[ oh! ringo turns to look at him, and very excitedly grins, reaching to put a hand on claude's arm. ]
Oh! Claude! It's been so long, I missed you! I lost track of you after the war, did you do okay for yourself? Hey, do you want a bowl of noodles for old time's sake, you - wait, you asked me something. I'm here alone, sure, why?
[ Ringo's here alone. He thinks the war is over. Should he drag him back in and ask for help? No— he needs to figure this out on his own. He'd just be leading Ringo to more slaughter.
...
But... if you can't trust your friends, who can you trust? ]
[ STOP I AM WRITING FOUR THREADS AT ONCE i also didn't want to say stump.
anyway. ringo listens. he listens closely, and he frowns deeply as claude describes the threat. by the end of it, he's wildly alarmed, but he's determined, too. they can't let the borisin win, right? they have to save all these people. so, ringo takes a deep breath, and nods. he tells claude that he will help him stop them. ]
You have any sort of plan? Can you keep them occupied while I go alert the guards? I can do that, you can trust me.
They have to save these people. And Ringo can be bright and cheery, maybe come off as naive in his enthusiasm, but Claude doesn't doubt his commitment. He's seen the same things as the rest of them have, and hadn't backed down.
He nods. ]
I will. I'll keep them occupied as long as I can.
[ ... ]
But don't leave me hanging too long, okay? I'm unarmed.
He will take a look around the port, gather up whatever information he needs to take back. Is there a weapon that he could neatly tuck into his clothes? A little knife, or some rope? ]
[ he can probably snatch a little like... paring knife off a starskiff! if he wants to do that. he can hide it in his clothes. the port is open, just like hoolay suspected - but there's nothing else really of note here now that ringo has gone off to find help. ]
[ Okay! Hopefully this knife isn't used against him later on.
He's kind of pissed about it, but he will wander back. Is it possible for him to see what's happening in the seated area as he returns without actually entering the clutches? See if the other captives are okay? ]
one of the captives is dead. a foxian man that claude doesn't recognize is a husk on the ground, thrown there haphazardly. it looks like something... well, something ate him. hoolay is waiting expectantly for claude to return. this is a video game so the cutscene doesn't trigger until claude walks into the seated area properly. but rest assured. there is a cutscene waiting. ]
well, he walks in. hoolay glances at him, and raises an eyebrow. waits for claude to tell him whether or not the ports are closed. he seems... sort of smug? for some reason. and he also keeps flickering in and out. like a bad television set. ]
[ and for a second - he looks familiar. like a woman that was important to him in another life. like judith. like shez. like nader, back and forth, all at once. people who would not betray you. who would not want to hurt you, right? they wouldn't.
nader reaches across and grabs claude by the hair, yanking his head back. and as he does, a foxian man drags ringo into the seating area, and throws him to the ground. he's bloody and beaten, looking up at claude dazedly through half-open eyes.
shez grins widely at claude. too wide. makes him look at ringo on the ground. ]
Do you know what happens when you disobey, foxian?
But that's not right. He made the right choice: taken a risk, believed in a friend. That's what he'd learned -- after the ambush in northern Siward. That's what Judith had beat into his head. People aren't pawns, and he's no game master controlling them behind the shadows.
So Ringo... don't be there. Don't get hurt any further. ]
Sure. You said to go, look, and come back. Didn't mention anything about what not to do.
[ He remembers this feeling too. Scrambling to keep crumbling pieces together, fixing one piece of the map only for another to set off in flame.
His head hurts with possibilities and options, and it's been so many months now. Did he screw up too many times? Did Shez lose trust in him once and for all? He really had everyone's best interests at heart, he just wasn't great at communicating it.
