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

[scentsibility]

[ he is tired, too tired to try to see past the flaps ... he reaches for the book then, flipping it open. ]

[myhungryass]

The book is full of descriptions of monsters! Sea serpents, slimes, walking mushrooms... it seems to be a guidebook for cooking and eating them. There are many notes on the bookmarks and in the margins, making corrections and posing theories.

At the back is a loose page. 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 Al recently walked inside, but... it does seem similar.

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

[scentsibility]

[ oh. oooooooooooh. ooooh. suddenly the slightly-off details in Moon House make more sense, in a way. he still doesn't quite get what's going on or why, but at least he has some context now. ]

[scentsibility]

[ ... he closes the book though, not wanting to see talk about how to cook dragon meat, kthx.

he sets it down, trying to sit up and pull at one of the flaps of the wagon cover to see outside. ]

[myhungryass]

[front or back?]

[scentsibility]

[ back first! ]

[myhungryass]

He 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 Al pops out, he barely seems interested. "Hey... what are you doing in there?"

[scentsibility]

Uh ... just traveling? Where are we headed again?

[myhungryass]

He shrugs, looking away. "We never seem to get anywhere."

A cold fog is rising around Al, obscuring his vision. He can still see Laios, but he seems murky, distant, indistinct. 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.

These thoughts creep into his mind, but it's possible to fight them off, to try and reach out. But on the other hand... Do you really want to waste your time talking to him...?

[scentsibility]

[ he shivers, glancing around at the fog. what on earth is going on?

he glances back to Laios, and he's surprised at how distant he suddenly is. ]

—Hey! Um ... where do you want to go?

[myhungryass]

That does make him glance up again, at least. "Want...?" He seems to have trouble with the concept. "...it would be nice if I could see my sister again."

[scentsibility]

Yeah? Where is she?

[myhungryass]

"At school. She's studying magic... she's pretty talented." The fog seems to lighten a little as he talks about his sister.

[scentsibility]

Would you mind telling me about her?

[myhungryass]

"Her name is Falin. She's—"

The fog clears further as he thinks about her, and he cuts himself off, squinting at Al a bit, his eyes seeming a little more alert beneath his long, ragged bangs. (He smells so bad.)

Slowly, recognition dawns.

"—she's your housemate, isn't she? Al...?"

[scentsibility]

[ look, Al won't hold it against him since he's clearly traveling on the road, okay. ]

Yeah! I'm Alphonse.

[myhungryass]

"I remember now. You let me eat your pancakes."

Then he squints. "...wait, are you really here just travelling? This is the past..."

[scentsibility]

[ pfft. ]

I did, yes. And ... ah, I really am just—passing through? I hope?

[myhungryass]

"Oh... You probably want to move on from here, then, huh?"

[scentsibility]

I don't mind staying here if you need someone to talk to. I'm not even sure where "here" is ...

[myhungryass]

"That's really nice of you." He smiles a bit. It's nice and sunny out by now. "This is... part of my mind, sort of? I guess I'm the part that's still stuck in the past."

[scentsibility]

Your—mind? Wait, is this a dream ... ?

[myhungryass]

He scratches his head, dislodging a flea. "I think so. Well, something like that...?"

[scentsibility]

Then I'm in your dream. Ah, sorry for intruding, I guess?

[myhungryass]

He actually draws himself a little upright and flips his filthy bangs out of his face so he can stare at Al, earnest. "No, don't be sorry! You—you already helped me out a lot."