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Entry tags:
mercenary jobs #3 — open to all
Who: Anyone interested in taking some mercenary jobs via Aranea Highwind's offerings. This log is focused on Wyver and can be found on job boards across the city as well as personal handwaved texts.
What: Mercenary posting!
When: N/A
Where: N/A
Warning(s): Possible sex threads based off heat-event for this month. This was posted early for the holidays, btw. Happy Thanksgiving, etc!
What: Mercenary posting!
When: N/A
Where: N/A
Warning(s): Possible sex threads based off heat-event for this month. This was posted early for the holidays, btw. Happy Thanksgiving, etc!
Thank you for stopping by to check out this month's job postings for Highwind Hires — a freelance mercenary group!
JOB #1 — DOOR TO DOOR
With the abundance of new visitors, it seems there have been ample amounts of donations to the temple. Unfortunately, that is not enough. When you approach, you're stopped by a young woman named Igo who is requesting you help her: please pass out 100 pamphlets to refugees enlisting donations.
OUTCOMES:
- For all pamphlets passed out, the Shaman will pay you 100 Silver.
JOB #2 — DRAGON DERBY
In the West, you hear about this month's Wyver Derby, a small event where dragons are put to race on a track. It seems the fan favorite is Fangface but the newcomer Wingslash ranked high in their first few races. You're hired for body guard duty, keeping the peace and ensuring no riots occur. Enjoy drinks as you watch the show, try to bet for the right one.
OUTCOMES:
- Wingslash wins by a nose, so anyone who votes for that dragon will win double their bet.
- Those who bet on Fangface or any other participant will lose their bet.
JOB #3 — AFTERMATH
Tied to Job #2, the Derby went relatively smoothly... You're enjoying discounted drinks at the bar. It wasn't until you notice one of the ticketers cashing out a suspicious amount of extra money to a small group of people who very vocally complained about losing. As the small group leaves, you can either: report the ticketer or two, track them down.
OUTCOMES:
- If you simply report the ticketer, you'll be rewarded with an additional 125 Silver.
- If you track down the group, you'll find they're all in a small gambling ring, petty crooks that drank too much and most certainly had an inside connection. You must be ready for a fight — all 4 will attack you with fists and small pocket knives.
JOB #4 — VILE LITTLE THINGS
You were contracted directly from Aranea Highwind for a monster hunt. A Vileling that was once kept as a pet grew hostile in the past few weeks before finally escaping its owner in Old City and reeking havoc on pet-owners. Your job is to track it down before more pets are killed. Aranea instructed you to 'take care of it', but upon your journey, the Vileling owner (Bekins) has insisted you save it and bring it back to Murkhollow alive. Of course, they offer a good price.
OUTCOMES:
- Aranea is offering a flat 400 silver to wipe it out.
- You can lie or oppose Aranea's order, you which will gain negative CR from the mercenary leader. Bekins will reward you with 140 silver and you must find a way to return it to Murkhollow.
JOB #5 — RED NIGHT LIGHT
Bodyguard duty seems a bit more... mature tonight. With the week waning on and people acting on lust and emotions, there has been a bit more call for those looking to patrol the more savory areas of Wyver. You'll be paid a flat fee of 450 Silver for a night's worth of work.
There are three areas to watch over: a bordello, a herb shop, and a gang's rumored hide-out.
OUTCOMES:
- If you choose the bordello, you will find yourself playing body guard for one of the establishment's ... best worker and favorite client. You can peek in on the woman and her partner at the risk of being caught or you can escort them out afterwards. The woman offers a tip of 100 Silver and also the chance to have drinks with her...
- If you choose the herb shop, you will find yourself sensitive to the mix of aromas. A contact high ensures your inhibitions are loosened and with the lust in the air? Who knows what that means...
- If you choose the gang's rumored hideout, you will find illegal tusk and scale trading. You'll have to contend with 4 possible gang members all armed with weapons. Fight them or flee to report, you'll earn an additional 150 Silver.
