2020-02-09 - Tarot of Terror

Finch's eyes slit open slowly. She was on a break at work, sitting under one of the big old trees on the grounds of Branch and Bole, sipping hot cocoa from a thermos, and pondering what to bring her father for a housewarming gift. Would a cactus be too on-the-nose for the prickly Ruiz? Or offensive since he's Mexican? Dammit, why are these things so difficult?

She startles as she realizes she is not where she should be, and somewhere she doesn't recognize. "What the FUCK!?" she blurts out. Yep, definitely de la Vega's kid. She scrambles to her feet, woozily, and looks around through blurry eyes, waiting for them to focus properly. Table. Tarot Cards. Chairs. Placard. Iggy. Other people. Wait...."IGGY!?" she moves to her boyfriend to shake him fully awake.

There she was, just a walking down the street singing, do waa ditty ditty dum dit- splat.

Tara opens one eye.. laid up on a floor all catty wompus with her knees bent to one side and her body splayed out. "What a wonderful night to have a curse..." She murmurs, sitting up, rubbing her face with both hands to look around at a bunch of super unfamiliar stuff to what she was seeing moments ago.

"Hi." Waving to the peoples, all of whom also are waking up. Shared visions! She grins despite the awkwardness of the whole ''not where I'm suppose to be'' experience and pops up.. rolls up reall.. onto her knees, then up onto her feet. Looking at tarot cards, chairs, placard.. "Play the game to leave the room... It's like human mousetrap!"

Ignacio murmurs, "Cinco minutos más ..." It's that feeling or the voice or the shift in everything that has him drawing a deep breath and flashing his eyes open at the imperatives. His hand finds her shoulder and asks, "Dove?" And then blinks realizing this is not their house and her grandmother is not here. He acknowledges this by saying "Not Dove." Good job, Iggy. This is why he's the perceptive one. His hand gives her shoulder a squeeze and tries to assess that she's ot injured and then gets a look at the room and the people. "Oh. Great. Jumanji meets Haunting in Connecticut. I love this place already." With Finch's help he peels his ass off the floor and says "well at least I have pants this time. Let's... Let's take a deep breath and not panic. Step A. Hi, how are we otherwise? Is anyone hurt?"

Sparrow wants more sleep. Ugh. Was the hotel bed really that comfortable that her own bed seems so unforgiving now? It takes her a few seconds--definitely helped along by Finch's exclamation--to realize that she's not actually in her bed anymore. What should be panic is, instead, irritated resignation, a heavy sigh as she closes her eyes and rolls onto her back. Really, Gray Harbor? she thinks to herself. Couldn't give me a day to rest? The (definitely not natural) blonde pushes up into a sitting position, offering a sympathetic smile toward Finch and Iggy, then rises from there to her feet. Bare feet. Black leggings. And oversized pale pink tee shirt which reads PLEEEEEEEASE in oversized letters across the front. Definitely dressed for an unfortunately interrupted naptime.

"My favorite," she quips dryly to Tara at those last words. What follows seems to be directed at the Dream itself, up at the ceiling, though it's just as flat in tone. "Love having expectations thrust upon me. New rules to break." If she weren't so sleepy still, she might even flip the nothing off. She doesn't. Instead, she drops her butt down into one of those chairs and, unless stopped, reaches for the cards, intended to snag the incomplete deck in full unless stopped.

Aidan blinks, brow furrowed. Was he asleep? It kind of feels like he wasn't, but on the other hand, this feels like waking up. He lifts himself up onto his forearms and looks around; it takes a moment or so before the penny drops. "Wait, what? ...oh. Hi." A glance toward the ceiling, and he notes with slight hope, "Well, nothing's trying to kill us yet, at least? Maybe it's just the Veil Series of Poker?"

Sitting up the rest of the way, he notices he's got the last quarter or so of a pop-tart in one hand still, which at least confirms what he thought he was doing. He pushes up to his feet and moves over toward the table, to take a look at the cards, though he won't interfere with Sparrow taking them. He's wearing boots, red jeans, and a sparkly black tank top under a fuzzy white hoodie with a polar bear's head for the hood; probably was indoors, since he's also barefoot. "I'm not hurt," he assures Iggy, glancing at the others, "You guys? Also hi, I'm Aidan."

"I'm fine I think, a little groggy. Feel like I was drugged or something," Finch grumbles to Ignacio as she helps him to his feet. She's in her work coveralls over sweater and jeans because it's freaking cold climbing trees in the dead of winter. She helps him over to the table and scowls. "Tarot isn't really a game is it?" she asks, confused. "I mean, how do you play it?" She's not an expert on that, clearly.

