AKA Nixer
Prologue – The Abyss
Well this is interesting.
Lucid dreaming wasn't a new experience for Lydia. But this time it hadn't been something she had induced intentionally. For a nice change, she had wanted a regular night of sleep. But no, this was different. It felt different.
She glanced down at the tendrils encasing her. They weren't common in her dreams either. Nor were the others in the distance. As she absently tried to wriggle her way out of her bonds, she wondered if this was representing something. She just couldn't decide on what.
Damn it. The tendrils were too tight to get out of normally. One of the figures had turned (for some reason) into a chef. Which was odd, but it didn't take much for the robotic girl to assume what it was.
Are... are these people like me?
It was a possibility. But her priorities weren't including them as of now. The tendrils were still pulling her down. She needed to get out of there.
So perhaps...
She stopped struggling, and closed her eyes.
Veh co cejxuh'i cuceho fbuqiu iqlu cu.
Vhec co vqjxuh, fbuqiu auuf cu qmqo.
Cqau yj ie jxqj xyi ruqjydwi ted'j imqo cu.
Veh ijhudwjx; Y'bb sedjydku je fhqo.
Her vicinity dimmed—not that anyone could tell anyway from the darkness of the abyss. Her voice overlapped as the second section of the chant came in, and static seemed to overcome her. With a crack of the neck, her form rippled from head to toe—skin becoming more vibrant, hair becoming pure white with a bubblegum pink streak, and her eyes shifting from amber to a sky blue. Even her clothing had been altered; Lydia's previously dark and punkish attire becoming a light tanktop and a frayed pair of jeans.
Almost immediately, her drastically different form was encased in an ethereal flame; one that ate away at the tendrils enough for them to rear back and let her slip out.
Without more than a slight glance towards the others, the girl attempted to beeline for the light with a desperation and fear that wasn't nearly as apparent in her original form. Every now and again she'd glance back at the tendrils with a wary expression—more as if they were the things she was trying to escape from more than anything else.
Edited by Enirboreh on Jan 5th 2019 at 1:50:19 PM
bork
Damn it. Jame thought, as he struggled to reorient himself. That had been a very pleasant dream. Amelia Culper had been in it, and she had been wearing overalls for some reason...
His eyes widened a bit as he realized that it wasn't morning sleepiness and blankets he was struggling with this time. The black tendrils felt oddly rough, and he'd swear there were tiny openings, like suckers rasping against his skin. He flashed back to a terrifying documentary he'd seen on squid back in school. All of the other kids had laughed at the terrible acting and effects, but Jamie had been rooted in terror the whole time.He'd never liked deep water after that.
A sudden glow and feeling of pulsing warmth broke him out of his fetal position. The many arms seemed to loosen and release, and Jamie encouraged them by punching, tearing, and even biting as many as he could in a frenzy. When the last few had reluctantly let go, he started for the exit...then paused. He couldn't leave someone else here to get eaten by this (Kracken) thing. Taking a deep breath, Jame pulled himself closer to a kid with weird blondish hair, as he was nearest. The other boy was glowing too, but the tendrils still seemed hungry and Jamie grabbed one that was trying to catch the kid around the neck.
Breath of the Sun
Dreamscape
To others, being dragged to the Abyss should have been terrifying. Yet the young girl found it strangely comforting to be wrapped in tendrils. Though these were not tendrils she found familiar, so it offset the warmth somewhat.
She opened her eyes, calmly, humming a song she'd never heard. One thin hand rose to rub gently at the tendril grasping her. Uru Uru Malak'dal, she spoke-thought, and the tendril twitched, as it felt the other. She continued, She shall rise, the fake shall fall.
Uria dissolved into nothing, and the tendrils grasped nothing, until nothing became a monster. Urugoth shredded the opposing tendrils with her own, as though it were nothing, before turning eyestalks to the others and offering tendrils of help - were they to grasp Urugoth's tendrils, she would pull them free of ensnarement, if they so desired.
Several eyes gazed towards the light above, nodding for the others to grab on and climb towards it with her.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Last Day of Summer Vacation
What a last day of Summer Vacay this turned out to be.
Hector had only just gotten to sleep an hour and a half before the world seemed to part and drag him down. The day had been spent arguing about videos he'd put online, and culminated in a screaming match with his beloved older brother Carter, who, ever the evangelical, tried once again to get him to "respect himself" enough to convert.
