Eclipse's Heart Game ☉ Session #1

[idolpro]

You drift like you're floating in water. It's almost relaxing, actually. As long as you don't think too hard that what you're floating in may be bottomless, because under you lies only a deep darkness that only the ocean can provide.

Then, something grabs you and drags you deeper, down, down, down into the abyssal depths. You can't breathe, but that's not on the forefront of your mind now, is it?

There is a mounting sense of anxiety and dread.

Who do you want to become? Will you even get to see tomorrow? What if all roads lead to ████████? Can you still stay '███'? If people see the ████ you, will they think less of you? Will they feel cheated?

You want to live. Even if it's a ███, even if your hands must be covered in █████, you want to live. You want to be '███'.

Finally, a voice pierces through the darkness. It's a woman's voice.

"My, how unfortunate. Your journey ends before it even begins.

"... Just kidding. That would be terribly boring! I suppose I can do the boy a favour just this once."

You feel someone grab your arm and pull you up to the surface.

...

When you come to, you are standing somewhere else.

Comments

INFORMATION

[idolpro]

OOC INFORMATION

[idolpro]

Both unit and canon powers are OFF.

All characters in the run occupy the same spaces, so you can talk to each other.

You can have whatever items you would have on you. Technological items don't function, except for your phone. It's stuck on one screen, though...

This is an exploradora! You are encouraged to poke around and talk to the NPCs. All the Heart NPCs are generally trying to look out for Eclipse's emotional wellbeing. If you ask them, they can suggest or advise on things characters can do.

There is a non-zero chance that you may die or get badly injured in this heart, though it's very unlikely. I don't expect combat to happen but idk my bff Imeeji. You'll be fine when you get out if that somehow happens.

IC INSTRUCTIONS

[idolpro]

Your phone displays the following on its screen:

Once, there was a maiden...
...who set sail with a Captain she did not know. The sea came over the side as a creature with teeth. So, she set it on fire, until only the teeth were left. It wasn't expecting that to happen.
She noticed the ship was crushing the waves and told the Captain to steer the ship higher, so that it could be above them. "But not too high," she said. "I'd hate to crush the clouds."
A face in the depths glared at the Captain. The maiden got angry. She broke the face, and broke the depths, and broke the sea, leaving only the white caps of the waves. "Why did you do that?" asked the face.
"Rarely is travel peaceful," the maiden said.

- Explore as much as you can
- Talk to people and honour their requests
- Learn more about him
- Meet the True Heart

The Waterfront

[intheshade]

You are standing on an elevated broadwalk made of wood and stone. In front of you is a view of the sea. Behind you, the city stands tall and casts its long shadows over you and the port. It's not pitch darkness, but dark enough that you probably wish you had a little more light to see a little better, even with the distant glow of sunlight in the horizon.

In the sky above hangs a solar eclipse. Strangely enough, the sun does not seem to be reflected in the water.

There are a set of stairs that seem to let you head down to the beach. Further down along the broadwalk, the glow of blue lanterns outside a blue building catches your eye. In the opposite direction, you can see there's a path from the broadwalk that leads you into the city.

START

[intheshade]

You're not going to get to enjoy the view for long before light just...coalesces right in front of you, in the shape of a person. Then, it snaps its fingers and the light shatters like glass, 'pieces' of it falling off and disappearing to reveal a ...

... Young girl ... ? No, it's probably more right to say it's a short lady. Her white hair stands out against bronzed skin, her eyes bright like amber, and her fine clothes a verdant green. There's a blue veil draped over her head, trailing behind her like a curtain.

She doesn't bow, or give any kind of polite deference to you as a guest. In fact, she just smiles and spreads her arms wide.

"Welcome, interlopers."

And that is definitely the voice of whoever pulled you out earlier.

Re: START

[widenessofthesea]

[ short people with baby faces solidarity. still, though— ]

Interloper implies that I'm here on some nefarious purpose, doesn't it?

The City Streets

[intheshade]

You could probably sort of tell from where you were at the waterfront, but actually walking into the city gives you a better sense of its scale. Everything seems to tower over you. Shops and houses are piled onto one another, as if the city decided that rather than build outwards, it should build upwards. There are doors accessible only through exterior stairways and catwalks. The buildings seem to drunkenly lean together, with rickety ropebridges on different levels connecting them.

The streets are fairly narrow, and you might realise that you aren't so much walking on ground as you are walking on floorboards. There's clearly more of the city under you that you cannot see. The shop signs and lanterns have a neon glow reminscent of Tokyo-F's, bathing the street in some light.

