Another Withered Rose...

[Mellow]

• • •

 

Another Withered Rose...

--An Ib Roleplay

• • •

 

 

 

 

 

A young, tall man pushed open the large double-doors that acted as the entrance to the Museum of Art. He had traveled a considerable distance to reach this particular Art Museum, and this could be seen in his purple, dashing eyes. He took a few steps forward, his long, stormy blue jacket trailing behind him in the wind, a gust of wind blowing through just before the doors closed behind him, his stylish, shaggy mess of lavender hair blowing through the wind. He quickly moved his hand to his hand, holding his hair down as to avoid any discomfort that would come from wind blown hair. As the doors finally closed behind him, he placed his hands in his pockets and let out a sigh of relief. "Looks like I'm safe now," he muttered to himself, smiling a bit as he made his way deeper into the museum. He moved his eyes from the left to the right, taking in the sights of the first room of the museum. He noticed a family of three by the ticket desk, a man and a woman, accompanied by a young girl in red, perhaps in her early teens, he couldn't really tell. "Ticket," he thought to himself, realizing that he had completely forgotten to purchase a ticket for entry into the main exhibit. He pushed his way forward to the desk without a worry in the world, a light smile plastered on his face.

[I Are Cat]

Ib stood behind her mother. Shed never even entered a museum before. Never had really thought to. Now that she was here she wanted to look around. She knew though that her parents wouldnt want to look at any of the cool stuff. She pulled lightly on the back of her mothers coat. "Can I go on ahead?" she whispered. Her parents were often strict. She was glad though when her mother nodded and shooed her off. She smiled walking up the grand linoleum staircase. It was almost as white and pure as the walls. She glanced behind her to see a man at the counter. He looked so strange with a long blue coat and purple hair. He looked like one of those mad men who often rambled to themselves. She walked a bit faster until she was sure she was out of sight. Colors. They were everywhere as she approached the gallery exhibits. She liked colors. The bright and cheery ones. Though her parents were usually ones to pick the scarier darker colors.

[Mellow]

Garry pulled a decent amount of bills from his pocket, pushing them onto the table in exchange for that crucial entry ticket to the museum. "Have a nice visit, sir," the counter lady said in thanks, giving a light curtsy to him. Garry nodded and gave her an award winning smile. "You're very welcome, Miss!" He exclaimed in high spirits, waving to her as he made his way to the main exhibit, slowly pushing his way up the beautiful white stairway. When he reached the top, the first thing that caught his eye was the large exhibit in the center. He quickened his pace, almost running to the exhibit, placing his hands on the railings and looking into it. "What is this... an abyss?" He asked to himself, mystified by the incredible detail of the massive piece.

[I Are Cat]

Ib leaned up against the golden rope that was made to use as a railing. There was a creepy painting of a fish on the floor. She read the description, ??? of the Deep. Ib wasnt sure what the first word was. She even tried to sound it out but to no avail. She finally just gave up and moved on. Some of the paintings had even weirder titles. She found a second staircase going up to another level. She slowly climbed up. She could feel a wariness in the pit of her stomach but curiosity got the best of her. She looked to see a grand painting that stretched across an entire wall. She couldn't make out the first word of this painting either. She just decided she would call it world. She looked to see that there was blue paint dripping slightly out of the frame. Quite curious. She started to head back down the stairs when the lights began to flicker. Odd.

[Mellow]

Garry was staring into the large exhibit, his eyes filled with wonder. He moved his hand to the plaque, reading it over. "Abyss of the Deep is the name, isn't it?"

 

And then the lights began to flicker. Garry moved his attention away from the plaque to the ceiling. "Power surge, perhaps?" He muttered under his breath. And then the lights blacked out completely. And suddenly everything was empty. No people. No light. It was just himself and the exhibits.

