[LAIR TASK] A Certain Kind of Sadness [Mort/Ren]

[medigel]

OOC

[ Task of War: ] The Feud
This task requires a group of AT LEAST two initiated members (students or Horsemen), to a max of five members. They may go anywhere in the Human World using the portal catacombs in the Lair. These catacombs lead to small human world towns only. All players must follow these steps to successfully create a blight and then harvest the Fear the battle that results from this

gaia_crown [ Step 1: ]

- You reach a peaceful town, and there seems to be absolutely nothing wrong with the town yet. It is time for you to take reins (ahem) in this town. First you must give them all a reason to fight each other. Only when the battle has stirred can you harvest the most Fear from their hatred and paranoia. War can be violent but first, it must start out small, controlled, like building a fire before it spreads

Roll a 100-sided dice. You may do as many times as you want, you are creating SUSPICION AND PARANOIA. Once your paranoia level has hit over 20 paranoia points you are ready for the next step. Rp out your results as you roll.
- A humans CAN BE NPCED that means you can rp as many "humans" as you want, including dialogue, etc etc
- War clan members start the team off with an automatic +5 paranoia points

1- 20: You see two lovers nearby, at a lake. They leave their oddly coloured metallic mount at the side. You quickly destroy their mount, watching as the couple return and begin to blame each other. Simpletons. +1 paranoia points
21- 40: You see a group of humans at a camping site. You quickly destroy their belongings, their tiny cloth home perhaps, or their metallic mounts. The group slowly and surely dissolves into chaos as they get angry at each other for taking and trashing things. +2 paranoia points
41 - 60: You see a crowd of humans waiting for something. You whisper words to the humans in line. They should be first. Why are they waiting. The crowd quickly dissolves into chaos. +2 paranoia points
61 -80: You see a small, tiny, fluffy creature that resembles a foxfire. You try to instill paranoia to it. It simply yaps and is annoying and does nothing else +0 paranoia points
81 - 100: You see what looks like a nearby school. You quickly do what you do best: kill one of the school wardens and sling their body for all those in the school to see. They are terrified. +3 paranoia points.

gaia_crown [ Step 2: ] - AFTER THE GROUP TOTAL IS OVER 20 POINTS.

Chaos and paranoia now reign supreme. It looks like humans are already fighting amongst themselves. This is the easy part, all you have to do is reap the rewards, and make sure that they do NOT resolve their actions. Resolving actions would mean that you get no fear.

Roll one 6-sided dice: Each player can only do this TWO TIMES MAX. Rp out your horsemen watching the humans engage in war.

- For each 1 OR 6 rolled, the humans have successfully resolved their actions. (No Fear points for this set of humans)
- For each 2 or 3 rolled, the humans have successfully fought and killed themselves, you can +1 Fear point
- For each 4 or 5 rolled, the humans have fought and not only that, they have spread their quarrel to other humans. This is a huge success. +2 Fear points

Tall YOUR OWN ROLL RESULTS from this step. This is the amount of Fear Points you have gained from this.

 

[medigel]

He didn't want to do this task again. Jack, but he would have given his right arm if he could avoid both this and the reaping forevermore. At least with the blight and virus quests the damage was done indirectly for the most part - but in War and Death it required a more direct and active Iniatiate, one unafraid to kill for the cause. These were things Mort had not been before and was still struggling to mold himself into in hopes that by swallowing his own moral dilemmas he might make the job easier.

Then again, he had also thought it was a brilliant idea to wipe away the memory of human blood with more human blood. Desensitizing was much, much harder than he ever would have imagined.

But he had to tell himself ithat he was trying to make a positive change from the passive, indecisive Mort that he currently was. He had to believe something good was coming out of this branding and task-making, because if there was nothing constructive going on then the zomboil was doomed to fall into the pit of despair and guilt that he had began digging the moment he chose to enter the Lair instead of Amityville first. After all, he had decided to keep Medea's mark in hopes that the power it granted would at last give him a chance to do something to defend the school . . .

Given all the drawbacks he had suffered thus far because of it - the stigma and uncertainty from fellow students, the distortion effects that had made him sick, the mirrored self that had frightened him so much because it had been born of his weaknesses - it all had to be worth something.

It was why Mort had thrown himself into the lives of fellow Initiates and why he had decided to run for Secretary in the first place: what better way to avoid dealing with his own moral issues than by helping others in any and every capacity?

So it was with a wince that the zomboil accepted the Famine clansman's call to do the war task once more, and it was with a sigh that he slipped through the portal into the wooded, hilly area that would serve as their sample grounds. The horseman had failed to say who it was that was coming along, only that he ought to be a good boil and wait before whisking himself away to the labs, which was where Mort would rather be. In fact, he almost would rather have been underground at the lake again - at least the smell of humans wouldn't be making his nonexistant stomach rankle so much with hunger and revulsion. The zomboil leaned against one of the trees and crossed his arms, closing his eyes and focusing on Thor's soft humming to calm himself; the last thing he needed to do was have a meltdown again like he almost had with Leo.  

[kuropeco]

It was difficult to say which part of Ren he hated the most; the part of him that held a distinct numbness during these little excursions, the part that he drew up and shielded around himself so that he wouldn't have to deal with anything at all - or the part of him that still hurt, still ached and felt nauseous at every little trek.

