[ 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 ]
[ anders will do his best to help, but he's mostly here for some nice utility spells. he'll put a glyph on the floor that helps you all feel as if you can move faster, cast stronger, and keep himself out of the fray. he'll make an attempt at grabbing the back of kaworu's robe, but he's lunging forward before anders can really stop him.
shadowheart slashes her sword down at the boy right at the moment kaworu grabs that phylactery - her sword is powerful and amplified with magic and no mage of the tower has training to protect himself from something like that. she'll slice deeply into his arm and he'll cry out. kaworu will grab the phylactery and it does shatter deeply into his hand. he'll feel his own blood pulse and jitter along his veins, welling up into his palm.
both of them are right in the way of jiaoqiu's massive burst of fire - which sears past pretty much everyone, licking at flesh and catching alight hems of robes. but he's free, he's free, his vision returns and control of his body loosens up - but he can feel the ache in his body still, places where skin has started to split under the pressure.
charlie works to control the woman with a force spell and it's effective in keeping her in place, she struggles, bleeding from her hands still to free herself, shrieking in rage at the affront. something about her is starting to change. her posture, her form. it's as if whatever is inside her can no longer be contained by flesh and is starting to burst forth.
no one has a good bead on the man. he's battered and burnt, but he's free to use spells. he erupts out a chain lightning, sending it burning through everyone in the room regardless of which side they are on. ]
[she has probably never fought someone before and the first time she has it was a teen boy, but the blood is pounding in her ears and she doesn't have time to think about it. the woman is changing - no, no, alright. she's trying to have her cooler head prevail.]
Stop attacking us, look what's happening to her!
[the woman is the greater danger, but if this stupid man is going to still fight them or transform himself, that will make it worse. so unless he stops attacking when she commands it, she'll go for him next, lobbing a few volleys of lightning right back at him. if he does try to stand down, though, she'd do the same to the woman.]
[ well, give him a second, he's just going to lay here and try to recover.
but he needs to help, and now that they've attacked, that they're - turning? whatever this woman is doing is bad. they need to stop her before it gets worse. and he aims to pull himself up to try, except the man shoots lightning and that also hurts - he stiffens and nearly bites his tongue off as it rattles up his spine.
that leaves him dazed for a few seconds, dizzy, but he tries a spell anyway - desperately tries to just. petrify someone. turn to rock. preferably the woman, but if he can't manage that, the man will do.
sorry, he is not paying attention to any measures of stand down. he will not be murdered here, not by whatever demons are trying to break free. as if he doesn't have his own little friend still hiding somewhere. ]
[The lightning burns and makes him choke, wheezing to catch his breath. His hand hurts but he doesn't care. In fact it just pushes him to do something, like it wants to do something. Kaworu grabs the boy, hands around his neck, the blood slick between their flesh.]
Don't move. If you move, I'll kill you.
[His hands tighten around the other kid's throat.]
[ why is he enjoying this indeed. there's a brief sigh of relief as jiaoqiu is freed, but charlie's attention is directed primarily at the woman, who she's trying to contain with force magic. a bead of sweat rolls down her face ]
Whatever you're doing--- stop!
[ and she puts more effort into her magic, as if using magic could somehow stop the transformation and screaming ]
[ anders is doing his best to cast a heal on your group in particular, keeping you upright enough to survive whatever is happening, but it's obvious he's fucking, uh, terrified of whatever is happening. ]
Forget the phylacteries! Let's just go!
[ even if he knows that's a foolish endeavour. if they were worried before about being blamed for something, about being pinned with crimes they didn't commit, this scene will not help that cause. going to try and grab at least kaworu and try and shake him loose of the boy who's starting to cry now. kaworu, you're starting to lose control, but ... you still have what remains. ]
Come on. Let him go.
[ it's probably not any good for anyone, however, because the man is not standing down, and takes the full brunt of the lightning - falling to the floor still twitching with it before being fully petrified as well. because the woman is surrounded with a terrible force field - strong enough to push you all back, before she erupts into a horrible creature. It's ten feet tall and smells of nothing but blood, a howling demon intent on taking out as many of them with her as possible.
And those of you afflicted, you feel the call in your blood too. she growls out, more beast than human: ]
Yes, I quite agree, but I suspect turning our backs on her will do us little good!
