theafflicted | 04 - week four

WEEK FOUR

Saturday comes to a close, and it’s time for some rest and recovery. Perhaps the TLC you deserve will come this week, or perhaps the nightmare will continue. It’s hard to say with things being so strange around you, from Wei Wuxian’s disappearance to the sudden addition of objects and places and creatures from your homes. Who knows what this week will bring? Nothing ordinary, that’s for sure.

You wake up on Sunday to an increase in those little glimpses you saw yesterday. What were snippets of songs, locations that might’ve seemed familiar, and creatures that were dormant, are now all alive and whole. When you go to the karaoke bar, the songs you once knew are there. Monsters and animals are alive and sentient. New business are abound. Vehicles are operable, and perhaps some of your old belongings are back, too.

However, some of these things aren’t even things that should exist outside of your dreams. They may be far too strange and unusual to be real, or just things you don't remember ever seeing. The only thing you remember about these things in particular is that they were, quite literally, in your dreams this week.

That being said, every few hours, all of these things from your homes and dreams fade out and get replaced by new sounds, places, beasts….only to maybe come back again at another time.

Well. At least there's one constant here: You’ve got a handful of new locations to look at, with the fog having spread once more, and they aren't going anywhere. There aren’t as many new places that are native to Estelline this time around, but that may be for the best, considering everything going on.

SETTING TRACKER

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

NEWSPAPER SUBMISSIONS + EDITION #1

SAGE / FLORENCE / LORELEI

MEM SHARE DETAILS

OOC NOTE

OOC: Details on this week can be found here!

Also, we have a lot of participants for the news activity from last week. Neat! Everyone who participated in some capacity will have a small polaroid camera delivered to their doorstep. There's limited film, though - 10 photos per camera. It doesn't seem like there's any extra film at this time, either.

Finally, there will not be any weekly tasks this week. You guys are going to be busy with memshare and dreamscape stuff; instead, enjoy the Estelline University Newspaper!

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Peeking in on people's memories is something he doesn't care for considering his own desire for privacy, but the portals being everywhere make it hard to avoid being pulled into at least a couple.

Which is why he finds himself instinctively crinkling his nose at the smell. As terrible as some of the conditions were at the bases he's been assigned to, they weren't confined to a room as these children were either. He finds himself scanning the surroundings automatically, noting the single point of entry and poor furnishings. And, of course, the girl sitting on that bed.

He doesn't stand out like a sore thumb at least, not being much older than the oldest of them, and he's dressed more casually than usual with a t-shirt and a pale scarf around his neck. But still, he doesn't make an effort to curb the bluntness in his tone as as he addresses Miach.]

Miach. Do you understand what they're saying?

[ She hasn't seen this person before. Is he part of the Russian armed forces? Miach wasn't even aware that they'd made any effort to learn her name. She's 'the pale one' a lot of the time - and if someone inquires after her, she is not inclined to introduce herself to begin with.

But he doesn't sound rough when he talks to her. Miach wonders how long it has been since she's heard herself called out to with anything resembling kindness. She can't remember. Everything but the here and now feels like a blur.

She nods. ]

A lot of it.

[ In her village they'd been speaking a Chechen dialect, but the rare occasion of trade meant that conversational Russian was passed around as well. Miach has been hearing very little but in the last month, it's become familiar. ]

Something's coming.

[That could mean a lot of things, and so Shin finds himself looking back at the dirty, nondescript room again, taking stock of the children's appearances and demeanors before directing his attention back to Miach. They've been detained here for a while, that much is clear, but...]

How did you come to be here?

[ One of the soldiers wouldn't need to ask that. Did he slip inside, taking advantage of the confusion in their ranks? That would be too risky... None of this makes any sense.

And Miach is growing increasingly intrigued with it. ]

They came to the village. They burned it down. It's... war, they say.

