[ Oops notif said fuck you to me specifically... comes crawling in here.
He doesn't want to deal with anything anymore though. We're going proper Kurama here -- these vines ensnaring will just simply. Try to crush whatever is in its grasp in one, very swift, and hopefully merciful movement.
He doesn't want to hear an extended whine or a yelp, he doesn't want any more noise, for that dull hum in his head to go away. It's been about a month since he last heard it -- kill them all, win the Festival. ]
[ Is there anything worse in this world than the sound of a dog in pain?
Aventurine quickly jumps away now that Pickles is being dealt with, not wanting to get swept up in the mass of vines. His movements aren't as quick as before because of his injuries, but it still leaves him faster than he normally is. He watches Daan for a moment, conflicting emotions battling in his head of what he's supposed to do, where he's supposed to go. Looking to the side reveals Cloud trying to get to Laudna, only to be hindered by Topaz and Numby.
He draws in a ragged breath, looks back to Daan who seems so lost, and grits his teeth.
This is only temporary. He'll be back, he thinks as he dashes toward where Cloud and Topaz are. He raises his gun—her gun—and fires a shot at her head with a roll of 17. ]
[ lenalee swings constantly between these great rolls and getting destroyed. kanda swings the dimensional sword in her direction, and it pierces right into her torso. she's going to pass out from blood loss at some point—but she brings herself to keep going. at this point, she's no longer a recognizable person to him but a puppet. the same way her boots would let her dance through air, she utilizes wind the same way to try to kick kanda straight up into her domain.
topaz gets electrocuted—shocked pretty bad. it's enough to get her to stay still for aventurine's shot, trying to get her with her own gun that she gave him. it blasts into her jaw, blood gushing from her face and dripping onto cloud. when she looks at aventurine, still dull-eyed, all the gore drips from her face. hasn't he ruined her life enough?
forget cloud. she grabs numby from where he's scuttling around to throw him directly at aventurine, obscuring his vision before she tries to reclaim her damn gun.
laudna has spent enough tag rounds trying to cast this spell—and the whole lot of them will find the stadium darkening. a sinister aura permeates the air, thick enough to choke on. their energy starts to go, too, limbs heavy and hard to lift.
perhaps the veil of darkness will make it harder to see the way that the vines and thorns ensnare pickles. there's no whine, no yelp, but one last fitful bark that gets cut short. daan got his silence. ]
[With a lovely roll of 5, Lenalee can absolutely kick Kanda up into the air. Whee!!! He doesn't have his jumping abilities but he does have a javelin sword. It would be smart to use that.
Instead he's just gonna try and tackle her out of the air.]
[ okay so cloud's body was already feeling weak and heavy today, on top of his sword arm being cursed to be in pain, so the darkness making everything feel even heavier is a little too much. he can't lift the sword at all right now and lets it clatter to the ground, using all his strength to roll to get topaz off of him while she drips blood over his face and hair. he is going to become a redhead at this rate
if he can't manage the sword-- he shakily raises his good (... or well better it is still full of holes) arm to aim the spirit gun at laudna and try to shoot for her. pew pew finger gun pew. ]
[ Great! It's quiet. He hated barking anyway, right? We all hate barking actually. Let's make it quieter.
Y'all don't need help but you can have some if you want because these thornvines are still going to snare and crawl, assist in what everyone else is doing, although idk, maybe you can get some free trips and lacerations to JUSTIFY EVERYONE'S 5's AND 3's AND 1's YOU ALL KEEP ROLLING because he's not in enough of a state to be that careful about it. The sooner it's done, the better. ]
And we're committing to it. The shot lands and the sight is, predictably, not great as he stares at the blood dripping from Topaz's gaping wound. All the mental protection his third eye offers him can't stop him from having flashbacks to the gore he's inflicted on other people's faces in the past, the familiar weight of manacles and chains suddenly encasing his wrists and arms in this very vulnerable moment.
