yogen | MISSION 2.A

[ Regardless of when they pushed through the door on the fourth floor, each person opens the door to find themselves inside a vast hall of mirrors, turning around to find that the door has disappeared and that they standing facing one another, the next person and the next appearing out of sight behind turned backs.

Rather than a maze, the wide, full length mirrors stand side by side in rows spanning floor to ceiling. Some have toppled, some lie in shards upon the ground, some are cracked, some are smeared with blood, and most show one's normal reflection when stared into. In others, the reflection may freeze as long as one's gaze is fixed on it, or its movements may be half a second too slow. In further others, the reflection looks completely different: it's still your character, but wearing flowing robes or beggar's rags, framed by a warm hearth or dark alleyway, or any other matter of looking like they just stepped onto the stage of a play.

The air smells faintly of vanilla. ]

[He's not entirely sure he hasn't passed out again and isn't dreaming again. He didn't know what to expect on the other side of the door; the warmth made him worry about fire, but this place feels like a physical embodiment along the lines of his symbolic nightmares; images of himself, shattered and different, dead and alive, and all pairs of eyes watching him. The reflection closest to him has him in a familiar black suit in an unfamiliar office setting.

He jolts when someone suddenly appears behind him, but it's better than looking anywhere else. The relief and fear accompanied by not being alone here.]

Ahaha... you too, huh? [The laugh is a little strained.]

( sidney had taken the first opportunity to investigate the door once he'd been able to get it open- a moment of recklessness, perhaps, but. they needed to know more about their prison. the first reflection he saw was a familiar set of mis-matched button eyes, one green with a scratch over it and one gold. and then it's gone.

he wants to look at the different mirrors immediately, but shin... )

That's right. I admit, this isn't what I was expecting... Are you alright?

( despite his notorious resting bitch face and stoicism, sidney does care. )

[Atsushi came up here with no goals of any sort, unaware the right wing of the fourth floor had been some place off-limits or inaccessible previously. He's just exploring and trying to figure things out.]

Oh. Um, hi.

[It's Shin and Sidney he takes note of first. Then his eyes shift to the mirrors and oh shit. This isn't good. This is nightmare territory. Broken images and strange reflections, one of himself in a black trenchcoat trimmed with white tiger fur, standing in some place that looks like a parking garage. Weird. But he's seen weirder shit and he will deal with this. Attempting to avert his eyes from all of the mirrors doesn't work so well, and they keep shifting back when something seems to move or not move when it should.]

W-where's the door?

[ His hand still lingers in the air as if he were reaching for the door. Fingers twitching slightly when he notices the three backs before him, eyes descending to the floor and cautious as he takes a step forward. Stepping on a shard, noticing for a split second that his reflection moves a second behind.

Hajun reaches up to take the tinted glasses off his face, pushing them into his pocket. ] It’s gone. So I’ll assume that we’re trapped… Or perhaps it just moved somewhere, but who knows.

[ He’s keeping his tone leveled, trying to be calm. ]

Just peachy, ahaha.

[He's not good with people ~~appearing~~ to care about him on the best of days, so in this particular spooky room his voice carries a bit of a customer-service-ey 'do not be enquiring further please and thank you' tone.

He does gather himself together a bit though, and Hajun's deliberate calm helps here. Impressions to make, and an existing one he doesn't want to lose. He can push down the part of himself screaming this must be only a trap and they're all already dead. That's not how these things work. There has to be a way out, if only to make failure hurt more.]

There could be one behind one of the unbroken mirrors, right?

[But then how to distinguish it other than breaking every single one? It can't be that easy.]

[ It's not that easy, and it's not the best idea— but it is still an idea. Like the windows in the void school showing normal high school life that must be shattered to return to reality, some of these mirrors similarly show mundane scenes where there is no reflection at all, though they will have to walk far and check many to find them:

One looks like a living room, on a summer's day from the light filtering through the open windows and leaving streaks of sunbeam across the wood floor. The sky is blue outside, and a little distance away seems to be sparse trees building up to a dense forest.

Another mirror shows stone walls, shadows dancing with what must be from flickering torches high up just out of frame, the image shaking a little, erratic, as if from thundering footsteps also unseen.

A third shows nothing but the ocean, clear blue with rolling waves.

There's more, but in a place with infinite mirrors, they'll be here forever looking at each one by one, just looking instead of doing. ]

Or the door is a mirror.

