Event - All In Your Head

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All In Your Head

➥ Night's Embrace

(cw: supernaturally-induced hysteria/intense emotion; violence; maiming; assault, burglary; murder; implied violence against children)

There's been a sense of unease hanging over Gloucester as the Ides of March approach. First a few, and then a great many locals begin to hurry indoors each evening, lights kept blazing in the windows of homes and businesses all night…when they can be. Stories of assault, burglary, and vandalism dominate the news and no one can seem to agree on the cause, psychiatrists weighing in on air as reports flood in of a woman, a creature, that hunts in the night, along with perpetrator after perpetrator with no history of violence before they suddenly broke into a neighbor's home to smash every source of electric glow. It might be mass hysteria, the talking heads hypothesize, or perhaps pranks taken too far. The alternative is not spoken. It's safe, though, with the lights on and the door bolted. Stay inside, stay in the light, and nothing can harm you.

Too bad about the blackout, then.

It's the night of March 16 when the efforts of the shadow woman meet success thanks to the earnest efforts of a kindred spirit. Gloucester is plunged into darkness with only the waxing moon to dapple the city in silvery shadows, the entire grid taken down. ADI Headquarters and apartments flicker weakly back to life on emergency power, though there's more shadow than light in their halls. Bonnie's Flophouse, like much of residential Gloucester, doesn't have even that saving grace.

The attacks are swift and furious. The shadow woman seems to be in many places at once, appearing simultaneously in family homes, all night businesses…and ADI properties. Where there had been some reprieve in the last days for those in ADI apartments or spending the night at headquarters, as of tonight those places are no safer than the city streets. Some of those she catches she kills or maims; others are sent spiraling into blind terror by the touch of her claws and released to run and be chased again.

But still she does not step into the light, seemingly repulsed by what little brightness can be found or made. Best hope the batteries in your flashlights are fresh.

➥ Illuminating

(cw: derogatory language; mention of long-term imprisonment and murder attempts)

un: n.lehrer

To All Staff,

Report to ADI HQ for an emergency meeting at 11 AM in Conference Room 6. I will be broadcasting over the network, but I would prefer to have everyone together so that we can hand out equipment. Reyes has briefed me on what's been going on while I've been away.

Katie Dunn, an avatar for the Dark native to this world, was recently set free by Deepthi Anand. Dunn is practically allergic to light. We'll be handing out supplies for those who attend the meeting in-person. More soon.

- Nia Lehrer, Warden

It's only a few hours after the message goes out that people who come will find Nia Lehrer stepping up to a podium in the designated conference room. There's also a filming set-up so people can watch the broadcast on the network. Questions that come from the network will be… read by Reyes for Nia to answer, but a back-and-forth conversation may be more challenging for those not physically in attendance. On the wall behind her, there's a projection of a seemingly harmless-looking woman.

There's a definite air of relief among the native staff, along with a significant uptick in focus. Non-native staff may notice a similar sense of renewed determination and attentiveness for themselves, if they let themselves be swept up in it. Whatever fog and oppressive sense that's hung about for the past month or more appears to have dissipated… at least for the moment.

"Thank you all for coming. I'll make this brief: Katie Dunn is one of the most dangerous avatars we've ever encountered since I joined the Apocalypse Disruption Initiative. We've had run-ins with her more than once, but haven't actually figured out a way to kill her, yet. Her capture was a major achievement about two years ago. Which makes her escape particularly frustrating. What's done is done, though.

"Deepthi Anand developed a connection of some sort with her while she was assigned to assist with guarding her while here at ADI. I suspect that's why she returned to free her. And make no mistake, everything I've seen about the attack points to Deepthi… with her boosting Katie's abilities somehow. Right now, we're most concerned with keeping the lights on. Cape Electric has been trying to restore power, but each time they fix something, another piece of the grid gets hit. Whoever blew the entire town's power supply gave her the in she needed to wreak havoc.

"We're going to need all hands on deck. First, we block her ability to cause problems. For that, I need people willing to help with requisitioning generators and high-powered lights, and getting them to the places and people in town who need them most. Hospitals, nursing homes, food supply warehouses, all-night locals, playing interference for electric company personnel. I'm also going to need PR folks spinning up some reasonable explanations for these blackouts and what's been happening with people who get touched by her. Electromagnetic storms? Something about tectonics. Experimental drug from the military that blew through on the wind. Whatever you can come up with.

