Little Finger

[animusmods]

Characters: characters participating in the Little Finger game
Setting: a riverbank at night in a dream
Format: any
Summary: It's time to search
Warnings: general creepiness and horror warnings

ROUND ONE (complete): mingle | search
ROUND TWO: mingle | search


Round One [COMPLETE]
NO SUPERHUMAN POWERS; SEARCH THE GRASS, BUSHES, TREES, OR THE RIVER ITSELF
This appears much like the story you may remember reading--an old woman crouches next to a gate, searching through thick, wet riverbank grass. Thick fog coats the area behind the gate, across the river, and perhaps twenty feet in either direction from where you stand. Going into this fog, you feel, would be extremely dangerous--possibly suicidal. Eventually the woman stands up. She is missing all the fingers on her left hand and the little finger on her right hand.

"Please, could you help me find my fingers? I'm missing six of them."

It doesn't look like you have a choice.

Round Two [FOUR FINGERS REMAIN]
SUPERHUMAN POWERS ACTIVE; SEARCH ALL PREVIOUS AREAS, BRIDGE, LAWN
This appears much like the story you may remember reading--an old woman crouches next to a gate, searching through thick, wet riverbank grass. Wait, this has happened before--welcome to round two. You didn't find anything last time, and that's why you're here now. The fog remains, but it's drawn back a bit--travelling to the bridge, a simple wooden structure, is now possible without entering the fog, and the gate opens into the lawn of a house. The house itself is yet covered in fog, but there's a doghouse and the lawn itself to search through. Going into the fog still feels impossibly dangerous.

Eventually, the woman stands up. She is missing all the fingers on her left hand.

"Please, could you help me find my fingers? I'm missing five of them."

It doesn't look like you have a choice. All wounds remain from the previous round. Anyone killed last round returns, but they have a scar that reflects their manner of death.

Round Three
has not yet started

Round Four
has not yet started

Round Five
has not yet started

Round Six
has not yet started

Comments

[seekinganswers]

[Idly, Sheba wonders what would have happened if Ruana had been there last week. Would she have heard nothing from her, like from Riki and Dax? Would it have hurt, like Jason's? Or would it have been like...

She shakes her head, cutting off that line of thought.]

You've met her...? What makes you think she doesn't understand?

[All this seems awful to Sheba, but she has had the advantage of being raised by someone who taught her the difference between right and wrong. Ruana hadn't.]

[attheclocktower]

Once.

[The expression on Xion's face shows more than anything that it was an unsettling meeting.]

She said... that all the people in the Tower now help the admins experience new things. Things they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Some of it is like the wedding... other parts of it, I think... are like this.

[She glances around at their surroundings, a tight feeling in her gut.]

[seekinganswers]

So these things are a way for them to understand how people react to pressure... or something like that?

[Sheba bites her lip. What Ruana called "games" seemed more like the world's most messed-up experiments, to her.

What sort of environment had shaped the sort of people who thought this sort of thing was a legitimate way to learn these things...?]

[attheclocktower]

I'm not sure but... I guess. I mean, why else would anybody do something like this?

[There's... a slightly desperate note to her voice. She... can't really understand the mindset that would make someone do something like this just for fun.

Not that she really does or wants to understand the idea of doing it for curiosity, either]

[seekinganswers]

I don't know. I just don't know.

[She's met her fair share of awful people in her time, but she'd come to believe that, overall, people were basically good.

And then this had happened...]

There's got to be some sort of a reason... there's a reason for everything, right?

[attheclocktower]

Yeah.

['There has to be.'

This wasn't exactly the best circumstances to meet under, to be sure, but Xion's glad for someone to talk to.]

You're... new in the Tower, right?

[She hasn't seen her that much yet, maybe once or twice in passing, but... still. Then again, anybody who's been in the Tower less than two months is "new" to her, relatively speaking.]

[seekinganswers]

...relatively new. I've been here for... about a month, I think?

[She thinks back, trying to count the days. After a moment she shakes her head - it's not easy to account for the exact amount of time she's spent here, but... a month sounds right.]

I know there are a lot of people who have been here for longer, and some people who have only recently arrived, including the people without collars. I'm not from either of those groups, though.

How long have you been here for?

[attheclocktower]

[Xion nods. Yeah that's "new". Or newer, at least. Sheba's question does make her pause a little thoughtfully, as though she's realizing it for the first time. With all the planning for the wedding... she'd completely forgotten

There's... a faintly disbelieving note when she finally speaks, though it fades quickly for something more neutral.]

