Frustration and worry fill your mind. You chase after a figure, you don't quite remember what they look like. But you know that you're angry at them, but also worried. They said something that hurt your feelings but you know that you want to help them, even as they run away from you. You shout at them to stop and they turn towards you.
<Stop? Are you sure you want to stop here>
You look around. You realize you're standing on a power line, somehow balancing perfectly despite being fifty feet over the streets. In a moment of panic you try to balance yourself as the figure walks onto a telephone pole.
<I find balancing on power lines to be a little disquieting. Mind if I stand here?>
You start to lose your balance. You see hundreds of people below you, most of them strangers, some of them familiar. Despite how you're struggling, despite how much danger you're in, no one notices. You drop your bag and it lands on the ground and still no one notices.
<Relax. No one will see. They are as afraid to look up as we are to look down.>
The person begins to take shape. A woman, blond, older than you. She seemed almost normal until you looked at her strange yellow eyes. She takes out a cigarette and somehow it lights up as soon as it touches her mouth. She takes a long drag from it before looking at you with a smile that looked sad, like she was looking at a pitiful person.
<Many children fantasize about being a "hero" when they are young. You don't have to. You are one. Exciting isn't it? You can be the focus of everyone's love and attention just by being yourself. You're not just another little kid who isn't really that important.>
You're starting to remember this person. She appeared to you that one tragic day. When everyone was screaming, running, crying, she appeared to you and gave you a chance. She gave you power to no longer be meek. You have so many questions about what happened that day but somehow, you can't get a word out. Fear gripped your heart here, just as it did that day.
<I don't blame you for being a bit scared. Such drastic shifts in your reality are never easy. Most people never have them. But it doesn't get easier.>
You fall from the power line, falling down to the street. You think this is your end. You hit the concreate, feeling the pavement crack your skull and your blood leave your body.
And then you wake up.
It's 7AM. You're in your dorm room at Bullworth Academy. A prestigious school for wealthy, affluent children. At least that’s how it advertises itself. Truth be told, it's more like a prison school for kids who have caused too much trouble but haven’t become criminal enough to be sent to juvenile detention. Beneath it’s glitz and glamor it’s a school full of cliques, gangs, freaks, and assholes who get away with far too much because of how the school prides itself on its “strength of character”, which just means that the school was a dog-eat-dog world, where you either joined a group to protect yourself or become prey to everyone else. You try to appeal to other teachers and they’d just see you as the problem child.
For better or for worse, you’re just a nobody here. The bottom of the totem pole. But it’s only a matter of time before someone sets their sights on you, or you get caught up in some drama. As you went about your usual morning rituals, getting something to eat, and attending class, you could already see the social environment shift around you. Most students just try their best to ignore the goings on around them to head to class.
You were just attending class one day when everything changed. Students were filing in, waiting for the teacher to arrive. You were at your desk, or otherwise occupying your time alone, when you spotted a familiar scene: a group of girls gathering around a meek young woman and engaging in the usual practice of talking down to her for whatever reason. This time it seems to be some sort of shake down regarding some homework that was due soon. A familiar scene. But this was different. When the girl reached into her back to presumably retrieve the paperwork, she took out something else instead.
“Oh my god she has a gun!”
Everything changed quickly. You heard a gunshot and people screaming, running. But no one was hurt. No one but the girl who took out the gun, who pointed it at her own head. But instead of a gruesome scene of a suicide, what appeared was some sort of monster. Most people didn’t see it, but you did. And because you saw it, the world around you began to change. The students were gone, and the school was changed. It shifted into some sort of strange archaic castle, filled to the brim with grotesque and vulgar torture tools.
You don’t know where you are, but you know you have to get out. It was time to test your resolve.
@Guardian Angel Haruki
Rosalie would find herself in some sort of courtyard, surrounded by strange looking puppets wearing the school uniform. Most of them were the male uniform however, and on a stage were multiple puppets wearing female uniforms, as well as wearing nooses around their necks. She could see what appeared to be a gray elf of all things listing off various crimes and sins about the puppets, condemning them for their arrogance and flaws. The female puppets screamed both insults while also begging for their lives to the crowd, but it seems like the only person who could hear them were Rosalie. After the elf finished his speech, he would simply point at the puppet in question and the floor underneath her would fall out, hanging the female puppet to death.
Looking around there didn’t seem to be any guards or other gray elves, only the executioner and other puppets. Perhaps Rosalie could find a way to escape. But while doing so she heard someone talking to her. A softer, female voice. The words didn’t make sense in her ears but she could hear it clearly in her mind.
“Words you hear may never reach your ears, but the words you speak could still touch one’s heart. The one here so desperately screams, wanting anyone to listen. Will you learn of her despair? Or will you sing her dirge?”
