who: Helena and others! what: March catchall log when: All month where: Across campus warnings: Potential gore, body horror, psychological horror in dreamscapes.
[he's rewarded with her stirring, making a small noise of discontent before her eyes open and her face registers the voice.]
...Shin?
[still groggy, she sits up slow, taking off her glasses to rub her face. however long she's been sleeping, she's still tired - or maybe it's something in this place. it's difficult to tell.]
How did you get in here? Magic?
[the world is settled, for now. but there's no telling what will happen next.]
[He wishes... this would be way too advanced for him, if even the soul-ripping circle alone is any indication. The relief when she wakes up is palpable.]
I followed you... We're probably both in the forest, right now. Whatever's doing this... it's not me.
[Which is, you know, deeply worrying. There was that voice talking about dreams... everything has that tinge to it.]
Let's get out of here... Quickly. The door should be...
[He's casting around for it... He didn't close it, in the small hope that would actually help.]
There was... it was right there! You've got to be kidding...
[But there is indeed no door... Shin regards the furniture innocently making this disappearance visually congruous as one does betrayal. He had the sense something like this might happen, because that would have been too easy... but that doesn't mean he can't dislike it. So that's why she asked if it was magic. The hairs on his neck are prickling fiercely, and the strengthened senses aren't helping the sensation, or the strained, stressed note in his voice.]
...How long have you been here...?
[Long ago... it's the kind of question where like with the door you would like the result to not be concerning but deep dread is pooling in your gut.]
...I saw you go into the forest fifteen minutes ago!
[Or... it felt like that long. Can he be sure? There wasn't much in the way of landmarks, and it's not like he kept checking his phone...]
Fifteen minutes ago I was asleep. You woke me up...
[she seems genuinely baffled by his statements, slowly rising from her seat. without shoes, her footsteps are quieter, and she makes no move to pick up the cane just yet. she uses her hands to navigate the room, brushes against things to relocate to the window seat.
the beautiful day hasn't left, but a few stray clouds drift across the sky, a little too low to be innocent. they think of rain, and the image presses against Shin's mind before letting go, like his scarf being snagged and needing to be readjusted.
a held breath, a mobius strip. then exhale, but the twist is still there, right along the path to your gut when you swallow. (blood lifts from fabric with cold water and work.)]
...I couldn't tell you how long I've been here, though. Every time I restart the count, I lose my place. Weeks, months, longer...? Your guess is truly as good as mine.
[With no visible exit, he follows her over, looking outside. Looks like rain... then the readjustment of the suddenness of the thought, like a ball bearing flicked into a pinball machine... not supposed to be there, but slotting in a little too well, going around and disappearing and... did the number change? He feels off-kilter, slowly sitting down on the other end of the window seat and drawing up one of his knees to lean his arms on.]
You can't... smash the window?
[Helena's strong, stronger than him at least and also a strong swimmer... she could probably do it. Maybe she's tried already. But... that's thinking about it the wrong way, right? Something is definitely going on beyond that... that code... he didn't get a chance to read it.]
Ahaha... that'd be too easy, wouldn't it... It'd just fix itself.
That's a poor joke. I'm too weak to smash anything.
[folding her hands in her lap, she sighs and leans back some, settling fully into the seat.
the river below, one can hear it from here. flowing onward, away, wherever rivers go. over rocks, through fields. home to so many small things, bringing life to the world. almost like a lullaby, in its rhythm.]
[He wasn't trying to joke at all... Maybe it's just the way she carries herself, that he made that overestimation, like she's made of spans of grey steel. He's seen that elsewhere.
The sound of the river is soothing, calming... in chorus with the warm sunlight it asks if he wants to rest, and he is very tired... in many respects. He so very deeply wants to, and he finds himself leaning his weight against the glass, eyes half-lidded and head jerking up a little, because of that tiniest thread, like a razorblade in a pocket or a bitten tongue. That 'you can't rest now, there are monsters nearby' ticking in his chest, and fighting against the question of if just a while wouldn't hurt, in a place where they can't get out but nothing can get in.
This place is hypothermia; if he sleeps, will it be the both of them, frozen like she was before? With all the effort of someone venturing out on a polar expedition from a warm futon, he places his dangling leg on the floor, then the other, then leans up with his arm, and starts pacing.
He can hear, more than usual, the creak of his slight weight on the floorboards under the muffling thick carpet, guess where the join is from them, feel how they shift, how the air moves around him as he does... he shuts his eyes again to reorient, and heads over to the hourglass. Cautiously tapping it with a fingernail to make the glass ring, his head turns towards Helena.
Hey, Helena... This hourglass is pretty suspicious. Wonder why it's here... You got any ideas?
[If she's been here as long as she says she has, then she probably knows more about this room than he does... he doesn't want to start trying things without gathering some information first. Messing with variables without knowing what they do is asking for a bad time... but also that same apprehension about falling asleep extends to her.]
[it still has a strange glow, as if rendered on a screen instead of in reality, the digital edge and its faint cast. it doesn't vibrate, doesn't break - it acts like a normal hourglass, save for the suspension, the double flow. however, if he ventures to pick it up...it's heavy, as if it's made of metal instead of glass and wood. the sand has an unnatural heft to it, and even if turned and tilted, the internal flow doesn't cease.
Helena seems startled by the sound, and tilts her head.]
The hourglass? It's been here for as long as I can remember. What's so suspicious about it?
[meanwhile, the river runs, and so does the sand. endless, endless - as natural as breathing, a flow that simply proceeds onward. for now, his senses are normal, and the beautiful cage gives him no malice to feed off of. it simply...is, for its decoration and purpose. big enough to move around, to offer something, but not big enough to be free. still no doors, no hinges.]
[Right, she wouldn't be able to see how it glows like that... it doesn't feel that different to the touch either, as he tentatively picks it up to examine it further (what would a digital object feel like anyway?). It makes his hairs prickle.]
Ah it... doesn't look like the rest of the room, that's all.
[Which is interactive object 101. It has to be deliberate, doesn't it? It's some kind of focus. The question is what puzzle's intended by it, or if it's a trap. Oof, he has to put it back down again with a thonk after a while when his arms start shaking.
It's the seed of a thought in the back of his head. The only way to get out of here is to... find some way to break this place, in a way it can't repair. Which is dangerous, given they're inside it; the very idea means there's no recourse if things go wrong. But, this hourglass is the focus; trying to glitch things more conventionally could take ages of trial and error. It's part animal instinct involved.]
Ahaha... would you mind if it broke?
[It's only fair to give her some warning, since he's got time for it. This isn't a panicked reckless decision, it's a considered one.]
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no subject
...Shin?
[still groggy, she sits up slow, taking off her glasses to rub her face. however long she's been sleeping, she's still tired - or maybe it's something in this place. it's difficult to tell.]
How did you get in here? Magic?
[the world is settled, for now. but there's no telling what will happen next.]
no subject
I followed you... We're probably both in the forest, right now. Whatever's doing this... it's not me.
[Which is, you know, deeply worrying. There was that voice talking about dreams... everything has that tinge to it.]
Let's get out of here... Quickly. The door should be...
[He's casting around for it... He didn't close it, in the small hope that would actually help.]
no subject
There's no door, Shin. If there was, I would have found it long ago.
[and true to her word, the wall is smooth. things rearranged, so it doesn't look out of place. where there was a door, there is nothing.]
What do you mean you followed me?
no subject
[But there is indeed no door... Shin regards the furniture innocently making this disappearance visually congruous as one does betrayal. He had the sense something like this might happen, because that would have been too easy... but that doesn't mean he can't dislike it. So that's why she asked if it was magic. The hairs on his neck are prickling fiercely, and the strengthened senses aren't helping the sensation, or the strained, stressed note in his voice.]
...How long have you been here...?
[Long ago... it's the kind of question where like with the door you would like the result to not be concerning but deep dread is pooling in your gut.]
...I saw you go into the forest fifteen minutes ago!
