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redshiftlogs2019-08-02 02:02 am
modblob) wrote in redshiftlogs2019-08-02 02:02 am
Entry tags:
- !mod post: intro mingle,
- dragon age: cole,
- far cry 5: staci pratt,
- good omens: aziraphale,
- homestuck: aradia megido,
- hunger games: finnick odair,
- mass effect: commander rufina shepard,
- mcu: peter parker,
- mortal kombat: kabal,
- original: cameron waltz,
- original: cho takahashi,
- original: jeff calhoun,
- poison: poison,
- red dead redemption: kieran duffy,
- star wars: finn,
- umbrella academy: ben hargreeves,
- umbrella academy: diego hargreeves,
- umbrella academy: eudora patch,
- umbrella academy: klaus hargreeves,
- umbrella academy: vanya hargreeves,
- warm bodies: julie grigio
august 2019. welcome to the void.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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!
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!
no subject
Actually.. he pauses looking at it tied to his belt. The knife is definitely still there. And yet the Jacob that he'd just seen had the exact same knife in his hip holster: red handle, overly sharp blade, blood rusting the joint where the metal met the handle.
How was that possible?
It's in that confused pause that Ben is able to haul him off and drag him towards safety. There's a moment where he stiffens and pulls away, unsure if this is the Ben he knew or the one that had manifested in the darkness, but that's quickly answered for him as the other Ben is behind them, stomach full of tentacles that are definitely after them.
As soon as they're behind the relative safety of the door, he drops to his knees.]
What.. what the fuck?
What the fuck was that? If it's not Jacob... and it's not you... then... the hell?
no subject
Some kind of - I don't know. Shapeshifter entity. All I know is, if you get too close, it turns into whatever you're most scared of...
[ Pratt is kneeling and honestly, Ben isn't so big on the idea of standing up right now, either. He lets himself slide down the door until he's sitting on the floor, hands clasped together tightly, hanging his head so he can press his forehead against his joined hands. Catching his breath is one thing, but there's so much adrenaline coursing through him that it's going to be a long time before he stops shaking.
He keeps talking like that, clarifying further: ]
For you, that's Jacob. For me it's... me, using my powers to hurt people who don't deserve it.
[ Ben gives an extremely tremulous exhale, like he's close to crying but holding it back. He looks up, finally, hand coming to press against his stomach. His expression is devastated and apologetic. Tightly, he says: ]
I'm sorry. I- I- didn't want you to have to see that.
no subject
[He makes some sort of wriggly arm motion that's apparently supposed to clarify that he means the tentacles.]
Are you okay? Does it hurt? Are you bleeding?
[He staggers to his feet and looks around at where they are as if it would miracuously be the medbay or somewhere with bandages. He can see that Ben is sitting there and not in a puddle of blood, but somewhere in his mind he's convinced that he has a gaping hole in his stomach that needs all kinds of medical attention.
He starts sorting through the junk and crates around them. Looks like this is more of a storage room considering he's found toilet paper and cleaning supplies.]
no subject
[ Which is definitely not the same thing as saying it hadn't hurt. But what's a
lot oflittle pain? Ben doesn't get up, but he reaches a hand out as if to halt that half-frantic search that Pratt has begun, looking for some way to help him. ]We made it out. We're okay.
[ And Ben would have known what Pratt meant even without that very evocative gesture. They were bound to come to this sooner or later, and it's happening right now. He's going to have to explain, and that'll be it. Pratt has just seen him rip a man in half, and once it sinks in that Ben was the one controlling those tentacles, that he's capable of that... well, Ben's pretty sure that's going to be it for any friendship he might have had with Pratt. Which sucks. He's just going to have to keep it together until he's alone and then he can feel miserable about it in peace.
For now, though, the truth. No point in hiding it. ]
Yeah, all of that was coming out of me. Through me, sort of.
[ Ben hangs his head again, hands linked together over the back of his neck. He doesn't want to look at Pratt when he realizes the person he's in this place with is maybe just as scary as the person he'd been running from. He knows it is coming but he can't watch it happen. ]
You've probably met other people here with powers, and... that's mine. Summoning those creatures. I'm sorry, I know I'm- [ He stumbles mid-sentence, course-corrects slightly, the words a touch hollow. ] I know it's hard to look at. And you saw me-
[ Ben exhales, the sound unsteady, and gives his head a little shake. Why remind Pratt? He'd seen what he'd seen. And as soon as he calms down enough he'll understand their past conversations in a different light. He'll realize that Ben isn't someone he wants to be around. ]
I... just want you to know I'm not dangerous. To you.
no subject
[He does stop going to look for bandages sitting back down near Ben and looking at him curiously. Because he's familiar with people being able to fly, or having super strength, or shaman that could summon water and fire. The idea of turning your torso into some sort of horror beast is a new one.
And a painful looking one at that.]
Does it hurt? Because it looks horrific. And I know that, if you were going to kill me you would have already, and wouldn't have tackled that.. other version of you when it tried to attack me.
