[ well. time to compartmentalize those bodies, too.
Just illusions. A shadow thrives beside the light. A shadow thrives beside the light.
seeing that claude is headed for futaba, lux once again rushes to get herself to the front of the group, to protect everyone as best she can. she's holding up her light like it might scare back claudia from attacking. ]
[ don't mind kon just piggybacking onto that, lux, because otherwise he might spiral. just illusions. just because it feels real doesn't mean it's real. they're okay. it's the same as last time - they're not really here.
he grabs the sword and uses it to leverage himself up to his knees, at least, bracing it and fumbling the other hand to pull out his phone. lux has her light spell, but he's still going to offer some semblance of backup with the flashlight on it to maybe keep claudia at bay. maybe if they don't run, they'll be okay? she asked them not to be afraid, right? running is being afraid.
despite the dread and panic and nausea, he calls towards claude without looking away from their new eldritch daycare nightmare. ]
[ man, this place just keeps giving, huh? futaba's too busy gaping at the sudden appearance to realize the floor under her weakens until it's too late and it's with a gasp of a yell that she's falling.
with her hands full all she can do is clutch the spear and close her eyes ignoring the shouts she only vaguely registers until- pain.
it's a bad landing, futaba slamming into the crates they moved earlier, wood stabbing vulnerable flesh. the spear slams across her chest, knocking what remaining breath remains in her lung and it takes everything left in her to remain conscious. are there things happening around her? that's nice, she's too dizzy to care ]
[ Claudia looks heartbroken the moment Claude runs for Futaba. She stops what she's doing, and the sounds of her tentacles winding and Lalli's screams stop. The sight of her consumption, hidden behind all her tentacle limbs, doesn't matter as she suddenly tosses Lalli onto the floor, and he rolls in front of Kon, a mangled and injured mess. He reaches out a limp hand for him before it drops.
Claudia winces from all the light, but she keeps her eyes on Claude.
[ This isn't going to work, he immediately thinks, trying to check Futaba for injuries while keeping an eye on Claudia.
The silence after Lalli's screams stop feels even worse than before, and he doesn't know what Kon is going to do. But he knows there's no way that they're going to get out of here without killing Claudia. ]
No.
[ But she's not real, right? This is an illusion, a memory, it's all fake. There was probably no helping her in the first place. ]
[ ... well, lux will go along with claude's strategy for now and hold back from attacking until she's attacked, but she's keeping her defensive position, here.
even if it means she has to focus extremely hard on looking at claudia, and not letting her eyes fall to lalli's body. her thoughts are just an endless, oppressive and overwhelming loop of: Don't look. A shadow thrives beside the light. Don't look. A shadow thrives beside the light. ]
[ well. what kon's going to do is snap his eyes shut, flinching. it's obvious that there's a faint tremor to his body, with the way that the light tremble a little, but he's right there with lux still in forcing a mantra to the front of his thoughts.
it's not real it's not real it's not him it's this place it's just like last time - ]
I'm coming back towards you, Claude. [ slowly, and on his knees, gritting words and breath out through his teeth as he keeps the phone up. he doesn't know futaba is loaded with weed, too, so he's bringing his. we need to figure out what to do. ]
[ You showed me the outside world, and I wanted to go with you. I want to stay with you! But I can't go... unless I become human.
The sound of tentacles moving rapidly fills the air, and two different yells can be heard. Two bodies come crashing through the ship walls, coiled in Claudia's Shade tentacles.
They are Yamato and Maya.
If I eat them, I can... I can become human... I can go with you....!
Her cries are filled with longing, with yearning. She wants to be with the one person who tried to help her, the one person who showed her kindness. She doesn't want him to hate her, but if she doesn't eat, she can't be with him. ]
[ His heart sure does stop when he sees Maya there (and Yamato, I guess). All his focus shifting so that he momentarily forgets about Futaba, and about Kon struggling toward him.
Do we have to kill her? It's not real. It's not real.
And they might not be real. Or maybe there are. There are so many familiar faces here, and eventually Claudia will eat her way through the illusions and turn her attention to— who? The rest of them? The townsfolk? ]
You're already human.
