Test Drive Meme #10

[hadrielmods]

Welcome to Hadriel's test drive, and thank you again for your interest in the game! As always, our reserves page is here, and our applications page is here! Reserves open June 24th, and apps are open July 1st.

Two quick points here as well:

1. Any thread made in Hadriel's test drive will be accepted as the sole Action Log sample in the application.
2. All threads made in the test drive can be considered game canon, either through handwaving or through a shared mental experience while coming through the Door!

Test drives will be broken up into specific god mini-events, during which your characters can see how well they fare under the watchful eye of one of the gods. Choose wisely or just simply pick 'em all, and have fun!

F E A R

SCENARIO ONE: UNBEARABLE
[The Door brings in all that is chaotic and evil in the world. This may include you, may include the person next to you... and may include the monster behind you.

Watch out as you explore the streets of Hadriel, because you're not alone, and there's always something lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect chance to swarm around you and chow down. This time, the Door has brought in several bereskarn, from the Dragon Age video game series.

While they were once normal bears, these hideous creatures have been corrupted by the Blight into something terrible. They are larger than normal bears and have bone spikes jutting out through their skin, which leaves them with constantly bleeding wounds. They are easily enraged, and will attack fiercely if agitated. Have fun!]

SCENARIO TWO: CLAMOROUS CAVES
[Wow, it sure is weirdly foggy out, considering there's no weather in Hadriel. The sun's dim, the light's strange, and hey - is that an air raid siren? Oh shit.

Welcome to Silent Hill, Hadriel edition. When the siren sounds, the city changes into a twisted, darker version of itself, teeming with monsters and looking like something straight out of your nightmares. And if you're really unlucky, there might be a monster lurking in there just for you, your own personal demon ready to hunt you down. Let's hope you can stay alive until the city changes back!

This is a mini version of our Silent Hill event this month!]


R A G E

SCENARIO THREE: NO FLAMES PLZ
[This morning you woke up to a letter on your doorstep, addressed to you. Curious, since there's no mail delivery in Hadriel. Upon opening it, you discovered a carefully written letter containing a brutal takedown of something that means a lot to you. Something you really care about

Maybe they're trashing your favorite sports team. Maybe they're calling your hometown a trash pit full of hipsters. Maybe they're saying your boyfriend has weird hair. Or maybe it's worse than that - maybe they're saying that everything you've been working for is a complete waste of time, and you're an idiot for trying. Whatever it is, it's calculated just right to piss you off, and piss you off real bad. And hey. That letter's signed.

Maybe somebody will come by and talk you down - or maybe the person who comes by is the one who's name is on that letter, even if it might not quite be in their handwriting. What're you gonna do? Fight them? Lay an elaborate trap? Try not to let it get to you and talk it out like adults? Yeah right. Time for a reckoning.]

Comments

suzanna (six) moon. oc.

[pinpoints]

THEY SAY HELLO, THEY SAY HOLA AND THEY SAY BONJOUR | entrance
[ Oh god.

Oh god

Ohgodohgodohgod--

She was just trying to find the exit. Or at least a charge point for her fucking laptop. Not a fucking bear.

God, that was a bear, right? It was a really fucking big and scary bear and Six has never seen a bear outside of the television because she's a fucking normal person, dammit. She isn't fucking Bear Grylls.

She's also an eighteen year old girl in a pair of five inch stilettos and tight leather jeans that were not made for running.

The scream that she lets loose is truly massive though.

And maybe she'll try running. And maybe she'll fail massively on this unfamiliar ground, tripping over herself and possibly rolling into someone as a result of that rather spectactular fall. ]

Someone HELP. [ Goddammit, this was not her life. ]

I'M PISSED I NEVER GOT TO FLY ON A CONCORDE | rage
[ Six.
Get over Twelve already. You look like a fucking moron mooning over the straightest girl in existence. She don't like ya like that! The only girls she ever snogs are those she meets after 12 (haha) fucking shots. And she's in fucking prison. You don't want to fuck a prison bitch, trust me. (And you KNOW we aren't getting them out. Stop fucking collaborating with One, he's a fucking moron.)

Do yourself a favour and go fuck someone already. JESUS.
- Seven

Maybe a neighbour will hear the screech of frustration at this letter, as it goes through all the reasons Six will never, ever, get what she wants. Or who may be more accurate. Or maybe they just get the letter thrown at their feet. Or their face. Whatever. They're probably going to have to run to catch up with the high-heeled girl stalking her way out. Where she's going she doesn't even know, but that was fucking too far and if Seven is here, Six is gonna verbally kick some ass.

Dickwipe. ]

[outwards]

Stay where you are.

[Boots come towards her and then turn into breeches and a searching face as Aredhel kneels down to check on the fallen woman very quickly, to see how she is and if she will listen to her.]

I will ensure that this beast cannot follow easily, and then we must run - use the moment to take off your shoes.

[Fashion that she has never understood, right there, but fashion can be discarded if necessary.]

Victor Frankenstein | Penny Dreadful

[pullback]

( ooc: only playing him up to season 3 episode 5, so there's no major spoilers for the most recent episodes! )

fear one: you can hardly bear it
[ Victor Frankenstein is used to monsters. He's had to deal with vampires, witches, and those monsters made under his own creation. He's brought down monsters in an attempt to save people and brought down monsters in an attempt to protect those few people he could say he cares about. He's currently working on subduing a monster of his own creation. All of this is to say that here is a man used to the strange, the macabre, the dangerous. That being said, he has no idea what the fuck to do with huge bear monsters...and he didn't get brought in with a gun.

Whoops.

So yeah, enjoy this spindly little nerd in period clothes running for his life from one of the bereskarn because who has two thumbs and accidentally agitated one, hint, it's this guy. Help a bro out, Hadriel. ]

rage three: egomania out the whoa
[ Said letter consists of a brutal takedown of Victor's personality flaws, arguing that he's a pathetic little man who, even after multiple tries, still can't get the resurrection process right, how on Earth was someone as inept as him supposed to bridge the gap between life and death when he consistently brings back monsters, at least Jekyll managed to hold down a steady job and keep food on the table, how could someone like himself, constantly on the verge of addiction, think to accomplish even half the things he wanted to?

Needless to say, Victor tore up that letter as soon as he finished reading it. He's practically fuming as he tears up the letter into smaller and smaller pieces. To whomever's approaching, he asks, very curtly, ] Is this someone's idea of a joke? It's intensely childish.

[ but, by the glare on Victor's face, intensely affecting. ]

fear

[dogsanddaughters]

[Normally, Miriam doesn't get into the whole 'saving other people' business. That shit is better left to the professionals. They have the big guns. Miriam has her charm and the dog, and that's not all that much in the face of a raging bear monster.

That being said, Miriam also has a bunch of thermite grenades. She's had them since she first got pulled through the Door and happens to be in the process of checking their hiding place when she hears the monster roar. She peers out from behind a shattered pillar just in time to see some skinny dude running for dear life.

Huh. That's different.

Miriam glances down at Barnaby.

