(open) rough seas will be calm

[scythegun]

WHO: Jaeger (eventually) and you!
WHERE: Dreamscapes.
WHEN: 8/25.
WHAT: Dreamdives!
WARNINGS: Suicidal implications, threads are warned accordingly.

[You find yourself on a grassy plain. It's nighttime, and while this whole thing is probably incredibly surreal, the scenery is at least peaceful. You can see a dark building ahead of you.

If you look behind you, you'll notice that there's a large, thick forest. Listening for a moment will tell you that there's plenty of wildlife there, and it doesn't sound happy to see you. It's probably not a good idea to head that direction. But hey, if you really want to, there's nothing stopping you.

If you choose to approach the building, you'll hear the distant sound of waves crashing, but otherwise all is silent. It would almost be serene, if not for the ominous look of the building. It appears to be a very large manor. There are plenty of lights on inside despite the late hour, which gives you a little more light to see the building itself. For some reason there are massive chains decorating the left side of the building that don't actually seem to be there for any specific purpose, and above that are flags for... some reason. The whole thing is kind of an experience, and the gloomy atmosphere and isolated nature of the house probably aren't doing much to make you feel at ease.

Since the manor is most likely where you're headed, you might want to get a bit closer to the front door to check it out. Be careful, though - you won't be able to get too close without two guards spotting you. They're dressed in yellow uniforms complete with masks that hide the upper halves of their faces. They don't exactly look friendly; one of them has a crossbow in hand and the other has some kind of large daggers that look like they're attached to the back of his hands.

You'll find that there's a solid wall around the perimeter of the manor; you can hide here for a moment if you'd like. Climbing over the wall seems to be out of the question given the height of it and the spikes on top.

How do you want to proceed?]

Comments

[scythegun]

[He's still not dead! And still completely unconscious. You really knocked him out good, huh...

You'll find that this door is locked! Huh.]

[manufactured]

[...He won't kick it open like a savage. For now.

He'll check it over, though, to see what it looks like. Is it a standard lock, does it take a key, is it deadbolted from the inside...?]

[scythegun]

[Good question - it doesn't seem to have any way to lock it from this side, so there isn't any sort of key or way to open the lock from here.]

[manufactured]

[Duly noted.

All right, there's one other door besides this one, isn't there? Let's try that.]

[scythegun]

[That's right! This door leads you into another room that looks like it's part of the manor, thankfully. It is pretty strange though, given that it's a smaller room with no furniture - the main attraction here are the paintings on the walls.

Which wall do you want to start with? Left, right, straight ahead?]

[manufactured]

[Straight ahead, since it's the most immediately visible.]

[scythegun]

[Directly ahead of you is a large painting of two teenage girls. The red-haired girl looks serious while the green-haired girl has a bright smile on her face. The longer you stare at the painting, you'll start experiencing feelings that aren't exactly your own. Thankfully(?) they're rather muted, but you'll get a sense of familiarity and familial love, along with something darker and more difficult to place beneath it.

There are also blank canvases on this wall, like paintings might have been here once, but aren't any longer.

One of the smaller canvases isn't entirely blank, though. The painting's colors have faded significantly, but you can still make out a woman. Staring at this one gives you a dull sense of longing and loss.]

[manufactured]

[...He recognizes her. Jaeger drew her once, that's the woman he was in love with. The girls are presumably his daughters...

So, this entire room is probably going to feel weird and personal. Got it. He doesn't like the intrusive feelings, but they're bearable for now.

Let's try the wall to the left.]

[scythegun]

[Wesker suffers so much.

The left wall immediately has a very familiar (and poorly-dressed) face, it's Cumore! Staring at that one too long will just leave you feeling apathetic, so maybe don't do that. The others on this wall are a giant of a man, a red-haired woman, and a scrawny nerd. You'll get more apathy from the picture of the woman, but the other two actually give you something, though it's even more muted than with the other pictures. The picture of the giant will give you a sense of respect and maybe fondness...? It's kind of hard to tell. The painting of the nerd is amusing, for some reason that's probably awful.]

