When he opened his eyes, he was before a great, gray door. No color, but shades made a strange yet elegant detailing. He didn't know how he got here, and once again worried he was loosing time and memory.
Moving to the door, he reached out. Whatever it lead, he wanted out of the fog.
Waaaiiitt!
The voice startled him, and a hand gripped his, though he knew the voice before the touch. Spinning around, his eyes went wide as he looked to the woman before him. Slender, shapely, with long blond hair and form fitting, comfortable clothes. "I thought..."
"Don't go. Please. There's still another way. You don't have to do this!"
He was confused by what she was saying, but looked to the door she was talking about it. Imposing and towering, he got the impression that something would happen if he went through that he could never take back.
He couldn't leave her here.
Turning, he held her close. He hadn't seen her in over a month, but he knew to her that it was over 2 years. The idea that he'd never see her was wiped away as he held her tightly now. "I want to stay with you. Let's... go elsewhere." He would stay with her and keep her safe. He trusted her.
Name: Melvin HP: 40/40 FEAR Strength: 90% Insanity Strength: 40% Items: Med Kit X 2, 2 Corrupted Runic Bandages RP Blurb: Sweater-wearing, tall, immaculate man with a red gun.
Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:09 pm
This fog was endless. Another shift, another dizzying shift of the world and he found himself in front of a door. There was an inevitability to all this, he'd stopped resisting, what was the point? The house was in control, not him. He might well have been a predator, but he was being directed what to do, what to fight, what to speak to by this awful place.
He reached out to shove the door.
Someone seized his other wrist. He froze and turned just in time to meet familiar blue eyes.
"Don't go. Please. There's still another way. You don't have to do this!"
He gave Harrison a baffled look. It wasn't the sort of thing he'd say, it was jarring, somehow out of place, if he said it it would be some other way. Jordan, emerging from the fog echoed the sentiment, he shouldn't go, it was urgent not to.
Something wasn't right, but he couldn't argue. He wouldn't argue. If he'd gone mad and this was their last ditch attempt to reach out to him he would respect it. No one else other than his guys could ask something of him and have him obey in blind faith. But there was no way to tell this was or wasn't them. He complied.
"Awrite then. I won't go."
Jordan smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder "You'll stay?"
He nodded.
The grip on him got almost painfully tight and then faded entirely along with the apparitions.
He sighed to himself, feeling acutely betrayed and now entirely alone.
HP: 30/50 DMG : N/A FEAR Strength: 100% Insanity Strength: 35% Charge: 0/3 Items : 2 x medikit, 1 runic bandage Appearance : Loud, arrogant human with vibrant red hair and a nasty demeanour, weilds a massive two handed lochaber axe.
Baneful Crew
Dramatic Hunter
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Baneful Crew
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:29 pm
The staircase got nothing but a nonplussed look and a narrowed glare. Well, anywhere had to be better than here, maybe there'd be more bastards to kill. Hopefully a lot ******** less shattered hope.
He moved to touch where he could still remember the hand on his wrist had been.
He needed to find the others. The real ones.
Heaving a sigh, he started the descent.
[EXIT]
HP: 30/50 DMG : N/A FEAR Strength: 100% Insanity Strength: 35% Charge: 0/3 Items : 2 x medikit, 1 runic bandage Appearance : Loud, arrogant human with vibrant red hair and a nasty demeanour, weilds a massive two handed lochaber axe.
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:04 am
Something smelled warm, delicious, familiar. Jordan hesitated, then moved cautiously towards what seemed to be the source of the scent. Shapes resolved out of the fog slowly, inky black, a kitchen, perhaps -
"Oh, here again? Oh, well, I would love the help!"
"Julie?" Jordan breathed, stunned and feeling faintly sick, immediately on his guard. The House was throwing illusions at him, pushing him for reactions. Testing him. How much could it draw out of his memories and knowledge? Or was he locked into his own mind again, seeing amorphous shapes given form by his own perceptions?
She wasn't real, wasn't here. Julie had died in the Sahara, hollowed out by - no. No. Jordan swallowed hard and closed his eyes, then opened them immediately as he saw only images of writhing legs, segmented bodies -
JORDAN, Ferros roared. STOP. Focus.
