Welcome to Gaia! ::

Your character finds a campfire, and there's a few people settled around it. The people stationed at the campfire are fixated at it,and almost say nothing to you. You can (and any other players in the thread) talk to them as you wish. When you are done talking to them all, this event is over!

Character 1: A girl with long black hair. She stares into the campfire and continues to say the words she lied over and over.

Character 2: A balding, old man. He begins to recount a story about his past, about how he was a fisherman. All he fished up were dead bodies. He continues to talk about fishing up his friends. He continues to talk about his wife and how he fished her up too. The story gets more and more morbid.

Character 3: A small boy, maybe five years old. He is looking straight at you the entire time. As you approach him, he whispers I know why this is is happening. If you question him further he doesn't say anything. However if you bribe him with a food item (DISCARD IMMEDIATELY AFTER) he will take it and continue speaking. I am Peter Pan. You blink, and as you do, you realize it wasn't a child at all, but simply an skeleton corpse of a child.

When the event is over, add +10 infection to your character's infection meter

The fire was bright and fend off the darkness a few meters around it, and darkened the shadows as well. Light could not exist without shade, it went hand in hand. Justin was glad to have the beacon here. maybe other would come and he hoped to find his faction again. The idea of them considering him as lost was terrifying.

But not nearly as unsettling as the young girl who muttered the same thing over and over. "She lied" she kept repeating into the fire like it was communion with a priest telling her laments and life's woes in hopes that the god of light would ease her pain and burdens. Justin tried to get her attention, to find out what the lie was, but she was far too entranced with the holy flames and the vision it bestowed on her. She was stick in the lie.

It made Justin wonder what lie he himself was stuck in too.

It was pleasant to see another person from the university, even if the voice made Justin jumps out of his shoes a little bit. "Jeeze, you startled me." he let out a sigh, unsure if it really was Austin in front of him and not the lady by the fire that was closing in on him screaming She lied, like he imagined. The story of the old man was disheartening, having to drag up his friends and loved one, all in a sad state. it was torturous, he could imagine.

How the man wasn't overcome with grief, he didn't know.

Kelly was wandering with the voices in her head as her only company, occasionally scratching her arms and trying to get past her plight. She was stuck in here, and without anywhere to go she just needed to find a way to get past whatever was going on in her head. As she moved to look around the grounds, and ignore the undying, she caught sight of a flickering light in the distance. The lack of fog helped her easily recognize that it was a campfire, but she still was hesitant to approach.

Would this be another sick illusion.

As she approached the fire, she caught sight of a group lurking quietly. The first person she saw was a girl, who seemed to murmur the same statement over and over again. Rubbing her arms, she waited to see if the girl would look up, before glancing toward the other there. She recognized the uniforms and the people with them, and felt reassured.

Then she looked to the man, the fisherman that was mumbling about his past as a fisherman. Kelly shivered as he spoke up, about dead bodies instead of fish. His friends, his wife, his children. Kelly tried to avoid it, but she was struck with the memory of seeing her own family in the fog.

She then turned to the last person, a small boy who looked to be no more than five years old. She shivered as she realized he was looking right at her, and slowly she moved closer. Surely his story wouldn't be as morbid as the other two, right?

As she settled, she looked toward the other university students, and scratched her arm a bit more, "I'm so glad to see you...so so glad..." She chattered a bit, her voice coming out a bit weak as she ignored the whispers in her ears.



[ Infection Rate ]: 25 /100

The light, the fire drew him onwards, out of the fog. He shivered, looking around warily at the dark shadows of people who stood by it. Harvard stood next, unseeing anyone near him. Someone was telling a story, his voice rough and as weather as an old sailing ship's hull. He stared and stared into the fire as he approached, hoping the light of it would draw some of the numbness out of his bones. He was almost afraid to look up, but when he did, he startled forward, Austin's name on his lips.

A hand tugged on his shirt with surprising force. "I know why this is happening." The voice made him freeze for the moment. He turned and looked down. The boy was young, too young to be alone, too young to know and Harvard frowned. "What was that?" But the boy shook his head, dark hair flopping into his eyes. Harvard crouched down, ruffling that unruly hair. He could see Austin in a bit, see Austin.... and hopefully not see glass.

"Will you tell me if I give you this?" He produced a Kinder egg from his pocket, glad he'd held on to some candy. (Candy was not typically useful in the games he played.) The boy held out his hand, small fingers half-curled, and nodded vigorously. Harvard obligingly dropped it into his hand and waited.

The boy touched the foil reverently, and spoke. "I am Peter Pan." Harvard blinked and the boy wasn't a boy but a collection of bones. He fell backwards, letting out a yelp and a heartfelt curse. The kinder egg, he noted, was not among the bones.

"Uh huh, that was no problem, until those stupid protestors -- " He shook his head, sharply, and some focus finally came into Austin's face, a slowly dawning comprehension of the world around him. He blew out a breath and squared his shoulders, swiping at his face, the lingering effects of a faded nose-bleed still smeared across his jaw and one corner of his mouth.

"I'm Austin." But there was a certain confidence behind it, as if he was saying but you already knew that. He shrugged, crookedly, and slowly his eyes settled on the figure beyond, talking to what was apparently a long-dead skeleton. That made him frown. He could have sworn there was a little boy there.

"Doctor?" It was a good thing he'd come to by now. Being out of it, again, probably would have driven him crazy.

[507 words; +10 infection]

"Yeah, well, I don't ******** know. But I know that little boy is now a skeleton and I know I saw your dead-a** body." He pointed to Austin, rather more dramatically than he normally would. This hospital was too goddamn spoopy. HArvared was too old for this s**t. He took a few deep breathes and stood. By the time he was up, he was more or less composed.

"Congratulations on not being dead, Austin." He rubbed a hand across his beard and avoided looking at the skeleton. "Hello, I'm Dr. Harvard Falls and I don't normally have conversations with skeletons." He made a self-depreciating noise.

The thing materialized from the shadows. It's familiar form reflected eerily in the light of the campfire as it approached, quiet save for the wet little pops as eyes blinked in and out of view, and as randomly appearing teeth snapped open and closed.

It surveyed the group, head turning to look at those who spoke: where its actual eyes should have been, was nothing more than empty sockets.

"Where are they?" It asked, the feminine voice distorting. Suddenly, all of the homunculus' open eyes focused on one, and a moment later, it lunged.