hadriel_logs | Event Log: Fadeout

Entry tags:

Event Log: Fadeout

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!

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[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!

( 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? )

[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.

( 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?

[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!

( he's pissed off, there's no denying that. he fucking died. he died because Emily thought she was invincible. thought she could joke about this.

it hurts, more than anything else, to know that this was all so preventable. or at least, less likely, had she just - christ, if she'd just acted like this wasn't a fucking joke. but actually dangerous.

his jaw tightens until it's nearly painful. )

What the hell, Em? Like you don't look good enough? ( seriously, have you seen yourself? ) We all could have died. Not just me.

( guess who doesn't know what happened after his death. )

[She should be glad he thinks of her that way. Should be glad he thinks she still looks good, after what this place has put her through, after forced vegetarianism and a ton of stress and not the best sleep in the world.

She should be, but she isn't. The old Emily comes back now, because how dare he scold her when she's obviously so sorry? How dare he try and butter her up with compliments? How dare he imply her worries are ridiculous?

How dare he tell her just how stupid she was after all?]

Like I wanted that to happen? God, what, now I'm supposed to never make jokes again in case the gods decide to take me seriously? You want me to be scared all the time instead? Quiet and just letting them do whatever they want? Shit, why don't I just go lie on one of their altars and make it easy for them?

It'd be a start! ( he blurts that out almost as soon as she says she shouldn't joke. ) You've got magic now, but the rest of us don't! ( and people like Matt, who have only been here a couple of months, don't have the tools to deal with this.

obviously. )

Seriously. Em - what if you'd killed us all because of a joke? Not just me?

So learn some! Learn how to fight or something! It's not like we don't have the fucking time here!

[The longer this goes on, the more she hides in her old defenses. It's not right -- it's not his fault, he has a right to be pissed -- but how can he do this to her? How can he turn his back on her like this? After everything that's happened since he got here, after she got possessed--]

Death's not permanent here! We all would've come back! We did, right? I'm here, you're here-- like, seriously, Matt? I died too. I got possessed by a demon, for fuck's sake, and you're just yelling at me like I did any of this on purpose?

( None of this is fair for either of them. Em shouldn't have had to have been here for months, he shouldn't have to be playing catch up. Neither of them, none of them, should be subjected to things Matt had long thought of as only possible in fiction, like demon possessions and coming back to life. These things aren't part of their world and the only thing Matt really wants to worry about is his GPA, in that abstract way a teenager does where they don't really understand the weight of it all.

He doesn't want to worry about this, not about his girlfriend, the fucking demon. Not about her anger at him for being upset at his death, or at the fact he feels she should have known better, by now.

She should have, right? )

That's not the point! ( Why should it matter that they came back? Dying still hurts. The memory of her voice, her now-learned magic, killing him, still fucking hurts. The point is:

She should have done something.

He should have done something.

Matt deflates as quickly as his anger bubbled, sighs, drags a hand down his face and then throws it in the air. A sign of surrender. )

I'm-

I'm done.

I need some space.

[She should stop. She should leave it at that, just go upstairs and pack a bag and leave too -- Chris told her where he's been staying most nights, she'll go crash there.

She should, but she doesn't. Anger twists in her chest, and she can't hold it in anymore]

What, seven months apart wasn't enough for you?

( Em can wield words as well as she can wield the palm of her hand, but knowing this doesn't make the words sting any less, not when his head still swims with too many things to understand or count. )

Seven months for you, Em. ( He should just go, but that question's a knife that slits open all the things he's been holding in since he got here. ) I get here and you're acting like a different person!

( Shit. That. That was not supposed to come out like that, because he likes that person, even if it's true that she seemed to come like a bolt from the blue. )

[Emily wields words like knives, and Matt wields them like blunt objects, like fists, like footballs. Always, always a sucker punch when he gets this way, direct and clear and honest.

That's why it hurts so much, and that's why she doesn't just storm off.]

Yeah, because it's been seven months! Would you prefer if I were the same bitch I was back on the mountain, Matt? Because I still can be. Just make up your fucking mind!

( He's never been great at the balance. Either too soft or too hard. Saying nothing or saying everything, not managing to let things come out as and when, in pieces so they're not as painful, not as explosive.

He winces, and unlike Em, wants nothing more than to leave this. Leave this fight and find a way to cool down, but it's like a flood that can't be stopped, a snowball rolling down a hill, picking up more and more.

He needs to breathe. Find space. )

I'm not- ( Doing this right now ) -What? No. I didn't mean it like that. But I turn up here and you think it's all gonna be okay, that it isn't super weird for me that my friends and girlfriend have done and seen all this shit? I feel like I'm in the freakin' Twilight Zone!

How do you think it was for me when I got here?

[Fresh off almost getting shot in the face by Mike, after being bitten by a wendigo, after that chase through the mines, after the fire tower collapsing.]

You know what? Just go. Go find some space or whatever the fuck you want to do.

[Because suddenly, she's so angry she might start screaming and crying both.

Emily brushes past him and heads upstairs. She can't be here, not with how wrecked the house still is, and the fact that she hurt or frightened everyone in the house. Grabbing the bag Carlisle taught her to sew, she packs a few changes of clothes. She'll stay with Chris for a few days. He may be the nerdiest nerd to ever nerd, but after all they've been through here, she can trust him not to kick her out or force her back here.

It's when she's about to leave that she sees the lace on the bed, and she knows right away who got it and how. The knowledge hits her so hard that she almost falls apart and cries right then and there, but she holds it together. She stuffs the lace in the bag and leaves before she can think more about it.

Later, when she's alone in the spare room at Chris's, she cries.]

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Event Log: Fadeout

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/thisisfine.gif

totally |D;

i may as well just stab myself, it'd be easier

same

ow ow ow

babies jesus ;;

sorry this tag comes to you on xmas day

this hurts me

same ;;