those demons from which we all hide, OPEN

[nothinglikea]

Who: Rose Dawson and you?
What: Eventing
When: March 8th through the 15th
Where: The Jungle Level or the Catacombs

Content Warnings: potential death, drowning, terror, PTSD after the Titanic/Jack

Comments

RUSHING RIVERS

[nothinglikea]

After being trapped in this hellish landscape, the last thing she expected or wanted was to be swept away by water again. Water every bit as cold as the North Atlantic that terrible night, the cold that killed Jack and fifteen hundred other people.

They hadn't had a chance and as she struggled to keep her head above water, she was afraid that neither did she. She felt her breath quicken, the blood pounding along with her rapid heartbeat in her ears.

But much to her surprise, she saw something ahead of her in the water. A door. That damned door.

Rose swore to herself, then did her best to swim towards the door and grab hold of the outer corner, trying to hold herself upon it yet again, pulling herself aboard. Once she was braced on the door, she reached her arms down, trying to steer it around rocks.

That was when she heard the shout for help.

She couldn't do nothing, so she started kicking in the water to propel herself and the door over to them. If she scooted just so, another person could hang onto it with her.

((OOC: please feel free to have Rose find your character in the water. two people can't fit laying on the door, the Mythbusters proved that, but there's room for two holding onto the door))

RUSHING RIVERS

[schoolingfish]

When he feels the current pull him under, Luca lets out a cry. And then he doesn't come back up.

Of course, this is because he's turned into a sea monster and has gills now, but it's hard to see that through the dark and murky water. It's only when he sees that she's trying to move the door to where he went under that Luca realizes he should alert her to the fact that he's okay.

He comes up, grabbing a rock so he doesn't get swept away before he can explain, "I'm okay! The current's just more than I can handle, but I won't drown!"

Sure, he might get beaten against the rocks, but he won't drown!

[nothinglikea]

She couldn't let anyone else get hurt. Not when she could at least try to prevent it. So when she saw the--the person she hadn't met yet go under, she does her best to steer the door over towards them, letting it get caught on a rock while she anxiously worried about them surfacing.

That's the same rock Luca had grabbed a hold of. She's never seen anyone who looked like him before, but that's beside the point. The point was making sure he was safe. "Are you certain? There's room on the door if I shift a little to the left!"

She waited for him, hoping she could help.

[schoolingfish]

"I don't know...are you sure it won't tip if I try to climb on?"

He doesn't want to dunk her in water to help himself when she'd be in a lot more danger if she was in the water. Still, he moves over and grabs the door, because it still wouldn't hurt to have something to hold onto. Besides, it might be better if they stick together.

"Maybe if I just hold on? I have gills, so I just need to anchor myself so I don't get thrown around."

[nothinglikea]

"I'm not...entirely sure? It collapsed when it bore the weight of two adults, but you're small. Maybe you'd fit? I promise to steer us well."

And she does. She doesn't make promises she doesn't fully intend to keep (except for the whole engagement to Cal, but who could blame her?). When he grabs the door, it tilts up ever so slightly, so she makes sure that she's only braced onto the door with her upper torso and starts trying to paddle with her feet and steer with her arms.

"Would that make you comfortable? Because we'll get through this, together. The door will serve as a perfect anchor, it really will!" And she was babbling, but she couldn't let anyone be left behind in the water to be hurt.

[schoolingfish]

He considers whether he should maybe try to get on. It probably is safer...but when she mentions steering, he gets a better idea.

"Wait, I know! You don't have to steer at all! I'll work my way around to the back and I'll use my tail to steer the door!"

It makes perfect sense, and would likely work a lot better than the weak paddling human hands can do. His tail is made for swimming, after all. Hand over hand, slowly and carefully, Luca works his way to the back of the door, gripping as tightly as he can, afraid that the force of the water rushing past him would tear him away. Climbing onto the door would have certainly been safer, but now that he's put his mind to doing it this way, nothing will be able to dissuade him.

[nothinglikea]

She'd never had to do anything like steer the wide, unwieldly door before, but she knew too well what its limitations were. She'd been doing her best to keep away from the rocks, but she saw several just ahead which would make matters hard going.

"--wait, what? You can? Are you sure you'll be safe? I don't want you doing anything where you won't be safe!" She'd let one person die on account of this door. The absolute last thing she wanted was for this decidedly different in appearance but judging by the voice, young man to take on too heave a burden. She risked a glance backwards to see what his progress was.

[eudaimonikos]

Michael grabs onto the edge of the door as soon as it nears him, steadying himself upright and gasping for air. He wasn't really in much danger, of course - at least, not danger of drowning. But the current's too fierce for him to swim, especially in human shape, and being torn along and flung into various rocks isn't exactly fun.

"Oh - ugh." He grimaces; now that he's stable long enough to really look around, his glasses are useless with all the water beaded on their surface. The demon shakes his head as if to try and fling it away. (This does not work.) "Did you make a raft?"

[nothinglikea]

She's both glad and horrified to see Michael in this situation. Mostly glad because at least this way, she could help, she could be of use. The current was unlike anything she'd ever known, faster than any stream she'd ever seen. But every bit as cold as the North Atlantic.

She was tempted to reach out a hand to squeeze Michael's shoulder, but she had to focus on staying on board the door and steering it away from the worst rocks. "Not exactly! One from home found me!"

[eudaimonikos]

"Okay?" He doesn't get it! But whatever!

Michael cringes as they sweep past another rock. It doesn't actually hit him, but it's closer than he'd like. Honestly, he hasn't registered the cold of the water; he can never really tell when it's too cold or hot for humans. But that doesn't mean they're in a great situation! "What's our endgame here, is this gonna end sometime? We don't - we don't have any naturally-occurring rivers in Hell."

[nothinglikea]

"Just hang on as tight as you can! I'll handle steering!" And she's getting better at it, kicking with her legs and moving her arms so that they missed the worst rocks. But the worst aren't all and she finds herself cringing as the rock they couldn't avoid crashed into the door.

But it was no matter. The door was strong. The door would continue. If anything on Titanic taught her anything, it was to be like the door.

She's freezing in a flimsy gown something like what she would have worn back home. That taught her, no more anything other than sweaters, jeans, and work boots. "I assume it will end somewhere. Every stream has its end, but whether it's into the ground or into a larger body of water, I don't know!"

[eudaimonikos]

"Fuck!" Michael, on pure instinct, punches the rock. Part of it does break off! But, you know, that doesn't really change anything.

"Okay! Uh - " He attempts, for a second, to pull himself up onto the door as well. But the way it dips in the water is immediately alarming, and he stops once he realizes the danger of just capsizing the whole thing. "Okay! Hey, at least there's no piranhas!"

[nothinglikea]

Her eyes widened as she watched Michael literally punch and break part of the rock. Did everyone have some special skill other than her?

When he tried to climb on, she cried out "Wait, wait, we can both ride it, but it won't let both of us fit. Learned that the hard way." And his comment about piranhas made her smile as much as she could in such a desperate situation. "Yes, no piranhas. Now, let's do our best to get to safety." As soon as she was sure his grip was strong enough, she'd push away from the rock and start steering the door again.

[morningstud]

The sudden onslaught of water takes Lucifer by surprise. He's not exactly a strong swimmer— being immortal and living in Los Angeles will do that to a man— but he doesn't even hesitate when he sees her coming, and with a door of all things.

"You have bloody good timing," he manages between splutters.

[nothinglikea]

Rose isn't much of a swimmer, either, back home she'd done her best to kick through the water as Jack led her by the hand. And she'd been grimly surprised to see that cursed door coming at her in the water. It made her wonder how much about her, this place already had.

But when she sees Lucifer struggling in the water, she immediately slides down the door so that she's laying down it rather than on top of it. She reached a hand out to him and shouted to be heard over the roaring water "Grab hold of my hand, then the upper edge. It can't hold two people on top of it, but I'm willing to gamble that it will let us both on if we're laying down it!"

[morningstud]

He doesn't need telling twice, grabbing for her hand, onto the door. "That certainly sounds better than waiting for the water to overtake us!" he manages, latching onto the door as best as he can.

Given how fast the water is coming, it might not be much use, but he still says it. "If we can find stable enough ground, I should be able to get both of us in the air."

Though, that being said, he's immediately going to be attempting to help her up onto the door the best he can.

[nothinglikea]

She does her best to help pull him in, not wanting anyone getting hurt in the water. Not if she could help it. "It is! And the door is...very sturdy."

And she'd never seen water like this before, had never been west of the Mississippi River, which had certainly seemed stable enough in St. Louis. "All right. We'll both keep a lookout, though I fear that this the kind of thing which will only be over when the water itself is over."

She gladly accepts the help, eyes huge as she took in the water ahead of them.

[morningstud]

If the door is sturdy enough for both of them... more the better, as far as he's concerned. He doesn't waste any time climbing up onto the door himself, though, because the last thing he wants is either of them going under.

"Unfortunately, you're probably right" he admits. "What I wouldn't give for Amenadiel's ability to stop time."

CATACOMBS

[nothinglikea]

Rose's scream was of frustration more than anything. She didn't know how or why this place chose its squids to make it to the shore, but she knew she wasn't dead back home and that she hadn't always been a squid.

That alone gave her the determination to go forward. That she had a life waiting for her back home, a life she'd build on her own terms for her own ends.

When she found the backpack full of supplies, she breathed a sigh of relief. She'd honestly been afraid that she'd been left down here to die.

Maybe she had?

((OOC: individual challenges to follow this comment, feel free to run into her in the first area, though!))

UNTOUCHABLE TEMPTATIONS

[nothinglikea]

She saw the Paleblood jewels glittering on the floor before she saw anything else. Maybe that helped her, helped clear her head.

She'd been through with money, with fancy jewels (even though she had the Heart of the Ocean squirreled away in her flat), with beautiful clothes that looked as though it would fit her to a T. She preferred the jeans, the sweaters, and the black leather boots that she'd found and wore here. A dress would be nice...but not one that reminded her too much of home.

That was when she saw someone else enter, trying for the cellar doors. She cried out in response and ran as fast as she could to try and pull them away.

((OOC: feel free to have your character fight her in their attempts to get the treasure or turn portions of her skin to gold if she got there too late)

THE EXIT

[nothinglikea]

Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she saw daylight ahead of her. She wanted to run towards it, but was afraid that doing so would cause the floor to collapse beneath her.

So she trod carefully. Or at least she'd meant to.

Instead, she screamed loudly as she found herself in a nest of---of mushrooms? What in heaven's name...was this? She saw. Skeletons? Even more mushrooms than seemed possible.

Only now the mushrooms weren't on the ground, they were growing on her. She screamed again and tried to yank the mushrooms out of where they were growing on her, crying as they only seemed to multiply.

She screamed for help, begging whatever gods may be in existence that someone would hear her and help her.

((OOC: rescue the damsel in distress and she'll swear to your character that she'll do them a favor, regardless of what it was or when she'd be asked to do it))

Re: THE EXIT

[imaglyphwitch]

Luz was still in the throes of this place when she heard the scream. They had been singing Karaoke WAY too much for Luz not to recognize Rose, and thanks to an earlier summons she finally DID have Eda's staff in tow. She sped toward the scream and encountered Rose trying her best to get the mushrooms off.

Oh boy.

"Rose, look at me! We have to get you out of here! These things are only going to get worse!"

(CW: blood)

[nothinglikea]

She heard Luz before she saw her, she'd been so focused on ripping the mushrooms out of her skin, leaving bloody wounds in their place. Ridiculously, she found herself hoping that they wouldn't scar, despite the fact that she now spent most of her time covered in sweaters and jeans.

And as Luz asked, she looked up. "How do I--how do I grab you without spreading the mushrooms? I don't want to do that!" And she yanked a mushroom from where it had been growing on her neck.

Re: (CW: blood)

[imaglyphwitch]

Well now she was seeing that Rose was getting just as injured as she'd been with Minako! That was definitely not going to continue happening on HER watch.

"Just get on! We can worry about that later. Right now, I don't think it's safe if you stay there! Quickly!"

Re: (CW: blood)

[nothinglikea]

She saw mushrooms everywhere, no matter where she looked she saw mushrooms. She was trying to focus her mind and not panic, so she concentrated on Luz's face, on her voice. Oh, god, what awful thing was happening to her?

"Okay. Yes, I'll do that." And she struggled to find her footing, more mushrooms tearing out of her back as she stood, eyes watering with the effort to not scream at the pain. But pull herself to her feet, she did. She wanted to live, damnit, she wanted to live!

She got on board the staff as ungracefully as possible and was afraid to touch Luz for fear of spreading the mushrooms. So instead she clutched to the staff as hard as she could, knuckles turning white with the effort.

"I'm ready. Please, let's go, please!"