idolpro | Shrike's Heart (#4)

Entry tags:

!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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[ she is, unfortunately, very strong—about Shrike's height, and a decent match for Cobalt in wrestling. but that means it's hard for her to get any real leverage, either.

what's more difficult to deal with is the increasingly oppressive atmosphere settling over the room like a heavy blanket, that makes it just a touch harder to move or think. Persephone begins reassembling the room, but the portraits are just hard enough to hang; better still to stick to the blanket nest.

if you describe doing something in a cool enough way, I might award you even more willpower.

you must spend 1 WILLPOWER per round to continue acting. ]

I can speak to you however I want.

[ Absolutely spending that willpower.

You're not his mom!! He's keeping an eye on Cobalt, but much like Persephone, he's not a lot better at a fight.

He nonetheless is trying to hang up the portraits anyway, gritting his teeth a little. He has a feeling the portraits are Important. ]

[ you have collectively spent 5 willpower. if you all collectively spend 5 willpower during the next "turn" you can force her to leave. you can contribute however much you want.

eclipseskylark is, at least, slightly less of a noodle than ???persephone???, and can get one of the portraits back up on the wall, with a great deal of effort. ]

I won't tolerate this disrespect.

[ everything feels so, so heavy? almost paralyzing. ]

[spending 2. help I don't know how much willpower he has.

settles down gracefully to start reassembling the blanket nest, gritting his teeth for a moment against the oppressive atmosphere, against the heaviness, the paralyzation, trying to breathe. but after a moment, as he starts folding the blanket nest back together, will start to sing. light in darkness, light at the edge of sleep- it's a different kind of inspiration than what he's done before, in his life before this one.

love and strength and encouragement, rather than love and lust meant to weaken, to drain loyalty away. sweet singing, soft and gentle and not military at all, trying to encourage ~~Cobalt~~ Shen and ~~Eclipse~~, Skylark, to push back the weight.]

Edited 2020-03-03 02:26 (UTC)

[ you have enough willpower. the total is now at 7 willpower. ]

Silence, child! Perhaps your mothers let you all run wild, but you can do that in any—other—house!

[ also i have no idea what the tag order is here and at this point i'm too afraid to ask so i'm going to just tag back anyone who acts okok but basically every time you take an action you have to spend at least 1 ]

[His knees feel like they're ready to buckle under the oppressive atmosphere when Persephone's song fills his chest. He sucks in a breath, bolstered, fortified.

Still grappling each other, Cobalt lunges into Mom's space, antlers raking at her face -- not to strike, but to force her to step back. While she's mid-step and unbalanced, he twists, wrapping one of his legs around hers, jutting his hip into her pelvis, and yanking her up and over his shoulder.

He doesn't want to hurt her, so he's not trying to fully throw her to the ground or anything, but he's trying to unbalance her and send her stumbling out the door as hard and fast as he possibly can.]

Get out!

[3 Willpower]

[ You put your all into maneuvering her out the door, and for a moment she looks shocked at being pushed back like that, for all that she's not a small woman and quite strong—but she's suddenly oddly light.

She braces herself against the doorway, opening her mouth to reprimand you, but the words come out quiet—not soft, but muffled, muted, like the volume on a radio turned down. Her form—you can see the hallway through her, and then, after a moment, she's gone.

It's quiet, but for Persephone's singing. The oppressive feeling has vanished, like a weight off of all your shoulders, although the rest of the house down the hallway looks... strangely distant.

There's a rustling from the nest of blankets; a lanky girl of maybe ten or eleven half-emerges, with tan skin and mahogany hair pinned up in a crown braid; she looks faintly bewildered. ]

[Oh, oh no.

His eyes go wide when she abruptly fades out of existence. Did he just accidentally kill Shrike's mom?! He was just trying to remove her from the room, and now she's gone, oh NO. Oh no oh no oh no, what did he DO!?

His face still looks stricken as he turns around at the sound of rustling.

HE... IS ALSO BEWILDERED

WHO IS THIS]

Oh, she's—gone?

I was trying to keep her out of here, but... I don't really keep most personal things in the house...

Uh...

Sorry about... the way I threw her out. I didn't know she was going to disappear.

—Are you okay?

It's all right, sir. She's never gone forever. She's supposed to be here more than I am, anyway.

She is?

Are you, um... part of Shrike's family, too?

[ she... glances, uncomfortably, at the painting that Persephone brought with him from the kitchen. she looks just like a younger version of the woman in it.

but then she appears to remember something. ]

Oh! I left something on the stove—can I get all of you something to eat, if it hasn't burned, or some tea...?

It's nothing special, but—before you go. Because you're looking for her, right?

[He looks where his eyes are pointing and sees the portrait for the first time. He can't quite make out the face, but the body looks like a more tan version of Shrike. Could it be Shrike?

...Is this girl Baby Shrike?

He turns his head back and forth, considering it. Her appearance sure has changed a lot, but he can sssssort of see it?

He turns back to the girl, though.]

Some food or drink would be lovely, thank you.

Just curiosity, who do you suppose we're looking for?

[ the mannerisms are certainly similar enough between them. she scuttles off to the kitchen, to check on what's on the stove; she's already tall enough tat she doesn't have to stand on her tiptoes at all. ]

Um, I'll put the kettle on, too, then... I hope this is all right, I don't think it's overdone...

Well, you were saying a different name, but... you're looking for Sorrowful Blade of the Softly-Falling Rain, aren't you?

[Wow. What a name!]

Is that the person whose room that is? If so, then yes.

Do you know where she is?

...Also, do you need any help with anything?

Oh, I mean—you're guests, I shouldn't ask you to help, especially when you've been keeping things tidy already...

[ she turns the modern burners off, and fishes out some potholders for while she drains the pot of noodles.

of course it's noodles. ]

...though, if you really want to, er... if you wouldn't mind filling up the kettle, maybe.

[not answering questions about Shrike, huh...?]

No problem.

[He gets to work filling up the kettle]

What were you doing hiding in the blankets?

...well, if I stayed still and quiet, maybe this all wouldn't be noticed?

I'm good at that, but maybe not good enough.

And... I think it'll be time, soon. If you want to see her.

Oh, um... hi.

That painting’s really... this room’s fine without it.

Ah, hello...

I just, ah, did not want it to be lost behind the....

It’s okay. Some things that are broken can’t really be fixed, no matter how much you want it.

[a brief, bitter little smile] They, ah, never go back together the same...

...no, they don't. Some things are just gone, when they're gone, and some stains can't be washed out.

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