[That actually seems more logical to him than a door being behind one. The laws of physics don't apply in illusions, which Atsushi is 95% sure this is. Hesitantly, he reaches out to touch the nearest one, to see if it... melts into some kind of portal or something.]

[ Hajun is just...

Shocked -- but also relieved -- that this person he's never seen in passing is now braving the idea of touching one of the mirrors. Blinking thrice, hands remaining at his sides as he watches. If anything goes bad then that's not his fault. Curiosity kills the cat, and all that. ]

Do you think that's where the smell is coming from, too?

[ He can't be the only one who notices it. Such a distinct difference from the subtle mildew that lingers in the school . ]

( sidney glances at shin and nods- lets him try to keep his cool with 'fake it till you make it' logic. )

We've had to break mirrors to escape the void school. It's entirely possible this will either follow similar logic, or is part of why. But given how reflections don't add up- ( and he is deliberately not looking at the reflection of him that looks less like him and more like a fancy, idealized him- made to stand out from a distance, to be seen at all moments- standing at a curtain. ) -it would only be foolish to assume any mirror would work. Trying to use these could bring us anywhere.

( this doesn't really stop him from investigating other mirrors, however- is do they look the same, externally? )

I haven't seen a couple of you before. But I'm not entirely sure how wise it'd be to use personal information in a place like this. So, call me what you will. As for the smell... hm. If it's coming from a particular source, that could help us.

( so like, can they follow it- )

[Fake it 'till you make it is his entire existence.]

Aha, isn't that just asking for an unflattering nickname? Call me Sou.

[Case in point. It's a reflective lie of a name as it is.

The smell is strange... where's Gin and his snoot when you need him. He sniffs the air a little, trying to pinpoint it with his own average nose.]

Should we start searching then? It won't help to stay here.

[It's a testament to his antsiness that he sets off without waiting for a response, and also that he turns and stops just a short distance away from the rest of the group. The dangling tail of his scarf swings a little as he shifts his weight.]

[ Atsushi's hand doesn't exactly melt, but he can feel what's on the other side, from those mirrors with no reflection: warmth from the living room, vibrations from the stone corridor, the dampness from the ocean that does not show on his hands when he pulls away. The smell, on the other hand, seems prevalent all around instead of drawing them towards any mirror in particular.

The longer they linger, though, the more they have the feeling of being watched— unsurprising with all the reflections surrounding them at every turn, but sometimes, when they're not looking, the reflections move a little closer, press their hands against their side of the glass. ]

[He's not paying attention to the conversation going on, too preoccupied with the mirror. After drawing his hand back, and touching it again, he looks over at the group.]

I feel things.

[That's not very descriptive, but one of them probably is a door to... somewhere.]

We should try to go through one.

( oh what, hello? that does get sidney's attention more- )

What sort of things, exactly?

( like. he already is not liking this- the feeling of being watched, even if it's expected, is never a pleasant one. but if the kid's feeling things through the mirror, either it's a way out, or a way to get even more lost. )

Um... well, not...

[Now that there's direct attention on him, he's going to flail a little and stumble over his words. But he'll get there.]

Not tangible things. I-it's like a change in the air. Some kind of thickness to it, l-like humidity? Less dry.

[It's hard to conceptualize "ocean air", so he just kind of gestures at the reflection-less sea backdrop.]

[ There's eyes on his back, a lump trying to grow in his throat before he swallows it down. He wants to leave.

But he does bend down to pick up a piece of a broken mirror, examining the images inside it; a living room. Unfamiliar, he wonders what's the point or importance of all of these areas. He keeps it resting in the palm of his hand, fingers enveloping around it gently to feel the pointed edges against his skin. ]

If we can fall in how are we meant to come back?

[It's tipping back towards nightmare territory again. He drifts back closer to Atsushi and the rest, eyeing the nearest mirrors and their pressing hands above his scarf.]

Maybe we're not... we'd have to pick right first time if that's it.

[Or, he guesses, end up somewhere like the ocean forever. Which is probably better than being symbolically sparagmos'd by your own reflections or whatever they're intending at least.

He puts his hand in his jacket pocket. The knife... the lighter... (have you tried lighting someone on fire with it yet? Thanks, Komaeda) and...

