Event - Heavy

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Heavy

➥ Deep

(cw: claustrophobia, existential dread, power loss, victim-blaming, time distortion, supernatural compulsion and hunger)

After the cold snap and plumbing issues comes the calm. For a few days, at least, nothing seems to break. Or break more than normal where the Flophouse is concerned. A heavy snow sweeps through and covers the streets. Not a blizzard, but thick white fluff that forms a blanket overnight. The snowplows aren't prepared and it's simply… quiet. People stay indoors, waiting for the weather to clear a bit. There are light flurries throughout the next few days, topping off the snowfall, and for the most part, the city just shuts down.

Even ADI puts out a notice that employees should stay home. Stay safe, stay cocooned in what warmth you have. Just… stay. Each day the message comes out from a generic work email, help@adi.com:

Shelter in place. No work today. Stay safe. We'll get by without you.

The next day is the same. The snow piles higher overnight, covering windows and freezing doors shut.

Shelter in place. No work today. Stay safe. We're s̴̳͘͠ͅt̶̨͂̍r̵̯̼͊͝ŭ̷͚̳g̶̠͋̓g̴̳̱̔͘l̸̤̻̎i̷̭͑͠ń̵̗͜͝g̷̤͂, but we'll get by.

Day after day. Frost creeps into the corridors of the ADI housing complex and the Flophouse. There is no food or other supplies coming and it feels like the hours are stretching out more and more.

Shelter in place. No work today. S̴̬̓t̸͉̿a̴̫̿ỳ̸͉ ̸̠̉s̸̲͆a̶͙͊f̶̢̏ē̷̤. We can't keep doing this, but we have to.

Attempts to leave the housing areas will be met with walls of snow that appear to be impossibly high. Around the flophouse, especially, it's as though they've been placed into the bottom of an icy hole. The walls stretch up higher than anyone can climb or fly, with only a pinprick of bluish light coming down from the opening above, deeper than anyone can dig through. Not even a magical portal or beam of heat can get through. There's just a wall of snow and/or ice through the portal and more snow beyond the beam. What's more, anyone who has supernatural abilities or is tied to a patron, even those not actively trying to feed that patron, will find themselves feeling increasingly drained, like something is sapping away whatever reserves they have, leaving them hungrier and hungrier, their powers waning by the minute, with a very limited set of options to feed upon.

S̸͉͗ḣ̷̦ȩ̵͒l̷͈̍t̸͎̽e̵̺̓ř̵̠ in place. No work today. S̴̬̓t̸͉̿a̴̫̿ỳ̸͉ ̸̠̉s̸̲͆a̶͙͊f̶̢̏ē̷̤. Why aren't they coming? This is their fault.

S̶͔͆h̸̅ͅȅ̴̮l̵̬̈́t̷̯́e̴̥̐ř̷̙ ̶̳̕ì̷̲n̵͓͌ ̷̮̋p̵̟̈́l̶̢̎a̷̺͠c̷̻̈́ḙ̵̊.̷̦̇ ̴̬̀N̸͕͌o̵͎̊ work today. S̴̬̓t̸͉̿a̴̫̿ỳ̸͉ ̸̠̉s̸̲͆a̶͙͊f̶̢̏ē̷̤. Why aren't ỹ̸̡͐ͅô̷͕̫ù̶̟̣͊ coming? Ḟ̴͓i̷̤͗x̶̨͝ ̴̜͒t̵̯̅h̴͔͛i̸͖̽s̶̱̚!

((ooc: Plain text versions of all messages are located here (LINK). You can also hover your mouse over the distorted text for hover text translations.))

➥ Chasm

(cw: warped perceptions, memory-loss, implied trauma, supernaturally-induced feelings of missing out)

You've missed a step.

