Anthy Himemiya (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
arosefromhercoffin) wrote2015-08-02 11:58 pm
arosefromhercoffin) wrote2015-08-02 11:58 pm
Heart game writeup
I realize I never did a writeup for Anthy's heartgame so here it is. NOT IN A LOT OF DETAILS AS IT'S NOW LIKE 2 MONTHS LATER BUT WHATEVER.
Heart game run 1 | Heart game run 2
Here is my literal word-for-word idea-pile I dumped before planning the game
Things Anthy knows:
rose garden = bird cage
you may have to kill vermin for the roses to thrive
brother is abusing her at a point she doesn't want him to
Brother is also moving on Utena and she's interrupting
Later, she's still the rose bride, but?? Different
Roles are important. The rose bride will always do this with the engaged
(But others?)
Ghosts are visible in water
The Rose bride is traded by duels
"The truth is, I..." What's the truth?
A nostalgic feeling around Utena.
She has the second transformation sequence, so she's aware she's empty and plant-based
The truth of the Rose Bride
Colors themed to moods
Nostalgia: Rose-tinted glasses (Pink tint)
Pain is night (stars etc), grief is water (blue tint)
Sex/violence: Red
Purity/Autonomy: white
Other imagery to use:
Chorus: Shadowplay
The Birdcage = entrapment
Open-sky school
"A flower needs its dead head pruned to thrive; sometimes vermin must be killed. But if you cut the thriving flowers they'll die, and too much poison can kill the plant. There are things which are meant to be destroyed, but there are destroyed things that need to be mended."
Awareness she is probably something like a persona or was.
Main Post
You fall through space; there's the impression of flashing lights, bright colors, dizzying scents. As you tumble, you see the silhouette of a ufo fall past you as well, plummeting from the sky...
A Shadow Play
You land harmlessly (Is it harmless? You feel a jolt, but no pain) in the middle of a bright dazzling white room with no exits or windows. The scissors you were given transform in your hands to an elegant officer's epee, and the tape transforms into glue; you're aware you can use the sword to cut any part of the heart apart -- physical or not -- and the glue to attach any part of the heart to another. This is only one use for that specific ability, so use it wisely.
Suddenly, a light shines onto the wall directly in front of you; you see the shadow of the UFO come spiraling in and crash into a corner, and then the shadows of two girls are cast on the wall, although you are the only ones in the room.
Girl One puts her hands around her mouth, projecting to Girl Two, who leans forward with a hand cupped around her ear: "I wonder, I wonder! Do you know what I wonder?"
Girl Two nods wildly and brandishes a piece of paper. It unspirals from her hand into a chain of paper dolls. "Today I found my old paper dolls!"
You don't seem to see Girl One pick up the other end of the chain, but she has; the chain hangs between them and joining them together. "Wow, dolls! How cute! How precious. How naked?!"
Girl Two's voice becomes exaggeratedly annoyed. "Ehh, I haven't made any clothes for them yet! But we can make whatever we want! Whatever role we give them, they'll become!" Neither are holding the chain now, but Girl Two is holding up scissors. "Firemen!" Scissors go snip, the shadows of paper scraps go flying, and a little unworn shadow fireman outfit is held in her hand, ready to be put on a doll.
Girl One: "Ooh!"
"Astronauts!" Snip snip; paper flies, and a little astronaut outfit is in her hand.
Girl One: "Ooooh!!"
"A bride!" Snip snip; paper flies and a little bride costume is in her hand.
Girl One: "Oooooooh!" And then, somewhat less impressed sounding, "Eh, but you just cut up all the paper dolls to make their outfits."
A long beat, as of realization.
Girl two's head hangs. "...Let's get some glue..."
"Yes, let's—"
But rather than doing so, they face forward again, facing you, and both begin curtseying, bobbing alternately so one is always up and the other is always down. "Be careful, brave heroes! Sometimes you need to cut things apart to get what you want. A flower's dead heads must be pruned for the flower to thrive, and certainly you can cut girls into any shape you want them to be. But if you cut too much you'll be left scrambling to have anything left, and then it's curtains for you! Can you see what you need to see?"
"I wonder!"
"I wonder!"
"Do you know what I wonder?"
The shadows vanish from the wall, and all four walls collapse outward with a bang. This was just a set piece. it wasn't reality.
STARTING AREA
The actual area you've started in is a stage; there are glass doors delineating four possible exits, one in each direction; these look somewhat like windows, but ripple as if made of water, as if some kind of portal you can enter. Each has a word created out of stained glass over the door. The north exit, "nostalgie", is pink and soft; it ripples slowly in a quiet breeze that brings with it a nostalgic scent. The east exit, "douleur", is blue; it shifts and moves like water. The south exit, "dommage", is a rich, rich red; it is very still, only slight scintillations indicating that it is passable. The west exit, "autonomie", is white, though if you shift you can seem to make out glimmers of color, as if it is rather more opalescent, a rainbow shine on its whiteness. There is also a rectangular hole in the stage floor, an exit into what is presumably the trap room below. The four glass exits have a hazy fog in front of them, as if an invisible curtain is hanging in front of them and blowing in a breeze; the trap door does not.
All around the stage, lining the 'walls', are loose pairs of glasses sitting folded. The glass inside each frame is off somehow.
