+ 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

[noreason]

[The screaming definitely wakes Naoki up. He sits up suddenly, fangs half bared, then realizes there isn't any immediate threat. Turning toward Georgia, he eyes her and moves closer.]

What? What's wrong?

[There is concern in his voice, even if he's not entirely pleased at seeing her.]

[choosetruth]

I'm fine. [George hates lies, and even the one she most commonly tells (she's so far from fine, she's been far from fine for so long now, if she ever was) comes out as an unconvincing growl. She's not fine, but she also doesn't like hearing pity. She doesn't like needing to rely on other people. She doesn't like how entirely incapacitated she becomes the moment she loses her sunglasses, and she doesn't like other people getting to see that, knowing her biggest weakness.]

Just... do you see a pair of sunglasses anywhere?

[noreason]

Oh yeah, you look fine. [He mutters as he shifts to look around for the sunglasses she mentioned.]

...I don't see any. [He turns back to her.] You can't see without them, right?

[Call it a hunch.]

[choosetruth]

Right. [She could go into the specifics--her pupils don't contract, it's not that her eyes don't work it's that they hurt and keeping them open in this much light could permanently damage them. In the dark, she can see better than anyone. But it's not relevant and she's already getting a migraine from the light exposure.]

I don't suppose you see a way out of wherever this is, do you?

[noreason]

[Naoki moves back to kneeling beside her, though he's still peering around them. He's tense now - although there's nothing particularly threatening about this place, and he's used to various types of mazes, he's also used to having demons jump out at him every few steps. He's strong, but one good surprise attack can be all it takes to beat him.]

It looks like there could be a few ways out. [A beat.] I'm pretty sure we're in a maze.

[Just another hunch.]

[choosetruth]

Fan-fucking-tastic. [A maze, and she can't see. She slowly climbs to her feet, keeping a hand over her eyes, she gropes for the wall.]

[noreason]

Oi! [He gets up and grabs her arm.] Don't try to go off on your own like that. Let me help.

[choosetruth]

[She stiffens up at the contact and through an effort of will manages not to yank her arm away. She doesn't love being touched on the best of days, and it being a surprise makes it even worse.]

Does helping have to involve touching me?

[noreason]

[He scowls at her in irritation, even if she can't see him.]

Then you touch me. Whatever it takes, since you're not going to get out on your own.

[choosetruth]

Fine. [She wrenches her arm away, then gropes in the direction of his voice, trying to grab his sleeve. It's better even if she doesn't like it. If she's the one holding on, she can let go.] Lead the way.

[noreason]

[With a sigh, he starts to do so. Mazes. They lost that feeling of novelty a long time ago, but at least the walls of this one aren't invisible.

He's learned the trick of tracing his way along one wall, always following it around corners to find dead ends. That will only help if this maze is much bigger than what he's used to, though. They could die of dehydration before they get out, depending on its size.]

So...why is it you can't see?

[Might as well try to have a conversation. That hasn't lost its novelty yet.]

[choosetruth]

Retinal Kellis-Amberlee. It's a reservoir condition for the virus that caused the Rising, the one everyone in my world has. Technically I can see, but it hurts and I risk serious eye damage.

[It's been a struggle her entire life, so she's used to it, at least. She usually tries not to let on just how much it hurts. She's made enough enemies through her work that even if it's public knowledge, even if she doesn't lie about it, it's smarter not to outright advertise it.]

[noreason]

[Everything but the last part of that explanation goes right past Naoki.]

The sunglasses make sense, then. Do you need them even inside?

[He leads her around a corner, pauses, then reverses. That was a dead end and no reason to go all the way down to the end.]

[choosetruth]

Depends on the lighting. I can see better than anyone in the dark, and they do make lights that don't hurt my eyes. Like blacklights.

[She stumbles slightly at the reversal of direction, but catches herself easily enough.]

Another dead end?

[noreason]

[Despite talking about how she can't see, he's forgotten that...she can't see. He puts his other hand out to steady her.]

Yeah. Sorry about that.

[He continues past the dead end.]

I think we're making progress, though.

[choosetruth]

I'm fine. [She snaps her words out like a whip, sharp and fast and leaving no room for argument. She hates this, and she knows he doesn't deserve her ire but she's furious at her own limitations and had no other way to act.]

Sorry, just... let's keep moving. I want to get out of here.

[noreason]

Would you feel better if our positions were reversed?

[He's just wondering, not picking at her. He's been in something similar to her situation, needing to rely on his demons, but that was different.]

[choosetruth]

Yes. Though I still wouldn't exactly be enjoying myself.

[But she wouldn't be depending on someone.]

[noreason]

[He chuckles.] I think that goes without saying.

[Then he sighs.] This is going to take forever. I know a way to make it go faster, but I think that would be cheating.

[choosetruth]

All things considered? I'm okay with cheating.

[noreason]

I'm not sure this place is, though.

[He still stops and examines the walls of the maze.]

If I can climb up to the top of a wall, I should be able to see out over the whole thing.

[He is capable of a lot of physical feats, but walls that are too slick or too high aren't going to allow that kind of thing.]

[choosetruth]

Do it. [She doesn't care what the place is okay with or not. Anything to get them out of here faster.] If you can do it, it's fair game.

[noreason]

[Naoki nods and steps away from her. Crouching down a little to gather himself, he springs upward. The wall doesn't look too high, so all he needs is a good handhold and he can pull himself the rest of the way up.

That proves more difficult in practice than in theory. The wall is slick, and though he manages to catch the top of it, it takes more work than he'd expected to pull himself up to the top so he can look around.

A moment later, he drops back down beside Georgia.]

I can't tell how big it is. It's like a hologram or something - it's like it changes when I tilt my head.

[choosetruth]

Really? [She reaches out to touch the wall, but it's solid enough under her hand.] We're supposed to find our way out of a maze that keeps changing? Fuck that. [She starts walking, one hand on the wall, not waiting for Naoki to catch up. It's not like his vision is doing much to help them, apparently.]

[noreason]

I don't know if it's changing. It's like a mirage.

[He jogs a couple steps to catch up with her.]

So what exactly do you want to do about it?