Event log: Who What Where Wendigo

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone participating in the wendigo event!
What: The accidental-cannibalism-turned-horrifying-monster event that is the Who What Where Wendigo event!
Where: All around the city
When: Feb 14th-March 1st
Warnings: Cannibalism, body horror, evil monsters lurking around.

Don't forget to check up on the Wendigo Guide that Ami posted!

On February 14th, Rage and Fear decide to give Hope a little bit of help taking care of the residents of Hadriel - they'll provide some food for awhile. How nice! Except, of course, that there's an extra ingredient in this food. A can of beef stew? Yeah... that might not be beef. But hey, it still tastes pretty good! Unfortunately, some spirits slipped through the Door last time it opened, and they're ready to possess anyone who participates in cannibalism - even if they don't know it.

Anyone who eats the provided meat will be possessed by a wendigo spirit. Over the course of twelve days, they will transform into a monster that feels little but rage and hunger. While at first it can be explained away easily enough (people are super annoying, and isn't everyone a little hungry most of the time?), by February 18th, wendigo transformations are impossible to ignore. A few days after, on February 22nd, the anger and cravings of the wendigo spirit will overcome all other emotions, and possessed characters may begin hunting.

The physical and mental transformation will be complete by February 26th. The possessed characters will have lost themselves completely at that point. While physical healing (done by a character with Hope's blessing or another healing ability) can turn back the physical and some mental effects, they will remain possessed until death or until Hope removes the wendigo spirit - which can only be done on the altar of Hope's temple. So have fun dragging your angry, possessed friends there!

On March 1st, Rage does Hope a solid (because she feels sort of bad) and kills all remaining wendigos. Upon revival, the spirit will be gone and the character will be fully recovered. Hopefully no one holds what they did while possessed against them!

► This log covers February 14th-March 1st.
► 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 report any character deaths right here!

Comments

[synthedick]

Nick understands easily enough what she's offering; he can't help but smile again. It's good to see another synth (whatever sort she is) helping out -- it's a strange sight, even given what he is, but a good sight nonetheless.

"Not at all," he replies. "There aren't too many people living in this building. You might check the others, if you've got enough to go around."

[circumitus]

It isn't like Rey to be so accommodating to strangers. At least, she wasn't always like that. There would be that part of her that would've rather just sat back with her stash and watch people starve, see if they get poisoned or sick or whatever off the gods' food. But there's also that other part of her that's more inclined to help.

"Been lots of empty rooms so far. At this rate, could probably feed some of the people in the other spires." She shrugs. Will she do it? Who knows.

[synthedick]

"It'd be better than feeding an old machine like me," Nick remarks.

He hesitates a moment before adding, "I'll let you get to it, then. If you feel like having some company when you get done, I'd like to pick your brain more, if you don't mind."

[circumitus]

It's a good thing that Rey has enough social tact not to take the 'pick your brain' part the wrong way, all things considered. Since she has taken apart a synth before. (Just a little decapitation plus ocular dismemberment. No big deal.)

"Sure, wouldn't mind. Catch you later."



...She will swing back some short time later, however.

[synthedick]

Nick is still there when she comes back, and if the scraping sound beyond the door is any indication, he's moving furniture. This time when he answers the door, he's missing his signature trench coat, making the wear and tear on him a little more obvious.

"Huh. You did come back," he notes, stepping aside to let her in.

[circumitus]

Having been in a similar state when she had once been a living bomb, it's no shock when Rey sees more of Nick's ragged state without his coat. She doesn't even blink or falter once after he answers the door.

Besides, it isn't like it's a big deal now or anything. More or less she knows the story already. Well, the abridged version, anyway.

"Not like you're that far of a trek."

She steps in, taking a once over at the place. The basket she had before is gone; left behind at her apartment.

[synthedick]

She does have a point, which Nick acknowledges with a nod as she makes her way into his new home. Aside from the furniture having been moved around -- he's already made a nice space in the living area for his desk, which is still sitting halfway through the doorway to the spare bedroom -- it looks about like all the other empty apartments, save for the addition of his roommate: a single, potted plant sitting on a tall table by the window.

He closes the door behind her. "You hand out everything you had earlier?"

[circumitus]

Rey almost envies Nick for his roommate -- all she has is a dumb looking goldfish that does nothing all day.

As she enters the room, her mind is in constant motion, taking notes of the layout and the differences from her own room. At the very least, it isn't like she is one to judge a person's choice of decor.

"Not everything. Still have plenty left over, hopefully to tide people over for as long as those two are handing out food."

'Those two', of course, being Fear and Rage.

[synthedick]

"The gods, you mean," Nick infers easily enough.

He motions toward the couch and the easy chair opposite of it, offering her a seat. "I'd be surprised if anyone takes food from the guy who buried us only a month ago, but you know what they say about desperate times."

[circumitus]

Rey nods obstinately, not willing to trust anyone who calls themselves gods any farther than she can throw them.

Taking the hint, she obliges, seating herself down in the chair with her arms crossed. "Honestly, if it was between starving or accepting that food, would rather just starve."

It isn't like Rey needs to eat a whole lot. She can go for weeks without food, just as she had before she had a sense of taste.

[synthedick]

Nick shakes his head, leaving his coat off as he takes the sofa opposite Rey.

