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

[there is a moment as this wave of despair hits her that she really wonders why she's continuing on, fighting like this. why try, when she tried for kelsier, tried for vax, and it didn't make a difference? there are quite possibly tears streaking down her face at this feeling, but...

it's on instinct that she moves forward to attack anyways, both that despair and a new sense of terror intermingling. the good thing is, at least, that her adoration for the two people currently about to be chewed on means that she's moving despite the agony, despite the fear. she doesn't have her edge of shadow, but she still has a sword, and she's trying to jam it into the dragon's jaw, attempting to pry it open. no vore. no vore!! she's also going to cast living shadow inside the dragon's mouth, creating a double of herself who's going to try and force it open.]

Kashuu! Ruby!

[eli 🔪 vin Roll: [15] Result: 15]

[It's a good thing Kashuu is so used to pushing himself through misery specifically for the purpose of protecting others! Though the despair feels like it's crushing him, so tight around his lungs and so heavy in his heart that it doesn't even feel like he can catch a breath, he can keep going.

HE DOESN'T WANT TO BE VORED EITHER EVEN IN THE THROES OF DESPAIR THAT'S A TERRIBLE WAY TO GO so through the tears he hasn't even noticed have started up again - one more thing for him to be pissed about later, that these stupid adventures have brought him to tears twice - he'll desperately put his strength into pushing upward on the creature's upper jaw from where it's wedged between its teeth. He tries to create enough of a gap that he can grab Ruby, throw her out and hop out soon after, with a 10 roll.]

Vin—!!

[ With a 4... There is no more vore! The monster's jaw is disconnected thanks to Vin's attack. Living Shadow makes its appearance, beckoning to Vin's desperate call to protect those she holds dear. It's stronger because of it, so it runs into the beast's maw and lines its blade against its body from the inside. It bleeds black, it pooling out but not staining Kashuu and Ruby much, maybe their legs at most.

It's almost dead, movements slowed, but it tries anyway to thrash. This has Ruby cut by its teeth, cutting a deep gash into her shoulder. She does well to not collapse to her knees... She stays upright as she runs to Vin, to fuss over her. This should make Vin happy, but she can't even find a single light. Instead, she feels the vines under her skin again. They hold onto her tighter.

For Kashuu, there should be relief, too, but the heavy depression weighing dragon tons of bricks is still there. How many people has he lost? Not here, but in all those wars before. He must hate it, to see beloved humans fight each other till their end, but... If war were to end, who would pick him up? Who would praise him? There is no use for a sword without conflict.

The wisps, too, are still dark and wildly spinning around them.

Vin and Kashuu might be in deep despair (permanent), but Ruby has brightened so much seeing them. They saved one (1). Vin's presence fended off Ruby's grey wisps... For a moment there is peace. They can maybe check on Vix and Aymeric? ]

[...it's strange. for someone who has based so much of her life, so much of her sense of self and her happiness over the last year over those she cares about - she'd think she would at least feel something when someone that she loves so dearly comes back safe like this. and there might be relief, but it's... distant. dull. it's vastly overpowered by the ache that she feels, right now.

the ache that just intensifies when she moves away to see how aymeric is doing and realizes that their real vax is gone!! cool.]

...Kashuu, that's not—

[eli 🔪 vin Roll: [19] Result: 19 Reason: vax check (like vibe check but not)]

[HIS 20 VIX CHECK MEANS HE ALSO FUCKING SEES THAT THEIR REAL VAX IS GONE and he's not only feeling the absolute crushing weight of misery, but also the additional guilt that comes along with failing to realize?? That he had??? Grabbed the wrong person????? HELLO.

He just wipes away at his tears, moving over to where Vin is and reaching out very, very hesitantly to touch her arm.]

I... --I'm sorry, I didn't...

[...Haha. Well.

Apologizing won't really help, huh? Just like it won't bring back the dead. The humans he knew in his earliest forge-days, or the genius swordsman who once wielded him, eyes bright and hands sure. Yasusada, who's died here, and there, and almost died before, and continues to be there existing right at the brink of death, all because he wants to keep his partner safe. Terrible.

He can barely even feel relief that Ruby is okay, even though he'll nod her way, shaky and hesitant, suddenly full of self-doubt and misery. He'll give a vague attempt at looking for sweet Aymeric but with his depressos, he only does a 3 at best.]

[ Aymeric had been swept away with chasing after dragons and monsters to kill them. At least, he had left Vix protected with a little barricade of boxes or something. "Vix" is untouched, doing okay as the dead can be. Anyway, Aymeric will be fine. He was born in this world, so he's better than them in this cyoa. His only chance at death was with Kelsier because a tank dying to a pitiful knife is very funny.

