fujimaru | Palace Game 6/3

"Did she?" There's a sharper note in the man's voice, and then, without waiting for an answer, almost amused: "Of course she did. And of course she does. She is an ordinary girl, no matter what extraordinary things she accomplishes. She was not meant for any of this. Of course she wishes to be rescued from it."

M'gonna find her, mister.

There's a long pause, and then the man starts to laugh--quietly at first, and then with growing volume and intensity.

"Kuhahahahahaha! Very well! I shall acknowledge your desire, interloper! If you wish to dive into the very pits of hell to retrieve a single sinner's soul, then I shall loan you the strength you need!"

How's that?

"Do you think you could make it easily through his ocean? This is not some simple nighttime walk. This is Hell itself! The very worst that the dying and the resentful may throw at the living who outlasts them--"

There's a flicker, and he is suddenly in front of Ruggie now, standing in his path.

"--and if you have the courage to move forward, then I shall walk with you!"

You're so dramatic. This is why Ritz is how she is, ain't it.

Yer all terminally dramatic.

Sure, let's go together then.

Unfortunately, being part of the "Extra" classes means you are also Extra, and therefore in the best edgelord fashion, impervious to being called out even to your face about it. If anything, he seems amused at being called out. He only bows low, sweeping an arm out, an after-you sort of gesture.

Yeah yeah.

[moving on ahead]

Weirdo.

The man falls into step behind him, saying nothing.

In the silence after all of his dramatic monologues, Ruggie's ears are sensitive enough to pick up the sounds of more voices in the darkness: they don't appear to be whispers, but normal tones up to shouting, some louder than others--but all at some great, muffled distance, like maybe he's hearing fighting from a safe(?) distance. On a whole, though, they're all aggressive, angry.

At some point--it may have been a minute, it may have been an hour, time is strange here--something in the blood and worse sloshing around his feet makes a grab at his ankle.

[TRIES TO STOMP IT]

He succeeds, but it screams in a very human voice, a man's voice, which cuts off in a wet gurgle. Whatever it is under his heel, it's still thrashing, and in the glow that is cast by Mr. Edgelord, he can see what looks very much like a human hand break the surface for a second.

[gonna try something--his puppeting magic]

HANDS UP.

[lifts hands into the air and seeing how far and how many his magic reaches, if any at all]

There are

so many

so many.

He can lift the one that was under him, the hand and the arm and the start of a man's head, but if he tries to reach further and deeper, there are thousands of them, all just under the surface of the blood, which seems to be far, far deeper than the path he is standing on indicates. Not all of them are necessarily human, either; there are more who appear to be beastial in shape, and when he reaches out, it's like the distance between him and then is ripped away. They're all screaming, a cacophony of voices all at once.

[drops the magic]

THIS IS SO DRAMATIC HAVE SOME SENSE OF SCALE RITZ

[stomping ahead!!!]

Behind him, Mr. Edgelord starts to laugh.

"Did you think my warnings were exaggerated? Hardly! After so many years, how many curses did you think would accumulate?"

SHE IS A TEENAGED GIRL

"She is."

Abruptly, the humor is gone out of his voice.

"And she is the only one who was left to take up the mantle that was intended to be spread out among many. Here is where her burdens have been brought to rest."

And all you lil' memories and bits and bobs can't pull yer weight around here?! Just go wow she sure is struggling and sit back and watch?

Ya oughta feel some sorta shame.

"You don't think we don't?" His voice is colder now, sharp through the screaming.

"What do you think, then, if we left a place like this alone? If it was allowed to fester, and to grow? Did you not feel the way it reached for you? It would consume everything in its path and grow until it consumed her in her entirety. Would that be preferable? Would you wish to see that fall?"

Tch. I guess it is locked away but I dunno, guess I thought ya could get rid of this kinda stuff at least a little.

"There is no way to root out the rot in its entirety, when she continues on this path," says Mr. Edgelord. "As long as she continues, she will accumulate these resentments, these curses--the stones 'round her neck. Her choices are twofold: to continue, and to gather these, or to stop, and be pulled down as one of their number."

Gotta be some way t'win....

"Victory is the only way to win," he says, very philosophically.

The ground under their feet is starting to slant upwards--gradually at first, and more steeply; somehow, though, the blood levels around his ankles don't seem to be going down.

"If she wishes to save her world, her only choice is to move forward. Would you ask her otherwise?"

Ain't for me t'even ask. Ugh....

[wish i had a broom to fly

fucked up]

"It is not for either of us to ask," he says. He sounds almost--almost--sympathetic, though the sound of his own footsteps is beginning to slow. "That choice is hers alone. So long as she continues to make it, this place will continue to exist."

And then he stops entirely.

"And here is where you must also make that choice. Do you continue on? Or do you give up, and return to safety, to wait out the rest of your time here?"

Palace Game 6/3

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

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Re: the delights of a human's heart

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Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart