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ph_logs2024-08-15 06:22 pm
pumpkinhollow) wrote in ph_logs2024-08-15 06:22 pm
[ August Event ] Thatcher's Blight
**Plain text version here.
› Incubation is extremely short, and the virus begins manifesting symptoms quickly after initial infection, sometimes as soon as a mere two hours after contact. Patients experience strong flu-like symptoms, including exhaustion, nausea, fever, running nose, sore throat, cough, increased heart-rate, difficulty breathing, and mild delirium. A patient will become truly infectious when a fever forms, and will need to be handled with caution in this event. Infection from a patient in Stage 1 is not impossible, but notably lower than the later stages of infection.
› Characterized by severely increasing symptoms as patients' bodies attempt to fight off the disease. Flu-like symptoms worsen, and any suffering the illness who were not bedridden will often become so. Confusion worsens severely; completely lucid patients will lose track of where they are, or who they are with. Emotional dysregulation begins, and short-term memory starts to degrade. Infection from a patient in Stage 2 is not impossible, and is increased from the low rates of Stage 1, but is also notably lower than the later stages of infection.
› So named due to a return of many of the patients' physical faculties, such as standing and walking without issue, but cold-like symptoms continue. Patients' short-term memory continues to degrade and general confusion remains severe, and many will enter a so-called "time loop" of their day-to-day actions: whatever action they were taking before the "loop" begins, they will repeat. If someone goes to the grocery store, they will pay, take groceries home, drop them, and return to do so again. Phone-calls will be made again, and repeat beat-for-beat.
Addressing the "loop" will often cause a patient to regain some lucidity, but they will often fall back into doing so once more if left to their own devices. As the False Decline moves into the next stage, patients will begin to experience sharp, often unprovoked bursts of rage, or a persistent level of frustration.
› Most often observed in carnivores and omnivorous species, as many herbivores/prey animals will simply attempt to run, hide, or collect with their herd (which frequently performs the same function). Notably, this stage for animals lasts a distinctly short amount of time, and transfer rates between animals are remarkably low compared to humanoid infection - the reason for this is unknown.
Patients seemingly succumb to a deep rage and attack any moving object in sight, track sources of sounds, and occasionally begin lashing out at inanimate objects. Dexterity is reduced sharply; patients with hands will no longer be able to grip doorknobs or use intricate tools.
No regard for physical well-being is maintained, and patients will undergo grievous injury to attempt their attacks. Attacks are never made with intention to kill, though fatality from wounds is possible; the intention of the "Propagation" period is to spread the virus as widely and quickly as possible. If one target is too difficult to reach, it will easily be abandoned in favor of an easier one.
Cognitive functions are scarce beyond seeing and hearing - however, "word salad" often comes from patients capable of speech, frequently containing thoughts or spoken words from their final moments of lucidity.
› After the previous stage's "last push" is complete, patients' bodies begin to shut down. The body succumbs to the virus, leaving the afflicted catatonic and immobilized. In a final attempt to use the host's body to further spread the virus, however, it will use one last strategy: reaching out to the kindness of others.
The patient, despite no longer seeming physically aware of their inability to move, will call for help, plea to anyone they can see, or weep. Any contact with fluids by those attempting to assist will often result in immediate infection.
At the end of his account comes the worst of the news: Mr. Thatcher did not discover a cure for the blight that claimed his hometown. When the Royal Guard arrived to provide assistance, there was little town left; what was left aside was felled to prevent the spread from moving any further.
If you believe you are close to acquiring said information, reach out to a mod! If you are correct, you will receive a little digital info card. If not, you will get a clue.
There is a bit of a time buffer between the event’s beginning and when a vaccine can be developed, so use that time to work on this. It’s best if teams work on this simultaneously!
For a successful trial of the vaccine, a group of participating medical staff must collectively roll at least a sum of 40. Anything lower and the trial fails, and the test subject contracts the Blight as normal. (This means, for ease's sake, if one character rolls an 18, another character can roll a 12, and a third rolls a 10, that third vaccine trial will succeed!) To try again, they must acquire a new volunteer.
Up to 4 people with appropriate medical knowledge can roll per trial, and these are added the same as any separate trials towards that collective 40. Threads with non-medical people assisting medical staff can allow that character to roll at advantage (ex. if Watson and Mulcahy have a thread together, for all trials going forward, Watson can roll 2 dice and submit the higher roll).
