meadowlarklogs | EVENT #010

Entry tags:

EVENT #010

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: New Amsterdam and any other megacity the Displaced happen to be in/travel to!
WHEN: May 28, 2512
WHAT: Golden-eyed monsters stream into New Amsterdam and other megacities the world over.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence, death, body horror, mind control, and transformation.

> EVENT #010

It starts in the middle of the night, when most everyone should be fast asleep in their beds, whether they're still taking up a cot in the safehouse or staying in their own apartment. One moment it's quiet, with most of the rest of the city having also turned in for the night, and then in the next? It isn't.

There will be mass confusion as the scope of the situation becomes clear. Monsters stream out onto the streets, thundering up the stairs of a train station, skittering out of construction sites, or climbing up the walls. Some of them fly. Others slither. Others run, loping forward with only one goal in mind: to find something to sink their teeth or claws into and to leave destruction in their wake at every turn. They are a horde, a swarm, a teeming mass of creatures that have no intention of stopping. All of them have eyes or bodies that shine gold and wherever they go, they seem to leave decay. Concrete turns black and porous where they step; plants wither and die.

There is no real preparing for an attack of this scale. New Amsterdam will awaken as the sound of these monsters crashing down on cars or bursting through storefronts or into homes forces people to run screaming from their dwellings or places of work. There is no discrimination in who these beasts might target, and no discernable pattern in where they go.

All that one can really tell is that they seem to want to spread out. They're constantly on the move, leaping from victim to victim, and they're relentless. No one knows why they've come, where they're come from, or what will make them stop. At least for now, the only option seems to be to cut down their numbers. It's time to fight the horde.

The first night will be utter chaos as everyone reacts to the monsters' sudden appearance, but by the morning hours news reports will start streaming in. This is not only happening in New Amsterdam, or wherever else a Displaced might be staying, but seemingly everywhere. Some cities seem harder hit than others, but practically every megacity is overrun with the creatures.

With no way of knowing who might have unleashed the monsters, all of these cities have essentially been turned into battlefields. Not many civilians are prepared to fight for their lives, and it will take a mobilization effort from the police, Morningstar, the Displaced, and anyone else who's willing to take up arms in order to survive.

◉ As a note, this attack starts simultaneously in multiple cities. While it's the middle of the night in New Amsterdam, the monsters will appear at other times of the day in other parts of the world depending on the timezone!

> BESTIARY

So as to not make this post overly long, we have compiled all of the monster descriptions into a Google doc here for everyone's reference!

> (NOT SO) SAFEHOUSE

For those Displaced who stay at (or spend any time in) the safehouse under the hoverbike shop or the Red Wings bar, they may become aware of the presence of the monsters sooner than others, due to the fact that at least a few of the giant mole monsters will end up burrowing up through the concrete basements to wreak havoc. The screeching noise of steel claws tearing through the floor will be sure to wake up even the deepest of sleepers.

This won't just be an occurrence on the first night of the attack, either. Unless something is done to deter them, tunnels leading straight into the safehouses will continue to be created, allowing even other types of monsters to find their way through (the smaller ones, that is). Where exactly they're coming from won't be entirely clear, though it's a safe bet to assume that they must have originated in the cave system somehow.

Suffice to say that El won't be happy about the safehouse being compromised in this way, though this isn't a possibility that ze or anyone else could have really prepared for. While ze can't do much to physically help with containing the invasion of the monsters, ze will offer whatever resources ze can—though Morningstar is going to be busy in plenty of other locations, as well, and they only have so many resources.

The Red Wings, being a Displaced-operated location, will also be in need of assistance, especially if it's meant to be a point of safety and a hub for handing out supplies. Speaking of—

> RED WINGS HQ

As things begin to deteriorate, Clarke Griffin and Stephen Strange sink their resources into Red Wings, adapting it into a base of operations for the Displaced. Clarke also called in PRESERVE to set up a checkpoint here, too, and anyone—from the Displaced to civilians—will be able to seek aid here. (Of course, Red Wings will be just one of a few locations throughout the city where they attempt to set up shop, but Red Wings may prove to be more fortified thanks to the talents of the Displaced.) Civilians will not have access to Red Wings' safehouse, however. That's still something that Clarke and Stephen want to keep under wraps, for now.

