[ there's no reply at first, but the sound of digging stops. the music continues to play, softly, but it's a strange sensation - a familiar tune. maybe her own voice? or is that just the echo of her hello.
as she moves along the beach, the scene comes into view quickly enough. A face she recognizes, next to a hole in the sand. he's leaning against the speaker, as if he's taking a rest from whatever task he's occupied himself with. ]
Oh. Charlie. You're here as well? I thought I was alone. Do you know where this is?
[ she smiles, though something immediately feels off. she didn't witness her own trial so she has no idea what jing yuan did with her body, but there's something nagging at her ]
[ it seems rude no one filled her in. like jing yuan. but it doesn't particulary matter, because he's coming over to charlie anyway, putting a hand on her shoulder. ]
Waiting to see who else would show up. So I'm quite glad it was you.
[ beginning to push, back and away from the beach. he does not answer the question. ]
Aren't you supposed to come with the answers already? Or this wouldn't be a very good test.
[ Haven't you lost this fight already once, Charlie?
She can't wrench herself free easily - it feels like being held by solid stone - despite the appearance of someone wearing a matching friendship bracelet with her. she can pull until she hears her wrist pop, digging her hooves into the sand, but she's not going to free herself that way. Not yet. ]
You should be more careful. They never prepare any of you enough for this. You make it far too easy.
[ she hates using violence, but she cries out in pain when she fails to wrench her fist free and it pops. no, she realizes she can't talk her way out of it. ]
[ so with her free hand, she aims a punch at his face. if powers are on, in a blink, she's transformed into her demon form, horns and tail out ]
Stop using my friend's face! Show me your real one!
[ she can transform. she can be anything she wants here. it seems like everything is malleable here, a reflection of the real world that isn't quite real.
She can struggle as much as she wants, and when she aims that punch and hits, it feels like punching into concrete. As she digs her feet in, the sand starts sinking, all the way up to her knees before she knows it. ]
You'll need to find a way out. I don't know how much I can help you, but I'll try.
Well, I choose the truth now. So stop being vague and answer me already! Please!
[ she says please but there's a hint of aggression in it, even as gets a big owie from punching. owie... but she shifts her focus to trying to get out of the sand, slowly so she doesn't sink faster -- trying to step away from it ]
[ struggling just makes her sink faster now, as Jing Yuan pushes her down into it - squeezing the popped wrist enough to make the bones ache.
he doesn't answer the question, only smiles beautifically and then shoves her head under, and it will feel like drowning on dryland. It's a horrible feeling, sand in her lungs - enough to make her feel small and helpless again no matter how powerful a demon she is and it's nothing but darkness, darkness darkness until
[ despite doing her best to try and stay calm as she sinks, but it's not enough, and she screams as sand fills her lungs, coughing and hacking and panicking fully because this is the third time she has died (or something close) that involves having her breathing cut off or impeded ]
[ when she wakes up on the floor of the hotel, she hyperventilates just a little, feeling the ground with her hands and hooves and trying to make sure it's all real ]
[ hopefully there's no one else here watching her lose her shit ]
in fact, it seems exceedingly empty. and dusty, even. enough that it will fill her nose and make her sneeze as she starts to move around - maybe that's all it ever was to begin with? just a panic attack about a little dirt?
as she starts to move, she'll see that the carpet is faded and patchy, and none of the lights are on - windows hang open with the glass smashed. wallpaper is peeling off the walls, and everything shiny or intriguing has been ripped from its sockets. it's not as if the denizens of hell would leave a perfectly good hotel with plenty to rummage through untouched.
it's quiet in here. maybe thankfully. she can have a moment to catch up with herself. ]
[ maybe it's worse to be alone. she slowly, shakily gets up, looking around. it almost looks like her hotel, but there are so many things wrong. it's dark, dusty, the place has been stripped clean, and there's no one here. not even vaggie ]
[ she slowly climbs up to her hands and knees, then her hoovesies, shakily. looking around. once again: ]
Hello?
