thespherelogs | (no subject)

Who: The People making the Right Choice: The Power Station
Where: The tunnels to housing the Power Station system to the agricultural dome.
What: The Choice plot.
When: ICly: August 1st or so.
Warnings: Death, violence, creepiness, bugs, being buried alive, fear of failure, claustrophobia etc. I will update this as the warnings come out in the threads.
Important Notes: This is the first log for the Choices plot. This log only covers The Power Station. The other choices will have their own logs going up. Please remember to warn for things that need warnings in these threads.

Departure

The door that Enis opens is very small, the sort that only allows one person to pass through at a time. From where you stand outside of it, there’s no glimpse of light, or if there is it’s so far away that you may as well be imagining it. Flicking on the flashlights that had been found from the storage tent, the corridor is small as well, and it looks very wet and green in the dim lighting. This door lingers open for a fair amount after the group passes through it one by one. From the way it appears in the glass of the dome, it almost looks like a hungry mouth.

But when you’re about halfway down the extended hallway, the door creaks on audible hinges and then slams shut in a way that it absolutely shouldn’t.

That’s not ominous or anything.

Encounters: Environmental

Once the door is shut behind you, and you’re moving towards the single path, you start to realize just how old all of this around you is. Where as things in the Sphere normally seem bright and sparkly and new this is ancient and rusting and crumbling. The light here is a sickly barely there orange that creates more shadows than something that you can actually see by, which makes the way the metal grating floor incredibly perilous. Water drips constantly here, making everything wet and slick and slippery. There are places where the lighting seems to have burned out. Or has it? Sometimes it has, and sometimes it’s just that the grating has no walls to hand hold across a chasm that you can’t tell the distance on. Hope you’re getting creative.

But needing to walk over epic heights isn’t just something that you need to contend with. There are places where the flooring just gives way below your weight suddenly, and places where there’s none of it all together. Better tread softly and be fast on your feet--it’s an incredibly long way to fall, and not something that you can live through.

Every so often, the pathway will end with a door with a rusted hatch, the window of it coated with grime and rust and dirt (and is that ash?!) that need to be forced open, and then closed behind them before the next door will even budge.

The entire way, the feeling of being watched doesn’t stop, neither does the sound of distant screaming. It’s far enough that you only seem to catch the smallest hint of it, and no matter which direction you go in, it never seems to get any closer or farther away.

Encounters: Archetypal Fears.

There are things that humanity as a collective is afraid of, and has always been, even if it’s something that some fear more than others. Different rooms are full of different fears in varying amounts. Some of the rooms will only affect one person, or a couple of people. Some will affect the entire room.

In order to defeat the fear, you must move onto the next room before the fear becomes overpowering. Panicking people in an enclosed space is never a good idea.

The different archetypal fears that can be experienced in whatever configuration of people are:

The dark: The flashlights don’t work. Any lighters or matches or won’t work either. This can be either a group or individual fear.
Claustrophobia: The walls feel like they’re closing in, and the ceiling is getting smaller. This can be a group or individual fear.
The fear of being buried alive: The room starts to rapidly fill with dirt. Individual fear.
Drowning: The room starts to fill quickly with water. Group or individual fear.
Bugs: Bugs start rapidly spilling out of the ceiling, and quickly cover the individual and the room itself. Individual fear.
The fear that everyone hates you or dislikes you: The person keeps thinking that they’re hearing the group talk shit about them, that they hate them, etc. Individual/group fear, but even in a group, it’s everyone each hearing this for themselves.
The fear of being hunted: Something is coming. It’s right on your tail and if you don’t get out ASAP then you’re going to die. Group fear.
The fear of falling
Whatever you can come up with: Be creative! Do it in an interesting way! Just remember that these are archetype fears that loads of people have. Not personal.

Encounter: Personal Fears.

These fears are the ones that each character had on their own applications. They can be individual or shared, but that should be decided among yourself on the plotting post.

As they get closer to the power station, their fears become more and more intense. It’s going to take great strength to continue onto the room where the power station is.

Encounter: The Power Station.

When you step into the main room of the power station, all of the individual fears intensify around you, but you become aware, at least dimly, that you have reached your destination. There, on a pedestal in the middle of the room is a golden half-sphere that needs to be pressed in order to start the power up again. But it really can’t be that easy, can it? The longer you wait to do it, the more the feelings and fears of doubt that this is what you need to do wash over you. Eventually, that fear swells into the feeling that you probably shouldn’t even push the button. This mixes with the fear that you already have failed, and that everyone back outside has died already. They’ve died and it’s all your fault. You took too long, you didn’t do enough. And now you just need to wait to die too.

