☆ Event Log: Snatched, Part One

[faileas]

Event Log: January, Snatched - Part One

I. The Fires (14th) Though it began this month with petty vandalism, before long, things escalate. On the evening of the 14th, when many are settling down for the night, fires blaze to life simultaneously all over the city, though they seem to cluster in places that Mirrorbound and refugees frequent. Homes, businesses, market stalls, the Barracks, the Residential Districts, they could pop up anywhere, but the worst of them seem to hit different locations within the Haven. The refugees stand to lose a lot in the fires, everything they've built up since arriving here at the end of September, and Mirrorbound stand to suffer damage to the homes or businesses they've built in Aefenglom. No doubt everyone is quick to catch on, but with so many locations burning at once, help is thin on the ground. As soon as they're alerted, the Coven sends out a call to all Witches, Merrow, water-based Dragons, anyone who can manipulate water or ice to help put out the fires across town before they can spread. With the city plan so tight and buildings so close together, it's a real worry. They'll accept all hands, even those with no particular water-based talents - anybody can carry buckets, after all. Bucket brigades made up of mostly Monsters form from the River Temese out to pass water to where it's needed most. Others with fire magic or resistances are asked to search the buildings still on fire for anyone still trapped inside. On the streets, more set up stations to treat burns and smoke inhalation, and to check people over for worse injuries. It takes a couple of hours to put out the last of the flames, but thanks to quick action, no lives are confirmed lost. The City Guard is present at the sites of the fires in the hours afterward, questioning witnesses and determining the sources with both magical and Monster-ability-based methods, but as the chaos calms down, it quickly becomes clear that 1. this is a case of purposeful arson, and 2. not all witnesses are present. Maybe it's your friend, or family member, or just an acquaintance you know you saw go into their house at the end of the day, but they're conspicuously absent from the crowds gathered on the streets. Those who are Bonded to a missing person feel it first, though - a horrible sensation like a pillow over the face or a tightening in the chest, smothering their Bond to barely anything, except the very rare flicker of something, a tiny spark lost to the darkness as soon as it's felt. The sudden absence of them is like a case of phantom limb, something that should be there suddenly isn't, but yet it isn't quite an annullment or breaking of the Bond. It's still there, just muted and tamped down. It feels a little different for everyone, maybe painful or maybe just uncomfortable, or maybe, in the cases of new or less-close Bonds, it simply feels as if it never existed. Regardless, those Bonded can't be found through Bonds. It's like those loved ones have vanished, without a trace. The City Guard and Coven representatives alike will seek to make a comprehensive list of all who have gone missing, but Mirrorbound cooperation will be needed for that; they would know better than anyone, because the missing ones are all Mirrorbound or refugees.