After what seems an interminable time, someone is finally able to tunnel through, to get out of the massive snowy prison everyone has been trapped in and-

And the city looks normal. Checking the wall you just came through, it's not actually there. As soon as one person makes it out, the effect collapses for everyone. There's a wintry wonderland of Gloucester beyond, and it seems like things have gone on without everyone. But there is a sense in the air that something has happened, something earth-shattering that everyone missed out on.

People on the streets seem to have a look about them. Haunted? Something happened, but when they're questioned about it, they can't seem to come up with an answer as to what. They just seem… confused, overwhelmed. Yes, something happened. No, they can't tell you what. Weren't you here for it? Didn't you see it? Didn't you feel it? How could you have missed something that big?

That feeling will sit with characters as time passes, dragging down on them. It may even begin to feel like a physical weight for the most affected. You missed it. You could have done something to change things, but you missed it.

➥ Stuck

(cw: flooding; natural disasters; damage to homes, workplaces, and possessions; references to burial, suffocation, crushing, and murder; supernaturally induced anxiety, responsibility fatigue, and feelings of inadequacy; illness.)

The feeling of having missed something only intensifies back at ADI headquarters. It looks as though the storm itself attacked the building; several exterior doors have been broken off their hinges, ice expanded within the metal past its breaking point, and the expansive water damage and muck ground into the carpets, walls, and battered elevators conjure images of an indoor avalanche…or a glacier pushing its way through, slow but biting cold and utterly inexorable.

There's no time to dwell on what's happened, on the days of hunger and isolation nor whatever disaster occurred here. There's too much to do, too much to fix, one crisis after another. There's the obvious problem: the need to repair the building and proof it against the cold wind that still blows in across the foyer, but no matter one's work area there is more to do than can be done. Endless requests and projects flood in from every quarter, all of them urgent, all of them important. As soon as one thing is finished, three more problems emerge: contracts to manage, investigations to be made into reported phenomena, glitching computers to repair, vandals to repel from the gaping wound that is the lobby entrance in the middle of the night–the list goes on, and on, and on.

Rumors circulate, stories about a prisoner in the depths of the building's secret basements who disappeared into the crushing ice and grit that had filled the cells, disagreements about whether it was a rescue or if the unnamed prisoner was suffocated, snuffed out by some indiscriminately vengeful force. No one seems to know the truth; no one even seems to know the name of the prisoner, who they were, what they had done to end up there. No one has the time to look too deeply into it; even head of security Neil Grace, is caught leaping from task to task, never catching up long enough to turn his attention to the matter in any meaningful capacity.

The struggle to keep up, the futile effort to keep one's head above water, never relents. No matter one's priorities at work or at home, something is always wrong, always in need of attention, the knowledge of things undone needling at the edge of consciousness like a toothache in one's soul. The Flophouse is in a disastrous state worse even than ADI headquarters, a wild-eyed Bonnie all but pouncing on residents with an endless list of tasks to fix it, to make the building livable again. At the ADI apartments, exhausted caretaker Benny Holt seems to traipse up and down the halls at all hours of the day and night with his toolbelt, gaunt and exhausted and tapping at doors in reply to requests to fix plumbing, lighting, and water damage that never seem to stay fixed. Local staff and interdimensional residents alike begin to fall ill, bodies and minds burning out under the strain, but giving yourself time to rest and heal means piling more work on those around you.

There is no time. There is no rest. There is only the work you are failing to complete.

➥ Sink

(cw: claustrophobia, suffocation or near-suffocation)

As if that isn’t enough, there’s still investigative work to be done. Once again, it seems as if Coffins Beach is a site of interest, as ADI has been tipped off that there might be something (or things) in the water. Again.

For safety’s sake - and perhaps to make sure that no one collapses out there alone - pairs are sent out to the beach to keep an eye on the water and to see if anything interesting has washed up. Orders are to both watch the water and walk along the beaches and through the dunes nearby.

