-Missing- IC Thread: RP Cast Filled

[Aykorn]

Standing in total darkness, was he now?

Wade almost wanted to shiver but it still felt a little hard to believe. Out of sight, out of mind. This miasma was really out of sight, too.

It made him feel so... disconnected from the environment. It was just a creepy bookshelf room to him, and yet, it wasn't; it was dangerous darkness to anyone but himself.

Jeez, that was convenient, Wade supposed, setting the stack of books down on the floor. It wasn't like he couldn't just jaunt back into the room now, so there wasn't a huge need to hang onto these gibberish books. He quickly pushed them into a corner, just in case someone noticed they weren't shelved properly, but that seemed pretty unlikely.

From what those octolings seemed to imply, no one wanted to be visit these dark pockets. And for good reason. Earlier, one of them had even said, 'Maybe 'nother one went too close to the... that room. It did seem 'ta...'

'...Seem ta'...? Wade paused and blinked trying to recall what they'd said there. 'Seem to' what?

'Seem to'... grow?

Remembering that the tunnels they took the other day had been flooded by a new patch of darkness, Wade started to wonder if the darkness was maybe... moving. Or expanding.

Okay, that was chilling.

Well, the point was that the miasmas were clearly taking other victims. No one would check the pile books. No one except the maybe that person who'd been writing that poem, Wade thought, glancing back tensely at the desk. Someone sitting here, in the dark, writing cryptic poetry. That actually made him shiver.

Wade began to hurry to follow Max, but just before he made it out of the room, he stopped at the edge of doorway. Supposedly this was where the darkness started. A thought occurred to Wade: had this miasma noticeably grown since yesterday? If that octoling had noticed something...

Wade examined the dirt floor. If no one could see inside the darkness unless it were Max or him, then something on the inside of the miasma wouldn't gather attention. Why not leave a mark?

Wade pulled out his mirror, trying to get a good idea where the miasma was now, then started kicking at the floor to leave a bit of an indent. If the darkness filled past this point, his idea would be right -- the darkness was growing. If he was wrong, he'd have a convenient indicator for where to hide in this room later.

Shell, if no one could see this... Wade pulled out a note-taking pen and started to try to mark exactly behind where the darkness's edge was on the wall. The dirt texture wasn't great for writing so he capped it and started jabbing into the wall, picking out a line-ish shape.

Wade held up his mirror as he picked away at the wall and the reflection was otherworldly to say the least. His own hand was half submerged-in-darkness, half not.

Wade couldn't quite record the edge accurately, but this notch in the wall gave him a very good idea about where the darkness lay, give or take a few freaky, sudden pulses. It would do, Wade approved.

Giving the spot a brisk pat off, Wade shook off the pen and caught up to Max. They were headed further into the tunnel, and weirdly enough, Wade was feeling a little more sure of himself.

Follow: Max
Go To: Next Room

 

[ReedRGale]

Alga ==> Ascend...?

Ascending was certainly the intent. But when Alga turned back the gaping opening she'd passed through was gone. In its place was a solid, glass-like, azure brick wall.

She walked up to it, her hearts beating. Her breathing grew more ragged as she helplessly tapped at the bricks, as if a door would magically appear if she knocked politely enough.

The stones resonated with notes at each tap. C. A sharp. D. The notes were recognizable and bell-like in this huge underground lake.

Alga began to pace and, in doing so, she turned around. The lake, which had been clear and without blemish suddenly had a path of these bricks cutting straight through it going further than she could gauge.

What now?

 

[Banshee]

Oh, Squid. Oh, Squid.

This deity was real. There hadn't been much indication otherwise with everything happening, but still, hearing so much about them and actually seeing them were two different things. She almost couldn't believe it.

Alga stepped towards the path, pausing just at its edge where brick met dirt. She felt nervous, but then again she always did, and who wouldn't be when faced with something like this? And, she thought as she eyed the waters in front of her, being right on top of a lake with no railing was nothing to sneeze at either...

One foot stepped out, hovering for a moment before settling gently on the brick path. The other foot slowly followed, and when it set down on the bridge as well she kept herself still as though reaffirming that it would hold her. Eyes stared off towards the distance where the brick path shrunk to nothing.

Gosh, this was going to be awful.

Go To: Path's End

 

[ReedRGale]

Wade & Max ==> Go to Machinery Room

The room was enormous, compared side-by-side with the small room filled with books. The two descended the crudely carved steps downward, following the far left wall of the room. The room was lit with construction lights, flooding important areas with vision, and obfuscating much in shadow. The ceiling gradated into that darkness.

To their right, beyond the sterile-looking railing were glass jars three times as tall as they were, filled with a clear, green liquid. In them floated inert tentacles. Their bases rounded off at the end where they should have been connected to something. A mouth-like hole gasped and sucked at the liquid. Open. Closed.

When Wade and Max reached the end of the steps, they saw one or two truck-like vehicles, though it was hard to make a clear comparison to the cars that the two were used to. They seemed to fit only one driver and looked heavily worked on. In fact, the two here had their hood popped open and tools were strewn around the flood haphazardly.

