Otherworld Log

[fogsong]

Who: Anyone & Everyone
What: Open Log for those who want to participate in the Otherworld Player Plot (though you're free to use the player plot in your own logs)
When: December's Log
Where: All over Trench (and ever a ways outside of it)

It doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing, whether or not you're among friends or strangers, it comes for you: the fog. It rolls in so thick it muffles every sound and obscures your vision until you can see nothing but white. And then the siren begins to sound, a split-second of warning before darkness begins to descend upon you and swallow the world. You can feel the change in the air, the hairs on the back of your neck raising up, and can taste it on your lips. It tastes like rust and rot and ash.

Should you be lucky enough to have a light upon you, or see in the dark, you get to witness the world shift and corrupt right before your very eyes. Everything you see begins to fall apart. The paint on the walls chips and cracks and yellows. The wallpaper peels up, floating upward before it dissolves into nothing, revealing the bones of buildings. The carpet or the wood beneath your feet rots away and it doesn't matter what once was hidden beneath those layers, what lies beneath now is grated flooring, old tiles, battered cement, or just sheets or rusted metal. It's over in seconds and the darkness lifts and you're confronted with a Trench you've never seen before. A Trench that's been devoured and tainted.

Some may open their eyes to this place alone, others with friends or strangers by their side, but it doesn't matter who you're with, what matters is how you're going to find your way back to the Trench you know.

Exploration will prove dangerous and difficult. This Other Trench has fallen apart. The streets you're familiar with may have collapsed, forcing you to find another way around, and the buildings and shops and homes you're used to may prove impassable, doors locked or jammed or somehow blocked. Home won't be home now and might not be safe. It's the monsters, though, that make this world dangerous. They roam the streets and haunt the buildings and are drawn to every little sound you might make.

Walk fast, move quietly, and you may very well get through this.

Welcome to your Otherworld.

[ ooc: Feel free to hit up the Otherworld Plotting for more information, plotting, monsters, and more! Or DM here or add me on plurk lobselvith ]

Comments

Taro Watanabe | Original Character | OTA

[hachitaro]

The world around Taro warps and twists, and it's shocking enough that he nearly drops his disguise. He was just going to the store for some damn food and now... well. Everything's foggy and - shit, is that a siren? Nothing makes sense anymore and the world goes dark and when it lifts he can see that things have... changed. He huffs in annoyance that he's not carrying a light and starts walking. He's not going to get out of this horror hell just by staying still.

enemies (cw: body horror, loss)

As he wanders down the street he sees the area in front of him light up. They're blue orbs that giggle - high pitched and childlike. He scowls and moves to bat them away, but they scream and send a shock of some kind of energy all down his body. He jerks back and curses, holding his hand. At least there's no visible damage to him, though underneath... he's got some slightly singed fur.

Continuing on he spots some rats and starts following them, even though they're bloated and smell terrible. Rats usually know where food and hidey-holes are... but all he's finding are more burned-out buildings. They look kind of like... a bomb hit them...

Oh.

He growls and kicks a rock before continuing on his way, trying to avoid anything in the empty streets. But he's no good at combat - hopefully someone else can help him out with that.


safety

The butterflies make him frown, but he heads into the room regardless. He sighs in relief as he looks around and... huh. It looks like a very poor child's bedroom. It almost looks like...

"Is this from my old house?" They never had much after they moved to America, even after they managed to snag a newish home. But this room... there's two beds. Taro sits down on one of them and puts his head in his hands. He can't do this. He can't deal with this place throwing his past into his face.

He's so tired of this. It almost makes him want to turn back into his normal form... it's taking a lot of energy to keep up this form. He's nearing the end of his rope and he's just exhausted and sad.

He just wants to go home. Home home, not Trench home. But that's impossible... as this place keeps reminding him.


wildcard

[Got a different idea? Write a toplevel or hit me up at atrypical, Matt#6266, the plotting post, or PM me!]

enemies

[fogsong]

Sharon wanders the streets, paying careful attention to her surroundings, a gun on her hip and a spear on her back. The last time she wandered the streets of the Otherworld, she'd been a terrified girl, buoyed forward only by the desire to protect the only person she had in her life. Now, she walked the streets with a strange calm and confidence. They were her streets, no matter how changed they were, and she brought this to life.

She spots Taro as he kicks a rock down the street and she wants to shout at him, warn him. Guilt burrows in her chest

"Fuck," she mumbles under her breath before she jogs towards him.

"Taro," she whispers as loudly as she dares, "Hey!"

[hachitaro]

He's glad to see a familiar face through the gloom and he rushes towards her, running past a rat with a... is that a humanoid face on it? Maybe he's just seeing things. Maybe he's just imagining all of this. Maybe it's a dream.

But dream or not he's not getting through this without help. He notes the gun on her hip and frowns, but... it's not totally out of line. "This isn't going to be one of those movies where you shoot the monster and then you realize you shot your friend, is it?" He's joking, but also not - he'd rather not deal with that kind of trauma right now. Or ever, really! But also not right now.

There's a scrape and a moaning noise in tri-part harmony, as something humanoid wtarts to walk towards them out of the darkness.

Safety

[survivalthroughhate]

Outside, it is as if a storm is raging. Curious though. There is no rain or sleet. Instead, it is just constant lightning without any thunder that interrupts the bolts. Maul comes running into the room at full tilt, slamming the door shut behind him. He's breathing fast but it's not all from running.

He just lies there, curled up on the ground, his eyes squeezed shut. He's shaking a little and isn't aware of his surroundings. Taro will hear him muttering softly to himself, sometimes mantras repeated over and over again, things like "There is no Peace. There is only Passion..." Othertimes it's something that sounds like a frantic apology to someone. "Please, I'm sorry, I won't do it again, don't, please don't..."

[hachitaro]

... Okay. What in the name of science fiction fuckery is that? ... Never mind. It's definitely a person and he walks over to the guy(?) and crouches near him.

"No one's gonna hurt you in here. Even if stuff from whatever's being dragged out from me shows up, it's me they want and not you. There's two beds here. You might want to lie down on one of those instead of the floor."

He sits back a little bit and sighs. "Also there might not be peace, but it's an ideal worth fighting for. Passion only gets you so far."

Shiro | Voltron | Warmblood | ota

[shiro2hero]

[ Exploration, Monsters, and a Horrible Hospital ]

[ Plotting comment here! ]

Luz Noceda | The Owl House | OTA

[imaglyphwitch]

Wandering the Streets

It had seemed especially snowy this day. Luz had dressed warmly for it, and was busily planning for the bookstore, when the fog came in. Luz squinted, not expecting something so thick, and then it becomes so bad she can't see. She lets out a huff and is about to jump onto her staff when she hears it. It's enough to make her blood run cold, because she knows she'd heard it before.

The siren. The deafening noise to let her know a change was happening.

Sure enough, Luz activates her light glyph and where there was regular city streets was now rusted, decayed buildings, looking as if they had not been used in years. Worst, she could see red in spots, like dried blood. It would remind her of the factory, but Luz knew better than that. This was somewhere else entirely.

She was, somehow, in Silent Hill.

First Encounter

Luz scrambled around for something, anything familiar, but was also pretty sure she needed to be quiet. She had seen some of the monsters that Rose had encountered, and she didn't want to alert any of them to her presence. She mounted her staff and looked around, desperate to find someone, anyone.

At first, she thought she found someone too. There was a person in the distance, and Luz called out.

"Hey. Hey! Are you ok? Are you...lost..."

The person was hurrying toward her, and now Luz was alerted that maybe she might have spoken too soon. Their run was hobbled, and now, close up, Luz could see the weakened muscle mass, all joints jumbled together, gray and decayed with hollowed eyes.

Luz turned to run and heard a shriek from her pursuer that made her blood run cold. It was like a strangled bird, but the sound was piercing too, and now she could hear the rumblings of other creatures too.

Luz was glad for Eda's staff, because on foot this was terrifying.

I get knocked down

She didn't know how long she'd been wandering at this point. Her hair was full of soot, her arms and legs scraped up, and it seemed like every time she had settled down, those stupid banshee things were shouting her position. Her whole body was tensed up, her heart beating fast, and she was scrambling for a place to hide.

She'd long abandoned the idea of a building and had gone for the woods, hoping that she would be able to lose anything that could find her. She was doing her best to stammer her breathing gasps, afraid to give herself away. She settled by a tree and gave herself a moment to rest.

Someone had to come, there had to BE a reason she was here, right?

