Angst

[groupon]

ANGST MEME



Sometimes we all want to play some angst and see just how far our characters will fall.
- Post your characters, name and series in the subject along with any preferences.
- Go to random.org and roll.
- Play!



1. just depressed.
Things are tough, you're feeling worn out, or whatever the case, you're depressed. You need help or someone else thinks you do anyway.

2. abandoned.
You were left behind by everyone you hold dear and now you're forced to see how well they've adjusted, how happy they all are while you're screaming inside.

3. sick.
Cold, flu, or something even worse, all you can do is lay back and let someone take care of you.

4. fight.
You've been fighting nonstop with the other person and it just keep escalating.

5. break up.
You're being broken up with and they won't reconsider... Damn.

6. separated.
For some reason, you've been separated from the other person for a long time.

7. kidnapped.
You've been held captive for how long now? Maybe they've been torturing you even, using your blood to write ransom notes, threatening to cut off fingers to send next, etc. Rescue is on the way though, right?

8. beaten up.
Just because someone didn't like you or maybe they wanted something you had, whatever the case is, you're coming home sporting some nasty wounds and bruises.

9. jealousy.
You just have this undeniable jealousy suddenly and you need to let it out.

10. cheated on.
This goes beyond just suspicion and you have full on proof of what your lover has done. How do you handle it?

11. apathetic.
You're not sad, you're not happy, you just... don't feel much anymore. The sparkle of life has gone right out of you and you're just going through the motions now.

12. addicted.
Drugs, alcohol, whatever your drug of choice is, you can't fight the draw and you can't draw yourself out of the hole, but the other person is going to try.

13. bad romance.
You know this isn't good for either of you, but you can't stop now.

14. fear.
Nightmares, the feeling someone is following you, etc. You can't shake the feeling.

15. insanity.
You're seeing things and hearing them, waking up only to realize you've done things you don't remember or you're in a place you weren't before. You're losing it and you don't know what to do.

16. guilt.
It's eating you up inside and you have to tell someone about it now. You want to be punished and you won't take no for an answer.

17. loss
You've lost something dear to you.

18. wild card.
Combine some options or make your own!

Comments

8 - Beaten Up

[cursedhyacinth]

Out of practice, in a body zie doesn't know as well, Jacinda really ought not put zirself in harm's way. But Jacinda also can't just walk away when someone helpless is being roughed up. The would be mugger was chased off, and the young woman bundled off into a cab to take her safely home -- so Jacinda considered it an accomplishment, despite the black eye zie was now sporting.

Maybe zir head got bounced off the wall a little harder than originally assumed, though, because a wave of dizziness hits when zie is still pretty far from zir own destination. Jacinda ducks into one of those all night diners -- orders a coffee to help zir stay awake -- and is currently contemplating the pay phone and whether or not to call Dick for a ride.

[albtraum]

Surprise, Jacinda. You passed out. On the bright side, the coffee worked for a little while? However, it seems that one can only caffeinate themselves out of head trauma for so long. So here we were, and here Albtraum was, very much sticking out against the background of the diner. Nevertheless, randomly appearing in the booth across from Jacinda.

"Trouble follows you often, doesn't it?" Just a feeling Albtraum is starting to get.

[cursedhyacinth]

Well damn, looks like Jacinda contemplated too long.

Jacinda blinks at the appearance of Albtraum, realizes that zie must be asleep, and scowls. 'Don't fall asleep with a concussion' and all that. But... Jacinda isn't angry at Albtraum, so zie sighs and lets the expression melt away.

"I probably could have walked away from this particular trouble, but that's not me."

[albtraum]

Contemplated too long indeed and whatever was happening out there in the waking world became further and further away the further Jacinda slipped into unconsciousness. The walls around them faded off into nothingness--replaced by fragments of Jacinda's mind. Obscured between lively shadows, a thick fog, and a long paved road. The sky was overcast in shadows, swirling and alive. Everything moved, changed, and morphed in ways unnatural. Adapting to the minds within.

"Could have," a moment or two pass. "But landing here as a human is not an agreeable sign."

[cursedhyacinth]

"And 'agreeable' is probably the last word anyone would use to describe me," Jacinda replies, a definite note of sarcasm to zir voice.

Jacinda glances around at the changed surroundings. The swirling sky is... uncomfortably very like a Lazarus Pit, and zie looks away from that quickly. The landscape is mostly broken buildings... condemned apartments, abandoned warehouses... mixed in with fragments of Wayne Manor and old, Manhattan version of Titans Tower. That long paved road looks like a city street, and there's blood dripping into its gutter.