The vaccine is cleared for use after 3 successful trials, and is able to be distributed to the rest of the town from there!
But then, late into the second day, the looping starts. Infected people begin repeating tasks, such as doing the same chores over and over, visiting the same stores and purchasing the same items, and making laps around a specific area for hours. While the infected still seem more lucid, they can’t recall their previous “loops” and will get agitated and even violent if pulled away from their activities. Their loved ones and neighbors will also find them still very contagious.
And by the 48 hour mark, the bloodshed begins in earnest.
Lockdowns begin swiftly, with the uninfected hunkering down in clinics and easily defendable communal buildings. The most viable shelters are Town Hall or Greymare Library for Downtown Hollow residents, and Prague Mill or Baker Ranch for Northwest Hollowites and those who live on the Bluffs. Leeds Estate is also quite defensible, but it appears that Dahlia shut up her doors and windows well in advance. Those who try to shelter in their homes find that luck is not with them.
However, these locations don’t have the means to maintain a population on their own. Supply runs for medical items and food will need to be organized. Who will brave the danger?
Additionally, each shelter is advised to keep a radio available. The radio tower built adjacent to Town Hall is running as often as possible thanks to Phil Connors and Cecil Palmer. A small militia has been formed by Gerry Keay to keep the radio tower defended at all costs, and he’s happy to recruit more help. Sending stones still function for communication, so it’s best to stay in touch and work together while the medical team develops a cure.
Despite his general haziness, the moment he sees the needle, he will flee as quickly and as violently as possible. Give chase! Even with the vaccine protecting the islanders, it’s not safe to let this suspicious superspreader go on as-is. And once the island’s strange visitor is soundly subdued, all that remains is to vaccinate the townsfolk and quarantine the remaining unwell animals until the disease runs its course before Thatcher’s Blight is safely behind you.
Although you may want to give everything you own a good scrubbing, just to be safe.
THATCHER'S BLIGHT
FLU SEASON
CONTENT WARNINGS: Pandemic/quarantine, exaggerated rabies allegory, loss of faculties, medical, unsanitary, extreme violence, mental degradation and dementia-like symptoms, zombie-like behavior, guaranteed death.
-
The day that the plague comes to Marrow Isle has all the makings of a very peaceful day on the island. Incidents of Dirt Men and dragon sightings have been minimal, the crabs are in the process of receding back into the sea, and the weather has been lovely. Warm with a crisp breeze, not a cloud in the sky. The heat of summer is beginning to peter out and the smell of autumn begins to waft in the breeze, thoughts turning to apple harvests and colored leaves. It should have been a lovely day.
But let’s be honest, that’s always the first sign of trouble, isn’t it?
The market in town bustles as usual when a stranger walks into town. This isn’t inherently strange. New people arrive all the time, after all. What makes this particular incident strange is the fact that the unusual man enters from the wrong side of the island, seeming to come from the mountain rather than the shore. His features are strange, elongated uncannily and darkened in peculiar places as if being lit from directly above by a spotlight in a dark room. He is smiling broadly, his eyes bright but glassy, and he walks with a bit of a stagger as he tours every single shop and booth in the marketplace. He laughs loudly, touches everything he can, puts his hands on every person who will allow him, and lets out a rattling cough at random intervals. Sometimes the cough comes with blood. And if you ask him if he’s alright, he’ll laugh heartily and answer, “Oh, I’m fine, I just haven’t been feeling so well.”
When the man is detained and taken to a clinic, he goes without complaint, telling jokes the whole way and following any orders or requests with genial compliance. He’s hazy, but well-mannered and friendly. Any questions for the stranger, however, are met only with peals of near-drunken giggles, with only two exceptions. When asked what he is sick with, he will readily answer that he has something called “Thatcher’s Blight.” And when asked for his name, he will answer, “Patient Zero.” But by the time this information is passed to the radio and newspaper, people are already beginning to cough.
-
The day that the plague comes to Marrow Isle has all the makings of a very peaceful day on the island. Incidents of Dirt Men and dragon sightings have been minimal, the crabs are in the process of receding back into the sea, and the weather has been lovely. Warm with a crisp breeze, not a cloud in the sky. The heat of summer is beginning to peter out and the smell of autumn begins to waft in the breeze, thoughts turning to apple harvests and colored leaves. It should have been a lovely day.
But let’s be honest, that’s always the first sign of trouble, isn’t it?