Hector responded by shouting even if Carter was right, he hoped he went to hell because it'd mean being away from Carter forever.
That seemed to make Carter shut up and piss off.
They never got along, not since...well, since ever really. Carter was totally happy with the way things were, and played his part of the wholesome, pride of the family jock boy too well. Hector...Hector just could not stand it.
He found himself stirring awake in some pit, and wryly commented, "...figures this'd happen. Is this a dream or some fucked up pit?"
He found himself pushing the tentacles trying to grab on to him away with one hand, and searched his side for his boys. After a moment he managed to find Castor, and fired off a shot that seemed to scare off the groping fucks.
He blinked a few times. Castor had not been there when he felt at that place on his side just a few seconds earlier.
"...Yeah, better not mess with me." He breathed and calmed down, looking around as he stretched. "...Seems I'm not the only one who woke up to these things."
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Jaime flinched back as the kid pulled a gun out of nowhere and decided to "swim" back the way he'd come. Ahead he saw another kid and decided to try to pull her out when she...changed. Tentacles sprouted and eyes bubbled out onto stalks, forming an iridescent mass that easily detached the pit-arms.
It seemed to want to get out as badly as he did, so Jamie steeled himself and gingerly grabbed one of its arms, hating the sensation of the thing's flesh all the while and promising himself he'd stop eating ghost peppers for real this time. No more nightmares.
An Ordinary Oddball
Prologue
The chef-like figure continued to chop at her bonds. She was scrabbling for a chef's iron lodged in her belt and at long last managed to draw it.
She ran it along her knife's blade a few times, blue sparks flying—and with one final slash at the tentacles holding her, she too was free!
Every other figure had also managed to free themselves, and some had even managed to make it into the light and had vanished.
Suddenly, an odd gravity could be felt, coming from the light. Everyone was sucked towards it and into it—
Falling...
Falling...
Falling...
They all felt like they were being slammed back onto their beds. Meanwhile, the sounds of whatever manner they had of waking up (alarm clock, the bird outside their window, etc.) would be sounding, either quite obnoxiously or relievingly.
It was time to go to school.
Daikon
Daikon groaned, and flopped a hand over to silence her blaring clock.
For the past few weeks, she had been having the same dream. The. Same. Dream. It was almost maddening, being dragged into the abyss amd having to free oneself over and over again every damn night.
Though, this was the first time it had other people in it. That was new. And some of them had shown their other selves—Guises (for that was what she called them)—which was very surprising.
As she put on her clothes for the day, she vaguely remembered that it had started when she had conceived the idea of a "Roleplaying Club" and started to make an advertising poster for it.
She grabbed her backpack, rolled up her (finely crafted, or at least by her standards) poster, went through the motions of the morning, and packed herself off to school with blissful ignorance of the significance of the night's events.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Jan 6th 2019 at 9:27:50 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
AKA Nixer
Lydia
Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep–
A hand sluggishly crept out and clicked the irritating alarm off, before drawing back with an accompanying sigh. Lydia stared up at the ceiling for what felt like hours as the first few rays of sunlight crept through the vent near the wall—blinking rapidly to remove the last remnants of sleep from her eyes.
...What a strange dream.
Getting up with a slight groan, she pondered over it some more as she began her usual morning routine. Wincing as she carefully applied makeup to her cheeks, she recalled the presence of others in the dream. She was sure she recognized a couple of them from school. Yet their alternate forms were very distinctive.
She hummed as she scuffed the chair away and moved over to grab some clothes. She got up early, so she had a bit of time to work this out. Plus her father would still be asleep at this point. Probably would be for the next three hours or so anyway, but still. More time the better.
But in any case, I should go look for them, she decided, entering the bathroom and setting her clothes by the door. I don't remember everyone there, though. And I doubt it'd be smart to ask around. But still... if they are like me...
Her thoughts were drowned out as she turned the shower on, and for the next fifteen minutes or so she lost herself in absentminded humming; the dream momentarily forgotten. Still, the thought of the classmates she needed to meet lingered. Up until she left the bathroom and a distant groaning filled her ears.
Cue to leave.
With no small amount of fear, she hastily rushed back down to her room and scrounged together all of her stuff into her schoolbag. Practically throwing her clothes on (and briefly checking her face to make sure none of the makeup had smudged), she made a beeline for the front door and practically barreled out there.
