Stephanie's Heart: The Archive

[reading_rainstorm]

In your dreams you are in a thick and foggy forest. It could be mistaken for the woods around Tributary if you don’t know your plants. You are on a trail leading into a clearing, in the center of which is a simple, concrete structure with a single door. A chaos star has been spray painted on it with a stencil.

You approach the structure. Looking over your shoulder you see a large shape lurking in the fog, obscured by the foliage. Two shining Feline eyes peer at you from the brush. You feel your heart rate spike as you turn the knob and find an old fashioned elevator tucked neatly inside with an accordion grate standing between you and the ornate, gilded interior. It creaks open as the presence behind you steps into the clearing. It is a sphinx, an eight foot tall lioness with the face of a woman and the large brown wings of an eagle on her back . The feminine face and olive skin tone of a Greek woman from antiquity smiles as she readies herself to to pounce, the wings on her back stretching and give a few readying flaps.You back into the elevator and close the gate with shaking hands as the sphinx leaps at the elevator. Her claws twisting and shearing the metal of the grate slowly, but she is too late. The elevator springs to life and you descend.

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A small light above flickers on as it illuminates your view outside the exposed elevator as you sink into the concrete structure. You descend for a few moments before an opening in the concrete gives you the view of an observation deck on a hill, looking down on the sprawling suburbs and campus of a college town. The elevator continues downward. The concrete gives way to old, dusty marble as you continue sinking. You see a vast maze stretch far and away that gets nearer and nearer. This has to be it, right? Your destination? No. You plunge further down, past the walls of the maze and the marble is replaced again by well polished wood. Beautiful stained mahogany rises past you as your descent finally starts to slow. You are greeted by another grate that creaks open for you. Entreating you to enter.

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[reading_rainstorm]

You feel something like a sigh of relief. She'll be safe there.

[morel_support]

[Alright, he'll close up the case again, then. And give the moon button another try.]

[reading_rainstorm]

The diorama springs to life, all but a handful of figures go to their respective homes as the light over the diorama changes again to a silvery light shining down on the clearing. The cottages Stephanie has been in open up to show their residents inside, with tiny warm lights illuminating their interiors.

A set of figures gather in the clearing, and a few of the figures Much saw in the box, including the Riot and Jhaez are brought up for the clearing. A soft song plays from a speaker as the Stephanie figure spins and moves about the clearing, as if performing a dance. Stephanie's voice, though one deeper and raspier than the one you know fills your head.

"Day 4 Cont. Is this too much to hope for? Not only actually doing magic myself but...making My body my own? Or...more my own. I can't dismiss the work my forgotten self has made to make this body livable even if she also made it uncomfortable in stranger ways than garden variety dysphoria. It is hard to believe I have been here for under a week and the people here are already doing so much for me. I hope in due time I am able to repay the favor. I'm being shown wonders beyond belief as though they are common occurrences, I must endeavor to give as much as myself to this community as they have given to me."

[morel_support]

[He watches the reenacted changedance for a long moment, resting a hand lightly against the glass. (He remembers the night - presumably tiny wooden Much is among the assembled.)]

I'm glad we we've been able to help. We're an odd sort of community, but you're one of us.

[reading_rainstorm]

The Much figure is there! You are filled with a sense of gratitude. You have four cards
more than enough for the Hall of Fate.

[morel_support]

[He draws back as the little automated scene comes to a close.]

Well, I should take these cards back downstairs. Nice meeting you, Ava.

[reading_rainstorm]

"You too, prof."

Going downstairs your path naturally takes you by the table with the velvet cloth and the six candles by the Hall of Fate. Four of the candles start to smoke as you approach, the smoke swirling down to the cloth to mark a square.

If you place any cards here, what order do you place them in?

[morel_support]

[This is well outside his area of expertise - he'll just put them down in the order he found or received them. Tower, Hermit, Emperor, Lovers.]

[reading_rainstorm]

The doors open allowiing you to finally enter. The Hall of Fate looks to be be floored and papered entirely with pages upon pages upon pages of Stephanie's journals. Every inch of the place is covered with her hand writing. There are three stone doors along the walls of the corridor. Each bearing the image of the tarot cards you found, in the order you placed them. At the end of the hall is a final stone door emblazoned with the image of The High Priestess

[morel_support]

[He'll check out the hermit door.]

