Plotting Post!

[soheartless]

For anyone interested in taking part in this plot, So here's the lowdown on these heart shards.

First of all, Mytho is originally a Prince from a storybook called The Prince and The Raven. Once he came out of the story to enter reality, he sealed the Raven away by using his sword to pierce his heart. These shards were scattered somewhat randomly throughout Gold Crown Town, and most of them wound up seeking out hearts with matching emotions to enter.

Basically, there's a total of 16 known heart shards that each are associated with a different emotion or aspect of one's being. One of them is actually the pendant that allows Duck to become Princess Tutu, and then there are 5 which only come into play in the last episodes. At his current canon point, Mytho has 10 of these heart shards, and he will lose them all upon entry of Luceti.

The way each heart shard works is that they will try to "enter" the heart of someone expressing the matching emotion. The heart shard appears to the person as a red-tinted version of Mytho and will sometimes speak to them to convince them that they're right in following that emotion. The victim seems oblivious to the whole process and will instead begin practicing out the corresponding emotion in excess. This usually produces effects that are negative but not necessarily evil (but they can be). Duck's pendant will eventually detect the presence of the heart shard, and she will confront the victim as Princess Tutu. She uses dance in order to convince the person to stop indulging in that emotion, usually by helping them through their insecurities while dancing with them, in order to get the heart shard to vacate their body. The heart shard will then take on the form of a red stone, and Tutu returns it to Mytho.

Those are tha basics; some specifics may vary depending on the individual shard. But here's a list of them all and a little summary to give you an idea of how they can make characters act - as well as of course to help you choose one to infect your own character with.

*Disappointment: This shard infects an anteater girl named Anteaterina when she was disappointed that Rue saw no potential for her to become as skilled a ballerina as she herself. Acting out of his bitter disappointment, she tried to get revenge on Rue by taking her boyfriend/dance partner and tried to take her place in the advanced class, taking it out on Mytho when she failed. Her own dance also became something much more destructive until Princess Tutu helped her to become comfortable with her heart's true style of dancing, overcoming her disappointment.
*Loneliness: This shard comes to Ebine, whose chef husband has died. Her own cooking has been subpar, but the loneliness shard causes her to force people to try to keep eating her cold and flavorless food forever, while throwing anyone who refuses out of the restaurant. Tutu manages to find her husband's old recipes, which she uses to help her get through her loneliness.
*Sorrow: This shard goes to the ghost of a maiden who died of grief after her love was unrequited. This makes her tempt Mytho with a sprig of rosemary, which would take him to the land of the dead.
*Affection: This shard goes to, of all things, the spirit of a lamp. The lamp liked to show affection by providing a light for others, but she was forgotten by those important to her. Under the influence of the shard, the lamp spirit tries to capture Mytho so that he exclusively receives the affection of her light.
*Fear: This shard infects Paulamoni, the leading lady of a ballet troupe. She had lived up to her dream of portraying Aurora in Sleeping Beauty and was afraid to dream again. This shard enhanced her fear so that she came to panic on-stage. Unlike with the other shards, this time it is Paulamoni's husband who is able to guide her past her fear with his words. The shard is then separated from her and flees Princess Tutu until she can reclaim it.
*Desire for Knowledge This shard is another odd one. Instead of infecting a person, it becomes part of a river and delights in endlessly asking questions of those who talk to it. It actually speaks to Mytho and draws him into the river without threatening his breathing to ask him more questions. This shard was captured by Kraehe at first, and its innocent questioning of Rue helped to drive her into a breakdown, but eventually Tutu was able to return it to Mytho.
*Devotion: This shard infected a painter named Malen. Rue was among the many subjects she painted, but this shard caused her to devote herself into painting only Rue, and it would hurt for her to try otherwise.
*Regret: This shard goes to Fakir's adoptive father, Karon. It enhances his regrets about raising Fakir, which causes him to be harsh on Fakir and to encourage him to give up on his current endeavors so that he won't feel regret. When Tutu dances with him, she excises the regret shard by convincing him to have faith in Fakir.
*Love: This heart shard is unique in that it does not infect anyone. It instead takes on the form of a pendant that passes hands several times. Rue managed to pull it out as it was re-entering Mythos, which had a negative effect on him and made him temporarily lose his other emotions. The climax of the first part of the anime is then Rue and Duck both dancing to try to earn the favor of the love shard, and eventually Duck is the victor. The shard is reunited with Mytho, but it is later revealed that the shard was doused in raven's blood by Rue, which causes him to gain the persona of the Prince of Crows. This shard will still have that infection in Luceti.
*Pride: The straggling last of the 'normal' heart shards, this one winds up infecting a Ghost Knight. In his life, the knight had carried out his duty with pride and had even killed his own lover when he discovered that she was an enemy spy. Even though the knight's battle had ended, the pride shard drove the knight's ghost to keep battling over and over to carry on his pride. Tutu convinced him that this duty was over to get him to relinquish his pride and rest in peace.

So yeah. All that tl;dr aside, if you're interested in having a character affected by one of the shards, comment with the shard of your choosing as well as any initial ideas, and we'll work something out! Of course, with the number of shards, they will be spread out over time, so some volunteers may have some wait until their turn comes.

Comments

[soheartless]

Ah, understood. Of course, even without getting any heart shards themselves, there's always the possibility of playing off of those who do while they are affected. And otherwise we'll see what other opportunities arise as the plot progresses.

[knifesedge]

I do want to play (and have started watching your series. :( ) I'm just unwilling to try to gank something from someone whos' already laid claim to stuff. At worst, Vash is a good loop in on stuff, even if not directly affected!

[soheartless]

That's definitely noted (and that's cool!), and yeah, I myself don't want to have to pick and choose (to think at first I thought almost thought that ten would be too many!), so we'll see how things go with those who've volunteered so far.