revenance_rpg | What's this, what's this?

It was part of a puzzle, actually. Sora just wasn't sure what needed to go in the third circle to fill it in completely. Even though it had been among the memories Roxas had shared, it wasn't clear.

Come to think of it, hadn't Roxas found that information elsewhere?

"I think we're supposed to fill something in for the third circle, but I'm not sure what," Sora said thoughtfully, "Maybe that's elsewhere."

Possibly the White Room, now that he thought of it.

"Then let us search for it." With a muffled band, golden bands wrapped around the table to hold it together without mending the damage, which she still wasn't certain she could write off as incidental. "If you have any ideas, please, lead on."

York eyed the crayons and scooped them up. If there weren't kids here, maybe he could take them to Namine. She was always drawing or painting; she'd probably like something else to do her art with too. He headed out of the dining room and turned to Sora. "Which way should we go?"

Sora thought about that for a moment. If he had a clearer image from Roxas's memories of what belonged in that third circle, he'd opt to skip the White Room. But he was drawing a blank on it.

"There's two doors upstairs. The one on the right is where we'll probably find that symbol again and have to fill it in. On the left, that room might have a clue for us at least."

They hadn't encountered any Nightmares inside the mansion yet, but Sora was pretty sure it'd be just their luck that they'd run into some on the stairs.

"We should stay together and investigate each in turn," Celestia said as she let the magic around the table fade. "Not that I truly think any one of us would be in danger on their own, but better safe than sorry. Let's not play into any horror-story cliches."

"Definitely no horror cliches. Never split up the group." York looked around at the three of them. Celestia would probably be the final girl...he was pretty sure Sora hadn't had sex, so that meant that he'd die first if they split up anyway. "Let's head up and see if we can find the symbol."

York headed out of the room and up the stairs. This place was giving him the creeps, even if nothing really weird had happened. Which was dumb, because he'd been in places a lot worse than this; empty abandoned houses should have been nothing compared to some of what he'd been through.

"Horror cliches are some of the most ridiculous in fiction." And frankly, Sora didn't like horror stories anyway largely because the protagonists of those stories made Pete look smart. "Unless we were suddenly stripped of all powers and weapons, I'm pretty sure we'd be fine if we did get split up. But staying together is probably better anyway."

Empty places tended to be creepy on principle. Especially since they weren't always as empty as they seemed to be. Sora wasn't so sure what could be here besides possible Nightmare encounters but the Nightmares were reason enough to be on guard.

"I would be inclined to agree with you," Celestia said, casually pacing up the stairs without evincing any trouble at the human staircase, "but then, a few weeks ago, I also would have been certain that no power could simply kidnap me into a world of dreams, at seemingly no effort. There is a power here that has exceeded us all, after all."

"Nothing's been too challenging so far," York admitted. He was perfectly fine with that not changing at all, too. Empty dilapidated houses were fine, as long as they were sans creepy surprises. He pushed the door open to the next room.

This is a stark white room, very lightly furnished: a long white table in the middle of the room, a wardrobe against the far wall, and curtains in the window. The table is littered with papers, crayons, and a single book. What brings the spark of personality to this room is the makeshift decor. The walls are covered in brightly colored crayon drawings depicting, for the most part, people. Those familiar with the mansion might recognize some of the drawings: a blond boy and a redhead man eating ice cream at the top of a clock tower; three friends sitting on an oddly shaped palm tree; a boy, a duck, and a dog all ready for adventure. There are, however, a slew of new pictures as well: three figures in brightly colored armor; a boy in a bright green hoodie; two alicorns, one blue and one white. Look closely - you may find yourself or other familiar faces among them.

Sora recognized all the pictures that had been there last time he'd seen the mansion. The new images weren't entirely surprising and it made sense that the world's dream made them match Namine's drawings. They did remind him that they never had figured out what was up with the photos, however.

"Huh... It's mostly how I remember it," he mused, looking around, "But some of the pictures are new." Other than that, he really didn't see anything different. The familiar pictures were even in the same place. They made him just a little bit uncomfortable, though. Reminders of the friends he was missing and how he was pretty well stuck.

