#Minos escape rooms

[frosty-the-killer-doll]

or, alternately:

or, alternately alternately:

[b-rainlet]

Not to make a post about a horror movie that was never really popular on here, but I am pretty sure that Danny was killed because they were about to cheat

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

god i wish the escape room movies had more of an audience becuase i NEED to talk about danny kahn like like LIKE

spoilers below obviously

this kid is the youngest player (I don't think it's specified but he's at oldest early 20's) and he lost his ENTIRE FAMILY to carbon monoxide poisoning either very recently or REALLY YOUNG (I can't remember if we know) and is also he is so fucking good at escape rooms like really good at escape rooms

and then he has the only death that's pretty much exclusively unavoidable regardless of how clever you are

like you can make the argument it wouldn't have happened if ben hadn't been a dick but also there were clearly explosives in the ice and a fast current and regardless it's clear minos wanted to kill him; it wasn't about luck it wasn't about being smarter it wasn't about making mistakes he just dies because they explode the ice he's standing under

and it almost makes you wonder if minos had underestimated him? like they hadn't realized quite how good he'd be, and wanted it to come down to luck more than it came down to skill or maybe they HADN'T underestimated him but his death had just been a preplanned and especially cruel way of setting the stakes for the other players

like idk where im going with this and it's not expanded upon at all in the movie because he dies first and obviously from like an Art perspective he's clearly just the peppy, vaguely likable scapegoat character who dies first so the audience invested in the stakes but also I WANT TO TALK ABOUT HIM I WANT FANFIC ABOUT HIM I WANT TO THINK ABOUT DANNY KAHN FROM THE ESCAPE ROOM MOVIES-

[the-knightmare]

Did anybody ask for fic based on Escape Room (2019) and its sequel movie? Maybe not, but I have new characters to play with and want to share. Enjoy a snippet from something in progress.

Collapsing next to Ben, Zoey tried to fight the poisoned air in her lungs. She felt herself slipping away, all the panic she tried to muster faded into a frustrating nothingness.

Just as everything went black, Zoey jolted awake. Her chest heaved as she tried to reorient herself in the new room. Except it was her room, in her apartment, not a Minos trap.

“Zoey?” A sleep-heavy voice asked, “you alright?”

A warm hand pressed against her back, grounding her in the assurance that this was not some Minos trick. Zoey stayed quiet for a moment, focusing on the comforting warmth at her back before turning to face Ben.

“Just a bad dream.”

[chaotic-minds-think-alike]

Random ramble post since I’m working on things you’ll see eventually but I feel like just rambling how the bosses went for me in ultrakill. (<- because friends had drastically different experiences apparently)

Swordsmachine - I can’t remember which encounter but it was in the demo and I did so horribly iirc; I think I thought I had more room than I did and got caught on walls where I was cornered and shredded. Swordsmachine in the main game however was a bit easier because I knew what I was getting into and honestly I think they helped me develop strategies for the Gabriel fights later on.

Cerberus Duo - I think I died at least 2 times to these guys for the same reasons as above: got cornered thinking I had more room. They were fun though but as normal enemies I hate them for their knockback dash attack.

(Demo ends here, read more for what picks up after, spoilers)

Hideous Mass - The start of almost rage quitting. It was the ground slam that’d destroy me every time for multiple restarts, I don’t remember how many. I still love this thing as a creature but as a boss… horrible in my first encounter, even worse later on… experimenting in sandbox though made me learn some cool things about how you can use its armor against it by strategically placing your shots, though I only used the revolver for this.

V2 (first encounter) - Sighs so loudly. I can’t remember how many restarts it was but it was a lot, less than Gabriel first encounter though. I almost quit for this fight I think because I was getting too stressed. I didn’t know what I was doing and tried to stick with my favorite, the revolver, but eventually out of anger I tried to stay as close as possible with the shotgun mainly for heals and less about damage. Defeating them actually excited me so that was fun !! Side note: currently I’ve beaten this encounter in less than a minute BUT I had no style so no P rank for me

The Corpse of King Minos - I DIED SO MUCH. At this point it feels unfair to compare all the fights because they all have something that tests you. Part of the reason I died so much at this point is parrying is so hard for me… I feel if I at least tried to learn it then I wouldn’t have been put in the blender like I was here. Both before you meet him and after, I died a lot for similar reasons mentioned above. During the 2nd phase of the fight Id die due to being chipped away just enough to get crushed like a bug. I almost rage quit for this one too, not knowing how to heal and hating having learned you have to get as close as possible to his hands to do so.

