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]

Stephanie slowly goes over to the tablets and wipes her blood from them with her sleeve.

"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.

[peccatore]

[... Well.

Marco takes a deep breath and enters the third door.]

[reading_rainstorm]

You are in a high-school hallway. Stephanie is taking things from her locker, you can see she's got a black eye that's on the mend. She flinches hearing you approach and whips around with a look of fear and anger, then she sighs.

"Ah, just you...This is your grand finale before the real deal I guess."

[peccatore]

[... At this point, he has to ask.]

Are you talking to me?

[reading_rainstorm]

"I am. I have just a little leverage to interact in- shit...here they come."

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.

[peccatore]

[Stephanie is getting very good at reading Marco, because the moment he sees the look on those boys' faces, he's putting up his guard. In fact, when Zeb approaches, he tries to hold him back with one hand despite Stephanie's reminder.]

[reading_rainstorm]

Zeb passes right through your arms like a ghost. Suddenly a hardback book whips right by your face, hitting Zeb right in the head. You hear Ava's voice call from the books origin.

"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.

[peccatore]

... Oh, Stephanie...

[He's... gonna check the High Priestess door again.]

[reading_rainstorm]

The door opems and you find yourself in the main chamber of a temple. A black and white pillar suspend a floral patterned cloth behind a throne. On which is Stephanie adorned with fine red and gold robes, headdress with a Chaos star like a halo behind her head. There is no trace of her usual cat features about her but she wears a golden gorget around her neck that is chained to a headless winged lion that sits at the foot of her throne. She looks up from the book in her lap. Smiling.


"Hey Marco. Sorry, that all must have been...a lot."

[peccatore]

[He exhales.]

You're apologixing to me? You're the one who had to live through all of it.

[reading_rainstorm]

"Doesn't mean you should have to live through it too."

Stephanie gets up from her throne to approach Marco.

[peccatore]

[Marco shakes his head.] That really isn't the point.

[reading_rainstorm]

"...no, I don't suppose it is.

I am...a very open person Marco, but I don't want my past to hurt people, either."

[peccatore]

Well, you don't have to worry about me. If you're worried.

[reading_rainstorm]

"Very well Marco, I won't worry.

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."

[peccatore]

I-I'm only glad I was able to help. [Somehow.]