Open RP Post

[prettypurpleparlor]

[An open space for any roleplay that doesn't fit elsewhere. Please feel free to check my permissions post, also located on this journal, for anything that might be an issue.]

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the ancient role reversal thing

[voidster]

Scavenging's not going very well today, not at all. He hasn't found anything interesting or useful and now he's been forced to flee... sort of. Is it really fleeing if one isn't actually running? He's just leaving, that's all, because he knows there are hidden cameras around here watching--he's found a couple and there are bound to be more that he hasn't.

So all Royal Scientist Alphys will see later on her secret surveillance cameras later is the one and only skeleton monster walking back towards Hotland. Not running. Wishing the earth would open up and swallow him whole. Because the Royal Scientist is there at the dump too, and he's absolutely convinced she thinks he's an idiot. She's good with computers, scarily good, and she could surely trace that anonymous message he left, and then laugh at all his silly ideas. That's likely what happened, since she never answered.

No convenient sinkhole appears to gobble him up. Instead there's... a door. A pretty crystal door that wasn't in the wall here an hour ago.

A more sensible monster would knock first, or listen at it, or keep on walking. Not this idiot. He stares blankly for a few moments, then turns the knob and goes right in. It's not even locked, so he can't be blamed for being snoopy!

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Strands on a web... (a web that is not a web because it is not, it is a nothing-thing in a nothing-place) the weaver waits in the center (but there is not center because there is no weaver, she is not and cannot have ever been, there is no room for her in the design)... an anchor of (not) silk to hold things in (no) place, but also a delicate warning system, alerting the weaver to the arrival of anyone in the place that cannot be found.]

[A number ticks over. A thread snaps.]

[A set of five eyes opens, observing the little monster standing in the space that would have been right in front of the door, if a door had ever been there. But there hadn't been. There was only a bare wall, in this strange and misty room.]

[Most of this place seems to blur away into a strange, pale gold mist, so light as to almost be no color at all. There must be a floor, for the little monster stands on something solid, but whatever he stands on is not visible, covered by the mist, as are the walls and ceiling.]

[The little skeleton is one of a handful of solid things, clearly defined, in this place.]

[The other solid things appear to be, in no particular order, a pair of elegantly high-backed chairs, a delicately lovely-looking table made of wrought iron and clear crystal, an appetizing-looking tea spread on the table, and the head and torso of the neatly-dressed woman sitting in one of the chairs.]

[Below the torso and in the halo of her hair, she seems to trail off insubstantially, into a much darker version of the mist around her, black smoke against the gold.]

[She smiles politely, greeting him.]

[voidster]

[This odd place with no edges seems both right and wrong to him, like he belongs here. And like she doesn't. He catches himself before he blurts out 'you're not supposed to be here' at the spiderghost lady, fortunately. Because it wouldn't make this day any less painfully embarrassing, blundering into some movie set in progress and yelling eerie incomprehensible things at one of the actors.

(At least he's still taller than her.)]

Sorry.

[...which probably looks like him rubbing his ribcage for no reason. Yeah, today's going great.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Sorry, but she's an ageless being of unreality, you're still a little thing to her no matter how much taller than her physical form you are. She tilts her head to one side, looking gently amused.]

Apology accepted.

[Her voice seems to come from all around them, a sweet and sourcless whispering. At... least she understands sign language?]

[voidster]

[Very very rare that he's so young, on this date. Or still solid and real at all.

Those are some very cool special effects going on. It's probably MTT and the Royal Scientist's doing. Nice that she understands at least one word though. Maybe more, but that would be getting ahead of himself.]

I'll go.

[Which he turns to do, and--

There's no door. It's gone. And he thought he was panicking internally before.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

I'm afraid it comes and goes.

[She gestures idly with one hand, indicating the space where there's no longer and never has been a door.]

That is to say, once it comes back, you can go. Until then, would you like to sit and talk a while?

[She does miss having the opportunity for a decent conversation, these days. Probably a door will begin to exist again soon enough, anyway.]

[voidster]

[...well, alright. Really inconvenient, doors that do that. So fast, too, she would have hardly had any time to leave.]

How long does it usually take?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Her uppermost pair of arms moves in a delicate shrug.]

Time can be a tad strange, here. But I doubt it will be terribly long.

[He'll be able to leave soon enough, anyway. For her, that's a more... complicated prospect.]

[voidster]

[He takes a seat at the terribly fancy table, finally. So, so many questions.]

Do you live here?

[What kind of person would find an inconstant room like this and move in? Or have it made and... again, move in?]

[prettypurpleparlor]

In a manner of speaking. I've been here for some time, in any case.

[She sips delicately at her tea, and indicates the tray with a wave of her hand.]

You're welcome to the pastries. Do you take cream or sugar with your tea?

[voidster]

[He'd rather keep pestering her with questions than drink some (probably undercaffeinated) tea, but... alright.]

No. Thank you.

Did you build this place?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Well, there's no reason he can't do both.]

Built is perhaps not the correct word. But I am the reason that it is here. Or anywhere.

[Being cryptic is fun. ::::D]

[voidster]

[True, though he hasn't gotten the hang of projecting bullets that aren't femurs yet. No false hands, just his real ones in between sips of tea.]

What is?

[prettypurpleparlor]

I think, possibly... 'anchored'.

Or 'woven'.

Or 'grown'.

[voidster]

Is there a secret way back in if it locks you out?

[Seriously. How annoying it must be if your home just up and wanders off without you.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She smiles wryly.]

That is... let us say, rather the opposite of the problem I have.

[Her being able to get into the room isn't an issue. Getting out? Well, that's trickier.]

[voidster]

[She said he would be able to leave, though. Why lie about that and then give away the truth only moments later--it must not be a lie. The door vanished quickly, but all she would have to do is be standing right at the wall and move fast...]

You're trapped, I'm not?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Ah, clever.

[She claps one pair of hands together cheerfully, seeming genuinely approving that he's caught on.]

As I said, you'll be able to leave quite easily, once the door comes back- though you likely won't have much luck finding this room again, if you even remember it. I, on the other hand, cannot pass through the door.

[voidster]

[Sounds like... this person really is in trouble. Or maybe it's a puzzle she's set up for the fun of it? He's completely abandoned his tea.]

What happens when you try?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Hmm, how to put it...

[Given the vaguely incomprehensible nature of her (lack of) existence, it's a little difficult to explain.]

It isn't so much that I am trapped in this room, as that this room is the farthest into the Underground that I can go.

[voidster]

[A blink, with his one mobile eyesocket.]

What does this room lead to?

[To the surface????]

[prettypurpleparlor]

It leads to absolutely nothing at all.

[She clarifies:]

Not, I should add, in the sense of not going anywhere. I mean it leads to a place that is not anything, that is nothing itself.

[voidster]

[Definitely some kind of puzzle or game, otherwise he's sitting only feet away from... what, a hole in reality? That leads to outer space or outside the universe entirely?]

Space?

[...It doesn't really matter what the 'nothing' she's talking about is, if the goal of the game is to 'rescue' her. He's curious anyway. Hey, it's totally made him forget about his awful embarrassment.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She shakes her head gently.]

You're still thinking of it too much in terms of reality. Space is a place where there isn't any matter, but it still Is.

[The capitalization is audible.]

All of reality Is. This room leads to what Is-Not.

[voidster]

[That's just... silly. Because it's impossible.]

It has to be something, you came from there.