exploration mingle: branching out

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: exploration mingle: branching out
when: August 15 - October 15
where: the quarantine, the delta, the jungle, and the forest
warnings: threads may contain violence, body horror, and discussion of injuries and illness; please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

branching out

One of the major and most highly-valued cultural concepts in Riverview is that of exploration, expansion. Especially now that, with the recent influx of new arrivals, as the portal kicks into high gear for reasons not entirely known, the Inhabited City, already comfortably full, is rapidly becoming overpopulated. With all the refugees from other worlds pouring in from day to day, the city's safe space and resources are being taxed to their breaking point.

Right now, exploration and expansion is key, and the government is really focusing on exploration objectives, in order to unite citizens in expanding, securing, and supplying the city for everyone's benefit.

the story so far

Exploration & Expansion Progress Report ● Plotting & Questions ● Reward Submissions ● First Teams

It's normal to see drop-ships hovering in the sky over the Quarantine, of course, since the city is not self-sufficient just yet, and receives regular shipments of supplies, technology, merchandise, food, books, movies, and all sorts of other things from the Capital World. However, the number of drop-ships coming down has recently started to triple in frequency.

On August 10th, an announcement started being run on the Quarantine's networks, television stations, and on digital display boards throughout the city explaining the situation - Mayor Dichard explained in an official mayoral address that the Quarantine is in the process of taking in refugees from a planet in the solar system which recently became uninhabitable due to a massive natural disaster. Hundreds of people are flooding the city, and many of them are wounded, sick, or otherwise in acute distress.

How is a city already stretched to the limit for population capacity going to handle all these new arrivals...?

how it works

● ADDITIONAL OOC INFO: The refugee aliens are called the Frysh; they are humanoid mammalian and have a similar internal physiology to humans, however, they look somewhat insectoid, with mandibles, slightly shiny skin that is smoother and harder to the touch than human skin, and delicate wings that aren't capable of carrying the weight of the body (they cannot fly). Their skin ranges from pale to dark gray, and they have mottled or spotted/freckled markings in a wide variety of warm earth tones on their faces, necks, backs, and the outside of the thighs; their blood is dark rusty brown and slightly more viscous than human blood; eye colors are very widely varied. Average height is 6 feet, and doesn't vary based on sex (the species has male/female/neutral). The aging process is similar to that of humans, and refugees come in all ages. The species is very high-tech, but the tech is mostly related to entertainment rather than weaponry, medical, etc. as the planet the species lived on was quite utopian and basic needs were always taken care of by tech that was left on the planet when it was destroyed.

● Phases: Each prompt is a different phase of the operation. Characters may partake in whichever part of the operation they choose, whether it is a large and prominent part, or a more of a backseat or support role. Characters may participate in as many phases as they wish.

● Completion: When the next exploration mingle goes up, the mission featured on this exploration mingle will be considered complete, and game canon, providing the entry has 200+ comments on it.

● Thread Rewards: For this mingle, I have created five different items as rewards - two for the first prompt, and three for the remaining three. Any character participating in a completed thread with at least one other character, for any phase prompt by October 15 will be able to pick a keyword corresponding to one of these rewards when they submit the thread at the link above. Every character participating in a completed thread will be eligible to receive an item. Completed threads must take place on this entry.
ETA August 20th: New characters who complete a thread on August's Test Drive meme with the Tent City prompt, and who are accepted into the game are also eligible for a thread reward for Phase I only.

● Entry Reward: The reward for completion of this month's exploration objective will be expansion of the City, a more reliable electrical and power grid, and some new setting features as the Inhabited City grows in size.

phase i: tent cities

Unfortunately, this influx of refugees is going to be causing a serious overpopulation problem - for now, since it is summer, the new arrivals will be housed in makeshift tent cities set up in Riverview Central Park as well as other smaller parks around the city, any spare empty lots, along the banks of the river, and in a few of the sports fields. The resources of the city are going to be taxed to their limit, and while the Capital World will be contributing funds and helping to get together building supplies, Riverview's intrepid citizens are going to have to find ways to supply more space to build shelters for the refugees, and more power to supply the electrical grid in the city.

