[as Lucretia sighs and presses the button, Denji is yelling back at Malik because of course he is]
What'd you say?? If you're so bothered why didn't you press it 'n stop her from pressin' it?
[drawing closer to him in all his bloodied bravado, he suddenly grabs Malik's hand with his free, non-axe-holding one and yanks him over to the window to make him press it
so assuming Lucretia disappears, Malik's next in line!]
Don't worry, I'll give ya a hand provin' your bravery, dude!
and - so does malik! denji goes too. looks like this is a wild ride! and for a second - you're all just out in what feels like space. you float in this weird, far too quiet place, and then, like reality is ripping, you all appear in a new room.
it's weird, though. it's weird, because you feel strange, you feel... different? more tired, or something. like you've been here a long time. in fact, you all realize with a jolt that it's been three years. you've been floating in that void for a long time. and your appearance and body reflects that!
you are now in a dark and damp chamber that is lit with a faint flickering green light coming from glowing orbs that are affixed to portions of the wall. or, it should be dark, but you can see pretty well in the dark with all those eyes, huh? there are chains hanging from the ceiling, and, uncomfortably, a very faint rhythmic beating sound that can be felt as a thrum in the floor. with every thrum, the eyes that you have on your body pulse just as faintly.
in the center of the room are ten nine-foot-tall glass pillars set at different elevations. They are frosted from the inside by a murky liquid, thought you can see that there is something within each one. two of them are broken.
Malik lays on the ground, letting the strange beat radiate through his body. He's learning, over and over again, to stop touching things-- but how else are they supposed to get back? It's not like he wants to stay here, either. So he gets up. And goes over to the pillars to get a better look. ]
I think I preferred where we were before, actually...
[ She can feel the pulsing on her arm now, glancing down at it with a faint frown. She's used to being tired, but that's from running around and tending to others, not from this... weird dormancy. For three years.
The only thing preventing her from panicking is that she thinks Yamato had said he went through something similar, so for now, she takes a deeper breath and then follows Malik over to the pillars, resting a palm on the closest one.
I guess her hair is down to her shoulders now, great. ]
Don't say that. Where there's a will, there's an exit. We still need to make our way back.
[famous last fucking words, but she sounds-- faintly shaken, maybe. only three years this time, but this is not an unfamiliar sensation, and it's one she hates the implications of.
Hey, is it just me or does anyone else feel like...older? Like we were in space for a super long time but not?
Also...ya hear that? Sounds like we all got eaten or somethin'. Maybe the whole damn room's alive this time. [again, denji is, for some ungodly reason, familiar with such things
....anyway since the pillars are well covered him and his axe are going to wander over to those green orbs attached to the wall—he is not touching them for now—and try to see if there's anything inside them, written on them, or if there's an overall pattern to them and their placements]
anyway. lucretia checks out the broken pillars. these are empty, but there's liquid all over the ground, and it smells fucking horrendous. it's swampy and murky like the rest of it. at the bottom of one of them is a pile of rags, and a mop of red hair.
malik and otome head over to the pillars. when they look inside them, they can see... people? people, maybe. or what were people. they're twisted, and rotting in places. the bodies are weirdly elongated, broken - and covered in red eyes, tattoos like the ones on their own skin. and as they look these people over, they might find something familiar about them? one is a little girl, with pig-tails, floating quietly in one of the tanks - someone that otome might know. the other is an austere looking bald man that malik will recognize as someone... important.
when otome rests her hand on the pillar, the little girl opens her eyes - and starts to scream.
which brings us to denji, who is looking at the green orbs. there's nothing written on them, but there's definitely something inside them. when the girl screams, four bright green orbs shoot out of the lamps and start buzzing, angrily.
hope denji can dodge, because the first one is going to shoot a shard of ice at him!]
[ remember how malik chose not to perceive denji getting obliterated before? yeah he's doing that again, even excluding the screams of the little girl in the pillar next door-- because he's only focused on the one in front of him. ]
Rishid! Rishid!
