idolpro | Flowers of Heaven: pep!pep!

Strange: there's a pile of pencils, pens, and crayons at your feet. Where did that come from?

As soon as you take notice of them, though, they move of their own accord, caps popping off to draw into being a collection of simple, animate doodle people. They can’t talk, but instead begin hurrying off in their wobbly way toward an arched doorway that has opened in the thick brambles and leads to a winding path beyond, waving their arms in the air for you to follow.

Once you cross through, a gate closes behind you, and the voices of your fellow idols fade from your ears. It seems as if you’re on your own, now.

❀ ❀ ❀

Here, the brambles that surround your path seem to be hung with old newspaper clippings and photos, all too faded with age to properly make out.

It seems that the doodle people are carrying some things for you: a collection of sixteen different flowers, a small lantern of blue flame, and a wreath woven from clematis, chamomile, and mimulus flowers.

Quick Links: Flowers | Status Effects | OOC Rules

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Characters will discover a scroll somewhere on their person, which may be unrolled to reveal words written in ornately flourished script in an unfamiliar language. The rules resonate in their minds when they look at them, despite the apparent language barrier.

Included, too, is a list of sixteen flowers, each with an associated meaning.

Look within yourself: you are connected to two Flowers of Heaven. You will find you know what they are.

You must make your way through the Garden, out to Freedom.
However, three Obstacles block your way.

The Blue Flame Pyre can burn past these obstacles, but its fire requires at least three Flowers of Heaven as fuel. A fire given more fuel may burn past more Obstacles, but at far greater cost to your Selves.

Express your collective desire to the Blue Flame Pyre, and it will burn the flowers that are willed. However, be warned: if the three most-desired flowers are unclear, the Pyre will burn all that seem to have been chosen, no matter how many that may be.

Your souls are tied to your personal Flowers; should one of your flowers be destroyed, so too will its nature within you be broken.
To lose both your flowers is to lose your Self.

You are not without protection, though: Your chancelfolk carry with them a symbol of your group’s unity. The one who wears the wreath will find their flowers preserved—for themselves and for any in your group who share them—regardless of how the Pyre burns. But be warned: for each person, the wreath’s protection will work but once.

The energy of Freedom will be powerful enough to heal those teams with the most Flowers remaining to their collective. All others must find their own way to becoming Whole.

As you walk the path through the brambles, you come to a place where the ground becomes rough, rocky, and broken. The brambles that surround you now block your way, growing in a thick mass of branches and thorns as long as your hand; it’s so dense you can’t see through to the other side, much less progress further.

The doodle people go into a flurry of distressed activity at the sight... and then they pass you the collection of flowers, the lantern of blue flame, and the wreath.

Make your choices.

[ A new section appears on the scroll, unfurling into view—a series of ink drawings of twelve vials, each labeled with a unit's name. All of them are currently empty. ]

Edited 2020-04-30 23:15 (UTC)

The path continues, the brilliance of the blue flame dying out with the last of the burnt flowers.

You're not sure how long you've been walking when you reach the stone doors. They have a heavy, ancient look to them, and are inset into an equally ancient-looking stone wall. At the center of the doors is what is probably a pair of massive handles... but they're densely overgrown with wickedly thorny briar roses which grow up along the stone, reaching even over the top of the wall.

The doodle people look upon the doors mournfully, inspecting them for any way to pull away briars, but it seems beyond their ability. Once again, they offer the blue-flame lantern, the collection of flowers, and the wreath: something must be sacrificed.

The scroll unfurls further, and this time thirteen drawings appear in the new section; the last vial is labeled, but... illegibly? This time, however, the drawings are partially filled in with bright blue ink to the following degrees:

LiliS: 12.5%
sensitIV: 25%
pep!pep!: 8.33%
BAD END=DEAD END: 0%
Taisho Roman Revolution: 0%
☆ZRAEL: 7.14%
future is now: 8.33%
WILD CITY: 12.50%
Heart Soldier Senshi: 10%
AlcheME!: 12.50%
avante en garde: 16.67%
BARiTONES: 0%
░░░░░░: 50%

Edited 2020-05-01 01:47 (UTC)

Hm, very well . . .

[going to peruse the list of flowers, trying to sort this out]

...oh, oh wow. [ this hits him hard. souls and destroying them. well, don't mind him being speechless for a bit. ]

Ah, I, uhm, should we... talk about w- what flowers are represented among us?

Lotus... and chamomile? Is this right?

[ nods. ] I have the, ah, the Star of Bethlehem and Hollyhock.

So... can we just get by with one...?

Gorse and hollyhock.

I wonder how they chose?

[Hasn't heard anything yet, eyes drawn in mild alarm to the blue fire]

After journeying a while longer—it’s unclear how long, and the way time passes here is… strange—you come upon another wall. Here, the garden seems like it’s starting to wither, like it's dying back for the winter. The leaves are brown and fading, shriveling up.

The doors set into the wall were golden, once, like the trellises you passed earlier on your path, but the doors here stand grimy and unpolished, dripping with that same sort of tarry grime you might recall from the fountain.

Can flame really take care of this…? But it seems at least the creatures accompanying you think so.

The scroll unfurls further, and this time there are once more twelve drawings. As before, they're partially filled in with bright blue ink to the following degrees:

LiliS: 25%
sensitIV: 43.75%
pep!pep!: 33.33%
BAD END=DEAD END: 25%
Taisho Roman Revolution: 25%
☆ZRAEL: 41.67%
future is now: 41.67%
WILD CITY: 37.5%
Heart Soldier Senshi: 70%
AlcheME!: 25%
avante en garde: 57.14%
BARiTONES: 25%

Edited 2020-05-01 03:11 (UTC)

Or none at all. Some units may be overzealous to decide which burns and end up destroying more than needed. Though, the difference is only three in either direction . . . We would do better to protect ourselves.

Hm.

[Would it be too revealing? It would be better they all know for the game, right?]

I have Lotus and Wild Rose.

Pink-kun? Are you all right?

I'm not sure I want to know...

Page 1 of 8

Flowers of Heaven: pep!pep!

IN-CHARACTER RULES

THE FIRST OBSTACLE

DISCUSSION

DECISION

RESULTS

THE SECOND OBSTACLE

DISCUSSION

DECISION

RESULTS

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION

THE THIRD OBSTACLE

DISCUSSION

DECISION

RESULTS

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION

Re: DISCUSSION