godsfire

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

It is dark.

((Warning: Contains traumatized characters and other content that should be warned for. We will attempt to start keeping up-to-date specific warning list soon))

Comments

[dotted_lines]

"Huh. Yeah, that matches the ones on the wall. I can't see what these patterns mean either. But some are a little bit different. Maybe they'd mean something from a different angle?"

He returns to walking around the room, this time looking at the floor instead of the walls.

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Thorn nods. "I want to finish looking at the walls, but I will look at that with you after that," she says.

She, too, continues her circuit around the room.

[dotted_lines]

He follows her, looking at the floor and trying to focus his eyes to let him see whatever pattern the discolorations follow. He sometimes looks up at the walls to find which panels' designs match those on the tiles.



Eventually, they reach their starting point, having completed a circuit of the room. The floor suddenly lights with a bright glaring glow, and a noise begins to play.

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

When the noise starts, Thorn flattens herself against the wall, pressing her hands against her ears. After a few moments where it does not abate, she starts to swear, occasionally interspersed with, "Do not listen to it, do not pay attention to it."

[dotted_lines]

He mimics her actions, she seems to know what's going on. He nods and presses his hands hard against his ears and tries to ignore the noise that leaks through.

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

She relaxes a fraction when he does that, and inches over closer to his position against the wall.

A few moments later, she stops swearing, and simply leans against the wall and breathes deeply. Then she murmurs: "Out of the night that covers me / black as the pit from pole to pole / I thank whatever gods may be / for my unconqurable soul. / In the fell clutch of circumstance / I--" her voice catches, and the next bit is indistinct up to "--the bludgeonings of chance / My head is bloody, but unbowed. / Beyond this place of wrath and tears / looms but the horror of the shade / and yet--" she chokes again, and the next bit is again unclear "--and shall find me unafraid. / It matters not how strait the gate / how charged with punishments the scroll, / I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul."

Her breathing evens out a little when she finishes, and her shaking reduces somewhat.

[dotted_lines]

Thorn is saying something, but he can't hear what. It looks like she might be chanting? He gets her attention, then slowly moves his foot to hers.

When she doesn't seem to object, he slowly moves his foot against hers, tapping and pressing it. (tap press tap, pause, tap tap press, pause, press press press, pause, press tap press, pause, tap tap press press tap tap)

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Thorn spends a moment trying to unravel that before her muse chimes in with a translation.

She shrugs helplessly.

[dotted_lines]

He moves toward her a little, then stops himself.

'hugs?' he taps out with his foot.

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

...

'your ears cover', she taps out.

[dotted_lines]

He waves his elbows a bit, leaving his hands firmly clamped over his ears.

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Oh, okay then.

Hugs.

(She is not covering her ears any more. She is also not responding to auditory stimuli (like, for example, that particularly piercing note there) at all.)

[dotted_lines]

Hugs. Slightly awkward elbow-hugs of her head, but hugs. He shifts his balance to stay upright while tapping her foot from a hugging angle: 'yours?'

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

They are hugs.

She responds with: 'hearing off'

[dotted_lines]

Yes, hugs. He glances at the lights on the floor again, and notices something.

More foot nudges: 'tell me if Im too fast.'

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

This one takes her slightly longer to work out, but she responds with: 'go on', which probably means she understands fine.

[dotted_lines]

He nods. 'lights are annoying bright and colorful'

He unhugs enough to widen his eyes at Thorn. 'very rainbowlike' goes his foot.

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

This gets a confused look for a few moments (wherein she glances briefly at the lightshow and quickly looks away again), then a thoughtful expression and a tighter hug (wherein she taps a finger once against his side where it bends away from the wall)

Then she taps out a response: '?'. Long pause. 'be careful', accompanied by a concerned expression.

[dotted_lines]

He nods, then unhugs and looks at the lights on the floor. The lights on the tiles are making the presence of a pattern in them clearer, but he still can't quite make it out. He inches around the edge of the room to see it from a different angle.

As he moves, the highest and most piercing of the noises stops playing, and the yellow and red tiles start to flash more slowly. When he gets to the next wall and stops to look at the tiles, they start up again. He freezes when the sound and flashing lights increase come back, but calms down when the noise doesn't get worse than before.

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Thorn follows him, still looking concerned.

When he freezes, she looks very alarmed, and rapidly covers the remaining distance to him. The added tension fades when he moves again, and, moving just slowly enough to make sure he can see what she is doing and does not object, hugs him.

[dotted_lines]

He gives her a confused look, but returns the hug as best he can with his elbows, and finds her foot again.

'you cant hear it,'

'is it just the lights?

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Confused expression. 'not lights'

She shivers a little, and hugs him tighter.

'dont scare me like that'

[dotted_lines]

He gives her a very confused look.

'what scared you?'

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Thorn spends a few moments thinking about this, then:

'paralysis is symptom of basilisk hack'

Emphatically: 'infection'

She thinks for a moment longer, and then adds, 'can be stopped by stopping input'

[dotted_lines]

Oh. He taps back 'normal freezing. sorry. stop input how?'