Watching the water doesn't seem to yield any results, no matter how long it's observed. Nothing washes ashore either. But then there's the dunes. Sooner or later, it seems like climbing them and walking among them is all there is to do. Anyone who has spent any time at Coffins Beach might notice that they seem a bit larger than they have been in months past. Not inconceivably, but noticeably. There are dunes tall enough to scale the sides up to the top, though some are still no more than little mounds.

It doesn't matter which, when you fall into it. Small hill or gentle mound, one minute you’re walking on the surface. The next minute, as you put your foot down, it begins to sink. It can't be sinking, of course, sand dunes on a beach don't have quicksand. They’re nothing but dense piles of sand. You can't fall into a sand dune.

You are falling into a sand dune. There’s a hole in the sand, just wide enough for your body and you have fallen into it. Perhaps you're a little bit lucky and your partner witnessed it. Maybe you aren't and you suddenly just disappear. It's a long fall, though, down a tube of sand that seems hard-packed around the edges. At first. The drop is just far enough that light can be seen from above, but not the top of the hole itself. Call out. You might be heard. And maybe your partner is already trying to get you out.

But the moment you hit the bottom, it seems like the hole becomes unstable. Especially if someone is above and trying to reach down. Even if they're not, though, sand begins to crumble from the edges and sides of the tunnel, falling down on the body trapped at the bottom of it. A slow trickle, not a burial. Not yet. Still, it could be, if rescue doesn't come, if the person left up above can't dig you out. Meanwhile, the sand falls and falls, pressing down on limbs and creeping up your body. It’s cold and struggling only seems to make the sand fall faster.

Surely you’ll be rescued before it covers you completely. Or soon after. Surely.

➥ 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 prompts should be sufficient and ordinary people will act like… ordinary people! You're welcome to make up any details beyond that for your specific scene. Please remember that character deaths are permanent and plan accordingly!
  
  
• DEEP (16-20 February) - Characters will be trapped in their homes for five days, confined to either the Flophouse or the individual apartment buildings within the ADI complex. It will feel like significantly longer, even for characters with fully accurate internal clocks. Travel outside of these bounds will be impossible, even with the use of supernatural abilities. The network will be fully operational; though, not the regular internet or anything beyond the internal ADI network. Characters will also receive periodic messages from help@adi.com begging for help, even as they order everyone to shelter in place.
  
  Characters who are outside their homes when the snow starts will find they're able to get inside just fine, but will not be able to get out again. Characters may be trapped with people who are not their standard roommates/at their usual housing, if they're unlucky (or lucky).
  
  
• CHASM (21-24 February) - The first character(s) to break through the snow barrier will feel an especially powerful weight fall upon them before there's suddenly just… nothing. The snow walls are gone. Even if another character was in the middle of digging through, the snow is just there one minute, then gone the next. Characters will experience a profound sense that they have missed something. This may dissipate within a day or maintain over several days. Anyone trying to question residents of the city will receive confusion and incredulity, but no answers. There is no indication that anyone seemed to notice the walls of snow. Even some of the natives at ADI will be perplexed. All non-native NPCs and some native NPCs will have experienced the same thing as the PC characters.
  
  
• STUCK (21-28 February) - The need to be doing more than they can will be ever-present for all NPCs and player characters. Those who would choose to eschew responsibilities at work or try to reprioritize will find that there is always something in need of doing that is important to them, to the point where new problems may seem to arise in impossibly, almost cartoonishly quick succession. Tasks and problems can be mundane matters related to work, building repair, and living spaces; as well as minor supernatural occurrences similar to past Dogtown TDM prompts (players are welcome to make up small supernatural encounters; anything that would affect other characters beyond a single thread should be submitted as a player plot). Characters may find themselves feeling mentally foggy and struggling to focus on core issues in the face of this inundation of needs from the people and environment around them, and may fall sick from overwork. These effects will overlap with both the Chasm and Sink prompts.
  
