TIAMAT

[soulping]

[As you stand around waiting for something to happen, you begin to feel something pressing on you, vaguely...as though a heavy blanket has been draped around your shoulders, although there's still nothing there. You close your eyes for just a moment - just a blink - and then-

The floor drops. You go plummeting downwards, or so it seems; you can't quite tell, because suddenly everything is pitch dark and you feel like you're falling, falling, falling...]

Comments

RULES

[soulping]

• Teams will find themselves in a series of rooms that force them to confront some common fears ("common" as chosen by the majority who signed up- y'all got some issues).

• There will be four rooms. They will be run in a semi-exploradora format, although "exploration" is not the actual goal. In that sense, it is more like a heart or shadow game.

• The game takes place in a nightmare/mindscape formed by Knut, so that no one can actually get hurt from what happens. However, your characters will not know this. Everything that happens will seem completely real, despite being occasionally vague and absurd in the way that dreams are. Stuff will only seem weird after they wake up!

• This means that anyone who comes late or leaves early will simply appear or vanish and their fellow players won't really find it odd, because again: dreams. (In other words, don't worry too much about it.)

• People may get hurt during the course of the game! It IS a nightmare, after all. But no matter how bad an injury is, the character will only feel it in a conceptual way; like they're remembering the pain rather than actually experiencing it. This will seem normal at the time. Dreams!!!

• Powers are ON but characters will not realize this unless they actively make an attempt to use them. And certain rooms will prevent them from doing even that!

• These rules are all OOC. Your characters do not know what is going on.

• However, this does not exclude the possibility that they might eventually figure it out. That's up to you.

ROOM 1

[soulping]

You don't remember hitting the ground. But you must have at some point, because that's where you're lying now- on your back, staring up at a dark, blank ceiling. There's no indication of where you fell from...wait, fell? Did you actually fall? You can't seem to remember anymore. Your thoughts seem a little hazy and dreamlike around the edges, but your surroundings, at least, appear to be solid and real enough. So do your teammates, who lay nearby.

As everyone sits up and looks around, you see that you are in a small, dingy room. The floors and walls are rough-cut stone that is cracked and crumbling, covered in grime and mold, and there's an inch of filthy, stinking water covering half of the floor. One wall is covered entirely in thick steel bars like a prison cell. Although you can make out your dimly lit surroundings well enough, immediately beyond the bars you can see nothing but a solid wall of darkness.

There is a buzzing in the back of your mind and you feel weak and tired, sapped of any power and strength.

Re: ROOM 1

[heartablaze]

A-ah....?

[She's having trouble keeping her eyes open.]

Re: ROOM 1

[loveinvein]

Hey, are you alright? C'mon, get up.

[ Going over and offering a hand to! ]

Re: ROOM 1

[heartablaze]

I... yeah, I'm okay...

[Taking his hand, though she's wobbly on her feet.]

I feel so sleepy...

Re: ROOM 1

[loveinvein]

[ Steadies her! ]

Mm, me too... something's weird about this.

Re: ROOM 1

[heartablaze]

[After a moment, she heads to the bars, wrapping her fingers around them as she squints into the darkness.]

Re: ROOM 1

[loveinvein]

[ Blinks slowly, a little out of it. And then stands himself up because ew, filthy water. ]

Yuck. This... is creepy.

Re: ROOM 1

[unrestrained]

That's one word for it.

[ Nudging at walls aimlessly already himself... ]

Re: ROOM 1

[loveinvein]

You're onto it.

ROOM 2

[soulping]

You're in the middle of a cemetery. That's subtle.

If you were at Knut's capture the flag game, you might recognize it from there. It's completely overgrown, the ornate headstones and statues are falling apart, and there's a thick, thick layer of fog on the ground. You stand in a small clearing in front of one grave which looks much less run-down than the others. How did you get here? You don't know. You don't even think to question it at first. Your thoughts are almost as foggy as you surroundings.

Your heartbeat pounds unusually loud in your ears, and you hear muffled footsteps in the distance that never get any closer.

Re: ROOM 2

[unrestrained]

Okay... So about a ten on the creepy meter.

Re: ROOM 2

[heartablaze]

[She shivers in response, hugging her arms close to her and glancing around.]

Do you hear someone? It sounds like a person walking...

[Tries to step in that general direction, listening carefully.]

Re: ROOM 2

[soulping]

They never get any closer or change their rhythm.

Re: ROOM 2

[unrestrained]

[ Considers this for a moment, a long moment. And then he gestures for Ruby to stop moving. Does it keep going if no one's moving? ]

Re: ROOM 2

[soulping]

Yes, it does.

ROOM 3

[soulping]

You're outside Tiamat's dorm. The game is over. You lost, and you've come to give this news to your teammates. The news that you've failed them.

But the door is locked. It won't open, no matter how much you rattle the knob or pound on it. You can hear voices behind it, that you recognize as belonging to your team. You can't make out the individual words, but they sound happy- and every now and then you think you recognize your own name, followed by jeering laughter. No matter how much you knock or call for them, they ignore your pleas and the door still won't open. And you know, deep in your soul, that it will never open for you again.

You turn away and find yourself facing a wall of people. The crowd presses and jostles around you, leaving you smothered and seperated from the group (what group? There's no one here but you, is there? You came into this game alone and you failed alone, didn't you-). You are surrounded on all sides by a mass of figures whose faces you can't quite make out, their features all blurring and sliding together. They speak to each other, but the words are totally incomprehensible to you.

And nothing you do is able to get their attention. They ignore you completely as though you aren't even there.

Well, that's only right, isn't it? You shouldn't be there, and you aren't there, not really...not in any way that actually matters. You're just taking up space from someone who deserves it more, aren't you? Everyone has more important things to do than bother with you, more important people, why would they ever need YOU?

Re: ROOM 3

[unrestrained]

[ OUCH. Right in the feelings.

But if they're going to ignore him then two can play at that game. Except he's not very good at being ignored or-- more importantly-- ignoring things he dislikes. ]

Real mature.

Re: ROOM 3

[soulping]

Ignoring standoff ensues.

(Somewhere else in the crowd you hear a familiar voice, though you can't make out the words.)

Re: ROOM 3

[loveinvein]

[ That's just rude. Mika is somewhat familiar with this isolated feeling though, and he's not going to let it take him over so easily, not now. Because even if no one needs him... he knows he'll need them. ]

[ He reaches out, insistently trying to grab onto someone, to make them stay! ]

Hey!

Re: ROOM 3

[soulping]

They don't even react to being grabbed, just staring ahead. Their face flickers to something familiar before blurring again, but I think we both know who it was.

Re: ROOM 3

[loveinvein]

[ WOW SHUT UPPPPpppppp Yuu-chan ]

Yuu-chan!

[ YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THE LEVEL OF DESPERATE HE'S GOING TO START TO GET THEN, KEEPING ON KEEPING ON. ]

Re: ROOM 3

[soulping]

You call and call but no one answers. The crowd continues to ignore you.

Re: ROOM 3

[unrestrained]

[ he heaaard you. congratulations. frowning at. ]



Hey. C'mon.

[soulping]

Your heartbeat pounds in your ears, seeming to grow louder and louder until it finally becomes deafening, drowning out everything else. The dreamlike fog at the corners of your mind creeps in, and you feel that same sensation of falling as everything goes black again.

In the darkness you think, for just a moment, that you can feel a cold hand gently brushing the hair from your face.

Then you wake.]