Well, the... place I ended up in last Thursday, and what we experienced there - it was a bit... [hmm. how to phrase this.] From what I've heard of the other experiences, it was a bit different than those. Similar, in some ways, but also -
[idly, she brings a hand up to the back of her neck.]
...it seemed significant. Have either of you had the chance to speak with any of the others who were there about this...?
[ i really have nothing useful to say yet so he just gives shi qingxuan a meaningful look, eyes flicking to the back of her neck when she reaches for it.
also he just got beaten up by a panther can we save the stabbings ]
I'll summarize, then - we woke up in a bedroom on what seemed like a space station, with notes instructing us to perform certain tasks. The door out of the room was jammed shut, so we could only get out by going through the vents.
The first time we went through them, we were attacked by - ah... a furry creature with a beak... [she looks a little unsure, like she's not sure if she's supposed to be mentioning this to them?] ...but Endorsi and Medb fought it off. The vents let us out in a conference room with eight bodies slumped over the table. Four of them were other participants; the other four we couldn't see clearly at first. The other participants looked dead, and after we found wires on them, we - felt wounds in the backs of our necks.
[she rubs at the back of her neck again]
...we had to plug the wires into our necks, and then they vanished, at which point the other bodies started to move and attack us. I only recognized one of them, but the others each seemed to recognize one, too, so I think they were people from our homes. [...] They had buttons on the backs of their necks, and we were able to go through the vents again after we pressed them and they stopped moving.
This time we came out in a hallway with a door at the end of it that actually opened. It led into a room with a podium, where we were given the choice to recalibrate... something. We did, since it was on our list of tasks, and the furry creature from the vents came after us. After we picked yes, we - changed.
[her gaze flicks to sloth's horns]
...the changes we experienced were - very much like the... other features we've seen on all of you. [...] But they vanished, and the creature that had followed us got close, but I kicked it to try and stop it before it could do anything. That, um, didn't go so well. I passed out not long after that, but we got back somehow...
...As you likely know, on Fridays, I tend to spend time with Wrath. She's so exhausted, she can barely move - two weeks in a row, now, I've had to catch her to keep her from collapsing upon using her transportation power.
She's always told me how much she hates Fridays because of how much energy they take out of her. This week, she was starting to fall asleep on me, and I reached up to rub the back of her neck to get some of the tension out.
...And I felt it: a small, fresh burn wound on the back of her neck. I haven't asked her about it yet. I will, if you think it more prudent, but when meimei brought up coming to chat with you all, I thought it might help.
sloth bobs up and down in place, dead silent. it's difficult to get rid of the head empty, heart soft everything about them, but there's a small flicking sliver of--bewilderment and uncertainty?
again, they glance at pride, even if pride won't look back at them, and then they peer at shi qingxuan and gu yun.]
I thought it was going to attack us again! It attacked us with little provocation before!
[clearly it was a bad idea!! she lost a leg for it!!]
...honestly, I don't know. But it seemed - well, it seemed relevant to what's going on here. I know there's a lot about what's going on that I don't know, and, well - you guys were looking for answers of some kind before, too... I thought knowing what happened might help, somehow.
[ to pride, first, a little dead inside: ] I asked her the same question.
[ ... ] Firstly - is what meimei experienced analogous to what you all do? A yes or no, if that's what you're capable of answering.
Secondly - What does it have to do with "recalibrating"?
Finally - if you're feeling up to talking at all about what you experienced when you all explored, Pride, I'd like to hear about it, and if there are any connections. I meant to ask before, but I'm glad I waited.
Aw, it's okay, Pride! Kicking is great until you die from blood loss because you lost a leg! Happens more than you think!
[never won't be able to say how earnest they really sound about this.]
Um. It's familiar. I don't know about recalibrating, though. Wow, Pride! You can tell someone about your adventure! They really went out with the rest of them and lost their whole head. Wow!
Edited (hm you saw nothing) 2021-03-23 02:10 (UTC)
We went through long repeating hallways. We were stabbed by people we know. I was beheaded by a creature similar to yours. I imagine it also did damage to the others.
[she almost feels shamed by that "die from blood loss" bit, and she mumbles:]
I'm pretty sure I didn't die though...?
[anyway, moving on.]
Was it - is there anything you can think of in our experiences that might have overlapped, other than that thing...? Or anything you can think of from it that might be worth investigating on our own? We've been told that the clues to what we need to do are all on this side, but...
[she has no idea where to start]
I'm sorry to pry - I don't mean to make you think about something unpleasant...
[ sqx you're so nice as always. gu yun loves prying! ]
It did. [ damage the others.... to say the least whew. ] You all went because you wanted to find out more about the excursions we get sent off on, right? I'd echo meimei's questions.
I suppose 'recalibrating' is a word that I've heard now several times, usually to describe the center itself after a Thursday. If this place somehow takes energy from you all to do so, it would make sense that it exhausts you. That isn't just Wrath, right? You're all exhausted on Fridays? Whether you know the cause of it or not.
I've been indulging as much as possible, I really have...!
[luckily neither of them is envy so they do not know exactly how much she's been indulging. she hopes. ... although, wait a minute, if only the avatar they're aligned with gets the fuck alarm doesn't that mean seven of the others could accidentally tune in and watch. why am I only just realizing that now.]
Similar, yes. ...and taunting us - well, that seems similar to what some of the others went through...
[...]
...is it... dangerous for you? To be tired then? Or is that not something I should ask...
[ he's absolutely not looking at pride as qingxuan says she's indulging as much as possible lol
anyway. gu yun frowns, tapping his finger against the inside of his arm, thoughtful. ]
But that's the thing, though - to learn what we get up to in a normal situation would be as simple as walking through the base and providing the manual labor to do so, which I wouldn't discount. Certainly a difficult task, especially for the eight of you, especially when we all aren't exactly clean about it. [ qingxuan knows, so: ] Myself being no exception.
Even still, every Friday, we wake up and there's no trace of anything, save of course for the curious little hints we get, and it's been that way every week. According to rumor and sight, that creature tends to bound about on Thursday nights, too. Then there's the transformation of the execution room on Sundays - all things that in a normal situation cannot be created out of thin air. I've heard both of these things associated with that term, 'recalibration', too, and it came up in meimei's little adventure.
That sort of practice must take a lot of energy, since everything here seems to be about it, no matter how strange the indulgence center can be. Does this place take that energy out of you all in order to perform those tasks? Literally so?
Sometimes you just have a job that tires you out! We're Avatars, and you guys are aligned with us to the same sin! Why would it come from us when all of you guys are here!
[haha]
Hey! When you try something new, you're never perfect at it the first time, right?
[honestly thank god for gu yun because shi qingxuan probably wouldn't have made the connection between recalibration and the preservation of evidence and all of that... he's the one asking decent questions here. she's just like "we're supposed to share, should we share cyoa deets with the avatars too??"
she looks at gu yun for a moment at "myself included," then looks down. haha... that's still a complicated feeling. but she's quiet, mulling that over, listening to sloth's and pride's answers to their questions.]
Well - I do hope it stops being... annoying, for you, soon.
[and then she smiles]
Oh, I do plan to listen to Sloth! They've certainly never steered me wrong, they have great advice. Very reliable! [she is a sloth stan.]
[ someone here has to be a braincell and tragically... it is me. gu yun nods to the comment about sloth, focusing on it. ]
You all have been changing faster because we've been indulging, right? Every time I indulge in something prideful, it directly effects Pride, enough to change their physical features. [ with a nod of his head in their direction. ] I've seen it enough up close to keep stock of the changes, whether I could barely see last week or not. Is the relationship symbiotic, between you all, us, and the base as a whole?
[welp.] Aww, Pride! You and Shi Qingxuan are so darn nice to me! [and they promptly throw their arms around Pride's neck and shoulders to hug them! wow! but, like, briefly because it's pride, and they may get stabbed.
feathers just shoot out of the hood like sparkles.]
The base is just a base! It's like the House. It's like--a river! All of it flows down to us, and we're the collection pool at the end! All of it just makes us change a little.
If I insinuated you needed saving, you would likely stab me.
[ smh ]
What happens when we all achieve our desires or indulge however much we need? Do you all just wait for another round of people to agree to this song and dance?
[ with a soft huff, gu yun folds his arms. it's emotion week and i forgot, so, anyone will feel a sort of wry like-recognizing-like sense of fondness. ]
I'm sure. [ to pride, anyway. he imagines pride could out stubborn him, even, so. same aspect hat. ] But yes, I agree with meimei. Seems we've got at least a decent idea of how to do that.
[ and some indulgences are bigger than others, like they've learned. murder and fuckin. ]
Neither of you answered my question, though. What happens when we hit the finish line? Is that the end, or are more people brought to this place for the same deal?
sloth laughs like pride told a joke. pride isn't joking, but it's funny. the two of them here are literally the "someone will die" "of FUN!" meme.]
Pride's just homesick! Me, too! If you lose, I guess you're only losing a chance at the help to get what you want. Even that can be frustrating. But keep trying!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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anyway, pride is listening.]
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Well, the... place I ended up in last Thursday, and what we experienced there - it was a bit... [hmm. how to phrase this.] From what I've heard of the other experiences, it was a bit different than those. Similar, in some ways, but also -
[idly, she brings a hand up to the back of her neck.]
...it seemed significant. Have either of you had the chance to speak with any of the others who were there about this...?
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also he just got beaten up by a panther can we save the stabbings ]
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Well, you know me! I haven't heard anything, but...
[hm.
they exchange a look over at pride. you... have you??]
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I do my best not to listen, and none of the others who have gone through it have spoken to me about it. Or are dead.
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I'll summarize, then - we woke up in a bedroom on what seemed like a space station, with notes instructing us to perform certain tasks. The door out of the room was jammed shut, so we could only get out by going through the vents.
The first time we went through them, we were attacked by - ah... a furry creature with a beak... [she looks a little unsure, like she's not sure if she's supposed to be mentioning this to them?] ...but Endorsi and Medb fought it off. The vents let us out in a conference room with eight bodies slumped over the table. Four of them were other participants; the other four we couldn't see clearly at first. The other participants looked dead, and after we found wires on them, we - felt wounds in the backs of our necks.
[she rubs at the back of her neck again]
...we had to plug the wires into our necks, and then they vanished, at which point the other bodies started to move and attack us. I only recognized one of them, but the others each seemed to recognize one, too, so I think they were people from our homes. [...] They had buttons on the backs of their necks, and we were able to go through the vents again after we pressed them and they stopped moving.
This time we came out in a hallway with a door at the end of it that actually opened. It led into a room with a podium, where we were given the choice to recalibrate... something. We did, since it was on our list of tasks, and the furry creature from the vents came after us. After we picked yes, we - changed.
[her gaze flicks to sloth's horns]
...the changes we experienced were - very much like the... other features we've seen on all of you. [...] But they vanished, and the creature that had followed us got close, but I kicked it to try and stop it before it could do anything. That, um, didn't go so well. I passed out not long after that, but we got back somehow...
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...As you likely know, on Fridays, I tend to spend time with Wrath. She's so exhausted, she can barely move - two weeks in a row, now, I've had to catch her to keep her from collapsing upon using her transportation power.
She's always told me how much she hates Fridays because of how much energy they take out of her. This week, she was starting to fall asleep on me, and I reached up to rub the back of her neck to get some of the tension out.
...And I felt it: a small, fresh burn wound on the back of her neck. I haven't asked her about it yet. I will, if you think it more prudent, but when meimei brought up coming to chat with you all, I thought it might help.
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sloth bobs up and down in place, dead silent. it's difficult to get rid of the head empty, heart soft everything about them, but there's a small flicking sliver of--bewilderment and uncertainty?
again, they glance at pride, even if pride won't look back at them, and then they peer at shi qingxuan and gu yun.]
Wow, you guys, um, had a rough time, huh?
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What, exactly, are you looking for us to tell you? [...] Why did you kick it?
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[clearly it was a bad idea!! she lost a leg for it!!]
...honestly, I don't know. But it seemed - well, it seemed relevant to what's going on here. I know there's a lot about what's going on that I don't know, and, well - you guys were looking for answers of some kind before, too... I thought knowing what happened might help, somehow.
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[ ... ] Firstly - is what meimei experienced analogous to what you all do? A yes or no, if that's what you're capable of answering.
Secondly - What does it have to do with "recalibrating"?
Finally - if you're feeling up to talking at all about what you experienced when you all explored, Pride, I'd like to hear about it, and if there are any connections. I meant to ask before, but I'm glad I waited.
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[never won't be able to say how earnest they really sound about this.]
Um. It's familiar. I don't know about recalibrating, though. Wow, Pride! You can tell someone about your adventure! They really went out with the rest of them and lost their whole head. Wow!
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We went through long repeating hallways. We were stabbed by people we know. I was beheaded by a creature similar to yours. I imagine it also did damage to the others.
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[she almost feels shamed by that "die from blood loss" bit, and she mumbles:]
I'm pretty sure I didn't die though...?
[anyway, moving on.]
Was it - is there anything you can think of in our experiences that might have overlapped, other than that thing...? Or anything you can think of from it that might be worth investigating on our own? We've been told that the clues to what we need to do are all on this side, but...
[she has no idea where to start]
I'm sorry to pry - I don't mean to make you think about something unpleasant...
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It did. [ damage the others.... to say the least whew. ] You all went because you wanted to find out more about the excursions we get sent off on, right? I'd echo meimei's questions.
I suppose 'recalibrating' is a word that I've heard now several times, usually to describe the center itself after a Thursday. If this place somehow takes energy from you all to do so, it would make sense that it exhausts you. That isn't just Wrath, right? You're all exhausted on Fridays? Whether you know the cause of it or not.