Exit 1: Nostalgie
Nostalgie Area 1: The Elevator
You find yourself within some kind of circular, open-air elevator. It seems to be traveling upward rapidly and endlessly through the center of a spiral staircase. The door behind you is still there -- though it appears to open into air, your entering through it would prove otherwise, and on the other side is another door which also appears to exit into air.
In the center of the elevator is a small rose bush covered in pink rose blossoms. It is dressed in Carnelian's uniform.
Nostalgie Area 2: A Girl's Bedroom
You exit into a plain bedroom; the walls are painted a pale pink, and the window is open, showing a bright sunny day; you hear the cry of seagulls and the lapping of water outside, although it appears to open onto a park. There is a standing lamp in one corner, a wide bed with pink sheets tossed haphazardly around, a chair placed facing the bed. A picture on one wall depicts a fairy tale prince and a fairy tale princess dancing together, drawn like a childlike scribble but still clear what it is, and framed and mounted as if it were great art. On the wall opposite the one you entered is what looks like a closet door.
Nostalgie Area 3: The Graveyard
You exit the closet into a graveyard; the door behind you appears to be a church door now.
The graveyard stretches as far as the eye can see; row upon row of graves. Most are long buried, but near where you are, you see several mounds piled high, and one unburied body, wrapped in a pink gauzy cloth. It is raining a faint mist that seems to spray off people and stones, leaving everything with a hazy outline, and the setting sun casts an orangey-pink haze over the entire scene, warm and inviting. There does not seem to be any exit other than the way you came.
The Blue Door: Douleur
Douleur Area 1: The Swimming Pool
You exit into the bottom of an empty swimming pool. There is a door on the inside wall of the pool which you exited out of, and another door on the opposite side of the pool. There are puddles in the bottom of the swimming pool, reflecting a brilliant blue sky with clouds passing through it, but nothing more. A hose sits on the edge of the pool, but other than a few drips it isn't letting anything out. A lump in its length would indicate why.
On the outside of the pool is just the cement walk surrounding it, and then tall glass walls preventing going further. You would have to exit out of one of the pool's two doors to leave. The sky is grey and cloudy, despite the reflection in the pool.
Douleur Area 2: The Sunlit Garden
You exit into an enclosed greenhouse, shaped like a birdcage -- including the loop at the top, as if to hang it from something. It is warm in here, nearly hot, and the air is full of the stifling smell of flowers. Everywhere you look are different roses, growing around the central pillar -- a small fountain, with a watering can sitting next to it. Many of the roses are closed, not yet blooming. The blue sky above is reflected and refracted by the glass, sending a general blue tint over everything in the area. A second door is on the opposite side of the birdcage greenhouse, leading out.
Douleur Area 3: A Strange Bedroom
You enter into a weird, over-large bedroom. There is nothing in it except for white smooth walls, an ENORMOUS window filling most of one part of the room, and a bed in the center of the room. The window looks out onto an impossible night sky, stars filling the view but planets as well, large and present, saturn swinging slowly through with its rings showing, jupiter spinning past enormously.
The bed is a bisected circle, with one part pushed up and the other pushed down, and pillows at the furthest away of these points -- a pair of joined beds, where each sleeper will sleep with their head at the other's feet. A pair of blue blankets is covering them as well; one of the two seems stuck, as if it has been attached to the bed in some way.
There appears to be no exit except the way you came.
The Red Door: Dommage
Dommage Area 1: The Garage
You exit into a garage. Behind you is the garage door; on the other side is a door as if into the house. All around are storage shelves filled with rusty metal gardening tools and gardening equipment of all sorts -- shears, lawn mower parts, pesticides, uprooters, weedwackers, watering cans, bags of fertilizer, etc. The air is hot, thick and choking with the smell of exhaust from the car which is running in the center of the garage.
The car is a red convertible with the top down; it appears to be a stick shift, and the engine is rumbling thoroughly. The radio is on, playing swank, sexy music.
Dommage Area 2: ...?
You exit into a door with a long red-carpeted path to what looks like some free-standing crystal organ, some strange natural earthy lung, pulsing and groaning with red light. There seems to be something inside it, the vague shape of a little girl, twisting and writhing in it, though you'd need to get closer to get a better look.
Beyond the crystal organ is a rock wall with a door set into it.
When they get closer:
It is indeed a little girl, and probably Anthy, with her distinctive combination of dark skin, purple hair, green eyes. She's wearing a short red shift dress that barely covers her, but that might not matter; inside the red lung, a series of spikes are intruding inward, impaling her from multiple directions. She's writhing and tossing her head in some kind of agony.
Dommage Area 3: The Planetarium
You enter a large circular room, clearly some sort of observatory or planetarium or both. Windows surround the room, enormous, showing sunset casting a red haze through the room; shutters are half-lowered, and could be used to wall this room off completely. In the center of the room is an enormous planetarium projector; near it, dwarfed by it, are a pair of couches facing each other and an end table off to one side. A plain pair of glasses -- normal, not the water kind from the first room -- sits on the end table, and a red shirt sits discarded on one of the white couches.
There appears to be no other exit than the one you entered by.
