HEARTGAME DRESS REHEARSAL

[finalbows]

thank u rah u hero

tracking sheet
 

[ ..somewhere in the pasture, Angel Devil falls down.
His clothes have twisted away into bone-white rags, leaving a body covered over with only thick swathes of red fur, and downy feathers. His long tail is curled into a tense arc, banded fur standing on end.

The air wavers like he’s a heat mirage, not a man. He’s boiling away with absolutely stupid amounts of arcane power… and, most frighteningly, he does not seem in control of the fact that it is there and being brought to bear. It’s impossible to get any closer to him.


When he speaks, it’s quite timid. ]

Ah,
I thought… I had a little more time.

[ (and in a blinding flash of light, there is the sound of something breaking.) ]

~KRRSHHK~

[any observers will see, strangely see-through and superimposed on the scene, some kind of vast tree, illusionary roots twisting over and around to frame a door.  the door itself is wrought of opaque stained glass in blacks and whites and greys; a stylized rendition of Angie in that strangely ragged, feathered form, curled in on himself, eyes closed.  Angie himself is nowhere to be seen. ]

instead, a shadow . . . steps into view from behind the door.  for a moment it looks like nothing so much as a second genome – then it turns, gaining features and definition with the movement.  The monkey tail separates into three plumes; a ponytail unfurls into wings that lift up from the sides of the head.  

Teleute(?) is here, dressed in her customary black, but there is colour in her skin, and her hair and eyes are blue.  she’s frowning.]

. . . well.  This is the least I can do before I go, in exchange for the safe harbor.

[she lifts her head, nodding to any observers, and gestures at the door.]

You’ll want to head in there now if you don’t wish to lose your flockmate, I think.  Even the false-death of this place won’t be much help to him, if his soul is left to finish pulling itself apart.

My sisters and I can maintain the way into and out of it for you, but we were not made to knit such wounds by ourselves.  Have a care.

Comments

[finalbows]

[ sure is!

that gentle, calming rain has still been going this whole time, occasionally rumbling with distant thunder. on your way out there, it helpfully washes away the blood that'd gotten on your pants and shoes.]


[ curiously, as you get deeper into the meadow, the rain starts coming down harder. there are puddles everywhere. despite it all, the sun still, somehow, shines.


from ahead, she hears childish, almost shocked laughter.
of course, she can recognize the sound of angie's voice by now. and his scent, though it's far less complex; no extra notes covering up "magic" and "monkey." ]

[wants_the_phd]

[yeah but now it's "wet monkey."]

[approaching the sound]

[finalbows]

[ his hair's choppy short, red, and featherless, and his tail's out for all to see. he's wearing a standard uniform for a Genome.

as Azdaja gets closer, he purposefully lets himself drop into a puddle, onto his back. stares up at the rain-- the droplets hitting an invisible barrier around him.

the mask on his face is blue, filled with holes. but he doesn't seem terribly concerned by all that at the moment.]

[wants_the_phd]

Havin' fun?

[she says, as if this weren't eminently obvious]

[finalbows]

[ raises his arms up. ]

"Why not, right? It's a fire sale in the depths of my soul! Everything must go! I'm gonna die anyway, for the very final time!"

[ lets his arms drop back down with a wet flop. ]






[ silence, then a satisfied sigh.]
"I love the rain."

[wants_the_phd]

[Sits down on the wet grass nearby.]

Is that what you want? To die forever?

[finalbows]

[ contemplative, though he sounds brattier the longer he talks. ]

"No. That's somewhere else. I want to live forever until the Gaian crystal is ready to burn out, and then I'll think about what my next step is.
But you have to admit, I'm always very pretty when I do it.


But... the storyline's already been written for me, and it's in the one spot I can't erase and rewrite. I think it's been like that since I was..."

[ limp gesture to his appearance.]

"THIS old. Ish."

[wants_the_phd]

What's the current status of your soul? Can you tell?

I'm not talking about what it was five minutes ago. I'm talking about now. In this exact moment.

[finalbows]

[ well. you asked.
reciting as a rote report, ]

"Subject's soul has entered a state of cascade collapse whose underlying cause is an unhealed incision, inflicted twenty.....one, years ago.

Though several segments of subject's soul have been successfully reinforced, it cannot currently maintain a solid state of definition in relation to the outside world. A fully restored barrier against external influence is required, to restore homeostasis and, ideally, prevent a recurrence of the problem in the future.

Five sections... have been successfully returned. Returning at least ten is recommended."

[wants_the_phd]

Alright. I'll keep working on it, then.

Can you tell me more about the unhealed incision?

[finalbows]

[ matter-of-fact, ]

"My Master did it so I'd be gone at a future time he was absolutely sure he'd have no more use for me as research material.

Move a little to the right, I can't see my favorite sunbeam."

[wants_the_phd]

[She just lays down on the ground so she doesn't have to get up again. She's already soaked to the skin, who cares]

Is there any way to fix it?

[finalbows]

"I.
Dunno.

Would have said no, but you're doing something that isn't making it worse, at least. And Chaos put me back together, too, I guess? Way too faithfully. Gouge and all, or else we wouldn't have this problem.


What a useless God. All he ever does is indulge in his repetition compulsion."

[ pot, meet kettle. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[staring at the sky]

What would you do if you were a god?

[finalbows]

[ his soaked tail swishes. it looks very funny. ]

"Indulge in my repetition compulsion. Kill people at random for being too ugly or boring. Make people build lots of temples to me and have raucous celebrations in my name as long as they don't mess up my statues. Go into the mortal realm in hiding and ruin people's lives if they're not nice to me. Write a holy text full of ambiguous wording and listen to how it gets interpreted for fun."

[wants_the_phd]

[barks a laugh]

Hah! What a shitty god. I wouldn't pray to you. Fuck that.

Plenty of those kinds of fucks in this world already.

[finalbows]

"Well, you didn't tell me to lie. But I can, if you want. I'm told I'm not bad at it."

[wants_the_phd]

Nah. I'm just trading a truth for a truth.

So, five broken sections still, huh? Which one should I work on next?

[finalbows]

[ rolls over to look at her better. ]

"How 'bout you tell me which one you think you're working on right now? Here. I'll even give you a hint."

[ he snaps his fingers.

above him, a see-through version of all 19 18 masks appear. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[the fuck is a Mask of Pudding]

Resignation.

[finalbows]

[ the joke weapon that instantly solves the heartgame, obviously ]

"Wrong~☆. But warm. Two more chances. If you win, I'll give you something fun. Just for you. Not for your little scavenger hunt."

[wants_the_phd]

[ooh fun. it's a game now.]

No Meaning?

[finalbows]

[ shifts to sit on his knees. ]

"Waaaarrmer.
If you get it wrong when you're this close, I'm gonna give you a penalty game to get you to figure it out."

[wants_the_phd]

The End.

1/2

[finalbows]

"I told you. I'm not the one that yearns to die.

Well, you agreed to the terms. So it's punishment time, naughty pet."

[ everything goes black, as she's abruptly hit with the lurching feeling of being displaced into a memory. ]