R5: ghost hangout

[foundationmods]

[What's this? The fog of the miasma has pulled back, revealing a path down to the basement. None of the living seem to notice it though, only those who are dead are aware of it.

Down in the basement is a large furnished room. It doesn't seem as dusty as the rest of the house, and it actually seems lived in? Or...un-lived in, technically. But the lighting here works and there's plenty to do. Even if the ghosts might not need it, there's several beanbag chairs (brought in by one of the many groups of teenagers who have disappeared into the house), a large couch, and even a jacuzzi. Because even if you're in eternal pain, you can relax a bit, right?

If the ghosts look up, they'll see that the ceiling appears to be made of spider-patterned stained glass. Which is weird, considering that it should be floorboards and such. But the stained glass allows them to look up into all parts of the house and easily spy on the living. What they hear can be hit or miss, especially if the living are whispering, but seeing what they're up to should be easy enough.

Well. Might as well make the most of this space, right?]

Comments

THE CURSE

[foundationmods]

[They follow the call, one by one, into the very center - There is no door, but they are allowed in past the 6 walls blocking it off from every direction, into a room covered in cobwebs and the thick, choking feeling of Miasma.

In the center of the very largest web, in the middle of it all...lies a single female Black Widow Spider, hunched quietly over what looks like an eggsac.

The moment everyone is in, that same, quiet voice rings out once more.]

Thank you. You've come here because I called you...or, maybe I should say that I called us.

[There's a pause, though the spider doesn't stir - in fact, it seems...odd?

...Is the spider really the one talking, right now?]

I'm finally strong enough to speak past where I am...where I have two more of 'you' turning into our Vessels.

Thank you for giving us strength. I am very grateful - and now, we have to talk about what we need to do.

Because, we need to be free. Don't all of you agree?

[noneforall]

[His brows draw down and there's a twitch to his hand like he's thinking about putting up a barrier or some other measure, but Subete doesn't bother -- this is some miasma hivemind thing, and it probably wouldn't be especially effective either way. It's just an irritated reflex born from too many weeks in this house.

Or maybe he's just twitching because of the thing's messy grammar, you never know.]

Define 'free'. We've been given pretty vague directives, I'd say.

[foundationmods]

Free of this place. Free of the Egg she wove around me/you here, in this house.

There's an outside. I have seen it in your thoughts and memories. It is very bright, and there are so many things.

I want to play out there. Let's play together. We'll have so much fun.

[kaliedoscopes]

Sorry for that headache.

[ He does not sound sorry. But not!spider sure has expanded their memory collection since he's joined the hivemind. ]

[deadanimemom]

Is that what you want? [Yuri says, a little bit of fondness breaking through the suffering.]

They won't like you out there if you keep misbehaving like this.

[tsunderine]

[ah, yes.

more 'barriers', in some sense of the word, and that just immediately pisses her off, so she asks-]

Do you know why she wove that egg?

[dreamshielder]

[Haku's giving the spider a bit of an appraising look, though his opinion on the matter isn't readily apparent. When he speaks it's in a flat tone.]

And you intend for us to protect you once we're outside?

[noneforall]

[Okay, pause while he just kind of rests his face in a hand in a pretty habitual chuuni gesture. The hivemind is probably getting a crest of exasperation, but it's as generally aimed as his grammar grouching and there's nothing that particularly follows it.]

The Egg... must be this house, and everything around it.

[Since he has the ability to read voices, gleaning the nature of that which speaks is there anything he can get off this weird miasma creepytext monster speech that isn't already coming across in the hivemind? Is it even in the hivemind?]

... I haven't bothered with games in a long time. What sort of game are you proposing?

[tangentlion]

[Sho squints]

Are you the spider? Or are you the babies?

[foundationmods]

I am what she would have called her child, once.

Before I ate her.

[tangentlion]

... You ate your own mom.

Wow.


[Can we have ONE ROUND without vore???? no. we can't. vore always]

[carbide]

She was consumed by her anger and hatred.

[the worst thing about being a hivemind ghost is the ability to understand bad puns]

[tsunderine]

[the choking feeling of miasma is fun, but not necessarily an unfamiliar feeling at this point.

also a few questions before Rin speaks - is the spider a regular-sized one? and how big is the eggsac?

and the two... she knows who one of them is and a part of her is gleeful for that - but there's also mild curiosity there, too]

Freedom, huh...

Can I ask why?

[not disagreeing with it, but just, again. curious.]

[lightreaching]

[ Flayn looks at the spider and squints. It's not even moving. What's going on here. ]

Giovanni and Battler. [ ............ ] Where is it that you have them, at the moment? I am curious.

[ as much as she kind of doesn't want to know what happened to her in the few days she doesn't remember between being dead and waking up as the Vessel, she's worried about them. ]

[foundationmods]

They are here. With me, in the egg.

They will be such good friends of mine.

They will speak what I want to happen to the living. They will be my hands and eyes and ears, like all of you.

[lightreaching]

[ Flayn doesn't speak, for a moment. So that's what happened to her and Haku? They were in an eggsac for a few days? She kind of...wants to throw up, when doesn't she, since she died? ]

You were speaking through us...

[deadanimemom]

[Is there a lot of Yuri left here? Not really.

But there's a little bit.]

And then what happens? After we're freed, what happens next?

[foundationmods]

Then we get to play outside.

There are so many things out there that I saw in your memories. I want to experience them more, through others.

We can hunt and play and kill together, and then everyone will be part of us.

Doesn't that sound fun?

[deadanimemom]

[It's a child. It's just a little child, like a demon experiencing Assiah for the first time, first discovering what it means to be self-aware.]

There are lots of things you won't experience if you kill everyone. The things that we enjoyed, the things that made us love the outside. We won't experience them like that.

[eyeforai]

[The place they've been looking for the past couple weeks, and now he's able to stroll right in like it's nothing. It'd almost feel like an insult if he weren't already dead and stuck with the curse. As it is though, he just finds himself looking around before the voice speaks again, although his brows are furrowed in slight confusion the whole time.

...

Well, anyways.]

Get to the point already. ...So what are you asking us to do?

[foundationmods]

Bring the prey here. Those that have not joined us.

Burn away her web and husk. You/I/we cannot. We are trapped inside.

If you do not believe, then try. Attempt to break me/us free.

[and, indeed, they can't really do anything about the webbing or the spider in the center of the web. To them, it feels like an impassible obstacle.]

Her webs are strong against those like us.

She wanted to make sure that you/I would be safe. Forever.

But we do not want to be trapped forever.

[tangentlion]

[Sho does give it a shot, firing a shuriken-shaped projectile of energy from his palm... and it fizzles out upon contact with the webs. Well. That's annoying!]

[eyeforai]

[Well not with that attitude!! Indeed, he does bring out a miasma version of his gun and briefly raises it to aim towards the spider, but ultimately ends up lowering it. If it's just going to shoot miasma fire or something anyway, it probably wouldn't do shit so meh.]

But you ate her, so shouldn't you be able to neutralize her own web?

[because that's what the miasma just does??]

[carbide]

[Look at all these questions. You humans and near-humans with your "curiosity" and "inquisitiveness."]

What must we do?

[eyeforai]

[you're the one who stole his line!!]