[ He's hitting the glass to get this... thing's attention, but look, it's close enough to who he wants it to be that he can look past how grotesque it is. ]
[ Ordinarily, Otome would be on it. By remarking to Denji or to Lucretia or trying to calm Malik down, but she sees that mutilated little girl and those familiar pigtails and the scream makes her flinch, but-- ]
Koharu!! Hold on, I'll--!
[ ... Well she has no idea how to break this thing and she's aware this is probably not legit but she's a little too distressed in this moment to be sensible. ]
[she glances over to them, worriedly, but also denji is (mobile game voice) Fucking Under Attack!
so she's going to try to help with that situation first, hurrying in that direction. are these orbs anything she's familiar with, can she identify what the hell they might be before trying to actually attack them?]
[Denji knows fighters who dodge, and they're all cowards
he does, however, jump back when the buzzing orbs shoot out of the lamps and when the ice shoots towards him he gets his arms crossed in front of his face and neck in time to just get scratched and punctured there instead—some also deflecting off the axe]
Another crappy piece of decoration wants to fight, huh??
[he turns at the screaming, concerned if Otome is okay (and only Otome), when he sees Lucretia running up—through gritted teeth:]
Cool if I chop these or you wanna, like, investigate first??
[the second malik starts hitting the pillar, the thing that was - or is, maybe, still - rishid, opens its eyes, and joins in the screaming. just wailing, without stop, the sort of crying that babies do when they're distressed. it's loud. the glass is starting to crack, with how loud it is, and it probably hurts your ears, all of you.
the orb buzzes angrily when it doesn't manage to one-hit denji, and zooms across the room towards the pillar. another follows it, directly into the pillars as well. they vanish, leaving two orbs behind. these orbs zoom across the room and through the closed door. lucretia doesn't recognize these orbs, weirdly enough, but she will hear the sound of shattering glass behind her as one of the pillars erupts into a nasty liquid mess.
she's not facing it, but denji will see a distorted, gasping creature, using its elongated limbs to drag itself out of the glass, not seeming to care if it's hurting itself doing it. a ratty, tangled mess of blonde hair and pointy ears are all that can be made out when looking at this bubbled, grotesque corpse. well - that, and the fact that it seems to be crying, judging by the sounds its making.]
[ malik has to back away and cover his ears, palms pressed hard against them. he should have expected this. he shouldn't have touched the glass. but it's hard to ignore something like that right there in front of him. but he has to back away-- stumble, more like, since he can't see where he's going and there's still hazard in this room. ]
You might have to start chopping sooner rather than later!
But the ear that can still hear is not too happy at all of this cacophony and it snaps her enough out of it that she too stumbles back (it's fine Denji honey she's okay) and grabs onto Malik's shoulders to pull him with her.
[she turns at the screaming, after the orbs have zipped away, trying to see where they went-- and she should expect this, probably, after the way they both called out to people they seemed to recognize, but she sees the hair and ears and just stops short, horrified.]
No, that can't--
[there's no way. it shouldn't be real, she just... has to remember that. this can't be what it seems like.]
Hey! No one let this stuff mess with your head and get all weird and stabby about it, ya hear me??
[axe in hand and at the ready, he runs after the two orbs that go towards the door, blocking or chopping at anything that tries to attack or reach out to him (sorry grotesque creatures, no touch me) with particular mind to the one that just emerged
he wades through all the various goops and bits of broken glass until he reaches where Otome and Lucretia are, at which point he's going to shove them towards the door (as politely as one can shove someone away from danger) and post up with his axe]
Ugh, stinks like crap in here! Get that door open...please!
[the glass - shatters. both pillars, both koharu's and rishid's. they stop screaming, abruptly, as the murky liquid sloshes out from the pillars, hitting both malik and otome. it smells like death and rot, and it's enough to make the stomach turn. the bodies sink to the floor. and then slowly, they start to stand.
rishid cracks, his neck broken, his bright red eyes tracking malik. he's still for a second, and then he throws himself at malik with the intent of knocking him to the ground, unhinged jaw desperately trying to snap at malik, claws digging into malik's torso.
the little girl, though, just hiccups, and reaches for otome. she's all wrong angles, leg snapped, too many eyes, but. please, pick her up.
this is about the point that denji makes his way over, and then starts running to the door. he probably chops the blonde creature a bit, who says fuck, really loud. we'll get back to that in a second.
meanwhile, said blonde pointy-eared creature collapses to the floor entirely, gasping, and then starts to convulse. an arm comes out of its back - and then another, and then a head, and the blonde creature wails as a whole other creature wrenches itself up and out of the blonde, like it's emerging from a cocoon. this one has little horns, and long, tangled light hair. unfortunately, denji will recognize this girl. or what's left of her, considering she's in the same state as the others.
the blonde and the horned one both lay on the floor for a moment, gasping like dying fish, before pulling themselves up to stand, distorted, bent backward and broken. the bright red eyes all across the room (including the ones on otome, malik, lucretia and denji's skin) start to pulse like a quickened heartbeat.
back to the door! the door opens. or rather, it gets knocked the fuck down! tendrils come through the door, rattling against the wall, and it's dark, but it's impossible to miss the thing that shrieks as it squeezes itself through the opening that is too small for it. it's stuck there, for now. going through this door might be a bad idea? maybe?
anyway. way, way too fast, the blonde and the horned one are going to go for denji and lucretia, insistent. the blonde goes for lucretia, hands on fire - and the horned one's arms turn into two weapons, one side a hammer and the other a spear as it swings at denji. one, two, and then - well, a kick, aimed directly at denji's groin.]
[ malik doesn't get very far even with otome's encouragement. they're hit with the liquid, the stench overpowering, and he starts to wretch. it's hard to run while trying not to vomit, and then-- those things, that should be people, but aren't. malik can't tear his eyes away, even though he's scared. horrified. that split second of stillness is tense, and then malik squeaks when he goes down- and hits the floor hard. ]
NO! No, no no no no--!
[ his cries of desperation are quickly replaced by cries of agony, the claws raking through his jacket. He tries to wiggle free but goes nowhere, trying to kick The Thing That Looks Like Rishid off of him, or at the very least trying to kick himself out from underneath him towards freedom.
he can't even react to the thing in the doorway. he's not even being a jerk this time, he's just a little preoccupied. ]
[ Otome gets shoved towards the door, though her eyes remain on Koharu(?) as she drops, and when this sad little abomination hiccups and reaches out her arms, she very nearly just goes to scoop her up, situation be damned.
... But then she shakes her head, looking absolutely heartbroken, gives one whole look to the thing blocking the door-- and then she's pivoting on her heel and flat-out throwing herself at Rishid to try and knock him off of Malik. He is a big man whose biceps she could appreciate maybe if his neck wasn't broken and the eye on her arm wasn't being an annoyance and he wasn't trying to kill a teenager-- the point being that she's not sure she's going to be able to do anything with her bulk against his.
However, she does still have that ring and the instant she can get a shot that avoids Malik hopefully, she's going to be trying for one of those fire bolts now.
[god, that's awful to watch, but it just-- seeing that has her reminding herself anew this isn't the person she knows. this can't be. this can't be her lup.
the thing in the door isn't a threat Yet, so she turns her attention to the creature attacking her, trying to ignore the pulsing of the eye in her palm. lup reaches out with hands on fire, and lucretia blocks with the arm that's already been badly burned-- she can't feel it. it'll be fine. the heat still makes her wince where she can feel it, but she uses the mask she'd found, attempting to use poison spray on it.
even knowing, though, she takes in a short breath as she does it, whispers an apology.]
[Denji looks from Otome at the door, back to the awful flesh metamorphosis happening, back to the door and its monstrosity, then back to horned humanoid that stands up]
P-Powie...?
