It's strange. Scien looks a little angry. Not rage-filled, but not neutral. Annoyed. His arms lower just slightly, but not all the way. "That's what they will do to her if you don't give her to me," he says without any waver. With full certainty. He doesn't chase Lucas as Lucas backs away from them all.
The other three take half a step forward, like they are worried Lucas might try to bolt.
Nadia whispers, "What's happening?"
And then everything freezes. Scien, Aqua, Karlach, Adolphe, even Nadia in his arms. They freeze, not moving, not blinking. In fact, everything else is frozen, too. The trees, not a single leaf blows. The air.
Suddenly, everything stretches, pulled. It resembles smeared paint. Their bodies are plucked by one point and stretched. Like a rubberband, the time between when they are frozen speeds up, too fast, rushing. They are pushed through time by 25 minutes.
Nadia is gone from Lucas's arms. Karlach, Aqua, and Adolphe have run forward at three-times speed by Lucas, and they are now continuing their run. Nadia is in Scien's arms, and he too is racing away from the pursuers with red blooming through the shirt across his back.
Anyway Lucas continues to not trust a single person in this bar, so after everything stretches and springs forward and he's left there disoriented as hell, he just clocks that Nadia is no longer with him and that immediately sets him off.
He takes off like a shot after the group, and the first thing he does is just swing his leg out to kick Adolphe out of the way GOODBYE ADOLPHE. It's less a kick designed to disable and more just a fuckin blast that absolutely would have killed a man if he wasn't nerfed. His eyes are set on Scien's bleeding back, though.]
HELLO?! YOU KICK ADOLPHE LIKE THE FOOTBALL?! JAIL FOR LUCAS. JAIL FOR LUCAS FOR A THOUSAND YEARS. I'M LOSING MY MIND.
The way Adolphe is running after Scien with full focus on his duty of getting Nadia (definitely for nothing nefarious...) along with the other two ladies, but he gets a very sudden judo kick straight to the back. BOOM. Adolphe goes flying head over ass off to the side, skidding along in the dirt. BEWILDERED! Injured. What the FCK has happened.
Aqua and Karlach are pursuing Scien, but are wide-eyed and looking at Lucas as he catches up and passes them - all while still running. They really watched a fully capable dude get taken out by this twunk.
Scien is still running with Nadia, but he isn't far in front of Lucas. Nadia stretches her little arm out for Lucas in the distance from over Scien's shoulder. (sasuke voice) nii-san
Right before Lucas can reach the two of them, everything freezes and stretches again. Stretches and stretches and stretches. Lucas also stretches? It feels like his body is being turned into spaghetti before he rubberbands to catch up. Instead of speeding forward in time, they all... speed backward. Lucas goes with them.
A shadowed figure is standing ahead of Lucas. Nadia is in his arms, saying, "No...! Don't cry...!"
[FUCKING HELP MEEEE. THIS IS SO FUNNY. HE REALLY JUST MARATHON RAN PAST EVERYONE INCLUDING THE WHOLEASS CORPS MEMBER HE JUST BODIED. NOOOOOOO SASUKE GET BACK HERE.
Except my god now he's being flung into the past which is just as bewildering as being flung into the future and Nadia is talking again but it takes him a few seconds to regain his bearings after being spaghetti'd and snapped back into place. Unfortunately being turned into spaghetti doesn't make him less increasingly frenetic, though. He glances around, barely registering her words, and then clocks what's happened and just
IMMEDIATELY STARTS TERMINATOR RUNNING AT THE SHADOWED FIGURE WITH NADIA TUCKED IN HIS ARMS SECURELY.]
Well, the terminator running actually kind of startles Scien (mildly, since all his fucking emotions are MUTED you piece of shit man). He has a sort of ! wink in emotion of surprise.
Lucas Proust is really fucking running at him at Mach Fuck. He starts to raise his arms - what does he plan to really do, huh? - like he means to brace himself, hands up and palms out in surrender.
Why would you do this to Scien Brofiise? Why would you - I can't type this because I think it's funny, and I think he deserves it.
Lucas's leg comes up. Scien's arms are up. Nadia is clinging to Lucas's neck for dear life because her brother is WWF mayhem-ing this man.
She yells, "Don't hurt him!" about the time Lucas's leg connects.
