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 Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 9:59 pm
Kirki stepped towards the shrines to see if anything had changed in the time since he'd last visited. Immediately his eyes snapped to the empty pedestal and he walked towards it, curious how a statue could suddenly disappear. He read the plaque again, but this time words seemed to be missing.
He startled as there was suddenly a voice behind him and spun quickly to see the missing goddess with fog lapping at her legs. Her bright yellow glow seemed almost harsh to his eyes in comparison to the red glow of his own heart, and he was almost tempted to raise a hand to shield his vision. "Why would you give me a gift?" He asked, but put the key into the lock anyways. Far be it from him to refuse a present.
He peered into the empty bag and then quickly glanced back up. "There's nothing? Should there be something?" Maybe the bag was the gift.
But no, there'd been an error. Of course another task followed, and he took the scissors with a nod. "Heart. Got it." Everything comes down to the heart. Something about the last thing she said unsettled him, but he shook it off as much as he could.
They didn't quite make it.
He ducked into the small opening and tried to forget those words.
------------------------------------------------
The doors on the other side of the entrance were imposing. The seemed to bear down on him with the impressions they gave off, pressuring him this way or that. He gritted his teeth and turned towards the most malicious door with a determine set to his jaw.
He wanted to know what the worst of this world could bring.
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Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 11:31 pm
The sheer amount of silence on the other side of the door was deafening. Combined with the sudden darkness it was enough to almost make Kirki dizzy. The door slammed behind him so hard that it echoed through the room and made him jump.
Thud
Rikki
At first he thought it might just be the rush of his own anxiety in his ears - his own heart racing and his mind freaking out. It happened again though, just a short moment later as Rikki stood there and adjusted.
Thud
Rikki
The name followed on the coattails of the sound like an eerie calling. It was like they were trying to get his attention, but it wasn't his name they were calling. The sounds continued as he finally took his first steps forward, airplaning his arms out to try to keep balance as the room seemed to shift and move with him. He couldn't see much of anything beyond what the soft glow of his heart illuminated, but that seemed to be the perfect amount to keep him feeling off balanced.
Thud
For the first time since entering the room the thud did not come from an unknown source, but instead from his toe hitting something. Hard. He hissed and took a step back even as he reached forward to feel the obstacle he had hit. It was rectangular and wooden, and the more he felt around it the more certain he was that it was just a crate in his way. It seemed to block him from moving any further and as he slipped his hands over the top of it he realized it was open.
Thud
Rikki
Even more distressing than not being able to move on was that there was something in the crate. A piece of it was sticking out, outlined and dripping with something thick and heavy. The glow of his heart cast a gruesome light on it, and he wasn't not sure whether it's his own color making it seem red, or if the substance was really just that deeply crimson. He kind of hoped for the former.
The shape twitched a little and swayed with the slight momentum that gave it. It looked distressingly like an arm and that thought was almost too much to bear. In a panic his grabbed it with a talon-tight grip just to get it to stop swaying.
Everything went unbelievably silent.
There was no thump. There was no whisper of a name.
The silence was absolute. Terrifying.
He leaned over the box and reached further in, trying to reassure himself that it was not a person he'd just grabbed. All signs pointed to life, however, because the object under his hands was soft and firm in all the ways of a body. His throat constricted as his hands pressed against what felt like a shoulder and he pressed his lips tight together to keep from making a sound.
Thump-thump
It was such a relief to hear a noise that he almost didn't realize what it was.
Thump-thump
Oh. Oh it was a heart. It glowed a red like his own - pulsing back at him mockingly. This was what he was supposed to fill his bag with. Someone's actual heart.
He stared at it in horror.
Thump-thump
The heart didn't magically jump into his bag. It didn't fade, or offer up an alternative. It didn't give him any choice. What it did was thump steadily. It thumped and thumped and slowly got louder until all Kirki could hear was the unsettling rhythm of the heart he was going to have to remove with his own hands.
He lifted the scissors the goddess had given him with a shaky hand and slowly lowered them to the bottom of the glow of the heart. He took a deep breath and on the exhale put pressure on the scissors.
It took way more pressure than he ever wanted it to. He was actually straining against the scissors until the flesh under him finally gave with a horrible squelch that made something inside him flip dangerously.
The moment his scissors broke flesh the arm he'd gripped before suddenly launched into action. It grabbed at Kirki's upper arm and dug in it's claws as a pained screech pierced through the sound of the heart below.
"RIKKI!"
Terror made him shudder and dry heave over the side as he hung onto the crate and continued to push on the scissors. He needed the heart.
There are tears. He can feel them slide down his cheeks in hot wet paths that irritate and anger his skin. Someone's holding his hand and he looks up to see someone like an older version of himself. They squint their eyes at him in some version of a reassuring smile that he must have seen a million times.
"C'mon, Rikki. It's not that bad."
He panted as he pushed harder into the flesh. He could hear it tear with a sound like ripping fabric, but he was making progress. He could now start to move the scissors to make an opening big enough for the heart.
"But Tellervo," he hears himself say - he has a higher voice, younger - with desperation, "slendergarten is scary! I don't want to go."
Tellervo - the one who's holding his hand - laughs. "It's not that scary. I went to slendergarten at your age too!"
"No one's going to like me," he says, frowning. Tellervo just laughs again and tugs his hand, pulling him closer to the towering building in front of them
"Come on, scaredy-jack. You have to go to slendergarten to become a big scareling. Then everyone will like you."
The opening was big enough now that he could pull out the heart, but he could see that it was attached to pieces that were still pulsating along with the steady thump. He cut those parts away, hoping that he wasn't taking away parts that he needed, and dropped the scissors. He was so close.
He lets himself be tugged towards the building until their standing infront of the door. Then he digs in his heels and refuses to go further. "I don't want to go!"
Tellervo sighs and his smile drops a little, but when he crouches down to look him in the face his expression is still soft and fond. "I know you don't want to. Trust me, Rik, I know. But you've gotta. It's a part of growing up. You'll go to slendergarten, and you'll learn things, and then you'll be in first grade and you'll learn even more. Eventually you'll be old enough to go to a big school. Maybe even Amityville. And then Mom and Dad will be so proud of you."
He wipes at the tear tracks on his face with a chubby fist and feels some of the apprehension melt away. "They'll be proud?"
"Yeah, buddy. And I'll be proud too." Tellervo squeezes his hand gently and stands up. "You ready?"
He nods. "Yeah. Ready."
Kirki grabbed onto the heart with both hands and pulled with as much might as he could muster. Whatever his fingers displaced sloshed over the sides of the hole he'd created and slopped to the bottom of the crate, and he forced himself to ignore the sound. There was nothing but the resistance he was meeting trying to get the heart out.
With a snap, the resistance gave, and he had the heart in his hands.
The thumping stopped.
With shaking hands he slowly and carefully slid the heart into his bag. As it disappeared into the cover, so did the sounds and visions.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 6:40 pm
He walked quickly away from the crate as soon as he could, clutching the bag to him. The longer he walked, the less stable he felt, like the floor was slip sliding underneath him.
Actually, it was. he tried to stay calm and rational, and not run all the way down the all.
Sloosh.
Pat. Pat. Pat.
He jumped and spun around, but there was nothing in the darkness.
Shakily, he turned and continued down the hallway. As he moved further the wetness seemed to creep up, getting deeper and deeper. He shivers slightly as it chills his legs.
Sloosh.
"Please. Give it back."
He spun around again, but still there's nothing in the darkness. His eyes lingered on shadows longer this time, but in the end there was nothing to do but turn and continue walking.
The water continued to rise the further down the hallway he went until it was around his neck and he was shaking from how cold it is. He lifted his chin, tried to go further, but it was just too deep. He couldn't swim without knowing how far he had to go, so there was no choice but to turn back and look for another way.
"Please give me back my-"
He felt a huge hand grab him around the top of his head and his throat, and then he felt himself being pushed down into the water. He struggled and sputtered, trying to keep from swallowing any water but he felt huge mouthfuls going down his throat anyways. There was too much water to keep it from all going straight into his mouth.
He could feel everything around him getting colder and he felt like he was going deeper. He couldn't tell which way was up or down, or if he was even able to see anymore. Everything was black and felt like panic, and he he felt like he was getting tired. His struggles became slow, sluggish, and feeling anything became all but impossible. His pulse was loud in his ears as it slowed.
With the last of his energy he turned to look at the thing holding him down and was met with eyes so empty and glassy there was no way they could be alive.
"Give me back my heart."
It's quite in the house. His parents have left for another business meeting and it's just him and Tellervo for a night. Maybe two. He sits in Tellervo's room on a rickety old chair and swings his legs back and forth.
"I wish they weren't gone so much," he says. His voice is plaintive, but resigned. He knows this is a pattern that has no end.
"They've got job, Rik. You'll probably be just like them one day." Tellervo is on his own bed, bent over two huge text books and a spiral notebook, taking endless notes for a class of transfiguration or something.
He hums noncommittally and picks up the wooden bear statue on the desk. Tellervo's had it so long that the entire family just refers to it as Otso, a figure of the bear from their stories. He gouges a chip into the paw with his nail, thinking.
"I don't want to be like them," he decides.
More time must have passed than he realized, because Tellervo raises a brow. "What?"
"I don't want to be like mom and dad. I want to be home with my kids, and I want to have a normal life with them," he responds, shrugging. It sounds ridiculous now that he says it out loud. But Tellervo just nods.
"Then do that, Rikki. Make that who you are, and I'll be there to support you. Always."
He looks up, and there's not an ounce of amusement in Tellervo's expression. He's totally serious. That... that gives him hope, for his future. He won't be a parent that isn't there. He doesn't HAVE to be his parents. He can do what he wants, and have his brother's support.
"Okay." He smiles."
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 6:49 pm
The memory faded and he was left with nothing but the water and the dead eyes watching him. He had no choice. There was no alternative.
With as much strength as he could muster he lifted the scissors and plunged them right into those eyes, no longer wanting to look into them. There was an ear-piercing screech and Rikki had a moment to wonder how something could be so horrifically loud under water before everything was just-
gone. All of it. The water, the creature, the eyes. It was all gone. He fell to the floor and wretched up water until it faded into coughs and he could barely feel anything beyond the horrible roughness in his throat. Through watery, sore eyes he could see light fade in and there... the door was back.
He stumbled upright and through the light, trying not to think about the figure he saw standing in the distance, watching.
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:03 pm
Kirki entered the shrine and his gaze snapped to the goddess caressing her blade. It was meant to be an intimidating move - and it was, there's not way a sharp and wicked weapon wouldn't be intimidating - but he was more and more sure as time passed that he was needed. So he didn't sweat it too much.
"You cannot escape forever."
But who was running? Before he could ask, she continued. "You must face your Fears. Eat or be eaten. That is the way of it here. Were it another time... I wonder which one you would be?I wonder indeed. Perhaps we shall solve this little mystery? Take this." His eyes tracked her as she circled him. The more she talked, they less he knew what she was saying, but it seemed like something important. She dropped a small but intricate dagger into his palm, and he played with the little claw at the end for a moment before looking back up at her.
"That should be more than enough. You will need to learn to fend for yourself, to take on your challenges and judge for yourself what it means to sacrifice. That is the only way you will become stronger, else you'll fall prey to someone greater still." The blade in his hand began to rust and rot as she spoke, and he almost opened his hand to let it drop out of his palm. But all of this seemed to be about facing his fears, so instead he held on tighter. Becoming stronger would help him fight the creatures.
She gestured with her scythe and told him to leave, so he turned and went.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He woke up shivering. Which seemed weird on way too many levels to make sense. He couldn't remember falling asleep - the goddess was the last thing in his mind - but here he was waking up on something... uncomfortable. Really, really uncomfortable.
He sat up slowly and turned to examine it, only to find he'd been sleeping on a hard metal table. No wonder he'd been cold. When he turned to examine the rest of the room he had to blink hard against the harshness of the light. They hummed with energy, probably because they were so bright, and it rang in his ears with an annoying sort of pain. The room was simple, and somehow that was aggravating as well.
He moved around the room on unsteady, clumsy legs and managed to reach a door. When he tried the handle, it was unlocked, and it appeared to be the only exit in the room, so he stepped through it.
The hallway beyond the room was no less offensive to his senses.
He took two steps forward, and something slammed behind him. When he turned, he found the door has closed of it's own accord.
