foolishwren | 70. [DREAM/DREAM/DREAM/DREAM]

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70. [DREAM/DREAM/DREAM/DREAM]

_{[So while the rest of Johto alternately panics, cries, or rushes around trying to capture as many of the soulstealing insects as possible, there are dozens of souls floating around in that dream limbo, drifting in and out of each other's slumbering thoughts and visions. Whether it's nightmarish flashbacks or just those dreams where you're at school taking a really hard test, and then Dracula shows up, and then everybody's naked ... anything is possible when it comes to what people see in their sleep.]

[But what appears in the darkness in this particular spot in the spaceless, shifting mass of dreaming souls... is a door.]

[It's old, and covered with boards and bolts, rusted near-through in some places. The lock is broken-- mangled and half-melted and wrenched out of the keyhole. The only thing on it that doesn't look ancient is a scrap of torn notebook-paper that's taped up on it at roughly eye-level. It reads only a single phrase:]}

Fear of blood tends to create fear for the flesh.

_{[More importantly, though... the door is ajar. Through the gap come the scents of rust and metal-- and something organic, fleshy-- and a low, deep hum of industrial machinery. It's not a door that anyone in their right mind would want to go through. ... But for anyone who may have stumbled this far into the dreams of their fellow lost souls, either in flight from some other nightmare or just pure, wandering curiosity... there's just no other place to go but through the door.]}

_{[Go on. Open it. After all.... it's only a dream.]}

[ooc: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG, GUYS. Thanks for being patient! If you commented on that planning post, there's something spooky planned for your character to do here so please feel free to tag or not tag as it pleases you!]

~*~

[ooc: This is the IC post for what was announced over here! Even if you didn't comment there, feel free to participate! I'm still happy to whip up Silent Hill scenarios for folks!]

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[ Rise isn't at all happy that she's come to this point, because Kanzeon is both insisting this is the right path and sending off sharp warning nudges. All the same, she doesn't have much of a choice at this point, and very slowly moves through the door. ]

_{[For Rise, the door comes open fairly easily, but with a hideous, nails-on-chalkboard screech of rusted metal. One the other side, the first sound she'll hear is a clank as her foot meets the rusty old metal grating that serves as a floor in this place. Above it? ... Lights-- brightly-colored, festive lights that somehow do little to penetrate the pitch-black sky above... or the equally-inky abyss below the grating, for that matter...]

[Ahead of her? A cheerily-lit building that nonetheless doesn't have a single soul inside it. The carnivalesque, decorative sign above the front window reads MAGIC in big, fancy letter-- and below that, ICE CREAM HOUSE. But despite the fact that it-- as well as several similar buildings around it, and what appear to be small kiddie rides off to the side-- are lit, the place appears completely abandoned. There's trash everywhere and no matter how cheery some of the lights are, the signs of wear, tear, and lots of weathering scar everything in sight.]

[There's an abandoned popcorn cart a short distance away-- and next to it, something large, brightly-colored, and vaguely human-shaped lying on the ground.]

[WELCOME TO THE LAKESIDE AMUSEMENT PARK!]}

[ she almost doesn't hear the sound of her own footstep, too busy wincing from the grating shriek of metal. It's not as bad as she'd feared - the lights are cheerful, bright - but there's still unease lingering in the air and Rise shivers before she begins her investigation.

... There's no one here. And as Rise realizes this, the discomfort grows... even as she steps towards that bright thing on the ground. ]

_{[She's right to be uncomfortable. There's definitely something very, very wrong with this place.]

[Drawing closer to that prone figure will reveal that it's... a costume. One of those big mascot costumes so often seen at sports events and theme-parks. It's a big pink rabbit, dressed in comical blue overalls and a little red handkerchief. The face might have been cute once (... well, unless you were the sort of person who was freaked out by mascots, in which case there was probably no saving it), but the big red stain around the mouth turns the cartoony smile from 'cute' to 'disturbing' pretty thoroughly.]

[This is Robbie the Rabbit, Rise. He'd be happy to meet you if whoever was still inside him, judging from the sulfurous stench rising from the costume, wasn't probably dead.]

[Of course, the suited body isn't the only thing that reeks... the popcorn, too, smells like there's something wrong with it... not just stale, but tainted somehow. Like everything else in this place.]}

Ugh-- [ her stomach roils warningly, just as Rise claps a hand over her mouth and instantly backs up. Is it too late to go back through the door? She's beginning to regret this. ]

_{[It was pretty much too late the moment you stepped through it, Rise. I fact, if she turns around to try it again, it won't budge. The lock is broken, it would seem. There's nowhere to go but forward... and, er, around the rotting mascot costume...]

[... But then, there's a distant, echoing clank-- followed by a sort of cheerful, tinkling music. It sounds like a ride's started up somewhere. Someone must be operating it, right?]}

... Okaaaay, this is even creepier now. But someone's gotta be here...

[ O-ONWARDS. ]

_{[Follow the creepy carnival music, Rise! It knows the way!]

