hadriel_logs | Event Log: The Hills Are Silent

Entry tags:

Event Log: The Hills Are Silent

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!

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If bullets may be wasted on the creature, that narrows their options and limits Mello's own efficacy. Near sounds authoritative about that thing, whatever it is, and Mello's questions about how he knows so much about it will have to wait. He trusts that Near isn't lying about this - there's absolutely no benefit for him to do so.

"Then we need to run." There's no sense in experimenting with what will or won't harm it; they have another option at their disposal, one that should prove more effective. Mello turns to Near and reaches for his shoulder. "Come on."

Lying about it would do the exact opposite of benefitting him. He has everything to lose and nothing to gain from a lie.

Near might be able to counter if Indigo tries a spell, but that is no guarantee; it's easily possible his counter would be too weak. He's retained only a few spells and a fraction of the power the creature possesses. Power is not everything, but it helps. And even then, Near has no way to cause it any harm. No, running is the far better solution.

He jerks his shoulder away from Mello's hand, though. "You're going to drag me? I'd stumble." And that outcome is not good for either of them. "I ran through a mob while in riot gear. I can handle this for a time."

Granted, Gevanni had held his arm during that particular flight. But that had been different, a dense crowd where he could have more easily wound up separated. The streets here are relatively empty. There is not enough confusion for them to lose one another. But they need to get moving now, and Mello is the one who knows the layout of Hadriel better.

... Right, Demegawa's attack on the SPK. Mello knew Near made it out of that debacle somehow, but he figured it probably involved Near being carried by one of his agents. (Maybe Halle. Probably not, though.)

"Reminisce later," he says, breaking his locked gaze on the creature for just a moment, long enough to scan the foggy surroundings and estimate the location of Fear's temple. He points in its direction. "That way. Get moving." He's coming too, of course, but he'll feel better bringing up the rear. It would be just his luck if Near fell behind and suffered an attack from that thing.

If it would have been any of his agents doing that, Near would have chosen Rester; he had the widest and most stable base, and was the most physically strong of the lot.

He starts off without question. A moment ago, Mello had been about to drag him along; it would make no sense for him to now point in the wrong direction, or not follow behind. And he'd already accepted the unlikelihood of harming Indigo significantly, so he would be along in short order.

"So much less curious this time around." How Indigo manages to speak with no visible mouth, no one can say. The words are spoken aloud and not to the mind, with a soft, ethereal quality. Oddly enough, the words do not come off as a taunt; they're more thoughtful than anything.

Near may be able to run, but he is not especially quick. Fortunately, Indigo appears to suffer that same issue. If they keep this up, they can lose it.

This time around is another clue that this isn't Near's first dealing with the creature - another question Mello will have for Near once they arrive to relative safety. He doesn't ask the questions cycling through his mind while they're running, only mulls them over in silence. Shinigami are the only supernatural things known to exist in their world, and whatever that thing is, it's not that.

At least that's true from Mello's perspective. Near never told him what the date was before he was brought to Hadriel, only answered vaguely that it was after Mello had died and Kira had been defeated. That would have put him only a few days later than Mello at the earliest, but the latest ... well, there's no telling. Near doesn't look much older than what Mello remembers, but he hasn't looked much different since Mello left the House, either. It's possible that other supernatural beings have come to light in the time since Mello's departure, but he isn't sure how likely that is to be the case.

With Near, he's not able to run as fast as he would on his own, and that's an irritation, though a minor one in light of the reality of their current situation. It just takes more concentration to pace himself appropriately - fast enough to be effective, not so fast as to leave Near behind. They do seem to be making headway in escaping the creature, though a monster of a different shape bounds into their path when they've made it halfway to Fear's temple: large, catlike, menacing. Mello skids to a stop, yelling "Look out!" to alert Near to its presence.

The creature snarls, ready to attack, and Mello doesn't have time to think, he just acts, jumping forward in front of Near with his pistol raised. What happens next is he finds himself literally frozen in place as a shock of ice surrounds him. Panic crawls up from the back of his throat as he realizes he's miscalculated, and there's nothing he can do now to stop the monster from attacking them both.