The market in town bustles as usual when a stranger walks into town. This isn’t inherently strange. New people arrive all the time, after all. What makes this particular incident strange is the fact that the unusual man enters from the wrong side of the island, seeming to come from the mountain rather than the shore. His features are strange, elongated uncannily and darkened in peculiar places as if being lit from directly above by a spotlight in a dark room. He is smiling broadly, his eyes bright but glassy, and he walks with a bit of a stagger as he tours every single shop and booth in the marketplace. He laughs loudly, touches everything he can, puts his hands on every person who will allow him, and lets out a rattling cough at random intervals. Sometimes the cough comes with blood. And if you ask him if he’s alright, he’ll laugh heartily and answer, “Oh, I’m fine, I just haven’t been feeling so well.”
When the man is detained and taken to a clinic, he goes without complaint, telling jokes the whole way and following any orders or requests with genial compliance. He’s hazy, but well-mannered and friendly. Any questions for the stranger, however, are met only with peals of near-drunken giggles, with only two exceptions. When asked what he is sick with, he will readily answer that he has something called “Thatcher’s Blight.” And when asked for his name, he will answer, “Patient Zero.” But by the time this information is passed to the radio and newspaper, people are already beginning to cough.
VIROLOGY
PROGNOSIS
Thatcher’s Blight is a viral infection that is transmitted primarily through body fluids, but it can also become airborne and will stick to surfaces that are not cleaned thoroughly. The onset is fast and aggressive, and the diagnosis is always deadly. At least until a cure is found. Thankfully, Pumpkin Hollow is staffed with medical professionals from all throughout time, whose job it will be to research the disease and create a vaccine. Below is a thorough overview of all of the details you’ll need OOCly, but ICly these things should be figured out organically.Stage 1. Incubation + Initial Infection [ 2-6 HOURS ]
› Incubation is extremely short, and the virus begins manifesting symptoms quickly after initial infection, sometimes as soon as a mere two hours after contact. Patients experience strong flu-like symptoms, including exhaustion, nausea, fever, running nose, sore throat, cough, increased heart-rate, difficulty breathing, and mild delirium. A patient will become truly infectious when a fever forms, and will need to be handled with caution in this event. Infection from a patient in Stage 1 is not impossible, but notably lower than the later stages of infection.
Stage 2. Prodromal [ 16-24 HOURS ]
› Characterized by severely increasing symptoms as patients' bodies attempt to fight off the disease. Flu-like symptoms worsen, and any suffering the illness who were not bedridden will often become so. Confusion worsens severely; completely lucid patients will lose track of where they are, or who they are with. Emotional dysregulation begins, and short-term memory starts to degrade. Infection from a patient in Stage 2 is not impossible, and is increased from the low rates of Stage 1, but is also notably lower than the later stages of infection.
Stage 3. "Amnesiac's Recovery" / False Decline [ 30-38 HOURS ]
› So named due to a return of many of the patients' physical faculties, such as standing and walking without issue, but cold-like symptoms continue. Patients' short-term memory continues to degrade and general confusion remains severe, and many will enter a so-called "time loop" of their day-to-day actions: whatever action they were taking before the "loop" begins, they will repeat. If someone goes to the grocery store, they will pay, take groceries home, drop them, and return to do so again. Phone-calls will be made again, and repeat beat-for-beat.
Addressing the "loop" will often cause a patient to regain some lucidity, but they will often fall back into doing so once more if left to their own devices. As the False Decline moves into the next stage, patients will begin to experience sharp, often unprovoked bursts of rage, or a persistent level of frustration.
Stage 4. "Propagation" / Furious Form [ 40 - 52 HOURS ]
› Most often observed in carnivores and omnivorous species, as many herbivores/prey animals will simply attempt to run, hide, or collect with their herd (which frequently performs the same function). Notably, this stage for animals lasts a distinctly short amount of time, and transfer rates between animals are remarkably low compared to humanoid infection - the reason for this is unknown.
Patients seemingly succumb to a deep rage and attack any moving object in sight, track sources of sounds, and occasionally begin lashing out at inanimate objects. Dexterity is reduced sharply; patients with hands will no longer be able to grip doorknobs or use intricate tools.
No regard for physical well-being is maintained, and patients will undergo grievous injury to attempt their attacks. Attacks are never made with intention to kill, though fatality from wounds is possible; the intention of the "Propagation" period is to spread the virus as widely and quickly as possible. If one target is too difficult to reach, it will easily be abandoned in favor of an easier one.