Little did she know, there was someone watching her, waiting to strike. They were rounding on Luz in just a moment, in fact.

i get knocked down

[fogsong]

The people that enter this Otherworld are always easy for Sharon to find. Not because of her connection with this world but because they leave trails. They leave behind footsteps in the ash and beaten creatures. For someone used to a place like this, those trails are so damn obvious.

She follows this one into the woods. She has to step through the trees, through the underbrush, and dodge creatures she's never seen before. Some of them she kills. Luz may hear the familiar pop of gunfire every now and again. And it gets closer.

It's almost twenty minutes into her search that she spots something in the shadows of the branches. It hasn't noticed her but it's following someone. She follows after it, every step she makes careful and quiet. It seems to know where the person she's looking for is better than she does and she's here to take advantage of it.

Re: i get knocked down

[imaglyphwitch]

Luz has been hearing the gunshots, and though they're pretty scary, she also listened to hear if there were anything that accompanied them too. So far, it didn't sound like some kind of gathering of people, so it was possible there was someone here, just as lost as she was!

But Luz knew better than to get her hopes up just yet. She had to make sure she was safe, ensure that she was absolutely out of the woods...

And just as she started to think this, there was a shadow that came over her, and Luz only had a moment to gather herself before she felt the bolt that singed her scalp. Luz ate dirt and tensed, trying to get up and see what had attacked her.

It was unlike anything she had seen before. The banshees had been one thing, but this? It appeared to have writing stalks where its face should have been, though it definitely seemed to be laughing somehow. It shot what seemed like a bolt of lightning at her and she dodged this time, had hands clamped on the side of her head.

Crapcrapcrap!

There weren't enough trees right now, it could see her pretty easily, and while her hands fumbled for her glyphs, she was moving way too slow for her own good!

Kavinsky | The Raven Cycle | OTA

[burnyoudown]

i. If You Want Me To Burn

[There was fire and ash everywhere in Kavinsky's apparent personal hell. Buildings burned forever, the sky was eternally dark, and the city was in shambles. He didn't have a single fucking clue what was going on, but he didn't feel safe enough right now to dream some sort of thing to help him out of this mess. He didn't know how he'd gotten into this situation in the first place, even.

He picked his way through the rubble, narrowly avoiding twisting his ankle when chunks of cement slipped and shifted underfoot. His clothes were dusted with ash and for some reason or another, he kept glancing up towards the sky more than he looked around at the streets. The reason became apparent after a moment when a shrieking roar pierced the relative silence. Kavinsky nearly tripped over himself hurrying to press back flat against the side of a building, hidden beneath what was left of a fire escape.

Across the street, a few blocks down, an enormous dragon landed on the rooftop, claws digging into the building. Red and gaseous, its breath was toxic and its eyes were full of nothing but hate. It swung its head one way and then the other, smoke curling from its mouth and nostrils. Then, with another reverberating shriek, the dragon took to the sky again and flew out of sight.

Kavinsky watched it go without a word, so engrossed in keeping an eye on it that he didn't notice if anyone else was there at first.]

ii. Then Ignite me - cw: body horror monster, gore

[Where he'd been calm and calculated against the dragon, Kavinsky was now anything but. There was a monster stalking him but it was a different beast than the dragon. It was humanoid, skin mottled and tumored, decaying in places. It was also taller than most humans, bulky, with too many eyes and a mouth that split from ear to ear. It bled continuously from three gaping wounds in its chest, the blood bubbling and sizzling where it touched the ground. Its hands were claws, bone broken through skin and sharp and jagged.

Despite all of that, Kavinsky could still recognize him; his father. There was something, a feeling maybe, that made it clear. It was that fact, more than how awful the thing looked, that made him run. Luckily for him, the father-monster was slow, shambling along persistently.

Looking around for a weapon, Kavinsky picked up a hunk of concrete, considered it for a second, and dropped it in favor for a length of rebar. He didn't plan on facing off with the monster just yet, but it never hurt to be prepared. And having something in his hands made them shake less.]

Fucked up motherfucker.

iii. Safety

[After stumbling across a safe room, Kavinsky settled into the corner to dream. To the average observer, it looked like he'd maybe passed out from exhaustion after finally finding safety. In reality, he was dreaming a weapon.

If someone were to enter the safe room and stay for a little while, they would get to see a shotgun appear on the floor next to Kavinsky. Or rather, it seemed like reality was bending in on itself. Surely the gun had always been there, their brain would try to rationalize, they just somehow hadn't noticed it.