[There's a moment and then Pratt kind of chuckles. The ludicrousness of this situation finally hitting him.]
You trying to convince me you're not dangerous, and I'm always trying to convince people I am. And no one ever believes either of us right?
no subject
[ He corrects Pratt automatically, and then realizes that the small semantic difference might not seem all that important. Rubbing a hand across his forehead, he tries his best to explain. ]
They don't live inside me. They're in another dimension. I... was born with a portal on my body, and I can open it, and let them reach through. And I can control them. A little.
[ When Pratt asks if it hurts, Ben knows there is no point in lying. He's already been honest up to this point, and besides, Pratt had heard him screaming. If he said it was painless it would be totally unbelievable. He he gives a little shrug, as if the answer is yes but it's not a big deal at all. Like it didn't feel like being torn apart every single time.
And Pratt's not wrong about if being horrific; Ben smiles, and it's sarcastic and bitter and brittle. ]
That was the nickname they gave me. The papers and everything. 'The Horror'. 'Cause just seeing me made most people...
[ He trails off into another shrug. Pratt can use his imagination, and all that bitterness had swiftly run out of Ben, leaving him feeling mostly hollow. He knows it shouldn't matter what other people think of him. His reputation, his legacy. In theory all that should matter is his view of himself. But practice and theory are very different things when, on occasion, people throw up just looking at you. ]
...Anyway, you handled it way better than most.
[ And then, more awful than all the rest of it, Ben feels a flicker of hope when Pratt laughs, even if it's soft and strained. Like maybe this isn't all ruined and over, after all, and they could still someday be friends. He knows he shouldn't let himself hope, and yet... he is. ]
No, they don't. But I wish they did.
[ He knows there are probably a lot of good reasons why Pratt would want to convince people he was dangerous. Self-preservation, etcetera. But Ben just can't imagine it. So much of who he is as a person and how he looks at the world has been shaped around this knowledge he has had his entire life, that he is like a bomb that could go off at any second if he doesn't make all the right choices and do everything perfectly and keep control of himself.
Ben's expression shifts, concern coming to the fore as he asks: ]
Are you... doing okay? After you saw my power, and- thinking Jacob was here?
no subject
[Is that a silver lining? He's terrible at being optimistic. He's been trying for the past few months but trying to see the good in: horror tentacle beasts come out of me - is stretching it for him.]
I've seen some shit. Not quite like that but... horrible stuff people shouldn't have to witness. Or be forced to do.
[he pulls the wolf to his side, rubbing at her fur a to ground him in the present and not dwell on the past. Especially not the past of four minutes ago.]
I'm never gonna be okay. But yeah I guess I'm fine. As much as I can be anyway. At least he's not really here. I guess there being something that can turn into anything else is actually worse, but.. I'm sorta relieved it isn't the real thing.
That's fucked up of me isn't it?
no subject
I'm sorry to hear that.
[ The words probably won't do much, and Ben knows it. But the look on his face is direct, sympathetic, and understanding. Ben isn't surprised to hear Pratt say it. Even that first time they'd met, they seemed able to communicate with one another in a way that means... Pratt's probably been through shit. As someone who's been through shit, too, Ben speaks that same language.
He watches as Pratt pets that wolf, comforting her, comforting himself in the process. Ben feels a little guilty for asking how Pratt is doing, asking him to talk about it, even obliquely. But his concern won out over his discretion. He doesn't argue, when Pratt says he isn't ever going to be okay. Sometimes, that's how things are. Ben knows that. ]
It's not worse, and it's not fucked up. It's completely understandable. That thing was just... an echo. A pale imitation. Trying to make itself big and scary by copying the real monsters.
[ And... yeah he did just put himself in that category along with Jacob, and now at least Pratt will get why. Ben pushes his hands into his pockets; the last thing he wants is to mess Pratt up more or upset him any further, but he wants to make sure one thing is clear: ]
I'm glad that I was around. And... just remember that even if it ever is the real thing, it won't be for long. I promise that. Come get me, and I'll take care of it.
no subject
Of course what Pratt has been through isn't anything like having a portal ripped through him and horrifying monsters come out. But it is him losing himself and becoming the monster at the whims of someone else. There's an unsaid understanding there, that they've both been through shit that no one should have, and are now stumbling along pretending to be normal. Acting like everything is fine even though it's not. It never will be.]
Yeah. That's it exactly, it's trying to be something.. but it's not. Still we can't just leave it there. If it's turning into everyone's worst nightmare it'll kill someone eventually. Break the dome. Who knows what.
[He's having trouble imagining what other peoples worst fears might be, but there's a possibility it'll be something even worse.
He jerks a little at Ben's offer, turning to look at him as he struggles to respond. Is Ben offering to kill Jacob for him? Because that's what it sounds like and Pratt is weirdly touched by the gesture.]
