wroughtandtempered | heart game

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heart game

heart game - Kantera

I’m sorry. I tried— I tried, but I can’t keep going—

I don’t think I can do this alone, so— Please. Please—

I need help.

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He can! Which earns him another lunge and another hiss, this time more on the panicked than angry side.

"You dumb fucking bastard, stop— what do you think this is? You're not even fucking thinking about what this will do, you selfish piece of shit!"

"I think that someone very dear to me is chained up and wounded, and I would like to free her. If that causes harm to me, so be it - but if that causes harm to you somehow, then please tell me."

Is she upset because Trust Issues, or is she upset because he's actually doing something wrong? He can't tell.

"So you're doing it for your own self-satisfaction," she says flatly, and then spits.

"Use your fucking brain. This shit is symbolism all the way down— what do you think someone would keep hidden away like this? Still hurting enough to bleed?"

Well, that does at least get him to stop and think.

"...Are you the mindfuck?"

"...The what," she says flatly in reply.

...Seems like someone might have missed a memo.

"Ah - yes, sorry, let me explain. You were - Eve was cursed recently by some malevolent force embedding itself into her mind. It has been badly damaging her self-image and sense of self-worth."

He pulls the mirror back out of his pocket to show her. "I thought this might be it, but..."

The mirror gets an immediate reaction— she rears like she'd been slapped and snarls, before lunging to the edge of her chains, straining against them with enough force they start cutting into her legs.

"What the— what the fuck, why do you have— give me that."

"Okay okay, I'm giving it to you, don't hurt yourself-"

He comes near enough to hold the mirror out to her that she can grab it in her jaws. And his hand with it, if she wants to, but he hopes she doesn't.

She all but snatches it out of his hands with a quick strike, and it

twists

quicksilver and fluid up over her mouth, wrenching it open even as she tries to scuttle away from it with an angry muffled growl. it settles as a device of wood and leather straps— something clearly deliberately shaped to fit her mouth and keep it forced open, while providing access to her fangs.

Eve freezes for a long moment— then lets out a breath and snaps her head sideways. The unsecured muzzle goes flying off her face and into the wall with a nasty crack.

"...was wondering where that stupid piece of shit went," she says, sounding much calmer. "A mirror? Really? What the fuck."

If Kantera had a nickel for every time this month he saw a muzzle on someone he dearly loved and was very upset about it for the second it was on, he'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's two nickels too many.

"...How are you feeling?"

"...Better. Thanks." She heaves a huge, gusty sigh and gingerly goes to lay down, though she still keeps an eye on him. "...We'd worked through that piece of shit ages ago, having it ripped back out fucking sucked."

"Happy to help. -Is there anything else I can do for you? If you still don't want to be unchained."

"Not really. Some shit you've got to process yourself, you know?"

There a soft crackle from the corner the muzzle fell into, and a fresh wisp of smoke rises to join the smog. She whuffs, satisfied.

"You might want to get out of here. It's going to get fucking hot soon."

"Very well, then. Take care, Eve."

Up the stairs he goes. Any noticeable changes in the room?

"Yeah, yeah, you too—"

As he climbs out of the basement, the soft crackle behind him builds into a roar... and Eve outright cackles, clearly delighted by this development. Once he's out, he can just barely hear her yell:

"Fucking finally—

—before the trap door swings shut of its own accord, and melts into the wooden floor as though it had never been there to begin with.

Not just the room, but the overall atmosphere has changed. The overwhelming scent of smoke has faded, giving way to the smell of freshly baked goods wafting from the kitchen, along with a welcome wave of warmth to chase away the cold. The firepit in Eve's bedroom crackles away merrily, echoed by both the sounds of other fires and the beginning of here-and-there taps on the roof— which turn into a steady patter as rain starts to wash away the snow.

"Ahhh, now this is much more like it."

Is this what he'd come here to do? He should probably check back in with Nysteri, if he isn't immediately booted out of the heart for Mission Accomplished.

He is not! Back to the kitchen he can go.

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heart game - Kantera

Re: the basement.

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