[IC] Eldritch Girls Occult

[Shamitako]

The three girls stepped out of the car, the older man who served as Felicity's driver told them not to worry about their luggage and led them up to the door of Felicity's imposing mansion. There was something unnatural about it, something eerie, exactly what would be expected of an author who wrote Lovecraftian horror stories and lived deep in a forest. The inside of the house was dark, lit sparsely by dull red lights, with not a single window un-curtained. Strange paintings lined the walls, and even stranger sculptures were displayed on pedestals that seemed to be placed at random.

 

The driver led the girls to the dining room, which was much better lit than the rest of the house thanks to a chandelier. He directed them to sit anywhere they liked around the large table, then left them alone in the room, the heavy door shutting with a resounding finality. It felt very much like they were never meant to leave the room, and perhaps this would be the last room they experienced in this world.

 

A long enough time passed for the waiting silence between them to grow uncomfortable, but before they could turn to small talk, a woman entered the room. She had jet black hair that fell in a loose tangle of curls, large brown eyes behind round, wire-frame glasses, and an ever-so-slightly crooked nose. Though her hair was kept up at conventions, she was still easily recognizable as the mansion's proprietor, Felicity Whateley. The outfit she was wearing didn't seem to make much sense. A yellow bikini top, a knee-length blue and white pleated skirt, long red silk gloves, and a single white gym sock. It was by far the most discordant thing any of them had ever seen, and completely shattered the composed author image that Felicity had held before.

 

This stunningly strange woman that had stolen the face of the girls' favorite author made her way to the table and seemed to deliberate over which chair to sit in, before casting one aside entirely and sitting on the table at its place. She turned to the girl who had the honor of sitting in the chair next to her, Angela, and asked a question, "How do you plan to die?" Her tone was completely flat and inscrutable.

 

Without awaiting an answer, she jumped down from the table, spun around and did a short curtsy towards her guests at the table. "I'm Emma Carol, known by my pen name, Felicity Whateley, welcome to my humblest of humble abodes." She introduced herself in a cheery tone. One couldn't help but wonder if she was a little tipsy or high.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Angela

 

Needless to say, Felicity’s place was what Angela would’ve expected from horror story author. Deep in the woods, check. Dark lighting, check. Creepy statues and paintings, check. And finally, the unnerving dread that resided as they waited for Felicity herself to appear.

 

Though, despite the fact that Angela felt unnerved, she didn’t really show it, considering she was currently dozing off in a heavy coat. Normally, she would’ve tried to stay awake and wait, but the excitement of heading out had kept her up almost all night yesterday, and the side effects had finally taken over her. It wasn’t too bad though. She was at least comfortable, and the place was silent enough…

 

“How do you plan to die?”

 

The sudden voice speaking directly next to her made Angela’s eyes snap open, the small girl nearly jumping out of her seat as she looked up at Felicity, or Emma Carol, as their actual name was. She already recognized her from the convention, since she wasn’t about to forget THAT anytime soon, but that wasn’t why she was staring.

 

It was the strange question, ‘How do you plan to die’. At first, she couldn’t help but think about what it meant. She never really planned HOW she would die, just knew that she would. It was then that she remembered the journal.

 

Right, assuming that the entire Otherworld was completely and truly real, then there was a good possibility that she was going to die. Guess she already had her answer for that question, huh?

 

“Hi, thanks for, er… Letting us come here” Angela replied, inwardly wincing at her own attempt at conversation. This was why she stuck inside, “I’m Angela Djurna. Big fan” she added, acting as if it wasn’t obvious that she was a big fan. She did go to that convention.
 

[Zetaark]

Lulu

 

The sight of the mansion that Felicity was in seemed fitting, considering her works. Both inside and out, the place felt like something out of a horror story, and with each step further inside, she grew just a bit more excited about what was to come. Not so much that it showed, but she certainly thought that what would come next would be worth the trip.

 

When Felicity finally arrived though...her appearance could technically be considered horrific in a certain light. What it did manage to do however was shatter the image of both the mansion and Felicity in Lulu's mind in one fell swoop. Her expression soured just a bit, but she decided to cast that off right when Felicity asked one of the other girls present a strange question.

 

Though not directed at her, she did think about the question briefly, but not enough to come up with a real answer. She would die when she died, the how didn't matter so much for her. Either way, right now, she wasn't dead, and was in the presence of one of her favorite authors, so the least she could do is introduce herself.

 

"Lulu Reyes. A pleasure." 

 

 

[Shamitako]

Felicity

 

"A big fan, yes." Felicity acknowledged Angela, "But you're more than just a fan of mine, you're a fan of what I represent. That's why I picked you." She gestured to all three girls, "All of you. All of you have a greater stake in this than just a mild interest, you want more. You want to know." Felicity took off her gloves, casting them to the floor. She then clapped her hands, and the driver came back in with a cart of food, mostly pizza. Felicity grabbed a plate and threw a couple slices on it, then pulled up the chair she'd previously cast aside and sat down next to Angela again. "Please, eat. You may not get another chance." She instructed.