Around you, people are going about their business. There are a lot of completely foreign faces, but there are also various random people in Imeeji mixed in, albeit dressed in a manner more befitting the setting.

There are some very conspicuous signs showing the way to several places:
"ARCHIVE, 3F"
"MUD, DOWNWARDS"
"WATERFRONT, THAT WAY"

It seems that if you follow the corresponding signs, you'll end up at one of those places.

Re: The City Streets

[widenessofthesea]

[ the city!

well, it's a little nostalgic, in a way, for the way some cities used to be. as instructed, she'll start to head off to "Archive, 3F." ]

Re: The City Streets

[weenwoon]

[Levity looks around curiously as he walks. The city is rather decidedly different from everything else he's seen so far, from Tokyo-F to Cardinal's homeworld to Amaurot. It looks like a very interesting place to explore and Levity is certainly drawn to the rambling sprawl of all the possible paths through the city, the little nooks and crannies and dead ends. There's a feeling of secrecy to it, and it's intriguing.

Nevertheless, he has a task to do.

Levity stares at the sign. He thought "mud" was just a figure of speech, but guess it's... really what it's called? He takes a deep breath, heart beating nervously, and sets off downwards.]

The Archive

[intheshade]

The signs lead up the stairs of a building to the third floor. Down the corridor, where a shop would normally have been, there are two signs in different languages hanging above a door. Even if you don't know the languages, you understand that they both say 'The Archive of Principles, Perceptions, Competencies and Miscellany.' A green lantern hangs by the door.

When you walk in, it's immediately apparent that the inside is bigger than the small outer facade would imply. There are shelves of books, going almost all the way up to the ceiling. If you check them, they seem to be different sections, such as Skills, Tokyo-F and Creation. The Tokyo-F section in particular has a sub-section called Units.

A little further back in the room, there are two whiteboards, with things written on them.

There are three exits: The door you came through, a doorway on the western side of the room ('Principles'), and another door a little further up ('Perception') next to it.

Re: The Archive

[widenessofthesea]

[ it's leg day.

well this is her idea of fun, though. first off, she's going to take a look at the whiteboard. ]

MUD

[intheshade]

The signs lead you to a ladder that goes down beneath the floorboards. The climb down feels more like a descent into darkness.

... Or it would, but as soon as your feet touch the marshy ground, you can see the glow of a lot of lanterns on a cart nearby. The light lets you see that you are right outside what appears to be a labyrinth of alleyways, somehow more claustrophobic than the streets above. Perhaps it's because of the ceiling above you. At least upstairs, you could see the sky through the buildings.

There's a tall man with flaxen hair and green eyes nearby the cart. Around his neck is a red bandanna. He perks up when he notices you, and waves you over.

"Oh, hey!"

Re: MUD

[weenwoon]

[Will this ladder ever end, Levity wonders as he descends. There is also the rather unpleasant aspect of, well, simply losing his grip on the ladder and falling - who knows how far. Fortunately, it does end eventually, and he looks around him in wonder, then stamps his feet experimentally. How much mud is there.

But Levity's musings are interrupted by the youth calling out to him. He offers a wave in return!]

Hello! Hi, Eclipse!

[He promised to say hi.]

Principles

[intheshade]

The shelves here are fewer and shorter compared to the main library room, and there are several tables, but they're filled and covered with various books and scrolls. One table in particular has some blank, wooden slats, brushes and inkstones.

(Yes, inkstones. If you want ink, you're going to put in some elbow grease.)

Some of the wooden slats on the table already have something written on them, though you'll need to take a closer look to read.

On a wall is a wooden board with more wooden slats hanging on it. These ones seem to have things written on them too.

Oh, and there's also a ... boy (?) in green robes sitting at a table against the wall. At least, he looks younger than Eclipse, but even with his back turned towards you, you get the sense that he's much older somehow. There are books and scrolls opened up around him on the table, and he seems to be busy with something. Quite grumpily, if the mumbling under his breath tells you anything.

There are two exits: The door to the main library, and the door to 'Perception'.

Re: Principles

[widenessofthesea]

[ well, she's leaning over to look at the wooden slats on the table when she realizes she's not alone in here— ]

Oh—

Hello, there.

MAZE

[intheshade]

The alleyway is narrow, lit up by the occasional torch on the wall and lanterns hanging from ropes above you. To one side there are some shops, or at least the back doors to what are presumably shops, but they're all locked or sealed.

You can go straight on ahead south, or go around the bend east.

