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COURT HEART GAME WRITEUP
Okay I'm just gonna do this now because it's been like three weeks since I started this. Victor finished and Lavi and Allen are still going through, but since Lavi's currently the only one making any other significant changes I'll implement his at a later date and/or handwave from now until then. ANYWAY LET'S BEGIN.
Court
This area was the "surface" of Natsume's heart and was only the room she shared with Allen and Lavi.
-Fox: In there was the Fox, who was intelligent but could not speak and acted only as an animal-- being that this is the surface, this is how Natsume views herself. Despite everything, she considers herself just an animal. Lavi and Victor both showed her affection. Lavi also brought her to Cirque du Majestico, briefly, and insisted she wasn't just an animal. This resulted in bringing thoughts of her circus work back to the front of her mind, and also the confidence that Lavi sees her as a person.
-The blankets: The star blanket represented Allen and the striped blanket represented Lavi, both sources of warmth and comfort and protection. Lavi was the only one to touch them, in which he wrapped the Fox up in them.
-The blackbird plush: This, like the living blackbird that followed players throughout the rest of the heart, represented fear and was kept hidden under the bed. Victor found it and showed it to her, but allowed her to hide it back under the bed. This will result in seeing Victor as someone who might help her with her fears, but ultimately won't change anything.
-The three doors: Door 1 led to Hokkaido. Door 2 led to Cirque du Majestico, and Door 3 led to Apartment Sparkles.
Hokkaido
This area was the forest of Natsume's childhood and much of her life in Japan where she lived. All players in this area were turned into an animal.
-Blackbird: The living blackbird follows the player around, cawing each time one of Natsume's fears is brought to light. In Hokkaido, that includes the thunderstorm and being hunted. The bird, in all instances and all areas, can be interacted with and even convinced to be quiet or pin other things as fears instead of what it announces. There was no interaction with the bird in this area(so far).
-Kaori: Kaori makes an appearance as an NPC in fox form, representing both Natsume's abandonment issues but also the wealth of knowledge and survival instincts her mother imparted to her. Kaori appeared to players and lead them through some of the forest; while following her they would catch glimpses of Natsume's childhood and the things she learned. Inevitably, Kaori would abandon the player to the forest with hardly a word. It is possible to find her again, if the player looks hard enough, but she must be bribed with food, money, or sex(in some cases) in order to answer questions. Kaori retains knowledge of the workings of the entire hard, and has the ability to lead players to specific points and that to change, if needed. If they can afford the price, anyway. Victor offered payment for information and did not receive it(nor did he pay), and did not pursue anything further.
-Thunderstorm: Players who shirk Kaori's help at the beginning will be led into a thunderstorm and experience Natsume's fear of it.
-Wandering: The act of wandering, after Kaori abandons them, will leave the player feeling the effects of the wild as an animal would-- cold, hunger, and loneliness. Whether or not players would get far enough to experience this was decided with a coin toss because I'm lazy :'|
-Hunted: After a time in Hokkaido, no matter whether one accepts Kaori's lead or not, players will be hunted by hounds and their humans. Players experience Natsume's fear of the act and the dogs themselves. Unfortunately the only escape is through the tree portal(to Sparkles) or into the circus tent(Cirque du Majestico) which brings you out of the area.
Cirque du Majestico
The circus is Natsume's workplace and the first thing she truly put her heart and soul into and perfected her acrobatics and illusion work until she finally found the place she thought she belonged. The circus itself is a warm and inviting place, despite its emptiness, but unfortunately props come and go as Natsume's focus on them lessens, given it's been more than a hundred years since she'd been there in the first place.
-Laurence: The man who was her main trapeze partner when she was alive, Laurence is easygoing and pretty carefree. There's few things in the circus itself he'll stop players from doing. Laurence possesses knowledge of Natsume's personal relationships, mostly, and will answer almost any question asked of him. He's very open and represents the most honest side of Natsume, the side the left when she died.
Tightrope: The only prop in the circus at this time, the tightrope is Natsume's fear of death. Her time in Deco renewed her fears once again of dying, and given the tightrope was the cause of her actual death, it most strongly manifests in this space. Climbing up to and setting foot on the tightrope resulted in the player feeling her fear and anxiety about the act, though those with a strong sense of balance and no fear of falling are able to cross it. Victor climbed up and took a step, but retreated and climbed back down, slightly reinforcing Natsume's fears.
Blackbird: The blackbird here sat on the middle of the tightrope and cawed when attention was brought to it. In this area, Lavi called the bird down and made the effort to be kind to it, reinforcing him as a slight source of comfort.
Exits: These were the entrance(Hokkaido), the trap door(Cardinal), and the backstage door(Court). Falling off the tightrope and dying would also cause players to awaken in Sparkles.
Apartment Sparkles
This was the large Apartment Natsume shared in Thusia with basically everyone important to her before they all created their own homes, she got married, etc. This area was incredibly peaceful and comforting. Victor eventually lead Love here, at Laurence's suggestion.
-Lavi: Lavi was present in this area, representing comfort and the general feeling of being "home". Lavi didn't have any specific goals, except to decorate the picture frames, and mostly hung around to talk and flirt a little. Any questions asked about Thusia and Sparkles he was very willing to answer.
-Pictures: On the table where Lavi sits lay a large amount of pictures, one for each person Natsume knows or has ever met. Very few of them had incredibly good, life-like clarity, which were those most important or best known to Natsume. Many of the pictures were of a lesser quality and some outright fuzzy, these being the people she knew in passing or was "just friends" with, but weren't entirely important. There was only one picture of her, crumpled and buried at the bottom. All of the pictures were in black and white, and none were framed. Framing the pictures was a way of "bringing them into focus," as it were, and renewing Natsume's concentration on forging her relationships with them. The frames could be decorated with heart stickers(for affection), star stickers(to rank importance), flower stickers(how happy being around them makes her), puppy stickers(fear), fox stickers(possessiveness). The crayons were mostly for show, but specific words or phrases could have been drawn onto the frames to effect her view of that person.
Victor framed the picture of Natsume, Thusia!Lavi, CopperRose!Tyki, and himself. On the picture of Natsume, he put heart stickers, increasing her feelings about herself, and fox stickers, increasing her possessiveness of herself and/or her independence, making the picture slightly clearer and imparting a little bit of color to it.. On the picture of Lavi, he put nothing but a frame. On the picture of Tyki he put puppy stickers, increasing Natsume's fear of him and making the picture fuzzier. On the picture of himself, he put heart and fox stickers, increasing Natsume's affection and possessiveness of him.
-Blackbird: The blackbird has little place in this area, and restricts itself to sitting on a doorframe and will not make a noise unless someone goes through it.
-Exits: The doorframe the blackbird sits on leads to Cardinal. The open closet leads to Court, and the portal leads to Hokkaido.
Cardinal
Cardinal is the most dangerous part of Natsume's heart, and even then it's all based off of her own fear. The main part of this area is the Cardinal dorm itself, dim and covered in blood old and new. The Flooded Level outside of Cardinal is also available to explore, but only a small portion of it. The dorm is crowded with birds, all those found in the portrait Birds of a Feather which were patrons of Cardinal in the library.
-Fireplace: The fireplace was only burning low and threatening to go out. Building up the fire would have brightened the room and eased Natsume's fears of having to hurt people. Or, conversely, her fear of hurting people.
-Bloodstains: The bloodstains represented everyone, past and present, Natsume has hurt or killed in the interest of protecting herself or her team and the fear and guild she feels as a result of that. Lavi scrubbed most of the newer stains away, leaving only the old ones. This will result in Natsume feeling less guilty of the measures she had to take in the library.
-Dove: The only npc in the heart likely to kill somebody, Dove is aggressively and somewhat short of temper due to her fears. She believes the only way to protect herself is to hurt or kill others, and beat down her love for the people around her. Of course, this resulted in her continuously harming Love herself. She was more responsive to people she already knew and trusted. As a result of this, Victor's talking to her failed to convince her of his trustworthiness, but didn't cause her to attack until he blinded her. Lavi, meanwhile, managed to talk Dove down from her highly anxious state into something a little calmer as well as get her to release her knife. Lavi talked to her and cleaned her up, resulting in her confidence in him being able to keep her from hurting him or others going up.
-Upstairs: Past the broken hidden door in the kitchen was the second-floor staircase, which a trail of new blood leading upstairs. There were no lights in the hallway save for a flickering candelight in the only open doorway, and all five other doors were locked; these doors represented Natsume's unwillingness to share secrets with others. Victor forcibly broke down all of these doors-- the rooms were empty, save for some yellow-green feathers, and a diary in the last room. This resulted in Natsume's innate fear of him growing, and the assumption that he cares very little for her personal comfort or boundaries.
