[ I love how none of you were like. better check in with my friends about this very ominous information I’ve found. Time to go to the DEPTHS. I support literally all of you.
Shadowheart, you aren’t on your best observation skills here. You awake one morning to silence. Which is very fucking odd, considering how loud the damn tower is most of the time. With all the people milling around, all the Templars and mages and even the Tranquil have their own rhythms and sounds. But not now. There’s only you, and when you exit the dormitories, a templar slumped over on the ground. If you go over to him and try and rouse him, he doesn’t respond. You are moving under your own power, you own mind, and you don’t really notice anything else off … but you suspect that something might be happening. You head to the catacombs.
Jiaoqiu you feel all your senses alight this morning. You’ve felt your vision returning, but now it’s full force. It’s a wonderful feeling. It could even better than it was. Everything feels better. You can even hear better. As you awake, you realize that it isn’t silence. From the floors above you - it’s distant, as if through water, but screaming. crying. terror. and you can smell it, that coppery scent in the air. but … you’ve thought about your phylactery. and something inside of you latches onto that idea. what a good idea. Yes. Your phylactery is a physical object, a little vial of blood, and they store it in the tower until you pass your Harrowing. It probably hasn’t had time to be moved yet. If you’re quick, you can get to it in time, get rid of it, be free of this horrible place. You hear the screaming, and even if every part of you wants to go investigate, by the Maker to fucking help …
you don’t exactly get a choice. you find your feet moving you towards the catacombs into the depths against your will. A comforting presence presses against your mind, guiding you. `I promised I would be here.` And you feel warm. And safe.
Kaworu, you also don’t seem to notice much of anything amiss as you head for the catacombs except for the fact that the Templars who normally guard the door are face down on the ground. One of them appears to be weakly moving, but sluggish and groggy. the other— the armor is scorched, and they aren’t moving. But maybe that’s not important right now. What’s important is this opportunity. Getting the hell out of here. You bolt for the door and make it - it seems someone might have been this way already. You did beat my pathetic DC3, so yeah, it doesn’t take long to run into Anders. He hasn’t made it far, but seems in something of a goddamn panic. He didn’t think it would hit the Templars that hard? And where is everyone? Maybe there’s just an assembly he forgot about this morning. It doesn’t matter, though. If you’re here, you’re here. He’ll agree to take you, but you’ve got to fucking move.
Charlie.
Oh Charlie. You can do a lot of reading about the intricacies of the Lyrium trade. She’ll find out that Lyrium is the Chantry’s greatest resource. A powerful substance that in its raw form can kill a mage outright, but in its refined form is the most important magical tool there is. Everything is made with this stuff. It’s necessary for enchantment, for magical items, for even the most basic of mage staves. The ring you wear is lined with lyrium, and the walls of the Circle are lit with lyrium lamps. It comes from the Deep Roads, and is mined by the dwarves, and its trade is the most expansive and powerful network across the entire continent. There is no seat of power too high that does not have a hand in it, from the Tevinter Imperium to the Empress of Orlais.
Of course it’s very dangerous.
And there’s nothing you can really do about it. Not from here. You’re helpless. And that makes you so angry as well. You’re seeing so much red that you barely notice when you’ve made your way all the way to the catacombs, all the way down here without paying much attention at all to where you’ve even come from.
But uh. You’re all together now. I don’t think anyone successfully hides.
[that also sounds extremely dangerous. she was prepared to break the rules, but just escaping isn't a decision you could undo. she isn't interested in helping any slumped over templars, but she doesn't want to get caught and ruin her life for these people, either.
on the other hand, maybe by virtue of being here at all its already too late, she'll get blamed for being part of whatever this is no matter what she protests.]
[ i promised you i'd be there. she is. she's there. and he trusts her, more than anything, so... he goes.
he's down here just... hanging out, watching the rest of them quietly. but when they speak up, when anders suggests they leave, he smiles a little. pleasant, placid, as always. ]
If we destroy our phylacteries, they will not be able to follow us. [ ... ] I don't see why we can't leave.
[ it's not like the templars care, right? not about them, just about their magic. and jiaoqiu doesn't have anywhere to go, but... maybe he can find somewhere that he can have purpose. maybe she'll lead him to it. ]
[ her mind is pulsating red, angry thoughts -- at the system, at lyrium, at everything, but she takes a deep breath, tries to calm her neves ]
... I don't know.
