Week 6 cyoa: hei, jiuqing, vin, and kashuu

[saturations]

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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??? - CRIMSON AND FLAME (LOCKED TO KASHUU)

[disestablishment]

[ Optional unlockable!

Kashuu rides the black chocobo, but finds that it isn’t as fast as the one Kanesada took. Of course Kanesada knew which was the fastest and grand theft auto’d it—he needs to kill this dragon. As Kashuu finds himself flying through Coerthas, he will find a disturbed patch in all the snow.

There is a silhouette, difficult to make out with all the snow. Approach? ]

[slashay]

[HE HATES THIS SO MUCH WHY THE FCK. KANESADA. HELP. He's just watching this man's back zoom farther and farther away as he tries to race after him, wondering what the wholeass hell he's doing with his life...]

WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS LIKE THIS NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE, YOU STUPID, EMPTY-HEADED SH—

[Fortunately before he can keep cursing sweet Kanesada's good name, he's distracted by that patch... H...hello...

Well, he's not about to immediately hop off and ditch his Kanesada-chasing mission completely, but he'll veer over to try getting a better look before he just zips right on past, just in case it's someone who needs medical attention. Do they look dead. Is it even a person. i hope it's the dragon playing dead in the snow because it could sense kanesan's murderous energy]

[disestablishment]

[ VENGEANCE!!!

Kashuu is so funny. Kanesada had zipped so fast it was hard to see him with all the snowy winds until this point. As Kashuu tries to get a better look while passing by, he will notice this silhouette does fit Kanesada’s profile and another, beast-like shadow.

There is a very familiar voice, the one from the beginning, that rings, “why live to suffer?” ]

[slashay]

[HIS VENGEANCE MAKES HIM SO SWIFT.

But oh he doesn't like that. Hm. Well. He's definitely pulling over toward that silhouette, then, even if he's frowning about that horribly familiar voice. The last time a voice from nowhere spoke at him, bad things happened? Also, why is there a BEAST-LIKE SHADOW HERE. Is that the dragon. WHERE'S THE DRAGON HE'S SO PARANOID.]

Izuminokami—!!

[He's getting ready to just jump off this chocobo if he has to and stab something with his sword.]

[disestablishment]

[ The dragon is dead! Because Kanesada is carving it out with his sword… He’s just stabbing it over and over, almost ritualistically, without any light to be seen in his eyes. He keeps stabbing the corpse, mutilating it beyond its form. Kashuu can see the wounds inflicted onto it and the rage imbued, but… A lot of it, he can see has no emotion to it.

When swords shatter, they’re broken, aren’t they? What does it mean to be broken yet not shattered? Not corrupted? Is this living?

The voice again, “wouldn’t it be better to end?”

Kanesada keeps stabbing, stabbing, stabbing, stabbing, stabbing, stabbing, stabbingstabbingstabbingstabbing, while blood flies onto his face and dyes his clothes dark like the singe marks on parts of his skin. Will peanut take his sword friend away? Back to Falcon’s Nest? ]

[slashay]

[Oh. Well. That's new, and he doesn't like it, either. He's used to seeing people carve their enemies up out of sorrow, rage, fear, hopelessness or hopefulness, or the static, frenzied, fever-bright emotions of corruption running its path clean. This actually startles him, and even if he keeps it in the back of his mind - it isn't real, obviously it isn't real - well.

He's a sword with a tender heart, after all. He leaps from his chocobo, running over to where Kanesada is hacking the dragon's corpse into bits.]

Hey... Izuminokami—! You killed it! C'mon, it's already dead--

[He reaches out once he's close enough, trying to place a hand on Kanesada's arm.]

[disestablishment]

[ He doesn’t say anything and continues stabbing… Even when the hand is placed on his arm, the motion does not stop. The dragon continues getting impaled, wet noises being the only answer Kashuu receives, despite being long gone. It seems Kanesada mind is elsewhere, absent, and he can be handled with ease.

“You can give him the gentlest death.” ]

[slashay]

[It's painful to watch, even knowing what he knows. To see the vibrancy taken from a bright blade - what for, and how, and why? What is this meant to show him, to teach him? What is the point of any of this?

He speaks to the air and that haunting, familiar voice, his grip tightening on Kanesada's arm.]

I'll give you the opposite of a gentle death, if I ever find you.

[Because he lashes out at the targets he can find, and a nebulous "this place, this voice, these stupid adventures" makes for a big one. The prism is an intangible enemy, the Dreamer is a little more tangible, and he can funnel all of his spite and fury and hurt toward them, whether or not they hold the blame.

He'll try to grab Kanesada's opposite arm, try to wrest his blade from him, probably using a little more force than is really necessary considering he doesn't seem to be mentally present anymore.]

[disestablishment]

[ Kanesada stops stabbing because he’s being forced to, but he doesn’t look at Kashuu. He’s ragdoll enough to be put on chocobo back and returned to Falcon’s Nest, the empty shell that he is. That is, if Kashuu takes him back. Otherwise, he will go back to this ritual stabbing until the dragons take him.

He’s still a sword, acting as a sword, isn’t he? Maybe that is enough to keep him alive, to hope that maybe he will return.

However, Kashuu will notice there is a black bird that has been watching, kind of cute! And it will follow him and Vin now. ]

[slashay]

[HE DOESN'T TRUST THIS BLACK BIRD HELP he's just giving it a suspicious glance and otherwise leaving it alone for now.

But he's also not going to leave Fake Kanesan out here to continue his mindless stabbing, so. He will do his best to get this mans that's like a foot taller than him back onto his GTA chocobo so he can get them back to the base. TALLYHO.]

[disestablishment]

[ (bird whisper) i'm just... birb. Anyway, Kashuu can take Soulless Kanesada back to Falcon's Nest where he will find Vin talking and stuff. yeets you out of this thread. ]