If there isn't anything in the yard that really speaks to him that he should be there then yeah, he's gonna just. Leave that aside for now. Bro. He turns around and sees Jiaoqiu and Yves are fucking gone again, but Siffrin is there. ]
For Christ's sake. Siffrin? Guys?
[ He swears to god. He doesn't have time, damn it. He needs you guys to find these ley lines. I rolled 2/3 so he's going to catch up with Siffrin. ]
[ Siffrin was taking in what they could see, catching the trail end of Yves' voice but by the time they turn around they were both just GONE. Stars, why is it so hard just to stay together?! They are getting white hairs. Which is normal, that's their natural hair but the sentiment is there. ]
I think I heard Yves mention about maybe it being underground so they might have gone downstairs already.
Let's hurry, before something happens-!
[ We are not going to take our sweet exploration we are SPEEDRUNNING I GUESS. Quick, to the basement! ]
the rotting feeling is familiar - jiaoqiu brings a hand up to his chest, on edge, and glances over at yves. that seems to be what we're looking for, but... if there's something else in this house that can help, he's willing to look for those things too. it's probably not smart to just jump feet first into a horrible rot hole. ]
[ even if it's smart not to jump into the rot hole, yves will at least still gently reach out to hold jiaoqiu's hand with his cold one. because also what if something in the rot hole tries to grab them and then only takes one? can't let that happen! ]
... yeah. Like this is it.
[ he'll look back over his shoulder and call out— ] Marcoh! Siff! Over here!!
[ to try to cut their big explore a lil short? yves looks around—does it look like there's any footholds for a descent? a slope? can he kick a rock and then listen to see how long it takes to hear a clatter down the pit? ]
[ you guys really are very bad at staying together, it’s so funny.
anyway, assigns you as all now in the basement, because siffrin probably ran and marcoh followed, and jiaoqiu and yves are staring at this gaping, rotten maw of a hole. or perhaps, more accurately, a tunnel.
because you can both peer inside because you’re closest, and you can drop a rock and listen to it rough and tumble its way down to the bottom. the path down is steep, narrow enough that you would have to walk down single file, but it’s doable.
from where you currently stand, you can only see a long, endless tunnel.
[ Excuse them as they peer to look Jiaoqiu and Yves both over... ]
You both okay?
[ Once reassured they're fine and it's just them and this tunnel until 1am, they do offer a nod. Time to move. Which is tight enough that single file seems necessary.. Siffrin ideally wants to take the lead, it's what they're used to. Ensuring they watch for traps, being first... when? Where?
A head shake. Anyway, they don't mind keeping the back if the others decide to push on first but yeah spelunking part 2 let's goooo. ]
[ okay, rude. jiaoqiu takes a step forward, staring into the dark. ]
It's there. I can see it. [ looking over his shoulder at the other three with a clarity he doesn't normally have. almost like he can see really well down here... he'll keep holding yves's hand if he doesn't pull away. ]
... There's a room at the end of the tunnel.
[ and he seems a little fussy at not being able to go first, but he'll go in whatever order. ]
[ spelunking part 2! as you go, you’ll all go in your single file line for a little while. you hear the sound of water dripping from overhead, and it does not appear to get much brighter as you find yourself growing colder. you get the sense that this particular tunnel is leading your very, very far down underground.
eventually your tunnel flattens out and widens. there’s a little extra room to walk now, and you can spread out if you want. there’s a little breeze that blows through the tunnel, and as you pass it seems as though the walls themselves are shaking, trembling, twitching. the floor beneath your feet sometimes feeling like water and sometimes feeling like stone.
[ Marcoh can bring up the rear. It's to hide the fact that he looks increasingly grim again because NOT ANOTHER TIGHT TUNNEL. His Mind meter is dropping rather rapidly actually. There's probably a moment or two where he has to pause for a step and shake his head before continuing onwards. He's fine.
He touches one of the walls softly. What is the wrong . . . ]
What is going on here?
[ He cannot sense magic he presumes... can either of you. Are we on a ley line. They can keep walking. ]
[ Siffrin glances at the other's held hands before looking away, curling up a little in themselves and focusing on the path ahead. Going and going and going.. As it gets colder, they pull at their coat a bit more around themselves and look around. Though their free hand curls and unfurls with some restless movement as they fiddle with the flashlight in their other hand.