Now, if he can just help... If only he can get Ringo out here, that's something. He still has his hands free, right? Because he's going to pull out the knife he's hidden and try to slice the hand holding his hair. ]
[ he trusted ringo. it was the right decision, right? because it's important to trust people you care about, because they'll take care of you. ringo wants to take care of you. for all the times you treated him like a human worthy of respect, the good times and the bad times, he was by your side. maybe it wasn't that long, but it was enough. you don't have to know someone for a century to have an impact on their life.
he does still have his hands free. and when he slices at the hand holding his hair, it hits, without question, shez lets out a yelp and drops him, and then - cackles. grins, feral, and opens her mouth wide enough to swallow someone whole.
she lunges forward and catches claude's arm in her jaw, and aims to snap it. behind her, ringo shouts in alarm and tries to move out of the way, because he doesn't have a weapon. the other foxian is advancing on him. inside you, claude, there's a little bit of rage that you hid from your friends. a yellow flower waiting to bloom. maybe if you set it off, you can make this work.
who will you save? is there ever a world where you can save everybody? ]
[ Oh, rage is dangerous, but not unfamiliar. Claude's earliest memories are of anger.
It's something that he'd turned off. Because anger is a reaction, and he never wanted to give his antagonists the satisfaction of seeing him react. Rage is destructive, and for all that he'd experienced and been hurt, he never wanted to destroy, he only wanted to build. He just wanted better. He just wanted to feel like the world was a little better for him having been in it.
Maybe that's where he'd gone wrong. He's too selfish, too calculating, too prone to thinking with his head and not his heart.
So is this the next right decision? Let himself feel that rage, if that's what it takes to save someone?
There's only a moment to decide, and he's good at making snap decisions. Pain flares in his arm, and he knows he won't be able to wield the knife or a boy again, so this is his last defence isn't it?
Give into the little sprout that's taken root, and do all he can to protect his friend. ]
it roars, inside him, like a flame, like a whirlwind, like every natural disaster coming together to rip the world in two. it hurts. the flowers rip out from under his skin and bloom bright and shiny, glowing in the shaded pavilion. it's a righteous anger, maybe, the kind you feel when you see your friends in danger, or at least. that's how it starts. from there it quickly becomes unbridled and free, like the tendrils of a rapidly growing vine reaching out to overtake everything that it can.
the last thing he'll hear is ringo screaming his name before he loses his mind entirely.
a deer erupts from what was claude's body. the noise it lets out is like the sound of a warhorn, echoing across the luofu, and as it stomps its hooves, tosses its head, hoolay stumbles back, thoroughly surprised. with no hesitation, the deer gores him all the way through, right through the heart. a sudden, inglorious end for a famous war general.
but hoolay, in his last moments, fights back. he rips and tears into the deer, pulling flesh from bone, raking his claws against the hard, glittering shell of the deer's carapace. he rips a horn off, leaving the deer to bleed gold, and the struggle splatters it across the ground, glittering and shining in the afternoon sun. it's a messy, clumsy affair, and by the end, the deer and hoolay alike are left collapsed in a heap.
the deer looks up. there's a little of you left in there. just a little. the rage is still so consuming. the urge to kill is screaming over everything else, but you're too exhausted to continue. you watch from where you're collapsed, legs broken, chest heaving your last breaths, as ringo unsteadily makes his way over. there are cloud knights making their way in a hurry over to this little opening.
but ringo doesn't want you to suffer. he never has. and he knows there isn't any coming back from this. so - he does you one last mercy, for saving his life. he crouches in front of the deer, and - hesitantly pets it. just once. before gently and kindly slitting its throat. it's okay. it's okay, shhhh.
there's a little bit of claude left in there. does he have any final thoughts before he dies? ]
[ He's a little disappointed, among all the rage, turmoil and adrenaline, that Hoolay fought back enough to rip through his changed body and end his life. Even if there's no living like this, and even though "Claude" would cease to exist within this creature anyway. He's never been much of an adrenaline junkie, and never found much satisfaction in a good fight. He wanted to live.
Even though he's not sure why. Life is brutal, merciless and harsh. Each day a journey up a mountain in the torrential rain: painstakingly climbing upward, only to slip and fall several paces back.
But he wanted that better tomorrow. He wanted to see peace, to feel acceptance, and to know a home.
