EVENT #10: AFFLICTION - IC POST

[abraxasmods]

Event #10 - Affliction

go to the OOC event info & plotting post

---

With tensions heavy across Abraxas and all the destruction that's happened, it's no surprise that the dark shadows which sweep over the land go unnoticed...at first.

Winds initially stir in Solvunn, where the influence of the Old Gods remains the strongest. Slowly each Herald infects Thorne and the Free Cities, as well. The Summoned are the first to feel its effects and are the most heavily impacted.

Though no one will realize it until well afterwards, Nocwich remains unaffected. After all, the Summoned don't reside there.

NOTE: This event will deal with themes of death (people and animal) and horror imagery.

Emergence

It begins sometime in mid-October, around the 18th. Not everyone will experience it at the same time. You might even believe you're spared until days afterwards when you're visited by an unusually vivid dream.

The dream starts the same for everyone: you are going somewhere, anywhere, walking to your bedroom or enjoying a stroll on the beach. You might be driving down a familiar neighborhood. Wherever you're headed, you eventually come upon a stone tablet engraved with your Arcana. Laid on the tablet are three objects:

◎ A dead moth trapped inside a wilted rose, symbolizing Koth of Festering Lands
◎ A teacup inside which sits a single nightshade berry, symbolizing Adlewyrd of Poisoned Tongues
◎ An ornate cracked hand mirror that contains no reflection, symbolizing Sannleikr of Many Faces

Make a choice. Something inside your soul will be drawn towards one of the objects. Maybe you spend hours in the dream deliberating, but sooner or later, you'll pick one of the items up. The moment you do, the other objects vanish and the chosen Herald appears before you. Where one might expect a god to seek subservience, the strange figure instead extends a friendly hand towards you - as though it's greeting you as an equal.

Whispered around you, you hear its name. Then it fades and with it the dream. You awaken.

Affliction

You go about your day as usual. That's when you realize something isn't right. Creatures and people around you behave strangely. You begin to sense that you are the cause.

Depending on your chosen Herald, you'll experience at least one of its afflictions. The effects might start small, then grow. They might rush you all at once. You can't shake what haunts you, though you can try. Spells, potions, and willpower can help keep the afflictions at bay but you won't ever be completely free.

As the afflictions seep into your mind, you start to find shadows of it following you: a dead moth here, a nightshade bloom there, a cracked mirror elsewhere. You may even wonder if it's following you in the first place. What if instead, you are the one leaving these signs behind?

Corruption

The first time you inflict your ability on someone else, you don't mean to. It might be a stranger, some unsuspecting soul, or it might be another Summoned. Regardless, the afflictions that ail you seem to spread through you into another. Someone falls down as if in the throes of an invisible death or secrets spill. You brush by someone and they're suddenly upset and confused.

The more this happens, intentionally or not, the better you feel. You may grow full of life and energy, gain a renewed strength of heart, or radiate a charm that turns heads and garners compliments. The afflictions haunting you could even start to fade or completely vanish. And if you use your newfound power deliberately? You'll feel better even faster for longer. Of course, these boons are temporary, lasting at most an hour or so. When the feeling wanes, you might miss having it.

You are not possessed. You can't control this power that spreads through you, but how you respond or behave is up to you. You could be attracted to the allure of power, enjoy the boons you are granted, or realize you can gain relief from your afflictions if you choose a victim. Not everyone will fall headfirst into the pull. Some are not easily swayed by power, some struggle to overcome their dark impulses, and others would rather endure their suffering than inflict it on someone else. But others still might succumb to temptation and turn on those around them with purpose: once, twice, multiple times. The choice you make is yours alone.

Blight

With the call of the Herald at your fingertips, the world around you twists. No one knows whether this stems from you and your newly imbued afflictions, or if the Heralds are exerting power on their own. It's for sure easier to think of what occurs as the influence of something monstrous beyond your control. No matter the cause, the earth is changed all the same.

