hadriel_logs | like a vagabond through the distance [OPEN]

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like a vagabond through the distance [OPEN]

Who: Rey and You!
What: Awful harmonica playing + dealing with the aftermath of a certain visitor flavor.
When: All over the month of November.
Warnings: Rey can't play instruments for shit and I'm sorry ~~not really sorry~~ okok.
Also the second prompt will likely have some triggering themes of trauma and torture and whatever. I'll update if necessary.

I. Harmonica Song (Far As the Road Goes, I'll Go the Road)

Music is a gift. People find comfort in it during dire times. Much like the instrument itself, the breathy notes of the harmonica has a nostalgic quality to Rey's ears.

Unfortunately for everyone else within a twenty-foot vicinity of her, she is both tone-deaf and can't play for shit.

Somehow, her brother always made it look easier. Her tune doesn't sound nearly like the scenes of old movies she's seen before, with the weary prisoner playing melancholy tunes reminding him of home or the bad-ass cowboy on an epic pursuit for revenge. It sounds more akin to a wailing cat being strangled to death.

And you've got front-row seats to the worst performance you've probably ever seen before in your life. Like it or hate it (let's not kid ourselves here -- you'll hate it), the player doesn't care. She doesn't even believe that this harmonica fell out of the Door and into Firo's possession for a reason. If anything, she doesn't believe in fate, or destiny, or whatever and never has. Because it's seriously doubtful that providence would throw such a terrible instrument at Rey's feet to deliver you ~~a beautiful presentation of unrealized talent~~ torture.

Truth is, she's just bored. That's all there is to it. Patrols are boring. Sitting in bars by her lonesome is boring. Everything is boring.

If music is one of the many spices of life, then Rey's delivery is its antithesis of a flavor most foul.

But that's just like, my opinion.

II. First Spiral Neighborhood (But Now We Move a Different Way)

Despite the relief efforts of easing some stress and paranoia, Rey's occasional excursions offer no respite. When she heads home, her bearing is heavy, and she hasn't slept in some time. Not when she sees the same face every time she closes her eyes, before a flash of red and visions of blood and pain hurls her awake.

Better to be restless than being shaken up in the middle of the night in sweat and panic. Most of the time, she can't even hide that she's more dazed than usual lately. IV's presence may be gone. The lingering memories of her atrocities and the scar near Rey's own heart, however, remains.

She stops before she enters her house, slowly taking a step back. A hand comes up over her chest, the mark from the rebar mercifully hidden beneath the cloth of her shirt.

Without even realizing it, she's gone pale again. What more, she's been standing still for a while, just staring at the door to her own home. This place where she should feel safe.

Yet, at any point, she can be taken back. And the worrying reminder will never leave, no matter how comfortable she gets.

IV is gone. But like the plant, her untreated poison festers.

III. Choose Your Own Adventure (Freedom is the Way I Live)

[ooc: Have some other non-event stuff you want to do with Rey? Hit me up via any one of your preferred contact methods!]

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Naturally, what could have been an out turns out to be an opportunity for Sato to make the eternally wise choice to converse while being stalked. Rey sighs, drawing out her pistol as she heads for the building, waiting for the door to open.

"Best interests," she finishes, her brows furrowing. "What is it about all of this that you find so amazing, anyway? Most people would be shitting their pants in this place."

Including guys who describe their lifestyle as 'healthy living'. Of course, Rey has enough of a sense now to see that that was total bullshit.

Sato's silent for a moment except for the faintest of grins, and finally throws the door open, bringing the crossbow up with both hands.

There's nothing there. Nothing but an empty hallway and deep, deep darkness.

Fortunately he was prepared for it this time, and reaches down under the haft of the crossbow to flick the flashlight on. Using the dim beam to scan the entryway briefly, he moves inside at his usual, deliberate pace.

"The idea that one person could cause this, and make it so potent that even the so-called gods can't get rid of it completely from their domain... you don't find that impressive?"

Despite there being plenty of unexplained phenomenon in her world, something as horrific as creating an entire hellscape is a bit much. Even for Rey. The closest thing would be a byproduct of psychological torture; a practice that the synthetics have down to an art when it comes to twisting the human mind.

Rey doesn't answer right away, just keeping to Sato's back by a few feet. The light doesn't do much good, when it seems as though the floor, walls, and ceiling are pitch black. She makes to try a door closest to where she had seen that figure in the window, until she finds that there is no knob.