It's enough distraction that Numby makes contact with his face, and its tusks rip at the side of his face, catching some of his eye in the process. This new burst of pain downs him, and he drops to the floor with a cry, letting go of Topaz's gun to clutch at his face instead. ]
[ midair battles is very typical of shounen fights and once again kanda feels extremely in his element. he'll try to tackle lenalee out of the air, and he'll succeed—but she's also going to try to knee him in the stomach, and pending that landing, she will attempt to curbstomp his skull. she's not the one who's meant to be ruthless, not to someone that she'd call family.
but here we are.
thornvines and darkness stretch across the arena. the spirit gun shoots through them, providing a momentary illumination. just enough for laudna to know where it's coming from, stumbling to get out of the way—and finding only her arm and foot crispy instead of her entire body obliterated. she meets cloud's eyes—and even though the parasite wipes out so much emotion, there is still a strong sense of hatred and despair coming from her. it was always going to be like this, wasn't it? she casts another spell—this time a sphere that will attempt to ensnare cloud entirely.
numby is the best friend a girl can have. they're not even being controlled by the parasite—but aventurine shot their owner. their companion. with the same gun that numby saw topaz give to aventurine. this isn't a matter of ipc loyalty anymore, when apparently none existed to begin with.
topaz grabs the gun she'd given away. she scrambles to her feet, and points it at aventurine's head. they can match. any words that she might've said to him come out garbled, her jaw unable to form the right shapes as part of her mouth has been obliterated. her finger pulls the trigger, shooting him between the eyes as soon as numby scrambles off his face.
[WE ARE REALLY LIVING UP TO OUR DARK FANTASY SHOUNEN GENRE WHILE EVERYONE ELSE IS JUST STUCK IN DEPRESSION LAND I mean we're also in depression land here but at least we're not killing dogs and getting shot in the head damn
The darkness sweeping over the arena would be a worse problem if he wasn't 1. up in the air and 2. pretty close to Lenalee right now, but it's still hard to work with? One thing Kanda doesn't have is fancypants night vision. This, and his injuries, and Lenalee being a badass, are all factors in this terrible roll. It's not a 1 so he doesn't fucking permadie, but he does yell out in pain as he hits the ground (ON HIS DAMN INJURED BACK OW). He just barely manages to dodge getting his skull crushed--she can jam her heel into his shoulder instead, maybe. And maybe it'd be enough for him to grab and yank her down. If he can just get her to the floor, if he can keep her there instead of in the air, then they can get through this.
I was going to try and help the rest of you again but dice maiden said get fucked so we're still doing family drama here sorry lads]
[ well! well. the light brightens up the stadium for a bit and cloud sits up heavily, making a grab for his sword to try to roll both of them out of the way of the incoming sphere--
but getting up he catches the glimpse of what's going on with topaz and aventurine, or at least enough that he can guess. and there's juuuuuust enough of himself left to piece together that he. doesn't want that to happen in front of him. not again? so instead of getting out of the way of the sphere he shoots his second of four spirit guns towards topaz.
maybe it'll fuck up her aim and stop her! maybe it'll just hit her after she kills aventurine! maybe, in the funniest possibility, this will kill them both they are pretty close to each other and he doesn't know how this thing works fully but uh whatever he's going in the sphere now woop ]
[ This is so fucking funny Kanda is doing some kinda DBZ thing in the air, Cloud is in the sphere, Aventurine just got shot in the head, and Daan is just here on the ground, still trying to just shut out the world because he has had enough.
The plants feed off of all the spilled blood, the surface of vines lush with the nutrition as some of it nyooms to try to grab Topaz next, another going after Laudna. Which seems mean given the whole Briarwood thing but fuck it who cares, WE can't be the only guys being traumatised, we can simply traumatise the character of a player who isn't even here. ]
[ If he could move, he wouldn't. He kneels there on the ground, one hand pressed against his injured face, and meets Topaz's eyes with a steady gaze. He's no stranger to death. How many times has he chased after it in the past? You're tired, comes the familiar, whispered voice in his head. You deserve to rest.
This is for the best. There's only so many bodies he can add to his list before it starts collapsing in on itself from the weight. Topaz didn't deserve this. She didn't need to be another victim of his awful curse. Besides, there's only so many times that his luck can pull through, and these days, it's been thinning out more and more. As the barrel of the gun points between his eyes, he knows that this was always going to be the inevitability.
Still, it would have been nice to say goodbye, though he's briefly distracted by Cloud firing his spirit gun in this direction. Before the sphere can fully close around him, Aventurine sends him a small smile. A quiet thanks for the attempt, a silent apology for all the trouble he's caused since that very first week they'd met.
And then the bullet is sent, the force of it causing him to fall back to hit the arena floor.
