illusional | 10th l o s t s o u l ~ [Action]

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10th l o s t s o u l ~ [Action]

[Cheyenne was hungry.]

[It had only been a few moments since she awoke, resting in the snow and shivering, and she was already on her feet and walking. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized where she was. This wasn't the desert anymore. No, this place was still familiar... Luceti. But the name held no significance for her yet. Her mind was racing. For the first time in what felt like forever, she could actually think. The hunger was still unbearable, but the shift into the barrier was enough to give her some control.]

[She needed to figure out what to do before she froze to death or gave in to temptation. She didn't know why, perhaps her mind wasn't clear enough to understand, but she knew she couldn't go into the village yet. She needed to wait... but for what? Waiting wasn't going to make things better. Perhaps, if she could find just one person, she could pull herself together long enough to feed without putting them in danger?]

[But did she have the self-control to do so?]

[She was so hungry...]

--

[Much later in the evening, Cheyenne will make her way around the village in an attempt to refamiliarize herself with the setting, this time wearing her blindfold. It hasn't changed too much since she was last here, thankfully. She'll grab a few things from the item shop to bring back to her apartment before finally stopping by Seventh Heaven for dinner. Her memories of Luceti place are still coming back in bits and pieces, but at the very least, she remembers she ate here often.]

[Feel free to run into her at any point, though she'll probably be a little unresponsive until after she's eaten actual food.]

--

((ooc: Okay, so! Cheyenne here is an illusionist. Normally she's much more in control of her powers, but after a month and a half of not feeding at all, she doesn't have a very strong hold on mind right now. The powercap brought back some of her sanity, but until she can manage enough to go into the village without eating every soul in sight, she'll be wandering around the forest just outside the village. Unfortunately, she's doing so without her blindfold on, which means anyone who happens to see her is at risk for being fed on.

If you want your character to run into her in the first part, please fill this out! And keep in mind she might avoid your character in the future if they didn't already know each other from her last stay here. Basically, when someone looks into her eyes, they will be trapped in an illusion of whatever it is they fear the most. Only your character will see the illusion, and they won't be able to move until freed. If your character wears sunglasses/goggles/anything that obscures vision, or is blind, they won't be affected by illusions. And don't worry, she won't feed long enough to leave any damage to your character's soul.

And of course, she'll be completely sane for the second part!))

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[The illusion starts the instant he looks at her.]

[Suddenly Luceti stands before him... or at least it looks as though it used to stand there. Everything is destroyed. There are bodies strewn throughout the streets, and a strange glow coming from Vash's arm. Everyone around him is dead or dying, their faces contorted in pain and looking right at him, as it marking him as the perpetrator.]

[You did this.]

[That's the feeling being forced into his mind by the illusion.]

[You killed everyone.]

[The faces are recognizable. People from home; Meryl, Wolfwood, Milly. And people from Luceti; Nami, Sanji, and even little Elicia... Some of them are still moving. They're reaching out towards Vash with tears in their eyes. They can still be saved!

[But his arm is glowing again... they won't have a chance to--]

[And then the illusion suddenly fades into darkness.]

[Any thoughts he thought he could cling to about reminding himself what he was seeing wasn't real, flew out of his mind at the white light. No, no, no, no! Not that! Not the white light! NOT AGAIN!

What had he done!? Luceti... his friends. Oh god! Meryl! He was sorry! He didn't mean to, he didn't want to!

There were some that were still alive. He had to help them, but that's when the glow from his arm intensifies.]

Oh God. Please no. PLEASE! Not again! Not AGAIN! [He turns from the people needing help. It kills him to do so, but he can't control it! If he was to stay, he'd just hurt them more. He has to stop himself, but he just can't control it. HE CAN'T CONTROL IT!

Then suddenly it goes black, the light vanishes, and his arm is his own again. He stands on shaking legs, breathing hard, trying to figure out what had just happened.]

