Party with the Telapathic Octopi

[redefined]

Who: Klavier Gavin, Franziska von Karma, and Trevor "Wolf" Hager
What: A private storyline in which a bunch of previously dead people compete for their right to stay alive by averting a future disaster for a shady group of post-apocalyptic survivors.
Warnings: Death, lots of stupidity, and some OOC fixation on xenobiology.

Consciousness came to him slowly. The sound of waves came first, nearly indistinguishable from their roaring echoes. There was the scent of saltwater and stale air, and his whole body was cold and damp. He was considering retreating back into sleep when a fat drop of water, gritty with mud, dripped on his lips.

He bolted upright, wiping at his mouth and trying to pull a curse from his sleep-muddled brain, and promptly hit his head, rebounded off the hard surface, and hit it again on whatever he had been lying on. This got a couple more garbled curses but at least he was fully awake now.

He was in a stone compartment, just barely big enough to lie down in. Faint blue-green light seeped in around the lid. He didn't know why he was in a stone box by the sea. He didn't remember falling asleep here. Come to think of it, he didn't remember much of anything, did he? Well. That was new. Or was it? Maybe he had done this before and just forgotten. Maybe he had--

Never mind, that train of thought could get really circular really fast. Better to forget what he'd forgotten and get out of his box. He sat up with a bit more caution and shoved away the lid, which was something of a feat considering how heavy it was. Things he knew about himself: he was not a competitive bodybuilder. Right then.

The first thing that struck him was the light. Flickering blue points coated the walls and ceilings, illuminating the caverns, the water that flooded them, and the stone boxes that lined the walls. Cavern might be a strong word; it was hardly big enough to stand up in, and not much wider than it was tall. It was more like a tunnel-- yes, he could see branches twisting off further down past some of the boxes without lids. Kind of odd, that. What was someone keeping down here, anyway? Other than sleeping amnesiacs, that is, because he couldn't think of a single situation where a warehouse of bodies in boxes made sense.

...Oh. Wait. No, there was one. He squinted into the dim light, hoping to see livestock cages or shipments of goods, or something else sensible, but it was no use; that wasn't the sort of thing you kept in tombs. And they were definitely tombs, because he could see moth-eaten cloth and the glint of bones inside some of the ones without lids.

"...Oh." He took a deep breath. "Hmm."

His voice sounded awfully calm for someone who had just crawled out of a tomb. Things he knew about himself: he was level-headed in a crisis. He must be, right? Right. That would help. And in this situation, a level-headed person would investigate his surroundings so he could piece together some sort of narrative. Then that was what he would do.

First came a cursory check to make sure he, in fact, alive. After he was satisfied that he wasn't fatally wounded, was breathing, and didn't have any decaying limbs or dangling eyeballs, he stepped out of the tomb and into the water. It was knee-deep and freezing and he didn't want to think about what might be living in it, but these are the chances you take when you're a reasonable and level-headed man.

"Hello," he called, strolling from tomb to tomb, knocking on the lids and peering inside. "Hello, hello! Any other dead guys? Anyone at all?"

Comments

.....and I have no idea how this got so long.

[wildmare]

The first thing she realized upon coming to terms with wakefulness... was that she had absolutely no idea what was going on.

The air felt moist, and the noise surrounding her sounded suspiciously like moving water. Like the ocean. Though of course that couldn't have been what it really was; she hadn't been anywhere near the ocean before--

…

--before what? This, she realized with some considerable unease, was all that she could remember. Anything that might have happened before she'd woken up here simply didn't exist. There was nothing.

…Well. First things first. She had to figure out where she was, and then perhaps the rest would follow. It was too dark to be able to see properly, so she'd have to make do without until she found a way to fix that. Found a light--yes, maybe there was a source of light somewhere around here. This all seemed perfectly straightforward, so it shouldn't have been very difficult to sort out what was going on.

Her plan unravelled as soon as she tried to sit up, only to discover that a barrier was preventing her from doing so. Crawling forward or to the sides proved equally impossible, which led her to conclude that she was lying in some type of a small compartment. Judging by the hard texture of its surface, it was likely made of stone. At this point, she was awake enough to be certain that her hazy acceptance of the situation had vanished entirely; all she knew was that she was trapped inside of a stone compartment, and she needed to get out of it right now.

