[??? Day 465]

[quitplayinggames]

[you wake up.

the first sensation you feel is your key, warm and alive against your chest. you know immediately that this place is responsive to this power, the power of your will applied to magic. if you've started to experiment with what your special ability is, or if you want to, that realization might be easier to find here as well - though it's not strictly necessary. all you need for sure is a question: what are your desires. . .?

. . . you're in a blank white room. the walls and ceiling are featureless. the floor is covered in a million feathers and scraps of cloth, which drift up in muffling gales around you if you so much as move.

up in one corner high off the ground, you glimpse a splash of bright electric blue through the drifting airy debris. the only other thing of note in the room is the door on one wall: it's white and featureless as a piece of paper, and you get the sense that it will vanish into the wall again if closed. undifferentiated noise pours through the place where it's cracked open, unbearably loud. even with the feathers in the air shutting out the noise a little, it's hard to hear yourself think.

there's something hard and clanging underfoot too, hidden by the feathers. you trip over it immediately because of course you do; ow! what is that?]

((This is a short, individual, play-at-your-own pace plot explore, which will run until 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, June 2. Anyone jumping in before then is welcome! This is not directly connected with heartgames, so people are free to jump in regardless of whether they've played or run another heart this round.))

Comments

[grade3enabler]

OW! What is that?!

[THE FIRST THING I'M CHECKING. IS THAT.]

[quitplayinggames]

[it's hard to see or feel ANYTHING through that mass of white fluff. . . trying to work through it to reach the floor gives you a dreamy sensation, flighty and floating and detached from reality. at least stirring the feathers up into a fluffy whirlwind around you cuts the noise quite a bit. if you could keep yourself from getting distracted, maybe you could actually think of something useful to do with that for a second.

why were you digging around in here again? whee. . . wait, no, you were doing something, right, better get back to that. . . but that's fluffy! wait, no. . .]

[grade3enabler]

[...fluffs the fluff into more of a whirlwind because why the heck not.]

[quitplayinggames]

[the feathers are mesmerizing, and the dreamy sensation helps you ignore the noise a bit too. . . it'd be easy to stay like this for a while, flapping your arms occasionally.

unfortunately, the narrative cues irregularly shaped hard objects are still digging into your ankle, if you want to notice those eventually. bummer.]

[grade3enabler]

[flapping his arms-- wait. why am i arm-flapping.]

[why am i still ignoring whatever is still digging into my ankle.]

[going back to digging those up.]

[quitplayinggames]

[with a little effort and persistence, you unearth at least a few things from the pile. you now have:

a crowbar
a pile of paint tubes in crazed bright colors
an antique-looking hotel telephone with the cord cut.]

[grade3enabler]

[...!!!]

[picking up the handset to the telephone, then stops to look over the cord...hmm...]

[tries to put the two ends of the cut cord together...?]

[quitplayinggames]

[it will take a lot more looking through feathers to find that, if it's there at all! he could pursue that if that was his priority though?]

[grade3enabler]

[I'LL MAKE IT PRIORITY and keep searching for it!]

[quitplayinggames]

[your key reacts to your determination, blowing the feathers aside more as you try to fluff them around. there-- the cut cord disappears into the floor over that way, hanging loose. there's a couple of feet of slack there.]

[grade3enabler]

[NOW! I will attach the cord and see if I can't at least get a dialtone.]

[quitplayinggames]

[it's cut. how are you attaching it?]

[grade3enabler]

[...attempting to hold the ends together and hoping they stick...]

[though he will try to will them to stick with his key since that seems to be working.]

[quitplayinggames]

[this is a weird way to fix a phone, but your key keeps glowing on your chest. . . and eventually, your Red Green bullshit succeeds.

what now?]

[grade3enabler]

[sometimes all you need is bullshit.]

[NOW THAT IT'S FIXED can I pick up the handset and hear anything on the line?]

[quitplayinggames]

[dial tone!]

[grade3enabler]

[...picks up the phone to look under it. are there any phone numbers hidden somewhere on this thing?]

[quitplayinggames]

[NOPE. . .]

[grade3enabler]

[...dials a random number to see if it works. It's not prank-calling if I'm just testing something.]

[quitplayinggames]

[. . .

the phone rings. . .]

[grade3enabler]

[...picks it...up?]

[quitplayinggames]

[the ringing stops. there's no reply, but you get the sense that it's not the same dead air this time, just someone not speaking...]

[grade3enabler]

...Hello? Someone there?

[quitplayinggames]

[the voice is. . . insubstantial. an echo, or a memory, or even something imagined. still, it's horribly hard to resist.]

Wipe the paint off the wall. Take the pictures down.

[unless you actively try not to, you'll find your legs standing up to move you across the room.]

[grade3enabler]

[...why am I moving? TRYING TO RESIST THAT.]

Who are you?