HAZEL'S HEART

[dramatispersonae]

You feel like you're falling, falling, falling. Your vision swims in darkness, glints of color here and there. If you can focus on it perhaps you can tell what's falling with you: gems of all types, gold, and silver... But maybe before you can recognize anything at all the darkness engulfs you completely. It feels like you're suffocating. Could this be the end?

Just as quickly as it appeared the feeling ends abruptly and your surroundings change. abruptly and your surroundings change.

[IRC Channel will be #cursedchild! Run starts at 6:30 EST. If you need a separate run or want one please let me know!]

Comments

A CROSSROADS

[courageously]

The only thing that hasn't changed about your landscape is the treasure that surrounds you. Piled several feet high as far as you can see all types lie: the gems, gold, silver, Roman denrii, all of it was there. Enough to make even the richest person envious. But even now you can feel a tug: don't touch it.

Once you can pull your mind away from the glittering jewels, or maybe you didn't pay them any mind at all there's quite a deal more to take in. Around you a storm is raging, although here in the center you seem to be safe from it...

You even appear to be at a crossroads, worn and done stone-by-stone. For those familiar it's obviously a road one might have seen in Ancient Rome. The road itself isn't the alarming part, it's the seemingly holographic doors in front of each of the possibilities:

The first has a boy and girl looking like death. Maybe they are dead, they sure seem that way with the way their bodies are crumpled in front of black door. They could look familiar, even, as recently departed Citrines.

In the second, a ruffled boy is falling through the sky. Plummeting to his death.

In the third, another boy is shown with an arrow through his arm, blood soaking his shirt. He's tired and struggling... undead seem to be surrounding him on all sides.

Finally, in the fourth, perhaps is a more familiar picture: the ring and people in various colors struggling to breath, screaming in agony.

There is no sign to tell you which to go through, but there is a woman cloaked and holding a torch at the center of it all.

"Choose your path," she says, her voice somehow thunderous, "although, none of them will be kind."

[bodymod]

[ignoring the woman and heading to the second door. he reaches out to touch it.]

[courageously]

[ He can touch it without going through! It doesn't given off any presence. Do you want to go on, Lambda? ]

[bonesandarrows]

[That was a lot to take in

Taking a moment to orientate herself, staring at the crossroads, particularly at that third one]

Of course they won't be...

[courageously]

[ The woman is eyeing you, daughter of Hades. She considers a moment and speaks. ]

You should know even unpleasant situations can have good things in them.

Re: A CROSSROADS

[digiteyes]

[. . . WELL. even if she wanted to touch that treasure it's not like she could!1]

A path. . .? Why? What am I choosing for? Who're you?

Re: A CROSSROADS

[courageously]

[ Please don't try to touch them then!

She stares at you, unblinking, as the mist around her swirls dangerously. ]

Who am I?

[ Somehow the voice is malicious and mysterious all at once. ]

I'm the keeper of these crossroads.

Re: A CROSSROADS

[crueltobekind]

[Kaoru is backing away from the doors, already growing pale with unease]

Do . . . D-Do we have to?

Re: A CROSSROADS

[digiteyes]

[idk what's going onnnn no one explained anything also this is really unnerving]

[h. . . hovering close]

Re: A CROSSROADS

[courageously]

You must choose.

Re: A CROSSROADS

[glorious]

[...oh.]

[taking a closer look at the fourth door...]

Re: A CROSSROADS

[courageously]

[ The fourth crossroads feels blanks! Almost like something is there, but it's not a worry met horribly quite yet. ]

Re: A CROSSROADS

[buryinghatchets]

[bites her lip gently]

It doesn't appear that way, no.

Re: A CROSSROADS

[courageously]

What will you choose?

CAMP JUPITER

[courageously]

Passing through the gateway that showed the bloodied boy might just show you something different then you expected: A hillside overlooking from the Caldecott tunnel shows a giant camp. The first place you'd encounter looks most definitely militaristic in design, but it can't be with all those kids running around, right? Further, there's a small city that could only be taken out of a textbook on the Ancient World.