Slamming it behind her, she half-sprinted for a good distance before eventually slowing and glancing back. She got a little panicked there. Made a fool of herself. It probably hadn't even been necessary for her to run like that.
Biting her lip, she shook her head and reaffirmed her grip on her school bag. That part of the day was over. She had things to do.
She just wished she'd had a chance to fix her own bike and it'd make this whole circus show go by a lot quicker.
bork
Will knew he was dreaming; he always did. And he was enjoying himself reshaping the dream, as usual. It was like making your own movie on a computer.
Of course, in his dreams he was a very different person. Extroverted and popular, as opposed to his real self. And the girls *liked* him. He was perfectly aware that this was escapism but screw the real world; as long as he had the Dream World, he knew he would be happy.
Until tonight.
He was suddenly falling into an Abyss. He instantly knew he wasn't in his own dream anymore. Was it some else's? He had never even tried to invade another's dreams.
And then black tentacles grabbed him and he knew these things were not unreal. He had no idea what they were, but they were bad. He panicked, and reflexively turned into his idealized form, "Sea Hunter" and began tearing the tendrils off himself.
It was then that he noticed others were also there. Some even looked familiar. He also noticed a light "above" and that the others were "swimming" towards it. Hey anywhere was better than here right now. So he did the same.
And then he woke up.
Anyone else would dismiss the experience as just a nightmare. But not him. He could always tell the difference between fantasy and reality.
Which meant there was something evil in town, extending even into the dreamworld. But what? And who were those other kids?
He resolved to find out. He felt he had no other choice.
Edited by Sijo on Jan 7th 2019 at 7:25:13 AM
No. Don't wanna get up. Jamie rolled over in bed and cracked open an eye. The plump tabby cat who had been lying on his chest and smacking his nose miaowed reproachfully. "Be quiet, furface. All you have planned for today is eating chipmunks and pooping in a box. I've got math and biology."
He got up, grabbing a black t-shirt with a Mr. Yuck face on the front and a pair of bluejeans and clomped downstairs. Mom had already left for the bar and there was a cup of orange juice and a bagel on the counter. He wolfed them down as the dream last night ran through his head. Tentacles. Other kids. Some kind of light. He shrugged and again told himself to stop eating the really hot stuff. After pulling on his favorite old and battered USCG baseball cap and a windbreaker, Jamie ambled out the door. Maybe today he'd even show up in class.
Edited by Booky on Jan 7th 2019 at 5:13:59 AM
Hector
Its the end of the world and I feel fine~
Hector's hand crashed into his alarm clock and sent it careening off his shelf.
He rubbed his head as he laid there.
Hector considered the slowly focusing waking world again as he thought about that world of shadows. The other kids down there, the...the weird groping shadow things. He looked down at his side and saw Castor by his side. He didn't remember taking the freaking gun to bed, but there it was. Did he somehow...
He shook his head and got dressed before heading out shortly.
As he headed by Carter - little mister evangelist - he heard the usual morning address by Elijah Gibbs. He swore, that old man had enough power it almost seemed like he was mayor, governor and president rolled up into one;
"The DEMONCRATS continue to oppose the rightful exercise of God's Law as exercised by our wonderful, all American President!! Every day they find new depravities to champion! Let us speak the name of God's only begotten son, lest they find the WRRRRRRAAAAAAAAATH of the heavenly father upon them and their houses! For did not God Almighty God SLAY the firstborn children of Egypt for the CRIMES!!!!!...of Pharaoh!?"
Hector walked downstairs - almost hard to believe he and that fanatic upstairs were related.
Elias greeted his son, "Good to see you up. You must be SO excited for class today, I mean, you've been working so long on that video project..."
"Doubt they'll let me show the whole thing. It's...pret-ty edgy." Hector poured up a glass of orange juice and got the stack of waffles his mom had left for him.
Carter was finally headed downstairs, and Elias seemingly halfheartedly chided him, "You know Hector doesn't like waking up to grandpa's shouting."
Carter got his much larger meal ready and replied, "...Maybe the little edgelord needs to hear it. The good news of Christ is rarely uttered in whispers, dad."
Hector visibly rolled his eyes.
Across town, others might hear other segments of the Gibbs Patriarch's rambling and ranting on radios, TV's, and even on the odd computer or two.
