you are a healer who has recently been sent to the frontlines. whatever your backstory is, you can decide. the only thing that's necessary is that you have wanted to be a combat medic since you were a child, for whatever reason. you've grown up on stories of people suffering in the war against the Abundance Yaoshi - you've wanted to help, to heal, to take care of people. if you get to destroy the borisin, a species of immortal wolfmen, that's just a bonus.
the borisin enslave your people, and they wage war on your ships. they hate foxians - which is what you are, even if you're a bird. the borisin are known for eating foxians, for waging constant wars, and for only caring about strength. they are dangerous, immortal, and - well, the xianzhou alliance has had enough.
you arrive, fresh from your schooling as a combat medic. you can have done something on the side to get to this point, but the most important thing is you have all this knowledge about how to nurse people back to health, but none of the experience. it's a little scary, this being your first real job. but you know you can do it. you are ready.
so - you arrive. it's a makeshift town built on enemy territory, but there's a well-supplied clinic, a place to eat, a place to grow food, and a place to trade for goods. you all arrive with one bag on your backs, full of whatever necessities you want.
maybe it's time to introduce yourselves to each other while you wait for your first set of orders? maybe look around a bit. ]
["maybe it's time to introduce yourselves" imagine being a normal social person who cares about your future co-workers. couldn't be mizu!!
takes one look at this group. looks down the street. hums, cat ears twitching.]
I could go for a bite.
[and like a true black cat, mizu immediately tries to fuck off. starts walking past the group, down the street, to see what food (and other stuff if flurry wants to give us The Flavor Text) is available... tail swishing idly. because we are furries now. this is important information for anyone coming to read this after unlocks. goodbye.]
Edited (spotting new typos... hell) 2025-02-17 02:39 (UTC)
[ you know who is would love to be a social creature is taair! standing with these four is the one who ruined the furry theme by being a featherie, hands on the straps of his bag, the blue wings on his back just a little bit puffed up, little head wings on either side of his head just the same, because it is his first day, finally, out in the field. finally, with other medics. finally, finally, able to help people and get to work.
he's about to open his mouth to greet the other three - eyes curiously snapping up just above each person's head before they go back down, when mizu immediately leaves. ]
...Oh. [ the wings on his head deflate sadly... and then return to normal as he looks to the other two. brightening, he clasps his hands together. ]
I thought I'd like to take a look at the clinic, but...well - she does have a point, doesn't she? We ought to head that way, too, before our orders come in. What are your names...?
it's night time, now. there's a nice buffet table, there's a couple set ups for making marshmallows and smores and stuff. it's pretty relaxed, kind of just like a company retreat thing. these people are your new coworkers, and people you'll be spending time with for months. and a LOT of people are here. a few notable faces include the ones you've met already, so - xingqiu, childe, yae miko. the white haired foxian woman, feixiao, and her purple companion - moze - are here, though moze looks like he's going to ascend. he is not pleased to be here at all.
others include a very stacked man chilling out a bit away from the party itself, with a dude sitting next to him peacefully. a woman that's sewing a toy bear back together for what looks like a child. a brown haired girl taking pictures, an older looking foxian smoking a pipe and staring out at the party, a woman petting a bunny, and of course, general jing yuan, who you have seen in public before and would recognize! next to him is a boy. you can see where i got tired of describing things. you've never met any of these people before! especially not the first two. they're strangers.
each of you can pick up to two people to hang out with tonight, and you can have a short conversation with them if you'd like! ]
[ bonfire night was pretty fun! seems like a success.
the morning comes. you might be a little hungover, depending on who you are, but you’re still expected to be at the clinic at six in the morning, sharp! even you, richie, after your plot important balls night. when you make it there, yae miko is a strict master. she runs you all ragged preparing supplies and bandages, and, just as she promised, when the campaign comes back, they’re mostly uninjured. the four of you help patch any minor wounds as the soldiers give their report to the general. it's a good introduction to your tools at your disposal, and how the clinic works.
the report goes like this - the borisin are moving in. they’re slow, and they’re unusually cautious, but they’re scouting out your party as much as you’re scouting out theirs. best the group can tell is you have a month before they put in action their plan.
which works, honestly. you guys have a month to settle in, to get to know people. these friendships you’re making with people brings a vigor to your spirit that you were missing before. it’s a whirlwind, it’s always busy, but it’s no worse than any work you’ve been put to before. in this month, you experience the following:
mizu - childe does his best to keep up with you for the weeks ahead. most times, if you’re willing, he wants to be around you, whether it’s for sparring or for sharing meals, or whatever else. it’s not really something romantic, but there’s a strong amount of trust he puts in you. a little like devotion. he gets the impression pretty quickly that you're not super interested in his family stories, so he keeps it mostly about swordsmanship, but - you do know that he has a lot of little siblings that he very clearly adores. despite being horny for fights, he places family first. and hey, he’s always looking for new ways to make the two of you the most remarkable swordsmen in camp despite the fact that you are supposed to be a healer.
claude - ringo and wu he continue to sneak you into the kitchens after hours to make some of the best noodles you’ve ever had. ringo waves excitedly every time he sees you and tells you that nobody has ever really been this nice to him before. he shows you some of his inventions - he's made tools for himself so that he can do the same things you do, like paint or hammer or cut bandages. he paints a beautiful landscape, the city with the stars above, and gifts it to you with an eager look. and, sometimes, when you come back to your sleeping quarters, you'll find expensive bottles of various types of alcohol on your bed with a note - from the lacking general. feixiao can't always stick around to chat, being an arbiter general, but she saw something in you, and she's always very encouraging. sometimes, she'll send moze to jumpscare you, though. this is probably some sort of affection in her eyes, considering you hear that feixiao encourages moze to try to assassinate her whenever he feels fit.