However, it's not just the explorers that are able to help out with this particular problem. Any citizen who wishes is more than welcome to attend the tent cities where makeshift field hospitals have been set up with as many medical amenities as possible. While serious and life-threatening injuries or illnesses are taken to the Riverview Hospital, people who need first aid or more minor or moderate tending can attend the field hospitals and recover in their temporary homes. Volunteers are requested to help with many different tasks - medical staff to help heal the injured and ill, anyone capable to cook and serve at soup kitchens, members of the Perimeter Guard, police, or other capable fighters to secure the tent cities and make sure there's no violence or theft happening, and drivers and laborers to help bring supplies from the drop-ships and other parts of the city to keep the tent cities supplied. Of course, there are going to be a lot of other jobs that come up on the fly, so everyone is welcome.

phase ii: the delta

With fall rapidly approaching, and with it the colder weather, it's urgent that housing is set up for these new arrivals, and with new housing comes a need for more electricity. The electrical grid is already stretched to its limits with the current population in the city, and is essentially being held together with duct tape and hope - with all these new arrivals and their needs, there's no way the current grid can handle it.

Thankfully, during a recent exploratory fly-over, an electrical installation set in one of the massive waterfalls near the edge of the Abandoned City was noted. While at the time it seemed too far away from established civilization to risk a large expedition, things have changed with the new influx of refugees, and the installation seems like the best hope to bring more energy into the city. Characters who participate in Phase II will be taking watercraft down the river to the delta just above the waterfalls, finding the installation, and checking to see if it can be restored to functionality so the power it generates from the waterfall can be used in the city.

The dangers faced by people taking on Phase II will be primarily related to the long trek needed to get to the installation, down the river - a relatively straight-forward, old fashioned adventurous exploration mission. While using watercraft will help speed up the process, the river is heavily populated by monsters and predators who have flourished in the absence of civilization. Expect mutated piranhas, crocodiles, carnivorous fish, and just about anything else that lives in or near a river to try to take a swipe at the teams making their way to the installation. Once inside the installation, there will be the hazards associated with a damp building that hasn't been used by people in over a decade - it's in poor repair, will have structural damage, and the likely-malfunctioning tech means that electricity and water are almost guaranteed to meet at some point. This prompt would be well-suited to engineers, skilled laborers/construction workers, and fighters; people who can fix the damage to the installation and those who can protect everyone along the way.

For any thread completed under this prompt, whether or not characters made it to the delta, all participating characters will receive rewards.

phase iii: the jungle

The second line of exploration will be into the jungle north of the city, where fly-overs have located a series of skyscrapers and flat ground, overgrown with plant life and obviously left empty since quite a while before the Abandoned City was left behind. Despite being long abandoned, however, the buildings and land seem to be pretty well-preserved and would be usable with a bit of work and maybe a touch of magic. With the flat area cleared out, it would make a perfect helipad for transport and with a temporary fence that could be easily built up after the area is cleared, this could be the start of a smaller city that could eventually be connected by transit or cleared land and fences with the Quarantine proper! Adding this extra space would easily house all the refugees and some of the excess population from the Quarantine, which would be a major advantage for everyone in the city.The government wastes no time in dispatching teams from the Perimeter Guard and welcoming the inclusion of regular citizens with a taste for exploration, to head out into the jungle and see whether this could be a viable solution.

But why would what looks like such an easy area to inhabit have been left alone and outside city walls for so long?

Well, exploratory teams will soon find out - as they make their way through the jungle toward the buildings, characters will start to notice that the animals and monsters in the jungle are getting increasingly...strange. Rather than otherworldly creatures that still make sense, they look like weird, mutated combinations of animals, a mashup of teeth and eyes and fur and scales and claws that don't belong together. As the teams move further, they'll start to notice that some of these creatures are taking on plant-like qualities as well, vines winding into flesh and extending like tentacled appendages from monsters that are increasingly larger and more misshapen. After a point, they're almost incomprehensible blobs of melded flesh and plant life that can't move, can only sit and snap or swipe or grasp for prey.

It isn't just the monsters either. The trip out to the skyscrapers will take at least four days on foot for the fastest and fittest people in the Quarantine, and going by foot is the only way to get there, considering there's no cleared space large enough to land craft, and due to the unknown nature of the area around the skyscrapers, magic is not to be used to travel there. Day One of the trip will be pretty normal, aside from the surroundings starting to get weird, but on Day Two, characters will start to feel and see changes. Whether they're taking on physical traits of other members of their teams, or the creatures and plants around them, they will start to subtly change, whether it's eye or hair color, scales or claws or even superpowers or abilities, they'll start to 'trade' traits with people and creatures around them. On Day Three, it gets significantly worse, with characters starting to meld together with animals and plants around them, becoming more and more amalgamated with the world around them, whether it's vines under their skin or growing a tail, or any combination. By Day Four, characters will be experiencing intense changes to the very fabric of themselves, their physical bodies morphing and twisting into things that are completely alien while their minds stay mostly the same.