Have fun! If you have any questions, feel free to PM me! These are all loosely based on your choices, so feel free to go wild with them. The outcomes only are indication of what the jobs would offer. If you're interested in having your character offer a job in the future, please let me know!
Aranea Highwind will ICly be contacting characters and offering them jobs based off the assumption she will receive 30% of the cut.
With the abundance of new visitors, it seems there have been ample amounts of donations to the temple. Unfortunately, that is not enough. When you approach, you're stopped by a young woman named Igo who is requesting you help her: please pass out 100 pamphlets to refugees enlisting donations.
OUTCOMES:
- For all pamphlets passed out, the Shaman will pay you 100 Silver.
In the West, you hear about this month's Wyver Derby, a small event where dragons are put to race on a track. It seems the fan favorite is Fangface but the newcomer Wingslash ranked high in their first few races. You're hired for body guard duty, keeping the peace and ensuring no riots occur. Enjoy drinks as you watch the show, try to bet for the right one.
OUTCOMES:
- Wingslash wins by a nose, so anyone who votes for that dragon will win double their bet.
- Those who bet on Fangface or any other participant will lose their bet.
Tied to Job #2, the Derby went relatively smoothly... You're enjoying discounted drinks at the bar. It wasn't until you notice one of the ticketers cashing out a suspicious amount of extra money to a small group of people who very vocally complained about losing. As the small group leaves, you can either: report the ticketer or two, track them down.
OUTCOMES:
- If you simply report the ticketer, you'll be rewarded with an additional 125 Silver.
- If you track down the group, you'll find they're all in a small gambling ring, petty crooks that drank too much and most certainly had an inside connection. You must be ready for a fight — all 4 will attack you with fists and small pocket knives.
You were contracted directly from Aranea Highwind for a monster hunt. A Vileling that was once kept as a pet grew hostile in the past few weeks before finally escaping its owner in Old City and reeking havoc on pet-owners. Your job is to track it down before more pets are killed. Aranea instructed you to 'take care of it', but upon your journey, the Vileling owner (Bekins) has insisted you save it and bring it back to Murkhollow alive. Of course, they offer a good price.
OUTCOMES:
- Aranea is offering a flat 400 silver to wipe it out.
- You can lie or oppose Aranea's order, you which will gain negative CR from the mercenary leader. Bekins will reward you with 140 silver and you must find a way to return it to Murkhollow.
Bodyguard duty seems a bit more... mature tonight. With the week waning on and people acting on lust and emotions, there has been a bit more call for those looking to patrol the more savory areas of Wyver. You'll be paid a flat fee of 450 Silver for a night's worth of work.
There are three areas to watch over: a bordello, a herb shop, and a gang's rumored hide-out.
OUTCOMES:
- If you choose the bordello, you will find yourself playing body guard for one of the establishment's ... best worker and favorite client. You can peek in on the woman and her partner at the risk of being caught or you can escort them out afterwards. The woman offers a tip of 100 Silver and also the chance to have drinks with her...
- If you choose the herb shop, you will find yourself sensitive to the mix of aromas. A contact high ensures your inhibitions are loosened and with the lust in the air? Who knows what that means...
- If you choose the gang's rumored hideout, you will find illegal tusk and scale trading. You'll have to contend with 4 possible gang members all armed with weapons. Fight them or flee to report, you'll earn an additional 150 Silver.
Have fun! If you have any questions, feel free to PM me! These are all loosely based on your choices, so feel free to go wild with them. The outcomes only are indication of what the jobs would offer. If you're interested in having your character offer a job in the future, please let me know!
3/3
And then there is, as he brushes an Innocence-gloved hand across his face in brief confusion, pain. Burning, turn yourself inside-out, molten pain. Can't see, can't feel, can't hear yourself think, the world is gone and the only thing still real is pain.
