♈ Aradia: Dream badly.

[psych0p0mps]

Who: Aradia and/or YOU
What: Nightmares!
When: Between October 5-8
Where: Nightmare land
Rating: Probably no higher than PG-13

It's dark here. Not in the sense that there's no light, since you can still see, in a way. It's more that there is a darkness, stifling and tepid like the secondhand breath of some monstrous creature, thick with the stench of potency. Something lies here, vast and deeply rooted. The closer you come to it, the louder the sound becomes - a steady thrum, thrum, like the pounding of a massive heart. It teems with life, and not just its own. There are people down there, some screaming, some laughing, as the beast slowly consumes them.

Above this floats Aradia, once again in robot form, and around her an assortment of other people, suspended in midair by her telekinetic powers. Some may be familiar, some not, but all are or have at some point been residents. At an awful noise from the monster below, she flicks her wrist and another one plummets into its mouth - and it is all mouth. Though her robot face is cold and impassive, those with the right senses to hear her screaming thoughts may realize she's acting against her will.

So, what will you do?
Are you a victim?
Are you the robot?
Or are you the one who's here to kill her, and put an end to all this?

(Because someone has.)

((ooc: So yes, three options: 1. be one of those Aradia is feeding to the horrorterror, 2. be in Aradia's place and killing your fellow residents, or 3. fight/kill Aradia. All are open to multiple occurrences of course. :3a))

Comments

Jane: Be the Victim

[cyan_maid]

[Now that would be really odd! Skeptical, practical Jane, the victim? Is there really no way to get out of this one, gumshoe?

Unfortunately, there isn't. In this sort of situation, wit and a curly mustache really don't equal agency. Jane is a victim, and she's got eyes for the unfathomable beast below.]

Oh...oh, God...

[psych0p0mps]

[Well hello there, Jane. It seems you're one of those floating within earshot of the robot girl, who speaks with a pronounced, metallic hollowness.]

St0p whining.

[cyan_maid]

[Jane's head jerks up to look at the robot. It looks...really familiar, but she never met any robots in Paradisa. Still, that symbol gives her a strong feeling of deja-vu, although...isn't it in the wrong color?

Maybe something will come to her in a moment, but for now she's frowning at the robot.]

Maybe I'd stop if I wasn't about to be eaten by a...a horrible, terrible thing!

[psych0p0mps]

[What, the horns weren't a dead giveaway? Well, whatever. Aradia doesn't care. Except, you know, she totally does. She wants to break out, fly away, take all those who are still alive with her, get them to safety, but she can't, the thing has its claws too deep in her think pan, it always did. All she can say is what it forces out of her mouth.]

So is everyone else. You're not special. All will be consumed.

[cyan_maid]

[asdfghjkl But it CAN'T be, you're a ROBOT!

Dammit Jane, sometimes it IS.]

Why, though? Why can't they eat something else?!

[psych0p0mps]

[Because it's evil, she wants to scream, it's an abomination against nature and life and time! But nope.]

We are its living sustenance. That's why it called us here. It can't be stopped. It has already begun to digest you.

[cyan_maid]

[Okay. That last bit? That just hammers the nightmarish aspect even further in.

Jane might have thrown up in her mouth a little.]

W-What?!?

[psych0p0mps]

[Omg Jane she's so sorry-]

It's been preparing us for sweeps. Simmering us in our own juices. You're missing pieces already. We all are. This is just the inevitable feast.

[cyan_maid]

[No stop talking, she might throw up for real-]

This is wrong! You have to stop!!

[psych0p0mps]

[What do you think I'm trying to do - but her head turns coldly back to the monster.]

This is mercy.

[cyan_maid]

I don't think you know the meaning of the word!

[psych0p0mps]

[About then there's a horrendous, low growl from the monster - the kind that rattles your eardrums even though it's at the far low end of your hearing. Aradia jerks her hand over her head again, almost as if it's being yanked up by a string, and tosses in another screaming resident.

Not your turn yet, Jane. How's that for mercy.]

[cyan_maid]

[...Alright, then. That's. That's definitely mercy. She watches the resident get eating - she can't look away, really.]

[psych0p0mps]

[Aradia's head turns back to Jane, not quite smoothly, her red eyes dull and hollow. Please, Jane. Fight!]

I can give you the illusion of a choice if you want. You can go next or you can go last. You die either way, though.

[cyan_maid]

[To go now and get it over with and die, or stay here and banter semantics with a robot while the other residents die? What is the right choice?

Jane's head jerks up to look at you. Oh, she mad.]

I just want to know who you think you are, to do such a terrible thing.

[psych0p0mps]

[Who she thinks she is...? Oh god, Jane doesn't recognize her? That just makes it worse. Don't make her say it, don't... but the monster's compulsion is intent on wringing as much out of her soul as it can before it devours her. Both of them.]

I am the road to the undoing. I am ... handmaiden to the master of ... the apocalypse.

... Don't you remember me, Jane? Aradia.

[cyan_maid]

[Even though she hears it, and sees it, she doesn't know if she can believe it. If only she could reach out and just take her hand, or something, maybe that would snap this...not!Aradia out of this insanity.]

...Prove to me that you're really Aradia.

[psych0p0mps]

[Of course. Ever the gumshoe. But her inside self wants the opposite of pursuing this, and her robot self could not give less of a shit.]

Does it really matter?

[cyan_maid]

[Don't cry. Don't get upset. Keep your head Jane, come on!]

It does to me.

[psych0p0mps]

[Tch, fine. So, what do they normally do at this point, spew out some random trivia that only the real Aradia would know? (But then, how would Jane know it?) Oh wait, got one.]

A jar of dead spiders.

[cyan_maid]

[Her face falls in disbelief. No one else knows about that!]

...Aradia!!

[psych0p0mps]

[The beast rumbles again, and Aradia turns her attention back to it. The monster knows. It's watching through her eyes, after all. Pulling her strings. Thanks to her, Jane is almost fully seasoned. This is going to be a tasty dish of emotions, and the horrorterror wants it while it's fresh.

There's nothing she can do about that.]

It can't be stopped. All will be consumed.

[cyan_maid]

No!!

[She reaches out.]

Aradia, there's no way you could want to do this! Listen to reason, please!!!

[psych0p0mps]

[Damn right she doesn't want to do this! The beast is all over this, though. There's just one final touch it wants to add. A dash of hope, finely crushed.

Just for a moment, it loosens its grip on her.

Aradia inhales sharply - she can move! Not much, but she can, and she does her best to look Jane in the eyes, fighting for every centimeter she turns her head, her expression suddenly tormented, her voice still metallic but ringing with life now-]

Jane, I - I can't - it's too deep -

- y- you have to - kill - nngh!

[cyan_maid]

[Oh God, it really IS her!! Jane nearly cries out with relief, but what Aradia's saying...]

Kill what? It - you?! I can't!!