And the wind smells slow and sour when it blows

[whichwayyoulean]

Who: The Once-ler and YOU!
What: Nightmares
When: Friday
Where: HIS MIND
Rating: Uh PG/PG13.


[You'd be forgiven for thinking you've entered a pleasant dream, rather than a horrific nightmare here. You've arrived in Truffula Valley, a peaceful, wonderful place that almost puts Paradisa's created beauty to shame. Forest creatures are scurrying about, singing and playing and generally going about their business.

The sky is bright blue, the sun is shining and the waters of the nearby river and pond are crystal clear. And most importantly there are miles upon miles upon miles of Truffula trees. For anyone the Once-ler described these trees to, he wasn't kidding. The touch of their tufts really is softer than silk and that comforting, wonderful smell? Fresh butterfly milk baby.

Nothing good lasts forever, and there's a general unease about the place. A disjointed sort of feel, like someone's putting on a play and you've already been told everyone dies at the end]

[[ooc: Sections: Pretty Valley | Dying Valley | Dead Valley ]]

Comments

[wilder]

[He looks around at it again. His smile slowly fading as it sinks in what all this means. ]

You really did destroy it this badly...

[whichwayyoulean]

Yeah, I destroyed it this badly. It's not exactly something you just make up.

[His tone is more bitter than he strictly intended it to be. Folding his arms protectively around himself, he wanders over to the Lerkim. However, he's paying more attention to the edge of the cliff it's on than the building itself]

I guess that answers the question of where my factory went.

[wilder]

I didn't think you were. But...you are a bit dramatic sometimes.

[And he would know drama! He meanwhile follows after, occasionally covering his mouth to cough]

...A cliff took it?

[whichwayyoulean]

Yeah well. Not about this.

[He shrugs a little, down at the bottom of the cliff, small pieces of metal glint, giant cogs sprout up from the ground here and there]

Guess it did. That or someone pushed it down. [If that someone could have been him or his angry, suddenly unemployed workforce, he wouldn't want to hazard a guess. Then, carefully]

Don't breathe in too deeply. Your lungs won't thank you for it.

[wilder]

[he looks down at the factory at the bottom of the cliff. All this seems so surreal to him.]

[And the feeling of loneliness and failure? Is familiar enough to make him want to get out of here]

...Hey. Maybe if I'm here, others are too. Let's try to find them.

[whichwayyoulean]

[The Once-ler's shoulders sag, before he turns in Zelos' direction]

If they're somewhere out there, then they've got a whole heap of nothing between here and Thneedville. And I really hope for their sake they're not in Thneedville.

[wilder]

Why? What's wrong with Thneedville?

[whichwayyoulean]

From what the kid told me, it just gets worse there. [He glances up at the darkened, smog-smothered sky]

They have to pay for air to breathe and they never leave the town.

[wilder]

...Oh lovely.

Sounds like the first place to look!

[whichwayyoulean]

Yeaaaaah no. I'm the guy who put them all out of work and left them with an unfinished town, remember?

There's no way I'm going anywhere near the town.

[wilder]

[he coughs a few more times]

Well what else are we supposed to do?

[whichwayyoulean]

Wait until the castle stops doing whatever it's doing and never speak of this again?

[He's looking guilty at that coughing. So guilty]

[wilder]

So...like a week out here?

[...He's not sure he can go that long without breathing]

[whichwayyoulean]

[Zelos you're getting a sideways glance here]

Better a week than fifty years.

[He sighs, heading towards the door of the Lerkim] It's a little better inside. I've got a fan system.

[wilder]

[Hey you're so tall you probably got the lungs of a whale's. But touche, he will remark nothing on the sideways glance because he figures he put a foot in his mouth per usual and follow]

Inside...great. We should still look for others later though.

[whichwayyoulean]

[You're the best at that, Zelos. The Once-ler opens his door, the lovely hammer of doom hanging from the inside, just waiting to nab unsuspecting passers-by]

Okay, fine. I guess we can try the valley, but it's a whole lot of nothing out there. An once night settles in, it's really cold.

[wilder]

[He raises his eyebrow at the hammer, but doesn't remark. Possibly because he's busy with another coughing fit as he steps in.]

I can handle cold. Doubt anything could beat the Ice Temple.

[whichwayyoulean]

Given the seasons went all to heck about two years ago, probably not.

[The Once-ler flips a switch on the wall and a low whirring starts up in the Lerkim. And then it stops]

...Oh you have got to be kidding me.

[wilder]

...Lemme guess. The fan system's busted.

[whichwayyoulean]

It shouldn't be, it worked perfectly before.

[Damnit Paradisa stop messing with his stuff]

[wilder]

Probably Paradisa's fault.

[whichwayyoulean]

Seriously, what is it with this place and the mind games? [Ugh and the smoke is seeping in under the door now, great. Just great]

[wilder]

Maybe it likes to read a lot of psychological dramas.

[he stares down at that smoke, coughing a bit more]

About how bad is the air outside again?

[whichwayyoulean]

It really needs to learn a lesson in manners, then.

[He frowns again, concerned at that coughing. The Lorax TOLD him about the air, and like everything else he didn't pay attention. And now it's not just the animals who are suffering for it]

It's bad enough that some guy starts selling bottled fresh air.

[wilder]

Yeah, you tell it to get right on that.

[Good job Onceler. Zelos meanwhile is definitely not used to this level of pollution. Meltokio certainly had some dirty air and pollution, but it was a pre-industrial society. Meaning it was pretty much nothing compared to this]

Wonderful. And if we don't have that or the fan system - we'll be fine, right?