Gabriel (first encounter) - Where the fun begins!! I restarted 37 times. I was really looking forward to this fight due to my friend telling me about him before I even got into the game. It was so nightmarish but I was too insane to just give up like that. So many times I flew off the arena, slid onto the middle and got caught in the air, too slow switching weapons, so many reasons I got severely punished for. I don’t remember how the final fight of 37 restarts played out but god I was so full of adrenaline after that. Little did I know that it’d get much worse in the second encounter. Side note: currently I’ve beaten this encounter in 2 mins 13 seconds but I didn’t have enough style so no P rank..

Sisyphean Insurrectionist - At this point, understandably, I got very angry with how badly I was beaten up. The shockwave attacks I hate so much and that’s what got me so many times. I don’t have much to say because this fight bored me as much as I’d rather not say that.

V2 (second encounter) - If I remember correctly… I think I had less restarts for when I had the first encounter. Still, I had my ass handed to me. I stuck with the same strategy as before, we kinda just danced together with shotguns in our faces. I really liked the scene when they try to escape and we pursue them. I will say that at the end when we land and they crash, I was in denial about them being gone for good and kinda just.. stood there for a moment. It felt wrong almost to continue without them.

Ferryman - Another fight with plenty of restarts up there somewhere. As cool as I think they are, this thing kicked my ass so hard I almost rage quit, again. Even when I had plenty of room, my flaw was my slow reaction timing. I could handle myself for the most part in phase 1 but phase 2 is where it got even worse. The small arena, the knockback the idol gives you, the range of it’s attacks… absolutely horrid. It was always the idol that got me stuck and cornered and turned to scrap in an instant. I relied so heavily on my railcannon here for healing and it was difficult to be patient when I had to be responsive and aware of such a small area. Overall, I enjoyed it somewhat, I like the Ferryman’s character and seeing it’s ship was quite a moment. (And the hologram room… I just had to sit there and watch)

Leviathan - They were actually pretty easy and I think I restarted less than 5 times. If it isn’t obvious, the attack that got me was it’s lunge for a short bit, otherwise then it was the tail. I really like Leviathan’s design but I feel as if the encounter was sort of just thrown in there.

Gabriel (second encounter) - I am totally normal about this guy. My first time encountering him in the story I defeated him with only 2 restarts in 6 minutes. Jesus christ. This fight was really, really fun and easy to me which still shocks me my friends thought the opposite. I was also really looking forward to this fight both because of what my friend told me and I wanted to go down the youtube rabbithole but didn't want to spoil myself. I was totally normal through this fight (and after). That was a lie because I had so, so much energy from it I had to draw the scene of him playing the organ and I had to make it pretty. Side note: currently I've beaten this encounter in 2 mins 12 seconds, a second apart from the 1st encounter, again no style because I suck ass and getting these P ranks will be the worst thing of my life

[awakened-dreamers-blog]

Ultrakill Layer 7 thoughts (spoilers obvi)

7-1 /// The Garden of Forking Paths: Great level. Super creepy and off putting, even with having watched the trailers for the level. The first time the mannequins activated for real scared me so bad that my soul fully left my body. The Minotaur showing up the first time also scared the crap out of me. Overall, the level captured the whole "labyrinth" vibe really, really well and the leadup to the Minotaur part of the level was great. Speaking of the boss, its visual design was really great and worked with the lore to make a surprisingly tragic story. The fight itself was a bit finnicky with the trams, but surprisingly easy once I got the hang of it, and the second phase was even easier (a bit too easy, imo).

7-2 /// Light Up the Night: I have mixed feelings about this level. The sound design and visual feel of the level are great, and some of the segments were really cool, particularly the clocktower and the library-looking part. I wasn't a fan of the fact that you could just go anywhere in the level at any time, that felt weird to me. I would have appreciated something akin to the sand in the Greed layer; as it is now, just being able to walk on relatively flat ground feels kinda boring. I have... thoughts on the Guttertanks, but those aren't about the level itself. The ambush when you return to the train station with the bomb was really well done imo. Probably my favorite section of the level was the library section, since the room design allowed for a lot of shenanigans with the sharpshooter pistol and the electric rail, so that wasn't as annoying as the first Guttertank fight.

