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

[sakaya]

[ She steps in further, closing the door behind her and paying no heed to his request. ]

Now, now. To be fair, those lights are a matter of concern for me. It just so happens that our interests are aligned.

[sorser]

[Raising his arms, which clack a little with lights hitting each other.]

Oh, so that’s an offer of help?

[sakaya]

But of course!

[ She claps her hands together and gives Stephen a charming smile. ]

I can be a useful oni when I need to be y'know. I even went to gather some intelligence about those decorative trinkets.

[ bc she's gonna get some free sake shhh ]

Though, it's probably nothing you haven't found out already since you're such a smart boy. If it's testing you need, then I'll observe as well.

[sorser]

I’m not going to assume. Share what you’ve learned, while you help untangle this mess.

[He holds out an arm, and shakes his other, as the cord of lights start to unravel and fall into the pile.]

Then we’ll plug them in, string by string, and hope for the best.

[A result? A non-result? Debatable what “the best” should even mean in this case.]

[sakaya]

Fine, fine. You're such an indelicate man y'know.

[ Shuten concedes while taking one of the cords in her hands and delicately untangles it with some surprising finesse. ]

Well, I went right to the source of where these silly people were buying their decorations... Illumination Rite was it? I talked with the owners...

[ Well, more like shamelessly flirted with them, but hey, whatever works. ]

... The fools didn't even know where these were supplied from.

[sorser]

That’s not surprising. I met the same dead end.

[Not even knowing where the product itself came from — no shipping or receiving records, etc. A funny way to do business, he had told them wryly, while he was met with only shrugs and apologies.

So he finds himself pursuing the only lead they have: testing the lights themselves, learning why they might’ve been left on a shelf for innocents to purchase.

Stephen catches the tail-end of the lights falling off of his forearm before they can hit the floor, and motions at Shuten.]

Plug these in. And brace yourself.

[sakaya]

You'd think they'd be a bit more curious. Though as one person told me, the constant oddities do make it seem like a lesser sort of bother.

[ Shuten takes the tail-end of the lights and finds a spare place in the wall to plug it in. ]

Let's see... Here we go.

[ They're plugged in and they flicker on and off for several seconds. The oni releases her grip from the strand as the colorful lights bounce off of the surfaces. ]

Goodness. Quite the tacky display all in all.

[sorser]

[The lights glow at his feet, bundled up like flickering bramble. Stephen would not call them tacky, per se, but he’s used to an inordinate amount of Christmas lights invading his periphery when the holiday season rolls around. There’s nothing quite like Christmas in NYC, after all.]

Where’s your holiday spirit.

[Dry and rhetorical. Don’t answer that. Stephen stands and simply waits, looking over at Shuten, then past her shoulder, as though he expects something terrible to come crashing through the walls any moment now.

Nothing yet.]

[sakaya]

[ Shuten stays silent for a moment or two as the lights flicker around them. When she isn't acting like a lush and drunken heathen, there's dangerous sharpness in her gaze and how she takes in her surroundings.

And the longer it goes on, the more the oni senses her horns starting to itch unpleasantly. Creeping and unsavory anticipation starts to seep into her mind to interrupt her usual calm.

But she just. Chuckles. Glances at Stephen with an enigmatic expression painted across her features. ]

My, my Doctor... I think something is in here wanting to play with us. How... Shy.

[sorser]

Is it?

[It feels like claws at the back of his neck. An anxiety growing, blossoming out, something that he’s aware of but cannot exactly tamp down.

Something creeps in the corner of the room. Or is it just a trick of the light?

Stephen’s eyes narrow, nerves growing on edge. It’s silly, he knows, but how does he know there’s no danger inherent in turning these lights on? That nothing’s been brought here, lulled in by glow?]

You’re the kind that likes to humor everyone around you. Why don’t you play with it instead?

[You’re an oni, Shuten, make yourself useful.]

[sakaya]

Haaa. Even I can't play with something I can't see. That's just common sense.

[ The lights continue to flicker all around them and that sensation becomes more suffocating to Shuten as seconds tick past. ]

And besides, I have a plaything in front of me right now.

[ Does a legendary monster like Shuten feel fear? Though even if she does, she hardly expresses it in a way that was easy to identify. Fear is asphyxiation, knowing you're lesser than whatever problem you're facing and having to deal with that...

It doesn't suit her taste. But here it is simmering in her gut and making her chest tight. She doesn't allow it to reach her eyes though. ]

We can play together and try to see who's trying to wrap us around its finger, hm?

