Event Log: Fadeout

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone participating in the event!
What: The event log for the Fadeout event!
Where: All around the city
When: November 15th-November 25th
Warnings: None!

The morning of November the 15th seems rather normal- that is, if you can avoid the glowing cracks in the fabric of reality tucked away among various streets. Still, they don't really seem to be doing much of anything and you can't quite see through them, so maybe they're decoration? This wouldn't be the first time the gods pulled some weird shit to shake things up around here.

By midafternoon, however, something changes. Cecily, in all her wisdom, decides to attempt to dispel one of these rifts, and the resulting shockwave sends tremors through the city. Tears throughout Hadriel open wider and allow for various demons to burst through and terrorize the various citizens. Demons will be tearing through in all corners of the city, though you can choose to avoid them if you like.

Look out for Pride and Rage demons, who attempt to brute force their way to you and feed off of your anger, steel yourselves against Despair and Fear demons who grow stronger as you give up hope, and definitely cross the street to avoid the Desire demons, who can take either male or female forms and will offer you everything you want if you just let them in.

Demons will either focus on attacking you or tempting you by taking advantage of and feeding off of your basic emotions. Agreeing to let a demon help you and mentally folding to it generally means that the demon will begin to possess you and start calling the shots- often using you as a vessel to hurt others and sow discord. If you happen to have any sort of magical abilities, extended possession can lead toward becoming an abomination after the corruption takes root.

So... you might want to avoid all of that. Luckily, there are some good things happening that can distract you- along with the demons, several nugs and fennec foxes will also pop up around the city, and if you don't want them to die a horrible death to a hungry demon, you might consider adopting them. In addition, you may find a random potion laying around- maybe this can help you fight off those demons, or maybe it'll make every nug in the city love you- or maybe it's secretly a jar of bees. Wouldn't be the first time you guys let bees in jars get a little out of hand.

► This log covers November 15th-November 25th.
► 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 are murdered by a demon, become an abomination, turn your insides to sludge with a potion, or just throw yourself from a rooftop to end it all, please let us know here!

Comments

| matt. ota & closed.

[meatbrained]

⟨ game over; restart? | open ⟩
( you think you've seen quite enough shit for one lifetime, for the short eighteen years you've been alive. think there's been enough trauma with the shit you pulled, never mind the psycho on the mountain or the myriad of things you've seen since getting here (zombies, dragons, your friends who you just left months older and jaded, having seen even more of this place's insanity).

then your girlfriend becomes a demon and kills you.

yeah. if Matt thought his life had reached peak fucked-up-ness... he was sorely mistaken.

he wakes up in Hope's temple, gasping and terrified, stumbles out alone, wandering through the streets with nerves on edge. rubble falling is enough to make him jump; the sight of odd, shambling monsters makes him run.

he winds up finding a store to hide out in, busying himself in the aisles and trying to catch his breath. )

⟨ when you don't talk | closed to emily ⟩
( she doesn't come back with him. he doesn't even know she's dead until after he's back, and the days that pass between then and this is enough to give him nothing else to think about.

just that - as far as he knows - she made a deal with a demon, after everything they'd heard on the network about them. she made that deal and he died for it.

when they meet, he has nothing planned, just the grim bile that lies heavy in his gut.

she did this. )

What the hell, Emily?

i have a tissue box right here w me im riddy

[unfollowing]

[It only takes a few seconds to remember everything once she's resurrected. Well, for a given value of everything. She'd been reading network posts for information about the demons, she'd made a stupid joke to herself about what kind of deal she might make if she were an absolute fucking moron, and then, a fleeting moment of abject horror.

And now this.

She takes her time getting back to the house, eases back into being alive and in control of her body (that's twice now, twice this shithole has produced monsters that rip her away from herself like this). Are the demons even gone yet? What's that she hears in the distance? Fighting? Screaming? She hurries up the street and into the house.

First, she runs into Sam, and later, Emily will realize that was good. Nothing could've prepared her to see Matt again, but knowing that someone is on her side means the world to her, much like it did on the mountain, when she stared death in the face with her back to the wall.

The fury in Matt's voice hits her almost as hard as his words. Emily blinks, frowns at him. She only just found out what day it is. Besides, it wasn't her fault, right, so why is he so upset?]

What?

