Karla's Inner Landscape, Late Monday Night/ Early Tuesday Morning Fandom Time

[glacial_queen]

At first there was mist. A dark and heavy mist occasionally illuminated by crackles of Sapphire lightning. Through the mist, they could sometimes make out the shape of trees, twisted and heavy. The ground was soft and squelched beneath their feet.

Abruptly the mist parted and there was light. Balls of dimly-colored light—witchlights, Karla had called them—burned in crystal goblets that hung unsupported in the air. If one looked closely, they could see small hairline cracks beginning to form at the base of each chalice. Small, hardly noticeable, but with the potential to grow and shatter the crystal if left alone. Behind them was the dark, misty wood they had come through, but ahead, the forest split, showing two paths leading on to the distance. Both paths were lit by the floating chalices, though they veered into different directions no more than a few feet down either side. There was no way to tell where either path led.

And no sign of Karla.

[Establishy, NFB, NFI save for plot-slaves Team Rescue! WARNING: DARK THEMES. POTENTIALLY TRIGGERING. TRUFAX]

Comments

Decide where to Go

[glacial_queen]

Who is going where? With whom?

Briarwood

[glacial_queen]

Briarwood is the pretty poison. There is no cure for Briarwood.

A large, brick building. Though the architecture is lovely, there is a sad and desolate air about the place. And the building itself screams 'asylum.' The grounds are vast and snowcovered, with several tall hedges clustered on the back of the building. Off to one side is a small garden.

There is also a large tree, standing off by itself, with a perfect branch, just shaped for swinging. It is empty.

Glacia

[glacial_queen]

At first glance, the road led you to a perfectly lovely 19th century town, complete with carriages, horses, and cobblestone streets. Except it doesn't feel 'perfectly lovely'. The air is oppressive and the entire town stinks of fear and pain and a malicious glee. As you pass, frightened faces glance out of windows, then slam shutters closed, bolting them securely.

Voices cry out and are quickly silenced, but it's impossible to tell where they're coming from.

Briarwood: The Grounds

[glacial_queen]

There seems to be little more to the grounds than just what could be seen at first glance, but, like with everything in Briarwood, those appearances were deceiving.

The first hint that all was not right was the sudden appearance of a young girl, walking closer. She seemed solid and very real, from the top of her brown hair to the bottom of her blood-soaked dress. "Hi there," she said, smiling prettily. The act of speaking made the edges of the gaping wound in her throat move and tear. "Welcome to Briarwood. Want the tour?"

Briarwood: Inside

[glacial_queen]

Inside the building is cold and deserted. The warmth and luxury of the area just inside the entrance (presumably the only parts guests would see) soon led to barren and austere rooms. The individual bedrooms were almost the size of closets, filled with a thin, child-sized metal bed and tiny cupboard for clothing. There were no pictures, no books, nothing to show that a person with real thoughts and feelings and emotions lived here. The dining room was also small, with a few tables and child-sized chairs chairs clustered around them.

Everything in here felt so grim, so stark.

And then a young girl appeared. She brings in the first hint of color--the bright red of blood that covered her dress. "Hi there," she said, smiling prettily. The act of speaking made the edges of the gaping wound in her throat move and tear. "Welcome to Briarwood. Want the tour?"

Glacia: The Streets

[glacial_queen]

A young woman dashed out of the alley, clearly almost mindless with terror. Her face was wet with tears and already starting to bruise. She didn't seem at all aware that anyone else was present, wholly occupied with getting away from that alley.

Glacia: The Tavern

[glacial_queen]

The tavern was almost completely deserted, just a few well-dressed males sitting at a table in front of the fire. Their serving-girl, barely thirteen, stood silent and frightened in the shadows. Every so often one of them would call for her and she would approach, unable to hide her trembling.

Behind the bar stood a man, resemblance suggesting he was the girl's father. Fear and impotent rage warred in his face, with fear winning whenever the girl had to get too close.

The young men, however, didn't seem to notice the fear. Or, if they did, it was only to find it amusing.