II. The Lost Souls (14th - 20th) CW: Torture, captivity, restraints. You were spirited away in the middle of the night. Maybe you were out, or maybe you were safe in your own home, but either way, someone managed to get the drop on you. Upon waking, everything is fuzzy, until clarity returns suddenly and violently. It's possible to remember a struggle, an enchanted darkness that might have enveloped you, maybe even a glimpse of the face of the human or Witch who grabbed you, but now you're stuck in a small, stone cell, the only entrance covered in shiny new bars thick enough to hold back a rampaging Dragon. The hall beyond is also stone and dimly lit by sparse magitech lights and the soft, runic glow of spells drawn on the walls and floors. There are more cells like yours, filled with more Monsters and Witches like you. What's worse, maybe you're alone, or maybe another poor soul is trapped with you - the space isn't exactly large enough for two, but the comfort might be nice. Witches will find their magic restrained, tamped down with a spell similar to the Coven's punishment for lawbreaking. Monsters' restraints are more traditional - muzzles, chains, manacles, and particular weaknesses that differ from Monster type to Monster type, such as silver or iron, water, or the lack of water. Even if, by some small mercy, a person finds themselves with their hands free, all of the captives' Watches have been taken, along with most other belongings on them. The uncertainty of your new location doesn't last for long. It's only a matter of time before people pass through the cellblock in pairs or trios, talking to each other and ignoring the captives behind bars, checking up on the spells that line the room. Those with keen memories will realize - these are not the same people who took them in the first place. All are human, and they all share a familial resemblance - black hair, violet eyes, pointed noses, and unpleasant sneers. Over time, with observation (and what else are you going to do, while you wait for the worst?), maybe frequenters of the Coven will pick out a familiar face, a haughty, unpopular Witch named Constance Rathmore who refuses to associate with Mirrorbound in classes, or those familiar with the law might pick out a mid-ranked member of the City Guard named Godfrey Rathmore, who perhaps looks the other way when refugees are harassed. As the hours tick by, it becomes obvious that there are maybe 22 of the Rathmore family, the only ones with access to this corridor. Other voices, maybe familiar from the kidnapping, can be heard outside the main doors at times, but they never enter, and seem none the wiser as to what is actually happening. a. The Torments And what is happening? Something sinister. It's usually a different set of family members, a pair of cousins, the daughter or the son, occasionally even the matriarch and her son and daughter-in-law (who may be recognized as long-time members of Parliament). Their methods and motivations may be a bit different, but they share one thing - innate cruelty, and a hatred for those they see as a plague on Aefenglom, those harbingers of unwanted change. Sometimes they inflict pain on captives right there through the bars of the cells, with nasty spells or physical instruments, but more often, they choose a victim or two to remove from their cell, still in restraints, to take down the hall, through the heavy door at the opposite end from the entrance. The wide room at the end is a place of horrors: instruments of torture lining tables, heavy restraints, and glass jars to receive any bits or blood they might separate from the original owners, to sell on the black market. The runes on the walls and floor in this room are different as well - this is advanced, forbidden magic, practiced by the daughter Constance on brand new test subjects. When the family members have grown bored or tired themselves out, they return their current playthings to a cell - not always the same cell with the same cellmate, not always with the same restraints, but every time they ensure that it will be difficult to escape or fight back. b. The Whispers While the Rathmores do not often speak directly to captives, they speak to each other quite a bit, as do the others who occasionally pass outside the heavy door at the entrance and simply seem to serve as watchmen outside the corridor. It's easy to get snippets of conversation between the horrors. What else are you going to do, besides wait, and listen, and plot your escape? "Shame about Uncle Rodolphus. Scarred by the mist, his Black Market business raided." "None of it would have happened if they hadn't provoked Dorchacht. It was Drummond's Witch in our city who unleashed that awful gas, as retribution for what they did over there..." "...-Destabilizing a whole city like that, and there are only a hundred of them give or take. Imagine what they'll do to Aefenglom if we don't stop it." "They'll all want to leave after this, surely. We'll go for another batch in a couple of weeks, once Godfrey convinces the Guard to stop looking." "Good. Maybe Dorchacht will take them. Them and their brutal revolutionaries..." "...-Father thinks we can control them if he manages to get in touch with his contact in Dorchacht. They had that spell, you know? Like the collars, but better. Maybe then we can sell them off, make some money back to cover our losses..." "...-All this pushing for equality. The whole economy will collapse. Everyone has their place in a functioning society, right, sister?"... "...-heard from Mr. Rathmore himself they're doing magic in there. A spell to send the Mirrorbound home, and the refugees along with them." "Then why did we have to grab them like that? You'd think they'd want to leave." "The Coven wants them here, obviously. It's a power-play, there's no way they'd allow Mr. Rathmore to do this..." "...-I don't know about this, the Rathmores always seemed a little extreme-..." As a reminder: while this prompt contains a general content warning for torture, please make sure to leave decently specific content warnings in your headers for anything that may be uncomfortable for other players to stumble across. The level of torture experienced by each character is up to the individual players - please respect each other's limits!