OH GODDDD i don't know if i can handle this

[meatbrained]

You made a deal with a demon? ( if he was thinking, he'd have eased into this. been calmer. been more mature and levelheaded. but he's done nothing but stew, cooped up in an abandoned apartment since returning, completely unable to deal with the sight of the house, the way it brings back flashes of everything - of nearly having his head knocked off by a ball of magic, the pain of his leg when the demon - when Emily - dug her claws into him.

he's done nothing but stew and he doesn't know - couldn't know - what happened. the real story. all he has is the sudden reminder of the girl he was dating before they ended up here. the one who doesn't just have nothings - there are reasons and plans.

that girl? he might believe dealt with a demon. )

What the hell were you thinking?

ganbare us

[unfollowing]

I--

[What-- he actually thinks she'd do that? Does he know her at all?

Was she so much of a bitch to him before that he thinks she'd do something so dangerous to get a benefit, even if it meant her friends would get hurt or killed?]

I didn't. Matt, you seriously think I'd do something like that?

[meatbrained]

( the thought did cross his mind. and well-

there's the Emily he used to know. the one who must have had more than friendship on her mind when hugging Mike, right? the girl who always had a goal.

he can see that girl attempting this, and he's not so sure she's entirely gone yet. )

Well- that's how they work, isn't it? ( that's what it sounded like, anyway. )

[unfollowing]

[Yes, but--

But she hadn't meant it. She was just making a joke. She didn't want to make a deal with the demon.

She can't say that, though, because it doesn't matter what she meant if the demon took it seriously. She extended the offer, and it got taken.

It just wasn't supposed to be taken.]

Matt, oh my god, I didn't do it, okay? It just took over before I could even think about fighting!

[meatbrained]

( of course that's the case. sure. there's an excuse for everything. a reason. a lie.

I've gotta find Sam.

it just took over.

sure. he can believe that. like he swallowed the I need to find Sam excuse.

god, was he always this stupid, blinded by the fact that someone like Emily Davis actually wanted him, taking hope in all the moments she was someone other than the Ice Queen in front of him?

fuck, man. )

It just happened to find you? ( you, of all people. one girl with a little bit of learned magic in a place like this, with far more powerful hosts to choose from? )

[unfollowing]

[In that moment, Emily realizes she's lost this argument.

Because there's no way to deny it now without lying, and she doesn't want to lie to him. As much as she doesn't want this to be happening like this, she wants to be honest with him because of how much she lied back home. She owes him that, after all he's done for her, after how good he's been when she deseves nothing but the worst.

So she won't lie. She'll tell him the truth.

Her mind is going a thousand miles a minute, thinking a few steps ahead like this is some test and she has to support or refute a statement in five minutes flat. Only since she knows she lost, it's harder. There are no arguments to be made anymore, except--]

I didn't mean it.

[meatbrained]

( something in him deflates. he isn't sure what, but something in him deflates and the anger turns into something different, something more hollow and less passionate.

this is how it goes, is it? )

Alright. Alright alright.

( maybe exhaling those words will let him think of what he wants, needs to say. why make jokes about dealing with demons in this situation? does time here make that seem like a good idea? knowing you'll come back, or thinking you're invincible? )

Just- Just tell me one thing: the hell did you say?

[unfollowing]

[It's like he's stepping on the pieces of her shattered heart. With every word, the fragments crack a little more, sending waves of sharp pain through her goddamn soul. In another time, she would've yelled at him for this, turned it around on him so that this was all his fault.

But shithole cavetown has opened her eyes, and even if it hadn't, she's hurt him enough already. She killed him, for fuck's sake.

Shutting her eyes against imminent tears, she takes a slow, shuddering breath. She couldn't come up with a good lie right now even if she had to, and that somehow hurts more than the truth.]

I said-- [God. God. This is embarrassing, on top of everything else. How fucking childish is she? How fucking vain? How much of an absolute fuckup? If he dumps her for this, she deserves it. She deserves all that the gods throw at her.]

I said that-- that I might do it if it meant-- if they could make me curvy. [It's almost mumbled, and then she's quicker and louder on the follow-up.] But it was a joke, I owuldn't make a deal with a fucking demon!