Glacia: The Party at the Estate

[glacial_queen]

There was at least one home that seemed immune to the fear pervading the rest of the town. It was a large estate, on top of the hill, looking almost like a benevolent king smiling down on his courtiers. Music and lights spilled out of the windows, and inside men and women in handsome suits and beautiful gowns could be seen laughing and dancing.

OOC

[glacial_queen]

I think that's everything. And, if it isn't, I can fake it for awhile and then add as needed.

Re: OOC

[thatsamilkshake]

Carrot Patch.

*wibble* *creepify* *wibble*

Re: Decide where to Go

[momslilassassin]

"We should split up," Ben declared as he tried to orient himself to their new surroundings. "We can cover more ground that way."

Re: Decide where to Go

[trigons_child]

"Neither path calls to me more than the other," Raven said, looking from one to the other. She was frustrated that she couldn't sense which way to go to help Karla.

Re: Briarwood: Inside

[trigons_child]

To say Raven was uncomfortable in this place would be an understatement. She walked through the building, trying to sense Karla's presence.

When the girl appeared, she almost jumped, then stared at her in horror. Her words and demeanor didn't match the wound in her throat. "Yes," she said hesitantly. "What is your name?"

Re: Briarwood: The Grounds

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine would be staring in horror, thank you. "Are you--" No, no, she was not all right, but it wasn't presence of mind and the conscious knowledge that this wasn't real, it was a memory, that cut off Francine's question. Just her own throat closing up. "What... who did that to you?"

Re: Briarwood: Inside

[glacial_queen]

"I'm Rose," said the girl, giving Raven a small smile. "I'm am cildru dyathe,--a demon-dead child. Have you come to play?"

Re: Briarwood: The Grounds

[glacial_queen]

"Uncle Bobby," the girl answered. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine when she died. "He slit my throat when I told him I wouldn't lick the lollipop."

Re: Glacia: The Streets

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah looked after her, trying to remind herself that this was just a memory. "I've seen this movie. This is a bad, bad movie to be in," she muttered. "I'm thinking we should follow her."

Re: Briarwood: Inside

[trigons_child]

Well, at least she didn't have to struggle with the desire to heal the child if she were already dead, but the wound made her stomach turn nonetheless. "I have come to find someone," she said. "Perhaps you know her? Karla?"

Re: Briarwood: The Grounds

[thatsamilkshake]

Oh, sorry, no, this was Francine staring in horror. You could tell the difference because now her fingers were actually in her mouth to stop her from vomiting.

Nobody tell her she's in someone else's head and doesn't really have a stomach, She wouldn't believe you anyway.

Re: Briarwood: The Grounds

[icecoldfrost]

Emma stomped down on the surge of anger and hate those words churned up, and instead held out a hand to the little girl with a warm smile.

"Why don't you give us the tour, darling?" she replied, keeping her tone light. "We're looking for a friend, but perhaps we'll have time to meet your Uncle Bobby, too."

So that Emma could bloody well scratch his eyes out, for starters.

Re: Decide where to Go

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Well, this was going to be fun. First time getting pulled into one of these situations and she'd jumped right into the deep end, hadn't she?

"Well, geez, let's not stand around taking all day about it." Katchoo's eyes narrowed as she glanced between the two paths. "Don't know about you, but I'm going that way."

Re: Briarwood: The Grounds

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo had been silent so far, but her face was rigid with fury as she moved over to reach a hand out to Francine. Hello, there, crazy misty dream-world or whatever the hell this was, way to pull both triggers on a double-barreled rifle of issues at once.

"Yeah," she finally spoke up. "I'd just love to say hi to him if we have time."

Re: Glacia: The Streets

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I haven't seen this one yet," Max says from where he stands at her shoulder. He didn't sound very amused, though. And he was wishing he were armed.

Re: Glacia: The Streets

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah looked up at the frightened faces in the windows above them, and kept her voice even as she turned down the alley. "Well, either the huge monster attacks and eats the houses, or the evil pack of creeps terrorizing the city arrive, and there's a showdown in the middle of the street, and you and I crawl away bleeding even if we get all the bad guys. I think we want to skip that part."

Re: Glacia: The Streets

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I don't think I'm going to crawl away from this one bleeding," he smiled cruelly.