seven devils all around you, seven devils in your house

[singmod]

JUNE 2024 EVENT

PART ONE — A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME: The Darkwalker claims another victim, and that is only the beginning of troubles for the Interlopers as they face a month of endless night and green gloom.

PART TWO — POLAR SUN: As June continues, Interlopers are faced with food insecurity as wildlife flees; tensions grow as they face hunger and the Darkwalker's continued influence. On the day of the Summer Solstice, the tension finally breaks and violent chaos descends upon Interlopers.

PART THREE — REPRIEVE: The end is in sight, and an ally comes to the Interloper’s aid.

A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME

WHEN: June 1st, then onwards.
WHERE: Milton area; Lakeside area (Carter Hydrodam).
CONTENT WARNINGS: death of playable character; supernatural death; mention of dead body; themes of death; supernatural beings; themes of terror; themes of peril.

The evening is quiet and still. May draws to a close and while the sun does not completely set, it dips low enough for the sky to grow a little darkdim with twilight. The midnight sun is almost upon the Northern Territories, the air is warmer than it has ever felt — even if it remains chilly. If this is summer, it is but a gentle brush of reprieve against the unyielding winter. The Interlopers wind down for the night, many turn to their beds to sleep, others sit awake and ponder their existence in this world. They think of home, of loved ones, of their predicament here in this place. The Forest Talkers, the strange beasts and monsters they’ve encountered.

The moon wanes in the skies, nestled amongst the stars. For those still awake to notice, they can see it: slowly, one by one, the stars begin to go out. Then the moon's light is swallowed whole, and a blanket of green gloom descends upon the Northern Territories.

The sky is dark and green and terrible. Many of those will recognise it, what this means and what will come. Others will not understand it, not know what it is that awaits them all.

They will soon find out: the Darkwalker comes.

Under a green sky, a cold fear washes over you — squeezing the breath from your lungs. Interlopers will find themselves overcome with that fear, and everything in their bodies and minds tells them to run. To flee. And so you run, heading for cover. Curtains will be drawn, some may hide under beds, within closets or wardrobes. Some desperately attempt to conceal themselves, make themselves small, unseen. Some Interlopers, in that fear, may rush to friends or loved ones to hide with them, others may simply cower alone — crawling and whimpering away from the night. The fear is irrational, unable to be overcome — even by the bravest or most stoic of Interlopers.

For those within Milton, it is further away but is by no means less potent: Interlopers will find themselves frozen with the constant loom of the Darkwalker’s arrival — even if it does not come to Milton. Those within Lakeside, however, will feel the true force of this presence: more like a knife edge — painfully gripping your heart as it draws close.

The Darkwalker howls: indescribable, unnatural, demonic. Low moans and groans. It comes from the east, the faint booms of footsteps in the distance growing ever nearer. It is coming, once more. It's coming for one of you. And still, you are powerless, unable to do anything. And it is an agony, awaiting its arrival. You cry, you whimper, you cower. Curling up for some shred of comfort, and finding none.

For those in Lakeside, through the fear, they may be able to note the path: a straight line from the east towards Carter Hydrodam. It seems to go on forever, building into a crescendo. Your heart beats so hard you fear it may burst from your chest, as if you might die of fright.

There is an almighty sound; the Darkwalker devours and even with the distance you can hear it. The sound of gnashing teeth, and… laughter. There is no scream, no bright light in the sky — Enola is silent this time. There is only that laughter, echoing off into the night.

The skies do not return to normal. The green gloom hangs in the air. It is done, but it is not yet over. While the overwhelming fear dissolves away, but a kind of… dread remains on the air — almost palpable.


The Darkwalker has devoured another. Braver souls who go out to investigate into Lakeside will find just who has been devoured once they reach the Hydrodam — although it may be a day or two before they will find the body in the medical bay.

At least it is cold enough that the rot does not fully set in — but death will certainly be here.

And this is but the beginning of the Interloper’s troubles.

POLAR SUN

WHEN: The month of June, up to Midsummer’s Eve + Summer Solstice.
WHERE: Milton area; Lakeside area.
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of survival; food scarcity/food insecurity; supernatural weather; altered mental states; mental manipulation; themes of violence; potential character injury; potential character death; potential NPC death.

In the coming weeks and days, and weeks, the green gloom lingers. From the Darkwalker’s attack, there is no sun. No day, no night. No stars or moon or sun. No Auroras. Just the gloom and biting cold. Life becomes increasingly hard on Interlopers: higher expenditure on fuel — fires and lanterns are imperative to keep the darkness and the cold at bay.

With the green gloom in the air, the wildlife becomes more scarce — as if it has been frightened away into the deeper parts of the wilds. It will be harder to bring in fresh meat in both Milton and Lakeside, and Interlopers will find that they will have to rely on whatever stores they have — and perhaps even rationing for a while.

And it’s not the only thing frightened. Even with the debilitating fear that comes with the Darkwalker’s attack gone, there is still a kind of fear that lingers on the air that slowly eats away at the Interloper’s resolve over time.

Interlopers will find themselves anxious, on edge. Some will be prone to anger in their fear, others prone to fits of melancholy: tearfulness and sorrow. Between the cold, the lack of fresh game and the fear on the air — it’s no wonder spirits are low. Bickering and minor upsets between Interlopers are likely.

They call it the midnight sun, the polar day. It's opposite is the polar night. This is neither and both. On the day of midsummer's eve, that fear on the air is even more palpable. The air feels a little stifling at times, as if the pressure is all off — often quite oppressive, a strange kind of tension. There is something brewing, a low burning thing that begins from the moment Interlopers wake — heavy and sharp in their chest.

’So, Interloper. What will you do now?’ A voice sneers in your ear. The very same voice that has haunted Interlopers since the very beginning. The Darkwalker finally speaks after all these weeks of gloom since its most recent attack. ’When all is gone, when even the sun does not rise? What will you do then?’

A nervousness sits within you as you remember the Darkwalker’s words. What will you do if the sun does not rise? If the darkness is all that is left? If the food runs out? Your wonderings will continue to gnaw away within you. The darkness is hollowing.

’Will you lean on others, like you have always tried to do?’ the voice continues. ’What bonds you hold with them, the ones with those around you. But how strong are they, truly? Can you trust them? Will it matter when your belly is empty and your heart is low? Perhaps it is time to see.

’Never forget, Interloper. I am the Rot. And I will rot within you.’

As the day progresses into the Solstice, that tension lingers in the air, and the wonderings within you continue to wear at you. You find yourself becoming more and more agitated as time goes on. Those feelings that have been brewing for some time now have started to grow close to boiling. You may snap at others, grow restless, become enraged at the tiniest of things — the upsets wildly out of proportion for the smallest slights or issues.

You find your thoughts wandering, too. Perhaps it is to someone you know in this place, or perhaps it is to someone previously unknown to you. Maybe you have an issue with this person, or perhaps the voice’s influence extends further — not only adding to your agitations but creating them, too. A slight, a grudge, a bias.

You feel a bitter gnawing within you. The nightmarish green gloom above you persists and everything bubbles up from within. From the dark, the anger within you become too much. The tension finally snaps.

For some, it might come out as a vicious argument where you air your grievances, or finally let slip the things you’ve been holding close to your chest. A verbal beat down, incredibly hurtful in nature. For others, things may be drawn to getting physical. A literal beat down where your fists grow bruised and bloody, or perhaps even worse. Whatever it is, you want to do damage to someone else — there is darkness here, and so many things come out in the dark, don’t they?

Like a ripple, all around you: all hell breaks loose. Chaos erupts, and the air is filled with violence.

Let’s hope you might stop, or someone else stops you, before someone gets killed.

REPRIEVE

WHEN: Circa three days after the Summer Solstice.
WHERE: Milton.
CONTENT WARNINGS: blood.

All things must come to an end, even the most violent of deadly storms. In the midst of the seemingly endless violence of the night, you find yourself outside. Maybe you're fleeing from another Interloper, maybe you're desperately trying to reach someone you care for, maybe you're simply trying to find somewhere new to hide. Interlopers are hunting one another, blood lies on the snow, bodies too — some breathing, some not.

Perhaps it is a trick of the light. Perhaps it's the Darkwalker’s influence still warping your already frayed mind. Or it's the blood in your eyes, your battered and bruised body struggling to get through it all.

In the gloom, you see it. See her.

A woman, dressed in furs, stones and shells glimmering on her chest like armour, stands in the snow before you. Thin and pale, eyes sunken. Her chest heaves with each breath as she looks around with wide eyes. Her hands are bare and bloody. It drips slowly from her fingers. Is it her blood? Or someone else's? You cannot tell, but you cannot mistake how thick it coats her skin.

Her head turns to look at you. You are stunned, but not frightened. Even through the gloom, after a moment or two, her eyes widen in recognition: she knows you.

Slowly and silent, other than her noisy breathing, she draws close to you. Maybe in turn you draw close to her, closing the distance between you. Up close, her eyes are blue, and sad. You cannot mistake the sorrow in them. She is tired, weary. Her hair is dark, worn loose and long. For some, you feel as if you've seen her before, but you can't quite place her face.

Softly, she says your name.

For some, there may be no recognition. This woman is a stranger, who knows your name somehow. She has been silent the past couple of months, after all.

For others, hearing her speak brings a sudden, jarring realisation: this is Enola.

She’s here. Enola. All this time, she’s whispered to you in dreams, in static, in the very air itself.

She raises one hand, dark and dripping in the green light. Lightly, her fingers brush against your chest. You don’t feel the pressure of them, don’t feel the odd heat of blood — only the weight of her stare as she holds your gaze. It’s a long moment of peace in amongst the chaos.

You feel her exhaustion, a tiredness that sinks into your very bones. Apologies, too. You have never known anything like it. But there’s something else too, something that takes a moment or two to put your finger on. Defiance. A renewal. Something shifts in the air, a growing tension, different from the kind that’s been held on the air throughout the month. It’s the coming of a storm, the rolling clouds, the growing rumble of thunder before the first lightning strike.

Enola nods, her expression grave. She pulls away and turns from you — her head lifting towards the skies as she walks. Her arms raise, bloodied hands twisting and tensing before her. They curl, almost into fists, and she makes a gesture: the slow tearing of something huge and invisible before her — a shriek spilling from her lips. A battle-cry, a last stand, a wail of agony. It echoes.

The sky cracks and splits open before you, dazzling light and colours blinding your vision into pure white. The world tilts too hard below your feet, and you don’t remember passing out.

When you awaken, Enola is gone. The skies are clear and blue, the sun is high in the sky. As you pick yourself up from the snow, in the harsh light of the polar day, blood has never looked so red. The horrors of the night laid bare. Interlopers are dead, but the Darkwalker’s influence is gone. For now.

In the wake of Midsummer, all Interlopers can do is try reconcile. Bury the dead, rebuild, lick wounds. But that feeling in the air still remains — that different, new kind of tension that has come with Enola’s appearance. The first of the lightning bolts has struck, but more are coming.

FAQs

A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME

1. Alexander Hilbert has been devoured by the Darkwalker. His remains can be found in the Hydrodam. The following note has been left by Kates concerning his death: ‘Sveta gets possession of his research notes + blood samples + creepy lab journal because it's all in Russian, lmao.’

2. Information on the Darkwalker’s attack can be found here.

3. Usually, after the Darkwalker attacks, the sky would return to normal. This won’t happen. Instead, the usual atmospheric changes that occur during Darkwalker attacks will remain in place as June continues..


POLAR SUN

1. For an idea how the setting appears for June, it's like what you see in the game during the Escape The Darkwalker Challenge. Inside, there'll be a degree of green shades to rooms etc via what comes through windows but with it being lit up via fires and light sources, the gloom will be chased back.


2. Characters are free to use this event to kill NPC Interlopers. Methuselah and Young Bill are off the table, as are two marked NPC Interlopers. Please let Mods know if you intend on doing this for record keeping!

3. These acts of violence can be physical or verbal altercations, players are encouraged to work with the prompt however they'd like! However, anything potentially world-altering (ie. building destruction) must be first discussed with mods.

4. Interlopers under the Darkwalker's influence can be stopped in a number of ways. Showing genuine care and compassion in the face of violence is one way. Knocking an Interloper out is another way. Sometimes killing an Interloper may be needed, or simply restraining them and keeping them locked up somewhere so they can't hurt anyone else until the night is over would also work.

5. Talismans made by Heartman back in March with a Ward Sigil against the Darkwalker will come into effect during this prompt. It's been an ongoing process, with new Interlopers being offered them from their arrival. Players are free to choose what kind of talisman they received, or if they chose to get one at all. Their effectiveness is dependent on the type of blood used on the talisman.

— Animal Blood: Interlopers carrying talismans using blood from animals found in the world, such as deer, rabbits or wolves will find themselves more susceptible to the Darkwalker’s influence and disposition towards violence. They will be much harder to break out of the hold over them, and become almost frenzied state.
— Monster Blood: Interlopers carrying talismans using blood from any creatures or monsters that Interlopers have encountered in their time in the Northern Territories, such as the Serpent from December’s TDM will find there are no negative nor positive effects. The talisman is essentially useless. and Interlopers will fall under the Darkwalker's influence.
— Interloper Blood: Interlopers carrying talismans using blood for Interlopers will be offered protection/resistance from the Darkwalker’s influence and disposition towards violence. They may be slightly affected but will have their wits about them more compared to others. If the blood came from an Interloper with an Aurora Feat — this protection/resistance will be largely increased, an the Interloper may even feel braver, less affected by the fear in the atmosphere.
— No Talisman: Similar to the Monster Blood Talisman, Interlopers will be affected typically by the Darkwalker's influence in due course.

There are no additional affects with an Interloper using their own blood, just if they have an Aurora Feat or not.

6. Animals owned by Interlopers will be more frightened and will want to hide away in the build up — they will be disturbed by the world. Mostly lying down and whining/restlessness. They may display some signs of aggression on occasion, but not to the same degree of humans.

7. Forest Talkers are hidden away and will not be able to be reached during the Solstice.

REPRIEVE

1. Enola can only be met alone, but she will appear to all Interlopers in Milton.

2. Enola will be nowhere to be found afterwards, there are no tracks to be followed. She has simply vanished.

PLOTTING POST

Comments

[solitarysoul]

"Oh, uh, yeah. I guess its not really explained to people...well, not that we really understand it or anything.

"But a few months ago there was a really long night and aurora and some of us had this dream. Or a few maybe? It might have been a different one for each power but, uh, t-that doesn't really matter. Some people can make fire, some people can broadcast their thoughts, and some people--like me--can run really fast and really far."

[solitarysoul]

He nods and sighs. "I don't know of anyway to do that...Kate said something about doctors trained to talk to people but we don't have any here." He's pretty sure, since they didn't have anyone offering therapy or whatever.

[solitarysoul]

"Um...that might be good. I don't have a lighter or matches and I don't always have the best luck trying to start a fire without them." He had the basics of the technique down, and knew how to encourage the sparks to spread, but getting those sparks in the first place was tricky.

[solitarysoul]

"I...y-yeah. No major injuries, but I guess I kind of tried to avoid people." He didn't have a past with anyone that would have brought him out to attack them. That didn't mean his hands were clean, though.

"I-I'm sure you have people helping, but if you need anything I can help too. I've been studying under Dr. Goodsir."

[solitarysoul]

"Really? I thought it was kind of cool. But I guess a place like this makes it hard. Especially this time of year." With all the sun and the lack of people to feed on.

[thefifthchild]

[Grab something. What a useless command.

Ordinarily, the simple act of commanding him would be enough to get his hackles to rise - to snap back that they don't know who the fuck they're talking to, evidently.

It was Tim who argued against intervening. Against attacking the manor when it was under siege. Smug prick. And it was Damian who insisting on putting his faith in his dad instead.

Find them. Bisect them. Nails driven into their skulls. Starve them until they're skin and bones. Slit their throats. This won't happen again.

He nods. His voice is unsteady when he speaks. Much less the symbol of justice or conquest that he's supposed to be, much more the scared child that he is.]

My - there's a cow in there. She's providing us with milk. Prioritizing her after rescuing Tim is the strategic choice.

[There might be a bull too. He's been away for a bit. He brings his scarf up to his nose to avoid the smoke inhalation before following. There are buckets inside - a stash of water bottles. He can salvage this.]

[thefifthchild]

The pieces fit. The girl - the vampire arrived... was it a month ago? Two months? They come in groups in this town. There's the sailors. Him, Tim, Jason. The connection between the girl and Louis is obscure, but pieces still fit together regardless. A comparison being made in Louis' eyes whenever Damian spoke or looked a certain way. The child who is not a child.

Vampire.

Fine. Potentially dangerous but as established, so is everyone here. He can forgive the lying, he can forgive the sanctimonious fucking hypocrisy, he can forgive a lot more than anyone actually thinks he's capable of because they judge him entirely on their preconceived pearl clutching naive ideas of right and wrong and justice and fairness and mercy when they have no fucking idea what it's like to be raised to be a tyrant.

What he can't forgive is this.

Did Louis start the fire? Is he just taking advantage of it? Did Louis kill Tim in a blind frenzy? There are several others around town that have been killed via ensanguination. Louis' handiwork? Claudia's? Someone else?

His actions this month have been a blur. The motion between standing and watching in shock and driving his fist into Louis' celiac plexis is not one that sticks out in his short term memory.

"You! Vulture! Murderer!"

His scathing anger would be more effective if he wasn't clearly on the verge of tears.

[thefifthchild]

[It's hard to know when Damian spotted Ruby rifling through his supplies in his old house. He doesn't exactly announce himself and his steps are about as silent as humanly possible (more, even). He watches her for a while, digging through stashes of scrap metal, oil, batteries, adhesive, dried leather taken from the corpses of animals.

He moved all his non emergency food to Lakeside. And the emergency food won't be found.

When he gets irritated watching her touch his things, he announces himself by tossing a batarang so that it whizzes directly past her ear.]

Try asking. [He sounds more exhausted than mad. His mask is off, even, despite the security risk.]

two

[thefifthchild]

[He was never good at this part.

Robin is supposed to be a symbol of hope to balance out Batman's symbol of fear. When it was him and Dick Grayson - they could strike a balance between them. Batman became Robin's hope, and Robin became Batman's drive.

Alone, he just looms over her, eyes narrowed. Every bit the symbol of terror he's not supposed to be.

He pulls a pack of snow wrapped in old torn up old blankets. His words are quiet but firm.]

You need to ice the bruises. [Pause.] Did you get hit in the head?

[load_aim_shoot]

Raju's expression had been polite interest a moment ago, when he'd been asking a question that didn't matter. It's shifted very slowly, stricken as he hears the words, feels them attach themselves to his skin and start sinking down inside. It was inevitable, wasn't it, that this moment would come. He realises that now. Of course Francis would wake up again, because he hadn't done this yet. He hadn't passed this on for Raju to carry it instead. Of course he couldn't die before he did that.

Raju feels his heart beating against his ribs. He hears the roaring from the fireplace, from outside. He feels the air settling heavily against his skin, pressing down against the centre of his chest, his throat. The roaring noise keeps going, low, heavy, unrelenting.

If I die...

Boiling. That's what he's hearing. The water is boiling. Raju turns away from Francis all at once, hand dropping away from his neck to dart toward the handle, yank itself back, go at the pot again with a rag messily wrapped around its fingers this time. His head is ducked down to look only at the water in it, and his breaths come hard and shaking through his nose, and the water is too hot.

If I die, I need you to...

Francis won't be able to drink it like this. His hands dart hurriedly to the pile of rags once and then, reconsidering, another time, dipping them into the water and lifting them and twisting to wring out the water and feeling whether they're hot enough. He can still use this. He can heat these up with it, and put them over the back of Francis' neck. That will make him more comfortable. He should be more comfortable, now. Never mind why.

He's more lucid than he was when Raju first found him, but that can't mean much. He'll forget. If Raju doesn't reply, dying will distract him, and he'll forget.

Raju's hands go still. He doesn't look up. He doesn't know what to do with the thought, so he doesn't do anything. But Francis will need something soon. Something else. So Raju can do that instead.

[balancedlight]

"Just take a torch from the fireplace inside and bring it to the little firepit I've made," she explains. "Don't worry if it doesn't work the first time."

[solitarysoul]

"Oh." Right, that was probably a better idea. He wanted to get better at fire starting, but it was best to leave that for when a fire wasn't needed. "Y-Yeah, I'll do that."

He dumps the snow into the pot and then goes get some fire so they can boil it.

[goingtobeunwell]

He doesn’t want to hear this. Of course he wouldn’t; that deathbed promise forced on thirteen-year-old still lingers in the forefront of Crozier’s own mind. He understands why, but he doesn’t have a choice now. It’s important he knows; he may not get another chance.

“Raju, please,” he whispers, frustrated that he can’t even reach for him. He’s so, so ill, body sluggish and words forming slowly. If he falls asleep and doesn’t wake up again he won’t have been able to -

“Listen, please,” he pleads quietly. He has to keep talking, even if Raju doesn’t pay him any mind. “All that’s mine is yours. My clothes and my knife. My amulet, the one in my parka. The one Silna carved. My furs. All that’s mine.”

If he dies he’ll keep him warm still. It’s all that he can do.

[balancedlight]

It most certainly is not, and Svetlana is here to prove it. "You don't need to be careful around them here because every man here is - well, they wouldn't hurt you."

[balancedlight]

She hums. "Alright. That's why the painkillers haven't touched you very much. I gave you a small dose, but the alcoholism makes it so you're more tolerant of such things. Unfortunately, I can't give you anything too strong, as it may lead right back to addiction."

Svetlana pats his arm lightly. "But I won't leave you without. Do you have any questions for me?"

[friendsfordinner]

There's a moment as Hickey decides how to phrase this before he settles on,

"It looks like a polar bear. However there's something different about it. It's bigger, for one. And it doesn't have a snout—it's face is flat, like a person's. And it's smart. Tuunbaq could do tactics. It learned from what we were doing, learned our routines, learned about the ships and the men on board in a way where it could pick us off, one by one, targeting when no one expected it."

[load_aim_shoot]

Raju, please. Francis' voice is still so quiet. Likely doesn't have the strength for anything else. He keeps talking anyway, keeps trying even with everything it must take to do it. Like Raju had wanted him to, all that time ago. He'd wanted Francis to try. To fight. To keep going. He keeps going, fighting through it, so he can give Raju everything. Raju's lips tremble, pressed tightly together.

The rag is clenched tightly in his hands. It's a little damp, and very warm. He should do something with it. He turns toward Francis again, watching his hands as they tuck the warm rag very slowly, carefully over the back of Francis' neck. He'd tucked rough cloth around his father like a blanket, he remembers now. He doesn't know why. It hadn't done any good. Not the way he'd intended it to.

He adjusts the thing against Francis' skin, tugging it this way and that so it can lie flat. "You can drink the water once it's cooled off," he says. It comes out in a rasp. "It'll help." He swallows to make more space in his throat, watching the efforts of his hands. "You need something warm inside you."

[balancedlight]

"A god?"

She shakes her head. "No, Mr. Hickey. I don't think that it's a god. I think that it's a creature. I think that it's - Darkness. I think it would like for us to believe it's a god. But that makes it infallible, and I don't believe that."

