soheartless | Second Shard [Video/Action] Backdated to the 10th

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Second Shard [Video/Action] Backdated to the 10th

Once upon a time...

There was a prince who had lost his heart. Every day, he would roam the lands in search of it, longing for those feelings that he once possessed. His journey came to a stop when he found his heart in the clutches of a raven. "I'll return your heart to you under one condition," she said to him. "You must promise to love me and only me." The prince had no choice to accept. As he took his heart back and accepted the raven's hand, she became a beautiful princess.

But the prince's heart itself felt betrayed by this choice. He had never wanted to love a raven, regardless of her beauty. And his heart was left wondering if he could truly love anyone with his entire being...

[Video]

[At some point after regaining his first heart shard and coming to recognize it as devotion, he finds himself unsure of his next move. And he flickers on the journal feed with some uncertainty - it was difficult to operate. And he stares into the feed uncertainly before speaking.]

This feeling that I feel...

It's the feeling of devotion. I recognize it.

Tell me. When you feel this feeling... What sorts of things do you do with it? How do you express this devotion?

[Action]

[Afterwards, he wanders through the village, seemingly aimlessly. He spends some time loitering by the fountain and perhaps spontaneously does some ballet. But all the while, he's also seeking Rue, as well as Princess Tutu.]

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[At first, she stumbles, because coming to terms with Mytho inviting her to dance on a whim, with him wanting to, is somehow harder a second time. Then, it feels like she just goes through the motions, and anytime they face each other she searches his eyes for the thing she most fears.

It's hard not to ache for him, though. Not when he so clearly enjoys what he's doing, and that he's doing it with her.]

[Dancing with Rue brings comfort - it feels natural. Right. And he slowly and gracefuly leads her through the moments, quietly at first. Then he speaks so softly.]

Rue...

I have a feeling.

I heard.

[She can't help that it sounds flat and wobbly, though it is only two words.]

[He doesn't pay much notice to her tone - he just goes to twirl her around a bit.]

I didn't know.

The feeling of devotion...

It's very strange.

What's so strange about it? [She remembers the last time, but he was already half-put-together by then.]

For one feeling... It's a lot.

The first time... the first time I felt it...

I wanted to devote myself to Tutu.

Edited 2013-06-16 23:51 (UTC)

[If asked, she will say she stumbled because it's impossible to do these dances well in the wrong shoes no matter how accomplished you are.

That's not really why.]

I suppose you'll want all that again.

[But he moves, quickly - to try to catch her in whatever way he can. And he looks at her eyes.]

I don't.

That's what's strange.

[Rue isn't sure she's breathing.]

If you don't want that, fine. [She refuses to push him toward Tutu in any way.] There...is something else, instead.

Yes.

Rue, this feeling...

[And he pulls her close, looking into her eyes.]

I find that I want to devote myself to you.

Edited 2013-06-17 00:58 (UTC)

What?

[A high-pitched cross between a screech and a whisper. In the center of all the panic and discord in her head is a voice that says, this ought to make you happy.]

[He repeats without missing a beat.]

I want to devote myself to you Rue.

That's how I feel.

I want to... make up, for what I've done.

[He doesn't feel sorry. Only because he can't feel sorrow yet. But he can feel the need to atone for it through devotion.]

[This is everything you've wanted and why aren't you satisfied?

Except it's not what she wanted. An empty boy with one emotion who doesn't know what he's going to go through and what he could become if he stays with her? Who knows loyalty but not the love to go with it?]

Mytho, you haven't done anything wrong. [He had done hurtful things, of course, but he didn't know they were, or he did them only as a result of what she did to him.]

I cut you.

[He says as he glances towards where he remembers the wound being, his arms on his shoulders.]</small. I shouldn't have done that.

[It's gone now, without even a scar. Rue surprises herself with the feeling of tears.]

The things I've...what I have done to you is so much worse. Everything is my fault.

[As they turn away from each other for a few seconds, part of the dance, he might miss the 'for loving you' whisper that follows.]

[He does miss it as he turns around, releasing his hold, to clasp her hands again once they face each other.]

I don't know.

To remember that much... It hurts to try.

All I have is this feeling. Isn't that... what I should listen to?

Edited 2013-06-17 01:56 (UTC)

[The dance is over - at least, the part they can do all by themselves - and here she is looking at him, right at him, and there is more than lonely emptiness looking back.

There is no fire and no cruelty, either.

Her hands go slack in Mytho's and she looks at the ground.]

I think you will not have a choice. [And she pulls her hands away in order to draw him closer.]

Okay.

[He raises her hands slightly - as some type of comfort.]

Do you have a choice?

I don't know anymore.

[Duck said the story had a happy ending. That she would save him and then he would, in turn, save Rue herself.

...But who would get to be happy after that?]

Not about loving you. I have no choice in that, nor do I want one.

Oh.

Do you know if you feel... the emotion of devotion as well?

Of course I do. I want to be devoted to you as well.

In that case...

Devotion is something we both feel.

That's right. [It's so easy to fall back into the pattern of dictating what Mytho does and thinks while he's with her. And look where that led the first time.]

[He nods.]

What should I do...?

Edited 2013-06-18 02:07 (UTC)

[A new thought extends itself from her heart into her head. It begins: what if?

What if this time, she helped him? What if he turned to her instead of Tutu because here, she has a chance of making things right? What if she spurns his feelings again and really does lose him as a result.

Well. That last one isn't so new.]

What else...do you want to do?

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