Jordan shook his head hard and dug his nails into his free hand, using the sharp sting of pain and the rumbling, hissing sound of Ferros's presence to haul his mind forcibly back from the panicky nightmare spiral he had been spinning into. He shoved the images and memories back, made himself look at the shadowy, foggy figure in front of him. This was a mission. There was no time for a panic attack. Control. He had always kept himself under control and he wasn't going to let the ******** Horsemen break him. Thanks, he whispered to Ferros.
The dragon rumbled soothingly, and Jordan let himself spend a few long seconds just breathing, feeling Ferros's presence, calming himself.
Not-Julie seemed to be giving him a quizzical look when he returned his attention to her. He could deal with this; it was an illusion. A test. The figure chattered cheerfully at him as he examined the counter, the ingredients, the area. "We can take a break after we're done! There's still so much to do!"
The illusion was waiting for him to choose. He suspected that if he tried to walk away into the fog, he would only return to this place, this scenario, this figure. He picked up the beaker; the minipets were only illusions, but he still wasn't going to sacrifice them.
"I hope you like it too! Here, try some now - "
Was it ... ? As the figure reached towards him, he felt the familiar, colorful swell of happiness within him, and couldn't help smiling. Artificial it might be, imposed from without by a dubious source, but he couldn't help feeling it, couldn't hate it when the feeling of well-being and happiness and love had helped so much the last time he'd felt it.
As the figure and the kitchen dissolved again into the neverending sameness of the fog, Jordan said quietly, "Goodbye, Julie. We miss you."
He stood in the whiteness for a long time, letting the simple, artificial happiness chase away the lingering remnants of nightmare. When it finally began to fade, he moved on.
Name: Jordan Faction: Hunter HP: 60/60 Fear: 90% Insanity: 5% Visual Reference:Here Inventory: 1 Corrupted Runic Bandage, 1 Runic Bandage, 1 Horseman Vial - picked up here
Unlike the other manifestations, the door didn't loom slowly out of the fog or coalesce in front of him. It was simply there, with no transition at all. Jordan stopped and looked up at the door. Illusion? Almost certainly. He stretched out a hand to touch the door and found it as solid as all the rest of the apparitions the House had thrown at him.
Experimentally, he tried walking around it; but no matter what angle he took, it was there in front of him. When he turned back the way he had come, the door remained in place, looming silent behind him. He took a few steps forward, then looked back at it. No. The House would only bring him back here. He would have to take up its challenge and open the door.
He turned and walked back, reached out to turn the doorknob.
"Wait," a familiar voice sounded behind him; arms circled his waist, looped around his shoulders. He froze.
"Don't go. Please." Rep's voice.
"There's still another way. You don't have to do this." Harrison.
The speech patterns were wrong. The House hadn't mimicked them, or couldn't. But the voices were right, and the warm feel of their embrace; the way Harrison's arm curved over his shoulder, holding but never quite holding back, the way Rep's hand flattened possessively across his chest. It was an illusion. He knew it was an illusion. Still he leaned back against them, torn. He should pull away, open the door. That would be the end of this journey.
He'd never been as logical and unbiased as he liked to think. There was always emotion, always a gut feeling on which to base his decisions, a starting point from which to build upon with reasoned fact. And there were people in this world for whom he'd throw everything away. This was an illusion. A test.
"I won't go," he said, almost inaudibly.
"You'll stay with us?" The arms tightened around his waist, his shoulders.
"Yes."
He heard a soft, pleased sigh; the embrace tightened, almost to the point of pain.
Then it was gone, and Jordan was alone again, feeling oddly hollow and strange, a faint, dull pain in his chest. It had been an illusion. He'd known it and chosen anyway.
The fog drifted slowly away from him, clearing a path; before him, in the floor, steps led down into a rectangular opening. Had it been there all along, or had it only appeared now?
It didn't matter. Whether he had passed or failed the test - or whether it was possible to pass or fail at all - the House was now leading him onwards. This was a way out.
He descended. The stairs seemed endless, but he wasn't going to stop, didn't really want to. The stairs reminded him of the stairs that led down to the Cove, back home, worn with time and age and use; distantly, he heard sounds and voices, above and below him. There were others descending as well.
He walked onwards, down the stairs, towards whatever fate awaited below.
[EXIT]
Name: Jordan Faction: Hunter HP: 60/60 Fear: 90% Insanity: 25% Visual Reference:Here Inventory: 1 Corrupted Runic Bandage, 1 Runic Bandage, 1 Horseman Vial - picked up here
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:57 pm
Prompt 2
"What are you fighting for? Is it for power, is it for them?"