[for once, anders, you make a good point. what she doesn't understand yet, even if he does, is what is happening to the others in their little party. so she will turn her back on them, and instead stand between them and the woman who is transforming, the most obvious danger.
all of them were so hurt and frightened after the harrowing. she was frightened too, but perhaps she found it easier to pretend that the things she saw and that nearly happened to her didn't affect her. the same is true now. this is everything they've ever been told to fear, and there's nowhere safe to return to. she would even gladly take a templar's protection now, but of course they aren't here when there's actually something to protect them from.
so, she needs to be the strong one, even if it's only pretend. even if her belief in some sort of internal strength and purpose she had was one only she ever believed in, and everyone else always dismissed her. she summons the glowing blade of light again to the sword she's carrying and attempts to slash it across her body while charlie is still trying to hold her in place.]
he's been trying to resist - or, well, he's been trying not to hurt who shouldn't be hurt. a healer is at his best when he can hold out his hands to the lost. maybe that was what he was trying to do here, but not now. now, the lost have turned on him. the lost are turning, becoming something terrible, and his pride refuses to let that stand. no, he will not fade. no, he will not die here - he will do this better than all of them. the only way to make this right is to start over.
and so he does. battered and broken, jiaoqiu's form twists, rips, bleeds - and reforms into something monstrous, technically a fox but not. the creature throws back its head and screams, a howl that shakes the foundations. and it claws itself up to its feet, crunching the tiles below it.
its eyes flash gold, and it throws itself into the fray, aiming to try and crunch its way through the blood mages. it does not seem to care if jiaoqiu's friends are in the way, either. ]
[Kaworu's hands tighten around the boy's throat, the blood slick and hot where skin meets skin. He leans over closer, his eyes boring into the other boy's pupils, seeking energy, seeking someone. He could use his teeth and tear into this boy. All that blood.. all of that power that has been contained within him awakened and unleashed. He was born with a demon inside of him and now it's exploding into life like fire.
He leans over and presses his lips to the other boy's mouth. He could open is mouth and eat him. Consume all of him for some fleeting happiness. Then for a moment there's clarity, he shoves the boy away, towards the door, eyes wide and manic.]
Get out of here.
[Then Kaworu implodes and something else reforms. A disgusting form somewhere between human and animal. It turns to the male mage and descends on him with teeth and claws.]
[ charlie screams, something feral and monstrous, and well, mom says it's MY turn to transform ]
[ that is to say, horns rip their way painfully through her skull, her nails grow longer, into claws, a tail sprouts from her back, and she starts to look. well. demonic ]
[ she's not attacking just yet, just screaming and screaming and screaming but she loses hold of her magic, and, anders and shadowheart will be able to make out one word before it's lost into guttural noises:
[ ANDERS WOULD LIKE TO BUT THERES THREE DEMONS IN THE WAY OF THE DOOR.
kaworu, with one last act of kindness, you let the boy go and -- almost miraculously he scrambles for the door way and bolts out and out and out into the passageways and keeps fucking running. who knows if he makes it. none of you are about to find out, because you don't get the feeling you are going to make it very far from here.
between shadowhearts slash and jq's teeth and claws and violence, the woman is basically just ... meat now. whatever creature she was isn't even a creature anymore, she's simply splattered. kaworu, you turn to the remaining male mage - distracted as he is with watching all of this erupt into chaos - your teeth tear into him like hot knife into butter. he isn't long for this world, but as he leaves it, he projects a cone of cold - sending violent icicles out from his body and piercing whatever and whoever is in the way of it. if you happen to be standing nearby (you all are), you can get an ice stab as a treat. ]
[she's tearing into this creature that used to be a woman, tearing the meat of her to ribbons. it's easier than she imagined. the blood and body become ribbons for her, the adrenaline coursing through her prevents her from feeling sickened or afraid. maybe it's the first time in a long time she hasn't felt afraid.
and then jiaoqiu tears into her, and kaworu dives and tears into the male mage, and charlie is screaming "run" before transforming as well.
nevermind, she's afraid again after all. she makes aggressive eye contact with anders. please don't explode into demons too. i just met you but my friends, to the extent we were friends, are all demons now.
the ice stabs into her side, waking her from the terror she's feeling. she doesn't have time to hesitate or wish this wasn't happening or mourn them. she has to get the fuck out of here with anyone who can still be saved. holding her blade out in front of her and summoning lightning again, trying to strike all of them.]
