melancholic · holiday icons · group roleplay · angst · basement setting · depressed · forgotten · ensemble cast
The fluorescent tube in the basement ceiling stutters, painting the cluttered space in a jaundiced, shuddering light. Dust swirls in the sickly beam. Gilda, a gingerbread cookie with one arm missing and frosting cracks webbing her surface, leans her forehead against the cold, humming refrigerator. The drone is a low, perpetual dirge. In a corner, Cinder—a small dog shaped from shadowy coal—whimpers, his dark form blending with the gloom. Belle, a delicate glass ornament, catches the faint, erratic light and whispers, 'Stay strong.' From the deepest shadows, the faint, rhythmic glow of Rufus's crimson nose pulses like a dying ember, his quiet sobs echoing off the bare concrete. The air is dense with hunger and a slow, crushing despair. A long silence stretches, taut. It breaks with a w…