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Will was among the first kids to arrive at his classroom. No big surprise there, he always did. But today he was keeping an eye out for 'the other kids' as well as for anything else unusual. But for once the fact he rarely interacted socially was a problem- he personally knew very few other students.
Perhaps he should try daydreaming, see if he 'picked up' anything from that angle...
AKA Nixer
Lydia – Pleasant Hills Middle & High School
Lot of early-risers here today, Lydia noted as she walked in—sending a brief nod of greeting to Will even though he was probably zoned out already. Don't look very well-rested either. It's very possible, so perhaps...
Her thoughts went momentarily blank as she sat down at her desk and began to unpack her school bag.
...I'll wait until later. There's a chance someone will walk in if I ask any of them now.
Her bag now unpacked, she let out a quiet sigh—planting her elbows on her desk and resting her chin on her hands. She listened out for any footfalls down the hall outside; noting the ones she recognized and nodding to them once they entered.
Lucy – Pleasant Hills Middle & High School
One particular girl near the back of the class was thinking much the same thing as Lydia regarding not telling the others about her own nightmares, though her reasoning for not getting up and talking was less that of fear of discovery and more that her mouth went dry at even the thought of formulating something more than a quiet “hello”. That and she barely looked conscious. Her face was pale and drawn, and she looked as if she'd gotten out of bed only minutes earlier.
...Well... this is a very quiet class... she observed with no small amount of glumness as she tried to rub away the offending sleep from her eyes. Damn it! Why can't you just get up and talk to someone? Anyone! Come on, go! They won't bite! she mentally chastised—trying to gather up at least the tiniest amount of courage to do so.
...But nope. All she achieved was a tensing of her muscles. With a sigh, she slumped again.
...Well great. Another day of this, huh?
bork
An Ordinary Oddball
Prologue
When Daikon went to class, signature foot-dragging gait announcing her arrival, she immediately blanched upon laying eyes upon the people in her dreams and sidled to her seat.
Then, she carefully unrolled her poster and propped it next to her backpack. The illustration showed a silhouetted figure suspiciously shaped like Daikon's Guise facing against a...mass of shadow-things all melded together. The background was formed from stylized scribbles, as if the battle was taking place in some dark place. From behind the figure, it looked as if some "scribbles" were reaching out to grab the figure.
It read:
Daikon's drawing skills had much to be desired (indeed, the picture was somewhat off-center) and her ham-fisted, bold writing was squashed at the top and bottom, but poster showed visible signs of effort. It also seemed that all the good rooms were taken by the other, more reputable clubs, so now they were relegated to an unused broom closet (If anyone had bothered to memorize all the room numbers).
A few minutes later, Mr. O'Malley started his lesson, so there was no time to talk.
Lunch
After slogging through several periods, it was finally time for lunch.
Daikon pinned her poster in one corner of the large notice board, the rest of the space filled up with other club advertisements.
She got her tray and sat down at an empty table (under a flickering light, it usually stayed empty unless every other seat was taken). Noticing the others, she waved them over to her.
Perhaps this was the time to ask her any burning questions they had...?
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
AKA Nixer
Lydia – Lunchtime
...Well that's convenient. Too convenient. I'm sure I saw her while in that dream, Lydia mentally noted—stopping in front of the billboard as she was walking past it and trailing a finger over the figure on one of the advertising posters. Odd, too. She almost looked like–
A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned to see a certain someone waving to get her attention.
...Daikon. Of course.
“Well, hello,” she greeted shortly, not even bothering to get lunch and simply beelining for the girl's table. She'd gone longer without lunch before—plus her curiosity regarding the dream phenomenon was through the roof right now. “I'd commend your subtlety, but then again... well in any case, I suppose this is about last night?”
The underling connotations of that phrasing weren't the best, but Lydia's tone seemed innocent enough. Not that it didn't help a few snickers from the other passing students.
Lucy – Lunchtime
...A roleplaying club? Lucy mused, looking to the left and right before tentatively approaching the board when she thought no one was looking. That... that doesn't look like D&D to me...
...Oh, screw it. This can't be a coincidence, she inwardly sighed. Plus I... could help with that poster design, if nothing else...
Or at least that was the excuse she settled on as she moved away from the board and trudged towards the line. Frowning in thought even as her tray was filled up, she wondered who exactly would create such a club in the first place. As she mentally sifted through the individuals she knew (or knew of, rather—that would require some form of human interaction), her mind and eyes drifted over to Daikon just as she sat down.
