The underneath is a network of sewers and cold basement levels, filled with the stench of mildew and death. You hear sounds - at a distance, and nearby. Like many legs in the dripping water, like soft voices echoing down the halls.
More notably, no matter how you got here, you can't seem to get back out. However you arrived, it's a one-way entry, and there seems to be strong magical warding stopping anything from leaving.
Are these the dungeons? Or was your arrival here a mistake?
THIS IS A SECRET LOG! THIS MEANS THAT ALL CONTENT INSIDE OF IT IS SECRET BOTH IC AND OOC UNTIL YOUR CHARACTER IS ONCE AGAIN IN A PLACE WHERE THEY CAN REVEAL IT!
It's okay to make vague commentary on how things are going for your character, but please don't tell anyone OOCly the specifics of the location, characters, or events. That's for you and anyone else who joins you to share.
Start with your character arriving, and things will go from there.
The tunnels down here are winding and truly immense in size - it seems like it'd be entirely possible to be lost alone down here for some time, even if you were joined by others. Spider webs line some of the walls, and animal feces ferments in corners and mingles with fetid water. Occasionally, as they move, they will find the remains of a bodies - bones and bits of skin or ligament, but hardly any flesh.
Clearly consumed by a greater beast.
Reira will be able to sense bad vibes occasionally - emotions like hunger and blood lust, or blinding fear, but she can stay clear of them if she chooses. Does she head towards the bad emotions or does she continue to seek out good ones?
Between such things as bones and skin, Reira certainly avoids those bad emotions-Hunger and blood lust are the biggest ones. She avoids them at all cost, pointing into opposite directions or awkward corners just to stay away from them, leading Julien behind her all the while.
Fear is one she feels she should avoid-But....
If the fear is complex-if the emotion feels thicker and more substantial than the base flat 'ting' from any animal, she may venture somewhat near-near enough to determine if any safe path around can be found, before continuing to look for calmer thoughts.
"....There's lots of hungry things here," she whispers, glancing at the bone. "....We have to be really careful.."
Reira seems to know more about navigating here than he does. Julien follows her lead, staying close. He's stopped bleeding by now - it's paler than it should be and gleams wrong, but the light's not strong enough and it's not the time to examine it, he can't tell most colors here. He steps fastidiously, sometimes exhaling sharply to get a particularly unpleasant odor out of his sensitive nares.
Julien feels like he'd know if they were going in circles, even though he hasn't detected a magnetic pole to work off of. He can hear something of the shape of the passages around him and of course there's the smell, he navigates using both of those senses. But of course, fae realms aren't trustworthy.
"Right," he says, voice equally as low. "The light will make it obvious where we are. Can you tell if something's noticed it?"
The girl does pause when Julien asks about that, and looks to her light a moment. "...Normally.... ...When someone notices something, they feel something else. ....A sort of 'noticing' feeling," she explains, the definition falling quite flat.
She knows what it feels like, at least, even if there is no word in her mind for it. It is curiosity and sometimes suspicion, a mix of things that becomes all too recognizable due to how many times she's had to run and avoid it.
Yet, it's not a reaction filled with hunger or anger - instead there are feelings of curiosity and cold determination. The feeling will start to grow stronger, as if that being is approaching. The emotions are nuanced and humanoid.
Reira freezes-but looks to Julien with wide eyes-"....Something doesn't feel like an animal," she hurriedly tells him, looking back to what's ahead. "....They seem....focused."
It's hard to say but-it's also the first sign of 'human life' down here, so Reira swallows. "....We should find them. ...Maybe it's someone else that's stuck..!" ....Maybe Tyki, she dares to think.
"Well. We may not end up getting along, but all right. Let's see who it is." If it comes to running, he's getting caught. In a straightaway he can get up to a decent speed, but he has to build momentum, and he's too big and cumbersome to be agile. Better not tell her that.
He hasn't kept much from his time as an angel. The eyes. The language. Something of music, and of the immensity of time Iuliael spent on Earth appalled and delighted by what they found. And this.
Julien draws himself upright in this small space and seems to become backlit or outlined in faint, soothing light, though someone would have to be pretty close to feel that effect. "Hello?"
It will be a while until the other creature arrives, because apparently they are taking their sweet time about it. Eventually, though, an unknown figure will emerge - one that definitely isn't Tyki.
Their excess of limbs seems to match no particular theme, some biological and some made of something resembling petrified wood. They continue walking, observing the two before them, until they are in easy speaking distance.
"So, it's true, then. We really aren't alone down here."