[Or... it felt like that long. Can he be sure? There wasn't much in the way of landmarks, and it's not like he kept checking his phone...]
no subject
[she seems genuinely baffled by his statements, slowly rising from her seat. without shoes, her footsteps are quieter, and she makes no move to pick up the cane just yet. she uses her hands to navigate the room, brushes against things to relocate to the window seat.
the beautiful day hasn't left, but a few stray clouds drift across the sky, a little too low to be innocent. they think of rain, and the image presses against Shin's mind before letting go, like his scarf being snagged and needing to be readjusted.
a held breath, a mobius strip. then exhale, but the twist is still there, right along the path to your gut when you swallow. (blood lifts from fabric with cold water and work.)]
...I couldn't tell you how long I've been here, though. Every time I restart the count, I lose my place. Weeks, months, longer...? Your guess is truly as good as mine.
no subject
You can't... smash the window?
[Helena's strong, stronger than him at least and also a strong swimmer... she could probably do it. Maybe she's tried already. But... that's thinking about it the wrong way, right? Something is definitely going on beyond that... that code... he didn't get a chance to read it.]
Ahaha... that'd be too easy, wouldn't it... It'd just fix itself.
[Like the door.]
no subject
[folding her hands in her lap, she sighs and leans back some, settling fully into the seat.
the river below, one can hear it from here. flowing onward, away, wherever rivers go. over rocks, through fields. home to so many small things, bringing life to the world. almost like a lullaby, in its rhythm.]
no subject
[He wasn't trying to joke at all... Maybe it's just the way she carries herself, that he made that overestimation, like she's made of spans of grey steel. He's seen that elsewhere.
The sound of the river is soothing, calming... in chorus with the warm sunlight it asks if he wants to rest, and he is very tired... in many respects. He so very deeply wants to, and he finds himself leaning his weight against the glass, eyes half-lidded and head jerking up a little, because of that tiniest thread, like a razorblade in a pocket or a bitten tongue. That 'you can't rest now, there are monsters nearby' ticking in his chest, and fighting against the question of if just a while wouldn't hurt, in a place where they can't get out but nothing can get in.
This place is hypothermia; if he sleeps, will it be the both of them, frozen like she was before? With all the effort of someone venturing out on a polar expedition from a warm futon, he places his dangling leg on the floor, then the other, then leans up with his arm, and starts pacing.
He can hear, more than usual, the creak of his slight weight on the floorboards under the muffling thick carpet, guess where the join is from them, feel how they shift, how the air moves around him as he does... he shuts his eyes again to reorient, and heads over to the hourglass. Cautiously tapping it with a fingernail to make the glass ring, his head turns towards Helena.
Hey, Helena... This hourglass is pretty suspicious. Wonder why it's here... You got any ideas?
[If she's been here as long as she says she has, then she probably knows more about this room than he does... he doesn't want to start trying things without gathering some information first. Messing with variables without knowing what they do is asking for a bad time... but also that same apprehension about falling asleep extends to her.]
no subject
Helena seems startled by the sound, and tilts her head.]
The hourglass? It's been here for as long as I can remember. What's so suspicious about it?
[meanwhile, the river runs, and so does the sand. endless, endless - as natural as breathing, a flow that simply proceeds onward. for now, his senses are normal, and the beautiful cage gives him no malice to feed off of. it simply...is, for its decoration and purpose. big enough to move around, to offer something, but not big enough to be free. still no doors, no hinges.]
no subject
Ah it... doesn't look like the rest of the room, that's all.
[Which is interactive object 101. It has to be deliberate, doesn't it? It's some kind of focus. The question is what puzzle's intended by it, or if it's a trap. Oof, he has to put it back down again with a thonk after a while when his arms start shaking.
It's the seed of a thought in the back of his head. The only way to get out of here is to... find some way to break this place, in a way it can't repair. Which is dangerous, given they're inside it; the very idea means there's no recourse if things go wrong. But, this hourglass is the focus; trying to glitch things more conventionally could take ages of trial and error. It's part animal instinct involved.]
Ahaha... would you mind if it broke?
[It's only fair to give her some warning, since he's got time for it. This isn't a panicked reckless decision, it's a considered one.]