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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[Rex picks up Waver's scent, it mingling with the phantom perfume. The Stoutland lets out a curious little noise, approaching cautiously. The woman's voice continues.]

There's other Swords, Jim. You don't have anything to prove. Not to me.

[The young, male voice responds, as his older self's mouth compresses into a thin, tense line at the broken promise he knows is coming.]

When the baby comes. I promise.

[The tension grows with the words, accompanied by a half-sound, a violin bow pulled slowly over a string tuned to the upper end of human hearing. The note is played so long, so slowly, that it becomes a sort of white noise, a constant half-audible tone. A voice joins in, so much like the man's voice before, but rougher, deeper, and with less of the energy of youth.]

Who's there?

[A few muttered words just under his breath and a Flash spell was activated, illuminating a small, slim young man with an embarrassed look in his eyes.]

--I'm interrupting something, aren't I?

[There was no denying the highly personal nature of the conversation he had accidentally overheard. He uncomfortably cast a glance further down the darkened passage, as if looking for a route to escape.]

Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude.

[Gordon frowns, looking around the nearly silent cavern.]

An old argument. Not exactly catching me at my best.

[He turns his attention more fully to Waver.]

Lost?

[He looks around and, waving the young man to follow, picks a direction and sets out.]

[Waver sighed, and stepped into place just behind Gordon.]

Frankly, I'm starting to accept it as a general state of affairs down here. I....forgot to leave a trail.

[An elementary tactic would have been marking walls with his knife, but there was no way to guarantee that the illusions wouldn't render such a technique useless.]

...And, if you don't mind my saying, I'll forget I heard anything. Everyone has their own personal business to deal with.

I appreciate it.

[Gordon continues leading the way, light-source in hand, though Waver's spell seems to make that redundant. Before too much longer, the voices are back, the woman's voice repeating her complaint with another whiff of perfume.]

The children and I need you, Jim.

[Scowling, the older man pushes on, only to come to a complete stop as if slapped when, this time, the counter argument comes with another, different whiff of perfume and a feminine voice.]

Doesn't she know the city needs you too?

[The Jim Gordon physically present looks to Waver, and pushes on, the next blind corner opening onto a Union Rooftop. A younger, though 'Young' would be a stretch, Jim Gordon, his hair still maintaining its original red, sitting on a low brick wall, cigarette smoke trailing away in the wind as he watches the blonde hair of the woman speaking whip in the wind.]

[Gordon--the real Gordon, with aging joints and grey hair--'s dark eyes go wide, staring at the impossible glimpse into his past.]

[Waver tore his eyes away, feeling once again like he was intruding upon affairs that were deeply personal. Whomever this man was, he clearly was still torn between duties both privately and professionally.

But still....]

Sir, I advise you not to get too caught up into this. The cave....it's showing us the things we don't want to see.

[Gordon frowns, heading for the door that marks the exit from the roof. He opens it up and steps through, even as his younger self rises from his seated position, walking towards the blonde woman. The tense sound is undeniable now, a constant tone right at the edge of hearing, Rex whining at the pain of it.]

What was it for you? Past failings?

[That's what this all is to Gordon, as he throws the door open, just in time for the younger man to embrace the blonde. If Waver lingers, he'll see something truly private. Once through the door, the cave is once again a cave, no sign of having ever been a stairwell. Impossibly, though, there's a door at the end of this particular tunnel.]

Squir!

[Mike the Squirtle runs to the familiar door, no signs of arguments on the other side, looking just as he knows it and as inviting as ever. Going up on Tip-Toe, he turns the knob.]

[He didn't linger, and averted his gaze to afford the stranger a modicum of privacy for his innermost turmoils.]

Yeah, it was something like that. The face of someone I didn't like voicing my own personal doubts.

[Lingering a few steps behind, just in case the door were to reveal something else that was intensly private, he continued:]

I think this cave is forcing us to face the parts of ourselves that we don't like.

[The too taut violin string isn't just a constant tone now, turning into rapid, chaotic playing, something fundamentally unsettling about the too high tone and musicless playing. The sound is off, as if the strings were be played with razor blades rather than a bow. Gordon pauses at that description, looking back Waver at the new information. Looking back, he misses what causes the anguished cry of the Squirtle as the door opens, followed in quick succession by his other Pokémon. Jim turns to look through the door, his face immediately falling at the lifeless bodies within, red hair and redder blood pooling beneath them.]