Shelves nearby were covered in further tools. Another shelf seemed to have a similar pieces to the drill's boring face--the parts that ground away the dirt ahead of it. And near the center of the room was the beginnings of a new drill, laying flat and inert like a dead starfish drying in the electric spotlight.

To the far end of the room, the last place that was clearly well-lit, was a desk with a simple, foldable, steel chair.

It was hard to tell if anyone else was here. What now?

 

[ReedRGale]

Read

Mag had never seen a book like it. As far as she could tell, it was completely unreadable, but at the same time, she was managing to understand it.

The words were clearly not something… normal. Not Inklish at any rate. But while being clear and utter nonsense, they made sense. And they said:

ｌｏｏｋ ａｒｏｕｎｄ​

Mag was in her room. There was no door. She heard knocking. She heard a voice. The voice was familiar. She wanted to be let in. It was better this way.

Mag looked around. She was on her bed. Her laptop was open. A search engine was open.

Ｗｈａｔ ｔｏ ｄｏ ｗｈｅｎ ｆｒｉｅｎｄ＇ｓ ｍｏｍ ｉｓ​

There was a message incoming. Its icon blinked. Mag closed the search. She ignored the message.

The knocking continued.

There was no door opposite her bed. There were no windows at the bedsides. To her left was her desk. On the dresser were many figurines. They were watching They faced away from Mag.

On the dresser was a plush nest. In the nest was her beating heart respawn stone. She picked it up. She hid it in her pillow. Safe.

Safe. Safe. Safe.

ａｌｌ ｎｏｒｍａｌ​

Mag turned to her nightstand. Her lamp was missing a light bulb. She turned it on. No light. She turned it off.

She turned it on.

It is off.

The voice was vague and annoying in the background. She couldn’t get in. It was better this way.

Mag crawled over her bed to her shelf. Her shelf was covered with DVDs. They were all blank. She knew she knew what was on them. She knew she didn’t remember what was on them.

A generic sound pinged from the computer. A message.

No windows. No doors. A voice. A message.

Ｍａｇ ｉｇｎｏｒｅｄ ｉｔ​

Mag found herself on the floor. The ceiling encroached. She could feel it. Boxing in. She could feel it. She watched.

Ｍａｇ ｉｇｎｏｒｅｄ ｉｔ​

Turning her head, Mag looked under the bed. There was something there. If she could just reach in. She could grab it. Or not. She could not. She could

ｉｇｎｏｒｅ ｉｔ​

She could. She could. It’s better that way. It’s better. She could.

It’s better.​

 

[VeryButter]

Magabelle stared ahead of her, somewhat blankly, focusing on the individual fluffy bulbs of the carpet. Her room... no windows... no doors... another glance waa cast at the thing under her bed, and to her laptop, and to her shelf, and to where there was no door but never to the ceiling. Something bit away at her inside but Magabelle ignored it.

She grasped at the carpet as a distraction, feeling it in her hands as if she could take it from where it rested on the ground, but nothing ever coming from any attempt. She just continued roughly grasping. She glanced under her bed again, then to where there was no window, then back under her bed.

Her eyes stayed looking under her bed this time. With some hesitance, she went to grab it, hoping it could help her ignore what went on around her.

Grab: ???

 

[Hesoca]

Max knew the moment he saw the tubes that he needed to break everything in the room.

Spoiler: So he did.

It was the only rational decision. No inkling with a brain, after seeing the evil residing in those trucks and drill and that ugly brainless mouth sucking at the bottom of the tubes (and it really was ugly; shell, it was almost entrancing, the way its hideous lips gasped at the liquid like it was a living thing) would let such arcane machinery rest in the insidious hands of the enemy. Anything the corruption formed was a tumor, to which, like the real thing, no pity could be afforded; thus he set out with surgical precision, obliterating each part by impure part.

He started with the drill, the most familiar cancer, prying away first the chestframe, then at the vestibules of its heart, and after coiling the Dynamo around its arteries ripped the frying thing from its seams and hurled it flat into the floor. Then he turned his attention to the trucks, sending each flying with a batter’s swing. Soon after went each tool and furniture; not even the simple desk chair could be spared. By the time he was finished, the heart had deflated, the trucks had come down in a violent blaze and the whole room bubbled in a sea of simmering red ink.

It wasn’t nearly enough. After everything the tubes remained untouched, blissfully unaware of the carnage around them. Max approached them by the railing, catching against the glass the speckle of dead tentacles floating in the liquid. He’d seen something like them once, or imagined it, when his father had, in a bout of clarity, spoken about the nature of his archaeological work; speaking, in excited gibberish, about the beasts that used to roam the planet and their long, spindly bodies, and how their remnants and bones all floated lifelessly in the deep sea. At the time, his father had expressed remorse in how he hadn’t the chance to meet them; but Max had felt, as he did now, that such hideous creatures were better off having drowned.

