driftfleet | Just Keeping Swimming

Just Keeping Swimming | March Planet Mingle

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: If you want!
Action: Anywhere on Mafik
When: The month of March

[Welcome to Mafik, the water world! Hope you brought your best swimming gear and don't have a paralyzing fear of water, because that's all that's here! So get out those wet suits and enjoy life under the sea!

In other words, it's a mingle! ]

> System Information

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It could be the sword. Or the armor. I don't know. My mother and I never had a lot of . . . stuff.

[He checks another side pathway and comes back - dead end that way.]

So you said. The sword or armor though - was that part of the quest you lead?

[Down a different way and? Yep, this pathway is clear - although now he has to turn to his side to pass through the narrow opening.]

[ He nods. ]

It was the only way to stand up to the Moon King.

[He squeezes through and the passage suddenly opens into a wide mirrored room. There doesn't seem to be a way out and yet this is definitely the right way to go. Nowhere else has given them an actual room yet. It's weird because while the rest of the mirrors have been somewhat dirty or old, all of these are crystal clear. It almost gives him a headache the way his own image refracts on every available surface.]

And you said you defeated him in the end, did you not?

[He steps to the side to allow Kubo to come into the room.]

[ Kubo hesitates before nodding. ]

I did. He's no longer the man he was before.

[Okita isn't sure if that's good or not, but the way Kubo is acting says that it is.

Maybe he was able to defeat him and kill him; or maybe he chose a different way. Okita only knows the one that lead to death.]

Then congratulations are in order for the completion of your quest.

[And the nearing end of this one maybe. He moves further out into the room and starts feeling his way across the walls. They're completely smooth. Just mirror after mirror, no seaweed, just seamless mirrored glass that sends his reflection in every single direction.]

I suppose our next task is to find a way out of here.

[Which someone particularly observant might - if they can notice that one of the mirror panels on the wall's reflection goes the wrong direction.]

[ Kubo eyes the reflections. ]

There has to be a trick to one of them. Something that doesn't fit.

[Something that doesn't fit? He starts pressing on the mirrors and searching them. The repeating images hurt his head to look at them, but if Kubo says there's a trick here, then he has to search.]

Try on your side and I'll look on mine. If you see anything, let me know?

[ He nods, determined. ]

I'm sure it won't take long. Having one eye means I have to see twice as much.

[He laughs a little at that and nods.]

But it probably means your eye is twice as sharp then.

[He continues to search the walls and the ceiling, looking carefully for anything out of place.

And then he stops, looking back at where he remembers entering from - and frowns.]

...Is it just me or is the door missing?

[And is the room...shrinking?]

[ Kubo nods, not letting himself get distracted. Finally he spots it. ]

That one. Can you break it?

[He whirls back around as he realizes that yes, the entire room is shrinking bit by bit. No time to try and stop that though because what could he even do? It seems to be a smooth slide inward.

He quickly moves toward Kubo and checks the mirror.]

Step back and turn your face away.

[Then he takes the knife out and turns it around, smashing the handle into the glass. It rebounds and he does it again, over and over. The walls creep closer and closer as he hits the mirror, small cracks appearing bit by bit.]

[ Kubo immediately ducks his face under his right arm. He has no interest in losing his only eye to a glass shard. He waits until Okita gives him the signal to look up. ]

[He can feel the room closing in around them. With each strike of the knife handle and every crack in the mirror, it seems like the room shrinks faster and faster. He can see the shattered reflections growing bigger as he hits the mirror and starts hitting harder. Pieces flake off and then just before the walls get too close, it shatters suddenly.

The pieces burst inward and he can feel them cut his arm, but beyond it lies a narrow passageway. Okita turns and quickly grabs Kubo, pushing him forward.]

Go!

[ Kubo rushes through but he hesitates, glancing back. He won't go without Soujirou. The old panic rises up in his chest. ]

Soujirou!

Just go!

[He just has to widen the entrance a little, sweeping away the taller shards of glass as he urges Kubo onward.]

I'm right behind you!

[ Finally Kubo nods jerkily, moving forward. ]

[The walls close in and he manages to slip into the dark, narrow passageway just in time, scooting along after Kubo. When the opening is sealed, the entire place turns to pitch darkness and silence except for their scuffling.

Then, suddenly, the passageway ends and opens up into a small room with a high ceiling. There's an altar in the middle and the entire room is eerily quiet. A single ray of light is shining down on a stone chest at the top.]

Are you alright?

[ He doesn't know. His heart is beating fast at the possibility of watching someone else he knew die in front of him and he's trembling all over. He tries to speak but the words fail him. ]

[His panic is almost palpable and Okita quickly kneels in front of him, dropping the knife to take Kubo's hands in his own.]

Breathe. It's alright. No one is hurt.

[Not badly at least. He has cuts from the mirror and the knife, but nothing worth worrying over.]

Look at me.

[ Finally he raises his eye to look Soujirou in the eye. ]

You could have died.

But I didn't.

[He could die at any moment, to be fair. It's not something he likes to think about - how each day here is one day closer to his likely death - but it's something he has to live with.

Not something Kubo needs to live with.]

And neither did you.

[ Kubo breathes out. His hands still shake as he curls his fingers over his robe. ]

I don't want to do that again.

I understand.

[He reaches out again and covers Kubo's hand in his own again, squeezing it slowly.]

We're finished now though.

[And he points to the altar and the stone chest.]

You made it.

[ They made it. Kubo hadn't even realized. His breath catches once more as he tentatively heads for the chest. What would even be in there? He pushes at the lid, grunting as it moves slowly to reveal . . .

Oh.

With shaking fingers, Kubo pulls out the monkey charm. Tiny and woodworn, just like Kubo remembered. Keep this on you at all times, his mother's voice drifts by.

It was like a piece of his mother had come back to him. He grips it tightly, holding it to his chest as he sobs quietly. ]

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