august 2019. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Second Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of August 2019
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.

Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.

a. bright spots in the darkness.

The redout and accompanying power outage has been going on for over a week now - even though someone must have managed to get the generators up and running so things are a little less dismal, that doesn't mean that everything is fun and games. The generators are enough to power the essentials, like lighting, the MedBay, resident sat phones, sanitation facilities...basically just the things that make life livable instead of kicking the whole city back to the dark ages.

Sometime during the second week, though, around the end of July, residents might start to notice bright spots in the darkness, mostly around the Agricultural levels. Little bobbing blobs of bright blue or vibrant green or glowing red that move soundlessly through the night, poignantly noticeable because everything else is so dark. At first, and from a distance, they might look like your typical swamp gas fake ghost, little glowing smudges in the darkness. Could be promising...but it could be dangerous too.

If residents are brave enough to head up to the Agricultural levels in the darkness and investigate the source of the light, a mildly harrowing mission, they will find that the source of the glowing is...animals. Barely differing from the usual animals one might see in a daylight in the Agricultural levels, these animals prove to simply be nocturnal versions of the usual animals that might survive in the wild and who have made their homes in the faux forest and grasslands. And when everything else is dark, these creatures roam the night, letting off a curious and almost radioactive glow.

There are, however, a slightly wider variety of these animals, who are descendants of animals exposed heavily to radiation that mutated but did not kill them. While there are the usual deer and wild horses, foxes and monkeys, rodents and insects, there are also domestic creatures that seem to have thrived in their glow-in-the-dark forms where non-glowing ones were picked off by predators. Anyone investigating may find glowing kittens and puppies, domestic mice and rats, snakes that are open to being touched, and even a few more exotic domesticated pets like ferrets, hedgehogs, turtles and foxes. While these creatures are still wild, they are the descendants of domestic stock, and with a little effort and coddling, they might turn out to be passable pets, once they're scanned in the MedBay and found to not give off dangerous radiation.

It's not all puppies and kittens, though. Some of these seemingly predatorless glow-in-the-dark creatures are mutated, just like their regular counterparts, but to a more extensive degree. Keep a close eye out while you're trying to tame that adorable glowing purple kitten, because you might find yourself as the prey to a huge mutated lizard or spider, or maybe an oversized glowing wild warthog.

Nighttime exploring, after all, is for the brave at heart...and comes with pros and cons!

b. nightmare swarm.

As if the mutated glow-in-the-dark creatures in the Agricultural levels aren't bad enough, there's something new in Anchor to cause problems. A couple of weeks after the generator room was opened, strange apparitions start showing up in various places around the city. At first they're nebulous clouds that gather in places where there's strong evidence of past violence - in the upper levels of the city where there's serious fire damage, near the security station, hovering outside the armory or wherever there are burns and gouges into the stone walls of the city. But as the month wears on, the clouds start to take shape, and some of those shapes might be very familiar.

Starting at around August 8th, whenever a resident passes by one of these ominous clouds, it will start to coalesce into a solid form, the particles coming together into a concrete shape - the shape of fear. Whether the particles coalesce into the shape of a monster or villain from a character's homeworld or previous game setting, the nebulous representation of their worst fear, a person or thing from their past that evokes a terrible memory of trauma, or even just a generic horrific monster that would particularly frighten that particular person, it's something that is guaranteed to terrify. Essentially, they will turn into the worst thing that your character can imagine.

And these representations of fear? They're not ghosts, they're not digital afterimages, they're not apparitions or holos. They're real, or at least they feel real, they can do real damage, and they're almost impossible to kill. The best way to survive an encounter with the nightmare swarm? Run fast. Because they're generally confined to areas where the echoes of old violence linger, and the quicker you leave those areas the better. Get into whatever light you can, get somewhere safe, and the fear creature will dissipate back into a nebulous cloud, lying in wait for the next victim.

c. power up.

On August 2nd, the dust storm causing the redout and power outage will subside, and a stiff wind will take its place, washing away about two thirds of the red sand piled up on the dome. This fortuitous change in weather will make it possible to start work on getting the power back up. Residents will be able to exit the city through the usual channels so they can work on clearing the dust out of the various installations outside the city that transform wind and radiation and sunlight into power that keeps the city up and running. After they're cleared off, residents can start to get the power up by making repairs to the dust-damaged computer systems. Thankfully, once the power installations outside the city have been cleared off, an automated computer subroutine will boot up on some of the computer panels in the common areas of the residential quarters, with a user-friendly guide to repairing sand damage to the power system.

Mind you, the user guide assumes that residents have a lot of tools, supplies, and assistant bots that the current population doesn't really have on hand, so user-friendly or not, it's tougher than the system seems to think it is.

Thankfully, there is another option. Anyone with a particularly tech-savvy mind who's encountered the nightmare clouds might have picked up on it already, but the clouds are actually swarms of nanites. Released from the room that held the generators, these nanites were originally intended to conduct repairs on the city (there was a reason that room and those generators were so pristine!) that have been corrupted and are malfunctioning due to the ambient radiation in the city that has only increased since their creation. Anyone with even a basic knowledge of computers (and a very strong spine) could collect a sample of the clouds in one of the containment units from the labs or the R&D area, where the semi-functioning computer can be used to work out what's wrong with the nanites...and fix them.

If characters are able to work this out and deploy repairs to the various swarms around the city, those nanites might be super helpful for fixing some of the malfunctioning tech around the city. Food for thought!

d. the wreckage in the wasteland.

Once the emergency situation with the power is sorted out, residents might become a little curious about what caused all the trouble in the first place. The dust storm was, after all, initiated by a loud crash landing outside the city. With the dust storm abated and the windows in the Observation Area cleared off, residents will be able to see the wreckage of a spacecraft crashed into the ground, several miles out from the city. Far enough away to make it impossible to see any identifying marks, but close enough to be a tantalizing mystery for anyone so inclined.

Adventurous souls will be able to suit up and trek their way out to the site of the crash in the battery Jeeps to see what's going on, risking the rough ever-changing terrain and the possibility of a red shift, to see what might be salvageable from the crashed ship, or just in pursuit of knowledge. Once those characters approach, they will find the hulk of a badly-damaged spacecraft, about as big as a medium-sized cruise ship. The hull is badly burned, with tears in the metal, and it will be obvious to anyone who's got any experience with space travel (or even anyone who's watched enough sci-fi movies) to see that the ship didn't do well on its slow fall through the atmosphere. The metal is melted and punctured, anything that might have extended away from the hull has been burned off and lies in tatters, and the sand around the crash site is littered with metal and plastic debris.

But the one thing that's still possible to tell from the wreckage? It probably came from Anchor.

The ship is pieced together from salvaged materials, the tech will be familiar to anyone who's been in the colony for more than a couple days, and there's even a few corpses of very familiar bots lying in the sand. Approaching a large tear in the side of the hull will reveal a way inside the husk of a ship, giving access to the ship's small crew quarters section. If explorers choose to proceed inside, they'll be able to dig through what few personal items remain and find personal tablet computers and sat phones with their hard drives corrupted but possibly salvageable with the right skillset and the right technology repaired back in Anchor. They will also be able to find a way down further into the ship, though it's dark and clouded with sand and...well, quite menacing.

Because it isn't just the darkness and the danger of the red shift coming while you're trapped down there, or the danger of the ship's hull cracking with the weight of the sand piled up on its shell from the dust storm...but looking into the darkness, there's a flickering bluish glow. Digital and glitchy, it flickers from wall to wall, with the faintest impression of a human form. A face. A hand. The movement of hair or clothing. And then there's the echoing sounds - soft laughter, snippets of childrens' rhymes, unintelligible whispers or mumbles.

Well. Enter at your own risk.

ooc: exploration info.

As you can probably tell, this final prompt is kind of a doozy! While the first level of the ship is available for anyone to explore with the information provided in the prompt, going further into the ship will require mod guidance, via an NPC.

Any questions can be asked in the mod questions thread below, and if your characters have progressed to the point of wanting to explore deeper in the ship, please hit up the NPC request thread with a link to where the NPC should tag in.

Have fun guys!

Navigation.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[modblob]

Ask any questions about the mingle here! Please remember that the mod team is having a slowdown this month (please see the recent mod post for details), so if a question goes unanswered for more than a couple days, PM the mod account to get our attention and we will get back to you!

