theback-rooms

[theback-rooms]

[theback-rooms]

Hey folks, just wanted to let you know that since the original creative writing project on this blog kinda derailed, I'm going to be repurposing the blog for images of liminal spaces and The Backrooms. See you on the other side!

[theback-rooms]

[[OOC: Sorry for the long wait between updates! I need to get my meds tweaked. Hopefully I’ll be able to update soon!]]

[[OOC: Hey folks! I was avoiding writing anything out of character, because I didn't want to break the verisimilitude, but...

Please interact with posts! Reblog, comment, and send asks!

This is a collaborative writing project. I have no idea what is going to happen in this story, and the engine driving it is reader engagement. The things that happen in the plot come as a direct result of me receiving your interactions and suggestions for our narrator and incorporating them into the story. Your suggestions, questions, jokes, guesses, are what make this a juicy project!

The responses to the first couple of posts were phenomenal, and while I don't expect to have engagement like that ALL the time, I have recently been getting in the region of zero to one responses to posts. The last post got 3 likes and one ask (thank you to the anon who sent the ask!!). Please please please please interact! Do it anonymously if it makes you more comfortable, but please talk back! It's literally the only thing that makes this project work!

Likes are nice and all, but reblogs are also a huge help to this blog, as they help it spread to a wider audience. The more audience there is, the more reader engagement, and the better the story will be!!

The narrator's ask box is always open, and so are the replies, comments, and tags!]]

[theback-rooms]

[[OOC: Hey folks! I was avoiding writing anything out of character, because I didn't want to break the verisimilitude, but...

Please interact with posts! Reblog, comment, and send asks!

This is a collaborative writing project. I have no idea what is going to happen in this story, and the engine driving it is reader engagement. The things that happen in the plot come as a direct result of me receiving your interactions and suggestions for our narrator and incorporating them into the story. Your suggestions, questions, jokes, guesses, are what make this a juicy project!

The responses to the first couple of posts were phenomenal, and while I don't expect to have engagement like that ALL the time, I have recently been getting in the region of zero to one responses to posts. The last post got 3 likes and one ask (thank you to the anon who sent the ask!!). Please please please please interact! Do it anonymously if it makes you more comfortable, but please talk back! It's literally the only thing that makes this project work!

Likes are nice and all, but reblogs are also a huge help to this blog, as they help it spread to a wider audience. The more audience there is, the more reader engagement, and the better the story will be!!

The narrator's ask box is always open, and so are the replies, comments, and tags!]]

[theback-rooms]

Our iron bracelets arrived yesterday, so Katie and I repacked our backpacks and went back down again.

We traveled west along the shoreline a second time. Whatever this party is that’s going on in the palace on the other side, it doesn’t seem to ever end? Kind of like the nighttime down here.

This time, we saw Lord Julian from a good way away, and he smiled and waved at us in a very friendly fashion when we spotted each other. He was in about the same place he was the last time, and Katie and I wondered how long he had been there and how often he checked that spot to see if we were in the area? I was a little nervous that he was here intercepting us again, but he was very cheerful and pleasant when we finally came within earshot and said hello.

“Lord Julian--I have to ask,” Katie said when we had finished commenting on the beauty of the night and the weather etc etc (he said the weather is ALWAYS nice here). “Why have we met you here in the same place twice?”

His expression grew rather more serious. “Er...” It was the first time I had seen him lost for words.

Katie looked annoyed. “I mean, isn’t it a little creepy? You intercepting us twice? How did you know we were here in the first place? Why are you trying to get us to go to the palace?”

“The truth is,” he said at last, “that Lady Laurel tries to keep a careful eye on the shores of the lake. “Strangers do wander into our forest from time to time, and they aren’t always aware of the dangers of this place.”

“Dangers?” I said more loudly than I really meant to. “What dangers?”

“Well,” he said reluctantly, “Lady Laurel asked me to intercept you here if you came in this direction, because she does not want you to fall into the hands of the Witch of the Wood.”

“The WHAT?!” I squeaked.

“Oh my God,” Katie muttered. “Of course there’s a Witch of the Wood.”

Lord Julian lifted his brows in surprise.

“I mean--” Katie pulled herself together. “So this witch is seriously dangerous?”

“Deadly,” Lord Julian said solemnly. “Terrifying. She makes doppelgangers of people.”

