Network | Video | Open

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

Who: John Sheppard and you
Username: un: Pegasus
Warnings: body horror, PTSD

[John seems to be mildly disturbed as he fumbles with the video, the camera showing him looking a little rough, like he'd been in a fight, before he manages to set it up properly.]

Uh.

Has anyone talked to Hickey lately? Because I think we need to talk about Hickey.

So. He, uh, can turn into a giant creepy bear thing now.

Like. A giant. Polar bear. Thing.

For anybody that's been waking up in Dogtown, which sucks, by the way, you might run into him. I don't know where he is right now but he's completely lost it.

If you see him, stay away from him. He'll prefer to chase you to feed off your fear so try not to engage that instinct.

[Says the guy who is also a Hunt Avatar and fought said bear-beast thing as a cat-beast thing. Don't mind him, he's just putting all the focus on Hickey right now, and if everyone stays away from Hickey they also won't find out that Hickey knows that's he's an Avatar, too.

Also that bear thing is gonna live in his nightmares now, which is fun.]

For anybody that is waking up in weird places, I suggest sleeping with a weapon on your person at all times, just in case.

Comments

[musicdied]

[Maybe you should try not being a giant killer furry, then, John.]

If they want us to hunt him, they will have to let us play with the big guns. But if he stays in Dogtown, there are enough other hazards there that trying to hunt down someone who's turned into a supernatural predator would be a very stupid kind of suicide. We've gone after threats there in the past, but that was before it turned into what it is now.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

I just wish I knew what happened to him to do this. I mean, he was always kind of like that, maybe it was only a matter of time...

[But it's fun tho]

Ah, Dogtown, both the cause of, and the answer to, our problems.

Huh. Was there something in particular that changed Dogtown, or was it the slow boiling sort of change?

[musicdied]

Assuming it isn't something he brought with him that he hid better than some until he couldn't any more? Or a very bad bargain he made here? Maybe something happened at the museum. We know the games transformed people, but there might have been something worse that we missed.

[She bites her lip, tipping her head to rest against the back of the couch she's sitting on.]

Dogtown was dangerous when I got here. But if you've read the files about FYRE and the mission in Wolf Pen about a year ago, it started getting really bad while we were away. That's when they decided to fence it off to keep people out. It became the maze it is now sometime between when they started keeping people out, and when they started sending us back in.

cw: spiders

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

From the way he spoke before, he was big on…getting power. He liked that I could crush stuff with my claw. I think he was just waiting for something like this to fall in his lap. Maybe he did make a deal with one of the Entities.

[John trails off…]

Was there anything mentioned about a specific catalyst that made it that way?

[He makes a note to go over those files.]

I did notice a lot of spider-related stuff from exploring there. The spider web bridge, the…hunter and the antidote to the spider venom. Not to mention Gus the bus and people waking up randomly there. That’s at least two entities involved, with the hunting.

[He’s not gonna mention that he got turned into a Hunt avatar in between all that but it’s something he quietly notes.]

The fact that people are starting to find themselves randomly in Dogtown is not a good sign. We’re lucky that all that stuff is contained in there for now, but I get the feeling that something is hungry and isn’t waiting around anymore.

[musicdied]

[She just shakes her head, grimacing slightly, mouth set in a thin line.]

That is never a good deal.

[Servitude for scraps of power? No thanks.]

And no, there was nothing mentioned - but that doesn't mean there wasn't a catalyst. But there has always been representation of multiple Entities there. There still is, it's just...patchwork.

This isn't the first time Dogtown has pulled people in, either. If it wasn't so patchwork, I would be wondering if land could become an avatar, if enough people believed in it being haunted.

[Because apparently lobsters can.]

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

I mean, sometimes, in a life-or-death situation, I could understand certain choices being made…

But not what he did after.

I don’t even know if it would matter if we knew what the catalyst was. It’s not like we can reverse it. I’m still curious though. Maybe it’s a good place to start to find answers.

Honestly? That place seems actively malevolent. From what we went through, I’d absolutely believe it.

[musicdied]

There are things much worse than death.

Knowing the catalyst might not let us reverse it, but it would maybe help keep it from spreading. Do you really trust whatever's going on in there to stick to the borders of Dogtown?

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

[He thinks of Pyre and shudders.]

That's true.

Nope. I think it's a matter of time before that stuff spills out.

I'll see if I can dig up anything in the meantime. You said it all started when you left for Wolf Pen?

[musicdied]

That's when it got bad enough to close it off. But it had been getting more dangerous before that, just - not as quickly.