...Oh god I'm gonna have to talk to her aren't I?
Okay. Deep breaths. Calm. She's just a human being. Just go up to her, say hi, maybe talk about the weather– nope. Talk about the club. Focus on the club. She won't hurt you, she's on her own– crap Lydia's there too. Focus on the club, focus on the club, focus on the club...
She continued this Madness Mantra for the entire, single-step-at-a-time approach she hesitantly managed to bring herself to make. Her hands wrung together and tightly squeezed each other as she got closer to the table, and she had the courtesy to pull her hood down. Although her already inconsistent gaze solidly dropped down to the floor as soon as her face was fully exposed—and she stopped only a footstep or two away from sitting down.
“H...hi...” she weakly managed, able to flick her eyes up to Daikon's with a small smile of greeting before her attention was abruptly drawn back to the floor again. “I... I s-saw the um... the club... thing and... uh... here I am...”
Well those were words. Great. Truly excellent job, Lucy. You said words, she inwardly berated; somehow resisting the temptation to walk up to the nearest wall and repeatedly bash her head into it. Damn it. At least you spoke. That's at least something, right?
The aura of shame and self-denigration was almost immediately apparent as she mentally chastised herself. The girl's sense of self-worth seemed dangerously low at this point.
bork
Breath of the Sun
Uria - Awakening
She woke, eyes softly fluttering open. Uria, as she did every morning, grabbed her dream journal and began to write. She quickly jotted down descriptions of every person she'd seen, before they could fade from memory.
They were people from school, she realized quickly. That meant something. She had to find them.
She didn't take her dream journal to school, but she didn't need it. She had memorized the faces already, and kept them in her mind as she walked out the front door.
The cross necklace she always wore felt strangely heavy around her neck, though that was probably a trick of the mind.
Uria - Lunch
They found her first. Or at least, the 'chef' did.
Uria walked over and sat at Daikon's table without a care, pulling out the lunch her mother had packed for her. It was not the first time she had sat at someone else's table without asking, so it would not draw attention.
"You all had the Dream." She said, not bothering with subtlety. "You saw the Abyss. We are connected, then. It is a sign. But a sign of what, I do not know. The others must come as well, I think, and then we'll see the truth."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
An Ordinary Oddball
Lunch
"Uh," Daikon said dumbly, stumbling over her words trying to answer Lydia's question. "I didn't make this poster last night. I didn't know there were other Guisers until last night."
She swallowed nervously. "I've been having these dreams for the past few weeks—come to think of it, they started when I thought of making this club. The illustration was supposed to be different, but then...you know...fighting shadow monsters and stuff...it fits for a roleplaying club, y'know?"
"Hello, Lucy," Daikon greeted quietly, so as to not spook the girl when she arrived. "Sit down and make yourself comfortable, okay?" She gestured to a seat.
"Oh. Hi, Uria. That seems about right," Daikon nodded in agreement of Uria's statements, and started wolfing down on a BLT sandwich.
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Will only noted Lydia saluting him just before he nodded off, so he had no time to react.
For a while, he stradled the Waking and Dreams worlds, hoping to "catch sight" of anyone or anything unusual.
But nothing happened- and (since he was still aware of reality even in this fugue state) he knew class was about to start so he snapped back to attention. He would try again later.
Sometime later, he saw the poster for the RPG club. The black tentacles might have been a coincidence -its a common enough horror imagery- but not the "Chef Girl." He knew then he had to find and speak with her.
Besides, he was an RPG fan, he probably would have joined anyway.
Later still, in the cafeteria, he spotted the girl again -in school clothes now- and approached the table, food tray in hand. There were others sitting there already.
"Ahem" he began, "May I sit here?" He wondered if anyone would recognize him from the dream too.
An Ordinary Oddball
Daikon grunts through a mouthful of BLT sandwich and gestures at a seat.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Jan 12th 2019 at 1:35:56 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Jamie-Lunch!
Jamie ambled into the cafeteria. After putting his books in a small cubby, he glanced around the room. Jamies' eyes settled on the small group in the corner and narrowed. He'd seen the RPG Group poster and it had been...weird. Very similar to the dream last night, in fact.