A brief flash of the memories from Roxas prompts him to check out the table. He's not sure why, but he thinks there was something Roxas had taken with him upon leaving this room in the fake town. Maybe there was something of interest there now?

"Only some?" Celestia said, glancing from Sora to the wall. "Perhaps the person who drew them might have some answers?"

"Yeah, who's the artist?" Probably Namine, he thought, the moment after he asked. That would make sense. This room felt creepy in a way entirely different from the rest of the place. It was cold and sterile. And somehow this one being untouched while everything else was so messy was weird and offputting.

"I don't think she'd have any more answers than we do," Sora replied, "Namine drew the ones that were already here in the waking world."

Offhand, Sora was guessing that the room had been fixed up and touched up when the decision had been made to hide out there while they were fixing his memory. That meant the world was dreaming of some point between then and what he knew as the present. Or... it could even have been dreaming of a time after that...

For the moment, Sora was looking over the drawings lying on the table. Was there some clue there?

"So you don't believe she drew these other ones? Then their appearance here is most likely a reflection of the fact that we are in dreams, not the waking world," she mused.

Which meant they were either key, or unimportant. She too joined the search, looking for patterns and meaning in both the drawings on the table and the walls.

York looked through the drawings. It was...weird to see themselves in crayon pictures all over the room. Though it worked if, in the waking world, Namine was drawing pictures of her friends. He headed over to the table. "I guess this is where the crayons came from downstairs. Maybe the dream eaters have been moving them around."

He set down the crayons he was carrying so he could pick up and take a better look at the book; it didn't look like anything he really recognized from home, but maybe it would have a clue about this place.

The crayons glowed with a golden light and a chime sounded from somewhere within the mansion.

Items glowing and sounds elsewhere usually meant something interesting or important or both was going on. It was kind of interesting that it was the crayons that were doing it.

"Okay then. I wonder if that noise came from the library..." He wasn't sure what else they could do besides checking out the library. They didn't seem to be finding any clues here...

"Curious... what could the connection be? There's no logical cause and effect," Celestia said, lifting her head up to try to place the sound. "It might also be from downstairs, but I think the change will be obvious when we see it."

"All I did was put the crayons down." York frowned. In a game, a chime and glowing meant you did something right, so apparently putting the crayons down had made something happen. He opened up the book and leafed through it. "I don't know this language...if there are any clues in here about we need to do, I wish it were more helpful."

"You... put an out of place item back where it should have been." Sora wasn't computer savvy, but he was familiar with video games and sometimes they had puzzles of this sort. Come to think of it, there had been dinner dishes in the foyer and now York had found a book. "Hmm... maybe putting other misplaced things back where they should be will do something too?"

It was a guess, but it seemed like it might be worth trying.

Celestia struggled with this idea for a moment before putting her sense of logic aside. No matter that cause and effect had no connection; she had seen it work, so denying that it did was foolish.

"Well spoken. Let us observe the other room up here first, then?"

"So what's in this room that shouldn't be here?" York asked. He was ready to be out of the creepy white room and on their way, but if this were going by videogame logic, he didn't want to backtrack. If this were a puzzle, they might just be getting another clue at the end, like the one they'd gotten after the post office battle.

"Probably that book. There is a library here." Now they were running video game logic in addition to dream logic. It was almost amusing. Still, it was a kind of puzzle Sora could actually work with. It was a little bit like that book puzzle in the library in Radiant Garden, where returning books to their proper shelves have caused bookshelves to move. So, if it was misplaced items... "Say, weren't there some broken dishes in the foyer?"

It was possible that there was another item elsewhere that belonged in the foyer. He couldn't even begin to guess what so it would have to wait until they actually saw it if there even was anything.

Celestia nodded. "By that logic, if we can't read the book, then it isn't meant to be read, merely returned. It also suggests that the objects we are seeking are not hidden, at least for the moment. Do we wish to return the items directly and then check for changes, or check for progress after hearing each noise?"

She favored the latter, but recognized that it would take more time, and that the patience given to a centuries-old alicorn was not necessarily given to humans in the same measure.

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