AMALTHEA + AOKO

[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

[menially]

[Slowly... pushing himself to his feet, though he's having to lean himself against a wall to do so.]

What the hell happened back there...??

Re: ROOM 1

[unguilded]

[ Also ... sitting up, scooting a bit closer to Technic before he stands as well. And rubs the back of his neck. ]

I don't know...

[ And he looks around the room to see if there's some way out of the cell. ]

Re: ROOM 1

[soulping]

The only exit you can see is past the bars! But they look pretty solid.

Re: ROOM 1

[menially]

[Stumbling over to the water, feeling along the bottom with his feet as he wades through it.]

Re: ROOM 1

[soulping]

The stone beneath is crumbling and slightly soft. The water must have been standing there for a long time.

Re: ROOM 1

[whoslaughingmeow]

[He's trying to get up, but his arms and legs are shaking at the moment.]

I dunno.. ugh...

Re: ROOM 1

[unguilded]

[ Weak himself, but offering Leo a hand all the same. ]

Re: ROOM 1

[whoslaughingmeow]

[He takes it but still.. uses mainly his own strength to stand up.

And looking around.]

This place seems ancient.

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

[menially]

[Fog brain, go away.

Tugging Rook so they can try and look at the grave in front of them while trying to use it as some sort of cover.]

Re: ROOM 2

[unguilded]

...

[ Lets out a small 'huh' with a breath, and he shakes his head again. That foggy feeling is really shitty, and the more it nags at him, the more unnerved he gets.

Takes a closer look at the graves, particularly the one in front of them, so Technic hardly has to tug. ]

Re: ROOM 2

[whoslaughingmeow]

This place seems familiar..

[He says that slowly, like barely he's able to remember....and he's tugged along with Rook.]

Re: ROOM 2

[soulping]

The headstones vary in size and shape but most of them are fairly ornate. They are, however, old as balls.

The one immediately in front of the group is a modestly sized headstone. It's still pretty ancient, but it looks like someone's been taking care of it. There's writing on almost all the stones, but it's incomprehensible to you. They're definitely letters and numbers but for some reason your mind can't make sense of them.

Re: ROOM 2

[whoslaughingmeow]

[..Maybe if I touch it it'll make sense.]

ROOM 3

[soulping]

You're outside Amalthea'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

[whoslaughingmeow]

[This hurts.

This hurts a lot.

He's used to being ignored. To other people coming first! Enough that he does it to himself.. and enough that he's even scared to go after things he wants. His immediate instinct is to resign himself to this and just. Shrivel up and die. It wouldn't be the first time.

But..Amalthea isn't like that. None of them are. They wouldn't just discard him..

Is what he WANTS to believe but.

He can't, so easily. Deep-seated insecurities are not so easily conquered.

But he's gonna yell out.]

HELLO... ANYONE?

Re: ROOM 3

[soulping]

The people in the crowd continue to ignore you. A few faces seem to flicker to something familiar before blurring again.

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

Re: ROOM 3

[unguilded]

[ Ah.

Acceptance and love is pretty much all he wants. Something he still feels he lacks to extents. Distance from things, easy detachment from problems when it isn't that person's, leaving a lot of his hurt still feel so raw at times.

It's a burden that he wants more, isn't it? Everyone else would much rather just tolerate each other and focus on other things. Everything he's been doing has been a waste. He always tried not to feel that way, but now he has an answer, doesn't he? He's just a thorn in everyone's side who tries and cares too much to create something that isn't there.

He shakes his head. Things aren't like that, right? They're working, he's working, he'll work until he literally breaks himself and can't work anymore. But why are these thoughts even coming to him now? Out of nowhere? It doesn't make sense, but it's nagging, it's heavy. It's hard to shake off. Is it real? It feels real, but ... but... ]

Hey-- hey! Heeeeeey!

[ He calls out, to anyone. His team, the people outside, anyone. ]

Re: ROOM 3

[whoslaughingmeow]

ROOK!

[That's someone yelling.]

ARE YOU THERE?

Re: ROOM 3

[soulping]

The people in the crowd continue to ignore you. A few faces seem to flicker to something familiar before blurring again.

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

Re: ROOM 3

[unguilded]

That voice...

Who is that? Where are you?

[ Oh, right he was with someone, wasn't he...? ]

Re: ROOM 3

[whoslaughingmeow]

[He might be calling u because you're The Rock, Rook.]

IT'S LEO! I'M.. IN THIS.. CROWD, SOMEWHERE?

[TRYING TO FORCE HIS WAY THROUGH.]

[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.]