BluebeardLilBro

//Ah, lad. You're approaching dangerous truths here.//(click: "here")[ I see you startle. You're correct to be watching all around. You're looking at me but you do not quite see me. Is it really the first time you hear my voice? You've been living between my walls for quite some mooncycles. I suppose your brother's voice was too loud for you to listen to mine.(click: "your brother's voice")[ [(transition: "pulse")+(transition-time: 2s)["He's a bit gruff, but he did take me in when our parents died."]] Oh, I know, lad. Forget I said anything. Bluebeard is no monster, merely a man unburdened of consequences.(click: "merely a man")[ [(transition: "pulse")+(transition-time: 2s)["I'm his brother. I'm a man too. Well, a boy. When my beard grows, it might as well be blue"]], you say. It's true, I don't have eyes, but this old castle feels everything that happens inside it. Regardless, I'd keep away from this closet.(click: "this closet")[ I sense you opening it anyway. You feel confident; it's not the forbidden chamber. But sometimes closets can lead to worse places... Are you even listening? I hear the creak. You're seeing them, aren't you? The piles and piles of shoes. Glittering and soft, heels and curves, straps and angles. I feel you hesitating. You won't close it now, will you? You'll at least [[examine them]] or even [[try them on]], I'm sure. ]]]]

[(transition: "pulse")+(transition-time: 2s)["It's terrible"]] states the girl with more than a little shiver in her voice. You nod hard enough that I feel you agree on my pavement. It's decided, then. Both of you will leave me as soon as possible.(click:"as soon as possible.")[ First you go through my cellar like petty little thieves(click-replace: "petty little thieves")[~~petty little thieves~~ reasonable people preparing adequately for difficulties ahead. Still, you could leave the place a //little// more tidy than //that//. To say nothing of the state you left the trophy-shoes cupboard in... Anyway, you should hurry. As soon as the key started pouring blood, the clock started ticking.(click:"ticking")[ The door. You hear it both and muted with fear, you look at each other. Her hands red from the blood of others, yours orange with stolen spices. Equally guilty.(click:"Equally guilty")[ You knock your elbow on the counter while replacing your collar. Fright has made you clumsy. For some reason, you reflect, you never felt like letting Bluebeard see the scars. Some reason indeed...(click:"Some reason indeed")[ The girl comes to her senses first. The both of you start to run while my master calls after his dear young bride. She will come to greet him, he expects, by my only door. Spice is more easily washed than blood; you resolve to go out the door while she tries one of my windows. Already it's the third time he calls. Out with it!(click:"Out with it!")[ But your brother won't let you pass. He questions you. Did you not see his bride? Is she bathing perhaps? Slowly you take one step backwards. He sees the fear in your eye as he touches your shoulder.(click:"he touches your shoulder")[ You run the other way. He knows. He has known since the beginning of that conversation. You were always a prey here. You run on my rugs, the rugs my old masters put in me, made part of me. The rugs Bluebeard inherited. The rugs that are usually impeccable, without so much as a fold. But not today.(click:"not today.")[ Your foot makes an unexpected encounter. You stumble. You try to regain some balance. Somewhere to hold on. You fall.(click:"You fall.")[ He is almost upon you. I am but a castle and he is my master. I could never cause him any harm. He reaches out...(click:"He reaches out")[ ... and the armor you tried to catch hold of in your fall drops straight to his head. Ah, dang. Who could have foreseen it? You really are extremely clumsy. It feels like he's knocked out. Unless...(click:"Unless...")[ That's blood I feel leaking from his forehead. I wonder if his beard has now violet spots. Ah, I sense lighter footsteps - the girl has come after all. I didn't have the power to open my windows for her, not against his will. [(transition: "pulse")+(transition-time: 2s)["He is dead"]], she says. [[And just like that he is gone.]] ]]]]]]]]]]]