Or, you can push the button.

Once you push the button, the half-sphere becomes flush with the pedestal and it sinks slowly into the ground. As it meets the floor, the panels in the floor light up in a pattern of rings leading out to the door. Sure, you’ve got to hike back to the Sphere proper, but the fears that you’ve already faced are gone even if the physical obstacles are not.

The door into the Agricultural domes won’t open until both objectives have been fulfilled.

photo inspiration

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[His voice nearly makes her jump.

She turns, her misty green eyes wide in fear.] Antonio. You were just- [It hadn't been him.

She reaches for his hand and turns towards the darkness in front of them. It doesn't occur to her to look behind them. Whatever is taking people is in front of her.] There is something there. I can't see it. Someone is gone. [Wanda exhales and her breath curls as a white mist in front of her.]

I don't know what's happening...

A nightmare. [His voice has lost the quality of certainty it usually carries.] Who? Who is gone? [It's too dark and he can't see, his heart is pounding in his chest. Is this what it is to fear the dark?]

I don't know. [She shakes her head, as if the motion might clear her thoughts.] I didn't see them. I couldn't reach them. [Her voice quickens but she's trying to fight the panic that's gathered within the pit of her stomach.

It's a trick, it has to be a trick.]

I can't reach my powers... Antonio. Can you see the door? We need to move forward. [To get away from whatever hell they've wandered into.]

No, I can't.

[Was this how helpless humans felt?]

But it must be ahead.

[She reaches for him, lacing her fingers through his as she takes a step forward.]

It's a trick. It has to be. We just need to keep moving.

[She closes her eyes and takes another steps, she doesn't feel like she can trust her eyes but without her powers, she is truly blind.]

In which direction? [He had no idea where to even begin.] I can smell nothing.

[Wanda opens her eyes, adjusting her sight to the darkness around her. It isn't the first time she's been in a situation like this. Helpless and lost. She hates it but she won't let it defeat her.]

Follow me. I'll guide you.

Just stay close.

[He's with her --hand in hand-- helping her believe that she isn't alone. Even if she feels the weight and uncertainty of the situation constricting within her chest, chocking her.]

[He hated this weakness in himself, hated how useless he felt, but he felt as though he'd suddenly been stricken dumb and deaf, the world was muted and scentless.

He nodded, taking her hand.]

Lead on.

Alright.

[Wanda holds his hand firmly, pausing after a few steps to let the sensation of the darkness seep into her awareness. There are flashes at the edge of her vision, screams filling her ears and the deep twisting desire to reach out and fight only to find an emptiness in the place.

Each step is a struggle but she continues forward and after an endless period of time, she feels the lip of the door frame tap against the toe of her boot. Wanda looks up and the path before her is clear, lights flickering over head with their small rag-tag group is continuing forward.

She steps out of the room and squeezes Antonio's hand. There is a disconnect between how she'd felt and the weight lifting off her shoulders now but the pressure is easing.]

Antonio?

[He follows along dutifully, blind and deaf by his reckoning. The darkness is oppressive and for the first time in his life, he understands the panic humans feel at the dark, the fear of the unknown. His breathing is labored, thick with his fear, and it's all he can hear, it seems.

There is no dripping water, no thundering heartbeats, no scent.

Her voice comes to him through a fog and he blinks for a moment before responding.]

I'm here.

[His voice sounds quiet to his ears.]

I think it's receding.

[Wanda notices that the affect around them isn't unlike the nightmare shadows that randomly encompass the domes. As soon as they step out of the area of effect, the feeling of helplessness lifted and the swirl of power in her chest began to return.

She continues forward, putting space between them and the unsettling experience before stopping and turning to face Antonio. Her hand is still in his.

She isn't ready to let go.]

Do you feel better now?

[As he listened, the thrumming of her quickened heart filled his ears, along with the dank and the dark that cleared, becoming as clear as day.]

Yes...I do. Do you?

[Wanda nods.] I do. [She smiles at him and keeps her hand in his.]

Thank you for staying with me through that.

[She doesn't know if she'd have the strength to continue moving forward without him at her side; his hand in hers.]

[He returned her smile.]

There are few other places I'd rather be...other than in this dank hole any longer.

[Her heart warms and makes a giddy skip. She's felt this way once before but it's still strange how close she and Antonio have become. It is a welcome change to what she had expected in life, even if it isn't a feeling that is meant to last.]

Then we'll keep moving forward. Once we reach the end, we'll be out of here.

(no subject)

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness <3

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

Re: ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness

ii. helplessness