the prism (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
saturations) wrote2022-03-28 05:46 pm
saturations) wrote2022-03-28 05:46 pm
Entry tags:
Week 6 cyoa: hei, jiuqing, vin, and kashuu
spoiler warnings: ff14 heavensward and some light endwalker elements
content warnings: violence, death, war, terrorism (short), brief mentions/references for eyegore, brief mention/reference for decapitation, depression, suicidal ideation (nihilist flavor), suicide, dragons and monsters eating people
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Ishgard becomes duller in color, greyer and more monotonous than it already was, but the sky keeps its blue for a moment longer. In a blink of an eye, however, it turns into a deep crimson. Fire rains from it, like star showers. It would be an amazing sight if it didn't start turning the warriors on the field into monsters, too. Slowly, each one succumbs to their despair and fear. They turn and join "Vin" and "Jiuqing" on pursuit for any being with aether.
He may have another shield. There are probably so much weaponry on the floor from dead soldiers.
The dragons, for some reason, are unaffected by this spreading disease. They attack almost in the same fashion, but with a 19, they do pay attention to Kashuu when he dashes toward him instead of the ruin they're sowing. One wyvern squawks, then launches itself at him with claws out. It grazes him by with a 6 to his side, ripping only some.
With "Jiuqing's" higher roll, so being closer to Kashuu, the wyvern doesn't stop its charge and clutches onto her with its talons. It shrieks, surprised to be here? And so forth its claws dig in tighter, one deep into her clavicle, then the other on the crook of her neck with a 20. Thanks to her dragon eye, though, it doesn't instantly kill her.
Anyway, dragon is spooked. This was an accident. ]
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but for now, the creature that came from her pays no mind to the fact that she once knew these faces. with a roll of ten, some of them are merely wounded, while some are killed before they can turn. there are familiar faces among those it attacks - if he's at all able to pay attention to what it's doing, kashuu might notice teeth and claws sinking into clarte, damien, and itsuki, among some unfamiliar faces to him - but it doesn't stop despite this.
by the time the rest of the crowd who haven't been killed turn into monsters, her mouth is red with blood, and since there is one single living person here - she's rushing back towards him, fangs bared as she tries to bite at him with a roll of twelve.]
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well!
this accidental attack by the dragon sure is slowing the monster formerly known as jiuqing down. with a roll of 6, it isn't able to free itself from the wyvern's claws. it thrashes, trying to break free, and maybe smacking down some familiar faces - percy, vax, emet-selch, ruby (sorry vin), itsuki('s twin, apparently), clarte('s twin), and others - with its tail, but it's nothing that will be fatal.
kashuu at least will only have to deal with the vinmonster for now.]
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Anyway he's blocking Vinster's attempt at biting him with a 15 and rolling to keep running with just a sad, measly 5, which makes sense considering his leg is truly just having a time of it. But now that he's got a shield again, he's also casting Holy Sheltron. His beefed up defense!! He's got a Divine Veil on top of that because stress is unlocking his powers (his awakened mode is here), so he casts that toward the nearest group of non-monsterfied people with a SOLID 20. THOSE PEOPLE ARE GONNA BE SO PROTECTED. Hopefully Aymeric is in there.
His 9 roll means he isn't bleeding out yet but he's not very steady on his feet anymore.]
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With a 6, the Wyvern can’t separate itself from “Jiuqing,” so it flaps like a scared chicken. Dragons also feel the lack of aether in these monsters… And seeing something dead move is disturbing. Thrashing about, Jiuqing’s wounds worsen by 15, but that’s enough for it to break free and abandon this engagement. They’re here to fight Ishgardians, not this.
Of course, dragons are also full of aether. However, who “Jiuqing” pursues is up to Britt/dice.
Popcorns vinshuu clash. ]
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it's also lucky that the creature can't see anymore, because while it would ordinarily be going for his throat, the fact that it can only follow him based on noise complicates that. all the same, it's lashing out, trying to bite and scratch at him at the same time with a roll of thirteen.
however, as it does that, he'll hear, in a voice inhuman and wrong:]
Help... me...
