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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[Oh man. He stops a little short at that but only for a moment. He clenches his jaw and hurries to close the distance between them. He's done this, it's not the worst he's seen. It's fake, it's an illusion, its in his head.]

[He's a little on edge, though not nearly as worn as Thorin appears- which is a problem all on it's own.]

[Once he's there he nods to him, closing his eyes.]

I did. He's safe. He hasn't left the city.

[ He bows his head as he sighs, relieved, shoulders slumping. ]

Thank you.

[ Pulls himself together with so many years of practice. It might be he stands a little straighter now, too, with not quite as much weight on his shoulders. ]

We should never have come here.

Going into the tunnels once had been hellish. At least, once he knew that Kili had never even entered them (and what beautiful irony for him to have known better) he had no reason to linger. ... Not that that suddenly made it easy to make it back out.

He'd expected for Fili to be there long before him. Once again, it turned out he'd been wrong. Him immediately headeding back down should be no surprise to anyone who knew him.

"Fili?"

This time, he pays the bodies no heed. Barely flinches at the screams and accusations. The pleas. And if he screams himself hoarse.

"Fili!"

He has to find his nephew.

[Sinbad had been running himself, from both his own terrors and friends that would hurt themselves trying to help him when he stumbles onto Xiu]

You're here as well... are you all right?

You had to try. We didn't know where he could be. I'm just glad I dropped by the park before I came down myself.

[He offers him a wan smile before he turns and looks towards what he hopes is the way he came.]

Let's just try and get out of here. Did Fili come, too?

He did. If it wasn't for him, I might've waited on word from you first.

[ Really, after the debacle with the last mysterious cave, Thorin hadn't expected Kili to be very eager to explore another one. In a few long strides, he catches up to Hayato. Truth be told, between time and hallucinations, he's completely lost his way. ]

But we got seperated. I can only hope he's made it out already.

[ Wait. Wait- dropped by the what now before he- ]

You said the park? That's where he was?

It didn't take long for Lux to notice that something was off about these caves. Her eyes glowing a faint blue, she tried to get a read on what was going on. The air wavered, using her Analyst Eyes gave her a headache. Closing her eyes, she put a hand over her forehead, groaning a bit. Was it the radio waves?

"It is your duty as the daughter of the Crownguard family, Luxanna."

"You will marry Fai Flourite when you come of age."

That was... her father's voice. And her mother's.

Looking up suddenly, the blond opened her eyes, finding herself in the Crownguard estate. She could smell the roses in bloom from the outside--her mother's pride and joy--and, brushing up against her leg was a young Growlithe looking for attention. Her gear was gone, and the first thing she did was look down at her hands. They were smaller, fingers slender and pale, unblemished from over a year of work. She recognized the dress she was wearing--it was a gift from House Flourite, presented to her shortly before her their official betrothal. The summer of her 10th year.

She turned toward her father, indignant words escaped her before she could catch them; "I could care less about duty! This isn't your choice to make! I refuse! I will not--"

Despite being only a memory, she could feel a hand crack across her cheek. Stinging red hot, it brought tears to her eyes, and she clutched the side of her face lightly. She ran through familiar halls, voices echoing; her father's, her mothers, and others she didn't quite recognize.

"You are my daughter, and you will do as you are told!"

"This is the only option available to you."

"You should be honored, Miss Luxanna."

"She's barred herself in her room again."

"What a selfish, spoiled child."

"Giving her father such trouble. I wonder where they went wrong."

"We all have a role we must play."

"She'll learn her place eventually."

Finding her way to her bedroom, Lux rested her back against her bed, drawing her tiny legs to her chest.

"Stop it..." She had to drown those voices out somehow, before they swallowed her whole.

"Wants to talk?" Yukiko mumbles, taking a step back and nearly tripping over Cassandra.

"I guess it can't hurt. I mean, seriously though girl, look at you? Cringing like that. How can you help anyone if you can't even help yourself?"

That draws her up straight, but she turns away quickly.

"There's nothing wrong with asking for help..."

"Except that you never do anything for yourself."

The shadow's words are cold, turgid and icy, and as she speaks the chamber begins to shift, turning into a massage room. It's obviously one from home, with the Amagi crest emblazoned on all the cushions. Yukiko's breath hitches as she recognizes it, and it takes considerable effort not to just start screaming.

"It's not going to do you any good to struggle against this anyway. You'll run back to this eventually. Because it's safe, because it's easy.""

"I..." Yukiko stammers out, "I think...it's not real..."

A second figure moves in the shadows, but doesn't reveal itself yet. The shade of Yukiko, though, steps closer, grabbing her double by the cheek. She flinches, tries to pull away, but those long fingers hold fast.

