ways_infirmary | (no subject)

The infirmary is still. Then, in the area around one particular patient's bed, all Hell breaks loose, albeit in a quiet, creeping way.

There's a buzzing, whining drone, just on the edge of hearing, otherworldly and unpleasant.

The light around the curtained bed seems to warp, with parts losing focus, eyewatering to watch. A roach crawls out from under the curtains, followed by a pair of centipedes. Above, flies swarm.

Creaking, the floor buckles, cracks, crazes. Fungus-like, rusty, black, and sickly green speckles creep across it, keeping pace with the increasing population of bugs.

As insects creep across the curtains, the fabric itself starts unravelling in parts, rips eating through it. Dark stains spread over it. And then, bright red ones appear, crawling over the ripples like living rivers. A pattern emerges- two circles, one inside the other, with a triangle inside them. As a final touch, strange glyphs etch themselves into the symbol, forming a bizarre sort of seal.
We must offer our prayers and not forget our faith.
The birth of God is near at hand.
We wait in hope for the day when the Path to Paradise will be opened.

[OOP: Mainly plotlocked to Hilliways participants. If your pup's in the infirmary and would like to react/have nightmarish fallout, ping me at SeraFurikku. Otherwise, feel free to bend Millitime or whatever if it'll break someone or be otherwise inconvenient.]

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And Hank comes running, his outer clothes shedding away, revealing his uniform as he hurls himself into the craziness to get to Alessa.

Magius isn't far behind, and he casts aside his outer robes slipping to just shirt pants and boots and staff as he moves in, his staff glowing brilliantly.

Jadis, drawn to the Infirmary, arrives just in time to see this. Calmly, head held high, she walks straight into the pattern.

He'd come by for a freaking visit to what he assumed was going to be an unconscious kid.

Harper was going to read to her some more, even though she was probably going to be out. Wizard of Oz, the page bookmarked in the holo on her bedside table. The way Harper figured it, he could just reread the chapter when she woke up, since she'd hate missing it.

In the meantime he was just hoping that in the middle of that living hell, she'd hear a friendly voice.

But as he walked into the infirmary and saw that hell on the outside, the girl lost in the dark, his jaw dropped open and he gaped in bug-eyed horror.

Jesus Christ on a stale soda cracker, we're all gonna die.

It was the Abyss.

It was worse than the Abyss.

And as Harper stared at it, as the plague of death and decay swept through the room, he could've sworn it was staring back.

Harper wasn't some big damn hero, so for a second he almost, almost gave into the nearly overwhelming instinct to run.

Almost.

No. NO. I am not losing another one!

It was against Harper's very nature to run into the dark, but before he really knew he was doing it his gun was quickly pulled from its holster and powering up with a whine, and he took a deep breath and ran forward into the gathering dark, his feet crunching on the plague of insects that had swept through the room.

"MUNCHKIN! Hang on!"

The darkness wraps around him, everything blurring (http://mark-of-samael.livejournal.com/1870.html?mode=reply).

Sirens scream out as everything fades to red, then black (http://www.haas-online.net/rpgdefreak/SilentMilliways/SH%20Sirens%2002.mp3).

Fred's here by pure accident. Just passing by the infirmary on a random exploratory trip around the place, probably lost in thought.

But something makes her pause at the door. The same curiosity that will later (in her timeline) compel her to touch an ancient relic that will lead to her death now compels her to hesitate, to reach out a hand to open the door...

"What on earth...?" Fred asks aloud, but her voice comes out small and meek in the face of whatever this thing is. Common sense is shrieking at her to turn around and go back the way she came.

Fred, unfortunately, never listens to common sense.

"Hello?" she says, taking a step toward the bed. Someone must be in there, behind those curtains, and maybe whatever that thing is is hurting them. That's what she tells herself as she takes another step forward, and then another. She tells herself that she won't get too close, that she won't touch it. She'll just see what's here and then she'll turn around.

She'll just get a closer look.

As she pulls closer, a chorus of sirens rings out. (http://www.haas-online.net/rpgdefreak/SilentMilliways/SH%20Sirens%2002.mp3)

Everything fades to red, then black. (http://mark-of-samael.livejournal.com/1870.html?replyto=1022542)

And moments after Fred, Illyria, alarmed, hurries down the stairs as well, realizing the moment Fred opens that door that something is going to go horribly wrong. She can feel it, the wrongness that she felt once before that had taken her out of the Bar and into that nightmarish place.

It would not do to allow the Shell to be broken.

So she hurries after, not hesitating in the way that Fred had, but pulling open the door with decisive intent.

The mortal's curiosity was going to get her killed. Illyria was okay with that, counting on it, even.

But she couldn't allow it to happen this way, or she would stop existing as well.

Eyeing the curtain that Fred had investigated just moments earlier, Illyria recognizes the symbol. She thought whatever entity it belonged to was done with the Bar. Apparently she'd been wrong.

She walks toward the curtain. If this thing wanted a battle again, she'd be happy to provide it.

It might be instinct that brings her to the infirmary, when she usually avoids it. Or luck - good or ill. She wouldn't be certain later, if anyone cared to ask. Whatever her reason is, she forgets it almost as soon as she steps inside, stopping dead at the sight of the curtains surrounding the bed.

"Oh. Shit."

Her hands clench reflexively, her gaze sweeping the infirmary once before she stalks forward, towards the growing decay.

It swarms around her hungrily. (http://mark-of-samael.livejournal.com/1870.html?mode=reply)

Sirens sing out as everything fades to red, then black. (http://www.haas-online.net/rpgdefreak/SilentMilliways/SH%20Sirens%2002.mp3)

Ben has always had at least a sixth sense, although it's always been largely insipient. Now, with his Boon, he was beginning to learn how to truly use it.

He felt Hell begin to creep through, the sound of screams and degredation seeping into his suddenly twisting mind. Nightmarish figures stood at the edge of his subconsious, waiting to invade his sanity.

It was happening, but far worse this time.

Ben came running, drawing what Avataric strength he could gather around himself.

"Alessa!"