Anima yawned as she walked home from the train station after a long day of teaching English to Japanese high school students. All she wanted right now was to crash on her bed an sleep for a week. Sometimes living in a different country really got to her and she desperately missed home. Tonight was one of those nights. Lost in thought and not paying attention to where she was going, Anima tripped over an object on the ground. She managed to regain her balance before she went face first into the concrete sidewalk below her. The senshi turned around to see what it was that she had tripped over. Lying on the ground was a doll. She walked back to where it was laying on the ground and picked it up. Kinda creepy looking, she thought to herself. Must be inspired by the gothic lolita trend in Japan. She placed the doll on the ledge of the wall.

"There, now whoever lost you can see you easily and you won't trip anyone else," she said to the doll. "Oh god, I must be tired, I'm talking to a doll." sighing, she continued her way home, planning on stopping for some quick take out before face planting on her bed and going to sleep.

Valerica walked down the cracked cement sidewalks back to her apartment. Just having finished her shift at the local tea shop, she was exhausted and couldn't wait to get home. She let out a sigh as she turned the corner. This route was one she had taken many, many times. Nothing really ever changed. The same trash cans were where they always had been, the occasional stray cats she knelt down and petted as she walked by. It was the same routine everyday to the point where she could close her eyes and make her way home without any troubles.

She turned another corner into an alley and stopped in her tracks. Valerica wasn't sure what to make of what was in front of her. For there, sitting in the middle of the path, sat a doll. She stared at it for a few moments, before slowly walking over and picking it up. She looked around quickly to see if maybe a little girl had dropped it by accident or something, but there was no one around. Glancing back at the doll, she noticed it looked very Gothic or Lolita like. It looked very professionally done and was almost life like to the point she thought it was watching her.

"What a creepy looking doll." She said out loud to herself as she sat the doll back on the ground. Someone might come looking for it, so it was probably best to leave it where she found it. Valerica took one last look at the doll and briskly walked away. Even with her back turned she couldn't shake the feeling that the doll was watching her.

Arch was playing Minecraft in his apartment, when Rayden came in from his usual trip to the Grocery Store. He carried back food, and little surprise, a strange, yet lonely looking doll. "Yo, Arch, pause that spelunking!"

"Rayden, laddie," Arch paused his instance and spoke to his small, furry companion, "Since when did you start playing with dolls?" He tried his best to stifle the laughter.

"I found her outside the store," Rayden told Arch, "No one has played with her in ages."

They could only ponder on what to do next with the doll.

Yuuta/Sailor Ganymede

Yuuta was walking back from football practice, having been training on the school's field even later than usual. Their team's next game was against Juuban High, and his coach didn't want to take any chances with it. If they didn't win, their tournament dreams would be over. The tall boy, dressed in his school uniform with a bronze badge clipped to it, decided to take a shortcut through the small wooded park area. And that was when he spotted the doll, sitting harmlessly on an old wooden bench and slowly tipping over to one side. Yuuta stopped and looked at it, glanced around to see if anyone was watching, and then went over to pick it up.


"What kind of doll is this?" His mismatched eyes, one blue and one green, took in the doll's appearance. It looked porcelain, and handcarved, and wore dark colors. Yuuta wasn't very knowledgeble about children's toys, but he was pretty sure that most dolls had brighter clothing than that. "Looks expensive..," he mumbled before gently placing it back down. If it was worth anything, the owner would be looking for it later, and he didn't want to be accused of stealing. Putting the doll out of his head again, he started back home for something to eat.

Orlaith/Sailor Titan

The infirmary was over capacity, and yet still there were more injured and sick needing a bed and a helping hand. Orlaith stood up straight, pushing back strands of hair that had fallen from her braid. She glanced around the room, her expression oddly blank.

How were they going to fit more casualties in here? There were no more beds to go around. Orlaith sighed, steeling herself against the sadness of seeing so many injured people. Most would die before night fell, and there was nothing she could do to help them besides to perhaps make them a little more comfortable.

The recent attack had come quick and sudden, and although she had been able to fight off the enemies before they could move onwards to the next city, an immense amount of damage had already been done. They had healers on call of course, and they were doing everything they could. Papa was helping in his way too, using his herbs to ease pain, and now that Orlaith had arrived, she would help as well.

But the guilt and the sorrow were strong. These were her people, and she had failed them.

Chaos seemed to be getting stronger every day, and Orlaith knew she needed to find a better way to fight against it. Training and fighting were not good enough anymore. She needed to gather the Saturnian senshi so that they could all come together to refine their battle plans.

But that was for another time. Orlaith turned her attention to the next bed in her path. A small child laid there, covered by a thin blanket that was stained with blood.

Orlaith smiled down at the small girl, and knelt beside her. "Hello there," she said, her voice soft. "How are you feeling?"

"You're Sailor Titan." It was more of a statement, rather than a question, and the girl's voice was even softer. Weak.

Orlaith nodded. "I am. You look like a strong girl. What's your name?"

"Pera."

"Okay Pera, I have some medicine for you. Do you think you can sit up?"

The next moments passed slowly, as Orlaith aided the girl in sitting up, before giving her the medicine. It wouldn't heal her, the damage was too great. But Orlaith hoped that it would give her rest in the final hours.

Something caught her eye, and Orlaith glanced down towards it. A doll sat against the bed's back legs. It was kind of strange looking, as if something wasn't quite right about it. The make of it was quite unlike anything that Orlaith had ever seen before.

"Is that your doll?" Orlaith asked Pera, but the girl shook her head, her eyes beginning to unfocus as the pain-relieving medicine kicked in. Orlaith put the doll out of her mind, and focused her attention back onto the small girl. She sat with her, answering questions and telling tales, until the girl's eyes closed completely.

Standing up, Orlaith wiped the tears at the corner of her eyes. She was a warrior, and she had seen death countless times before. But for some reason, each and every death always affected her anyway.

Orlaith cleared her throat, pushed back her emotions, and went to help the next person.

OOC:

Sailor Lolita (Leah)

Leah was walking through the park to clear her head. She would always walk in the park when she was feeling blocked with her work. Leah liked to write, and work with art, but lately she wasn't inspired to do anything. She decided to leave her loft for a bit and get some fresh air. The sun would soon be setting, so it was the perfect time to go to the park. There was a light breeze, so Leah grabbed her jacket before heading out.

Leah took a different route in the park today, hoping to find some source of inspiration. She was lost in thought while she was walking. She found a bench to sit on and just people watch. She took in the scenery and the people around her, looking at the environment around her. As she looked closer Leah saw an object in the road, she thought it may have been an animal, she got up and made her way closer and saw the object was not an animal but a doll.

Sure this doll may look a little scary, but surely she must belong to someone, Leah sat holding the doll for a moment, until an idea suddenly came rushing to her mind. She felt inspired to paint a gothinc, burlesque piece for an upcoming art show. She smiled at the doll "thank you for your inspiration" she said as she set the doll on the bench hoping someone would claim her.

Leah made her way back home and when she got home pulled out a sketch pad to make the beginning of what she hoped would be one of her best works.

Sailor Pandora

Asha walked through the forest briskly, having finished her training for the day. She didn’t have any accidental power release at all today, which was nice. There was a spring on her step and her body felt lighter at the thought that every day she was gaining better control of those powers. The fact that soon she wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally hurting people anymore was very nice. Of course, she also knew not to get her hopes up too much. These days she was naturally a pessimist because hoping usually ended up hurting her. Ironic, because hope was one part of her own power.

Could she affect herself with it? It was certainly an interesting thing to consider. Living as two different embodiments of emotion was tough, and some days Asha herself had no idea what she was feeling. The days where she felt the deepest despair wasn’t the hardest. It was the days when she didn’t even know where she stood—feeling as if she was on a literal emotional precipice—that scared her the most.

