[LOG] closed

[marmoron]

Who: Keith (marmoron) & Others!
When: Ongoing
Where: Everywhere
Summary: A catch-all log for where I post closed starters!
Warnings: Individual threads will be labelled with appropriate warnings.

Comments

cw: mention of burning to death

[marmoron]

[ the quick, urgent affirmation brings about a fucked up sense of relief that keith definitely shouldn't be feeling when gloucester is on literal fire and the atmosphere is supersaturated by bone chilling screams.

when sendak's drones had set the arusian village ablaze, there'd been panicking there. lots of screaming too, but this is different. who knew there were different aural qualities to screaming when it's not just brought on by terror, but the agony of being burnt alive? it makes some sickening sense if keith thinks about it, but it's not a conclusion he wanted to reach nor is this any kind of screaming that he wanted to hear. there's only so much plastering a pretty phrase like died a real hero can do to stave off a more nauseating picture of the way your dad actually died.

but one way or another, it doesn't matter. unlike the indifferent guards, this guy sees what keith is seeing, hearing and smelling and that's more than enough reason not to question what's happening anymore. as tim takes off, so does keith towards the city at large, which is now cast in a smoldering orange, red light from the fire. the air gets hotter around them as they sprint on the walkway leading into town. ]

The hell do you think is going on?

[ he shouts over as they run. once again, keith scans the sky looking for some tell tale sign of a galra cruiser that just isn't there. ]

Have you ever seen anything that can set an entire city on fire?

[ployboy]

[He hates fire. If he hadn't forced himself to move then, his body likely would have given him trouble. Started to tense too much, balk, or maybe he even would have frozen entirely. It's always hard to say, every new disaster brings old memories out to march on by. Entertain them and the disaster grows.

So Tim's body has done this thing where alarm and hurt and raw agony is seamlessly replaced by a gray sort of understanding to just keep moving. Gotham City made for good practice. He's sparing his companion a glance, mind learning that there's no smoke making the air thick and lodging the taste of tar in his throat

(he can smell the people dying as clearly as he can hear them; this is likely how Armstrong's-- no)]

No.

[Bludhaven, a literal crater in the ground. Over a hundred--

See, it needs to become routine and a person needs to able to absorb it all. And not be affected. Not in the field. There's heat and fire crackling like a joker laughing at the uselessness of a single drop of water.

There's a lot of screaming. There's the residential community of the coast city just up ahead. And there's no lights flickering on-off, no blown transformers.]

It didn't sound like an explosion, I didn't hear any artillery overhead.

[--what he had heard, prior to the wailing now assaulting his ears and making his ever nerve burn-- he can't-- remember. Wind knocked sufficiently out of his lungs, Tim's next words are barely a whisper.]

No one's running.

[marmoron]

[ no one's running. keith hears the words, registers that tim's right. back at housing, nobody seemed freaked out either. the conclusion is obvious enough -- for whatever reason, they're the only ones who are seeing this. the implications are sinister enough taken alone -- what the fuck is differentiating them from the others? is this a targetted hallucination? if so, is the town actually on fire and nobody else is aware, or are they the ones losing their minds?

all of tese considerations should really get keith to stop running to re-evaluate. for better or for worse though, it doesn't. not when there's screaming so thick with pain that it wraps around his chest like a vice. ]

I know -- [ the words are forced, but not yelled. ] And I don't know why, but there are people dying, we have to keep going.

[ and as if to reinforce his point, keith picks up speed down to the nearest apartment block. the building's three storeys high and ablaze with tall flames. but it's oddly peaceful too, nobody outside, no fire brigade.... just this thick aura of pain and suffering. it's here, about a hundred yards away from the buildin'g entrance that keith finally stops and just.... stares.

not understanding. not even wholly registering that the flames seem to be blowing out, fading into nothingness. ]

I.... I don't get it. [ he walks up, pressing his palm to the brick wall. ] It's... gone?