Young Writers Society

The spider's web above you is the first thing you see as you awaken. It is clean, recently made--not yet sullied with the tiny bodies of its maker's victims.
The second thing you see as you sit up slowly, nursing a splitting headache, is the vast cavern in which you have awakened. Stalagmites and stalactites point upwards like stiffened eyelashes, and as you raise your head you can see little silhouettes huddled on the ceiling, nearly invisible in the darkness.
At the center of this cave is a towering monstrosity of a statue carved from waxy white stone. Curling horns shoot up in four directions, ridged and terrible. The face is unlike anything you have ever seen, reptilian and avian and amphibian and mammalian all at once. Its expression is twisted into one of sadistic delight and unspeakable sorrow. The hands are held up as if preparing to bless the looker, and a dark liquid drips from the fingertips.
This eldritch being is truly horrid to behold, but as you look closer you can see a dark-colored cavity in the middle of its chest. The cavity pulses with a nauseous energy, and suddenly you feel wrongabout looking at it. You turn away, suppressing a wave of illness.
The only source of light is from a ribbon looped firmly around your right wrist. It glows brightly enough for you to see about seven feet in front of you, but you feel no heat on your skin. You turn your hand over, searching for a knot, but there is none. Upon several increasingly desperate attempts to remove it from your wrist with no success, you leave it be.
You are not alone in this cave. Others have awakened around you, disoriented and dismayed. Their wrists bear ribbons as well.
Rise, puppet, and begin your journey.

Hey, all! So the basic premise of this story is that all of us are trapped in a massive system of caves. Nobody can remember how they got there or why they're there, and all that clues them in to anything is this massive statue and the ribbons on their wrists. Each ribbon is colored differently, and I'll leave it up to you to decide what color your player has. This is sort of a psychological dungeon-crawl type of rp, so I won't explain too much else. Just know that y'all have two objectives to either fulfill or abandon: Find the heart of the statue OR Escape the caves. The choice is yours.
The discussion topic:
If I Had a Heart DT

The club: clubs/3178/wall

The Memes: If I Had a Heart [Meme Thread]

Elias

Elias was slow to rise, squinting in pain as his leg throbbed. Whatever had happened had not been a gentle occurrence.
Groping around for his cane, he located the ridged knob less than a foot to his right and pulled it to him. Satisfied that it was not damaged, he boosted himself upright to get a better look at the gloomy cavern.

Six others were lying nearby, each in various states of consciousness and disorientation. Elias recognized none of them and took careful note of each face in turn, memorizing the features. Their wrists all bore ribbons not unlike his own, though the colors varied. Together the ribbons gave off an eerie multicolored glow, which dimmed slightly in the light of the torches surrounding the statue at the center of the cavern.

Elias turned his attention to the statue, lifting his spectacles from their place around his neck and slipping them onto his nose. It was a horrific thing, looming over him like something that had crawled out of the worst part of hell. Elias was rather intrigued by it, if he was honest with himself.

Five massive chests were situated throughout the room--four against the walls and one at the back of the statue. They appeared to be locked, though Elias couldn't quite tell from where he stood. He moved toward the nearest one in an attempt to investigate, then stopped short. What was the matter with him? Caution before anything else. This place could be booby-trapped.

Giving himself a small shake and dusting off his suit, Elias took stock of the exits next. There appeared to be six tunnels leading out of the cavern, one of which sloped gently upward and curved out of sight. Possibly to the exit.

Satisfied that he had observed the room to a decently full extent, Elias turned back toward the other people with a small frown. Some of them were more awake than before. Limping back over to where he had started, Elias bent down to pick up his medical bag. Time to be a doctor.

The young man wouldn’t open his eyes. He felt himself lying on a hard stone surface, but he wouldn’t move. He wouldn’t even twitch.

The cold air and rock seemed to dig into him, tearing through his coat and chilling him to the bone. He resisted the urge to shiver and forced himself to remain still. The only things he could hear were his shaky, faint breathing, and the beating of his panicked heart. Squeezing his eyes even tighter shut, he refused to look at his surroundings. Seeing them for himself would only make this more real, and he didn’t want this to be true.

Nikolai breathed in a little deeper this time. Playing dead seemed like the best choice to him. He had no idea what his surroundings were, except for the cold stone against his back, which presented a few options. He tried not to think about whether he was in danger or not. His wild imagination would absolutely get the best of him.