[ it's hard not to wonder (hope) that all of this is just a bad dream ]
[ as she rises to her feet, she can see more clearly now - there's signs of a fight, actually. along the walls, across the floors. the whole place is decorated in red, which makes the deep dark stains less obvious but they're definitely there. you'd think at least there'd be squatters. it's a giant unused building, isn't it? that someone would at least try and take shelter at the place you'd built, at least a little good made of something that only ever tried to do good. but no one even wanted that. something terrible happened here.
it's funny, how quickly something can fall apart without a guiding hand. there's no answer, at first, but there's a creak from upstairs.
[ yeah, she's getting an increasingly bad feeling about this, and grips her own arm tightly. she tries not to jump to conclusions, but none of this looks promising. she really, really hopes this is a bad dream ]
[ she'll head upstairs, even if it is a creak. maybe there's someone else here ]
[ as she heads up the stairs, there's even more evidence of a clearly vicious fight. burn marks and slashes on the walls, things torn off and used as projectiles and smashed through doors into empty and destroyed rooms - and some of the blood isn't red anymore. it's glowing, still, even after all of this time. splattered across the walls in great and vicious arcs.
it seems someone fought hard to try and save this place. someone believed in it. believed in you.
there's an open door at the end of the hallway. or maybe not even a door as much as what remains of a doorframe, where something heavy smashed through it - enough to rend the place open to the sky. ]
[ the more she walks up the stairs, the more she wants to cry. her hotel, reduced to this. her last hope and dream. unfortunately for charlie, this is what she thinks awaits her if she goes back. her worst nightmare is being confirmed with every step she takes ]
Hello?
[ she repeats again, slowly walking to the door. did someone survive? anyone? ]
[ if they did survive, it seems as if it's been too long for them to have stayed here of all places. dust coats the baseboards and settles on the windowsills.
there's no reply. but it's obvious now why this place might be deemed untouchable. there's a corpse pinned by a spear to the wall, golden blood soaked into her clothes and the floor below her. it's been here a while. no one thought to take her down, it seems. ]
[ here come the waterworks. even if it is just another one of charlie's nightmares (which she's no longer thinking at this point, she's fully immersed), the tears spill out freely. she wrenches the spear free so she can catch vaggie in her arm, and cradle her corpse in her arms ]
Vaggie... no... please...
[ it's pointless, she's obviously long dead, but. ]
there's an eternity in hell to look forward to, you know. alone. there's no response from a corpse, of course. her head lolls to one side and her eye is blank, and staring at nothing. there's silence, except for the sound of crying.
and then, down the hallway, a sound. the soft sounds of heels - or hooves - on old carpet. ]
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holyspirits) wrote2025-03-23 03:14 pm
no subject
as she moves along the beach, the scene comes into view quickly enough. A face she recognizes, next to a hole in the sand. he's leaning against the speaker, as if he's taking a rest from whatever task he's occupied himself with. ]
Oh. Charlie. You're here as well? I thought I was alone. Do you know where this is?
no subject
[ she smiles, though something immediately feels off. she didn't witness her own trial so she has no idea what jing yuan did with her body, but there's something nagging at her ]
No, I have no idea... some kind of beach, maybe?
Can I ask what you were doing, Jing Yuan?
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Waiting to see who else would show up. So I'm quite glad it was you.
[ beginning to push, back and away from the beach. he does not answer the question. ]
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[ she lets him push a little, but stands her ground, the smile slipping ]
Jing Yuan, what are you doing?
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I think we should go somewhere safer.
[ but he is being awfully insistent, isn't he? ]
I know there's others around here. And they're going to try to hunt us down. Can't you feel it?
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Why would they do that? Who's going to hunt us down?
Please tell me what's going on, Jing Yuan.
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I am Wisdom.
[ holding out a hand. ]
And we really should go.
[ if she won't take it, he'll grab her hand forcefully at this point. ]
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I'm not going anywhere with you until you give me some answers!
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[ Haven't you lost this fight already once, Charlie?