It's almost as if you stepped back in time... if not for the fact most of these kids were in jeans and a purple shirt that reads 'SPQR'. There's plenty of places you could go around here, but where should you start...? Maybe that statue that just popped out of no where can tell you! Boy, though, he doesn't look happy to see you.

Re: CAMP JUPITER

[glorious]

[Why wouldn't a place with kids running be militaristic? They look military-aged to me.]

[...cautiously approaching that statue though]

Ah, hello...Am I intruding?

Re: CAMP JUPITER

[courageously]

[ Yes, much military aged. Fourteen year olds are very responsible with catapults. None of them seem to think it's weird, either.

But the statue seems irritated alright. ]

You're not allowed to be here.

Re: CAMP JUPITER

[buryinghatchets]

[well, I guess we can talk to the statue]

Hello... Is there a problem?

NEW ORLEANS

[courageously]

Once you enter this door you're suddenly surrounded by muggy, summer air. It takes a minute for your eyes to focus, but when it does you've arrived in the schoolyard of a small school. It's obviously not the most well-kept around and there doesn't seem to be any relief inside, either-- no aircondtioning.

If you wonder around you'll find the school's name on a sign, 'St. Agnes School for Colored Children and Indians'. Maybe that explains some things. Like why the foundation is cracked and the playground equipment is nonexistent. Or how when the door opens, the children spilling out are of all ages. Their clothes are obviously their Sunday best, but for quite a few that's nothing more then the least stained clothes they have. Some run with no shoes, others no lunches. It seems to be the norm here.

Trying to talk to the children won't get you far, though. They seem like apparitions. Their images faded, their voices whisper. If you try, though, you can most certainly hear what they have to say. "They said he lost his arm." "It's her fault." "Yeah, the witch girl". No matter where you go the voices seem to get worse.

On the far side of the playground is a boy, the only non-ghostly apparition. He seems to be mocking a taller, much bigger boy with a wildlook in his eyes.

Re: NEW ORLEANS

[bodymod]

[he cringes back from all the children; is there anywhere less populated within sight?]

ARGO II

[courageously]

When you pass through the doorway here you arrive on a... surprisingly hi-tech Greek trireme. It's made of wood, so that's not unnatural, but upon closer inspection it seems the pirate's wheel is more for show or this is a seriously complicated ship controlled by a wii remote and some dubstepping equipment. If you look over the side of the ship you will see not water, but the passing landscape of Italian cities, the outskirts of a modern one and the ruins of an ancient... So maybe it's so complicated because it's flying?

There's not much to see on this part of the ship itself. You might find the dragon mast interesting or even the boy sitting on the hull in a mix of black and Ruby red. There's crates and boxes littered around, some have weapons, and some very ominously say 'DANGEROUS DON'T PUT NEXT TO EXPLOSIVES' right next to ones the read 'EXPLOSIVES'...

Or maybe the smoke seeping through the floorboards is a little more worrying then all of that.

Re: ARGO II

[digiteyes]

[ooooooooh nifty! it's not a computer, and she doesn't have her technology skills back, but it's still interesting to her!]

[. . . eyeing those boxes]

Whooooa, someone's really awful at following directions!

TRUE HEART

[courageously]

It feels like everything is fading away.

The colors around you turn grey and blurry eventually turning to the darkness that's been ever creeping...

And then it changes and you find yourself in a camp. Except, maybe it's not the camp you've seen by now. Not entirely at least. It's still flooded with children of all ages, there's still a military encampment, a field to play war games, and a city to protect...

But around it trees have appeared. A castle, a smaller version of the one seem in Camelot, has nestled between it. The trees lie on the outskirts of the camp, forming a familiar circle and flying familiar banners. The whole camp seems to be bustling and the air is somehow much more lively then it ever was before.

A horse grazes nearby and the statue that you might have seen before pops up again. Except this time he seems less intent on getting rid of you immediately, at least...

Re: TRUE HEART

[bonesandarrows]

[HOW DID I FIND THE TRUE HEART THIS EARLY GOSH]

[Looking around at everything, this is so close to familiar and yet so completely different to what she's used to]

Another camp…?

Re: TRUE HEART

[crueltobekind]

[SHE LIED TO ME]

Where am I . . .