Losing it completely was what scared her the most. When all of the emotions were just… gone. That was the existence that she feared. At least, as long as she could still feel one way or another, she knew she was still truly alive.

As she made her way to her little house in the middle of the woods, her gaze fell upon a strange item that looked out of place among all the green grass. At first, she thought it was a small child. But when she got closer she realized that it was just a doll. “Huh. You’re pretty creepy,” she commented out loud, bending to inspect it closely. It was certainly not at all like the kinds of dolls she was used to seeing. And it was sitting against a tree trunk, all alone.

Another person would have probably been creeped out by it, but Asha’s expression softened. A small smile formed on her lips. “You actually remind me a lot of myself,” she said, patting the doll’s head. The urge to take the lonely doll home was strong, but she worried it might belong to someone else. The owner might be looking for it. Finally she straightened back up. “If you’re still here tomorrow, I’ll take you home,” she promised, before continuing her way home.

Because no one should be alone.

That night when the city was silent and the souls that had seen Gloria that day were fast asleep, Gloria worked her magic.

"Friends!" Gloria cried out in glee as she remembered the people who interacted with her earlier that day. "I want to play with my new friends!" Gloria giggled as she bounced a ball down a long stretch of alleyway. She was in her human form and was the size of a small child. "I think I will play!" Gloria held her plastic bouncy ball as she said the last sentence. She held the ball so tight that it popped in her hands. As it popped a black mist filled the space around her, then shot off into the night.

----------

While you were asleep, Gloria's mist sought you out and transported you into a small room. The walls are made of wooden boards, and the floor is a dark purple rug. There is nothing in this room except for a love seat against the far right wall, a bookcase to it's left, and a small stand with flowers on it on the other side of the couch. In the bookshelf there is a rolled up scroll sticking out between some books.

RP your reaction: In your dreams you see Gloria again & wake up.  :!: the first person to roleplay should pick up the scroll and open it. :!: 

The scroll contains a map. You do not know what this map is, but guess that it is a map of the building you are in. Please do not open any of the doors yet, these instructions will come later. Right now you are in the room until you hear from Gloria again.

Amina gasped as she sat up, now completely awake. The doll that she had seen earlier that day had been in her dream. She remembered the doll was talking, but she couldn't remember what was said. "What a freaky dream," she muttered to herself, running her hand through her hair. Suddenly she realized she wasn't in her bedroom anymore. She scrambled to stand up, heart pounding in panic. Where was she? She was still in her pajamas, which of a short dark plum nightgown.

She quickly looked around, her years as a Senshi and her instincts kicking in. She saw a few people laying around on the floor of the room that they were in, all appearing to be in various states of sleep. On the right wall she saw a love seat and book shelf with what looked like a scroll of some sort. She quickly and quietly made her way over to the bookshelf. She wasn't sure if these people were friends or enemies yet, so it was best to be careful. Grabbing the scroll she quickly unrolled it.

"A map?' she said. "To where ever we are I guess." She sat on the love seat about to get comfortable and try and contact any spirits in the area to try and get some help. Maybe she could have one lead them out of here or maybe they had a power she could borrow that would be helpful in the situation. Closing her eyes, she allowed her powers to reach out, when suddenly, the sound of another person caused her to lose her concentration.

Yuuta/Sailor Ganymede

Yuuta snored loudly as he lay sleeping on the purple rug, sprawled on his back. He was dreaming of a fight from his past, as was usual. Youma had invaded his moon, and he had to destroy them all before they reached the defenseless town. The other soldiers were too.preoccupied to help him, and now he was surrounded by leering monsters. Their claws struck against his armor even as he cleaved them apart with his axe, and soon he was covered in them. And then Yuuta's dream changed, and he was falling into a black void. And in the void's very center...was the doll from the park.