A moment after that, Kavinsky's eyes opened.]

ii

[survivalthroughhate]

Are you sure you can handle that thing?

[The voice comes from above Kavinsky. Perched on the windowsill of a second-story building that's in shambles, Maul watches with intense eyes at the scene playing out beneath him. He doesn't look inclined to either help or hinder.]

I'm so sorry this is so late ;-;

[burnyoudown]

[He flinched. He hated himself for it a little bit but he still flinched. There was tension in his shoulders when he looked around, spotting Maul after a moment. His lip curled in a sneer, or maybe it was a snarl, but it faded after a moment as he glanced back towards the monster, making sure there was still enough space between him and it.]

I don't know. But I can't just give up and let it kill me.

Sharon Da Silva | Silent Hill | OTA

[fogsong]

▌ ▌ ▌ CRENSHAW DISTRICT

[ There's a little neighborhood in the Crenshaw district that's lined with houses. In this twisted version of Trench, these are just shells of homes; the roofs are caved in and the support beams buckle under what appears to be years of neglect. The windows are shattered and the doors hang off the hinges. Every home that lines this street tells the same sad story of abandonment, all of them except one.

There is a single house that appears whole. Anyone that's visited Rose & Sharon Da Silva's little cottage home will recognize it. It's as aged as the rest of the world, the siding has warped and the shingles on the roof have rotted and fallen away, but this house isn't falling apart. The porch is missing a few posts and the windows are boarded but the soft, warm glow of firelight squeezes through the cracks of the boards.

You might find this place by happenstance or maybe you picked up on a familiar scent or the song of someone's powers (powers that pulse like the heart of this world) but however you've come here, you might want to knock on the door first before you try entering. ]

▌ ▌ ▌ LEAVING NOTES | The streets of any district & safe rooms

[ The Otherworld warps and twists to match those that get dragged into it, digging up memories and traumas most would prefer to remain buried. Sharon knew what to expect the moment she started using her power. She knew to expect rust and ashes and fires waiting to claim her deep beneath the roads. She knew to expect the ghosts of her own past to come rushing out of the shadows. She didn't expect how it would mutate and adapt to those within Trench; how it would grab those she knew and those she didn't and change for them.

It rocks her. It distracts her.

It's not long before guilt overrides her desire to focus on her ability and she sets out to walk the streets of each district, leaving notes behind in areas she think will receive traction. She sticks some of these handwritten warnings on doors and windows. Others, she just folds and drops.

Should someone spot her doing these actions, after she realizes they're not something born of this nightmare, she'll motion them over and hand them a slip of paper before she speaks, voice kept low.] I'm just trying to help. Spread what I've learned.

[ It's the safe rooms that receive the most attention from her, though. Each little safe room she finds receives every note: an apology, a warning, a hint, and an assurance. It's the least she can do for them. ]

▌ ▌ ▌ RESCUE | Anywhere | CW: monster that vaguely resembles a spider (seen in image links)

[ It happens so suddenly. One moment, you're walking, trying to pay attention to your surroundings, trying to find a way out, and in the very next something clatters in one of the nearby buildings. The sound is quickly followed by a strange, skittering echo.

You see it for just a moment. Pale porcelain limbs clinging to mannequin heads, their eyes open and wide and filled with something manic and searching. One head swivels your direction, eyes you, realizes you can see it and then it disappears back into the shadows.

You might think you're safe. You might breathe a sigh of relief and continue on your way but the sound follows you. A clacking here. A chittering there. It follows you so long, from one building to the next, that it almost becomes background noise. It's only when you stumble across thin, plastic webbing blocking your path does it finally grow.

That chittering gets louder, faster, and the moment you spin around you'll find the creature is only feet away, one of its plastic heads splitting open to reveal a wet, red maw that tastes the air around you before it finally screams. That scream is coupled with the harsh, echoing sound of gunfire and a bullet chips through one of the porecelain limbs, revealing strands of red muscle and fiber hidden beneath. ]

Fucking move! [ Sharon shouts from a distance away, gun raised, her expression a twist of fear and solid determination. ]

crenshaw!