[Although it's distant, it's loud enough that the direction it's coming from is easy enough to tell. Of course, that doesn't mean the path there is particularly pleasant...]

[The fairgrounds as a whole seem to be in an advanced rate of decay, the lot of them... the grating she's walking across crackles with rust, and everything from the buildings to the garbage to the cute little teacup ride look like they've been sitting around, gathering dust and losing their color for a very, very long time.]

[The costume she stumbled across isn't the only one there, either-- more of them seem to be lying around all over the place. On benches, half-way under carts, sitting in the rides... there's even one positioned on the roof of a gift shop, head lolling slightly off the edge. If they all had bottles in their hands, it would look like some deliberately-absurd arrangement put together by a bunch of mischievous college kids. But given the decor of the rest of the place... it's not really that funny.]

[Some of the buildings are lit and some aren't, though the dry buzz of the lights suggests that they're automatic somehow, and haven't been maintained for a long time... still, as she passes by some of the open doorways to restrooms and the like, the light at least offers a view of some of what's on the inside...]}

[ Rise makes the mistake of looking into one of the bathrooms - is that a mouth? - and it's only a few seconds before she swallows bile and hastily backs out. This is almost like a dungeon, albeit bloodier.

Still, there isn't much she can do but carry on, no matter how reluctantly she may be doing so. There has to be a reason why she's here. ]

_{[Yes, it is indeed. Or a photograph of one, anyway... it almost looks like it was clipped from some advertisement... then blown up into some big surreal poster. The fact that it's as dusty and dirty as everything else in this place doesn't really make it any less disturbing.]

[And there's more, as she keeps walking... the same photo, pasted all over the place... on fences, on walls... even, half-comically, over the face of a ridable caterpillar on a track in one of the mini-rides... other, similar photos soon join it. Photos of ears, of slender hands and feet... probably the same woman who the mouth belongs to...]

[But they're just photos, right? Just photos. Probably some artsy photo-shoot or something. Rise's certainly seen enough of those in her time, right?]}

[ yes, she is, but this isn't making Rise feel any less uncomfortable with any of this. So she's doing her best to focus on the path to take, Kanzeon a constant presence in the back of her mind, ever watchful. ]

_{[Finally, after a few twists and turns... it seems she's finally found the place the music is coming from.]}

A carousel...?

[ oh god why is she feeling sick? ]

_{[It probably is ringing some bells, isn't it...]

[The carousel doesn't look to have started, yet... but the music is running, and a deep, mechanical hum from the little engine-house nearby suggests that it's waiting to start. ... Maybe waiting for somebody to get on it?]

[Although suffering from the same decay that everything else in this place is, the carousel is still fairly grand, and lavishly decorated... it must have been beautiful, back in its heyday... but there's still something off about it.]

[... The horse, for one thing... Though they're decked out in the usual colorful, gaudy carousel-horse tack, there's something strange about them... something that just isn't right. ... Part of it could be the fact that instead of poles coming through their backs for the riders to hang onto, they seem to be suspended by giant hooks...]}

[ creepy creepy creepy creepy, and she shivers, a wave of goosebumps following the unease crawling along her skin. This is it, she knows that much, and Kanzeon's verified it, but what comes next?

Biting her lip, she reaches out to steady herself on one of the ostentatious horses and pulls herself up and onto the carousel. ]

_{[The floor jitters creakily when she steps onto it, as can probably be expected. ... But it's not the only thing that jitters.]

[The carousel horse she put her hand on did not, as most would, have a texture of cool, smooth ceramic. Instead... its hide is soft, and warm... and, like horseflesh often does to repel flies and other irritating touches, it twitches under Rise's palm... which will come away sticky and stained a dull, ruddy red should she pull it away.]

[Accompanying the movement is a weak, muffled squeal from deep within the stationary beast's shackled throat.]

[It's still alive.]}

[ it's too late to pull her hand away midstep-up, but a genuine look of horror crosses her face and she yanks her palm away once she's fully up, staring at first her bloodstained palm, and then at the poor, unfortunate horse. ]

Oh my god oh my god, I-- [ the sick feeling returns, but her eyes are also stinging now, and she swallows hard, trembling against her will as she reaches out to gently, apologetically touch the muzzle instead. ] I'm s-so sorry...

[ where is she? Who on earth was cruel enough to make a carousel of live horses? And what on earth is she supposed to do? ]

_{[Although the horse doesn't seem capable of moving (in fact, it seems almost stiffly frozen in place, apart from the subtle, spasmodic twitches making the neck and head jitter...), it snorts out a labored breath at her touch. A few drops of harsh red, bright against the old rust, spatter onto the floor of the carousel.]

[Not only is it alive, it's... very obviously in pain. Trapped and suffering... and a quick look around the ride will tell Rise without doubt that the other horses are suffering the same fate... prisoners of whatever horrible force was at work here.]

[The worst part is... there really doesn't seem to be anything she can do... How on earth would the poor creatures survive, even if they could somehow be removed from the giant hooks they hung from, and the gaudy frippery all over them?]

