Must Be the Season of the Witch

[el_desheredado]

When; October 27^th - October 30th
Rating; PG and up--please be careful and tag your character's nightmare visions if necessary!
Characters; Members of the Anonymous Movement, volunteer residents of the City, and YOU!
Summary;
The Anonymous Movement has identified the source of the extra trouble in the City this month--as if the curses weren't enough, right? Beings that they're calling "witches" have torn a portal into the City and are using magic to stir up the fear, anxiety, and negative emotions on which they feed.

Concerned for the well-being of the Cityzens and knowing that they'll all likely end up either mad or dead if this isn't stopped, the Anonymous Movement has decided to take the witches head on. They're marching up the mountain, armed with salt, blue beads, witch hazel, and other traditional witch-repellents, along with more conventional weapons.

But the witches aren't going to go without a fight. And they have their magic on their side...

Notes; Want to join in? If your character joined in the ad hoc volunteer witch-hunting army, feel free to start a thread for your character's nightmare vision or toss your character. Mingle threads are also welcomed!

Please see this post for more information but know that making a final sacrifice is optional.

We'll be making another post on the 30^th to wrap up the plot and tie up some loose ends, but backdating is always awesome.

Log; It's a foggy morning when everyone assembles in Misery Square. It was short notice, perhaps. But there seems to be a decent number assembled for it.

A girl with curly black hair passes through the crowd. She's carrying a basket and she passes small objects to those assembled: a sprig of witch hazel, a packet of salt, a string of blue beads, a sprig of rowan, iron nails... There are other weapons to be had too, if they're needed.

There's little to be said because so little is known. But members of the Anonymous Movement speak, briefly and perhaps a little quietly under that strange weather, about how little is known but now necessary it is to make a way--by foot or by force--up to that cottage. They admit that it will be difficult and that much is unknown, but that they will do all they can to be sure everyone makes it. It's an explanation less than a rallying of the troops.

The battered trucks are there again, for those who wish to ride in them. This is hardly a splendid morning out. Trees, some bearing colorful autumn leaves and some nearly stripped bare, loom out of the fog as they proceed up the mountain. Boulders hunch and branches reach--like witches themselves, perhaps.

They drive as far as they can. After that, it must be by foot.

It's a rough path--tumbled boulders, gnarled trees, and the undergrowth has yet to die back completely, to say nothing of the fog. But there are hands enough to catch someone who stumbles or to pull someone over a fallen stone.

They pass into a clearing. The fog is thicker here, though the sun makes an effort to burn through the clouds.

It isn't long thereafter that the first screams start...

Comments

[ NPC Nightmare]

[el_desheredado]

The forest is gone, the mountain is gone, the City is gone.

In their place is a very, very, very, very large room. It might put one in mind of an empty theater or an empty warehouse. It is dark in this expansive place. A single light seems to shine from above, from somewhere lost in the darkness. The floor is gray. The walls cannot be seen.

A boy, who can't be more than twelve or thirteen years old, is crouched in the pool of light. He's shaking all over and clutching a string of blue beads.

And somewhere, out there in the dark room, come the sound of footsteps.

[ooc: please feel free to just join in on this one! It's an NPC experiencing this nightmare vision. This one will feature a series of classic monsters.]

[ NPC Nightmare]

[ladycroft]

Lara is not expecting to find herself in... a building? She can't see the walls, but it doesn't quite feel like she's outside at the moment. Handgun at the ready, she moves in a partial crouch, managing as much of a search pattern that could be expected for someone without defining barriers.

When she sees the boy, she takes one more look around then crosses toward him, aware of the footsteps and intensely aware that the boy looks terrified. Should she wait and see who appears or intervene now and try to get the boy to cover?

[ NPC Nightmare]

[el_desheredado]

Poor kid. He really is scared out of his mind. After all, he starts to run when he sees her coming.

ginny weasley | nightmare.

[hexuality]

[ You've stepped out of the forest and into the corridor of a castle. You can imagine its size from the high walls and grand stone ceilings but there's no time to admire it nor the moving paintings or the exquisite tapestries—because all of it is shaking, crumbling, burning, thundering under a barrage of spells, of giants' fists. The school is under siege and you are trapped in the thick of it.