[overlies]

[ makima doesn't knock. she gives herself entry, morphs and splits the side of this pulsating, sharon-scented power hub as any darkblood architect with at least a pinch of skill until she finds herself in what appears to be the kitchen. the wall doesn't look the same anymore, twisted and mutated in ways that the sink and countertops look like they're sloppy, melted and gone from their once solid reality— from "the persistence of memory", it reminded her of.

now, she just had to find the bundle source of the stench. she had a feeling the wait in touching base with sharon's ability was well worth it. tied with a motive that she could trust just as easily as one would cling so easily to revenge, this was snug in her palms.

makima does not wear her smile. ]

[fogsong]

[ sharon is in the living room just past the entryway beyond the kitchen. there are orbs of fire that hang in the air as if suspended by some invisible string. they pulse like a heart. they provide enough light to make the room traversable with little heat.

sharon is on one of the dilapidated couches, her legs pulled up beneath her. exhaustion clings to her like a second skin. the otherworld doesn't exhaust her, once opened it can exist indefinitely, but to open and close it takes from her.

she has no idea someone has found their way into the house. she thought she'd been set up in such a way that no one could get the drop on her, doors locked and windows barred. ]

iii is it katie or is it alessa oh god

[stayscared]

[this isn't trench. well, it is but it isn't the trench he's used to. (did he ever imagine he would think this: no.) this an empty shell of what he knows, and it's not the same as the architecture adventure in november, the closest he can think of is something he's heard whispers of here and there, but had been slightly before his time - he'd been spared the horror of being trapped in the undertrench, but this tracks closest to that line of discussion - of which he hasn't heard much.

the skittering sound isn't unlike the crabs (those fucking goddamned clattering clackety fucks) near the lighthouse, this whole place is reminiscent of that offset, offputting off kilter of that, too, but it's ...well, he isn't sure it's not a hallucination. and just for old time's sake he yells the tower is weakened and soon shall fall, which not only doesn't end the vision, it attracts the attention of the chittering thing again, even when he'd thought he'd slipped it.

followed a dark haired girl (it can't be) around a corner and listened to her when she said shhhh even if he couldn't see her, but now, when he turns he sees only faces faces god all the faces and each one of them seem size him up with a set of glass eyes. he doesn't even know where to look.

the chittering.

but then it screams and he looks into that mouth. now he can't decide which is worse. but he doesn't move when he heard the cry, the order - a voice that's recognizable and sends a shockwave through him, because standing between the indescribable horror of a beast is the little girl he had followed. he has to save her, so he dives toward the mannequin maw and not away.]

No!!!

[fogsong]

[ she had barely even noticed the girl and alarm bells go off in the back of her mind. there should be no children in here. from here, she can't tell if it's a remnant of alessa born from deep within her or if it's someone of importance to mike, but sharon screams.

she screams and races forward. she knows what happens when someone gets bit by that spider. she'd watched as a woman's body slowly turned to plastic; saw the terror in her eyes until her head was finally plasticized. sharon grabs at one of the many arms and tries to rip the creature back. ]

Go, go, fucking go. [ she's begging. the last person she'd encountered in the lair of this creature had been lost to it. she'd left them. she wasn't going to leave mike or the ghost of a child (or maybe she was wrong, maybe she'd made a mistake and brought in a child, and if she had curse her forever). ] Please.

Crenshaw!

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul's been wandering the streets for hours now. He feels cold and tired, his connection to the Force not nearly as strong in this place as it is in Trench proper. It makes him irritable on the surface and distracted mentally as his mind keeps reaching out for a connection that won't properly form.

That's how he ends up in Crenshaw, having run from some monsters that are rodent-like in appearance and smell as if they are rotting. He just kept going until he didn't hear their skittering little feet behind him anymore.

That's when he spots it, the cottage that belongs to Sharon, the one Rose had taken him to one afternoon when he was a young boy so he could drink his first cup of hot chocolate. It looks like the only inhabited place on this block, so of course he goes up to it.

He hesitates for a moment before knocking. (What is he even doing, acting like a neighbor who wants borrow a cup of sugar instead of just entering outright?) Then he knocks and waits, bracing himself for this to be some sort of trap meant to lure him into a false sense of security.]

[fogsong]

[ Maul will hear the sound of something clattering to the floor directly following his knock but silence will soon follow as the lights seem to dim and then go out. It's only after Sharon takes a peak outside through the spaces on the boarded windows does she finally open the door.