So much so that he's instantly dropped to his knees, clutching at his head with his human hand, dug his claws into the ground so hard it would almost hurt him if he was even aware, and completely blind to everything but that.
He's screaming like his heart's being pulled out his throat but he doesn't even realize it. ]
[1/2]
For a moment there is peace as the battle high starts to fade— ]
[2/2]
She's always prided herself on being the sensible one, the type of woman who might wear her heart on her sleeve, but in an almost guarded and sensible way. She has to be. But the moment she hears him, sees him drop and clutch at himself and the ground below him, that melts away almost immediately.
It doesn't make sense and she should probably be worried about that, but even before she lets herself think or process any kind of danger, she moves. Sweeping in by his side, she tries to grab for his right wrist in an attempt to pull it away.
Because she needs to see what happened, she needs to know why he's screaming. She needs to figure out a way to fix this.
And she needs to find a way to get him to stop. ]
no subject
Even if it's only to recoil with uncharacteristic violence and a sharp jerk towards her, like he would look back and snap in warning but keeps his hand thoroughly clamped over his eyes instead.
He's not even sure how much they're there anymore and his stomach is churning wildly at the thought. ]
Stay back! [ It's ripped from him in a warbly, anguished pitch. His left hand held up in warning because his right is staying clamped so firmly over his eyes.
If this is... if this blood is like the akuma blood virus and is affecting even him... he can't, if he lets her touch even a little of it.. ]
Stay... back...
[ He's shaking but could not be more adamant. ]
[1/2]
Pulling back out of reflex, Lux freezes for a moment, her hand not quite touching his wrist but still held there as if she was. Her eyes wide and shoulders held rigid, his outburst holds her suspended for a moment.
Even as his voice begins to fray and his words falter, telling her, pleading for her to stay back a second time... ]
[2/2]
[ He doesn't know her that well, does he? If he thinks that she would let anyone sit in agony like that; even if it's clear that he's trying to protect her from something.
He truly doesn't know her if he thinks that something like this would ever stop her from doing what she feels she must. Which is why she finally lowers her ungloved hand, her countenance shifting drastically then. Lips drawn together in a thin line, she takes a breath before slowly, methodically removing her left glove. She wouldn't want to ruin them, especially when—
Riiiiip
They might be one of the only things left from home she might be able to still wear after this.
Tugging at her sleeve—first with her hand, then with a quick motion, cutting the cuff with a knife from her belt—she rips part of it away with one swift motion.
Then, the sound of rustling and something fluid dripping on fallen leaves before she moves closer again, and will continue to move even if he pulls back again. She grips his right wrist with her left this time, her tone even and level. ]
Move your hand.
[ That's not a request. ]
no subject
She wasn't scared. Or even yelling back at him. He kind of expected the latter, honestly, if he has the capacity to expect much of anything right now. ]
... [ It's not even that it's a battle of the wills; he doesn't want to fight her. He's just at a loss, and both wanting to keep her from coming into contact with whatever burns so badly... and not wanting to let her see either.
So his hand does loosen a little, but he also doesn't move it, head still bowed. ]
You — can't touch it. [ It's still strained and a little roughened. He sounds dazed. ]
Whatever you do... don't touch it.
[ He takes a breath and it catches a little wetly. ]
To... a human... [ He grits his teeth. It's very much ground out, like it takes all his concentration to speak in an even tone. ] —don't know.. what it might do.
[ As a parasite-type, was he filtering it enough it didn't kill him, or did it not make any difference at all...? ]
[1/2]
She's just good at masking things like this. She has to be. Because letting her emotions run away with her, allowing any sort of doubt or fear or frustration (or even overwhelming happiness) bubble to the surface would cause her to lose control. And if anyone saw that...
For her own safety, she couldn't let that happen. It's the single small shred of self-preservation that she allows herself to have. She can't take the risk of showing any sign of what she is. Even here, even now.
