what in the longdark spitting-pit is that

[inourhead]

This was a bad idea this was a bad idea this was a bad idea.

Holly runs as fast as she can but the demon's faster. She has no idea where Lightning's gotten to; maybe he found a tree to climb. She on the other hand has been diverted into a treeless hill and she's careening down a slope, trying very hard not to trip.

And the demon's gaining on her.

She's never seen anything like it and neither has Crystal; maybe Book knows what it is but Book's asleep. It's mostly mouth - it looks like a cross between a floorlength mirror of a mouth and a snake to propel the mouth along.

And Holly's not fast enough.

The mouth catches her.





But it doesn't hurt.

Where are we?

----


with Minus (kappa)

with Mark (kappa)

with Max (Benedict)

in Terraria (kappa)

with Emma (Marri)

with Erin (Rockeye)

Comments

[characterquarry]

"...Hold on, I don't have all of your language yet, I have to fish around for words. Um. We have wish-pools. You step into the pool and it magically gives you wishes. You wish on them by wanting the right way, and they come true."

[inourhead]

"...That's weird."

[characterquarry]

"What's weird is you never having heard of wishpools, and then still appearing here somehow. Either you wished for a teleportation which you didn't because you don't have wishpools, or someone wished on you, or something completely foreign to me is going on."

[inourhead]

"I mean, we were eaten by a demon, but usually that just makes you eaten, not..." She gestures. "And I don't know what the inside of a demon looks like but I don't think it's this."

[characterquarry]

"Demon... I don't think we have those. We? Who's we, I only see you."

[inourhead]

"My cohabitor."

[characterquarry]

"Thaaaaat is an interesting and slightly creepy word. We don't have those, either, the closest I've ever heard is a married couple in Polm with a mind-link and one body each. Okay, it's clear that you are very lost."

[inourhead]

"You don't have a cohabitor? You're all alone in there?"

[characterquarry]

"Yes. And so is everyone I know."

[inourhead]

"Doesn't that mean you have to sleep?"

[characterquarry]

"Yes? Well some people wish to not need to sleep, but normally if you go without sleep you go insane in three days tops, so it's kinda necessary when you don't have... Wait... What's troportation?"

[inourhead]

"It's, um - you don't have it?"

[characterquarry]

"No. Just like you don't have wishes. All I can tell about it from just knowing the word is that it's some kind of magic that possibly helps with not sleeping."

[inourhead]

"Oh. It's like -" She turns out the hem of her jacket. Sewn in are patches of various other colors. She pinches one and her jacket turns green and the patch turns red.

[characterquarry]

"Woah, nice. Can I learn to troport, you think? I'll spend a wish getting if it I have to, but I only have two left-" she gestures at two glowing dots on her arm "-so if I don't have to that'd be even better."

[inourhead]

"I don't know. At home anyone can do it - I'm really good at it but anyone could do colors - so I don't know why you can't."

[characterquarry]

"What do you think when you do it? Is there a specific mental action?"

[inourhead]

"Yeah? That's a swap, I take the color from the swatch and the color from the jacket and put them in each other's places. I could do colors when we were like three."

[characterquarry]

"My name's Erin, by the way."

She touches her jacket and her shirt, and attempts to swap their colors. It doesn't work. "Hm."

[inourhead]

"I'm Holly and my cohabitor's Crystal. ...And we're not really standard cohabitors, we're sisters and we were born already together, and our brother too but he moved out."

[characterquarry]

"How does one tell which cohabiter is active, generally speaking?"

[inourhead]

"We fade in and out a lot, so if you can't figure it out by talking to us, ask. Some people are on strict schedules or wear different clothes. It's been just me the entire time so far, Crystal's spooked."

[characterquarry]

"Would you like to visit the wishing pool yourselves? I am not sure at all how it will behave with respect to cohabitors, but I solemnly swear that it never hurts anyone the first time they visit, and you get free magic."

[inourhead]

"...Unless it behaves weirdly about cohabitors."

[characterquarry]

"If you don't want to, that's your choice. But... Some believe that there is a god who operates through the pools. People who are kind, moral, loyal, honest, and so on, tend to get more wishes. Violent or disloyal or unstable people get fewer and are sometimes hurt if they ask for more wishes beyond their first set. I have literally never heard of someone being harmed the very first time they touch the pool. Cohabitors are strange to me, but the idea of the pool hurting someone on their first go is much stranger. I have a strong expectation that even if it behaves oddly, it will not hurt you. But again, it's always your choice and I'll shut up about it now unless you have questions."