"Where is here, anyway?"

[albtraum]

There were pieces of all this from Jacinda's mind; it mixes in with unrecognizable things. Things from the deep subconscious of other minds nearby who found themselves in slumber. The things so far deep that they rested here. Herein, even, laid pieces of who Albtraum itself was. A sad and faint melody -- a faint heartbeat -- lofting in the air, for example.

It notices the way those eyes divert from the sky and curiously looks up to witness what may be different about it now that Jacinda is here. It's eyes float down to Jacinda--contact here meant nothing. "A place that has no name; a place at the furthest edges of one's heart and mind. Where the mares and the dark elves live, and all the things that go bump in the night."

It was a part of the dreamworld but it wasn't the nice part; but it was also the only part Albtraum could be--it was its home.

[cursedhyacinth]

Jacinda can't help a little shiver at the mention of Mares. The remembered encounter -- which likely wasn't the first, given the kind of nightmares that had tormented him before -- is still fairly fresh in their mind.

"I guess I'm really out of it," Jacinda says -- but wait, that voice is deeper and familiar now, a glance downward at the body (or the dreamworld representation of the same) reveals that it's no longer female. Jason stares down at his hands, flexing them into fists and letting them relax, a few times. He says quietly, "Really, really out of it."

[albtraum]

Certainly a Mare had visited them before. It would not be surprised about that with all that it's come to know in such a short time. Though this place was not only a place that fed on the darkest pieces of fear; it fed on rage, and sorrow; on lust and longing; on shame. Not always so bad, it seemed(?).

"Your original body?" That's a large difference, but it really meant nothing to Albtraum. It meant something to Jacinda, though.

[cursedhyacinth]

"Yes," he says. "The newer one, the female one, that's the result of a curse. I've been looking for ways to lift the curse, but most folks hear that it was placed by a god and get spooked."

Fear and sorrow, rage and longing... all definite drivers for Jason. (Nor was he unfamiliar with lust, but that's always been... the least pressing. Especially since he grew up all around the terrible things that can happen when lust is surrendered to.) So it seems this place of darkness isn't all that strange...

"If I'd been in my original body, I definitely wouldn't have gotten injured tonight. I know this..." Jason looks at Albtraum and makes a broad gesture indicating his restored male appearance, "far better than what I've been stuck in."

[albtraum]

Hm. It's gaze wanders off, fog rolling around it as if someone was nearby for just a moment before sliding back into the air--swirling and twisting down the road. A single tear slowly rolls down its cheek, striking red against the paste white. Though the same as had happened upon their first meeting, Albtraum reacted none to it. Nothing but a soft exhale through barely parted lips. So quiet.

"It's not a fight you can win with power or strength, to battle the divine." Its gaze watches not just Jacinda, but what occurs around him. The way the shadows form around him; the fog rolling into vague figures before disappearing again. Thoughts locked deep that flit around as any subconscious does.

[cursedhyacinth]

"I'm not exactly trying to battle the divine. I just want to know what I can do to lift this curse." Jason sighs. "But, with my luck... do you know what I'll need, if it does come down to a fight?"

[albtraum]

"Have you attempted to appease them first?" An important question before they get into more damaging answers.

[cursedhyacinth]

"I'm not exactly sorry for stopping a thief, so I think an insincere apology might get me into even more trouble. My family and I have been looking for any information on Aine, ways to contact Her and see about making amends, but... so far, no joy."

Jason shrugs. "And I guess... it's only been a few months. That wouldn't seem long at all to a goddess, so She might be staying quiet because I haven't been punished enough yet, in Her eyes."

[albtraum]

Why would a goddess get involved in something such trivial human affairs as these? It's curious, but in the end its not sure such an answer matters. They did, and so here Jacinda was. Aine is not a name it knew, either. Which only further lead to the original plan. Someone would know, and instead of voicing anything...Albtraum breaths out, turning with a nod.

The shadows seem to follow it more than usual, here. Fog licking at its muddy skin; inky black playfully curling at the bottom of it's figure as it travels down the road. "Gods and Goddesses are tricky, they all have their purpose but come with unmeasurable power and ego about themselves. Just doing things because they want to, sometimes. Though surely She would know you're a human. Your lifespan considerably less than her own." Does she care is the question-- is she benevolent, malevolent, or neither?

