idolpro | Flowers of Heaven 2: BAD END=DEAD END + Taisho Roman Revolution + BARiTONES

There’s a quiet fluttering overhead; a papery rustle from around you; a nudge at your ankles.

Gathering around you all are strange creatures. Materializing around BARiTONES are shifting geometric patterns of red and black, which become owls with deep red eyes and a black-and-white zigzag pattern on their feathers. Another flock—of living origami animals of all kinds, each made from a unique square of colorful paper—gather around Taisho Roman Revolution. Then, clustering around BAD END=DEAD END are… bombs??? covered in spikes, with spiky little legs, vibrating and glowing as if on the verge of explosion.
None of the creatures speak, exactly, but they chitter and nudge at you like they're greeting old friends, and usher you towards a gap that's opened in the thick curtain of kudzu vines and onto a winding path beyond.

Once you cross through, the vines grow rapidly to cover the open space behind you, and the voices of your fellow idols fade from your ears. It seems as if you’re on your own, now.

❀ ❀ ❀

Here, the vines that surround your path have wine red leaves, sometimes wound through with barbed wire; it looks like someone's hung prayer strips along them, written in an indecipherable language.

The little creatures are carrying some things for you—the owls carry a wreath of Star of Bethlehem, wild rose, and alyssum flowers, the origami animals a wreath of vervain, aconite, and water lily, and the bombs a wreath of aconite, gorse, and hollyhock. As they approach you, the air shifts in a strange way, and suddenly they have one wreath between them—all those flowers woven together into one, which they offer to you. They also have for you a collection of sixteen different flowers, and a small lantern of blue flame.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"A smidge". Is that really enough to be grabbing me? Or are you lying?

I don't know—

[ because he doesn't really know anything. He doesn't remember anything, and on top of that, insectoid wings sprout from his shoulder blades.

He screams and cries, a combination of pain and the sheer confusion of not understanding why any of this is happening to him. ]

[--Oh. Oh no. He's not equipped to deal with this. His own wings bristle and he puts his hands on Natsume's shoulders, UHHH how comfort]

Natsume. It's fine. - Or, it should be soon, when we are finished here.

[????]

[ He's making someone uncomfortable, he's making a scene. That isn't what people who fit in do. And he wants so badly to be normal.

After a few shaky breaths, he wipes at his eyes with a sleeve and nods ]

Yeah.

[He watches, just, so unsure what to do about this. Don't base fitting in on someone who totally doesn't fit in, Natsume!]

...You can lean on me if you need to.

Naw—

[ And then he corrects himself right out of his accent ]

I appreciate the offer, but I would not want to bother you.

I have embarrassed myself enough as it is with that unsightly display. I apologize.

Edited 2022-08-08 00:56 (UTC)

...What? I don't care about that. Come here.

[He'll just stoop down, grab Natsume, and basically toss him up on his back. It's piggyback time okay. Which means Natsume's right up against his wings and tail so it might be a little spiky.]

Just hold on.

[ even if it's a little uncomfortable, he doesn't care. If Vergil is offering, then he won't refuse.

He clings to Vergil's shoulders like a lifeline. ]

Thank you.

Don't mention it. I am the nicest person you know.

[Because he's the only person he knows right now,]

[ craning his head back to look at valor. ]

It is not polite for me to speak ill of my elders. But indeed, you are.

What, was someone else rude to you?

I do not believe he intended it as an offense; he was merely coarse with his language when referring you to me.

...As long as that is all. But if he, or anyone, gives you trouble. Tell me.

I understand. I also appreciate your concern and apologize for the imposition.

If there is anything I can do...

No, there's nothing. Don't apologise for something you can't help. You had bad luck coupled with a foolish decision from others.

...So that is what it was.

I feared that I had done something wrong...

No, that's just how these things go. We have to make too many predictions and work together with too many people with very different priorities.

But luckily the consequences rarely last long.

I see. That is certainly a relief.

I shall endeavor to not be a bother, at the very least, until my memories have returned. Moreso than the change to my body, losing my memories and being unfamiliar with the basics of being here must surely be troubling.

What, to me? That's up to you, it makes little difference to me. It is mildly inconvenient.

Alright.

If it is not too inconvenient, at the very least, I would appreciate the ground rules of staying with Taisho, so that I will not disrupt everyone's daily life.

[ even though this will be moot later. ]

Ground rules, hm... Don't call Five a child, he is much older than he looks. And don't tell anyone what to do unless it's "stop being obnoxious". That's about it. We are a lawless frontier.

...Lawless.

[ Vibrates in now-polite boy. ]

I believe I can manage that.

Well, we do expect a certain level of maturity and self-control for that to work. We are not just running around wild.

Flowers of Heaven 2: BAD END=DEAD END + Taisho Roman Revolution + BARiTONES

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