The first thing you notice is that it is dim. Dim, not entirely dark. Dim enough that you can see right behind you, where the door closed, is a figure.
You don't dare look at it because the more you do, the closer it gets, the second you turn around you can feel palpably feel its eyes blinking, the tendrils of its shadow at your feet. You know if you look back again you will, without a doubt, cease to exit.
Tap tap tap. Footsteps behind you. You are compelled to run, before your mind coherently knows why. You run down the singular corridor and around you are doors, individual different doors. Perhaps you try some of them. They are locked.
The corridor continues down, down down, and the footsteps continue behind you. You chance to look back at last.
The shadow is gone.
As you turn forward again the last thing you see are the eyes as a strange thing materializes between the shadows that almost look like a pair of shears.
Snip.
*
You wake up temporarily. Perhaps you are in a pod, perhaps you are in your own room, perhaps you are at home or with someone else. You wake up, stare up, up, up, around, take your first gaze around, or perhaps just breathe if you can, and realize for the first time you are awake.
Your body feels stiff. You hear a ringing in your ears. The light hurts your eyes.
And then you struggle to get up but you can't. It feels like something has grabbed a hold of your body. You can feel the rising panic, and yet you cannot move. You are trapped. The moments of panic continue, they begin to crescendo and then just like that you are calm again. Relaxed. You feel your eyes closing.
No, if you close your eyes you might never wake up again. You struggle.
A cold hand rests against your shoulder. You close your eyes for a second and are back in the corridor. A voice whispers next to you.
"You belong here."
Your eyes snap open again. Reality, awake, pain, panic.
And then, this time, you can't resist as you are pulled back into the nightmare.
It is dark now. There is no light, just a floating abyss of emptiness, no strange figure chasing, no strings, nothing. You continue drifting, sinking, and you wonder if this is it. The feeling is stifling and cold but you feel detached.
Thunk.
You hit the bottom but you cannot see it, a dark surface, perhaps. Slowly, unsteadily, you get onto your feet. You continue walking aimlessly and are lost.
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:26 pm
Eventually you hit a block. You aren't even sure what it is. At some point you lost sight of everything, your identity stripped, your memories discarded, and you became just an automated puppet. You look up at it without recognition.
For some reason, your body reacts instinctively, you reach one hand forward. One of the two cards on the dais reaches towards you, and you hear a voice. Your own. It tells you to remember.
Slowly, your memories unfurl. Some are lesser memories, some are greater, but only a few get snagged, just snippets on the way as your consciousness expands. You remember you, you remember everything, but most importantly of all, you remember your nightmare, the nightmare that started it all.
The card still in your hand your nightmare unfurls. You watch the events unwind again, but this time, something spectacular happens. Your nightmare changes, it is rewritten. It becomes something else.
It becomes a dream. It becomes a good dream.
DREAM SOLO PROMPT
This is a small passage that happens anytime in between events! Please feel free to post here and then just continue doing everything else onwards without penalty!
Once you have gotten Job Class + AND you have at least completed [ EVERY SINGLE MAIN QUEST ], you may continue onwards. Write the prompt below:
[ The prompt: ]: Take your nightmare solo you wrote here. Post it, as your character relives it. If you feel uncomfortable with your past nightmare solo or if you forgot, you can rewrite it! Then, after you are done write the dream counterpart to it. Meaning, you are going to take that nightmare solo you write and either rewrite the whole thing as a good dream version, or give it a happy ending. EITHER or.
This is a rite of awakening prompt, this will [ unlock the 10th card of your deck ]. Once you have done so and a GM has quoted you with the 10th card, you will be able to use it from [ ALL BATTLES ONWARDS ]. That means when you roll a 10, you will get this card. Each card's design is SLIGHTLY unique, so it will take the GM time.
Make sure your passage(s) is over 250+ words so the GM has something to work with. Good luck, and may it help you in future battles especially when the time comes to rise again.
Zoobey Artist
Magical Incubator
Offline
kuropeco
Dramatic Marshmallow
Offline
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:37 pm
"He was alone.
He was alone and no one would ever remember him. He had grown up alone, he had gone through life alone, and he would die alone, it was as plain as day, as though his life were already laid out in view in front of him.
The nightmare was simple, but existing was difficult."
Existing was still difficult.
Existing on his own was a terrible, terrible burden. He sank beneath it, drowned in the loneliness that had long since stemmed from spending most of his life staring out a window without any hope of ever going out of his house. He'd been allowed out, of course, but fear of rejection - fear of having people look at him a certain way - had prevented him from ever stepping out of the shadows that he clung to like a life preserver.
Sometimes, when he looked out the window, he could see people playing, walking around, laughing with one another. They came in groups that passed by, gaggling ghouls with their arms around each other, or boils that punched each other in friendly ways, clearly at ease with one another.
Sometimes he tried to get out of the room, but he always came back, and he always sat the window and watched and didn't leave.
Sometimes he got as far as the door but never actually touched it.
Sometimes he didn't even get out of the chair he sat in.
For a long time, it seemed, years passed. He grew tired, weary of having to play the game, but he felt as though he were stuck in the mire, unable to reach out and grasp what he wanted, unable to get what it was that he so longed to get.
He felt lonely.
Except one day, things were different. One day, things shifted, just a little.
One day, the door opened for him, and a hand reached out towards him, a smile on a face, a happy expression that drew away the shadows and pushed away the darkness that had long encroached since being stuck in his own thoughts.