[and even for everything he was shouting before, the sight of her like this, the broken body and pained gasping (not again not again not again), is enough to knock him out of Bloodthirsty Battle Mode for the moment needed for it to attack him
years of honed fight-or-die instincts and recent specialist training are all that save him from being straight-up impaled, as he instead pivots to take the hammer blow while focusing a big disarming (heh) slash at the spear to try and take that whole side off]
H-hey it's not actually you, ri—
[he doesn't get time to finish that as the nutshot sends him crumpled to the ground in a heap, although he does have the presence of mind to quickly roll out of the way for any blows aimed down at him
he scrabbles in his pockets for the piece of licorice, thinking damn sure could use another weapon about now]
[the kick that malik manages does something! on the plus side, it does some damage. on the not so plus side, his foot kind of just goes directly through the thing that looks like rishid. the creature doesn't even really make a noise, just rips into malik as best it can. it leaves long, deep claw marks down his torso, digs against his skin like its trying to tear out his insides.
and then otome rams into him, and the nice thing is that this big burly man is kind of made of paper, so he does go flying off to the side. the unfortunate part is that like, only his top half does. it rolls away, leaving just the pants on top of malik. and it would be rolling back over to drag its zombie ass to fight more if otome didn't just entirely obliterate it with a fire bolt. it screams, and it most definitely does it with rishid's voice.
so that worked out well! except... well, you forgot one thing.
the sad little abomination decides that it doesn't like being ignored. which is why it stomps its little foot and its hand sharpens. there's just a split second - before it shoves that sharpened hand through otome. hm. bad.
there's a shift in the air. a buzz, as lucretia faces off against the blonde creature. it attacks with burning hands, leaving welts and blisters, third degree burns, all across whatever it can reach. the poison spray does a pretty good job, though - it fails the constitution saving throw and like, chokes, and then whimpers, and - quietly, in a voice that's very familiar, whispers lulu, help - help me --
before crumpling to the ground and shuddering at lucretia's feet.
the hammer cracks against denji's side heavily, and probably cracks or breaks a few ribs. fortunately, that means that denji does, in face, slash the whole arm off. paper thin, these things are. it whimpers, watching its arm drop to the floor, and then shrieks before trying to bring the hammer down on denji. he just barely manages to move out of the way, the hammer leaving a dent in the floor.
when he grabs the licorice - a big, translucent weapon of his choice roars into existence, ready to fight with him side by side! fuckin' rad, you funky little chainsaw man.]
[ using the adrenaline coursing through his veins, malik manages to scramble away from the zombie half that was unfortunately left behind. even more unfortunately, those claws did some damage, and he's not quite finding the strength to stand-- he's acutely aware of the pain, the burning sensation of the clash digging, gouging into his skin lingering. He can feel blood, uncomfortably warm, spreading through the remains of his shirt and jacket.
even more, more unfortunately still, his eyes dart over to watch otome - maybe even say thank you - and he sees it. that hand? arm? if you could even call it that? just go right through her. ]
[ It's a very weird sensation, being impaled. Otome just glances down at the hand... blade... thing, faintly surprised, before a choked noise of pain escapes her mouth and she forces herself to stagger a few steps forward, to yank herself away from Koharu.
But then she goes down heavily on one knee, pressing her arm against the wound. The cloth is very swiftly soaked in blood, but it's fine. Dimly, she can hear violence, Malik yelling, and all she can really think to say is a rather strained-- ]
[it hurts, but she can't focus on the pain of that right now-- it makes her cry out reflexively, but she's survived worse. she has to just push through this, and manages to get the attack off.
lulu, help me, it says, and her breath shudders as she inhales, watching it crumple before her. she's tried-- god, she's tried so hard, she looked wherever she could manage, but she was just gone, and this-- this creature with her face is the first time she's seen her in years.
then malik calls otome's name, and she glances up, eyes widening at the sight of the blood soaking otome's clothes.]
Shit-
[...her gaze falls back to the creature, briefly. help me. there's only one way to help it now.
she doesn't have a weapon, and god, she feels absolutely sick as she does this, holding her breath as she does, but she reaches down to try to snap its neck and prays that it puts a quick end to it.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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What'd you say?? If you're so bothered why didn't you press it 'n stop her from pressin' it?
[drawing closer to him in all his bloodied bravado, he suddenly grabs Malik's hand with his free, non-axe-holding one and yanks him over to the window to make him press it
so assuming Lucretia disappears, Malik's next in line!]
Don't worry, I'll give ya a hand provin' your bravery, dude!
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and - so does malik! denji goes too. looks like this is a wild ride! and for a second - you're all just out in what feels like space. you float in this weird, far too quiet place, and then, like reality is ripping, you all appear in a new room.
it's weird, though. it's weird, because you feel strange, you feel... different? more tired, or something. like you've been here a long time. in fact, you all realize with a jolt that it's been three years. you've been floating in that void for a long time. and your appearance and body reflects that!
you are now in a dark and damp chamber that is lit with a faint flickering green light coming from glowing orbs that are affixed to portions of the wall. or, it should be dark, but you can see pretty well in the dark with all those eyes, huh? there are chains hanging from the ceiling, and, uncomfortably, a very faint rhythmic beating sound that can be felt as a thrum in the floor. with every thrum, the eyes that you have on your body pulse just as faintly.
in the center of the room are ten nine-foot-tall glass pillars set at different elevations. They are frosted from the inside by a murky liquid, thought you can see that there is something within each one. two of them are broken.
there's a door on the other side of the chamber.]
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Malik lays on the ground, letting the strange beat radiate through his body. He's learning, over and over again, to stop touching things-- but how else are they supposed to get back? It's not like he wants to stay here, either. So he gets up. And goes over to the pillars to get a better look. ]
I think I preferred where we were before, actually...
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The only thing preventing her from panicking is that she thinks Yamato had said he went through something similar, so for now, she takes a deeper breath and then follows Malik over to the pillars, resting a palm on the closest one.
I guess her hair is down to her shoulders now, great. ]
Don't say that. Where there's a will, there's an exit. We still need to make our way back.
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[famous last fucking words, but she sounds-- faintly shaken, maybe. only three years this time, but this is not an unfamiliar sensation, and it's one she hates the implications of.
she's going to check out one of the broken ones.]
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Hey, is it just me or does anyone else feel like...older? Like we were in space for a super long time but not?
Also...ya hear that? Sounds like we all got eaten or somethin'. Maybe the whole damn room's alive this time. [again, denji is, for some ungodly reason, familiar with such things
....anyway since the pillars are well covered him and his axe are going to wander over to those green orbs attached to the wall—he is not touching them for now—and try to see if there's anything inside them, written on them, or if there's an overall pattern to them and their placements]
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anyway. lucretia checks out the broken pillars. these are empty, but there's liquid all over the ground, and it smells fucking horrendous. it's swampy and murky like the rest of it. at the bottom of one of them is a pile of rags, and a mop of red hair.
malik and otome head over to the pillars. when they look inside them, they can see... people? people, maybe. or what were people. they're twisted, and rotting in places. the bodies are weirdly elongated, broken - and covered in red eyes, tattoos like the ones on their own skin. and as they look these people over, they might find something familiar about them? one is a little girl, with pig-tails, floating quietly in one of the tanks - someone that otome might know. the other is an austere looking bald man that malik will recognize as someone... important.
when otome rests her hand on the pillar, the little girl opens her eyes - and starts to scream.
which brings us to denji, who is looking at the green orbs. there's nothing written on them, but there's definitely something inside them. when the girl screams, four bright green orbs shoot out of the lamps and start buzzing, angrily.
hope denji can dodge, because the first one is going to shoot a shard of ice at him!]
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Rishid! Rishid!
[ He's hitting the glass to get this... thing's attention, but look, it's close enough to who he wants it to be that he can look past how grotesque it is. ]
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Koharu!! Hold on, I'll--!
[ ... Well she has no idea how to break this thing and she's aware this is probably not legit but she's a little too distressed in this moment to be sensible. ]
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[she glances over to them, worriedly, but also denji is (mobile game voice) Fucking Under Attack!
so she's going to try to help with that situation first, hurrying in that direction. are these orbs anything she's familiar with, can she identify what the hell they might be before trying to actually attack them?]
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he does, however, jump back when the buzzing orbs shoot out of the lamps and when the ice shoots towards him he gets his arms crossed in front of his face and neck in time to just get scratched and punctured there instead—some also deflecting off the axe]
Another crappy piece of decoration wants to fight, huh??
[he turns at the screaming, concerned if Otome is okay (and only Otome), when he sees Lucretia running up—through gritted teeth:]
Cool if I chop these or you wanna, like, investigate first??
