Event - Fan Service

[apocalypsehowmods]

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Fan Service

➥ We're Live

(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

(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

(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

(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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Comments

[earthshine]

LIGHTS OUT ( field investigation )
cw: death, body mutilation

[ violent christmas lights. huh. is nothing sacred? apparently not. which means, adi in its infinite wisdom has paired these two together and sent them out with an address. over the course of the week ( minus christmas day, okay, shiro likes his holidays without death and gross injury ), there are a slew of locations to check out:

perhaps you’re paired with shiro to a cute cul-de-sac, where a santa and reindeer fixture has slid off the roof and skewered the house owner. rudolph’s aim is – it seems – quite unfortunate. jeremy owens will live, but a particular portion of his lower body, specifically his crotch area, will never be the same.

or maybe, you’re accompanying shiro to this remarkable location. it seems santa has been naughty this year himself. that string of lights? somehow wound around jessica simpkins’ neck, strangling the woman to death. it has been quite windy ( 17 mph gusts ); perhaps it’s possible the wind caused the string to become loose and wrap just right?

hm.

either way, best to make notes of anything unusual and get back to hq before the investigation becomes sidetracked… like it did in that one neighborhood. maybe you were there with shiro, when the little old lady next door roped the two into helping her decorate her yard. just a few decorations, she said. won’t take long for young people like you, she said.

yeah okay. ]

LIGHTS OUT ( testing the lights )
cw: mind control/compulsion, talk of imprisonment, mental trauma

[ this is boring. and time consuming. and so boring. plug goes in, lights go on, and – nothing. you and shiro have been at this for a good chunk of time now and while shiro still has that no-nonsense, buckle down and let’s do this face going, it’s becoming apparent that even his focus is beginning to wane. which is, of course, why the next strand of lights diverts from the expected.

perhaps you are the one bathed in light, the kind that brings about an immediate urge to spill confessions no one is interrogating for.

or maybe the light shines on shiro. does he go for horrifying or humiliating? i used to kill for the entertainment of others fits the bill of horrifying. humiliating is along the lines of, i keep a rocketman plush in my bed, is that weird? ]

IT SEES YOU
cw: scopophobia, death to living dolls

[ another cheery gremlin stalker, also known as a christmas elf. shiro’s been finding them everywhere ( he does not want to talk about the morning he woke up to two clinging to his galra arm ). harmless at first, albeit slightly unnerving with their blank, painted eyes that somehow always seem to be directed at him, the elves are easy to ignore in the beginning. but a day or two in:

you might catch shiro at apartment block a, carrying an armful of elves. his destination? the dumpster behind the apartment building. don’t judge him; he asked his roomies, none of these are theirs. someone is likely lying though. someone is moving them around – right? well. shiro doesn’t want to play anymore, so off to the dump they go.

the canteen at adi headquarters isn’t safe either it seems. you might catch shiro eyeing up the elf perched next to the donuts, specifically the eclairs, seemingly debating whether to destroy this elf too or let it live to see christmas. can’t say it’s the weirdest place i’ve found one, shiro will say and tack on an inquiry of the oddest place you’ve come across one.

by the twenty-sixth, adi officials have issued an order and – okay, now they’re being ordered to round up these elves for destruction? don’t need to tell him twice. so you might spot shiro canvasing headquarters or apartment block a, looking high ( he is quite tall ) and low for these buggers. do you want to team up? ]

( ooc: also open to wildcarding! hit me up on sevenhelpings or discord if you want smth specific or have questions. plotting post is here. )

Testing Lights!

[romelle]

[ Romelle has gotten pretty used to mindnumbing tasks in the last few months. Turns out Research is a lot less exciting than it sounds a lot of the time - a thousand suspicions and maybe five hits are not unusual in the slightest. She does dutifully note down the results ('nothing, nope, nada, nope again') and set aside the lights onto giant piles as Shiro plugs in and out and in and out and in and--

.... yeah, she's also kind of tired by now. This is starting to feel like the same kind of failure that observing those strange knick-knacks had been.

