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imeeji_frontstage2022-08-07 12:02 pm
rosetograce) wrote in imeeji_frontstage2022-08-07 12:02 pm
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…? ]
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…? ]
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
...and there is much work to be done, and few hands to do it. Therefore, this one must ask for the help of your fellows again, that your triumph over the Enemy's designs may be repeated intentionally. This one can only sustain a small portion of the garden, but—if we are successful, perhaps there may yet be a miracle.
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
[ And is it really a good thing? She's suspicious. ]
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
[ there's a brief moment of extra solemnity across her face. ]
...well. There's no changing that now. But if the True Heaven is to have any chance of returning...
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
No, not my heaven. The one this one knew... is in the past.
This one was once afflicted—had lost hope entire, like many of my siblings. There are so few who are able. If the old rites work as meant... this one may, finally, be able to help you.
It will be difficult. This, this one regrets. But, here.
[ she plucks a fruit from the tree, carefully; it is perfectly ripe, and smells delicious. ]
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
...but then, you, Beloved Daughter of the Most High—you have been touched by Hell, have you not? But if you consider yourself chained—this one would see all those beloved children who wish it free of bondage.
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
[ this seems too good to be true. Is this all just another one of the production's ruses? ]
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
...and someday, creation may yet still have the love it deserves.
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
[ Because that sounds exactly like what she's saying. ]
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
If this lost soul can rise anew, as this one has... there may yet be hope. But this one... unfortunately, cannot do it alone.
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
...
And also this one is a terrible liar and cannot offer much. This one is very sorry, for... the love this one carries still, is only worth this much, even for one of this one's siblings.
[ she gestures to the clearing—the vibrant growing flowers, the flourishing tree, the crisp air—and how far it stretches. just a stone's throw. ]
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
This one is... only beginning to understand what "choice" means, to act outside the will of the Creator.
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
How exactly are you intercepting all of this? Is hell aware that we've been whisked away?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
This one may only transport the spirit, not the flesh. To remove you from their control is beyond this one's power. Would that this one could.
Re: EXPLORE THE COURTYARD?
So what's going on with our physical bodies right now? Are we all just passed out somewhere?