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ximilialog2022-12-16 09:47 pm
( PLAYER PLOT LOG ) — The Patchwork Man
LOCATION: The Station, from the living quarters through to the Sunlight Room
DATE: Mid-December
CONTENT: After deciding to change his deal once more with the orb, Takeshi Kovacs regains his previously lost memories from the past year, forcing him into a sudden grotesque transformation.
WARNINGS: Prompts include heavy violence and graphic gore imagery, as well as body horror, disfiguration, and dismemberment.
Whenever Kovacs goes to sleep, he always anticipates waking up with his body feeling lighter, not from a sense of ease but from one of loss, aware that memories will continue to vanish from his mind, just as they've been doing so gradually over the past year. He doesn't know what he's lost, impossible considering the circumstances, save for whatever little he's pieced together from what he'd scribbled out in notebooks in preparation for forgetting, but he knows it's all likely been important, despite the gradual trickle that's prevented him from realizing just how significant those losses have been — until the night comes where they all come pouring back into his mind all at once.
He wakes with a start, gasps stealing all of the breath from his lungs as he scrambles out of bed and crumbles upon the floor, his eyes wide and crazed with the abundance of information that resurfaces through his thoughts.
1.0 With the earpieces, it's impossible for these overflowing memories to be filtered solely into his own mind as they return, and for the briefest moment, one of some images or words might reflect through the minds of other orbers:
• "Death isn't up to us to give or withhold," Kovacs says to the snide, prideful man beside him who only smiles smugly. The man responds, "You think we should leave it up to God, do you? Oh, Mr. Kovacs, haven't you heard? God is dead. We have taken his place."With what is seen or heard, it's possible some may consider something to be wrong with the original source of who the memories come from, or it can just as easily be waved away as a mishap with the comms, considering how easy it can be sometimes for thoughts to be exchanged. However the orbers choose to respond if they experience the invasion of thoughts, it isn't long before something loud and almost animalistic is heard in the halls ...
• Someone else speaks through Newt's body with a cunning grin. "Weird that someone like you would act so oblivious; you're used to killing people left and right, aren't you? You do it every mission, in some way. Blowing your dad away in your dreams, stabbing that zealot to death in Giva... Oh, man, the bandits in Badrock... Is it that shocking, when someone else decides to get their hands dirty?"
• Words from Kovacs are heard, "I still dream about Welford, what we cursed that man with. These orbs — I don't know how long they'll let us get away with just trying to do the right thing."
• A different chain of fragmented words from Kovacs speaks out, "A few months ago, I had to make a change to the deal that I came in with (...) Every month, I'm supposed to lose ... an important memory (...) I don't even know what's missing. Or how much it might be ... changing me."
2.0 As Kovacs struggles to stand from the ground or even find the capability to breathe, he can feel a sudden unbearable twist through his body, muscle and bone turned and stretched from the inside, elongated and bent out of place as though the entirety of his physical being is gradually ripped apart. Flesh tears at his joints but no blood spills, open flaps of skin only exposing bare tissue. It's almost as though there'd been no actual man in that body all along, merely fragments of faux parts composed together like a rag doll stitched to mimic the presentation of one.
After moments of transformative agony, the body stands once more but Takeshi Kovacs is nowhere to be seen; instead, in his place is a disfigured creature, eight feet hunched forward in the cramped bedroom. Its long twisted fingers reach for the door, dirty nails clawing at the seam where it mechanically closes against the metal frame before its strength yanks it to manufacture its own opening into the hall of the station's residential section.
Within the lit area, the grotesque creature can easily be visible to any witnesses whose eyes fall upon it, its skin discolored to a pale olive as if it had never really been alive at all. Its jaw hangs loose, barely connected at its mouth save for the stitched string that almost struggles to hold it together, the sewn material similarly seen throughout the rest of its body, making it all the more obvious how all the parts seem ... wrong, as if the limbs hadn't all come from one solitary body but, rather, from many.
After barely observing its surroundings, the creature begins to move, slow but determined, its steps jagged but strong as each step beneath bare feet stomps against the floor while making its way down the hall. It heaves with every breath through its open mouth, crooked teeth barely containing the monstrous groan that escapes from its throat.
As the hall begins to crowd with orbers, its empty eyes observe the arriving bodies, a predatory stare perceiving them not as people but as ingredients, a necessity to replace its own faulty limbs. The threat seems to be imminent as the creature wastes little time in its first attack and, soon enough, it becomes apparent that battling it will be no easy feat.
