Event log: Buried Alive

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone participating in the event!
What: The event log for the Buried Alive event!
Where: All around the city
When: January 16th-January 19th
Warnings: Claustrophobia, starvation, premature burials, all that fun stuff.

On the morning of January 16th, half of the game's characters wake up to find that they are not where they were when they fell asleep. Instead, they're surrounded by a claustrophobic darkness, cheap satin cushioning, and an intense feeling of weight directly above them. Unfortunately, all of this adds up to the fact that your character has been buried alive.

Luckily, they'll have their phones, which can function as a source of light, communication, and hopeful distraction. They'll be able to talk to the other folks who are buried around the city, as well as their would-be rescuers. Thanks to Hope's timely post on the network, the rescuers know where everyone is, even if they're not sure who is buried where.

This is where organization, planning, and a little bit of luck come in! The aboveground characters will be supplied with shovels via the armory and are encouraged to go dig up their buried friends. Dig quickly though, because the air supply is pretty thin, and by the morning on January 19th, the characters who are not yet dug up will find that oxygen deprivation is a rather unfortunate way to die.

So, grab your communicator, grab your shovel, and get to work!

► This log covers January 16th-January 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!
► Please remember to report any deaths to the Death page!

Comments

[cowardley]

Oh yeah, how did you know? [ She teases back, but he's right; it's his voice, his silly comments, the way he layers his clothes almost ridiculously. She wants to tell him that everything he does, and says is just about perfect even when it's stupid, but she doesn't.

Instead, she sits down next to him, close as she can. She watches his hands briefly before she reaches to take one of them in her own, thumb tracing cuts and bruises from his time underground. Her own hands have blistered, palms rough. ]

I'm okay now that you're out. [ Everything is a little bit better. It feels like she can breathe now without the anxiety of the situation pressing down against her. She looks to him, green eyes filled with concern. ] Are you? I-I can't even imagine what it was...

[ what it was like, being trapped down there. She wishes so desperately it was her who had saved him. ]

[thechoiceisyours]

[He definitely doesn't mind the closeness; in fact it's really nice, calming and grounding, and when she takes his hand he curls his fingers just slightly around hers. It's weird to notice the change in her normally soft hands, but he knows it's from looking for him and Sam and that prompts a warm feeling in his chest.

At her question he glances away briefly, toward the floor.]

I... I don't know. I think I'm okay right now.

[He doesn't want to worry her, but she deserves for him to be honest with her. The whole experience had been awful, but it's over; he might just sort of be in shock, and the worst of it will hit later instead of during it, but he wants to believe it's just done. It's okay, he's been through worse, he and Sam are going to be fine and so will everyone else caught up in this whole experience.]

[cowardley]

[ The experience is never over, not to Ashley, because it'll always return in some way, shape, or form like the beasts these things become. This will turn to anxiety, or depression, or PTSD, but she grips his hand, and gives it a gentle squeeze.

He's all right for now. Physically, he's a little worse of wear, but he'll live. She worries for his mental health. She worries for all of them, even Josh, because this place seems intent on destroying what's little left of their sanity. ]

I'm here, if you ever feel not-okay. [ another squeeze, like a special reminder that she's there still. ] We'll get through this, all of us.

[thechoiceisyours]

[If he were actually being totally honest, with himself or anyone else, he'd be thinking the same. He knows, logically, in the back of his mind that they're all seriously messed up from everything that happened at home--he remembers discussing it from Ashley early on after arriving here as well--but there's... There's no way to deal with it, especially when things like this come along and add a whole new layer of trauma to have to move past.

And they can't afford to be let any of it just drown them either, or they'll never survive here. So all they can do--all he can do, at least--is just try to consider it done and keep looking forward.

He's self-aware enough to know that eventually it'll all catch up, but not right now.]

I know.

[He means it; as much as he hates to worry her, they're... They're whatever they are, and whatever that is it involves them being a team, just as they have been ever since they'd become close friends.

He squeezes her hand again as well, looking back up at her and offering another, slightly stronger smile.]

Yeah. We're a pretty badass group.

[The most badass group of four awkward teenagers--sure, Josh is twenty but he can still count--the world has ever seen, really. They can do this.]

[cowardley]

[ She laughs beneath her breath, quiet, but genuine. It's not quite a word she would ever use to describe herself, but when given all they've gone through, and all they will, maybe it's more accurate than she knows. ]

I guess... I guess we kind of are. [ They're tougher than they look, tougher than she ever expected them to be. How many groups of teenagers can say they've survived a real life horror movie, after all? And then the much more cave-y sequel. ] And I think we're even more badass when we're together, Chris.

[ So, let's avoid the whole having to be apart thing, ok? ]

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah. I think so too.

[He's fine with that idea. If it were up to him, he'd pretty much spent every moment with her, but he's pretty sure that crosses over into creepy instead of romantic unless she feels the same.

But maybe she does.]

I um... I think I'm supposed to stay here for a night or whatever.

[Partially just to be safe, partially because he really isn't sure he could walk back home even if he wants to try.]

Would you uh...

[He wants to ask her if she would mind staying, but suddenly feels a little shy about doing so even though he's pretty sure he knows what her answer would be.]

[cowardley]

I can stay with you! [ Ashley's quick to offer, and then when the words are out of her mouth, her cheeks flush, embarrassed at her eagerness to remain by his side. She quickly adds on: ] I-If you want, I mean!

[ that totally saved it ]

[thechoiceisyours]

[The immediacy of the offer prompts another small smile and a weak laugh, and oh geez she's so cute when she blushes. He gives her hand another small squeeze.]

Yeah.

[He'd definitely like that.]

Thanks.