foolishwren | 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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[From horse to horse they go... each death plays out more or less the same. The shadow of Heather Mason waits patiently for Rise to say her words, and then takes the life.]

[If it's any comfort... when each horse dies, there is a certain peace that seeps in that was not there in any way, shape or form before... although the bodies remain in stiff, fancy poses, somehow the pain-wracked tension that filled them from hoof to head is gone. There is no excuse for or comfort from the cruelty of this place, but at least this is the far lesser of two evils...]

[Eventually, all the horses are still and silent. And once the last one's life slips away, the ride begins to slow to a halt, the music growing slow and warped as it winds down.]}

[ her throat aches when she finishes, and everything inside just feels... numb, except it still hurts, and she wishes it didn't, but Rise doesn't cry when she steps back from the last writhing horse, when the gunshot drowns out the music, when the music slowly twists itself down into silence and she's left standing there with a burned creature who showed mercy by killing.

In a sense, she feels the same way she did when she returned to Inaba, amplified by thirty. Too weary to force a smile, too sad to care, and once the carousel stops, she lowers her head and regards the floor with dark, dull eyes.

It's over. They're not hurting anymore, and it's that one fact that she holds onto. ]

_{[Beside her, the shadow crouches, elbows resting on her knees as the ride slows completely to a stop. As stated earlier, she doesn't seem to be capable of much in the way of facial expression, but she looks oddly perky as she tilts her head to the side in curiosity. It's not often she has company in here!]

[Rise gets another awkward hand-on-the-shoulder for her efforts.]}

Edited 2011-07-04 02:00 (UTC)

[ Rise doesn't move to dislodge the hand, but neither does she speak. This is too much to take in with anyone remotely resembling a smile. And she has no idea how to get out. At least Heather's Shadow doesn't seem interested in hurting her. ]

_{[.... 8I .... oh god did I break it.]

[The hand gives Rise's shoulder a slight shake-- it's a bit rough, but only due to the fact that this thing... doesn't seem to have any kind of experience whatsoever with touching other people in a way that doesn't involve violence of some kind.]}

[ that provokes a wince before she abruptly stands up, voice soft and hoarse, but ultimately steady. ]

Do you know how to get out?

_{[The figure nods.]

[... But then holds out a hand. ... She wants the knife back.]}

[ gladly. Rise at least knows this gesture and is more than happy to place that thing back on her palm. ]

_{[She takes the knife with a businesslike manner, then beckons a little with it and heads to the edge of the carousel, stepping off of it and back onto the rusty grated floor of the themepark.]

[She keeps the gun and knife at hand as she starts, alertly, to lead Rise away from the ride.]}

[ well, there's no helping anything else. She's slowly going to start following the creature. ]

_{[AND SO THEY GO.]

[Through the park, between the stationary rides, past all the rust and dust and dead bunny mascots... The Memory doesn't say a word the whole time, although she continually checks over her shoulder (and all around... as though anticipating that something might be lurking near by) for Rise with those eerie sunset eyes.]

[But eventually an arch looms up out of the darkness-- the entrance to the park, though not the one that Rise got in through.]}

[ for her part, Rise's too worn out to be properly creeped out by burned not!Heather and her empty eyes, not when there's still something about her that's reminiscent of her friend. She stops in front of the arch, head tilted up, before she turns to the shadow expectantly. ]

... This?

_{[That's probably a good thing-- because eerie appearance or not, the Memory of Alessa means Rise no harm. She might be a monster... but she wasn't like the other ones here.]

[She nods.]}

... [ a pause, and then she takes a deep breath, turning to face her fully. ]

Thank you.

_{[At those two words, the shadow's face twitches-- the corners of her mouth are pulling upwards ever so slightly. It makes some of those sores on her face ooze, but she doesn't seem to notice or care.]

[Lifting one hand, she gives another sort of wave that is, once again, almost painfully reminiscent of the Heather that Rise knows-- as if to say 'Aw shucks, it was nothin'']}

70. [DREAM/DREAM/DREAM/DREAM]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject