Welcome to Gaia! ::

After another brief moment of indecision Sin walked into a room and plunged her hands into the pool she found. She bent her head and sipped from the waters eyes shut tight as she waited fearfully.

Surprisingly Sin felt her wings prickle and tighten, her shoulders tensed a moment and she blinked. She glanced over and noticed the spikes on her arms seemed to have shrunk, and her wings...her wings had shrunk! They hadn't been that small in two years not since she'd hit her growth spurt.

Had the pool somehow made her younger? She blinked and uncupped her hands letting the rest pour back into the pool. She didn't want to know what might happen if she drank more. Yet a part of her, the younger part, had grown bolder more curious. She turned away after glancing over her shoulder and chose another room this time with less fear and more excitement.


1/4
Drinks: Youth

Sin looked around the room warily before she slipped in trying to keep her heels from clicking against the floor. She didn't want to be seen or heard, she was in danger, there was danger everywhere. She took a deep breath trying to stay calm and edged closer to the pool. Little did she know this was the same pool she had drunk from before. She scooped a little and took a quick sip before moving away hurriedly.

Better keep moving...not safe, never safe.

She rushed out of the room glancing around herself and her surroundings warily. This whole place was probably just a hairsbreadth away from becoming some horrible nightmare.


2/4
Drinks: Youth, Insanity, Insanity

Sin moved into the next room and stared at the pool in careful consideration. She wanted to drink, but she didn't, she was terrified that she was being trapped. She reached down to touch the water her fingers trembling.

Slowly she lifted her hand to her lips and lapped a droplet of the water and felt the familiar tingle of the years slipping away.

Ah, they took them away again, can't have us trying to fly away...like a free bird...no no freedom here....

She leaped back away from the pool and glared at the waters. Why were they doing this to her!? She turned and rushed from the room to find another.

3/4
Drinks: Youth, Insanity, Insanity, Age, Youth

As varied and odd as the brief dream states that bombarded her in the last corridor had been, the dream of ALICE had unquestionably set everything right again. The hug and words of encouragement that the girl offered to her were exactly what Mimsy needed at the end of that long chain of bizarre (and occasionally unsettling) images - they soothed all of the anxieties that spawned when she found herself separated from Robert, and extended past the mission to help her believe that all was still well where Lucky was concerned.

She could do this. She could, because ALICE said so, and ALICE would not ever lead her astray.

It didn't take long for her to find proof of that. When she entered into what appeared to be some sort of luxurious palace garden, she saw Robert standing nearby, just in front of a door flanked by pillars.

"Robert! There you are!" She hurried towards him as she called out, wearing a smile of pride and excitement. The instant that she reached him she attached herself to his side again, wrapping both arms tightly around one of his. "I missed you very much. I saw ALICE! She gave me such strange dreams for a little while, but she told me that I could find you, then she hugged me goodbye. And she was right, because here you are! And--"

The words engraved on the door caught her attention, and she abruptly fell silent while she examined them. They were entirely unfamiliar characters, but if she squinted, it almost made sense.

"Drink the water of four, and then you may enter. If you do not drink, you will perish," she slowly read aloud, occasionally pausing just long enough to allow the next word to register correctly in her mind. "Ah! Well, I am quite curious to learn what these pools contain, and I would rather not perish, so...would you care to join me for a drink, husband?"

Giggling at her (bad) joke, she freed one arm to allow herself to reach into her pocket for one of the small vials meant for samples, then tugged him towards the nearest pool. If the liquid had some sort of ill effect, saving a portion of it would provide the information that she would need to determine how to fix it. Her hold on his arm loosened, and her hand slid towards his wrist as she bent to fill the vial with green liquid.

After examining it in the vial for a moment, she brought the container to her lips, closed her eyes, and took a sip.

At first, it seemed as if nothing had happened. She capped the vial, thoughtfully looked at it again, tilted it to get a better glimpse of it in the light...and became immediately aware that Robert was too close. With a startled gasp, she jerked away from him and stiffened, muscles visibly tensing in the wake of contact.

