70. [DREAM/DREAM/DREAM/DREAM]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[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:]</sub>

Fear of blood tends to create fear for the flesh.

<sub>[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.]</sub>

[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!]

Comments

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy is definitely not a fan of this new development. He takes a few moments to feel around the walls, just in case there's another door, but knows there's not exactly much chance of that. But still, as much as he doesn't like it in here, that door opened easily. He just has to wait for the monster to leave, and then he'll be out of the small space.]

[It's about ten minutes, most of which he spends unhappily pacing around the room and sometimes kicking at the walls in frustration, before he tries to push the door open just enough to see out.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[In those ten minutes, other details about the room start to become clear-- words, scratched in black charcoal, layer the walls over and over. There's so much writing crammed all over the place that most of it is almost illegible. But a few words stand out... KILL makes frequent appearances, for one thing.]

[... And opening the door reveals an empty hallw-- NO JUST KIDDING HI ENVY IT'S ME YOUR BEST FRIEND CLOSER I'M STILL HERE :D]

[The creature's big meaty arms promptly thud with mighty strength down onto the door, sending it shut again-- hopefully not on his fingers. It would seem that it wants him in there... for some reason.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy is curious about those writings on the wall, not gonna lie. 'Kill' in particular...it feels almost fitting for him. But he is way more unhappy in being shut in this room by that stupid monster than he is curious. His first reaction upon the door being slammed back in his face is to lift up his foot and kick the door hard enough to make it rattle.] Yeah, well fuck you too!

[Followed by some more frustrated kicking and punching the walls. Envy is the most mature. Eventually, though, nervousness about being trapped in this room indefinitely starts to seriously compete with his anger about it. His pacing around starts to take on a sense of 'trapped animal', and he's still occasionally lashing out at the walls just to let off steam. But he'll start looking at those writings more closely, trying to decipher anything that might potentially help him out.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[The writing is jagged and angry... written in passion... and in layers upon layers upon layers. It looks like somebody was in here a lot... for long periods of time.]

[Along with 'kill', a few other words jump out here and there...]

[WITCH ... THIEF.... FREAK...]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

Tch. Popular place to lock people up, I guess.

[He wonders if the person doing the writing had been the subject of the words on the wall, or if they had been railing at someone else. Still though, while 'witch' and 'thief' don't mean so much to him, 'freak' isn't a word that he much likes staring him in the face when he's already on edge and trapped. He really just wants out, so he presses his ear to the door to see if he can hear his buddy the monster.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Or a popular place for ONE person to be locked up, anyway...]

[In any case, as though sensing his ear against the door... Envy will be greeted with another WHAM as the thing's arm slams into the door forcefully. NOPE. YOU GOTTA STAY IN THERE LOL.]

[Perhaps it hadn't wanted to kill him to begin with... maybe it had just wanted to herd him towards that room...]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy snarls, pounding his fist on the door in response to the WHAM.] Go away and let me out, you son of a bitch! What do you even want?!

[He still doesn't really think it understands him, but you know what? HE JUST WANTS TO YELL AT SOMETHING. It distracts him from the stifling air and the darkness and the words on the wall and how there doesn't seem to be any way out of this situation.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[There's no reply except for the beast's strange slobbering shriek.]

[But either way... it's not letting him out.]

[The minutes will pass. It's getting hot and stuffy in there... and... somehow smaller...]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy will just be continuing to pace for those minutes, a nervous scowl on his face. At least, until the room starts seeming smaller.]

[The thought crosses his mind that of course a place like this would have some kind of freakish magical shrinking closet. Either way, an edge of panic is beginning to creep in. Envy hates being trapped. He starts cursing, shouting to be let out and banging around on all the walls. He's half hoping that maybe there's something on the other side of another wall that he could break through into.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[But the funny thing is, if he feels his way around the room... it's the same size it was earlier. ... But that doesn't stop it from feeling like it's shrinking...]

[The air is getting thick. ... And smoky. That deep woody smell is almost cloying.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[When Envy realizes that, it only serves to frustrate him more. If feeling of shrinking space is coming from his own mind, then that certainly doesn't mean anything good. He can't let himself panic like this, be weak like this, because he's Envy and he's the strongest thing in his entire world. He punches a wall again and forces himself to stop pacing, not that that helps much because he's starting to shake.]

[Then he notices the air and freezes entirely, trying to figure out what exactly that smokiness means.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It probably won't take him too long to figure out.]

[The room is still dark, but the air is getting hotter... and if he listens closely, he'll be able to hear the sound of crackling coming from beyond the walls.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[Oh. Oh, son of a bitch. Envy redoubles his attempts to break his way out of the room, shouting.] Let me out, you bastard! I'll kill you and beat you into a stain on the fucking floor with your own arms, let me out!

[Envy's been burned to death before, plenty of times. It's a very unpleasant way to die, and if he's stuck in here when the fire reaches him, he knows he'll probably be trapped in it, cycling between the flames and death until he either gets out or there isn't anymore fire to burn in.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[As he can expect, the door is slammed shut firmly once again, with another scream from the monster cutting in above the rapidly-growing roar of flames.]

[Burning to death was INDEED a hideous way to die... especially when you keep on coming back to life each time. But it's getting hotter and hotter...]

[... And then the monster screams again. Something smashes hard against the door-- is there a struggle going on outside?]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy almost doesn't notice the sounds as a struggle, he just assumes it was the monster again.]

[But this time seemed different, and really, what did he have to lose? So he starts pounding exclusively on the door, hoping that maybe it will just open this time.] Hey! Hey, is someone out there?!

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Unfortunately, there now seems to be a lot of... dead weight against the door. Phooey.]

[... But then it's being dragged away-- ... and something's pounding ON the door in return.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[Even if it's just another enemy, Envy doesn't even care at this point. He'll deal if it is, so long as he gets out. He braces his shoulder against the door and shoves as he tries to open it.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[And AS IT SO HAPPENED... the door was being opened on the other side-- just as he was shoving.]

[CUE SLAPSTICK.]

[There's a loud WHUD and an "OOF!" as Envy sort of... shoves the door open INTO somebody. He'll find himself likely tripping over something that had to be the the monster's body-- and INTO the person he just whacked with the door.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy certainly has enough momentum to trip and go careening right into that person, letting out a noise that very suspiciously resembles a yelp.]

[And man, what with being covered in drying blood from that trampling and looking pretty wide-eyed, he does not look very good. He doesn't take a close look at who he ran into right away, both because of his eyes adjusting to actual light and figuring that hey it's a person and not a monster, good enough. He is also not polite enough to say 'oh sorry for hitting you with a door' or 'are you okay', he's already turned his attention to looking around the hall because WHERE IS THE FIRE THAT I HEARD.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[A quick glance around the hallway will tell him-- .... nothing.]

[It's just... the same hallway he ran away from the monster down... there's no fire anywhere... not even embers, or smoke.]

[... What there IS, however, is a reflexive fist coming flying at his face from below. Sorry, Envy... it's nothing personal. You just kind of exploded out of a closed door at her. It's instinct.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[Just...staring down the hallway because there was definitely fire...]

[Hello, fist to the face. Instinct or not, Envy's already on his last nerve, and that pretty much stomps on it. He and Silent Hill are officially Not Friends. He's only stunned for a moment before his face twists into a furious snarl and he pulls his own arm back to deliver a return punch to whoever had just DARED to--]

[Wait. Hold up, stop that punch halfway.] ...Heather?

[foolishwren]

What the HELL, Envy!

_{[Yeeeep. She's pinned underneath him, and looks reasonably grubby-- but definitely not on fire.]}

[exeggutorhead]

What do you mean, 'what the hell Envy', you punched me in the face!

[At least he's getting off of her now.]

[foolishwren]

Because you just exploded out of a broom closet at me without warning!

[exeggutorhead]

Yeah, because the closet was on fire! [Or had been about to be. Or seemed to have been about to be. SAME DIFFERENCE.]

[He crosses his arms.] And there was warning, didn't you hear me yelling?