❀ 3rd petal ❀

[bravelittlegirl]

[She doesn't know how long it's been, but it feels like forever. She couldn't see, couldn't hear or smell or feel anything, not even her own body, not even numbness, just nothing.

Was this... what dying was like?

She remembered it over and over, the man's boot descending onto her fragile rose. She couldn't forget, and there was nothing else to think about, except sometimes Garry, worrying about him, and how it was her own fault for being so careless, but the man had a gun, what if he killed Garry too? But then why wasn't he here, why was she all alone? Why...?

Then, just as suddenly as she'd blacked out, Ib awoke, gasping for breath.

It was cold, and everything hurt. Confused and disoriented, she groped around the tiny, dimly lit chamber, even banged her fists a few times on the surface in front of her before she noticed the screen, a little above her eye level. "RELEASE?" With shaking hands, she pressed "YES."

The door opened with a hiss. Ib squeezed through the gap as soon as it was wide enough to fit, and stumbled into the room beyond. It wasn't anyplace she'd seen before, for the third time in as many weeks, and her body hurt all over - and once again, she realized in sudden terror, she wasn't holding her rose - but she was alive, somehow.

Her rose. Garry. Where were they?

[She found her journal first, by accidentally kicking it open. But she hesitated to pick it up. It was clear she wasn't on the Event Horizon anymore, but what if - what if everyone was still going crazy? What if Mary heard? What if...

... but she had to try. Ib only dictated a short message, her voice breathy and pained.]

Garry? Are you... please be okay. Please answer. Garry? It's Ib, I... please help...


((ooc: open for journal/action in the basement :'] ))

Comments

1/2

[pint_sized_carnivore]

[!!! That voice. As weak as it sounds, it's familiar. Could it be?]

2/2

[pint_sized_carnivore]

I-Ib?

[bravelittlegirl]

[She hasn't heard the voice in a while - any voice, for that matter - but it sounds familiar on her end, too.]

Chie...?

[pint_sized_carnivore]

[She gasps from the other side of the journal. She was silent for a few seconds, sitting on her bed - stunned at the fact that a friend she thought was gone for real is back]

Yes. It's me. It's Chie. Oh my god... Ib-- Is that- Is that really you?

[bravelittlegirl]

Yes! It's me. I... [She takes a second to collect herself.] ... Where am I? What happened?

[patching_up]

[He had forgotten, for a while, that the castle laughed at the concept of permanent death. At some point he likely recalled a suggestion of how things worked, but it was never something he'd actually witnessed; in the wake of what had happened, it seemed too simple, too easy to be true.

There was no mistaking that voice, though.]

Ib, is that--

[He's almost afraid to ask, for fear that he might be wrong.]

Is that you?

[bravelittlegirl]

Five? Y-yeah, it's me... Where are you?

[patching_up]

Y-you're-- alive-- you're alive! ... it really does bring people back, I thought...

[He hesitates; it sounds like he's on the verge of crying.]

I'm in my room. Ah, hang on, I'll come and find you! It might just take a bit.

[bravelittlegirl]

Um - okay.

[She assumes erroneously that he's still a human, so it can't take that long, right? ... But in the meantime, what he said is kind of unnerving. She really is alive, right? She even checks the pulse in her neck, panicking briefly when she can't find it - but oh there it is, she feels it under her fingertips and lets out a sigh of relief.

... Shouldn't he be here by now ...? She turns to the journal again ...]

Five?

[patching_up]

Ah, sorry! Sorry, I'm on my way!

[He's running as fast as he can; it makes him realize the convenience of being human, given that he could have spanned the same distance in a fraction of the time while in that form. But he isn't complaining... he's relieved to be himself again, even if it means getting around is slow again.]

[After a few prolonged minutes, 5 arrives in the basement, bolting over to where he sees Ib standing. She's there. She really is alive...]

Ib! You're really okay...

Dictated

[tapshoetomove]

[Luke recognizes her voice as the girl from the party. He's not sure what's going on, but he assumes she's in some kind of danger.]

Ah, hello? Where are you?

[bravelittlegirl]

[It's ok, she's not sure either and assuming the same thing! :')]

I-I don't know. A room with a lot of computers...

[cyan_maid]

Ib??

[Jane hadn't heard nor seen anything of the little girl since the Event Horizon. It's fair to say that to hear her calling out for help was worrisome.]

Are you okay? What's wrong?

[bravelittlegirl]

[Oh Janey if only you knew...]

Jane? I- I don't know. I...

[She needs her rose. Her rose, and Garry. Can't find them. But she stops short - the rose, it's a secret. It has to be. Otherwise, something like that might happen again.]

I'm... alive. [That's the closest she can come to it.]

[cyan_maid]

[Not with Jane! If anything, she'd help protect it.]

Alive? But-

[She pauses, and thinks the word through a little more.] You mean you weren't before...?

[bravelittlegirl]

[Unfortunately, Ib has not quite come to grips with her own mortality yet! So this is a very difficult topic for her to give a straight answer to, especially since she's not sure herself what happened.]

... I did something careless.

[cyan_maid]

But I thought Garry was protecting you...!

dictated;

[minicaptain]

...Ib?

[ okay so she didn't know everything that happened on the event horizon, but she knows it was bad. what she really didn't know was that anyone died. that was mercifully or not so left out. ]

[bravelittlegirl]

Naomi...

[Another friend who's okay. That's good, but she doesn't know what else she should say.]

[minicaptain]

Are you okay?

[ there's not much to say, but naomi wants to be sure ib really is okay. it doesn't sound like she is. ]

[bravelittlegirl]

... Sort of. I - I got hurt, on that spaceship. I just woke up just now.

[silentrunning]

[Chell's got her journal open when that dictation comes across... And she thinks she recognizes the voice. The little girl she'd sat with for a while on the Event horizon... But she'd not asked the girl her name back there, had she? Everything was a blur. But she remembered.]

Hello?

[She dictates back.]

[bravelittlegirl]

[Ah - she recognizes that voice, from the person they met on the ship. With a little thought she brings up the name.]

Chell?

[silentrunning]

Yes... That's me. Where are you? You sound scared.

[bravelittlegirl]

... You were on that spaceship, too, weren't you? Do you know... what happened?