Fear trickled into his mind anyway. There could be something right next to him, silently watching him, trying to figure out if he was alive or dead. Nikolai drew in another shuddering breath, trying to keep his chest from rising or falling. His eyes were closed so tightly it almost hurt.

Above all the terrified thoughts flying around his mind like debris in a storm, there was one voice saying the same scared thing, over and over again.

Why am I here?

Aumrauth Themaris

Oh, it was happening again. Interesting, powerful, and mysterious magic. He could feel it pulsing in the air, through his veins. It felt foreign, and yet familiar, like the friend of a friend that he knew very well. He flexed his fingers and welcomed home the pain that coursed through him. It had been a while since someone had switched the anti-mage materials on. That meant someone, somewhere, had found the control. It was a shame he ever lost it in the first place, but that's what happens when you get kidnapped and locked away in a tomb for several who-knows-how-many-hundreds of years.

Fortunately, he was used to it. It gave him a small rush of adrenaline. The kind of manic energy when your body is pushed to the edge. Your mind achieving crystal clarity and muddied sludge all at once. Or sometimes, it felt like passing through the eye of a storm over an over, before being swallowed back up again.

He sat up. Dusted himself off, and tugged loosely at the string on his wrist. It was magical, no doubt, but he wasn't familiar with the material or its source. Perhaps the laws of magic were different here, wherever here was.

It didn't take him long to spot the boy near him, attempting to play dead, or pretend to be asleep. There was also a man with a cane, who had a weary look about him. Everyone looked confused, or disturbed to a degree. Which made sense, for mortals.

The statue in the center of the room carried a powerful presence, and seemed to be representitive of the entity that brought them here. At least, that was his assumption. It drew him in, and his attention carried to the cavern in its chest, where something was missing.

"Missing. Like a puzzle piece. Maybe this is a puzzle. A grand game or scheme we're meant to solve. Our destinies, however literally, tied to it."

He chuckled, forgetting he had begun to speak out loud, but the fact that he had didn't bother him.

He got to his feet and inched towards the statue. He didn't bother asking questions. He could tell everyone was as clueless as he was. But that was the fun of it. The discovery.

"I feel chosen," he voiced, turning one of the four chests in the room. "Mmm... I want to know what's in these chests." He laughed again. "Because, you know, the statue's chest is empty."

He laid a hand on the lid, looking to the others - not to wait for approval, but in eager anticipation for their reactions. Would anyone object?

Eira

Eira had woken up in strange, cold places with a stranger or two before. Some of those strange places had even had weird shrines, or demon-summoning materials. None, however, had been a single bit like this.

She opened her eyes, her heart thumping in her throat, and only managed a glance at the statue before looking away. It was so wrong. So twisted in its very conception. She couldn't look at it.

Instead, she looked to the others. Strangers. None of them anything like the strangers she usually woke up with in strange places.

Rolling to her feet, she stretched and picked up her bag. From the weight, it seemed like nothing significant had been removed. So whatever spellcasting lunatic had put that band on her wrist like some kind of dog collar and brought her to this...whatever it was, hadn't robbed her. So that's where the limit was. Kidnapping? Fine. Petty theft? Too far.

She scanned the strangers, trying to get a read on them. And then one mused aloud and her gaze landed on him.

He wanted to open a chest.

He looked briefly at her.

She shrugged a shoulder.

Couldn't hurt to do something.

Mel awoke with a slitting headache.

It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but it was the smell of the place that gave her the first impressions of where she was—musty, wet, and airless. It reminded her when she was first entering Sector 3 and was held in dimly lit caves for days. Caves are truly the worst and she hated everything about...

Wait, yep, she was definitely in a cave. Perfect.

Grimacing, she sat up straight and rubbed her temples, trying to massage the headache away. Perhaps she was in a vivid dream, but that musty smell just seemed too real, aaaand she just felt a drop of water drop from above.

Taking a deep breath and trying to grab a hold of the situation, she examined her surroundings, which was hard to do because it was dark as all heck. There was a pale yellow ribbon tied around her wrist that emitted light, which in a normal circumstance would fascinate Mel and she would probably try to figure out how it was emitting light, but she'd rather not risk being in the dark. It was hard to make out what they looked like, but there were six other people who seemed to also be waking up and just as confused as she was.

She was just about to study the random giant statue in the room, but then a tall man with gray skin and white hair—were those actually the colors or did she just not see it right?—waltzed in with some monologue about being 'the chosen one' and started fondling a chest.

"W-Wait!" she stuttered, totally caught off guard. She quickly got up on her feet and dusted her skirt from the dirt, walking closer. Mel wasn't usually one to stop impulsive activities, but this cave gave her the creeps and something just didn't seem right. "Maybe don't open it yet..."

She reached the chests and finally got a better look at this interesting looking man. He was devoid of all color and had long pointy ears like he was a character straight from a fictional book. He appeared to be wearing a bed sheet or blanket, and perhaps Mel would sneer at this, but there were more important things to give attention to than fashion.

The chests.

She eyed the large ornate crates and a sudden wave of curiosity washed over her. On one hand, she had been transported to a creepy dark cave with absolute strangers. On the other hand, she had been craving a new adventure and it was like the universe was responding. Opening one seemed so appealing now.

"I mean," she quickly added, "how do you know this is the right chest? Maybe you should shake it. Or I don't know, make sure it's not trapped. Or something. I don't know."

Her friend often told her that she rambled when she was getting nervous, and she made a mental note to tell them that they were definitely right.

Ainsley woke with a start. His head was pounding and he couldn't see more than a few feet in front of him. What happened?

Once his eyes adjusted, he looked around, turning his head slowly. He was in a cave, and he wasn't alone. There were others in the corridor. Most were awake; one looked like he was trying to will himself unconscious again. Another man and a younger girl with curly hair approaching one of the chests littered throughout the area. Who are these people?

He stood, checking his bag. Its contents were secure, but as he stuck his hand inside, he noticed the red ribbon attached to his wrist. It was glowing softly, and there was no knot securing it in place. It was just...there. Ainsley took his blade in his other hand and tried to slice through the ribbon. It didn't even fray. After a few more attempts he gave up with a huff and threw his dagger into his bag. What's going on?

Ainsley wandered over to the two strangers and eyed the chest they were talking about. "Have you opened it yet?"

They shook their heads. Ainsley armed himself, his knife pointed at the chest. He knew that whatever was inside could be dangerous, deadly even, but curiosity quickly overcame him. "Do it."

When Raptor awoke with a splitting headache and the sight of a spiderweb up above, the first thing he did was blame Bartimaeus.

And Dresden.

And Mist and his little demon, too, for the few moments that preceded his head clearing a little. Mist had no idea where he was right now; it likely wasn't him. Dresden also likely wasn't the culprit. The magician would have had to make his way through Bartimaeus first, and he knew that he had added a clause into the summoning for something like that.

But as he sat up and stared at the spiderweb, Raptor remembered that he stupidly had forgotten a "your irritating demon can't kidnap you" clause when summoning a demon who was probably more trouble than he was worth.

At least you can summon him, he bitterly thought. Bartimaeus was the best he could do right now, even though he was far more trouble than he was worth.

He sat up with a groan.

There were others in the cave. He gave them all a quick look, trying to see if anyone of them was obviously his demon. When that cursory look failed, he took a much closer look - that kind that involved tearing back an illusions that might have been thrown up. Everyone present was what they appeared to be.

Which left one demon still very much unaccounted for.

Raptor got to his feet. It took him a moment to realize that the light around him was coming from a strange, glowing ribbon that was tied around his wrist. He tried pulling at it with armored hands, but it wouldn't budge. It reminded him of something he had seen before, but he couldn't remember what.

His gaze landed on the absolutely horrendous monster in the middle of the room.

"Bartimaeus," he started to growl, irritation seeping into his voice. Did his demon really think that form would scare him? He saw what his true form looked like. This wasn't that much better-

No, wait. That wasn't Bartimaeus. It wasn't even alive. It was a statue. A horrible, demon-like statue, but a statue all the same. And it looked like the other people here were already trying to investigate.

The man with the gray skin had his hand on the lid of one of the chests. Raptor stayed where he was. He knew to be wary of strange places and strange artifacts.

"It's stupid to open that when we don't know where we even are," Raptor said, crossing his arms over the strap of his bag. "That chest could be a trap, and whatever is inside could be cursed."

He had never sent a demon after treasure, but he knew what his lessons had taught him. Hunting after lost artifacts was always a dangerous endeavor. That was why you prepared multiple spirits and stayed as far away as possible from whatever you were hunting.

...Which he probably should have been doing with Mist and his demon, but Raptor didn't exactly have a lot of resources.

Eira looked to the group that was beginning to gather loosely around the chest, then the others. A well-kempt masculine person with a medical bag and a cane, and another dark-haired person who didn't look like they'd woken up yet.