The White Door: Autonomie
Autonomie Area 1: The Dueling Arena
You enter into a round white arena with a red rose design on it; the arena is ridged with a low crenelated wall. The door behind you is a gate with an enormous rose over it; on the other side, a path heads off into the clouds. The arena itself is elevated, high over a misty forest below. Perhaps most noticeably is a giant castle hanging upside down in the sky over the arena. It's out of reach, but undoubtedly hanging there, glittering and beautiful.
Other than these things, it's mostly unremarkable. A sword is shoved into the floor as if jammed there; several rose heads are scattered around. Tire treads mark the decorated floor, as if someone has been driving around up here -- and slamming the breaks.
Autonomie Area 2: The Cabin
You enter into a small clearing in the middle of the crowds. In it sits a tiny wood cabin. The path continues past the cabin, further into the clouds.
If they enter the cabin: The cabin is extremely small; there is a rough bed made of straw with a stool next to it. There is also a single table. On the table is a fax machine, spiraling out faxes rapidly. There's a window that shows the outside through a narrow slit only. It's very quiet except for the sound of the fax machine working.
((If they look around with the glasses -- have something similar, just the crowd part, if they look at the outside of the cabin with them))
You see a very young girl and boy. The girl is likely Anthy from her appearance, with shoulder length hair and wearing only a red shift dress and a gold anklet. She is sitting on the stool next to the bed. The boy is on the bed; he's clearly related to Anthy, with the same dark skin and a pale lavender hair color; his eyes are closed in pain and he's gasping for breath. He's wearing a white uniform with a red-lined cape. He is laid out on the bed and is very clearly unwell.
You can also see through the window that an enormous crowd has gathered around the outside of the cabin. They are screaming and yelling for "the prince" and demanding help. There must be hundreds of thousands of them from the din of it. The prince writhes from their demands, and Anthy takes his hand.
The vision of the pair fades, but the crowd outside remains to those wearing the glasses.
Autonomie Area 3: The Cloud Realm
When you continue on the path past the cabin, you end up in a simple round area of elevated cloud. On it is a tablecloth made of what looks like a white cape; on that tablecloth is a small book; it appears to be some kind of fairy tale, from the cover (a prince and a princess). There appears to be no exit but the way you came.
When they look through the book:
"Once upon a time, there was a prince and a princess. The prince was very brave, and protected all the women of the world. But there were many people, and the prince could not protect them all. To save him, the princess became a witch, and spirited him away so no one could find him. She may be out there still, beware, beware."
That's it.
EXIT 5: The Grave Trap to the Truth (Down)
The grave trap is not immediately accessible. When people touch it, it feels solid, like it were just painted black instead of a hole. It will need to be made into an exit by the addition of cloth, as the other exits have. Using all four cut away and attached in a specific order will let you into the Truth area.
each area will give a detail on how to put them together (white-pink-red-blue):
* The pink curtain must be placed so it touches both the red and the white
* The blue curtain must be placed so it only touches the red.
* The red curtain must be placed so it touches both the pink and the blue.
* The white curtain must be placed first.
Once the curtains are attached together in the right order and placed over the black square in the stage, a billow of air comes up, making it gust up, along with a creaking and groaning. The black square has become a hole, and the trap elevator has now arrived in it.
The Grave Trap
The elevator descends slowly. There's only just enough room for you in it, and the walls are glass, showing mud and dirt as it descends you deep into the earth. There's a strange sense of anticipation, of building toward something dangerous or alarming. The grinding sound of the descending elevator seems almost musical, and is deep enough you can feel it in your bones.
Finally it halts abruptly and the doors ding open, revealing a long dirt path. Do you take it, or take the elevator back up?
When they go on:
The dirt path seems to get more oppressive the further you go, narrowing and tight. The air feels stale and the depth of the dirt swallows up the sound of your footsteps.
Finally, it opens into a cave. Not a very stable one; when you step out onto it the dirt it trembles underfoot as if it could collapse any moment. It's also very dark, but at the far end is a coffin. There are slits in it, as if it has been cut by something.
Heart game run 1 | Heart game run 2
Here is my literal word-for-word idea-pile I dumped before planning the game
Things Anthy knows:
rose garden = bird cage
you may have to kill vermin for the roses to thrive
brother is abusing her at a point she doesn't want him to
Brother is also moving on Utena and she's interrupting
Later, she's still the rose bride, but?? Different
Roles are important. The rose bride will always do this with the engaged
(But others?)
Ghosts are visible in water
The Rose bride is traded by duels
"The truth is, I..." What's the truth?
A nostalgic feeling around Utena.
She has the second transformation sequence, so she's aware she's empty and plant-based
The truth of the Rose Bride
Colors themed to moods
Nostalgia: Rose-tinted glasses (Pink tint)
Pain is night (stars etc), grief is water (blue tint)
Sex/violence: Red
Purity/Autonomy: white
Other imagery to use:
Chorus: Shadowplay
The Birdcage = entrapment
Open-sky school
"A flower needs its dead head pruned to thrive; sometimes vermin must be killed. But if you cut the thriving flowers they'll die, and too much poison can kill the plant. There are things which are meant to be destroyed, but there are destroyed things that need to be mended."
Awareness she is probably something like a persona or was.
Main Post
You fall through space; there's the impression of flashing lights, bright colors, dizzying scents. As you tumble, you see the silhouette of a ufo fall past you as well, plummeting from the sky...
This was just a set-up for surrealism. The UFO in the tv show leads to the shadowplay chatter, and the shadowplay is the first event of the post.
A Shadow Play
You land harmlessly (Is it harmless? You feel a jolt, but no pain) in the middle of a bright dazzling white room with no exits or windows. The scissors you were given transform in your hands to an elegant officer's epee, and the tape transforms into glue; you're aware you can use the sword to cut any part of the heart apart -- physical or not -- and the glue to attach any part of the heart to another. This is only one use for that specific ability, so use it wisely.
Suddenly, a light shines onto the wall directly in front of you; you see the shadow of the UFO come spiraling in and crash into a corner, and then the shadows of two girls are cast on the wall, although you are the only ones in the room.
Girl One puts her hands around her mouth, projecting to Girl Two, who leans forward with a hand cupped around her ear: "I wonder, I wonder! Do you know what I wonder?"
Girl Two nods wildly and brandishes a piece of paper. It unspirals from her hand into a chain of paper dolls. "Today I found my old paper dolls!"
You don't seem to see Girl One pick up the other end of the chain, but she has; the chain hangs between them and joining them together. "Wow, dolls! How cute! How precious. How naked?!"
Girl Two's voice becomes exaggeratedly annoyed. "Ehh, I haven't made any clothes for them yet! But we can make whatever we want! Whatever role we give them, they'll become!" Neither are holding the chain now, but Girl Two is holding up scissors. "Firemen!" Scissors go snip, the shadows of paper scraps go flying, and a little unworn shadow fireman outfit is held in her hand, ready to be put on a doll.
Girl One: "Ooh!"
"Astronauts!" Snip snip; paper flies, and a little astronaut outfit is in her hand.
Girl One: "Ooooh!!"
"A bride!" Snip snip; paper flies and a little bride costume is in her hand.
Girl One: "Oooooooh!" And then, somewhat less impressed sounding, "Eh, but you just cut up all the paper dolls to make their outfits."
A long beat, as of realization.
Girl two's head hangs. "...Let's get some glue..."
"Yes, let's—"
But rather than doing so, they face forward again, facing you, and both begin curtseying, bobbing alternately so one is always up and the other is always down. "Be careful, brave heroes! Sometimes you need to cut things apart to get what you want. A flower's dead heads must be pruned for the flower to thrive, and certainly you can cut girls into any shape you want them to be. But if you cut too much you'll be left scrambling to have anything left, and then it's curtains for you! Can you see what you need to see?"
"I wonder!"
"I wonder!"
"Do you know what I wonder?"
The shadows vanish from the wall, and all four walls collapse outward with a bang. This was just a set piece. it wasn't reality.
I think the metaphor for this is pretty clear: it's the ic prompt inside the heart to use the epee to cut things as necessary - but that she's already been shaped by societal expectations. It's also prompting to cut the curtains in some way to bring them back lol. CURTAINS FOR YOU!
STARTING AREA
The actual area you've started in is a stage; there are glass doors delineating four possible exits, one in each direction; these look somewhat like windows, but ripple as if made of water, as if some kind of portal you can enter. Each has a word created out of stained glass over the door. The north exit, "nostalgie", is pink and soft; it ripples slowly in a quiet breeze that brings with it a nostalgic scent. The east exit, "douleur", is blue; it shifts and moves like water. The south exit, "dommage", is a rich, rich red; it is very still, only slight scintillations indicating that it is passable. The west exit, "autonomie", is white, though if you shift you can seem to make out glimmers of color, as if it is rather more opalescent, a rainbow shine on its whiteness. There is also a rectangular hole in the stage floor, an exit into what is presumably the trap room below. The four glass exits have a hazy fog in front of them, as if an invisible curtain is hanging in front of them and blowing in a breeze; the trap door does not.
All around the stage, lining the 'walls', are loose pairs of glasses sitting folded. The glass inside each frame is off somehow.
The glasses are water, because ghosts are visible in water - this is an Utena Movie thing, there's a ghost in the series who only appears when there's water in the scene. SO OBVIOUSLY THIS MAKES SENSE. CLEARLY. If you wear them in the main room you can (easily) see and talk to shadow girls, and can also see billowing curtains over each door, though none over the trap door. If you wear them in other rooms they'll see ghostly memories and moments. Must wear them to see the "Instructions" on the cloth. NOTE: Wearing the glasses for too long will give them headaches and pains; it'll be very clear that they need to only put them on to look at specific things, rather than wearing them around generally. This mechanic was added so people didn't just put them on and leave them on and then everything in the heart was apparent up front.
The exits were based on these. The names aren't displayed here but each of those had a duel name in it in the show - choix, amitie, raison, amour, soi. Etc. So they each represented some sort of struggle inside anthy: nostalgia, sadness, harm, and autonomy.
Exit 1: Nostalgie
Nostalgie Area 1: The Elevator
You find yourself within some kind of circular, open-air elevator. It seems to be traveling upward rapidly and endlessly through the center of a spiral staircase. The door behind you is still there -- though it appears to open into air, your entering through it would prove otherwise, and on the other side is another door which also appears to exit into air.
In the center of the elevator is a small rose bush covered in pink rose blossoms. It is dressed in Carnelian's uniform.
(Players can interact with the bush; if they do so it shows the second zettai unmei mokushiroku sequence which I needed to actually rip and upload myself, but the symbolism of it was too important. If you wear the glasses here, you see Anthy, naked but with her hair in an updo, curled up in foetal position in the place of the rosebush. SHe doesn't respond to interaction in that state. I don't believe that anyone wore the glasses here to see her, though. This area represents her attachment to her "role" as the rose bride, how cozily she fits into being nothing at all. Currently that role is wearing the carnelian uniform, because she has put her sense of belonging toward Carnelian).
Nostalgie Area 2: A Girl's Bedroom
You exit into a plain bedroom; the walls are painted a pale pink, and the window is open, showing a bright sunny day; you hear the cry of seagulls and the lapping of water outside, although it appears to open onto a park. There is a standing lamp in one corner, a wide bed with pink sheets tossed haphazardly around, a chair placed facing the bed. A picture on one wall depicts a fairy tale prince and a fairy tale princess dancing together, drawn like a childlike scribble but still clear what it is, and framed and mounted as if it were great art. On the wall opposite the one you entered is what looks like a closet door.
If they wear the glasses, they see a scene of Utena and Anthy lying in bed together. Anthy crawls over her, clearly a seductive and unzips her pants; Utena seems into it, but a moment later throws her off and begins to yell at her. The images fade. I wanted to rip this, but wasn't able to get the scene with enough time, and what they were talking about didn't really matter. It's a nostalgic sense of eroticism and rejection, that's the main part of it, and introducing a complexity to their relationship.
If they look out the window with the glasses on, they see an ocean instead of a park; the window is underwater, as if the entire room is submerged. Fishes swim by, a sword floats past, the skirts of a dress, bloated corpses bob in the distance. The reason for this was partially to prevent exit from the window (though it didn't) and partially to represent a sense that this 'reality', where she was engaged to Utena, both enslaved but carrying the power, didn't exist in the current necessity of aather.
WHen they open the closet door: The closet is full of cute dresses. However, the way they ripple is the same as the other 'exits'; it's clear that you can step through this into another area. This is because this room is actually 'Utena's' in Anthy's memory; a room that Anthy's just a visitor into and deals with that hidden but very present femininity that Anthy dealt with in the related memory.
If they take down the picture, behind it is another childish scrawl, a miserable hunched witch riding a broomstick. The reason for this is that a girl who isn't a princess is a witch (which is the Utena series' dominant metaphor, that society puts a virgin-or-whore dichotomy on women); behind the prince-and-princess story is a girl whose sacrifices are villainized.
This area represents her attempting to act as the Bride in a situation where she doesn't exactly know what the bride IS anymore, her attachment to Utena and Utena's femininity, her reliance on her engagement to her, via a drowned, dead view of her relationship to her.
Nostalgie Area 3: The Graveyard
You exit the closet into a graveyard; the door behind you appears to be a church door now.
The graveyard stretches as far as the eye can see; row upon row of graves. Most are long buried, but near where you are, you see several mounds piled high, and one unburied body, wrapped in a pink gauzy cloth. It is raining a faint mist that seems to spray off people and stones, leaving everything with a hazy outline, and the setting sun casts an orangey-pink haze over the entire scene, warm and inviting. There does not seem to be any exit other than the way you came.
: If they attempt to remove the cloth without using a cutting tool: "The cloth is stuck to the body beneath it. You'll need to use a tool to get this off." Essentially the 'story' of this heart requires cutting. They don't have to use the magical tool, just a cutting tool, if they want to preserve its use.
If they look at the cloth with the glasses on: A finger is hanging in the air, pointing at it in regular blinks; it looks like a computer cursor indicator of some kind. You can also see some text written on the cloth: "I must be placed to touch both red and white." This is a simple puzzle but to force players through all four areas to get all the cloth pieces and their orders.
If they look at the graveyard generally with glasses on, hazy figures walk among the tombstones, too many for words. As well, although the graveyard seems to extend forever, it's clear this is just a set piece, the extensive rows of tombstones drawn onto the walls. Despite that, you can see the hazy figures walk among those tombstones as well. This is the symbolism of the concept of water = ghosts. Even though it acknowledges that this inner mechanism for Anthy is just a performance.
If they look at individual tombstones without the glasses, the names cannot be read; if they look at them with them on, they see their own names, and those of the people they know. OOH, SPOOKY.
When the cloth is cut off: Anthy is underneath, naked. Her eyes open abruptly, bright green, and she sits up, reaching for you abruptly, the sword passing through her body as she lunges up. She is smiling brightly. Just as her hands would close around your throat, she vanishes. There is no body under where the cloth was at all.
WOULD YOU BELIEVE I DIDN'T KEEP NOTES ON WHAT THIS ROOM WAS? I believe the purpose was of the idea that the nostalgic understanding of Utena as her 'hero' was born from Utena seeing her endless 'death', but that by itself would not actually keep anyone safe from her.
