[a heart.]

[antreegonist]

There's a moment of nothing but light and sensation. Someone's looking you over and the scrutiny prickles and burns – it's nearly a physical pain, like fine little hooks digging past your skin, into the very meat of you. I know who you are, it says, and I know what you are, and that you don't have any business here --

“But you do,” says Mithos behind you. He's a tired, steady voice in your ear, a light hand on your shoulder. “I don't know what Dream's thinking, but everyone is welcome here in my heart; just keep in mind it's a real mess right now.”

Your vision clears.

((assume your characters wandered in here through a dream. also join #ihateyouihateyouiwanttocuddle on irc if you can!))

Comments

[resolution]

[antreegonist]

You find yourself in a vast, peaceful garden, grass and flowers lush underfoot. It's filled with fountains, several hundred thousand of them in every shape or size you can conceive. A great deal of them are white, though many many many more are grey. Some are plain, some are beautifully sculptured, some are downright ugly or laughable. Some have missing pieces and some are whole. Each fountain has a basin set somewhere in it, filled with something heavy and silvery, like clear mercury. Little vines are creeping up their bases, moss growing on their feet.

If you look up, the sky is strange, but not in the same way it was outdoors. It looks like a starry night at first glance, but if you look long enough, you'll notice the dark ripples like water, and that the stars drift and flicker like very distant, floating candles.

There's a hush laid over this whole place, a great calm silence. There seems to be no limit to it, no walls, but if you stand still a moment, you can feel a very faint tug drawing you to the center of things.

Re: [resolution]

[icarussurvived]

[stares at the sky in wonder]

[that will take a few minutes if nothing happens]

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

Nothing happens, no. It's very soothing.

Re: [resolution]

[icarussurvived]

[of course it is.]

[wish there was a vanship. but at least there are flowers. going to looke at them closely right now. what sort of flowers are they?]

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

All sorts, all colours. The most prevalent ones are large blooms like in this icon, white with yellow centers.

Re: [resolution]

[featherfetch]

[following that tug]

This is. . .?

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

Who knows . . .?

In the middle is a fiercely seething pool of thick dark liquid. It's bordered by a rim of something rather like glass, but with strange rainbowed reflections. Four channels lead from the pool, out through the garden, to northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest, feeding the garden. The water seems to flow through the rim into these channels, and what runs away from the pool is changed, no longer dark. The channels leading northeast and southwest are filled with clear water. The ones running northwest and southeast are filled with red blood.

You might notice that the fountain nearest the pool (fashioned like a spreading tree itself) is distinguished from the rest, just in a very subtle way: there are five small objects in the basin, under the liquid.

Mithos is standing by the pool, looking down into it. He appears the same as in Aather, but he's covered in scars and a couple of visible fresh gashes on his arms. There's an odd internal light to him too; something white and bright and steady.

Re: [resolution]

[featherfetch]

[s-staring at the pool]

What is this?

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

He looks up.

"Pascal? This is the foundation of the heart."

Re: [resolution]

[unionoftheheart]

[o-oh...wow...]

[yeah going to take him a few moments to start drifting in the direction of that tug]

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

It's a peaceful walk.

Re: [resolution]

[unionoftheheart]

[maybe stopping for a moment to dip his fingers in one of the fountain basins, wondering if that silvery stuff feels the same as what he dove through to get here]

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

It is exactly the same, yes.

You also get the brief image of a lady you don't recognize at all -- plump, well-dressed, a little pinch-mouthed.

Re: [resolution]

[oneknightstands]

[looking about at the fountains and sky, looking for any sign of anyone around before following that tug to the center]

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

You don't see anyone immediately. If you look up at the sky for a while, you begin to see patterns in the candle-stars, faces, people you miss, people who've moved on . . .

At the center of the garden is a fiercely seething pool of thick dark liquid. It's bordered by a rim of something rather like glass, but with strange rainbowed reflections. Four channels lead from the pool, out through the garden, to northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest, feeding the garden. The water seems to flow through the rim into these channels, and what runs away from the pool is changed, no longer dark. The channels leading northeast and southwest are filled with clear water. The ones running northwest and southeast are filled with red blood.

You might notice that the fountain nearest the pool (fashioned like a spreading tree itself) is distinguished from the rest, just in a very subtle way: there are five small objects in the basin, under the liquid.

Mithos is standing by the pool, looking down into it. He appears the same as in Aather, but he's covered in scars and a couple of visible fresh gashes on his arms. There's an odd internal light to him too; something white and bright and steady.

Re: [resolution]

[oneknightstands]

[taking in the pool as he moves to stand next to Mithos]

Are you all right?

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

The pool looks like bad decisions and despair.

"More or less. I'm used to this . . . hi, Flynn."

Re: [resolution]

[squirreledaway]

[he looks surprised at the tug, and follows it]

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

At the center of the garden is a fiercely seething pool of thick dark liquid. It's bordered by a rim of something rather like glass, but with strange rainbowed reflections. Four channels lead from the pool, out through the garden, to northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest, feeding the garden. The water seems to flow through the rim into these channels, and what runs away from the pool is changed, no longer dark. The channels leading northeast and southwest are filled with clear water. The ones running northwest and southeast are filled with red blood.

You might notice that the fountain nearest the pool (fashioned like a spreading tree itself) is distinguished from the rest, just in a very subtle way: there are five small objects in the basin, under the liquid.

Mithos is standing by the pool, looking down into it. He appears the same as in Aather, but he's covered in scars and a couple of visible fresh gashes on his arms. There's an odd internal light to him too; something white and bright and steady.

Re: [resolution]

[squirreledaway]

[he goes towards Mithos...]

Mithos...?

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

"Emil, hello."

Re: [resolution]

[brotagonist]

[yeah, glancing up...]

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

The candlelight stars form strange, hypnotic patterns in the ocean above. You almost think you can see faces in them -- faces you remember or don't remember, people who've left, who've moved on.

Re: [resolution]

[brotagonist]

[blinks and shakes his head, moving towards the center.]

Re: [resolution]

[antreegonist]

In the middle is a fiercely seething pool of thick dark liquid. It's bordered by a rim of something rather like glass, but with strange rainbowed reflections. Four channels lead from the pool, out through the garden, to northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest, feeding the garden. The water seems to flow through the rim into these channels, and what runs away from the pool is changed, no longer dark. The channels leading northeast and southwest are filled with clear water. The ones running northwest and southeast are filled with red blood.

You might notice that the fountain nearest the pool (fashioned like a spreading tree itself) is distinguished from the rest, just in a very subtle way: there are five small objects in the basin, under the liquid.

Mithos is standing by the pool, looking down into it. He appears the same as in Aather, but he's covered in scars and a couple of visible fresh gashes on his arms. There's an odd internal light to him too; something white and bright and steady.