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

[abrightboy]

"He wants you," Malcolm tells him. "But he can't have you. You're with me."

Is that right? Neal is with him? With him? No, it is right.

"He's with me."

[conning]

"Malcolm?" Neal says the name with the uncertainty of someone who's just realizing that he knows this guy on a different level than he thought.

"What the hell is this guy talking about, Caffrey?" Keller sneers a little, glancing at Neal with raised eyebrows before he gives Malcolm a once-over. "'With him.' Since when are you with anyone?"

Neal reasserts himself between Keller and Malcolm, heartbeat railing against his throat. "Please, Keller, let him go. Don't do it this way, not this time."

"This time. You okay, Neal? Hit your head a little too hard on the way out that window?"

[abrightboy]

"We have to get out of here," Malcolm tells Neal, grabbing his hand. "We have to go!"

sure thought I tagged this

[conning]

Neal follows Malcolm’s lead, letting himself be yanked away from Keller, hopelessly confused.

Keller growls. Reorients the gun. Neal whips around to tackle Malcolm to the ground and feels the burn of a bullet breaking skin for the third time in his life, through the meaty side of his torso.

The first two were already more than enough.

[abrightboy]

“NO!” Malcolm shouts, scrambling to his feet. He reaches around the back of his waistband and pulls the knife out, plunging it straight into Keller’s chest. Then he stumbles backwards, eyes wide, almost like he can’t believe what he did.

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.

[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.

[inlieuofadad]

Gil doesn't see a familiar ten-year-old with a knife running through the streets of Gloucester. No, he sees Malcolm, adult and wild with panic, and he swears under his breath. He's not as fast as the kid by a long shot, but he still hauls himself into a run, calling out with the commanding tone that usually works on Malcolm. When he's panicking, anyway. When he's not panicking, no tone in the world will get him to pay attention when he doesn't want to.

"Malcolm! Stop!"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm comes to a confused halt. He turns around and Gil is there. Oh no.

"Am I going to prison?" he asks urgently, still wild eyed.

[inlieuofadad]

The pitch and anxiety of Malcolm's voice tell Gil that something is off even more than the question does. He takes a moment to catch his breath, bewildered, before he says, "Why? What happened? Are you okay?"

[abrightboy]

"I stabbed him," Malcolm says frantically. "He shot Neal and I stabbed him right in the chest."

[inlieuofadad]

That gets abrupt and total attention. “What?”

First things first. “Where’s Neal now? Is he alive?”

[abrightboy]

"I j..." He looks around frantically. "I don't." He looks at Gil helplessly. "I don't know. He. He... was laying on the sidewalk and then...." He looks lost.

[inlieuofadad]

“Okay.” Gil rests his hands gently on Malcolm’s shoulders, looking him in the eye. “Breathe for me, all right? First, best thing when you need to help someone is get calm enough to do it.”

He catches himself and realizes he’s talking to Malcolm like he would have as a kid and shakes the thought off, instead breathing deeply, encouraging the younger man to copy him.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm does mirror Gil, without really thinking about it, then nods. Calm. Calm enough to help.

"I don't know where he is. I don't know where I was."

[inlieuofadad]

“Okay,” Gil says, nodding. “What do you remember? Let’s start there.”

[abrightboy]

"My dad was..." He looks confused. "My dad was here," he says. "But. But he wasn't real. So... so me and Neal... we ran away. But. Then there were these guys. There was this guy Neal knew and we were in an alley... and he wanted to kill me but Neal stopped him and got shot so I stabbed him. I stabbed him in the chest with my father's knife."

[inlieuofadad]

Gil feels a surge of relief followed immediately by apprehension. A dream, the conditioning of twenty years says, not something to really worry about. But the evidence of the last months says it’s very much something to worry about here.

“That’s a good start. What do you remember about the alley? Were there any storefronts in view?”

[abrightboy]

“It was…” Malcolm glances around warily. “It was in Paris.” He frowns at himself and looks at Gil. “It wasn’t in Paris, was it?” he confirms, his heart sinking.

[inlieuofadad]

"No." Okay. Change of plan. "Let's start walking back in the direction you were running from and see what we can find. We'll walk fast, and you can tell me what happened in detail."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks uncertain, but he walks the way Gil steers him.

“I don’t remember anyth… You were there too. No. I. Stabbed you,” he realizes, suddenly confused again.

[inlieuofadad]

Gil exhales an awful little laugh, giving Malcolm a one-armed hug. "Well, you definitely didn't do that. Which is nice. I'd like to stay un-stabbed for a while."

He knows better than to suggest that it might meal Neal is fine. He doesn't trust this place that much.

[abrightboy]

The one armed hug seems to trigger something and Malcolm looks up at him.

“You should take out your gun,” he says with too much gravity.

[inlieuofadad]

Gil's stomach drops, and does a somersault on the way into the pit.

"Malcolm, refresh my memory--how old are you?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm just looks at him, his face still Little Boy Serious.

"My father. He's going to kill you."

Martin is standing in the dining room, stirring tea. He smiles at them. Malcolm steps backwards.