The 9th Hour... (Phase 1: Sept-Oct Event)

[central_librarymods]

The cold presence is seeping in through the dark shadows. The darkness is reaching further, brushing the minds of the patrons and opening doors to dimensions that should not be open. Something wants in. But in the Central Library, there are ways to get through without crossing entirely… through your dreams. Among other things.

Pick one of the options below and make a post for other patrons to join you in the events. You may make up your own, but keep it matching the event at hand as the different phases of the event will progressively get worse.

1. Your dreams are getting dangerous, violent even. When you wake up, there are bruises and injuries that shouldn’t be there. What is going on? Why are your dreams becoming a reality little by little? And why is it getting so hard to wake up?


2. Things are shifting in the Library. The shadows are moving and the temperatures are starting to drop. There are cold spots that sometimes get colder and sometimes it feels like if you turn around, you’ll find someone right behind you.


3. The monsters are looking a bit more frantic and daring to come closer to the center of the Library where they normally will not tread. It seems you aren’t the only ones scared of the dark recesses any longer.


4. The Market is now a lovely little faire of the early Renaissance with all sorts of fresh grain, fruits and vegetables! It is a brilliant sight, but it seems the ominous plague masks they don still gives a foreboding feeling of the miasma that killed over two-thirds of the world’s population… Perhaps you shouldn’t wander very far.


5. New areas are now opened up. A blacksmith and workshop for the tinkers has been created. You might want to look or contribute... You might also want to stop in the new bath area. The large pool has a Grecian feel and all of the walls are made of crystalline glass where the stars are always shining with a different universe in constant succession.


6. Wild Card: Make up your own scenario. Just remember that all of the things above are happening. Things are getting foreboding and growing stronger by the day. Sleep will be a luxury you might not have… You may not see what’s coming, not yet. But you know it’s coming.

Comments

1ish... possibles for 3 or 5 is anyone is interested.

[facemyenemys]

Kara had nightmares often enough as it was, but when she woke up she didn't wake with phantom pains. Not normally at least. Sometimes her face would itch or feel hot where she had been burned. Sometimes her belly would feel cold where the gun pressed to her belly, pointed up and fired three times.

Sometimes it was simple things, but the feeling was still there, a memory pain, most likely.

They were never that bad though. Never bad enough to be a visible pain. Not like this time.

She dreamed about a fight she had with her other face. No, with Agent May, while she wore her face. The first time she woke up she felt as if she had been kicked, like she had just been IN a fight.

The second time she woke up from a dream it had been a bit worse. Another run in with SHIELD, her one time employer and later problem. Kara woke up in her and Ward's bed, nose bleeding, lip swollen and purple, eye around the scarred eye was blackened and bruised.

Grant might feel her stir and suddenly roll out of bed, hand over her nose and face to cover the blood. She hauled on a long shirt and took off for a place to clean up, looking for water and a wash cloth.

To those who are not Grant or currently sleeping with her (aka: Anyone Not Ward), they might find her later in the Library, her scarred face a bit dour as she hit it under a hood of a sweater. Kara was one to hide her face more when she was out and alone, though after the Bambi issues, she had grown more comfortable to sport the scars. Which is to say that the black and blue face was bothering her now.

If anyone makes one comment on her fiancee beating her she might step strongly on the top of their foot. She just woke up this way, okay?

In truth, after talking to Grant and assuring him she was alright, she went out to see if she could catch the Librarian again. She hadn't seen him in a bit and was curious about something. Though she would be willing to talk to anyone. In her wandering she's noticed a few things. Creatures coming closer to the center of the library, as well as a bath house? Clearly something was changing...

baaaaby

[ingrantitude]

There's no wounds (not yet, not at least in this case) but there's a mild burning along his forearms and he dreams of slamming into walls and screaming in pain before he shoots awake to realize that there's nothing there - and no one there.

Here, the emotions he's kept bottled up inside since her death are free again. Here people aren't looking at him like he's a monster. Skye's judgement means nothing, SHIELD can't hurt him - them anymore.

Or can they?

Feeling vunerable and alone with the burning along his wrists growing hotter and colder by turns he focuses on the missing figure in his bed. Kara.

