Luceti Valley - The Second Log

[lucetimods]

Who: Everyone
What: The second part of the experiment. Things begin to unravel.
When: August 7th - August 10th
Where: Luceti itself
Summary: Check out the mod post for more. This covers Day 6-9!
Rating: Varies with thread. Please move explicit stuff to appointments post with appropriate warnings.

Luceti Valley continued in its own merry little way. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer. A new tax hike had ensured increasing animosity between both groups, despite the protests of the every charitable Lord Mayor. But on the sixth day, something happens and people begin to notice things are unusual. Idle thoughts that if thought about too much is bound to get you a visit to the police station for an hour or so. Or worse, it may just get you committed.

Meanwhile, the asylum continues to gain more and more patients. Those that are trapped there will find escaping difficult, but there may be more to this place than they first assumed...

On the tenth, battle breaks out across Luceti Valley. People begin to exhibit powers and abilities they didn't know they had. The police begin rounding up these people to lock up. If they resist, its bound to come to blows. Even though no one has regained their memories of their true self yet, it becomes apparent that some trickery is afoot, even if they might not know the source or why.


Note: This is the second log! There will be a third and final event log for the aftermath. There will also be two separate logs specifically for finding John and defeating Zompano. For those of you that signed up, we'll be randomizing the results and replying to the selected characters later tonight. In the meantime, keep enjoying the event! If you have questions, direct them here.

Comments

[tearmeanewone]

[Day 6]

[Elizabeth can't hold it in any longer. Parts of things Robert said to her on Day 4 are starting to make sense, and more memories that are certainly not dreams are coming clearer. She's starting to question everything, and the more she questions the more she believes Robert needs to be sprung from the asylum. But not in any crazy, flamboyant way. She's just going to go right up to the desk and ask that her uncle (if that's really what he is...) be discharged.]

[Which tips off the police, of course. She's escorted out of the asylum quietly enough by the police, but the moment they miss the turn back to her house Elizabeth is fighting like mad. All she can hear is Robert urging her: 'And don't let them get their hands on you. If they try to take you anywhere, fight like hell.']

[And she fights like hell, all the way through the village even after the police have handcuffed her.]


[Day 7]

[After spending the night at the police station, Elizabeth seems to be back to her usual self. But she has dark circles under her eyes and can't shake the feeling that she's somehow... fragile. Like she's being held together by strings.]

[Good luck trying to convince her something's rotten in the state of Luceti. She's reacting with an almost violent aversion to any discussion that might land her in the police station again. As the day goes on, Elizabeth is growing increasingly paranoid, and can't stay in one place for longer than fifteen minutes. It's as though she's on the run from the police, or from something else...]


[Day 8]

[Elizabeth has had enough of running away and she knows the answers lie with Robert. She and Booker, dodging the police, go back to the asylum to find Robert.]


[Day 9]

[During the battle for the asylum, Elizabeth realizes that she has an unusual ability... she can rip holes in reality and patch in things from other realities. You know, simple stuff like that.]

[She mainly plays a support role during the battle, opening tears to pull weaponry and medical supplies into existence whenever she spots someone in need. The problem? The more Elizabeth futzes with reality, the more her nose bleeds. Her brain is desperately trying to make sense of what's happening, and it's reacting poorly the more barrels of weaponry she creates. At some points during the battle, she has a constant stream of blood trickling out of her nose.]

[But Elizabeth can't stop. She's doing it for the sake of the fighters, not her own.]

[Day 9]

[voidseeing]

[Gai isn't quite sure what to make of his own abilities either. The most physical activity he can ever recall doing has been school sports, yet somehow when an opponent approaches him, he's able to fell the man with a series of swift kicks and strikes the likes of which he's SURE he's never done before, not even while imitating a movie. It makes no sense.

It makes no sense, and yet somehow it feels so natural. It's like his body knows exactly what it's doing, even while his brain has no clue. Either way, it's not something to sneeze at, and it's useful. That's what matters most.

So he's just going to take advantage of whatever this unknown ability is to fight-- and woe betide those who get in his way. There's a learning curve, of course, but it doesn't take long before his moves are brutal, calculated, and capable of doing a hell of a lot of damage.]

[tearmeanewone]

[Of course, the problem with Gai's close-range style is that long-range weaponry is a problem. As Gai takes down another cultist with a spear, three more let arrows loose straight at Gai.]

[And someone isn't going to wait to see how he deals with them.]

GAI!!

[Elizabeth is directly in front of him in the next moment. There's a flash of white light in the next second, and an old stone wall with moss appears--just appears--in front of them both serving as cover.]

[voidseeing]

[Honestly, Gai's reflexes would likely have kicked in before he even realized it. He's already whirling around when he hears his name, and then suddenly there's Elizabeth and a wall there in front of him - a wall? Where on earth did THAT come from? He swears it wasn't there just a moment ago - and he's blinking, surprised.]

Elizabeth?

[That... is definitely a wall. A wall that just appeared out of nowhere.]

[tearmeanewone]

Come on! [Elizabeth grabs Gai's hand and pulls him away from the wall, away from the archers, and just runs. Clearly she's past being terrified of her own ability, though the dark red stain from her nose to her chin is serving as a constant and gruesome reminder.]

