imeeji_frontstage | Flowers of Heaven II: Star of Bethlehem

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Flowers of Heaven II: Star of Bethlehem

Who: lost(?) idols
Where: ???? a mysterious courtyard
When: day 490

[ You awaken to the feeling of cool stone at your back, and a night sky overhead.

All around is a courtyard—a wide circle of marble tile, alternating black and white, interspersed with stone benches and flowerbeds and ornamental trees, all lit by the lambent gleam of strangely vivid starlight.

It is beautiful. And it is decaying. The stone is cracked; the flowers wild and overflowing between the cracked stone; the trees bent and twisted with age, the ground around them littered with fallen fruit. There is a fountain in the center of this space, but it too is broken-down: the water sits stagnant, and nothing remains of the design except a basin and the shattered base of a once-golden sculpture.

—And surrounding it all are not walls, but dense mounds of kudzu, climbing over itself until it towers as high as any watchtower.

How did you get here?
The last thing you vaguely recall is a sudden fit of drowsiness. There’s no sign of any guide or host around, and your powers don’t currently work either. In fact, if you have any corruptions, whether mental or physical, they too are … gone? No, perhaps that's not quite it; you can still feel them—faint, like a phantom limb. Invisible, and unable to affect you.
But there is one notable exception to the rule: all wings, corruption-induced or not, remain in place, as natural as the starlight.

There are other idols around you, all waking up the same way. Is this meant to be some kind of game…? ]

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[ It's not just the taste; the apple in your hand collapses into a wet mass of tarry sludge.

Hooray!

But don't worry, there are plenty of other apples. :)
They're also overripe-looking, though. :))) ]

[ ...sobs. he's going to shake out his hand in an attempt to get the icky sludge off and then pick himself up off the floor. so much for that. ]

[ it's time for another bad idea... he's grabbing alizarin and heading over to the fountain. does it look like this thing can be moved, because they're going to attempt to see if they can move it. it's got to have stopped working for a reason. ]

[ the fountain seems as if it's set into the ground, and furthermore made of solid stone; it doesn't seem as if it can be moved. it fits into the design of the courtyard such that, ostensibly, this place was all built with a plan, and a purpose, just... abandoned partway through. ]

Looks like we're out of luck with the fountain. At least the getting under it idea.

[ There is at least... some kind of writing on the fountain, but so far it resists comprehension; the more you try to resolve the symbols in your mind, the more your vision blurs.

The water—actually, is it water? It gleams in the starlight, but is barely reflective besides; instead, it's almost tarry. ]

[ blink, the symbols reminding him of the abyssal language, but only marginally... since obviously he can read that and he can't read this. he doesn't look at it for long and instead focuses on the strange liquid inside the fountain, dipping a hand inside and stirring it up. ] It's strange to think that even this has spoiled...

[ does anything happen if he smears the tar water onto the symbols? ]

[ well, first of all—you touch your fingers to the surface, and you ache.

Does any of it matter? Did any of this ever matter? Pointless, purposeless, broken and faithless and empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty empty em̸p҉ty ̕empty͝ e͕̼̲̩̣͢m̛͙̯p҉͇̲̬̖t̶͎͈̯̣y҉̮͍ e̻̞͍͈ͅm̛̲͎̹̰̫ͅp͓̖̦̖̙̤̗t̡̙͇̗͍y̨̻͈͙͈͈͍̤ ͉͓̰͔͎̕e̦̮̟̲͜m̟̞͠p̱͎͚̗̤t͕̲̫̙̀y͕̮̰͉͡ ̨̞̭e̙͎̪̠͕̩͇̞ͯ͊̌̓ͥ̍͆͆̌m̵̽͂̅͏̖͚͖̬̟̜p͐̈́ͬ҉͏̗̱̪̩̹t́ͯͦ̂̓͛͏̧̥̬̬̖͞ý̵̛͉̦̹̭̙̾ ̼͇͍̟̣̜̻̤́ͩ̔ͦ̾e̷̳͖̓ͩ͋̚͟m͊ͩͤ͛̾͢͞҉̜p̍̍͏̰̗̞̙̮͘t̨̲̮͖̩̪̣̬͈ͧ̽̂͛̀y̧̩̗̥̯̞͎ͬ̈́ ̶̧͎͓̯̂̒͐̓̒ͧͪe̡̧̯̺̣̲͉̯̞̳͊ͪ̄ͮm̻̘̺̤̞̰̳̮ͩ̄͊͒͛͐͋p͉̰̯̳̬̭̦̗̓ͦ̀ͦ̓ͩͭ̊t͇ͥ͂̀͛y̡̹̭͎̋̉ͬ̉ͤ̾ ̷̲̠͍ͪͣ͒͗ͦ̽͒̚ ... ]

