[Heart Game - Ed, Maya, Roxy]

[carptricks]

[It's dark. You're trying to move forward, but it feels like your limbs are weighed down by chains and shackles. Still, you push. You push and you pull and those chains are pulled taut and strained until suddenly--]

[Something snaps]

[You tumble forward, wind blowing past your face, until you lose awareness of anything around you. . .]

((another run ran concurrent to this one here))

Comments

[soulping]

[It's a totally and completely normal vase of roses]

[Touching the flowers imparts a sense of. . . Kaito. For the briefest of moments, Roxy is entirely erased in your mind, for you're Kuroba Kaito, this is your house, your heart, your city. These are the things that you like, that you love, that you hate and that you know how to do]

[The feeling fades quickly. THANKFULLY. I'm sure you don't want to be Kaito forever]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[wahjeiowajew]

[BACKING AWAY FROM THE VASE.]

Okay, that needs a fuckin' warning, holy shit.

[soulping]

I did ask you who he was before you entered.

[comes a huffy Aoko-like voice from behind Roxy]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

Okay, there's no logical progression from that to 'oh, there's a thing that will overwrite your MIND for a minute in here.'

[soulping]

[Aoko stands behind you with her hands linked behind her back. She's wearing a smile, but it's punctuated by a roll of her eyes]

You have to be careful! This house is where everything Kaito starts.

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[Sighs.]

Got it, got it.

....what's through that door? [The one with the chains.]

[soulping]

[Aoko turns her head towards the door and makes a face]

Mmm. If everything Kaito likes is out here, then everything he dislikes is in there.

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

Aaaah. Would explain why it's locked up tight.

...anyone else been in here? Maybe someone carrying clock hands?

[soulping]

[. . . okay, at the words "locked up tight," Aoko laughs]

Well! You might want to take a closer look at it.

[but her smile fades at the question and she shakes her head]

And no, I haven't seen anyone like that here. Who stole Kaito's clock hands?

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

Some dude with no discernable features.

[Though she's going over to look at the chains now.]

What are the clock hands anyway?

[soulping]

[THE CHAINS. . . are made of plastic. so is the lock]

[Aoko's smile turns a bit fond, and she lifts a hand to place it on her chest]

They are a part of his heart. Of who he is underneath everything. This. . . is where Kaito begins, but it does not encompass every part of him.

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

...everything he is underneath.

[She nods.] Figured not. Never that easy to find the person underneath it all.

[Poking the chains. Do they just open up easily or does she need to pick the lock?]

[soulping]

. . . Kaito is really difficult at times.

[she huffs]

It takes a lot to see him for him, underneath his misdirection and deflection and layers.

[the chains are not secured at all, so if she pulls at them, they come away easily]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

Yeah, I imagine so.

...I think I'm gonna have to take a quick look around here. Just to be sure.

[soulping]

Feel free. It's safe here.

[Aoko nods at Roxy one last time, before she goes flop on the sofabed]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[...okay, the fact you just hang out in likes is adorable.]

[Let's take down these chains and INVESTIGATE.]

[soulping]

[( '-') maybe there are reasons for that]

[The chains fall away easily and you open the door to find--]








[a Magikarp falling out of the room and landing RIGHT ON TOP OF YOU. the contact sends a knife of fear, panic and anxiety down your spine]

[FUCKING FISH--]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[Maybe I will just ship you two.]

[rjwaoiejwaoew]

[BUT IT'S A POKEMON AND THAT INVOLVES SPARROW DERE, WHY DO YOU GIVE ME SUCH A CONFLICTING FEELING?!]

[Jerking back from the fish.]

[soulping]

[the fish Pokemon flops onto the ground, muttering it's typical karp karp karp! as it does so. the poor thing]

[but now that it's out of the way, you can see clearly into the room you just opened. it's a deep closet with several shelves lining the back of it. there are a bunch of different items on said shelves too. and in case you were wondering, yes there is a fish tank in there]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[...okay, even with fear and panic, its' a fish Pokemon ):]

[Can I pick it up to put it in the fish tank?]

[soulping]

[you can]

[. . . you feel the same sense of fear and petrification when you touch it again, though. phobias, man. they suck]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[Nope nope nope nope IT IS A LIFE AND YOU DO NOT LET LIFE DIE EVEN IF YOU'RE TERRIFIED LALONDE, JUST THINK OF SHIPPING CHARTS.]

[The fastest throwing fish in a fish tank EVER]

[soulping]

[KER-SPLASH]

[the fear fades into relief, and the Magikarp swims around the fish tank happily]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[OH THANK GOD.]

[Just...breathe for a minute and will look at the stuff on the shelves.]

[soulping]

[some of the items in the closet are super mundane; there's a box of tea and a carton of vanilla ice cream. some of them are more pointed; there's a small figure of Nyssa thrown at the very back, along with a beat up fedora]

[and then there's an iron key, easily missed unless you're looking around carefully. it's covered in cobwebs]