recolle | [OPEN] There is a dream inside a dream

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[OPEN] There is a dream inside a dream

WHO: Albert Wesker, whomever chooses to join him (presumably you!)
WHERE: Various
WHEN: Throughout October
WHAT: Nightmares and fog, featuring reunions with "friends."
WARNINGS: Violence, murder, child abuse, a basement full of corpses, medical experimentation, tentacles just goddamn everywhere, body horror, a veritable ball of leeches, other delightful things one would expect from the Resident Evil villain's memories? There is a blanket warning for "this is gonna suck" over this whole thing, though the child abuse warning is only relevant for those who pursue the Spencer prompt; the rest are clear of that sort of thing.

[NIGHTMARE – OSWELL E. SPENCER]
( cw: violence, murder, child abuse, a basement full of corpses )

[The mansion you find yourself in is large.

It seems like it used to be opulent once. You're standing in a foyer that held some sense of grandeur to it but now seems to have fallen into disrepair, and the long arching staircase greeting you dead-center is crumbling in several places. The massive chandelier which once hung above the center of the room seems to have crashed down at some point long ago, lying broken on the glossy marble floor, all shattered crystal and twisted metal and lengths of chain; it seems a bit of a visual nonsequitur – nothing overly important outside of the fact that there was a chandelier hanging in this room, and something sent it crashing down – but as you walk past it, you can see slight movememt beneath it out of the corner of your eye, something tense and slow and pained, almost as though there's something pinned down underneath it.

You probably don't want to know what's pinned down underneath it.

Watch your step as you're moving upstairs, though it does seem you want to move upstairs; you don't know why, seeing as everything is in disrepair and that includes the staircase itself and the exposed hallways leading in either direction off of it, but sometimes dreams are just like that. Aren't they? You move and you move and there's no real reason behind any of it – it's all a little nonsensical, a little surreal, and it seems this one isn't going to be any different.

A door down one of those hallways is lying slightly ajar; pressing on it will get it to swing open easily. However, if you reach out to do so, a voice can be heard from inside; it seems to belong to a man, though it's high-pitched and cracked and withered with age, but either way the words that are spoken seem to be aimed, somehow, at you.]

...You came back...

[Proceed?]

[NIGHTMARE – WILLIAM BIRKIN]
( cw: medical experimentation )

[It feels almost like it's the end of the world.

The place you're in is dark, all steel and concrete, with the oppressive air of something that's far underground; maybe a bunker, maybe a facility of some sort, definitely somewhere that you aren't supposed to be. The hallway you're in is long, dimly-lit with fluorescent lights that seem to flicker and dance in and out of existence despite how strong the walls in this place seem to be.

It's silent. And then, suddenly it's not.

The sound starts up quiet but soon builds immensely, a sharp wail, a moan, undercut with a chilling rasp that sounds almost like a death rattle. A series of loud banging noises that may or may not be restraints against a metal table. All of it emanates from somewhere just around a bend in the hallway, behind a door that's just out of sight from where you're standing but comes quickly into view if you move toward it.

Before you can open it, the sound starts up again, the screech, the keening noise, something that sounds undeniably like death; there are voices, too, beneath it, a pair of people speaking without paying any mind to the cacophony that surely must be happening near them.

If you listen long enough before opening the door, it sounds almost like whomever is making those ungodly sounds is screaming for their mother.]

[NIGHTMARE – EXCELLA GIONNE]
( cw: violence, some degree of body horror, tentacles just goddamn everywhere )

[The stars above are beautiful, constellations in full view; it's almost enough to make you disregard how very cold it is tonight. There's the soft sway of a ship's movement beneath your feet as it cuts through choppy seas, the metallic sound of a tanker's deck reverberating underneath your every step; despite the amount of work it must require to keep a massive ship like this running smoothly at sea, there don't seem to be any actual people on board – it seems that you're alone, and you're empty-handed, and the only indication of whom this ship might belong to is a logo that's present here and there on the metal walls you pass that ultimately doesn't seem to mean anything.

