singillatim | but a strange light in the sky was shining right into my eyes

but a strange light in the sky was shining right into my eyes

JANUARY 2024 EVENT

PROMPT ONE — THE AURORA: NASCENCE: Following the strange dream at new year, a three-day Aurora takes place. During which, Interlopers discover a possible ally in the mysterious woman heard in the static and heard in the dream — potentially earning new abilities.

PROMPT TWO — ADUST: The Interlopers find out what happened to the owners of long-destroyed Milton House in the form of hauntings.

PROMPT THREE — THE VISITOR: Interlopers find themselves with an unwelcome visitor — a shadow doppelganger here to make everything absolutely worse.

THE AURORA: NASCENCE

WHEN: January 13th - 15th.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: potentially disturbing dreams; dreams of being burned alive; some minor supernatural horror; some minor ‘ghost’ horror/hauntings; death of npcs in various ways including suicide, murder or exposure to elements.

In the middle of the month, it happens. A herald. The noise starts: faint at first, but then growing louder. An ethereal, high-pitched chorus of sounds difficult to place. There’s a kind of electrical buzzing with it all, a low, endless hum punctuated with cracks and pops. The sky is alive with sound, and with it comes the swirling streaking of colour against the inky black of night: The Aurora has come.

Much of what happened previously happens again: Streetlights, illuminating the town’s roads; lights in stores and homes will come alive, buzzing and flickering at times. Previously abandoned cars will turn on, their headlights blaring. Electronics that had previously seemed broken flick on — and whilst there are no broadcasts available on televisions, and the radio waves only drone on in static, both only occasionally blaring standard emergency broadcasts. Any computers and phones will turn on, but will have no internet or reception. Instead, Interlopers may find texts and emails — many of them unsent. The everyday lives of their users stored within, now readable.

There are still some instances of the ‘ghosts’ from the previous Auroras, but they are now only faint outlines, and far fewer in number. However, whilst the Aurora would usually only last until the next morning on sporadic nights over the month — this time it will last for a full three days. The world is plunged into darkness, a seemingly endless night with only the Aurora to light the skies.

On the second night of lights and noise, a voice calls out to you: static-like, and distant — as if someone speaks over a radio. A woman’s voice. It is the same one you’ve been hearing for a few weeks now, but finally it is far stronger than the scant whispers of name and the word ‘help’. She is far clearer now.

“You.” she says. She may whisper your name, too. “I see you.” You’re unable to speak back, the communication is only one way. She sounds upset, but there’s something more… a kind of wonder, perhaps.

”It’s not just a regular aurora borealis, but then you probably worked that out already, haven’t you? It’s so much more than that. Everything is… changing.”

”I don’t know how you can go back. But— but I can help. Maybe. Maybe I can make this place easier, somehow. I need help, but I’m stuck—” There’s frustration in her voice for a moment. ”It took from you. Took you away. It doesn’t always have to take. We can take, too. Sleep. I will help you take back. You will survive this. You will not go into the Dark. This is not the end.”

You have no idea what that means, for the most part. But you might just end up taking the chance and doing as the woman asked, even if it’s difficult with the noise and light with the Aurora. Sleep, and a dream may come to you.

FREE RUNNER: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream you are a magnificent stag, galloping through the snowy woods with ease. You seem to go on and on, never tiring, never slowing. You feel like the wind, or perhaps the very wind itself carries you. Not once do you stumble or fall, even when the snow is thick and deep, or the ground is shaky and uneven beneath you. You feel free.

When you awaken, you feel the most refreshed you’ve ever felt since you first came here. For the final day of the Aurora, you are bursting with energy and even when the lights in the sky fade — that revitalised feeling within you remains. There’s something within you that understands: you are the Free Runner. The ground will yield beneath you, your energy will not desert you, the wind will carry you.

