Sweet dreams are made of these...

[thespaceopera]

[ Calibration Rooms ]
( for A-M characters )

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ROOMS BY CHARACTER

A Abigail Hobbs Aiya/Gray Nightingale Adrasteius Anor'thalion Ahsoka Tano Alex Russo Allen Walker Anders Anthony Crowley Asteffiel Axel

B - D Belthazar Spellscry Beverly Crusher Bran Stark Caesar Zeppeli Cayde-6 Cheese Sandwich Clay Terran Coil Cole Davesprite Duke Pantarei

E - I Elecman.exe Elena Gilbert Elize Lutus Felix Harrowgate Fenris Finrod Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus Imperator Furiosa Isabela Issac Lahey

J - M Jade Harley James Barnes/Jim James Barnes/Winter Joseph Joestar Katara Katniss Everdeen/Nova Kirito/Kazuto Kirigaya Kurt Wagner Leanne Loki Maladict(a) Max Caulfield Megaman Mordin Solus

Comments

Coil Lenn

[mortalcoil]

[a door--heavy, wooden, and set into an ancient frame--clicks shut with the turning of metallic tumblers behind you. locked.

despite the yellow flicker from half a dozen candles placed about the room, and the claustrophobic crowds of arcane clutter on every surface, the space is full of emptiness and drafty air. like a little dungeon turned into a home, creature comforts necessary for living are clustered desperately together in an old, damp stone shell.

it's so cold--there's a set of pokers beside the hearth but no one has touched the embers in hours--and it's impossibly wet. the stone wall seeps moisture, and there are constant trickles raining from the ceiling. the tables with their precious clutter have been strategically placed in the only dry areas of the room. what seems to be a makeshift altar of some kind set up on one of the smaller tables has escaped the leaks, but the cot nearby lies moldering directly beneath another rivulet. there is a massive black coat hanging on another door in the corner, probably leading to a closet of some kind, but it doesn't completely hide the fact that the wood is waterlogged, glistening with wetness.

as dreary and uncomfortable as the room is, however, it is home to someone. across the way, a boy with a bandaged face whips his head up in stark surprise as you enter, and hastily throws a sheet over something before him. whatever it is that he doesn't want you to see, it's suspiciously the size and shape of a seated person... and the chains that lead from under the sheet to bolt into the wall aren't reassuring either.

and once the boy recovers from his moment of shock, he waves an arm angrily in your direction, pointing at the door behind you. all of his precious things are in this room, chaotic but meticulously arranged, and you are trespassing.]


warnings: possible content includes self-harm, mutilation, abuse, family death, body horror, and... idk necromancy?? PLEASE let me know if there are any topics (either mentioned here or otherwise) that you would like me to avoid!

[kill_switch]

[Locked door. It sends a shiver up Furiosa's spine, and she turns towards it in an aborted attempt to see just how locked it is. No, she doesn't need to give in to false hope. There's got to be another way out, even if it's to wait for it to open again from the other side.

She takes the moment to look around the room, staring back at the bandaged boy. She motions towards the door with her prosthetic.]

It's locked.

[mortalcoil]

[a stressed breath huffs through the bandages of his mouth, and he stands up from where he'd been crouched. moving himself between the intruder and whatever is hiding under the sheet, he stands straight with an insistent sort of fearlessness--though he can't be more than twelve years old, and isn't exactly a very big kid.

he points at the door again, and makes a shooing motion with his hands.

maybe he's not buying the fact that it's locked.]

[lord_wizard]

[He shivers noticeably, the instant the door closes behind him. The space is too close and too full, though interest sparks at some of the clutter around the room, it's not enough to override the faint disgust at the conditions. It reminds him faintly of the Lower City and the way the river had a way of seeping into nearly everything it touched. He can't help but inhale sharply, testing for that metallic tinge over what other odors might be permeating the space.

He might have made a move to investigate if the boy in front of him weren't an immediate issue. Felix holds his hands up in the face of that accusatory finger, helplessly apologetic]

I'm sorry, but I don't have anywhere else to go.

[mortalcoil]

[under the scent of mildew and woodsmoke, there are all the provocative tinges that come from a space with a long history of old magic. incense and faint decay, and the tang of unholy rites practiced for decades within these walls. it's a family tradition, after all; the languages in the books propping up the candles are older than Latin.

it's a space not meant for strangers.

the boy stands from his crouch, brazenly moving to place himself between the intruder and whatever is under the sheet. maybe he doesn't believe the trespasser's claim, because he only gestures more insistently--pointing at the door and shooing with his hands.]

[lord_wizard]

[He can almost feel that lingering hint of magic, once he has a chance to take it in, but investigating it again comes second to Coil's presence.

His answer, this time, comes with a mild note of annoyance.]

I would if I could, but I'm fairly sure it's locked itself.

[He gestures at the door]

[hymnals]

[Adrasteius doesn't immediately notice the locked-ness of the door; he's much more interested in the fact that there's a child here and there are chains and what the fresh hell is even happening here?

Stepping gingerly around the clutter (his ears twitching from the damp, chilly scent of the room, the accumulated detritus), Adra kneels down beside the boy.]

So. What are we up to in here?

[mortalcoil]

[though he can't be more than twelve, the boy quickly rises from his crouch as the intruder comes closer, standing tall with as much authority as he can muster.

it's hard to look tough with a face mostly covered in bandages, but oh how he tries. squaring his shoulders, he points at the door more insistently, and makes shooing motions at the stranger.]

[hymnals]

[Adra looks up at the boy, unmoved. And unmoving.]

Nope.

