[IC] Grayscale : A World in Black & White

[Haha]

Day One

Location: The Heart of Madness?

A large spire of whitestone carved into a mountainside stood tall. The pointed tops of its towers pierced black clouds in a looming grey sky. It’s windows were stained glass with colorless depictions of lovecraftian goliaths consuming small cityscapes with their many mouths and tentacles. White lights would illuminate these windows so bright that even at a distance you would know - somebody was home.

“Someone has pulled back the curtain once again.” Spoke the tall man, cloaked from head to toe in a black shroud of thick cloth with small metal ornaments chiming around his sleeves and collar.

He sat in what seemed to be a throne room. A single large stone seat at its far end with a checkerboard carpet that sprawled from the room’s entrance to the throne. A large window of stained glass was at its opposite side, with large candle lanterns lining the walls as the sole source of light within the room, but the candles were blindingly bright. There was something else in the room though, but it would not be visible unless you looked for it. Above the throne was a dark spot, somewhere that the light of the candles didn’t reach the black-clad man. In that small abyss was eight white-glowing eyes that stared down upon the King in Black.

“A way out. A way out. A way out. A way out. A way out.” A roar of countless childish voices spilled from that abyss, along with the sounds of small chinois legs dancing along the ceiling.

The King in Black smiled beneath his shadowed hood. His ivory white skin in perfect contrast with his pitch-black tapestry, and as he looked up to properly regard the sentient darkness above him - locks of his long white hair spilled out from his cowl. The darkness stared back, the childish laughter warping into metallic scraping and the small clacks of stone, echoed and distant as if it were heard down a hallway. But then the abyss vanished, returning to a normal shadow above the king’s throne.

---

The Monster

Location: The Closet?

Where were you?

You were somewhere else just a moment ago, weren’t you?

The place you were in now seemed to lack anything of much detail. The walls, ceiling, and floor were a matching shade of gray that played tricks on your eyes when you scanned your environment. There was a ceiling fan wobbling around as it spun on the floor, or were standing on the ceiling? There was a plain black circular table with five chairs positioned around it - and if you cared enough to notice - that was exactly the amount of bodies standing around in this strange space.

Rattling noises came from the furthest side of the room, opposite to the group of unwilling travelers. Some rustling around behind two wooden-frame white doors with the thin skits carved within - to allow what was inside to peek out but not the other way in. Eventually the doors snapped open wide and a formless blob of white gas, or liquid, something, flew out and towards the black table before seemingly assuming the table’s shape as its body. The [monster] would take this time to gather itself, before speaking as the table.

“T a k e . . .”
“Y o u r . . .”
“S e a t . . .”

•• @LadyAnnaLee@Yankee@Dr Lovecraft@sassy1085@Oceanic ••

[Oceanic]

Terry

W-Where am I? Terry thought as he looked around at the strange room. Everywhere was gray and.....was he on the ceiling or the floor? He couldn't tell and didn't really want to, clenching his hands into fists Terry noticed he had his umbrella. His umbrella?....yes his umbrella! Surely it would shield him from the monster! Looking over his shoulder to make sure the monster wasn't near him Terry opened his umbrella and placed it over his shoulder for "protection." . He then jumped when he heard the actual monsters voice "s-sit?......um ok." He said nervously and sat down his leg bouncing.

Sitting in the chair was disorienting just like the rest of the room the fact that Terry couldn't differentiate the ceiling from the floor didn't help either. Terry then decided to look at the monster who seemed spirit like in appearance. Much Different from my monster Terry thought as his monster was more of a overwhelming feeling. Oh yeah the monster , wait I'm just sitting!....but the scarier monster said to sit. he clenches his fists. Oh yeah I have my umbrella! This will protect me from my monster! having a small smile on his face Terry began to scan the other people who were here.

Oh a doll....that's a bit creepy.he thought as he looked at a broken doll like thing. It severely creeped him out, why was it's leg all wrong? At least it's clothes were nice which distracted Terry from the fact it had a gaping hole which allowed him to see the inside. It's hair is nice too. he thought as he anxiously rubbed the handle of his umbrella with his thumb. Terry's hair blocked gaze then turned toward a woman with metal embedded in her head.