The level of transformation experienced and the amount of physical pain and damage that the transformation causes to individual characters is up to player discretion, and characters that feel unable to handle the effects of the jungle route are more than welcome to turn back whenever they want. However, if any teams make it to the skyscrapers they will find that the buildings are inhabitable and the area would be easily cordoned off with fences, though the buildings are covered with mosses, fungi, and leafy herbs that seem unaffected by the mutations. Teams will find that as they turn back toward the city, the effects wear off as they leave the area, in exact reverse to how they appeared.

For any thread completed under this prompt, whether or not characters made it to the skyscrapers, all participating characters will receive rewards. The first team that makes it to the skyscrapers, collects samples of the fungi and moss, and makes it back to the city should respond in this thread to receive the "solution" to what is happening in the area and how the area can become inhabitable.

phase iv: the forest

The jungle isn't the only option for new areas to inhabit. The same fly-over expedition covered the deciduous forest to the south of the Quarantine, and discovered a sprawling, walled compound, overgrown with thick, lush vegetation. The compound seems to have its own water sources, an orchard, garden areas, and places to keep farm animals, as well as ample space where wild game can roam - just about any herbivorous creature you can imagine seems to have found a home here.

The most important part? Despite looking like plain old tall, thick stone walls that could easily be stomped down by some of the bigger predators in the woods, they are obviously doing their job. There isn't a single break in the walls and despite being in ill repair, the whole area looks pretty safe. On top of that, it's big enough to house the refugees and then some in relative comfort and self-sufficiency, enough that they could easily survive long enough to build a safe method of transport out to the compound so residents there could access the city with ease.

Just like the jungle skyscrapers, though, one wonders why no one is living there anymore. Unlike the jungle, however, the day-long trip out to the compound is relatively uneventful. Besides the usual predators in the area, there's nothing untoward, no unspeakable horror like what's going on in the jungle. At least, not until the team makes their way to the compound and opens the heavy gate to let themselves inside. Once they're there and exploring to make sure the area is safe to inhabit (a task that will take at least four days considering the amount of ground covered by the compound) is when strange things start happening.

It starts on Day One, with team members noticing strange apparitions out of the corners of their eyes. Like ghosts, they flit in and out of peripheral vision, make the sound of footsteps behind the person on night watch, touch an explorer's shoulder from behind when they're not looking, and immediately disappear when looked at directly. On Day Two, the apparitions will start to stick around longer, and look familiar, with explorers seeing things that trigger bad feelings, like fear or anger or grief. By Day Three the apparitions will be an almost constant presence, hovering around, visible to everyone, exposing the worst of every member of the team - images of dead loved ones, the scent of perfume or death, the sounds of an explorer's most guilty memory, all of it is there, ready to expose their darkest secrets to everyone around them. On Day Four, the apparitions will start to become more than that, physically attacking characters, enticing them blindly into dangerous places, and otherwise trying to kill them.

The types of apparitions experienced and the amount of exposure of dark secrets is up to player discretion, and characters who are unable to handle the events unfolding are more than welcome to leave and go back to the city. Teams that remain in the compound and explore for the full four days will eventually find a building near the center of the compound, with heavily riveted metal doors that have the words "Central Hub" spray paint stenciled on them and complicated electronic deadbolt locks.

For any thread completed under this prompt, whether or not characters made it to the Central Hub, all participating characters will receive rewards. The first team that makes it to the Central Hub and gets the doors open (in whatever way possible) should respond in this thread to receive the "solution" to what is happening in the area and how the area can become inhabitable.

phase v: wildcard

Have an idea for a mission-adjacent plot, or want to make up an unexpected plot twist or problem and solve it with your character? Just write up a starter, and don't forget to give yourself credit by submitting it for the Progress Report.