But when he sees the blood and the bruise the kind and gentle Ward, the lost figure dissolves and the walls slam up fast. Something coils in his throat and burns, it burns hard and worse. Betrayal. Of course. It was all too good to be true. It's some SHIELD trick (hail hydra), it's some game of Coulson's-

Except it's not.

He ignores any further thoughts by taking her in his arms as gently as he can then quickly pulling back to look at her face and gently, gently touch each wound.

"Who did this to you?"

The HYDRA leader is swimming underneath the surface. It's hard to suppress him, "...Kara?"

[facemyenemys]

She had just barely gotten out of bed, to a water basin set up in their room, soaking a cloth and trying to clean her face as best as she could like this. When Ward was behind her like that, making her face him and look at him, she frowned, looking him in the face. He looked upset.

He looked murderous in his eyes. Like he was able to drop everything and kill someone. There was still concern though, but the look gave her a chill. She knew that look. She shared it before.

At his words though she shook her head, one hand coming to cup over his, the other bringing the cloth to her nose again. "No one, baby. I'm all right. I just... I woke up this way."

She said it truthfully, though confused as well. It took a lot to push herself to wake up too, but she had managed. "I swear, love." She winced a bit as his fingers graced the edge of the black and blue lip. "I'm not sure what happened. I feel like I was in a fight again..."

[ingrantitude]

"You didn't leave me. there was no one else in our room."

Had he done this.

Oh god somehow, in his sleep...was it his imagination or did his arms burn again? The lost look returned to his gaze before he buried it and swallowed hard. No, no never.

"...I-

I'll get towels and some water what were you - what's the last thing you remember?"

[facemyenemys]

His sentences and talking it out made her eyes narrow a bit. She knew that line of thinking. Or at least she was sure she knew where he was going with that. If there was no one in the room to hurt her it must be him, huh?

She shook her head at him, reaching a hand out to grab hold of his wrist, so he didn't take off on her just then.

"I have water, and a cloth. I'm fine, Grant. Please..." She said softly, moving closer to him again, reaching up to touch his cheek softly. "I just had a bad dream. Maybe I hit myself is all. I was... fighting Agent May again. I don't know. It's fine. I think I did it myself..."

[ingrantitude]

He twitches, "Hit yourself in the eye?"

Agent May. His eyes narrow and his hands clench at his sides. Of course not.

"She can't hurt you here anymore." It's hard to follow but she says she dreamed it. His hands hesitate before he reaches for hers and kisses her fingers.

"She can't hurt you here. No one can." except me, "It's natural to go through this but to get this sort of...stigmata?"

He shakes his head.

[facemyenemys]

She frowns at him as he seems upset by this. She's not upset, just unsure. Confused. But now she wanted to make sure he kept level about it all.

As he kissed her fingers she gave him a faint smile, pulling his hand down to her lips to return the soft kiss to his own hand.

"Please don't worry, Grant. It was just a bad dream. I've had a lot of those in the past. It happens. Just give me some time to figure out what happened, okay?" AKA: Don't do anything we'll regret later, please.

"I love you for worrying, but I'm fine."

[ingrantitude]

"I know. I get it, I just-" He shakes his head, "It's like - you spend so long trying to attack that when something happens..."

Still. Something was up. His hackles were on alert.

"...I wish we had a dog."

[facemyenemys]

She dabbed at her nose, finding the blood had stopped. Her lip was puffy and eye sore still, but not bad. Sitting the cloth to the bowl of water she rubbed the palm off on her hip.

"We can see about getting a dog. Maybe one of the Librarians will know of something. If that will make you feel better. I wanted to talk to the Head Librarian again anyhow." she said with a small shrug, leaning into him and tilting her head into his shoulder.

"I'm fine though. Just a bad dream. Let's go back to sleep, hmm? If only for a bit. Maybe we can go monster hunting later, if that will make you feel better."

TW: suicide mention

[ingrantitude]

"I want you to be safe. It's not about me feeling better." He squeezes her fingers and sighs, "I want you to be happy, not...not..." hurt.

Sleep. Yes. Sleep will be ok. Sleep will be good and he nods, wrapping his arms around her for a moment before taking her hand back to their room - or what passes for it and he dreams.

He dreams about desperation.

He dreams about Skye.

You should have run faster. she says, while his chest clenches and his stomach turns over, You should have run faster. You should have but didn't. Because you're a monster. You deserve this. This pain

He slits his wrists, one long smooth line down the center and waits, waits for the blood to leak out.