Little Ms. Blackout wants to play games to create fear and turn people on each other? We cut off that power flow to her, and she becomes an inconvenience, more than an actual problem. I expect her to start targeting us more directly once we start squeezing her, so we'll be issuing flashlights to everyone here. If you know someone who needs one, tell us, and we'll get them one, too."

Nia takes a breath. "While Dunn doesn't like the light, she can survive in it. Direct exposure to it will ward her off, but as long as she can find some kind of shadow, she can squeeze herself into it to stay alive. We know she has the ability to split into multiple shades of herself to cause wider problems. We caught her by trapping all of those in beams of light last time. We need a more coordinated response to be able to handle her, though. I'll be here, working on that if anyone wants to weigh in. In the meanwhile… let's make that bitch's life harder, huh?"

➥ WALKING HELL

(cw: altered mental state, hallucinations, violence, scopophobia, body horror)

Suddenly and without much warning, the world changes. Or….it changes for some people, some of the time. Anyone who finds themselves outside the sanctuary formed by ADI’s buildings will feel woozy, perhaps drowsy for a moment before they blink….and find themselves trapped in a nightmare.

The exact flavor of the nightmare isn’t always constant. In fact, it may not even feel like anything at all is wrong….at first. Characters may continue on after their brief dizzy spell, going about their business until they slowly start to realize that the strangers that they pass in the street are watching them. Watching them as they pass, watching them as they walk away, watching them as their heads turn at unnatural degrees to just keep watching.

Or maybe the nightmare is more immediately obvious. A hole you fall down and just keep falling down for what feels like forever. An angry mob of townspeople who descend on you at random, hands like claws that seek to rend your flesh. It can be any number of things. And it can change. Characters might find that seeking to get away from the source of this horror might work….for that particular horror. Get far enough away, and trade one nightmare scenario for another. They might even find familiar faces stuck in the same situation and can try and work together to get out of whatever nightmare they’ve found themselves in. (It won’t work. But they can try.)

The nightmares don’t come over everyone at the same time, though, and they may even be intermittent for some. Characters might find themselves walking with a friend, only to have one of them begin to react to something that the other can’t see. (..Any injuries sustained, however, will become visible. Even if what’s causing it isn’t. Where did that chest wound come from?)

Even if you’re alone, snapping out of a nightmare might mean finding some of Glouscester’s townspeople staring at you in something like distress or horror. Trying to get medical help from them…will only exacerbate their concern. What wounds, you don’t have any wounds. But you do…don’t you? They’re definitely there.

The only true safety seems to be in ADI Headquarter or housing. ADI staff will be concerned when they do hear reports of the nightmares, but most will swear that they can’t see any wounds that characters have either. And they understand it might be terrifying….but things still need to get done. Characters will be asked but not pushed to go out into town. Or they can just stay inside until this is fixed. Whenever it’s fixed. If it’s ever fixed.

➥ Dunn With This

(cw: attempted capture and imprisonment; reference to attempted murder; violence)

There comes a time when the best defense is, as they say, a good offense. The work ADI has done to cut off Dunn's power by turning back on the lights and calming the public is working; though there are still sightings around Gloucester, she does not seem to have the full free reign she enjoyed in the first nights of the blackout. It's clear that she hasn't given up on whatever she means to accomplish, that she isn't prepared to retreat or lie low.

It's ADI's turn to go on the attack. Word comes down from the top that all staff with field or combat experience are requested to assist in a coordinated effort to recapture Katie Dunn. The plan, as it stands, is to lure each of her shades to a location where she can be pinned in a beam of light. The catch, of course, is that they've done this dance before and she'll be expecting them to try just that. As such, the floor is open for suggestions.

Characters who volunteer to participate in the effort will be informed that the planned procedure for an encounter with one of the shades is for an agent (chosen from those quickest on their feet) to act as bait and try to get Katie to chase them to a predetermined location where other ADI agents lie in wait with a rig of floodlights. It's tricky, dangerous work, and there's no guarantee she won't catch on and avoid the trap or even attack the agents waiting there for the return of their comrade. Worse, it's unclear whether the multiple shades of her roaming the city are separate entities or if they're a hive mind instantly aware of whatever trap one of them falls into.

Characters may also propose alternate plans and methods, and agents will be allocated to assist with any such plans that are deemed to have a decent likelihood of success. Or, of course, they could strike out on their own, though ADI strongly advises against it.

➥ Mod Notes

• GENERAL - Players are welcome to play background 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. Nia Lehrer and Katie Dunn will be available as mod-played NPCs for their specific prompts via the starter below. Also, please remember that character deaths are permanent and plan accordingly!
  
