The Stuff of Nightmares

[byok]

>

The Nightmare Fuel Meme

WARNING: This is not a nice meme, and will likely contain triggers for violence, pain, death, sexual situations, and all kinds of other unpleasant things. Click through at your own risk.

Nightmare Fuel: This is the stuff so horrifying that it can give people the creeps for years. This scares the pants off of just about anyone to the author/creator's delight. This makes you shrink in the back of your chair, look over your shoulder, and remind yourself that what's going on is (usually) only fictional....

HOW IT WORKS:
♦ Leave a comment with your character's name and fandom, and state any preferences. If you'd like to roll for/pick an option here, go for it. If you'd like, you can fill out this handy form to make things easier for others:
<b>Character:</b> [insert name here] <b>Age:</b> [insert age here] <b>Description:</b> [one-sentence description] <b>Want:</b> [options you would particularly like] <b>Do Not Want:</b> [options you do not want to play out]
♦ Tag another character. Pick one of the options, either by using the RNG or just selecting one that interests you.
♦ Play out the results and respect others' preferences.
♦ Have fun and/or be traumatized!


1. ACID TRIP - Things are starting to get weird. Very weird. Your hands just popped off and are dancing the tango in the living room with your pet alligator while a Weeping Angel watches from the corner. There are invisible spiders crawling all over you and you don't dare open your mouth lest they fall in. It can only get as strange as your imagination will let it.

2. JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE PARANOID DOESN'T MEAN THEY AREN'T OUT TO GET YOU - You just can't help the feeling that someone is watching you. Someone is out to get you. Who are your real friends? Is that person really an alien in disguise? Are there surveillance cameras in your bedroom walls?

3. THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES - Think about the worst nightmare that you've ever had. Guess what. You're now in it, and you just can't seem to wake up.

4. FUN WITH PHOBIAS - What do you fear? The dark? Heights? Swarms of insects? Snakes? Drowning? Whatever it is, it is now your reality.

5. TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCES OF THE NON-SPARKLY KIND - Something has gone wrong. You're...changing. And not in a good way. Are you turning into an animal? A demon? A monster? Were you assimilated by the Borg?

6. AND I MUST SCREAM - You can't move. You can't scream. You can't do anything but remain conscious of every passing second. Did you choose the wrong words for your wish? Were you turned to stone? Trapped by a curse? Turned into a doll, unmoving but forever beautiful? Sealed inside a tree for a thousand years?

7. A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES - The dread spectre of disease has raised its head. Do you have days to live? Hours? Seconds? Or will you waste away slowly? What will happen in the meantime?

8. EYE SCREAM, YOU SCREAM - Something terrible has happened to you. It could have been an accident, a curse, an attack, a disease, or a surgery gone terribly wrong. But you've been horribly mutilated (or are in the process thereof) and are disturbing to see. Perhaps the Phantom will let you borrow his mask.

9. HORRIBLE TO BEAR - Congratulations, you're with child! Except...this wasn't supposed to happen. Did you just wake up one morning and discover the surprise? Is it part of a bizarre science experiment? Are you carrying the child of the devil? Or did you just get a Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong and hellspawn is about to burst out of your chest?

10. THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO - This is a really tiny space you're in. And it looks like you're going to be here for an awfully long time. Did the other person shut you up in here? Are they a fellow prisoner? Or can you somehow convince them to let you out?

11. WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSE - The world is ending. In fire, in ice, in the zombie apocalypse, in a collision with a giant asteroid? Whatever it is, it's horrible. Do you even want to bother trying to survive?

12. SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE - You're hungry. Really, really hungry. Nothing seems to satisfy you, nothing at all. Except that other person standing nearby looks awfully tasty. Cannibalism? Can you?

13. MINDS ARE FOR GAMES - Mind control? Brainwashing? Total amnesia? Whatever it is, you certainly aren't completely in control of yourself. Perhaps the other person is....

14. THE PLURAL OF DIMENSION IS DEMENTIA - Everything looks familiar, but it's just a little bit off. Did your neighbor always have that mustache? Was the sky always that shade of green? Welcome to the mirror universe, where you're the crazy one.

15. THE LATEST DISPLAY MODEL - You're so pretty that you belong on a shelf. Or behind bars. Perhaps magically frozen in place so that you can't escape or mar those lovely features. Maybe someone just wanted you safely hidden away, kept all to themselves. Or did they want to show everyone in the world that you belong to them and them alone?

16. JUST KEEP RUNNING - Something is chasing you. Maybe you don't even know what it is, you just know that you have to keep running, because if you stop the consequences are worse than you can bear to consider. No matter how exhausted you are, you just have to keep going.

17. WILDCARD - Pick another option, mix and match, do whatever you'd like. After all, when it comes to nightmares YMMV, so feel free to invent your own.

Comments

[mercybutton]

Um. Maybe when- [cough.] Maybe when I'm feeling less gross.

[The sudden hacking up of stuff en masse from their lungs would probably make them nauseous and want to gag.]

[carryon_crow]

Sure thing! Just take it easy and don't die.

[As long as they both could take a break. Henry could already hear rain while looking at the clear sky above, but it could fuck off right now.]

[mercybutton]

Can do.

[The rain can most certainly go fuck off. It probably doesn't bother Frisk as much as Henry, because given how filthy they are, maybe an impromptu wash would not be totally bad.]

