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Well Mod ([personal profile] wellie) wrote in [community profile] wellcome2024-04-19 04:40 pm
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6.0 Test Drive Meme

6.0 Test Drive Meme

Welcome to Well! See the first prompt for how your characters arrive in Well. Your character arrives with only a handful of memories, clad in a mix of Old Western clothes and clothes that might fit in at a renaissance fair, and no items from home.

Anyone is free to play on the TDM, but you need an invite to apply. Feel free to use these prompts, and interact with the arrival or locations. NPCs are around, but only say a certain set of phrases. TDMs can be considered game canon.

This TDM takes place from the first week of May onward, and can happen concurrently with other events during May and June. This will be the only TDM for May, June, and July.

Applications are open April 26th until May 1st, and May 27th until June 1st. Invites are available for friends of current players.

Arrival: Escape!
Content warnings: forced captivity, blood, eating eyes, drowning in sand, forced intimacy

The First Room

You wake up somewhere dark and damp. Maybe this is your first time waking up here, maybe it's your fourth, but the beginning is the same. You're in a small stone room. The only light comes from torches flicking on the walls. The room is bare except for a metal door. And you're not alone. You and someone (or someones) are here together, and you have to get out.

The door is locked, and to leave it you must just find one key. On the door is a note with a clue:

Freedom is hot!

The key is in fact in one of the torches! Depending on luck, you might find it on your first try, or your fourth. Find a way to extinguish the torches, and handle the hot, hot key to unlock the door.
After this, you find yourself in one of the following rooms. Choose one from the first set, then one from the second set, then one from the third set. You will always end in the final room. You must travel through five rooms to escape.

If you don't complete a task in five minutes, you will return to very first room and have to start again.

You can choose your own path, or comment below to have a random path set for you!

The Second Room

You find yourself in one of the following rooms:
1. There Ain't Room
2. Glitter Bomb
3. Riddles Three
1. There Ain't Room
In this room is a shooting game. There's a barrier with bebe guns attached to it, and at the far end are small cut outs of people. There's a sign on the far wall, in old-West style script, reading:

There Ain't Room

The cut outs look sort of familiar! There are cut outs of you and your compatriot(s), as well as some typical cowboy looking cut outs. Shoot your own cut out to escape! You each must shoot your own one, if you shoot each others', that person feels it as if they have been shot, and will start bleeding.

When you successfully hit all of your own cut outs, the floor under you opens up and you drop into the next room.

2. Glitter Bomb
As you walk through the doorway, you feel oddly.... sticky? Like your skin is covered in honey. Because it is! Yum.

In front of you is a room covered in glitter. There's so much glitter. You can't see a door, but you have to find a way out. Search the room to find the exit.

The exit is a trapped door in the floor. You'll need to make your way through the glitter, all the while it will stick to your very sticky skin. You'll need to dig a big enough path to get through, open the door and get into the next room! Too bad some glitter will come with you, and you'll still be sticky.

3. Riddles Three
A large hour glass in the middle of the room starts ticking down with sand as soon as you enter this room. One three of the walls are riddles engraved in the stone, and chalkboards in front of them. You must answer all three riddles correctly before the sand runs out to escape:
  • Where waves kiss sand and breezes blow, where tropic dreams grow, I'm where you want to go. What am I? Answer: Kokomo
  • With auburn locks and eyes of green, a rival, a threat, a beauty queen. Answer: Jolene
  • With cowboy hats and boots that stride, no one told me where my horse I ride. Answer: Old Town Road
Once you answer correctly, the hour glass disappears, leaving a hole in the floor that you must jump through to exit.

The Third Room

Next, you find yourself in one of the following rooms:
A. Cry For Me
B. Love Me
C. Hold Me
A. Cry For Me
This room is beautiful and shiny, the walls made of crystals. In the middle of the room is a crystal plinth with a small crystal cup on it. In flowing script around the cup it reads:

Collect five tears

You must collect five tears in the cup to escape. Once you do, an entry way opens in the crystal in front of you.