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: Daniel Gstir; image ii: Steven Cormann; image iii: Tom Nemeth

navigation

Comments

[nobasisinfact]

"There's nothing wrong with flannel." His comment is flat and dismissive of the thing in front of them. He refused to give it power the way he did when he was young. This was the fire and the demons on the wall. If you ignored it you wouldn't have the power to affect you.

The question hardly took him by surprise. Of course, she'd ask that. She'd always ask that. Instead of answering yes or no he simply brushed her further behind him. "There's probably some sort of hallucinogenic plant that grows this deep in the forest."

That was when the clapping started. Slow and methodical and, somehow, sarcastic.

[11calls]

It wasn't the flannel that was the issue, and they both knew it. Instead it was the time period of him in flannel and when he was at his worst (and Alex was at her worst as well, she couldn't deny that) but when he was driven mad by the conspiracy and Coralee and everything like that. It was the most out of control she'd ever seen him and they both knew it.

He could try and move her further behind him, but of course Alex was going to stand her ground next to him. There was no way that she wasn't going to do that. Being at the center of this with him met being at the center with him, side by side and facing down the thing that was her nightmares made flesh, and watching her with hungry eyes. Because whatever else, the Helvetian seemed to have eyes just for Alex, which was more than little terrifying.

The thing seemed to be laughing at her, and laughing at them as it repeated her name in that baby-crying way, but she couldn't help but look away from it and towards the sound of that sarcastic clapping. That couldn't be good. "We need to go, Richard," she whispered almost out of the side of her mouth. "We need to go!"

[nobasisinfact]

The tall Pauls he could ignore, the manifestation of the Helvation too; it was that clapping, the movements and sound seeming to contain a very specific resonance in his mind. For the first time since the demon's appearance, he turned to look directly in the direction of the sound.

It was at that moment that a very familiar and once dubbed 'sexy James Bond' casually strolled between two of the demons lurking in the shadows, still clapping.

"Richard, Alex." He looks at them both in turn. "I didn't expect to see you until Geneva. Yes, we know you're coming. We have something very special ready for you, us and our, friends." His smirk looks impossibly wide as he glances toward the Helvation. A not so subtle threat, or a promise. Richard finally began to back up, trying to move Alex with him. "That won't work Richard. We'll all still be here, waiting, in Geneva."

"Alex, go. I'll be right behind you." Richard's eyes were fixed on Warren, but he kept the Helvation in the corner of them.

Warren simply laughed. "Forcing another lover to abandon you, Richard? That's almost sad."

"Shut up." The words held more venom than Alex had probably heard in a while. "You're not even here." It was the first time that Richard addressed the hallucinations, and only Thomas Warren could make him do that. He didn't even bother to ask Alex if she saw him. Of course, she did. They were sharing hallucinations.

[11calls]

Alex was scared of Warren, of course because there was no way that she couldn't not be considering the amount of power that he yielded within their world, but the fear that she had for him had been tempered by things, not the least of which was the fact that the last time she had seen him, she had taunted him and told him in no few words to go fuck himself. Even in the face of his threats. But that was before the demon in her bedroom.

And that was before the Helvation was standing there in front of her. Dark eyes were kept on the looming and vibrating shadow of the hairy demon, even as Warren addressed her. Oh, it couldn't be Warren and Alex knew that it couldn't, but it sounded exactly like him, and made the same sort of panic deep in her stomach. Still, he was right about one thing, and that was something that he would always be right about.

"No. I'm not leaving you. Not ever." Her voice was firm, even with the sharpness of her fear inside of it. Her eyes left the Helvetian for a moment, looking to Richard's as he addressed Warren like that. She hadn't heard his voice like that since before their fight, if it had been even then.

But then the Helevatian was speaking to Alex once more, and it made her gasp. "She will leave in Geneva, Strand. She will die so you will open the door. Alex Reagan knows that she will die."

[nobasisinfact]

For a moment Richard's eyes shift to Alex when the Helvation mentions that she knows she's going to die. These are figments of their imagination, illusions speaking the words that they keep deep to themselves. It's why Warren is saying what he is now, it's why the Tall Pauls are creeping in as if they've been invited. It's why the Helvation is saying what it is now - because it really is what Alex believes.

Warren seems to take the opportunity to move closer. "Coralee was wonderful at her task you know, she took every last bit of hope out of you." Turning, he glances at Alex. "It's almost a shame we'll have to get rid of Alex, but then again, you're the one who brought her into all this."

This time Richard stepped forward, closer to the figment of the man he hated. His eyes were as hard as the first time Alex had seen them together, staring him down with a cold hatred. Moments like this, when the words the figment were saying were so real, seemed so much like what Warren would really say, really be planning, made it hard to remember that right now, he really was just a figment. What came out next was something he never wanted anyone else to see, not anymore. It was born of pure hated and anger. "Lay a hand on Alex Reagan and I'll destroy you." There was no question in his mind that he would. That he'd destroy the whole world to keep her safe. To Richard, there were very few things that mattered, and Alex was on the top of the list.

[11calls]

“No I don’t.” The word was whispered to both herself and to Richard when he looked at her. She may have been pretty sure of it once and she knew it was a possibility now but she refused to accept it as a certainty. Honestly Alex Reagan didn’t believe in certainties or black and white anymore. Everything around them was shades of grey including whatever happened when they got there. Besides they had other things to worry about right now.

Other things and other threats and right now Thomas Warren felt more like a threat than anything else. Hearing Richard like that was as worrying as he probably knew it was or at least as much as he expected it to be and if there’s one thing that it’s easier for Alex to do it’s to focus on himself and his well-being than her own.

But she doesn’t say what she needs to say to warren. Instead Alex just says it him because these are her fears and those are his too. “You didn’t drag me into this, Richard. None of it. Eleven calls remember? Or twenty-three? I dragged myself in. This isn’t your fault!"

Despite Alex trying to ignore what's happening, they're not alone and their fears are still manifesting around them, and the harsh and sharp voice of the Helvation came through once more. "It's yours, Alex. He wouldn't be in such danger if you hadn't put him into it. Look what you do to him, Alex Reagan. Simon warned you and you didn't listen. You just take people, Alex and destroy them. Look what you've done to him. Look what you've done to Maddie Franks and so many others falling from the trail that you've blazed for your story..."

[nobasisinfact]

For the first time, Richard addressed the Helvation's words. "Maddie Franks made her own choice. All of them did." The words were just as much for Alex as they were to the Helvation. Maddie Franks and all the others, every single person who had died while they were looking into the black tapes had been because of their own choices. Some would have looked for clues to try to save the life that they thought they had forfeited, some would have continued ruining the lives of children by causing panic in their parents. No matter the words these figments were stating, Alex had certainly caused more help than harm.

Besides, she had helped him learn the truth about Coralee and be able to tell Charlie what had happened to her mother. It was something he would always be thankful for.

"Such cute sentiments, even though you know she doesn't feel the same. That it's your fault that she's taken on the burden of" Warren's voice drops as if he's chiding a baby, "So much death" Then it returns to normal, "because of you, because of that dogged obsession with finding a woman who abandoned you and your deal little girl." He lets out a puff of a laugh as if a thought that just occurred to him seemed funny. "It really is amusing, how malleable you are. How much those emotions you hide make you vulnerable and predictable."

[11calls]

For Alex, there would be still some part of her that would never relinquish the blame for what happened. Not to Maddie Franks, not really because she was one of the people who was doing harm to kids, but for the fact that they'd not found the Hochmans despite the body of their housekeeper in her living room with walls that had too much blood on them. And Keith Dabbage with someone else wearing his face because of the Unsound, and whatever had happened to Amalia when she just came back wrong... Those things Alex would always blame herself for.

Especially Amalia.

Alex felt like she was having a hard time breathing right now, honestly though she couldn't say if it was fear or if it was the stench of all of the demons that were surrounding them. Demons and the scent of Warren's cologne that somehow smelled as freshly applied as it had during the day she'd met him and he'd stolen her glasses and wiped her phone.

It was easier for Alex to facedown Warren than the Helvetian, by miles and she was bolstered by the fact that she'd already done it before. It was also easier because these were Richard's fears and if there's one thing that Alex Reagan always attempted to do, it was allay his fears. "It's no one's fault but mine. God knows no one can control my actions, not Nic not Richard and not you. Emotions are good and you're just a stupid bastard who forgot how people worked."

And then with all of the force that her father had taught when she started high school and hadn't grown any more, Alex balled up her fist and punched Warren (or whatever the fuck he was) squarely in the nose.)