"Come on," said the voice, and he stared.
"Come on and join us."
He reached out, fingers trembling, and took the hand.
OOC
My character's username: attemptedmurder ("Am") My character's level: 29 Character's HP: 40 / 40 Current party: Current Guild: Location: Character journal:x
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:42 pm
The Nightmare
Dorian had woken up in a start.
Something was wrong, though. He wasn't in his blanket pile, he wasn't crashing Sol or Chel's room either. At first, everything was fuzzy and dark, but, try as he might, he couldn't lift his arms to rub the sleep from his eyes, which made him panic a little more.
He was restrained, his body frozen in place by . . something, something he couldn't entirely make out. He could feel the panic rise in his throat, a scream that he bit back as he he tried to reason with himself. Turning his head again, he tried to understand where he was. It . . . felt like a box - a dark place that seemed to bring up the thoughts of claustrophobia.
It was only then that he realized that people were passing him - shadows of people passing in front of him. How could they not see him? Why were they not helping? The thoughts ran through his mind a million miles per second, making him aggitated, and, a small icy feeling of fear started to creep over him, making him pull forward on his restraint, trying to close in on the glass.
There was no leeway though, and he felt the tightening against his body, the noise whining softly, making him panic even more.
Why aren't you seeing me!
A sickening pause stopped him suddenly.
Where was Justice?
Leaning forward again, he tried to scream out at the passing shadows, but nothing came out.
He was alone, lost, forgotten.
Everything suddenly became heavy, like he had woken up in the middle of the dead of night, a confused shock that kept him sluggish and a little foggy. He wasn't sure what had woken him up - but he was there, and he allowed the minutes pass by, resting in bed. The memories of a sickening fear, and a scream that rang through his body lingered for a few moments, keeping him a little shaken, as if remembering something terrifying.
Something just for him, a nightmare of his own.
It was at that time that he heard the knocking of his door again - which he took as the afformentioned reason that he was woken up for. It was a quiet noise, almost hesitant, which made him stop a little, who had it been?
Opening the door, it stood here - a hunter, of fuzzy details - one that had shown up in his dreams before. It was someone, it was anyone, he could never fully pick out who it was, but it was a person, and they looked at him with expectations, with worry.
"I need a voice, a shoulder. Can you listen to me?" They asked him, the foggy features of them tensing up a little, before softening. They need someone, and he would be there for them.
Someone needed him. It was all he ever had wanted, since joining Deus. He needed to be needed, someone to listen to them. He wanted to be the support, almost a rock in a rough, jagged situation. Their sanity, if it had to be.
It was probably self-sacrificial, knowing that he wanted to help in people's time of need, but to him, it was perfect.
No one would take that away from him.
OOC
My character's username: MaybeAllan (Allan?) My character's level: 50 Character's HP: 40 Current party: -- Current Guild:Nope. Small IC description of character: A peculiar man in a dark and blue Insane Hatter get up. His hair is striped in two different colours, and his sanity is questionable. Cards are known to float around him at random interval. Character journal:Voila!
It was agonizing. Everything was stopping. He felt heavy. The freedom he relied on felt like it was slipping away with every longer and longer moment that ticked by.
Tick.
Even his motions felt sluggish. His eyes, too. They looked around, catching glimpses of people that only seemed to be walking backwards, ever further away from him and into the dark abyss.
The dark was incoming.
Tock.
Ignatius attempted to lift a hand to tell them to stop walking away, to not leave him alone, but the words were lost on deaf ears.
His words echoed endlessly as the second finally ran out.
Tick.
And his body felt too heavy to stand.
...
It felt like everything was rewinding.
The darkness drew away, the clock slowly went in reverse and sped up, and he felt himself return to a stand. His legs ran backwards, back, and back, until he found himself at the start once again.
And he started forward.
His feet hit the ground, and this time, he felt no resistance. He heard the clock, at first, the sounds slowing down, but soon, they started to speed up. They sped up to what he was used to, a momentary tick tock ringing in his ears until it faded.
He didn't need that.
He was running, and he wasn't running from anything. He was running, and he could run as fast as he wanted. He was running towards the people, now, and not away from them.
He shouted a greeting, and they waved and shouted back.
He ran through the group, and kept running, letting them follow with him. They spoke and shouted, and he shouted back.
The dark was behind him. He felt the orange sunshine begin to peek into the environment, lighting everything up. Surrounding them were streets, grass, people, anything--and he'd be able to reach it all. There was no weight on his shoulders. His feet would go wherever he wanted.
He was free.
OOC
My character's username: RoyalBlightning My character's level: 32 Character's HP: 40 Current party: n/a Current Guild: n/a Location: Small IC description of character:
Tall, with dark skin and dark hair. His eyes glow faintly, and parts of his skin do in the same color, blue streaks and freckles throughout. He seems fairly athletic. He wears the clothing of the Insane Mad Hatter, but in bright blues and bright purples, looking distinctly mad indeed.
It was oddly quiet in this dark room. Shun wasn't one to dislike the silence but there was something a little unsettling here. He wasn't certain how long he had been here, so perhaps that was a part of it. There should be others here.
He realized his daggers had been summoned. Glancing down, he could see blood covering the blades as well as his hands.
Memory was slowly coming back to him. Snippets of it. There had been quite a battle. Details were hard to come by, but a struggle had occurred here for certain. He dismissed his blades and brought a hand up to his head. Closing his good eye, he went on and turned around while he was trying to piece together what had happened. When he opened his eye, he noticed three forms before him. Three humanoid bodies lying on the ground, bloodied. Each wearing a white coat.
