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Bellum Anon (bellum_anon) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-05-18 10:00:00

Entry tags:

cheshire cat, dr. watson, frog prince, will moran

Group E: Dr. Watson, Cheshire Cat, Frog Prince, Jack of Tales

The plaque on the wall says:

the beast in the deep feeds on the dark
and in order to wake him, to give him that spark
The invisible cat must hold the book
and read his crimes in the chant
while the man who's a frog,
quite at home here, I feel
must follow him after, but rant

then comes the catalyst, brave, yet a fool
who will read to us all whom he left to die
and last but not least, the man jack will then school
us all the things that made beauty cry.

The participants will find themselves in a dark room lit only by the aquarium that makes up all four walls. It is filled with exotic fish and plant life, and the water seems to go on forever, like they've been dropped into a glass box at the bottom of the ocean, though the ceiling and floor are both plain, opaque plaster. The plaque is on the floor. If they look carefully, they might see a hint of a shark out there.

...Or something more sinister. On a stand in front of one of the walls, there is a heavy book bound in what is (hopefully) leather, emblazoned with runes. Underneath the runes there is an English translation: 'NECRONOMICON'

Each of the first four pages has information on it about the people in the room, and they have to read their information in the correct order. Rick has to open the book and read out a list of his crimes, written right there on the first page. Then Stefan has to read a list of his own (on the next page), but he has to shout them. Micah will then have to read an account of how, exactly, he left his parents to die, and Will has to follow with an account of what he did to make Ella cry.

Once this has been completed, the summoning will commence, and the great Cthulhu will come out of the murk. The ocean around them will get darker and darker, as if night is falling, and then the old god will swim around the room three times, glowing eyes peering at them as it does so, feasting on the darkness within their souls.

And then the door will appear in one of the glass walls, and they will be permitted to leave.

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	acatalyst 2010-05-19 09:22 pm UTC (link)
	"That's it?" Micah asked incredulously, distracted enough that he forgot about the thing in the water. "We have dead people and jail-able offenses, and you cheated on a girlfriend?" The damned building was deranged, Micah decided. There was nothing for it. "Oh, also, you're a bastard." It was an afterthought, clearly. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

takingsides
2010-05-19 10:16 pm UTC (link)

"Maybe we should be asking why he made sure she knew--" Rick began, grinning still and apparently amused enough by Micah's reaction to temporarily forget Stefan's squidley fingers and what they meant. In the ensuing silence, however, what little green light available from the ocean around them began to dim, and all humor in the situation evaporated entirely. Rick, feeling something coming, put the book back on the stand where they had found it, and then backed away to the center of the room, ignoring the others and letting his eyes move around the glass. Waiting.

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unimpressive
2010-05-19 11:14 pm UTC (link)

Stefan hadn’t quite grinned at Micah’s outburst, close but not quite, and then the everything changed around them. He was moving as well, backing away from the glass as he watched the lights dim and the water turn darker and darker, whatever light that had been shining upon them quickly masked by something. There was a long moment of nothing, no movement or sign of anything around them whatsoever, which only made Stefan’s nerves worse. “Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea,” he muttered, eyes darting to and fro.

And then there.

There came a pair of glowing eyes staring right back at him, making him let out a startled scream, loud and abrupt, not caring who he was with. Despite the darkness he could still make out its green body, the light from its eyes illuminating just enough to see. It was squidlike, as he knew it could be, but all the descriptions he could remember had been so far off their mark. It was too incredibly grotesque, too impossibly large, to be anything that resembled something from the ocean.

There were the long tentacles upon its face - his own fingers upon his chin hadn’t even come close - wiggling and writhing, pressing up and sliding along the glass. He could see the wings behind it, needlessly flapping in the murk, pushing strong waves of water against the sides of their aquarium. And then a massive claw came up to tap upon the glass, a deceptively simple gesture if it hadn’t been pointing directly at Stefan, sending another chill through him. He was dimly aware that he was changing, a completely involuntary reaction to terror but he couldn’t help himself. Cthulhu held his gaze as it swam to the side, still visible through the glass of the aquarium as it rounded the next wall to catch the next person in its horrific and unwavering stare.

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jumpingpast
2010-05-19 11:34 pm UTC (link)

Will grinned a bloody smile at Micah for his outburst before snapping his head back to face Rick. "That's none of your business," he retorted before getting distracted by the change in the atmosphere. Taking a cue from everyone else, he started backing away from the glass when a gigantic-oh HELL no-Cthulu made its way in front of Stefan and stared, either in searching for something or he already found it.

