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

[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...

[dragonindungeon]

[ Nods and picks a few for herself. Sharing is caring. :) ]

[myhungryass]

Again, they're delicious, but only whet the appetite.

Kabru turns thoughtful once they've finished eating. "I think Laios already has you where he needs you the most. There are some important parts of him down here, though. You can go take a look, or I can send you back out to the surface."

[dragonindungeon]

I think... I'd like to check in on the important parts of him while I'm here.

[myhungryass]

"Go ahead, then." He gestures to the archways behind him.

[dragonindungeon]

[ Waves goodbye to Kabru as she heads down the archway most immediately behind him! ]

[myhungryass]

She steps through and feels a jolt, like missing a step on the stairs. She finds herself in a dark pit, an archway of light far away up above. Her appetite is overwhelmingly strong in here. It's not painful—she's not starving. But it's hard to think about anything else. It feels like she could never be satisfied.

Floating in the air in the center of the pit is a twenty-sided gem, bright and gleaming. It looks so tasty.

[dragonindungeon]

[ Again, not a new feeling for Falin. But... that gem sure does look tasty... is it a kind of jewel bug? That'd be so cool if it was too. ]

[ She touches it. ]

[myhungryass]

When she reaches for it, her hand glances off... nothing. A disconnect in the world, like what's beyond that point is totally separate and unreachable. She gets the sense that it's less a barrier and more that the gem is just... not quite in the same place as her.

However, reaching for it also transports her immediately elsewhere before she can contemplate that too deeply!

Falin lands on a grassy underneath a tall tree. The sound of the sea can be heard lapping in the distance. Laios is lounging under the tree... but a different Laios than she's ever seen before, with hooves and a tail, feathers around his neck and shoulders, and strangely formed arms, one resembling a bird talon and the other a tiger's paw. He looks up and waves to her.

"Hi, Falin."

She might realize that her perspective has changed. She's lower to the ground than she's been in awhile... standing on two legs. She still has a ruff of feathers on her chest, though...

[dragonindungeon]

Big brother! You look amazing!!

[ She's totally arrested by how Laios looks to care about herself. Besides, him being bigger than her feels natural too. ]

[myhungryass]

He laughs, getting to his feet. To his hooves. And reaching out to draw her into a big hug. "I know, right??"

[dragonindungeon]

[ Giving him a big hug back!!! ]

Super cool!

[myhungryass]

"You look great, too."

[dragonindungeon]

[ Pulls back and looks down at herself :o? What DOES she look like? ]