Feeling the tension in his arm ease somewhat, Lux doesn't move to pull his hand away, but leans a little closer to try to see. She isn't a healer, at most she can try to ease his pain until they managed to get back to civilization. If it wasn't serious that is, but judging from his quiet and forced plea, her stomach turns. He was asking her not to touch his face— ]
...
[ He was asking her not to, because he wasn't sure what it might do. To a human. Allen, that's... ]
[2/2]
It's the painful irony of this situation. Of what he says. Of worrying that as a human she might be in danger. What that implied... he really doesn't know her, does he?
(Her light was different, but she was still the same as the rest of them. She had to hide it to be considered "normal," to be considered—)
He might not be able to see it, but perhaps if he's not so far gone he can hear the quiet smile in her voice. One that's just as poised as it is pained. Because it's ironic, that something like that would be what worries him the most. ]
It's all right.
[ Her voice quiet and certain, it almost contrasts the way that her fingers twitch gently against his wrist with a note of hesitance before she tries to pull his hand away. Not hesitance out of fear of getting hurt herself— ]
I'm not sure I ever was to begin with.
[ But out of speaking of something that she never wanted to find the words for. ]
I have no idea if I should slap a mild cw: gore on this but... /stares into distance
[ What could he say to that? Nothing. Quite certainly nothing, so stunned does that leave him. And if he could look at her it would be with some sort of horrified awe, something written instead in how slack his expression goes and his chin jerks up, briefly ignoring his own pain. ]
Lux.. [ He knew even before that she had some kind of ability, something that seemed kind of like what he understood of sorcery or magic. Maybe. Some extra power like that. But to say that...
She wasn't human?
She'll find his hand suddenly quite easy to pull aside then, too stunned to even protest more than he's actually acquiescing.
And if she pulls his hand back even a little, there's a small spatter across his cheekbone that's immediately obvious. Obvious in how the skin seems to have burned away as if by acid and revealed a glimmer of bone. As for what further he was trying to keep hidden, the spray of black blood that caught him straight across the eyes...
It's bad. ]
w h e l p
It's worse than she expected, the sight making her feel lightheaded for a moment. She isn't a healer, she can't do anything here and they're at least a few hours away from the nearest outpost. Her heart roaring in her ears, for a few seconds, her composure slips.
He might feel it for an instant, an almost chaotic prickle of something where her hand wraps around his wrist, warmer than just skin against skin. But just as quick as it comes on, it retreats again.
(A shadow fades before the light...)
It's tense, but after a moment she finally speaks, letting go of his wrist and placing that hand on his shoulder. Her tone apologetic, she speaks quietly in an attempt to be reassuring. There is something that she can do, but... ]
I'm sorry, this is going to hurt.
[ Then, without any other warning, she brings the damp rag to his face, wincing deeply before applying a small amount of pressure. Trying to wipe away what she can of the vileling's blood from his face. She needs to work quickly, she can already feel the fabric in her hand begin to thin and fray. ]
no subject
The moment she seems the hesitate so hard, and the moment he realizes she's going to try to touch that after all. But he can't even see his own hands to see if they're even safe to touch her with, he probably got blood on them as well, but they're protected by Innocence. Can't touch anything; he might spread it.
So he draws a quick and ragged breath in protest instead. To interrupt maybe and ask is there water nearby; it's a marsh, maybe there is, maybe she brought some, just don't touch it. Which is the moment of course she moves to dab at the more obvious splatters of blood still there. To very limited success because, of course... it's so caustic as to immediately begin to eat away at the rag she's using. And just pushes against, well...
Any protest he has is drowned out by such a reflexive scream again as that catches him so entirely offguard, even with her warning. But he will hold himself still. He will hold himself still.
Even if he's dug both hands quite deeply into the dirt in order to do so. ]
no subject
This is only a fraction of what he's had to endure, and she isn't sure if she's helping or making this even worse. But she has to stay calm. She has to find a way to fix this.