7-3 /// No Sound, No Memory: Absolutely stellar level. The atmosphere throughout the entire level is excellently moody and eerie, and the lack of jumpscares (except for one) really contribute to the sorrow that pervades the level. The first three blood trees were fun fights I love the gardeny design of the first section. The friendly fire chaos of the last room was a ton of fun the first couple times, although there was a lot of stuttering. I do wish that any kills throughout the room contributed to the blood for the tree, since I died multiple times to the stupid blood puppets. That was really anticlimactic and kinda ruined the mood. Otherwise, a really good level.

7-4 /// ...Like Antennas to Heaven: An interesting boss battle, to say the least. The reveal of the Earthmover at the very beginning was *amazing* and I'm always a sucker for "climbing up a gigantic boss" sequence. The defense system was a fun stationary boss but it was pretty easy. The boss itself was really easy too, once I realized that I was just shooting towards the middle of a circle. Personally, I would have preferred slower moving lasers, more health, and an additional obstacle to fight/dodge. My main critique of the level is that it doesn't feel like a layer climax, at all. The hardest fights of the level were, by far, the ones against the Guttertanks and other normal enemies and not the intense, 1v1 duel that I like so much about the other boss fights. The Metroid Prime-esque countdown escape was really, really cool, though. I just wish the sequence was less about fighting random enemies and more about tough platforming. Also, I know that the golden arm is obviously the eponymous "Godfist" but I'm still not a fan of not getting an arm at the end of the first layer of an act.

Lore: Love how Hakita captured the feeling of a self-perpetuating cycle in the Final War. Reading about the individual stages of escalation was really, really interesting and marched the visual design of each enemy well. Can't wait to see which six-lettered King built the Minotaur for Minos (more than likely the next prime soul).

Mannequins: A fun and surprisingly challenging mix of Filth and Strays with an extra layer of horror. Incredible visual design and animation. I do wish they were a bit less bullet spongey because it doesn't really fit their aesthetic as is, but adding a few extra enemies to compensate.

Guttermen: Great visual design and lore. They're not too hard to deal with on their own, and I'm glad to have another use of the Knuckleblaster (Hakita, please, PLEASE let us map seperate buttons for each arm). When they have a hunch of other fodder around them, they make interesting counterparts to Mindflayers as high-priority targets.

Guttertanks: Ooooh boy. I really like some of the things about them, but I have a lot of issues as well. Having an enemy that forces players to either stay far away or risk a well timed dash to get some blood is an interesting shakeup, but I do think the punch should at least be parryable. As is, the punch feels way too fast to react to, way too high-damage to recover from, and knocks you back like a million miles. For enemies that are supposed to be long-ranged artillery type things, their ranged attacks are surprisingly easy to deal with (especially with the freezeframe rocket launcher) but their melee attacks are way more of a threat and they have way too much health. I would prefer it if they had either significantly less health (or some kind of massive vulnerability, akin to the streetcleaners) or if their melee attack was nerfed and their ranged attacks buffed slightly.

Other thoughts: The new puzzles with the golden orbs is interesting, but I would like if the Whiplash had slightly more of an autoaim. Thank Gabriel that the voids on the puzzle sections don't damage you. Also, my computer isn't the best, but I was having a ton of performance issues during the third and fourth levels. Nothing too crazy or fatal, just some annoying lag and stuttering.

Overall, Violence was a really great layer, one of my favorites. I do think it needs some minor changes and tuning, but I'm excited for the psecret level and the new alternate gun, plus everything else yet to come from Hakita.

[espers-for-peace]

Starter for @dawnight

Minos groaned as he slumped down against a wall. A room full of Shadow Decree grunts all around him, but a few of them had been able to slash his side up. On top of that it sounded like someone else had shown up if the radio chater, and foot steps, he heard was an indication. The Union must have been staking the place out, and than when Shadow Decree goons began to show up en mass than that must have given them enough cause to follow suit. The minotaur wasn't exactly subtle. They'd probably be able to follow the path of destruction he left. Doors busted, slashed open, and bodies all over the place. He did his best not to kill any of them, but many had blown up. Nothing he could do about that.

