Shrike's Heart (#4)

[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

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[we_meet_again]

[a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth]

Thanks. You can call me Shen, if you want. Or you can give me a new name.

[he's discarding his spear on the weapons pile. Begone!]

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[wonderlandgirl]

Shen... That's a nice name.

[And - since she doesn't think she wants to be called W̱̬͚̙ͦ͊͋ͣ́e̬̹͔̔̒͛̎̋d̴̠̪͓̳̠̙̞͆̋͒̚n͉̝͉̬̆̄͊͋ͅe̶̜͈̪̫͙̠͌͌̽ͮ̍̒s͐̔̄ͩdͧȃ̜͕͉͈͐ͪ̍̋y̞͔ͬͤ͝ right now either:]

Um. Can you call me Aya?

[It's still not quite right that she's taking that name for herself, but...

[She's just gonna borrow it for a bit.]

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[we_meet_again]

Will do.

[He smiles and pats her head]

Let's go talk to the soldiers, then.

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[we_meet_again]

[Whenever the next soldier passes by, he flags them down.]

What's the status?

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[handpuppets]

[ the soldier nods crisply; they are... strangely pale, and actually ghostly? but it doesn't seem to bother them. ]

Sir—we've secured the city and the surrounding area. We're just awaiting the surrender o the local Prefect, and Crow's handling that. It should be safe for you to survey.

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[we_meet_again]

[hey that's pretty spooky]

Thank you, soldier.

Dismissed.

[he turns back to Wednesday like he doesn't have time for that guy any more.]

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[handpuppets]

[ the soldier heads on with their business. ]

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[wonderlandgirl]

[Wednesday looks away, over the camp, past the piles of weapons, past the bags of seeds.

[She closes her eyes. She sighs...

[It feels right to bow. To clap her hands twice, and press them together, and bow again.]

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[we_meet_again]

[I guess there's a pyre happening now, too, so when he stands beside her he does the same, bowing his head with his hands together.]

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[wonderlandgirl]

[She stands in silence for a moment. She's not sure if the thing she's saying in her head is good enough to be a real prayer, but... well, it's better than nothing at all.

[Bring them peace.

[She opens her eyes, raises her head; she watches, for a moment, the smoke and the flames of the pyre. She reaches for Cobalt's - no, for Shen's hand.]

... why are we here?

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[we_meet_again]

I think maybe this is something from Shrike's memory. The guy I talked to seemed kinda like a ghost.

Apparently the army's already taken the area, except for one last house that's currently being attacked.

[He takes her hand and gives it a little squeeze]

He said it should be safe for us, but I'm here, just in case.

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[handpuppets]

[ You both pay your respects; +2 willpower each. ]

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[wonderlandgirl]

Thank you, Shen-san...

[It does make her feel better.]

What do you think we should do now? That man said we should go to the town, didn't he? Maybe... whatever we're meant to find is there.

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[we_meet_again]

Looks like all the others have moved that way already, too.

Let's head out.

[THEY'RE HEADING OUT]