As you make your way to the bow of the ship, a voice sounds out – distorted, unrecognizable for all the static obscuring it as the ship's public-address system relays it through the night air; the words are difficult to make out, but you can surely hear a few.

"But it's too late for you...you won't live to see – "
"Sorry, Excella, but it seems – "
"...One last task for you."
"Farewell, old friend."

In the distance, a woman screams. And something massive seems to connect, then, hard enough to rock the ship, to dip it down hard from the center.

Perhaps you move forward to the bow of the ship to find the source of the screaming – after all, it sounds as though she's really suffering, wherever she is. Or perhaps you choose to stay put to see what happens; there's no sense in rushing into a dangerous situation. Or perhaps you do the reasonable-person thing and try to run from it all, because whatever just happened on deck is large enough to fuck with the boat and that probably isn't anything you want a part of.

Either way, it doesn't really matter; you're going to be intercepted by Wesker, grabbing your arm or...wherever's immediately available like an unreasonable person and pulling you in a different direction entirely, up a metal flight of stairs to a higher deck.]

We can't stay here.

[His words are sharp, rushed despite the fact that he doesn't seem to be doing much with his face; things are...not going well, clearly.]

[FOG – SERGEI VLADIMIR]
( cw: violence, body horror everywhere, a veritable ball of leeches )

[It probably isn't the wisest decision, being out late at night in the fog like this; just the same, at this point...well, this seems like a far better option than sleeping, given the dreams that have been plaguing Wesker's sleep.

This, incidentally, was a highly incorrect assumption.

If you're out tonight in any of the business districts – anyplace that the buildings tower high above, anyplace that has high walls and streets winding below them, you may find yourself grabbed and pulled over toward someone, your back pressed hard against one of those high walls, and when Wesker speaks from where he's got ahold of you his words seem calm enough but there's an undeniable sense of pressure behind them when he speaks.]

If you're armed, draw your weapon. And keep your gaze high. It's not safe here.

[...So that's something that's happening tonight.]

[ANYTHING ELSE?]

[Feel free to hit either my plotting comment or come find me at

InstantEternity if you want to plot something out with me; I'm here for anything and everything, and if there's something specific that you want for the sake of either getting memory regains for you or just...going on an adventure, I'm willing to custom-tailor nightmares and experiences for you! Resident Evil runs a large and fairly messed-up gamut, so pretty much anything is fair game.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He nods at that and moves to get a look at the consoles in here. He's not sure what he's looking for, but maybe there's something in here that'll be useful...?

Wesker's question catches him off-guard and he glances back at the other man for a moment before shaking his head a bit.]

It's a bit different than my usual nightmares, but I'm more concerned about you! I'll be okay. It is just a dream, ja? So even if... Even if we do die, we'll just wake up.

[...That's totally how this goes right, please tell him this isn't "you die in the dream, you die in real life"...]

[That just gets a quiet noise out of him; that's how these things tend to go, yes.

That said, he's quiet for a moment longer before the silence is interrupted - another hit, hard enough to knock one of the monitors off half its bearings and leaving it to dangle precariously from its other mounting. Wesker startles a bit at it, and he pulls back slightly, trying to calm himself again as he does so.]

...Don't concern yourself with me. It's obviously not the first time I've done this.

[That gets Jaeger to start too and he lets out a shaky laugh.]

Well, you know how I am! I worry quite a bit!

[He moves away from the monitor to poke around the room some more. There probably isn't anything here that's of any use to them, but he's not giving up easily.]

We'll try to make it through this. Maybe we'll get lucky!

[Despite his cheerful tone, he doesn't believe it. His luck's not that good and this is Wesker's dream. Things really don't look good.]

..Maybe.

[His breathing is getting kind of jagged, though; just...give him a moment.]

