+ Your imagination can't hurt you! +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: YOU!
Where: The Mindscape
When: starting November 11th
Rating: may be up to R for character deaths
Summary: Navigate challenges to learn valuable lessons about nonviolence, cooperation, and self-sacrifice! Release your inner animal! Read more about the event here, and on the bulletin board.
The Story:




"If you know yourself, you have nothing to fear."
"Working together is the only way."
"Deaths are a necessary part of life, but not all deaths are necessary."
"The needs of the many outweigh the life of just one."

Comments

[mypartnerintime]

[She starts poking around the room semi-blindly, first with a steady and deliberate thoroughness, then with more desperation and panic as time passes. The water is certainly rising faster now.]

...Getting stuck doesn't sound like it'd help much. [So yes, she agrees that that should be a last resort, or... or he could just leave her.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

The thought almost doesn't sound sarcastic in her head. Sure does sound like her, though.

And maybe it is a good idea. Heaven knows the universe could use one less time traveler. But despite her rocky relationship with Sans, she's fairly certain he wouldn't leave her in any case.

She was also fairly certain he wouldn't tell anyone her secret. But he did.

The thought leaves her feeling slightly more hopeless as the water begins to lap against her knees.]

There's nothing here. How the fuck am I supposed to get out of this? [She gives the metal door a frustrated bang with her foot, spraying water up everywhere.] Or has Wonderland gone completely bonkers and decided to just outright kill us?

[punful]

yeah, heh. sure wouldn't get us out of this sticky situation. heh.

[Probably not the best time for jokes, but it's what he does.]

[He starts splashing along the walls, checking for any loose stones or hidden panels or anything at all. If it comes to it, he'll just have to guess. Once the water gets high enough, it'll be their last option and he'll just have to...hope. Something he's not very good at. But he is fairly good at guessing. So, if it comes to it...]

[But they're not there yet. The water is up to his ankle bones now. There's no switches, nothing.]

doesn't make sense. why would it bother? the events have always had some kinda...something to them. it's like a puzzle, yeah? one of those locked door puzzles. gotta have a solution. might just not be obvious.

[Four minutes left.]

remember that post on the network? with the cards? there's gotta be a clue there.

[Too bad he didn't pay much attention to it. He's, uh...maybe starting to get a bit concerned.]

[mypartnerintime]

[Normally Max would appreciate the pun, but today it just seems to bounce off her. Probably because there's water up to her thigh. And it's still going up.

But water you gonna do about it?

It's really not funny. She continues to search the walls and floor with grim determination.]

Unless I'm about to turn into a fish, I don't think it'll help so much.

[There was something else in the video about not stepping on the floor because it turned into lava, but that sounds like overkill at this point. A room full of water is more than enough to finish off this particular puzzle. Though the more she thinks about it, the more puzzle seems like the wrong word.

She pauses to steady her voice, trying to not overthink on whether or not a solution actually exists.]

It's up to my thighs here. How're you... How are things on that side? Find anything?

[punful]

[It's so hard to pay attention to the announcement posts because they so thoroughly seem like complete nonsense. The worst kinds of riddles are ones that make absolutely no sense except in retrospect. What was it...one of the cards had turned into a dog or something. They'd been making a card bridge across lava...]

[So maybe cooperation is the key, but that still doesn't do much for them right now. He scrubs at his skull, trying to think.]

shit. okay...

[The water must be rising much faster on her side, which means they have less time than he thought. Maybe three minutes. Damn.]

it's rising faster on your hand. hold on, gonna try something. stand back from the door.

[He raises his hand and summons a Gaster Blaster, aiming it for the metal door between them. He's always been a fan of cutting the knot, but something tells him this isn't going to work. Some puzzles can't be brute-forced.]

[The Blaster goes off with an explosive, unforgettable sound, searing the metal and casting Sans's entire side of the room in hot white light. He grits his teeth, putting as much force into the blast as he can.]

[The blast ends, the light fades and Blaster blips out of existence. There isn't so much as a scorch mark.]

come on...

[He raises his hand again and summons a line of bones, sending every single one crashing into the metal. Nothing happens.]

nothing's working. just...just hang in there, we'll think of... it's gotta be cooperation-based. right? must be something both of us can do...

[mypartnerintime]

[She stands back and away from the door as instructed, leaning against one of the stone walls. There's a weird sound- almost like a roar, but she can't tell what it is. She can imagine, though: Sans throwing his magic against the metal.

She tells herself to breathe and be patient as several loud bangs sound out from Sans' side of the door. But by the end of it she feels nothing but more panic.

As Sans talks she wades back toward the door. Wades.

Waist-high now.

She puts her palms against the metal, leans her forehead on it. This really, really isn't going to end well for her, is it? There's nothing along the door that will help, no switches or hinges or levers...

No hinges. Nothing that even makes it look like a door. But that's what Sans keeps calling it. She around, trying to see the places where the metal meets the stone, but it's too dark.]

Hey uhh, Sans...? How did you know it was me on this side? I only knew it was you because of your voice, but you... I think you said my name before you heard me.

