12229/15 Fears: Ship in a Bottle

15 Fears: Ship in a Bottle
Date of Scene:	30 July 2022
Location:	In Between Worlds
Synopsis:	Cael is thrust into a nightmare of fog and uncertainty. After a visitation by two of the Fears, she manages to find her own way out of the maze and back to reality once more.
Cast of Characters:	Chas Chandler, Cael Becker

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Chas Chandler has posed:
    The fog comes in sudden and unexpectedly. One moment the waters are calm and clear, undisturbed by any hand and then... the fog. It sweeps over the ship and obscures everything. Everyone. Sound is deadened, visiblity is reduced to zero, and direction is completely unknown. Moments pass and then it lightens some, leaving Cael on the deck of the ship...

    Completely alone.

    There are many possibilities. Perhaps they are below decks. It is a safe haven when fog comes in. Perhaps she can go down and they will be waiting for her, worried about why they could not find her. That was likely the only positive possibility... any others are... too worrisome to dwell on.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "What the- Chas! Robbie! ... guy? WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?" Yes. Shouting out into the strange waters is certainly a helpful response. Cael frowns, prowling the deck of the ship for a moment but- there's no sign of her friends. It leaves her little choice.
    She does indeed venture below decks - one hand resting near a pistol, ready to draw it if the right provocation presents itself. "Com'on, guys," she mutters under her breath. "Not fucking funny." No - she doesn't believe this is actually some childish prank, but what else do you say when faced with this situation?

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Below deck should present some measure of respite from the fog, but it lingers, even here in a light haze that twists the corridors and obscures shadows. There is an eerie silence pervasive in the ship. Not even the strange crew of the ship are present--which might be a relief given some of them were quite monstrous themselves.

    One corridor passes into another, and another, and another. All empty, save the fog. As she travels down another something behind her clicks, the door of the corridor closing. Even though Cael closed it behind her already.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Fucking magic fog," Cael mutters under her breath. Jon would understand this. Jon could explain it to her - if they were there. If they weren't lost, somewhere out in reality, or beyond reality. She lets a hand reach out, trailing it over the wall of the corridor, so she doesn't miss any doors, or possible turnings - at the sound of the click, though, she stops - turning back towards it. "Hello? Chas? Robbie? Lydia?"

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Through the glass of the door Cael can briefly see a face. It is quickly obscured by the fog though as it backs into the corridor once more. The face is one Cael recognizes. The face of a young girl who died a long time ago and moved on only a short time ago.

    The face of Alis.

    A choice is presented. Continue along this winding coridors alone, or go and see why your dead sister is on this boat. Probably not the hardest of decisions, but one to make all the same.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Alis?" Cael asks in surprise. The step towards the door is entirely instinctual - but then she falters. Alis can't be here. Can she? She's in //Duat.// She's waiting in the Field of Reeds. How would she get here? It can't be here. It can't.
    ...can it?
    What if it is? What would that mean? What if she needs help getting back to where she belongs?
    Can she risk ignoring it?
    Her hand lands on the knob of the door, and she turns it.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The corridor on the other side is not the same corridor as the one Cael left. It's changed... somehow. A dark figure turns at a right angle about ten feet in. It's short and thin, like Alis is; or at least was, before she died.

    Words linger on the fog... whispers that sound like echoes of her own voice. "Is it truly her? Isn't she dead? She should've moved on? Why is she here? Is she here? Is anyone here?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Alis!" There's a part of her - a large part of her, she can't lie - that wants to see her sister. To hug her one last time. To talk to her. To 'MST3K' a stupid movie together, or play some old video game, or- "Alis..." She hurries to the turn in the corridor, before forcing herself to slow again.
    This isn't right. Why would the corridor change? Why would Alis be here? It can't be real. It can't be.
    But that's what she said about magic - not very long ago.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Rounding the corner reveals the figure. It is Alis but something is wrong. There is a white film over the figure's eyes. She's turned to face Cael, her expression seems confused. "Alis?" she says. "Is that my name?" she says. "I've been here for so long... I can't entirely remember..." she says sounding more confused. "Who are you? Are you lost too?" she asks Cael.

    "There's no getting home" Alis says plainly. "I know that now. You just wander these corridors. Alone. Forever. They're always changing too. You can't tell port from starboard. It's pretty useless all things considered. Might be better for you to just find a place to die. I would but I never seem to get tired, or hungry, or thirsty so..." She gestures to her predicament. "I wander."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "...that's your name. Yes." If you're my sister. Is she her sister? Why would she be out of the Field of Reeds? It shouldn't be possible - Jon didn't seem to think it was. "Why, umm... why don't you stay with me?" she suggests. "It's less lonely together. Right?" Cael offers a small, tight smile to the shorter figure, as she extends a hand out towards her. "I'm Cael," she offers, waiting to see if the name means anything to the figure.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    "Cael?" the Alis-looking girl says. "I..." the white film over her eyes fades a little before fogging over once more. "No. Maybe not. I thought I recognized the name, but I can't place it. I guess we can walk for a bit. You'll fade soon enough yourself. Nothing lasts here. It's all figments and hallucinations. Like the corridors themself."