Oh no she's just as creepy!. he thought we his anxiety rose from seeing her and he could feel the monster approach. Her dress unlike the doll's was raggedy and torn the makeup Terry saw was also pretty badly done as it was flaking off and just looked like one big stain. "Blechhh" Terry unconsciously made a noise of disgust when he saw her warty skin and patchy hair. The metal growing out of her head scared him the most , upon seeing it he tightened his hold on his umbrella even more.

Tearing his eyes away from the woman Terry looked at another woman though this one seemed smart. Her skin is awfully pale......oh shit is she a zombie!? he thought wildly a bunch of scenarios about zombies and his brain being eaten going through his head. The veins that spiderwebbed underneath her skin just further made him think about it as well as her yellowed lab coat. His hands ran themselves over the handle of his umbrella even more as he felt his anxiety building and the monster getting closer.

Deciding to look away from the zombie-ish woman Terry saw someone who was in his opinion the most normal person he's seen yet. Finally another regular teenager! he thought and was going to say something before he shut his mouth. No, No don't talk to them after all you've never met them , what if they're dangerous! He felt close to a panic attack but tried to breathe in deeply and focus on the umbrella in his hands as he could feel the monster practically breathing down his neck.

Ok no more looking at people let's just sit still. he told himself in his mind and sat with his umbrella opened and over his shoulder while he looked up at the spinning ceiling fan so he didn't have to look at anyone.

[Dr Lovecraft]

Laura

Doctor Laura Cortez peered around the room from behind her dirty glasses, confused as to where she was and how she got here. As far as she could tell, the room had been designed to look as if gravity had been reversed. Unfortunately for the designer, the illusion was shattered by the presence of a round, black table with five matching chairs.

As Laura examined the room she became aware of four other, equally confused and, in some cases, scared individuals. The first was what appeared to be a six foot porcelain doll with a damaged leg. She at first assumed it was a part of the room's furnishings, until it too began looking around, a bewildered look contorting it's porcelain features. Her next logical assumption was that it must be some sort of twisted animatronic, but as she studied it from across the room, she could see a lack of any internal structure through the hole in it's leg, thick globs of dried glue holding it in place. Ok, so it's not an illusion, it's a dream. Laura thought, slowly forming a hypothesis in an attempt to explain what she was seeing. The next person she noticed was a beautiful woman in what looked as though it was once regal attire. She wore some kind of crown that was obscured by her patchy, white hair. Turning from her left to her right, she saw two normal looking teenagers, one with curly blonde hair. The devil's hair. She thought wryly. The corner of her mouth almost curled upward. Almost. The other teenager had black hair, the bangs just long enough to hide his eyes. It wasn't until after a few seconds that she realized he was semi-transparent, like some kind of ghost. The ghost-boy opened an umbrella and put it over his shoulder, causing Laura to take a step back in order to make room.

As Laura examined the strange people in her dream, a set of white doors at the opposite end of the room began rattling, as if something was attempting to break in. A few moments later, the doors erupted open, slamming loudly against the walls as they did. A cartoonish looking specter entered the room, seeming to possess the table. "Take... Your... Seat..." it commanded. The teenage ghost was the first to sit down, his leg bouncing nervously. Restless leg syndrome. Wonder what he has. If he has anything. She thought, taking note of his tic. Under normal circumstances she would demand to know where she was, who these people were, and what was going on. However, seeing as this was a dream, she instead chose to simply follow the ghost-boy to the table, choosing the chair to his left, leaving an empty one between the two of them. As everyone else sat down, she couldn't help notice him staring. Laura met his eyes challengingly, resisting the urge to blink until he looked away. As soon as he had, she pulled her lab coat closed, suddenly more self conscious than she had been in years. She allowed her idle and fidgety hands to tighten the green tie she always wore. It was tighter than most would find comfortable, but it brought her an odd kind of comfort, reminding her that, above all else, she was a scientist. A simple dream had no power over a mind such as hers. As if to reinforce this idea, Laura pulled her notebook out of her coat pocket. She took a moment to study the photograph on the inside, a sad smile twisting it's way onto her tired face. Flipping over to the first empty page, Laura began taking notes on the dream people, figuring it would help her remember the details when she woke up.