B. Love Me
This room is very plain, and on a piece of paper dangling from a string in the middle of the room is the instructions for this room:

Exchange five sincere compliments each. Don't break eye contact.

You must do this within the alloted five minutes to escape. If the compliments are less than sincere, you may try again, but if you don't reach the five each by the end of the five minutes or if you break eye contact even once, you will be returned to the first room.

C. Hold Me
This room looks a lot like the pub in town. The walls are wood paneled and there's jangling piano music coming from--somewhere?

In the middle of the room is a mechanical bull, with a sign reading:

Stay on the bull together for 45 seconds.

If you succeed within the five minutes, you're free to continue on!

The Fourth Room

Next, you find yourself in one of the following rooms:
I. Blood
II. Sweat
III. Tears
I. Blood
This room is very tall. There's a rope dangling down one wall. On the wall it reads:

Climb!

And that's what you have to do. The word "Climb" starts to bleed. And then the walls start to bleed. The room will fill up with blood within five minutes, so you better get climbing!

At the top of the room is a hatch that will let you escape through a hatch in the ceiling.

II. Sweat
When you enter this room, one of you finds that you are alone. You're standing at the edge of a pool, and that pool is full of sand. It's also searingly hot in here. On the wall, it reads:

Rescue your partner!

One person is chained at the bottom of a swimming pool full of sand. A counter on the wall counts down until they will suffocate. Better get swimming!

Once you've rescued your partner, a door on the other side of the pool will open up. Better move fast to get there!

III. Tears
This room is dark, very dark. You can just barely see, except for a glow-in-the-dark sign reading:

Eat some eyes!

And that's what you need to do! In the walls are eyes. They're watching you. You must each eat an eye to continue on. Once you do, a door cracks open in the far wall.

The Fifth Room

No matter the path you took to get here, the final room is the same:
The last room you end up in, even though you enter through the same door, you find yourselves separated by a wall. There is a door for each of you at the far side of the room. You can hear each other, but you can't see each other. Each of you have a plinth in front of you, which reads:

Who should escape?

In front of you are the names of yourself and your partner(s). You place the name of the person you believe should escape in a slot in the table.

Once everyone has made a selection, the names will light up:
  • If you all chose each other, your room lights up green.
  • If you all chose yourselves, your room lights up green.
  • If someone chose themselves, and someone else chose another person, the room of the person with the most "votes" lights up green. The others light up red.
If your room is green, when you open the final door, you've escaped! Welcome to Wellstone.

If your room is red, when you open the door, you find yourself back in the first room. Good luck!
When you escape, you step into the lobby of the Staywell. It's bright and airy with beautiful white stone. When you look behind you, it seems that you've stepped out of a supply closet. Weird!

The receptionist greets you as he always does, welcoming you home.

New characters arrive using this prompt. Characters can return from death from the previous cycle using this prompt. You can also just wake up and be in this prompt, so you can do this as many times as you like.

tl;dr:
  • You wake up in an escape room! You must finish (at least) five rooms to escape. You have five minutes to finish each room. If you fail, you'll be taken back to the beginning of the dungeon.

It's alive!
Content warnings: public shaming

When you shake off the glitter and the sand, it might be time to head on down into Wellstone town. The air is full of a shimmering warmth that might be familiar to some. It's like the sun has been baked into the very stones and is radiating back up at you. Run-down buildings lean against each other for support, made out of mostly weathered stone with a few old boards here and there to keep structures up. Desiccated, skeletal fingers of dried-out ivy climb them, waving occasionally as you pass. Waving, and… whispering? For more information about how the town has changed, check out this month's Wellstone Post or read the Locations Page.

The town is alive with sneering, whispering voices. It's unclear where exactly they're coming from, but they're everywhere. Step into the Cactus Pad Tavern and you might hear a decisive no manners! spat sharply from the doorway. Make your way to the steaming bathhouse to wash off that honey, but be careful when you're undressing: you might just hear rude snickering from the air around you. Wow, the walls might say, your toes are so long. What weird feet!

