[Heart Game] From the ashes we can build

[castaside]

WHO: Macaque, Red Son, Wukong, Korone, Donnie, Cole, Wash
WHAT: Soul fixin'
WHEN: March 9
WHERE: Red Son's house, Blossomcrown
WARNINGS: will be marked

Comments

Level S (sub 1)

[castaside]

When the elevator dings at level S¹, you are struck with a feeling of nearly déjà vu, as there are four doors, one in each of the cardinal directions: North, West, South, East. They are inky purple in color with brass handles, as before.

However, on this level the doors are in poor condition. They are rotting in places, though not enough to see through them, they are warped, the knobs are tarnished.

And there are glowing blue cracks all over the ceiling and crawling down some of the walls. Everything looks stable, but it's unnerving to say the least.

Nothing to worry about, clearly.

Re: Level S (sub 1)

[noodleboi]

More blue cracks. It did went down into this level too. MK looked at the South door first. He rubbed his arm. They did the South and East rooms before. MK needed to see if the hole went down. If her voice came from that hole above...

"We'll take South," He said to everyone.

Re: Level S (sub 1)

[forgingfires]

Red Son was giving MK a hard look. Then reaching for his hand. "We'll take South," he said and squeezed his hand.

He has zero intention of letting go of his hand anytime soon.

Level S (sub 1) - South Door

[castaside]

You walk out into a cage. A cage made of glass. The bars and ceiling and floor are all crackling around you as you enter. The thing feels precarious,unbalanced, as if it’s going to fall at any second…and when you look down, there is a rough sea churning. It seems like a storm might be on the way, with the way the wind whips at the cage, making it teeter on whatever is holding it up.

There is sunlight here, in defiance of the atmosphere. It shines down although it provides no warmth. Your shadow is tiny, just a spot beneath you.

There is a void on the far end of the room. The whole thing wobbles more as you try to make your way.

Unlike previous places, the items are not carefully lined up, they're all over the floor. You see:

> A set of scales which are empty but unbalanced
> An empty syringe
> An alarm clock
> A silver spoon with the bowl rotted out
> A ceramic face which seems to have been once part of a sculpture, with the rest missing
> A golden shield, the only thing that looks to have been placed there intentionally, resting up against the bars of the cage. It draws MK's attention especially.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - South Door

[noodleboi]

Everything was dangerous in his place. MK looked up at the ceiling or whatever was above. He could do this. The cage looked like it was going to fall apart. They didn't have long. They needed those items. He gripped Red Son's hand tight and used the other to create a barrier of floating sand above their heads.

"Alright. The shield is important. I feel it. We need to get these fast and careful. I'll cover us if things start to fall. Can you maybe calm the wind down a little? Buy us some time?"

Re: Level S (sub 1) - South Door

[forgingfires]

Red Son looks out into the room and boy. That is definitely a lot.

His hand tightens on MK. "I can try to calm the winds. I can also....well, supposedly I should be strong enough to fly while carrying one person."

Re: Level S (sub 1) - South Door

[noodleboi]

MK grinned hearing that.

"Then let's get this going. If you need a break, let me know. I can put a rock under us and keep it floating. Been practicing that one," MK said with a nod. "And I can keep us from falling off if you hold on to me. We got this. We can do this."

Re: Level S (sub 1) - South Door

[forgingfires]

"It'll be good to catch us. I haven't exactly been practicing in storms," Red Son said, and pulled MK close to wrap an arm around his middle. "We'll get the shield first and then the memories."

And now to try and manipulate the wind to get it to calm down as he takes off into the air, pulling MK along towards the shield.

Level S (sub 1) - North door

[castaside]

You walk out into the trashiest bar imaginable. It is barely maintained, as if no one particularly cares to deal with the place. It’s a place where people go when they’re miserable, to try and fail to escape that feeling, and it looks it. Or perhaps a place people go when they’re after a fight, or a fuck, and plan to be dirty about it.

There is a dingy bar with glasses and bottles in various states of broken with a few stools, some knocked over. A dancefloor littered with debris, but clearly well used. A few tables off to one side. Minimal decoration, minimal effort.

You can’t tell what the light source is here, but it’s pretty dim. Your shadow is long and faces in four directions at once, and looking at it unnerves you.

There are two voids here: one over by the tables, and one behind the bar.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - North door

[forgingfires]

"...this really puts into perspective our bar dates. At least they weren't this trashy," Red Son said, looking around.

He carefully makes his way over to the bar, see if there are any objects around.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - North door

[castaside]

There are several objects over on the bar:

> A molotov cocktail
> A broken tumbler glass
> An empty, opaque bottle with something glinting at the bottom

Re: Level S (sub 1) - North door

[noodleboi]

MK looked around and moved with Red Son. Oh this place gave some nasty vibes, didn't it? Dirty nasty violent vibes.

"I...uh...yeah. At least when I went to get drunk, I found nicer places than this. I bet the booze is cheap here. Like...dirt cheap." MK kept looking at his shadow and had to look away. Oh. That didn't feel friendly anymore. He popped a cherry candy into his mouth.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - North door

[forgingfires]

"More than likely. Probably some turpentine tasting swill that actually hits hard," he said. Grabbing at the empty bottle to see what's at the bottom.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - North door

[castaside]

You pick the bottle up. There's definitely something in the bottom, but it's impossible to tell from the outside, the bottle is one of those dark ones.

Do you look inside?

Level S (sub 1) - East Door

[castaside]

You walk out onto a beach, except the sand is flat grey ash. Ash is also falling from the sky like snow. The waves are harsh here, and they wash little, jagged pieces of ice onto shore. There are blue cracks all over the beach and they meander off into the water.

Not far away there is a single spire that sticks out against the otherwise flat landscape of endless beach. It appears to be the source of all the ash, as it is pouring out of the top of the thing like a foundation. The spire appears to be neither made nor natural; it is jagged and irregular, but some edges are flat and there appears to be a purpose to it.

The light is diffuse here, the sun hidden behind clouds and the thick blanket of ash. You appear to have multiple shadows regardless, infinite silhouettes of you stretching in every conceivable direction, and at different lengths.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - East Door

[othellovonryan]

Ooooooooh, this is ominous.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - East Door

[bluediligence]

Just a little.

[ Fuck, this is a lot ... ]

We're really gonna need to watch our step around here.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - East Door

[othellovonryan]

Want to ride the Donatello express? You do have the room to fly in here. [But hovering can always be hard with wings.]

Re: Level S (sub 1) - East Door

[bluediligence]

Hovering takes a lot of energy and concentration. I can if I have to, but the Donnie Express sounds like the way to go.

And it comes with your arms around me. Win-win.

[ holds out her arms ]

[ UP, UP. ]

Re: Level S (sub 1) - East Door - after the final battle & post dracaque-adoption

[bluediligence]

[ Once Dracaque has been collected and is safely tucked away in her pocket to snooze, Korone heads back to the spire. With a gas mask from Donnie, of course; she's not about to accidentally asphyxiate herself after everything they've been through in here.

She sets up her pillowfort in the room at the top of the spire, pulls out her sketchbook, and gets to work, taking as much time as she thinks she can afford to make this piece … well, it won't be a masterpiece, but it will have a whole lot of love and heart poured into it all the same.

It's a pencil and ink sketch with watercolor-effect copic marker colouring of Macaque having a cosy slumber party in a huge pillowfort nest, surrounded by friends and loved ones: Wukong, MK, and Red Son, Cole, Donnie, herself, and Wash. There's a bunch of little details — a fruit bowl overflowing with the kinds she's seen him favor; a neat stack of theater tickets, and some books and games and puzzles; the blankets and pillows are all color-coded to as close to everyone's colors as she can get, and there's a particularly lovingly rendered shadow blanket; there are li'l "purr purr" sound effects in katakana scattered around here and there … and an open sketchbook propped on a pillow bears the word has "おかえり" written on it. ]

[ She leaves it on the floor under the protection of an umbrella she pulls out of her hammerspace bag, with the corner held in place by a small jar of tiny feather-like fairy-lights. The jar's "lid" is made of paper, with the words, "love you always, macchan" written on it in Korone's signature shade of blue ]

Level S (sub 1) - West Door

[castaside]

You are in a Buddhist shrine, and it is completely wrecked. Buddha’s head has fallen off and is across the room from his body. The place is strewn with random rubble, including the traditional items that one finds at such a shrine… only they’ve all been broken in various ways.

There is a hole in the ceiling and one in the floor, offset from each other as if something crashed through the room at an angle. Both holes are tinged with ice and smoldering embers that are tingled purple. There is also ice scattered around the room, mostly all over the Buddha statue’s body. There is another void on directly in front of the Buddha statue.

The sun is shining through the hole in the ceiling and the room is very well lit despite that it overall feels like it should be gloomy, in mourning. The shadows here are odd, skipping away from your gaze whenever you try to look at them directly.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - West Door

[schrodingerscockroach]

"Yeesh, this place has seen better days," Wash muttered as he looked around as they stepped inside. "Is this whole place going to be ruins...?"

More ice, but also...purple flames? His eyes narrow.

He moves towards the statue.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - West Door

[retirementsnotsopeachy]

"Well I know a few people who wouldn't approve."

Wukong followed Wash inside, eyes taking in the details and nudging the ice with the toe of a boot. It is gloomy here, but the ice is a red flag.

"Almost makes me wish I'd saved the ice shard I got."

Re: Level S (sub 1) - West Door

[castaside]

When you touch the ice, there's a strong sense of her laughter. Her taunting. No words, just a feeling.

The statue is totally wrecked and missing a head, and there's a void in front of it.

Re: Level S (sub 1) - West Door

[schrodingerscockroach]

"A few people?" Wash asked. "And what ice shard?"

He picks up the statue head to look it over.