Event - Lullaby

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Lullaby

➥ For You Never Shut Your Eye

(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

(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

(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

(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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Comments

Goro Akechi | Persona 5 | ota!

[simulatio]

→ For You Never Shut Your Eye (potential P5 spoilers)

A.
[Akechi doesn't often work with technology. Not to say he doesn't understand it -- the gap in knowledge between 20xx and 2021 isn't very broad at all -- he's just never focused his attention on it. And considering that this little arm cuff he's sporting keeps fucking stabbing him every so often, he's unlikely to continue frequenting the R&D department in the future.

Most may know Akechi by sight as a rather polite, conservatively-dressed teenager, quick with a smile or an encouraging word while simultaneously being confident to the point of cocky. Today, however, feels he's taken a mid-day nap that's left him not at all refreshed, and maintaining the illusion of nicety is getting harder and harder. Especially with--]

Enough of this fucking thing, it doesn't do anything! [Enough with the stabbing!! He yanks the cuff off and hurls it across the room, only to freeze once he realizes he has an audience. His awkward laugh is embarrassed and stilted as he tries somehow to reign his anger in and plaster a smile across his face.]

My... apologies. Haha. I'm just a bit tired.

B.
[Without the stupid cuff in the way, eventually, Akechi dozes off in a local café with two cell phones on the table in front of him. Dozes off with his eyes open, that is, a steaming cup of coffee in one hand. Though there is the softest sound accompanying his breathing, something suspiciously like... snoring?]

→ Till the Sun Is In the Sky (cw: gore, vomit, loss of identity, limb loss, character death; spoilers for P5/P5R)

C.
[Goro Akechi wakes with a start, his face pale, breath coming in harsh gasps through parted lips. Eyes dart around frantically, taking in his surroundings; tense muscles only slowly start to relax as he realizes where he is, and that he's finally awake.]

Just another nightmare, [he murmurs to himself as he shakily pushes himself to his feet. Pushes himself to his feet, and then doesn't stop, eyes going wide as something yanks him up, nearly-translucent wires hoisting him up into the air. Blood wells around his throat, his wrists, his ankles, thin wires like fishing line holding him in place as his alarmed yell is strangled into a wheeze. If he can't escape, he's going to be ripped apart-]

D.
[Goro Akechi wakes up. Desperate hands scrabble at his throat, his wrists, nails digging in hard enough to leave bright red welts in their wake as he searches for strings. Nothing.

He stands up slowly, checks that his movements are his own. There's bright sunshine outside, nothing to grab him and suspend him. It doesn't stop him from checking, though, absent fingernails going to his neck once again, just to check. These fucking nightmares. He hasn't been able to get a decent night's sleep in too damn long, and it's starting to get to him. Idly, he wonders if he has a fever. Wonders with a grim humor if that'll finally be the thing that kills him. How funny would it be, after everything he'd done, if he died from something as mundane as illness?

A rush of dizziness sends him staggering, gripping onto the wall of a nearby building for support. Fucking hell. It used to be that he'd wake up early to exercise, do a TV recording, school, cram school, "extracurriculars" in the Metaverse, homework, and then, if he was luckly, catch enough sleep so as not to need too much makeup to get through the same process again the next day. Now, a few days of nightmares are enough to leave him unsteady on his feet. What a fucking joke.

Suddenly nauseous, his eyes widen as he glances around frantically, searching for somewhere to vomit. A nearby trash can will have to do, but what emerges isn't... normal. Something black and viscous spills from his lips as he coughs, feels it welling up in his eyes. His grip on the trash can starts shaking as he almost collapses, desperately trying to keep himself together, even as it feels like his insides are heating up and melting from the inside.]

E.
[Goro Akechi wakes up. He's seated, handcuffed to a chair. His vision blurs. Someone is holding a gun against his forehead. Rage swells within his body, and he screams, kicking frantically, desperately, to escape. He's not going to fucking die like this-]

→ When the Blazing Sun Is Gone

F.
[Akechi had intended to come to the Halloween party in a rather classy outfit: a prince, perhaps, or a knight. With a kind of dark humor, he'd even considered an overly-formal suit and claimed being a politician, the most terrifying force he could think of.