[deadlycurves]

In MoM canon basically the nanites are part of the digital tattoo that comes stamped on them, and it keeps the displaced stable in the universe, gave him the additional powers he was given there, and had some added healing/regenerative properties (which I know you guys said on his acceptance the healing/regenerative part was non-functioning).

So, I was wondering if there would be any particular weird reaction between the two forms of nanites.

Nightmare and the Ship

[killedwithlove]

Cole is, in many ways, not that different from the nightmare thing, which is basically a Fear Demon from his world in many ways. This, coupled with Cole's innate abilities as a spirit, it feels like there should be some kind of interaction, that Cole could learn something about this place and what happened here (he could totally be used to drop information that you want the players to have). Would this be a doable thing, that Cole can learn stuff to tell people?

And if so, could he do similar with the crashed Ship later in the month? I'll be gone from August 9-20 though.

[substances]

The post says the animals glow with various bright colours, but what do they look like when they're not glowing? Do they have brightly-coloured fur/scales/etc. or are they regular colours?

[benhargreeves]

how almost impossible to kill is 'almost impossible to kill'? If Ben were to say pick up a nightmare-person made from nanites and hypothetically say rip them in half with tentacles, would their body react as a human body would? would they ... burst into a cloud and re-form? getting into some combat here and am just wondering what that would look like and if running has to be the only option or if they might go back into a cloud / switch to a different nightmare / etc.

NPC Request

[modblob]

Please comment here with a link to a thread that's progressed to exploration of the lower levels of the crashed ship if you require NPC guidance. The mods will reply to your comment to let you know we're aware of the thread and will tag in shortly.

Peter Parker | Open

[itsnotaonesie]

Bright spots:

When Peter's not scrambling around trying to make sure the generators are doing their jobs (they are, calm the fuck down Peter), he spends the majority of his time bored out of his goddamn mind because there is fuckall to do when it's pitch black everywhere. It's less a matter of bravery and more a matter of just needing something to do when he decides to go scope out the glowy blobs bouncing around on the Agricultural levels. The first thing he actually spots in the area is a gigantic fuckoff spider though, and he decides "nah. Naaaaaah". Just because he is very much spider-themed doesn't mean he wants to deal with this shit today.

He manages to evade turbo-spider detection while he makes his way out of this forested area, up until he feels something sharp and pointy trying to climb up his pant leg. Okay, so maybe he panics a little, maybe he leaps back in surprise and fires his webshooter at whatever was on his leg. Maybe he even yelps. He's thinking spiders; he'd just found a bigass spider, there were webs that weren't his stretching between a few trees, it wasn't too far of a stretch. What he sees tangled up in his web isn't a spider though, it's an adorable little kitten that is glowing blue and making the saddest noise any kitten has ever made in the entire history of kittens.

Peter made a kitten sad and now he feels like the world's biggest asshole, oh no. Turns out sad kitten noises are also very good at attracting giant mutated spiders, which also sucks. Not wanting himself or his new kitten friend to get eaten by bigass spides, Peter scoops the kitten up and turns to run the fuck out of there, only to charge face first into a giant spider web. He can probably break out just fine on his own, but he is momentarily stunned by this ridiculous irony.

"Oh, come on!"

The kitten agrees that this is bullshit.

A couple hours later, after the spiders and the bullshit, he can be found in the MedBay nursing a few spider bites and carefully picking dissolving webbing out of the kitten's fur. And also he's covered in webs and just. Man what a stupid day. But at least there's a kitten?


Too Spooky: (heads up for some fucked up Infinity Wars flavored body horror shit <3)

So far he'd just dismissed these weird clouds as an inconvenience, something that he'd look into in more depth later. Like, after the lights all come back on, and making sure the generators can get them to that point. He's on his way to check up on said generators when he comes across one of those weird cloudy spots, which he proceeds to just roll right on past it since they hadn't really done anything up until this point. It isn't until he realizes that the clouds are moving that he stops to investigate. Cool, more wacky new tricks that this place is gonna play on them. At this point Peter's ready to just roll his eyes at the latest inconvenience and add it to his list of shit to fix later, but he doesn't quite make it to that point before the cloud starts pulling it's shenanigans.

It doesn't take the form of anything threatening. No monsters, no killer robots, no giant purple aliens with magic space rocks. It's just a lady. A lady that Peter immediately recognizes as his Aunt May. What a twist!

Were he in the right frame of mind, he'd have realized immediately that this is bullshit in several ways. New arrivals don't just manifest in the middle of the goddamn hallway, for one. Unfortunately, he can't make himself logic his way through this one just yet, especially not after she reaches for him. Part of him wants desperately for this to be real, another part hopes to shit that it isn't. While his brain is busy fist fighting itself over whether or not he should trust this, instinct takes over and he reaches back for her. She feels real. He's hugging his aunt for the first time in a year, and there's a hundred different things that he wants to say to her that he can't manage to form into words just yet, but that's fine, he's got time.

Except that he doesn't, because a moment later, May's gone. She doesn't just vanish in an instant, though. Nah, she straight up disintegrates, crumbles into ash in Peter's arms and blows away. Somehow. There's no wind in here, the nanites are just trying to be dramatic.

He doesn't have a chance to wrap his brain around what just happened, since no more than a couple seconds later, a few more human forms manifest from the spooky cloud. His best friend Ned, their friend MJ, a few other kids he knew from school. They all appear in the same way that May had, they all reach for him before they crumble into ash and dust. Before long, there are dozens of people manifesting in the same way. Other people from home, people he met in Hadriel and in Anchor all forming, reaching for him, grabbing his arms while they fall apart before his eyes. Maybe it's just his mind playing even more tricks on him on top of what's already happening, all those months of repressing his fears and traumas coming to a head, but he could swear to God that he feels himself beginning to crumble away again, too.

He isn't, but he's well past the point of being able to apply rational thought to this situation. Panic sets in, and he yanks himself out of grasp of the dust buddies. It's one of those fight or flight situations, and seeing as this isn't exactly a situation he can throw a punch at, he turns to run.

And then slams right into someone else, someone who isn't a crumbling terror-vision. What's up.


NANITES!!!!

While it would be so much easier to just distract himself with diving into fixing the dust-damaged computer systems, Peter is still feeling personally attacked by the cloud bullshit. He needs to find out how it happened and why, if only for his own peace of mind, which unfortunately meant going back out there with a containment unit to try to collect a sample.

Admittedly, he isn't feeling particularly brave when it comes to actually doing the sample collecting, so in an effort to keep himself as far away from the cloud as he can, he's rigged up a complicated sample gathering scheme which involves suspending the containment unit from the ceiling with webs, and lots of other webs rigged up in some sort of pulley system. It's a fucking nightmare in this hallway, okay. He doesn't want to get caught up in the cloud again, don't judge.


Wreckage quest: TEXT, Un: Spides

Who else wants to do something really stupid and dangerous and go check out that crashed ship outside? Because I am so going.

Probably need a driver though. I mean I guess I don't need a licence in space but the last time I drove a car it didn't end too well for the car. We need space Uber.

too spooky

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben might not know the first thing about Thanos, or nanites, but he's seen some crazy shit in his day. Awful, nightmarish stuff. But people crumbling into dust like that - not all at once, but slowly, so they knew it was happening as it happened - well, that's a new one for him.

He only catches the tail end of it - sees a cluster of people, only one of whom he recognizes. Peter, aka Spiderkid. They'd run into one another a few times since their adventure in the library, and Ben likes the guy. So, naturally, he heads over, to say hello. Only to stop dead in his tracks a few feet away when those people around Peter dissolve into ash and blow away into thin air. Ben's adrenaline spikes but he stays rooted to the spot, looking around for some cause - some kind of vaporizing gun?

Then, just as he is scanning the surroundings for whoever has clearly attacked these people, Ben staggers when something hits his chest. Or, rather, someone. It's Peter, running away from what he'd just seen. Ben doesn't hesitate; he grasps Peter by the shoulders and looks him up and down. He is solid, no sign of crumbling. But just because he's safe now doesn't mean he will continue to be: ]

Peter?! What's going on?

TEXT; un; poison

[writtendestiny]

I'm already getting ready to go. I can probably work out the driving part.

Are you coming?

wreckage quest

[eudorapatch]

Patch needs to do something. She doesn't want to do anything, but she needs to. If she doesn't, if she just keeps sitting here... it won't be good. She's got not one to blame but herself. She wanted to know the reason she died. Now she does. Can't change it. Can't quite get over it, either.

Finding the motivation is hard, though. Luckily, there's Peter.

Pick a vehicle and grab us some radiation suits. I'll meet you in the garage.

She knows better than to think she's going to stop Peter from doing anything that he sets his mind to doing. She's not going to let him go alone, though.

[[OOC: Feel free to have Peter already be gone, if you want. Once Patch gets down there, it'll be her excuse to just take a vehicle on her own and do something dumb.]]

Nanites

[deadlycurves]

Wherever Diego was headed doesn't matter the second he turns down a hallway and finds webs just... everywhere in the weirdest design scheme ever. There's a definite pattern to it, a purpose, but hell if Diego knew what it was. Mostly, he's just blinking and staring at the mess of it all.

He glances around for the culprit and frowns, canting his head a little to one side as he finally looks up to find someone chilling on the ceiling. "What the hell?"

n a n i t e s

[queenofthegirlscouts]

The swarms have officially pissed Shepard off. That they register as tech on her omni-tool (finally, after enough run-ins) doesn't help the creepy factor in the slightest. She has visions of the poor scientists on that derelict Reaper behind her eyelids, two men remembering the same wedding day to the same woman. Technology did that. Reaper technology.

So, okay, compared to that, random nightmare-fuel is just peachy. Memories aren't melding.

But still.

It's pissing her off.

Which is probably why she isn't at her most gracious when, while on a run around Anchor, she runs into this hallway and-

Well, she doesn't actually run into the pulley system. She slides into a crouch, automatically pulling up her tech-armour and reaching for a weapon. Which she doesn't have. So the glowing, holographic armour will have to do, but that gives her enough time to assess what it is she's run into. But just in-case, her left arm is glowing blue with readying biotics.

"What," says Shepard, "the hell."

bright spots

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho comes into the med-bay area in almost ridiculously match-y workout gear, with a stricken look on her face and something glowing a bright sapphire blue cradled in her hands. When she sees Peter, she's brought up a little short. She hasn't really spoken with him since her idiocy nearly got her killed and had her needing rescue. She hasn't really spoken to him since she got him munched on. She's been too ashamed.

"...Oh. I can--" She's about to say that she can come back later, but no, she really shouldn't put this off. Hedgehogs are small and surprisingly fragile and she already feels just about as bad as she can feel that the one currently snuffling around in her hands is injured. "I'll just-- I won't get in your way." The space is big enough. She starts heading for one of the empty exam tables. She wants to ask what the heck happened to him, but refrains. It's difficult. Curiosity is never an easy thing to ignore.

ben hargreeves 🐙 open

[benhargreeves]

A | BRIGHT SPOTS IN THE DARKNESS
[cw: possible (optional) discussion of past animal cruelty & trauma]

[ There are a lot of animals running around up in the Ag levels; some harmless and in need of scooping up and rescuing, some dangerous and still in need of scooping up and restraining. They're never going to solve this crisis with the generator or sustainably move forward in the future using this area for its intended purposes if there are animals running around everywhere.

And so, extremely reluctantly, Ben has agreed to help in the effort to catch the glowing animals and house them somewhere - either as pets for those who are willing or some other places where they can be contained and looked after. He is not enthused about this. In fact, by all appearances he is in a weird, quiet, or grumpy mood. The weirdest thing about it, perhaps, for anyone who might be working with him in one of these shifts, is that he doesn't seem to be happier dealing with kittens than he is with an actual mutated lizard that's practically the size of a komodo dragon. In fact, if anything he seems warier of the most domesticated and harmless of the animals. Any rodents in particular - mice, rats, guinea pigs - will cause him to go quiet and hang far back, waiting for whoever he's working with to step up. ]

B | NIGHTMARE SWARM
[cw: discussion of abuse; tentacles / body horror / gore; drug overdose & death]

1
[ Ben has seen one of these swarms in action before; it's just that, the first time he encountered one, it wasn't his own nightmare that manifested. He also did not see the part where it transformed from a cloud into someone's waking worst case scenario.

So he doesn't know to avoid it, when he walks past a cloud in a well-trafficked corridor near to the residences that has old gouges running deep into the walls. He gives the cloud a glance but barely notices it; he's attempting to perfect this new skill of typing on his device while walking. It isn't an image that makes him stop, but a sound. ]

Number Six!

[ The voice is crisp, accented, and horrifically familiar. Ben freezes immediately, rooted to the spot. It can't have been what it sounded like. Can't have been his father. His father is dead - has been for more than a month now. ]

I'm waiting, Number Six.

[ The feeling is not unlike if someone poured ice water down the back of his shirt. Every muscle in Ben's body is tensed as he slowly, slowly turns around and sees, right in front of him, real as can be, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, and yes, the worst thing he can imagine.]

((Feel free to have your character encounter Ben while nanite Reginald is still present, or immediately after when he's wandering around kind of dazed))

2
[ Ben grows a little more accustomed to what the nightmare clouds are capable of over the next week. He tries to avoid them entirely, the places they show up the most, and the shadows. But he is careless one day, and wanders by a spot that isn't on his mental to-avoid list.

Worse, still, the reason he is distracted is because he is walking with someone, talking to them - whether a stranger he has only just met or an older acquaintance. Either way, they will be in danger the moment the cloud coalesces into an extremely odd sight. There is a human-shaped figure - one that a keen eye might notice is the same height and build as Ben himself - but which looks like it has been molded out of a night sky - black and empty with tiny, distant, cold stars shining through. And then, from the stomach of this void-person, come pouring those too-familiar tentacles, whipping out, blood thirsty, ready to curl around anything nearby that is living and rip it limb from limb, or smash it to pulp against the nearest hard surface.

Fortunately, these tentacles aren't as fast or as strong as the real ones - but they still pose a very real threat. Ben has never been on the opposite side of his own power, before. And this vision - of himself, but erased, nothing but a portal through which violence pours and pours relentlessly - is such an old nightmare that it freezes him in place. ]

3
[ It's a bad night. Ben tries not to have them, but they do come, occasionally. Diego is sleeping and Klaus is somewhere with a friend from Hadriel probably, and Ben hadn't had the heart to disrupt either's plans. So, sleep-deprived and clumsy, he stumbles out of his living quarters, looking for somewhere quiet and bright to sit a while and try to banish the gloomy thoughts.

Only he isn't going to have much luck doing that, after he trips over the ankle of a body on the floor that hadn't been there a moment ago. He's too exhausted and already lost in his thoughts to connect this newest horror with those nightmare swarms. All he knows is that he sees Klaus's lifeless body on the ground, pale and not breathing, limbs at an awkward angle, and all the air rushes out of him.

He's seen Klaus like this before. He has so many memories of ambulances and CPR and hospitals and alleyways and good samaritans and close calls of every stripe. Ben just knows Klaus must have slipped, taken something, taken too much, and now it's too late. Ben hadn't been there with him when he happened. When he drops to his knees, whole body shaking, Klaus's body is rigid and his skin cold. Not dying, but dead. ]

Klaus - Klaus, no...

E | NETWORK

[ Come ask the newly (self-)appointed librarian for book recommendations, or offer to help out with old documents / alien languages!]

B - 1

[theweakhavepurpose]

[Pratt has no idea what's going on. He'd been walking with Princess Thug the wolf along one of the corriders, heading towards the upper level to see about taking down a deer for Cho's kitchen operation.

The weird cloud is .. weird but not immediately a threat and he doesn't see it coalesce into an actual form: a tall man, broad-shouldered with a fringe of ginger hair. The man reaches out one scarred up arm and hauls Pratt back.]

Where are you going Peaches?

[And for Pratt - time seems to stop. He's frozen, unable to think or even make a sound. The wolf doesn't react, gently biting Pratt's hand when he stands there unmoving for more than a minute.

Very, very slowly he turns to see exactly who he doesn't want to see: Jacob Seed. Right there. In the flesh. Just like how he remembered him. Just like how he'd shown up to Hadriel. He's here. He's here and he's going to kill everyone and he's going to play the song and he's probably going to make the wolf attack anyone Pratt has ever talked to and .. and... and...

If he hadn't been in Hadriel for a full year, he might have just stood there and waited for orders, reverted back to the loyal dog he was. But instead he turns and runs. As far away as he can get.

The distance won't save him, he knows that. But at least maybe he can warn someone. Who? He's not sure. Someone. Anyone. He nearly runs right into Ben, confused wolf hot on his heels.]