[nobasisinfact]

Alex's words weren't lost on Richard, nor was the fact that she was essentially saying them to him without realizing it - or realizing it and feeling that he had to hear it. What did surprise him was the punch.

Thomas Warren wasn't exactly the type of person you punched. Real or hallucination. He could hear the Helvation laughing as Warren actually went down, and his hand went to Alex's as he started moving in a backward direction. He didn't want to see what his mind thought Warren would do when someone physically assaulted him.

[11calls]

Alex was surprised when Richard grabbed her, mostly because she'd been about to kick Warren while he was down in the same way that she had kicked the man who had kidnapped her. She'd kicked that bastard good and hard and until he hadn't gotten back up, and he'd just broken her ribs and kidnapped her. This was Warren who had tried to break her Richard, and there was no way in hell that she could let that stand. Not here, not now, and not at home.

The Helevation laughed once more, and the Tall Men covered in closer to them as they tried to leave. She was shaking, but she gripped his hand tightly, because getting the fuck out of there seemed like the safest thing that they could possibly be doing. "Oh Alex," the Helvation murmured softly. "Always going on emotion and never thinking things through. You're going to be the death of him someday if you don't stop. But then again, you've never been able to help yourself, have you?"

[nobasisinfact]

Warren didn't stay down long, he simply rolled over to his back and propped himself up on his elbows a moment, laughing. "She has spirit, Richard. You do fall for impressive women. It's a shame they all end up being pawns. Because of you, you know. It's all your own fault." He begins to stand to his feet as Richard quickens his steps. Once Warren is back on his feet, who knows what he'll try to do to them, to Alex.

Warren feels his jaw, testing its flexibility and movement. It was, after all, a good punch. "If you had just followed the path we set for you, been a good little knight and stayed in your place. Well," The smile on Warren's face seemed impossibly wide as the Tall Pauls seemed to creep closer, "Things would have been better for everyone, wouldn't it. Although I'm sure my friend isn't upset by it. He's getting such an attractive host."

The more Warren talked the stronger Richard's pushing became. Trying to get Alex away from all this, from what he knew were both of their fears and thoughts manifested as hallucinations.

[11calls]

Alex was keeping up with him as best she could, and she tried to ignore the way that she could swear that she felt the Tall Men touching her skin. Shivering from deep in her core, Alex was trying to remember everything that Lizzie had taught her about strength and reflexes, and she lamented the fact that they'd not really gotten into fighting. Punching Thomas Warren (or the representation created by his mind anyway) had been a bit of a suckerpunch, born more of her father's teachings than Lizzies. She didn't think she'd get the chance again.

But she was still listening to Warren, even as they tried to run, and for her it almost felt like the two of them were running in place. Warren's voice was right there and the words laid heavily on her. Gritting her teeth, she managed to get out "I'm not anyone's pawn!" It wasn't a shout, but she was sure that he would have heard her. Both of them would have heard her. There was no way they couldn't.

However when she looked up, Alex screamed. The helvation that should be behind them was now in front of them, and she jerked on Richard's hand to get him to stop before he ran into it. Touching it was bad. Bad and terrible and the thing might come out and get him. "Get him," it hissed, "or get you, Alex? You don't even know do you? And it doesn't really matter to you. You think you'll stop it. You think Simon's right, but what if he's wrong. What if you are just something to be fridged in your charming words? Maybe this isn't your story Alex, and that was your place all along. Another tragic romance for a tragic man who needs to be broken."

[nobasisinfact]

Richard did his best to move in front of Alex. The woman wasn't exactly the sort to be protected, but at the moment that the creature had moved in front of them he realized that there was a higher likelihood that the Helvation was more dangerous than Warren. What Richard's mind could think up for Warren, Alex's could think of a hundred worse things for that creature to do.

And it was Richard's turn, fists balling into tight balls, and Richard did know how to throw a punch, something he hadn't done in years, but it wasn't that hard when the creature in front of you was a halucination. When you could move it by concentrating on exactly how you wanted it to move. When you stayed completely calm. Something Richard was good at, and something that was far easier when you've been dealing with creatures like this and the shadowy figures your whole life.

"Get. Out. Of. The. Way." His words were very much like when he'd told Warren that he would ruin him, and he was more than ready to punch it again. To force himself to completely and wholeheartedly believe that he had some sort of idiotic psychic powers so that he could beat the hell out of this thing and get Alex out of there.