Shuffling behind the figure- it was Hunters, some of them, Jude trudged along with resignation, like he was stuck to a chain gang- his old teammates, Aleister, Matt, Eva, moved hopelessly along with the crowd. Even Candace, and what was Candace doing there, she wouldn't put up with this ******** you," Harrison answered the figure with a growl, and then on edge, "Our guys, they got hunters back there, you twisted ********, I'm gonna-"
A familiar face, lids heavy with eyeliner floated past. He wasn't angry, like he always had been back in high school, just- defeated.
"...Nick?" he managed, anger drying up, now he just felt cold all over, and trailing behind him was- s**t- s**t, he'd moved, he wasn't anywhere near-
Harrison tried to take a step back. His feet felt like they were bolted to the ground.
It was like seeing ghosts, almost, only he knew nobody was dead. The crowds and clumps came into focus. Not just his teammates from the trials. Not just the other Moons, but people he'd left, who he hadn't seen in three or four years. Why them? Why his-?
"My- my ********- my friends- s**t, my whole high school baseball team, and Miranda, Christ, I used to patrol with her-" He looked at Jordan- was he seeing this?
"Would you tear away those who are seeking another path, force them into a life they do not wish to be in? I am not an unreasonable person. All I ask for is an exchange, and return of the things you have taken from me. You make your own choices; the choice is always yours to make." "
The longer the speech went on, the more Harrison's grip on his weapon tightened. They weren't real. It didn't make one damn iota of sense for everybody he knew to be gathered up across the country just for a walk around a messed-up haunted house. He knew that, he wasn't dumb, the house was ******** with him, he'd been through this dog and pony show before. But Jordan, Rep, Jerry, Melvin, and him were real. And they were going to beat the absolute s**t out of that smug high-talking phantom and his stupid shitty yearbook parade.
"Okay," he gritted out. "You want it so bad? You're really gonna ******** get it."
The moment the words were out of his mouth, he could move again- and that was gonna be the last mistake this part of the house ever made-
He felt Rep shift too, he'd be aiming to cleave, so Harrison aimed low and fast, if they could pin him it'd be all over-
But it moved too fast.
Too fast for even Harrison. And something sharp and painful crunched right through his shield...
When Harrison woke up, B0nez and him were alone.
The phantom was gone. The other hunters were gone. The parade was gone. It was just them, the fog, and...and a lot of blood.
HP: 30 Insanity: 10%
Toshihiko Two
Sugary Marshmallow
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19Total: 19 (1-20)
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:38 pm
Prompt 3
He thought it was his blood, at first, and part of it was- he had a nasty gash in his head that B0nez was working to close up.
But he was elbow-deep in somebody, and his knees were already soaked.
It was dark. It was warm, and wet, and whoever it was- they were...really messed up. Messed up bad. And he was a Moon, he had to be holding on to them for a reason-
He didn't even let himself think past that. He unfastened a roll of glowing bandages, and began wrapping the wound up best he could to staunch the bleeding. He only paused once, to wipe his hands on his thighs. Sweat mixed with the blood on his forehead. He didn't talk. Didn't ask for a name. He didn't have time- They grabbed his wrist. "Th-thank..."
"Don't waste your breath, a*****e," he scowled, tying off the bandage and checking to make it secure, relieved at least that the gurgling, rasping voice wasn't soft and calm. That the accent wasn't- "Is that it? Anything broke?"
"...."
"You- you okay? You gotta stay awake. I'm not carrying your a** around the house."
The guy he'd just bandaged was oddly still. The fog started to clear. Harrison hesitated, then checked him again, this time for a broken neck, arm, anything that would make lifting him a problem, but as he reached out to gather him up, the roll of bandages was sitting smugly between them, unused, instead.
The blood wasn't rushing out of him any more.
Harrison swore. Dead. They were dead, and who knew how long- he snatched up the bandaids, furious.
You're still bleeding, even if that guy's done for. B0nez said.
I know, I KNOW, dammit! Harrison wiped his forehead, and stalked off into the fog.
HP: 30 Insanity: 10%
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 9:43 pm
Prompt 4
At the smell of baking, Harrison almost didn't want to follow it. But no matter where he turned, the smell got stronger, until finally he heard a familiar voice- "Oh, here again? Oh, well, I would love the help!"
No. I prepared some fresh ingredients already, so feel free to pick out a few. I'm not picky, really! I'll take anything you want to use."