[ family drama fights are truly so insane because lenalee is the only one with decent rolls in this place. she crushes her heel down into kanda's shoulder, but he's able to get ahold of her to yank her down. she does have her other leg though, which she'll try to use along with gravity to dropkick him one more time with a 14. that said... her energy is starting to flag. she'd thrown herself into his attack earlier, after all, and it's through that thinking that she's starting to pay the price now. well, lenalee was always the quickest to figure things out.
topaz rolled a 2, so that spirit gun shot from cloud is going to do its job. but it's not before she turns to fire one shot each at cloud, daan, and kanda all on her way out. this gun can't only be fired twice in two rounds, that'd be embarrassing. the bright light envelops the rest of her face afterward, one headshot after another. when it disperses, there's no semblance of a face left. the body remaining stumbles a step back before collapsing to the ground.
i rolled a 2 for laudna but then realized no one's attacking her. I LIED!!! THE VINES ARE ON THEIR WAY!!! MY GOD SHE TRIPS AND EATS SHIT (THORNS)!!! so i guess instead of her attack getting worse, cloud is just gonna be trapped in this sphere for a second
anyway i wanted lowe to get more injuries if they want, so the chaos element 12 is for the vinethorns growing, growing, growing—and with daan's emotional state being what it is, the fine-tuned controlled may not all be there. they start to climb around his ankles, his legs as well. protecting him, maybe, or just starting to consume whatever is near. ]
[pixi 🪷 kanda Request: [1d20] Roll: [1] Result: 1 (lethal company voice) YIPPEEEEEE
Her energy is waning, but so is his. Without his regeneration, his body can only take him so far before the blood loss starts to affect him. His balance is off with his lost ear, and it hurts to be sprawled on the floor like this, but none of that matters compared to Lenalee. To saving her, even if he has to destroy her to do it.
Her kick lands directly on his chest, and it knocks the breath out of him, forcing him to cough blood. Lenalee is a kind, brave woman, but she knows just as well as he does that no mercy can be shown to an enemy, so it doesn't surprise him to find her turning that strength against him now. He doesn't hold it against her. He never resented Alma, and this is much the same.
But she'd begged him, earlier. And he can't let her go on like this. He won't let them have her, too. So, he reaches inside himself for as much energy as he can muster, and summons the spirit sword again to try and drive it through her body--still aiming, even now, to stab through her and into the parasite on her back.
Did you know Kanda is capable of crying. The boys won't get to learn that, because it's dark enough and they're far away from the others, but maybe Lenalee will notice the shine in his blue eyes, or the few tears that slip out and slide down his face. Or maybe she won't, because his eyes flutter shut shortly after, the spirit sword flickering before it shatters.
He can't save the rest of them, but maybe she can.
Unconscious from blood loss, it's impossible to dodge anything else. Between whatever else Lenalee might have in her to do to him, and Topaz's shot, there's no way to get out of this.
[ with all his strength renewed by the power of determination and the sudden unwillingness to die here or let his companions die after everything else he dramatically breaks out of the sphere and--
HE WAS GONE FOR TWO SECONDS HOW DID TWO OF YOU DIE ALREADY
anyway, that's quite a sight to get out of the sphere too! and it distracts him long enough to get absolutely fucking nailed through the chest by topaz's bullet, the thing ripping through his ribs and lodging itself in his lung. that's gonna be a problem later, probably, he thinks as he coughs out blood. daan's vines are all over the place. they're attacking friend and foe pretty equally, and in the face of being shot he doesn't really register the pain when they strike him. everything hurts. has been hurting. but he's not done. he can keep going.
laudna's being held by the vines and cloud still has two shots-- this spirit gun thing is really powerful, so. pew pew again! he doesn't take the time to see if it connects, firing it off before grabbing the sword and using it as a makeshift crutch to help himself stand back up, ready to fight whoever--whatever is left.
if he goes down he goes down fighting, it's the least he owes--he can't remember who right now. aerith. yuffie. the other three that were with him. laudna, for killing her, probably.
if this is another sephiroth illusion he would enjoy it if it ended actually ]
[ Daan would also love it if this nightmare would end sometime soon actually. Like the one with rotten wood and turning gears, of a naked madman swinging a kassara in his direction, screaming at him to get back to making cubes in the Workshop, only to wake up back in the train like nothing ever happened. He'd forgotten about that, which is really impressive given the EVERYTHING about that sequence, but that really kind of sets the tone for his canon and his life.