"I get it. You like keeping other people around because it gives you someone to whine to. Someone to make you feel safe. Your knight. And this one? Goodness, she's pretty...but you could do better. Chie at least would've been a real knight. But then, you're doing this to prove you don't need her protection right?"

Whimpering, Yukiko tries to pull away, to say something, but the words just don't come...

[ Excellen didn't quite buy into the idea that Union was a weirdness magnet. It was either coincidental, or vastly over-exaggerated. Still, it wouldn't be her if she didn't check it out anyway, her gooey wingman following a few steps behind.

All and all, the first few hundred meters had her disappointed. Once the entrance fell away, however, she began to hear voices, muffled and broken at first. ]

"...shouldn't have survived... much blood."

[ That gave her pause, brows furrowing a bit. There wasn't an echo; were they close by? Even that didn't seem quite right. ]

"We can try to... but don't... hopes up."

"Then you... mind... try something."

"Why not? She won't feel it anyway. She's already dead."

[ Her stomach dropped, and she wasn't quite sure why, head suddenly feeling light. Excellen stopped in her tracks, looking around. That last voice. She knew that voice. Why did she know that voice? ]

[Yuuna'd never quite bought the pirate queen act, but that didn't matter. It was the front Bela put up, and that was all that mattered.

When the chains appear, though, Yuuna immediately moves to her back and pulls out a hairpin, working on the lock while leaning close to her friend's back.]

Don't worry, and don't struggle so much. You're not trapped. I've got you.

[Smith's daughters know something about locks after all.]

Hey, dude, why don't you go jump in a lake. She's not stuck anywhere she doesn't want to be. Or she'd be gone.

A resounding, "AAAAAAAUUUUGGHH" reverberated back. It sounded to be getting nearer.

Meanwhile, from Rincewind's perspective the winding labyrinth of natural cave was beginning to take on a noticeably un-cave-like approach to the whole existing business. For one thing, the walls were receding. Thousands of white pinpricks began to dot what used to be the ceiling and they seemed to stretch on for an indescribable distance. As Rincewind ran, he noticed the ground was undergoing a metamorphosis of its own. He tried to skid to a halt, but after years of honing his flight response, abruptly stopping was never feature he'd thought to install. Rincewind fell, face first, into sand. And it was sand. Pulling himself to his elbows, Rincewind reached out and grasped a tentative handful. Silver granules ran between his fingers like frost-touched silk.

The Luggage trundled up behind him. He hadn't noticed. His attention had been drawn forward and up and up. It seemed the disembodied voices had found bodies. They were made of the same black space that composed the sky only without the lights. They were blacker than black. The light was too scared to touch them.

"Oh, bugger."

Mami already wasn't pleased with this place. She had her share of secrets -- more than her share, really -- and she didn't want them shared. She assumed that the same was true: that others didn't want their fears and weaknesses exposed. It was out of their hands, though, and they could only make the best of it.

Or so she told herself. It didn't make her feel better about witnessing this.

She watched Lux run, turning her head and blinking after her; she recognized her quickly enough from the events at Sanctum. Except, of course, that she was quite younger. She heard the voices, too, and that made Mami's skin crawl. The Valkyrie's eyes widened for a moment, before she took off after her.

She cracked the door open after she caught up. Mami looked down at her, trying to push away the strangeness of meeting someone as a child who she first new as an adult. "Lux...?" she asked. "May I come in?"

"No such thing, Hayato. They're just Pokemon, and Gigas captured them all." The double returns Hayato's glare, stepping closer and sneering at both of them.

"I know you want to believe, but there's no reason to follow that old ghost of a religion. The world's changed. Only the strong survive. now."

Her attention turns towards Hayato and she laughs now, a cold, cruel sound filled with malice and disdain.

"Like this guy. You know he tried to stop them from taking me to their labs. But he was too weak. And really? Best thing that could've happened, really. I was given something and I ran with it. And over idiots like him and Takeshi, too."

....

[Yosuke's face is blank as he looks at Waver, but at the same time, he feels like he already knew this. It's not like Waver hasn't already made his opinion known from when they'd freed Sanctuary. It made sense. The pieces fit into the puzzle as to why Waver argued the way he did.]

What the hell is this crap... [He turns back to the magus.] You gunna tell us something we don't already know? That stuff is already over with, so if you don't have anything important to say, get out of our way!

"Exactly!" the female voice adds. "And the only thing that brings lasting piece is power. A few ruined lives, a few weaklings, but you both took power. And you both used it."

Those words draw Yuuna up short, her eyes widening as she recognizes the voice. Sinbad might as well, given that it's her own. Her hands on his shoulder tighten, desperate fear and denial there.

"No. No that's not true..."

"Yes! Yes it is! You can't change the world without some sort of power. That's why you're always out training, isn't it? That's why you've been gathering strong Pokemon..."

