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Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] countryclub2022-09-25 09:57 pm
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SEPTEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME!

SEPTEMBER 2022 TDM
Another month, another test drive meme! Our test drive memes are open to anyone interested - regardless of whether or not you join our game!

All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.

Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.

Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.

If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Prompt One
[Image One: Bread Cornucopia filled with fruits and veggies]
[Image Two: Creepy glass eye embedded in sand]

Prompt Two
[Image One: A Lone Lighthouse by night]
[Image Two: Ghost Ship in dilapidated condition]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Wasps, Wasp Nest made from human Mask screaming terror, swirling eddies in wasp Nest]
[Image Two: Horribly mutilated Cenobite in Latex gear with exposed teeth]

STANDARD ARRIVAL
WHEN: First Week of September
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk, Koz's Orphanage
CONTENT WARNINGS: Creepy Prosthetics buried in the sand


On some level, you are one of the fortunate ones. The storms of August are now a distant memory. It is the waning of the Blood Moon and the tempestuous state of the Beast Moon this year is fading finally while the harvest is being collected. Sleepers arriving find no particular difficulty in actually reaching the shores for the most part, and transformations back into their natural state of being are relatively easy. They are met by happy Trenchies and fellow Sleepers with robes of white and their bags as normal, and motioned towards the waiting tents set up along the

What is strange, however, is that when Sleepers arrive, they may find their eyes drawn to something disturbing amongst the sand. Water washes with the waves and tide, and reveals a body part! They are always prosthetics of some variety, and many are glass eyes that eerily stare at the person. They can be retrieved with some ease, though they're in bad need of cleaning. Perhaps they belong to someone in town? If not, however, asking around will get a suggestion to bring those to Koz's Orphange in Crenshaw. They have a Lost and Found there, and it is the season of finding what and who is lost. If they do, they might catch a glimpse of Koz floating mournfully through the area, and one of the children will gratefully take the item, saying that they will add it to the rest of the Lost and Found, before coming back with a photo in hand. "Here, I found this, and I think it might be yours?" The photo is, indeed, of the giver and someone from their past. Perhaps it is an actual photo taken, or one they cannot remember having been taken. Regardless, it is offered to them in a cheap wooden frame. How it got there, the orphan does not know. It was probably there when they arrived.

SEASONAL DETAILS ON THE BOARDWALK

The Boardwalk is quite the spectacle this time of year, and those who were here the prior year will remember many of the decorations and festivities. Pumpkins have been stacked on spikes lining the Boardwalk with grotesquely realistic carvings of faces decorated on them. Massive white linen has been hung in the air to look like ghosts floating back and forth against the ocean wind.

Delicious smells waft from the Boardwalk as fresh donuts, candied apples, and hot apple cider are sold at every other booth, along with complementary cornucopias given to each new Sleeper made out of bread that has fruits of all varieties but always seems to have a small jar of the favorite fruit, seed, vegetable (or even meat) of the person receiving it. If asked where it is from, the Sleepers shrug and say "The Orphans took up a collection to give a welcoming gift to new arrivals." If what is in the jar is eaten by the person given it, it will help to ease their mind and give them a calm that can last up to a week as they acclimate.

Preparations are in order for this year's Black Parade. An annual celebration, it is promoted among the excited locals as something that people can participate in. Face Painting booths and costumes are available to those who wish them, with the statement by the Trenchies, "We do it to disguise ourselves from roaming spirits and hungry beasts."
A FADED MEMORY
WHEN: Mid October
WHERE: In Swimming distance (Barely) of the Farther Shores
CONTENT WARNINGS: Ghostly Ship & Lighthouse, Threat of Corruption, Remains of Ghastly Murder and Dismembered Corpse


It is by accident that your eyes chance to look towards the Farther Shores. There, you happen to see a lighthouse, but you know for certain that it cannot be the lighthouse that is normally there and manned by the fishermen. You can't usually see that from this angle. The moment that you see it, a feeling of mounting dread falls upon you, and you realize that there is no light in the lighthouse. Though the compulsion to investigate can be resisted, there is an almost overwhelming urge to go, to investigate, to re-ignite the flame before it is too late!