[I Are Cat]

Ib gave a slight cry as the lights went out completely. There was writing on the floor now "Come below Ib. I'll show you a secret." Ib hardly dared to venture down the stairs but it was better than staying up here. Perhaps she could find her mom and they could all leave. She searched all around the museum. It was empty. There was no inhabitants. Not the slightest sound. She made her way past another exhibit. Seeing a giant rose she stopped. It was a beautiful almost lifelike shade of red. There was a coughing noise behind her. It sounded almost like it was coming from the painting. She was terrified now. She had to find her way out. She made it back to the main lobby. But the door to the outside world was locked. There was more writing scrawled across the wall. "Come to the water Ib. Your family needs you."​ Ib walked back to where shed see the painting of the big fish. She searched all around the railing. There was still no one to be seen. She took a step back and slipped. She could feel herself falling. Almost like she was sinking ever so quickly. Finally she ended her fall with a hard thud. This was no longer the museum....

[Mellow]

Garry was face down on the ground. However, this was not the ground he had previous been on. No, this was unfamiliar ground. He lifted his head up slowly, his locks of lavender hanging over his eyes, his entire body covered in a thin layer of dust. He shambled his way to his feet, brushing himself off and brushing his hair from his eyes. His award winning smile had faded, looking over the area. This was not the museum he had been in before. This was someplace else. "Where... am I?" He muttered to himself, looking over the room. The walls, ceiling, and floor were a shade of green. He took began to move around the room, noticing paintings of insects sprawled around the room, hanging in random places on the walls. He noticed a hallway with a door at the end. He shrugged lightly, moving his way forward, but as he placed a foot in the long, linear corridor, a black hand sprouted from the wall and just barely missed hitting him. He jumped back, gasping heavily, a look of terror on his face. "What in the hell is that!?" He howled, falling on his hind end, hugging the wall and shielding his face. "Did the wall just try to grab me!?"

[I Are Cat]

Ib stood up. Her side was sore from the fall. She looked around. Everything had a green coloring to it. There were paintings here too. Maybe she'd only fallen down some stairs. She looked all around her. No, there weren't any stairs. And the roof was solid. She stepped forward. There was a small red rose in a vase on a side table. She picked it up. She decided she should keep it. It just felt right to have it. Then angry red paint splattered on the wall, "THEIF! THEIF! THEIF" It was scrawling itself up the wall in her direction. She backed up running down the hallway directly behind her. She could hear different paintings screaming at her. And black, twisted, monstrous hands reached out of the walls at her. She was crying now. She blindly continued forward hoping for an escape while the screams continued behind her. She found a door just ahead. It was locked to her disdain. SHe beat on it jerking at the knob sobbing. Then all noise ceased and it was quiet. She looked behind her. Had she imagined it all? The door creaked open behind her. With fear in her heart she slowly stepped through. Keeping one eye on the hallway behind her. Just in case.

[Mellow]

Garry stared wide eyed at the shadowy hand from the wall, slowly calming himself down, his face shifting from terror to a more indifferent look. He slowly stood up, still leaning against the wall, when another hand erupted from the wall, this time directly behind him, and this time, it didn't miss him. The hand knocked him to the other side of the wall, where another hand erupted from the wall, repeating the process. Garry screamed at the top of his lungs, somehow still maintaining his manly demeanor, until the chain reaction of shadowy hands had launched him to the end of the hallway, throwing him against the door, cracking it roughly against the door. He let out a pained scream, grabbing the back of his head where it had rammed into the door. When he did this, he noticed a blue rose petal drift in the air, landing on his lap. He looked at it, somewhat confused by it. "What...? A... Blue rose?" He looked around, quickly noticing a rose placed in a vase atop a small desk. He stood up, brushing himself, having nearly forgotten all about the traumatic experience he had just encounter, reaching over to the vase and gently taking the rose from the vase. "It's... beautiful," he said to himself quietly. He tucked the rose into one of his pockets carefully, as something had compelled him to keep it for whatever reason. A bit of blood was on the door where he had hit his head. It was his blood. He sighed lightly, taking the door knob into his hand and pushing the door open, stepping through.