"Why'd you wanna rely on him anyway? That disappointment? C'mon!"

Another figure appears from the darkness, though clothed the same as Yosuke, unlike the shade of Yukiko. "It's totally a huge pain in the ass anyway! Everyone wants something, it's never sincere, that's why I don't have any friends!" He leans over, eyes full of malice.

"Do you."

"That's...me...it can't be...what the hell is going on here...." Yosuke's mouth hangs open, shocked. This crap about Yukiko, and him, it can't be real.

Edited 2015-07-20 23:31 (UTC)

Heh, go figure.

[But okay, they should probably start heading off then.]

I'm sure he's fine. He's a tough kid. [Are you even older than him, hayato. Probably not.]

[But he nods.]

A small one on the other side of town.

What the hell...

[It had been caves before, but now he finds himself in a forest. Honestly, the image of not being in a cave anymore was more than welcome to the boy from Citadel, and he breathes a sigh of relief, before realizing that this might not be as good as he thinks. It doesn't occur to him that this is an illusion. He doesn't see anyone else, not yet. Getting separated from a lot of the others was a big mistake, and now he doesn't know if he ended up outside of the cave on the other side.

Just as soon as he turns to go back inside the cave system, he catches the sight of a younger girl with a yellow robe on, eyes narrowing as he abandons going back inside to trot lightly up to her.]

Hey, you shouldn't be out here by yourself.

[He raises his hands like he expects a fight. His posture goes tense and his gaze is sharp, never leaving Yuuna's double. The more this went on the more it made him sick. No world, made up or not, should end up like this. Yuuna being taken in by Gigas and made an Enhanced- her becoming something like this. It made him angry and it shows.]

[The scars burn brightly on his face- red lines searing their way up and across his cheeks, his eyes. Left over from his incomplete procedure and the one thing he could never cover up because it reacted to his emotions. He pays it no mind this time.]

[Instead of snarling or spitting back that anger he takes a deep breath. And starts to laugh.]

Edited 2015-07-21 00:11 (UTC)

[An authoritative voice calls out, loud and clear.]

Cordelia!

[James grips Cordelia's arm as she steps forward, stopping the advance. Softer than the bark of command, he continues.]

Stay with us. Something's... off about the caves.

[Anyone who spends much time around Analysts will recognize the gears turning in Gordon's mind, grabbing clues and slotting them together into something resembling understanding.]

Edited 2015-07-21 00:09 (UTC)

"This has nothing to do with regrets, my dear." [The apparition clicked his tongue, a sound that could be translated into annoyance or distaste for the words that he uttered, as if he were tossing a lovely and valuable but overall useless trinket into the mud before their feet.] "On the contrary, it has everything to do with decorum and respect. Of which, this boy has none."

[Waver remained silent in the face of the dirt being smeared upon his name; after all, it was the truth. After a fashion.

He would never win any argument over this.]

[Fuuka didn't know why but she didn't want her Pokemon to see the blooded person next to the stranger. Espurr wasn't by any means young and covering her eyes wouldn't make things better but at least it made Fuuka feel like she was in control of the situtation.

Just a bit.

As she bit her lip, she looked away from Thorin. As if she might have offended him in someway.]

O-Oh, I didn't mean...I'm sorry, sir. I...I didn't mean to be rude and interrupt you.

"Removing an obstacle," the shadow answered curtly, aiming another strike at Waver.

A strike that crashed hard against Yuuna's own blade. The real one whipped forward, kicking her doppleganger in the stomach and sending her stumbling a pace backward as the crowd roared!

"You will do no such thing," the true form said, cold fire in her eyes. "You think you can just insult me like that? Fine. But nobody attacks people I care about in my presence..."

The shade cackled cheerfully, reaching down and plucking a pair of Pokeballs free. Out popped a Gengar and an Alakazam. They roared, surging forward as Yuuna's two baby dragons zipped forward to meet them with a crash. Yuuna lunged, her shadow lunged, and the fight was on. The shadow's attacks were brutal, vicious strokes with little finesse and a lot of muscle, while Yuuna's own were nimble, and backed by something...more than was usual, it seemed. Desperation? Adrenaline?

For Waver, though? There was only the Hitmonchan. The specter of Gouken blitzed forward, leading with a fist!

"P-Please don't talk like that! Yukiko is my friend and...and you're hurting her!"

Fuuka was scared. No, she was terrified. She didn't know who this other Yukiko was or what she was intending to do with her friend. However, she knew she had to speak up.

Of course, Fuuka was the least intimidating thing possible and after hearing her own voice talk to her? It didn't make things easier.

"I don't know what's going on but please s-stop it...!"

Edited (you saw no fail) 2015-07-21 00:14 (UTC)

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Descent into Darkness

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at some point toward the end of the week.

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OTA.

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OTA.

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Re: OTA

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