[??? 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

[appleofhiseye]

[focusing on making it a fire opal, bright and warm and filled with a feeling of strength]

[quitplayinggames]

[you can't form something out of nothing. . . but as you paint, your intentions help you focus your skills through your key. . .

before you know it, you've left an image on the wall in front of you with your words.]

[appleofhiseye]

Ah, that should work.

[tapping the wall with her key thoughtfully, trying to focus on an image of aather--the different rings and personae and flowers from each realm]

[quitplayinggames]

[they're very small and simplified, but they're there now!]

[appleofhiseye]

[IT WORKS OK]

[gonna try and draw Maleficent. with paints, if need be]

[quitplayinggames]

[you're running out of paint, and the wall is starting to reject it more forcefully, even with your key assistance... it drips and runs down the wall. :(

maybe it's better this way, did we really need a neon dayglow lisa frank maleficent...

do you want to try to strengthen what you've left there already while you're finishing up, though?]

[appleofhiseye]

[strengthening seems legit, gonna make sure everything is heavily reinforced!]

[quitplayinggames]

[you feel tired when it's done, a bit of a physical drag from channeling the energy, but you can tell that your reinforcements helped.

while you're contemplating the results of your actions, you hear a tinny sound, somehow cutting completely through the noise each time: it layers itself on top of all the other voices rather than removing them, so now it's really loud in your head.

it's coming, improbably, from the cord-cut hotel telephone in the pile of feathers.

the sound is impossible to ignore, hideously compelling - who's even calling? it would be very, very hard not to react to the ringing.]

[appleofhiseye]

Now they decide to pick up.

[carefully making her way back over to the phone, picking it up, and putting it to her ear]

[quitplayinggames]

[picking up the phone does nothing right now - the cut cord is sparking a bit, with no indication of where - or if - the other side is in the mass of feathers. THIS IS A TERRIBLE SYSTEM.

R I N G]

[appleofhiseye]

[MAKING A FACE AT THE PHONE]

Stop that.

[quitplayinggames]

[your disapproval does not make it shut up.]

[appleofhiseye]

[feeling around on the floor the other end of the cord, trying to see if the phone sparks MORE or LESS if moved in certain directions. maybe it can find its cord????]

[quitplayinggames]

[it does start sparking more as it's moved-- that way!

your key reacts to your urgency, blowing the feathers aside. there-- the cut cord disappears into the floor over that way, hanging loose. there's a couple of feet of slack there.]

[appleofhiseye]

! Ah-hah!

[sliding over that direction with the phone in hand, grabbing her key with her free hand and urging it to blow away more of the feathers for a better view as she goes]

[quitplayinggames]

[you have TWO ENDS OF A CORD! what now?]

[appleofhiseye]

[putting the two ends together, making them touch, and tapping them with her key, focusing on trying to get them to mend]

This feels so silly.

[quitplayinggames]

[this is indeed a weird way to fix a phone, but your key keeps glowing on your chest. . . you can feel the power moving. maybe it's more like a tool you just couldn't sense before than make-believe? eventually, your Red Green bullshit succeeds.

the phone comes off the receiver as you finish. there's a moment of silence. . . then a click. they've hung up.

you feel a powerful emotion, hard to identify. . . mixed hope and dread. . .? it hits you so hard that you physically double over.]

[appleofhiseye]

[Ow, slumping onto the ground and trying to take a few deep breaths to steady herself]

[quitplayinggames]

[ah. . . the noise is dimming around you, as if it was drowned out by that shock of emotion; perhaps this is all for today. You hear Dream's voice, a little uncertain, as the noise finishes fading out.]

"Well, that's one way to do it. . ."

[. . . you wake up. don't forget how your key worked here; you can keep using that.

don't forget any of this.]