[I Are Cat]

Ib Walked through the room. There were two doors. But she could only reach one of them. There was a gaping hole in the middle of the floor. It was too big to jump. So she decided the rational thing to do was to go through the closer door. Inside was a bright room filled with paintings. All of them were bugs. She absolutely hated bugs. She tried searching the paintings for a hint of some sort on how to get out of there. In the process she had removed the painting of an ant. It was extremely lifelike. She decided that it was sturdy enough to use as a bridge. She returned back to the other room and placed the ant painting over the gap. It was perfect. She took a step onto the canvas and heard a squishing sound. The ant looked like it had been stepped on. That was creepy. She decided that it was best if she just focused on the door ahead. She opened the door with ease and passed through.

[Mellow]

Garry closed the door behind him, simply trying to push away his recent experience, telling himself that he was simply imagining things and nothing really happened. "I'm going crazy," he thought to himself over and over again, shambling along forward. He noticed another door, making his way towards it. He pulled it open, stepping through. He saw there was a hole in the floor that would simply be impossible to leap across. He looked it over again, realizing that someone had placed a painting over the gap and used it as a bridge. He stared at it blankly for a moment. "How did I not see that there before?" He shrugged it off, before noticing another thing. The bug on the painting had been smashed. He simply shrugged that on, testing the sturdiness of the painting with his foot. He deemed it sturdy enough to walk across. However, his entire body weighed more than he had originally thought, as he was soon to find out. He took a step onto the painting, still caustious. And then he took another step. The canvas began to tear and give way beneath his feet. He gasped deeply, stumbling, trying to keep himself from falling, but to no avail. He couldn't keep himself from falling through. He screamed at the top of his lungs as he fell.

 

And then Garry landed. He was laying face first, motionless in a red corridor, large, strange painting hung on either sides of the corridor. Blue rose petals were scattered around the area. Was he dead...?

[I Are Cat]

Ib had been wandering aimlessly for hours. Devoid of all possible hope she continued to press on. She just wanted her mom. SHe was tired, alone, hungry, afraid. What was even happening here? Was this all some terrible nightmare or was it real? The rooms had become as red as the rose in her pocket. It made everything seem more sinister. She stopped to read a painting. It depicted a beautiful lady wearing all red. She leaned closer to read the plaque but jumped immediately back to see that the painting was coming to life! It fell off the wall and there was a ripping sound as the woman began to pull herself after Ib dragging the frame behind her. Ib ,as anyone would do, ran for her life. She turned without any direction down the twisting maze of hallways. She ended up tripping over the body of a man. He looked oddly familiar. That purple hair, the strange blue jacket. "Mister? Are you alright?" She asked bending down closer to him. Se could hear the scraping of the crazed painting. but she was sure that she had time. The halls were narrow and the painting would have trouble with turning. "Mister! You need to get up!" She said shaking him vigorously.

[Mellow]

Garry winced in pain, waking up from the brief coma he had been put into from the long fall. He lifted his head, wincing again, feeling the pain of several broken bones being disturbed from his movement. He realized that there was a girl with him, shaking him, begging him to wake. "A... girl? Another human being in this place...?" He asked, his words dragging on, unsure if the red clad girl was real or simply a figment of his imagination. He tried to pull himself to his feet, succeeding for the most part, but stumbling a bit from the splitting pain of his broken bones. His legs were intact, however, so he could stand with relative ease. He looked to the young girl. His expression seemed a bit dazed and confused. "You really are another human being!" He looked her over, his award winning smile plastered on his face again, before he noticed the red rose she had tucked away in her pocket. "You have a rose?" He reached into his coat pocket, pulling out his own blue rose, showing it to her. "I have one, too!" He exclaimed in a happy tone, despite his many injuries. He looked over his rose, noticing something, and thinking to himself. "It seems that what happens to this rose... happens to me..." He looked back at the girl. "Hey... what's your name?" He asked with a friendly demeanor, his smile still present on his face.