The background noise had changed somewhat since she had woken up. Some sort of knocking, as well as what seemed to be a man's voice, continually interrupted the sound of water. This made at least one thing apparent: wherever this was, she wasn't alone. The voice was becoming progressively louder and clearer, which must have meant that the person was approaching. Her absolute cluelessness about the situation had gotten to be immensely distressing; someone else was here, walking around, coming towards her, while she was trapped in a box made of stone, and she absolutely had to get out--had to find out where she was, or at the very least find a way to see what was going on--before he reached her, because she couldn't just lie still and wait for him to reach her. What little light she could see was shining through from above, so that must have been where the box opened. She sat up as far as its confines would allow and gave the top surface a push. It moved with some difficulty, as it was rather solid; after some struggle, managed to shove it out of the way.

With that obstacle conquered, she could now focus on examining her surroundings. It appeared she'd been correct in guessing that she was somewhere by the water, but--unsurprisingly--she didn't recognize the place at all. It looked like a cave of some sort; upon further thought, however, she realized that it would be most accurately described as a crypt.

A... crypt?!

Of all places to have woken up in… How had she ended up here? Even if she couldn't remember, she was positive that it hadn't been her own idea; why would it have been?! There was no doubt that whoever was responsible would have hell to pay; she would have to find them so she could ensure that they did. That, however, would have to wait until later. In a dire situation like this, she had to sort her priorities in a reasonable manner. Before she could properly deal with whatever guilty party had gotten her into this mess, she needed to figure out what was going on.

…Unless the guilty party was in fact the crypt's other live occupant, of course, in which case she would have to deal with him promptly. She quickly shifted her attention towards the sound of his voice, and watched him with narrowed eyes. It was clear now that he was calling for someone--something about dead men--though his search didn't seem to have much specific focus. He might have been a bit confused, or perhaps even lost, but it seemed unlikely that he was the one responsible for her predicament. She couldn't be certain about until she found out what he was doing here; in any case, though, he probably wasn't an immediate threat. Frankly, he just looked like an idiot.

"…Dead men aren't going to answer you," she remarked; the tone of her voice was cold, because even if she didn't suspect he was to blame, she was unimpressed with him so far.

Her highest priority was to gather information, though, and it was a definite possibility that he knew something she didn't. And while his presence didn't worry her, the fact that she was oblivious to nothing short of everything was a weakness that she preferred not to make immediately apparent.

[redefined]

His assessment only took a moment. A woman. Not a very old one, not a very happy one. Revision: a very unhappy woman. Silver hair (dyed?) and clothes like she walked out of some historical fiction. Posture stiff but non-threatening. Good enough.

"A dead lady! That's fine too. I don't discriminate." He flashed her a grin. Well, that was an unexpectedly positive reaction. Maybe he was an unabashed optimist? He hoped not. He hated those. Did he? Yes. If he hadn't before, then he did now. "Do you know where this is?"

[wildmare]

The comment earned a raised brow, though her expression remained unwelcoming. She had no patience to listen to such foolish nonsense. Regardless of her current location, she was nothing less than one-hundred percent alive. Anything short of that would have been impossible.

"As should be obvious," she stated plainly, "I'm not dead."

As she moved to stand, she noticed that something at the bottom of the coffin had gotten caught around her foot, and she reached down to untangle it. Closer inspection revealed that it was a whip, which left her more confused than she'd been to start. A whip was most definitely not something she'd expected to find in her possession after having just woken up in a tomb, though she supposed it must have been there for a reason. It would probably be a useful thing to have around, in any case, so she collected it before she stepped into the water (for that matter, she had to wonder whose terrible idea had it been to bring her to a place filled with water in the clothes she was wearing) to approach the man.

He was proving himself to be less promising of a resource than she had hoped; if he was asking her where this was, then he probably didn't know either. She folded her arms and surveyed the cavern once more before she answered him. "Near water, clearly. Aside from that, I do not."

[redefined]

"If you insist. But you did just step out of a tomb, and I'm trying to be generous here." He started counting off on his fingers. "Your other options are grave robber, creepy occultist, and necrophiliac, so..."

And then he stopped. Wolf might not be much of a resource, but at least he wasn't approaching her with a whip; violence could really ruin his sense of humor. He took a step backward as she stepped forward, eyeing the whip until it was clear that she wasn't going to use it on him.

"That's it, huh?" He sighed. So much for getting answers out of her. "Well, I guess there's nothing for it. Any idea how you got here?"

[wildmare]

If that wasn't a pitiful display of reasoning, it was a pitiful attempt at a joke. Which was correct hardly mattered, as both options were equally unimpressive. The man's appearance--garish red hair, shabby clothing, and some sort of ridiculous bone on a necklace--certainly didn't help the impression she'd made of him, either.

