• Graded • The Maze: Maxine

[Pegasus]

1st Vhalar 718

Anthropos apteros for days
Walked whistling round and round the Maze,
Relying happily upon
His temperment for getting on.

Antrhopos Apteros no longer wished to rely on his temperament to get on. Whistling had ceased to give him pleasure and even the bush he'd sighted a hundred times was not entertaining any more.

"I'm doing my best!" complained the bush. "In fairness, it's difficult to be entertaining for any length of time when you're a bush. I'd like to see you try and do better you bloody ingrate!"

Tilting his head to the side, Anthropos Apteros considered what the bush had said.

"You are right, of course. You've always been a good friend to me, bush."

And with a flick of his wrist the bush burst into flames. As he saw it's scream and tasted the flames in front of him, Anthropos Apteros was pleased that, even as he turned it to ash, the bush was both a good friend still and very.. very entertaining.

But when it was gone? Then he was bored again and so, he started a new game.

"I mean, bottom line, innit? Everyone knows."
"Aye, Jim. They do."
"All the weird stuff 'appens 1st Vhalar."
"Aye, Jim. That's right."
"Why would anyone go doing anything risky 1st Vhalar?"
"I dunno, Jim. I really don't
"I wish you'd stop arguing with me..."

The 1st Vhalar 718.

Throughout the history of Scalvoris there was, it was fair to say - a lot of strangeness. However, 1st Vhalar was the trial where the really weird, weirder than usual, weirdest of all things happened. Most people on Scalvoris were extra cautious on 1st Vhalar.

But then. How should one react when an enormous, to the sky, wall of stone appears right in front of you? That was what happened on that particular 1st Vhalar to a group of people all around Scalvoris. A wall of stone with a gap in it - behind which was a choice - of course.

That was what Max saw that morning. "You know," the honey badger said to her. It was currently on the floor next to her, looking up at her with a slight, toothy, smile on its face. It's a maze. You need to get to the middle. Someone does, anyhow. Only when someone does will it stop sucking people in."

The badger looked at Max. There, in front of her on the floor was a notebook. It had the words "Little Storm" written on it. "That's you, then, Little Storm. Nice. I'm Beatrice. Beatrice the Badger" On the wall opposite her, there was hanging a small wooden disc, plain and unadorned, hanging on a simple white ribbon.

In her hand, there was a mirror.

Behind her, Max might notice, there was just blank, brick wall.

She had, at this point, only two choices. Left or right.

OOC Info

Welcome to the Seasonal for Vhalar 718 here on Scalvoris!
Things to note!

• The wooden disc is your Lucky Last reward. But see below
• It should be noted that Anthropos Apteros, the master of this game, has some strange ideas of what people will find rewarding and / or positive.
• I will post a plot post again this time next week: Sunday 14th October
• However, in between plot posts, you may have a conversation with your companion. If you wish to do that, post and just do a very short, start of a conversation post. Then, I'll edit in my reply and you can speak again. We can keep doing that all week and I'll guarantee at least one edit / reply a day. But it isn't necessary if you choose not to. If you do that remember that you must still meet all must do objectives. If you're asking a question and want an edited-in reply - please make it obvious in your post. Maybe an OOC?
• Please don't control the NPC

Objectives

!

Message from: Must-Do Objectives

The moment that you look in the mirror, you see one other person from this Maze. You can't interact with them in any way. It can be anyone, even someone you've never met before. Pick someone and put that in your next post. Choose a direction. Left or Right Whichever way you go, you'll see a flower. Notice it, and consider why that flower is meaningful to you IC. Make that part of your post. Whichever way you go, you'll notice something out of place. Name it, and consider what it might be doing there. Make that part of your post.

!	Message from: Can Do Objectives
	Sing a song or hum a tune Give your companion a nickname

[Max]

The ex-convict had quite literally just ridden into town that trial, ignorant to the superstitions surrounding the first of Vhalar. She was a one track mind, and though recent events had thrown her for a bit of a loop, the downtime between the present and near future endeavors was a dangerous one she predictably filled with old vices. Maxine hadn't counted on seeing the surface world again. She'd adjusted her mind and adapted her tactics to a world of dismal darkness and despair for sixty-eight years. She hadn't any delusions about actually surviving to see the end of that sentence. Her fate was what it was. Yet now that she'd done the impossible and won her freedom, assimilating back into the social world of Scalvoris was a daunting task. Maxine hadn't known where to start, but she made something of an attempt when she wandered into a familiar tavern to spend some breaks and nel.

