#shsllotus

After that exploration in the forest going poorly (though they all lived so they can’t complain) Matías headed for the guesthouse first to put some thoughts in order (and clean his sneakers of mud apparently, he realized) but soon enough, he headed to the new area. He’s still in ‘please give me something to do @god’ sort of mood, as his own way to dealing with high levels of stress, and in face of not having a flashlight anymore, he can’t head back to the forest just yet. So, exploring and investigating the new area it is. But just as he enters the ski lift cabin that gives them all access to the new area, he realized...

Is that all of the clothes he gave Lotus back where he put it?

Really.

Why won’t this woman wear some more clothes!? Normally, he’d be the last to complain about something like that, just look at him really, but when he saw that she walked around shoeless through the snow it was a bit Too Much. Matías concern just started to rise and he grabbed all of these things again - hat, coat, socks, shoes with a plus gloves and scarf now - and he went to look after Lotus. Not being particularly inclined to sit still for now, he headed for the hiking trail, fortunately finding the one he was looking for just at the start of it.

“Heeey, Lotus!”

As he attempted to call out her attention, he jogged up to her stopping right in front of her - and I really really hope she’s wearing Some shoes or this is going to be ridiculous -  and he smiled some.

“Hey, can ya do me a favour?”

The garden shelter, for lack of a better phrase, was quite beautiful. Tatsuya admired the plants and vegetables growing in neat, organized rows around him as he walked through the area. It smelled like a conglomerate of perfume and soil and everything else that seemed to come with open garden areas. For a while, he eyes the temperature panel curiously. Tatsuya eventually reaches out to try and change the temperature on the panel from Cool to Warm. After he’s had his fun, he goes to examine the various flowers sitting neatly in rows.

He catches the sound of light footsteps nearby, but doesn’t seem to flinch or look up in order to react to them. Rather, he continues to stroke the leaves of the various plants he is admiring before sharply plucking the unfortunate appendage in his fingers off of its home. He smiles and speaks without looking up at the figure now nearby.

“Plants are weird, don’t you think? They just...sit there and grow. You can do whatever you want to them, even kill them, and they just keep trying to do the same thing...Haha. And then they die in the end anyways after they’ve grown all the blooms they can.”

He pauses and looks up.

Lotus rummages through the bundle of clothing...

Lotus looks thoroughly through the papers and examines the map...

The map, at first, seems a little overwhelming. But the more you look at it, the more certain places begin to seem familiar and you realize this is a map of the island you’re on.

You can just about read certain parts but it’s more of a vague shape than a real map, having clearly been drawn by somebody. As such, you have no idea just how complete it is. There’s a ‘target’ spot drawn and written in red as well as dots on the map that ‘must be destroyed’. You can see the vague outlines of mountains and what you presume to be the Chalk Woods. As well as some other landmarks, some recognizable, others not so much, including a darkened part near some mountains and some long lines here and there.

Lotus peels the note off the floor before having a look at it...

Unfortunately for her, it’s all in Japanese. It doesn’t seem to be a stream of sentences, more just a list of names. And these names are very familiar indeed. They’re the names of people on this island... although it seems burned off towards the end... even if you try to read what seems like a last name, you can’t quite see it clearly...

Madoka Tanaka

Kaizou Anzai

Ayaka Tamura

Tori Jones

Tsuneko Shiga

Lewis Coley

Ryoka Umehara

Tatsuya Ryuuko

Ji-hyun Hwan

...

As soon as Lotus enters, the door shuts behind her and the room goes completely black for a second. A gentle voice says ‘loading, loading’ and then, after a few second ‘complete’.

[♫♫♫♫]

The room comes back to life and suddenly, it appears to be a hospital. It starts with the sound of an EKG machine. The tempo starts normal but then it begins to spike, going very slowly, glitching and then speeding up in a random fashion, make the noises scratchy and out of place. It begins to get louder, and other noises join in, beeps and the sounds of rattling wheels, panicked voices of doctors and nurses.

‘We’re losing him!’

‘Hurry up!’

‘This is an emergency!’

The room begins to get colder and colder, to the point where it’s almost difficult to even stand on the floor. The room then begins to somehow spin, the hospital imagery going around in a blur as the smell of alcohol, strong strong alcohol almost makes her gag. The hospital noises are still ringing in her head but noises that don’t fit the scene begin to join in, whistles and catcalls. Compliments she never asked for. Compliments that demean her strength. She can’t find the source. There’s no one else in the room, after all. But the comments come from every direction, every time she turns her head, she sees nothing and it comes from another way. Even if she presses her hands over her ears, it still echoes in her brain. Figures begin to appear towards her, their jeering ‘praise’ getting louder, their hands coming closer, but even if she swipes at them, they’re not real and nothing happens. Her strength is useless here. Every time she fails at hurting them, they laugh at her.

The hospital staff voices seem to get louder, the sounds of ‘we’re losing him’, in particular, and with it, the stench of chemicals, invading her space, invading her senses.