But you guys are despairing, so maybe you will... consider the worst. Perhaps you assume Aymeric perished and that explains all the blood around, with a blood trail leading elsewhere. What's worst is that Ruby looks at Vix, side eyes both of them, and quietly to herself: "I don't know how you guys thought this was Vax for even a second."

Now, for what's actually worst... They will hear slithering, but not from the direction of the monster they recently slain. We may pretend Ruby, during this fight, will hide with Vix in the barricade of boxes. ]

[i rolled but then realized i dont need it this round it's fine

she almost reaches out to comfort him instinctively, but... what good would it do? she can't offer him anything. her words don't matter. she hasn't been able to help many of the people she's seen here; not her mentor, not her friends. they were arrested because of her, so vax died because of her, and she couldn't even make sure they brought him along. and aymeric... the blood trail on the ground gives her the worst idea. it's an extension of everything she's done wrong in the prism, everyone she can't protect, and the people she's hurt.

so it makes sense when ruby, who's normally so sweet, speaks like that. after all, doesn't she deserve that scorn, that kind of rebuke? she doesn't deserve someone as kind as this girl standing by her side, and she shouldn't have let herself forget that she can't have this kind of warmth. she hears the slithering, but - does it really matter? the way she raises her sword in preparation is halfhearted.]

...Kashuu, get behind me.

[the creature that slithers out of the vault does not look much like jiuqing.

it moves forward with a tail that seems equal parts draconic and serpentine, with scales that run up its skin. it's hard to get a look at the details, though, because it is absolutely soaked in blood that has congealed into a black, tarlike substance. it drips from the creature's face and shoulders with every movement, mingling with the fresh red blood dripping from its teeth and the blood seeping from the numerous severe wounds in its skin and hide.

but the fact that it's already injured doesn't seem to have stop it.

the creature that was once su jiuqing moves forward with a single-minded determination - kill, kill, kill.

vin and kashuu are in its path.

with a hiss, it surges forward, its eerily glowing green eyes locked on vin's, clawed hands coming up to try and grip her face. it's on a roll of 11, though, so that'll be the score to beat to block or dodge.]

[RUBY REALLY JUST OUT HERE STABBING THEM BOTH WHEN THEY'RE ALREADY COLLAPSED HUH. Honestly, it's probably a good thing that another creature comes out of nowhere at this moment - because at least it's something to focus on, even in the midst of all of the anguish of war and loss. Vax, Aymeric most likely, Yasusada, Horikawa, Kanesada, so many, many, many others--

It's a weight heavier than the greatsword in his hand, which he'll use regardless of Vin's words and her half-hearted stance. What's the point? The point is his existence. Who is he, if not a sword? What is he, if not something forged to protect? What should he do, if not stand here? What can he do, if not press on, fight, fight, fight until he breaks once more?

He won't stay behind Vin. He'll rush forward instead, with a 19 roll and his blade aimed for this creature that strikes out in Vin's direction, attempting to cleave into its side.]

[it's halfhearted, but she focuses as the creature approaches, at least - when it tries to reach out and grasp her face in its hands, she slashes outwards with her sword at the serpent's body at the same time as kashuu.

so much has been lost today, but she will at least make sure he doesn't join that number. even with this swirling feeling of inevitability, a numbing ache in her chest, the claws miss her face for now with her dodge roll of eighteen, and her attack is a fifteen.]

[throws dice maiden into the garbage. you guys have injuries you said you wanted and i WILL give them to you.

but wow, these two tanks sure are tough! kashuu's blade cleaves into the monsters side, and vin's slashes up her chest. it lets out a pained hiss, blood gushing out from the wounds and splattering them, and poor sweet innocent vin will likely have a mixture of blood and venom splatter from the creature's fangs as it thrashes wildly.

vin is right in front of it, and it lunges again despite the way the motion aggravates its wounds. it won't stop until it's well and truly dead. its claws come up for her face again - but this time, they're aimed at her eyes. no details here for eye gore but what happens with the eyes is up to you.]

[Kashuu is of a similar mindset to Vin; he doesn't want to lose her on top of everything else. It's so, so hard to keep pushing through, but if it's for the sake of another person, for someone he holds close, then he can do it. He will do it.

But as he raises his greatsword for a second blow, the tide of that vast despair crashes against him and he ends up losing some of his momentum as he morphs into a depression twink. He only brings his sword into her with a 5.]

Edited 2022-03-31 16:41 (UTC)

[she tries to dodge, but her earlier blow has left her in close proximity to the creature, and when it scratches out at her face - the claws sink deep, arching from her forehead, over both of her eyes, and into her cheek before moving off.

there's a dizzying moment before the pain sets in where she realizes she can't see, and then it hits her like a brick, both physical and emotional pain. because she's useless, now - she can't see at all, so what good is she in this fight? how is she going to be able to protect kashuu, to make sure they bring vax and aymeric back with them, to stop anything further from happening to ruby? how is she going to stop the people she loves from being taken from her? and if she can't stop that from happening, how can she ever claim to deserve to have them here with her? they should leave her, if she can't stop this from happening to them. they would be right to.

with her roll of four, these thoughts coalesce until she can't focus on anything else but the fear, the agony, and - smoke starts to pour out of the wound on her face. it billows outwards and surrounds her, sinking into her skin, which starts to go black as her body elongates. her flesh starts to change into scales that look as though they're made of ash, black tendrils of smoke spreading out from her back to form a pair of wings.

unfortunately, before this transformation has a chance to go too far - her roll of eighteen means that rather than being an instant release from the pain she's feeling, she can tell something is happening, that she's changing and shifting and becoming wrong. halfway to her new form (with wings of smoke and ash rather than what's pictured) while her body still contracts and shifts, she brings her hands up to her face with a muffled scream.]

Stop - stop it...!

[that's the last thing she gets to say before she loses herself, and then she turns towards where she remembers kashuu to be, teeth bared. smoke and shadow ripple across her as she faces him.]

Edited 2022-03-31 17:04 (UTC)

[blood drips down the snake creature's claws, and it rears back as if to strike her again - to tear into flesh, to rip her apart and drink in her blood and her aether - but then she's consumed by those tendrils and begins to change.

vin was in front of it, bright and fierce and alive, but what's left is an empty husk that turns toward kashuu. the creature that was once jiuqing turns, too, drawn to his aether - his life - and barely notices as he strikes and his sword nicks its scales, glancing off.

it unhinges his jaw and lunges, aiming to plunge fangs into his shoulder. they're sharp and large and clearly inhuman, and poison drips from them - it's going to hurt if it manages to bite.]

[WELL.

OKAY!!!!! Kashuu's busy engaging a monster in combat, but it's not like it's easy to miss Vin just having a wholeass crisis over there. He manages to look over just in time to see the smoke pour out of her wound - and what an awful, awful wound it is - and hear that agonized cry, and he's panicked and confused and startled, the emotions cutting through the tangle of his despair. It's too much like familiar things, horrible and familiar things, and he feels his heart drop.]

Vin—!?

[By comparison, it's almost as if something in this helps to shove aside the weights that had been slowing down his movements, dragging them into a state of sluggishness. He's alive again - though of course, to creatures like this, he always has been.

The funny shit here is he still doesn't know the other monster is Jiuqing so even though it faintly registers that this might be A Person, he's fully focused on Vin.]

Vin—!! What-- what the hell - are... Can you hear me?!

[ANYWAY HE'S SOUNDLY DISTRACTED so Jiuqing gets her poison bite in and he yells in shock, first - then in pain. The 15 roll is for sweet Jiuqing, who naturally gets the brunt of his violence because clearly this is just an NPC??? as he swings his broadsword toward her again, this time in an attempt to just get her upper body away from him.

For Vin who he DOESN'T WANT TO SWING A SWORD AT, there's just a blast of snowflake magic her way with a 13.]

[the snow hits the heat of this new body, extinguishing the smoke coming off it's wing for just a moment, and it roars in anger. there's nothing human about the noise, nothing that kashuu will find familiar, and - well, he can't look into it's eyes, but there's no recognition or hesitation in the way it moves.

the blast he sent this way gives it a better idea of where he's located, and so the creature moves towards him, claws raised, before trying to rake them over whatever part of his body it can reach. it doesn't have a particular aim or goal other than to draw blood, to wound, to kill. it cries out again, but after the monstrous roar that it lets forth, he might hear, a little bit quieter:]

Ka...shuu... Don't leave... me...

[eli 🔪 vin Roll: [18] Result: 18]

[the broadsword catches her sharply enough that she shrieks in pain, loosing her fangs from kashuu as she reels back. she crumbles to the ground, bleeding heavily, glaring up at him with eerie, glowing green eyes.

her lips move, but she's choking on blood and it's hard to hear what it says. there's a suggestion of pain in her expression, but it's hard to see clearly underneath the black blood and the gore.

...it doesn't last, anyway. heedless of her wounds, she surges forward again, claws outstretched to rip and tear at his leg, attempting to sink her fangs in there, as well.

britt 🧃 sip juicing Roll: [18] Result: 18]

[Haha. Well. The funny thing about this is that arguably, despite this being a much more depressing situation than the weight of what had occurred when their Permanent Depression first settled over them, the wisps around Kashuu seem to be... fading? Hm. It had started when Vin changed, and the number continues to drop even now, though it's not really notable to two creatures who are just husks of what they had been before, huh. The weight that had settled in his chest is no longer foreign like a binding shackle wrapped around his ankles, tugging him down, down into the bottomless sea. It's familiar, now - a heaviness with a clarity of thought. Ah. We're here again. We're back at this place, back in this bad situation. An endless cycle of hurt and hurting.