[carryon_crow]

[Only when the raindrops hit their face does Henry realize it's Real. Or feels that way? Hard to tell with how the surroundings are getting darker and muddier. That's probably fake.]

Is the rain real?

[mercybutton]

[They stick their hand out. Sure enough, they feel a tiny raindrop land on it. If they both feel it, it must be. Frisk gives a thumbs up from their position on the floor; yeah, they think so.]

[carryon_crow]

[Good, that wasn't just memories being fodder for this place again. They should move in that case, so Henry picks up Frisk and helps them to a dry spot well under the remaining roof. Don't need to add hypothermia to their problems.]

I'm gonna go get food. Will you be okay by yourself?

[mercybutton]

[It's a relief to them too that it isn't just another illusion. Frisk decides to sit up. Might help their current respiratory problem.] Should be. Go ahead.

[carryon_crow]

I'll be soon!

[At least Henry could handle the bug tunnels, because that was the nearest source of nourishment and they couldn't ignore their hunger any longer. Deeper and deeper, Henry retraced their steps back to the incubation room the two had started in.

Pigs. A good lie to tell Frisk. There was only one kind of food in this whole place, and there were no pigs at all.

Fighting off more illusions, Henry returns from their trip, holding slices of meat. Soon they have a fire going, and the meats roasts with a porcine scent.]

Got some pork.

[mercybutton]

["Pork." It's a lie that should be obvious given what's happened, but they are not a suspecting person, not to mention they're kinda out of it at the moment.

They've managed to calm themselves, to the point that it's only the occasional wheeze or cough.] Pork? Didn't know there were pigs down there.

[carryon_crow]

I told you earlier, remember? I guess they work as hosts too. In a sorry state when I found em, all wasted away. Looks like the eggs feed more from the host's flesh when there's more of it.

[The smell is mouthwatering, and Henry can hardly wait until the pieces are hot and crisp. The meat is still tough, but they relish every chew. Henry didn't starve while under the bug's care, but being able to eat as much meat as they want was the first good thing that happened here.]

[mercybutton]

[It's good enough a lie for them to accept. They kind of just... gnaw on the end of their piece, not particularly hungry, but willing to eat anyhow. Something feels strange about the meat's texture- pork is different, but maybe it's just from being used as incubators and having bug stuffs everywhere. At least it tastes pretty good.]

Huh. Guess I forgot.

[carryon_crow]

It's okay, things are weird here.

[As long as Frisk was eating, they would stay alive, and they both could get out of here. That was the important part, not where the meat came from. Food was food.

With the countless times Henry ate someone they talked with, even friends, why should strange humans be any different? Their sacrifice would help the two.]

I can talk to animals. I put them out of their misery.

[mercybutton]

Cool power.

[You'd think a kid would be more impressed. They aren't sarcastic- appreciative, if anything, but not surprised or in awe.]

Can you do anything else?

[carryon_crow]

[Better than calling Henry weird or a liar.]

I can talk to plants too, or bugs, anything living.

...They just laughed when I tried to talk.

oop sorry

[mercybutton]

The, bugs, you mean?

[At least he tried. Frisk had been thinking the bugs could be reasoned with, maybe they were actually nice, but… eh.]

[carryon_crow]

Yeah. I guess it's like seeing a dog talk - they didn't think I actually knew what I was saying.

[At least now they were out and dry and fed. Henry's used to being ignored by humans, but by bugs... that kinda hurt.]

Actually I think one talked about keeping me, you know, to do tricks! Hahaha. Of course the others chittered not to waste an incubator with something so useless.

[mercybutton]

[They huff, which makes them cough again. They draw up their legs and cross them.]

Wish I knew what they were keeping me for. I don't suppose you heard anything?

[carryon_crow]

[Well, yes, Henry heard about kids that got brought down sometimes, and presumably Frisk was just one of the latest. Maybe they could test out how much Frisk could handle, the bugs spoke pretty graphically.]

Yeah. You know what veal is, right?

[mercybutton]

Baby cow meat, right?

[Frisk is normally pretty hardy. While fresh from bug hell, they've had time to sort of sit down and be emotionally numb for a while. Well, sort of.]

[carryon_crow]

Same idea. But they'd start with your tender bits instead of slaughtering and eating all at once.

[Henry couldn't blame the bugs for their anticipatory gushing; Henry wasn't one to eat children's eyes, but it clearly was a real treat for them. Henry thought some of the incubators' sockets looked a bit hollow...]

[mercybutton]

Golly.

[Hearing about it secondhand has much less an impact than firsthand, or seeing it, or it actually happening. But still, ouch.]

Don't think it was really necessary to just let me sit down there, but I'm glad they did.

[carryon_crow]

Eh, might have been deciding who gets what.

[Henry playfully pokes their shoulder.]

But their tender little morsel got away!

[mercybutton]

[Frisk gives them a raspberry.] They can't touch this hot stuff.

[They're trying to crack jokes to make themself feel better.]

[carryon_crow]

[Henry laughs, even as the rain turns red. Aaaand dropping viscera, gross! Heehee]

Nope, they'd get singed just looking at you!

[mercybutton]

[Frisk doesn't see the illusion of viscera, obviously, but the ambient thrum of the rain starts to shift into something a little paranoia-inducting.]

Only signed?

[They laugh, which turns intoa hacking cough, turning to the side so as not to cough all over Henry. They clear their throat and thump at their chest.]



Bleh. Sorry.