Event Post: Ghosts That We Know

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the Ghosts That We Know event
Where: All over the city!
When: June 21st-29th
Warnings: Emotional trauma, ghost murder, long slow deaths

It's been awhile since something really awful happened. Or maybe it hasn't - maybe you had a really awful day just yesterday. Don't worry! Things can always get worse. And they sure will, because when you awaken on June 21st, you'll find yourself haunted.

Maybe it's a relative, someone who raised you and loved you deeply. Maybe it's a friend, someone close to your heart. Maybe it's a former - or current - lover, someone you've given your affection to. Maybe a mentor, a coworker, a person who doesn't even know you love them. Whoever they are, they're someone who matters very much to you - and now you're seeing them where you shouldn't. They're haunting you, taking each step alongside you, and they're exactly like the one you love.

Over time, you'll feel yourself growing weaker as the ghost gains strength. Being able to see your loved ones again is a double-edged sword, because they're sucking the life from you. What are you going to do? Die, so that they can live? Or kill them to preserve your own life? And what do they want you to do?

By the 26th, the ghosts will have taken enough energy from you to be solid. That means you won't be the only one who can interact with them anymore - and maybe your friends here have opinions of their own about what should happen to that ghost draining your life away. But hopefully someone will do something, or else you'll die along with your ghost on the final day of the event.

Hey, didn't we get a few psychologists here in our cave city? Man, you guys are gonna be booked up after this one.

► This log covers June 21st-29th.
► 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 can't bring yourself to murder someone you love, no one else is around to lend a hand, and you die - please let us know here.

Comments

[nonscriptum]

["Being prepared" isn't so much Nate's strong suit as it is "being able to quickly, expediently improvise," and as soon as he sees the six-shooter he realizes that he's probably going to have to take a graze or two. Nate swings to one side out of reflex and while the shot goes wide the sound itself punches something familiar inside of him.

Seth has five rounds. Nate has fifteen. He squeezes the trigger before he even has time to think, reacting purely on adrenaline as it pumps life back into his weary heart and he pumps half a clip into Seth's chest.]

Sorry, pal.

[He grits, relieved to see red seeping through the guy's white dress shirt instead of the dark gray color of a Kevlar vest.

Guess this town ain't big enough for the two of us.]

[hornrims]

[By the time Richie turns around he knows it's too late. He sprints as Seth falls and Richie drops to his knees. Grabbing Seth from behind, he hauls his brother's body up to rest against his chest. With Seth's back against Richie's front Richie wraps his arms around his brother, dropping his forehead to the nearest shoulder. Though he clutches Seth hard Richie doesn't feel a sadness, and he's angry at himself for not having the reaction he feels like he should. Instead an emptiness spreads through him from the inside out. He feels as if any second he'll sink into the ground and take this shadow with him.]

You need to go. [Richie looks to Nate, his eyes and voice distant.] I can meet you later but --

[The ghost vanishes, floating into nothingness and leaving Richie on the the ground.]

Just go.

[nonscriptum]

[There's a crippling sort of emptiness that seizes his insides when he sees Richie dive for his older brother and Nate knows the feeling, remembers it like an old wound being torn open even if he knows the ending isn't so grisly. Hollow. A desolate cave. The cold.

We gotta move!

No, no, he's still down there-

No, he's gone! C'mon, the boat's just beyond the wall!

No. No, I can't. I can't- I can't leave him behind-

Nate. Your brother is dead. Either come with me, or join him.

He holsters his gun slowly, fingers slipping away from the heat of the grip as he takes one step back, then another. Giving him space, leaving.]

I'm sorry.