EVENT ∞ LOG — July 125

[thediadem]

Event ∞ Log

In the Flesh

Jump ⇅ :: Visits — First Contact — Hitchhikers — Notes

∞ Prologue ∞

It's not real, it's not real.

Somewhere in the Blocks, late at night, a young woman repeats the words over and over, fumbling with her room key. She doesn't dare look over her shoulder again, begging her hand to obey. Her fingers are stiff and smooth, and it makes each movement more difficult. Eventually, the door gives way. She stumbles into the apartment, slamming it behind her and locking several bolts.

Leaning back on the door, she lets her key ring fall to the linoleum as she holds her hand up to her face. It isn't just her fingers now. Painted plastic has taken over her entire right hand, spreading up her forearm toward a ball-jointed elbow that creaks painfully. She grabs her neck with her flesh hand, sucking in a sharp breath as she tries to steady her heart.

It's not real, it's not real...

She takes another breath, then turns on the light. The bulb flickers. Hazy light flood the room with an incessant buzz.

She freezes.

A figure stands in the opposite doorway. It doesn't move, stuck in a pose with an outstretched hand—one made of flesh and bone. Her hand.

She screams.

Info & Mechanics — NPC Forum Post — Event Interaction ::: ⇅ Top

Strange Visits

Panorama

For the first week or two of July, life goes on as usual. You have a lot on your plate—jobs, loans, rent, that creep who won't stop staring at you when you're filling up your car—and the last thing you've got time for is other people's problems. Or maybe you find room to listen, anyway? Whatever the case, it's mostly a lot of stories and pointing fingers: a shopkeeper accuses his friend of stealing from him, somebody claims their boss must've skipped town to avoid paying the employees, and a woman is frantic about her missing husband. He never goes anywhere without telling her.

If you decide to look into it, none of the incidents seem connected. After all, people frequently go missing in the Diadem, friends betray each other, and businesses often go bankrupt, leaving their workers to pick up the pieces. Funny thing, though: here and there, you swear you glimpse a figure who isn't entirely flesh. Their features are just...a bit odd. Is it your imagination? When you move in for a closer look, something gets in your way and the figure disappears.

On the other hand, you think to yourself, it's not as though everybody on this planet looks standard. If a man can have horns, why can't his skin also be a bit plasticky?

Use the Event Interaction comment any time you need specifics or some direction for an element you're engaging within the event. This can be an NPC victim your character is questioning, an aspect of the diffusion zone your character is testing, or anything along those veins. While you're encouraged to make things up on your own, too, if you're ever unsure of the results or the answers you might get, approach us there!

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First Contact

The Fringes

Inevitably, you take the risk and head back into the Fringes. It has what you need, and the bizarreness in Panorama isn't making the city feel like much of a refuge, either. Besides, long trips aren't unusual for anyone in the Diadem. As you drive, you might even find yourself reluctant to return to the city. After all, there's so much across the multitude of diffusion zones that regardless of how dangerous it can be, perhaps some part of you is attracted to the thrill of the unknown.

If the promise of loot isn't enough, a note on the Forum might be. Here, you'll scroll across a brief message from who else but the ever-eager Felix Bjurstrom, joined by his daughter, Olive "Ollie" Bjurstrom. (Looks like he's got a new phone again!) If nothing else, the investigative or curious nature in you gets you going. What if this is a piece of the puzzle you need to go home?

If you want your character to scavenge items, check how that works. The Map identifies where each Quadrant is located.

Among the Shadows — Abandoned Mall

©

In Quadrant 1, about a 10-hour drive from Panorama, a standard American shopping mall rises through the cracked and broken highway. A portion of its vast parking lot melts into the road ahead and behind. There are cars in the parking lot, each one perfectly preserved: no rust, no dust, nothing.

