apocalypsehowcomm | Event

Event - Fan Service

Fan Service

➥ We're Live

A caucasian woman holds a camera up so that it is covering the bottom half of her face. Her eyes are visible, but her expression is inscrutable.
(cw: Insects/centipedes, body horror, manipulation)

It's 9 PM at night when a message is broadcast across the network. It seems to be from a new account, lovelyren, and it's a video feed. A group of about 20 people are clustered together in what looks like an abandoned warehouse. They're lit up by some high-powered lights on stands that they've clearly brought with them. Everyone is holding some sort of sign that reads things like: 'I believe in magic!' and 'Ghosts are real!', along with 'I <3 Jimmy!' There are other signs proclaiming the titles of various posts that one J. Griffon, a social media persona with a small cult following, has put up over the last several months.

They all wave and smile at the camera until someone else steps in front of it, then quickly backs up to stand at the front of the group. It's a woman who may be disturbingly familiar to those who have been following the the news. It would seem that reports of the death of 'Gen Z's favorite VTuber' have been greatly exaggerated.

"Hi, hi, Jimmy!" Ren Morimoto exclaims. "We are gathered here, at the site of a supernatural happening in the making. We, your die hard fans, just wanted to show you how much we appreciate you showing us how real magic is, how wonderful it can be. Everyone should know about magic, and we are going to make sure that they do."

At the edges of the video the shadows begin to start… squirming. No, not the shadows. There is something dark moving around the edges of the room. Many somethings.

"So, let's begin, shall we? Maybe with a story. There once was a boy who decided to share a secret with the world. Now, this secret was something that many little boys and girls hoped was true, wanted to be true. And he gave them the love they'd been craving all their lives. He gave them a community of people who believed what they did, who saw the things he showed them and truly knew in their hearts that they'd been right all along."

The somethings are moving in, shiny carapaces glinting in the light. One of the women in the group glances off to the side, and startles visibly. "Hey… Luvvie? I think there's, uh… bugs in here. We might wanna set up somewhere-"

'Luvvie' cuts her off, ignoring the woman. "They loved him so much, they were willing to go to any lengths to try to get in contact with him, to find a way to give him a gift." Ren smiles as a centipede squirms out of one of her nostrils and scurries down her cheek and out of sight. "So, that's what this is, Jim, another video for you. Real magic." She steps to the side as the fans shriek and break apart, some of them slapping themselves as they scattered for the various rooms of the buildings.

"Uh oh! I don't think they like my magic." She tsks. "That's okay, though. I have a lot of friends who do." Rather than cutting the feed, Ren picks up her camera and winks at it before flipping it so that she can film the fans as they run and scream. "Why don't you and your friends come and play? I hope you liked my wormy game."

➥ In the Hive

A photo of an abandoned building interior. There are signs of decay, and the room is empty except for a chair in the center and a pair of columns.
(cw: insects/swarms, bites, altered mental states/toxic relationship dynamics, body horror, potential for character death)

Thanks to Tim's quick admission of the situation, ADI has deployed its forces immediately to the abandoned warehouses just west of Essex Bay. Anyone who volunteers to join in this rescue mission will be kitted with night vision goggles, a gas mask, an excessive amount of bug killer, and anything that can be used to protect their body and skin from intrusion.

Volunteers will be dispatched in a few large vans with a unit leader giving them a briefing on the way. There are civilians in that warehouse. Some of them may be dead or infested and need to be mercy-killed. Save the ones you can, but do not bring them into the vans immediately. They have to be checked and all bugs removed. A medical area away from the vans will be set up and survivors can be brought there. Do not engage with Ren Morimoto. This is a search and rescue mission. Along with killing as many fucking bugs as possible.

Inside the warehouses is chaos. Flies and mosquitoes swarm and try to block people's vision or bite them while other creepy crawlies climb up them and try to insinuate themselves into any entry point that they can. They sting, bite, and scratch their victims however they can. Those bitten may experience a momentary mixture of euphoria and terror, along with a desire to latch onto whomever is closest and share the insectoid love in the air. If you're going down, you might as well take someone with you.

But there are people to save beyond yourselves. Maybe you're lucky and you've found one of the survivors who's managed to make it somewhere safe until help has arrived. Maybe you're unlucky and find a half-devoured corpse. Maybe you're unluckier still and find a half-dead, delirious person trying to grab for you, begging for help, begging for you to love them. They're so afraid. They just need someone. Please!