The placard changes and answers her question and she frowns. "Well, I guess that's that." She pulls out a chair and sits down, looking for Ig to join her. "I'm Finch." Introductions seem to be in order.

Sparrow tries to take the deck, but the cards don't budge. Not even the top card. When she flops back into her seat, empty-handed, she angles a shallow smile toward Aidan and chirps, "No Nothing," at him which sounds like bad grammar but might be a reference to the current lack of looming world-eating storms. "Like being able to hear your words, but kinda miss the music." Her smile grows at Finch's introduction, as she offers, "Sparrow," then notes, "That's not a full deck. Might be just the majors, but." Well, they saw. She couldn't get 'em to move. She gestures with her right hand toward the pile, inviting someone else to give a go. "Veil Poker with tarot cards sounds a little high stakes for, uh. Whatever time this is."

"Oh, I know! Mine too!" Tara says to Sparrow, her own admission completely undry. It is sopping wet with honesty and fueled by her entirely too big grin as she seats herself at one of the empty chairs around the mohogany table. She's wearing a drab green jacket, bright white shirt with a rainbow stripe across the chest, and cargo pants over ratty sneakers. For reference and such!

"I don't know how to play the Tarot game, but in Human Mousetrap, it's not exactly a team sport... so I hope it's not really that." Thankfully the rules appear, kind of. They look like rules.

Tara is busy kneeling down to run her hand along the side of the table, "How long have you been here?" Blinking owlishly, "Fine, don't say anything... see if I care." Perking. "Oh, Tara. I'm Tara." waving her hands, pointing down at herself.

"Tara."

Ignacio makes his way, limp and all, to the table and sits watching Sparrow, the cards, and the change of the situation. As there's introductions going around he offers a hand in greeting to Finch whom he sits down next to and says "Hi. I'm Ignacio." The smart ass, but hey if it makes her laugh or roll her eyes and sigh that's one step away from distress. Looking to Aidan he tilts his head with recognition, "You're the guy who works down on the boardwalk. I met you. I worked for Tobin." Okay memory jogged. His hand drops to Finch's arm giving it a squeeze either in the 'I'm okay, you're okay, or we're going to clear the achievements on this' sort of way. Looking to Tara he says, "Just woke up. My guess is forever or not long." Looking to Sparrow he shrugs, "You want to do the honors?" She is closest.

Aidan gives Sparrow a sudden brilliant smile at the remark, as if 'where I've seen her' just slotted into place and lit things up. "You're the werewolf! Except your hair changed. This is good too. And I could still sing for you but it wouldn't quite be the same and I think everyone might ask me to stop." And no Nothing is definitely another mark in favour of this place, for now. Iggy's identification of previous-meeting gets a finger pointed at him. "Right! And you were in the cooking class, and that meeting the other day," to Finch, and then Tara, "but I don't think I met you before. Heya." The fact that she's chatting to the table gets a tiny tilt of the head, but the expression is more like another, much fainter sort of recognition than anything else.

Well, the cards didn't seem to want Sparrow picking them up, and he's maybe second closest, or at least has the longest arms. "...not a full deck. Yeah, okay. Also there aren't any chips or anything so...?" He pops the last of the pop-tart into his mouth to get it out of the way, and flips the top card. It declares itself The Thorny Rose, and the art is very definitely going for a Gothic-Victorian sort of vibe, all in black and white. There's a single rose, the stem white and petals black, with painful-looking thorns that are dripping... something. Hard to tell just what, without any colour. Could be blood. Could be poison. Could just be water! Aidan looks at it, then at the others. "...okay. It's good if they're not reversed, right?"

Finch elbows Ignacio for introducing himself to her and retorts, "Don't tell my boyfriend but you're kind of hot. Don't get dead, ok?" She snorts at Aidan. "Yeah, I didn't burn down the kitchen in cooking class, so miracles are definitely possible in daily life." As Aidan reaches for the first card she presses her lips together in a tight line, watching intently. She peers at the card curiously. "Aren't they supposed to be like priests and moons and shit? What is this?" Then the thorn maze crops up and she grimaces. "Well fuck. Ig, you stick right with me, ok? This might be like the fucking footsteps in the snow shit." She heads in carefully. She extends her spirit sense, fingers moving like a puppeteer to try to wither any thorns too close to the path as they go.

