QUIET MOUNDS - STEF HEART

[abardacttofollow]

You find yourself in a stone room that looks like some sort of medieval dungeon. There are (thankfully), no torture instruments, but there is a man strung up here. One large manacle is around his neck, chaining him stiffly to the door. His hands are free, but each foot is manacled to the matching bottom corner of the doorframe. There is a visible lock on each of the three manacles.

It's Stefen, and there's a knife in his chest. Despite that, he's alive, apparently alert, and doesn't look to be in pain, perhaps due to the lulling, sense-dulling music that seems to be coming from nowhere at all—in fact, if you were in pain before you entered, it's gone here. His wound is bleeding, but only a little, and he smiles his usual bright smile at you.

Behind him, but in front of the closed door he's bound to, you can see three double sets of strings running vertically. Where they meet the floor, they are fastened, and then each runs across the floor to the three doors on the opposite wall, then under them.

There is nothing else in this room.

((OOC: Here's how this will work! Since we're doing individual runs, rather than me putting up individual top levels for areas, just jump the post itself, and I'll run everything for you within your one thread. If you're wanting to do a run with someone else, just stay in the same thread together.))

Comments

[twicebonded]

[draws in a sharp breath, expectant]

[abardacttofollow]

[looks down, then draws the knife out of his chest, bloodlessly. Or at least with no more blood than before. The blade is carved into a key shape, and he holds it out]

This is yours. Nobody else can have it—no matter who else is in and exploring my heart, they won't get this key. It belongs to you. I don't know what it unlocks, but I know it's something in Truth. I honestly don't know anything down there. I just know that there's a drop, and no going back from it but when you get to the end of Truth you can get out. There shouldn't be anything you have to solve down there because it's just... all Truth.

[twicebonded]

[his breath hitches, but he takes the key]

What . . .? And you're sure it's alright for me . . .

[abardacttofollow]

I don't know what it's for, but I know that it's yours and only yours.

[twicebonded]

. . .

[lightly touches Stefen's cheek with his free hand]

I . . . I love you more than I can possibly express. You understand, right?

[abardacttofollow]

I love you the same.

I don't know what's back there, so I'm a little afraid it'll be something unpleasant. But... everything in here is me. All of it.

[twicebonded]

You want me to see it, though? All of you?

[abardacttofollow]

I trust you with all of me. I'm sorry I kept things back so long! I just don't always know what to say or do. Or, I suppose, what there is.

[twicebonded]

You know . . . I feel like I was hardly surprised by anything here. Really, I felt as though I knew each part of you intimately already. Given how short a time "I" have known you . . . I'd say you've been more than open with me, ashke.

[abardacttofollow]

Do you think so? [touches Vanyel's cheek] I'm really glad.

[twicebonded]

I know you.

[he kisses his fingertips]

And I really like what I see. I think . . . only someone as wonderful as you could have—moved my heart this much. Lifebonded or not.

[abardacttofollow]

[goes very very red]

I hope! I hope that what you saw is... that is to say... kiss me again?

[twicebonded]

[does kiss him again, a slow and deep and melting kiss, hand threading through Stef's hair]

[abardacttofollow]

[sighs into the kiss, holding him close now that he can do so]

[twicebonded]

[much as he's sort of enjoying kissing Stef absolutely silly, he does eventually draw back]

I should—

[abardacttofollow]

[melts back against the doorframe]

Oh! Yes. Yes, probably, yes.

[twicebonded]

[gives him an awfully rude, unfair smile]

[heading towards the door]

[abardacttofollow]

[calls after] There's a drop, you might want to close your eyes when you step through!

[twicebonded]

[all Stef hears is a little yelp as Van, uh, drops]

The Truth 1

[abardacttofollow]

When you step through the door, you fall abruptly. You rapidly see yourself approaching the… ground? The ice? But just before you hit it, it shatters, and you find yourself in another room with a path leading forward. There's no going back.

You find yourself in a fenced in field, funneling you forward to the next door. In the distance, you see white horses grazing. It's absolutely recognizable as the Companions field, and is calm and peaceful; a large tree grows here, shading the area so it feels calm, quiet. It genuinely seems as though you're outdoors, though you get the impression you won't be able to leave the fenced in area except through the gate at the end.

By the gate at the end is an old, moss-covered statue of a horse. Well, most of a horse. It has been weathered, and it looks like something has destroyed its head.

The gate at the end is open onto darkness.

[twicebonded]

. . .

[feels a deep, foreboding, full-body chill, so overpowering that he's just Frozen for a long moment]

[. . . slowly, he starts to move forward to that darkness, though his gaze lingers on that tree]

The Truth 2

[abardacttofollow]

You enter into a fancy bedroom in a manor house, with two beds. As well as the door you came in through, there is a door to the left and right, and an open doorframe ahead. You wouldn't be able to exit through the left or right doors if you wanted to, though. There's a statue in front of each of them. One is a tall, stern-looking woman. The other is a strapping, broad-shouldered young man with curly hair and a confident grin. Both of their features are too weathered to get more detail from without getting closer.

Re: The Truth 2

[twicebonded]

. . .

[slowly approaches the statue of the woman]

[abardacttofollow]

She's got a hooked nose and, on closer inspection, a reluctant smile. The stone is weathered so you can't be completely sure, but she certainly looks familiar to you.

From behind the door she's blocking, you hear distant shouting, a boy: "He seduced me! He's not fit for this, he's a pervert!"

[twicebonded]

. . .

Aunt . . .?

[listens, frozen]