Event - For Sport

[apocalypsehowmods]

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For Sport

➥ Breaking It In

(cw: mentions of apparent mutilation of/violence against animals and animal death)

The conference room on the upper floors of ADI HQ is bright, airy, perhaps unnaturally so for the grim tidings that bring people here today. Those who have recently arrived will be ushered to the meeting by ADI employees or by Bonnie. It's not just the newest arrivals, but some other people who seem to be longer-term employees. The room is rather large and arranged like a lecture hall. Bonnie takes up a seat near the back, looking somewhat uncomfortable, but smiling at anyone who greets her.

At 9 AM sharp, a person steps into the room and heads to the front. They have curly hair and are wearing a gray business suit with a dark blue bow-tie. When they address the group at large, they speak in a calm, measured tone. "Good morning. I appreciate some of you may be here more reluctantly than others, but… there are matters of import to all of us to discuss. Some of you may have seen me already. I am Reyes Amador, assistant to Ms. Lehrer, the head of ADI. Earlier this week I sent out a message regarding some unusual activity at Coffin Beach. Thank you to those who investigated."

Their eyes seem to find the people who did, in fact, go looking, whether they found something or not.

"We have determined the creatures are shape-shifters. Some sort of, em... horse thing. In lieu of a term they might give themselves, we are referring to them as kelpies. Given the locations these were found, as well as other information into disappearances and deaths and mutilations of sea mammals in the area, we believe the kelpies are coming from the Essex Bay area to the north.

"For those willing to assist, we are mounting a reconnaissance mission. This is not intended to engage kelpies, just to find out where they are and how we might best approach an attack. All supplies, transportation, and monetary compensation will be provided. We will meet at ADI HQ in main lobby at 6 PM three days from now. Essex Bay is a remote site and conservation area, accessible only by boat, and not without a scientific permit. As you may guess, we will be traveling under cover of nightfall." Reyes smiles.

"I will be accepting questions about further details. I understand this is the first mission away for many of you, and you may have concerns. I will do my best to allay them. Bonnie also has some experience in these missions, if you would like first-hand accounts. Please also feel free to discuss amongst yourselves if this is a mission you think you are ready for. You will not be required to attend, nor penalized in any way if you do not. There is additional work to be done here, both with continuing examinations of the bodies we have and other efforts unrelated."

➥ Move the Goalposts

(cw: kidnapping, violence, sadism)

It happens away from the safety of ADI HQ one evening or so early in the morning, it's still dark, away from the potential for help, maybe. One moment, you (and possibly someone you're with) are walking, and the next, you will find someone has grabbed you and slammed you into the nearest surface. For those unable to fight back, a cloth will be held to their noses and mouths--chloroform, something to knock them out. For those able to fight or even to escape thanks to not actually being corporeal, they'll find that it is a trio of people who have attacked them. They wear jagged smiles and they're all much too sharp around the edges beneath their clothes. Those who saw the kelpies at Coffin Beach may recognize these people as something like them.

"Run, rabbit, run," one of the group says, voice rolling out like a gurgling tide.

Those who run will be chased and, if caught, chloroformed. Perhaps you're lucky, though. Perhaps you can race them back to safety. Or perhaps you'll find help along the way to protect you. Either way, the kelpies are relentless in their pursuit unless one of their number is injured or their prey can make it to ADI. The kelpies seem reluctant to actually enter ADI HQ or their housing, and will break off pursuit there, slinking back to the shadows.

➥ Curveball

(cw: kidnapping, violence/violence and mutilation against apparent animals, sadism, body horror, transformation, potential for claustrophobia)

For those unlucky enough to be caught, they'll find themselves waking amongst mud and bodies. Living, breathing bodies, thankfully. You have been tied up, but not gagged, and left with a group of other captives. A nearby fire casts light over everything, showing a large group of naked people with long, scraggly hair hauling a seal up out of the water. The animal fights them with a cunning that might seem odd, but the kelpies just laugh at it. They get it up near the fire, one raises a knife, and stabs into the seal, dragging the blade down its belly.

The seal bellows and then goes limp, seeming to collapse in on itself. It isn't long before a woman is drawn from the skin, shaking, fighting, wild-eyed with terror as her captors shove her around the fire in their own game. A few others turn their attention to the captives who are just beginning to wake and move about. They approach, one grabbing the skin the woman had come out of, others grabbing more skins from a nearby pile.

"Hush, hush... you'll have your freedom soon... while you can swim." The words come just before the kelpie slices your bonds and throws the skin over you.

The skin grapples your body, twisting tight around you, encasing and restraining. Your body is different now, thick and round, ungainly in the mud. Your legs have fused together and your arms have shrunk to thin flippers. This is not your body, you can feel how foreign it is, how you're crammed into the too-small confines of it... but you have instincts to go with it. Water is freedom! Or it's an attempt at freedom. It's either swim for your lives as some mockery of a selkie or stay and see how it feels to be cut open. Luckily for you, you'll find yourself psychically linked to the other selkies around you. Maybe you can do something together? Best think fast because the kelpies are setting their sights on new prey to chase once they've finished with their latest victim.

➥ Below the Belt

(cw: violence/violence and mutilation against apparent animals, body horror, gore)

The journey to Essex Bay isn't a long one, but it's somewhat treacherous as a small group of powerboats make their way into the refuge. The mission is simple: find where the kelpies are and see if there are any strategic points of-

Was that a seal? There are, in fact, many seals that pop up once boats enter the bay. The animals might seem to have an unusual cunning about them. Will they lead you somewhere useful? Perhaps try to flop themselves into your boats? The point is, there are seals accosting you in the middle of the night, and that's weird. Perhaps they have something they want to communicate.

Or was that a horse? A crocodile? There's something that seems to have noticed you, and it's smart enough that it's going to try to tip you and anyone else in your boat into the water rather than trying to engage otherwise. Sit down, you'll rock the boat.

➥ Sticky Wicket

(cw: potential for severe burns/injury, pain)

ADI is engaged in far more than one mission at a time, and for those not dealing with Essex Bay, or even before that, there are pick-ups to handle. Artifacts, you've been told as you're paired with someone else, whether you like it or not. The mission is simple: go to the Docks, collect a package from a locker there, and return with it to ADI. You've been provided an exact location and a code for the combination lock. The section of the Docks you've entered seems to be one with a lot of empty warehouses covered in graffiti, but the locker is there, something heavily reinforced and designed to be virtually impossible to get into. There's evidence that people have tried to gain entry without success.

Your code works, though, and you have your prize! You've been given strict instructions not to open the box the artifact is in… but there's nothing technically stopping you now, and there is a strange pull toward it.

Those who can't help themselves will find they have just picked up… some piece of sports gear! It looks wholly innocuous. Touch even a finger to it, though, and a horrific, searing pain will consume your entire body as 3rd-degree burns bloom across the skin where you've touched your artifact.

Or maybe you have a will of iron and sense enough not to touch strange, supernatural objects. What should be an easy mission is quickly derailed by some young punk darting out of an alleyway to try to steal your package. Or, at the very least, knock it from your hands. The youth is not alone, either. You've found yourself on someone's 'turf,' and they want what you've got. Are you cruel enough to let them have it?

➥ Mod Notes

• BREAKING IT IN (21 July): Both Reyes and Bonnie will be available to answer questions that characters might have or listen to their complaints. Please put "NPC Requested" somewhere in your top-level response if you would like a mod response. For characters who can access their supernatural abilities and have some measure of supernatural spidey sense, both Bonnie and Reyes will register as off, but in different ways. Characters are welcome to attempt to use whatever powers they believe will work on the NPCs. There are potential IC consequences for this.
  
  
• MOVE THE GOALPOSTS (23-24 July): Characters are welcome to capture or kill the kelpies. The only information they will be capable of providing to those who capture them and attempt to compel them for information is that they consider the entirety of the Massachusetts coast as their 'hunting grounds.' Whether that's true or not, it's what they believe.
  
  
• CURVEBALL (23-24 July): Kidnapped characters will become seals! Sort of. Psychic seals who are extremely ill-fitted to the skins they're in. The only way to escape their current state is to be cut open and pulled out. As soon as they start to flee, the kelpies will chase them. Those who are captured will be cut out, toyed with, and shoved back into a skin again and again to continue the chase until they simply can't go on anymore.
  
  
• BELOW THE BELT (24 July - night): Characters may encounter their selkie-fied comrades! Unfortunately, while the selkies can communicate with each other psychically, they are incapable of human speech. They are also being actively hunted by the kelpies. Characters may kill any kelpies they come across. Capture will not be possible in this case while they're in their horse forms. If PCs do not eradicate the kelpie threat that night, NPCs who have joined the mission will do so. Unfortunately, reconnaissance has become engagement, whether they like it or not.
  
  
• STICKY WICKET (21 July - 5 August): You may select any piece of sporting gear you'd like for your character to pick up as long as it can fit in a reasonably-sized box. The pain associated with the burning will last only as long as a character is touching the object. Holding onto it for more than a minute will likely result in coming very close to death. Characters with inorganic appendages will find that the artifact will start to melt that appendage, whatever it is made of and it will still, somehow, hurt while it does it.
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QUESTIONS

[apocalypsehowmods]

Please pose questions HERE

NPC Question Threads
Bonnie
- Jacob

Reyes
- Toji
- Yuri
- Gil
- Martin
- Keith

Meredith Idlewild - OC

[henchgal]

1. Move the Goalposts
It's not quite curfew yet, but the sun has set and shadows seem to have dropped over the streets of Gloucester like a weighted blanket, heavy and warm with the thick air of summer hanging over everything. Meredith can be found walking to the bus stop, to get back to the dorm before she's locked out for the night. Alone, slow, she seems to be the perfect target.

Perhaps your character sees the trio approaching her; perhaps you were walking with her all the while. Either way, it's clear this is going to be a greater challenge for her than some people.

ooc: I intend for this to end in Meredith getting kidnapped. You can either be taken with her, or get away because she's an easy target.

2. Curveball (CW: self-injury)
As Meredith wakes up and realizes the situation she's in, there's a soft whimpering. Look, not everyone can be the most stoic person in the face of danger, and this...this isn't the first time she's woken up in a dark room with a dry mouth, hands tied behind her back. She tries to get a read on her situation, but she's still a little dizzy at first.

As their captors stab the seal, though, Meredith does attempt the one thing she has up her sleeve; a sickly pair of popping sounds come from her as she dislocates both thumbs in an attempt to give herself more slack in the rope to get her hands free. She lets out a soft hiss at the pain, but it's not like she's not used to it--the very reason she wears ring splints is to avoid subluxations on a regular basis.