Omens

The omens arrive shortly after the initial Summoned receive their dreams, but they don't come to every faction at once. SOLVUNN is first, being home to the Old Gods' shrines, before THORNE and the FREE CITIES follow only days afterwards. Depending on where you are, the omens will affect things a bit differently.

Solvunn

In Solvunn, the ground stirs. A desiccated hand breaks through the grass, a cloven hoof. Human or animal, they crawl forth, animated against their will. Some might attack, but most do not. At the same time, crops around the settlements begin to fail. Some chickens lay rotten eggs while cows produce spoiled milk. Any livestock that perishes overnight will surface in the mornings with empty eye sockets - pecked out by crows or gnawed on by rats. From a distance, the ocean can be seen bubbling as leviathans beneath thrash.

Worth noting is that many of the dead are concentrated around the shrines, especially the ones deep in the woods. They're too decayed to recognize, and some might not even move from the site, as though they are waiting for the earth to take them again...or as though they once chose to give up their life at this very spot.

Summoned can assist by helping to cast spells or place warding charms around shrines, farms, and gardens to protect crops and livestock. As a commune, the Solvunnites will share their resources as much as possible and would appreciate those who might lend a hand bringing supplies, herbs, and offerings to neighbors who are lacking. The Summoned can also brew a common herbal remedy to aid any animals who have fallen ill or to help purify the well water.

Free Cities

In Libertas, the dead buried under the rubble dig themselves out. More crawl forth from graves in Cadens' cemeteries. Beasts and bandits slain in the desert wilds rise, hungry or searching for the ones who killed them. At the same time, dead fish wash up onto the shores of Aquila while birds fall dead from their perch, dropping like flies from an unknown illness. Vultures and other scavengers begin to prey upon the eyes of the dead, leaving behind hollowed-out corpses.

Worth noting is that in the Badlands, a few very old and skeletal corpses rise with a metal plate or two screwed onto their bones, which are also oddly elongated. Only one or two make their way near the city. The army is quick to dispose of them before many can notice. They will not disclose any information about this and will claim these are just monsters like anything else.

Summoned can assist by going on patrol with the soldiers to put down any risen dead. Merchant caravans are also hiring escorts for their journeys. Additionally, they can help look through any received supplies and packages to make sure the food isn't rotting or worse, use a special dissolving compound to purify the waters, and donate staple food items to refugees and the less fortunate who can't afford the rising prices.

Thorne

In Thorne, the dead emerge only from the outskirts of the castle city. Thanks to information from one of their Summoned and their recent monitoring of the Singularity, Thorne was able to act swiftly and was able to ward any royal or otherwise significant burial sites. Graves and tombs of less importance, though, will not be protected in the same way. There are fewer encounters with eyeless corpses, though some animals might appear outside the castle in such a state. Normally extravagant dishes from the Castle's kitchens use simpler ingredients as they struggle to ration their food stores.

Worth noting is that a few unexpected corpses make their way up from deep under the castle in places beyond the dungeons. These are twisted and mangled, missing limbs, heads, fingers. The castle guards are quick to dispose of them before they get too far into the rest of the castle, but one or two may be spotted.

Summoned can assist by contributing to the wards around Castle Thorne and the city, using spells to put down the dead without mangling the corpse, and taking inventory of food stores. Further, in Nott the situation is more dire for anyone who is traveling there to continue assisting with repairs following the attack. Nott will welcome help with any problems caused by the omens. It'll be clear the kingdom has neglected the city somewhat. Thorne will claim the Castle takes priority, of course, due to King and Queen residing there along with the entire royal court.

Apprehensions

Across the factions, locals are beginning to catch on that something isn't right with you, the Summoned. No one will say it outright, but there's an air of caution and wariness around you where you go. Merchants might be quick to hand you your wares so you'll leave or locals give you a bit of space when they walk by. Chatty innkeepers are more reluctant to hold lengthy conversations.

Much of the time, it may not be conscious. The natives might simply sense something off that instinctually makes them want to put some distance between them and you. The only exception? If you've chosen Sannleikr of Many Faces, you'll continue to exude your charm towards people you encounter. At least for as long as you continue to inflict that ability you've been gifted.

