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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.
Chu Wenshan and Yoonhee ⛰️🐍
He didn't miss this feeling. He presses on anyway—only for the sound of rustling to catch his ears. His hearing was sharp back home, so he's already used to having enhanced senses, anyway.
He pauses, and quickly bends down to pick up a football-sized chunk of wall to chunk hard in the direction of the rustling. He doesn't waste any time darting that way right after, either! ]
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THUNK.
Manages to fish up something solid not far away and behind a hedge somewhere. It’s followed by a low hiss like something deflating, a weird, extended shriek, and then the somewhat alarming patter of multiple footsteps.
Two men and a woman step into view after a moment; all are clad in what look like decent, practical kimono, the woman’s more colorful while the men are sporting partial armor. Perhaps more eye-catching are their blades — the woman with a long knife and the men brandishing katanas. This looks like a real fight brewing.
The woman is the first to move, a bizarre low guttural noise as she rockets almost off her feet with the momentum of her lunge: her swing is wild (4) but takes out a swathe of hedge. She’s not playing around. The men are trying to circle around to surround them...]
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Chu Wenshan doesn't have much time to worry about that, though. He was already dashing in the direction of the hedge, so he's meeting the group head-on—already closing in on the woman by the time she starts her wild swing.
It's a little too late to dodge away (and he isn't overly inclined to anyway, not when he has his own forward momentum. Squeezing into her arc is the better option), so he tries to rush past her as she strikes, snapping up her wrist as he moves. If he manages, he keeps going—twisting her arm back as he sprints along, trying to take advantage of her momentum to dislodge or even break her arm.
If he manages to snatch the knife from her hand, even better! The other two are absolutely on his radar, though he's more sensing and feeling than actively watching them. ]
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The men are still finding their positions, katanas at the ready and in fact ignoring their companion entirely and perhaps even each other. They're moving in sync, but it's an eerily too-perfect sync. There's still enough space, here closer to the place where the hedge maze split, for them to flank Yoonhee.
One of them lowers his center of gravity and rushes in, only to glance off the shovel (9), while the other takes advantage of the confrontation to come in on Yoonhee's other side, aiming for a quick thrust while he's preoccupied with his shovel (13).]
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Her fingers dig into the layers of his robe and he can feel her trying to redirect his momentum, but even if her nails penetrate down to his skin his expression doesn't change. That's Chu Wenshan for you.
Even so, the hairs on the back of his neck start to raise—he meant to disarm her fast so he could move onto the two threatening Yoonhee, but looks like he'll have to try again. He twists her arm more, trying to take advantage of the fact he'd already broken something to guide her hand so he stabs deep into her back with the knife (20). If that isn't good enough, he headbutts her, too. (5) ]
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He tries to block the one on the other side by swinging the other end of the shovel(6), but the enemy probably takes off a part of the end (though this probably makes the shovel lighter...), and probably cuts him on the side. His pain tolerance is still high, so he ignores it as best as he can and thrusts the shovel forward again at the other enemy(5).
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Yoonhee truly has no luck this week.
The man who's managed to slash him slides behind him in one smooth movement, aiming for another opening with his katana while using his companion as the sacrificial wall (11). It's not a particularly strong back-attack, but it's hard to block given where it's coming from. In the meantime, the guy at the front gives a frustrated grunt at having his katana parried again (5). As Lady Luck giveth, so she taketh away.]
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Hey, that's not nice. [ He started it, though??
With an annoyed slant of his lips (his poor head is already bad! What if his memory gets worse?), he headbutts her again (14).
Which means if his memory gets worse, it's his own fault. ]
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Her hand is still clawed in his clothes, so he'll probably have to do something about that.
??? is dead.
And not a moment too soon, since Yoonhee could really use at least another hand or two over yonder. The hedge wall crashes down on the men -- but mostly it obscures their vision and tangles up their katanas, since they didn't even bother to slow down despite the obstacle. That said, being suddenly blinded by leaves and whacked by thorns causes one of them to slow down and swing at nothing (7), while the other is fast enough to get halfway out the other side of the fallen-over hedge and try for another slash at Yoonhee on the other side (17).]
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Lady?? Is it cause he said that wasn't nice?
Ah, but she's limp in his arms. He kind of stands there for a second, then tries to pull the knife from her back (2) but finds it wedged in too deep. So much for that. He drops her unceremoniously, then takes a quick look around before dashing in the direction he heard something collapse. What he sees when he gets there is—quite the scene.
