█ ★:SHOUT TO PRETEND

[bloodbending--prodigy-blog]

❝ white→ ＊roses. // intro & open.

[bloodbending--prodigy-blog]

The waterbender chose to wait some time for an answer before he finally turned his attention back to the door. He was certain by now that no one was coming for him; what was the point of standing around, waiting for something that wasn’t going to come? There were more pressing matters to attend to. He had to find his way out of here as quickly as he could. Truth be told, right now, all he wanted was to get back home. He’d probably be scolded for disappearing, but even that seemed more appealing than staying here. A sigh escaped his lips and he opened the door with ease, stepping into the room. He heard the door close behind him.

In here, there were three points of interest. The first was the painting of a woman that lay on the wall before him; she was smiling, and her hair seemed to come out of the frame that the painting was in .. if such a thing was even possible. The second was a small blue key in the center of the room, which he quickly snatched up on his way to going to look at the third thing that caught his eye. That third thing was a piece of paper beneath the picture of the woman; as he leaned down to read it, he saw that it had just one sentence written on it:

“When the rose withers, so too will you wither away.”

So, in essence, he was running on borrowed time .. and from the looks of his rose, there wasn’t much of said time left. “Perfect.” He muttered under his breath, straightening up as he did so. He would need to navigate this place with extreme caution, then, if what the paper said was true. He would also need to navigate through it quickly, and —

It was then that he heard a few consecutive bumps from the hallway outside, and he quickly left the room, feeling around in his pocket to make sure the key was still there. It was, and, evidently, whoever was running this place knew he’d taken it. Scrawled onto the floor, in the same red liquid as all the other messages, was one word: “THIEF”. Noatak narrowed his eyes; the messages already bothered him to some extent, but this one was actually accusing him of something. More to the point, something that he was not; if they didn’t want him to take the key, they should not have left it lying in the middle of a room.

The bloodbender heard footsteeps again, dangerously close, but this time it was accompanied by a voice. Not expecting this, he looked up quickly from the message on the floor to find that there was a blonde girl of average height standing before him.

“Keep your voice down, you`ll attract them.” 

“Attract who?” He asked, his tone of voice just as rough as what hers was when she’d addressed him. Like the rest of the people he’d seen in the gallery, she was not dressed for the extreme cold of his homeland; it was obvious already that she didn’t come from his Tribe. “There are others crawling around this place?”

However, if Noatak would have wanted to ask anything else, he probably wouldn’t have — she told him that they had to keep moving, and then turned around and left. Keep close, she said — but he stayed behind, only taking one or two steps from where he was standing. His eyes narrowed, and though she couldn’t see him, he shook his head.

“Do you really expect me to follow you, when I know nothing about who you are? You could very well be one of the things that you’re trying to warn me about.” The waterbender purses his lips; he wasn’t the type to immediately trust, and especially not under these circumstances. He took one more step forward, still, and continued to address the blonde that was already a few feet ahead. “So I’ll ask again: Who are you?”

[parallel--resonance-blog]

The vocaloid hissed at him, motioning her index finger in front of her lips.

"What part of 'keep it down' do you not understand?"

This one was going to cause problems for her -- she could feel it -- and she already regretted the decision of coming out to look for him. It didn't seem like it was going to be easy getting him to confide in her, but they really couldn't afford to stand around like this. Rin turned her head for a second, looking down the dark hallway again. There wasn't any use. It was completely black.

The blonde turned back to face the stubborn male when he`d spoken to her.

"Do you really expect me to follow you, when I know nothing about who you are? You could very well be one of the things that you’re trying to warn me about."

An answer like that was to be expected. She could understand that much. Trusting someone in such a shady place probably wasn't the best of ideas, but otherwise, things could end up much worse for him. Rin muttered curses under her breath, pulling the yellow rose up from the loop in her belt. With a swift movement, she put the rose right in front of his face.

"Do you see this?" Her voice was a above a whisper; loud enough for him to hear properly and low enough to keep hidden from the 'lively' artwork that roamed the gallery. "It's the same as yours." She motioned towards the white rose in his hands. "These are what sets you apart from the monsters down here."

Well, up until now, she had yet to see any of those things with a rose like hers. It was just an assumption for now; but she believed it to be true. After all, it wouldn't make much sense at all if the paintings and sculptures down here needed to have roses too.

Rin huffed a breath, beginning to get rather frustrated. "We can save the introductions for later, alright? If we stick around too long, they`ll come for us--"

Rin was interrupted before she could finish the entirety of her sentence. A loud growl could be heard echoing from the end of the hall. "Great." Rin grumbled in annoyance. "Look, we have to get out of here.. We can talk afterwards."

The last thing she'd want is to end up just another meal to one of these cannibalistic portraits. "If this isn't enough proof for you, you can stick around and see for yourself just what I was warning you about." And with that, the blonde started off into the hallway.

[broken-rabbit-blog]

He had been rather absorbed into the books, looking them over with curiousity in his green eyes. Most of them did not had a title on them, which seemed rather odd to the blonde. Others, some of them with a title, were either rather torn already, or didn’t had anything written inside that was of use (or interesting, for that matter). How… Curious. Most of them seemed to be books about art and the like. Made sense, since they were in a gallery and all that, but… Something made Oz raise his eyebrow in a sceptical way.

Old books were torn, yes, and maybe even unreadable in some cases. But why would someone put them into shelves when they were in such a condition? Or was it more the case that they had been forgotten to be pulled out?

Curious, he pulled out one of the more torn ones; A red one had somehow caught his eye. But like with so many others, nothing usefull was written in it. Oz was just about to put it back when he heard Rin calling him, and he perked around the shelv. Did something happen?

“What is gone?” he asked as he reached the table she sat by, and emerald eyes blinked a few times, looking back and forth between her and the rose, the book still in his hand. So, she had a rose as well? A yellow one. Interesting.