[manufactured]

[Oh, good, it's Cumore again. Anyway, the feelings here are. Weird. And complicated. And sort of nonexistent. And there's another wall? Let's check out the other wall.]

[scythegun]

[This time it's just one painting, but there are a lot of poorly-dressed people and their dog. This one also gives you apathy, though there's something beneath that. It's positive, though it's kind of difficult to tell what it is.]

[manufactured]

[...You know, it probably shouldn't be his first thought, but that is a really anime-looking dog. Interesting people, but anime as fuck dog.

Is there anything else in here, or is that all?]

[scythegun]

[it is the most anime-looking dog.

That's it for those three walls, but as you're turning to leave you'll spot one more painting on the wall a bit further away from the door.

This one's definitely different - it looks like the color's faded from this one as well, but slightly more pressing are the slash marks? It looks like someone took something sharp and left a few cuts through this one. You can still make out the man depicted in the painting, and it brings with it a muted sense of irritation, anger, fear, and strangely enough, acceptance.]

[manufactured]

[Wesker's never seen this man before. He knows for a fact that he hasn't. But just the same, he knows who he is.

He'll look at him for a moment, taking in everything - the appearance, the fading, the slash marks - before he leaves the room; he doesn't like the feeling he's getting from it, but he wants to remember what this man looks like, for future reference. In the event that he ever shows up on the network, so he knows who to keep an eye on.

Anyway.

Back out into the hallway, then, if there's nothing else to see here.]

[scythegun]

[You'll immediately notice that something's off when you return to the hallway - the guard is no longer around.]

[manufactured]

[...Oh. Okay. That's happy. There's no way that's going to bite him in the ass later.

How is the other door looking? Still locked?]

[scythegun]

[Surprisingly, no! It's unlocked and you can open it! There's no indication of what or who unlocked it, but that's probably fine...?? Do you want to proceed?]

[manufactured]

[Of course he wants to proceed.]

[scythegun]

[Once again you'll find yourself in a room that doesn't seem to fit within the manor, but this time it's something entirely unfamiliar.

It looks like you're underwater, with unfamiliar architecture and a high ceiling that shouldn't be possible within the manor's walls. The area is very open, but there doesn't actually seem to be too much of interest here aside from the scenery - there aren't any doors or any way to proceed.

There is something shiny on the floor in the center of the room, though.]

[manufactured]

[All right, this is...new. It takes him a moment to try to process what he's seeing, and to figure out if he should be finding any of it familiar.

"I don't know where we were, I've never seen it before. It almost looked like we were underwater, though admittedly I couldn't get a very good look at our surroundings. I was injured and-"

The reaction it gets from him is a muted one, but it's certainly a negative one; it takes him a brief moment to shake it off, to move forward and see what that shiny thing is on the floor. He can think of a few things it might be, and he doesn't like any of the options his mind is coming up with; as such, it's for the best to push forward and see what it is for himself so he'll stop questioning.]

[scythegun]

[You'll find it very familiar. It might even be one of the options you've thought of.

The blastia looks similar even when it's not attached to Jaeger's chest, though the biggest difference is that the red gem in the center isn't glowing like usual.]

[manufactured]

[That was the first thing to come to mind, yes.

It takes him a moment to pick it up, but eventually he will; it's more difficult than he'd like, but he manages.]

[scythegun]

[Thankfully, touching it will not trigger any emotions, so at least there's that.

Touching it will get the center to light up suddenly, though. Somewhere ahead of you a section of the floor will slide back, revealing a spiral staircase that slowly rises up and connects to an opening in the ceiling with a click.]

[manufactured]

[Unlike the heart stone and Jaeger's phone, this is something he doesn't feel right bringing with him.

He'll set it down near the staircase; he can come back for it later, if he needs it. But he'll move upstairs if he isn't hindered from doing so further.]

[scythegun]

[You're not hindered at all, so go ahead!

You'll arrive on the second floor of the manor, like nothing just happened. The decor is pretty much exactly the same as downstairs, with more boxes and pots with swords in them, as you do (apparently). There's also a giant painting of Yeager near the stairs?? Who does that.

Like before, the hallway bends further down and heads further back in the manor. Proceed?]