Scien takes the hit to the front. The moment is a short pause. Then Scien is sent flying back through the air. He takes out the top middle section of a whole bush and then slams against one of the trees behind it. It splits the tree horizontally on the surface where he impacts, and he vanishes onto the ground in the bushes themselves.
Nothing happens with the time. Everything proceeds as it had before. The sound of several running feet can be heard from behind Lucas.
[STOP IM LOSING IT YOU REALLY SAID IT'S A GOOD LAUGH.
Well. Maybe Scien is dead, and that just makes him feel two extremely wild and conflicting feelings of something like reflexive fear and panic and something like brutal, malicious satisfaction because of his nasty brain soup, but he doesn't have the time to unpack all of that!!! Or how badly hearing Don't hurt him and Is he dead in Nadia's sweet little voice socks him in the gut.
Instead, he's TRULY IN TERMINATOR MODE NOW. He's turning toward the sound of feet like a heat-seeking missile and saying:] Keep your head down. [Because he doesn't want Nadia to get hurt but he's too afraid to set her down again. HE SAID I DON'T NEED ARMS TO FIGHT. i mean looks at scien, he doesn't.
ANYWAY. ASSUMING THE SAME 3 MUSKETEERS SHOWS UP HE JUST GUNS IT FOR AQUA. IS HE EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE DOING THIS. HE DOESN'T CARE HE TRIES TO TURBO KICK HER INTO KARLACH.]
When I wanted to activate the sleeper agent, I didn't really think it through that of course it would work, and now the teacher is on a big rampage. Scien does not move in the bushes.
The same three goonies loonies show up, yes. Aqua, Karlach, and silly little Adolphe with his little sword.
"Stop!" Adolphe yells, right about the time Lucas goes terminator mode yet again.
Nadia tucks her face down into his neck, clinging desperately to his shoulders and the side of his neck just in case.
The rage machine is sort of a surprise to all of them; they didn't get a good chance to see Scien eat it by slamming into a whole tree and potentially being Thanos'd by a kick. So Aqua takes the leg as she is skidding to a stop. The force lifts her and sends her flying backward right into Karlach who is also surprised by all of this. They both get sent soaring backward onto the ground, leaving Adolphe to gape from Lucas to them to Lucas again.
He brandishes his sword. "I said stop!" he yells. "Put the girl down!"
[YOU REALLY DID THIS. Lucas is fckin losing himself to his own brain soup sauce JUST LOSING TRACK OF THE FACT THAT HE'S ON CYOA AND THAT THERE ARE OTHER REAL PEOPLE HE NEEDS TO GET BACK AND HELP AND THAT THESE FOOLS AREN'T EVEN REAL. HE'S SO SINGLEMINDEDLY HELLBENT ON PROTECTING NADIA WHO HAS TO COME ALONG ON THIS YAKETYSAX-ASS RIDE.
He doesn't even watch as Aqua and Karlach go flying off into the distance, he's just staring down Adolphe and his sword. Tersely:]
Adolphe's grip on his sword tightens, and he sidles in front of Aqua and Karlach on the ground protectively. He stands his own ground for a moment, but extremely hesitantly and uncertainly. Lucas doesn't scare him so much as worry him immensely.
He at least doesn't brandish the sword any higher aggressively.
"Just give her back," Adolphe tries carefully. "She can save everyone else."
[HELP do not be worried do not be afraid. Anyway this just sets off his brain soup even worse he really is going to end up attacking his own damn party at this rate. NO!!! NO SACRIFICING NADIA!!!!! He just kicked the shit out of and potentially killed the person who was trying to save her, he has no qualms killing the shit out of anyone who'd try to give up Nadia's life for any reason.
Which is to say, he'll support Nadia with one arm and withdraw his quarterstaff with the other, and then he just dashes at Adolphe with the full intent to just slam it into the side of his head with his full strength. HE SAID ONE CHANCE BINCH.]
Adolphe isn't sure if he can dodge the velocity of this kick. He starts to bring his sword up as fast as possible, but doesn't get there in time. The quarterstaff slams him, folding the sword and his hands against himself. It lifts him up off the ground and sends him flying over behind Aqua and Kalarch.
