elevatoravatar | The Fool wanders Luceti Valley

Entry tags:

games of gods and men; luceti valley

The Fool wanders Luceti Valley

Who: Elizabeth and open
What: The town's eccentric music teacher is out and about
Where: All over town, the school during the day.
When: Days 1-7
Summary: Elizabeth thinks this is all a game, and she's a player. Best to find the rules before someone else figures out who the players are.
Warnings: None? Other than Elizabeth is odd

The night the world changed, Elizabeth was out of town, so she just watched and continued on as normal, what struck her as odd was when suddenly she passed out and woke up the next day in a strange bed. The house was small, there were pictures on the wall of people she didn't know, clothes that weren't hers yet fit and a journal of schedules. Curious she set out into the world and watched.

People continued about their business as this was normal and even some faces she recognized went on as if this was normal. Curious, but in a world of gods playing games with each other not impossible. It was however vital she understand the game if she were to play it, and given how she remembered before it was highly probable that she was picked as a player. Perhaps due to her wild card, perhaps due to the fact illusions were so easy to pick out she felt that she was a player and best not to let it on.

After her morning of seeing the world she looked at her journal and nodded.

"So I am a teacher of songs, I see. I shall have to play the game for now."

With that she went on living the life of a middle class music teacher.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

During one of the days she's not actively in Lowtown or out on the farmlands, Cloche is out in Hightown doing some shopping and running errands. During that day, she finds herself in front of a musical school. With an interest in singing, she'll go inside, looking for whoever was in charge.

Sure, she didn't need the lessons (or so she thought) but she did enjoy hearing what anyone might have in the way of advice!

Elizabeth looks at the comer and waves cheerfully.

"Hello! Welcome... Is there a way I can assist you today Miss?"

"Oh, I was mainly looking for advice. I can sing well, if you ask me. But it never hurts to have a second opinion. I was hoping you might be able to help, since I wouldn't mind improving."

There had been some innate love for singing ever since she was young; and though she had never had any proper lessons, she was always told that she had a beautiful voice and didn't even need them. However, Cloche knew that the best way to get better was to have someone else give her some advice. It worked with everything else, why not this?

"Oh! Of course! Songs are a special window to the soul, even in a land of illusions. A song is always true if the singer believes it."

She nods and smiles.

"May I ask to hear your heart?"

Elizabeth is going to get a weird look for that "land of illusions" comment, but Cloche can... kind of understand it? Maybe? Ah well, maybe she's just a little odd, is all? Nothing wrong with that. So, Cloche will brush it off and nod.

"Of course."

With that, Cloche closes her eyes. There was something bubbling inside of her, and though this version of her didn't know what the song was, her real self did. It was an old folk tale that Cloche wasn't sure why or what she was singing (in language and how she knew all of the words) but the self that knew it was powering her through it, keeping in all of the emotion and power of the song.

Once she's finished, Cloche's eyes open back up to look at Elizabeth, asking her silently what she thought.

Elizabeth crossed her arms and listened, pondering the whole while. A new language, one that sparked something mystic and of the soul perhaps, or perhaps simply another world, either way it was not part of the illusions this place dreamed of.

When it ended she smiled broadly and clapped.

"Such raw emotion, like a soul bursting at the seams to escape the prison of reality. The language while not one I understand is quite beautiful. A song of triumph by the sound though, one that a soul that knows its place sings. Would you be willing to tell me the tale your soul sings?"

"I don't really know where it all came from. It was the first thing that came into my mind when I went to sing. But if you'd like me to sing more, I'd be happy to. I don't really get much of a chance at home with everyone bothering me."

Admittedly, she didn't care where that song came from, but it gave her shivers thinking about what she had been speaking in. It was honestly thrilling to be speaking in a language no one else knew. It was almost like her own special secret language! She would have to show Kouki when she saw him next...!

"Hrm, yes, I would, any songs you can in the language of your heart. It is quite beautiful, and unlike the language of my heart, I do not think anyone would object."

She smiles. Perhaps this is how the game is played. Touch a heart and see if it awakens, perhaps that is how the fool interacts, perhaps that is how the wild card is drawn, perhaps that is how bonds are formed. It was all new and unexpected, but Elizabeth craved to know more.

That wasn't too tall of an order, so Cloche nods and again goes through the motions. This time, it's a song exclusively in that strange language she had been singing earlier. It was a song that, for whatever reason, she was completely at ease singing. It was almost as if she just knew the language, though she didn't know how it was possible.

When she was finished, there was another smile. Singing like this made her pretty darn happy, and there was no way she could stop now.

"Is there anything else? Any advice? Or maybe I'm fine the way I am?"

"I sense somewhere, deep inside, there is a lie that the conscious mind is confused by but the song is not. The two being out of harmony I believe is distracting you, keeping you from reaching your full potential."

She tilts her head and walks around Cloche pondering.

"Close your eyes and let it all go. All of this place. Connect your mind and soul to the song. See where it leads you, if what your eyes see is the truth or what your soul knows. When you have come to the answer of that I believe there will be great power in your music."