Though it seemed forever, it was barely a minute before the creature swam over to Will's side, its glowing eyes fixated on him though for what or why, he didn't know. Like it was judging them for the crimes they read aloud. "Well shit," he breathed out, surprised he was still standing upright. He stayed frozen in place until the beast finally moved on to the next person before he remembered to exhale the breath he had been holding.

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acatalyst
2010-05-19 11:41 pm UTC (link)

The glass held, and the water didn't come flooding in and drown them.

Alright, so the thing on the other side was fucking horrendous, but Micah had been expecting fucking horrendous. And the kid had turned into a frog, which was unfortunate, but not something catastrophic. No one had guns or machetes, and no one was bleeding or dying. All in all, the green thing that looked like it'd come from some time before humans walked the Earth wasn't so bad. Hell, it was even interesting, the way the wings and the tentacles swayed in the water. He wondered if it was a mammal.

It stared at him, and Micah crossed his arms and stared back. It didn't matter how deep that thing looked into his soul, it couldn't make him feel any worse around the past than he already did.

"Bring it, ugly," he muttered, not looking away. The glass buckled under the pressure of the waves, but if this was a staring contest, Micah refused to lose.

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takingsides
2010-05-19 11:51 pm UTC (link)

Rick had a gun, and he was seriously considering using it on the big octopus outside the glass, but he changed his mind when its squelching disgusting horrifically watching self moved around the glass without breaking it in. He had it in his hands, however, as he confronted the thing, pointed at the floor, waiting.

For his part, Rick knew what kind of person he had become. He was a dark person, a ruthless person, the kind of guy that said one thing and meant another, and never did much of anything for himself. He was responsible for death and pain and the sort of bad things that happened to good people. He was responsible because he hadn't cared, hadn't thought to care. He understood that, and while he knew he could not compensate, in his way, he was trying to prevent anything worse from happening.

The monster didn't really care what Rick meant to do, just what he had done.

For the man, at least, there was The Cat, who had nothing to hide and only amusement at the thought of it. The green eyes glowed out at the monster, and after it passed, he chuckled a very soft, purring chuckle to himself. He holstered the weapon.

The old god went 'round again, and again, until finally the darkness dissipated, and a door opened in one of the glass walls. Water did not pour down into it, and light and warm wood waited beyond.

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unimpressive
2010-05-20 12:17 am UTC (link)

Stefan hadn’t tried to maneuver out from under the clothes particularly fast. The remnants of his own fear lingered but he as long as it was out there, he wanted to stay hidden. That was, afterall, what it had seen in him. Cowardice and a long pattern of pretending to be someone or something he wasn’t.

Light finally streamed through the open door and judging from the sounds, or lack thereof, he deemed it safe. It was a few moments before he managed to hop out from under his shirt, letting out a long sigh. “Godfuckingdammit.” They were finally free and he couldn’t just walk out of there. Not easily anyway. He hopped off his clothes and turned his head up to try to look at them. “Can someone get those?”

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jumpingpast
2010-05-20 01:25 am UTC (link)

The door opening was like a tiny breath of fresh air slapping him upside the head and telling him to get the fuck out. He was already making his way to the door for freedom when he heard Stefan (now a frog) and his pathetic little plea for help. Will did try to ignore it, really he did, but he would be ever so god damned if he could just leave the idiot by himself.

Fuck Cole. Fuck Ella. Fuck everyone for making him feel at all.

"Sonnofabitch," he sighed, stalking over and picking up the clothes on the floor before kneeling next to Stefan, hand raised out. "Cmon Frog Legs. Get the fuck on here before I change my mind," he grumbled, already trying to think of a reason why this was a stupid idea.

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acatalyst
2010-05-20 01:35 am UTC (link)

Micah let the Cheat handle the Frog, and he walked out into a lobby that was somehow eerie in its silence. It was unnatural, bothersome, and Micah got chills up his spine. "Something isn't right," he said, and he didn't mean Chthulu or the frog.

He turned toward the door, which was where the Catacombs door normally. "What if other people are stuck somewhere?" he asked, thinking Iris instantly, but not saying her name.

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takingsides
2010-05-20 02:48 am UTC (link)

Rick, his footsteps as professional as his suit, belying the madness within, walked into the lobby as if out of a dream. "It seems likely," he said, in a voice of distracted bemusement. "If it happened to us--bam, we're there--it probably happened to the rest." He sounded of New York, thoroughly. He too looked back the way they had come. "We ended up back here. When they do what they're told, maybe they will be too."

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	unimpressive 2010-05-20 04:07 am UTC (link)
	Stefan hopped onto Will's hand, not needing to be told twice. He wanted out of there as soon as possible too. He heard Micah's worry, but he and Will were already making their way out of the lobby. "Nothing's ever right around here," he reminded him and then Stefan wasn't around to hear the rest. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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