[sorser]

I’m not a plaything.

[Which should be littered with his usual exasperation, followed by his usual dismissiveness of her constant wheedling. But this time it’s sharp. Edged with frustrated anxiety.]

Not something to be used for your entertainment until you get what you want.

[To be at someone else’s mercy, beyond his own agency.]

None of this is a game, and I’d wish you’d get that through your skull for once.

[Which is a very fast heel turn, given he had just used similar verbiage moments ago.]

[sakaya]

Maybe I'm just an optimist, boy.

[ She hates this suffocation and anxiety. This isn't the pleasant haziness of being drunk taking over, it's something that makes one want to gag and not in the fun way Shuten would suggest. With nothing in plain sight for her to grab onto, it is just her and the sorcerer and she isn't willing to suffer alone. ]

Honestly, you love being high and mighty even in a situation like this and it makes me want to put you in your place.

[ She takes a step forward and then another and her smile is noticeably strained with the lights causing an eerie effect as they blink on and off. ]

Whether it's a warrior or sorcerer, do you think that matters to me? Why should I stand back and let you off the hook?

[ To an extent she realizes she's babbling in a manner that isn't quite her style, but she wants to stave off whatever is in the room, judging them with unseen eyes. ]

[sorser]

[How annoying, his attentions being pulled from the threat in the room to another threat in the room — her. The look he gives her is close enough to a scowl to show his displeasure.]

High and mighty? Please. You’re just another non-human who’s inclined to look down on those you think you’re so superior to.

[He’s dealt enough with that over the years. It wears him to the bone.]

What’ll you do, string me up and torture me? Been there, done that.

[That’s very specific, isn’t it.]

[sakaya]

Oh?

[ She's inches away from him now and as the lights unrelentingly blink all around them, the oni grabs the collar of Stephen's shirt, forcing his face close to hers. Shuten angles her face so she's whispering harshly into his ear her voice no longer coy and sweet, but mocking and poisonous. ]

Is that an invitation? I wouldn't mistreat you like that Doctor, not unless you want me to be mean. Or...

Did someone have their way with you already? Are you saying that I already missed out?

[ The oni draws back, but her violet-hued eyes are dilated (with fear? something else?) as her other hand hovers over his throat, threatening to grip it with her fingers. ]

... Talk fast. You don't have to tell annnyone else, but me.

[ Because something in the room keeps judging them. Something in the room is oppressing it with its unknowable weight. ]

[sorser]

[Yanked forward, Stephen feels powerless to wrench himself away, even though it would only take a twist of his wrist to call forth his magic, pushing her aside—

But this is like that one time, almost, held mid-air with points as sharp as daggers, as sharp as needlepoints, coming in close to pierce his skin. It feels the same, even though it isn’t; the logical part of his mind says that it must be the lights, the thing in the room with them, but his body is still. He looks at her unwavering, even as her touch hovers around his throat.]

What interest is it of yours? I tried to keep Earth safe, once. Tried to keep half of the universe from blinking out. And that meant enduring capture by an alien race, held up and tortured by someone who thought he was the superior magic wielder, with every nerve in my body screaming as lances pierced into me.

Does it give you pleasure to hear me say that? Don’t pretend to care out of anything like decency.

[sakaya]

[ There's a noticeable pause when the doctor reveals his past exploits, or rather, past suffering that is more fresh in the mind than he would allow it to appear. To show weakness to an oni is usually an opening the monster would be too happy to rip open and to indulge in.

But maybe there's something to what he says; there's something about striving to protect his world even if it meant being in several types of hell and Shuten-Douji, a calamity herself, can recognize that.

Her grip around his collar begins to loosen. Whatever annoying force is in the room trying to push them down, she can endure it. ]

... You're making quite the lovely face, Doctor.

[ Her Master was a child who's been through too much in a short time. It's possible she's simply grasping at straws, but the quality here is similar... ]

Poor thing.

[ He told her not to pretend to care, but there's an (inhuman) sincerity in her voice. Letting go of his shirt, both of her hands hover between his jawline and his neck, not at all a comforting gesture, but it is strangely... Attentive of her. ]

A little pain is fun, but if you're not getting anything out of it... I can see why you're so serious.

[ And somehow, the oni can respect that. ]

Mm. Whatever's in here with us... Well, I don't think I have much to hide or be scared of, but it seems only fair if I...