  
• SINK (24-28 February) - Characters who find themselves falling into one of the dunes will end up in what appears to be a vertical tunnel that is definitely too high to climb back out of, regardless of how tall the dune actually seemed to be when they were on top of it. The temperature of the sand is very cold and in addition to possible suffocation, characters may find themselves slowly freezing. Struggling or rescue attempts will quickly make the walls of the tunnel unstable. Additionally, the tunnel may not be exactly straight, depositing characters slightly or more than slightly off of their original falling point.
  
  

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Comments

[whisperedone]

"I can't imagine it." It doesn't sound plausible, but then, the Astral Sea was just that, wasn't it? Supposedly. More interesting to him was her tone. His expression softens. "You miss it. I can imagine such sights and freedoms would be hard to be parted from."

Garner opens the biscuits and pulls a stack out. "We'll use these for a lesson...and then we'll eat them." He arranges them into smaller stacks of one and two, expression all the more gentle as his thoughts run their course. He thinks of what she's missing...and what he's missing. And the last time he had to teach anyone basic survival. "I know how to manage for one, two, and four and beyond that is extrapolation. I've spent the last month travelling with other nobility who have never had to fend for themselves before and a city girl who had resources at hand previously. It is not so different."

[thedoctorsmate]

"It's a wonder ship. She's called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. We can go anywhere, anywhen. It is hard, but y'know?" Donna heaves a sigh. "Lived without it most of my life. "My friend's the one I really miss, and I'm worried about him. He doesn't do very well on his own. Needs someone there to help... temper him." That's probably the more diplomatic way to put it.

"But while he's away, might as well brush up on a few new skills." She listens attentively. "Assuming the stacks are just you portioning things out? How d'you decide the right portion?"

[whisperedone]

He can understand that. Needing to temper people. Rory lacking knowledge of life outside her home, Fig needing a gentle presence to rely on, Raleigh needing someone to just hear him. He liked to think he provided those things, at least, and it ached in a way he hadn’t expected, to know they would need to continue whatever they did without him.

Hopefully a safe life without hunting or threat or cults better left as rumor. He keeps that peace to himself.

“Basic need. If you aren’t doing much, you don’t need much to allow your body to continue existing. Nutrients are important, but in dire times, anything will do just fine. You place a larger portion on the first day, assuredly your body will be used to something closer to this amount. Then less and less until you’re at a manageable minimum. Occasionally, you up the amount, every third day or so, to give a boost.” He pauses his biscuit display. “Knowing how many days you need helps, obviously. Not knowing…I would keep to the minimum to focus on survival over energy. Does that make sense?”

[thedoctorsmate]

"Yeah..." She's... unhappy. It's not his fault, of course, just the situation. And her lack of foresight in stocking more canned goods. She won't be making the same mistake twice if they get out of this all right.

"So this is, like, life for you? Or did you have to learn for a specific reason?"

[whisperedone]

His lips twitch up at the corners and, as promised, he divides the biscuits into half and slides a pile in her direction before getting up to handle the water. It wasn't quite whistling, but the steady bubble was audible and close enough.

"Both. It's life now, on the road, but it's not how I grew up. I was taught a little over a year ago by a woman who saved my life."

[thedoctorsmate]

Donna takes the proffered biscuits and begins nibbling slowly on one. She should probably save the rest... hide them in her room for when she's feeling especially miserable or grumpy. "Saved your life?" She raises her brows, then remembers that won't mean much. "If you wanted to talk about that, wouldn't mind hearing."

[whisperedone]

"Ah...it's. A long story." But he considers it as he eats one of his biscuits. Did the context matter here? Were there consequences he wasn't thinking of yet simply because the people he feared finding him weren't here to be part of his worry? He supposed there was only the immediate consequence of the details themselves and those were easily bypassed.

"My right eye was damaged in a fight for my life. I fell off a cliff and into a river. I likely would have died for any number of reasons, were it not for Cazriel Cinderbrooke."