In the end, the attempt is futile, the kelpies too soon coming with sealskin and cutting the ropes away, and she's turned into a seal like all the others.

3. Below the Belt
One of the seals out in the bay seems to be struggling more than the rest, keeping to the shallows for fear of being unable to make it in deeper water. Silent until it sees a boat, and then calling out with those barking yelps seals are known for.

The kelpies seem to sense the weakness of this seal in particular, too. One may have to be particularly bold and strong to rescue it in time.

Move the Goalposts

[aelwyn_aberration]

[Aelwyn had been walking behind Meredith, a good thirty feet behind her in fact, for most of the way back to the dorms. She'd come from the Flophouse, seeking to escape her roommate for even a few hours and she'd tagged along with Meredith after passing her on the way back because, hey, two heads are better than one.

She turns out to be right when she watches the Kelpies crawl out from the dark and Aelwyn feels herself freeze up. That immediate panic is lessened when she realises they're going for Meredith instead. If she were a better person, she'd try to get their attention, or yell at Meredith to get away, but instead she feels all words die in her throat as they get closer to the other woman, seemingly ignoring her.

Instead, she reaches for her phone, and texts her.]

BEHIND YOU!!!!

below the belt

[120vision]

[ That seal is distracting, to say the least. Gojou can't ignore it - even though this isn't the usual species he rescues, there's still terror and vulnerability. He ends up outright jumping out of the boat, standing in the shallows. He doesn't even care that his pants are waterlogged now. ]

Hey, get behind me!

[ ...it's ridiculous to talk to an animal, right? Right. And yet he finds himself doing it anyway. On a whim, he waits to see what happens rather than just shoving his way in front of it. ]

Jacob Stone | The Librarians - NPC Requested for Breaking It In

[bookbrawler]

→ Breaking It In - Open to NPC only
cw: gory injury description

His arm still hurts.

Having a creature tear into your arm will put anybody in a bad mood, but Jake looks especially grumpy in this meeting. He keeps playing with the edges of the bandage that wraps around his forearm, but it's still obvious that he's listening intently one what's being said.

He misses Jenkins and the Library more than ever now, and mutters the word kelpie incredulously to anyone who's sitting next to him. Not because he doesn't believe in kelpies. He's more annoyed at the term being flung around when they hardly knew what the creatures were. Did they really do their research on kelpies? Once people start getting up, Jake makes his way over to Bonnie. He's smiling except it's more pained and annoyed than not.

"Hey. Hi, I have a question. Or...well. Questions."



→ Curveball A. - OTA -

Okay. Okay, so things could be better.

Honestly, it's going about just as well as a typical Library mission so there's that, but still.

Jake mutters under his breath, trying to work his wrists free of the ropes. His arm isn't in the best shape and it's slow-going. He stops a couple times, trying to work through the pain of the awkward position and the ropes cutting into the bandage. He's not Ezekiel--damn, what wouldn't he give for Jones to be here right now cause he's pretty sure he'd have been out of these stupid things already. He stops struggling when his eyes finally adjust and he sees what's really going on.

The kelpies. (Yeah, okay, he's calling them kelpies too, now.)

Dragging a seal, taking a knife and--

"No!"

He knows he can't do anything but the word escapes him anyway. And then suddenly there's a woman. Who came from the seal skin. That--he's not expecting, but he also knows what she is. Or at least, the closest equivalent from his world.

"No way. She's a selkie?"



→ Curveball B. - OTA -

They throw the seal skin on him and there's a moment of sheer terror when he realizes what's going to happen before it happens.

And then it happens.

It's like the answer to a question he never had. How do selkie skins actually work? Well. Now he knows. He really wish he didn't know. The next thing he knows he's lying face down in the mud, somehow feeling just as tied up as he was moments before. But not because of the rope, but because he's just...stuck. He can't move his legs and he feels like he's trapped, like something's squeezing around him and--

--and his arms are flippers.

Fantastic.

Jake tries to say something, but all that comes out is a confused bellow and something glitters in his sight. Water.

Suddenly nothing else matters except water. He has to get there, he has to before it's too late! The kelpies are getting closer and he can hear them--

It's difficult to move, his body feels all wrong, but the fear drives him more than anything else. He has to get out. He manages to wiggle and pull and slide through the mud until the cool water draws him away from danger and into relative safety. He's kind of bad at swimming--how does this blasted tail even work!? But his instincts fortunately settle in the driver's seat and he manages to resurface, his little head sticking out of the water, looking worriedly around for the people who were with him.



→ Below the Belt - OTA -

There are boats.

There are boats and with those boats might be help. And man, does he need help right now. They all do.

Jake swims around, a little frantically, trying to circle the nearest boat he can find, or try to get the attention of another seal to help him get the boat's attention. Sometimes he'll bark or making noise, sometimes he'll try to jump out of the water--he's not very good at it.

If he can get close enough to a boat, he'll start tapping on the hull with a flipper or his nose in Morse code.

Three short taps.

Three long taps.

Three short taps again.

S.O.S.



→ Sticky Wicket - Set before Curveball, open to one only pls! -

This should be an easy enough mission, right? Just like his missions at the Library. Find an artifact, bring it back. He doesn't anticipate any problems.

Which means there's probably going to be problems.

Or maybe it's just because he's been on edge lately. He can't quite put his finger on it at the moment, but there's something...unsettlingly weird going on. And not just because of the injury to his arm earlier, or any of the other weird things going on at ADI like how he actually got here, but just...something that he can't quite see.

And it's driving him up the wall.

He needs to know what it is, and while he wasn't unused to a mystery--hell, he liked mysteries, this one was like an itch he can't scratch, a rock in his shoe, a starchy tag on his t-shirt. Or something.

Maybe he was just overthinking things.

Either way, now he was at the Docks with his partner and headed towards a locker.

"What do you think's in it?" he turns to ask them with a smirk as they make their way there.

Curveball A

[henchgal]

"A what?"

Meredith's beside Jacob, and while the position she's tied in would strain some people, she's enduring it with remarkable stoicism. One of the rare benefits of her condition, hyperflexibility. It rarely comes up like this.

But that's not the point, not right now. Clearly Jacob understands something about this situation that Meredith doesn't.

ren amamiya | persona 5

[forethinking]

𝐢. 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐭 𝐈𝐧

(Ren has no issues with following Bonnie. The woman accepted him in her own place, provided him with clothes and a roof over his head - very similar to his situation in Tokyo, he's been working hard at fixing things in the house and cooking for the residents when he's not out exploring. At first, his idea of this meeting was to be something similar as his arrival, more exposition on the Entities, but a mission falls on his lap and he can't help the confident smile that breaks the softer expression he wears. Undercover by nightfall is exactly his type of thing!

His eyes don't wander during the explanation, fixated and he even takes notes on his phone for later evaluation. Once it's over, he'll start searching the web, moving things into a notebook... You're more than welcome to come around and ask him what he's doing!)

𝐢𝐢. 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 (𝐜𝐰 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐬)

(It's early, and it's nighttime. There are too many places that Ren still has to see, people he might be able to defriend or even help. There are monsters out there, after all. Belatedly, he realizes that being with Akechi as he surveys the area would have been much safer, but now it's too late. Next thing he knows, he's slammed into a wall before his hand reaches his knife, sitting comfortably in his shoulder bag.

Fuck, fuck. When he looks to the side, he realizes he's not the sole victim of whatever it is that he's struggling against.

Don't worry. Teamwork makes the dream work!)

(ooc note: Ren will be captured in Akechi's thread later, but this prompt is for helping others run and fight the creatures. He won't be taken in any other prompt!)

𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 (𝐜𝐰 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐬, 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫, 𝐞𝐭𝐜.)

(The tightness around his wrists and how sore his shoulders happen to be is such a grim reminder that Ren's been in a similar position before, his head spinning from the drug and he coughs, it feels like his head is pounding and yet surprisingly light in his wake. He looks around to see faces, some familiar and some not so much, but it doesn't matter. He's got to find a way to escape, he's got t--

It's a little too much to think with how they unrepentedly open up the mammal, revealing a woman to toy with, and he yells, booming low voice echoing the cave:)

Let her go!

(And he struggles, paying no mind how the rope sinks into his skin, presses his muscles against his bone, he wants to stand up as soon as possible - not that it happens at all. All it really did was redirect the attention of the kelpies to himself. He tries to fight, he truly does, but his head is still too light and his vision is still blurry - can't, shouldn't, won't call a Persona at the expense of someone else.

With the skin gluing to him and his body now absolutely different, Seal!Ren does what instinct dictates, fleeing towards the water. It's extremely taxing to be chased underwater, as much as his body is made for it now. With the connection, Ren sends a message:)

I'll distract them as much as I can. Swim for it.

𝐢𝐯. 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐭

(Everything hurts. His fins, his belly, he's never been so exhausted in his life. It's almost a miracle that he managed to jump atop the deck of a boat, and it's much more of a miracle that he recognizes some of the faces on it. How does he-- How can he speak when he's a fucking seal? All he can do is bark, point at weapons with his fin, point at himself...

It's painting an odd picture.

He's been a rat temporarily once, but being a seal is completely new. Help, before the monsters come.)

below the belt

[120vision]

Look at this guy! How cute!

[ Yeah, Gojou has no idea. He's pretty much taking this as one of those miracles that happens with animals sometimes. He has a feeling that there's something he should be paying attention to here, but it hasn't quite sunk in yet. So of all things he could do, he reaches out and.. pats Ren on his seal head? ]

Satoru Gojou | Jujutsu Kaisen

[120vision]

Breaking It In

[ While he tried to sit up front, wanting to be as close to Reyes as possible, multiple people deterred Gojou to the back because of his height. So he spends quite a bit of the time they're talking, pouting. This may give the indication that he's not paying attention, but he's absorbing everything he hears. After it's all done with, he jumps to his feet and looks over the crowd. He starts specifically picking out people who look unsure and approaching them, trying to hype them up about the mission. But he's very easily deviated, if you're not one of those but want to talk to him too. ]

Move the Goalposts

(ooc note: Gojou's initial fight thread will happen on Toji's toplevel, but this follows after)

[ After encountering the attackers once, Gojou thinks that this smells like a setup. It's not just a random attack - maybe it's the life he led back at home, but he simply doesn't believe that an attack so soon after arriving couldn't be planned. So he heads out to the few places he knows around town, investigating and looking for others associated with the ADI. He's trying to find someone else that might be involved in a fight and need help fighting back. ]

Below the Belt

[ All the sudden sea creatures is certainly something to blink at, especially when the horse-like things are trying to overturn the boat. Gojou instinctively starts to form a hand signal to use one of his powers, but he catches himself before he finishes it. No, that's not correct right now. He's bothered by the limitations of the rules, especially since he doesn't really understand the point of them. Not for the first time, he doubts following them, because this is really a crisis here.