No, Ren had decided that it would be hilarious if he showed up wearing a cheap mask of a crow, paired with an all-black button-down and trousers. Still, it isn't like "Crow" doesn't have a deeply personal meaning to him, and besides, Halloween is about dressing the part of a fool, isn't it? If he pushes the mask up on his forehead, it certainly doesn't feel any stranger than his old prince outfit.

That is, until he opens his mouth to laugh at some point, and his mouth doesn't stop opening. His jaw cracks, elongating into a sharp, pointed beak. The inky black feathers of the mask flare and spread, coating his entire body as he hacks once, twice, spitting out the bones that had once been his teeth across the floor. Bones crack and twist, and he screams, the crowing cry of a bird of prey finally set loose. His eyes blaze a fiery red, talons cracking the floor as the massive bird that had once been a boy launches itself into the air with a single-minded determination, one that's more familiar to him than most other emotions. A roaring, single-minded anger screaming to kill.]

→ When He Nothing Shines Upon

G.
[Akechi is, perhaps surprisingly, at the "real" party, at Ren's request. Sullen and quiet, gone are the easy laughs and winks from the "last" party, replaced instead by an exhausted, dead-eyed stare.]

Forgive me for not being inclined to celebrate, [he mutters, allowing himself to cover his eyes with his hand and lean his elbow against the table, next to the steaming cup of strong, black coffee. He isn't wearing a costume, and he doesn't dare fall asleep.]

[Please feel free to hit me up @jaderhade for plotting, or on my ooc plotting comment here!]

F

[aelwyn_aberration]

[The worst part of this transformation (for everyone else) is that the creature she's been twisted into is not completely mindless, and she's not completely indiscriminate. This is Aelwyn Abernant, without limits, without morals, with a connection directly to the Nine Hells so powerful it makes her blood boil.

Ren is in her way. Nearly everyone who has spat on her needs a lesson in obedience, and she'll happily supply it, but Ren's the only active threat. That is as simple as it gets. All she has to do is break his will and execute him.

So when she spies another monster through the gaze of a bone devil, who see into the Astral plane and look past the fabric of reality where she's from, she can see the traces of him under his feathers, the stain in this monster's soul that reeks of his influence.

How fascinating.]

Are you going to get in my way, Akechi, or are you going to point me to your little boyfriend? [When she speaks, it's a peverse distortion of her voice, gravelly and dry, but distinctly hers.]

[simulatio]

[Oh, it's been so fucking long since he's gotten to go wild. He doesn't even need Loki whispering encouragement in his ears to rip the screaming staffer limb from limb, razor-sharp talons digging into flesh as his wings beat to keep him steady. His own scream of triumph is only cut short by the voice in his mind. Aelwyn. Aelwynaelwynaelwynaelwynaelwyn. The bitch who thinks she can blackmail his man. The still-warm corpse of the middle-aged man who worked something Akechi can't be bothered to remember is hurled carelessly into the closest wall as he focuses on a new target. Bright red eyes blaze with obvious bloodlust, and his beak opens in a mimicry of a human laugh.

Aelwyn always made a point of calling Ren his boyfriend, a word neither of the boys have used themselves. Akechi's overheard her more than once, reminiscent of the kind of middle-school taunt bullies used to feel strong. A kind of bait he chose deliberately not to rise to, for... some reason. He should have ripped her apart the first time she tried mocking them both. He can do that now.]

He's mine. The only one who will kill Ren Amamiya is me.

[His voice emerges in a deep, guttural rasp as his talons click, click against the floor. He used to have gauntlets with talons like this. Boots, too. This is so much more efficient. His eyes brighten as with two powerful flaps of his wings, he lifts into the air, screaming more than crowing his victory.]

[aelwyn_aberration]

[Perfect. She was itching for a fight, and this uppity prick's apparently more than happy to give her one. She had no thoughts on Akechi at all, really, beyond thinking he was definitely overdoing it, but she did also know he was in her way just as much as Ren was.

She steps closer, a guttural laugh coming from the malformed skull that's become her face, her twisted mouth shaping into a cracked grin.]