Sharon, like most months since Rose had left, looks worn out. There's a thin sheen of sweat covering her as if from exertion and her normally bright, steely gaze is dark, and her pupils were blown out impossibly wide, swallowing up the blue until there was nothing but a thin ring of it. It was all a sign that she's been using her powers in excess. ]

Maul. [ She whispers, careful not to speak too loud, and grabs him by the arm to drag him into the house. She closes the door quietly behind them, flipping the locks into place one after the other. ]

Shit, I... I didn't expect to see you here. [ She won't ask him why he's here or how he got here: she already knows that. ] Are you all right? You haven't been hurt, have you? [ Already, orbs of fire flicker to life in the air around them and illuminate them both. It's mostly so she has an easier time looking him over.

Maul will find that the whole house is worn. It's like years have passed. The floral wallpaper is damaged and peeled back and faded. And there's a heavy scent of must and rot in the air. This is the shell of a home that's lost the people that cared for it. A safe but sad place to hide. ]

Darth Maul | Star Wars| OTA

[survivalthroughhate]

Arrival

When Maul firsts ends up in the Otherworld, at first he thinks he's ended up in the alternate version of Trench he experienced several months back. There's a few superficial similarities, but the more he explores, he realizes this is an entirely different place altogether from the one with the religious zealots and their creepy cult in it. This place feels more like rot and decay while the alternate version of Trench still had a feeling of life to it however twisted. He can't help but feel there's something familiar about this place even if he can't put his claw on what it is.

He explores the streets quietly and cautiously. It's harder for him to feel a connection with the Force here though not entirely impossible. Still, the focus it takes to maintain the connection makes it harder for him to focus on his surroundings. If anyone comes near to him, he'll immediately turn on his lightsaber, swinging at them before he stops once he recognizes he's in the presence of a fellow Sleeper. "Have you been able to discover any clues as to a way out yet?" He demands.

Monsters

Here in this landscape one can find many monsters inspired by the trauma of Maul's mind. Some are easier to defeat than others but all will test the ingenuity and skills of a person, whether that is mental or physical.

There is a tall woman, humanoid in shape until one notices the chalk-white skin she has and black tattoos on her face. To some who have seen her in Maul's memories, she will be a familiar figure. This is his mother Talzin. Her face is buried in her hands as she weeps tears of red blood and green ichor. She speaks with an accent one from Earth might think of as sounding Transylvanian. "Where are they? Where are my children?" While she makes for a pitiable figure, it's best not to approach her. If you do, she'll whirl on you, fury in her silver eyes. "It's you! You stole them!" She hisses.

The green ichor will rise up like it has a life of its own and enter a person's lungs. Soon, they begin to burn the person from the inside out. Killing her is fairly easy if a person can work through the pain they're in and she dissipates into more green ichor after a mortal blow is landed.

One that is much more difficult to deal with is a gaping void of darkness rather like a black hole in nature about the size of a small car, representing the trauma Maul's had from people always leaving or abandoning him in his life. It's a terrifying abyss that feels like you will never escape from it. Surprisingly, characters will feel the urge to want to go inside it, for they can feel, hear, and sense the presence of their loved ones (dead, alive, basically as long as they're dearly missed they'll count) just beyond their grasp. The trick to defeating it is to embrace the darkness once a character is inside it and essentially face any negative emotions they might be feeling. The darkness will then let go of them, leaving them feeling more peaceful than before.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking "monster" found is a small figure that always looks like he's in the shadows, even when he's standing right in front of a person. The small figure is humanoid but the silhouette of horns on the head and glowing golden eyes make it clear who this represents. The child doesn't speak, only whimpers and cries. He's very skittish and afraid of anyone who comes near but those who approach him with kindness will find he's a useful little ally in navigating the Otherworld. He seems to have an instinctive knowledge of this world, knowing how to avoid monsters and other dangers. If a character stops to rest, he'll watch over them and make sure nothing attacks them. When it's time for them to move on, the little figure will have vanished with a child's innocent giggle, the sound soothing the spirit of the person they've been helping.