They rub at their arm, looking to the walls as well and holding their breath for a moment. Mm. Their own hand will raise to drift along a wall too, brows furrowing as they focus a little on it until stepping quietly along. ]
It's... [ Their voice trails and they shiver a little, expression twisting to unease. ]
he keeps walking, not caring about the distance. honestly, he'll take the lead, he's on a mission. but he'll run his fingers along the wall every so often, too. what can he see? can he sense any sort of magic? ]
[ the walls vibrate harshly under your touch. none of you can sense magic in this space.
you are suddenly hit with clarity: this place is not connected to cabeswater at all, despite being on a ley line.
the further you walk, it feels as if you’re all being crowded together and ushered onward toward the room jiaoqiu mentioned at the end. you can’t see it at all, but perhaps he knows the way? marcoh’s hand suddenly disappears into the wall itself, and soon you feel crawling, hundreds of little legs leaving your hand an itchy mess.
the room is straight ahead, and the darkness prevails. the breeze smells dirty, almost noxious, even though there’s nothing poisonous down here.
you are all driven by the urge to keep going. there’s a flat, stone wall ahead, an arched doorway right in the center. ]
He usually loves bugs too but he's not going to after this. He yanks his hand back out, unless you tell me he can't and he's just stuck there, in which case fucking rest in peace and goodbye. But otherwise he's going to set his jaw and move faster with bigger strides, even if it means overtaking the other three.
If Glendower is here, he needs to see him just once before he dies.
Is this door tsundere? What do we feel from it. I ask this but being first in line I know somebody is just going to be like opens it so, salutes. ]
[ Well, Siffrin will be here to help Marcoh in any way they can if he needs it, hopefully NOT getting eaten by a wall, hey bud it's gonna be okay.. Reaches to try and pat him but quickly decides against it to rub at their own arm again.
Just following close at his heels. The arched doorway is. Right. There. ]
but jiaoqiu, with very large and bright eyes, walks straight past marcoh and sif, lets go of yves, and opens the door. goodbye. he walks even further into the room and goes right for something the rest of you can't see, and puts his hands on it.
[ oh we all love doing controversial things and alarming our friends
is this another stone coffin you fuck did you win this time
jiaoqiu lets go of yves and yves is dazed enough to let him—but once he comes to, he'll start running after jiaoqiu in deep concern even though he's not fast or solid enough to stop him ]
anyway you don’t get to find out if this door is tsundere since jiaoqiu just mowed his way downtown walking fast, bursting into the room. ravens upon ravens upon ravens on the door are on the door and it’s chilled inside, dead grass and ivy climbing the walls, and in front of you…
there is in fact a stone coffin. the room itself is emmpty beyond that, a low rocky ceiling and a scrying bowl on the floor.
but more importantly, in the tomb lies a knight in armor, uncovered. a sword by his left hand, a cup by his right.
you know this is your king you’ve been searching for, and you know that the moment you go to touch this king, to wake him from his slumber…
…he’s dead. there is no flesh, there is no magic, it’s metal and bone and decay and you wonder if you can wake the bones, but there is nothing. and the longer you stand in this tomb, looking upon the face of a fantasy you’ve chased for years and years, you realize several things begin to slip far away from your memory.
marcoh, do you really need to see venere safe and happy? surely she’s fine on her own, right? don’t even think about her. (a wish unmade)
siffrin, you would do everything for your friends and family, wouldn’t you? look at how far you’ve come now to stay by their side, even though so many things have gone wrong because of you. but it’s fine. when the journey is over, you’ll realize they don’t want you to stay anyway. (a wish unmade)
jiaoqiu, was peace ever really an option? what does it matter? that’s just a pipedream. you were never going to cure war anyway, right? so why bother trying. go, be free to do something else. (a wish unmade)
yves, who could ever truly love a ghost? you don’t need to be loved. your friends have forgotten you multiple times already, haven’t they? maybe it’s time to give up the ghost and disappear when the journey is over (a wish unmade)
glendower is dead, and so are all of your dreams… whatever the hell they were.
and to top it off, you do still have the demon to contend with. what a day, huh? ]
[ He just stands somewhat at the back of this, looking into the room. He sees this and... ]
...No.
[ No, no, no -- he spent the last seven years doing everything he could to learn. Artemus said Glendower wasn't dead. He'd be back. (Maybe a touch presumptuous on his part, but Marcoh has every reason to believe it.) The king who can undo death itself, surely could save Henrietta, Virginia, could save the other three. He mutters under his breath as he storms in, reaching.
