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Entry tags:
- *event,
- avatar: mai,
- blood bank: reign fear,
- blood bank: shell overlord,
- blood+: diva,
- blood+: solomon goldsmith,
- bungou stray dogs: atsushi nakajima,
- bungou stray dogs: chuuya nakahara,
- dragon age: anders,
- ffxiv: alisaie leveilleur,
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- guilty gear: venom,
- gundam: setsuna f. seiei,
- jjba: rohan kishibe,
- killjoys: dutch,
- kingdom hearts: sora,
- kingdom hearts: terra,
- kingsman: roxy morton,
- les miserables: enjolras,
- little witch academia: atsuko kagari (ak,
- love live: you watanabe,
- loz: urbosa,
- mcu: gamora,
- mcu: peggy carter,
- mistborn: vin,
- ouat: emma swan,
- outlander: claire fraser,
- overwatch: jack morrison (soldier 76),
- overwatch: reinhardt wilhelm,
- pandora hearts: elliot nightray,
- penumbra podcast: peter nureyev,
- rivers of london: thomas nightingale,
- rune factory: dylas,
- rwby: lie ren,
- saiyuki: genjo sanzo,
- star trek: james t. kirk,
- stargate: john sheppard,
- teahouse: linneus,
- tenchi muyo!: ryoko hakubi,
- torchwood: ianto jones,
- voltron: allura,
- yuri!!! on ice: jean-jacques leroy
❪ event ❫ hour of ruin
|
HOUR OF RUIN  Sometime after midnight, after preparations have been put aside in favor of drinks and rest, a thunderous beating of wings shatters the air — the High Dragon Ysverai, once again risen. The sound echoes high off Namarak Mountain, but travels easily to both Wyver and Olympia: scream after scream rends the still night, as though a creature were dying rather than being born again. Having only had days to plan their defense against the creature, Olympia and Wyver snatch up their arms. The Royal Guard and the Knightryders can be seen on their steeds hurrying through the cities, because Ysverai doesn't remain isolated at the mountain's peak for long. There are pictures of Ysverai in abundance throughout both cities, but the creature that circles in the sky looks nothing like the majestic creature spoken of in history books. Even from far below, wounds and lacerations can be seen marring what should be smooth scales, and blood falls with every beat of the dragon's wings. The damage becomes more clear when moonlight illuminates Ysverai, revealing the rotting dragon for all to see. The sight of flesh peeling away and thick blood where it oozes from his cracked, greyish hide is as frightening as the power he possesses. REASON'S TRANSCENDENCE
Mad from the anguish of his forced revival, Ysverai will show none of his renowned wisdom or compassion, mindless and seeking to inflict his pain onto whatever emerges in his path.
His very presence creates chaos: animals (Olympia | Wyver) domesticated and wild, flee from the merest hint of his approach, panicked and stampeding in wild droves. The reason is obvious: organic matter exposed too long to his presence begins to rot and decay. A field he lands in rots and lies fallow. Buildings crack and crumble, their supports pitted and corroded as though they've been left in disrepair for years. Even the ground that Ysverai walks upon is tainted; a corrosive sludge bubbles up in his massive, clawed footsteps, the ground beneath him putrefied and toxic, oozing corruption. This sludge can be tar-like, poisonous and sucking people in like quicksand; panic, and you'll only sink faster. Prolonged exposure to Ysverai takes a mental toll on anyone in his proximity as well. Effects similar to those from being near his heart — selfish desires and lowered inhibitions — will begin to fester in those around him. Every time Ysverai roars, pain will run through all those that hear him — a pain not just physical, but of true, anguished heartbreak. Those who hear Ysverai will feel (to a degree of your choosing) a sharing of his pain, the agony of flesh rotting from their bodies, blood oozing from under their skin, and a terrible, incandescent fury — and beneath that, a gut-wrenching sadness. This effect is further enhanced by any exposure to Ysverai's blood, and being drenched in greater quantities will cause one to become more in sync with the dragon. Finally, Ysverai is aggressive, attacking anyone and anything that approaches. He starts by breathing out a smog, acidic and putrefying — characters caught directly by this attack will find that medicine and healing magic of any kind hurts them for hours after exposure. The dragon will ignite the smog to breathe fire, if sparingly. IN WYVER
Ysverai's shadow falls over the near reaches of Wyver first. Upon hearing Ysverai's cry, the dragons in Wyver become completely frenzied, turning against their partners among the Knightryders without the slightest resistance. Those familiar with dragons might deduce that they're in pain, though they don't show any sign of injury. The dragons knock their riders off their backs in midair and dive at citizens, jaws wide. Any attempts to soothe them will be long fought, achieved with great difficulty, and will see them retreat into a cowering state.