taair - you find marcoh gravitates towards you quite a bit. you find that around the camp, marcoh is seen as pretty intimidating. you know he isn’t, he’s just quiet and not inclined to reach out, but over time, he opens up a bit. when he sees you at camp, he’s quick to come stand close and just like… be there, and after a while you get a little bit of a reputation for having a guardian angel at your shoulder. if there's ever a point where someone is just a little too mean, marcoh kind of just appears behind you and people behave themselves. he brings you food when you work too hard, and eventually he tells you a little about his life before he came here. about his sister, and the struggles he's gone through. on the other hand, sushang has absolutely adopted you as her baby brother. she comes by the clinic a lot with various cuts and bruises just from being a little too overzealous during training, but she's always cheerful and excited to see you. she tells you a little about how she thinks her uncle would really like you, and how after this campaign, maybe you can come back to the yaoqing and you can all share a meal.
richie - yukong takes a liking to you, and whenever she sees you around camp, she stops to chat. she gives you a lot of advice on how to handle the worst of the chores in camp, and she also gives you a trick or two on how to make yae miko ease up when she gets too mean. in the middle of one of the weeks, she takes you to the cafeteria and gets you both some booze, and asks you extensively about how you’re settling in and if you’re doing okay. you can think of her however you like, of course, but over the time you’re here, she seems to think of you as one of her own. sorry, you got sonzoned. however - depending on how much you’re willing to, lingsha absolutely friends-with-benefits you, and should you be down, you often stumble back to your sleeping quarters after spending time with her, smelling strongly of incense.
and then, about a week before the projected time that you’ll need to set out to stop the borisin, you wake up in the middle of the night to an explosion. it rattles the walls of your sleeping quarters so violently that it nearly knocks you out of your beds, and you very quickly hear people shouting. one of those voices is jing yuan, barking out firm orders.
your camp is under attack. you watch as the soldiers you've come to know rush to your defense - they pick up their arms and fan out across your little makeshift city, your makeshift home, and promise they’ll be back. you are left at the clinic, listening to a battle happen right outside the boundaries of the city.
yae miko orders you all to stay inside, and prepare. what will you do? ]
[ the past few weeks have been some of the very best of taair's life. it's the hubbub of the camp that makes his heart sing: a great, intertwined yearning for love and learning make up the very core of his soul, and each day he spends laughing and living among the soldiers and healers, picking up new techniques from his companions is a better one for it. for the first time in his life, he's out among the people, and they've taken him under their wings.
bonding with his fellow healers, of course, is not out of the question. maybe even patiently, he can win over mizu - if not with chatter, then with quiet company here, and befriend the others more and more. the campaign on the horizon does not feel looming, but its anticipation does dawn, and then one day, that anticipation, that hesitant peace, shatters with the sound of an explosion at dawn.
taair nearly leaps from his bed when it happens, grabbing for his spellbook and his bag, full of first aid supplies (and snacks, for marcoh and sushang, and a small book he wanted to trade with xingqiu, the third in a series read in off time, of a bit of concealer cream for a certain shameless someone, extra support focuses for a swordsman first, healer second, extra arrows for a peerless marksman, at least in his opinion). heart thudding in his ears, he rushes to the tent front only to be told to stay in.
he grips his bag, breathes in sharp. okay. stay in. taair's gaze sweeps over the others, headwings pinned back, focused - looking at the door and biting his lip. he doesn't - it feels so foolish to stay. ]
I'll make sure the beds are ready. [ he says, but he keeps thinking about the retreating backs out of the door - and hurries to do so, to make sure each section of the clinic's hospital has the proper supplies it needs for what could be an oncoming onslaught. through it all, despite the sudden presence of warfare, he seems to be calm. ]
[ Claude is not the self-sacrificial type, but he would die for Ringo. He would also live for Ringo, but that's not as impressive because he's already a hardcore survivalist. That's his best friend.
Anyway, the attack explodes through the camp, loud and thundering, and Claude doesn't startle awake as much as he does tense where he'd been lying in bed. He's always had terrible sleeping habits, and is a light sleeper on top of that, but at least it prevents him from getting caught by surprise in the middle of the night.
He gets up when Taair does, sliding out of bed, and pulling on his coat and gloves as he grabs his emergency pack as well, slinging it easily on his back as he looks over the others—Richie, Mizu—to see how they're reacting.
They're told to remain inside, which is logical, and he's not about to argue with Yae Miko, even though he has a feeling that Mizu will, so he's actually going to address him first. ]
If you're going to go running out there, at least take supplies with you.
[ Mizu probably also has an emergency pack ready to go, and while they need to keep the clinic stocked, there's benefit in having the medicine ready on the field where the injuries are sustained. ]
[ the mood is... bad, in camp, after this. maybe not surprisingly.
a day passes, and yae miko tells you that feixiao is... missing. nobody knows where she went. after speaking to jing yuan, yae miko thinks it's likely that she went after the leader herself in a frenzy, but refuses to talk much more about it. there's something there that you're missing, because feixiao has always seemed pretty level headed, but any more and yae miko insists that it's a breach of patient confidentiality.
all four of you, though, the four with halos nobody else can see - there's an echo of moon rage that curls up unbidden in your minds.
i will cure you, feixiao, so you may cure us of war.