Sometimes there are things like...files, or weapons. Just lying around. They're usually obvious, but not always.

[Look around hard enough and you'll find one of those files eventually, Jaeger.]

Files? I assume they have information on what we're fighting...?

[Maybe there's some kind of weakness they're supposed to pinpoint to defeat it? That seems like video game logic and Wesker probably doesn't play many video games, so maybe that's not it. Regardless, he'll take a look around for those files, starting with any drawers in the immediate vicinity. There's probably something in here somewhere and they don't have time to screw around searching for files and things forever. Weapons would certainly be more useful, but his hopes aren't all that high about finding those just lying around.

So - what's in the drawers here?]

[Congratulations, you have found a file!

It contains a photograph of this woman; most of the information has been redacted, struck through with heavy black bars, though the words EXCELLA GIONNE and DECEASED (INFECTED) are clearly visible.]

They usually don't have anything too useful. Just...reminders, I suppose.

[He sounds a bit bitter about that, but you know what, whatever - ]

We should move on.

[He'll remove that from the drawer and check through it a few times just to make sure there's nothing else. Nope, just a reminder, as Wesker's said.]

Ja, of course.

[But he's not quite done yet and he takes a moment to stare at the file before speaking up again.]

...Who is she? What is she a reminder of?

...I told you about that woman I was dating for a while. The one I killed.

[His words are...suddenly very blank; they're still happening, thankfully, he's not shutting down entirely, but the emotions are going to be...a bit off for a while, it looks like.

It's not something he usually does; that's...largely new, actually.]

I also told you that I remembered a certain kind of...monstrous thing that seems to be a common theme in my memories. The things that I suspect I was going to use to rule over the world as some sort of god, the massive one that came into being somehow on the deck of a tanker, like this one.

[There's another tremendous slam against the ship, coming from the same sort of spot that it hit out in the hallway; it happens once, then twice, again and again, like it's trying to break through the- ]

...Killing Excella and creating monsters like that may have been slightly more interconnected than I let on when I first told you about it - move, we can't stay here.

[Come on, back into the hallway, trying to ignore whatever is out there that's trying to puncture the steel, trying the doors again - ]

[That's... terrifying, honestly, but he thinks he can understand why Wesker would shut his emotions off like that. It's not the sort of thing a person should be able to do, but given the circumstances...

The thing is trying to break through the ship and Jaeger's suddenly very aware of just how little a chance they stand against that thing. Sure, he figured they didn't stand a chance before, but Wesker's talking about it like it was the thing he was going to use to rule the world, so...

He follows quickly.]

I think I understand why you didn't tell me that, but is there anything else I should know about this thing?

[Since it's kind of pressing right now.]

...There are obvious weak spots. They're bright, everything else is black, you'll know what to aim for if you can get your hands on a weapon. She doesn't like being hit there, but it'll get her to hesitate, at least.

[He's still trying doors. Locked.]

I've only fought her with someone else once or twice, and I know for a fact that my mind conjured him up, as he isn't anyone that's on the app. She hated both of us, so chances are she's going to go after you even if I'm the one she's angry with.

[Locked.]

There's not going to be any reasoning with her - she can't hear you, and even if she could it wouldn't matter, so don't bother trying to yell anything at her.

[And this one's open, come on, we don't have windows but we've got tables and a lot of open space, and we've got mounts on the walls that seem to have -

...Well, one of them's got your fucking scythe on it, actually, so there's that.]

[So she's too far gone. She's more monster than person at this point and he shouldn't hesitate. He understands, but he's going to have to hope he can keep that in mind. If his life is on the line, surely he won't hesitate, right?

...This isn't going to end well.

Anyway, he follows Wesker into the open room and his eyes find his scythe almost immediately. Jaeger perks up quickly and moves to pull it from the wall.]

I was starting to think we wouldn't find any weapons at all!