When he started to back away, she stopped walking and took a moment to consider his reaction. He apparently intended to keep his distance; the fact that she had a whip must have made him uneasy. That she could deal with. In fact, it was probably for the best. She wasn't terribly concerned with him for the time being, as he seemed passive and clueless more than anything. However, it would still be a good idea to make sure she had the upper hand.

"Not at the moment." She shook her head. It was only temporary, she had no doubt; she intended to fix it as soon as possible. "And you don't either, I assume?"

She waded further down the row of coffins, keeping an eye out for anything that might strike her as familiar. Finding that would make this turn of events infinitely less frustrating.

[redefined]

"Nope. Can't think of any situation where I would've come here voluntarily, though."

He trotted after her. It was amazing, how much better he felt now that he had an audience. Maybe he had been a performer.

"I wonder what happened here, anyway. If it were human trafficking, you would think we would be restrained, not to mention supervised. Live organ harvest went out of style pretty much everywhere by now, unless we were abducted by a group of criminal Luddites. I guess there's always the chance of a mad scientist or bored sadist setting up a--"

He stopped abruptly. Someone was... crying? Yes. It was faint, but he definitely heard it.

"We've got company." He frowned. "Can you tell where that's coming from?"

[wildmare]

"I wouldn't have, either."

Although her lack of memory meant that she had nothing to back the statement up with, she was certain of it. She would never have willingly come to such a distasteful and ridiculous place.

She tuned out his rambling as she searched for... whatever it was that she needed to find. Despite the glaring similarities between their situations, she didn't care to listen to him speculate aloud. Senselessly babbling about possibilities wasn't going to help them figure anything out; it was distracting, and nothing more.

It wasn't until he cut off mid-tangent to note the presence of someone else that she bothered to give him attention. She stopped to listen to whatever it was that he might have been referring to. Even after the water around her had fallen still, though, she heard nothing.

The man must have been delusional. Not much of a surprise, as she had already concluded that he was by far the less reasonable between them.

"What are you talking about?" She eyed him sceptically. "I don't hear anyone."

[redefined]

He ignored the look and swept his gaze over the caverns again, straining his eyes for any hint of movement.

"Well, that's obviously because of my unnaturally sharp hearing."

Or so he said, but he honestly couldn't pinpoint the source of the sound. It crossed his mind that he might be imagining it but he dismissed the thought instantly. He was not prone to hallucinations. Maybe he had decided that just now, but it was a good decision and he was sticking to it.

He sloshed over toward one of the smaller tunnels that sprouted from the walls of the cavern. It was a wild guess, but at least it gave the appearance of purpose, and it seemed as likely a source as any other.

"Hey? Are you ok in there? Need a hand?"

But as the echoes of his voice died away, he found himself alone with the sounds of the sea again.

"...It's gone." He glanced back at the woman. "Well, I guess since we heard it, it's on our heads if something happens to them. Want to check down this way?"

[wildmare]

"It's obviously because nobody is there," she corrected him. His claim regarding 'unnaturally sharp hearing' sounded like nothing that was worth talking seriously, and she was quick to dismiss it. She couldn't hear another person; therefore, he had imagined it.

She followed him towards the tunnel--not because she trusted that he knew what he was doing, of course, but rather that she doubted it would matter where they explored first.

"We?" She shook her head, her expression remaining unchanged. "I have nothing to do with this ridiculous fantasy of yours."

[redefined]

"Yeah?" He turned to face her, head tilted, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. "Then why are you following me?"

But her answer would probably be snippy and irritable anyway, so he turned around and sloshed onward without waiting for a reply-- mostly because it might make her more snippy and irritable, and for some reason that made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So to take tally, so far he knew that he was level-headed, possibly a performer, and probably an asshole. Fascinating!

"Hey. What do you remember? Name, profession, childhood dreams, anything at all?"

He had a hunch that she didn't but it couldn't hurt to confirm it.

[wildmare]

"This tunnel is exactly the same as the others." She answered him decisively, in spite of her already-confirmed ignorance on the subject. "Therefore, it makes no difference whatsoever which way we go."

It hadn't taken her long to decide that she was not fond of this man. Regrettable as it might have been, though, company probably had its benefits in this sort of situation. Splitting off to explore the cavern on her own wouldn't be a very sensible plan of action, even if she would have preferred to do so.

She strained to think of a concrete response to the question about her memories. The effort wasn't for his sake, of course--by no means did she care whether or not she could grant him an informative answer--but rather for her own. Not knowing where she was frustrated her, but not knowing who she was made it immeasurably worse.

Unfortunately, she was forced to conclude that not much had changed since she'd woken; she remembered precisely nothing. Admitting to that much, however, was still not something that she was willing to do. She would have to resort to an alternative option.