But he settles on grabbing something from the boat instead. It's kind of random, so even he's surprised when he lays hands on the anchor. He just hauls this thing and outright tosses it at the creature, aiming for its head. ]

Everybody duck!

Sticky Wicket

[ Gojou has hardly found the object before he opens the box and tries to touch it. In this case, it's a pickleball paddle - not that he recognizes it for what it is. To him, it's just some sort of paddle made out of wood, that would be good for hitting people with. Considering his previous job, he should have the sense not to handle it, but he's always been about exploring boundaries. So pretty much immediately after opening the box, he handles the paddle. ]

Ow! Fuck!

[ He quickly drops it back into the box and mulls over what has happened and how he's seemed to have gained a burn. He considers this seriously, and then... reaches for it again? ]

Move the Goalposts

[graveyounglady]

['Involved' might be a charitable way to describe the fight Mercy's currently embroiled in. She hadn't meant to go far from ADI on her own, not with reports of more of those kelpie people roaming around town, not just at the beach, but in the early morning, she always feels a little safer, and she'd seen someone on a wheeled board propelling themselves along the sidewalk. She'd been entranced by it and jogged after the skateboarder without thinking much about where she was going. She'd find her way back. She'd always been good at directions!

In a forest.

Now, she's faced with three people and no man with a gun to shoot them down for her. She has her dagger, but that's... that isn't enough. Mercy runs. She runs as fast as her feet will carry her, heart racing, uncertain where she's even going anymore, until she nearly runs straight into Gojou.]

Run!

[She doesn't know who this is, immediately, but she grabs for them, tries to pull them along.]

toji fushiguro | jujutsu kaisen.

[heavenchained]

001 » breaking it in.

( Toji seems to check out pretty early on into the briefing, tilting his head back and letting his eyes slip shut. He's listening, just not sure how interested he is in the whole affair.

He's encountered the kelpies before — or at least one of them — but when monetary compensation is mentioned he visibly stirs. )

Yeah, but how much?

002 » move the goalposts.

( Yeah, good luck.

Toji goes about dispatching them methodically — his katana is drawn and he's laughing, slashing into the creatures with abandon. )

Ha — hey, where you going? I thought we had business!

( It's only then that he notes someone who he just so happened to have saved as well in the midst of all the bloodshed. The kelpies are really out in force, apparently. )

003 » move the goalposts, pt. 2 | for gojou.

( Gojou is in ADI housing and Toji is not; it's not like he wants to talk, or anything, but he is a little curious as to how he's adjusting to the place. Out on a walk, they're quickly accosted by the kelpies and Toji is quick to jump in again.

This time, with the pistol. He fires off a couple rounds and drops the gun to his side, sighing deeply. )

That's five.

004 » below the belt.

( This time he has his Inverted Spear of Heaven along with the pistol. He shoots and cuts the kelpies liberally, grinning all the while, seeming perhaps a little ... excited.

When a selkie flops into the boat, he makes to stab for that, too, only to be interrupted ... ? )

005 » sticky wicket.

There's some kids watching us back there. Not very sneaky or anything.

( He mumbles this to the partner he's accompanying to retrieve the artifact. )

move the goalposts pt 2

[120vision]

[ Gojou is both impressed by his swiftness and a little annoyed by it. He steps forward towards one of the bodies, pushing it around a little with his shoe. He's trying to make sure the attackers are dead, but also kind of hoping one of them jumps back up so he can get in a few licks too. ]

I get the impression you've ran into these before.

Monika | Doki Doki Literature Club

[writetheway]

A; Breaking It In
[Monika listens attentively. Kelpies... She's familiar with the idea of the mythological creature, at least, and she did get closer than she would have preferred to one on the beach. She'd been lucky to have been paired with someone who knew what they were doing that time. With that thought in mind, paired with that urge to continue to be useful, she looks around at the people who look as if they have a handle on this kind of thing.]

Does anyone have tips on how to do a mission like this one? [Right now, Monika can only think "bring a weapon" and "stay hidden while doing recon", but that makes it sound like a stealth video game or something...]

B; Move The Goalposts; ADI Apartments
[After Monika's own brush with the kelpie kidnappings, she's been spending some time in the evening camping out in the lobby with a first aid kit. She doesn't know anything fancy, but anyone who comes in looking worse for wear will be approached immediately.]

Are you alright? Do you need bandages or anything?

[She spares a glance out the nearest window, too; the kelpies don't seem to want to come near the building, but it doesn't stop her nerves from sparking with some instinctual fear that this time they'll change their minds.]

C; Network; un: lilmonix3
Has anyone else noticed a lot of seals around lately?

D; Wildcard
[Monika will be staying in at night unless she's specifically out on one of the ADI missions. She can be found around the ADI HQ trying to make herself useful during the day, as well as generally around town. If you have something in mind you want to plot out, hit me up at my plotting comment or maiiau!]

[writetheway]

[This comment reserved for additional prompts; please don't reply to it!]

James "Bucky" Barnes | Open | CW some internal dehumanization

[worthallthis]

I. Downtime, pre-event

The thing that is definitely not James Buchanan Barnes doesn't know what to do with himself when he's not training or on a mission. He doesn't sleep much, he eats when he's supposed to but gets stymied by the choices in the ADI cafeteria and so winds up eating less than he probably should, and he spends a lot of time in the training room. Or patrolling the halls, even if the halls don't need patrolling, even when he's not on duty as ADI security.

Find him prowling around and through the apartment complex or ADI headquarters buildings, eyes fixed in a flat stare, or practicing his aim in a firing range, or staring helplessly at a vending machine or canteen counter at the ADI headquarters. His two roommates will find him quiet and uncommunicative, but he tends to linger in the common room when one or both of them are home, as if needing to be in someone's presence, and his gaze follows people without ever actually making eye contact. Sorry, guys, he's a little creepy.


II. Sticky Wicket

Retrieval mission. Simple enough. The thing that is definitely not James Buchanan Barnes dons his armor, puts on the goggles and mask that make him feel more comfortable when on a mission, and has no trouble retrieving it, and the urge to peek inside is unusual and suspicious, so he resists it. Whatever is inside it is irrelevant.

So he doesn't know what he's carrying when he's cornered by one of the local gangs. He stares them down behind his dark goggles and mask, waiting.


III. Move the Goalposts

He doesn't run, when faced with the kelpies. He knows they die. They can strangle and claw at a metal arm just like a human. And while he is afraid of many things, he is also used to fighting despite that fear, and he knows he's been programmed never to be taken alive.

So he punches one in the face in response to the threat, expressionless. His spooky, masked face and inhuman pain tolerance during the last mission has fueled at least some of his serum strength, though it might not be enough. Anyone want to help him fight them off?


IV. Below the Belt

The thing that is definitely not James Buchanan Barnes has been treated for wounds gotten while dealing with the kelpies, and he's ready to be sent out again. There are other agents missing. Those agents must be retrieved, and the gang of supernatural creatures stopped. He gears up with as many guns and knives as the ADI will let him have, and lets them take him to the mission site.

He sits quietly, a rifle across his lap and guns strapped in various places, and when the kelpies start towards the boat, when the first clawed hand grabs the edge of the boat to start to tip it, he heaves the rifle up to his shoulder, aims, and fires.

IV

[graveyounglady]

The kelpie brays its fury as it dives back into the water. Mercy hears the gun from where she is, bobbing as a seal in the surf. She's lost the others, but guns... the kelpies hadn't been using guns. The mission. The briefing! This could be help!

She speeds toward the sound of altercation, only to see the kelpie, illuminated in the moonlight, gearing up to ram into the boat she can see from below. Oh, Brother, she has to warn them. How does she...? Can she push the boat?

"Arf! Arfarfarf!" It's the only warning she gives before suing her new, squat body as a battering ram, trying to hit the prow of the boat to turn it before the kelpie shoots up to tip it over.

chris redfield | resident evil | OTA

[thiccest]

BREAKING IT IN.

[ Chris doesn't speak much at the meeting itself, not beyond asking for clarification once or twice. He receives the information with his back leaned against the chair and one leg crossed over the other-- he's not pleased, so to speak, but the serious look on his face is more a listening face than any proper anger.

If anyone looks lost, he's happy to answer any questions they might have. Prodding will have him admitting he's killed a kelpie, but only once-- any questioning of technique will only have him saying try not to die while pumping it full of bullets. (Completely seriously.)

After the meeting, though, Chris will be sitting in the cafeteria, eating with his left hand and doodling on a napkin with his right. It's a crude image, definitely nothing Da Vinci-esque, but it looks like a woman whose face is long and whose cheekbones are sharp... and whose face splits like a beak with sharp teeth in its mouth.

He's frowning again as he chews, thoughtful. The only thing that catches his attention is the shadow of a person when they approach, at which point he'll lift his head and click the pen shut.

Chris swallows his food. ] Seat's free, [ and then cocks his head towards the bench across him ] for what it's worth.

MOVE THE GOALPOSTS.

A. CHRIS POST-ATTACK, DEFINITELY ANNOYED. (cw: brief mention of dismemberment)

[ He reaches the safety of the ADI not unscathed-- his shirt and pants're not only torn and cut in places, but covered in muck, and some of it's gotten on his face. There're a few cuts on his skin, too. The nastiest thing is the bite mark in his forearm, though: there're two rows of too many teeth to be anything human, and it's still oozing blood out nice and slow.

Chris knows the smart move is to go to medical, but he's exhausted, so he leans against the nearest building and slides onto his ass with a grunt. He can afford five minutes of rest, he tells himself, especially if luck's made it so security hasn't noticed how bloody he is from afar. The arm wound's better than it looks, fortunately-- it looks bad, but it isn't as deep as it could've been.

More pressing is the fact he failed to realise there was a dismembered hand still attached to his ankle until he stretches his legs out over the ground. ]

God damn it. [ So Chris bends forward, working to uncurl the spindly, inhumanly long, and very clawed fingers off his leg. He should've figured rigor mortis affects the supernatural, too.

It's tough work, so anyone who happens to pass by is flagged with a: ] Hey. Could you help me get this thing off?

B. PATROL WORK, LATE EVENING OR EARLY MORNING.

[ Since ADI security's supported his decision to patrol the area after being alerted to the kelpie threat, Chris has been spending a few hours outdoors past curfew. He's got a partner with him, and they're still connected via radio comms, but for the moment they're separated to cover more ground.