 

Felicity seemed oddly nonchalant about the possibility of death, such that her eccentricity no longer seemed the result of narcotics, but rather the same unnerving air that permeated her home. Perhaps this was exactly the woman whose stories the three girls had come to adore. A woman who had looked into the beyond and lost herself to it. Was this what awaited them in the future?

[Zetaark]

Lulu

 

"Very well," she responds in a soft voice as she decides to take some of the food. Though she didn't mind pizza per say, its not what she would have preferred as a potential last meal. A seafood buffet would be much more to her liking. Sadly for her, there was none, so she had to make do, taking a few slices of pizza and breadsticks before moving back to her seat and eating.

 

"Good enough,"she mutters while eating a slice of pizza. It wasn't bad pizza by any means, but still not her preferred last meal. "Where's it from?"

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Angela

 

Unlike Lulu, Angela noticeably perked up upon seeing the cart of food, then quickly pushed her chair out to get some, grabbing just as much pizza as both Felicity and Lulu combined. She would've preferred something else as a 'last meal' herself, but hey, pizza was pizza, and judging by the fact that she was clearly devouring her share, it was clear that she didn't really mind.

[Shamitako]

Felicity

 

"Oh, it doesn't matter." Felicity brushed off Lulu's question, "Where are you from? You have any family? A boyfriend? Girlfriend? Any pets?" Felicity stuffed the remains of her pizza down her throat, the speed with which she downed it nearly as impressive as the amount of tomato sauce on her face. She wiped her face with a napkin and tossed some questions to the other two girls as well. "Do you enjoy your life? Do you have any hopes or dreams?" A pen materialized in her hand from seemingly thin air and she started writing furiously on the tablecloth. "What are you giving up?"

 

It took a moment for any of them to realize exactly what Felicity was writing. At first it seemed like a random collection of numbers, but to each a few numbers would jump out at them as not random, but specific dates that were important in their lives. While they were all still confused as to how and why Felicity knew the significance of each date, a list of names was added beside it, each one relevant to the date they were attached to.

[Twinwolf]

Arty had been quiet, only really speaking when spoken to. She was sort of in awe, for a while, simply going along with the others. This was it, she was meeting her idol, getting a chance to look into the unknown. She ate, she answered questions. She looked at the numbers Felicity was writing - her birthdate, the day she graduated elementary school, the first time she read a book on her own. Important dates of her life, things she was giving up. 

 

She had family, of course. No siblings, but a loving father - her mother had died a few years ago. That was who she would miss the most she thought. Friends, sure - 'adventuring' buddies, friends from school, her first boyfriend (and then first girlfriend), those names were there. It sort of hit her just what she would be giving up to go through with this. A pizza wasn't what she would like as a last meal, although it would suffice given it was actually her favorite food. She told herself though it wasn't a last meal - she was going to survive this. At least that's what she told herself. 

[Zetaark]

Lulu

 

Lulu half came to expect her question to not be answered in its intended way, though its not like she cared much about the answer anyhow. Where her last bit of pizza came from wasn't too important, though she still had to ask, if only for the sake of knowing. As Felicity began to write down a bunch of numbers, Lulu didn't have much of an idea of where this was going. When she noticed a few notable dates, she still had no idea, but was intrigued nonetheless. One of her birthdays, where she got one of Felicity's books as a gift from a relative, the day she started high school, the time she got asked out and shortly after dumped. The dates of those events, and the names of people who were involved were present, causing Lulu to raise an eyebrow to the author before her.

 

'I take it this is what she meant when she asked what we were giving up,' she thinks to herself, scanning over all the dates, but still remaining silent.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Angela

 

While Angela began to dig into her meal, it was clear that as the questions began to eat away at her appetite, eventually leaving the small girl to lean back into her seat, several slices of pizza left untouched. She answered the questions given to her straightly, but couldn't help but notice the dates Felicity was writing down, eyes widening slightly when she recognized some of the dates. Her birth date, the day she went to her first convention, the day when she got her dog... Each of them with the names of relevant people at the time. How she knew of those dates, much less the names, was beyond her. How long had she been watching them?

 

... Nevermind, that was not a train of thought she wanted to go down right now, not with how dark the mood seemed to become. At least or her.

[Shamitako]

Felicity

 

Felicity wasn't surprised at the silence her scribbling had caused. In fact she was pleased, it meant they were giving serious thought to what was happening.