There's a deep fondness in his voice and soft respect as he makes his hands busy with putting some of the remaining biscuits away. "I don't know what she looks like beyond her own description, but she taught me to learn people based on how they smell and walk and the quality of their voice. She taught me...well, everything of the person I am now." How to survive without his sight, how to walk with confidence, how to be a bloodhunter. How to have a second chance at life.

[thedoctorsmate]

"Bloody hell, that's a lot. Good you dropped in with someone who was... who wanted to actually help you." Not just take advantage of someone who dropped into their lap like that. "Also, you've got to be, like, the hardiest bloke I know. Not many people survive falling off a cliff in the first place.

"But now I've got to ask... have I really got that much of a smell?" She has some sweet peach perfume on, but she's been trying to be sparing with it given the circumstances.

[whisperedone]

Was it? He supposes it was, maybe he should edit the story down next time, make it simpler or...less detailed. He'd think on it. He hadn't really told anyone that part, not all the details, it was hard to gauge what might be too much for someone without a reliable scale. The part about falling off a cliff was fair, he was hardy and, more than that, lucky. Or cursed. He nods, either way.

"Well...yes and no. Every person has their own smell, I'm sure you've noticed if ever you hug someone, there's something to them that is inherently them. It might be a soap or perfume you associate with them, but there's something under that smell as well that's just how the gods made them. I can't smell that specifically, but I can tell you've either bathed with or used a perfume that has a fruity scent. Perhaps...peaches or apricots, it's faint. Beyond that, you simple smell fresh, clean. Like a woman who values her appearance enough to tend to it each morning."

[thedoctorsmate]

"Y'know, I think you're the first man that it actually does feel like a compliment to be told 'you smell.'" She considers him a long moment. "You single?" Is she interested? Maybe. Vaguely. More it's just gossipy interest. She assumes this woman was... a friend. Maybe she was a lover, though? Only one way to find out.

[whisperedone]

He smiles for that, though it mixes with a confused laugh when she asks. "Yes, most assuredly." Whatever was going on between him and Raleigh, it wasn't nearly so official as anything like that. "You are an interesting woman, your majesty."

[thedoctorsmate]

"A-thank you, a-very much!" She puts on a mock-royal little laugh. "Just thinking about prospects for everyone. That's all. Queen of match-making, if you're ever in the market."

[whisperedone]

He smiles wider for her silly turn in voice. "A hobby of yours? How interesting, you must either very much like people, people being happy, or love stories." Which were all very nice things to have true about a person, even if he isn't entirely certain the wisdom in match-making in a dangerous situation like this. "What about you? Have your romantic efforts matched yourself?"

[thedoctorsmate]

"Why not all three? Happy people are more fun to be around, and I love a good love story, don't you?" She sighs longingly. "And I'm better at matching other people than I am at matching me. Never had much luck with blokes. I just get swept away by a nice smile, y'know?" Or just... someone being nice to her, if she's being honest. It's frustrating how easy she is. Knowing doesn't help stop the misery.

"Or, well... a nice voice? Strong arms. Just something that hits you and then you're head's in a tizzy, ignoring all the warning signs it should be."

[whisperedone]

He's...not sure what he thinks of love stories, which he's realizing as she asks, but maybe he should try reading a few. He simply hadn't had access to them before he was blind and afterwards they, like many other books, weren't an option.

"Ah...I think I understand. Companionship is a very important thing, romantic or otherwise. I have no experience with anything more than friendships, but...lots of people seem to have opinions on love, good and bad."

There's something more in what she says, something he's pretty sure he's missing, but he's never been especially insightful.

[thedoctorsmate]

"Wait... you're telling me a handsome bloke like you has never had a girlfriend? No boyfriend? Nothing? Garner! We have got to hook you up with someone. What do you like in a partner?" That answers that question about Cazriel, at least. Maybe more like a sisterly figure? Or motherly, if he took her name?

[whisperedone]

His brows raise higher and higher at her disbelief. "Um..." Was now a bad time to mention a cult upbringing where self interest was frowned upon? Was there a good time?