He's here. He's here he's here. We need to get away. Hide. We need to...

[Pratt sends a panicked glance over his shoulder, not immediately spotting Jacob and swallowing hard. ]

I don't know when he got here but he's here. Jacob.

Cho Takahashi | OTA

[tenuefarfalla]

A
Going up there to investigate is a horrible Idea. Like, top ten worst decisions in a lifetime levels of horrible idea. She knows that. The last time she wandered off on her own, she almost died. Literally, not figuratively, almost died. She needed rescuing, she put other people in danger, she almost died. Up there, where things are wild and dangerous and hungry, in the place where she definitely should not be.

The place with the little flashes of phosphorescence. The moving glowing lights that point to things living and adapted to the darkness. That's not what's so fascinating, though. It's that some of them are small. They're so very small. What could be that tiny and still survive with the monsters up there? How do they do it? More importantly, could the people who have newly made this place a temporary home use that same defense system to keep safe? It's something to think about.

It's something she can't stop thinking about.

Going up there to investigate is a horrible idea. Yet here she stands, with Marmalade's empty carrier gripped in her hand, staring at the lights.

"Going up there would be a very bad idea, right?"

Or, if a second person wants to take this prompt.

She's not the only one looking up at the lights. Not the only one tracing the movements through the oppressive gloom. Cho's not usually one for offering unsolicited advice, it's always seemed kind of rude to her, but in this case, she's willing to make an exception. "It's-- not a great idea to go up there alone. If that's what you're thinking. Some of the things that glow... aren't friendly."

-------------

B
Cho has been fairly lucky, to not get caught by the clouds of fear. Not that she knows what they are. Her own fears aren't exactly the kind of thing that comes after you in the darkness. Mostly. She did pass one cloud and end up with the utter certainty that Chad had managed to end up here, that he was angry, that he was looking for her. She's ducked him safely, and not encountered him again, so maybe it was just her mind playing tricks? Which is a scary thought for her on its own. Her mind is the one thing she can count on.

Someone else is not as lucky, when it comes to their fears. They're real and solid, not nebulous feelings and shames. Cho doesn't have context, but she also doesn't need it. The look says it all. "What's wrong? Are you all right? Do you need help?" Not that she's sure what help she could offer, but she has to ask.

A

[killedwithlove]

"Maybe."

Cole speaks without announcing his presence beforehand, drawn by her curiosity and her determination to explore. It reminds him a bit of Nadezhda, and that alone was worth coming here for.

He doesn't look at her. He looks at the lights in the darkness. "Hollow, hungry, hunting... even domestic animals will remember where they came from without care. Fighting to live, to survive, will you fight them for the same?"

[kaballin]

A
((CW: Animal Cruelty))
Sure the glowing kittens and puppies are cute, or whatever. But who cares about that when there's giant mutant boar to fight? Kabal can be found running all over the agricultural level seeking them out and then pulling the swords off his back, ready for combat.

The great thing about boar is they don't back down and they'll charge when threatened, which is perfect for a guy who also runs full speed at things he wants to kill. This is the closest to fun he's had in a while - something that will put up a fight and won't run away and if he spins it the right way he's actually helping. Putting down a dangerous predator. Making Anchor a safer place.

Kabal is a hero afterall.

One boar is already dead, laying on its side eviscerated. Kabal has goaded another into chasing him and he's definitely taunting and toying with it in a way that's a little bit cruel, slicing his hook sword down its side, or taking out a leg while it runs. But eventually he shoves both swords right through its brain, ending it immediately.

"Two down, two to go." There's a whole back of these things, and Kabal is just getting started.

C: Video
[With the power off and no lights it would normally be hard to tell who's talking, but something that might not have been apparent in the harsh florescent lights of Anchor is that the eyes of Kabal's mask and his swords glow.]

Alright, someone smarter than me tell me what the hell this thing wants me to do to fix the lights? I'm tired of trying to piss by only the light on my respirator.

D
That sure is a crashed ship out there. And ships bring to mind pirates, treasure, looting. All the things that make Kabal's eyes turn into shiny dollar signs and actually get off his ass to do something that isn't fighting.

What could be out there? A bunch of gold dubloons? A palette of Hustler magazines? Food that isn't complete fucking crap?

Of course Kabal heading out there isn't altruistic in the slightest. He wants it for himself, and if someone wants any of whatever goodies he finds they're gonna have to make him an offer. Though it unfortunately looks like he won't be the only one who had the same idea.

Decision time: Honor among thieves? Or: Every man for himself?

vanya hargreeves ( ota )

[repente]

i. collé.

[It's hard for Vanya to think of herself as "settling in." How does one adjust to life in a blackout on a planet that somewhat resembles Mars? Just as she'd begun to get used to looking out and seeing so many stars shining brightly at night, they'd all vanished.

But you'd be surprised at what humans can adapt to. She's spent time worrying about the siblings that don't seem to be around, spent time adjusting to no longer seeing the sun, even figured out how to use her little phone as a light to help navigate areas where the back up lights don't reach.

Vanya doesn't realize this is the "new normal" to her until she starts noticing the glowing spots roaming around and realizing they've intruded on her new normal.

She's been trying to ditch a small, cyan kitten that's decided it really wants to light her path. Or block her path. It's getting extremely underfoot, to the point she has to keep stopping to avoid walking into it. It can't be older than a year, which is clearly tugging on Vanya's heartstrings, but...]

You little menace. Do you think I'm leading you to food?

[Of course, if you catch sight of her later, she may be trying to sneak some food from the mess hall that seems to be cat-safe enough to her standards (admittedly not well-researched) back to it. She's not going to let the little guy go wandering in, but he doesn't seem like he's going to be able to find food on his own, so...

Oh no, she's started using pronouns other than "it."]

ii. tremolo.

[Vanya's been pointedly ignoring any of the clouds. She's not sure if they're... noxious gas of some kind, so it just seems safer not to go near them. Of course, as they start to grow in number, it begins to get harder to anticipate where they'll be, and she's still not an expert on the layout of the Anchor, so eventually she will accidentally come face to face with one.

Like, say, should she be looking to stock up at the supply station, only to find there's one of them right by the paper towels. Before she can turn the other way, though, they start to react, as if trying to catch her attention before she's gone.

Someone who knows Vanya and knows that these clouds are going to turn into her worst fears might expect to see her father or, perhaps, Leonard Peabody. That's not what she sees. Instead, she sees her sister. And if it were trying to get her to stop in her tracks, that is certainly a way to do it.]

Allison?

[Vanya is already panicking. Klaus already told her that Allison was alright, and as she stands there, Allison certainly looks like she's recovered. The problem is, though, she's also got a very obvious, very nasty-looking scar across her throat. Almost like it's been infected, even.

And when Allison talks, her voice is almost unrecognizable. She's hoarse, her voice sometimes giving out entirely, like she's struggling with every word. But she doesn't look like she's struggling. She looks angry.

"You really thought you could just apologize and make it all go away?"

Vanya just stares at her, unable to respond, thumb poking into her pocket to reach for something that isn't there.]

notation.

[Note: I'm open to any tag ins, including wildcard options, but I personally can't handle harm to domesticated animals. The mutated or otherwise attacking ones are fine, but please avoid harm coming to any kitties or the like, thanks!]

I

[theweakhavepurpose]

[The clicking sound coming towards her may be familiar to anyone who's ever had a dog and hardwood floors. But as it rounds the corner it's very much not a dog. The puffy white wolf pads right up to the kitten sniffing it once before licking it and then gently closing its jaws on the scruff of its neck and starting to carry it away.]

CT!!! Get back here.

[The man who runs up after the wolf looks haggard and out of breath. He's wearing a green deputy outfit though the pouches and holster on his belt are conspicuously empty.]

Sorry she's... Trying to adopt them all I think.

Put it down!

[The wolf whines before putting the kitten back on the ground, laying next to it and starting to lick it.]

b: nightmare ota

[killedwithlove]

Cole knows it isn't what it tries to be.

He spends hours by himself, wandering, searching, feeling for something to do, to help, lost in the vastness and echoing emptiness of this place. With no one to help, he feels untethered and unsure, because he is who he is because of what he does. If he can't help, is he still Compassion? Is he a spirit still or is he sliding, like he did when he didn't have anything but Rhys' tenuous companionship.

It's a constant fear and in this place, he thought his fears were his alone, nothing to feed on them and reflect them but now he's seeing this and he-

Isn't sure.