Than he saw a figure walk in. "If you're with the Decree than go ahead and kill me. Been a pain in your ass for a long time." A laugh would escape him, but it turned into a coughing fit. He might have a broken rib or two as well. "But...if you're with the Union than you're late to the party." He didn't care for credit. If the Union wanted credit for this raid he'd happily hand it over. Hell, he'd let everyone think that it was the Union hit the Decree so hard.

[quirrel]

STARHUNTERS INFO POST

I wanted to talk more in depth about my OCs of the Fake DLC idea I had for Hollow Knight but I think it would take a long time if I went one by one on different posts so I'm trying to summarize as much info of them as I can here (their Google doc is even bigger HAKDHSK)

I talked about them on this post post! Check it out for more context about my sillies

The info is under the cut, otherwise this would be a very long post VAKDBSJ

Veni:

- Oldest of the team

- Uses any pronouns

- Went through a lot of of Events™, one of them included The Grimm Troupe ritual when their kingdom fell

- Old but will kick ur ass

- They are one of The Nightbringer's Favorites, a title that doesn't make really happy nowadays, mostly endures it for the sake of their team

- Loves Arts and crafts

- Is a terrible cook

Cymo:

- Also old as balls

- He/him

- Used to live in the ocean till the day the fish he was friends with died

- Cranky old man, but he cares about his teammates a lot

- Loves painting :)

Dusa:

- Also old but not as old as Veni or Cymo

- She/they

- Doesn't remember her past before meeting Veni and joining the team

- Is very dry when she speaks and sometimes can't read the mood in a room

- She's very intuitive when it comes to Soul and stuff like that

Minos:

- A *lot* younger than the previous 3, but was the fourth to join them (after a really long time of them travelling alone)

- He/they

- Medic of the group, he's actually a physical therapist but due to the team getting stupid sick or injured most of the time he had to learn a bunch of different things to keep them alive

- Dusa helps him

- His species (Treehopper) are usually very small but his mamma was a big beetle, that's why he looks like that

Tigo:

- Around Minos' age

- They/them

- Used to be more of a beastly bug before they found a corpse of a mask maker and stole one of their masks, gained Focus

- Still very much silly and dangerous

- They lost their wings after they miscalculated something on one of their hunts, was very close to dying untill Veni found them

Vris:

- A tad younger than Tigo

- He/him

- Used to be part of a mercenary group till they kicked him out for a false acussation, captured by Laki's team till both of them got out and rescued by Veni's group

- Makes terrible first impressions on other people, but he's actually a genuine sweet guy

Laki:

- Around Vris' age

- She/him

- Also used to be a part of a mercenary group, though hers used to be enemies with Vris', wanted to leave the group after a long time and Vris' kidnapping was her last straw

- Used to be part of a royal family as well, though he was the child of a duke with a lower position, the material of her whip is similar to the pale ore

- She/her

Tari:

- As old as Cymo

- Lived in Hallownest up to its fall, escaped with the other stags but separated when she noticed her brother (Old Stag) wasn't there

- All of them travelled very far so she got lost when she tried to return back to Hallownest

- Found Ruk as a baby one day when she was wandering, then later met Veni and stayed with them

Ruk:

- Baby.... he's a little teen guy

- He/him

- Pretty much was raised by the whole group

- His family was killed before Tari found him, being the only survivor of what happened

Ignis:

- Young adult, a tad younger than Laki and Vris

- She/her

- Joined Veni and their team because she wanted to meet other places outside her tribe

- Has nicknames for everyone

- Is Hachi's girlfriend :3

Hachi:

- A tad older than Ignis

- She/her

- Blind from birth, but uses pretty much all of her other senses to move around and also fight

- Can be very strict at times, but she's very kind and cares about her teammates

- Is Ignis' girlfriend :3

Kram:

- Liddol guy, also a teen (around Ruk's age)

- He/him

- Scared of a lot of things, but tries his best

- Vris teaches him how to fight (totally not his father figure)

Sheepi:

- Youngest of the adults

- She/they

- She's a blacksmith! A genuine weapons geek

- Can use the leaves growing on her back as a food source

- Can move faster in water than in land

---

And that's pretty much it :3 if you're reading this thanks a lot! If anyone got questions feel free to ask stuff

