EVENT: HOSPITAL EXPEDITION

[asgardmods]

Who: Anyone!
What: Hospital Expedition Time!
When: Day 70
Where: The hospital and surrounding grounds.
Rating: PG-13 for potential scariness

Warning: This log includes reference to and optional effects of psychotropic medication. Those intensely bothered by such things should be cautious or steer clear.



After The Doctors found the hospital, an expedition was organized. Those who signed up in that post or who just want to tag along will be heading out on the morning of Day 70 (April 20, ICly). After a 3mi/5km or so walk, they'll find themselves at what looks like a mostly modern hospital and outbuildings, surrounded as a compound by a tall wire fence. The fence is now full of holes, and it's obvious that the buildings haven't been used in decades. There is very little graffiti or other human-caused damage to the place, but weather, animals, and neglect leave it pretty worn down anyway.

Inside, the buildings are mostly empty of medicines and things. There's some broken-down equipment and a few bits of both modern and herbalist medication here and there but not much. The records room however is pretty much intact, besides the wear on paper from sitting in a non-climate-controlled room for 30 years. The records date from the native's reckoning time of 376-385, and are mostly not very informative, but reading through a bunch will reveal how the greyness progressed as a "disease".

Emotion left first, so through 376 and 377 the records state that people just seem to be mysteriously losing all personality and are somewhat lethargic, just going through the motions for no apparent reason. By 378 people are losing colour, and the hospital turns from a specialty hospital to a quarantine zone. People are brought there the moment they're diagnosed, and while it seems the conditions at the hospital were humane, it was crowded and generally not a happy place.

By 383 the staff have been replaced multiple times as they too get sick, and the conditions at the compound were degenerating by sheer number of patients vs number of healthy staff. It got dirty and the food rations were a bit tight, but it wasn't any sort of horrible place where people died. It was just overcrowded and understaffed, for the most part. There's notes about how any animals or even inanimate objects that come into contact with the sick also lose expression and colour.

The last of the records will be notice that there's no more room in the hospital and no successful treatment or cure, so everyone is going back to the city and shutting it down, by order of the gods. Essentially, the entire city is doomed to go grey, so they'll turn the city walls into the quarantine zone to try to protect the rest of the world.

The one other interesting thing in the records might be that in all of the individual patient records, one file (that seems like it was very thick) is missing. There's also mention in the general notes of "the Queen" being sick -- one of the earlier patients, even. Most record of her has been blacked out, however.

Aside from records, there's only one other interesting to be found during the day. A large room in the old laboratory building seems strangely personal inside, having couches, tables, and stacks of basic board games lying around. If the door to this room is closed, it will automatically lock, and within a few minutes anyone inside will start feeling... funny. Perhaps as an attempted treatment for the emotionless lethargy of the disease, the room is equipped to be air tight, and a dosage of an odourless, colourless, mood-improving gas released. The effect should be no more than a case of the giggles and a sharpening of the characters' sense of colour. The room will unlock after ten minutes or so of the gas being in effect, and the symptoms should wear off in an hour or two.

Beyond that, there isn't much to find besides a general spooky feeling. The attic storage floor of the hospital may contain bats, and there's signs of other animals nesting (rabbits, etc). The creepy atmosphere should make for interesting exploration though -- especially at night. Anyone inside after darkness falls should stay there. There my be the sounds of nearby wolves outside, but running into any is entirely optional and won't happen inside the buildings.

Each Doctor will be leading his own team, so if your characters will strictly be sticking to their team, make sure you note that in your starter or wait for your chosen Doctor to set things up for his team. You're also welcome to have your characters explore free-form with their friends or with strangers, so don't worry too much about structure! Have fun and go wild!

Comments

[occulthymns]

[Dog's poking his nose at an old, dusty nest of some animal, so Euri's going to whistle to get his attention before glancing at Namine.] Nope! Crow is training me, and I'm sparring occasionally with Vanitas. They're both a lot better than me so it works out.

[lethechained]

--....

[There's a faint skid as she missteps suddenly, then corrects her gait, but her expression stays startled. Vanitas--? But--....]

[... No. Perhaps it's... better not to mention him.]

I see. That's-- that's very helpful of them. [And it makes her more than a little curious about Vanitas' motives.]