[ A war she hadn't known about before it came to grab her. Never even had reason to suspect. ]

[It's war, but it's a different kind of war from the one he's used to. Taking prisoners wasn't something that was done when fighting against an army of unmanned drones, so the only reference point he has for this is the knowledge he's accrued through books, documentaries and museum visits, all of which feels far too inadequate right now.]

So they're armed. [Even if he could take down a few of them on his own, he doesn't know how big this building is or how many people are stationed here. Still...]

How often do they come by, and with how many at a time?

[ There is a longer pause here as Miach struggles to find a simple answer. Are there patterns...? She knows the sound of footsteps approaching the room and she knows to tense up and hide inside her heart when it happens. But does it signify the passage of time? Is it regular? Can she predict the pattern?

She understands, intuitively, that being able to do that would be beneficial. That this boy can prepare, somehow, if she knows.

But it's difficult. ]

It's... one to five? They just... they come whenever they feel...

[ ... what do they feel, anyway? Is there a word for it? It's something ugly. Something ugly that they pass on to her. Miach shudders a little, and suddenly the question that had been underlying so far comes right to the forefront of her head: ]

Are you going to kill them?

[In this situation, he knows it's a lot to ask for. He doesn't entirely know what's been done to these kids and it's unclear how long they've been confined in this place. However, the numbers help, because one to five... he can deal with that many, if he has the element of surprise on his side.

But when Miach quivers and asks that question, it makes him pause.

He had no desire to kill them, and beyond that, he knew killing them wouldn't change anything. These portals were simply reflections of the past--even if they could somehow change the outcome, it wouldn't undo what's already happened. But he also doesn't know enough about how this place works and if getting hurt here would carry back to the real world. If it turned out that he had to shoot these ghosts of the past to get out of here, he would.]

If I have to. But if I can knock them unconscious instead, I will.

... oh.

[ Miach's general knowledge that 'killing is bad, probably' is really fighting with her overall disappointment here. There are only few people in this world she knows, but if the soldiers in the adjacent rooms aren't deserving of death then nobody is.

What they'd done to her home, her parents, the animals and everyone she'd known... It is all a blur in her memory. What they'd done to her... she doesn't think she'll forget it for the rest of her life.

After that disappointment is done with, she picks up on some more of the chaos from outside and adds more information: ]

They're angry. And scared. What's coming isn't good for them.

[That reaction is probably to be expected, even if he doesn’t know the full extent of what’s been done to her and everyone else that’s been locked up in here. And if she managed to pick a gun off a fallen soldier, he wouldn’t stop her from using it either, as long as she didn’t end up shooting him in the back. But escaping is higher priority right now and whoever they’re spooked by is likely better equipped to handle the soldiers anyhow.]

An enemy attack, huh...

[He gets up so he can check how sturdy the door is. Even if it’s locked, there might still be a way of forcing it open, although he’ll at least wait on trying anything until it seems like there’s something of a lull in noise that may indicate that the soldiers have moved away from the area.]

Did they say anything about intruders?

... I don't know.

[ This boy has a calmer aura than any of the soldiers who usually come to visit her, so Miach finally crawls out of the bed and walks over to where Shin is standing.

The noises outside begin to shift - gunshots from afar join the various shouts, which turn to something that at least sounds like proper orders now. There is a fight outside.

But nothing is coming in here, not yet. The door is iron and heavy, but not actually locked. The soldiers must feel rather secure that none of the children would come outside. ]

This hasn't happened before... Nobody comes up here.

[The door being unlocked seems... well, careless, even if he can understand why they would have felt confident enough to leave it that way. Either way, running headfirst into a firefight seems like a bad idea, so leaving carelessly isn't an option but there's also no guarantee the other side would be friendly if they were found.

Turning to Miach:]

You should take cover, even if it's just hiding under the bed. Tell the others, too.

[Meanwhile, he's going to crouch right beside the door so he's in a better position to ambush if necessary, but that's probably going to depend on the sounds happening outside.]

04 - week four

1

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

cw csa

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject