nysalogs | what is your name? what is your quest?

[ Yyyyyeah, why did he ask that again? ]

I s'pose it's got that goin' for it! You always look on the bright side...

[ Never mind that HE WAS THE ONE WHO BROUGHT IT UP just. Ignore that. ]

We should pro- ghhhh!

[ He runs right into the giant spider web, letting out a shriek that is far girlier than he would like to admit. ]

[ enjoy visions of impalement dancing in your head, prompto..

but then he's all but shrieking, and alisaie jumps back with a spike of adrenaline, unsheathing her rapier in the blink of an eye, ready to stab whatever it is that has threatened/killed her boyfriend. you will be avenged, prompto.

but she doesn't.. see anything around.. ]

What? What's wrong?

[ Yes, stab the spiderweb, Alisaie, that will be helpful for sure...

But Prompto is already flinging the thing off of himself, whimpering as he pulls the silvery threads out of his hair. ]

N-nothing! Everything is fine!

[ Oh, gods...what if there are spiders on him now. He swears he can feel them crawling all over his skin... ]

[ ah. she has seen prompto react to bugs enough to know exactly what has happened here.. prompto there are about 1 million spiderwebs in this place, you'd better be careful. but listen to him whimper.. she can't feel bad for him when he's being so ridiculous. it's hard not to laugh..

but rather than laugh, her eyes grow wide and her breath hitches, her left hand quickly returning her focus to her hip so she can raise it high, prepared to smack. ]

Don't.. move..

[ ...OH GODS.

A cold chill runs straight down his spine as she raises her focus. Please, for the love of the Six, don't hit him with a crowbar like this is freakin' Home Alone.

But he does as instructed, and doesn't move. He doesn't even dare breathe - instead, he just stares at her with wide, fearful eyes. ]

[ aaaand she's winding up, pulling her hand back up ready to smack the ever loving christ out of him - then she relents and drops her arm, bursting into a peal of high laughter. ]

T'was a jest. But the look on your face!

[ she's cracking up. there's no spider on you tho bae. not one she can see at least. there may very well be one in your hair, who knows. ]

[ ...

He exhales sharply, and gives her the flattest look he can muster. How could she do that to him, an innocent Prompto?? Making him think there were spiders crawling on him...the nerve.

So without a moment of hesitation, he tugs her close and rubs his knuckles into her hair, furiously administering a noogie. SUCK. IT.

And then he starts back down the corridor without a word. ]

Hey!

[ that's annoying, but still so worth it.. that expression will be burned into her memory forever. both the one where he feared for his life, and the flat face just after. ah. so good. she's even still laughing by the time he storms away like a petulant toddler, wheezing as she struggles to catch her breath, her peals of laughter echoing down the dusty corridor. ]

Don't be.. angry.

[ still laughing, while she jogs to catch up.. ]

I-I'm not angry!

[ He says, angrily, as she catches up with him. His arms are crossed stubbornly over his chest, a sour look upon his face - but hey, at least he's no longer jumping at every slight sound in the place. ]

[ look at him!! he's so mad!! he's so cute when he's pouty. still smiling, alisaie winds both of her arms around one of his, pressing a kiss to his bicep and fluttering her eyelashes demurely. ]

I love you.

[ she's so cute, you can't be mad.. ]

[ Ugh!!! That's foul play. He can't resist her coy smile and her sweet words, and she knows it. She plays him like a fiddle, and he can't even be mad because she is so cute. ]

I love you, too...

[ ALMIGHTY SIGH ]

[ victory!! just according to keikaku.. but it earns him a beaming smile at least, and an arm hug, nuzzling her cheek to his shoulder before releasing him again. she still prefers her hands free in case of sword need, after all. ]

Good. Now, if you are the crypt expert, where do you suggest we go?

[ He's not sure his humiliation is worth the affection, don't press your luck, Alisaie!!! But as she isn't teasing him about spiders any longer, he'll let it drop, too. Until he has his revenge, anyway. She knows his weaknesses, but he knows hers, too...

He turns his light down each of the corridors before them, before nodding to the leftmost one. ]

Check it out. That one's still got a tripwire, which means no one's probably been down there for a long time.

[ Which could mean super valuable riches await. Also, death. ]

[ he does.. but she does not fear him. a crypt is no place for ticklefights, prompto!! unless you want to accidentally become impaled on those rusty spikes you're so fond of.

but riches, though! and death! she's confident that it will be the former and not the latter. so without a moment's hesitation she's moving forward, stepping carefully over the tripwire, her eyes up and watchful. now that they're deeper into the maze, the traps seem a little more plentiful, so it's time to slow down and take a little more care. ]

There's another, just here.

[ the second wire is a little more difficult to see, but she steps over it as well, but only a few paces later comes a heavy, blunt sound like something soft hitting stone, followed by a low, slithering drag. alisaie stops, her hands hovering at her hips. ]

- do you hear that?

[ This is where they really need to exercise due diligence, lest they be impaled or crushed or chased by a giant ball, what have you. They make it past the first two traps without any trouble, but then there's a distinct thump up ahead. It sounds like nothing good, and dread courses through him quickly as he calls a pistol into his hand in a flash of white-blue light. ]

We've got company.

[ He presses close to the wall as best he can, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever's slithering towards them before it catches sight of them. ]

[ well. what was it you said about not liking snakes, prompto?

.. because there's a very, very large one slithering right past the open archway leading into the chamber ahead of them. and are those arms? a naga, perhaps? lamia? ananta? pausing where she stands, alisaie casts a silent look back toward prompto. well? kill it? not kill it? ]

[ Ah, yes, there it is, and Prompto can't help a quiet: ]

Snakes...why did it have to be snakes?

[ Because it is his way. He recognizes the question in Alisaie's eyes, however, and what he wouldn't give to have Ignis around right now. They could try to sneak by it undetected...but the chamber isn't large, and getting around the monster without it noticing sounds extremely risky. Creatures like this usually could see much better in the dark than they could.

No, sneaking is out, but maybe if they can get in close without it noticing and disable it somehow...

He cocks his weapon and nods. They fight. ]

[ too bad she doesn't get his reference.. but then, she never does. high fantasy elf girlf, etc.

but hey, that's the answer she wants to hear, aww yeah. alisaie's smile sharpens dangerously, and she offers a near imperceptible nod before she's inching forward. at least it isn't a morbol, she's not sure she could handle prompto's whining about the stink for the rest of this trip..

at any rate, it is time to slake her bloodlust. the moment she's within range, alisaie charges up a spell, unleashing a powerful verthunder right into the naga's back, followed immediately with a cutting gust of veraero. disabling it? sure, go for it. she's just going to be falling right into her rotation of spells with brutal efficiency, because maiming and killing counts as disabling, right? ]

[ Sure, sure, whatever's clever. Disabling was sort of the lowest requirement for them getting past this thing, but if she wants to go all out and slay it, he won't stop her. More EXP that way!

While Alisaie falls into her routine spells, Prompto edges around the naga towards its back, banking on Alisaie's attacks taking its attention away from him. He uses the opportunity to dart in close and fire a handful of shots right between its shoulder blades. That's gotta hurt.

Ah, their first fight together...how cute. ]

[ yes.. the couple that maims and kills together.. or something.

but they work together in perfect tandem - partly thanks to the pact, surely, but even before it they have always had a good rhythm, making up for one another's faults, falling easily into a perfect, natural sync. alisaie's spells hit hard and fiercely, relentless and powerful enough to keep its attention focused solely on her while prompto peppers it with an endless rain of bullets.

it goes well. at least for awhile. but as alisaie leaps back and away, out of its reach again and again, the beast's patience begins to wear thin until at last it whips toward prompto, likely in hopes of finding easier prey. ]

-- Look out!

[ They seem to be making some traction in taking the beast down, and for awhile, Alisaie's barrage is enough to keep its attention off of Prompto - for a time, anyway. Alisaie calls out as the naga turns on him, and Prompto has perhaps gotten a little too close. He does more damage at point-blank range, but it leaves him more vulnerable to attack.