[occulthymns]

[That surprise isn't going unnoticed though, but Euri isn't sure what it is about her statement that surprised her. Vanitas has that whole made-from-darkness thing, and Senji is a violent criminal.]

... You okay?

[lethechained]

-- Yes. [It's a reflex, and it comes out too fast. ... She's gotten too used to being on her toes around Vanitas.]

I--... was just thinking. I'm sorry.

[occulthymns]

[wantstoprywantstoprywantstopry]

Okay... but if you want to say something, you should just say it!

[lethechained]

--....

[HESITATING, SO MUCH.]


....

Are they kind to you?

[occulthymns]

...... Not usually. They're both jerks.

[lethechained]

[... That sounds about right, at least as far as Vanitas is concerned. It's kind of a shame, though.]

Then why do you train with them?

[occulthymns]

Because! I've been learning a lot from both of them - stuff I wouldn't have figured out on my own. And I like spending time with them too. All that outweighs them being jerks.

[lethechained]

....

[Naminé looks over at her, eyes searching.]

... Are they... your friends, then?

[occulthymns]

[Euri snorts, her tone very firm.]

No. Definitely not. I don't know them nearly well enough to begin to consider whether they'd even qualify for that.

[lethechained]

[... She's not sure whether or not she should be disappointed. Well, at least it's probably better for Euri, this way.]

I understand. I... imagine it might be hard to make friends with 'jerks'.

[occulthymns]

[Aw, Namine.]

Oh, it's not that! It's a loyalty thing. [She's starting to guess this isn't how humans define it....] I've got really specific expectations for someone I'd consider a friend, and I don't think they'd be able to live up to them.

[lethechained]

[Loyalty... thing? -- Well, yes, of course, trust is important in a friendship. She's seen a failure of it cause trouble in one before. She tilts her head, looking thoughtful.]

'Specific expectations'?

[occulthymns]

[Euri waves her hand dismissively.]

It's complicated and not that important right now! I've been talking about myself this whole time - you should tell me a little about yourself now.

[lethechained]

-- Oh. Okay....

[Except after hearing about her training with Vanitas, Naminé can't help being a little hesitant. (As if she wasn't already, considering Euri's apparent connection to Kaz as well.)]

... What do you want to know?

[occulthymns]

Hmmm! [Euri taps her chin thoughtfully, thinking for a few moments. The answer comes fairly easily to her, given what they were just talking about.]

Do you have any friends here?

[lethechained]

Well--....

[Does she really have any right to call anyone a friend, considering her own circumstances. ... But she's been told she can, so,]

You could say that, yes. [She smiles, but it's perhaps a smaller smile than one might expect.]

[occulthymns]

[That answer makes her situation sound more complicated than anything, but again it would be tactless to pry too much.]

That's good. Are they from your world?

[lethechained]

Mm--...

[She probably has even less right to call them that, but... slowly, she nods. Some people would call them friends, she supposes, even if she's not sure she should.]

[occulthymns]

What's your world like?

[Since she doesn't seem too eager to talk about her friends.]

[lethechained]

....

[And instantly she's reminded of Vanitas' accusation that she was from the same worlds as him. It's true, of course... but that doesn't mean she wants to go admitting it to someone she knows associates with him. Normally, she might prefice this with the clarification that there are multiple worlds and that she lived in more that one. In this case, however, perhaps a difference approach would be better.]

... Quiet, most of the time. It was... a nice place. [She's speaking of Twilight Town, of course, if only because it's the place she lived the longest, and the one she figures she should probably claim; she might not have any real claim to it, but out of all the worlds she or some part of her has lived in, it's the closest she's come to having a home world.]

[occulthymns]

[Fortunately, Euri has no problem accepting that answer. She doesn't expect her to lie about this.]

Yeah? Did it have magic? Or just a bunch of technology?

[lethechained]

[It really isn't so much a lie as selective information. She's long since learned the value of doing such things. Genuine lies are very distasteful to her, after the ones she was forced to tell.]

Mm... a bit of both, I think. [What really counts as a 'bunch' of technology?]

[occulthymns]

[Euri looks interested! While there's some technology in her own world, it's mostly limited to human cities so she has next to no experience with it, let alone it mixed with magic.]

Really? And it was still quiet? Wouldn't the mix make things more exciting?