in the following week, you keep an eye on your patients. everybody recovers okay. morale is busted, but the three you chose to save heal, bit by bit. you receive orders from on high that you're going to be put up front with the healers on the battlefield. numbers are low, and yae miko fights it, saying you're needed here, but she gets overruled. you are assigned to a group that is going to set off tomorrow to pursue the borisin threat. and to find feixiao, too. she's still missing.
your group consists of quite a few people. childe, sushang, xingqiu, ringo, bailu, lingsha, marcoh - those are all familiar faces, among the group, though it's not just them. the rest are mostly just soldiers you haven't gotten to know as well. before you set off, general jing yuan introduces the four of you to a few new faces. a crafty guy named eddie has been transferred over from another base nearby, as well as an on-loan general named judith, from one of the sister ships. they'll be accompanying you to the new base, which will take around a week to get to.
it's an arduous journey, through ruins of old buildings and long spans of snow and rubble. sometimes, you feel unsettled by the scenery. like - it isn't quite right. like it shouldn't actually exist here? like you think, sometimes, there shouldn't be snow here. or - shouldn't this be underwater? and then you snap back to it and kind of just go, man, the stress is getting to me. your friends are doing okay, mostly healed to full if a little sore, and the mood is... pretty somber.
so. tell me, what do you do in that week, as you make it to the frontlines? ]
[ the somber mood weighs heavy, but for taair, he does what he always does. he will tend to the injuries of the wounded diligently - check bandages, watch for infection. he sits with the others - quietly with richie, in moments when things are at their darkest, when cheer or falsities don't cover it. and more than anything...
he writes. he talks to the other soldiers, no matter who they are. if they're willing, he asks questions - gentle and kind, never annoying, knowing when to back off and when to gently coax until he can draw out the stories of the soldiers of the battalion and recording them. he asks about yukong, from people he thinks will be willing to share. about feixiao.
despite it all, he's still a hummingbird, quietly flitting from person to person, a kind and steady presence through the worst days. and on his worst day of the week, he just sits with marcoh, and looks out the window at the world going by. ]
[ Claude thinks it's kind of unreasonable for Yae Miko to hold so tightly onto patient confidentiality when one of their few generals is missing, and their little town is on the ropes. They need all the information they can get their hands on if they want to avoid losing more people.
It's frustrating, and it kind of makes him wish he was in charge instead of stuck here at the bottom of the ladder.
Especially now that they're on this mission to retrieve her.
But it is what it is. They march on, meet new faces, and for some reason, though he kind of wants to talk to them...
He's going to try and dig up a bow and practice arrows for himself if he can, to practice. They're going to be on the battlefield after all, and it's a good way to let off some steam. ]
for now, you don’t know what is going on with the weird drowning sensation, and you’re not entirely sure why sometimes, it feels like you’re losing your senses. you chalk it up to stress and move on, but it is weird that only the four of you seem to notice that this place continually seems like it should be underwater.
the mara-struck soldier doesn’t get any worse under your care, but sometimes he slams things down a little too hard, or hits another soldier too violently during practice. it makes people a bit nervous, and they start avoiding him out of habit. he's a bit isolated and frustrated by the end of the week, but he isn't breaking out in flowers. he just has mood swings.
as for huohuo - there’s not enough people to really... take her back to camp, and it’s still dangerous there, so the decision is made that for now, she’ll stay with your group until you can find someone to take her to safety at the checkpoint. she doesn’t seem to mind, and in fact, she seems to really enjoy being around the four of you. she’s a nervous, stuttery child, but when she’s comfortable, she’s the type to sing you songs and ask you to play games with her. after being with you for a few days, she starts to be really interested in telling stories, too, and in the interim of finding her and making it to the checkpoint, she comes up with an epic that depicts the four of you as great heroes that will save the world from war. she performs it for you one night, and only cries out of nerves once.
judith checks on each of you throughout the week, and makes sure you're doing okay - and just like with claude, you get the impression that she is preparing for the worst.
and then, the end of the week comes. you reach the next checkpoint. this is far less homey than the last location.
it's barely a camp, just a couple of tents on a battlefield. there's no permanent buildings here - it's made to pack up and go at any second. and this time, it’s a more hectic arrival, as well. there is an active battle happening as you arrive - the tents are safe from massive damage, but you can hear the current group of soldiers at this point out fighting and pushing back a pack of borisin that seem hellbent on destroying everything. you’re basically in the trenches.
and, out on the field, as you arrive - you can see the telltale whirlwind of white fur and fangs that is the general feixiao, merlin’s claw of the xianzhou yaoqing. the problem is you’re not sure if she’s fighting for your side, or the borisin’s side. anybody who comes close to her gets absolutely annihilated.
general judith is putting together a plan - and your inclusion in this plan is up to you. what she wants is for you to either accompany the soldiers on the field, or stay here with the backup healers waiting for soldiers to make it back to camp. she’s already assigned a group of your own to head out - childe, marcoh, and sushang are among the soldiers she’s sending to help quell the borisin invasion. she glances at claude in particular as she says this, and then adds: If General Feixiao is unwilling to listen to reason, you must take her down.
the healers meant to stay here and take care of the rest are ringo, lingsha, and bailu. as a note, huohuo will stay with them. they seem pretty confident in being able to hold the line if necessary, but...
tell me, how do you help? do you go out with the soldiers? or do you stay with the healers? remember that in war, there are always consequences for the choice you make. ]
[ Imagine if I hit betray on the group, and unilaterally decided we're running out to help the soldiers.
It's hard to always know what the most logical choice is on the battlefield, and, unfortunately, Judith was right that the facts aren't always laid out neatly to devise a comprehensive list of pros and cons. If the fact that she's letting the group decide is any indication, she knows there's no perfect answer.
