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

[ 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. ]

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

[ 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. ]

Edited 2020-02-25 23:06 (UTC)

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

[ 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. ]

[ 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?

[ the woman stops, and looks up at you, sharply. she seems to have only just noticed the room, too. ]

You, boy—What do you think you're doing in here? Clean up this mess immediately.

That seems to be the way it's supposed to be.

Boy, if you're intending to argue with me as to how things should be in my own home, leave this place immediately.

[ the ambient sense of unease grows.

it occurs to you that shrike would look very much like this woman, if her coloration were the same. similar build, very similar facial features in a very different expression. ]

I'd more argue that I don't know how things are supposed to look, and a vague 'clean it up' doesn't really help in directing which parts should be cleaned up...

What use are you, then, if you can't figure that out? Why are you here?

None of this should be here. And neither should you. Are you one of those so-called "friends" of my daughter's?

[ the sense of unease and discomfort is almost oppressive, now, like being buried under heavy blankets.

Spend 1 WILLPOWER to keep arguing with her. ]

[ Spend 1 willpower, Gold loves fighting when someone tells him he's useless. ]

If you're surrounded by an unfamiliar sight with unfamiliar people, doesn't that sound more like you're the one who shouldn't be here?

[ you spend 1 WILLPOWER to keep sassing this woman. ]

This is my home. I built everything here, and it belongs to me. This nonsense [she gestures at the room ] is an unwanted distraction. Clean it up or go. Or I will make you leave.

[ you must spend 1 WILLPOWER to do other than what she tells you. ]

[ Guess it's time to just blow all his willpower arguing with a lady. ]

This is our home. The rest might be yours but here is ours. And none of us will let it be torn down.

[ How much willpower does Gold need to spend to lock her out of the room and protect this place. ]

[ i'm gonna say 5

but also i realized that this is like
a perpetual willpower generation machine

because you gain +1 WILLPOWER from committing really hard to arguing. you are now at 4.

you may do something particularly spectacular to gain two at once next round to accumulate 5 total.

the woman looks particularly taken aback to be argued with, like she isn't used to it, clearly frustrated, and she reaches back in a way that you'd normally see with someone drawing a sword—but she's not wearing it, and she scowls.

the oppressive atmosphere grows, and it feels like the room is growing smaller, and darker—or trying to, but you hold it back by holding steady. Spend +1 WILLPOWER. ]

I didn't raise her for this silliness! Playing at being knights when she was a failure of a soldier and a traitor?

[ > Spend more willpower but also what if you're also fueled by spite at the idea of someone being told they're useless. ]

[ Yelling at ladies, go. ]

So what?? Just because she didn't do what you wanted her to do doesn't make her a failure! Your path isn't the only right one, or the only one that matters. Shrike is a knight and a great one at that and she doesn't need to be a soldier or whatever else you want her to be. She can decide what she wants to be and make her own successful path!

[ You stand your ground and you fight—not with swords, but with words, because, hey, when it comes down to it, you are a normal kid.

And—as you shout, she opens her mouth to cut you off, but her voice doesn't come out as loud as before. Like someone's turned down the volume on her, and continues to turn it down—

Before long, you can't hear her at all, and her physical presence is fading, too. Ghostly, and then—gone.

There's a rustling, behind you. ]

[ Startling a little at the sound, turning to face it. ]

[ A girl emerges from under a pile of blankets and pillows, where she must have been sitting incredibly still—she can't have been there before, could she? She's young but not quite small—the same nut-brown skin and mahogany hair as the woman, and looking faintly bewildered. ]

...she's gone?

[ ... Was she there the whole time?? Good thing Gold didn't start swearing I guess... ]

Ah- yeah. I think so. For now anyway.

[ the girl looks faintly bewildered. she seems to be maybe twelve or so, though she's a bit of a beanpole. ]

I just wanted...

...is it bad of me to want to stay here?

I don't think so, but I don't really go here...

[ Offering her a hand to help get up. ]

You okay?

[ she tilts her head, and glances at his portrait on the wall. ]

Don't you, though?

I'm... maybe. I just... don't know what to do.

[ Following her gaze. ]

... It's complicated probably.

Well... what do you want to do?

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