[log] Event: Howl [open]

[snowblindmods]

Characters: everyone
Location: The sort of location M.C. Escher wishes he'd thought up.
Date: nights 211 & 212
Summary: I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallow'd ground
Warnings: potential for violence, death, and psychological horror; please note in subject lines if any specific warnings come up!

like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
I want to find you tear out all your tenderness

Comments

[jumpthegun]

That's not what I'm- Jesus!

[He wants to reach for Mary, make sure she's okay.

I'm not real, John. Pay attention to him. And that... thing! Get the light. Hurry!

John shakes his head, and finally focuses on the problem at hand, which is now only 5 yards away.]

It'll be on us in a few seconds. Index finger has the light.

[Alfie should be able to see it soon. He forces himself to let go of the other man's hand and prepares to punch the creature in one of its eyes as a distraction.]

[devoutish]

[Seeing it is scarier than not seeing it. Seeing it makes it real.]

Go!

[He lunges for the light, hoping to God that Watson will do a good enough job of distracting it.]

[jumpthegun]

[And John lunges for the middle finger, jumping up and over the nails and landing squarely on one of the eyes. That moment of triumph is short lived as all of the mouths open at once to scream and the hand tries to buck him off and forward into its waiting mouths.

Hopefully, Alfie can grab the light before that.]

[devoutish]

[His wrist scrapes hard against the monster's teeth, drawing blood, but his fingers close around the light and he yanks it out. The monster screams again, but it's a death scream, not a scream of anger.]

[jumpthegun]

[The creature thrashes and then stills as John falls back, half on top of the thing still. He rolls backward in the absence of knowing where the hell anywhere safe to put his hands is, and ends up on his bottom looking up and around blindly until he's drawn toward Alfie's light.]

You got it! Hah...

[He looks over at Mary and she offers him a thumbs up. On reflex, John gives her one right back. She points toward Alfie, and John redirects the gesture to him.]

I hope that looked cooler than it felt.

[devoutish]

[Alfie curls his fingers around the light, and then on impulse, holds it out to John. It feels right for him to have it.]

Very cool, yeah.

[He's not used to actually using the slang, but right now, it's apt.]

[jumpthegun]

[John can see the light and reaches for it. It's warm and comforting in his grip. It feels right having it. He feels safer.

The doctor pockets the light as he picks himself up and looks around again. The fear creeps in again as he sees red lights and more grotesque beings in the distance. He holds out his hand in the direction he thinks Alfie is.]

I can see more of them. There are a lot of them, Alfie.

[devoutish]

[Alfie takes his hand, turning in the direction that Watson is looking.]

Right. We'll need to do those next. Come on.

[jumpthegun]

[John sets them off trying to lead, but Alfie might take note that they're heading toward the edge of an apparent ravine. At the bottom is something like brown sludge. It doesn't look particularly nice to fall into.]

Where are we? I haven't been able to see a thing since I woke up... went to sleep? Lockdown happened, and then... Bloody hell, this place.

[devoutish]

Yeah.

[God, he hopes it's just another dreamworld - something that they'll wake up from no worse for wear.]

Stop, stop. There's a drop-off in front of us. Don't try to take us anywhere - let me.

[jumpthegun]

[John halts, feeling frustrated and still that fear overlaying everything else. And Mary... there had been something that thing did to Mary... to him? He tries to think of a way to address it with Alfie without telling him about Mary.

He's clever and you're really not very good at lying to him, my love. Want to risk it? She has a point.]

It's over there.

[The doctor points in the direction of the next light. It's a ways away, and they'll need to find a way around the ravine before getting there. To the left, there's a marble wall with steps that seem to be heading of toward the ceiling at an impossible angle to actually use. The area to the right is open... maybe. There's a red-tinted mist in that direction.]

Alfie, with that... thing. Did you notice anything strange about it?

[Apart from its existence.]

[devoutish]

[Across the ravine is both good and bad. It means the monster can't get to them... but if they can't get to it, then they can't do their job.]

I see a person. Is that what you're looking at? They're too far off for me to tell who they are.

[jumpthegun]

You... [John halts and just turns his head to stare blindly at Alfie. His gaze flicks to Mary for a moment and she's looking about as shocked as he feels.] You can see her?

[devoutish]

Someone off there, in the distance.

[He gestures at the figure that Watson sees as a red light.]

Who do you think it is?

[jumpthegun]

[John is blind and has no earthly idea where Alfie's pointing, unfortunately. Mary's stood away from him, but she's not that far. Had that distortion from the anomaly made her partially visible to the other man somehow?]

It's... uh. Seriously you can see her? Can you hear her?

[Mary shrugs her shoulders, giving him a look that says 'What do you want from me?' I like his beard. Looks much better on him than one would on you.]

[devoutish]

Watson, there's a person very far away from us. Yes, I can see them. I can see every fucking person I pass by. Is this important, or can we fucking move on and do what we're here to do?

[jumpthegun]

[It strikes him that Alfie likely isn't referring to Mary, at last, and John's body tenses for just a moment, aware of how close he's just come to outing himself as insane to the other man.]

Sorry. I, uh... thought they might be like the creatures, y'know? Only I could... see them. Let's go.

[Let's move on now, please?]

[devoutish]

[Alfie gives him a weird look, but nods. He can probe at that later, maybe, when things are calmer.]

Yeah. Would you like to walk toward them?

[jumpthegun]

The creatures? Yeah, yes. You're leading, right?

[John, you are literally the worst liar I know.]

[devoutish]

The person, John. Are you feeling all right?

[jumpthegun]

No. No, I mean, we shouldn't go to that person. They're red. That's dangerous. They're like me... they'll want to take me back.

[Back... where? His expression turns to one of confusion once more. He doesn't know how he knows, he just does.]

We need to focus on getting the lights. There.

[He points again across the ravine to the monster he can see.]

[devoutish]

Mm. Right.

[And Alfie turns them away from the human figure, leading Watson along the edge of the ravine, careful not to get too close.]

Where do they want to take you?

[jumpthegun]

[There's a small bridge over it, very narrow, about 30 yards ahead.]

No idea. Somewhere bad. Maybe the house where they killed Winter. They wanna kill me, too. I ran away. [A pause.] The Prophet ran away. I didn't.

[devoutish]

Nobody's gonna kill you, mate.

[Not with Alfie there to protect him.

Spotting the bridge, he grimaces, but starts steering them in that direction.]

I see how we're gonna cross. It's not gonna be pleasant.

[jumpthegun]

I'll take your word for it.

[The driest of dry humor.]

And I'm really not sure there's much you'll be able to do if we run into a group of cultists, mate. Just run. I can do the same.