Weird.

"Suppose so. But then, have seen how much damage one person can do. Compared to that, this is nothing."

Even better when that one person happened to be one of those who created you. Feels bad, man.

Still advancing down the hall, Sato is at least a little more cautious in his steps into the inky blackness, still doing his best to scan back and forth with the flashlight, with the occasional ceiling check.

Shouldn't whatever it is be attacking them by now? Maybe it needed a little more coercion this time, a little more conversation to let the place know that they're here.

"Oh? Nuclear disaster or something else? I didn't get the impression the place you're from what much for the supernatural," he remarks, turning his head to glance back... and the door they came in through, shining the faintest bit of light in from the fog-strewn landscape outside... appears to be gone. Odd.

"Nuclear disaster would have been a blessing," Rey retorts, although Nick would probably have differing opinions on the matter. She knows full well what a nuclear waste looks like as well. "But no, not supernatural. Though it isn't without its singularities. For instance, was not put together with the intention of becoming the world's most efficient arsonist. That was a fluke."

A common theme with those that are influenced by the Cleary cells. Whatever purpose her creators had in mind when they made her, Rey still doesn't know. And it doesn't matter, because she is here now.

As she speaks, she's leaning up against the knobless door. There has to be a reason why this is here. No one would just leave a door inaccessible unless they were trying to hide something on the other side, right?

With that, she begins to push forward, putting her shoulder into it while Sato does his own thing.

While Rey tries the door, Sato passes a couple other doors and makes his way up to the end on the hall. With the manner of well-trained military type (or heavy CoD player) checks those corners. But with nothing more than pitch-black hallway leading onwards, he turns back to see if Rey's made any headway.

"It seems like you have it well under control now," he remarks, checking one of the closed doors on his way back down the hall. Locked. "Looking out for everyone's best interest on that account too."

Under control now, sure. Only after she had set fire to her twin and killed an innumerable amount of people. Though something tells her that Sato wouldn't see that as much of a downside.

Eventually, the door starts to give way. Rey steps back.

"You could say that," she says, before throwing her foot against the obstacle before her.

The hinges easily snap. Throwing the door forward to reveal another hallway. Only this one is pale, dimly lit, and obscured by a thick layer of miasma. An odd, uncomfortable medical stench emits from the area beyond the broken doorway.

Unless she feels like giving up the lead, Sato lets Rey take point on this new direction, noting the change with some curiosity. Either way, much like the last time, there's no sign of fear despite the eerie change in tone.

"Hmm? I'm surprised the welcome wagon hasn't shown up to greet us yet," he remarks as he eases his way along. Yes, he might be speaking loudly enough to draw attention. But that doesn't mean he isn't staying alert to any threats that might try to jump them, listening for sounds that aren't their own voices and footsteps.

Stepping over the fallen door, Rey rests her hand on the grip of her pistol. Even though she takes the lead, she doesn't put her guard down by having Sato at her back. She scoffs at his comment.

"This isn't the same as the tunnels. There's more to this place than just monsters. Sometimes, it messes with you."

Actually, that's more like 'most of the time'. But whatever.

About to make a wry comment in return, Sato can't help but notice the change as they progress down the hallway, the pattern on the walls starting to give way to the raised baffles of soundproofing. He's seen those panels before, inside a certain research facility.

"That's a bit disconcerting, isn't it," he says mildly. But if whoever runs the show here thinks that will generate more than the faintest hint of displeasure, well, they'd be mistaken. "With the way it pulls things from our minds, I wonder how much of this place is yours?"

While it's true that the power of this place tends to draw inspiration from the twisted minds of trespassers, Rey has never seen it replicate an exact duplicate of an entire memory. A warped version, maybe, but never something wholly accurate.

This place is odd. Different. Alien. Lacking in the smells that would otherwise ring familiar of that underground research facility where she was 'born'. She moves forward, finding this area to be more sterile than most of the grime and muck that coats this hellscape.

"What makes you think that?" It's a stupid question, but his wording is peculiar.

Still searching for the stairs to get up to that figure they'd seen in the window, Sato checks a couple more doors as they pass by. Locked and locked. Unlike Rey, he's less interested in breaking down every door along the way. It feels like they're being led on a predefined path, and he's curious about what could be at the end.