"You ask me this because you can't remember anything. Is that correct?"

It was only a guess, but she felt quite confident that it was a good one.

[redefined]

"Actually, I-- " He stopped himself because he realized that he was about to deny it. He was about to tell her that he was David Russell, a stand-up comic on IS-374. It came to mind so easily that he thought for a moment it might be true. Then he realized that he still didn't remember being David Russell, and another part of him was already vying for an introduction as some Avery Steinau. He didn't know what to think of that without resorting to a dissociative disorder.

"I don't remember anything," he concluded, managing to sound less confused than he felt. "Damn. I guess we really are in trouble."

Still, it could be worse. Nothing tentacled and slimy had grabbed his ankle and dragged him under yet, and this woman was shitty love interest material, so despite the creepy crypt and amnesia odds were good that he was not in a bad horror movie.

"What about names? We can't just go 'hey you' all the time, and who knows when we'll get our memories back."

[wildmare]

While it was true that she didn't remember her name either, she wasn't sure she understood why the man seemed insistent on solving this problem immediately. There were only two of them, so it wasn't as if anything was in danger of becoming confusing. She was certain that she had a perfectly good name already, and she fully intended to remember it at some point in the near future; would there really be a point in coming up with a new one?

Before she could respond, she heard something and promptly stopped to listen.

It sounded as though people were talking; their muddled voices, blended on top of some unidentifiable background noise, were impossible to distinguish from one another. The result was chaotic and overbearing, and it was difficult to make out what was going on.

Likewise, she couldn't quite determine where the noise was coming from. Considering that she hadn't heard it until after they'd started down this particular passage, though, it would make sense to assume they were headed in the right direction. Wouldn't it?

"Hurry up!" she demanded, pointing farther down the tunnel towards what she could only guess was the source of the commotion. "There's clearly something happening."

It occurred to her that he had been arguing the same point only a minute ago, but she quickly disregarded the thought. The fallacy behind his argument was simple: there had been nothing to hear when he'd claimed to have. Now, there most certainly was.

[redefined]

Wolf followed her gaze, but all he saw was the dim blue glow and all he heard was the slow trickle of water down the walls. Well, wasn't that something? She was the crazy one after all. Either that or someone was playing with them-- not too unlikely, all things considered-- but he would rather think she was crazy. He raised his eyebrows.

"I'll hurry all you want, seeing how there's not much else to do, but there's nothing happening. Are you sure you're ok, Dana?"

[wildmare]

...Nothing happening?

"Whatever happened to that sharp hearing of yours?" She sounded amused, albeit in a patronizing sort of way. She had never believed him in the first place, and this more or less confirmed that she had no reason to take him seriously.

It was downright impossible for him to have been right. That would have meant she was hallucinating--which she was absolutely not. Although she couldn't hear the noise any longer, it had definitely been there a moment ago. How could he have missed it?!

Admittedly, its sudden disappearance was a little bit strange considering how overbearing it had been. Rather than question what she'd heard, though, she opted to focus on the second major problem in the man's statement.

"...My name is not Dana."

[redefined]

"Nothing happened to it. You're imagining things, Agnes. It's totally understandable, seeing what a traumatic--"

His words were abruptly drowned out as his thoughts dissolved into screeching microphones and white noise. Before he had a chance to wonder how that was possible, given that they were inside his head, a voice rose out of the cacophony.

"--not right, it's-- oh, is it on now? Will, did you patch it through? I told you it w----- n the right, with th---- red button, I s---"

He cringed as another mechanical squeal echoed through his skull. Then it stopped, leaving nothing but the dripping water and an impressive headache. Wolf glanced over at Agnes, hoping that she had heard the voice or at least that she hadn't been watching him. He would hate to look like a hypocrite right after accusing her of hallucinating.

"Hey, uh. Just now, maybe there was a bit--"

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!"

Right. Someone in his head didn't want him to speak. Or think. He might have to reconsider that idea about the dissociative identities.

"Wait, err-- was that too loud?" It coughed. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to the land of the living! That's right; you're our lucky winners, specially selected from a pool of a couple million dead people to participate in a thrilling adventure to protect the future of mankind!"

He was trying to keep his face neutral until he was sure that she could hear this too, but all that did was set his scowl in stone. This was wrong. As long as he refused to believe it, it was obviously not true. Never mind all that future of mankind crap, he could deal with that-- but he would know if he was dead. And if he had somehow missed that fact, he sure as hell wasn't going to hear it from a guy who sounded like a used car salesman.