The question is getting out there. The fishermen, when the lighthouse is mentioned, will make warding gestures and look terrified. All will resolutely refuse to sail out, muttering incomprehensible curses and lashing their boats securely to the shore. There will be no fishing tonight. The lighthouse, from the docks and shores, is out in the water on a rocky outcrop that nobody remembers being there, though any Trenchy asked will pale at the mention. The only way to get out there is to swim. It is a hard, dangerous swim, but the tide is coming in, rather than going out, so the riptide is not pulling down. It can be done, or a raft can be hastily made. When clambering up the stone steps to the lone lighthouse, it is apparent its door is ajar. And within? Horror awaits.

The insides of the tower are caked in viscuous, green blood. The Lighthouse itself is barely standing. It looks as if a thunderous, colossal fist has battered it repeatedly, the building nearly collapsing at every step. It does not actually break apart, but those who ascend the steps find themselves fighting not to slip on old, caked and thick blood that smells of roses. The contact with the blood isn't doing anything good to the person's sanity and hallucinations of the screams of the dying can be heard, along with shrieks of "What is it?" at the top of someone's voice. An increase in corruption is possible here, though not required. The more one contacts the blood, the greater the risk is. In the top of the lighthouse, dismembered, skeletal remains lay in gobs of what may once have been flesh. One of them holds desperately a torch in their hand, and there is a lighter present. One look out into the night will see a great vessel approaching, broken, its sails tattered and ruined. there is little time, and hopefully the lighter works!

The moment the torch lights the lamp in the lighthouse, the ship veers away from a collision course that would have destroyed the lighthouse and likely the flimsy rock outcropping on which it stood. Shades of dead sailors stare in horror at those who man the lighthouse today, the ship sailing away into the night. All are pointing beyond, and if you look over your shoulder, you can barely see a collosal figure in shadow walking into the town beyond, seemingly confused and wailing. Nothing further happens, and when the people in the lighthouse reach shore again, they will find upon turning back that it is gone, as is the outcropping, though a close inspection does see the remains of a shallow of stone there where the island once stood.

Note: The Ghost ship cannot be interacted with. If someone has the ability to reach it, they will pass through it only to realize it is nothing more than a memory in the land. Fragments of rotted wood and broken masonry can be found in the water below, covered in countless barnacles. Nothing within them shows any proof of what once transpired. There is a risk of corruption from blood exposure, though this is very much up to the players if they wish to incorporate it.

No Trenchy will willingly speak of what transpired, though a careful investigation at the Pale Sanctuary may find a tome among the sacred texts associated with Cloverfield. Reading from it, one might find a forgotten marking that the first sighting of Cloverfield, long ago, saw the collapse of the original lighthouse. No Disciple recalls the incident, and none will speak of it.

FRIEND OR FOE
WHEN: Anytime in October
WHERE: At the frindges of the main districts
CONTENT WARNINGS: demonic bugs, Bug Horror, Grotesque death, Self mutilation, Bug Infestation


The first thing that alerts you to the danger is the screams. They are agonizing, gut-wrenching and full of naked horror. When traveling near the edge of any of the districts, particularly the Crenshaw district, it is possible at times to witness a truly horrifying sight. The screams, if investigated, come upon the grisly attack of a horde of not exactly wasps but closer to demonic insects swarming over a person. They shriek, their whole form shrouded by the terrible creatures as they're being stun and the things seem to be extruding some sort of substance to cocoon them while still alive to one of the trees. There is no cry for help, as the person is clearly unaware of who is there, but do you reach out to save them?

If you do not, the scene is horrific and grisly beyond reckoning. The wasps trap the hapless victim against a tree, grafting the extruded paper all over their screaming visage to form a new wasp nest before they ultimately begin crawling inside of them, devouring them from the inside out and implanting their eggs in the new 'home' created for them. It is at this time that the palpable danger may dawn upon you. The infernal bugs have not yet seen you, but they seem to be aware that there is other life around. Do you take this moment to try and beat a hasty retreat, or do you fight it out with the bugs? They can be destroyed, but only by means of abilities and powers that destroy multiples at once, such as great gouts of flame. Hopefully you have a coldblood present! Fleeing them is easier, but can you leave this person to their fate? Still, if instead you observe and take no action, eventually the bugs seem to notice you, and though they swarm near, as long as they are not attacked, they seem to do nothing.