Halfway through the trial she emerged, feet moving at more of a stagger than a stride and a half-smoked joint hanging from her lips. Maxine had always been a notorious booze hound long before she found herself in trouble with the Elements. One thing she never was was a light weight. Prison had altered that reality, and nearly two-hundred days without alcohol in her veins had set her tolerance back some. The cloud of rum on her mind was swiftly countered with the Ambrosia in her lungs. To be honest, Maxine hadn't a single clue where she was off to next. The rhythm on her steps elicited a carelessly, off-tune hum of a song long forgotten from her youth. Walking down the street of Scalvoris Town, she was starting to think it possible she over did it with the crossfade when a sky-height wall of stone appeared out of no where in her path.

Shit. How high am I?

Maxine looked around, turned in place, only to find a blank brick wall spontaneously planted behind her. The only way looked to be forward between the break in the stone wall. The choice to begin the journey through the break seemed made up for her. There was no opting out of the strangeness it seemed. The real decision, she reckoned, was which way to go next: left or right. The former resident of Slags Deep was preparing to thoughtlessly dive in when she heard a voice beside her. Her brow furrowed. For a trill she must've looked ridiculous, turning in place to search for the source of the words that apparently addressed her. After a moment of searching she spied the honey badger, evidently one that spoke and called herself Beatrice, staring patiently up at her.

Yep. I'm definitely high. So damn high. Not great.

Max looked from the honey badger, Beatrice, toward the maze, and then back at the speaking animal. She couldn't imagine it was healthy to entertain a hallucination. Then again, how much harm could it truly do? The smile suggested it was at least friendly enough.

"Little Storm," Maxine mused as she scooped up the notebook. "Only one person ever called me that." The hallucination bit was perhaps a solid assessment after all. Who but something originating from her own mind would know such a nickname? She tucked the notebook into a pocket. "Well, Beatrice," she continued to entertain the talking animal as she moved next to the strange wooden disc hanging before her, freeing it from the white ribbon. What exactly she expected to do with it, she hadn't a clue. "Are you going to come with me into this maze then?"

"Am I? Course I am, beautiful. I'm not just a Honey Badger, doll, I am your Honey Badger for the duration. So you betcha!" Beatrice smiled ~ which really just meant illustrating that she had a lot of teeth.

Her brow furrowed. She tucked the wooden disc into another pocket and took a long drag of Ambrosia. When she pulled the joint back from her lips, white vapor flowed steadily from her mouth and nose. "What lies in the middle anyways? Actually...how do you even know so much about it?"

"What lies in the middle?" Beatrice looked up at Max and nodded. "Clever girl. There's a dreamer in the middle and we just need to wake him. The Wingless Man is lost in his own mind again, and he's pulling us in." As for how Beatrice the Honey Badger knew so much? She shrugged. "I'm part of it. Part of him. Part of you. All myself. I don't know. I just know."

That's a trick question if it's all in your head to begin with, junkie.

"What do you think, B? Should I go left or right?"

"Which way you go doesn't matter, beautiful," Beatrice replied. "It'll make a difference what happens, but it won't get you to the middle faster. Pick a direction, go that way"

Maxine placed the joint back between her lips, realizing only then that a mirror had appeared in her free hand. She blinked down at it before raising it at eye level. It wasn't the scarred, emaciated reflection of the ex-convict that greeted Maxine on its surface. Instead there was a slightly familiar face...one she couldn't place right away. After a couple trills of concentration, memories of a life that felt long ago began to return to her.

The Rharnian from the drinking game? What was his name again? Patrick? What is this?

Maxine lowered the mirror and looked toward the break in the wall. Tentative steps took her forward until she stood at the intersection of her first decision. If the honey badger hallucination wasn't going to offer up a suggestion, the ex-convict would elect to merely choose at random. With a shrug she turned on her heel, pivoting to take the left entrance to the inexplicable maze. A few steps in she was brought to a pause. Rising from the ground in her path laid a small, ornate water fountain matching the stone of the maze itself. Water gently trickled from the spout into the basin with a soft lull. Surrounding the basin was a crowd of small, light blue flowers. Max reached out to brush the edges of her fingertips against the biennials.

Forget-Me-Nots

Max fought the urge to scoff in B's presence. The flowers were a fitting manifestation. She had been a fighter, an anarchist for change opposing the corruption of a threatening government. Then, just as swiftly as she rose, she plummeted into the depths of Slags Deep. No longer a mercenary. No longer a survivor from the cultist kidnappings. She'd become No One. A woman forgotten. That is, until she gave some no choice but to remember her. Another puff on Ambrosia, and the conscious decision to leave the flowers and the out-of-place fountain feeding them behind.

"Let's go then, Beatrice," Maxine said as she continued on through the maze. Mirror in one hand and the end of a joint in the other, she felt wholly prepared to take on whatever bizarre things her mind conjured up. If it really was still her drugged mind causing all this, that is. "I'll wake your dreamer up alright."

OOC

Questions for Beatrice: "Are you going to come with me into this maze then?", "What lies in the middle anyways?", "...how do you even know so much about it?", "What do you think, B? Should I go left or right?"

First edit made. You have discovered that Beatrice if flirty but helpful. Feel free to continue asking questions - add in your questions / conversation in the post and then, a summary in another tab or under here would be great, as that was really helpful - thanks!

[/quote]

[Pegasus]

1st Vhalar 718
Little Sister

"Where am I?" Metaphysics says
No question can be asked unless
It has an answer, so I can
Assume this maze has got a plan..

Antrhopos Apteros slumbered and in his slumbering he dared to dream. His dreams were of beauty and life, love and hope ~ or so he believed them to be. As the rip in reality caught the fevered dreams of the wingless man, it took them and it twisted, experimenting with each one. Science, after all, is an amoral creature and 'what happens if' is an emotionless question.

What happens if you take a mortal who is broken, emotionally, and expose him to the depths of Emea?

Thou shall not fall

... and thus, Antrhopos Apteros was born

What happens if that mortal watches the torture of the one person above all others who he loves?

Thou shall not fear

... and then, his sister joined him

What happens if that mortal is pushed beyond every limit he believes he has and then left, alone and afraid?

Thou shall not die

.But soon, they were both no more...

What happens if his love was so strong that he comes back and exacts vengeance?

Thou shall not kill

... ...

"I think he killed himself, you know"
"Aye,"
"I don't understand though. Why kill her, too?"
"It doesn't make sense"
"She visited him every trial, too"
"Without fail"
"Bloody 1st Vhalar"

The two of them walked, the woman and the honey badger and, as they did Max hear echoes of a voice - whispers which were not distinguishable, not clearly made out at all.

"It's spooky, this place," said Beatrice, They went left and they came across some strange flowers. Forget-me-not, symbolic to Max but it was the water fountain which was really intriguing. It certainly didn't belong here and, as the two of them gazed on it, it .. flickered in and out of reality, juddering and stuttering.

And in the water of the fountain, Max saw a maze. It was endless and impossible, it ran from one end of the world to the other and met itself where it had started. In the middle of it was ... whatever home looked like to her. That place where comfort and warmth and acceptance lived.

What did home look like?

Still, they walked and then, turning a corner as mazes are wont to do there stood a statue. Made from cut crystal, it seemed, it was exquisite and the Vhalar sun reflected on it, creating a sort of rainbow of colours within it, shifting and swirling in constant change. A beautiful cacophony of shades and hues - but those colours swirled out and around and created a solid wall beyond which they may not - as yet - pass.

The statue was of a being - neither male nor female, nor of any one race, but it held one hand out, as though expecting something specific. Then, from the statue itself came a soft and whispered voice - much like the one they'd been hearing already. Now that they could make out the words, it was a child's voice. A young girl, high pitched and lilting.

"The winding, twisting maze ahead.
Has dangers that could make you dead.
Rewards to make a miser weep
Or answers from the dreamers sleep.

You know that you travel to the middle
To get closer to it, tell me a riddle
If puzzles and riddles are not your path
Tell me a joke, to make me laugh.

If neither of these is meant for me,
Then, I give you option three!
Put your mirror in my hand
And in your way, I no more stand
"

B looked at Max and sighed. "Ok. So poor poets and pretty statues. You any good at riddles or jokes?"


Rewards Achieved Last Round

1. All Must Do Objectives from Round 1 met.
   • I spy with my little eye Someone beginning with P! Patrick is through your mirror. This will have an impact of some kind on one of you.
   • I follow directions You went left! The directions you take will have an impact on a final reward.
   • Wake up and smell the flowers Forget me nots chosen! Reward at the end of the thread.
   • That looks odd! A water fountain! Reward at the end of the thread
2. All Can Do Objectives from Round 1 met.
   • Ho Hum! Max chose to hum. Positive consequence at the end of the thread.
   • Is this friendship? I think so! Nickname given! Positive consequence at the end of the thread!