He is running as fast as he is able, but Near has never been a physical creature. Things of that nature hadn't been actively discouraged at the House, but there had been no emphasis placed on them; mental strength and dexterity had been the important things. And so that is what Near had focused upon -- and would have anyway, even if other things had been encouraged.

Near skids to a stop himself at the warning, allowing Mello to interpose himself between him and this new threat. And then he sees the ice creep around Mello, freezing him in place, and the telltale sign of the creature preparing something else. Magical attacks. No more time for secrecy, then.

The next thing that comes from the catlike beast is a blast of flame, but Near is not having any of this. His mind is still cool and rational, and he is prepared for assaults of this nature. A few muttered words, his hand snapping out with quickness he probably shouldn't have . . .

And the air around them shivers a little, the flames fizzling abruptly and the ice holding Mello in place vanishing to nothing. It hasn't melted or shattered; it is simply gone.

"Now, while it's off guard." His voice is firm and clear, brooking no argument or hesitation. Near will explain later, as much as he feels he needs to. But they have more immediate concerns.

What. The hell.

Mello barely has time to think and let the fact of what he's just experienced register - that Near just did something that looks an awful lot like actual magic - before he's reacting in one fluid movement, firing off a pair of bullets from the pistol in his hand. It doesn't matter to him whether those shots kill, injure, or merely startle the creature - as long as there is some distraction created, they can use it to their advantage.

"This way!" Heart pounding, awash in adrenaline, Mello points out a side path for Near to start running with his eyes still on the monster in front of them. He's ready to fire again if necessary.

The first bullet hits the creature's front shoulder, and as it flinches and roars in pain, the second strikes a few inches down, burying itself in the leg below. The leg buckles, leaving the beast hobbled. Even if it wants to follow, it will not be able to and it appears to be too distracted by the pain to try and mount another attack.

Still, Near keeps the spell at the front of his mind in case he needs to cast it again; there is absolutely nothing wrong with being prepared. He's off down the side path at Mello's urging, though, short legs carrying him ask quickly as they can.

Before much longer, he can see the what he supposes must be imposing form of Fear's temple looming ahead, and he's glad of it. His lungs are starting to burn and his legs to ache; the sooner he can stop having to run, the better. He is not built for this level of activity. When he pulls on the door, it opens with surprising ease that he is too adrenaline-filled to question. And so he darts inside, trusting that Mello is close behind.

Mello is practically following on Near's heels, in fact, dashing inside the temple door before it has a chance to swing shut again. Once inside, he makes quick work of scanning the interior. They're alone.

"Bloody hell, Near." Mello doesn't often fall back to using British expressions, having made a concerted effort to blend in once he arrived in America, so the fact that he does now is extremely telling of just how rattled he is. Satisfied that the inside of Fear's temple poses them no immediate threats, he turns sharply toward Near. Now is the time for his many questions.

"What was that?"

He leans back against the wall, eyes closed, panting from the exertion of having to run so much. Most of his focus is upon getting his breathing under control, but Mello's slip into British slang is impossible to miss. It's unsettled him this much, has it?

Near waits until his breathing calms somewhat before answering. His eyes open, and for once he's looking directly at Mello, though this is more of a function of the fact he is facing him to begin with than anything else. His gaze is calm and level as always, even through the heavier breaths. "I want to see your phone for backlog."

You will get your answers is implied in that request. Near will answer, but not for free. And even with this payment, Mello may well come out ahead in this exchange.

Edited 2016-06-25 16:09 (UTC)

It's weird, seeing Near look at him directly, like so much of what's happened since they left the house is so far from the ordinary. Mello's breath catches in the back of his throat for a moment, and he quickly makes an effort to push the feeling of absolute disconcert aside, taking steady steps to close the distance between him and Near. He reaches into his jacket pocket and produces his phone, holding it up but not quite out for Near to take - not yet.

"I want the whole story," he says, sure and even. "No convenient omissions, none of your usual evasive bullshit. Answer my questions directly and thoroughly. Deal?"

