pillz: (Default)
joseph kavinsky ([personal profile] pillz) wrote in [community profile] thisavrou_log2017-07-09 01:05 pm

The Demon Plot: DEATH OF GRINDING MADNESS [July Player Event]

Who: Ensemble production, all individuals who opted in to the plot
When: July 9-21
Where: Two inhabited planets around the Ingress
What: The demon plot kicks off, in which malevolent shadow beings, copies of existing characters, begin to materialize and harass the PCs across the worlds. Plotting post is here, and a network post will go up within the next 2 days from several PCs advising on how to end the plot.
Warnings: Violence, psychological themes, possibly past trauma, etc.


Death of Grinding Madness
The Demon Plot
(mild spoilers for The Raven Cycle)

On July 9, a demon begins to make its way through the Ingress, summoned through by a shitty teenager.


July 9-12
Harrying
It's innocuous in the beginning. A movement in the corner of your eye, a shadow through a curtain-- merely a tree. But then the shadow figures begin to emerge into full being. Black-eyed wraiths that look like enemies, friends with whom you've had past conflict, or even you yourself. At first, it's merely harrying, minor harassment. Threatening gestures, broken gestures, jump scares.

Pursue them, and they disappear-- you might even catch a glimpse of how. They melt down into black slime, racing away across floors, through sewer grates, up walls, impossible to follow. By now, the worst of the climate freeze is over, but residual ice does pose a needles extra obstacle.


July 12-15
The Violence Escalates
In the days that follow, the situation only gets worse.

Sporadic harassment turns into outright attacks. The targeting is unmistakable. The shadow beings who can speak tell cruel tales of animosity, spite, even hatred. They are as deadly with their hands or strange powers as their doppelgangers are, and worse, they're functionally indestructible. Rip off one's head and it merely reforms out of sticky black ink. Limbs regenerate just as easily. The being might dispell for a few hours, but no doubt— it'll be back, if not to hurt you then someone you know.

The Savrii begin to notice. It's hard not to. While there is hardly an epidemic of panic, the disruptions are hard to miss-- broken windows, screams, random violence. Soon, the authorities begin to open safehouse facilities at which characters can seek shelter.


July 15-18
The Golem
On July 17, something horrific begins to happen— several shadow beings merge to form a massive golem in Kauto R1. It is a grotesque, horrifying spectacle, of limbs and eyes and pulsating flesh. It reaches almost sixty feet in height. Combined together, this shadow creature is considerably less intelligent than the individual beings were. However, it is also immensely strong and regenerates just like the smaller ones did.

Within the mall, hundreds of daytime shoppers are trapped within. Luckily, they have food and climate control. Perhaps you're one of them-- or perhaps you're trying to get in to provide medical care.

In the meantime, the attacks from the individual shadow beings don't stop. Despite the intelligence exhibited by some, all of them seem mindlessly bent on tormenting their targets until they are killed.


July 18-21
The Sacrifice
On the 9th day, a network post goes up (link pending, will be OOCly forward-dated to July 10th latest) revealing how to remove the invincibility of the attackers.

And by the 21st, the remaining beings utterly vanish without explanation— unless you happen to bear witness to the events that take place at St. Monmouth.



squadgoals: (wow more work thank you so much)

[personal profile] squadgoals 2017-10-21 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
Or maybe we just have to feel it. Something we've been... holding back from talking about, or confronting.

[The familiar pressure is enough for her to almost sag with relief, and she reaches for his other hand, threading her fingers into his. Only by iron will does the load of today not make it to her hands as more than a tremulous shake, already awash with emotion.

For a moment, she doesn't make any further move to speak, eyelids fluttering closed in an effort to re-center.]
beautifulspaceraptor: (sadness the second)

[personal profile] beautifulspaceraptor 2017-10-26 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
I-

[ It felt like selfishness. It IS selfishness. 'I' had been easy to hide under the compartmentalized armor of Spectreship. Personal wants and needs lost to a bigger, more important identity. ]

I don't... want to hide this.

[ Closing his eyes, he swallows, stroking his thumb over her palm, feeling the tremors through his gloves. ]

Us.

[ But they have every reason to hide it. Enemies all around them, old and new, all who could turn it against them. ]

I don't want to scream it from the top of every building but I just want... I want...

[ Oh, Spirits, what did he want? He's not been in a steady relationship for more than a decade, what the hell did he want? ]

I'm scared. That we're going to run out of time and I'm not. I'm not there.
squadgoals: (thoughts & prayers for reapers)

[personal profile] squadgoals 2017-10-29 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
[It's not until the second "I" that her eyes open again, focusing onto him just as his own close.

Nihlus did not often speak of his own wants.]


I want that, too.

[What must she look like, right now? Standing in the ruins of her own apartment, that she'd been powerless to stop. Hair singed, body beaten, a complete mental headcase. Yet, here he was, telling her his innermost feelings regardless, standing by them.

The only way she could return that care, that respect, was by doing the same.]


I'm... jealous.

[It took more effort than she cared to admit.]

That Saren is living with you. And I'm not.
beautifulspaceraptor: (look at his beautiful fucking eyes)

[personal profile] beautifulspaceraptor 2017-11-03 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
We should move in together.

[ It comes out before Nihlus could really think it through. He finds he doesn't really regret it though, the weight of the words comfortable and warm. ]

Once this mess is sorted out. [ Quieter, but a bit more sure, a bit more even. Rubbing his forehead against singed bangs, Nihlus moves to gently embrace her. ] Once everything is sorted out. We should move in together.

[ Optimism had never been Nihlus' greatest strength, but he lets himself believe, here and now, that this would work, that they would get through this.

They will get through this. ]
squadgoals: (wow more work thank you so much)

[personal profile] squadgoals 2017-11-04 11:55 am (UTC)(link)
I'd like that.

[Is it enough? Is that enough of a confession? It seemed small—selfish, stupid, a ridiculous thing to be owning. It was hardly the biggest admission she'd ever made. It wasn't even hitting the top ten.

But if what it wanted, what it took to destroy her black-eyed counterpart was something she'd felt, held back—it was that.

Opening her eyes, she looks at her partner, her lover, and something seems to click. Like the first time he'd blurted out "I love you".

Comfort. Safety. Support. Partnership.

Love.

This was it, wasn't it? Here and now, this was really it. Two ghosts, given a second chance.

Leaning in to his embrace, she runs a gloved hand down his cheek, across his mandible.]


I love you, Nihlus Kryik.
beautifulspaceraptor: (sadness the second)

[personal profile] beautifulspaceraptor 2017-11-07 09:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ He leans into the touch, into the welcome weight of her palm, feeling like he was about to fall apart, feeling like he was whole again for the first time in a very long time. The paradoxical contrast sends a shudder through his shoulders, his breath slipping out in a sharp, shaky sigh.

This. This felt right. All his doubts, all his fears pushed to the wayside, a sure path lit by full moons and starlight.

Stability. Trust. Acceptance. Companionship.

Love.

And if his shadow was going to try and take it from him, if their shadows were going to try and take that from them-

Well, they can damn well try.

Gently, so, so gently, he parts her bangs with flat of his gloved claw, tucking the sooty strands of hair behind her ear, green eyes half closed. ]


I love you too, Jane Shepard. More than anything.