Re: MAZE

[weenwoon]

[He spends some time trying the doors - just because most are locked doesn't mean that all are, but that does seem to be the case. Eventually, he squints at the path ahead... and chooses to go east. Levity isn't one to take the straight road (because he's bi).]

MAZE: Red Alley 1

[intheshade]

The light of the torches and the lanterns bathes the alley in a red, neon glow. Light reflects off some puddles in the ground. The stench of stagnant seawater permeates the air.

There are paths west, south and east.

FOR LEVITY

[intheshade]

As you walk along the alley, the torches suddenly blow out, and the lanterns flicker and extinguish, leaving you in darkness.

You find yourself experiencing a very vivid hallucination, like you were the one in his shoes when it happened.

"Give it up already, you’re at the end of your rope. You can’t do much like this, anyway. You’ve been trying hard enough, yeah? Just tell me what I want to know and it’ll be over." (cw: torture, graphic violence, eye scream)

It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts but if you don't do something you'll die so all you have left is to push through you want to live you want to live you want to live --

You have to do it yourself. No one else is going to save you.

... When it ends, the torches and lanterns flicker back to life.

MAZE: Blue Alley 1

[intheshade]

There are no torches in this stretch of alley ways, only blue lanterns lighting the path for you. There's a stall to one side, unmanned and empty.

The path splits to the east and west, here.

((OPTIONALLY, if you still have a lantern, you may roll a d10 and share your results in your comment. If you roll a 4 or below, a thing will happen that will cause your character to lose their lantern. If you roll a 5 or above, your character will get to see something that isn't entirely awful. You may do this only once in this area.))

[weenwoon]

[The dicebot was generous! Rolled 5. Narrow escape from Bad Things.

Levity shuffles over to the stand to inspect it - even if he's exhausted and still terrified, clinging to his curiousity helps. But there's no one, and he has to leave it alone after a while.

Slowly he moves on, to the east.]

Maze: Red Alley 2

[intheshade]

The smell of the seawater is stronger here, powerful enough that it's almost choking. The stone path is starting to become more sparse, leaving the mud to get all over your feet. The flames of the torches burn in a way that you could swear seems a little menacing.

There are only two exits: west, where you came from, or make a turn south.

FOR LEVITY

[intheshade]

As you walk along the alley, the torches suddenly blow outleaving you in darkness.

You find yourself expriencing a very vivid hallucination, like you were the ones in his shoes when it happened.

"Well, not that she ever learns. If all she’s gonna do is make trouble, she should just hurry up and die —" (cw: violence, bullying, strangulation, verbal abuse)

It's not fair.

Yoru head hurts and you can't breathe and you don't know if it's because you're choking on your anger or the hand around your throat. Possibly both. You can't find it in yourself to care about the details because you're mad either way.

It's not fair. She just wants to get through the day. You want her to be able to actually think of tomorrow instead what's just in front of her. What gives them the right to spit on her?

It's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair!

But you can't do anything about it.

If only you had been smarter. If only you hadn't been so naive. If only you had more power. If only you had been more vicious.

... Lying there, with your blood on the floor, you wish you were like the sea: vast, calm, and bottomless as the abyss.

... When it ends, the torches flicker back to life.

Maze: Purple Alley 2

[intheshade]

Here, the stone path practically disappears, leaving you to walk through the marsh. You can feel yourself sink in the ground a little, like the ground could swallow you up if you linger too long, but that's surely not possible, right...?

The purple lanterns have an eerie glow to them, less like the neon lights of Tokyo-F and more like ghost lights.

There are only two exits: north, where you came from, and a single yellow door to a building west.

FOR LEVITY

[intheshade]

As you walk along the alley, the lanterns suddenly extinguish -- like darkness came down to smother them out and blanket you in its cold embrace.

You find yourself experiencing a very vivid hallucination, like you were the one in his shoes when it happened.

"Look at them! It's hopeless!"

You knew it. You fucking knew it. You should have argued harder and with more confidence; isn't your eye for people and your intuition some of the few skills you could be proud of? Maybe you could have changed their minds to do something less reckless, to understand what was happening as another unit's will and not them succumbing to despair.

... What wishful thinking. You weren't ever going to convince them. Always, always, always, it's about their conscience, about helping others, about wanting to play hero --

As you get sliced to pieces, as you see the blade swinging for your head, more than anything else, fury fills your heart, hot as your spilt blood.

So much for that promise. So much for 'good people'.

(They'd deny it, but in the end, you were still an acceptable sacrifice for the 'greater good'.)

... When it ends, the darkness lifts.