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Post by Fawkes on Dec 15, 2021 23:35:32 GMT -8
Fawkes regulated his breathing, focusing on the exhale as he felt the fraying thunder across his mind which announced the unknown warden. It hurt, it really did—Lucas had showed up with the radiance of his chosen surname, even outshining the Bright One. They didn't know what was out there. He wasn't even really sure, but it terrified him just as deeply as when the Maelstrom had torn his shoulder from its socket. This was the best thing he could do before It found them.
Not again. Never again.
As Lucas winked from his thoughts and the Playmate pivoted with keen senses to witness just what the Sunbanisher had been dealing with, he angled the pommel of the knife in the supernatural vice of his articulated joints, flicking it towards carotid artery in a smooth click as he used the other hand to punch the blade straight into his neck. The shock sent him white as he drove on autopilot, Mantle singing as the cold light threaded through the erupting fissures that synchronized with the Bastion cracking in sympathy. The irony of being trained in his Element meant that his body fought against it, the blade trying to twist and bloom with dull shards as he hauled downwards with a grim determination. The wound sprouted with the discordant strings that streaked and cried through the Dream, smoothed surface beneath the Torrent splitting to gout the dark water and release sharp sand beneath as Fawkes went to his knees, his hands gripped the blade harder, like he was going to keep going and do as much damage as his conscious would allow.
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Post by Cinderella on Dec 16, 2021 0:18:20 GMT -8
Being scary wasn't exactly her strong suit, but she knew how to hold herself when it mattered. The Chalice—the retainer of light and joy, draining her Keeper's subjects and occasionally offering a sip to keep them inspired so the darkness didn't snuff them completely—lit up in rippling light and a deadly hum, threatening to pull the final spark or fill the cup completely as her stately act of charity.
She called his name, the sound cutting through the air as the Crown radiated in an aura, dropping to her knees in front of him. The Torrent rapid-blinked, face twitching between pain and spite as the Faerie tried to wrestle control from his chosen direction. The light took on a cold quality as the power swirled with the ironic will of Finality, finally breaching his iron defenses as the glass around them started to blacken and curl.
Tears streamed from the Bright One's face as she locked eyes with the intense well of Sorrow, holding him in place for the others to take control of the crisis.
The Bastion thrummed around them as the Unbound was chained again.
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Dec 16, 2021 0:36:12 GMT -8
Yuan had barely had the time to stretch out a finger to the horizon, about to ask what was coming towards them, before all hell broke loose. The butterflies erupted into a screeching frenzy of nails against glass as the Beast's higher brain function decided to take a break from directing, relegating decision making to instinct and underlying processes, buried in his psyche by the trek back through the Thorns.
"Blood. So much blood. I have to keep him whole. Whole. I have to keep him whole."
He moved to Fawkes' side, unaware of the danger of the cutting edge, oblivious to Cinder's efforts to contain the Torrent. Falling to his knees and piratically gliding on the smooth surface, he managed to place his hands on the insensate man's neck and set to work. He drank in the pain, the injury. The imperfection. Wings beat around them, scales turned tiny daggers that assaulted anyone who drew too close.
This child of Zephyr would not meet his end today. Not until the Vision was fulfilled. Such was his Duty.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Dec 16, 2021 1:08:11 GMT -8
The weight of his shame smashed into the Fairest's mind like a wave crashing into a cliffside. After all, he was the one who insisted it was okay that Fawkes could have a knife knowing the depth of self-loathing Fawkes lived with every day. It wasn't that long ago that Lucas suffered the same kind of self-loathing. The combination of fear of the True Fae making an appearance combined with his guilt and Fawkes attempt to take his own life caused the Fairest's own self-loathing to become a poisonous threat to his mental well-being.
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Post by The She-Wolf on Dec 16, 2021 10:16:34 GMT -8
The Elemental's stamina only lasted a moment, vision glazed as the Playmate melded the artery and drowning trachea, his hands dropping heavily. Lucas' harmonics was joined by the howl of wolves as mycelium sprouts and weaves through the wounds, fusing flickering tissue and needle-glass fibers. Blood flowed from the Elemental's mouth as his diaphragm punched to eject the fluid and breathe again. The blade was forced out, clattering against the smooth surface of the shore in red-soaked sand.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Dec 16, 2021 10:58:51 GMT -8
While Lucas played his little diddy, a disturbing thought gripped his mind: why was Fawkes in actual need of healing? The last time he was here, when Fawkes' sandstorm raged around him, the damage caused him to be ejected back into the real world.
The Fairest stared up at the sky to study it while trying to figure the mystery out.
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Dec 16, 2021 11:27:08 GMT -8
Music washed over the group, but Yuan paid it no mind. His world was coming apart at the seems. He had failed. Again. This was why he had been cast out in the first place. Fawkes faltered, causing the Emerald to shift his body to catch him. All things considered, a prone position was better than a gravity dump for the blood. Yuan took off his blazer, marble plying under his touch, and covered the naked body. Placing the head in his lap to keep the wound elevated as he pressed his hands on the gash.
“My fault. This is my fault. I should have known, seen it coming. Stay with me, Fawkes. Just stay with me.”
The small lives of his dream avatar fell to the ground, unable to handle the mental strain with their frail bodies. Adrenaline was pumping through his system as the Elemental’s wounds began to knit themselves. The Playmate didn’t question the boon, taking things one at a time. His mind bounced the strange sensation of déjà vu; this he could work with.
He tried to dress the wound with the bandages he had conjured out of sheer care. But there were so many wounds, and Yuan’s basic knowledge could only do so much. Frustration welled in oily tears as he came up short again.
