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

[oh_brother]

[following along as well]

Something seems strange about the ground.

[identityformations]

Got dried out.

[oh_brother]

I suppose I am not much of a tracker then. Still, they're either fresh or unusually preserved.

[amivoringyou]

[eventually, the small patter of her feet is joined by the heavy, thudding step of a large man, whose feet sink deep into the ground, and they continue like that for quite some time.]

[something of happiness exists in the following of these footsteps, and almost without noticing you have walked more than halfway around the edge of the woods.]

[identityformations]

[large like mr. phallic statue large? :|a]

[oh_brother]

[I am focusing in on the feeling of happiness!]

I didn't know she had someone like that.

[amivoringyou]

[... yes, indeed, exactly like the naked man.]

[the feeling of happiness thrums in the air like a sine wave as you go.]

[identityformations]

[shit I hate feelings]

[coming to a standstill]

...you keep going if you like.

[oh_brother]

Are you all right?

[identityformations]

[very short, bitter laugh]

Wouldn't want to get jealous, would I?

[oh_brother]

...

I'm not sure I understand.

[identityformations]

[blurrrrgh, there's a nice montage of unease and shame and frustration and self-loathing passing across his face before he just. shuts down.]

I'd be alarmed if you did.

[oh_brother]

[studies him for a moment ... then nods]

Wait here. I'll be right back.

[identityformations]

[fidgeting under that studying, looking awayyy, but nods]

I'll be at the statues.

[oh_brother]

All right.

[continuing on!]

[amivoringyou]

[the feeling dims and fades, settling comfortably into a background hum ...]

[but then the two pairs of steps diverge as footprints crowd around them, almost a cacophony of feet, and as they step apart the footsteps vanish completely and the sensation dies like a ribbon, cut to fraying pieces.]

[oh_brother]

[stops then, now looking at the extra footprints]

What happened...?

[amivoringyou]

[the acediamikapuppy whines, pawing at the dirt, but it's too hard to make any new marks in. he just manages to scrabble loose a few flecks here and there.]

[oh_brother]

[gggets a scalpel out of his stolen medical supplies and tries digging at the spot the puppy was]

[amivoringyou]

[you can cut into the dirt, but it's hard going, like the ground just naturally resists any new excavation.]

[amivoringyou]

[the statues, when you arrive, are as they were when you left them.]

[identityformations]

[he's going to head over to the woman with the shell-shocked eyes and very gently reach out to touch her cheek]

[amivoringyou]

[the rough rock of the statue is warm to the touch.]

[identityformations]

[very quietly] The knight, her...partner, I suppose...you're one of her companions, I could only guess. No mud around here, but I've got the other half of it.

[getting some blood on his fingertips from the dog bite or wherever else, he's probably bleeding somewhere, and touching the edge of the broken part of the statue, at her stomach]

[amivoringyou]

[there's a faint press against your stomach ... at the same place where, on the statue's stomach, where your finger comes to rest.]