OOC Info

Things to note!

• I will post a plot post again this time next week: Sunday 21st October
• However, in between plot posts, you may have a conversation with your companion - this can be done once a day for as many of the days as you wish.
• You may also ask the statue up to 3 questions. These can be all in one post or one, then another
• Please don't control the NPC

Objectives

!	Message from: Must-Do Objectives
	Answer the statue (joke, riddle, hand over the mirror, something else...) Describe the "home" that you see at the middle of the maze

!	Message from: Can Do Objectives
	Tell your companion a story as you walk

[Max]

"Spooky," Max repeated Beatrice's assessment of the maze with a light laugh. "Yeah. That's one way to put it." She wasn't entirely sure if the honey badger hallucination hearing the same muddled, bodiless voices surrounding them made her feel any less crazy. The flicker of the flowers and the fountain out of existence wasn't helpful in that endeavor either. What was, however, was the brief image of a maze on the surface of the fountain water before it vanished. For all intents and purposes, it was an impossible map if it was any map at all to the puzzle Max had been thrust into. Around and around it went, twisting and turning in its bizarre pattern until it ran into its own middle. She expected a symbol or apparition of a man to exist there. Something to denote the sleeper that the honey badger had promised waited for her in some way. Instead Maxine found something else entirely. The image in the middle flickered. Rather than a place, she saw a face.

Chrien.

The storm Immortal peered up at Maxine from the surface of the water. Fearsome with scars decorating her scaly frame, she reached toward her with a beckoning hand that could never break through the liquid canvas. As quickly as her Immortal mother appeared, she was gone. Gone with the fountain. Gone with the Forget-Me-Nots. Only Beatrice and the lengthy journey ahead remained. The marked woman shook her head and continued alongside her animal companion. Conversing with the talking animal was unsettling enough. She supposed that the sooner she accepted this new state of existence, the better off she'd be though.

"Part of it, part of him, and part of me," Maxine echoed Beatrice's words from earlier thoughtfully. "You're awfully...optimistic for something part of me." Her eyes glanced down at the badger skeptically before they trained themselves back to the route ahead. "I just got you of prison, you know. Level Seven of Slags Deep. They called it The Beneath. It was like this in a way. A maze. It was darker though. You couldn't see a damned thing down there." Constantly, she was scanning their path ahead in case anything else decided to manifest from thin air. "It didn't start off so nice as this one. The gates came down. The firelight went out. Then the killing and the running started." She shook her head fervidly when she realized her mind was drifting back to the vivid memory of The Run. It felt like yester-trial. Had it really been so long ago?

On and on they walked until the next out-of-place object rose from the center of their path. The crystal statue stood tall, reflecting vibrant sunlight in every which direction to bathe its domain in glittering color. It provided the most beautiful obstacle to stand in Maxine's way yet, and most notably, one too stunning to desire to crush. Max came to a halt beneath the statue. She exchanged a glance with the honey badger as if to ask "now what?" before her question was answered by the art piece itself. She blinked up at the crystal speaker. Did everything speak here that shouldn't?

Another little girl serving me riddles. Fan-fucking-tastic.

When the childish voice of the statue finished its poetic direction, Maxine frowned. Of course it couldn't have been a nice, strolling maze but one evidently filled with mortal peril. It wasn't exactly a new concept the woman. She'd had a rough go of it as of late, but alas, the suggestion of wealth earned should she succeed in surviving the puzzle was enough to keep the foreboding feeling at bay. She stared up at the statue while Beatrice asked the inevitable. To her question, Maxine shook her head. She glanced down at the mirror she'd spied the Rharnian in and shrugged. Carelessly, she slipped the mirror into the statue's hand and took a couple steps back.

There. That was easy.


"Part of it," Max found herself repeating again. "Do me a favor, B. If that part of you that's part of it starts to sense that deadly danger the statue mentioned? Give me a heads up." All the was left to do was wait and see. At the very least, without the mirror, she neither had to look at her scarred, emaciated frame or the face of an acquaintance in danger for the time being.


"This Is Speech Text"|"These Are Thoughts"

[Pegasus]

1st Vhalar 718
The truest test is when we cannot,
when we cannot see...

