Palace Game 6/3

[fujimaru]

The Dreamer In The Grand Temple
Humanity Foundation Value: ????

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Comments

[cultfavorite]

[Oh . . . this place is cute . . . his expression slips into a little smile, and he heads over to the bed first (shut up), to take a look at what's on the shelf. First he gathers up the pieces of the bingo card to try and fit them together.]

[fujimaru]

Wow, Saturn, who would have guessed you'd go there first,

The card is pretty shredded up! Or at least parts of it are; it's like someone tore it into four quarters, and then two of those quarters into smaller pieces. Maybe she got tired of doing that partway, mysteriously.

[cultfavorite]

[LISTEN.

He sits down on the bed to try and piece it together, unless it's completely impossible. It's a puzzle! He just wants to see it whole! Crobat loafs next to him on the bed, making a nest on a pillow.]

[fujimaru]

He can piece most of it together, if he's patient! It's just her bingo card in its entirety, though the more completely he puts it together, the more it brings with it a sense of confusion that teeters between unease and hope.

[cultfavorite]

[He never got to see it, okay! Unfortunately(?) he is the type of person who will in fact sit on the bed and do this, and once it's intact or as intact as it can get, he just leaves it there carefully on the bed.

Then he picks up the Sun card to investigate it.]

[fujimaru]

When he picks up the card, it is this memory he sees, not the one that she had given him, when they were playing the game. (Not the rest of the discussion around it, though; just the memory itself.)

[cultfavorite]

[He knew this was going to be a memory. He knows what these cards do! Ah . . . he doesn't know this one. It's a sweet memory. He sits holding the card for a while, just looking down at it, and then sets it on the pillow next to Crobat.

Next is the, uh, tentacle? What is this doing on a shelf by the bed. Ritsuka, what is this doing on a shelf by th]

[fujimaru]

IT'S NOT WHAT HE THINKS,

For one thing, when he touches the tentacle, it immediately wraps itself tightly around his wrist, with enough pressure to actually hurt, like it's trying to keep him from lifting it off the shelf.

[cultfavorite]

[Oh he's used to this, though Hinatsu doesn't usually squeeze this hard,

Nearly automatically, with just the barest thought going into it, he reacts the same way he would in that situation: he brings his other hand up to give the tentacle a little flick with his nail.]

No. Bad.

[fujimaru]

Yeah this one is definitely doing its best to pull his hand straight off. It recoils a little at the flick, a second before he feels a sharper stabbing pain.

Tentacles don't have teeth, but this one apparently has some sharp bits.

[cultfavorite]

Ahhh—

[He, he sways forward suddenly to bite it back, grimacing, and he is avoiding biting any eyes and isn't trying to rip a chunk out of it or anything with his teeth but! Chomp!]

[fujimaru]

Oh my god, Saturn,

It tastes awful, for one thing, like putrid meat and bitter dust, but it does let go, recoiling back... and as it does, he can see that there is the glitter of something gold underneath the base of those tentacles. Hm.

[cultfavorite]

Augh. What the . . .

[He reaches for it. By now, Crobat is sitting up attentively, glaring daggers at the tentacles. Saturn mlem mlem mlems at that mess, ewww.]

[fujimaru]

That's what you GET for BITING THE EYEBALL TENTACLE, SATURN POKEMON. A bad taste and a bleeding wrist!

The tentacle coils around the gold flash again, the gesture apparently protective. All of those little red eyes are glaring right at him.

[cultfavorite]

You started that. I only retaliated in kind.

[This time he reaches out to try and pet the tentacle with one finger, gentle.]

[fujimaru]

It bristles under the contact, but then slowly, slowly, starts to relax. It has no mouths (though it managed to bite, somehow? who knows how?) but slowly begins to uncoil. Not entirely; he won't be able to simply grab the thing he can see, but at least this seems to be a better course of action.

[cultfavorite]

[SIGH. He scritches at it, leaning on the head of the bed, chin on his draped arm.]

I'm sorry. What are you doing here? Protecting that? You hardly match the rest of the decor.

[fujimaru]

Some of those eyes blink for him, then it uncoils a little further. At this point, now, he can see that the thing it is guarding is a gold ring of some sort.

[cultfavorite]

You are guarding that . . . may I see it? Do you want to come along with me? I could carry you.

[Soothingly, while still petting with his finger, very similar to how someone might give a bird scritches.]

[fujimaru]

It rustles, then slowly unfurls under the petting the whole way. Now, maybe, if he's very fast, he can make a grab for the ring.

[cultfavorite]

[Oh no, first he leans in to kiss it gently on its little tentacle body, avoiding any eyeballs again because uhhhh. But as he does this, he does make a grab for the ring.]

[fujimaru]

This time, it does make an offended noise, somehow, but it does not actually fight him when he grabs the ring. Once it's in his hand, it subsides back, going still in the same position as when he'd first entered the room.

The ring itself is heavy, solid gold, and he can feel that it is buzzing with some sort of ambient energy--less muted than what he felt in the first room, but something that is stronger, sharper, more immediately present. It is the same aura as being in the presence of the Beast, though somewhat muted.

[cultfavorite]

[Saturn looks the ring over with a curious little frown, then slips it onto his right ring finger, and then he reaches up to pet the tentacle again a few times. Thank you.

Is the dokkaebi the last thing on the shelf? He has to pick that up too.]

[fujimaru]

This one doesn't appear to have any memories or anything like that attached to it--there's just a sense of curiosity and tentative interest. It's something that leaves a warmly fond feeling in its wake, though there is, just at the edges of awareness, a sense of the same loneliness he'd gotten from her during that game.

[cultfavorite]

[He kisses this too. Crobat rolls her eyes behind his back. Then he gets to his feet, skimming over that shelf to make sure nothing else is on it, and hovering his hand over the tentacle as he considers taking it with him, but if it's gone completely dormant again, he won't.]