[cursedhyacinth]

Jason follows along behind Albtraum, hands in his jacket pockets and shoulders hunched against the cold. (Whether it really is cold here or not, that's how he perceives the surroundings -- being wrapped in a dense fog means a chill.)

"I think She probably did it because she wanted to. Maybe She doesn't have a lot of followers left? There's not a lot of information about Aine in the books we've seen so far... so maybe She got extra protective of someone who could successfully invoke her."

[albtraum]

"This world hath no fury like a Goddess scorned." It's lucky to have not crossed paths with many of the divine, but the few it has was often... Well. The angels of new and the gods of old were the same.

"I would say you're right," it glances over toward Jason. Yes, it's cold and it's getting colder. Then again, maybe that's also how Albtraum experiences this place. "It is one of the only ways the divine can die. This much I know." As for battling them or getting what you want out of them...

As they walk the landscape morphs. Swirls of nightmares belonging to who really know. Dead trees twisting out of the ground, curling around the road but not blocking it. Creatures that look to only belong in a child's dream peer out from the moving shadows. The road is winding. It's Albtraum's fault, that one.

"I have to tell you, we might get all the way there and no one shows. She hasn't since a long time."

[cursedhyacinth]

Jason keeps his eyes mostly on Albtraum -- better the 'devil' you know than the one you don't -- and tries not to get drawn into looking at the shifting landscape around them. Jason likes stories, too, and there are plenty of them about hapless mortals being drawn into realms beyond human understanding... either to return changed, or never return at all.

Jason huffs at Albtraum's admission. Of course this might be a useless endeavor -- that's the old Todd luck for you, risk a coma by wandering deep into a nameless dream realm, and have nothing to show for it at the end of the road. But he puts on a brave face nonetheless and says, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?"

An echo of a hysterical laugh seems to ripple in the air, and Jason resolutely looks down at his fog-obscured feet for a few paces. Then, because he's more than a little frightened of how else this place might fill up a silence, he asks,

"Who is 'she'?"

[albtraum]

"Very well," it replies, and they continue to venture in.

The further they travel the further they go into the recesses of Jason's mind, it seems. Among the cacophony of unconscious minds, the parts that dreamers might not even be aware of, lays the horrors and pains of one Jason Todd. That laughter, the chills riding on the fog.

And at that question, Albtraum stops. A quiet breath thins out from its blackened lips. It's head tips down. Eyes wander along the ground even after it cranes it's attention over to Jason for a moment. And just before picking up to move down a crooked road that wound it's way upward from the main road, it replied. "Death."

Straight ahead, high up along the path, a mirror. Large and wide and tall. An old silver frame within obscured shadows that slowly morphed and swirled about. But it stays for a moment, watching. Not quite beginning the climb.

[cursedhyacinth]

"Oh."

Jason gets the impression that this is a sensitive subject, so even though he's curious to know more (so many humans wonder about Death, after all) he doesn't press. He follows Albtraum along the crooked detour off the main road, stepping more carefully, anticipating cracks and loose stone hidden by the fog.

When Albtraum stops walking, Jason moves to stand beside it. He looks up in the same direction, and can't help wondering, "Are we really going to go through a looking glass? ...Is that my fault?"

[albtraum]

Sensitive, but it would have come out eventually. Anyone who knew Albtraum long enough knew about it's connection to Death, which was saying it lightly. It never spoke much about it though and could never be coaxed to.

"It shows you what the heart most desires." It slowly starts the climb. Knowing full well that this road won't be easy. And it's because of him. Crumbling and cracking, rocks tumbling from high. All sorts of things keeping itself from that which it longs for. Her.

"If you are lucky, you can reach it. And if you're luckier, you can take it." A good excuse: helping someone else. "Nein, it's been well overdue."

[cursedhyacinth]

Jason moves so that he's not directly in line with Albtraum -- just in case the nightmare falls -- and climbs after. Eventually, he goes into more of a crouch, seeking handholds as well as footholds while he tests the unstable ground before him. Brambles, or some other thorny plant, seem determined to snag his ankles and 'bite' into his palms. But Jason makes no complaint, just follows the upward winding road with only the occasional glance upward to the destination.

Whatever is swirling in the mirror isn't like the Lazarus-Pit-sky in this place, so Jason's not even sure if it's reflecting something. 'Would it even be a mirror in that case?' Jason wonders idly. 'What makes a mirror a mirror?'

But wait, why is he getting all philosophical now? Keep climbing, stupid.

[ Continued here ]