Until... "I used to kill for the entertainment of others"-- uh?? Well, now she's just staring at Shiro, more baffled than horrified just yet. ]

.... you... what? That is... an odd conversation starter, Shiro.

ah romelle, wanna hear about how the galra are extra terrible

[earthshine]

[ to say shiro feels uneasy would be an understatement. the lights turn on and for one blessed moment, everything goes quiet inside him, only for that brightness to suddenly feel like a spotlight. adrenaline ramps up and his breathing shallows, even as he rushes through words he never intended on saying to romelle. but are those words truly meant for romelle? no. he’s talking to someone – something else. who is watching? who is judging? he can’t say, every aspect of his awareness is weighed down and tainted with some unbridled panic he can’t even begin to rationalize.

is this a panic attack? yes? no? he can’t get his bearings. all he knows is there are words bubbling up inside him, clawing up his throat and demanding to be said. he tries to swallow them back, but his mouth has gone dry and in the next moment, he’s tripping up on a stutter. ]

I – I didn’t want to. I was forced. [ is he talking about his killing sprees or is he explaining the why behind this odd conversation starter?

he throws a glance behind himself, only to find nothing there. the firm shake of his head does little to right the jumble of this thoughts and once more, he tries to shift the blame off himself. ] They would’ve killed me too if I didn’t keep them cheering.

always :D

[romelle]

I believe you.

[ Before anything else, that much needs to be said. It might be good that it is Romelle that Shiro is speaking to here because to her there has only ever been one 'they' and that 'they' has no cruelty she would not think it capable of committing. Galra. Shiro is from her world, Shiro has fought in this war... Shiro knows them. Shiro has experienced them, more than Romelle personally has. She feels sympathy for it.

The second thing that comes to mind is that maybe she should unplug this light now, because this is a very weird situation to say this in and if something is happening here, it needs to stop happening right now. ]

Are you alright? Maybe you should sit down.

[ She's just going to push the office chair towards Shiro, because she likes having something to do that at least feels helpful. ]

[earthshine]

[ the lights go out and it’s – better? maybe? it’s not a switch being flipped from one moment to the next. shiro is still so far from feeling normal but that turbulent feeling eases and his chest isn’t so locked up with panic. breathing comes easier and as he sinks into the chair offered to him, he has no urge to look over his shoulders anymore. blessedly, the need to confess has also dissipated and instead, shiro is left with one pathetic word. ]

Fine. [ mumbled. it’s unconvincing. he strengthens his voice and tries again. ] I’m – fine. [ better but there’s still much to be desired.

he needs to believe it himself and fuck, is he trying to sway his own mind. just a trick. just another weird experience. it’s over – isn’t it? losing control of himself and perhaps worse, not understanding himself or his mind, has a way of cutting him down at the knees and taking the wind out of him. he always feels a little broken afterwards. at least this week’s mind fuckery only resulted in words. last time, he came to blows.

not now. don’t think about that right now.

he draws in a deep breath and feels no steadier for it. however, he tries his best to downplay and deflect. nothing to see here, nothing to analyze, just focus on the task at hand for adi. that’s why he forces a smile and looks to romelle, voice full of feigned humor. ]

Guess we found the cursed lights, huh?

lights out - field investigation

[inutilis]

[ sometimes, two conveniently tall and easily coerced do-gooding inclined folks who also happen to be housemates end up following a kind, gentle-eyed old lady toward her house to "be dears and help her with a few things." sometimes, said conveniently tall and gullible well-intentioned folks are filled with a sense of dread when, after being given complimentary hot chocolate (with the little marshmallows floating atop its chocolatey surface and a candy cane!!), they are left standing in front of several boxes of tangled string lights, blow-up decorations, and countless miscellaneous accessories.

sometimes, the sweet ol' Mrs. Flanagan - well-known to many around this part of town as a sly old codger, unbeknownst to our intrepid heroes - still has an eye for a sap or two.

some of the boxes are newer than the others ("the bulbs on these are nice and fresh, dearies, please hang these first and test the rest before you go through the trouble of using them, would you? oh dear is that my kettle? I'll leave you to it"); is it a boon or a curse that they'll be able to start with some nice icicle lights for the front of the house before moving on to some boxes of Illumination Rite?? suppose they'll find out once they get there......