The voices might interrupt a conversation at breakfast to make fun of something you said. Your mirror and your wardrobe might question your outfit choices. They're loud enough to be heard by everyone in a public space and seem to delight in saying cutting things at the worst possible moment. You don't recognize the voices, exactly, but they seem just familiar enough to really hurt, and the voices seem to know you well enough. They might even call you out when you tell a little white lie, or let everyone know exactly how loud you snore.

There's no way, seemingly, to get them to shut up, so... may as well get used to it?

tl;dr:
  • The town is alive, and it is judging you. Your outfits, your words, your body, your habits: nothing is off-limits.
  • The voices sound just familiar enough to feel like voices you know, but aren't able to be pinpointed to a single person.

odinpusrex: (39)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-21 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[Barnabas considers leaving his question unanswered, but the information he knows is so limited it is hardly worth safeguarding. Besides, speaking about it might help him in some way, perhaps further jog his memory, or give rise to deeper ones? Is the internal pursuit the issue? He does not know.]

I am King Barnabas Tharmr, my crown was one earned through conquest, not birthright. As if to embolden the legitimacy of such a memory, I do recall mastery over many armaments, though the blade and spear most of all. I favor beasts, and tame them besides, and as a natural conclusion I am a skilled cavalryman.

[The last thing he recalls, however, does seem rather personal. Not that his title and how he earned it weren't already, however...]

I recall a man. Cidolfus Telamon. I know not the nature of our relation, only that we shared a close familiarity.

[And that he's gone.

Whatever that means, but he does not voice that last bit. It oddly seems vulnerable, even for a man who cannot feel like normal people can. As he speaks of these things, he is not looking at Ademnet, focusing more on where he's going as he carries him. Having left the stairs, he's now walking down the corridor that will eventually lead to his room.]


What do you recall?
lord_daigonis: (suspicious)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-22 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
[Not just a noble, but a dalpounding king? On the one hand, the fact he wasn't born one--and that he appears to be mourning a friend--explains some of his tolerance for Ademnet's sass. On the other hand, Ademnet admitting what he knows about himself to a king while completely at his mercy feels like a tohburned terrible idea. Less terrible than refusing to answer a king, and far less terrible than getting caught lying to one, but a terrible idea nonetheless.]

Not as much as you do. Bits of where I come from. A pond I used to play in, stuff the Tohsires taught me. I'm real handy with knives, I know that much. Don't know where I learned it, though.

[He could stop there, at the safe part, but he doubts Barnabas would believe that's all he knows. Royal bastard or not, Barnabas hasn't given Ademnet any other reason to distrust him. Maybe he's overthinking this. Maybe it'll be fine.]

I'm a serf. One of Lord Pelyar's. I don't remember a poxy thing about the man besides his name, but I'm certain he don't like me much. That's more of me puttin' pieces together than rememberin', but all the same.

[He scratches his branded wrist again, uneasy.]

Pretty corborn sure he tried to get me hanged.
odinpusrex: (108)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-22 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
[It is unsurprising he is unfamiliar with the names spoken. Tohsire, Lord Pelyar, it's all nonsense to him, though he figures it's likely wouldn't know them even if his memories were intact. However, as he mentions not being liked, and he scratches the brand on his wrist, his eyes flick their focus to it, even if his head otherwise stays forward.

Then he stares forward once again, stopping before a door. There's something that gently tugs at him, like a memory but not quite. The thought of a brand, of a serf... Something about it passes over him like a ghost of something once familiar, and it proves just as intangible.]


In a realm unknown to us both, free of the order and traditions which structured the lands we scarce remember, thus holding scant little sway with its meaningless ceremony—you are no more a serf than I a king.

[He then lowers Ademnet, putting him on his feet, but watching him to make sure he can stand without issue. Should he be fine, he will stand back to his full height, peering down at him.]

You shall not suffer for what past indiscretion which beckoned the noose about your neck.