[LadyAnnaLee]

Fritz

Fritz blinked blearily as he moved to rub at his eyes. To be honest he was surprised that he could rub at his eyes. He didn’t expect to wake up again. He gathered that he hadn’t been as successful as he wanted in his endeavor. He couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. Now he had to deal with the consequences. Right now he had to be waking up in a hospital and in any moment he would be swarmed by doctors, nurses, and psychiatrists. Who knew? Maybe even his parents would show up, but to be honest he highly doubted that.

Then again, there was something wrong with his theory about waking up in a hospital. He was face down, which wasn’t how he thought people were put in hospital beds. He slowly got to his knees as he finally managed to get his mismatched eyes opened. Looking around showed him in a room with at least four other people, people he didn’t know. His eyes quickly widened in alarm. He was in a room full of strangers wearing a dress! He knew what wearing a dress felt like. Why was he in a dress in a room full of strangers. That was a risk he didn’t want to take! He didn’t mind wearing dresses or skirts or heels or makeup but that was a thing for him and his friends. He needed to figure out if he could salvage this and quickly.

His alarm at his attire was quickly cut off as he finally processed what his hand looked like. It didn’t look like skin. In fact, Fritz almost wanted to say that it looked like porcelain. Parts of his arm were missing, and he sat back on his heels as he raised his other hand to poke at the empty spaces. The young boy bit off a scream as his finger went into his arm. It felt a little strange, but mostly it felt like poking at nothing. What was going on? He was some sort of hollow porcelain thing in a dress in a room full of strangers. Fritz was about two seconds from a full-fledged panic attack.

That was when, well he could only call it a ghost, entered the room and told them to take a seat. At a lost for what else he could do Fritz elected to follow the order. He slowly got to his feet and took a step towards the table only to discover something else strange about him. He was limping. A quick look confirmed that his right leg was shorter than his left one. It looked like the leg had broken off and had been badly matched and glued back together; very badly matched, like a child had done it. Fritz bit back a whimper. What was going on? He forced himself to not think about that and continue on his way to the table.

There were only five seats and two were already taken. He would have to sit next to someone which was not ideal at all. The question was did he want to sit next to the partly see though boy with the open umbrella or the girl in the lab coat? Fritz wasn’t sure. The easiest solution would be to take the seat between them, but that wasn’t happening. In the end, he limped his way around the table to take the seat next to the boy. At least they both looked inhuman. Would the seat he took mean anything to the ghost? This all had to be a dream, right? Or worse.

Fritz found himself asking the near silent room and the ghost in particular, “Is this hell?”

That made sense, in a twisted kind of way. Instead of failing in his plans the boy had succeeded. The only thing wrong with that was this wasn’t like any hell he had ever heard of. He did take a moment to look at what had been in his hands the whole time. He bit back another sob as he saw the brand-new tube of lipstick his sister hand given him mere hours before he had acted. She had given it to him to replace the old one he was out of. It was still in the box. This had to be hell. The memento of his sister was torturing him, leaving him to only guess at the pain he was putting at least Marta though. Why did he have to be so damn stupid? Why did he have to be so reckless?

[Yankee]

C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸

She woke up. Not literally, but standing on her feet the sorrowful future witch quivered and her eyes flung themselves open, as if awakening from a stupor. She found that she'd awoken into yet another dream though. Gone from falling, flying, to standing there in the dreary gray room. The space was upside down like a fun house, ironic considering everything about it shouted that this place was the exact opposite of fun.

