bravenewworld | Descent into Darkness

Descent into Darkness

As the characters arrive, they will find what appears to be a rather deep cavern. Upon entering, the caverns are quite narrow, with twists and turns everywhere and different tunnels that all seem to be interconnected. As characters travel deeper within the caverns, reality around them will start to warp, they will start to see and hear things that aren’t necessarily there - images of old enemies, past failures, voices of condemnation, visions that strike at the soul and core of the characters. Once this begins, it will only increase in power and volume, demanding it be confronted, lest they be trapped within these caves forever.

[OOC: This event will run for a week. All characters who enter the caves will be subject to some of their deepest fears, darkest demons, and most abject failures. To overcome them, characters must help each other out, finding their purpose through strength of character and resolve to move forward. In general, these visions should require characters to come to grips with themselves. Illusory images and voices can and will appear and can take any number of forms, depending on what is most appropriate to a character. Additionally, characters may thread with each other and are encouraged to help each other out to overcome these personal demons. For those who wish to take part, they are able and encouraged to narrate their own personal demons, which will be on display for everyone who enters their thread. IC threads may be made in this post.]

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Deep breath.

[He says as if he's perfectly fine himself, though the thrashing of his tail betrays his own agitation]

It shouldn't matter. You're you, you're the nice girl that likes to cheer people up, you make people's days a little better. Don't let them get you down.

It could be.

[Yuuna scans the battlefield warily before following the Shifter up that hill. Carrion Murkrow, Mandibuzz, both were possible trouble. And she was in no mood.]

But I doubt it's likely. Honestly it makes me think of the cataclysm. When man fought god. And with you being a ghost type...

She wasn't moving yet, no. Gato and Gonzales both pokes at her, but all she did was sob and shake her head. This was bad...

Gil will be treated to the sight of a fairly advanced lab. Clearly focused on automatic assembly, function over form. And at the center of it is a tall, thin woman who shares more than a few features with Lucca. She's stuck, leg caught on something as assembly hammers pound away at some gadgets...steadily being dragged towards those hammers...

[ Little Lux shook her head simply. No, she hadn't heard of someone named Jack Frost. Should she have? He seemed whimsical, like someone she might have read about in one of her storybooks. She was reluctant to be charmed, however, that much was obvious. But manners were manners; she stood up, giving him a proper curtsy

Her whole demeanor changed once frost began to spread over the floorboards. Lux's eyes widened, staring down at the ground, then quickly looking up at the boy before her. That got her to smile, quite brightly in fact, her eyes sparkling. ]

A princess, me?

[ She looks mystified by this idea! But being the precocious, intelligent child that she was, she had something to say about that. ]

But princesses are only fairy tales. I'm no such thing.

[ Her own words knocked the wind out of her sails, just a bit. But she tries to recover, and at least be polite. ]

Mister Frost, how do you know my name? Only John calls me Lux.

Edited 2015-07-22 20:44 (UTC)

[He was glad to bump into Takeshi. He'd gone down for a separate reason, but with how maze-like this place was, it was nice to run into someone he knew. Though, with how weird it was down here, he wasn't sure how long either of them should be staying.]

[He walks along side him quietly, keeping his eyes out for anyone else he's looking for down here. Thorin and Fili needed to know Kili was safe, he was just starting to wonder if he was gonna have better luck waiting for them to come out.]

[The voices, though- That makes him stop dead in his tracks. Dread pricking the hair on the back of his neck- making his heart race. What was that?]

When not directly faced with them, Shyvana could ignore her fears. However, in this dark place of nightmares she has been struggling with her inner demons. That said, stepping into an unfamiliar land far from her troubles has helped her shut them back in the box at the back of her mind.

But this was Lux. And it wasn't... the Lux she knew, this girl was smaller and more vulnerable. Not the happy girl she's used to. She knocks on the door, opening it slowly and calls out, trying to catch the younger girl's attention but staying her distance so she wouldn't scare her.

"Miss Lux?"

[This cave was impossible.

Waver had come to that determination long enough ago to have gotten moderately comfortable with the heavy weight of uncertainty. Each step he took carried him deeper into the labyrinthine trap of shadowy nightmares that revealed the deepest and darkest fears of all who dared set foot within on this sham of an expedition. Once he found his way to the surface, he decided, he wasn't going to take part in any more underground expeditions unless the territory had already been explored beforehand; he had entered ill equipped, unprepared, and completely exposed.

It was uncomfortable. And each echoing drip of water that fell from the stalagtites to the cavernous floor sent a chill down his spine. At least he had escaped that mirage of a library with his head intact-- it was his only consolation, after getting his shirt covered in dust and the knees of his pants torn.

Things would have been fine as well, if he hadn't caught a faint glimpse of something in the shadows.

Frowning, he uttered a few choice words and the small radius around him was lit up by a sudden Flash spell, revealing all that was hidden from view.