[I Are Cat]

Ib raised one eyebrow at the strange man. Her earlier impression of him being crazy came back to her. "We've got to get moving. Theres a painting dragging itself this way!" She said pulling on the mans sleeve. It was obvious that he was hurt but they had no time to waste. There was a door only a few feet away. She helped him hobble through the door slamming it as soon as they were through it. There was a small end table with a vase and a note."Often if you'll water a flower, in time it will heal itself" To Ib the note didnt make much sense. She took it over to the strange madman. "Im Ib by the way." She said gesturing to him with the paper for him to take it.

[Mellow]

He took the paper in his hand, reading over it, looking over his rose. "In time... it will heal," he thought to himself. "Ib..." He said, dragging on a bit. "It's good to meet another human being in this place, Ib. My name is... uuuuh..." He paused for a moment. "Garry," he said, smiling widely. He snapped back into a more serious demeanor, looking at her rose. "Listen, Ib. That rose you have... don't ever let anyone have it. Keep it safe." He lifted up his own rose. "With each petal my rose loses, a cut opens up on my body... and since you have one, too... the same probably applies to you," he said, gently placing his rose in the vase and leaving it. "Ib... do you remember how you got here? I seem to have... forgotten what I was doing before this whole thing started unfolding..." He leaned against the wall, sliding down it, sitting on the floor, grasping his head in his hands. "I think I... hit my head or something."

[I Are Cat]

Ib started crying scooting closer to Garry. She had felt so alone for the past few hours. Had it been hours? Or had it been days, weeks months, possibly even years? Who knew. But either way she had been terrified. She needed something to reassure her. She wiped the tears from her face sniffling. "I came here with my mom and dad. Then the lights went off and everyone was gone! Then I fell into that creepy fish painting." She was furiously trying to keep herself from crying. This was no time for tears.

[Mellow]

Garry seemed a bit flustered by how upset she was, thinking of a way to comfort and reassure her. "Don't worry, Ib! We'll be out of here in no time," he stated, giving her a reassuring smile. "We got here somehow, so there has to be some way out! There always is. We'll just have to find it!" He exclaimed, pausing for a moment, his happy demeanor fading into his serious one. "Don't be afraid to cry... sometimes you just need to let it out, it's not good to just bottle it up inside. Let off the stress, and then when you're ready... we can make our way for a way out of here." He smiled again. "Is that a good enough plan?" He asked, trying his best to comfort her.

[I Are Cat]

Ib nodded. She got herself into a standing position and wiped the tears from her face. She really did feel better after that sobbing spell. They needed to get going. That was if they intended to get out of here soon. She pushed her chocolate brown hair behind her ears. It almost instantly fell back into her eyes. Her mother was going to take her to get it cut after they went to the museum. She almost started crying again but this time she pushed it back. There was a banging coming from the door they'd just entered through. It was time to get moving. "Garry, do you mind if I." She paused and looked shyly at the ground. "Do you mind if I hold your hand?"

[Mellow]

Garry stared at the banging at the door, his face blank and somewhat frustrated. A very low, quiet growl emanated from his throat, before he snapped out of it, looking down to Ib. He paused for a moment, still wearing his blank look. "Uhm... you may, Ib," he said, smiling lightly at her. "I think it's time we got going, this place is starting to get to me, I think," he stated, grabbing his rose from the jar and tucking back into his coat, taking the door knob into his hand and twisting it, pulling the door open.

[I Are Cat]

The door opened into a long hallway. Remembering the hands Ib tried to stick as close to the middle as possible. She gripped her tiny hand around his. She wasnt as scared now that Garry was here. Sure he was a stranger but it was still better than being alone. The hallway turned into a small room at the end. The only way through was behind a large statue. One that was refusing to move or budge. It was creepy. It was headless and wore a draping red gown. Immediately her thoughts flashed back to that of the painting of the lady in red.

