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

[obsessiveness]

[ meanwhile, all izumi can see is blood and hellfire. he's wading through a sea of red, ignoring the stares of countless students wearing the yumenosaki uniform. he doesn't even recognize them, but he knows deep in his heart why they're here.

and why he's here. he must've landed on his back when he feel, because there's a certain soreness aching through him when his body landed on the floor several stories high.

but he has to keep going. and in the distance, he can see an unfamiliar face in this special hell. ]

O-Oi! Can you hear me?!

[ gotta wade fast ]

[simulatio]

[Akechi doesn't hear someone approaching. It's all silent, peaceful, dreadfully boring. He can recognize that there once was a part of him who would chafe at the silence, a part of him that wants to scream and rail and destroy something so perfect.

He can't muster the energy to even sob. What is he? A ghost? Is his consciousness strung together by molecules and atoms, floating along until a solar wind tears the last fragments of his mind apart?

He doesn't see or hear Izumi, but he can sense him somehow. He can feel his thoughts, but he can't hear his words. Perhaps the origin of these thoughts is another disembodied ghost?]

Hello? [he thinks, feeling somewhat stupid for even trying.] Can you hear me?

[obsessiveness]

[ he's just standing there... weird. maybe he hasn't seen izumi with all the fire and brimstone around them? can't really blame him, in that case. he wasn't aware that akechi is trying to reach him through his mind either.

but he'll continue approaching anyway, the hellish landscape he's bringing with him in every step inching closer and closer towards akechi. ]

You-- Can you hear me?

[ he has to, at some point. ]

[simulatio]

[A sensation: heat, maybe? Akechi doesn't believe in heaven or hell, or even truly the existence of ghosts in the strictest sense. The idea of an afterlife is nonsense. There are creatures of cognition, of course, souls swimming the human collective unconscious. But it's beyond egotistical to think that most ordinary people, one of literal billions in the world, would have made enough of an impact to join that sea of souls.

But if he were to believe in it, the fires of Hell would certainly be where he'd expect to turn up. He has to wonder if he's going mad to think he can feel that hellfire, or if it even matters in the first place.

That feeling continues to approach, bringing that odd sensation of heat with it, and Akechi can only reach out with increasing desperation. He doesn't know if he has arms to move, but if he did, he'd be grasping at the air, spinning wildly to try to find the source of that feeling, terrified that it might give up on him and leave him to the nothing.]

I exist! [he screams without voice. If he had eyes, they'd be wide and panicked.] Stop wasting my fucking time and condemn me already!

[obsessiveness]

[ if akechi wishes for condemnation, izumi will give it to him. not that izumi is even aware that he's going to give it in the first place, as he's solely focusing on getting to the other male, blood-sea and the haunting wails of his dead schoolmates be damned. who the literal hell does that guy think he is and why is he ignoring someone as important as izumi fucking sena?

well, they're both about to find out. izumi finally reaches him, the fire and brimstone pooling around their feet as he touches him by the shoulder and forcefully turns him around to face him. boy, he's annoyed. ]

Can you hear me now?