Field Mission 7: The Queen of Hearts, Part 1

[balancemod]

Once upon a time... NAVIGATION Click here for the RNG thread! The day is met the way all others begin: the sun rises from the eastern stretch of land facing the sea, as the citizens of Emberwharf awaken to a fish market brimming with life and splendor. The same sun is seen in Ok'talar, where its warchief watches, as is tradition for its leader to be meditating under the warmth of its warm embrace. The clans of the Highlands pick up where they left off just yesterday, squabbling over minor infractions of land, marriage, or deals that have fell through. And in the cold clutches of Orrenvia to the north, people are bundling up and preparing to visit the mines at the base of the Spine of the World. The general news throughout the Kingdom of Fanelia is that today is a day of celebration. It marks the 110th anniversary of the coronation of its ruler, the Queen of Hearts. While some people around the outskirts of the citadel proper consider this as a day of mourning, many are called forth to partake in festivities, dining, and the accompaniment of the finest musicians from the far-reaching town of Peppelfen. For the last 110 years, the Queen has kept order and, somehow, relative peace throughout the kingdom she rules. Although open defiance and protest is met with swift justice and sentencing, no one can overlook how crafty and careful she is. Her manipulations resonate throughout the annals of the history of Fanelia, present in every major brokered deal throughout its vast land mass and diverse population. Her benevolent guidance is felt by all... as is her tyranny. She is a monarch of paradoxes: obsessed with control, but only acting for the betterment of the realm's self-preservation. Every passionate declaration of "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" had been necessary up to this point; who else can steer and guide this world into prosperity than she herself? The horizon in the far off distance swirls with its usual tumultuous temper. A dark cloud surrounds the continent where Fanelia is located, known to all as "The Expanse." Every year, the border closes a little bit more inward, narrowing the lands and threatening the civilizations that reside on the fringes. Its presence encroaches, and with it, a general looming sense of fear that one day only the capital city will be left standing, protected by a magical bubble of pure radiant light that allows only those permitted by decree to enter. But none of you can remember your life before this illusion took hold. As far as you're concerned, you've been here your entire life. You don't notice that this farce, this world created by the usage of a Grand Relic, has only existed for a year. One whole year has passed since magic was cut loose from Faerun's fabric, and no one is any wiser that it's been gone at all. You look down to your wrist, noticing the same three clouded, empty colored crystals that have always been there since the day you were born. Each one bears the shape of a heart, and it makes sense to you why Lucretia is known as... The Queen of Hearts. 1. THE COURT OF HEARTS A. ANOTHER MORNING, HOWEVER YOU SLICE IT Good morning! Where are you right now? Another day is creeping over the horizon, and your life as you know it is continuing down the path it always has. Wherever you are. However you're feeling. The crystals on your wrist, though you've managed to sort out at least one purpose for them by now, remain as dull and lifeless as they've always been. Maybe you've long since figured out that not everyone has them — and maybe today is the morning that you finally heed a call to figure out why. The harder you think about it, the more questions you seem to have. It's a wide world out there, and there are people you just might be dying to remember. Where will you go? Who will you run into? B. NETWORK Speaking of that one purpose you've stumbled upon: A series of messages that, if you choose to access them, dance across your mind as if they were your own thoughts. Over the years, the messages have ranged from confused — people on the other end wondering what this is, without really finding any answers — to just straight up sales pitches. One day, though, a message under the name of Avalon appears: Wandering fortune teller and adviser offering services. Have a burning question you want answered? Do you wish for a quick peek into the void, to light a match into the unknown? Giving out free samples now! Just message me ;) [ooc: If you'd like a randomized way for a memory to begin unraveling, feel free to hit up the RNG thread for a fortune! Note: A low roll doesn't necessarily mean a failure to nudge your character in the right direction, it will just dictate how cryptic and/or troll-y the fortune actually is. Or, feel free to come up with an unrelated fortune for a prompt.] C. AROUND THE CAPITAL One way or another, you may make your way to the capital city, the seat of the Court of Hearts. Whether you're here for answers, or whether you're here just to see the sights, here are a few ideas to get you started. ○ Chaotic croquet: Indeed, you will be discovering how the capital city plays the queen's favorite game. You and a fellow crystal-bearer/Reclaimer will near immediately be roped into a round and pitted against each other, with a rather stern reminder to follow the rules. If only the rules made sense! Each path to the next wicket is more treacherous than the last — you may find yourself quite literally navigating the ball over a bottomless pit, or bumping it up stairs that threaten to send the ball right back, careening toward your face. There is also the Stone Golem guarding the final wicket to contend with. It's a bit strange, actually. It's almost as if this match of the Queen of Hearts' imagining would prefer that the two of you worked together, rather than against each other. ○ We mentioned earlier that the castle, should you wander past the common areas, gets a little ... strange. It's labyrinthine in nature, with staircases, doors and hallways that lead to no where, or straight into the ceiling. The neat line of roses planted along the hallways begin to wither the farther you walk — almost as if nobody dared getting lost just to water some plants. And then, you wander into an empty room, that quite literally transforms before your eyes. It's the place you call home. Or ... is it? This is most certainly not your bedroom back in whatever corner of Fanelia you hail from. In fact, you don't think you've ever set foot in there before — it might be a bedroom with views into outer space itself. It might be a place from another world entirely, one that you definitely don't recognize. But as time passes, and as you stand there, your sense of longing grows stronger. You should probably get out of there, before the guards find you. ○ The Queen of Hearts, in a recent twist (not unusual for her), has a keen interest in the relationships her subjects have with one another, whether it's romantic or platonic. And she'd like to see to it that the people of Fanelia are able to find those important people in their lives. Enter: THE FANELIA FRIENDSHIP (OR SOMETHING MORE?) EXTRAVAGANZA Yeah, it's pretty much a dating show, for both the amusement of onlookers and for your benefit! Or friendship show, as it were. Sign up, answer a brief survey, and showrunners will pair you with a fellow crystal-bearer/Reclaimer that they think you may be compatible with. Let the dating begin! You may: - Slay a monster together - Take a nice long walk around the capital city together - Be given a series of embarrassing questions to ask each other - Cook a meal together - The list goes on Is the right person, or your new best friend, waiting for you in plain sight? Sign up and find out! D. EXPANDED WILDCARD As we mentioned in the OOC post, we highly encourage worldbuilding and creating your own scenarios to recover your character's lost memories! Outside of the capital city, the entire setting is yours to alter, and play in, as you see fit. Want to haunt the Enchanted Forest, or hunt wild boars? Want to follow your character's fairy tale story and have them work their way to leader of a clan, or of a settlement in Kingstown? Go for it! This is your story to write. If you have any questions, feel free to hit us up on the OOC post. blurb code by photosynthesis

Comments

[hxppythxughts]

[He knows, he says he knows and Sayori knows that he's seen the same thing she has. There's a certain relief in it, knowing her brain hasn't just—invented some horror involving his likeness. She watches the way he reaches for her and then stops, feels immensely grateful even though the experience of pain in her neck is somehow twice removed from her mind.

Absently, her eyes still locked on his fist:] Yeah.

[And then she takes a deep breath like she's just come up for air, swallows whatever knot of uncertainty was in her throat. She repeats, more confidently:] Yeah. You said...

[Already whatever it was is starting to feel fuzzy in the details, but more than his exact words, she remembers what she felt when she heard them. There's a pulsing echo of it, disbelief and joy, trepidation and warmth, fear and love all balled up together and impossible to disentangle. She looks him in the eye, wondering and yearning.] ...I was someone to protect. Someone to believe in. ...Right?

[protegge]

[Someone to believe in.]

[His eyes widening slightly, he reaches out without looking, without knowing; his fingers brush over her knuckles, the space he kissed after ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓, when he promised her . . . whatever it is that he promised her . . .]

[To protect her. Someone to protect. Someone to believe in. He believes in her, he does. He always has, ever since he met her.]

. . . Uh-huh.

[His thumb presses between her knuckles before sliding over to the space between her thumb and fingers, resting light against the web of skin that reaches up a little further than it might on a normal girl. There's a pulse of echoing fondness, love and tenderness and frustration that he can't feel it more clearly. He wants to know better, wants to understand more.]

It's . . . an Oath. From me to you. To protect you, to follow you. And I carried you out of . . .

[Out of&mdash] A nightmare? [It must have been. That must have been it. That couldn't have really happened, could it?]

[hxppythxughts]

[As his thumb brushes over her hand and comes to rest, she can feel the hypersensitive burn in her knuckles all over again and the flush in her face reflecting that burn. But— he's not her prince, so why does it feel like...that was the first time someone had touched her like that?

She nods furiously, leaning forward in her seat as if urged forward by their connection. Their...Oath? That must be what this is, right?] You did! It was definitely you.

You— [a stumble, her gaze flickering down to his chest and over to his arm with a furrow in her brow] you carried me even though you were hurt. And you had some little fellows with you!

fingers wtf were you doing up there

[protegge]

[It was definitely him.]

[This isn't the first time his heart has done that weird sideways thump in his chest while he's looking at her, but it's the first time it's been so . . . what's the word for it? Like he's felt it before, not just once but a hundred thousand times. Been here, right here, feeling this thing with her. For her. He looks for a second as though he's been slapped.]

I— [Of course I did, is what he means to say, even though he doesn't remember at all. It just makes sense, though — makes sense that he'd carry her no matter his own state. Of course he would. It's Sayori; he'd do anything for her.]

[But there's no time to consider it. Not with the next thing she throws his way. That shocked look plasters itself over his face again, leaves him gape-mouthed and with another heart flickering to life on his bracelet.]

F— Fellows? [Little men? It flickers dim again and he shakes his head, confused.] Why — how many?

their best.

[hxppythxughts]

[Ah, the ripple of that flipping feeling is—somehow both new and nostalgic all at once. The warmth in her chest stings a bit, like something getting into a little cut you didn't realize you had; she knows this feeling and it feels right, but it layers strangely over the love for the prince in her story.

She chooses to ignore the warped image it makes as a whole for now. What's more important is Mista, right now in front of her, one of her dearest friends going through—something. Something with her. Something they share, somehow.

She answers automatically:] Seven? [They...had numbers on them. She thinks she saw a 7. But then—] Wait, no. Six.

[That's— she doesn't know how she knows it. She definitely didn't have time to count. But seven doesn't feel right; she's sure it must have been six.]

[protegge]

[It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make any godsdamned sense and he knows it. Seven men but six, too. He should question her, or dismiss it as her simply not remembering. He knows that. And yet—]

[And yet, his brain can't register it as anything but gospel truth. There were six, and there was a seventh. Without hesitating, he nods his understanding.]

It must've been six! One, two, three, five, six, seven! Right?

[That's how you count. That's how he counts.]

[The second heart flickers to vibrant life again, and stays that way this time.]

[hxppythxughts]

[That absolutely makes no sense, but as he says it she squeezes his hand tighter and leans even closer, further over the table, her eyes wide with excitement.] Yes! Yes, exactly like that!

[Why is there no 4? She doesn't understand consciously but at the same time it doesn't seem that weird. And she knows it's better not to ask.]

They were really cute! Do you— [she wants to say remember, but, when would that have—?] —know who they were?