The mall's lights are on. The moment you step inside, you'll notice that you're not alone. Inside, shadow corpses are everywhere, frozen in time. Their bodies show no signs of distress. If you try to touch them, a dark, ashy residue coats your fingers. You see a young couple linking arms, a mother bending over to pick up her child, and a man ordering his last meal at the KFC. It's as though they all just...stopped. While eerie, whatever force swept through here is long gone.

The upside is that nobody will bother you while you look around—aside from other fluxdrifts, of course. The shops and their offerings are stuck in the 90's. Big electronics are cosmic touched, rendering them worthless, but smaller electronics like cassette tapes, CDs, and Walkmans are all viable. You can also grab clothes, snacks, and (cheap) jewelry.

And, as you pass by the store windows, you see many mannequins on display. That's normal, so you don't think twice. At least, until you swear one of them keeps moving around the store. Though its pose never changes, it almost appears to...follow you? That can't be right. You must be seeing things.

Zone Effects
Touching any of the frozen shadows will cause the victim to believe that their companion(s) have transformed into monstrous creatures. Attempts to approach you will only register as an attack rather than placating gestures, while words will sound like snarls or spoken threats. An induced panic will make it more difficult to think logically and see through the hallucination. The illusory creatures can take the form of anything that might frighten or threaten you the most.

You can break free of the illusion through a variety of methods, including your own willpower, being knocked out by your friends, or seeing/hearing something that makes you realize it isn't real. The hallucination isn't overly intense, but it can cause a bit of havoc among you and your companions...and increase the likelihood a mannequin might make contact unnoticed.

Wall of Refuge — Strange Temple

©

In Quadrant 1, about a 6-hour drive from Panorama—and on the way to the abandoned mall above—stands a geometric structure made of metal and stone. Sharp angles shoot up from the ground to form a distorted hexagon. The gateway is littered with sigils: some weathered by time, others freshly carved into the rocky surface. They glow when you drive forward, beckoning you closer. Come in, whispers an unknown compulsion in your mind. You are home.

You may succumb to the whispers for any number of reasons: sleep deprivation, desperation for a place to rest overnight, or a need to hide from raiders or dangerous creatures lurking in another nearby zone. Regardless, you give in and enter the triangular entrance. The stone gate lifts to grant you passage, revealing an effigy of a multi-limbed being. A deity? A symbol of power? Though you're unsure, you continue deeper. Your footsteps echo across the cavernous halls.

Behind you, the heavy gate slowly closes with a rumbling finality. Despite the chilly entranceway, the interior of the temple is warm and inviting. Candles line the walls. Fountains flow peacefully. You can enter one of the many rooms to find a soft bed, fresh cakes, succulent meat, and fine wine available for you. Behind a silk curtain is a steaming bath lined with soothing floral herbs and oils.

Meanwhile, throughout your explorations, you might sense a figure or a shadow in the passageway. A glimpse of shiny plastic appears oddly out of place in a temple of this kind.

Zone Effects

• If you are a believer and decide to trust the gifts bestowed upon you, then you may safely indulge. The wine will warm you up, the food will fill your belly, and you can sleep through the night. When you awaken, you can safely leave the temple refreshed. Your vehicle will be outside, untouched, as if some power within was protecting your belongings.
• If you are a heretic and doubt the offerings you've been graciously given, the gifts will begin to rot and all amenities will crumble to dust. The more your cynicism betrays you, the more the temple will take until nothing remains except the oddly textured walls bearing down on you. As you examine the surface, you realize the stone is built from a manifold of dozens—no, hundreds—of twisted bodies. Their arms are raised in reverence, piled upon each other like human bricks. Their gaping mouths are frozen in a silent scream. As for you and your companions...what fate will await the nonbeliever?

The Last Stop — Foggy Town

©

In Quadrant 4, about a 3-hour drive from Panorama, east of the currently unused train tracks, a thick mist rolls through the highway. Here, the sky darkens rapidly into night and the temperature drops. If you've traveled unprepared, presuming the heat in Panorama spreads into the Fringes, you'll find that's not so. A chill spreads into your bones and creeps up the back of your neck.

