EVENT #010

[larkers]

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

Comments

[forcevisions]

[ alarm flares in her chest, widens her eyes as he shifts her beneath him. she hadn't planned for that. he's between her and the door now, and he had just tried to eat her. her hand stretches out to plant on his chest, keeps distance between them. ]

What are you—?

[ it was a little late to decide to eat her after all. ]

[warfares]

Helping.

( or trying too. though it's becoming abundantly clear that the shift in position is a less than ideal solution. rey's agitation bleeds through the empathy bond.

his jaw works. frustration eventually gives way to a resolution. he reaches for her, again, hands going to her hips as he settles back onto his knees. rey comes away off the mattress easily enough, back bowing. )

[forcevisions]

[ breath hitches in her chest as her hips fit flush against his. whatever complaint or retort she had ready dies in her throat because even if he does not appear capable of any kind of meaningful penetration, the hard surface of his skin is not unpleasant to grind against. so she doesn't draw attention to what she perceives as a lack of ability to follow through with this on his part. that's not her problem, and she wants this relief. it's been more than a year.

rey gives up her protest and wrestles off her shirt. the hood briefly makes things harder on her, but it comes free after some wriggling, her legs squeezed around his hips to brace herself. and she's left in her pants, a thin bra, and wraps that coil up her arms. ]

[warfares]

( better.

her trousers give way with an easy tug, talons shearing through the fabric. rey is warm beneath his palms, soft and familiar, and there is a definite stirring over interest that creeps to overtake his earlier hesitation.

a heaviness settles low in his gut. he knows this feeling, this hunger, and his fingers flex against her hips. something shifts, unfurls, and the thing that nudges against rey is leaner than she probably remembers, the skin hot and viscous. there's little resistance when he pushes inside, filling her in a rough push. )

[forcevisions]

[ rey's eyes widen as some of the hard plating of his skin gives way to something wet and flexible. she gulps, one hand tentatively reaching out to explore before he puts an abrupt end to her interest, driving it inside of her. a gasp slips out of her.

it's so sudden as to feel violent. he hadn't checked with her, hadn't taken his time. it's sharp enough to give her pause, staring up at him with wide eyes, gaping.

there are a lot of considerations here that they're ignoring. that her parents are ruined. that this retreat into the comfortable and familiar is anything but familiar. whether this is safe or not. but the appendage is lean enough to glide in easily, and his grip on her hips is tight and unyielding, and she doesn't really want to think right now.

it had looked thinner than she remembered his cock being, and it's not really a memory, is it, if she had seen it in pictures recently enough as she waffled on whether or not to delete them. so it would be more accurate to say that it was thinner, but it has been a year, and it stretches her just as full. when it twitches inside of her, almost like it's flickering or whipping, she makes a startled noise, head dropping back to the mattress.

her legs squeeze tighter around him, then, bringing him in the rest of the way. ]

[warfares]

( there is no attempt at delicacy, here. there is only wanting and taking, his grip on her bruising and the steady rock-rock- rock of his body into hers verges on something desperate.

he has wanted this. has yearned for it for so long that it's difficult to imagine there's a time that he has not wanted her. wanting her is now as much a part of him as the color of his hair or his eyes, the blood roaring in his ears or the air expanding his lungs. but beneath this there is something predatory, possessive, because she is his. his to keep and care for. his other half.

his mate. )

[forcevisions]

[ the bruising pace he sets catches rey off guard. she had always demanded more out of him, in their previous encounters. probed at the parts of him that he hid from her, those starving, possessive corners of himself that were full of rage. she'd tried to draw them out and largely failed. she always took from him, always pushed at him.

now he takes her off balance. rey's elbows slip out from under her where she tries to prop herself up. the hold he keeps on her firm, her back arches, and she rattles in his grip. she scrambles to get a grip on something to steady herself. her hand flies overhead, planting on the wall of the narrow cupboard that she'd lived in for months, but he's solid and persistent and she's not quite tall enough for it to give her meaningful leverage.