Wood, spider, and plenty else...but what catches Reira's attention most is height. She's not the tallest one after all, and when the woman-for it seems to be a woman, in Reira's opinion, rather than some sort of 'creature'-stops, Reira as well stops walking toward the pull of emotions.
Well. This seems to be going alright so far, then. But the fact is, she doesn't recognize the other...so this is definitely strange. "Um... ...We just woke up here," Reira admits honestly, looking up to the other with not an ounce of fear to be found. "...But who are you..?"
Ah. Seeing them get close enough and be illuminated was remarkably creepy! The feathers on the back of Julien's neck rouse. He lowers them again, consciously, though he knows most people don't pick up well on avian body language.
Well, they don't seem immediately hostile, anyway. "I helped her break a rule and we got caught by wolves," he says ruefully. "They threw us down here."
He's reminded of a couple of the servants, on the carnie's arrival. One had had wooden arms and another had had four. Is it coincidence that this person has both? He shelves that thought for later.
"Yes, the patrol," they say, unsurprised. "It seems that your group has made some mistakes."
They are composed both outwardly and inwardly, stirred only by some overarching curiosity and excitement. It's not clear why they are excited exactly, of course.
"Do you think your master will bargain for your return?"
"Umnh..." Yes, well. Patrol. Reira chews her lip, nodding. "...Everyone kept feeling scared, so it was hard to sleep... ...but as soon as I went to where Julien was, they showed up..." Whoops.
She tilts her head, squinting up to the other. Why IS there excitement there? That's odd. "...I don't know the Ringmaster really good, but she does care about people. ...That's what it felt like, at least...but..."
...Why would someone get excited if new people appeared? Maybe, because... "....Were you alone here?" Was she lonely? That would be good reason to get excited, she thinks.
"We did," he says, sighing. Maybe he shouldn't have told anyone. What could they do, beyond worry and maybe end up in trouble themselves? It had seemed important in the moment.
Julien's not so hopeful. "Maybe. We haven't been with her for all that long." She's got to have a bad impression of them. If just one person is returned, he has to make sure it's Reira. This isn't her fault.
He shifts his weight, not liking that even in this light he can't see all that well and can't read this person. Maybe if he offers his resources that'll at least fend off the worry that they'll do something unpleasant. "I can give you food and water if you want any. Uh, I'm carrying enough for a really long time."
"Not completely," they answer to Reira. "But even company can become isolating when you've been here as long as I have."
They look at Julien, and their expression is... doubtful? The sort of look you'd give a person when you think they're being hopelessly naive.
"Perhaps for now. But I can warn you now, it won't last for long. If the food is fresh I'd advise eating and drinking your fill while you still have the chance. This world is filled with poison, and so will be everything within it."
Not completely...hmm. "Oh... ...you got excited, so..." She trails off, and decides to try focusing on other things. People apparently act odd when they realize she feels things, and she'd rather people not act 'odd'.
"...Julien has his food in his 'inventory'," Reira explains in turn, shaking her head. "...I don't think things go bad in there, though." ...Though perhaps she's wrong? She glances at Julien, waiting for so much as a feeling of upset to prove her wrong. "...Why is everything poison though?" she adds, frowning. "....We saw bones and things, before... ...but I thought those were eaten by the things that felt hungry... ...Did poison kill them instead?"
Long term, huh. That's such an unpleasant thought. Long term here in the dark and with the closeness of the walls, shut away from light and air. Julien shifts a little more, unhappily considering that he's gonna end up claustrophobic.
"I have sort of a pocket dimension where time stops, and after a... certain disaster a long time ago, I've always kept it stocked." It wasn't that long ago really, but it's something that happened at home, so it's not really relevant. Even before then he'd started to be a bit of a hoarder. Why pay to take away trash when you could use it to heal yourself? "I can still get to it here."
He thinks she's metaphorical about poison and doesn't comment. Certainly in these conditions anything would spoil or be tainted quickly, if it was out exposed to time and the world.
They shrug their multiple sets of shoulders, and gesture for them to follow. They will start heading off and continuing to answer, apparently no longer wanting to remain in the same place for too long.
"Some are dead when they arrive," they explain, levelly. "Some are left here alive and then later killed and eaten by the others. Most have lost any semblance of themselves by now. I suppose their deaths may be considered a mercy."
As morbid as that is, their emotions will not waver in the face of it. They are accustomed to the realities of their existence.
Following is easy-she'll do so, turning her head occasionally when she feels the presence of something else nearby. "....So anyone who does something against the rules comes here then..." Well. That sucks. But with at least one of the number keeping a level head, Reira can manage just as well.