    She smiles sadly and starts to walk without prompt. "It doesn't even matter what direction you pick, you just end up in the same place. All alone. It's easy to lose yourself here... I guess that's nice. Can't feel the pain if you don't even remember what you're hurting about."

    After a bit she asks, "So... how did you end up here? Did the fog get you too?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    Jon had said Alis wouldn't miss her. That it wasn't the same for the dead.
    They hadn't meant this, though. Had they? This wasn't- ...right. "I was with my friends - and yeah. The fog got me. I haven't found them yet - I'm sure I will," Cael says simply and firmly, as she walks alongside the girl.
    "You know, I've never much been into boats. I'm more of a car person myself - or motorcycles. Have you ever seen a '68 Camaro?" The Ma'atmobile was a '68 Camaro. "You don't see many of them anymore."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Alis blinks and again that film fades a for a moment before clouding over again. "I... maybe? I don't remember..." she scratches at her hair. "There are so many things I've forgotten. I know I don't like this boat. Other boats... I don't remember being on other boats." She frowns and shrugs. "I just know that this boat is terrible. Sucks."

    She's silent for a moment and they pass through more corridors. Some fold in on previous ones that can't be possible, others ramp up or down in ways that make no sense, others cut in on -themselves-. But there's not real sense of escape in sight. Just the fog, and Alis, and the whispers. "Not like this... Is it really her... Where am I?" A litany of Cael's own thoughts lingering on the fog like phantom echoes.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Is it really so bad if we're together?" Cael answers. She keeps up a littany of cheerful chatter - mentioning memories from when they were teens: an amusing incident where they chose the wrong mark for a pick-pocketing scheme and got away by the skin of their teeth, and the time they burst the feather pillows having a pillow fight, and the first race they won together... Never does she say that Alis is the person in these memories, though.
    All the while, at the back of her mind... she doubts. Is this what she should be doing? Wandering these corridors with Alis? What other choice was there? How else was she to find her way out?

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Each memory draws the film away from Alis' eyes again and again. Each for a longer period of time, until by the end of Cael's tale the girl is staring at her openly. "Shel...?" she asks tentatively. "Is that... is that you?" she says softly. Before taking a step back. "No... you can't be Shel. You said your name was Cael. But only Shel would know that name... who... who are you?"

    The girl is genuinely frightened. "What are you... you can't be here... you can't be my Shel!" She turns and starts down the corridor fleeing from Cael. At the end of the hall is a door, she bursts through it, kicking it closed behind her.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Alis!" Cael calls after the girl. "Don't- Alis!" There's almost no choice as she turns to pursue her, worry and anxiety appearing on her features. "We're better off together!" They were always better of together.
    Is any of this real? Is this the fate she doomed Alis to when she let the girl take her place? It can't be. It can't be. None of this is real - is it?
    She reaches the door moments after Alis slammed it shut, wrenching it open once more.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    To find an empty corridor. The fog is undisturbed, lingering in a soft blanket around on the ground. No sense of ever being disturbed. Cael is again alone. Forced to travel the endless maze of foggy corridors.

    The whispers of the fog grow as she walks along. "Was Alis even there? Was it just a figment? You've hallucinated before, haven't you? Was this just another one of those?" Passing through another corridor into a long straightaway, she can see a shadowy figure that matches Alis' proportions at the end of the hall.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Alis..." Cael whispers quietly. It can't have been real. Alis can't have been here - she //shouldn't// be here. This is- this is not how things are supposed to be.
    And it's not Alis she needs to find. They were looking for Rien. "CHAS!" she calls out one more. "Robbie! Guys, we gotta stick together in here!" They have to be lost in here somewhere - right?
    But the figure she sees again is too short to be any of her companions.
    "Alis!"

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The girl turns and it is indeed Alis. "Am I Alis?" she asks. "Is that my name?" Her eyes are still clouded over again with that white film. "Who are you?" she asks seeming not to recognize Cael. "How... how did you get here?" It's a truthful absence of recognition, Cael's investigative training would tell her that much is true.