The naga seems to recognize this, too, and snatches for him with one of its hands, knocking his weapon out of his grip and then slamming him hard with its tail. Prompto goes soaring back against the wall and collides with it with a sharp yelp of pain. That is gonna leave a mark.

He still has stars in his vision when the naga reaches for him again - his throat, this time, and it lifts him into the air. ]

[ her warning, it seems, comes a moment too late, and alisaie's breath catches sympathetically at the blow that prompto takes from the whip of that powerful tail. disarmed and reeling from the force of it, prompto is easy pickins for the naga, and alisaie can do little but stare in horror as it lifts him into the air by the throat.

though of course, she's reacting in an instant, darting forward with a fierce cry. she could hack at its wrist, perhaps, but the thing is so damaged by now that alisaie is sure she can finish it off, if she can just get there - heart pounding and lungs burning, she leaps onto its tight coils, scaling its back in light-footed leaps. by the time the thing realizes it has a passenger it's too late.

with all of her strength and a harsh battle cry, alisaie plunges her rapier into the base of its skull, piercing it straight through, the tip of her blade protruding through its mouth in a great geyser of blood. some of which probably.. gets on prompto. sorry. ]

[ It's too bad Prompto is caught in the monster's grasp - otherwise, he would have truly admired Alisaie's display of battle prowess and strength. As it is, he's fighting just to stay conscious, catching only snippets of her moving up the naga's back as he struggles against the creature's constricting hand. He can't breathe, and his vision is swimming, and the feeling of hot blood splattering his skin is one of the last things he's aware of before he passes out completely.

In the shock of Alisaie's brutal attack, the naga releases Prompto from its grasp, but it's too late. He falls to the ground, limp as a ragdoll. ]

[ the naga collapses like a puppet with its strings cut, and she has to do a little clever skating down its coils to keep from falling on her face, but adrenaline keeps her feet sure and fast, and within moments she's hitting the ground hard, and bolting across the slick, slippery floor toward him.

a cold claw of panic squeezes her heart at the sight of him, so still and unmoving - no, he has to be fine, it had only seized him for a moment.. but gods, it was strong, and beneath its might prompto had seemed so very small and fragile. skidding to a halt beside him, alisaie drops to her knees on the hard stone floor, pushing him onto his back and framing his face with her hands. ]

Prompto?

[ but of course, there is no response. he lays still and pale, and in a flash of muted horror, she realizes that he is not breathing. gods.. she's no healer, and not for the first time nor the last she wishes desperately that her brother were here. he would know what to do. he could fix this. her hands move to her hips, but her rapier is still lodged in the naga's head, far away. uselessly, she shakes him hard - a voice in the back of her mind whispers for her to be calm, that panicking will not help, she must think - but that's so difficult to do, when he's lying before her like this.

with trembling hands she snags her grimoire, and nearly drops it twice. writing out the necessary diagrams proves even more difficult - three times she must begin again, for her shaking hands ruin the lines - with a frustrated cry, she squeezes her eyes shut, inhaling sharply. ]

Please -

[ she doesn't expect it when it comes - the sudden swirl of aether around prompto, ruffling his clothing and hair in a sweep of shining feathers, or the burst of light behind her as the phoenix unfurls its wings, raining pale light down upon prompto's upturned face. ]

[ They say you shouldn't move towards the light, but he's gonna move towards the light.

Because there's something warm and familiar about it. It's something he wants to reach out and touch and feel, and Prompto can't resist it's pull. The light envelops him, pulls him forth from that perilous limbo between life and death, and oh, how his chest burns -

He jolts awake, gasping for breath to fill his aching lungs. He's hungry for it, desperate for it, drinking in the musty, stale air of the crypt like it is the very staff of life itself. He coughs as he tries to make sense of the visions swirling before his eyes, but he's still too newly returned to consciousness to make much sense of them.

Alisaie is at his side with her grimoire, and behind her...a bird? But not one he's ever seen the like of before. It's where all the light had come from. It's what...brought him back.

Did she...call it here? ]

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