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...Yes? [marcoh.] I was going on and on about Sharran nonsense, how I'd found my true purpose and was planning to convince everyone else to embrace darkness? While making you wander in the woods with me?
Well, then, it seems we have that in common after all.
[welcome to the memory zone... i'm throwing us right into it. she opens a door and they appear in the funhouse.
(you can watch this video for visuals / atmosphere if you like).
(you can watch this video for visuals / atmosphere if you like).
The memory is unfocused, hazy around the edges, something that happened long ago and is half forgotten, as though some of the glass on the funhouse mirrors is fogged or hazy. Maybe if you explore down a particular path, more will come to light, but for now, you follow.
A little girl wanders the forest, lost and fearful. It’s a cool night, not cold, but enough to shiver from the wind. It is pitch black except for the full, bright moon overhead, but the trees here loom impossibly tall overhead, nearly blocking out the light. She’s obviously worried, but not afraid. She keeps looking up at the sky, checking the position of the moon, taking a certain direction. She chews her lip and looks uncertain with herself, and she’s cut and bloodied her face from a branch, but she keeps wandering.
There’s no way to tell why this child is lost here, whether she’s been abandoned or left here on purpose or if there’s some other reason. There are a few branching side paths that maybe reflect thoughts, memories of earlier that night, of the reason, but Shadowheart - the real Shadowheart beside you - doesn’t choose to look that way, as she suddenly freezes in complete terror.
Bounding out from the woods is a large wolf. Impossibly large, really, imagined here the way it looked to the child it was looming over, much bigger and fiercer than her. The child is frozen as well. The wolf’s golden eyes are trained on her, fierce and dangerous, its teeth bared. As it pads slowly towards her, its ears press back and its tail swishes back and forth. Not even the posture of an animal hunting prey, but an animal itching for a fight, making itself an obvious threat.
Tears are rolling down the girl’s cheeks and she stumbles backwards, trembling. But then she realizes, behind her, is a woman in a mask, who puts a gentle hand on her shoulder.
And then there’s a path out of this section of mirrors, and a feeling like you must take it, you must leave this memory, because the only other direction to turn is down a dark, dark corridor and everything is telling you that you don’t want to go that way. Whatever memories continue on in that direction, they're hidden, and perhaps they should remain hidden. But Shadowheart is still frozen from fear at the sight of the wolf, so she has not yet left this memory behind.]
[a joke... from sweet marcoh... she smiles.]
I didn't necessarily say it was a nice one.
I didn't necessarily say it was a nice one.
[ Marcoh senses he is going to get tired real quick of constantly running into mazes the entire week long. Even more of the strange feeling of not knowing whether he should be treading on these things he's seeing, especially with how the people beside him react.
He remembers that girl from the other day, small and scared. He promised he'd protect her from it, which would usually mean that he would just outright punch a mirror the wolf is reflected in and break it, but apparently that might cause Shadowheart to kind of forget that memory so that's really up to you . . .
Either way, he thinks maybe it's best they don't linger. ]
Shadowheart.
[ A little louder and firmer than how he usually speaks -- your attention. ]
He remembers that girl from the other day, small and scared. He promised he'd protect her from it, which would usually mean that he would just outright punch a mirror the wolf is reflected in and break it, but apparently that might cause Shadowheart to kind of forget that memory so that's really up to you . . .
Either way, he thinks maybe it's best they don't linger. ]
Shadowheart.
[ A little louder and firmer than how he usually speaks -- your attention. ]
[he can punch the mirror if he wants. if that's what he would do, i would allow it.
shadowheart is frozen a bit. not just the little girl, but the adult. she is completely terrified of wolves, and she needs to make a wisdom saving throw.]
shadowheart is frozen a bit. not just the little girl, but the adult. she is completely terrified of wolves, and she needs to make a wisdom saving throw.]
[this is just the last wolf memory chronologically now.
and anyway, i'm going to say he punches this memory right in a mirror with the wolf. the wolf is gone - more of a nightmare creature than a real animal, too large and snarling and terrifying. she's fought monsters, demons, terrible enemies, ones far bigger than this thing, but even now there's nothing that frightens her more than this particular memory, is still frozen in place when she sees one.
but he shatters that mirror, and the wolf is gone from the memory. instead, there's just a girl in a forest, and a woman in a hood and mask. and while the woman appears to be calming her, the story is a little different without the wolf in it. now it's the story of a lost child who was taken by these people.
on a mirror on the other side there's an older elven man, instead. he has long dark hair and a lined face and worried eyes. there's a human woman by her side, a little younger in appearance though likely not in years, with bright green eyes. it's just a glimpse of them, telling the girl to be safe, to remember her lessons, to return home soon.
and then it's all gone.
shadowheart comes out of her fear response, unsure what she was even frightened of, the wisps of the nightmare she was focused on fading away.]
Marcoh? What happened?
and anyway, i'm going to say he punches this memory right in a mirror with the wolf. the wolf is gone - more of a nightmare creature than a real animal, too large and snarling and terrifying. she's fought monsters, demons, terrible enemies, ones far bigger than this thing, but even now there's nothing that frightens her more than this particular memory, is still frozen in place when she sees one.
but he shatters that mirror, and the wolf is gone from the memory. instead, there's just a girl in a forest, and a woman in a hood and mask. and while the woman appears to be calming her, the story is a little different without the wolf in it. now it's the story of a lost child who was taken by these people.
on a mirror on the other side there's an older elven man, instead. he has long dark hair and a lined face and worried eyes. there's a human woman by her side, a little younger in appearance though likely not in years, with bright green eyes. it's just a glimpse of them, telling the girl to be safe, to remember her lessons, to return home soon.
and then it's all gone.
shadowheart comes out of her fear response, unsure what she was even frightened of, the wisps of the nightmare she was focused on fading away.]
Marcoh? What happened?
...Ah. A wolf? Really?
[doesn't sound that scary?]
[doesn't sound that scary?]
I'm fine, I think.
[she seems a little confused?]
[she seems a little confused?]
Let's go.
[please. except i want a marcoh memory too.]
[please. except i want a marcoh memory too.]
[oh. well, she already knows this story. but it's different to watch it, to see the circumstances. to know that his sister wasn't only threatened, but threatened by a man she believes loves her.
she will take his arm, place her hand gently on it.]
Marcoh?
[how is he reacting? frozen?]
she will take his arm, place her hand gently on it.]
Marcoh?
[how is he reacting? frozen?]
[ He definitely looks a way, a little pale and at a loss for words, stuck staring at the beaten down corpse in the middle of the ring. He seems too in shock to be seeing this again to pay attention to the rest of it, to the victory announcement, the scattered whoops, Riccardo's smile. That is, somehow, probably for the better. ]
I -- didn't want to -- ...
I -- didn't want to -- ...
I know you didn't.
[holding his arm, trying to lead him away from it a little, but not pulling him too hard if he isn't ready.]
Disgusting man.
[holding his arm, trying to lead him away from it a little, but not pulling him too hard if he isn't ready.]
Disgusting man.
I don't know, either.
[she definitely does not judge him, though.]
If you'd stuck to your morals, and your sister had paid a price for it, I can't imagine you'd have fewer regrets than you do now. Sometimes there's only making the best out of a series of bad options.
[she definitely does not judge him, though.]
If you'd stuck to your morals, and your sister had paid a price for it, I can't imagine you'd have fewer regrets than you do now. Sometimes there's only making the best out of a series of bad options.
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