➥ Lights Out

Photo of Christmas lights that are designed so that they appear to be a bearded face. They are uncanny and very creepy with glowing red eyes.
(cw: voyeurism, scopophobia, mind-control/compulsion, potential for humiliation)

The mood at ADI Headquarters is a somber one the next morning. Everyone who helped with the rescue will be treated to decontamination procedures, temporary quarantine, and the tea or coffee of their choice. And once they're released? Well, there's work and life to get back to. The traumatic wheel ever turns.

As it happens, it turns toward more holiday-themed horrors. Reports have come in about holiday decorations causing a series of unusual injuries and even deaths throughout the County. People are being urged to observe appropriate electrical safety, and ADI personnel (or those connected), are sent to investigate these reports. There are a few avenues of investigation and people will be assigned to groups of two or three to track them down:

Visit someone who claims their lights are acting up. They're scattered throughout Gloucester and the surrounding towns. Many of them seem to be dead ends with people who just don't know how to set up lights properly. Some of them are people who seem to be genuinely terrified about something that happened. It may take a few groups sharing information to learn that there's any pattern. But one thing that seems to come up for those who seem to have had a real experience? "Turn out the lights. It sees you in the glow."
Visit a store selling the suspect lights. It will become apparent that there's one brand, in particular, causing problems: Illumination Rite. Questioning shop owners will lead to the discovery that these lights don't actually belong in their store and they're not sure where they came from. But they're selling well, so…
Test out some lights. ADI isn't keen on this, but seeing as there are many strands of the Illumination Rite lights that aren't causing trouble, they're trying to pin down which are and how they're different. Brave souls can step into the light! And spend a very dull time plugging in lights to see if there's an issue with them. When they come to a problem strand, it becomes immediately apparent, though. The lights come on and it feels like there is something right behind you, staring at you, judging you. And in a potential moment of panic, people may find themselves compelled to confess to something horrifying or humiliating that they've done or that has happened to them.

➥ It Sees You

Photo of a plastic Elf peeking over a blanket. Only the elf's eyes and Santa hat are visible.
(cw: voyeurism, scopophobia, living dolls)

As the holidays near, festive preparations are underway…though they're rather lackluster compared to Halloween's preparations. Maybe it's the recent spate of civilian deaths at the hands of Ren Morimoto and her little friends, maybe it's because Pam has been put on leave while she recovers from an emergency amputation, but it's looking like it'll be a blue Christmas at ADI this year. Except….

It seems someone must have taken it upon themselves to inject a little holiday cheer into headquarters. Tinsel and garlands spring up literally overnight, with more decorations appearing each morning as the end of the month draws near. And then the elves start showing up. Smiling plastic faces atop felt bodies can be found lurking amongst the Christmas decorations, posed here and there as though playing, hiding, or committing minor acts of vandalism. It's cute, if that's the kind of thing you're into, but they're everywhere and their numbers only grow as the month wears on. Or are they moving from place to place? It seems nowhere is elf-free; step behind a locked door for a private conversation and you'll catch a glimpse of a plastic gaze out of the corner of your eye. ~~Stealing~~ borrowing from the supply closet? There's an elf behind that box of pens. Heading to the restroom? The less said, the better. And it must be just coincidence, but their faces are always turned in just the right direction to seem to make eye contact. They're watching you. Judging you. Cataloging your every sin.

And then they spread to your homes. They can be found peering in through windows, wedged under apartment doors, hiding in your silverware drawer, your bookshelves, your bed. There's a constant itch of being watched now. What have they seen? What have they overheard? Have you been good this year?