Marcoh's a mess. He looks and never finds. Everything is temporary for an oaf like him. His hands aren't meant to solve and find, they're too broad and heavy. It's not like he could ever protect Venere anyway. He fucked it all up. He should've never insisted he could. In another life, she wasn't raised by some stupid kid trying to do his best because he was too attached to let her go. She would have been fine without him. She'll be just fine without him here, they have parents now, when he finally meets that ghost, proves the omen true. He's years overdue.
The last thing he could've had was one answer for himself. ]
That can't be it. There's something. Glendower is the reason I am here. What are you hiding?
[ The blade he raised to call on the Welsh? Is it really nothing but pure steel? ]
Marcoh has never actually let the concept of depression catch up to him before but it finally has for the first time and it feels so bad. He's definitely going to have to be lowkey manhandled to actually get out of here but he will silently and numbly drive them all back to Virginia... ]
[ (You don't move. You couldn't move, even if you wanted to.)
How thoroughly unsatisfied Siffrin has been with their life, didn't really have big plans for the future.. nothing but the loyalty to their friends. To their family. Just doing what they can to protect them, be with them, in this life here with a father that died recently so fresh on their mind and a mother who may as well have died after that loss. But they found something here. Found something in all of them and..
That was enough. Was everything. And this, this they wanted at least for Marcoh, to do anything for him and it wasn't about the favor for themselves. Why need a favor when everything they wanted was right here? So they wanted to help him, to not let him to do it alone, and all they can do is helplessly watch that dream being crushed before his eyes. ..There's nothing to keep them all here, is there? (They'll leave. They'll leave, and you'll be alone again.)
But they move ahead, a gentle hand and try to guide Marcoh along. There's nothing for them here. There's nothing left. There's only one path left, isn't there? Ignore those other feelings, push to the back of their mind, it's.. not over yet. Not yet, there's still something left for them to do. Focus on that and not the end.
Back to the drive, where they won't say a word, falling quiet. ]
nihility is familiar. it's rotting and horrible and crawls up in his throat. for a long moment, as he stares at this dead king, this culmination of everything that he hoped to achieve, to fix that nihility - he's just silent. shut off. what now? what do they do now? what does it even matter anymore? feixiao gave over to the moon rage - the war will never end, it will be soldier after soldier, just the remains of something horrible, bloodstained and torn to shreds.
his fingers twitch. his jaw works, his eyes hurt.
there's no reason to be here. and as he turns to pass by the others again, there's a brief look of fury in his expression. back up the tunnel he goes. they have a demon to kill, still. in the car we get.
he sits behind the driver's seat, this time. behind marcoh. he might feel jiaoqiu staring at him. ]
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holyspirits) wrote2025-03-02 05:10 pm
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If there isn't anything in the yard that really speaks to him that he should be there then yeah, he's gonna just. Leave that aside for now. Bro. He turns around and sees Jiaoqiu and Yves are fucking gone again, but Siffrin is there. ]
For Christ's sake. Siffrin? Guys?
[ He swears to god. He doesn't have time, damn it. He needs you guys to find these ley lines. I rolled 2/3 so he's going to catch up with Siffrin. ]
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I think I heard Yves mention about maybe it being underground so they might have gone downstairs already.
Let's hurry, before something happens-!
[ We are not going to take our sweet exploration we are SPEEDRUNNING I GUESS. Quick, to the basement! ]
Jiaoqiu?? Vee?!
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the rotting feeling is familiar - jiaoqiu brings a hand up to his chest, on edge, and glances over at yves. that seems to be what we're looking for, but... if there's something else in this house that can help, he's willing to look for those things too. it's probably not smart to just jump feet first into a horrible rot hole. ]
Does it feel like that to you, too?
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... yeah. Like this is it.
[ he'll look back over his shoulder and call out— ] Marcoh! Siff! Over here!!
[ to try to cut their big explore a lil short? yves looks around—does it look like there's any footholds for a descent? a slope? can he kick a rock and then listen to see how long it takes to hear a clatter down the pit? ]
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anyway, assigns you as all now in the basement, because siffrin probably ran and marcoh followed, and jiaoqiu and yves are staring at this gaping, rotten maw of a hole. or perhaps, more accurately, a tunnel.
because you can both peer inside because you’re closest, and you can drop a rock and listen to it rough and tumble its way down to the bottom. the path down is steep, narrow enough that you would have to walk down single file, but it’s doable.
from where you currently stand, you can only see a long, endless tunnel.
but where else are you going to go? ]
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Stop running off. Please.