-Feathers and Diary: The feathers were long and yellow-green, found in every upstairs room with the majority of them in the room Love occupied and some splattered with blood. These feathers are the same that made the hair of Natsume's teammate on Cardinal, Lace, which was her patron mark. The diary was unreadable gibberish, but imparted Natsume's fear and guilt and shame of allowing Lace to eat her onto the reader. Victor opened the diary, bringing the feelings back to light, but ultimately burned and destroyed it, resulting in a marked decrease in her fear of Lace and being eaten again.
-The Birds and the Blackbird: Given that everywhere in this area was a source of fear, the blackbird stuck close and quiet to the player. The Birds of a Feather in the dorm constantly watched the player unless they were upstairs, but made no move or sound. The Birds themselves represented an almost oppressive force in Natsume, and killing or otherwise getting rid of them would result in her only physical change outside of the heart: it would rid her of her patron mark. While Natsume has no fear or even any real malice towards them, she finds herself somewhat bitter at the mark they left on her.
-The Floodlevel: Outside of the dorm was the dim and watery flood level where Cardinal was forced to make their home. Out here, the water is steadily rising and threatening to flood the few dry areas, one of the barriers broken significantly. The rising water signified Natsume's hopelessness and unwillingness to change. Victor managed to partially fix the broken barrier and slowed it to a trickle so the level didn't fully flood.
The True Heart:
Due to the nature of the path her life has taken, Natsume's True Heart has no specific place to settle and can be moved from area to area. Her True Heart took the form of Love and, as she is, is often afraid that those around her do not truly care for her. As such, she's pretty easy to manipulate and is extremely trusting. Currently she is partially injured, as she was essentially being kept upstairs in Cardinal, where Dove would attack her if she tried to leave, out of her own fear.
-Victor helped remove her from Cardinal by attacking and tricking Dove, resulting in no changes to her fear of loving others, but adding on some guilt of trying to push people away.
-Victor brought her first to the Circus, rekindling her feelings for her work, and then to Sparkles, where she truly relaxed and began to act as she had before. Leaving her in Sparkles resulted in some extra affection towards those she loves, and is the best place currently in the heart for her to be.
-Victor climbed the tightrope despite her (admittedly weak) protest, which increased her fear in him dying.
-Victor stayed in Sparkles with her instead of going back to the circus, reinforcing her belief that he won't abandon her.
-Victor also had sex with her which gave her like 100x more sexual interest in him in general.
-Unfortunately, Victor did very little to assuage her fears of him, which will leave her confused and a little conflicted about how she feels about him outside of the heart.
THE PUNCHLINE TO ALL OF THIS IS SHE'S NEVER MET VICTOR BEFORE.
Court
This area was the "surface" of Natsume's heart and was only the room she shared with Allen and Lavi.
-Fox: In there was the Fox, who was intelligent but could not speak and acted only as an animal-- being that this is the surface, this is how Natsume views herself. Despite everything, she considers herself just an animal. Lavi and Victor both showed her affection. Lavi also brought her to Cirque du Majestico, briefly, and insisted she wasn't just an animal. This resulted in bringing thoughts of her circus work back to the front of her mind, and also the confidence that Lavi sees her as a person.
-The blankets: The star blanket represented Allen and the striped blanket represented Lavi, both sources of warmth and comfort and protection. Lavi was the only one to touch them, in which he wrapped the Fox up in them.
-The blackbird plush: This, like the living blackbird that followed players throughout the rest of the heart, represented fear and was kept hidden under the bed. Victor found it and showed it to her, but allowed her to hide it back under the bed. This will result in seeing Victor as someone who might help her with her fears, but ultimately won't change anything.
-The three doors: Door 1 led to Hokkaido. Door 2 led to Cirque du Majestico, and Door 3 led to Apartment Sparkles.
Hokkaido
This area was the forest of Natsume's childhood and much of her life in Japan where she lived. All players in this area were turned into an animal.
-Blackbird: The living blackbird follows the player around, cawing each time one of Natsume's fears is brought to light. In Hokkaido, that includes the thunderstorm and being hunted. The bird, in all instances and all areas, can be interacted with and even convinced to be quiet or pin other things as fears instead of what it announces. There was no interaction with the bird in this area(so far).