[11calls]

Alex's heart was in her throat when he moved in front of her and let go of her hand, and she shouted, "Richard, stop." Because oh god she didn't want him to touch it, and she didn't want it to do anything like cling to him like it did in her nightmares, a sludge that never stopped trying to get her, that never stopped. She whimpered when he punched it, the sound completely involuntary and laced with all of the fear that was clenching around her heart.

And then there was the very purposeful sound of a stick breaking behind them, the sort of sound that haunted in scary movies and bad dreams, and Alex whirled her way towards it, her back against his when Warren was right there directly in front of her, and close enough to touch her. He had done it deliberately, broken that stick and Alex knew it, her rational mind was attempting to remind her that this wasn't real and this was just to scare her, but it was cut off by the sound of that same slow clapping as before.

"Well done, Richard," the words were filled with a bemused irony, but spoke for Alex's benefit. "We always wondered what it would have taken for you to admit that you had the psychic powers that you've always had. And apparently all it takes is for Alex Reagan's life to be in danger. Which is exactly what we needed to know. The people you love, Richard..." Warren took a step closer and reached out and caught Alex's chin so he was speaking in her face. "They're always going to be the perfect bait for you, before you destroy them in some way. How long do you think you've got, Alex?" Jerking her chin away, she threw a punch at him again, but this time he dodged it.

[nobasisinfact]

Richard doesn't hesitate when he pulls Alex flush against him, all while answering Warren. "You, all this isn't real. It has nothing to do with psychic powers, it's understanding the restrictions of the situation." A fact that he demonstrated by shoving Warren back against a tree without even touching him.

"This isn't real Alex, you can manipulate the situation just as much as they can. It's all part of your mind." He wasn't sure that Alex could push through the fear of the situation, that she had the same deep-rooted hatred of this man and the mind games that he played. A hatred of all of this that clarified the fear he had for her safety. But she could try.

[11calls]

She was shaking, when he held her against him, she was shaking and she was paler than he'd ever seen her, and her dark eyes were so wide the white was visible all the way around the pupils. But she wasn't unfocused, she wasn't hyperventilating, and she wasn't crying. Those were bonus points in her estimation at least, and she is biting her lip in her effort to focus on what it was that he was saying. It wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real.

But there were very very few people in the world that Alex Reagan actually hated. Honestly, before she met Richard people who she'd personally hated were few and far between. It was a list that was small and for the most part, they were people that Alex generally considered alright to exist. There definitely people in her orbit now who she considered not alright to exist. And honestly the one that was the worst (and who was a figment of her partner's imagination at current) was just pushed into a tree.

"It's not real," the words are soft, mirrors of his own but spoken without the same sort of certainity that Strand's had. More than once (or a hundred times even) Alex had wished that she'd had Strand's certainity to keep her safe, and now she was wishing that even more so as the Helvation was so close to them again. Trying to focus, to push it aside as much as Richard had done with Warren, Alex couldn't do it, even with an added extra push of her hand. The Helvation laughed. "Of course you can't do it, Alex. There's nothing special or supernatural about you. You just happened to get very very lucky. But luck doesn't hold out forever. You may have escaped before, because of luck or Nic or something else, but you're time is running out."

[nobasisinfact]

Richard made sure to grip her hand tight. In truth, now that he knew how to handle the situation he would generally be his normal calm and callous self, but Alex was still terrified. There was no way that he could do that and let her frighten herself to death. He kept her lose, talking over her ear so she was forced to concentrate on what he was saying (provided she wasn't distracted by how alluring she seemed to think his voice was).

"They're not real. This entire scenario was created by some plant out here. It's just your mind playing on your fears."

Warren just laughed from his tree imprint, but somehow, he looked worse for ware. "Cute, Richard, but I don't think it'll work. Alex is far too controlled by her emotions."

[11calls]

"Shut up," Alex practically growled, but it wasn't to him. No, it was to the Warren-shaped imprint in the three. "There's nothing wrong with being controlled by your emotions!" Being controlled by your emotions meant that they gave Alex more than a little bit of a boost when it took in her anger, and right now she was furious. She was furious that this was happening, furious that this was stripping their secrets from them and furious that they were too far away for help to reach them quickly. Or for them to get back out of this sooner rather than later.