The first swing of his Dynamo scarred the glass with a sharp shriek. Max reeled, less to the sound than the liquid churning in the tubes. Before, Jax’s oozing form had nearly eaten his weapon by touch; the symbols had torn the air to shreds; and now, he’d discovered that the miasma in the room next door was a portal to whatever hell was contained in his mirror’s dimension. What freakish powers did this liquid have, then? Shell if he knew. All he needed to know was whether he could destroy it, and, if he could, whether what remained would sink when he swept it into the sea.

He tightened his grip, shifted his stance and let the glass shatter in a wide swing.

...Or he could have, anyway.

Max frowned, blinking from his reflection in the unbroken glass of the tubes. The liquid in them lay undisturbed, along with the rest of the machines in the room. He could have broken everything in the room, but unfortunately, the noise he would make by doing so would draw attention - and with so many potential weapons here, and Wade, he couldn’t risk the chance of being spotted.

...Tch. It was fun to dream about, at the very least.

Max moved from the glass toward where Wade was standing, and, realizing that Wade could’ve been watching him the whole time, cleared his throat with an awkward grunt.

“...Tch,” he said, “Guess we’ve got a lot to cover, then. I’ll take this end, you take that side,” and he pointed to the far end with the drill, adding, with a bit of snark, “you got a better connection with that thing than me, anyway.”

He turned his attention back to the tubes, and, with a disgruntled sigh, made his way carefully around the room.

Examine: Tubes, Tools, Trucks

 

[ReedRGale]

Max ==> Examine: Tubes

Before turning away from them, Max had knocked on the glass to get a sense of how tough it was. The solid sound gave away the structure: it was doubly-reinforced.

In his turning, Max found there was a control panel nearby. From the way they were positioned--in such a way that you could view all the tubes from it--he figured that it must control it in some way. He considered bashing it but, for the same reasons as before, rethought the matter.

Besides, the computer looked completely made from steel bar.

The monitor showed three green bars and when Max tried to fiddle with the controls, he found that they were all locked, a password field coming up. He left it alone and the field eventually went away.

Max ==> Examine: Vehicles and Tools

Some of the tools were what he was used to. Wrenches and screwdrivers, hammers and pumps. But others were complete foreign. Gauges of different kinds, specialized doodads, cords that connected from one thing to the other... it was hard to say what was a mystery because of culture and what was a mystery due to lack of experience.

That said, there was nothing that felt similar about the 'trucks.' They were one-passenger, round cars that looked more like UFOs than anything. Still, the hood in the front seemed to have a car-like set of devices in it. An engine. A battery. Things like that.

There also seemed to be a hatch around the back semi-circle. Though nothing seemed to be in either one at the moment, it felt like they could carry quite a bit if stuffed full.

Max's mind wandered to all the poor, innocent Inklings that were clearly being kidnapped with these heinous devices...

 

[ReedRGale]

grab thiNG??

Mag turned her head to the place under the bed. She saw it. The thing under the bed.

Her fingers spidered over to it. Pulling her hand along the carpeted floor. Agonizingly.

Ｐｕｌｌｉｎｇ． Ｐｕｌｌｉｎｇ．
​

She could feel the soft bristles. Her fingers brushed against them. Her palm was sweating. It soaked into each bristle. She was reaching the thing.

Knocking. It kept knocking. A woman's voice.

She ignored it. She pulled forward.
​

Ｉｎｃｈｉｎｇ．
​

More. Closer. Mag was sweating. Her hand was inching. Her hand was crawling. Spidering.

Her fingertip tapped it. It was hard. The thing was metal. Chilled to the touch. Cold.​

Ｇｒａｓｐｉｎｇ．​

She held it. She pulled it back. She held it up. She did not look at the ceiling.

​

It was a compact. When Mag looked in its reflection, however, she only saw the floor. She didn't see her. She didn't see her. She didn't see her.
​

Ｓｈｅ ｄｉｄｎ＇ｔ ｓｅｅ．​

 

[VeryButter]

Mag stared into the empty reflection before her. Or was it empty? It still had the floor in it. Did it still have the bed in it? It probably still had the bed in it.

She smiled slightly and resolved to figure this out. Where was she, could she make herself appear? She tried opening and closing the mirror a few times, listening to it click. That was fun. Distracting. Magabelle kept opening and closing it repeatedly.

open close open close open close open close op

 

[ReedRGale]

Alga ==> Go To: Path's End

Spoiler: Alga Sargasso

Alga began on her trek. Each step rang out a clear bell-tone that reverberated throughout the underground cave. As she stepped, she found that a tune was coming to form and she was walking faster or slower to fit.

It was the same song she'd been playing when the old man--Cap'n Cuttlefish?--had called to her. How long ago that felt. Had it really only been 4 days? Still, it was the very same song she was trying to make work, but just couldn't get the fingering consistently.

Somehow, hearing the rock chords vibrate from these bricks in time with her steps was comforting and disturbing. Awe-inspiring and completely casual. Out-of-place but exactly-where-it-should-be.

Step step step. A note, a chord, a note.

And then nothing. The steps stopped making sound. No music. No footsteps. Nothing. Alga could feel her back prickling with unease.

Alga looked back. She could no longer see the entrance.

Alga looked forward. She still couldn't see the end.

