WEEK 13 - 01010000 01000001 01011001 00100000 01011001 01001111 01010101 01010010 00100000 01010010

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (13)

saturday (10) survivors Something is different. You can feel it in the air: an ominous presence that weighs down the ship like it's underwater. Try as you might, you can't escape the feeling that you're being watched, the sensation of someone just out of view tailing you. Tensions are high, and paranoia grows with it. You feel it more than see it, and that's what warps your perception of the ship. Is it darker? Are the lights dimming? Who is it that calls out to you? Why is it so cold? Who can you trust? The distinct sensation of not knowing who your back is to wraps around you. There is one thing you can trust in, however; though you feel exposed, you are not alone. Mother is here for you. taken list profiles private conversations setting rulebook ENTER COMMAND_

Comments

the bridge

[al2955]

[As the ship drifts nearer the Queen, a constant buzzing drone begins to thrum in everyone's heads, subtle yet pervasive. The walls seem to warp and pulse, shadows flickering just there at the edge of your vision and yet gone the second you twist to look at it. Every now and then, the layout of the ship itself seems to somehow be off, hallways suddenly infinitely long and rooms nowhere near where you remembered them to be. Skittering and rattling noises echo in the vents, intermingled every so often with the rasp of someone breathing two inches away from your ear.

Amidst all this, the final locked door on the top level slides open, revealing an enormous area that could easily hold all of the original forty-one players, let alone the last remaining survivors. This is undoubtedly the ship's command center. The room is surrounded by glass, giving a perfect view of the vast expanse of space the ship is currently facing. Rows of seats have been set up in front of intricate panels of blinking lights (or they would be if they were powered on, as is they are simply many tiny dark bulbs) and switches. If you're familiar with starships or aircraft, it will look familiar - it's all obviously navigational equipment.

To the right is what appears to be a complex communications system, though like the navigational system, it's also mostly powered down. To the left are three large screens set up above an enormous supercomputer. Only one of the screens is on, displaying what appears to be a dilapidated shed full of machinery...and quite a few of the people you've lost on this ship. These are not the Furry Passing avatars you've come to know - they're very much as realistic as it gets, and they seem to be looking right back at you. Perhaps you can even speak to them?

Before you get the chance though, clouds begin pouring out of the usual statue in the alcove. Lin appears once more - but her voice is distorted, dropping to a low hellish tone every few seconds, drifting into an unrecognizable hiss, all while the screams of your loved ones on the Nuwa can be heard in the background. The clouds drift to reveal the usual sunny sky - but if you stare hard enough, you may catch the flicker of a massive eye, so quick that you may have simply imagined it.]

--energy readings are off the charts. I may [...] convert it as you get closer, but it could also [...] back wrong wrong WRONG WRONG.

[A low laugh echoes from her hologram, sibilant and amused.]

Go, ye heroes, go and die.

[Lin vanishes. Looks like you may be on your own for now.]

[tevinteriscoming]

[Watching all of this shit happening, with his staff at the ready. He still wants to get out of the ship and fight that thing, but barriers don't work in space, so what can he do.]

Well. If you insist.

[al2955]

[A laugh and--

Time suddenly seems to slow down for Dorian to an excruciating extent. A second passes like an hour, a minute like days. The effect will only last a few minutes for him, but to him it'll seem like he's been rooted to the same spot for years.]

[tevinteriscoming]

[Okay. Yes. That knocks the sarcasm out of him. When he comes out of it, realizes he can move again, his whole body is trembling.]

Vishante Kaffas! What are we waiting for, let's kill her!

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[he's already transformed, grasping his staff with BOTH ARMS!!! THAT HE DEFINITELY HAS NOW!!!! THANK GOD!! who is a teenager girl. he's been quiet and tense and shaking with jitters the whole time, but that might be because he's got a personal connection to the queen. either way, he still stands at the ready watching the whole thing... and then just laughs, nervous]

... As if this entire scenario wasn't messed up enough.

[al2955]

[The next time he blinks, the walls of the ship have been replaced with pulsating, rotting flesh. Creepy, but not too bad--

--and then the smell will hit him. His enhanced sense of smell has been fully returned, but the only thing he'll be able to smell is the reek of putrid flesh, rotting corpses, the stink of pus and guts and decay. The entire room is absolutely filled with it, as strong as if someone had shoved his nose directly into a corpse that's been out in the sun for days.]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[haha joke's on you it's just like smelling hancock's mouth!!!!!

by which I mean he brings a hand to his face to cover his nose and mouth and-- nope, it's not enough and it's too late he runs to an empty corner to puke. he rhys'd it. he heaves a few times but his stomach was already empty when he puked, so it's all bile.]

Glad I... didn't eat breakfast today...

[erythristic]

[waking up with the creeping feeling that something is wrong has always meant that they have to see what's happening. the paranoia feels like that week again, and breathe, breathe and trust in small things like each step landing on solid ground, that they wouldn't be finding another dead body but something else.

(it's not real it's not real it's not real, fingers into fists, nails biting into palms so the pain can be grounding.)

the top level is where Grell ends up, the door that had not yielded to them before doing so, and the expanse of the stars is enough to steal words while the equipment is a mystery. Lin is gone before she shows up, she doesn't hear the ominous warning, but the psychic pressure remains.

one thing is important. everyone there. if they could speak, maybe they could fight with them?]

Can you hear us?

[please respond. be real. are they safe from the eye's presence?]

[al2955]

[Grell will feel the back of her neck itch, as if something tiny just crawled over it. No matter how much she tries to brush it off, the feeling persists and only gets more aggravating--

- and then hundreds of maggots burst from her neck and crawl over her head and face. They burrow into her eyeballs, fill her mouth, wriggle into her ears until all she can hear is a constant chewing, the rendering of her flesh in thousands of tiny bites, until she can feel them squriming into her brain.

No one else will be able to see the maggots or any visible injuries on her whatsoever.]

[erythristic]

[it takes hold without anything before it to prepare, it's happening-

(she doesn't realize she fell to her knees, shrieking in disgusted horror, that her hands are tearing at herself because every single fiber of her being says to remove it remove it remove her head)

and when she comes out of it she feels physically ill and her forehead is against the floor where she slammed it into the metal in her panic. it takes a hell of a lot to not pull a Rhys and throw up right there, but she slowly stands up, using a console to brace herself and gazing out into the abyss of space with an expression of set anger.]

Oh, the pleasure to see you again is all mine.

[thanatosincarnate]

{ It seemed as if it were a painful deliberation, awaiting for all of such things to truly be set into motion, with the distant, ever present thought that matters could escalate into something beyond their control. Yet, it would be truly foolish to immediately ascertain everything would necessarily take that course, and at once—— there it was, a familiar voice calling out and it belonged to an equally familiar appearance, that of which was welcome.

Of course, even if it were through monitor, it did not preclude the slight errors——the unmistakable glitches wherever they may be—— }

I can.

[erythristic]

[she would respond, if she hadn't dropped to her knees unconsciously, hands tearing through her hair, at her own face, at her eyes, no longer seeing anything on the monitor or hearing anything.

she doesn't realize that she's screaming, not yet. it's more disgust and horror than fear, but the illusions are so damnably real...

just. just give her a minute, Arumat.]

[thanatosincarnate]

Grell! Shit—

{ And just because life isn't exactly fair, let us say this is just right before the dead actually, are able to successfully revive. But he recognizes where she is, at least, and— possibly where to head to next should he get the chance.

He'll try to raise how how loud he's speaking. }

Focus on my voice!

{ How the hell is that going to help—okay so he wasn't exactly in a position just yet to help but he cares enough to try something. }

[erythristic]

[distant, distant, submerged under the sounds of the insects she's trying to wipe out, shake out, she thinks there's something else.

...s on...ce...

it's not clear but it's something that's not going to make her sick, and she turns her head upwards as if that's going to somehow make the voice clearer.

her eyes. her useless eyes, they're in her fucking eyes, and she'll scratch her damn eyes out if it makes them stop, but they aren't stopping. she has to make them fall out somehow. has to remove her head entirely. something. think about the one sound that's not spurring them on to keep going, whatever that voice is.]

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Arumat's not blind—he's recognized the immediate response ( or close to immediate, considering Grell's apparent position ). She's being afflicted by something, and for the short moment he can in place of being there physically to support her, he can continue to do this—perhaps even temporarily rouse her to be cognizant of her surroundings to pull from that which assails her. }

That's right—listen to me! Until I can arrive there myself, no even when I do—don't you dare give in! Do you understand?!

[erythristic]

[something, something there. something, half understood words and the crawling, god. the feeling of it just going further, further. get it out out out take it away rip it down to her bones and they'll leave by god.

il...yself...don...ve in...er..

whatever it says. whatever it means. it's not this and they might be kind enough to cut off her head for her.

words are still not forthcoming, but one fist slams into the floor. she's fighting, as much as one can, though in her illusion she's still tearing at things. end it end it end it-

but she's fighting. that should be enough.]