It isn't as though she hadn't seen anything equally cruel before all of this.
"Umn-if you were the one from before then... ...Why did they make you come here?" Presumably rule breaking is the big one, but. Well. "...Even though it was because we broke a rule... ...would that really be why you had to come here too?"
On another note though, maybe she Will eat now. Probably a good idea. "....Julien..? ....is there something we could eat now? ...Just in case?"
That the spider-mannequin has apparently lived for this long probably means they've eaten people too, he notes. This could be a trap. If this really is for the long run he's definitely not going to last long after his supplies run dry. Leaving aside his bone-deep reluctance to actually hurt anything, his body is mostly a giant pigeon. Not suited to living on raw meat, and he's carrying hundreds of pounds of muscle. Ugh.
"Sure, Reira." He uses his beak to indicate where he wants a portal to form, down low where she can reach, and opens it and thinks of several items. Street food in plastic baggies mostly, and bottled water. "Just reach in. You can get it as we go. Uh, you want anything?" He's addressing the figure they're following. "If it is going to go bad, I've got a lot to unload."
No packs of blood, though, if that's their game. He's not that well prepared.
"Why not?" they say to Julien, with a bit of a laugh. "Who knows when the opportunity to eat real food will arrive again - though I wouldn't want to grow used to it."
Beyond that, though, they remain mostly focused on Reira's questions. They certainly don't seem to mind sharing what they know.
"There are plenty of rules that the butler could break," they explain. "And doing so could bear a far greater weight, with the influence they have over the other servants. It did in my case. No matter your position, the Prince does not abide by those who go against his word. That was never our purpose, and thinking otherwise would be foolish."
Ahh. Well, that at least confirms that they're all more or less here for the 'same thing'. Even if 'all is only them, so far. The girl pulls out some food baggies, passing one to the woman with a nod.
"...The poison ruins things but... ...You said people 'lost themselves'. ...That means the poison didn't kill them right? It just ruined everything else." That's at least what she understands? It's a little odd to think of poison as being so specific. Rotting the food, but leaving people alive? Strange. "...I guess Sparrow will be ok..."
Said sparrow gives a tiny 'peep!', ruffling herself out from Reira's hair again. No pulse, no need to eat....She'll be fine. Maybe.
Hot dog in a bun, either one slathered with mustard and onion and pickle relish or slapped with chili and covered in cheese, either kind has made a mess of the inside of the bag but is still very warm and intact. For a moment it's enough to block out the smell of this place. All right, Julien will have to eat something too.
'His' word, Julien notices, not 'their' word. Obedience, not holding to promises. Well, it's not like he hadn't twigged to how sinister this whole thing was before now.
That sparrow is creepy but he keeps that to himself. When compared to everything else, it's just not worth even reacting to. "And why are you telling us all this? Aren't we just..." Fresh meat? "Competition, since it's so rough here?"
"No, the poison won't deteriorate living flesh," they clarify. "Once a body has died, the meat with be fresh only at first. From that point forward, it will gradually become infected with the poison's disease. At first, it will pass for food but make you sick... later, it will become entirely inedible. I expect the same will happen to the food you've brought, as well as any clothing or belongings. Though, inorganic matter tends to hold together longer."
Which you can see a bit of by the fact that what passes for their skirt is still in one piece, though it looks like it must smell very bad. The being will accept the baggies from Reira with a grateful nod, though without the desperation you might expect from someone in this situation. Reira will still feel their ambient anticipation and excitement, however, even if it doesn't show on the surface.
They turn to look at Julien for a moment, something sharp in their eye.
"It does seem set up that way, doesn't it? To corrupt our bodies and minds, while simultaneously using desperate hunger to make what food remains a precious commodity."
That excitement is so strange, truly. Reira herself seems relieved, at least, to hear that inorganic things hold together. "...Foster made the Sparrow alive again, but...not hungry, so I hope it works then..." The tiny bird is sort of in an awkward grey area, she supposes. Oh well.
She glances at the skirt, and then to her disk. "...My duel disk will stay on then, at least...since it's all light and metal and things. But..." This is starting to feel very strange.
"....Why are you excited?" She can't keep it to herself any more, and while she keeps following, she stares quite deliberately up to the woman, as if waiting. "....It feels like you're waiting for something, and you're excited.... ....but I can't figure out why."
Julien's covered in feathers, which are technically dead, but the ex-butler's hair seems to still be, well, existent, and hair is even more dead than feathers. Well. He's not holding out hope.
His neck stretches out as the spider mannequin turns towards him with that look on their face. Reira's brought up excitement and he believes it. With bird body language, the longer his neck is and the closer his feathers are to his skin the more fearful he is, and that's certainly a thing too. Bird body language doesn't include a smattering of phantom eyes appearing at the same time, of course.
He's in no position to make demands. "You may as well tell us."
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lostchance) wrote2017-10-06 10:01 pm
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Clearly consumed by a greater beast.
Reira will be able to sense bad vibes occasionally - emotions like hunger and blood lust, or blinding fear, but she can stay clear of them if she chooses. Does she head towards the bad emotions or does she continue to seek out good ones?
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Fear is one she feels she should avoid-But....
If the fear is complex-if the emotion feels thicker and more substantial than the base flat 'ting' from any animal, she may venture somewhat near-near enough to determine if any safe path around can be found, before continuing to look for calmer thoughts.
"....There's lots of hungry things here," she whispers, glancing at the bone. "....We have to be really careful.."
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Julien feels like he'd know if they were going in circles, even though he hasn't detected a magnetic pole to work off of. He can hear something of the shape of the passages around him and of course there's the smell, he navigates using both of those senses. But of course, fae realms aren't trustworthy.
"Right," he says, voice equally as low. "The light will make it obvious where we are. Can you tell if something's noticed it?"
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She knows what it feels like, at least, even if there is no word in her mind for it. It is curiosity and sometimes suspicion, a mix of things that becomes all too recognizable due to how many times she's had to run and avoid it.
"...We should be able to get away if it happens."
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Yet, it's not a reaction filled with hunger or anger - instead there are feelings of curiosity and cold determination. The feeling will start to grow stronger, as if that being is approaching. The emotions are nuanced and humanoid.
Do they allow it to arrive?
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It's hard to say but-it's also the first sign of 'human life' down here, so Reira swallows. "....We should find them. ...Maybe it's someone else that's stuck..!" ....Maybe Tyki, she dares to think.
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He hasn't kept much from his time as an angel. The eyes. The language. Something of music, and of the immensity of time Iuliael spent on Earth appalled and delighted by what they found. And this.
Julien draws himself upright in this small space and seems to become backlit or outlined in faint, soothing light, though someone would have to be pretty close to feel that effect. "Hello?"
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Their excess of limbs seems to match no particular theme, some biological and some made of something resembling petrified wood. They continue walking, observing the two before them, until they are in easy speaking distance.
"So, it's true, then. We really aren't alone down here."
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Well. This seems to be going alright so far, then. But the fact is, she doesn't recognize the other...so this is definitely strange. "Um... ...We just woke up here," Reira admits honestly, looking up to the other with not an ounce of fear to be found. "...But who are you..?"
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Well, they don't seem immediately hostile, anyway. "I helped her break a rule and we got caught by wolves," he says ruefully. "They threw us down here."
He's reminded of a couple of the servants, on the carnie's arrival. One had had wooden arms and another had had four. Is it coincidence that this person has both? He shelves that thought for later.
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They are composed both outwardly and inwardly, stirred only by some overarching curiosity and excitement. It's not clear why they are excited exactly, of course.
"Do you think your master will bargain for your return?"
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She tilts her head, squinting up to the other. Why IS there excitement there? That's odd. "...I don't know the Ringmaster really good, but she does care about people. ...That's what it felt like, at least...but..."
...Why would someone get excited if new people appeared? Maybe, because... "....Were you alone here?" Was she lonely? That would be good reason to get excited, she thinks.
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Julien's not so hopeful. "Maybe. We haven't been with her for all that long." She's got to have a bad impression of them. If just one person is returned, he has to make sure it's Reira. This isn't her fault.
He shifts his weight, not liking that even in this light he can't see all that well and can't read this person. Maybe if he offers his resources that'll at least fend off the worry that they'll do something unpleasant. "I can give you food and water if you want any. Uh, I'm carrying enough for a really long time."
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They look at Julien, and their expression is... doubtful? The sort of look you'd give a person when you think they're being hopelessly naive.
"Perhaps for now. But I can warn you now, it won't last for long. If the food is fresh I'd advise eating and drinking your fill while you still have the chance. This world is filled with poison, and so will be everything within it."
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"...Julien has his food in his 'inventory'," Reira explains in turn, shaking her head. "...I don't think things go bad in there, though." ...Though perhaps she's wrong? She glances at Julien, waiting for so much as a feeling of upset to prove her wrong. "...Why is everything poison though?" she adds, frowning. "....We saw bones and things, before... ...but I thought those were eaten by the things that felt hungry... ...Did poison kill them instead?"