It's not just the airborne Knightryders taking to the defense of the city however, and people on the ground are mobilizing as well. On rooftops across the city are cannons set to fire harpoons. And if the spearheads alone aren't enough to injure the beast, they're coated with a paralyzing poison as well. Unfortunately, the soldiers stationed on the rooftops are prime targets to the frenzied dragons populating Wyver's skies, leaving the cannons open for ordinary citizens to use should they choose. Left alone too long, and cannons may fall under the control of the few remaining radicals that had opted not to flee the cities to join up with their leader Raysc, choosing instead to wait for an opportune moment to unleash their anger on the people of Wyver. These radicals will need to be dealt with before they can turn the cannons upon Wyver's defenders. IN OLYMPIA
In Olympia, the gryphon partners of the Royal Guard react with immediate hostility to anyone showing signs of Ysverai's influence. Their keen senses allow them to pick up the smell of Ysverai's blood and they attack anyone with so much as a drop of tainted blood on them. Those who bear lingering effects of Ysverai's mental attack and who remain in sync with the dragon after hearing Ysverai's cry are also targeted and must face the gryphons' wrath without mercy or restraint. The gryphons must be disabled, for Olympia will not look upon any injury to their prized steeds lightly. However, the gryphons also show some resistance to Ysverai's cry, which is a great boon in battle against the dragon — gryphons that have lost their riders will be available for use, able to carry two passengers at a time.
The people of Olympia aren't planning to restrict their offense to pure brute force, and the mages of the city can be seen across Olympia wielding enchanted chains, using telekinesis in the hopes of restraining Ysverai and assisting in the airborne troops. But like the decaying buildings and wildlife, Ysverai is warping the magic around him, the chains faltering as they approach him, whipping back toward the city instead to cage whoever happens to be closest. It's not just the enchanted chains either, but other magic might behave erratically in his presence, as if the very essence of the spells have been corrupted. VIRTUOUS VERSE
Both cities realize they need to seek survival rather than victory against Ysverai, switching gears to carry out diversion efforts and evacuation plans. It falls to refugees to continue the offensive while the Royal Guard and the Knightryders devote their attention to ensuring the safety of the citizens as they flee.
With official forces stretched thin, civilians and refugees alike will also need to step up to help herd citizens toward safety among a maze of collapsing buildings. Others will need to see to gathering resources for the evacuation, and while gathering non perishables is easy enough, it's considerably harder to wrangle livestock into cooperating amidst such chaos. Those fighting may be asked to act as bait for Ysverai. Chatter through official troops speaks of a switch in strategy: the objective now is capture the dragon's attention and draw him away from the populous cities and towards the South Outpost. Whether or not it's possible to defeat the dragon remains uncertain, but there's no question that it will be easier to battle him without worrying about civilians. THE RAGE  Luckily, the dragon is indiscriminate in his rage, and easily lured so long as a suitably infuriating target is before him. It doesn't take long to draw him to the South Outpost, but the trail of destruction he leaves in his wake is vast. Once there, the combined forces are greeted not just by Ysverai, but also by the appearance of Ysverai's master. Raysc lifts a gleaming device as he issues his command. Red lights blink and blood, the same oozing liquid that drips from Ysverai's many wounds, runs in clear tubes through the device. Ysverai rears back as Raysc makes adjustments to a control panel — and then lunges forward, mouth agape. With a single swallow, Raysc meets his end. Raysc's attempt to control the dragon has only enraged him further, spurring Ysverai on to new heights of fury. It's become more vital than ever to face the dragon and take him down here and now. A few effective strategies are learned from research efforts and observed while defending Olympia and Wyver: goading the dragon into breathing fire will hurt him, burning him from the inside out, and attacks to his joints, eyes, wings, and exposed bone are effective. Ice is a natural repellent to dragons and can be used defensively or to weaken the dragon's hide. Healing spells will also react unnaturally to Ysverai's flesh, hastening his decay. However, while concentrated efforts will lock him down, Ysverai cannot be permanently killed in this state — his flesh constantly rots and spawns anew. Attacking him here is to protect civilians, keeping him busy to avoid mass destruction elsewhere. Therefore, the battle is one of attrition, a matter of a race against time. You must destroy his flesh faster than it is able to regenerate to have any hope of victory. Finally, when Ysverai is weakening, little more than bones with a few last vestiges of rotten meat hanging from a skeleton, the pathetic remnants of the last High Dragon takes to the skies. His wings are barely intact enough to carry him, yet desperation lifts him, higher and higher, until he lets out one great, earth-shaking roar. A roar that carries across the battlefield, sending all who hear it to their knees. A roar that shatters the swords in soldiers' hands, that rends apart the very air itself — Ysverai's last act, a great curse upon El Nysa, to bring down the sky. AND THE WORLD STOOD STILL  The terror of Ysverai's destruction hangs overhead — a tear in the sky, darkness pouring through, tendrils reaching down towards El Nysa to swallow up the planet in the dragon's final act of revenge. And yet nothing moves. A halo of brilliant light surrounds the rift in the sky, holding the grasping, hungry tendrils in check. And on the planet, not a creature moves. Not a blade of grass stirs. You're not able to even draw a breath. No matter where you are, not even the heart in your chest is beating. Everything has stopped — time has come to a standstill. In a wash of light, an aurora of transport, you find yourself delivered to Thesa Station. Darma stands before you, her expression solemn, perhaps even grim, though that may just be a trick of the station's harsh lighting. She explains what has happened in short order: planetside, time has been completely frozen. A bank of monitors behind Darma displays the battlefield below: Ysverai's frozen, looming figure and the breach in the sky, and the Natha's halo, holding the destruction back. Though time passes normally on Thesa Station, El Nysa remains frozen, and all Refugees are unable to return to the planet until Ysverai's menace is dealt with. Luckily, with the Natha's return, full functionality has also returned to the station. The lights and environmentals are back to full power, access to all areas has been restored, the cafeteria is serving its normal offerings, and there's no evidence of any glitching or malfunctions. Doubtless, the period of rest is much needed after the hard-fought battle. For now, with time on El Nysa at a standstill, there's little else to be done but enjoy the reprieve aboard Thesa Station. FINAL OOC NOTE
Characters that reach an AC length action thread in this event will receive 2 rep for all factions, including Natha. Note that while these are split up for ease of processing, players may submit for all three.
Players can expect this event to run three days ICly before everyone is teleported to Thesa Station! From thereon, all characters will be grounded at the Station until the Test Drive Meme later this month.
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no subject
Get some more, that is. Later. He picks up some more fries and eats them slowly, nudging the plate back an inch toward Ianto again. Finish your food first, though. You still look a little grey around the edges, Ianto, and John suspects more fries might help.
"Where did you get hit?"
Where is 'a few spots', Ianto.
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He’s just about to reach for his sandwich again when John asks about his own injuries and he chances a glance up at the other man in turn, wondering if John will see things in the same way that he does. It is nothing, especially compared to some of the injuries some of the others have suffered. But he supposes that they’re bad enough to have him seeking medical attention yes.
Cautiously, he reaches to roll up his sleeves — he’s been wearing a long-sleeved tshirt, which makes it easy to hide the angrier red marks on his arms where the ash and battlefield debris had singed him. “It’s just a few scorches, and a little contact burn on my ankle where I misjudged a step,” he explains. “Everything was on fire, and I was out there too you know. It was bound to happen.”
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He knows Ianto was there because he remembers trying to make him leave, remembers Ianto holding on to his vest and begging him not to stay and fight.
His eyes flick up to Ianto's for a moment self-consciously, then flit back down to his food as he picks up his sandwich to take another bite.
"Looks like it hurts."
The burns.