-Kaori: Kaori makes an appearance as an NPC in fox form, representing both Natsume's abandonment issues but also the wealth of knowledge and survival instincts her mother imparted to her. Kaori appeared to players and lead them through some of the forest; while following her they would catch glimpses of Natsume's childhood and the things she learned. Inevitably, Kaori would abandon the player to the forest with hardly a word. It is possible to find her again, if the player looks hard enough, but she must be bribed with food, money, or sex(in some cases) in order to answer questions. Kaori retains knowledge of the workings of the entire hard, and has the ability to lead players to specific points and that to change, if needed. If they can afford the price, anyway. Victor offered payment for information and did not receive it(nor did he pay), and did not pursue anything further.
-Thunderstorm: Players who shirk Kaori's help at the beginning will be led into a thunderstorm and experience Natsume's fear of it.
-Wandering: The act of wandering, after Kaori abandons them, will leave the player feeling the effects of the wild as an animal would-- cold, hunger, and loneliness. Whether or not players would get far enough to experience this was decided with a coin toss because I'm lazy :'|
-Hunted: After a time in Hokkaido, no matter whether one accepts Kaori's lead or not, players will be hunted by hounds and their humans. Players experience Natsume's fear of the act and the dogs themselves. Unfortunately the only escape is through the tree portal(to Sparkles) or into the circus tent(Cirque du Majestico) which brings you out of the area.
Cirque du Majestico
The circus is Natsume's workplace and the first thing she truly put her heart and soul into and perfected her acrobatics and illusion work until she finally found the place she thought she belonged. The circus itself is a warm and inviting place, despite its emptiness, but unfortunately props come and go as Natsume's focus on them lessens, given it's been more than a hundred years since she'd been there in the first place.
-Laurence: The man who was her main trapeze partner when she was alive, Laurence is easygoing and pretty carefree. There's few things in the circus itself he'll stop players from doing. Laurence possesses knowledge of Natsume's personal relationships, mostly, and will answer almost any question asked of him. He's very open and represents the most honest side of Natsume, the side the left when she died.
Tightrope: The only prop in the circus at this time, the tightrope is Natsume's fear of death. Her time in Deco renewed her fears once again of dying, and given the tightrope was the cause of her actual death, it most strongly manifests in this space. Climbing up to and setting foot on the tightrope resulted in the player feeling her fear and anxiety about the act, though those with a strong sense of balance and no fear of falling are able to cross it. Victor climbed up and took a step, but retreated and climbed back down, slightly reinforcing Natsume's fears.
Blackbird: The blackbird here sat on the middle of the tightrope and cawed when attention was brought to it. In this area, Lavi called the bird down and made the effort to be kind to it, reinforcing him as a slight source of comfort.
Exits: These were the entrance(Hokkaido), the trap door(Cardinal), and the backstage door(Court). Falling off the tightrope and dying would also cause players to awaken in Sparkles.
Apartment Sparkles
This was the large Apartment Natsume shared in Thusia with basically everyone important to her before they all created their own homes, she got married, etc. This area was incredibly peaceful and comforting. Victor eventually lead Love here, at Laurence's suggestion.
-Lavi: Lavi was present in this area, representing comfort and the general feeling of being "home". Lavi didn't have any specific goals, except to decorate the picture frames, and mostly hung around to talk and flirt a little. Any questions asked about Thusia and Sparkles he was very willing to answer.
-Pictures: On the table where Lavi sits lay a large amount of pictures, one for each person Natsume knows or has ever met. Very few of them had incredibly good, life-like clarity, which were those most important or best known to Natsume. Many of the pictures were of a lesser quality and some outright fuzzy, these being the people she knew in passing or was "just friends" with, but weren't entirely important. There was only one picture of her, crumpled and buried at the bottom. All of the pictures were in black and white, and none were framed. Framing the pictures was a way of "bringing them into focus," as it were, and renewing Natsume's concentration on forging her relationships with them. The frames could be decorated with heart stickers(for affection), star stickers(to rank importance), flower stickers(how happy being around them makes her), puppy stickers(fear), fox stickers(possessiveness). The crayons were mostly for show, but specific words or phrases could have been drawn onto the frames to effect her view of that person.
-Blackbird: The blackbird has little place in this area, and restricts itself to sitting on a doorframe and will not make a noise unless someone goes through it.
-Exits: The doorframe the blackbird sits on leads to Cardinal. The open closet leads to Court, and the portal leads to Hokkaido.
Cardinal
Cardinal is the most dangerous part of Natsume's heart, and even then it's all based off of her own fear. The main part of this area is the Cardinal dorm itself, dim and covered in blood old and new. The Flooded Level outside of Cardinal is also available to explore, but only a small portion of it. The dorm is crowded with birds, all those found in the portrait Birds of a Feather which were patrons of Cardinal in the library.
