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

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

—Sorry! Sorry, sorry...

[moving right along with a grimace]

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

As he moves on, it lets go of him, though that is not the last time something tries to make a grab for him. Sometimes it does feel like a hand reaching up, and sometimes it feels a bit more inhuman--teeth at one point, catching in his pantleg, a pinch like a crab's claws, and something that is probably a tentacle... they're all grabby here.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

[he pulls away and keeps on going each time even as he glances down, concerned, and after about the third or fourth time this happens:]

Hey... Do I need to be doing anything about these?

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

"You can try to calm them, if you like," he says. "They will return, but they can be appeased. It's best to cut them down... but if you are so certain that you are able to calm them, their fury and their fire--then by all means! Go ahead!"

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

Oh - okay!

[he brightens up a little and then then looks out for the next one he sees, stooping down next to it carefully.]

Hey there...

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

The face moves its mouth soundlessly; one voice rises above the others--a man's voice, screaming. He doesn't really sound like he's having a great time, unfortunately.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

Hey - you're not alone, I'm here. What do you need?

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

He(?) doesn't seem to hear the words, only clawing further at the air, like he(?) is trying to break free of the blood. But whether or not he has any empathic abilities, there is a sense: of hurt, and anger raging into fury, bewildered at how he's found himself in such a place.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

[he's careful as he does, but he reaches out to touch him.]

Hey...

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

The contact lets him see, for a fleeting moment--

A battlefield, a confused clash of a ragtag army that is somehow managing to overcome the might of the knights of the kingdom. In life, he had been a soldier, proud to serve his king, determined to do whatever was necessary to honor the glory of this city, with its walls of white chalk--

Only to be cut down by an interloper, a monster in human form. And as he falls, he sees, standing just behind his murderer, a young girl with red hair, watching him as the world goes dark.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

[gently:]

...I'm so sorry that happened to you.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

That voice wails again. It is fury, it is frustration, and it is the deep, almost childish confusion that he had done what he believed was right--he had followed a king chosen by god, who had been blessed with both a holy sword and a holy lance--so how? Why? Why would he fall, at the end of the line?

But it is, perhaps, slightly less frantic than before.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

I'm sorry.

[he repeats, concerned.]

But you can rest now. You don't have to hold onto this feeling.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

The wailing is slowing, slowing, fading into a pained sort of gurgle.

It is only one soul among so many, but it does appear to be calming.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

[he glances up towards the man who led him here.]

...Is there a way to do this for all of them?

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

The man glances at him briefly. His expression is mostly unchanged, but there is something like pity in his strange, strange eyes.

"You could preach for a thousand years, and not reach all of them," he says, somehow not unkindly. "And there are things that would not understand your words at all. You are a human, speaking to a human. There is more than that, in the dark."

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

[he takes a breath, before he nods.]

...Okay. Finding her is more important.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

"Indeed," he says. There is a long pause, and then he actually holds a hand out to Rupert, a silent offer of help for him to stand.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

[he reaches out to accept his hand.]

Thanks.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

The man's hand is surprisingly steady, though cold to the touch; there is a surprising sort of strength in his wiry frame.

"Have heart," he says. "We are almost through the worst of it."

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

It's not me I'm worried about.

[but he nods, continuing on.]

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

"You should." Again, the man's voice is not entirely unkind. "You are the one here, in the guts of Hell itself."

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

Yeah, but I'm not alone, and I'm not... like they are.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[fujimaru]

"And you cannot tear yourself apart for them. They are the dead; let them solve their own problems. You are among the living, for now. Turn your concerns to them."

Under their feet, the ground is beginning to slant up... but despite that, the level of liquid sloshing around his ankles does not appear to be going down.

Re: the delights of a human's heart

[heartlands]

I wouldn't call that tearing myself apart, but - I know. That's why I want to find her.

[he looks down at his feet with a frown.]