Oh, how catty! This'll be infinitely more fun than I thought it would be. [She leaps, dragging the nearest object with her, which just so happens to be Stacey from HR, and latches onto the wall like a spider. Just as a test, she casually tosses the woman she's got clasped in her claws at him like she's just a piece of debris to tease the predatory beast with.]

I think I'm going to enjoy killing you.

[simulatio]

[Aelwyn hurls the corpse at him, and his powerful wings buffet, lifting him higher into the air. Talons lash out and snatch the body from the air, tearing into it and ripping it messily in half.]

What claim do you think you have on Ren Amamiya?

[His cackle is more crow than laugh as he drops the pieces of the body and hovers at her eye level.]

He took everything from me, and I'll rip equal measure out of his flesh. I'll present him your body to prove what I'm capable of!!

[With a shriek, he changes the angle of his wings, diving toward her with talons outstretched, ready to rip and tear and slaughter.]

[aelwyn_aberration]

My claim? My claim is that a point needs to be proven, against ants who think they can presume to pass judgement on their betters. This pathetic show of defiance is just what I mean.

[Her voice comes out icy, but with an air of tyrannical authority to it. Her grin widens as his talons come closer, and she goes to catch one but misses the other as the claws embed themselves into the skin beneath the natural armour.

She lets out a vicious hiss and summons six ice shards behind him with a harsh pull of her clawed hand. In an instant sends the shards flying into Akechi's feathered back.

This is going to add so much context to that dream she experienced with Ren, where she put a gun to his head in an interrogation room. Unfortunately, she's fully insane right now, and is mostly just furious that Akechi's daring to put up a fight.]

You're nothing. Just an insignificant mortal that happens to be getting in my way.

[simulatio]

[Ice was one of Ren's weaknesses, not his own, but it still fucking hurts. He shrieks, higher pitched than his normal human voice, and flaps his wings as if that might somehow dissipate some of the freezing burn from his back.]

Just another wretch with delusions of grandeur, thinking you're better than the rest? [Talons grip a nearby chair and hurl it at her as he hisses in irritation, back still smarting from the ice shards.] A queen prepared to step on the ordinary people to elevate yourself higher?

[The next closest object is someone's dismembered leg. He doesn't know if it's one he ripped off, or someone else, but it's an effective missile weapon for now to hurl her way as well.]

There's nothing better than casting someone down from the peak. Let me show you!

[His wings buffet again, strong enough to start skidding debris forward, turning pens and erasers into projectiles.]

[aelwyn_aberration]

[She raises one arm to block the chair and manages to claw it in half, sneering at Akechi as she goes in to aim another strike, which leaves her open for his next attack. Tossing a leg at her is hardly a lethal attack, considering her armoured flesh and the spikes across her skin to slow it, but the pain does distract and stun her enough to let him get out of her reach.

The next barrage of projectiles is considerably harder to avoid. The pens and erasers are mere bruises and scratches against the armour of her skin in this new form, but when one of the decorative bats gets swept up and hisses in rage, attempting to burrow into her flesh, she has to grab it and crush it in her hand.]

Is this all you've got? How embarassing. Did Ren steal all your strength too? You must feel so small next to him.

[Even as a demon, you can't take the high school bully out of the mean girl. She grins, raising a hand and elevating a simple spark into a writhing ball of fire and explosive force, ready to be set loose.]

I hope those feathers of yours are fireproof, for your sake. Then again, I think a reminder of your place would serve you well.

[And with that, she throws it full force at him. Good fucking luck, bird boy, hope you can make your DEX saving throw.]

E if this is okay! I've wanted some Akechi CR...

[littlegentleman]

Calm down.

[Junior holds the gun steady, an unshaking grip in such a small hand, expression impassive at the struggling in front of him. The boy clicks off the safety, finger beginning to squeeze the trigger--]

You're going to be all right. I think you're dreaming.

[Does the gun go off? Is there a bang, a rupture, an explosion of light and noise and fragmenting bone? In reality, Junior stands with a concerned look, hand outstretched but not quite touching Akechi's prone body.]