In the bar proper, there will be medical aid, supplies, and even weapons for those who can use them. During rare moments of downtime, the gang at Red Wings will also work on reconnaissance missions to find safe spots throughout the city to provide much needed protection and safety for the people of New Amsterdam. This task may be much easier said than done. Gathering intel on the monsters is a high priority, too, and for anyone who tries to capture a monster to learn more about them, the basement might be a good place to hold them. If the Displaced are going to be able to fight back, they need to know exactly what it is they're fighting.

However, the truth of the matter is that this attack happened quickly, and in the middle of the night to boot. As much as the group at Red Wings tries, resources are stretched thin, and they didn't have time to prepare as much as they wanted to. Supplies need to be rationed, bandages and stitches used for wounds that really need them, and if you're not a great shot, it might be best to let someone with more training take that gun you're eyeing.

More than anything, despite the difficulty, this is a way for the Displaced to help out as many people as they can, and a way for them to cement their humanitarian efforts and affect the population's opinion of them. The citizens of New Amsterdam are sick of this cycle of destruction, and are just waiting to be empowered. Now's the time to teach them to fight back and help them protect their city.

Red Wings' safehouse underground will be damaged by burrowing monsters as well, and will need protection. The bar itself will escape relatively unscathed.

> INVESTIGATING / GATES

Maybe the best way of dealing with the monsters isn't violence at all. Maybe there's a more strategic way to deal with this.

The monsters will be moving from city to city via the gates, just like the Displaced do. There might be a way to keep them from spreading, or at least slow them down, by shutting down the gate network. Of course, with the mag trains shutting down, getting back home could be an issue. One option is the delivery network of hover trucks. They'll still be running to get supplies from city to city, but their batteries don't run indefinitely, so these will be relatively local trips only. No getting from New Tokyo back to New Amsterdam with this method, unfortunately, and convincing a driver to let you hitch a ride might be a challenge, but it's doable.

Of course, there's also the question of where these things are coming from. Intrepid characters might be able to track them back to their nests, which are tucked away in wildly different places depending on the city. In New Amsterdam, they might be in the caves below the city. In other places, they might not be in the city proper at all, but just outside of it. It's important to keep in mind that the nests are far away from any of the action taking place elsewhere. Tracking these origin points may provide some answers, but the cost would be less involvement in the crisis taking place.

And then there's the matter of the monsters themselves. How can you fight an enemy you know nothing about? For those determined or crafty enough, capturing them might be an option, although this will take some creativity. Once these creatures are captured, they'll need to be kept contained, and kept alive. Just because they're monstrous doesn't mean they don't have to eat, after all, and some will need special environmental considerations as well, such as the mind control slugs.

What happens after that is up to the Displaced. Is dissecting them the best bet? Their internal anatomy won't be wildly different from most "normal" animals, with the exception of some creatures who have strange appendages or the like. Still, this might give the Displaced a better idea of how they operate and what their weak spots are. Sending samples to a lab is another possibility, if the Displaced can figure out how to safely store those samples. After all, the world is in a crisis, and no one is running tests at the moment.

All monsters, though, seem drawn to the blue light. When a Displaced uses a power or activates the empathy bond, the creatures will lock onto it, utterly transfixed, and if this is done enough times, that gold glow of theirs will intensify. What does it all mean? Maybe figuring that out will be a pathway to stopping their attacks.

> PITCHING IN

While all of this is going on, it certainly won't be just the Displaced who are heading out into the streets to try and stem the flow of the monster attack. These creatures are certainly not holding back, and no matter how much work might be put in, their numbers are overwhelming. Plenty of people will end up dead as a result, ripped to shreds or dragged off somewhere to be eaten. Yet, for some reason, these monsters are not as vicious toward the Displaced. They'll engage them in a fight and injure them, but they never go so far as dealing a fatal blow.

Seeing how that's not the case for the rest of the populace throughout the world, however, some groups and organizations will be rising up to do their part.

Police departments will be mobilizing in every megacity to put the monsters down, and while they are armed, it's not on the same level as the UNA. They also don't have any sort of training that's prepared them to fight monsters, but they'll still be putting their lives on the line to put a dent in the monsters' onslaught. When it comes to enforcing regular law and order, they certainly won't have the bandwidth for anything like that. Then again, most people won't be in any position to take advantage and commit crimes either, given the chaos that will be a constant everywhere.

Morningstar will also be jumping into action around the world. The New Amsterdam branch will be most likely to work alongside the Displaced and share some of their resources, particularly with those who are signed up as official agents or those who've supported them in the past. In cities like New Prague and New Beijing where the Displaced have made some contact with Morningstar before, they'll also be open to working with the Displaced. However, their resources are by no means robust. Morningstar is an organized rebel group, but they're hardly an official army in any sense of the word. They might be able to hand out a weapon here or there and they have a safehouse set up in almost every city, but beyond that, they'll mainly be getting boots on the ground to help with the fighting.