The dog wags his tail hopefully. Barnaby loves a fight. He's special like that.

Ugg. Fine.

Miriam squares her shoulders and tugs a grenade out.] Hey! Big ugly! Over here!

[Barnaby barks, baring his teeth in a wide snarl.

The monster pauses. Turns.

It looks more surprised than anything when the grenade hits in in the face. Less so when the explosion takes most of its chest off. And if the skinny dude didn't manage to get completely out of the blast range, well, that's his problem. Maybe his hearing's shot and his clothes a little singed, but he's not monster meat. That's gotta be something.]

luis sera | resident evil

[plagas]

TWO; it's game time.

[The encroaching fog, dense and foreboding, is covering the area, and fast; with it comes a horde of monstrous nurses wielding sharp, jagged knives.

Luis, unfortunately, is not at a temple. He's in the thick of the danger in the middle of the city. But he can damn well try to make an ally out of at least one of the passers-by if he's going to get out of this in one piece.] Hey!

[Don't strike back at him too soon (or do, if you're so inclined): a man, gun in one hand, the nearest stranger's arm in the other, has reached forward and yanked a certain somebody (that's you, buddy) inside an abandoned bar that's been barricaded as a makeshift shelter. He releases whoever he's grabbed and starts reloading his weapon, stepping backward to allow them some space inside.]

The name's Luis, [he begins quickly, fiddling with the weapon,] and I woke up in this hellhole this morning.

[The safety clicks off. He tosses his new partner a chunk of wood, and nods his head at the door, now thumping menacingly under unseen, likely zombified hands-- the unspoken command is to help him keep that damn thing closed, for the love of God.]

So. You wanna keep each other alive today?

wildcard;

[throw me another prompt or lmk if you want something else!!]

[ishotyouuu]

[Wade wasn't expecting to make a new friend today. What with the whole Weapon XI fiasco and all, he was perfectly willing to stay inside the temple and just wait for this whole thing to blow over. But... well. He's got a thirst that can't be quenched by mere water, and sometimes an alkie's gotta alk.

So when he's suddenly grabbed by a long-haired European-looking guy and dragged inside a dilapidated building, he's not exactly thrilled to be here. Though, to be honest, he'd be even less thrilled to be in the company of those nurses, plunging neckline notwithstanding. Something tells them he wouldn't be into any physicals they'd be performing.]

Wade. [That's the only name Luis gets, as the merc works swiftly on barricading the door and then readies Carlotta for some fun.] No offense, carnal, but there's gotta be an easier way to get someone to have a beer with you.

ichigo kurosaki | bleach | canon point is just pre-fullbring arc, enjoy hadriel with no powers

[liketeenspirit]

[FEAR ONE]

[A guy in a school uniform and bright orange hair is running hard down the street. He turns a corner at breakneck speed, skidding as he goes, and only stops when he's ducked into an alley. He leans against the wall, staring out into the street, expecting the--the bear thing with the spikes to come lumbering by any second.

Normally, he'd fight it, but he's got nothing to use as a weapon, and something tells him that getting too close to their stinking, rotting selves is a bad idea. He looks around, searching for something, anything he can use to hit it with.

Maybe he shouldn't have called it ugly.

Dammit, why did this have to happen now? If he had his powers, this would be easy, but...]

[FEAR TWO: pre-siren]

Sheesh, every time I think this place can't get any creepier... How do you even get fog underground? Is there a machine somewhere?

[What's with the fog? And the sirens? Is he actually in some kind of giant underground shelter? Who's actually behind it? Anyway, this is the prompt that comes without a fight involved, so he can stumble on your character doing whatever while he's out exploring.]

[FEAR TWO: and then it got worse]

[Ichigo sure is doing a lot of running today. The look on his face, though, is different from when he was running from the bear. This time, he looks frightened -- no, rattled. Haunted.

Why am I running? he thinks, even as his feet carry him away, away from that thing. I've got to go back. I've got to find out what's going on. I have to--

But he remembers. He remembers the long hair trailing over the ground, warm brown but matted with blood. He remembers the torn, dirty dress. He remembers the trail of blood the thing left behind him as it crawled toward him. He remembers it reaching up with filthy fingers, remembers its wild eyes, remembers how it had said his name--

Ichigo shuts his eyes tight for a second against the crawling shame he feels deep in his gut and his bones. He shouldn't be running, but he can't bring himself to go back. He feels like the worst sort of coward.]

[RAGE THREE]

Hey, you! Yeah, you!

[A tall guy with a loud mouth is yelling at you, waving a sheet of paper.]

Listen, I'm new here, so I don't really know anybody yet. But I need you to tell me something. It's important.

[He brandishes the letter in your face. It's weird: the guy is wearing a grin, but there's nothing happy about it at all. Something about it makes him look absolutely furious.]

Who is this bastard, and where do I find him?

[Is the signature at the bottom yours? Or someone else's? Do you tell him the truth, or tell him to cool his jets?]

if you wanna start a fight, you better throw the first punch. make it a good one. (rage)

[torrefied]

[Mello isn't especially thrilled about being accosted on the street by some angry kid, much less having a piece of paper shoved in his face, and he's positively irritated by the fact that it's his name signed at the bottom of it. (As if he would send someone a letter like that. Letters are so impersonal; if Mello had something like this to say, he'd say it in person.) His eyes narrow a fraction as he makes a quick study of both the letter and the kid holding it.]

Haven't the foggiest, [he lies, coolly, biting back a Do I look like a fucking information booth?] What's so important about this anyway?

jack benjamin | kings

[benumbing]

Sound the alarms: (silent hill)

[He thought he had nothing left to fear. The literal worst had happened, and it wasn't death. If he's skipped that and gone straight to hell, so be it.

Maybe Jack shouldn't be so flippant with that thought. When the air raid siren goes off, he nervously looks up, knowing that somewhere in the darkness there should only be the cave's ceiling. But when he looks back at the walls, it doesn't look much like a cave at all anymore.

Jack curses under his breath, backing away from everything while he keeps glancing up. Death isn't coming from above, but it is coming up right behind him. Something grips his shoulder, and Jack tears himself free and turns. And then he can only stare at it with terrified eyes as he backs away.

He's torn between running and not running, because he's sick enough of his own cowardice. But self-preservation eventually kicks in. Jack does at least try to get anyone that he runs into to run with him, away from the demon that was breathing down his neck. He's not a total dick. He's out of breath by the time a safe place is found, if there's any safe places at all. He looks over then, sounding darkly amused.]

I thought hell would be hotter.

wait a minute mr. postman (rage)

[The letter doesn't say anything that Jack doesn't already know. That isn't the point. Someone else knows, and they've taken the time to pen a letter to rub it in his face. Joseph's death, his humiliations, a crown forever out of his reach. The author twists the knife one way only to twist it back again.

Jack chews his lip as he reads it, finally crumbling the letter in his fist as he goes looking for the person who wrote it. And if that person is you, Jack will even let you throw the first punch before it's his turn.]

Who is this? [Jack shows just enough of the letter to reveal the signature when he crosses paths with a fellow cave dweller. He bares his teeth with the next words.] And where can I find them?