[Suddenly, a loud clank joins the cheerful carnival ditty, followed by a metallic groan... slowly, the ride is starting to move.]}

[ she is on a creepy carousel in a desolate amusement park filled with dead mascots and surrounded by suffering horses, and Rise would cry, except quite honestly, crying isn't going to accomplish a damned thing. She takes a deep, shuddering breath - it's only a dream, it has to be - but stumbles in surprise when the clank rings in the air and she tries to whirl around too quickly. Luckily, she catches herself before she tries to regain her balance on a horse, but this doesn't really make her feel any better. ]

What now?

_{[What now indeed...]

[The ride is picking up speed-- fortunately not enough to give Rise too hard a time standing up, but... that doesn't make what's happening around her any easier to take...]

[As the ride starts to do its thing, the hooks rise up and down, as would be expected for any carousel ride... but the muted squeals of pain coming from the stiff bodies being hauled up and down are hardly the child-friendly and whimsical sounds one would expect from a merry-go-round. In fact, against the mockingly-cheerful calliope music still blaring from unseen speakers, the effect is almost sickening.]

[But where Rise is undecided on what to do... someone else already has a solution, and it's a solution that she's been having to implement for a long, long time.]

[A low clank-clank-clank of boots on the metal carousel floor sounds above the music and cries. Someone else is on the ride... and they're walking towards Rise.]}

[ Rise's had nightmares before, ones where she's woken up in a cold sweat, shaking in terror until she's reminded that she's awake, she's safe, and the trembling subsides.

This, however, isn't ending, and she wants to clap her hands over her ears to drown out the stifled squeals of agony of the carousel horses, the almost taunting lighthearted music that continues--

It's fortunate for her (though she certainly doesn't think so) that she doesn't, because that might also mute the sound of footsteps. Someone's here. And it's not all that reassuring, because after the death and the torment of the living she's discovered, someone's presence might not be the welcome one she was wishing for. So she tenses, squinting at the approaching figure-- and takes a step back when her glance lands first on the knife. But then, when her eyes flick further up, Rise stops in her tracks. Confusion and wariness-- but also familiarity? She knows that outfit, that build, but-- ]

H... Heather...?

_{[The approaching figure gives no reply, but continues forward... and as it begins to pass under the colored lights, its identity becomes clear.]

[It is Heather... although that same familiar outfit is filthier than it's ever been in Johto, even after rainstorms and a muddy spring. It looks... old. Like it was pulled out of a landfill. The scruffy hair that Rise herself has forced a comb through on more than one occasion is pitch-black. Instead of hazel-brown, the blackened eyes flicker with orange, like there's a fire alight deep behind their sockets.]

[But the biggest thing wrong is the festering burns that pockmark every inch of visible flesh... and the way it skulks. Like an some fusion of a walking corpse and an animal.]}

_{[There is no doubt about it. The creature now approaching Rise is Heather Mason... but not the one that anyone in Johto knows her as.]}

[ were it not for the situation at hand and the fact that Heather (?) is covered in burns, Rise might have something to say about that raggedy black thing that could double as the twin of a skinned black cat on top of her head.

Except that the situation at hand is beyond the point of girly, affectionate chiding. Her first step was involuntary, her next one backwards more deliberate. It's the minute her heel meets the carousel floor that the memory working its way to the surface like a persistent soda bubble finally hits her.

"... Me with black hair and ... third degree burns everywhere..."

No doubt about it, they're one and the same, and Rise slides a foot back to properly brace herself for whatever the Shadow - she knows it's different, but what else could she call it? - is prepared to do. Because it's both Heather and not Heather, and the nausea rises up again, slowly.

Why? ]

_{[Don't worry, Rise. You'll have plenty of time to chide Heather for her Shadow's hair later.]

[But for now, that broken, violent memory that Heather once spoke of, more than half a year before, is approaching Rise with an ember-hued, unblinking stare. And all the while, the carousel music plays on.]

[For every step backwards Rise takes, the shadow takes two forward, until she's crossed the distance and stands directly in front of the idol, unfortunately giving her a great view of its less-than-ideal complexion. The smell is probably hideous. It doesn't speak, but it breathes in and out with a deathly rattle.]

[It stops before Rise and pauses there-- sizing her up in a way that was so reminiscent of Heather that it would almost be funny if it weren't for the situation-- before extending the hand with the knife in it. But not to point... she's holding it flat in her palm.]}

[ she'd love dearly to cover her nose and mouth, just to avoid breathing in that stench. Or close her eyes, but doing that when a burned version of your best friend is standing there with a knife in her hand is probably not the wisest idea. All of this is dizzying, terrifying-- but Rise's looked into mocking golden eyes, stood before perfectly smooth, flawless skin and a curvaceous body, and truthfully-- she'd felt even sicker then. She remains where she is this time, eyes dropping to the memory's extended hand and then flitting back up to her damaged face. She doesn't move quite yet, but one hand twitches slightly, as though it's considering moving for her. ]

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