( 004 » ENSEMBLE ) decay

[reveriemod]

» WHO? EVERYONE
» WHEN? August 1 - 31
» WHERE? the entire station
» WHAT? Characters begin suffering mysterious and varied symptoms. (More info can be found HERE.)
» WARNINGS? illness, body transformation, loss of limb, general body horror, blood, gore

0 0 1 » STAGE 1

Characters start suffering from a light fever. They’ll feel tired and achy, more inclined to bundle up in a warm sweater (if they have one) and drink tea or have chicken soup in bed than anything else. Unfortunately, the food fabricators still don’t provide the best comfort food.

Admittedly: some people are more affected than others. Some don’t seem to be affected at all.

0 0 2 » STAGE 2

For some characters, the fever will go away and they will feel fine for a brief period. It was probably just a cold, right? And then new symptoms set in: something dark and black spreads from their heart toward their extremities through their veins, making them stand out strongly. It hurts a little, or maybe a lot and no one knows what causes this or what it is that is spreading so darkly through their veins.

For some other characters, the fever will also go away and they will feel fine for a brief period before different symptoms set in: something hard starts spreading beneath their skin, making movements just a little more difficult for affected areas. The pain of this ranges from light discomfort to severe.

For yet other characters, the fever grows worse. They experience hallucinations of their extremities turning to dust, just the way it looks when someone arrives on or disappears from the station. They lose sensation in their extremities during those hallucinatory episodes, so if they reach out to touch something with a hand they think has disappeared, they’ll feel nothing. If they try to walk and then hallucinate their legs disappearing, they’ll stumble and fall to the floor.

0 0 3 » STAGE 3

For some characters, the blackness spreads and brings additional symptoms and worsening conditions with it: their skin starts to rot and fall off, toe or fingernails or entire toes or fingers might rot and fall off, wounds open that ooze a black and foul smelling, thick fluid dripping without looking to stop even if pressure is applied. It’s painful, and the open, infected looking wounds will not close, however much characters try to treat them.

Slowly, these characters’ bodies seem to rot and decay while they still live. For non-organic characters, it’s as if their wires are melting down, metals merging together and seeping through components.

For other characters, the hardness spreads and brings additional symptoms and worsening conditions with it: some of their joints may no longer move at all, their skin turning hard and impenetrable. Characters will also their sensory perception of affected limbs/surfaces, becoming unable to notice when someone touches them on an affected area. They may also lose any other sense if the infection spreads to their eyes, their ears, their mouths. Moving is slow, difficult, painful, until it becomes practically impossible. The noises their joints make seem robotic.

Slowly, these characters seem to turn into something else. Something hard and metallic, something unfeeling and impenetrable. Something inhuman?

For those who were still suffering from the fever, it seems like there is finally some good news: the fever lets up - but then affected characters find first their skin and increasingly the entirety of their body turning translucent and insubstantial. It will start with their skin and spread to the tissue beneath. One moment, they are able to see their own organs working, their heart pumping as their ribcage turns see-through… and a while later, well. Have you ever watched someone’s heart disappear? Now’s your chance.

It might reappear for a moment, as though flickering in and out of existence. It might disappear entirely. Slowly, these characters seem to fade from existence.

0 0 4 » STAGE 4

The tables turn as characters’ bodies gain ground in the fight to return back to normal, but some changes disappear sooner than others and some might even seem to be permanent.

0 0 5 » INVESTIGATION

What is wrong with you? What is wrong with everyone? What caused it and how can these symptoms be treated, halted, reversed?

Is there a cure or is it possible to at least understand what’s going on?

Comments

2

[adjy]

[ jyn is alarmed to come in and see the familiar form slouched over at the console. her steps don't make a sound, having shed her mag-boots for quieter options from home, and her scarf tickles at the bare skin of his throat as she leans over him to try and get him to wake, his shoulder in a tight grip. ]

Jim. [ she shakes him, biting into her lip at the black veining she sees. she's seen it on others. an epidemic, it would seem. ] Captain. You have to wake up.

Re: 2

[episodically]

But I don't wanna.

( so hey, at least he was still alive. that was a definite pro among a long list of cons.

it takes enormous effort to lever himself up to peer at her. she's blurry and a little sideways but he recognizes her. )

Only people that work for me call me Captain. Do you work for me?

[adjy]

[ her heart lurches in empathy, attempting to haul him up by his shoulders as gently as she can, leather gloves digging into the fabric of his jumpsuit. ]

Maybe right now I do. Medbay, now.