If Near's making a bargain for this information instead of telling him, that must mean there's something of incredible importance held within whatever story he's willing to tell in exchange for what Mello's phone will tell him.

That there are conditions attached does not surprise him. This is how they work. The conditions are a bit inconvenient, though. Of course they are.

He considers the situation for a moment, holds out his hand. "Deal."

So he says. How well he honours it remains to be seen. There are certain things that he will not divulge when it's not the proper time, but if the subjects never come up, he is not in violation of the agreement.

Most things are a negotiation, for them. Mello is honestly a little surprised Near hasn't already obtained this information elsewhere; he spoke with Ebihara, and she was apparently all too eager to disclose things that Mello would have kept quiet. Surely a girl like that would think nothing of a simple request to borrow her phone.

No matter; this works to Mello's advantage. And Near's agreed to his terms, so Mello places the phone in his outstretched hand.

"Start with explaining what the hell that thing that was following us is and how you know about it."

He'd had other priorities once he'd learned of Mello's presence, of the dreams. What Mello had known of all that had been the thing in need of immediate resolution. After that, he'd hardly left the house; it's rather difficult to borrow things when one stays in an undisclosed location.

Near takes the phone, crouches on the floor, shrugs the satchel off his shoulder. Since his magic is no longer a secret, he pulls one his toy robots from the satchel and holds his hand over it while speaking a single word of command. A calm, clear light emanates from the toy, the brightest of it covering at least twenty feet in every direction. The temple is dark, and normally Near would not be bothered by this, but there is an uncomfortably hollow feeling in his stomach and he thinks the light may alleviate it a little. Fear's influence over the temple, making him feel uneasy, he is sure.

"People plucked from different realities by supernatural beings . . . it isn't my first time." He stretches out on his stomach, flipping the phone open. "That creature is some twisted rendition of something I've encountered during that time -- the Indigo Illuminant, an embodiment of a specific type of magic."

There is an awful lot for Mello to process packed into what Near's just said, and what he does with causing the robot to cast illumination in the temple. His eyes widen behind sunglasses that he quickly removes once it's apparent they're alone in this space, and he allows himself a moment of utter bewilderment as he sits down on the ground facing Near, one arm propped up on a bent knee. He thinks, in a strange wave of detached analysis, that there is something oddly familiar about this arrangement, and he recognizes in the next instant that it's an echo of one of the dreams he'd experienced, the one he hasn't yet been able to neatly classify, with Near as a child, building a Lego maze and racing against him with toy robots.

It's not what's of primary importance, though; he pushes the thought aside and focuses on the questions that need to take precedence. "Where else have you been? Under what circumstances?"

He cycles back through the network on Mello's phone, to the earliest available post.

"Liminal Space -- a place between worlds. But periodically my previous hosts would drop us off for short stays in actual other worlds. To resolve some issue or affect some outcome." And in order to stave off at least one additional question: "It's how I've spent the past year and a half."

If Mello had ever wondered why he'd seemed to so easily believe so many strange things upon his arrival, he has his answer to that. They aren't strange to Near. He's seen them, experienced things like them for some time now.

There isn't much of the archived network available, only about a month's worth of posts. Mello's first appearance occurs in response to an informational broadcast from Chris, who Near will likely recognize from Mello's more recent argument about his proposal on killing Sharon.

A year and a half is a significant amount of time to have spent elsewhere. Mello feels entirely stupid for not having realized it - irrationally so, perhaps, because there is no good reason for Near to have disclosed that to him, and Mello recognizes that. If their circumstances had been switched, he can't say he would have done any differently. Still, a heat of heat irritation crawls up his spine, because he also recognizes that this is just another way in which he is so far behind Near, without hope of ever catching up.

"And one of these places is where you learned magic? How?" There is no doubt in Mello's mind that magic is exactly what he's witnessed. Magic isn't known to exist in their world, outside of the realm of fantasy, but it would be foolish to assume that was true of all realities, especially given the evidence, that Near is clearly capable of performing magic.

He takes his time, meticulously poring over every thread. Because honestly, what else would you expect from Near? Learn as much as possible, gain an overview. Faces, voices, and names are all noted where applicable.