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"I have sort of a pocket dimension where time stops, and after a... certain disaster a long time ago, I've always kept it stocked." It wasn't that long ago really, but it's something that happened at home, so it's not really relevant. Even before then he'd started to be a bit of a hoarder. Why pay to take away trash when you could use it to heal yourself? "I can still get to it here."
He thinks she's metaphorical about poison and doesn't comment. Certainly in these conditions anything would spoil or be tainted quickly, if it was out exposed to time and the world.
"Were you a guest, or one of the servants here?"
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"Some are dead when they arrive," they explain, levelly. "Some are left here alive and then later killed and eaten by the others. Most have lost any semblance of themselves by now. I suppose their deaths may be considered a mercy."
As morbid as that is, their emotions will not waver in the face of it. They are accustomed to the realities of their existence.
"I was the butler, before the present one."
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It isn't as though she hadn't seen anything equally cruel before all of this.
"Umn-if you were the one from before then... ...Why did they make you come here?" Presumably rule breaking is the big one, but. Well. "...Even though it was because we broke a rule... ...would that really be why you had to come here too?"
On another note though, maybe she Will eat now. Probably a good idea. "....Julien..? ....is there something we could eat now? ...Just in case?"
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That the spider-mannequin has apparently lived for this long probably means they've eaten people too, he notes. This could be a trap. If this really is for the long run he's definitely not going to last long after his supplies run dry. Leaving aside his bone-deep reluctance to actually hurt anything, his body is mostly a giant pigeon. Not suited to living on raw meat, and he's carrying hundreds of pounds of muscle. Ugh.
"Sure, Reira." He uses his beak to indicate where he wants a portal to form, down low where she can reach, and opens it and thinks of several items. Street food in plastic baggies mostly, and bottled water. "Just reach in. You can get it as we go. Uh, you want anything?" He's addressing the figure they're following. "If it is going to go bad, I've got a lot to unload."
No packs of blood, though, if that's their game. He's not that well prepared.
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Beyond that, though, they remain mostly focused on Reira's questions. They certainly don't seem to mind sharing what they know.
"There are plenty of rules that the butler could break," they explain. "And doing so could bear a far greater weight, with the influence they have over the other servants. It did in my case. No matter your position, the Prince does not abide by those who go against his word. That was never our purpose, and thinking otherwise would be foolish."
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"...The poison ruins things but... ...You said people 'lost themselves'. ...That means the poison didn't kill them right? It just ruined everything else." That's at least what she understands? It's a little odd to think of poison as being so specific. Rotting the food, but leaving people alive? Strange. "...I guess Sparrow will be ok..."
Said sparrow gives a tiny 'peep!', ruffling herself out from Reira's hair again. No pulse, no need to eat....She'll be fine. Maybe.
Maybe?
Ah. "....Where are we going?"
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'His' word, Julien notices, not 'their' word. Obedience, not holding to promises. Well, it's not like he hadn't twigged to how sinister this whole thing was before now.
That sparrow is creepy but he keeps that to himself. When compared to everything else, it's just not worth even reacting to. "And why are you telling us all this? Aren't we just..." Fresh meat? "Competition, since it's so rough here?"
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Which you can see a bit of by the fact that what passes for their skirt is still in one piece, though it looks like it must smell very bad. The being will accept the baggies from Reira with a grateful nod, though without the desperation you might expect from someone in this situation. Reira will still feel their ambient anticipation and excitement, however, even if it doesn't show on the surface.
They turn to look at Julien for a moment, something sharp in their eye.
"It does seem set up that way, doesn't it? To corrupt our bodies and minds, while simultaneously using desperate hunger to make what food remains a precious commodity."
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She glances at the skirt, and then to her disk. "...My duel disk will stay on then, at least...since it's all light and metal and things. But..." This is starting to feel very strange.
"....Why are you excited?" She can't keep it to herself any more, and while she keeps following, she stares quite deliberately up to the woman, as if waiting. "....It feels like you're waiting for something, and you're excited.... ....but I can't figure out why."
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His neck stretches out as the spider mannequin turns towards him with that look on their face. Reira's brought up excitement and he believes it. With bird body language, the longer his neck is and the closer his feathers are to his skin the more fearful he is, and that's certainly a thing too. Bird body language doesn't include a smattering of phantom eyes appearing at the same time, of course.
He's in no position to make demands. "You may as well tell us."
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