♞ 001

[fearbringer]

[Today, DramaDramaDuck is streaming a rather strange video post: it's filming a dark, cavernous cave from the ground up. At first, the place appears to be empty, but if one looks closely they might notice that the darkness is actually moving-- tendrils of shadow swirl through the air, occasionally flicking close to the camera. Not long after, slow, quiet footsteps can be heard, followed by...]

What...?

[It's low and muttered, and the speaker clearly isn't expecting a response; the feed shakes suddenly as the device is picked up, and then it goes black.]

Comments

[shiningwaters]

[All those shadows and the movement within? Aqua can't help but be guarded.]

Hello. I'm guessing you're new?

[fearbringer]

[There's a long silence before Pitch responds.]

New to what?

[He'll be surprised if he actually gets an answer.]

[shiningwaters]

To the community--it's a kind of message system between worlds.

[Well, until she knows for sure if he's trouble, no reason to be hostile.]

My name is Aqua. There are a lot of other people here, and if you need it, we might be able to help.

[fearbringer]

[... Wowwww she sure can hear him. She must be a believer.]

No, I don't need help. I'm--

-- I just want to know what this is.

[shiningwaters]

That's honestly the best description I can give. Others might be able to get a better explanation, but my world is better developed in magic than in technology.

[fearbringer]

You can't tell me about its origins? How I came to have it in my lair?

[mightletyouknowme]

What is that even suppose to be?

[makewayforroze]

Hello? Is someone stuck in there?

[shiningwaters]

Unfortunately, nobody knows that. It seems like the community just picks whoever it thinks is most interesting to give access to. There seems to be a sentience to the community, and that's about all we can tell.

[fearbringer]

Is this why you can hear me? Because we're talking over a sentient community?

[What even.]

[fearbringer]

My home.

[Creepy right.]

[fearbringer]

... I'm here.

[Not really commenting on the "stuck" thing one way or the other.]

[shiningwaters]

That may be the case. It seems like there might be some magic, but it's hard to prove anything.

[fearbringer]

Tell me more.

I want to know everything there is to know about this place.

[Video]

[material_guy]

Think yer camera's broken.

[shiningwaters]

Well, the community sometimes sends us to different worlds, like for a vacation or for something dangerous. And almost every month, there's at least one event called a virus, that changes some people's behavior or otherwise causes strange things to happen to them. It's temporary, at least, and goes away after a few days.

[makewayforroze]

Are you alright? It doesn't look safe there.

[mightletyouknowme]

[Very.]

Why does it look so weird? Are you some kind of creep?

[fearbringer]

And this happens to everybody? They come in one day to find it recording them?

[fearbringer]

What do you think?

[fearbringer]

It isn't.

[Video]

[fearbringer]

It isn't my camera.

It belongs to whatever this place is.

[shiningwaters]

Pretty much. It helps if you willingly update from time to time, so it doesn't record you when you least want it to.

[sandinmyboots]

Hey! Hello, new person! Do you need an intro, Mr. Shadows?

[makewayforroze]

[She's starting to get a bit nervous, as he doesn't seem terribly afraid to be there or bothered that it isn't safe. Normally, those kind of people were unsafe themselves.]

What kind of place is it? I've never seen anything like it.