Alga looked to the placid lake. Her reflection stared back at her, illuminated in the unearthly light of the glowworms. She sighed.

Pulling out the Word’s prison, she found that it was... partially there and partially not. Excited, she checked the bracelet. It was the same!

It was as if they were slowly gradating out or reality, with some patches more 'there' than others. She looked back to the reflection expectantly.

But it didn't greet her. She imagined the smile and the wave that the Word would surely give, breathed deep, and stood back up.

Turning forward, Alga saw Her. Or what looked like a woman anyway. Them? Err... How does one address a god?

They were completely made from water; see-through. And yet at the same time, Alga could make out shapes and patterns that looked to be some sort of living garb. A ribbon of water flowed between Her arms and chest, connecting the lake over the bridge, circuiting around Her gently. Her undine 'dress' flowed up and down Her body. Down to Her feet it spilled over the bricks. Up to Her breasts, pooling into Her body.

Her shining irises locked on to Alga. She stared, expectantly.

Alga stared. Questions zipped through her mind, running faster than she could comprehend them before her mind stalled and everything fled to nothing, all within the span of maybe half a second.

There they were, then. The god. Not...what she had been expecting. But, still. She was pretty beautiful, in Her strange way...

Alga held the Word's stone to her chest tight, considering as she looked down. She could feel Her stare, burning and boring like so many others. Waiting for words that Alga couldn't seem to come up with. What did she say? Everything had been spilled out already back at the lake's edge, and surely They'd heard that...

Her mouth opens, then closes without a breath. She looks at Her after a minute, taking in the shimmering, transparent figure molded by water, trying to stall, trying to think.

When her mouth opens next, words fall out like dust, quiet and soft. "D-Did you...hear all that...?"

She nodded.

Alga felt herself blush. It wouldn't have been so bad if she'd just said what she needed to, but She'd heard her asking about the Word, and that was just embarrassing--

-Ah.

She looked down at the ruby in her hands, half formed and half not. Had She-

"U-Um." Alga felt like she was being maybe rude, speaking as she was, but right then she couldn't care too much. "Th-The Word, are they--?" She gestured to her head, then shook it. "I-I mean. Sorry, just-- a-are they out? Or..."

She shook Her head solemnly. A no.

"Wh-What's...happening, then...?" Something squeezed her insides, cold and sharp. Fading couldn't be good if they weren't coming out, could it...?

The god walked toward her and when She was to in front of her, She pointed to Alga's heart.

Order ****ed Her head, as if it were a question.

Oh, boy. What- What did that mean?

"Are-Are they...in here? O-Or..." Alga tapped her chest. From what the Greater Student had said, Words attached to their hosts, and that feeling when the Word had left them... Maybe they were coming back, but gosh, she didn't know. The armlet was fading too, and that sure didn't have a Word.

It was confusing.

"Sorry..."

The god put a hand on Alga's shoulder in consolation.

After a moment, though, She pointed toward the mirror sheen of the lake. Where a moment before were their reflections were now the shadows that Alga had come here to talk about, hovering all throughout Inkopolis.

She looked to Alga expectantly.

The shadows made something turn in her gut and a grimace flashed on her face before she was aware of it. "R-Right. Right..." That was what she had come here for in the first place, wasn't it...

"I... T-To be honest, I don't know much about it. I-I think everything I told you back there was everything I knew. Um. It - Naught? - comes, and it isn't Its turn. Those holes are everywhere, though..."

Her mind flickered to the front yard of her house, where pockets of void shifted in and out of existence with each movement. Everywhere.

The image changed. Now it was one of a lady of shadows and an inkling. He was firmly built and held a blade dripping ink to her neck.

She was smiling.

Her hair swirled around her like smoke, like a messy, unkempt storm of ever-changing, dark tendrils.

She smiled. Her eyes smiled red.

The sword pressed into the nape of her neck.

She mouthed a word, but Alga was unsure what it was. But in that moment, a light passed from the lady's mouth and into the man's.

He recoiled and the image ended.

 

[ReedRGale]

Spoiler: Alga Sargasso Part 2

The God of Reality looked to Alga.

Alga tried to understand the scene. Alga couldn't. She leaned down and saw the Inkling and the lady. She saw the blade, saw how it dug into the other's neck. She saw

She saw pink

Alga wasn't aware a hand was covering her face until she felt it draw back, wet with something she couldn't identify. It wasn't hers, was it? A glance towards its wrist, then its elbow covered by a green jacket. It was. It didn't feel like it.

She stared at the quiet waters below and struggled to remember exactly what it was that she had seen. A lady? A weird looking one who'd said something important. Why else would that...that Inkling have backed up? That...was what happened, right?

Alga looked at Order with a frown on her face, wiping at her cheeks without notice. "Is she important...?" Her voice sounded strange. How long had she been there?

The Lady nodded.

With a flick of her wrist the image in the pool changed. The man was older now speaking in front of crowds of Inklings and Octolings in robes... togas?

Alga noticed they were all holding books. They were books much like the ones she saw at the opening of the temple. The empty, lifeless books.

