Shrike's Ideal World 🌾 Run #3

[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 only 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."

THE FARM & 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 FARM & GARDEN

[gigadevilbreaker]

[Nero bends down to admire the flowers, giving them a sniff and stroking the soft petals between his fingers. Pretty~

(It's hard not to think back to the flower garden in her heart)]

Wouldja look at that...

Re: THE FARM & GARDEN

[inspiteful]

[ Of course I decided let's stay outside when the sky starts doing weird shit.

He rubs at his eyes for a moment, looking at the vegetables before he goes to examine the farm tools. ]

THE WELL

[softlyfalling]

[ The well is stone, and relatively ordinary—roughly-hewn. It's dug down deep enough that the light doesn't reach the bottom.

If you lean close to the well... well, you can hear a distant susurration of voices. Like someone calling to you from far away, but muffled. Like speaking through layers and layers of earth.

You could fetch some water, if you wanted. ]

Re: THE WELL

[gigadevilbreaker]

Other people? Doesn't look like there's anyone around for miles.

[Dum de dum, gonna inconspicuously drop a rock in first to see if he can hear the bottom.]

Re: THE WELL

[inspiteful]

[ ...Shrike is looking down into the well.

There's voices. (It's always the fucking voices.) ]

Did someone go down there.

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

[gigadevilbreaker]

[Still manages to do a coolguy landing!!! but immediately frowns at the water now squelching in his boots. Well now.

Shines his bright phone screen around, at the water, and then up at the monuments to inspect his surroundings.]

...SHRIKE? CAN YOU STILL HEAR ME?

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

[mind_blown]

[he's going to observe the wooden board, and the gifts.]

Yeah.

And we gotta wreck it.

Re: THE COTTAGE

[mind_blown]

[now he's going straight into the kitchen]

THE KITCHEN

[softlyfalling]

[ This is...

...a surprisingly nice kitchen, given how rustic everything else is. In fact, it looks just like the avante en garde kitchen, complete with cleverly disguised microwave and weird cauldron.

There's a set of very nice-looking cooking utensils, including a rather nice knife block, a robust array of spices, and a pretty deep pantry. Anything an amateur chef could want, really.

A pot is boiling on the stove, steaming lightly. ]

Re: THE KITCHEN

[mind_blown]

[......... what's in the cauldron, shrike.

also he has the jacket]

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

[mind_blown]

[honestly, he's going to go straight for the chest of drawers. because, well, he's being nosy.]

THE PANTRY

[softlyfalling]

[ The pantry is full, in spite of the modest appearance of the house; big jars full of milled flour and grains, oats, sugar, tea, dried noodles.

It goes a long way back, into the dark. ]

Re: THE PANTRY

[mind_blown]

Got it.

[he could grab some tea.




or he could go towards the dark.]

ANNOUNCEMENT

[softlyfalling]

[ there's sort of a strange, smoky smell in the air, somehow? it makes your eyes water a little bit.

clouds gather in the sky. ]

ANNOUNCEMENT

[softlyfalling]

[ there's a rumble like uh. theoretically it's probably a big rumble of thunder in the distance, rolling and low, except it also jars your teeth like you're next to a gong that's just been struck.

A lightning bolt lances across the sky, leaving black in its wake, and the sky turns dark. ]

ANNOUNCEMENT

[softlyfalling]

[ the clouds thicken, like it'll storm soon, and the sky gets a dark, slightly reddish-grey

and also it becomes weirdly warm and humid. ]

ANNOUNCEMENT

[softlyfalling]

[ the clouds become dark, and also look like they have faces now.

spooky faces. ]

ANNOUNCEMENT

[softlyfalling]

[ there's a clap of thunder, and the sky finally breaks open—

...but not into the torrential downpour one would expect. the clouds lighten into a soft grey, and a gentle rain starts falling down. the earth starts to smell fresher, and the smell of the smoke fades away. the temperature cools a little.

and then, little by little, it starts to wash away the scenery, and any injuries sustained, until there's only white. ]

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

[mind_blown]

...

[rubbing his jaw lightly]

Well, at least that worked.