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the orb buzzes angrily when it doesn't manage to one-hit denji, and zooms across the room towards the pillar. another follows it, directly into the pillars as well. they vanish, leaving two orbs behind. these orbs zoom across the room and through the closed door. lucretia doesn't recognize these orbs, weirdly enough, but she will hear the sound of shattering glass behind her as one of the pillars erupts into a nasty liquid mess.
she's not facing it, but denji will see a distorted, gasping creature, using its elongated limbs to drag itself out of the glass, not seeming to care if it's hurting itself doing it. a ratty, tangled mess of blonde hair and pointy ears are all that can be made out when looking at this bubbled, grotesque corpse. well - that, and the fact that it seems to be crying, judging by the sounds its making.]
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You might have to start chopping sooner rather than later!
[ gross, denji gets to do something. ]
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But the ear that can still hear is not too happy at all of this cacophony and it snaps her enough out of it that she too stumbles back (it's fine Denji honey she's okay) and grabs onto Malik's shoulders to pull him with her.
Sorry, Koharu in a tube. She feels terrible. ]
There was a door, wasn't there?!
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No, that can't--
[there's no way. it shouldn't be real, she just... has to remember that. this can't be what it seems like.]
There was. We should... we need to go.
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Hey! No one let this stuff mess with your head and get all weird and stabby about it, ya hear me??
[axe in hand and at the ready, he runs after the two orbs that go towards the door, blocking or chopping at anything that tries to attack or reach out to him (sorry grotesque creatures, no touch me) with particular mind to the one that just emerged
he wades through all the various goops and bits of broken glass until he reaches where Otome and Lucretia are, at which point he's going to shove them towards the door (as politely as one can shove someone away from danger) and post up with his axe]
Ugh, stinks like crap in here! Get that door open...please!
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rishid cracks, his neck broken, his bright red eyes tracking malik. he's still for a second, and then he throws himself at malik with the intent of knocking him to the ground, unhinged jaw desperately trying to snap at malik, claws digging into malik's torso.
the little girl, though, just hiccups, and reaches for otome. she's all wrong angles, leg snapped, too many eyes, but. please, pick her up.
this is about the point that denji makes his way over, and then starts running to the door. he probably chops the blonde creature a bit, who says fuck, really loud. we'll get back to that in a second.
meanwhile, said blonde pointy-eared creature collapses to the floor entirely, gasping, and then starts to convulse. an arm comes out of its back - and then another, and then a head, and the blonde creature wails as a whole other creature wrenches itself up and out of the blonde, like it's emerging from a cocoon. this one has little horns, and long, tangled light hair. unfortunately, denji will recognize this girl. or what's left of her, considering she's in the same state as the others.
the blonde and the horned one both lay on the floor for a moment, gasping like dying fish, before pulling themselves up to stand, distorted, bent backward and broken. the bright red eyes all across the room (including the ones on otome, malik, lucretia and denji's skin) start to pulse like a quickened heartbeat.
back to the door! the door opens. or rather, it gets knocked the fuck down! tendrils come through the door, rattling against the wall, and it's dark, but it's impossible to miss the thing that shrieks as it squeezes itself through the opening that is too small for it. it's stuck there, for now. going through this door might be a bad idea? maybe?
anyway. way, way too fast, the blonde and the horned one are going to go for denji and lucretia, insistent. the blonde goes for lucretia, hands on fire - and the horned one's arms turn into two weapons, one side a hammer and the other a spear as it swings at denji. one, two, and then - well, a kick, aimed directly at denji's groin.]
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NO! No, no no no no--!
[ his cries of desperation are quickly replaced by cries of agony, the claws raking through his jacket. He tries to wiggle free but goes nowhere, trying to kick The Thing That Looks Like Rishid off of him, or at the very least trying to kick himself out from underneath him towards freedom.
he can't even react to the thing in the doorway. he's not even being a jerk this time, he's just a little preoccupied. ]
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... But then she shakes her head, looking absolutely heartbroken, gives one whole look to the thing blocking the door-- and then she's pivoting on her heel and flat-out throwing herself at Rishid to try and knock him off of Malik. He is a big man whose biceps she could appreciate maybe if his neck wasn't broken and the eye on her arm wasn't being an annoyance and he wasn't trying to kill a teenager-- the point being that she's not sure she's going to be able to do anything with her bulk against his.
