ROUND AND ROUND AND ROUND

[paraplots]

It's commendable how the Castle has held back from succumbing to the spiral's boundless perfection for so long. But no more.

It begins with thousands upon thousands of coils appearing on the walls and on the floors, so lucid and fluid that one might think they're moving, slowly winding and drawing you further into its center. This is it, the very essence of beauty. The Castle, ever eager to please, only wants you to rejoice in the helical glory: the whirlpools in your bathtub, the curling pattern on your bedsheets and on the sofas, the whorl of your fingertips leaving noticeable imprints on everything you touch.

See how magnificent you are with the spiral within you.

The foolish ones with no eye for beauty, those of hearts too dull to perceive the coiled perfection may try to run. But no matter which direction you go, the way curves toward a center and the ceilings recede lower and lower as if one is running towards the inside of a snail's shell.

Outside, the tornadoes rage on.

LINKS: THE CASTLE | CASTLE GROUNDS | CITY ROYALE | Start your own!

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THE CASTLE

[paraplots]

It doesn't matter if you head left or right, everyone will meet in the center in the end. The Castle, as you must already know, has no respect for the laws of physics. The lofty ceilings will begin to compress lower and lower as the walls converge the farther one goes, until one must crawl to keep going or perhaps bend into unnatural shapes (which the castle, benevolent as it is, will allow your body to do).

Turning back will only lead you to the same people, the same direction, the same winding tunnel where your salvation or your doom lies.

The lucky ones are those staying pat in their rooms, where at least the ceiling and the walls aren't conspiring to crush your bones. But the spiral is persistent, swirling slowly on every object you turn to see.

[samson]

[This is all pretty weird.

Brock feels like he's on a bad trip, keeping one hand on the wall to ensure he's walking in a straight line. Even then, he's not completely sure -- the ground pitches, the walls curve, and the ceiling spins. All at once, and all in different directions. He feels seasick on dry land, and it's terrible.

But he's trying to figure it out, this weird twisting maze that certainly wasn't literally inside the castle a few days ago, because there's got to be some answer down the proverbial rabbit hole.]

[teenagebadboy]

[If you can't fight, you flee. That's how Aaron's feeling right now. He's too terrified for the spirals to be able to stay. He can't even punch them which is his usual solution. So he's fleeing.

That turns out to be harder than he thought seeing as the Castle itself pushes him deeper within itself. He have lost his bearings. But then he spots Brock. He pulls the little bravado he still got left and walks up to him. His expression is that of an haunted man.]

You know any way out of this maze?

[samson]

[Brock's less afraid and just kind of creeped out. Paradisa's thrown some pretty strange stuff at them over the years, so he has gotten used to it to some degree. But stuff like this is hard to deal with. It's hard to deal with anything when you don't know which way is up.

He looks up when he sees this guy approaching, keeping one hand on the wall for balance.]

Nah. [He glances behind himself. Did he just come from there, or...?] I'm trying to figure it out, but it's, uh... slow going.

[teenagebadboy]

[Being new around here could be a reason why Aaron is more affected. Or he have just got hit particularly hard with the craziness. But for the time Aaron's thoughts are not touching upon that. He swallows hard and looks around the room. It feels like everything is swirling closer and closer and he loathes it. But he can't find his bravado which is his usual shield.]

The path I came from only leades deeper. I think. It seemed that way at least.

[samson]

Oh. [Well...] To tell you the truth, going deeper might be the better solution. I figure if there's any answers, they have to be at the center of... whatever all this is.

[He points over his shoulder with his thumb.]

That way is definitely not the way to the center, though. Whether it's the exit, I don't know.

[sworn]

[Vereesa has been keeping to the walls as well, as best as she can given the circumstances. With everyone seemingly coming apart at the seams, and now the castle following suit, it's clear that this is only going to get worse. She's fortunate enough that she's managed to keep a level head for the most part. The spirals are still unnerving, but not to the degree that they have affected everyone else.

There's a look of absolute relief upon her face when she happens upon someone familiar. Brock isn't far away, but it's the first time she has encountered him, which means she isn't going in circles as she'd feared.]

Any luck?

[samson]

[Brock lost track of Molotov at some point. This stuff always seemed to get to her the worst, so he's sort of dreading stumbling upon her and seeing what happened. Finding her nearly torn to shreds on the Event Horizon was just about the worst thing he ever experienced, and so he figures a good way to circumvent that happening again is to nip this bullshit in the bud.

He stops when he sees familiar silver hair and long ears, leaning for a moment against the wall, then pushes himself toward her. His steps feel uneven and weird, and he thinks for about the fifteenth time in the last half hour that he really hates this.]

Not yet. You?

[sworn]

[She presses her back against the wall to hold herself upright, though clinging to the wall doesn't seem to be much better than not clinging to it. She's ridden on boats during storms and still felt more balanced than she does now.]

You are the first sign that I've not been wandering in circles for the last hour, so no. I'm not even certain what we're looking for.

[samson]

Yeah... [It's a good question. Brock glances reflexively over his shoulder. The hallway is still twisting.]

I figure we'll know it when we see it.

[lord_wizard]

[Having outgrown the boundaries of Chimera's workrooms, the pattern of spirals he and the other mages had started days ago had finally wound it's way into the hallway, where the wizard had been drawn into the lunatic contours of the castle's new shape. Of course, he doesn't see it that way. It's just the natural conclusion of things. Everything moving towards the center. Channeling power to one point as mazes were said to do.

Felix wanders the halls in an awed sort of haze, weak and malnourished from days of work without food or rest. At some point he'd shed his clothes so he could extend the patterns onto his own skin, although there were some places he could not quite reach on his own. That the extensive scars on his back could be plainly seen by anymore no longer seem like a concern. He needed to be one with the spiral.