It's not Nightmare. It's not even Fear, though it's acting like it.

And it's not Despair, though that is exactly what it pretends to be. It has no hat, no shoes, dressed in little more than rags and frayed leathers. It wears Cole's face, but hunches and shivers, looking not only starved and pale but terrified, cowed. But as it sidles closer, cold pouring off it, it looks up and its eyes blaze with pale blue light. "Look into my eyes," it whispers.

Cole is looking. Not ensnared by any spirit power. Frozen with horror.

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben knows what these nightmare swarms are about, now. He might not understand what is causing them or how they could manifest such awful things from someone's mind. He just knows what they do and where some of them have been known to linger. So he's taken to checking a few of those places, periodically, to make sure no one has stumbled into something from their deepest fears. Most of the time, it is a peaceful walk; no one to warn or save, and he steers well clear of the clouds himself.

And today's unofficial rounds seem to be no exception. That is, until Ben sees a familiar figure. And then another of that same familiar figure, only... not. Cole is distinctive-looking and easy to recognize from a distance. It takes a little longer to realize he's not just standing with a stranger, but someone else wearing his face. Someone ragged and undressed and just - wrong Ben can't see Cole's face from this angle, but the way he's standing still and staring at this twisted version of himself, it leaves little doubt. This is his horror, mirrored back to him by those malevolent mists.

Only one thing to do, then. Ben is still a little unsettled by Cole, but that isn't going to stop him from helping. He strides over grips at Cole's shoulder, giving him a tiny shake, to jar him from his trance. ]

It isn't real. We gotta get out of here, Cole. Can you hear me?

finn | ota

[bythehand]

a. animal planet.

[ There's always a little danger when it comes to wildlife. This is a risk that people have to be willing to take sometimes. Finn has no issue with that.

It's actually really interesting-- he's been doing the multiverse tango for a while now, and glow in the dark animals have never made it onto the experiences list. Exploration has been on his to-do list as it stands. This is turning out to be a little extra incentive. Sure, sure, dangerous creatures, wild boars, unknown origins. But consider: he is prepared to cling to any positive experience he can get his emotional hands on, and potentially getting gored by a big mutant lizard is just the risk he's willing to take. Something is making a weird sound off in the faux-wilderness, but it doesn't sound like it's close enough to be worried about yet.

(He's keeping a tightly-strung and vigilant account of things like that, sure. Probably every single person in this group is doing the same thing, which he finds at least a little bit relieving.)

And so here Finn stands. He picks up a turtle, which obviously peaces out into its shell immediately, and that makes him snort in a very "amused in spite of himself" way. ]

Probably be a better defense if it wasn't still glowing.

[ Look, he doesn't have a lot of hands-on turtle time in his life. Zoology whomst? This the dumbest lizard he's ever seen. And that includes the 7-legged gecko he hasn't realized is sitting on his boot. ]


b. spooky scary manifestations of deep fears.

[ Finn deals with his personal demons on his own time. Well, "deals with" and "personal" are sort of up for debate. It's sort of a been there, done that thing, and all the most potent fears left are a lot more conceptual than tied to any particular entity. So that's getting left off for now.

Instead Finn is out here on "try to save people from their personal nanite fear clouds through reckless action" duty. That's right. Reckless risky actions are the only hobbies he's ever truly known, and it's time to go full blast after a month of being emotionally exhausted by existing in general.

This is fine.

Intervention comes in many forms. He might throw a can of spoiled food directly at one of these manifestations and yell something like "HEY" to try to draw its attention. He drop-kicks at least one manifestation of someone's deepest fears, but drop-kicks are reserved for entities of manageable size only.

His go-to move, though, and one he hasn't had to pull out for a long, long while, is to just full-tilt run past someone and grab their hand to pull them alongside. Sometimes running and holding hands is the best way to solve a problem! ]

Come on!


c. finn? volunteer to do something dangerous???

[ It's more likely than you think. Anyway, guess who immediately volunteers for nightmare swarm containment unit duty. It's this idiot. Finally, a basic concept of operating technology and a bottomless well of foolhardiness are going to pay off for him. He's trained his whole life for this. Well. Eh. The throwing himself at dangerous things part, at least.

It just feels like one of those things.

If it's something that he can do, and him doing it means someone else won't have to, and it also means someone with a lot more tech-savviness might be able to make some significant repairs, then by all rights he should be doing it. Simple math.

Finn does still prefer the teamwork approach, of course. This kind of thing is better at least in pairs, and larger groups are not necessarily something to complain about. He's not a fan of being or working alone. Especially when such a big chunk of the plan involves milling around in search of clouds of ominous dread.

He feels plenty enough dread on his own power. It's nice to have company. ]

See anything yet?

[ Or there's always the meeting pre-embarkation and getting introduced option, which is very valid. ]


e. wildcard.

[ For whatever doesn't fall under the filter. I was gonna do a whole separate ship-exploration prompt, but I was also like, I could just tag into people for that or something. Anyway, happy to plot out whatever, including closed starters! On plurk at comatoseroses or available via PM for hashing stuff out! ]

finn!!! volunteer to do something dangerous!!!!!!

[itsnotaonesie]

[Enter Spiderman Peterparker, descending from the ceiling upon a strand of web. Upside down, because it looks cool. Also wearing his mask, which he would say is also "because it looks cool", but mostly because he doesn't want anyone to see his terror face if he gets spooked by the clouds again. HE'S FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE.

Anyway.]

I think so. We've either got a spooky cloud situation up ahead, or... uh... I was trying to come up with a clever fart joke, but I don't think those actually exist, so... It's a cloud of spookiness up ahead.

[THUMBS UP! Or well. Down. Because he's upside down.]

aziraphale | OTA

[oldbookshop]

a1. arrival.

[ John Mulaney has a bit about a horse being loose in a hospital. One of the defining sentiments of this bit is that nobody knows exactly what's going to happen, least of all the horse.

Being given to anxiety and typically worked up over something by default, the Aziraphale experience is very much in the same vein.

Thing is, he was definitely on an air base. World and life-ending evil, dangerous things were actively afoot. Imminent, even. Stakes and tensions? Higher than ever. Satan? Pissed off and taking the lift up to the top floor. And Aziraphale looked at Crowley and he said "come up with something, or I'll never talk to you again," and Crowley stood up in a way that said "I've come up with something and here goes."

To find himself in a stale, quiet room playing some sort of informational video, Crowley and other involved parties nowhere in sight, up to and including the entirety of the planet Earth? Hugely upsetting. Could not recommend it any less. It feels like Crowley is very much not anywhere at all. This has never happened before. What the fuck is happening? Like what the fuck.

He may or may not be emotionally going off the rails. Catch him at any of the following stages:

- trying to miracle himself back to Earth. Or, standing in the video room and snapping his fingers about 7 times while nothing happens. He does that twice. One of the plants is non-dead in here now because he panicked and needed a quick miracle test.

- leaning against a wall or the fountain looking pale and woozy, because he put a lot of work into those attempts and it's coming with some unprecedented costs. He is probably saying something like "oh bugger all."

- 100% literally trying to argue with the automated voice asking him to disrobe for decontamination. This coat! Is 180 years old! This outfit is all he has! He doesn't want to do this, no thanks, do not collect $200. He stops himself mid-sentence in trying to locate someone In Charge to talk to and get this all sorted, because looking back over recent experience, would the third time be the charm? Probably not.

- and last but not least, staring down at his network device with palpable dismay. At some point he digs around in his pockets and puts on a pair of reading glasses, which changes nothing about his eyesight or his dismay. But like, at least he can look nifty. ]


a2. no chill we wander around like animals.

[ The anxiety never ends, but the feet keep moving. There are not really other options except to flounder forever, bereft of any modicum of his long-running routine. Aziraphale finds very quickly that he doesn't have it in him to sit still.

So this is the general, less-wordy exploration option!

Aziraphale is going to be poking around various open levels and rooms and whatnot, trying to get a feel for things. He'll be inclined to stick to agricultural levels more at first, because nature can be sorta nice? It's more familiar to him than most of the technology and all that here. Like cool, still looks like trees are trees, time to eat a random fruit. The lounge with the rude tequila sunrise robo-bartender? Primo spot. Eh. Well. A spot.

Eventually he does figure out there's a library, and that's kind of the full story on that, because Aziraphale immediately reallocates 95% of his time to sitting in it. And in the first few days of coming to sit in the library, that definitely includes looking very much like he might cry. I'm sorry. He's having a really rough time right now and there are books. ]


a3. some kind of 'all creatures' pun.

