[open] Of all the stories he ate...

[beholding_archivist]

WHO: Jon & you
WHERE: Library and around
WHAT: Jon deals with the loss of his powers, being screamed at by the moon and- Vampires?
WHEN: During the storm
WARNINGS: Eyes? Vampires
NOTES: TMA vampires are mute and can neither speak nor scream. They communicate telepathically and burn very well.



A - An eye can't see inside itself... Or can it?

The first thing Jon notices is the slight tingling at the back of his mind. A sensation that isn't a new one anymore, but that doesn't make Jon dread it any less as he feels his connection to the Eye flicker and knowledge leaving him.

"Shit." The Archivist mutters as he makes his way to the main entrance of the library. Stepping outside he already dreads to look up, yet does so anyway. He can't help but feel somewhat relieved that what looks back down at him isn't a massive eye, but the moon's leering visage. Jon only scowls back up at it before pointing a chiding finger as well. "Don't you dare!"

But the moon dares. It screams and the Archivist chokes on his own distorted scream as the world around him shatters and reforms. The library opens hundreds of glitching eyes in all shapes, colors and sizes, some glowing, some distorted, some phasing in and out of existence altogether. And Jon sees out of every single one of them. He sees himself barely touching the ground that now also watches. He sees himself unable to do anything but watch himself watch breaking what reality surrounds him.

Anyone daring to approach will have countless eyes instantly focus on them.

B - Lost

The effect of the moon luckily is only temporary, which doesn't make the experience any less unpleasant. Between these bursts of his powers altering reality, Jon is left more or less shambling around, getting lost between bookshelves or the area around the library. He tries to focus. He tries to remember where he was going and what his intentions were for starting to walk. But he can't. He just can't remember and the distress he feels should be obvious in his muttering.

He is somewhere around the hotel when he spots the person. He tries to recognize them, but fails. It must be someone he knows, right? There aren't many people here, this much he can remember.

"Uh... Excuse me?" Jon tries to address the person and they only look at him, not making a single sound. Jon still nods as if he had been given a response and walks closer, relieved to have found someone that can help him. How could he possibly know that this person he is approaching is one of those vampires he has only learned about from the statements given by a self proclaimed vampire hunter.

Comments

A.

[crystalmaster]

Radley hears the moon scream and comes to the door to see if anyone is out who needs guidance back to shelter. The feeling of all the eyes on him makes him freeze in his tracks. This is a creepy crawly, ooky-spooky feeling. He looks around, staring, stunned.

"... What kind of power is this?!" he exclaims.

[beholding_archivist]

As all the eyes turn their unblinking gazes on Radley, Jon also turns around, eyes wide and glowing. "I̻͛t̗͛ K̯ͮn̺ͪo͚͑ẅ̠s̗̓ Y̜̆o͔ͪu̳ͯ." He answers with a grimace at the static distorting his own voice. "T̘̃h͈͒é̻ Ê͔y̪ͫe̟̓.̰̀.͚̅.̖́ I͓͐-̮͌-̱ͭ " He will be able to control it again, he knows that much at least. But he doesn't get to say much more. The air right next to Radley cracks open to reveal yet another eye staring at the man.

[crystalmaster]

Radley flinches as another eye opens. "What do you mean, it knows me?!" he exclaims. Scotch would no doubt be making Sauron cracks if he were here.

[beholding_archivist]

The eye doesn’t blink, which makes it little different from all the other eyes that have opened up. Jon remains silent for an additional moment before everything reverts back abruptly as the effect of the moon ceases. For now.

The eyes close and disappear and even Jon blinks his eyes shut while any static recedes and reality knits itself back together around him. He is left looking at an unfamiliar face that has just asked him a question. A question Jon needs to take a moment to sort through. “Uh… The Eye… The Ceaseless Watcher…”

[crystalmaster]

Radley is utterly freaked out, and it takes him a moment to relax when the eyes go away.

"What Ceaseless Watcher?!" he demands. "What the hell was that?!"

[beholding_archivist]

Oh, this is a question that is already difficult to explain when Jon isn't cut off from his patron and he grimaces a little as he tries to put the information into coherent words.

"It's... Fear. he fear of being watched, followed, judged. Having your secrets known. I, uh..." Jon shrugs and lets out a breath. "I'm part of it. I usually control it- Its gaze. Its power. But-" He points up to the moon still leering down on them.