[STOP SCREAMING YOU DID THIIIIIS he's still holding Nadia very carefully with his one arm even though her quivering doesn't seem to register. Rather, he just approaches the other two with his quarterstaff held in front of himself, not striking yet but clearly ready.]
Aqua and Karlach are still a rocked heap on the ground. Aqua trying to sit up, and Karlach is struggling to at least get to one knee. Their gazes up to him are pinched, apologetic, but not free of guilt. Placating.
"You don't understand," Karlach says. "It could be all over. Everyone else would be okay!"
Hesitantly, but tersely, Aqua says, "If she's going to die anyway... Lucas--"
There are footsteps behind Lucas again, lighter this time, running hurriedly. Someone else is approaching...
Well he's whipping around as soon as he hears someone else but his soup brain has truly been activated by these comments. If she's going to die anyway. His blood is singing and he looks away from Nona just long enough to try swinging his staff into Aqua's head too GOD. HE'S JUST CRACKING MELONS OUT HERE.
Whether it hits or not, he'll also look past Nona since she seems to be running to see if he can spot anyone else, but he's also eying Nona up like he's about to start blasting her way too.]
Nona gets a brief exchange of glances with Nadia who lifts her head to peep at her from over Lucas's shoulder. But as soon as Lucas moves to swing, she gives a soft cry of horror and surprise and buries her face back into his shoulder.
Much to Nona's likely horror, Aqua takes a whole quarterstaff to the side of the head, blitzing her open. Most of the gore gets on Karlach, but she is already leaping up to try and charging Lucas head-on. As tanks do, you know.
she waves her singular arm wildly when lucas starts eyeing her, and well this whole thing is bad and she's wincing at aqua getting her head bashed but oh god they need to focus]
Aaaaaah, Lucas, it's me, Nona! You know, with Kate and Gojo? Who we should really find a way to get back to!?
[FOCUS YOU SAY???? HE IS FOCUSING!!!!! He's focusing on taking Karlach the hell out. POOR SWEET NADIA IS STILL JUST ALONG FOR THIS NIGHTMARE RIDE WATCHING HER SWEET BROTHER BASH HEADS LIKE COCONUTS. His goal is to protect the fragile life in his arms and destroy anything that might threaten it; everyone is enemy-shaped to his stupid soup brain ass right now.
But at least he's ignoring Nona for the time being!! He'll face Karlach in a way that covers Nadia even if it leaves him open to damage because they're just tank vs tank right now, feinting like he's going to whack her with the quarterstaff before going for another kick instead.]
Karlach is large, so it's a little ridiculous to try to stop the charging semi-truck when it's already at top speed. She's not agile enough in this moment to do anything except fall for the feint and watch the incoming kick fly toward her. It probably breaks a lot of her ribs.
She soars back and away and lands on top of poor Adolphe's body with a loud groan.
[WELL I'M SORRY NONA BUT AFTER KARLACH'S LAID OUT, IF SHE SEEMS TO BE DOWN FOR THE COUNT, HE JUST TURNS ON HER AND STARTS TERMINATOR RUNNING HER WAY TOO.]
AAAAAAA. Not the way Lucas is charging full-steam ahead. I really did this to Nona, MY GOD.
Nadia is clinging for dear life to Lucas's neck, as usual, as she has been for so long since his sleeper agent switch got tripped. "Don't!" he cries. "Please, stop! Brother!"
What springs out into being when Nona casts the summon is a large dire wolf. It lands in the path Lucas is charging down, already prepared to jump into an attack of retaliation. Now we roll d20s like we're Beyblading with spinning tops.
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The other three take half a step forward, like they are worried Lucas might try to bolt.
Nadia whispers, "What's happening?"
And then everything freezes. Scien, Aqua, Karlach, Adolphe, even Nadia in his arms. They freeze, not moving, not blinking. In fact, everything else is frozen, too. The trees, not a single leaf blows. The air.
Suddenly, everything stretches, pulled. It resembles smeared paint. Their bodies are plucked by one point and stretched. Like a rubberband, the time between when they are frozen speeds up, too fast, rushing. They are pushed through time by 25 minutes.
Nadia is gone from Lucas's arms. Karlach, Aqua, and Adolphe have run forward at three-times speed by Lucas, and they are now continuing their run. Nadia is in Scien's arms, and he too is racing away from the pursuers with red blooming through the shirt across his back.