C

[writetheway]

[Monika hasn't been sleeping well. It's with absolute disorientation that she snaps awake, hearing wet, choking shouting taper off and not being able to tell if she's still dreaming. When she realizes where she is, though--that she's in bed, that she's just woken up, that it has to be Akechi making that noise--she rushes to his room still in her nightgown. Even as she does it she's not sure she didn't imagine it, but her heart thumps hard in her chest and she can't not check.]

Akechi? I'm coming in! [She throws open the door and freezes.] Oh--oh my god--Akechi! [It looks like he's floating until the clouds shift the sunlight just so and she can see a flash of wiring. Scissors, she needs scissors--]

[simulatio]

[His throat works in an invisible panic as the door bursts open, muscles straining against wires that are tugged taut. Monika.

One of the wires is tugged by an invisible force, raising his hand in a jerky wave, a parody of the kind he'd offer as he walked on stage.]

I'm fine, [he grits out, something puppeteering his vocal chords for him, and something wretches at his cheek, drags his lips into something more like a grimace than a smile.] Why don't you go back to bed?

[writetheway]

[Akechi's body jerks and grimaces, and that makes sense enough with the wires--as much as the wires make any sense at all--but the words don't.] You're obviously not fine! [It's stupid to argue, but the situation is baffling on its own. Her eyes flick to the nightstand. Akechi has a gun right there, so it makes sense he'd have a knife, too, right? She darts over to rifle through the drawer, pops and pinpricks of static trailing behind her feet like an afterimage.

There, a knife. She reaches up to try and reach the wires without tugging on anything. The one around his neck is the most important to get at, but if she can't reach it, she might have to start with his nearest arm.]

[simulatio]

[He's terrified, even if his face won't allow him to show it. Less for the prospect of dying -- that doesn't frighten him as much as perhaps it should, considering the various awful ways of dying he's experienced in his nightmares -- and more that he can't control what he says, what he does.

Something's sparking in the edge of his vision. Is he blacking out? He can't quite focus on Monika's actions, even as he hears her rifling through his nightstand.]

Don't-! [The wires around his neck tighten as she tries to cut through it, and his hand whips out in an attempt to smack her away.] I'll deal with this on my own. Why don't you just leave me be? It's safer for us both.

[writetheway]

[Monika catches his hand to the side of her head before she catches it to try and keep it still. She can see the way the wires tighten as she tries to cut--if she can't cut it loose fast, it could choke him or cut right through while she's still messing with it. Akechi isn't stupid; what he's saying can't be right, though she's not sure how that works. Are there wires going down his throat...? She answers anyway, knife hovering indecisively in the hand not hanging on to Akechi's.] What do you think you can do like this?

Since Monika is trying to hold his arm still anyway, maybe she can cut that loose first. The wires on his arm can't choke him to death, though that doesn't give her that much more leeway. She'll try and go fast.]

[simulatio]

I've always been fine on my own!

[It's his own voice, it's things he's thought, it's even things he's said, but it's not what he wants to say right now. He bites his own lips with his teeth in an attempt to silence himself.

Monika manages to slice through the wire around his arm, and it vanishes as if it had never been there. His hand falls limp at his side, blood trickling from a thick wound around his wrist, then he scrabbles frantically at the one around his throat. Nails dig into his flesh as if he could rip the intrusive wires out, though of course that's not going to accomplish shit.]

Just- leave me alone!

[writetheway]

[He's telling her to leave him alone, but his freed hand is clawing at his throat. Alright, maybe with him able to actually help a little she can get his throat free. She shifts, putting one of her knees on the bed to maintain balance, and the static that had been trailing after her has crawled up to just below her knees, unnoticed. It shivers and twitches like a broken monitor.

She ignores what he's saying this time in favor of setting her jaw and trying to get through the wire at his neck as quickly as possible.]

[simulatio]

I don't want your help! I don't need your help!!

[His still-bound hand tries to make a grab for her, but in some kind of idiotic struggle, he manages to use his freed hand to catch his own, harshly yanking it down to his side with enough force that something in his shoulder cracks in protest.

Something's wrong with her. It can't be just his vision, right? He can see that, watch it crawling up her legs in a way that can't be explained by the stifling lack of his own oxygen.