You may recognise the redheaded young woman who comes running out of a passageway, clothes torn or burned away in places, bleeding but alive and angry and frightened all at once. She has a wand in her hand but she isn't the witch you're seeking (is she?). When the castle shakes again, she turns and shouts to you, sharp and unintelligible in the din, and gestures—come with me, we can't stay here.

If you follow her, you might be drawn into a raging battlefield, a smoky corridor filled with brightly flashing lights, screams and cries, bodies on the cracked and bloodied flagstones (some in pyjamas, some are children, and others are men and women in black robes and masks). Ginny lifts her own wand and plunges into it, tries to cut a path through the combatants to safety, the maddening tempo of family, must find my family, and suddenly she isn't that sweet English girl everyone seems to know but a soldier in her own right, vicious strokes of her wand and precisely aimed hexes.

The vision continues like this. Bursts of battle followed with eerie lulls in silent, empty hallways. Welcome to Hogwarts. ]

[candothat]

[Even though he knows that this can't be real--that this Ginny can't be real--Pavel follows her to the battlefield. He's momentarily stunned into inaction by the view. Fighting in space is so sterile compared to this. He has seen people die, of course, but mostly from a distance, sucked through breeches into the vacuum of space. Not this. Not children.

This isn't real.

He shakes himself out of thought and catches up with Ginny, phaser out and set to stun, unsure if he should shoot. This is an illusion, after all. Perhaps he should be trying to get through to Ginny...]

[hexuality]

[She doesn't know if it's real or not. She sees the battle at the school almost every time she closes her eyes so the memories mix with the nightmares and this is where it always leads. It makes her an easy target in a lot of ways. But Ginny can't figure that out now, lost as she is in the vision, running with her wand out, dodging a spell with a twist of her body and firing her own in return, a bright bolt of scarlet.

In a gap in the crowd, she spots Pavel, and she should think he doesn't belong but she doesn't.]

Pavel, get out of here!

Theodred Sammeth| Nightmare

[deadmanbusiness]

Necromancers have nightmares different than other people. Those who think he fears the undead and becoming a monster are quite wrong. He's got other things to worry about.

It's some city, in America likely, New York or Los Angeles or DC something like that. Though the city is a lot brighter and sunnier than one would expect. It's an insanely sunny day actually. Summer time sun shine, bright pretty much blinding. Warm happy days.

And there's lots of girls around: girls of all sizes, shapes, looks. Some of them don't even look completely human. There may be a dragon around there, but it's definitely a girl, even though it's a dragon. There are also some men around, but mostly women filling the streets.

As one they all turn to look at you. It's like suddenly being surrounded by predators.

In one voice they shriek "IT'S THEM!!!" and then charge straight at you.

You better run.

Theodred Sammeth| Nightmare

[ladycroft]

Well, this is unexpected.

Lara barely has time to register that the sun is a little too bright and the people - and for some, the term is used for lack of a better word at the moment - seem suddenly very focused on her.

She was ready to run before they started yelling, so she's got a bit of a head start when they charge. She doesn't know where she is, aside from somewhere urban, bright and rather hostile. It's a good thing she's in peak physical health.

She scans the area ahead of her, looking for a vantage point or a place to hide.

Re: Theodred Sammeth| Nightmare

[deadmanbusiness]

"I hate this dream," Theo mutters appearing next to her as these things happen in dreams. He's not wearing sunglasses as he usually does out in the real world and so his silver eyes are visible.

"Hello! If we're lucky there's a van over that way."

Pavel Chekov // Nightmare

[candothat]

The fog gives way to smoke and hissing steam. It's difficult to see the maze-like, panel-lined walls and twisting catwalks of the ship's engineering section through the haze. Sparks fly from malfunctioning electronics and flash fires burn through delicate exposed wiring. The functioning interior lights are red and the whine of the klaxon almost swallows the calm voice of the ship's computer as it politely informs the crew that they must evacuate immediately.

There are a number of crewmembers running around frantically, some attempting to fix what they can, most heading for the escape shuttles. Chekov is heading away from the shuttles, to the catwalk. He doesn't remember what he's supposed to be doing or how he came to be here, but he knows that he needs to get somewhere.

The ship quakes as enemy fire finishes off the failing shields. A minor explosion in the hallway--strong enough to send two red-shirted crewmembers flying--is the only warning anyone onboard receives before the artificial gravity generator fails. Another quake and the deafening screech of metal ripping away from metal precedes the appearance of a black void to the left. There are no stars, no fire--only the empty darkness of a singularity. Crewmembers scream as their free-floating bodies are sucked into the void.