[ He's not necessarily a fan of the journeying into the darkness angle of this endeavor. And yet, not at all surprised by how quickly it comes to that.

Aziraphale winds up venturing out to investigate, eventually. Cool thing about being abruptly untethered from everything familiar, your only actual friend, and general faith in the very root of your sense of driving purpose for existing, for-- oh, gosh, the second time in the span of a week? There are no cool things about it. But he hears that there are animals and they're unusual at that, and he's always on the hunt for a possibly pleasant distraction. So. He shows up once in a while.

There's genuine endearment (muted by his usual standards, meaning readily apparent and poorly concealed in these trying times) in his expression when he looks down to find any animal that wants to hang in his vicinity. It happens with some regularity. Never a big gaggle or flock or crowd, but a new friend or two as he primly goes about his business. The business is hanging out with animals. With all the sort of tunnel vision focus of a person for whom being eaten or mangled by big dangerous non-sentient creatures has never once been an active thought-slash-concern.

He is, at current, holding a ferret at arm's length to keep it from going after his bowtie. ]

Best not to get too attached, I'm afraid. Go on, you- you- little rapscallion. [ Haha take that loser ferret, you live on the ground now. ] You might still be able to find yourself a... lovely irradiated fish somewhere. If that's what you eat. You must eat something. Whatever it is you like best. Really now, I must insist--

[ Haha take that loser angel, the ferret lives on your sleeve again. You fool. The epic battle continues. It feels rude to punish them or send them off for being friendly. Friendly is good! A+ animals, great work, love the aesthetic. Still, though.

There are also more chill animal hangs. Throw a dart at a glowing animal dartboard, come play in the petting zoo. We got ducks. Big snakes. That thing that might be a weird dog? Insects that shouldn't be so big. Snails! Aziraphale finds the snails especially delightful. ]


b1. actually, fuck this.

[ Gotta get on the manifestation of fears game at least once per character-playing experience, frankly. To say Aziraphale is caught off-guard when it happens to him is a huge understatement. His brain goes in for the full backflip. He's minding his own business, trying to- to boldly explore and keep repressing his problems like he has every day of his life, when from the ether appears an archangel. He claps his hands in a real office team manager trying to hype up the gang way, one time. And he goes, "Aziraphale! How do you like the place?"

This is not ideal by any means. It's less that Gabriel himself, the individual, is Aziraphale's deepest fear personified, and more everything that's sort of... tied to him and Heaven and the whole bureaucracy of it, and maybe the fact that Aziraphale directly contributed to stalling a prophecied holy war to end all wars, and pretty much everything from the past several years to millennia in general. Gabriel's a good poster boy.

Aziraphale pops his hands behind his back, all the better to keep from fidgeting or shifting on his feet. He puts on the polite smile of someone who is clearly already desperate to not be having this encounter. He did not go full chaotic feral and nearly shoot an 11-year-old with a gun that could fire bricks so he could have this encounter. He does not care for the implications that being here is... deliberate. That might be the actual deep-seated terror frothing up here.

Something doesn't feel right. There's a difference between an actual angel and a fancy fear cloud. A lot of things haven't been feeling right in this place, though. Sometimes he doesn't know until he knows. So Aziraphale says: ]

It's always a pleasure, Gabriel. To what do I owe the, ah. The honor.

[ "Let's cut the crap. We both know what you did to land yourself here." The continued geniality is spot-on, though. Gotta give him that. "You didn't really think the two of you were gonna get away with it, right? Come on." ]

Well, I rather thought that the greater good-

[ And then Aziraphale does just sort of get punched in the face. He's on the ground to think about his life.

It's the first thing that's very definitively Off about this, because Gabriel doesn't get his hands dirty, personally. Pretty much ever. Aziraphale.exe has stopped processing for a few seconds. He's gotta consider his options, which he thinks mostly involve running.

Typical. He hates running.

On the other hand, maybe at some point he'll be able to hit a fake Gabriel with a folding chair or something, and that could be.......... terrible. Obviously. Just heinous. Goodness, he'd sure hate that and wouldn't do it out of anything but necessity. ]


b2. everybody gets one.

[ There are two distinct nightmare swarm flavors. Flavor one is what the narration would like to call Operation: Guardian Angel. So it will be doing that. That's the name. It's about as straightforward as it sounds. Aziraphale scrapes together enough dignity or functionality or whatever to consider that right, there are still people here, and he is still an angel who can and should do good things to protect and help said people, and that that means actually going and doing... that...

Helping is a core tenet of existence. No matter what else is complicated or lost, he does have angelic business to fall back on. Two birds with one stone, really. He gets a free lifeline and maybe things won't be so miserable for the others here. This is the exact brand of impulse that his brain cell has been inclined towards for 6000 years.

So. You ran into a nightmare nanite cloud that manifested into a terrible fear and it's chasing you down dark corridors, trying to kill you. The near misses are getting nearer. Close calls, closer. The mood more dire.

Isn't it convenient, miraculous even, that as someone is on the run, they get pulled flush against a wall or into a door off to the side by this random dude, and that there's a lighting fixture overhead that creates sort of an impressively crisp-lined barrier. It could look like any other ceiling-embedded light in the city. It could be really weird and anachronistic, because Aziraphale is still really fond of the 1800s and early 1900s. It might be just a tad too bright at the source to make out what it's coming from completely.

If and/or when the latest Monstrosity dissipates back into nothingness, Aziraphale has a legitimately relieved sigh to heave for each individual instance. He's just glad it's still working. Holy shit. ]

Lucky this was here. I'd hate to think what might have happened otherwise. It's been dreadful.

[ The later it is in the day, the more outright tired he starts to look. Miracles are turning into a whole Thing suddenly? But he can't just not do the thing. People need help. He's supposed to be the good guy, etc etc etc. Live fast, tire out, bad bitches do it well. ]

A2

[benhargreeves]

[ There's no way for Ben to miss the sudden presence of somebody he's never met before who has taken to sitting around in the library. The first couple times he sees him, Ben respects his privacy and doesn't interact with him apart from a silent nod and a little wave that is more just lifting his hand, really. People don't tend to come to libraries because they want a chat. Hell, that's the reason Ben is down here so much himself, the reason he'd always hidden away in corners with books growing up.

But he is in the library a fair amount himself, since he is in the process of fixing up the little offshoot room with all the bookshelves, cataloguing and reshelving the books that are still readable, doing what first aid he can on the ones that have been water damaged or burned. So he has multiple opportunities to notice that this dude doesn't seem to be enjoying his peace and quiet.

The third time Ben runs into him there, though, he looks so sad and miserable that even Ben can't just let this go on. He sets down the in-progress catalogue and comes over, pulling a chair up in front of Aziraphale and sitting in it, leaning forward, concern clear on his face. ]

Listen... are you okay, buddy? 'Cause you seem kinda not okay.

Julie Grigio | Open

[redwinekindofgirl]

a. bright spots in the darkness

[It isn't that Julie isn't afraid to go up into the Agricultural area, particularly in the dark, but rather that her curiosity overrides her sense of danger as a general rule and she has to find out what that glowing is.

She enters the area with a bat, for all the protection it will offer if something tries to attack her, and doesn't venture too far from the door to give herself a quick exit. Julie sits in the dark, her hands white-knuckled around her chosen weapon, until her eyes get used to the dark and she begins to make out the glowing shapes moving between the trees and plants.

A fox is what comes close to her first. Unsure of what to do about it, Julie holds her breath while it approaches and sniffs her knee, only to back away as soon as she moves.]

Hey-- [She whispers, and while the creature doesn't run, it backs off further and vanishes.

It's with her heart thumping that she races down to the mess hall and begins rummaging through the cupboards. If you're nearby, she'll glance over and ask--]

Do you know what foxes like to eat?

b. nightmare swarm

[Hard not to notice the weird swarms, and Julie knows this dance. She avoids them as best she can, but it's when one catches her by surprise that she's subjected to just what they can do.

The shadowy cloud shudders and begins to coalesce, taking on a tall, thin, skeletal shape that all but hums with a peculiar kind of malevolence. Julie feels her heart rise up into her throat and lodge there, her lips parting without sound, and she takes a step back... then another.]