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anyway, the monster that was once jiuqing really wants to get at this dragon's aether? it has developed a taste for it because of the dragon's eye, i guess. it pursues the wyvern, lunging forward with a roll of 18 to sink its teeth into its hide.
dice maiden is hateful ganba kashuu and vin]
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This mysterious person takes all of Vin's (13) damage done on peanut!
For Jiuqing quickly, too, the screeches as it starts flapping to the sky (16). It's high enough to take her, but not enough to shake her off. It wails as it can feel its own life being taken by this monster it didn't mean to fight. This is the consequence of its actions... With a 9, only one other dragon sees its fellow kin struggling, so it goes to call for help. Maybe monster Jiuqing will escape? Coincidentally? Not that she can perceive what it means to live or die, just to kill. ]
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Anyway with all of those bites and scratches being TAKEN by someone ELSE, Kashuu's making it through this bout without any additional injuries. He's also rolling a 14 to engage Vinster in COMBAT - though he freezes, on hearing that. A call for help.
As if unlocking a gate, the wisps return in a strong tide. It's not enough to completely overwhelm him just yet, but he falls to a knee, feeling something shifting in him - in his body, in the very fabric of his being. This is fine, probably.]
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even as the wisps move around him and he bends, the monster is trying to attack again, though it's not too effective this time due to rolling a two. maybe it's confused by the sudden shift. either way:]
My... friend...
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hiss, scratch, etc. we're really having a monster fight in the background while kashuu and vin have an emotional moment.]
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We can address Jiuqing. The wyvern doesn't survive this encounter and its kin couldn't find more of them to help. It cascades down during its last moments and it crashes into one of the buildings, falling through the stone completely. It and Jiuqing slips here and knocks onto other structures there, then finally hits the ground... It struggles for one moment, one more breath, before dying.
... A familiar face approaches Jiuqing with a cold gaze. It is Cheng Gang, holding an Ishgardian bow, donning armor. He looks down at her and aims with a 14.
For Vin and Kashuu, they fight, but Kashuu can perceive again because of a cough. At first, it looks like a bloody Aymeric tethered him and took the blow... And this would be his last, but then his form flickers, too. It flashes between all of Kashuu's owners, his favorite commanders, every person that wielded him with love and adoration before it settles on Okita, coughing up blood. He snickers, laughing a bit happily despite the weariness laced between each word.
"This is definitely better than last time." Because Okita didn't die on the battlefield like he wanted. He would die to disease, pitifully, and alone. "Don't let them take you."
Okita smiles with blood dripping down his lips, lining his jaw, and settles his back against a wall before slipping. Slowly, but surely, his eyelids are too heavy to keep open. Once his eyes close, he—and everyone who wielded Kashuu—dies. ]
1/2 :3c (also body horror warning)
me: i see,,
No more hope rolls for Kashuu!! His hope well has run dry.
Despair rushes back to his shores like it had never left, and he makes a strangled sound in the back of his throat - pain, physical pain, pain over the twist of his bones as they break and jut inside of his body and split through his skin like the spine of a creature, twining around his sword-wielding arm, which crackles with a blood-red flame. Pain at hearing the creature that was once Vin speaking words like that in such a stilted, sorrowful way (or is he the one reading the sorrow into it? How far gone is she, now that he can feel himself slipping?). Moreover, how could he be a friend to anyone like this? When he's failed to save anyone, when he's failed to fulfill his purpose?
The cough, too, is a painful thing. A reminder of a past he'd rather leave behind, and as his attention swivels toward the source almost instinctively, his heart seizes in his chest. His vision is already blurred from blood loss, from tears, from the exhaustion bearing down on him, but he can see that man as clear as he does every time he revisits Ikedaya in his dreams.]
Wait— Okita--
[Ah, but it's too late, isn't it? Always just a step too late.