He has fully given up control over his vines at this point which drink up the blood soaking the ground with eagerness, and hunger for more. Friend and foe alike, just like Zia said! And self, too, because they're digging in for his own blood too -- and that's fine, really. They dig into his forearms, thorns gouging deep. What is any of his magic except that which draws power from giving himself?
These vines rise in the air and collect into a point, aiming to pierce through Lenalee. ]
Edited (rephrases because i made it sound like this situation is anything like the Dream) 2024-07-11 06:12 (UTC)
[ kanda dies, and some part of lenalee's mind shatters. she becomes still after he passes, long enough for the spirit sword to skewer her from one direction before the vines come after her in the other. blood trickles down her body as she's skewered in place. red runs down her face, pooling in her eyes and then overflowing until it coats her cheeks. it would've been better, if those strikes had just caught her sooner.
she doesn't fall, instead left standing as the vines keep her up, even as the thorns start to feast on the life that's quickly draining her body.
as for cloud and laudna, maybe it was always going to come to this! she was terrified of him on the beach, nervous about the demonic and bloodthirsty energy that radiated from the sword that he'd been carrying, and she'd only been proven right.
maybe it's fitting that the spirit gun is this blast of light that once again illuminates the stadium, and this time she can't get far away enough from it. it incinerates her, leaving her skin toasted and consciousness fading as she also falls to the ground. the irony is that this blast is inherently less lethal than the others, so unless someone wants to finish her off, laudna might actually get to live.
or she might get eaten by this runaway demonic plant.
cloud and daan won't get a chance to know, as the darkness finally lets up around the arena. when the shadows clear, six of the eight fighters who entered are dead or incapacitated, but the two left are from the same time. amazed, koto makes her announcement: ]
I can't believe my eyes!! Somehow, after two back to back fights of killing their darlings, it looks like The Nood Doods are victorious yet again! Though it's look like our team has turned into a dynamic duo! What carnage, what mayhem!! What a win!!
[ oh what a win indeed.
and for all their blood, sweat, tears, and losses, daan and cloud are greeted only with the rude, roaring jeers of the stadium around them. they're boo'd despite being the victors, and mocked for their fallen teammates. they're told that it won't be long before they join them, and they hope that every second is painful.
... but they do get to leave now. nothing's stopping them. their eggs are waiting for them at the hotel, but it's hard to say what state they must be in after all... that. ]
[ YOUR BOOS MEAN NOTHING TO ME I'VE SEEN WHAT MAKES YOU CHEER
is what cloud would say, but once the announcement has officially been made, facing the carnage they've wrought and the memories and realization finally hitting his stupid little brain now that it's not just fightfightfightfight, he is going to just falter back to the ground unless something stops him, crumpling like a puppet with cut strings.
how the fuck are either of them making it to the hotel that's a great question maybe they can just die here. coughs up some more lung blood. gnight
okay fine he does manage to turn his head almost listlessly to stare blankly at daan with his bloody tired face. hey. what the fuck now ]
[ x2 because of the food he's still got That Bitch in him a little bit
But not out loud. The plants will have their fun munching away at the corpses. Wow, don't we love a free clean-up?
He won, didn't he. He wonders if this is what awaited him past the Moon Tower's gates had he not gotten pulled here instead, booing and jeering and absolutely no feeling of victory.
He is bleeding from his arms and on his face pretty bad but you know what, he didn't get SHOT so he's winning over a certain someone here that's for sure. Hey uhhh can we get a medic? ]
no you don't get a medic. if you want medical attention go to back to the hotel and patch yourselves up. this is the dark tournament either bring your own heals or die
though if you pass out, that's also something. they will have to move you by force to clean up the ring for the next match. ]
[ not that he remembers this but the last time he passed out while bleeding out something not so cool happened and there is thus a small part of his brain urging him to not do that because it will suck. so. despite the fact that he really thinks bleeding out here to be eaten by plants would be preferred at this point
he rolls himself over to crawl back to his hands and knees and this time when he uses the sword as a crutch. that bitch is staying a crutch. his legs jelly. arms weak. mom's spaghetti.
can he make it out of the stadium to the hotel without dying. probably. will he enjoy it. no. is there a likelihood if any of these demons get too close he will find whatever strength is left in him and stab them? 100%
c'mon daan... up we go..... woo.... stop gettin eaten by your own plants. ]
[ I'm not gonna lie if Cloud had passed out here there was a SIGNIFICANT chance that Daan would just leave his ass here. He has a limit and he has crossed it a million times over by now, sorry Gen Z Eminem. However, if Cloud IS able to walk then Daan will help him... once he eventually get up, prying these thorns out of his own wounds, pulling his legs free even it it tears the fabric -- fuck these uniforms anyway and their custom embroidering.