It's shaky, as she tries to maintain the best that she can, but this is beyond her. So far beyond her that she doesn't know how to begin to approach this. Try to focus, Lux. ]
...We need to get you to a healer.
[ He won't be able to see like that. Think. What needs to happen to make this work? Focus. ]
I need you to trust me, all right. I'm going to move you, so be ready to lean your weight against me.
no subject
Teeth audibly ground, he's bitten back a sound as soon as he has enough sense of himself to. Although it's debatable if he actually heard anything she said, either. This is one of the worst. Crown Clown ripping straight through him, that was another level.. but this is almost worst, simply because having his face seared and ripped open —
Well, it's not the first time.
He feels like he's going to pass out. Or throw up, but they don't really have the luxury of that right now. He struck it a really hard blow and he hasn't heard it since it roared, but a hit like that... he doesn't really think it would have killed something like that. If only he'd been higher up, closer to the head.
Lux is asking him something though and while he tries to collect his thoughts he can only nod somewhat dizzily. Shit. He's probably terrified her now too, screaming like that when she was just trying to help..
He can barely hear it with his disjointed thoughts, but there's a rustling then. A chatting sort of buzz, even if it's faint and a little distant. It is enough though to get him to still, holding his breath to hear what might come next. Which there isn't, and it isn't like he can look to see, but... For Lux, if she looks, there's a pool of black blood where the vileling had been — and nothing else.
The creature's gone. ]
no subject
She can't leave Allen here on his own like this to go searching for the creature, and she can't hope that it's gone off to find somewhere to die. No, if a blow like that didn't kill it, and if the vileling managed to escape...
Thankfully he's still cognizant enough to nod in response, and judging from the way he's stilled, he must be aware enough to know that the danger hasn't passed. But this new development means that moving is out of the question right now because she can't afford to have her attention torn. Fleeing now would only mean certain death for the both of them. Letting her hand fall away from his shoulder, the other still burning in pain (it's fine, endure), leans in close again, whispering near his ear. ]
Be ready to move with me when I tell you.
[ It can't have gotten far judging from the black blood trail heading into the brush, and will likely be back to finish the two of them off. It's why her left hand drops to her side, a spell on her lips and her eyes burning with a fierce inner light.
Come back and finish the job. She will be waiting for you. ]
no subject
... [ A grim, somewhat uneasy silence is her answer. Acknowledgement with how he seems to have pushed himself to focus beyond the pain, but.. maybe not acquiescence with how thin his lips are pressed and expression drawn in. Worried more than pained. This is bad... he needs to be able to fight and she clearly means to instead of him, but he can't just... he won't. And he leverages himself to unsteadily rise to his feet; he may be badly hurt but his legs are fine, he can at least stand.
There's a whispering whine like metal on metal, not from the brush or chitin of the vileling—but close at hand and from how the claws of his left hand grind together when he tries to make a fist with it.
But then there's a low, guttural sound from the reeds to the side of them. Almost as if in warning.
—and he can't quite pinpoint the direction it's coming from and that's the part that's actually bloodcurdling. ]
Lux.. [ He raises a hand lightly, almost like he means to reach for where he thinks hers is but reminds himself not to (the blood), and instead just holds it out in light warning.
(It's fine.)
And almost like he would mean to try and shield her still. ]
no subject
If he's so determined to stand and fight, then she will do all that she can to give him the means to do so. Even if it placed him in danger yet again, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't continue to move forward, would he? If he didn't keep pushing, if he didn't fight to protect others. It's something she understands all too well, and would do the same thing in his position.
I know.
Which is why she reaches out to touch his wrist as he raises his hand, in a gesture that might seem like an acknowledgement of that sentiment—and it is—but there's something else there. A subtle shift, pulling him gently in the direction of the sound, similarly to how he had led her that day in Wyver.
Let her lead this time.
