I thought it was—I have a similar memory—but that wasn't me. [he slips the piano key into his pocket, and the knife alongside his sword in the scabbard, because they're probably going to run.] It was my replica. He'd replaced me.
[in one of his happiest memories, one that he'd held closest to his heart—he'd been put aside in favor of...
he shakes his head, forcing the thought out. it was an illusion. fake. just to trick him into anguish. a shame, then, it had worked so damn well.]
I found Flayn's dagger, and a key from a piano. I'll hold on to them.
[...
he taps the hard surface.]
...Is this... another instrument? Or some kind of-- [he coughs, a blood-red petal falling to the sand.] --of, of stage? There were spotlights.
[he brushes away some more sand with both hands, ignoring the stinging pain from the sand in his wounds.]
[ So a memory, but distorted. His brow furrows. He doesn't blame Asch for being caught up in a spell like that, when it had been designed so deliberately to hurt him? Was Flayn trapped in the same?
The music lulls him into a false sense of calm, but the unease still rests beneath it. He regrets putting Asch through this when he'd just been violently choked out, but needs must. ]
It does feel like a stage, and we're the actors.
[ ...He hurries along, expecting Asch to follow. There can't be that much to search, if the coastline drops off like that. ]
I feel like I know this place... It's not quite right, though.
[If Flayn feels around (and considering she's bonking her head), she may find that she's in what appears to be a sturdy wooden box of some sort. There are a few indents in the roof, though it's impossible to make out what they could possibly be at the moment. Most importantly, the air situation isn't super great. But she'll hear the voices of her mother and father lovingly speaking toward her, but not directly at her.
Asch taps the surface and it produces the same hollow-like sound as their footsteps had before in the flower field. As they begin to walk, the sand shifts beneath their feet and there's the glint of something out in the water, like glass in the sunlight. Up above, there's also the cry of a seagull and the shadow's shaped strangely, as if the invisible bird is holding something in its mouth.]
Okay, that's not great. That's not great at all. Flayn sucks in a sharp breath, distressed, but then tries to will herself to calm. She breathes shallowly - if this is what she thinks it is, then she needs to conserve her breath.
The sound of her parents' voices makes her heart ache, though, and tears prick at the corners of her eyes. With as much strength as she can muster (it isn't much), she slams her hands against the top of whatever she's in.
Please, find me...!
She wants to scream it out, but she needs to save her air.]
[Asch looks up, and Dimitri is already off. He stands hurriedly, and starts to follow after, catching up quick enough.]
It must be another memory—Flayn's. If she's not here, she might already be caught somewhere. If I was the focus of my stage, then she must be the focus of this one. Look—the fish aren't even real.
[ The fish are kind of creepy, actually. Especially since he's left on beach-wading duty. But Asch is right, Flayn is potentially in a great deal of danger—what if neither of them had been there when Asch was dragged up by the neck?
No time to waste, so he'll go off into the water to try and... grab? whatever's in the water. What's out here. ]
[As Flayn slams her hands on the ceiling, the sound reverberates beneath Dimitri and Asch's feet, as if, perhaps, she's somewhere under them. Asch stomps on the shadow of the bird and it squawks indignantly, something falling from the sky to bonk Asch on the head. It falls to the sand, but should he look, he'll find another piano key, also oddly shaped. It doesn't quite fit the first piece he found, but it's sure there.
As for Dimitri, he'll find that up close the water looks more like a lot of shiny fabric waving back and forth than water itself, but there's a glass bottle bobbing in the waves. Should he pick it up, there's a third piano piece.
That, somehow, is more frightening than the fact that she's still stuck in this - whatever it is. She's trying to keep her breathing even, to not use up all her air in sheer panic, but it's hard.
They were right there. (You cannot turn back the clock, she reminds herself. Mother is already gone—) They were right there.
[ He grabs the bottle, tapping the key out onto his palm before giving one of the fish a concerned look and striding back to 'shore.' ]
I found one as well—sorry, you heard what?
[ The ground has the same, strange hollow to it as before; he kicks aside some of the sand, fingers smoothing over the wooden surface before pounding on it, like a very aggressive door knock. He just calls out, to everywhere and nowhere, to above the floorboards and below, ]
[Diggy...Dimitri brushes aside some sand, and pounding on the stage produces another key that was stuck between the floorboards. With four in hand now, they'll both find that moving the sand around begins to unveil the entire stage.
Flayn, however, can hear them. She'll hear them from somewhere far off, but she can continue pounding to try and draw their attention closer toward that cliff. And the more the sand is disturbed, the boys will soon realize that the bright blue sky is beginning to cloud over...the beach grows a bit darker as the sun disappears behind said-clouds.]
[She can and she will keep pounding at the ceiling - because the more time she spends in here, the more freaked-out she's getting. They sound so far away. What if they don't find her? What if she's stuck in here, forever, and--]
Please! Let me out!
[...oh, no, bad. She shouldn't have yelled. It's getting harder to breathe in here.
She draws her hands back down, trembling, and her fingertips brush against her staff. For now, she clutches at it like it's a lifeline, but she's too panicked to think of what she could do with it.]
