Descent into Darkness

[bravenewmods]

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.]

Comments

[windyflower]

Magus...? What's that?

[She wasn't sure what this ghost was talking about but maybe she was eavesdropping in on a conversation she wasn't suppose to hear. There were still a lot of things she didn't know about the young man but there were a lot of things he didn't know about her either.]

Better or not, it's still no right to treat him like that! And if you don't, I'll...I'll...

[...What can she do? As she looked around, there definitely wasn't a lot she could do. And there was no way her poor Espurr could even to attack him. Without a second thought though?

She immediately grabbed Waver's hand and made a run for it!]

[windyflower]

I-I can see that! It just feels so strange to be on top of him!

[Despite her holding on, it didn't stop her from feeling like she might fall off. That and it feels kind of weird to be sitting on top of a pokemon!

Of course, as soon as she got comfortable, she could have sworn she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

Hey...wasn't that...?] You think you can go look over there? I thought I saw something but...I don't know if it's just me.

[windyflower]

As they continued to run, Fuuka knew she couldn't look back. The moment she did, there was a chance that the both of them would get caught. And after what happened? She didn't want to even think about her shadow. But still, despite how fast she was running, she knew she couldn't keep it up forever.

When she finally get go to Yukiko, she placed both of her hands on her knees as she started panting.

"You....you think we lost them...? Can they break through that net...?" Perhaps but does she even want to go back and check?

[punchesyu]

[He follows, seeing the scraps of fabric left on the vegetation where she'd ran. He almost trips over underbrush where it stuck out from the path she'd made, getting a bad feeling about what she was leading him toward. When they arrive at the crest, his eyes widen in horror at the sight. The floating trees, the man crushed, the woman who tell them to run.

The Spiritomb. Yosuke has never seen one before in his life, and this one takes the cake of freaky experiences in his life. He can feel his own body shake in fear, taking a step back while his mind races with all the possibilities of how he was about to die, but can't seem to make his feet move. When everything freezes, he's not sure what's happened at first, but Mami's voice behind him yanks him out of his shock. He looks behind him to her with confused, terrified eyes.]

Ah... [Is all he manages to get out at first, looking back towards the Spiritomb, her parents, then back to Mami herself.]

What else could you of done? [He asks, composure still a mess.] What is that thing?

[imprudens]

[ Lady arrives in the cavern before Totsuka does, fluttering around the pair before returning to her partner. She doesn't entirely understand what's going on, but she can tell it's bad, and it doesn't take the concern she can feel from her trainer to drive the point home.

Totsuka stays on the sidelines. He's no fit for a fight, and there's no good time to interject here before... before such a solid sense of unease sets in over something that's not even his choice or his life. Never the less it's that clear pit-of-his-stomach feeling of oh, no.

He steps closer. Makes himself known by the scuff of his sneakers on the stone, perhaps, and he doesn't want to be the naysayer here. Doesn't want to point out the obvious. If he were to find out, he'd still be who and what he is. ]

[untalented]

Hopefully, nothing.

"We'll be fine, Rincewind," he said, oddly confident in his declaration. "Whoever's in here looks like they're out to break us, not kill us."

[sparkofgenius]

To her credit? Lucca? doesn't wince anymore. Her bones are sturdy! With that behind her though, it was easier to go forward, to let go and just be herself again. She grins back, casually tapping her helmet in a gesture of acceptance of the compliment.

"I don't know either, but I know I'm ready to get out of here. It was probably the gods. Articuno did say they were gonna test us, after all. And we never did find those radio waves...a damn shame but I've had enough of this nonsense."

1/3

[morituri_nolumus_mori]

Rincewind surfaced with a loud gasp. He couldn't see anything except the pinprick of light above him. He grit his teeth when he realized what he was being asked.

"You? ... YOU DROPPED ME!?" He hollered back, indignantly. He was ... a little hurt by that. He starts to murmur to himself while he paddles little circles around the pool, blindly feeling for a ledge to cling to. "I can't believe it. He dropped me. Of all the things you could've done ..."

2/3

[morituri_nolumus_mori]

The Luggage jumps in.

[imprudens]

[ Totsuka at least seems to have remained his normal age. He's not all sure when the cave walls made way to form a forest. It felt like it should have been a gradual thing, but one way or another, he's not sure how to get back the way he came now. His talonflame and his zubat are still with him, one on each shoulder as he starts poking about the underbrush until he hears a voice. ]

Hello? Is there someone out there? Do you need help?

[ His talonflame squawks at him. ] Look, this could be dangerous-- [ -- but he doesn't seem to be listening to her much right now. ]

3/3

[morituri_nolumus_mori]

Something cannoned into the water. It landed near Rincewind. For the second time within a minute, he nearly dies. Death via drowning with sub-caption: This is my life. I should have known. sub-sub-caption: He dropped me.

Rincewind managed to avoid drowning, almost to his own disappointment.

[frozenflame]

"Lost us" A voice answers back with a cruel chuckle. Yukiko's shadow, arm wrapped lazily around Fuuka's double, steps out of a nearby tunnel and the pair practically swagger forward until they're looking down at the two girls.