B. Lost

[in_extremis]

It was entirely Tony's fault that he wasn't more attentive, and kept letting a new problem or inspiration draw him away. He knew Jon wasn't entirely himself. He hardly let Jon out of his sight when he got like this in the tunnels, where there was nowhere for him to go and no giant hole in the ground to fall into. That wasn't an experience that Tony was eager to share. So why did he keep leaving Jon alone?

Calling for him in the library wasn't getting Tony any response, except for the irritated fluttering of the mothcats, disturbed out of their already anxious perching to go fluttering up to more shadowy corners and further away from his voice. The Countess wasn't so easily flustered, but she didn't have an answer for him when he tried asking after Jon, only a skeptical blink and lash of her tail betraying her restlessness in the mist that seemed to seep under the drafty doors. More went swirling into the library as Tony let himself out, and into the thick envelope of the fog.

"Boss!" Tony's voice was just as startling to himself as two figures emerged before him, and he felt himself coming to an uneasy halt, unable to immediately place the new ratchet of tension up his spine at the sight of them. That was Jon he could see over the other person's shoulder, so he complained as lightly as he could manage, "I knew I should have put a bell on you." Something about the other person kept him from stepping any closer, though, fists curling anxiously as he tried to identify the silhouette, their strange stillness, and the faint glow of red that stained the fog around them.

[beholding_archivist]

Jon's approach of the stranger is halted by Tony's voice cutting through both the fog as well as the hypnotic hold the creature has on Jon, who now looks around in bewilderment. "...Tony?"

As for the vampire, it slowly turns towards the interruption, expression unreadable but its eyes fixating Tony now rather than Jon and it will try to use its alluring magic on Tony as well.

"W-wait." Jon speaks up, confused. "Tony- This man- He's not... uh..."

[in_extremis]

Not entirely sure what to make of just how surprised Jon seemed to see him, Tony could only raise a hand, in a gesture that was somewhere between a greeting and a surrender. As apologetic as the move looked, he started to boast, "One and only..." trailing off as the other person caught his eye. Something about the look had him rooted to the spot, hand slowly lowering and forgotten, lashes barely fluttering with his focus locked and unable to search for the source of that strange glow. They definitely weren't familiar to him, which had to mean they must have just shown up and this must have been a very confusing welcome for them, but it was still Jon that Tony tried to address with his gaze on the stranger, "Who's your friend?"

[beholding_archivist]

Jon is still staring at Tony, but then his eyes wander from Tony to the stranger, linger there for an indecisive moment before moving back.

"I don't- uh..." He starts to answer, but then his focus is drawn back to the creature and he stares at it for a few moments before giving a slow nod. "R-right. He- Is a friend. And I-- I need to follow."

[in_extremis]

For a second, it wasn't clear to Tony if his reaction to this vagueness about a random guy who just showed up was reasonable concern or jealousy. Right now, Jon was prone to being generally a bit vague, so maybe both reactions were unfounded. Still, Tony managed to direct his stare at Jon long enough to raise his eyebrows expectantly, hoping for some indication of what was going on here, and decided to commit to the most logical middle ground; unreasonably concerned jealousy. "Great, where are we going?" he prompted, razor sharp in warning. If something was going on, they were going to have to work around him.

[beholding_archivist]

If Tony's inquiry is any reason for Jon to be concerned, he doesn't show it. He just turns his attention over to Tony for a moment, then back to the stranger as if to listen to the answer to Tony's question. Again, he nods before returning his attention to Tony and nodding towards him in a rather similar way.

The stranger turns around and starts leading the way into the fog, which is Jon's cue to gesture to Tony to come along when he starts to follow, not once questioning any of what is happening. "Come."

B

[quark_assassin]

Much like Jon, Dustin is lost and confused; unlike Jon, finding himself near the Hotel does not mean a run-in with a vampire. It means that he's somehow gone the complete opposite direction of his shop - again - and managed to do so in three times the time it would've taken him to walk directly there. The constant turning around and slipping of his sense of time has gotten old way before now, and spending several hours just to walk the wrong way a block up the street is the last straw.

Jon probably doesn't hear Dustin throwing a tantrum through the thick, unnaturally sound-dampened fog. The end result has the boy stomping through the mist seething hot, fists clenched and knuckles scraped from punching something he shouldn't, with no direction in mind except away. Surely, if he doesn't have a destination in mind, then the storm can't trick him into getting lost. Right? That's how this works?

Instead, Dustin runs into the Archivist's back.

"Oof." He rebounds and takes a couple stumbling steps backwards, blinking the surprise out of his eyes and the heat out of his temper. "Wait--Jon?"