Barbara?

[The tension is let loose all at once as the razor blade cuts through. Jim charges through the door, all knowledge of the illusion of it falling away as an animal panic overtakes him, the pokémon quick on his heels. The man drops to his knees by the bodies of his wife and children, tears in his eyes.]

Another late night, captain? Shame you missed it.

[The new voice is unlike any previously, seeming less like a human voice and chaos in spoken form, cracked and frayed.]

[The heavy scent of blood in the air was enough to get Waver to stop in his tracks behind Gordon; the sight of broken bodies and tangled limbs lying in an ever widening pool of blood made him feel sick to his stomach. Turning away so his back faced them, he promptly started promptly fussing with the Warp Band, trying to remember how to call his strongest and most reliable Pokemon to the field.]

Don't let it get to you, [he stammered, voice shaking as he sought to find something real to grasp upon.] Don't let it get to you.....

[Jim is in shock, looking over the bodies of his wife and two children. He looks for the source of the voice, but there's no threat, no crime to stop, because it already happened.]

Barbara... Junior...

[He starts to tremble, his back to Waver, but the defeat is clear in his next words.]

You were right.

[Although he had never spoken with this man before, the hopelessness that rang through his words was unsettling for Waver to listen to. Barely peeking over his shouler, he cast a wide eyed, perturbed look at Gordon.]

.....Sir?

[Gordon stays on his knees, smoothing the hair of the image of his wife.]

You have family, son?

Not anymore, Sir.

[He shook his head, still not able to look directly at Gordon.]

They passed away a few years ago; I never had any siblings, either.

[Gordon looks back to the young man, watching his face for a moment.]

Sorry to hear that.

[It's a phrase that usually comes with a sort of feigned sympathy, but it could not be more genuine now.]

I guess you kind of get what's going through my head right now. It's just an illusion, I know that, I'm too smart not to know that, but...

[Waver just shrugged-- he had heard it a million times, and knew he would hear it a million more. But, he, too, regarded the older man with genuine sympathy.]

...The hurt never really goes away. You get used to it, and can deal with it better, but it's always there.

I'm sorry, Sir. Everyone knows that their parents will pass one day, but it must be a lot harder when the positions are reversed....

[Gordon looks back to the lifeless forms. He looks over his mourning Pokémon, Mike in particular distraught over the younger Barbara, big, watery tears flowing down blue cheeks. He opens his mouth to speak, but, while the voice that comes out is definitely his, it isn't coming from his lips, but from the cave itself.]

There will be time when I retire.

[Gordon looks stunned to hear the voices return, but this time it's only his.]

You can always visit me at work.

[That was the first trickle before the dam bursts, a flood of excuses. Of 'Laters' and 'This weekend.' Soon, the sonic onslaught is indistinguishable, a lifetime of excuses blurring together before going silent.]

[Gordon rises to his feet, adjusts his glasses, wiping at his eyes with a gesture not quite as subtle as he'd like to think. He adjusts his hat and claps a hand on Waver's shoulder, the sound dismissing the fears of the future, the illusion dispersing to reveal a tunnel opening onto a broad cavern. Gordon speaks, and this time it is him, no interruption from his past self, no 'might be's or taunting voices.]

Let's find what we came for and get home. I've got some catching up to do on the 'father' front.

[Waver looked up at him, concern and confusion flickering through his eyes at such an open expression of emotion. Books were his specialty, not people, and this sort of raw expression of sorrow and pain was incredibly uncomfortable to watch.

He didn't know how to help. Not really.]

...What do you mean, Sir? You still have someone?

[It certainly sounded like it-- and he wished the older gentleman all of the luck in the world.]

[Gordon looks momentarily confused. He glances back to where the vision had been, and gives a small, guilty smile.]

Thankfully, that [a gesture over his shoulder] wasn't the past. It hasn't happened and, if I have anything to say about it, it never will, but...

[He looks to where he'd just seen his wife and children lying, taking a deep breath at the unpleasantness of the mental image.]

I guess you can say it scared me straight.

[Waver blinked, pleasantly surprised to hear those words. Offering Gordon an embarrassed little smile, he nodded in understanding.]

At least you still have that opportunity in front of you, Sir. I wish you well in that.

[Gordon smiles, nodding and, gently running his hands along the heads of Rex and Mike, he turns, and steps to the large, open cavern, where Diancie awaits.]

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Descent into Darkness

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