Shrike's Heart (#3)

[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

HOME

[handpuppets]

Once, there was a maiden...
....made from a lump of iron, shaped by wind, sea, and fire.
Fearing how wood might shape her, she ran, and did not look back.
One day, she forgot what she ran from.
So, she pulled out her heart to ask it.
"Why don't you look back and see?" it said.
So, she sighed and threw her heart away.

[ When you open the door and step through, you find yourself in a house—built in a somewhat antique style, a single level, but decorated with expensive yet practical taste. On one wall hangs a well-maintined longsword, and a number of military decorations.

Through the windows and out a set of doors on one side is a paved area surrounded by tall, broad-leafed trees. At a distance, there's also the sound of boots marching in unison between the pitter-patter of rain just beginning to start.

The atmosphere here feels... tense, in a way that doesn't seem to come from any one thing; but it doesn't quite feel safe here. ]

A PATH

[handpuppets]

[ "I have no use for beginnings," a voice says.

The bright line draws its path once again from the door of the house, down into the road and following a path—chasing a caravan that was once setting out from the south lane.

The beasts of burden have kicked up dust, though, filling the air, and obscuring the view, until...

...proceed? ]

Re: HOME

[irregular]

[What is it about this place that has K thinking it would probably have been better to take his chances with the wolves?

[He supposes he might as well check out the paved area.]

Re: HOME

[handpuppets]

[ When you leave the house, you notice that there's a note tucked in the door: "the south lane, midday." It's signed with a pictograph of a bird. Going outside, it seems like midday is almost here; maybe twenty minutes away, by the sun's position.

This is an area with the same practical aesthetics as the rest of this place; it's a large, paved square with a stone-paved path on either side, with some markings for boundaries or footwork in white paint, though a lot of it seems to have been worn down over time.

To one side, there's a rack of wooden swords sheltered by a waxed canvas cloth awning, and along one edge are a handful of training dummies, though they don't seem to have seen much use.

There is, somehow, a colorful garden improbably encroaching into the edge of the yard, that borders some bushes. ]

Re: HOME

[irregular]

[Oh hey, a garden.

[It is if nothing else a respite from the endless corpses. Is there anything of note about the flowers?]

Re: HOME

[handpuppets]

[ It seems like someone has deliberately planted them here, in a small square. It hasn’t been weeded for a little bit, only tended in fits and spurts, but the flowers are colorful if wilting slightly. In the center of the tiny garden is an empty patch of slightly loose earth, like someone turned it over recently. ]

Re: HOME

[irregular]

[He has a day job, that's the thing.

[Professionally courteous of flowers, K will tend to the weeding before going to check out what might be under the turned earth. It won't take long to do, and it's not like the garden is going anywhere. Maybe there's something he can do to perk up the plants a bit, too.]

That's better.

[Once that's done, he - gently, so as not to disturb the plants' roots - is going to take a look at what might be buried there.]

Re: HOME

[handpuppets]

[ bless u, traveling florist. The garden's already looking a lot better, without the weeds.

Digging into the dirt, you realize it’s not solid earth underneath; your hand meets solid wood, and clearing some of the dirt away, you find a small wooden box made of mahogany. ]

Re: HOME

[irregular]

[>OPEN BOX

[It probably won't immediately kill him, right...? He lifts it gently from the ground before brushing the mud from its lid. Can he get in it without damaging anything?]

Re: HOME

[handpuppets]

[ It's a relatively ordinary box—it doesn't even have a lock, just a latch.

Inside the box are—photographs, a whole stack of them, despite the fact that this doesn't seem to be a place with technology. Some of them are candid photos of members of avante en garde, and a particularly large number of Griffin, largely smiling widely; there’s a lot of photos of Sekhmet, too, cooking food, trying things at the café, resting post-workout. She even seems to have caught Persephone smiling once. There’s one of dancing with Cobalt, and of Wednesday showing her music; drinking with Cardigan and Amaranth.

There’s Harpy making breakfast, and Shishiou playing the piano; Gold making a baking abomination; Nitro and Nemesis cracking jokes together. Kaguya pouring two cups of tea. There’s even at least one candid of Kohime sitting on a branch.

Not a one of them seems creased or dirty; they all seem like they’ve been very well taken care of. ]

Re: HOME

[irregular]

[Oh no that's lovely.

[He flicks through them, slowly, smiling.

[It's almost a shame they've been buried here, where they can't be seen...

[He sits back on his heels, looking up at the house. Maybe - well, okay, it doesn't make sense to take all of them when Shrike clearly kept them here in a special place for a reason. But he selects a couple of them - one of her unit, one of Sekhmet and Kaguya and Harpy, a few of Griffin. He tries to get as many of her friends as he can.

[The rest he returns to the box, which he buries.

[As for these...

[Well. How long can it take to find her bedroom?]

Re: HOME

[handpuppets]

[ You cover the box again with the dirt, and tuck the selected photographs into your wizard robes, heading back for the house and bypassing what seems to be the main sitting room for one of the side hallways.

It doesn't take long to find what seems like bedrooms; there's one that's clearly a master suite, one that's curiously empty, and one with a meticulously made bed and precious little decoration, though there's a sparsely-populated bookshelf next to the bed. ]

Re: HOME

[calmthefoxdown]

[ A little more shaky on his feet when he steps in, adrenaline slowly flushing out of his body... only to slowly pick back up from the general feeling of the room, thanks room. ]

[ Looking around the house, is there more to explore while he can last through the feeling of discomfort? ]

Re: HOME

[irregular]

[Returning from WHATEVER MISSION HE WAS ON:]

Gold? Where the fuck did you go, I thought you were right behind me.

Are you okay?

Re: HOME

[calmthefoxdown]

[ ... Glancing behind him for a moment then forward again. ]

'Gold?'

Re: HOME

[irregular]

You...?

[Who else would I be talking to?]

Did something happen?

Re: HOME

[calmthefoxdown]

Not... really...

[ Who Gold. ]

Re: HOME

[handpuppets]

[ You're at least shored up by your recent experience in heroism, but it is... oddly quiet, for a house that should have people in it. There's a hallway in either direction from the sitting room you seem to have ended up in, as well as a yard that looks like it's in some slightly tropical climate. ]

Re: HOME

[calmthefoxdown]

[ Well after being confused at K for a while, Gold will try heading down a hallway (right?) to look around. ]

Re: HOME

[handpuppets]

[ there's something that smells faintly of food cooking... and the unsafe feeling abates, at least just a little. the halls gradually turn to hewn stone, and you realize you're in the avante common room and kitchen.

the floors, as always, are a little chilly, but someone seems to have piled a bunch of blankets and pillows in the middle of the room. like a nest. it's a little less decorated and home-y than you'd normally find it, otherwise, though the portraits of every member of avante with their swords hang on the wall here, rather than in the music room, which doesn't seem to be here. ]

Re: HOME

[calmthefoxdown]

[ Okay, familiar territory is good, glancing at the portraits, then around to see if anyone is here. ]

Re: HOME

[handpuppets]

[ there doesn't seem to be anyone here; it's a little oddly empty-feeling, even though it seems like someone was cooking in here recently enough for there to be something on the stove.

the portraits are as you remember them, from the music room, although the ones displayed most prominently are the ones who've had a lengthy tenure on avante while Shrike's been there.

actually, where's shrike's portrait?

you hear the click of boots on stone floor down the hall behind you. the sense of unease grows stronger. ]

Re: HOME

[calmthefoxdown]

[ Mmm, more cautious as he looks around for Shrike's portrait, maybe it's fallen off somewhere, keeping an eye down the hallway. ]

Re: HOME

[handpuppets]

[ you poke your head into the various nooks and crannies of the mostly-familiar common area, but don't seem to find it. it's not even under the big pile of blankets.

the sound of boots on stone is getting closer; it seems to be one person, and you can make out a tall woman with dark hair and tan skin coming down the hallway. she's dressed practically, but in a way where you know the clothes are very expensive, and she looks faintly irritated. ]

Re: HOME

[calmthefoxdown]

[ This is probably a bad idea, but Gold will call out from the safety of a familiar room toward the lady. ]

Do you need something here?