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[bwease.
also, sloth can't really say much about being exhausted. they are literally aligned with sloth for a reason, but it does make them laugh a bit.]
We have to learn what you guys get up to Thursday somehow, right?
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And Sloth is right. We're all tired on Fridays.
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[luckily neither of them is envy so they do not know exactly how much she's been indulging. she hopes. ... although, wait a minute, if only the avatar they're aligned with gets the fuck alarm doesn't that mean seven of the others could accidentally tune in and watch. why am I only just realizing that now.]
Similar, yes. ...and taunting us - well, that seems similar to what some of the others went through...
[...]
...is it... dangerous for you? To be tired then? Or is that not something I should ask...
[she's doing her best here]
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anyway. gu yun frowns, tapping his finger against the inside of his arm, thoughtful. ]
But that's the thing, though - to learn what we get up to in a normal situation would be as simple as walking through the base and providing the manual labor to do so, which I wouldn't discount. Certainly a difficult task, especially for the eight of you, especially when we all aren't exactly clean about it. [ qingxuan knows, so: ] Myself being no exception.
Even still, every Friday, we wake up and there's no trace of anything, save of course for the curious little hints we get, and it's been that way every week. According to rumor and sight, that creature tends to bound about on Thursday nights, too. Then there's the transformation of the execution room on Sundays - all things that in a normal situation cannot be created out of thin air. I've heard both of these things associated with that term, 'recalibration', too, and it came up in meimei's little adventure.
That sort of practice must take a lot of energy, since everything here seems to be about it, no matter how strange the indulgence center can be. Does this place take that energy out of you all in order to perform those tasks? Literally so?
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[haha]
Hey! When you try something new, you're never perfect at it the first time, right?
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Listen to Sloth. They actually know what they're talking about this time. [don't be mean.]
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she looks at gu yun for a moment at "myself included," then looks down. haha... that's still a complicated feeling. but she's quiet, mulling that over, listening to sloth's and pride's answers to their questions.]
Well - I do hope it stops being... annoying, for you, soon.
[and then she smiles]
Oh, I do plan to listen to Sloth! They've certainly never steered me wrong, they have great advice. Very reliable! [she is a sloth stan.]
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You all have been changing faster because we've been indulging, right? Every time I indulge in something prideful, it directly effects Pride, enough to change their physical features. [ with a nod of his head in their direction. ] I've seen it enough up close to keep stock of the changes, whether I could barely see last week or not. Is the relationship symbiotic, between you all, us, and the base as a whole?
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feathers just shoot out of the hood like sparkles.]
The base is just a base! It's like the House. It's like--a river! All of it flows down to us, and we're the collection pool at the end! All of it just makes us change a little.
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they... tolerate it, at least? lord.]
The more there is, the more we change. [...] But you can't stop now. What we look like doesn't matter. We don't need saving or whatever nonsense.
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[this sort of comes out in a mumble. she can't not be concerned, though - she glances between sloth and pride, and then looks to gu yun.
mmm...]
What do you need, then? Is it just for us to keep indulging...?
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[ smh ]
What happens when we all achieve our desires or indulge however much we need? Do you all just wait for another round of people to agree to this song and dance?
How do you all get home?
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You guys came here to get what you need. You don't have to worry about us! We're fine. Just keep doing what you're doing!
It's really darn nice that you're worried about us getting home, though. Thanks!
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...well - we'll certainly do that much, at least.
[she's still, like, worried. but it's hard to argue with them when they're both like this.]
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I'm sure. [ to pride, anyway. he imagines pride could out stubborn him, even, so. same aspect hat. ] But yes, I agree with meimei. Seems we've got at least a decent idea of how to do that.
[ and some indulgences are bigger than others, like they've learned. murder and fuckin. ]
Neither of you answered my question, though. What happens when we hit the finish line? Is that the end, or are more people brought to this place for the same deal?
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[they glance at pride, and then sort of shrug their shoulders.]
Don't know! [haha.] We've never been Avatars before this. Maybe if you guys win, we win, huh? We all win!
[yay. they are so cheerful.]
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We don't know what happens. [folds their arms.]
I can only hope it's the end. I'm sick of being here and I'm sick of all of you.
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Ahaha, so straightforward. Well - we'll do our best to bring this to an end of some kind, then. I hope you'll be able to go home quickly.
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[ he says this just because he knows it's annoying. terrible. ]
I rather like that answer. "We win, we all win." That's the outcome I want. I really, absolutely hate to lose anything.
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sloth laughs like pride told a joke. pride isn't joking, but it's funny. the two of them here are literally the "someone will die" "of FUN!" meme.]
Pride's just homesick! Me, too! If you lose, I guess you're only losing a chance at the help to get what you want. Even that can be frustrating. But keep trying!