[network] @claytonator; BODIES AND MONSTERS; day 022 [open] [dismemberment mention?]

[dr_unconscious]

afternoon - video

[The camera comes on to the dim interior of the abandoned school, focused on a nearby spot on the floor. There's nothing there, but there's plenty of other things to notice. Primarily, the heavy distortion of the film itself; it's stretched almost to the point that it's unrecognizable and frequently flickers in and out of focus. At the points where things seem to align and the video is reasonably coherent, Clayton's panicked, gasping breaths come through in the background. It sounds like he's trying to calm down. He's not doing a good job of calming down.]

[The tablet is given a firm shake, as if attempting to resolve the apparent camera abnormalities, then Clayton gives up and shuts it off.]

afternoon - text

[Thankfully, Clayton doesn't let this video stand alone for too long after he posts it.]

Sorry about that--thought I saw something. The air isn't right here.

[And that's putting it lightly. A hallucination that vivid and alarming isn't something Clayton can brush off so easily, especially after experiencing something similar the day before in the school's kitchens. It's recurring. That's a problem.]

[He would think it's a personal problem, if Enoch wasn't experiencing the same sorts of things.]

Who else has been to the school? What have you seen or heard while there that you would consider "abnormal," if anything?

slightly before lockdown - video

[It's much later in the day when Clayton turns on the camera again, and in significantly more dire circumstances. The video is trained on his face this time--he looks flushed and exhausted, like he just ran a marathon, and he's only now letting himself relax and slide the rest of the way down the wall of the sports shed. Other feet and voices murmur and shuffle in the background as three other people position themselves in the tight quarters. Clayton's eyes flicker to them with a look of immense relief.]

[There's a loud thump at the door, followed by distinctive scratching noises. Clayton's expression sobers.]

Alright... [Pant, pant. He quickly swipes a hand over his brow.] ...I got good news and I got bad news.

Bad news is, we ain't lost them shadows yet. [There's another round of clawing at the shed's door to verify this.] If any a y'all 're in the school, run. Don't you come to the shed t' the west. It ain't safe out there. Pack up what yer doin' an' head north 'r south. You ain't got much time.

[He lets that hang in the air for a few moments.]

...Good news! [Clayton chuckles giddily and his mouth twitches into a tired smile.] They ain't that smart. Enoch 'n I just gave one the runaround outside. If you get one of ya to lead 'em, the other can head in an' get the door--trick 'em 'fore they know what's happenin'.

Anybody else runnin' into these things out there? If they're gettin' bolder, we oughta start travelin' 'n pairs. Safer that way.

[He pauses again to finish catching his breath and adds a couple more airy laughs for good measure. The monster continues thumping against the door. Clayton is clearly too relieved to notice.]

Y'all be careful out there. Keep in touch.

[And the feed ends.]

Comments

@TW; text; afternoon

[maskintape]

[ Oh no. Oh god no. No no no no no. First Clarke, and now Clayton. Two people suffering from hallucinations shortly after spending time in close proximity to Tim.

He's still contagious. Alarmingly so. And what's worse is that even dying isn't going to keep him from spreading the sickness now. ]

are you okay? what did you see

text

[dr_unconscious]

[Clayton, completely oblivious to Tim's panic, interprets his questions as entirely reasonable concern and curiosity.]

I'm alright. Nobody's hurt, thank goodness.

[...He doesn't want to type the second answer. The entire message is sent with a significant delay as a result.]

I saw a child's head.

[maskintape]

[ A child's head. Oh, good. At least it wasn't the tall thing itself, that would waiT WHAT ]

like
a severed head right
not just a kid peeking from around a corner or w/e?

have you been hallucinating a lot lately

@Spoiler; text

[spoileralert]

[ Steph has heard about the school, but she's never been there herself. But she has experienced that wrongness, the sense that you have to leave a place before something terrible happens. ]

When you say the air isn't right, what exactly do you mean?

text

[dr_unconscious]

Like it was at the graveyard next to the church. It feels wrong here. I don't really know a better way to describe it. Not quite the same oppressiveness of the church or the funeral home, but I wouldn't want to try and stay here for more than a few hours if I didn't have to, either.

text

[spoileralert]

Yeah, that's what it felt like at the vet's office too. I wonder what it means...

action;

[sageprincess]

[Well. That was certainly a thing. As things settle down, Zelda offers the clawing and banging at the door a bit more concern, but... for better or for worse, the doors in this town have proven to be impervious to damage. She supposes she should be thankful for it this time.

