Shrike's Heart (#2)

[idolpro]

The woman before you is beautiful—fair of features, with lovely golden skin and luxurious long black hair, petite. You have the immediate and distinct impression that she's just let go of your hand, and she steps back, and smiles.

It's not quite a happy smile.

"I'm sorry," she says. "There's just nothing I can do, as things are. But the way is there; it just needs to be lit."

You open your mouth—maybe to say something, or to express confusion—but you have to cough, and taste something metallic, spattering black blood onto the ground in front of you. Then you realize—blood seeps from opening wounds in your arms, your chest, your stomach, your face. It rims your eyes and trails from your nose and you feel like you're dissolving—

—and you fall through the ground like it's the surface of a lake, and go down, down, down.

> Wake Up

Comments

THE RUINED TOWN

[handpuppets]

Once, there was a maiden...
...falling forever in the water. She reached for purchase, but found nothing; her arms swung through the sea.
The water did not slow her, nor the chill,
but she could not breathe.
Each time she gasped and found no breath, a human child died; and thus, she lived.

[ As you go, the ground slowly grows marshier, softer, and smells creep in. They're ordinary earthen smells—peat and damp and marsh, but there's a hint of the metallic tang of blood, and the acrid note of smoke in the distance.

The clang of metal rings out to your ears as you emerge from a reed bed next to a small, algae-choked pond, but it's clear the bulk of the fighting has long been over, from the only intermittent cries and the way you can see thatched roofs smouldering.

Though, nearby, there's a rustle from the same reeds you came from—like you're not alone. ]

A PATH

[handpuppets]

[ "Survival is acceptance," a voice says.

And the same gold line unwinds from your feet, and into the fields beside the village, off into the distance. You don't have to follow it this very moment, but you can.

Proceed. ]

[romanticlove]

[The smell of blood is what puts her on alert. That was no good. Carefully, she tries to breathe through her nose and ignore the tightness in her throat - that familiar thirst.]

Who's there?

[She holds her sword at the ready at the clang of metal and the rustle of the reeds behind her. She turns around, determined.]

[handpuppets]

[ There's another rustle, in the reeds—it's a little further back, and you have to bend some of them out of your way.

But eventually, you spot the source: there's a man lying in the reeds, dark-haired.

No—a man and a boy, though it's hard to make out the features of the youth bundled up in his arms, since his hair is slicked to his forehead with blood. The boy doesn't move, though the man's chest still rises and falls, with a soft wheezing nose. ]

[romanticlove]

[She's frozen, immediately lowering her sword to her side and moving towards the man and the boy. Dropping the blade to the ground beside her, she reaches out to gently touch the boy, to try and sense for a heartbeat. She strains her ears for it, trying to hear it. Her other hand reaches to touch the man's shoulder.]

It's okay! I'll- I'll try to help you.

[She had no medical supplies, but she had to do something.]

I can go for help!

[She wasn't sure whether or not it would be safe to leave them.]

[handpuppets]

[ He looks up at you, as you approach. Though his gaze is unfocused and bleary, there's a sharpness in his expression—a recoiling. ]

You—please, whoever you are, have mercy... my brother...

[romanticlove]

[The recoiling gives her pause. She withdraws her hands from touching them immediately.]

I'm- I'm not going to hurt you.

[One of the objectives 'Do not accept mercy' comes to mind, but she's sure it has nothing to do with this.]

You'll both be okay, I promise. I'm here to help.

[constellationprize]

Um - I can...

... I don't know how to fight, or anything like that, so - I can stay here, and watch them ...

[romanticlove]

You can help them?

[Great!]

We need to take them somewhere safe. I'll protect us if we run into trouble.

[She has a sword, even though she's more adept with guns. She'll figure it out somehow?!]

[nihilmancy]

[She approaches them, urgency in her step!]

What, ah... what happened here?

[handpuppets]

[ He looks up at the other girl, first, although his eyes don't quite focus. There's a sharpness in his expression, though—a recoiling from all of you. ]

You, you're not—I don't know you. You didn't come with them...?

[nihilmancy]

With who? I want to save you. I want to save him.

[justfuckingtryit]

[...ah. Yeah.]

[He knows where this is going.]

[He steps forward, anyway.]

[handpuppets]

[ the man looks up at you and—momentarily, recoils, just as he did at your companions, but—there's a flicker of something in his eyes. recognition, almost. He coughs and sputters, but— ]

Who—who are you? Who are all of you?

[justfuckingtryit]

...friends.

[constellationprize]

Um - um -

[ he's obviously unwell, but this is.

stepping forward, watching the others around him, she's not entirely sure what she could be doing - in lieu of any better ideas she kneels nearby, a hand extended towards the man's head. ]

Is there... um, is there anything that you need...?

[handpuppets]

[ he coughs again; there's a worrying sort of whistling noise that comes through. surely that's not good, right? ]

I'm—I'm, fine. My brother—if you can get him out of here...

[ the brother is clearly dead. his chest doesn't rise and fall at all. ]

Re: THE RUINED TOWN

[justfuckingtryit]

[This... seems so much like a dream he's had before.]

[He sets his jaw, and steps toward the reeds.]

Re: THE RUINED TOWN

[handpuppets]

[ That girl from pep is already heading that way, too; she holds her sword at the ready.

But what you encounter there is, in fact, what you would expect, which suggests a thing or two about what this is all about. ]

[romanticlove]

Oh-!!

[Someone's here!]

We have to help them.

[Rising to her feet quickly to dash towards him.]

[justfuckingtryit]

[He is not entirely sure there's time left to help them, but,]

...yeah. Let's see what we can do.

[Keeping pace, right besode her]

Re: THE RUINED TOWN

[nihilmancy]

[The reemergence into the open air, the smell of soil, lifts her spirits for a moment, but from the smell of blood and smoke, she realizes that there will be no respite from the carnage. No matter. She must press onward, even if this hurts her, even if this scares her.

She turns around, regretting not bringing a weapon from the previous place. She only has a glare.]

Reveal yourself.

Re: THE RUINED TOWN

[handpuppets]

[ there's no response—and, you see your companions here heading into the reed bed, too, to check it out.

if you follow them, you see why whatever's in there doesn't respond. he's not doing great.

as a sidebar: doesn't this village look a little familiar? you're pretty sure you had a dream in this place once, too. but it wasn't your dream. ]

Re: THE RUINED TOWN

[constellationprize]

[ She covers her nose and mouth with a hand in an attempt to better handle the smell, but before she can really get a handle on the situation - something happened ahead, she's sure, she needs to check on that, certainly there are people there that need help - the noise behind her has her turn sharply on her feet, eyes wide. ]

I-Is someone there - ?!

Re: THE RUINED TOWN

[handpuppets]

[ you find a bunch of idols crowding around a man and a young boy lying in the reeds. ]