Personally, Claude would rather accompany the soldiers than stay behind, and he suspects that Mizu feels the same. It's frustrating to let other people put their lives on the line.
But just because it's frustrating to stay with the healers, doesn't mean it's the wrong choice. If people are hurt, and they can't be healed, then they're going to lose the battle for sure. If there's an ambush and the healers are attacked, they'll need defending. It's a smarter plan to let the soldiers focus on fighting, and the healers focus on fixing.
because it's another day after the loss of your soldiers when you find that that weird drowning sensation was... intuition. premonition, maybe.
you abruptly wake up to water. there's so much water everywhere, like you've been hit by a tsunami. you don't know where it came from or even what's going on because it's so sudden, like the area you're in was only just barely keeping an ocean barried off from your camp. you don't have any way to fight it, so much. your lungs fill up with water and you are thrown around wildly in the waves, upside down, disoriented. it doesn't take long to pass out from lack of air.
when you wake up next, you are alone. you are not exactly where you expected you'd be. and something isn't right. ]
[ you are in a place that sort of looks like this. you can remember the camp - you can remember everything that happened to you these past weeks. it feels like it was years ago, though. maybe a century.
and now, you are standing in a fenced off area, with plants and hedges around you. you can hear people going about their business outside, but... you know it probably isn't smart to call out to them. you just need to buy a little time. it's weird, because you are alone, and you know you are, but sometimes out of the corner of your eye you can see a little bit of action. transparent hands, or limbs, or sometimes another halo. like someone else is living this out with you.
you know that you are captured by someone. he is holding you as a hostage in a situation that is far, far too big to handle. it could mean the whole of the xianzhou is destroyed, if you don't stop him somehow. if you don't stop the borisin, what will happen?
and then, your thoughts are interrupted by a large borisin in heavy armor, who comes close, and stares you down. ]
You seem confident that the Cloud Knights will close the ports. I'm giving you a chance to see it for yourself.
Go to the ports, come back, and tell me what you saw.
[ ... he's letting you go? he's letting you go free? how do you react to this? ]
[ you are in a place that sort of looks like this. you can remember the camp - you can remember everything that happened to you these past weeks. it feels like it was years ago, though. maybe a century.
and now, you are standing in a fenced off area, with plants and hedges around you. you can hear people going about their business outside, but... you know it probably isn't smart to call out to them. you just need to buy a little time. it's weird, because you are alone, and you know you are, but sometimes out of the corner of your eye you can see a little bit of action. transparent hands, or limbs, or sometimes another halo. like someone else is living this out with you.
you know that you are captured by someone. he is holding you as a hostage in a situation that is far, far too big to handle. it could mean the whole of the xianzhou is destroyed, if you don't stop him somehow. if you don't stop the borisin, what will happen?
and then, your thoughts are interrupted by a large borisin in heavy armor, who comes close, and stares you down. ]
You seem confident that the Cloud Knights will close the ports. I'm giving you a chance to see it for yourself.
Go to the ports, come back, and tell me what you saw.
[ ... he's letting you go? he's letting you go free? how do you react to this? ]
[ you are in a place that sort of looks like this. you can remember the camp - you can remember everything that happened to you these past weeks. it feels like it was years ago, though. maybe a century.
and now, you are standing in a fenced off area, with plants and hedges around you. you can hear people going about their business outside, but... you know it probably isn't smart to call out to them. you just need to buy a little time. it's weird, because you are alone, and you know you are, but sometimes out of the corner of your eye you can see a little bit of action. transparent hands, or limbs, or sometimes another halo. like someone else is living this out with you.
you know that you are captured by someone. he is holding you as a hostage in a situation that is far, far too big to handle. it could mean the whole of the xianzhou is destroyed, if you don't stop him somehow. if you don't stop the borisin, what will happen?
and then, your thoughts are interrupted by a large borisin in heavy armor, who comes close, and stares you down. ]
You seem confident that the Cloud Knights will close the ports. I'm giving you a chance to see it for yourself.
Go to the ports, come back, and tell me what you saw.
[ ... he's letting you go? he's letting you go free? how do you react to this? ]
[ you are in a place that sort of looks like this. you can remember the camp - you can remember everything that happened to you these past weeks. it feels like it was years ago, though. maybe a century.
and now, you are standing in a fenced off area, with plants and hedges around you. you can hear people going about their business outside, but... you know it probably isn't smart to call out to them. you just need to buy a little time. it's weird, because you are alone, and you know you are, but sometimes out of the corner of your eye you can see a little bit of action. transparent hands, or limbs, or sometimes another halo. like someone else is living this out with you.
you know that you are captured by someone. he is holding you as a hostage in a situation that is far, far too big to handle. it could mean the whole of the xianzhou is destroyed, if you don't stop him somehow. if you don't stop the borisin, what will happen?
and then, your thoughts are interrupted by a large borisin in heavy armor, who comes close, and stares you down. ]
You seem confident that the Cloud Knights will close the ports. I'm giving you a chance to see it for yourself.
Go to the ports, come back, and tell me what you saw.
[ ... he's letting you go? he's letting you go free? how do you react to this? ]
i don't have any poetic ending for you - all four of you survived the horrors of war, and also somehow managed to defeat hoolay in various chaotic ways! amazing! here's some facts and things for you:
» you can take whatever injuries you want from this cyoa and keep them, though please remember we do not have a clinic or healing pods » you have been in this cyoa for like a hundred years and a month, give or take. the month is the most clear to you, and the hundred years are more jumbled and heavy and distant, but that is a thing. » you may come out of cyoa as a furry, and if you were mara-struck, you can look like that, though only for the extent of the exit.
rewards (they are all phone keychains): » a spicy hot pot: curse someone to have no filter for 6 hours. » a bowl of noodles: for one hour, make someone very friendly and more agreeable to your suggestions. this effect ends if you try to harm them. » an eggplant: your dick grows ten times bigger (no, this one is choose someone to go blind for three hours) » a fluffy tail: heal someone, but they grow a tail for an hour. big and fluffy.
and now for the post cyoa effects: » sometimes, you think you're still in the war AU and forget your own identity. » every so often you just lose a random sense. you go blind, or everything tastes like ash in your mouth, etc. » sometimes you lose all of your emotions entirely and just numb yourself out. » you can play with any and all of these as much or as little as you'd like!
AND THAT'S ALL FOLKS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR RUNNING THIS HARD WITH ME you were a delight <3 ]
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holyspirits) wrote2025-02-16 05:05 pm
START POINT
no, more seriously, here's the scene.
you are a healer who has recently been sent to the frontlines. whatever your backstory is, you can decide. the only thing that's necessary is that you have wanted to be a combat medic since you were a child, for whatever reason. you've grown up on stories of people suffering in the war against the Abundance Yaoshi - you've wanted to help, to heal, to take care of people. if you get to destroy the borisin, a species of immortal wolfmen, that's just a bonus.
the borisin enslave your people, and they wage war on your ships. they hate foxians - which is what you are, even if you're a bird. the borisin are known for eating foxians, for waging constant wars, and for only caring about strength. they are dangerous, immortal, and - well, the xianzhou alliance has had enough.
you arrive, fresh from your schooling as a combat medic. you can have done something on the side to get to this point, but the most important thing is you have all this knowledge about how to nurse people back to health, but none of the experience. it's a little scary, this being your first real job. but you know you can do it. you are ready.
so - you arrive. it's a makeshift town built on enemy territory, but there's a well-supplied clinic, a place to eat, a place to grow food, and a place to trade for goods. you all arrive with one bag on your backs, full of whatever necessities you want.
maybe it's time to introduce yourselves to each other while you wait for your first set of orders? maybe look around a bit. ]
no subject
takes one look at this group. looks down the street. hums, cat ears twitching.]
I could go for a bite.
[and like a true black cat, mizu immediately tries to fuck off. starts walking past the group, down the street, to see what food (and other stuff if flurry wants to give us The Flavor Text) is available... tail swishing idly. because we are furries now. this is important information for anyone coming to read this after unlocks. goodbye.]
no subject
he's about to open his mouth to greet the other three - eyes curiously snapping up just above each person's head before they go back down, when mizu immediately leaves. ]
...Oh. [ the wings on his head deflate sadly... and then return to normal as he looks to the other two. brightening, he clasps his hands together. ]
I thought I'd like to take a look at the clinic, but...well - she does have a point, doesn't she? We ought to head that way, too, before our orders come in. What are your names...?
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BONFIRE
it's night time, now. there's a nice buffet table, there's a couple set ups for making marshmallows and smores and stuff. it's pretty relaxed, kind of just like a company retreat thing. these people are your new coworkers, and people you'll be spending time with for months. and a LOT of people are here. a few notable faces include the ones you've met already, so - xingqiu, childe, yae miko. the white haired foxian woman, feixiao, and her purple companion - moze - are here, though moze looks like he's going to ascend. he is not pleased to be here at all.
others include a very stacked man chilling out a bit away from the party itself, with a dude sitting next to him peacefully. a woman that's sewing a toy bear back together for what looks like a child. a brown haired girl taking pictures, an older looking foxian smoking a pipe and staring out at the party, a woman petting a bunny, and of course, general jing yuan, who you have seen in public before and would recognize! next to him is a boy. you can see where i got tired of describing things. you've never met any of these people before! especially not the first two. they're strangers.
each of you can pick up to two people to hang out with tonight, and you can have a short conversation with them if you'd like! ]
PARTY TIME...
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THE FIRST DECISION
the morning comes. you might be a little hungover, depending on who you are, but you’re still expected to be at the clinic at six in the morning, sharp! even you, richie, after your plot important balls night. when you make it there, yae miko is a strict master. she runs you all ragged preparing supplies and bandages, and, just as she promised, when the campaign comes back, they’re mostly uninjured. the four of you help patch any minor wounds as the soldiers give their report to the general. it's a good introduction to your tools at your disposal, and how the clinic works.
the report goes like this - the borisin are moving in. they’re slow, and they’re unusually cautious, but they’re scouting out your party as much as you’re scouting out theirs. best the group can tell is you have a month before they put in action their plan.
which works, honestly. you guys have a month to settle in, to get to know people. these friendships you’re making with people brings a vigor to your spirit that you were missing before. it’s a whirlwind, it’s always busy, but it’s no worse than any work you’ve been put to before. in this month, you experience the following:
mizu - childe does his best to keep up with you for the weeks ahead. most times, if you’re willing, he wants to be around you, whether it’s for sparring or for sharing meals, or whatever else. it’s not really something romantic, but there’s a strong amount of trust he puts in you. a little like devotion. he gets the impression pretty quickly that you're not super interested in his family stories, so he keeps it mostly about swordsmanship, but - you do know that he has a lot of little siblings that he very clearly adores. despite being horny for fights, he places family first. and hey, he’s always looking for new ways to make the two of you the most remarkable swordsmen in camp despite the fact that you are supposed to be a healer.