Chris keeps his senses piqued as he walks, his hands holding an assault rifle with its end pointed to the ground. He's watching out for three things: 1) any injured that may be hiding out; 2) any sounds that even remotely resemble an attack; or 3) anyone who might look like they're running from something... or towards something, given these kelpie fuckers are the pursuing type.

He's got a good sense of urgency. Any sign of these things'll have him legging it instantly. ]

BELOW THE BELT.

A. WELCOME ABOARD?

[ Chris' rifle points out in the direction of the creature rising from the water. His finger's on the trigger and he's about to pull, but the creature appears in the beam of his flashlight before he can, and he realises immediately even in its flailing that it isn't a kelpie. (He's certainly fought enough to be able to tell.) ]

What the... [ It seems to want to get into his boat, and though Chris just stares at it for a handful of moments, the realisation its desperation seems more fearful than violent has him putting the rifle down so he can use both hands to pull the thing in.

The creature lands on the bottom of the boat with a thud. It's-- ]

...a seal. [ His tone is flat as ever. ] Okay.

B. PATCH OF LAND DEFENCE SQUAD.

[ Chris stands on a small stretch of land, and behind him a few fellow teammates are cutting seals open and pulling people out of them. He's firing his rifle at any kelpies that try to approach, but he can only do so much by himself. That said, he's relieved when a boat bumps into the shore, even if he isn't turning to look towards who (or what) might be coming out of it. ]

I sure fucking hope you're here for back-up... [ Bang bang bang bang go his bullets, and with a gurgling scream another kelpie disappears into the depths of dark water. Chris turns sharply in his new companion's direction then, but with wide eyes he lifts his rifle again. ] Because you got something on your tail!

[ And true enough, a kelpie rises from the water with a screech, just about ready to land into the boat that's just arrived. ]

AFTERMATH.

[ If Chris managed to save you from seal skin, you bet your ass he's coming to check on you wherever you're being treated. He'll either knock before entering a room or gently call your name from behind a curtain to make sure he's got the right bed to check up on.

He's got some get well soon card with a properly cheesy note on it. Visitor's etiquette, you know? ]

Hey. Glad to see you're up.

WILDCARD OPTION + NOTES.

Chris' OOC plotting post is here. Feel free to PM me or hit me up at howletts if you'd like to hash anything out beforehand or handwave any interactions (first meetings especially). I don't mind making closed starters as needed, nor do I mind random starters that don't fit the scenarios above. Let's gooooooo!

for ~marmoron

[thiccest]

All right. [ Chris' voice is a steady, calm tone in Keith's earpiece even if he isn't near him. Instead, he's crouched on a rooftop with both his hands wrapped around his assault rifle and his eye peering through the scope, watching Keith's immediate surroundings. ] Turn the corner to your right and you'll see it playing dead by the dumpster. It's shaped like a woman-- brown dress, bare feet, blond hair, head turned to the side. Think that's a puddle of blood under it.

[ That said, it'd be a pretty convincing dead body if not for how familiar Chris has become with the long, gaunt shape of a kelpie's human-esque face. It's only barely seen under the dim light of Gloucester at night, but its cheekbones are razor sharp and its arms are a bit too long to be normal (the tips of its French-tipped fingers reach mid-calve). Chris imagines if he came close enough, Keith might be able to smell the sea from it. ]

I'll fire if it comes after you, but stay sharp. You might be able to get it through the skull if it can't tell you know what it is.

Cassandra Cillian | The Librarians | ota

[doingmath]

[ooc: default to brackets but will gladly switch to prose if you answer to any to those in that format!]

i. Breaking it in

Hello! I'm Cassandra. I'm-- not from your world, I assume. Though, who knows! It's really hard to tell, isn't it? I wonder if there is a way that set us apart, a wavelength or dimensional signature countercurrent to this place, overlaying within this nexus event...

[She seems rather okay with all this. And excited. Chipper, even. Anyways! She starts counting off her fingers, clearly trying to follow some made-up 101 of small talk and How To Introduce Yourself to People.]

So, I am from Earth, the current year is 2017 and... oh! Magic is real where I'm from, too. ... So are apocalypses, unfortunately. Yeesh. What's up with that, huh?

[There's a bit of a forced laugh, what can you do right, then a pause and she looks at her fellow arrival expectantly. So what about you?]


ii. Curveball

a. cave

[When she comes to, her eyes move first, slowly growing wide and frightened, taking in details all around her. Hands, bound. Others, trapped. Then the seal, dragged forward, almost like a sacrifice and her mind is racing, trying to make sense of it, trying to remember all the sea gods and mythological creatures they had encountered before, either in the field or in literature.

When they cut she wants to cry out but then the woman is freed and that makes it so much worse. What? Why? How?

Her eyes are wide and frightened and she scoots over to the others stirring nearby.]

Hello? Can – can you move? We need to get out of here...


b. waters

[She's tired.

She's tired and hurt and scared and this is unlike anything she's experienced before. It's hardly her first rodeo. She's battled monsters and gods and faced all kinds of horrors, had her mind twisted and her body changed in horrific ways. But this? There's something primal about the kind of terror engulfing her now as she swims, disoriented, sick with fear, trapped and struggling. That one mission with the House comes to mind, and its inhabitant chasing her. What she's feeling now comes close, the utter horror of its enclosed space and running from the predator.

Focus, she tells herself, picturing herself taking a deep breath. You're a Librarian. You can do this. Four flippers. Hind flippers from side to side to propel forward, foreflippers for steering. D = kvn, where D is the drag force on the body and k includes the coefficient of drag and an area variable and v is the swimming velocity raised to an exponent of n...

That gives her the theory but what actually helps? Is when she sees a fellow trapped soul in the waters up ahead. It gives her a burst of energy, purpose, the wish to help and protect that breaks through the frantic flight response.]

Wait! Don't go over there! There's a pattern.

[She can almost see it even if she can't draw up her visual aids. Chasing them out, drawing them in, slicing, freeing, trapping, it's all part of a game, and games had structures and rules and invisible lines, keeping it all together, the skin, the knife, the cutting, the chase, the hunt--]

We need to break the pattern. Maybe we can confuse them if we disturb their hunting behavior.

[Maybe. And of course they had to figure out how to do that...]


iii. Below the Belt

[There are boats! There are boats and they bring familiar faces and Cassie swims alongside them, keeps close to them even if it means drawing the kelpies in as well. But she trusts her – companions? teammates? whatever they were, or whatever they were going to be fighting together in this world – to bring equipment and weapons and be a lot more capable of besting these things than she was in her forced wet suit.

A wet suit she can use.

If she sees someone go overboard she's there in an instant, grabbing them and pulling them away from some greedy kelpie fangs, trying to get them back up on board or at least out of immediate harm's way.]


iv. the aftermath/cafeteria

[It's late and sleep is absolutely out of the question so Cassandra is drawn to the cafeteria for some tea. And snacks. Not that she's hungry. But it's nice to have something to occupy her mind with and if nibbling on breadsticks has to do the trick, well. She's nervous, twitchy, her hands coming up to rub up and down her arms and legs. She has to stop from time to time to tap into her body, reaffirm that it's hers. And that it's on land. And that it's safe.

When she sees someone else in the quiet hall she hesitates, then comes over.]

Hey.

[Her tone is kind, gentle.]

You were down there, weren't you? In the caves. The water?

[She lingers, not quite sitting down but not just passing by either.]

How are you holding up?


v. Sticky Wicket

[After the underwater debacle Cassie is glad to take on a mission that has her utilize her actual two feet and takes place on dry land. She'll just happily gloss over the docks being a part of this, will super ignore any kind of water and focus on the retrieved box instead.

It's simple enough: Carry it. Bring it back to ADI. Whatever was in there.

She walks, pursing her lips, works her jaw. Walks. Inspects the package. Walks.

Stops.]

Okay, now, what if we just-- What do you say we take a look?

[The box moves in her hands. Turn, turn, twist, shake, listen.]

Just to make sure the goods are... undamaged. We wouldn't want anything leaking wild magic right in the middle of headquarters, right? It would not be prudent! Yes. An absolute lack of... prudency. Unprofessional even. Are you unprofessional? Because I'm not!


vi. Wildcard

[For anything that strikes your fancy or comes up during plotting!]

closed to Meredith

[doingmath]

[She remembers her.

Even without a photographic memory Cassandra thinks she'd remember everyone from the cave. Their scared faces, their struggles, the way the seal suit engulfed them. She talked to some of them - in person or telepathically - tried to escape with some of them but now that they're back, now that the adrenaline and immediate need for survival are gone, it leaves her... winded. Empty. Feeling small and scattered and a bit lost.

If this had been a regular mission, she would be in the Annex now. Surrounded by familiar things. The people closest to her. The warm, protective glow of the Library. But she doesn't have that here, none of them do, and that's just... sad. Upsetting.

She hates not feeling safe.

There's a mug of tea cusped in her hand and she takes a shaky breath before sitting down opposite of Meredith.]

Hi.

[She's awkward. This is awkward.]

So that happened, huh. With the... you know.

[aelwyn_aberration]

I. Breaking It In.

[Aelwyn sits at the very back of the room, quiet. While you'd be forgiven for thinking she wasn't paying attention, her back is straight, and her eyes are sharply observing everyone in front of her. Paying attention to what everyone says, what questions are answered, what's ommitted...

She's unusually steely. While she was never unprofessional in her time here, she always looked like she was completely confident in her abilities to do something about it.

Now, though, she's focused, but maybe on the wrong things. Come say hi.]

II. Move The Goalpost: A.

[It's a dark night, lightly drizzling rain, when a scream is heard from an alleyway, and Aelwyn struggles to her feet after kicking the creature in the head and away from her.

She tries to call out, to anyone nearby, to her sister, to Kalina, but the words die in her throat.

She is sick of being afraid. So the cry turns into a snarl as she inches closer to the creature, her hands sparkling with magic. She can be spotted, approaching a kelpie while her hands flicker with bright red light, leering down at it like it's a piece of bread thrown to a starving woman, tears and makeup streaked down her muddy face. All she has to do is allow it to experience fear and pain, and she's not even the monster here.

All she has to do is feed it to the flame, and the shackles will be lifted.]

III. Move The Goalpost: B. [Open to Apartment B3 Only.]
cw: torture

[It's a bit later at night when she pulls the monster, bound and manacled with tight wires and rope, and flings it onto the floor of her apartment that she shares with Frontal and Angelo.

She is manic, grinning wildly like a madwoman, her body crackling with magic. She was so sick of being powerless anyway. She takes hold of a kitchen knife, places it over the stove and sets the spark alight. She doesn’t want these injuries getting infected, that’s not what she’s about. But if she brands it and burns it…. It’s not as if her magic won’t do, but she’s not sure how much pain these creatures can take before dying, if they’ve got legendary resistances or a regeneration feat.... No, she’ll start simple.