But on the other hand, he also has a vengeance-filled streak. Those who try to attack him, accidentally harm him, or even do something he misinterprets as something aggressive will find this little childlike spirit is capable of doing serious harm. If alarmed, the whimpers will give way to a piercing cry, one which brings pain to both eardrums and the mental state of a person as they feel the agony go right to their heart. If that still doesn't stop the person, he'll reach out a shadowy hand and Force-Choke the person in question until they're gasping for air. If extremely enraged, he'll keep at it until they're lying dead on the ground, and the last thing they hear before they die will be a sinister, eerie laugh from the child.

In contrast to the small shadowy Zabrak kit which represents Maul as a child, the most fearsome monster conjured forth by his mind is the sapient lightning storm brought forth. It's part monster and part force of nature. It toys with its victims as the lightning strikes close to them or just hard enough to cause pain but not kill. One can often hear maniacal cackling that comes from the sky and might hear whispered words in their ears telling them they're not good enough and never will be during these times. This one represents Maul's fear of his master Darth Sidious. Unlike the other monsters that represent things from Maul's life, there is no way to defeat this being. The only way to escape this monster is to physically hide until the storm passes by, having found another target to sadistically toy with.

[OOC: Any of these threats can be encountered with or without Maul present! Just let me know which way you want to do it.]

Safety

Maul's doing alright until he encounters the lightning storm. Then he panics, as he always does in the presence of his master, and begins to run. When he sees the butterflies, he follows them purely on instinct, just trying to get away from the force of nature which represents the man who was responsible for ruining his life.

Once he reaches the room, he goes inside, slams the door shut, and curls up in the farthest corner of the room. One can find him there muttering mantras to himself, things like "Through Victory my chains are broken...." and "Far above, far below, we don't know where we'll fall...." It'll be some time before he even realizes anyone else is in there.

Once he does, just give him a minute. He'll be able to pull himself together..... eventually. Maybe give him a few more minutes.

[OOC: Hit me up at my plotting post or on Plurk at Light_shade if you want to plan out anything in particular.]

Safety

[imaglyphwitch]

Luz had thought she was done with this place. She'd had to face her own insecurities as well as finding out what had actually caused the world to look like this. She had been certain she would not be pulled back into this version of Trench again, but here she was.

She had managed to dart into a room in abandoned clearing, having already encountered that lightning storm, and now, seeing Maul, she could figure out why it was pretty much undefeatable. It had to be that Master of his, the one responsible for warping and twisting Maul's perspective so he faced hardships all his life.

And clearly, that affected her friend.

"Maul." She said his name softly, looking concerned. "That's...him, isn't it?"

cw: physical child abuse mention

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul shivered slightly as if he was cold as he quietly said his mantras to himself to help himself stay in the present moment, trying not to slip away into the past where he was a scared child who just didn't want his abusive father not to hurt him anymore. He was only partially successful.

He finally looked up when he heard someone call his name, someone who was definitely not Darth Sidious. He blinked in surprise at seeing Luz there. He was still shaking a little without even realizing his body was doing it. He didn't try to leave the corner of the room from where he was curled up. ".....Yes. That's him," Maul said quietly. He didn't need to elaborate further. Luz had seen his memories before and knew what kind of monster had raised Maul to be the way he was as an adult.

luna lovegood | harry potter

[creidim]

cw: threads will likely contain war-related trauma, torture-related trauma, ptsd, panic attack symptoms; dealing with feelings of guilt, anxiety; silent hill-flavoured monsters, descriptions of gore.
choose your own adventure: this is the starting point! please check out my plotting post which is in here. pick which of the monsters you’d like to deal with from the list and leave your monster of choice in the subject line! i would prefer anyone wanting to deal with Bellatrix to message me since that one's going to be a lot for Luna, so I'd like to limit playing that out. all other monsters are free to all!

[ Such a miserable place to find herself in. It is not Luna’s first trip to the Otherworld, but certainly the first time she’s seen the place. When she’d fallen briefly into the alternate version of Trench back in September, she’d been blind. But even if this world may not be entirely the same, there’s much of this place that feels familiar in ways she’s known without seeing. She picks her way through the ruined streets, slowly and carefully. She recognises areas as Trench, but there’s a horrible sensation deep in her stomach — a rolling dread like ceaseless thunder.

She doesn’t want to be here. Not just for this being a bad place to be, that much is obvious. There’s something else there, something telling her to get out, as quickly as she can. But how she might be able to do that is unsure, she might as well be left stumbling in the dark, cautiously exploring.