If theologians are correct,
A Plan implies an Architect:
A God-built maze would be, I'm sure,
The Universe in miniature.....

Anthropos Apteros had once loved. Once, he had even had faith and hope. He had danced, barefoot in the grass. His life had been beautiful and he had taken if for granted. Oh so very much for granted. For every circumstance which life threw at him, he took and he did not give up. He had been, once, resilient and strong.

Once

As a child, he and his sister had been orphaned. He had stood and held her as they watched their home burn.

We walk the narrow path,
Beneath the smoking skies

... the smoke and flames had danced into the sky and they were alone

It had been Cylus, he remembered. Yet the flames had lit up the small village where they lived

Sometimes, you can barely tell the difference
between darkness
between darkness and light

... he had needed to stay strong for her.

When they took her, he looked for her, never losing sight of his goal. Saving her.

Do you have faith
in what we believe?

.But when he found her, he discovered the truth...

And so, he watched them as they hurt then killed her and, as he too died, he made a vow

The truest test is when we cannot
When we cannot see

Screaming, he began to dream..
and his tears fell like rain

"Right, well, there's no point to hanging around here"
"Nope,"
"Open and shut case, I'd say"
"Aye"
"Does he have any family?"
"Nope"
"Then, we burn him. Come on, lets get on"

They moved together and Max had told a story. Of prison. The badger with her watched her and then, softly, spoke. "How did you get out, and who did you leave behind to do it?" It seemed to be an honest question, not sarcastic nor amused. As the question was asked, a sense of anticipation tingled in the air.

But that was just that the rain was about to start. Surely?

Suddenly, the rain began to pour and it was not the kind of rain that one could ignore. A torrent began to fall and, within half a bit everyone in the Maze was soaked to the skin. Ripples spread out as raindrops fell on the quickly-soaked floor. It happened as soon as the statue finished speaking, as though the statue itself had been a catalyst.

Or maybe, it was just a coincidence.

Either way, the statue spoke. In a not very good rhyme, in fairness. But it gave them a choice. Each of them made the choice and, having made it, it had consequences. Some seen, some not.

The choice Max made was to give the mirror and the statue's head moved, tilting slightly to the side.

"A choice is made! Thank you! You've set me free!"

Giggles filled the air as the statue disappeared. In its place, where it had been was a single crystal shaped like a star. It would be the kind of thing that would go on a necklace. "You gonna take that with you?", the badger asked.

As the statue faded from view, the next step of the Maze became apparent. Three choices now - left, right or straight ahead.

And there, in the middle of each possible direction, sitting on a table, was an item.

• To the left there was a compass
• To the right there was a black feather
• Straight ahead there was a small, stuffed toy bunny

The table blocked the way and, until an item was chosen, no movement was happening.

"Which way are we going then?", her companion asked.

Rewards Achieved Last Round

1. All Must Do Objectives from Round 2 met.
   • Asked and answered! You gave the statue your mirror! This will have an impact of some kind on either you or Patrick.
   • Home Sweet Home Home Described. Consequence at the end of the thread.
   • All Can Do Objectives from Round 1 met.
     • Are you sitting comfortably?! Story told. Positive outcome at the end of the thread.

   OOC Info

   Things to note!

   • I will post a plot post again this time next week: Sunday 28th October
   • However, in between plot posts, you may have a conversation with your companion - this can be done once a day for as many of the days as you wish.
   • Please don't control the NPC

   Objectives

   !	Message from: Must-Do Objectives
   	Explicitly state whether you are picking up the crystal or not. Pick a direction - until you pick up the item, you will not be able to progress.

   !	Message from: Can Do Objectives
   	Describe the item you pick, in whichever direction you go.

[Pegasus]

Review!

Max

Overview

I love Maxine, and how you play her. She's such an honestly-played and fantastically rich and detailed pc. Love her. Truly, I love her. Sincere apologies for the delay on this (and the other) reviews!

Points

XP: 15 (not for magic)

Renown: 5

Loot

Mirror, book etc.

Knowledge

Detection: Trying to gather information from your surroundings.
Detection: Spotting a talking badger.
Discipline: Not freaking out when things seem utterly insane
Interrogation: Questioning a talking badger....
Investigation: Trying to make sense of nonsensical situations.
Resistance: Functioning when ... barely functioning.
Resistance: Going dry can make you less tolerant to alcohol.