[log] i can't think of a good post title [closed]

[bywolves]

Characters: Tifa, Royce, Emily, Quark, Watson, Al
Location: The hospital
Date: Day 159!
Summary: Event shenanigans, definitely. Reunions, good and bad.
Warnings: Will be marked in individual threads!

Post your starters at will!

Comments

[jumpthegun]

[There's just been too much that's happened in the past week. John's casebook and all its secrets had been spilled all over the network on Day 155. He'd gotten into arguments with both Alfie and Tony on Day 156. Day 157 had brought news of Alfie's death. Day 158 was a reminder not only of Alfie's death, but news of Beckett's death, then the anomaly that evening. And now, of course, the day's been filled with static, with the Joker threatening the prophet, with the fear that he's completely alone, that this is all in his head, and he's just gone mad. That feeling has abated along with the effects of the static, but his perceptions are still off, and there's still that dread there.

What if this isn't real? What if his eyes are the problem? What if-

John gives himself a mental jerk. Worrying himself into a tizzy isn't going to help anything. He starts searching the nursery rooms for supplies and finds a surprisingly good haul, picking out a surgical mask and cap, forceps, and then a magnifying glass.

He can be found using that to try to examine some of the static-y walls, his own hands and person, and anything else in the nearby vicinity. He probably looks a bit silly.]

[armoured]

[Unlike most of the others who have split up with the arrival of the static, perhaps too unnerved by it to want to face the possibility of their sole existence, Al is actively seeking people out.

Some part of him is convinced they're not real, but he's fighting it as hard as he can. He just keeps reminding himself of when Barry the Chopper made him believe that he wasn't real, and how much that had hurt. How much he had hurt Ed because of that false belief. He has to try and cling to believing these people are real.

Watson is the first person he comes across in his search for others, but he hesitates on approaching because surely his eyes are deceiving him.]

What are you doing?

[jumpthegun]

[The tone, more than the question, makes John drop his hand down and spin around, half-hiding the magnifying glass behind his back like he's just been caught doing something he oughtn't do. Here's another one of the people who aren't real. No. No, Al is real. They really fought off an anomaly together yesterday.]

Uh. [He's silent for a moment, resisting the urge to say 'nothing.'] Just looking around. Trying to see if different angles or filters helps the static. If it's all in our eyes, y'know?

[armoured]

And does it help?

[He takes a step closer, but he keeps a larger distance between them than he ever had before, he's wary now of someone who might not be real.]

[jumpthegun]

Not really, no. [Al's whole body covers over with static, And John tries not to flinch back from that and the appearance of a giant anomaly. That's Al. It's Al, and he's real. There's a drawn out pause.]

Mm... I wish... closing our eyes could fix this. Some of the things people are saying, though, it's like there's static. A bad transmission.

[bywolves]

[ Watson's examining things, and Royce is just watching, from a few feet away. In fact, he doesn't say anything at all, which might be creepy considering the static is still around, here and there. He pulls his cloak closer and wonders if it actually is Watson that's standing there, or if he's about to get eaten by an anomaly.

He finds he doesn't really care. Enjoy the small, cloaked man staring at you from under his hood, Watson. ]

[jumpthegun]

[The small, cloaked man is tolerated for a good few minutes before John can't help it.]

It's Watson, Duster. Is there's something you wanted to talk about?

[Apart from the world going mad and Alfie being dead and everything being awful?]

[bywolves]

[ So it is him. Royce doesn't say anything for a few more moments, just moves up closer to stand next to Watson near the wall, staring up at it. Alfie's gone. He's been gone for a few days. Probably isn't coming back. ]

Solomons liked you. [ Royce says finally. His voice is soft and flat, devoid of emotion. He's not sure where he's going with this, either. Just maybe feels like maybe Watson might know how much it sucks that Alfie isn't here. ]

[bywolves]

[ Royce arrives in the afternoon, and he's a bit of a mess. Or a lot of a mess. The past few days he's had has drained a lot of life out of him, and by the time he stumbles in through the door, he's ready to collapse. Emily is there and then she isn't, and it's been happening that way for a few hours, and Royce feels alone, alone, alone.