The blonde grabbed a chair also, and sat down on it, its back facing the table so that he could cross his arms over and rest his head on it. Her flower seemed like it was glowing… What did that- “E-Eh-?!” But his thoughts were interrupted by Rin grabbing his own black rose, putting it in the vase instead of her own. And like for the girl, it had the same effect on the Chain; He, too, felt alot better after the flower had absorbed some of the water.

Looking at his hands, Oz thought for a moment. The same thing happened before… His rose had been putted into a vase, and he instantly felt better. Maybe… Maybe that sentence really meant what he thought-

Wait.

Rin said that what happened to him happened to her also. So… Maybe she, too…?

“Hey, Rin?” the blonde said, eyes still on his hands. “When you came here… Did you saw that odd verse, too?” He cleaned his troat before he continued, “When the rose wilts, so too will you wilt away.”

He waited for the female to answer. Sure, Oz could be wrong with his assumption. But then again, there was also the chance that he was right. And if that was the case, then maybe that was the reason why those monsters seemed so fond of the roses? At least the oney he had runned into until now had always been more after the flower than him.

“I was thinking… Those roses… What if…”

“What if those roses are somehow connected to our health?” the Chain leaned over the table, and gave his rose a small poke before he continued. “Until now… The more withered the rose was, the more tired and exhausted I felt. But everytime I would put it into such a vase, my strength would return in an instant. At first I believed I was just tired from running away from those monsters, but… When I remember that sentence… It suddenly makes sense.” he then looked over to Rin again.

“That’s just what I am thinking, at least.”

[parallel--resonance-blog]

Oz seemed really dazed as he stared at his hands, although she didn`t blame him one bit. Something so crazy would come off as alarming to anyone. There was a brief silence before the other male`s voice broke through.

"Hey, Rin?"

Rin gazed over at him, tilting her head at the sound of her name. "Yeah, what is it?"

The blonde boy took a few seconds before continuing, his stare still locked on his own hands. "When you came here... Did you see that odd verse, too?"

The odd verse? Could they both be thinking about the same one? The one in the description of the painting in that first room. The one with the woman with piercing eyes. The girl shuddered at the thought.

"When the rose wilts, so too will you wilt away."

Yes! That was the one! Looks like they were both on the same track. Rin bobbed her head a few times, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek as she leaned against the table. She waited till he finished speaking. Oz looked like he still had something to add. After that quick thought, Oz spoke up again. 

"What if these roses are somehow connected to our health?"

Rin took a few seconds to stare at the glowing yellow rose in her free hand. Her eyes were narrowed, and her lips formed a tiny pout. The blonde let out a tiny sigh before responding to Oz. "I was just thinking the same thing." she murmured.

If this was the case, which is certainly seemed to be, then they`d have to be extra careful with these roses. The last thing they`d want to find out is what`d happen to them if all the petals were lost. Rin brought the flower up into her view, touching the petals gently with her other hand. Funny; anyone who looked upon this flower would immediately assume it was a fake. There wasn`t a real flower out there that could math this one in it`s beauty. Yet the petals were soft and velvety, just like that of a natural plant.

Rin brought the rose up to her nose, taking in a quick breath of it`s aroma.

She took a moment before looking over at Oz again, with a smile adorning her features. "I totally agree, Oz." She paused, suddenly looking a bit more stern than before. "And if this is how it is down here, then we`ve got something else to worry about."

If these flowers were the source of their remaining life, they`d need to protect them at all costs. "We can`t let anything happen to these, and we`ll have to keep track of everywhere we find one of these vases." She motioned towards the blue vase before them on the table.

"This is gonna make this whole ordeal even worse for us, y`know." Another sigh escaped her slightly parted lips. "But we can`t give up! We have to keep moving."

[broken-rabbit-blog]

The blonde nodded at her question, and walked beside her, into the direction opposite from where he had felt something approaching. Those monsters seemed to be evrywhere here. The only time where he was spared from them was when he locked himself in an empty room, and even then, Oz sometimes had the feeling of being constantly watched.

Now that he thought of it… That feeling never really leaved. Then again, it could be just him being paranoid or something. But one could never know in such a place.

He would sometimes look around as well, but didn’t looked back like Rin did. Oz was more focused to memorize the enviroment, in an attempt to draw something like a map in his mind. Altough until now, it hadn’t helped him much. But he could try, right? That didn’t mean that he did not noticed the girls worried expression, though. Turning his head towards Rin, the Chain smiled a bit, trying to reassure her.

“Don’t worry.”

“I’m sure we’ll find a safe place.” There was… No point in panicking, right. Even though his instincts told him to run, like all rabbits did when they sensed danger. But he was able to put that aside for now. Also, panicking would only scare Rin even more, wouldn’t it. And he really didn’t wanted that to happen.

“There!”

“Ah-?” Had she spotted something? He blinked a few times as he watched her approaching a door. Ah- So that was it! Right, maybe they could hide in there. Ah… If he would just have his powers, he wouldn’t have to hide. But Oz had already gotten used to them being gone, and it wasn’t like he had that great control over them, anyway. “A door?”

When she opened it, the boy stepped inside and looked around. It seemed safe… No monsters in here, as far as he could tell. Turning around again, he checked the hallway they just came from once more. There was a strong smell of… Paint? Sure, this was a gallery, so it was normal that it smelled like paint. But it was starting to come closer. But paint couldn’t move on itself, unless it was one of those ‘Lady in Red’ things he had meet earlier.

When Rin was inside too, Oz quickly closed the door, trying to make no sound as he did so. Pressing his ear against the wood, he could hear a few noices nearby. Probably one of those things. He turned to Rin again and spoke, his voice a mere whisper. “I guess we should wait in here until they are gone.”

As far as he could see, since the light in this room was very dull, the door they came in through was the only exit, so they would have to get out again, no matter if they wanted to or not.

