[ there's a couple things on the shelves - there's a fading train pass, a holographic type thing that shimmers slightly when you tilt your head, and a white circular device with a screen.
when saber opens the storage box, they find... a little dude. there's just a little dude in there, snoring. you instinctively know what this is - it's a tuskpir, and they're known for eating nightmares! though maybe this little dude could be useful with a lot of things. it makes a little meh... mehr mehr... meh meh sound as it snores. ]
[ she takes the pass! you get the idea that this may summon something to help you in your battle against satan. the device is a superconductor! it will power someone up one time to super saiyan levels.
as for the tuskpir, it sleepily wakes up and stares at you both with big dumb eyes, its little legs waving around in the air. ]
the tuskpir does little kicky legs again, with a meh meh meh!! and rolls over to stand up. it can walk, and it can run pretty fast, but it probably cannot get out of this box. please assist.
in any case, as you poke your head out to see what the heck is going on here, you hear a commotion in the distance. in the direction your new friends went. uh oh! ]
well it's probably best if wis is holding onto it, since she can fight from a distance while saber cannot.. but yeah time to run over to see what's going on. ]
anyway, she can pick it up, yeah, it is so content to be carried around if she wants to.
when you reach the commotion, all you can see at first is a huge crowd of people all mumbling and chattering in concern. why? because there's horrible snarling sounds coming from the center. there's a voice that comes from that center: Back up! Back up, he's --
and then there's an alarming, echoing crack of a sound, and a howl.
that's about the point that people start scrambling away in earnest, screaming. you can only just barely see it, but basilio is on his hands and knees, screaming in a mixture of rage and pain as horrible black crystals crawl out from under his skin, bursting out of his spine and shaping into ginkgo leaves. these flowers start to glow, pulsing, like a thermal bomb ready to blow at any second, but it doesn't seem to stop him. the glow of his eyes and his sharp, malformed teeth are burned into your mind as he looks up at the two of you, and pulls himself to his feet. wis'adel, you'll recognize those black crystals. even in the middle of your au memories, you will very quickly and suddenly know that this is oripathy, somehow - that it's mixed with mara, for rather explosive results.
(is it your fault? are you next?)
and that's about when jiaoqiu comes out of the crowd and grabs both saber and wis'adel, trying to push them to somewhere safer. ]
We have to go, he's gone, there's nothing left of him --
[ we're really putting bas through some shit this cyoa huh ]
[shit. shit, she-- wiš'adel never touched him. how did this even happen? the reasonable assumption is it's somehow her fault, but that shouldn't be possible, he couldn't have...
she glances down to her arm, brow furrowed, before jiaoqiu appears to grab them.]
[ saber, meanwhile, has absolutely no idea what just happened, and only stares at the scene dumbfounded until jiaoqiu comes up to them. they stare at what's left of bas before turning their attention to the other two. ]
There are people. Can they handle this or are they civilians?
something strikes her, eyes wide for a second, and she curses.]
Shit. No, you have to-- we have to get everyone away from him. Trust me. Clear 'em out of here.
[she shoves the tuskpir into jiaoqiu or saber's arms. please keep creature safe. excuse her, she's breaking away to go try to catch basilio's attention, gun leveled on him:]
[ well, saber will listen to her since she seems to know what she's talking about. jq can hold the baby because it's what he deserves 🥺
but saber will just try to get the civilians to get out of the way. if anyone argues they will literally just pick them up and move them they do not give a fuck ]
[ jiaoqiu does hold the baby, looking Very Confused as to why he suddenly has a tuskpir. but he moves back, trying to get out of the way - tries to help saber, too. saber, as you're helping the crowd, you can't help but feel like there's something wrong about this. like you know the person that this monster was.
he certainly seems to know you, because even though wis'adel shouts at him, he seems like he's absolutely focused on saber in particular. he drops forward on all fours, as the flowers continue to grow and snake out from his spine, wrapping like snakes around his limbs. he's going to throw himself at saber and whatever civilians that saber is trying to move away with a roar. the civilians scream, knocking each other out of the way to try and flee.