The Blue Door: Douleur
Douleur Area 1: The Swimming Pool
You exit into the bottom of an empty swimming pool. There is a door on the inside wall of the pool which you exited out of, and another door on the opposite side of the pool. There are puddles in the bottom of the swimming pool, reflecting a brilliant blue sky with clouds passing through it, but nothing more. A hose sits on the edge of the pool, but other than a few drips it isn't letting anything out. A lump in its length would indicate why.
On the outside of the pool is just the cement walk surrounding it, and then tall glass walls preventing going further. You would have to exit out of one of the pool's two doors to leave. The sky is grey and cloudy, despite the reflection in the pool.
They can cut the blockage out of the hose -- a small mouse-like monkey which chitters at them and then runs off into the pool drain and vanishes -- to send it spurting everywhere, soaking them but filling the pool. If they fill the pool, Touga is visible generally, floating on his back, and can be talked to. Otherwise, they can only see him with their glasses on.
If they wear the glasses or fill the pool, they will see Touga hanging out in the pool. He'll chat with them and interact as a normal NPC. He is aware he's a ghost, and will talk about how ghosts can only be seen through water; if they haven't worn the glasses yet, this will be the tip to go get them. He'll outright tell them if they're not getting it. He'll be amiable enough, but hit on the ladies. He'll talk about high ideals and the desire to be a prince.
I REALIZE AS I DO THIS WRITEUP THAT ... that they make a lot less sense than most of my writeups. I'm blaming it half on being Utena and half on work. Anyway. The mouse-like monkey was Chuchu, who represented Anthy's lingering affection toward her brother, and Touga is 'the prince', but a purer version than she remembers. He's movie Touga -- the ideals of princeliness. The area in general is a sense of loss and grief around those ideals and her belief in a prince, a brother, etc. The reason you can also see Touga if you fill the pool is to help prompt people if they haven't been wearing the glasses -- he'd describe it to them.
This room got totally destroyed, which pushed her forward against discarding the prince thank fuck that was useful in endgame.
Douleur Area 2: The Sunlit Garden
You exit into an enclosed greenhouse, shaped like a birdcage -- including the loop at the top, as if to hang it from something. It is warm in here, nearly hot, and the air is full of the stifling smell of flowers. Everywhere you look are different roses, growing around the central pillar -- a small fountain, with a watering can sitting next to it. Many of the roses are closed, not yet blooming. The blue sky above is reflected and refracted by the glass, sending a general blue tint over everything in the area. A second door is on the opposite side of the birdcage greenhouse, leading out.
They can water the plants; if they do so, they blossom into sharp knife roses, little blades sticking out in every direction. This is that the place seems nice, but it's actually a painful prison for her, her own birdcage that locked her into her role as the Bride.
If they wear the glasses in here, they will see insects crawling all over the roses -- everywhere insects, crawling and eating them, even the metal ones if any. They will also see a can of bug spray sitting next to the watering can or where it was, able to be used only if the glasses are being worn. They can use this to kill the bugs if they want, but it'll change the smell of the room, the scent becoming oppressive and cloying and choking. This is a metaphor used in Utena as well - insects are people who try to use you to their own advantage. Sometimes you have to kill the pests for things to thrive :)
Douleur Area 3: A Strange Bedroom
You enter into a weird, over-large bedroom. There is nothing in it except for white smooth walls, an ENORMOUS window filling most of one part of the room, and a bed in the center of the room. The window looks out onto an impossible night sky, stars filling the view but planets as well, large and present, saturn swinging slowly through with its rings showing, jupiter spinning past enormously.
The bed is a bisected circle, with one part pushed up and the other pushed down, and pillows at the furthest away of these points -- a pair of joined beds, where each sleeper will sleep with their head at the other's feet. A pair of blue blankets is covering them as well; one of the two seems stuck, as if it has been attached to the bed in some way.
There appears to be no exit except the way you came.
If they look out the window with glasses on, they see Utena and Anthy holding hands, gazing at each other. Anthy seems to be about in the middle of a confession: "The truth is, I --" but then Utena vanishes. Anthy here can be interacted with as an NPC so long as they wear the glasses. This is Anthy as honest as she's ever been, because this is her actual bedroom (unlike Utena's earlier) where she starts to acknowledge her own sadness and need for help.
If they try to remove the bedsheet without the use of some cutting tool: "It appears to be stuck on. A tool will need to be used." If they look at the bed with the glasses on: A finger is hanging in the air, pointing at the blue bedsheets in regular blinks; it looks like a computer cursor indicator of some kind. You can also see some text written on the cloth: "I must be placed to only touch red." Same deal with this as earlier.
The Red Door: Dommage
Dommage Area 1: The Garage
You exit into a garage. Behind you is the garage door; on the other side is a door as if into the house. All around are storage shelves filled with rusty metal gardening tools and gardening equipment of all sorts -- shears, lawn mower parts, pesticides, uprooters, weedwackers, watering cans, bags of fertilizer, etc. The air is hot, thick and choking with the smell of exhaust from the car which is running in the center of the garage.
The car is a red convertible with the top down; it appears to be a stick shift, and the engine is rumbling thoroughly. The radio is on, playing swank, sexy music.
HERE'S WHERE THINGS START TO GET REAL...