[ something in him hesitates, when he sees shadowheart - when he sees the fear in her eyes, he isn't sure anymore. a flash of something in his memories, of standing in an infirmary and trying to coax a smile out of her, letting her tease him. for just a moment, he hesitates, gold eyes wide and sad. does he have to? does she have to be part of starting over?
and then the ice hits, slamming into his side, and the lightning follows right after, and it's a shock to his system. the wolf roars, moving to try and ram shadowheart out of the way, turning to the other monsters in the room.
it goes for kaworu first, for the most disturbing one - and exhales, dripping awful green liquid from its mouth before launching forward, digging claws and teeth in. there's something about those bites and claws, just an almost burning sensation, acid-y, sickly. like poison, the way pride is, digging into its veins. anything that gets close might get a taste of that as the wolf digs teeth in and wrenches its head back and forth like its trying to break bones, break a neck. the poison flies in every direction. ]
[He screams, or whatever he has become, screams. The pain of claws is one thing but the poison is something entirely different. He's experienced pain but not like this. It's eating him alive from the inside out and consuming all of his senses and his thoughts and shoving whatever used to be a person further below the surface.
His arms reach for Jiaoqiu's neck, trying to close around it. If they manage to do so, they'll suddenly extend, pushing him back and down against the corner of the room, trying to crush his throat so he can bear down on what used to be a fellow mage. But it doesn't matter because Jiaoqiu disgusts him. Mages disgust him. This world is fucking disgusting and he's tired of it.]
[ well. okay!!!!!! this is happening!!! charlie's getting stabbed and hit by lightning! she is a demon, but damb. rude af ]
[ she's fully transformed now, not quite as monstrous as the other two, but still taller than anders and shadowheart, looming, with increasingly inhuman features. ]
[ shadowheart attacked first, so!! there she goes!! she roars in pain and rage, swiping at her--- but. ]
[ there might be a trace of humanity (elfanity?) in her, because she almost seems to be... holding back? a little? aiming to slam the sword out of her hands, rather than directly attack. (mind you, she still hits like a truck) ]
[ anders is, uh, freaking out! he's never been in a fight before? what the hell are you supposed to surrounded by twelve demons all fighting each other-- and then Charlie starts attacking shadowheart too. he'll concentrate on boosting her magic, since it seems like she knows what she's doing. Anything she tries now will feel twice as strong, but maybe that will make her reckless.
Shadowheart you strike out with lightning and it jumps from demon to demon like a chain, wracking its way through bodies and out to the floor - it's a good, solid hit and will leave a mark everyone, though it doesn't seem to be slowing them down entirely yet.
jiaoqiu and kaworu lock into battle with each other, kaworu taking the full brunt of poison coursing through his system - boiling its way along his veins, his vision narrowing to a dark tunnel as it starts to take hold, and hissing against flesh wherever it hits - but he presses his arms, his weight against jiaoqiu's neck and starts to cut off his breath, his claws and teeth scrambling and digging into flesh - tearing at jiaoqiu face, across an eye and leaving skin in tatters.
charlie, as you attack you feel something press at the back of your mind. your mother's voice in your ear, the feeling of a warm hug around your shoulders. `Don't worry, dear. You're helping them. You're doing the right thing.` ]
[thanks, anders. she feels twice as strong physically, maybe, but mentally, she's completely terrified. she certainly hasn't fought demons before; at most, she's probably recklessly fought both with magic and with her fists and nails in the circle at moments she could think she might get away with it without being caught.
this is something different. it was different when there were three mages fighting against them, too, but she was so focused on escape, on staying fierce and steady, that she didn't register it then. but now, she no longer has that same adrenaline of needing to survive, needing to make decisions, coursing through her. this isn't a fight she imagines she could possibly win, not against all of these monsters. nor does she feel very certain of herself right now. she remembers all too well the close call in the fade. the way she'd told that man, "perhaps, maybe, but..." instead of no like she was meant to. she has to wonder, is she next? she didn't feel any different, but would she? or would it just happen to her, burst out of her suddenly?
she's petrified by the sight of the wolf monster as it comes towards her, unable to move even to defend herself, but when it simply rams her out of the way, attacks the other demon, she can't register in it any sort of protective instinct or desire to spare her. it only looks like a mindless monster, and she somehow evaded its jaws for the moment through a stroke of luck.
nor does she register any sort of hesitation in charlie's features or actions. she's too terrified, trying too hard to steady her own heart. but it's hard, it's almost impossible, to think to drive this sword through a creature that still looks even a little like charlie. charlie was the first person here to ever be kind to her, the one who reached out a hand towards her no matter how much she tried to push it away. the first person who made her feel that if she wanted to try to trust and form friendships here, that might even be possible.]