[Which is just his way of saying he cannot care what that Lord's problem was with him, it's literally none of his concern. He doesn't exactly see eye to eye with the typical nobility, anyway.]
Edited 2024-05-22 04:39 (UTC)
lord_daigonis: (listening)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-22 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[Well, what do you know. Barnabas really is practical. Whatever dangers this unfamiliar place holds, the laws and customs that defined Ademnet back home are irrelevant here. The thought that his scant memories and crumbs of identity might be meaningless is tough to wrap his head around, but there's something freeing about it, too.

Probably harder on him, even if he don't show it. Going from thief to nobody ain't a bad move. King to nobody, that's a real step down.

Ademnet stands up without incident, smoothing his clothes nervously, and gives Barnabas a grateful nod.]


Glad to hear it. We've been gettin' along so far; I'd sure hate to ruin it now.

[Only now does it occur to him that they're standing outside the very door he was supposedly helping to find. He glances at the door, then back to Barnabas.

Ruefully:]
Dal's tits. So much for me bein' any corborn help, huh?
odinpusrex: (87)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-22 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[Barnabas cannot know his feelings about being king, those memories taken from him as all the others. If he did chance to glimpse the truth, he would find this relinquishment of title and duty...a relief of sorts. If he only knew of how he tired of being king, duty being the chain which shackled him to his throne. If he knew the depths of his duty, why he held fast to a crown he long since grew weary of, he would not welcome this release.

Fortunately for him, and the others here, he is no more aware it than he is the name of the kingdom he founded.]


You have proven your character well enough. Oft the meritless nobility prove keenly unjust in their retribution.

[Though he does glance to the door, then to Ademnet.]

I suppose you were not. [There's no judgment in his tone, just simple fact.] Believe you fit to find your own? Or were you hoping for an invitation inside?

[Again no judgment. Simple and neutral curiosity.]
lord_daigonis: (thinking)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-23 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[Meritless nobility. Warmed by the praise, Ademnet tucks that phrasing away for later. Much as he revels in being blunt and uncouth, there are times when it pays to be rude more politely.]

Hadn't thought that far ahead, to be honest. Probably should go find where I'm stayin', now that my head ain't tryin' to kill me.

[He examines the number on his key, comparing it to Barnabas's. His room is on a lower floor, most likely. Surely it won't be too hard to spot.]

Think I might go see what sort of food they got around here, too. I don't remember my last meal before we got here. At least that's one bit of not rememberin' I can fix.
odinpusrex: (107)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-24 05:15 am (UTC)(link)
[At the mention of food, Barnabas pauses and thinks. When was the last time he ate? He doesn't feel hungry, but he also doesn't feel full. Does he even need to eat? He does not know, though perhaps feeling it out is ultimately unreliable, considering the fact he doesn't feel much of anything.

He certainly doesn't feel tired.

With a momentary glance at the door, his attention returns to Ademnet.]


I am in scarce need of rest, and I similarly lack any recollection of eating. It would serve me well to learn where rations might be acquired.

[He looks beyond his companion, down the corridor they previous walked.]

Shall we?
lord_daigonis: (listening)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-24 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ademnet can manage fine on his own. Really, truly, he can. But all the same, he can't hide that he's pleased.]

I sure ain't goin' to say no to company. And food's always a good start in a new place, I say.

[Once again, he'll let Barnabas lead the way, waiting to fall into place beside him. His eyes still sweep the area around them for threats, but he sounds a lot more relaxed.]

Besides, anywhere they got food, there's usually knives of some kind. I'll feel better with some sort of weapon on me, even if it ain't ideal.
odinpusrex: (46)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-24 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ademnet's pleasure at his company isn't reacted to overtly, he brings no attention to noticing it, but he does notice. With a nod, Barnabas starts down the hall once more, and while Ademnet continues to talk, he doesn't really give much indication he's listening, though he is. Barnabas isn't the most communicative guy, either verbally or through body language, but Ademnet has likely gleamed that much by now.

Yet the thought of arming oneself does stick in his mind, and to that he wonders how likely he could find himself a proper sword. Certainly he could make do with a knife, though that is far less sustainable depending on the threat. Knives would do very little to the hide of a dragon, for example.]


You would settle for unenduring cutlery? The town should have a blacksmith that may better suit our needs.

[Should, he says, because any respectable settlement would. The sore lack of something so crucial would be a horrific detriment to the upkeep of structures, of weapons, of armor... Doubtlessly they have one, right?]
lord_daigonis: (neutral)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-24 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ademnet has noticed, but he no longer minds. Barnabas's terseness doesn't seem to be snobbery, just a guy who doesn't give his thoughts away for free. Ademnet wishes he had that good of a poker face--or that imposing of a presence.

Maybe watching him will teach me a thing or two. It couldn't hurt.

At the mention of a blacksmith, Ademnet shakes his head.]


Of course I'd prefer a proper weapon, but I don't got any coin in these clothes. Just 'cause the man who gave us the rooms ain't asking for payment don't mean other folk won't. Worst come to worst, slippin' cutlery up my sleeve's a lot less dauntin' than tryin' to walk off with a sword. [There's a brief, awkward pause.] Not that stealin's my first choice, yeah? Just sayin'.
odinpusrex: (39)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-24 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[That earns Ademnet a glance over Barnabas' shoulder.]

If you wish to take what you desire, then earn it.

[He turns his attention forward once more. Does he mean to challenge the guy for it? Work off the cost of the weapon? Or is he strangely in support of clever thievery?]

It would be a fool's errand to make fast enemies with this settlement's inhabitants. Should we prove our worth, then all else shall fall into its proper place.

[Ah, definitely not the last one, then.]
lord_daigonis: (avoidant)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-24 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[Something about the rebuke tickles the back of Ademnet's mind. This time, he leaves the thought alone. Part of him wants to justify himself--we can't all go around fighting folk until they make us corborn kings, and we all still got to eat--but he knows Barnabas is right. He's nowhere near starving, and nothing is attacking him. He would be stupid to run that risk without true need.]

...Yeah, good point.

[One he shouldn't have needed pointed out to him, either. Ademnet picks at his barked wrist, sheepish.]

Guess we should see what the situation is before makin' too many plans. Might be nothin' like either of us is used to.

[Translation: You ain't a king here. Keep that in mind.]
Edited 2024-05-24 20:33 (UTC)
odinpusrex: (180)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-24 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Indeed.

[He responds coolly, pithy as it is. He begins to descend the stairs, and decides to add nothing more. Barnabas is full willing to concede that he does not know what to expect, even if he has an idea of what things should be like in his mind. Though, this place has proven itself more strange than ordinary, and that is a consideration coloring his expectations.

Not to mention, what possible outcomes may yet happen.

If they are without a blacksmith, then the town itself would not likely have reliable weapons, nor armor. The inhabitants would have them outnumbered, but not necessarily be reliably armed. If they are more like Ademnet, then their numbers will like as not mean little to Barnabas should things spiral towards violence, yet... If they are more like Barnabas, that is likely to be troublesome. Especially for Ademnet.

What are the odds at play for such a determination, he cannot help but wonder...

On the outside, while Barnabas is contemplating the possibility of hostilities and their chances of dealing with it should any of this take a turn for the worst, he's quiet and unemotive as usual. His expression neutral, and his gaze singularly focused before him, while his body moves in a purposeful march.]
lord_daigonis: (suspicious)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-24 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ademnet tags along quietly, his thoughts following a similar track. Everything about this place --the rooms they came through to get here, the strange receptionist, their missing memories--reeks of corbie business, some kind of curse that's been placed on them both. He likes their odds in a fight with normal folk, if it really came to that. Enemies with magic, on the other hand...that's a terrifying thought.

He considers raising this concern to Barnabas, but he's already shoved his foot into his mouth enough. For now, Ademnet elects to give the guy a break and just follow his lead.]
odinpusrex: (171)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-24 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[Before long their silent and steady pace will find them both at the ground floor of the Staywell, the visual of the receptionist pulling Barnabas from his plotting and contingencies. Not that he interacts with him, but chooses instead to look to his companion.]

