004 - Lucid Dreaming

[tabularasa_mods]

Lucid Dreaming Event Info Pt.1 ▲ Event Info Pt.2 ▼ Comments Please see the two info posts linked above for details on the nature of the event, the nightmares within, and the setting it takes place in. You may ask any unanswered questions in either post. If your character dies at any point during the dream event, please leave a comment in the death report thread to notify the mods.

As a final reminder, all characters will fall asleep for the full duration of this event whether you decide to take part or not. You may continue tagging threads that take place before the event, but everyone will fall asleep simultaneously.

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Falling Asleep, Waking Up
The shift happens without warning, much like the first time people appeared in the world. Perhaps you remember what you were doing in the last moments before a strange feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed you - or perhaps you remember nothing at all. Whatever it may be, you've appeared somewhere new. A seemingly ordinary train station, if not for the bizarre walls of flesh blocking the only exits. The only path forward is down into the pulsating depths, a humid breeze pushing at your back.

There may be others here with you, or you may be alone. Could there be more people trapped in this strange place? You won't find them just by standing around.

Nightmares
The screeching of a distant train will echo through the tunnels on occasion, shadows flicking through the translucent flesh of the walls. Sometimes, however, instead of fading away the noise will only grow louder, closer, until it sounds like the train should be upon you. It never appears, but something else always will.

The train is a siren call for nightmares, and you're unfortunate enough to be their victim. The shadows turn alive, twisting and growing as they rise up from the ground and begin to transform. What form they take varies, but the shadows of the mind know the true fears of those who walk among them. Are you prepared to face the darkness?

Volcanic Panic

The shadows congeal at the edges of the floor, and soon after a hot orange glow begins to fill the room - molten lava is pooling in from the other end of the tunnel. It rolls slowly forward, devouring everything it touches with an unquenchable searing hunger, leaving behind only the charred bones of its victims... although, strangely, the tunnels themselves appear to be completely unharmed.

Outrunning the flow of lava shouldn't be a problem, but there seems to be no end to it. How long can you run from something that never stops? Or worse, what happens if you find yourself surrounded? You'll need to find a way to higher ground before that happens.

A Radiant Plague

The shadows rise up into familiar shapes, and at first glance it'd be easy to mistake them for people. They may even share the faces and voices of people you know, stumbling towards you with wide, open arms... and empty, glowing eyes filled with an orange light. Something smells sickly sweet, and it's only once they're close enough to grab you that they begin to attack.

These are not your friends, and they'll do whatever it takes to make you one of them instead. Unfortunately, it's not an experience you'll be able to survive. Your only hope is to fight back before the plague can take hold, lest you become another mindless husk that knows only to further spread the infection.

Trust No One, Not Even Yourself

The shadows stretch and fill the air, choking everything in a thick blanket of darkness... before dispersing just as quickly as they'd appeared. A few moments pass and nothing else seems to be happening. You must've gotten lucky this time!

... Or did you?

Surely it can't be that simple. Nothing else here has been, so something must have happened just now. It's only you and the person you're currently traveling with... but are you sure that's really them right now? How do you know they haven't been possessed by another nightmare, waiting until you let your guard down to stab you in the back? Should you interrogate them to be sure, or start with restraining them and ask questions later? Wouldn't it be better to just kill them before things get out of hand? The sooner you strike, the safer you'll be when their true form emerges.

Yes, that must be the real explanation. It has to be them that's been possessed by a nightmare. What else could it be?

Joker’s Wild

There’s no limit to what form the shadows can take. The world may have its own perception of fear, but your nightmares are something only you could understand. What darkness lurks in the depths of your heart?

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code bases by tricklet

Comments

[theforgottenboy]

[He doesn't let Loki circle him fully, turning to follow his movements. It's not a surprise that he unnerves Akechi, even if he doesn't think Akechi needs to be afraid of him- so long as he doesn't give him a reason to be frightening.]

[Loki is something different, though. He's not entirely sure how different, his understanding of Personas mostly limited to the memories he experienced and what parallels he can draw from his own experiences. It's like they're possessed by spirits, but it seems like a more beneficial arrangement than most abominations tend to be.]

[Whatever Loki is, based on what he can do, Cole doesn't like him very much. Right now, he looks more like what people would call an abomination. Is it normal for him to act on his own without Akechi?]

If Akechi needs help, I want to help him. Where is he?

[He repeats the question. He'd like to assume that Loki would want to help Akechi too, regardless of his own feelings.]

[simulatio]

I am Akechi, [he hisses with delight. A flick of his hand and a wash of red flame, and Akechi's body stands before Cole, too pale, too bloody; the blood may have dried in streaks from a wound in his forehead, some of it wiped away by Ren's anxious hand, but still very present.

Another wave of his hand, and something Cole might be able to identify as illusion magic washes back over him, Loki making his form seem as though its his own instead of what should be a walking corpse.] I am thou. Thou art I. An oath of fealty exchanged for my powers.

[theforgottenboy]

[It doesn't feel exactly the same, but it must be a kind of magic, concealing the truth underneath.]

[Because he can tell that vision of Akechi's pale, bloody corpse is the version that's real- as real as it can be, in a dream like this.]

[He could ask what happened, but there's no point. It already happened. It's too late for him to help, and he can only hope that the void can tell the difference between dying in a dream and dying outside of one. Akechi shouldn't have to die twice.]

[But Loki is still here. He can sense some semblance of Akechi from him, but it's too different, more like a spirit, just one part of him that also isn't him.]

You're connected to him... or you were. The body is the same, but you're all that's left.

[But he doesn't need to question Loki on exactly what he is. Things like that don't matter. But if they are connected, bound together, and this is a dream-]

Can you bring him back?

[simulatio]

So insightful.

[Loki doesn't exactly sound impressed, but he doesn't refute Cole's observation, either. In truth, he doesn't know how this is possible, how he in this form can simply possess a body without a master. By all rights, he should have been released with the onslaught of death. But then, his boy has proven rather good at refusing to stay dead.

As for bringing him back... Loki reaches up with a clawed hand as if grasping for something invisible above his head, hissing with annoyance.]

Someone severed him from me, stealing my ward.

[His hand shoots up further, claws digging into the fleshy ceiling and ripping out a chunk of flesh. He regards it in his hand dispassionately, as if disappointed.]

Something here is stronger than even that contract.

[theforgottenboy]

[Cole doesn't seem bothered by the unpleasant display. Loki doesn't know how he's still here, which isn't too surprising. There are a lot of things that they don't know about why things happen the way they do, here.]

[But it does sound like he could know something.]

What something? Is there a something?

[He's yet to find anything or anyone to that effect, despite searching since his arrival. But he'll grasp at any straws that present themselves.]