[ While he would appreciate Kon's weed, he's going to approach Claudia to if he can... hold her and maybe keep her from eating their dear friends? ]
[ it's a good thing claude is stepping forward because if no one made a move lux was going to.
but she'll give him time to do what he's going to do. to try and resolve this peacefully. does it count as peaceful when claudia has already killed several people? but they were just illusions. probably.
she doesn't think the peaceful route is going to work. ]
[ kon is fine with he and claude switching positions, and trusts lux to be ready if something happens. he doesn't - he's pretty sure that this isn't going to work how they want it to. and even if they can stop her, this is based off of memories, isn't it?
but even amatsuki was rewritten. they're trying to rewrite wiwaldi. he's not going to stop claude from trying. ]
Hey, babe. [ softly, to futaba, setting down the sword so he can dig for the weed without putting the phone down. ] Try not to move much.
[ speak for yourself but ok. › use medicinal herb? ]
[ she vaguely knows somethings happening elsewhere, but with the ringing in her ears and the throbbing in her body, that's a problem for future futaba.
or maybe just Claude. ]
Found you~
[ her thoughts are hazy but a gentle image pops of earlier, taking to her own monster creature and it letting her go ]
[ Futaba's wounds and injuries heal by 30 percent! If Kon is using it on Futaba.
Claudia's expression cracks even more, and tears well up in her eyes. I'm not... my body is like this...! She lets him embrace her, and sobs wrack her body. I can't be human unless... unless...
The tentacles wind tighter around Yamato and Maya. The sound of bones cracking pierce the air, as do their screams of pain.
She has to be human! She wants to become human! She wants to go everywhere with Claude!
Weiss, who had just been hanging out this entire time, finally pipes up: ]
You must kill it before it kills you! It is what the lad would do!
[ Ignore the book. It's what Kainé does 80 percent of the time. A tentacle darts through the ship to attack the grimoire, and it is going to strike through Lux if she doesn't dodge in order to get to Weiss. ]
Edited (i am parsing things correctly maybe) 2021-07-22 18:17 (UTC)
[ He honestly doesn't think that they'll be able to make it out of here without killing her, the sound of screaming steadily fraying his nerves, mind racing through possibilities. ]
No. You're fine. My best friend is a wyvern- a couple extra appendages aren't going to bother me.
[ Except then she lashes out, and his head jerks back to check if to see if the hit lands. He thinks Lux would be fast enough to dodge, and if she is,
[ lux tries to dodge out of the way, and hurls her orb of light out toward the tentacle holding maya. if the tentacle holding yamato is close, then ideally getting that in its radius, but i imagine they are too far apart? anyway, the orb of light just stays where it is, burning bright and slowing any enemy in its vicinity. she can control when it detonates, so it isn't bursting for magic damage yet. ]
[ the weed is for futaba, yeah, because she's the one that didn't land on the cushioned pile of corpses and whatnot, and 30% is still enough that ari can further enjoy carnage. claude is with claudia, so he has no means of slapping him with an item use right now.
at least lux is a light-based magic user. hopefully they can get maya and yamato out of the crushing tentacles, but he's not sure how much it'll matter - not with those screams, not with how things are going. ]
Time to sit up, 'taba. [ nudging at her carefully, to help her upright instead of in a wood heap. ]
[ 30% is way better, yeah. also less likey to hurk the minute she moves. at least sitting up isn't an absolute disaster and she blinks one eyed at the scene in front of her.
[ But I can't go outside like this... I can't see the outside world like this! I can't see how beautiful the world is with you!
She doesn't want that! She doesn't.
Yamato would be just out of range of that orb o light. Because it slows down enemies, it means Lux gets to dodge every tentacle easy! For however long that lasts or until Lux decides to detonate. Imagine them moving at a snail's pace towards her. Weiss is grateful.
But they are retaliating. They don't want her to be human. She can tell, and it breaks her heart. Wood creaks and cracks, and the ship starts to fall apart behind and around them because behind Claudia, tentacles grow and grow in size and length.
Kon and Futaba better move soon because it looks like those enlarged tentacles are going to come down and smash into them.
[ Imagine if Claude was like, well, she's not attacking me so.
But he's not that much of an asshole, he knows that both Futaba and Kon are injured, and he can't risk their safety any longer by trying to reason with her.
He lets her go and runs toward them when the tentacle rises up, pulling out the sword that Weiss had bartered for him, and aiming an attack at one of the tentacles coming down toward them. ]
Claudia, stop! I promise no one here wants to hurt you!
[ As long as she stops trying to eat them, in any case. ]
[ for now the slow is more beneficial than the burst would be. not like she could just cast this spell again after this.......... cooldowns........
with the light out of her hands, lux can get a better grip on her sword and try to take a swing at whatever tentacle is closest to her. i'm sure this is really reassuring claudia that no one wants to hurt her. ]
[ at least claude seems to have some control of the situation, to a degree, but seeing those tentacles coming for them even with the light field that lux has set up...
ari and i rolled badly. ("snow you rerolled for a lower number" we'll split the difference between the 8 and 19, if we must) kon grabs at the sword to bring it up, but he's only doing it with one hand - the other one he's trying to use his arm to shield futaba with that side of his body. ]
futaba's not moving as fast as she could, still addled despite the weed aid. a hand slaps for the spear, to at least attempt to bring it up but- it's heavy and her stamina's in the red.
She's being hurt right now. The tentacles are easily sliced by the swords. Claude manages to get at one and slices clean through! Lux gets one, and the hold on Yamato loosens up enough that if she's quick, she can get him free.
Blood spills from the tentacles, and then the drops of blood seem to fly and be absorbed by Weiss, who is still floating around here but I refuse to rp him because I am not as good or as talented as Hei. Hm!
Kon can manage to block it but just barely! The weight is strong and heavy against his arm.
The thing is, they've angered her. They've hurt her, and her eyes flash red. She grows to an unimaginable size, and the ship can't contain her. As she grows, so does everything about her, and her tentacles smash into each and every one of them.
She can't see as she grows, and one slams into Claude, right over where he was pierced in chest, and it reopens the wound, breaks a couple of his ribs, and he goes flying into the ocean behind Claudia. Lux is hit onto the beach in a light arc, and the sand somehow cushions her to some degree. Yamato and Maya drop like dolls near her. Kon and Futaba are not as lucky and they are smashed down by tentacles onto the shore, onto compacted sand. One tentacle strikes across them and somehow reopens the cut that goes across Kon's face. Futaba can have another broken bone of Ari's choice.
Whenever they gain their bearings, the three not in the ocean can see a large mound that looks like a hand resting on the sand with a long winding tentacle that leads up towards where it looks like the head can be.
No one can see her face, but they can hear her high-pitched panicked wails.
[ To be fair, I also wouldn't really believe the group of people trying to stab me.
In any case, Claude's chest is basically mush at this point, and between the blow breaking his ribs and the water he accidentally swallows upon impact, he's desperately trying to stay afloat, exhausted and desperate.
Can't breathe. Stop.
His sword goes sinking down into the ocean, all his effort going to keep himself from drowning. He can hear her calls of his name, but it's hard to focus on it over the voice of his own panic. He still doesn't want to hurt her. Still wishes that this wasn't the path they had to take, but ultimately, he'll always prioritize his own survival over anyone else's.
Anyway, Claude doesn't realize that you don't need to say this spell out loud, so he's going to mutter a very broken, ] dark... execution...
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Just illusions. A shadow thrives beside the light. A shadow thrives beside the light.
seeing that claude is headed for futaba, lux once again rushes to get herself to the front of the group, to protect everyone as best she can. she's holding up her light like it might scare back claudia from attacking. ]
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he grabs the sword and uses it to leverage himself up to his knees, at least, bracing it and fumbling the other hand to pull out his phone. lux has her light spell, but he's still going to offer some semblance of backup with the flashlight on it to maybe keep claudia at bay. maybe if they don't run, they'll be okay? she asked them not to be afraid, right? running is being afraid.
despite the dread and panic and nausea, he calls towards claude without looking away from their new eldritch daycare nightmare. ]
How is she..? Futaba!? [ is she real ]
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with her hands full all she can do is clutch the spear and close her eyes ignoring the shouts she only vaguely registers until- pain.
it's a bad landing, futaba slamming into the crates they moved earlier, wood stabbing vulnerable flesh. the spear slams across her chest, knocking what remaining breath remains in her lung and it takes everything left in her to remain conscious. are there things happening around her? that's nice, she's too dizzy to care ]
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Claudia winces from all the light, but she keeps her eyes on Claude.