[reading_rainstorm]

Opening the Hermit door you find yourself in the office of a college. The books in the bookcases are all on mythology and religion. The nameplate on the door reads 'Dr. Xavier Sledge.' Stephanie is sitting in her cloak in a chair across from the desk, looking anxious and twiddling her thumbs.

[morel_support]

[He lets himself in and closes the door behind him.]

Hey, Stephanie. Am I interrupting something?

[reading_rainstorm]

Stephanie's head snaps to you. She still looks rather nervous.

"Heh. Funny you should pop up in this one. I'm about to-"

A man in business casual with a dark bushy beard streaked with white strides past you as if you aren't there at all.

"Stephanie! Sorry for running a bit late. Your e-mail said you needed to discuss your progress in the masters program?"

"Y-yeah, Dr. Sledge...I have been very stressed about it and I've been thinking...I think I need to drop out."

[morel_support]

[Well, that's his cue to shut up and observe, he supposes. He steps back out of the way and watches quietly.]

[reading_rainstorm]

Dr. Sledge frowns and there is a tense silence for a few moments. Stephanie sweats under his gaze but continues to stand tall.

"Is there any way I can convince you to stick with it Miss Spiros? You know the promise I see in your work."

"I-I know, Xav- Dr. Sledge, but I'm quite certain about this decisions."

"Is money the problem? I can help you find grants if-"

"No...not entirely. I...I have research that I feel I need to pursue that would not be accepted in the halls of academia."

Xavier sighs and gives Stephanie a sympathetic smile.

"Well. I certainly can't stop you. There was a time I was in your shoes. You aren't the type to make a decision like this without thinking. I only have one request, Stephanie."

"What's that?"

"Tell me how this research of yours goes. I know you are capable of incredible things."

Stephanie gets a wobbly little smile before she hugs her mentor, and you are deposited back into the hall of fate.

[morel_support]

...I think your Dr. Sledge and my Professor Drugamy would have something to talk about.

[Is the High Priestess door unlocked, or will he need to check out the other doors first?]

[reading_rainstorm]

High Priestess is still locked.

[morel_support]

[Right, let's check the Emperor door then.]

[reading_rainstorm]

You open the door and you are in a grey, cement room of decent size with nothing in it except for a beat up futon mattress. There is a large, heavy metal door that you know is locked. Sitting in front of a wall with “I WISH ENOCH’S PROMISE WAS DESTROYED” written in what is clearly drying blood is a child with shaggy brown hair dressed in dirty, threadbare clothing. They look to be eleven years old.

[morel_support]

[Quietly, he goes over and sits on the floor next to the kid - presumably young Stephanie, even if she doesn't have that name yet.]

I'm gonna level with you, bud, I don't think these people deserve this card. I'm sorry you didn't get help sooner.

[reading_rainstorm]

It is Stephanie. She looks to you weakly, leaning against you as she continues to stare at her writing on the wall.

"This is structure, authority, an evil man with the title 'Father'. "

You feel the time passing. Minutes, hours, days. Suddenly you can hear shouting coming from behind the door, not the door you entered but one that looks heavy and made of thick metal. A bell starts ringing, a raised alarm. Gunshots coming down the hallway.

[morel_support]

[He wraps an arm around her.]

Claiming a title doesn't make him worthy of it.

[Arguing the point won't change what happened, though, so he just sits with her as the time passes and the noise rises outside the door.]

[reading_rainstorm]

More gunshots. Louder and louder, ringing in your ear. Stephanie clings to you as she shudders in fear. The gunshots stop.

The door suddenly explodes inward. A man in SWAT gear leans around the doorway, checking the angles. He puts a finger to his ear.

"There's a kid in here, send medical down the east wing. He looks in rough shape."

You can see past the man, in the hallway Stephanie's father is on the ground. Shot dead.

You are in the Hall of Fates again.

[morel_support]

[He holds her until help comes. He can do that much, at least.

Then he's back in the Hall of Fates, and he takes a deep breath, collecting himself, before turning to the Lovers door.]

[reading_rainstorm]

A teenaged Stephanie is at a work bench carving something, a gentle smile on her face. She forgot to shave this morning.

She looks up from her work. "Oh hey, Much. Sorry if that last one was rough. This'll be a nice reprieve before your last door."