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[solarpurpura]

[This little room has grown cluttered over the long months. What once was empty space when she first entered House 9 in the winter has become her own. There is a mobile of bones and feathers hung over the window, herbs hung all around it. She made the mobile herself, and it was the very first item to appear. More bones have followed. Jewelry began

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[dirt_heart]

[Kelly hasn't been watching the PORTAL, but he hears her calling, appears in the doorway quickly enough. He isn't surprised by the state of her room at all - even if he didn't see it fairly regularly, he knows what Morrisons are like. Tends to feed Othniel and Eden's collections with gifts from his own trading quite often.]

You called?

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[solarpurpura]

[She doesn't precisely smile, but her eyes widen under the bottom of her mask, looking happy to see him.]

Yes, I was hoping you could help me.

[She points over to the ceiling.]

I had wanted to hang something.

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[dirt_heart]

[He looks up at where she points, then nods.]

Sure.

[He holds a hand out for whatever she wants hung up, smiling slightly.]

It's starting to get a bit full in here.

[Their rooms in the house were more like apartments. He wonders how long it would take her to start spreading her collection out to the living room and kitchen.]

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[solarpurpura]

[She quickly finishes up the second bird she was working on, wrapping its feet. She offers Kelly a little bundle of nails and a small hammer before she stands with the two birds dangling from her hands.]

I am told, one day I will find myself buried in it all.

[And while she is joking with Kelly, she didn't appreciate it when it came out of Tony's mouth.]

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[dirt_heart]

[He isn't so tall as to be able to reach the ceiling unassisted, scoots her stool along into the right spot before climbing up to start hammering those nails in.]

Only if it starts revolting against you.

[Which he really doubted. Even if there were objects in here with powers of their own, Eden had better control than that. Nails hammered in sufficiently, he looks back down at her for the birds.]

I tell you, I wish some of this stuff existed in the real world. It'd be worth some serious money.

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[solarpurpura]

[She takes that for the praise it is, and a dark pleasure shows in her eyes. Yes, some of it was quite incredible, more precious than anything Adina might have owned. She shouldn't indulge that part of her thoughts, but...]

And yet it all comes without expense here.

[A bit dissatisfying, really, and why she found herself searching for things to make on her own. There was some cost in that... materials used up, even if they could be replenished again.

She hands up her tokens absentmindedly.]

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[dirt_heart]

[He takes the birds, reaching up to wind and tie the strings around the nails.]

Monetary expense, yeah.

[He murmurs it without really thinking. Doesn't want to keep weighing on Eden with how unhappy he is, trapped here, but lying to her isn't something he's well practised in.]

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[solarpurpura]

Hm.

[She agrees absentmindedly, she has something infinitely more interesting to show him while he is here. She has kept her newest pet very close by ever since it finally took its proper shape. Its cage is beneath the vanity table at the moment, so it could sit at her feet while she worked.

She tugs it out into the room now. This one, its mess of limbs and golden eyes, would have been no monetary expense, either way.]

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[dirt_heart]

[He's still fussing with the birds, making sure they're hanging straight and will stay in place, assuming that's she's moving back to the table to make more for him to hang. He turns when he hears the sound of something being dragged, though, doesn't think she'd want him to hang something quite that heavy from the ceiling.

He's down off the stool fairly quickly, crouching close to peer at the creature through the bars.]

What is that? Some sort of goblin?

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[solarpurpura]

[She toys with the heavy ring in the top of the cage idly, pleased by his interest.]

I was told they are called Heartless.

[She puts her palms on the domed bars, leaning down closer to both Kelly and the creature. She really does look like a girl, eager to show off a new toy. She has never created a creature of her own before, and she has never had anyone besides her father to praise her for it, Kelly will just have to forgive her pride.]

I created it, just this week.

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[dirt_heart]

I've never heard of 'Heartless' before.

[He murmurs it absentmindedly as he leans closer, examining the creature better, trying to place it in all the folklore and mythology he's read over the years. He looks up at her next comment, though, curious. Eden says she's created this creature, but someone had had to tell her what it was called.]

You created it?

[If she dreamt it, did it count as a nightmare, like the man from the Unnatural Kelly had heard about? Was it possible to dream up monsters like that, to keep them, unnoticed?]

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[solarpurpura]

I was told, that one becomes a 'Heartless' when their heart is overtaken by darkness.

[She says this rather disdainfully, she still finds the entire concept rather silly and wasteful. And this is why she made some modifications.]

But this one still hangs on my strings.

[She reaches forward to open the door to its cage, inviting it out with a gentle hand. It stands for inspection on its awkward limbs, slouched backwards slightly.]

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[dirt_heart]

[A heart overtaken by darkness. Not something that was born as it was, then. Not surprising, there were many creatures born after the death of another. But what that meant here was something else, and he looks up at Eden quietly.]

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[solarpurpura]

[She ignores him, her attention focused on her pet. She offers out her hand to it, inviting it to stand with her against her side. She strokes the bony antennae that sprouts from its misshapen little head.]

It's been very obedient.

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[dirt_heart]

[He stares at her for a moment longer, but he doubts she's going to answer that unspoken question, and he doubts he wants the answer. It isn't the first time. His gaze drops, and he silently but forcefully begins the process of pushing it from his mind.]

I'd hope so, if you created it.

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[solarpurpura]

[She's really just all smiles now.]

They're silly, useless things, I don't know why anyone would waste their time with an entire army of them, but I rather like just this one.