Instinctively, sprints forward to grab the man slashing at Yoonhee from behind, trying to immobilize him by locking his arms (8). ]
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The corpse is left behind to molder moistly in the storm as Chu Wenshan and Yoonhee finally reunite. The man who's just been unceremoniously dogpiled by both a hedge and Chu Wenshan does some good amount of thrashing and katana-waving (6) but ultimately doesn't manage to get free before the stab hits. Instead of slowing down, though, he lunges across the shortened distance and gives biting a go (8), ignoring the neck slash as though he didn't even notice the potential throatslitting.
The extra tangled man behind them makes a series of grumbling noises as he tries to throw off the hedge and fails (2). It sounds like he's started trying to drag the entire bush with him...]
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More seriously, wow, is that guy trying to bite Yoonhee...? That's... dedication... Chu Wenshan didn't get the best hold on him a moment ago—he was in a rush, he tripped a little, maybe, so when the man thrashes and tries to lunge, he does manage to slip away.
And that's exactly when Chu Wenshan notices the shovel on the ground.
In his brain, there's a whole flowchart of information going on. A shitty, shitty flowchart, but a flowchart nonetheless! Basically: breaking bones doesn't work -> stabbing didn't work (even if it did???) -> headbutt didn't work -> ???
So surely, surely, there's another way to fight!
Chu Wenshan's mental gymnastics of dubious logic finishes in a flash and he scoops up the shovel, grabbing the katana-wielding man's arm at the same time. He wastes no time thrusting the wood's shaft into the man's mouth, forcing the handle down as far and deep as it can go. He's definitely trying to push well past the gag reflex and esophagus, past lungs if he can and down to the more vital organs. Hell, he's fine with just a broken rib, or sore throat (12). ]
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Which, Yoonhee's like: ] Woow, brutal.
[ That's cool in his weird, long eyes. And since we're playing dirty here... maybe he'll knee him in the crotch(8) to push him up towards the shovel some more. ]
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I'm not joking when I say that the rain suddenly turns into a deluge in this part of the maze specifically. A crack of lightning even hits the hedge nearby -- ironically, this sets the trapped man's hedge on fire (2) and he's left flailing and screaming as he continues to try and free himself; the rain helps a little, making both man and hedge sizzle, but it's not quite enough.
That said, he finally manages -- with fire and force -- to tear himself free from the rest of the hedge and now the flaming hedge is coming at you at very unnecessary speeds (19).
On this side, luck is with the boys as Chu Wenshan demonstrates his prowess with literally any random shit he picks up and pulls a reverse vorematch on the remaining katana man -- the fellow is only able to flail wildly, slapping at the shovel and its wielder with arms and legs and nominally katana until further notice. It's slow going, but he is getting given a joker's smile -- it's not quite getting all the way down to the organs, but these may also be death throes soon.
It does mean that Yoonhee's kick misses in the chaos (8).]
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First, Chu Wenshan isn't used to fighting with other people. He's called the "Lone Shadow Swordsman" for a reason, and that reason is he obviously fights alone. It isn't because he dislikes other people, or even that he doesn't care for them. It's that it's easier for him to go alone. However, sometimes. Sometimes, he trusts other people a little too much, and that can occasionally end with strange, completely avoidable misunderstandings. Like now.
Chu Wenshan kind of hears, kind of senses the dude running with seemingly everything he's got at them, but he's preoccupied, you see.
So, he kicks Yoonhee in that direction, somehow deciding that, surely, Yoonhee who has never once demonstrated any affinity for or interest in fighting can handle it. (3)
And then he just keeps forcing the shaft down, apparently! (18) ]
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Here's to hoping he's not that badly burnt because of all the moist, wet rain?(15) Though at least he was briefly warm, I guess, even if he's bleeding at several places. ]
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The burning-hedge man barely makes a sound, or maybe it's that the THONK of man-hedge running into hedge-man (there's a hedge behind Yoonhee too) is overpowering. Unlike this guy who still can't get free of a hedge despite losing his hair and eyebrows and who-nows-what-else (5), Yoonhee's knife finds its target amidst the chaos and manages to knock the chimera hedge just hard enough to slow him down in his rampage.
You have a moment to get out of the way or slow him down more permanently. Roll well!]
i just like rolling dice
The best he can do is squeeze in closer, trying to block future stabs or swings by being too close to give him arc!
And, why not, for good measure he'll just push harder (9)!
Good luck, Yoonhee! ]
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And if he gets it to go down, he'll stab at it over and over(15) because wow, die already! ]
cw: gore
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