[The darkness doesn't last long. Almost just as soon as the illusion ends, Vash is pulled into a new one... a weird one, to say the least. The ground around him is sand, stretching on endlessly in every direction. Scattered throughout the sand dunes are tall tree-shaped masses that appear to be made of twisted glass. And despite the fact that it's suddenly freezing there, the sun above looks to be blistering hot and Vash may notice that he's sweating.]

[Should he take a step forward, the sand beneath him seems to crunch, much more similar to snow despite obviously looking like sand.]

[And since things just aren't weird enough, every so often a "vulture" circles overhead, bearing a human face that is missing everything except two piercing eyes.]

[It isn't until that vulture passes by out of sight that a little girl comes out from behind one of the trees. Her blonde hair should look familiar enough, except this girl couldn't be older than 10 and has bright blue eyes.]

[She doesn't say anything, but she runs over to Vash and grabs him by the hand, as if trying to pull him somewhere.]

[A desert is something Vash can handle. It's familiar and the first thing he does is to look up at the sun. There's only one, this isn't Gunsmoke. He shoots his eyes towards the vulture as it cries and flies overhead.]

What is this place? [A desert shouldn't be this cold until after night fall, and those trees. What kind of trees are those? That's when he notices the girl as she comes out from behind one of the tree. Could it be?]

Cheyenne? [He takes another look around before following where the girl is pulling towards. There's not many other choices to him right now.]

Edited 2012-01-06 15:56 (UTC)

You need to get out of here! [The voice is probably more or less unrecognizable. With Cheyenne's grasp on her sanity still rather weak, her illusions have switched from mirroring Vash's subconscious fears to Cheyenne's own memories. Naturally they don't translate very well. The little girl in front of Vash is borne from Cheyenne's lost, suppressed memories of her humanity.]

It's not safe! You need to get out! But... [She stops leading him and looks around frantically, but there's nothing around them save for the unending desert and more glass trees.] I don't know where the exit is...

It's okay. We'll find it together. [He gives the girl's hand a soft squeeze.] It'll be alright.

Do you remember if the exit was to the north or south? [Probably not, but you never know until you ask.]

I don't know. I tried going left and going right and even going up and down, but I could never find it.

[She looks at his hand when he squeezes it and then looks up at him with a smile.] ...but if you're here, then maybe we can find it together!

[With that, she starts pulling him along again, skipping and humming a soft tune to herself. And yet somehow it seems as though no matter how far they walk, the scenery... doesn't move. It's hard to tell if that means the scenery is the same all around them, or they somehow can't move from that spot.]

...hey mister. If you stay stuck in here, will you be my friend?

I'm sure we'll find it together. I'm from a desert, so I know how to live in one.

[As he notices the scenery doesn't seem to change he picks a tree in the distance and works on leading them towards that. From that tree he'll pick another tree or rock to aim for. To make sure that they're not walking in circles.]

No, because we're not going to get stuck here. We'll get out, but I'll be your friend anyway.

[No reply. Not right away, at least. The scenery around them seems to be changing, though only very slightly. The strange trees seem to be growing denser, and the sun almost looks as though it were starting to set.]

[She squeezes his hand a little tighter.]

...I think you'll get out. It would make her sad if you didn't. That's why we gotta find the exit!

[A pause.] And we gotta find it before the sun sets!

Can you not leave here? [He keeps moving, not wanting to be trapped in here forever, but he tries not to show it at all. He is more concerned for the child he's with than himself.]

[No answer again. In fact, she's keeping her back to him as she skips, still humming and singing that same tune. It's not until the glass trees become so dense that she needs to slow to a fast walk that she speaks, though her back is still facing him.]

If you stay here after sun set, you can go back, but you can't go back. You'll go back, but you won't be you. Not anymore. You stay here. So it's like you never go back...

[She stops walking and tilts her face towards the sky for a moment or two before walking again. When she speaks again, her voice has changed a bit. She still sounds like the same girl, but perhaps a few years older. It might seem like she got a bit taller as well.]

...but if you don't stay here until sun rise, you won't be you here either! But then you can't go back at all. There won't be anything to go back to!

