hadriel_logs | Event Log: Keepsakes

Entry tags:

Event Log: Keepsakes

Who: Everyone participating in the event!
What: The event log for the Keepsakes event!
Where: All around the city
When: October 15th-October 19th
Warnings: A bunch of random crap.

Well, Hope and Delight are messing with the door again, but at least this time dragons aren't involved, right? This attempt goes a bit better - sure, no one gets sent home, but if everyone will just look under their seats, they'll find a FREE [INSERT SOMETHING YOU MAYBE DIDN'T WANT AT ALL HERE]! Awesome! So nice! Yup, throughout these few days people will be finding things from home - something they loved, something they used all the time, something they hated, something they totally forgot they even had. All sorts of cool stuff!

Well, they might not actually find it. Their neighbor might, or a complete stranger. And who knows where it could turn up? At the park, half-buried? In the Silent Hill zone, kept safe by a horrifying monster? Or hey, maybe in somebody's underwear drawer. Awkward. Better try to find your stuff, or find the owner of whatever weird crap you found. It could be something important.

► This log covers October 15th-October 19th.
► 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!
► If you somehow manage to die in this event, please let us know here, and also what the hell?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The biggest benefit to being shot right in the head is that it doesn't take long to actually die. Sato snaps back into the land of the living in seconds, hand shooting out to grab... wait, where's the gun?

Instantly connecting the dots, he recognizes this as a fun new game of keep-away. He's clearly not going to be killing that very immaterial ghost any time soon unless lessons from Lea suddenly work out, but that just adds an obstacle to the challenge.

As he gets back to his feet, he sends his IBM on ahead, bounding off the wall to turn the corner at top speed and spring forward, heading for the maser, too.

Though unseen, the sounds of movement in the cave is difficult to miss. Rey hears two in pursuit behind her, but there is only the wraith to be seen. Moving nearly silent if not for the strange language it speaks to her.

Just as Rey makes to scoop the maser up, it's kicked forward once again. This time bouncing off the curve of the cave and sliding across a downhill slope into the tunnels.

In the shadows of the long channel, a line of several, glowing eyes light up the darkness. All at once, their heads turn towards the cave corner. Each facing Rey.

"I hope that weapon is registered," comes a mechanical voice from the closest figure. A white, almost porcelain-like skinned android bends down and picks up the fallen masergun at its feet. "Firearms can cause serious injury. Let me assist you."

Rey skids to a halt, just as the android lifts the maser, aiming at her chest. "Seriously?" she says, incredulous.

Sato's IBM, on the loosest of reins, doesn't come up short when Rey does. Nope, instead it slams into her from behind; Rey might be heavy, but the thing has a lot of force behind it. Careening off course, it lashes out with its claws. The Joes are built tough, so unlike a human, it's not enough to send heads rolling, but one of the ones not holding the gun gets savaged, white android juice spurting out of the clawmarks screeching through its 'skin'.

Sato himself doesn't run; there's no rush, especially when his ghost is on the case, but he does unsheathe his machete as soon as he catches wind of the new enemies afoot.

Unfortunately the wraith is closest, turning on him. It's not clear if the thing is confused, not when it has a shadowy hood and glowing eyes for a face, but it's after life force, and that's something that Sato has in abundance. Uttering an ear-piercing shriek, it sets on him again. Sato dodges under the first swipe, but when he tries to get past, the wraith seems to be aware that nothing Sato has can harm it and rushes him, grabbing his neck with one wizened hand of death and darkness.

Not anticipating being slammed into by an invisible force, sending her forward just as a maser shot grazes over her head and missing by a hair's breadth. She could feel the swift heat, just before plummeting to the cold, hard ground. Her hands come out to soften the fall, only to look up and catch a glimpse of something tearing into one of the machine men. Among the crowd of others, another identical voice rises, "Unwarranted."

"The fuck--?"

"Are you quite finished?"

White hands grasp Rey's shoulders, one of the unarmed robots hoisting her back up onto her feet. For as much as she weighs, the strength of these automatons is impressive.

Before it can make for her throat, she throws her hand over its unmoving, emotionless mask. Red veins also light up under her skin, over the glowing red eyes flickering under her palm. Flames erupt around her hand, engulfing the head of the machine.

But something is wrong. It doesn't melt.

"Only wild animals fear fire," it says, almost ominously as it hurls a free fist at Rey's face.

Forced to let go, she stumbles back a few paces at the incredible impact that could have nearly dislocated her jaw.

Just one touch from the wraith is enough to feel drained, and rather than wait for it to just suck every ounce from him, Sato runs forward, through the wraith.

Passing directly though the thing takes a massive toll though, and it's more a stumble after that first step. He feels weak and exhausted, and is definitely not going to do a good job of making a stand against the Joes in this state.