Cognitive functions are scarce beyond seeing and hearing - however, "word salad" often comes from patients capable of speech, frequently containing thoughts or spoken words from their final moments of lucidity.
Stage 5. "Last Ditch Effort" / Paralytic Form [ 62 - 70 HOURS ]
› After the previous stage's "last push" is complete, patients' bodies begin to shut down. The body succumbs to the virus, leaving the afflicted catatonic and immobilized. In a final attempt to use the host's body to further spread the virus, however, it will use one last strategy: reaching out to the kindness of others.
The patient, despite no longer seeming physically aware of their inability to move, will call for help, plea to anyone they can see, or weep. Any contact with fluids by those attempting to assist will often result in immediate infection.
At the end of his account comes the worst of the news: Mr. Thatcher did not discover a cure for the blight that claimed his hometown. When the Royal Guard arrived to provide assistance, there was little town left; what was left aside was felled to prevent the spread from moving any further.
RESEARCH BEGINS
The first step of defeating the plague will be doing background research. Pair up with a research buddy and start looking into the history of Thatcher’s Blight. We will need threads where people locate the following information:- The original medical records from physicians in Grier’s Glen regarding Thatcher’s Blight. (The info contained therein can be found OOCly in the “Prognosis” section, but finding it ICly will be important! Plus there’s a lil bonus info there.)
- The identity of Patient Zero.
- What Patient Zero is, exactly.
If you believe you are close to acquiring said information, reach out to a mod! If you are correct, you will receive a little digital info card. If not, you will get a clue.
There is a bit of a time buffer between the event’s beginning and when a vaccine can be developed, so use that time to work on this. It’s best if teams work on this simultaneously!
DEVELOPING THE VACCINE
This portion of the event, though being narrative, has a mechanical function as well! Thatcher's Blight cannot be cured before 8/18 (which will be a full course of the illness in the earliest townsfolk who contracted it). We will be asking for characters in the medical professions to be rolling a d20.For a successful trial of the vaccine, a group of participating medical staff must collectively roll at least a sum of 40. Anything lower and the trial fails, and the test subject contracts the Blight as normal. (This means, for ease's sake, if one character rolls an 18, another character can roll a 12, and a third rolls a 10, that third vaccine trial will succeed!) To try again, they must acquire a new volunteer.
Up to 4 people with appropriate medical knowledge can roll per trial, and these are added the same as any separate trials towards that collective 40. Threads with non-medical people assisting medical staff can allow that character to roll at advantage (ex. if Watson and Mulcahy have a thread together, for all trials going forward, Watson can roll 2 dice and submit the higher roll).
The vaccine is cleared for use after 3 successful trials, and is able to be distributed to the rest of the town from there!
VIOLENT OUTBREAK
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
The first day is a tense sort of quiet. Every cough or sneeze is fussed over, and everyone in town seems to be holding their breath. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Pumpkin Hollow’s fantastical problems have always been bad, so no one’s under any illusions that this will be a walk in the park, but there’s always those same early whispers whenever a new horror rears its head. What are we in for this time? How bad will it get? But even as anxiety hangs in the air for the entirety of that first day, even as the flu-like symptoms take hold in seemingly record time and people’s minds grow hazy, there is an uneasy peace that the uninformed might even mistake for things being not so bad. Some victims are even beginning to look better after some rest.But then, late into the second day, the looping starts. Infected people begin repeating tasks, such as doing the same chores over and over, visiting the same stores and purchasing the same items, and making laps around a specific area for hours. While the infected still seem more lucid, they can’t recall their previous “loops” and will get agitated and even violent if pulled away from their activities. Their loved ones and neighbors will also find them still very contagious.
And by the 48 hour mark, the bloodshed begins in earnest.
QUARANTINE CHAOS
The most jarring part of all of this is how quickly the situation devolves from tentative worry into screaming chaos as the third day dawns. The infected begin to rise from their slumber to lay waste to their neighbors, attacking with abrupt and unprovoked violence, breaking into homes and jumping people in the streets. They break skin, break bones, but they do not kill--- at least, not on purpose. At the sight of blood, they immediately abandon their quarry, because killing was never the point. The disease does not want to kill. It wants to spread.Lockdowns begin swiftly, with the uninfected hunkering down in clinics and easily defendable communal buildings. The most viable shelters are Town Hall or Greymare Library for Downtown Hollow residents, and Prague Mill or Baker Ranch for Northwest Hollowites and those who live on the Bluffs. Leeds Estate is also quite defensible, but it appears that Dahlia shut up her doors and windows well in advance. Those who try to shelter in their homes find that luck is not with them.
