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 suspects nothing. "Really?? Are you a monster researcher? That's an amazing job."

[lapinlazuli]

Hah, yeah, it's- it's pretty tough! But I'm not scared. I've got a big sword and I'm like, really strong, so I can deal with most monsters easily.

Looks like you like researching monsters too, based on that book you've got.

[myhungryass]

"Yeah! Someday I'm going to travel all around with Falin and see all the different kinds there are. She can make money as a travelling exorcist, and I'll—I'll make some kind of incredible discovery, probably, and we'll be set for life."

[lapinlazuli]

That's a pretty big dream. Think you can do it?

[myhungryass]

"Of course!" But it's obvious his confidence is false. He immediately looks troubled. "...some day..."

[lapinlazuli]

[She gently places a hand on his shoulder.]

...Listen, Laios. No matter what happens, you can't give up on your dream. Even if the worst, most awful thing you can think of winds up happening... you can't ever give up. Because if you give up, it'll never come true.

[myhungryass]

He looks up at her, wide-eyed, and slowly nods. "I won't give up..."

[lapinlazuli]

Good.

[She pats him on the head. Good boy.]

Now I've got other places to be, so I'm gonna bounce. But you'll see me again someday.

[myhungryass]

"Oh. ...okay, bye? It was nice to meet you!"

The caravan seems to be going down a dirt road with nothing that obviously seems like a way back out of the snake, but shecould try going out the other side of the wagon. Or, I mean, she could try charging down the road, I can't stop her, I'm just narrating, here.

[lapinlazuli]

[As fun as it might be to jump off the wagon, Harriet's got a pretty good sense of the dream logic at work here. And by "good sense" I mean she just figures if she goes out the wagon the other side, she'll be somewhere new. So that's what she's going to do.]

[myhungryass]

Surprise! She's still in the same place. But...

She immediately comes face-to-face with Laios again, an adult this time, but a little younger and much scruffier than she's used to seeing in Tributary. He's leading three horses on a string, the tail of the caravan. 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, but he perks up just a bit when he sees Harriet. "You're really here..."

[lapinlazuli]

[Whoa. This is unexpected. A little weird, too.]

Uh, yeah. Just like I said I would.

Sooo... what's going on?

[myhungryass]

He scratches through his unkempt hair. A flea hops off him. "Not much, but..."

The weather brightened up while she was talking to the kid version of him, so when certain thoughts start to creep into her mind—Who is 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 talking to him...?—they don't feel too hard to shake off.

He looks a little embarrassed to be seen this way, though, emaciated and filthy. "I'm grateful that you're here."

[lapinlazuli]

[Harriet’s used to dealing with intrusive thoughts, anyway. Typically they’re more violent than this.]

Hey, no problem. I’m your friend, of course I’m gonna be here.

[Is that weird to say? Is she being weird. She pauses for a moment to consider if this is weird.]

[myhungryass]

The atmosphere gets a bit warmer. "That's right—we're friends. I have friends, now. That's so weird."

[lapinlazuli]

I get what you mean. But it’s nice, having friends. Way better than being the weird kid nobody understands, right?

[myhungryass]

He laughs quietly. "Way better."

Then, after a moment... "Wait, but. Why are you here?"

[lapinlazuli]

This is gonna sound weird, but I'm looking for memories. Your memories.

[myhungryass]

"You already found them, though."

He waves a hand at the stuff she's carrying.

[lapinlazuli]

I- I know, I just- I thought maybe there'd be... more?

[myhungryass]

"Oh. I think those are the only ones I haven't already seen, but there are more scattered around that I already know about... if you're just curious?"

[lapinlazuli]

I mean, a little? But, uh...

[She looks at the book and the lion plush.]

...These might be a bit more pressing though, so I'll go ahead and bring them back to you. The, uh, other you. The one in the rhino. God this is so fucking confusing.

[myhungryass]

"Sorry..." He does sound sheepish, though there's a slight not like I can do anything about it tone too.

[lapinlazuli]

It's fine. It is what it is.

So, uh, how do I get out of here?

[myhungryass]

"Oh, just go back in the wagon, but with your eyes tightly closed."