Marco's Heart

[peccatore]

You find yourself in a bright white, circular room. It's nearly empty; too bare, almost clinically so. But the bareness of it means that what is visible here stands out:

A podium in the center, where a familiar figure sits, head buried in his hands. Three paths running from the podium to three different spots near the edges of the room - not corners; circles don't have corners - where three doors leading seemingly nowhere stand with no regard for their complete lack of structural support.

It doesn't take you long to figure out where you are, does it? You only have to decide where to start.

Comments

[peccatore]

Marco gasps. He feels it; he isn't sure what it is, but it's wonderful and peaceful and he would love to cling to that feeling -

But in the next moment, Viktor finds himself in the audience for a press conference.

Intrigued whispers surround Viktor; nobody seems quite sure why they're here. An announcement, Marco Evangelisti had said. Nothing related to current or upcoming products; what is it for, then? Apparently, he'd been vague.

But he's stepping up to the podium now, with a perfectly diplomatic smile on his lips and something distant in his eyes.

[pyrrhicviktory]

[ It's a little disturbing to Viktor how easy that was for him, but he files that away to think about another day. For now, he steps in the opposite direction of Marco, away from the podium, instinctively shying away from the spotlight. ]

[peccatore]

That should be perfectly alright. This room has great acoustics.

"Thank you." That's how Marco begins his announcement. "Thank you all for coming, on this... very important, very non-standard day. Thank you for the trust you have placed in me. I hope I may continue to rely on your trust in the coming days. I expect them to be... unprecedented. Unprecedented, I think, is the word."

A pause.

"But that is probably enough beating around the bush. You didn't come here to listen to a rich man say nothing of consequence. I'm sure you get enough of that in your job." His smile is a convincing facsimile, from a distance. It may not fool Viktor. "My announcement is as follows:"

The room is utterly silent, awaiting Marco's words.

"From today on, I, Marco Evangelisti, vow to make the public aware of a threat that has menaced mankind since its inception. For centuries, all manners of inhuman creatures with supernatural abilities have lived among us in secret, and they pose a danger to us all."

[pyrrhicviktory]

[ Viktor checks to see how the crowd is reacting to that, though he already assumes it's not good. ]

[peccatore]

Well, many cameras are going off. The journalists seem universally hesitant to speak up, but once just one of them does, the dam breaks. The questions flood in.

Viktor should be able to quickly deduce that the supernatural was not a known quantity, or at least one thought of as real, until this point.

[pyrrhicviktory]

[ Well, there's one of two ways this can go, and one of them ends up with Marco in an asylum, he thinks. ]

[peccatore]

Unfortunately, the answer to that question may not be here. It seems like the memory is already fuzzing at the edges...

But there's a voice breaking through the crowd. A new one, headed straight for Viktor.

"There you are! Now how the hell did you pull off that little trick?"

[pyrrhicviktory]

Oh, I think not.

[ Viktor takes Marco's hand ]

Marco. Time to go.

[peccatore]

"Wha--?"

Marco seems perhaps more alarmed to be in Viktor's grasp than he is by the intruder - who is, of course, the uncanny, spidery figure guarding the door that should have led here.

"Go where, pal?" the figure asks.

[pyrrhicviktory]

Away from you.

[ Viktor has no intention of staying to talk to this man. Now that they're touching again, Marco can hear Viktor's voice in his head. ]

Picture a place of calm.

[peccatore]

"Calm? C-- Calm..."

He tries. He tries, and...

They are pulled away to what looks, at first glance, like a restaurant, or some kind of bar. But all the patrons are pale and fanged, and the shelves behind the main counter are stocked with bottles upon bottles filled with blood.

At the counter stands a girl who visibly does a double-take at the sight of Viktor and Marco.

[pyrrhicviktory]

[ Viktor nods to her calmly, like nothing is out of the ordinary and he isn't a walking dinner in a bar full of vampires. ]

Good evening.

[peccatore]

Hey, how bad can this place be if it's Marco's safe space?

"What..." She enunciates with the kind of care and enunciation that no 10-year-old on Earth could have. "... on Earth is the meaning of this?"

[pyrrhicviktory]

There was an unpleasant man I wished to get away from. So I brought us here. I hope that is acceptable.

[peccatore]

"How?" She looks at Marco, demanding answers as if she didn't have exactly as much information as he does.

Marco, meanwhile, still seems to be trying to process what happened.

[pyrrhicviktory]

A skill I regained recently. I would not worry too much about it. I have no intention of going anywhere in your mind without your permission.

[peccatore]

"I... I-I appreciate that," Marco says.

[pyrrhicviktory]

Now, I think we should sit.

[peccatore]

"... Please, make yourselves comfortable," the child says.

Marco signals at Viktor to pick a table and just... sits wherever he picks. Any place is good.

[pyrrhicviktory]

[ Viktor will pick a cozy booth by the wall, if there are any of those available ]

[peccatore]

Sure, why not. It's a dreamscape.

[pyrrhicviktory]

[ once they're settled-- ]

So. Let us talk about what we just saw.

[peccatore]

"... Al-- Alright."

Marco clasps his hands tightly, seemingly reluctant to look Viktor in the eye right now.

[pyrrhicviktory]

... I do not wish to press. But... it seems to be part of the reason I am here, no?

[peccatore]

"... I think it is the reason you're here. Yes."