SOMETHING DEAD THAT DOESN'T KNOW IT'S DEAD.
» THE CITY — INTRODUCTORY NOTES
Now that Halloween is just around the corner, the city is starting to come alive with seasonal cheer. You start to spot decorations scattered around the city: plastic skeletons sitting on benches, jack-o-lanterns decorating front stoops, and even a few places in the park near City Hall where the trees themselves have been decorated. It's clear that the autumn season is in full swing and the city is making the most of it.
From the morning of October 19, you also start to notice flyers hung up around the city that advertise the local university's homecoming Halloween party. They're cheerfully decorated much the same as the newsletter that was delivered to residents earlier in the month, and they're hung from light poles, pinned to bulletin boards, and occasionally fluttering on front stoops of apartment buildings. There might even be one taped to your door when you open it in the morning.
The flyer announces that the Halloween party will begin on October 22 and will run through October 31. It runs every night from sunset to midnight, and residents are encouraged to attend in costume! If they have their own costume, perhaps found at the Halloween Superstore, that's perfect—if they don't have a costume, though, one will be provided to them by the party organizers. Doesn't that just sound like fun? And the flyers really are everywhere, and that makes it hard not to take notice—but once you take notice, you really can't stop noticing.
Indeed, once you read one of the flyers, you just can't help but read the flyer every time you encounter another one. And every time you read one, you find yourself feeling a little more curious about the party being advertised. Will it be anything like the Halloween I know? you may think. Or, I don't even know what Halloween is, I wonder what it'll be like. It's not quite enough to compel you to pay a visit to the address on the flyer, which is one of the dorm buildings on the university campus, but it's definitely enough to get you thinking about Halloween. Maybe you ought to go find a costume…
But Halloween parties and costumes are not all you're thinking about. It's easy enough to write off at first, as tricks of the light or a figment of your imagination: flickers of shadow at the corner of your eye, cold spots in your apartment, creaking footsteps in your empty living room. There's nothing there when you turn your head to look, nothing there when you flick on the lightswitch to see if someone's in your house—but somehow, that doesn't reassure you.
By the evening of October 21, every resident in the city has been visited by some sort of entity haunting their house, and every resident of the city has been left a gift: a dorm room key, each differently numbered. You may find the key in your pocket, or on your bedside table, or in your favorite coffee mug.
Should you decide to attend the party, it will be up to you to decide: Is this just the City getting in the spirit of the season? Or is it something more… malevolent?
The flyers will be strewn about the city in various locations beginning on October 19. Characters who read them will find themselves feeling oddly compelled to go check out the advertised Halloween party, which will run from October 22 to October 31 between sunset and midnight. For the most part this will just feel like a sense of curiosity about the party, and astute characters may be able to pick up on the fact that they're being emotionally manipulated a bit.
Characters who choose to go can wear a costume of their choosing from the Halloween Superstore, or the City will provide one if they don't have a costume of their own yet. (Read on for more information about how characters can get their hands on a costume!)
Lastly, every character will find a dorm room key somewhere on their person before the party starts on October 22. This key may or may not correspond to a room in the dorm where the party is being held—of course, characters are not obligated to use the key, but they may want to know what's hiding behind those closed doors.
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ALL THESE GHOSTS COME STREAMING DOWN.
» THE CITY — GETTING THE PARTY STARTED
On the morning of October 22, every device in the city starts to buzz.
The screen illuminates, displaying a white page not unlike the orientation survey that welcomed you into the city. Unlike the orientation survey, though, there are no questions—only a single phrase in bold, dark text. THE GOOD OF THE MANY, it says, with a single "OK" button below.
For a minute, nothing else happens. You try to turn the device off, but the screen stays lit; you try to reboot the device, but the screen stays lit. It seems that the only way to get rid of the screen is to press the button.
…Have you done this before? Or are you having déjà vu?
At sunset that same day, the Halloween party will open for the first time. The party's entrance is located on the ground level of a large three-story dorm building in the western half of the university campus. The double doors into the building are fully decorated with folded-paper bats and ghosts, cotton batting pulled apart to make spiderwebs, and a cut-out sign that says "HAUNTED HOUSE" in bright red, dripping-blood letters. The decor looks almost… corny, hokey in a way that can't possibly be threatening. Right?
But the decorated double doors aren't the only way that residents may enter the party. Of course, the organizers would prefer that you use the front doors, but if you'd prefer not to, they have other ways of getting you inside.
After the party begins on October 22, any door in the city that you walk through has the potential to become a door into the first level of the dorm building. You may exit your apartment and find yourself standing in the darkened lobby; you may walk out of the bathroom and run right into a handful of cotton spiderwebbing. Unfortunately, there's nothing to indicate whether or not a door might lead to the party until you're through it—and once you're through it, there's no turning around. The only way out, as they say, is deeper in.
Were you wearing a costume in preparation for the party? Fantastic, you'll keep that costume on! But if you weren't wearing a costume, don't worry—the party's organizers have you covered. You look down and find that no matter what you were wearing before, you are now wearing a costume of some kind. Maybe it's one you would have chosen for yourself, or maybe it's totally not to your taste. If you truly hate it, you can try to take it off… although you may not find it easy to remove.
Once the party begins on October 22, as stated above, any door in the city has the potential to become a door that leads directly to the first level of the haunted house. Characters will not be able to tell by any means whether a door is pointed there or not; only once they're fully through the door will they realize that they're actually standing in the lobby of the decorated dorm building and not in whatever room they intended to enter. Once characters are inside, there's unfortunately no way to get out, not without making their way through the haunted house itself.
Whether a character enters the haunted house via the main double doors or through another door somewhere else in the city, they'll need to come in costume. (Their own canon clothes do not count!) If they're already wearing a costume, they can keep it on arrival; however, those who enter the haunted house costumeless will be assigned a costume at random by the city. The actual costume is up to the player's choice. It may end up being something that suits the character, or it may end up being something totally embarrassing—that's completely up to the player.
Regardless, characters will have a difficult (but not impossible) time removing the costume until they have exited the haunted house. This includes both physical difficulty (feeling as though the costume is fused to their skin, feeling physical resistance to undoing zippers/buttons, etc.) and mental difficulty (an overwhelming sense of dread or vulnerability). Characters are able to overcome both of these difficulties to remove the costume if they're dedicated enough; the clothes they were originally wearing may be still on under the costume or might be awaiting them at home when they return.
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THEY GO TO GROUND AND ROT.
» THE HAUNTED HOUSE — LEVEL 1
CONTENT WARNINGS: One image containing fake spiders, mention of spidery feelings; mention of zombies (but no images)
The ground floor of the dorm is decorated much how one might expect a haunted house at a university to be decorated. The entrance to the haunted house proper is through a tunnel of cotton spiderwebs filled with little plastic spiders, so narrow that it forces you to hunch down and squish together to get through. Although it feels claustrophobic, and you may imagine the sensation of little spider legs crawling over your body, once you make it through the tunnel it becomes clear that the spiders never actually moved. Whew!
The tunnel lets out into the first-floor dorm, a long (too long?) stretch of hallway with doors leading to rooms on either side. Some of the doors are closed and locked, but many are open, allowing you a glimpse as you pass. As you walk down the hallway, you make sure to peer into each of the rooms. Some of the doors lead to total blackness; others lead to rooms decorated like an elaborate Victorian haunted mansion, and yet others even lead to perfectly normal dorm rooms, like someone forgot to get around to decorating. And sometimes—not every time, but often enough—when you peer into one of the rooms, there's something peering back.
Most of the frights you get on the first floor come in the form of animatronics, realistic-looking ones that jump out at you as you pass and give you a fright. There's a man with a bloody knife, or a zombie with flesh hanging from its teeth, or a clown with sharp, venomous-looking fangs—they leap out of the doorways with a startling quickness, but never come close enough to touch. They just brandish their weapons, then retreat back into the room they came from as if satisfied with the scare they've given.
There are also a handful of real scare actors on the first floor as well, perhaps even some faces you recognize. They lurk in the darkened rooms and leap out with growls or shrieks, then chase you a few meters down the hall before leaving you to run away. Just like the animatronics, though, they never get close enough to touch or harm you—they just want to get your blood racing.
The rest of the scares come from paintings that abruptly change form to show a ghost's face, or candles that swoop down across your path and then move back up. And behind it all are the spooky sounds of groans and screams and tearful begging, a solemn soundtrack to your trip through the haunted house.
Oddly, you never do see a speaker. And even more oddly still, none of the rooms on the first floor match the number of the key you're holding…
The first level of the haunted house consists of fairly cheap scares, mostly relying on animatronics, voiceover tracks, and tricks of the light or optical illusions to deliver scares to the residents. Players should feel free to use their imaginations to come up with potential scares or animatronics—think something moderately more scary than Haunted Mansion but less than Halloween Horror Nights. The animatronics may feature enemies or monsters from characters' home worlds, or may be simply generic creatures you would find at a Halloween store.
In addition, the first level is also populated by characters working as scare actors. These characters may be those who attended Robby and Tsuruno's house party, or may simply be characters with a sense of humor who enjoy making other characters jump and shriek a little. Either way, these scares are harmless and non-contact. The scare actors won't harm anyone going through the haunted house, even if they do a little chasing down the hall.
Although the hallway looks oddly long and is perhaps a bit more winding than it ought to be, there doesn't seem to be anything particularly odd about the dorm building itself. Characters may, however, find that the trip through the haunted house feels shorter when they're accompanied by another.
For characters who don't wish to venture up the stairs to the second level, there is a well-hidden emergency exit tucked out of sight behind the staircase that leads upward. This is the opt-out for players who don't wish to engage with the events in the second and third levels of the dorm.
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WE WILL NOT REMAIN UNSCATHED.
» THE HAUNTED HOUSE — LEVEL 2
CONTENT WARNINGS: Generally spooky images including some ghostly ones; mention of hanging. Prompts include violence (such as mutilation) potentially leading to serious injury or death. As always, please warn appropriately!
It's once you reach the second level that you realize something has shifted.
The metal door at the end of the hallway swings shut behind you, and you immediately realize it's far too dark and far too cold. Even with your eyes wide, you can barely make out the shapes of the decorations around you; they are lit mostly by the flickering orange of electric candles and the glow of the emergency exit sign above your head. Your breath condenses into steam as you exhale, and although you rub your hands together, you can't quite seem to gain any warmth. You feel a little bit dizzy and off-kilter, and from the distance you can hear the sound of a voice murmuring in quiet, urgent tones, interrupted by brief bouts of sobbing. You try the door behind you, but it doesn't give: you are stuck here, and must make it out.
The hallway is decorated, but even the same decorations that felt corny downstairs now give this floor an air of discomfort and desperation. As you make your way down the hall, you notice that many more of the doors on this level are open, and in the sickly, dim light cast by the fake candles, you're able to catch glimpses of what's inside: shadowy figures moving in the blackness. These are creatures that seem made of the dark itself, congealed into something more or less resembling a person. There's one sitting at the desk like a good student, its too-long fingernails rasping over the surface as it scratches something into the wood. There's one sitting on the windowsill, its too-long limbs hanging out into the night. There's one hanging from the ceiling, its feet at eye level, swaying slightly in an unfelt breeze. There's one standing dead in the middle of the room and staring straight at you, its eyes two embers in its featureless head.
You lock eyes briefly and the creature starts to move: this ghost is coming after you, and this one means it. There's no animatronic rigging to stop it and pull it back into the darkness of the room, and it's no scare actor that will stop after a few meters of pursuit—no, its hands reach for you, for your hair, your throat, fingers clutching and grasping. You turn and run, but it pursues, and that voice you heard murmuring earlier is now a fever pitch of syllables behind you, half-whispered, half-screamed in a language you can't understand. The noise of it draws more ghosts out from their rooms, and they follow as you sprint down the too long, twisting length of the hallway. You can see the glow of the exit sign at the end lf the hallway, drawing closer as you madly dash for it—
And then you trip. Or maybe you're pushed, you're not sure. You hit the carpet hard and then the ghost is on you, its hands scrabbling at your throat, fingers prodding at your eyes. Of course you fight back—if you don't, you're going to die—but as you fumble blindly for something with which to beat the ghost off, you realize that this ghost has weight to it, that the fingers trying to tear out your throat aren't incorporeal and ghostly but rather the fingers of a pair of very human hands. As you blink, eyes straining in the darkness, the features of the ghost begin to resolve into those of a person.
And it is a person. It's a person you may even know, a friend of yours, a fellow resident of the City. Not a mannequin facsimile, but someone real, someone who fights you with everything in them as you struggle to break free.
Your grasping hand grips something firm, maybe a flashlight or a fire extinguisher, and you swing it as hard as you can at their head. You don't want to, this is your friend, but what choice do you have? After all—it's either them or you.
Once characters enter the second level of the haunted house, those attuned to energy flow will immediately be able to recognize this as a place full of negative ghostly energy. Characters may sneak extremely carefully and quietly through the hallways, avoiding every single ghost; they may be pursued by ghosts, but ultimately make it to the exit, beyond which the ghosts will not pursue; or they may be caught by a ghost (or "ghost") and be forced to fight for their lives.
Not all of the "ghosts" on the second level are truly ghosts. Players may opt to have their characters participate in the event as the considerably more deadly "scare actors" of the second level. Only they won't be acting: to these characters, anyone who passes by in the second-floor hallway (the "partygoer") is an absolute threat that must be dealt with immediately. Scare actor characters will be possessed by an irrepressible need to hunt down and attempt to injure or kill any partygoer or other scare actor they encounter, and can only be stopped by either death (of either the partygoer or the scare actor) or being knocked out and removed from the hallway.
These characters may also be those who attended Robby and Tsuruno's Halloween house party and ended up getting a little too in-character in a negative way (see their plotting post for more information). However, characters do not have to attend the house party in order to participate in this mechanic. Any character who enters the haunted house can become a second-floor ghost if the player so desires.
Either the scare actor or partygoer may be seriously injured or even die. If this happens to the partygoer, the haze of bloodlust will immediately lift from the scare actor and reveal to them what they've done. (If the scare actor is knocked out or dead, obviously this realization will take place after they've returned or regained consciousness.) Killing and death as a part of the October event is not subject to murder or death consequences.
If a character chooses to sneak through the second floor and avoid the ghosts, and does so by entering any of the decorated dorm rooms, they may find shorthand messages scratched into the desks, closets, or doors. These messages might just be names, familiar ones belonging to people from home, or might say things like HELP ME or ITERATION 4█ or LOOK BEHIND THE APOCALYPSES. Characters may also find small, non-magical, recognizable personal effects belonging to people from their home worlds, tucked into drawers or kicked under the bed or in some otherwise unobtrusive location, easily overlooked.
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WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY, SET SOMETHING ON FIRE.
» THE HAUNTED HOUSE — LEVEL 3 AND CONCLUSION
After the second level of the haunted house, the only way to go is up… assuming you survived, that is. Exhausted and battered, you make your way up the stairs—perhaps alone, perhaps with a friend, or perhaps dragging the unconscious body of your assailant-friend—and let yourself into the third-floor common area.
This is where the Halloween party is taking place! Congratulations, you made it! There's a bass-heavy soundtrack throbbing in the background, and the room is decorated once again in the cheesy Halloween decor of the entryway. A large casket full of ice holds beers and sodas, and a table in the middle of the room bears all sorts of spooky snacks: peeled-grape "eyeballs," candy corn "teeth," sour gummy worms in brownie dirt, and any other kind of snack one might imagine.
If you made it through the haunted house with a friend, you will find a letterman jacket in your favorite colors, with your name embroidered on the back, hanging on a peg on the far wall of the room. You can take it with you now, or when you go home, or you can leave it on the peg forever—it's your choice, but it is a symbol of having survived the haunted house, so it might be nice to have. Don't you think?
You may have to do this again, you realize. Now that the doors in the city occasionally open straight into the haunted house, there's no telling how many times you'll have to survive this before the Halloween party draws to its close. Maybe you do need a beer after all…
Oh, and you still don't know what dorm room that key goes to. Maybe you had better just hang onto it for now.
The topmost floor of the dorm building, the third floor, is where the "party" part of the Halloween party is taking place! The food and drink is abundant and, of course, free. There's just about any type of drink or Halloween-themed snack imaginable, so characters can help themselves. When they're through partying, there's an outside staircase that leads directly from the common room back down to ground level.
Characters who survive the haunted house in a group of two or more will find that that there is a custom-made letterman jacket with their name on the back, perfectly their size, hanging on a coat rack on the far side of the room. While wearing this jacket, characters will be less susceptible to the scares in the haunted house, and the ghosts of the second floor will not pursue them as intently (although it has no effect on scare actor characters). To any characters who are particularly sensitive to this sort of thing, the jackets do have a moderate protective effect against various negative status effects, so to speak; this effect does not diminish after the event is over. Characters can only get one jacket, their first time through the haunted house; subsequent trips through will not result in additional jackets.
The dorm room key is not a usable item during the October 2023 event, but will become usable in November and December, so characters are advised to not lose them.
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WILDCARD.
The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back.
If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations.
This month's event headers come from "Landscape with Fruit Rot and Millipede," a poem by Richard Siken.
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citylogs2023-10-19 09:00 pm
no subject
With that in mind, Armand's touches are gentle, less targeted, and though he's certainly not going to give up the chance to feel Lestat under his hands, he doesn't push the way he might usually - content to let Lestat explore under his own steam.
He runs his hands across Lestat's shoulders, fingers slotting through the mesh of his shirt to feel chilled skin and lets his nails skate from his lower back up to his shoulder blades, light enough for sensation, not injury. He takes his time, but he's easily distracted, letting blood seep into their kisses with an eager tongue. ]
no subject
And Armand... infuriating, maddening, frustrating, beautiful Armand.. He's seen Lestat at his worst and at his best — hell, he's been to blame for some of it — and here he is, meeting Lestat's desperation with an intensity all of his own, and holding him through his quivering to sate his anxieties in return, and kissing him as though to stop might mean the end of life for both of them.
Lestat knows they should stop, that Lestat should focus on getting him out of the haunted house rather than making out with him, but it feels so much easier to simply bask in this until time unspools around them. ]
no subject
His thoughts aren't guarded, his control slow to return to him, so it's there to see in his mind. The desire, but also the simple, almost childish intimacy of wanting another by his side when the dawn comes.
Armand nips at Lestat's mouth, kissing away from it finally, to suck kisses into the sharp edge of his jaw, the marble column of his throat, squeezing his thighs around Lestat's hips and try to pretend that it might be possible, that they don't have to leave this moment so soon. ]
no subject
With each sliver of the blood that passed between their lips and tongue Lestat could feel that helpless fear of being alone, something he himself can relate to all too well, and he feels his heart shatter at the idea of making Armand hide away from the dawn alone and wake up just the same. A ferocious need to protect rises in him, the desire to save and to be the one to do it-- He has all these suggestions in his mind, but when Armand kisses his throat like that, squeezing him so intently, Lestat can only groan quietly into auburn curls and pull the smaller body beneath his closer. ]
no subject
The blood has worked a small miracle, but that doesn't change the fact that Armand has been mostly underfed for the past few days and sustained a terrible injury. He's running on a deficit and only the blood and his own desires are holding the realities of that at bay.
He kisses the skin under his mouth in apology, turning his face to kiss Lestat's cheek and look at him properly, the look of discomfort clear on his face. ]
Lestat..I do not wish to push you away...
[ 'but my strength is fading' is passed between their minds, something vulnerable he can't admit out loud. He doesn't mention the pain either, though it's probably clear without saying it. ]
no subject
Lestat exhales, slowly, and nods. He thinks he should be feeling some kind of remorse for getting so carried away with someone so injured, for being so delighted with his own physical traits — or lack thereof — that he forgot Armand's current state entirely.. but he doesn't, and what's more he's somehow entirely certain that Armand won't mind in the slightest. ]
Alright, ange. Let me help you.
[ He draws back but doesn't halt their touching entirely, somehow reluctant to cease contact in case Armand is whisked from his side again. He helps him to rearrange that ridiculous wrap-around tunic he's wearing before ultimately giving up and shedding his golden letterman so he can bully it carefully around Armand's shoulders. Their size is decent enough that it rests on his hips, not saving his dignity entirely but at least softening the blow. ]
Do you think you can stand?
no subject
He'd stumbled before, been made weak by his injuries and now his limbs feel like lead weights, even the movement of his arms feeling too slow and ponderous. He shakes his head 'no', even as he tries to gather the strength and barely makes it off the mattress before sinking back down. ]
No, I don't think I can..
[ Armand's gaze falls away, fatigue settling into his frame like those moments before dawn when he can barely keep his eyes open. The only thing that keeps him from drifting off right here, is the sight again of Daniel's handwriting on the desk and how he can't help but reach out weakly and trace the letters. ]
Is it true? Do you think anyone knows we are gone?
no subject
[ Lestat says firmly, his gray-blue eyes watching the progress of Armand's fine little fingers trailing the words. Lestat doesn't have to work very hard at all to figure out the particular meaning behind them without needing to ask, but he does read over them a few times to make sure he's committed them to memory. ]
I choose to believe that we are here and that time will continue for us the minute we return, as if nothing ever happened.
[ It's just like Lestat to make sure that there's no way he could possibly be the victim in this, in any way, shape or form. His stubborn bullheadedness has got him through much worse with minimal trauma, and he's not about to let this ridiculous city ruin his record. ]
It tried to get to me too, you know. With gifts and messages left in these dorm rooms. I was lured inside and found it smelling so powerfully of cyprinium that I thought I had been transported back there with her, or that she might have arrived here. Her jewellery sat on the bed. But it was all fake, all nonsense to trick me into getting distracted while Louis got hurt.
[ His jaw twitches, but not with concern, it's more like anger, at being used so easily. ]
This place does not have good intentions. It is designed to make us hurt. It knows our deepest pains and our greatest regrets and it will use them against us. If not now, someday. We can't allow it the opportunity.
[ He's very carefully choosing not to mention the graffiti scratched into a wall that had called him Father, after all. ]
no subject
It should make him want to cast them aside, but the raw feelings inside him won't allow him to, not right now at least. He let's his hand drop away from the words though, carefully turning his back to them to face Lestat instead and nods. ]
I have heard this, seen things on the network. I did not, however, expect it all to be so... convincing.
[ Armand looks briefly lost for a moment, fatigue sweeping in once more across his shoulders and he reaches for Lestat, brushing the back of his hand gently. ]
Will you lead us from here? Please?
no subject
I'll get you out of here, ange. I've done it enough times by now to know how.
[ Without warning so that there is no time for complaint, Lestat hooks his arms beneath Armand's legs and around his torso so that he can lift the older vampire securely into his arms. He makes sure to keep his hold away from where he knows the wounds on his back are, a strange display of attentiveness that almost seems uncharacteristic of him, but he chooses not to dwell on it.
He also shows that he was certainly not exaggerating earlier when he said he knows his way around. He navigates the final floor with ridiculously well-timed speed and agility, fuelled by Armand's powerful blood as he is, and reaches the party floor in no time. He doesn't leave before retrieving a beautiful dark blue and gold (of course) letterman with Armand's name embroidered on the back, which he lays across Armand's lap before taking him down into the fresh night air and descending the fire escape to start them on their journey home.
It's only then he realises something quite crucial. ]
Where is it you live, Armand?
no subject
This way, toward the centre of the city.
[ They are already heading in the right direction and he dutifully navigates Lestat to the correct building and eventually the the right floor. The lock gives under his mind and the apartment inside is dimly lit by a lamp by the couch, Armand clearly having being caught out one last time by opening a door.
There's a half open door to a bedroom to their right, just beyond a large mirror and the rest of the space has seen an obvious overhaul in colour and decoration. As much as Armand has protested the passage of time, he's clearly been keeping busy and focusing on at least making this space what he's used to. ]
no subject
Lestat pushes the door with his foot to test it before walking through — he's not interested in any more nasty surprises at this point — and enters into the bedroom enough that he can carefully place Armand down on the comforter. ]
Do you have any of that disgusting stuff lying around, Armand? The bottles?
[ He looks about, as if Armand might have one sitting on his bedside table. ]
When Louis got hurt, it helped him to heal while he slept.
no subject
The bear gets gently set against the pillows, but everything else is dashed to the floor to be dealt with later. Armand doesnt even spare a thought for the fact that he is quickly very naked before Lestat, dragging the soft quilt at the foot of the bed into his lap for comfort more than modesty. At the mention of the blood, of Louis, however, he looks up blearily, immediately anxious. ]
It’s in the refigerator. Wait, Louis- Louis was hurt?
[ He holds Lestat back from leaving immediately, mind suddenly a whirl - he’s been distant from the both of them since Louis’ birthday, struggle with the upcoming anniversaries - knowing that this had happened without his knowledge however, makes his insides tremble… Though, had he told either of them about Ethan? No, no he hadn’t. ]
no subject
His brow twitches slightly. He'd mentioned it earlier, but Armand must have been so out of it that he didn't fully comprehend what Lestat had said, so he simply nods as if this is the first time it's been brought up. ]
We ran into trouble in the hallway in much the same way that you did, except it was one shade in particular that gave Louis trouble. I was locked in that room with her trinkets, and Louis ran into a mutual friend of ours who'd been changed by what that place does to people. He was mad, he got violent. He stabbed Louis close to the heart. Louis drained him.
[ Lestat isn't certain how much he should say, if Louis would prefer to say it himself… but reasons that Louis would probably prefer to not speak of it ever again, if he had the choice. ]
I broke out with enough time to bring Louis back from losing himself to hunger, but not in enough time to save our friend. But it seems his death wasn't a punishable offence. Murder is only murder when this place doesn't agree to it from the start.
no subject
Her things, yes of course you said before…
[ He shakes his head, swallowing back that same unfamiliar wash of shame, just like with Will two nights ago. Yes, he’s very much aware of the lack of consequences, he’s been using it to his advantage each time he’s been pulled to the Haunted House after all. And of course Louis is recovered, otherwise Lestat would not have left his side, still Armand has the sudden, wildly impracticle need to see him, to reassure himself that Louis is whole and safe and unmarred by the experience.
Armand releases Lestat’s arm in favour of pulling the comforter up against his chest, seeking comfort and to quash the instinct to locate his phone and verify Louis’ presence himself. Ridiculous. ]
They are both recovered from the experience?
no subject
He puts a hand to one of Armand's on the comforter, and nods. ]
Louis is fine. He drank from someone he knew, someone who didn't deserve to die, so naturally he was quite unsettled by the experience, but physically he's alright. I put my blood to the wound and healed him as much as this place would allow. He's able to get up and walk around alone.
[ He can practically feel Armand's concern for Louis rolling off him in waves, and where it would be completely understandable for him to feel a little irritated over someone being so concerned for a man who should be Lestat's responsibility alone to be concerned about, he feels oddly comforted by the fact that Armand cares so deeply for him, too. After all, Armand is capable and strong. If anything were to happen to him, if he were to disappear... at least Louis would be safe, at least Armand would make it his duty to be sure Louis wasn't alone. ]
He's going to be fine, Armand. Just as you are.
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That is good. Tell him- Tell him he’s rarely removed from my thoughts.
[ The words are distant sounding, even to his own ears, a hopeless confession in the wake of everything the evening has wrought and especially in front of Lestat himself. It’s an ache always, the distance between himself and Louis, one he has no clue how to bridge, bereft of tools to repair it, when he destroyed it so thoroughly to begin with.
He balls his had into a fist under Lestat’s palm, squeezing his thumb briefly, before slowly sinking to his side atop the covers, careful that nothing makes contact with the wounds on his back. Armand tucks some of the soft blanket under his cheek, hands curling up under his chin as he blinks up at Lestat. ]
You will go to him now.
[ It’s not a question. Armand is safe - he’ll most likely retreat to his sleep space or secure the blinds here before dawn so he can sleep on his front - so Lestat’s duty is complete… Though there’s still that wish to not be left alone, like the impression of a phantom limb and without thinking, Armand drags the little gold bear above his head down to press it against his chest. ]
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He, too, has no idea what will help mend their ties, nor does he really understand the state of his own ties to Armand, but what he does know is that the idea of him not being here now is something that doesn't bear thinking about. ]
Of course I will. Once you're asleep, I'll go.
[ And maybe he will, but first he rises to his feet to shutter the windows with those heavy blinds and thick curtains, blocking out all sunlight to leave them at the mercy of their preternatural eyes and the lamp in the living room. He leaves for just a moment to retrieve a bottle of blood, and places it at the bedside, before sitting back down on the bedspread.
He moves gently, enough so that he doesn't disturb Armand too much as his eyes start to close from fatigue, and brushes a hand lovingly through his soft auburn curls. ]
Sleep, ange. You're safe now.
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The eventual feeling of Lestat’s hand in his hair, comes from as if from far away and there’s a disorientating moment where the feeling is overlayed with a heavier hand, a different accent ’Sleep, Amadeo. Sleep…’ and he sighs wistfully, turning into the body next to his and closer to the touch of that hand. ]
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Seeing his beloved's face, he smiles, but there's something apologetic lingering around his eyes. ]
Louis, forgive me for not calling sooner. I was taken to that place again, I wanted to get out as quickly as possible, but Armand was there. He was hurt, badly, by those creatures on the second floor. I patched him up and he's sleeping, he'll be fine with time — as you were — but…
[ His eyes move to the side, looking at Armand's vulnerable body pressed up against his. ]
I can't leave him like this. Please understand.
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Lestat's voice is weighted with more meaning than Louis can possibly pick apart, and when Lestat gazes off to the side with such tender concern, he knows without a doubt what he must be looking at. Louis looks about as pleased with the news as Lestat probably anticipated he would, but he simply nods, once, his mouth a thin line. If Armand is injured that badly, badly enough that Lestat is afraid to leave his side, it must be quite serious. Louis hadn't ever really considered the thought of Armand getting hurt — it still sounds like something he hasn't heard right, information he can't quite integrate into his reality. His stomach churns for no less than three separate reasons. )
Is he all right? Are you? Do you need me to come? I think there's still time…
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I'm fine, and he will be. The wounds are large, and deep. Limbs were torn from him.
[ How to explain delicately which limbs and how fails him for the moment, so he powers past it. ]
You know where this place is, don't you? If you can make it here… I would like to see you. [ It's not like Louis was the only one experiencing worry when Lestat found himself transported to that place again, after all. ] But please don't risk anything. I want you safe.
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He lets out a heavy breath, trying to will his racing thoughts into a single direction. Focus on one task, don't get pulled into the darkness unnecessarily, you can help no one there... )
I'll be careful. Does he need more blood? I can bring some of my bottles...
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He has a refrigerator full, and the exhaustion has taken him besides. Perhaps we can do a few supply runs for him in the nights to come but-
[ He's getting ahead of himself, his worry leaking out after having been stifled for so long as he attempted to stay calm. ]
We can talk when you get here about that, can't we? Hurry, mon amour.
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Yes, Lestat, of course. I'm on my way. I'll be there very soon, all right? I'll let myself in.
( And true to his word, once he sets off, it's only a few minutes before he arrives. He opens the door as quietly as he can, all but sneaking in and latching it behind him again. His hair is a mess and his cheeks are slightly pink and chilled from the wind; he's obviously raced here. )
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