Nightingale's Heart

[soulping]

[Everything is dark. So dark, it's hard to imagine any light making it here... It seems gentle, though, almost protective. But it can't protect you from everything- and there's a rumbling sound in the distance...]

((chan is #nightingay!))

Comments

SIGN-IN/CONTACT

[soulping]

[When you come to yourself, you'll notice you have a cell phone in your inventory- along with an inventory hyperspace, just like Nightingale's, and the instinctive ability to use it.

The contacts list... Well, it lists everyone Nightingale knows, but only the names of people in the heart are lit up and able to be selected.]

((Tag here with your names, and you can text or call the other people in the heart at any time by tagging them here! But be careful- it might not always go through quite right.))

Lark

[ofbelief]

Gull

[freewilly]

Aoko

[justichthys]

Natalie

[robitussin]

Silver

[wherethewildthingsare]

Sparrow

[barrette]

Roc (Nickname: Hiyori)

[withmyownfists]

Hawk

[hopefullybetter]

Eveningstar

[feytality]

MINGLE

[soulping]

[You enter into a plain room. There’s not much to be said here- It’s plain, white, and nearly featureless- and all that’s in here is a strange blue crystal floating off the ground, about half the size of a person, and the far wall has a big gray door. The door is warm and inviting, but it’s also not going to budge just yet... Better check the crystal first. Or confer with the others- Seems like there’s a lot of people in here.]

Re: MINGLE

[ofbelief]

[ She. Immediately doesn't like this room and doesn't move at first, because why, but then there's a thing that's glowing and pretty. So of course, regardless of anything else, she has to poke around it. ]

Re: MINGLE

[robitussin]

[coming closer to the crystal to take a better look]

GET A MOVE ON

[soulping]

[Unfortunately, the crystal’s flashes appear to have caught the attention of… something. There’s a muffled voice, sounding as though it’s coming from behind the door…]

You shouldn’t be here. You can’t come in, or else...

[Then, there’s a rumbling, and shaking. The door cracks, and splits in half, the top falling off, showing just blank wall behind it. The wall cracks, too- The ground shakes, breaking apart, gaps and chasms forming all about the room. The walls, the floor, everything is falling apart. The ground under the save point splits, dropping the crystal into an abyss so deep, the light is soon swallowed up…

There’s no time to dawdle. You have to escape- fortunately, there’s no shortage of holes in the room, now. But can you make it?]

Re: GET A MOVE ON

[freewilly]

E-Eh?!

[ FIRST INSTINCT, try and shepherd other people into holes before him ]

CASTLE

[soulping]

[Escaping through the cracks in the walls brings you into a very familiar setting- Kyriakos. The old realm, the castle. Snow falls gently, piling up into the path, making it hard to walk, but some kind soul left a shovel leaning against the wall… Around you, a snowman with an awkward expression sits on the snow, and on the other side, what looks to be a wardrobe.

The castle gates are closed and cracked behind you- returning the way you came is impossible . But there’s new gates, to the left and right, and forward, you can enter the castle properly.

Or you can play in the snow for a while. It’s up to you.]

Re: CASTLE

[robitussin]

[TAKING A MINUTE TO CALM DOWN FROM THAT IMPENDING DOOM

and then going to look at the snowman]

NYSSA'S REALM

[soulping]

[This room should be familiar to everyone- Cold glass and flowers everywhere. Nyssa’s realm. There’s an oppressive feeling of fear, the desire to run away. A voice can be heard whispering from the distance… It’s hopeless. Now that you’re here, you’re doomed.

A pedestal with a glass tiara is set up, and opposite it an inkwell held up by thorned vines. On the ground, there’s a broken mirror wedged inside a smashed clock. A glass tube comes out of the ground, cracks all over it, with a bloody corpse inside. Train tracks cross the area, terminating at a table covered in tarot cards.

The door behind you... Whether you just entered it, or fell from above, isn’t it strangely far behind you, now? And there’s the sense of danger. You shouldn’t be here.]

Re: NYSSA'S REALM

[justichthys]

[ screech ]

[ The fall was scary. The landing was—well, still scary, if not quite as full of pain and death as Aoko had been expecting. S-Still, she has to take a moment to sit and breathe, hunched over. She's alive. She's okay. She's in danger, she's doomed—no. This is dangerous, but she isn't doomed. ]

[ She pushes herself to her feet, hands clenched into fists to keep them from shaking, and looks around for any other exits. ]

HOME

[soulping]

[You enter into what seems to be a normal, if slightly large, house’s living room. However, it’s dark, and cold. There’s nothing obviously bad here, but there’s still the feeling that nothing good can happen here. And if you look fast, you can see a flash of blonde hair disappearing through a door. Following it leads you to a door with a nameplate - “Aiya”- But the door is locked.

The room should be rather nice- There’s a comfortable chair, and sofa, with a coffee table between them. The table has a paper on it, and the chair is occupied by a suit of armor with a robe over it. In one dark corner of the room, there’s a tall shelf, and near the window, a hanging birdcage. Meanwhile, across from the sofa is a game console.]

Re: HOME

[robitussin]

[going to knock on the door with the nameplate]

RETRO

[soulping]

[Entering that side brings you into… a weird area. The area seems to be composed entirely of big colorful blocks, forming a design that looks to be a 3D 8-bit video game. The setting is a downtown street, skyscrapers on all sides, with a big blocky sky, blocky buildings, even blocky people milling about. In fact, the only thing left that’s normal is you.

