taxonomites | 002: [Location: streets of Taxon/Visual] they go bump in the night.

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{ toby logan

002: [Location: streets of Taxon/Visual] they go bump in the night.

This is the kind of weather Olivia actually likes, the fall and the cold. So it's no wonder that she's taking a stroll outside, dressed in one of her favorite jackets and pair of jeans, hands in her pockets. Olivia doesn't whistle, but she does hum under her breath every once in a while, content and peaceful with things as there are right then and there. Of course, she wants to go home, and would give up just about anything to have a way back, but right now... it's nice. No stress. It's exactly what she needed, whether she likes it or not.

Of course, she'd ignored the fact that it was Halloween. Olivia didn't do Halloween. But Halloween definitely hadn't forgotten about her, and Taxon was about to hit her with her first event. Joy.

For a long time, it's quiet as she walks along. But she eventually notices whispers of noises, flashes of white in her peripheral vision, and pauses in her walk, looking around. A shiver runs down her back as a cold chill sweeps through the evening air, but she shakes her head. Come on, Olivia, don't be ridiculous, she tells herself. There's nothing out there. And she keeps walking.

But the noises start getting louder, the sound of things scuttling across the ground, whimpers coming from inside buildings that look like they're empty, the wind picking up slightly... and she's starting to be a little frightened, feeling like she's being watched. She walks faster, ignoring the noises as best as possible, until suddenly, quite clearly:

"Olivia..."

Olivia jumps, and flips around, wishing she had some kind of weapon to defend herself with. This had been a stupid idea, she realizes, walking out in the dark by herself. While she was more than capable of taking care of herself (thank you very much) there were still those creeps out there that would take any chance possible to take advantage of her. Lifting her hands in front of her face, ready to defend herself, Olivia starts backing up, pressing herself against a wall, trying to see if she can figure out where her stalker is lurking.

Of course, she's expecting her attacker to be corporeal, so when a hand comes out of the wall behind her and grabs her shoulder, she shrieks and slaps at it, stumbling away from the wall.

"Olivia..."

And suddenly there's people, everywhere. But they aren't people, they're-- if she didn't know any better, they were zombies, people who were decomposing as they walked, some limping, some dragging themselves toward her with their hands, all of them moaning Olivia, Olivia, why didn't you save us...?

One by one, as Olivia stumbles backwards, trying to get away from the creatures, she starts to recognize them. The little girl who had fallen in the lake. The elderly man who'd had a stroke. The woman who'd bled to death on the operating table. All people Olivia hadn't been able to save, all of them yearning for a piece of her, all wanting the same thing.

And when the little girl--skin deathly blue and eyes sunken in--grabs her ankle, Olivia screams.

[ooc: halloween hallucinations~ have fun with her imaginary zombies.]

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[--ohSHI --]

Olivia? Olivia!

[THUNK. There's some rattling noises, a small, terrified noise, and the sound of someone's back hitting a wall.]

... Toby?

Are you okay?

I don't... I d-don't... [She actually sounds terrified, scared out of her wits.]

'Liv, just -- hold on, okay, I'm coming.

... Okay. [She replies faintly, slumping against the wall she's sitting against. Zombies. Those had been real. They'd actually touched her and tried to take a chunk out of her.]

Luckily Olivia doesn't seem to be far from Toby's, so he gets out onto the dark, scary street, pushing away memories of being attacked and focusing on getting to Olivia as fast as he can.

He follows the dot, squinting through the mist for the wall she's apparently slumped against. And then he sees her.

"Olivia."

Thankfully it doesn't take long for him to get there. When he does, she's not freaking out or crying or hysterical, just sort of shocked. She does flinch away at her name being spoken, though, forcibly reminded of the creatures from earlier.

Shakily, she pulls herself up, and hugs herself, cold.

"I'm fine," she says, taking an unsteady step forward. She isn't in any danger of falling, she's just unsure.

Toby closes the gap between them, looking worried and looking over her to make sure that she's really okay.

"Are you sure? What happened?"

Within a few moments of Toby closing the gap, Olivia moves and rests her head on his shoulder, burying her face in his neck, pre-crying breaths escaping as she tries to calm herself down.

"All of-- all of the people I couldn't... save, chased me down the street," she lets out a stifled sob. She's stronger than this, she doesn't need to cry, but it's been so terrifying.

It's surprisingly not weird for Toby, considering what he's seen since coming here, so he just holds her and does his best to comfort her. It's not often he sees Olivia like this... and that is seriously just. Not. Often.

"Hey, hey... 's okay, you're gonna be okay."

Seriously not often is an understatement. Usually, Olivia doesn't let herself be upset in front of Toby (or anyone) unless she's drunk, and even that's a rare occurrence. So this? This takes a lot, to let herself break down.

It was like a double whammy. Not only had she been chased by real, legitamate ghosts, they'd been people she hadn't been able to help, people who had died on her watch. And that guilt, buried because it's necessary to do so when you're a doctor, had been dragged up in the worst way.

So she sort of sags in Toby's arms, and lets out noises that would be sobs if she wasn't trying so hard to keep them at bay.

Toby just... holds her, because that's all he can do. He's thinking, of course, about getting them back inside, but only when Olivia's ready. Only when he knows she'll be okay.

"Liv. You don't need to be tough. Just let it out, I'm not going anywhere."

Those words nearly make her do collapse and cry, but there's that stubborn streak in her that won't back down. She doesn't let herself cry outright, but she holds on tight, holding the back of his shirt with shaking fingers.

And when she can breathe, when the sobs stop threatening to take over, she stays there a moment longer, shuddering, and then letting her grip loosen.

"I'm... I'm okay, I just." Pause, and a deep breath. "I wasn't... actually expecting a bunch of ghosts on Halloween, you know?"

It sounds stupid when she puts it that way, but.

He pauses after a breath, then: "I know. I should've known something like this'd happen." He should've told her to stay inside, or gone with her, but he didn't even know she'd left.

"We should probably go."

She nods, gathering her wits again, trying to think clearly again. Think practical. Right. Getting somewhere safe was their number one priority right then, and she knows it. So Liv lets go of Toby, almost reluctantly, and looks around, making sure there isn't anything trying to sneak up on them.

"Y-yeah, let's go. I don't want to be here, it gives me the creeps," Liv says unsteadily, rubbing at her face a little.

When she's done rubbing her face, Toby moves to take her hand and holds it tightly, reassuring for the two of them. He's got an eye out, too, because whatever happened to her probably wants a go at him, too.

So they start walking back through the mist, towards Toby's apartment.

It's a relief, his hand in hers, and she holds it a little more tightly than she needs to, keeping close. It's weird to think it'd been such a peaceful night before all of this, and she's lost in her thoughts; it doesn't even occur to her that whatever it was that attacked her could go after Toby next. Which was bad.

She's just holding it together until she can curl up on Toby's couch.

They're about halfway back when Toby hears the first of the whispers. They're like thoughts, but they're not his or Olivia's. He doesn't know who they belong to, and regardless, he's blocking right now. But the whispers get louder. Toby just tries to ignore it. They're almost home, after all.

There's movement ahead. He swallows down any fear. It's just Taxon, it's just - dammit - Halloween. This is supposed to happen.

Olivia might notice how nervous Toby now looks, though, as he stares around the street.

Olivia, thankfully, doesn't hear any more of the whispers, and she's just starting to calm down completely when she notices Toby's expression. They're almost there, but he looks freaked, and Olivia moves closer, watching him. This is how she's sure she looked while walking down the street earlier.

"Toby. Toby, what's wrong?" She half-demands, squeezing his hand and glancing up ahead of them, trying to make him walk a little faster.

"... Nothing," he replies, distracted, but he keeps pace with her. The whispers are just loud now, and he wonders if Olivia can hear them, because they're everywhere.

And then he's sure he sees a figure off to his left, and he drops Olivia's hand.

"-- Oz??"

He's still walking with her, but the way he's distracted is worrying. It almost looks like he's starting to get overwhelmed by something, and Olivia's about to ask again when he drops her hand. She turns to look in the direction Toby's looking, but...