I'm not doing this because I like it, Ren told himself, over and over and over again until the words were ingrained into his mind so thoroughly that they might have been branded there with an iron. I'm doing this to gain strength to be able to protect those I care about. I'm doing this to protect LW, Jove, Belladonna, Tybalt, everyone.

This isn't because I enjoy it, it's because I need it.

He hated admitting to himself anything else, especially since there was a little nagging voice constantly in his head that was telling him otherwise, that was always there reminding him of the consequences of his actions.

The only consequences are the deaths I will have to pay for should I fail at what I am doing. And he was not about to have any more innocent blood on his hands, especially if it came from someone he loved. This was what he was doing. It was right.

If only the other feelings were so easily brushed away.

When he arrived at the meeting place, Ren was slightly surprised to see that he was not the only person there - another was standing beneath a tree, leaning back against it with his eyes closed. A very familiar someone.

"Mort?" said Ren, taking a step towards him as he slid his hands into the pockets of his black pinstriped slacks.

"What are you doing here?"

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

The thrum from Thor began to drown out all else for a while. Birdsong, the wind through the leaves, the crack of a twig - nature was inconsequential, perhaps even powerless, when faced with technology. Why? Because everything known could be broken down into numbers and letters, and from those could be derived equations, from equations solutions, and from solutions enlightenment. There was nothing that couldn't be conquered by hard math, science, and a healthy dose of risk.

At the moment Ren arrived, Mort was in the midst of pondering once more the weaker points on the human body that he had gleaned from various anatomy books (and his one time chance at a human version on the Deth Trip). Doing so allowed him to slip to the more clinical mindset that helped ease him through these troubling tasks, allowed him to make the humans less . . . human. Even so there was always an incorruptible part of his spirit that railed against this gray area of morality, and he was trying to swallow it down when the gryphon spoke.

Eyes flashing open, Mort turned to him with visible surprise. He had been expecting a horseman this time, if not another Initiate he'd seen. Not . . . "Ren?" The boil was not one he had considered to be marked for Medea, not after failing to see him at the colosseum or the lair in general. Uncrossing his arms, Mort straightened from the tree and dusted bark fragments from his coat. "Mrrr . . . Duty calls," he answered with a sad smile, extending his right hand in greeting. "M'guessing s'why you're here too. I, ah . . . didn't know were one of us. H-Have done this task yet?"

-kurotomato

 

[kuropeco]

Mort was not someone that Ren usually hung out with, but that was only because he had not really had the opportunity to do so. He enjoyed the boil's company, and he rather liked his spunky and quirky attitude - and he definitely liked the way he was involved in Scario Kart and many other aspects of the school, like running for the student council.

But he had not ever expected that Mort would also be an Initiated.

"Yeah," said Ren quietly, a note of bitterness to his voice as he slipped a hand from his pocket and reached out to take the offered one, shaking Mort's hand easily. He put his hand back into the pocket of his pinstriped slacks and rocked back a little on his heels, wings flapping a few times before they settled against his back.

His eyebrows lifted slightly.

"This task?" he repeated, and then shook his head, causing some of the golden curls to fall about his freckled face. "No, I haven't." One shoulder lifted and fell in a sort of half shrug. "S'why I'm here, I suppose."

There was a moment's pause.

"Did you perhaps want to...do this together?" asked Ren, one ear flicking in the direction of the zomboil. "They always say two heads are better than one..."

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

They shook hands, and it was like a grim deal had been struck. "Lone zombies d-don't do much n'way," he quipped with a half-smile, though it barely hid how Mort was terribly, terribly grateful to be doing this with a familiar face instead of a horseman. "First time, eh? Here, s'not hard . . ." He gestured for Ren to follow and pocketed his right hand, leaving Thor to swing at his side as they wound their way through the thin forest.

It wasn't long before they ran across a group of humans in line for something, cars all huddled upon a designated area of gravel. The smell of cooked meat and spookies wafted from the wooden booth they were waiting upon, and even Mort couldn't help but have an impulse to lick his lips at the sound of something sizzling. "Since is War task, whole point's spreading conflict," he told Ren, pushing his glasses up. "Find couple've humans n' make uneasy or annoyed until fighting starts."

To demonstrate, the zomboil crept out of from the trees and began to lean in towards this person or that, focusing his Fear enough so that his voice could be heard as he whispered dissenting thoughts into the more irritable-looking humans. It was too hot to be in the sun for so long, why didn't they understand that and hurry the hell up; why was that old couple up in front, they were cutting in front just because of a stupid niece holding their place; they had been waiting for forever and the platter of sweets was right there - And as one person broke the formation to grab at it, so did another move to stop them, and opportunists leapt at the chance to get a new place in line until a small squabble began to break out as the line collapsed.

It was small, but by Jack it was better than outright murdering someone.

"S-Something like that," Mort said as he returned, shielding his eyes from the dappled sunlight he so loathed about the human world. Already he could feel his flesh itching and crawling with the heat. "I, ah, h-haven't seen around Lair. Only recently started coming?"

Quote:

41 - 60: You see a crowd of humans waiting for something. You whisper words to the humans in line. They should be first. Why are they waiting. The crowd quickly dissolves into chaos. +2 paranoia points

(( Total: 2 ))

kurotomato