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]

He climbs in... to a covered wagon? There are crates and sacks stacked neatly inside... clearly cargo.

A green book with many bookmarks sits on top of one of the crates.

It's a little too cold in here. Star feels suddenly very tired.

The wagon is bumping along... there are sounds of horses and people calling outside.

[adhorsive]

[yawns, reaching out to try to grab the book]

[myhungryass]

Sure, he can grab it! Nothing immediately happens if he's just holding it in his hand.

[adhorsive]

[opens it, trying not to drop it on his sleepy face]

[myhungryass]

A loose page falls out onto his face. The monster on it seems to have been drawn by a child, albeit one who's pretty good at drawing monsters. It has one head fewer than the huge monster Laura recently walked inside, but... it does seem similar.

As he touches that page, a memory washes over him.

[adhorsive]

Heeeeehhhh. If only it were so easy....

[tries to peek out of the moving ??? wagon???

[myhungryass]

Out the back or the front?

[adhorsive]

[back, to avoid alerting whoever's driving it just in case]

[myhungryass]

Star immediately comes face-to-face with Laios, but a much scruffier and slightly younger version than he's used to. He's leading three horses on a string. They're all laden with packs, and Laios himself is wearing a heavy pack, too.

Even though he must be younger, he looks older. He's worryingly gaunt, and shuffles along, seeming listless. Although there's surprise on his face when Star pops out, he barely seems interested. "Hey... what are you doing in there?"

[adhorsive]

Looking for you, I think.

[myhungryass]

He looks anxious. "You're not from the army, are you?"

[adhorsive]

FUCK no. Do I look military?

Your sister is worried you might be lonely.

[myhungryass]

"Falin's worried...?" That does not make him less anxious. "You know Falin?"

[adhorsive]

Yup! She's great.

[myhungryass]

"She's the best."

The heavy, cold atmosphere lightens a little.

[adhorsive]

She's pretty great. When we first met, I was really upset about something, and she really helped me feel better.

[myhungryass]

"She did...?" He actually seems curious.

[adhorsive]

Yeah! Do you want to go find her, maybe?

[myhungryass]

He smiles... "We'll be heading by the town where her magic school is, soon. I'll definitely make sure to visit."

[adhorsive]

I bet I could get you there faster. Though I guess you have things you're doing.

[myhungryass]

"Faster...?" He blinks a few times. "You—mean I could ride you, right? Star? —Star, it's you!"

[adhorsive]

It's me!

[scrambles a bit closer, almost falling out the back] You recognize me?

[myhungryass]

"Y-yeah!" As he leans closer, some ideas flash through his mind... Why is he talking to this guy, anyway? He's nobody important. He's probably more trouble than he's worth. He looks like bad news. He's clearly an anti-social weirdo. Do you really want to waste your time on him...?

But the sun is shining and Laios is happy to see him. There's some clarity in the air already. It's probably easy to ignore those intrusive thoughts.

"Falin really sent you here?"

[adhorsive]

Yup! I was in a place and she was there and I said I wanted to find you, and she asked if I wanted to find the you who was lonely, and I said yes because of course if you're lonely that means I should be there, because then you won't be lonely if you have a friend. And she told me to come here and find you then. And now I've found you, and we can go back together.

[myhungryass]

"Star..." He's a bit overcome. "I'm definitely not lonely, now that you're here. I can't go back with you, though."