Although it's running, there are no keys visible in the ignition. Players can find it under the back seat, but they need to lie down in it to get a look/grope around down there. I don't think anyone checked out the back seat, just the driver's seat.
Players who sit in the driver's seat will get a vision of driving down a highway through the night, with road signs sending cryptic warnings as they blur past, before jerking back into reality.
If they look around the area with the glasses on, all the storage shelves will contain swords instead of gardening tools; massive piles of discarded swords. The rust is blood, leaking off the shelves and dripping to the garage floor to pool under the tires of the car. This is also why grabbing them without checking hurts them.
If they stay in the room too long, they'll begin to get sick and dizzy due to the exhaust poisoning.
This area is how Akio's presence (and sexuality) in her life is poisoning her; it represents the million swords of hate harming her and how that's tied to Akio's current feelings towards her (resentment, hate, desire, blame).
Dommage Area 2: ...?
You exit into a door with a long red-carpeted path to what looks like some free-standing crystal organ, some strange natural earthy lung, pulsing and groaning with red light. There seems to be something inside it, the vague shape of a little girl, twisting and writhing in it, though you'd need to get closer to get a better look.
Beyond the crystal organ is a rock wall with a door set into it.
When they get closer:
It is indeed a little girl, and probably Anthy, with her distinctive combination of dark skin, purple hair, green eyes. She's wearing a short red shift dress that barely covers her, but that might not matter; inside the red lung, a series of spikes are intruding inward, impaling her from multiple directions. She's writhing and tossing her head in some kind of agony.
If they use the glasses -- Anthy is not alone. Outside the red organ is a young man with pale lavender hair, brown skin, green eyes; they're clearly related in some way. He's wearing a white princely suit with a red-lined cape, and has pressed a hand to the organ, watching Anthy inside. Noticing himself observed, he tilts his head. "Why have you come here?". He'll introduce himself as the Prince, Dios. Anthy is the Witch, the Rose Bride. He can be interacted with like any NPC, but only so long as they wear the glasses.
This is an actual thing in utena; it's where Anthy's heart is being eternally tortured by her sacrifice for her brother's sake. It's representative, but literally so. It's absolutely the best place to use the cutting tool, and several people did.
Dommage Area 3: The Planetarium
You enter a large circular room, clearly some sort of observatory or planetarium or both. Windows surround the room, enormous, showing sunset casting a red haze through the room; shutters are half-lowered, and could be used to wall this room off completely. In the center of the room is an enormous planetarium projector; near it, dwarfed by it, are a pair of couches facing each other and an end table off to one side. A plain pair of glasses -- normal, not the water kind from the first room -- sits on the end table, and a red shirt sits discarded on one of the white couches.
There appears to be no other exit than the one you entered by.
If they put on the glasses, they see a scene: a tall, long-legged man, clearly related to Anthy (green eyes, pale lavender hair pulled back in a ponytail, brown skin), sprawled out on the couch. Anthy herself, her hair in an updo, stands beside the end table, hesitantly. "Onii-sama," she murmurs.
He holds out a hand. "Come here, Anthy." But she flinches, shoulders hunching; he frowns, and is up in a flash, grabbing her wrist, yanking her down onto the couch with him, under him. His shirt goes flying, blocking your view -- and when it settles on the couch again, the vision is gone.
He, however, is still in the room, gazing out one of the far windows -- though only visible to those wearing the glasses. He's smelling a pink rose which he twirls between his fingers.
Akio is an NPC who can be talked with in this room, but only so long as they wear the glasses. He'll be calm and endearing and talk about Anthy as his beloved sister.
The Planetarium is the room of illusions; it's where they commit incest and where Akio commits rape, and also where he casts illusions and images onto other people. It represents all these things inside Anthy as well.
If they look at the shirt with the glasses on: A finger is hanging in the air, pointing at the red shirt in regular blinks; it looks like a computer cursor indicator of some kind. You can also see some text written on the cloth: "I must be placed to touch both the pink and the blue." Again, same as before.
The White Door: Autonomie
Autonomie Area 1: The Dueling Arena
You enter into a round white arena with a red rose design on it; the arena is ridged with a low crenelated wall. The door behind you is a gate with an enormous rose over it; on the other side, a path heads off into the clouds. The arena itself is elevated, high over a misty forest below. Perhaps most noticeably is a giant castle hanging upside down in the sky over the arena. It's out of reach, but undoubtedly hanging there, glittering and beautiful.
Other than these things, it's mostly unremarkable. A sword is shoved into the floor as if jammed there; several rose heads are scattered around. Tire treads mark the decorated floor, as if someone has been driving around up here -- and slamming the breaks.
The Autonomie area as a whole is probably the most honest area: it's the place which addresses the issues of choice, both having and lacking, directly.
If they look through the glasses, they can see a large coffin in the center of the arena, right below the point of the castle. Saiounji is sitting on it, picking his nails. As long as they wear the glasses they can talk to him.
This area is the dueling arena: illusions, fighting for what you want, and Anthy always cast as the prize in it. Again, the coffin is literal; this occurs in episode 9 as the first hint of what's really going on there. Saiounji is control and containment and disillusionment.
Autonomie Area 2: The Cabin
You enter into a small clearing in the middle of the crowds. In it sits a tiny wood cabin. The path continues past the cabin, further into the clouds.