Something crunches under her foot, a splintering sound, wood. She stops to retrieve it, only to find a long wooden stick broken in two, still connected by a faint silvery hair running through the wood’s core. A wand. Much like Luna’s own. The wood is warm in colour, mahogany perhaps. A unicorn tail hair core, around ten inches or so. But this world is empty of its owner, of anyone. There are no other witches or wizards of her kind here, not in Trench either.

It’s not the first wand she finds in the ruins of the Otherworld. More are scattered, each of them the same: broken in pieces, the cores spilling from them. Some in several pieces, charred. Dozens of them she finds as she works her way through the districts, each one pressing at her, pushing that feeling in her stomach higher and higher — squeezing at her lungs. Until she finds one that makes her gasp and the sight of it. ]

… I know this one. [ She retrieves it with the utmost care, her fingers shaking. She feels like she can’t breathe, her eyes sting. She cradles the wand delicately in her hands, stares down at it with wide eyes of horror. ]

It can’t be, but it is— it really is.

Bellatrix Boss Battle, baby 💪

[possessum]

( By the time Peter finds Luna, he's been roaming the streets for a good couple of hours, and there's a soft layer of dust (or is it ash? Grey and filmy) brushing his hair and clothing.

He knows what this is. He's been here before. Only each time is different. Once, there was empty beer bottles littering the street. Now, there's wands.

...Like Luna's. They all look similar to Luna's, even if the shapes and lengths and what's inside varies. Some are longer, thicker, knotted, thin. Every time he rounds a street corner, he's stepping over a couple, carefully. His heart won't stop hammering in his chest. Luna. Maybe this isn't about her, maybe this is someone else's Hell. Wands could belong to other worlds. But his desperation simply grows as he searches, led by the pull in his gut.

He sees other things sometimes, tries to avoid being seen in return. But somewhere along the way, there's a flash like a shadow down a street, some ghostlike thing wearing a mask, and then a second not far from the first. Then he feels one too close, a swoop of air as it comes down upon him. The others join in, and he's screaming as they surround him, swarming; he's crouching down on the ground with his hands pressed over his ears, until he blacks out and finds himself lying down a few feet away, blood at the corner of his mouth and eye, and broken pieces of masks strewn about. Paimon. He... stopped them, killed them, broke them...? They're gone, however it is. Peter shakily gets to his feet and hurries away, shuddering uncontrollably. After that, he sticks close to building walls instead of in the streets, creeping his way around. He's terrified to be surrounded by those things again. It felt like he couldn't breathe.

He doesn't know how much time passes. He's just wandering, aimless, and then he sees her. Peter's eyes widen and he's giving a hushed exhale, before he hurries her way, the blood on his face dried. )

Luna—!

( As soon as he's close enough, his arms are wrapping around her; he isn't hesitating. Not thinking that this could be some trick, or maybe not caring, not in the moment. Peter pushes his face into her hair, letting himself shudder quietly against her. )

I thought you might be here. I thought so. I had to find you.... Are you okay?

sad daddy

[fogsong]

[ By now, Sharon is well aware of what the people she pulls in will experience here. In the beginning, she figured it would be exactly like the Otherworld back home: rusted and hollowed out, a reflection of Alessa's suffering, with rules she'd learned after decades trapped within it. Those pieces exist in every version of this world, certainly, like hints of who was responsible, but every Otherworld she's brought into existence has formed from the hauntings and darkness from others. Each one has been different.

Each one has been a uniquely horrifying experience for Sharon, made all the worse when it's born from people she knows. Nothing in this world screams familiar but there's a theme here. The wands are momentarily distracting and she pockets a few out of curiosity's sake before she continues. She deals with a handful of monsters in her exploration of this Otherworld but avoids the majority of them. She especially avoids a skull-headed beast that appears to stalk her when she enters certain districts.

It's an hour into her exploration that she finally spots Luna in the distance, her crown of white-gold hair contrasting starkly with the dark, oppressive atmosphere. Realization crashes into her as the young woman's face twists with grief and horror. Wands. Witch. It's a sick sort of guilt but it's one she's gotten used to by now. Her mind screams insults at her as she calls out to Luna. ]

H-Hey! [ She jogs to close the distance between them. Her eyes linger on the wand grasped in her hand like something precious. There's a pain in her wet eyes that Sharon can't ignore. Her voice softens as she reaches out to grip her shoulder. ] Luna, shit.