[ See, becomes polite. Anyway, let's go spelunking Part 2. ]
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You both okay?
[ Once reassured they're fine and it's just them and this tunnel until 1am, they do offer a nod. Time to move. Which is tight enough that single file seems necessary.. Siffrin ideally wants to take the lead, it's what they're used to. Ensuring they watch for traps, being first... when? Where?
A head shake. Anyway, they don't mind keeping the back if the others decide to push on first but yeah spelunking part 2 let's goooo. ]
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[ okay, rude. jiaoqiu takes a step forward, staring into the dark. ]
It's there. I can see it. [ looking over his shoulder at the other three with a clarity he doesn't normally have. almost like he can see really well down here... he'll keep holding yves's hand if he doesn't pull away. ]
... There's a room at the end of the tunnel.
[ and he seems a little fussy at not being able to go first, but he'll go in whatever order. ]
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[ but!
he will also go in whatever order, he really doesn’t feel strongly. doesn’t feel much of anything in the moment.
but he will still gently hold onto jiaoqiu’s hand like a lifeline ]
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eventually your tunnel flattens out and widens. there’s a little extra room to walk now, and you can spread out if you want. there’s a little breeze that blows through the tunnel, and as you pass it seems as though the walls themselves are shaking, trembling, twitching. the floor beneath your feet sometimes feeling like water and sometimes feeling like stone.
you will have to walk for some distance… ]
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He touches one of the walls softly. What is the wrong . . . ]
What is going on here?
[ He cannot sense magic he presumes... can either of you. Are we on a ley line. They can keep walking. ]
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They rub at their arm, looking to the walls as well and holding their breath for a moment. Mm. Their own hand will raise to drift along a wall too, brows furrowing as they focus a little on it until stepping quietly along. ]
It's... [ Their voice trails and they shiver a little, expression twisting to unease. ]
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he keeps walking, not caring about the distance. honestly, he'll take the lead, he's on a mission. but he'll run his fingers along the wall every so often, too. what can he see? can he sense any sort of magic? ]
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yves still keeps his hand in jiaoqiu's, but he finds his attention drifting. he sniffs the breeze. what does it smell like? ]
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you are suddenly hit with clarity: this place is not connected to cabeswater at all, despite being on a ley line.
the further you walk, it feels as if you’re all being crowded together and ushered onward toward the room jiaoqiu mentioned at the end. you can’t see it at all, but perhaps he knows the way? marcoh’s hand suddenly disappears into the wall itself, and soon you feel crawling, hundreds of little legs leaving your hand an itchy mess.
the room is straight ahead, and the darkness prevails. the breeze smells dirty, almost noxious, even though there’s nothing poisonous down here.
you are all driven by the urge to keep going. there’s a flat, stone wall ahead, an arched doorway right in the center. ]
no subject
He usually loves bugs too but he's not going to after this. He yanks his hand back out, unless you tell me he can't and he's just stuck there, in which case fucking rest in peace and goodbye. But otherwise he's going to set his jaw and move faster with bigger strides, even if it means overtaking the other three.
If Glendower is here, he needs to see him just once before he dies.
Is this door tsundere? What do we feel from it. I ask this but being first in line I know somebody is just going to be like opens it so, salutes. ]
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Just following close at his heels. The arched doorway is. Right. There. ]
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but jiaoqiu, with very large and bright eyes, walks straight past marcoh and sif, lets go of yves, and opens the door. goodbye. he walks even further into the room and goes right for something the rest of you can't see, and puts his hands on it.
and pushes. ]
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is this another stone coffin you fuck did you win this time
jiaoqiu lets go of yves and yves is dazed enough to let him—but once he comes to, he'll start running after jiaoqiu in deep concern even though he's not fast or solid enough to stop him ]
Jiao?!
no subject
anyway you don’t get to find out if this door is tsundere since jiaoqiu just mowed his way downtown walking fast, bursting into the room. ravens upon ravens upon ravens on the door are on the door and it’s chilled inside, dead grass and ivy climbing the walls, and in front of you…
there is in fact a stone coffin. the room itself is emmpty beyond that, a low rocky ceiling and a scrying bowl on the floor.