Its strength is instantly demonstrated when Mal charges forward without hesitation and a large distorted arm swings with ease to knock him to the side, impacting his body with a thump against the station wall. It does momentarily falter in its step as sudden vibrations disturb it against its ears, shouting a frustrated cry as it brings its hands to steady its own head. For a moment, Daisy's quaking abilities allow an opening for Shang-Chi to land some swatting punches but as the man goes in for a kick, a gnarly hand snatches at his ankle and sends him flying down the hall to collide with Daisy, disturbing the use of her power.
The creature travels further through the station, only halting again when Ed's alchemy shuffles the ground beneath it, forcing it to tumble forward in its trap hole. Another window of opportunity permits Minimus to try to clutch the monster down, a sturdy line of defense to allow orbers to run away from the scene of battle to seek evacuation towards a safer room. But while the creature's crippled body seems like it would inevitably crumble beneath the strength of advanced metal physiology, a thunderous kick propels the weight off.
But this monster isn't content with the violence of battle; what it needs are bodies, proper flesh to replace its own as the threads holding it together continue to loosen — and Dean looks plenty ripe for the picking. The creature grabs the man at the neck, holding him down to the floor as a free hand curls into a fist, slamming hard against the joint of his arm as if attempting to hammer it off, but before the damage is too severe, the threads connecting the creature's own arm to its body are sliced clean by the sharp end of a swung axe.
Though Andy's slash seems capable of success in taking the creature down, the attack attracts its furious attention, the monster suddenly abandoning Dean to redirect its rage towards the woman who threatens it. In time, it steals a chance to knock Andy down onto her belly, budging its knee tight against her back as it makes use of its solitary remaining hand to grip at her arm, pulling with all its might to tear the flesh right from her shoulder. Suddenly appearing from behind, Dante attempts to use that opportunity to jump at the creature's back, but the axe clutched within Andy's fingers from a now-severed arm is shoved and impaled right at his belly to halt him in his tracks.
3.0 The creature is no easy opponent, as numerous others might also take a chance to try battling the monster or, at the very least, attempt running away from being its target. Despite its frail and gangly appearance, its strength is not to be underestimated as it can rip apart flesh and crush bone. Magic may not destroy him, but various spells can prove capable of at least stunning it or slowing it in its tracks, enough to allow trapped orbers to escape before meeting its might.
4.0 Even with its destructive nature, the creature isn't the only target that deserves the immediate attention of the orbers. Various paths and rooms need protection to block out the monster from entering, especially areas such as the infirmary or storage rooms that might become evacuation spots for those trying to avoid the fight. Sections of the station might also be in need of instant repair to avoid the circumstances of heavier damages later. With no awareness of how long this battle might go on, it's prudent to act fast and take precautions, but plenty of orbers could remain in hiding, waiting it out in their own rooms or quieter sections until the fighting is over.
5.0 Eventually, once the creature works its way into the Sunlight Room, having faced plenty of opponents to tire it out and weaken its defenses, the Doctor and Sabriel finally succeed in taming the monster's destructive rampage, its body falling defeated upon the bright pillow of snow, its weight sinking deep. Once again, the sounds of twisting and cracking bones creak and grind as it shifts about where it lays, and when anyone steps forward to peer down into the sunken hole of snow, the creature that had raged through the station's halls is no longer there ...
Instead, it's Takeshi Kovacs' naked body collapsed there, confirming the identity of the monster which some might have already suspected.
Though the arm that had previously been ripped from the creature seems to be repaired back in place after the transformation, his skin remains coated with the blood of his teammates, proof of all that had just taken place upon the station. From here, it seems vital for the orbers to decide what to do with Kovacs, now that they've fallen victim to such a gruesome scene and to, perhaps, find out exactly how this came to happen in the first place.
There is also a VOTING THREAD where players are encouraged to make suggestions on how their characters might argue for how Kovacs should be dealt with after the attack. The purpose of this is to see how characters might respond to an attack from their own, intentional or otherwise, and how they might choose to look further into its causes and how the orbs might be involved. Consider making use of the network to spark up IC discussion!
Here's some soundtrack inspiration for the log: ♪ ♪ ♪ )
no subject
Sorry. Can't help it--ain't no rest for me. [He shrugs helplessly.] You need anything?