those crystals are pulsing a little faster, now.
as basilio runs past, he does in fact ram into wis'adel (and jiaoqiu, by extension) on the way past, which throws her to the ground. ]
meanwhile, since bas is focused on saber, she takes the opportunity she's got: wiš'adel hauls herself to her feet and takes aim, firing at those pulsing crystals.]
saber is momentarily confused, trying to figure out why they know this man that they've literally just met. none of this makes any sense, but they don't have much time to think about it further when what's left of bas attacks.
if he actually reaches saber despite the shooting, saber will try to wrestle with him before reaching for the snoopy knife. I have no idea how saber has been carrying this thing and i am not going to figure this out now ]
[ jiaoqiu looks fine, though he's disoriented. he nods a little, giving her a worried look, and then takes the baby and stupid fruits his way off to go and protect civilians best he can, shooing them away, guiding them somewhere safe.
the shooting seems to do some damage, cracking the crystals, but it's clear whatever this hybrid infection is doesn't like that. the vines swipe out and wave wildly. one of them, a particularly spiky vine, strikes out like a scorpion tail, attempting to punch a hole through wis'adel. it's knocked off true course from saber wrestling with the monster, but the intent is there.
the longer this fight goes on, it's like your au memories can't quite hold. you both are starting to remember two different histories at once - the one you had before, and barbarilla and kung fury both. it feels like filling your heads with water, sloshy and slow.
the monster, frustrated by the fact that it can't get a good grip on saber on account of being shot at, punched and stabbed, screams in saber's face. it's a horrible noise - strangled and pained, like whatever is left of him is still in there, horrified. it doesn't change anything, much. unable to stop, it starts ramming its fists into saber as best it can - those fists turn sharp, surrounded by the razor sharp vines. as saber is grabbing for the knife, it lashes out and slices saber's kung fist right off, sending it flying a few feet away.
one of the crystals on the monster's back cracks entirely, and starts to leak. the pulsing is now much, much faster, like a bomb about to be set off. ]
[she's about to call out to them, but it feels so weird; what name is theirs again? everything is mixing together in her two histories, stopping her for a second, holding her side where that vine slashed her instead of fully impaling her.]
We gotta get out of here! Get away from him!
[but they're in close quarters, so--
ugh. fuck. she's darting in to try to help yank them away before he fucking EXPLODES or something.]
saber just lost their hand, and it takes several seconds for that to register before wis is trying to help them get away. they go easily, because they know her even though at the moment they're rather confused as to how they know her. it's not really making any sense right now. ]
wis'adel comes running in to grab saber, helping them and snoopy up off the ground. the vines are wildly slicing in every direction now, trying to lash at whatever it can. it scrabbles at the ground, trying to stand up, but it seems to be losing strength, a weird sort of acid leaking from the bullet wounds and stab wounds. as saber staggers away, they can see the creature staring at them. it's that same look - betrayal, pain, horror. why would you do this? is that all you can do?
in one last act of defiance, it lifts a vine, and aims it - shoots forward, directly made to drive through wis'adel's back and into saber's front, only. at the last second, both of them get knocked down by something pink.
and then the thing that was basilio explodes in a brilliant flash of bright white light. ]
[the flash of pink registers, and even in her muddled memories, that sets something off. no, he shouldn't, he can't just-- it's going to kill him. he was supposed to get people out, he was supposed to get out--
but the explosion happens just as she tries to turn back to look, still on the ground with saber, sliced up by those vines, and she's forced to squeeze her eyes shut and just--
well, from this close? she's gonna have to just wait to see if she opens them again.]
[ saber wants to apologize, say that they didn't mean for this to happen, but nothing comes out. and then they're on the ground, and there is really too much happening but–
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Yes. I am surprised they brought us here.