[ it doesn't feel right to just abandon the other mages, leave everyone to something potentially dangerous. even the templars, she doesn't want them badly hurt or worse ]
[ it is a little too late. maybe? you could always run back into the tower. you could certainly try. but there is a force inside of you now, charlie, that is leaning in close with all of a mother's warmth and telling you that it is `going to be okay.`
anders will take one look at almost all of you except the child who seems to be looking to him for guidance and instantly decide you're all being very fucking weird and it's giving him the heebie jeebies. ]
Your phylacteries will be here.
[ there's a little bit of bitterness there, because his isn't. but he's known that. this is all very unusual, he's never had people try to escape with him. if they are doing that at all. ]
I know where they are. And I know the way to get out I think.
[ so confident!
well, despite all of that - you hear a sound in the distance - it sounds like ice cracking and then glass shattering. A lot of glass. there's also a shout, but it's indistinct.
so. whatcha up to. Are we going for phylacteries, are we leaving, are we turning tail and running? ]
Listen. I’m not exactly thrilled at the idea of living as an apostate in the woods for the rest of my life, but I do not exactly relish sticking around and finding out what they do to us for this when they wake up.
[it doesn’t matter that they weren’t involved. Heads will have to roll for this, and they’ll find whatever heads are convenient to blame. All it will take is someone reporting that they saw them acting suspicious, going somewhere they weren’t meant to go. At best they’ll be watched and under suspicion and subject to random acts of violent vengeance but more likely they’ll be accused and thrown in a cell or made tranquil. She’s not optimistic and there is not a single authority figure in this place she would trust to defend her from any of that.
she doesn’t hate the idea of freedom either, it’s just that she dreamed of a freedom that wouldn’t mean being hunted, hiding. she nods at jiaoqiu.]
If we’re doing this, let’s be smart about it. Destroy the phylacteries first. Even if it doesn’t stop them looking, it slows them down.
[ yeah like listen jiaoqiu has not spent a single day of his life outside in the cold. he is a somewhat spoiled child who came to a place where everything was decided for him, and so while he can cook and take care of himself... being out in the world is going to be a huge adjustment.
but shadowheart is right. if there's any sort of indication that the four of them were here, the templars will not care if they did something or not. they will be held responsible, and the last thing in the world that jiaoqiu wants is to be made tranquil. the little voice in his head tells him that it'll be okay. that they can make it work. and she's never lied to him, so he believes her.
[Wow, he is not a child, he is a teenager, thank you very much! He doesn't feel like his phylactery is here. There were too many hushed whispers and glancing looks his way.
But he now realizes that saying so would raise suspicion and they might view him as a liability and leave him behind. Then he'd be stuck there and his plans of escape would fade back into dreams.]
Because it's where all the glass crashing sounds are coming from ... ?
[ obviously. COME ON.
well. if yall are going that way, he doesn't seem to have much choice other than to follow - if only to see where this is going? this seems like a bad idea but you are all so compelling he doesn't have much choice.
as you head down the winding passageways, built stone and archways give way to more natural looking caverns, and lower light - the only way to navigate down here is by sparse mage light, which leaves an eerie blue glow on everything. You arrive at a doorway that seems like it was once heavily locked and guarded, but there's two templars thrown to the sides of the room here - neither are moving, and both are covered in blood, armor rent open by something powerful. What exactly it is is hard to say.
You can hear voices further in, an argument, and the sound of further glass breaking.
The air smells heavily of iron and copper, and the whole place pulses with something like power. Anders looks like he's about to bolt for it. ]
You’re the one who suggested this in the first place, nitwit!
[she’s so mad! she doesn’t want to be here at all! But now she’s gotta do everything herself. Examining the templars on the ground. Guessing this is where they’re doing all the blood magic. Can she steal herself a sword? I know she’s a mage but a girl can always multiclass. She still thinks they should go in there and she’s not afraid of some blood mages, but if everyone else is a weenie and doesn’t want to she would probably listen to reason.]