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Anyway Lucas continues to not trust a single person in this bar, so after everything stretches and springs forward and he's left there disoriented as hell, he just clocks that Nadia is no longer with him and that immediately sets him off.
He takes off like a shot after the group, and the first thing he does is just swing his leg out to kick Adolphe out of the way GOODBYE ADOLPHE. It's less a kick designed to disable and more just a fuckin blast that absolutely would have killed a man if he wasn't nerfed. His eyes are set on Scien's bleeding back, though.]
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The way Adolphe is running after Scien with full focus on his duty of getting Nadia (definitely for nothing nefarious...) along with the other two ladies, but he gets a very sudden judo kick straight to the back. BOOM. Adolphe goes flying head over ass off to the side, skidding along in the dirt. BEWILDERED! Injured. What the FCK has happened.
Aqua and Karlach are pursuing Scien, but are wide-eyed and looking at Lucas as he catches up and passes them - all while still running. They really watched a fully capable dude get taken out by this twunk.
Scien is still running with Nadia, but he isn't far in front of Lucas. Nadia stretches her little arm out for Lucas in the distance from over Scien's shoulder. (sasuke voice) nii-san
Right before Lucas can reach the two of them, everything freezes and stretches again. Stretches and stretches and stretches. Lucas also stretches? It feels like his body is being turned into spaghetti before he rubberbands to catch up. Instead of speeding forward in time, they all... speed backward. Lucas goes with them.
A shadowed figure is standing ahead of Lucas. Nadia is in his arms, saying, "No...! Don't cry...!"
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Except my god now he's being flung into the past which is just as bewildering as being flung into the future and Nadia is talking again but it takes him a few seconds to regain his bearings after being spaghetti'd and snapped back into place. Unfortunately being turned into spaghetti doesn't make him less increasingly frenetic, though. He glances around, barely registering her words, and then clocks what's happened and just
IMMEDIATELY STARTS TERMINATOR RUNNING AT THE SHADOWED FIGURE WITH NADIA TUCKED IN HIS ARMS SECURELY.]
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Well, the terminator running actually kind of startles Scien (mildly, since all his fucking emotions are MUTED you piece of shit man). He has a sort of ! wink in emotion of surprise.
Lucas Proust is really fucking running at him at Mach Fuck. He starts to raise his arms - what does he plan to really do, huh? - like he means to brace himself, hands up and palms out in surrender.
"Don't--!"
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Anyway he's feeling a lot of emotions in this moment but it doesn't stop him from trying to hook kick Scien into the nearest tree.]
Don't touch Nadia—!
[Okay sir.]
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Lucas's leg comes up. Scien's arms are up. Nadia is clinging to Lucas's neck for dear life because her brother is WWF mayhem-ing this man.
She yells, "Don't hurt him!" about the time Lucas's leg connects.
Scien takes the hit to the front. The moment is a short pause. Then Scien is sent flying back through the air. He takes out the top middle section of a whole bush and then slams against one of the trees behind it. It splits the tree horizontally on the surface where he impacts, and he vanishes onto the ground in the bushes themselves.
Nothing happens with the time. Everything proceeds as it had before. The sound of several running feet can be heard from behind Lucas.
Nadia asks, "Is he dead?"
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Well. Maybe Scien is dead, and that just makes him feel two extremely wild and conflicting feelings of something like reflexive fear and panic and something like brutal, malicious satisfaction because of his nasty brain soup, but he doesn't have the time to unpack all of that!!! Or how badly hearing Don't hurt him and Is he dead in Nadia's sweet little voice socks him in the gut.
Instead, he's TRULY IN TERMINATOR MODE NOW. He's turning toward the sound of feet like a heat-seeking missile and saying:] Keep your head down. [Because he doesn't want Nadia to get hurt but he's too afraid to set her down again. HE SAID I DON'T NEED ARMS TO FIGHT. i mean looks at scien, he doesn't.
ANYWAY. ASSUMING THE SAME 3 MUSKETEERS SHOWS UP HE JUST GUNS IT FOR AQUA. IS HE EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE DOING THIS. HE DOESN'T CARE HE TRIES TO TURBO KICK HER INTO KARLACH.]
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The same three goonies loonies show up, yes. Aqua, Karlach, and silly little Adolphe with his little sword.