...

He held his sword high as if a declaration. The cephalopods raised their tomes in answer as the image faded.

Alga wasn't the brightest, she could admit that, but that scene made things kind of obvious.

Leave it to a cult to be behind this.

The books, though... There was something knocking on the back of her mind, something that felt maybe a bit familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger to it. Lifeless books and books in the hands of cultists...

"Those books... What are they...?"

Order pointed to her again. Then to the stone.

Alga let out a breath and nodded, holding the ruby close. Words. Of course. It made sense. With everything the Greater Student said and the pile of books sitting in the temple... Well, it wasn't much surprise seeing the mess of holes around.

Cultists. Eugh.

She looked at the waters one more time before glancing back at Order. A reason for the mess and a person who seemed to know how to handle it, as far as she could tell...

"Do you...want me to go see the lady with the tendrils, then...?"

The goddess shook her head slowly, then revealed a new image.

On the podium the man was on was built a temple. A beautiful temple. An opulent one. Almost exactly like the one in Unreality. Uncannily like it.

Essence-based beings trailed in and out of it, bringing new books; Words. The scene changed to show some cultists binding books. Then to show groups coming to clay houses and talking to parents. One in the group pointed to their child. The parents widened their eyes. The mother smiled and tried to explain something to their child. The child nodded frowning and went with the group.

The man stood in the temple. He was even older now, but still firmly built. The crowd was now a multitude. He spoke with passion.

... it was the Greater Student. There was no mistaking it.

It was like watching a dream unfurl in front of her, surreal and far too vivid for it to be anything but real. It was entrancing, and Alga almost didn't notice the similarities between them and her memories until it came to a stop and her mind was forced to reboot.

A firmly built man. A woman with tendrils. Cultists with books. The Greater Student, wrapped up in it all.

She had...been more than a little off the mark in assuming what had been going on, clearly.

Alga felt her cheeks burn but said nothing of it, turning the information over in her head. Whoever the woman was, the Greater Student clearly had history with her. Important, but not in a good way, she was figuring out.

"I-I think I get it now... I need to ask him about that woman instead...?"

Order ****ed Her head, as if a question. She shrugged and smiled.

The image changed to show the crowds disperse into smaller groups. The groups each tended towards a certain color of book. Blues and blacks, reds, greens and yellows. They separated.

There was fighting. It was surreal, seeing these... magi fight against one another. The image was incomprehensible, so much bending of reality. People exploding from seemingly nothing. People melting. People burning. People disappearing from existence.

It was... a lot.

The temple fell to ruins. The followers were all gone. All that were left were the books.

The Greater Student was alone, collecting them after the conflict. Once they were sorted, he cried, then disappeared into thin air.

As Alga watched history play out, she couldn't help but feel that she was being given more than what she had come here for. It was a lot to process, witnessing the rise and fall of something so fantastical it edged on disbelief.

It was also sickening to some effect, and she had to resist the urge to shift her gaze away. People didn't just die like that. It wasn't natural. To see it happen felt wrong.

"Why are you showing me this...?"

She looked at Order expectantly, uncertainty. She dearly wished she knew. Knowing the Greater Student, they didn't seem like they'd like to be reminded of something so...personal.

The gaze on Alga sharpened, but there was no answer.

The ruined temple stood within the vision. From the edge, a figure walked to the time-worn monument.

From a distance, it was clear she was dressed in blue tweed accented with a black tie. She walked through the doors and in moments came out holding a book.

The image shifted once more, showing her summoning up a bubble of Void around a stone as large as herself. Then, without warning, the bubble of darkness disappeared. A powerful wind imploded. Her clothes and tentacles rippled, pulled toward the vacuum. Then there was calm. And the stone was gone.

A grin.

The image faded. The Goddess of Reality looked tired.

"...They're using Words. I-I don't know why, but they're using Words to make...void, a-and that one lady from before is important to it..."

There was something big happening, clearly, and Alga was starting to get the idea of it. At least, she thought so. A temple that rose and fell, powers that people killed each other with, and now they'd been rediscovered with some heavy consequences.

She felt a twinge of guilt as she looked at the Goddess' face. Whether tired from having to communicate so much or because of the gravity of what was happening, Alga didn't know. Still, she didn't want to keep her anymore than was necessary.

"Just... One more question, a-and I'll be out of your hair." Alga chewed her lip. "...How? I-I know they're using Words for something, but Words don't seem like they'd have...the power to change the entire world by themselves... Not like that..."

She shook her head. Her chest rose. Her chest fell.

Then she said, "Reorder." As she did, the word moved from Her mouth to Alga's. In that moment she was hit with one last burst of knowledge. A complete reworking and reunderstanding of the concept. 'Reorder.'

She knew with it she could rewrite reality back to its given state. She could undo anything deviating from Order's plan with the breath of this word. She could fill voids. She could dismiss constructs not of this world. She could...

Unreality.

She held the red stone in front of her. In the rush, she whispered, "reorder." Immediately, the ruby dissolved. The bracelet too was gone, she knew.

