idolpro | Shrike's Heart (#4)

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!heart games

Shrike's Heart (#4)

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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[going to check under the pillow first, then in the desk.]

[ tucked under the pillow is a slim volume of poetry—a collection of different writers' measured-syllable poetry. it looks like someone has been reading it after lights-out, perhaps.

there is nothing of note in the desk; there are some writing supplies, but any assignments have been handed in, and if there's any personal writing to be seen, it's elsewhere. ]

[will sit on the bed with the poetry and some paper from the writing supplies and quietly going to read from the book aloud while he folds some paper flowers]

Edited 2020-02-26 04:55 (UTC)

[ the poetry is all very well-chosen; a curated collection of masters' works, and they sound lovely in your gentle voice.

the paper flowers aren't per se a colorful touch, all being of the same paper, but they come out in a charmingly delicate way that, perhaps, suits the nature of the person who lives here. because you've surely guessed who, right? ]

[yes. Shrike. he is trying to fold flowers that suit her.

But he will, once he is done reading aloud and done folding all the paper he can find into flowers, going to put the book back where he found it and place the flowers, as a bouquet, on the desk.]

[ you place the book back under the pillow, and leave the flowers arranged prettily on the desk. something about the room feels a little warmer, and, when you look back, the sheets have changed to a light blue color. ]

[good. will leave the room behind him, then, and go look in the master bedroom, then.]

[ the master bedroom isn't lavish, exactly, but, like the rest of the house, it's practical and functional in an expensive sort of way. someone who has paid for top-quality necessary items, all of which fit together perfectly.

the feeling in this room is... oppressive, almost, even though there's nothing about the decorating scheme that would make it feel as such. the feeling of discomfort and lack of safety is strong enough here that it's difficult to stay for long. ]

[stays for as long as he can. does eventually stumble out, when the feeling is too much even for him, who has endured so much discomfort and lack of safety in his life.

but not before he like deliberately disorders some item of decoration. to make it not so perfect.]

[ wow, you rascal.

you leave the room in its new mildly disheveled state, and the discomfort abates, but... the baseline level of the sense of dread has risen, just a little. hm.

where to next? ]

[...notes that and quickly goes back in to fix that, then. once it is fixed, back to the way it was, then will actually go back down the hallway and to the other side.]

Edited 2020-02-26 06:08 (UTC)

[ you set things to rights in the master bedroom, and the feeling lessens properly, once you're outside the room.

when you head down the other hallway, 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.

shrike's portrait seems to be missing. ]

[ah. hmmm.

where could her portrait be. he is going to look around for where it could possibly be hiding.]

[ you spend some time rifling around the common room. it doesn't seem to be tucked in any of the nooks and crannies, though, nor in the blankets.

it seems like someone's left something cooking in the kitchen, though. maybe that way? ]

[will go look there, then.]

[ The kitchen smells of heat and cooking spices; there's water boiling in a pot, and some kind of sauce simmering in a covered saucepan.

But also, cooking is for other people.

Poking around, you notice something sticking out from behind the refrigerator. But at the same time, you hear the click of boots on stone coming from the hallway. ]

[is there somewhere to hide? hopefully there is.]

[ you could hide behind the existentialism cauldron, or the refrigerator, or perhaps in the pantry.

the feeling of unease grows. ]

[...behind the refrigerator, then. maybe he can find whatever it is behind there too.]

[ you squeeze yourself in behind the refrigerator; not hard, since you're pretty waifish.

what's back here turns out to be a portrait in a frame of a woman with a sword—done in the same style as the avante portraits—it's hard to make out features, squeezed in here under shadow, but she has tan skin and dark hair.

the other reason it seems hard to make out the features is that someone seems to have dripped black paint over the top of it.

the sound of the footsteps grows closer; it seems to be just one set of footfalls. they enter the main room, and then you can hear a huff of disapproval. ]

Edited 2020-02-26 16:11 (UTC)

[just going to remain still, very still, very still for the moment.]

[ you can hear the sound of someone out there moving things around. maybe taking things off the walls? ]

[hmmmm. :|

how long before they go away...]

[ you might be stuck here for a while, buddy. ]

[then...waiting for a while.]

Shrike's Heart (#4)

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