That was when his eyes caught sign of what was placed in this room. A small table and a few chairs, some of them lying on the floor, as well as a vase and… Bookshelves? Alot of them, too… “Woah-!” Curiousity got the better of him, and Oz was soon ‘busy’ with inspecting one of the shelves. He liked books, even though he got a strange feeling from them.

But then again, what didn’t gave one a strange feeling in this place.

“So many books!”

Maybe… Maybe something about the gallery was written in one of them? Or a map or something?

Or maybe even… A way out?

[parallel--resonance-blog]

The warm smile she`s received from her new companion did relieve some of her growing paranoia. His voice as soft as he spoke, and even for a second, it definitely calmed her down a bit.

Oz seemed to be a bit surprised at the appearance of the wooden door before them, but there wasn`t time to question too much. If they wanted to get away from ... whatever it was that was after them, this was their safest bet. She`d already made her way in by the time Oz had shut the door. She took a moment to examine this room, too, and it seemed to be pretty safe. At least, it didn`t look like anything could jump out at them. And there were no paintings up on the walls, but still a lingering scent. Perhaps the walls had just been painted? A scoff escaped Rin`s lips as she mentally shook her head. Painting the walls wouldn`t make this place any more inviting, if that was the case.

Taking a quick look around, all she could see beside the plain walls were a few bookcases, full of a ton of really old looking pieces of literature and a few chairs around a small wooden table. Nothing that`s really interest her, but for the time being, a breather was much necessary. She glanced over at Oz as he spoke, raising an eyebrow. He spoke lowly, but loud enough for her to make out what he`d said.

"I guess we should wait in here until they are gone."

Rin bobbed her head a few times, totally agreeing with him.

"Yeah, I think we`ll be okay here for a little while. Doesn`t look like there`s anything to worry about in an empty room like this." She wasn`t about to risk her life out there again unless she was prepared to run. That last time was pretty close, but at least she didn`t have the chance to get a real good luck at the thing that`d been following them around.

"Woah--!"

A noise that startled Rin, but only for a mere second before she realized it was just Oz getting overly excited about a few old books. The blonde girl couldn`t help but smile at him. At least he`d found a source of excitement in a dull place like this.

While he fawned over the amount of books in the room, Rin pulled a chair up off the floor, setting it back on all fours. She inspected it first, resting a knee on it and applying some pressure to make sure it was sturdy enough to hold her up. She wouldn`t want to embarrass herself anymore than she already had. And who knows just how long these old chairs had been sitting around here.

After taking a good look at the chair, she`d come to the conclusion that it was capable of holding her weight. Slowly, she settled herself in, glad she didn`t hear any creaking from the seat under her. She hadn`t noticed before, but over the round table, there was a light blue vase. A nice color to contrast with the rest of the dim shades in this place. Rin took a peek into the vase, noticing that it was about half full of crystal clear water. She looked down at the wilting yellow rose that was tucked in the hoop of her belt and plucked it from there, glancing it over.

Maybe this poor rose would look a bit more lively after a quick drink of water. Without giving it much thought, she placed the rose into the vase and leaned her elbows on the edge of the table. Not long after having set the rose in the water, she could feel lighter in her chest, as if something had been lifted off her shoulders. Her bright blue pupils blinked a few times, looking down at her hands. The small cuts and bruises she`d found after falling down from the "Abyss of the Deep" piece were disappearing right off the top of her skin.

"O - Oz, look! They`re gone!" Her mouth was slightly agape, as she stared and her hands in awe. How ... How did this happen?

Her eyes lit up, quickly tilting her head to look back at the vividly colored yellow rose sitting on in the vase. It ... looked like it was glowing. As if it`s been brought back from the dead. The flower was adorned with more petals than before, and anyone could have seen the difference from the way it was before compared to how alive it was now.

Rin looked over at Oz, taking notice of his black rose. She hadn`t even realized he had one, as well. And his was almost in the exact same position as her`s was before this strange occurrence.

"When the rose wilts, so too will you wilt away."

Could this have been what that silly little riddle meant? Rin stood up and swiftly reached over, taking a hold of Oz`s black rose and removing hers from the vase. She carefully placed his rose in the vase next, watching intently to take note of any changes. If this was how this twisted "game" worked; for lack of a better word, they needed to keep track of these vases from now on.

[bloodbending--prodigy-blog]

❝ white→ ＊roses. // intro & open.

He’d never been to an art gallery before. There were no such things in the Northern Water Tribe, of that he was certain. And even if there were, he wouldn’t have been able to go out and enjoy it for himself; not with his father hounding him and his brother constantly. Not with his father constantly taking him and his brother out on long-lasting “hunting trips” — that was what they were to their mother, anyway.

So if one were to ask the young bloodbender just how he’d gotten to this art gallery, how he’d found it, he would look at the person and shrug. It was almost as though it had appeared out of thin air. No, not almost — it had appeared out of thin air. For he was standing in this same spot the night before, but then, he’d been standing in a snow field. Now, he was standing before some kind of painting of a sea-creature that he’d never seen before, and therefore could not name. The people in this museum didn’t appear to be from the Water Tribe, either — not from the Northern Tribe or the Southern Tribe. They dressed strangely, in clothes that Noatak hadn’t seen before. Half of him wondered how they had managed to come to this gallery without freezing at least one of their limbs off, but the other half didn’t seem to care. An indifferent sigh escaping his lips, the boy departed from the sea-creature painting and decided to move upstairs. The waterbender hadn’t been paying much attention to the paintings that he walked by on the second floor, only sparing them a quick glance and then moving on. However, when he came to one painting in particular, he found himself stopping to take it in. The plaque beneath the painting read two words: “Fabricated World”. Was that the name of the painting he was looking at? It certainly was an interesting choice, considering this looked nothing like any “world” that he’d seen or heard of —

BANG! The sound came from his left; he turned his head to look down the hall, but there was nothing there. Though, when he turned back to the painting, he found that one thing had indeed changed. There was what appeared to be blue paint dripping down the wall, beneath the painting. The Northern Tribe member leaned forward, inspecting the liquid carefully. When he reached out a hand to try and touch it, a series of short “thumps” sounded out from behind him, and he turned, prepared to confront whatever was causing it. However, he was faced with nothing but a message on the floor, written in either more paint .. or in blood.

