awashlogs | Event Nine.

Entry tags:

Event Nine.

Thus, on Life’s gloomy sea,
Heareth the marinere
Voices sweet, from far and near,
Ever singing in his ear,
“Here is rest and peace for thee!”

t's a dark night, and the sounds of feet in the darkness are further dampened and hidden by even more magic, as they are lured away by the soft sounds of dreams that are too good to be true, leaving the Town much, much emptier than when it began.

On one side, an island, and a ticking clock to a gruesome death.

On the other, the slow realization that those bonds everyone has been forging might mean much, much more than they first thought.

Welcome to Awash's ninth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post.

You are welcome to start your own posts or logs for this event as well. If there are any questions, please ask them here. Please be sure to very clearly mark where your characters are in your prompts, so people know which they can tag depending on which group they are in. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ honestly, Michael isn't doing much better than Zelda is, emotionally speaking. he's drained, and feeling shaky, and wants nothing more than to just remove himself from the situation. but he also knows that if he doesn't do a mental headcount of the people he knows before he does that, it'll drive him nuts.

when he catches sight of Zelda, his first feeling is relief as he crosses someone else off his mental checklist; his second one is worry, on catching sight of her injury. he's no doctor, but... ]

Hey. [ his voice is surprisingly soft for someone usually so vibrant, but there's a flat note to it too. ] You should get someone to look at that.

[ she's spaced out and at first doesn't react to his greeting, but when she hears someone make mention of her injury, her head finally lifts from staring at her lap. her shoulders slack and she wills a smile at him, positively exhausted. ]

Hello Michael. Thank you for the concern - I'll wait until others are looked at for the moment. [ a small bite isn't anything life-threatening. she rather the healers focus on others. ] I hope things have been alright without us. This whole incident has been fraught with worry.

[ god, she looks awful. most of them probably do, one way or another, but there's something about the way she's acting about her own exhaustion and injury that leaves a sour taste in his mouth. ]

Well, nobody burned down the town while you were gone. So that's a positive. [ his heart isn't really in the joke, and it shows. he sits down next to her cross-legged, fidgeting with the bracelets on his left wrist. ] ... We were kinda a collective mess, though, sorry to say. Why'd you think we tried so hard to find you guys?

I would hope you would, or I would be very let down! ...And eaten. [ aha. ] I never stopped believing that rescue would come though.

[ she was trapped in isolation and dire circumstances for much longer than a few sunrises and sunsets. and everyone would have to eventually realize something was odd about the mass disappearances. a mix of logic and faith. ]

Actually, you do all seem rather worn out for a group that wasn't dragged across the ocean by beasts. Did something happen in the town during the kidnapping?

'M just glad we pulled through before you all became really disappointed fish food. [ let down... and eaten! if his mood wasn't at such subterranean levels right now, he might laugh at that. as it is, it's way too soon for it to have aged into quality black comedy. especially when she's literally saying stuff like how she never stopped believing in them.

at her question, though, he sighs. ]

Nothing happened exactly. I mean, the afternoon after we woke up to find everyone gone there was a group that headed into the forest to search, and some of them came back injured, but apart from that... this is gonna sound weird, but it's like all of us suddenly came down with some super nasty bug while you were gone.

You all got sick? [ hm, curious. ] I wonder if the sirens passed some sort of illness onto everyone when they came to abduct people. You never know what sort of awful bacteria a monster can carry, especially out of a muddy ocean.

I guess that's not too out there... [ hmmmmmmm ] Did you guys get sick as well? I swear, we had everything here from headaches and chills to people who literally looked like they were gonna pass out any minute.

[ not that he's naming any names, coughcoughMinato and Dave. ]

Yes, though it's hard to explain. [ she brings a hand to her cheek, her fingers lightly rubbing the skin in contemplation of her wording. ] We were all injured by the sirens from our kidnappings, but we also felt... it was as though we were feeling ill from a force, not from a cold or any sort of disease. Or so I felt.

Weird... [ he frowns, thinking. ] I mean, they had magic and stuff, right? Could always have been that. Like - I was still feeling like total ass while we were all out on the island, but now we're back--

[ beat. ] Actually, I still kinda feel like ass. But it's different, y'know? Like my symptoms or whatever you wanna call them are just gone all of a sudden.

[ which seems pretty weird and magical to him! ]

Hm. I reasoned magic could be part of it, but I only assumed those on the island were feeling it. But if you also did...

[ hm. it's not an explanation she's satisfied with, but- ]

...I think a safe theory would be that whatever we experienced is tied into our separation. Both those on the island, and those who were safe here, became overcome with a sickness because of the distance between us.

--What.

[ the word comes out reflexively, while his mind is still turning that entire concept over. ] That's... you mean like, literal heartsickness?

[ the thing is, the more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense. after all, there'd been some pretty wild variation in the severity of symptoms people had, for no real discernable rhyme or reason. so if there was a correlation between the number of friends or loved ones people had missing and how awful they were feeling, then-- ]

... well, it sounds crazy, but it's got some weird, twisty fairytale logic to it. [ :/! ] Is that supposed to be some kinda message? "Divided we fall," or something?

[ her brow furrows at that speculation, and the tone of her voice is a dry match to her scowl. ]

A brilliant lesson. It would have never crossed my mind that we must work and stay united to overcome our obstacles. What a fantastic moral to the end of this tale of misery.

[ ...a sigh, and a pinch of her nose bridge. ]

Forgive me. That wasn't aimed at you.

[ he puts his hands up peaceably. ]

Hey, you're all good. If that is what it was, I'm right there with you. [ because that is the worst way of trying to hammer in that lesson that he can think of, thanks!! ] Besides, you've been stuck on siren hell island for the past week, I think you can get a pass on being short-tempered.

[ 'a pass'? that gets a wry smile out of her, remembering how she would never get a pass on being anything other than a good smiling princess. ]

It's still not becoming of a lady. [ however much good it feels to vent. ] ...I hope you start to feel better soon, now that we're back together. I hope we all do. This won't be the last time an incident like this occurs.

[ she's reminded now that michael is still fairly new to town, so this may be his first real look at the true dangers lurking in the realm. not the greatest one to start off with. ]

Yeah, 'cause being ladylike's totally on my list of priorities for people who got kidnapped. [ jeez...! ] You know, people've told me stuff about what went down before I got here, but - it's totally different actually living through it for real.

[ and there's probably totally more of that coming, too... god, that sucks. ]

[ years of upbringing and conditioning is a hell of a drug. ]

It does have that affect if you've never had to deal with anything like it. Back in Hyrule, my homeland, monsters would commonly dwell outside of large populations. [ she pushes a bit of her hair back, and tries not to sag her shoulders. ] I know it's not an easy task to undergo, but you may want to consider asking someone to help you learn basic combat. If nothing else, it can help ease your mind.

--say whut now.

[ it's not that he didn't pay attention to all the rest of what she said - and the idea of learning basic combat, for one, is an uncomfortable one that he's not really sure how to feel about. but a series of pennies have also begun clattering noisily down the coin pusher of realisation in his brain and demanding answers!! ] Sorry, what did you say your homeland was called?

Huh? [ she's taken aback by the question for a moment, surprised that's what he chose to respond to. ] It's Hyrule.

[ slowly: ] No freaking way.

[ he's kinda gaping a little (michael das rude). you can almost hear the sound of his brain rebooting and going into theory overdrive. you can definitely hear his voice steadily scaling up an octave as it goes into excitement overdrive. ]

Okay, uh-- hear me out, 'cause this is probably gonna sound like either a really weird coincidence or like I'm messing with you, but that - that isn't the first time I've heard that name? I mean, even before I woke up in the well, oh man--!

What?

[ her eyes widen, genuine shock hitting her at his declaration. someone who knows of hyrule? it feels like a rush of cold water has hit her, as if her prayers were answered in this moment. no one ever knew the name of hyrule whenever she mentioned it, and her spirits feel immediately lifted. michael doesn't look like a hylian, his rounded ears distinctly marking him as one of the many humans here, but- ]

Michael, please tell me everything you know. It could be that we are from the same continent, or even the same world!

[ oh, man... he's still very obviously excited, both inside and out - who wouldn't be, in a situation like this? but the very audible hope in the second half of her words sends a nasty twist through his gut all the same, because he knows for sure that one isn't true. and it feels bad having to be the one to puncture that hope after accidentally putting it in her head. ]

Oh-- uh, I'm pretty sure that's not the case. Sorry. [ better to rip that bandaid off quickly so they can focus more on the first half, right? ] The truth's gonna sound even more far out than that. See, back on Earth, or at least the Earth I came from, we got-- there's stories about Hyrule? Video games, actually, a whole ton of 'em. [ games with her name in the freaking title, but he's not sure how to drop that bombshell just yet. ] So when I heard you say "Hyrule" my brain just kinda froze for a hot minute, 'cause I mean, back home they're stories, but you're definitely real right here and now and if you start thinking about all the implications of that--

[ please Zelda, stop him before we end up with a giant rambling snowball ]

[ ...ah. hm. yes. wait no- ]

Forgive the interruption to your thoughts- [ because she has to ] -this is going to sound like a stupid question to you, but... what exactly is a video game?

[ and why is she in one? ]

[ like a train screeching to a halt, so goeth Michael's mouth. ]

--Oh, right. [ come on, Michael! ] Sorry, this one's on me, you're all good. I keep forgetting that they're not a thing for everyone here.

[ how... how does he explain video games to someone who's (probably??) from a fantasy kinda world... ]

Okay, so, it's a kind of technology? There's tons of different kinds, but it's basically like - you've got a disc, or a cartridge, or something else like that, and that has all the game information programmed into it. And then, when you put it into the machine that's designed to play that particular cartridge or whatever, the machine reads the data inside and throws it all up on a monitor, and you use a combination of buttons on whatever controller you got to move through the game. You with me so far?

Not... really.

[ but that's not likely because of michael's explanation. it's more that she feels a combination of overwhelmed and exhausted in the aftermath of the week long disaster she had to endure. but she was too blunt just now- ]

What you speak of sounds fascinating, and I'd like to hear more, but maybe we should talk about this another time? When I don't feel like I might... regurgitate the fish I had to eat, forcefully.

[ she means vomit, lady-like. ]

[ oh.

oh! he's a dumbass!! ]

Oh crap, sorry! [ even tired out as he is right now, Michael's brain is so easily distracted by things like a new theory, or phenomenon, or something Cool(tm) to geek out about. even at the most inappropriate or inopportune moments, he can get swept up in it without someone to remind him that hey, maybe not the best time or place! now that he's had that reminder, reality is bringing him back down once more. ] Yeah, you're totally right. We can uh, put a rain check on this, till after it all calms down. Hey, hang on a sec--

[ he'd taken to wearing two sweaters during the back half of the week to try and alleviate the chills, and today is no different. he awkwardly shrugs off the top one now, peeling it off of the hoodie he's got underneath and pulling it over his head with some difficulty. then he holds it out to her, adjusting his glasses back onto his face with his other hand. ]

Here, you can give it back to me later. I dunno how you spent a whole week dressed like that, but if you're really gonna insist on waiting your turn to get healed up you should do it without freezing.

Event Nine.

E

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that icon is really cute...

he's a v cute gremlin...

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