III. The Ones Left Behind (14th - 20th) Meanwhile, out in the city, the atmosphere is a new kind of tense. The papers pick up the story pretty quickly, so before long, it seems that everyone knows about it. In the days since the fires, repairs seem to be on the backburner; the remaining refugees especially worry for their missing friends and loved ones, and the missing Mirrorbound. The graffiti stops entirely, as do nasty comments in the streets. The upper-class, when they come into contact with the remaining Mirrorbound, cannot meet their eyes, or even react with genuine sympathy, a rare few even saying in hushed murmurs that they hope they find their people. Vandalizing their property is one thing, it seems, but people simply vanishing, Bonds being smothered... that's another. Even if they don't worry for the Mirrorbound, they worry for their own safety in Aefenglom now. On the other hand, residents of the Western Residential District, primarily Monsters but including a fair few humans as well, stop by the Haven more often, bringing food and kind words, and asking after the disappearances with real concern. The City Guard is an increased presence on the streets, trying to track down witnesses who may have information, but without warrants, their hands are tied in a lot of cases. Some Mirrorbound are asked quietly by the Lead Investigator if they wouldn't mind looking into some of the sources of the fires, and trying to track down anyone who might have seen something - they can operate a little more loosely, not being bound by the same bureaucracy as the Guard. They're promised Guard and Coven cooperation and support in this. The demand for artists increases in the days after the abduction. Many of the refugees especially will seek out anyone who can draw to help them create fliers about the missing people to post around town, to raise awareness. Maybe they want to make posters of another refugee, or maybe they want posters made of particular Mirrorbound faces who helped them in the past. They're distressed, but they're pulling together as a community - and it's clear they consider all the Mirrorbound a part of it, judging from how they'll try to pull anyone in to their efforts to put the 'missing' posters up around the city. The Coven, too, is in a flurry of worry, second only to the refugees, who are missing some of their own as well. Many of the regular classes are disrupted and become impromptu Divining sessions, circles of Witches holding hands and chanting in rooms filled with incense smoke, making concentrated efforts to determine the location of their missing fellows. After all, many Mirrorbound are their classmates, and they want to see them returned safely. Anyone passing through the Coven may get pulled into one of these sessions - Witches to lend their magic to the circle, Monsters who know any of the missing to act as foci. Unfortunately, nothing concrete turns up in the fleeting visions they do get, and the backlash is immense, resulting in splitting migraines. It's magical interference for sure. Luckily, Miss Aerianna, the middle-aged Arachne caretaker to the Dreamers (who, she'll say, are currently unreachable - they're trying to suss out the missing Mirrorbound as well), is well-versed with Divination headaches, and is around distributing her supposed cure-all, which smells like swamp-water and tastes twice as bad. At least it works on the headaches. While the part of the city who wanted to see the Mirrorbound gone have quieted down some, the part of the city that welcomes them has grown louder, providing what support they can to try to find those lost souls who have vanished. The investigation briefs will be posted under location-specific headers down below! Feel free to thread underneath them with others investigating the same area, or collaborate with other teams to share information. We decided to go ahead and allow for everyone who signed up to investigate whichever area they're interested in rather than splitting characters into mod-decided teams, but we encourage working together!

Welcome to Part One of January's event, Snatched! The sign-ups thread is here - it's not too late to get involved. Only the kidnapped characters who will escape on the evening of the 20th is closed out to new sign-ups. Headers for the investigations are here. Part Two of this event will be posted on the 21st and will include the escape, rescue and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

And a note for all! If your character does anything significant during Part 1 or Part 2, we want to hear about it on the city tracker! Make sure your submissions are in by Feb. 3rd, because a special aftermath post will go up on the 4th.

Comments

[quickwhip]

[ Again, there's the suggestion to feed and again, Trevor just brushes it off. ]

In case you forgot, your blood sort of has an effect on me.

[ And him seeing colours through a kaleidoscope and feeling light and happy and fuzzy is the last thing either of them need right now. ]

We just... stick it out I guess. Until we figure something out. Somehow. Don't think this is going to be the end or anything... at least I hope not.

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ It would certainly make things more interesting. Berserker leaves it alone for now as he tries to get comfortable. If he could lay on his side, maybe the terrible pain in his wings and back would abate some. It's impossible for him to lay down with the chain tethering him to the way. He can't find a way to get comfortable and just ends up shifting restlessly. It's reminiscent of a dog that can't find the right position to lay in so it keeps getting up and laying back down. ]

I'm too valuable for them to kill, at least. [ A dark joke. He shakes his head and leaves that alone, too. ] ...Do you know how long we've been here?

[quickwhip]

A few days, give or take. At least that's what I'm assuming.

[ Little difficult to keep track of time with the lack of windows and all. Lack of sunlight is... ok, at least for him. You know, when he's not being forced into some by magic or artificial likeness or... whatever the fuck it all is.

But he notices the way Berserker tries to get comfortable and can't, given how he's chained and all and so, with a slight shift closer himself, he gently reaches out with his own shackled hands and carefully presses the tips of his fingers to the dragon's shoulder. You know. A patch where he doesn't seem to be bleeding or injured badly. ]

Do you... want to lean against me? I mean... I can try and make it work. I can still move around better than you.

[curruid_coinchenn]

I tried keeping track myself, but it's useless.

[ Between the lack of sunlight and the lack of sleep, any definition of night and day are meaningless. Time seems to drag on eternally when all that awaits you is the promise of abuse and pain. Hours stretch into days effortlessly.

Berserker looks over at the touch and considers it for a moment. It would be nice to feel something other than pain, though a worry that it will make them a target for further abuse nags at the back of his mind. Forget it, anything for the potential of some kind of comfort. ]

...If you don't mind me bleeding on you.

[ It's mostly a joke, though he does still have a few wounds oozing blood. ]

[quickwhip]

[ The open wounds are... a concern... for a few reasons. One, because he doesn't like seeing the dragon having to be in pain with them even if he does his best not to show it. Two, he's a fucking vampire himself and has quite enjoyed drinking Berserker's blood the last couple times that he's let him. He's... absolutely not in the mood for feeling fuzzy and happy and dizzy, but he hasn't properly fed since his arrival here and while whatever the fuck that concoction was they shoved down his throat was some sort of blood, it wasn't satisfying in the least. So. There's that.

But with how stubborn the both of them are capable of being, he just pushes it all aside and gently shifts up closer to the dragon in a way that will make it easy for him to lean against him however he'd like. He can't exactly envelop the dragon within an embrace or... whatever... hands shackled with a chain after all. But he still offers his shoulder, his chest, even a leg to rest against however Berserker can. Fingers always careful with where they touch. ]

Think you've seen me covered in blood a few times already.

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ Berserker settles against him, managing to shift sideways to take some of the pressure off of his mangled wings. His head rests on Trevor's shoulder, bound wrists in his own lap. It's...comforting to have someone close to him, one of the few comforts he's had since this all started. He pushes his tail behind Trevor and lets it rest over his legs, like some kind of weird hug.

The dragon looks (and feels) like a shell of his usual self in these binds. With the muzzle on that they refuse to remove, he's barely been able to eat or drink anything. Exhausted and broken in new ways, all he wants is to rest for awhile. ]

And it's been mine each time. [ He huffs out a silent, brief laugh. It feels good to feel something besides pain and despair. ] ...This feels better.

[quickwhip]

[ The tail around his legs gets him to curiously look down for a moment as Berserker settles against him as comfortably as he can and he just... sits there with the dragon. Right here. In this cell they're sharing for now. Because he knows one of them will be removed and someone else tossed in at some point. That's... just how it seems to go around here, doesn't it? Yeah. Good way to see who else is here or... something. Not that anyone should be here in the first place.

But when Berserker's head touches his shoulder, he reaches up with his shackled hands and, carefully, lets fingers brush through the dragon's hair. Or... what he can, that is. A means to try and show reassurance, try and offer comfort. Not... that he's good at really doing that or whatever, but. He can try. He... knows how to. Somewhere inside him. ]

Wouldn't exactly rate this place as somewhere I'd want to come back to. But... least the company isn't so bad.

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ He can't help the quiet sigh as Trevor strokes his hair. Soft affection used to be something he spurned as weakness for most of his life and refused to let anyone touch him. It's only after coming to Aefenglom that he indulged in it and found he missed it terribly. Touch starved is a good way to describe him.

Berserker lets his eyes close and he relaxes. It's strange to feel calm in this horrible, stinking prison while sitting in restraints, but he can't complain. This is the most comfortable he's been since his wings were so cruelly torn apart. He sidles up closer to the vampire as best he can, almost desperate for any kind of physical comfort he can get. Huddled together like frightened animals...

He shakes that thought from his head for now. ]

Mm... [ He tries to nuzzle against Trevor's neck, but the muzzle prevents it. ] It could be worse.

[ He wants to say thank you, but he doesn't. There's a lot he wants to say and yet he says nothing. All the dragon wants to do is stay cuddled up as best he can to Trevor, hungry for any contact that isn't violent. He's grateful for familiar company, even if he's sometimes an aggravating smartass. He trusts him unconditionally. This is surely only a temporary reprieve and he will savor it as long as he can. ]

[quickwhip]

[ Really, he... doesn't need to. Say thank you, that is. He gets it. As much as part of him would rather be here by himself and not with everyone else here, especially those he knows, to have a familiar face or two... it's strange, really. It's not a comfort. Not a reassurance. Not anything that makes him happy or pleased or any other positive emotion or adjective. But it's something. Somehow. Some...way. It is and that's why he offered to let Berserker rest against him, to... try and keep him safe. Or, at the very least, make him feel that way, short-lived as it's bound to be. ]

Sure it will be.

