cryovision | Pavo Heart Game: Noctua's Grand Adventure

Pavo Heart Game: Noctua's Grand Adventure

When you enter the light, you find yourself hovering weightless in a void, as if caught in a moment of falling inertia. In the distance, you hear a voice that seems to shift and twist, familiar and yet unfamiliar.

"You shouldn't be here. But since you already are, let's make a wager. If you can uncover the truth, you'll find me. If you can't, you may be hopelessly lost... What a shame that would be."

You begin falling, and your vision blacks out--

[OOC NOTE: your goals are "reveal the truth" to "find the true heart". All images in toplevels are for general inspo, please make sure you read the flavourtext cause things are not exactly as they are in the images.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[You go a ways down the path, but don't seem to be getting any closer to the flame. You may notice: in this place, there is absolutely no wind.

Eventually, you come upon a fork in the road. A question pops up in your mind, clear as if it had been spoken to you.

"Imagine you're a guard, traveling with a merchant, and you find out a group of bandits plans to ambush you about ten minutes down the road. You could turn them in to the local authorities, but there's always the chance they could escape in that time. Or, you could go meet them head on, at the risk of your fellow guards' lives. Will you take the cautious road, or the risky one?"

You know, immediately, that the lefthand fork is the cautious way, and the righthand the risky.]

[...Goes right.]

[You proceed farther along the path, still not seeming to get anywhere but also not being impeded.

You come to another fork.

"It's come to your attention that a livestock merchant may be participating in a human trafficking operation. They are meant to meet a mysterious someone at a remote location in a week's time. You aren't sure if that someone is a trader of lives, or simply a hidden lover. You could take the time to research, plant some rumours, and watch someone else uncover the truth. Or you could go there yourself and, if it's the evil you suspect, wipe it from the face of the world. Will you deal with this indirectly, or directly?"

You know, instinctively, the lefthand fork is the indirect way, and the righthand fork the direct.]

[takes another right.]

[You head down the direct road! After a few meters, though, the path turns to a thick, wet mud under your feet. You're sucked in, up to the chest, and your powers now don't work.

You're stuck. Probably?]

[this is coming too soon after the tentacles. he's panicking, thrashing, trying desperately to move forward.]

[You panic, but you can't pull away. You're trapped. Bogged down and restrained and--

You suddenly feel presences at either side of you, looking down.]

You look like you need a hand.

[It's a voice you haven't heard in four years.

There, on your left, is a man who looks just like you, only older and with a beard. But on the right is...

...Who? You feel like you're seeing another man there, but his features don't stick in your head. It's like trying to recall the face of someone you've nearly forgotten.]

[oh

just

just fucking sobs, reaching for his father.]

[Your dad, and also the other guy, haul you out of the mud!]

Shh... You're alright now.

[It really is just as you remember him. He looks right, feels right, smells right in a way that only you and Pavo could possibly know in such detail.

The other man is an unknowable being, but he's not leaving.]

[embracing his father tightly, but eyeballing the other.]

Are you... also his father?

That's right.

[His voice is clearer than his face, but still a little fuzzy. It's a fond voice, but also a cold and resentful one, somehow at the same time.

Your father holds you and pets your hair, comforting and warm, just like he would when you were young and woke up from a nightmare.]

Would you like to stay with me?

[Your father asks, invitingly. The other father makes a disapproving sound.]

I want to... I want to really badly.

But I shouldn't. I have work to do.

You could stay. I'll take you home, and you won't have to hurt anymore.

[He seems... wistful. Disappointed. The other father seems to be running out of patience:]

Or you could do your duty. People are relying on you, like it or not. Come with me.

[It appears, the dads are fighting over you. You could choose one, or you could try to book it down the path.]

Father, no, I--

[help? what? is this what pavo's father was like before they adopted him?]

I have to. There are people who need me.

[poor Noctua, caught in the Dad Wars]

...You know, you're right. That spirit is something to admire about you.

[Your father smiles, sadly, but lets go of you.]

But I'll miss you.

[The other father seems to think this is a lot more dire and holds out a hand to you.]

Come. You're the only one who can see this done.

[gets one last nuzzle in with dad.]

I already miss you, Father.

[with painful clarity. then, takes the other father's hand.]

[You take the other father's hand.

Your own father disappears. The path disappears. You descend into a frigid darkness where all you can hear are the screams of the dying. Around you, scattered, are bodies -- people you recognize, and people you don't. Friends and acquaintances in Mondstadt, hilichurls and other monsters, and utter strangers, all ruthlessly cut down.

In your hand is the Aquila Favonia, slick with blood, that drips into the puddle at your feet.

You don't see any way out.]

[HEY WHAT THE FUCK]

[hey look if you turn around a little there's even a dead diluc]

[look. bodies don't get to him much these days. but these are...

he has to be sick.]

[you get sick in the corpse pile.

...Did something just twitch?]

[please archons no what the fuck

his head whips around to try and focus on the movement.]

[It was your corpse twitching!

You can tell cause it's still twitching. The fingers clench, so hard you can hear the leather of his gloves creak, and then... he staggers to his feet. Which is probably hard to do when you have several holes going all the way through your body!]

[HE HATES THIS

SO MUCH

BACKS UP A LIL]

...You're going to run, now? You chose this. Finish it.

[The rage is palpable. His voice cracks, hoarse, as if he's been screaming for some time. But it's your voice. Your furious crimson eyes. And your hand reaching for the greatsword on the ground.]

Pavo Heart Game: Noctua's Grand Adventure

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