Haunted House GP

[londoncallingmods]

 The house doesn't exist, that's the first thing anyone who might find themselves inside it would want to know. Now, you might ask how one could find themselves inside something that doesn't exist, but you'd honestly be better off asking yourself how you could leave something that doesn't exist. After all, ideas and concepts can't be burnt or broken, and you can't breakdown a door that's not there- Or was there and then decided to be somewhere else for a while...

 

You wake in a house though, a house that doesn't exist. A house that defies the laws of reality. There are corridors that go on for days, rooms full of nightmares, and millions of doors that lead you anywhere but out. Trapped inside with you are dozens of other people, all searching for an exit, or an explanation.

 

Behind every door you'll find your darkest fears, maybe even memories you've tried to forget, or secrets you never wanted to share... 

 

(OTA! Here is your first of two Halloween gps! This one is, of course, set in the haunted house where your pup can run into anything you can dream up! Deadly traps! Spooky monsters! An existential crises! Top level your pups waking up or running into danger, and then go ahead and tag other players! Since this is all magic-y and spooky don't worry too much about time lines and who bumped into who first. Only rule is that your pup can't escape until November 1st! Have fun! Also, because there are two GPs going up this week, both are open to new top levels for two whole weeks! And, of course, you can keep tagging long after that if you want. :D I'll post reminders daily on slack.)

Comments

[miss_ives]

"Irritation turned nostalgia," Vanessa remarked. "This place seems set on having us taste the many flavours of past, present and future."

[offthebeatenpath]

Yeah, it kind of felt that way. "Except the carnival never tried to kill me. I'm not sure this place isn't." The words were barely out of her mouth before the music calling to them shifted from calliope to the more ominous pipe organ, Bach's Toccata and Fugue.

"That wasn't a suggestion," Em told the space around them.

[miss_ives]

The addendum brought a brief flicker of a smile to Vanessa's lips, before she looked serious again. They seemed to reach the door the steam organ was coming from, and she paused beside it. "What does the tarot say?"

[offthebeatenpath]

When Em tried to shuffle, the cards slipped from her fingers, scattering all around her, and she fell along with them, slowly sinking to the floor as her mind dropped like Alice through the rabbit hole into rapid-fire, disparate visions. "We're all mad here," she whispered roughly, her hands moving over the mess of cards.

[miss_ives]

The first card to draw Vanessa's eye was a Queen of Cups in shades of blue. Upside down, she seemed to hang from the sea, suspended by her ankle as the turtles flew over her head. Vanessa knelt slowly, and reached out for the card with trembling fingers.

[offthebeatenpath]

Queen of Cups reversed, and Em was trapped in it as much as in this place. "Falling and falling, mind lost in the depths, spinning beach ball place."

[miss_ives]

Vanessa picked up the card, and spiders filled her vision, crawling all over her and stuffing her throat before she could scream. Then she was there again in the hallway, with no spiders, and she let go of the card in a start and backed away in a hurry, her breath short.

[offthebeatenpath]

Em blinked, slowly pulling herself partway out of her trance. "I don't... feel this is the... door for us." But how did she know? She'd seen so much, and none of it clear.

[miss_ives]

"No," Vanessa confirmed. "It is not." Slowly, she came back to Ms. Colbert, and helped her gather the cards back up, keeping a tight hold on herself and working on breathing evenly again.

[offthebeatenpath]

Em had to work to pick up the cards without her attention being drawn to them and what they could show. But she was holding it together just enough to know that getting lost in them again would be a bad idea. "Keep moving forward, then?"

[miss_ives]

"Yes," Vanessa confirmed, and handed her the cards she had picked up, their backs facing the young woman. She stood back up and smoothed down her long Victorian dress, then made sure her hair was still more or less in place. Composing herself, for what lay ahead.

[offthebeatenpath]

Sabine would've loved the dress, Em thought out of nowhere. In a way it fit. Em was still the inconsequential one, in her oversized cardigan and jeans. But she nodded and started down the hall, trailing her fingertips along the wall like it would lead her through the labyrinth somehow.

[miss_ives]

"Keep turning left," Vanessa stated as they reached another intersection. That was the only way to get out of a maze, she had long since learned. Pick one direction, and stick with it.

[offthebeatenpath]

"Agreed." Em turned left. As plans went, it was the best chance they had of finding a way out, assuming this was a physical maze. Shadows ahead of them moved in strange ways, but with the low light of the corridor, she couldn't tell for sure.

[miss_ives]

"It feels as if we were being watched," Vanessa stated, after a couple of minutes of silent walking.

[offthebeatenpath]

"Probably. Someone had to have brought us here," Em said, not liking the idea but growing resigned to it after so long. "Or something."

[miss_ives]

"Did she feel real to you?" Vanessa asked, seemingly out of the blue. She glanced at the psychic by her side. "Mina, the... the woman who attacked me." Although 'woman' she clearly had not been, right then.

[offthebeatenpath]

It wasn't as odd a question as it maybe should've been, and Em took her time to think about it before answering. "As real as anything else here. Although I'm not sure how reassuring that is."

[miss_ives]

"I don't think there is an answer that could have been," Vanessa stated, and fell back into thoughtful silence.

[offthebeatenpath]

"You knew her." Em wasn't sure it was something Ms. Ives would want to talk about, but the opening was there. "When she wasn't like that."

[miss_ives]

"I have no reason to believe that she is like that," Vanessa answered, something firm and absolute in her voice, not inviting discussion. "But yes," she confirmed, after a beat. "I know her. We used to be close friends." It felt like a euphemism for what Mina and she had been, before Vanessa had ruined it all.

[offthebeatenpath]

Em nodded her acceptance. They were obviously close, even without Em being told, and she wouldn't want to believe someone she cared about had turned into a monster either. "I'm sorry. This place seems to know just how to hurt us. But you stopped her somehow."

[miss_ives]

"Yes," Vanessa agreed, rather laconically. "Somehow."

[offthebeatenpath]

There wasn't really anything to say to that, so Em didn't. She continued on, taking the next left, onto a corridor so long the other end was hidden in shadows.

[miss_ives]

There was movement in the shadows, and Vanessa frowned, her hand clamping down on Ms. Colbert's forearm. "Do you see that?"