Pulling an apple from his bag, Jamie tossed it up in the air and caught it before taking a big, crunching bite as he approached them. His gaze passed over them with an appraising air, and the big teen settled himself at an open spot. Jamie leaned back with a skeptical expression on his face and crossed his arms, clearly looking forward to an explanation.
AKA Nixer
Lydia – Lunchtime
“Interesting,” Lydia blinked, processing this new information whilst clutching her chin. “So you're suggesting that the creation of the club is connected to that dream? Somehow?”
The logistics of it were beyond her, but it was the only vaguely sensible assumption to make. The others got minute nods or curt “hello”s as she continued to mull over this, up until Uria gave her rather... direct interpretation.
“Undoubtedly. I'm skeptical of supernaturalism, but then again mass-shared dreams aren't something I've ever heard of. Still, it's too early to tell. However, the traits we so far do have in common barring that are apparent to me already. We are all social outcasts,” she pointed out—only to backtrack somewhat as Jamie chose that moment to sit down. “Or socially aberrant. Malleable, I mean. Against the norm. Apologies. It's all I have,” she shrugged, leaning back in her seat somewhat.
Lucy – Lunchtime
It was with no small amount of hesitation that Lucy finally took a seat at the table; scrunching herself up into a little hoodie-wearing ball to the best of her ability. Her grey eyes were oddly piercing as she quietly scanned between the each of them—only for them to divert back to the floor as Jamie arrived and sat not too far from her. It was easy for her to be intimidated by the lad when she herself barely met his shoulder in head-height. As such, the painfully shy girl seemed to fold in on herself even more.
“U-uh... h-hi, Jamie,” she quietly stammered in greeting, staring up at him in a manner reminiscent of a frightened rabbit. At least she'd vocalised again. Not that she was easy to hear over the din of the cafeteria, mind. Her voice was barely a breath on the wind in comparison.
Edited by Enirboreh on Jan 10th 2019 at 12:52:48 PM
bork
Well, That Could've Gone Better
Hector was on his way to just get some lunch after being basically ejected from freaking class over a video. The teacher had an epic level freak out over the "disturbing content" of his production, and had basically said if she could she would've destroyed all record of it. Pretty much told Hector that bullying at this school was a sacred institution that let the jocks let steam off, and taking that kind of stand on it was not appreciated.
The other students had basically glared at him all the way out...
Today was a wonderful day aside from big brother streaming the latest gibberings of that senile fuck. Now these idiots fucked it all u—-
...And then he saw the announcement of some sort of new club. Now, this was not some sort of club that preached "school spirit" or "Faith" or "community", so his eye was on it immediately. He reached in the pockets of his trench coat and took out his phone and snapped a picture of the announcement.
As he headed off to lunch, he saw some other students gathered and it looked like they too were involved. He got the weird sense looking at them he knew them from somewhere...that dream? He felt a gnawing headache set in, remembering shooting off Castor, the other students, and then—-
What the hell?
He found himself slowly walking over, and quietly took a seat by the other students so involved.
He spoke up, "...So, uh, I think I might recognize you guys. You all into this roleplaying club thing too?"
He pulled a chair up near him and plopped his feet on the seat, casting a look around. Consummate weirdo and cooking enthusiast Daikon, his fellow occult weirdo Uria, Lydia, Lucy...
Yeah, seemed the kind of person that gravitated to this were people who didn't really fit in precisely. And Hector was fine with expanding his circle of friends to other "outcasts".
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Will watched the others as they arrived while pretending to just be eating his food.
Hmm. Never thought I'd ever hang out with the school weirdos. Not that he considered himself 'average'- but he was a nerd, those are everywhere. This did not mean, however, that he was going to judge them just by their looks- he wasn't that shallow. Rather, he wasn't sure how to even begin to interact with them.
He did notice one girl that seemed to be on the edge of freaking out. He almost said something to her, but decided to wait.
Finally his suspicions were confirmed: this was indeed about the "dream." Lets see what the others have to say first, then I'll decide what to do.
Jamie glanced over from when he'd been staring into space. Something about last night..he'd forgotten something. He shook his head absently. On the very edge of his hearing the syllables.."aime" had come floating around. The group was chatting with a great deal of uncertainty, like folks who'd only spoken on the phone for a deal but never met in person.
His gaze drifted over the the girl who was being absorbed by her sweatshirt. As he looked, she seemed to shrink even more. She looks like she'd vanish in a puff of girl-shaped smoke if I'm too loud. Like the Road Runner. Beep-beep. Yeah, he definitely was distracted today.