"I can't say I know what I'd do. Never been in that situation. One advantage to being what I am."

[circumitus]

"Must be nice not having to simulate human functions like that."

Rey, on the other hand... not so much. And all for its own very shitty reasons, too.

[synthedick]

"That part is. I'm not as lucky in other areas. Everyone can tell what I am just by looking at me, but I pass for human enough on personality alone."

Not that his personality is actually his own, but he tries not to complain too much. After all, it's because of the mind that's been copied into him that he was able to live the life he did back home. He doesn't know of how most people in Hadriel will react to synths, but if those he's met are any indication, he's in for a lot of questions and mistrust.

Not really all that different from the Commonwealth, unfortunately. At least the reactions to him have been familiar thus far.

[circumitus]

He makes a compelling point, seeing that Rey herself was a culprit to making harsh judgments right away. Not that she didn't have her reasons, but it's also no excuse.

That's one more thing she could relate to, in any case. Her one personality is mixed due to the concoction of memories she has as eight different women. Nine if you counted her original, husk of a self. Trying to discern a personal identity with all that shit stirring in your brain is enough to make anyone a little scrambled up.

"Mm," she just says at first. "Suppose you'd probably get a lot of people shooting at you on sight sometimes."

Hell knows Rey was almost at that point when she dug Nick out of that coffin.

[synthedick]

"That's not uncommon as it is," he says, leaning his elbows on his knees. "I live in a place called Diamond City, a refuge built out of an old baseball stadium. The people there know me, know what I am. Know they can trust me. I've been around for as long as most of them have been alive.

"Occasionally, we get another synth in town, one pretending to be someone you know. Taking their place, as I mentioned before. The moment security suspects them of being a machine, they get put down, sometimes right in front of everyone. It's a harrowing reminder that I've got it good, and of the risks I take every time I leave town for a case."

[circumitus]

Rey's never heard of a place called 'Diamond City' before, but she casually shrugs it off and listens to Nick. Knowing the way things go around here, she's likely going to be hearing a lot of strange places.

"Take the good with the bad, huh? Can't say that isn't completely justified. It's a shitty thing to do, trying to take someone's place like that."

Not that Rey is one to talk.

[synthedick]

Nick lets out a single, hollow laugh.

"It is. I... can't say I know much that, either. I haven't met whomever's place I was supposed to take, if I was supposed to take anyone's place at all."

Though he says that, he lowers hie eyes, unsure of how much of the truth escapes him through his body language.

[circumitus]

"Perhaps it would have something to do with why you were scrapped." Rey says this so matter-of-factly, but the truth is she was in the same situation at one point. She also was supposed to be terminated, only to be taken and repurposed instead.

Like Nick, she also has never met anyone who she had technically 'replaced' before. Or, at least, the people whose memories and identities she had taken. They are all just a part of her now.

[synthedick]

"Maybe. Not much point in dwelling on it -- not here, not now."

He leans back with a rueful smile. He can be who knows how many miles from home, and still be haunted by the old demons. Some things are just harder to let go than others.

"Enough about me for now, though. There are worse things on the table, like the gods and whatever they'll be doing next to us."

[circumitus]

If it's anything that Rey can agree with, it's that -- no point in dwelling on a past that can't be changed no matter how much you want it to.

She nods. "Agreed. Don't have much faith that our hosts have any intention of being kind with their newfound generosity. Hence the recent food delivery."

There she goes using that word, though. Faith. She isn't her brother, dammit.

[synthedick]

"Me either. If anything, they've already shown they can't be trusted, even the one named 'Hope.'"

He sighs, wondering if the name is ironic, because it certainly isn't fitting. "I'm not saying people shouldn't be able to take care of themselves, but the truth of the matter is that not everyone can. Bringing them here, subjecting them to this place, then letting them starve on top of all that?"

[circumitus]

Rey scoffs.

Especially Hope, in her opinion. At least Fear and Rage are straightforward about what they are.

"Don't like the way they're making us rely on them. Not everyone is capable of catching their own food so not to starve, so of course some of them are going to flock to their handouts."

She'd just like to make sure there are as few people doing so as possible.

[synthedick]

"Yeah. And taking handouts from 'gods' who would bring us here and sooner see us dead doesn't sound like an option anyone should take."

But unfortunately, people will when they have no other choice. Desperate measures and all.

"Speaking of getting out from under the gods' thumbs, how's that power station coming?"

[circumitus]

"That, too."

Times like this, Rey has to be grateful for what she is. While she isn't immune to starvation, she at least doesn't need to eat much to survive. This was partially due to spending several decades with no love for the act of eating, having no sense of taste. Everything was awful.

...

Everything still is sort of awful, but at least she can eat.

She blinks at Nick's next query. "Well, we have everything we need here. More hands would be ideal, but it should be done within the next month or so."

Perhaps a little longer, what with the recent hangups she anticipates. Doubtful that a lot of people will be up for building on an empty stomach. Or while they're turning into monsters.

[synthedick]

"Hm. We'll see if it all comes together that quickly. It'd help if the gods didn't bury us alive or unleash a herd of monsters on the town."

He apparently anticipates the same kinds of hangups.

"At least there seem to be others who are willing to help out on the project."