Strange.

If, however, you try to save the victim, a very different scene plays out. The same rules apply to fight the swarm, and if you stop them short of killing their victim, you will see just who it is that you have saved. There, mutilated through self scarification and brutally altered in horrible ways that seem almost fetishistic, is one of the blood crazed zealots. Despite being weakened and badly injured, they lash out at you, their defender. The power that they wield with their blood is incredible, and they demonstrate an ability to wield it that is well documented. The only note is that no Cold-blooded Zealots are present, and so their powers are not represented this time. However, they are drained and though they pose a threat to your life, they can be killed here with a bit of care, can be resisted with great difficulty and certainly be escaped. Either way, there is no true reward for having killed them other than knowing that you have done so. Why are they here? Alone?

It is almost as if they were an advance scout, and the wasps were someone's defense against them, someone's early warning.

CODING
miyagimagic: (142)

[personal profile] miyagimagic 2022-10-14 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Kreese being worth more to him than anyone - well, Daniel is willing to believe that, if not just because of the moment where he stood in that dojo all those years ago, watching Terry nearly lose it as he proclaimed from now on when people say karate around here, all they'll mean is Cobra Kai karate— John Kreese's karate!

It doesn't make it more sense that he'd let Kreese be in prison, or even send him there - framed? -, but then again, Daniel knows Terry is just a psychopath. Someone who would very well be capable of stabbing Chozen with a fucking samurai sword, like he's claiming.

That thought still threatens to make him nauseous. And sure, Chozen isn't here, but there are tons of innocent people here. Robby and Tory are here. Johnny's here - and for all the awkwardness between them, Daniel wouldn't want him to suffer at the hands of this maniac either.

Chozen got hurt because Daniel called him over. If even more people get hurt because of him, or because he didn't do enough, then— ]


Listen, Silver.

[ It's hard to look intimidating when the person you're talking to absolutely towers over you, but the least he can do is not back down. Crane his neck, if he has to. Stare Terry right in the eyes, refusing to break eye contact. His tone dropping until it's deadly serious. ]

If there's anyone who's going to make your life difficult, it's me. You're my problem.

[ (derogatory) ]

Don't go around making yourself someone else's.
hauntedsavior: (⚡ our shields were all but shattered)

[personal profile] hauntedsavior 2022-10-14 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, she's pretty great.

[it's easier to talk about k than the rest of it. but there is something that grabs anna's attention in the middle of it, and she just. takes a second.]

What makes them bad kids? Having an ego ain't a crime, and being gay ain't a sin. [and she has to wonder, first quietly and then far less quietly,] And what got you caged up with them? 'Cause you seem like a good enough kid from where I'm sitting.

[a beat.] But, well, you already know my feelings on all that religion shit, so maybe it's no surprise that I'm saying all this other stuff, too.
wingstosee: (dismay)

[personal profile] wingstosee 2022-10-14 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
oh

wait they're not even people???
wingstosee: (curiosity)

[personal profile] wingstosee 2022-10-14 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ what... makes them bad? it strikes him as a weird question. weird enough that he doesn't respond at first, visually trying to process what anna's saying. ]

But, I mean... [ he hesitates, like he doesn't want to say it. but she did ask, so... hopefully she won't be mad? ] ...it kind of is, though? A sin. I mean. Being, um... that is, a girl that likes girls, or "tempting men's gazes," or, um. Just not being grateful for what the chances in life God's given you. [ that's one he's heard a lot. ] It's all sin.

[ he blinks - and then his eyes go wide, and he waves one hand in a panic ]

-ah, please, don't get me wrong! It's not like any of it's bad? Of course it's not bad. J- that girl, that one that got sent for liking girls, she was one of the best people in camp. She was so nice, and so cool, and so effortlessly good at just. Everything? And the other girl, the one the first girl liked - I mean, I guess they liked each other, it was kind of obvious? But as much as she talked about being bad, and tried to bully us, and she definitely slapped me that one time... She was so much nicer than any of the counselors. She was mean because she was so nice. Does that make any sense?