Wildcard!

[Anything else that comes to mind.]

rage

[wipedclean]

[There's a letter thrust into his face. He snarls and pushes it out of the way, then stares at the man who's trying to show it to him.]

Who the fuck are you?

finn | star wars

[rebelspark]

fear one

[ The thing is, running for his life has actually become...normal. He never really had a life with the First Order. His life consisted of mindlessly obeying every command directed at him. From the moment he escaped, he's been thrust into one harrowing adventure after another, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Although, it's the adventure part he likes, not the possibility of imminent death.

Which is why he actually just feels annoyed and angry when he first sees one these insane, terrifying creatures. But the fear quickly sets in, and he tries to back away slowly, not sure if running outright will just make things worse. Once he makes it to a wall, he quickly duks behind it and then he runs, not planning on stopping anytime soon. ]

What...is that...

[ He says it loudly enough for anyone to hear, though he's slightly breathless now, running at a steady pace. ]


fear two

[ He's far away from any buildings, somehow having found his way out of the cave. He thought there'd be something hopeful awaiting him once he figured his way out of the cave, but it's just more fog and desolation. He just wants to find his way back to his friends, somehow, but he's a long way from...wherever they are. It's not home, is it? Does he have a right to call it that yet? The Resistance doesn't even stay in one place for very long.

He just wants to get back to his people, the only ones who have ever made him feel worth something.

But instead, he's trapped here, wrapped up in darkness. ]

I just need to figure a way out of this...

fear two

[mismanagement]

[The monsters have been getting more dangerous of late, coming in greater numbers and what feels like renewed purpose. That, or the Door waits until they're hungry to rip them through the worlds. Some of the ones that Maketh has killed recently have had that look about them, crazed, a little desperate. Able to fight through their pain to the last breath.

She's recovered from the last injury, though it aches sometimes, and resumed her patrols.

Given the calendar, it's about time for the new arrivals to show up. The monsters always come first. Then the strangers.

It's not good to let them die in the confusion.

Maketh steps into the building, shining her flashlight with her free hand. With the other she aims her rifle, primitive technology compared to what the Empire gave her, but it's all they have. She thought she saw someone run in here, away from the bear thing.] Hello? It's not safe here.

hanako 'rosalina' nurumi | oc (haven crau) | ota

[hasitsthorns]

general arrival

[ How? That single word echoes through her mind constantly. How is she still alive? How did she get here? How did Yao manage to change the entire city on them this time? How, how, how? Rose clutches her shirt at her chest with her one hand and head dipped low. Her blond hair is shorter than usual and there's a single faded pink streak through it. These are the marks of Haven should anyone recognize them. God, she hopes they do. 'Where?' is also a question that cycles through her head. Where are her packmates? Where is their house? Where is she?

Maybe someone might want to help the completely lost and confused young woman. It looks like she could use it. Her shirt is also stained with enough blood - her blood - to probably be mildly concerning. ]

fear one

[ Paranoia is nothing new. Rose is used to feeling of fear clawing at her insides on a regular basis. She's used to monsters; she's used to just about every terror that could possibly be thrown at her.

And yet, monster bears are new. It doesn't take long for her to cross paths with one of the mutated creatures skulking down the streets. She could smell them long before she saw them, naturally, but now one finally trundles into view. It doesn't seem outwardly hostile... yet. Though if she's learned anything in the past two years, she's learned it probably won't be docile for long. ]

That looks like a bear of a problem.

[ Really, Rose. Really. Is now the time? ]

fear two

Panic bells, it's red alert...

[ Comes the quiet sing-song saying from Rose's lips soon as the siren sounds. Hm. Yao is really pulling out all the stops now, aren't they? She'd only heard the siren a few times in Haven for all her time there... They must be trying to build the atmosphere of the new place up. Figures. The fog is a nice touch though, she has to admit. Sufficiently spooky.

Rose wanders along, not really too concerned until she hears a familiar voice. Her father's voice. Well. It took them long enough to bring him in the picture. They'd already used her mother against her, why not her dad too? Let's just have a grand family reunion! A low tenor suddenly speaks from somewhere in the fog, ] It should have been you. Now it will be.

[ That sounds, uh, pretty foreboding. While she can't see him yet, she can sense something that's making her skin crawl. Seems like it's time to book it. She can hear other people, too, but making them out in this haze is difficult. Hopefully she'll come across someone else. Safety in numbers, right? Let's just hope she doesn't scare them just as bad as the monsters lurking about. ]

hey boo - General

[fortunefavored]

[Newt is just coming out of the store from a supply run, backpack slung over his shoulder, when he spots Rose.

Needless to say, he's a bit surprised, standing there staring for a moment, gaping--before he manages to croak out:]

Rosie?

Vision | MCU

[visionarie]

SCENARIO TWO: CLAMOROUS CAVES

[ A loud siren foreshadows the oncoming night that dawns across the town blanketing it with an acrid taste. Mist billows into the streets climbing up his cape as Vision hovers a foot in the air, his eyes trained on a crippling figure walking down a long alleyway. ]

Who are you?

[ The scrapping sound of a blade sliding across the mildew covered stone is the only answer he receives. With no forthcoming answer Vision dives into his quantum mind while his thoughts splinter off into thousands of threads each analyzing a different data point until they reach their conclusion a few seconds later. ]

Do you... [ his brows furrow at the revelation ] Can you understand my words?

[scarletcast]

They cannot.

[ It's not relief, she's too taut to say she experiences that in its entirety. Wanda finds him — how can she not, when he is a calm centre. ]

There will be things in the fog. We must move quickly.

henry cheng / the raven cycle.

[robobees]

i can't lock my door, oh, i don't have no privacy; fear – ii.

( you know that thing about the door bringing through all kinds of chaos, all the bad things the span the lengths of all possible universes, all possible realities?

well.

it's not so much bad as it is a very simple brand of chaos, a boy in expensive shoes with impeccable, unforgettable hair accompanied by a tiny, unnatural insect that buzzes close to his person, flitting back and forth in a physical representation of the scattered mind it happens to be attached to.

the fog isn't off-putting; not on its own, not in the sense that any other naturally-occurring weatherly ( yes, weatherly ) phenomenon should be. it's fog. what is off-putting is the fact that the last thing he remembers is preparing to venture off into the vast unknown that is the general direction of the western seaboard with his two favorite people, and now … not so much.

but there's fog. and he has his phone out, thumbing through various screens in order to get to his gps – or anything that would give him any indication at all of where he is, how he'd gotten there, and – ) Cell service is shit. ( because he's not getting any sort of signal, which figures, because it's just his luck that he gets himself stuck somewhere without the possibility of someone like dick gansey happening by with a working piece of technology to save his ass a second time.

he sighs. makes a face that falls somewhere among the lines of troubled, bored and constipated, and then he hears it.

the siren starts up with a sharp, ear-piercing wail, and henry immediately raises his hands to cover his ears. really – it's not enough that there's some inclement weather happening, but what? are bombs being dropped, too? he ducks his head as though it might help block out some of the sound, which it very much doesn't, and the scenery around him begins to twist and shift and tear itself away, melting into something darker, something much more sinister, and though by now he's seen his fair share of weird shit ( thank you so very much king richard ), it's not like he would think about immediately dismissing the fact that there's a fucking klaxon going off somewhere like the world is ending.

so that manages to make it to one of the top spots on henry cheng's list of weird shit that has happened in the past, oh, three weeks.

he hasn't noticed the things lingering and skulking about in the shadows just yet.

good luck with that, henry. )

a little voice inside, it says you've got to be tough, you've got to take it in stride; wildcard.

