[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

[bloodbiter]

He had a lover, a woman named Freya. She was bathing in a river near a village one day, thinking she was safe because there were villagers nearby.

[A shake of her head.]

Soon, a pack of gryphons set upon her, and while she reached her sword on the edge of the river as quickly as she could... The villagers, still unwilling to fight, simply watched as she was attacked. She fought valiantly, but Drualt found her only in time for her to pass away in his arms.

[Why is this her favorite story??]

[theurgy]

Jesus. And you acted like my story was awful.

[bloodbiter]

Your story was awful.

[Just saying.]

As he brought her body out of the river, the people of the nearby village, Surmic, came to beg his forgiveness, pleading for his protection should they need it again. Quite understandably, he was furious and left the country altogether. He told them he would only return when they became worthy of his guidance once more.

[theurgy]

So what did they do?

[bloodbiter]

Well...

[Hopefully he's not expecting this story to get happier. RIP.]

After he left, we had no strong leadership for a long while. Monarchies are - inconsistent, to say the least. Our history books say good things about few of our kings, and there's only one who stood out as great. Unfortunately, King Willard was killed by a dragon while he was still young.

Instead of offense, most rulers focused on defense. We built walls around the cities and found ways to protect ourselves, but it was rare that we attacked the monsters outright as we had done when Drualt was still alive. There was an outburst of plague at one point that certainly didn't help matters.

[theurgy]

So... Is that it? Everyone just stuck to the cities and gave up?

[bloodbiter]

That was the entirety of the story until my sister and I were born, yes.

[theurgy]

Wow, Adelina. That's... depressing.

[bloodbiter]

...I suppose that's a good word for it, yes.

[A pause.]

My governess raised us learning these stories, making sure we were taking them to heart so neither of us would repeat the mistakes of our predecessors.

[In all honesty, that's why she calls them a favorite - they remind her of what she cannot do, who she cannot be.]

[theurgy]

So do your people fight monsters again?

[bloodbiter]

Some of us do, now. It's... a bit of a work in progress.

[Everyone sucks and she's going to fight them all: a novel.]

[theurgy]

That's why you've got the whole warrior princess thing down, huh?

[bloodbiter]

In part.

[A beat.]

What about you? What was your home like? You mentioned magic, didn't you?

[theurgy]

Yep.

[Cassel pauses to pick at his finger again, giving himself a moment to think as he smears blood on the wall.]

I'm from Earth, so I recognize a lot of things here, but some of them are... weird. We don't have technology like this.

[He shrugs.]

What do you want to know?

[bloodbiter]

To begin with... What things are strange to you?

[She's admittedly curious.]

[theurgy]

We have tablets at home, but you have to charge them and they're easy to break. AIs like the ones here only show up in books and movies, and the monsters. We don't have monsters, or nanomachines.

[bloodbiter]

Charge them?

[theurgy]

[He slips his hand into his pocket for his cell phone instinctively to show her, then sighs when he remembers all of his stuff is gone.]

Yeah. I'm not going to be good at explaining this, but things need energy to run, right? Anything portable can hold energy, but it needs to be... restored every once in a while. The tablets we have here never run out.

[bloodbiter]

[She nods after a moment.]

Like falling asleep.

[It's easier when she has something to liken it to.]

[theurgy]

Yes, exactly.

[Good job, Adelina.]

I guess our magic works differently, too.

[bloodbiter]

Would you tell me more about yours?

[Though, given his reaction earlier...]

Only if you feel comfortable doing so, of course.

[theurgy]

[It's not like it's really anything secret, so he shrugs again.]

People who can use magic are called workers, and they're pretty rare. Each person has a specific thing they can manipulate. Some people can control emotions, other people can change someone's luck or dreams or memories, but you can only work someone by touching them, bare hand to bare skin. Curse work has been illegal for decades, but that doesn't stop people from doing it.

[bloodbiter]

...That's why you mentioned the gloves earlier. I understand.

[Interesting, and a little terrifying.]

Is there a way to tell if someone has done such a thing to you?

[theurgy]

[Cassel isn't quite looking at her, focusing on the wall he's applying another mark to.]

Sort of. If you're worked enough you can get headaches or even hallucinate. There's a test, too, but it's rare for people to take.

[He can't bring himself to tell her about the specifics, how to tell if someone has worked you sloppily, because that feels too much like a family secret to divulge, even though logically it doesn't matter. He doubts there are any workers here other than him.]

Some curses are pretty obvious. If someone touches you barehanded and your rib breaks for no reason, that doesn't leave room for doubt.

[bloodbiter]

You would be able to tell if someone took a memory from you and replaced it with another if you gave it enough thought, wouldn't you? There would be some way it was obviously inauthentic.

[No illusion is completely perfect and seamless, she thinks.]