[??? 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

[quitplayinggames]

[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.]

[ancestuous]

[what is it doing calling now?

heads back through the feathers to answer that ringing]

[quitplayinggames]

[what indeed? 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]

[ancestuous]

[TRIES TO DIAL RANDOM NUMBERS?]

[quitplayinggames]

[the air's still dead, though the cut cord sparks even more. R I N G]

[ancestuous]

Come on...

[starts digging through the feathers, hoping to find the other half of the cord]

[quitplayinggames]

[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.]

[ancestuous]

[follows the cord to that end, where it meets the floor, pulling gently. where does it come from? seeing if there's anything else about it here]

[quitplayinggames]

[it comes from a drilled hole in the floor that's exactly the right width for it! he can get a couple more inches out. . . ]

[ancestuous]

[why not. keeps pulling for more slack for the cord]

[quitplayinggames]

[thunk - you hit a snag? you could keep trying to pull past it, or leave it like it is, one or the other!]

[ancestuous]

[tries to imagine the hole bigger and keeps tugging, though not so much that he'll think he'll snap it]

[quitplayinggames]

[he can't imagine the hole bigger, though maybe if he tried to pair it with some physical action the action could be bolstered? like what was happening with the door earlier...

he can't get it further out without snapping it right now as things stand, though.]

[ancestuous]

[hmm :|a leaves it for now to deal with the phone.

with two ends of the cords, tries to will that whole]

[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.

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.]

[ancestuous]

[the feeling knocks the wind out of him and he curls around himself, gasping]

[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.]