[ jiaoqiu isn't exactly the type to jump to fighting normally, but the second that they get close to this area, he's going to gather some fire energy. something about his brain being just a little fucked up, right this second. maybe they've noticed, maybe they haven't, but he is far less timid than he used to be, after his harrowing.
anyway. fire hands! he is a fire unit... sorry to steal your shtick, anders.
he should be scared of this, really, but he isn't. instead, he's curious. he's pretty sure whatever is in there are blood mages, and he should be scared of that, but honestly? maybe a little blood magic isn't that bad. he'd just like to see what he can do with it... he glances at the others. ]
I don't think there's much point in backing out now.
[ they've got magic! shadowheart will protect them. ]
If we're not willing to fight now, then how are going to fight all the way to freedom?
[He inhales. The smell and taste metal in the air doesn't bother him. In fact, it's comforting. Like it's pulling at the edges of his skin and leading him closer. The pulse in the air keeping time with the beat of his heart. He's never been in a fight before but he feels like knows he can win against some low level templars.
He'll put a barrier a magic barrier over them and then just... start moving forward.]
[ charlie kneels by the templars (likely dead), to see if there's anything that can be done for them. even if they are (jean ralphio voice) the wooooooooorst, she is, at heart, a pacifist, and doesn't want to see them die. ]
[ in brain, however, she is possessed, so if they're dead, she'll just close their eyes and move on, her own hands sizzling with faint traces of lightning magic as they move forward. surely, she will be the voice of reason here? ]
Well-- let's just see what's happening. If it's too much, we can leave.
[ yes she can have a sword even though you are a mage surely you have no training with that shit. they don't teach mages how to fight in the Circle, but maybe you learned elsewhere. it is very fucking heavy.
they are so super dead and anders is giving her such a judgey look for even trying to help them sorry
anders himself is going to stay VERY in the back of this pile-up, which is maybe the smart idea because the instant they all move into the room they're all getting hit with a violent blast of Force magic that is far more powerful than anything they've ever been hit with in any class or seminar. The barrier is up, but the blast still sends a lot of the glass shards that are laying around this room flying at them with extreme force - enough to pierce through the barrier if your concentration drops for even a second.
this room, though. it's a storage room, mostly full of shelves and shelves of various containers - clay and glass and wood - and everything is being throughly destroyed by three mages. An older man, a young woman, and a boy who can't be older than 14. The woman has blood dripping down from her hands and is the one who's cast the spell at you first thing without asking any questions. ]
[whatever, she may have no training but she is already making it glow like a cool knight enchanter sword. anyway, fucking ouch. she will barrier up as soon as shit pops off, but it doesn't do much to prevent her from being knocked about with force, shards of glass cutting her skin. fuck this! she gets what they may be trying to do here, but rude to attack them straight away.]
We have no fight with you. We came here for what belongs to us, and we'll go if we have it.
[she shouts this, but that doesn't mean she has much hope that they are going to get out of this without a fight. she just thinks these idiots should stop, they're mages too, they're just trying to escape. they didn't ask to be dragged into whatever the fuck this is. but can she look around and presume that their phylacteries may already be destroyed?
[ jesus, okay!! well, he gets pelted by glass shards - nothing terribly painful, but enough that it makes him drop the flame he had gathering around his hands. he makes a startled sound, trying to move out of the way of getting further injured. he doesn't want to hurt the people in this room, but he will if forced.
shadowheart's said everything he wanted to say, so he scoots off to the side behind whatever sort of cover he can find and scans the room for what it is they're doing, exactly. is the blood the woman's? or did she steal it from someone.
also, do they all look like they want to be here? they're not holding this kid hostage, right? ]
[Kaworu will kiss the boy if it counts on the kiss counter getting a kiss on the counter is the only thing i care about FUCK Y'ALL.
Anyway, Kaworu does look at look at the boy his age. Perhaps he recognizes him despite having little interaction with his same age peers due to being a new arrival and passing the Harrowing at a young age.
He looks at the blood on the woman's arm and doesn't feel disgust. Instead he feels drawn to it. What powers are within his body if he were only willing to access them?
[ being attacked by a fellow mage makes something in charlie's blood boil -- but she manages to tamp it down. for the moment. ]
Stop! We're not here to fight.
[ echoing her group's sentiments, she puts her hands up-- and gets some glass to them for her troubles. ouchie. at least the barrier took away the worst of it ]
[ actually funnily enough it doesn't seem like many phylacteries are shattered - the older man and younger boy are holding boxes, and you can't tell for certain, but Anders is certainly looking at it with recognition.
the blood is the woman's own blood, yes.
you are all offering little gestures of kinship and kindness and ander behind just mutters `can I just say I have a problem with the blood mages?` but no one cares about his opinion. shut the fuck up.
especially the boy, who's glowering at you hardest. with a sudden gesture, he digs in the box he was holding and fumbles the rest - it hits the ground with a hard crash - and he holds up a phylactery with a name scrawled on it. Jiaoqiu.
Jiao, your head feels like it's going to fucking explode. Your vision - your perfect vision - narrows to a point and your blood rushes through your ears as you feel it speed up in your own veins as this child starts to control you, try to bind you to the floor with your own blood. Everything hurts. You're probaby screaming, even if you can't know for certain, because you cannot control your own body. ]
You are the thing that belongs to us. We will bring him forth, and no one is going to stop us!
[to anders. she's not a narc, but like, also, a group of more powerful active blood mages who are about to attack you just isn't really the time to get into the moral and philosophical dilemma.
but this is going very bad very quickly. she watches this happen to jiaoqiu and loses any interest in resolving this amicably. she may not have wanted to be here, but she's decided to work with this group of people and she's not going to get one of them be killed.
running at the boy with her sword, trying to summon a blade of magic to surround it.]
[ listen, sometimes you're kind of just chill with people who do fucked up things like blood magic or blowing up entire towers or, y'know, nonspecific things like that.
more seriously, it's that pride. it's the idea that if he had a hand in blood magic, he'd do it right. he'd be able to do it in a way where it didn't hurt someone, and he could use it to heal, or nourish, instead of hurt. that's always what he's wanted to do with magic. and these people, they're living beings, and he always believes in trying to talk it out first. he doesn't like to hurt people.
but people sure like to hurt him! which is why when this little kid wrenches his body down to the floor and starts to fuck with his blood, he isn't sure what to do. he is screaming, he's probably making more noise than any of you have ever heard him make, dropping to the ground and trying to wrench back any sort of control. if he can, out of instinct, he launches some sort of fire in the direction of the trio of blood mages in a desperate attempt to make it stop. ]
Who cares about blood magic? They'd harm us with any magic they could use.
[Kaworu looks at Jiaoqiu, collapsing on the ground in pain, his screams echoing around the rocky cellar walls. It hurts his ears. He doesn't want to see his companion in pain and yet... he doesn't want this boy to die either. Not unless it's necessary.
He follows Shadowheart and then with incredible ease, steps into the fade, and then steps out across the room right next to the boy. He'll reach out and try and pull the phylactery out his hands. If it shatters that's fine. Maybe even for the best. so there's no need to be careful with it.
Or if it shattered, he could see what his blood could do. Just like he tried when he was younger that caused him to be locked away.]
[ and theeeeen shitfuckery happens and it just stops charlie mid-sentence as her vision goes red. ]
Let him go! [ there's a pulse of pure rage as jiaqiu is controlled, but she bites back the urge to attack the child. for now. shadowheart and kaworu have the boy and phylactery covered anyway, so she's going to focus on the other mages, using force magic to try to restrain -- but not hurt -- the woman ]
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holyspirits) wrote2025-03-23 03:14 pm
no subject
Shadowheart, you aren’t on your best observation skills here. You awake one morning to silence. Which is very fucking odd, considering how loud the damn tower is most of the time. With all the people milling around, all the Templars and mages and even the Tranquil have their own rhythms and sounds. But not now. There’s only you, and when you exit the dormitories, a templar slumped over on the ground. If you go over to him and try and rouse him, he doesn’t respond. You are moving under your own power, you own mind, and you don’t really notice anything else off … but you suspect that something might be happening. You head to the catacombs.
Jiaoqiu you feel all your senses alight this morning. You’ve felt your vision returning, but now it’s full force. It’s a wonderful feeling. It could even better than it was. Everything feels better. You can even hear better. As you awake, you realize that it isn’t silence. From the floors above you - it’s distant, as if through water, but screaming. crying. terror. and you can smell it, that coppery scent in the air. but … you’ve thought about your phylactery. and something inside of you latches onto that idea. what a good idea. Yes. Your phylactery is a physical object, a little vial of blood, and they store it in the tower until you pass your Harrowing. It probably hasn’t had time to be moved yet. If you’re quick, you can get to it in time, get rid of it, be free of this horrible place. You hear the screaming, and even if every part of you wants to go investigate, by the Maker to fucking help …
you don’t exactly get a choice. you find your feet moving you towards the catacombs into the depths against your will. A comforting presence presses against your mind, guiding you. `I promised I would be here.` And you feel warm. And safe.
Kaworu, you also don’t seem to notice much of anything amiss as you head for the catacombs except for the fact that the Templars who normally guard the door are face down on the ground. One of them appears to be weakly moving, but sluggish and groggy. the other— the armor is scorched, and they aren’t moving. But maybe that’s not important right now. What’s important is this opportunity. Getting the hell out of here. You bolt for the door and make it - it seems someone might have been this way already. You did beat my pathetic DC3, so yeah, it doesn’t take long to run into Anders. He hasn’t made it far, but seems in something of a goddamn panic. He didn’t think it would hit the Templars that hard? And where is everyone? Maybe there’s just an assembly he forgot about this morning. It doesn’t matter, though. If you’re here, you’re here. He’ll agree to take you, but you’ve got to fucking move.
Charlie.
Oh Charlie. You can do a lot of reading about the intricacies of the Lyrium trade. She’ll find out that Lyrium is the Chantry’s greatest resource. A powerful substance that in its raw form can kill a mage outright, but in its refined form is the most important magical tool there is. Everything is made with this stuff. It’s necessary for enchantment, for magical items, for even the most basic of mage staves. The ring you wear is lined with lyrium, and the walls of the Circle are lit with lyrium lamps. It comes from the Deep Roads, and is mined by the dwarves, and its trade is the most expansive and powerful network across the entire continent. There is no seat of power too high that does not have a hand in it, from the Tevinter Imperium to the Empress of Orlais.
Of course it’s very dangerous.
And there’s nothing you can really do about it. Not from here. You’re helpless. And that makes you so angry as well. You’re seeing so much red that you barely notice when you’ve made your way all the way to the catacombs, all the way down here without paying much attention at all to where you’ve even come from.
But uh. You’re all together now. I don’t think anyone successfully hides.
Anders is the first to clear his throat. ]
… Do you think we should just try and leave?
no subject
[that also sounds extremely dangerous. she was prepared to break the rules, but just escaping isn't a decision you could undo. she isn't interested in helping any slumped over templars, but she doesn't want to get caught and ruin her life for these people, either.
on the other hand, maybe by virtue of being here at all its already too late, she'll get blamed for being part of whatever this is no matter what she protests.]
I don't see how we do it.
no subject
he's down here just... hanging out, watching the rest of them quietly. but when they speak up, when anders suggests they leave, he smiles a little. pleasant, placid, as always. ]
If we destroy our phylacteries, they will not be able to follow us. [ ... ] I don't see why we can't leave.
[ it's not like the templars care, right? not about them, just about their magic. and jiaoqiu doesn't have anywhere to go, but... maybe he can find somewhere that he can have purpose. maybe she'll lead him to it. ]
no subject
Getting our phylacteries will just slow us down. Even if the track us, we just keep hiding.
[He steps closer to Anders and looks at the rest. He's willing to risk it. Plus he has doubts his phylactery is even here. So what is the point.]
no subject
... I don't know.
[ it doesn't feel right to just abandon the other mages, leave everyone to something potentially dangerous. even the templars, she doesn't want them badly hurt or worse ]
[ but then again, it's too late, isn't it? ]
no subject
anders will take one look at almost all of you except the child who seems to be looking to him for guidance and instantly decide you're all being very fucking weird and it's giving him the heebie jeebies. ]
Your phylacteries will be here.
[ there's a little bit of bitterness there, because his isn't. but he's known that. this is all very unusual, he's never had people try to escape with him. if they are doing that at all. ]
I know where they are. And I know the way to get out I think.
[ so confident!
well, despite all of that - you hear a sound in the distance - it sounds like ice cracking and then glass shattering. A lot of glass. there's also a shout, but it's indistinct.
so. whatcha up to. Are we going for phylacteries, are we leaving, are we turning tail and running? ]
no subject
[it doesn’t matter that they weren’t involved. Heads will have to roll for this, and they’ll find whatever heads are convenient to blame. All it will take is someone reporting that they saw them acting suspicious, going somewhere they weren’t meant to go. At best they’ll be watched and under suspicion and subject to random acts of violent vengeance but more likely they’ll be accused and thrown in a cell or made tranquil. She’s not optimistic and there is not a single authority figure in this place she would trust to defend her from any of that.
she doesn’t hate the idea of freedom either, it’s just that she dreamed of a freedom that wouldn’t mean being hunted, hiding. she nods at jiaoqiu.]
If we’re doing this, let’s be smart about it. Destroy the phylacteries first. Even if it doesn’t stop them looking, it slows them down.
no subject
but shadowheart is right. if there's any sort of indication that the four of them were here, the templars will not care if they did something or not. they will be held responsible, and the last thing in the world that jiaoqiu wants is to be made tranquil. the little voice in his head tells him that it'll be okay. that they can make it work. and she's never lied to him, so he believes her.
he nods. ]
Agreed. I will not be made an example of.
no subject
But he now realizes that saying so would raise suspicion and they might view him as a liability and leave him behind. Then he'd be stuck there and his plans of escape would fade back into dreams.]
Fine. But we should make it fast.
no subject
[ charlie asks anders, antsy. she also wants to make this quick, but she imagines they're on the same page about that ]
no subject
[ obviously. COME ON.
well. if yall are going that way, he doesn't seem to have much choice other than to follow - if only to see where this is going? this seems like a bad idea but you are all so compelling he doesn't have much choice.
as you head down the winding passageways, built stone and archways give way to more natural looking caverns, and lower light - the only way to navigate down here is by sparse mage light, which leaves an eerie blue glow on everything. You arrive at a doorway that seems like it was once heavily locked and guarded, but there's two templars thrown to the sides of the room here - neither are moving, and both are covered in blood, armor rent open by something powerful. What exactly it is is hard to say.
You can hear voices further in, an argument, and the sound of further glass breaking.
The air smells heavily of iron and copper, and the whole place pulses with something like power. Anders looks like he's about to bolt for it. ]
Are you sure about this ... ?
no subject
[she’s so mad! she doesn’t want to be here at all! But now she’s gotta do everything herself. Examining the templars on the ground. Guessing this is where they’re doing all the blood magic. Can she steal herself a sword? I know she’s a mage but a girl can always multiclass. She still thinks they should go in there and she’s not afraid of some blood mages, but if everyone else is a weenie and doesn’t want to she would probably listen to reason.]
no subject
anyway. fire hands! he is a fire unit... sorry to steal your shtick, anders.
he should be scared of this, really, but he isn't. instead, he's curious. he's pretty sure whatever is in there are blood mages, and he should be scared of that, but honestly? maybe a little blood magic isn't that bad. he'd just like to see what he can do with it... he glances at the others. ]
I don't think there's much point in backing out now.
[ they've got magic! shadowheart will protect them. ]
no subject
[He inhales. The smell and taste metal in the air doesn't bother him. In fact, it's comforting. Like it's pulling at the edges of his skin and leading him closer. The pulse in the air keeping time with the beat of his heart. He's never been in a fight before but he feels like knows he can win against some low level templars.
He'll put a barrier a magic barrier over them and then just... start moving forward.]
no subject
[ in brain, however, she is possessed, so if they're dead, she'll just close their eyes and move on, her own hands sizzling with faint traces of lightning magic as they move forward. surely, she will be the voice of reason here? ]
Well-- let's just see what's happening. If it's too much, we can leave.
[ jk ]
no subject
they are so super dead and anders is giving her such a judgey look for even trying to help them sorry
anders himself is going to stay VERY in the back of this pile-up, which is maybe the smart idea because the instant they all move into the room they're all getting hit with a violent blast of Force magic that is far more powerful than anything they've ever been hit with in any class or seminar. The barrier is up, but the blast still sends a lot of the glass shards that are laying around this room flying at them with extreme force - enough to pierce through the barrier if your concentration drops for even a second.
this room, though. it's a storage room, mostly full of shelves and shelves of various containers - clay and glass and wood - and everything is being throughly destroyed by three mages. An older man, a young woman, and a boy who can't be older than 14. The woman has blood dripping down from her hands and is the one who's cast the spell at you first thing without asking any questions. ]
Our work will not be disturbed!
no subject
We have no fight with you. We came here for what belongs to us, and we'll go if we have it.