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Post by Cinderella on Dec 16, 2021 14:39:02 GMT -8
Cinderella breathed, attention back on the state of the Bastion as Yuan took over medical needs and worked away in the background. Lucas recalled Fawkes' wounds in the waking world, and the Bright One explaining that imagined damage to the flesh could travel across reality under special circumstances. However, they really should have had the Bastion collapse around them as soon as the Elemental went down—how do you maintain a dream if your Avatar was torn asunder? He wasn't an expert on how it all worked, but something must have been floating the skeleton of the whole thing. He was ready to voice as much, just as Cinderella was tucking her knees to stand again. A scraping sound surrounded the gathering as the air cracked, sliding like the horizon and challenging Lucas' theory about their inevitable ejection, before correcting. The world warped, and Cinderella screamed despite herself, dropping prone and scrambling from the sphinx that perched on her staff. Feathers fell as the myriad of wings unfurled, catching the light in prisms as the glass threads chimed. The form shifted as the creature straightened proudly—the spear altering with it to accommodate the larger size and stay straight on its own, like its influence rewrote Cinder's weave.
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Post by Krakenbox on Dec 16, 2021 14:53:12 GMT -8
"That was a bit extreme."
Their voice was the landscape itself, ringing with the world as honey and velvet.
"Perhaps you can talk some sense into him. He's barely allowed me to get a word in edgewise."
Eyes the shade of forget-me-nots blinked calmly, though a sad frown was spared for the addled Playmate as he wept. They angled a bit, as if to playfully pounce, and thinking better of it. "You did well! He'll be fine."
It was hard not to be swept up in the mysterious Beast's emotions; the warm and reassuring demeanor was contagious despite the obvious evidence to the contrary. Something squirmed in Yuan and Lucas' mind, like a snake retreating. The glass flowers around Lucas lost their petals and the pollen hissed in a crackle of tiny sparks as it was reduced to ash.
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Dec 16, 2021 15:09:09 GMT -8
It was a blast of radiant light that burned the irises. It was colours that you could see after you close your eyes. There was something so overwhelming, so overpowering in the being that was in front of him that Yuan forgot to blink for some time. He wiped his tears as the landscape spoke, drawn from his stupor by Cinderella’s scream. Incredulity crept on his face as the voice and appearance jogged his memory.
“King Lamassu? But I thought- You died.”
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Post by Krakenbox on Dec 19, 2021 0:03:11 GMT -8
"Really?" The sphynx stretched a paw, as if it examine their claws, "This doesn't seem to be the case..."
They sprung from the spear that had melted into the glass, waltzing up to the Playmate as the height of their face was slightly higher than Yuan's. It one were to be bothered by the lack of breathless gaping, it didn't appear to be a priority.
"King...Oh! That Title. It isn't quite accurate anymore, is it?" The tail swished as they sat on their hindquarters, stretching tall as they looked down on the Beast. "It's not relevant, either. I have higher callings than pleasing a Season."
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Riley Sorsa
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Presence (3) Captivating | SL(1) Stylish Mantle (2)Spring | Status(1) Entertainment
Posts: 913
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Post by Riley Sorsa on Dec 19, 2021 9:05:16 GMT -8
Riley gasped as the water smashed against their avatar. Then, taking a breath, they moved against the torrent past the door. Emerging in the chopping waves at the shore of the Bastion. Seeing the shoreline, the darkling considered weaving. But didn't want to risk disturbing the dream, at least not until they knew more. Part of them still had a nagging feeling of not using too much glamour.
The dancer pushed against the waves, swimming towards shore. They were considering energy to fight the waves. But perhaps too much power; they were closer now but found their muscles sore just shy of the shoreline. They gasped for breath as they saw the figures on the sand; some were recognizable if not different in their dream forms, another was alien to them, and couldn't make out who or what it was yet.
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Post by Krakenbox on Dec 22, 2021 20:17:07 GMT -8
As the figures conversed on the shore, Riley felt their stamina waning in the thrashing waters that threatened to pull them under again. Lion's feet paced in front of them, treating the ocean they were treading as a solid surface as the sphinx's head angled to examine Riley face-to-face. The light danced through fractals of impossible patterns that threaded through their feathered mane, and the smooth planes to their ageless, porcelain features. A limb was extended, flickering between a delicate hand to the paw of a deadly beast.
"Good day, Emerald!" The joy appeared genuine, or at least some sort of excitement as the tail swished. Riley, however, was trying to keep their head above water, and the entity waited to see if the Changeling was going to accept the help or not.
"...You don't seem all right."
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Riley Sorsa
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Presence (3) Captivating | SL(1) Stylish Mantle (2)Spring | Status(1) Entertainment
Posts: 913
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Post by Riley Sorsa on Dec 23, 2021 9:12:12 GMT -8
Riley gasped, a mix of gasping for air and surprise at the sight of the sphinx. Their heart fluttered, and their dark eyes seemed to widen at the majesty of the creature. Then, for a moment, they forgot they were trying to tread water and dipped under the surface before emerging again, shaking their head.
"Yes, I'm trying not to drown," The moth said before holding out a hand towards the creature. It might take their hand, but they weren't thinking straight with the awestruck and not wanting to drown.
"Could you- help me?" they say, labored from the effort of swimming.
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Post by Krakenbox on Dec 23, 2021 12:23:07 GMT -8
"With this? Of course," the being said, taking Riley's hand as they spoke. Their being shifted to something humanoid, wings folding as they fanned out to cascade into a trailing jacket. The eyes of Argos blinked in the peafowl's pattern, squinting at Riley before settling.
The Darkling was weightlessly plucked from the water and settled on the surface. "The other issue would likely require some context," they laughed, dropping Riley's hand as they stepped back in graceful movements.
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