[a heart field trip]

[antreegonist]

*you're back on the island of Mithos's heart, on the dirt path through the meadow. the sky's still clouded and glassy, but it's no longer storming: you've arrived in the middle of a sunshower.

the freestanding door is there in its pool. the surrounding fog has thinned to translucence -- you can see a couple of large, four-legged shapes moving in it.*

Comments

[brotagonist]

[time for the other glitchy one :|a]

[antreegonist]

*you enter a wide space ringed with thousands of decorative fountains of every conceivable shape and size. several hundred of them are white, while many many many more are greyed out, rather like the statues that used to be in Beauty's forest. some are plain, some are beautifully sculptured, some are downright ugly or laughable. some have missing pieces and some are whole. there seems to be no limit to them: they stretch out around you in every direction, as far as the eye can see.

the ground is soft and gives under your feet. it is grey ash mixed with granules of silvery metal. your footsteps make no sound, and you find yourself almost afraid to speak. hush...

in the middle of the open space is a round clear pool. a small crystal flower, identical to the one you saw in the Aather clearing, is perched on a pedestal in the middle. to its left and right, two white fountains shaped like trees feed the pool. the one on the right is damaged, with some large chunks of broken stone branch still scattered around it.*

[brotagonist]

[oh... goes to look at the broken one :(a]

[antreegonist]

*blood flows into the pool from a silver bowl set among the branches. you cannot make out a pipe or obvious water source.*

[brotagonist]

[. . . how is the pool clear if blood is flowing into it. . .]

[antreegonist]

*water is flowing in from the other fountain. the pool where they combine is clear liquid with a silvery gleam.*

[brotagonist]

[...ohh. I've seen this before.]

This is your balance, huh?

[antreegonist]

*hush.*

[brotagonist]

[:\a goes to see if the stone chunks on the ground will go back onto the fountain...]

[antreegonist]

*they will. there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to repair the cracks -- the fountain is riddled with them -- but it all holds together.*

[brotagonist]

[huh. finishes putting it back together and stays next to it, one hand on it, for a moment]

[antreegonist]

*you pick up that same faint thrum that was under the Tower floors.*

[brotagonist]

[doesn't quite want to speak out loud again, but... how do I fix you the rest of the way?]

[antreegonist]

*the blood in the bowl ripples.*

[brotagonist]

[. . . . . pokes it. . . . . .]

[antreegonist]

*feels like grief.

faint images flicker in the blood.*

[brotagonist]

[LOOKS CLOSER!]

[antreegonist]

*seems to be a flickery recording of you two hanging out in Firebird's castle.*

[brotagonist]

[leans his forehead against the fountain a bit... oh, that made you feel better... but what about those cracks :X]

[antreegonist]

*the image shifts to a golden clock, like the one on the Tree, but with ordinary hands and numbers.

tick tock tick tock*

[brotagonist]

[oh. ...:X pats the fountain]

[antreegonist]

*hummmm.*

[brotagonist]

[looks at the pool... would it be bad to leave something?]

[antreegonist]

*doesn't seem to be an answer either way.*

[brotagonist]

[........I don't want to mess your balance up if I'm not sure... okay. pats the fountain again and steps back.]