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

[wants_the_phd]

[Maybe it's because she's leaned in and embraced it with eager claws. This is her favorite feeling, after all. And in a place where she got to put this feeling into action.]

[With that, she makes to leave the barn behind entirely. She's going to start checking out the other locations, if she can, starting with the church.]

[Let's see what else she can destroy gently fix, apparently]

[finalbows]

[ good pick. the church is nestled between Rose pasture and the inner depths of the puddle-filled forest. it's not in the best of condition... but that's a good sign for her little quest, isn't it?

...with the clarity of sight offered you by the mask of cruelty,
you notice all the scattered bones laying around the path up to its entrance.
if you take a close look, they're definitely from bipeds, but also reminiscent of rats. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[Oohh... Angie mentioned these guys to her once during the memory share game. What were they called, again? B... Burmese...something.]

[oh well.]

[As usual when approaching something new that has an unknown danger level, she picks her way toward it as silently as she can, keeping her ears pricked and sniff sniff sniffing the air for info.]

[finalbows]

[ leaf litter... fresh rain... hints of graveyard dirt... wilting roses, but maybe that's from the place she just left...? though the ones outside in the pasture were all doing just fine.

and a sort of sour, burned scent. if she's in the habit of huffing a lot of different kinds of burned woods, it's from too-fresh oak. if not, the best word for it is 'vinegar and char.'


..sniff, sniff, sniff. when she's gotten almost terribly close, she'll become certain there's a human in there... though the scent is also clouded with... something kind of fizzy. electric. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[Fizzy... is this what magic smells like?]

[She approaches even more cautiously, trying to find the human before it finds her. Maybe even perform a Scan again, if she's able.]

[finalbows]

[ bingo.
as she creeps eeeever closer,
...a sort of... scratchy, sound, starts up.

the shade of a masked human(?) in the dilapidated church is quietly sweeping the floor, cleaning up the dying rose petals. at the head of the room, there are two shrines, with empty basins of water before them: one, to a goddess in a flowing dress, the other, to a winged, four-armed demon. hey. hasn't.. hasn't she seen that guy before?

anyway, it takes some focus, and a lot of thinking over exactly what she wanted and did the last time it happened, but with effort...

the shade becomes a rather ethereal girl with green hair, who she now knows very much is NOT human.
but it seems that the act of casting the spell has alerted her to Azdaja's presence. she stops, midsweep, and looks up. ]


"...Hello? Is... someone out there?"

[wants_the_phd]

[Oh heck, the jig is already up. We'll just have to play it cool. ]

[Moving slowly, she comes out from the shadow she was sculking in and takes off her mask, forcing zazo to add another mark to the spreadsheet for no real reason.]

[Time to lie and look pathetic on purpose]

Uh... sorry. I was looking for shelter from the rain.

[finalbows]

[ azdaja doing her best to get her money's worth out of that special beta-test only spreadsheet. ]

[ seems like soggy energy works well on this chick. she gets a tiny smile. ]

"Oh...! In that case, please. Come in. It's... not much, but... it is dry."

[ there are pews. only one isn't broken. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[OK but she really is soggy this time. Method acting.]

[She comes in, shyly halting at the door (while discretely checking for someone who might be getting ready to jump out at her with a knife.)]

Um. Is that Chaos?

[finalbows]

[ the coast looks clear. no bad vibes from the shadowy corners. ]


[ more subdued, as she goes back to sweeping all the petals together into a pile,]

"Yes... the God of Destruction. I used to be one of his servants."

[ but not anymore, is the unspoken bit. ]

[wants_the_phd]

Then, do you know Révérence? Seven feet tall, long silver hair with feathers, never stops talking?

[I mean. Obviously she does, since azdaja found some of her hair under his bed.]

[finalbows]

"We've never had a proper conversation... but... he helped me, once."

[ she sets the broom aside, and holds out her hands where Azdaja can see them:
tens of cut threads, dangling from where they're tied haphazardly around her wrists. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[Desire Clown strikes again]

What happened?

[finalbows]

"...A lot of it is a blur. I didn't know who I was... and when I wasn't fighting, it felt like my body was sleeping, even though I was awake. But one day, he just... showed up. Talked to me. Even though I couldn't speak.

And then... he cut them."

[wants_the_phd]

The strings?

Who put them on you? Was it the clown-looking guy?

[finalbows]

"Yes. His name's..."

[ ... ]

"...not... what matters, anymore. He turned me into a weapon. Because of my magic."

[wants_the_phd]

Your magic? Is it different than what Révérence can do?

[finalbows]

"I... would assume so? We're from different worlds... I would tell you more about mine if I could, but..."

[ she sits, resting on the edge of the big empty basin at the goddess Cosmos' feet. ]

"...I just can't."

[wants_the_phd]

That's okay.

Speaking of Révérence, though -- I think he's in trouble. I saw a glimpse of him... he looked asleep, or catatonic. Or... dying, maybe? The clown guy was trying strings to him and trying to wake him up, but I think he...

What should I do?

[finalbows]

"Is that the source of this horrible feeling of dread...?
...ever since I came to this church, I just knew... there's something I need to find here...
I didn't know why. Or even what I was looking for.
But I knew that...

It felt like hearing something crying out in pain...
I couldn't pass by and ignore it.

Maybe... we need to find it?"

[wants_the_phd]

[She comes farther into the church, looking around more earnestly, too. Sniff sniff sniff what smells rotten, what looks misty, etc.]

What were the skeletons outside?

[finalbows]

[ the girl's answer is.. beleaguered, let's say. ]

"People... that someone in here... was forced to kill."

[ meanwhile, inside the church:
wall sconces for flowers filled with dead roses. candles upon candles, many burned down to useless stubs, but enough you could make a demon summoning circle if you really WANTED to. nothing immediately obviously used to light them with. old sticky bits where rose incense was burned over and over and over. broken pews. one single non broken pew. the broom, kinda knobby handle. the chaos and cosmos effigies and empty basins below, which very obviously have traces of old blood when she sticks her nose up in there.

loose plank of wood in the floor that seems rather promising, if she got some leverage on it.

stained glass windows. too dirty to make out the design.

a few rose petals Terra had missed. when did she say her name? eh. don't worry about it. the fact of it simply sank into you like holding your hand to a hot mug.


an empty chandelier, above them. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[taking note of all of those things.]

[She's going to start by investigating the one non-broken pew, just in case there's something tucked under it.]

Were they on the side of... uh. [Looks at goddess statue,] that one?

[finalbows]

[ let's take a look underneath pew number one!

jackpot! YOU HAVE FOUND...
...it appears to be a small satchel with tasseled fringes and little colorful baubles hanging off it, along with a sheathed sword. it's got a deep purple handle, a red orb on the guard and pommel, and a slim, curved blade... that seems like it would fit perfectly in Terra's hand.

she's currently working on getting those last few rose petals in one spot, so she thankfully isn't watching you paw over what's obviously her stuff. ]


"No. They weren't involved at all. ...no one in the Cycles ever even leaves a body behind. They just... fade."

[wants_the_phd]

[Oh okay. Her stuff doesn't appear to be howling or petrified or anything so it's probably not what we're looking for.]

I know the name of Chaos, but what's the name of the other one? Why does this church have both of them in it?

[She takes a moment to make some fresh roses bloom in all the places dead ones used to be. Do Rose powers work like this? Idk who cares we're in a monkey's head]