Xandrya

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

Posting today at last after my son takes his nap. Haven't had the time otherwise but I'm looking forward to it!

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Nice post @Xandrya! Love to see Imani in her space with all those thoughts and feelings.

@wanderingwolf

Glad it was enjoyed! It was fun writing it.

Firefly - Second 'Verse

New ‘do

Imani had worked up the remainder of the crew and was now left to do as she pleased, which was not a whole lot to choose from that list. But she did have her stash, a bottle of some type of liquor she couldn't bother to learn how to pronounce, much less spell. Pretty sure the real label was replaced and then the bottle resold, but that mattered even less. She was back in her private quarters standing in front of the mirror she had hung up on the bulkhead. A pair of scissors in one hand and a quarter-full glass on the other. She gulped down some of the drink, then stared at her reflection once more. There's no going back after this... It was almost as if she were trying to convince herself not to take the next step. But regardless, she did.

Little by little strands of her hair fell by her feet. Probably the second time ever she'd cut her own fringe. But Imani had done a whole lot of learning since, mainly in the form of observing how to go about it with the proper technique and practicing twice on someone. That someone—both times her friend's daughter, Catalina—was just about the sweetest little person she'd ever met. Of course she never minded when Imani would give her a haircut, and Imani couldn't help but wonder if Catalina would mind now. She was 12, growing and maturing like the rest of them despite her mother hoping otherwise.

Once the deed was done, Imani inspected her work. It wasn't bad, definitely not by her own standards. In fact, she was pretty impressed with herself, and that called for a celebratory shot. She put the scissors down and picked up the glass, heading over to snuggle with her comforter, which meant sitting up against the wall, her lap nice and covered while she messed with her datapad. Though this time, she'd be calling someone.

Settled in her spot, Imani called up her friend.

"Rosaline, hi."

The video feed came to life. "Well look who it is! You've gone and disappeared on me yet again. How long has it been now, six months?"

"Yeah, more or less," Imani laughed. Rosaline seemed to be cooking something, a section of her frame hidden by a large, white bowl. "I was just thinking 'bout you guys since I did this myself," Imani pointed to her new hairdo.

"Well look at that, Cat would be proud!"

"I bet she would, is she around?"

"Nah, she's off with her dad." 

"Guess you two never fixed the relationship?"

Rosaline answered with a sigh, "Nah, we weren't fixable, not anymore." Her voice had lowered, the subject no doubt a sore one. "But it happens, just a matter of getting over our many years together, though it's taking me longer to deal with than it took him."

Imani stayed silent, and eventually Rosaline spoke up again.

"But enough about that, I don't wanna sour this little chat of ours. How's your life? Any new developments, romantic or otherwise?"

Imani scoffed. "Just workin', flying through space doing medic stuff and serving this fine crew." Her statement sounded slightly sarcastic, however she didn't mean such tone.

“Oh you’re doing that again?” Rosaline asked.

“Yeah, sad story actually. The previous doctor onboard passed away, it was some tragic stuff. She was young and a really sweet girl, but when it’s your time, it’s your time... But other than, it’s the same old for me. Haven’t found anyone, rather inconvenient time given I’m stuck with the same faces out here in the black most of the time. Nothing wrong with ‘em, but none of them are my better half.”

Both women then continued their conversation for a little while longer, that which entailed recalling some shared memories as well as making vague plans for the future which would likely fall through, but the thought was there at least.

After saying their goodbyes, Imani tossed the datapad aside. She lingered in bed for a little while longer, then quietly decided to clean up the bit of mess on the floor. She headed out to gather the necessary supplies, and her plan for after the fact was to finish some more of the bottle.

Firefly - Second 'Verse

@wanderingwolf I couldn't agree more!

@Gunther Alright, we can have them meet sometime soon.

Firefly - Second 'Verse

@wanderingwolf Hey it's definitely more interesting that way!

Firefly - Second 'Verse

@wanderingwolf

Like you said, the shenanigans would be hilarious!

But I think I'm gonna have Imani be a little envious of her, like she feels threatened by Penny for whatever reason, which leads to Imani not liking her and Penny in turn not caring less about it. Something like that.

Firefly - Second 'Verse

@wanderingwolf

Wait, got his characters confused! I meant Penny, though such feud would be hilarious!

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

No, she thought to herself, "I don't think I will." The plushies, unnerving as they were, did definitely irk her. It took some restraining on her part to not forcibly kick them against the wall. The options before her were pretty clear; no doubt the hard part–yet again–was making that choice. But it wasn't only a matter of picking "A" over "B". With no other information, it was simply sheer luck that would dictate whether she would make the right decision. And if she didn't, then that was probably it for her. But that wasn't what scared her the most; it was the thought that if she were to take a wrong turn, then she'd find herself outside of whatever type of facility this was with no other way in and no way of finding her daughter. Because if she were to go to the police and tell them everything that had occurred in here, then at the very least, they'd surely send her to get evaluated.

We're not there yet... Michelle looked around the entire room once more, the only upside being she wasn't at that weird pool anymore. God knows how deep that water went. However, even with nothing but solid ground underneath her feet, this room didn't feel quite right. None of them had, thus far. She slowly walked over to the door on her left, completely ignoring the plushies as if they didn't exist. There was no sound coming from the other side of the door, nor any sign of life on that side either. Likewise, it seemed she was the only one present in the room at the moment. No rhythmic breathing other than her own, and no objects moving freely on their own as if she were in a room full of ghosts, which at that point, it wasn't that far-fetched of an idea. Michelle then placed her hand on the doorknob, telling herself it was better than touching the blood-stained button, without a doubt for more reasons than one. And if she did get it right, then maybe she was one step closer to finally being able to see her princess.

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Imani will "welcome" Izzy with open arms.

I'm thinking it'd be fun if for some reason they didn't get along. Maybe something happened when they first met

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

She stared at the note for a while, far too long as a matter of fact. Michelle was caught up in her own thoughts, but she came to when there was a sudden sound. The flood underneath the phone had given out. Looking back at the note and then at the phone, she put the pieces together as to what she believed had occurred. The other person must have taken the plunge. The question that remained now was simple...what would she do?

Carefully nearing the edge, she tried to make out whatever was in the space below. Not that she was expecting to see a person, but given the overwhelming darkness, it was practically impossible to get a sense of what could be waiting for her down there.

“Hello?”

It was foolish of her to even utter the word when she hadn’t communicated with anyone else there. The only voices she’d heard thus far had done nothing more than mock her. But this is what it took, apparently, and so she sat on the edge, her legs below her knees dangling as a million thoughts raced in her head. Her own fears prevented her from taking that one simple step. There was nothing good down there, how could there be? Falling to her death seemed to be the most realistic expectation... And so it didn’t take long for her to decide against it. Michelle went ahead and began to get to her feet, but a foolish mistake was all it took for her to lose her balance and fall over the edge. She screamed as she went down, seemingly forever, before realizing she was sliding over something solid. She hadn’t opened her eyes just yet, but when she eventually did, she was in another room. Though that wasn’t obvious right away. Tears flooded her eyes as her chest heaved up and down. She was a mess on the floor for a few minutes. In fact, she had completely missed the message on the loudspeakers.

Michelle eventually was able to collect herself. Wiping her face with her hand, she took a good look at her surroundings. And it wasn’t anything she expected to see. Another impossible scenario, terrifying for its own reasons. Michelle stayed as far from the water as she could, her feet slowly her taking her forward. Once the surface began to bend upwards, she set a foot out and she experienced quite an odd sensation. So she took the next step, as a normal person would taking a walk in the park. Gravity would keep her grounded despite the impractically of it all. And so she walked on with a sigh, the lanes of water on either side of her a grave reminder to not even think about approaching the edge.

At the end, Michelle was left to make another decision. She thought on it for a moment, and then she began going up the steps. No use in going further down if she could help it.