"Ah!" His eyes snapped open and Yuuta struggled to sit up, still thinking about the nightmare. As he calmed down again, he realized that he was no longer in his house, but in a small wooden room. Was this a weird prank or something? A few other people were still sleeping around him, but they were starting to stir as well. Then he noticed a young woman sitting in the only chair and looking at a scroll.

"Hey," he said, getting to his feet unsteadily. "What is this place?"

Leah/Sailor Lolita
Leah was deep in sleep when she heard the voice speaking to her. She woke up in a flash. "Whoa I must have lost track of time," she blurted out as she woke up in the unfamiliar room. She looked around taking in her surroundings. She definitely was not in her loft anymore. She looked down and saw she was in the same clothes she had been in when she got home from her walk in the park.

Her soldier self was kicking in, she felt she needed to be on guard. She looked around and saw others were still asleep. She saw two other people sitting on the loveseat in the room. Leah wandered over still in disbelief as to where she was. She asked the two, " just where exactly are we?"

Valerica woke with a start. She wasn't sure what to make of the dream she just had. She dreamed about the creepy doll that she encountered in the alleyway on her way home. Slowly, she started to look around. She took in the unfurnished room that only had a few pieces of furniture in it. And a dark purple rug?

'What the hell?' She thought to herself. 'This isn't my bedroom.' Valerica looked down and saw she was still in her black shorts and pink tank top nightware that she had been in when she went to bed. 'Where am I!?' She quickly stood up and frantically started looking around, thoughts swirling in her mind. 'Where am I?' 'How did I get here?' Voices broke her train of thoughts. She looked up to see a small group of people talking together. On the floor nearby laid a few other people who looked asleep as she had a few moments ago.

'These people must of brought us all here. But why?' Valerica shook off her fears and worries. Now wasn't the time to be paranoid and acting like a scared little girl.

"What do you want with me? With us?" She asked out loud to the group of people. Surely there must be some reason they kidnapped her and the others.

Sailor Pandora

Asha’s sleep was fitful that night. It was not unusual for her to be haunted by bad dreams and nightmares, and she was used to waking up from images of what happened at the party where so many people died because of her. Other times she saw things she feared would happen in the future—like her causing her beloved parents’ death. But tonight it was weirder than usual. She saw the doll that she encountered in the forest, smiling sinisterly. She seemed to be calling out to Asha to come out and play…

She blinked awake and jerked upright. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears, and immediately she noticed that she wasn’t in her own room. She was sprawled on a purple rug that felt soft beneath her hands. The room she was in seemed simple enough, but there was something about it that made her feel wary anyway. Upon seeing other people so close around her, she scampered to the corner, both afraid of them hurting her and her hurting them.

Everyone seemed confused and as they hurled questions at one another, Asha realized that they were all in the same boat as herself. No one seemed to know what was going on. And she didn’t know any of these people. None of them seemed to be from Pandora. Clutching her own arms, she forced herself to take a deep breath. Okay, so this was a strange situation. And she was scared. But she mustn’t forget to keep herself under control. Her powers always burst forth when she was at her most emotional, and the last thing she wanted was to kill everyone in this room.

She decided to keep quiet and not attract attention to herself. Part of it was just something she was used to doing back home, but another part was simply about being sensible. The last thing they needed was to realize what a dangerous individual they’d been trapped in a room with.

Arch was in for his own rude awakening, dreaming about the doll as Rayden woke him up in a different bedroom. "Arch! Code Yellow! Something is definitely wrong!"

"GAH, UNABLE TO COMPLy, BUILDING IN PROGRESS!" Arch woke up and found himself wearing the same goggles and FEISAR jumpsuit. "I didn't wear these to bed."

Arch looked at his bed, "And this can't be me bed," then looked at his surroundings. "And this ain't me room!"

"Exactly my point, Arch," Rayden confirmed,  "Someone is definitely pulling the strings here."

"Aye, but who?" Arch could only ask.