( save him from a blighted bear, trip over him in the fog, i am open for anything at all but couldn't find enough inspiration for more than one starter at three in the morning. ayyyyy just come at me. )

fog lets go

[pinpoints]

[ so far, her day has been a big pile of NOPE. nope this is not her life this is not fucking happening. she is not meant to be running around at all, never mind in a place that looks like it comes from some really shitty niche TV show she would never watch in a million years because she's not a nerd, thanks.

six has, at least, given up trying to keep herself in five inch stilettos while trying to shoulder her massive bag that contains way too many not-properly-working electronics to be of any fucking help right now. her laptop is dead. her tablet and phone are both hooked up to networks that she has never seen in her life with new apps that she tried to delete seven times over because they're not even remotely familiar and how did anyone break into her phone and tablet to even do that in the first place? she carries the heels by the heels, hand so tightly wrapped around them that they're causing indents in her palm, and god she is fucking pissed. she is supposed to be meeting one, discussing plans instead of stalking around in some fog in nothing but socks. she's already had a run in with some creepy ass op as shit bear, what more could go wrong with her day?

well... the sirens could go, for one. the noise has her almost jumping out of her skin - which, thank fuck no one can probably see her in this pea soup because that was fucking embarrassing - and has her boots flying out of her hand.

possibly right towards henry. maybe. ]

max | mm: fury road

[muzzles]

BEARS.

[ this isn't the wasteland.

although, this is still like things he knows, save for the beast itself. the animal rearing up on hind legs while all max can think about is the fact that he can't breathe straight through the muzzle latched onto his face, the way it constricts his every thought and tangles him up in metal nightmares. it's making him twice as claustrophobic as he always is, the way the world meshes into his being and refuses to let go. he swears that while this isn't where he's supposed to be that it probably doesn't matter much because he's never quite supposed to be anywhere for too long to begin with. he's always getting himself infested in something messy and awash with chaos.

so what.

what's new.

lifting his rifle, he's quick to point it at the beasts gun and BAM. before he lifts the gun skyward, a motion to be threatening, before he turns to run.

undoubtedly running straight into you. ]


SILENT HILLS.

[ the siren doesn't elicit that strong of a reaction from max as he walks, but it's the metallic clang beneath his boots that sets his teeth on edge, makes him switch his gaze from left to right, paying attention to no more than the fog rolling in. it makes the world dimmer, hazy where he is so used to open skies and burnt landscapes, a sea of open world so crusted with dust and demise that there's nothing but the flourish of oncoming wheels. it might make one tipsy to feel so invaded, as if the fog itself is trying to choke him out and he pulls at his muzzle, furious and twitchy and scrambling under his skin while he holds steady. he's all bundled nerves and strung out accusations, ready to lunge at the first thing that comes his way and he's prepared.

but he isnt.

because you can never be prepared enough. never too ready to run, to spring, to put a fist into the face of what's next going to eat you alive.

what hell is this, he thinks, grunts out loud instead and grumbles something low and deep, pulls at the chains that are trying to tangle up in his feet and carries on moving because standing still is a death sentence he refuses to hand himself over to. ]

Now what- [ is what he murmurs when he can hear footsteps, and he once again lifts his gun despite it's distinct lack of ammunition and he is enraged with himself for already being so close to his own demise, just like always. just like it's been for too many forevers. ]

bears

[the_dag]

[ The Dag keeps a safe distance from the bears, never getting close enough for them to smell her. She's got a task now, a task that means more than the Green Place, more than Furiosa and the other wives and anyone else. She's going to give birth to the world, she's decided. There will be no warlords here.

It's the gun that draws her attention. The Dag heads towards the sound, a pair of large pliers in hand, to be used as a weapon, if needed. She can be as fierce as the bear.

She's not expecting to see that fool, muzzle and all. The Dag stops and stares at him right in the eye, and there's the barest hint of a smile. She's grown a little fond of him, it seems. ]

Chara | Undertale

[somuchlove]

Fear One: A Grinding Session

[From one game to another, that's all this is. It's not particularly one Chara minds. There's certainly enough monsters around to keep them occupied at least. But these are...different. Very different from the monsters in the Underground that would hand you some nice cream and give you a pat on the head. No, these creatures attacked on sight.

And it was so much fun!

But after a certain boss fight that took place a little while ago, Chara had learned that charging in would be no help. So they're just watching for now. Watching and waiting.]


Fear Two: It's me

[Within the fog a kid with a knife is walking around. They had waited until the sirens had gone off because they wanted to see what would happen. Chara got their wish.

The ground is cracked and said cracks are stuffed to the brim with yellow flowers. They remembered the taste. The monsters are boring on the other hand, dust creatures that randomly appeared as random encounters had the habit of doing. And they cut them down and they reappeared and they cut them down and they reappeared and...

It was a poor joke. But that was perhaps because they had not run into their own personal demon yet. It was hard to fear things when you used to be fear. The time was coming soon...}

have another murder child (2)

[whichend]

[ The air raid sirens have come a few times before, and Arya knows that if she's going to find supplies during the fog, she has to be careful. There's less competition from other people, but there are also monsters. Arya makes sure she's well-armed as always, and when she moves throughout the city, her sword is drawn.

Arya stops at the sight of another human her age, the first she's seen in a while. They look like they know how to use that knife. ]

You ought to go to one of the temples. It isn't safe here.

[ Arya assumes that this kid is new. ]

Frank Castle | (Netflix') Daredevil

[sivis_pacem]

UNBEARABLE

[Frank doesn't know where he is when consciousness scrambles back. Sure, that's not new, isn't the first time for sure, but it doesn't make it settle any easier. Doesn't mean he has to like the situation. There's no air movement, the place smells faintly dank; he's underground, even though when he looks up the ceiling stretches farther than he can see. It's lit, artificial. It widens the pool of people who could have brought him here, not because he knows a lot of people who might but because he can't think of one who would have. Small rooms underground, sure, but not without being tied down to something. Not without guys with guns or threats, or even both, to make the reason clear. It's the uncertainty that's a problem.

They left him his guns. Guns, knives; for kidnappers with an unknown agenda, they're sure as shit not treating him like a threat. It sets him more on edge. Either they're cocky or they didn't pick him up for payback, but without concrete evidence either way it's hard to know how to play things. So he prepares for the worst. Stays on edge, because there's no telling what comes next. Moves across the space like he's on some covert ops mission because he's in enemy territory, regardless of the circumstances. Somebody brought him here, without his knowledge; that means there's a threat.

