[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))

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THE MORGUE

[soulping]

[You step into the cabin only to be greeted by a much welcomed gust of warmth that thaws out your frozen extremities. Maybe you're so focused on this blessed reprieve that it distracts you from the fact that you just stepped into a morgue]

[. . . it's a cozy morgue, at least! The walls are made of brick and the floor of wood paneling. A light hanging from the ceiling casts a dim glow on the area, and there's a small kitchen table with a vase of lilies and a monocle on top of it located to your left. There are a couple of wooden crates stacked up against the wall next to the table, too. There's even a fireplace to your right, which is currently nursing a blazing flame. It looks like someone might live here?]

[But despite the cozy accommodations, you feel a sense of solemn reverence curl in the pit of your stomach. The back wall is definitely lined with stainless steel body drawers, after all, each one labeled with a different name. You'd have to look closer to see what those names are, though]

[There's a small trap door underneath the kitchen table, should you be perceptive enough to notice it. There's also a large vault door locked with onyx chains here.]

[soulping]

[. . . Ed wakes up sprawled out on a mat on the floor, a blanket cover his body. his wounds have been properly bandaged, though Kaito wasn't able to do much for the blood staining his clothing]

[fuhrinkaed]

[Okay before anything else, Ed is checking for the clock hands.]

[carptricks]

[HE STILL HAS THEM]

[also Kaito is sitting next to his side, resting his chin in one hand]

Rise and shin, dummy Sleeping Beauty.

[fuhrinkaed]

[First priority: we cleaning magic the blood off of them.]

H-hey there. Was I out long?

[carptricks]

[sticks his tongue out]

Long enough for me to bandage you up. You cut it pretty close out there.

[fuhrinkaed]

Not the first time. [Trying to... Stand up.]

Sorry to be so deep in here and being all inconvenient all over your heart, but--well, you know why I'm here, right?

[carptricks]

[he can stand up if he wishes! he might feel a little sore, but some of his energy has returned. he's no longer, you know. in danger of bleeding to death]

I know. This is my heart-- I know everything that goes on within it.

[he stands up as well, brushing dust off of his bum as he does so]

Jii-chan really meant for you to climb the vines in the city. The easy pathway to the clocktower is by rooftop.

[fuhrinkaed]

Then he should have said so. Poor communication gets me beat up, y'know?

[carptricks]

Idiiiiot.

[he says in a sing-song voice]

. . . he's always worrying about me. He was probably vague on purpose, so you'd wander your way over here.

[fuhrinkaed]

...Weeh.

Well, should I worry? What is all this?

[carptricks]

. . .

[stuffs his hands into his pockets and glances around]

No. This place is safe. You can take a look around, if you really want to. Now that you're here.

[fuhrinkaed]

[Then I guess we'll study the drawers.]

I'd question why a morgue is safe in your heart, but for all I know mine's even weirder.

[carptricks]

[Each of the drawers is labeled with a different name. There are. . . a ton of them, honestly]

[Aoko. Diamond. Clover. Toichi. Jack Connery. Trick. Toshiya Hamano. Delriza. The robot. The mad scientist. Dahlia. And every team in Kyriakos]

[Kaito just shrugs]

[fuhrinkaed]

So this is a sort of informational room? [Probably? Maybe?]

[Lets see if I can find my name.]

[soulping]

[yep, there's an Ed drawer too]

[fuhrinkaed]

[Rule two: snooping on yourself is ok. LETS PEEKING.]

[soulping]

[there's a mirror shard inside]

[looks an awful lot like the one you shoved into your mirror the other day]

[fuhrinkaed]

[....]

[>TOUCH SHARD.]

[soulping]

[OKAY SO]

[remember when you almost got your soul blown up]

[remember when Kaito fussed at your bedside afterwards]

[this is that memory, only from Kaito's point of view]

[. . . you feel a lot of terror at the thought of losing someone you consider such a close friend-- no, not just a friend, a brother-- when the memory fades]

[fuhrinkaed]

...

So this room is about us dying or getting ourselves hurt.

I guess it's no help if I say I knew what I was doing again, huh.

[carptricks]

. . .

[glances away and shrugs again]

When you lose your old man at such a young age, like I did, that fear kinda. . . sticks with you.

[fuhrinkaed]

...I guess it would.

I wouldn't really... know. Y'know? What with the not knowing mine until well after the fact.

[carptricks]

. . .

But you know what it felt with-- your sister. Right? And how d'you think it'd feel if it were me?

[fuhrinkaed]

...yeah.

I can kinda' understand it. Which is why I don't do things I can't recover from some way or another.