  
• NIGHT'S EMBRACE (16-18 March) - Characters may find themselves the victims or the perpetrators of the violent and wild acts induced by the shadow woman and her touch. They may also be able to ward her off of an active attack if they're lucky and happen to have a good flashlight with them. After the 16th, nowhere will be safe in town, and characters may find sleeping a challenge when there's a good chance they'll be attacked in the middle of it. Sucks that the coffee pot runs on power, too.
  
  
• ILLUMINATING (19-23 March) - Nia will be available to take questions directly from PC's during the meeting. Players will generally be welcome to threadjack as everyone will be hearing Nia's responses collectively at the same time. Network interaction will be possible, but less focused on quick back-and-forth, and more Q&A-style things that Nia can respond to. Characters in the Administration and Public Relations departments will get a particularly heavy tap to assist with requisitions and spinning up stories, but everyone is welcome to help with either the logistics of acquiring supplies or actually bringing them to people in town or setting up extra floodlights around town. The locals will be very grateful, but confused by the gifts of the generators and lights. Characters with mechanical knowledge will be asked to help with actually installing these for people. If you would like your character to come up with a specific IC story for the blackouts and/or crime streak, please let the mods know in the Questions header on the event OOC post! We will incorporate these into our Headline News items next month.
  
  
• WALKING HELL (22-28 March) - This prompt is very much open to players inventing their own nightmare patches. As stated in the OOC summary, the nightmares can last for any amount of time (including days). Anyone not experiencing the nightmare (including other PCs) will not be able to see what the character is reacting to or see any sort of wounds they suffer while stuck in the nightmare. Any wounds sustained during the time in the nightmare will continue to be visible to PCs and some NPCs even after it ends, but will not be immediately life-threatening no matter what. Two characters in the same place who are both stuck in the nightmare will see the same thing. Please remember to appropriately warn for any triggers/content warnings, especially considering that they are going to vary greatly between different threads. Here is list of player-requested content warnings to keep in mind specifically.
  
  
• DUNN WITH THIS (29-31 March) - While characters are advised by ADI to use the tactics noted above, they are welcome to employ alternate methods of dealing with Katie Dunn. They will have ADI's general support regardless of whether they follow ADI's playbook or come up with their own tactics, including equipment as well as the ability to recruit background ADI NPCs to their plans. However, NPCs generally will not agree to take part in anything that looks like a suicide mission (if you have any questions about whether background NPCs would agree to your character's plan, please submit those under the Questions header on the OOC post). Katie will be available for (hostile) NPC interactions. Please note that the outcome of all encounters with Katie must be decided by March 31, as the outcome of this event will impact the April TDM. If threads have not reached their natural conclusion by that date, players will be asked to decide OOCly on the outcome (and are welcome to continue to tag to reach that conclusion ICly).
  
  

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Comments

[conning]

No time for hide.

Neal makes a breathlessly amused little noise, though it's not really because what she said is funny. He opens his eyes, giving Katrina a tiny smile, though he's still clearly worried. "You're a good friend."

He looks at their surroundings, shivering a little. It's cold. At least he thinks it's cold. "I think we're stuck in a... a place that isn't real. It's a dream. A waking dream."

He knows that now, sure, but experience has taught him that his awareness of that particular fact can come and go as easily as the settings. He rubs his thumb against the body of his own flashlight, recoiling as a bubble of neon green forms underneath them and then seems to float up through the "surface" of the blackness like a balloon.

cw STABBY VIOLENCE

[conning]

Neal rolls over, hand on his own injury, in time to see Malcolm stab Keller.

He makes a soft sound. Shock. Protest. Keller stares at them both, the gun loose in his grip now. He looks at Neal, then at Malcolm, then laughs in a wheezy blood-soaked way that sends flecks of red cresting over his lips. "Well well well. The sheep found himself a wolf after all."

Neal forces himself up onto one knee, staring at Keller, then looking at Malcolm, feeling stupid and frustrated and wanting to scream at himself to do something.

The gun hits the ground, only now it's a standard-issue NYPD sidearm, and the man with the knife in his chest is Gil Arroyo. He still has handcuffs dangling from the fingers of his other hand. His focus is on Malcolm.

"You won't get away with it," he gurgles, the words pained in a way that's not physical.

[conning]

He frowns, brushing Malcolm's cheek with the edge of his thumb. "What's going on? Is everyone okay?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks confused for a moment, then stricken…

And then he runs. He doesn’t look at Neal, he just turns and runs, the knife clutched in his hand, but it’s not the big serrated knife anymore. It’s a pocket knife and he’s ten and it’s bloody and he just runs.