[goingtobeunwell]

That brings an immediate smile to his face. “Have you? He’s a wonderful doctor, but when you get a chance ask him about the marine life he saw whilst on Erebus.”

Is it a little mean? Not if Levi enjoys the excited rambling, which he’s certain he would. But back to the topic at hand -

“It would be a great help to me if you could remove the bandages from my face and chest.” And Raju too. Lord knows how much he’s had to rely on that poor man.

[bigbaddy]

[ He slowly exhales. ]

Alright.

[ Then Bigby turns to walk back into the house, gesturing for Ruby to come along. Just make sure to close the door behind you to keep out the cold, alright.. It's clear the man still isn't fully recovered, since he's moving very slowly, but he is still moving until he can sit down on the edge of the bed.

It's better than lying down like last time, at least. ]

Is it about the Darkwalker?

[ He has to assume that's it, given that she was pointing at the sky. And usually the sky only gets like that when the Darkwalker approaches. Which it clearly did, since Bigby did feel the terror that always spreads whenever that happens.

The weird part is just that the sky didn't change back. What gives? The Darkwalker can't still be around, or surely Ruby wouldn't have been able to travel all the way over here the way she did. ]

[bigbaddy]

There's definitely a groan at the word wash. Look, this place may technically have taken the animal right out of Bigby, but his wolf instincts are still definitely in there. Enough so that he sure doesn't like the idea of that.

"Aren't just new bandages fine? The wound's already a month old at this point."

Granted, Bigby has.. so little medical knowledge.. He's just whining rather than speaking from any real experience. Sorry, Levi.

[goingtobeunwell]

It hadn’t occurred to him before this very moment that his dependence on the drink would have changed his body’s relationship to medicine. It makes sense though, doesn’t it? He craved the whiskey - he could crave something strong like laudanum fairly easily too.

“I understand,” he says quietly. It would be a hindrance for him, not a help, and she couldn’t abide that. “I didn’t know I could…replace, as it were, my earlier reliance on the drink with something else. In all honesty I feel like I would have better off not knowing.”

It’s frightened him, far more than the whistling in his lungs has.

[goingtobeunwell]

“Yes, well.” He can’t say it wasn’t foolish of her, but there’s only so much blame to be found when one’s mind was addled. “You were ill. If there was ever an excuse for poor judgement, it’s that.”

He exhales quietly. “It’ll take some time until you’re comfortable with yourself. I needed help bathing and dressing myself. It was mortifying.”

2

[guidemyway]

With all the chaos that's gone on over the last few days it was hard to keep track of who was alright, who was injured, and who had hadn't made it through the night. Ruby had mostly busied herself with clean up afterwards, but when she heard that Crozier had been hurt she made a point to go and visit.

Don't mind the sheepish little knock on the door before she let's herself in.

"Hey- Probably a dumb question to ask how you're holding up. But here it comes anyways."

[salamanca]

Lalo does, indeed, know a predator's gait when he sees it. He's too perceptive, and has walked towards too many people with predatory purpose himself, not to. But that's not what gets to him the most. It's the smile. The knowingness of it. Like Lestat is privy to something he isn't.

But what?

Lalo doesn't move, though. Being one himself, he knows enough about predators to know they will chase prey that flees. So he stands his ground, trying to seem as easy and loose as he can.

"When you put it like that, I couldn't agree more," Lalo says, with a shrug. But deep down, he's uneasy. The palms facing out should make him less nervous. They don't.

Lalo looks around. Nobody else around but the two of them. And in the polar night, with no electricity here, they're shrouded in darkness.

It's no matter. Lalo can handle himself. He leaves one hand half in his jeans pocket. The other hangs at his side, but he looks Lestat up and down with a gaze that he hopes doesn't appear as nervousness.

"I think it's time you head home. Before you get yourself in even more trouble. It'd be a shame if something happened to someone with a beautiful singing voice like yours."

Lalo likes Lestat, truly he does, but he'll be damned if he lets anyone back him into a corner so easily. He doesn't even know what Lestat is smiling about, but it doesn't matter.