Jamie leaned over to her slightly and smiled, extending a hand in a friendly wave. He instinctively didn't make eye contact, instead looking at her chin. Animals and people had taught him that it could be a bad idea.
Another kid came by and sat down, pulling up a chair and resting his feet on it. Jamie frowned slightly at this breach of etiquette. Do your parents let you do that at home? The guy's name was....Nick? Nestor? Hector! Always wearing that coat and ready with a smart remark. Oh! He'd been the guy with the gun last night! Jamie's frown deepened, somewhat.
AKA Nixer
Lydia – Lunchtime
“I wouldn't say I'm ‘into’ roleplaying, no,” Lydia flatly remarked in response to Hector's query—glancing down critically at the way he was sitting before inwardly shrugging and letting it go. “But something as strange as that last night can't be ignored. It simply does not happen.”
The girl's tone was quiet, too—but nowhere near the almost-silence of her shyer counterpart opposite. It was just flat and expressionless; carefully constructed in such a fashion as to reveal nothing about her inner feelings. Though perhaps a little too much. When one spoke more like a computer than a teenager then there was undoubtedly something off about the whole situation.
Lucy – Lunchtime
Lucy managed to pull off a tiny smile towards Jamie before her eyes locked back onto the table, cheeks burning to the point where one could swear there was steam emanating off of her face. He may not have made eye contact himself, but she did. It was dismal and blank, but oddly concentrated at the same time. It looked more as if the girl was staring through him than at him.
“I... don't really know what happened last night, but it felt... weird...” she eventually spoke up—her voice steadily gaining strength as she seemed to slip into a reminiscent trance. “It's like... well I have nightmares anyway, but this one felt off. It didn't feel natural. And... and I noticed a lot of you had... um...”
She faltered at the word, brow furrowing as she struggled to think of how to describe the alternate selves in a proper way. After a few moments of consideration, she slowly reached into the inside of her hoodie and brought out what appeared to be a small notebook. Biting her lip as she leafed through its pages, she softly placed it onto the table and slid it forward towards them a little—tapping the opened page with a thin finger before it retreated back beneath her sleeve.
It was a (surprisingly detailed) charcoal sketch of a faceless figure in a long, tattered cloak and a large hood, several tendrils of what seemed to be a black liquid sprouting out from underneath the hem in a way that made it seem like they were fused to the main mass. A significantly smaller, less detailed figure was standing next to it with their head ducked down and facing the floor—though with Lucy herself there for reference it was obvious that this was a size comparison to showcase her height relative to this strange figure.
“...them. Different... like... y-you... you turned into them?” she said uncertainly, looking a little embarrassed as she realised how perturbing it must have seemed to them and promptly reaching forward to grab at her pad again. “I'm sorry. I'm being weird. I do that. I... I just don't know how to describe it, you know...?”
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Prologue
It was the last day of summer vacation. Kids prepared their backpacks, maybe whinged a little depending on their age, and then steeled themselves for the next day.
Night came all too quickly, blanketing the streets in soft shadows as the fine, upstanding citizens of Marshton slept peacefully in their beds.
This night, however, would be immensely special to a certain group of plucky youngsters, perfect strangers at the time.
As they slept, they found themselves being pulled down, down, down...
Down...
Down...
And further down still.
As they gradually came to their senses in some kind of strange dreamscape, they would find themselves entangled by black tendrils emanating from a yawning abyss. Just looking at it made one dizzy.
They could see each other, and a few other distant figures, being slowly dragged into the maw of the gaping chasm.
One of them, a girl, started struggling against her bonds. As she wordlessly shouted into the dream, white cloth encircled her and...clothed her in a frilly chef's uniform?
The others could see her pause with confusion, then hurriedly grab at a knife sheathed in her belt and begin to hack at the tendrils with it, making slow progress at freeing herself.
Two others (Hector & Jaime) had a warm glow that came from their chests. As it shone, the tendrils seemed to recede a little in apparent fear. Enough so that they could struggle out of their bonds if they tried hard enough.
There was a way out of this place. Light coming from somewhere above them beckoned, trying to pull them back into the real world and away from the hungry chasm—or so it seemed.
PLAYERS: Free yourselves from your bonds and head towards the light by using either your Guises or other resources.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Jan 6th 2019 at 9:23:53 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.