PUNKTOBER PLOT: Memory Lane (forward dated, OPEN)

[pillz]

WHO: Ensemble Production (open to all characters)
WHERE: Downtown Maurtia Falls, an alleyway
WHEN: Approximately October 15-31 (forward dated)
WHAT: Memory share plot. Expanded OOC information post, including timeline, is here along with a fairly extensive Questions thread. Feel free to continue asking questions on either post.
WARNINGS: Potential triggers for trauma, mental manipulation, disturbing mental health themes, etc. Please mark your subject headers appropriately.



[October 15-31 (General Starter)]

[it's a downtown alleyway like any other. concrete on the ground and a couple of permit-only parking spots, dumpsters along the sides, more full behind restaurants and emptier at the boutiques and dedicated apartment buildings. fire escapes zig-zag up the brick walls up to barred windows. in the daytime, you have sour smells and sunshine and swearing sounds from the kitchens; at night, sour smells and a higher proportion of knife-wielding lunatics trying to get your wallet.

it's like any other, right up until the first echo of memories past begins to play. was it a gunshot? the rhythm of ocean waves? a familiar voice? whatever it was that happened before, it's suddenly happening all over again. it floods the alleyway with sight and sound, maurtia falls vanishing from sight.]

[Trauma Night: October 25]

[the air over maurtia falls is dark and heavy. that's not magic, just pollution and a recent wash of rain. the kind of ambience that that you don't enjoy so much as you get swallowed by it like a boa constrictor. the alleyway is more foreboding than usual.

by now, you've probably heard the rumors. a thief who turned himself in sobbing, after he saw an apparition of an old victim. old men and women who've come with candles to commemorate their lost beloved, children who run screaming about ghosts. maybe that's why you're here-- to investigate or out of morbid curiosity. to see what the narrow lane might hold for you. perhaps you're even here to end it.

but then the music from a distant concert starts to strain through the air. heavy, angry beats, a young woman's voice reverberating through the walls. and the scuttle of emotion down your spine isn't like the rumors-- it's rage and grief and blazing hope.

when the memories begin, the rush of thought and feeling might not even be your own.]

Comments

peter vincent presents: fright night

[timecapture]

[Max doesn't know who the woman is. She's only interacted with Hazel over the net - silly conversations about sharks and things. She likes Hazel, but she's only ever thought of her as an online friend - words and a name without a face.

So it doesn't occur to her that the person she's just watched die - horribly - is someone she's laughed with. Max's hands clamp over her mouth, muffling terrified sobs as she watches the scene unfold in front of her with utter horror. She tries for a rewind, races forward to try and stop it, but nothing she does helps. She can't even close her eyes, and when it's over, she stumbles to the wall and retches, heaving until there's nothing left to expel.

Thankfully, Max's vision clears, recognizing the woman in the memory. Coughing, she staggers forward, stepping in front of her and gently placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to move her from the spot.]

Come on, we have to get out of here!

[deadtective]

[the retching noises go completely unnoticed by Hazel, lost in the visceral sounds of her past murder. when Max comes up to her and tries to move, it's like she's touching a statue, and about as effective. it takes several shakes for her to even look up at Max, eyes still a touch unfocused.]

It's fine. It's not real.

[not anymore, at least.]

[timecapture]

[Max isn't about to believe Hazel, not with that look in her eyes. She knows better than to just take people at their word in situations like this.]

But it was. You don't have to keep looking at it like this. It's over now.

[deadtective]

I can stop it whenever I need to.

[this is hardly an answer, but it certainly is the truth. whenever she wants she can simply bring down her null field and banish back into the dark corners of her mind. everything about this moment is completely in her control.]

[timecapture]

Then stop it!

[She wants to rewind, to stop the woman from walking into the alley, but she has to try to dissuade her before she resorts to something that desperate.]

Why do you keep watching?

[deadtective]

Not yet.

[it's hard to articulate something so hard to define, especially when Hazel isn't really inclined to discuss this in the first place. for a moment she even considers not answering further at all.]

When this is over, I'm not gonna come back here.

[there likely won't be an opportunity to torment herself so viscerally again, especially in a secreted-away place that keeps her away from the loved ones who might stop her. there's no Josuke or Tetsuo or Magicman in the alley to force her to stop hurting herself like this; that's something that deserves to be taken advantage of completely.]

[timecapture]

[Something tells Max a simple rewind isn't going to fix this mess. She doesn't understand why the other wants this so much, but she’s not about to let her go through this alone.]

Well, then I'm staying with you.

[She doesn't know how much of this she can take, but she’s determined to do what she can - even though the other woman is a complete stranger (as far as she knows)]

I'm Max. What's your name?

[deadtective]

[that brings the rest of her mind out of reminiscence. Hazel fixes Max with a look that's half suspicion, half irritation. there was no reason for staring at another person's looping murder that could possibly sit well with her - she wants her out as soon as possible.]