COME NOATAK

Was there someone else passing behind him while he was inspecting the “Fabricated World”? No, that was impossible; he would have known, he was sure of it. With a shake of his head, he found himself turning back to the painting and found another message scrawled on the wall for him. This one was written into the blue paint that dripped from beneath the frame.

come down below noatak ill show you someplace secret

Whoever it was that was writing these things was already trying his patience. Noatak exhaled and thought a moment. Down below probably meant there was something to be found on the lower level .. and, given the loud bang he’d heard earlier, that might have made sense. Something could have been placed, or changed, or .. or something akin to that, downstairs. Perhaps if he found it, he would find the source of all of these messages. Without a moment’s hesitation or fear, the Water Tribe member headed down the hall towards the steps that would take him downstairs. It wasn’t long before he found what he thought was the cause of the earlier banging noise. The painting he was looking at earlier, the “Abyss of the Deep”, had some kind of a gate around it. It was closed earlier, but now, a piece of it was gone, leaving the gate open. Noatak walked to the opening of the gate and knelt down, now noticing the fresh-looking blue footsteps leading .. into the painting itself. He narrowed his eyes and tried to figure out how that could be, but he didn’t have very long to think on it. Because, before long, he felt himself being sucked into the painting, into whatever lay below.

— — —

The next thing he knew, he was lying face-first on the floor. A soft, almost inaudible groan escaped the fourteen year old’s lips before he collected himself, standing up quickly and brushing himself off. There was a dull pain throbbing in the back of his head; what had happened? He remembered being in the gallery, looking at that painting with the sea-creature, and then .. he’d ended up here, wherever this was. A quick survey of his surroundings told him he wasn’t in the gallery anymore; the walls and floor here were now blue, as opposed to the white walls and floor that he’d become so accustomed to. In a moment of weakness, he found himself calling out.

 “Father? .. Brother?” He waited a moment, but there was no response. So he wasn’t in the gallery, and he wasn’t home, either. Where had that painting brought him, then? He looked to his left and to his right; on both sides of him were long stretches of hallway that, from where he was standing, looked endless. Taking a moment to deliberate, he decided that he would start by looking down the right side of the hallway, then come back and take the left; there had to be something around here that could help him .. ..

The right side of the hallway proved to be just as unnerving as the room with the “Fabricated World” had been after those messages had appeared. All down the length of this side of the hallway, the word “COME” had been written on the wall crudely, and in a red liquid identical to the one that was used in the message telling him to “come down below”. Noatak did not like where this was headed, but he continued onward — after all, he thought to himself, he was in no real danger. If anyone came out to attack him, he could defeat them with ease; there may not have been water around for him to bend, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t bloodbend the person.

However, the only thing waiting for him was a small, wooden desk with vase resting on top of it. The inside of the vase was bone dry, but there still appeared to be a withering rose in it, its petals white as snow. He couldn’t quite explain why, but he felt compelled to take the thing along with him — as though it could prove to be important later on. With that in mind, he took the dying rose out of the vase with care, and put it into one of his large jackets’ pockets.

It was then that he noticed the door behind the desk. The fourteen year old pushed it out of the way with ease, reaching his hand out to open the door. However, he stopped himself when he heard footsteps. They sounded like they were close — whoever it was that they belonged to, they were coming this way. Noatak decided to forget the door for now, and turned his full attention to the footsteps that edged nearer and nearer to where he stood. The possible threat. He readied himself before he called out into the darkness. “Who’s there? Answer me.”

[parallel--resonance-blog]

"Who`s there? Answer me."

Ooh, now that was a pretty startling voice. And pretty loud, too. She`d gotten used to the silence and hearing a voice so deep out of the blue could have startled anyone. She turned around, squinting her eyes to see if she could make anything out, but it was no use. It was way too dark to see anything at all.

"Jeez, couldn`t someone have taken lighting into consideration before letting people in this stupid place?"

Her voice was soft as she spoke to herself. Rin`s fear was behind her, and all she wanted now was to go back home. And she`d find a way to get home no matter what. She kept telling herself things like that to keep her hopes up. There was no way she`d give up and let herself rot in a place like this.

Now that she`d been walking towards that voice, she could see a figure ahead of her. At least the figure seemed to have a head on it`s shoulders, unlike those stupid mannequins that enjoyed scaring the crap out of her every chance they`d have.

She could make out some of the other`s features now. He was tall, with long dark hair sleeked back into a high pony tail. An up do like that one was good enough to impress Gakupo. The blonde girl mentally chuckled at the thought, as she approached the male before her.

Another thing she took notice of was the wilting white flower peeking out of the boy`s bulky blue jacket. It looked just like her`s. And it looked like it needed some R&R quick.

Rin narrowed her eyebrows, looking away from his rose and up into his bright blue pupils. She kept her voice low as she responded, speaking rather roughly.

"Keep your voice down, you`ll attract them." 

"Look--" She paused a moment to take a quick check her surroundings. "It`s smart to keep moving when you`re down here."

You could never be too safe in these halls. There was always something lurking in the corners. 

"Keep close, there should be a door at the end of the hall."

And a vase. He needed some first aid for his rose, but she`d explain that later. It`d probably take some time to get the message across to him. Rin motioned for him to follow her and with that, she started off.