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"I've had worse," he says, glancing up at the other man and tossing his line back at him with a half-hearted smile. Unlike John he doesn't avoid the question there, though. Reaching for another chip he admits, "It...does. It's not bad, but it's a burn. It hurts like one. That's what the cream is for, though." Fancy that. He reaches for his sandwich again, raising an eyebrow at the other man in question before taking another bite.
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"Alright. Finish your sandwich and we can get some more of that stuff. I guess it's revenge for all the times I made you put on sunblock."
Since John is pretty sure he can't see all the patches on himself, so Ianto will probably have to help him. As awkward as that might be. If it makes sure he puts some on his own burns, though, that's worth it.
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Now that they have a goal to work towards after the food is finished, Ianto has no problem concentrating on the remainder of his sandwich. Though he makes certain that he takes the time to enjoy it. Wiping his hands on a napkin again as he reaches for another chip. "Is there such a thing as a cheese coma? I feel as though I may be reaching the danger zone."
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Is a cheese coma any different to a regular food coma? More unhealthy, maybe. He shoves aside his empty sandwich plate and grabs another couple of fries, offering Ianto a crooked grin.
"That's why it's so good though."
There's probably some degree of logic in that somewhere, that makes sense only to John. He grabs his own napkin and leans back in his chair, stretching out and looking pretty close to a cheese coma himself.
"You done, then?"
With fries, if he's close to the danger zone and all.
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"Are you ready to go? To get more of that cream, I mean. It shouldn't take too long, I've a feeling they'll just take one look at you and hand it over." Though the patches on John's skin are healing well, they're still healing. Any little bit to help them along, frankly. "We should probably stop by and pick up my bag as well," he muses, before realizing that he's essentially just invited himself to stay with John again and glancing across at the other man warily. "If that's. I mean..."
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"Sure," he says after a moment, and drops the napkin down on the table as he pushes out his chair. "We can do that on the way."
If that's what Ianto wants to do. He gets up and pushes his chair back in, shoves his hands into his pockets idly. Well? Is that the plan, then?
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Ianto nods in response to the other man's agreement and steps forward to lead the way from the mess hall down the corridor towards the room he'd stashed the bag in. If John should happen to follow him in, he'll notice that there's noticeably no one else settled in the room with him, and Ianto doesn't seem to have spent much time in the room himself either, despite the fact that they've been stuck there for the past few days. But perhaps he'd figured so also. He grabs his bag and hooks it over his shoulder before turning to the other man with a smile.
"Onwards and forwards," he says, and leads the way towards the medical bay. As Ianto had suspected, it doesn't take much to get a tube of cream for John himself. Maybe it has something to do with the way the other man's skin looks. Maybe it's the fact that Ianto asks so nicely. Regardless, it's not too long before they're making their way back to John's space again, Ianto dumping his bag on the second bed before turning to John and peering at the label.
"For soothing pain, itching, and the reduction of scarring. This seems to be the same as what they'd given me," he says. "Just in a larger bottle. I'd imagine so that you didn't run out quite so often. But it should do everything you want."
no subject
He pulls his t-shirt forward over his head with a sigh and smoothes out his hair, inspects the paler splotches on his upper arms and chest. Should he be deciding where to begin? Nowhere is really particularly more or less sore. It's just all sensitive and itchy.
no subject
“So...” Ianto begins, awkwardly, squeezing some of the cream out between his palms and rubbing them together to warm it a little. “How would you...? Is there anywhere you would like me to concentrate on, or...?” Pretty much all the spots. He has to ask. If there’s anywhere that is particularly troublesome or tender, he needs to know!
no subject
There are some bigger patches, he supposes, there's one large section over his shoulder which is a little itchier but he thinks that's just his t-shirt rubbing. He gently pokes at it, winces before turning to hold out his hand for the cream.
"Give me some of that then, it'll go quicker if we split the work."
He can at least do the bits he can see, his arms and chest.
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"Is this alright, then?" he asks, glancing up to study John's reaction as he touches him. He hasn't moved so far around behind him that he can't catch something of his face as he talks.
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"It's fine," he says blandly, but he's a little tense as begins to quickly apply it to patches down his arms. Noticeably quicker than Ianto has been working, because he's trying to get it over with. It kind of stings at first, which mines by the end of this most of his body might sting. He's hoping the quicker he applies it the sooner it all stops.