 

She set down her pen and looked up at her guests. "You all seem to be rather big fans of mine, so I assume you've read The River's Librarian." As Felicity spoke, a spike slowly poked out from her eye. She remained utterly unflinching, is if she didn't even realize it was there. The spike split apart into six, each piece bending into the shape of a crab's leg. The appendages began to push against Felicity's face, pulling something out of her, yet she still didn't react. "Though I won't pretend all or even most of my works are grounded in reality, that one was based on a real event. In fact, the librarian was my sister." The legs pulled a strange fleshy mass out of Felicity's pupil, not unlike the body of a squid, but with wriggling feelers like those of a sea anemone sprouting all around the base where the legs attached instead of tentacles. "The book leaves what happened to Kel'th'gth ambiguous, but I've seen a lot of people correctly theorizing that it took the librarian's sister as a new host."

 

The crab-squid-anemone thing crawled down Felicity's arm and sat in her palm. It was extremely small, but still large enough to make one wonder how it fit inside Felicity's eye. "Girls, meet Kel'th'gth, the Otherworldly creature that reads memories as books. He's a knowledge Seeker, so he's a lot more benign than most you'll encounter. He's also why I won't be joining you in the Otherworld. He cannot protect me, and my bond with him would prevent me from acquiring a more powerful Symbiote." 

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Angela

 

Once the name "The River's Librarian" was spoken, Angela nodded. It was one of her favorite books that Felicity had written, and she wasn't afraid to admit that she had read through it multiple times. 

 

... Of course, that train of thought was quickly replaced by a surprised yelp as Angela jumped up from her chair and away from Felicity as a spike began to poke out of her eye, Angela's own eyes wide as she watched the... THING continue to push its way out of Felicity's face, having difficulty even paying attention to what Felicity was even saying. How someone could have a thing literally pulling itself out of their face and not even flinch was beyond Angela. But, if any doubts she had about this entire "Otherworld" shenanigans still lingered... Well, they were gone now, the proof currently in Felicity's palm.

 

If nothing else, at least Angela had theorized correctly on where "Kel'th'gth" had gone too.

 

Wordlessly, Angela fell back into her seat, practically sinking into it as she brought a hand to her head, "Wow" was all she could really say to this sight, with her brain still having to catch up with the sight. Even if she was told ahead of time (which she pretty much had been), this was... Extremely surprising, to put it lightly.

[Zetaark]

Lulu

 

"I...see," Lulu remarks as Felicity finishes her explanation, with the creature that came out of her eye now resting in her palm. Truthfully, seeing that thing come out of her eye was rather unnerving, but she wouldn't ever admit to it if it came up. Instead she simply watched with her eyes raised as the creature made its appearance. It was at that point that she realized that if they were going to the Otherworld, they may end up with something like that with them. As such, she starts staring at the creature, idly wondering what her own symbiote might be like.

 

"Will we get one of those also?"

[Twinwolf]

Arty

 

Arty stared. And stared. And then stared a little more, because that was... well it was the strangest, creepiest thing she'd seen in her short life. She'd read the books and it was like what she saw stepped straight off the pages. "...Uh, yeah, what she said. Also, do they all... do that?"

[Shamitako]

Felicity

 

Felicity chuckled. "That would be the idea." she answered, "Though, no, yours probably won't crawl out of your eyes. Kel'th'gth is very weak on his own, so he hides in me for protection. You'll be needed symbiotes that protect you, and you'll be the ones going inside them." She started scribbling on the table again, though this time it was to draw something rather than write it. The image she depicted was rather crude, but communicated the idea well enough, Felicity had drawn a sort of portal made out of a mix of spirals and odd symbols. "This is a rift, or as close as I can get, art isn't my strong suit." She explained, "The important thing to note is the symbols, which indicate that it's not naturally occurring, it's the result of a man-made ritual. I happen to know the ritual, and can therefore send you to the Otherworld."

 

Felicity had already given the girls an idea of what was to come, but she spelled it out now. "There are things you'll be losing if you don't come back, and you very well might not. But the Otherworld is an amazing discovery and it could be a threat to the entire world. Someone has to go." She gestured to the driver. "If you're willing to go through with this, Felix will show you to the showers. You're going to need to disrobe to go through, and the less of our world you have on you, the better chance you have at bonding with a symbiote, so a shower is the last thing you should do before you go." she smiled reassuringly, "No rush of course, this is a big decision. Feel free to stay here and mull it over. Eat as much as you want, there's plenty of spare rooms to sleep in, and I've got a large library of books, including my own, if you need reading material. The mere fact that you gave me your consideration means you're welcome in my home for as long as you like."

 

Felicity jumped from her seat, returning to the whimsical eccentric she'd been at the start of the meeting. "I'm hoping you girls will make the same decisions I wish I could, so I need to go prepare for the ritual. I hope to see you shortly."