    "You shouldn't be here... it's a bad place... you forget things... who you are... where you are... why you are...." She blinks and looks around here eys going wide for a moment. "Oh god... where -am- I?" she asks, her voice ratcheting up a few levels toward hysterics.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Alis... it's okay. You're not alone, and it's always better when we're together, yeah?" Cael says in a quiet, soothing voice - like you'd use for a frighten child, or animal. "You always looked after me - it's my turn." She holds her hand out towards the teen - still not sre if she's really there, but- what harm was there in- indulging the halucination while she looked for her friends? Ignoring Alis' presence would give her much more anxiety than playing along with it.
    "I'm Shel," she says, offering her former name this time. "Com'on - let's find our way out of here together."
    She starts to lead their way down the corridor, eyes still searching for the rest of her friends. "When we get out of here - we have to find my friend Rien. Alright?"

Chas Chandler has posed:
    For a while, the trip is the same as the last. Alis following along, occasionally asking questions... and each answer revealing a bit of the fog in her eyes. Each corridor is the same awkward geometry and passages that make no sense. And then... just as before, she snaps out of it.

    "Oh God... Shel... my sister... but... no! You're not dead. You can't be dead!" And she flees again, turning a corner... and disappearing.

    The whispers and the fog are all that is constant. That doubt of Alis' presence being here. Of Cael ever finding her way out. Of Cael being lost forever in this ship. All alone. Forever.

    She finds Alis. Loses her. Finds her. Loses her. Over and over and over. And each time... the fog's insistence of the lack of it being Alis grows stronger. More believable. After all... was it really Alis or just a figment of her mind trying to fill the terrible void of loneliness in this place?

    More gains. More loses. And then... the voices change. "Who is Alis?" they ask. "Better question? Who are you?" The answer is clear: Cael Becker. "Where are you?" Also clear: A demented ship of horrors. "-Why- are you here?" ...Not clear. What is she here? How did she get here? Why did she get on the ship to begin with? Was she alone? Were there others with her? Yes. But... who were they?

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I knew where I was," Cael whispers quietly. "I knew where I was. I knew where I was going. I- I knew-" What did she know? Why was it so unclear?
    She stops, putting her head on the corridor wall for a moment. She was with- someone. Someones? And they were looking- searching. For something. For someone? For someone lost?
    "Jon?" That was it. Wasn't it? She'd been looking for Jon? "Jon where are you? This doesn't make sense..."
    She pushes off from the wall. She can't stay here. She has to find Jon, and find her way home. Someone was waiting there.
    Weren't they?

Chas Chandler has posed:
    More wandering finds more Alises and more losses of the same. Each loss comes with more questions. First it was "where was she?" It didn't matter. Jon mattered. Jon would keep her grounded. Another few losses, still questions but still the focus on Jon was clear. Then another.

    "Who is Jon?" The name is important, right? It's a common name, but it's important. Isn't it? "Why is it important?" The fog is even thicker now, obscuring the ground almost completely in the corridor. The next time she runs into Alis she doesn't recognize her. It's just another wandering person in these corridors of endless mystery. How long was she there? Why wasn't she hungry? Or thirsty? Or tired? What did one do to fix those things? Did it matter? Did anything matter?

    More moments of unacknowledged companionship and loss. Then another loss comes with another question: "Who am I? Do I have a name? A reason for being? Am I just a cog on a wheel walking these corridors forever?"

    A different voice comes to her mind then, not the voice of the fog. "It would be so easy to give in wouldn't it? Just accept being alone and accept what that means? It would give you a purpose then. More than wandering the corridors surely would." Another voice chimes in. "Would it though? What sort of existence would wandering through life with no attachments be? Why not instead focus on what is true? What is real? Is any of it real? With that you could escape this monotony and be free to go where you want and find your own truth. Even -make- your own truth."

Cael Becker has posed:
    The voices are unexpected. She's been wandering for so long - so alone through the fog, and the mist, and the corridors. Through endless doors, and endless turns, without rest, without food... That's she'd forgotten she had a voice. That a voice was even possible. "Who?" It's a natural question. She turns, seeking a source - an answer. All she has is questions.
    She's alone. She's always been alone. Hasn't she? ...hasn't she? Why was it even a question?
    But it is a question. Has she always been alone?
    What's the answer? Is there an answer? Are questions meant to have answers?
    Has she always been alone?
    She turns one more time, looking for- what? "I don't understand."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Two figures simply appear out of the fog. One is her own form (does she even recognize that now?) but foggy and indistinct. Whisps of white threat through the multi-hued colors ini her hair. The other is also her, but something is wrong with its eyes, inside the irises, there is a swirling of color that seems uncertain how to settle on a single hue. They are also smiling a manic smile that while attractive on Cael's face seems... out of place.

    "We offer answers" the wisp covered Cael replies. "And a way to exist in the world beyond here as you should be."

