thisavrou_log | ( december event log )

Entry tags:

( december event log )

Who: Everyone
When: December 17th and on
Where: Throughout the Moira
What: The reasons for power failure become a little clearer...
Warnings: Possible character death. Please label anything you do that needs a warning.

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transmission theory
"A thousand fibers connect us, and our actions run as causes, comimg back to us as effects."

As of now, it's common knowledge to the crew that Tipota is dead. The manner of her death, however, is still being determined, and the other captains have sent another reminder through the MIDs to continue traveling in groups and not to wander around. The power issue has yet to be resolved, though it seems nothing is apparently wrong with the engines or the wings, but slowly, the chill begins to recede into something a little more tolerable—still cold but not freezing. The malfunctions that manifest aboard the Moira start to resemble a more systematic pattern, lights flickering in certain sections of the ship before shutting down in intervals of 30 to 60 seconds and coming to life again. It moves on through several areas, though it doesn't affect places with larger groups of people.

A day or two after the power begins to stabilize itself, everything comes to a standstill. There's a moment that seems as if time slows and stops. Things are eerily quiet... Anyone in the hallways will hear the lock of one of the I.L.R. release, security measures suspended to preserve life support functions. What had been a peaceful moment roars into chaos.

☄ Ploiatos
It's been here as long as anyone can remember. It lurks in the shadows, a human-shaped figure dressed in the tatters of a Moira uniform. In the dark, it feels the most comfortable, and its movements are impossible to pinpoint without the light. From a distance, it might appear to be someone you know, another crew member who's become lost in the corridors, but up close — well, no one actually knows what it looks like. At close proximity, it sinks itself into you, and the cold that has plagued the ship seems warm in comparison as the dark rises. Perhaps there had been something to the warning the captains had given before; maybe you should R U N.
• Together: There is always safety in numbers. Ploiatos is severely confused by the presence of more than one body, and though it's attracted to the particular emissions of the crew, it prefers the choice of one to two or more. Trying to hunt or capture it is impossible; it's gone as quickly as you can blink.
• Alone: There is no hope. You don't realize that it's there until you're waking up, the marks of its touch spreading across part of your body. These are permanent, a beacon to Ploiatos that it's had you once and only needs to get you once more to end it. Once will not kill you, but a second time will. Any attempt at contact via MID isn't likely as they momentarily short out within proximity to the creature.

☄ Bait & Lure
For those brave enough to try, a plan has been implemented by several of the crew to attempt luring Ploiatos back into its room in the I.L.R. Life support systems are drastically depleted now, oxygen levels low and the lights barely working, but it's up to the crew and those who SIGNED UP to help protect their friends and fellow crew members.

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Damn right. We're going to find this thing, and we're going to get rid of it.

[Elizabeth walks next to Wanda with a large book under her arm, angry. It got her in the library and put her in the medbay, but it's not going to catch her unaware again. They were going to Wanda's room for some lipstick, and then Elizabeth would be ready to take on this thing that had mowed down many of the crew without blinking.]

This is our home, not its personal buffet line.

[Wanda can understand feeling braver with a bit of makeup - she doesn't feel like herself without her eyeliner and black nail polish.

She's already poised for a fight in case it finds them first, powers ready to go. One of several mistakes.]

I couldn't see it very well on the video. What are we watching for?

I don't know. I didn't see it before it got me. [Elizabeth frowns, deeply upset by the idea that she had no idea what this thing was aside from 'a dark, human-shaped shadow'.]

But if the captains say we should stick together, then it can't hurt to do. We probably have a better chance just from sheer numbers, anyway.

[Or maybe it is just a walking shadow, but Wanda doesn't voice the thought. It's already creepy enough now that the lights have begun to flicker.]

It is also easier to watch our backs with two.

[Wanda's tense, mentally scanning the area and silently pleading with the lights to stay on just a little longer.] We just need to keep moving. It should be safer at Mero.

[Elizabeth stops walking when the lights start to flicker. She's not sure they should keep walking, potentially right into this creature's arms.]

Wait, Wanda! [Elizabeth puts her fingers on Wanda's upper arm, pausing to listen intently. Silence. It's horrifying how silent it is in the corridor.] This happened before I was attacked, we might have company already.

[Now that they've stopped...it really is too quiet. Can Elizabeth hear her heartbeat? More importantly, can the creature?

Her eyes shift to red as she probes for anything off...and then she feels it cold and dark on the fringes of her perception.]

There. [Wanda points in the vague direction and spares Elizabeth a worried glance. Even her whispers sound too loud.] The other way, quickly!

What? You sure?! [Elizabeth follows suit and whispers with Wanda. Even if she has no idea how Wanda is able to tell which direction the creature is moving in, Elizabeth isn't so uneducated in strange powers that she's prone to instant disbelief. In fact, she trusts Wanda implicitly and starts moving in the indicated direction.]

[She looks over her shoulder as the lights go dead, leaving them in the barest light thrown from the end of the corridor. A blink later, there's a figure at the end of the hall Wanda gestured to.]

Oh God. [She whispers, reaching blindly to grab Wanda's elbow. Time to run.]

[It's so fast. But so is she.

Normally Wanda can read a person in a few heartbeats. There should still be time to run and it would give her ammunition for later, or at the very least something she can share with the rest of the crew. They're running blind here.

And it can't fight her, not at first. It's cold and dark and Wanda gets the uncomfortable sensation that she's on the edge of a riptide or a black hole's influence. But she persevered, and that's when the images come. A crewman, laughing with his colleagues. The same man going into a remote room and changing into something she still can't quite make out. And then it's all a jumble of the man being stuck that way and hunting the unfamiliar crew and --

It notices her.

The images shift and refocus on the creature feeding and sometimes killing. Wanda realizes quickly that it's not doing this because it needs to survive. It simply likes the pain and the fear and the rush of power and it's going to force her to feel it doing the same to her.

Is she screaming? Wanda thinks she must be as she tears her mind free, going weak in the knees and almost falling.

She looks up...and it's much closer now, pausing just outside her reach. She knows she needs to grab Elizabeth and run, but her body feels leaden and she can't even find the words to tell Elizabeth to go.

If there's any silver lining to be found, at least she's standing between them.]

[It's terrifying. Seeing the creature, Wanda not moving, and then starting to scream two seconds later. What is it doing to her? Is this how Elizabeth ended up on the floor? She can't remember, but it's obvious that whatever it's doing, it's hurting Wanda-- and Elizabeth isn't going to stand for that.]

GET OUT OF HERE! [She screams at the thing, seemingly paused in front of them in confusion. Elizabeth winds back and hurls her heavy book at the creature. It's dark, but she can hurl a book like nobody's business. It misses of course, but the thing seems put off enough-- it darts away.]

[And thank goodness for that. It's getting easier to move as the adrenaline kicks in, or at least straightening up feels somewhat easier than bending concrete. The creature's sudden disappearance isn't hurting, either.]

You...you stopped it. [Wanda winces and buries her head in her hand.] It...I...

[Too many words want to come out and they all get stuck in her throat. How can she possibly explain what she just saw? How it-- oh no.

The fear is enough to snap her out of it and she turns to Elizabeth wide-eyed.]

We have to go. You have to go.

I didn't hit it, it might come back. [Elizabeth's pretty sure Wanda hadn't noticed that part, though she is glad that her last-ditch effort to get it to run had worked out pretty well. She looks at Wanda, trying to see if there's something she can do to help with whatever Wanda is feeling right now. But whatever it is, it probably requires some explanation. And they don't have time right now.]

Sounds like a plan to me. [Elizabeth says, tucking herself under Wanda's arm.] I'll go if you will. [She jokes, putting her arm around the other's waist so she can support Wanda back to her room.]

[Wanda's stunned enough to let Elizabeth support her. She needs to warn her, needs to find words for what she saw...

