[log] Event: Lavender's Green, Part Two [open]

[snowblindmods]

Characters: everyone
Location: mysterious, white hallways
Date: Day 193-194
Summary: Find friends. Get lost. Don't look.
Warnings: Potential for gore and psychological horror. Please note any specific warnings in your subject lines!

While confusingly similar, the area is split into a few different sections:

The Core
The hallways here are narrow and twist at a rapid rate. With how dazzlingly white everything is, it's easy to not realize you're coming on a turn and slam right into the walls. There are no rooms here--no one starts here, though they may find it while they wander. At the center is a large, round area, like the center of a spiral. There's a lot of air pressure here.

The Inner Hallways
The largest area, filled with dead ends, gentle slopes and twists, and, occasionally, difficult-to-see drops where a higher hallway intersects with a lower one without a wall to separate them. The whole place tastes vaguely like blood. Most rooms are here--most people start here.

The Outer Hallways
The outer ring of the ball of yarn. It's not as thick with halls and twists as the other two areas, leading to a lot more boring walking in one direction. It's totally possible to circle around the same path multiple times without realizing it, as everything is so similar here. Occasionally, footsteps can be heard just outside the farthest walls. Sometimes, something breathes. There are a few rooms here--some people will start here.


Remember to note what kind of eyes your character has in their top level!

Comments

prophet eyes

[keepscalm]

outer hallways ❧

[England doesn't wait to gather his bearings before setting off. At first, he travels at a quick clip, pursuing escape with until he notices the sounds that appear to come from outside the labyrinth. He slows, then, and begins to meander along with one hand on the outer(?) wall.

Occasionally, he stops to look around, trying to ascertain whether he is truly alone. He doesn't wish to endanger anyone else with his experiments. If he doesn't see any obvious sign of having company, he begins to sing quietly under his breath. It becomes easier to hear the closer one is.] Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green...

inner hallways ❧

[England's experiments continue as he advances further into the maze. It becomes harder to sing through the thick, coppery taste of blood at the back of his throat, though his physical examinations show that his mouth certainly isn't bleeding. Sometimes he manages to sing: When you are king, dilly dilly, I shall be queen.

But sometimes all he can manage as he feels his way along the twisting walls is a soft hum to the tune.

And sometimes he's not singing at all, just making his way through the twisting halls with his hands raised and his feet cautious so that he doesn't misstep. Despite his care, he still occasionally curses when his feet come upon a sudden slope or he happens upon a dead end.] Fucking hell.

inner hallways

[fifty]

[America is wandering aimlessly when he hears the singing. England's voice stands out to him like a lighthouse in the dark, and he takes off running, hand pressed against a wall to give him a sense of location, whipping around corners and circling through dead ends until, finally, there--]

Engla--! [America doesn't realize that there's a drop instead of a slope separating himself and England, and so he lands face-first on the ground.]

[keepscalm]

[England startles when America drops onto the floor before him, his singing pitching up into a wordless, alarmed shout. But he's quick to realise what happened, and rushes over to America's prostrate body, tugging America up by one of his shoulders.] Bugger all, be more careful, would you?

[fifty]

[America laughs, trying to cover up his embarrassment. His glasses have skidded off along the floor, but they're fine. Still, he has to squint at England.] I'm fine! I just didn't see that drop, that's all!

[keepscalm]

[England is quick to retrieve America's glasses for him, plucking them up off the floor and holding them out to America.] Why were you running, anyway? It's impossible to see where you're going in here.

[fifty]

[America takes his glasses back, grinning lopsidedly.] I heard you singing, so I was trying to find you!

[keepscalm]

[That's...terribly cute.

England's cheeks flush a little as he moves to straighten out America's jacket.] Idiot. You should be more careful.

[fifty]

I'm fine, I just tripped a little! [He doesn't complain about England adjusting his jacket, at least.] And I found you, right?

[keepscalm]

[At first, England can't be sure of the nature of what he's hearing. Is it another person? A hallucination? It's not Winter or Andromeda; the voice is far too deep.

Cautiously, England follows the sound of the returning voice, and keeps singing.] Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?

[keepscalm]

[So it's just another person. Though England's experiments were conducted in the hopes of receiving some larger response, it's not as if he's disappointed to discover that it's nothing dangerous this time.

He's...rather short, but with a voice that deep, there's no way he's a child.] I don't know if I'd call it fun. I was curious as to if it would trigger any sort of response.

[Though maybe that's fun to people like House.]

[keepscalm]

[Pedantry. England hates it when it's not his own.

He huffs lightly, glancing past the young man to see if he can discern anything worthwhile in the direction whence he came.] Not as if we've got anything better to do while we wander.

Which way do you think we should go? [Judging by the way England's hand still lingers on the wall, he has some idea, but he's open to input.]

[keepscalm]

England. [He's pretty certain most of the people here have heard of the country guys by now, so he doesn't give any further explanation.] Perhaps not quite a lead, but it's easier to keep track of where I've been this way. [He wishes he had a writing utensil to mark his path with, but at least he has been blessed with a good sense of navigation in lieu of that.]

And what should I call you?

[equal_shots]

[If he hears that song one more time--

Kid would be yelling about it or at least appropriately panicking, but violent coughing interrupts him. Just down the hall from England, he still has hands over his ears.]

Please--enough of--the song.

[keepscalm]

[England turns in Kid's direction when he hears the coughing, though he only stops singing when there's a verbal response. Slowly, he begins making his way down the hall towards the voice.]

It's just me. Nothing odd. [Not a hallucination or an anomaly, he means.]

[equal_shots]

[Kid at least stops pressing his hands over his ears when he realizes he's not hallucinating the song again, returning to his usual stance of coughing into his sleeve, his remaining eye peering down the hall warily. The bandaging over the empty eye socket of what would be his right eye has seen better days, but he's got nothing with him to fix it with and even if he did he had no energy to bother doing so with.]

Thank you. [Against the all-white halls, Kid looks miniature. And despite England's comment:] You'd not be odd if y'didn't sing that song. [Pressed against the wall, where Kid has spent much of his time travelling the halls and therefore ensuring he would be at least a little bit more difficult to sneak up on.] Some of us have been hearing it for days now.

[keepscalm]

[There's a dim spark of recognition in England's face as his gaze settles upon the boy's missing eye. The boy John mentioned, the one who Stein attacked; surely it has to be.

It's not his business to say anything about that, though. Especially when they've got more pressing concerns.] I know. I've been hearing it, as well.

I was hoping something would happen to give us a hint as to how to get out of here.

[equal_shots]

[Has Watson told everybody? Good grief. Give a teenager some privacy to recover from his traumatic eye extraction and the several broken bones in his chest, please.

He leans slightly more on the wall, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and breathing hard. He's not contagious, England--don't worry!

Kid very quickly looks both ways down the hall, shaking his head.]

Heard you singing all the way down the hall...it doesn't seem to change much. [He exhales, wheezing, before shaking his head.] Don't know about you, but I'm still very lost.

Inner Hallways

[wilsonsheart]

[When England comes upon one such drop-off, he'll find Amber dangling, holding herself up by her arms. She's clearly out of breath, tired from how long she's been hanging. She tries for a smile when she sees him, but mostly she just feels dead inside.]

Have enough energy to lend me a hand?

[keepscalm]

[Well, that doesn't look like a good situation. He wonders how long she's been hanging on there.]

Of course. [He's a gentleman! And she's not Stein or the Joker.

So he gets down on one knee near the edge of the floor where she hangs and lowers his arms over the edge, wrapping his fingers and thumbs firmly around her forearms.]