Then the ground rumbles. The tremors shake your vehicle. Maybe it even makes you lose control briefly or sends you swerving off-road, straight into the fields. And in the middle of the fog, you see it: a figure standing in the middle of the field. Behind it are a few houses, making up a tiny rural town. The houses are dilapidated, many crumbling. Supplies within are minimal, and many items are broken or spoiled.

Do you approach? Do you drive past? Merely staring for a second too long will be enough for the hitchhiker to choose you as its ride, but its appearance may not be all that keeps you in place. In the distance is another bigger shadow. A much bigger shadow. It looms in the distance without true mass or form. Within the void of its body, a searchlight sweeps over the misty town. It does not move. It simply looks while the ground shakes. Each time its light catches a glimpse of something that doesn't belong—an animal, a vehicle that drove too deep into the tall grass, a raider that went too far into town—a sonorous howl reverberates through the zone.

Then the shadow will teleport to its target and crush the intruder without mercy before retreating back to its watchful post. And the intruder is indeed crushed: any living organism caught by the Light Guardian will be flattened with a horrifying crunch of broken bones and squished organs.

Zone Effects
While the Light Guardian can't be defeated or confronted, you can outrun or hide from its sweeping beam. If you stop far enough on the side of the road, it won't notice you...but you can still watch as it mangles an unfortunate raider or traveler. Possibly, you see the spray of blood or hear the screams before you run. Perhaps you realize how easily you could've met your own gory fate.

If you've left your car and gone too deep into the town before you realize the danger, you can do one of two things: you can risk hiding in an abandoned house in the town and hope that the sunrise comes. In zones like this, the day/night cycle is unpredictable, and many places are permanently cast in darkness. Or, you can try to run back to your vehicle and pray you don't get caught.

Alternatively, you've plowed directly into the field when raiders in pursuit force you into the zone. Should fortune favor you, they'll be obliterated by the Light Guardian while you flee. The beam tracks quickly, but can only shine in one direction at a time so the key is to bob and weave.

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Hitchhikers

Anywhere

Not everyone who enters the diffusion zone will pick up a mannequin, but the possibility is there. Once you make first contact, you will gain a hitchhiker. Unlike most aspects of the diffusion zones, this one has gathered into a storm, meaning the effects will breach even normally stable and anchored strongholds like Panorama.

Some fluxdrifts will brush off your problems while a few might believe you. Others will offer solutions in their own way, including a doctor who'll pay to obtain strange plastic limbs. Not everyone will pitch in to help. The city's big, populated, and somebody on the street turning doll-like doesn't affect them (...until it does). They've got a job to get to and mouths to feed.

Unwanted Passenger

When do you first notice your passenger? At any point, really. Perhaps it goes like this:

You glance in the rearview mirror and glimpse a figure in the backseat. When you spin around, there's nobody there. Then it happens again. This time, you realize it's not a person, but a dummy. A mannequin. It's sitting upright. And is it...wearing a seatbelt? Or maybe it's thrown itself across the back bench as though somebody tossed it there, uncaring.

This time, when you look back, it's still there. You pull over and dump it on the side of the road. That's taken care of, you think. You drive some more. For a few hours or even a day or two—depending on how long you've traveled—you don't think much of it. Then suddenly, it's back. And it keeps coming back no matter how much you try to get rid of it.

Or it goes like this:

You return from a standard trip into a diffusion zone. It went pretty well, you think. You found some clothes at a creepy mall and now you're ready to get some sleep. When you open your trunk to retrieve your belongings, you notice a mannequin stuffed inside, limbs bent at odd angles. You're a little weirded out, but you decide to dump it on the street and move on.

You shower. In the bathroom mirror, the mannequin suddenly appears behind you. Over the next few days, this continues. The mannequin appears in a booth across the diner as you're eating your eggs. It's behind a shelf in the corner store. It's in your closet. Each time you check, it vanishes...but then, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's right there in plain view. It'll even let you throw it away, burn it, anything you can think of. But it always comes back.