A year. I've been here for a year now.

[seekinganswers]

A whole year?!

[Sheba's eyes go wide. How could anyone have lasted a year in a terrible place like this without going crazy? Xion must have an incredibly strong will...]

That's...

[Awful. Terrible. But Sheba can't say that - and Xion certainly already knows that...]

[attheclocktower]

[Before, Xion would have smiled wryly and told her not to worry about it, because before, she thought back home she would be dead.

Now that she knows it's possible to change her fate though... she isn't so sure what to think.]

Yeah... [She glances away] You... you get used to it. And... it is better than home for me, in some ways.

[Her friends, for example. That's something she could be sure of, at least.]

Timeskipping ahoy!

[seekinganswers]

[Eventually, time passes - the girls finish their discussion and split up to search for a finger. After all, neither one of them wanted to be trapped here forever.

Sheba manages to find one, and except for the mud on her clothes, she's relatively unscathed. Not so for Xion, though. When the blonde spots her, she lets out a sharp cry.]

What happened?!

Re: Timeskipping ahoy!

[attheclocktower]

[Xion looks up, startled and still upset. She reaches up her good hand, wiping at her face.]

'was stupid. There was something, under the tree. It was gathering stuff, so I tried to see if a finger was there, and...

[She cuts herself off, shaking her head, though her arm and hand should make it clear enough what happened. She hiccups.]

A-are the fingers all found yet?

['Are we trapped here?']

[seekinganswers]

...it was. I found a finger there, under the same tree.

[She holds it up - it's a little grotesque, carrying around a finger like this, but it has to be done. She realizes after a moment that the other body parts she found in there might have been Xion's...]

But I was thinking... I'm lucky. I always have been. If I've found one I might be able to find another.

[And then she holds it out to Xion.]

...take it. Go home and get your arm treated.

[attheclocktower]

[Xion looks horrified at the very idea. Someone, giving up their way out for her? No... no the idea is abhorrent. She shakes her head.]

N-no, I couldn't... What... what if you can't find another?

[She can't do that to someone.]

[seekinganswers]

I will find another.

[Sheba's voice is firm, confident. She's long since made up her mind that she can't just leave now.]

And I'm in a better condition to keep looking than you are right now... this way we'll both be able to make it out.

[attheclocktower]

But... you can't know that... Not for sure...

[There's logic in what she's saying, and she seems so confident... but Xion is still so terrified of the idea that someone else might sacrifice themselves for her sake that's her job.

She seems a little unsure though.]

[seekinganswers]

It's okay, really.

[She smiles again, and she hopes the smile is reassuring.]

One of my friends is here, too. [And yeah, he did kill her not too long ago, but that was the Tower's fault.] He's really reliable - he won't let anything bad happen. And he and I both have experience looking for things. Between the two of us, we'll definitely find a way out.

[attheclocktower]

[There's a moment where Xion closes her eyes. If she's honest with herself... she wants out. She's tired and it hurts and she doesn't want to be trapped here. And... and Sheba sounds so sure. She has friends here, who will watch her back.

She remembers dying back in October. She... doesn't want it to die again.]

You're sure you'll be okay?

[For a moment she sounds... a lot younger. A lot less like a world-weary tower veteran and more like a child seeking reassurance. Which... Sheba has been doing already - reassuring her - but it looks like Xion needs a little more before she'll accept it. But it's progress.]

[seekinganswers]

I'm completely sure.

[There's a lot more certainty in her voice than she really feels, but - the thing is, she knows she's always had a way of getting out of sticky situations unharmed. So even if she's not 100% sure, she can be relatively sure she's not lying to Xion's face right now.]

Take it. I'll come find you once I make it out of here myself... I promise.

[attheclocktower]

[Still Xion hesitates, but Sheba's confidence is winning her over. She reaches out a shaking hand, her good one, and takes the finger. There's a slightly anguished look on her face as she accepts it, though.]

I-I'm in Room 1-01.

[With an effort, she holds the old woman's finger in her fingertips and uses the palm of her hand to push herself up to her feet. Then pauses, giving Sheba another hesitant look, as if expecting - even hoping - for her to change her mind.]

[seekinganswers]

1-01? That's easy enough to remember.

[Sheba grins, nodding to Xion when the other girl looks back. Her meaning is clear - go on, take it.]

I'll see you soon.

[attheclocktower]

[She doesn't ever stop looking uneasy and guilty, but she nods.]

Okay. I... I'll see you soon too.

Good luck. For you and your friend.