decomposed | .aspects game

[ eventually the ivy gives way, and you find yourself in - well, it’s a garden of a sort. you can see the walls hedging it in, distantly, and if you look up, the ceiling stretches high above you. light like sunlight shimmers warm and bright from what might be chandeliers dotted all the way across.

but the plants themselves - rather than being planted in orderly plots or rows, they look more like they grew in naturally, and to an almost unreal extent.

most of the room is overtaken by a forest. it’s hard to discern anything through the thick of the trees - but starting where you are, extending off to your right, is mostly blooming brush and hedges, a field or two of wildflowers. a path cuts through off that way, visibly. it’s a bit of a walk but from here but it looks like it carves its way around the woods to go behind it, cutting close to a wall where the brush-like area tapers and gives way to more trees.

the whole place looks deliriously overgrown, aside from the path kept neatly clear, but everything is green and healthy, nothing looks like it’s suffocating. despite this, there don’t seem to be any animals or even insects, and there’s a bad feeling coming from the forest. it’s faint enough (at least from here) that it’s hard to discern the way it’s bad, however. it’s just unpleasant. the other way feels fine.

which way? ]

((scoring criteria is finding and engaging with the npcs, esp multiple of them. you’re allowed to try to get through this room more than once but if you do only the first attempt will count for scoring.))

[the unpleasant feeling to one side, it's the blooms and wildflowers that win him over-- he's definitely headed that way]

[ it’s somewhat long, maybe 10 minutes worth, but it’s an easy walk, very even ground. even though they’re not trees, some of the plants around you loom tall - some ferns stretching out past eye level - but for the most part, your view of the forest constantly at your left is unbroken. at a few points the path wavers in a bit more thinly, but it never breaks or stops. ]

[then he'll keep going, not minding the walk, stopping to admire any flowers he sees now and then whilst occasionally casting a glance towards the forest, not entirely forgetting the wrong feeling that comes from it]

[ as you come around the bend, it’s quickly apparent that the path doesn’t go all the way around the woods at all. it stops just a little out of sight, leading straight to a staircase carved into the stone wall. the steps are evenly made, and there’s even a railing leading up, made from polished wood.

the brush-and-fields area doesn’t go on more than a couple feet past where the path ends. straight ahead, there’s only more woods. ]

[up the staircase it is, it's interesting, and it's gotta be here for a reason, right?]

[ the stairs lead up to a single doorway, simple and elegantly made like the very first door, but far better maintained. nothing is blocking the way. ]

[then he'll push it open, and attempt to step inside]

[ WWWWELCOME BACK

if he tries the ivy door again, it will still open for him ]

[clearly he's good at this /SOBS]

[ the door is maybe a little easier to open this time, going in. everything about the garden is the same as before - the forest feels bad and the path is pretty and appealing ]

[he totally still prefers the path, would rather be near the flowers than the bad feeling from the forest but-- well. he'll stand for a moment steeling himself before turning towards the forest this time.]

[ the light falls mottled through the leaves, but it’s bright enough, and at least for now the canopy coverage thin enough, that it’s not even dark. since you’re not following a path, there’s a fair smattering of gnarly roots underfoot, but it’s perfectly easy to see and avoid them. the shade would almost feel a little nice, except for that feeling that’s gotten worse. it’s somewhat like anxiety, combined with a slight ache in your chest.

it’s stronger going straight forward, right into the thick of the woods, but there’s - maybe a separate offshoot? that feels like it’s off to your left. it’s easier to travel that way, since it’s still close to the edge of the woods. ]

[the feeling-- it's unpleasant, and for a while he does nothing more than stand where he is and try to focus on his breathing, trying to calm himself. It's not working though, and so he'll try edging left, trying to alleviate some of that anxious, aching sensation.]

[ you can see the path through the trees as you walk - there are plenty of spaces where it would be easy to just cut through and walk along that way, instead of through here. that anxiety still clenches in your chest - even going this way, it’s getting a little worse now. ]

[the temptation to head back to the sunny path amidst the flowers only grows stronger along with the cold pressure of anxiety, but he keeps moving for now, glancing at the path at regular intervals and trying to keep his mind off the growing feeling of unease]

[ eventually, up ahead of you, there’s - it almost looks like a person, but not quite. not quite substantial enough. not quite… human-looking enough. whatever they are, they seem to be floating.

also, that pain-- it’s definitely from them. the closer you get to them the stronger it becomes, that heart-hurt just from looking at them. their expression, from what you can make of it, is so twisted and sad.

and then they spot you, and lunge straight for you, hands reaching for your neck and mouth wide in a voiceless scream.

if you run, let me know if you go further into the woods or stay on the edges or try to get out of them ]

[he's really missing the flowers right about now.

Instead, there's that feeling, so strong now he feels almost crippled by it, and the indistinct figure looks so strange and sad that it brings him up short, leaves him standing still and concerned and wanting to run.

But then it sees him and the screaming starts and it's lunging towards him and instead of running like he wants to that other thing kicks in, fight or flight where fight wins out because it's what he's supposed to be and so he rushes forward instead, tries to defend himself]

[ any attempt to strike them just glances right off, and their clawed hands grasp for Giovanni's face - and the moment they make contact it suddenly becomes clear, that feeling didn’t just come from them. it’s theirs. they are in absolute agony and there is nothing.

nothing.

nothing to console them.

everything was taken from them and they have nothing except their own suffering, their hurts and betrayals and anger and failure which haunts them and haunts them and haunts them and why won’t you help them? why did you let this happen? why did you let this happen? surely you could end their pain and yours if you help them help them help them help them help them help them help them ]

[it's too much. it's overwhelming, he's out of his depth and drowning in wave after wave of the beings' suffering and he doesn't know what to do because its endless and someone like him could never console them even if there was a way to do it because he can almost (almost) understand it. Instead all it does is rip a scream right from the bottom of his lungs and up through his chest out of his throat and he'll try, now, to turn and run.

If he can run, his own desperate need to get away will send him further into the forest]

[ he manages to wrench out of his grip and escape. it's slow to recover from being thrown off, and he manages to get some distance as he goes deeper into the forest, where the leaf-cover becomes so thick that it gets dark, and there are a lot more roots and probably ivy and bushes and stuff underfoot. it makes it hard to run. if he looks behind him, he can still make out enough to discern thdir figure pursuing him, less deterred by the uneven ground given the fact that it's floating

and if he looks back ahead of him oh god there's another one ]

[well, fuck. He's just gonna...try lurching off diagonally, away from both of these terrifying beings, but even with his exceptional eyesight it's harder to see in the gathering darkness, and whilst running in a blind panic it's an awful lot more difficult to avoid awkward footing than it may be in a less fear-driven situation.

Eventually he does, unsurprisingly, trip and fall, landing in a thick leafy bush where he immediately curls up in a fetal position because that'll protect him from the wailing specters of suffering, surely...]

[ touching the bush so much does help him feel better, at least, but yeah it probably won't like, stop the ghouls. but as they close in -- Uriel steps between them and Giovanni, and sets a hand on his arm to console him ]

Are you hurt?

[something like relief washes over him then, and still shaking he turns a tear-streaked face towards Uriel. He doesn't appear to be hurt, but the question goes unanswered]

W-what were those things?

[ they're still there, hovering behind him, and the feeling they exude hasn't left or lessened. but with Uriel here they're not advancing. he offers out his hands to help Giovanni up out of the bush, his own presence warm and soothing, like the plants but moreso ]

They are ghouls - souls of those once subject to a cruel torture which stripped them of their sanity and reduced them to this.

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