[actaestfabula23]

Definitely need a part three of Escape Room because ZOEY AND BEN HAVE TO GET TOGETHER because OBVIOUSLY THEY HAVE FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER! Definitely need part three where they take Minos down and they need to kiss too... anyways, they’ve got chemistry

[superpositvecloudshipper]

Zoey and Ben from escape room not something that happend but I'm to obssed and yes I know zoey has black hair but I couldn't be bothered to go back and change it 😁 this is a scene I think could happen in the third movie which is coming out next year where any survivers from the games will have to fight minos or his men also I'm not saying that both Ben and or zoey live i just did them as they are my favourite characters

[tvtalk247]

Did you guys know there’s two different versions of the Escape Room sequel? I watched it at the theater back in 2021. But today, I was all excited and wanted to show a friend the franchise so I played the first movie and the sequel. The version I played to my friend was drastically different than what I saw in the theaters.

Like this one had a backstory of the puzzle maker and his family. The daughter was the one that really was designing the rooms. And Ben last room was in a sauna. The one I watched his last room filled up with water and he almost drowned. Amanda from the first movie didn’t come back in this version. And the movie ended happily after. The one I watched Minos planned everything to the very end. The police was fake and finally tricked her on the plane. The movie ended with them finally doing the plane escape room on her.

Like how can this movie have such different endings floating around out there!?!

I had to go to YouTube to play the clips from the version I remembered. It made me feel like I was making it up 😂😂

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

saw ur post about Danny from escape room and omg agreed I need more people to talk about him with he's so underrated

NO LIKE ACTUALLY THOUGH!!!!

I genuinely love him, he's so harmless and genuinely excited to be there, it's like textbook-first-death-you-care-about-to-get-you-invested, but I think it would be fascinating to see how the story would progress if he had lived longer. He doesn't get much of a chance to realize this isn't just a super fucking good escape room and I'd love to see how he'd react to another person's death, or the more morally-questionable puzzles.

Would he step up to the plate in a Zoe sort of way? I feel like theres even a possibility he'd cling to the concept of it just being a normal escape room for WAY longer than he should as a way to cope with all the fucked up shit happening.

Because if you think about it even his personal tragedy/survival event (while also being SO FUCKING SAD OHHH MY GOD??? how old was he??? was he a kid??? when did this happen?? if someone remembers if it's says how long ago HIS ENTIRE FAMILY DIED let me know) is incredibly passive.

He definitely saw his family post-death but unlike a plane crash or a mine cave or any of the other tragedies in he has never actually seen anyone else in the process of dying, and I think that would be SO interesting to explore.

Like is that why he likes escape rooms so much? Because it's a way to solve 'impossible' puzzles and clever-your-way out of problems in a way he never got a chance to because he was probably asleep when it happened?

(I also wish we got a slightly closer look at how Ben feels about his death. Because it's really no one but Minos' fault but if the blame had to be pointed to another player it's on him. And he's already got a complex about that shit. Danny is a significantly more sympathetic/guilt complex kind of murder than Jason.)

He's just SO interesting as a character, especially because his death is the only non-preventable one. Theres no way to out-think being dragged under ice in a freezing current. I know the whole game is about luck but it's entirely unfair in a way that I can't even imagine would be particularly entertaining for the people watching at home and I WANNA KNOW WHY! Was he always going to die first? Did they underestimate how good at escape rooms he was? Was it a shock value death to keep all the rich viewers who bet on the safest-winner invested? Was it just because he brought a phone when he wasn't supposed to?

Like (second movie spoilers) but especially with the Amanda reveal in the second movie I'm shocked more people aren't talking about the possibility that he's not actually dead at all!

Because why would Minos kill him? If they want to force people to make escape rooms for them wouldn't Danny be their first choice? He's smart, he loves escape rooms, it would be perfect!

The only real explanation is just that it has to do with personalities and who would be most likely to actually go along with them, but we don't know nearly enough about Danny to think that he wouldn't.

Like?? He kind of seems like the easiest of the first movies cast to manipulate in this situation!! He's the youngest, he's naive, and I don't think he's got the kind of Zoe-backbone that would rather die then spend his time building escape rooms which is what he's passionate about.

