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

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?

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

[She's admittedly curious.]

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.

Charge them?

[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.

[She nods after a moment.]

Like falling asleep.

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

Yes, exactly.

[Good job, Adelina.]

I guess our magic works differently, too.

Would you tell me more about yours?

[Though, given his reaction earlier...]

Only if you feel comfortable doing so, of course.

Edited 2017-01-03 05:52 (UTC)

[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.

...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?

[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.

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.]

No, you wouldn't.

[He doesn't elaborate, because this is the part he doesn't want to talk about. He still has nightmares about killing Lila, and the memory still feels real even if he knows it isn't.]

Oh.

[She definitely notices how he doesn't speak on it any further, and she pauses for a moment.]

We can speak of something else if you would prefer.

It's fine.

[Just like that, he's shooting her a breezy smile again.]

What else do you want to know?

Whatever you'd like to tell me.

[Aggressively considers his comfort!!]

I don't know. I don't want to accidentally end up having to list all the French queens in order or something.

[He's teasing, it's fine!]

What is French?

[She failed step one, rip.]

[He smiles knowingly at her. See, Adelina!]

France is a country.

Did they have a long line of queens?

They were a monarchy for a really long time. Seriously, Adelina, I'm not going to list them.

I'm not asking you to! I was merely curious.

Is France the country you lived in?

No, I live in the country we're in right now, the United States, except way more southeast. You can't freeze to death in New Jersey. Mostly.

It was warmer, then. Do you like it there?

[Does he like it? He's not actually sure.]

It's fine. I've never lived anywhere else.

(no subject)

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