However it plays out, you realize that people around you do notice it...sometimes. That doesn't mean anyone will believe you that things are just that weird. Most people have better things to do. They don't know you, after all, and even if they did, well, this place does have a habit of driving people a little crazy. Witnesses casually push the mannequin aside and tell you that's a funny prank. Your regular waitress pats your shoulder and suggests you get some sleep. You're not looking well. The shopkeeper demands you take that thing before you go. He's not responsible for your junk.

But there's a small chance you run into someone who seems to be going through what you are. Unfortunately, they seem to actually have it worse and aren't making much sense. Still, you can try questioning them and see what answers you get. At least, before you lose them for good. For some of you, the victim you run into is in especially bad shape...and you have to wonder how long before you end up the same.

Trading Places

For some of you, the mannequins might not do more than be a nuisance. While that's not ideal, either, it doesn't completely upend your life. Others are less fortunate. If you're one of the latter, you'll begin to notice symptoms.

The first time it happens, you're startled to hear the mannequin speak. To begin with, its voice might be guttural and unnatural, incapable of stringing more than a few words together. Then it seems to learn. It talks in full sentences. Its voice smooths out. It starts to sound more and more like you...right down to your speech patterns and accent. As symptoms progress with varying intensity—over days or weeks—you realize with dawning horror that you're losing parts of yourself. When you wash your hands, you notice a part of your skin is smooth and shiny. The next time the mannequin appears, its previously plasticky appearance is more flesh and blood.

Eventually, the mannequin becomes independent. It shops with your money. It steals while wearing a face that looks nearly identical to yours, especially from a distance. It calls your friend and says the things you would never say out loud to them. They're thoughts you've had, sure, but you know better than to hurt your friend's feelings...except apparently, you have. And now you can't even use your own voice to explain yourself. Your leg has been getting stiff. Your joints don't bend properly.

Meanwhile, the mannequin is now striding around smoothly. Its appearance is still uncanny and odd if anyone pays attention, but at a glance, it easily passes as a part of the crowd. As its final act, it's even absorbed small bits of your abilities if you have any. Not all of them, but enough to cause trouble. Throughout everything, you cannot harm your hitchhiker. Some unknown force stops you any time you think about it. You simply can't.

Related Incidents

The impact isn't contained only to those directly affected. The hitchhikers' influence spreads through the city. For some incidents, it's difficult to trace back to the source. For others, that's a little easier. Regardless, these occurrences could help you determine how to solve your own situation. Alternatively, if you've escaped unscathed, you can still find yourself dragged into a situation involving someone else.

Return to Sender

July 11 — The Forum: An anonymous poster contributes this bit of information that might catch the eye of those affected. You can try the same method, but it's a risk going back into the diffusion zones. No one can guarantee the specific zone you found the mannequin in is still standing. Further, you have to remember where you made contact to begin with.

If you decide to try it, be sure to take a friend. The less independent the hitchhiker, the more likely it will stick to your side even as you return it home. If the assimilation has progressed too far, though, you might have to utilize methods such as duct taping inside your trunk or strapping it down with ropes. It may struggle and say vile things to you or your companion.

Victimless Burn Victims

July 14 @ 03:00 — The Pavilion (East End): A handful of troublemakers grabbed some freaky mannequins wandering the street and, in a drunken stroke of genius, set them all on fire for no reason other than that they wanted to. Not only has this resulted in damage to the corner store nearby, but Enforcers have linked the incident to four hospitalizations at roughly the same time. Doctors from Saint Margery's Hospital (located in the Blocks) report that all four individuals suffered massive shock and claim to have endured unimaginable agony as if they had been "set on fire."

Curiously, none of them bear any physical wounds and, by all accounts, are completely fine (trauma aside). Notably, all four individuals were also suffering from various stages of "joint stiffness" and "hallucinations"...which have since completely vanished. You might wonder, is this the solution? Or perhaps the better question would be, is it worth it?