[ it is weirdly helpful at all ]
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when saber opens the storage box, they find... a little dude. there's just a little dude in there, snoring. you instinctively know what this is - it's a tuskpir, and they're known for eating nightmares! though maybe this little dude could be useful with a lot of things. it makes a little meh... mehr mehr... meh meh sound as it snores. ]
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[yoinks the pass and pokes at the white device... what is this.
she glances over at the little sounds the tuskpir makes, though, peering down at it.]
-aw, it's cute.
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[ they feel crazy saying it out loud ]
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as for the tuskpir, it sleepily wakes up and stares at you both with big dumb eyes, its little legs waving around in the air. ]
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[listen you can't assign me animal handling backstory and not expect her to go AWWW CREACHER.
she passes the superconductor to saber, though.]
Here, feels like this is gonna be more useful for you than me.
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time to go poke their head somewhere to see what the heck is going on here ]
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the tuskpir does little kicky legs again, with a meh meh meh!! and rolls over to stand up. it can walk, and it can run pretty fast, but it probably cannot get out of this box. please assist.
in any case, as you poke your head out to see what the heck is going on here, you hear a commotion in the distance. in the direction your new friends went. uh oh! ]
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[she had a weed and she's FINE
she is not fine. but she'll keep saying it, honestly, she's good enough by video game logic. just going to free the tuskpir, picking it up...
before that commotion happens. UH OH INDEED. saber gets a quick glance and a nod; let's go check that out.]
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well it's probably best if wis is holding onto it, since she can fight from a distance while saber cannot.. but yeah time to run over to see what's going on. ]
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anyway, she can pick it up, yeah, it is so content to be carried around if she wants to.
when you reach the commotion, all you can see at first is a huge crowd of people all mumbling and chattering in concern. why? because there's horrible snarling sounds coming from the center. there's a voice that comes from that center: Back up! Back up, he's --
and then there's an alarming, echoing crack of a sound, and a howl.
that's about the point that people start scrambling away in earnest, screaming. you can only just barely see it, but basilio is on his hands and knees, screaming in a mixture of rage and pain as horrible black crystals crawl out from under his skin, bursting out of his spine and shaping into ginkgo leaves. these flowers start to glow, pulsing, like a thermal bomb ready to blow at any second, but it doesn't seem to stop him. the glow of his eyes and his sharp, malformed teeth are burned into your mind as he looks up at the two of you, and pulls himself to his feet. wis'adel, you'll recognize those black crystals. even in the middle of your au memories, you will very quickly and suddenly know that this is oripathy, somehow - that it's mixed with mara, for rather explosive results.
(is it your fault? are you next?)
and that's about when jiaoqiu comes out of the crowd and grabs both saber and wis'adel, trying to push them to somewhere safer. ]
We have to go, he's gone, there's nothing left of him --
[ we're really putting bas through some shit this cyoa huh ]
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she glances down to her arm, brow furrowed, before jiaoqiu appears to grab them.]
Wait, wait, then shouldn't we stop him--?!
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There are people. Can they handle this or are they civilians?
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as for jiaoqiu, he looks over his shoulder. ]
There are soldiers, they'll take care of him. I couldn't ask you to help with our problems when you're just visitors.
[ but - he's not going to stop you if you want to fight, to save the people. he just doesn't want to make you responsible for this. ]
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she pauses, looking at them. if they've grown--
something strikes her, eyes wide for a second, and she curses.]
Shit. No, you have to-- we have to get everyone away from him. Trust me. Clear 'em out of here.
[she shoves the tuskpir into jiaoqiu or saber's arms. please keep creature safe. excuse her, she's breaking away to go try to catch basilio's attention, gun leveled on him:]
Hey, you!
