[Player Log Start!]
[Log Holder: Verity Monroe]
[Level: 2]
Verity knew that something was wrong. There was an acrid taste lingering on her tongue, putting her on edge ever since they had returned from their victory against the ravens.
At first, she almost considered the idea that she was the problem. Like there was a building pressure of rage and fury in her chest, expanding and expanding and waiting to explode out at the people around her. It was… not a pleasant feeling.
She had exploded before. The hoard’s invasion of Hygeia was the last time she could think of. But that had been quick and unforeseen. This slowly rising bloodthirst was a new, unfamiliar experience.
But then the squid appeared, and all her fears were quashed. She wasn’t the problem. She wasn’t going to let herself be the problem. It was these squid monsters that were at fault, and she had to destroy it. She could do that. That was the only good thing she was good at.
Her knives were in her hands before the squid even had time to grab anyone. The closest person it would no doubt go for was Tench, who was still in the waters. She watched him sharply, waiting for the tentacles to make a move and seal its own doom. But Jared and Ben rushed forward, pulling Tench out of the waters before the nubs of the squid’s many appendages could reach him.
While Verity was still processing the fact that her bait was lost, Ben turned towards her, fuming, “What is wrong with you?” She asked, her cheeks ruddy, “Were you just going to let him be eaten?”
“I was going to grab the squid when it reached for him.” She protested, feeling gummed up and strange. That excuse wasn’t enough, she knew, but in that moment she had believed this.
What was wrong with her?
“Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” Ben snapped.
“Leave it alone, Ben.” Tench tried to interject, “She was just a little shaken-”
The tentacles that were still tearing over the surface of the water, grasping at the spot where Tench was at first, only now realizing that there was nothing for it to grab. Now, groping around for another target, it made quick progress from the shore of the islet, and began feeling around for someone to take.
Her teeth sang for blood, the recent chiding making her eager to leap forwards. The blades, sharpened religiously every night, slipped right into the flesh of the tentacles, severing it from the main body of the squid, sending blue fluids gushing in every direction.
She swung it around, sending it onto the sand, flopping around uselessly. But it wasn’t enough for Verity. More blood had to be spilt. She dove underwater, and even as her eyes stung at the saltwater, she forced herself to keep her eyes open. Between the bulk of the islets, the ocean stretched much further down, only accessible through large gaps between the raised chunks of earth, and it was through one of those gaps that the tentacles were making their escape with. Her lungs were starting to burn, but she paddled downwards anyway.
[Applying Resource Conservation…]
[Oxygen Usage Reduced by 24%]
Her chest slackened, but she continued to swim at the same rate as she was before. Her muscles would be complaining like crazy once she got out, because the blowback of Resource Conservation was truly horrific. She did not think of that, so focused she was on her chase.
The ocean was filled with life. And none of that life was the one she wanted to kill. She rushed past a shoal of fish, tracking the trail of blue blood that was drifting through the water. The squid was large, twice as large as a horse, with two, mad, rolling eyes on top of its triangular head. The perfect targets for her fingers to dig into.
[Applying Killer Instinct!]
Her arms pinwheeled, throwing her forward, dodging a turtle that was drifting through the waters. The squid didn’t seem to notice her. Maybe because it thought it was safe underwater. That would be its downfall, as she hit the spongy flesh of its head.
It squawked, wriggling like an eel, her hands slipping loose from its skin as she tried to hold on. Losing more traction, Verity reached forward, mouth wide open, and clamped down her teeth into it. Bitter fluids mixed in with oceanwater gushed into her mouth, but she didn’t flinch away from it. Her vision was wiped out with a cloud of inky blackness, even as the squid continued to writhe.
Fingernails piercing into its skin, gouging footholds into the creature was she spat out the bite she had taken out from the squid. Once she had gotten to the part of its head where the eyes were positioned, she reached her right hand forward, and plunged her hand into the nearest eye it had. More pained warbling followed that action, stoking the flames of her bloodlust.
Around that point, the squid seemed to remember that it had nine more limbs to catch her with. They tried to wrap her up, but the pain and blood loss had disoriented it. Their grip was weak, easily slashed off even in the thick, salty water limiting her movements and asphyxiating her.
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One more hand to punch out the other eyes, and more vitreous matter was drifting into the ocean. And then her eyes were being filled up with red, making the black ink cloud-stained blue with blood appear tinged with rose-tinted lenses. If the rose-tinted lens made her feel dizzy with the desire to burn and kill and slash and cull.
It was only until she was floating in these heavy pressured waters, holding onto a limp body much bigger than her. With no brainpower working to keep it alive, the squid began floating upwards, taking her along with it, pumping her legs behind her to bring it up to the surface.
Once her head hit the air, she coughed sharply, sucking in air at the same time as her body tried to expel the salty water she had swallowed during the fight. Vices latched onto her wrist, a burning brand against the freezing marine waters, and she almost bit them out of reflex. But she forced herself to stay calm, recognizing the grips to be the human fingers of her team.
“-at is wrong with you?” Ben was screaming at her, “Just because we managed to fish one person out of the danger zone doesn’t mean you go diving into the thick of it!”
Verity didn’t reply, unable to move from her own power as the others dragged her ashore.
Once on solid, sandy ground, she lurched upwards, another lungful of water coming up, her stomach clenching on toxic fluids.
“Ben, maybe don’t yell at her right now.” Tench suggested, turning Verity on the side and wrapping his arms around her stomach, rhythmically squeezing until more and more water came up.
Somewhere behind her, there was a fleshy thud, and Jared murmured, “Woah. What the fuck…?” They had found the squid, by the sound of it. It must be in pretty rough shape with how much it had gone through.
“Think we can eat it?” Michael asked, sounding… eager? Her head spinning.
“Halal nahi he.” Both Terry and Asadullah’s voices intermingling with one another, with no translation available with how dizzy and sick she was feeling.
Tench turned her on her side, cutting her shirt open to gain access to her ribs. The motion nearly made her white out for a few seconds. But the conversation continued overhead, “We’ll help ourselves, then.” Jared was saying.
“She’s gone nonresponsive.” Tench was saying much closer to her ear, “I’m going to try a Healing session.”
“You’re already low after the shitshow yesterday.” Ben warned, a hand moving to come into Verity’s direct line of sight, “Vera, follow my finger the best you can.”
She did so, even if the mere motion of moving her eyeballs sent a wave of pain and nausea through her.
“Yeah, some issues there.” Their voices hushed down a little, soothing her, “You think a concussion or just the oxygen deprivation?”
“Let’s hope it’s just the oxygen deprivation.” Tench replied, “Because I don’t know how we’re going to work with actual brain damage other than just a chance of it.”
“But she’ll be alright, right?” Jared asked, his voice fragile.
“Yeah. Don’t worry.” Tench assured him, lifting her up, and her chest stuttered for a moment. His hands thumped against her chest, jolting her heart back into action.
Verity’s head lolled back, making it easier for her to breathe in. Still, it was an effort to twitch her lips into action, “Can I…” She breathed, “Sleep…now?”
“Just keep breathing.” He instructed, rubbing a hand over her spine. Verity hated being unconscious with people carrying her around, but for once, she let herself drift into unconsciousness.
[Log Paused]
[Replaying Archived Log: 103-210604-Playr]
She was sitting at a table. The wood had textured swirls on it, and she ran a hand over it, following the trail of one of the swirls to the end of wherever it laid. She wasn’t entirely sure how long she had been doing this, she kept losing her swirl and having to start over. There was nothing else for her to do, after all. It was only her and the table in this strange space she had woken up in.
“Do you feel up for eating?” A strange woman asked. Verity looked up at her blankly, not quite understanding how she was there.
For the first time, she noticed the floor that the table was standing on and the four walls surrounding her. And the furniture that was decorating the inside. There was wallpaper patterned with green ‘S’ motifs. It wasn’t just her and the table. The world was at least this room, and it had two inhabitants. Her, and whoever the woman was.
“Who are you?” She asked, guarded.
The woman’s smile tightened, “Are you alright? You don’t remember me?”
She shook her head. The woman frowned, “The memory files must have been blocked.”
“What?” She asked with a frown. Despite never having seen anything except for four walls, she had an instinctual grasp on vocabulary. And those words… did not make sense to her.
“Don’t worry about it.” The woman assured her, reaching a hand over to pat her hair, “My name is Eleanor Monroe. I took you in.”
She nodded, taking in that information as best as she could, “And who am I?”
“Verity.” Eleanor replied, a soft smile growing on her face, “I don’t have a last name for you, but Verity Monroe has a nice name to it, don’t you think?”
With no opinion of her own, the newly dubbed Verity Monroe nodded, “How did this happen? What did you do to my memories?” Because Eleanor had done something to her memories. She knew it, even based on the little information she had.
“Nothing.” Eleanor replied with full conviction, “There was an accident, I think? It seems you’re prone to such amnesia. Let’s try to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
“Of course.” Verity agreed. It was understandable, she didn’t want to lose her memories either. Eleanor was more informed than her, and she seemed to have an interest in keeping Verity lucid. Might as well follow her in what she asked of her.
Somewhere in the background, there was a beeping sound.
“Can I leave you for a moment?” Eleanor asked, turning around to look at a door in the corner of the room they were in, which seemed like a… kitchen?
Verity nodded in understanding, watching the woman as she shut herself into the room. She would get used to watching that closed door, waiting for the movement to come from behind it.
That was until she saw the face pressed up against the glass of the window over the sink. A young boy, with dark hair and darker eyes and wild grin on his face. As if he knew her, and they were friends.
“I’m Jared Caliber, remember?” He told her excitedly once she let him inside, “And we’re best friends.”
And so they were.
[Archived Log Stop!]
[Player Log End]