[7rings] catchall for grace

[shiftingwinds]

im crying. im canonblind. give me that sweet sweet cr so i know what kind of images to look for for visuals

Comments

[alteracion]

It was probably a different one. I'm sure we can't be the only people in the universe who have ever been to space.

Were you guys all together?

[shiftingwinds]

[she nods]

Yes - all four of us were there. We didn't get separated during this... but while we were in the vents, we did encounter a... creature. [...] It was furry and demonic-looking, with a beak. It attacked us, but Endorsi and Medb fought it off.

[alteracion]

... Furry with a beak? [ well. that's. interesting. ] At least all four of you were together, though. I'd ask if you got injured by it but.

[ gestures ]

[shiftingwinds]

Yes - it was horrifying.

[she makes a face

and then glances at her leg.]

Endorsi and Medb did, but... they kept Aoi and me safe that time. When we came out of the vents, we were in a conference room... there were eight bodies slumped over at the table.

[alteracion]

Oh. [ bad. ] Did you recognize any of them?

[shiftingwinds]

[she nods]

Four of them were people from here - four of them were people from our homes. We couldn't make out the ones from our homes, at first, and the people we recognized from this place... they looked very dead.

[...]

But there were - wires, coming out of them. And wounds appeared on the backs of our necks that matched up with them. We had to connect those wires to ourselves, and when we did, we were drained of our energy, their bodies vanished, and... the other bodies started to move.

[alteracion]

[ hm. this is all very bad, actually, so she moves a little closer to sqx for comfort? ]

The ones from your homes?

[shiftingwinds]

[she nods and puts a hand over her throat, where there are some mostly-healed bruises that are shaped like fingers.]

...yes. They tried very hard to kill us.

[alteracion]

[ she puts a hand on sqx's shoulder ]

I know what that's like. It wasn't real, but... it still messes with your head, right?

[shiftingwinds]

[she nods]

...mmhm. I know Ming-xiong wouldn't, but... [...] It felt real while it was happening.

[alteracion]

... Yeah. It really does.

[ she squeezes sqx's shoulder ]

This place is trying to test our will for our wish. That's what these are about, I think.

[shiftingwinds]

That would make sense.

[...]

There were buttons on the backs of their necks... they stopped moving when we pressed them. We had to go through the vents again to get out of that room, though, and luckily this time we didn't run into the creature inside of them.

We came out in a hallway with a door at the end. This one actually opened... it led into a room with a podium in it. We started hearing noises coming from the vents, though, so... we tried to hurry. We tried to shut the door, and it - shut on the creature, but it was still wriggling around.

...we were supposed to recalibrate... something... at the podium.

[alteracion]

[ hmmmmmmm bad ]

It was wriggling...? Gross. What happened once you recalibrated it?

[shiftingwinds]

...it took us a little time - once our hands were on it, it just... it made us feel... tired. Really, really tired. And like it was an important decision that needed to be made, but maybe someone could handle it... maybe we could just go home...? ...but we chose to do it. We'd found notes with tasks that we needed to do at the start, and recalibrating it was one of them.

[she takes a breath]

But once we did it, we - started changing. It was very similar to what I experienced in the simulation room the other week, actually... and it all stopped, and we went back to normal.

By then, the creature had wriggled free of the door and came up to us, and it opened its beak, and - last time it did that, it attacked. So I kicked it in the face before it could.

[(looks at her missing leg)]

[alteracion]

It bit your leg off?

[ THE LEG CAME WITH LATER SO LIKE

but that aside-- ]

The choice! You had it too.

[shiftingwinds]

It stabbed it with its tail - which was... sort of scorpion-like. It was still mostly attached when I lost consciousness [from the blood loss] so I'm not really sure what happened to it after that...

[...]

But - yes. We were made to make a choice.

It felt like we were being... punished, near the end, but I'm not sure if that was because of the choice we made, or because I kicked the creature.

[alteracion]

[ hm. bad. bad!!!! ]

I've heard of people feeling punished for the choice they made, but... Why would not doing the tasks be better, in this case?

[shiftingwinds]

...I don't know. I really don't.

[alteracion]

The other choices were... about being ruthless. [ that's all she'll delve into there, but: ] Did the paper say what would happen if you didn't do them?

[shiftingwinds]

No... it didn't say.

[alteracion]

Then... I don't know. If it was just about what you did, you'd be the only one to feel like you were being ...punished. That's what Molly said.

[shiftingwinds]

...then it might have been because we chose to recalibrate it.

[alteracion]

... Maybe. It's not foolproof, they're just... theories. I bounce them off of Greed and see what they think, for the most part.

[ :T ]

[shiftingwinds]

Greed's pretty smart, though. So if they think your theories makes sense, I'd say that's a good sign.

[alteracion]

Oh, it's more like their theory. I just collect the information.