Hunters.
He tensed for just a moment, but quickly realized the condition the three humans were in. They were all wounded horribly. He was hardly an expert on the limitations of humans but he wouldn't be surprised if these ended up dying soon. It didn't take him long to notice their weapons laying on the ground nearby. A shield, shaped in a stylized wolf's head. An elegant rapier with a pink flower of sorts attached to the hilt. A spear with raven feather decor. Shun's eye widened as he quickly realized what... no who these all were.
Dread and disbelief filled his heart as it all dawned upon him. Barely another second went by before the weapons began to vanish one by one, becoming replaced with stone tablets in their stead. The reaper dropped down to his knees, feeling strength leaving him.
"You can join them."
A voice broke through the silence from somewhere behind. He didn't turn around, but he could see a shadow looming over him. Their weapon raised up high. Shun closed his eye just as he saw it coming down towards him.
Where was he again? Shun felt dazed as his eye opened up staring at the ceiling above. It was dark in here, though not overtly so that he couldn't see anything at all. He could hear voices nearby calling to him as he was slowly coming back around. A hand reached down to help him up and slowly his senses were coming back around.
It was Mitsu. She helped him up to his feet and looked him over before giving him a hug. He felt confusion. Wait. But just a moment ago he had seen the body of the hunter that wielded her as a weapon. Turning, he could see Xiu and Hel around as well.
The bodies were still there on the ground, along with a fourth hunter now, laying near where he was. This must have been the shadow that had loomed over him before he blacked out. The form was too mangled now for him to identify who it might have been, but that didn't matter too much now.
"What... how?"
"Thank Jack you're alright. We thought we might have been too late," the were wolf said.
"I don't understand. I thought you.. all of you.."
"Those weren't us. It was just a trick."
He took a moment to let this all sink in. A trick. A good one at that. They were safe then. Hell... it looked like they had just saved him even. Closing his eye, he just sagged down against Mitsu in relief. They were all safe.
MY STATS
My character's username: Shadowstep My character's level: 98 Character's HP: 40 Character's Job Class: White Rabbit Herald Current party: N/A Current Guild: Penumbra Location: Small IC description of character: A dark haired male wearing a black and red white rabbit herald attire. An eyepatch rests over his left eye. He generally looks unimpressed or rather stern. Character journal:Here
Blade Kuroda
Militant Raider
Offline
Kaiyumi
Offline
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:58 pm
Nightmare Solo
It was obvious that the day would come where Xiu had to leave Amityville, but the baku had been unable shake that feeling of dread on the morning that she had been slated to move out of her dorm room. Although she had had plenty of happy memories at the school, she also had her fair share of unhappy ones—ones that made her eyes burn with tears or her blood pulse with anger. The students here went through so much, and the knowledge that she wouldn’t be within seconds of her friends’ sides if something went wrong made her uneasy.
Still, it wasn’t as if she was distancing herself from the school forever. She had justified herself by pointing out that she had graduated and that it was time to move on into the big world. Furthermore, once she and Gene opened up their café, they would be in close proximity to the school anyways, meaning that they would be close by should anything happen. Of course, that wouldn't happen for a while yet, but surely nothing would happen in the time until then...right? In the end, she had managed to convince herself that she was just being paranoid—everyone could take care of themselves, she was sure!—but looking around now…
She should have trusted that gut feeling of hers.
It would have been pitch black had the ground not been illuminated by a series of glowing spider lilies that were scattered across the land. Amityville loomed in the background, and Xiu found herself immediately unnerved by how dark the school was—there was not a single light on in any one of the windows, nor was there the usual bustle and chatter of students. It was just...quiet. Dark.
...Foreboding. Something was very, very wrong.
She glanced down upon seeing movement, realizing that odd, blob-like shadows were slowly rising up from the ground and settling in between the flowers to form...something. For a minute, all she could see were these things rising up and shifting, and then there was suddenly stillness. The movements stopped, and the shadows became something more corporeal, colors and details slowly bleeding in. Squinting at the minimal light that the red glow cast over the shapes, the ghoul quickly came to realize that what she was looking at were figures. Still, motionless figures.
Shoulders trembling as her gaze quickly swept over the crowd, Xiu began to move forward, gingerly stepping around them. Despite the fact it was a little hard to see with the lilies being her only source of light, she found that she was able to easily recognize a number of these bodies from just taking in parts of their features. The clothing they wore, their tails, their wings—the farther she walked, the more ill she began to feel as she came to realize that she knew nearly every single one of them.
And not one of them was moving. She would crouch down beside them to check for breath that was not there, and desperately press her ear to their chest to listen for a heart that was not beating. With each person she paused at, she became more frantic, what little composure she had quickly breaking down. She grasped them by the shoulders and shook them, she choked out their name, and yelled at them, but nothing would work. And between all the despair, confusion, and fury that swirled inside of her as she violently tried to shake life back into these despondent figures, their heads lolling lifelessly, she felt and overwhelming sense of guilt that she had not been here to help.
Honestly, maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference if she had been here—maybe she’d just be in the same situation as everyone else, laying dead on the cold earth—but at least she could have tried to do something. Perhaps she would have been able to save at least one person, but it was far too late for that.