It was the house. It was this ******** place- "Well if you insist. Leftovers work as well, let's make something that will surprise everyone!"
From head to toe, she was an eerie, inky black- white smile. No eyes. A shadow, just a shadow, but each cheery hum and sashay of her hips as she worked her way around the kitchen...
"I don't-" Harrison looked at the creatures waiting on the counter, "I don't want to be here-" "Don't be shy! Or else how will you ever discover your talent?"
And he knows what she's cooking. How could he not know, and the ingredients aren't right, and Killer isn't here at least-
"Julie-" he says, almost choking up the word.
"That's very nice, Mary. Help me with the pan will you? I want to make these cookies before everyone else comes in, you know how it gets." She kills one of the shadowy minipets, and everything here is fog and shadows.
"I- kept your sweater," Harrison says, and his voice is almost a whisper, "the one you made for me. I've got it hung up. We weren't- we weren't able to get your tablet. I tried, but-" "Oh, the batter is getting cold, do please hurry it up! Remember that we need to get it done before-"
She never paid attention, even when she was alive. Harrison nervously rested a hand on the counter. He knew better. Even when his emotions were being jerked around. It was like with Nick.
"It's not you, is it?"
"Don't be silly, we're friends aren't we? That's what - would say! Of course I would want you to help me, now, friends help each other. Sharing is caring! Of course, it wont be long now!"
He looked at the blank, sad creatures, waiting- and they'd done this before. Gone over the ingredients. He knew what she was trying to make. What she'd been trying to get right and hadn't been able to, right up until...well, right before the Sahara, and he'd been there-
Harrison picked up the vial, and handed it to the shadow that wasn't Julie. "This one," he told it, quiet. "Oh! I think that was the last of the -. Well, at least we'll be putting it to good use. I hope you like it too! Here, try some now.
Trying anything from Julie was the last thing he wanted to do, even when he knew what they were making, but- even as she poured it, the smell, whatever it was, was going straight to his head. He felt- that was like the desert too, he felt oddly happy. Okay with things. And his friends- even if this wasn't her, it was trying, or maybe it was a part of her...his thoughts became a bit muddier.
"Everybody misses you," he found himself saying, "Clarice and...and everybody. Killzone's gone too. The island's just not been as...nice as it was. I met Rep. Because of you. Cleaning up the kitchen. And Jordan, during...during that snowman contest you put together. And we're...you know, we're really happy. I'm happy that you were around, as long as you were-"
She laughed.
Even through the buzz of warmth and giddiness, his throat felt tight. He wiped his eyes.
"I'm...I'm really- really happy...."
HP: 30 Insanity: 10%
Toshihiko Two
Sugary Marshmallow
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Toshihiko Two
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:20 pm
Prompt 5
Harrison walked in the fog a while, letting what rolled down his face roll, because nobody except B0nez was there to see it.
He was tired. He was lost. But he felt light instead of heavy, warm even while his heart ached, and it came to no surprise when he found the door.
Harrison put a hand on the knob, and immediately he heard one of the voices he'd been longing to hear- Wait!, as familiar pairs of hands wrapped around his chest.
"Guys," he said, wanting to immediately turn around and embrace each of them just as fiercely- but for whatever reason, his eyes couldn't leave the door.
"Don't go," that was Rep.
" Please," Jordan.
"There's still another way. You don't have to do this!" And both of them were talking over each other, trying to get out the plea, but even that was overkill.
"Okay," he said, easy, he hadn't been all that attached to the damn thing in the first place, "I'm with you. You know a different way, let's go." ...Harrison was finally able to take his eyes off the door.
"You cannot go where I go," Rep's voice replied, and Harrison's whole body froze up again at the words. "What- what do you...? What the ******** are you saying, of course I'm going where you're going," Even Joy couldn't hold back the panic, the complete and gripping shift, like someone had yanked the ground out from under him- "Not now, but perhaps..." Jordan.
The voice trails off. There was no one there. The door was gone too.
HP: 45 Insanity: 10%
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:45 pm
Final Prompt
It wasn't him, it wasn't him, he wouldn't say that-
Harrison's emotions had gone from a few waves to a storm, everything was brewing together, it was like being continuously wrecked against a set of cliffs-
Warmth. Light. Laughter.
You cannot go where I go.
Ahead of him, cut into the ground, was what was clearly a grave. Instead of dirt, there was a staircase. The concrete almost seemed mundane, in comparison to everything else.