Hell no. [She whispers, soft, slightly strangled.] Ohhh, hell no.

nightmare swarm

[queenofthegirlscouts]

[ The swarms? Have been getting on Shepard's nerves. Weird shit like that is never a good sign, but so far, they've been avoiding a decent scan from her omni-tool. It's hard without EDI to supplement, it's hard without Mordin or Tali and their specialised data-collecting programs. But until now, the swarms have just been lurking.

She doesn't see this swarm form the husk-like creature. She doesn't have to.

She sees the blonde girl backing away from something, sees the husk, and the only hesitation is for her gun which she doesn't have. Biotics it is, then. ]

Come back straight towards me.

[ It's quietly, calmly said: the reason for the instruction comes clear a second later as Shepard throws a ball of mass effect energy directly at the husk with nearly hurricane force. ]

a cool dad | ota (plus one closed prompt!)

[bardish]

I. BRIGHT SPOTS: A (not so) Meetcute [Closed to Cam]
So. Jeff's stuck in a tree.

To be a little more specific: he's stuck in a tree, with a glowing puppy cradled in his arms and a small pack of Day-Glo abominations pacing around the trunk, waiting for their tasty dinner to drop down. The things look like the goddamn love children of a wild boar and a crocodile, and judging by the way they're snorting and salivating, they're fucking hungry.

They also have a talent for ramming head-first into the tree, sending insistent tremors that resonate all the way to the top. Jeff clutches the puppy harder, closer to his chest, as it whimpers and tries to bury its lumescent little face into the crook of his arm.

"It's okay, little guy," he shushes, like the dog can understand him. "We'll get out of this. There's nothing we can't handle with... uh... with optimism and a can-do attitude!"

Maybe he's trying to convince himself more than the dog. Is it working? No, not really. But what else is he gonna do? Fight a pack of boar-o-diles? He's not a hunter, man! Or even a zookeeper! Jeff's only got two moves in a life-or-death situation: use his words, or run. And since the creatures don't seem particularly open to his words…

After a while, Jeff cranes his neck, trying to get a look down to see how many creatures are still down there, waiting for him and the puppy. He manages to count to four before one rams its head into the tree trunk, shaking it enough that he nearly loses both his balance and his hold on the puppy.

What follows is a very dignified yelp, and an equally dignified: "FUCK ME!" He gulps, tries to steady his breathing, then calls out: "Anybody out there? I could use a hand!"

A beat.

"Please?"

II. NIGHTMARES: Monster Mash
It probably comes as no surprise that Jeff's a fearful person. Anybody who saw the anxiety explosion that was his first (and so far: only) transmission to Anchor could pick up on that. Jeff's nervous, high-strung, out of his element, a total civilian, a suburbanite fish out of water. The nightmare swarms ought to have a lot to work with when he's around.

At first, they scratch the surface, pulling at that nebulous, ever-present anxiety and forming it into something solid. Well. Solid-ish. It's a twisted ghoul that can't quite settle on one face, or which way its joints should move, or how many limbs it ought to have, but it's solid enough to tear at his clothes and claw at anything blocking its path. And the way it howls and keens... It's at once familiar-- intimately fucking familiar, like he's known it all his life-- and so utterly inhuman that the first time he hears it, he can't do anything but go into a panic and run.

It's a good thing Jeff's fast. When he suddenly comes racing into the room (pick a room, any room), slamming the door behind him, it's almost like he's been running from nothing. Either the monster's stopped chasing him, or it's just taking its sweet time catching up. Regardless, Jeff's just going to hold his body against the door as he looks to see if it's got a lock or anything. It's only when he glances up that he realizes he's not alone here. For a moment, he's got a total deer-in-headlights look on his face-- please don't be a monster out to kill him-- before he forces a nervous, slightly manic smile.

"Oh. Hi! Sorry to barge in here, it's just-- I. Uh. I..." Was being chased by a manifestation of his extreme anxiety? "--thought I saw a space rat outside. It's probably nothing, I'm sure everything's fine!"

EVERYTHING'S FINE.

Just ignore the scratching at the door.

III. NIGHTMARES: Personal Demons [warning: addiction]
Sometimes, the nightmare cloud manages to dig a little deeper. It finds his old wounds, the root of all the fear and anxiety, and pulls them to the surface. It's a monster that wears his face, but younger, brighter, sharper. He's twenty again, and his eyes are like stars. Jeff can't run; all he can do is stare at his own face as a sick feeling squeezes his heart and twists at his stomach.

Is it narcissism or just total self loathing?

"Look at you. No matter how long you run, no matter how deep you try to bury me... You're still me."

He draws in a sharp breath, pulling his gaze away from that face. That twisted funhouse mirror version of him seems so healthy and beautiful-- vibrant, at its peak-- until Jeff blinks and notices the rot spreading from the track marks on its arms. He can't help but look at his own arms, just in case, half-expecting to see the same infection.

"You'll always be me."

No matter how sick he feels, it's almost a comfort when the ghost of his past puts its arms around him, embracing him, pulling him down to kneel with it on the ground. He wants to scream or cry or shout for help, anything, but Jeff can't find his voice. He can barely find his breath as he looks into his own eyes. There's hands on his throat. He realizes that belatedly, feeling those fingers constrict as he tries to breathe, as his own voice soothingly, sweetly shushes his rising panic.

"C'mon, rockstar. Sing us a song."

Jeff might need some assistance here before he gets choked to death by his own shitty past.

IV. WILDCARD: Catch-All
[ Just a catch-all for anything taking place before or during the event log! For all your gen or day-in-the-life needs. ]

II

[deadlycurves]

Stubbornly, Diego's trying to wait out this... nightmare cloud bullshit. He hasn't done well with it, he's ran into them more than once, especially because he can't just stay holed up in the house he shares with his brothers forever. Literally and otherwise, because Diego is entirely too much of a doer to sit idle very long. However, this happens to be one of those moments when he is, in fact, sitting idle. He's propped across the bed he'd claimed as his own when suddenly, the door flies open and slams shut. Little else might get Diego into action like unexpected visitors. Every muscle in his body coils and tenses, ready to act. He gets to his feet, fingers curling easily around one of the knives that he always keeps on his person and before Jeff will see Diego, he'll see that knife fly right toward him, hitting the wall with a solid thunk!, just an inch or two to the left of his ear. "Who the fuck is in my house?" He snaps, finally emerging and finding-- "Aren't you the flip flop guy?" He squints, somehow even more confused with both the man standing here, and the words pouring out of his mouth. Sure, it's... probably the ghost things that keep chasing people that led him here, right, but... "A space rat?" He echoes, pulling a face at those words.

Kieran Duffy | Open

[sleepyhollowed]

[Kieran has no way to be sure if the chaos that surrounded his arrival is par the course or just something special that he’s managed to encounter with his unique brand of luck, but he is pretty sure he doesn’t like it.]

[It could be that your character has already met Kieran within the first couple of days of entry. It could be that this is their first time coming across the hapless cowboy. Regardless, it’s going to be a bumpy ride—because that’s how these things usually wind up.]

-------

[A]

[Kieran Duffy doesn’t rest much, but when he does, he prefers laying down under an open sky with a chorus of frogs and crickets lulling him to sleep. It’s why, even though there’s a dormitory out there with his name on it, he prefers sleeping in the rafters of one of the barns. Dilapidation aside, it’s as close to ‘home’ as he’ll get—in that it’s not a cold room with artificial lights and gadgets that he can’t even begin to explore.]

[But he can’t sleep tonight. Not with the way Branwen is scraping the barn floor with a tiny hoof and whinnying softly, and he’s pretty sure it has to do with those ethereal splotches of light outside. So, Kieran climbs down as quietly as he can and runs a hand down Branwen’s velvety nose.]

I’ll go check what’s there, alright? Just shhh…

[His confident energy (and this is one of the few times he actually has confident energy) is enough to put Branwen’s nerves at bay. The now miniature horse is silent in his stall as Kieran sneaks out through the large doorway and ‘outside’. He has his hand on his revolver as he sneaks closer to one of the light sources. It’s more of a gesture meant to calm his own nerves—he has absolutely no idea what to expect or how dangerous it’ll be, and he’s pretty sure he’s not going to like the answer.]

[Still, he manages to keep his breathing quiet and his footfalls dull and—]

[…Huh.]

[Kieran Duffy doesn’t know much, but he knows horses. Everything about the animal in front of him says ‘Hey, I’m a horse’, but the way it’s glowing in the darkness points to otherwise.]