Displacement

Everyone responds differently while in the Horizon. You might exert better willpower over your afflictions or you might feel its effects more strongly. It all depends on the individual and their mindset. Regardless, the Heralds are only one part of the equation. There's a much bigger disturbance going on.

It could happen as soon as you enter or it might be as you're stepping over the threshold into another's domain. Whatever the case, you are suddenly not where you're supposed to be. Instead, you're in one of two places depending: transported into a domain you never meant to go into or in a foreign setting altogether.

Visitation

Whether you're the one transported or someone teleports unexpectedly into your space, the Horizon becomes unpredictable for the next little while. Rooms normally locked to strangers, areas you yourself may not even realize exists - you and your fellow Summoned continue to pop in and out despite your intentions.

The effect isn't painful, just disorienting, like missing a step you didn't see or stumbling through a door into a too-bright room. The person whose domain you've inadvertently visited might sense an unwanted presence, whether they're inside the Horizon or not, or they may be completely oblivious. This will depend on the strength of their connection to the Singularity and the Horizon.

Not to worry. You won't be trapped or anything in these cases...unless the domain you land in happens to seal from the inside. You might stumble on secrets you weren't meant to find, though, locked away in someone else's mind.

Ensnared

The less fortunate will be pulled into a space that they've never encountered before. The bizarreness of it resembles the glitchy visions that flashed through a few months ago, but rather than an image flickering by, you are now inside the space itself.

Trapped between minutes to hours, you can't use the Horizon's creation magic as normal. Attempts will falter or go sideways: trying to fly out might cause you to tumble, tools and objects are broken or not quite right, wounds don't vanish or heal completely, etc. More significantly, you can't seem to send or receive messages through your connection. Anything that manages to come through will be garbled and distorted. It's as though the place you are in is just out of the reach of your control.

Luckily, you may not be alone. Someone else may have gotten lost alongside you. They might already be there when you stumble through or they might arrive after you do. They might even fade out sooner than you, unintentionally leaving you behind.

Eventually, you'll be released back into the Horizon proper, spat out in a random place in the Horizon. While you're stuck, though, you can try to survive, explore, sit and wait it out, or make friends with your fellow trapped partner. Each area has its challenges and quirks that you'll need to deal with.

Scenes to Explore

JUSTICE ◎
FULL IMAGE

High in the clouds, these snowy peaks are as cold as they look. Giant marble hands reach out, though their sheer scale means you might not recognize them as hands from up close. You can scale the mountain, but if you try to go down, the hands will flip the mountain, which sends you tumbling to the top again.

It's up to you whether you can be injured when you fall. Maybe the snow will feel like marshmallows, or you'll break a bone on the jagged rocks. No two experiences are the same. If you have a partner, they could end up faring better than you despite being in the same place.

Conjure some warm clothes or a log cabin even if you wish - they might not manifest perfectly, but it'll be better than nothing. At least the view's fairly nice...while the sun is up. A blizzard will come through by nightfall. With it arrives a strange hovering light that entices you or your friend to follow it into the frozen darkness. What draws you out depends on you. It could be a familiar voice, an image, or a simple compulsion. If you're lucky, the person with you is unaffected and can try to stop you. Or maybe you're the one desperately chasing after the other person?

---

THE CHARIOT ◎
FULL IMAGE

From a distance, it's hard to tell if they're shipping containers or houses stacked atop each other. A gooey mess covers the ground below. Oddly, the smell isn't as unpleasant as the goo looks. It smells like bubblegum or cotton candy, artificial and sweet. When you first fall in, you might land inside one of the homes, on top of the stacked structure, or the ground. You can try to reach anyone else who's there with you, but be careful: the ooze is spreading. Climb if you must or move from room to room. If you don't keep moving, you risk getting sucked into its sticky mass.

Each block of a home is different. Some are furnished, whereas others are empty or filled with strange knickknacks. Some might even have subconscious creations spawned by you. Keep ahead of the gloopy substance, and you'll be fine, probably. Or you can try to fight it back or block its path by sealing yourself in a room or otherwise, which can slow it down significantly. Mostly, you'll have to hope you fade out before the pink mass completely consumes the landscape.

---

THE WORLD ◎
FULL IMAGE

The hazy neon glow obscures a nothingness that seems to extend forever. In the middle of the wet ground are several stacked television sets with wires plugged into nothing. Inexplicably, there's also a cat. At first, it appears perfectly normal, but keen observers will notice that its behavior is on a loop where it will walk a certain path, pause at specific intervals to lick its paws, and meow at set points. It does not acknowledge any of its intruders. You can break its loop by picking it up, at which point it'll go limp as a ragdoll. As soon as you set it down, it'll resume its actions as before.

While you can see the same images as someone else on the screens, it's also possible you'll each see something different despite being in the room together. What you see is up to you. It could be an old fuzzy movie, home videos of your childhood, trivia questions you have to answer correctly, or even a memory or vision you wouldn't want to share. Words or faces taunting you could appear between staticky flickers, or maybe your very thoughts are projected onto the screens for anyone with you to read.

Break the televisions if you want, but given a few short minutes, they'll reform between one blink and the next. Looks like you'll have to keep watching until you're released.

---

THE FOOL ◎
FULL IMAGE

Sprawling and massive, you're unlikely to recognize at first that you're trapped in a labyrinth. Stone walls rise around you, and your surroundings are pitchblack. Manifest a torch or a flashlight if you can, though these will be prone to going out at inopportune times. Escaping over the walls will only send you into another section in the maze.

As you navigate the twisting corridors, you'll encounter any variety of trials and troubles: gaps in the ground, spiked traps, haunting whispers, monsters, decaying corpses. Some of these might've formed from your mind, others might've spawned from anyone else who's trapped with you.

If you aren't alone, do your best to locate your fellow Summoned. Voices do carry and echo over the walls, and there could be landmarks that help you find each other. Finding the exit, however, is another matter. Walk and climb all you want. A way out is impossible until the Horizon chooses to set you free.

Players can pick any scenario that interests them from the four choices above. Unlike the visions from before, characters can accidentally be trapped in as many of the scenes as you want, as many times as you want. Another option is that they can stay trapped in only one scene while a variety of characters fade in and out to join them, or some combination of the two. Choose what works best for your plans.

Each scene will once again carry an associated Arcana etched somewhere inside it, which can change from person to person or instance to instance. It might be on a wall, a table, or on the ground. Characters with a stronger connection to the Horizon are likely to be trapped for longer but the extent of this is your choice and it won't ever exceed a few hours. It's also your choice whether the afflictions continue to haunt them or not. If you want characters to deal with both problems while stuck together, you're welcome to!

Generally speaking, there are no restrictions other than that they won't be able to communicate with anyone outside the area, they can't escape it until the Horizon chooses to release them, and their creation magic will go wrong just enough that it'll make things tricky.

Comments

ⲟⲣⲉⲛ → ⲏⲟꞅⲓⲍⲟⲛ (ⲧⲏⲉ ⲱⲟꞅ𝓵ⲇ)

[stations]

content warning: child abuse & neglect, murder, grief, psychological trauma

( The ground beneath his feet is shiny and slick-wet, black enough that some patches of it have gone as reflective as pavement puddles under streetlamps after a rainstorm. It ripples as he walks, but strangely, his footsteps make no sound. His breathing makes no sound. The only thing he can hear is soft static, fuzzy, with a high-pitched tinnitus whine that fades in and out. It doesn't take long to identify the source — stacked in the center of the room are a dozen analog televisions that look a lot like the kind his foster homes often had in the late nineties or early two thousands.

He moves closer like it's a compulsion, drawn by curiosity — and by the fact that there's nowhere else to really go. Just endless fog, ominous enough to give off the vibe that you're likely to run into an invisible map barrier like in a video game if you wander out into it.

One or two of the screens are fuzzy with snow — not always the same two; it seems like every few minutes another screen will switch off or on, scenes will swap out, the whole thing flickering and neon like the world's most unsettling cyberpunk Christmas tree. Aside from those, there's an impressive variety of content.

One screen plays a muffled, tinny version of Casablanca, or the old Power Rangers show from the 90s with its audio distorted, or Gilligan's Island — or a handful of other cable TV classics.

A couple of them seem to be a live feed from the security camera in a gas station — largely blank and boring, though if you catch it at the right time one of them will show a painstakingly long scene of Jack, detached and disassociated, slitting open a man's throat with a box cutter.

One shows a child of six or seven (though he's so skinny and small, you'd be forgiven for mistaking him as younger) wandering outside of an apartment complex alone, searching for food.

Once in a while, the screen is white font on a black background, just text that reads things like wake up, or why can't you wake up? or why won't she wake up? Rarely, an even worse variant: it's your fault she'll never wake up.

One particular screen never changes, never wavers, never blinks or fades or shuts down. It's of a hospital room, with a single occupant in a single bed. It might seem like a still picture at first, unless you notice the EKG machine beside it steadily pulsing in a heartbeat rhythm. It's a young woman, Jack's age, wilted through years of lifelessness and vacancy — but still beautiful, her red hair a halo of wild curls around her head.

The rest of them he doesn't recognize — probably because they belong to the Summoned who joins him.

If you show up after Jack's been there for a while, it's also possible to catch him sitting cross-legged on the ground with a Super Nintendo controller in his hand — and a free one open beside him. Look, he's been in here a while, he got bored, it's easier for him to manifest things than it might be for most Summoned. He can't seem to manipulate his way out, but he can at least play some Mario Kart or something to pass the time. )

[shadowthief]

She steps into the strange room and finds a- boy? man? it's hard to tell exactly how old he is- sitting with his legs folded under him in front of the screens.

"Is this- your...domain?" she asks, not sure if it might be like the maze she was stuck in before. Something seems to be going wrong with the Horizon as a whole, and she wonders if it had something to do with the dream she had before.

[stations]

Yeah, nobody would really be able to blame Inej for not knowing whether she's looking at a boy or a man. He's at a weird age, he's skinny, he's got a mild demeanor. That last bit's apparent in the way he twists to look back at her — not a startle, just a curious glance.

"Oh, hey," he greets, his tone slightly more hollow than normal. "Um, no. This isn't mine, I don't think it belongs to anybody. It's kind of a shithole, actually, but I haven't figured out how to leave."

[thedevilwhorose]

[Lucifer appears with the eerie static of an old-tuning radio, the white noise in-between fitting for the surrounding TVs. A "gift" from the Singularity for Lucifer, but maybe it's just another ill omen for Jack.

He looks around, ignoring the screens and focusing on Jack playing his video game.

(The remaining screens all show the same two things. They alternate between quick cuts of complete darkness with muffled thunder and streaks of lightning, to an empty, grayed-out world, this particular scene covered in sand and dying plantlife, and one, giant spikes embedded in the ground.)]

Well. This is pathetic. Did your lovely untrained abilities bring this into existence?

[Lucifer was certain he entered into the Horizon, but he feels an absent connection to his body so this might, once again, be the fault of Jack Townsend.]

[stations]

( He notices the screens before he notices the angel — it's the flashing that catches his attention.

Huh. That's not mine.

He puzzles over it for all of two seconds before he decides it probably doesn't matter, and that he has no way of figuring it out so there's no point dwelling on it.

The moment he dismisses it is the moment that cringe-inducing voice pipes up in the background.

It seems Jack has passed the freaking out stage of their relationship, because all he does is heave a sigh.

This fucking guy. )

The televisions? No. Those were here when I got here. ( He holds up the controller. ) This, yes. It won't let me leave and I got... bored. Wait, why am I explaining myself to you? What do you want? Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be, like, all-powerful or whatever?

( Which means the smarter move would've been to ask for help leaving, but... man, he really hates this guy. As of right now, kneejerk impulse, it's outweighing how much he hates it here. The ratio's bound to flip once the surprise wears off. )

[thedevilwhorose]

I just have that kind of face. [That makes people tell him things. Definitely accurate.] I keep finding myself cursed to be stuck in scenarios with you. [He gives Jack a pointed stare.] I suppose you could try your tactic from the last time to see if it gets you unstuck. [He flicks his hand as though trying to manifest a weapon, but an ethereal mist wraps a finger-8 around his fingers instead.

The Horizon, then.

He frowns. Ignores 50% of what Jack says, as always.] This isn't your domain then? Some... gas-station backroom?

[stations]

My gas station doesn't have a back room. We have meetings in the cooler.

( It's delivered so flatly it might be hard to tell whether or not he's being sarcastic.

He's not. The cooler is for cold drinks, dead bodies, and private conversations.

Slightly more salty: )

And I've already tried that. It was like... the third thing I did. Apparently this place doesn't conform to dream logic.

[thedevilwhorose]

What was the second thing you did, I wonder? Wishing you were a real boy? [He looks to Jack's dreamed-up leg before rolling his eyes and folding his arms.] The concern is that I'm certain this is the Horizon but we shouldn't have trouble leaving. It's never been a problem before.

[He tilts his head.] Which leaves the certainty that it's your fault.

[stations]

( Damn it. That was below the belt — literally. Also... a really good one. Like, annoyingly good. Jack hates him so much.

Time to start brainstorming a good come-back. You wish you were a real boy - no, that's terrible. Something about being god's puppet? Not really snappy. Also, might get him another fist through his chest.

God, this is hard to do with these screens blaring in his peripheral vision. )

If this was me, shouldn't you be able to... undo it or something? You're the devil. I work at a gas station.

[thedevilwhorose]

I'm not skilled in Abraxan magic, which is powered by the Singularity, which is likely why we're currently stuck in the Horizon in a conversation neither of us want. [The problem is everything he's stated is accurate. He thinks maybe if this was anything else that he could break through it.

But this is all still new to him and while he's stopped being resistant to learning, it's been lower on his to-do list.]

[stations]

Sure. ( Utter deadpan. ) Well, it's not me.

( And he doesn't feel any particularly strong urge to prove it. Lucifer can believe him or not, they're stuck either way. )

I may not know how to leave, but I do know how to get out of a conversation neither of us want. So.

( He gives the controller a little wave. )

I'm gonna go back to this. Good luck with your whole- whatever. When you get bored and give up in like four hours, you can be Luigi.

( That last bit is totally facetious, he has approximately zero percent belief Satan himself will stoop low enough to sit on the floor and play video games with him. He turns back around anyway, and unpauses his game. Cue the 16-bit music. )

[thedevilwhorose]

[There is a desire there to make him wait four hours, to the minute.

He can be stubborn like that; he was willing to wait indefinitely by a door not long ago. This is nothing.

To potentially both their shock: he doesn't. He steps over--far, far too silently of a walk now that he's stifled his radio tuning soundtrack--and folds himself down cross-legged besides Jack. He picks up the controller in the way of someone that has never played a single damn video game in the whole of the universe.

Because he hasn't.

He blinks down at the controller.] ... What's a Luigi?

[stations]

( Wow. Okay. So this is a thing that's happening, apparently.

Is it the weirdest thing to ever happen in his life? No. But it's definitely up there. Top ten in the last six months, easy.

There's a solid second where Jack considers swatting the offer back down again, but... admittedly, playing against the computer loses its luster after like forty-five minutes, and at least if Lucifer's doing this he's not doing something worse.

So. Fuck it. )

He's the one with the green hat. He's Mario's less popular younger brother. And you're holding that wrong, look, it's-

( Demonstration of proper form: check. )

I can't believe I'm teaching you about video games when there's a church, like, a mile from my house that's convinced you invented them. They made fliers and everything.

[thedevilwhorose]

If I had a list of everything I've ever been blamed for it would fill an island's worth of libraries. [He does mimic the "proper form" and all that. This is likely a dumb idea but Jack has a point about it being a distraction from... well. Both of them being here.

Ah, and he rather recently gave humans a hard time for being Distraction Addicts.

Oh well.

Lucifer's always been a hypocrite.

And, anyway. This is Jack Townsend: arguably Lucifer's least favorite person in Thorne.

There are always exceptions to rules.

He only makes the barest twitch at Luigi's description. Some ingrained part of him to react to the words 'younger brother.' What? So he has issues, doesn't everyone?] I bet I was blamed for people breathing wrong at one point in time.

[He is going to be. Absolutely horrible. At this game.]

[stations]

I mean, probably. People in my town would definitely try to pray away 'the devil's asthma'.

( Said with a nonchalant shrug as he bloops through the characters and settles on Princess Peach.

Because she's the best, and he came here to win. He's not putting on kid gloves for this asshole.

He will, however, give a brief rundown of the controls, because he's not a total sociopath. )

Steer with these. This one makes you go faster, this one's to brake. That's jump, and that one uses the item in your inventory. Don't fall off the map.

( And with those final sage words of advice, they're off. 3... 2... 1... go. )

[thedevilwhorose]

[So then Spencer would be the type not to show him how to play.]

Your town sounds like a barrel of laughs.

[He instantly falls off the map.

So.

Already off to a good start.]

I'm great with my hands. [A grunt.] Excellent dexterity, surgical skills. [Says the devil that shoved his arm through Jack's chest--so Jack should definitely understand.

He's having better luck staying on the map but he's definitely Struggling, but his annoyance at least stays at the same level.] This should be easier.

[stations]

( Spencer would be the type to not only not show Lucifer how to play, but also as soon as he started to figure it out, would stab him through the hand with a switchblade and then laugh maniacally, win the race, and then tell him to lighten up about it.

Fucking Spencer. )

Mmmm, more like a barrel of homophobia, illiteracy, and bad police cover-ups.

( He returns lightly, settling into the lull of calm that comes with staring dead-eyed into a television screen while one detaches to the dulcet tunes of a video game.

Maybe some of that false sense of security bleeds out of him when he glances at Lucifer's side of the screen, then at his hands, and then offers some unobtrusive, casual advice. )

It's easier if you hold down the brake while you're turning, it makes you kind of... power slide drift, so you don't just shoot straight off like- ( Oop. There he goes again. ) ...like that.

[thedevilwhorose]

If they can get away with bad police cover-ups there's no point for good ones. [Because that's the takeaway here.] Welcome to the small-town garbage of humanity--where the same thing exists in larger places, but they obfuscate it with their loudness and neon lights. [This is all said with the most matter of fact, as he tries to pay attention and actually make use of Jack's advice, the barest twitch to his expression when he gets it right.

Jack's not the only one to be lulled into a false sense of security.]

[stations]

( Jack makes a small sound of concession — well, you're right about that. Once his town figured out they could just re-use suicides and weird weather phenomenon on repeat and get away with it, they pretty much stopped trying. At this point, honestly, it's just gotten embarrassing.

Lucifer manages to skid around a curve without falling off the edge, and there's a fleeting half-second where Jack almost feels proud of the guy.

Then he remembers he totally hates this jerk, and drops a banana peel in his path. )

So you really don't like anything about humanity? ( Because he's curious, and they have nothing better to do. Half-vacant conversation's a staple part of the experience. ) Like, I get it, most of society sucks on a cosmic level and as a general rule I don't talk to living human beings whenever I can help it, but... It's not all bad.

[thedevilwhorose]

[There's a line here that he would normally say.

Multiple lines, in fact.

Burying alive amount of lines.

Instead, after grumbling about his literal in-game slip, and taking a new mighty study on the power-ups and their functions, something else comes out, still in that easy lull that he doesn't even quite realize it.] I've met some here that aren't so terrible.