Chekov holds onto the catwalk's railing, white-knuckled, and pulls himself along the railing, struggling against the pull of the singularity. He reaches out to grab a young woman as she flies by, but his fingers barely brush the fabric of her uniform before she's gone.

The groaning catwalk is the only visible path through the chaos. Be sure to hold on.

[hexuality]

[She's never been in space, never been in anything as futuristic as this place. She's been stumbling in and out of visions throughout this ordeal and after her own, she knows that this isn't real. But it's hard to remember that when it feels impossibly real—this magic is stronger than she's ever imagined.

Ginny's clinging to the railing from the moment she's thrown into this place, the air pulling at her limbs and clothes and hair, and she sees Pavel nearby so she tries to pull herself along, grip tight. She can't get to her wand.]

[candothat]

[Ginny's presence reminds Chekov that this isn't real. This isn't even how engineering's laid out; it's all an illusion. They're on a mountain, trying to get to the witches who have been disrupting the City's usual workings. Not in space. Not on a ship.

Unfortunately, knowing this doesn't make it seem any less real and part of his mind is convinced that he is in space, watching crewmates die, unable to do anything.]

Ginny, you need to hold on!

[That probably goes without saying. The black void is growing stronger, making the catwalk sway and groan. Chekov doesn't know what he needs to do to make this stop, but he at least needs to ensure that Ginny isn't sucked into the singularity. He hauls himself over to her. What to do now?

Something metallic and shooting out tendrils of crackling electricity plummets past them, too close for comfort. It's followed by another person, screaming as he's pulled to his demise.]

Steve Rogers | OTA | Nightmare

[punchedhitler]

[He never expected to be back here.

It's the installation - the HYDRA installation where he found Bucky the first go around, but he can't find Bucky now, he can't get hide nor hair of him, he can't even breathe, this isn't fair, it isn't, it isn't, where is he? Every door he opens is another room of locked cages, and every person he frees isn't Bucky, but they don't thank him, either, they hurry past, but he doesn't mind.

He doesn't mind because he needs to find him, he absolutely needs to find Bucky. Even as he runs and steam billows from-

Where is he, again?

He can't think clearly, he can't, he's lost his best friend, he lost him and he can't-]

[yourbestguysgun]

[ He knows it isn't his nightmare because it doesn't come with the whisper of thick accented voices or the sharp corner edges of metal everywhere. Whatever the witches are doing, it is good and it isn't kind and he bites the inside of his mouth hard to stop panic rising. He has to move though because he knows there's only one other person within the City that would know the inside of the facility like this.

HYDRA may be all about cutting off one head, but he's just trying to keep his and find his best friend and get out. ]

Steve?

[punchedhitler]

[He hears him, he does, he hears him and it's like a shot directly into his soul. First relief and then a kind of terror he's not used to anymore.]

Bucky? Bucky!

[There's so much in that call, so much need and desperation, it's impossible to hear it and not feel some touch of Steve's fear.]

Re: Steve Rogers | OTA | Nightmare

[ladycroft]

The fog clears enough for her to see that there are bars around her and she isn't alone. Lara looks around to try and get her bearings, but she appears to be in a prison and the only woman and there is chaos erupting around her. There are no other apparent clues to her location.

A man wearing a uniform not unlike the American flag is setting them free. She bangs on the bars with her gun, a woman in black, hair in a long braid, armed as best as she could manage, trying to get his attention.

"Hey! Hey! Over here!"

hope that's right bro

[fe_male]

[ Well this doesn't feel. Nice. It feels familiar in ways that aren't all that familiar and he can't tell how he feels, in turn, about that. But Steve said 'meet me on the mountain' and so Tony made sure to suit up and fly up the side to find him. Easy peasy.

Except. Easy peasy, scary scene-y. ]

Hey Cap?

Michael Ginsberg || Nightmare

[just_displaced]

This doesn’t have the slightly blurry contours of a memory long since past, softened into something more palatable. It has the too-sharp edges of a dream that’s been dreamed countless times before, sharpened and honed into something brutal and perfect. There are sounds somewhere in the distance -- a scream, a shout, an unrecognizable language, and above all else, the relentless wail of a baby.