At first she didn't even notice the other people standing around her. When she did, her wide eyes focusing on each of them in turn before narrowing in thought, she wondered if they were even people. "Beings" seemed more correct. A ghost, a ghoul, a life-size haunted doll, and... C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸ focused on the last being the most. He looked like a normal boy. When compared with the rest of them, that made him the most suspicious. Until a more classical looking ghost appeared that was much more suspicious.

"What... is going on?" C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸ said. Her voice cracked on use as though she hadn't used it in a long time, but that shouldn't be true. She raised a hand to her throat, confused. Around that time the other four began sitting around the table. The woman in her tattered clothes narrowed her eyes even further, dark irises peeking out from horizontal slits. Why were these beings just... doing exactly what the weird ghost-creature told them to? And did the transparent boy just retch at her? C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸ wrapped her arms around herself, squeezing tight. Her mind felt sluggish, but she forced the gears in her head to turn. She had suddenly turned up here in this confusing place. The others - were they natives of sorts, or did they appear just like she did? What was that floating creature, what was it's goal here? What were any of their goal's? Where was this and why was she here...?

“Is this hell?”

C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸'s head snapped toward the doll. She stared at it - him? - for a few long drawn out moments before she burst into laughter. It sounded like a flattened, broken melody crawling out from her throat. The laughter went on for a minute or two, and when the woman calmed down she cracked a harsh smile and drifted over to the table, roughly pulling out the chair beside the pale and drawn being in the lab coat and dropping herself into the seat.

"Is this hell," she repeated, shaking her head incredulously. Reaching out, she drummed her fingers against the table, her pale hand and split nails standing out against the dark wood. It didn't feel like hell, but then again how would she know. She murmured, mostly to herself, "that would be my luck," before she waited for the final person to take their seat and see what the devil had in store for them.

[sassy1085]

Mark

".......What the fuck?" Those were the first that Mark say when he woke up in a strange room. How the hell did Mark end up here? He doesn't remember going to bed, in fact, he doesn't remember anything at all, the last thing he remember was......What was he doing before he woke up here? Was he cleaning the house? Talking to his aunt? Playing with his music? Hanging out with his friends in Music club? Hanging out with Joh-"Ow..." Mark mind start to sting, it like it trying to prevent him to remember, What the hell is going?

Mark look around of his surroundings, everything is so gray, too gray, too much like his old home, it even cold in here too. Mark wish the room could least have color, like red, yellow or pink and would make it warm like his aunt house, at least her house looks alive. He finally noticing another people, thank god, Mark thought he was alone. Mark first spot a scientist perhaps? She look serious, she kinda looks like his aunt Mimi but if she took a job as cold scientist. Mark jump a little when the scientist look and then smile at him, Mark smile her back nervously.

The ghost then order everyone to sit, Mark was about to sit with a another teen with a umbrella, he smile at him but then he starts acting nervous and starts bouncing his leg, Mark can take that as a no then? Mark then sits down with the scientist lady, he wave at her a bit before aiming his focus to the ghost. Aunt Mimi says first impression toward people is important, let's just hope everyone can get along with each other.

[Haha]

---

The Closet -

With a ghost?

---

The door?

Each traveller handled the sudden change in location differently. Some were curious, some afraid, all of them were confused. The group’a words echoed within the mostly empty room. The door in which the ghost had came from had all but disappeared the moment they left it, and now they took the form of the table as they possessed it. Maybe it was easier to exist as furniture than an incorporeal spirit covered by a plain white sheet?

”T e l l m e a s e c r e t.”

The face on the table mouthed out the words, his black eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling with no consideration. Now the mouth which had once been a down-turned frown began to curl upwards from the corners of his maw into a nasty and mocking smile.

The ceiling fan that a boy once stared at seemed to have vanished, or moved? It was there but just a moment ago. The group that had once been sitting on solid ground [or so they thought] now were defying the laws of gravity upon the ceiling. Two doors had at some point appeared on opposite sides of the room, one which was black and the other which was white. The white door was closer and more easily accessible - it also matched the groups current position on the ceiling. The other door which was a stark black that matched only the table in this room was on the ground, which would appear above the the group sitting down at the table with the monster.