[stations]

Yeah?

( Mostly absent, but there's a faint hint of surprise hovering around in there. What a crazy and unexpected turn of events — who the hell is tolerating Lucifer around here and what's wrong with them, like, psychologically? )

Like who?

( Now entering the second-to-last lap. Surprising absolutely no one, Lucifer is in last place, and Jack is having a neck-in-neck battle with an NPC. )

[londonbound]

[ He's grown so used to the pattern. He tries to enter the Horizon, and every time, Rhy opens his eyes to see the monolith of the Singularity looming over him. Always. In the crater, next to the big stone artefact -- and then, usually to his domain or that of the person he's decided to visit.

So when he winds up in a room he's never seen before, full of moving pictures and lights and a cat (and Jack, apparently), he really has no idea what to think. ]

What?

Is this place yours?

[ It tumbles out, no preamble.

And before Rhy can say anything else, one of the screens begins playing something new.

The room is beautiful -- richly furnished, with drapes of various colors hanging around the enormous bed painting the ceiling like a dawn sky, thick rugs cushioning the intricate inlaid floor and leading to an open space in front of a marble fireplace that takes up half the wall. There is a couch in this larger, front part of what are clearly ridiculously lavish personal chambers. On the couch sits a young man.

Tall and thin with a shock of red hair, the man -- Kell -- sits pinned by helmeted guards on either side of him, his wrists cuffed in solid iron manacles carved with some sort of spellwork. He is struggling. His eyes -- one blue and the other pitch-black all around with not even a sliver of white or iris showing -- are fixed on Rhy, who sits across the couch in a high-backed chair, a teacup on the ornate side table next to him. He has leaned far forward, regarding the red-haired man with a smile that is all jagged edges and scornful glee. A look he wears like an ill-fitting suit put on inside out, unnerving and wrong.

There is no sound. Rhy's mouth moves, an uncharacteristic sneer warping his features as he reaches over and tangles a hand in his prisoner's red hair, pressing his cheek to Kell's bloody face to whisper something in his ear.

His other hand holds a dagger to Kell's chest, the tip of it sliding down to pop open his shirt buttons. Pressing against the fair skin revealed beneath.

Immediately, Rhy forgets about Jack. He turns, staring in horror at the picture about halfway through the scene, when he realizes what he's seeing.

And suddenly rushes it, aiming to apparently punch the TV until it stops. ]

[stations]

I wouldn't-

( He cautions, just to be cut off abruptly by the sound of Rhy's fist hitting the television. The glass cracks, the picture fizzles and turns to snow, and for a moment it might seem like the problem is solved.

Except Jack sighs, and should Rhys so much as glance away, the moment he looks back the screen will be fully intact and playing the same scene. )

I already tried that. Also unplugging them, turning them around backwards, taking them apart, pretty much anything you can think of. They just go right back to being...

( Gesture. )

That.

( Suffice it to say, no, these definitely aren't his. )

[londonbound]

[ There's silence for a minute, as he ascertains that Jack is right. The box playing back his memories doesn't budge, doesn't break, doesn't even shift. He draws back to nurse his bloody knuckles.

This is the Horizon, but he can't will away the injury for some reason. Just like he can't will the scenes to stop. (Others are playing now, various frivolous memories around the palace, around town, even a couple uncomfortably intimate ones where he's wearing very little.)

Eventually, Rhy has to look away, glowering as he paces the room. ]

There's no door.

[ He observes flatly, staring at Jack. ]

And I can't make anything.

[stations]

Yep.

( Jack affirms a little too mildly, like he didn't just watch Rhy lose his shit and bloody his knuckles on a television screen. )

That's... pretty much where we're at. I've been in here for like six hours or something, I've been all over this place, and there's pretty much just...

( He gestures at the screens.

Pretty much just that. )

You can't even focus on the ones that are actual television shoes. It just keeps replaying the first fifteen minutes of the same Gilligan's Island episode and then fuzzing out.