The question was what she did now. There were a number of things that she probably could have chosen to do—she could have gone to try and find help, or she could have continued to try finding a survivor among all the bodies—but for some inexplicable reason, Xiu found herself mutely getting back up and...walking. She just walked.
No matter how far she traveled or which direction she went, the scene was the same: a field lit up by eerie, crimson flowers, silence, and a land full of corpses.
There was nothing more frightening to the girl than losing the people around her--the people who had accepted her, who had changed her and made her who she was today. As such, it was no surprise that reliving the nightmare brought her intense distress, her breathing growing rapid and irregular as she consciously tried to fight the panic that rose in her chest. No--no, not again, please! She had always come to see Amityville as her second home, a place that had brought her happiness and a life that she could never have imagined otherwise.
But instead, her nightmare had turned it into a graveyard of bodies--the bodies of her classmates, her friends, and people she had practically come to see as family.
But maybe...maybe there was something else--maybe this wasn't the end. She wasn't sure where this spark of hope came from, but the girl suddenly felt her tensed shoulders relax, her breathing becoming easier as her heart took on a slow and steady tempo.
And then her settings warped. As a nightmare demon, it wasn't new for her to see the scenery around her change, but she wasn't used to seeing such a thing when she wasn't the one consciously in control of what happened. Slowly, the corpses faded, the school fading back into view as the sky grew brighter. The dark omen that were the spider lilies disappeared, replaced instead by simple red wildflowers that dotted the land.
The next thing she knew, she heard someone yell her name from behind her. Eyes going wide with recognition, she turned around to find a number of her friends standing behind her, hearing them laugh and ask her what she was doing just standing around. Before she could answer, she was suddenly aware of voices buzzing all around her. The school grounds suddenly became lively as students walked past, either hurrying to classrooms or just leisurely hanging around with their friends.
This was the school that she knew--this was home.
With a little shake of her head and a smile, she called out an apology and hurried forward to greet her friends. In the back of her mind, the girl noted that she was definitely going to get stronger in order to keep them safe.
OOC
My character's username: Nightbloom My character's level: 100 Character's HP: 40/40 Current party: N/A Current Guild: Penumbra Location: Small IC description of character:Nightbloom is a petite girl with pink-tinged white hair. She has a pair of black cat ears and dons a light blue-lined black coat, while her scarf and tail are both white. Character journal:Here
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:00 pm
original nightmare solo
Alex was very small. Everything else was so very very large. Only on his tippy nails could he see the top of the tables. Everyone was bustling around, too busy and too enamoured with his other sibling to bother with him. Lonely, Alexis walked or flapped his way here and there. The house was busy, but empty. Endless rooms with nothing to be seen. Alexis was... So lonely.
Suddenly he was bigger. Older. Stronger. He was bolder too, exploring the world, and trying to understand where he fit in. Mother and Father were still busy, too busy to spend time. Only when there was a problem was Alexis called down. Mother did not like him. She thought he was worthless. Any task was failed. Father was neutral. He did not care.
Alexis was sitting on a chair, lonely and tired. Father was so angry. Mother was angry too. "You're a worthless son. Get out of our home. Never come back. Go to that school and get some life. You're no Zephyr and you'll never be one."
And still he was lonely.
A dream. A good dream.
Memories of the bad nightmare slid away. Boi, no, Alexis was sitting at the table. At the head sat Mother and Father. They both smiled at him warmly, an expression so foreign and welcomed he wanted to cry. Father was holding mother's hand over the table, and their interlaced fingers met halfway.
"We've been talking a lot. Alex, I know that this sort of life doesn't fit you as well..." Father started, but stopped when Mother gently squeezed his hand.
"You're lonely here, honey. And because you are, you are not meeting your potential. We know you can be absolutely amazing, Alex. So we, your father and I, have decided to enroll you in Amityville Academy. That way you can learn what you are best at."
Confusion and happiness slammed together at the same time. He began to cry, from relief, from happiness, from confusion... He wasn't sure. But they felt so good, those tears.
"You will always be our son, you are always welcome here... We love you."
Alex stood and left the table. As he turned away, he faced a group of people. Absolute strangers fro the look of it, but he knew them... They looked so different, but he knew that these were the friends he had made without their wonderland glammour. Ulka stood out from the group and that just made him even happier. Stronger. He could feel the weight of the wedding ring on his ring finger.
No longer alone, no longer lonely, but proud and confident, he joined hands with Ulka and his other friends, and he walked away.
OOC
My character's username: BoiisonFIYAH My character's level: 47 Character's HP: 30 Current party: Current Guild: Raiders of the Lost Arc Location: Small IC description of character: A tall, thin guy with orange-blonde hair in a pony, two large brown wings, in the red and orange Rabbit outfit with gray fluff.
With a small twirl and a flourish, Ulka found himself staring at his own reflection in the mirror. He was simply adorable, decked out in the custom dress his classmates had made him. Truly, he was made for this kind of thing. Taking his paws, he brushed the golden locks of his wig from his eyes, and smiled up at the girl who had sewn him the dress.
"It's absolutely perfect! Thank you!" He laughed, clapping his paws together. Ulka had absolutely never felt cuter in his life.
---
The possessed teddy shot up straight in his bed. His breath was ragged, abnormal. Within the confines of the little plush body, his heart hammered uncontrollably. Of all the things to dream of...!
"Dresses," he groaned, pulling the pillow of his bed back over his eyes. "It just had to be dresses."
REDUX
The dresses were shameful and embarrassing. Teddomination could feel tears welling up in his eyes, and he wanted to leave. To go home.
