[??? 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. with the door already shut it's particularly loud in your head.

it's coming from somewhere 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.]

[theriverlethe]

[ He cautiously heads towards wherever the sound is coming from. ]

[quitplayinggames]

[it's somewhere around where you first started in the room...? it might even be the thing you tripped over --

well. now you've tripped over it again.]

[theriverlethe]

[ He seeks it out with his hands, curious and insistent. ]

[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, the source of the ringing -- 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]

[theriverlethe]

[ He looks at the phone, sighs, then concentrates on his key and imagines it as a proper cell phone, dammit. ]

[quitplayinggames]

[unfortunately, you cannot change symoblic objects to other symbolic objects with your mind. you can still feel the movement of power in the room, and how your key could interact with it; it's been acting more like a channel and something to augment your efforts with since you got out of the cloud realm, hasn't it? maybe you can try another way.]

[theriverlethe]

[ Okay. Fine. Be a shitty phone.

He holds it to his ear, and tries concentrating on his key feeding power to the phone so it might work without the rest of the cord. ]

[quitplayinggames]

[THE SPARKING INTENSIFIES. it's reaching in a certain direction, and you can hear sizzle under the feathers from over there--]

[theriverlethe]

[ He goes searching for the sound of the sizzling. ]

[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.]

[theriverlethe]

[ As he holds the two ends of the wires together, concentrating on them mending and his key both, he can't help but say— ]

If I may, though they are annoying, you may wish to use a cell phone instead. They don't rely on as many external wires.

[quitplayinggames]

[alas, there's no response to that. perhaps there is a general unfamiliarity with cell phones here.

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.]

[theriverlethe]

[ Come into Acheron's dreams. He may barely remember anything from the 21st century, but cell phones are one of them.

He gasps and falls to the ground at that feeling, curling up on his side. ]

[quitplayinggames]

[ah. . . the noise is dimming around you, partly from the deadening effect of the feathers you just landed in, but partly 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.]