    The Manic Cael shakes her head. "Don't believe what it says, we offer freedom. And a return to what you were before getting lost in this maze." Isn't that exactly what it said though? "But it's really simple. You make a choice between the two of us and we get you out. Certainly that's clear enough, isn't it?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "A choice?" she repeats - as if this two makes no sense. In a world with no concrete facts - with no memory, with no identity, how does one choose? Who is she? Does she go with one of these things? Does she leave here?
    She doesn't like it here.
    "Who am I?" she asks, stepping towards the two beings. They speak in statements, not questions. They have facts. They have knowledge. "Who are you?"
    Her fingers reach out - towards the being covered in wisps, reaching for where the hair is shaved down, and a pattern is carved and painted into it. A pattern in blue, teal, and golden yellow. Feathers?
    It means something, doesn't it?
    "What am I? What was I? How do I choose?"

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The pair look at each other one impassive and emotionless, the other a mirror, vibrant to a fault. The vibrant one gestures, ceding the floor. "I am the isolated wanderer," the Wispy Cael, starts. I am the faceless, I am the disconnected, I am the one who lives in the fog and is always a step away for all around me. I am Lonely."

    The other speaks in leaning forward a bit. "I am the twisted questioner" Manic Cael answers. "I am the dealer of lies, the neverending pattern, the edge of the circle, and the master of all mazes. I am a Spiral."

    The Spiral frowns at Cael. "I think she deserves a measure of some understanding, otherwise she cannot know where she is to go. We should help her..." The Lonely makes no indication of moving as if waiting on the Spiral. "Oh I can't touch her... you know where that way goes. She'll be even more lost than she is now." It lets out a giggle that is Cael's but so not Cael's at the same time.

    The Lonely nods and reaches out to place a finger at Cael's head. There is a bead of cold in its touch and the understanding of -who- she is comes back. Not where she is, or why she is there, or who Jon is... just that she is trapped and who she is with that regard. "Now you know who you are... does that help you with your choice?" the Lonely asks in a soft monotone.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Cael," she breathes quietly. "I'm Cael." And she's alone - so alone, even with these two here. The Spiral. The Lonely. The Lies. The Wanderer.
    Her hand, which had been reaching towards the feather pattern begins to fall - and something on her wrist catches her eyes. It's also blue, and teal, and gold. Why those colors? What does it mean? And the butterflies?
    "...Dos oruquitas enamoradas, pasan sus noches y madrugadas. Llenas de hambre..." There's more. It means something. Doesn't it?
    "I can't remember," she says, her voice breaking, as her right hand latches onto the cuff covering her left wrist, to pull it to her chest.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    That grip at her wrists makes the Lonely take a step back as if in pain. More fog pours off it. "No..." it says. "It's... too much... I... cannot..." it shakes its head. And the fog on in the corridor lightens despite more pouring from the figure.

    More of Cael's memories return. Where she is? A boat of nightmares. A maze of twisting and winding passages that make no sense. Why is she here? To get Rien back. There's something else though. Something important. "Tsk tsk tsk" the Spiral says with a shake of its own head. "A damn shame that. Sometimes you have to remember that connections are all that truly make a person. They can doubt everything, their sanity, their reality, their own truth... but even so, they will still show up... no matter where or when."

    She smiles that lunatic grin at Cael. "That doesn't solve the issue at hand though, does it? You're still trapped. Still lost. No way out... unless you understand how to walk in reverse. Or maybe it's forward?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "...Ay Mariposa." That was it. That was what she was trying to remember. "No se aguanten mas." A few tears streak down Cael's cheeks, as she clutches the cuff all the more tightly to her chest, a few tears slipping out of her eyes. She's lost - and she needs to find Rien. And her Mariposa.
    "I..." She looks between the two beings, uncertainty still on her features - but it begins to fade as determination takes its place.
    She remembers who she is.
    "I don't need to choose," she asserts, confidence growing in here voice. "I'm Cael Becker. Either I find my way out - or my friends will find me. My Mariposa will find me."
    Her gaze goes to one, and then the other as she adds, "Fuck. You."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The words strike the Lonely and it simply vanishes in a puff of mist and fog. The change from the Spiral is more significant. It's face contorts into one of not just mania... insanity. Pure unbridled insanity.

    "We could've had so much fun together... if you only weren't so attached to the Truth" it sneers as its fingers lengthen considerably and spiralling claws slide of of them. "No matter. If we cannot coerce you to our side... then we'll simply take you by force."

    A black door appears in the wall of the corridor and opens before the Spiral. "Be seeing you, Becker... or you'll be seeing me. Either way, it's sure to be great fun..." it says before stepping into the doorway and vanishing from sight.

    The door slam wakes Cael from her fugue. All her memories are intact and returned with the vanishing of the pair. Turning around she sees a door that is unlike all the others in the maze she's been wandering. There is a draw to that door that instinct tells her will put her back on the path of her mission. Back on the path to finding Rien and back on the path of getting Jon back home.