but more importantly, in the tomb lies a knight in armor, uncovered. a sword by his left hand, a cup by his right.
you know this is your king you’ve been searching for, and you know that the moment you go to touch this king, to wake him from his slumber…
…he’s dead. there is no flesh, there is no magic, it’s metal and bone and decay and you wonder if you can wake the bones, but there is nothing. and the longer you stand in this tomb, looking upon the face of a fantasy you’ve chased for years and years, you realize several things begin to slip far away from your memory.
marcoh, do you really need to see venere safe and happy? surely she’s fine on her own, right? don’t even think about her. (a wish unmade)
siffrin, you would do everything for your friends and family, wouldn’t you? look at how far you’ve come now to stay by their side, even though so many things have gone wrong because of you. but it’s fine. when the journey is over, you’ll realize they don’t want you to stay anyway. (a wish unmade)
jiaoqiu, was peace ever really an option? what does it matter? that’s just a pipedream. you were never going to cure war anyway, right? so why bother trying. go, be free to do something else. (a wish unmade)
yves, who could ever truly love a ghost? you don’t need to be loved. your friends have forgotten you multiple times already, haven’t they? maybe it’s time to give up the ghost and disappear when the journey is over (a wish unmade)
glendower is dead, and so are all of your dreams… whatever the hell they were.
and to top it off, you do still have the demon to contend with. what a day, huh? ]
no subject
...No.
[ No, no, no -- he spent the last seven years doing everything he could to learn. Artemus said Glendower wasn't dead. He'd be back. (Maybe a touch presumptuous on his part, but Marcoh has every reason to believe it.) The king who can undo death itself, surely could save Henrietta, Virginia, could save the other three. He mutters under his breath as he storms in, reaching.
Marcoh's a mess. He looks and never finds. Everything is temporary for an oaf like him. His hands aren't meant to solve and find, they're too broad and heavy. It's not like he could ever protect Venere anyway. He fucked it all up. He should've never insisted he could. In another life, she wasn't raised by some stupid kid trying to do his best because he was too attached to let her go. She would have been fine without him. She'll be just fine without him here, they have parents now, when he finally meets that ghost, proves the omen true. He's years overdue.
The last thing he could've had was one answer for himself. ]
That can't be it. There's something. Glendower is the reason I am here. What are you hiding?
[ The blade he raised to call on the Welsh? Is it really nothing but pure steel? ]
no subject
there is only silence, and the faint whistling of the wind from the entrance of the tunnel. ]
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Marcoh has never actually let the concept of depression catch up to him before but it finally has for the first time and it feels so bad. He's definitely going to have to be lowkey manhandled to actually get out of here but he will silently and numbly drive them all back to Virginia... ]
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How thoroughly unsatisfied Siffrin has been with their life, didn't really have big plans for the future.. nothing but the loyalty to their friends. To their family. Just doing what they can to protect them, be with them, in this life here with a father that died recently so fresh on their mind and a mother who may as well have died after that loss. But they found something here. Found something in all of them and..
That was enough. Was everything. And this, this they wanted at least for Marcoh, to do anything for him and it wasn't about the favor for themselves. Why need a favor when everything they wanted was right here? So they wanted to help him, to not let him to do it alone, and all they can do is helplessly watch that dream being crushed before his eyes. ..There's nothing to keep them all here, is there? (They'll leave. They'll leave, and you'll be alone again.)
But they move ahead, a gentle hand and try to guide Marcoh along. There's nothing for them here. There's nothing left. There's only one path left, isn't there? Ignore those other feelings, push to the back of their mind, it's.. not over yet. Not yet, there's still something left for them to do. Focus on that and not the end.
Back to the drive, where they won't say a word, falling quiet. ]
no subject
nihility is familiar. it's rotting and horrible and crawls up in his throat. for a long moment, as he stares at this dead king, this culmination of everything that he hoped to achieve, to fix that nihility - he's just silent. shut off. what now? what do they do now? what does it even matter anymore? feixiao gave over to the moon rage - the war will never end, it will be soldier after soldier, just the remains of something horrible, bloodstained and torn to shreds.
his fingers twitch. his jaw works, his eyes hurt.
there's no reason to be here. and as he turns to pass by the others again, there's a brief look of fury in his expression. back up the tunnel he goes. they have a demon to kill, still. in the car we get.
he sits behind the driver's seat, this time. behind marcoh. he might feel jiaoqiu staring at him. ]
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