-Fireplace: The fireplace was only burning low and threatening to go out. Building up the fire would have brightened the room and eased Natsume's fears of having to hurt people. Or, conversely, her fear of hurting people.
-Bloodstains: The bloodstains represented everyone, past and present, Natsume has hurt or killed in the interest of protecting herself or her team and the fear and guild she feels as a result of that. Lavi scrubbed most of the newer stains away, leaving only the old ones. This will result in Natsume feeling less guilty of the measures she had to take in the library.
-Dove: The only npc in the heart likely to kill somebody, Dove is aggressively and somewhat short of temper due to her fears. She believes the only way to protect herself is to hurt or kill others, and beat down her love for the people around her. Of course, this resulted in her continuously harming Love herself. She was more responsive to people she already knew and trusted. As a result of this, Victor's talking to her failed to convince her of his trustworthiness, but didn't cause her to attack until he blinded her. Lavi, meanwhile, managed to talk Dove down from her highly anxious state into something a little calmer as well as get her to release her knife. Lavi talked to her and cleaned her up, resulting in her confidence in him being able to keep her from hurting him or others going up.
-Upstairs: Past the broken hidden door in the kitchen was the second-floor staircase, which a trail of new blood leading upstairs. There were no lights in the hallway save for a flickering candelight in the only open doorway, and all five other doors were locked; these doors represented Natsume's unwillingness to share secrets with others. Victor forcibly broke down all of these doors-- the rooms were empty, save for some yellow-green feathers, and a diary in the last room. This resulted in Natsume's innate fear of him growing, and the assumption that he cares very little for her personal comfort or boundaries.
-Feathers and Diary: The feathers were long and yellow-green, found in every upstairs room with the majority of them in the room Love occupied and some splattered with blood. These feathers are the same that made the hair of Natsume's teammate on Cardinal, Lace, which was her patron mark. The diary was unreadable gibberish, but imparted Natsume's fear and guilt and shame of allowing Lace to eat her onto the reader. Victor opened the diary, bringing the feelings back to light, but ultimately burned and destroyed it, resulting in a marked decrease in her fear of Lace and being eaten again.
-The Birds and the Blackbird: Given that everywhere in this area was a source of fear, the blackbird stuck close and quiet to the player. The Birds of a Feather in the dorm constantly watched the player unless they were upstairs, but made no move or sound. The Birds themselves represented an almost oppressive force in Natsume, and killing or otherwise getting rid of them would result in her only physical change outside of the heart: it would rid her of her patron mark. While Natsume has no fear or even any real malice towards them, she finds herself somewhat bitter at the mark they left on her.
-The Floodlevel: Outside of the dorm was the dim and watery flood level where Cardinal was forced to make their home. Out here, the water is steadily rising and threatening to flood the few dry areas, one of the barriers broken significantly. The rising water signified Natsume's hopelessness and unwillingness to change. Victor managed to partially fix the broken barrier and slowed it to a trickle so the level didn't fully flood.
The True Heart:
Due to the nature of the path her life has taken, Natsume's True Heart has no specific place to settle and can be moved from area to area. Her True Heart took the form of Love and, as she is, is often afraid that those around her do not truly care for her. As such, she's pretty easy to manipulate and is extremely trusting. Currently she is partially injured, as she was essentially being kept upstairs in Cardinal, where Dove would attack her if she tried to leave, out of her own fear.
-Victor helped remove her from Cardinal by attacking and tricking Dove, resulting in no changes to her fear of loving others, but adding on some guilt of trying to push people away.
-Victor brought her first to the Circus, rekindling her feelings for her work, and then to Sparkles, where she truly relaxed and began to act as she had before. Leaving her in Sparkles resulted in some extra affection towards those she loves, and is the best place currently in the heart for her to be.
-Victor climbed the tightrope despite her (admittedly weak) protest, which increased her fear in him dying.
-Victor stayed in Sparkles with her instead of going back to the circus, reinforcing her belief that he won't abandon her.
-Victor also had sex with her which gave her like 100x more sexual interest in him in general.
-Unfortunately, Victor did very little to assuage her fears of him, which will leave her confused and a little conflicted about how she feels about him outside of the heart.
THE PUNCHLINE TO ALL OF THIS IS SHE'S NEVER MET VICTOR BEFORE.
no subject
anyway. victor is going to try to talk her into being his servant after this.
no subject
he can certainly try