"Well, if the soundproofing is familiar to me, I thought we should be seeing a hint of you somewhere around here," he suggests calmly. If the place seems inclined to head towards the disturbing, he doesn't mind helping it along a little... just to see Rey's reaction. From the little hints he'd gotten here and there, he still wondered if she was an experiment of some kind, herself. "Demihuman researchers didn't want to hear the screams of their test subjects," he adds more seriously, pointedly turning his head to the raised pattern spread across the walls and ceiling.

If Rey took the time to tear down all the doors, they'd be here for a while. No, it seems like, whatever this is, it's trying to make sure that they end up somewhere somehow. This much will become evident...

"Of course they wouldn't. Would probably be too distracting, assuming they're not the type who'd enjoy that sort of thing." She scoffs. "But no. Never had that problem before."

Mostly because she didn't have a voice to scream with for a long time.

That's when she stops at the end of the hallway.

The very last door is cracked open. Slowly, it swings further ajar.

It doesn't really look like one of the demihuman experimentation rooms per se. But it still feels like some kind of lab or medical facility, with metal tables long enough for a human being to lay down on and machinery piled up against the walls. None of it has any lights on, all broken and rusted.

And laying on one of the tables was the same bandage-wrapped form with 004 stamped across the forehead that they'd both seen in their last visit to this part of the city, unmoving.

"Hmm?" is about the full extent of Sato's curious articulation, stepping carefully into the room under the flickering fluorescent lights.

Brief that its appearance might have been, Rey recognizes that figure from their last trek through this part of the city. She approaches the flickering room with more caution than Sato, seeing that she, while plenty resilient, is not capable of returning to life as swiftly as he is.

Keeping a distance between her and the table, she moves at an angle just enough for her to see the same numbers on its bandages. A brow arches.

"If this one is 'four', then where are the first three?"

Or maybe the numbers have a different sort of significance.

"They don't seem to be here," Sato smiles back at her, not exactly the most forthcoming with his information. The figure still hasn't moved though, as he slowly walks up, keeping the crossbow trained on it.

It still doesn't move, not even when he's standing beside it.

"Should we see who's in there, then?" he asks, reaching over to tug at the bandages over the face.

That's when it goes horribly wrong.

The bandages split open, revealing only the briefest flash of rusted nails, needles, and tiny serrated blades inside before they wrap around Sato's forearm. He utters a brief noise, more surprise than pain, and fires the crossbow almost point-blank into the thing to no effect. It moves less like a person and more like the bandages themselves are animate, as bloody spots start to appear on the parts that have engulfed his arm and more strips start to crawl up past his elbow, anchoring themselves with sharp barbs.

Expecting Sato to be forthcoming is as fruitful as herding cats. In fact, at this point Rey doesn't expect much truth to come out of him.

Before she can tell him what a terrible idea it is to get handsy with a local created in a hellscape, it's already enveloped Sato's arm. Rather than asking if he's all right or taking immediate action, her brows just lift in dull surprise at the scene in front of her.

Once she sees it trying to literally consume him, she withdraws a ten-inch knife, sheathed at the side of her boot. She moves forward, taking a clean swing at Sato's disabled arm. Severing it from his shoulder before the bandages could snake up any farther.

It all happens so fast, but at least he and Rey are on the same wavelength here. As soon as his arm is free, he backs up, discarding the empty crossbow and drawing a knife of his own, left-handed. The bandages wrapped around the arm writhe in the gushing blood, completely enveloping the limb. A couple ribbons flail around, as if searching for more, but failing to find any more flesh within reach, they all finally slither back into place on the empty bandage-wrapped 'figure', pulling the arm with them.

Sato supports himself on one of the other tables a couple yards away. But once it's clear it isn't getting up to pursue anyone, he doesn't bother to wait for blood loss, resetting himself with a quick stab directly into the heart and sliding down behind the table for a couple seconds.

When he gets back up, he might be missing a shirt sleeve, but there's a new clean arm back in place like nothing ever happened.

He'd thought it might be a monster with his own face or something similar to what he'd seen for Rey the last time they'd come here. But this... could have been an actual problem, which is an interesting new development. Still, he doesn't seem too perturbed when he remarks from the present safe distance from the thing, "That wasn't what I was expecting."

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like a vagabond through the distance [OPEN]

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