That was a useful trick she`d discovered. If you`re ever being chased by creepy mannequins and jumpy paintings, just haul yourself to the next room. Of course, you have a fifty fifty chance of being ambushed by more enemies at the other side of the door, but you`d escaped the ones behind you once you closed the door. And those "monsters" normally took their time before showing up to ruin your peace of mind. All of these encounters had Rin limber and prepared for anything.

[broken-rabbit-blog]

Oz couldn’t help but lightly laughing along with Rin, especially when she did the curtsey and called him ‘Sir’. He scratched his cheek at this, somehow amused and glad that she seemed to not being as embarassed anymore. Well, at least the mood wasn’t as awkward anymore.

“Ah~ A beautiful name for a beautiful miss~” How long had it been since the flirty part of him showed up like that? A somewhat long time, that he knew. But honestly, being lighthearted around someone again was… Nice, really. It got his mind off of things.

He looked around from time to time while listening to her explantation, just in case should something be nearby. The blonde somehow had the feeling like there was, he could sense it, being a Chain and all that, but then again, it could also be that he was just overthinking things a bit. This place could really get to someone, after all.

A family trip, huh? For a moment, Oz found himself thinking how his sister Ada was doing, and his uncle Oscar. And overall everyone he knew, but he quickly shook all those thoughts off. It… It wasn’t like they were ‘real’ anyway, right-? Like Jack had said…

The blonde shrugged before speaking. “No, not really.”

“I remember being in an art galery and looking at a picture on the second floor. But then some weird things happened, and I found myself in here.” More like, ‘I suddenly found myself near an art galery after getting shoot by someone I trusted and have no idea how I got here in the first place.’ But ah… That was uneeded information, now was it.

“I don’t know how to get out, though.”

But even if he would, he was unsure if he actually would leave. He would tell her how to, of course, but… It wasn’t like anyone would miss him, right.

“It looks like we are both in the same situation then-” he appruptly stopped his sentence, and his head snapped to the right, and if he would have rabbit ears, they would probably be pointed straight upwards now. No… There definately was something. Had they heard him too earlier…? … Damnit.

“I… I think we should talk somewhere else.”

The blonde continued to have his head turned to the side, but glanced over at Rin as he spoke, making a small movement with his head as if trying to say ‘There is something nearby’.

“…Quick.”

[parallel--resonance-blog]

A beautiful miss? Rin chuckled. As if this was the place for any flirting of the sort, but she wasn`t about to let up a compliment. And in such a dull place like this, a bit of flattery was much needed. It lifted a bit of the depressing feeling off her shoulders. She was pretty lucky to have stumbled onto this one.

It was a little curious how he seemed to always be looking off as she spoke, but who wouldn`t be paranoid in a place like this? They were lucky enough to have found some company, and such a small detail wouldn`t bug her much.

"No, not really." As expected. Seems like they were trapped. What a bummer..

Hm, the painting on the second floor. "That`s strange.. The same thing happened to me." she mumbled, tapping her bottom lip with her index finger. If it`d happened to the both of them, then there was a possibility that there were others down here, too. Well, if there were any other victims down here, they`d better be as friendly as Oz. Just imagining running into a hostile person was terrifying. As if we haven`t got enough threats in this stupid place.

"I don’t know how to get out, though." 

The blonde teenager let out a prolonged sigh. Getting out of here seemed impossible. Thinking about it now, Oz had also mentioned that painting. Maybe being stuck down here had something to do with it. What was it called? Rin frowned, pressing her knuckles against her lips in thought. She could recall looking at that painting, it was one of the pieces she wasn`t too fond of.

Her train of thought was interrupted by Oz. He`d been speaking before coming to an abrupt stop mid sentence. He turned his head quickly, and Rin`s eyes widened a bit. "Hey, are you --"

"I... I think we should talk somewhere else."

Elsewhere? Rin furrowed her eyebrows, becoming worried now. "Oz, did you hear something?" Rin hadn`t heard a thing aside from his voice. She took a moment to take a quick look around, becoming overwhelmed by paranoia.

"... Quick."

There was no point in arguing with him at this rate. If he had heard something, she was going to trust his instinct. Besides, standing around here probably wouldn`t do anything for them, anyways. She moved up beside him, walking closely and taking light steps as to not make much noise.

As she kept up alongside him, her head would turn back every few seconds. Now she could feel that they were being followed, and her heart was starting to race in her chest. When she turned her head to look at where she was going, she could see a door in the distance. "There!" She pointed her finger towards it. If they went into that room, they`d have a chance at being safe. Her hand wrapped around the door knob, pulling the door open and motioning Oz in with her free hand.

[broken-rabbit-blog]

The blonde blinked a few times when he heard a faint voice and looked around, trying to figure out from where it came. He hadn’t been able to make out what was said, but he was sure that someone had said something-

Wait, the footsteps got louder, and… faster? But from where-

However, his unasked question was quickly answered when he turned around and was greeted by a rather tigh hug. “E-Eh—?!” Surprised and confused, Oz stumbled a step back, nearly falling backwards from the impact, but he somehow managed to keep his balance. He just stood there for a few minutes, not really sure how to react, until the person spoke. A girl, it seemed.

… … Wait.

He was being hugged.

By a girl.

… … … O-Oh.

“Uh- I- W-Wait, I am not-” He could feel his face getting red, anf his whole figure turned completely stiff when she squeezed him. Well- Okay that- That was unexpected, really. Especially in such a place. So he just stood there, being squeezed and hugged and nearly losing his ability to breathe, because wow did this girl had a grip.

Either that or Oz was just easily out of breath.

When she let go of him, his cheeks were still somewhat pink, and Oz just looked at the blonde girl, blinking. Well… This was awkward.

“Uhm… Hi!” he simply said, scratching the back of his head, altough he was mentally hitting himself. ‘Hi’? Really? Couldn’t he have come up with something better? Ugh.

It seemed like she had mistaken him for someone else though, as she quickly apologized for her acions, seemingly embarassed. And now that he got a better look at her, he actually found her rather cute… Ah but- Now was not the time for that. … Maybe.

He gave a reassuring smile as he spoke, trying to make the situation a bit less awkward.

“Ah, don’t worry about that. It’s fine, really~” Altough it was a bit weird to be hugged after everything that happened. Especially from someone he didn’t knew. But, that didn’t mattered now, did it.

Giving a quick bow with one hand in front of his chest and the other on his back, like a noble did it, he spoke again, a small smile still on his features. Might as well give a good first impression, right? “My name is Oz Vessa-” Ah- No. No. That wasn’t his name. It had never been. “… Oz. Just Oz. May I ask for the name of the pretty lady as well~?”

Seems like he didn’t lost his flirty attitude, not even after being dragged here. Some things never really change, it seemed.

“Did you just found yourself in this gallery too, miss?” It was… nice to have found another person, really. Being alone wasn’t really his favorite thing.

Rabbits die when they get too lonely, after all.

[parallel--resonance-blog]

"Uhm.. Hi!"

Rin subtly inspected the boy in front of her. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and he was standing upright, looking rather stiff. Looks like he was pretty embarrassed about this too. Good job, Rin.

Now that she had taken a good look at him, he didn`t look much like Len at all. All of the excitement must`ve eased her mind of judgement. But it was an honest mistake. Anyone would hope to find someone they knew in a situation like this, and even though she felt slightly disappointed that this boy wasn`t her brother, he did seem like a good guy.

The boy gave a smile before speaking back to her.

".. It’s fine, really ~"

Rin let out a breath of relief. At least she hadn`t freaked him out as much as she thought. If anyone had approached her in the way she had to him, that person would probably have ended up with a nasty concussion. Lucky for Rin, this boy didn`t seem like the aggressive type at all.

The green eyed boy bowed before her, introducing himself. "My name is Oz Vessa-- .. Oz. Just Oz." That was pretty strange. The bow was a nice touch, but what was with that name? As curious as she was as to why the boy named "Oz" didn`t finish his sentence, she decided not to look into it too much. If he hadn`t said it, it was probably because he wasn`t comfortable with it. Maybe he just wasn`t fond of his surname.

"May I ask for the name of the pretty lady as well ~ ?"

Rin let out a quick laugh, using a hand to cup her mouth. Wow, giving it a bit of thought, it`d been a few hours since she had last laughed. How cute. Rin mimicked his move, giving a curtsy in return. She tugged on the edges of her imaginary skirt, and bowed her head, looking back up at him with a grin.

"Kagamine, Rin. It`s a pleasure, Sir Oz."

This was as pleasurable as meeting someone down here was. Running into someone who wasn`t out to kill you was probably the greatest pleasure in a place like this.

"Did you just find yourself in this gallery too, miss?"

Rin sighed and shook her head. "Well, I was supposed to be here on a family outing, but as you can see.." She motioned using both her hands. "Things didn`t exactly go as smoothly as we`d hoped."

Thinking about it now was pretty unsettling. What if the others were dragged into this too? If they were stuck down here, would they be okay? What if they were all alone, too? Or .. what if they were hurt? 

The blonde girl quickly shook that thought out of her head. Thinking that way wouldn`t get her anywhere. If they were in this stupid place, she`d find them. She would find them and they`d all get out of here safe and sound.

"Anyways --" Rin gave him a warm smile in attempt to cheer herself up. "What`s your story? I`m assuming you don`t know a way out of here, either?" She raised an eyebrow. It never hurt to ask.

[broken-rabbit-blog]

abyssal—insanity started following you

respectit-yo started following you

ofthedragons started following you

chasedownintrovert started following you 

biipolara22hole started following you 

returningbluerose started following you 

parallel—resonance started following you 

truth-hadgone started following you

Footsteps echoed through the empty hallways, and the boy who they belonged to looked around, trying to figure out where he was. This place reminded him alot of the Abyss, for it was dark and twisted in a simmiliar way. Altough something told the blonde that this was not the Abyss, not the place he had been ‘born’ in.

His thoughts where interrupted though, when he noticed footsteps nearby, and Oz immediately stopped in his tracks before turning around. Were those more monsters, or… Or was perhaps someone else here?

Well, he wouldn’t find out unless he did something, right.

“Is someone there?” he called out, hoping that it really wasn’t a monster. Because if it was… Lets just say he already had enough exercise for probably a whole month.

[parallel--resonance-blog]

"What was that?"

The blue eyed girl stopped in her tracks. Could it be that someone else had ventured down here, too? Rin looked around, and both sides of the hallways were really dark. She could hardly see anything. But at this point, what had she got to lose? With a worried expression on her face, she started towards the voice, hoping it wasn`t one of those creepy mannequins. Who knows? Maybe they`d learned to speak too. It wouldn`t be surprising considering the talking ant and the growling mannequin she`d already had an encounter with.

After walking for a few seconds, she could see a figure a few yards in front of her. The figure didn`t look like any kind of "monster" she`d seen around here, but then again, what other kind of monsters could be lurking around in here? Perhaps they could even take the form of humans, too.

With a big gulp, she continued forwards. If this figure ended up being a monster, she`d just have to keep running until she found a door. Which was something interesting she`d discovered. These monsters can`t get past the rooms they were first in.

Nearing the figure before her, she could start making out details of the person. It was a boy.. A blond boy, almost the same height as her. His hair looked familiar.

"Len ...?"

Suddenly, the girl`s steps increased in pace. Could it be? Was Len down here too? The thought of seeing her brother again excited her to such extremes that she could almost feel the tears threatening to come out of her eyes. She hurried towards the boy, not thinking twice before lunging at him and wrapping him in a tight hug.

"Len, you idiot! Where were you this whole time? I was so worried!"

