apocalypsehowcomm | Event

Event - Lullaby

Lullaby

➥ For You Never Shut Your Eye

Photo of a small grassy area within an urban environment. Two men are passed out across the grass and sidewalk. There is a purple gradient filter over the photo.
(cw: supernaturally-induced sleep/fatigue, supernaturally-induced sleep disorders/somniloquy, needles/injections)

The line between waking and sleep is beginning to blur. People will find themselves sleeping far too much, but it never feels like enough. The music is growing more prevalent and persistent throughout town. The effect is still weaker within the building, but as October wears on, more and more people are affected and ADI staff are more intent than ever to find the source and also figure out how to block the effects. Characters will find themselves conscripted (between Halloween Party preparations) into assisting with building or testing anti-music and sleep devices along or with helping to try to track down the source of the music.

For those helping to build and test devices, there is an R&D lab in the basement levels of ADI that will be available. Devices native staff have been able to devise include:

Headphones that play different frequencies to try to cancel out the sound of the singing.
An armband that periodically stabs a small needle into the arm with a small dosage of adrenaline.
Headbands set to a constant low vibration.

The efficacy of all of these devices is… questionable, but perhaps others may have their own expertise to lend to the efforts, attempting something on a broader scale than just personal protection devices.

For those helping to track the source of the music, finding it seems to be impossible, but there is a definite pattern that characters will note as the days pass. The epicenters of the music are moving, migrating out of the graveyards and converging on ADI Headquarters. As this goes on, the building will become less and less of a safe haven, the music penetrating its walls and affecting the staff there more heavily. You might find yourself having to help a neighbor who's fallen asleep while working. Or you might not even be able to fully tell they've fallen asleep as they sleepwalk and talk almost like they're actually still conscious. Even those who have never been prone to sleepwalking and talking may find themselves affected and… far more open with what they say when in the unguarded state of semi-unconsciousness.

➥ Till the Sun Is In the Sky

A caucasian woman is lying on the floor, eyes closed. The room is dark around her with a spotlight shining on her. A secondary image of the woman, semi-transparent and wrapped in white clothes floats just above the woman on the floor. There is a purple gradient filter over the photo.
(cw: supernaturally-induced sleep/fatigue, thanatophobia, character death, death by poisoning, blood, choking, emetophobia, death by crushing)

By the 25th, some people may find waking up to be a challenge in and of itself. But they do manage to wake up. Seemingly. Perhaps the day is much like any other, heading to ADI or out around the city, grabbing coffee and- something is wrong. Something is very wrong. That cup of coffee you just drank had tasted a little different than usual. A touch of almond to it? It hits you that your throat is burning, bile and blood rising up and choking you as you hack and gasp and vomit. Your legs grow weak, you're losing control of everything, falling, dying.

And then you wake up.

Just a nightmare. Just a bizarre and horrible nightmare. You head out and… is this home? You're home! Or maybe… wait, this doesn't seem right. Have you gone somewhere else? Some things might be familiar, memories intertwined and mixing with fantastical elements, some your own, some not. You notice people you recognize, ones who might be as confused as you are. This isn't where they should be and they remember dying, too. Or seeing you die or someone else. It doesn't make sense, but somehow, they remember they had a dream they shared last night. And then something falls from above and nearly crushes you or your partner. Or maybe it does crush them, and you're suddenly looking at a dead body as the world and this nightmare that feels so very real becomes more and more hostile. Maybe something falls on you.

And then you 'wake up.'