If I'm being entirely honest I am not going to believe anyone is dead unless we see the body.

Like, in the first movie who are the only two we don't see the actual body of?

Amanda and Danny.

Amanda is clearly a good person to have on your evil-escape-room-murder-game team as it's shown in the sequel, and like I said DANNY KAHN IS LITERALLY THE PERFECT PERSON TO HAVE ON YOUR TEAM. WHY WOULDN'T THEY KEEP HIM IN THEIR BACK POCKET?

((It also makes sense with the sequel, where we don't see a lot of the bodies. The ONLY person's body we actually see is Theo; Nathan falls into the sand, so does Ben, and we know how that worked out. We kind of hear Brianna and Rachel but we don't SEE them. And the might mean nothing, but if you think about it- it tracks, in a tournament of champions, best of the best, you'd want to hold on to as many as you can.))

I'm veryyyy interested to see if this comes up in the next one, I honestly do not think it will, but I definitely think it's a plot line that could be INCREDIBLY interesting to go down.

[wonderingduke]

Is it true that you've been to the Observer's tower? Is that how you attained some magical artifacts as well as some magic abilities?

Also how did you familiarize yourself with technology of the 21st Century? I mean you're born in the 1300s but your clothing is from my time.

"I know of the Observer's tower and have sought it out in the past but it's heavily protected by magic beyond my power even after centuries of honing it. I have not found the places they are imprisoned much less how to free them. I have only found notes and abandoned places with evidence of them but I fear that perhaps the entity has gotten ride of all of them at this point. I've attained magic artifacts both outside the fog and in it. Me and my uncle went on a expedition and after months of searching and going from place to place we discovered the three pieces of a key that lead us to a labyrinth under Minos. Where we found a secret room detailing a magic stone that spoke of a dark cult that seeks to destroy the world with knowledge it's not ready for. I called the stone Lapis Paradisus and after my uncles death I started searching for it. I didn't manage to find it in time as I was imprisoned and using runes combination and what I theorized to be on the stone I tried to travel between dimensions to escape to the perfect world. Instead I came here to this twisted dimension of suffering. Things from all timelines and dimension end up in the fog and my number one pursuit is knowledge so anything I found I tried to learn from it. Books end up here all the time filled with everything from ancient knowledge to secret family recipes. I will admit I tend to steal clothes and try and mimic fashion I see in pictures from books I believe they're called magazines ? Not all of my outfits have been this good I will admit. I had cheetah print leg warmers at one point we don't talk about that outfit. "

[the-knightmare]

Dreams of You I Wish Were Sweet

Have some Zoey/Ben from Escape Room (2019).

Warnings for depictions of violence, implied death, and night terrors.

Also on A03

Minos had them again. She was stuck behind the glass as Ben struggled to stand in a rapidly collapsing room. The sounds of glass smashing, and wood splintering filled her ears and reduced any logical part of her to the desperate pleas for Ben to hold on while she thought. Zoey was fumbling with a puzzle box when a pained scream made her drop the contraption. The room Ben was trapped in had shrunk to the point where he could only lay flat on his back. Tears pricked her eyes, as Zoey ran to the window. Her legs collapsed just as Ben was buried under rubble and the room finally closed in on itself.

Zoey closed her eyes in a silent scream, only to have the room reset when she opened her eyes. This time, Ben was standing in a room rapidly filling with water. Frantically, Zoey raced around the room trying to find something, anything, to break the glass. Minos had stripped anything useful from the room, only a secured chair and table too big to throw decorated the room. The water was just over Ben’s head now.

“Hold your breath, Ben, I’m going to get you out,” Zoey cried, pressing her hand to the glass.

Ben’s hand met hers but slipped away as air bubbled out of him. He floated above her, looking like a puppet before a performance.

“No!”

Zoey slammed her hands against the barrier. She battered the glass again, and again, until her hands were bloody, and it was not glass she was hitting, but ice. Kneeling, she watched Ben’s body as it was pulled by the current. Her frozen limbs seemed to move in slow motion as she crawled along the ice. No matter how much she tried, Zoey could not catch up. Her breathing became shallow, cold sweat beading on her brow as the aired thinned until she was dizzily kneeling in an escape tunnel. Ben swayed across the room. There was not enough time for him to make it to safety, and Zoey watched in horror as he stumbled forward and fell. She tried to crawl to him, hoping she could drag him to safety, but she could only choke and cough. Breathable air was running out. Zoey needed to get out, but not without Ben.