And so too was the bridge she was standing on. Slowly but surely the bricks were disappearing in a cacophony of sound. Alga turned to see where the Goddess was but She was gone.

No time though... below her was a lake. Certain death. So she ran. She ran and ran as the bridge beneath her collapsed into the depths. She ran until she didn't know she could run anymore. And then ran past that limit, the fear of deconstruction in this strange place that might have strange rules and might be a true, and final death...

And then she was on solid ground. She was pressed against the wall of blue bricks, which crumbled to dust.

And she was alone again.

 

[Aykorn]

"Uhm, right!" Wade agreed. Hesitating, he took a quick glance around to find a path to the drills, then watched as Max already began his investigation.

Yeah, he really needed to step on it.

Upon entering the room, Wade paused to gape at the sheer size of the room, before Max cleared his throat with a reminder to return to reality. Not that Max hadn't also been staring at the huge tubes for a hot minute. But who could blame him? The opening mouths were mesmerizing in a disturbing way. The single 'almost facial feature' was some peak uncanny-valley.

With those thoughts, Wade pried his eyes away from the right side of the room once more.

Alright, alright. Wade had clearance to fiddle around with the drills and he wasn't going to waste it. He honestly couldn't tell if Max was trying to make a jab about last night or... was legitimately expecting Wade to 'connect' with a drill and find something useful.

Well. Max was getting the latter.

Last night, Wade had hoped for a just a few seconds more with his hands pressed against the drill's inner organ --as weird as that sounded out of context-- to continuing exploring the drill's controls. Maybe if he had had those moments, Wade could have found the drill's memory or some information on the tunnel. If it could remember a sequence of controls, maybe it could remember more. Well... instead of confirming those ideas, the drill slipped through Wade's fingers as a moving wall. That was the start to an incredibly rocky getaway.

Interestingly, that fate would would let him finish his drill search. Interesting like... there were definitely going to be more drills here since the tunnel didn't seemed finished, but interesting nonetheless.

Wade just had to touch the heart of the contraption again. It would probably be easier than last time too, with all the machine bits taken off and the drill resting on the floor. If there was any plating, he could just pry it off again with a tool yoink'd off any of these shelves. Perfect.

Wade perused the tool shelves for a screwdriver of sorts, approaching the drill. He could feel a bit of excitement and maybe a little of his own inner mad scientist bubbling up.

Examine: Drills
Search: for tool to pry open drill

 

[ReedRGale]

Open. Close.

Click. Click.

Magabelle checked things in the lens of the mirror. As she opened and closed it, it made a satisfying clicking sound. Like the ticking of time.

Click.

She stood up. In the view of the mirror was the bed. The bed was unkempt. There was a laptop. There was a message. Later.

Ｌａｔｅｒ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｃｏｍｅｓ．
​

The lamp was there. There was no bulb. She turned on the lamp. She turned off the lamp. The flick-switch clicked like the mirror. Click. Click.

Knock. Knock.

Click.

She closed the mirror.

...​

Click.

Mag got under the bed. It was dark. She liked it.

The reflection didn't show anything. She liked it.

Ping.

A computer message. No.

Ｗｈａｔ ｔｏ ｄｏ ｗｈｅｎ ｆｒｉｅｎｄ＇ｓ ｍｏｍ ｉｓ
​

No.

 

[VeryButter]

It was dark. But it was also cramped. Though the carpet was comfortable to lay on, it was also apparent that a bedframe was inches from her nose. So she rolled back out from under it and opened and closed the mirror a few times more.

Magabelle held the compact in front of her face to avoid focusing on the ceiling. She glanced at the laptop. The message.

Her gaze became frustrated and went to the wall opposite from her bed. But soon it returned to the laptop.

She should check the... time. Yes.

She got up to her knees and flopped herself onto the edge of the bed, turning her laptop around so she could see what she was looking for.

Check thetime

 

[ReedRGale]

Wade ==> Examine Drill after Searching for Leverage

> Wade: Find a Tool (Savvy + Academics)
> Dice Pool 6
> 4 Successes

It didn't take Wade long to find what he was looking for. First a chisel, then a small, rubber mallet. He turned his sights on the panel. He knew it didn't stand a chance.

> Wade: Pry Open Panel (Savvy + Athletics)
> Dice Pool 7
> 5 Successes

...and he was right. With the time to align the chisel and a few taps of the mallet, it made the action-packed knifing that Jax did seem totally unnecessary.

That is, until he remembered the situation with all the dirt flying this way and that blocking vision, the flaying tentacles and the immediate fear of capture on their minds.

Though to be fair, that last one was still relevant.

Anyway, Wade pried off the panel to reveal a heart as lifeless as the tentacles surrounding the device. It was weird to see one drained of all ink. It was a perfectly white, perfectly eerie muscle.

He reached out to it, preparing to touch, or maybe sync with the biotech... but... nothing. No change. No life. Whatever started these up hadn't been begun and so they continued to sit motionless.

Wade sighed. Maybe with enough time they could--

"Hey!" Someone shouted. Max turned to Wade turned to Max. Then they looked up. "Oy! Oy oy oy oy! There are Inklings here! Are they supposed to be?"