It’s too light here, the sunlight glinting too brightly off the snow to tell where here really is. You may think to yourself it’s too warm out for there to be snow still on the ground, but it’s hard to apply logic here, where the sunbeams that filter through the tree branches seem almost hot, but the ground is icy and slick, devoid of anything but dirt, ash, and snow.

If you look up, you will see smoke rising above the trees, and somehow you’ll know, although you may not know how, since you’ve never been here before, that you need to go deeper into the woods, that you need to go away from the smoke, away from the sound of any human activity, because what awaits you in the woods can’t be any worse than what’s behind you.

And when you’ve walked far enough, you’ll suddenly find yourself in a labyrinth, where all the walls are made of towering ice, and where the smell of death lingers in the air, and at the center of the labyrinth you’ll find Ginsberg, sitting on the ground, legs folded, elbows resting on his knees, head in his hands.

And if you approach, he’ll finally look up and speak. “I can’t find my way out.”

[candothat]

Chekov has made his way to the icy labyrinth, phaser at the ready. He doesn't expect to see Ginsberg in the middle; the man didn't strike him as an icy labyrinth, burning woods kind of person.

He approaches the other man carefully, tucking his phaser away. "Ginsberg? Why are you not looking for a way out?"

[just_displaced]

At first, it's like he doesn't hear Chekov at all, doesn't see him standing there, doesn't even look up from where he's sitting. Then, slowly, he raises his head, looking confused. It doesn't make sense for Chekov to be here, and yet, it's only one of many things that doesn't make sense about this dream, so he doesn't question it. The question Chekov asks him, though, gives him pause. Only for a moment, however.

"Because I look for a way out every time I'm here. And I get lost every single time."

Re: Michael Ginsberg || Nightmare

[deadmanbusiness]

There are stories in Theo's world, that aren't actually stories, about an evil - for lack of a better term - grove of trees which tries to eat people's souls. Even gods fear to tread in the grove or even speak of it out loud least it attract its attention. The forest vaguely reminds Theo of that grove, but it doesn't seem as malicious.

The ice is new, though he's not bothered by the smell of death. When he spots Ginsberg he walks over to him and crouches down. His eyes are sunglass free here so its easy to see the silver irises. Which probably aren't comforting.

"It's a bit of a nasty maze, I'll give you that."

[just_displaced]

It takes him a second to look up and notice Theo, but when he does, he doesn't look startled, even though there usually isn't anyone else in this dream. Usually, he's all alone, walking through the ice and snow by himself, or just sitting down it in and resting awhile at the center of the maze. Now, there's someone else here, but it all adds up in that way that particularly bizarre dreams add up -- nothing is logical, per se, which means everything is logical.

"I've never found the way out of it," he says, mostly in agreement to Theo's statement. He doesn't even seem to notice the silver irises of Theo's eyes, but then, he's not looking too hard. He just drops his head back into his hands as soon as he's spoken, like he's exhausted.

Lara Croft | Nightmare

[ladycroft]

Lara thought she was ready for just about anything, In her line of work, it paid to be preapred. She was armed, mentally and physically, for a fight with witches, was it? Mmm. Whatever they were, they had a determined group with which to contend.

She rode in the truck for a bit, then decided to walk, and is walking now, as the fog settles, separating the members of the party and opening into... a jungle?

For anyone who follows this nightmare, they will find themselves in a tropical jungle with a temple complex in the distance. There are animal noises and rustling in the branches, but nothing can be seen. They will be drawn toward the temple and there find a frantic girl of about six or seven, hair in long, dark pigtails and wearing a tattered party dress, looking for something on the ground.]

[candothat]

Chekov has been in and out of a few nightmares, his own included, and none of them had involved jungles. A part of him wants to explore and see all of the strange animals and plants, but the girl by the temple can't be ignored.

The eighteen year-old approaches her quietly, tucking his phaser away and doing his level best to appear as unintimidating as possible (which isn't that hard, as Chekov is not a terribly intimidating person). When he's close enough to speak to her without raising his voice, he asks, "What are you looking for, miss?"

[ladycroft]

The little girl doesn't seem to hear him, at first. She keeps repeating to herself what seem to be disjointed words of encouragement: "It must be here..." and "It has to be here!" and "Daddy said it only grew here..." and "See Daddy again..."