The rage against Warren wasn't new, and Alex was trying to focus on Richard's voice in her ear, because right now wasn't a time to be alluring or distracting. No, more than that this wasn't Richard's voice that she was hearing. It was Dr. Richard Strand who equated the world into binary codes of ones and zeroes, and who gave her the word of apophenia and who was now giving her the idea that this was a plant.

"But you know ghosts are real here, Alex. They've been before and they will be again. Why not demons?" The Helvation sounded closer now, and it was crowding them, trying to talk over what Richard was saying. "And you know that he wishes you weren't so emotional just like..."

"Shut up!" Using that emotion, Alex wretched her hand from his and flung it towards the Helvation, sending it towards another tree, were it skipped like a stone.

[nobasisinfact]

Her action made Richard smirk. Alex, for all her emotion and guilt, was one of the strongest women he'd ever met (not that he would ever tell her that). While she wore her emotions all over her sleave, could also use them as weapons, like she was doing now. "Keep reminding yourself that they aren't real. Once we get away from whatever is causing the hallucinations they'll go away."

Richard's voice was strong and confident. He knew he was right. Neither he nor Alex had any sort of extrasensory powers. No one did because they weren't real. This was all about controlling your own mind and using it as a weapon against the fears that welled deep within you.

"Coralee." Warren happily finished for the Helvation. "She really was perfect, wasn't she? Poisoning all your happy memories now that you know the truth. I couldn't have thought of a better torture for you myself."

"Alex, we're going." It wasn't a request for permission, and without asking he took her hand and began walking in the direction they had come.

[11calls]

Honestly, if there was anyone that Alex thought was perfect (and there wasn't, not anyone she could think of. There were people who were perfectly suited for one another, like her and Richard, but the idea of a person being perfection didn't actually exist) it definitely wasn't Coralee Strand, which was of course something that Warren (and Richard) would know. Knew intimately even, just given the tones that she'd used to discuss the woman both on the show and outside of it.

But she moved with Richard, trying to ignore the hauntings that they shared as they moved behind them to in front, as if they'd never been sent away. Molding to his side, Alex tried to keep her head down and not engage, and her lips were moving silently. It wasn't quite a prayer, not really, but it was close enough for the agnostic. She was just repeating that this was apophenia and that they couldn't hurt them. Couldn't hurt them and they'd get away.

But then there was a new figure, and a new voice to go along with it, and it was blocking their way. It was a voice that Alex had only heard once over a voicemail. He sounded like his son, even with the same sort of pauses when Howard Strand said softly, "you can go, but you can't change who you are, Richard."

[nobasisinfact]

At the sound of his father's voice, Richard stopped dead in his tracks. His free hand balled into a fist as his other gripped Alex's tightly. There was so much that he could say, so much he wanted to say, but Alex was here. He wasn't alone with the man who'd made him the way he was. Who'd been a horrible and absent father. The man who had set things in motion that Richard still didn't understand to this day.

Yes, there could have been things that he could have said, but all that came out was cold and bitter enough to almost cut deep into anyone. "You're not here, and we're going."

[11calls]

“I’ve never really been there for the past twenty years, Richard and yet I always am.” The words were spoken softly and there was no change in the ghost’s expression even if there was the mocking laugh from Warren behind them, much closer than Alex would like.

Keeping his hand wrapped in her own and matching Strand’s painful grip with equal pressure, Alex just moved quickly glad that her and Lizzie had reached the point in her training where her reflexes were quicker. Quicker and more accurate and she reached out and punched Howard as hard as she could with her other hand.

“Go away.” The words were a hiss. “Just stay the hell away from him. You’ve done enough.” There were certain things that Alex would fight a demon for if she had too and Richard not dealing with this monster was one of them.

[nobasisinfact]

Richard's eyes widen at the punch. It was a reaction even he hadn't had toward his father. In fact, there was no wish of violence toward him. He was, after all, one of the many reasons why they would undoubtedly end up in Geneva.

It took him a moment to regain his bearings before he was pulling her again. He wasn't about to let any of these hallucinations get the better of them.

[11calls]

Alex was shaking with fear and anger, but she let him pull her along with him. There was some idea that she should drop her pack but doing so would mean that she would be abandoning her recorder and that wasn’t something that she would ever do. The world could be ending and Alex would still be there with her recorder.

"I am never going into the woods again, I swear." The words are hissed through grit teeth, and offered almost a little bit like a prayer.