With no regard for others, she'll turn her phone on to some Marina and the Diamonds and pump it to full volume. That's the right kind of atmosphere for torture, right?]

How you feelin', sweetheart? You're looking a little toasty under all those layers of rope and wire. Might want to work on your fire resistance, you know, considering this is your hunting ground or whatever. But see, I can take that away just as easily as I took you from your friends. Do you think they’re looking for you? Do you think they’ll miss you?

[As the Kelpie remains silent, she'll squat down next to it with the knife, tracing it over the shapeshifting creature's face.]

Aww, not feeling like talking to me? Don't worry. I'll make you sing.

[She doesn't notice that she's not alone in the apartment. Too engrossed in the potential meal.]

IV. Below the Belt.

[Aelwyn, after having her first proper taste of blood, is... a bit afraid at how addictive inflicting that pain is.

But she signs up to help, and she says it's for the money, or to learn more, but part of her is eager to catch one of them and sink her teeth into it. On the boat ride, she's just staring into space, obviously a bit weary. She came prepared, however, and offers whoever's in the boat with her a can of an energy drink branded as something she's entirely unfamiliar with. She also has a gun but she's let that lie to the side of her, the safety on for now, but that's less important probably.]

Nervous?

[After they hit a bump, Aelwyn will reach for the gun instinctively, look over and stare in disbelief at a seal.]

Did... we know anything about seals?

V. Sticky Wicket.

[Aelwyn and her partner, whoever they might be, show up at the warehouse pretty late at night. She's kept quiet most of the night, uncharacteristic of her considering how much she loves the sound of her own voice.

She looks over the evidence of attempted break ins at the warehouse itself with a frown, before looking up at whoever has decided to accompany her.]

You have to wonder why, or how they could know it was here, right?

VI. Aftermath.
CW: alcohol abuse

[Aelwyn can be found a day or two after the Kelpie event, sitting on a park bench not far from Bonnie’s flophouse, getting drunk on a bottle of stolen bottleshop wine and looking entirely dead inside. Not very smart after what happened the other night but hey, she’s doing it.]

VI

[bigporkenergy]

[It has been... a hell of a few days. Galliard had retreated to his room at Bonnie's and slept for about twelve hours once the dust settled, and he's just now getting up and around again. He's bleary-eyed, scruffy, and stumbling a little from sheer exhaustion, but he leaves the flophouse to go try and find some food.]

[As he's dragging himself down the street, trying to force himself awake, he notices someone on a bench. He also notices that bottle they're drinking from, and while he doesn't think this is the time or place, he completely understands the impulse. He's pretty sure that, if this turns out to not be all a bad dream and he wakes up back in Marley, he'll be getting shit-faced plastered too.]

Hey.

[He stops at the edge of the bench, hands stuffed in the pockets of his bomber jacket.]

Probably not the best idea to be doing that outside right now, huh?

goro akechi | persona 5

[simulatio]

1. breaking it in

[For all intents and purposes, the young man in a white button-down shirt and black trousers looks like any overly-professional high school or college student, if students made a habit of carrying a silver briefcase emblazoned with the letter A. Before the actual meeting starts, he pulls out a thin Japanese laptop from said briefcase and sets it up, preparing to take notes. If nothing else, he hopes it lends enough of an air of diligence to impress the ADI personnel.

As others ask their questions, he notes them with his eyes, typing in anything he thinks might be helpful or relevant for his own purposes. Once the questions have stopped, he shifts the laptop aside in favor of a small pocket-sized notebook and pen, adding brief bullet points in Japanese. Through it all, he looks alternatively thoughtful or unimpressed, but never uncertain or frightened. It might as well be routine for all the surprise on his face as he moves his notes over to a more-concise format.]

2. move the goalposts
a.

[There's no warning. One moment, the kelpies are lunging as you run, hands outstretched and sharp teeth bared. The next, barely audible over the sound of running footsteps and taunting mockery, there's the wet noise of a silenced pistol being fired and a bullet burying itself into one of the kelpie's heads. It doesn't actually kill the one who's been hit, but it does get its attention. Long enough for Akechi to lean around the corner of the building he'd ducked behind and fire another shot.]

Either keep running, or fight back! [he snarls as he steps out from behind cover, intentionally drawing the kelpies' attention to him as he fires again and again, pistol held in his left hand.] I can do this all night!

b.

[Much, much later that night, one might have the misfortune of bumping into a wild-eyed Akechi. It's well past curfew, but he doesn't seem to be heading back to ADI housing. Instead of the mild-mannered, oddly-composed boy from the earlier meeting, he's wild-eyed, clutching a silenced pistol in one hand and sporting several bloody slices through his clothing. None of it seems likely to stop him as he moves forward with a single-minded determination, limping and clutching his ribs with his free hand.]

I'm gonna fucking hunt them down and make them bleed, it's gonna be a fucking massacre when I'm done with these bastards... if you die, I'll kill you again myself.

[It seems to be a mantra to keep him going, as if he's ignoring his injuries through nothing but rage and sheer force of will.]

3. below the belt

Does this thing go any faster?

[While he might have bandaged his wounds and changed his clothing since the previous night's attack, Akechi still looks leagues removed from calm impassivity. His eyes burn with a fierce anger as he drums his fingers impatiently against the side of the boat, and he doesn't even bother trying for one of the practiced smiles he'd been so generous with before.]

The sooner our reconnaissance is completed, the sooner we'll learn the fate of the people captured.

4. wildcard!

[as it says on the tin! i'll be putting some closed starters below this post, but if you want to do something different, feel free to hit me up on the OOC plotting!]

[closed to keith]

[simulatio]

Well, I suppose there are worse things to be paid for than package delivery.

[Akechi doesn't seem impressed, adjusting one of his black leather gloves as he walks alongside his partner. It's nothing personal against Keith, per se; it's more than he doesn't appreciate being told what to do and is generally terrible at being an employee.]

But all experience is good experience, or so they say, [he continues with a put-upon sigh, glancing around the area in search of the locker.] Even if "experience" in this case feels like training wheels, don't you agree?

Zhao Tianyou | Yakuza / Ryu Ga Gotoku

[essenceofdeadlybeasts]

I. Breaking It In

[Zhao had already had an encounter with the kelpies during the initial investigation. It hadn't been the most fun experience but it did mean he had experience already. He hadn't been prepared for the supernatural then but maybe this time it wouldn't be as bad if they ran into anything. He figured that was as good a reason to go on this mission as any other. Staying back would be boring and he wanted to keep busy. He wasn't used to boring anyway.

He had a friend who would have gotten a kick out of all this fantasy bullshit. He wondered how the gang was doing back home, spacing out a few good seconds during the orientation. It didn't sound like they had much more than logistics of how to get out there figured out anyway. If there wasn't anything new to learn about the creatures themselves then this was mostly useless. Of course, Zhao knew the benefit to sharing information even if it wasn't much. Someone could say something out of the blue that could lead to a semi-decent plan maybe. This wasn't the first big meeting he'd attended after all.

That didn't seem to be the case here. Still, he stuck around long enough to hear everything and maybe mingle a little bit. He could share what little he knew to prepare anyone else if it would help.]

Well, I know that bullets hurt them. Just... take plenty of ammo.

II. Move the Goalposts
ooc note: for fighting off kelpie attacks, rescuing others, etc

[The attack was unexpected but it wasn't the first time Zhao had been jumped while walking down the street. This was pretty regular back home in fact. The difference here was he didn't have any back-up; no bodyguards from the Liumang and no friends from Kasuga's party, nothing. However, he was good at combat, fully trained in a number of martial arts. Escaping was a matter of breaking the sloppy hold on him, repositioning, feinting, and bolting the first second an opening appeared. And he only ran for it because he recognized those too sharp smiles and knew what these people were beneath their disguises. Otherwise, he would have stayed to beat the shit out of these punks.

He headed towards ADI since that was the safest option in his opinion. Back to headquarters where there were more people prepared to handle this sort of situation. It wasn't really much different from home in that regard. He lost his pursuers rather easily--or kept just out of reach enough to avoid another scuffle--but made sure to keep an eye out for more or other people in trouble. He would readily stop to help anyone along the way to safety.]

III. Below the Belt
ooc note: for fighting off kelpies or helping out selkies. violent descriptions of shooting and/or slicing open may end up here.

[Reconnaissance. Right. Like things would be that simple. Since the attacks and kidnappings happened there was no way this expedition was going to be as simple as formerly intended. Zhao went out prepared for the worst.

Of course, the worst case scenario didn't usually involve seals. He wasn't expecting seals at all. These weren't like the kelpies but instead seemed frantic and looking for aid rather than to cause trouble. Then came the monsters in hot pursuit--just as Zhao was debating on whether to help a poor seal onto the boat or push it back off out of bewilderment with it, a massive shove against the opposite side of the boat sent it rocking and Zhao tipping over the side.]

I fucking hate boats.

[The ferries back home were fine, he was used to them, being around water was nothing new. But goddamn was operating on a small boat not his favorite pastime right now. He pushed himself back off the side of the boat and tried to keep balance as it rocked in the water. He pulled out his gun as he tried to spot the attacking kelpie, seal all but forgotten at the moment.

Later though, he was more likely to be seen with his sword in hand. Whether in continued defense or for slicing open seals that...weren't actually seals, it turned out.]

IV. Sticky Wicket
ooc note: threads here can take place before or after the mission

[Color him curious about this retrieval side quest. He was interested in a few things about this honestly. Such as what sort of item were they out to retrieve, how often did this sort of exchange take place, and why the docks if it was a place for gang activity? And related to that last, he was curious about what sort of punks constituted the gangs around here. From what he'd heard in rumors so far it was mostly young people doing small time crimes. Nothing like he was used to. But he was interested in finding out more. (Perhaps he was homesick.)

Zhao didn't know why they needed a partner for this. It seemed straight forward enough. Simple enough. He doubted the local punks could give him any trouble. Was it to keep each other in check? Hoping the buddy system would keep both parties involved from taking a peek at the merchandise? The honor system would do that with most normal people.

Zhao wasn't most normal people. He had no qualms in sticking his nose in where it didn't belong.]

Hey. Let's take a peek.

[Whether his partner agreed or not, Zhao was already opening the parcel to get a look at what was inside. It was a... baseball? That was oddly innocuous. Maybe a little too innocuous. He reached his hand inside to pick up the item...]

