hfm_logs | Gather Up Your Loved Ones, Gather Up Your Friends

Warnings: Nox. So many Nox. All of the Nox. And also violence.
Location: All over the city
Characters: Everyone, and also so many Nox. Did we mention Nox?
When: Not long after the repairs on the sinkhole start
Summary: People getting kidnapped by Nox. Yikes.

The repairs on the sinkhole have been going well, but somehow, the city hasn't been the same. There's a heaviness in the air, like a thunderstorm building on the horizon. The normal sounds of a city night have given way to hoots and howls of creatures. The Nox are restless at night and quiet during the day. The local people are opting to stay inside when they don't absolutely have to go out.

Something is coming. Something big.

Then it happens, on a unseasonably warm fall day. High noon and the streets start rumbling, the violent rattling of the manhole covers loud enough to drown out thought. Then, shadowy tentacles burst out the street from every underground entrance, blindly grabbing for whoever they can snatch, overpowering their unlucky victims and bodily dragging them into the nearest available manhole or sewer entrance. If you’re lucky, you get away. If not...enjoy your private tour of the unending blackness and horrifying whispers that is the sewers.

[OOC: Feel free to play out your character's kidnapping or reactions to the chaos however you want in this log! If you want an NPC Nox to react to, just let a mod know!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Away!" With the bulk of the mess up in the air and out of the way- it makes keeping the hole Casey's created a lot simpler. A few shoves here and there as they make a break for it. "High ground- second story of anything, far away from the windows. They don't seem to be reaching inside."

That means somewhere that didn't lock down when there was an emergency on, which in Casey's experience was nowhere. The apartment was probably too far away with all the tentacles, but maybe they could climb through a window if they had a distraction-

A cacophony of glass interrupted his thought process. A tentacle, writing in pain from Casey's fire, slammed into a building, the impact blowing out the glass of the windows and the sliding glass doors.

Well if there was ever a sign that they had a way in- Leonard slammed a hand up to slow the fall of glass around them, nudging Casey in that direction. "Go, go, go-"

Like the kid needed the reminder. Like he wasn't the one scrambling on the edge of panic.

He does go, weaving at speed between the shards that were still at face-level and scrambling through the broken doors. The lights inside flickered and most of what had been on shelves and desks was on the floor, but the way to the stairway was...well, they could climb over the furniture.

Give him a second- He can't move all of it but he can and does reach and pull, tugging a few chairs and bullshit out of the way- enough for Casey to scoot right on through. He'd have a bit of a squeeze but they'd get in. "Stick to the stairwell, there ain't any windows-"

Yeah, this is way better than climbing over stuff with his chest smarting the way it is.

"Gettin' pretty good at that," he says, because that's better than the thought that they could probably have fought them off if everyone was together. Unless they all got grabbed together. But then they could fight them all off together and-

The rumbling was still audible outside the stairwell, though muted, and all Casey could think of to say while he climbed to the second floor was a simple, sullen...

"This blows."

Nothing seems to be bursting in and Leonard can slump against the far wall to catch his breath. It'd been like what he'd seen before but-

Bigger. Meaner. Louder. Calming his ass back down is gonna take a second but Casey's succinct understatement wrings out a broken laugh. "Yeah. Yeah, kid, it blows. Thanks for sav'n me though."

That draws a grin out of him, a smile that comes from the same place that is convinced that Celestia isn't dead. He gently punches Bones's arm. "Anytime, bro."

But there are still other friends to worry about. "...You ain't seen anyone else, have you?"

He manages to roll his eyes, rubbing the bruise where his arm was for a moment before peering over at Casey. "...nah. Soon as the tentacles came out it felt like the street cleared right quick."

Or at least it seemed like that to him. "You?"

He draws in a shaky breath. "Yeah...Celestia. She got nabbed by one of those tentacles and dragged into the sewers."

And he couldn't stop it while it was happening, because he didn't figure that the bit grabbing her wasn't the part he needed to burn. And there was nothing he could do about it now, except...

"I gotta get down there and save her."

"Shit." Okay. They got at least one person in the sewers and-

Just thinking about going down there again has his pulse racing and his skin going cold, McCOy slumps back against the wall, pressing his hands to his face to try to steady himself and slow his breathing.

Right.

"Not alone. We'll do a check in, someone will, when this is over and the streets are clear. Go down organized but- I'm. I gotta stay up here."

Gather Up Your Loved Ones, Gather Up Your Friends

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