Shrike's Ideal World 🌾 Run #2

[idolpro]

Comments

INSTRUCTIONS

[idolpro]

Your phone beeps, and displays only the following:

Once, there was a maiden...
...who was the living embodiment of everything right in the world.
While she lived, no real harm could come to anyone. Oh, wounds, disease, even death, sure. But she stood between the world and anything worse.

Shrike Plucks the Thorn from her Chest must be returned to reality, either by convincing or by changing and fracturing this dream enough that it cannot hold. Good luck.

OOC INFORMATION

[idolpro]

Full points will be awarded to anyone who convinces Shrike to leave her Ideal World.

One point each will be awarded for every major change or fracture someone creatres in the Ideal World, up to five.

You have whatever items you would have on you, except weapons. Technological items are still with you, but will not function apart from phones, which display the above message.

Powers are off.

If you are in the same area as other characters, you can talk to them.

THE ROAD

[softlyfalling]

You're standing in the middle of a dust-covered dirt road—really more of a path, if you're being honest, leading to a small cottage with a sturdy but simple roof. Maybe big enough for two people at best, but it looks well-cared for.

Surrounding you, and as far as you can see, are fields—the ones nearest the cottage growing crops, or planted with flowers, and then further out, wild grasses as high as your head, swaying quietly in the light breeze. There's a little birdsong, if you sit still and listen long enough.

You must be at least a day's walk if not more away from any other settlements, towns—civilization in general. And yet, someone clearly still lives here.

Regardless of what direction you intended to go, the door opens with a swish of wood creaking against wood a moment later—and a familiar face pokes her head out.

Re: THE ROAD

[softlyfalling]

"Oh! I wasn't expecting you at all," says Shrike Plucks the Thorn from her Chest. "I'm not ready for guests, but..."

She smiles, gently. "I'm so glad you're here. Make yourself at home."

Re: THE ROAD

[wonderlandgirl]

[It's pretty.

[Can she go investigate the flower field?]

THE FIELD & GARDEN

[softlyfalling]

[ The actual growable area is pretty modest—there's a bed of flowers, mostly what seem like local wildflowers. Bright colors in a rainbow of hues, tall stalks and short stalks, manicured only a little.

Behind them there's a bed of bok choy, and some wheat, and herbs like cilantro and green onions. Tomatoes, a small field of soybeans... the kinds of things you need to be self-sufficient.

Near the edge of the growing area, there's a tidy area with farm tools put away—a hoe, a rake, a small scythe for cutting crops, a shovel, shears. All in good shape. In some cases, rather sharp edges.

In the yard, there's also a well, with a single wooden bucket swaying in the wind. ]

Re: THE FIELD & GARDEN

[deicider]

Not planning to walk into town much?

[Cardinal walks over to the farm tools and grabs the shears, idly pressing them open and shut.]

Re: THE FIELD & GARDEN

[wonderlandgirl]

[Hmm, is there anything to collect tomatoes in that she can see? A - well, a basket, for example. Baskets are useful, aren't they?

[Wednesday's going to head over to the gardening tools and, uh, see what she can see, maybe. Everything about this seems perfectly normal, doesn't it? Even peaceful, so far.]

Re: THE FIELD & GARDEN

[deicider]

[Cardinal and Wednesday emerge from the well. Cardinal's front is soaked in blood and they look somewhat displeased.]

THE COTTAGE

[softlyfalling]

[ You head inside the cottage, following Shrike. The decoration's pretty sparse—mostly limited to a little wooden board next to the door where she's pinned up what looks like letters and photos. There's a number of little gifts on a side table there, too, partially-opened—like they came from visitors.

It's really... mostly one room—a small table for eating in the center of the room, with one chair at it and a few others pushed to the side, out of the way.

A curtained-off area looks like it has a sleeping mat and a small chest of drawers behind it. The only other real room is through a door to the side with a kitchen. ]

Re: THE COTTAGE

[justfuckingtryit]

[He pauses to look at the wooden board and gifts as he comes in]

...you live by yourself?