"Hey." A voice, not his own. Teddomination snapped up from his thoughts to come face to face with Boi, just as dolled up and silly as he was. They were a sight, the both of them. Teddomination blinked in confusion, not quite understanding. Alex laughed, tossing the wig dramatically.
"How do I look?" He asked, grinning. Teddomination cocked his head to the side.
"I... I don't get it, friend. We look like idiots."
"Well, yeah dude!" Alex laughed, and slapped him on the back. "But at least we look like idiots together."
That... That was true. His family would have mocked him, ridiculed him. But with his friends, it was fun. They could sit together and laugh about it- because they were laughing together. And knowing Alex, this would probably be a joke between the two of them for a long time coming.
"I-I guess so!" Teddomination laughed. His paws ran over the fabric of the dress, and he tousled his wig gently. It really wasn't too bad, he supposed. Being so cute and cuddly.
"It does help that I am so very adorable!" Teddomination offered, spinning to make the dress twirl. Alex laughed along, and Teddominaion realized... He was happy.
"Now don't show off too much, man. The girls will get mad jealous of your insane cuteness."
And that was finally enough. The laughter came unbidden, whole and honest and true. Alex laughed along, and it was just everything it needed to be.
It was okay to be cute, sometimes. Your real family loved you, no matter what you looked like.
OOC
My character's username: Teddomimation My character's level: 72 Character's HP: 40/40 Current party: N/A Current guild: N/A Location: Red Queen's Castle Small IC Description: A small, humanoid teddy bear that walks about on two paws and squeaks as he goes. Looks very well worn and loved, with multiple colors stitched together. Wearing a black Hatter's outfit Character journal:x
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:06 pm
She'd had this dream before. She knew what would happened, and she knew how it would end. She wanted to escape it, but that wasn't an option.
She saw a blurry figure - another person, maybe. The presence seemed to tug her closer - the only thing in this world of pitch black she could see was this figure, and the urgency to approach it grew with every passing second. And so she did. She called out something - one word. A name, maybe? She couldn't hear what she had said. The figure was just like any other figure. No distinguishing features. But she knew who it was. Somehow.
As she got closer, she could tell she was looking at the person's back. Her pace quickened, as did her heartbeat.
When she was within arm's reach, she pounced on the figure's shoulders - it felt natural, as if she'd practiced it for all of eternity. The corners of her mouth twitched up into a slight smile as she went to face the figure. The figure raised an eyebrow, although he or she didn't seem to have any facial features. But she knew an eyebrow had been raised and she knew he or she was showing a sign of confusion, because that's what he or she did whenever he or she was perplexed.
A voice, so familiar her heart shattered into a million pieces, came from the figure's mouth.
Her dream self tried as hard as she could to shut out the words she knew were coming, but she couldn't even bring her hands over her ears because she had no control over her actions.
"Who are you?"
The words echoed and stung. It was at this point that the dream usually ended, but she didn't wake up. Was it only going to get worse from here? Her dream self closed her eyes at this point.
"Just kidding!"
She opened her eyes. The shadow was sticking its tongue at her in a playful gesture.
"I could never forget about you, silly!"
She wrapped an arm across the back of the shadow and the shadow also repeated the gesture, and they walked together. The two seemed to be going nowhere, but she couldn't help but feel content.
MY STATS
My character's username: dotdotdot My character's level: 100 Character's HP: 40 Character's Job Class: Royal Gryphon Current party: N/A Current Guild: Penumbra Location: Mad Tea Party Character journal:[x]
He was there again. His dark colorless word. But even as it began to play, a single step and the world brightened a bit. The darkness slipped away even as he walked. At first it was only the a few small things. But it grew. A petal falling, a breeze rustling a tree. Even the quiet fell away to noise. A few clicks, then it was as if there had always been life. The awkward noises of animal life, plants shifting, and then a car going by on the road as he walked along.
The world was beginning to look like it should. Even if he hadn't seen any actual person to interact with. Not yet.
He kept walking, just as he had before. Walking to a goal he knew not of. And yet... he did. It occurred to him what he was looking for, seeking out. Those he held dear. Would they still forsake him even with the world changed? His pace picked up a bit, not to a run, but still faster than the casual stroll from before.
He wanted to see it. To see what would happen. There was the clatter of metal ahead, so familiar now that he recalled. He stepped further along, a breath catching in his throat as he drew around a corner to spot. And there was nothing there. Nothing but a gate idly clicking against it's hold. Loose. The breeze was what had caused the noise.
Yet what he had hoped to see wasn't there. He briefly felt crestfallen, until a voice chimed in behind him, his gaze shifting in the direction of it. "You shouldn't go there, it's a dark place." The words were rather odd to come from the small ghoul. But the smile did, she often had that exact expression. One of her hands raised for him to take, which he did. "Everyone's over here." She added lightly before leading him off.
If anything, the world was a pleasant place. Unless you made it otherwise.
OOC
My character's username: Frostpaw My character's level: 57 Character's HP: 40/40 Character's Job Class: Cheshire Cat Wraith Current party: Current Guild: Raiders of the Lost Ark Location: Small IC description of character: (See image on the left) 5'7" male, a tad on the femenine side with appearances. Pale blue eyes, white hair that is long in the front and short in the back, and often accompanied by the sound of a bell. He does have some stripe markings on his face, and arms if you can see them at any point. He's usually wearing a rather bland, or unimpressed expression. Character journal:Here
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:21 pm
A door closing, the slamming of a door that somehow, carried with it the sense of malice or otherworldly something that would put any sane person, or monster’s teeth on edge. That sensation that raised the hairs on the back of your neck when you knew that you were prey, even if you were accustomed to being the predator.