In fact the only one doing any good now it seems is his IBM. Making an effort to not actually break the maser gun, it's grappling with the weapon-wielding android now, one hand around the Joe's wrist to hold the gun up in the air, and the other slashing at its arm, making slow progress on whatever constitutes bones in the things.

The Working Joe is pummelling its invisible assailant, with calm utterances of "I can't see you. What are you playing at?" but getting nowhere fast as the IBM keeps re-forming under the punishing blows.

He has a plan to get out of here. But he doesn't want to use it until he has the gun back, and it looks like it'll be at least a few more moments until his IBM gets it free.

Staggering forward towards the Joes and Rey, wraith right on his heels, this party's getting crazy.

As Rey falls back another step, she catches Sato and the wraith approaching out the corner of her eye. It only lasts for a brief instant, when the Joe on her case drives another punch towards her skull.

Swiveling to the side, Rey stoops low enough to grasp the Joe's arm in one hand, while heaving the rest of it into the air with her other, still veiny and burning a hole through the machine's jumpsuit. Though heavy for a normal person, for Rey it's all too simple. Lobbing it over her head and sending it crashing around the stone corner. Its mechanical body just barely avoids landing on Sato and passes right through the wraith accompanying him.

"That stings," it says, now a glitchy heap on the ground, sparks sputtering from its snapped neck.

Meanwhile, up ahead, the Joes seem to be more occupied swarming whatever invisible thing is seemingly trying to get a hold of that gun. She can't help but get a strange sense of déjà vu.

Not giving it much thought, nor Sato and the wraith a second glance, instead Rey sprints forward. Weaves around a grasping Joe, then launches herself to the wall. She kicks with one leg, allowing the rest of her to be vaulted towards the tall, invisible thing. And then, like running across stepping stones (except the stones are actually an invisible creature's back), she reels overhead. Snagging the maser right out of the Joe's hand, before landing on the opposite side.

Sato has to duck fast to get out of the way of that Joe, and his IBM has most of them occupied well enough that he can make a tactical dodge through a break in the crowd.

One grabs his arm before he can completely break free of the group, uttering "Come with me, please," but having seen how tough their chassis are, Sato opts for the simpler option, which is chopping off his own arm right above the grasping hand.

He doesn't make it to Rey before the wraith, undeterred and uninterested in the lifeless animatronics of the Working Joes, grabs him with those inky black claws and, with an inhuman shriek, finishes him off. Sato slumps to the ground.

Sato's IBM, too, is having trouble actually breaking free, but causing a lot of damage in the process with sparks, smoke, and white android fluids coming out of the big ball of chaos in the tunnel.

With Sato dead (again), all eyes are on Rey (again).

Maser now in her grip, Rey starts taking careful strides backwards, her eyes not leaving the several threats in front of her. She notices Sato's collapse, disappearing behind the chaos of mechanical dismemberment by some unseen presence.

Not curious enough to stick around and figure it out, she swivels on her heels before sprinting the other direction.

"Are we playing a game?" says one of the many machine men that commence to give chase.

Holstering the masergun in her cargo pants, she extracts the regular pistol and fires off a few well-placed shots over her shoulder. One chips a Joe's head, not doing much damage beyond tearing part of its face off while it continues running at her. The others seem barely daunted by the next few bullets, which Rey is quick to decide is not worth her time anymore.

Through the winding tunnels, she attempts to make a roundabout path back towards the city--

--and shuffles, nearly losing her footing when she is now staring down a long tunnel with a spiked, bloody bear facing towards her. It turns its head in time to give out a furious roar.

Nope. Taking the left fork instead. It's darker, but much more bear-free and at the end of the day that is what matters.

Wherever the hell the wraith is now, she can't see when she makes another turn. Just a wave of unrelenting Working Joes, all urging her to stop while others attempt to warn and threaten in their polite, robotic tones. It would almost be comical, if not for the many menacing red eyes and the intent to beat her to death. That's something Rey would like to avoid today, thank you very much.

Playing dead a little longer than strictly necessary, Sato finally gets up. His ghost is gone, crumbled away into nothing again, but it sure did a number on the Working Joes. A number are still moving, but they won't be catching up with him any time soon as he picks his machete back up and trots past, veering away from grabbing hands. The best news is that the wraith is nowhere to be seen.

He can hear the roar somewhere down a side passage, but he's reasonably sure that Rey will eventually have to come back to the main route to actually get back to Hadriel proper, so he lightly jogs down that direction a bit.

And that's exactly where he finds the wraith, an ominous presence blocking the route back. Sato frowns back at the infernal red glare. "Not this again."

After some navigating through the caves, Rey eventually finds some familiar curves and twists. The tunnels seem to change sometimes, which makes it all the more imperative to remember little details. Especially when you're all out of breadcrumbs.