Abel is finding himself detangling the long length of icicle-lights while Shiro goes about deciding which side of the house they're starting with. TEAM WORK!!! someone help them. please. ]

...You know what? I bet we could build two very convincing snowmen about the same size and shape as us and make our escape.

[ ... ]

Y-you know, not that I-- ah. Would abandon a sweet old lady, of course, I'm simply-- um. M-making an observation, of course.

swindled by a sweet old lady... this is embarrassing.

[earthshine]

[ helping a pint-sized, old lady spread the christmas cheer by turning her yard into a winter wonderland isn’t the worst way to spend an afternoon… and quite possibly an evening too, because wow, by the looks of things, they’re going to be here for awhile. good thing he brought his coat? gloucester is hitting highs of the mid-30s during daylight though, so perhaps he should’ve brought a second jacket. surely he won’t get frostbite.

it’s these unhelpful thoughts that keep shiro occupied as he stares up at the front of the house. he’s a goddamn astronaut, he can figure out how to hang christmas lights from a roofline. it can’t be any harder than piloting 3.2 billion miles through space to land on an ice moon.

– right??

at least he isn’t tasked with this alone. ah abel, blessed abel; a stand up fellow right there, yes. speaking of which – shiro stirs his candy cane around in his hot cocoa as he pads back to his partner in forced charity. for the two minutes he was gone circling the house and surveying the front, he conveniently forgot how many decorations there are. where did mrs. flanagan even keep all of this? is half her home storage??

shiro raises an eyebrow, slow and steady, as abel fumbles through retracting a… plan? echos a flat: ]

Of course. [ listen. shiro is all for ditching the scene; arguably, they do have more important things to be doing right now for adi. buuuuuut. ]

I don’t know if we’d actually make it to the street. [ he nods to the downstairs window, where the drapes have been pulled aside and a familiar, wrinkled face is staring at them. having been caught, she disappears from view soon enough. ] She may not be as sweet as we originally thought. [ CRAFTY OLD BAT, intent on ensuring her suckers workers are getting her yard done. ]

I think we’re here for the long haul. So. [ shiro gives his head a little shake and plucks a tiny marshmallow off the top, popping it in his mouth. ] Enjoy your bribe… and let’s start at this end. [ this being the right side of the front facing portion of the house. and well, might as well figure this out: ]

… Do you feel better about being up the ladder or holding the bottom?

this seems absolutely on brand for all parties involved

[inutilis]

[ Shiro. Shiro.... there are so many decorations, Shiro. and perhaps Abel's partner can watch as his soul shrivels in real-time as he casts a glance upward to catch the curtains swishing shut where SOMEone may have just been checking on the progress of her two cons.

...

why.

is it possible to drink hot chocolate morosely...? it must be, because that's what happening as Abel sourly and miserably lifts the mug to his lips, still steaming and warming their hands. ]

Oh, I'm absolutely terrified of heights, my friend... I'm afraid I must relegate you to climbing duty, if it isn't too much a bother? [ Abel is not afraid of heights,


he is just lazy,

maybe Shiro is just getting conned by everyone today, F's in the chat, pour one out for the homie, etc ]

Y-you don't think she really intends for us to stay out here all night and set everything up, right? I mean... this is a lot. I'm not sure we'd even finish before we turned into icicles, don't you think?

[earthshine]

[ wow wowwow. thanks for having shiro’s back, abel. guess shiro will be the mvp here and… get conned. swindled once, swindled twice – if he gets swindled a third time, can he call it quits and go home? isn’t that how the three strikes rule works? ]

That’s works for me.