However, she does still have that ring and the instant she can get a shot that avoids Malik hopefully, she's going to be trying for one of those fire bolts now.
SURE HOPE EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING OKAY?? ]
no subject
the thing in the door isn't a threat Yet, so she turns her attention to the creature attacking her, trying to ignore the pulsing of the eye in her palm. lup reaches out with hands on fire, and lucretia blocks with the arm that's already been badly burned-- she can't feel it. it'll be fine. the heat still makes her wince where she can feel it, but she uses the mask she'd found, attempting to use poison spray on it.
even knowing, though, she takes in a short breath as she does it, whispers an apology.]
no subject
P-Powie...?
[and even for everything he was shouting before, the sight of her like this, the broken body and pained gasping (not again not again not again), is enough to knock him out of Bloodthirsty Battle Mode for the moment needed for it to attack him
years of honed fight-or-die instincts and recent specialist training are all that save him from being straight-up impaled, as he instead pivots to take the hammer blow while focusing a big disarming (heh) slash at the spear to try and take that whole side off]
H-hey it's not actually you, ri—
[he doesn't get time to finish that as the nutshot sends him crumpled to the ground in a heap, although he does have the presence of mind to quickly roll out of the way for any blows aimed down at him
he scrabbles in his pockets for the piece of licorice, thinking damn sure could use another weapon about now]
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and then otome rams into him, and the nice thing is that this big burly man is kind of made of paper, so he does go flying off to the side. the unfortunate part is that like, only his top half does. it rolls away, leaving just the pants on top of malik. and it would be rolling back over to drag its zombie ass to fight more if otome didn't just entirely obliterate it with a fire bolt. it screams, and it most definitely does it with rishid's voice.
so that worked out well! except... well, you forgot one thing.
the sad little abomination decides that it doesn't like being ignored. which is why it stomps its little foot and its hand sharpens. there's just a split second - before it shoves that sharpened hand through otome. hm. bad.
there's a shift in the air. a buzz, as lucretia faces off against the blonde creature. it attacks with burning hands, leaving welts and blisters, third degree burns, all across whatever it can reach. the poison spray does a pretty good job, though - it fails the constitution saving throw and like, chokes, and then whimpers, and - quietly, in a voice that's very familiar, whispers lulu, help - help me --
before crumpling to the ground and shuddering at lucretia's feet.
the hammer cracks against denji's side heavily, and probably cracks or breaks a few ribs. fortunately, that means that denji does, in face, slash the whole arm off. paper thin, these things are. it whimpers, watching its arm drop to the floor, and then shrieks before trying to bring the hammer down on denji. he just barely manages to move out of the way, the hammer leaving a dent in the floor.
when he grabs the licorice - a big, translucent weapon of his choice roars into existence, ready to fight with him side by side! fuckin' rad, you funky little chainsaw man.]
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even more, more unfortunately still, his eyes dart over to watch otome - maybe even say thank you - and he sees it. that hand? arm? if you could even call it that? just go right through her. ]
Otome!
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But then she goes down heavily on one knee, pressing her arm against the wound. The cloth is very swiftly soaked in blood, but it's fine. Dimly, she can hear violence, Malik yelling, and all she can really think to say is a rather strained-- ]
Please be okay...
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lulu, help me, it says, and her breath shudders as she inhales, watching it crumple before her. she's tried-- god, she's tried so hard, she looked wherever she could manage, but she was just gone, and this-- this creature with her face is the first time she's seen her in years.
then malik calls otome's name, and she glances up, eyes widening at the sight of the blood soaking otome's clothes.]
Shit-
[...her gaze falls back to the creature, briefly. help me. there's only one way to help it now.
she doesn't have a weapon, and god, she feels absolutely sick as she does this, holding her breath as she does, but she reaches down to try to snap its neck and prays that it puts a quick end to it.]
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