Because there won't be any soul left? [Vash keeps trying to aim for a tree straight in front of him as they walk. Not wanting to start getting turned around and walking in circles in this dense forest of glass trees.]

[She stops walking again. In the area just ahead, the trees become so close together, it looks as though there would be no way to get past them.]

[She still isn't turning around.]

...the sun is setting really slowly, isn't it, mister? I think you still have time. Do you wanna play a game? I think it might help!

M-maybe it would be best if we knew for sure where the exit was before we did that.

Oh, please, mister? Please? I promise to get you to the exit as soon as it's over!

[The sun is hanging low in the sky...]

Unless... [She pulls her hand away. She sounds like she might be pouting.] You don't really wanna be my friend, do you?

No, I do want to be your friend. I want to find the exit so that we can get out together, but we may run out of time if we stop to play a game.

We can play games as long as we want if we can get out of here together.

[She folds her arms and continues to pout, tilting her head from side to side with a small whine.] You're too serious, mister! You're just like her. She didn't want to play any games either and started crying. And then she stayed here until sun rise. And now she doesn't cry anymore.

But you know, I can still cry! It doesn't mean anything. But I can do it. She can't. She stayed here too long.

Who's she? And don't you want to get out of here? Out to where you can have more friends?

I can't get out of here!!

[It's screamed. Very suddenly. Hope that didn't make you jump or anything, Vash.]

[She takes a deep breath and her voice goes back to normal.]

But you know, if I left, she wouldn't be able to do anything. Because I'm the only part of her that was left. They took the rest of her away. That's why she's so cold.

[A pause.] If I left, she wouldn't have anything left. And there'd be no one to find the exit. Because if I left, there'd be no exit.

[It does, but instead of jumping back he just takes a step.]

There must be some better way that you don't have be here alone, because I can't stay forever. I have something I have to do back home or a lot of people are going to be hurt.

Ehh? But mister! I'm not alone!

[From the corner of his eye something is moving. If he looks it'll disappear, and seem to reappear somewhere else. Strange, that it seems to be coming from inside the glass of the strange twisted trees.]

Neither of us are alone here. We're just the only ones still alive. But that doesn't mean we're alone. And by sun rise, you won't be alive either!

[She giggles. The sun, still low in the sky, appears to have stopped moving quite so quickly.]

So, mister. Do you wanna play a game?

[Vash tries to keep track of the creature moving within the trees, but it always eludes him. It's very rare that the gunman can't keep track of things and it doesn't help his growing nerves. He decides to hide his nerves in a friendly laugh.]

I'd actually like to finish playing the find the exit game first. Dying here isn't exactly something I'm looking forward too. I have someone waiting for me at home. She'd be very disappointed with me if I don't make it home tonight. And she'd be sad and alone too.

...someone waiting for you?

[Her demeanor seems to change a little with that. Up until now, her voice had been rather cheerful sounding, even when talking about such disturbing things.]

[But somehow, that gives her pause. She might even seem a bit sad.]

I wonder if that means she was sad when she didn't make it home. She couldn't come home because she was stuck here. And then I was stuck here...

[The shadows in the tree seem to be moving more. Vash might be able to catch a glance at what they are, but somehow, whenever he looks, they'll disappear. They look like shadows being cast by the setting sun, somehow moving around on their own, but never outside of the glass trees.]

...I know where the exit is, mister.

Would you show it to me? I'll stay and talk to you until I have to go when we get there, because I'm sorry, but I can't stay forever.

But isn't there something I can do on the outside to help you here?

I can't show you the exit unless you play with me. As soon as you find the exit, you'll leave.

[For a little girl selfishly demanding he waste his precious time to play with her, she sounds pretty serious right now. There's a pause, and then her voice returns to it's cutesy former self.]

It'll only take a minute! It's a really quick game! We can even find the exit at the same time!

/FEELS BAD MAN

Don't Vash needed a kick down since Legato left XD

POOR BBY...

Hey! I've been really nice to him lately!

And then this happened... :'D

He'll grow soft if I'm too easy on him!

Good point!

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