[abrightboy]

“Oh. Just. Jeff left a message on our machine that he was going to run to California, which is exactly the sort of dramatic thing he’d say, honestly. He… hurt Meredith when he was trapped with us and he regrets it. Anyway they kind of both had a breakdown and Meredith fell and Tim ran off, so I got Mere comfortable and asked her to be there when I got back and I went after Tim. He wouldn’t come home, though. And I went back and she was gone too. So. I mean. I can’t hold everything together by myself. I can barely hold me together,” he explains.

[abrightboy]

"Tea is my go-to as well," Martin says happily.

"Yeah. When he wants to immobilize his intended victims," Malcolm says, closing his eyes for a second. He opens them and looks at Aziraphale. "I never told you why he was in prison. I'm sorry. But your life is in danger."

[twicelost]

Friendship still feels foreign to her, plastic shaped into something familiar, but stange to her touch. She understands that it's a good thing, though, and that humans value friends as much as family, so she's pleased to know Neal thinks she's a good one.

It's just that now is not the time to dwell on social connections.

A dream. Like when Eliza made a concoction for Helen to travel to the spirit realm, except... the spirit realm is real, and this is not.

"Avatar of Dark is real. Maybe this is dream, but maybe can still hurt and kill."

As if to prove her right, a glowing green thing floats out of the darkness. Katrina hisses at it, pointing her flashlight at what looks to her like a jellyfish. They sting. Some are deadly even to her kind.

"This dream-- what is meaning?"

If it were hers, it would be a lot more straightforward, she thinks. Battle, the journey across the ocean as an orphan, a net and humans with needles. This is almost comical to her, but she's been here long enough to know the supernatural and dangerous takes many forms.

cw violence; attempts to injure; derogatory language

[apocalypsehownpcs]

Her attack is all fury with no finesse. She responds to his efforts to shield himself by simply trying to tear into the arm, clearly expecting her claws to meet flesh and unbothered by what particular part of him she tears open. Those claws tear through his sleeve and screech against the metal, a screech soon joined by her yell of pain when the light of the flashlight sweeps onto her.

"Motherfucker!" she yells in pain and frustration, recoiling and diving for the shadows.

Meanwhile, the Katie flitting about Yelena makes her move as well, suddenly hurling a brick in Yelena's direction in a sharp departure from her previous tactics--if it gets Yelena's guard down for even a moment she'll dart in, claws at the ready.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

Katie just laughs. "Madmen, all of you."

She steps closer, teeth glinting in the scant moonlight. "You don't even know what you don't know. They tell you what they want you to believe, but do you really think you're the first ones? They kept me prisoner for years, and they'll do the same and worse to you if you don't do their bidding. I know what you are. You're not one of them."

She's almost within arm reach of him now, but her face is still shrouded in darkness. "Let me tell you a secret," she says.

[musicdied]

Fortunately for Yelena's ability to continue operating sans concussion, the knowledge that she's playing a lethal game of tag with a murderous shadow has left her keenly alert for motion. She drops into a low crouch, beneath the arc of the brick. She palms the small LED flashlight in one of her pockets with one hand. The other hand trails near her back foot, as though stabilizing her balance.

(Or maybe just resting near the grip of a knife tucked into her boot. It's probably one of those.)

"What the fuck?" she mutters as the brick clatters against an empty trashcan tucked near the wall behind her and sends it toppling.

The surprise is genuine. She's been anticipating violence, but she'd expected claws, not bricks.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Reyes, tell the R&D folks we have someone to test their new toy."

Reyes raises a hand in acknowledgement, jotting something down on their clipboard.

"I'll expect you to actually show your skills before we let you off the premises with that. And you'll be paying for it if you lose it." Prototypes and their expenses and all that. "Got it, Manji?"

[whisperedone]

Somewhere in his mind he realizes there’s nothing invading his thoughts, not yet, nothing but the thin whispers that colored his evenings as always. Maybe it was about willpower or maybe something about her…but it’s observation in the face of what really matters: finishing this through death or capture.

Her attacks are wild and he blocks a couple and a few others fall to his armor, but not all. One catches along his upper arm and shoulder and burns. he follows that burning trail with his own blade to dig deeper into the wound and re-wet his blade.

The radiant light flares stronger, closer to how it should feel, and he takes boldened steps to swing at her twice with the glowing glaive.

[whisperedone]

“They will likely need it.” It isn’t judgmental, just a simple statement of fact. The more helping in this coordination attack, the more likely the success.