Because there's one thing she noticed about everyone she watched Ploiatus kill.]

You don't understand...when he attacked you, did it leave a mark? [That's what Manasseh was talking about and what the black on Bruce's neck was.]

Yeah, black and ugly, no cure for it apparently. [Elizabeth starts them walking-- brisk and purposed towards Wanda's room.] Doesn't hurt, but it does pull. Why?

Pull?

[It's a beacon, a spark in the dark, somewhere lightning can strike twice. But Wanda wasn't sure if the victim could feel it too.]

That mark -- it was there in every death he showed me. I don't know what it means but...it is probably nothing good.

The skin feels tight over my shoulder. A little. Like a scar.

[Elizabeth pulls back for a moment, frowning at Wanda.] He showed you? What do you mean?

[Wanda really hopes it's not the same shoulder Elizabeth's supporting her with. She shifts a little just in case.]

In...in my head. He was going to make me watch while he...

But you scared him away. [Even if she didn't actually hit him, it was enough.] Just be careful. I don't want him to hurt you again.

[Nah, she's got you on her good left one, Wanda, never fear. Also she's a little distracted about Wanda talking about being shown things in her head.]

Did he... wait did you read his mind or did he show you something?

[They can talk about her safety in a minute.]

[...caught.

It was going to happen eventually, she supposes, but this was not exactly how Wanda wanted Elizabeth to find out.]

Both. Do you remember what I did when you were hurt?

I tried to...to find his fear, where he came from, anything that would help us. But he turned it on me.

[Elizabeth blinks and looks down at the floor, trying to remember. Vaguely, she remembers something about walking with Wanda in Paris-- but she'd thought she was just hallucinating from the pain.]

That was you? [She sounds amazed, impressed, and a little embarrassed she didn't realize it sooner.]

Well, probably good to not try it again then if he can just spin it back at you. [They make it to the lift and Elizabeth hits the button for the Mero deck.] But thanks for trying, that would've been helpful.

It is the only way I know to stop pain. There was nothing else I could do.

[Maybe one day she'll learn how to block an emotion, but without a practicing partner it's going to be hard to figure that one out.

Thank goodness for the elevator; it can't get them in here. Wanda doesn't say anything for a minute. This was not how she wanted Elizabeth to find out.]

...I'm not in your head now.

[Well that's funny, because Elizabeth had just been wondering that. She looks uncomfortable for a moment, debates in her head for another minute, then sighs heavily.]

It's probably better if you don't go in there again. [She smiles weakly.] Believe me, I would know if you were. You'd be looking at me differently right now. I don't look like much, but there are terrible things in there no one else should have to live through, let alone see.

Differently? [Something about that hits too close to home.] Elizabeth. You just saved me from me a monster that already attacked you. You were almost crushed under a building protecting a little girl. Do you know how many people would have run?

Whatever you don't want me to see...it wouldn't change that.

[She wishes she could prove it, but Wanda doesn't look. She owes her friend that much.]

[Elizabeth smiles and thinks of all the people she's killed. Yes, she didn't want anyone seeing that, it's true, but that's not her main concern.]

I don't want you to look at me and feel sorry for me, Wanda. That's all. My life is different now, I don't like revisiting how I got here. And if anybody knew everything...

[The weight would show on anyone's face. It's showing on hers now.]

[She doesn't need powers to see that. Her left hand goes to where Elizabeth is supporting her, settles over it, and squeezes. It's literally the last thing she wants to think about right now, but...]

We are more than what happened to us at home. Whatever it was. [Wanda's expression is still troubled from earlier, but there's no pity, just the weight of someone else who has been through terrible things of her own.] I have to believe that.

I believe that. [Elizabeth squeezes Wanda's shoulder lightly in response, in solidarity.] It's everyone else I worry about. Who can't see past it, or think 'how terrible for that girl, that she was subjected to all of that pain'. I don't need to live it over and over again in people's faces.

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seeingscarlet - 2016-01-10 06:30 (UTC) - Expand

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