➥ When the Blazing Sun Is Gone

Three sheet ghost halloween decorations stand in a line. There is a purple gradient filter over the photo.
(cw: supernaturally-induced sleep/fatigue, thanatophobia, character death, body horror, detailed description of painful physical transformation, description of the loss and regrowth of teeth, violence, mental status alterations, temporary power-loss, spiders)

Even with people dropping left and right thanks to the odd sleep effect taking hold, ADI staff are hellbent that their Halloween party will not be completely ruined. And on the 28th (a little before the actual holiday), everyone wakes up. Or… seems to. For those trapped in dreams, it will seem very much that they've woken up, the music has stopped, and they can actually carry on. For a few days, it even seems like things are normal. The party on the 31st is a blow-out bash. The entire first floor of ADI HQ has been transformed with decorations. The canteen is serving festive food and has set up a dance floor with holiday-appropriate music playing. Some of the offices feature additional activities, including party games like bobbing for apples in a trough that's been brought in, a guess this gross food booth, and more general party games. For a quieter time, there are also areas set up with board games and card games to play. And for some extra fun spooks a mini-haunted maze has been set up with faux spiders and webs, along with other goofy-looking monster creatures.

It's around 9 PM when the music and lights suddenly cut out. There's nothing for several seconds. Then, a voice begins to sing, filling the halls of ADI. It's a young girl's voice.

"Bye-bye, bye-bye,
Quickly you will die,
On the morning will be frost,
And you’ll go to the graveyard, the graveyard.

Grandfather will come there, too,
And he will bring the coffin.
Grandmother will come along,
Her tears, they will not soften.
Mama sings the prayer song, then,
And falls down on her knees.
Daddy takes you to the grave,
No one can hear his pleas.

Bye-bye, bye-bye,
Quickly you will die,
On the morning will be frost,
And you’ll go to the graveyard, the graveyard.

As the last notes of the song fade away, all hell breaks loose. Those who had been wearing particular sorts of costumes, ones that are more monstrous in nature, may find themselves transforming, growing, twisting, shifting. It's not a clean change, but a violent, agonizing one that cracks bones, tears and reshapes muscles and tendons, pushes out teeth to make room for new ones. Those transformed will find themselves compelled to chase, to hunt, to kill anyone they can get their claws, teeth, or other appendages on.

For those who stay themselves, it's not just their transformed friends who pose a danger, but the decorations they've set up, as well. Those fake giant spiders and webs? They're no longer fake. Neither are any of the other demonic little creatures. The goal of everything in ADI and even outside for those who manage to make it out the doors, is to remind you how very, very mortal you are. Those typically possessed of fantastic abilities will find that they have been sapped away. There's no calling on magic or innate abilities. You are mortal and you are going to die like everything mortal does.

In the chaos, characters will catch glimpses of a young girl flitting amongst the chaos, seeming unperturbed by it all. Trying to catch up to her or speak to her is fruitless, but she's there, and she's humming that song from before.

➥ When He Nothing Shines Upon

A caucasian woman has just woken up and stares grumpily at her phone. There is a purple gradient filter over the photo.
(cw: supernaturally-induced fatigue/malaise, thanatophobia)

Those who are killed at the party will find themselves waking up wherever they actually fell asleep a few hours or even days ago. If your character was one of the lucky few who somehow managed to escape the effect, you'll notice people waking up all over ADI HQ and elsewhere. There are no signs of damage on the bodies, but those who died in the dreams will find themselves feeling incredibly weak and generally ill for several hours to several days after the experience.

The music has actually stopped, and this time, it would seem you've actually woken up. Depending on how long you were passed out for, that may be a more unpleasant experience for some than others. There's a message posted from a random ADI employee's phone a few days later to the network:

Mr. S was right. This was fun! I'll have to come back next year to play with you. - Ava, the Lullaby Girl

P.S. Sorry for stealing your phone, horsegirl67. But I wanted to say, hi. C:

Unfortunately, there are no further messages and attempts to respond to the message will receive no reply for now.

But... fortunately…? All of the Halloween preparations are still up, and there's a festive party to attend if anyone actually feels keen on trying it in real life. Pam Ruan, the main organizer is bloody-minded about it now and will have her God damn Halloween party, but those who work themselves up to attend out of festive spirit or morbid curiosity will find it a distinctly muted affair that breaks early in the evening.

Happy Halloween, Gloucester!