But maybe - hope catches in him, like the warm amber necklace he'd held so fiercely onto nights ago - this means they're almost, almost done.

He's crying again, maybe from the cathartic ease of that foreign weight, or from the heaviness of the new but familiar one. It's certainly not from the claws of what used to be Vin as they tear through his very nice jacket that he got from that elf he hit on a thousand years ago, or the ones that tear into his leg, severing flesh and muscle and tendon. He's a blade, after all. He's made to take a serious thrashing, even without being a tank on top of it.

He's also a blade that knows his limits.

The words that come from what used to be Vin twist into him, and he knows he'll carry them for life, along with every other scar he's collected here. Is that fine? Is any of this? It'll have to be, he guesses. He reaches out almost on reflex toward Vin, but pulls his hand back at the last second.]

--M'sorry.

[But he can't kill her, and he refuses to die here. He uses that 2 roll in an attempt to give poor sweet Juiqing a last strike which will probably also just bounce ineffectively off of her scales help, but the 15 is for his escape. He's attempting to tear himself away from both of them, turning away from where Ruby and Real Vax are and booking it out toward the city proper, where the sounds of war still cry.]

[a fourteen just falls under his fifteen, so he manages to get away - but the monster is pursuing quickly, just a little bit behind him. it can still hear him even if it can no longer see.

besides, if he's heading to the city... as they approach, it starts to sense that there are other people nearby, more aether to be torn away and consumed. it's still following after kashuu, but as soon they get closer and it begins to hear the noises of the remaining fighters trying to protect the civilians—

another roar bursts out of the monster's throat, and it's trying to head towards these people, mindlessly seeking blood.

eli 🔪 vin Roll: [17] Result: 17]

[the monster that was once jiuqing pursues him with a single-minded determination - blood, aether, it needs to kill, it needs to drink it all in -

and suddenly, there's a veritable feast laid out in front of it.

kashuu can keep running.

it's going to begin attacking any poor soul that is in its path.

britt 🧃 sip juicing Roll: [17] Result: 17 Reason: pursuit]

[Goddammit he hates it here. He doesn't want Vin (or this other?? maybe-person????) out here killing a bunch of innocent civilians, but he is just One Heavily Injured Peanut with a single greatsword and literally no spells he can currently use on himself. He can't save them, kill them both, get out of here alive and protect the civilians all at once - not that he knew they'd be this voracious and mindless about who or what they attack, anyway.

The wisps increase, but not by much, as he just fckin books it on his absolutely wrecked leg. It'd be very funny if blood loss got to him before anything else because he is frankly bleeding quite heavily by this point and it's making his vision blur at the edges thanks to one of those 3 rolls. Still, he has the clarity of mind to shout at any survivors as he zooms:]

Go—!! Get to the sides - don't engage with them!!

[He would try to defend but that's his other 3, so he's disrupted by this hei-gifted 10 roll monster that just APPEARS IN FRONT OF HIM he's just fckin trying to dodge around with his 14 he hates it here so bad. He's also rolling a 14 for General Booking It and running in the direction of where some dragons seem to be, but he's keeping an eye out for abandoned shields to pick up as he goes, too.]

[ The knights and adventurers (7) that caught "Vin" and "Jiuqing's" eyes do not all get to the sides like Kashuu commands. They do try, but with the number of them fighting off other monsters and dragons, a number of them fall by these larger monsters. Kashuu witnesses them for a very short instance where they end and he (along with our monster friends) starts seeing these people are others from home, or from the Prism.

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. ]

Edited 2022-03-31 19:11 (UTC)

[later, these moments will haunt her.

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.]

[

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.]

[WELL OKAY BYE WYVERN AND ALSO JIUQING MONSTER. That's a thing that's happening over there and he's just kind of keeping an eye on it for the time being but otherwise ignoring it, and also just kind of fckin booking it away from both the wyvern and monster especially after EVERYTHING ERUPTS INTO CHAOS. HELLO!! He's taking like .5 seconds to look at fire raining down and everyone living turning into monsters and another .5 seconds to look at doubles of the same people get knocked around and this is truly hell?? The wisps also decrease again for some reason why the fck. He's still of clear mind for now, with the death-grip of despair not fully regaining its grasp.

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.]

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

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✔️ REUNION

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cw body horror just in case,

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1/2 :3c (also body horror warning)

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