That was a term I had actually heard before. “You mean—those freaky doubles that look like your clones?”

“Yes.”

I mean, that sounded a little creepy, but relatively harmless? “What does they do, these doppelgangers?” Katie asked.

“They take people’s lives.”

“You mean they kills them??”

“No,” Lord Julian answered slowly, “I mean they TAKE their LIVES. They go back in the person’s place—take over their life. All your friends and family will think it’s you, but actually, you never return to the other world.”

Katie and I stared at him. THAT was seriously creepy.

Seeing that he had finally made a deep impression, Lord Julian continued. “She lives along the southwest corner of the lake. You’d be safe if you walked eastward, but not if you came this direction.” He turned and pointed at one of the diamond willows, a particularly big one that stuck out far over the shore. “We consider that tree to be the beginning of her territory. We try not to pass it.”

Katie and I looked at each other. “So--we’d be safe if we walked the other way, but not this way?” I repeated.

“Yes.”

“So Lady Laurel sent you here to stop us if we came this way.”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you just put up a sign? Wouldn’t that be easier?” Katie asked.

“We’ve tried. The Witch takes them down.” A fleeting expression of anger and disgust crossed his face.

“And there’s nothing dangerous on the east side of the lake?”

“No--just don’t get too close to the unicorns.”

“Why?” I asked nervously. “Do they have some kind of magical powers?”

Lord Julian smiled once more. “No. Because they’re wild animals and they’ve occasionally been known to bite.”

Katie’s eyes narrowed. “Are you going to keep... monitoring our movements while we’re  here?”

“No--we’ve just been making sure you don’t pass the Grand Willow,” he said easily. “I can escort you around on your explorations or take you across the lake if you like--but if you don’t, you can go and see this place for yourself.

“Just not pass the Grand Willow.”

Lord Julian nodded.

There was a long pause, and then we sort of said an awkward good night and walked away.

We don’t know how Lady Laurel managed to tell that someone had entered this area, or how she knew when we would be approaching the witch’s territory. That doppelganger thing is creepy as hell, though. Sounds like the trailer to “Us”: a movie I will never, ever, ever see if I can help it.

Katie and I went back to the path, then walked east a little way along the southern shore, but saw nothing of particular interest, so we went up the staircase and decided to regroup.

We’ve come up with a plan for our next visit: head west until we see Lord Julian again, and then ask him some questions and try to figure this place out a little more.

What do you want us to ask Lord Julian? Our ask box is always open!!

[theback-rooms]

So Katie explained that the point of cold iron is to determine if someone is one of the Fair Folk--a case in which politically correct terminology is apparently VITAL. We went to a local hardware store to see if we could get any. It turns out that modern nails are all kinds of different metals, and the hardware store didn’t have any iron ones. But not to fear! Katie and I have looked it up online and ordered some iron bracelets on etsy. If we run into Lord Julian again or anybody else, we’ll see if we can get a chance to touch them with the bracelets, or see their response to salt.

[theback-rooms]

Thank you to everybody who voted! We'll keep going down the shoreline.

[theback-rooms]

@esmeiolanthe replied:

“Cold iron” just means iron, pure iron — not like steel (which is an alloy) or anything. Apparently pure iron is slightly cool to the touch at room temperature? (Can’t say I’ve ever scientifically tested that part.) Just a bit, like a horseshoe or a nail or something would probably be enough. There are things out there that will react to cold iron like it was white hot, and if you run into one of them, you’ll be glad you have it.

Oh! Interesting. What kinds of things are scared of iron? That’s weird. I’ll talk to Katie about going to the hardware store before our next venture

@esmeiolanthe replied:

You definitely want to replenish the water and snacks, to start with. Did you bring any salt and/or a bit of cold iron? (Both are generally useful and fairly light.) What is the compass doing? Does it point to anything or just spin? I would walk around the edge of the lake, me. Get the lay of the land, scope the place out. And remember that things come in threes. I’m really excited to follow along with your adventures!

Thank you! I totally forgot about the compass, and replenishing the snacks. I have no idea how to find cold iron (how would I carry hot iron with me??), but Katie’s bringing some salt. She says she’s seen Supernatural and she knows what to do with it. I’ve never seen the show, so I have no idea what she’s talking about lol

[theback-rooms]

I could really use some suggestions on what to do next! Katie and I are still on the fence about it. Also, please feel free to reblog any of my posts! The more people who are reading about what’s going on, the more input Katie and I will get and the better we’ll know what to do next!

