Stephanie's Heart: The Archive
Jan. 11th, 2025 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reading_rainstormIn 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.
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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Date: 2025-01-16 09:41 pm (UTC)He's along for the ride, but even knowing - or at least suspecting - that he's only witnessing something that already happened isn't enough to keep him cool and collected. The adrenaline coursing through him is his own, he's sure--
The solid hit that the sphinx gets on Stephanie makes him tense up, bracing himself for the need to put his own instincts into a chokehold - but the scent he's expecting never comes, nor does the hunger that comes with it. It would disorient him enough to stop him for a moment if his legs weren't doing their own thing right now.
... But does that mean there's nothing he can do to help Stephanie, either?]
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Date: 2025-01-16 10:03 pm (UTC)The sphinx lands and rounds the corner, when she sees Stephanie standing still in the circle, she stalks forward but stands outside the circle clearly drawn for her.
"Did you really think you were going to lure me into a ritual with you."
"I already have."
You notice that the magic circle Stephanie is is actually painted on top of an older, carved one, with the sphinx currently standing at the center of another ancient carved circle as well. Stephanie throws another glass item from her cloak, this one you can see is a knife. It shatters at the sphinxes feet but the shards fly outward cutting into the sphinx. A drop of blood lands on the circle lighting it up with sickly green.
Stephanie takes some of her own blood from her gash and spatters it across her own circle. Hers lights with a cool lavender.
"Pact circles. I name my demand first, since you were the 'Initiator' my demand is you return to the the slabs that bound you. I even set it up for you in the de summoning circle."
"Tch. And if I don't accept this pact or make no demands of you?"
"You'll be stuck to this spot, I'll die before you and then you won't have a way to complete the pact. You'll be stuck in that circle."
Steph looks to Marco. "It's what I could manage under the circumstances"
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Date: 2025-01-16 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-16 10:29 pm (UTC)"Very clever, little spellbook. I was right thinking you would be a fine apprentice. I'll agree to your demand. And for mine: Take the boon I offered when you summoned me."
Stephanie goes pale.
"Seriously? You mean..."
"With or without me, a sphinx will walk this earth."
The sphinx laughs.
"Fine."
Both the circles flare and then fade, releasing their prisoners. Stephanie steps nervously towards the sphinx. It bows to her and flaps its wings, filling the air with sickly green energy that flows into Stephanie. She closes her eyes like she is getting a terrible headache. When she opens them, she has the yellow feline eyes you know well.
"Farewell, Grimoire. Enjoy my gift."
Stephanie splatters the tablets in the ritual circle with her blood and recites a spell in Ancient Greek. The Sphinx simply watches. When she finishes the spell, the sphinx slowly melts into lavender energy and flows into the tablets. Stephanie goes to pick them up.
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Date: 2025-01-16 10:43 pm (UTC)[But it continues to play out, regardless of his commentary, and...
...
Hm.]
... She tricked you?
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Date: 2025-01-16 10:53 pm (UTC)"We tricked eachother. We both got what we wanted, didn't we?"
It's hard to tell if she's talking to you or the tablets now containing the ancient monster.
She looks at you with those yellow eyes and you are back in the hall of fate.
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Date: 2025-01-16 10:56 pm (UTC)Marco takes a deep breath and enters the third door.]
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Date: 2025-01-16 11:00 pm (UTC)"Ah, just you...This is your grand finale before the real deal I guess."
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Date: 2025-01-16 11:03 pm (UTC)Are you talking to me?
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Date: 2025-01-16 11:10 pm (UTC)Looking over your shoulder, Stephanie shuts the locker and a troupe of large high-school boys round the corner. They all get horrible grins on their face as they see her.
"Well well, if it ain't the grimy Grimoire. Don't you know it's dangerous for you to stay late."
Stephanie looks at you sighing. "It's a memory, remember. You can't do anything to stop it." She turns her attention to the one that spoke to her. "Just going home, Zeb. Don't you have a girlfriend to cheat on?"
Zeb continues walking up to Stephanie. Getting right in her face. The are equal height. Stephanie doesn't seem to move in defense or care about his aggressive posture.
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Date: 2025-01-16 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-16 11:29 pm (UTC)"Leave her alone you douchebags! Jesus christ, everyone knows who gave her that black eye. You think the principal is gonna look the other way when a valedictorian gets a broken arm?"
Stephanie turns to see Ava, seemingly totally surprised by this. It dawns you...this came before the last memory. Stephanie doesn't even know Ava's name here.
Stephanie takes Ava's distraction to stomp on Zeb's foot and runs to Ava. She takes her yet to be girlfriend by the arm and runs around the corner.
You are back in the Hall of Fate.
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Date: 2025-01-16 11:31 pm (UTC)[He's... gonna check the High Priestess door again.]
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Date: 2025-01-16 11:46 pm (UTC)"Hey Marco. Sorry, that all must have been...a lot."
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Date: 2025-01-17 12:01 am (UTC)You're apologixing to me? You're the one who had to live through all of it.
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Date: 2025-01-17 12:11 am (UTC)Stephanie gets up from her throne to approach Marco.
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Date: 2025-01-17 12:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-17 12:49 am (UTC)I am...a very open person Marco, but I don't want my past to hurt people, either."
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Date: 2025-01-17 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-17 09:41 am (UTC)Thank you, for finding a few of those memories for me. I'm glad you were one of the people to help me get through them."
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Date: 2025-01-18 10:32 pm (UTC)