[Mellow]

Garry gazed down the long hallway, Ib's hand in his. His face was wearing that same blank expression of unrivaled determination. That low growl also began to emanate from his throat, remembering the jostling experience he had when he last stepped through the hallway. "Let's go, Ib," he said, stepping his foot into the hallway and pushing through, trying his best to ignore the black hands wiggling about from the walls. Once they were both safely down the hallway, he took a deep breath of relief, smiling again. "That turned out well," he said, hoping to give Ib some reassurance. He noticed the statue in the way. "This is just in the way, let me get this out of the way for us," he said, gently letting go of Ib's hand temporarily, pushing the statue to this side and taking Ib's hand again. "Shall we go?" He asked, smiling again.

[I Are Cat]

Ib nodded allowing him to go in front of her. Were the walls growing closer? The two of them could barely fit in the hallway now. "Garry...Why are the walls getting smaller?" she asked squeezing his hand she could feel herself beginning to panic as the black hands began to slither out. There was no possible way of avoiding them.

[Mellow]

Garry quickly noticed the hand slithering out of the wall, and without hesitating, he opened the door and pushed Ib through. One hands, however, managed to pluck several of the petals from his rose because of this, several cuts opening up on various parts of Garry's body. He winced a bit, grabbing his arm and hurrying through the door, slamming it behind without warning. He pulled his rose from his coat, seeing that most of the petals had disappeared yet again. He sighed, looking to Ib and giving her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry... I'm fine," he stated, pausing for a few moments before looking this new room over. He noticed a book on a desk in a distant corner. "Uhm... is that a coloring book?"

[I Are Cat]

Ib slipped her hand out of Garrys and walked over to the table picking up the coloring book. The cover itself was horrifying and demented. She didn't even want to peek at the pages. "Garry, I dont think we should open it." She said fearfully. Though she was curious. She gave him a questioning look. "Should we? It could help!" She offered. The need to open it was quickly overgrowing the fear of what it might contain.

[Mellow]

Garry took the book from her hands. "I'll read it, Ib. It might have something important in it," he said. He looked at the cover. "Careless Carrie and the Galette des Rois," he read from the cover. He paused, staring at it blankly for a moment. He opened the book, moving his eyes over the pages. There were characters drawn in crayon on the pages, a girl in pink and other in blue, with two unimportant looking girls in brown in the back. "Happy birthday!" Said all of the girls. "Thanks, guys," said the girl in blue. "For your special day, we made a Galette des Rois!" Said the girl in pink. "What's that?" Asked the girl in blue. "There's a coin in this pie... and if you eat the slice with the coin in it then you'll be a happy person!" Exclaimed the girl in pink. "That sounds like fun!" The girl in blue responded. "Doesn't it?" Said the girl in pink, retrieving a knife to cut the pie. "Okay, let's divide it up!" She said, cutting the pie into four slices. "Now pick the slice you want!" The girl in pink told the others. "Let's eat!!" Exclaimed all of the girls. "Nom, munch... Aah!" Said the girl in blue. "What is it?" Asked the girl in pink. "I think I just... swallowed something hard!" Exclaimed the girl in blue, excitedly. "Ahaha! Oh, Carrie!" Said the girl in pink. "It must of been the coin!" One of the other girls added. "What do I do...?" Carrie asked. "It's fine, the coin's small! Well, I'll clean this up now!" Said the girl in pink. The girl and pink picked the table up, going into the other room. An older woman with pink hair stood there. "What's wrong, mom?" Asked the girl in pink. "Have you seen the key to the study?" Asked her mother. "To the study?" Asked the girl. "It's always right here on this tabl...Huh? It's the coin... The coin that should've... been put in the pie... Could it be that..." The girl dragged on. "Where could it have gone... Oh, my dear will be so upset..." Said the woman, worried. "What do I... do..." The girl dragged on again. The knife from her plate fell on the ground, clanking loudly. She picked the knife up. "Looks like I was just as careless as Carrie..." Said the girl. And then there was red crayon everywhere. Garry closed the book, setting it aside. "Uhm..." Before he could continue, there was a clank that came from the red door in the room. "It... unlocked the door," stated Garry, still taking in what he had read from the book.