UNA soldiers who have been left without any sort of purpose or guidance will now have an opportunity to put some of that training to use. Their involvement will be much more scattered, though in some cases small groups of these soldiers who used to work in units together will reconnect in their effort to fight off the horde. However, having been cut off from the UNA in an official capacity, they won't have much in the way of gear or weapons. They're still formidable fighters, though, and now might be the perfect time to reach out and make a connection with some of them.

Mercenaries belonging to various different outfits, depending on what city they're based in, will also be joining the cause. Whether they're acting out of a basic desire to survive the attacks or if they're actually being paid by someone to go out there and risk their lives will be less clear, but they're some of the best-equipped fighters (other than the police). They also won't really find much reason to protest any of the Displaced pitching in to fight with them. The more firepower, the better, right?

A group of regulars from the New Amsterdam fighting rings will be rising up to add their fuel to the monster-fighting fire, as encouraged by Hawke and whoever else might know them well enough to reach out. Given that some of these people have illegal mods to enhance their strength or cybernetic attachments that can do impressive amounts of damage, some of them might hold their own against the monsters. Hell, some of them might even ask the Displaced to demonstrate some of their powers if they end up fighting together, as word of their abilities has become more known among their ranks. Either way, they'll be jumping into the fray with quite a bit of gusto.

PRESERVE will be involved on the other end of these efforts and will be doing their best to tend to the wounded and the dead, along with finding shelter and safe spots for people to barricade themselves from the attacks. It's not like the grand majority of civilians could stand a chance against these monsters, after all, yet not all of them can rely on their homes to be safe enough to stay in. They'll be quick to accept an offer of Displaced help, as they'll be doing their best to try and drag the recently dead to hospitals to get them put into medi-units before they're too late. Along with what's set up at Red Wings, they'll also be cobbling together other relief spots throughout the city for taking care of wounded and offering up what supplies they have (food and water, medical supplies, etc).

And what are the corporations doing in all of this? Well, suffice to say, mainly just panicking. Unsurprisingly, they're not much help during a crisis like this, with most of the super-rich opting to hide away in whatever highly secure bunkers they might have. Too bad that these bunkers might not prove so secure in the face of these attacks. Could that prove to be an opportunity if someone went looking?

> FINAL OOC NOES

Please refer to the OOC EVENT POST for all OOC info, including suggestions for directions on how to engage with the event. Given the spread out nature of this event, as well as the amount of additional details provided here, please direct all questions to our QUESTIONS thread below. This is, naturally, a huge event in terms of scale, and so we're certain there are aspects of it we haven't covered and questions that have yet to be answered. We do encourage that all of our players use the event planning post for any additional ideas and for touching base!

Please do not begin to thread out any aftermath until AUGUST 8, 2020, which is when we will put up the aftermath log and OOC post. If this date changes, we will provide a gamewide update as needed! As a note, the August calendar will be posted alongside the aftermath!

As a reminder, there is one power level up available for this event, granted for a thread of at least 5 log/action comments containing your character utilizing their power in some way during the event itself. They will need to reach the 5 comments required by SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 to be eligible. Submission will be handled on the wrap up post.

Our Activity Check will be posted AUGUST 1 at 12 AM UTC. It will run for seven days and close on AUGUST 8 at 12 AM UTC.

Have fun and fight some monsters! Or … whatever else you might do with them. 😉😏 Your secret's safe with us. 😙

> NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( well, damn.

he has seconds to react ㅡ and he does, arm dropping to the ground, talons digging furrows into the concrete. there, he waits. watches. and when she's close he strikes, throwing out a wave of heat that splits the air in a searing crack.

if that's not bad enough, in the distance the sounds of howling can be heard. )

[ the heat blows her back, explosive enough to create a wave of pressure that takes rey off her feet. her body cracks when it hits the concrete, and she rolls. the lightsaber blade dims, fortunately, and spares her the loss of any important limbs. but she picks herself up, disoriented.

this isn't going to be as easy as she'd thought.

she throws luke's lightsaber aside. ]

So you still have your power. [ that's surprising, given that it had robbed him of his shape. she had, but then, she'd never turned into a hulking beast. this was ben, alright. she'd had her doubts, until he'd gotten the upper hand against her.

foliage rises up under and around his feet, ready to swallow him, but the heat burns it away as quick as it can grow. ]

