DANIEL ??? (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amongthelions) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-04-03 07:35 pm
amongthelions) wrote in towerofanimus2013-04-03 07:35 pm
Entry tags:
[open] oh lord, in the darkness - lead me on my way
Characters: Daniel and you.
Setting: Dormitory 3-18, Floors 1 and 3. (Final prompt takes place at night!)
Format: Starting with action, I'll match.
Summary: Daniel wakes up, wanders around, and is generally put through the wringer.
Warnings: Spoilers for Amnesia; the Dark Descent, possible disturbing imagery.
[DORMITORY 3-18: When Daniel comes to upon his new dormitory bed rather than the cold, dusty stones of Brennenburg's prison, his exhausted mind lurches off the edge of rational thought and into bleak despair. He immediately believes that he's perished in the elevator crash, falling victim to the Shadow at last. A sense of failure pervades every weary inch of him, momentarily overwhelming the selfish relief that all terror and unease is now at an end. But of course, Daniel isn't that fortunate. The proof of his continued existence - the pounding of his heartbeat, his ragged breathing - pull him back to reality with rough fingers. He sits up and warily takes in his surroundings.
There's the instinctive, self-comforting urge to take out his lantern, even though the room is plenty bright already, but it's nowhere to be found.]
What...?
[Soft, incredulous words; this isn't the castle, isn't anywhere Daniel can recall ever visiting before. (Not like that means much, is the rueful thought that comes a moment later.) And when he gets around to reading the first of the letters set out for every new arrival, his mind reels yet again: his world, destroyed? Everyone and everything in it reduced to ash, to nothing, consumed by oblivion? The letter falls from nerveless hands as Daniel struggles to understand....and in this stunned and silent moment, some of the clouds that have filled his mind disperse. He remembers Hazel - sweet, sickly Hazel, his younger sister. How they both cowered under the shadow of their abusive father, how he would read stories to her as if doing so could keep her alive. How could Hazel just.....be gone?
For a short, merciful span of time, everything else flies out of Daniel's head. He buries his face in grimy, aching hands, and cries.]
[FLOOR ONE: Eventually, sorrow gives way to a gnawing and ravenous hunger, and Daniel stumbles his way to the cafeteria. He mulls over the contents of the other, second letter he had received as he goes, the fingers of one hand lightly toying with the orange collar encircling his neck. So, he was expected to survive here? With others? It's a prospect that seems so alien, utterly impossible....but he had found his journal and lantern in the chest by his bed, among other things, and they had brought him comfort in their familiarity. Perhaps this....situation, such as it was, could be dealt with, step by step.
His movements are slow and skittish when he eases into a seat with a platter of food (he had refused the oatmeal provided, wanting something more flavorful for his first meal after countless brushes with horror and death), and fear still smolders dully in his eyes as he glances around, but Daniel feels....a little better, despite everything. He can't bring himself to dwell on the idea of his entire world being brought to ruin, so he will focus instead on the here and now. And the here and now (for the moment) doesn't seem nearly as awful as the dark depths of Castle Brennenburg. There's people here, and no Shadow to haunt him. Maybe things will turn out all right....!
Daniel entertains this delusion right up until the moment that his stomach violently rejects the food he's just swallowed, and he vomits messily all over the table.]
[FLOOR THREE: Daniel is a curious man, even when he ought not to be. After filling his stomach (eventually, anyway, damn that oatmeal) and adjusting, however cautiously, to his new predicament, he sets out to explore what he can of the Tower. He reasons with himself that this is a sensible thing to do, and feels a certain rush of validation when he comes across the library that houses the network terminals. Not that he chooses to fiddle with those just yet - no, instead he's drawn to the shelves and stacks of books. He had been something of an aspiring scholar back home, after all, and a thirst for knowledge is a part of him that not even an amnesia potion could wipe away. So it's perhaps inevitable that Daniel sets to work reading everything he can get his hands on, curled up in a quiet and secluded corner away from all eyes.
...but then time slips away from him, and night has fallen when Daniel finally shakes himself free of the library's grip. Darkness surrounds him, presses in, and it triggers a burst of white-hot panic and fear. He shrieks, whipping out a tinderbox from his pocket to light the nearest candle. But this isn't Brennenburg....there are no candles, and instead Daniel fumbles the tinderbox, dropping it and setting his trousers on fire. He runs out of the library in a blind, screaming panic, torn between slapping the flames out of existence and letting them continue to scorch his pants in return for lighting the way down the corridor.]
Setting: Dormitory 3-18, Floors 1 and 3. (Final prompt takes place at night!)
