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]

Yes, well, I think the Big Guy could do better than this, too. If he's specifically looking for the worst people he can find, he's not very good at it if he only has like. Five dudes, fighting on his behalf. Embarrassing, frankly.

And hell no, I'm not handing you anything. I want you to leave some part of him left for me to take apart. I've worked much too hard to let you have all the fun.

[finalbows]

"..."
"So, Does.
That mean the JANITOR.... is gonna try and fight me for a broken puppet?"



[ wiggles his fingers in an Awful way. cockroach-esque ]
"Now look who's desperate."

[wants_the_phd]

It's true. I've been trapped in a cage away from home and he's the only one who's any fun to stab in this place. And he puts out! And he's even started teaching me magic. So you can see why I'm invested in keeping him around...!

[finalbows]

"Guess that means we're going to have RIP EACH OTHER TO PIECES about it."

[ the piano is so excited about this fact! ]

[wants_the_phd]

I'm really bad at fighting though. I work a desk job.

Is that really gonna be fun for you?

[finalbows]

"Huuuu-uh? What's that?
Wah-wah-wahhh, I don't wanna get DESTROYED, Mr. Kefka, I'm just too pathetic? Don't poison the CIVILIANS, Mr. Kefka, they're not involved!"

[ an ugly, roiling green spell appears over his hand. ]

"Oo, there's an idea. Poison! Eat some Bio, desk jockey!

[ THROWS IT AT HER ]

[wants_the_phd]

[oh hey that looks like the thing angie jabbed into her stab wound that one time.]

[but anyway YIKES she's lunging to the side, if she can]

Hey...!

Damn, bro, I'm just the janitor!

[finalbows]

"Guess that means I won't have to deal with YOU for long, then, will I!"

[ pops away in a flash of confetti ]



[ pops back in existence alarmingly close to throw a ball of fire at her head. except it. goes in a zigzag pattern, bouncing on thin air, just barely missing her the first time. but watch out. coming back atcha ]

^{"ugh i always forget the weird hitbox on that stupid firaga"}

[wants_the_phd]

[Flinches away from it, tries to scamper farther away. UGH! She is so desperately outclassed here, it's iNCREDIBLY uncool.]

[but we gotta do SOMETHING, starting with MOOD EDIT NO JUTSU. She is flooding his heart with a heavy sense of ENNUI.]

[finalbows]

[ midair pirouettes away to begin CLUTCHING AT HIS CHEST ]

"Oh, no! Oh, WOE, cruel world! Oh, the AAAAGONY, the cccruuuuSHING, WEIGHT! Of all my despaaair! I simply cannot take it! I simply cannot bear it, one, horrible moment, more!"

[ abruptly straightens. ]

"Haa, haa. Gotcha, didn't I? Yeah yeah yeah biiiig ssaaad feelings. Who cares. Nothing matters.

Let's have some barbecue."

[ SECOND GO ON THE ZIG-ZAG FIRAGA, LOOK SHARP ]

[wants_the_phd]

[Fuck!]

[She squeaks and throws a protective dome of vines over herself, then another, then a third, thorns jutting out all over like a sea urchin]

1/2

[finalbows]

[ pokes it ]



[ poke poke pokes it ]



[ poke poke poke poke poke poke POKES it ]

[finalbows]

"Guess I'll just... GO BACK AND FINISH WHAT I WAS DOING... pouring gasoline on a hot monkey brain. What do you think, Angie-wangie, for your next life? Wanna have a compulsive need to eat dragon steak?"

3/3

[finalbows]

[ angie trips him with his tail ]

[wants_the_phd]

[Damn. This guy seems like he'd be a really fun and interesting person to play with if he wasn't literally trying to kill her. Shucks, buster.]

[Every square inch of surface in the chamber -- floors, walls, ceiling -- starts sprouting wiggly little vines. They squirm and flail like living things, and when they find each other, they intertwine, then separate, and find other dance partners as they grow and stretch ever longer. The room steadily becomes choked with a web of spines.]

[finalbows]

[ WOAH

he
doesn't have answer for that one beside get out by it.


tho the vine are also steadfastly encouraged to avoid choking angie's own position, thank you. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[The vines aren't touching him. Hm! Now that you think about it, it seems as if they're weaving themselves into a dome around him. There's also a tunnel-like structure beginning to form between his dome and hers, but it may be hard to spot through the choking bramble thicket that's clogging up the room.]

[finalbows]

[ the brambles aren't the only thing getting choking in this room. there's smoke. vines getting burned up, but the replacement rate is steady/greater enough the room stays a dense thicket.

embers and ash are falling down into the tunnel, but it hasn't been discovered. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[A hole opens up in Angie's dome and suddenly Azdaja is there, immediately digging into his duct tape bindings. She keeps her voice low, almost a whisper:]

As much as I love seeing you helpless like this, it's not as much fun if someone else did it...

1/2

[finalbows]

[ now you know how I felt when I had you frozen to a chair in the woods ]

2/2

[finalbows]

[ besides. he's not entirely helpless.




he's curled his tail around her leg.

now get the damn duct tape off his mask's mouth, it's symbolically interfering with his telepathy ]

[wants_the_phd]

[The tape over his mouth is some of the first to get stripped away, because she needs to ask him a question.]

Do you want this guy dead or nah?

[finalbows]

[ immediately, ]

[wants_the_phd]

That's what I like to hear.

[Finally getting through enough of the tape to free up his arms, she crouches and starts slicing through the bindings between his calves with her switchblade.]

[finalbows]

[ hands free, he starts casting.

remember what it felt like when angie gave you a giant layered buff sandwich before going out into the mist to save levie?

feels like that. ]