event one | a bone-deep itch (open)

[voidnpcs]

CHARACTERS: Everyone
DATE: July 10th (Day One, sunset)
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: "Slight" body horror.
SUMMARY: Welcome to the void!

Comments

[ayearoftorture]

The sun was going down

[sanshead]

After getting rid of the parasites in her skin, Celty decided to keep moving, not staying in one spot for too long to keep herself worm-free. It's not long until she catches the smell of smoke that's not hers, pausing to find the source.

He seems relatively calm for the most part, a difference compared to the other captives on the beach and Celty takes a moment to observe him, head tilted to one side.

[distinctive_guy]

Until footsteps approached from somewhere to Jones' left.

The sound of the waves masked Eliot's footsteps until he was nearly upon the other man. Crossing his arms before him in a comfortable, and subtle parasite rubbing, stance, he stopped several feet away.

Despite looking like a skeleton with skin, the way the other man carried himself warned Eliot to be wary. He wouldn't even have approached if this wasn't the only other guy around and he was quite desperate to know where he was.

"Interestin' place for ya to be smokin' a joint."

[ayearoftorture]

It was hard to miss a rather huge man coming towards him - even an eerily quiet one - but Jones played Bogart, breathing out smoke and staring at the battlements until the man made himself vocally known. He didn't sense urgency in his movements, so he didn't think he was about to be mugged or attacked; thus, no need to crack his cool, sensible-looking exterior!

"If you have another place in mind to be doing it, I'd love to hear about it," Jones spoke, in his characteristic British accent. "Might just wanna cut that down to 'interesting place'. Take it we're not in Boston, yeah?" He eyed the man's police outfit up and down, still not sure what to make of him - didn't seem like he had any interest in upholding the law, even here. What was his game, then?

He also took a look over to the woman that approached... one with a distinctive helmet, he noticed. "'Ullo there," he greeted, waving to her, before glaring downwards and stepping on a hissing parasite that got too close. "Lost your motorcycle?" he enquired.

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot scowled inwardly, but moreso at the situation than the man in particular. Not that this man wasn't rubbing him the wrong way too, but he tacked that on his awareness that this person was a potential threat. Nothing personal.

"There was a detour," he answered, injecting an insecurity into his voice to downplay his own presence. He too stepped on several worms that seemed to have taken an interest to his shoe, breaking eye contact to look down briefly so he could shuffle his feet over the worms. "We're lookin' for a way back now. Ya wouldn't happen ta know the way, sir?"

[sanshead]

How intriguing. Celty hailed from Ireland originally, so his accent doesn't surprise her, despite the fact that she had grown accustomed to the stilted and fast pace of the Japanese language.

It seemed like everyone was from Boston; she would have to ask around about it later. For now, Celty lets Eliot do the talking though she does flip out her cellphone to type a quick reply to the other man's inquiry.

So it seems.

[ayearoftorture]

"Do I look like a local to you?" he asked with a wry look, setting the joint between two fingers as he turned to regard Eliot. "To answer your question: I wouldn't have the slightest clue. I was walking down a motorway in Los Angeles before I got kidnapped here, same as everyone else on this nasty little beach." There was a pause for thought, as he kicked away at a few slugs and turned to look back the way he came. "Unless someone's been lying to me," he added. A little paranoia didn't hurt, and if his concerns about this being an experiment were correct, this was a perfect opportunity to sow a few sleeper agents into this mess.

"Right now, I'm more concerned about that text message we all got. You did get that message, yeah?" He glanced to Celty and Eliot and turn, before looking back up to the siege walls. "And now it's getting darker, that fortress over there's looking more and more tempting. Which I suppose is what they want us to do," he remarked, taking another toke as he regarded the siege walls

[distinctive_guy]

"It didn't hurt ta try," Eliot answered, sticking to his role and flashing a brief smile at the other. "But I hafta say, Los Angeles is a long way from Boston." His glance shifted briefly to Celty behind him; it was even a longer way to Japan.

He dug into his pocket before he turned back, pulling out the strange smart phone for the first time since he shoved it away. His own phone was still in his other pocket, silent with no signals. "You'd best hide?" he quoted, looking up from the screen to the strange man. "Seems like that's the only place we can hide." There was barely anything besides a few trees, the beach, and the formidable looking wall.

[sanshead]

Los Angeles, also American. It was a little comforting at least; she was always the different one, the one that didn't exactly belong no matter how much she adapted to fit in. It was nice to know that in this place she can still meet people from other parts of the world. Japan was still small despite its modern and overcrowded setting.