You are grown silent.

[He figures if they are to continue, he might as well address the uncharacteristic quiet.]
lord_daigonis: (surprised)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-24 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Huh? Oh. Reckoned you might want a break from talkin', is all.

[Dal's tits, this man is hard to read.]

I don't know what it's like where you're from--and maybe you don't either, I guess--but where I'm from, there's tales of folk crossin' the corbies and gettin' themselves cursed. Feels like I've walked into one of those stories, somehow, what with all the weirdness and the not rememberin'. But now that I'm sayin' it, I can see that ain't a real useful thought.
odinpusrex: (173)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-25 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
Hm.

[Well, he might not always talk, but he does listen... It's fine.

However, the mention of "corbies" pinches his brow together with unfamiliarity. Things that bring curses, apparently, but he knows not the details.]


It is not entirely without use. You are here, so these stories from your land may likewise extend thus.

[Barnabas peers about the lobby again, slowly with scrutinizing purpose, before his eyes settle on what seems to be the exit.]

The old stories—there is always some truth to them. A seed which gave way to its blossoming embellishment, should one prove capable to disinter it.

[He doesn't fully know why he is certain of this fact, of this opinion, but he does sound resolute in it. He casts a glance to Ademnet, before tilting his head towards the exit.]

Come.

[And then he just starts heading for the door, like he didn't just say all of that.]
Edited 2024-05-25 00:10 (UTC)
lord_daigonis: (thinking)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-25 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
Heh. I don't know about always. Some of the Tohsires' stories ain't ever sat comfortable with me.

[He glances at the receptionist, then trots obediently after Barnabas.]

But you're right about most of them, I think. When folk tell me there's a bunch of demon witches in the woods cursin' folk and stealin' children and all that--well, maybe that's all true and maybe it ain't. But you wouldn't catch me wanderin' in those woods, that's for corborn sure.
odinpusrex: (102)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-25 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
Know you the origin of those stories? They do not come from naught. There is a truth, though it may have long since been twisted beyond recognition. As those stories of witches doubtlessly have.

[It could have been highwaymen kidnapping the hapless and vulnerable, or it could have very well been entirely innocent people who lived outside of the acceptable norm of the ruling kingdom. Thus they would be painted as fiends and miscreants, warning away the commonfolk from their heretical ways.

That thought sticks in his mind for a moment longer than the rest, but he dismisses it eventually.

As they make their way outside, the heat is...well, pretty oppressive. Barnabas doesn't seem bothered, or rather, he does not react to it. Instead, he takes stock of what is around, of the buildings, of the layout of the town—or at least what they can see from here.

Ignoring the buildings that look to be in disrepair, he heads towards one of the others in better condition—though this one has a sorry looking sign, but it looks to be a tavern of some sort at least.

No sign of a blacksmith yet, however.]
lord_daigonis: (side-eye)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-25 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
They're religious tales--learned them as a kid. Supposedly, Daltoh made the corbies before us to be normal folk's servants, but they got right pissed off about that and turned on us. I know the corbies exist, and I believe they're pissed at us. But the rest of it, I don't put much stock in. I don't believe there's somethin' out there deciding who got to be servants and who gets served, but if there is, I sure as piss got nothin' to thank it for.

[He's not sure where his vehemence on this subject came from, but he feels confident in every word. Interesting. He knows it's not really what Barnabas was getting at, though.]

But yeah, there's always a reason behind stories. Folk wouldn't tell them otherwise. Just seems like sometimes that reason ain't a truth gettin' twisted so much as a lie bein' told on purpose to get folk to do what the storyteller wants.

[His sudden dark mood lifts at the sight of the tavern. Any place that has alcohol can't be all bad.]
Edited 2024-05-25 04:40 (UTC)
odinpusrex: (183)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-25 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
[At the mention of religion outlining servitude, Barnabas falls silent again. He cannot recall anything of that sort, yet his mind fixates on it as if it is familiar to him. Like looking at an image he should recognize, yet he cannot, regardless of how much he knows he should. In fact, that's oddly part of the conundrum, he feels something, a pulse of...emotion, dim as it is compared to the signal blaze others feelings tend to be. Yet there is an ember of something, a pitiful red struggling through the ash of his emotional remains.