[ he trails off, crossing his arms and looking off to the side as he collects his thoughts. ]

...I was probably the worst of our three. [ he says it with a surprising neutrality. like he's just doing a quick evaluation. ] I wasn't really any good with people, or sports, or any of that stuff. I let people lie to me, and I don't stand up when we're dwelling in sin or whatever the bonfire captain wants to call it. The devil would have been me, for sure.
foulhussy: (pic#14401104)

[personal profile] foulhussy 2022-10-14 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
uhhh i dont know
i guess they are
they have personalities and shit.

i mean the same way most people here are.
like humans
but not everybody here is human.

[ It's a bad baseline to use. Arguably no Sleepers could really be called human anymore. Arguably, she never was one. But it's all that she can jump to. ]
Edited 2022-10-14 23:00 (UTC)
hauntedsavior: (⚡ caverns shake like thunderstorms)

[personal profile] hauntedsavior 2022-10-14 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[she's listening, and she's trying very hard to think of a kind, gentle way to say what it is that she wants to say. this kid is so, so entrenched in the absolute worst of it. it sounds like it's killing him. he's so willing to accept that he's just... the worst, by default. and who told him that? god? what the hell does god know?]

With all due respect, kid? 'Cause you told me not to worry about offending you, and all? [another beat.] That's a load of horseshit. You're sitting here talking about how these two girls were so nice to you even though they were supposed to be full of sin or whatever, and what, you're somehow full of sin yourself 'cause you made some friends?

[if she had a drink, or if she were smoking right now, this is where she would take a break to indulge in her vices. she doesn't have any of those, but her body still breathes out like she does.]

Nah. If shit like that turns people into the devil [and she is choosing to read it as a very pointed metaphor] then every single one of us turned into the devil years ago. You, me, those two. Probably those counselors, if they're good enough at lying to themselves. And if everyone's the devil, then no one is. You follow me?
wingstosee: (doubtful)

[personal profile] wingstosee 2022-10-14 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ venus tries to listen. he really, really does. but he's finally starting to catch what it is anna's saying, and it makes him feel...

well. he doesn't really know what it makes him feel. all he knows is that he feels irritated, and frustrated, and like he's being condescended to. does she think he doesn't understand? does she think he's drunk the kool-aid, just like everyone else?

there's a sudden spike of static, loud enough to be audible from venus's pack. if he notices, he doesn't say anything.
]

I mean. With all due respect, I think maybe someone who doesn't get religion isn't the best person to be teaching theology?

[ it's delivered carefully, neutrally - which almost makes it less clear just how unexpectedly bitchy of a move that was. ]

Look. Did you ever run into any real a-holes when you were in high school? You had to have, right? The kinds of people who take your lunch money, and flush your notebooks, and play keep away? Because those... jerks, are some of god's favorite people. They're teaching you a lesson about life, and what god wants from you, or something like that. You think they've ever had to worry about the devil? They're living the exact lives God wants from them.

[ the static goes uninterrupted. venus's eyes seem almost alight - bright with light, bright like the midwestern sun. a cloudless sky of cyan with rays of heat passing through. ]

I feel like I haven't been clear here. Maybe I was miswording it? Or maybe I just wasn't saying it right. I do that a lot. [ even the self-effacing seems less apologetic and more sharp, like this. it's a knife, plain and simple - and just because it's not pointing directly at anna doesn't mean it's not making itself known. ] I don't care whether we're sinners or not. Maybe I should. I probably should. But I don't, because it's a stupid unfair system to begin with. Some of the most awful people on the planet are God's little favorites, and because they're so effortlessly upright and good it doesn't matter how hard you try, or how much you work to live right, they will always, always be the ones who go to Heaven while the people who actually deserve something suffer.

[ for a single, awesome moment - full of awe, full of terror - it seems like venus's eyes might crack open at the edges. like he could just be a statue, holding back some great and terrifying secret within. the welcome sack with his radio shifts, whines; a light radiates through the fabric.

and then venus sighs, irritated and frustrated, and shakes his head, and the illusion dies.
]

Sorry. For being rude, and for the noise. I just... forgot to turn my radio off, is all.

