[OPEN] Prick your fingers, it is done, the moon has now eclipsed the sun

[manufactured]

WHO: Albert Wesker (eventually) and whomever decides to join him (presumably you!)
WHERE: Dreamscapes.
WHEN: Slightly backdated to 8/24.
WHAT: Dreamdiving.
WARNINGS: Medical experimentation, brainwashing, child abuse, violence, body horror, depictions of self-harm, a general blanket warning that Wesker has been through Some Shit and as such this is probably going to suck on several levels.

[It's cold.

It isn't the familiar drop in temperature that might come from the weather, but a sterile, artificial chill, the sort associated with medical work - hospitals and laboratories and other places that bring with them a sharp, chemical smell and an unpleasant sense that you don't really want to be there.

Of course, the metal table against your back probably isn't doing much to keep you warm, either.

Trying to sit up will be a bit of a problem, given the heavy restraints locked around your wrists and ankles, your hips and your upper body; they're a combination of metal and leather, old-fashioned and imposing, clearly designed to restrain something very, very powerful, and they're keeping you from going very far. You can look around enough to tell that where you are is...probably not somewhere you want to stay for long - it is, in fact, a laboratory of some sort, full of instruments and vials and jars of things that don't look very nice, the metal walls giving way somewhere just on the edges of your line of sight, turning into something else - a sort of open entrance to what looks like a cave of some sort. Either way, it'll probably take you somewhere that isn't here if you follow it. Tipping your head back will show another potential exit to the area - a metal door in the wall near all the instruments and materials.

Of course, you can't really utilize either route if you're bound down, now, can you? You should probably work on figuring out what you're going to do about that, first.]

Comments

[manufactured]

Chris Redfield. Good to meet you.

[thankfully(?) wesker has never mentioned exactly how many knives he tried to put in chris' back at any given moment]

[thesettingsun]

[Shuji doesn't think Wesker has mentioned Chriiiiis, at least by name, so they're good.]

Likewise. Which way were you heading?

[manufactured]

I was thinking about heading-

[...Wherever he was thinking about heading, it's rendered something of a moot point; there's a sudden loud noise reverberating through this portion of the cavern. Sounds like a gunshot.

...Definitely a gunshot, if the projectile blowing past Shuji's head and embedding itself into the wall is any indication. Chris is quick to draw his gun, aiming it into the darkness and trying to track the source; this...is likely not good, given Enrico over there.]

[thesettingsun]

[Y i k e s. Shuji isn't entirely sure if a bullet in his head would have instantly killed him (thanks, spirit physiology, you're a pal) but he doesn't want to find out.

He pulls his book out and turns it to its scythe form in one second flat: now's not the time to worry about how weird a weapon it is or how he'll explain it to Chris. He steps toward the darkness, reasoning that it makes sense for a close range weapon to be in front of the gun guy, even if he doesn't know who... or what... he's expecting.]

[manufactured]

[Yeah, Chris is kind of. Not sure what the fuck just happened or why you're using a scythe, but here we are-

You can hear someone's steps receding back into the darkness, however; how far are you planning to pursue, if at all?]

[thesettingsun]

...Should we follow?

[Like hell Shuji's chasing after him without Chris. Sort of defeats the whole point of 'safety in numbers'.]

[manufactured]

Yeah - it's probably the same guy that shot Enrico.

[...The, uh. Corpse over there.]

He was trying to warn me about a traitor among us.

[thesettingsun]

Alright.

[After them, then - Shuji hurries after, but not in an all out run. More like a power walk. A very on guard power walk.]

this past week has been a travesty

[manufactured]

[After them indeed; the walking pace will do you favors, at least, because it seems it will make it easier for whomever's doing the shooting to aim past you - either they're a lousy shot, or they really aren't trying to hit you.

Judging from the fact that from the sound of it, they did manage to hit Chris, they probably aren't trying very hard to hit you.]

everything happens so much

[thesettingsun]

[As much as Shuji would like to believe that whatever's shooting at them sucks at shooting, he's not that idealistic.

Now he breaks into a run, in the direction of whoever decided he was the lesser threat and is about to be very sorry they did. Unless they're Wesker or something, in which case Shuji will probably be the sorry one.]

[manufactured]

[Whomever they are, they're sprinting off at an incredibly fast pace, and there's a sound not far off that indicated they jumped up somewhere - only there aren't any ledges above you within normal human jumping range. There is one a good distance up if you want to climb it, or you can look for another path up; the fact of the matter is that There Is A Wall Here that's got some decent height on it.]

[thesettingsun]

[While Shuji is stronger than he used to be, he's not any better at jumping. Or climbing, for that matter. The safer path would be to go around and look for another way up...

But since the person(?) has run off, that gives Shuji a little time to double back and check if Chris is okay after being, you know, shot.]

[manufactured]

[Chris, weirdly enough, doesn't seem to be in the area anymore.

There are definitely bloody drag marks leading off into the darkness back the way you came; on the one hand, Chris seemed like a decent guy and probably doesn't deserve anything that's happening right now, on the other that seems a little...counterintuitive and probably a bad idea with regards to actually accomplishing what you're here for.

Your choice here.]

[thesettingsun]

[Chris did not deserve this, but Chris is also probably a fake person and most likely dead already. Shuji can avenge him by finding what/whoever shot him.

So after a quick prayer - Shuji's agnostic but Chris might have appreciated it anyway even if he definitely just butchered the Lord's Prayer - he's going to head back toward that out-of-reach ledge to try to find away around.]

[manufactured]

[You'll find another path leading upward eventually; it isn't stairs so much as it is an incline, but it shouldn't be too difficult to take. It'll bring you upward, at least, and it seems there's someone up here that isn't quite waiting for you, though he'll turn at your approach. He's blond and young-looking, likely an older teenager around eighteen or so; just the same, he's still recognizable - the sunglasses and basic facial features are unmistakable as Wesker's, though he's dressed a bit differently, all in black beneath a white coat suited for a doctor or someone working in a lab.]

Did Birkin decide to not have fun with you?

[He doesn't sound agitated at the notion that he didn't; it's a legitimate question, albeit something of a bored one.]

[thesettingsun]

...Wesker said he couldn't.

[You, Wesker, how is he supposed to refer to Wesker in front of someone who isn't not Wesker but also isn't the one Shuji's looking for, probably?]

The large weapon might have also been a deterrent.

[manufactured]

[That gets a bit of a snort out of him.]

He never was much for combat. He usually has me do it. Not like I mind, of course.

[thesettingsun]

I would mind fighting any version of you, so can we not?

[Even if Wesker was full-on mad scientist or had a giant eye in his shoulder or something, Shuji wouldn't want to fight him.]

[manufactured]

[No eyes in his shoulder, but give this one another thirty years and he'll have an exposed heart and a core of some sort latched onto his spinal cord. And tentacles.]

That depends on what you're here for. We don't tolerate outsiders very well. Or did Chris and Enrico not deliver that message to you?

[Said with all the confidence of someone who knows exactly what happened to Chris and Enrico.]

[thesettingsun]

[Tentacles can be nice, he isn't automatically against them-]

I need to find Wesker. Older Wesker. I don't mean to cause trouble.

[...and he certainly isn't going to ask about Chris and Enrico, he doesn't really want to know.]

[manufactured]

[And there's the flash of metal from beneath that lab coat and a handgun aimed in Shuji's direction; the draw is easy and he seems rather comfortable with it, perhaps alarmingly so for this guy's age.]

Didn't you get the hint...? I'm afraid he's not taking visitors.

[thesettingsun]

[Well, this sucks actually, because Shuji still can't fight Wesker. Even if he's armed and dangerous.]

If I had the choice to leave him alone until he felt better, I would, but...

[Can't really wait it out in a dreamscape.

He's expecting to get shot a couple times. Welp.]

[manufactured]

[He doesn't shoot immediately, though he does square up like he's intending to at any point.]

But what? We've never needed you - any of you.

[thesettingsun]

No. But you don't need to be alone, either.

[There's nothing wrong with having things you don't need.]

[manufactured]

[...

Okay, you can practically see him just.

Need to take a second.]

That isn't for you to decide.

[...There was an attempt at something here.]