OOC:

Orlaith/Sailor Titan

Nightmares were not an uncommon thing to her, which was partly why Orlaith hated sleeping and tended to stay awake for as long as possible until forced to rest. But nightmares about creepy dolls was definitely new.

It was the voices around her that woke her up, however. There was not supposed to be anyone in her room, and she was instantly on alert.

Orlaith opened her eyes and sat up. And then faltered.

Where was she? This was not her room, and she did not recognize anyone with her. Listening to the others, it seemed that confusion was the general feeling in the room right now.

Orlaith continued to listen to what the others were saying, though she said nothing herself. Instead, she looked around the room, taking in the new surroundings. During her inspection, she noticed a girl sitting far away from the rest of the group.

She looked familiar, and a name came to Orlaith. Pandora. The other girl was not in her senshi form at the moment, but Orlaith did not know her civilian name. She and the other Saturnian senshi were not close enough to have ties outside of battle.

But as Pandora was the only person she recognized, Orlaith felt more drawn to her than any of the others in the room right now. But she also could recognize the signs of a person who wanted to be left alone.

Still, Orlaith found herself getting up and walking over to her. She kept her distance, while still close enough to speak to her. "Hello," she said, putting on a smile. "Are you okay?"

OOC:

Anima/Sailor Soul

'I have no idea," she replied to the man speaking to her. "I woke up here just like you did." she kept her thoughts to herself, not wanting to give too much away. She wasn't sure if she could trust this guy yet or not.

As more and more people awoke, they wandered over to where she was seated on the love chair. She calmly explained to each one that she had no idea where they were and that she had woken up in this room just as they had. She eventually explained that she had found a map on the bookshelf and was trying to figure out what all of this could mean. Hopefully whoever brought them here could explain what was going on and they could leave this place. She had a bad feeling about what was going to happen.

The Small purple Norn decided to introduce themselves, "He's Arch, and I'm Rayden. What do you call yourself?"

Meanwhile, Arch was contemplating the surroundings, "Sure doesn't look like Tokyo City, from this window."

The Next thing Arch did was center his body into lotus position to commune with the celestial spirits of Spode. Rayden only shrugged, at least Arch was trying to find peace.

Yuuta/Sailor Ganymede

"Hmm..." Yuuta looked at the map Anima was holding and frowned. "If this is a diagram of the building we're in...then there's no exit," he said. What kind of floor plan for a house had no front or back doors? And the rooms themselves were arranged so randomly, with doors connecting them at weird points. "Whoever built this place had a twisted sense of humor."

Anima/Sailor Soul

"It makes no sense that there are no exterior exits or windows, or anything that may be an entrance other than that door which shows up on the map," she sighed, rubbing her temples in an attempt to stave off the headache she could feel building behind her eyes.

"I have a feeling we're going to have to wait for whomever brought us here to tell us what they want. The question is, what do they want?" she said, standing up to take a second look at the bookshelf, trying to look for any clues. She tugged down here nightgown. She really wished she had worn something a little longer to bed that night. There were a few people here she'd rather not be wearing this around.

"Let me be the judge of that," Arch said looking over her shoulder, "Bloomin' heck!" Arch cursed out, confirming her judgement, "You weren't kidding, we're practically in a house meant for dolls."

"If what Arch is saying is true, we're probably the size of dolls!" Rayden freaked out.

"Perhaps ridiculing Rayden about the doll he found has had a karmic impact," Arch concluded, keeping the worst-case scenario to himself.

"Welcome my friends!" Gloria squealed through the room. A black fog, the same one that had entered the guests dreams, formed from the floors around the couch. Gloria, in her human form, had manifested. She was sitting with here legs crossed and grinned at her friends.


"I get to play with my new friends now!" Gloria smiled, while looking directly at Anima. "You can play with me too!" Gloria spoke, directing her sentence at Anima. "That is my map, yes it is. That map helps my friends play my game. I like hide and seek, yes I do! We will all play hide and seek. Come find me!"