Wade couldn't make out the figures, but they were walking from the set of stairs they'd just come from. But this one seemed short and angry. Maybe a bit excitable. The other was tall, but when he spoke he took on a more formal, if a little bit of a grovelling tone.

"No, of course not--"

"Then why are they here?"

"I hardly think that's the best--"

"I hardly think is all I heard," the short one interjected.

"Look," another figure of middling build began, "look this is a perfect opportunity to see how the security is at such a key facility."

"Security obviously can suck a **** because it's obviously **********ing useless," there was a metallic clang on the stairs. Max knew that sound all too well. A dynamo tapping metal. "We can take care of this."

A sigh.

"You're just restless. But okay."

The middling one walked up to the taller one and whispered something to him. He saluted and ran off.

The short one ran down the stairs. The middling one walked.

What now?

 

[Banshee]

It took time for Alga to regain her breathing. She collapsed on the ground, her lungs heaving and her throat feeling like it was stuffed with cotton, chest searing. It was the closest she had come to death of any sort.

She looked out towards the lake with one hand held fast to her chest, surveying it with with the eyes of an animal possessed. Nothing remained of the bridge, nor of the God, and the waters were as still as when she had first arrived. It was like nothing had happened, and that, she found, was unnerving. She could have died down here and nobody would have been any wiser to it...

Alga looked down at herself and the hands in front of her, feeling a weight settle on her shoulders as the adrenaline slowly began to wear off. She was exhausted. She'd never run so hard in her life, never felt so spooked as she had then. Squid, even that one Inkling's giant robot hadn't messed with her as much as this. Water was awful.

But it was over. And she'd done what the Word had set out to do, just as they wanted. As for the Word themselves...

Alga remembered the ruby vividly, how it had faded from her grasp between one second and the next. Gone, like the bracelet and the bridge. That was all there was to it, right? The Greater Student had said as much.

Hands trembling, whether from her exertion or some anxiety she didn't know, Alga reached into her bag for the mirror she knew was there. It had to have worked. Surely.

"Please work..."

Look at Mirror

 

[ReedRGale]

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ｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｕｎｄｅｆｉｎｅｄ

the time read undefined

 

[Aykorn]

They were spotted!? Wade could barely see the figures but he could make out the salute as the tall person left. Left to get reinforcements!!

Wade shot another alarmed glance back at Max, then back towards the short, angry guy that looked like he was coming this way quick. This was bad. And it would get a lot worse if the tall guy got away. ...If.

Wade bit back the building trepidation that everything had just gone south in an instant, and wriggled his splash googles up onto his face. He spun his bamboozler into his grip and sent an ink-shot forward. The feisty dude would have to wait, there was a more immediate fish to fry.

"Cover me!" Wade shouted towards Max, as took off after the tall runner.

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT
Ink To: Runner

 

[ReedRGale]

Spoiler: Alga Sargasso

Alga ==> Talk: The Word

"Please work..." Alga said. It was a prayer. It was a plea.

Her tension was not reflected in the mirror. That alone was enough to put her at ease.

The reflection rubbed its eyes and after a yawn, began to write on the mirror. "¿op uɐɯ ǝɥʇ pᴉp ʇɐɥM ˙ƃuᴉdǝǝls uǝǝq ǝʌɐɥ I ɟᴉ sɐ lǝǝɟ I ˙sƃuᴉʇǝǝɹפ"

The Word paused. They frowned. Then, taking a good look at Alga, added, "¿ssᴉɯɐ ʇɥƃnɐu sI ˙ʇɥƃnɐɹʇsᴉp ʞool no⅄"

Alga didn't say anything for a moment. She just sagged and let the relief wash over her, overriding any anxiety she possibly felt at that moment. The bridge didn't matter, the near-death experience didn't matter. Right then, none of it did. The Word was back and everything was okay.

She thought of what to say. There was a lot that had happened for just one day. It was hard to figure out where to even start with it all.

"Uh... You..." Alga grimaced and reached up to rub her cheek. Why could she never say anything right the first time. "The Greater Student put you in a stone. I...had a hard time getting you out. I was...worried."

"˙ɥ∀" The Word began. Then stopped. They thought, put their finger to the mirror. Then stopped. Then continued again.

"˙ǝɯɐפ ɔᴉɯsoƆ ǝɥʇ uᴉ ʇɹɐd llɐɯs ɐ pǝʎɐld ǝʌɐɥ oʇ pnoɹd os ɯ,I ˙ǝʌoW ɹǝH ǝpɐɯ sɐɥ ɹǝpɹO pu∀ ˙ǝǝs I 'ʍou ɹǝʇʇǝq ƃuᴉlǝǝɟ ǝɹ,noʎ ʇnq"

Alga tilted her head, a frown maring her face briefly. "Game...? A-Ah, but... I don't know. Your part wasn't that small, I think..."

Order surely wouldn't have known to do anything if Alga hadn't come to tell Her of the world, right? And being that the Word was the one who had told her all of that in the first place...