➥ Mod Notes

GENERAL - Players are welcome to play NPCs for themselves when they are needed in a thread. If you need more information on general behavior for these types of NPCs, please feel free to ask! In general, the information provided in the prompt should be sufficient and you're welcome to make up any details beyond that for your specific scene. Please remember that character deaths are permanent and plan accordingly!
WE'RE LIVE (16 December) - Characters will have the opportunity to talk to Ren in this prompt. Please respond to the NPC Threads comment below for responses from her. As a note, Tim Drake will be coming forward first with her location, but other characters are welcome to attempt to hack and identify the location she is broadcasting from. ADI NPCs will be scrambling to find out where the signal is coming from and how it got onto their network. Those in the IT Department or with specialized hacking skills will be able to identify that the Hermy the Wormy program was a vessel for Ren to make her way into the network, not only stealing network profile info, but creating an account for herself. Luckily, she doesn't seem to have got past the communications network.
IN THE HIVE (16 December) - This is a voluntary mission. Characters who agree to go will be promised additional pay, and it's going to net them some general good will from ADI's leadership. They will need both people to go into the warehouses and medical staff to help the survivors/any rescuers who are injured. The warehouses are in a swampy, long-abandoned town in an area locally referred to as the Kettle for how hot and humid it gets in the summer. Those who go looking for Ren Morimoto, specifically, will not find her in the house. Just… bugs. So, so many horrible bugs. It seems possible that she might actually be the swarm and killing them will kill her, but ADI personnel will not have a definitive answer on that given how varied avatars and their powers can be. Those who are bitten will experience a compulsion to make someone around them suffer in some way, to vex their rescue efforts, or even try to get them killed by the bugs or the poison in the air.
LIGHTS OUT (17-25 December) - There is no apparent source of the lights and no company that's actually called Illumination Rite. Characters may find cursed strands of light either while specifically testing things or when investigating in other ways. Even after making a terrible confession, there will be a sense of something watching and passing judgment over you. The sense will fade in time, or characters may experience an impulse to force others to confess to terrible things to help ease their own sense of fear. Misery loves company, after all.
IT SEES YOU (20-31 December) - The elves can be destroyed and appear to just be made of felt and plastic if taken apart, but the feeling of being observed by them (and the elves' ability to move about and continue spying) will not abate unless their eyes are completely destroyed. Allowing the elves to remain in place will result in growing feelings of paranoia. They are always found posed, never in motion, but may disappear from one room and reappear in another if left unobserved. Elves will spread most rapidly and enthusiastically into the homes of characters who tested Illumination Rite light strands. On December 26 ADI officials will issue an order for all employees to round up any elves they find and bring them to a holding room on B1, where the elf dolls will undergo testing before being burned. Elves will continue to crop up around ADI and character housing until they have all been found and destroyed.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I. Into the Hive - probably CW for bug grossness, but not there yet

Bugs don't bother Winter. He's got impervious body armor, thick canvas pants tucked into tightly laced boots, his own special filtration mask, the ADI night goggles because his own are meant for daytime use, and (to his own suppressed crawling horror at the feeling of something on his head) a helmet to keep bugs out of his hair. Plus a metal arm that no bugs are going to get into unless they have titanium teeth. And a couple guns and knifes, because that always helps, right?

He prowls into the building from one of the detailed entrance points, probably with a partner for backup, because that's just good tactics. "I will handle the big threats it you handle the bug spray," he suggests.

Anyone who tries to grab onto him inside is going to get thrown into a wall, though, so. Sorry, survivors.

II. Post-hive Quarantine - CW medical phobia, panic attack

Winter is in medical. Winter never, ever, ever wanted to be in medical. Everything smells like latex and chemicals and metal and sharp things and surely someone has remembered now that he needs maintenance and that's why they're keeping him here and he's panicking but that's not allowed he's got to keep it quiet or he'll be punished--

He is huddled in a corner of the quarantine room, arms wrapped around his knees in the stupid thin scrubs they gave him, trying (and mostly failing) to keep his breathing at a reasonable rate. The coffee they were brought sits untouched on the floor near the door. Someone talk to him through the door. Or for god's sake, let him out.

III. Lights Out Testing

Nobody is going to send Winter to interview scared people or confused shop-owners. That's just dumb. He simply doesn't have those kinds of social skills.

What he does have is infinite patience and an ability to do very tedious jobs without complaint. So he's got a whole basket full of strings of lights, that he not only has to plug in, he sometimes has to untangle.

Are you helping? Watching him with pity? Show up at the right time, and you might hear something you'd rather not.

IV. It Sees You, ADI - CW panic attacks, paranoia

Dolls in general? Don't really bother Winter any more than bugs do. Creepy dolls? Whatever. They're plastic. And his aesthetic, whether he remembers it or not, comes from the 1920s where toys were generally a lot creepier, anyway, so his threshold for creepy toys is kind of skewed.

But these things are everywhere. Even when he has one of his silent panic attacks in a supply closet, there's one staring at him. He throws it out and closes the door on its stupid smiling face, and does his hyperventilating alone, thank you very fucking much.

But it does make him both grouchier and jumpier than usual. Every time one of those dumb dolls shows up in his eyeline, he glares at it. And he takes to wearing his full mask and goggles even inside the ADI building, as if protecting his face will keep them at bay. (All it really does is make his coworkers nervous, particularly the ones he ruthlessly shot when they turned into monsters in the shared nightmare. Sorry, coworkers.)

V. It Sees You, ADI housing - CW paranoia, temper tantrum

The first time Winter finds one of those elves in the ADI apartment building common room, he stops and stares at it. Then he picks it up and throws it out into the street with a wordless growl.

When he finds one in his apartment where Yelena and Kate live sitting on their fucking kitchen table he actually tears the thing in half. And then into smaller pieces. And then he finds a lighter and melts its goddamn face down. If a roommate has the misfortune to walk in on this explosion of temper, well, uh, sorry.

After that he makes it his daily mission to find as many of the damn dolls as possible and turn them in to ADI. He wants them gone.

Edited 2021-12-17 06:59 (UTC)

This is an absolutely ridiculous task, but there was no way in Hell, Heaven or Earth that they were going to get him into a building full of murder bugs.

(He's not scared of them, he just has a good sense of self-preservation).

Which means he's volunteered to do this nonsense, instead, trying to get in the good graces with the ADI, making sure not to be too difficult, since that never gets anyone anywhere. It's annoying, and a little demeaning, but he's spent millennia swallowing his pride and playing the loyal subordinate. Easy enough to do it here, instead.

So here he is - knocking lightly on the doorframe to announce himself, before stepping into the room where Winter's been set up. "Cavalry's here," Ha ha. "Where d'you want me?"

At least he has his sunglasses on, it'll spare his eyes from the damn lights.

Winter gives him a blank look, mostly covering for surprise. He hadn't anticipated being given backup for this task.

But he has lights to spare, and so he shoves one of the laundry baskets of the stuff copper-top's way. "Start untangling that. When you have a single string untangled from another, plug it in there." He gestures with the metal hand at the second outlet in the little corporate office room they're working in.

That isn't exactly the warmest response he was expecting, but he'll make do with what he's got.

"Not the most dignified work, is it?" Six thousand years old and he's about to sit his ass down to sort through bloody fairy lights, but it's not the worst thing he's ever had to do.

"Better than murdering people," Winter says, voice completely uninflected. He shouldn't be expressing an opinion, but he feels like he ought to at least stick up for the job he chose to do.

Besides. It is better than murdering people. Neater, too.

Interesting comparison for someone to go to. He's starting to get the idea that most people aren't especially normal. The fact the ADI has to go on and on about not using powers is sign enough.

Crowley shrugs, though, mostly looking amused. "Suppose I can't argue that, s'messy business, murder." It comes across as if it could be a joke, although it isn't, really. Several millennia on Earth will require a murder or several along the way. He doesn't especially enjoy it, but he's a demon, so he does what he needs to. "Is that what they usually have you do?"

He's curious. It's always been a problem.

"Not here. Where I come from. Here I don't aim to kill unless it's specifically required. Or they're trying to kill me, first." Or someone needs put out of their misery. He did that, in the bug warehouse. It kind of sucked, actually. He doesn't like killing civilians.

Clearly, Winter doesn't need the curse of these lights to overshare awful things.

Though there still are cursed lights to content with. He finishes with the current string of lights, and leans over to the plug. "This might make us say things," he warns, just in case this is one of the bad ones.

The impulse is there to make another joke about it, or to say something dismissive, but unfortunately he can slightly empathize with what Winter is saying, despite very much not wanting to.

"Must make for a nice break, then." There are a lot of awful things about being here — namely being stuck without powers — but there's some relief in being entirely free from Hell. It's so quiet without the background hum of humanity's wants and desires in the background. If Winter doesn't like murdering people, the reprieve is probably nice.

Aside from, you know, creepy warehouses full of bugs and cursed lights. "Can't be worse than being drunk on absinthe." It always makes him way too chatty. "Go on then."

Winter nods, then plugs them in, and the string of lights comes on with a flicker.

There it is, all right. That sense of being stared at. His shoulders hunch automatically. He hates being stared at. For a beat he wars between the magical urge to blurt something, anything, and the ingrained training to keep silent and not draw attention to himself when he's under observation, teeth clenched tight.

Want to fill the silence first, Crowley? Or can you resist longer than Winter can?

Bucky/Winter | OTA

III: lights out

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III

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