Persephone's ideal world session 1

[idolpro]

In the flicker of a candle-flame, in the stir of still water, in the fluttering of flower petals, there is a voice.


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.
"Except," she said, "I'm going to die." And no one listened.
"I'm going to die tomorrow," she said. And no one heard.
Into the silence, she said: "There's always an ending, after all."

Comments

Instructions

[idolpro]

The phone displays the following:

Once, there was a maiden...
...who lived in a tomb, and the tomb was made in her image.
Because she lived in a tomb, she became like the dead.
She slept, and dreamed.
And sometimes, woke, and walked within the confines of her tomb.
"Why do you move?" her own ghost asked. "Why walk at all?"
"I am not trapped while yet I run," said she.

Wake Persephone from his dream. Convince him to return to reality.

OOC Information

[idolpro]

Warnings: self-sacrifice/martyrdom is the big one. also avoidable references to sexual coercion and abusive romantic relationships.
No powers, whether imeeji or canon ones, function while in Persephone's ideal world.
You can have whatever items you would have on you, except weapons. Technological items don't function, except for the phone, which only displays the instructions.
Weapons can either just be Not Here and return to your possession after leaving the ideal world or they can turn into a flower of your choice and turn back on leaving the ideal world.
Any character who identifies as male primarily and is 1) physically over the age of 20 or 2) identifies as/considers himself an adult temporarily physically deages to being a youth (so, physically a teenager). This is physical only and temporary, it reverses on leaving the ideal world. Basically the idea is "No Men in Persephone's ideal world".
If you are in the same location as other characters, you can talk to them. Please do, it would amuse me.

in the garden: start

[idolpro]

You find yourselves standing in a garden, twilight shading towards night, and the moon is beginning to rise. It's a very beautiful garden, peaceful and serene, with all kinds of flowers: white lilies, blooming sakura, all of sensitIV's position flowers both past and present (especially wisteria). There are a few other flowers mixed in, too, like amaranth. An occasional shimmering butterfly will wing its way past.

In addition to the flowers, in the garden is a large pond: very still, very mirrorlike. There is also a tall, slender youth with long pale hair and purple eyes with constellations in them, here too. He is resting among the flowers, as if he is waiting for someone, though he has bit of a harried body language, too.

Re: in the garden: start

[proceedwithcautus]

Eh—?

...this is beautiful, but—where am I?

start: Amaranth

[worthathousand]

[ .......aw shit here we go again.

She checks for her weapon immediately (because of course she does); can't even bring herself to be mad when she finds it exchanged a sheaf of rice.

—And then she approaches the youth immediately. ]


Please say that my son is not dreaming the very same dream as before.

Re: in the garden: start

[firstworldproblem]

[Imagine more youthful icons, but he looks around and especially up at the sky for a few long moments.

And then he approaches the slightly bothered youth.]

Re: in the garden: start

[carrionmywaywardsun]

[Valor is here, studying the poem on his phone. He's de-aged to a skinny seventeen-year-old, but he's changed in other ways, too. He's missing the perpetual sallow, sickly complexion he had, as well as the red streaks in his hair, and his eyes are brown instead of crimson.]

...Well, shit, someone from back home. I should shake down Lark for a fucking list some time.

katabasis: the wisteria maze

[dreamingophelia]

[you enter the wisteria maze. it's a lot like the one in Persephone's bedroom except even darker somehow.

. the paths are winding, and you can either go straight through as the map leads or explore some. maybe out of the corner of your eye, you might see a slim, small shape for the briefest of moments, off the path.]

Re: katabasis: the wisteria maze

[proceedwithcautus]

[ hm...

well. she's going to try and follow that small shape, she she spots it. ]

Um—hello?

Re: katabasis: the wisteria maze

[firstworldproblem]

[Will he ever see the Wisteria maze in his room? Chances are no.

Following the map!]

Re: katabasis: the wisteria maze

[carrionmywaywardsun]

[Valor winds up wandering a bit, since while he managed to mostly remember the map, he still has backtrack a couple wrong turns along the way. He might be slightly distracted by thinking about the Whispers, too.

He won't follow the shape when he spots it, but he does stop.]

Uh...hello?

Re: katabasis: the wisteria maze

[worthathousand]

[ While she travels, she sings that prayer—properly, this time, now that she's not literally underwater.

She doesn't stray from the path—not yet, at least.
But she pauses in place when she sees the small figure out of the corner of her eye: waiting to see if they'll react to the song. ]

Events (don't worry about it)

[dreamingophelia]

[seriously don't worry about it].

#1

[dreamingophelia]

[there is a brief shiver in...the fabric of the world. it's nothing more than a brief shiver, a shift of color to black and white before reasserting itself in color.]

#2

[dreamingophelia]

[in the wisteria maze, a bunch of petals just like, fell off the wisteria. but there are plenty of petals left given how tightly they're packed together. don't worry about it, it's probably nothing.]

#3

[dreamingophelia]

[and more petals just fell off the wisteria in the maze. don't worry about it, it's totally petal-falling season.]

Re: Events (don't worry about it)

[dreamingophelia]

so back at the river, the opening to another wisteria maze blossoms. for everyone not at the river, you can feel the ground shifting.

this one goes underground.

#5

[dreamingophelia]

[the moment the first drop of Amaranth's blood touches the thorns, the entire rest of the ideal world outside the final path and everything and everyone in it that isn't the PCs dissolves in a storm of flower petals.

Eirene and Valor will find themselves immediately transported to the path of sacrifice.]

Shrine

[dreamingophelia]

[the shrine is...well, a shrine. very Japanese. very pretty, surrounded by gardens and located very close to a river. you can probably follow the path and explore around to eventually find the maiden's room.
.]

Re: Shrine

[proceedwithcautus]

[ how nice! how pretty!

but also she's just gonna beeline to find the maiden's room. ]

Re: Shrine

[carrionmywaywardsun]

[taking a brief detour to peer into the river and see if there's anything interesting going on there, considering the danger pond.]

house

[dreamingophelia]

[so this house is set off to the side, a small house surrounded by a garden (more wisteria) and a still pool among the willows. in the distance, you can see a small village whose architecture can best be described as Sengoku crossed with cottagecore: this house is also like that, but with some sIV-y elements to it.]

Re: house

[firstworldproblem]

[Knocking on the front door.]

Re: house

[worthathousand]

[ Does the house look like the one in her own memories of home?

(She frowns a bit, though, at the sight of the pool: an easy guess what her son keeps down in those depths.)

Regardless, she gives the door a little push to see if it will open. ]

—Hello?

katabasis: the path of sacrifice

[dreamingophelia]

[the maze leads downward, downward, downward. wisteria and sakura and white roses, except that this one, the ground is lined with rose thorns, sharp and wicked.

the entire path is lined with thorns.]

Re: katabasis: the path of sacrifice

[firstworldproblem]

[They catch on everything, don't they? Well, he's walking down and down and down.

Hey, at least a certain Avante isn't in this ideal world, right? That might be awkward.]

[edit: yes, he has shoes. ... so curious why this is important.]