mind_blown | THE LOST DAYS... Round 1.

Entry tags:

*heart game

THE LOST DAYS... Round 1.

It's all darkness.

The feeling of nothingness, of being nothing. Of not existing. You have no thoughts, you will never have any thoughts again. While that fact is not comforting, because you cannot be comforted anymore, it is true.

There's a certain rest to being... nothing. And to both knowing and not knowing, that your time is done.

So it's all the more unfortunate when you feel, because you shouldn't feel. And the feeling is burning in your lungs, which you shouldn't have. Because you are- or were- nothing.

And then, you inhale a desperate gasp of air and open your eyes...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This place feels… heavy. It’s hard to breathe here, and you can’t quite place why. At least not at first. But as you look at the dusty, sanded warehouse blend seamlessly into a dilapidated house, connected via walkway to a flashy hotel, it starts to hit you. You are terrified. So terrified, that you can’t even entirely separate the feeling from your confusion. Your chest is tight, constricted, and you feel every muscle in your body on a hair trigger.

It would take everything in you to not panic at the drop of a hat, given any shock what-so-ever. There is nothing in this place that you can anchor to that would make you feel safe.

You can turn around, and head into the darkness. Or you can look ahead and see a pit-- you can’t see the bottom. But there’s a terrifying urge to jump. You can hear the sound of unhinged laughing grow, the longer you stare at that pit.

[ She lets the fear sit in her; lets it settle like a scar. It's not so bad, that it hurts, or that she's afraid, or that it's dangerous.
It's like the thrill of battle, right? It's like the memory-that-isn't-a memory of 𝓝innuan.

....But she's alone. That part is awful.
—Unless the laughing means she isn't alone after all? ]

Hello?

The laughing doesn't stop. But its location does seem to shift and move, like the person it's emanating from is moving?

Does she follow?

[ Of course!

Whoever's laughing seems interesting—someone who doesn't mind the feeling of the emptiness or the pain. They're like her, maybe, except also they found something funny. ]

I'm going to try to find you, okay!

"Ohhh! Yes, what a good game!"

Comes the call in response.

It leads you closer to the pit.

[ She follows, perfectly cheerful, now!
The worst things in all the world are just fine, so long as she's not alone. ]

...Are you from the 𝓝ot, too? Is that why you're here?

"Not quite!" it titters back in a giggle.

As she finally approaches the edge, it's like a shadow pulls up from the ground and forms into the source of her conversation.

Just being closer to him makes her want to laugh, and maim, and kill, with reckless abandon. But it does not consume her, if she does not want it to. Well, except for the laughing. The world is a joke, after all!

"But let's skip the smalltalk, doll. How about we play a little game?"

[ "makes her want to laugh, and maim, and kill, with reckless abandon" —so, perhaps only slightly more than normal, at least insofar as normally she only feels that way while she's being wielded.

She laughs a bit, too. It's relaxing—a little like being a sword again, and not stuck in this all-wrong body. ]

Alright.
Do you want to wield me?

"What if, and stop me if I'm wrong here, we let you wield yourself?"

He giggles at his own joke.

"What would you do?"

There are sounds coming from behind her now. But the Joker is so thrilling.

[ she tilts her head ]

Ah... I don't know, really!
Swords have wielders, and I don't like to be alone. You can't love anything that way—not very well, at least.

And then, regardless of what she answers, she suddenly finds herself pushed, hard into the pit.

And then, Kiri Hellfire is not Kiri Hellfire. Because when she looks around and feels Harpy's body slide off of the dagger that she is carrying, she does not feel the way she should. She doesn't even realize that she shouldn't feel that way. Instead, she feels aches in her muscles, fear and panic over a closed door, and then suddenly, a sharp, rending pain.

"Vroom, vroom," God's voice echoes behind her.

She turns to look as she collapse. She feels hatred, but also that teasing reminder of oblivion. That it can and will one day come to unmake her. And that it will not be pleasant next time, because oblivion is not kind to those who escape it.

And without realizing, she wakes up screaming.

These are... the places he's died?

[DO NOT LIKE THIS

but like. How many flowers are here.]

[ Talon swallows thickly, staying a little closer to Griffin than he normally might. It's hard to fight through the terror now—he shouldn't be this scared. ]

It would not surprise me. Death leaves deep marks.

Edited 2021-01-24 21:39 (UTC)

There were none-- and yet?

They are suddenly blooming in your footsteps. Like your movements gave them permission to be here.

And in fact-- one latches to Talon's arm, curling tightly and burning into his skin.

He feels all the anger, and hate, and betrayal bubbling over. Overtaking his senses. He can't let go of that hurt, and it blinds him.

More flowers are rapidly growing around him.

Roll sharp to attempt an escape. Take one harm.

[ He jerks himself to the side to try to break free, sucking in a breath that might have just been alarmed, even frightened at first, but quickly builds into an enraged shout as he pivots to face the flowers like they're an enemy he can just brawl

Rolled: 11 ]

Edited 2021-01-24 21:46 (UTC)

[Nero yanks Talon back too, taking a few steps backwards once he realizes it's their presence that's causing the flowers to grow.]

We're just spreading the flowers around...! This can't be where the infection started.

Talon is broken free, but he still feels the rage, cyrstallizing in his heart, and then slowly ebbing. Where he was grabbed, he feels the raised curve of blistering from the flower's touch.

But the flower that grabbed him? Has withered and died after its failed attempt to infect him.

But the room is gaining in heat, as the laughter grows louder.

There's only one way forward: the pit.

[ He nearly turns on Griffin next, catching himself with another choked off yell and forcing himself to take slow breaths. The anger's still there, but it's not because of Griffin. ]

It's after us then. We need to regard them as a predator to be avoided.

Edited 2021-01-24 21:56 (UTC)

But we're here to destroy it, aren't we? Shouldn't we just face it head-on?

A ranged attack will be wiser. We don't want to risk coming into direct contact with it.

The flowers, weirdly, seem to gravitate towards Nero now, versus Talon.

[:( Hey]

Looks like you're not their favourite target anymore...

[ Tugging him toward the pit ]

They probably just sense an easy target.

Wow.

[Guess that's where we're goin', then]

As they get to the pit, the see a very familiar, or not so, figure rise up as though he appeared out of the shadows.

And he laughs, and laughs, and laughs.

"More company?!"

As he says that, Nero suddenly feels his airwaves constricting? How? He can't breathe, and he feels like he might die.

Take two harm now.

THE LOST DAYS... Round 1.

death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death

Re: death