[beholding_archivist]

Jon is send stumbling forward by Dustin marching into him. Fortunately, the impact also knocks him out of the vampire's mental hold. Which doesn't mean that Jon doesn't have to orient himself and he blinks a few times while looking around, his eyes only briefly brushing over the creature standing in the fog before him before he turns around to see Dustin. "Wha- Dustin?" Well, at least he still recognizes those around him.

The next question takes longer for Jon to articulate as he considers his words more deliberately. "What are you doing here?"

[quark_assassin]

Dustin stares back, leaving the two of them blinking at each other for several seconds while Jon figures out what to say next. The teen's answer comes comparatively quickly after that.

"Well--I don't fucking know," he says incredulously. Those words are getting easier for him to say now, though they don't hurt any less. Lingering frustration at least gives Dustin a frame to support them on. "Can't find anything in this fucking fog. What are you doing here?"

It's around the time Dustin speaks his retorted question that he finally notices the shadow of a figure behind Jon. It's odd that they haven't said or done anything - he doesn't need superior intelligence to figure that out. Dustin tilts his head so he can peer around Jon's side.

"And who the hell are you?"

[beholding_archivist]

"I, uh..." Jon still sorts through his answer when Dustin addresses the being behind him, causing Jon to look over as well as frown. Right. There was... This.

The creature's attention has by now shifted over to Dustin and it stares at the teenager silently, attempting to mentally order him to step closer.

"..I got lost." The Archivist finally answers and lets his frown fall to the ground. He doesn't like not being able to think properly. Even though he knows the reason. And that it'll only be temporarily.

[quark_assassin]

Same boat, then. Dustin doesn't know the full extent of Jon's powers - he'd been given a taste of them several months ago, as well as a general description, but only remembers fragments of that encounter now - so the gravity of that admission doesn't hit him the way Jon might be fearing it will.

Instead, there's empathy. "Well...join the club," Dustin murmurs, shoving his hands into his pockets. He starts to unconsciously walk towards the creature in the fog. "The fact that I've run into anyone at all over the last week is a fucking miracle. Can't even find my own goddamn house."

A

[tempredmental]

Keith had managed to cover his ears against the scream this time. This time. But, not everyone had, and he was currently moving about seeing if anyone might need help.

That was when he stepped into the range of... those eyes... It was like every hair on his neck stood on end, and he froze, looking back at them, trying to figure out if they were going to attack or something. They seemed... familiar... somehow? He wasn't sure, but oof. They were creepy.

"Uh-... hello?"

[beholding_archivist]

None of the eyes blink in response. They all just stare along with the Archivist in their midst, unbothered by the way reality itself distorts and flickers like a bad television signal.

"I̬͆ẗ̙́ s̠ͭe͚͋e͍͂s̻͆ y͍͗o͔͋u̩͐.̣̐" The Archivist says, his voice low and deliberate, yet distorted and layered with static. As he speaks, a few more eyes open up around Keith only to stare at him.

[tempredmental]

[Oh... more... um... Keith felt himself pull back a bit.]

W-what sees me?

[beholding_archivist]

"T͓ͣh̝ͨe̻̔ ͖̾E̠ͧy̖̿ē͙.͔ͮ" The answer is spoken plainly. A simple fact conveyed.

[tempredmental]

"Okay... there are a lot of eyes? So like... which one are you talking about?"

Keith held back for a moment, not really appreciative of the riddles he seemed to be getting.

"Is it like... a bad thing? For it to see me? Or... like... what?"

A

[the_tailor]

Maybe this was a bad idea. Wandering about in a situation like this is always a bad idea, but here he is, too antsy to shelter in place the entire time. For what it's worth, he hasn't run into too many nasty things yet, and as a soldier, he's confident in taking stuff down.

Sort of. Maybe. Kind of. ...He runs away from most of it.

This was a very bad idea, he realizes as he comes face to face with way too many damn eyes for anyone's liking, and he steps back.

"I....uh....?"

[beholding_archivist]

More eyes open around Lance the moment he gets within reach of Jon's malfunctioning powers, with each and every eye fixating the young man relentlessly. Even the Archivist turns his gaze on Lance as a surge of static ripples across reality, remaking part of it into something more organic and shifting.

"Y̺̑o͉ͬṵ͑.͇͑" And that's all Jon says.

[the_tailor]

"Me."

Lance swallows hard. Instinctively, he wants to run, and yet he nonetheless feels frozen in place.

"I, uh... What's up?"

Nailed it.