[He feels much better with his weapon in hand, but the scythe probably won't be doing anything at all against whatever the hell is out there. He considers for a moment before shifting it to the crossbow formation. He's never used a crossbow, but he has memories of battling with it and maybe that'll be enough.]

...I'll keep all of that in mind, thank you. I'll do my best.

[He's still smiling, but the expression is a little strained now.]

[He's currently looking through anything that's in here for something useful - there are cabinets against the walls, they usually have things on the floors or the higher shelves, and there's his ammunition and his gun, let's go - ]

If we die, we should wake up. It'll be fine.

[His words are still odd and blank; there isn't much behind them, but at the very least he doesn't seem...afraid of this, exactly.]

When we leave this room, there should be stairs around a bend in the hallway. Once we're there, you're going to start running and you aren't going to turn around for any reason. Even if I'm not behind you anymore, just keep moving until you find a door on the upper level. It should be directly in front of you, and it's going to lead outside.

I don't care what you hear happening behind you. Do not stop. Do you understand?

[It's strange to hear Wesker's voice so blank like this, but isn't this better than it'd be if he was afraid? It's selfish to think like that and he knows it, but some part of him is relieved that Wesker doesn't sound afraid.

It makes it a little easier for him to steady his hands against his weapon.]

I understand, but I don't know how likely I am to follow instructions. You know how I am.

[He knows he'll hesitate if he thinks Wesker's in danger, but...]

I'll try, ja? That's the most I can promise you.

[For a moment he looks as though he wants to argue the point; he bites it back, though - he's aware that Jaeger is trying, at least, so...]

That's all I'll ask for, then.

[It's an assertion he's made before; it...feels right to make it now. Now isn't the time to ask for anything else, to make demands. If Jaeger's going to try to do as he says, that's enough for now - they can deal with the rest if something happens.

So it's awkward, but it's genuine, at least.]

Come on, then. You first, it shouldn't be too much farther now before we find it.

[He nods at that, he knows it's not what Wesker wants to hear, but it's good enough for now. With that, he takes the lead, exiting the room. He's not supposed to hesitate or look back and he knows if something happens to Wesker he's not going to be able to do that, but he's doing his best not to do that now.

(It's sort of funny how when you're not supposed to do something that's all you want to do.)

The bend in the hallway and the stairs leading up aren't that far away and once he sees them, he breaks into a run, as ordered. How are you doing, Wesker? And just as importantly, how's our friend the tentacle monster doing?]

[Don't worry, he's breaking into a sprint right behind you and keeping pace once he's there; the reason why will soon become immediately obvious as about halfway up the stairwell, you can hear something that's undeniably the metal walls of the ship being ripped into lower down, just a few feet away, where you just were.]

Don't look.

[Wesker's words are both immediate and urgent.]

I'm still behind you, don't look and don't slow down.

[Because he knows what's back there - the solid black mass shot through with large channels of blood and other organic matte that he really doesn't want to think about, the thick, writhing appendage that's going to try to trip them up at the first opportunity it gets. What's waiting if you fall here. How quickly one can be absorbed into it.

The sound is loud, all twisting metal and the sharp screech of something solid and heavy being dragged across the opening, the hard slam that follows from it hitting the opposite wall, the way the ship lurches and the entire thing groans like it's about to buckle in some fundamental way - just the same, keep moving, this thing is going to move fast once it gets its bearings for the stairwell and we don't want to be in it when it does.]

[It's amazing how much faster you are when you're actually terrified that you're going to die. Jaeger's finding this out the hard way today, and the most he can really manage in response to Wesker's words is a nod. He doesn't look and he doesn't slow down, because if he does either then they're both dead. He's not going to be responsible for Wesker's death, even in a dream.

It feels like these stairs go on forever, but maybe that's just the stress of the situation. Then again, this is a dream, so who knows. The moment he reaches the door he'll throw it open. So what's the deck looking like here?]