➥ Mod Notes

GENERAL - Players are welcome to play NPCs for themselves when they are needed in a thread. If you need more information on general behavior for these types of NPCs, please feel free to ask! In general, the information provided in the prompt should be sufficient and you're welcome to make up any details beyond that for your specific scene. The Lullaby Girl (Ava) can be seen throughout character dreams, but they will not be able to interact with her during this event. They will either wake up or simply find that the physics of the dream are warped and she cannot be reached or there's a sheet of glass between her and the character or whatnot.
FOR YOU NEVER SHUT YOUR EYE (15-24 October) - Characters are welcome to develop their own devices for attempting to stop the music. Characters will have modern day technology available to them along with a few slightly more advanced electronics and tools. Please do not go too out there. This isn't Tony Stark's array of tools and the like. But characters can create additional devices to test within reason. Some of them may be more or less effective, but with how sporadic the effect is, it might be difficult to tell what's actually working or not. There can also be negative side-effects from devices, if you'd like to play those out. Characters with the appropriate magical charge may also attempt to supernaturally block the music, but this will not be condoned or facilitated by ADI. Characters searching for the source of the music will not be able to find it, just discover that it is moving. For characters who are sleep-talking, they may find themselves unusually honest. They may or may not recall conversations with other characters and all that they told them.
TILL THE SUN IS IN THE SKY (25-27 October) - Characters will experience repeated nightmares of dying in a shared dreamscape. They will remember every time that they die in the dreams. Feel free to get as creative and gruesome with this as you would like. These are dreams and fantastical situations that might not actually happen (e.g., a robot showing up and shooting a laser through your character) may occur. Players are welcome to introduce elements of their memories into the nightmares and mix those memories around between characters who might wind up in a dream together. Please ensure all top-levels are appropriately tagged for any and all content warnings. Add content warnings as you go along, if needed. Dying in the dreams will trigger the sense of waking up. This can be a fake wake-up or characters might actually wake for a short while and find others passed out around them.
WHEN THE BLAZING SUN IS GONE (28-31 October) - Again, this will be a shared dreamscape where characters will be under the illusion (at first) that all has returned to normal. For those who investigate, everything seems to be real, nothing too off, excepting the night of the Halloween party. Once the Lullaby Girl finishes her song, characters who are dressed in costumes that depict animals or other monstrous creatures may find themselves transformed into their costumes. Transformed characters may gain powers for the duration of this prompt/event related to their monstrous forms without mod approval. Go wild, kill your friends and neighbors, and generally trash everything around you. The decorations that come to life will be attempting to murder all characters, transformed or not. If characters escape into the city, they will find all of the festive decorations out there have come to life and want to kill them, as well. Death is unavoidable for this particular prompt, but it can be something swift and painless or something drawn out and horrible at player discretion. It is the only way to actually wake a character fully. Players also have the option of keeping their characters awake. They will not experience the shared dreamscape and will just be stuck with a lot of unconscious people around them for the duration of this portion of the event.
WHEN HE NOTHING SHINES UPON (31 October) - Ava, the Lullaby Girl, cannot be contacted or immediately located, but she will be available in future plots for interactions with characters. There is no immediate information regarding who Mr. S. is. Players may have the general sleep/death malaise last for a minimum of two hours and a maximum of three days. Regular medications for the flu can ameliorate some of the symptoms, but they will ultimately clear up on their own. Characters may wake up in whatever state players would like. Feel free to play out the effects of them having been slumped in a corridor for three days without food or water. It's going to be a bad time all around. Those who attend the real Halloween party will be thanked profusely by Pam and showered with candy. At least they'll get a few HR brownie points?

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Martin isn't interrupted by the humming at first. Jeff's little noises don't bother him, whatever they are. But then he feels heat on his back and suddenly his coat catches fire and he knows he has a moment before it sears skin and he knows, somehow, that this little shit has something to do with it.

And he cuts Jeff's throat.

