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

[foolishwren]

... Well, I don't know where you're going, but...

_{[Okay, so she's being a little needlessly snippy there. Of course she's not gonna leave this guy alone in the middle of her nightmare. Even if it was just a nightmare... it was still the Otherworld.]}

[shiromadoushi]

[[eh, he's used to it]]

Aaa-- I was just exploring, really. I just figure you probably don't want to be here with that creepy person around, so finding the way out would be the best idea, and working together should make it faster than going it alone, right?

[foolishwren]

Hmph... not necessarily.

_{[FUCK ESCORT MISSIONS]}

Ugh... c'mon. I'll try and lead you out. But you'd BETTER not get in my way, got it?

[shiromadoushi]

[[blink blink. That sudden realization that he's not the main character in this RPG horror survival game and that he's being viewed as an escort mission subject rather than a party member makes him deflate almost visibly]]

Sorry... I don't need to be lead out, I just thought if you were stuck... I'm fine, really! Sorry to bother you...

[[because really. He didn't mind horror town much at all. The stalker guy was kinda creepy but he wasn't the one being stalked so that wasn't a big danger to him at all...]]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Yeah. It's a bit jarring when you realize that to the other person, this is not a game. And judging by the way Heather's fingering that gun in her hand and staring at him with eyes that , she's no damsel in distress. At least not the traditional kind.]

[And because she apparently took her Angry Pills this morning she wants to leave no doubt about that...]</sub>

Listen, buddy. This is my turf, first of all. What makes you think you know the way out?

[shiromadoushi]

[[The line between games and real life is very blurry in Domino...]]

... because I walked in a door to get here. It might still be there.

[[awkward pause]] And it's not that I know the area, just that working together is better than working alone....

[foolishwren]

... A door.

Where?

_{[... At least she sounds interested.]}

[shiromadoushi]

Back in the room with the corkboard was in.

[foolishwren]

_{[... Erk.]}

... Fuck that room, I'm not going in there.

[shiromadoushi]

I guess we'll have to find another one, then.

[[really, he can't blame her for it. That was a creepy shrine to her, after all. And besides, you couldn't go back out through the door you came in in these sorts of things.]]

[foolishwren]

I guess.

_{[She shuts the cupboard she'd been looking through. She's stripped it of any useful contents anyway.]}

Look... 'Bakura'.

Have you seen anyone else in this building? ... Besides me?

[shiromadoushi]

[[shakes his head]] I heard someone else, probably that Stanley person, but the trail of papers ran out before I could spot him. Sorry...

[foolishwren]

<sub>[UGH, Stanley...]

[She tries to suppress a shudder.]</sub>

You heard him, huh...

_{[That wasn't a good sign...]}

[shiromadoushi]

[[a nod. Totally sympathetic to the shudder. If it had been Nosaka-chan, he'd have a similar reaction. And she wasn't even half this bad!]]

I think he was upset the doll was gone; he was yelling almost like a wolf howling and trashed the room where it had been.

[[aaaand then the belated realization that he was probably trying to track her down. And had gone this way. Oh shi---]]

We shouldn't stay here much longer.

[foolishwren]

Y'think?

_{[With a groan, she shakes her head and moves towards the door.]}

He's a coward. He probably won't try anything, but honestly I wouldn't put much past him.

Let's get the fuck out of here.

[shiromadoushi]

[[a nod as he starts to follow.]] At least now it'll be two against one if he does?

[[nooot that Bakura was much of an asset in a fight. But he could at least slow the other guy down while Heather made a break for it.

... or got her gun.]]

[foolishwren]

_{[... She pauses to look him over.]}

... More like one against one.

_{[Heather was feeling mean today, apparently.]}

Look, just... stay behind me.

... Unless shit is coming at us from behind. Then it's okay to pass.

[shiromadoushi]

[[shoulders slump]] Yes, ma'am.

[[he really hates feeling useless. It happens far too often. ]]

[foolishwren]

... My name's Heather, for the record.

... Though I guess you knew that... if you read those freaky diary entries.

_{[Shaking her head, she pokes it out through the doorway, pointing her flashlight around.]}

C'mon. It's safer on the streets.

[shiromadoushi]

I'd guessed, but best to be given it than just assume.

[[oh good, a flashlight! Probably much better than lighting their way with the Ring.

... which was still glowing under his shirt. Erm. Maybe she wouldn't notice. She hadn't yet, after all! He hadn't even noticed until they had entered the hallway! This was the problem with not having any idea how to properly work the Ring past dowsing for Sennen Items. Sometimes the Ring seemed to have a mind of its own.

.... besides that one.]]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[She didn't notice it-- since her light had been shining straight towards him-- didn't think twice about part of him looking a little lighter than the rest.]

[But she might notice it before long, once they're in the dark hallway again.]</sub>

I guess in this case it's better not to assume anything, yeah.

Just stay close. ... But don't try anything funny.

[shiromadoushi]

Got it. [[Hand going over where the Ring was hiding as he followed as if that would help. She was already on edge, he really didn't want to add to it! He already had the feeling like this had been a bad idea....]]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[And SO, they head off into the darkness... even with the flashlight, it's hard to see more than a few feet ahead. The darkness is somehow oppressive... like it's actively muffling the light, rather than the light just being weak...]

[There's doors... lots of doors. But not a sign of the grungy but relatively normal lit hallways that Bakura had been walking through before....]</sub>

[shiromadoushi]

[[Huh. Well that was strange]] Did it look like this when you came down before?

[[he was half tempted to pull the Ring out to see if that light would help as well.]]

[foolishwren]

Look like what?

Rotten and grungy?