He gives a quiet laugh and shakes his head. "It was not a priority and...frankly I'm not sure? I suppose the same sorts of things I might want in a friend but...more? I'm not sure I can answer that question. I've never felt anything like that for anyone. I think."

He locates his tea and takes a sip before feeling the need to clarify: "For the record, I'm not exactly a blushing virgin, I've been with people, it's just never been more than for recreation."

[thedoctorsmate]

"Hmm... Okay. So... Less looking for marriage, more looking for a good time. I can work with that. What about preferences? D'you go more for the nerdy, more for sporty. Goths, maybe? Boys? Girls? Taller? Shorter?" That look does not faze her. She just lifts a hand, even if he can't see it.

"Me? I like a handsome bloke with a big, goofy smile." She sighs softly. "Higher marks if he lets me do most of the talking."

[whisperedone]

She's serious about this? Serious enough, he supposes. Serious enough that he tries to think on her questions to give honest answers but half the words she's saying have scarce context for him.

"Um...I um...gender doesn't matter." He gets that out somewhat feebly and sees an opportunity in her small sigh. "You sound like you've already met someone like that. Your friend back home, the one you're worried about being alone?"

Just...gently redirect that.

[thedoctorsmate]

He might be able to see the face she's making, but it's still there. "Oh, god no." There's mild disgust in her tone, as well. "He's like a brother, not like that. Yuck! No, my dream man was one I dreamed up and got put into a computer program I was trapped in. Sweet bloke. Handsome as you like. Terrible stutter. His name was Lee, and he was... perfect. But it was a perfect world. Nothing like that could be real."

Moving back to him. "Right, though. Gender doesn't matter. Supposing looks aren't as big a thing for you these days, if they ever were to start. What about a smell? Or the way they sound? Can't do taste, not licking people just to test for you."

[whisperedone]

He might not be able to see the face she's making, but he can hear it. Not the friend. Right. As for the rest...he...supposes he understands. At least on principle. "I'm sorry. For what it's worth, I'm sure there's someone similar out there...there's all kinds of people out there."

There had to be one that checked most of those boxes, surely.

And...for the rest. " Meanwhile, I and many others would appreciate if you didn't lick people, Donna. I'm not even certain you should be smelling them...but a nice voice would help, yes." If he was supposed to be listening to them often enough, he should probably like listening.

[thedoctorsmate]

"Not gonna go stick my nose in their hair. Just if they've got a particular scent, y'know? You seem like you might like cinnamon. Warm and spicy, hmm?" She has no idea, but why not? She'll assign a preferred scent to him for now and wait for correction.

"Suppose I won't find anyone who fits any criteria if I sit around chatting all day, though." And this is a bit of a bust in terms of nicking food. Now that she knows him, she can't bring herself to do something like that again. Instead, she rises from her seat. "I'll see who I can find who's available... and in this building for the moment.

"I'd offer Callisto, but no one deserves her." She sighs. "Appreciate the biscuits, though. And the company."

[whisperedone]

'Cinnamon, warm and spicy' and his mind produces cinnamon and something like smoked vanilla and a warm, rich, voice that rolled with a distant coast's accent and always sounded like it was either laughing with you or at you. His face feels perhaps a bit more warm for the clarity. Funny the little things you missed when they were no longer at hand.

Her intention to move on is clear, however, and likely for the best, this has been a...fun, if confusing, conversation, but there is still much he planned on doing yet. He smiles roughly in her direction and nods.

"It was my earnest pleasure. My company is yours to keep whenever you might need a friendly ear." Even if Donna did talk....quickly, she seemed nice.

[thedoctorsmate]

"Right, then. Off I pop. Hoping I won't have to darken your doorstep again before this snow lets up. Keep warm, Garner. That's an order from the Queen of Goritania!" So decreed, she heads to the door and lets herself out to find more likely pickings elsewhere.