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lesmodsalouette) wrote2025-03-16 03:54 am
lesmodsalouette) wrote2025-03-16 03:54 am
Graveyard
Graveyard
The garden is still sprawling and green – despite having entirely lost all its riotous flowers and colors, along with any sign of wildlife or birdsong – though one thing stands out more than anything else: from Monday to Thursday, you can’t see the castle anymore. All that remains where it once stood (or perhaps, usually stands) is an incongruously large tree that towers over everything else and somehow looks larger and more imposing than the castle ever did. The tree’s branches are bare, without any hint of life nor leaf – however, on the weekends (that is to say, Friday through Sunday) a faint projection of the castle appears around it, cradling the only things that the denizens of this alternate garden can see in detail from the other side: the flurry of activity around the investigation, the circus-like dimension that holds the trial, and the mirrors and the grassy dimension that display the execution.
For those curious what the land of the living are up to, a mirage-like and upside-down reflection of the castle garden in its original arrangement can be spotted occasionally overlaying the sky. This strange illusion may sometimes show those in the garden on the other side, flitting in and out of view like stray clouds; but much like the weather, their appearance is mercurial – they cannot be reached and cannot be heard.
Water, Flower, Everywhere
The fountains remain active somehow, though their features seem to have eroded, obscuring the identities of the deities and the wings of the birds, cracking pottery down into nothing but worn shards and handles. At night, only maybe half the lights work (and here they are real candlelight, rather than magical), plunging most of the garden into crepuscular darkness. The trellis walkway looks quite overgrown (mysteriously, bamboo is taking over), entirely covering some statues and other features along its length, and it’s no longer walkable – a miniature canal runs the whole length underneath the arches, feeding into other new waterways around the garden that cut off footpaths seemingly at random. There are small footbridges here and there, but the lack of logic to the whole arrangement makes falling into one of the streams or canals a real hazard.
The waterways do all manage to converge at the pond by the pavilion – neither of which are all that soothing or classical anymore. The pond is only half-full, and entirely lacks water lilies or any dragonflies; its banks sit jagged above the dark waters, and perhaps that’s why the pavilion, too, is half collapsed down into it all. Gone are the curtains and ivies; only dead curling vines and half-collapsed columns are left, but there’s still someplace to sit if you put your mind to it.
Most of the flowerbeds sit fallow or overtaken by weeds – there’s signs here and there that someone might have tried to clear them out, but the bulk of the effort seems to have gone to the orchard by the gardener’s cottage. It might be more accurate to say cottages, given that there are a few of them dotted around that area for some reason. None of them are locked, but all of them have only minimal furnishings apart from the original; they’re also all provided with the full complement of gardener’s tools. Next to them, there are new saplings and half-grown flowering trees: some pear and apple, but also some not. There are new shoots in the kitchen orchard that have just barely taken root, the dirt recently turned.
The waterways do all manage to converge at the pond by the pavilion – neither of which are all that soothing or classical anymore. The pond is only half-full, and entirely lacks water lilies or any dragonflies; its banks sit jagged above the dark waters, and perhaps that’s why the pavilion, too, is half collapsed down into it all. Gone are the curtains and ivies; only dead curling vines and half-collapsed columns are left, but there’s still someplace to sit if you put your mind to it.
Most of the flowerbeds sit fallow or overtaken by weeds – there’s signs here and there that someone might have tried to clear them out, but the bulk of the effort seems to have gone to the orchard by the gardener’s cottage. It might be more accurate to say cottages, given that there are a few of them dotted around that area for some reason. None of them are locked, but all of them have only minimal furnishings apart from the original; they’re also all provided with the full complement of gardener’s tools. Next to them, there are new saplings and half-grown flowering trees: some pear and apple, but also some not. There are new shoots in the kitchen orchard that have just barely taken root, the dirt recently turned.
Hedge Maze(?)
The other most eye-catching feature is what once was an ornamental hedge maze: instead of being a tame height here, it has seemingly grown wild and completely unchecked, towering above the rest of the garden almost like its own overgrown mountain. The hedge walls go up and up and up, making it entirely impossible to see the center or even how far it goes despite the fact that sections of the hedges have also died, reduced to the branches underneath, bristling with interlocked thorns.
Part of it had even spilled over into the garden itself, huge gnarled branches spreading out like burnt-blackened fingers all the way to the edge of the pond – wherever the branches touch, even the greenery is withered, and any statues look more ruined than those in the rest of the area. As of the end of Week 3, however, the branches have retracted entirely and the way into the hedge maze has opened even more. However, there is now a storm brewing over what might be the center or the general area of it. Getting close to the hedge maze or any of the hedge(?) branches is... unpleasant, though it doesn’t usually go beyond a buzz of wrongness and a slight headache.
Part of it had even spilled over into the garden itself, huge gnarled branches spreading out like burnt-blackened fingers all the way to the edge of the pond – wherever the branches touch, even the greenery is withered, and any statues look more ruined than those in the rest of the area. As of the end of Week 3, however, the branches have retracted entirely and the way into the hedge maze has opened even more. However, there is now a storm brewing over what might be the center or the general area of it. Getting close to the hedge maze or any of the hedge(?) branches is... unpleasant, though it doesn’t usually go beyond a buzz of wrongness and a slight headache.
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[Shiv talks a big game despite the oppressive air, and walks in. It is creepy though, hard to deny that.]
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This might be more eventful than a stroll, but it can't be more eventful than the Thursday night before last, right?