Below the Belt

[henchgal]

[By the time Zhao's gone home to get his sword, the seal stuck in the shallows has given up trying to run at all, and is instead hiding among the reeds and seaweed, looking completely miserable. It's entirely possible Zhao misses it the first time he wades past, until there's a barking sound near his ankles, demanding his attention.]

angelo sauper / ota

[apodictic]

BELOW THE BELT. //

ESSEX BAY + SURROUNDING

[ angelo’s experience with earth animals are very limited. he can’t even say whether he likes them or not, considering he’s never been in a position to enjoy their company at all. there are a lot of fake fauna and flora in space that’s manufactured for ornamental purposes as opposed to any sincere effort in replicating conditions that can’t be controlled.

simply put, he’s not a fan of them. so when he sees that lumbering hulk of mass coming closer towards the boat, his eyes narrow. ]

… what is that? Is that normal for here - ?

[ he’s not going to finish that sentence because several of the seals, apparently agitated by something, bump the boat, which unfortunately throws him overboard. fun fact: he can’t swim. ]


BELOW THE BELT. //

JETTY

[ he’s freezing from having been thrown into the water, and he hates it. he’s at least changed his clothes so he doesn’t feel as gross as before, but his boots are wet and he’s taking some time to dry them off a campfire that’s certainly not giving off as much heat considering the winds and how wet it is around here. ]

For any water missions, next time, I’m wearing a garbage bag in my boots.

[ how disgusting. ]


BELOW THE BELT. //

KELPIE FIGHT

[ after putting enough lead in a kelpie to drown it in the water it came from, there are still the seals to deal with. seals are ridiculously large animals and there are too many of them. ]

How do we deal with this?

[ even more worrying: another kelpie rising from the waters. angelo snarls. ] It’s just one thing after another.


STICKY WICKET. //

HOT POTATO

[ it seems like a dangerous box. he can’t take his eyes off it, and every time he does try to take his eyes off it, he finds himself thinking, no, i should look at it again. in fact, is it even there? i might as well check —

he tosses the box to you. ]

You carry it.


STICKY WICKET. //

BIG TROUBLE

[ everything about the artifact seems like bad news, but so is the fact that they’re now surrounded by hoodlums thinking they can interfere with the job.

well. at least they’re not the kelpies. people are infinitely easier to deal with. ]

No, no, let them take it.

[ angelo smiles. ]

I want to see what happens next.

ESSEX BAY + SURROUNDING

[gaijinsleeve]

[Unfortunately, Tak's experience with earth animals are fairly limited too. He's not from Earth, for starters, and most of them have gone extinct by the 22nd century. Still, he has a primitive gun thing, and he's used to everyone and everything trying to kill him, so he's at least glaring at everything outside of the boat with murderous intent a healthy amount of suspicion.]

How can any of us answer th- w- [Splash. Nice one. Tak leans over to glance over the edge of the boat.]

Oi. Quit fucking around. [Why is he flailing in the water like that?]

Yuri Egin | Blue Exorcist

[deadanimemom]

Breaking It In - npc requested
[Yuri listens, takes a note or two in a little spiral notebook.]

Excuse me, [she says, when there's a free moment.] I have a few questions.

Sticky Wicket
[There are a few things to handle before the recon mission, and Yuri's never known how to sit still. So with an assigned partner next to her and the knowledge of a location and a combination in her head, she heads down to the docks.]

Here we are. [Yuri says, looking over the scratched door of the locker before they open it.] It looks like we're not the first people going after this.

Move the Goalposts
[She breaks free, because she knows how to fight, knows how to hold her own against one or three or more opponents bigger and stronger than she is, and she's fast when she needs to be. But once she's run, once she's back in the apartments with no sign of her pursuers following her inside... she's going to turn around and head right back out.

If you're just minding your own business, you'll get a gentle warning to be careful, that there are strange things happening and it probably isn't safe to be alone (nevermind that Yuri herself is alone, as she walks through the dark streets). If you're being attacked, there's a piece of brick being thrown at a kelpie's head, to draw the attention of the creatures away from an easy target and towards an aggressive one.]

Below the Belt
Oh, hello. [Yuri says quietly, as a seal bobs up next to the boat she's riding in.]

How are you? [Is it a good idea to try and pet a wild animal? Of course not. Is Yuri about to anyway? Absolutely.]

Breaking It In

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[Reyes inclines their head.]

Of course. What can I answer for you?

jeff calhoun | oc

[cacophonish]

I. BREAKING IT IN (ota)
Conference room, lecture hall, either way, Jeff's clearly not comfortable here. He hangs back, keeping away from the smart, sharp people in suits, slouching in his chair like a bored, sullen student. At a glance, he doesn't seem to be paying attention, just doodles a bunch of abstract nothing in his notebook, periodically rubs his eyes like he's trying to stay awake.

9 AM's fucking early for him, okay.

All affectation aside, he is paying attention. There's a little wince, and a frown, when Reyes mentions the dead and mutilated animals, and he lowers his head and seems to focus in on his doodles, as if that'll keep his mind from conjuring up unwanted mental pictures of the poor, slaughtered creatures.

Kelpies. Fucking shapeshifting horse monsters. Now that's some fairy tale shit. Makes him think about a book his mom used to read him, back when he was little.

"Bring on the headless horses, wherever they may roam..." he sings under his breath, before turning to the person sitting by him and fixing them with a very wide eyed, curious look. "Hey... Can horses swim?" A beat, in which he's clearly thinking on his own question, before adding, "I mean... They've got hooves."

Okay, so maybe he's not the brightest crayon in the shed.

If you're lucky enough not to be sitting next to Jeff, you can still catch him after the meeting for some chit chat. He'll be hanging around for a little bit, looking around curiously, before wandering off in search of coffee and/or donuts. All offices have that shit, right?

II. MOVE THE GOALPOSTS (ota)
It's pure dumb luck that saves Jeff from getting knocked out right out the gate. The denim jacket he picked up from Bonnie's communal stash happens to be two sizes too big, which thank fuck for that, because when his attacker grabs hold of it to yank him back, Jeff slips right out of it and manages to at least get out of arm's reach before he stumbles like a chick in a slasher movie.

Heart racing, Jeff looks up at the scraggly trio, and he knows it's dark, he knows he can't trust what he sees, but fuck, they look sharp and wrong, and he has to close his eyes for a second, like that'll reset the hallucination and he'll look up again and see three regular assholes.

(Ziggy's fucking with his head. No. No, Ziggy isn't fucking with his head. Ziggy isn't fucking here. This is real, this is real, this is--)

He opens his eyes again, and they're so close now, looming over him, looking wrong, wearing jagged smiles that don't belong on human faces. The only reason they haven't grabbed him yet is because it's just a funny game to them.

"Run, rabbit, run."

Well, they don't have to tell him twice. Jeff scrambles to his feet and books it, fast as he can, with no sense of where he's going, and no strategy beyond: RUN INTO SOMEONE WHO CAN HELP HIM.

III. WILDCARD
[ Fling anything at me! If you want to plot something, you can hit me here or on plurk/discord. ]

STICKY WICKET (closed: Thackery Binx)

[cacophonish]

It was weird enough when he was paired with a talking cat, but now that they're out and about, the cat's a dude. A young dude, several years younger than Jeff, and he can't help but think that the two of them kiiiind of look like they could be brothers.

So Jeff figures he'll just roll with that as a cover story if it comes down to it. They're just brothers, picking up a package for their, uh... dad... Who may or may not be a drug dealer, because what the fuck would they be picking up at a sketchy warehouse over at some totally run-down docks?

Except he never gets a chance to whip out that cover story, because they make it to the warehouse and find the locker without any setbacks-- other than Jeff forgetting the combo and having to put it in twice. It's funny, even with Thackery's human illusion going, Jeff can still picture the totally unimpressed look the cat's probably giving him. They're so good at doing judgmental stare thing; it's probably way more withering than whatever a teenage boy's face (illusory or not) is capable of.

Jeff picks up the box and gives it an experimental shake, like he's a kid on Christmas morning, trying to figure out what the fuck Santa left him.

"What do you think's in here? Like..." His eyes widen in excitement. "What if it's the Holy Grail or something!"

Should he open the box? He's gonna open the box. Annnnd Jeff's disappointment is immediate and obvious.

"A fucking catcher's mitt?"

Gil Arroyo || Prodigal Son || prefer prose since I tag from my phone a lot!

[inlieuofadad]

O No Roommates - Closed to Yuri
When Gil gets shown to his new accommodations, he's immediately unhappy with the fact that he's not in the same building as Malcolm. He needs to fix that, whether it means getting a place in Malcolm's building or shifting the younger man to this one. He doesn't want the kid out of reach, not right now.

Gil takes a moment to gather himself after his escort leaves, bracing his hands on the sill of the open window and staring sightlessly out at the courtyard beyond. So far it's been good to be kept moving. He's had to respond and adapt too quickly to think about what the hell is going on.

A sound in the shared spaces beyond his room's door gets his attention, and he straightens with a slight groan, massaging his back and eyeing the door with trepidation. "Please no teenagers," he mutters under his breath, before opening the door and peeking out into the living room.

He emerges entirely when he sees his new roommate. Not a teenager, but still so young. Most of the people here are so young. He levels his voice, keeping it calm and even. "Looks like we're sharing some space for a while. I'm Gil Arroyo. Hell of a day, huh?"

Breaking It In - NPC requested
He listens, a slight frown on his face the whole time. Even now, even with all the strangeness of these people and this place, he can't quite buy into it all. He can't quite make himself.

He approaches the front of the room, keeping one eye on Malcolm wherever the other man might be, taking the chance to meet people on his way to interrogate their supposed employers.

Moving the Goalposts - Closed to Malcolm Bright
It's the wee hours of the morning. Gil stays close to Malcolm as they wander, letting the kid talk himself out about this place, about the people he's met already, about his theories and plans to test them. He keeps one hand on Malcolm's shoulder the whole time. Not circled around him--it would make walking a little trickier and Gil doesn't want his offered comfort to be obtrusive--but it's enough to show he's present and close.

When Malcolm finally lapses into silence, Gil lets that stand for a moment before he says, "Talk to me, kid. And not about how we're going to fix this world's problems."

Below the Belt - A, CW FOR VOILENCE/STABBIES AND BODY HORROR
They caught him. Whether it was too slow of a turn, a desperate move to get someone else to safety, or pure bad luck, they caught him. He struggles, the thrashing in his seal-shape unfamiliar and ungainly and frustrating for both those reasons. He's mentally playing out what happened to that other woman, the knife in the seal's belly, the way they dragged her loose--

He gives an angry bellow as one of the kelpies approaches with a blade, remembering all too well the feeling of Endicott's goon stabbing him in the stomach. He doesn't want to relive that, he doesn't want it to be worse, he--

The knife hits home and it knocks the breath out of him the same way it did before, but rather than pulling away and stabbing inward again, the kelpie drags it down. Pain blinds him, paralyzes him, rips another long bellow out of his throat, but then he's gasping for air into very human lungs as the kelpies haul him to his feet and start to shove him back and forth around the fire.

