fujimaru | Palace Game 6/3

[he turns back towards the smell on instinct, trying to see if he can glimpse anyone.]

If that's the case... Where am I now?

It's not hard to miss the man behind him. Even without the lit cigarette in his mouth, there's a faint electric glow around him, the air crackling faintly with the intensity of it.

"You're among the last curses of the dead," he says. "That which can breath, and grow, and change. Perhaps that is life in its own way! It certainly can be cut down in a similar fashion."

Curses...

[he frowns a little as he says that, before continuing.]

Do you know what I'm supposed to do here? I'm pretty good at, uh - uncursing things. If that's the objective.

"You cannot." He blows a plume of smoke, but his tone is flat, unyielding. "Until the day she stops her own efforts, these will never stop accumulating. You can purify the area all you like; they will only come again. That is what it means, to descend into the pits of Hell! It will never entirely leave you, no matter how far you run, no matter whose blessings you might beg for!"

His voice intensifies, in volume and speed, until he is outright shouting by the end of it, pacing forward.

[sighs.]

Yes, your very dramatic monologue is understood. What do you mean by her own efforts?

He stops short at that, cocking his eye. This close, it's easier to see now that his pupils are cross-shaped, so you know, even his design is Extra. The unfortunate thing about edgelords is that they never seem to notice when you call them out.

"Exactly as I said. So long as she continues on the path forward, she will never be free of this. Her choices are twofold: to continue struggling on, and bear the resentments of those who fall before her, or to give up, and become one of their number for someone else!"

Cool.

[deadpan.]

She's not a bad person, though. She's really strong and caring, and she works hard for her friends. So the whole ohhhhh, she descended into the pits of hell, oh nooooo schtick is pretty off base. If she's fighting people, she has a good reason for it.

He cocks his head, those strange eyes bright and somehow amused before he begins to walk. Rupert can follow or not as he sees fit.

"And do you think that only the worst of people may find Hell? One only need be in the wrong place at the wrong time to find themselves on such a path. Even the best of intentions may lead you astray."

[he follows after him with a frown.]

You don't think you're being just a little unfair to her?

"I return that question to you!" He sounds like he's laughing. "Is it unfair to think that simply, as a good person, only good will come to her? The world hardly cares to coddle a kind person! Will a good person never sully their hands, or be drawn into the worst, simply because they are good? It is hardly ever so easy as that!"

What are you trying to accomplish, here, exactly?

"Here? In this place? I am but a traveler, the same as you! A human like yourself would sooner drown and be dragged into the depths, another curse upon a thousand others, sooner than find your proper way! And if you've such fondness for my accomplice, I assume you would rather not add your death upon all the others."

He laughs again, a ringing sound, in a place that seems to have no walls or proper ceiling. There are things, in the distance, moving around wetly and slowly, that go still at the sound.

So, you're... here to help me find the way...?

"Do you wish to die?"

It sounds like a sincere question, rather than a threat, for all that he still sounds a little too overly eager about the idea.

"If you do, I will gladly leave you to your own fate! But with your argument, I suspected that you might not wish that--so I will guide you! It is as simple as that."

Yeah, no, can't say it's at the top of my to do list right now. So... Where are we going?

"To the end of the line."

Whatever that means, which he does not appear to be interested in elaborating. But he is looking around like he expects to see something out there, in the bloody-smelling darkness.

...Okay! Are we just waiting for it to appear, then...?

"Patience," he says. "One cannot cross five years in the span of minutes. Unless you wish to make it a battle? There are beasts in the dark that you will regret laying eyes upon."

He glances at Rupert, sidelong. "Though it would be faster."

...So we're going to be here for five years if I don't fight anything?

He laughs at that, putting a hand to his face. "Hardly! These curses devour each other and grow stronger, and hungrier, and worse! But they can be crossed in less time than they have taken to accumulate. Fear not! Have heart! Persistence is the way through!"

Yeah, don't worry, I have a lot of that. Just - tell me when I need to do something.

"Watch," he says, as his pace picks up. The blood around them is bubbling, barely visible in the light he casts around him. "And do not turn your eyes away. Whatever you might see, do not avert your eyes."

[he nods, silent, as he walks faster to match his pace.]

As they walk, he will hear things in the darkness, in the silence from Mr. Edgelord. They're voices--not whispers, exactly, but things that might have been shouts or loud exclamations if they were somehow closer; it's like hearing a fight from some distance away.

At some point, something does make a grab at his ankle.

Whoa—

[he kicks at it instinctively, looking down to see what it is.]

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

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