untrueheart | Act 1

Act 1

[For two days, Rue has spent her time deep in the forest, surviving on the supplies provided in a small but seemingly abandoned building. On the first day she saw no one, and spent her time as far away from the storybook bearing her name as possible, forcing herself to ignore the black wings on her back. Doing a terrible job of it.

On the second, someone came by, but she hid herself in the surrounding forest until they were gone. It was a stranger and she didn't want anybody to know she was there. Never mind that she was fairly sure this was outside the walls- somewhere she couldn't even imagine going. Not yet.

But on the morning of the third day, self-preservation wins out over uncertainty, and Rue (with her book, so no one else would find it either) walks from the small house until she finds a small lake, following its river upstream and coming within sight of a village with no wall.

There had been spare clothes in the house, so she wears a large jacket despite the heat, to cover her unfortunate wings; it turns away some of the rain that starts up part of the way through her walk. Eventually she stops under the overhang of a shop, staring around at the unfamiliar village, wondering if she ought to stay out of sight.

Too afraid to open a book labeled with her name - a book that might tell her story - she hasn't even come to understand just how different that story is about to become.]

[[ooc: Rue was at New Feather station bb, and she can be under any roof overhang you want but the Item Shop is the most likely one for running-into shenanigans.]]

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Mytho...saved me?

[It's still disbelief, but of a very different flavor. Mytho had been cruel and terrible and she had not loved him any less, but for him to turn around and save her - choose her, despite his very apparent love of Princess Tutu...

Rue buries her face in her arms.]

[ Duck isn't entirely sure what to do - had she upset her? She definitely hadn't meant to do that. She thought hearing the ending would have made Rue happy, but maybe she was wrong. ]

Oh, Rue, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you upset!

[She doesn't know why she's upset. This is good news. Things turn out okay, impossible as it is to imagine. None of them die, her father doesn't eat Mytho's heart. Or hers.

That last realization has her on her feet again, arms around Duck instead. She'll let go in a few seconds if nothing happens; it's the most emotion she can remember ever showing Duck, outside of anger and condescension.]

[ She's caught off guard by the sudden hug, but it makes her smile and Duck hugs her back. It must be strange to hear her future. But hopefully...it was good. ]

[It is strange. She doesn't care how strange. Would Duck lie to her if it was a lie that made her happy like this?]

Everything I did...

You don't have to worry about it anymore.

[ Especially not here, when it had taken them away from their story. ]

[It feels like she stands there forever. If she lets go and steps away it might turn out not to be true. Another dream about how things could have been different.

When she does, finally, let go of Duck, she turns immediately to rub her face on the sleeve of her jacket.]

I'm...I'm sorry.

Don't be. [ Her smile stays firmly in place, growing, even. ] There's no reason to be sad now.

[There is a reason. There are a lot of reasons. She's having a terrible time remembering them.]

Okay. Then I'll try not to be.

I'm so glad.

I'm not entirely sure what I should do now. [But she's smiling, for the first time in a long time.]

Has anyone shown you around yet? I can help you get settled in!

I walked for a long way beside a river to get here, and that's everything I've seen. You would really do that?

Of course I would! It would be my pleasure!

Well...well thank you. Duck.

[Another smile.]

You probably want some new clothes, huh? I can take to the clothes store, first!

My old clothes would do fine, if I had them.

They'll probably be there, actually! I don't know how it works exactly, but my clothes showed up there, too.

At least that will be something familiar.

[Still holding tight to her book like it's the only thing keeping her front attached, Rue walks not-quite-beside Duck, watching the ground for the most part.]

He isn't a crow anymore?

No, he isn't! But... [ She hesitates. ] He doesn't have the shards of his heart anymore, either. They left him, somehow.

Oh. [Maybe that is for the best. If it stops the raven's blood from changing him again...]

What will...you do about that?

...If his heart shards show up here, then I have to do what he wants. I have to restore his heart.

But- but you know what that will do to him, don't you? What he'll become?

But the Raven isn't here! At least, I don't think he is...and if it's what Mytho wants...

He's not here. [She would know. That particular pool of darkness in her awareness is gone.] But Duck, the shard that soaked in his blood, I can't- I can't promise it will be any different.

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action; the icon in my email was not this one, weird

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