"Please do not touch me again." She spoke through clenched teeth and sounded as if she was on the verge of tears. While it was not quite that emotionally distressing yet, she was faintly concerned for a moment, worried over the fact that everything suddenly felt very wrong with the person who had felt the most right; then that was lost too, buried beneath the crippling need to move away from him.

If he touched her, then he could have control. The longer he did, the closer her was, the worse it would be. She couldn't allow that. She had to remain fully in control of herself, aligned in this carefully constructed ensemble of stability, or the consequences could be unforgivable.

"If you must work beside me to arrive at the conclusion that is necessary for progression, I politely request that you keep a distance that is professionally appropriate," she clearly stated, struggling to stay calm as she tried to inch away.

Drink: 1/4
Current Effect: Youth (Physical/Mental Age = 22)

Another drink from the same pool had similar effects, and with a soft giggle she pushed up to back away from it, swaying gently on her feet before coming to lean against a wall heavily.

1/4

Sleep, sleep

When he spoke, Mimsy jerked away even more rapidly, seemingly repulsed by the words themselves.

"Do not tell me to relax. I can relax if you can ever possibly manage to resist pawing at me, however that terminology is defined," she spat, carefully backing away from him as she moved towards another pool.

She didn't take the time to collect any of the water in a vial this time, and simply crouched to allow the water to fill her cupped hand. After taking a sip of it, she tried to fling the rest in his direction, as if she was attempting to shoo a cat. It fell short of him by a fair distance, largely due to the fact that she continued to move away from him with each step.

"And what exactly were you insinuating, anyway?" One brow arched upward above her cold stare. "You cannot fool me into believing that I wanted to be close to you by my own volition, simply by re-wording the actualities of reality. I am not someone like you, some complete imbecile who can honestly believe that a statement is quantifiably true due to the fact that someone tells you that it is so."

When she found herself with her back against one of the pillars, she held a hand up towards him and narrowed her eyes.

"Stay away from me. I have not yet determined the nature of your advances in this instance, and do not yet know what it is that you are attempting to do, but...but stop." She was clenching her teeth again by the end of her sentence, and she tightly closed her eyes when she finished speaking. It looked like she was somehow pained, suffering the effects of a migraine or withstanding the presence of an ear-splitting high-pitched tone - she slowly shook her head and bought her hands up to either side of it, pressing the heels of her palms against her temples.

"No, no, no," she began to rapidly repeat, sinking towards the floor against the support of the pillar. "Go away. Stay away. No. No, I will not--I will not."



Drink: 2/4
Current Effect: Youth (Physical/Mental Age = 22) + Insanity

After dealing with bad voices and darkness and a shitty maze, all they had to do was drink from a few pools and survive or whatever? Oh hell yes. Bring it on. Her work earlier had made her thirsty anyway.

Brenley had directed them to a purple pool first, which she quietly approved of (such a lovely shade too!). Piper bent down as well and gave it a shot, immediately feeling more relaxed as she sipped from her cupped hands. "Yeah," she said, dragging the word out a little more than intended, a smile cropping up. "Maybe they're not so bad after all."

pools: 1/4
rolls: 1/10
effects: sleep 1

It took America a lot of restraint not to mournfully feel up her chest as she left the room and sought out another pool. It took a lot of restraint for her not to run to it. It took so much restrain not to go seeking people out and simply get things done. She was suddenly all coltish limbs and hair and an urge to gogogo because there was no place to stay and take everything she could because this wasn't a charity and nobody sure as ******** would give her what she wanted just for the asking.

Hands restless and skipping over the pools edge, America hurriedly took her next drink and once again that sudden sense of different. But nothing too extreme. Her perspective was still just a bit off, but this time she felt a little taller than usual. Just a little. Patting herself down, America's body had matured to the point it had been and then a bit beyond. Everything felt slightly fuller and softer. From the inside to the outside, the almost frantic energy earlier calmed into a quieter sort of reason.

Taking her time, America took a selfie and quirked a smile at what she saw before sending off a series of texts.






Pulling one of several small water bottles out of her supplies bag, America drank the rest of its contents and carefully collected some from the pool. As she left, the woman considered the possibility of simply aging Lawrence to death, and smiled.


(+5 years and 2 texts sent)