[punful]

[It's up to his chest now. God does he ever hate being short sometimes. It's getting harder to move, his clothes sodden and weighing him down. He's pretty sure his slippers have floated off somewhere.]

[There has to be something. Maybe--maybe he's supposed to just guess. Maybe this event wants him to take some kind of leap of faith. It all seems like a test of some kind, and he is not one for leaps of faith. He could just...just teleport four feet through the metal door and hope it's far enough, hope he can calculate how much water needs to be displaced.]

[He stumbles a bit in the water.]

what? because i saw you...right before the door came down. it dropped from the ceiling. there's some kind of mechanism that's not letting me lift it back up, even with magic.

[The water's approaching his shoulders now and he starts to feel the first twinges of panic. Okay. Okay, calm down. Calculate how much water must be in this side of the room, allow for a margin of error +/-2...maybe 3 to be safe. Practice.]

[He teleports sideways just a few feet , causing a small wave as the water is displaced. The wave hits the wall and flows backward, almost barreling him over as it hits.]

[It's more difficult than he'd like, but if can just an approximation on the math...]

max, i've--i've got about a minute before i go under. it gets to that point i'm just gonna...i'll do a blind teleport and just. hope. okay? not gonna leave you.

[mypartnerintime]

[The water must really be higher on her side. He's got a minute, but it's already up to her chest and rising fast. She won't even be able to stand soon.

The door came down- it wasn't always in the way like this. Near the start, Sans said they had about five minutes. In reality it's closer to three or maybe four, because the water got faster- so the door came down only a few minutes ago.

She can do a few minutes. She can do that without any problem.

No problem? That's hella short-sighted.

She just needs to get the door up again. And if it was already up in the past, then that's well within her power. The past is readily accessible...

The water licks at her chin.

What the hell are you doing?

I'm saving us. All three of us.

Lord, she's talking to herself again. Chloe would laugh at her. She takes a breath.]

Sans, don't do anything yet. I think I can get the door open... Maybe I can get out, but-

[She trails off. Thinking.

Saving us, sure, so we can all die in a storm in a few weeks!]

[punful]

[One minute. Less than that now. Once he's completely underwater, then he'll teleport, and god, he's not good at hoping, not good at blind faith like this. It'll all go wrong, he'll either end up killing himself or her or both of them, or he'll fuse them both into some kind of horrific quantum amalgamate. But the only other option is to just listen to her drown. He can't do that.]

[He knows full well that he can. He just doesn't want to.]

[He blinks at the metal door in confusion when she speaks, tilting his head to keep his face above water.]

what do you mean? did you find something?

[He can feel water starting to fill his skull. God, that's always such a weird, vaguely horrifying sensation.]

whatever you're gonna do, do it fast. thirty seconds, then i'm gonna try and come for you, and if i miss...

1/2

[mypartnerintime]

[He should just leave! He can!

Her feet slip off the floor. She has to tread now to keep her head above water. And she's no swimmer- in a few minutes she'll get tired and... and all of this is starting to feel very real. She could really drown. He could really screw up his teleport. They could really die.

The sound of rushing water echoes throughout the room. She stares up at the ceiling, wondering how far away it is, but all she can see is darkness. Drowning is one of the worst possible deaths she can imagine.

Her voice takes on an undeniably desperate tone. She sounds so small...]

Sans, I'm... so sorry! I swear, I didn't know that I could- do this anymore. I got so mad at you because I wanted to forget all about it, but I can't, I never- it-

[God she's not making sense. Part of her makes her feel like this whole idea is terrible, but she can't just... let herself die.

Won't.

The water is still rising. Her arms are getting tired.]

I'm going to- I have to rewind. I'm gonna fall and you have to catch me. Catch me and- and bring me to the other side- okay, Sans? You have to remember. Try. Please?

[She can't hear him. Maybe he's underwater. Maybe the rooms are too full, distorting sound, the water blocking sound from travelling across the metal door.

She just has to pray that he's fast enough. That's he's... weird enough to vaguely remember what he's supposed to do after the rewind.

Maybe he isn't. Maybe she'll die, and that'll be that. Maybe he won't even try. And she won't have the right to be mad.

She holds out a hand.

The water around her goes completely still- then it starts to flow again, but backwards, swirling away, climbing up the walls into hidden pipes, gurgling back down to wherever it came from.

The waterline recedes, first slowly, then faster, the whole room draining away. She stays where she is, floating several feet above the ground, listening hard in the dark.

She feels a wind in the room, tugging at her- hears it roar and echo among the stone walls- can just barely make out the sounds of her and Sans shouting across the door, can hear his attempts to break through, a minte ago- two minutes ago- three.

Time continues to sprint back. The world around her shifts and changes in high speed, and she listens to it all with a resigned weariness.

Three and a half minutes.

She jerks her head up as she hears a rumbling sound, the stone roof sliding away. She has to squint at the light that finally hits her, after what felt like ages in the dark- and she's shocked at how high she is already, several feet off the ground.

A loud metallic bang makes her look straight ahead, right as the door slides away.

Four minutes.

She can see Sans-