He watches his most treasured owner die (again, for him, the situation a mirror image of its reality) and watches those he's loved before die with him, the shadow of a memory of their strong, sturdy, reliable, warm hands drifting through his mind like the last flicker of dawn light.
It's so cold here.]
2/2
With the last burst of energy he has in his dying, transforming body, he launches himself forward, trying to grab hold of Vin. He's laughing - he's crying - his eyes are feverbright with corruption, but his smile is so apologetic, so soft and genuine, even through the dance of flame and blood and flaying skin.]
I'm sorry, Vin.
[He wanted to do something better. He wanted to save her. He wanted to save the both of them, even knowing what these adventures bring. But in the end, isn't it just selfishness that had dragged out her suffering? There's no place for cowardice in a sword. There's only one thing to do when one loses touch with what makes them human.
He raises a hand toward the sky, a bright flash of light piercing through - a dying star. Summoning the last of him, he uses his final move to send numerous blades hurtling from the sky toward the earth. They puncture deep into the blood-soaked dirt with a thunderous impact, splitting the ground, discarded weapons, stray shields, any corpses unfortunate enough to be nearby. They skewer through his body with ease, too, like he's a doll made of spun silk; it's a more merciful death than what many, many others have been granted in this battle, though he only takes it to spare those he'd have torn in two if he were to join the rest of the monsters prowling the battlefield.
This way, he can honor Okita's wish. He can save even one more life, maybe. And if he's lucky, he can put Vin out of her misery, too.]
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but that's not here or now. at this moment, as his aether begins to fade away and he starts to change, the monster seems to lose interest, beginning to turn from him. but, then he moves forward to latch onto it. there's another roar thundering through the air as it tries to pull away, and it might ordinarily have succeeded because of his rapidly fading consciousness. as it is, though, one of the blades he's summoned moves down and pierces into a wing, pinning it to the ground.
how strange it is. her existence has been marked with a desire to survive - enough that for most of her life, she has pushed herself as far away from other people as possible, viewing them as a threat unless she could not deny their utility to her. it's changed since meeting kelsier, but the marks of that mindset are slow to fade; she cannot count the times she's wondered why she stayed with him, in a mission that she has only ever believed would end in her death. she can't count the times even since coming here that she has wondered whether she should truly go back there, to embark on a last task that she is reasonably sure will amount to the same thing.
but right now, as the blade falls and pierces into the monster's heart - if she were herself, the only thing she would feel beyond the agony and weight of what she's done would be gratefulness and forgiveness towards kashuu for making a choice that she's certain she wouldn't be able to.
that's not the reality she finds herself in, though, and as she bleeds out into the dirt - the only thing to be heard is another roar, a cry of pain, before it's over.]
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the monster stares up at chang geng with eyes that are empty of anything that had made her jiuqing, once. it's questionable whether it even recognizes him as anything other than a source of aether that it desires to bleed dry.
it moves, drawn to him, and dodges the first arrow, the first strike. it lunges, teeth bared, claws bloodied, and grapples with him to take him apart.
britt 🧃 sip juicing Roll: [9] Result: 9 Reason: 9 or less she lives 10+ she dies
hei ❄ het pleasantry Roll: [14] Result: 14 Reason: DOES CHANG GENG 2 GET A STABBY IN
...in the end, it kills him. it's a monster, after all. it's what monsters are wont to do. but it doesn't escape without a stab to the heart - not entirely through, not enough to kill, but it's there, and it stings.
it looks down at the corpse beneath it.
there's nothing here. just death.
...just as hraesvelgr had said. why did she come here? to change their fates? to save just a few? she didn't - she couldn't...]
...I couldn't... save anyone...
[a shudder wracks the creature's body.]
I'm sorry...
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Even when he dies, something runs rampant in the monster's body. It's in pain, but it doesn't know what else to do but run rampant and go into a frenzy.
...
They won't be here to see it, seeing as two are dead and one is dying, but somehow. Some way. Ishgard will survive this.
But it's still not journey's end. ]