entranceway | Text, event day 2, also a little action

[That is, back at the start of the event.

Lapis knows that lightheaded feeling, the sensation of losing something. So there is a deep dread in her even before she picks up her little present. At one glance over the instruction sheet she knows exactly what this event is, and proceeds to lightly flip her lid. First things first, she drops the ouija board forcefully enough it might be called a throw; but then the sound of it clattering on the floor seems to strike her, and she hurries to gather it back up, muttering a frantic "Sorry." She examines both parts to it gingerly, as if she's afraid she might hurt it or it might hurt her.

This is hers. She's certain this is hers. There has to be someone in there, trapped like she was. But there's no gem on it to remove, so she doesn't know what to do besides break the whole thing into pieces, which -- her personal history says no thank you, much as the rising panic would like to try. And she doesn't understand what the item even is or how it works. Not that she really wants to play along with putting her prisoner to use, but she needs to figure out what she can. And she needs to make contact.

Lapis sets it down and reads the instructions properly; they are a bit bare-bones and vaguely insulting to her. But necessary as she doesn't know what a ouija board is. It seems like it's about answering questions, anyway, which stands to reason if it's meant to be like her mirror. Thus, her first question is an unceremonious one, largely muttering to herself, confused and agitated as she stares at the instructions.]

..."the planchette". Is that this?

[Fortunately, she does in fact put her hand on the thing as she asks that. Honestly she'll probably pull it back in startlement before the answer can get far, but that's first contact, all right!]

Edited 2019-04-08 05:24 (UTC)

[Kol is... well, he's a bloody spirit board, apparently. Because of course he is. He at least doesn't take long in being found-- if manhandled a bit, there, at the start. Don't be so rough with the merchandise, luv!

She's fussing about the thing like she's never seen a Ouija board before and-- oh, hell, why couldn't he have gotten one of the witches in this godforsaken mansion?

When she finally asks that first question, not even really at all directed at him or the board, the little plastic heart-shaped piece slides up--]

YES

[As promised, Lapis yanks her hand back. She takes a moment just staring aghast at the thing -- well, no, not a thing. That's the point. It's someone else reliving her own personal trauma for her, bodiless and helpless.

And yes, like her, being forced to answer questions. Going along with it still doesn't feel great, but she knows very well that asking the right questions can make all the difference when that's all you have. There were so many she would have loved to answer, at so many points. She puts her hand back on the planchette, more decisively.]

Who are you?

[Well, at least she seems to get a grip quickly on the situation, he's certainly thankful for that.

Slowly, the piece moves across three letters.]

K-O-L.

[.........Okay, she recognizes the name from like one time on the network, but she doesn't know this guy. It's kind of lousy how much of a relief that is. Doesn't make much difference, though. She wants to get this fixed ASAP either way.]

Kol... do you know how I can help you?

[He's barely got a grip on what's happening, here, so--]

NO

[Welp, that makes two of them. Lapis's shoulders sag and she grips the planchette. Already she's starting to feel helpless herself, which is after all a feeling she's had a lot of practice with. But instead she's the only one who can do anything. She can't afford to lose sight of that.]

I -- I'm not going to abandon you like this.

[That's not a question, and it's not clear whether the ouija board strictly requires questions. I guess we'll find out!]

[Fun fact: They don't need strictly questions, but you might need some paper, unless you're a wicked speller! Answers that are not a strict yes-no might take a bit, sorry, Lapis.]

Is this event yours?

[Role reversal it is, then. Lapis is caught a bit off-guard, both by the length and because she wasn't really thinking about getting a response there. Fortunately, even if she misses the beginning of that one it's not hard to catch up, and while she might want to get paper if this goes on much longer, she at least has a good memory. She gets the gist.

The question draws her focus a little, which is for the best since she hasn't been doing much of that. Lapis has been freaking out about the idea of the thing with the person in it, but not really thinking about her guest as such. But she's managed to make that much obvious. Her answer is simple too.]

Yes.

[Well, lucky for him, she should know exactly what's going on, then. At least he has that going for him, while he's stuck.

But asking whole questions is a lot in his current state, so he'll try to trim it down to the most important words for now.]

Rules?

[Lapis's brow furrows. She is definitely being required to put actual thought into this now. Because yeah, she knows more about what's happening here than anyone, but she doesn't actually have all the answers even then, does she? That's what's really compounding the problem here.]

I don't know. [She admits after a moment.] You're not a gem, you don't have a gem. What happened to me -- shouldn't work with you at all.

[Well that's not very helpful at all, is it? The events never line up exactly, there's always a bit of a Wonderland-style twist to them, but there's that line of similarity as well. There must be something.]

What happened?

[To her. Her circumstances, the way she got out. Hopefully those two words are enough to push the meaning. He realizes it's likely highly personal, and he would hardly be so willing to offer up things so easily if their roles were reversed, but-- it's the only way to get out of events, especially peculiar ones like this.]

Edited (html is the bane of my existence ) 2019-04-19 00:52 (UTC)

[Lapis takes a long silent moment to figure out how to even start answering that. She has no desire to discuss the details with a stranger, but on the other hand she owes him any answers that might help here. Herself too, for that matter. But also, she can't assume he knows anything about gems, so there's the matter of how this stuff works just on a basic level, which isn't a detour she has the wherewithal to spend much time on. Exposition is not Lapis's thing to begin with. (She can't even really illustrate by pointing out her gem, what do you want from her.)]

My gem is me. I was... between bodies. So somebody attached me to a tool instead. And someone had to remove me.

[She does her best to deliver that in all detachment, but it still feels pretty lousy. But hey, this whole thing already felt lousy, so that hardly makes a difference at this point. Again, at least she's thinking.]

[It's hardly the most detailed story he's ever heard, but it's enough to give him a basic understanding of the idea, at least. It takes him a moment to spell out what he needs to next, because he can't think of a way to ask it in a minimalist way.]

How did they free you?

[Lapis's mouth twists, and she ends up repeating herself a little.]

My gem is me. They just took it off the... thing. But you don't have a gem, or -- or anything like that -- right?

[Presumablu he has a body made out of meat, which cannot be and clearly isn't attached to a ouija board. That's what makes this so confusing. But there are other non-humans around, she knows, and maybe it's possible he has some equivalent? Hell, maybe humans have secretly had an equivalent all this time that nobody mentioned, for all she knows.]

[There's nothing from the board for awhile, Kol is mulling it over and trying to think what it might translate to with Wonderland insanity attached. Something representational, perhaps. Like the chamber de chasse.]

Fox?

[That is, after all, generally what he's most associated with in the family.]

[...Lapis is not sure she would even know a fox if she saw one, but she's vaguely aware that it's some kind of Earth animal, and there's certainly nothing like that anywhere. However, that's a different line of thinking than anything she had. Maybe there's an idea there.]

Like a symbol?

[She casts another evaluative look across the board, then lifts her hand from the planchette for a moment, which she's been somewhat clinging to like a lifeline. The crest is legitimately the thing that stands out most by far, if she looks at it that way; she touches it again more thoughtfully.]

There's just this. I don't know if you can see it, but... do you want me to try?

Yes. [First in response to her question about a symbol. That's exactly where he's going with it and he's glad she caught onto it, at least.

And then-

the planchette moves to say again-- ] Yes.

[He's willing to go for broke, here. They won't get anywhere if they just keep having a nice chat about past traumas, will they?]

[Lapis closes her eyes a moment and steels herself. This makes her nervous, but that's kind of really because every little bit of the entire situation makes her nervous. She respects what autonomy Kol can have, anyway.]

All right.

[The crest pries free easily enough, as if it was designed to, and that's a promising sign. Even more promising is the fact that this totally works. Got a hot take, Kol?]

[Kol wouldn't know how to put into words the appreciation he has for that, so it's probably for the best that he doesn't try.

One minute, he's stuck in--and is--the planchette, and the next-- the opposite. He's just kind of suddenly there, no real magic fanfare like he might have expected.]

Bloody hell. [He mumbles, shaking his head.] I'd really rather never like to do that again.

[If Lapis needed to breathe she would have had that on unconscious pause, to start up again when the attempt worked. She doesn't, but there's a similar kind of pent-up waiting tension visible; it leaches out more gradually than with an exhale, and not all the way. Never all the way.]

You're telling me. [She says a bit faintly, too knee-jerk, and then tries to move on because that's not necessarily a direction she actualy wants to go down.] Are you all right?

Yeah, I think so. [He glances down at himself and shrugs as he looks back up at her.] All seems to be in working order.

Thank the stars at least that part was easy.

[Lapis is still distracted and subdued, talking half to herself really. With the immediate crisis removed, she kinda doesn't know what to do with Kol, suddenly an actual stranger and guest in the barn-like room she shares with Peridot. More importantly, the overarching crisis is still in play, and having freed up some brain power it's only a matter of time before Lapis hits on another upsetting realization about what's going on. She's not ready to calm down just yet.]

It'll just be more of the same for the others, yeah? [That's what he would assume, at least. Once the concept and rules of an Event were figured out, it was usually fairly cut-and-dry. Either that or it was a sit-and-wait game, which were probably Kol's least favorite types of Events.]

The others --

[Oh, there we go, Kol has gone and driven it home that this isn't over. Lapis practically jumps like someone just dumped ice water on her, and sets up to start panicking again.]

What if this happened to everyone? Where's Peridot? Where's Steven?!

Text, event day 2, also a little action

But Before That... Action, for Kol

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i'm sorry, you can ignore this if you want >_>

pshaw