Her other hand raising gently, plucking what light she could from whatever was left of the daylight, Lux holds the spell there. Taking a deep breath and holding it, she throws in into the reeds with the intent of snaring the vileling before it gets a chance to strike—or drawing it out, failing that. ]
no subject
Even with as much pain as he's in (as tortured as his face is), his expressions smooths for a second in surprise at that. That light touch—not a pluck in fear or to grasp in warning, but..
Oh.
..And he shifts then, subtly. Towards the light tug and shoulder brushing hers admittedly a little unsteadily, but like falling into lock-step side-by-side. Squared. And his mask, too... what he should probably have never let drop before, comes up like a living thing not to clasp against his face but hover just in front, warped and distorted like it's a part of his cowl.
It's turning his stomach inside and out, every time his instinct is to look towards something and it doesn't feel right at all. Don't throw up don't throw up—
—it's coming, don't throw up.
Especially when it rears suddenly into view with a roared hiss—spasming as it fights against the light that's tried to wrap around it and tears up the ground around itself. ]
no subject
Seeing the vileling writhe and rear up against the light binding, Lux takes a breath then, drawing her lips together into a fine line. She's never done this without something to focus through, so it's hard to say if it will work. But if she gives herself a moment of doubt, she will lose her chance. It's do or die.
And so drawing in a deep breath, she funnels what light she can into one point in front of her. Staring up at the thrashing worm in front of her, she narrows her eyes—
Then fires a beam of pure light at its head, the force of the blast pushing her back. Sliding back a few feet, she stops in a half-crouch, her hand stabilizing her before she looks up again. Did it hit?! ]
no subject
Next to her, she might notice Allen take a sudden, sharp breath as well, trained towards the roars of the injured monster. Its roars of pain at whatever it was she just did; he can’t tell, but the sharp and ozone-like second-smell of energy (magic) in the air… amidst the continued roars and a thrashing that makes the ground shake…
-- his mask snapping tighter and Crown Clown’s cowl pulling snug around his face, bundled like some odd sort of downy eskimo, that would be the only warning. That, and how he reaches then for his own left wrist, touching it lightly as if to grasp a hilt. She’ll might be mad at him, but…
He can’t just sit still either.
So he leaps forward without saying a word, like some lightning bloodhound straight for the roaring monster--and begins to pull at his wrist. Drawing from it in such a way that, in a brilliance of light that flashes then, it’s almost like he’s drawing a sword from himself.
Probably because he is. A giant broadsword then, gleaming white and gold, as long and broad as he is, and wielded with his one remaining arm as if it weighs nothing. That he also leaps headfirst into the monster headfirst with as it rears up on high, its maw hanging loose and bloody as Lux has blasted most of its jaw off, not with a cry or shout, but merely gritting his teeth tight and bearing down with all his weight into the creature.
Which also falls forward onto the Exorcist with its remaining piercing clawed appendages with a shriek as he drives his sword up into the throat of its underbelly. ]
[1/2]
But it wasn't enough and she almost immediately regrets it. She wanted to protect the two of them and put it out of its misery, not make it suffer even more! Her gaze frozen upward, she doesn't at all notice the sort of snap-to motion that Allen makes not too far away from her, the way he seems to wordlessly decide to act despite his current state.
It isn't until she feels him vault forward with a burst of energy and almost ephemeral light that she pulls herself gaze away from the vileling down to him. ]
—!
[ There's so much going on and she doesn't have enough time to process even half of it. The only thing roaring in her head is that she needs to stop him. Pull him back and pin him to that spot in any way that she could. And she tries, nearly tripping over herself to grab for the ends of Crown Clown in an effort to hold him back.
But he's much too quick, burning bright as a full moon on a starless winter's night and holding a sword too impossibly large for his frame. Or perhaps it's because everything feels so paradoxically slow in that instant; that he hasn't leapt as much as floated up to meet the writhing monster like some angel of mercy. To charge quite literally toward the belly of the beast with the intent of showing it one last, silent kindness.