Format: Starting with action, I'll match.
Summary: Daniel wakes up, wanders around, and is generally put through the wringer.
Warnings: Spoilers for Amnesia; the Dark Descent, possible disturbing imagery.
[DORMITORY 3-18: When Daniel comes to upon his new dormitory bed rather than the cold, dusty stones of Brennenburg's prison, his exhausted mind lurches off the edge of rational thought and into bleak despair. He immediately believes that he's perished in the elevator crash, falling victim to the Shadow at last. A sense of failure pervades every weary inch of him, momentarily overwhelming the selfish relief that all terror and unease is now at an end. But of course, Daniel isn't that fortunate. The proof of his continued existence - the pounding of his heartbeat, his ragged breathing - pull him back to reality with rough fingers. He sits up and warily takes in his surroundings.
There's the instinctive, self-comforting urge to take out his lantern, even though the room is plenty bright already, but it's nowhere to be found.]
What...?
[Soft, incredulous words; this isn't the castle, isn't anywhere Daniel can recall ever visiting before. (Not like that means much, is the rueful thought that comes a moment later.) And when he gets around to reading the first of the letters set out for every new arrival, his mind reels yet again: his world, destroyed? Everyone and everything in it reduced to ash, to nothing, consumed by oblivion? The letter falls from nerveless hands as Daniel struggles to understand....and in this stunned and silent moment, some of the clouds that have filled his mind disperse. He remembers Hazel - sweet, sickly Hazel, his younger sister. How they both cowered under the shadow of their abusive father, how he would read stories to her as if doing so could keep her alive. How could Hazel just.....be gone?
For a short, merciful span of time, everything else flies out of Daniel's head. He buries his face in grimy, aching hands, and cries.]
[FLOOR ONE: Eventually, sorrow gives way to a gnawing and ravenous hunger, and Daniel stumbles his way to the cafeteria. He mulls over the contents of the other, second letter he had received as he goes, the fingers of one hand lightly toying with the orange collar encircling his neck. So, he was expected to survive here? With others? It's a prospect that seems so alien, utterly impossible....but he had found his journal and lantern in the chest by his bed, among other things, and they had brought him comfort in their familiarity. Perhaps this....situation, such as it was, could be dealt with, step by step.
His movements are slow and skittish when he eases into a seat with a platter of food (he had refused the oatmeal provided, wanting something more flavorful for his first meal after countless brushes with horror and death), and fear still smolders dully in his eyes as he glances around, but Daniel feels....a little better, despite everything. He can't bring himself to dwell on the idea of his entire world being brought to ruin, so he will focus instead on the here and now. And the here and now (for the moment) doesn't seem nearly as awful as the dark depths of Castle Brennenburg. There's people here, and no Shadow to haunt him. Maybe things will turn out all right....!
Daniel entertains this delusion right up until the moment that his stomach violently rejects the food he's just swallowed, and he vomits messily all over the table.]
[FLOOR THREE: Daniel is a curious man, even when he ought not to be. After filling his stomach (eventually, anyway, damn that oatmeal) and adjusting, however cautiously, to his new predicament, he sets out to explore what he can of the Tower. He reasons with himself that this is a sensible thing to do, and feels a certain rush of validation when he comes across the library that houses the network terminals. Not that he chooses to fiddle with those just yet - no, instead he's drawn to the shelves and stacks of books. He had been something of an aspiring scholar back home, after all, and a thirst for knowledge is a part of him that not even an amnesia potion could wipe away. So it's perhaps inevitable that Daniel sets to work reading everything he can get his hands on, curled up in a quiet and secluded corner away from all eyes.
...but then time slips away from him, and night has fallen when Daniel finally shakes himself free of the library's grip. Darkness surrounds him, presses in, and it triggers a burst of white-hot panic and fear. He shrieks, whipping out a tinderbox from his pocket to light the nearest candle. But this isn't Brennenburg....there are no candles, and instead Daniel fumbles the tinderbox, dropping it and setting his trousers on fire. He runs out of the library in a blind, screaming panic, torn between slapping the flames out of existence and letting them continue to scorch his pants in return for lighting the way down the corridor.]
no subject
He would have kept running (screaming all the way, his trousers turning to cinders) if it wasn't for the stairs. More specifically, if it wasn't for the way Daniel trips and crashes down the remaining steps head over heels to land in a groaning, pathetic pile of limbs.]
no subject
Are you alright now?
[..For a final measure, chaos dried Daniel's pants before the boy could reply.]