[ he kneels down, fiddling with the bag and bringing out... a radio, apparently. it doesn't look like any radio from earth, though. it's glowing slightly - right up until he detaches a wire, and flips it over a different loop, and it just dies away. ]
Edited 2022-10-14 23:47 (UTC)
hauntedsavior: (⚡ our shields were all but shattered)

[personal profile] hauntedsavior 2022-10-15 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
[it's easy to get on the defensive. it's easy to hear that she "doesn't get religion" and be viscerally offended. could someone who doesn't get religion do this?, she asks, and feels a sense of reverence and devotion towards an undeserving father-god. but maybe this is good for him. maybe it's good to get the anger and bitterness out. because the more he talks, the more anna realizes that they're on the same page.]

[she hears the static. she ignores it the first time, but the second time, when it gets both their attention, she can't. she looks down and watches him fiddle with it, and it's the first hint that anna's gotten that her companion might be from one of those worlds that matches hers only, like, 99% of the way. but she'll take 99%. it's good enough for dove soap.]


Tell me about the radio. I didn't think you'd be able to pick anything up out here, over the ocean and an entire world away from any kind of radio tower.

[she leaves the rest of that where it is. she doesn't want to confront someone she agrees with. but she'd looked uncomfortable the entire time, and it should be obvious that this is a deflection. she knows it's obvious; she's practically counting on it.]

What's it picking up, anyway?
wingstosee: (neutral)

[personal profile] wingstosee 2022-10-15 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
It's... a radio. You know, like the Scouts use? [ he squints at it, fiddling a crystal diode. ] Even if it's a way crappier one than the real Scouts would ever use. Not the crappy second-string ones like us, the ones who get crystodyne diodes and transformation sequences.

[ and if that doesn't just create more questions. but he's allowing the deflection, and grabbing on himself to it, so maybe that's for the best. ]

It's probably not picking up anything. It's just interference, you know? Background radiation, or some weird wave from the sun that got stuck near some foil or something. [ a beat. he hesitates - is it even worth bringing up to her at this point? - then sighs. doesn't matter. it'll come up eventually. ] ...it's not God, if that's what you're wondering. I avoid 109.8 unless I really have to. Plus I already tried praying when I got here, and He didn't say a word.

[ which means either it's some weird background radiation, or it's the devil. and he already knows which he's decided it must be. because if the light of god isn't here in this place, how can the shadow of man be cast? ]
hauntedsavior: (⚡ take the wind and the snow)

[personal profile] hauntedsavior 2022-10-15 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Huh. I thought I saw Him in the video. [she mutters it. it's, like most things, a shitty joke for her and for nobody else. but what else is she supposed to say when someone tells her that god is in the radio?]

We don't have these where I'm from. I think you and are from the same place most of the way, but we definitely don't have radios that can talk to god, or... the Scouts, or whatever. I mean, we have preachers and stuff, but that's as close as it gets.

[she looks at the radio carefully, like it's something she should recognize. like it's something that got plucked from her own body and that's how YoRHa units are meant to have a conscience.]

You can really talk to god on that thing? Back home, I mean. Direct line to him?
wingstosee: (curiosity)

[personal profile] wingstosee 2022-10-15 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know what that means?

[ but that's hardly anything, compared to the stuff she says after that. no radios? no talking to god? no scouts? what the heck is any of that supposed to mean? ]

Yeah. He's 109.8 FM. You just kind of tune it there and pray. You really just... Can't hear him? Like, at all?
hauntedsavior: (⚡ with their sights in heaven)

[personal profile] hauntedsavior 2022-10-15 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
[anna shakes her head.]

That's a dead frequency where I'm from, as far as I know. But we don't really use the radio anymore, either. Anyone who says they can talk to god, the world usually says that they're crazy, hearing voices... unless they have money, and then they get to host Sunday morning TV shows about faith healing.

[the commercialism of christianity is another topic. she doesn't have too strong an opinion on it, but only because her other opinions on supersets of that sort of thing are too strong on their own.]

Or maybe he just doesn't talk to me because I'm down to, like, three or four Commandments I haven't broken and I lost DM privileges.
wingstosee: (curiosity)

[personal profile] wingstosee 2022-10-15 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. That's... kind of messed up? I don't really know how to feel about that, I guess.

[ a world where belief in god, hearing god, means you're crazy. is that... good?? or the worst??? he has no idea-

wait.
]

Wait, people still believe in Him? [ he just sounds baffled, at this point. ] Wait, so, He doesn't talk, and you can't hear His voice, and He doesn't even answer when you pray, like...

[ he connects the diode with one hand, with a flare of static the radio comes back on - quieter, this time, though there's an odd hum as the antenna in his hand lights up in a burst of yellow heat. ]

So you have literally no proof He's real? He's just... an idea where you're from?
hauntedsavior: (⚡ living in the dawning of a sacred sky)

[personal profile] hauntedsavior 2022-10-15 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
[now he's getting it.]

I mean, we have the Bible, if you believe that he wrote it. But no, it's all... like, all of it is faith. You have faith that whatever god you pray to is listening when you do it, and you have faith that he'll know enough about you to punish the unworthy and reward the worthy, and you just live your whole life like that.

[and as bitter as she is about her own personal experience with religion, this is where her tone starts to get kinder. or perhaps just less like she's straining the words through the fine mesh between her teeth.]

For a lot of people, in whatever religion, that's enough. And I don't want to say that they're stupid or anything for going on faith, so don't get me wrong. It's just that... for me, I don't like it. Now that I have some distance from it, it starts feeling like a threat after a while. You know, "be a good little girl or Jesus will see and you'll have to confess your sins if you want to get into heaven".

[she makes a jerking off motion with her far hand while her eye spies the antenna lighting up.]

I should be careful. He could be listening to me right now.
Edited 2022-10-15 12:12 (UTC)
doghouses: (📻 you should know)

[personal profile] doghouses 2022-10-15 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Ah. That does kind of lift his mood a bit more, actually. All things considered, it's actually kind of nice to just make terrible puns.]

...Hands down, the best compliment I've gotten.
doghouses: (📻 you know our love)

[personal profile] doghouses 2022-10-15 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
I know. But I'm still relieved, all the same.

I'm not far from the beach. This area where they have set up some kind of festivities? I don't really know. They're serving cider, I think. I haven't had any.


[Because honestly he has no idea what to trust right now.]
doghouses: (📻 always on my mind)

[personal profile] doghouses 2022-10-15 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
[That sound.

For a split second, Harry is 18 years younger. Officer Cybil Bennet has just left, and he's preparing to leave himself to find Cheryl. The radio, what's going on with that radio, and the window bursts in with a terrible winged creature--

He breathes, and he's back in the present. He barely remembers there's a boy here, but that immediately becomes more of his concern. It has become less of a need to defend himself and another need to ensure this boy is safe. Harry isn't as young as he used to be, but he's ready to square up.]


I don't think he's going to give me much of a choice, kid.

[And the mutilated, scarred up man is ensuring that is the case, spitting and hissing more like a creature than a human being, stumbling forward toward the both of them.

That, too, is far too familiar.]
shiro2hero: (AND NOODLES??? SCORE)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2022-10-15 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
[Shiro just - can't breathe. He has to hold his hand up in a surrendering gesture, trying to calm himself down enough to say actual words.]

Anyone who can keep up with me gets... thumbs up.
wingstosee: (iseethedevil)

[personal profile] wingstosee 2022-10-15 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
He's not the problem!

[ the radio's whine grows louder, louder, louder - and finally the boy stumbles to a stop, holding an antenna and one hand and a crystal radio in the other. at least, it's something like an antenna and radio. the wires on the radio proper writhe and wriggle, like something alive; the antenna bends and sways, a searing light glowing off it as the boy holds it aloft.

and just in time, as well. the man lurches forward - or tries to, at least. he doesn't make it very far. the insects divebomb him once again, swarming and stinging and dragging him down. he shrieks, an unearthly wail that sounds more at home in the radio's static than any sort of human body.
]

They're... They don't attack. [ the boy pants, quietly whispering lines of something under his breath - just loud enough to be audible, if harry listens through the static. the lord is my shepherd, and forgive them their trespasses, and though the lord's light casts the shadow of the devil i will stand against him. and then he speaks again, louder this time. ] The bugs, I mean. They're just after those- things.