Do you hate me now? ]
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The silence after Lalli's screams stop feels even worse than before, and he doesn't know what Kon is going to do. But he knows there's no way that they're going to get out of here without killing Claudia. ]
No.
[ But she's not real, right? This is an illusion, a memory, it's all fake. There was probably no helping her in the first place. ]
I just don't want anyone else to get hurt.
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even if it means she has to focus extremely hard on looking at claudia, and not letting her eyes fall to lalli's body. her thoughts are just an endless, oppressive and overwhelming loop of: Don't look. A shadow thrives beside the light. Don't look. A shadow thrives beside the light. ]
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it's not real it's not real it's not him it's this place it's just like last time - ]
I'm coming back towards you, Claude. [ slowly, and on his knees, gritting words and breath out through his teeth as he keeps the phone up. he doesn't know futaba is loaded with weed, too, so he's bringing his. we need to figure out what to do. ]
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Oh, hey.
[ that's an awful rasp to her voice. she's just gonna lay here like a porcupine full of wooden splinters for a bit. ]
What's up?
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The sound of tentacles moving rapidly fills the air, and two different yells can be heard. Two bodies come crashing through the ship walls, coiled in Claudia's Shade tentacles.
They are Yamato and Maya.
If I eat them, I can... I can become human... I can go with you....!
Her cries are filled with longing, with yearning. She wants to be with the one person who tried to help her, the one person who showed her kindness. She doesn't want him to hate her, but if she doesn't eat, she can't be with him. ]
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Do we have to kill her? It's not real. It's not real.
And they might not be real. Or maybe there are. There are so many familiar faces here, and eventually Claudia will eat her way through the illusions and turn her attention to— who? The rest of them? The townsfolk? ]
You're already human.
[ While he would appreciate Kon's weed, he's going to approach Claudia to if he can... hold her and maybe keep her from eating their dear friends? ]
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but she'll give him time to do what he's going to do. to try and resolve this peacefully. does it count as peaceful when claudia has already killed several people? but they were just illusions. probably.
she doesn't think the peaceful route is going to work. ]
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but even amatsuki was rewritten. they're trying to rewrite wiwaldi. he's not going to stop claude from trying. ]
Hey, babe. [ softly, to futaba, setting down the sword so he can dig for the weed without putting the phone down. ] Try not to move much.
[ speak for yourself but ok. › use medicinal herb? ]
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[ she vaguely knows somethings happening elsewhere, but with the ringing in her ears and the throbbing in her body, that's a problem for future futaba.
or maybe just Claude. ]
Found you~
[ her thoughts are hazy but a gentle image pops of earlier, taking to her own monster creature and it letting her go ]
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Claudia's expression cracks even more, and tears well up in her eyes. I'm not... my body is like this...! She lets him embrace her, and sobs wrack her body. I can't be human unless... unless...
The tentacles wind tighter around Yamato and Maya. The sound of bones cracking pierce the air, as do their screams of pain.
She has to be human! She wants to become human! She wants to go everywhere with Claude!
Weiss, who had just been hanging out this entire time, finally pipes up: ]
You must kill it before it kills you! It is what the lad would do!
[ Ignore the book. It's what Kainé does 80 percent of the time. A tentacle darts through the ship to attack the grimoire, and it is going to strike through Lux if she doesn't dodge in order to get to Weiss. ]
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No. You're fine. My best friend is a wyvern- a couple extra appendages aren't going to bother me.