[voidseeing]

[Gai is too bewildered by what just happened to give any sort of protest to this action... at least, until he spots that blood. Then he frowns, eyes narrowing.]

You're bleeding. What happened?

[And he's reaching into his pocket, fumbling for a handkerchief as they run towards who-knows-what. If he can focus on that, maybe he can avoid thinking about everything else that's going on.]

[tearmeanewone]

I don't know! [Elizabeth won't look back as she leads them to her spot. She's lost Booker and Robert, so she's going to the only place she'll feel safe in. Almost like she's on autopilot.]

Uncle Robert said I'm opening holes in this world and bringing things from a different world through those holes. Wherever I go, they're everywhere. Like I'm breaking open the world as I walk through it!

[She stops in the clearing, turns to face Gai.] But every time I try to remember why, every time I open one of these cracks, these tears... my nose bleeds. Because I'm... trying to remember something that happened, trying to separate the truth from what my mind has created. That's what Uncle Robert said, at least.

[voidseeing]

Opening holes in this world?

[That makes no sense. How could someone open holes in the world... and what does she mean by "this" world? Sure, he likes sci-fi and all, but this just sounds too crazy to be real.

... or rather, would sound too crazy if it weren't for the fact that he apparently knows martial arts of some sort. Compared to that, it really isn't that far-fetched at all.]

So let's say he's telling the truth. Why would you be able to do something like that? And what are these other worlds you're opening these cracks to? Other planets? Other dimensions?

[He's just trying to wrap his mind around all of this while he continues to fish for that handkerchief.]

[tearmeanewone]

I don't know, maybe?! [Elizabeth starts pacing around, wiping her nose with her sleeve. She had a handle on it, and then Gai started asking more questions.]

Uncle Robert said something about constants and variables, and how things hinge on the choices that are variable. So maybe... it's Luceti, but with a wall over there. [She points towards the direction they came from.]

[Elizabeth looks back at Gai, blood down her face and front, clearly trying to keep a handle on her emotions.] Uncle Robert didn't tell me why I could do this, only that I had been doing it since I was young. But I can't remember--!

[She wavers on her feet, covering her ears as a high-pitched whine screams in her head and her vision goes fuzzy.]

[voidseeing]

[And Gai is right there as she wobbles, catching her in his arms and pulling her against him to steady her, not even caring that she'll likely get blood on his clothes. Asking questions was obviously the wrong approach to take; it's just getting her even more worked up, something he'd like to avoid if possible. As curious as he is, it isn't worth upsetting her in an attempt to get answers.]

Are you all right? Where does it hurt?

[He feels so utterly, disgustingly useless. Elizabeth is bleeding everywhere from some strange otherworldly ability that even she doesn't understand, and the best he can do is hold her and ask her where it hurts? This isn't right. He should be able to do more than this...]

[tearmeanewone]

[Elizabeth clings to Gai and the world steadies out. Her relationship to Gai hadn't felt this strong before, it was based on a lie after all. But the longer she holds onto him, the stronger and warmer she feels. It's scary, how hard she's clinging and how deep her feeling suddenly is. She sees fingers laced, feels lips on her neck, hears Gai's voice--]

['Elizabeth...']

Nowhere, it doesn't hurt. [She looks into Gai's eyes--they're so beautiful--and doesn't question it.]

Gai... are you afraid of me?

[voidseeing]

Of course not. If anything, I'd say you should be afraid of me.

[Surely she'd seen him taking down those strange fighters with nothing more than his bare hands. What if that whatever-it-is ends up being something he can't control either? What if he were to turn on her?

The possibility terrifies him even as he holds her close, smoothing strands of hair away from her face. Right now, what he wants more than anything is to be able to protect her, both from these unknown enemies and her own powers that frighten her.

He just isn't sure that's something that's within his power.]

[tearmeanewone]

You aren't tearing holes in reality. [She tries to laugh, tries to nonchalantly wipe a smudge of blood off of him. Yes, Gai's physical prowess wasn't something Elizabeth had expected from him at all. Not the somewhat athletic but terribly aloof son of Tony Stark. But it was impressive, to say the least. Replaying the memory of Gai dancing around his enemies and flooring all of them causes her to, involuntarily of course, press a little closer.]

I'm not afraid of you, either. I feel safer--

[Three cultists drop down out of the trees behind Elizabeth.]

[voidseeing]

[Once again, instincts kick in before he's even aware of what he's doing. His first move is to turn, shoving her behind him to place his own body between her and them. That accomplished, he goes for the first with a vicious jab to the solar plexus; while the cultist staggers and tries to catch his breath, Gai is on him in a flash, grabbing the man's head and wrenching it until there's a sickening crunch and the body in his arms goes limp.

What was that about feeling safer around him, Elizabeth?]

[tearmeanewone]

[Elizabeth does, admittedly, let out a little scream when Gai nearly twists the cultist's head off. It's not pleasant, and she didn't look away in time. But, it could have been worse, says a little voice in her head. His head could have burst like a grape.]

