently they seem to have gotten more aggressive for some reason.

Blood trickles down her arm from a claw-shaped gash. Dirt and scratches also mark her exposed skin, including her face. But she is hardly sluggish from pain. Her head snaps in Muscovy's direction when the familiar child speaks with her, aware of her surroundings now more so than usual.

For now, she tries to put aside the memory of their first encounter and just focuses on a.) why this child is out here in the first place, and b.) what makes him think he can even treat her injuries.

"It's fine. Nothing to get worked up about."

Silly Rey, as always.

[muscovy]

Muscovy has been following her for a while before speaking up, but... well, she obviously needs help. And he wants to talk to her. She should know that he is here. But at the same time, he wanted to be very sure that she needs his help first. Because that would put him at an advantage, being able to help her.

"You are holding your shoulder like it hurts and you cannot use your arm well, yes? So it will be a problem if you have to fight again and you need your full strength."

That last is a caveat towards Muscovy being very sure that there is a number of monsters that Rey can take on even injured - someone who has fire at their bidding to the point of resisting a raging forest fire with it and can explode spiders is just that strong, obviously.

But pain will have an impact on coordination once the adrenaline passes, and not being able to use an arm, or not use it properly, is a very obvious problem in a fight.

[circumitus]

Just when Rey feels like she might have lost the kid, it seems that Muscovy has found her again. The only reason she hasn't made an active effort to avoid him is the fact that she's more interested in why he isn't in one of the temples, where it's supposed to be safe.

Clutching her shoulder even tighter, she balls her hand into a fist to avoid drawing attention to the blood trickling down her arm. But, when you're not wearing any sleeves, such injuries are more difficult to conceal.

"Will find an actual doctor if it gets that bad."

Far as she is concerned, there is nothing that a kid can do to help her injuries.

[muscovy]

"I am an actual doctor, yes? I have training in three schools of medicine." One is healing, one is future conventional medicine, and one is a mix of healing and conventional medicine of that world.

It's okay, though. Most people are distrustful at first.

And Rey, your attempt at hiding your blood is really counter productive to him thinking that you don't need help and aren't just silly about getting it.

[circumitus]

"You're a 'doctor'," she retorts flatly. "Right."

Her eyes narrowing with skepticism, she moves to keep walking in spite of what Muscovy offers just then, in attempt to quickly disappear into the fog. Even if he was right, she is distrustful that a seven-year-old 'doctor' can manage to patch her up without making things worse.

Forgive her, Muscovy. Rey does not know better.

[muscovy]

He will forgive her.

And also follow her, at a shorter distance than before now because with the fog it will be hard to not lose her and she knows that he's there now, so that might make keeping up with her harder, too.

"You should at least let me clean and stabilize your arm, yes?"

[circumitus]

Goddammit, what's with this kid and following her?

Well, suppose he does believe that she's his mother. Rey tries not to think about that, though.

"Have some medical experience. Can take care of it." Granted, trying to patch up your own arm one-handed is more difficult than having someone else do it for you. Someone who is more qualified, no less. Rey's skills in first aid don't go far beyond basic training, but she's done it before. How hard can it be?

...She's underestimating the severity of the injury.

[muscovy]

He has seen her take care of Algidus and does believe her that she has solid medical knowledge.

But she had both her arms then and wasn't hampered by pain and maybe bloodloss, and she had a lot better view of the injuries.

Plus like hell is he going to leave her alone like this. Or ever, but especially like this.

"It is very hard to take care of your own arm or shoulder because you can't see it well and you can't reach it well and you only have one arm to take care of it, yes?"