If they enter the cabin: The cabin is extremely small; there is a rough bed made of straw with a stool next to it. There is also a single table. On the table is a fax machine, spiraling out faxes rapidly. There's a window that shows the outside through a narrow slit only. It's very quiet except for the sound of the fax machine working.
((If they look around with the glasses -- have something similar, just the crowd part, if they look at the outside of the cabin with them))
You see a very young girl and boy. The girl is likely Anthy from her appearance, with shoulder length hair and wearing only a red shift dress and a gold anklet. She is sitting on the stool next to the bed. The boy is on the bed; he's clearly related to Anthy, with the same dark skin and a pale lavender hair color; his eyes are closed in pain and he's gasping for breath. He's wearing a white uniform with a red-lined cape. He is laid out on the bed and is very clearly unwell.
You can also see through the window that an enormous crowd has gathered around the outside of the cabin. They are screaming and yelling for "the prince" and demanding help. There must be hundreds of thousands of them from the din of it. The prince writhes from their demands, and Anthy takes his hand.
The vision of the pair fades, but the crowd outside remains to those wearing the glasses.
This is a literal memory, the truth of Anthy's sacrifice. The world wanted the ideal of the Prince to save them, and in trying to save them she became the thing that keeps salvation from the world and corrupted the prince. But her choice there was made out of love and desire to help someone herself. The desire of this scene, the need to make a choice, is the key part of this.
The faxes are from the show too btw. watch Utena.
Autonomie Area 3: The Cloud Realm
When you continue on the path past the cabin, you end up in a simple round area of elevated cloud. On it is a tablecloth made of what looks like a white cape; on that tablecloth is a small book; it appears to be some kind of fairy tale, from the cover (a prince and a princess). There appears to be no exit but the way you came.
When they look through the book:
"Once upon a time, there was a prince and a princess. The prince was very brave, and protected all the women of the world. But there were many people, and the prince could not protect them all. To save him, the princess became a witch, and spirited him away so no one could find him. She may be out there still, beware, beware."
That's it.
If they look at the text with the glasses on: "What am I? Am I a person? A persona? A part of the dramatis personae, a cast member of what? Not any more, certainly, but was I? What then? What does it matter? What am I doing? Who am I harming? Who are we harming? Is there any help for me? What is the truth?"
This is the only part of Anthy's heart that's actually set in Aather, other than the reference to the Carnelian uniform earlier, and it's set in the Cloud Realm-- the realm where you can make anything however you like it. This is because Anthy more or less thinks of herself as the same thing as the personae, at least back on her own world. Some kind of world-centric godlike being tied deeply to a role, and because she's struggling to understand it and make something of it.
If they look at the table/tablecloth with the glasses on: A finger is hanging in the air, pointing at the white cloth in regular blinks; it looks like a computer cursor indicator of some kind. You can also see some text written on the cloth: "I must be placed first." Same as before!
EXIT 5: The Grave Trap to the Truth (Down)
The grave trap is not immediately accessible. When people touch it, it feels solid, like it were just painted black instead of a hole. It will need to be made into an exit by the addition of cloth, as the other exits have. Using all four cut away and attached in a specific order will let you into the Truth area.
each area will give a detail on how to put them together (white-pink-red-blue):
* The pink curtain must be placed so it touches both the red and the white
* The blue curtain must be placed so it only touches the red.
* The red curtain must be placed so it touches both the pink and the blue.
* The white curtain must be placed first.
Once the curtains are attached together in the right order and placed over the black square in the stage, a billow of air comes up, making it gust up, along with a creaking and groaning. The black square has become a hole, and the trap elevator has now arrived in it.
This is pretty simple. All four parts of her heart lead you to reach the True Heart. To do so, you must descend an elevator -- elevators are heavily symbolized with death in Utena, and comprehending psychological damage. And a stage elevator is in fact called a grave trap (well, certain shapes of them are).
The Grave Trap
The elevator descends slowly. There's only just enough room for you in it, and the walls are glass, showing mud and dirt as it descends you deep into the earth. There's a strange sense of anticipation, of building toward something dangerous or alarming. The grinding sound of the descending elevator seems almost musical, and is deep enough you can feel it in your bones.
Finally it halts abruptly and the doors ding open, revealing a long dirt path. Do you take it, or take the elevator back up?
When they go on:
The dirt path seems to get more oppressive the further you go, narrowing and tight. The air feels stale and the depth of the dirt swallows up the sound of your footsteps.
Finally, it opens into a cave. Not a very stable one; when you step out onto it the dirt it trembles underfoot as if it could collapse any moment. It's also very dark, but at the far end is a coffin. There are slits in it, as if it has been cut by something.
True Heart Anthy is in the coffin! She can talk to them through it. However, trying to pry it open will be unsuccessful, and trying to cut it open will result in the coffin falling through a hole in the floor and the heart delver waking up.
Obviously this last didn't happen. Anthy isn't fully ready, at this point, to come out of her coffin and truly choose to live again. But she's ready to talk and listen and try, and accept people's help--and what they can offer her to help herself (as Waver did, among others). It's this last that will have the best effect on Anthy, because ultimately, she needs to save herself.