Some time later, once making her way through cold winding channels, the way she had trekked with Sato begins making itself clearer. But now's hardly the time for triumph. Not when there are at least half a dozen robots hot on her trail. All of them bearing scorched marks and tattered clothes after a few failed attempts at burning them into disrepair. It hadn't taken long for Rey to determine a lost cause when she sees one.

By the time she finds Sato again, that same damned wraith is also blocking her path to him.

Unlike the immortal old man and some of her chosen company, Rey does not have the luxury of being able to immediately get back up after dying. Sure, she is hard to kill, but it's better not to tempt fate and see whether or not it would require the same amount of effort on the wraith's part to suck the life out of this vessel. If such a thing is even possible.

So, rather than running through it like a crazy person, she just drops low. Skidding across the hard ground, dust kicking up around her. Before the phantom can turn or even acknowledge her, she's passed under it. And in her wake is a marching band of polite but murderous robots advancing.

"Just go." She is almost too calm when she speaks, springing back to her feet in order to flee the scene.

Just who he was hoping to run into again! Well, moreso Rey and her masergun than another horde of androids. And... was that the roar of one of those bear things echoing from further back as well?

Sato doesn't have to be told twice. Androids are one thing, but the wraith is apparently a bit too high-level an encounter for him right now. For possibly the first time in Rey's sight, he actually breaks into a run. Much like last time, he heads straight for the wraith... but darts to the side at the last moment, slamming into then pushing back off the tunnel wall to make an abrupt zig-zag around the thing, just barely avoiding another swipe of the intangible darkness.

The ludicrous train of Rey, followed by Sato, followed by wraith, followed by Working Joes, followed by a bereskarn must be quite a sight if Confusion was watching.

It's a shame that the Joes are so resilient to fire. Rey could create a hot barricade and be done with it.

At least they're not entirely bulletproof. Which is why she takes the time to turn just as she's sliding around a corner. Pistol out, she squeezes off several more shots at the most adjacent Joes' legs. While not killing blows, it's enough to sever some wiring in their knee joints, causing a line of them to topple off their feet.

If no flaming wall will do, then she can create a line of robot bodies to slow the remaining pursuers down.

That zombie bear, though? Not so much. The burly, bloody creature just comes barreling down the tunnels, tearing past the shambling machines. The wraith not far from it.

Fuck that.

Rey just turns, hurrying down the next corridor to rejoin Sato.

Sato doesn't bother looking back much. Death is a non-issue, but keeping pace with Rey so he doesn't lose track of her and the gun is higher priority. It's curious, in fact, that she isn't even using it that much.

He can however hear the bear-thing charging, and at this rate it's going to catch up with them... which means either Rey will get even more of a lead, or the gun will get lost in the chaos again. He can't have that.

Invisible particles in his wake pull together into the heavily muscled form of his IBM, which collides into the rampaging beast in a flurry of teeth and claws on both sides.

Not yet having the chance to see how many charges are left in the maser, let alone knowing if there are any spare mags to reload it, Rey isn't taking any chances unless she knows she can a.) replenish her supply, and b.) for certain eliminate her target. The wraith is out of the question, and the Joes can be destroyed with a gun. It just takes more bullets to get them down. And the bear--

Well, the bloody beast is no longer an issue, thanks to that same invisible force that seems to make an 'appearance' wherever Sato is concerned.

Interesting.

The intrigue doesn't last long when something tall and mottled gray emerges from around the approaching forked path. One of the trolls stalks by, a jagged knife in hand.

Still not wanting to waste her resources, Rey launches herself forward while the troll still has its back turned towards her. She hurls over it, feet kicking up its spine. She crouches over its shoulders and ends up on the ground at its front. Before it can thrust its knife at her, she continues running like she had just jumped a hurdle during a marathon rather than a nine-foot-tall abomination.

Ominous hiss of the wraith in his ear, Sato ducks and rolls under the trolls arm as he follows in Rey's wake. It's not quite enough to miss the wide arc of its knife as it turns with a snarl, slashing a deep gash across his shoulder. But Sato barely even notices, jumping back up into a run and simply leaving a solid trail of blood droplets across the uneven rock of the tunnel floor.

With the scent of blood in the air, it's not long before there's another unearthly and horrible noise behind them, but Sato doesn't even bother to turn around, and just keeps running after Rey, trying to make sure he doesn't lose her in the labyrinthine cave system.

By the time the tunnel finally widens out and the city comes into view, Sato's actually starting to feel a bit winded. But whatever force of Hope's it is that keeps the monsters at bay seems to be working; he can hear the irate wail of the wraith and babbling of the Joes, but none of them have come around the final turn.

"That was an adventure," he huffs, a little out of breath and still bleeding profusely down the back of his shirt, but seemingly pleased all the same.