[ it’s not like shiro actually minds anyway. again, he hypes himself up with the i’m a fucking astronaut yada yada and takes a long sip from his hot cocoa ( only mildly burning his tongue, thanks ). it’s only a ladder. not even up that high. abel seems trustworthy enough to hold it steady.

setting his mug down on the cardboard box of a who knows what, shiro bids farewell to the hot cocoa that will be cold cocoa by the time he returns to it and then grabs the ladder. ]

We have two – three hours until sunset. [ okay. and? he frowns, looking at the ladder, rather than at abel. ] If we work smart, we should be able to get everything set up before we freeze. [ and it’s not like mrs. flanagan can actually keep them here. shiro just hates the thought pf disappointing a totally fake sweet old lady right before christmas. ]

‘Tis the season of giving and all that. [ finally, forces a smile, looking to abel. ] This’ll be our good deed for Christmas. It’ll be fine. [ famous last words. by the way, that ladder? it looks like it belongs in a cartoon. what century is this thing from??

god. shiro is going to fall and break his neck, isn’t he? abel… abel please help him as shiro works on angling the top of the ladder against the roofline. ]

[inutilis]

[ Abel might be conning Shiro into climbing the ladder, but he will absolutely not permit his dear, dear housemate to meet his unceremonious end by failing in his duty to hold it steady!! in fact, perhaps he might simply be serving his true purpose as something to cushion our intrepid climber's fall should said ladder fail him. yes... it's all coming together.......

probably,

the priest is giving his partner in crime decoration a slightly wary glance that suggests he isn't necessarily sold about their fate, but... well, he's in it, okay? you feed this man and he'll do pretty much anything, and hot chocolate counts close enough to food to qualify, so. whatever. they're IN IT TO WIN IT or something, ]

Um, say... Mister Shiro, [ what's that? drop the 'mister?' no, ] I don't suppose you're a man of faith, are you? Should you end up passing of frostbite before I succumb-- unlikely though that may be as a I am a man of fragile constitution, unfortunately-- I'd like to give you a proper burial and ensure any will you have is carried out. You know, offer my due diligence as a priest... say your last rites... I'll even sob dramatically over your grave and declare things like, "he was SO young!" and blow my nose loudly into a handkerchief if you'd like? I just figure we ought to decide these things now, while they're fresh in our minds.

[earthshine]

[ mister shiro – okay, excuse mister shiro as he closes his eyes, breathes deep and resists the urge to rub his temples. they’ve been living together long enough now that this isn’t a new development but every time it comes up, shiro is caught between wanting to try – again – to assure abel that shiro, just shiro is fine or to accept his title as mister shiro. today it looks like shiro will be going with the latter. they’re on a time crunch, so best not to get sidetracked with meaningless back an’ forth.

speaking of which – !

abel. abel, seriously; what are you talking about now? shiro will just secure the ladder ( hopefully ) and gather up the icicle lights, along with the staple gun, before returning to the ladder. by the way, all of this is done in the span of abel talking about… shiro possibly dying?

thanks for the show of confidence, friend. at least he thinks shiro will be dying of frostbite, rather than breaking his neck. so there’s that. draping the icicle lights over his shoulder, he’ll look to abel with a flat look. ]

Yeah, no, you don’t need to do any of that. [ but thanks??? ] If something happens to me, tell Keith. He’ll handle everything. [ and then likely punish abel for “letting” shiro get hurt. so. basically. if shiro goes down, abel is going down with him. good luck with that. he gets one foot on the bottom rung now, only to pause. actually… ]

… Do you want me to do something like that for you? [ a beat. ] Not the dramatic sobbing. [ pause. ] Or the handkerchief. But uh… you wanna be buried?

[ … why are they talking about this??? ]

[inutilis]

[ yes, yes, Abel is here for all of Shiro's spiritual needs upon his untimely passing, okay?? he's just making sure Shiro's aware?? being a bro and all that. least he can do, so on and so forth. mmhm! say nothing of it,

but to have his offer declined has the priest tilting his head up in curiosity as Shiro poises himself at the ladder. Abel's doing his best to hold this rickety, ancient, decrepit, surely rotting piece of equipment in place, so like. go wild, man, what could go wrong?? ]

Ah? Me?

[ it seems he was not prepared to have both his GENEROUS offer refuted and to have it lobbed back at him... ]

Hm. Well, I suppose if I'm to die in some doubtlessly tragic and moving manner, I'd like to be buried near the sea. And flowers to be laid at my grave. But I really must insist you say something touching over me, Mister Shiro--! Mm, and you should cry convincingly, too, if we're to be specific. Please have Mister Keith do the same, would you? It's imperative and I would hate to go to my unfortunate end not knowing my final wishes were being respected... y-you'll do it, right?