Her attention turns to Clayton as he finishes his broadcast. Of course the monsters aren't gone, that would be too simple. A part of her questions the wisdom of traveling in pairs if the creatures are still drawn to those who turned on the beacon (and the way that many-eyed monster was gunning for Clayton more than Enoch suggests they are, though Zelda has no way of knowing that), but she bites her tongue. Even if she could convince Clayton otherwise, she doubts she'll ever be able to shake Link off now.]

Not quite the reunion I had expected...

[It seems like it's been an age since they opened that locked door together, even if it's only been about ten days. Digging around in her new oversized duffel bag, Zelda produces a bottle of water, which she offers to Clayton.]

Are you all right?

[tapferkeit]

[ Link pants slightly as he gets his breath back, moving his frying pan back to his pack as he does so. These things couldn't be fought - at least not bluntly with that thing - but he felt better with a weapon in his hand when enemies were nearby. Giving them a runaround was what was best now.

In a way, it reminds him of sneaking into the castle. Only... less exciting, and more deadly. At least he got to see Zelda at the end of both.

He moves away from the door when Zelda opens her duffel bag, setting his pack down and opening it to reveal some of the food he'd nabbed. The hunger clawing at his stomach sharpens at the sight, but he takes it out to offer to the others they'd be bunking with.

Clayton gets a small nod. Enoch nets a measuring look, but he's still proffered some canteen supplies.

And Zelda, obviously. ]

[warriorscribe]

[Enoch holds the door closed, too; they'd gone for it at the same time as soon as both of them were back inside. He gives Clayton a shaky smile of I can't believe we're alive before he feels Link's eyes on him. He looks up to see food being offered to him.]

Ah-...

[He has plenty of his own food, he and Clayton had both filled up on it in the school. But adrenaline still running high and his own upbringing make it hard to refuse. This is a different sort of harsh environment, but now more than ever the rule of hospitality is deeply ingrained in him.]

Thank you. [He takes the food Link has offered, then goes back to leaning his shoulder against the door. For once, curfew couldn't come fast enough.] I'll give you some of mine in return when this door locks.

[In the meantime...Zelda had called this a "reunion". He is completely unaware she and Link had been on the other side of the wall where he'd died right here.]

So, then...you all know one another?

@AK | text

[loopofunhappiness]

What did you think you saw?

text

[dr_unconscious]

[VERY LONG PAUSE. Clayton doesn't want to talk specifics, but it's kind of unavoidable after the big stink he raised, isn't it?]

A child's head. Enoch saw something, too. We've both heard clear, distinct voices around here at different times.

[MORE PAUSES. Clayton recognizes the username. This is the guy who found them in the painting shack, right? That's close to the school. Maybe he has some idea of what's happening.]

Have you been in the school? Seen or heard anything similar?

[loopofunhappiness]

[FALSE ALARM FALSE ALARM

NO SPOOKY TREE MEN, TIME TO RELAX]

I visited the school earlier.
I thought I heard footsteps the entire time, but when I went over the footage I recorded, there was nothing there.

Also, when you say you saw a child's head, are you talking like a decapitated head?
Or just a disembodied ghost head or something.

{ voice to text; afternoon | @Lavellan }

[carrywithyou]

What do you mean when you say the air isn't right? Do you mean stale?

text

[dr_unconscious]

[The bearer of bad news, it is him.]

Worse than that, I'm afraid. Have you been to the church or the funeral home yet?

[carrywithyou]

I haven't. Why?

voice ; @d.malfoy

[alphaophiuchi]

[ it's later in the day that Draco responds, once he's settled in for the night (insofar as he could ever be considered to have 'settled in'. Particularly given the building he's found. But that's neither here nor there, really.

[ The point is that he doesn't like the sound of the school being even creepier than usual, nor does he like the idea of being warned away from it. He has to get there; he has to get some food for a change. ]

What if you have to get to that bloody school? What do you expect those people to do?

voice

[dr_unconscious]

[Fair question, if presented a little crassly. Thankfully Clayton is a patient person by nature and already in a good mood. His voice is bright, albeit still somewhat tired.]

Plan yer way out an' travel with somebody else t' watch yer back. I know it ain't great, but 'least we know we can trick 'em. They'll prob'ly move on soon enough.

[...Probably. It's after lockdown, but even now the sound of the monster clawing at the door can be heard in the background. God, Clayton hopes they aren't stuck in this shack for another two days. Or worse, they start hissing and biting each other again.]

[These are all things he elects not to address right now.]

You close by? We got plenty a rations 'tween all a us--could maybe hand off a few, save ya a trip.

[alphaophiuchi]

[ nothing quite like panic to drive home a bad situation, really. ]

Trick who? What exactly is in there? Obviously it's not good; I'm getting that.

[ but surely he can avoid it. Right? He hopes so. ]

I don't know. I'm...near-ish. And I still need rations of my own; I can't just... [ he sniffs thoughtfully. Really, there's no reason he can't just freeload off some group. It would probably work quite well, actually. ]

What if, because I meet up with your lot, I suddenly get those things after me as well?

voice only ID is LELRIC; evening

[armoured]

[Al had been a little busy running away from monsters himself when Clayton broadcast earlier in the day. But now, with the 'safety' of lockdown keeping the monsters outside, he's got enough time to listen and respond.]

Yeah, I know.

[He sounds frustrated, this is just making keeping people safe all that much harder.]

My friends and I ran into one in the kitchen of a house earlier today, it chased us for hours.

voice

[dr_unconscious]

[Clayton can understand this, though for the moment his focus is on oh god Al's run into them too no bad very bad and this colors his tone accordingly.]

Aw man! Y'all okay? Nobody's hurt?

[armoured]

Not seriously, just a few bumps and bruises.

[He already knows that Tadashi is okay, he's seen him on the network this morning, much to his relief.]

I tried to make sure everyone ran ahead of me so that I could make sure they stayed safe, but it didn't always work.

before lockdown; audio; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

You don't have to tell me twice about those things. Me and Lancer were there just a few days back. [ To the point that he's really taking that pounding in stride. He remembers the night he spent at the equipment shed. Although the creatures at least eventually went away... Just took 'em a bit.

Speaking of them... ]

By the way, don't know if you learned the hard way, but there's something about them. If they get really close to you, they have some kind of scentless odor, I think. Makes you sick to your stomach.

audio

[dr_unconscious]

Yeah, I hear ya. Real unpleasant, whatever it is.

[Yes, the sickness, having sat on the other side of the door from one of these things for two days has made him very aware of the sickness and he has his own theories about it, but his priorities have been thoroughly distracted from that. Clayton's voice becomes laced with sudden anxiety.]

--You 'n Lancer were here? In the shed? An' they tracked the both a y'all down to it?

@ms.Detective; voice - evening

[demisse]

The situation here... I didn't know it was that bad.

Monsters--I wonder where they play into all of this?

voice

[dr_unconscious]

[Oh dear, this isn't the best impression to be setting for the new people--especially someone who sounds fairly young. Not gonna pull another Quark with this one. Not today.]

Now I know it's bad, but it ain't so bad that we can't do nothin' 'bout it. [See? Optimism.] Wish I knew what the monsters were all about--might make it easier t' deal with 'em, yeah? They jus' started showin' up, 'bout...a week ago? Maybe less 'n that. Lose track sometimes, y'know?

[A beat. Clayton isn't going to allow this conversation to spiral into doom-and-gloom territory without getting all the proper niceties out of the way.]

...Don't think I've seen you around. What's yer name, Miss Detective?