To say Sasuke was melancholy during today's singing lesson would be an understatement. Yesterday's announcement of the tax hike was weighing heavily on him, and there were dark circles under his eyes to indicate he hadn't slept well or long. Hell, if these lessons had been extracurricular, he just wouldn't have bothered to show. But for him this was a class - half a period long, only him and the professor, taken in lieu of a free period because he'd finished many of his required courses a year in advance.

Today, though, his voice held none of its usual spirit.

Elizabeth looked at the boy and after a few minutes sighed.

"I am detecting too much darkness about your thoughts for your voice to ring out. Let go of the illusions of reality and let us begin again? As it is now you will just echo noises that long to be song and not actually sing."

The look that Sasuke nearly - nearly - cast at his teacher would be one of contempt, disgust, aggravation. He didn't have time for this bullshit.

He caught himself, though, before his expression had done more than flicker, and forced himself instead to stop and think over her words.

...Suddenly her words didn't make all that much sense.

"Illusions?"

Genjutsu, something whispered in his head, though like hell he knew what that meant.

"Yes, the happy little illusions that keep us from seeing what we are and where we are. From knowing that we are not castes but people and all labels truly do is to confuse and divide."

She nods a little and starts singing a few lines of a song in an odd tongue that is both beautiful and terrifying.

There's something almost profound, and simultaneously viscerally terrifying in the woman's words. Something in him focuses on we're not castes and echoes that over and over until it feels like his head is pounding with it, and when he opens his mouth to question what he means his voice sticks in his throat. Why is he trying to sing? He hates singing. He's never happy enough to sing and he hasn't been in years.

....Wait, what?

Sasuke physically shakes his head, wondering where the hell all that came from (and what it all means) when Elizabeth herself begins to sing. Something goes cold in his chest and if he didn't feel a little crazy before, he sure as hell does now.

"What are you doing?"

He doesn't mean just the song. It feels like she's reaching inside his head and shaking something.

She just smiles, its almost a sinister smile as her golden eyes twinkle in a way that's not quite wholesome.

"I am playing a role given to me just as far as I must to be within the boundaries of the game. Though game is perhaps the wrong word. I am living just enough of the lie that I may move freely about it without suffering for it."

She peers at him deeply and folds her arms in her lap.

"The real question is what are you doing?"

". . ."

Well, now it sort of feels like Sasuke's skull is cracking in two.

Game. What game?

Genjutsu.

There's that word again.

Both of Sasuke's hands fly up to press against his forehead, pushing back, holding back whatever this tide is, damming the flood because it feels like the water is all of his sanity fleeing his head.

"I'm taking singing lessons. I'm taking singing lessons because I had a free period. I'm a senior at Luceti Valley High." Thing is, he suddenly doesn't really believe any of that anymore. He can't actually remember the last time he sang. What it felt like. What the song was. Why he would have cared to sing at all. There's no reason he would fill a gap in his time with something so frivolous (scholarship and extracurriculars occur to him but they make suddenly so much less sense). He's not totally sure he remembers getting here from middle school.

"The fuck is going on?" The one thing that doesn't seem strange is cursing in front of one of his teachers.

"Yes, but for someone taking lessons, it seems odd to do so in a thing that you have no ambition to be greater in. Especially to replace free time one could study their heart's true pursuits."

She ponders a bit and shrugs.

"I know not exactly what is going on, but I know that many people have been taken by an odd dream that replaces their own dreams and allows them to be content in this lie. I myself have not had that dream, but the lie defends itself against those who do not fit it so I have been playing the part till I understood more."

Is it that obvious? He knows, he has the memories, of taking these lessons all year - being a good singer. Hell, he's pretty sure he'd sung during the school concert the year previous. He wanted to be good at this.

Except why the hell does he care? Even his instructor doesn't think he gives a shit. So why is he even here? - When he could be studying his heart's true pursuits, whatever those are.

His hand itches to heft something bladed and swift. He's not sure what to do with that instinct.

"Lie?"

That word sticks out more than any other. If there's one thing he cannot fucking stand, it's being lied to, and that feels more real than anything else. It's one thing on which he is not at all conflicted.

"What do you know? What have you figured out? What's happening?" He's looked up, now, though one hand's still pressed hard to his temple. His voice is strained just short of a growl, and he doesn't even care.

"What I know, is something that may take longer than than we have time to discuss. What I know about this lie however is much more easy to tell."

She peers up for a minute, clasping her hands together.

"There was the place before, the place with the angel wings, where we were brought to, many against our wills, but still remained true to our selves. Then one night many came from a place I do not know of and we were forced into the realm of dreams. Upon waking, while I did not understand what had happened, others had changed. Their true selves lost in the mists of this waking dream. They went to sleep Gods, heroes, and other things and woke up to a life of sheep in a pen."

She lets out a sigh and shakes her head.

"I suspect those of us who are not privy to that dream will be punished if we do not play along with it, but I find spreading a lie to be distasteful, so I have played the game quietly and looked for waking thoughts in others."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Fool wanders Luceti Valley

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

That was in Hymnos, correct? Been a while since I played an AT game.

Yep, Hymmnos and Shell (common) :D

no subject

no subject

no subject

Day 6

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject