Narciso Anasui (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
disassemblies) wrote2024-04-23 02:27 pm
disassemblies) wrote2024-04-23 02:27 pm
ignore this
CW: grief, depression, bullying, parental neglect, isolation, hopelessness
A blue-black-gold crack in the world greets you, hovering ominously in Caleb's front yard. Several of the mochi cat creations lay in tower-pile nearby, crying out mournfully while a concerned Delcatty tries to calm them. Every so often, a strange almost-spark crackles from the entrance and sets them off again. Caleb's Dewott seems to be trying to guard it, or at least keep the creations out of it. He'll stand down when you approach, though. You, at least, aren't likely to end up so much squished mochi cat if you go in.
So. You go in. And maybe you want to go back out almost as soon as you step in, because the place before you is unsettling in the worst way. You now stand on a dilapidated and unsafe train station platform, looking out over what might be a black sun and the ruins of a space station. There are holes in the platform and it looks like it might give way at the slightest provocation. It is dead silent. There is not a soul around.
At the end of the platform stands a train that once upon a time might have been gorgeous. Now it's rusted and dingy, the lights broken and the doors sealed shut.
And then you approach. What lights aren't broken flicker to life and the doors start to slowly, painfully creak open. A recorded voice rings out: "The Astral Express is now boarding. All passengers, please make sure you have all of your belongings and step aboard." The recording crackles, and then repeats. And repeats. And repeats and repeats and repeats, each repetition more and more degraded. By the time you all step on board, it's barely words. It's barely a voice.
You step aboard. The doors creak shut. The train jerks, and then off the Astral Express goes.
The interior of the train is...somewhat better than the exterior. The interior is covered in trash with a narrow path going from one end of the car to the other, but the benches all seem perfectly safe to sit on. The lights in the parlor car all work, as well.
Unhinged laughter comes from the stairs leading up to the platform at the other end. There stands Caleb, tired and clearly not doing so hot, and...another Caleb? It looks a little like him, but instead of a shock of black hair and bright blue eyes like the real Caleb, this one has half-silver, half-black hair and glowing gold eyes. His clothes look like they were run through a shredder before he got them.
The Not-Caleb laughs again. "Oh, great," he says with a sigh. "Guests. And here I thought we'd have all the time in the world to break you down, Caleb! Eh, whatever." He opens the door, tugging Caleb (who you can now see is tied to this Not-Caleb) along after him. We'll just continue our conversation somewhere else while they rot. Toodles~"
"No, wait, lemme--" Caleb's pleas are silenced by the door slamming shut behind him.
He looked terrified.
A blue-black-gold crack in the world greets you, hovering ominously in Caleb's front yard. Several of the mochi cat creations lay in tower-pile nearby, crying out mournfully while a concerned Delcatty tries to calm them. Every so often, a strange almost-spark crackles from the entrance and sets them off again. Caleb's Dewott seems to be trying to guard it, or at least keep the creations out of it. He'll stand down when you approach, though. You, at least, aren't likely to end up so much squished mochi cat if you go in.
So. You go in. And maybe you want to go back out almost as soon as you step in, because the place before you is unsettling in the worst way. You now stand on a dilapidated and unsafe train station platform, looking out over what might be a black sun and the ruins of a space station. There are holes in the platform and it looks like it might give way at the slightest provocation. It is dead silent. There is not a soul around.
At the end of the platform stands a train that once upon a time might have been gorgeous. Now it's rusted and dingy, the lights broken and the doors sealed shut.
And then you approach. What lights aren't broken flicker to life and the doors start to slowly, painfully creak open. A recorded voice rings out: "The Astral Express is now boarding. All passengers, please make sure you have all of your belongings and step aboard." The recording crackles, and then repeats. And repeats. And repeats and repeats and repeats, each repetition more and more degraded. By the time you all step on board, it's barely words. It's barely a voice.
You step aboard. The doors creak shut. The train jerks, and then off the Astral Express goes.
The interior of the train is...somewhat better than the exterior. The interior is covered in trash with a narrow path going from one end of the car to the other, but the benches all seem perfectly safe to sit on. The lights in the parlor car all work, as well.
Unhinged laughter comes from the stairs leading up to the platform at the other end. There stands Caleb, tired and clearly not doing so hot, and...another Caleb? It looks a little like him, but instead of a shock of black hair and bright blue eyes like the real Caleb, this one has half-silver, half-black hair and glowing gold eyes. His clothes look like they were run through a shredder before he got them.
The Not-Caleb laughs again. "Oh, great," he says with a sigh. "Guests. And here I thought we'd have all the time in the world to break you down, Caleb! Eh, whatever." He opens the door, tugging Caleb (who you can now see is tied to this Not-Caleb) along after him. We'll just continue our conversation somewhere else while they rot. Toodles~"
"No, wait, lemme--" Caleb's pleas are silenced by the door slamming shut behind him.
He looked terrified.
Last Car + Ambrosial Graveyard
And you didn't think it'd be that easy, did you? This isn't the next car at all. Turn around to try and return to where you came from and you'll see that the "car" you were in was just a strange little box, a fake car to lure you in a sense of false security and hope that you were almost done. All around is a shore somewhere, with odd walls of water on either side. The sky looks a bit broken, like there are pieces missing, but otherwise it seems fine. At least there seems to be a clear path to the other end.
As you start walking to the other end, you find yourself climbing an odd tree. Some of its branches seem broken, but as you climb more and more of them are in one piece. As you climb, more and more of them have gravestones hanging from them, like twisted holiday ornaments. It's easy to touch the ones hanging from higher branches, especially since it seems like they want to be touched. If you do, you'll start to hear voices.
The first one is Noctis, telling him that Regis died and that it was a freak earthquake, only for another Noctis to start speaking over the first and say that it wasn't an earthquake, but yokai. The next stone you touch adds Sam's voice, younger, talking about video games overlaid with Sam's voice, older and somehow sleezier, trying to sell Caleb something, further overlaid with Sam's voice admitting he didn't die. Wei Wuxian and Argenti can be heard at the next stone, saying one thing that's overridden by them saying another. Dan Heng and even Regis's voices join the cacophony, though at this point you can't hear what anyone is saying.
It doesn't stop until you get to the actual door to the next car, at the top of the tree, and Caleb's own voice sounds out, tired.
I don't know what's going on anymore.
The silence after is deafening. You are left with only a giant, chained door.
The chains are about the size of an adult man, long and heavy and pure solid metal. They can't be melted or broken, but there are two rather obvious locks on the chains with a keyhole between them. One lock looks like a mask. The other is just an orb, but the stars engraved on the outside make the key obvious.
As you slot the mask and astrolabe in, the tree begins to rumble and shake. The branches around you crumble away into the sea and more of the sky starts to fall. You'd best take cover, as it will last for a while.
The mask and astrolabe slot in. The chains fall away. The keyhole is revealed.
Continue?