And then there's a giant fucking bear, but no bear he's ever seen before. It's huge, with spikes coming out of it, or maybe stuck in it, but he doesn't have time to differentiate before it's charging him, and then all he can do is react. Empty his clip at it and hope for the best, try to find cover to duck behind before it can catch up.]


CLAMOROUS CAVES

[It doesn't make any sense. The fog. He's underground, there's no way there should be fog, not without air and wind and open water. So he's already on edge when the air raid siren goes off, hand on the butt of his gun where it's tucked into the back of his pants when he leaves his stolen apartment. The fog gets thicker, and when it clears, somewhat at least, it leaves everything...different. Like a run-down ghost town, like what you see in those shows about what happens to the world after humanity wipes itself out. It makes no sense, but nothing about this place does so he shouldn't even be surprised. There's a creepy vibe to the whole thing; the house you don't go in during a horror movie because it's where the killer's lurking, the dark basement you stay out of because there's a giant lizard with too many teeth and curved claws waiting to eat you, and that thought prompts a pang of something bitter and heavy deep in his chest, but his nightmares already came to life, there's nothing left to be afraid of here.

There's a shape in the fog. Moving. Hulking and grotesque, or so it seems, air being what it is, so he fires at it. Not close enough to hit it, because if he's wandering around out here there are probably civilians out here too, but close enough for a warning shot. To scare off the monsters and make the civilians speak up. Can't be too careful, he figures.]


NO FLAMES PLZ

[Frank is on the warpath.

Cohesive thoughts are barely-formed tendrils of rage and hurt, raw emotion circling the drain, beating at the inside of his skull, echoing in the space. He knows, rationally, he needs to get a hold on this. It'll tear him apart from the inside out if he doesn't. But he can't; not when the words on the page rattle and scream. Accuse and diminish, take apart his anger and anguish, reduce his justifications to an excuse. Like all he needed was the trigger, like he would have walked down this path sooner or later anyway because it's all he is at the end of the day.

It's drops in a bucket, shouldn't matter because he fucking knows better (or at least isn't willing to entertain an alternative, not when he'd been happy, not when that part of his life was supposed to be over), it's sure as hell not the first time he's heard it, but it's the last straw.

So he rages. Against the room at first, then out into the hallway, just itching for a fight. A target. A mission. Something to work this out of his system.]

2

[dogsanddaughters]

[She's not supposed to be this far out. Not after the sirens start howling. And normally she wouldn't be. Miriam likes to call herself a survivor, and that's not the same thing as brave. It's better than coward, though, but just as true. She's not a fighter, no matter what she's got hidden away in her knapsack - grenades from a dead man, two knives from a ghost - and she just needs to survive.

Five more minutes. Survive that and then it'll be okay.

Except it's not, suddenly.

It's been following her all day. That cloud of dust. It doesn't look like anything, just a bunch of black shiny dust, except that it's not. It's something else, it'll break you in half and bring you back wrong. The Sons brought it with them when they burned Echo Six, set it loose in the tunnels and put it in needles for the ones they dragged out. It's bad, nightmare in a bottle bad, and it's been following her. It came through the door and she couldn't let it get the others.

So she's been running a while, Barnaby sticking close. Miriam holds tight to the harness, flinching when she hears a gunshot.

Someone else. She peers back.

The cloud is still there. Following. Not fast. But persistent.

There's a man in front of her, armored up like one of the Sons but not wearing their symbol. Miriam stands up as tall as she can, puffing her chest out. She's not afraid of him. She's not.] You gotta go, mister. It's coming and you gotta go.

clarke griffin | the 100

[coleader]

FEAR ONE / UNBEARABLE

[ Clarke has never seen a bear in her life. Two-headed deer, check. Giant gorillas, check. A bear? Nope. Holding your own against a bereskarn isn't the sort of thing they teach in Earth skills, and she's got a limited number of bullets, so she does the sensible thing and gets the hell out of dodge. Screaming internally. She's gotten good at running from things trying to kill her — what a skill to put on her resume! — but the problem is that with speed comes a lack of control.

[INSERT NAME HERE] (that's you) is minding their own business. Maybe walking, searching for scraps, trying to scratch their ass inconspicuously. Clarke tries to stop by grabbing their arms, but ends up toppling over instead, leaving both of them in a crumpled heap on the ground with an angry bereskarn just around the corner. ]

There's— we need to— [ She tries to speak, but she's so out of breath she can't get the message across. So, she latches onto an arm and stands, dragging (yanking?) her new friend away without an explanation. ]

FEAR TWO / CLAMOROUS CAVES

[ When she hears the air siren, her heart starts pounding in her chest, and she whirls around, expecting acid fog. There's fog, but not of the acid variety; while that's a relief, it doesn't stop her from — to put it delicately — flipping the fuck out. Her hand is on her gun the entire time as she prowls the city, ready to pounce. There's a gunshot, and something falls. When she hears something behind her, she whirls around, pointing the gun directly at one of her fellow people.

She slowly lowers the gun and looks to her side. That sure is a dead kid, right there. But it's not what it looks like. ]

WILDCARD

[ GO NUTS ]

unbearable

[whichend]

[ Arya has seen a few of the bears by now. She's sighing internally, rather than screaming internally. Bears again? Really? She decides to conduct her business as normal, picking up supplies, making sure her friends are safe, training, the usual.

At least, it was supposed to be the usual. Arya suddenly finds herself first in a pile with another girl, and then being dragged along by that same girl. Arya doesn't know who she is, where she comes from, and sure as hell doesn't trust this new arrival. As they run, Arya draws a dagger and holds it uncomfortably close to the stranger. ]

Who are you? What are you doing?

Tazendra | Dragaera series

[fearlessherosheart]

Fear: Two
[What does Silent Hill do for the person who fears nothing? Make it something a warrior can't fight with a blade and is too bull-headed to run from.

[Whatever has Tazendra's leg is vaguely tentacle shaped, but seems to be more liquid than anything else. Certainly Tazendra's attempts to sever the tentacle with her dagger doesn't seem to be bothering it. In fact, she may be losing the dagger -- while her boot leather looks fine, the metal of the blade and the buckles on her boot are smoking and pitted. There is the sound of voices from the shed Tazendra is being pulled towards; at this distance, it is hard to make them out.]

[Tazendra could probably be freed if she can get her boot off. And you can persuade her to run away. The latter is probably more difficult.]

Cracks in the Orb, if I had my sorcery...

[She seems more annoyed than worried about being dragged off to an unknown fate.]

[OOC: Tazendra's personal demons are currently about being helpless while people die trying to save her; characters who aren't cautious may be attacked as well.]

Rage
[The letter seems quite polite. At first. Then it quite simply insults Tazendra's ancestry, implies she was sleeping with half her staff and most of her friends, that her titles were due to cronyism or impropriety rather than skill, that her bravery was created by said friends and servants, and accuses her of propping a decadent, xenophilic empress.]

