🫀Fall of hart – Chapter 1; All Ancestors Standing Beside Your Bed

Characters: Sele/Kalika, Zoe

Warnings: Allusions to sexual activity and drug use

Wordcount: 1,949

Vibe: sele interrupts a bitter family meeting because she’s the specialest girl ever

no proper foreword for this. fuck it we ball

i actually wrote this like a month ago but i got so busy + depressed i didnt revise it ASDFGHJ but figured it’d been long enough

this was voted over violet detector but then i started working on the VD romhack again anyways. so. win win?

anyways. more ‘mature’ than moon, not as extremely heavy as DELTA — somewhere inbetween. it’s about sele! …if you know, you know, i suppose :clueless:

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Chapter 1

“You’re… leaving?”

“When you say it like that, you make it sound like I’m going away forever.”

Sele huffed with a sense of disappointment. What a way to end a night together.

When she thought Kalika was just within reach…

“It’s only for the week, geez.” Kalika groaned.

“You’ll live.”

Then… a sudden idea. A genius idea.

“Well, if it’s only for a week… why can’t I just come along? I grew up in the Dirge too, you know.”

Kalika just scoffed.

“Please! If my sister saw you tagging along with me, ugh… I’d never hear the end of it.”

“So you’re admitting we’re like… a thing?” Sele asked, playing dumb.

Kalika wasn’t in the mood for it.

“That is not what I meant, and you know it.” she sighed – though it seemed Sele had already been humored enough.

Kalika and Sele were regulars of the Underdeck for their own reasons.

Kalika had previously been a member of a small street gang on the space station city’s main level, generally as the resolver of intra-gang conflicts.

But one thing led to another, and the previous leader of the gang went on a path to rehab… and nobody wanted to take up the role as leader, knowing that they’d just be a puppet of the bigger powers within the Underdeck.

Kalika was the one to finally step up, with her mysterious sister’s bribes acting as a barrier between the Underdeck’s ruling powers and herself.

Sele… was entranced by the allure of the hedonism of the Underdeck. Able to find a roommate situation that she was able to take advantage of, she’d blend into the crowd of intoxicated partygoers, all the while spending her roommate’s money on luxuries for herself.

And for a while, Sele was content with her reckless behavior.

At least, until her path crossed with Kalika’s.

It was a one-night fling, but something about Kalika stuck with Sele. Maybe it was her comfort when Sele ended up having a bad trip that night, or maybe it was the trip itself that gave some kind of epiphany.

Previously, Sele had been vying for the head honcho of the Underdeck, an individual known only by an alias of Shuten-doji. She thought she had a chance after a fleeting, non-sober encounter – and the idea of access to Shuten-doji’s vast assets was even more motivation.

But despite Sele’s persistence, she got nowhere. Sele first got with Kalika thinking that she could be a bridge to Shuten-doji, but…

She liked Kalika a lot more… in a more genuine way.

Unfortunately, Sele had already earned herself a bit of a ‘reputation’ in the Underdeck for her frequent use of flings for financial gain – so Kalika was wary, despite choosing to occasionally humor Sele.

Sele just felt as though… she needed to find a way to truly prove herself.

To prove she was worth Kalika’s time.

“What are you even going out there for, anyways?” Sele prodded, as Kalika got up from the bed with a stretch.

“It’s not like there’s ever been anything interesting in the Dirge.”

“Again, it’s my sister.” Kalika replied with a sigh.

“She broke her arm after an accident with a drunk biker. She rarely ever asks me for help, but she can’t do much because of it and she gets out of the hospital tomorrow.”

“Ouch.” Sele said with a cringe.

“Is she gonna at least get some money out of that jackass?”

“Last I heard, she’s doing a lot better than the biker, somehow. Medically, at least.” Kalika replied, shaking her head.

“I think that she’d believe that the karma of that alone is enough, or whatever.”

“Isn’t she like, a psychic weirdo, or something?”

“She pretends to be a psychic to get quick money. That kind of thing isn’t real.” Kalika replied.

“She’s just always been really good at reading people, and uses it for evil, I guess.”

Sele snorted.

“Heh, in that case, I’d want to hear the kind of dumb shit she’d say about me!”

“I think she’d just make you cry.” Kalika said, just barely cracking a smile.

Bingo.

“Wanna bet on it?” Sele asked, her expression sly.

“What?”

“Look, I’ll pay for my own ticket to get there, too! But if your sister manages to ‘break’ me, or whatever… I’ll stop bugging you, for realsies.”

Kalika just looked shocked, in a bit of an awe-struck manner.

“Geez, that’s fuckin’ bold of you.” she huffed.

“You’re underestimating her, I think. But… dare I ask, if you somehow manage to be psychologically solid enough that not even she can break through… what crazy thing did you want?”

“Dinner, maybe?”

“Really? That’s all?” Kalika scoffed.

“You’re crazy.”

“I just think it’d be nice!” Sele said in a defensive manner.

“Besides, if your sister is really as crazy good at psychoanalyzing people as you’re vouching for, wouldn’t you take the free excuse to block my number?”

“It really, really does feel like you’re scheming something here, Sele.” Kalika sighed.

“But… whatever. With the kind of attitude you’re having now, maybe it’d give my sister a laugh if you tried to butt heads.”

Hook, line, and sinker.

