thisavrou_log | The Hannya Mask

Who: Event Post | Open
When: Dec. 5th - 15th
Where: Around Avagi
What: A demon is haunting the station, spurred on by emotional responses. More information can be found here.
Warnings: Violence, possible death, body horror, etc.

THE HAUNTING

The onryō starts making her first patrols in the early morning when most people are comfortably asleep and not wanting to wake up. The sense of unease she creates is palpable, and initially she just looks at who is around. She chooses in the dark who she should be angry with, who is a foolish idiot for making her mistakes and who is an ignorant soul who ignored the anguish of someone else's attention. Everyone else is unimportant.

Occasionally, rarely though, she'll stop and look at something. Usually carved or drawn or molded, something someone used their hands to create. The very faintest of scraps of who she used to be, though that's barely significant. There's not enough left of that self to deter her from stopping more of the foolishness that damned her.

The Noh mask appears the same day, the same time as her first investigations get underway, and there it remains, conveniently close to where the Ingress once was.

The mask will always return to this original state the moment it's not being observed. It'll be returned to its resting place. If it's been destroyed or altered or damaged in any way, it'll be back to the state that it was when previously examined (even permanent marker would disappear).

It's made of cypress wood and is covered in layers of chalk paint and a glue-like sealant. On the back is a raised signature, indicating that it was handmade by an artisan. On closer examination (like swabbing or enhanced senses or super scanner) there's a bit of smoke damage, but otherwise it's not been worn many times. The straps attached are hardly frayed at all. However it's aged, it's not from scuffing or rough handling.

There might not be much time to notice or to bother with it, though. Not when people are being hunted in the shadows, when quick hands reach out from cabinets or a hunched form hangs upside down from underneath a table, waiting for someone to sit down too close to her.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Lavellan merely eyes the lift's walls and ceiling dubiously.]

Why don't you tell me?

[After all, the Doctor is much more knowledgeable about this incomprehensible technology than he is. Why would Lavellan know the first thing about how this works?

If there's a bit to his voice, it's because he's irritated for much the same reason; he's been seeing flashes, feeling echoes of this presence for the past several days, and he'd also decided it was past time to gather resources and fortify.

And then, of course, this had to happen.]

Hopefully whatever this is doesn't know how to open doors.

I haven't got round to studying the lifts yet.

[ he groans, rubbing his face. then, never one to stand still in any sort of crisis, he turns to start inspecting the panel. running a finger over the buttons and feeling round the edges of it. ]

Unless it can pass through solid wall, I doubt opening the door will do it much good anyway.

[ comforting thought. he reaches out and bangs a fist on the elevator doors, listening to the echo. ]

Well. If it opens the door, it can get to us.

[His voice doesn't waver--he has plenty of experience with demons and the like, and he's confident he can handle any solitary creature, even one he doesn't understand. But he grips the staff strapped to his back anyway (he'd started carrying it with him once reports of the "demon" started spreading).

He'll leave the experimenting with the surroundings to the Doctor.]

Is that meant to accomplish anything?

Well, that's fine. I'd like to have a chat with it, and I suspect you might as well.

[ wandering around with some sort of weapon like that, you're definitely looking for trouble.

he doesn't answer the question though; instead, he starts prying the panel off the wall. it's accomplishing something... ]

[Hey, it's called proactive self-defense. Lavellan just watches the Doctor work, because he's from the middle ages and has no idea how the panel is supposed to help.]

Is this a literal or metaphorical chat? [Because he's quite willing to help beat the thing up.]

Are you going to restart the lift?

Literal, in my case. [ he pulls a pair of sunglasses out of his coat pocket and slips them on, still staring straight at the lift panel.

his eyebrows drop in concentration, and his sunglasses start... buzzing. ]

You can accomplish a lot, chatting. Learn, understand, make peace... or buy time, if that doesn't work.

[ he has not, in fact, restarted the lift yet. ]

[Lavellan doesn't say anything for a bit, because he can't believe someone is condescending to him about the benefits of negotiation and also because whatever Twelve is doing with his glasses seems extremely ineffective. He's starting to think that Twelve knows just as little about how this place works as Lavellan does, and just happens to be more pompous about it.

After a while he shakes his head in exasperation, rolls his shoulders, and wedges his fingers into the crack between the doors.

Then he attempts to pry them open. Never let it be said he can't be direct when the situation calls for it.]

[ the doctor doesn't seem to notice that he's touched a nerve. casual arrogance is just a default setting, and he doesn't have the slightest idea what lavellan's skillset is; he's also rather focused on whatever he's doing with his glasses.

after a second, the wiring behind the panel starts sparking and popping and he rears back, eyebrows shooting up. ]

That's not meant to happen...

Any luck?

[ he finally glances at his liftmate. ]

[Lavellan is having precisely as much success with his attempt as the Doctor, which is none at all, which is very exasperating. At least he didn't add more fireworks to the situation.]

None. [And he doesn't bother asking the obvious:] And neither have you, so I'm not sure there's much else we can do aside from wait for rescue.

[With that, he settles against the elevator wall with an air of finality.]

Unless that's what you wanted to happen.

Me? [ his mouth tilts up wryly as he he rests his hands on his chest, clearly offended by the very notion. ] What, you think I sabotaged the lift?

That's not even... I, I don't wait for rescue. [ he declares with conviction!

while still wearing sunglasses, of course, which certainly only lends to his credibility. ]

I haven't got time for that, I've got a date with a monster.

[ he turns back to the panel, incautiously fiddling with the wiring now that it's stopped fizzling at him. ]

Edited 2018-01-09 04:42 (UTC)

[Well.

If they truly are stuck, there won't be much to entertain themselves with while they either wait patiently or slowly die of thirst.

So he might as well get his giggles by antagonizing the man.]

Sabotage? No, not at all. Why would I do that? Unless the sparking means it's damaged even worse now?

The Hannya Mask

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