( the vines don’t escape his notice, though, head dipping to study the things for a moment. the mask-like face make it difficult to read his expression, but if you were feeling generous you might call it curious.

they can’t find purchase, the vines, but they keep coming, stubbornly determined to wind him in their embrace. this would be a bad thing, he knows. captive, vulnerable, she will hurt him. kill him. and he wants, so very desperately, to live.

fissures of light split across his skin. pale shimmers at first but the gradually deepen, darken, as they spread across his body. the air around him is thick with heat. steam rising from the ruptured concrete. )

[ the light coming out of the cracks in his body is almost blinding to look at directly. rey gives up her efforts with the plants to glance away. despite her boasting, she had tried to use the plants to take him alive instead of dead. those efforts were in vain, it seemed.

but there are other people in the area, and she has to act quickly, so she vaults him into the air by lightening gravity. at the very least, if he combusts, it should contain the blast.

that gives her another idea, too. but it occurs to her just in time for one of the monsters who he'd summoned to answer his call. one of the burrowers comes up out of the ground beneath her, its drill-like claws clipping her leg before she can dive out of the way. ]

( being forced into the air is enough to break his concentration, and the light swimming beneath his skin dims but doesn't fade. disorientation gives way to irritation.

but then he's falling, dropping into an awkward crouch. the impact jarring through his lanky frame then fanning out, splitting the concrete. )

Ow.

( a rasp of sound, like his throat isn't meant to form words.

the burrower regards rey quizzically as if surprised to find her there, but its confusion doesn't last. it was called here for a purpose, after all. )

Really?

[ kylo ren on his own was plenty. she doesn't have it in her to fight multiple monsters. she floats the lightsaber back to her grip with gravity, then anchors the mole creature to the ground. it flattens like a pancake against the concrete as she ignites the saber.

it takes all her focus to keep the mole tethered. she can't split her focus with her power that easily, and it would require a lot to turn it on kylo ren too. she'll have to fight him the old fashioned way after all. she ignites the saber and braces for his recovery. ]

( she doesn't have to wait long. he's up and moving, long legs eating up the ground as he closes the distance between them.

good news: he's abandoned any thought of using his power for the moment.

bad news: he'll be on her in seconds if she doesn't do anything about it. )

[ he rushes her, and —

she doesn't think she can meet the force he's built up. not in equivalent strength. not on an average day, and certainly not now that he's bigger and wider as what he's transformed into. but rey roots herself to the ground, makes herself heavier, harder to budge, and she raises her lightsaber and swings it to meet him.

she's been waiting for this. she has a lot of rage to match against his. so she swings when he gets near enough, enough to take off a chunk of him if he doesn't knock her arm aside or her lightsaber away. ]

( the blade bites into his side, cauterizing on contact. he jerks back, violent ㅡ a low, confused noise catching in the back of his throat.

pain.

rage.

that gnawing, terrible hunger that only seems to have solidified.

he reaches for her hand ㅡ swats at it, really. the movement blind and uncoordinated, and full of too much force. )

[ she releases the saber and the gravity hold keeping her upright, allowing herself to be knocked to the side and back, allowing her weapon to clatter away. not doing so risks breaking bones with the force of his hit. self-preservation instinct, fortunately, kicks in immediately; it's not a choice so much as a natural consequence.

on the ground, she starts to scramble away. too close. too close and he would be able to overpower her easily. too far, and she can't cure him the way clarke had cured her. it would be easier to kill him like this. and she needs to. he has made it so she needs to.

but he'd helped her. he'd fought the creature that almost killed her. he'd helped her. rey thinks of ren and catra and wei wuxian and her chest aches because she's afraid and hurting but she doesn't want to give up the flicker of hope that there's something worth saving in the monster above her.

with a frustrated growl, fed up with thinking, she reaches up and plants her hand against his face, fighting to hold him back away from her. the empathy bond opens up between them, and with it, the faint sensation of burning. ]

( the connection opens, and …

and he goes rigid, momentarily overwhelmed by the onrush of emotions that pours through the contact. it’s always been intense, this connection. overwhelming. it's like being flayed, the layers of protective fury and hunger eroding and...

oh.

oh.

he doesn't want this. he doesn't want to be pulled back to the light, however gently. he wants to shelter in the cold, familiar darkness, because that, at least, he knows. understands. )

No. ( more monster than man, now. the gold in his eyes flickering, dimming. )

[ she has avoided this.