As promised, Sele paid for her own ticket. The two sat apart on the hovertain trip to the Ultra Dirge, but got off at the small station together.

The Ultra Dirge was nothing special – it was nothingness for miles and miles of long highway, with the only thing really keeping it afloat being that it was an effective trade route between Megalopolis and the Craterlands.

Still, it’s where Sele grew up, and it was nostalgic to see it after such a long time – even if she’d tried to repress all those memories.

While the station the duo arrived in was small, it was arguably on the large scale for the Dirge. It connected to one of the main ‘clusters’ of buildings in the sparsely populated region, which happened to be where the hospital Kalika’s sister was staying at was located.

The hospital itself was quiet, and small – it only had two floors. The interior itself was designed in the dated aesthetic that was favored in the Dirge, but Sele just found it tacky.

Kalika was called up to visit her sister, and Sele was just told to stand by. It may have just been the atmosphere of the waiting room, but the public access cooking show on the TV seemed to go on forever, until…

“Well, I can already tell she’s quite a piece of work.”

It was an unfamiliar woman’s voice, deep and mysterious. Sele turned her focus away from the TV to look, only to see it was a slender, purple-haired woman with large antlers like Kalika – who was by her side.

“Took you long enough. Were you shit talking me in there?” Sele snarked.

Kalika gave her a small annoyed tug of the ear in response, with an expression indicating she wasn’t quite in the mood.

“We better haul it, or we’ll miss the bus to Zoe’s place and be stuck here for like 2 hours.” Kalika sighed.

“Oh, her name’s Zoe? You never mentioned that before.”

Kalika wanted to speak up and explain herself to Sele, but was quickly overspoken by her sister.

“Kali, I’d at least think you’d be decent enough to tell your stand of the week my name if you thought she was worth my time.”

“Shut up.” was all she could muster, elbowing Zoe.

In favor of making it to the bus on time, though, the three opted to save their bickering. As it was the end of the work day, the bus was a bit more crowded than one would expect from the Dirge, so no words were exchanged during the ride, either.

It was a short walk from the bus stop to Zoe’s home, and while Kalika was keeping a stride surprisingly well, Kalika was lagging behind. She seemed to be in a bad mood, and Sele wasn’t quite sure what had happened or what she could do.

It seemed Zoe noticed, though.

“Kali, if you’re going to be so slow, maybe you can just detour with your ladyfriend and grab takeout? The usual place is still open, same hours.” Zoe said, turning back to face Kalika and Sele.

“I can get inside and sit down somewhere just fine.”

There was no verbal reply from Kalika, just a nod and a deep sigh – with her breath visible as it went out into the cold air.

Zoe waved, and continued off to her home.

“Kalika? What the hell happened in that hospital room?”

Kalika groaned and rubbed her face.

“It’s the same fucking shit with her. Every time.”

“What?” Sele asked, confused.

“She thinks I’m a pathetic and wasting my life, and even when she’s got her ass hooked up to an IV and her arm in a splint, she has some kind of superiority complex over me.” Kalika said, her voice growing increasingly frustrated as her rant continued.

“Like, no wonder I never visit her.”

Sele wasn’t sure how to react at all.

“I mean, I can pay for the takeout, if it’d help.” she said, after a period of silence that felt like it went on far too long.

“Sure. Whatever.” Kalika sighed.

“We used to go to this one place all the time growing up, so I can lead the way.”

Though the Ultra Dirge was one of the areas known for eternal night, it always did feel darker around a certain time – as it did now. The nipping cold certainly didn’t help, and neither did the constant crunching of dry grass and leaves as Sele and Kalika made their way through the unpaved path.

The Dirge as a whole was certainly eerie in general, but Sele had forgotten the extent of its effect in person.

Suddenly, a not-so-distant crash.

“Did you hear that?” Sele asked, jumping a bit from the sudden noise.

“Duh, I have ears that function.” Kalika replied.

“It was probably just some wild divums or something.”

“Are you sure? It sounded a bit big for a divum.”

“They can get pretty big, you know.”

“Aren’t the big ones usually dangerous, though?”

There was a pause between the two, as Kalika considered their options. If it was indeed a large divum, it was more likely than not that it’d be hostile… and while Kalika generally liked to keep at least a pocket knife on her at all times, she was unarmed at the moment.

But… something odd seemed to interrupt the duo’s considerations.

A distant glow. It stood out sorely in contrast to the lack of natural light, and it almost seemed… otherworldly.

“Oh, that’s fuckin’ creepy, all right.” Kalika said under her breath.

Sele, on the other hand, was morbidly curious.

Slowly, she started to make her approach off the pathway to investigate, but Kalika suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

“Yeah, no, I got a bad feeling about this one. I’m not letting you be the idiot girl who dies first in the horror movie.”

“So you care about me that much?”

Kalika stepped back, flustered.

“Now is not the time for this. Look, I vote we get the hell out of here and call a wildlife specialist at Zoe’s place.”

“I feel like both of us know that whatever this is, it isn’t the wildlife.”

Kalika paused again, and let out a deep sigh.

“You’re… right. Whatever, fuck it.”

Sele nodded, and with Kalika holding her hand and trailing behind her, the two approached the otherworldly glow – the closer they got, the dimmer it seemed to become, until eventually, they could make the source out.

It was a woman.

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