However, these locations don’t have the means to maintain a population on their own. Supply runs for medical items and food will need to be organized. Who will brave the danger?
Additionally, each shelter is advised to keep a radio available. The radio tower built adjacent to Town Hall is running as often as possible thanks to Phil Connors and Cecil Palmer. A small militia has been formed by Gerry Keay to keep the radio tower defended at all costs, and he’s happy to recruit more help. Sending stones still function for communication, so it’s best to stay in touch and work together while the medical team develops a cure.
VAXXED UP [ CONCLUSION ]
When the research is done and the trials succeed, all it takes is a little more time and a few more materials to produce enough vaccinations for the whole town. And surely someone will set their sights, and their syringe, on Patient Zero.Despite his general haziness, the moment he sees the needle, he will flee as quickly and as violently as possible. Give chase! Even with the vaccine protecting the islanders, it’s not safe to let this suspicious superspreader go on as-is. And once the island’s strange visitor is soundly subdued, all that remains is to vaccinate the townsfolk and quarantine the remaining unwell animals until the disease runs its course before Thatcher’s Blight is safely behind you.
Although you may want to give everything you own a good scrubbing, just to be safe.
SHELTER IN PLACE (OPT OUT)
Prefer to opt-out? No worries. As soon as Patient Zero arrives, Dahlia begins contacting as many people as she can confirm are healthy under the guise of a “meeting”, providing somewhere safe and comfortable to stay until all this blows over. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty to do there.
No, she’s not accepting recommendations, requests, or demands for who is allowed to come in. No, she’s not explaining why. No, your relationships with her or others don’t have any bearing either. She is choosing apparently at random--- although, those who know her well might be able to guess that her senses are keen enough to tell her who has been infected, and who has not. If you say no, she will not push, but you get the impression that you probably should not refuse, based on Dahlia’s serious demeanor.
By the end of day one, Dahlia’s gates are locked, and her doors and windows barricaded. Only then does she explain--- including the caveat that the doors will not open, come hell or high water, until the trouble is confirmed to have passed. No one in, no one out, no exceptions.
At some point in the week and change that the plague darkens Pumpkin Hollow’s collective doorstep, Miles Upshur disappears from the manor for a day, evidently snatched up by something or someone he couldn’t see in the middle of the night. Blessedly, he resurrects inside the building, but now there is a new worry--- who, or what, killed Miles? The boredom is swiftly replaced by a whodunnit mystery, but is that better or worse?
SLUMBER PARTY
Word of the afflicted stranger wandering the town hasn’t even reached every ear before Dahlia begins approaching people and insisting they come up to her mansion. She doesn’t use sending stones or even the phone to issue these invites. She simply walks up to you, whether she knows you or not, eyes you suspiciously for a moment, and then informs you that your presence is needed at her estate as soon as possible. “Bring your essentials,” she says vaguely. “And don’t touch anything outside your house until you get to the manor.”No, she’s not accepting recommendations, requests, or demands for who is allowed to come in. No, she’s not explaining why. No, your relationships with her or others don’t have any bearing either. She is choosing apparently at random--- although, those who know her well might be able to guess that her senses are keen enough to tell her who has been infected, and who has not. If you say no, she will not push, but you get the impression that you probably should not refuse, based on Dahlia’s serious demeanor.
By the end of day one, Dahlia’s gates are locked, and her doors and windows barricaded. Only then does she explain--- including the caveat that the doors will not open, come hell or high water, until the trouble is confirmed to have passed. No one in, no one out, no exceptions.
MURDER MYSTERY MANSION
As the days drag on, the waiting grows dull. Not the sort of dreary dullness of calm days spent whiling away the hours, but that sort of anxious boredom characterized by helpless dread. Loved ones are worried after. Attacks at the gates grow more frequent, and louder. Thankfully rations seem plentiful enough in the house of the wealthy heiress, but some of the things dwelling here need to eat things other than what can be found in the cupboard. And it can only be delayed so long.At some point in the week and change that the plague darkens Pumpkin Hollow’s collective doorstep, Miles Upshur disappears from the manor for a day, evidently snatched up by something or someone he couldn’t see in the middle of the night. Blessedly, he resurrects inside the building, but now there is a new worry--- who, or what, killed Miles? The boredom is swiftly replaced by a whodunnit mystery, but is that better or worse?