Creeptastic.
He frowned and opened it again, but there was nothing in the room, and no reason to explain why it had closed. He hummed a soft sound of confusion, but left the door and turned to walk down the hallway again. It extended forever, it seemed, and Kirki had no idea how long he walked before he saw some sort of exit in the distance.
It was the oasis at the end up the desert for him, because he could not handle being in this hallway for any longer.
He started to move a little faster.
Thud.
He turned around quickly as the noise startled him, but the door was open and there was no one around. Somehow it niggled him as familiar but he turned around again.
Thud.
He turned around again, and this time there was a figure. It began running at him, footsteps heavy and something in their hands screeching loudly. He realized, after a moment, they they had scissors.
He took a sharp breath and then turned and ran.
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DarkHeartedSorrow rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:06 pm
45 Feet
***
He pumped his arms and legs, moving as fast as he could on his wobbly and weak limbs. As he turned to look over his shoulder, his vision blurred.
They're at a dinner. His tie is too tight, too constricting, but he's been told at least three times not to mess with it. He wants nothing more than to go home and get out of this stuffy suit, but he can't.
His parents are talking to some important businessmen - all demons - but his brother is next to him picking at a salad.
"Tell, I want to go home," he murmurs out of the side of his mouth.
Tellervo glances up but shakes his head. He can't do anything about it, and he knows that, really, but he just can't sit here any longer.
"Please do something," he whispers, near tears. He's so bored, so uncomfortable. The chairs are stiff and his feet don't touch the ground yet and he feels like he's been sitting here for hours.
Tellervo watches him for a long moment, and then gives a miniscule nod. He turns to their parents and groans loudly. "I don't feel so good. I think I'm going to be sick."
His parents are skeptical, but Tell lays it on thick. In the end they leave quickly and he can finally take off the stupid tie. As they walk out of the restaurant he reaches up to grab Tellervo's hand, feeling more grateful than he can ever remember.
Kirki stumbled as the memory ended, choking on air as he realized that the figure from the vision was the same as the one chasing him. He turned and pushed himself harder to get away.
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DarkHeartedSorrow rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:19 pm
40 feet
***
He nearly tripped over his feet, and out of a stroke of luck was able to keep from falling flat on his face. Desperate, he stopped at one of the doors he passed and slammed against it bodily. No matter how much he jiggled the handle, or beat it with his fists, it didn't open, however.
"You can't even open a jacking door," The black figure hisses from down the hall. "You're such a failure. How did you even make it to school?" He hissed. "You couldn't make our parents happy, and you couldn't find me. Why should anything go your way?"
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DarkHeartedSorrow rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:21 pm
35
He turned and ran for another door, kicking and hitting as it failed to open like the last. He whimpered in fear as he stared at the wood that wouldn't budge. Down the hall, the figure was still hissing things that made no sense to him. He couldn't remember any of this, so why could the figure?
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DarkHeartedSorrow rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:23 pm
30
He bent his head to lean it on the door, almost ready to give up, but when he did he saw a piece of paper. It was sticky and red, a fact that he didn't want to examine too closely, but it said something on it.
A C E G.
Was... was that a message from the thing getting steadily closer? Was that why there was so much blood? His heart raced and he turned again to run. He didn't want to end up like whatever had bled out all over the note.
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DarkHeartedSorrow rolled 1 4-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-4)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:24 pm
25
Not long after he'd found the first paper, a second one surfaced. Written on it was A=0, B=1, C=2. Was that... a code? He put the two pieces together, quickly counted, and smacked the number 0, 2, 4, 5 into the number pad by a door with shaky fingers.
With a soft woosh the door slid open and he was able to escape.
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DarkHeartedSorrow rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:25 pm
The door led him outside. He took great big lungfuls of the less sterile air and ran among the trees until he was sure the figure couldn't see him anymore. When he paused and looked back, though, it was right there.
He cried out in disbelief and set off again.
As the trees thinned he could see a bridge, and though he was hesitant to be without the cover of foliage again, there was no way he could turn back. He dashed across it, listening as the footsteps and the snipping of the scissors seemed to get closer. A strong breeze blew and the rickety bridge swayed, causing him to stumble. As he did, claws dug into his shoulders and he cried out.
With the energy anxiety was able to give him, he put on a burst of speed and managed to get away.
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DarkHeartedSorrow rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:26 pm
The pounding of his feet on the ground and the thud thud thud of the figure chasing behind him is all that filled Kirki's ears. There was nothing beyond the terror of being caught and they way his lungs expanded desperately for air. He slowed as he came to a dead in, looking around frantically, but there was no where to go unless he trapped himself in the haunted house.
That seemed like a horrible option.
He turned and stared down the figure.
Now or never.
He lifted his dagger, and repeated that to himself over and over. Now or never, now or never, now or never.
It came so close he could hear every scrape of it's feet on the ground, and he prepared to strike. But it was lightning fast. The figure's scissors pierced through his chest and all he could do was sag in shock. The figure leaned close
"Don't worry. It only hurts once."
There were two snips, and searing pain, and then nothing. The figure - Tellervo stepped away with rusted scissors in one hand, and a red, glowing, beating heart.
His heart.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 11:26 am
Weird things had been happening every time he went to the shrine. He knew they were - he could still remember the feeling of his heart being ripped from his chest, even if he couldn't remember anything else. So when he walked in and saw the third goddess, he was beyond wary. He watched her carefully as he approached and she spoke.
His expression tightened and he shook his head to the offer of cookies. The resulting smile was further off putting.
Love? He didn't know how to respond to that without offending her. "I- I d-" But she talked over him and he was saved from needing to reply.
"Oh, I know! I have a great idea. How about experiencing what love feels like? Love, joy, happiness, despair, hatred, they are all important emotions! We can make the most beautiful tea party together."
"Tea.... party?"
***
There was music. Well, music seemed like a loose usage of the word. It was soft noises that he couldn't make out individually. It all came together to give him a strange nostalgic feeling.
As he walked white began to fall from the sky, drifting like the fog but.. different. It seemed more solid, and soft as he touched it. Soon, his feet crunched against it on the ground as he walked, like he was stepping across pillows of the substance. He liked it a bit better than the fog.
In front of him a table sat. The jars were fairly nondescript, just one pink and one blue, but they gave off entirely different feelings. Without much thought he took the happier, pink jar and downed it. He was tired of the negative - he'd drink a girly pink drink before reaching for the more negative one any day.
It seemed like as the drink his his stomach, warmth radiated upwards. His gave him a giddy and happy feeling that had a smile curling across his face. It was a beautiful kind of emotion.
Feeling good, he decided to pick up the cake as it appeared on the table. The taste on his tongue was rich and overwhelmingly delicious. The sheer power of the euphoria it caused made him dizzy. Reaching out blindly he picked up a glittery, colorful cup of tea to wash it down and ground him a little.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 11:36 am
Rikki stared at the teapot with a pleased smile on his face. He just felt... good. Something shifted, and he stumbled off balance for a second before he righted himself. When he did, his vision blurred. He was sitting on a couch in his dorm, staring up at the TV blankly. There was some movie playing like there always was, but he was too comfortable and content to really pay attention to it. Wrapped up in his arms was a demoness with ORANGE. hair and a flaming tail.
Danny.
He felt his face stretch into a grin as she let out a loud snore. They had eaten an entire box of pizza together, and even he was feeling like falling into a food coma. Gently, he ran his fingers through her hair and she mumbled quietly and turned over his arms. It was impossible for him not to feel so much love and adoration for his ghoulfriend as she laid in his arms this way, open and trusting. They'd been together for a while, but he would always been shocked by the sheer force of his love for her.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead and sat back to enjoy the peace. DannyHis heart gave a heavy beat of panic. Where was Danny? 1. Shiohlu2. Scree3. ReDawn
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 1:53 pm
Tea Guest Log Colour of Tea Tasted: Gold Description: A movie playing in the background. A girl? Quiet peaceful and loving. Your commentary on its flavour: The memory is short, but that doesn't mean she can't taste the sweet love embedded into the tea. She breathes out, satisfied. It's moments like these that should be treasured; that's what Daaiji thinks. The girl's name echoes in her head and she hums curiously. Does she really mean that much to the owner? She smiles fondly. Such a nice tea.
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