Re: THE COTTAGE

[honoring]

Ah, right-- I'd bet anything the garden is thriving too, right now.

[Lance looks over at the partially opened gifts and smiles fondly.]

It looks like you still get plenty of company out here. [...] Sorry I didn't bring anything.

Re: THE COTTAGE

[romanticlove]

Oh, wow! It's really nice in here.

[Running her fingertips across the surface of the side table before picking up one of the gifts to examine it.]

This must require a lot of work.

SHRIKE'S BEDROOM

[softlyfalling]

[ This is hardly a bedroom, but it contains the bare necessities of one: a sleeping mat, a chamber pot, a small chest of drawers.

There are also, pinned up on the wall, some slightly aged photographs—labeled in neat penmanship on the bottom, though it's on a script you might not recognize. Sometimes they contain her, but often it's just a candid of someone familiar from their Imeeji days—family and close friends, mostly. Eclipse, Persephone, Amaranth; Nero, Hlasoh, Raven, Glory, Cardinal, various others from the avante and Sparda clans.

There's also some letters in the corner, that look like they've been read over and over from how worn they are and how soft the paper is. She also seems to keep some poetry volumes here. ]

Re: SHRIKE'S BEDROOM

[honoring]

All the more reason to visit then. Still... do you ever miss it a little? Back when we were all together, I mean.

[He looks at the poetry, but it's the letters he focuses on, fingers brushing the edges as he glances over them.]

Re: SHRIKE'S BEDROOM

[justfuckingtryit]

[Poking through the poetry and the letters]

THE BOTTOM OF THE WELL

[softlyfalling]

[ down, down, down.

you're in a dark place, surrounded by water up to your knees, maybe. surrounding you are... monuments, maybe, or statues, impossibly high for how far you think you fell. looking at them feels... wrong... in a way that makes your head swim. ]

Re: THE BOTTOM OF THE WELL

[deicider]

[pitching their voice low, so it doesn't echo.]

This is weird.

[What sort of figures are are these monuments.]

ANNOUNCEMENT

[softlyfalling]

[ the sky suddenly darkens overhead into a greenish color, the clouds starting to thicken; it seems like there's a storm rolling in, although it's not here yet. ]

ANNOUNCEMENT

[softlyfalling]

[ uh

uhhhh

the earth is... shaking? and with a flash of lightning, a jagged black crack spreads across the sky. ]

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT

[wonderlandgirl]

[Wednesday screams again, and--

[--and sixteen years of earthquake drills kick in.]

Everyone, get down!

ANNOUNCEMENT

[softlyfalling]

[ the ground stops shaking! that's probably good!

but also, there's a heavy, portentious rumble of thunder, and the sky turns a heavy, dark green, casting everything into ominous shadow. the birdsong has entirely vanished. ]

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT

[honoring]

...we should probably get inside. It looks like it's going to get worse out here.

ANNOUNCEMENT

[softlyfalling]

[ above, there's a clap of thunder, and then...

the sky breaks into rain, but not the torrential downpour you might have expected. it falls, softly, light and misty, until the sky turns grey again, and then white, and then...

and then. ]

OUTSIDE

[softlyfalling]

[ The world has kind of fallen away, leaving everything empty... not to the black of nothingness, but even the black of the night sky has cracked through to a blank white everything. Like an empty canvas. ]

Re: OUTSIDE

[wonderlandgirl]

[I'm here.

[I'm not much, but I'm here.

[And Thorn, and Cardinal, and Nova and Lance - something. We're here.

[She isn't letting go.]

A PATH

[softlyfalling]

[ a path made of hewn stone starts to appear in the endless plane of white; it snakes forward and ends at a heavy wooden door. ]

Re: A PATH

[justfuckingtryit]

[Hand still pressed to the wound in his abdomen, he frowns down at the path - begins to walk]