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"It's... Not quite the same effect as sun lotion though, is it," Ianto murmurs as he works.
no subject
Over the sunblock, that is. He gives his arms a last squint (both of them are now tingling, he's having second thoughts about this 'quickly is better' idea) before swiping up the bottle again to get some more on his hands so he can do his chest.
Thinking about it, he probably is going to have to wear more sunblock though. Fate has a cruel sense of humour. He's just going to hope that some sun evens everything out eventually.
no subject
"Maybe I'm just better at this," he decides to reply instead. Though they both know it's hardly the same circumstances. He's quiet for a long moment before he speaks up to correct, "...Though I suppose it's more accurate to say that you are, in a way." Standing still and allowing his attentions, anyway.
no subject
He'd meant it as a sort of half-joke, but actually it's true. Ianto's hands are gentle. He glances sideways toward the shoulder he's working on, distractedly hands the bottle back to him.
"... Thanks," he adds, because he supposes he should thank Ianto for doing this. He didn't have to, even despite the whole... sunblock revenge aspect. He didn't have to make him go get this stuff, to worry about him.
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"It's the least I can do," he offers, softly, squeezing more of the cream out into his hands before working lower on John's back as he does. "You know. I've got these gentle hands. I might as well put them to good use, yeah?" It's a sad attempt of humor and he falls silent for a long moment before he speaks up again.
"I don't know whether it's better or worse to think that you're behaving for me because you've been through this sort of scenario before," he murmurs. "Perhaps not this sort of thing exactly, but..."
no subject
"Well," he says finally. "You know, it kinda comes with the territory. War-zones, danger. Impossible odds."
You do know what impossible means, don't you?
Yeah. Pretty sure I do.
This is who he is, this is what he does. Ianto shouldn't... He shouldn't expect better. John doesn't know if he can be better, it's too ingrained into who he is.
no subject
Ianto's hands are steady and gentle as they make their way down the patches on John's back and he mulls the thought over. He joined the mission to Atlantis knowing that he might never be able to return. That in and of itself should have been a warning sign. Ianto really hadn't understood until that night with the dragon, though. Feeling helpless, running up against a brick wall named John Sheppard, and everything that had come after that. At least he's allowing him this much now, he supposes.
"I suppose I'd better be stocking up my first aid kit now, then, while there's a lull," Ianto replies, as lightly as he can. Like he hasn't begun to do something of the sort already. Like he hasn't spent three sleepless nights by the side of John's medical pod, wondering whether it was all a lie and he'd never wake up again after all.
no subject
He hesitates a long moment, rubbing the cream absently into a pale patch that wraps around his hip and vanishes under his sweatpants. Then John takes a deep breath and turns toward Ianto, eyes drifting somewhere around his shoulder instead of his face.
"Listen. You..."
Where is he even going with this, John has no idea. He presses his lips together, tries desperately to regroup.
"You know I didn't exactly know the Natha would... come back."
Come back and fish him off the surface, shove him in a tube and piece him back together.
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He gives a little shake of his head. "Neither of us did. And I didn't know that they'd be able to save you if they were. Why do you think I tried so hard to hold you back? I knew what was going to happen. That you'd run off and get yourself killed and leave me to handle the rest. And then you did, and I..." It had been terrible. The sight of it. Ianto isn’t sure it’s something he’ll forget, not for a long time anyway. And he didn’t have the luxury of grieving in the moment, not with the dragon on its last legs, tearing the sky open and nearly bringing what seemed like the end of the world down on them again.
"Three days, John," Ianto says. "It’s been three days, and they kept saying you were going to wake up again but. It was an awfully long time to wait and the whole time I just kept thinking to myself. But ‘what if’..."
no subject
"I know," he manages finally, then lifts his eyes to Ianto. Squares himself up as if for a fight, all defiance. "But I'd do it again. I'd have done anything to stop it, whatever it took."
If that included his life, then so be it. If Ianto is going to live with him, to stay this close to him, then he needs to understand this. That John has always been like this, will always be like this. That he's going to put him through this pain again, and who knows if the Natha will fish him out next time?
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