claude - ringo and wu he continue to sneak you into the kitchens after hours to make some of the best noodles you’ve ever had. ringo waves excitedly every time he sees you and tells you that nobody has ever really been this nice to him before. he shows you some of his inventions - he's made tools for himself so that he can do the same things you do, like paint or hammer or cut bandages. he paints a beautiful landscape, the city with the stars above, and gifts it to you with an eager look. and, sometimes, when you come back to your sleeping quarters, you'll find expensive bottles of various types of alcohol on your bed with a note - from the lacking general. feixiao can't always stick around to chat, being an arbiter general, but she saw something in you, and she's always very encouraging. sometimes, she'll send moze to jumpscare you, though. this is probably some sort of affection in her eyes, considering you hear that feixiao encourages moze to try to assassinate her whenever he feels fit.
taair - you find marcoh gravitates towards you quite a bit. you find that around the camp, marcoh is seen as pretty intimidating. you know he isn’t, he’s just quiet and not inclined to reach out, but over time, he opens up a bit. when he sees you at camp, he’s quick to come stand close and just like… be there, and after a while you get a little bit of a reputation for having a guardian angel at your shoulder. if there's ever a point where someone is just a little too mean, marcoh kind of just appears behind you and people behave themselves. he brings you food when you work too hard, and eventually he tells you a little about his life before he came here. about his sister, and the struggles he's gone through. on the other hand, sushang has absolutely adopted you as her baby brother. she comes by the clinic a lot with various cuts and bruises just from being a little too overzealous during training, but she's always cheerful and excited to see you. she tells you a little about how she thinks her uncle would really like you, and how after this campaign, maybe you can come back to the yaoqing and you can all share a meal.
richie - yukong takes a liking to you, and whenever she sees you around camp, she stops to chat. she gives you a lot of advice on how to handle the worst of the chores in camp, and she also gives you a trick or two on how to make yae miko ease up when she gets too mean. in the middle of one of the weeks, she takes you to the cafeteria and gets you both some booze, and asks you extensively about how you’re settling in and if you’re doing okay. you can think of her however you like, of course, but over the time you’re here, she seems to think of you as one of her own. sorry, you got sonzoned. however - depending on how much you’re willing to, lingsha absolutely friends-with-benefits you, and should you be down, you often stumble back to your sleeping quarters after spending time with her, smelling strongly of incense.
and then, about a week before the projected time that you’ll need to set out to stop the borisin, you wake up in the middle of the night to an explosion. it rattles the walls of your sleeping quarters so violently that it nearly knocks you out of your beds, and you very quickly hear people shouting. one of those voices is jing yuan, barking out firm orders.
your camp is under attack. you watch as the soldiers you've come to know rush to your defense - they pick up their arms and fan out across your little makeshift city, your makeshift home, and promise they’ll be back. you are left at the clinic, listening to a battle happen right outside the boundaries of the city.
yae miko orders you all to stay inside, and prepare. what will you do? ]
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bonding with his fellow healers, of course, is not out of the question. maybe even patiently, he can win over mizu - if not with chatter, then with quiet company here, and befriend the others more and more. the campaign on the horizon does not feel looming, but its anticipation does dawn, and then one day, that anticipation, that hesitant peace, shatters with the sound of an explosion at dawn.
taair nearly leaps from his bed when it happens, grabbing for his spellbook and his bag, full of first aid supplies (and snacks, for marcoh and sushang, and a small book he wanted to trade with xingqiu, the third in a series read in off time, of a bit of concealer cream for a certain shameless someone, extra support focuses for a swordsman first, healer second, extra arrows for a peerless marksman, at least in his opinion). heart thudding in his ears, he rushes to the tent front only to be told to stay in.
he grips his bag, breathes in sharp. okay. stay in. taair's gaze sweeps over the others, headwings pinned back, focused - looking at the door and biting his lip. he doesn't - it feels so foolish to stay. ]
I'll make sure the beds are ready. [ he says, but he keeps thinking about the retreating backs out of the door - and hurries to do so, to make sure each section of the clinic's hospital has the proper supplies it needs for what could be an oncoming onslaught. through it all, despite the sudden presence of warfare, he seems to be calm. ]
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Anyway, the attack explodes through the camp, loud and thundering, and Claude doesn't startle awake as much as he does tense where he'd been lying in bed. He's always had terrible sleeping habits, and is a light sleeper on top of that, but at least it prevents him from getting caught by surprise in the middle of the night.
He gets up when Taair does, sliding out of bed, and pulling on his coat and gloves as he grabs his emergency pack as well, slinging it easily on his back as he looks over the others—Richie, Mizu—to see how they're reacting.
They're told to remain inside, which is logical, and he's not about to argue with Yae Miko, even though he has a feeling that Mizu will, so he's actually going to address him first. ]
If you're going to go running out there, at least take supplies with you.
