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]

!!!

[ MARCILLE. Forgetting herself entirely, Falin launches herself into the air - thinking as a chimera again, believing herself to be able to soar over to Marcille given enough height. ]

[myhungryass]

And so she can! An updraft catches her, and buoys her aloft. It actually feels like she could fly properly in here, not just glide. As she approaches Marcille, the winds change, trying to buffet her back, but she can still land next to her if she stays focused.

[dragonindungeon]

[ It's Marcille. Of course she's focused.

Falin lands besides her with a small bounce. ]

[myhungryass]

She brightens as she turns towards her. "Oh, hello, Falin!"

[dragonindungeon]

Hi Marcille. Were you exploring...?

[myhungryass]

She shakes her head. "No, I'm the Marcille that exists in here."

[dragonindungeon]

Oh!

So why are you all the way out here?

[myhungryass]

"I'm trying to figure out what's missing around here, or at least properly measure the gaps."

[dragonindungeon]

Gaps?

[myhungryass]

"Between his memories."

[dragonindungeon]

Wow, that's a really important job.

[myhungryass]

"It's really hard work! You wouldn't think a place this empty could be such a mess, but that's Laios for you. I swear, he never pays attention at the right times. It's no wonder Shuro was so fed up."

[dragonindungeon]

[ ... frowns... ]

[myhungryass]

"Anyway... was there something I can help you with, Falin?"

[dragonindungeon]

. . . I was hoping to help Brother with his memories too. Maybe I can help you tidy things?

[myhungryass]

She brightens again. "That would be great! There are definitely a couple memories around here that he hasn't taken yet. Maybe if you bring them to him, it can help sort things out."

[dragonindungeon]

Okay. I'll get started then.

[myhungryass]

Since there are only a few items and locations scattered around an empty space, it probably doesn't take Falin long to zero in on things! Both the book and the plush lion give her the impression of a memory waiting to be taken. She can take those with her!

Besides those, there is the wok, the tombstone and the sword to potentially examine, although the sword will flee when she gets close. Or she can explore Moon House. (Sun and Hen House might both be too small for her to enter in her chimera form, although if she tries to change again, she can.)

[dragonindungeon]

[ You know she's distracted by the fleeing sword, let's be real now. ]

[myhungryass]

It doesn't respond to coaxing, but it's not that fast. If she pounces, she can grab it!

A flood of information about monsters and how cool they are and how to prepare them for eating and musings about what certain ones might taste like and whether or not people and monsters could ever have a more harmonious relationship washes over her, if she does. There's no voice to go with it... it's more a series of images and concepts... but it's accompanied by a feeling of eager fascination, even obsession.

[dragonindungeon]

[ She's absolutely on it. Something instinctual just overcomes her. And then she's clasping the sword to her chest with deep joy and interest. ]

Hehehehehehe.

[myhungryass]

Once she's actually laid hands on it, it stops struggling.

Two little eyestalks poke out to look at her.

[dragonindungeon]

[ GASPS ]

[ She pokes a finger back at it. ]

[myhungryass]

A few more tendrils sneak out and wrap around her finger.

[dragonindungeon]

[ Almost starts shaking the tendrils back— ]