melodiesofeternity | Event || A History of Light and Darkness

Event || A History of Light and Darkness

Who: Brave Explorers and/or Those Poor Souls Being Dragged Along by Friends
When: Oct 15-30th
Where: Thilmit Border Post, inside the Old Heranean Doll Museum
What: The Heroes of Light received a strange letter, and are now being asked to investigate the strange occurrences at the old doll museum.
Warnings/Notes: OOC Post Warnings for Spookiness, Creepy Dolls. Post toplevels for each group. Please post warnings as needed for memory fragments and exploration. For random numbers, use the dice functions on Plurk or Discord.

The Old Heranean Doll Museum is a small building, but somehow the dark, dusty windows and poorly maintained roof give it a menacing feel as you approach. The sign says, "OPEN"...although, as you approached, you think it might have been turned to "CLOSED".

The door creaks as it swings open, though there is no one from the museum to greet you as you enter. A cold breeze blows in behind you, sapping any lingering warmth in the room. The building is dark, and cobwebs are starting to form in the corners of the lobby and on the velvet rope stanchions that guide the flow of traffic in and out. Out of a shadowy corner, a large centipede skitters across the floor and into a crack low on the wall.

At the reception desk, one of the antique dolls sits, unmoving, unblinking. That goes without saying. Its eyes do not follow you as you enter.... The hairs prickling up on the back of your neck are just coincidence, that's all.

There is another doll perched on the wooden brochure display stand near the door. It's strange that the curator leaves the display pieces out where visitors can touch them....

As you enter, you hear something whistling through the air toward you a moment before it makes a impact. A tiny pebble, too small to do any damage other than a brief stinging. During this moment of distraction, the door slams and locks.

When you look at the spots where the dolls were perched a moment ago, there is now just empty space. There is movement in the shadows, and the nearly imperceptible sound of tiny shapes creeping around.

As you move past the lobby into the exhibits, a sign above the entryway declares:

Welcome to the Old Heranean Doll Museum. We hope you enjoy our historic Heroes of Light displays.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Do you recall that... incident that occurred back in Inaba? With the 'fighting tournament'?"

That was still ridiculous to talk about... though, now she had to wonder. Did Kanji remember anything? She thought him from the same time as her, but what if things were actually different?

He paused, expression soured. He tried to forget being told to take his clothes off by a weird shirtless man, and tried to forget running into his shadow again. "...Ya mean when I thought I was dreaming and everyone had a laugh about it?"

But, softened now as he fought to think of the good times he had back then, he sighed. He missed poor Labrys.

"Yes, that one..." Had everyone really laughed? What was funny about that; Kanji could've ended up in serious danger and been unaware until too late. Her brow ticked, but moving on.

"It wasn't that initial part, but after they returned the following day. Of course, Inaba was consumed by a red fog; whereas when I asked Kirijo-san later, the fog was green in Iwatodai. I assume this happened because the source of its influence was different."

"Wait... I remember everybody was talking about some weird thing that happened in Iwatodai that was like our TV world stuff. So they called it the Dark Hour..."

Creepy. The coffins weren't a very good touch. Neither was the blobby mass that was beginning to ooze out of the projector.

"Shit... heads up!" He reached back for his greatsword.

Her nod was cut short when she became aware of the danger now before them. The Dark Hour was where Shadows naturally roamed - and without their Personas in this world, they were vulnerable. Not that Kanji wouldn't try fighting, but this wasn't a battle they should waste their time on.

"Actually, I think it would be in our interest to move on...!"

Raising her foot, her intention was to kick through the door, hoping it wasn't enforced... but Kanji was still blocking a good amount of it with his body alone. Whoops.

He was so sure of himself until the blobby mass began to shape familiar crawling creatures, the masks hardening over their faces. Long, spindly claws pulled themselves along, faces turned to regard them.

"Shadows... The fuck...!?" Okay, wasn't Rule #1 that Shadows could only be defeated by Personas? But he had to be on his last legs before he could get Takeji-

"Wha? Oof-" He wasn't ready for a solid kick to the hip, sending him tumbling through the door and sprawling on the floor in the next room. The moment his body flew through the threshold, the world shattered, the green melting away back to darkness. The Shadows dispelled into smoke.

And while the world broke around her, Naoto was frozen with her foot still up, eyes wide, and staring down at Kanji. It took her another few seconds to lower said foot, feeling her face heat up.

"... My apologies. I didn't... mean to do that. Well, I did mean to kick the door, but..."

She raised a hand to cover her face and to stop herself from prattling on. This was already embarrassing enough.

"Ow..." He slowly opened his eyes. "You got a helluva kick."

With his armor on, he had to struggle for but a moment, but he would eventually come upright and fix the circlet that guarded his forehead. Beyond him the tables were a bit shorter, the air smelling strongly of markers and craft glue. The scribblings on the wall and the cut-outs taped up alongside screamed 'room for kids', and thankfully it was mercifully silent, no videos or the ilk.

"Well... yes. I try to keep my abilities fairly... ah, though, I guess being here should've significantly weakened my physical capabilities when compared to yours."

She had more... caught him by surprise. Yes, that was the best explanation for it. The shock knocked him off balance and into the door he went, but she wouldn't deny kicking him. Clearing her throat, the red in her face softening to pink, she entered the room and looked around. "... How old were the students usually coming to this museum?"

"...Except your kick was killer against Shadows and instead of just fighting 'em a couple times a week after school you've been busting monsters every day. S'called 'Naoto Shirogane didn't skip Leg Day'." He rose to his feet and dusted off.

"How old? Beats me... I dunno how any kid could put up with everything bein' this huge." Huge?

Kanji hurried ahead to begin his investigation. But he was also about eight inches tall.

Naoto, still standing back in the last room, was staring down at Kanji without saying anything for a moment. She had kind of been stunned into silence the moment he started shrinking down and trying to comprehend what was happening before her.

However, when Kanji started to run off to investigate, she would have to do something.

"Kanji-kun, you might want to delay that thought." She wasn't stepping into the room yet, unsure if whatever affected him might affect her as well. "It's not a matter of the room being huge. You're... small."

Delay... what thought? Hold on a second. "Whadda you mean I'm-"

He turned, and nearly leaped out of his skin. Naoto was about fifty feet tall and he had no idea why. He patted himself, looked down, and froze.

"...Small. I'm small! Wh-why the hell'm I small!?" HE WAS ADORABLE BUT THIS WASN'T THE TIME FOR THAT SORT OF REFLECTION UPON HIMSELF.

"Well... I assume like the previous rooms, it might be one of the affects of the room you're in."

Seemed odd that they kept either discovering or encountering as they progressed forward. They should probably begin anticipating this would keep happening until they left. "Tell me there the door is. Perhaps I can rush us through this room before the same happens to me."

"Uhh... yeah. Sure. Hold tight a sec."

He turned and hurried off deeper into the room. He slipped under tables, had to be mindful of the rugs on the floor, and also had to scale his way up a leg to maybe get a better vantage point.

But he wasn't a very good climber. It took some struggling and the use of his sword as a rod for balance before he finally squirmed onto a table that was maybe two feet high.

"There's... oh! There's no door, it's just this big-ass open way straight into the Gift Shop! Just-" He jumped, waved his arms. He had emerged a bit to the right.

"Straight shot that way!"

Lingering at the door, she watched, watching Kanji though as he scampered off. He didn't get anywhere particularly fast, and unlike the dolls before, it was rather... no, no, she wasn't going to be amused at his predicament or possibly earn his ire by calling it cute. It would be very innapropriate.

... But oh no, he was attempting to climb. He needed help - wait, no, he got it. God, he really needed to stop jumping right now. Focus, he located the door; well, exit.

"Alright. Don't hold your breath..." Taking several steps back (and also, taking a second to prepare herself), she eyed Kanji, eyed the direction she needed to go in... and then dashed into the room. With Gunslinger, she had increased accuracy to pick him up and hold him to her chest while she quickly launched herself right towards the open door.

Hopefully she could cross the threshold before she felt herself get any smaller.

She could make it. He knew she could. He clenched his stupid small fists and set his jaw, and off she went. His stomach clenched when she was already getting a little smaller, but by the time he'd noticed, she was halfway through the room.

He squeaked when he was scooped up, and before he knew it he was face-first against her chest. For a moment he was on another planet where he could just curl up, forget about ghosts and other spooky bullshit and just be held by her until the cows came home...

The room was getting bigger by the step, but Naoto had the fancy footwork needed to make it to the Gift Shop before losing any more precious height. Goal!

Except Kanji suddenly popped to full size.

Oh.