As Ringo weakly makes his way over to him, however, and as he touches him with kindness and gentility that's far too lovely for such a bloody scene, he wonders if maybe he'd set his gaze too far into the future. Golden blood flows down from his broken antler, stinging his eye and dripping past his cheek as his head bows closer to his friend. The mercy feels warm and comforting, even if the blade through his neck is bitterly cold, cutting short his hopes and dreams.
It's not so bad, at least, to die with such kindness. ]
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holyspirits) wrote2025-02-16 05:05 pm
no subject
Oh! Claude! It's been so long, I missed you! I lost track of you after the war, did you do okay for yourself? Hey, do you want a bowl of noodles for old time's sake, you - wait, you asked me something. I'm here alone, sure, why?
[ do you tell him about the borisin threat? ]
no subject
After the war? What "after"? ]
What are you- the war isn't...
[ Ringo's here alone. He thinks the war is over. Should he drag him back in and ask for help? No— he needs to figure this out on his own. He'd just be leading Ringo to more slaughter.
...
But... if you can't trust your friends, who can you trust? ]
Ringo, listen to me.
[ He will tell him about Hoolay and the base. ]
no subject
anyway. ringo listens. he listens closely, and he frowns deeply as claude describes the threat. by the end of it, he's wildly alarmed, but he's determined, too. they can't let the borisin win, right? they have to save all these people. so, ringo takes a deep breath, and nods. he tells claude that he will help him stop them. ]
You have any sort of plan? Can you keep them occupied while I go alert the guards? I can do that, you can trust me.
no subject
They have to save these people. And Ringo can be bright and cheery, maybe come off as naive in his enthusiasm, but Claude doesn't doubt his commitment. He's seen the same things as the rest of them have, and hadn't backed down.
He nods. ]
I will. I'll keep them occupied as long as I can.
[ ... ]
But don't leave me hanging too long, okay? I'm unarmed.
no subject
[ he beams, and pats claude gently.
will claude head right back to the borisin? ]
no subject
anyway
He will take a look around the port, gather up whatever information he needs to take back. Is there a weapon that he could neatly tuck into his clothes? A little knife, or some rope? ]
no subject
no subject
He's kind of pissed about it, but he will wander back. Is it possible for him to see what's happening in the seated area as he returns without actually entering the clutches? See if the other captives are okay? ]
no subject
one of the captives is dead. a foxian man that claude doesn't recognize is a husk on the ground, thrown there haphazardly. it looks like something... well, something ate him. hoolay is waiting expectantly for claude to return. this is a video game so the cutscene doesn't trigger until claude walks into the seated area properly. but rest assured. there is a cutscene waiting. ]
no subject
But he asked Ringo for backup, so it's not hopeless. So he's going to marching into the space. ]
no subject
well, he walks in. hoolay glances at him, and raises an eyebrow. waits for claude to tell him whether or not the ports are closed. he seems... sort of smug? for some reason. and he also keeps flickering in and out. like a bad television set. ]
no subject
You seem like you already know the answer.
no subject
[ and for a second - he looks familiar. like a woman that was important to him in another life. like judith. like shez. like nader, back and forth, all at once. people who would not betray you. who would not want to hurt you, right? they wouldn't.
nader reaches across and grabs claude by the hair, yanking his head back. and as he does, a foxian man drags ringo into the seating area, and throws him to the ground. he's bloody and beaten, looking up at claude dazedly through half-open eyes.
shez grins widely at claude. too wide. makes him look at ringo on the ground. ]
Do you know what happens when you disobey, foxian?
no subject
But that's not right. He made the right choice: taken a risk, believed in a friend. That's what he'd learned -- after the ambush in northern Siward. That's what Judith had beat into his head. People aren't pawns, and he's no game master controlling them behind the shadows.
So Ringo... don't be there. Don't get hurt any further. ]
Sure. You said to go, look, and come back. Didn't mention anything about what not to do.
[ He remembers this feeling too. Scrambling to keep crumbling pieces together, fixing one piece of the map only for another to set off in flame.
His head hurts with possibilities and options, and it's been so many months now. Did he screw up too many times? Did Shez lose trust in him once and for all? He really had everyone's best interests at heart, he just wasn't great at communicating it.
Now, if he can just help... If only he can get Ringo out here, that's something. He still has his hands free, right? Because he's going to pull out the knife he's hidden and try to slice the hand holding his hair. ]
no subject
he does still have his hands free. and when he slices at the hand holding his hair, it hits, without question, shez lets out a yelp and drops him, and then - cackles. grins, feral, and opens her mouth wide enough to swallow someone whole.
she lunges forward and catches claude's arm in her jaw, and aims to snap it. behind her, ringo shouts in alarm and tries to move out of the way, because he doesn't have a weapon. the other foxian is advancing on him. inside you, claude, there's a little bit of rage that you hid from your friends. a yellow flower waiting to bloom. maybe if you set it off, you can make this work.
who will you save? is there ever a world where you can save everybody? ]
no subject
It's something that he'd turned off. Because anger is a reaction, and he never wanted to give his antagonists the satisfaction of seeing him react. Rage is destructive, and for all that he'd experienced and been hurt, he never wanted to destroy, he only wanted to build. He just wanted better. He just wanted to feel like the world was a little better for him having been in it.
Maybe that's where he'd gone wrong. He's too selfish, too calculating, too prone to thinking with his head and not his heart.
So is this the next right decision? Let himself feel that rage, if that's what it takes to save someone?
There's only a moment to decide, and he's good at making snap decisions. Pain flares in his arm, and he knows he won't be able to wield the knife or a boy again, so this is his last defence isn't it?
Give into the little sprout that's taken root, and do all he can to protect his friend. ]
no subject
it roars, inside him, like a flame, like a whirlwind, like every natural disaster coming together to rip the world in two. it hurts. the flowers rip out from under his skin and bloom bright and shiny, glowing in the shaded pavilion. it's a righteous anger, maybe, the kind you feel when you see your friends in danger, or at least. that's how it starts. from there it quickly becomes unbridled and free, like the tendrils of a rapidly growing vine reaching out to overtake everything that it can.
the last thing he'll hear is ringo screaming his name before he loses his mind entirely.
a deer erupts from what was claude's body. the noise it lets out is like the sound of a warhorn, echoing across the luofu, and as it stomps its hooves, tosses its head, hoolay stumbles back, thoroughly surprised. with no hesitation, the deer gores him all the way through, right through the heart. a sudden, inglorious end for a famous war general.
but hoolay, in his last moments, fights back. he rips and tears into the deer, pulling flesh from bone, raking his claws against the hard, glittering shell of the deer's carapace. he rips a horn off, leaving the deer to bleed gold, and the struggle splatters it across the ground, glittering and shining in the afternoon sun. it's a messy, clumsy affair, and by the end, the deer and hoolay alike are left collapsed in a heap.
the deer looks up. there's a little of you left in there. just a little. the rage is still so consuming. the urge to kill is screaming over everything else, but you're too exhausted to continue. you watch from where you're collapsed, legs broken, chest heaving your last breaths, as ringo unsteadily makes his way over. there are cloud knights making their way in a hurry over to this little opening.
but ringo doesn't want you to suffer. he never has. and he knows there isn't any coming back from this. so - he does you one last mercy, for saving his life. he crouches in front of the deer, and - hesitantly pets it. just once. before gently and kindly slitting its throat. it's okay. it's okay, shhhh.
there's a little bit of claude left in there. does he have any final thoughts before he dies? ]
no subject
Even though he's not sure why. Life is brutal, merciless and harsh. Each day a journey up a mountain in the torrential rain: painstakingly climbing upward, only to slip and fall several paces back.
But he wanted that better tomorrow. He wanted to see peace, to feel acceptance, and to know a home.
As Ringo weakly makes his way over to him, however, and as he touches him with kindness and gentility that's far too lovely for such a bloody scene, he wonders if maybe he'd set his gaze too far into the future. Golden blood flows down from his broken antler, stinging his eye and dripping past his cheek as his head bows closer to his friend. The mercy feels warm and comforting, even if the blade through his neck is bitterly cold, cutting short his hopes and dreams.
It's not so bad, at least, to die with such kindness. ]