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sticksandbones2023-09-01 11:03 am
EVENT 004
It’s a calm, misty morning. The sun is peaking over the treetops, and the air is chilled, almost like the onset of fall. How long have you been here, now? Days? Weeks? Months? Everything blurs together. But so you persist… just. Not quite yet. The day’s only just waking up and so are you! Whether you like it or not. You see, as you slept, something has crept its way into your room, and as the sun peaks through windows and closed blinds, it’s finally grabbing you and pulling.
As you meet your rude awakening, the intruder is clear to see. Or rather, it’s incredibly unclear. Mist and fog and sickly-looking vines wrap around your legs and up your body as it drags you to the woods, and attacks of all sorts slide off like water on glass. There is no escape. It’s time to play, and the air is unusually, painfully hot.
The fog of the forest grows dark and heavy as you’re pulled along against your will, and as you go something seems… different. Maybe your body seems lighter and off balanced. Maybe certain features are no longer tickling your skin. Maybe the connection to the world around you has been brutally severed — all that can be said is that as you’re eventually spat out to a metal platform, you feel incomplete somehow. Magic doesn’t come when you call. Gear doesn’t activate properly. Whatever happened, you’re a completely ordinary human, and it stings.
You and your fellow denizens of the Grove stand on a seeringly hot metal platform, and the air burns your lungs. Ash and soot float through the air, singeing wherever it lands for a split second. Towering up before you is a volcano that has no right being here — but it is. Platforms and smaller spires and rocks litter your surroundings, and scorch marks are everywhere.
The only consolation is that whatever is about to happen, you at least aren’t doing this in your pyjamas.
Eventually, as sweat builds up and the wind only burns further, a too-familiar childish voice rings out: "It’s playtime! If you win, I’ll show you something REALLY cool. …Oh, but surely I don’t have to explain ‘The Floor is Lava’, right?"
It goes silent, and there’s a loud metal grind of something. The lava beneath the platform begins to rise, and so does the hateful heat.
At least there are multiple ways out. You can attempt to hop across crumbling platforms, mysteriously and magically floating overhead — though they might break after a few footsteps. You can try climbing the burning-hot, stony surface of the surrounding cliffsides, where flows of magma get a bit too close for comfort. You can take the safer-but-risky way of running through the game area’s many mazelike paths, cut into and through the cliffs, but be careful; should the magma rise too high, those pathways will be flooded. No matter what you choose, the goal is to get to the top, out of the volcanic arena and to a designated “safe zone" waiting on an overhang at the volcano's lip. Up there, an invisible barrier prevents victors from climbing back down into the game zone, and up there is where you will wait with your fellow victors if you succeed. It’s air-conditioned, as if you’re still not trapped within a volcano.
As the first of you reaches the top of the rise, a victory fanfare plays from somewhere, but the lava begins to rise faster. Faster and faster, for each person who succeeds — or dies a horrible, fiery death. You’d better hope your success doesn’t come at the cost of someone else’s life.
As soon as there are no players remaining in the game, another chime plays from a still-mysterious location. After a cheerful voice congratulates you on your victory, the fog encircles you again, as it had done earlier in the day. When you next blink, you’re back in the Grove, standing exactly where you were when you were first taken.
Those of you who died, however, will wake up the following morning in your usual sleeping quarters, be it in your bed or outside in the forest. The good news is, you’re hale and healthy despite everything. A voice whispers to you as soon as you reawaken: "Better luck next time!"
CLICK TO EXPAND!
Re: hi wow i did not see this
screams die into a whimper, die into hissed curses as she curls up tight within herself- it isn't until she hears add's voice that she even realizes she's not alone.
she was always alone, when she was hurt before. twelve years old in the dorm bathroom patching up burns and cuts and bruises with neosporin and alcohol and hidden bandages.
eventually- eventually she manages to speak, despite how dried out her throat feels. )
Desk- supplies-
( both handmade balms, creams and medicines alongside a small first aid kit sit in one side, labeled clearly. its something on hand, at least. )
no subject
Add is still at the assessment stage when she speaks, hovering at her side and trying not to touch the exposed burns. He pauses, turning his head and sending one Dynamo to investigate the desk.
Supplies... it's not his work, but.]
... I can work with this. Thank you. [he can't speak for the quality of it, but his own medicines are in short supply, and the generic stuff he's been restocking leaves a lot to be desired... so, tonight we try out Felicity's formula.] Symptoms of dehydration along with the burns... Felicity, do you think you can try to sit up? You can take your time with it. Tell me if anything I'm doing hurts, okay?
[soft tone, gentle touch. he's on his best behaviour right now you'd almost believe he's a real doctor.]
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[He's no good with medical stuff beyond pretty basic first aid and healing, but he's at least able to help people move around. Or he can be an errand boy, y'all just tell him what's needed.]
Oh. And I can get more water, if you're dehydrated. Do you need more water? [girl help he is trying so hard]
no subject
and then of course is the many bandages, gauze, and other such things. )
I- fuck. Okay-
( her throat burns and she feels horrifically stiff, but she does try. but at some point, she just. reaches out to elsword with one hand. help. everything fucking hurts and it's a miracle she managed to roll onto her side in the first place. )
no subject
i am handwaving 90% of this treatment because i don't wanna google medical stuff for an hour at 2am but rest assured he is doing everything Correctly and Fel's medicines are doing a great job, proud of them
They can both help her sit up, once she's feeling strong enough for it, but he's fine with Elsword taking charge there. It's better for his hands to be dressing the wounds, Elsword can make sure she's comfortable and hydrated.]
... considering what you experienced, these burns are minor. Welcome back, Felicity. You're going to be fine, I promise.
no subject
Elsword is merely an attentive dog here. A therapy animal. Therapy angel?]
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she hates how easily she lets herself just curl into him.
she hates how much she wants more.
taking a drink of water with shaky hands, she inhales before finally speaking- even now, her throat feels horribly rough. )
I was conscious of everything the entire time. Even after I died.
( why is she even saying this? its not productive. it's not like they can help.
does
she really just need to? fuck. )
no subject
His eye flicks to meet her gaze, nodding slightly at the tidbit of information. Is this a helpful fact for them right now? No, but...]
That's good to know. You returned quickly as well... conditions may be different for the Forest's "games". [but it's just a theory for now, based solely on one experience. his smile falters at his next thought, speaking carefully] ... did you end up at the Garden? What else do you remember?
[like, this is about Felicity right now, but also... if she did see Nene...]
no subject
...
Hhhhhhhence the screaming.
( she finishes with a wince, before sighing and flopping against elsword. the heat of another body isn't welcome, but the stability and grounding he grants is. you win and lose. )
... Thank you. I figured it'd be like it always is for me.
no subject
Does it help her to apply logic and rules to something traumatic? He can't be sure... but it helps him, so maybe she's the same...? She did choose to bring it up. He tries to relax his expression again, hand lingering on her cleaned-and-bandaged arm.]
You're in my care now, Felicity. You won't have to suffer through this alone. [and Elsword who is also here but he'll take 100% of the credit anyway thanks]
If the rules are different, there may not have been a toll, either... but let me know if you notice anything unusual at all.
no subject
(imagine having people who care.)
(imagine a doctor that doesn't want to vivisect you.)
even if she's taking time to rest physically, on all other levels she's hit the ground running and she won't stop.
... it's nice to have the reassurance though. )
I heard that one voice- the one the forest uses- when I came back here. Said "Better luck next time".