Up to the hotel room yaaay... do you want to smoke some wild dagga, buddy. He got that first aid kit for Pickles (:/) and now it's going to get used on Cloud to at least do SOMETHING for him, preferably in regards to the bullet wound at minimum.
they patch up their wounds, they continue about their way in silence, and supposedly, probably, they eventually return to their rooms. they'll find their spirit eggs waiting for them, larger in size even still, and pulsing as if about to hatch.
eventually exhaustion and blood loss will carry them to unconsciousness. ]
it's complicated, when your soul is made of such a bizarre, twisted existence. when his life has been mired in tragedy and there is so little indication that it will be getting any better. maybe it would be simpler, sweeter to end it all.
it is like viewing events like an outsider. it is his house, during those days that the war kept him and elise apart. it is moments before a ritual, moments before she's taken away, moments before she leaves him behind.
the spirit egg is held between his palms. but there's something wrong with it. it doesn't feel like warm energy. there is something inside that is hungry, that seeks to devour.
he has two choices. he can save elise, breaking the egg open and releasing what's inside. it doesn't feel friendly.
or he can let this moment drift away like a dream and do nothing at all. ]
it's complicated, when your soul is made of so many entities at once. when his life is and isn't his own, and has been the case this entire time. who is cloud strife? is this even truly his spirit, or is it some disgusting amalgamation of everyone he pretends to be?
it is like viewing events like an outsider. there is a church, and there is aerith. she smiles at him sweetly, and she is just about to leave him forever. sephiroth's silhouette approaches from behind her. she doesn't stop him.
the spirit egg is held between cloud's palms. but there's something wrong with it. it doesn't feel like warm energy. there is something inside that is hungry, that seeks to devour.
he has two choices. he can save aerith, breaking the egg open and releasing what's inside. it doesn't feel friendly.
or he can let this moment drift away like a dream and do nothing at all. ]
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He doesn't want to deal with anything anymore though. We're going proper Kurama here -- these vines ensnaring will just simply. Try to crush whatever is in its grasp in one, very swift, and hopefully merciful movement.
He doesn't want to hear an extended whine or a yelp, he doesn't want any more noise, for that dull hum in his head to go away. It's been about a month since he last heard it -- kill them all, win the Festival. ]
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Aventurine quickly jumps away now that Pickles is being dealt with, not wanting to get swept up in the mass of vines. His movements aren't as quick as before because of his injuries, but it still leaves him faster than he normally is. He watches Daan for a moment, conflicting emotions battling in his head of what he's supposed to do, where he's supposed to go. Looking to the side reveals Cloud trying to get to Laudna, only to be hindered by Topaz and Numby.
He draws in a ragged breath, looks back to Daan who seems so lost, and grits his teeth.
This is only temporary. He'll be back, he thinks as he dashes toward where Cloud and Topaz are. He raises his gun—her gun—and fires a shot at her head with a roll of 17. ]
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topaz gets electrocuted—shocked pretty bad. it's enough to get her to stay still for aventurine's shot, trying to get her with her own gun that she gave him. it blasts into her jaw, blood gushing from her face and dripping onto cloud. when she looks at aventurine, still dull-eyed, all the gore drips from her face. hasn't he ruined her life enough?
forget cloud. she grabs numby from where he's scuttling around to throw him directly at aventurine, obscuring his vision before she tries to reclaim her damn gun.
laudna has spent enough tag rounds trying to cast this spell—and the whole lot of them will find the stadium darkening. a sinister aura permeates the air, thick enough to choke on. their energy starts to go, too, limbs heavy and hard to lift.
perhaps the veil of darkness will make it harder to see the way that the vines and thorns ensnare pickles. there's no whine, no yelp, but one last fitful bark that gets cut short. daan got his silence. ]
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Instead he's just gonna try and tackle her out of the air.]
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if he can't manage the sword-- he shakily raises his good (... or well better it is still full of holes) arm to aim the spirit gun at laudna and try to shoot for her. pew pew finger gun pew. ]
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Y'all don't need help but you can have some if you want because these thornvines are still going to snare and crawl, assist in what everyone else is doing, although idk, maybe you can get some free trips and lacerations to JUSTIFY EVERYONE'S 5's AND 3's AND 1's YOU ALL KEEP ROLLING because he's not in enough of a state to be that careful about it. The sooner it's done, the better. ]
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And we're committing to it. The shot lands and the sight is, predictably, not great as he stares at the blood dripping from Topaz's gaping wound. All the mental protection his third eye offers him can't stop him from having flashbacks to the gore he's inflicted on other people's faces in the past, the familiar weight of manacles and chains suddenly encasing his wrists and arms in this very vulnerable moment.
It's enough distraction that Numby makes contact with his face, and its tusks rip at the side of his face, catching some of his eye in the process. This new burst of pain downs him, and he drops to the floor with a cry, letting go of Topaz's gun to clutch at his face instead. ]
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but here we are.
thornvines and darkness stretch across the arena. the spirit gun shoots through them, providing a momentary illumination. just enough for laudna to know where it's coming from, stumbling to get out of the way—and finding only her arm and foot crispy instead of her entire body obliterated. she meets cloud's eyes—and even though the parasite wipes out so much emotion, there is still a strong sense of hatred and despair coming from her. it was always going to be like this, wasn't it? she casts another spell—this time a sphere that will attempt to ensnare cloud entirely.
numby is the best friend a girl can have. they're not even being controlled by the parasite—but aventurine shot their owner. their companion. with the same gun that numby saw topaz give to aventurine. this isn't a matter of ipc loyalty anymore, when apparently none existed to begin with.
topaz grabs the gun she'd given away. she scrambles to her feet, and points it at aventurine's head. they can match. any words that she might've said to him come out garbled, her jaw unable to form the right shapes as part of her mouth has been obliterated. her finger pulls the trigger, shooting him between the eyes as soon as numby scrambles off his face.
a debt repaid. ]
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The darkness sweeping over the arena would be a worse problem if he wasn't 1. up in the air and 2. pretty close to Lenalee right now, but it's still hard to work with? One thing Kanda doesn't have is fancypants night vision. This, and his injuries, and Lenalee being a badass, are all factors in this terrible roll. It's not a 1 so he doesn't fucking permadie, but he does yell out in pain as he hits the ground (ON HIS DAMN INJURED BACK OW). He just barely manages to dodge getting his skull crushed--she can jam her heel into his shoulder instead, maybe. And maybe it'd be enough for him to grab and yank her down. If he can just get her to the floor, if he can keep her there instead of in the air, then they can get through this.
I was going to try and help the rest of you again but dice maiden said get fucked so we're still doing family drama here sorry lads]
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but getting up he catches the glimpse of what's going on with topaz and aventurine, or at least enough that he can guess. and there's juuuuuust enough of himself left to piece together that he. doesn't want that to happen in front of him. not again? so instead of getting out of the way of the sphere he shoots his second of four spirit guns towards topaz.
maybe it'll fuck up her aim and stop her! maybe it'll just hit her after she kills aventurine! maybe, in the funniest possibility, this will kill them both they are pretty close to each other and he doesn't know how this thing works fully but uh whatever he's going in the sphere now woop ]
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The plants feed off of all the spilled blood, the surface of vines lush with the nutrition as some of it nyooms to try to grab Topaz next, another going after Laudna. Which seems mean given the whole Briarwood thing but fuck it who cares, WE can't be the only guys being traumatised, we can simply traumatise the character of a player who isn't even here. ]
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This is for the best. There's only so many bodies he can add to his list before it starts collapsing in on itself from the weight. Topaz didn't deserve this. She didn't need to be another victim of his awful curse. Besides, there's only so many times that his luck can pull through, and these days, it's been thinning out more and more. As the barrel of the gun points between his eyes, he knows that this was always going to be the inevitability.
Still, it would have been nice to say goodbye, though he's briefly distracted by Cloud firing his spirit gun in this direction. Before the sphere can fully close around him, Aventurine sends him a small smile. A quiet thanks for the attempt, a silent apology for all the trouble he's caused since that very first week they'd met.
And then the bullet is sent, the force of it causing him to fall back to hit the arena floor.