Two laser pointers. He never did find out what they were for. But mirrors do reflect light, so maybe they're part of this puzzle. It doesn't make sense to keep sitting on them right now, and he pulls them out onto an open palm with a rustle of fabric.]

...there's these. Might not be anything but... [Time is of the essence, so he goes ahead and clicks on the orange laser pointer, pointing it at the living room mirror.]

[ The light bounces back and blinds Shin—-

no it doesn't. But it does bounce off the mirror, and depending on the angle Shin holds the pen, the laser may bounce off another mirror and then another, filling the room with orange beams of light. Nothing happens to the mirrors physically, but hitting one of Shin's reflections in the eye, the reflection draws back and the rest- everybody's- quickly follow suit, leaving empty frames with nobody in it even if one of the group stands in front of it.

They're alone now, but that does little to prompt them towards one direction over another. But when you start at a dead end, the door they came through gone, maybe the way back is picking a mirror and taking a leap of faith. ]

It worked! [There's a grin on his face and a brief spark of excited triumph gleams in his eyes before he remembers himself and it goes out again, back to baseline.] Ha!

Edited (minor tweak) 2021-08-08 10:34 (UTC)

( huh. well.

sidney's never going to like mirrors ever again. but he almost gives sou an appreciative smile, if he were capable of being anything other than stoic deadpan. the vibe, at least, is there. )

Good job. Now then... It looks like a mirror may be our only option. But I'm hesitant to consider splitting up.

( so how are they going to pick one? )

[Atsushi's a little apprehensive about this laser pointer; if Shin scared all the reflections off, where did they go? Are they still watching? Did he just provoke them into plotting a retaliation? But he says nothing about it, just sort of keeps looking at different mirrors out of the corner of his eye with a newfound vigilance.]

We shouldn't split up!

[He emphatically agrees on this point.]

I-if we do, one of us could be replaced by those reflections a-and we wouldn't know. I think...

[He hasn't been here long, and it's probably not his place to go making so many suggestions like he has any position of authority, but...]

I think we should look for a mirror that shows something from the school, something from here, that's... off. That's different. A-and go in that one, because... um... the school is where... we are...

[He meant to have a more succinct and direct argument for going with a school-related mirror, but that's not what comes out of his mouth.]

[ HUH WELL IS RIGHT ]

I actually almost can't believe we got a response from that, but I won't complain. [ Said as he places the broken mirror piece into his jacket pocket. ] We could try... but it begs the question if it would be our school once we stepped in. Though it's only bet for the time being to getting out of here.

[ So begins to walk, looking into the mirrors. Maybe he'll find a bathroom. ]

[He's just gonna preen internally a little.]

Atsushi's right. [Both on the splitting up thing, and the getting replaced thing. Shin's seen the latter happen before and it sure left an impression. He surreptitiously checks the dressed cut on his left hand.]

Ahaha, the reflection might not even know either... [Which could make it even harder to tell, if there's no other obvious differences. Maybe that's already happened, even, maybe he is the reflection, but at that level of paranoia what are you even supposed to do about it?]

Would be great if we had some rope... then there's a higher chance we could check and return. [Assuming the mirror won't just put a kibosh on that. Magic... the rules of it could be anything. He runs his thumb over his scarf, thinking. It's the closest thing here he can see, and Yogen produced three photocopies of it, and the person who gave it to him wasn't the greatest, but years later it's still important to him. He starts unwinding it from his neck anyway as he falls into step with Hajun.]

[ As much as they look, there doesn't seem to be anything like a bathroom or a school within the mirrors. Instead, it's the inside of a little cottage in the woods, the stone walls of a castle, the deck of a pirate ship, things so far removed from normal high school life.

As they linger, they'll notice that the reflections start coming back, poking their heads out from the sides of the frames, stepping into full view, face to face with whoever stops to look into their own reflection. Golden eyes bore into their own, and when the reflection moves, the person will feel the urge to copy them.

Please decide soon. ]

We've only got so much time. ... I'd rather risk the cottage than anything, personally.

( but how is this all connected? they must be.

sidney just watches the mirrors with a stern glare, gold and bescarred green meeting a more supernatural gold. though sou's got the scarf ready to be a way back, he doubts they're going to have a choice; once they're in, they're in. )

MISSION 2.A

Start

mild yttd chapter 3 spoilers in the image link

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got sniped by ryza...

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im crying sidneys really just -_- through all of this. love it.

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