idolpro | Tea's Heart

Tea's Heart - Session 2

INFO
❍ Characters are aware that Tea's heart is being threatened by CORRUPTION.

❍ If you're in the same run, you can interact!

❍ Unit abilities are MIGHT BE ON — if, and only if, Tea has seen them work or your character has explicitly told her about them — unless otherwise specified.
Nothing Up My Sleeve can't access locations outside of the heart.

❍ Canon abilities MIGHT BE ON —if, and only if, Tea explicitly knows that they're a thing — unless otherwise specified.

❍ Characters have whatever was on their person at the time, including their cell phone!

❍ Over the course of the heart, characters are very likely to be afflicted with STATUS EFFECTS. This will be OOCly determined by dice roll. You can have more than one status effect at a time, but multiples of the same don't stack.

The top levels that require a roll will have a note.

Each time you move to a different top level thereafter, you can roll 1d10 to see whether the effect lingers (1-6) or fades (7-10).

❍ Injury and death are possible.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ HONESTLY IF IT FEELS GOOD THAT'S A REASON TO STOP

FREEZING, then calling his feathers back into his wings ]

What am I supposed to do with it then, though...

MURDER

maybe don't murder, murder is bad, hold yourself back

BUT WHAT IF, MURDER

he hears, very faintly, a thread snap. the bear trap glows brighter

but really what if murder though

[ HUMMING SONGS FROM THE LITTLE MERMAID TO HIMSELF AS HE JUST. QUICKLY TEXTS EVERYONE ELSE FOR A 'FAITH IN HUMANITY' REFRESHER

this would not be nearly as hard to resist if he didn't know it came from how people had treated TEA ]

[ ok several bars of Part of Your World and some octopus emojis and many good pep talks later

just looks at the trap and crosses his arms ]

No.

during the pep talks, the red light ... flickers? and dims very slightly, almost imperceptibly.

MURDE-

wait what do you mean no

excuse you??

there's the whisper-faint sound of a thread knitting back together

I said no. I'm not going to murder people just because they're rude. If anything, the fact it would be so easy is a reason not to. I'm not going to let people's worst opinions be proven right by sinking to their level. I'm better than that and Tea is better than that. Fuck you, bear trap.

Is it really worth it, though?

Why be "better" when you can be safe?

Why give second chances to people who don't deserve it? Why let them take liberties, push you around, ignore your boundaries, treat you like a child, treat you like an incompetent, treat you like a pet, treat you like a thing to play with as they please?

You can put a stop to all of it. You'd be proving them wrong — you'd be proving that you are strong, you are capable, you can take care of yourself. You don't need them. You don't want them. They won't be able to hurt you again if they're dead.

We can't change their minds if they're dead.

Plus, we don't like killing. So why are we letting them make us do something we don't like?

Are you sure? Are you really sure she doesn't like it?

You hear the echo of voices, coming from seemingly nowhere, "wow, it's kind of scary, right?"
"Nah, mate, it's tame, it won't hurt humans, haven't you seen the videos?"
You hear laughter. "Watch, I'm gonna take a selfie with it."

Killing in self-defense isn't the same as killing just because you feel like it.

But it felt good.

It felt good to stop them. To hurt them.

You experience a flash of memory, as if it was your very own - fury that burns bright in your blood as you whip around and bite.

I don't care!! I don't care if it feels good or whatever!! You're a literal corruption beartrap shilling for worst instincts like they're the best thing in the world and I am not going to fall for it!

The light wavers again.

As it does, you notice something - gossamer fine threads of gold and AlcheMe purple, straining to anchor the bear trap open. There's a dozen of them, and half have already snapped.

[ huh

if keeping it open is the thing can he and his feathers just

latch onto the sides and force it open to help, bracing himself for the inevitable mindfuck ]

Besides, she doesn't need to kill people to be safe. I'm here.

The inevitable mindfuck is as intense as you'd expect! MURDER KILL BITE DROP ALL THE GOATS OVER THE CLIFF JUST FUCKING DO IT YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO

Except

It wavers again. Patience.

I don't want to have to kill anyone anymore, I just want to be with my family, my friends.

I want to relax. I want to have fun.

Patience. Patience, patience, patience, swallow it down, control yourself.

Another thread knits itself back together. But the beartrap isn't defeated yet! What good do you think you can do? You've let her die once already.

[ ouch. DOUBLES DOWN THOUGH, FORCING THIS DUMB THING OPEN. he WILL just grab onto the stupid trap's teeth with his hands if he has to ]

I can be there for her! She doesn't have to deal with stuff alone!

It's incredibly sharp, cutting deep into his arms.

But his determination is definitely having an impact. More and more of the threads knit back together, the beartrap's glow sputtering like a dying candle.

You're here. You're here. You're here.

I'm here.

[ ONE MORE BIIIIIG PUSH ]

You're here.

The beartrap's light goes out, and with it go all of the murderous urges.

[ thank god

time to lie facedown on the floor ]

Take a well-earned break.

Nothing will disturb him.

... Except for the muffled whining of the figure stuck in the tunnel, but who cares about him, really?

[ and the throbbing ache from his shredded forearms yeah. after about a minute of lying facedown just. sends a feather over to scoop the annoying civilian up again ]

DANGLES.

Scowls, arms folded. "Look at the mess you've made of yourself."

[ drops them. time to crawl back out through the tunnel of no personal space but get blood all over it this time ]

NONE PERSONAL SPACE

Much shouting from behind, "You're getting blood all over the place! You're going to get an infection! That's so unhygienic, you need to be more careful-"

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