[As a work designed to make Tazendra want to stab someone, it is well crafted; with just enough actual truth around someone who is loud and not exactly circumspect about an adventurous time as a soldier. Most other people would find it... well, 'an artifact of its place and time': given how many insults are rooted in species and class and proper behavior. No one in Hadriel would know enough to write this, unless they were from Tazendra's world or could pick over her psyche.]

[On the other hand, Tazendra knows when you send a letter full of insults, the actual meaning is 'I would like to duel you to the death', so out she goes. She has carefully folded over the letter so that only the closing remark and signature is visible and is presenting it to whoever she can find.]

"Good day! Would you happen to know where I may find this worthy individual?"

[She's smiling. Well, showing her teeth. She also is over seven feet tall and has a hand-and-a-half sword (that is a sword that can be used with one or two hands) on her back.]

Rage

[twojedisticks]

[For her part, Jaina was seated on a stool at a table, a microwave half-gutted with parts neatly arranged down the workplace. She's chewing the end of a pencil, and more interested in mentally cursing out the old-style technology than she is concerned with an elf with the height and temperament of a wookie. Spending a few months training with mandalorians helped with the indifference, too.

Tazendra's question earns a brief, absent glance up at the signature, before the short jedi goes back to contemplating the schematic she's been sketching.]

I'm a little more used to being called 'Great One.'

[Jaina gives a lopsided grin for her private joke -- no one here could know she used to impersonate a Vong goddess -- and simply reaches into the microwave to remove the next part, turning it over to inspect.]

You should probably know I'm not much of a writer.

Donut | Red vs Blue

[glazedonutholes]

SCENARIO TWO: CLAMOROUS CAVES

[ The sound of a girlish scream is heard in the distance followed by rapid gunfire. With monsters lurking around every corner it's not hard to figure out what would have caused such an uproar but what may come as a surprise is a fully armored space marine running down the street in pink armor yelling: ]

Someone get these creepy girls away from me!!!

[fireinthebloodyhole]

Wot the bloody hell...?

[Since when did any of the girls he know scream like that?

Turns out none of them; it's some random drongo in armour. Not a kind Junkrat's ever seen before either. Sort of looks like if D.VA and 76 made a wardrobe together. And behind the mass of pink armour, there's some terrifying ladies covered in bandages. Looks like the poor bastard could use a hand. And Junkrat waves his free one at them, hoisting his frag launcher in the other.]

No probs, mate! Watch ya head!

[And grenades are quickly flying overhead to smack into the ladies' faces, exploding with unnecessary force.]

Junkrat | Overwatch | OTA!

[fireinthebloodyhole]

Two: Trapped like rats

[Of course.

Of bloody course he has to run out of ammo. How did that even happen? He's never run out of ammo before, and now that the beautiful serenade of explosions is dying down the whispers in the fog are coming back.]

...Jamison...

[He stows his frag launcher with a growl and spins on the spot, ready to fight with his fists if he has to. He's nothing if not a survivor, and some foggy voices aren't about to stop him now.]

Bloody show yourself, ya prick!

Fawkes... we're coming for you...

...James...

...we know, Fawkes...

I-- I'm not scared! Come at me!!

[Where's that fat tub of lard when you need him?]


Three: Fuel on the fire

[Junkrat looks at the letter.

He frowns.

Then he turns it over to keep reading. His mouth is quietly mumbling along with the bigger words.

Then he shrugs, and crinkles it up into a ball to throw over his shoulder. He pulls out his frag launcher, checks it's full, and limps off into the city with a grin. Anyone who gets in his way had better be prepared for a grenade to the face; just because he's smiling does not mean he's calm in the slightest.]

Wild card! Choose your own adventure!

Two

[casperdisaster]

[Noah's flashlight is not so great - he gave his good one away after all, and has had to make due with one that flickers a little too much for his liking. It always has him tapping the back of it and that's just a horror movie waiting to happen.

Which is pretty scary even for those experienced at being dead.

He follows the sound of the voice, lost in the fog, and - okay, at a glance Noah isn't entirely sure that Junkrat isn't some kind of monster, dressed like he is. Noah almost backs away slowly until it becomes apparent that this guy is kinda at least a little scared too.

Almost definitely not a monster then.]

H-hello?

[The 'almost' still has Noah kind of tense and ready to make a run for it.]

Jo Harvelle | Supernatural

[knifecollecting]

Unbearable

[Jo's first instinct when she sees the bears (are they bears, they have to have been bears at one point, right?) is to pull her trusty shotgun, even knowing she doesn't have it.

Instead she tries to skirt them, which mostly works until she accidentally gets too close to one. And then she flat out runs without watching where she's headed, simply looking for a place to hide or climb.]

Shit, shit, come on. Get any closer and I'll punch you, you son of a bitch. [The bereskarn just roars and continues chasing her, completely unimpressed by the threat from the small blonde woman.]

[hasitsthorns]

[ Rose would pay to see someone punch one of these bears and would usually say as much, but unfortunately Jo's voice pulls her mind away from any quips. Rose catches sight of the woman and takes a moment to decide what she should do. If this is the Jo she remembers, offering to help won't do any good. If it isn't, maybe... Maybe this might be a second chance. To do things right. God, she hopes she can do things right for once.

Even for the distress it's causing her, Rose is thankful that the other blond doesn't seem to have her shotgun. That isn't surprising considering the last time Rose had seen it was when it blew a hole through her chest and left her bleeding out on cold concrete. She had completely deserved it, of course. ]

Hey, this way! [ -she calls out from down a narrow side alley, deciding to try her chances. It's too thin for the bear to fit through but it'll likely bash it's way through if it can so this will only buy them a little time. ]

Sarcastic Slab | Borderlands 2

[slow_clap]

1: ATTACK ON FUCK THIS ENTIRE PLACE

[Being a bandit on Pandora, this particular Slab has had a lot of experience dealing with angry, horrible creatures that want to eat a piece of his face. It's taken a particular brand of cunning, heavy armaments and batshit crazy to keep his ass (mostly) intact throughout his stint on that shitball of a planet, and he likes to think that he's actually pretty decent at it by now.]

[So, showing up in a weird place with no idea how he got here? That sucks, but at least he's not on Pandora anymore. This place can't be worse than Pandora, right? That's not, like, physically possible. Hell is where people from Pandora go on vacation.]

[And then he turns a corner and almost walks right into a fucking abomination in the vague shape of a bear.]

Well, fuck all this.

[Exit stage left, pursued by bear.]

3: PURE POETRY

[Y'know, he's been having kind of a shitty time so far, and it's really only, like, slightly less shitty than the time he usually has on Pandora. So, technically, the net value of shit has decreased, but he kind of feels like it could be decreased further but it's not out of spite.]

[And then he gets a letter.]

[Calling it a letter is probably a bit of an overstatement, though-- it's more just a crude drawing of a bunch of dead Slabs, signed 'xoxoxo the vault hunters'. The o's are shaped like hearts.]

[He looks up towards the nonexistent sky, beseeching whatever gods might be listening to grant him patience, or, barring that, the sweet embrace of death.]