Her gaze passed back over the statue, and a wave of nausea hit her.

She turned away, bringing a hand to her mouth. Whoever's responsible for this is getting beat to a bloody pulp.

Collecting herself, she moved a little ways away from the group at the chest. Armor-person was right enough, it was probably cursed, and curses were so inconvenient. It always took so much effort to dispel them. First, you had to get yourself cursed, then figure out what kind of curse it was so you could track down the right kind of witch to get rid of it.

Instead, she went to the unconscious person and knelt beside them. She gave them a nudge. "Hey," she said gently, "you awake?"

Elias

Elias frowned at the pallid man. "I would suggest we tread carefully," he said simply, then moved toward the unconscious boy. A young woman was already beside him.
"Thank you, miss." He gave her a warm smile. "I appreciate your attention, but I can take it from here. I'm a doctor. He tapped the bag in his hand. By the look of the boy's breathing, he was already awake and likely wishing he wasn't. However, Elias wasn't the type to take chances.
Bracing himself on the cane, he prepared to kneel and inspect the young man. He kept half an eye on the group by the chest as he moved, not fully trusting that there wasn't some sort of trap attached to the lock.

Elias took the man's pulse. Finding it to be normal, if a little rapid, he began to check for other injuries.

(Btw, Elias has a clipped British accent, with lightly rolled r's and a sort of airy feel to it.)

Eira shifted back on her heels and watched the doctor work for a beat, then turned her gaze back to the group, and the chest. Whatever was inside, it couldn't be good. It couldn't be that much worse than what they were already dealing with, either, though. Really it was just better to do something than nothing.

To Nikolai’s surprise, the first noises he heard were voices. They all sounded very different, with accents and tones that all seemed strange to him, but they were all speaking English. That was good, since he’d be able to understand them.

Wait. A confused voice in his head spoke up. Why do I understand English? I don’t think I’m from anywhere that has English as an official language. He didn’t know this for sure, but his assumption felt right.

Then he heard soft footsteps coming his way. Nikolai stiffened and tried to hold his breath to appear as motionless as possible. While everyone sounded like a person and not a monster out to kill him, did that mean they were on his side? He didn’t understand why he was here, and there was someone right next to him, about to do something that he couldn’t predict. To his relief, he heard a gentle voice, still speaking in English, asking if he was awake.

It could be a trap. But Nikolai slowly opened his eyes, taking in the area. It was definitely a cave of some kind, which explained the hard rock he’d been lying on. He couldn’t see far, due to the lack of light. Speaking of light, there was something glowing around his wrist. He frowned and examined it quickly. It was a ribbon, which shone with a pale blue light with a shade of gray, but it didn’t feel warm. He saw other ribbons around the area, each with their own color, ranging from deep green to a vibrant red to a soft yellow. Most of the people wearing them were around a chest, seemingly debating what they should do first.

The woman who had nudged him had a purple ribbon. Or was she a girl? He couldn’t really determine her age right away. Nikolai’s confused green eyes met hers. Could he speak English back to her? He tried it. “Who…” He didn’t quite finish his question yet as the answer of his silent question hit him. Yes, he could speak English, even though he had an accent… Was it a Russian accent? That sounded right to him. His accent was undeniably there, but he appeared to be perfectly fluent, and it didn’t make him hard to understand. “Who are you?” he asked hesitantly, trying again.

Eira turned to the previously-unconscious person as soon as they started talking. She glanced at the doctor, then back to the person. It was kinda weird that they would just ignore the doctor like that.

"I'm Eira," she said, brushing a strand of yellow hair out of her face, "Who are you?"

Nikolai hadn’t been ignoring the doctor exactly, as he was still taking in his surroundings. He didn’t recognize any of the people here, so he’d probably never seen them in his life before. “My name’s Nikolai,” he said in a quiet, nervous voice to both of them. After a moment, he added uncertainly, “But I think some people might call me Kolya. It feels strangely familiar…” He trailed off, watching those by the chest, then he finally turned to the man with the green ribbon who had been taking his pulse. “Sorry,” he murmured softly. “I’m really disoriented. I don’t know what’s going on here.”

Elias

"You may have a concussion," Elias said promptly. "Don't sit up too quickly, just lie back and relax for a moment." He took out his cigarette lighter, flicking the lid open and letting the flame rise so he could check the young man's pupils. They contracted, which was a good sign. "What do you last remember?"