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but saber will just try to get the civilians to get out of the way. if anyone argues they will literally just pick them up and move them they do not give a fuck ]
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he certainly seems to know you, because even though wis'adel shouts at him, he seems like he's absolutely focused on saber in particular. he drops forward on all fours, as the flowers continue to grow and snake out from his spine, wrapping like snakes around his limbs. he's going to throw himself at saber and whatever civilians that saber is trying to move away with a roar. the civilians scream, knocking each other out of the way to try and flee.
those crystals are pulsing a little faster, now.
as basilio runs past, he does in fact ram into wis'adel (and jiaoqiu, by extension) on the way past, which throws her to the ground. ]
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[ow, you asshole
she glances to see if jiaoqiu is okay, first.]
We'll handle it. Make sure they get out.
[you're on civilian duty, jq.
meanwhile, since bas is focused on saber, she takes the opportunity she's got: wiš'adel hauls herself to her feet and takes aim, firing at those pulsing crystals.]
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saber is momentarily confused, trying to figure out why they know this man that they've literally just met. none of this makes any sense, but they don't have much time to think about it further when what's left of bas attacks.
if he actually reaches saber despite the shooting, saber will try to wrestle with him before reaching for the snoopy knife. I have no idea how saber has been carrying this thing and i am not going to figure this out now ]
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the shooting seems to do some damage, cracking the crystals, but it's clear whatever this hybrid infection is doesn't like that. the vines swipe out and wave wildly. one of them, a particularly spiky vine, strikes out like a scorpion tail, attempting to punch a hole through wis'adel. it's knocked off true course from saber wrestling with the monster, but the intent is there.
the longer this fight goes on, it's like your au memories can't quite hold. you both are starting to remember two different histories at once - the one you had before, and barbarilla and kung fury both. it feels like filling your heads with water, sloshy and slow.
the monster, frustrated by the fact that it can't get a good grip on saber on account of being shot at, punched and stabbed, screams in saber's face. it's a horrible noise - strangled and pained, like whatever is left of him is still in there, horrified. it doesn't change anything, much. unable to stop, it starts ramming its fists into saber as best it can - those fists turn sharp, surrounded by the razor sharp vines. as saber is grabbing for the knife, it lashes out and slices saber's kung fist right off, sending it flying a few feet away.
one of the crystals on the monster's back cracks entirely, and starts to leak. the pulsing is now much, much faster, like a bomb about to be set off. ]
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[she's about to call out to them, but it feels so weird; what name is theirs again? everything is mixing together in her two histories, stopping her for a second, holding her side where that vine slashed her instead of fully impaling her.]
We gotta get out of here! Get away from him!
[but they're in close quarters, so--
ugh. fuck. she's darting in to try to help yank them away before he fucking EXPLODES or something.]
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saber just lost their hand, and it takes several seconds for that to register before wis is trying to help them get away. they go easily, because they know her even though at the moment they're rather confused as to how they know her. it's not really making any sense right now. ]
What...?
[ they lose the knife but they hold onto snoopy ]
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wis'adel comes running in to grab saber, helping them and snoopy up off the ground. the vines are wildly slicing in every direction now, trying to lash at whatever it can. it scrabbles at the ground, trying to stand up, but it seems to be losing strength, a weird sort of acid leaking from the bullet wounds and stab wounds. as saber staggers away, they can see the creature staring at them. it's that same look - betrayal, pain, horror. why would you do this? is that all you can do?
in one last act of defiance, it lifts a vine, and aims it - shoots forward, directly made to drive through wis'adel's back and into saber's front, only. at the last second, both of them get knocked down by something pink.
and then the thing that was basilio explodes in a brilliant flash of bright white light. ]
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[the flash of pink registers, and even in her muddled memories, that sets something off. no, he shouldn't, he can't just-- it's going to kill him. he was supposed to get people out, he was supposed to get out--
but the explosion happens just as she tries to turn back to look, still on the ground with saber, sliced up by those vines, and she's forced to squeeze her eyes shut and just--
well, from this close? she's gonna have to just wait to see if she opens them again.]
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kaboomy ]
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