Her question is a fair one and he turns fully in her direction. “Observation. Listening. Your voice is coming from only a bit further down than my head height, so you must be tall. There’s a scent of leather that isn’t my own, which means you have your own set, though if you are wearing it now, I could not say without listening for its creak.”

He gestures around them. “There is plenty to learn without seeing your environment. Our prey operates on a fear of the unseen, but I don’t fear the world around me. I hope that helps.”

[whisperedone]

His hand is solid and it’s a focus point in reality. Even if he couldn’t see the world, it was still there.

His next breath is shaky but steadying again. “There are whispers…there always were, but suddenly it’s so much louder, like it could get back home. They’ve been quieter here, but I-” he laughs, but it’s quiet.

“I was afraid I was losing my mind. Sorry.”

[cacophonish]

Jeff gets up, too, letting out a delighted, startled laugh. Dreams really are so illuminating.

"So that's how you see him, huh?" He puts his hand on the window, where the serpent strikes and bashes against the glass. "Just a biiiiig, nasty snake."

[canofmanji]

He didn't like her laugh and he liked her teeth even less. As Katie comes closer he takes a step back. "You can tell me it right where you are."

[canofmanji]

What? WHAT!? Give it back or pay for it!? That---!!! Well, that is just... RUDE! And completely undercuts his plan to steal it with no repercussions! "Oh, I got the skill and I'd be happy to show you them any time." Actually, he's a bit rusty. Still a damn fine swordsman, but he's gotten lazy since being infected with the worms that make him immortal. No longer a killer of 100, but still a very deadly man with a blade in his hand.

"And what if it breaks or I have to leave it behind for a tactical retreat? I'm going to be out there riskin' my neck for you people and you're going to charge me if this light sword gets stolen?" He wants a free sword, damn it!

[abrightboy]

"I've never seen him like this before." He's monster enough on his own. Malcolm looks at Jeff. "Are you doing this?"

[apocalypsehownpcs]

It seems that their previous success has inspired Katie to change up her tactics, though past the surprise of the brick it seems the new tactic is to simply become extremely aggressive. That is to say, she's flickering forward in the moment Yelena drops into a crouch, leaping forward in an attempt to tackle her, claws outstretched and no consideration given for how much the collision might hurt both of them. That rattling, inhuman screech is back, too, more monster than woman. The attack is furious and animalistic, aiming to cause general harm rather than attacking with enough precision to prevent Yelena from arming herself.

cw violence; injury

[apocalypsehownpcs]

The first swing catches clothing; the second catches flesh. Katie staggers backward with a very human cry of pain, breathing fast and bracing herself on the grimy brick wall behind her.

"Please!" she cries with fear in her voice. "Please, no, I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!"

[apocalypsehownpcs]

She takes a matching step forward.

"I want to whisper it," she says. "So they can't listen in."

[whisperedone]

‘Deliver the light of the Dawnfather where darkness dwells…‘

Garner takes a steadying breath as his unfaltering steps continue. He raises the glaive, it’s light flaring as he takes his next swipe, then twirls the glaive around and aims to plunge it into her form.

“For the innocents you’ve hurt.”

cw derogatory language; discorporation; body horror

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Please, I didn't..."

Her pleading peters out as he keeps moving forward, as she skitters into a corner, as the blade cuts another gash across her body. There's the sound of something hitting the alley floor, not liquid but sand. The act drops and she snarls in rage, leaping forward even as he aims for her core. With the glaive between them his shadow falls behind him, and she tries to dart past him into it.

"Fuck you, you son of a bi--"

She plunges into his shadow and the glaive plunges into her. For a moment there's the tug of the sigil indicating she's reappeared some distance behind him, but even as she reappears she unravels, black sand spilling from her wounds, body dissolving as she tries to stagger away. Then she's gone, leaving only sand behind.

[canofmanji]

"How stupid do you think I am? I may not trust ADI, but that doesn't mean I fully trust you either." He takes another step back and places a hand on the hilt of his sword. Not yet ready to pull it out, but preparing to. "You can say it right there."

[failedpromise]

(Cortana is, unfortunately, not glowy enough to have any effectiveness in lighting the area or defending herself from the shadow woman-in all honesty it's more likely to make her a bigger target-but it does make her easier to see in the dark.

In her panic, she'd thrown her arm up to fend off the attack; an ineffective defense that left the limb torn with multiple gashes. She stumbled back with a cry.

The shadow woman turns and lunges for the intruder.)