[hasitsthorns]

[ For the most part, Rose has been keeping to herself either in the house or the lab. As someone whose kind is known as 'demons,' she's been a little... touchy about all the talk of them going around. A little touchy about how easily people are killing them or, worse, how easily the demons are killing other people. They're not her brand of demons and yet... She really isn't any better than the monsters skulking about, when it comes to down it. She likes to think she can be, but she's not at this point.

Eventually, restlessness drives her from safety and out into the fray. So to speak. She doesn't want to confront anyone (or anything) so she instead sticks close to buildings to duck in just in case. That when she happens upon a familiar thing- fear. The smell of sweat, the sound of a quicker heart rate, all the subtle signs of someone afraid. To top if off, the scent beyond that is a familiar one and what causes her to wander into the store. ]

-Matt?

[ Please don't be a demon possessed Matt. She's done super awesome on not hurting anyone since she's gotten here. ]

[meatbrained]

( Jesus.

everything feels too much, right now. just when you think you're getting used to a place, when the weird events and the attacks start to be a fact of life rather than something terrifying and shocking (they still are, but in a different way to being plunged into the supernatural for the first time), this happens.

he's been dead. dead and is back. dead because of his girlfriend.

because she murdered him.

he manages to calm down, to not start too badly when he recognises the voice, tries for a smile but fails. )

Uh.

Hey.

[hasitsthorns]

Hey. [ Don't try to fib a fibber, Matt. ] What happened?

[ Concern is written in nearly facet of herself; she beelines for him, arms going up to make sure he isn't hurt. She thinks first it might be the demons, maybe he'd been attacked. She's not wrong, actually, though she doesn't realize the scope of it just yet. He looks alright albeit like a frightened animal so she'll give him a little space. ]

[meatbrained]

I- uh.

( the pause here isn't to grasp for a lie, but because the truth is so utterly strange, foreign to him, that the word seems to get caught in his throat.

he did die, but-

it makes no sense. people don't just come back from the dead. that's not right. )

- I died.

( he blurts it out with more force than he means to, needs to. a quick-fire burst rather than a measured response. )

[hasitsthorns]

Oh, fuck.

[ That about sums it up, doesn't it? Matt was so... so normal from what she could gather. Of course this would leave him so unsettled, so scared. Rose came from a world of literal monsters where death was always a possibility. She came from Haven where people were resurrected from the dead (and then they weren't). She's been through this song and dance and she's old and tired but Matt?

Matt's just a kid. He's someone so normal that shouldn't have died so young. That shouldn't have even had to worry about the possibility of death. And definitely shouldn't have to deal with the confusion and emotions that coming back dredge up.

So that's why she hugs him; it's a sudden, thoughtless gesture. She's been in his place. Rose still remembers waking up after the first time she'd died. She still has the scars on her head to show it and scars in her heart that aren't as easily visible. ]

[meatbrained]

( it really does. everything in his life has been... well, workaday. nothing has been weird, not until the mountain trip, not until he came here and learned way too much stuff about his impending future. he isn't cut out for this, the knowledge has been buried in the base of his spine since he got here.

playing hero, defeating monsters is one thing on your playstation, but another thing entirely when it's real.

the hug cuts through him, a sudden shock to all the stress building inside of him, and Matt bites down on his lip, choking back a sob. fuck- )

I-- ( fuck, indeed, 'cause here come the waterworks. ) --I don't get it. What- ( so not prepared for this at all ) - What the fuck happened to Em, man?

[hasitsthorns]

[ Em. Emily. He's mentioned her before. Rose has talked to her, even. The woman doesn't think based on what she knows that it's too much of a leap to assume they're together, that she's someone important - if not the most important - to Matt.

And now, another assumption, is that she'd killed him. Or at the very least had something to do with why he was murdered if it wasn't her directly.

Rose tightens her grip on Matt reassuringly, letting him know he can cry it out should he need to. She wants to be for him what she wouldn't let other people be for her until it was too late. If she can prevent him going down the path she did by taking the world on her shoulders, then it'll be one of the few good things she's done the last three years. ]

I don't know, dude. I wish I could tell you, but- This place is super fucked sometimes, I'm sorry. [ Even if Haven was worse, Hadriel can still be a hard pill to swallow for someone not seasoned in fuckery like Rose. ] I wanna' say 'it'll be okay' but I can even promise that. It gets better, at least. [ This might not even be the worst, but. It always gets better. There's always things that will make it worth in places like these even if they can be hard to find in these moments. ]

[meatbrained]

( that assumption would be right, but Matt needs to cry a bit longer, to hold that knowledge to himself for the moment because - as far as he's concerned - how do you even go about explaining something like that?

like any of the things he's seen since he's got here.

after a minute or so, he finally gets a grip, sniffs back any further tears and squeezes tight in return, a wordless thank you. )

I, just- ( he sniffs again, tries to keep himself in check. ) - it makes no sense. Why Em?