She gave him a good squeeze and didn`t let go until a few seconds had passed. When she let go of the blond boy, she looked closely at his face, noticing his green eyes.

"Eh ..? You`re not ..."

Rin jumped at the realization. Her eyes widened, and her cheeks turned bright pink.

"W - wha-- I`m sorry! I totally thought you were someone else! I didn`t mean to grab you like that all of a sudden ..!"

[parallel--resonance-blog]

⇢⋮▌come down below ! ★ (open | intro)

[ofthedragons-deactivated2012082]

She feared for her sanity. Already going through to the other room, where she had met a talking ant, had been attacked by hands which shot out from the walls only to find that the door she was attempting to go through had been locked. Going back down to another door which at the current moment seemed like a bad idea, considering the large gap which laid between her and another door — and so she went back. Back through the hands to remove a painting of an ant from where it hung and brought it back with her. Went back into that other and set it over the gap so that she could walk through it. Dany attempted not to cringe when she stepped over said painting and it crunched beneath her feet. When she had glanced back, the ant in the painting had been crushed. The oh so very familiar crimson hue of blood splattered around the creature on the canvas. She hoped that didn’t harm the actual insect depicted on the painting. 

But, now back to the other room.

Slender fingers wrapped around the doorknob, turning it slowly as she peeked into the room. … Nothing in there but an odd looking figure and a key on the ground. Maybe that key was the one which opened the other door the was locked? Pushing the door open, she walked into the room and towards the key, glancing around for a few seconds before leaning down to pick it up. Once she had it in her hand, she tucked it into a pocket before taking a step back to head back towards the door —

CREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!

Her eyes snapped towards the red clothed figure which was behind the key. Did it …. Had it moved? Cautiously watching the figurine  she took a another step back, maybe she just imagined it —

GROWL!

“Vos. Vosecchi …” [1] There was no way this was real. Quickly glancing to the white rose that hung from her other pocket, she realized there were only a few petals left because of her previous situation. Dany had no time to lose, if she wanted to get out of here … then she coldn’t just idly stand around while that thing begantolaungeather —

Quickly turning on her heel she broke into a sprint towards the door, the red clothed figure hot on her trail as she pulled the door towards her, swinging it open. Running back towards the painting laying in between the gap she stepped over it one last time — watching as it ripped open the moment she stepped away from it. The figurine growled ferociously as it paced back and forth on the other side, not being able to cross because of the rip. The silver haired female could feel her knees quake, her heart thumping harshly against her chest and she was trying her hardest to control her breath. Dany had been through many things in her life, but none compared to this — but she was a Khaleesi, she couldn’t allow herself to be scared by just mere illusions and trickery.

Her sun and stars would be ashamed. 

Taking a deep breathe, she went through the door next to her, returning to the room with the hands — remembering that her rose was wilting once more. She had already used the water in the vase of this room … but not in the previous one. She was in no hurry to put herself in harms way again, she had to regain her composure first. Going towards the door and walking into the previous room, closing the door behind her before turning to walk back towards the vase in which she found her rose —

“Uh`wh—”

The blunt force of something bumping into her caused the young Targaryen to stumble back a few steps. Green eyes settled on the young one who had bumped into her. The first thing she noticed was the golden locks. A color of hair that was commonly associated with the Lannisters’. It didn’t matter at the current moment if the young blonde was a Lannister, or someone else. Dany would decide to crouch in front of the girl so that she could get down on her level, gently grabbing her by the shoulders as she turned the other from left to right a few times. The younger girl looked alright, from what she could tell — the impact didn’t seem to have harmed her in anyway, but it would never hurt to ask. 

Glancing up at the blonde, green hues met with blue ones as she spoke.

“Are you alright?”

[parallel--resonance-blog]

“Ouch—”

The girl stepped back a few feet from the impact. She hadn’t expected to run into someone that quickly. The voice sounded more far off than it really was. Rin looked up at the woman before her. She had long silver hair that shimmered even though there was hardly any light around the area, and her eyes were a vibrant shade of green. This woman didn’t look like anyone she’d seen before. Maybe she was from somewhere really far away. Rin hadn’t even noticed she’d been staring until the moment when the woman before her knelt down to see her eye to eye.

Rin’s blue eyes looked into her emerald ones, blinking a few times as she laid her hands over her shoulders.

“Are you alright?”

Her voice was sweet, and gentle. It was a voice that reminded her of her “Luka – nee”. Simply from hearing her speak, Rin knew she wasn’t a threat to her. There was something about her that made her feel more secure. The blond teenager let out a prolonged sigh of relief, and threw the silver haired woman a warm smile. Nodding her head a few times, she responded.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m sorry for bumping into you; I was a little freaked out.” A nervous laugh escaped her lips as she brought her hand up to scratch her cheek. “I .. I hope I didn’t hurt you.” 

That’s right. For about a minute and a half, it’d slipped Rin’s mind where they even were. Perhaps this lady knew something about this place. Although it was surprising how calm she was in this situation. Judging but that one fact, Rin hoped she’d have some important info on where they were and how to get out.

“Miss, do you know where we are? Or, how to get out of here?” 

Oh, whoops. Introductions were pretty important, weren’t they? How’d she have let something like that slip her mind?

“Whoops, I’m sorry, I jumped ahead of myself.” Something she tended to do often. “My name’s Rin. Kagamine, Rin.” A small smile appeared on her face. At least with another person around, this whole situation didn't seem as terrifying. Maybe it'd be best for both of them to stick together for the time being.

[parallel--resonance-blog]

⇢⋮▌come down below ! ★ (open | intro)

It'd been quite a long time since the Vocaloids had been out as a family. They had planned this date for a while, and it was usually a difficult task to have group outings like this, seeing as they were constantly busy doing their own things. This was a rare event, and they were all going to try to enjoy it. 