[episodically]

( jim tries to shake her off since he doesn't want her contracting any of this if it is the radiation sickness coming back to drag him back into the darkness. )

No. There's no doctor. What's a medbay going to do besides give me a place to lie down? I can do that in my room.

( or in the command center, apparently. )

[adjy]

There's medicine. And the beds have healing properties. [ her eyes implore him, squeezing his shoulder when he tries to dislodge her. ] It's worth a try, isn't it?

[episodically]

( oh, she needs to stop looking at him like that because it's hard to take. )

Fine. Help me --

( get there because he's not sure if he's going to make it without someone to lean on. )

Make sure I don't walk into space.

[adjy]

[ she looks at him for a moment, as if trying to discern how much help he actually needs. the way he wobbles when he tries to stand is evidence enough for her apparently because she's wrapping an arm securely around his middle, much stronger than her slim stature would suggest. ]

Come on. There will be absolutely no walking into space on my watch.

[episodically]

I don't -- I don't know if I should be this close to you though. What if I get you sick? What if I give you radiation?

( because that's what he thought this was. the return of the thing that killed him. )

I'd feel pretty bad.

( he would. he couldn't really articulate that when he felt as bad as he did but he would. )

[adjy]

Everyone on this station is ill in some capacity, if I catch it it won't be your fault.

[ she only holds onto him tighter, encouraging him to lean against her now. ]

Just focus on staying conscious. Can you do that for me?

[episodically]

I guess.

( his head lolls a bit and he lets it just against her shoulder for a few seconds before he realizes what he's doing and shakes himself, trying to focus and be more than just a hundred plus pounds of uselessness. )

Are you ill?

( she doesn't sound ill. doesn't look it either. )

[adjy]

I think my fever is broken, it seems I escaped the worst of this outbreak.

[episodically]

( how was that fair!!! )

I'm not supposed to get sick. I never get sick.

( except for the radiation but radiation would make anyone sick. )

Are we there yet? I really don't know if I can keep walking.

[adjy]

Well, you have now. [ her eyes crinkle in sympathy. ] Sorry, Jim.

[ she nudges his middle gently with her elbow, keeping them moving towards the elevator. ]

You can do this. It isn't that far.

[episodically]

Wait. Wait, I have to stop.

( he tugs himself away from her and stumbles, bracing a hand against the wall and doubling over, breathing hard and feeling that black death creep through him. this wasn't good.

he spits on the deck and doesn't even care. it's black anyway. )

Oh god.

[adjy]

[ she stops her brisk walk in its tracks, following after him with a hand on his back. the way he spits doesn't deter or disgust her, getting a better grip around his arm in case he should fall. ]

Let me know when you're ready to move again.

[episodically]

Why're you being so nice?

( not that she wasn't nice before but all things considered, he wouldn't have blamed her for staying away. )

Nothing better to do than hang around sick people?

[adjy]

[ jyn rubs his back a little in a way she means to be comforting, keeping her firm grip with her other hand on his arm. ]

We are only as strong as our weakest link here, Jim.

[episodically]

Are you calling me weak?

( of course he could find a way to be offended about that even when he felt like shit. never doubt him, boys and girls! )

[adjy]

[ wow, jim. she just barely holds back the eye-roll, but there's a definite look being shot his way. puh-lease. ]

Yes. Now stop it, we have to move.

[episodically]

Not so loud.

( he straightens up with a lot of effort, feeling that black shit oozing through him and making it hard to even focus. it was in his eyes, wasn't it? was it in his eyes? fuck. )

The medbay's not going to be able to help. I can feel this everywhere.

[adjy]

I'm not being loud.

[ but now he's concerned about his ears, glancing at them even while helping him to his feet. ]

Then we're going to your quarters.

[episodically]

Everything is too loud. Everything is awful!

( ordinarily, that would be dramatic but it really did feel like everything was awful. she was making him walk and all he wanted was to sit down and vomit. )

I can't keep moving.

( a streak of black blooms on his cheek and he winces, turning away from her and breathing noisily. )

[adjy]

[ she isn't strong enough to hold him up and his stubbornness sends her to the floor, hitting her knees hard. jyn grimaces, but doesn't complain even as anger sparks behind her gaze. ]

You're being childish. What would you do if a member of your crew was behaving in such a way?

[episodically]

Send them to the medbay where an actual doctor is.

( jim frowns at her before pulling away, trying not to pout at being called childish when he felt so bad. )

I'll do it myself. Go away.

[adjy]

[ he's got her there, but she hovers even as he pulls away from her, crouching over him now. ]

You can't do anything yourself, Jim. You're ill. Let me help you.

[ men and their pride. she's about through her patience with it. ]