She would not leave him. Her mom, Amanda, there was nothing she could have done to help them. But Zoey could help Ben. She had to save him. She just had to get across the room, and they would be okay. Black spots danced across her eyes. Just a few more feet. Zoey’s chest burned, but she could almost reach him.

Her fingers just barely grazed Ben’s jacket when her vision cut out.

“Just a bit more,” she muttered, “We can still make it.”

Collapsing next to Ben, Zoey tried to fight the poisoned air in her lungs. She felt herself slipping away, all the panic she tried to muster faded into a frustrating nothingness.

Just as everything went black, Zoey jolted awake. Her chest heaved as she tried to reorient herself in the new room. Except it was her room, in her apartment, not a Minos trap.

“Zoey?” A sleep-heavy voice asked, “you alright?”

A warm hand pressed against her back, grounding her in the assurance that this was not some Minos trick. Zoey stayed quiet for a moment, focusing on the comforting warmth at her back before turning to face Ben.

“Just a bad dream.”

In the dim light of dawn, Zoey could see the concern on his face and felt a rush of embarrassed shame wash over her. She had hated when Allison had seen her startle awake at random hours, but even though Ben knew exactly what was going on she could not bring herself to tell him exactly what she saw when she closed her eyes. Sometimes she saw her mom fall through sand, other times Amanda, Rachel, Danny, Nate, their faces swapping in the middle of whatever torture scene her mind had conjured. Other times it was Ben. Minos using him to get to her, punish her, recruit her, it didn’t matter. It never mattered. It always ended the same.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me.”

Arms wound around her waist and Zoey relaxed into the curve of Ben’s neck as thumb rubbed gentle circles into her hip. This position was no longer new. They had begun sharing a bed a month after moving in together, it had seemed natural with the number of nights spent comforting each other. Whatever their relationship had become, neither had ever addressed it, caution overruling anything else, though tonight Zoey felt too tired to be cautious.

“I saw you,” she said softly, the only indication Ben had heard her was the stillness of his hand. Zoey missed the comfort of the gently moving thumb but continued her quiet confession.

“You were trapped in rooms; all I could do was watch. Nothing I did could save you, and I…” Zoey swallowed around the rising lump in her throat, “I…I could-”

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me.”

“I couldn’t save you,” Zoey finished shakily, “I couldn’t save you, I tried, but I couldn’t save you.”

“Well, I’m right here, alive, because you did save me,” Ben’s voice was low and soothing in her ear.

Tears slipped down Zoey’s cheeks and soaked into Ben’s shirt as he continued to reassure her that he was alive, she had not failed, Minos couldn’t them anymore.

“But I almost lost you. I’ve…we’ve both lost so many people. I can’t lose you too,” Zoey interrupted.

“And you won’t. I’m not going anywhere until you tell me to go,” Ben said, his words sounding more like a promise than its usual joking tone.

“I don’t ever want you to go,” Zoey confessed.

For a moment they were silent, each taking in the other’s words. Zoey turned his over in her mind, each meaning like another possible solution in a puzzle. She had always had a hard time understanding people. It had always seemed as if they were operating at the same frequency, and she was left in a feedback loop of failed interactions made worse after the plane crash. But with Ben, it had been as if she was finally beginning to connect again. She had started having dinner with her roommate before moving out of the dorms, joined study groups and the physics society.

A soft kiss pressed to the top of her head broke Zoey out of her thoughts.

“In that case, would you want to get coffee sometime?”

Laughter snorted out of Zoey before she could stop it. The normalcy of the question throwing her off balance, where just for a moment she could imagine them as just another boy asking a girl on a date instead of waking up screaming dreams of Minos horrors.

“Don’t we already have coffee together?” Zoey teased, knowing what her answer would be no matter what.

“Well, I just meant like a date, but if, you know, you aren’t into it-”

“I’d like that,” Zoey said, interrupting his nervous stammering, “but I think we have a few hours before anywhere is open.”

“In that case I vote we go back to sleep. If you’re okay with that?”