The quickening of heartbeat, that slight hoarse edge to the ever shallower and faster breaths that are tainted with the taste of panic. Every tapping footstep of your inevitable –UNMAKING- a terrible mockery of the heart that pounded its hard staccato against the cage of your ribs, the sound of your own feet a wild flight like a panicked bird.
Every door tried in panicked desperation yields nothing more than the rattle of a lock and an unforgiving one, one for whom you have no keys, somewhere you must have forgotten them, if they were ever the right ones.
Now the panic so thick in your throat it seems to choke at you like some twisted game that holds the all to real promise of turning deadly.
SLAM you run into one last door, the knob stubborn under your hand twisting just far enough to offer up the faintest shred of hope but clicking and rattling with a broken promise of freedom.
He turned, wild eyed and dry mouthed to see how close he was to the end, to how he would die. Had he seen this in the coffins? Had this been the end that had coiled like a memory in his gut and would likely linger in his dreams?
Nothing, and somehow… somehow that was worse than something.
He turned back once more – ready to run, and there it was, a blackness that was not comforting, it was a shapeless and old thing that represented the fears of all. The ageless threat of being lost, cold and alone to things you could never understand.
**SNIP**
He woke with a gasp, a sharp intake of breath that is at the very edge of normal, heart just a fraction faster than normal as the realization sets in that the corridor was little more than a bad dream. The only shadows were at best some of the other students, and they had no sheers with which to unmake him.
Awake…
Awake, thank god, he can simply roll out of his nest, so safe, warm and familiar and…
And he’s stiff, no movement comes when bidden, not even a twitch, something, something has a hold of him and he has no idea what, or why, not for a moment till that dread certainty that the shadow has somehow followed him ‘home’. That he has unleashed something terrible upon the world and it is his fault because he did not run fast enough. PANICK the kind that drives all thoughts away and leaves you with nothing but the most basic of instincts to act upon… and then…
It’s like a switch, someone tugging a string, a twitch of a hand like a flicker of magic and he is calm, drowsy even. His eyes are drifting shut and he cannot help himself.
He knows, he knows that he might never wake again if he lets himself fall.
Yet, his eyes close…
A cold hand, like so many familiar hands and yet so unlike them rests against his shoulder, brushing its fingertips against the interplay of tiny scales there. “You belong here.”
For a moment his panic is back, it’s enough to bring him to wakefulness but like some terrible undertow he is dragged back down again, down, down again into the nightmare. THE nightmare… there is no light, just the dark, the hollow hungry dark. No strings even to pull at him, to twitch him into a dance he is simply falling, cold and smothering in this lonely, empty darkness
He thought for a moment that he might fall forever, and then, with a distracted, distant realization he finds that he has landed. There is nothing to see, so complete is the darkness, it even seems to taste of dark. He never thought to wonder if darkness had a taste until that moment.
Slowly…carefully, he wanders lost into the dark.
---
He walked for what seemed an age, there was no end, no beginning, he wondered if there had EVER been light or if it had just been a part of the nightmare, something wonderful to make all the fear the more terrible for it.
Everything had been part of that nightmare, nothing was real but the dark…
Nothing was real but this strange place and the knowledge that there was something there under his feet.
Something blocked his way now though, and he could not fathom what… looking up he saw…
He saw two cards, he reached for one, it was as instinctive as breathing. There is a voice, and like a dream he realizes that it is his own, It’s a part of him that he had forgotten.
Memories unfurled, bit-by-bit in a tumble of confusion, strange and otherworldly but so very important, so very real even here in the nothing. Yet over them all… over them all he remembered, and re-lived the dream… the NIGHTMARE.
---
He was chained from the ceiling of the great pyramid, he could see the sun setting over the lush greenery of his home, lengthening the shadow of the long stone serpent that, in the slowly setting sun seemed to sway and slide downward lazily. His arms burned over his shoulders, aching with the draw of his own weight that he was too tired to lift for more than a few moments of relief.
He wanted desperately to change, to remove these extra ‘limbs’ but he could only return to his serpentine form up to the waist, a winged and feathered Naga and still bound with no hope of release.
He stretched his wings out desperately flapping to lift himself but the angle was wrong, lift was near impossible and he was too young to have the strength to do what the elders could, couldn’t leap into the air and fly away even he, he hadn’t been chained…. Even if they….
Even if they hadn’t been plucking his feathers one at a time, yanking each feather out one bloody quill at a time. If that weren’t the worst of it… they were burning each bleeding point after the pluck, redoubled agony for each feather torn away, and the laughter that seemed to run him through because they sought to make sure that his feathers would NEVER return, that he’d be a belly crawler and nothing more.
He knew with the certainty of dreams that he would never fly again, and that death would be a blessing lest he bring shame to his family.
That was when he saw one of them pick up the scaling knife.
Before his screams had been of pain, distress and that sick knowledge that they were crippling him…
Now, they were simple wordless terror.
The torture would not end with his wings… they’d strip him of everything he was, and then, they would strip him of everything that remained.
They stripped him of every feather, they pulled every scale and left him shaking and demoralized, stripped of every scrap of pride and hope it seemed…
It didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would by the end, perhaps he was just numb. Perhaps he had lost so much that there was nothing more to give.
