soulping | [Lucciola's Heart]

This room just feels off. The door is super heavy, and you will cut your arms on the thorns as you work on opening it. If stung by the thorns, you will notice a mildly nauseating poison taking effect in a few moments, with varying effect, depending. Be ready to feel a little sick and unfocused.

Inside is a huge and lavish rose garden, with rose bushes as far as your eyes can see, arranged in low labyrinths and well cut formations. The air is thick with the sickly sweet smell of roses and it would look pretty amazing if you didn't compare it to what you know it represents.

A female voice is carried by the wind, but there are no real words she's saying (for now). It's hard to make out. She sounds ... very unpleasant.

Edited 2014-06-15 23:22 (UTC)

[ And very familiar.

Trying to be extra wary of those thorns, but ... ouch. One gets him, and he pauses briefly to swallow back the sudden wave of sickness he feels. But he forces himself through it to get that door open.

... and he's not surprised at what he enters into. He breathes in, but he tries not to smell those roses.

But once he catches the sound of that voice, his mind immediately starts to race to fight off the jolt of sudden, heavy fear that's always gone along with hearing it. You're inside Lucciola. You're not home. She's not really here, it's not real, not the same sort of real it'd be on the outside. ]

Edited 2014-06-16 01:34 (UTC)

[the nausea isn't too overwhelming. you can still think, make decisions and move around without too much interference. there's a type of fresh air current that leads further into the place somewhere, but it's hard to pinpoint. the only thing you know is that it makes it bearable to be in there. it's the only pleasant thing that you feel, and also the only thing that doesn't seem malevolent.

there is no Lucciola in here so far, so it seems you're on your own. you see several sparkling pieces of something spread out through the gardens. perhaps that's a good place to start, if any]

[ Like he would stop moving even it it were bad. But thankfully he can trek on without much hindrance. He wanders toward the sparkling things, keeping as close to that air current as possible. If they're more mirror shards, he's going to move to pick them up. ]

[yep, you better collect all these mirror shards as you're able. it's when you get to the center of the garden that something gets in your way of the last mirror shard. the voice is... well, it's that of your sister(?), but the source is not]

I think it's time I put an end to your antics right here, hm? Wouldn't want you to spoil the happy ending.

[it's Castling standing in your way. or at least, so you believe. didn't you leave him in his room? asleep? what on earth]

[ P ... ausing at both the voice and at Castling's appearance. Slowly he stands up, and first and foremost he makes sure the shards he picked up are safe as he speaks back to the voice, his own slow, hesitant, but not vicious. ]

Lucciola...?

[it doesn't look like the body is in coordination with the voice, or if the voice is even coming from the body, (the lips aren't moving) but it doesn't seem too bothered with that]

Of course not! I would have thought you had it figured out by now, but it took your little helpers to notice something was off. I suppose you don't know your precious servant as well as you hoped you do. He doesn't even tell you the important things! Trying to spare you... hah! How, ah... what should we call it? Selfless? I think I prefer foolish.

Ah, well. No matter. I cannot have you interrupt me as rudely again. This is as far as you will get.

[Castling pulls his guild dagger. uh-oh]

[ He grits his teeth, jaw clenching. He knows those words are there to hurt him, to weaken him and to throw him off. They're not true, but they're still biting, and he's doing his best to ignore them in favor of watching Castling closely when he moves.

He makes no move himself, though, simply standing his ground. ]

I'm not being stopped here.

No? The way you're not making any moves could say otherwise. Are you really this passive, Lord Dio? What's wrong? Aren't you going to defend yourself?

[suddenly, he's charging, and there's really no way to stop him other than either taking a hit yourself or you hurting him by parring or otherwise]

[ The second he sees him snap into a charge, he flicks his wrist and out lances the sword he's been keeping compact in a hand at his side. And just as he moves to land his attack, Rook quickly attempts to sidestep as he brings his own sword up to try and deflect the dagger. ]

[well, at least you're evenly matched. the precaution of removing Castling's skill shards was a good choice. it didn't actually remove his skills entirely, but they're much more muted.

you manage to deflect the dagger, but can you deflect him trying kick out against your legs?]

Edited 2014-06-16 02:31 (UTC)

[ Nope. Not this time.

One of his legs get hit, and he half buckles from the impact. But the leg that didn't get hit catches his weight, and he uses it to spring himself forward and just slam himself into Castling's torso and try to completely knock him off of his feet while he's close enough. ]

[as you do that, he slashes with his dagger towards any part of your left side to try and get a hit in, though it probably ends up very shallow because of the lack of momentum.

Castling goes tumbling backwards and skidding some ways on his back, coughing violently and spitting blood. it's... almost as if something is jarring against his insides and drawing red]

Ah ah ah~ You wouldn't want to be too reckless with his poor body. It might break before you know it.

[ That nicks him in the upper arm. So he's able to get back up to his feet just as Castling falls back.

There's a flash of worry in his eyes when he sees him have such a violent reaction. But what that voice says... ]

Don't-- underestimate his strength. Lucciola's stronger than that!

Aw, your faith is almost endearing~ Perhaps you should remember he's not exactly at his best right now.

[he gets to his feet again, rubbing a sleep over his mouth and instantly charges for you again, this time bringing his dagger down low and trying to stab]

Edited 2014-06-16 03:15 (UTC)

[ Twisting his body at the approach, swinging his sword back and carefully trying not to stab him outright, but rather graze that daggered arm enough to get him to drop it or something. ]

[you manage to knock it out of his hand, and it goes skidding beneath a few bushes.

he backs down, but... something seems off besides Castling being generally sick. when you slammed into him earlier, you jarred the splinter, and he's not standing up entirely straight, a hand on his stomach, while he carefully moves closer to those bushes to get his dagger back]

[ Depending on how slow he's moving, he might make it to his dagger in time as Rook moves to go after him to try and knock it further out of reach-- though he knows he didn't stab Castling in the stomach, and he knows he didn't have any injuries there earlier ... so he might actually have time to grab his weapon in the short moment Rook takes note of that. ]

[he's not terribly slow, no, so he grabs his weapon just before you manage to kick it away, and steps back before you decide do anything else in retaliation]

Is it getting worse--?

[ When Castling steps back, Rook takes the opportunity to fall into a more comfortable stance to better move either toward or away from him, while he tries to get a good look at his stomach. ]

[if you didn't give him a shirt after you treated his wounds, you'll probably be able to see that he looks sore around his stomach area. the skin is red, almost as if burned. Castling attempts to catch his breath, keeping his eyes on you warily. he looks like he's hesitating, but he also doesn't look like he's all there. the voice speaks up again, this time with an irritated edge]

Tch. What are you waiting for? Kill him.

[...it's hard to determine whether the voice is talking to you or to Castling]

Edited 2014-06-16 17:22 (UTC)

Nobody's going to follow that order--!

[ He snaps at the voice-- and there's that familiar tinge of 'shouldn't have done that' that's been in his memories before. But it's not as strong.

And then, more to himself and to Lucciola-- however he'd hear it in his heart: ] I promised I'd help you, so I'm not going to kill any part of you, no matter what it does to me like this...

Are you so sure of that, Lord~ Dio~?

[Castling shakes his head some, as if he's confused or trying to shake non-existent bangs out of his face. ...but then his eyes set into a narrow frown and he charges forward again, still silent, seemingly about to slash right ahead, but feinting below any sort of defense and moving his dagger out in an arch from below, aiming at your chest]

[ Braces himself and moves to defend, though he was also going to try and aim for the stomach because of a ~feeling~ ... and by aim for I mean gently aim for because while he wants to try and get a not-deep slash at it, he doesn't want to hurt him any more than he already is.

And since he was going to aim downward while Castling is moving up ... well, it's a good thing Rook took those shards, but as said, Rook himself only has his standard abilities back, and since that evens out a little bit, Castling still probably has shadows of better movements left over from his more advanced shards. And with the effects from those thorn pricks still present...

So Castling's aim is going to hit just a little higher than anticipating and this is gonna hurt. :') ]

Edited 2014-06-16 18:00 (UTC)

[yeah. yeah, it'll hurt, and Castling takes a step to the side to slash at you again, but then...his hand stops midair, and he stares at you, his eyes clearing momentarily.

the voice hisses, commanding]

Do it!

[Castling makes a face in pain as if something just shook him from inside, and if you have the leverage, you could maybe kick the dagger away from his hand right now]

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