dramatispersonae | Oz's Heart

Oz's Heart

You find yourself standing before an impressive manor. The grounds are well kept but tall hedges and trees block out the view of anything other than the manor itself. Overhead, the sky is gray and overcast, dulling the colors of the manor and the world around you. Looking at the manor itself, you see two wings stretched out to either side of an entryway with a set of tall double doors. Two Ozs stand at the doors, smiling at you. Eagerly, they open the doors and urge you inside.

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Once inside, you find yourself in a wide open foyer with tall ceilings. Directly before you is a staircase that leads up to a large set of glass doors before splitting off into two staircases that curl along the walls to the left and the right. There are two double doors on the ground level, one set to your left and one set to your right. If you look up at the tops of the stairs you can make out two doors above them on the second floor. However, your entry has caught the attention of a handful of Ozs standing in waiting about the foyer. Upon seeing you, they hurry over to greet each one of you individually.

Through the doors to the right you find yourself in an expansive and well lit ballroom. There is a single door in the corner at the far end of the room. The dance floor itself is awash with color as men and women dressed in all the colors of the Aather teams twirl and move in a complex, spinning dance. Some other men and women stand at the sides, also dressed in the colors of the teams but with their faces obscured by masks that they hold as they watch the dance go on. You can recognize the faces of the people on the dance floor but the figures of those waiting at the sides seem vague and indistinct. The atmosphere feels vibrant and content; you can see patches of blue in the cloud cover through the tall windows that line the walls. In the middle of it all is Oz, smiling brightly and easily shifting from partner to partner as the dance moves on.

Through the doors to the left you find yourself in a long dining room with windows lining the wall to the right. The wall to the left is covered in fine decorative wallpaper with a small single door set on the far side. The far wall has a single set of double doors in the middle. In the center of the room sits an impossibly long table with fine chairs and the people of Aather sitting in them, dressed in fine coats and dresses of their team's colors. There's a fine feast laid out before them but not all members seem to be partaking of it. Some people sit in front of empty plates, others have only a few scraps on theirs, while others seem to be well provided for. Flitting about the edges of the tables, occasionally leaning in to ask a question before ducking off to the door in the left wall is Oz, dressed in a butler's finery. As he ducks in and out, he occasionally comes back with plates to present to the diners. Sometimes they're impressed, but sometimes they scoff and rebuff him. Regardless, he continues on, tirelessly serving them.

Exiting the ballroom, you find yourself in a small study with a bookshelf set into the left wall and a small desk in the center of the room. The far wall is lined with windows and the right wall lies bare. Laid out over the desk are journals and writing supplies. Oz sits at the desk with a pen in hand, occasionally making a pensive expression before writing quickly in one of the journals laid out before him. Every so often he frowns, stops, and picks up another journal and starts to write in that one instead.

The double doors in the dining room lead you to a room decorated almost entirely in ruby red. The room is decorated with portraits of the members of Ruby, past and present, hanging on the far wall. On the walls to the left and the right, there are tall windows, but the curtains that cover them show signs of rips and tears that have been hastily sewn back together. The decorative wallpaper also looks like it's been inexpertly pasted back on and is peeling off the wall in places. In the center of the room are two plush chairs with patches on the cushions on either side of an overturned table. The carpet here is stained in places with what looks like blood and spilt food and shows signs of wear from where old stains have been scrubbed out. There's one Oz kneeling on the carpet with his hair pushed out of his face with a ruby kerchief. He's scrubbing vigorously at one of the carpet stains, determined.

Up the stairs, the door to the right leads you into a long hallway. The walls are finely decorated with lanterns set into them to provide light, as the hall has no windows. There's a door in the center of the walls to the left and right and one at the far end of the hallway.

Through the door to the left, you find yourself in a library. There are bookshelves along the floor and set into the walls, but the wall opposite you is lined with windows. Although there seems to be space for plenty of books here, the shelves seem strangely empty. Moving between the shelves with a few books in hand that he's slowly sorting into place is Oz.

The door to your right leads you into a dressing room. The wall opposite you has tall windows but in the corner to your right there's a screen set up with someone moving behind it. To the left there's an open wardrobe with clothes pulled out of it in disarray. Across from the dressing screen is a tall standing mirror.

Up the stairs, the door to the left leads you into a long hallway. The walls are finely decorated with lanterns set into them to provide light, as the hall has no windows. There's a door in the center of the walls to the left and right and one at the far end of the hallway.

The door to the right leads you into a dimly lit sitting room. The drapes are drawn over the windows set on the far wall and barely any sunlight escapes from behind them. There's a fireplace set into the wall to your right but the logs in it are covered in a fine layer of soot and dust. Sheets are laid across the chairs and couch that are set around the hearth and the light is too dark for you to make out any of the decorations on the wall. Curled up in one of the chairs, staring at the empty hearth is Oz.

Through the door to the left you find yourself in what seems to be an exercise room. The carpet on the floor gives way to wood paneling on the far end of the room and there's a line of tall windows letting light in. Standing about the corner of this room are several Ozs who seem to be in the middle of several tasks. One is painting a picture, another moving through the steps of a dance, one checking his posture in a full length mirror. However, at the moment they all seem to be distracted, watching the one Oz on the wooden floor who has wooden sword in hand and is practicing against a wooden dummy. The dummy is actually quite imposing, fully armed and with a steel sword inexplicably held in its wooden hand. Even though it should be easy, it doesn't seem like the Oz practicing against him is faring very well.

Entering the room at the far end of the hallway the first thing that hits you is the reeking stench of rotting flesh and blood. The carpet of this room is coated with viscera and guts from the corpses strewn about. Though most of the bodies seem to be unidentifiable, there are a few members of the teams of Aather and two of them seem to be Oz himself. One is cleanly decapitated while the other has a slash across his gut and his throat slit with his right eye gouged out. There doesn't seem to be anyone alive in the room, though there's broken furniture and sheets strewn about the corners of the room.

The trapdoor leads you down a narrow spiraling stairwell that eventually opens up to a dark long tunnel. You can't make out much in the dim light, but your feet splash in some liquid gathered in shallow puddles on the ground. The further you walk, the more you get the feeling that you're being watched.

As you step through the glass doors you find yourself on a raised patio with two staircases on either side that lead out to an open lawn. Beyond the lawn there's a wall of green hedges with a gap in the center, what seems like an entrance to a maze. There are tables laid out on the patio and the law itself filled with sandwiches, tarts, petit fours, and tea. All about the tables are people of Aather smiling and sharing conversation, laughing occasionally. There's also a few people that you might not recognize from Aather: a large man with blond hair, an infectious grin and a beard, a cheerful young lady with the same blond hair and green eyes as Oz, an older woman seated in a wheelchair with a fan laid across her lap, and a tall red haired man with a mild expression helping her move about. The sky here is bright blue with the sun shining down through a few white puffy clouds. The cheerful atmosphere is infectious and you can't help but smile yourself. In the middle of it all, moving from group to group followed by Gil from Peridot and Princess from Citrine is Oz, laughing and grinning.