Following your advice, Katie and I replenished the snacks and water and grabbed a container of salt, and headed back down.

This time I remembered to check if my watch and my compass worked. The compass definitely works: it went a little crazy when we were on the stairs, but once we got out into the forest it calmed down. The path through the forest seems to travel basically northward, and deposits us on the southern bank of the lake. The palace is on the northern side.

My analog wristwatch worked, in the sense that it kept ticking away the minutes, and when we got back to my apartment, it was actually still set to the correct time, according to our phones. But it was really weird: it had a second hand, and I watched it, and it seemed to be moving more slowly than one tick per second. It also wasn’t moving consistently: some seconds were distinctly longer than others.

I have no idea what any of this means.

Katie agreed to walk along the shore of the lake rather than take the boat, partly persuaded by your arguments, which I read to her. We walked westward along the southern shore.

Keep reading

[theback-rooms]

Following your advice, Katie and I replenished the snacks and water and grabbed a container of salt, and headed back down.

This time I remembered to check if my watch and my compass worked. The compass definitely works: it went a little crazy when we were on the stairs, but once we got out into the forest it calmed down. The path through the forest seems to travel basically northward, and deposits us on the southern bank of the lake. The palace is on the northern side.

My analog wristwatch worked, in the sense that it kept ticking away the minutes, and when we got back to my apartment, it was actually still set to the correct time, according to our phones. But it was really weird: it had a second hand, and I watched it, and it seemed to be moving more slowly than one tick per second. It also wasn’t moving consistently: some seconds were distinctly longer than others.

I have no idea what any of this means.

Katie agreed to walk along the shore of the lake rather than take the boat, partly persuaded by your arguments, which I read to her. We walked westward along the southern shore.

It was still a moonlit night there (it always seems to be a moonlit night there, no matter what time of the day we go), and the evening was pleasant and warm, with pleasant scents on the breeze.

The orange yarn that we left at our original path was still there, and since we were walking along the lakeshore, we didn’t think it was necessary to use any more for the moment.

As we walked, I kept thinking that I heard things rustling in the diamond trees, which sparkled brilliantly in the moonlight. I kept grabbing Katie’s arm and hissing, “There’s something there!” She was just turning for the fifth time to say, “There’s nothing there,” when there was a thundering noise, and we both jumped and yelped.

A herd of some kind of deer burst out of the forest and ran right past us along the shore. I was too startled at first to get a good look, but once they had run past I began to register things about them. They looked about the size of white-tailed deer, and they were very beautiful and graceful, with a brush of stiff hair up the back of their necks like zebras. But that was definitely not the weirdest thing about them: instead of a pair of antlers, or even a pair of horns like an antelope, each deer had a single horn growing from its forehead.

We watched them surge down the shoreline and then back up into the trees, and Katie and I turned and stared at one another.

“Were those... unicorns?” Katie said breathlessly.

“I think they were.”

There was a pause, and then Katie made a sound that I think can only be described as a squeal of delight.

“My goodness, what a noise!” a voice spoke up, and we both jumped and whirled again.

There was a man standing just a few yards from us. He seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, although maybe he came out from the trees while we were distracted by the unideer.

He had black hair and dark eyes--he might have been Latino. He was dressed in a shining, highly embroidered green... well, I guess it was a doublet? Something very Tudor-y. Thank God he was NOT wearing a codpiece. He had on some relatively normal-looking cloth trousers and knee-high boots. His eyes, which had attractively drooping lids, were sparkling with amusement, and he was grinning.

“I beg your pardon, ladies,” he said, and did an actual bow, one leg forward, arms out, and everything. He was still grinning. “There is no one here to make an introduction, so I must introduce myself: I am Lord Julian.”

After a dumbstruck moment, Katie managed to make some sort of curtsy (despite her jeans) and I tried to follow her example (and failed miserably. I’m going to have to get curtsying lessons?).

I started to give him my name, and Katie elbowed me HARD in the ribs and gave me a LOOK, which I didn’t understand at all, except maybe, “We don’t want the creepy stranger in the Renaissance Faire costume who is living in the magical forest under your bedroom to google you on ye olde internette and start stalking you”.

