[ENTER THE PALACE]

[warpweft]

[You find yourself with a sensation like floating in water.]

[Above, the sky is dark. You can occasionally see things shifting, like gusts of wind, or perhaps waves of water. Is it…even a sky above you? Or is it some kind of giant ocean? Whatever it is, you can’t make it out very well. All around you, you appear to be floating in what appears to be water. It looks like a great, wide ocean of…space in every direction around you, with stars and lights twinkling in the distance. It looks like water and feels like water, but it doesn’t make you wet. You can reach your hand into it and pull some out, the purple and violet water and the tiny points of light inside it will even rest in your hands if you cup them to carry it, but once you’re not trying to hold it anymore, it’ll flow off of you, not a single drop remaining behind. You feel something similar if you go underneath the surface. The “water” doesn’t touch your eyes, mouth or nose when give the chance, it merely drifts around you, allowing you to breathe and see unabated. And you can see for a great distance, the twinkling stars illuminating the ocean of space all around you. Though perhaps less dark and empty, it feels every bit as vast as the sky above. You feel like you could swim forever and never reach the edge.]

[It’s quiet, here, with little noise around you but the starry ocean’s waves crashing back into its surface. It’s peaceful. In another situation, it might even be comfortable.]

Comments

[voidhearts]

[She looks Tsumugi up and down. Which is extremely unsettling when her eyes are just voids.]

Why do you think you found yourself trapped on the edge of dream and reality? Where do you think the being inside you came from? Sprung from the ether, fully-formed?

You were chosen to be its host. To vanish. And leave your flesh for it to call its own. The God of Monsters needed a safe place for its child, and it chose you.

I was not speaking to you. I was speaking to the one that will be that body's true owner.

[cosplayed_out]

... That's an interesting truth. It may even be the real truth. But it's not my truth. Once a cosplayer, always a cosplayer.

[voidhearts]

You came here searching for truth. Now that you've found it, you deny it.

You're just like my daughter, Lyra. And Nessa.

1/?

[cosplayed_out]

Hm... it seems you're confused. How do I say this?

[cosplayed_out]

That might be the premise but it's not the truth.

[cosplayed_out]

We're all fictional characters. Created to be here for entertainment. It's what the world wants from us.

[cosplayed_out]

Isn't that surprising?! Does it make your head hurt?!

[cosplayed_out]

That's why there is no escape.

[cosplayed_out]

That's why I won't leave Nessa, because it'd be a terrible anti-climax after all this build up.

[cosplayed_out]

That's why... there's no where to run.

Not from here. Not from outside. No where.

[cosplayed_out]

And definitely not to anywhere, either.

[cosplayed_out]

So... that's why I'm going to keep on here.

It might seem a little contrived for me to have the courage to go onward... but that's just fiction for you.

10/10

[cosplayed_out]

So... Miss Lilith.

Is there anything I can do to earn your trust, or help?

[voidhearts]

...

...

...

...

[A soft chuckle escapes her mouth.]

I'm not actually Lilith, of course.

I'm my granddaughter's recollection of Lilith. Forged memory from the decade she spent living in Lilith's coven. Burned into her memory forever from the night Lilith ordered Esmau to kill her. A manifestation only capable of gaining form by her presence in this realm between dream and reality and by the depths of her fear.

A "fiction" in its own right, perhaps. But I doubt the kind you were referring to.

If you wanted to gain Lilith's trust, there would be one simple way to do it.

Kill Nessa and deliver the Voidheart to her. You would gain much from her if you did that.

As for me...I'm just a manifestation of the "character" that is your enemy, after all. Why would my trust be something you could gain in this place?

[cosplayed_out]

I like it! Don't feel that way, Miss Lilith. Dream remnants, alternate realities, past fragments... AUs... they're all completely valid!

Okay, howabout this. Is there anyway to give you a redemption AU? That'd be really the best!

[voidhearts]

Nessa does not believe me capable of redemption. She believes given a second's chance, I would kill her and anybody and everybody she holds dear to retrieve my Heart.

She believes that, so in here, it is the truth.

[cosplayed_out]

Yeah... I can understand that. [...] There's probably no redemption AU for me, either. Not a believable one, anyway.

[a bit of a sigh]

Well, I guess the only thing left to ask is... if you want to share anything else about Nessa? Her as a child?

[voidhearts]

There will come a moment where associating with her will cost you greatly.

She's walked over many graves to get where she is. Including her entire family. She will, without a doubt, walk over yours as well.

[Lilith turns away from Tsumugi.]

But you already know that.

You seem to know how this is going to end. So why waste any more words.

[cosplayed_out]

...One last question.

Esmau. She was your apprentice? Not your relative? Did she really like rap? And hate anime?

I guess that's four questions.

[voidhearts]

She is my disciple, and my granddaughter. She is loyal to me, to and past her end.

Her blood matters not.

[cosplayed_out]

All right then.

[it's probably past time to interrogate Lilith...]

Thanks for talking with me! And not killing me. It was very kind of you.

[voidhearts]

[She turns away.]

If you stay here, Esmau will deal with you.

I needn't raise a hand.

[cosplayed_out]

Right! Thanks!

[okay she's going to go back to... hm. The cabin? Maybe Lyra is there.]

[voidhearts]

[The cabin is a simple one-story affair. There's a living room with a desk and two bedrooms. It appears only two people lived here, one of which is at the desk. She tilts her head up when Tsumugi walks in.]

Ness --

....ah. One of you.

[She stares at Tsumugi briefly. She has purple eyes, same as Nessa and white hair, same as Agnis. She looks older than Agnis, but not by a lot.]

Hmn.

[She looks disappointed to see Tsumugi and goes back to what she's working on at the desk. But, hey, at least she's not kicking her out?]

[cosplayed_out]

Pardon the intrusion!

[she comes in with a little hesitation, but on seeing the other woman greet her, she takes on a stern look.]

Hey. Don't plain dismiss me like that. As someone who came to Nessa's mind palace to help her, I find that very rude.