How is she taking the maze?]
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You have wanted to go in it. More with... someone else, fingers interlocked and heads close to whisper stories and secrets but--
Maybe this'll get your mind off the impending execution of whoever. Whatever. You don't--
you care)
But Siffrin'll approach quietly after Shiv, staring at the hedges and then walking through the entrance as if fearing nothing at all. Whatever isn't pleased with them... needs to be seen, and dealt with, before Andrew arrives. So she doesn't have to deal with it too.
The walls are so..... tall..... help.
(You're curious about what's on top of the tree, because if it's a leaf maybe you can wish on it and the Universe will hear you and--
One step at a time.) ]
We should take all rights. They lead to an out eventually, or... to the center.
[ like it might take a minute But, ]
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The walls are so tall that they can no longer see the big tree from here, either.
The hedges, however, are still luxuriant with foliage -- a large thorn only pokes through here and there, the different patterns marking their passage.
They'll pass the fountain basin that was fixed last time, gently burbling water like it was never a crazy illusion geyser (if they ever peeked into the hedge maze during the last week, they would have seen it there within the explorable bits). And eventually they'll come across more basins -- these are frozen solid, the ice somehow black.]
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Siffrin touches the water as they pass, idly, until the basins are reached. Lightless as can be.
(...)
Siffrin's gonna lick one. ]
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Oh no.
Okay. Just like ■■■ taught you.)
Very carefully going to use their body warmth from gloves to unstick their tongue. Please. ]
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Close up, he can see that there are some outlines of frozen leaves.
The ice tastes mostly like ice, but also oddly like mud, even though mud isn't what's causing the darkness. Probably. Would they like to try anything else on the basins? It doesn't look like they'll get much further in the hedge maze itself -- this is the end of the line, as bristling thorns and foliage create a seeming dead end.
They're stuck with the basins and whatever they contain for now.]
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Fine, no licking. ]
It's muddy.
[ Just. So Shiv knows.
Siffrin will use their one eyeball to try and discern if there's anything weird about the leaves. Are they crackly looking, or fresh. ]
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The leaves are, as far as the dark frozen water lets him see, extremely dead; it's not surprising, considering that dead leaves and the dead of winter has been their companion for the past week straight. Except for the plants taking refuge inside, everything has been hunkered down and frozen over.
But looking so closely, they might be able to spot a place on the side of the basin where the ice is already a little cracked. A little separated from the side of the stone.]
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Easy. Siffrin'll try and tip the basin so they can kick the back and see what happens. Maybe they won't drink what comes out. ]
1/3
The basin itself can't be moved, but it can be hit with percussive force. The ice cracks a bit more, part of it wobbles -- and then dark, dark water starts streaming out the side, pouring over the rest of the ice just a little too fast to be natural. It begins to spread out into little droplets and puddles and streams, just as unnaturally. It streams out of the basin itself (was there this much water in there?) and climbs nearby basins, flowing onto the ice there.
The muddy(?) water begins to form words across the ice in each basin that congeal and solidify with frightening speed, even as images float into being in the icy expanse beneath, slightly obscured by leaves and debris.]
2/3
HEIGHT: 5'9 (175 cm)
WEIGHT: 150 lb (68 kg)
LIKES: running, hugs
DISLIKES: being singled out, hot sauce, Iris using his powers
SKILLS: running, teleporting, respecting authority, disrespecting everyone else
FUN FACT: The only Daphne demiflora in his age range in the Seattle Tower.
HEIGHT: 5'9" (176cm)
WEIGHT: 125 lb (57kg)
LIKES: Efficiency, facts, Aijou Rentarou, the other girlfriends
DISLIKES: Inefficiency, pointlessness, heights
SKILLS: Problem-solving, multidisciplinary knowledge, melee and ranged combat
FUN FACT: When stressed, Nano recites the digits of pi to calm down.
HEIGHT: (allegedly) 166cm (5'5")
WEIGHT: (allegedly) 120 lb (54 kg)
LIKES: music, Tin Pin Slammer, computer games, poetry and literature, mythology, shio ramen, lolita fashion, boys who get annoyed easily
DISLIKES: minestrone, ice cream, being worshipped blindly
SKILLS:Being alone, telekinesis, clairvoyance, levitation, light beams, being annoying
FUN FACT: Once upon a time, he could see ghosts.
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[ You know. In case anyone was wondering. ]
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[ What's multidisciplinary knowledge...
(...
No. You don't want to ask.) ]
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[ GET HIS PERSONAL INFORMATION OUTTA HERE THIS IS RUDE ACTUALLY. ]
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[ was that helpful ]
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2.5/3 new basin everyone
HEIGHT: 5'11''
WEIGHT: 174 lbs
LIKES: Chatting, listening to the "Sounds"
DISLIKES: Silence, explaining things to people
SKILLS:Manipulating sound
FUN FACT: His favorite "sound" is the dying cries of his parents. Who murdered them? Lobelia did!
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3/3
Instead, one more basin remains -- this one is still frozen, and not contaminated by the dark water. The water in this basin seems to be clear, with no leaves and no debris. You can see clear all the way down to the bottom.
This one may need a different strategy. Or the same strategy. We're not the boss of you.]
Re: 3/3
[She stares into the clear basin, and places a finger on the ice. Hmm. Writing her own name might be a bit risky in case this thing is cursed, so she writes with her finger:
My name is Kendall Roy.]
1/2
2/2 EVENT END
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[ Cheerful! ]
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