Gloria picked a flower from the vase next to her and handed it out to Arch. "You must be careful though, my games aren't meant for children. Hotaru liked her toys because she was a child, yes she was, but I never liked that bear, she always played hide and seek with that bear and never me! But my version of hide and seek will be better than Hotaru's!"


"Now you see that map? That is a map of my dollhouse! Find me, and I might let you go home!"


Gloria laughed and laughed as she kicked her legs in front of her. She vanished as quickly as she had appeared. The only evidence of her presence was the rose she had left for Arch.


"Miss me already?!" Gloria's voice echoed throughout the room. "Vote on a door, and maybe you can find me!"


Task
Vote on a door by either saying door 1 or 2. Please type your votes in red, or else it will not count. You have until 7/23 6pm EST to vote. You may change your votes, and use reasoning to make this a little more interesting  Once a door has been voted on, Gloria will let you know if the door opens....   (feel free to draw on maps and upload the images as well  )

'So we only have two choices huh?' Amina thought to herself. She looked at the map again and tried to see what would be the best path. The second door lead to an area which was larger. Maybe there was a way out or some clues or something that could help them.

"Door 2 seems like our best option," she said out loud.

Leah got closer so she could look at the map. She really didn't want to play a game of hide and seek, she just wanted to go back to her art, maybe this experience could give her more inspiration she thought to herself.

She looked at the map and the two doors available for selection.

"I guess I will go with door number two, two has always been a good number for me." Leah said hoping her decision would be a good one.

Valerica let out a sharp gasp at the sudden appearance of the girl. Wait...didn't she look like that strange doll in the alley? How is that possible though? It was a doll....granted it had seemed quite life like, but it was impossible for it to really come to life....right? She listened intently to the girl's speech. Apparently she just wanted friends. But if that's all she wanted then why show up as a doll first and then kidnap us in to a small room? Why not just try and be our friends? It didn't make much sense to her, but it also didn't seem like they had much of a choice but to go along with it.

She moved over to Amina and looked over her shoulder at the map. Door one seemed to lead into a small room with three other doors. It could be a good choice, but then again, there's no guarantee those doors would open to them. Whatever this doll's problem was she obviously wanted to play a twisted game with them and she doubted it'd be that easy to move through the doll house without something more to it. Door two leads to a bigger room that has two doors in it. That would allow them to be in a bigger room and maybe be able to find something to help them figure this all out. However, one of the doors leads to the same room door 1 lead to.

"I think we should go through Door 1." Said Valerica loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Door 2 connects to the same room that Door 1 would lead us through. It would make more sense to be able to go through as many doors as we can. Door 1 leads to 3, where as Door 2 leads to 1 and the same room as Door 1. We can't guarantee any of the doors will open at all, but why not try to get in to as many rooms as we can, as fast as we can so we can get out of this creepy place? If we have to find this doll somewhere in one of these rooms marked on the map, Door 1 allows us access to more of them at once."

"They all do eventually lead to the same place," Amina said, "However, the second door leads to a bigger area. My logic for choosing that one is that in a bigger area, there may be room for a trick door that could lead us out of here. Perhaps there are even clues. The area for door one looks like a small foyer of sorts, and may not hold a lot of information for us." she looked at the group. "However, I think we should stick together until we figure out what this is. Safety in numbers in all that. I'll respect whatever decisions you make. Don't be afraid to speak up."

"I can't believe we're actually going along with this Hide-and-Seek thing. Creepy doll girl..." Yuuta said under his breath. He didn't trust Gloria in the slightest, especially not after how she could appear in his nightmares. He studied the map some more.


