[event] welcome to other ashdown

[Kolina]

Juniper felt the eyes on her as one of the faceless moved in her direction. She took a single step back, unsure what it was planning to do. It was then that Temperance was grabbed. "Hey! Let her go!" She moved to try to intercept but her attention was quickly grabbed by the approaching faceless.

It's outstretched hand was a very obvious sign of what it wanted, and poor Dee was practically scrambling to get himself out of sight of the things. It was at this moment that Juniper was silently pleased with the fact she tended to wear cami's underneath her shirts. It certainly would give the chipmunk something to hold on to and not make Juniper feel like she was being....ehm...frisked by the little fella.

She shook her head at the faceless just as Shun mentioned giving over the chipmunk. "I am -not- just handing Dee over! He's obviously terrified of these guys! How would you feel if we just handed you over to someone you were scared of?" Blue eyes glared at the man before she fixed her gaze back on the faceless. It was obvious she was being steadfast in this decision of hers. "Besides, as it stands, I don't see why they even want Dee. Leaving him alone in a cage like that is terrible!" She huffed. "And let Temperance go! She didn't do anything!"

Ashdown Whaler

Blade Kuroda

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

The voice in her mind had her hackles raising. She might not have been the pinnacle of respect, but neither had they. The lot of them had been whisked out of their homes and into other Ashdown, shown a nonsensical movie, threatened and been punished for seemingly small transgressions.

"Now you speak?" She wriggled against the hand that held her. "If I have 'erred', if it because no one has thought to explain anything to us, Mr. Faceless Suits!" Human tenacity and impulsiveness welled up in the spaces with no clear rules. Temperance stilled. She could see the hallway beyond them and it was so, so tempting, but felt as unattainable as her 'door' had been. In fact, the faceless mannequins... their strength felt similar. She frowned at them.

"Please let go of me."

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

We do not explain, we show. You who have been called here, you who dream and find an odd respite in this place. It was still the sound of many voices in Temperance's head. We guide, we guard, we protect- you are young and foolish and do not listen or heed. Instead you harm and show no respect.

Temperance was abruptly let go of, forced backward away from the door. The voice was gone and now she heard nothing but it was clear there would be no getting past them.

The one that held a hand out towards Juniper continued to do so but there was no answer for her question.

Instead the mannequin tilted towards Shun. The hand fell away from Juniper and was then held towards the man. It was clear from it's posture he was not wanting something but wishing for it's hand to be taken.

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KitsuneAura

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Smerdle

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The Semblance of Unity

Kolina

AMItotic

Seussi

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun narrowed his eyes at Juniper as she started to get on his case for suggesting they hand over Dee.

"Well how about we try to find out just what it is they want from the creature. We know next to nothing about it, or them."

He was still of the idea that the chipmunk could have been the one that did all the damage to the theater earlier. It was just as possible that it wasn't. He didn't have enough information, but it was a suspect nonetheless.

His gaze shifted to Temperance as she mentioned something about speaking. He didn't hear the mannequins say anything. It was then that he saw the hand now extended out to him. Glancing down at the outstretched hand, he just regarded the faceless one warily. He really didn't trust these guys anymore than he trusted the damn chipmunk.

"You better not be trying to pull something," he mumbled before tentatively taking the hand. His other one balled into a fist as he grew tense.

Ashdown Whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Dee shuffled against Juniper's neck, head peeking out. When it became clear that Shun was about to take the hand of the faceless, the chipmunk started to move. He was still trying to be hidden.

The moment that Shun took the hand he would notice immediately that it did not feel quite like plastic and again he would see almost a blurry face there on the mannequin. It flickered away and he was left with the impression that these beings possessed the same feel of what had pushed back against him when he had tried magic.

You have pulled something, there a chorus of voices in Shun's head, you who have come to a place you were not intended to be. The faceless head tilted, as if studying Shun. Yet it is not your fault. We did not anticipate that you would be strong willed or that it would grow in power in answer to that.

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KitsuneAura

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The Semblance of Unity

Kolina

AMItotic

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[Blade Kuroda]

The hand of the being felt...weird. It wasn't as he expected. And its face seemed to flicker for a moment once more. Before he could try and narrow in on that, the voices entered his head, nearly causing him to jerk his hand away immediately. It was an odd sensation... and this also seemed like a fairly inconvienent way to communicate. Once he got past the initial shock, Shun's brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of what it was talking about. He could only assume that this basement was what it meant as being an unintended area. Though it could be Other Ashdown as a whole, he supposed.

"You are going to need to be a little more plainly. We came down here because we had no other options in trying to leave. Why do you keep us here?" he asked.

He'd get to the chipmunk shortly. There were a lot of questions that needed answers. Though whether this thing would give anything of substance was another matter entirely. But it seemed that these two were the forces in charge of the theater. The things that kept him supressed earlier.

Ashdown Whaller

 

[Smerdle]

Theo stood, arms crossed, near the wall where he had been ever since they had freed the chipmunk. He gathered they were communicating with the mannequins—Temperance and the cop—but he couldn't discern what was being said. Whatever they were talking about, it looked disconcerting and sounded ultimately futile. They weren't being set free or woken up, and he still had no idea why they had been brought here in the first place.

He hoped that future mannequin communications would be shared with the class, but for now he stared at where Dee huddled against Juniper's skin, recalling that Gloom had tried to do the same to him. Cuddly harbingers of doom, the lot of them.  

[Kolina]

Feeling Dee crawling about inside of her shirt was an odd sensation. His little tail tended to tickle any bare skin it hit as well. Thankfully though, it looked like Dee's hiding had worked as the faceless eventually turned away from her to Shun. She huffed at the detective, crossing her arms. "Fine. That's fair enough, but I still don't think it's fair to keep him trapped in a cage, unless he did something horrible and that's their equivelant of prison." She glanced down at the bump in her shirt that indicated where the rodent was.

Juniper was surprised to see that Shun took the offered hand. He hadn't been keen on jumping into anything that dealt with this place, and taking what could be an enemies hand, seemed....well chancy. Maybe it would help things along?

Eyes slid to Temperance who appeared to have been released form the mannequin Ok. Maybe they were becoming less hostile? That was a step in the right direction, right?

Shun's words pulled her attention back to him. "They told you something?" She questioned. "Wish they would share it with the group. I don't like not knowing what is going on."

Ashdwon whaler

Blade Kuroda

The Semblance of Unity

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

We are not which keep you here. We only keep that which is meant to stay locked within. We are meant to show, to offer guidance and protection where we can. The faceless tilted it's head again, it's free hand raised and pointing towards Juniper. That which is hiding on the other dreamer.

Dee's ears seemed to perk, as if he could understand. He carefully crawled up, paws pressing on Juniper's neck and chittering softly. "They're bad, they're bad! They wait for people to come by and then they trap them and change them!" There was a small scared whine. "Please don't let them take me again!"

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[Blade Kuroda]

Shun tilted his head as he looked over the figure. ... They looked awfully a lot like Slenderman, now that he thought about it. Were they the causes of the reports awhile back?

His gaze shifted over towards Dee as the critter spoke up. The detective was a bit suspicious of the faceless, given the pushing sensation he felt that was rather reminiscent of what he had experienced just a moment ago.

"They claim to give guidance and protection, and to keep him locked up..." he explained before looking towards the faceless again, "What is the chipmunk's crime to warrant being locked away? Also all attempts to leave prior were blocked off."

Ashdown Whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Your arrival has given it power. The cacophony of voices spoke still. It was able to act out once more. To shape the world around it once more despite our efforts.

The one not talking to Shun walked over to Juniper. Even without a face it would feel as if there were eyes on her, heavy and disconcerting.

"Get away from me!" Dee screeched. "You're evil! EVIL! Bad glowy people things!"

It is not what you call a chipmunk; it's shape is a prison. It is the destroyer. It rends, it tears, it finds pleasure where it can cause discord and destruction.

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[happy bonsai]

Al had watched the goings on quietly. He stuffed the bag of flesh-colored treats into his back pocket and moved to clap a hand on Juniper's shoulder, careful not to take his eyes off the pair of faceless.

"I think ya should give 'em the damn thing," he said. "We don't know shite about it or them, and the only thing they've done so far is disarm us, they haven't been violent and they coulda ournumbered us back in the theater but they didn't." He frowned at the bulge of terrified rodent that shivered beneath the other dreamer's shirt. "All we want is a way outta this hole." He said, addressing the mannequins. "If we give it to ya, can ya help us find a way back to where we came from?" He tilted his head towards the door they had appeared from. "Where's that lead?"

Ashdown Whaler

Kolina

 

[Blade Kuroda]

"They claim it is the one keeping us here. That it is not a true chipmunk; that form is its actual prison. Some sort of destroyer that enjoys to sow discord."

He gazed back towards the little creature.

"Obviously one of these two is lying." he mumbled.

Shun did always feel kind of suspicious about the chipmunk, but there was one thing that didn't add up, however.

"You say that the creature is the one preventing us from leaving, and yet whenever I attempted to open the door out of the theater, it was your presence I felt. What say you to that?"

Ashdown Whaler

 

[Kolina]

The faceless that walked towards her was met with a determined look from Juniper. It's heavy gaze was...uncomfortable to say the least.

Juniper jumped a bit as Al set his hand on her shoulder. "Ya know, I am all for self preservation but not at the expense of someone else." She said. "I mean, sure, we don't know if Dee is telling the whole truth but we don't know if these faceless people are either."

Shun had apparently come to the same conclusion as he faced off with the faceless. "I don't understand how a chipmunk, who was stuck in a cage and unable to get out, would be able to lock us into a theatre or navigate us down here. If he could do that surely he could get himself out of a cage?" She questioned after Shun made his own inquiries.

This would be easier if they talked to all of us as a whole. She mused.

Ashdown Whaler

happy bonsai

Blade Kuroda

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

The faceless in front of Juniper still held out it's hand. Dee continued to quake and there was a low squeaky mantra of bad bad bad bad bad over and over again.

When they were clearly talking about him, he stood up on his hind legs on Juniper's shoulder. "I don't destroy! I DON'T!"

Shun's hand still within the other faceless's grasp, the voice waited a beat before it answered. We could not chance it gaining freedom. Once it was clear that it had found a way to act all exits had to be secured. Had it not lured you here we would have led you back sooner.

The faceless head tilted once more and Shun would see what appeared to be a slow blink before the face was gone again. The door leads back to the theatre. It was answering Alister though only the detective would hear the voice. Where we will lead you to and then back to the places you belong but now- It's head shook. No one may leave until the destroyer is handed over.

"That's a lie!" Dee countered, again apparently able to hear them despite the fact that the rest in the room could not. "They don't lead people back! They just keep them here! They change you and keep you and-" The chipmunk had seemed to get just a little bigger over time while he was out. "They make everything safe! Bad safe! Nothing different! That's why they have no faces!"

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