For the sake of the timeline not conflicting with House Calls, this will resolve itself within the span of one full week, likely coming to full conclusion by the 23rd. Backtagging is always welcome and encouraged, however!
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Daisy winces. "Ooh, Martin. Not fun. I mean. Not surprising, mind you. Given." Well, everything about them. Jon getting ended up close enough to Martin to infect him could not be less surprising. "But yeah. Guilt there."
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"Not in our lives," she snorts. A beat, then: "...this. Probably sounds bad. But I'm not sure I even know how to live without a crisis. Got called on it recently. How the quiet was... getting to me. Not like I want the bad stuff. But the lulls make the inside of my skull itch."
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A beat, and he scratches his neck awkwardly.
"...Pretty sure I've also been feeding off of the ambient terror for most of my time here, though, so maybe I'm not a fine one to say much on the matter."
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"You really have the most cheaty ways to feed." She's allowed to make that joke because she knows better. If they can't rib each other about all this, what can they do? "...not sure I've had a real break since," she snorts, "well. Calvin. Went into the police almost soon as he left."
Before that, it was waiting to see who got hurt next and it's been one thing after another ever since. Every time things seem to be slowing down, she just gets suspicious.
Ugh. She scrubs her hands over her face again. "Christ my head..."
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His amused look drops as quickly as he's gotten it, though, that concerned frown settling right back in it's place.
"I don't suppose you've got a headache, considering the circumstances. That'd be a bit cruel and unusual to make ghosts deal with your standard fare aches and pains, wouldn't it?"
It's not like he can reach and Know what's getting to her, after all, not like this. As empty as her mind is of the rushing blood and call of the Hunt, he's been left without understanding, nor anything to reach towards to attempt to understand. It's left him feeling as directionless and dazed as one could expect.
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Daisy snorts, "Yeah. Be a bit rude. No, it's— my head's quiet. Like. Quiet, quiet. Hasn't felt so... empty, since the coffin. Couldn't reach me down there. Guess it can't— reach me when I'm dead?"
She doesn't exactly sound sure of her own conclusion, there, if only because this is uncharted territory. She's really not used to being aware through the time it takes to revive, and considering the Fears can reach them on some level across universes it's odd to think of death as being enough to put a wall up. But then, what is death but the End's domain?
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"I wish I could tell you, but I get it--- less so, obviously, but. I don't know why it does that. Maybe death here, considering how far they've got to go to get here whatsoever, is a step too far removed for Fears to reach?"
He doesn't sound sure of it, either, but it's the best he's got.
"It makes it easier to think and reflect, for better and worse, honestly."
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"Mostly worse, right now. S'weird. Like. I'm so used to— pushing through the noise that... now I can't—"
She gestures loosely, face scrunched. It's like after you've spent a while pushing back against resistance, only for it to suddenly stop and send you flying across the room.
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After a quiet moment of consideration, he moves to stand, giving a light stretch despite not really needing it. He'd gotten some decent advice on how to pass the time from a ghost the last time he'd died, and it seems like Daisy could use a distraction.
"Well, nothing else for it besides some ghostly wandering, maybe a bit of poking around where we ought not to. If you'd care to join me, of course."
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Daisy looks up at him, head cocking for a moment, then rolls her shoulders and pushes herself to stand with a huff. "Why am I not surprised you're suggesting nosing around?" she teases dryly, then shakes her head. "Sure. Gotta waste time somehow."
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He stops in the street, and weighs his options. Town Hall isn't particularly far off, nor is Leeds Manor, or any number of the safe-houses scattered throughout Northwest Hollow...
Glancing back her way, he gives a vague shrug, gesturing at nothing in particular ahead of them.
"Anywhere you're keen to stop by, see how it's going? I've been curious as to who all made it up to the Estate, but if there's anyone you'd like to check on now that you're... clear-headed, I wouldn't mind tagging along for that."
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"Maybe I should be more worried about how often you've died. Getting ghost advice."
Is there anyone she needs to check on... she knows where Max is, obviously. Erin's already holed up safe. Fever's probably out there mercy killing to take the edge off. Phil should be at the radio station. Dahlia... well, she's at the manor. Christ she's going to owe an apology for that one...
