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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"Them." He hesitates, flailing internally for a moment, then pushes out, "My handlers. HYDRA." Yes, he knows they're not here. No, that doesn't seem to help much in changing his behaviors. No, he hasn't really questioned why, or tried very hard, in most of those behaviors. It's just the way it is.

"They sound like pretty serious people. I take it they've used aversion therapy, among other things, to condition you to the way they want you to behave?" Malcolm asks curiously.

Winter shoots him a brief, blankly confused look. "I don't know what that is. But I don't remember receiving my programming. Mostly." How much do nightmares count? How much of those are memories versus his imagination?

Malcolm looks over at him.

“Do you want to change your programming?” he asks.

That gets a more nervous look. "What." You can't do that. He can't do that. Not on purpose. The fact that his programming has degraded significantly away from HYDRA and proper maintenance is bad enough, and something he's trying not to be too obvious about it, but to want to do it on purpose? Absolutely not allowed.

Malcolm shrugs, keeps it super casual.

"Would you like to change your programming? If you knew anyone who understood how programming a human brain works?"

Well, when you put it like that--

"No," Winter says, too quickly, with a glimmer of horror to his tone. "No. No no. No more. Please no more." If there's one thing he wants, it to never have anyone muck around in his brain ever again.

Aversion therapy, indeed.

"Were you forced into the program that trained you, by any chance?" Malcolm asks.

There were a lot of experimental techniques that went into making the Winter Soldier. Some of them worked better than others, and he doesn't actively remember most of them. He just knows it was bad and he doesn't want any more of it.

"I don't know. I don't remember." He pats at his scrubs, wanting pockets. Wanting to shove hands into them, but there aren't any. Ugh. "Before appearing at ADI. I had twenty-eight hours of memories."

"Twenty-eight hours? Winter... it's not easy to erase memories. It requires trauma. Emotional trauma and possibly even physical trauma to the brain. Would... you like your memories back?" he asks carefully.

He presses his mouth together firmly for a moment. A long moment. Finally he says, "I don't know. The few coming back. They're awful." If they're all awful, why would he want them?

Malcolm nods. "I understand. I have missing memories, too, though not... all of my memories. My father drugged me when I was ten to make me forget things that I saw him do," he explains. "And I've started getting some of them back in fragments. Often fragments without any context." He looks up at Winter sidelong. "Do you know your real name?"

He assumes, with this information in hand, that 'Winter' isn't it.

There's a visible flinch, which says probably as much as the answer does: "It's not my name." Which isn't entirely true, but it's close enough. He's chosen his name, now, it's not something some random person just decided was his. It doesn't make him panic and lash out to hear. It doesn't remind him of the stupid former target or getting punished or of memories that don't apply to him anymore.

"Fair enough," Malcolm replies. That's for him to decide. "How did you choose 'Winter'?" he asks.

"Code name: Winter Soldier. One of the kids, back when we first got here, started just using Winter." He shrugs, feet scuffing a little on the ground. "Needed something to tell people when they asked, so I used that. But then I. Liked hearing people say it. Like a real name." And so it was: a real name.

"Did you like having the choice?" Malcolm asks him. "Do you want to control more things about your life now?"

He makes a vague, annoyed sort of noise.

But his programming has degraded enough that he actually answers honestly, instead of what he should answer. And what he says is: "Choices are hard."

“Because something inside you tells you that making them is bad?” Malcolm asks.

There's a moment while he blinks and chews on that. "Not used to them," he finally comes up with. There is, sometimes, a sense of danger to choices-- certain choices, not all of them. Mostly, it's just the unfamiliarity. "I can pick out my own snacks these days. Though. So it's getting easier."

For the little stuff, anyway. He hasn't had to make a lot of big decisions, really.

"What sorts of snacks do you like?" Malcolm asks him.

"Sweet ones. Chocolate. Peanut butter cookies." Was that what you expected, Malcolm? Just be glad he's up to allowing himself to admit he likes things.

The apartments aren't much further. He can see them in the distance, and more of the tension goes out of him. Almost home. Kate and Yelena will be there. His actual clothes will be there.

"Good choices. I like candy, myself. Twizzlers are a favourite. My mentor brought them to me when I was in hospital last year and I kind of got a taste for them," Malcolm explains.

"Twizzlers," Winter repeats, mystified. "What is that." The ADI vending machines don't have those; he's never tried them.

They do have them at the store, though. Malcolm reaches inside his jacket and pulls out half a pack, holding them out to Winter to take.

“Consider it a ‘Get Well’ gift,” he says.

Winter looks between the candy and Malcolm's right ear, then tentatively takes them. At the very least, it gives his hands something to hold when he's so terribly lacking in pockets. "Thank you."

And because he's curious (and hungry), he extracts one to nibble. " ... it's like licorice," he realizes, though he can't consciously remember ever eating licorice, even if his brain very clearly knows what it is. "Except not as bitter."

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abrightboy - 2022-02-26 01:40 (UTC) - Expand

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