The only sounds he'll be able to make for the next couple of moments are strangled burbles, until there's only silence.

Martin is a bear of a man and Kate just isn't big enough, she isn't tall enough, she doesn't have the reach. And Martin has the blade in his hand.

He drives it between her ribs, but carefully. Slowly. He wants to savour it.

"Thank you," Malcolm tells him, wrapping his hands around the cup. He takes a sip, then looks at Ren. "How... how are you managing?"

Enh. [ It's the casual shrug of a New Yorker through and through, right down to the exact angle of his shoulders raising. ] I dunno. Weird's the only thing worth being in my experience.

[ Kugrash will follow the kid a small distance away, not wanting to overcrowd him. He's a stranger, after all, but a concerned one nonetheless. He's quiet for a moment, watching the guy, arms crossed.

Ah, shit. There it is, that parental instinct he was only just starting to find again before being whisked away here. The problem is he's bad at it, and the other guy's a stranger.

Fuck it. ]

You wanna talk about it?

Screams are choked in her throat. Kate fights back futilely until she feels the tip of the knife penetrate her skin. The rest of the fight goes out of her as the blade slides in.

His grip is too strong, she is too weak. Why isn't Malcolm helping? Has this been her fate all along?

Regeneration. Of fucking course. He's had opponents who healed quickly, but he's never actually killed one. He's going to have to hope a direct hit in the brain will take her out. He stops firing, rolling just far enough to one side to avoid getting smashed by her falling paws.

Then the instant she lands, he surges up out of the wreckage, heedless of cuts from bent metal and bruises from plywood in uncomfortable places, and lunges for her back, trying to get behind those dangerous teeth. Trying to land square across her shoulders and jam the gun right to her ear for another shot right at the brain.

Five bullets left in this gun before he has to switch to the Sig Sauer at his hip.

[he made that obvious from the moment they met, can she really be blamed for simply working with what she already knows smh

F bus driver, at least they're free of two crazies on this late night...

meanwhile Ciel on her end is still just casually musing out loud to herself:]

--Oh, my. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes! Once untamed and even more careless than he is today, the stray trod on alone until he came to meet someone with religious ties, who then decided to take him in. Is it possible that he's actually behaving better already, compared to the state he was first found in way before? That would explain perfectly also, how he ended up joining the church despite his lacking manners. It's all thanks to adoption...!

[is she even still listening to him (no), she's too busy coming up with pupper origin fanfiction--]

Kate doesn't protest Winter moving her. She is no longer in the building. The poison isn't going to kill her, just put her into a deep sleep. Had Winter not intervened when he did, Kate would have been food for the monsters.

Instead, she sleeps and she sleeps until she wakes up in the real world.

She doesn't wake up screaming or any of that nonsense. Kate wakes up slowly. Her eyes open and she blinks. She's in that weird stage between being asleep and being fully awake. It takes a few seconds to realize where she is. When she does realize where she is, Kate sits up quickly.

She reaches up to her throat then uses both hands to touch at her sides, checking for wounds. Kate stands up quickly, so quickly that all the blood rushes to her head and makes her feel dizzy. Out. Outside. She has to get out into the air and so she runs.

It's a pale-faced Kate runs right into Winter.

"'Course. I got a way out where we can rest, don't you worry none," she says, smiling at the man. "I trust you and you trust me. We'll make it out of here safe together. No one's gonna hurt me. Why would they even want to?"

Maybe she shouldn't ask that sort of thing, but she is curious.

Mercy cannot feel anything but what she hopes is there when she lays her hand atop Caduceus'. "This soil is rich with the life you give it. Every blade of grass, every worm and beetle, everything that lives is there because you brought them. Thank you." She closes her eyes for a moment before sitting back and toasting to the grave. Mercy drinks deep before pouring the remainder of her cup out.

"I'm planning to do a good few others today, if you'd like to join me for them, too. Tending and talking. Drinking and eating to celebrate them. It seems like you got a lot of stories to tell. Maybe more than I do just by myself."