She can't wrench herself free easily - it feels like being held by solid stone - despite the appearance of someone wearing a matching friendship bracelet with her. she can pull until she hears her wrist pop, digging her hooves into the sand, but she's not going to free herself that way. Not yet. ]
You should be more careful. They never prepare any of you enough for this. You make it far too easy.
no subject
[ she hates using violence, but she cries out in pain when she fails to wrench her fist free and it pops. no, she realizes she can't talk her way out of it. ]
[ so with her free hand, she aims a punch at his face. if powers are on, in a blink, she's transformed into her demon form, horns and tail out ]
Stop using my friend's face! Show me your real one!
no subject
[ she can transform. she can be anything she wants here. it seems like everything is malleable here, a reflection of the real world that isn't quite real.
She can struggle as much as she wants, and when she aims that punch and hits, it feels like punching into concrete. As she digs her feet in, the sand starts sinking, all the way up to her knees before she knows it. ]
You'll need to find a way out. I don't know how much I can help you, but I'll try.
no subject
[ she says please but there's a hint of aggression in it, even as gets a big owie from punching. owie... but she shifts her focus to trying to get out of the sand, slowly so she doesn't sink faster -- trying to step away from it ]
What are you going to do?
no subject
he doesn't answer the question, only smiles beautifically and then shoves her head under, and it will feel like drowning on dryland. It's a horrible feeling, sand in her lungs - enough to make her feel small and helpless again no matter how powerful a demon she is and it's nothing but darkness, darkness darkness until
she wakes up. On the floor of a familiar hotel. ]
no subject
[ when she wakes up on the floor of the hotel, she hyperventilates just a little, feeling the ground with her hands and hooves and trying to make sure it's all real ]
[ hopefully there's no one else here watching her lose her shit ]
no subject
in fact, it seems exceedingly empty. and dusty, even. enough that it will fill her nose and make her sneeze as she starts to move around - maybe that's all it ever was to begin with? just a panic attack about a little dirt?
as she starts to move, she'll see that the carpet is faded and patchy, and none of the lights are on - windows hang open with the glass smashed. wallpaper is peeling off the walls, and everything shiny or intriguing has been ripped from its sockets. it's not as if the denizens of hell would leave a perfectly good hotel with plenty to rummage through untouched.
it's quiet in here. maybe thankfully. she can have a moment to catch up with herself. ]
no subject
[ she slowly climbs up to her hands and knees, then her hoovesies, shakily. looking around. once again: ]
Hello?
[ it's hard not to wonder (hope) that all of this is just a bad dream ]
no subject
it's funny, how quickly something can fall apart without a guiding hand. there's no answer, at first, but there's a creak from upstairs.
it could just be old floorboards though. ]
no subject
[ she'll head upstairs, even if it is a creak. maybe there's someone else here ]
... Vaggie? Alastor, Niffty, Husk...? Angel?
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it seems someone fought hard to try and save this place. someone believed in it. believed in you.
there's an open door at the end of the hallway. or maybe not even a door as much as what remains of a doorframe, where something heavy smashed through it - enough to rend the place open to the sky. ]
no subject
Hello?
[ she repeats again, slowly walking to the door. did someone survive? anyone? ]
no subject
there's no reply. but it's obvious now why this place might be deemed untouchable. there's a corpse pinned by a spear to the wall, golden blood soaked into her clothes and the floor below her. it's been here a while. no one thought to take her down, it seems. ]
no subject
Vaggie!
[ here come the waterworks. even if it is just another one of charlie's nightmares (which she's no longer thinking at this point, she's fully immersed), the tears spill out freely. she wrenches the spear free so she can catch vaggie in her arm, and cradle her corpse in her arms ]
Vaggie... no... please...
[ it's pointless, she's obviously long dead, but. ]
no subject
there's an eternity in hell to look forward to, you know. alone. there's no response from a corpse, of course. her head lolls to one side and her eye is blank, and staring at nothing. there's silence, except for the sound of crying.
and then, down the hallway, a sound. the soft sounds of heels - or hooves - on old carpet. ]
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[ i'd write a sadder tag but i'm too eepy ]
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or is it familiar? it has been so very long since she's seen her mother. ]
... We don't have much time. They'll be looking for you soon.
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