Including a certain regal profile, marred with dirt and...blood?

Panicked now, Waver froze and stared at the disturbingly quiet and still figure. There wasn't even a stray beam of light clinging to his person.]

G-Gilgamesh?

[He stuttered out the name, torn between morbid curiosity and his instinct to run. The best way to not disturb a sleeping Shinx was to not draw near, of course.]

Do I really?

[She has to ask. She's seen some people who liked her music...but there are so many more. Does she really make a noticeable difference?]

Built to what?

[Xiu looks a bit distracted as she glances over at a turn up ahead, a vision of a shattered house, a broken guitar sticking out of some of the rubble coming into view.]

[Hayato truly had not realized there was anyone else there. For all he knew, this was another part of the illusion. Well. "Illusion". Something very real was happening here because his body was sure moving on it's own. It was sure trying to take a swing at this guy, and when he dodges, it was sure falling into some kind of predatory stance.]

[His face however, hadn't been subject to the control and it's very clear he's doing this against his will.]

Whoever you are- get out of here!

[And then he lunges after him again, seemingly not concerned by the Honedge's sudden appearance.]

[Takeshi slows a bit when the other man appears and speaks to him(?) to glance at him curiously, as at first he's not sure what made him say any of that. He was so resigned to the voices by now, the possibility that anyone else could hear them never even occurred to him.]

[That is, until the 'voices' make it abundantly clear.]

You think no one else can hear. How cute.

How long are you going to ignore us?

[He slows to a halt, eyes wide in the darkness. What was going on? His hallucinations had never been this... self-aware. But it was impossible for anyone else to hear, wasn't it?]

He can hear us perfectly well, Takeshi Hongo. It's too late to hide now.

Hm?

[Takeshi stops to look over his shoulder at Taki, and at first it doesn't even occur to him that he means the voices. By the time it starts to sink in what that might mean, the voices are starting up again.]

It's not the walls.

If only it were the walls. That's what you're thinking, right, Takeshi?

[He goes rigid, flinching with the force of the breath he sucked in. Still, he doesn't look away from Taki. Aside from the way they were speaking now, the voices sounded no different than usual to him. He had no idea if that was what Taki was hearing.]

...mess with us, somehow.

[Estelle follows after, wrinkling her nose as she approaches. A broken house and a guitar, also broken; she hesitates, wondering, but she doesn't quite connect the dots... yet.]

[It doesn't take him long to notice Hayato's footsteps have stopped, and he stops as well to look over his shoulder. He turns completely when he sees the look on his face, however.]

Hayato? What's wrong?

[The allure of what possible ancient technology might be found in the caves had been what had drawn Banzu here, and at first it had seemed like a fairly standard cave system. It isn't long though before things start to get strange, namely hearing a voice speaking to him. It's Banzu's voice, though he doesn't clue into that immediately since he so rarely hears recordings of himself speaking.]

You realize, of course, that if you disappear in these caves someone's gonna have to come in here and drag you back out. That's a pretty big burden you're putting on them, isn't it?

[Banzu stops walking and looks around for the source of the voice in annoyance, which seems to come from both everywhere and nowhere at once.]

Whoever the hell you are, I've got no plans to get lost in here, so you can shut up and show yourself instead of screwing around.

Show myself? That sounds like such a burden. I think I might need a drink for that. Whiskey, maybe?

[Banzu freezes, but the voice continues, shifting into a woman's voice.]

And I suppose that next you'll be wanting me to make you dinner? I'll need a glass of wine for that. Laundry? Perhaps a beer. Clean up the apartment? I'd need more than a few drinks for that.

[The cave changes and transforms into a small Union apartment, one that hasn't been properly cleaned in quite a while, with empty alcohol bottles strewn everywhere, especially around the couch. Banzu scrunches his eyes shut and puts his head down, trying to keep from shaking.]

This is an illusion. It's someone's sick joke. It's not real. It's-

[Suddenly a woman is there, with unhealthily pale skin and bloodshot, red-rimmed eyes, her hand on Banzu's cheek. By how his eyes open, his head shoots up, and he leaps back, it can be inferred that he felt her touch him. He's shaking now, his mouth moving but no sound coming out.]

Of course it's real, Varun. I know you remember all this.

[The woman is suddenly on the couch, a bottle resting in one open hand, passed out. And not breathing.]

Of course you remember. This is always close by, reminding you of what happens when you put too much of a burden on others. Why you shouldn't let anyone give you anything without paying them for it. Why you shouldn't create obligations for others through your relationships.

Because you'll be responsible for killing them. Just like you killed me. And never even cried about it.

[He pauses, as if waiting for anything else to happen before he looks at Takeshi.]

These caves. They're playing tricks again. Did you hear that?

"Finish it?" Yuuna replied. She heard that shout. She understood what it meant. And she knew what she was going to do.