There’s only one thing of note, really. There’s a gigantic red monster, many stories tall, standing in the middle of the road. Several buildings have been crushed under it- neatly, the blocks don’t break themselves, they just fall apart like Legos taken apart- and all that can be seen on this street is one gigantic paw, which it repeatedly lifts and crashes down into the ground.]

Re: RETRO

[freewilly]

[ I may have chosen poorly ]

[ quickly looking around, trying to see if there's a way around the monster ]

DORM

[soulping]

[Entering the castle takes you into a room that should be very familiar to anyone who’s been in Takshaka’s dormitory. Pillows and bedding and ladders, and of course, the nestbed. But there’s something different- The room’s been split in two, right down the center. There’s a narrow, but very deep chasm between them.

On one side, the room feels warm and inviting. It’s a place to relax, where you can do anything. You don’t even have to do anything- Things will get done, with or without you. The other side feels colder and worrying. It’s a place to get things done- You feel you have to be strong here. But at the same time, it’s a place where you can be strong.

The chasm has two strings laced through it, one gray and one yellow, tying the two sides together. However, sometimes it seems as though the split strains against those strings.

And in the far side of the dorm, there appears to be a back door?]

Re: DORM

[ofbelief]

[ well. this is worrying.

peering down the chasm. ]

ROOM

[soulping]

[Opening the door lets you into what looks like someone’s bedroom... If it had been the site of a riot. Nearly everything is smashed to pieces. Graffiti, in large frantic text, is scrawled all over the walls. The bed is in splinters, the mattress torn apart, springs sharp and jutting. There’s shredded pages in piles on the ground, and against the wall, a twisted, shattered mirror. There’s a pile of trash in the middle. Even the door’s nameplate looks as though someone has attacked it with a knife, trying their best to hack it to pieces, even though the name ‘Aiya’ can still faintly be made out. There’s a trash can in the corner, but all that’s in it is a simple book.

If the living room was cold, this room has an outright chill. There is nothing here but a sense of cold foreboding, and the only thing undamaged is a computer in the corner, monitor softly glowing, with that being the only source of light in the room.

Oddly, there’s a door in the back where it looks like one shouldn’t belong.

And when Natalie enters, the door locks again behind you.]

Re: ROOM

[robitussin]

[...well then

nightingale isn't still in here, is she?]

BLANK

[soulping]

[This room is in significantly better shape than the previous one… because there’s nothing there. The room is blank, white, like a void. All that can be seen is a dusty pile in the corner.]

Re: BLANK

[robitussin]

[welp this is creepy

going to investigate that pile]

BEDROOM

[soulping]

[You wake up in a bed.

The room you’re in now isn’t any room you’ve seen before. It’s warm, inviting, colored in pastel and with little decorations all around. The room is illuminated by the soft blue glow of a crystal- the one that fell earlier. However, there isn’t much time to look around, as you’re being watched carefully by a little blonde girl in purple robes…]

Re: BEDROOM

[freewilly]

[ jolting awake, looking around him and drawing himself inwards and staying quiet for a moment, trying to process this ]

APARTMENT

[soulping]

[You enter into what looks to be a small apartment. Those of you who have seen her memories can probably recognize it as Yura’s, but to those who haven’t, it’s a perfectly normal apartment. At least, the base of the room is. There’s several strange odds and ends around. But that doesn’t matter- This room is warm. There’s a warmth to it, a sense of familiarity, of safety.

There’s a couch, with a plush cat, bear, and fish placed together on it. A birdnest hanging nearby, with another pile of plushes, all in different shapes. Near that, another hanging birdcage, but the shapes inside are harder to see.

The coffee table has dioramas placed on it- a cityscape, a cave with monsters, a large house. A cell phone lays on the table in the middle of them, plugged into the wall.

The side hall leads to two bedrooms, and the apartment seems to have a back door, though locked.]

Re: APARTMENT

[ofbelief]

[ FIRST THINGS FIRST. Does the key work in the backdoor, important questions. ]

CECILIA'S REALM

[soulping]

[The area is one that will be familiar to Takshakas- The blowing wind and the vast landscape of Cecilia’s realm. But there’s a new sense to it- An oppressive, lonely feeling. Now, you realize just how alone you are. Even if you entered this room with others, they’re nowhere to be seen.

However, there’s people in the distance. Or, if it’s more to your taste, there’s items scattered about here, as well. A Takshaka’s cape is on the ground. There’s a strange letter fluttering around in the wind, too. Or, on a strange pedestal, is a purple vase full of stones.

The only door you can see is the one you came out of. Is there really a way forward through here?]

Re: CECILIA'S REALM

[freewilly]

It's different...

[ taking a deep breath before reaching out to try and catch the letter fluttering in the wind ]

TRUE HEART

[soulping]

[You’ve returned to the Takshaka dorm… Except not quite. This time, there’s no rift, and the room is bright, sunny, and warm. Birdsong can be heard wherever you go. And in the center of the room, in the central nestbed, you can see… Nightingale. Well, two of her.

One of them is curled up, clutching a large glass heart to her chest- it’s full of cracks and splits, it seems to have crumbled to pieces many times, but it’s now held together with multicolored tape. The other is draped over the first, whispering into her ear.

Still, the one holding the heart smiles as she sees you approach.]

Hey. Welcome to here.

Re: TRUE HEART

[robitussin]

[i won through the power of gay]

...Hey.

[coming to sit near them]