The Sculptor

July 15 — The Pavilion (Medical Clinic): Around July 14 onward, word begins to spread that a Dr. Maggie Wright (who insists on being called the Sculptor, though nobody seems to heed this request) will not only do an amputation for free, she will pay you for your limb if you are boasting an "unusual trophic change to the skin, resulting in a smooth and shiny texture." All she asks is she gets to keep the sample. Her promise is that she will study it to find a more permanent cure and, if she does, she will return the limb to you for reattachment.

Some end up trusting her. You wonder, maybe she could help? Dr. Wright will happily accept you as her patient if you agree. Her methods are indeed proper and sterile: she'll put you under and provide you with plenty of pain meds. She appears to have all of the equipment required to preserve the limb, too.

If you're suspicious, you can also pay her a visit, but you won't have much luck getting her in trouble or sniffing out any evidence of nefarious deeds. Her office hasn't got anything strange, she is indeed a real surgeon, and there are testimonials from patients who've had success under her care in the past. Plus, nobody's going to her who isn't doing so voluntarily (they've signed waivers)—even if you could argue how much desperation plays into their decision. Still...the thing about her "title" is a bit weird, right?

Dr. Maggie Wright is 5'2, Caucasian with a light Northeastern accent and silver hair often worn in a bun. She's in her 50s and looks fairly good for her age. Her voice is soothing. She has intense, wide blue eyes, which some might find unnerving, but that's not necessarily her fault.

∞ Notes ∞

• Mannequin contact is not required. Not everybody who goes into the diffusion will make first contact, and many won't. Characters can explore the mall, the temple, and the foggy field without ever picking up a hitchhiker.
• The diffusion zones described are only examples. Others will exist where mannequins can be found, including grocery stores, gas stations, abandoned parks, and more. You can make up your own, but check with us if you have any questions about limitations!
• The speed and intensity of all mechanics are entirely up to you. Generally, the earlier a character makes first contact, the more severe their consequences.
• Investigating the zones or helping others are perfectly fine ways to participate! Since the hitchhikers are meant to be more insidious, it won't be strange if your character isn't in the middle of the action right away or notices things a bit late.

Questions? Ask here

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Comments

🎼 logan.

[catharses]

[ Exploring outside of the city has been something on his to-do list but not yet accomplished. There's been enough to adjust to within Panorama, enough small tasks to handle that it isn't until scrolling past a post on the Forum about a missing girl which convinces him to make this trip in particular. Why not start traveling with something a considerable distance?

Maybe it's too much to hope that there's some trace of anything he might be able to locate, but it's good to have a task that's one outside of what makes up his days. Easy to make a list of what needs to be done as Sunday steps through each task until it's time to leave, certain that it's all complete. Except for maybe one thing, but whatever it is can surely wait until his return. The drive out of the city is relatively uneventful but that one small mistake does make itself known, however: about an hour into the trip that he glances down to the gas gauge to find it's low that what he'd forgotten finally makes itself apparent.

Granted, it's still well above the quarter of a tank guideline given to him by one of his customers kind enough to answer his (many) questions about car maintenance the manual hadn't satisfied. When a gas station appears that's reason enough to pull into a lot to the nearest available pump. Sunday isn't entirely paying attention to who else is here aside from a general awareness of where each fellow customer is is should anyone approach. Everyone else seems equally occupied with their tasks, and it's a busy place based on everyone coming and going between refueling and the convenience store attached. The same is true for inside where customers line up waiting to pay as he takes his place with wallet in hand until he's at the counter.

And, well. He's getting better at the currency situation here, let alone not simply using credit for everything as he was accustomed to at home (on the rare moments he had to pay for something, anyway), save for right now: Sunday stands with his wallet deliberately counting out the amount owed, ignoring both the bored look on the clerk's face and the grumbling of anyone waiting in line behind him. ]

[carcajous]

[ The lineup is unexpected. The fact that somebody's taking money and people are paying is downright bizarre. Aren't these places...? But he's realizing the people are real, and whoever got here first has decided to just. Take over, organizing the little store while its up, hired gas station attendants, all of 'em just from the city taking up a side gig out here in the Fringes.

