☆ 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

[enkidoh]

[Enkidu always has hope in humanity and always believes in the good of mankind.]

Then we will perish here, not?

[They frown and for a moment they place a hand on their chest where their heart is.]

Eventually the pain and torture will become too much and our bodies will fail. [A pause.] I truly do not want to die like this, Louis.

[rightfoot]

[ Be prepared to be disappointed, Enkidu. Louis feels pretty differently about people, to be honest. Wanting the best didn't mean he expected they would be good. What a cycle. ]

Eventually, probably. Unless we get lucky.

[ That's what he'll call a rescue mission: luck. ]

No one really does. I don't know if they want us to die, either. If they want something out of us being here, they won't let us die so easily. It might be worse before then.

I don't want to die here, either. [ ...huh. ] I don't like that we have to rely on others for this, though.

sorry for the late reply!

[enkidoh]

[There were a lot of things going around in Enkidu's head. Opinions to form, sides to pick, choices to make, pain.]

I heard they sell parts of us...for coin. Gold. Like...cattle. Or crops. [Enkidu hums.] Some sort of awful harvest.

[And they know that their body is quite resilient and that they have a high threshold for pain. They are quite able to sit this out for long.]

Have you made friends here, Louis?

c: <3

[rightfoot]

[ Louis tilts his head. He had well decided what side he was on, long before he was taken here. He had decided the moment he noticed that there was any level of disinterest in neighboring cities selling other people. He didn't trust most of the people who were native to this place. The Mirrorbound weren't complicit, so he could give them a chance. ]

Like cattle, huh. Livestock. [ Ouch. That hit a little too close to home, and while there's no other outwards reaction. He scoffs. ]

Yeah. Witch blood is really good for them, I guess. A lot of value. Nice to know our worth, huh? [ He should stop it, he really should. ]

Friends? A couple. I have two bonds, too. They're - [ how should he describe them ] a nuisance and some asshole, but they're the best people I know. I wouldn't trade them for anyone else.

Don't you?

[enkidoh]

[Enkidu finds this a difficult subject. Their worth. Isn't that all in the eyes of the one who wields them? Isn't all of that tied to their strength and their purpose?]

Hmm... I do know that my value and worth isn't determined by these Rathmore humans.

[It is odd to find themselves faced with all these questions. Questions that pertain living a human life. They know how humans live, yet they don't know how to live a human life by themselves. It is complicated...]

Bonds are different than friends. [They think about their bonded.] The bond I have is a temporarily one, we drink a potion and bond. I appreciate his kindness and how willing he is to help me. It am not sure if this bond is less than the steady ones. It feels sturdy somehow.

[rightfoot]

[ Louis has always known his value. His cost. His worth. It's weird to have numbers so readily tied to your identity. And while he's mostly escaped that, being here again - with readiness to sell parts of them again. It's weird, but not unfamiliar. ]

Yeah. That's true. My personal value has nothing to do with what I'm worth to them. That's for sure.

[ And, to address the bonds, he thinks about Shinjiro and Fie both. It was weird, maybe, but he liked who he was bonded to, and while he still would have them even if they weren't friends, it was nice that they were. ]

Not for me. My Bonds are my friends. I mean, I bonded with the first because we both knew it was smart and thought it'd be a good idea, but he's my friend now. The other was my friend and then we Bonded.

[ He considers: ]

And while friendships are far less necessary than Bonds... Maybe I'm lucky that I ended up really liking who I was bonded to.

[enkidoh]

Therefore you aren't cattle or livestock, not? And neither am I.

[But what they do know is that they are pretty much a broken weapon. No one would want to wield them now. And they could not offer their friend the glorious reunion he deserves.]

The concept of multiple friends is still new to me. I do consider Cu a...he is a friend. When I think of it, there is something different in the way he treats me. In fact, that difference is apparent with everyone I meet. To my Master I am a weapon and they strengthen me so I can be of more help. But here I am...I almost feel like a human being... A true human being.

When I see him again I should tell him that.

[Still, here they don't feel much about that bond. Perhaps the potion didn't work anymore.]

Tell me more about them. Are they your true friends now?

[rightfoot]

[ About that - hah. ]

Is that what you want to be? A human. If that's what you want, then it's a good thing. I mean, being humans or whatever gives you a lot of independence, I think. I guess. I'm pretty close to human, to be honest. We're the same as being human at home.

[ He considers the question. The distinction between friendship and true friend, and he doesn't really realize there is one. What did they mean by 'true friend'. Because for all that he trusted Fie and Shinjiro - they didn't really know him that well. They knew little of his life, other than bits and pieces, before he got here. And he didn't really even know if he knew them that well. It was okay to him, though, to be that way. ]

I mean, they're my friends. What's the difference between that and a true friend?

[enkidoh]

I cannot be a human. My soul is that of a weapon and my body is an imitation of the human form. The face I carry isn't my own either. I have chosen to shape myself like this.

You seem very human to me. Only your head belongs to a deer. Yet your manners and speech resemble that of a human. I think you are more human than I am.

[That is a difficult question.]

That they are your true friends. The ones you consider the closest to you.

[rightfoot]

I don't think I have friends like that.

[ Simple, straightforward, really. For all that he cares for and trusts his own life in the hands of the friends that he has made. He doesn't really trust them to know everything about himself. He likes to keep most of who he is and was to himself. And for that reason - it's easy for him to think that maybe they believe he doesn't fully trust them. It's fine. To him, and for now, but it won't be forever. ]

Maybe you aren't, but you sure act and seem it. I'd never met a human before this place, and I don't really see you as any different from any others I've met.

[enkidoh]

We can become friends. Platonic ones. If we survive this, that is...

[They are not sure if that is a compliment or not. Perhaps a little. Despite all their shortcomings they do manage to pull off a good human.

Somehow.]

I will accept that as a positive thing. I wish to walk alongside humanity but to do so I have to be able to be a bit human, not?

[rightfoot]

[ There's an amused huff out of his nose because yeah, he actually likes this idea. He's been splitting hairs, and he knows it. It's interesting, he realizes, because it actually has made him think about his friendship with Fie and Shinjiro, and he misses them. A lot. Maybe they really are that type of friend, but he wouldn't really know.

He never really has many friends, and has always been okay with that. ]

I meant it positively, anyway. I don't think it's bad to be human, or even like a human. Even if you're glad to be who you are.

[ He offers a hand to Enkidu. ]

Friends, then.

[ Louis will help ensure they both survive. ]

[enkidoh]

[There are many ways they can interpret that sentence or respond to it. Because they have reached a point where they are not entirely sure anymore who or what they are. But, maybe, that is something they have to figure out by themselves.]

Hmm...yes.

[They take hold of his hand and shake it carefully.]

Friends.