She blinked. "Actually. Do you...know we met already?" It sounded like the only explanation for the Word's remark. Unless the Word had their own connection to Order, she guessed. The Word was reality-aligned, she knew that much.

"'sǝ⅄" they said. "˙ʍou pǝʇuǝᴉɹoǝɹ ɯ,I"

"˙suᴉƃǝq ʇɹɐd ɹnoʎ ʍoN ˙uoᴉʇɐnlɐʌǝ ɹoɟ ǝɹǝɥ noʎ ʇɥƃnoɹq ʎldɯᴉs I ˙ɥƃnoɥʇ 'llɐɯs sɐʍ ʇɹɐd ʎW"

"...My part...?"

It wasn't too hard to guess at what that meant; though she'd done what the Word had wanted, there was still the matter of everything Order had showed her. She still had stuff to do. And if the word given to her had been any indication, she was going to be having to clear up a lot of void pockets soon...

"˙ʇɥƃnos ǝq ʇsnɯ ǝɔɹnos ǝɥ┴ ˙ɹǝpɹosᴉp sᴉɥʇ llɐ ƃuᴉsnɐɔ sᴉ plɹoʍ ǝɥʇ uᴉ ƃuᴉɥʇǝɯoS"

"...Y-Yeah..." She had been starting to get that idea. "That's...going to be hard."

Alga moved to stand, keeping the Word's mirror in her grip even as she settled her gun in its usual position in her arms. She'd been down here long enough.

She gave one last glance to the mirror, thought a second, then smiled.

"I'm...happy you're back."

The Word smiled a smile that knew centuries alone.

"¿ʇɥƃᴉɹ 'ɹɐɾ ǝɥʇ ǝʌɐɥ llᴉʇs no⅄" they asked, out of the blue.

"O-Oh, uh... Yeah, it's in there." She shrugged at her backpack where she felt the jar's weight and looked at the Word, puzzled. "Why?"

"ɹǝʍod ɹnoʎ ɹǝɟsuɐɹʇ ʇou sǝop puɐ ǝɔɐɟɹns ǝʌᴉʇɔǝlɟǝɹ ǝnɹʇ ɐ ʇou sᴉ ʎʇᴉlɐǝɹ ɟo ǝʞɐ˥ ǝɥ┴"

The Word looked to Alga expectantly.

"I...hm."

She could understand some of it, maybe. The lake wasn't really reflective, so she couldn't jump through it. Fair enough. But what that had to do with the jar...

"Do I, uh. Pour it in? Or..." She looked between the lake and the mirror with the expression of someone half-lost and floundering. It sounded really stupid...

"˙ɹǝʇɐʍ ɥʇᴉʍ pǝllᴉɟ ʇ,usᴉ ǝʞɐl ǝɥ┴" The Word went on, as if that was an explanation.

It was… just a yes or no answer…

"...I. Y-You've lost me, sorry."

Good to know that some things about the Word never changed no matter what happened to them.

"'punoɹƃ ǝɥʇ uo ɹɐɾ ǝɥʇ ɹnoԀ" the Word said, without seeming to understand that Alga didn't understand.

"Ohhhhhh..." Alga's eyes blew wide. "The ground. Okay, uh. I can do that."

And she did. Once again stuffing her gun into her bag as far as it could go, she drew out the jar and opened the lid to let the water plop unceremoniously onto the ground.

"Uh. Now what?"

As usual, it seemed as if the Word was putting in a gargantuan effort into making things simple.

Finally, they decided on, "˙uᴉ puɐɥ ɹnoʎ ʇnԀ"

Well, they were trying. Alga could give them that.

She kneeled and shifted the jar so it sat in the crook of her elbow before placing her hand in the puddle, watching curiously.

Alga's hand phased through, as it would for a mirror.

"...Oh."

Well. It did made getting home easier.

"Um. Thanks." She put the jar away and stared at the puddle a minute, wondering how exactly she was going to use it. It looked just big enough to pass through fully, at least. Did she just...crawl through? That was going to be weird…

After circling the puddle for a short moment thinking, Alga finally decided to slide in, feet-first.

The sensation was unusual to say the least. With the other mirrors, Alga had been facing upright as she pushed through from beginning to end. Now though…

When her legs went through, she could feel an unfamiliar force pushing her back. Once her knees were through she found it was more comfortable to let her legs bend back, like invisible hands were pushing them back up toward her.

It was halfway as she pulled her torso through that she realized that she was fighting against reversed gravity.

After contorting herself so her head could slip through the portal, she could finally orient herself.

And it was quite a sight to take in.

The lake was now a blood-red, shimmering like a gemstone. Stepping closer, almost transfixed, Alga instinctively put a finger to the surface.

It was solid. For all she knew, it was a gem on top of that. Then, it started to glow on touch. Familiar with this, Alga pulled back, not wanting to trap the Word here. Was… this the same thing as the gem the Greater Student had had…?

The bridge of blue brick was back across the ruby lake though where the wall of brick blocking her path off was before was now an azure door.

She could go home, she knew, but… this was certainly less bleak than the other places she’d ended up going through mirrors so… what now?