Ignacio reviews the card and says "It doesn't say everyone. I think maybe send a scout and see what we find. Anyone else here able to network thoughts cause I can work as a fair transmitter and try to build us a map." He pauses and looks down and back up admitting, "I don't think we want the minimally abled guy doing the scouting." He looks over to Finch and winks at the compliment. He pushes himself up and glad for the brace today. "Pajarito there is not a time I ain't wit'chus." That thick New York rolls off his tongue as he takes a deep breath looking at teh challenge. "Right. Well. Everyone's got to be different. Why not the cards?"

Tara is still leaning down near the edge of the table, despite its overt ignoring her, until someone finally picks up the deck and flips a card. One finger pushes up against the wood finish, "Shhhh games on.." Rising up from her leaning to stare at the desidedly victorian artwork, "Is that goooo.............d?" Watching thorny walls erect themselves all about them. "Oh... So it /is/ human mousetrap!" Nailed it.

She stands up from her chair and peers down the path, glancing over at wiggly fingers Finch with a big grin, and then back up the lane now mostly clear of thornes. "It's like you're moving pieces out of the way." She /did/ say it wasn't a team sport, but it's still a game... That does not mean she doesn't want to win!

Tara waits half a second, then runs like a bat of hell, DIRECTLY into a thorne wall.

Like she was aimming for it.

It's really kind of sad.

(Crushing victory for Walls of Thorns.)

Finch moves with sure steps into the maze of thorns, and whenever some get too near the path they are on, she withers them to protect Ignacio and the others. Tara clearly hasn't realized that staying on the path is best though. Ouch.

(Spirit: Crushing Victory for Finch, Athletics: Victory for Finch.)

"Always down to be serenaded," Sparrow croons, even if that low-lidded look she angles Aidan's way looks a little sleepier than flirtatious. If she's a werewolf? She's a very lazy one today. Mostly. When he reaches for the deck, she cranes a bit, more curious than she'd like to admit. But yeah, Finch has it right. That didn't look like any card she's ever seen before, but hey. Divination decks stray from traditional archetypes all the time. You aren't that special, Veil Tarot. Except for maybe the whole coming immediately to life thing. Okay, that initial sprouting of hedges rising up so swiftly might spook her just a teensy bit, but she's got her unimpressed face back on when the placard changes up the rules on 'em.

Standing, there's a nod for Ignacio's suggestion... and maybe a lingering look for the spanish word he turns toward Finch. "Totally human mousetrap. And me without my machete." Beat. "Or paint." She starts toward the exit, meaning to just, ya know, go, barely pausing as she smiles crookedly at Tara and tells the stranger entirely sincerely, "I like your style." Cuz, clearly, she meant to do that. Between that and the withering? Team Rebel is scoring some points this round. Even if she's not doing much herself to contribute. (Victory x2)

Ignacio totally benefits on physical challenges for SOME REASON whenever Finch calls him her boyfriend. He also benefits from dragging that bad leg very very damn carefully through the maze. While he is going slow enough that he might die here and become the Decard Cain of the Roses he does, against reason, manage. One hand stays on the back of Finch's shoulder and the other trying not to smack into the spiked foliage. "Okay if anyone is lost shout out and I'll try to get you a map of the path. Staying together might- Oh shit, Tara you okay??""

(Marginal Victory for Ignacio the Everdoomed.)

Aidan grins at Sparrow's crooning, though he doesn't reply before flipping the card. "...okay, maybe not so good," he grants, watching the thorny hedge grow up around them. "...I can," he answers Ignacio, and starts in, looking slightly distracted, as though he's considering options for dealing with the hedge, or possibly having a minor internal argument, but Tara's run-in with the hedge wall snaps him out of it with a serious wince. "Ooh. You okay?" he asks, about in time with Ignacio. For all the distraction, though, he's apparently a damn thorn-ninja. Must be an accidental Zen thing. (Success on Athletics, Crushing Victory vs Thorns)

As they make their way further in, Finch can feel the Hedge getting crankyaround her. She grabs Iggy's hand and wills him to RUN in his mind, with the feeling of staying exactly in her footsteps, and a warm rush of her Spirit energy flows into him, bolstering him, improving his ability to do just that.. (Marginal Victory for Finch)

"Pretty sure we're being lead to our doom," Sparrow muses on the wake of that wailing, as the path they forge through the thorns seems to follow the flow of air through the maze. Sure, maybe it's a good sign. But maybe it's a subtle nudge into the maw of some waiting beast or vast fathomless cavern. She aims to keep pace with Finch and Iggy, following not too far behind, eyeing every angry corner like she's ready to bite it right back should those thorny edges make a grab for her person. Though probably not with her teeth. (Hedge Wins, but Sparrow retaliates with Marginal Fire)

"It has mouths!" Tara crawls backwards across the floor where she landed after colliding with the maze wall, she's got her some cuts and a frowny wide eyed stare, "I don't think it's the talkative kind, no! NO!" Kicking at nothing, specifically, but it gets the idea. More precisely, it gets both of her hands pointed out at it to wither the thorns away from her..

