(Untitled)

[rosestolilies]

Characters: Those characters participating in The Crone's little game.
Date: January 15
Summary: Three places. Three riddles. Three pieces of information to unlock.
Warnings: N/A

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LAKE SANGUINE

[rosestolilies]

Lake Sanguine has never been an inviting place, but now it looks eerier than ever. The lake of blood has frozen over, but this is not simply a flat pool of icy red. Instead, statues jut up from the surface, formed of frozen blood, creating an uncanny tableau. Each sculpture depicts a lovingly rendered girl or woman, from all walks and stations of life, engaged in a variety of activities.Here a small girl picks flowers. Here, a trio of old women sit around a table, playing cards. Here, a mother cradles her newborn daughter. Here, a stern businesswoman, dressed in a suit, speaks into a cell phone. Here, a woman removes a cake from an oven. There are dozens of them. And from each one comes a humming sound, from each one soft, but combined together they form a strangely melodious sound, which echoes throughout the cavern.

At the center of the lake rides a pedestal, with the following etched upon its surface:

I rest inside this bleeding chamber

[heretolookhot]

Santana figured out that one of the riddles pointed to the lake pretty easily. The thing was, though, she had never been to the lake. Why would she? It was made of blood.

Things were different now, there was the chance to find out something about this place that could be useful. Of course, it could also be bullshit, but it would be stupid not to try. It would also be stupid to go alone, so she asked Larry to go with her. Santana couldn't avoid her forever, nor did she want to. Besides, her gun was still at Larry's place. Can't have that.

[gun_cata]

For all that she could set it aside as 'just business' Larry still felt a little awkward around Santana, at least on the way there. It seemed like a pretty good idea to go look at one of the places the clues were pointing at, though. If they could figure out anything useful it would be worth dealing with a lake of... blood.

KIND OF EW but she can deal with it, and she's pretty well armed for anything that might harass them as well. "So, what are the odds of monsters popping out if we screw up?"

[heretolookhot]

"I wouldn't doubt it," she answered, turning to gaze at the statues. Their size and realism was definitely disturbing. She taps the edge of the lake with her foot, making sure it's safe to walk on. "Should we go on it...?"

[gun_cata]

Good, great. Two normal people, one of whom can only just barely defend herself. There better not be any monsters, unless the two of them wanna test out that getting brought back to life thing.

She took one step out, and slammed her foot down hard against the ice. It held. "I think it's safe."

[heretolookhot]

That's not fair, Santana's learned to manage. It has been a while, though, and she's a little rusty. Still, she steps out onto the lake after Larry and starts walking toward the pedestal in the center of the lake.

"It's another stupid riddle," she says, before reading it out loud.

[gun_cata]

"Better than monsters." Larry's never been good at riddles, and it's enough to make her want some kind of skill challenge instead. Maybe an obstacle course? That'd be easier.

"It says something about 'beating' so you'd think it'd mean a heart."

[heretolookhot]

"A heart."

Santana keeps that in mind, and looks over the poem again. I rest inside this bleeding chamber, within the water's source...also a heart. "But what are we choosing?"

[gun_cata]

"That's what I can't really figure out." She glances around, but it's hard to tell what's going on in this chamber aside from the creepy blood sculptures. "Do you think we should look around until we come up with something?"

[heretolookhot]

"I guess so..."

She answered, and then wandered out among the statues, keeping the poem in mind. One of them was of a pretty teenage girl, laughing. Santana let curiosity get the best of her, and ran her fingers across it as she walked by. It just felt like ice.

I rest inside this bleeding chamber. Could it be talking about love? She kept that thought to herself, for now, trying to avoid anything that could make this awkward.

[gun_cata]

Love? Love doesn't have anything to do with lakes of blood. It has to be something creepy! Right? "I'm pretty bad at this kind of stuff. I hope picking wrong doesn't just liquefy the whole lake or anything."

Larry walked along slowly, looking around carefully. Her eyes landed on a mother and adolescent daughter briefly.

[heretolookhot]

"It said the statues would shatter, but..."

She didn't think the lake would do the same thing, but she wouldn't put anything past this place. Maybe she should just choose a statue?

[gun_cata]

"There's that sound too. Is it just there to annoy us, or is it part of figuring out what we're supposed to do?" It's not actually all that bad, but she'd like it to at least be relevant. "You can swim right? Just in case."

[heretolookhot]

"Yes, I can swim," she called back, rolling her eyes, even though she was turned away, examining the statues.

The question about the humming was a good one. They were coming from the statues, that much was obvious. She tried humming along with it, to see if anything would happen.

[gun_cata]

Just making sure, Santana. Some people just never pick it up as a skill!

Never remotely good at music, Larry just listened to Santana trying to match the tune. She still doesn't have any good ideas to go on, but at least they're trying something.

[heretolookhot]

"They're all humming a different note. So if that doesn't count as choosing, I don't know."