”O n e s e c r e t.
O n e k e y.
N o m o r e.”

The table then began to laugh hysterically, the entire wooden frame shook. The legs creaked and cracked, the frame squeaked as the structure nearly gave in to the fit of unnatural movement. Was this hell? In all honesty that was a question they would need to find out for themselves. Seemingly all the first denizen of this realm wished for was some entertainment, but was that all there was to it?

@sassy1085@Yankee@LadyAnnaLee@Dr Lovecraft@Oceanic

[LadyAnnaLee]

Fritz

Each of the individuals took a seat. It was crowded at the table, or maybe it just felt crowded to Fritz who never dealt well with crowds of strangers. He looked around at the group. There was a woman that looked like a scientist, a woman that looked like a bedraggled queen, a see-through boy with an umbrella, and a boy dyed hair and headphones. Then there was him, some sort of doll. This had to be a dream or hell or something. None of this made any sort of sense. Maybe it was some sort of drug induced hallucination. That could be it.

He didn't have much time to think about it before the laws of physics flew out the window. The possessed table barely whispered a request, or maybe it was a demand, for a secret when the ceiling fan moved or changed or something. Fritz wasn't sure. Suddenly they weren't on the floor and he found himself looking down from his chair at the floor beneath the table now on the ceiling. He gripped the table's edge so tightly his knuckles turned white, well, whiter. He didn't want to fall but they didn't appear to be falling. How could they be on the ceiling looking down at the floor without falling? Fritz was seconds away from a full blown panic attack; if he wasn’t in the middle of one now.

Fritz no longer wanted to be here. Well, he had never wanted to be here, but now he really didn't want to be here. From the corner of his eyes he saw a pair of doors. The white one was on the ceiling with them. The black one was on the floor. Would Fritz fall if he let go of the table and got out of his seat? That would let him know what door he should aim for. Then again, he wasn't sure he wanted to try. Maybe this was a hallucination happening while ... what was happening was happening and if he started falling again it would finish. Did he want it to finish? He wasn't sure. He might not have a choice. It might have to finish. Did he regret it? Fritz still wasn't sure about that.

He spoke, "A secret? A secret from all of us or just one secret. There is a difference."

Frtiz wasn't even sure that he had a secret to tell. Did the possessed table, the ghost, want a secret he had never told anyone? Or did it want a secret that these people didn't know? The first might be okay. Fritz could tell these people that he liked this dress. He could tell them that he wanted to be a model or designer. If it got them out of this mess, he could even tell them that he struggled with anorexia. The first one might be a problem. At the very least Marta knew most everything about him. Fritz wasn’t sure what he could tell that she didn't know. Then again, he could wait for an answer to his question. Though he had to wonder. Something strange had happened when they all followed the first request to sit down. Who knew what would happen if they kept giving into demands? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.

[Dr Lovecraft]

Laura

Laura's scribbling was interrupted by the teeth grinding sound of porcelain against porcelain as the life sized doll made it's way to the table, sitting down next to the teenage ghost across from her. "Is this Hell?" it asked, mostly to the boy next to it. Despite it's overtly feminine design, it seemed to have the voice of a boy, likely the same age as the teens. The only other woman in the room laughed, a cold, flat laugh that contrasted harshly against her elegant visage. "Is this Hell?" The woman repeated before muttering something self pitying. Her voice was just as flat and unkind as her laugh. The normal looking teen moved like he was going to sit down next to the ghost boy, but the cold woman had beaten him to it, so he was forced to sit between Laura and the doll. He gave Laura a smile and small wave as he sat down. A single, skeptical eyebrow rose of it's own volition at the gesture. Still, there was no reason not to be polite, so Laura made herself return the gesture. Well, the wave at least, a single, low energy flick of the wrist, before turning and answering the doll's question. "No, this isn't Hell. I doubt such a place even exists. This is a dream. My dream. I'm not sure what you lot are meant to represent, but I'm sure I'll figure it out once I wake up."