[Asch and Dimitri, both furnished with two keys, are doin' a diggy, except--]
--I hear her. [he coughs again, hacking up another piece of errant petal, and stands.] Closer to--over there.
[he points in the direction of the yell, and starts to move, keeping low enough to the ground that he should be able to hear something else.]
Flayn! [it's not much of a shout, voice breaking into scraping halfway through—and he stops briefly, pounding a foot on the ground, before continuing forward at speed.]
[ It's getting darker, the atmosphere turning ominous, but they can't afford to worry about it; he casts Asch a worried look, staying quiet in favor of listening as they hurry along.
It's faint, but they can follow the distant thuds, their own feet echoing across the stage. ]
Flayn!
[ He shouts whenever it sounds like they're getting closer, listening for a response. ]
[The soft music plays quicker, and as Flayn pounds the ceiling and Dimitri and Asch check along the ground, they'll find that the noise is coming from a pile of sand near the cliffside. Flayn, likewise, will begin to hear their footsteps echo as they walk toward her. They'll have to dig through the sand a bit, but as they do they can at least speak to her.
They will also uncover a long, rectangular trap door...almost shaped like a body-sized box. There's a piano key in the center, and four empty slots beside it.]
[...but it really is getting harder to breathe. Her voice comes out panicked and a little weak. She's still clinging to her staff, and after a moment, she shifts the end of it up in the direction of the box's corner.
Air. She needs more air. If this goes on much longer, she...
[they push sand aside as quickly as possible—and at the reveal of the key, Asch groans in irritation, fishing his two keys out. at least they had everything they needed.
he fumbles for a moment, trying to place the keys into their correct spots as quickly, but manages to slot them both in.]</small
[ It's hard to dig in all the loose sand, but between the two of them, and the absolute dread that they've basically found Flayn in her own strange, little coffin, they manage. ]
We're almost there, Flayn—
[ He tries to sound calm, but the direness leaks into his voice anyway. Dimitri takes the two of his keys as well, putting them into place as quick as he can after Asch. ]
[Great! You've now formed a piano in the lid of Flayn's coffin. Congratulations! Flayn can hear everything and likewise, they have a better chance of hearing her if she speaks. There doesn't seem to be a way to open this trap door in the stage floor, but the five keys glint happily up at this as the clouds continue to roll ahead, the sky darkening with the impending threat of rain.
But if Flayn feels the roof of her coffin again, she'll find that those strange indents from before had become more prominent, almost as if keys have formed on her side as well to match what the boys see.
[She takes a deep breath to calm herself and nearly immediately regrets it - there isn't enough air in here for her to be doing that. Frustrated, she allows her staff to drop and pounds on the ceiling again.
Her fist slams into the more prominent indents on her side of the lid - three of the "keys" at once.]
[Asch, for his part, just wholeass presses all five. musical coffin. bad! hate this. he presses his body as close to the lid as possible, trying to speak through a hinge. the piano rings out.]
[ There isn't much room or opportunity to speak with Flayn like this, so he lets Asch handle the questioning for now. He worries briefly at his lip as he clears off sand, looking for anything else odd about this coffin, any indication what they're supposed to do with it at all as he searches for a way to rip it open. ]
[The notes play from inside Flayn's coffin, a confused sort of melody that doesn't mean anything at all. As for Asch, as he presses on all five keys it's kind of a disjointed, alarming sort of mess. But Flayn will see that all five indents seem to draw closer to her thanks to Asch's hand. Likewise, a quick blip of light flashes before her eyes before everything grows dark again. Perhaps there's something they must play to unlock the Flayn-box. Unfortunately for Dimitri, all he finds is a sealed-tight box, and a small carving of the letter F in the corner.
Thanks to Asch pressing on all five keys, letters will appear on each of them written in a way they can both see. Keys A through E are now active.]
[that was a gagtag but I'm leaving it there to commemorate work getting busy and cucking me from deleting it for half an hour.]
It's d-- ah!
[that sudden flash of light startles her into giving a small shriek. Oops.]
...there's something... on the top of this? [she reaches up and presses the other two keys.
Also uh she sounds like she's having trouble breathing. Because she is! The mod tag said ages ago the air situation is Not Great and panicking certainly isn't helping.]
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[in one of his happiest memories, one that he'd held closest to his heart—he'd been put aside in favor of...
he shakes his head, forcing the thought out. it was an illusion. fake. just to trick him into anguish. a shame, then, it had worked so damn well.]
I found Flayn's dagger, and a key from a piano. I'll hold on to them.
[...
he taps the hard surface.]
...Is this... another instrument? Or some kind of-- [he coughs, a blood-red petal falling to the sand.] --of, of stage? There were spotlights.
[he brushes away some more sand with both hands, ignoring the stinging pain from the sand in his wounds.]
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The music lulls him into a false sense of calm, but the unease still rests beneath it. He regrets putting Asch through this when he'd just been violently choked out, but needs must. ]
It does feel like a stage, and we're the actors.