[ Except then she lashes out, and his head jerks back to check if to see if the hit lands. He thinks Lux would be fast enough to dodge, and if she is,
Maya and Yamato. We have to get them! ]
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at least lux is a light-based magic user. hopefully they can get maya and yamato out of the crushing tentacles, but he's not sure how much it'll matter - not with those screams, not with how things are going. ]
Time to sit up, 'taba. [ nudging at her carefully, to help her upright instead of in a wood heap. ]
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hm. ]
Pretty sure this makes you less human?
[ that's her helpful .02 of the day ]
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She doesn't want that! She doesn't.
Yamato would be just out of range of that orb o light. Because it slows down enemies, it means Lux gets to dodge every tentacle easy! For however long that lasts or until Lux decides to detonate. Imagine them moving at a snail's pace towards her. Weiss is grateful.
But they are retaliating. They don't want her to be human. She can tell, and it breaks her heart. Wood creaks and cracks, and the ship starts to fall apart behind and around them because behind Claudia, tentacles grow and grow in size and length.
Kon and Futaba better move soon because it looks like those enlarged tentacles are going to come down and smash into them.
Nothing comes at Claude. ]
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But he's not that much of an asshole, he knows that both Futaba and Kon are injured, and he can't risk their safety any longer by trying to reason with her.
He lets her go and runs toward them when the tentacle rises up, pulling out the sword that Weiss had bartered for him, and aiming an attack at one of the tentacles coming down toward them. ]
Claudia, stop! I promise no one here wants to hurt you!
[ As long as she stops trying to eat them, in any case. ]
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with the light out of her hands, lux can get a better grip on her sword and try to take a swing at whatever tentacle is closest to her. i'm sure this is really reassuring claudia that no one wants to hurt her. ]
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ari and i rolled badly. ("snow you rerolled for a lower number" we'll split the difference between the 8 and 19, if we must) kon grabs at the sword to bring it up, but he's only doing it with one hand - the other one he's trying to use his arm to shield futaba with that side of his body. ]
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futaba's not moving as fast as she could, still addled despite the weed aid. a hand slaps for the spear, to at least attempt to bring it up but- it's heavy and her stamina's in the red.
uh oh spagettio's ]
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You're lying!
She's being hurt right now. The tentacles are easily sliced by the swords. Claude manages to get at one and slices clean through! Lux gets one, and the hold on Yamato loosens up enough that if she's quick, she can get him free.
Blood spills from the tentacles, and then the drops of blood seem to fly and be absorbed by Weiss, who is still floating around here but I refuse to rp him because I am not as good or as talented as Hei. Hm!
Kon can manage to block it but just barely! The weight is strong and heavy against his arm.
The thing is, they've angered her. They've hurt her, and her eyes flash red. She grows to an unimaginable size, and the ship can't contain her. As she grows, so does everything about her, and her tentacles smash into each and every one of them.
She can't see as she grows, and one slams into Claude, right over where he was pierced in chest, and it reopens the wound, breaks a couple of his ribs, and he goes flying into the ocean behind Claudia. Lux is hit onto the beach in a light arc, and the sand somehow cushions her to some degree. Yamato and Maya drop like dolls near her. Kon and Futaba are not as lucky and they are smashed down by tentacles onto the shore, onto compacted sand. One tentacle strikes across them and somehow reopens the cut that goes across Kon's face. Futaba can have another broken bone of Ari's choice.
Whenever they gain their bearings, the three not in the ocean can see a large mound that looks like a hand resting on the sand with a long winding tentacle that leads up towards where it looks like the head can be.
No one can see her face, but they can hear her high-pitched panicked wails.
Claude? Claude? She can't see where he landed. ]
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In any case, Claude's chest is basically mush at this point, and between the blow breaking his ribs and the water he accidentally swallows upon impact, he's desperately trying to stay afloat, exhausted and desperate.
Can't breathe. Stop.
His sword goes sinking down into the ocean, all his effort going to keep himself from drowning. He can hear her calls of his name, but it's hard to focus on it over the voice of his own panic. He still doesn't want to hurt her. Still wishes that this wasn't the path they had to take, but ultimately, he'll always prioritize his own survival over anyone else's.
Anyway, Claude doesn't realize that you don't need to say this spell out loud, so he's going to mutter a very broken, ] dark... execution...
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