"Toby, there isn't anybody there," she says, slightly urgent. "Come on, we need to go."

Even if somewhere, she's sort of hoping it actually is Oz.

But he can hear him through the whispers; Oz's voice is unmistakeable. And he's calling out for anyone. Somewhere in the back of Toby's mind he knows it's some kind of trap, it's Taxon doing this, but the need to see Oz again is way too strong to just wave it off. Toby takes a few steps in that direction, squinting through the dark. "Oz! ... Oz?"

"Toby!"

And of course, Toby isn't listening. Olivia's expression sours, and she moves after him, folding her arms over her chest. It's cold, and she's starting to shiver, and she just wants to go home, but Toby's...

"Come on," Olivia insists, and she almost reaches out to drag him off, but something stops her. What if it actually is Oz out there? What if he's hurt?

... This is a bad idea and she knows it.

Someone's approaching him through the fog, and that stance, that gait, they're all too familiar. Toby doesn't move, just letting whoever it is approach...

"There are caves in Turkey friendlier than this. What the hell, dude?"

A cautious wave of relief rushes over Toby. It's him. "Oz, oh my God."

Oz laughs, the inherently upbeat person he is. And smiling, he says, "You didn't actually believe that, did you?" And still smiling, he blinks. And his eyes go completely black.

"No -- Oh my God -- 'Liv, run--"

It doesn't make sense; Liv can't see anything, and she definitely can't hear what Toby is hearing. So when Toby stands completely still, seeing something only he can see, something about Oz, and responding to it with a sort of relief, Olivia doesn't know what to do. Should she grab him and run, or...?

And then Toby tells her to run, and she has to swallow the rush of panic that floods through her, instead moving forward and grabbing his arm.

"What? What is it? Come on, don't just stand here--" Olivia says loudly, tugging at him to get him to move. Something's not right, she can feel it.

Toby tries to push the image from his mind as he's pulled away by Olivia, as they begin to move, as he starts running without looking back. He's had nightmares like this. He's just trying to remind himself that he always wakes up from them eventually.

"Just run - we're almost there -"

"Gimme a break, Toby, you can't run from me."

She wants to ask what it is that they're running from, but she doesn't, just concentrating on keeping them moving. Liv can see the building, and that's her goal, running as fast as she can manage and dragging Toby with her.

Toby closes his eyes whenever he can, hoping it'll help with pushing this away from him and getting them both to safety as quickly as possible. Then it feels like something's grabbing his leg, and he stumbles but doesn't fall.

Ow, okay, ow, ankle.

"Don't you want to know where your mom is, Toby?"

Shut up, shut up, shut up.

Oop, okay, Olivia nearly stumbles with him when he trips, but she catches herself before she does any damage-- Toby, however, from the angle she watches him trip at and the way he runs after it? Good, good, that's all they needed.

Panting, Olivia drags Toby closer, half trying to support him if he needs it, but still running for her life-- not that it's helping, much.

"Ignore whatever it is," she pants, keeping her eyes on the building. "Just ignore it--"

"I'm trying," he says uneasily, also staring at the building ahead and trying not to see whatever is floating into his vision in front of him. He winces at the pain in his ankle but mostly ignores it, just trying to run it off.

Finally, without much more terrible incident, they make it to the alley behind Toby's building. The stairs are right there...

The minute they're safe, she's going to look at his ankle, she promises, she's just concerned with getting them to safety. The stairs are there, and Liv hurries them over, helping Toby up the stairs as fast as she's able.

Every few moments, she looks around, wondering if what's chasing them will actually let her see it. Somehow, she doesn't think that's going to happen.

It's actually disappeared for Toby, too, which he thinks is both suspicious and a relief. Still, he focuses on getting up the stairs, and getting inside. He grabs his keys from his coat pocket and yanks the door open, waiting for Olivia to go inside first before following in behind her.

It's not even something she thinks about, actually-- she just goes inside, turning around so that she can help him to the couch if he needs it.

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002: [Location: streets of Taxon/Visual] they go bump in the night.

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