Solstice Heart

[dramatispersonae]

Entering into the heart, you feel a strong sense of resistance pushing you away. It’s easy enough to overcome if you push back, but it soon reverses and you’re pulled into an unfamiliar mansion.

[IRC: #truthless, heart starts at 4pm EST!]

edit: I'm a dumb and forgot to add in the LIBRARY segment: [On the left is another doorway to a staircase leading down.]

Comments

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

[Every inch of the first board is covered with overlapping photographs. Nearly all of them are of deceased murder victims, so there’s a lot of blood and some are especially gruesome.]

[Only a few photos are tacked to the second board. There's two photos of two men dressed head to toe in black, a young woman in a lab coat, and some flashy douchebag.]

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

[he reaches out to touch them, just to ensure that he doesn't get anything from them. The murder victims' photographs are touched first.]

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

[You feel a faint sense of mourning, but also excitement, the thrill of a good mystery.]

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

[his eyebrows raise after a moment, and then he switches to the other bulletin board: starting with the two men, then the young woman, and then that douchebag that no one's ever seen before surely.]

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

[Strangely, you don't get anything from touching these ones.]

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

Huh ...

[he checks out the mortuary cabinets]

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

[It looks like they're locked, but one is slightly ajar.]

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

[well, he'll go for the ajar one, since he doesn't have his lock picking skills back yet.

how sad]

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

[alas]

[there's a body inside, though a sheet covers it aside from the feet. An identification strip around the ankle reads BERRY/AOKO (FAKE).]

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

...

[the name berry is telling, but it could be something different.

he pulls the body out further to pull the sheet up and look underneath it]

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

[There girl under the blanket is clearly dead, which I mean, it would disconcerting if she wasn't considering the location. There's a stab wound on her gut and on her chest, near her heart.]

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

[he considers lingering there for a moment, but he steps back, covering her up and closing the bin.

he looks back at the girl who was in there]

Why does it say "fake"?

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

[The young girl, who has been watching you, speaks up again.]

Because that's what it is. A fake, an imposter.

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

Fake because it's in here or fake because of some other reason?

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

Here.

[She steps over to the cabinet and pulls it out, standing on her toes so that she can tug back the sheet and reach the dead girl's mouth to pull it open. It's full of sharp, glassy teeth.]

The real Berry had a heart game in which the persona Mira placed something corrupt in her heart. This was the result.

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

So this is a remnant of an experience.

All right, I understand now.

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

[She closes the drawer again.]

Have you seen enough?

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

I think I have.

... I think I'll go forward. I'm here, right? And a part of me would like to understand.

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

I see. As you wish.

However, there is something else I should warn you about.

[She moves to the back of the room and pulls the grate off of a low vent. It's too small for an adult to fit through.]

Has anyone told you why he looks so young?

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

... Not yet.

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

[She walks over to the drawers, unlocks one and pulls out a pill bottle labeled APTX 4869. She shakes one into her hand and holds it up for him to see.]

This is a lethal poison. If you want to continue through that vent and into the deeper parts of his heart, you'll have to swallow this.

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

Lethal generally means ... lethal. So if I'm continuing on, I'm accepting that I die.

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

It is a lethal poison, and it may feel like you're dying. But you won't die.

[still holding the pill out, now waiting for him to take it, or not]

Re: BASEMENT

[lettersbound]

[... considering it and after a moment, he takes it.

from what he's understood about his own life, he's done way worse.]

Re: BASEMENT

[dramatispersonae]

A word of caution. It's dangerous ahead, for you as well as him. Keep that in mind if you try to change anything.