Rosalie could see a violin and bow on the ground near her. It glowed with strange power. On the opposite side was the gate, unguarded. She could possibly run to it and escape this madness. Or you could reach out to the violin, and play a melody to end this execution. To calm the disturb, and disturb the calm.
@Norschtalen
Julia would be in the kitchen, holding onto a plate of food. There were many servants running about, carrying dishes to and fro. Upon closer examination this food wasn’t normal food: it was puppet body parts, hands, shins, sometimes even heads. This would be quite horrific if it was real body parts, but even as puppets it was uncanny. The servants seem to be taking the food to a massive hole in the ground, just tossing the puppet parts into something dark, nasty and hungry. In the kitchen itself was a large man wearing a sack over his head, chopping up puppets into parts. Any that were either working too slow or just unlucky ended up taking a cleaver to the chest before being put onto the chopping block.
There was a door behind the butcher and a key on his belt, presumably needed to open the door. The only other way out would be through the hole, and who knows what was in there. These puppets were quiet, meek, and didn’t even flinch when one of their own was killed right in front of them. If Julia moved quickly and did what everyone else did, maybe she could avoid the butcher’s wrath. But considering how indiscriminate his slaughter was, even if she did that she might not be safe.
“Is this what justice is to you? Play your role well and hope that the tyrants above don’t direct their senseless wrath towards you? There is no justice here! There is only the weak and the strong. If you want righteousness, you must take it!”
Hanging on the wall nearby was a small crossbow and a pouch of crossbow bolts. It was, however, in plain sight of the butcher who’s starting to look around to find his next victim. If you don’t immediately walk towards him and start serving up puppet parts he might single you out as his next meal. Or maybe you could make a run for that bowgun, and bring the battle to the butcher instead.
@Vertigo
Junwoo would find himself deep inside of a torture chamber, locked behind some iron bars. He fortunately wasn’t bound to any chains, but from where he was it looked like he was trapped. What he might’ve not immediately noticed however was that there were folks screaming for help, but when he looked at them what he saw wasn’t human. They appeared to be puppets, wearing the same school uniform as him but all with the same faces drawn crudely with makeup. They were both screaming for help and hurling insults at him, calling him spoiled and useless, yet wanted his help getting out of here. Suddenly something big and dark would open the cages, taking a puppet off to god-knows where.
The cage door was locked, but from a close examination it would look like it was secured with a cheap school lock. Looking around there was a loose stone that could easily be used to smash the lock and escape before that darkness could take him. But locked in another cell was, strangely enough, not a puppet. Instead it was a large sword stuck in the ground, and sitting on the pommel was a helmet. Even from his cell Junwoo could hear a voice speaking into his head coming from the sword.
“Once upon a time you had everything. Now you are nothing. Abandoned by kin, you have fallen from grace, forgotten, less than the dirt beneath your feet. They want to believe you are destined for failure. But a man can change his stars!”
If Junwoo tries to break open this lock, no doubt the darkness that was grabbing the other prisoners would spot him and catch him. He could try and make a run for it, see if he can escape this place alone. But there was no telling what trials lie ahead of him. How many problems could he really solve just by running? If trouble was going to find him regardless, Junwoo best have a plan to deal with it head on.
@Dark Cloud
Maxwell was perhaps in the worst place he could ever imagine: a social gathering. He was in some sort of ballroom full of puppets in fancy dresses, dancing, singing, gossiping. And they were so annoying too. Anytime they came across Maxwell they would bombard him with inane questions about his life and heritage, or stupid questions about Canada. And just as quickly as they came they would also whisper nasty rumors about him behind his back, calling him an incel and loser, and those were just some of the nicer things they had to say about him. They pushed him around, spilled drinks on him, and overall seemed to just be treating him as some sort of joke.
Maybe it was time to exit stage left. This obviously wasn’t his scene, and last time Maxwell checked he was supposed to be at school, not some prom. But the only exit out of here was behind a bunch of pretentious looking puppets who, weirdly enough, were armed with swords. If Maxwell tries to mess with them he’ll no doubt have to deal with not only their sharp barbs but also some pointy metal blades. It almost looked like Maxwell was just going to have to deal with being stuck here when he spots a bag on a dining table. It was a small pouch and next to it was a dagger. When he lays his eyes on it, a voice could be heard from it entering his mind.
“Tired of being pushed around? Want to stand on your own two feet, not where others tell you to be? Want to just explode? Don’t let others dictate what you should do, what you should be! Show them their place!”
Another puppet bumps into you, spilling their drink onto you. They immediately get into your face and start telling you off as if you had intentionally knocked their drink into them, threatening you with harm and trying to intimidate you. They were bigger than you sure, but so are most cows and this puppet looked more like someone’s baby toy than a real person. But right now they were in your face, trying to get you to apologize. Maybe if you grovel they’ll leave you alone. Or maybe you can grab that bag and the knife, and show them who’s boss.
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