[hasitsthorns]

[ You don't, really. It's a learning experience. Even Rose, having been to four worlds now, is still surprised occasionally. There are still things that rattle her.

He'll get used to it. But that's the saddest thing about all this, she thinks. He shouldn't have to. ]

I wish I could answer that, too, but... I don't know, dude. [ She knows a little about the demons, what she's heard on the network... They said not to make deals with them, didn't they? ] It could have been anyone, really. Emily just happened to be the unlucky one this time.

[ She doesn't want to say next time it could be him. Or her. Or anyone else. It's all so 'luck' of the draw in places like Hadriel. Perhaps to keep them on their toes? Like Hell Rose knows. ]

game over

[whichend]

[ This man gasps louder than he has any right to, really.

Arya likes to hide in the stores during the catastrophes that people here call "events." This panting guy is killing the mood. Arya can see him through the space in the shelves -- he doesn't look like a threat. But he doesn't really look that smart, either. Arya's surprised he's not dead yet.

It's then that she makes the connection. She's been revived by Hope, too. She knows how disorienting it is. So Arya emerges quietly from the shadows. ]

Try to slow down. Eat something. You're not hurting anymore.

[meatbrained]

( none of those assessments would be wrong, per se. Matt blinks, as if coming to, as if dragging himself away from the thoughts rattling around incoherently inside. )

I-

( this girl... is probably right. he breathes. present. this place is quiet. not filled with monsters.

that automatically makes it safer. makes it why he was here in the first place. )

Yeah.

( he grabs something that looks edible - some sort of energy bar, he could be pickier but isn't - off the nearby shelf and tears into in quickly, before saying anything else. )

I'm Matt.

( it's the least he can do, introduce himself, that is. )

[whichend]

I'm Arya.

[ Arya says, after some hesitation. She doesn't meet Matt's eyes, but she doesn't say that she's no one, doesn't say that she's only sometimes Arya. She's making progress. She can do an introduction.

Arya nods approvingly at the energy bar. She's had one of those once, back when the rest of the city was starving. They taste better than bears. ]

Do you remember what happened to you? It's fine if you don't. Probably better that way. But if you don't, then you'll have to make up something to tell people.

[ Arya looks at Matt again and frowns. He seems to be in pretty rough shape. ]

You may have to make up something anyway.

[meatbrained]

I-

( he remembers. he remembers all too well. the sudden blast of their bedroom door when he walked out of the bathroom. the thing that used Emily's voice, that-

it was her, it had to be. that's how it was supposed to work, deals with them, right?

why the hell would Em even think to do that? )

Wish I didn't.

( it's a bitter mutter, said round a mouthful of food. every month, this place proves itself to be crazier, more difficult and unreal than the last. )

[whichend]

[ Arya nods once more. She recognizes that tone too well. She also knows there's nothing she can do to make anything better, not truly. Killing the memories is worse. She would know.

Instead, Arya disappears back into the shelves and reappears with a package of bologna. Arya isn't really sure what bologna is, but it looks like a pizza, so it's probably not too bad. She offers it to Matt. She should probably get that sad boy a weapon, too. ]

What are you going to do about it? You can't sit in here and cry forever, like a child.

[meatbrained]

( people come together over so many things, but until recently, those things were - for Matt - bonding over a shared sport, a love of video games, finding math boring as anything. simple things, really. those traumas that lay in his life, in his world, were exceptions, were markers of something being wrong rather than - as it seems to be here - a fact of life. it's hard to even know where to begin when the basic parts of your reality have been pulled out from under you, discarded as though they're unnecessary. )

Thanks. ( he takes that offer, with as much normalcy as he can muster. she is, after all, correct. crying does nothing. but fuck- )

I, um, haven't thought about it.

( really, the concept of where to go from here has been lying secondary to safety and trying to understand why. why was it Emily, of all people... )

What, um, what would you do?