bravenewworld | 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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The hand on her shoulder draws a look, and she’s about to say something, to sigh and release some of that tension…when a scream echoes through the room. A woman’s, a yelp of surprise and pain.

“Oh no…no no no! This can’t be real, this…this already happened! I don’t want to see this again!”

The sound of metal cogs turning picks up speed, a steady chunk, chunk, chunk from deeper in the workshop. Gato starts to shove Lucca forward, but she resists now, actually struggling to try and get free…

Edited 2015-07-21 16:13 (UTC)

Gil let go in surprise. "What is this, your workshop? What happened in there?"

Edited 2015-07-21 21:54 (UTC)

"Mom! This...this is where Mom got hurt! Dad's workshop..." Lucca practically sobs, already beginning to shake again, falling backwards onto the floor and scrambling into a corner.

"I couldn't...I couldn't stop it..."

Psychology was not a field he had ever had a lot of interest in. It went against the whole Mad Scientist thing, after all. But now as he contemplated whether it would be better to help her escape or to force her to confront it, he lamented this oversight. Gil stood back, unsure of himself, then decided that if Lucca wasn't going to, he would at least have a look. He peered deeper into the illusion.

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...

He quickly analyzed the machine, then reached over to rip out something important and hopefully shut it down before the woman (probably Lucca's mother) got hurt. Obviously, his hand went write through the phantom lab without touching it, leaving him unable to change the fairly gruesome end of this little tragedy.

He came back to say something comforting to Lucca, but when he opened his mouth there were no words he could think of to say. He ended up just standing there looking sympathetic and kind of awkward.

Lucca watches this display with a muted, dumbstruck expression. There's no way to help, it's not really happening again. That, at least, is something.

"...I was six when this happened. It's real. Just a memory."

Lucca's voice is distant, weirdly modulated. Like she's trying to tell herself something.

"It's why I became a scientist. Because I didn't know how to work a machine."

"Not because of...um..."

Because of the love of science in and of itself. He actually caught himself before saying something stupid, for once.

"That's rough. Did she live?"

"No. I grew into science. I was always figuring out how things worked. I was just too young to know what to call it."

Lucca can't help but correct that unspoken question. She gets you, you big doofus.

"And yes, she did."

There's a final scream and Lucca flinches, tears flowing freely now. "She's not going to walk again, but she's alive."

"Well that's something, at least."

Again showing uncommon tact, Gil kept his thoughts of building Mrs. Ashtear a pair of bionic legs to himself. He still hadn't managed to get that technology working anyways.

The illusion thankfully is beginning to fade, a blessing. Or perhaps from lack of memory. Lucca had passed out then.

From the ground, she rises unsteadily, hands shaking.

"My first invention was a wheelchair that moves on it's own. Part of why I came to Union in the first place, well...it's not a big secret. I'm trying to learn more about machine Pokemon and how they work. It's possible that I can make a prosthetic leg. I just haven't worked that out yet."

"Fully functional prosthetics would be a HUGE leap forwards!"

Trauma, what trauma? Lucca's traumatic past is pushed out of Gil's head.

"I've taken a few shots at it myself, but it's hard to find willing subjects, so progress has been slow."

And unwilling subjects are SO hard to keep still, plus they draw all the wrong kind of attention when someone notices they're gone.

"It's not an easy thing. Human biology isn't as simple as machines, which is where I get stuck. I'm researching the more artificial Pokemon, seeing how that works. But I'm making progress."

She lets out a heavy breath, wipes her eyes. And nods.

"I wanna take this one slow, though. I don't want to rush stuff with mom. Can't get her hopes up and it not work. I couldn't deal with that."

"No, no you wouldn't want to rush that one. You might even make the damage worse if you didn't get it right."

After pondering the problem for another few moment, Gil realized he was teetering towards the Madness Place once again, and shook his head clear.

"We can compare notes later. For now...I think this little drama is played out, and it's safely in the past whatever tricks we see down here, right?"

"I guess." Lucca shrugged unhappily. "I mean, you're the one from Union, and these are you guys weird caves. We just have Honedges and stuff in ours. Not...this..."

"Trust me, this is weird for us too."

Still, he went ahead and led the way, allowing Lucca to regain her composure without being stared at.

"Lets just...get out of here."

She shakes herself a bit and follows, shooting both Gato and Gonzales nasty looks.

Descent into Darkness

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