Yeah, this place is totally cheating.

[ He’s seeing more people slowly giving in to the sleep instead of going for the wild and what should normally be foolproof ideas like doing a handstand, so he respects the decision.

Jerry laughs, because yeah, he busted his ass and it was pretty funny. ]

Well, it started off as a jog. Then I realized that probably wasn’t gonna work. Too easy, right? So I started sprinting. Then I started sprinting and flailing. Then I started sprinting, flailing, and yelling obscenities.

[ So, yeah, if you heard that it wasn’t anything spooky. Just him. ]

Then I dozed and ate shit, slid about a foot and a half across the floor.

[ Evidenced by, upon closer inspection, the minor tears and dirt speckled shirt he’s wearing. ]

It's such a bizarre question. "We can't run away! There's people being hurt." Both sides of this, and knowing Sindri for many years before things had gone so horribly wrong... she knows some of the Sidbutians are decent folk, even without gods.

"They're not- it's not my people, but that don't mean nothing. Leigland swallows up everyone. We should- I got to help. You-you stay here where it's safe."

i'm going to go with the thought that i don't have a death wish. something bad happens and then you try to do something nice and some dick comes through and wrecks it the same way. just not taking that kind of chance with this so close to the whole mass dream murder thing.

[Well, the good news is she takes that whole thing surprisingly well. Honestly, it bites on a different discussion she's been having recently, and ultimately decides he's more likely to answer that question than this one.]

Okay well, first, that sucks. But also, why is everybody so weird about calling stuff a demon? Demons can do all of those things, like-- is it because they're not infernals, what is it, why is everyone so picky.

[You know, the thing to be focused on right now. Taxonomy.]

Like tell me if I'm off but it sounds like it's old, it's powerful, and it's pissed for reasons nobody understands, that's pretty much all I need as a baseline.

No one except the beast is coming. Mercy wails, pawing at her face and giving Chris precious moments to make his last stand. She gets the skull out and stamps on it, trying to crush it completely. Whether that succeeds or not, her eyes are on the man it belongs to. He did this. He is going to pay in blood, even as her wounds start to knit themselves together.

The creature lunges, and if she manages to grasp hold, it's likely with the teeth she aims to sink into his shoulder. Deeper and deeper, force enough to crush or crack through bones as she tries to bite through his shoulder and simply rip that arm off. He wouldn't be using it anymore to stab things into her.

I don't know what an infernal is, but I mean. You can call it a demon if you want, I don't really have... strong feelings. I met one once, honestly, it wasn't too far off from—

( "I̛'̕m̧ ͏s͏ti͏l̡l ͟right ͏here.̴ Í ̀c̵an ͝h̸ear͘ yo̶u gúys.̀" )

Right. Sorry. Maybe we should just ask him. It. Hey... cosmic horror of eternal suffering pain entity, are you a demon?

( "D̶oe̴s͟ th̢a͝t̛ rèa̢l͟ly ҉matt̵e̡r҉ ri̕ght̛ n̢ǫw? ̸Sér̕i͘ous͠l͢y͞? Ḩów̴ ̷ìs̀ th̶a̧ţ ͏e̡v͘en̡ ͟re̵mo̵t̶e̛ly ͠rele̴vant͘? Yòu͜ ͝g̨uys̀ k͡n̶o͡w ̨I'ḿ abo̢ut̛ to ̛m͝a͘k̕e you͢ fęel th̡e͘ most̢ i̶nt̡en̡s̀e͘ p͟ai̵n you̸ ͟h͏ave ̵e̢v̨e͝r͘ o͝r ̵wi̧l̴l e͠ver ҉fe̕el̢ in͞ y͜o̶u҉r͠ e҉x̢ist͞en͏ce͟, l̴ike,͏ ͢fo̡r̸eve̸r,͞ r̨i̕g͡ht̶?" )

Yeah, you mentioned it. You don't have to be a broken record about it.