"I still think Door 2 is better. The first room is all tiny, and we won't be able to move around as well if we need to," he said. He wasn't thrilled with the thought of being stuck in a small space with a group of stranger in only his sleeping clothes either. This was awkward enough.

ooc:

Sailor Pandora

At first Asha tensed when she noticed someone moving toward her, but then she recognized the other girl’s face. She didn’t immediately realize who it was because she was so used to seeing Sailor Titan in her fuku. But now she could plainly see that it was her, and despite her worries, Asha relaxed a little bit. Seeing one familiar face definitely made her feel a lot better. And this was one of Saturn’s best senshi, so she felt more confident about getting out of here with Sailor Titan’s help.

“Yeah, I am,” she replied to the question with a hesitant smile. “Just… kind of scared, I guess. This seems like the starting scenario of a scary tale,” she added, only half-jokingly. “But it’s good to see… you. I don’t think I know what your actual name is, though,” she said in embarrassment.

Though she was conversing with the other Saturnian senshi, half her attention was on the girl across the room who was explaining that she’d found a map on the bookshelf. She also heard the others comment that it was an odd design for a house, that there were no doors, windows, or exits at all. That made her heart pound harder. She could not be locked in a place with a bunch of other people for a long time—it was just an accident waiting to happen.

Then she heard the word ‘doll’ several times and remembered the face of the doll who’d appeared in her dream just now. She’d thought she’d only dreamed it because she’d seen the doll earlier that day, but what if…?

The sound of a new voice startled her, and Asha looked around to find the source. Fog was filling the room, and she instinctively curled into an even tighter ball. Then when the new girl appeared—looking eerily like the doll she’d just been thinking about—she knew that none of it was a coincidence. Whatever was going on was related to what happened the day before.

She shivered at the girls’ words, knowing that whatever kind of innocent-sounding game she would like to play would be anything but. After all, people generally don’t kidnap their ‘friends’.

It was official; she was trapped in some kind of nightmare. But then she reminded herself of her powers. Whoever or whatever this doll was, she had no idea who she was dealing with.

When the mysterious dollgirl had vanished, Asha moved carefully toward the map, trying to see over everyone’s shoulders without getting too close. They had no choice other than try to play this game for now, but she wasn’t above breaking rules later. Right now, though, she wanted time to assess their opponent first.

She understood and agreed with the reasoning of the girl who picked door number 1, but she couldn’t help but want a bigger room for all of them, for everyone’s safety. Just the thought of being trapped in that cramped, tiny room door 1 led to made her feel like she was suffocating.

“I vote for number 2 as well,”, she said in a neutral voice. “I think it’s important to have a lot of room to move around. Easier for her to spring traps on us if we’re like fish in a barrel.”

"I have a thought," Rayden decided, "Should we decide on Door 2, which Arch and I choose, as well, we could use Holmesian Deduction to find this sociopath. I propose we use the following path."


Rayden then used a transparent sheet from under Arch's bed, trying hard not to question why, and drew on the sheet over the map the projected attack plan:
Arch looked at the battle plan overlay, and gave an affirming nod. "I like the way you think, Rayden!" He then turned to the girls, "Does this strategy suit you as well, lassies?"

"You seemed to have figured out the correct path, this time." Gloria's voice sighed throughout the room. "However, if you chose wrong, you would have been able to play with one of my pets, yes you would have!" Gloria's presence could be felt, but she was not in a bodily form. 

The flower that Gloria had handed Arch melted, and a shadow oozed out of it. It rushed through door number 2, and the door slammed open in an explosion. 

The room on the other side of the door was decorated in large drapes hanging on the walls. They were the color of lilac, and a crystal chandelier hung in the middle. The crystals reflected throughout the room, and these little reflections were the only source of light in this dampened room.

"This is my royal room." Gloria giggled. Go ahead, pick the door! I really hope you don't guess correct this time! My pet really wants to meet you!" The chandelier began to shake back and forth, and a small growl could be heard coming from it. At the same time, the drapes began to slither back and forth against the walls and a large gust of wind blew through the room. 


"Did I mention, my pet loves to play?"


 

You have until 7pm 7/24 EST to vote! Good Luck!