Y'know what? He shouldn't be surprised.

And like the others, Logan doesn't give enough of a shit about what's going on to ask questions, isn't keen in starting a fight, just wants to fill up and go. If this deters the raiders, he'll take it.

Okay, well. He wasn't interested in starting a fight 'til the grey-haired (what are...is that a fuckin' halo?) customer ahead of him decides to move slow as molasses. Logan waits, and waits, and doesn't wait as long as somebody else might've before his impatience gets the better of him. A cloud of smoke curls into the air behind the figure in front from the cigar between his lips. He doesn't try to get a better look at whoever it is, just glances up long enough to glimpse long silver locks and delicate fingers. ]

Hey, lady—you gonna pay up before this place disappears or what?

[ 'Cause at this rate, something else is gonna grow in its place before the bills are counted out, and he ain't interested in being shorted his tank of gas while he can get it. ]

[catharses]

[ This isn't going that badly - by Sunday's self-assessment considering he's not the one waiting on anyone - until the complaint as he finds the last bill he was searching for. Regretfully for everyone else, it does not encourage him to move any faster. Wonweek would be proud of the slowness with which he moves rather than any other option involving defaulting to courtesy as might've happened somewhere in Penacony before.

Rather than immediately acknowledge anything, Sunday hands his payment to the clerk who's now vaguely interested as though this isn't the first time someone's been told to hurry up with the outcome pending. ]

I believe that's the very thing I'm attempting to do if I'm not mistaken.

[ One benefit of no longer being responsible for keeping any sort of peace anywhere is not needing to smooth over situations. And so, with what little change given back to him in hand Sunday steps aside to leave but not without pausing to look towards who'd spoken as he cuts a sideways glance with a smile he doesn't mean, because - ]

Thank you for your unwavering patience.

[ - That's a slide right back into the demeanor so often in his voice as head of the Oak Family for words said but equally not meant, not that there'd be any mistaking them as anything but an empty gesture. A shell of politeness for the sake of moving on as he'll keep moving without a reason to stop. ]

[carcajous]

[ Logan's eyes narrow, then drift up to the ceiling, the picture of a man who's not only never smoothed over a goddamn situation in his life, he's usually the reason a situation has actively become worse. He watches the other leave for a second, less over what was said and more 'cause he's realizing...

Well, it ain't the first pretty boy he's come across. Oughta let Summers know he's got competition.

Logan gets out of there fast, uninterested in mingling with the customers behind him, definitely not interested in seeing what sort of trouble might swing by if he stands around too long. They don't exactly take the same road, and Logan pulls ahead easily with the speed he goes at. An hour later, maybe two, a glimmer ahead catches his eye. He slows down, peering up at the flickering, glowing outline of a microphone and a little music note. Nearly blinds him, that neon fuchsia.

Right. It'll do. He needs somethin' to eat, and he might be able to pull some cables or batteries from the stuff inside. It's not 'til he's pushing open the door to the karaoke bar, music echoing from the staticky speakers, that he hears the rumble of an engine behind him, then a car door swinging shut.

He glances over his shoulder. You gotta be kidding him. ]

Really?

[catharses]

[ Once back in his car, Sunday spends a few moments looking over the map again and comparing it to his handwritten notes with careful details about each direction to take and when - as if he hadn't already memorized it for good measure on top of that. Then again, having directions isn't entirely the same as knowing the exact route as he's learned on his previous (much shorter) trips, and this time is no exception. The gas gauge isn't the concern when it comes time for another stop. Rather, it's that Sunday's learning that while he'd packed enough by way of food that he could keep driving he'd underestimated the number of drinks. That neon sign is perfectly timed and so he pulls into the parking lot without any of the other vehicles registering.