avoided him, in particular. the empathy bond had gotten the better of her with catra and with clarke and there was no helping that. but she has not wanted to invite kylo ren too close for fear of letting him see anything that's troubling her. the truth gives him a foothold.

just kill him. she ignores this voice. she has killed enough.

she reaches out to grab a firmer hold on him, around the back of his neck, pulling him down towards her. he's going to thrash. she had thrashed and bucked and turned violent, anything to escape the burning sensation, the threat to that thing in her mind.

across the bond pours fear and and anger and most of all hurt. in exchange, she takes his rage and fear too. there's so much of it she thinks she might burst, but she doesn't let go. even as her hand starts to burn. is that the bond? or is it his power, trying to deflect her so she can't keep her grip? it will take some time before the empathy bond works the illness out. ]

( he thrashes, because of course he does. the burn sinks into him. it radiates out from her fingertips, from whatever point where skin meets skin. )

Stop. ( —stop this. stop whatever this is, whatever she's doing. just stop and let him be.

let me go.

let me go.

let me go.

but, she doesn't. she holds fast. there is such strength in those warm, calloused fingers where they dig into his scalp and hold him. determined. )

[ he's bigger than she is. stronger by a mile. his thrashing jostles her against the concrete, cracks her skull and disorients her.

rey's hands slip, the bond breaks.

he's going to kill her. if she holds onto him, he's going to kill her. dazed, she tries to reorient herself, reassess her position, try another tack. she needs a way to keep him from hurting her while the bond is active.

she turns to crawl away, to get enough distance so she can think through the throbbing in her head. it'll work. she knows it'll work now, she saw it start to. she just needs the time and distance to make a plan. ]

( the connection snaps and kylo reels, stumbling back from her, away, because distance is necessary.

but, still, he watches her. eyes narrowed and wary like he expects her to retaliate.

she doesn't want this fight, not really. she's tired and wounded and there are others that could be here, instead, having this fight. people who care less.

it's the caring that puzzles him, that makes him hesitate. it's the caring, really, that he fears because caring is weakness. a vulnerability waiting to be exploited. )

[ rey picks herself up, weary, unbalanced. he's not charging or pursuing. if anything, he's on the defensive. ]

Is that you?

[ it seems too much to hope that he might have broken it on his own, that the berserk fury that had claimed her when the slug possessed her could be something that kylo ren's affection for her would overpower when it could not even overpower his own fear. but he's staring at her like that.

she offers her hand, slowly, trembling. ]

Ben?

( eyes flick over her, studying her face, and then dip down to the outstretched hand. there's a moment when he seems to be considering it, a long, spindly hand extending toward her.

but then something shifts, changes, and the hand is drawn back. head shaking, shaking, like he's trying to dislodge something bothersome and can't quite manage it.

as he does this, veins of light form a spiderweb from the place where his jaw meets his neck. it spreads quickly, like a fever, consuming his body with rapidly darkening light. he makes a low, pained sound in the back of his throat.

a final warning, perhaps.

because then there is fire. a lot of fire. fire spreading across his body, swallowing it whole. )

[ rey jerks her hand back and flinches out of the way. a rising mole creature catches the worst of the fire in its effort to burrow out of the concrete and strike her.

the fire eats it away and rey pulls up her scarf to cover her mouth and nose. don't set them on fire. rey remembered the rage virus all too well, especially with her recent brush with clarke griffin in mind. she'd met up with clarke then, too, in her effort to hunt down kylo ren. she'd thought him a monster then too.

he hadn't yet proven her so right.

but the fire is going to catch onto other monsters, and rey won't be the only one at risk for the virus. she reaches deep into the well of power in her chest and shuts her eyes.

the air leaves the square that they're fighting in. all of it. as kylo ren charges her, all flame and fury, it bears down around him, suffocating first the flames, then him as well — weakening him before he can reach her. she needs him starved enough of oxygen to go unconscious. she'll cure him after. ]

( ultimately, it doesn't take much to accomplish what she hopes.

the fire gutters and then dies. kylo pushes forward for a few more stumbling steps before he collapses, folding in on himself. he's naked beneath the protective wall of fire, pale-skinned and alien.

he tries to draw in a breath, chest heaving with the effort. finally, his eyes slide shut and he goes still. )

[ she doesn't stop when he collapses, when his eyes shut. she waits until he's perfectly still. still as death. only then does rey sink to the ground, exhausted by the use of her power.

but she isn't done yet.

this particular outbreak might have been handled, but there is still the issue of curing kylo ren and the rest of the monsters to consider. new amsterdam remains under siege.