[Ugh, God what a sickening thought.]

[She backs up, feeling more tears starting to spider out from her. Reaching out with her mind, she touches one, sees what's behind it and realizes that Gai could be working much more efficiently.]

[With a little grunt, Elizabeth opens the tear and runs to it. It's a metal box on the ground that, when Elizabeth opens it, she finds contains a pistol.]

Gai, catch!! [She pulls back and lobs it, overhand, to him.]

[voidseeing]

[Gai reaches up a hand to catch the thrown object without a thought, as if this were a perfectly normal thing for him to be doing even though there's nothing at all normal about this entire situation. He just killed a man, broke his neck, and one part of his mind thinks he should be freaking out a lot more over that than he is right now.

The other part of his mind is detached, almost clinical in its assessment of the situation. That's the part of him that catches the pistol and aims it directly at the head of one of the two remaining cultists. Aims, and fires, and just like that the man drops in his tracks, a bullet cleanly between his eyes.

Gai doesn't even have time to be surprised by that. The other cultist is furious at the death of his comrades and out for blood; throwing caution to the wind, the cultist strikes out at Gai with his spear. Just as before, Gai takes aim and fires, felling the remaining cultist with a shot through the heart.

Stunned, all Gai can do is stand there staring at the bodies of the men. Two shots, two clean kills. There's no way that could be a coincidence...]

[tearmeanewone]

[Elizabeth reasons that she should be more shocked as well, also thinks that this can't be beginner's luck. Should she be afraid of Gai? Of his ability to kill three men in under two minutes?]

[She comes up next to him with the metal box in one arm. Her other hand reaches out to touch Gai's elbow, gently, slowly. There's something Elizabeth wants to say, even if it doesn't make sense to her right now. But fighting it might make her nosebleed worse.]

There's a gun in my heart too. I can see dozens of them.

[voidseeing]

[Now Gai turns to stare down at her, expression still bewildered. Isn't she afraid of him? He just killed three men without hesitation, with precision that was no mere accident.

Who is he? What is he? Those are questions he doesn't feel he can answer right now. All he's certain of is that he's pretty sure he isn't just some aristocrat's son, or if he is, something very strange is going on.

Elizabeth's words stir something inside him, something that almost feels familiar even if the words themselves make no sense to him.]

I've never used a gun before.

[He hasn't. That's why he doesn't understand this.]

[tearmeanewone]

I've never torn holes in the world before. [She looks up at him, eyebrows coming together but still calm. Her hand curls around Gai's elbow and she stands there, trying to look away from the dead men. By all rights, Elizabeth should be able to look away from the gruesome sight easily. But she's seen this, accustomed herself to this. When? How?]

Gai. [Elizabeth puts her other hand on Gai's elbow too.] Uncle Robert said that some of my memories weren't true, that I had to question everything. What if... what if our entire lives were handed to us, our real memories pushed out to accommodate a false paradise?

[She tries to make direct eye contact with him, holding his elbow a little more tightly.] Would you want your real life back?

[voidseeing]

[It takes a moment, but at last Gai relaxes, lowering his hand with the pistol and bringing the other up to rest over Elizabeth's hands. Somehow, just the fact that she's so calm about all of this is helping him to remain level-headed too. That's not to say that he doesn't still have a million questions; no, if anything, he has even more now. But if she's calm, he can stay calm too.]

... I don't know.

[If his real life meant that he was capable of things like that... what must it have been like? What did that say about him? It's unsettling, to say the least.]

[tearmeanewone]

[She doesn't know either. Elizabeth doesn't know what she was either, how she could do what she could do. She doesn't know if she wants to go back to that life if something this terrifying was her everyday life.]

I want to know why, at least. If this was hidden from me for a reason, I want to know what that reason is. But I can't go alone. [She looks up at Gai again, squeezes his arm again.] Come with me?

[voidseeing]

[Quietly, he regards her a bit longer, then nods. She's right, of course. They can't just sit back and act like none of this is happening, try to pretend their lives are still what they were just a few short days ago. It's different now. Everything has changed.

"You are no longer allowed to powerlessly stand by and turn a blind eye to others' lives like you have before."

He isn't sure why those words cross his mind, nor where they come from. Certainly not from anyone he knows. But they feel right somehow, like it's what he has to do.]

I'm not about to sit back and let myself get selected out either. I'm going to fight, and I'm going to find out what's going on.

[Strange phrasing, perhaps, but again it feels natural to him.]

[tearmeanewone]

[It does sound a little strange, but considering all they've been through thus far Elizabeth isn't going to wrinkle her nose at a strange piece of phrasing. She nods, shifts her hands down to lightly hold the one holding the pistol.]

Whatever happens, even if we end up strangers tomorrow, you always made me feel like a princess. Even now, with blood down my face.

[voidseeing]

There might be a lot more blood before all of this is over.

[It's a warning of sorts-- she saw what he just did to those three cultists. If she finds it too upsetting, she's free to leave, and he won't say anything. He won't blame her, not at all.]

[tearmeanewone]

I'll make sure none of it is yours.

[She's not going anywhere.]