i found a variant on my own today

i broke off from the group, i told barry and green boy that i would
meet them back by the tower

this variant branched off from parallel, surprisingly

i went up the stairs to where the second floor would have been and i
was met with two locked doors from where i entered.

it was nothing like i expected something off parallel to look like,
the area itself didn't really have a coherent design either

it looked like the jouse had taken bits and pieces from every
variant, even ones that we havent seen yet, and threw them in a
blender to make an incomprehensible slurry of visual information

i dont even think the area followed the same layout as the rest
of the building

it almost seemed like an... outside area, but still inside the
jouse, if that makes any sense?

as i fumbled with the doors and rummaged through my bag, i had
realized that i left the purplekey with the others

i dont think it would've worked on this door anyway, given the
padlock on it was blue.

...was there anywhere we could have gotten a blue key?

could a blue key even exist, or is the jouse itself toying with
me?

regardless, i shook off the thoughts and began exploring the
variant.

♪ — lets-make-jouse-merch-(redkey/log-tapes/dream-journal/flowers)
original: Dreams - Tommy Tone

return

it wasn't long before i began to search for a way out.

the endless looping halls of this area, the distorted mirrors that
relfect purple, the...

i pass by a mirror with a peculiar frame, i spot someone passing by.

i take a step back and look at the reflection in the mirror.

but, no... this isn't a reflection, that's not me.

it's... wanderer?

we stare at each other for a moment.

they begin bouncing their leg, a thing they do subconsciously when
they feel overwhelmed.

i reach out to the reflection, it flinches back and scurries out of
the mirror's view.

i run up to the mirror and press myself against it, i don't pass
through it like the one in flooded.

the reflection of the mirror seemed to copy the area perfectly,
or as perfectly as i could tell with the indecipherable appearance
this variant wears.

the jouse must be messing with me, i tell myself.

the jouse is totally messing with me, i convince myself

but even if there were a slim chance that they could have followed
me here, i needed to get them out

after all, this is something i need to do, and not something they
should have any involvement with

so i begin searching for an exit, this time with a self-imposed
sense of urgency

[A SHARD OF BROKEN DREAMS]
["though, at times, it had a difficult time discerning what was a
 'false' thought and a 'true' thought."
 -█████, MEMO7]

MEMY65 - mycelium

i found a variant down in second layer today.

im trying to find a way out

i got here from the fourth floor of "NE," and with a design as
mind-boggling as this, i couldn't begin to comprehend how this ended
up here

i stop myself for a moment, it's probably a good idea to keep my
composure so i don't end up getting more lost than i already am here

i take a deep breath, and...

I study the area around me.

The halls loop in on itself, the visuals of the variant are as
fragmented as my train of thought right now, and I passed by a mirror
that showed my brother.

It reached out to me, it... mirrors don't do that, obviously.

Mirrors reflect myself, not someone I know, and most importantly they
reflect your own movements and don't deviate from that.

After all, mirrors are just a slab of glass with a layer of, like,
silver or whatever painted on the back.

My leg is bouncing again.

I begin to pace back and forth.

Surely, there's some method to the madness here... there's got to be
some way out, I just need to... hm.

There's a hole on a wall, about five feet above the ground.

It's risky and stupid, but I could probably crawl in there... after
all, I don't really see another way out of here.

I look down the hall just to be sure of myself before proceeding,
I see myself from the back, looking down the hall and seeing myself
from the back, looking down the hall and... this is stupid.

The hole is damp.

Of course, one of the problems with crawling through such an
enclosed space is that once you're inside there's really
nothing else to do other than keep going... so I proceed.

The music of the area, I had never consciously acknowledged
it before, keeps distorting the more time I spend here.

It's really not helping right now, all I want is to get out.

Eventually, more paths split off of the one I'm currently in.

I briefly consider making a turn, but decide against it because
turning around is practically impossible here... I proceed on
the current path.

i'm scratching at the walls

they feel like clay, but they sure as hell aren't as malleable as it

...i should probably stop before i damage my claws

but, as i look down the hall and see nothing but a dense black fog
obscuring the rest of the area, a previously unknowable fear fills
my heart

am i never going to get out of here?

am i going to die?

i don't want to die

i don't want to die

i don't want to... i reach into my bag out of habit, it's an object
that brings some sensiblity to my thoughts

what do i have here... a half-eaten crunchy granola bar, crumbs
already spilling out into the rest of the bag... a page from my
dream journal, i think it's still at my apartment... a handheld
gaming device with a few cartridges, the batteries are dead...
my pocket knife... among many others

there's nothing useful here, of course, but knowing that everything
i have is accounted for here brings me a little bit of relief

i'm obviously still not doing well, given the fact that i've begun
narrating everything aloud when i reached into my bag, but thankfully
nobody is here to hear me talk to myself, right?

i begin to walk through the fog in hopes of finding a way to my
sibling.

The hole begins to open up, progressively.

I begin to have the room to crawl on my knees, crouch walk, and
finally get back on my two legs.

I'm still inside it, I know that from the moist air and the
smell of mildew, but it's definitely more reassuring when I'm not
forced to lie flat on the ground and squirm around like a worm.

Eventually, the hole begins to feel more like a large tunnel as I see
a dim light coming from the end of the path I'm on.

i don't know how long i've been walking around for

the others are either still waiting or have left me behind, and who
could blame them if they had done the latter

throughout this entire variant, i feel like i had been reliving
something that should have been kept locked in the back of my mind

i don't know exactly what it was, but it gives that feeling of
confronting past trauma... but i'm not sure whether or not this has
helped me with that at all

i turn the corner again, and... there are a set of two doors waiting
for me

one of them has a red padlock, the other doesn't have one

it's unlocked

i open the doors, i look inside and see the hallway leading to the
tower

i look behind me, it's a shame i couldn't find wanderer, but... they
can get through this on their own, i would just be holding them back

i close the door behind me and stop narrating everything aloud

i wonder if they were waiting for me this whole time

I reach a clearing.

It looks nothing like the rest of the variant, it's serene.

It's... reminiscent of the "OV" variant, in a way?

There are hedges with purple flowers growing on them, with the
occasional red rose.

There's a fountain in the center, and an arched gate from where
the tunnel ended.

I open the gate and sit on a bench next to the fountain.

I can tell it's not real water, I tried to wash the sweat off
my face but my hands phased through it.

There's a sky in this area, but the closer I look at that, the
less real it becomes as well.

One of the panels on the ceiling has a dead pixel.

After I feel relaxed enough, having gathered myself once more,
I walk around the hedges and find a set of two doors.

One has a purple padlock, the other being orange.

I use my PurpleKey on the corresponding lock and open the door.

Looking inside, it appears to be a floor on Second Layer with a
bunch of bookshelves.

I enter the Second Layer, and the door disappears behind me
before I get a chance to close it myself.

...I don't know how to feel about that whole experience, I say
aloud as if anybody could hear me.

Something shifts slightly.

Beneath the staircase leading down to this floor, a door with
a blue padlock stands defiantly.

...was there a blue key somewhere I missed?

I'll find it later... I proceed into the variant on this floor.