…Well, I’ll be damned.

[He rises up to nearly his height—slooooowly—and well within the horse’s view, his arms out in a pacifying gesture as the horse eyes him, gently stamping its hooves.]

Heeeyyyy, buddy… wooaaaaahhhh….

[Maybe your character is taking a nighttime stroll along one of the agricultural levels and comes across this scene. Maybe they’re also trying to catch this funky horse. Maybe they’re just lost and have an incurable case of the ‘GOLLY THIS SURE IS WEIRD LET’S CHECK IT OUT’s. Either way, feel free to jump in!]

-------

[B]

[WARNING FOR POTENTIAL RDR2 SPOILERS.]

[Although not a survivalist by trade (and barely by experience), Kieran understands the importance of exploring your surroundings and learning about the land. So that’s what he’s committed himself to, today: checking out Anchor and absorbing as much as possible about its layout. That includes some of the darker areas—areas that he’s certain will come with bumps and scrapes that’ll all but make him jump out of his skin.]

[What he doesn’t expect, though, are clouds of what he suspects to be smoke wafting around, almost as if they were sentient; purposeful in their movements. The idea alone is enough to keep Kieran on his toes as he continues exploring, every sense on edge, and actually seeing it in action keeps him alert.]

[Except he was always a klutz and was never one for decent spatial recognition.]

[As Kieran’s gaze focuses on one of the clouds, he forgets to pay attention to the clutter around him. Sure enough, it’s only a matter of seconds before his boot hits some stray debris and the rest of his body slams to the ground.]

[He swears loudly amidst the THUD that is six-foot-three and maybe a hundred and seventy pounds of clumsy cowboy suddenly meeting a hard surface. Sprawled on the ground as he is, Kieran can’t see behind him, and that’s no good. He starts to climb to his feet, shaking, when he hears a voice that slithers like a snake and sends ice into his gut.]

Kieran Duffy… we’ve been lookin’ for you all over the place. We missed ya something fierce.

[He doesn't want to. He doesn’t want to and every fiber of Kieran’s being is telling him not to, but he slowly turns around, green eyes wide with fear.]

[He can see the glint of a knife.]

[He can hear the jeers of a gang of outlaws that were never his friends, but only recently became his enemies.]

[And it’s all thanks to this all-too-real image of a man who, although well into his years, is as intimidating and dangerous as someone twice his size and half his age.]

C-C-C-Colm…?!

[Kieran steps back. Once, twice, and too few times to keep Colm O’Driscoll from roughly grabbing his collar with both his hands and dragging Kieran close. The stench of cigarettes and alcohol wash over Kieran's senses. This isn't a ghost, and it isn't some kind of sick mirage.]

[For all intents and purposes, Colm's here... and he's still mighty pissed.]

Did you really think you could hide from us forever, boy?!

[It takes a bit to fight through the shock, surprise, and sheer terror coursing through Kieran's body, but the realization does finally hit that he can move. He isn't tied up. Not like last time. Not like in the agonizing days before his sudden arrival at Anchor.]

[Kieran pushes at Colm with a strangled cry, breaking his hold on him, and bolts into any direction that'll take him as far away as possible from the head O'Driscoll. He's not looking, and he's barely registering anything or anyone around him. Maybe someone will want to stop him, and maybe someone will do so unintentionally.]

-------

[WILDCARD]

[Have another idea? I’ll probably roll with it. Want to chat about stuff first? Get in touch over at Sheepi!]

B

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter was on his way over to investigate this yeehaw commotion, but upon rounding a corner he gets plowed the fuck into by a full sized howdy partner. Luckily, Peter's a lot more sturdy than he looks, so he isn't hurt at all. Rather than falling on his ass, he reaches out to grip Kieran's arms, because he is very obviously having a freak out. I mean most people were freaking out lately, so it's not a huge shocker, but Peter likes this cowboy.]

Whoa, whoa! Easy, buddy, where's the fire?

commander shepard | ota

[queenofthegirlscouts]

power up

Never let it be said that Rufina Shepard is afraid of hard work, especially when it will contribute to whatever community she’s found herself. It’s a habit she has, or maybe, a reaction to the kind of luck she has. She’s never been posted, or sent, or really arrived anywhere where there isn’t a problem, and she’s someone who fixes problems. And so far, none of the problems she’s faced here involve her having to shoot anything.

Honestly, just clearing sand is almost relaxing. Almost. It’s still hard work, and it isn’t long before she’s sweating under the off-the-rack suit she’s wearing.

(That isn’t something she’s had to get to used to for a while, gear that isn’t tailored to her measurements.)

It doesn’t take long for Shepard to fall into a rhythm, and she starts to sing quietly to keep herself going.

Space Marine or no, she's still part of a navy. Singing is a thing.

“We'll rant and we'll roar like true Newfoundlanders /
We'll rant and we'll roar on deck and below /
Until we see bottom inside the two sunkers/
When straight through the Channel to Toslow we'll go –

Oh hello, what do we have.” The song stops abruptly as Shepard brings up the glowing orange holographic interface of her omni-tool to scan the cables she’s just uncovered. “Think this is part of the systems here.”

nightmare swarm (and the medbay)

As far as she can tell, there isn't a doctor here. Certainly, no one's appointed themselves to the post. She's not even sure how many people are trained in first aid, let alone anything higher. So to the medbay Shepard has gone, to assess what is there and what needs replacing. If there's no doctor, a battle medic will have to do if anything comes up.

Call it her sense of duty.

(God, she misses Chakwas and Mordin.)

Which would all be well and good, and should anyone make their way to the medbay, she will attend to the best of her ability, but she's not left alone for long.

Of course not. Why would she be? At least, that's one of the thoughts running through her head as a swarm starts to form in a corner.

She gets to her feet, clenching her fist and tapping a holographic button on the back of her hand so the orange interface of her omni-tool appears around her hand and forearm.

"Can I help you?"

It never hurts to be polite, and the swarm seems to move away. Not relaxing, Shepard sits down. Then she hears a moan. Low, despairing, faintly electronic. She's back on her feet in an instant, and- and.

She knows that sound. And she knows that shape. The husk that comes staggering through the doorway isn't human-shaped like all the others she's seen. No, it's a turian. Used to be a turian. It opens its mouth to groan again and that's when she sees it. The scars on the lower right of his face.

("I want something to go right. Just once. Just...")

For the first time years Rufina Shepard stands there, frozen in shock.

wildcard!

[ooc: nothing suits? feel free to start something else! And the medbay section functions as a general 'medic in the house' ota, too.]

[WILDCARD]

[sleepyhollowed]

Exploring has its benefits, even when the area is dark and spooky and has clearly seen better days. Some would say that's when exploring especially has its benefits. The thing is, for the faint-hearted, those benefits seem so far off and abstract that it's debatable whether they're actually worth pursuing in the first place. Kieran would unabashedly count himself amongst the faint-hearted. No amount of pride could dissuade anyone, let alone himself.

So it was with a massive mental push that he managed to start walking around Anchor, taking in as much of its expanse as time allowed. He roamed its halls, drawing maps in his mind's eye illustrating which staircase led to what floor and what that floor seemed to offer. Any signs he came across meant nothing to him--he can barely tell if they're in English, and even if they are, he'll have no idea what they say, anyway.

Eventually, Kieran makes his way to Anchor's lower floors. He can't help the way his shoulders start to hunch in on themselves. The little spots of green here and there are nice and all, but they do nothing to offset the suffocation brought about by cold metal and glass. This isn't a place for someone who's used to fresh air and the shining sun. It's enough to almost make Kieran want to take back every unkind word he'd said about the southern heat and the hot soup that was swamp air in the dead of summer. Almost.

He places a hand against a wall as he walks along, both to balance himself and to keep himself oriented. His footfalls are relatively quiet with each careful step and every one of his senses are on alert.

It's when he turns a corner that he sees someone off in the distance--a woman as far as he can tell--and his breath catches. He's only met friendly folks here thus far, and he has no reason to think any different of her, but Kieran's many bumps and bruises over the years have taught him well: not everyone has your best interests at heart.

So he freezes in place, unsure of what to do, and his gut urging him to err on the side of 'get the hell out of there before she sees you'. He just can't make his legs listen, though.

And he's been standing there an awfully long time. Better to make himself known as someone who's very much not a threat than act like a weirdo.

"U-Uh hello, there!"

...All he can do is hope this will end not terribly.