[ ...He hurries along, expecting Asch to follow. There can't be that much to search, if the coastline drops off like that. ]
I feel like I know this place... It's not quite right, though.
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Asch taps the surface and it produces the same hollow-like sound as their footsteps had before in the flower field. As they begin to walk, the sand shifts beneath their feet and there's the glint of something out in the water, like glass in the sunlight. Up above, there's also the cry of a seagull and the shadow's shaped strangely, as if the invisible bird is holding something in its mouth.]
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Okay, that's not great. That's not great at all. Flayn sucks in a sharp breath, distressed, but then tries to will herself to calm. She breathes shallowly - if this is what she thinks it is, then she needs to conserve her breath.
The sound of her parents' voices makes her heart ache, though, and tears prick at the corners of her eyes. With as much strength as she can muster (it isn't much), she slams her hands against the top of whatever she's in.
Please, find me...!
She wants to scream it out, but she needs to save her air.]
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It must be another memory—Flayn's. If she's not here, she might already be caught somewhere. If I was the focus of my stage, then she must be the focus of this one. Look—the fish aren't even real.
[he stops, and points out.]
What's that.
[the odd bird shadow flies underneath him.
out of curiosity, he stomps on it.]
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No time to waste, so he'll go off into the water to try and... grab? whatever's in the water. What's out here. ]
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As for Dimitri, he'll find that up close the water looks more like a lot of shiny fabric waving back and forth than water itself, but there's a glass bottle bobbing in the waves. Should he pick it up, there's a third piano piece.
HM.]
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That, somehow, is more frightening than the fact that she's still stuck in this - whatever it is. She's trying to keep her breathing even, to not use up all her air in sheer panic, but it's hard.
They were right there. (You cannot turn back the clock, she reminds herself. Mother is already gone—) They were right there.
Did they not even notice she wasn't...?
She slams her hands against the ceiling again.]
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he leans down, rubbing his crown and scowling, and scoops it up.
huh. another key.]
Dimitri! I found another piano key. And I heard something--beneath us!
[he's already back to digging, brushing sand away, trying to relocate the wooden stage floor.]
If Flayn is below, I'll rip this place apart.
[but in the meantime, he diggy.]
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I found one as well—sorry, you heard what?
[ The ground has the same, strange hollow to it as before; he kicks aside some of the sand, fingers smoothing over the wooden surface before pounding on it, like a very aggressive door knock. He just calls out, to everywhere and nowhere, to above the floorboards and below, ]
Flayn! Can you hear us? [ where are you! ]
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Flayn, however, can hear them. She'll hear them from somewhere far off, but she can continue pounding to try and draw their attention closer toward that cliff. And the more the sand is disturbed, the boys will soon realize that the bright blue sky is beginning to cloud over...the beach grows a bit darker as the sun disappears behind said-clouds.]
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Please! Let me out!
[...oh, no, bad. She shouldn't have yelled. It's getting harder to breathe in here.
She draws her hands back down, trembling, and her fingertips brush against her staff. For now, she clutches at it like it's a lifeline, but she's too panicked to think of what she could do with it.]
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--I hear her. [he coughs again, hacking up another piece of errant petal, and stands.] Closer to--over there.
[he points in the direction of the yell, and starts to move, keeping low enough to the ground that he should be able to hear something else.]
Flayn! [it's not much of a shout, voice breaking into scraping halfway through—and he stops briefly, pounding a foot on the ground, before continuing forward at speed.]
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It's faint, but they can follow the distant thuds, their own feet echoing across the stage. ]
Flayn!
[ He shouts whenever it sounds like they're getting closer, listening for a response. ]
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They will also uncover a long, rectangular trap door...almost shaped like a body-sized box. There's a piano key in the center, and four empty slots beside it.]
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[...but it really is getting harder to breathe. Her voice comes out panicked and a little weak. She's still clinging to her staff, and after a moment, she shifts the end of it up in the direction of the box's corner.
Air. She needs more air. If this goes on much longer, she...
Well, she doesn't want to think it.]
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[they push sand aside as quickly as possible—and at the reveal of the key, Asch groans in irritation, fishing his two keys out. at least they had everything they needed.
he fumbles for a moment, trying to place the keys into their correct spots as quickly, but manages to slot them both in.]</small
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We're almost there, Flayn—
[ He tries to sound calm, but the direness leaks into his voice anyway. Dimitri takes the two of his keys as well, putting them into place as quick as he can after Asch. ]
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But if Flayn feels the roof of her coffin again, she'll find that those strange indents from before had become more prominent, almost as if keys have formed on her side as well to match what the boys see.
What now?]
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Her fist slams into the more prominent indents on her side of the lid - three of the "keys" at once.]
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We're right here. Can you see anything?
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Thanks to Asch pressing on all five keys, letters will appear on each of them written in a way they can both see. Keys A through E are now active.]
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It's d-- ah!
[that sudden flash of light startles her into giving a small shriek. Oops.]
...there's something... on the top of this? [she reaches up and presses the other two keys.
Also uh she sounds like she's having trouble breathing. Because she is! The mod tag said ages ago the air situation is Not Great and panicking certainly isn't helping.]
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