[Going after a Vault Hunter is literally suicide. But that does mean that he can't be the most passive aggressive little shit at one if he finds one.]

3

[3balls]

[Nine-Toes the Difficult Boss is taking a nice stroll in the cave that is his new gang territory when he sees this fellow what he ain't never seen the likes of in his LONG, BLESSED, WONDERFUL life, and proceeds to hop on a large rock to make himself look larger.

He squawks down to the grinder, cupping hands over his mask as he booms:]

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE.

WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU FROM!!!

jean grey | x-men: apocalypse (no spoilers)

[lineare]

silent hill;

[ There is everything wrong about this place, and how it warps like a serpent, melting from a cave to something else entirely, leaving Jean disoriented and caught off-guard. The piercing sound of the alarms are unnerving, as is the sudden awareness of being cut off from her teammates and friends -- she's always been able to reach out to them, tapping on a delicate network of thought processes, each one a familiar signature to her questing mind; but now the web is gone, with only a stark emptiness to take its place, together with unfamiliar minds and thoughts on the periphery. She's all alone in a world that belongs in the recesses of her worst nightmares, peeling away all sense of normalcy to reveal the immense, raw wound of terror and fury -- and she chokes on it, the hatred that permeates every iota of this dimension and threatens to make her sick.

En Sabah Nur's last words disappear in the face of this latest horror, and she knows a different kind of fear -- one that doesn't come from within, but from the lurching, faceless creature that heads towards her, moving in ways that should be humanly impossible. It spits, and a lamp post corrodes, and the next inky black spit misses her by mere meters.

Jean flees in a heartbeat, using her power to fling an overturned car at it to buy herself time; especially when more seem to crawl out of the woodwork. She has to go, she has to find a way out and back to the others -- even if the battle is over there's still much to be done, so much more to be rebuilt, and she cannot die here. Her mind brushes up against someone else's as she sprints towards a set of buildings, and she hears inhuman cry-shrieks, the potent, acrid stench of burning ash scorching her throat and lungs. Be brave, be brave. She has to be brave; even if she's looked into the face of something worse than death.

Jean doesn't stop as she grabs a stranger's arm (human, she knows this much in her frantic drive to survive whatever this has become), sprinting towards the nearest safe place, and in her haste she forgets to speak aloud, her words ringing in their head: Come with me! ]

wildcard;
[ Anything goes! ]

aaaaw yiss (she's welcome to read his mind as much or as little as you want)

[wipedclean]

[There's a hand on his arm and a voice in his head, and he recoils from it, stares at the girl with eyes as wild as a trapped animal, and takes a few steps back away from her.

There's a monster on his shoulder, a cruel, disgusting, twisted, tentacled thing that's wrapped itself around his shoulders and back, buried itself under his skin. It hisses at her, as though she's encroached on his territory, which, in a way, she has.]

Don't... don't do that.

elena fisher ( uncharted )

[riporta]

( scenario two )

( Okay, it's not the first time that Elena's seen weird weather. Or heard weird things. Or suddenly found herself in somewhere weird, although usually she'd gotten there herself. What had Nate gotten into this time?

She's looking around at the minute, trying to see if anything in the distance could tell her the location - the country, or what kind of people were going to try and kill her this time. And she wasn't even lucky enough to have her gun on her. Figures )

Okay, nothing to worry about. ( Hahaha Elena you remember the rest of the crazy stuff, right? ) At least no one's shooting at me yet.

( YET )

HI BB I HEARD YOU WANTED SOME COLE TAGS

[fadeling]

[The fog feels bad; there's something wrong with it. Something it is or something it's hiding. It's hard to say, but he can still say it. It isn't right. It doesn't belong here. Or if it does, then this place is wrong, too.

He at least tries to be be less frightening, speaking softly, though it is from behind her where he hadn't been before.]

No. You should be worried. It isn't good.

jane shepard ( mass effect )

[endorsements]

( scenario one )

( Okay well that sure isn't anything that Shepard's seen before, and she thinks that she's seen a lot. From aliens to freakish visions-

Okay, it's nothing to worry about. She's Shepard, the hero of humanity. And she's got a gun - a big one. Although that would work a lot better if there wasn't someone else pretty close to that- thing. Someone that apparently hasn't noticed that it's there )

Get down.

( She hopes you're moving because she's gonna shoot the thing )

OH HI HERE TOO

[mobilityassistance]

[As odd as the creatures here are, at least they aren't thresher maws. And EDI tries not to think that too loudly or else risk giving the "gods" here ideas. The city wouldn't be able to withstand them.

Still, she can at least admit that the...monsters are objectively disgusting. The organics here must be uncomfortable.

It's the voice that catches her attention, though, and she turns to look at its owner, before spinning to find yet another of the beasts. Her pistol isn't readily available, however, so she does as commanded, reaching for the gun as she moves. At least that person seems to be ready for it.]

johnny storm | fantastic four

[fulminants]

silent hill;
Aw, man.

[ This sucks. This sucks on so many levels it's not even funny anymore. At the forefront of Johnny's gripes is the fact that this place (whatever the hell it is), had just swept him away from the ardent arms of his ladies for the night -- a pair of stunningly beautiful Italian women who are more than happy to rock his world the whole night long. He supposes it's the superhero effect, paired with (in his elevated opinion) his charms, and he'd been more than happy to milk it for everything that he's worth.

But here he is in a godforsaken dimension, world very obviously unrocked, and Johnny cannot help but be annoyed at the drastic turn of events. Had he gone way too big with the sinning? Surely a threesome with hot, busty twins doesn't warrant being bitchslapped into some sort of hellhole that seems to have a hard-on for sirens? Because if it is, he's half sure his day of reckoning would've come when he'd scored the two Miss Julys (and the Decembers before that).

A blueballed Johnny is a grumpy Johnny. He's cranky even if the burning ash doesn't bother him, nor does the incredible heat, but his curiosity is roused when it begins to look more and more like some kind of warped horror movie, and the truth of it is driven home when he sees something large and menacing coming towards him --

-- is that a dude in a skirt? Or what passes for a dude with a huge butcher's knife and a pyramid for a head, and Johnny is busy trying to figure out just how the thing manages to not bump into anything when it looks like it's spotted him. The man moves like a beast, and Johnny knows it's time to get the fuck out of Dodge. ]

Scotland's the other way, Braveheart!

[ Admittedly not a good idea to egg on the Halloween version of Mel Gibson. He instantly takes to the smoggy, ink-black air, groaning when he burns through his prized leather jacket because really? This weird world keeps getting weirder and more messed up, and he can't help a flicker of apprehension when he sees just how far it is, that there are things that are literally crawling out of the ruins and headed for him, unnatural, twisting and demonic shapes the likes of which he'd only see on television.

Except this is real, and he needs to figure out what the hell to do to shake them off. ] Is it too late to promise to go to church?