[ The words softly leave his lips without him even realizing. A means to accept that it's only going to get worse from here out, he sighs then, looking to the muzzle that remains strapped around the dragon's mouth; he had that on a few times himself when he first arrived here. ]

Are your Bonded here? [ And, perhaps a little more softly. ] ...is he here?

[ The one Berserker has a relationship with, he means. ]

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ He, too, would rather be here alone. Suffering these torments alone is much better than knowing people he cares about are being subject to the same or worse. He couldn't protect anyone he cared about and his attempts to do so only backfired horribly. His physical strength and endurance only counted for so much, in the end. Now he couldn't hope to help anyone, much less himself, in the condition he's in.

Trevor's presence is welcome, regardless of how bad the situation they're in may be. This is the first time he's felt safe since he was taken here. The safety is just an illusion, of course, but it's one he's willing to indulge in for however long he can. The vampire's comment goes ignored, or at least he doesn't respond to it; it will get worse. One of them will be taken back to be tortured further or used as experimental fodder sooner or later.

Berserker grimaces at the question, a painful squeezing in his chest coming with it. He'd been trying not to think about his Bonded and especially not of Diarmuid. It was easier to deal with his torments if he didn't think of them and think of what their reaction to his condition would be. Will he even be able to see them again...? ]

No...Neither of them are here. [ The third was gone. The emptiness and depression that accompanied the severing of Geralt's Bond wasn't helping him cope with the situation here. There's a sad resignation in his voice. ] I haven't seen them and I can't feel them like I should...I didn't realize I'd miss being able to feel them...

[ The neutrality of his expression doesn't return; he feels safe enough to be vulnerable like this in Trevor's presence. ]

Is yours here...? For your sake, I hope not.

[quickwhip]

[ He hasn't been able to feel his own bond since he woke up here and, after a moment of panic with what that could mean, it seems to be the general consensus that there's something or someone... maybe not severing bonds, but dulling them out. Or... whatever. ]

No. Pretty sure he's not. [ He hasn't seen the blond since he flew off as a gigantic bat and ended up naked back in the city. ] Probably for the best. Nothing I can't handle.

[ He tries to smile a bit at that, tries to cover up... everything that he feels about... so many things. Rather than allow himself to think or feel any of that, he instead looks to Berserker with a tilt of his head and lets fingers carefully brush over his temple, falling down to his lap. ]

Same for you. [ He says softly then, staring off ahead. ] You're a stubborn asshole. Nothing you can't handle.

[ You'll make it out of this. ]

[curruid_coinchenn]

We'll make it out of here and make the bastards pay for everything they've done.

[ Berserker closes his eyes again, unable to fight the urge any longer. The false safety has made him want to sleep so maybe his broken body can heal some. It's not truly safe to sleep and he knows the moment he lets himself that this temporary peace will be broken up by a shout or a strike or someone pulling one of them from the cell. ]

...Do you mind if I try to sleep like this? Just for a few minutes...

[quickwhip]

[ He can hope, right? He has to believe that, even if some part of him doesn't want to. He's a fucking Belmont for chrissake. But with however many days it's already been and their captures being well-versed in how to restrain and dampen a monster's abilities (witches too from the looks of it), it's a little difficult to figure out a way to get himself out of here. Let alone everyone else that he wouldn't think to leave behind.

But when Berserker comes to press against him, Trevor just looks to him in silence before he comes to stare ahead, letting the dragon rest for perhaps the first time he's been dragged here. ]

I don't mind.

[ He never minds, for the record. ]

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ If he's slept at all since all this bullshit stared, he doesn't know it. Sleep is something he has a bad relationship with on the best of days, so sleeping when he's in pain and constantly in danger may be right out. Berserker is willing to indulge in the illusion of safety for now. ]

...Thank you.

[ His voice is quiet, barely above a whisper. After a few moments, his breathing becomes slow and steady as his head lolls to the side. He leans more heavily on Trevor as he finally lets himself rest.

It's sure to be short-lived, though, as the sound of footsteps echo down the hallway. ]