Upon arriving to the art gallery, Rin's expression changed entirely. The last time she'd been to anything like a gallery was when she was really young, and these kinds of things have always been exciting to her. She had no artistic talent herself, aside from being able to sing, so these kinds of exhibits were really eye opening to her. How such strange images could come out of peoples' minds and into these canvases ...

The girl stood beside her sibling's side as Meiko, the eldest of the vocaloids, stood at the front desk to pay for their admissions. Rin's bright blue orbs locked on the poster behind the counter. It was advertising one of the sculptures on display. It was ... weird. Definitely a word Rin would use to describe a sculpture like that one. Weird, and creepy.

Once she was given the okay from Meiko and Luka, the blond girl took a tight hold of her brother`s hand and hurried off, heading upstairs first. Her eyes were wide, looking around at all of the paintings on the walls and all of the sculptures kept behind golden bars. "This way, Len!", she yelled behind her, rushing down the hall to her right. There were a few sculptures on the way down. Three headless women, a couch with wiring coming out of it, and afterwards, a rather large, distorted looking painting. Rin stopped in front of it, looking at it through curious eyes.

"This painting..." She felt compelled to it, for some unknown reason. The painting obviously wasn't attractive. It was a mess, a blur of a bunch of colors that contrasted way too strongly. Her head tilted to the side, unsure of why she felt so drawn to it. She looked down at the description. "Fabricated World ..."

The lights flickered.

Rin, startled, stepped back from the painting. It was quiet all of a sudden. The girl shook her head, starting back to where she'd left her brother. "Len?" she called out to him. There was no response. Actually, she was pretty sure she'd heard her own echo. This wasn't right...

Downstairs was the same. There was no one, not a single person when this place had been full just seconds ago. Rin walked over to the door, grabbing a hold of the cool handle and giving it a twist. No use, the door was locked. This was getting unsettling. A frown appeared on the girl's face as she moved herself towards the window. They were also locked, and there was no one outside either. Beginning to feel frustrated, the girl bashed her hands into the glass. "I - if this is some kind of joke, it isn't—"

"E - EEEEEEK—" Rin bounced back, bringing her hands up to her chest as if to protect them. There was .. a red liquid dripping down that window. Where did it even come from?!

"Okay, Rin, just try to relax..", she tried to tell herself, taking in a deep breath.

Shakily, she recompiled herself and walked back upstairs; back to that painting. Fabricated World. She looked closer. There was a smudge under it this time. Almost as if the acrylic was leaking from the frame. The smudge made out some words.

come down below rin i’ll show you someplace secret

"Some place secret— ..?" Red letters that resembled blood appeared on the linoleum floor before the painting.

C               O          E               I                 M             R         N  

The young girl shut her eyes tightly for a few seconds. Maybe this was all just a dream. If it was a dream, she hoped she'd wake up soon.

With that thought she decided to go along with this. She walked herself back downstairs, until she'd reached it. "Abyss of the Deep". This was the sculpture being advertised on the posted in the front. There was an opening, with blue foot prints the same color as the sculpture itself. She looked into the ground where the footsteps disappeared, hesitantly walking towards it. Before she knew it, she felt herself being pulled in, and without even a chance to yell for help, she was already falling through.

——

"O - ow..." Rin's vision blurred before she could see properly again. She brought her hand up to the back of her head. It was pounding. "I .. must've hurt myself when I fell from .." From... Where was she? She stood up again and looked over at the blue walls. The same color as before.. And more letters.

     O        E           O                  C                 M C        M          C         M                     O                  E                                             E 

Well.. There wasn't really anywhere else to go. With a huge breath of air, she began walking down the blue hallway. Not long after walking, she came across a pretty yellow rose sitting in a blue vase. She tilted her head, examining it thoroughly before taking in her hands. Her eyes looked the flower up and down, and it's appearance brought a small smile over her lips, which came across as a surprise for her. It might have just been the relieving feeling of seeing another color that wasn't this depressing shade of blue. She was keeping the rose with her, so she tucked it into her belt.

Now then, onward. The hallway ended here, and there was no other way to go but back. And this door, of course. Holding her breath she opened the door cautiously. The room was pretty much empty, minus that creepy looking painting hanging on the wall. Oh, and a key. Rin leaned in to pick it up. Blue, ugh. She looked back up at the painting. The woman's eyes were open now, and something was dripping out of the side of her wide smile. A shiver ran down her spine, but she decided to walk up and read the description.

"When the rose wilts, so too will you wilt away."

Okay, that was pretty unnerving. "I wonder.. Does this have anything to do with this rose?" She pulled the rose from her belt, examining it again with narrowed eyes. There was already a few petals missing. She pressed her lips together, hoping that her first thought was wrong.

Rin left the room, closing the door behind her. She started on down the hall again before she was forced into a brief stop.

Tak, tak, tak ...

T H I  E    F 

The letters in red made out the word "thief". But she hadn't stolen anything. Unless they meant this half - dead rose. Or this little blue key. Whatever, shaking it off the continued walking on. It's not like she'd get in trouble for this. And even if she would, who would punish her? There was no one around!

Shaking that off, she stepped around the red letters and continued walking down the hallway. It was far off, but now, she could hear the voices of others.

"C - could it be?" Her first thought was the rest of the Vocaloids. How great would it be to meet up with one of them? Well, at this rate, she didn't even care much if it wasn't someone she knew as long as they'd keep her company. Rin wasn't used to being alone. Especially not in situations like this. She had learned to depend on Len, and would hardly go anywhere without him around. So the sound of other people made her ecstatic. The thought that these people could bring harm to her hadn't even crossed her mind before she had gone into an all out sprint towards the comforting sound of other life.

"H - hello? I - is anyone there?" She yelled across the hall, not slowing down at all. She could see two figures ahead of herself, but before she knew it, she'd gotten too close. "Uh`wh—" Rin tried to make out words before she forcefully bumped into the tall dark figure before her.