He's not real, Solomons was never real - Tifa and Emily, they're not...

He finds a place to hide, for a while, until the worst of it passes. He can be found during this point, but won't be the easiest to talk to.

Later, when things have worn off a little, he just lurks around each floor until lockdown. The hospital is a big place and he doesn't have to talk to people if he doesn't want to. It's not that he doesn't want to, even, it's just that he's so distant, so not all there - has a hard time shaking off the effects of the static, as it lingers.

One can find him rooting through drawers, cabinets - or standing, in the middle of a room, staring at the wall with his head tilted back just a little. It's a little Blair Witch. ]

[armoured]

[Al has taken to roaming too.

It's a restless sort of need to find something real, to prove to himself that he's not just alone in an endless sea of snow going mad. He needs an anchor, he needs people, and for that he's willing to go to just about anyone, friend or stranger.

A burst of static catches his eye, before forming into a man rooting through some cabinets.]

Excuse me?

[His voice sounds so loud to his own ears in the silence.]

Are you-- are you actually there?

[bywolves]

[ Royce jumps about six feet when Al speaks up - he doesn't mean to, he'd just... gotten used to thinking he was alone. Stupid. He's stupid, he needs to pay attention to his surroundings. It's hard to find the effort to care.

And even so, he's still full of energy, energy that buzzes wrong and terrible and contrasting with the paranoia and sense of loneliness. Royce stares at Al, that energy buzzing uncomfortably under his skin as he shifts his grip on one of his makeshift shivs. Can't stab a man in full armor. Doesn't work. ]

Yes. What do you want. [ It's barely even a question - more an accusation. ]

[armoured]

[He can't see what Royce is holding exactly, but he knows the stance of a man ready to fight if necessary. It makes him instinctively react in kind, his stance shifting subtly into something more ready for a fight.]

I just--

[He can't say he wasn't sure if he was real, it sounds so pathetic even in his head.]

I was wondering if you were okay, you look kind of on edge.

[powersouls]

[By the time Tifa tracks down Royce again, she's practically given up on having any sort of meaningful conversation with anyone tonight. It's hard when your conversational partner refuses to stop disappearing, and when everything sounds overlaid with static. There's that crawling unease in the back of Tifa's mind, the question of if anyone else is really here at all, but she's doing her best to ignore it. If she thinks about it too much, if she really considers it, she's going to start panicking.

Royce is jumpy at the best of times, so when she finds him digging through the drawers, she calls out to him quietly, although the words hum with interference.]

Royce? It's just me.

[bywolves]

[ The static is getting to Royce, too - it makes him think of right after the dreams, way back when he first got here. The static stuck in his ears for what felt like days. Not a fond memory. When Tifa calls for him, with static here and there in the undertone of her voice, he tenses up and looks over his shoulder, broom ready to swing.

It's just her. Probably. ]

What, Tifa. [ He asks, but his voice is flat and awful. He can't muster up the effort to sound like a human being when he feels like this. ]

[powersouls]

[He's not doing great. Neither is Tifa, and here's their issue: Tifa is desperate to be around people when she's upset, and Royce tends to shut down and clam up. She doesn't want to push him, but she doesn't want to be alone, either, and she's far more comfortable with him and Emily than she is anyone else. Tifa hesitates for a second, toying with the end of her braid uncertainly.]

Can I stay with you for a little bit?

[empireofrats]

[The distortion is pretty terrifying for Emily. She tries her best for a while to talk to Royce and the rest, but they keep fading, and their voices don't come in clear if at all.

She gives up finally and instead busies herself with piddling around the first floor to keep her mind off the scratchy tearing of the world around her. The labor delivery ward is interesting if only because it's familiar by age. Young. Being born.

She can be found squated down digging through cabinets and the like, most places adults wouldn't think to search unless they are thorough. She probably scares a couple of people, popping into existence, ripping at the edges, low on the ground. Whoops! (They probably startle her, too. If so, she'll scream gently, an ear-piercing shred of static.)