Edited 2016-11-01 23:21 (UTC)

Perhaps it is her inhuman nature, or the fact that she has over a century's worth of military experience under her belt, but Rey is barely run ragged by the end of their jaunt. Being able to trek at high speeds for long periods of time should come with the territory when you're expected to perform as a biomechatronical weapon ought to.

She does take a breather when they come to a stop, though, taking the time to assess that the creatures are, in fact, hanging within in the cave perimeters where they're bound.

Dropping the fight in her posture, Rey's arms hang at her sides, before she holsters the pistol. A glimpse of the maser can also be seen, tucked into the back of her pants.

"You're hurt." She nods at the blood on Sato's back. Not that she doesn't think he can handle a scratch, but there's just an easy way to fix that if needs be.

Hey, man. Don't ever say she never did anything for you.

"Hmm?" Sato glances back at his shoulder, actually noticing it for the first time. "Oh. Just hand me my pistol and I'll reset," he says mildly, holding out one hand, expecting her to hand over the maser.

His pistol, he says. Rey almost laughs, but she just withdraws the maser and gives it a once-over. It's been a while, but she recognizes some of the dents and dings that it had sported the last time she had seen the weapon. It isn't random happenstance, after all.

"Actually, am pretty sure that this belongs to a woman named Faye Elms." She tilts it, getting a look at how many charges were left in the current mazzy. About half left. "Never did get around to returning it. Not like she ever asked."

There were other, more effective weapons that Rey could have taken while down in that underground military base. But she had held onto this maser for a time. Because it was Faye's.

Now it just seems stupid to get sentimental. Suppose it can't be helped.

"Unless she's been brought here too, it's probably a lost cause," Sato says offhandedly, hand still held out, still waiting.

Unlike Rey, he doesn't have much sentimental attachments to particular weapons. But firearms of any kind, futuristic or not, are pretty good and hard to come by, which means he really does want that one back.

While he may still be waiting, Rey still isn't delivering.

"On the contrary, was lent this gun by her shortly before coming here. Can't remember what happened to it, though." Perhaps it got lost somewhere along the shuffle to the sky prison, or something. So much was going on back then.

It's strange, even talking about Faye in passing now, or lingering on the inclination to hold onto something that likely belonged to her. Considering that the last thing the sniper ever did was stab Rey in the back, shortly before she had been returned to Hadriel.

You know. Little details that don't matter anymore. Grudges aren't very becoming of Rey.

Edited 2016-11-03 02:06 (UTC)

Finally, Sato does lower his hand, backing off his usual smile a little.

"Well, if you can't remember, I'm sure you don't have much use for it. Considering you have quite the gun collection you're building, maybe there's something I can just trade you for it. Even though I was the one who found it in the first place," he reminds her.

Funny how Sato should mention the equivalence to 'finders, keepers' to her, considering how the second half of that phrase goes.

What is it, 'losers, weepers'? And Rey got the gun back in what she assumes to be fair game.

"Could trade you something for it, even though it was never actually yours to begin with," Rey shoots back. But fair is fair, right? Really, she just doesn't want Sato to be in possession of a maser weapon; that's the last thing that Hadriel really needs. "Can also provide some extra ammo without Rage's body deal. Just as long as you don't ask where it comes from."

Since that was part of the agreement Rey had made with a kid who got her the pistol she has already.

Sato looks pleasantly puzzled, assuming Rey means that she'll be the one doing the hunting for him. Admittedly, his own luck in the tunnels has only been so-so, considering the variety of hard-to-kill creatures in there, and he's not fond of trying to lug an oversized body through the cave system, but if he desperately wanted bullets, he could still handle it on his own.

So he doesn't find it to be that good of a deal, especially considering the maser packs a lot more of a punch than his old M1911A1.

But the phrasing is particularly odd, too. He knows where she got the rifle, but now that mysterious statements are being made, he doesn't remember her having a pistol before.

And there's only one way he knows of to get new firearms from Rage, which lines up quite well with Rey's reticence... either that or she got it from a departed resident of the city. "Oh? Have you started moving into homicide now, Rey?" he chuckles, still with that faintly bemused look on his face, unclear if he's joking or not. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

One does not just reveal their secrets, Sato. There is a reason why that is an often-spoken law in which magicians abide by.

"That'd be for the best. Would probably have to kill you if you really did want to know." Rey then pauses, feigning a passing expression of alarm when she tilts her head at him, before the look is gone. "Oh, oops. Too late."

Ha ha. Immortality jokes.

"Doing it again won't make much of a difference either. So now I guess you'll have to tell me," Sato replies as cheerfully as always... but curiously intent.

If there's anything worth a momentary distraction from high-powered firearms, it's good old-fashioned murder.

Event Log: Keepsakes

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