steelmyself | who stole your heart and the key?

Entry tags:

a forest dark,
ic

who stole your heart and the key?

In the dark, you taste something sweet and tart on your tongue, almost like apple but not quite: pomegranate juice, out of nowhere. A hint of something metallic accompanies it.

You fall down.

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There are plenty of cooking and cleaning tools, but no construction tools.

The puppet-creature can't change its expression, but somehow its stare seems to hold bafflement. "I can't. I can't, not anymore."

The passageways widen into a full, echoing cavern here, with multiple tunnels leading off from the sides. An arch of stone twists across the cave high above, and perched atop it is a young girl, no more than ten or so, with white hair and a white nightgown. She's the one singing.

There are three swords stabbed through her heart, and blood drips down to the floor from her body. Drip. Drip. Drip.

That's ridiculous.

[A beat, before she adds, like an afterthought,]

Why not?

[Rummaging through the cooking and cleaning supplies to see if she can find anything to use as a hammer. If she can dig up nails from the house and pull lumber together, maybe...]

[ bites off the instinctive reaction to call out to her, concerned it'll startle her into falling-- more importantly is to get up there with her. Is there any way he can climb up there? ]

Not with normal human abilities. As an acrobat, he might be able to scramble his way up the walls and onto the narrow bridge of rock, though?

There's a lot of cooking supplies, including some that are generally hammer-shaped, but they're probably not sturdy enough to be used as a hammer.

"This place is nearly the deepest core of me--all the things about me that are fraudulent and fake and belong in Hell. You can't change that."

[ GOING TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT TO DO THAT, THEN ]

Then it seems that I may be in need of a greater fire than I had anticipated.

[She goes quiet for a while, then looks at the doll, gaze falling squarely on one of its arms -

Oh.

Then she looks at the sword in her own hand. Right. This would probably work - so now she needs lumber. More importantly, she needs nails to hold it together. Next step is feeling around for anything that might be nailed down.]

If your own falsehoods are causing you to suffer, then there's no reason for them to exist. I understand now that it's impossible for you to be rid of them through your own effort - it's dreadfully improper of me to hold you to such expectations. You're a human.

But, Haku, I'm not you.

The puppet freezes in place as if hypnotized. It speaks after a long moment, its voice a little more human now.

"No. You're not."

He can make it up, though it's a perilous climb, and the girl just keeps singing.

I'm not! So it's possible for me to do this for you.

[A beat.]

Although I'm not very well-versed in construction...

[ gonna sit himself carefully down next to her ]

Hi.

Her singing trails off. She doesn't look at him, but she does respond. "Hello, hello!"

"Destroying it is impossible. I've tried. I've tried to destroy everything about myself and failed."

[... Squinting a little...]

I'm not you.

"That's true, but..." He trails off, a hint of doubt in his voice. "Will you destroy me, then?"

Of course not. I'll take you with me, if you'd like to go - however, we must do away with this house.

The puppet shakes its head. "This house is me. The very heart of my self. If you destroy it, everything comes down."

It pauses.

"You're welcome to try."

You're injured. ...May I help?

...

[There's a good, long pause. It's not really an issue of whether or not she has the right to do that - if she did do it, what would happen to him? That's too big a change. It's a little hard for her to put her finger on the details, but it leaves a bad taste in her mouth.]

If you're certain that would be the result, then I'm afraid that I must refrain. I don't believe that I could allow that to happen.

The puppet's stiff wooden shoulders seem to slump a little. "Very well, then."

She smiles brightly. "I can't be helped."

[ gestures, a little helplessly ]

The swords?

I'm -

[Why can't she do it? It's not like it'd be hard to set this place on fire. He'd be happier for it. If he's her friend, if he's really her friend - then she should be able to do that much (on the other hand, considering the last time she tried to make a friend happy she got herself killed - ).

But if it's like this, maybe that's not what he needs anyway. Maybe she has the wrong idea about him. This puppet isn't that bad a representation - this man's not a human at all.

She sighs.]

If you'd like to die, then please come and find me elsewhere. I'm certain that I could kill you until you feel satisfied.

[Even if it didn't work out last time. Last time she'd known him for like an hour. Things are a little better now.]

But in exchange, there's one question that I'd like to ask. Why are you so eager to see this place destroyed?

[ jogs after it with a last nod to the girl ]

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