and beyond that, there is the fervor. he doesn't need her to gain leverage. holding her to him, bending her into form, comes easily to him like this. the erratic bouncing of her meager breasts grows almost painful, but it's a pale shadow of the bruising grip of his claws. they dig in. she'll spill blood on these sheets when they separate, if she hasn't already. the empathy bond burns between them, and his hunger runs across it. driving every thrust. home, he'd called her, and he roots himself inside of her as if that could not be more true.

but she doesn't want it to stop. he is a monster. he always has been. this is the way it should feel, when they're together. it is more honest than any other time they've taken comfort in one another, and when she forces her eyes open to look on him, she gives up on reaching the wall. instead, she grips one of his arms, her other hand searching for his face and settling for his chest, then his abdomen. upright, he's too far from her.

inside of her, though, he is almost gentle. the size of him seems to bore a hole in her, yes, but he is slick and smooth and the undulating motion makes her toes curl. the juxtaposition gets her quicker than she can expect. there's no preparing herself for intimacy with the thing he's transformed into. her ending barrels into her, and she cries out as it hits, wringing him as her legs twitch and tremble. ]

[warfares]

( her orgasm hits quickly, blindsiding him for a moment. his vision blackens and curls at the edges, and it's a sensation not unlike the vice grip of her powers, wringing the life out of him.

he growls, a low animal rumble. spine bending as he folds himself over her. thrusts once, twice, comes.

and then keeps on coming. the pleasure firing through him in static bursts. he's panting like he's run a marathon, ribs fluttering, but he doesn't buckle, but instead keeps himself above her. )

[forcevisions]

[ she opens her arms to catch him, instinctively, but chokes out a grunt when he comes and something else happens. he gives up his hold on her hips and her legs fall to the side. then her toes curl into the sheets as something stretches inside of her. a stuttering, uncertain noise spills out of her as the pressure builds.

the foreign sensation starts an electric sensation in her toes that rolls right up her body. the warmth of his orgasm spreads as if filling her at the same time, and whatever has become of his cock stoppers it. she starts to squirm, as though to pull away, but it stings. a sharp pain that comes from the impossibility of dislodging him. panting out a startled breath, she shakes her head. ] What — ?

[warfares]

( if rey thinks she's the only one alarmed then she's mistaken. the discomfort pulls a noise from him that isn't pained, per se, but suggests that she should stop doing whatever it is she's doing.

beneath the disquiet there are hints of curiosity, though. objectively, there's not much he can really do to investigate. setting rey back onto the mattress, though, getting her comfortable seems a start even if it seems an impossible task to fit them both into this small space. he manages it, somewhat. settles rey on her side and curls around her, protective, chin resting on her shoulder. )

[forcevisions]

[ to call her uncomfortable would understate it. although the sensation itself is not objectionable — it's pleasant, actually — the sense of lingering here raises restless anxiety that pours openly into their connection. not that he would need it to perceive her discomfort. rey's shoulders remain tense, her breath short, well after he's done shifting them.

she did not plan to stay. she didn't have a plan at all, but certainly that wasn't in the cards. and without knowing how long she'll be stuck here, tied to him, she fears some kind of confrontation. something that forces her to acknowledge ... any of this. ]

[warfares]

( the tension coiled through her doesn’t dissipate. if anything, it tightens, like she’s holding in a breath and hoping that he won’t push.

he couldn’t, of course, even if he wanted to. this mouth isn’t a mouth meant for shaping words, much less stringing them together into full sentences — and, for once, words have failed him utterly.

sorry really isn't going to cut it. )

[forcevisions]

[ the way he clings to her convinces her that this is no accident. ]

Let me go.

[ whatever he's done to lock them together, surely he could undo it. after all, he hadn't startled or hesitated when he'd seen his strange new anatomy at all. maybe he had some implicit understanding of it. ]

I can't stay here.