The priestesses walked in then, bedecked in white linen, furs and gold ornaments with jade and turquoise. Some bits of cinnabar as well though far fewer, quite valued for its red color beside jasper and obsidian.
They brought with them baskets of feathers, heavy jars of perfumed ointments, gold and furs.
They rubbed the liniments and the ointments over his plucked scales, over his stripped ruin of wings, and then they took the feathers.
They pressed them against the ruin of his wings and they stayed, hundreds, thousands of feathers pressed one at a time, lovingly crafted into something grander than they had been. Wide wings, heavy wings that cast colors like sun through falling rain, dappled with patterns like clouds. Wings that could inspire a kind of awe, which could entrance if only he learned to control it, wings that were, in their own way like a beautiful cobra’s hood. They stretched out his tail feathers like peacock plumes behind him, better for balance. And then traced their fingers over the plucked scales. He felt no different now than had he just molted… dim scales replaced by fresh pearl-like counterparts.
They brushed away the last traced of his pain and dressed him. Traced the tattoos over his arms and legs and then undid the chains. They walked him to the edge of the great temple, staring out over the wide jungle where they then stepped back, letting him spread his wings in a slow and glorious arc.
He jumped…
And flew.
MY STATS
My character's username: Ouroboros-Tea My character's level: 47 Character's HP: 40 Character's Job Class: Door Mouse Current party: N/A Current Guild: N/A Location: Tulgey Wood Small IC description of character:Image Linked - Slender build, average height, bright blue hair and eyes, miriad of tattoos and Colorful wings. Tail feathers frame a mouse tail. Character journal:X
ANY PERSON I AM RPING WITH I WILL QUOTE LIKE THIS
endejester
Feral Cat
Offline
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:41 pm
She neatly folded her darkened hands upon her lap as she sat upon the decrepit bench, broken in many places but no less unusable for a place to sit and watch. And that was what she did, her eyes up and staring at the throngs of creeple all around her. There were faces she knew and those she didn't, yet all together and joining their voices in conversation. Words she couldn't pick out or distinguish but created a sort of melody and a dull humm.
But all the same, none of them seem directed at her.
Nor any gaze, none ever fell her way. Not even by accident, like they were pointedly avoiding making eye contact.
And the more she looked, and waited, the more she noticed that the crowd began to thin. First of those she didn't know. One by one, those darkened figures vanished from the scene. One by one, leaving those she knew by name, the less familiar fading away. But even then, they did not seem to turn towards her. Didn't acknowledge her. Left her sitting on the bench, alone.
She didn't dare to move, it just wasn't in her nature. They too just simply vanished as they others did before her. Leaving her all alone.
They would come back, though, right?
They could come back.
They wouldn't leave her...
Sleep was not worth it if that was the only thing that was going to be the only thing she saw. But as she watched it play on again and again, the contents began to go backwards as if being rewound. Or rewritten, the contents being taken away until she was simply sitting on the bench with her hands neatly folded on her lap.
She watched with her usual initial silent stares, uttering not a word as she watched the throngs of creeple all around her. Some with faces she did not know just yet but with the occasional one she did. Conversations drifted all around her, too many voices to pick out just one to eavesdrop on but pleasant to just sit back and listen to the nice harmonies it created.
Few by few the crowds would thin, change and divert. New groups to watch in her silence with a few acknowledging glances her way which she replied with a smile. It was like she was waiting for something, but most often she wasn't. She could have left it just like that.
But this time she didn't. A change of pace, a change from the norm. The ghoul got up from her space on the bench and pushed herself towards the crowd and let it absorb her. This time she wasn't going to let them pass her by without even a thought or a glance. This time she would take the initiative, meet those she knew head on with a wide smile and a happy hello and them in return. Striking up conversation, while they brought her into the fold of the topics at hand, even if she didn't entirely understand. A hand tugged her's, pulling her along and she held on tightly even as she asked it was alright to go with them. They gave her a laugh, 'of course,' because she was their friend.
And they weren't going to just leave her.
OOC
My character's username: OuO My character's level: 45 Character's HP: 40 Job Class:BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY Sentry Caterpillar Current party: Current Guild: -- Location: Small IC description of character: A really short, really happy girl with palepale skin, navy hair and a HUGE smile on her face. Her Catterpillar outfit looks oddly way too big and bulky for her tiny frame.
A man – a real man – knows how to pick himself up by the bootstraps and get himself out of trouble before it comes knocking on his door.
Wyatt McCoy is a real man. When things turn sour, it’s his cue to pack up his life and start over. Some may call it running from his problems, but he knows it to be a necessity in enduring.
He knew what made him happy in life, and those pleasures are what he sought out. He woke up with a splitting hangover headache and an unfamiliar boy in his bed, sleeping still. Who was he? How did he get here? Did he black out? Was he dreaming?
Heavy, thunderous knocks on the door demanded his attention and alerted all his senses. He rose up and glanced down at the boy. The sheets were stained in giant pool of blood.
Panicked, he pulled the sheets off the bed to see the boy was brutally mutilated with a large bloody knife in the covers.
The knocks grew louder and louder, shouts of “Police, open up!” filled the space. He couldn’t even get dressed before they stormed in and cuffed him.
This couldn’t be real. This wasn’t happening. This never happened. This is fiction. It has to be.