This isn't a goddamn party. Fuck off.

[it's so incredible uncharitable of Hazel, but she's been burned too many times. this is a weakness, this is a vulnerability, this is something that could be turned against her so easily in so many different ways. she couldn't pretend to be kind with this.]

[timecapture]

[That's it. Max glares at the girl, refusing to do anything but stand her ground.]

No. Did you stop to consider that other people might walk in on this? People like me, who don't actually wanna see it?!

[For God's sake, there are kids here. Civilians. People who should never see this sort of thing.]

If you want to fuck yourself up, that's your choice, but you should consider thinking about other people, too. What's happening in this stupid alley isn't just about you, you know.

[She doesn't want this poor girl to suffer anymore, but she doesn't want anyone else to stumble in on this shit, either.]

[deadtective]

You put yourself here. You wanna make it stop? The exit's right fucking there, take a goddamn hike.

[if Hazel is supposed to be cowed by this outburst, it fails to achieve its goal. if anything it only causes her to dig her heels even further in, jaw setting like a steel trap. the urge to deck this girl is rising, but for the moment she manages to restrain herself.]

I'm not here to babysit assholes who think wandering down crime alley at two in the morning's a great way to spend the night.

[people in a bad neighborhood like this at an hour like this aren't the sort of people that she's worried about scarring. if anything she hopes they do catch sight of the memory and learn to stay the fuck away from dangerous areas.

this recollection on repeat was the whole point of her being here. that was always the point. as long as something awful was happening to her, it wasn't happening to someone else. she didn't give a shit if that freaked Max out or upset her delicate sensibilities - she wasn't going to stop.]

[timecapture]

No.

[Max forces herself to calm down, to take a breath. The other woman has a point, but so does Max, and neither means that Max is going to leave her to torture herself.]

I'm sorry I upset you, but the only reason I'm here is because I'm trying to figure out how to stop this.

[She’s tempted to rewind, to either bail before she spoke to Hazel or have another go at trying to talk her out of this, but she holds herself back. For now.]

I shouldn't have bitched like that. I was scared. I can't pretend to understand why the hell you're doing this, but I really do want to help.

[Holy shit, it's that late already?]

[deadtective]

You wanna help, go find whoever's using their powers to pull this bullshit. You're not gonna pull the plug from here.

[Hazel ought to know, having made the attempt on several of her previous visits to the alley. nulling worked only as long as she remained in the vicinity, which meant the ability was either autonomous or long range - both of which dictated that only finding the person orchestrating this would do any good for the long term.]

[timecapture]

You're right. I've been looking, but I haven't really found -

[She's cut off by another memory, and she gasps as an all-too-familiar scene unfolds in front of her. It's okay, she tells herself, it's not real. Not anymore. Somehow, this one isn't as bad, given that Max already faced her fears and got Crane to leave her alone, albeit in a highly unorthodox manner.

It still sucks.]

[deadtective]

[it doesn't play for long. Hazel, outwardly a stone to her own trauma being ripped from her mind, brings down her nullification abilities hard the moment the body appears in Max's memory.

it's not about the gore. it's not even about the fear or the pain. it's about respecting other people's privacy, about giving others the consideration and mental safe haven that she herself was no longer allowed. monsters watched, let it play out as they rode roughshod over the whole thing. she could at least be better than that.

her eyes are fixed firmly on the opposite wall when she speaks again, determined to ignore the entire issue. as far as Hazel and her firm voice was concerned, the incident never happened.]

Like I said, it's just bullshit down here. They're remote.

[and this she knows because there is no way that suddenly being cut off from their powers wouldn't elicit a response if they were close by and feeding the alley. people didn't know what she could do for the most part, certainly couldn't tell it was her immediately, and that unknown is frightening when it cripples.

whatever this was, it worked with partial autonomy. anyone who wanted to stop it would have to expand their search.]

[timecapture]

[Max visibly lets out a sigh of relief as the memory stops. Maybe this stupid place has given them a break for goddamned once, or maybe the stitched-up woman next to her has some way of stopping it. Either way, it's good that it's gone.]

There's got to be some way to stop it. Why would anyone do something like this?

[There must be plenty of reasons, of course, but nothing Max can understand.]

[deadtective]

Look for weaknesses, be an asshole, store up the emotions to feed to a monster from another dimension...

[she rattles the possibilities off her fingers, completely ignoring her contribution to the sudden quiet settling in the alley. the only thing that matters here is putting a stop to this garbage permanently.]

It's not really that important. Just finding whoever's pulling the strings and kicking his ass is enough to end shit like this.

[timecapture]

Knowing this place, it could be any of those things.

[She just especially hopes that it's not that last one. That would suck even more than the usual bullshit.]

I hope you're right.