[ Mizu probably also has an emergency pack ready to go, and while they need to keep the clinic stocked, there's benefit in having the medicine ready on the field where the injuries are sustained. ]
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MARCH
a day passes, and yae miko tells you that feixiao is... missing. nobody knows where she went. after speaking to jing yuan, yae miko thinks it's likely that she went after the leader herself in a frenzy, but refuses to talk much more about it. there's something there that you're missing, because feixiao has always seemed pretty level headed, but any more and yae miko insists that it's a breach of patient confidentiality.
all four of you, though, the four with halos nobody else can see - there's an echo of moon rage that curls up unbidden in your minds.
i will cure you, feixiao, so you may cure us of war.
in the following week, you keep an eye on your patients. everybody recovers okay. morale is busted, but the three you chose to save heal, bit by bit. you receive orders from on high that you're going to be put up front with the healers on the battlefield. numbers are low, and yae miko fights it, saying you're needed here, but she gets overruled. you are assigned to a group that is going to set off tomorrow to pursue the borisin threat. and to find feixiao, too. she's still missing.
your group consists of quite a few people. childe, sushang, xingqiu, ringo, bailu, lingsha, marcoh - those are all familiar faces, among the group, though it's not just them. the rest are mostly just soldiers you haven't gotten to know as well. before you set off, general jing yuan introduces the four of you to a few new faces. a crafty guy named eddie has been transferred over from another base nearby, as well as an on-loan general named judith, from one of the sister ships. they'll be accompanying you to the new base, which will take around a week to get to.
it's an arduous journey, through ruins of old buildings and long spans of snow and rubble. sometimes, you feel unsettled by the scenery. like - it isn't quite right. like it shouldn't actually exist here? like you think, sometimes, there shouldn't be snow here. or - shouldn't this be underwater? and then you snap back to it and kind of just go, man, the stress is getting to me. your friends are doing okay, mostly healed to full if a little sore, and the mood is... pretty somber.
so. tell me, what do you do in that week, as you make it to the frontlines? ]
AND SO IT GOES...
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he writes. he talks to the other soldiers, no matter who they are. if they're willing, he asks questions - gentle and kind, never annoying, knowing when to back off and when to gently coax until he can draw out the stories of the soldiers of the battalion and recording them. he asks about yukong, from people he thinks will be willing to share. about feixiao.
despite it all, he's still a hummingbird, quietly flitting from person to person, a kind and steady presence through the worst days. and on his worst day of the week, he just sits with marcoh, and looks out the window at the world going by. ]
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It's frustrating, and it kind of makes him wish he was in charge instead of stuck here at the bottom of the ladder.
Especially now that they're on this mission to retrieve her.
But it is what it is. They march on, meet new faces, and for some reason, though he kind of wants to talk to them...
He's going to try and dig up a bow and practice arrows for himself if he can, to practice. They're going to be on the battlefield after all, and it's a good way to let off some steam. ]
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TALKIES
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THE SECOND DECISION
for now, you don’t know what is going on with the weird drowning sensation, and you’re not entirely sure why sometimes, it feels like you’re losing your senses. you chalk it up to stress and move on, but it is weird that only the four of you seem to notice that this place continually seems like it should be underwater.
the mara-struck soldier doesn’t get any worse under your care, but sometimes he slams things down a little too hard, or hits another soldier too violently during practice. it makes people a bit nervous, and they start avoiding him out of habit. he's a bit isolated and frustrated by the end of the week, but he isn't breaking out in flowers. he just has mood swings.
as for huohuo - there’s not enough people to really... take her back to camp, and it’s still dangerous there, so the decision is made that for now, she’ll stay with your group until you can find someone to take her to safety at the checkpoint. she doesn’t seem to mind, and in fact, she seems to really enjoy being around the four of you. she’s a nervous, stuttery child, but when she’s comfortable, she’s the type to sing you songs and ask you to play games with her. after being with you for a few days, she starts to be really interested in telling stories, too, and in the interim of finding her and making it to the checkpoint, she comes up with an epic that depicts the four of you as great heroes that will save the world from war. she performs it for you one night, and only cries out of nerves once.
judith checks on each of you throughout the week, and makes sure you're doing okay - and just like with claude, you get the impression that she is preparing for the worst.
and then, the end of the week comes. you reach the next checkpoint. this is far less homey than the last location.
it's barely a camp, just a couple of tents on a battlefield. there's no permanent buildings here - it's made to pack up and go at any second. and this time, it’s a more hectic arrival, as well. there is an active battle happening as you arrive - the tents are safe from massive damage, but you can hear the current group of soldiers at this point out fighting and pushing back a pack of borisin that seem hellbent on destroying everything. you’re basically in the trenches.
and, out on the field, as you arrive - you can see the telltale whirlwind of white fur and fangs that is the general feixiao, merlin’s claw of the xianzhou yaoqing. the problem is you’re not sure if she’s fighting for your side, or the borisin’s side. anybody who comes close to her gets absolutely annihilated.
general judith is putting together a plan - and your inclusion in this plan is up to you. what she wants is for you to either accompany the soldiers on the field, or stay here with the backup healers waiting for soldiers to make it back to camp. she’s already assigned a group of your own to head out - childe, marcoh, and sushang are among the soldiers she’s sending to help quell the borisin invasion. she glances at claude in particular as she says this, and then adds: If General Feixiao is unwilling to listen to reason, you must take her down.
the healers meant to stay here and take care of the rest are ringo, lingsha, and bailu. as a note, huohuo will stay with them. they seem pretty confident in being able to hold the line if necessary, but...
tell me, how do you help? do you go out with the soldiers? or do you stay with the healers? remember that in war, there are always consequences for the choice you make. ]
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It's hard to always know what the most logical choice is on the battlefield, and, unfortunately, Judith was right that the facts aren't always laid out neatly to devise a comprehensive list of pros and cons. If the fact that she's letting the group decide is any indication, she knows there's no perfect answer.
Personally, Claude would rather accompany the soldiers than stay behind, and he suspects that Mizu feels the same. It's frustrating to let other people put their lives on the line.
But just because it's frustrating to stay with the healers, doesn't mean it's the wrong choice. If people are hurt, and they can't be healed, then they're going to lose the battle for sure. If there's an ambush and the healers are attacked, they'll need defending. It's a smarter plan to let the soldiers focus on fighting, and the healers focus on fixing.