Thanks.. that'd be... I.. Thank you.
no subject
[ Ben is hesitant, words halting in the way they become when he is wandering into vulnerable or emotional territory. But he lifts his gaze, meeting Pratt's so he can see the sincerity there, in addition to hearing it in his grave voice. ]
If any of that shit you've seen is something you want to talk about, but you weren't sure anyone would want to hear it or could take it: I can. And I'll listen, if you ever want to.
[ He doesn't expect Pratt will want to, now, when it's all so fresh, or possibly ever. But Ben wanted to make the offer. Because if Pratt is anything like him, he has figured out there are unspoken rules for what you can tell to who. Lots of people couldn't take hearing in detail about his powers, or his life, or his death. ]
Don't worry. Peter got one of them into a containment unit. He's analyzing it in a lab. I'll check in with him tonight and see how that is going. And until then - I've been warning people. They stay in places with a lot of old damage and shadowy spots. Stay where it's light.
[ Ben's face is solemn when he makes the offer to kill Jacob; no remorse there, no hesitation. From the little he'd seen of this reflection of Jacob in Pratt's mind, from seeing his fear... this wasn't someone it will be a toll on Ben's conscience to kill. ]
That's what friends are for.
[ It's a small joke, an attempt to lift the mood. But also, he kinda means it. ]
no subject
Yeah. Maybe. Talking is supposed to make it better right? Getting it all out there?
[But that's an easy piece of advice to give when you don't know what it is the other person wants to talk about. Ben at least seems like he'd be able to listen and not judge, which would be.. well probably the first time that's happened.
Not that people hadn't tried before, but Pratt was so worried about letting anyone know how messed up he is that he'd never really explained in detail to anyone. He should probably change that.]
True friends share trauma and murder?
[He's got a smirk on his face.]
Sounds good to me.
no subject
That's what they say. That it helps the brain to process it, change it from - a tangle of undefined shitty moments into a story with a beginning and a middle and an end. And it helps to not feel so isolated and identify - mistaken beliefs about blame and what defines you and what doesn't
[ He gives a little smile, wry and lopsided, and shrugs: ]
I've sat through a lot of rehab therapy sessions with my brother. Like, a lot.
[ He believes some of it, at least. Even if knowing objectively that it can be helpful doesn't make it any easier for himself. Then again, until he came here... Klaus would have been the only one he could talk to. And Klaus already knew all of it. He'd been there for it, was involved in it in a way that made talking about it such a risk. Ben had seen how bringing up certain things had made Klaus spiral with guilt, and he didn't want to cause that.
When Pratt says that friends share trauma and murder, Ben shrugs. ]
In my experience... yeah. They do.
[ Jokes aside, both of those things had been a part of his life so long that it's not really possible to untangle them from everything else. He doesn't treat them with the hushed reverence and fear that people who are unacquainted with them do. ]
Don't know what that says about me.
no subject
I guess that's the stuff I have to sort out.
[Now's not really the time or place for that, but he files that away as something to think about later.]
I think it's easier for people who've been thru shit to talk to each other because we're not trying to act "normal" the whole time. Cuz that's hard. I'm shit at it.
no subject
You never have to act normal for me. Trust me. I don't know how to deal with normal. I would probably freak normal the hell out.
[ And he shrugs, because hey, now Pratt at least has some reason why that might be. He'd seen Ben's powers, what he can do. Had he noticed what a quick and practiced thing it seemed to be, for him to tear a person in half?
But then, he drops his gaze to his hands and admits: ]
I'm saying all this like I'm some expert, but I haven't really talked shit through before with anyone. There're my siblings but... that doesn't count as somebody outside the... situation.
[ He's being vague again but he'd told Pratt his dad was a monster before and he's sure the guy can extrapolate some things. The same way Ben had extrapolated a few things, from the way Jacob looked and held himself, the way he had spoken to Pratt. It was... evocative, and his guesses may be wrong, but... he has more of an inkling now than before. ]
You alright to get out of here? I wanna put some more distance between us and... that thing.
no subject
Not that it matters since I'm dying back home, so I won't get to use them. But..
[He shrugs, realizing that he just dropped that on Ben with no warning. He's tied to a chair starving to death, that's fine for casual conversation right?]
Yeah lets get out of here. I don't hear anything out there right now so maybe it gave up. Or is chasing someone else.
[Selfishly he doesn't care which one it is as long as it's not after him]
no subject
Last time I talked to someone normal she said something totally innocent about how my dad must be a really good person to adopt so many kids, and I like, spontaneously burst into tears, which is usually not my thing at all, and I totally scared her, so, uh. Yeah. IIIIII... get that.
[ When Pratt mentions dying back home, Ben does feel rather like he has been punched in the gut. He had mentioned it the first time they met, but Ben had forgotten, somehow. How could he forget a thing that important? He still doesn't know how, or why, but... he is definitely not going to forget, a second time.
Ben moves in the same direction Pratt does, suggesting: ]
I don't think there were any of those things in the bar. Maybe... we could get a drink?
no subject
[Leave it to Pratt to feel bad that him having a breakdown was ruining someone elses day.]
Bar sounds good. Let's get out of here.