Lux takes in a deep, sharp breath then, watching the scene in painfully slow motion as he delivers the final blow— ]
[2/2]
But it's right there in front of her. The beast silenced, and the Exorcist was... ]
ALLEN!!
[ It's painfully half-gasped, half-screamed as she forces breath back into her lungs, pushing herself forward into a clumsy sprint toward where the bloodied vileling fell. All the while her mind is doing somersaults along with her stomach, dizzy and nauseating and wrong. No. No no no, this isn't, he can't be—
This isn't real. Please don't let it be real. Let it be like the dream where they first met, where they're both safe and sound. Please, he can't be... ]
no subject
And the worm that's collapsed on top of him would begin to shudder then. Not in death throes, but... like it might be from a movement within? Something trying to get out?
—yes. Given there is a brief, lancing beam of light that shines through for a moment before the carcass would seem to rupture from within. Sliced what seems so effortlessly through it's as if it was carved? Basically as if it was carved, yes. Chunks of it falling aside in a spray of black blood from how the sword cuts through it almost as if it melts the flesh and armor away instead of cutting it, and revealing a completely bloodsoaked figure standing there. Almost perfectly still, like he's not even breathing. Before he stumbles a bit, staggers... and then lurches somewhat awkwardly forward away from the body. Bound head to toe even if it's hard to tell beneath the blood, white ribbons from his cloak wrapped so tightly from his boots all the way up he almost looks more mummy than man.
And over his nose too, which loosens a little then and he nearly collapses with a loud gasp, falling against his sword instead and digging the tip of it into the ground to lean on. ]
Haaaaah... [ That was scary, he couldn't breath. But he got it, right? They got it. It's quiet. He can't hear anything. He's scared to move any further in case he stumbles into something. Is it okay? It seems okay.
He feels dizzy.
It's why his mind finally lets go enough perhaps that his invocation slips and the cloak loosens, vanishing from sight quite abruptly in a faint glow (bloodstains and all) as he begins to collapse.
This is what relief looks like, right? This is relief... ]
no subject
But instead, something pierces through the vileling. For a moment she doesn't see the blood that sprays from the now quite dead creature, nor does she hear the gentle sizzle as it burns through bits of underbrush, and it's a good thing that she stopped when she did or else she might have been caught herself. No, her gaze is transfixed on the bloodsoaked boy standing there still as a statue. She doesn't even notice that she's holding her breath then, and it isn't until he collapses forward, grasping his sword like it's the only thing keeping him up. Like a marionette whose strings have suddenly been cut.
In that moment, it doesn't matter how dangerous or careless it is or that she might end up in worse shape than he is now—just that she reaches him before he finally collapses. And she does manage to make it in time, throwing her arms around him and letting the boy fall into him, lowering them both down slowly. Her hands tremble against his back, and she takes a few deep breaths. ]
I've got you, you're all right... It's over.
[ It's hard to say if those words are for him, or for herself. ]
no subject
It takes him a muzzy, almost sleepy moment to realize he hasn’t fallen, the ground isn’t pressed uncomfortably against his face. It’s warm and smells like … an acrid, terrible smell he can’t get away from because it feels like it’s inside his head, but beyond that--lillies. Maybe he’s imagining it. But it’s peaceful, like he could just fall asleep like this and that’d be okay.
Except that he seems to struggle against himself for a moment, attention fluttering in an almost panicked alarm as he realizes that and brings a hand up to graze her elbow. Almost like he means to grasp her arm to tell her it’s alright, he can stand, will stand, but has no grip to. So he just brushes her arm gently and seems to lose a bit of the battle, sagging lightly.
You're all right.
Shit.
Feeling his consciousness fade without even the sense to realize it’s going dark, he can only nod faintly despite his own disappointment before going limp. ]