Aventurine is dead. ]
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topaz rolled a 2, so that spirit gun shot from cloud is going to do its job. but it's not before she turns to fire one shot each at cloud, daan, and kanda all on her way out. this gun can't only be fired twice in two rounds, that'd be embarrassing. the bright light envelops the rest of her face afterward, one headshot after another. when it disperses, there's no semblance of a face left. the body remaining stumbles a step back before collapsing to the ground.
i rolled a 2 for laudna but then realized
no one's attacking her.I LIED!!! THE VINES ARE ON THEIR WAY!!! MY GOD SHE TRIPS AND EATS SHIT (THORNS)!!! so i guess instead of her attack getting worse, cloud is just gonna be trapped in this sphere for a secondanyway i wanted lowe to get more injuries if they want, so the chaos element 12 is for the vinethorns growing, growing, growing—and with daan's emotional state being what it is, the fine-tuned controlled may not all be there. they start to climb around his ankles, his legs as well. protecting him, maybe, or just starting to consume whatever is near. ]
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Her energy is waning, but so is his. Without his regeneration, his body can only take him so far before the blood loss starts to affect him. His balance is off with his lost ear, and it hurts to be sprawled on the floor like this, but none of that matters compared to Lenalee. To saving her, even if he has to destroy her to do it.
Her kick lands directly on his chest, and it knocks the breath out of him, forcing him to cough blood. Lenalee is a kind, brave woman, but she knows just as well as he does that no mercy can be shown to an enemy, so it doesn't surprise him to find her turning that strength against him now. He doesn't hold it against her. He never resented Alma, and this is much the same.
But she'd begged him, earlier. And he can't let her go on like this. He won't let them have her, too. So, he reaches inside himself for as much energy as he can muster, and summons the spirit sword again to try and drive it through her body--still aiming, even now, to stab through her and into the parasite on her back.
Did you know Kanda is capable of crying. The boys won't get to learn that, because it's dark enough and they're far away from the others, but maybe Lenalee will notice the shine in his blue eyes, or the few tears that slip out and slide down his face. Or maybe she won't, because his eyes flutter shut shortly after, the spirit sword flickering before it shatters.
He can't save the rest of them, but maybe she can.
Unconscious from blood loss, it's impossible to dodge anything else. Between whatever else Lenalee might have in her to do to him, and Topaz's shot, there's no way to get out of this.
Kanda Yuu is dead. Maybe it'll stick this time!]
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HE WAS GONE FOR TWO SECONDS HOW DID TWO OF YOU DIE ALREADY
anyway, that's quite a sight to get out of the sphere too! and it distracts him long enough to get absolutely fucking nailed through the chest by topaz's bullet, the thing ripping through his ribs and lodging itself in his lung. that's gonna be a problem later, probably, he thinks as he coughs out blood. daan's vines are all over the place. they're attacking friend and foe pretty equally, and in the face of being shot he doesn't really register the pain when they strike him. everything hurts. has been hurting. but he's not done. he can keep going.
laudna's being held by the vines and cloud still has two shots-- this spirit gun thing is really powerful, so. pew pew again! he doesn't take the time to see if it connects, firing it off before grabbing the sword and using it as a makeshift crutch to help himself stand back up, ready to fight whoever--whatever is left.
if he goes down he goes down fighting, it's the least he owes--he can't remember who right now. aerith. yuffie. the other three that were with him. laudna, for killing her, probably.
if this is another sephiroth illusion he would enjoy it if it ended actually ]
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He has fully given up control over his vines at this point which drink up the blood soaking the ground with eagerness, and hunger for more. Friend and foe alike, just like Zia said! And self, too, because they're digging in for his own blood too -- and that's fine, really. They dig into his forearms, thorns gouging deep. What is any of his magic except that which draws power from giving himself?
These vines rise in the air and collect into a point, aiming to pierce through Lenalee. ]
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she doesn't fall, instead left standing as the vines keep her up, even as the thorns start to feast on the life that's quickly draining her body.
as for cloud and laudna, maybe it was always going to come to this! she was terrified of him on the beach, nervous about the demonic and bloodthirsty energy that radiated from the sword that he'd been carrying, and she'd only been proven right.
maybe it's fitting that the spirit gun is this blast of light that once again illuminates the stadium, and this time she can't get far away enough from it. it incinerates her, leaving her skin toasted and consciousness fading as she also falls to the ground. the irony is that this blast is inherently less lethal than the others, so unless someone wants to finish her off, laudna might actually get to live.
or she might get eaten by this runaway demonic plant.
cloud and daan won't get a chance to know, as the darkness finally lets up around the arena. when the shadows clear, six of the eight fighters who entered are dead or incapacitated, but the two left are from the same time. amazed, koto makes her announcement: ]
I can't believe my eyes!! Somehow, after two back to back fights of killing their darlings, it looks like The Nood Doods are victorious yet again! Though it's look like our team has turned into a dynamic duo! What carnage, what mayhem!! What a win!!
[ oh what a win indeed.
and for all their blood, sweat, tears, and losses, daan and cloud are greeted only with the rude, roaring jeers of the stadium around them. they're boo'd despite being the victors, and mocked for their fallen teammates. they're told that it won't be long before they join them, and they hope that every second is painful.
... but they do get to leave now. nothing's stopping them. their eggs are waiting for them at the hotel, but it's hard to say what state they must be in after all... that. ]
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is what cloud would say, but once the announcement has officially been made, facing the carnage they've wrought and the memories and realization finally hitting his stupid little brain now that it's not just fightfightfightfight, he is going to just falter back to the ground unless something stops him, crumpling like a puppet with cut strings.
how the fuck are either of them making it to the hotel that's a great question maybe they can just die here. coughs up some more lung blood. gnight
okay fine he does manage to turn his head almost listlessly to stare blankly at daan with his bloody tired face. hey. what the fuck now ]
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But not out loud. The plants will have their fun munching away at the corpses. Wow, don't we love a free clean-up?
He won, didn't he. He wonders if this is what awaited him past the Moon Tower's gates had he not gotten pulled here instead, booing and jeering and absolutely no feeling of victory.
He is bleeding from his arms and on his face pretty bad but you know what, he didn't get SHOT so he's winning over a certain someone here that's for sure. Hey uhhh can we get a medic? ]
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no you don't get a medic. if you want medical attention go to back to the hotel and patch yourselves up. this is the dark tournament either bring your own heals or die
though if you pass out, that's also something. they will have to move you by force to clean up the ring for the next match. ]
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he rolls himself over to crawl back to his hands and knees and this time when he uses the sword as a crutch. that bitch is staying a crutch. his legs jelly. arms weak. mom's spaghetti.
can he make it out of the stadium to the hotel without dying. probably. will he enjoy it. no. is there a likelihood if any of these demons get too close he will find whatever strength is left in him and stab them? 100%
c'mon daan... up we go..... woo.... stop gettin eaten by your own plants. ]
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Up to the hotel room yaaay... do you want to smoke some wild dagga, buddy. He got that first aid kit for Pickles (:/) and now it's going to get used on Cloud to at least do SOMETHING for him, preferably in regards to the bullet wound at minimum.
Woooo... ]
sleep...?
they patch up their wounds, they continue about their way in silence, and supposedly, probably, they eventually return to their rooms. they'll find their spirit eggs waiting for them, larger in size even still, and pulsing as if about to hatch.
eventually exhaustion and blood loss will carry them to unconsciousness. ]
daan
it's complicated, when your soul is made of such a bizarre, twisted existence. when his life has been mired in tragedy and there is so little indication that it will be getting any better. maybe it would be simpler, sweeter to end it all.
it is like viewing events like an outsider. it is his house, during those days that the war kept him and elise apart. it is moments before a ritual, moments before she's taken away, moments before she leaves him behind.
the spirit egg is held between his palms. but there's something wrong with it. it doesn't feel like warm energy. there is something inside that is hungry, that seeks to devour.
he has two choices. he can save elise, breaking the egg open and releasing what's inside. it doesn't feel friendly.
or he can let this moment drift away like a dream and do nothing at all. ]
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cloud
it's complicated, when your soul is made of so many entities at once. when his life is and isn't his own, and has been the case this entire time. who is cloud strife? is this even truly his spirit, or is it some disgusting amalgamation of everyone he pretends to be?
it is like viewing events like an outsider. there is a church, and there is aerith. she smiles at him sweetly, and she is just about to leave him forever. sephiroth's silhouette approaches from behind her. she doesn't stop him.
the spirit egg is held between cloud's palms. but there's something wrong with it. it doesn't feel like warm energy. there is something inside that is hungry, that seeks to devour.
he has two choices. he can save aerith, breaking the egg open and releasing what's inside. it doesn't feel friendly.
or he can let this moment drift away like a dream and do nothing at all. ]
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