Laios's Heart Game

[myhungryass]

It's dark, and you are not quite conscious. You have the sense that you are climbing; that you have been climbing for a long time. You can feel the burn in your thighs, the ache in your calves. You're a little too hot, and what you're wearing is a little too heavy. You have the sense of taking a last weary, heaving step onto a plateau.



You find yourself in a dark, blank place, dominated by a huge, dead monster, building sized, as big as a tower. Each of its enormous heads that you can see laid out before you is easily the size of a ballroom. There is blood on its lips and nostrils, blood crusted around its empty eye-sockets, but there is a feeling of hollowness about it. On second thought, you're not quite sure if it's a corpse or a moult.

There is no sign of the stairs you vaguely remember climbing. You are standing on the surface of some opaque black liquid. It feels almost completely solid under your feet, springy, but your footsteps leave ripples spreading out in rings... all around you is a velvety, impenetrable darkness. The only thing you can see is the vast, lifeless beast in front of you, illuminated as if by spotlights, though no actual light-source can be found.

Its orifices are mostly clogged with blood, but somehow, as you stare at it, one vaulted nostril on the wolf's head begins to seem like an archway... the lolling tongue hanging out of the rhinoceros's head like an entry ramp... the exposed, hollow eye-socket on the eagle's head like a portal...

Of course, if you're not quite ready to step inside a monster, you could keep walking around its body and see what you find.

Comments

[myhungryass]

The tongue is a little spongy underfoot, but it makes a surprisingly good ramp. As she steps between the monster's teeth, the smell of blood gets heavier and stronger... but also more appetizing.

Her stomach growls. Her mouth floods with saliva. It smells good in here. As she walks into the red cavern of its mouth, she'll only grow hungrier.

[dragonindungeon]

[ This is not a new experience for Falin. She gulps. But... eating raw meat... is still kind of disgusting. ]

[ So she manages to refrain from the temptation, pushing further in. ]

[myhungryass]

Strangely, it's better lit in here than it was outside. The walls of the mouth are vivid pink and red, the clear pathway down the esophagus easy to see.

As soon as she steps up to it, there's an enormous gulp, all around her, and she's swallowed. There's nothing she can do. One moment she's pushing carefully forward, and the next she's sliding helplessly, rushing along, squeezed down by that powerful contraction of muscle, slick fluid making it impossible to find purchase.

As she's dragged along, a memory washes over her.

She lands with a thump in a dark, cavernous space, on a flagstone floor. Before her are three large archways. Between her and the archways sits a familiar figure.

It's Kabru...? He is almost cross-legged, one knee up with the foot planted on the floor. There's a slightly dangerous light in his blue eyes. Also, there's a big ol' hickey on his neck and he is not wearing a shirt.

He doesn't speak.

[dragonindungeon]

[ She sits in confusion for a moment when she lands. Strange to see that memory from another POV!! Hopefully Laios won't be too mad that she let herself get eaten again... oh hey, is that Kabru? ]

[ She waves hello!! ]

[myhungryass]

Kabru smiles.

"Hi, Falin. What are you doing here?"

[dragonindungeon]

Looking for Brother. Can you point me in the right direction?

[myhungryass]

He tilts his head and gestures around helpfully. "This is all him, really."

[dragonindungeon]

True, but... there's layers. Like a cake.

[myhungryass]

"Which layer are you looking for?"

Speaking of cake, she's still hungry.

[dragonindungeon]

Now I want cake..... oh, um!

M-maybe the layer where he needs me most?

[myhungryass]

"You're really a good sister, aren't you?"

He reaches behind his back and produces an entire cake, whatever kind she wants most, and offers it up to her.

[dragonindungeon]

Chocolate!!

[ YOU KNOW SHE'S TAKING THE CAKE ]

[myhungryass]

There's even a fork sticking out of it.

"Eat as much as you want."

[dragonindungeon]

[ DON'T MIND IF SHE DOES. It's very possible Falin could spend her entire time in Laios' heart eating endless chocolate cake. ]

[myhungryass]

Sadly for her, this particular cake, at least, is not endless. It's so good, though. It's delicious. Every bite is just right. It's exactly as sweet, exactly as rich, exactly as moist as she wants. Her mouth never gets dry as she's eating it. It's perfect.

And then it's gone. She might feel even hungrier than before.

"How was it?"

[dragonindungeon]

[ Boo. ]

Really, really good... so good it's a shame it's all gone...

[myhungryass]

"Would you like some more?"

[dragonindungeon]

I'm okay for now...

[ It probably WOULD just make her hungrier, her stomach being hard to fill as it is. It's a dreamscape too, so it's not like she's physically going to be satisfied... besides: ]

Why don't you eat anything?

[myhungryass]

He leans in towards her a little, halfway between conspiratorial and embarrassed. "To be honest, I'm still learning how to have much of an appetite."

[dragonindungeon]

Really?

[ Pure astonishment! But then she turns thoughtful. ]

In that case, it's good to start with something small and easy to digest, but still tasty...

[myhungryass]

He smiles, his eyes crinkling up cheerfully. "I guess your whole family knows a lot about hunger. Do you have any recommendations?"

[dragonindungeon]

Nuts and berries.

[myhungryass]

He pulls a handful of nuts and berries out from behind his back... it's pretty much whatever she was imagining. "Like these?"

[dragonindungeon]

Like those!

[ She'll take Kabru's hand, and push it gently towards himself. Since he manifested them, he should try them. ]

[myhungryass]

He doesn't resist that, and eats a few, one at a time, chewing slowly. "They're pretty good. Let's share them."

He offers them up. A few for her, then a few for him...