[she shouts this, but that doesn't mean she has much hope that they are going to get out of this without a fight. she just thinks these idiots should stop, they're mages too, they're just trying to escape. they didn't ask to be dragged into whatever the fuck this is. but can she look around and presume that their phylacteries may already be destroyed?
anyway kaworu you should totally kiss that boy.]
no subject
shadowheart's said everything he wanted to say, so he scoots off to the side behind whatever sort of cover he can find and scans the room for what it is they're doing, exactly. is the blood the woman's? or did she steal it from someone.
also, do they all look like they want to be here? they're not holding this kid hostage, right? ]
no subject
Anyway, Kaworu does look at look at the boy his age. Perhaps he recognizes him despite having little interaction with his same age peers due to being a new arrival and passing the Harrowing at a young age.
He looks at the blood on the woman's arm and doesn't feel disgust. Instead he feels drawn to it. What powers are within his body if he were only willing to access them?
Then he nods at Shadowheart.]
Are we not all mages? We don't need to fight.
[But he will.]
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Stop! We're not here to fight.
[ echoing her group's sentiments, she puts her hands up-- and gets some glass to them for her troubles. ouchie. at least the barrier took away the worst of it ]
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the blood is the woman's own blood, yes.
you are all offering little gestures of kinship and kindness and ander behind just mutters `can I just say I have a problem with the blood mages?` but no one cares about his opinion. shut the fuck up.
especially the boy, who's glowering at you hardest. with a sudden gesture, he digs in the box he was holding and fumbles the rest - it hits the ground with a hard crash - and he holds up a phylactery with a name scrawled on it. Jiaoqiu.
Jiao, your head feels like it's going to fucking explode. Your vision - your perfect vision - narrows to a point and your blood rushes through your ears as you feel it speed up in your own veins as this child starts to control you, try to bind you to the floor with your own blood. Everything hurts. You're probaby screaming, even if you can't know for certain, because you cannot control your own body. ]
You are the thing that belongs to us. We will bring him forth, and no one is going to stop us!
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[to anders. she's not a narc, but like, also, a group of more powerful active blood mages who are about to attack you just isn't really the time to get into the moral and philosophical dilemma.
but this is going very bad very quickly. she watches this happen to jiaoqiu and loses any interest in resolving this amicably. she may not have wanted to be here, but she's decided to work with this group of people and she's not going to get one of them be killed.
running at the boy with her sword, trying to summon a blade of magic to surround it.]
You ask for this fight!
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more seriously, it's that pride. it's the idea that if he had a hand in blood magic, he'd do it right. he'd be able to do it in a way where it didn't hurt someone, and he could use it to heal, or nourish, instead of hurt. that's always what he's wanted to do with magic. and these people, they're living beings, and he always believes in trying to talk it out first. he doesn't like to hurt people.
but people sure like to hurt him! which is why when this little kid wrenches his body down to the floor and starts to fuck with his blood, he isn't sure what to do. he is screaming, he's probably making more noise than any of you have ever heard him make, dropping to the ground and trying to wrench back any sort of control. if he can, out of instinct, he launches some sort of fire in the direction of the trio of blood mages in a desperate attempt to make it stop. ]
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[Kaworu looks at Jiaoqiu, collapsing on the ground in pain, his screams echoing around the rocky cellar walls. It hurts his ears. He doesn't want to see his companion in pain and yet... he doesn't want this boy to die either. Not unless it's necessary.
He follows Shadowheart and then with incredible ease, steps into the fade, and then steps out across the room right next to the boy. He'll reach out and try and pull the phylactery out his hands. If it shatters that's fine. Maybe even for the best. so there's no need to be careful with it.
Or if it shattered, he could see what his blood could do. Just like he tried when he was younger that caused him to be locked away.]
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[ and theeeeen shitfuckery happens and it just stops charlie mid-sentence as her vision goes red. ]
Let him go! [ there's a pulse of pure rage as jiaqiu is controlled, but she bites back the urge to attack the child. for now. shadowheart and kaworu have the boy and phylactery covered anyway, so she's going to focus on the other mages, using force magic to try to restrain -- but not hurt -- the woman ]
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