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

[flourished]

[ catches the fruit . . . examines it and debates eating it. ]

[amivoringyou]

This? It's a base of operations.

[that's totally a non-answer.]

What kind of "operations" ... well. I'm just a handler, I wouldn't know anything about all that.

[toolate]

If you handle the operations, shouldn't you know what they are?

[flourished]

[ tries the fruit . . . ]

[amivoringyou]

[the fruit's skin is rough against the palate, but easy to bite through. the first bite tastes sweet; the second carries a sharp aftertaste. it's delicious and refreshing at first, but ...]

[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU ARE NOW IN EXCRUCIATING PAIN, centered mostly around your guts and groin. hope you like the feeling, it's going to last a few minutes.]

[flourished]

[ OK I GUESS THERE IS DROPPING TO MY KNEES AND SCREAMING and stuff and yay. . . ]

[toolate]

[UM WELL THAT IS WORRYING looking back at the dude????]

Hey-- What did you tell us to eat?!

[amivoringyou]

[Louvre has gone back to reading his book, one hand stuck in a pocket, a faint smile on his face.]

[meanwhile, in Aerisland ...]

[the pain fades slowly, but not fast enough - you appear to have more senses than you did a moment ago, and they amplify the feeling of something digging around inside you, mole-like and angry, again and again, till the agony becomes a bruise on your consciousness. everything is magical and everything hurts.]

[on the outside, your body has almost finished its transition in response to this trauma, blanching over into pale skin, skeleton-pale hair, and slitted silver eyes.]

[.... becoming a claymore is very pleasant yes '-']

[STATUS CHANGE: YOU HAVE BECOME A CLAYMORE. you are at least twice as fast as you used to be and twice as strong. your senses are sharper, and you can now sense yoki! you no longer need to eat more than once every couple weeks! and all your emotions are heightened to potential instability, but especially the violent or violence-inspiring ones! if you're not in control of your emotions, this could be a problem!]

[but most pressingly, you can feel several presences pushing against that new yoki sense: a faint one in each general direction the caverns appear to go, a large but thinly-spread one back the way you came, in the direction of the field of blades ... and one directly behind you, rooted firmly to the spot, right where the tree seems to be, large and present enough that it instinctively grips at the fight/flight reflex with its intensity.]

[what ... do ... you ... do.]

[flourished]

[ . . . stretch, first. And take a moment to take everything in.

And then try to kick Louvre in the head, I guess still screaming because I can - but more of just a. Scream. Than agony. Yay? ]

[toolate]

[.............. um?????]

[amivoringyou]

[--and then Louvre was even more of a dick, because he totes just ducked that kick.]

Now, now. I just did you a favor - is that any way to treat a friend?

[flourished]

[ takes a deeeeeeeeeeepppppppp breath. ]

Friends. Friends could use a little warning, please.

Drift, there's a few things around. Like that tree. . . [ narrows her eyes at Louvre and the tree both 8|| ]

[toolate]

[looking a little uncertainly between aeris mcjerk and the tree]

What's wrong with-- [you??] --them?

[amivoringyou]

[Louvre shifts his shoulders and adjusts his hat. he laughs.]

I couldn't begin to tell you, dear. But perhaps you'd like to continue this conversation somewhere a little less ... uncanny?

[not that he waits for the affirmative, already walking away from the tree ...]

[flourished]

[ grumbles, but then . . . giggles a bit? ]

Why not. Drift it's probably safer this way.

[ FOLLOWS LOUVRE :'D ]

[toolate]

He told you to eat a fruit that did all that, and you want to listen to him again?

[f... following anyway...]

[amivoringyou]

You want to find your friend? I might be some help with that.

[beckons them with a finger, and begins to walk away, towards the cavern directly in front of him.]