Not until he's getting out of the car and pauses with his hand still on the door handle when one particular voice cuts across the parking lot, and there's probably no missing how his mouth presses into a thin line. ]

You say that as though this was intentional. [ His tone is just on the side of patience, but barely. This time Sunday makes no attempt to feign complete politeness as he locks the door. ] Don't worry, I'll let you order first. Wouldn't want to keep you waiting again.

[ This is, of course, said like he's going out of his way as a favor. As he approaches the building the music gets louder - perhaps he can be hopeful there'll be others inside for some distance. Sunday walks past the other man and through the door without further acknowledgment. He's glad to see there are others here: groups, duos, or lone singers behind the rooms' glass doors, and a few scattered tables and booths arranged around the bar prominently in the middle of the room.

But whatever relief he feels evaporates in the same instant when that look around reveals the limited seating is crowded to the point where there's two seats remaining - right next to each other at the bar. Great. ]

[carcajous]

[ Uh-huh. One sigh later, Logan lets the door swing shut behind him without bothering to hold it open. There are people inside; Logan's far more used to finding these places empty, maybe with a couple of other looters or raiders looking to spring a trap, but these people are actually just here, hanging around, and he's not exactly sure he trusts them. They don't...smell right. That's what catches him immediately. The smell. He can't place it; he only knows it's wrong, tingling the back of his neck. So while the other man's looking for seats, Logan's simply looking, scanning the room with furrowed brows. ]

Wait.

[ But whether buddy over there actually waits or not, Logan doesn't try to stop him a second time, attention drawn to the woman on stage. A few steps in, he can see what's wrong: one of the speakers, tucked in a hidden corner, is melting into the floors. Thick cosmic goo swirls into a dark vortex that sucks all of the light out of the room. None of the singers seem to notice. In fact, as he steps up to the woman in a slinky red dress, her eyes don't even turn his way. The microphone in her hand is oozing a thick pink fluid, like an eyeball that's been ground to a pulp.

Forgetting the other guy in the room with him for a sec, Logan snaps his fingers in front of the woman's face. Nothing. He frowns. She doesn't move when he touches the microphone, either. Not 'til he takes it out of her hand does her mouth snap shut so hard her teeth audibly clack.

Reflexively, Logan takes a step back. Her jaw unhinges, dropping too many fuckin' inches wide than should be possible, and releases a shrill, unholy shriek, sharp enough to pierce through his skull. Oily black fluid spills from her open mouth. His hand flies to his ear. Ow, Jesus. What the fuck— ]

[catharses]

[ As Sunday takes a step further into the room, he becomes conscious of the room's odd resonance. Or lack of one, given that there should be any number of things for him to tune out between conversations, fleeting thoughts, and everything with comes with being in a crowd. There simply aren't any even as the air hums.

It's less that he's heeded that instruction to wait - spite might've had him ignoring it completely if it wasn't for getting a closer look at the table nearest them. The figures seated... they aren't quite like the ones at the mall he's not forgotten, but enough that he remains where he is. Now it's his turn to attempt to tell his reluctant companion to wait but the snap of fingers and teeth nearly right after happens too quickly as he turns away at the abrupt explosion of sound where there was (almost) none moments ago.

The screeching sends a shudder racing down his spine. The discordance sets him on edge like nothing else when it rings through everything and everywhere. Thanks to his patience already having run thin, he acts without thinking as his head snaps back around towards the source of it. ]

Quiet.

[ The word is meant to be a command and the air ripples as it rushes to its target. It should land when the Harmony would not question his ask. But: it has no effect and instead not only does the woman get louder - so do the rest of the patrons as they begin screaming in their seats as they turn their direction but move no further. If the noise was intense before it's exponentially more so now and rather than try again, Sunday shifts tactics. One more forceful ripple through the air though this one encompasses his companion in it as the noise should quiet to a dull roar for both of them. ]

I'll hold this if you can move back here!

[ Unless the other man has other ideas - Sunday, meanwhile, is glancing over his shoulder to make sure the door is still an option. ]