[ a few of the insects peel off, flying dangerously close; the boy whimpers, closing his eyes but holding his makeshift torch aloft. the bugs buzz and whine and snap, and then...

just like that, they return to the screaming zealot.
]

See? [ he doesn't sound like he entirely believes it. ] It's... It's fine. We're fine.
doghouses: (pic#16012919)

[personal profile] doghouses 2022-10-15 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
[Honestly, he truly wishes this was the most horrifying, worst thing he'd ever seen, but it isn't. It doesn't make him feel any less sick, watching the insects swarm their target, but there is something twisted about thinking well at least it isn't me.

It's a terrible thought. He tries to shake it off.

Harry looks at the boy, then down to his radio, suddenly more wary of that. Then, he looks back up to him.]


We should get out of here, then. Before they decide we ought to join him.
doghouses: (Default)

[personal profile] doghouses 2022-10-15 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
[It's terribly charming. If nothing else, despite how incredibly messed up the past 24 hours have been, this is kind of okay with him.

Harry, unable to toss away the Potentially Useful Item, keeps it for now as he approaches the other man. He offers his hand for a shake, decisively not the prosthetic he's opted to claim.]


Can't help but throw those jokes off the cuff.

[tee-hee]

Harry. Just woke up not long ago, trying to get myself sorted. Think you could help me out for a bit?
wingstosee: (ohwow)

[personal profile] wingstosee 2022-10-15 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
Right! Right, yeah. Just... run away.

[ he double checks - once over his shoulder, to see if they've got a way to go, and then once to harry's eyes. he sure acts human, at least. bright blue cyan eyes, wide and panicked, meet the older man's. ]

Alright. On three, okay?
shiro2hero: (im so proud of u nerd)

[personal profile] shiro2hero 2022-10-15 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
[That's kind of a mutual feeling right there, buddy. Then again, in Trench, "messed up" tends to be... relative. Still, Shiro's choking down his laughter, even as he takes Harry's hand.]

[Hand in... metal hand.]


Thank you. I - guess I really needed that. [To say the least.] Shiro. I've been here a long time. Happy to help.
itknowsyou: (!/-+ everyone's a sinner)

[personal profile] itknowsyou 2022-10-15 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
He doesn't really know what to do with his hands, at this point: Jon clings clumsily, reluctant to let go, even with Martin's robe seeping oceanwater up his sleeves. They shiver together, like that, both blind and shameless with the relief of it.

"No, I..." He breathes a laugh, shaky and incredulous. There's a cracked note in it, only a few steps shy of hysteria: Martin put a knife through his heart, and they came back as squid. "Well, I'm no more dead than you. And we're both alive enough to be here, for better or worse."

For weeks he's paced this shore, and the cobblestone streets, grasping at threads of memory. For weeks he's felt it just beyond his reach, feverish with nearly knowing. Martin has hung just out of sight like a ghost. It could have gone on for years; it could have gone on forever. (He can half-remember places like that, crowded in at that same edge of his awareness, a hundred Lonely hells of never quite remembering.)

But they made it. They're here. They've washed up somewhere else.
faceblocks: (reflection)

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-10-15 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
[vi laughs - she can afford to in this moment, she hardly has to think. her feet do the work - the rest of her body picks up the slack, and she's leaping a path to a tall building with a clear view of one of the busiest parts of the machine, a narrow alley beside it. but she doesn't jump into the alley, nor make her way down at all. when she reaches the building she stands a moment longer, watching the people below, small from this perspective, and parks her butt on the rooftop, drawing her knees up.]

First week here, I wouldn't use a lamp, except with Alay---Sansa. I use 'em now, but I like this better sometimes. Some places don't have any roofs, and buildings are ...sparse, and it's too far to walk or [scoff] take a carriage. You'd be fine, though.

[a nod to his board. and a loaded, concerned sigh escapes her before she even thinks to check it. that's the problem - her guard's just ...down. he's family. he's always been family. and now he's here to witness this whole mess.]

This is my second favorite place, or maybe third.

[as if on cue, there's a shout from below as someone bolts and another gives chase. cries of 'thief' and 'stop! give that back!' are lost, eventually, and no one seems to give it much thought after a moment - everything returning to its regular and chaotic pace below: just with more facepaint.]

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