(set: $Spears to (random: 1,3))\ [(transition: "pulse")+(transition-time: 2s)["We need to kill him"]], you say, [(transition: "pulse")+(transition-time: 3s)["or he'll just murder every girl in the county."]](click:"every girl in the county")[ [(transition: "pulse")+(transition-time: 2s)["Actually, I'm from the next county"]], the girl points out. [(transition: "pulse")+(transition-time: 2s)["It's been a pretty long ride... I never thought..."]] You can see the girl's jaw clench; even I can hear it. She will not permit her Prince Charming nonsense dreams to get in the way of survival. She probably wonders why you'd help her. []<Texte|\ (replace: ?Texte)[(if: $Shoes is "1")[Perhaps the high heels you're still wearing are hint enough that you're different from your sibling.]]\ In any case, she decides quickly: [(transition: "pulse")+(transition-time: 2s)["We will set a trap. I know what'll distract him. As I said, it //was// a pretty long ride."]] All you need now is a weapon.(click:"weapon")[ Your big brother is quite proud of his big lethal collection; every item is proudly displayed on my walls. If you stole one, he would notice immediately. Perhaps in the attic...(click:"attic")[ (if: $Spears > 1)[(replace: ?Plural)[s]] Bingo! You find You find $Spears broken spear[]<Plural| waiting for repairs that never came. The tip[]<Plural|, sturdy enough, will do. You get $Spears chance[]<Plural|. Now you wait.(click:"Now you wait.")[ He comes back, his blue-bearded lips curved with the knowledge of the bleeding key, the open chamber, the secret discovered. The triggered trap. He's confident, acting a script he wrote himself decades ago. Until she changes it.(click:"she changes it")[ She does not beg nor tries to flee. She does not plead her case - all she asks for is a last time, with him. He's intrigued but does not question her sincerity. He thinks, after all, himself quite enticing. It makes sense to him that upcoming death would bring lust. Hidden behind a curtain, you see it all.(click:"you see it all.")[ It's your job to make sure it stops before there's too much to see. He's tying her wrists, concentrated on his task. You grab a spear, and from behind you approach. I instruct my carpets to muffle your steps. []<Texte|\ (replace: ?Texte)[(if: $Spears > 1)[But you weren't raised as a warrior; you miss your mark and Bluebeard turns to your, his brother. A boy he will make bleed, a boy, he doesn't know, who already bleeds. But you take the second spear. The last one does the job; his throat, so easily open to laugh at his own jokes, will close no more.]]\ It takes a second, it takes an eternity. Body heavier than ever, Bluebeard falls. There's just my floor to scrub and the girl to untie. [[And just like that he is gone.]] ]]]]]]

You look at each other. It doesn't feel like you saved her; sooner or later, Bluebeard would've noticed you were different. You've had a knife under your throat since the day your parents died, even though you didn't know it. All this, you think, because you opened a cupboard full of shoes. Now you're truly an orphan.(click: "an orphan.")[Which makes you, I guess, a Lord. My Lord, specifically. Congratulations; I'm a pretty neat castle, or at least I used to be. Or perhaps you'll go on an adventure. The girl, too, will do what she will. You're both free. But whatever you choose, you better clean the mess you made before you leave. Blood used to be shed //outside// of my walls, for Lade's sake. [[Fin|BluebeardLilBro]] ]

(set: $Shoes to "0")Be quick, boy. you don't want Bluebeard to come home and find you rummaging around women's shoes. They're beautiful, in perfect condition. One pair in particular reminds you of something, a ball you attended with Bluebeard when he first took you in. The memory is blurry. Enough searching, boy. Now please put the shoes back.(click: "put the shoes back")[ I sense it in your breath. You're wondering now. The shoes, women's shoes. You've seen many of them in the past few months. Your brother is something of a seducer, you thought, not knowing what to think of it. So many women he brought to his chambers.(click: "So many women")[ Surely you must have seen //some// of them go back, after? But the road is all rock and gravel. Why would they leave their shoes behind?(click: "their shoes behind")[ No - please don't do it. He could come back any minute. Don't open the forbidden chamber. You already know what's in there. Do you think for a second he would show mercy to a boy like you? A boy who bleeds?(click: "A boy who bleeds?")[ A boy who bleeds.(click: "A boy who bleeds.")[ At least you stopped running towards your death. Yes, I know, boy. I know about all of the blood that's spilled inside me, and it hurts. You don't have to see their corpses to know - //they never went back to their homes.//(click: "they never went back")[ A creak, louder than the closet. The front door. Yet again another girl he brings.(click: "another girl")[ You hide to watch. She seems, if not in love, at least enthralled. She's not naive, or frail, or reckless. She just thinks she's safe.(click: "safe")[ That dance again. He kisses her like she's the first, gives her the keys to my insides. He has a surprise to fetch for her, he says, he'll be back. She may explore the whole castle - the whole of me - except for that chamber he put inside me and never stopped filling. Still, he trusts her with the key.(click: "he trusts her with the key")[ You know what comes next. He leaves and suddenly he's no brother to you. A murderer. The blood he sheds, he puts on his victim's hands. You need to warn the girl.(click: "warn the girl")[ She does not believe you. How could she? She opens the door and sees them all and smells them all. She is not the first. He is no monster, you know, merely a man unberdened by consequences. The key is bleeding now. You're shaking. She believes you now.(click: "believes you now")[ No time to blame you, boy, for not seeing it earlier. You have a choice to make. The girl has a name, but she won't give it. You understand that; you changed your name once, for one of your siblings'. [[Flee, you must flee]]. It's the safest course of action. But then... he's a powerful lord. Who will stop him from slaughtering other women? If the two of you have a chance, then perhaps you have a responsibility. Maybe... [[You have to kill him]] ? Like you'd have a chance against him... It's up to you, lad. ]]]]]]]]]]]

(set: $Shoes to "1")Be quick, boy. you don't want Bluebeard to come home and find you trying women's shoes on. The clicks of the heels on my floor makes //me// startle now. You could fall any minute, but instead you're dancing. You find your way towards a mirror, and finally I see you. You're stunning, boy. Now please put the shoes back.(click: "put the shoes back")[ I see it in your face. You're wondering now. The shoes, women's shoes. You've seen many of them in the past few months. Your brother is something of a seducer, you thought, not knowing what to think of it. So many women he brought to his chambers.(click: "So many women")[ Surely you must have seen //some// of them go back, after? But the road is all rock and gravel. Why would they leave their shoes behind?(click: "their shoes behind")[ No - please don't do it. He could come back any minute. Don't open the forbidden chamber. You already know what's in there. Do you think for a second he would show mercy to a boy like you? A boy who bleeds?(click: "A boy who bleeds?")[ A boy who bleeds.(click: "A boy who bleeds.")[ At least you stopped running towards your death. Yes, I know, boy. I know about all of the blood that's spilled inside me, and it hurts. You don't have to see their corpses to know - //they never went back to their homes.//(click: "they never went back")[ A creak, louder than the closet. The front door. Yet again another girl he brings.(click: "another girl")[ You hide to watch. She seems, if not in love, at least enthralled. She's not naive, or frail, or reckless. She just thinks she's safe.(click: "safe")[ That dance again. He kisses her like she's the first, gives her the keys to my insides. He has a surprise to fetch for her, he says, he'll be back. She may explore the whole castle - the whole of me - except for that chamber he put inside me and never stopped filling. Still, he trusts her with the key.(click: "he trusts her with the key")[ You know what comes next. He leaves and suddenly he's no brother to you. A murderer. The blood he sheds, he puts on his victim's hands. You need to warn the girl.(click: "warn the girl")[ She does not believe you. How could she? She opens the door and sees them all and smells them all. She is not the first. He is no monster, you know, merely a man unberdened by consequences. The key is bleeding now. You're shaking. She believes you now.(click: "believes you now")[ No time to blame you, boy, for not seeing it earlier. You have a choice to make. The girl has a name, but she won't give it. You understand that; you changed your name once, for one of your siblings'. [[Flee, you must flee]]. It's the safest course of action. But then... he's a powerful lord. Who will stop him from slaughtering other women? If the two of you have a chance, then perhaps you have a responsibility. Maybe... [[You have to kill him]] ? Like you'd have a chance against him... It's up to you, lad. ]]]]]]]]]]]