LIGHT BRINGER: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream of sitting by a lonely campfire in the mouth of a cave at night, warming your hands. As you sit, a strange feeling comes over you, a desire to reach out to the flames. And so you do, reaching with both hands into the fire — gripping at the white-hot embers. It burns you, and for a moment there is blinding hot pain as the fire suddenly explodes around you, consuming you whole. But the pain soon stops. The fire doesn’t burn you. No, you have become the blaze — your body warmed. You burn bright enough that the darkness around you turns into day.

When you awaken the next morning, you feel warmed and comfortable. As if even the coldest of winters couldn’t reach your bones. The warmth remains even when the Aurora ends, and you are left with the innate understanding:you are the Light Bringer. The power of flame is at your very fingertips. You master the light, life, warmth.

AURORA CALL: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream you are standing in the very sky itself, at the Aurora’s height. Colour and sound twirls around you, within you — and you feel it curl into your body. Your head fills with noise, a chorus of voices calling out, snippets of conversation echoing within you. A woman’s voice calls to you, it is the same voice that spoke to you before you slept: “Don’t you understand it now? We are all connected. The Aurora connects us.”

And you do, you do understand it.

When you awaken, you feel connected to the world around you. To the very people who live amongst you. You feel less lonely, a kind of kinship with others. You have heard the Aurora’s Call and you have answered it, unlocked a connection with your fellow Interlopers. You will be heard.

NOTHING: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape, but only for a moment. The edges of your vision begin the blur with black, slowly closing in until everything goes dark and you fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. You awaken, and although you feel rested, as if the dreamless darkness has helped you feel a little more ready to take on the day — nothing else about you has changed.

ADUST

WHEN: From mid-month to month end.
WHERE: Milton House.
CONTENT WARNINGS: fire; house fire; death of a child/children; hauntings; ghosts; mental manipulation; illusions of burning/being burned; potential injuries via falling/unstable building collapsing.

There is a reason why it is advised to avoid Milton House other than the simple fact that it’s a miracle the house is still standing. Once one of the largest buildings in the town of Milton, it is now a former shell of what was once a fine and grand house. It has lain in ruin for many years, dilapidated and host to a great deal of fire damage.

While he is in town, Methuselah will not speak of the place, but he often looks sad when it has been brought up in conversation. “A great tragedy.” he will say before falling into a pensive silence. “A blackened mark on the town’s memory.” He does not wish to say much more of what happened: sometimes there are things that are just too painful. He will continue to advise the ruin is left alone, out of respect, and the fact that the place is a danger.

Of course, advice will not stop anyone from attempting to get into the ruins and exploring the house, even if it is in fact highly dangerous.

The sounds of voices and whispers may be enough to pique anyone’s interest. You're sure you heard something, maybe you should go to check it out?

It is true in the fact that the house itself is incredibly dangerous structurally: floors and stairs may give way and you’ll find your foot (and half of you) falling right through the floorboards. Damp and rot that have long since set in, and it will be dangerous to breathe in. But you’ll find that the house itself is pretty ordinary: this was once a family home. Just about the entirety of the house and its contents aren't salvageable, but you’ll be able to find out a little about who once lived here.

There are faded, half-destroyed photos that show a family of five: a father, mother, and three young children all under the age of ten. The father with warm, beaming smiles, the mother has kind eyes, the two oldest boys with toothy grins much like their father, the younger girl looks shy, wanting to hide against her mother. They look happy. Just a typical family. In a world where so many strange things are happening, it feels so strange to look upon these family photos and around this home to realise that they simply lost their home in a house fire.

But as you hold a family picture, or some half-destroyed trinket: a toy, a shoe, a book, a vase, you’ll find the item will suddenly catch alight, bursting into flames in your very hands. The flames do not burn you, and as you discard the item, it will fall to the floor as if nothing had happened.

Then, it comes to you. Here and there. Different sensations that stop and start suddenly: the house groans and creaks around you; the smell of smoke enters your nose; the sound of fire cracking and popping with a roar fills your ears; the sensation of heat against your skin; the clawing and suffocating feeling in your lungs that makes you cough and choke; the sounds of terrified shrieks of children echoing above you. Feelings flood you: fear, panic. When you next turn around, the entire house is aflame around you, and you can’t tell if this is real or if you’re reliving some terrifying memory.

You need to leave, get out of here. For some, it will be what comes naturally. You’ll have to fight through the flames and escape the house before it burns down completely around you. You’ll have to fight your way out, find an exit not already consumed by flames — through a window, perhaps. Crashing out of the house and into the snow, you’ll look back and see Milton House just as you entered it: nothing more than a half-burned ruin.

But for others, there will be another pull. You are drawn upstairs, to the screams of children. You need to get to them, to help them, save them. You will battle through the flames, heading towards the ruins of what was a child’s bedroom, or towards the bathroom. Inside either, you will find a figure cowering, engulfed wholly in flames: one in the bathtub or one in the closet. You recognise them as the two sons from the family pictures.

Mom. They will call you. Or Dad. They weep, terrified of the flames. I’m scared, I’m scared. I want the fire to go away. Help me. Stay here.

The tragedy of Milton House is before you. More than just a fire. What is more tragic than the death of a child? What silences voices? Breaks spirits? Leaves one helpless to act in the wake of such a passing?

There is something to be done here. You are not so powerless. Calm the child. Offer gentle assurances. They will get out. They are safe. You are there for them. You will stay. Embracing them will set you alight. Too hot. Too bright. It will hurt, but you won’t burn. But don’t let go; holding them will eventually calm them down enough for the flames to grow dim, to slowly ease their spirits to rest.

Soon enough, the flames will go out and the child will disappear, leaving you alone in a decaying, dilapidated room.

In the churchyard of Milton, there is a family grave by the name of Barker. Three lie within it: Thomas it reads, and his beloved sons, Patrick and Christopher.

THE VISITOR

WHEN: The month of January.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: erything absolutely worse.
THE VISITOR — CONTENT WARNINGS: supernatural beings; dream-related horror/disturbing dreams; doppelgangers; themes of depression; themes of self-harm; themes of isolation; potential themes of suicide.

It seems the dream of the New Year and the Aurora dreams are not the only odd sleep-related instances occurring this month. You first notice that something is off when a strange dream pulls you from sleep. The dream may feel like any particular dream you have, whether it be a usual nightmare or strange concoction your brain has conjured up for you this night. Maybe it’s a dream you’ve had before, maybe it’s a new dream entirely. But no matter the dream, there is one thing that is odd about it. In tiny moments within the dream, you notice that there is something different, something that feels out of place. Something is there that shouldn’t be.

A figure, tall and silent, entirely made of shadow stands lurking in the background. It looks human, but there is not much more that you can really describe further. It is a sad, unsettling presence.

When you awaken, eyes bleary from sleep, and you look about the room, to the bottom of your bed, for a half-moment you see that figure standing there silently. That unsettling sadness permeates the room, and after a few seconds of blinking and sitting up — the figure disappears. Perhaps it was just some trick of the mind, some half-awake illusion.

But the next time you sleep, it appears again. The same figure, the same emotions surrounding it. And when you awaken, it stands at the bottom of your bed once more. Only this time, it lingers, and you find yourself staring down the figure before it disappears once more.

Over the next several days, the presence continues to linger more and more. It stands silently in the corner of the room of your home; it hovers by the window, staring out into the snow; it stands in the middle of the road as you go about your business. More and more, it is there. Always standing, always watching — silent and sad.

No one else seems to notice it, only you. And over time, the shape of it seems to change — the vague, undefined shape of it slowly shifts into something you recognise. The same hair, the same height, the same way it holds itself: it is exactly like you. A perfect doppelganger, a second shadow. And with it, it exudes an oppressive sadness, a particular kind of loneliness. It is suffocating, bleeding into you.

It makes you withdraw from the world around you, from the people around you. Perhaps you stop spending time with others, retreating into solitude. You hide from others, keep to yourself. You find yourself not sleeping at all or perhaps sleeping too much. Perhaps what little you already eat becomes nothing. The shadowy doppelganger draws ever closer to you, close enough to touch you - ever hovering at your shoulder. Its presence bores down on you, making you feel small and more and more alone even with its ‘company’. No one else can seem to see it but you, mentioning it to others will earn odd looks, or even concern. It seems you and your double are alone together.

Hopefully, those around you will notice the change in you. How you stopped reaching out, how you’ve stopped taking care of yourself. Hopefully they will see something isn’t right and reach out. You are doomed to the doppelganger's company otherwise.

However, those around you can push the shadowy double away, and can break its influence and hold over you. Genuine care and concern for you will have it shrinking back. Perhaps it is a kind word, perhaps it is the gentle but insisting coaxing to eat. Perhaps it is an attentive ear to listen to your thoughts, to how the presence has made you feel. Maybe it is even the simplest of touches, an embrace or the holding of a hand, the grip of a shoulder. Continued connection with you will slowly have the visitor’s power diminish.

And hopefully it is done before it is too late, or it may be all too easy to fade into the Long Dark.

FAQs

THE AURORA: NASCENCE

1. Aurora Feats are now unlocked! Please see the following page for more information. Aurora Feats are completely optional.

2. Interlopers will only receive ONE Aurora Event. The only time this is available is this month. After January, players will have to wait for the next Feat round for another chance at an Aurora Feat.

3. This Aurora will last a full three days. It will be a period of only night.

4. For more information on the ghostly loops seen during the Aurora, see this previous event, under 'The Aurora: Aftershocks' prompt.

5. For new players who would like a little extra context regarding the woman can look at December's Tales From The Northern Territories, under the 'New Happenings in December' section.

ADUST

1. Characters will not be physically burned in the fire, but only feel as if they have been. The effects of this illusion will last a short time after they're out the house before they will fade.

2. The only real injuries characters can sustain will be from fall damage, or if the floor gives way and their feet go through, etc. whilst in the house.

3. The children cannot leave the house. They will be too scared to leave. In addition, they are tethered to the house, given that this is where they died. Simply being calmed/comforted is the best way to help them and they will disappear after that.

THE VISITOR

1. An Interloper's Visitor can't be seen by anyone but the Interloper themselves.

2. The Visitor can be spoken to, but it will not speak back. It cannot be interacted with and is intangible.

PLOTTING POST

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ 2018. It's close enough to the time period that this town supposedly exists in — and all of it is over thirty years in his own future. A concept that he's still grappling to adjust to, although perhaps more easily than some might. The fact itself that this is the future doesn't perturb him so much as the fact that he's trapped in it.

He's confident he can find a way out, though. Now more than ever, during a period in which technology's briefly working again. And she has a device that's clearly more advanced, more capable....

Konstantin's indeed moving closer, and there's an amused curve at the edges of his mouth at that remark as his brows give a brief lift, before the smile aims her way. ]

Good to know. I'll certainly remember that.

[ A certain playfulness comes naturally for him, something that assuredly could be considered flirtatious. He lets his eyes stay on the woman's for a beat or two before he's looking down to the "smartphone" in her hands. That's an apt name; it certainly looks smart. ]

You can touch the screen to work it?

[The man seems to relax and Chloe smiles a bit wider. He’s around her age, probably - handsome in that boyish way that can make it hard to estimate but the grey at his temples betrays him - and from the past but not far enough that she’d need to watch her words.]

Yeah, there's a button on the side here for volume but you do most stuff by touching the screen. Here, you can look at it if you want.

[She's not as worried about him handling her phone as she might be in a more normal setting. He can't do too much with it because there's no signal, and if he sees anything weird in there it's on him.]

[ Konstantin's carefully taking the device into both hands, brows lifting at the weightlessness of it — how is it so delicate, but capable of actually taking photographs? His stun comes out in the form of a laugh, both parts amused and floored by the technology... He seems to be having fun. ]

It's so small... Incredible!

[ This man is a space commander,

He's carefully but eagerly moving the pads of his thumbs around (holding onto it with both hands like a kid holding a Gameboy, or paradoxically, an elderly person. Maybe that's more appropriate, considering when he's from.) ]

How do I take a photograph? Is it all right to try one?

[Chloe laughs too, delighting in the wonder that can come from looking at something familiar with new eyes.]

Right? And this is a good one, too. I got hit by a car and it didn't even crack the screen.

[She watches him tap around a bit, then he asks to take a picture.]

Sure. Just tap the picture of a camera - there, see? Now, this one’s got two cameras: one on the front here, and one on the back. You can switch between them with that arrow there. The back camera is best for landscapes and stuff - that's what I was using for the aurora - and the front one is so you can take a picture of yourself and see it at the same time.

[ He's in the middle of toying around with things when that little bomb gets dropped, and he's looking over. Pardon ]

You were really hit...? Was it just before here?

[ Could it be possible she was healed impossibly, the same way he was? Or maybe she's teasing, playing around. Either way, he's invested in everything the woman's saying, eyes watching each instruction that's pointed out to him. Konstantin holds the phone up carefully, experimentally, marveling at how one can see exactly what the photograph would look like before it's taken. It's genuinely incredible, and he'll definitely be checking out the other option shortly, but first he's having fun looking at the snowy environment through the screen... holding it closer to his face as he does so, then slowly lowering the phone so that his eyes are peering over the top, looking at the true landscape, then back down to the phone's screen. He goes back and forth like that a few times, before lifting it up towards the sky next, neck tilted back so that he can look straight up. ]

It's so clear! How much does something like this cost...? Is it available for the general public?

Yeah. I’d show you my technicolour ribs, but out here I think I'd get frostbite.

[She does have a fading, split bruise on her left cheekbone - a flailing attempt by an enemy who’d been losing to hit her with anything he could get his hands on, she's lucky the angle’d been so shitty or he might have broken her orbital bone - but seems otherwise hale and hearty now.]

It’s cool, though the first few days here were pretty rough.

[She watches him with the phone, smiling. It's kind of like watching a kid discover something new.]

Yeah, I've got this luddite friend who still uses a flip phone, but pretty much everybody else has a smartphone like this. They can run you anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand. Lots of people get them on a payment plan, but if I wanted to sign a contract I'd get married.

[ Konstantin's looking back over at her, brows lifted, both parts stunned and impressed. Getting hit by a car can't be an easy recovery, no matter if this place healed anything potentially fatal or the worst of the wounds. His own recovery's been a process; he's lucky he's even still managing to stand up as long as he is right now. All the excited moving around as he examines a 21st century phone surely won't have bad consequences! ]

It must take a lot to keep you down.

[ He keeps it all light-hearted and playful, even though he's watching her instead of the phone now, more interested in its owner, because he's not the only one who suffered some kind of severe injury before this place. Is it a pattern? Is she someone like him, in some way? (On the run? Lab rat escapee? Things might be coincidence, but he'd like to prove them first.)

An amused laugh at that part about marriage, a sound that rings louder through the quiet snowy world around them, jovial, genuine. ]

You mean you don't want to be tethered to somebody every day for the rest of your life?

[ Fucking horrifying thought, right. He was so scared of it he left his lover and ran away to literal outer space, so. ]

Yeah, well. I've always been lucky.

[Maybe a strange thing to say about acquiring injuries, but it's true. Chloe’s taken a lot of hits and somehow they've all been the kind she can walk - or at least limp - away from.]

Broken a lot of phones, though. And binoculars, and GPS and all that. Sunglasses.

[Really it's amazing that her necklaces have survived all this with nothing but a bit of fading.

She snorts at the second comment. Chloe’d thought maybe a couple of times back when she’d been young and stupid - there's Nate of course but also Charlie Cutter - but those experiences had mostly taught her that she's not the kind of girl who gets awarded that particular prize. It's for the best anyway, she's happy for Nate and Elena but she's positive that she could never live that way herself and stay sane.]

God. No thanks. Being stuck here is bad enough.

[ GPS... That's American, right. They have their own equivalent in Russia; it's fairly new technology for his time, still under a decade old, but quite the big deal. It's exciting stuff, consistently being updated, much of it information he's been privy to faster than the general public, given what he is. And he's tempted to ask her more about her American GPS, but one thing at a time... ]

Even sunglasses? [ He lifts a brow and the corners of his mouth quirk upwards, too. ] You must have lived quite the exciting life, before here.

[ He's still fiddling with the phone as he chats, looking around at various objects here and there... he's also figured out how to zoom in, which is a Game Changer. ]

Right? Besides, being married would take away from all the fun of meeting the variety-pack of singles here in this place. There has to be, what, fifteen of us? [ He's exaggerating to be silly for sure; there's certainly more than fifteen. Konstantin sends her a warm, lingering smile, not shy about it. What?? He's never been shy to make it known that he enjoys being around pretty women. It feels safe, familiar. Like who he was before he became something else, instead. ]

If we're going to be stuck here, we might as well have a good time, right?

Yeah, you could say that.

[She doesn't have to be as coy here as she does flirting with strangers outside her little circle of thieves back home, but it's still safest to hold back a little.]

Right? The nightlife here is off the charts. Bunch of cops and all those sad sacks from the boat. [She’d made a double entendre at that sweet-faced younger one and half expected him to die on the spot.] Oh, and the two rich French guys. [Normally a catch but they've found the one place on earth - if they're still on earth, anyway - where wealth doesn't matter.

The little guy from the cave is a good time, and she's heard good things about March, but that still puts the fun non-cops here at like, four people. Pretty dire.]

Good to see another friendly face who’s old enough to drink, huh?

[She gives him a cheesy wink. Yeah, it's a defence mechanism but it's harmless, and being well-liked by a few people she can go to if there's trouble is good policy.]

[ Oh? That grabs his attention — not that Konstantin's been in any shortage of giving his throughout this conversation — but he's not so familiar with the kinds of people here, beyond the handful he's encountered over the weeks since he showed up leaking blood into the snow. Any information on this place and its residents (....fellow prisoners) is much-appreciated. ]

Sounds like a colourful cast. I don't think I've had the fortune to bump into most of them. Only maybe one cop so far... No French guys.

[ He smiles again, pleased by the playfulness in return, something innocent and familiar and charming, and he only continues to react favourably to it. ]

I was just thinking the same thing.

[ He carefully lowers her phone for just a moment so that he can offer a hand as a proper greeting, fingers open and inviting, not in the least shying away from a stranger, and happy enough to bridge that gap a little bit more. ]

It's nice to meet you. Konstantin — but my friends call me Kostya. You can too, if you like.

[Chloe makes a face, laughing.] You’d know, with the French guys. Posh names a mile long. Not necessarily bad guys, but they stand out. I bet whenever there's an aurora Louis irons his suits.

[She shakes his hand with enthusiasm. She’d taken off her gloves to use the phone, and her hands are still rough and calloused from climbing. At least the split knuckles are mostly healed by now.]

Kostya, then. Chloe Frazer. No relation, if you've met the Mountie.

I'm guessing this is the future for you?

I'll have to keep an eye out for them. Louis with his trusty iron.

[ He's cataloguing the name, the information. People here from America, and France. Him and Vasiliy from Russia. And— the Mountie, which is Canadian, right. Who else is here? From where? ]

Hi, Chloe. [ A bright smile, genuine; it's nice to meet someone the way he's used to — introductions and friendly conversation, with a little bit of teasing sprinkled in. ]

It was 1983 when I was on my last space mission. That's where I was just before here. [ Well, technically he was being contained in a military facility, but there's no need to reveal his status as a lab rat on the run...! Besides, it's much nicer to introduce himself as a cosmonaut and not anything else. It feels like a very long time since he has. ]

Not even Russia has invented things like this, yet. Our mobile phones look like bricks compared to these...

[ Konstantin is holding up the phone again, and experimentally thumbs the camera switch; he hasn't forgotten what she said about swapping the screen perspective... Immediately there's a chuckle of delight and he's moving her phone so that both of them are seen in the screen, leaning in closer to Chloe so that they fit. He's very amused by this... ]

Look, it's us!

1983. Christ. I was still living in India back then. [The Australian accent is something she’d picked up at boarding school as a teenager.

But, more importantly:] Wait, you were in space? Holy shit. Everyone back home is going to be so jealous. You must still be getting used to gravity and all that on top of everything else.

[He focuses them in the screen and Chloe laughs.] Your first selfie. Take a picture so I can brag later.

[ He can't help feeling a blossom of warmth at the reaction. It would certainly be a lie to say that he doesn't very much enjoy the way people are typically impressed with what he is. It's part of the package that comes with belonging to the Cosmonaut Corps, esteemed and celebrated and beloved by the public. Only a select few make it so far, and in his culture he's an example, a model of what one should strive to be.

...Or was. (What is he now? He can never return to that life. When he escapes here, goes back home, he'll surely have to stay in hiding. And they'll feed the public more lies about him, doctor more photographs and videos.)

Best not to think about that now! Much nicer to bask in the moment! The very delightful moment — she wants a picture with him so she can brag later.... Oh, Chloe Frazer is speaking his language here. A very charming lady giving him some very lovely attention? Wanting to brag about meeting him? Konstantin beams at her, and gently presses his palm to the small of the woman's back as though to keep them close, while his other hand holds the phone up for them. ]

Are you ready? 1... 2... 3!

[ A quick flash, and the photo's snapped. Konstantin can see in the screen that it's immediately taken hold, no need for the film to develop at all... It's amazing. Still beaming, he takes a slight step back so he can return her phone — now with the addition of one selfie with a random cosmonaut giving his most charming smile — and it's his turn to offer a playful wink. ]

Now I'm the one bragging... but if you really want to make them jealous, my official title is Commander Veshnyakov.

[ He's kind of a Big Deal, ]

[For reasons she doesn't care to analyze, Chloe thrives under attention of any kind, so going directly from number one enemy of two different private armies to a nobody in inescapable small town Canada had been more than a little jarring, not to mention tough on the ego.

All this to say that Chloe is having a blast right now. The warm friendliness in his regard and the firm hand at her back are really working for her, despite the fact that the excitement of discovery that he's experiencing is a reminder that this guy is slightly older than her father, who had died aged 35 in 1989.

The 'call me Commander' thing makes her laugh a little, but it probably plays well with her 80s counterparts. Chloe hadn't exactly ever expected to meet an astronaut in real life either, after all.

She takes the phone back, still grinning.]

Thanks. I’d ask for your number to send you a copy, but…

[ It's all fun and a little silly and a lot nice, and later on he'll realise it's the first time he's told anybody in this place that he is a Commander — even if he'd only really let it slip into conversation here in a playful, borderline-flirtatious way (the safest way to do anything).

Vasiliy knew exactly what he was from his photograph, all the ways someone from their culture would know, but for everyone else here...? Konstantin is having to introduce himself, and it's... a strange thing. He hasn't been sure how. He's even avoided it directly, most of the time. (Yes, he's a Commander, a Hero, a leader, a figure of strength and hope and safety, except now he's actually a fucking monster, and his co-pilot is suffering a fate worse than death because of him, and countless people have been torn apart, and the thing chose him. It knew to choose him.)

For a brief moment, this feels really good, no matter how silly it may be. Chloe Frazer is very nice to be around and he's turning to face the woman, giving another one of those flirty little smiles. ]

That's all right. I definitely won't forget the way it looks.

[ But he's been laughing a little too much, hormones bubbling and shifting, and the creature will ultimately be latching onto those positive feelings (sorry Chloe, one alien parasite might think highly of you after this) — but in the moment, all it means is that the thing is waking up.

He feels it immediately, a horrifically uncomfortable soft wet thing stirring in his gut, unraveling itself slowly and moving around. Konstantin gasps softly, places a hand to his abdomen, and tilts forwards a little. He's trying to shrug it off even as it happens, a wince of a smile tugging his mouth as he lifts his head to look at her. ]

Sorry— I've suddenly started feeling a little dizzy for some reason. It's—

[ —It's been too much exertion for him and there's fresh blood in his stomach from the thing, and his body feels sick, abruptly, and Konstantin is suddenly throwing up a thick stream of blood down into the white snow at their feet. Unfortunately, he's pretty tall and there's a long way for it to go, and that means there's the potential for some splattering, to be sure. ]

[There’s hardly any warning at all before it happens. Kostya is smiling and she's smiling back and it's so easy in a way that things haven't been easy for Chloe in such a long time - she doesn't have to worry about what might happen if she doesn't keep him sweet, or if the wrong person sees them together; she doesn't need anything from him that gives this conversation extra stakes she needs to keep hidden - just two people enjoying a nice evening. Then out of the blue, his skin pales so much it's nearly grey, and then he tilts forward and vomits on the ground.]

Oh, what the hell, man! Are you drunk?

[She hadn't smelled anything on him, but all the same. No wonder he’d been so friendly with her, she should have guessed.

It takes a second to realize that the dark, almost viscous liquid that's splashed up onto her shins doesn't look like what she’d expect in this situation.]

Wait, is that blood?

Edited (HTML fail) 2024-02-05 08:06 (UTC)

[ Fuck. Konstantin's holding up an arm as though in reassurance, opening his mouth to clarify that it's all right, he's all right, when another unpleasant swell of coppery heat forces his throat to heave again, and he's gagging audibly, spitting out a few more heavy droplets of blood.

He stays leaned over like that for a few moments, mouth open, dizzy from the sudden surge, nauseated, eyelids fluttering. ]

Ssss-sorry. [ It does come out a bit slurred... but he's shaking his head, slowly. ] Not drunk. Just don't feel well.... it's okay. It's just my stomach.

[ ...Sure, it's okay, Konstantin. He has no choice but to swallow back any remaining blood, and winces against the feel and taste of it on his lips as he slowly tries to stand upright again, swaying just a little, brow slick with a cold sweat. ]

I'm so sorry... Are you all right...?

Edited 2024-02-08 20:14 (UTC)

[Chloe backs away in disgust - she doesn't want to get any more of whatever that is on her - and gives a little disbelieving laugh.]

Yeah, uh, forget it. Maybe you should go find that doctor.

[ Konstantin attempts to lift his head again — trying, still, to regain himself, his composure (buddy it's not happening).... and then shudders as another tremour ripples through him. He clasps his hand to his bloody mouth, lowering his head again. ]

It's all right, I'll... My roommate's an emergency medical— [ His stomach heaves again and Konstantin moans against his hand, before panting quietly for breath, having a hard time getting the words out now. ] —technician... I'll go there...

[”Roommate” is such an incongruous word to use in these circumstances that even in this situation it stands out. If Konstantin weren't in imminent danger of collapse she might even have asked him about it.]

Sure, yeah. Sleep it off.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

but a strange light in the sky was shining right into my eyes

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cw: alien parasite waking from its slumber / throwing up blood, as one does

cw: more vomit and blood lol

cw: a little bit more blood.... as a treat

Re: cw: a little bit more blood.... as a treat

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