At some point, she also tries to call Tony Stark, so her voice can be heard in and out speaking at the tablet.

At the worst of the event, she packs herself into a cabinet just big enough for her and her bag, the tablet in her lap and the only source of light. If others are searching, they may stumble upon her hiding.]

[armoured]

[Focusing is the name of the game here.

If he can just keep going, keep focusing, then he'll make it through this. He'll find someone else that's real and prove to himself that he's not just-- lost. The worst part is that part of his mind wants to be alone, because then it will mean seeing Ed die, seeing his friends die, it won't have been real.

He's feverishly opening and closing cabinets and drawers when all of a sudden he opens a set of doors and there's a girl inside. An actual little girl. He jolts in shock, armour clanking loudly, before he reaches out a hand for her. Real or not, some instincts can't be suppressed and she looks so scared.]

Hey-- what are you doing in there? Are you hurt?

[empireofrats]

[Al startles Emily, though half of her jump of horror and her gasp of shock is swallowed up by the static and the distortion.

In the armor, Al very much seems like what Emily would imagine a monster to be. Under different circumstances, Al would be a grand curiosity she could investigate--but here, now: Al is her death.] No! [The reaching hand is definitely to grab her isn't it?]

Get away! [She grabs the bottom edge of the cabinet doors and yanks while moving her hands away, slamming it closed around his hand.]

[armoured]

[He's startled himself when she reacts so vehemently, jumping so that all the metal on him makes a series of crashes that echo loudly. But he doesn't move his hand out of the way, meaning it gets trapped in the door when she slams it.]

HEY!

[OW!]

Please, I'm not here to hurt you, don't be scared of me.

[bywolves]

[ He loses track of where Emily is, and it's the first thing that makes him feel like panicking that he's felt in a while. It makes him - well, it makes him feel, and he chases that, letting his heart thud in his ears and his breath come a little quicker as he tries to look for her.

She pops into existence for him just about the same time that he should pop into existence for her. The static buzzes loud and jarring, and Royce says, a little more sharply than he intends: ] Emily.

[ And then she screams, and he winces, practically sinking down into the floor. ]

[empireofrats]

[The sharp screech of her name makes her yell. Only after does she realize whatever it is has half fallen to the floor, and she takes that opportunity to flee. That's what Royce and Alfie had told her to do. That's what Corvo had told her to do, too.

Just run--monsters here won't stop for anything else.

She blinks out, leaving behind the outline of her before it vanishes, too. Fortunately, the sound of her little feet pounding the floor as she runs is enough Royce could follow her.]

[bywolves]

[ No, don't run - don't go. Royce's expression breaks for about a second when she screams and runs, but he recovers just as fast. He can hear her running at least, still, and so he follows, hood falling back as he chases after her. He doesn't yell for her again, doesn't do anything but try to catch up.

Instead, when he finally thinks he's close, he says: ] Emily - Emily, stop, it's me. [ To try and get her to stop, reaching where he thinks she might be and trying to swallow his heart back down to his chest, hating the way his voice tightens, upset, when he tries to get her attention. ]

[powersouls]

[Tifa is doing her best to keep it together, if only for Emily and Royce, even though this entire thing has her on edge. There's a part of her, a part of her she's trying desperately to ignore, that keeps telling her that none of this is real, that none of it matters, and she wonders if this is how Cloud felt when he still couldn't remember who he was.

Sometime during the night, Emily disappears and doesn't blink back into existence. She must have wandered off, and Tifa, ever the worrier, sets off to find her, dog plush in hand. The only reason Tifa even finds her is because the glow of the tablet is shining through the cracks in the cabinet door. It's practically a beacon compared to the pitch black of the rest of the hospital.]

Emily? Is that you?

[empireofrats]

[A little peep of staticky noise comes muffled from behind the cabinet:]

If you really are a monster, just leave me alone.

[powersouls]

It's just me. Tifa.

[Not very comforting when her words are hard to make out through all that static.]

Are you okay?