Laura began examining the odd dream figures in closer detail when something else caught her eye. The white door that the cartoonish specter had entered through was rapidly diminishing, and after a few seconds, had disappeared completely. The spook demanded they tell it a secret as the scenery changed. They still seemed to be on the ceiling, though the fan had disappeared. There were two new doors, a white one on the ceiling with them and a black one on the floor above them. The possessed table repeated it's request with slightly more clarity. "O n e s e c r e t . . . O n e k e y . . . N o m o r e." The table began to laugh, it's frame creaking from the strain. Despite it's cartoony nature, the sound was beginning to creep Laura out. She had had nightmares before, however, and knew how to handle them. After taking a second or two to collect her thoughts, she fixed the furniture with a hard stare and began laughing along. "HA HA HA HA HA. AAAHA HA HA HA HA HA." There wasn't even an attempt at humor in her voice, pronouncing each "ha" as an individual word. She stared down at it for a moment longer before crossing her legs and laying them disrespectfully across the table's surface. A moment later the doll asked "A secret? A secret from all of us or just one secret. There is a difference." Laura looked over at them, her eyebrow now cocked in curiosity. "Good question." she commended them. "Hey, ya hear that?" she asked the table loudly, tapping one of her heels against it's top. "Which is it? One each or one total? Speak up!" This was all very uncharacteristic of her, but it was her dream and she'd do what she wanted.

[Yankee]

C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸

The once crowned woman stared incredulously at the rest of the people gathered around the table. She missed the room around them changing - or maybe she wouldn't have seen it change at all, with how quickly it rearranged itself. In the blink of an eye things were different and they were on the ceiling, or back on the floor or whatever, but they were upside down. Gradually her hair fell upward, like her body was realizing the change before her brain, but she didn't fall from the seat. None of them did. They were stuck at the table with the stupid little face on it. Words made their way out of that face, and C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸ scowled at it.

"Why don't you tell us a secret, like where the hell we are," she snapped, kicking at the table legs. Of course, it did nothing. Probably didn't even hurt the table's feelings. It continued speaking, then broke into laughter. C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸'s gaze turned from it to another member of their weird little group when she joined it in laughing, the lab coat clad woman cracking up more than the doll's body - although the tone was hollow.

Wasn't this the same person that just moments ago claimed that they were all figments of her imagination or something? False characters in her dream. Fuck that, C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸ was real. She glared at the scientist, wondering what exactly her game was. She didn't wonder for long, growing frustrated with the table's laughter and the tapping of wood.

"Shut up," she said, to either one of them. Both, maybe. She rubbed her face with both hands and stayed like that for a few moments. Slowly she spread her fingers and peeked out from between them at everyone.

"You stop playing along with it," she said to the porcelain person, then she turned on the others.

"Why don't one of you just blurt something out and see if we can wake up from this nightmare? Wake yourself up if it's a dream," she snorted. "What about you, blonde boy? Tell it something."

C̷y̵n̸t̶h̶i̴a̸ demanded a lot while putting no responsibility on herself, just sighing at the situation.

[sassy1085]

Mark

”T e l l m e a s e c r e t.”
”O n e s e c r e t.
O n e k e y.
N o m o r e.”

Mark stomach drops, a secret? He have to tell the ghost his secret? In front of these strangers? How would they think? How would they react? Would they hate him for being gay? With so many bad outcomes thoughts, Mark is just going to keep himself and hope someone tell their secret. He hope that doll or the scientist would tell their secret but no luck, they are just asking it questions, just tell it the damn secret Mark thought angrily. Mark at least hope that the princess will tell, after all, she at least look sane but no, she didn't tell. And then, she ask Mark, who is in so much stress right now, tell it a secret.

"All you have to it tell a secret, it not that fucking hard" Mark say under his breath frustrated tone, since he can't the ghost he gay, he can tell a other secret. Mark think long and hard about this.....Aha! That it! Mark look at the table and lean toward it "This one time, while I playing baseball in my backyard, I accidentally break my neighbor window and I tell her it was a another neighbor kid and he got the blame. I never told her it was me" Mark say to the table, let just hope this secret work.