[ He mumbles to no one in particular as he lands on the rooftop of a nearby dilapidated building after shaking off the things on his tail, knowing he has to turn down the whole fire thing if he doesn't want to be swarmed by a vast array of monsters. He's seen a world-eater, had helped a silver dude on a surfboard kick his giant cloudy asss (and he's sure the nightmares will never go away) but this is an entirely different sort of frightening altogether.

He starts towards the emergency door to head down when he hears movement. He tenses, preparing to power up again. ]

Who's there?

[ Where's a baseball bat when you need one? ]

wildcard;

vida veisi | oc

[unvein]

ONE
[Maybe the Nexus was a dream. A weeks-long dream unlike any other Vida's ever had. The promise that she was powerful, even beloved, it all must have been a dream.

That is her first thought when she finds herself in yet another unfamiliar place. But then she notices she is still wearing the clothes the Tetherer brought her, and now the fact it wasn't a dream makes it all even worse. What could she hope for if everything good is taken from her?

She's staring sternly at the ground, trying to think of what she could do to help the Tetherer find her again. Separate a house from its land? Could she do that? She did Separate the gardens of Tirazis...

She's distracted enough that she hasn't noticed the giant, ghastly bear until she's nearly upon it. She's snapped out of her daydreams of the Tetherer appearing from on high, light emanating from their back, when she hears an awful roar.

Vida freezes. If she doesn't move maybe the bear won't see her. God, but she's never seen a bear before. She'd heard stories of them getting into the gardens back in Tirazis and eating the fruit, but she hoped never to see one. The tiny knife in her pocket can't do anything against this thing, can it?

Her brilliant plan of doing nothing while it stares at her seems to be going... surprisingly well? Except for the fact she has no idea what to do next.

Well. Guess she's trapped here staring at a bear forever.]

THREE
[She's having a hard time hiding her parasite today. The thing does not want to be covered, wriggling out of the straps of cloth she's trying to bind it with before she can get anywhere with hiding it. She's about given up and out the door when she notices the letter on her doorstep.

Vida,
I don't know if I have a harder time parsing you as a god or that Tetherer freak. Not exactly a commanding presence, are they? What a scam. They just want that cult worshiping the ground they walk on. Can you even imagine? A whole world full of idiots believing that "I can tether worlds together" bullshit. You ever actually see them do something powerful or do you just believe everything you hear?

Grow up already. Stop believing in fairy tales.
Iman

That brat. Is her brother actually here? Leaving letters when he can just as easily spout this shit to her face. He's always been a coward. A fleshy tendril extends from the loose cloth strip on her arm and her parasite wraps itself tight around the letter. Vida lets it. She's too steaming mad to care what her parasite does.

She's going to find that fool boy. She doesn't care that she hasn't seen him for years. Their reunion was never going to be a happy one. She storms off, the parasite soon dropping her letter in the road.]

Bracken | OC

[shy_mage]

TWO

[He wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but when he walked out into the city he looked at it with curiosity, not fear, even when it was covered in a thick, eerie fog. Whatever monsters were lurking, he felt confident he could take them, and maybe find some new drops.

It was only after he noticed something unusual that fear started to seep in: it was deathly silent. Not a single voice popped up in his head. It was possible everyone in his lectorium was being silent at the same time, but rare, and he wanted to feel their presence while he was exploring this strange place. Unable to bear it anymore, he finally thought of a simple greeting. "H-Hello?"

But no one answered.

Seconds passed. Fear and loneliness dug their claws into him, and he tried to reach out again. No answer. All the while he was standing in one spot, gripping his staff close to him, looking more and more anxious while he seemingly did nothing.

He couldn't access his inventory. He tried to teleport, but it didn't work. Everything he knew suddenly wasn't working. The world was broken and he didn't understand why. A glitch? The most devastating part was being unable to find a way to reach his friends. Being alone was more terrifying to him than anything else. His chest tightened and his heart raced at the increasing uncertainty of his situation. Tears were already forming at the corners of his eyes and he rubbed them away with the back of his hand.

In one last bid to find something to comfort himself, he reached out and cast a weak fire spell. The small flame that flashed and disappeared in a puff of smoke let him know that at least one thing was still working. He could still access his magic, bend it to his will with ease.

By the time the sirens sounded he was already running back the way he came, hoping that he could find a way home. Even without the fog he was barely paying attention to where he was going. With it, he hardly knew what was two feet in front of him as he ran. Hopefully he didn't mistake anyone he ran into for a monster.]

[reticentresearcher]

[Hopefully not, indeed. On one hand, an eight-foot-tall cyborged-up alien with glowing eyes (not to mention other bits) might be a little easy to mistake for a monster. On the other hand, she seems almost as startled to bump into the human, turning her huge glowing eyes down to him, then back behind her, then down to him. Frozen in place for a moment before finding her faintly mechanical voice, she hesitantly finds a few words.]

Oh. Excuse my encroachment. This mercurial mist must be causing the most terrible turmoil across the town.

Kat | OC

[peopleater]

Fear Two-Clamorous Caves

It took Kat under a minute to figure out what was in the fog stalking him. It was hard not to recognize something that lived inside of you.

It also wasn't hard to figure out that Kat was never going to be able to take this thing without a priest, or a rocket launcher, or a sub machine gun. Really, he'd like all three just to be sure. He knew intimately what he was capable of, and he had no intention of fighting the real deal of his knock-off powers face to face.

Especially not when that came with a ten foot tall at the shoulder, two tailed nekomata that moved silently in the fog even while running. On the outside Kat, a not nearly six foot man with a stub of a ponytail dressed in generic fatigues, might look nothing like a raging feline demon, but it was the inside that counted right now (and that wasn't near enough demon to actually take on a demon). Kat was very sure he could only pinpoint the nekomata because his own senses were straining to cat-like precision, heightened by the threat.

Cats were not social creatures, and Kat knew when it was time to take a page out of Amos's book and run for cover. Some things were not meant to be fought.

Rage

There was not much intimidating about a a dark haired man reading a letter until the corner of his mouth pulled up just enough to show off teeth just a little sharper than those your average human would need.

Kat did not have a temper. His entire life had been geared towards calm, rational decision making and keeping his head under pressure. More than that, it had been about thinking himself superior to such emotions, because they got in the way of the service of his family. And there was absolutely nothing more important than family.

Kat didn't have a temper.

He had a demon.

Those had tempers, and the best way to make a demon mad? Threaten them. And, for Kat, there was no worse threat than this one. Nothing more terrifying and sure to make him go for someone's throat than this. Fear was far less acceptable than rage, and demons did not get scared. They got mad. They got even.

The letter caught fire at the corner of the paper, ghost blue flame barely singing the paper, but it was there, and it meant someone was about to get fucked up.

Fear

[amos_moses]

Amos was scouting cautiously through the fog, using the jabberjays occasionally. As he did, he did not hear either Kat or the nekomata. Instead one of the jays screamed a warning and Kat plowed headlong into Amos, sending them both to the stone floor with a bruising force. Amos let out a startled yell and scrabbled for his knife, all the better to stab whatever had just run him down before it decided to eat him.

Or, if it was friendly, to stab whatever was chasing it.