... Probably...? ]
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THE FINAL DECISION
because it's another day after the loss of your soldiers when you find that that weird drowning sensation was... intuition. premonition, maybe.
you abruptly wake up to water. there's so much water everywhere, like you've been hit by a tsunami. you don't know where it came from or even what's going on because it's so sudden, like the area you're in was only just barely keeping an ocean barried off from your camp. you don't have any way to fight it, so much. your lungs fill up with water and you are thrown around wildly in the waves, upside down, disoriented. it doesn't take long to pass out from lack of air.
when you wake up next, you are alone. you are not exactly where you expected you'd be. and something isn't right. ]
MIZU
and now, you are standing in a fenced off area, with plants and hedges around you. you can hear people going about their business outside, but... you know it probably isn't smart to call out to them. you just need to buy a little time. it's weird, because you are alone, and you know you are, but sometimes out of the corner of your eye you can see a little bit of action. transparent hands, or limbs, or sometimes another halo. like someone else is living this out with you.
you know that you are captured by someone. he is holding you as a hostage in a situation that is far, far too big to handle. it could mean the whole of the xianzhou is destroyed, if you don't stop him somehow. if you don't stop the borisin, what will happen?
and then, your thoughts are interrupted by a large borisin in heavy armor, who comes close, and stares you down. ]
You seem confident that the Cloud Knights will close the ports. I'm giving you a chance to see it for yourself.
Go to the ports, come back, and tell me what you saw.
[ ... he's letting you go? he's letting you go free? how do you react to this? ]
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CLAUDE
and now, you are standing in a fenced off area, with plants and hedges around you. you can hear people going about their business outside, but... you know it probably isn't smart to call out to them. you just need to buy a little time. it's weird, because you are alone, and you know you are, but sometimes out of the corner of your eye you can see a little bit of action. transparent hands, or limbs, or sometimes another halo. like someone else is living this out with you.
you know that you are captured by someone. he is holding you as a hostage in a situation that is far, far too big to handle. it could mean the whole of the xianzhou is destroyed, if you don't stop him somehow. if you don't stop the borisin, what will happen?
and then, your thoughts are interrupted by a large borisin in heavy armor, who comes close, and stares you down. ]
You seem confident that the Cloud Knights will close the ports. I'm giving you a chance to see it for yourself.
Go to the ports, come back, and tell me what you saw.
[ ... he's letting you go? he's letting you go free? how do you react to this? ]
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TAAIR
and now, you are standing in a fenced off area, with plants and hedges around you. you can hear people going about their business outside, but... you know it probably isn't smart to call out to them. you just need to buy a little time. it's weird, because you are alone, and you know you are, but sometimes out of the corner of your eye you can see a little bit of action. transparent hands, or limbs, or sometimes another halo. like someone else is living this out with you.
you know that you are captured by someone. he is holding you as a hostage in a situation that is far, far too big to handle. it could mean the whole of the xianzhou is destroyed, if you don't stop him somehow. if you don't stop the borisin, what will happen?
and then, your thoughts are interrupted by a large borisin in heavy armor, who comes close, and stares you down. ]
You seem confident that the Cloud Knights will close the ports. I'm giving you a chance to see it for yourself.
Go to the ports, come back, and tell me what you saw.
[ ... he's letting you go? he's letting you go free? how do you react to this? ]
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RICHIE
and now, you are standing in a fenced off area, with plants and hedges around you. you can hear people going about their business outside, but... you know it probably isn't smart to call out to them. you just need to buy a little time. it's weird, because you are alone, and you know you are, but sometimes out of the corner of your eye you can see a little bit of action. transparent hands, or limbs, or sometimes another halo. like someone else is living this out with you.
you know that you are captured by someone. he is holding you as a hostage in a situation that is far, far too big to handle. it could mean the whole of the xianzhou is destroyed, if you don't stop him somehow. if you don't stop the borisin, what will happen?
and then, your thoughts are interrupted by a large borisin in heavy armor, who comes close, and stares you down. ]
You seem confident that the Cloud Knights will close the ports. I'm giving you a chance to see it for yourself.
Go to the ports, come back, and tell me what you saw.
[ ... he's letting you go? he's letting you go free? how do you react to this? ]
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THE END
i don't have any poetic ending for you - all four of you survived the horrors of war, and also somehow managed to defeat hoolay in various chaotic ways! amazing! here's some facts and things for you:
» you can take whatever injuries you want from this cyoa and keep them, though please remember we do not have a clinic or healing pods
» you have been in this cyoa for like a hundred years and a month, give or take. the month is the most clear to you, and the hundred years are more jumbled and heavy and distant, but that is a thing.
» you may come out of cyoa as a furry, and if you were mara-struck, you can look like that, though only for the extent of the exit.
rewards (they are all phone keychains):
» a spicy hot pot: curse someone to have no filter for 6 hours.
» a bowl of noodles: for one hour, make someone very friendly and more agreeable to your suggestions. this effect ends if you try to harm them.
» an eggplant: your dick grows ten times bigger (no, this one is choose someone to go blind for three hours)
» a fluffy tail: heal someone, but they grow a tail for an hour. big and fluffy.
and now for the post cyoa effects:
» sometimes, you think you're still in the war AU and forget your own identity.
» every so often you just lose a random sense. you go blind, or everything tastes like ash in your mouth, etc.
» sometimes you lose all of your emotions entirely and just numb yourself out.
» you can play with any and all of these as much or as little as you'd like!
AND THAT'S ALL FOLKS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR RUNNING THIS HARD WITH ME you were a delight <3 ]