"Let's pass by Town Hall. Then head for the Estate."
no subject
That is, in fact, more than the average amount of deaths, but he doesn't care to find out. But at least he doesn't seem especially worried about it?
He takes a moment to pin down exactly where they are, though, before giving a short nod to prompt her to follow along, before they're off towards Town Hall. He lets his attention wander the largely-abandoned streets for a moment, falling into a short silence, before he lets out a quiet breath.
"I've never seen anything this... all-encompassing happen before, I don't think. Save for the flood. I suppose that felt different, though, since you couldn't exactly see how the town got left until the water lowered..." He mutters. After a beat, he offers her a dry-humored smile. "Imagine if we could get a minute to breathe without some Corruption type of bullshit happening. That would surely be the day."
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"Jon," she says pointedly, as if she hasn't died upwards of three digits times by now. She doesn't have to admit that if he doesn't ask, it's fine.
Even as ghosts the only reason she can keep up with his long legs is being a Hunter. Goddamn tall people.
"Why is it always Corruption? First bugs. Now disease. What next? Everyone gets assigned a toxic relationship?" That's not even a good joke but she's sticking with it. She shakes her head. "Maybe things are ramping up."
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"I hope it's not ramping up, but I'm not exactly feeling optimistic about it. ...Could be worse, though. I mean, once we deal with it, there'd likely be a much-needed break on the other side, right?" He offers, letting out a huffed sigh only a short moment after. "Or it could always just get worse and worse until the last possible option it could take is just blowing the whole damn island up. But hopefully we're able to sort it before that happens?"
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"Bet it'll be going just fine," she says as if that isn't basically jinxing herself. Dangerous games.
"Don't think we're going to end up blowing up the island. We haven't got Gertude's C4 for one." She'd also like to believe this place will fare better than the Serena Eterna, which even as a chronic pessimist she thinks has to be possible. That was a shitshow. "I dunno. Sometimes things ramping up— just means more chances to hit back."
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Chronic pessimist meets chronic pessimist. A few hands-on demon incidents specially crafted to demoralize him later, and unfortunately, it does start to stick.
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"Almost makes you miss disrupting rituals. 'Least it worked. Even if it did suck."
Yeah, so, about that, Daisy... one day they'll actually understand how the Eyepocalypse worked and why the others didn't, but today is not that day.
"'Least 'round here there's not really fighting about if the demons are actually. Y'know. Bad. Half the time on the ship? People arguing about if our captor was evil or not. Fucking..." she trails off in a vague grumble.
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"From what you've told me, the answer to that seems fairly clear. What was there to argue about?"
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"He had some big— tragic backstory, or something, I dunno. Fell in love with someone on board. Made a couple friends. Got some people convinced he was changing. And maybe he was. I dunno. Not like I can throw stones. But he still didn't care about most of us. And he still never let us go."
She doesn't like how someone who hated him just as much as she did ultimately went about sorting the problem, because it just made things worse, but she was really not on team Captain.
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That sounds like something someone from their world would try to pull, if given the time, resources, and captive audience, but he doesn't say as much.
"Things being so straightforward here must be quite a relief, then. As far as I'm aware, no one's gone to great lengths to try to get anyone to believe that, I don't know. Aster is just some poor, misunderstood soul, and you would really like him if you gave him a chance, you know." A beat. "If they do, I think I may finally reach my breaking point, go hole up in the woods somewhere, and let you all deal with that."
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"If they do. I'll be joining you in the woods."
With zero hesitation, she's not dealing with that again. Not even just because of the ship, it'd be like listening to those zealots at home argue that the Fears are a good thing, actually, and you should let yourself be embraced by their fearful arms. Eugh.
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Jon gives her a small, playful nudge. Just up the cobbled road, Town Hall finally draws into the distance - as soon as he's got sights on it, he gives a small nod of his head, gesturing to it.
"Anyone you're worried about in there specifically? It's looking like they've managed to lock up fairly well, all things considered. I may stop and check on the radio crowd, see if I can hear anyone mention hearing any improvements..."
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"Mostly Phil. And he's up in the radio anyway."
Which should theoretically mean he's mostly alright, so long as they stay locked down, but you never know. She's not taking any apparent safety as a guarantee so much now she's had her own illusion of it shattered.
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