[ …oh. oh. his lip quirks subtly at its corner and he huffs a laugh, one that may be a result of the pain, but there’s definitely something else there. he doesn’t exactly remove his hand, instead, attempting to splash the stuff onto the symbols. ]

[ it's not painful—just dull and energy-sapping. it comes with a kind of feeling of listlessness.

splashing the stuff onto the symbols doesn't seem to do anything, though—just splatters black across stone and tile, and makes his arm feel heavy and numb and his mind a little foggy. ]

[ childe takes his hand back and shakes it clean of the strange water, hoping that the feeling goes with it. he braces himself on the edge of the fountain with his other arm, shutting his eyes and giving a sigh as that turned on real result. ] ...hm.

[ cracks his eye open a moment later, glancing over it for anything else that he might be able to go off of. ]

[ it sloughs off in great glops, although some residue still sticks, leaving his hand a little ashy-looking but alleviating most of the feeling of slowness and heaviness, but leaving a lingering sense of doubt and emptiness.

casting around for anything else of note, though, leads his eyes to the central pedestal of the fountain; whatever the sculpture once was is impossible to say, but from some angles it looks like it could be the base of a person—from others, it just looks like alien geometry. Weird. ]

...disgusting. [ but unfortunately kind of... familiar. he gets up, a bit sluggishly, but eventually he manages to peel himself off the side of the fountain and make his way toward the central pedestal. he quirks his head this way and that way... eventually reaching down to press his hand to it. or see if there's a portion of it that can be fiddled with. ]

[ there doesn't seem to be a portion of it that can be fiddled with—

rather, it doesn't entirely seem to be there at all. perhaps representing something that used to be there. ]

[ ...the garden had been looking kind of... dead, so he seriously doubts that he's going to find the missing piece, but he's not doing anything else and he may as well take a walk to clear his head. maybe he'll find it. ]

[ time to poke around the garden for the missing piece, whatever it is, ...is there anything that sticks out to a particularly keen eye? ]

[ well, there's a number of archways overgrown with kudzu vines—so thick it would be hard to get through them. but there are two that seem to have been cleared out—one, leading to a set of stone stairs; the other, which leads to a path curiously overgrown with moss and wildflowers. ]

[ he heads towards the two paths... inclining his head to look at them both, but ultimately opting for the overgrown path, mostly because it looks a bit more dangerous. and mysterious! and that's a bit too hard to resist. ]

[ MYSTERY! EXCITEMENT!

heading to the overgrown path, the air feels—livelier, fresher, cleaner. it lacks the stale kind of feeling that the rest of the outer courtyard has; the growth is new and vibrant, and the moss and grasses are soft underfoot.

it looks like the path leads out into a clearing or courtyard, up ahead; there's a growing tree, surrounded by flowers, and on its branches hang a few golden fruits. ]

[ this comes as a bit of a surprise. he looks a little... stunned, especially given everything he's encountered thus far, so he's immediately on edge. he cautiously moves forward, looking around until his eyes eventually land on the tree. ]

[ he approaches, looking down at the flowers, but eventually looking up to those stupid tempting fruits. he's already put enough stupid shit in his mouth for one afternoon. ]

[ is the fruit bearing tree surrounded by flowers the only thing that's here? ...and what happens if he just tries to climb the tree? ]

[ it's a perfectly sturdy tree—even though it's on the younger side, and not terribly tall, it looks like it would bear his weight just fine. though— ]

[ there's in fact someone else in this clearing. she looks like a person, glancing up at him from inspecting the flowers, but two large, white, feathered wings extend from her back. ]

—you're here!

[ goes rigid... for about half a second, because he can't believe he didn't initially see her, but then he's relaxing and giving her a warm smile, even going as far as to chuckle. ]

I... sure am. [ he turns away from the tree, abandoning his idea to climb it, instead approaching her. ] Do you mind telling me where here is? I'm Caeli, by the way, it's a pleasure, Miss... [ trails off, leaving her to fill in the blank. ]

For my gratefulness to you—not in the specific, of course! But to you and your forebears, blessings, for by your generosity and sacrifices this one has been saved.

Truth be told, this one wasn't sure if it would still work, things being as they are.

... [ uhm, what. ]

I am going to assume you're referring to the state of this place... and, yeah, it's... not looking so hot. I imagine it's going to take some time to turn things around here.

I'm glad though, that you've been saved, ...

And since you're referring to yourself as 'this one' am I to also assume that you don't know your name or have I simply not been charming enough to get it from you?

[ a laugh as he looks down at the flowers she had been inspecting - which flowers had they been? ] Is this where you intend to stay? [ he looks back to her, holding out his hand. ] Or have you another place in mind?

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