You should have run faster.

"I loved you." The words are whispered, moaned, as the scars on his wrist open. They open slow, bleed slow, like a dead love, like a man with a broken heart.

"I loved you. Why did you leave me?"

[facemyenemys]

Good. Good. He agreed to just... rest. Sleep more. "I'm fine, Grant. I honestly have never felt more safe than with you here." She assured him and moved to snuggle in beside him in their bed again, resting her head to his chest to try and get over the throbbing in her face and head. Just a headache. She can get over it.

As they sleep again for a bit, she can feel the weirdness in the dreams. She can feel the hits she takes in fights sink in deep. She finds it harder to let go of the dreams, even as she feels something damp at her side, where his arm rests around her.

There is a blow to the belly that does it though, waking her up coughing a bit. Sleep is not going to happen after this. Not if it keeps doing this.

She realizes he's saying something. Loved you? Left him? Something sinks deeper in her belly at that. Worse than a dream kick. She didn't mean to leave him. She didn't want to. Reaching her hand up to touch his cheek she stilled before she got to it. The wet at her side sank into her head at that point. She glanced down to his arm, seeing the slow seep of blood.

She was sitting up suddenly. "Ward?!" There was a mild tone of panic that hit her voice. She knows about these wounds. She knows why. She knows when. He's told her that much before, while they were still getting to know each other. Learning how fucked up they each were. "Grant!" She said his name gain, turning around so she can get a good look at his wrist, realizing the other one was opened up as well.

"Grant, wake up, baby. Oh god, what the hell..." She said as she grabbed for the sheets, starting to try and rip them with her teeth and hands, ignoring the pain in her lip as she did. her other hand shaking his shoulder. "Come on, baby, wake up for me..."

[ingrantitude]

He stirs.

"...Ss.S..no." The blood seeps out more, one long red line and he raises his hand to her, "No. Baby I found you. Kara, my Kara. It felt like...felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest but you're not dead. I didn't make the worst mistake of my life."

He looks ten years younger.

"...believed in me in mine when nobody else...when nobody else would or could, I -" He blinks, "...bleeding."

"I'm bleeding."

There's blood all over their sheets and he looks to her, scared, then serious, "Kara I'm bleeding."

[facemyenemys]

As he stirs and wakes up she had just managed to rip a strip of the sheet, half in her mouth and in her hand. She is relieved to see him awake, and moving. That's good. Very good.

As he reaches to touch her and takes, she tries to reach for that hand, that wrist, only to watch it dawn on him that he's bleeding.

As calm as she can sound (as scared as she was). "I'm right here, love. I'm fine. It's just a dream. A nightmare. I'm right here. Let me..." She sucked in on her swollen lip and started to wrap his wrist as best as she could, as fast as she could.

It's not like it's the first injury she's ever wrapped. It's firm and stable, but if he didn't stop bleeding they'd need to do more. For now it was a pressure bandage to try to stop it.

She pressed his arm back to his chest, keeping it up a bit before going to rip a new long strip. "It'll be okay, baby. We'll take care of it. I... I don't know what happened though. I woke up and heard you and..." She sucked in a breath, ripped and moved to try to wrap the next wrist.

Her hands were shaking.

[ingrantitude]

"Don't be scared." He can feel her trembling. Taking her fingers he squeezes them as best he can, which is minimal at best, "Don't be scared I'm here. and you're here. We'll keep each other safe."

He swallowed, "I thought...I thought you were skye. And she was telling me to kill myself again."

[facemyenemys]

It was hard not to be scared. She didn't want to lose him now that she lost him once already because of her own death. Now that she had him here she didn't want to let him go. Fucked up HYDRA agents in need.

She felt the squeeze, but she shook her head, taking her hand out of him and taking his hand instead, stilling it as she pressed it to his chest again, as if to tell him to keep it up like she was showing him. She finished the tight pressure wrap on the other now and pushed it to his chest as well, cupping her hands over his wrists, hands still shaking but holding him to steady herself too.

"Don't you ever think that. No matter who tells you anything like that. Dreams or not. There is no reason to kill yourself." She leaned in to kiss the backs of his hands, frowning still. "We need to get this properly looked at though. I think there was a doctor in the group? Banner or something? We need to make sure you're going to be okay, baby. And I need to find the Head Librarian and find out what the fuck is going on."

Because her belly hurt, her head hurt, and he had cut wrists again . This was something new.

[alec_lightwood]

Nighttime meant that Alec usually was awake and patrolling the Library. He trusted the Librarian to keep them safe overall but things could sneak up on people. And he had sworn an oath to protect others. Being at the Library didn't change that. But at least there weren't demons around...he thought.

Occasionally, Alec caught sight of shadowy creatures that he couldn't identify. Not things from the Codex or Magnus' books on magic. Things that were new and Alec was wary of. Which was why he was dressed in full gear, leather armor and heavy boots. He carried a variety of blades and his favorite bow was in hand with his quiver slung onto his back.

When he saw Kara, he frowned. She looked different than she had when they'd been in Yellowstone but he wasn't sure what was off until he was close enough to see the black eye. At least he didn't make certain assumptions as he moved closer. "Did one of those shadow things do that to you?"

[facemyenemys]

Unlike Alec, she wasn't dressed in armor or anything so fancy, then again all her battles tended to be civilian clothing or a vest, so she was used to this. She at least had boots on with her pants tucked into the tops this time, instead of wandering around bare footed. That was a plus, right?

She did however carry a knife with her, at her hip. So it wasn't like she was defenceless out here, but it surprised her that 'out here' wasn't all that far and she was still catching things in the corner of her eyes. Which had her a bit spooked, for the moment.

Spooked enough that when she heard the foot steps of someone coming she had to fight not to jump a foot above ground. Which, thankfully, she was good at, so at first she just glared at the man, but then... relaxed, letting out a sigh as she saw it was just Alec.

Asking if a shadow did that to her.

She raised a hand to her scarred face. While IN the library she was still a scarred mess, as her mask didn't actually WORK in here. Out in Yellowstone her face had been smooth as it should be. So her fingers ran over burn scars, frowning a moment. Had he meant this? Or... no, he had seen her before going into Yellowstone, so that can't be it. "The black eye?" She asked, touching the tender spot under her eye and frowning. She had other black and blue marks over her body, but they were all hidden except for the small split in her lip.

Shaking her head she lowered her hand, coming closer to the other and stopping a conversational distance. "No, I think I might have done it in my sleep. Or at least woke up this way." But 'in her sleep' didn't explain Grant's wrists. She wanted to find the Librarians to ask questions. Something is a mess.

"Shadows though, you've been seeing them too?"

[alec_lightwood]

There were things in the shadows but none had come close enough to Alec for him to see what they were. Something was wrong. His instincts warned him of that but he had no idea what it was. Not demonic. Not Downworlder. Not a spirit. At least not the type he was used to.

Whatever it was, it wasn't something that Alec had encountered before or read about in the Codex.

When Kara lifted her hand, he knew that she assumed he meant the scars. "Yes, the black eye," he clarified. The scars weren't something that bothered or frightened him. He looked at her as if the scars didn't exist.

"I don't think we're giving ourselves these injuries in the usual way." Kara might have given herself a black eye and split lip but he doubted she had. His own injuries would have been impossible for Alec to give himself.

"Something similar happened to me. I dreamed about a battle and woke up with a version of the wounds I had." Thankfully they weren't exactly the same or he'd have died an agonizing death since no one here would be able to help him. "They're claw marks. Definitely not made by a human." Or a Shadowhunter.

"I've seen something. I don't know what they are. They seem too solid to be shadows."

[facemyenemys]

She was still learning to feel okay with the scars, and she wasn't the most social, so some people did stare. In general though, it was nice here, because no one really judged. her fingers touched the bruising a bit, but then drew away.

His statement about not giving themselves the marks made sense, and she already knew that had to be the truth, but it was easy to pass it off as her fault, at the moment. She nodded, frowning though, as he said it.

"So, we're not the only ones." She frowned more, rubbing her hand over her ribs at the side as she thought. "I've had some dreams, about fights I've had but haven't had. Woke up bruised and bleeding. My Fiancée as well. Though his were much worse."

She stepped closer, within arms reach but not too close, conversational, and rested her hands at her pants pockets, looking the other. "Are your wounds very serious right now? Or have you managed?" Concern, because if others were hurt like Ward and her, who knows who else was hurt.

"I've caught glances, but I wasn't sure if it was someone else or something entirely different. I thought I'd try and talk to the Librarians..."

[alec_lightwood]

"No, you're not. Magnus hasn't mentioned nightmares but his scale for them is different than most people's." Years of abuse combined with the ability to have prophetic dreams meant that Magnus didn't react as strongly to nightmares as most people. But he had been worried about the claw marks on Alec and what would happen if the dreams escalated. "We haven't figured it out yet. Bob's tried to get a lock on it but he hasn't had much luck."

The question about the old injuries surprised him. Only a handful of people ever worried about his safety. Even his parents hadn't really shown much concern when he was wounded. Even when those wounds were mortal. "They're not serious now. They weren't when I woke up. If they had been, I probably would be dying right now. I was poisoned the first time I was attacked."

Keeping an eye on the shadows, Alec sighed. "I don't know what's out there. I know what it isn't. At least compared to what I've seen in my world. I don't know where the Librarians are. The Cat usually keeps Bob company but he hasn't been hanging around. I haven't seen the Head Librarian but I thought it was because he had to open the portals."

[facemyenemys]

She listened to him and considered the information. Magnus and Bob and Alec are all experiencing things though. Or at least could be. Grant and her are both having their own small issues (Ward's was not small). And it seems the Librarians are either busy or missing?

When he spoke about the wounds not being serious she raised a brow and watched him anyhow. Not serious, but they had been originally. Wards was a bit of the same. They could have been worse, apparently. And this one as poisoned originally? Damn. She gave him a nod, but still, the Agent in her hadn't completely died. "Serious or not, if they've opened, make sure you keep them cared for while you can. It would be bad if the lot of us were taken down by our past reliving itself."

"I'm a bit concerned about the Librarians too. I know he, or they, had to hold everything down while we all ran about in other portals. You don't think they over did it, do you? Over did it and now things are creeping in?" Is that something that could happen?

[alec_lightwood]

"What kind of injuries have you and Ward experienced? There might be some kind of significance in which ones we're reliving." Alec wasn't sure if that was part of it but since Bob and Magnus couldn't figure out what was going on, they needed as much information as possible. Maybe there was a connection that they hadn't made yet since Alec's wounds were the only ones that they had been basing theories on.

"I have a way to speed up healing if the wounds aren't poisoned. But you're right. If it continues it could take us down." Could that be what the shadows wanted? But why not make the wounds serious enough to kill instead of only debilitating?

Alec hoped that Kara was wrong but he had the feeling she had guessed the reason why the Librarians had been missing. "I'm beginning to think that's what happened to them. It takes a lot of energy to keep a portal open that long and to create that many glamours. Power has to come from somewhere. Either from the one casting the spell or someone offering up power to sustain the spell. Doing so much might have hurt them so they can't protect us from this."

4 to 5

[ingrantitude]

By the time Kara gets back Ward has pulled on his clothing and his purpose is firm, "Let's walk."

That'll keep him awake. Their journey starts at the market where the sight of the forge makes him take her hand and frown ruefully at her naked fingers before he leads her to the baths. It's a date. It's a nice date, one that ends with him buying her a crown of flowers as they walk back...

Into a cold patch.

Ward's almost cheerful demeanor drops instantly and he lets go of her hand.

"...You feeling that?"

[facemyenemys]

When she gets back she's surprised to see his purpose to take her for a walk. She nods and goes with him, looping her arm into his most of the time. They hit the Market place, and she picks up a few things for their room. She makes note of the new locations as they walk, and enjoyed the baths with him. It took her a bit to realize this was his form of a date.

It was cute.

She loved it.

She's constantly careful of his bandages. She keeps a check to make sure he's not bleeding again. She helps to put dry ones back on after the bath house. And she likes the feel of her fingers curled into his hand.

When he lets go though, she frowns, and feels it. The cold chill. Her breath huffs once as she looks around, then to him again. "Yeah... I'm afraid so."

[ingrantitude]

He doesn't say much, pulling her closer and drawing a knife, "...Can you believe I'd welcome a fight? Chance to actually physically kill something? I know how...disgusting that must sound but..."

He shook his head and smirked, "...Gotta...Gotta do good right?"