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

[lapinlazuli]

...Here goes nothing.

[Jump!]

[myhungryass]

An updraft catches her—her wings spread out behind her, and, unlike in reality, easily hold her aloft. She's suddenly soaring through a blank, white space that stretches in all directions, a refreshingly cold wind whipping by her, buoying her up.

Far below, she can see items and even buildings scattered around... a sword, a wok, a book. A tombstone, a lion plushy. Hen House. Sun and Moon House.

At the very edge of her vision, in the far distance, where the curve of the horizon should be, stands a lone, familiar figure, blonde, in a blue outfit, holding a staff.

[lapinlazuli]

[Now this is more like it! If she's gonna be in some kind of weird dream, it's nice to be able to actually fly. She enjoys it for a bit, at least until she spots the familiar figure.]

Oh! Marcille!

[Harriet does her best to land by Marcille. As best as she can, at least. It's not like she's had a lot of practice.]

[myhungryass]

Flying aimlessly feels easy. She'll find her mind feels clear and organized, racing with ideas. She might still be hungry, but it's a distant feeling now, easy to ignore.

Flying towards Marcille, though, is a struggle. The closer she gets, the trickier the winds seem to be, fickle, shifting, always trying to thwart her. Still, she can eventually land next to her. Her back is to Harriet, and she doesn't turn to look. She seems to be gazing off at something beyond this blank space.

[lapinlazuli]

[She stumbles a bit when she lands, but at least she didn't eat shit.]

Uh... Marcille?

[Harriet looks in the same direction. Anything out there?]

[myhungryass]

Marcille turns toward her when addressed, seeming pleased to see her. "Oh, hello, Harriet."

When Harriet follows her previous gaze, all she sees is white. Maybe she was just lost in thought...?

[lapinlazuli]

What’re you doing?

[myhungryass]

"I'm just trying to figure out what's missing. You'd think a place so empty couldn't be such a mess, but that's Laios for you."

[lapinlazuli]

...Huh? What do you mean by that?

[myhungryass]

She tilts her head, apparently a little puzzled by the question. "Well, you know you're in his mind, right? That's an oversimplification, actually, but it gets the point across."

[lapinlazuli]

Oh, I know that, but like... what do you mean, something's missing?

[myhungryass]

"He has amnesia? I'm not trying to be mysterious about anything. Of course that's going to affect the contents of his mind."

[lapinlazuli]

OHHHHHH, okay. I just- I mean, Kabru was being weird earlier, so I didn't know if you were being weird too.

...I did talk to him a bit ago. Said if I found any memories lying around to bring them to him. You seen any?

[myhungryass]

"Laios thinks of Kabru as being kind of cagey, even though he's made a huge effort to be straightforward with him the whole time they've known each other in Tributary. He'll still give you straight answers, but Laios thinks of me as being a good, methodical teacher, so I actually like explaining things step-by-step. A lot of the things you saw lying around when you flew over to me are memories. I'm not sure which specific ones he's already absorbed yet, though."

[lapinlazuli]

[Harriet arches an eyebrow. If that's what Laios thinks of Kabru and Marcille, she can only wonder what he might think of her. Maybe she doesn't want to know.]

Gotcha. I'll go poke around and see what I can find.

[myhungryass]

She nods and waves goodbye. "There's nothing really hidden in here, it's just spread out."

[lapinlazuli]

Good thing I've got these!

[She spreads her wings and takes off. Fuck yeah this rules. Best dream 10/10. Where to start, though... maybe the lion plushie? She has a pretty good idea of what that might be related to.]

[myhungryass]

The winds don't thwart her approach towards the lion plushie, but nor do they hurry her towards it. When she gets up close, she can see there are little wings embroidered on its back. When she picks it up, instead of a memory rushing over her, she feels that nudge in her mind of a potential memory... the way it feels when there's one waiting in her own bracelet.

[lapinlazuli]

Nice! First try.

[She's so fucking good at this. But... maybe it would be worth checking out the other things? You know, just in case, so she doesn't have to make any return trips. Next stop: the tombstone.]

[myhungryass]

When she touches it, a memory washes over her.

She finds herself thinking about Falin. Is she okay? Did Laios ruin her life? Is he holding her back? Did they really eat her? They would have had to kill her first. Did he kill his sister? Did he kill his sister? Did he kill his sister??

[lapinlazuli]

[Harriet winces. Oogh. So that's the sort of stuff weighing on Laios.]

Falin... Falin's fine. Whatever happened before, it's all fine now. It's gotta be.

[She didn't mean to say that all out loud, it just wound up slipping out. But if Laios can hear her in here, she hopes it helps. Even if she's now feeling a little less certain about what happened to Falin.

All she can do is keep looking around. There was a sword, right? Swords are cool.]

[myhungryass]

It's a double-edged sword with an embellisment on the hilt that looks like wings. As soon as Harriet approaches it, it rattles violently in its scabbard and skips across the ground away from her. Just yeets itself away!

[lapinlazuli]

Wh- hey! Rude!

[Of course she’s going after it. Get back here you stupid sword!]

[myhungryass]

There's no answer. It lies totally still until she starts to get close again... then the rattling begins. When she stoops down to pick it up—yeet!

It seems to be fleeing in terror. It doesn't seem like it would be impossible to catch, though. It's about as fast as a grasshopper.

[lapinlazuli]

[WHY are you running??? Harriet growls and charges after the sword. She’s gonna get it she’s gonna get it.]