 |
Spoilers in front! This page or section contains information pertaining to newly released content or soon to be released content.
|
| — The Shopping Mall |
The Shopping Mall (unofficial name) Is the third location of Noone's nightmares in the audio-fiction series, The Sounds of Nightmares. This location also functions as a character.
Description
Noone describes the mall as being so large that it made her feel small. After passing through the sliding doors, she was greeted by lights in the promenade that illuminated one by one, music beginning to play over the intercom.
Noone described the stores in the mall appearing to be closed, as there were no doors she could use to access them and nothing on display in the windows of the shops. However, she assumed there was some secret entrance into the stores as she could see shadows beyond the glass. Noone described the tile floors as having patterns on them that reminded her of veins. The mall consisted of three floors, three sets of staircases separating the first from the second. As Noone explores the mall, the speakers will occasionally turn on to notify her of the shops that were open and to inform her of any prizes that were free for her to take.
At the end of the chapter, Noone arrives to one final location in the mall, a theater where she discovered a mass of flesh and a deformed eye in the theaters projection room, its tubes running into the wall, revealing that the building itself is a living being of its own. While it is capable of speaking directly to someone like Noone, it could also imitate a number of voices, such as the many she heard over the speaker. Noone described it as being warped by pain. It is not only capable of reading minds, but also capable of manifesting anything within its shops to better impress any visitors so as to better entice them to stay. When it became aware of Noone's intention to leave it, it fell into a state of distress, begging her not to leave it, crying out black goo throughout the walls.
Personality
Throughout Noone's journey, the mall would open its doors to shops that it felt would impress Noone. In order to better entice her to stay, it read her mind to learn more about her, discovering her true nickname, "No one", and gain a better understanding in terms of what to include in its shops for her, filling it with numerous items it knew she either owned, wanted, or would have liked to own. Upon its official introduction with Noone in the projection room of the theater, Noone deduced that it was very lonely and even resorted to mimicking voices from the various empty film canisters it owned to cope with its unbearable loneliness. Despite Noone admitting her intentions to leave, it blamed itself for driving away another visitor. Desperate to keep Noone, it will even resort to begging and bargaining, offering to provide her anything she could ever desire, such as the red pendant it gave her in the jewelry shop. Despite its attempts to remain hidden, it is shown to be careless as it left the speaker on while two of its voices argued.
Powers and Abilities
- Personal Architecture: The mall has the ability to control its entire structure. This includes any part of the building as well as objects in its shops after they detach themselves. This power includes making objects appear, turning on and off machines, and warping its appearance.
- Telepathy: The mall was able to use some form of telepathy on Noone. This ability made itself apparent when it made objects such as cloths and toys form Noone's past appear. This was also proven when it called Noone by a popular nickname given to her by kids in school.
Components
The Promenade
The promenade is located on the first floor, and consists of a singular fountain.
Juju Bee's Toys
Juju Bee's Toys was the first shop in the mall that Noone explored. It was described as being a bright green storefront with bubbles floating out of the entrance. After entering, she described the shop being impossibly long, with towering shelves filled with "wonders." The first shelf is filled with old toys, and the shelves further down held toys like the ones she had back home. However, the deeper shelves held toys she had always wanted, including a Lottie Potty doll.
With no shop keep around, Noone sat down and played on the store's carpet with one of the dolls, until realizing her quick boredom and sadness over the idea of growing up. As if reacting to her, the doll began to release a black goo. Upon discovering a games section in the store, she noted the majority of the games were intended to play in pairs, then suddenly heard a static-y whisper said, "I'll play with you". She eventually picked out a jewelry-making kit with a red pendant on the cover, eager to play with it. However, upon discovering the Lottie Potty doll she played with had disappeared, along with the other dolls on the shelf, she felt weird and set the jewelry kit down. The moment she set the kit down, the speaker announced that the store was closing. Noone detailed that as she exited the toy shop, the lights shut off, the bubbles at the entrance stopped, and a toy train that had been running came to a crashing halt.
Mademoiselle's Bijouterie
Mademoiselle's Bijouterie was the second shop that Noone visited in the mall. She was drawn in by a glass casing in the middle of the room, filled with all kinds of different gold and silver necklaces. In the center was a red pendant, similar to the one she had seen on the cover of the jewelry kit back in Ju Ju Bee's Toys. After putting it on, she heard arguing over the speaker and saw a series of dresses roll out from the back of the room. all exactly her size, detailed with bows, lace and stitching's. Among the many dresses was also the same plaid dress she remembered wearing when she arrived to the ward.
The Theater
Noone first described seeing spinning bright lights on the third floor. After arriving to the lobby of the theater, she noted the interior as being red from the floor to the ceiling, with buckets of popcorn overflowing from the concession stand, all available for the taking. After grabbing one of the many popcorn buckets, Noone rushed to push open the huge golden doors separating the lobby from the theater room. The theater room was filled with rows of velvet seats, nearly all the rows were filled by what she believed were other people. A spotlight hit the stage, illuminating an organ with no organ player in view, only tall curtains swaying in some breeze. As Noone sat center to the screen, she felt as if the chair was hugging her.
The screen began playing "The Healing Horn," Noone's favorite film. However, the scenes were out of order, and the characters in the picture were all misshapen and wrong. Noone eventually realized that the audience was not made of people, but rather mannequins.
The Projection Room
After encountering the Candleman once again in the theater room, she noticed the projector flicker and made her way to the projection room. She found the door slightly open, and as she pushed her way into the room, she heard the speaker angrily announced that patrons were not permitted in the room. After successfully forcing the door open, Noone discovered a deformed eye in place of the projector. The floor appeared to be a pulsing organ of some kind, with tubes connecting to the walls. Noone heard a voice from both inside the room and over the speaker, formally greeting her by her real nickname.
Trivia
- It was heavily implied that the building hosted more than one child, as it detailed how other unnamed individuals abandoned it, had been taken, or met a worse fate.
- The idea of a sentient location was first proposed with the Maw, then later the Transmission, where it is theorized that the two structures are living beings of their own. While the Maw was provided a detailed living description, the tower itself revealed it was made up of walls of flesh and eyes seen at the end of Little Nightmares II. However; the Shopping Mall was the first of these to have been confirmed to be alive.
- Noone specifies the mall had the ability to mimic voices. It is currently unknown if its ability to speak more than one voice over the intercom and argue with itself using the individual voices is a sign of conflicting personalities or if they are an indication of other characters.
- The Shopping Mall was able to learn more about Noone even without her speaking. Noone concludes the Mall was capable of reading her mind as evident by it knowing of the plaid dress she wore when she first arrived to the Counties Psychiatric Institute, her favorite movie, the toys she owned, the pendant she saw on the jewelry making kit, and removing anything that could cause her distress, such as all of the dolls from the toy store.
- Near the end of Chapter 3, the mall becomes aware of the Ferryman's presence, telling him, "Dont take her. Not this one too," implying that the Ferryman has taken many other children away from it and will not permit it to keep a single child.
References