She's being bounced around in this maze like a pinball down a shoot, though.. barely avoiding being cut across the jaw by another thorn. "Oh my god, this is not as fun as Mousetrap at all!" It's hard to keep smiling in such grave circumstances. "STOP!" Smacking at a thorn. "I'm sorry, are you okay..." Immediately feeling bad. "Hold on let me see if I have some jerky or something... Jeez.. so hungry."

Ignacio used to be athletic before he was smashed apart like a cookie. He can feel the message, the glimmer and the undercurrent of the message that is Trust me. His hands tighten on Finch's shoulders and it is an effort to keep up and it's an act of things tearing apart and knitting back together as fast to make this happen. He answers Sparrow, "Yeah but won't we... be in... excellent company?" Wincing but making great progress he asks, "AIdan, you wanna pull a trick out and make the hedge disappear? I could really go for a bunny instead right now man. Or a burger... something. Tara if you need gum I got gum on me!" (Victory for Ignacio.)

It very definitely has mouths. And now it feels angry, too! Aidan's luck runs out as he manages to dodge a particularly large and as-yet unwithered thorn, loses his balance, and ends up falling into a maw that opens on the other side. He yelps in startled pain and tries to fight back in the way he's-- well, second best at, having already firmly informed himself that no, burning down the big wood-adjacent thing they're all surrounded by would probably be not his best ever plan. It doesn't work. Maybe a single leaf flutters to the ground, at best. (Victory for Hedge, Marginal victory for hedge vs spirit slashing)

Finch dives through the exit and lands on the floor back in the room they started in, with an 'oof'! Dragging Iggy behind her. When she gets her breath back, she flinches at the pain in her back and gets up, dusting herself off, checking on the Spanish Peacock for injuries. Her eyes move to the half door. "Well, looks like maybe one more card and we're out?

She moves back into her chair, and reaches to flip the next card.

"Don't feed it!" Sparrow objects at the prospect of jerky. Or burgers. "It'll grow like Audrey II and then literally eat us with all of its m--ow!" The bleach blonde yelps as waht might be considered a tongue lashes out at her undefended ankle, not one little lick of thought spent before the very end of that vine quickly catches fire and burns for all of a heartbeat. She doesn't need the wind to pick up to encourage her faster, shoulders hunched uncomfortably as she spills through the exit toward the table. Sure. It's got the malicious deck that did this to them, but... it's not actively trying to eat her. Yeah. She's gonna be right over her while she eyes her leggings. Torn. Motherfucker. "Could we maybe not do that again?" With a flick of a look toward the half-formed door, she wonders, maybe to Aidan, "Think we could just draw the rest on," even if she knows that the rules in one Dream don't necessarily apply to the next. Lips part to say something more, but Finch is already reaching for another card, so she braces instead.

Then they are back in their seats in the room, Tara reaching out as if she's going to push a long stick of jerky into something infront of her that is no longer there... Blinking... She turns around, even sliding up into the seat to get a glance back behind her, "Oh.. well I hope it's okay, it looked famished.." Why else would it try to eat them, right?

She plops back down and bites off a chunk of jerky which she chews absently, touching fingers to the cuts on her face with the a wincy expression trying real hard to make her not grin. "Why not, that turned out pretty okay, right? We lived, so it definitely could have been worse.. and look.." Holding up the stick in her hand, "I didn't even have to feed it, so I have a snack.. You really need to look at the bright side." Chewy, bity, swallows, "I can fix your stockings."

Aidan hisses sharply at the pain in his wrist, looking at it; it takes a second before it occurs to him they're sitting in the chairs again. And they have... half a door. "We could try," he replies to Sparrow, other hand wrapped around the now-scarred wrist, "or maybe just disintegrate it and go through that part?" They're all pretty skinny, right? Half a door-hole should do! But Finch is going for a card, and he watches that closely. Maybe they'll be really lucky and it'll be, like, The Open Portal? That totally sounds like a potential card.

Finch flips the card and sets it on the tabletop. It is titled The Bleeding Heart. The art style is in the same vein as the previous card. It is a human heart sitting on a platter with a knife in it. Blood, presumably, leaking from it. "Well that doesn't look promising," she mutters.

