??? Explora Session 3: 9AM PST/11AM CST/Noon EST Start

[idolpro]

[ You go, onward and upward.



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THE GATES | THE COURTYARD | THE FOUNTAINS | THE GARDENS

Comments

Re: THE GARDENS

[idolpro]

[ Once you're here, the desire to sleep isn't so strong. Somehow, it's not your place to rest.

And that fountain really does seem like one you may have seen before:

It's beautiful... or at least it clearly once was. Its base—the places where is hasn't been shattered, that is—is of pure white stone, cut without blemish, lines perfectly straight. Whatever the sculpture once was, though, is impossible to say. From some angles it looks like it could be the base of a person; from others, it just looks like alien geometry.

But unlike the last time you were here (wherever "here" is), with every step you take, more of the mist peels away. You aren't even all the way to the fountain before the stones beneath your feet almost seem to bend to the touch of your footsteps.

As the mist dissipates, the edges of it flicker vivid blue.

Behind you, the path where you've walked is no longer stone, but a strip of grassy meadow. ]

Re: THE GARDENS

[puzzlekeeper]

[ Ah . . .

After a few disoriented steps, he crouches down to press one hand to the ground.

Is this place even solid and real? ]

Re: THE GARDENS

[idolpro]

[ It's solid, now. The real garden stands before you: a meadow beneath a sky that shimmers with the shifting rainbow of light, with the horizon stretching as far as the eye can see. As the colors merge into that horizon, they form a pure-glowing white. The meadow itself, filled with flowers, reflects the sky in its rainbow. In fact, one might notice that no two flowers are exactly alike in color or breed.

You yourself stand at an entrance: a gate of white metal that gives off its own light.

It feels as though one mystery—the mystery of where you are—is slowly beginning to resolve, but how you got here is still a wonder. It weighs on your mind, in the back of your throat like a lump, but at once, you feel as though the drowsiness still remains, and your eyelids feel heavy.

Some yards away, there is a single tree. Its swaying branches beckon you to rest beneath them, if only for a moment. ]

Re: THE GARDENS

[puzzlekeeper]

[ He stands slowly again, plucking one of the flowers as he does so, and approaches the tree. ]

Is this some kind of vision you've left behind . . . ? Mehniel.

Re: THE GARDENS

[idolpro]

[ ...Do you pluck a flower so casually?

The flower nearest to you sprouts from its own personal miniature pool of water, and its layered petals creamy yellow and then pink at their tips. Somehow, despite the unlikely environment, it's... a lotus, growing here in this wide meadow.

...And it is the part of reality that the role of descending angel—those whose very presence and power changes those around them.

How do you know that? Unclear. You just do; the knowledge feels as natural as breathing.

So. Do you pluck it? ]

Re: THE GARDENS

[puzzlekeeper]

[ Of course. Why wouldn't he pluck it?

The lotus has always been his flower. ]

updated

[idolpro]

[ There's a moment, as you begin to break the stem, of intense discomfort.

It's a feeling deep within you that seems to say, ah, you should be kind to yourself.

Continue? Y/N ]

1/2

[puzzlekeeper]

[ Something telling him to be kind to himself?

. . . No, do not continue, thanks.

In fact -- this is a lot of non-lotus flowers in general. A lot of plants in general. And quite a reminder of--



Several things. ]

Re: updated

[puzzlekeeper]

[ The impulse to turn tail and return the way he came is one he follows, in this instance. ]

Re: updated

[idolpro]

[ There's a sort of feeling, like—almost like you're thinking to yourself:

Since when have I been a coward?

But you go.

As you pass through the gate, it's as though a heaviness lifts from your chest—some terrible weight that you hadn't realized you'd been carrying. It had felt like terrible anguish, but now you can hardly remember it—it's as though it was a dream.

You find yourself in front of a fountain, with no way to cross back to where you were before. ]