( O̕k͘ay͘,̨ y̕o͘u k̴no҉w ̵w̡h̢a̴t̵,̡ w͠e'͠re d͠on̸e ͟ta͟l͢kin͡g.͟ Beh̵o̡ld, tru͠e ̧s̀u̷ff͢ering̨!

Around them, the fog roils ominously. Bolts of lighting spark through the clouds, ever closer, ever louder. He looks to Beau with a wince. )

I think I might have made it worse.

Edited 2021-11-10 10:41 (UTC)

Not to mention, they already played a fakeout trick on us before.

If I'm going to die horribly again, I'd like to do it at home thank you.

[............Are the apartments her home. Fuck, that's sad.]

Do you think that they really know where the music is coming from and they don't want to tell us because we might use our powers or something to do something about it?

[ She is losing her ability to cohesively string words together in a concise manner. ]

That's bad. I already feel drunk without the fun part. How do you function?

[Out of everything just uttered to Stephen, it’s the implication that he’s obligated to thank him for nearly bursting his ear drums that sticks; more than multiveral-ness or the idea of frequency cancelling.]

And what should I be thanking you for?

[For saving him from a death-nightmare, probably. But that’s beyond the point for him, not having quashed the indignity of it all just yet.]

Other than expediting any future hearing loss? The point is to keep a person awake, not to startle them into consciousness with a heart attack.

[ ...o-oh my god?? ]

And you're a student on top of all that?! Ren...!! Are you trying to send yourself to an early grave?! G-gray hairs...?!

[ okay FIRST of all, she has absolutely no right

no right

absolutely NO RIGHT hitting the nail so close to head, like, this is border-lining Creepy, now, to the point that Abel's face is flushing a bright and vibrant red under the streetlight as they walk past. his mouth is furiously working and nothing is coming out for a good while-- ]

[ --before he waggles his finger in admonishment and indignation, ramping the Petulance up to level 69, ]

--Officer SISTER. For shame...! I'll have you know it is HIGHLY inappropriate to make these kind of speculations about a coworker, c... comparing him to a stray dog to be adopted and tamed, I-- I am not an animal, thank you!! What in the world has gotten into you?!

[--Goodness.

She WAS kidding, honest??? At least mostly, but once the puppy analogy clicked and she got the ball rolling, it DID all check out too well to not keep rambling about the little backstory she made him. The fact may be that he arrived here in cassock, but he's still the farthest thing from a proper priest than she's ever seen. Blame it on his own behavior if he doesn't like this!! So much obnoxious enthusiastic energy and yet also so, so dumb smh...

But then he gave her the longest bout of silence she's ever been afforded by him when she knows she also just said something ridiculous and obnoxious in turn (by design, You Know The Rules And So Do I, etc), she couldn't help but glance aside and back up at him. What's gotten him so suspiciously quiet? It's not like him at all, and why ISN'T he already refuting her silly little fanfiction?

...

Because he's too busy blushing and stammering, apparently?! And the blush IS glaring despite the late hour, he can thank his own pale-ass complexion and the nice and shiny and modern streetlight for exposing him so openly. But if he's reacting this way, and NOT upkeeping their usual antics, then can't this mean only one thing? For by process of elimination, if he wasn't able to refute her immediately and come up with some other witty nonsense of his own on the spot, and is instead reduced to this, whatever you may call it...]

[

So that's how it is, hm~? Interesting, interesting...!

Linking her hands behind her back, she is beaming up her sunniest smile at him:]

I see, so that's why you've been so unruly! Do you miss your Master from home? You could hardly be faulted for that, so don't worry, you can be honest. I happen to be a dog person myself, so I don't mind playing with you if you get lonely. ♥ I promise to be more mindful, the next time you badger you way to me?

[...yep, stopped listening to him completely--]

No, no!! Work's fun, I really enjoy it.

(And money is fun!! He enjoys that too.)

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Event - Lullaby

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cw: attempted severe bodily harm/dismemberment

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