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

[ You reach the top, though perhaps not without injury, to find yourself presented with two gates. The first of the pair is filigreed, pearlescent and raised open, inviting you in.

Beyond it, a second gate is shut. This gate is not the same as the previous—it is latticed, with enough space to put a hand through but with sharp enough edges to caution one from being too hasty in yanking it out afterward. They reach up to the vaulted arches of the ceiling, apparently impassable. ]

[ You advance into the courtyard and immediately, you're made keenly aware of how silent it is: it might remind you of when Tokyo-F was plastic, if you were around then, for there are no ambient sounds, nothing that would indicate that this place has any life—though unlike Tokyo-F, there are plenty of signs that people were here before.

Trees line the marbled square, stone slabs jutting out from the walls that the previous occupants evidently used as tables, for silver platters sit on the slabs along with trinkets, glistening in the sunlight brightly—perhaps even too brightly. On the platters are various fruits, as well as pitchers; unrelatedly, there are various trinkets too.

The food isn't just localized to the stone tables; cloth is spread on the ground near a few trees with those silver platters as though one were having a picnic before abruptly leaving. Some slabs have what looks like game pieces, markings etched into the stone. There are also, it seems, various sticks and balls and little nets set up, as though this courtyard was for people to play games in.

Everything here is bright, and you can almost see the motes of light settling, as if only just stirred. The air itself is palpable, and breathing it in feels sharp—like your throat is dry, or like you're drinking a carbonated beverage. It doesn't last, the pain is hardly mentionable, but the weight clings to your throat, heavy.

From here, there are a number of entrances, though most gates are completely sealed shut. However, there's one gate that's open for you, leading down a hallway.

You may also turn back to the gate, if you really wanted to. . . ]

[ You enter what seems to be another courtyard of sorts, though this one seems to be less for playing and eating; here, there are flower-shaped fountains that depress into the marble like so, only rose-shaped. Each outer petal has a lining of water running through, and every inner petal is another step deeper into the fountain; by the third step, one would be deep enough that they could take a bath in this fountain. All told, there seem to be five of these fountain-baths in this room.

And perhaps bathing is what this place is for; etched into the marble in front of you is some sort of scripture, difficult to read, but if you concentrate you can see the shapes move to become readable:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.
And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Given where you are, is it wise to take a bath right now. . . ? ]

[ You’re in a garden. It’s lush, beautiful, and almost too wild with growth to quite merit the term "garden." There are fruit trees here, their trunks twisted and knobbled with age, their branches still low enough to easily reach. The ground is carpeted with colorful wildflowers, and flowering vines and wild roses twine around trees and golden trellises alike.

In the center of this roughly circular area is a broken-down stone fountain. The water sits stagnant, and nothing remains of the fountain’s design except a basin and the shattered base of a once-golden sculpture.

The light here is twilit—or just kind of dim, if you want to be less romantic about it. Looking overhead, it’s easy to see why: actually, the sky isn’t visible from this place at all. Instead, there’s a dense canopy of branches forming an almost perfect dome.

Perhaps this place is familiar to you.

Or… perhaps you aren’t truly here at all? Each step you take, the ground beneath your feet seems to shift and then dissipate, like fine mist. ]

[ she's just going to waltz through the first gate and stop at the second gate. she's learned her lesson about touching ~*~mysterious~*~ gates, so she's just going to stand there, fold her arms, and look around. ]

That sure is a gate.

[can i just shrink tho to get through?]

[what B said]

[Well the climb kind of sucked but he's here now.]

What, just some gates? [He passes through the open gate and gently touches the latticed gate, but is not foolish enough to stick any appendages through.]

[ waltzes through the first gate.

when he gets to the second, his first move is to examine it and see if there's any sort of mechanism on this side of the gate, or anything that looks off anywhere. ]

Hmmm...

[that]

[ yeah you sure can, buddy ]

[He's going to examine the second pair of gates to see if there's a way through with a mechanism too, hi I just woke up and I can read]

Edited 2020-12-20 17:06 (UTC)

[Same]

[ studying if there's a lock system, so she can maybe pick it.

Not touching anything yet. ]

Edited 2020-12-20 17:06 (UTC)

[AWESOME. B going to walk past the first gate, then shrink to scoot past the second and look for any mechanisms beyond it to hoist the second gate

he has no corruptions so!]

[Joining the alcheme party of shrinking through the gate]

Anybody wanna shrink and come with?

Edited 2020-12-20 17:06 (UTC)

[ There doesn't seem to be a mechanism on this side of the gate. The material of the gate is strange, nothing that you've ever seen before in imeeji; it's gleaming and white. It is also Very Strong; there are some scuff marks as if it's been battered in the past, and just found to be unpassable.

Through the grated gaps in the gate, though, you can see beyond: a wide courtyard with winding paths in the distance, some similarly gated. More relevant to your current predicament, there is a winch, visible but out of reach, with silvery chains glimmering as they stretch to reach the wall. The chains are let out right now, not spooled around the winch's center. ]

[ALL RIGHT TIME TO DO THIS.

[This is probably a bad idea for someone with corruptions to spare but here he goes anyway.]

[ The material of the gate is strange, nothing that you've ever seen before in imeeji; it's gleaming and white. It is also Very Strong; there are some scuff marks as if it's been battered in the past, and just found to be unpassable.

Through the grated gaps in the gate, you can see beyond: a wide courtyard with winding paths in the distance, some similarly gated. More relevant to your current predicament, there is a winch, visible but out of reach, with silvery chains glimmering as they stretch to reach the wall. The chains are let out right now, not spooled around the winch's center. ]

[Shrink and take the dragon, please and thank you]

[passing through the first gate with everyone else, and steps up to examine the second gate. does it look indestructible?]

Hey, wanna be small for a bit?

[ Unfortunately, no lock; through the grated gaps in the gate, you can see there is a winch, visible but out of reach, with silvery chains glimmering as they stretch to reach the wall. The chains are let out right now, not spooled around the winch's center. ]

[ The material is strange, nothing that you've ever seen before in imeeji; it's gleaming and white. It is also Very Strong; there are some scuff marks as if it's been battered in the past, and just found to be unpassable. ]

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

THE GATES

THE COURTYARD

THE FOUNTAINS

THE GARDENS

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