He couldn’t escape as he was escorted, naked, through the ever-shifting space as time seemed to lapse. Old and familiar faces created his path towards judgment. Ex-boyfriends, former friends and family, all the connections he’s cut from his life, staring him down. At the end of the path was his father.
“Queer,” his father spat.
The lost connections transformed into the metal bars, creating a prison cell around him. Their disappointed faces remained on the prison bars, taunting him. He could not escape his fate. There was no cutting and running, no packing up and leaving. It was time to face the consequences, but for whose actions?
Wyatt woke up from the dream. He had that dream before, the terrifying nightmare it was.
But as he woke up, he felt just as trapped. He was in some kind of pod. Was this another dream? No, he knew he was awake. But his body couldn't move a single muscle, not the tiniest twitch. His ears were ringing and eyes were aching. He felt paralyzed - he felt like the waking dead.
He wanted to scream but his body would not allow it as his blood pressure spiked. He was panicking and could barely breathe. He shut his eyes hoping to fall asleep and wake up again somewhere safe.
"You belong here," a voice whispered. He started to fall back into the nightmare, panicking and internally screaming. He was doomed, he thought.
But something had changed.
The Dream
Missing out on opportunity is for pussies.
A man – a real man – knows to take every opportunity that comes to him and not let it slip away when it comes knocking on his door.
Wyatt McCoy was not a real man in that regard. When an opportunity came along, his lack of drive and ambition and his rejection of commitment and stability have long been his cue to cause trouble so that he can pack up his life and start over. He might call it a necessity in enduring, but it was simply running from his life.
But something had changed.
He knew what made him happy in life, and those pleasures are what he sought out. He woke up feeling rested and with a familiar boy in his bed. There were no questions, no doubts or suspicions – they were happy, trusting, and committed.
His lover woke up gently as they prepared for a big day ahead of them. They dressed to the nines, both in their finest suits as they took each other’s hands and moved forward.
He didn’t want to escape as they escorted each other through the ever-shifting space and time seemed to lapse. Old and familiar faces created his path with approval. Ex-boyfriends, former friends and family, all the connections he had cut from his life were watching him with joy. At the end the path was his father.
He smiled.
The lost connections transformed into steps, a staircase leading high into the skies. Wyatt looked back at his lover, letting go of his hand, before ascending up the staircase. His destiny was at the end of the stairwell, and he moved forward towards its warm glow, ready to taket control of his life.
And he felt free.
MY STATS
My character's username: McCowboy My character's level: 52 Character's HP: 40/40 Character's Job Class: Gryphon Current party: N/A Current Guild: N/A Location: Red Queen's Castle Small IC description of character: A tall and muscular lightly freckled human with a brown and gold duster coat, tight red pants, and a slanted feathered cowboy hat. Character journal:[ BATTLE ENTRY LOG ]
Robert looked for each and every person in his life individually. And with each assurance, he grew less wary. He knew there was something missing, but at least it wasn't (redacted) or (redacted), and it wasn't (redacted) either. There they were, right by his side, just as they'd always been. He continued to search, and found each and every person of importance right where they were meant to be. Safe and sound, happy and healthy. Perfectly complete.
They were missing nothing. It was only he who was missing something. He, who was missing.
When he thought too hard on it, he realized he didn't mind that idea at all. So what if no one needed him, wanted him, reached for him, guided him? He found that the only thing lacking was the familiar fear that he was all alone.
Everyone was fine without him, and he was fine, too. He couldn't feel lonely, or hurt, or even scared, because he couldn't feel. Because that was what was missing. His heart.
Just his heart.
His nightmare was returning; changed into something much more painful, and therefore, much more welcome.
He moved forward, flooded with relief and pain and emotion. Every time he saw a face, his heart thudded painfully in his chest, desperate to show them how much he loved them. He reached out, and somehow, he knew that they knew. It was as if he could see it there, in their chests. Glowing, like Legacy hearts. He could see that his love had reached them all once more.
And he was content.
The end of the line was coming, and everything else faded away in the wake of one single person, standing at the end of the hall. It was Mimsy, the real Mimsy, not the girl empowered by the miracles of Wonderland. He reached his hand out to touch her face, and saw that same confusion. She wanted to understand, she tried so hard. It was her greatest unanswered equation, and he wanted to be her solution.
He remembered the yellow glow of her heart in her chest, when she was Simmy. His hand lowered to press against her chest, and a bright glow seeped past his fingers. It was red this time, not yellow - and pulsing as bright as a star. He felt it thudding against his palm. A heart, where there had been none, throbbing to life after a lifetime of silence. Those questioning eyes widened with sudden realization; she felt it fill every corner of her self, until she finally understood.
"Robert." Her eyes were welling with tears, as they must when one felt that strongly. "I love you." She said it, not out of romance, but out of surprise. "I understand now," The heart under his hand pulsed with life. "I understand now."
Mimsy knew what love was.
He'd done that. Because he was the only one who could.
OOC
My character's username: HULKWICH My character's level: 100 Character's HP: 40/40 Character's Job Class: Insane Mad Hatter Current party: Current Guild: Penumbra Location: Small IC description of character: Other than a pair of white angel wings, this particular mad hatter looks remarkably normal at first glance. Blonde, spiky hair and a looming tall build - but to look in his eyes is to understand why he'd been picked for his job class. Blood red, with dark circles under them, and one was dilated fully and usually twitching. Mad was a good way to put it. Character journal:[ Battle Entry Log ]
My character's username: Shadowstep