There's a thoughtful pause from her before she types out another text, fingers moving quickly over the keyboard:

Though it may have been premeditated, finding shelter is probably for the best. There may be more unpleasant creatures for us to deal with out here after dark.

[ayearoftorture]

"Long way, yeah," Jones admitted. "And none of us remember being dropped, confined or being otherwise incapacitated. That worries me. Either we're dealing with fucking Peter Pan taking us off to Never-Never-Land, or we were dragged here by professionals." The last term is said without a hint of irony, fear or paranoia, though his forehead's slightly creased with a hint of worry. "Would like to think that I can't be easily snuck up on, but then some toss-off managed to brain me with a crowbar a couple days ago, so..."

His gaze then turned to look upon Celty's phone, and he couldn't help grudgingly agreeing with her. He really didn't fancy staying out for much longer. He took one last toke from his rolled-up joint, and then briefly glanced around, seeming to take her typed words seriously

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot smothered a snort when the other mentioned being put the jump on. It happens to the best of them, so he let it slide past silently. His expression turned more serious when they moved onto discussing their options

[sanshead]

Perhaps they want us to communicate via email. It's more reliable than phone calls sometimes.

As Eliot flips through the phone, Celty brings out hers as well and thumbs through the applications and features. Finding the flashlight feature, she turns it on, aiming it at the wall and finding an opening.

The phone can wait. You're welcome to stay out here, but I'm heading in first.

With that, she turns around and heads over, smoke curling around her free hand and solidifying into a large scythe.

[ayearoftorture]

"An infrared camera," he murmured, checking his own phone over. "Fancy equipment." He didn't like Eliot's look of foreboding, and the more he delved into this mystery, the less he liked it.

But then he heard typing from the other stranger, and Jones glanced over to the woman's phone as she held it out to them. "Yeah, maybe," he murmured in response to her text, looking a little irritated, fingering his right ear. "But why the headpieces? How do we work these things? Are they connected to everyone here, or just a few? Too many fucking questions--" But now she was moving towards the walls, and Jones couldn't help but watch as she seemed to pull out a--a scythe?!-- out of mid-air, stalking towards the siege walls.

"'Ey," he spoke to get Eliot's attention, looking to him. "You see what's in her hand, right? That's not just me, is it?" He had to be hallucinating that... neural fallout from the Desolation Tests. But after the people he'd met in this place, he wasn't sure what to believe.

[distinctive_guy]

Reading Celty's text quickly, Eliot's brows furrowed in protest. He agreed with the stranger, someone going through such an elaborate set up wouldn't restrict them to just e-----

And he stared when a freaking huge scythe was formed from smoke. Like those daggers earlier, but this couldn't be a magic trick like what Eliot assumed earlier.

"I do," he muttered, startled like the other. "She just made a scythe out of smoke." As if saying it out loud made it more believable... it really didn't. "She claimed it was some ability earlier." He looked to the skeleton man, glad that he wasn't the only one seeing this either. "... ya gonna follow her?"

[ayearoftorture]

"That's not--" He wanted to say it was impossible, but things were already a little too unreal for him, and he wasn't completely ready to determine what was and what wasn't. Instead he held one head to his forehead, grimacing. "This place. The people here. This whole situation. Totaly fucked," he declares with vehemence, before looking over his phone once more, checking the inbox. "'Nother message on that thing. Something about Kernos. Corporate thing. Probably a shell company. Where does one get the money for this operation? And why this random throwing together of people? Who are these arseholes, anyway?"

'Nother kick to the ground, a little less enthusiastically than before. "Fuck it. Getting too dark. I'm going to follow the girl, get inside and take a look-about. They'll probably have something waiting for us in there - some other shit they want to throw at us." He glanced over to Eliot, idly tapping the headset on his ear. "You gonna stay out here?"

[distinctive_guy]

"Good questions," Eliot observed, but his shaking head showed that he had no answers for the other man either. He squinted out in the direction of the setting sun, judging that the civil twilight should hold out a bit still before it became completely dark. He could still make his way in later, after he took a look around more.

"Somethin's not right about this whole place, this whole situation feels wrong," he muttered in agreement under his breath. The siege walls bothered him too, and charging in with a bang was not his ideal entry. "You go ahead. I'll find my way in later." He pocketed his phone back with his removed bluetooth and got ready to go. "I'd say stay in touch, but doesn't look like there's a number on these things for ye to call."