rey picks herself up and with an exhausted flutter, lifts kylo ren with her power. she can't keep this up, she realizes, so she keeps him lighter, then lets his large body settle around her shoulders.

in this fashion she carries him back to his apartment. the one that used to be hers, that she shared with daenerys. daenerys isn't home, just now. rey shudders to think what that might mean, but she puts it out of her mind, dropping kylo onto the old mattress. she wipes her brow.

really, she wants to lie there, curl up, and recover. instead, she places her bare palm firmly on his chest. bare like this, as opposed to covered by her sleeves and her gloves and her hood while she carried him, the blue light explodes in their chests. the burning sensation starts. it'll wake him, eventually. it has to. but by then, hopefully he'll be normal. himself. ]

( the pain starts as an itch. from there it twists, flares, spreading through him like a fever.

his expression, in as much as it can, twitches. tightens. he’d been trained to move from sleep into awareness quickly, seamlessly, and he does so now. his eyes snap open and then he’s pushing upright, long fingers curling around the wrist of one hand while the other moves to steady her.

there’s a moment where he’s disorientated. eyes floating around the room, trying to place them, before they settle on her again. there’s no gold there, now. only a strange, sorrowful brown.

his jaw works, struggling to shape words. )

R...ey.

Don't fight.

[ she's pleading more than commanding, now. carrying him here, fighting him, it had taken enough out of her that she doesn't have the wherewithal to hold him down by force. she's praying for this to work before he can burst into flames again. either that, or they're both going down together and taking the basement apartment with them; there's certainly no escape, crammed in here with him.

teeth gritted, she keeps her hold on his chest. the blue light swells. so does the pain. it feels worse than when he'd left burn scars around her wrists. rey squeezes her eyes shut. ]

It's almost over.

[ almost still affords plenty of time for the empathy bond to flood a year's pent up emotions between them. rage and betrayal and hurt and fear and miserable longing, the last worst of all. rey does not want him to see these things. she grows tense, anxious, in the face of his consciousness. there's no hiding them, though. killing him had been the only chance of that. tears sting the corners of her eyes, and not from the pain.

it would be easier if it were ben. if he were ben and she were nobody. but those had both been lies. the truth was worse, and the truth meant incompatibility. he would use her desire as a weapon against her. ]

( his muscles remain locked, coiled with suppressed motion, but he forces himself to be still and doesn't fight her.

a wave of emotion breaks over him: intense, overwhelming. blood roars in his ears and the monster, with its rage and its hunger, is swept away.

when he returns to himself it's an unknowable amount of time later. his nose is pressed against rey's hairline, breath bursting against the skin in hard exhales. the pain has begun to settle, finally. a soft simmer of feeling that would prickle the hairs on his arms and neck if there were any.

because he is still a monster. still something sharply inhuman, but he's also ben. )

So...rry.

( it's difficult to be sure what he's apologizing for. there is so much, after all. )

[ tears blur her vision. rey pulls her hand back, gasping. in the cramped quarters of the closet that he had laid claim to, she can't really avoid touching him entirely, but she can at least break the empathy bond.

she sits on his legs, but her pants cover her from touching him. there's nothing for him, of course. flames had eaten away all his clothes. it hadn't occurred to her until now that he was naked. his monstrous form obscured that fact. he still hasn't transformed back, but she realizes now that touching him is ... really touching him.

grief and relief twine together, washing over her all at once. it had been the same when clarke cured her, but she can't attribute all of it to the mere empathy bond phenomena. the tears in her eyes belong to him, and to his apology. it is a pale imitation of what she really wants. he is still a monster. that's plain as day because he hasn't shifted back. his voice scrapes out of an unfamiliar throat. when he apologizes, it's for the immediate crimes, not for the person that he has chosen to be.

she shakes her head. she doesn't want his apology. ]

You're not — [ she chokes on the words. sputters around her own feelings. ] I thought you'd turn back.

[ had she failed? that sense of longing still hangs in the air. she had wanted him back. ]

Bite.

( it's difficult to spot it, the wound blending into the strange mottled grey of his new skin. look close enough, though, and she will find it that it's darker but also warmer to the touch. more like fresh than the bug-like carapace. )

Fever, I ... ( there had been pain, too, but it had been the pain of bones snapping and organs warping. his thoughts are confused, edged with something that threatens to become hysteria.

his fingers tighten on rey, anchoring himself. ) Rey.

( it's amazing how much need you can invest in a single word. )

Don't. Please.

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