It takes a moment for him to get past the disorientation, the memory of agony. It takes a moment for him to get enough balance to act.

And then he slams his elbow into the throat of the nearest kelpie, snarling in a way that's still half animal before he goes for the knife the thing dropped. He has it in hand, drives it into the throat of one of the kelpies, but then they're hauling him back and throwing him into a seal skin and he's headed for the water on instinct and with defiance, the smell of blood still in his nose.

Below the Belt - B - Closed to Jeff Calhoun
Boats. Boats and familiar faces. Rather than relief, a nearly-exhausted Gil feels a small twist of fear. Yeah, these could be reinforcements. Or it could be another round of victims for these monsters to toy with until they're ready to kill.

Case in point: the boat now being harassed by a pair of kelpies. One of the people on board--no, Gil revises silently, the idiot on board--stands up in a panic. One of the kelpies lunges upward, grabs him and drags him into the water. Gil sighs, both inwardly and outwardly this time, and dives. He's going to have bruises all over from body-checking these things away from people.

Below the Belt - C
He's losing steam. He knows it, as much as it frustrates him. He's not young. He's not as fast or as agile as some of his fellow kidnappies. Wilier, maybe, more able to trick and distract the kelpies. But it's like running down a suspect. Pursue long enough, drive them hard enough, limit their options enough, and they're bound to make a fatal mistake somewhere along the way.

He knows he's approaching that place, the line after which a fatal mistake is all but inevitable, and he knows this time it really will be fatal. He jinks away between a pair of kelpies, letting them slam full-on into each other, trying to put on a burst of speed as he heads for the boats and the rest of the seal herd. His only chance now is to count on the others. Not his favorite position to be in.

Aftermath
Throughout the Day -- OTA
First thing's first. Gil makes his way through the apartments and the ADI headquarters common areas, looking for familiar faces. Familiar voices, even if those voices were psychically shared. He forces himself to stay straightened up, walking comfortably, not showing the fact that he does indeed have bruises all over. Not showing the fact that his bones are aching in a way so unnatural it makes him feel queasy. He's calm, he's encouraging, and if he saw someone at any point either in the caves or during the rescue, he's going to approach. Give a gentle touch on the shoulder if the person seems open to it, a soft smile either way.

"How're you doing?"


Nighttime -- Closed to People in the ADI apartments
Gil is up on the roof of apartment complex C. It's funny--he's glad, now, that he and Malcolm aren't in the same building. That will pass. But at the moment it narrows the chances that Malcolm will find him up here. The last thing he can afford right now is to be unsteady in front of the kid.

That's what he feels, though. Unsteady, nauseated, aching from head to toe. Traumatized by violence for what feels like the first time in a long time, which somehow makes it that much harder to handle. That's on top of the usual suspects of duress--foggy head, out-of-body sensations. The uncompromising feeling that he's lost his mind somehow, that none of this is real, that none of it could possibly be happening or have happened.

He braces his hands against the roof's railing, exhaling long and quiet, letting his head hang a little.

"You're too old for this shit, Arroyo," he says, trying for amused and only getting as far as exhausted.

Wildcard--hit meeee
[INSERT THINGS HAPPENING HERE.]

[henchgal]

Meredith's hands are in splints, and she's leaning hard on her cane as she walks. But she has tried very hard to cover up her emotional cracks, spackling them over with a fresh coat of makeup and a customer service smile, drawing everything together and throwing a blanket over it.

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking."

Keith | Voltron || OTA

[marmoron]

1. Breaking It In

[ the meeting is one keith largely keeps to himself in. he stands towards the back of the room, arms folded and leaning against the wall. he doesn't opine as much out loud, but in his experience recon missions have a nasty habit of escalating very quickly. at a point, while the director speaks, his attention goes around the room to try and evaluate potential teammates he might be assigned to work with. when the briefing is over, he approaches a fellow presumed other worlder.]

Do they always give you this little information to work with?

2. Move the Goalposts

[ though originally from earth, keith's never set foot out of arizona before and being in some alternate reality version of massachusetts is odd in ways that technically shouldn't be. one way or another though, he's determined to get a good feel for the area since he's probably going to be stuck here for some undetermined amount of time.

funnily enough, he'd have probably liked this place a lot. spooky stories, allegedly haunted ghost towns -- it's all right up keith's alley. or at least it was before the space war consumed his life. but that's neither here nor there. deciding that he's going to check out dogtown before the mission starts, hw's glancing at the map for the babson boulders and raising an eyebrow at the names of the landmarks. ]

Get a job? [ he huffs a laugh. ] This place supposed to be haunted or meant to shame people?

[ so it looks like keith's actually in decent spirits today. it's just such a shame that this little excursions going to be made a little spicy by some kelpies. ]

3. Beneath the Belt

[ funnily enough this is the first time keith's ever been on a boat. while he's handling it just fine, he's not necessarily thrilled about it. what does make the whole experience much much better, however, are the seals that intermittently come nosing towards the boats. as fond of animals as keith is, when there's nothing else going on he leans over the sides to wave at the water doggos. ]

Woah... I've only seen pictures of these guys before. Didn't know they were so friendly. Hey, buddy. You got a name?

[henchgal]

[While she can't tell him her name, not like this, she hopes that nodding in response to that question will get his attention.

Meredith is...well, she stands out among the seals as one who moves slower, her flippers more like floppers, if you will. She doesn't seem interested in moving away from the boat very much, tucked up beside it, hiding from the kelpies.]

Caduceus Clay | Critical Role | OTA

[thatsreallygreat]

Breaking It In

Caduceus stands at the back of the room. The chairs are kind of close together and he doesn't want to scrunch up to fit. He also doesn't really want to risk someone stepping on his tail or something. Besides, even sitting, he's tall, so... it's really just easier to stand in the back near Bonnie.

He listens as Reyes Amador explains the situation. He meets their gaze when they look his way, but says nothing. It doesn't really surprise him to hear the weird aberrations are shape-changers.

Caduceus doesn't ask any questions, but he does listen to other people.

"This is weird," he murmurs, loud enough to be heard by anyone nearby but not enough to carry far.

Move the Goalposts

He hears someone breathing hard, feet hitting the pavement fast. He also hears a more distant taunt, the sound of the voices--wrong. And unfamiliar. Caduceus moves toward the opening of the alley nearest him and shifts his grip on his staff. Someone flies past him - he's pretty sure they're human - and for a second Caduceus can see... lines? Like roots, rushing along the pavement after them. Can't investigate those now.

One of the weird things - kelpies? - doesn't stop fast enough and Caduceus slams the staff across its chest. They don't seem undead and so in his next action, his free hand flies out as he casts Bane. And it works. He'd been prepared to run but it works as the other kelpies run into range.

[Be the one he saved or come across him while he's fighting.]

Below the Belt

One hand grips the edge of the boat tightly as they make their way through the bay. The sound of the powerboats is distracting, and he dislikes that it gives away their position for a solid distance. The water itself unnerves him, though he tells himself that's unwarranted.

Then he sees the seals popping up around them. That's enough to make Caduceus forget his anxiety in favor of leaning over the edge of the boat to try to get a better look. To avoid capsizing them, it might be best if someone grabs the lanky firbolg.

"There's something about the seals," he says as they move around the boats. He makes eye contact with one or two, and there's something there. Caduceus frowns. Well, it's worth a shot, right? He might not understand anything they say back, but he can try.

"Hey slow down, I wanna talk to them." He looks at whoever is manning the motor, then turns his attention back to the seals gathering around them. "Hi everyone... what's going on?"

[For anyone playing a seal who wants to tag in, I'm gonna do a nature or intelligence check for Caduceus for every interaction. There's a chance he'll actually understand you. There's a chance he'll get a sense of whatever you're trying to communicate. Or he might get nothing.]

Sticky Wicket

A. Getting a box shouldn't be too hard, right? Package. It might not be a box. Caduceus is more than happy to help out and go get it, but he definitely needs a partner, and he's clear about that to whatever ADI agent he talks to.

The ADI agent rattles off the location and the code for the combination. Caduceus repeats the numbers quietly to himself, but then he looks side-long at whoever he's been paired up with.

"Numbers don't always stay with me." He has no idea what they'll encounter along the way, but if anything becomes more important than those numbers... there is a solid chance he'll forget them. And it would mean coming back here to start all over. "Figured we'd be better off using the buddy system anyway."

B. It really does just seem like a box. Caduceus looks at it, vaguely curious, but he doesn't really have a need to open it. He's encountered enough weird and arcane stuff that he knows a little better now.

His partner is looking at it kind of funny though. He tips his head.

"Want me to carry it?"

[If you burn yourself, there's a chance Caduceus can heal. And he might lecture a little in a "what did we learn?" kind of way.]

C. Great, he and his partner have the box, and they're in one piece, and they're heading back--when a bunch of kids appear and demand the package. Caduceus looks at all of them and they all seem young to him. Teenagers, maybe?

"Don't," he warns them. Whatever is in the box, letting them have it seems like a bad idea. And he also doesn't really want to fight them.

[How do you wanna do this?]

Wildcard

[Happy to match format, action or prose. Feel free to toss a wildcard my way and I'll roll with it. If you'd like to plot, Caduceus has a comment here or you can ping me at givemedragons. I'm also open to doing pre-event things with housemates or random encounters.]

Below the Belt

[gaijinsleeve]

As soon as the boat even starts to wobble, Tak leans over to grab Caduceus's tail. He would have grabbed somewhere else but, you know, that was the thing sticking out waving near his face, and he doesn't want to go overboard because this... alien thing? is getting a little overexcited lunging here and there.

He's never actually met anyone who doesn't resemble a human. Well, you know, he's met rich people, and they're not really human anymore, but batshit insane in flesh and meat suits don't count. So, yeah, he might have spent some of their together time on the boat saying a curt hello to his new friend and studying him with his eyes.

"You can speak manatee?" Tak asks flatly. This is some fucking bullshit man.

martin blackwood | the magnus archives | ota, npc requested, and i'll match your format!

[lowficharm]

i. [breaking it in] closed to npc

[Martin isn't exactly keen on being in all of this, but thankfully there's people who are louder or otherwise more noticable than him. It's what he's good at, just... sitting off to the side, listening, taking in stuff. But he will approach whoever seems free and capable at the head of the room as people are milling about, just looking for a bit of time.]

