idolpro | Shrike's Heart (#3)

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!heart games

Shrike's Heart (#3)

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

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[Flicks an ear. She seems to be on their side.]

I want your rank and the name of your commanding officer. Now.

I'm Falling Petals On Barren Fields, ma'am, and—er, you are.

...as for the situation—[ she nods to D.Va ]—the Prefect has barricaded himself in his manor with a number of the townsfolk. Crow's overseeing the situation there.

[None of that made any sense. But sure, she can pretend to be the commander of a battlefield. Since she's been a real commander of a battlefield and all.]

And the––the Prefect, how many with him? Do they have access to weaponry or supplies? How many soldiers for us?

[ iiiinteresting. ]

...civilians, I assume? [ doesn't look pleased about learning this information. she'd like to tear that prefect a new ass. ] And this manor is... where? [ she looks past the field to the town, like, is it there? or somewhere else?? ]

Anything and everything you can tell us about him will help... [ us kick his ass, probably. ] And could we possibly get some armor? Can't go running around a battlefield in... this.

They're all civilians, Ma'am—probably better supplied there out of anyplace else in the town, but he can't feed and arm three dozen on short notice, especially since they seem to be largely the young and the infirm.

Crow said he'd take care of it himself, but... well, if you wanted to assist, the manor's into the city, to the near end.

And—well, I can call the quartermaster, or you could take your pick from the dead, though either won't be what you're used to.

[She actually thought they were civilians sheltering, so she's not surprised when it's confirmed.]

Any attempts to surrender?

[ she doesn't feel like looting corpses... again. ]

Call the quartermaster.

And what can you tell us about the manor. [ is it just an old manor, or is it some kind of fortified. ]

[ the soldier flags down another comrade—who looks, blessedly, somewhat less deathly—and murmurs to them that there's a need for two sets of armor before answering the questions. ]

No attempt to surrender—he seems to be trying to avoid it, despite the situation. Crow said something about him being clever enough to allow people to shelter there to use them as meat shields. It's got heavy doors, though—thick glass windows, where it has them.

[She turns to D.Va, now.]

This doesn't look like the kind of army that has snipers. Though they could probably starve them out, if they wanted to avoid a fight, I guess.

[. . .Then she looks back at the woman.]

What are you still doing here? You're dismissed, go do something useful.

I don't think so either. And if he keeps taking in people, then, yeah, I doubt it'd take long to starve them out. Well, the "meatshields" anyway. I'm sure he'll figure something out if he's so fucken clever. [ probably eat people or something... ]

Breaking in doesn't seem like it's going to be an option either... but we could go grab our gear from the quartermaster and then, maybe, talk to Crow?

[ the soldier you were speaking to nods crisply and heads off; not long after, another soldier comes by with two serviceable sets of mail armor you can put on. ]

[Does not accept the armour. It's not really her thing.]

Where to next?

[ accepts the armor. ]

[ it's totes her thing. ]

I guess we should head towards the town... check it out. [ maybe it won't be as on fire as the last town, though that's probably unlikely. ]

Uh, why? It's just going to be a bunch of villages in a building against that Crow person. It's obvious who's going to win.

Isn't Crow on our side? [ but she's just getting confused now. ] And we don't have to go near the manor. I'm sure there's plenty of other stuff to check out. Or we can just pass through. It can't stop there... [ or can it? ]

No one is on "our" side. They just think we're some commander, or something.

. . .You're not going to rush in if "Crow" moves in on the villagers, are you?

...true. [ this is all just some sort of strangeness. ] Do you know where we are? [ as in, who's heart. ]

[ she kind of huffs a laugh at that. ] I'll do my best to keep my heroic urges in check.

[She shrugs.]

I've never been here before.

[She gestures ahead, indicating that if D.Va wants to go to the town, then lead the way.]

Just wondering. [ she's never seen it either. ]

[ time to cross the field and head to the town. ]

[ You find your way into the large town/small city, and it's easily apparent where the manor is—it's pretty much the only two-story building, and by far the nicest of all the buildings. It has its doors barred.

When you cross into the main square, a man with sallow skin, black hair and bird-like features greets you, waving you over, and twirling a knife between the fingers of his other hand. ]

Eyyyyyyooooo, it's about time you showed up. They barred the doors; isn't that inconvenient? If you're strong, help me out.

Why.

[ stares at that knife. ]

[ she just hums along with him, nodding and looking to the manor. ] Sure is. [ it's a shame we don't have that sake and lantern now... but also! ]

How? I'm not going to be able to punch the door down.

['sup]

[Looks Crow over, then Kohime and D.Va]

...Everything okay here?

Everything's great, everything's great! It's a great day, isn't it?

I guess if none of you can open the doors I could just burn this house down since it'll get the job done, but that's less fun.

Idiot. Just wait. If those are civilians they'll come crawling out when they miss dinner, and then you can go deal with your 'Prefect'.

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