"Stop!" Adolphe yells, right about the time Lucas goes terminator mode yet again.
Nadia tucks her face down into his neck, clinging desperately to his shoulders and the side of his neck just in case.
The rage machine is sort of a surprise to all of them; they didn't get a good chance to see Scien eat it by slamming into a whole tree and potentially being Thanos'd by a kick. So Aqua takes the leg as she is skidding to a stop. The force lifts her and sends her flying backward right into Karlach who is also surprised by all of this. They both get sent soaring backward onto the ground, leaving Adolphe to gape from Lucas to them to Lucas again.
He brandishes his sword. "I said stop!" he yells. "Put the girl down!"
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He doesn't even watch as Aqua and Karlach go flying off into the distance, he's just staring down Adolphe and his sword. Tersely:]
Leave. Now. I'll give you one chance.
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He at least doesn't brandish the sword any higher aggressively.
"Just give her back," Adolphe tries carefully. "She can save everyone else."
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Which is to say, he'll support Nadia with one arm and withdraw his quarterstaff with the other, and then he just dashes at Adolphe with the full intent to just slam it into the side of his head with his full strength. HE SAID ONE CHANCE BINCH.]
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Adolphe isn't sure if he can dodge the velocity of this kick. He starts to bring his sword up as fast as possible, but doesn't get there in time. The quarterstaff slams him, folding the sword and his hands against himself. It lifts him up off the ground and sends him flying over behind Aqua and Kalarch.
Nadia is quivering in his arms...
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Are you trying to kill her...?
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Aqua and Karlach are still a rocked heap on the ground. Aqua trying to sit up, and Karlach is struggling to at least get to one knee. Their gazes up to him are pinched, apologetic, but not free of guilt. Placating.
"You don't understand," Karlach says. "It could be all over. Everyone else would be okay!"
Hesitantly, but tersely, Aqua says, "If she's going to die anyway... Lucas--"
There are footsteps behind Lucas again, lighter this time, running hurriedly. Someone else is approaching...
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she is running over here as though fleeing from something.]
—Lucas!? [looks between him and the others.] ... Is now a bad time...?
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Well he's whipping around as soon as he hears someone else but his soup brain has truly been activated by these comments. If she's going to die anyway. His blood is singing and he looks away from Nona just long enough to try swinging his staff into Aqua's head too GOD. HE'S JUST CRACKING MELONS OUT HERE.
Whether it hits or not, he'll also look past Nona since she seems to be running to see if he can spot anyone else, but he's also eying Nona up like he's about to start blasting her way too.]
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Nona gets a brief exchange of glances with Nadia who lifts her head to peep at her from over Lucas's shoulder. But as soon as Lucas moves to swing, she gives a soft cry of horror and surprise and buries her face back into his shoulder.
Much to Nona's likely horror, Aqua takes a whole quarterstaff to the side of the head, blitzing her open. Most of the gore gets on Karlach, but she is already leaping up to try and charging Lucas head-on. As tanks do, you know.
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she waves her singular arm wildly when lucas starts eyeing her, and well this whole thing is bad and she's wincing at aqua getting her head bashed but oh god they need to focus]
Aaaaaah, Lucas, it's me, Nona! You know, with Kate and Gojo? Who we should really find a way to get back to!?
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But at least he's ignoring Nona for the time being!! He'll face Karlach in a way that covers Nadia even if it leaves him open to damage because they're just tank vs tank right now, feinting like he's going to whack her with the quarterstaff before going for another kick instead.]
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She soars back and away and lands on top of poor Adolphe's body with a loud groan.
Nona........
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Seriously, what is going on!?
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I don't want to fight you, Lucas...!
[BUT SHE WILL IF SHE HAS TO OR RATHER SHE'S INVOKING SUMMON BEAST TO MAKE SOMEONE ELSE FIGHT LUCAS]
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Nadia is clinging for dear life to Lucas's neck, as usual, as she has been for so long since his sleeper agent switch got tripped. "Don't!" he cries. "Please, stop! Brother!"
What springs out into being when Nona casts the summon is a large dire wolf. It lands in the path Lucas is charging down, already prepared to jump into an attack of retaliation. Now we roll d20s like we're Beyblading with spinning tops.
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