Uhm-- excuse me? Can I ask you something?

ii. [curveball] ota

[Truthfully, Martin wasn't even planning on dealing with the kelpie issue. He's gone over to investigate things like that before, and that's how he spent two terrified weeks in his apartment eating canned peaches and stomping worms trying to crawl in through his toilet. None of that is any good, and he fully decided well, perhaps he just won't on this one.

Of course, fate decided for him that he was going to have to deal with this, and now here he is.

He gasps his way awake, taking everything in, and turning his head down immediately to the other bodies with him in a harsh whisper.]

Who's-- h-hey, wake up! Are you okay, we, we have to go.

[He's going to lose, but hey. Maybe you can lose with him, or get out yourself!]

iii. [below the belt] ota

[Alright. Alright. Alright.

For everything Martin's had to go through, this is absolutely a new experience and one he could have gone forever not dealing with. For every horror he's heard about or seen, most of them didn't involve such... physical manifestations, but he's also now beginning to realize maybe he didn't end up in half of this because he had the good luck to be in the Archive most of the time. But seeing as there's no ward or whatever that's being kept around the ADI offices like was handled with that building, he can just get kidnapped and put through this and it's very, very bad.

On the temporary good news for him and everyone else, the ptsd has kicked in, and Martin is trying very hard not to die-- which means rallying in numbers, trying to figure out a plan, and compartmentalizing everything else so he can collapse later.]

Hey! If-- if you can hear me, we can do this if we just-- work together, okay? Just listen--

[Up to you if you're willing to do any listening to the stern, but kind of soft, British voice in your head, though.

For people who aren't selkiefied, you're going to find a very persistent seal either ramming into your boat or just trying to get right on in there, barking as loudly as possible the entire time. He's trying to ask for help, but that's not quite working-- at least maybe you can figure it out?]

iv. [sticky wicket] ota, before the kidnapping

[Compared to whatever discussion was being had with kelpies, this seems like a completely normal- and thereby much preferred- type of mission. It's also something that he's much more accustomed to dealing with, which means he's intent on doing it and coming back as quickly as possible. At least it seems like it's going well as he punches in the code, chattering idly to whoever's there with him.]

So, uhm-- how's it been... going, since you got here? Settling in okay?

[As if, somehow, he's been here for a while. Or something.]

v. [wildcard]

[Let me know if you want something else or want a more gen prompt for characters to meet! I'm reachable via PM, Discord (cancerously#6043) or Plurk (cancerously.]

Breaking It In

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[Reyes' dark eyes flick over Martin, and they offer a polite smile.]

Yes, of course. What can I answer for you?

Tomas Ortega | The Exorcist

[bravidiocy]

move the goalposts - closed to Marcus Keene

[ Tomas has always liked to go for a run when he needs to burn off excess energy, to find the time to think. Most of the time he runs in the morning to start his day out on the right foot. Tonight, though, it's after midnight when he gives up on trying to sleep and heads out to run until his brain stops going in endless circles.

The kelpies take him by surprise as he makes his way through silent streets, claws raking down his arm and sending adrenaline coursing through his veins. He doesn't know Manchester well but he knows how to run and does so, trying to put distance between them until he can duck into an alley and call Marcus- ]

Please, please, pick up-

[ They won't be gone for long, he knows it. Deep down, something instinctual tells him they'll catch him before he finds sanctuary. All he can do now is warn Marcus to stay off the streets. ]


curveball

[ Waking in a press of bodies is disorienting as Tomas tries to rock himself into a sitting position as he takes in the scene before them, the creatures by the fire having their ghastly revels. When another body in the mud shows signs of life he moves closer. ]

Try to stay calm, they are distracted now but that could change. We do not need to draw their attention just yet.

[ Working as an exorcist has hardened Tomas somewhat to horror, to violence and evil. And as he watches a woman be torn out of the skin of an animal he begins to pray under his breath. ]

Our father, who art in heaven...

[ In the end he is transformed just as easily as everyone else, trapped in the body and instincts of an animal as he dives into the water and finds he can still hear the voices of his fellow victims. In that silent voice he calls out to the nearest seal. ]

Swim as fast as you can! I will try and distract them!


below the belt - in the thick of it

[ His frantic flight from the kelpies eventually has Tomas swimming right into the midst of the boats, barking frantically in an attempt to warn against the kelpies approaching. Does it help?

At one point Tomas drags himself onto a boat, bleeding from a wound in his stomach from a kelpie. ]


below the belt - aftermath

[ In the aftermath Tomas is human again, sat on the docks with a blanket wrapped around him as he stares hollowly into the middle distance. His experiences, the hunt and fear of it is something he's not used to. When someone approaches he looks up, trying to refocus onto the present. ]

Are we allowed to leave yet? The ADI did not say if it was alright to leave or if they needed a statement.

below the belt - aftermath

[henchgal]

[Meredith moves to sit beside him. She has a blanket, but she just sort of sets it in her lap instead of folding herself into it.

(She tried that, it felt like being swathed in a sealskin again.)]

I haven't heard yet, either. I know they want to get medical to look at my hands before I turn in for the night. But I don't know when...how...what the plan for getting back is.

Kate Cordello - OC

[bossyboiler]

STICKY WICKET(July 25th)

Three young punks have been watching people go in and out of the warehouse. They have a plan. It's not a very detailed plan but it is a plan.

Kate is exiting the warehouse when she's ambushed. A fist collides with her stomach and another is aimed for her face. And where they normally would have shattered their hand on a force-field, the fist connects with Kate's flesh. She now knows what the five fingers said to the face or in this case eye. Kate doesn't go down but she does drop the box containing the artifact. She stoops over, both hands cradling her face and she steps backwards. The box hits the ground and opens, a baseball rolls out.

She's not paying attention to the young punk who wastes no time in picking up the baseball. He holds it up to show his compatriots. He tosses it into the air and catches it with his other hand. Then and only then does he start to scream and scream and scream. He has held onto it to long. Burns start on his right hand and go down to his bone as they spready across the rest of this body. It's too late for him.

"AJ!" One calls out but is held back by the third member of their party.

Kate opens her uninjured eye and looks on in horror as AJ's body spontaneously erupts in front of her. It's all she can do in that moment. She staggers backwards and rights herself. Neither fight or flight as one, Kate is frozen in place. AJ falls to the ground writhing in agony and still screaming until he suddenly stops. His two other friends bolt, worried about being found near a dead body and with the feeling that there is nothing that they could do for AJ.

After they're gone, Kate approaches the body. She uses the toe of her shoe to very lightly nudge AJ's body. She doesn't want to check for a pulse. They're dead. They have to be. The baseball and box lie next to them. For all the burning, neither one of them are damaged. She kneels down. Her hand reaches out but she can't will herself into touching his neck.

She hears footsteps. Kate turns her entire body to warn them. She screams at them. "Don't touch the ball!"

WILDCARD

[ Things that are not part of the Sticky Wicket experience go here. ]

[abrightboy]

Malcolm is looking for Gil. He’s retracing the path of the gang that took him through the alleys, he hopes, when he hears the screaming.

He runs towards it, which he’s only dimly aware isn’t quite the sane thing to do.

He sees a man on the ground, hears a woman screaming not to pick up the ball. He glances around. This is a lot of commotion. He looks at the woman. “I’m from ADI; are you okay?”

Thackery Binx | Hocus Pocus | OTA

[twistedbones]

Breaking It In

Binx spends the briefing perched on one of the long conference tables rather than seated in a chair, watching and listening intently as Reyes gives out what information is available. If a cat could frown, he'd be frowning--he's encountered magic and he's definitely encountered evil, but it seems to him that a whole world of terrible things has opened up to him, with these...'kelpies'...representing something quite new to him.

He settles into loaf mode and remains where he is at the end of the briefing, watching people file out or clump up around Reyes or Bonnie to ask questions, tail thoughtfully flicking back and forth.



Move the Goalposts

It happens when he's walking 'home' from ADI headquarters late one evening. He's just turning his head in response to some sound or scent that doesn't belong when a previously unseen assailant all but trips over him. Their grab for the illusory human Binx misses, obviously, the boy appearing to duck out of the way with incredible alacrity. That doesn't seem to bother the kelpies, two laughing at the one who tried and missed, whooping as they encourage Binx to run. It's just a game to them, and Binx does run, taking off through a nearby park, scrambling through bushes and over stone walls. His illusion appears to dive and leap and crawl with astonishing ease for a human.

All the same, they, too, are animal-quick. Pack hunters, the three of them fan out and Binx finds himself darting away from one only to find another looming before him or leaping out from the trees. Each time, though, they grab for a boy who isn't really there, though he's afraid it will only be a matter of time before they realize their error and try something more effective.

The sight of a fellow recent arrival is not a welcome one--Binx may be able to duck and dodge and weave, but they'll surely catch a human. "Run!" he shouts. "Get out of here!"




Below the Belt

Thackery is a brave soul, or perhaps he simply deprioritizes his own safety. Either way, he's certain enough he'll be useful on a reconnaissance mission to come along. And, initially, it seems he's right--he's able to see a great distance further into the night than many of his more human counterparts.

But then come the creatures in the water, seals at first, and then monstrous things chasing them. One of the kelpies knocks hard into the boat from underneath, jolting it up into the air to land hard with a splash, and Binx is dislodged from his spot in the prow, tumbling into the dark water.

"Cat overboard!" he yelps, clawing at the side of the boat. The same displacement of his illusion that protected him from the kelpies before (and may protect him briefly now) is now a curse; it'll be guesswork to grab onto the cat himself under the larger image of a flailing teenage boy.

breaking it in

[littlegentleman]

Junior's spent the entirety of the meeting sitting quietly in a corner, listening intently. As many approach the meeting facilitators with questions, he means simply to leave the room...but that's before he notices the cat sitting comfortably on one of the tables.

Back home, he never really had the luxury to sit around and interact with animals. Even now, in a setting meant for briefing, his teachings tell him to pay the cat no mind and keep focus on the mission.

But Junior isn't home right now, and fully-fledged monsters isn't in his wheelhouse, and he's perhaps a little overwhelmed. So, maybe he wants to take a moment to do something a child would actually do, and live with the guilt, after. It's not like there's anyone from home here to judge him. Before he's really fully committed to the idea, he's approached Thackery instead of leaving the conference room. Junior stares, unsure, and makes no actual move to touch without permission.

Not that he expects he's going to be given permission. It's mostly that he feels he might get scratched or bitten if he acts impulsively, and so finds himself posing the question:

"May I pet you?"