"In these worlds, some of us aren't ourselves; we become the people who are our closest counterparts within them. In the world that creature is from, I wasn't myself. I was a practitioner of the type of magic you saw outside. This," he waves his hand dismissively at the glowing robot while he continues to review, "is a far more broad and basic type than the specific disciplines. Each coded based on colours of the visible spectrum. The one I practiced and still do, is Indigo."

He lets that sink in a moment, allows Mello the time to connect it to what he'd called the creature outside, the one he'd said had definitely been after him.

"When I came back to myself, I'd retained a few spells."

Mello is following all this entirely too well. It sounds like a bad science fiction film, and yet it makes perfect sense. Of course Near would learn magic, why the fuck not. Mello snaps at him, eyes narrowed:

"And when exactly were you planning on telling me you'd turned into fucking Gandalf, Near?" He huffs an irritated, sharp breath through his clenched teeth and rakes his gloved fingers up through his hair.

Near is fully aware of how absurd this all sounds. How much of it Mello believes is up to him, though he's yet to lie or to omit anything. And the fact that he can perform magic is not a thing in dispute. He doesn't flinch at the tone, because of course he doesn't. Mello being snappish at him is completely normal.

"It hadn't been relevant until today."

It's not that Mello doubts the veracity of what Near tells him - the existence of alternate realities is pretty much incontrovertible fact, given the nature of where they are, and he's already seen displays of magic with his own eyes, so that's an obviously true thing, too. It's more that he's stupidly, childishly angry, because it's just yet one more fucking way Near is ahead of him.

He can't really argue with Near's reply, though. It's smart to keep your abilities a secret. But it still pricks at Mello's pride, and he silently clenches his jaw in utter irritation for a long moment, until the wave of anger passes enough for him to continue his line of questioning.

"What can you do with it? Specifically."

Edited 2016-07-07 01:23 (UTC)

Mello does have a tendency to get that way. But it's fine, really. And the familiarity of that childish anger works to soothe the sense of unease the temple has instilled in him. That, and Near's own knowledge of how to deal with small amounts of emotion.

He still doesn't look up from the phone, continuing to peruse the backlog. In getting to the specifics . . . well, he might get to an omission or two. It's not like Mello would know.

"Well, you've seen the light, obviously." The pun is terrible, but also completely unintentional. "Aside from that, the minor tricks include simple things like changing the colour or taste of things, detecting magical energy, and detecting poisons."

He's actually left something out here, the spell that creates imaginary sounds. But he'll just keep that in reserve. Frankly, he's giving out quite enough information as it is.

"As to the Indigo magic . . . What I did outside was a dispel magic spell -- cancelling out nearby magical energies. I can identify magical items, what they do and how to operate them. I can seal doors and windows, and erase text."

There's also the Tactical Precision spell, but Near does not plan on getting himself into situations where he would need to use that, so why bother? There's certainly an overall theme to the types of spells he's listed, though: they're either analytical, utilitarian, or defensive.

In all fairness, Mello only really gets this way around Near, because when he's in his presence, Mello tends to feel overshadowed by him, as small and helpless of a child as he was on the day they first met. It's really no wonder he acts like a child around him.

Mello nearly rolls his eyes over the pun, intentional or not, but makes a quick inventory of the skills Near lists, and arrives at an important conclusion: "Nothing combative?" He notices the pattern, because of course he does.

Regardless of whether Mello gets that way with anyone else, the anger is familiar and comfortable to Near. That's all he needs.

"No. Indigo's themes leave little room for combat." Mental attacks are a different matter, but he no longer has any of those. The problem with the creature outside is that it very well might.

All this information is a fairly large paradigm shift for Mello, and he takes a long moment to silently mull over everything he's seen and heard since they left the house.

"And that thing that was following us" - what did Near call it? - "the Indigo Illuminant. What it said - 'so much less curious this time' - what did that mean?" He knows what the words mean on the surface; what he's asking is for the significance of the statement, an inquiry into Near's history with the thing.

Event Log: The Hills Are Silent

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