Come to think of it, that’s actually hella creepy.

ANYWAY.

Katie goes, “We’re just passing through!”

Lord Julian smiles like he understands everything that is going through Katie’s head (I wish I did!!) and says, “Have you ladies not thought to join us at the ball?” He gestured to the castle.

“Ball?” I asked. “Is that what the music is?”

“Yes, indeed. Many fine folks from diverse lands have come to enjoy Lady Laurel’s hospitality. There are boats many places along the shore for those who find themselves by this lake so that they may join in the revels.”

“Oh! That’s what the boat was?” Katie says eagerly. “We’re not going to get cursed if we get in it?”

Lord Julian laughed at that, and I have to admit, the way his eyes smiled was very attractive. “No, you will not be cursed. But unless you are skilled at rowing, you may also take a very long time to cross the lake! May I take you across? My boat is just along here--”

I grabbed Katie’s sleeve in warning, but I shouldn’t have worried. She was already pasting on a polite smile and coming up with a vague excuse. “You know, it’s really late already, and I promised my boyfriend I’d spend some time with him tonight.” I thought she said the “boyfriend” part unnecessarily loudly, but w/e. “Come on--” She very nearly said my name and then caught herself. “Come on, let’s head home.”

“I am sorry to say farewell to you both,” Lord Julian said, not appearing particularly upset. “Perhaps some other time.”

Katie and I gave big, noncommittal smiles and hurried back along the shore.

When we got out of earshot, I asked her why I wasn’t supposed to give Lord Julian my name. “Because that’s a fairy thing,” she explained. “If they have your real name, they have power over you."

“What kind of power?”

“Magical power,” Katie said shortly. “Not-good power. Is he following us?”

He wasn’t, and we soon made our way back to the stairway.

So we know a little bit now about the palace on the other side of the lake, but I’m not sure if we should try to cross over the lake or not. What do you folks think? Katie and I are both on the fence about this, and about what to do next. My ask box is open, and you can always leave tags, replies and comments! I would really appreciate the advice.

[theback-rooms]

Could you bring your own boat and oars? Like that wouldn’t be toooo far to carry it (you could bring one of those inflatable ones) and then you wouldn’t have to take over anybody’s role as ferryman

I think it probably IS too far to carry it--at least up and down all those stairs! But I'll mention your suggestion to Katie and see what she thinks.

[theback-rooms]

Catching up with the story...

I found a mysterious staircase in my closet that SHOULD NOT BE THERE and it leads to someplace very beautiful and very strange. Please follow along while I explore it, and give me some input/advice! I have no idea what I’m doing with magical stuff...

Archive: read from the beginning

My ask box is always open for questions, comments, and advice!

[theback-rooms]

@esmeiolanthe replied:

You definitely want to replenish the water and snacks, to start with. Did you bring any salt and/or a bit of cold iron? (Both are generally useful and fairly light.) What is the compass doing? Does it point to anything or just spin? I would walk around the edge of the lake, me. Get the lay of the land, scope the place out. And remember that things come in threes. I’m really excited to follow along with your adventures!

Thank you! I totally forgot about the compass, and replenishing the snacks. I have no idea how to find cold iron (how would I carry hot iron with me??), but Katie’s bringing some salt. She says she’s seen Supernatural and she knows what to do with it. I’ve never seen the show, so I have no idea what she’s talking about lol

[theback-rooms]

You should walk along the beach!! See if you can find out more about the place, before heading to the Palace

Thank you! I can see that you are a person of intelligence and refinement. :P

[theback-rooms]

Well walking around the lake will probably be safest. Considering the chances of the boat sinking and also not knowing what's in the lake (could have something spooky/dangerous in there). Then, not to remind but the ferry and thing might be true. Just make sure to bring plenty of food and water. As well as a sleeping bag in case it is really far

I have no intention of staying out there long enough to have to sleep, but I'll try your arguments with Katie! Thanks!

[theback-rooms]

you should probably get a thick piece of rope (probably about 6 to 9 feet?) to tie you and katie together, so in the event that one of you gets lost, the other can use the rope to find them easily :)

Oh man, I hadn't thought of that. We don't need to do that so far, because we've pretty much only been in relatively open spaces (the path, the bank of the lake, etc), but I'll keep it in mind in case we need to do that later!