[The deck is extremely high up - there's a bit more of a structure behind them, but not much; it seems as though this is as far as we're capable of getting from the inside. The area Jaeger finds himself standing on overlooks the midsection of the ship, with the main deck about four very, very large stories below.

And originating from the deck below...well. It's extremely obvious that Jaeger's initial assumption was right.

She's definitely more monster than person at this point.

The creature is massive, made up entirely of thick appendages stretching upwards and extending well up above Jaeger's immediate line of sight, ending several dozens of feet overhead; they end in bright, bioluminescent bulbs, four of them sliding in and out of view, occasionally being covered over by a writhing mass of tentacles for the sake of protection before it all retracts again, revealing the orange glowing structures for a brief while before they vanish again.

Again, the entire thing is shot through with blood and rot, tremendous channels of it shooting through the creature's body - if it can be said to have one, it's really just a twisted collection of tentacles and appendages and bulbs, there's nothing about it anatomically that's recognizable as belonging to a creature that belongs anywhere on this planet, much less right in front of people and wrapped around the fore deck and bow of a ship.

Jaeger's crossbow is definitely not going to be enough. Wesker's gun is definitely not going to be enough.

And they are both very, very screwed.]

That is Excella.

[Jaeger's quiet for a moment, frozen to the spot while he tries to process what he's seeing. He's seen some weird shit in his dreams, but none of that compares to what he's looking at right now. He's never seen anything as massive or terrifying and even if he had seen something that could compare, it certainly wouldn't have prepared him for this.

So this is the sort of thing Wesker's been remembering. He should probably be having some kind of reaction, but he keeps looking over the writhing mass and his brain is just refusing to process that this is genuinely what he's staring at.]

...We are so screwed.

[His hands are definitely shaking now.]

[Wesker's hands just tighten on his own weapon; he isn't shaking but he's gone very, very still.]

We can either fight, or end this very quickly. If I die, it ends.

I'm not going to force you into a fight this futile unless it's absolutely what you want.

Don't—

[That sort of bursts out of him before he can stop it and for a moment he struggles to find the words he needs.]

No, no, I'm not going to ask you to— I'll fight. I... I can do this.

[He doesn't think he can and he's gone very pale, but Jaeger's not about to let Wesker die like that just to put an end to this like that. Yes, they're going to die, but it's better to fight, isn't it?

(Is it really?)]

[He's quiet for a moment at that; he's keeping his gaze locked on Excella, but...]

...That was unfair. I... My apologies, I won't ask you something like that again.

[He doesn't have much time to dwell on it, however - that thing is going to move and when it does, it's to send one of those appendages arcing into the air and use it to shoot a massive amount of black...matter at them where they're standing on the deck. Wesker reaches out and grabs Jaeger by instinct, jerking him away from it.]

You won't die if it touches you, but any damage you experience from that is going to stack very, very quickly.

Good, that's...

[He doesn't have time to finish that thought because suddenly Wesker's pulling him away and he's quick to follow the other man. The black matter that's been left there looks absolutely disgusting, but he's more worried by what Wesker's saying.]

So don't get hit, got it. I take it we aim at the bulb-things?

[He's still not confident, but he's recovering a bit and he sounds a bit more like his usual self.]

That would be the idea.

[It's good that Jaeger seems to be calming down slightly, as unconfident though he sounds; we can - ...okay, we absolutely can't do this but at the very least we can put up a shred of resistance, and Wesker is quick to train that laser sight on one of those bulbous structures and start shooting.

...Do you have any idea how to aim that crossbow of yours.]

[Does he look like he's ever used a crossbow before?? Of course he doesn't. But he's used a gun before and surely that will help!

...Unsurprisingly, the recoil sends the first shot flying wide from the target he's aiming for. Jaeger doesn't seem deterred by that though and he starts trying to line up a second one. He doesn't have a choice, really - it's either the crossbow or the rifle and that's six and a half feet of rifle he doesn't know how to use. The crossbow seems at least a little safer an option for now.]

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