He notices Brock coming towards him, a glimmer of recognition on his face. He points at the larger man.]

You...

[samson]

[It takes him a second to realize what's going on.

The closer Brock gets to the heart of the castle, what must be the center of it all, the weirdest everything gets. He feels like his eyes are spinning on top of everything else, and he has to squeeze them shut every so often to stop the false vertigo from overtaking him. But eventually it gets like an inner ear imbalance -- even when his eyes are shut, he can still feel everything spinning endlessly.

But he's still walking anyway, even with his eyes shut, hand trailing along the wall. He's trusting the wall, which is maybe stupid, but he's got to trust something. Then he hears a voice and he cracks his eyes open, one after the other, staring a little unrecognizingly as the hall turns in over itself.]

Oh. Felix? You don't, uh... look so good.

[lord_wizard]

[That could maybe be explained by the castle's current geometry, but Felix doesn't seem at all phased by that. He can't quite bother to care about the fact that he's starving, at least in the mental department. Physically it shows, especially given that he didn't care much weight on his body to begin with, and the result is a rather unsteady frame that's clinging to the wall for entirely different reasons. The movement of the castle is more like a beautiful dance he's struggling to keep up with. He's too human.]

I can't...find the center.

[samson]

No? Me neither...

[It makes sense that Felix would be looking for the center -- Brock suspects it's for the same reasons as him, in that he assumes that finding the heart would lead to a way to fix everything. And since Felix is all magic, he'd probably be more useful over there than Brock...

Still, he notices that he's, in a word, emaciated. How long has he been wandering the halls?]

Do you need help? Maybe we should find the way out first.

CASTLE GROUNDS

[paraplots]

The tornadoes have gathered here, thin enough to leave only an inch-wide swirling tracks on the ground, but numerous enough that there's more than one for each resident. Your very own personal tornado waiting to twist you up and send you to the skies. Isn't it a heartwarming thought?

Anyone venturing outside will find that the storm has eyes with which to hunt you down and the tornadoes will chase you wherever you go. You can run, but you can't hide.

[indirectcause]

[Ben will sure give running and hiding a good try. It's how you survive where he's from, after all. So, he's tearing through the castle grounds, trying desperately, hopelessly, to outtrun the storm.]

[freeslider]

[Part of the storm has a face. A familiar one. And it's laughing in utter manic joy as it advances on Ben. Just like the children in town Wade has realized her dream and become one with the spiraling winds. She rides atop a small tornado like someone in a folk story]

Come play with me, Ben!

[indirectcause]

[Well, that sure is a terrifying sight. Ben lets out a panicked yelp and starts running in the opposite direction.]

Oh my fucking god are you insane? NO!

[freeslider]

[He's more correct than he maybe realizes, but Wade doesn't seem deterred. She spins towards him still like a dancer, reaching a arm out at him]

There's nothing to be afraid of!

CITY ROYALE

[paraplots]

The city may be the most perilous place to be. Humans, after all, are the worst and most dangerous threat yet. Laughing children ride the tornadoes to patrol the streets while townspeople with helix-shaped hair or spinning holes on their foreheads try to entrance you (then suck you in). There are snails the size of cows sleepily gliding on the walls with eerily familiar haircuts (if you kill or eat one, you'll become one). A few residents will tell you they taste like the finest escargot.

The church bells strike a dissonant chord every hour, the sound piercing your ears like a drill through the head. The mayor is nowhere to be found.

[hatesgoodbyes]

The damned spirals had made it out to the edge of the Castle's land. Ever since she started to regain her own mind she had done all she could to hide away. Some big bad soldier she was, but she'd needed the time to figure things out. She thought she had a lock on the Omega thing and then the damn Spirals started showing up, and then she could see them even when her eyes were closed.

She thought getting back to the city might help, so far that wasn't going splendidly. Feeling a little punchy she winded her way through sights improbable and flat out impossible following a pattern she didn't even realize she was moving to while an eerie little sing song slipped from her lips.

[fearbringer]

Pitch is flat-out running through the streets in a blind panic, not heading anywhere in particular (or even paying much attention to where he's going). Because he doesn't need to sleep, he's been on the move for days, rarely stopping to catch his breath-- it's exhausting, but the drive to find a spiral-free place is stronger than any need for rest.

Spotting Texas, he slows just enough to wave a hand in her face. "You! Have you found a place without them?" He doubts she has-- he hasn't, and he's been looking like crazy-- but it's still worth it to ask.

[hatesgoodbyes]

Her state is neither blind nor panicked but she was also not heading anywhere in particular. Though her steps had succumbed to the meandering spiral in her own way.

She was so lost in the beauty of such continued curls that she was slow to respond to the tall, willowy dark figure. She had to pull herself back with a snap of awareness. "Uhh no, they just go on..and on...and on.." Her wrist rolling in a spiral of it's own as if the loop was just continued beyond words.

[fearbringer]

Noooooo. A million times no.

"Stop." He reaches out to both grab at her wrist, intent on making her stop.

[both_neither]

Gren had done his best to hide to escape the continuous sense of panic and bubbled up into his throat every time he glanced around and found another of those terrible spiraling shapes. No where was safe. The town, usually his last refuge from the madness of the castle, has become a source of endless torment.

Curling up in his apartment is impossible with that sound driving him to flight. But not being able to bear the sight of the spirals, he has done the only thing he can think of. He's blindfolded himself with the tatters of one of his bedsheets and is stumbling vaguely towards the castle proper, hoping for a refuge.