Another day, another mood, Sparrow might appreciate Tara's empathy for the carnivorous hedge maze. Right now? It just earns a look of 'are you serious?' from over by the table. "It could also maybe--" Again, like earlier, this seems angled toward some unseen something, toward the Dream itself. "--not do this to us at all!" She does not address the offer of stocking fixes with anything more than a flat look, though that's probably for the optimism. She gestures toward the card with its served up heart as black brows pitch up expectantly, like she's waiting on the optimist to find the silver lining on that. "I vote for disintegration."

Ignacio is happy to be out. but, then again, the game ain't over. Leaning on a chair he holds onto it this time in case and then at the card Finch's fingers flip face-up. "Huh. This isn't where we go Iggy write poetry and shit on bar napkins is it?" He looks around and reaches out for the card and lays his hand on it and passes to hovering over the heart. he frowns swallowing uncomfortably and says, "Hang on. Let's.. see if the wound is physical, or metaphysical. He frowns trying to just focus. "This might be an emotional wound I'm trying to get a sense of its history."

Ignacio blinks and shakes his head and steps back. "It is what it is. Glue it up." The mentalist gives it the all cleear announcing, "It's devoid of life and meaning. It's a meat puzzle. Have it."

While the others study and focus, Sparrow just... reaches out toward the platter and snags one of the bloody pieces. Sinking back into her seat, she says, "Hurts don't just heal up perfect," in quiet defiance of this whole exercise. It's icky, sure, that sliver of wet muscle in her fingers, but she's not putting it back. Or anywhere else, for that matter. Nor is she looking at anyone else, just staring off and waiting. Like a jerk.

Ignacio sits back in his chair and at best tells the group, "I think that piece is intended to go on top. I dunno. I deal with the other kind of broken hearts. I mean I'll agree, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't go to anything. Whoever broke it broke it..for like a reason and it seems to be going back on that purpose. If it gets us home though? Fine."

Aidan gives Sparrow a sidelong look when she steals that bit of heart-matter. He caught a glimpse of her little fire in the maze, so surely she knows that in their cases, they often do heal up perfect? Hm. But they don't really need all the pieces if they can heal it that way, so that test comes before any protest. "I'm gonna... see if we can just heal it?" he says, "I mean, it did say fix it." He reaches over to touch it, spreading his fingertips over various bits of the surface. There's room for others, too, if they're inclined. He just tries to focus.

Finch knows they can recreate something from just a small piece of it, so Sparrow's theft doesn't seem to upset her.

This wont do!

Even if she weren't in the middle of some crazy dream-challenge that required her to play a game, Tara would want to fix that poor unfortunate pots heart. "Who hurt you..." She murmurs, frowning sadly as she rises up from her seat to look down in the gooey mess that, yeah that's a human heart. She does glance up at Iggy who confirms there's nothing unusual, but really this is all very unusual isn't it? She quirks her lips to the side and looks to Sparrow, "Just because it doesn't heal perfect doesn't mean it doesn't still beat.. Scars are tissue.. how else would we know we survived?"

Her dingy brown eyes look back into the pot, "I'm sorry someone did this to you for some twisted, sick game.. It's perverse.. and it took you out of the cycle." She drops back onto her chair, propping her chin in her palms kind of like a whipped dog, "But I think we can put you back together."

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as she channels spirit energy in around her as she, too, stands up and extends her fingers over the top of the pot. "It might not be perfect, but it'll still be beautiful."

Sure, sure, the heart might heal perfectly, but it won't be quite the same. What was there will be gone, replaced with something new. Which might be what Tara's trying to say. The same idea from two sides. Sparrow is having none of it. Not right now. She lifts her hand and moves to pitch that bloody bit of heart right at Tara's head... But it never makes it. OOMPH! they fall into the snow and the projectile is gone. Vanished. Probably for the best.

It'll take the bloody-handed blonde to realize they're in her yard and now some other snow-covered nowhere, and when she does, there's offer of cocoa, blankets... shoes. Maybe even rides for people, if they need 'em. But she's not precisely her usually energetic chatty self at the moment. Grumbly, sleepy Sparrow's gonna have to do.

Finch lands on her back in the snow and groans. "I think we lost that one," she mutters, giving Sparrow a LOOK. "What were you thinking? You know what? Nevermind. Fucking Dreams." She gets up, brushes herself off, and goes to help Iggy up. "Come on, handsome guy. Let's head home. Don't tell my boyfriend I said that."