"Kill me, finish it." Her clone answered, and the crowd roared, bloodlust apparent in their cries. They wanted to see their hero fall, they wanted to see what would happen next, and above all, they wanted blood! And as these stories so very often go? They were going to be disappointed.

Yuuna's boot lashed out once, kicking her double in the side of the head, sending her spinning to the ground. The crowd started to bellow in rage, but then her foot darted out again, kicking the doppelganger in the stomach. The clone coughed, spitting up blood, reflexively flinched away even, but that was the end of it.

The Ranger dropped her sword, and the illusion began to fade, leaving behind only the clone, the real, and Waver.

"Why...Why didn't you?"

"Because I'm not you. I'm better than that."

"But you...kicked...me...?"

"Nobody ever said I was a saint. You were talking shit about my friends. I don't let that pass."

I- what?

[The timing of it startles him. Had the voices drowned out something else he should have heard?]

Yes, he heard us.

He always hears us.

[His eyes go wide and he stops breathing for a moment. He shouldn't be reacting like this, of course Hayato couldn't hear it- right? But he'd never heard them say something like that...]

You had your chance to hide, Takeshi Hongo. It's too late now.

[That was too jarringly direct, and it shoves a spike of fear into his gut. Was Hayato hearing this? He couldn't even tell, the voices themselves sounded the way they always did. He barely realizes he's stepping back, away from Hayato, before he turns completely to hurry deeper into the caves.]

She accepts that hand, letting him pull her up, and then she steps forward and hugs him. Her face presses against his shoulder and she coughs, worn out from the experience.

"Yeah. I guess...that's probably right. Getting ready, I guess. As much as I don't want to militarize like that."

She chuffs a weak laugh, her hand reaching up towards Hayato's bleeding arm, unbothered at all by the scarlet leaking out onto her glove. She's a medic, she's dealt with worse.

"Sorry. I guess I got you good, too."

[Failure. The voices echoed the word back at him in his head. But more than that, this illusion masquerading as Yuuna- it angered him. It angered him because she was so unlike Yuuna despite wearing her face, because she spoke of strength and survival as something that you had to trade your humanity for, because the idea that should he ever fail to protect her she could become this frightened him.]

[He turns his back on that Yuuna, putting himself between her and his Yuuna. He takes both her shoulders, gently once again, and though he's keeping the anger mostly out of his expression now, jagged red scars are clear on his face.]

Yuuna, you don't have to listen to this. It's not real.

[Yuuna can't help it. She leans against Hongo, practically doubled over. She'd already been feeling her foundations crumbling since Sanctuary. The fact that she'd just failed so completely there, been so utterly ineffective...it's beyond troubling. She can't keep the tears from coming, hot with anger and cold with despair, and she begins to shake just a bit.]

Oh boo hoo, now you're just gonna cry, huh? Just like you, when things get really tough. Let me guess, you just want to run away, don't you? Just take off, let Takeshi bail your ass out, like back in the old days? Weakling. Small wonder it took losing it all to make you into anything useful.

Edited 2015-07-22 22:51 (UTC)

It should jog loose a few memories for Estelle, definitely. They'd spent some time here before Union. But there was always a door Lucca never opened. A door she never looked at. This is that door. Her dad's old workshop.

The sound of a voice draws Lucca up short, and she slowly turns, her hands clenching and unclenching with apprehension. She cannot bring herself to look Estelle in the eyes, and her breathing comes out quick, almost hyperventilating.

"Y-Yeah...It is..."

[He looks at him to see if maybe he was hearing it to, but his reaction was a lot more drastic than he thought it would be. He was about to ask what was wrong when he ....starts to step back. What-]

Takeshi?

[And then of course, the voices start back up again. He stares up, looking around, trying to see if there's a source. There isn't, it still feels like its in his own head. WHat were they talking about?]

[Then he runs off. Wow- what the heck was happening? He didn't know, but he knew running off into these caves was the last thing either of them needed to be doing.]

Takeshi, wait!

Estelle remembers that door. It wasn't like the ones that she was told to not open, sometimes. She simply never went into that particular door. She stares at it for a moment, before she looks back at Lucca. She hesitates when she sees the way she tenses, clencing and unclenching her fingers. Estelle hesitates, before she puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Lucca, whatever it is, it'll be okay," she says, quietly. "This place isn't real, or--or at least, whatever it was happened in the past."

Of course he cries, of course he falls apart. It was much the same for Thorin in the face of the things he saw. Years ago, he would have been precisely here. Thorin kneels down in front of his nephew and what his worst fear has left him with. This... this feeling of loss and failure, he knows all too well there is no way to mend it. Luckily there is no need to.

All he can manage is wrap his arms around Fili and the body he cannot let go.

"It is not your fault."

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Descent into Darkness

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such a wise grandma tho

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Open

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