Riful's Heart.

[dramatispersonae]

[everything goes away.]

[sight, sound, taste, touch, smell - you lose yourself to the nothing that waits through the doorway. do you have a body? a mind? what is such a thing? for a dizzying moment, you might not even be sure you have a "you" to identify these concepts with.]

[then, wrenching and violent, the confusion of the senses pummels itself back inside you like seasoning pounded into raw meat, and you're left, painfully sensate, on an open plain.]

Comments

[amivoringyou]

[this is not a space conducive to precisely locating any noises at all, but some of them seemed to be coming from the pocket on your right when you came in ... and other noises, from further inside.]

[oh_brother]

[to the pocket on the right then, and inside probably]

[amivoringyou]

[there is a small yappy dog with a tuft of hair that's oddly pineapple-looking sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by bloodstains, making noises as it chews through its own leg.]

[along a side wall is a dented and scraped medical cabinet, looking fully stocked despite how all its drawers are broken, and the hinges of its glass doors have bent and broken, leaving the doors at an angle.]

[oh_brother]

[....... that's a familiar-looking hairtuft. he takes a step towards it, then hesitates. going for the medcabinet first.]

-- hold on. I'll help you, I promise.

[amivoringyou]

[the dog does not look in the slightest bit worried about the fact that it's eating itself, really.]

[in fact, the minute you walk past it, it stops biting its leg and starts trotting after you, limping and going "yip!" every few steps.]

[now that it's not contorting itself over its leg, you can see a snakelike curl of fur around the left side of its face that might resemble a certain other teammate of yours as well ...]

[oh_brother]

Just sit still while I get you some bandages. You must be hurting terribly.

[what do I have for medical supplies]

[amivoringyou]

[everything you'd have in a cabinet at the clinic, you've got in this one '-']

[the dog, meanwhile, starts to cheerfully chew on your ankles.]

[oh_brother]

[-- jerks his ankle back if he can]

Sit! Over there!

[amivoringyou]

[the puppy looks at you, and ... pees, territorially, on your leg instead.]

Aroo?

[oh_brother]

[SIGHS. leans down and tries to bandage the damn thing >(]

Thank you for that.

[amivoringyou]

[it licks your hand and wiggles its butt '-' oh no compliments happy puppy is happy '-']

[then it bites your hand in gratitude]

[oh_brother]

[sfl;a jerks his hand back too]

I hope you feel better.

[and I am going to stuff some supplies in my pocket and go back to that pool to wash off]

[amivoringyou]

[it follows you, because you're Ruby '-']

[you might notice that the blood washing off your hand, against the light of the pool, is the same color as the liquid on the pool's surface already.]

[oh_brother]

[... mmmmaybe I don't want to wash off in that pool after all :( well shit. he walks towards that other opening instead, glancing back at the dog as he does so.]

I don't uppose you'd stay if I told you to, would you?

[amivoringyou]

Yip!

[... that's a no '-']

[are you leaving the cave of pockets, then?

[oh_brother]

[yeah, let's try the other section instead, for now. keeping an eye out for the dog as he goes.]

[amivoringyou]

[you head deeper ...]

[you start to hear the murmur of voices, still indistinct, and ... ahead, there is ... light ...?]

[oh_brother]

[drawing closer then, keeping towards the wall and hopefully at least somewhat out of sight, if someone's there]

[amivoringyou]

[the voices grow louder ...]

[you overhear the tail end of this conversation.]