[ why ARE they talking about this again,

.........what is happening, ]

It Sees You

[aelwyn_aberration]

[Aelwyn looks at the doll in the canteen and glares.

She is so sick of these fucking things. And then Shiro asks where the weirdest place she's ever seen them has been and she just sighs.]

You know, I think it was probably when I saw a few dozen of them just sitting on the dumpster behind the apartment building.

I had to resist the urge to light them on fire. [Stares hatefully next to the eclairs.] Maybe I should have!

burn things... yes aelwyn

[earthshine]

[ oh. has someone else also been relocating these cursed things to their new dumpster home or should shiro take credit for that? he’s lost count of how many trips he’s taken behind the complex. a few dozen dolls though?

– know what, nevermind, he deserves this credit. ]

That might’ve been me. [ a nonchalant, one shoulder shrug. ] The dumpster seemed like a fitting place for them. [ shiro is just going to join in this hateful staring; why does this thing have to clog up the donut area of all places. isn't this sacred ground? ]

Gotta say, I’m glad you didn’t start a literal dumpster fire next to the apartments but… [ nods to the elf. ] If you wanna take this one out back…

[ if this shiro encouraging fiery destruction? unheard of! just. listen – these things give him the creeps and he’d really like to eat without an inanimate stalker. ]

[aelwyn_aberration]

[She pauses her hateful glaring to give a sort of baffled chuckle to Shiro.] You put them on top? Or did they crawl their way out somehow.

Honestly, I'd believe the second one. These things are evil. [She casually picks up the doll that is the target of their mutual ire. Yeah, she's taking that seriously.] Sure. I'm on break for another ten minutes, long enough to watch this fucker burn.

[earthshine]

[ okay. inanimate elf dolls that maybe aren’t quite as inanimate as they should be isn’t the weirdest thing to happen around gloucester, not by a long shot but – creepy? yes, still creepy. he makes a face, nodding a little to the sentiment that these things are evil. yeah, they don’t sit right with him either. ]>

I threw them on top of the garbage and closed the lid. [ so either someone is playing an elaborate prank by digging them out and lining them up or they really did crawl out after opening the lid. fantastic. ]

I’m coming too. Doubt you’ll need any assistance but… [ he’s curious?? he turns toward the exit, gesturing for her to follow. ] Just in case it isn’t as harmless as it appears.

[aelwyn_aberration]

In other words, you just want to see it burn. [She grins. Maybe he is actually trying to look out for her, but it's sort of a moot point. She's more capable of defending herself than he is, all things considered.

She holds the doll by its hat and starts to walk outside, gesturing for Shiro to follow.]

It Sees You

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy has a pair of elves, herself, confused by their presence in the apartment and a little unnerved after learning they aren't something cute that Ren or Akechi has put there. She'd intended to bring them to ADI HQ as a just in case, but... but then there's a man she's seen before hauling for more than she has off to the back of the building.]

Uh... sir? Are these yours?

[Is he the one leaving them out?]

[earthshine]

[ shiro slows on his next step and pauses, turning a questioning gaze mercy’s way. faintly, he wonders if he should be offended that he looks like the doll collector type or more specifically, a collector of one specific doll to the point of obsession. he probably should, but with an armful of little elves, his look does come across incriminating, doesn’t it?

shiro will just be cringing internally, thanks. outwardly? he’ll muster up a friendly, half-smile. ]

No, but somehow, I ended up with them anyway. [ he still wants to believe that abel or keith are playing a trick on him, but – he looks at her pair of elves and begins to reconsider. ] Did you find those too?

[graveyounglady]

Aye, they're turning up in the house. I thought it might be- My roommates ain't the sort to do that sort of thing.

[She doesn't think they are.]

These ones were on my bed and in the bathroom. It's... I mean, they're sort of cute, but I don't much like something like that coming back again and again after I put them out.