"You can't lose yourself. It's ridiculous to think you can even try. But then...I guess you'd know that, wouldn't you? You can't run from yourself. From your failings, and from your weakness."

This is beginning to infuriate Yukiko, especially seeing how Fuuka's body was reacting. Her jaw clenches and she steps forward.

"Shut. Up."

[wishingalone]

...probably nothing.

[But only probably. She has never completely accepted that she could do nothing. She hugs her arms against herself and looks down. She can't blame him for the terrified look on his face. Who wouldn't be scared? The Spiritomb is terrifying; Walpurgis was the worst one that she ever heard of. A terror of the countryside in the north, if there ever was one.]

[At her age, Mami wouldn't have a prayer against it. She doubts that she would now, either.]

A Spiritomb. It's named Walpurgis. It... showed up, while I was out with my parents, and I managed to escape. They didn't. It's the strongest wild Pokemon that I've ever seen.

[wishingalone]

[Mami stumbles as she hears the voice. She looks around, and when she spots Totsuka, she stares at him. She doesn't recognize him, but she is recognizable; she's only four years younger. And has those distinctive drill curls.]

I-I was trying to get away from a Pokemon. I lost my parents, and...

[She looks down, hand coming to her mouth.]

...I don't know what to do.

[brandnewshoes]

"I probably shouldn't punch a god," Estelle sighs. "By words, I meant punches, by the way."

As if it wasn't obvious.

She nods, though, as she takes a look around them. "I think getting out of here is a good idea," she says. "We'll get an explanation, somehow. Even if we need to dig into it more."

[imprudens]

[ He approaches her, but slowly, carefully. Recognizable she may be, but she seems much younger than just the four years, much more... well, vulnerable. At a glance, he can't tell if she's injured, so that seems like the thing to ask. ]

Are you hurt anywhere?

[punchesyu]

[He tries not to look at it, but even the greyed image of the Spiritomb floating there so close earned a flick of his eyes back to it every now and again. Just to make sure it's not moving.]

I...had no idea. [His expression drops a little, saddened by that news.] That thing is seriously freaky...you're lucky you're still alive. Mami...I'm sorry. [He doesn't know what else to say. It has to be hard witnessing that again.]

[wishingalone]

A few scratches and scrapes, but--the forest was--

[She looks over her shoulder.]

--it was falling apart. Trees were flying everywhere. I couldn't find my parents. Or anyone else.

[imprudens]

[ His eyes follow her look. ]

Mmh, it sounds like it's quieted down now. I'm glad you made it out okay.

[untalented]

Actually? It sort of is, from a perspective.

[He sighed, a long suffering gesture of someone who has been putting up with this crap for too long.]

People in my family have only had any kind of power for three generations. My mother mentioned off hand a couple of times that my grandmother kept a certain magus company in the evenings, and discovered her own potential that way. Mom never really tried to practice herself-- she didn't approve, for one. So, from the perspective of the older families in Sanctuary, we really don't amount to anything special.

--not that I plan on letting that stop me. That's why I came here, to Union. The rules are different.

It's PMMM so angst just leaks on everything, ever

[wishingalone]

[It isn't moving. Nor is Mami's mother, whose hand is stretched out towards her. Maybe it's how it happened or how it's frozen; maybe it's Mami's memory filling in details. Either way, like this, she looks pleading. Mami's eyes aren't on the Spiritomb, but her mother.]

It's... everyone has things they must deal with, don't they?

[But it sounds weak, when she says it.]

It wasn't that I couldn't fight it. When I saw it, I... started running. I was so scared that I stopped thinking. She--she told me to run, but...

[Her hand balls into a fist and her words come out thick and choked. She pointedly looks at the unblinking memory of her mother, rather than the real person present.]

...even if she begged for help, I would have kept running.

[wishingalone]

I...

[She looks back down. Her eyes widen; there's no physical sign of it, but the "real" Mami begins to take hold of the younger version here. Something about what he says...]

...I wasn't hurt, but I didn't make it out okay. I left my parents behind and this forest is so lonely, but... it's what I deserve.

[imprudens]

[ Ah... there it is again. He lacks a point of reference for what it feels like, being really attached to one's parents. But he can see that she's not okay. And he can see that she's blaming herself. So he does what he tends to do, he poses a question she might not have thought of. ]

What's deserving got to do with it?

[ His tone isn't grave or accusing or demanding, but light, almost casual. It's an honest question. ]

[wishingalone]

...what?

[She didn't expect that question. It interrupts her train of thought, stopping the self-loathing before it can really start. Mami turns and stares at Totsuka. She also doesn't understand it.]

Everything! We... we get what we deserve. It's how the world must work. It lets justice be done. It...

[But the speedy defense falters and she trails off.]

[echoingmelody]

[Xiu closes her eyes as she steps into what little is left of the house. Most of it is just debris left over from whatever catastrophe hit it.

But it's not a very pretty sight. Among the ruins of the house are a pair of bodies. A woman and a man.

...and in the corner is something Estelle might recognize. There's a bloody broken keyboard and biwa sticking out from under a fallen wall, along with some familiar red hair.]