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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It doesn't understand what he's doing, why he's cradling that dead thing instead of running or screaming or fighting. Neal's actions don't make any sense to it.

It doesn't understand. And it doesn't care.

The creature crouches down on all fours, moving as naturally as it walked on two legs, an odd sort of grace and fluidity in its grotesque body. It was too tall, standing upright on those overly long legs, but now: now they're at eye level with each other.

It's a better vantage point from which to gore him. And even now, the thing takes its time approaching, as if it knows that the human's end is inevitable.

The room is not well lit. Good lighting does not a creepy theme party make, he supposes. He's almost on top of them when he sees Neal and the... thing stalking Neal.

He runs up to them, full force, and swings the lumber he's wielding like a baseball bat as hard as he can, right against the side of the thing's head.

"NEAL! RUN!"

Neal hisses in a breath, a cascade of panic rolling through him from crown to the pit of his stomach. Malcolm tells Neal to run. He lurches forward instead, closer to the other man, instincts screaming to get Malcolm away from that thing before it breaks his neck too.

There's a noise when it gets whacked in the face. It isn't a scream, or a yelp, or anything that should come from a man or animal. It's the sound of a bow scraping harshly against violin strings, reckless fingers smashing against out-of-tune piano keys, instruments breaking and melodies interrupted.

The creature's knocked down, though it's hard to say if it's only stunned or if it's actually unconscious. It's difficult to tell, given the way its head already hung dead and its glassy eyes (still open) never seemed to look at anything to begin with.

The thing is still for the moment. When Neal moves towards him instead of away, Malcolm grabs his hand and makes a break for the door.

Something in his feral brain thinks finally, and then he's running alongside Malcolm, almost faster than him, forcing himself to keep pace instead of taking advantage of the fact that he has longer legs.

“What was that thing?” Malcolm pants as they run. “What’s it doing here?”

"I don't know," Neal gasps, the panic and terror starting to catch up to him again now that he's not trying to function through it. "I have no idea. There are plenty of instances of horse-headed monsters and demons throughout world mythology. The nuckalavee, the ashvashīrsha, the Tikbalang--but I don't know if any of them have musical associations, I don't know. I don't know why it's here at all."

“Musical associations? What do you mean?” Malcolm gasps.

As if on cue: another horrible, disorienting symphony cuts through the room, shrieking right into their ears. And this time, there's another strange occurrence, coinciding with the creature's approach.

Whether it's chairs, or flooring, or accent pieces, or makeshift weapons, the wood in its path begins to splinter and bend.

Neal stumbles, losing his grip on Malcolm's hand as that music turns the world upside down around them. A glance back shows the weirdness happening to anything wooden, and of all things, that's what makes it click.

"Amdusias," Neal manages, and somehow the fact that he knows what that thing is makes all of this seem less real, not moreso.

"You're what?" Malcolm hollars back, dropping his stick to cover his ears with both hands instinctively against the noise.

Neal stumbling like that might have just saved Malcolm's life. The creature zeroes in on him, taking long, easy strides to make up the distance in what seems like no time at all. It stands over him, head lolled to one side, gazing down at him, before lowering itself down into an animalistic crouch, right over Neal.

One hand, with too-long fingers, grabs him by the chin and holds him in place, while it lowers its head to... inspect him? The horn comes precariously close to his eye, before its attention shifts lower, to his chest. The fearful drumming of the heart, and the inhale-exhale of the lungs with each panicky breath, make such beautiful music together. It turns its head, and rests it, right below his ribs, as if listening.

It seems entranced, not that it'll do anyone any good. The cacophony continues, keeping anyone nearby from making heads or tails of their surroundings. For the moment, it's just the two of them.

Until the music stops. And that's when Neal will feel something pierce into his gut, and tear and make a messy exit, before the demon lifts its head again, its horn slick and wet.

It only regards him for one more moment, with its dead, disinterested gaze, before wandering away to find other prey.

He manages a few steps back, trying to force his voice to work, trying to tell Malcolm to run even though the music is still clawing at them. Then that thing is holding on to him, and anything coherent is blocked by the emptiness of immaculate panic.

It lasts forever, the moment between it taking his chin and the moment Neal feels a stabbing agony that turns into an odd, throbbing not-quite-numbness. It's a little like his mind has short-circuited at the pain. He staggers again when the monster lets him go, looking down at his midsection with horrified fascination at the red-black tide starting to melt outward from...

That's intestine, isn't it? Neal moves to touch it, shock making his ears ring, but he stumbles and falls flat on his back, head cracking against the floor hard enough that he sees sparks. Rosewood, he thinks absently. Rosewood and jasper, interesting combination of reds.

Malcolm feels like he's drowning in syrup, but suddenly the effect lifts and... Neal is bleeding out on the floor.

Malcolm's eyes widen and he rushes over, skidding into Neal on his knees to put pressure uselessly on the wound with both hands.

"Just breathe. Just breathe. Just breathe," he keeps saying under his breath like a prayer.

Neal can't tell what's worse, the fact that he can't seem to keep air in his lungs or the fact that his extremities are starting to tingle. He makes a hoarse noise that's almost, almost a laugh.

"Can't say I'm a fan of the real thing." There's no context for the statement. It's hard to say if it's made in delirium or for his own amusement. Neal lifts his head enough to see Malcolm's blood-smeared hands pushing down on the puddle of gore at his abdomen before he has to relax again.

"It's okay," he tells Malcolm softly, though it's more by virtue of the fact that it's getting harder and harder to breathe than because he intends it to be quiet. He coughs, once, then in a fit, pain ripping through him again as he sputters and half-chokes on blood. "S'okay."

Borrowed time, he thinks, imagining Rebecca's death-pale face. He swallows, or tries to, and it's a mouthful of copper.

"It's not," he says, voice weaker, a new kind of panic reaching him through the fog that's starting to close in. "It's not, it's not, it's not--"

It's not okay, is all Malcolm's mind screams. How could this happen on ADI's property?

"Just..."

His voice trails off. He has no suggestions. Neal's gone; it's only a matter of how many minutes. Malcolm knows too much about how humans die to pretend otherwise.

Edited 2021-11-13 03:08 (UTC)

“Tell me to stay,” Neal sputters, disoriented and fearful enough to think that the warmth flowing down his temples is blood, too, not tears. “Tell me to stay. Please.”

He wants to hear it. From someone, even if it’s not someone he knows well.

“Stay,” Malcolm whispers. “Stay. We haven’t had any time.”

There's never enough time. Never enough. He wants to say it, to Malcolm, to Peter, to Rebecca.

There's never enough time.

But he's lost too much blood, his brain's puppet-string hold over his body collapsing, and it's clear enough as his expression goes slack that he's dead.

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Event - Lullaby

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CW GORE

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