[theboogieman]

[he must be dreaming. seems like the kind of thing that'd happen in a dream.

because the room is familiar and also not, all at once. the Coil he sees is the same as the one he knows, but also different. he barely has a chance to look around, but he can hear the dripping, and he can smell it in the air--and so it's easy to say this is just another bizarre little nightmare come to plague him.

which is why he doesn't seem to care much, when Coil angrily waves his arms. he just turns his head and looks at the thing that Coil hastily covered, instead.]

[mortalcoil]

[there's a delay before he recognizes the intruder--which is maybe a little laughable with how easy he should have been able to identify from a distance. how many skull-faced people could it actually have been?

still, there are long seconds before recognition dawns over his features, and he suddenly stops waving at the trespasser to leave. looking suddenly startled, he slowly rises up from crouching before his project, and just stands there seeming very unsure.]

[theboogieman]

[his eyes dart back to Coil as he stands, watching his face... it's funny, his dreams aren't normally this easy to see. why is his face bandaged up?

he tilts his head, in that questioning way of his... what's going on, why's he like that? he still isn't moving, but he's also not touching or looking at anything else.]

[child_of_bhaal]

[Hearing the locks click, she immediately turns to try the door. She shoves at it with her weight, however little of it there is, but the door doesn't even rattle. She's locked in.]

Damn.

[This is not her first dungeon. It likely won't be her last. And not surprisingly, the furniture isn't a shock. She's seen people living in worse places.

Then jet gaze finally lands on the boy, while he's silently shooing her away. He seems markedly familiar, even though most of his features are obscured by those strategically placed bandages.]

It locked. I can't- What are you doing in this place?

[It's no place for a boy. Nothing about this dungeon is remotely wholesome.]

[mortalcoil]

[he's not happy that she's here-- that much is obvious, even with most of his face obscured. a stressed breath huffs through the bandages of his mouth, and he finally stands up from where he'd been crouched in front of whatever it is under the sheet.

to answer her, he gestures around at the room, and then points an insistent finger into the center of his own chest.

this place is his.]

[child_of_bhaal]

[The lack of talking and his attitude confirm her suspicions. Coil. Of course, she's been shoved into his space. Because they get along so very well.

She walks forward a few steps, mimics his gesture and points to him, then makes the sign for 'cold'.

Your room is cold. At least, that's what she's trying to convey.

She wonders if she could stoke the fire. The embers aren't totally dead. She points at it, then to herself and makes the sign of a question mark in the air. Will he let her?]

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[ah... it's always a bit of a surprise when he runs into Coil, so finding him in a place like this is almost a treat. the demigod appears calm and observant despite the rather ominous sound of the door locking behind him, and glances all around the room before addressing the familiar boy.]

What, not happy to see me? [he tilts his head, walking closer, looking over the boy's bandaged face.] Did you never get your shoes back from that bar, or what?

[mortalcoil]

[at first, he shakes his head very plainly--no, he's not particularly happy to see him.

the second question throws him off, though. he tilts his head uncomprehendingly... and once Robin gets close enough to really see around those bandages, he'll see that the kid is far from old enough to set foot in a bar.]

[unbearablynaive]

[After a few nights, the Vision has seen several different Calibrations; unlike some others, this one seems to be wholly unfamiliar to him. Still, he proceeds cautiously. This is no sunny bedroom to be taken lightly.

The angry child also doesn't ring a bell at first until he gestures rather than speaks. Could that be...? He signs rather than speaks.]

Sorry to disturb. Yours?

[mortalcoil]

[and that gets the boy to actually pause in his anger, looking surprised around all the bandages.

after a moment, he nods, and further confirms it with the sign for 'mine.']

[iamawaited]

[It's a little like home. Like... something aslant to home, almost -- not quite the same, but not as different as the world of the Fleet. A few degrees off from what Nux knows best.

As such, he looks around with some interest before he notices the boy. He glances over his shoulder at the locked door and shrugs.]

Can't.

What is this place?

[mortalcoil]

[the kid huffs through the bandages of his mouth, and answers by pointing around the room and then jabbing a finger into the center of his own chest. this place is his, and no one else is supposed to be here.

and, apparently not believe the fact that Nux can't leave under his own power, he points at the door again with more insistence.]

[versusnurture]

[She's never been one not to go for the throat, and this moment is the opposite of an exception. No: to the contrary, the click of the lock sends her temper spiking, but her temper runs cold and leads her to Gordian-knot solutions, like this one . . .]

[The one that ignores the boy entirely and crosses over in one swift motion to kneel beside him and rip off the sheet.]

[mortalcoil]

[the boy is so shocked, he's seconds too late in realizing what her full intentions are. he fails to intercept until the sheet is already fluttering and slinking to the floor, revealing his project.

it's certainly humanoid, though whether it is living or dead or something in between is hard to tell. it looks dead, but it's sitting up under its own power, with its chained hands hanging slack and useless at its sides.

the face of it has a horrible similarity to the boy's, though quite a bit older... and its entire body is covered in a jagged, cryptic web of black marks. the designs look a little like tattoos, though more correctly like ink settled into shallow-carved lines, and the manner of them is nothing short of elaborate and sinister. the amount of time it must have taken to etch each delicate angle and curve into the skin...

and after only enough time to get one solid look, the boy has his wits about him again and is lunging at her. grabbing for her upper arms, strong fingers instinctively digging right where there are bundles of nerves, he tries to bodily drag her away from his work.]

[redactions]

[ The cold doesn't bother him, but Coil giving him that particular expression, combined with the chains, the drafty air, the ominous weight in the room; Jim cuts to it, signing, ]

What are you trying to do?

[mortalcoil]

[he stops short in surprise when he sees the signing. with how he appears to be several years younger than normal, maybe it isn't something he's used to. it takes him a second or two to process before he finally responds.]

No one can be in here.