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

[torrefied]

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.

[solvethepuzzle]

He pauses in his review for a moment, lets out a half-exasperated sigh. It isn't at Mello, though. It's at the person he'd been during that Jaunt, for making the mistake that had lead to so many others. And to the creature outside seeking him out again.

"The person I was that time made an error. He'd known something had been amiss with the situation, but it was interesting and he wasn't going to get any answers if he didn't investigate. So he did, thinking he could handle it if something went awry." Foolish. He's surprised Indigo had found Liam suitable after such carelessness. "He couldn't. Instead, he'd put himself in the position for the Illuminant to possess him. Which is precisely what happened."

Near clamps down on the hollow feeling in his gut as he remembers this, all too vividly recalling his own consciousness being forced down, struggling against the intrusion and failing. Still there, but held down with no escape, no control unless the intruder had been willing to grant it. That's different than Infiltrating had been. Infiltrating is instantaneous, without being cognizant of it happening. Uncomfortable after the fact, but the process is essentially no process at all. Being legitimately possessed is something else entirely.

Not again. Never again.

[torrefied]

Mello is, of course, oblivious to any discomfort Near experiences in recalling this episode. What he does latch onto is the fact that Near - or the person he'd turned into, at least - made a significant mistake, and it ended up costing him something important - his autonomy. And there's something viciously satisfying in that knowledge, that even Near is capable of completely fucking things up on occasion. Mello swallows down the urge to say something incredibly nasty, a how does it feel to lose for once? or something similar.

"And what happened when you were possessed by it?"

[solvethepuzzle]

Near wouldn't have specifically expected Mello to say anything about it, but nor would it have surprised him. There are reasons that he does not let Mello know certain things, and high among them is that he expects Mello to use those things to hurt him.

But Near does make mistakes occasionally. He is human, after all, despite what some idiots wonder. Despite stupid jokes that would be traded through the House. He'd never cared about those jokes and still doesn't, but they do make him mentally roll his eyes on occasion.

"Once the Illuminant 'family' was reunited, they broke into Liminal Space to challenge my previous hosts -- colloquially referred to as the Trumps, as they're representative of the major arcana in tarot. Indigo argued against it, citing limited knowledge and the fact that they would be fighting an enemy they scarcely knew on its own turf. But they would not be swayed, so he joined them."

Out of a sense of pure loyalty. All of Indigo's logic and reason could be put into conflict because of this other intrinsic quality. It had known the battle would more than likely end poorly, but felt incapable of abandoning its cousins.

"The battle was brief. The Trumps pulled us out of our other selves and cast the Illuminants out of Liminal Space."

[torrefied]

Indigo's initial actions strike Mello as not straying far from Near's own methods - he has always been too passive, in Mello's opinion, too hesitant, too unwilling to take risks without a guaranteed payoff. Lacking in initiative. Even now, in talking about how to approach Sharon and deal with the nightmare reality she's created, they've disagreed on methods, with Near favoring caution to Mello's action.

"And now one of these Illuminants is here, looking for you again?" He scowls, falling deep into his own thoughts for a moment. If history were to repeat itself, its goal in coming after Near would likely be the same as before. "How exactly did it possess you before?" Knowing its methods is essential in preventing the same thing from happening again.

[solvethepuzzle]

No, they aren't far off. There is a reason Indigo had possessed him. Or Liam, who may have been more fair-minded than Near, but ultimately little different in personality. An Illuminant seeks a host that best embodies the qualities associated with their magic.

And if Mello had chosen to bring up that little comparison of methodologies, Near may have been inclined to point out that Indigo had been right. The Illuminants had been defeated quickly and soundly, even when outnumbering the Trumps that had been involved in the confrontation. Eight-on-one, they'd made headway. Eight-on-five, they'd been nothing. And that had only been a fraction of the number of Trumps in that game.

"I doubt it's him exactly. He didn't have a physical body at all in that world without possession." That had been the whole point of the possession, after all. "His Source is not here. Going to it had been the mistake. If this creature can still enact possession now, I can only advise not getting too close to him."

It's frustratingly inexact, but it's the best estimate that Near can provide.

[torrefied]

An inexact estimate is better than none; it gives Mello a starting point from which to begin working, at least. "So if Hope wasn't wrong, as long as we stay in the temple here until what's going on out there settles down, we should be able to avoid running into the Illuminant again." It's a far less active approach than Mello would like, but it's the best one he's able to come up with with the data available. Near had indicated that shooting it wouldn't do anything to harm it, and that's the best - only - weapon he has.

Unless ...

"You don't know any spells that would work against it?"

[solvethepuzzle]

"I've told you what I can do."

With a couple of things left out, but even those are nothing that are much help without being able to do sufficient physical harm.

"And it's reasonable to assume that it can do the same things I can; we practice the same magic. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that it can also do quite a bit more. I only retained a small fraction of the number of spells it potentially has available."

Resisting a spell effect is possible; he'd managed to do such a thing before he'd been possessed. Countering and dispelling is possible, but those are defensive measures only. He has nothing that can harm the creature.

[torrefied]

"I don't know all the ways your magic works, Near." As much as it pains Mello to admit this - especially to Near - he is completely out of his element when it comes to these kinds of abilities. "You could have a way of weaponizing something that isn't primarily intended to be used as an attack." And even though Near's agreed to full disclosure in this conversation, it's not like Mello is naive enough to believe that he's following through with it entirely.

"You have to consider the unknown variables as well as the constants in any equation. I shouldn't have to tell you that." Unknown variables like a fake notebook - that's what Mello's thinking of, what he doesn't say outright but the meaning of which he's fairly sure Near will catch all the same.

Arguing about this is pretty pointless. Mello sighs loudly. "Then it's settled. We stay here until this blows over, or until another more favorable option presents itself."

[solvethepuzzle]

"I see. Similar in how I shouldn't have to tell you how to handle people." He isn't precisely offended. It makes sense for Mello to latch onto a mistake that Near himself has acknowledged as a mistake. The words are tossed off carelessly, casually, a reminder that they've both erred in ways that they probably shouldn't have.

"For the moment, that's best." Whether that changes, they will see. It's hardly as if Near would shed any tears over some terrible fate befalling any representation of the Indigo Illuminant. He's almost to the end of the posts pre-dating his arrival by now.

And with that comes: "How nice of you to provide safety for the people who are inclined to satisfy their baser urges while they're here."

... Yep, guess what post he's arrived at.

[torrefied]

Mello's expression sharpens into a scowl, an admonishment that he doesn't need to be chided like a child building on his tongue, but it disappears the second Near quips his comment about Mello's post. He knows exactly which one he's talking about, and he's not happy it's been brought up as a topic of conversation.

"They wouldn't shut up about it," he says, gruffly. "And nobody else was willing to do anything about it. There was an obvious solution, so I took the initiative."