His voice changes its tune, softer, almost wheedling, the wires going slack and lowering him, though they're still squeezing tight enough to cut.]

Listen, this is all a misunderstanding. This is what I wan-

[The knife slices through the wire around his throat, and freed from the sudden tension, his head snaps forward, nearly hitting her with the force of his struggle.]

Get it off my fucking hand-! [is his own voice, at least, even as the still-bound hand twists its fingers into something like claws, bone splintering in an attempt to form into an impossible shape, trying to reach for her.]

[writetheway]

[As soon as the wire snaps what he's saying changes--the wires really were talking for him somehow. Monika climbs up onto the bed in earnest, needing to reach the rest of the wires (the glitching static has swallowed up both her legs below the knees). She has to duck out of the way of Akechi's head to avoid getting headbutted, and it puts her in range of Akechi's twisted arm. The bony claws rake across her face, five points of red that drip pixelated blood. She hisses, but reaches to cut the next wire.]

Okay, just a second!

[simulatio]

Monika!

[Fuck. Fuck. It's his own fucking hand, and he can't even control it. The crunch and crack of bone is agonizing enough to drag a scream from his lips, and it's almost enough for him to miss the odd look to her blood. Almost.]

Something's- something's wrong, get back!

[It's not like how a Shadow dissolves in the wake of a psychotic breakdown, but it's not something he's willing to have risk happening to her, either. Is he doing this to her, somehow?]

[writetheway]

[Monika pulls back automatically just on the vehemence of his voice alone.] What's wrong, is it--oh-- [The static is climbing, and now that she's away from the bed she can see it eating at her thighs. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't feel like anything. It doesn't feel like she has legs.] No, no, this is-- [Okay, not exactly something she's familiar with, but she knows a glitch when she sees one. It doesn't hurt, it can't be deletion. It can't be deletion. It can't be. She looks back at Akechi, still half-tangled in wiring.]

I--I need to get you down-- [But she's frozen in that instant, terrified and unsure.]

G

[the_archivist]

I don't think anyone would be inclined to be offended. I'm rather surprised that anyone is awake right now.

[As for Jon, he's- well, feeling rather good. He knows that's not a good thing, but it's nice to feel sated. He doubts whoever had caused the dreams had intended them to become succor for the Eye and the Archivist but... well, it is what it is.]

[simulatio]

[Akechi at least forces himself to sit up straight, picking his head up from his hand and wrapping his hands around his coffee cup instead as if to steel himself. He'd gotten quite proficient in the past at hiding under-eye bags and exhaustion with makeup, but there's only so much makeup can do after everything they'd all been through in the past several days. Dreams. Whatever.]

Perhaps there are those who aren't yet ready to go back to sleep.

[He lifts the coffee cup in a wry almost-salute, then exhales a sigh through his nose and shakes his head.]

A very trying time for many people, I think. Recovery may prove difficult.

[the_archivist]

Hm, that I understand. Although I always found the nighmares were worse if I avoided sleep.

[They tended to encorach on waking life if he got insomnia too badly. Not that any of it had mattered in the end.]

Trauma does have a way of lingering, unfortunately.

[simulatio]

Truly?

[He quirks an eyebrow at the idea of nightmares being worse without sleep. In his experience, it was always the opposite; the more exhausted he was, the more likely he would be not to dream, or at the very least, not to remember having dreamt after he woke up.

The comment about trauma lingering does bring a ghost of a bitter smile to his face, though, and he takes a sip from his coffee to give himself time before responding.]

Indeed it does. Were you... hurt, in the recent events?

[Did I hurt you? isn't what he asks aloud, and hopes it's not visible in the appraising look he gives the other man. The dreams of his own deaths are messy and fragmented, but the memory of being a monstrous, bloodthirsty crow is a hard one to dismiss.]

[the_archivist]

If I avoid sleep, my brain likes to dump everything on me at once. It has more to deal with in a shorter space of time, I suppose.

[Like a punishment for trying to avoid the horror for an extended period of time.]

Ah, no. No I'm- I'm fine. It was unpleasant of course, but I'm unharmed.

[He's come out of it much better than he should have.]