The room around her was growing while she was sinking down to Kanji's height, but she maintained her focus on the door, the distance shrinking as she pushed herself faster. Perhaps she told him not to hold his breath, but she was certainly holding hers.

Until she was through the door where she gasped not only for air, but because Kanji was abruptly back to his full size and she was crashing into him, her arms still locked around his waist.

Oh god, he was normal again! At least this shit's temporary! ...But he was kind of sad it was temporary.

He'd stumbled back a step and looked down. Immediately his stomach hopped up into his shoulders somewhere. He should only be so glad they didn't knock heads or something, but he wasn't sure how to...

How to, um... rectify... this scenario. Does he tug off her arms and give her the impression of 'ew, cooties' or kind of? Hug?? Back??? Shit.

Instead he stood rigid as a board and focused ahead. Don't stare. He had a problem with staring.

"Uh. Uh- hey, thanks... thanks for grabbin' me!"

Good to know everything was temporary and enclosed to certain spaces; however, ramming into Kanji's armor now that he was back had Naoto rubbing her head and wincing.

She stepped back on her own accord, touching the tender spot one more time before both arms returned to her side.

"You're welcome. I couldn't very well leave you there..." Shaking out her head, she looked up at him. "Are you alright? No ill effects after being that small?"

"Nah. I guess it's 'cause I wasn't small for very long... maybe bein' in there too long makes it permanent. Or ya join their collection or somethin' creepy. Ugh." Yeah, not gonna put more thought into that. Instead...

"Hold on a sec." He'd rammed his face into enough hard surfaces to know that kind of shit hurt and potentially bruised. He flexed his hand and the white magic began to leave its odd, smoky aura that curled around the fingertips, emanating from the palm.

He swallowed, pushed aside his own reservations on personal space- sh-she wouldn't hit him for this or get pissed over this, he hoped- and brought the hand to her cheek. Have a Cura.

"That... Those weren't possibilities I had been thinking of." Or maybe she didn't want to think about what might happen because she had been focusing on them moving on. It was unfortunate. If there had been any clues in that room, they couldn't go back and try finding them now - not without the risk of becoming doll-sized again.

Blinking, she noticed his hand and for a moment, was confused what he was up to. It wasn't until he touched her cheek that she tensed before relaxing, feeling that familiar pleasant warmth of a healing spell wash over her, and the pain she had been experiencing quickly disappeared.

"Thank you, Kanji-kun..."

"Don't mention it. When, um... when my scar was aching somethin' fierce after I ran outta that tonic, I found that heal spells work for pain and colds and stuff too." If anybody in his house catches a cold, you bet your ass that Mama Kanji is gonna dote like hell.

He pulled away, that hand moving to rub the back of his own neck instead.

"R-right, so... Gift Shop. I think we're close. I mean, there's only so much of this place and we're lookin' for a single missing pers- Ngh...." He froze, and his heart was stone in his chest.

The shelves were full of them. They weren't made of wax, wood and porcelain like the others, but the plush dolls in various shapes all seemed to be looking straight at them.

Kanji grit his teeth. Not again. "...I know most if not all of you are alive. But I've made enough of you growin' up to know how to tear your shit apart!"

Edited 2018-10-25 15:53 (UTC)

"Ah..." That did make sense; though, her frown deepened at the thought of his scar hurting him. She realized quickly that it would probably ache for some time, but he had never mentioned it was bothering him still before.

A conversation for another time; one where they're not inside of a haunted museum filled with dolls... or filling with dolls again. Her eyes narrowed at the plush dolls all around that were there and seemed to be staring.

"Also, you will burn much easier..."

If she had to get the flamethrower out, she would.

"Oh yeah. Stuffing and all, fire's gonna do quick work of 'em."

He braced, grinned, and opted for a War Cry, amping himself up. It was an inhuman roar that echoed through the room, sending many of the dolls back up on their shelves as others climbed down unhindered.

"I'll hold 'em off. Look for a door. It can't all just lead to the damn Gift Shop!"

Drawing her weapon and refreshing her ammunition, she nodded. "I can do that much..."

With a significant number of dolls blasted back from Kanji's War Cry, Naoto could take aim and use Flamethrower on the ones who had not been deterred by the ability. Those ones could deal with being on fire; the rest she could try using some bullets on.

Event || A History of Light and Darkness

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Children's Fun Corner (Trap!)

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Gift Shop (Doll Encounter)

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