The suggestion of sleeping again after a bad nightmare was usually enough to send a wave of anxiety through her. Half the time, she chose to lay awake or get some work done rather than face the possibility of more horrors. But that anxiety did not raise its head. Only a heavy tiredness that she didn’t want to fight.

“Sleep would be nice.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ben studied her face, as always more concerned with her wellbeing than what he wanted.

“I am now,” Zoey reassured, settling more comfortable into his arms.

Ben fell asleep first, and she listened to the steady rise and fall of his breathing like a lullaby. As she began to drift into sleep, Zoey hoped that one day she could dream about Ben without it turning into a nightmare. That she could see her mother and dream of the days before the accident. Until then, she vowed to herself to fill her life with pleasant experience to dream about, starting with that coffee.

[foxglow-diner]

The Iliad: Book Fourteen

If Book Thirteen was about how the gods have a drastic impact on participating in the war, and the Trojan perspective towards comrade loss, Book Fourteen is about the third and last option: The Argives and the gods influencing and manipulating one another.

The book starts off with main figures of the Argive men strategizing on how to handle the Trojan onslaught. Well, really it starts with these exact words, “But the mounting cries of war could not escape old Nestor, pausing over his wine” [14. 1-2]. Due to his old age, Nestor wasn’t able to fight. But he is able to muse over the dying and yell at Achaeans. Nice.

Back to the war room, Agamemnon was the first to give a suggestion. He said to retreat. For this, Odysseus and Diomedes launched back, calling him a coward and absurd. All is right with the world, honestly. Off topic, but I’m not one for shipping characters, and I know Odysseus is devoted to Penelope. It’s also really funny to think of Diomedes being Odysseus’ wartime fling. They just... match.

Next, we switch to the gods. Hera is the leading figure this book. She’s pleased with Poseidon’s actions. Although, she had some upchucking experience when she saw Zeus simply looking over the battle. So, Hera enacted a plan to seduce him. This would allow Poseidon to continue his work, and win Zeus over to her cause. 

Hera was successful. It’s Zeus, he’ll do anything that moves. This is also the book that Zeus delivers the quote,

 “Never has such a lust for a goddess or mortal woman flooded my pounding heart and overwhelmed me so. Not even when I made love to Ixion’s wife who bore me Pirithous, rival to all the gods in wisdom... not when I loved Acrisius’ daughter Danaë–––marvelous ankles–––and Perseus sprang to life and excelled all men alive... not when I stormed Erupoa, far-famed Phoenix’ daughter who bore me Minos and Rhadamathys grand as gods... not even Semele, not even Alcmena queen of Thebes who bore me a son, that lionheart, that Heracles, and Semele who bore Dionysus, ecstasy, joy to mankind––––not when I loved Demeter, queen of lustrous braids–––not when I bedded Leto ripe for glory–––Not even you!That was nothing to how I hunger for you now–––irresistible longing lays me low!” [14. 376-394]

What a douche bag. A famous douche bag, but a douche bag nonetheless. 

The book is rounded of with Argive-centric battle. Hector is left severely wounded. 

[onebigerror]

@araneorum closed starter shelly & ben

"shelly...no!" ben couldn't believe what he was hearing. go in with guns blazing. take everyone down. he could only imagine how badly that would effect their collective future. as if any of them had much of one ahead of them anyway. minos was their future. endless horror at the hands of minos. "that is not a good idea. that is a very very bad idea." now could he get his fellow soul survivor to hear reason? that was debatable. zoey looked as though her soul had left her body as she sat there listening to shelly's plan. ben wasn't sure what scared him more. minos or mafia. sadly after surviving those damned escape rooms twice - with a third surely coming - he believed it was the former. he'd take his chances with the mob. "these people...that's not how they work. you can't just go in and shoot them all down." shelly wasn't stupid. she had been through it just the same as he and zoey but this unhinged frenzy was terrifying. the shock of the second round was still fresh and they were all on edge. "we might get a few...but it's an organization. they keep themselves hidden." they had to get to the heart of it all and even with shelly's connections that had been damn near impossible. ben walked slowly towards her and attempted to pull her close to him. anything to stop the incessant pacing. he wasn't really sure how the action would be received but still, he made the attempt to show her that he was there for her. he cared about her. he'd fallen for her whether he came out and said it or not.