He cannot name it, not really. The feeling itself is foreign though he does not know why. It aches, in a way, like flexing a muscle atrophied from disuse, but he does not dislike it. However, as quickly as it manifested, it is gone. Still, it inspires to chase that feeling, that thought, and as pain greets him, he doesn't back off this time.

Should Ademnet catch sight of his face, his gaze seems a little distant, as if his mind is elsewhere entirely. Even as he opens the tavern door for them and speaks.]


Do you believe it so simple? To disregard what truths which were first spun into the liar's tapestry only begets further ignorance.
lord_daigonis: (neutral)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-25 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ademnet notices the difference, but has no idea what it means. For the moment, he's more fixated on the possibility of a hard-earned drink than trying to read his emotionally illegible conversation partner.]

Maybe, but payin' too much attention to the lies would do the same thing, yeah? Me, I'm thinkin' less about what's true and what ain't, and more about what the folk spreadin' a story are gettin' out of it. If folk goin' through bad times want to believe High Lady Dal's goin' to welcome them to her table after they die, I got no fight with that. I don't believe it one bit, but I get why folk do. But if somebody's tellin' folk that the only way of gettin' to the High Lady's table is to do whatever the Tohsires or the turdblowin' nobles ask of them without complainin', that's a whole other dalpoundin' thing. That, I got a problem with.

[It seems very simple to him, even if he struggles to put his position into words. He's not sure why it isn't so simple to everyone else.]
odinpusrex: (179)

cw: blood

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-25 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Yet, all is required to lay the lies bare, you cannot dispel the easily mislead's faith through sheer disagreement with doctrine alone.

[Even then some will still disagree with the truth, some are unwilling to listen to anything besides that which they were first fed. Faith is a resilient thing, yet so too can it be fragile.

As they make their way in, Barnabas doesn't make it to the bar before he finds himself losing his balance, his arm bending as it heavily braces his weight against the wall, his head hanging. The pain of chasing that thought, that feeling, becoming too much for him and his head feels as though it may split in two.

Blood drips on the floor from his nose, a streak of it cascades from an eye down his cheek like a red tear. Which he doesn't seem to notice with his eyes tightly closed as they are. His breath becoming somewhat labored. He...might still be pursuing that memory.]
lord_daigonis: (annoyed)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-26 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, if I was aimin' to convince folk, I'd--

[He cuts off in alarm as Barnabas slumps, kicking himself for not paying closer attention. Without thinking, he grabs the man's arm and pulls it around his shoulder for support, wrapping his own arm around Barnabas's back to hold him up.]

Hey, look at me. You got to think about somethin' else, all right? Don't be stupid.

[He gives Barnabas's shoulder a rough shake.]

Barnabas. It ain't goin' to help.
Edited 2024-05-26 14:18 (UTC)
odinpusrex: (164)

[personal profile] odinpusrex 2024-05-26 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I felt...

[He takes a moment to collect himself, but he does. Right, he cannot force it, as Ademnet displayed before, but that feeling, brief as it was, drew him in. Yet, what he perceived as a light at the end of a tunnel turned out to be more akin to an anglerfish's lure.

He brings a hand to the blood which streaks from his nose and eye, wiping it away, his eyes opening to peer at it, then to Ademnet, his expression focused and grim.]


My apologies.

[He forces himself to stand even though his balance isn't quite back, but likewise he forces the hunt in his mind to end. Pushing away the impulse to continue. Pressing on stoicly, he continues forward as if he hadn't just nearly collapsed, with or without Ademnet's aid.

He'll need to find somewhere to clean his hand, that was a decent amount of blood. How troublesome.]


Where were we?
Edited 2024-05-26 16:53 (UTC)

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