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
[it used to be charlie, but charlie is gone now. she doesn't hold back. she will summon the golden glow of light around her sword again and drive it with all of the enhanced strength she was given into the demon's body.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
holyspirits) wrote2025-03-23 03:14 pm
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.]
no subject
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 ]
no subject
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!
no subject
[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!
no subject
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. ]
no subject
[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.]
no subject
[ 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 ]
no subject
shadowheart slashes her sword down at the boy right at the moment kaworu grabs that phylactery - her sword is powerful and amplified with magic and no mage of the tower has training to protect himself from something like that. she'll slice deeply into his arm and he'll cry out. kaworu will grab the phylactery and it does shatter deeply into his hand. he'll feel his own blood pulse and jitter along his veins, welling up into his palm.
both of them are right in the way of jiaoqiu's massive burst of fire - which sears past pretty much everyone, licking at flesh and catching alight hems of robes. but he's free, he's free, his vision returns and control of his body loosens up - but he can feel the ache in his body still, places where skin has started to split under the pressure.
charlie works to control the woman with a force spell and it's effective in keeping her in place, she struggles, bleeding from her hands still to free herself, shrieking in rage at the affront. something about her is starting to change. her posture, her form. it's as if whatever is inside her can no longer be contained by flesh and is starting to burst forth.
no one has a good bead on the man. he's battered and burnt, but he's free to use spells. he erupts out a chain lightning, sending it burning through everyone in the room regardless of which side they are on. ]
no subject
Stop attacking us, look what's happening to her!
[the woman is the greater danger, but if this stupid man is going to still fight them or transform himself, that will make it worse. so unless he stops attacking when she commands it, she'll go for him next, lobbing a few volleys of lightning right back at him. if he does try to stand down, though, she'd do the same to the woman.]
no subject
but he needs to help, and now that they've attacked, that they're - turning? whatever this woman is doing is bad. they need to stop her before it gets worse. and he aims to pull himself up to try, except the man shoots lightning and that also hurts - he stiffens and nearly bites his tongue off as it rattles up his spine.
that leaves him dazed for a few seconds, dizzy, but he tries a spell anyway - desperately tries to just. petrify someone. turn to rock. preferably the woman, but if he can't manage that, the man will do.
sorry, he is not paying attention to any measures of stand down. he will not be murdered here, not by whatever demons are trying to break free. as if he doesn't have his own little friend still hiding somewhere. ]
no subject
Don't move. If you move, I'll kill you.
[His hands tighten around the other kid's throat.]
Stop her.
[Why is he enjoying this...?]
no subject
Whatever you're doing--- stop!
[ and she puts more effort into her magic, as if using magic could somehow stop the transformation and screaming ]
no subject
Forget the phylacteries! Let's just go!
[ even if he knows that's a foolish endeavour. if they were worried before about being blamed for something, about being pinned with crimes they didn't commit, this scene will not help that cause. going to try and grab at least kaworu and try and shake him loose of the boy who's starting to cry now. kaworu, you're starting to lose control, but ... you still have what remains. ]
Come on. Let him go.
[ it's probably not any good for anyone, however, because the man is not standing down, and takes the full brunt of the lightning - falling to the floor still twitching with it before being fully petrified as well. because the woman is surrounded with a terrible force field - strong enough to push you all back, before she erupts into a horrible creature. It's ten feet tall and smells of nothing but blood, a howling demon intent on taking out as many of them with her as possible.
And those of you afflicted, you feel the call in your blood too. she growls out, more beast than human: ]
None of you are going to leave this place!
no subject
[for once, anders, you make a good point. what she doesn't understand yet, even if he does, is what is happening to the others in their little party. so she will turn her back on them, and instead stand between them and the woman who is transforming, the most obvious danger.
all of them were so hurt and frightened after the harrowing. she was frightened too, but perhaps she found it easier to pretend that the things she saw and that nearly happened to her didn't affect her. the same is true now. this is everything they've ever been told to fear, and there's nowhere safe to return to. she would even gladly take a templar's protection now, but of course they aren't here when there's actually something to protect them from.
so, she needs to be the strong one, even if it's only pretend. even if her belief in some sort of internal strength and purpose she had was one only she ever believed in, and everyone else always dismissed her. she summons the glowing blade of light again to the sword she's carrying and attempts to slash it across her body while charlie is still trying to hold her in place.]
no subject
he's been trying to resist - or, well, he's been trying not to hurt who shouldn't be hurt. a healer is at his best when he can hold out his hands to the lost. maybe that was what he was trying to do here, but not now. now, the lost have turned on him. the lost are turning, becoming something terrible, and his pride refuses to let that stand. no, he will not fade. no, he will not die here - he will do this better than all of them. the only way to make this right is to start over.
and so he does. battered and broken, jiaoqiu's form twists, rips, bleeds - and reforms into something monstrous, technically a fox but not. the creature throws back its head and screams, a howl that shakes the foundations. and it claws itself up to its feet, crunching the tiles below it.
its eyes flash gold, and it throws itself into the fray, aiming to try and crunch its way through the blood mages. it does not seem to care if jiaoqiu's friends are in the way, either. ]
no subject
He leans over and presses his lips to the other boy's mouth. He could open is mouth and eat him. Consume all of him for some fleeting happiness. Then for a moment there's clarity, he shoves the boy away, towards the door, eyes wide and manic.]
Get out of here.
[Then Kaworu implodes and something else reforms. A disgusting form somewhere between human and animal. It turns to the male mage and descends on him with teeth and claws.]
no subject
[ that is to say, horns rip their way painfully through her skull, her nails grow longer, into claws, a tail sprouts from her back, and she starts to look. well. demonic ]
[ she's not attacking just yet, just screaming and screaming and screaming but she loses hold of her magic, and, anders and shadowheart will be able to make out one word before it's lost into guttural noises:
Run!
no subject
kaworu, with one last act of kindness, you let the boy go and -- almost miraculously he scrambles for the door way and bolts out and out and out into the passageways and keeps fucking running. who knows if he makes it. none of you are about to find out, because you don't get the feeling you are going to make it very far from here.
between shadowhearts slash and jq's teeth and claws and violence, the woman is basically just ... meat now. whatever creature she was isn't even a creature anymore, she's simply splattered. kaworu, you turn to the remaining male mage - distracted as he is with watching all of this erupt into chaos - your teeth tear into him like hot knife into butter. he isn't long for this world, but as he leaves it, he projects a cone of cold - sending violent icicles out from his body and piercing whatever and whoever is in the way of it. if you happen to be standing nearby (you all are), you can get an ice stab as a treat. ]
no subject
[she's tearing into this creature that used to be a woman, tearing the meat of her to ribbons. it's easier than she imagined. the blood and body become ribbons for her, the adrenaline coursing through her prevents her from feeling sickened or afraid. maybe it's the first time in a long time she hasn't felt afraid.
and then jiaoqiu tears into her, and kaworu dives and tears into the male mage, and charlie is screaming "run" before transforming as well.
nevermind, she's afraid again after all. she makes aggressive eye contact with anders. please don't explode into demons too. i just met you but my friends, to the extent we were friends, are all demons now.
the ice stabs into her side, waking her from the terror she's feeling. she doesn't have time to hesitate or wish this wasn't happening or mourn them. she has to get the fuck out of here with anyone who can still be saved. holding her blade out in front of her and summoning lightning again, trying to strike all of them.]
no subject
and then the ice hits, slamming into his side, and the lightning follows right after, and it's a shock to his system. the wolf roars, moving to try and ram shadowheart out of the way, turning to the other monsters in the room.
it goes for kaworu first, for the most disturbing one - and exhales, dripping awful green liquid from its mouth before launching forward, digging claws and teeth in. there's something about those bites and claws, just an almost burning sensation, acid-y, sickly. like poison, the way pride is, digging into its veins. anything that gets close might get a taste of that as the wolf digs teeth in and wrenches its head back and forth like its trying to break bones, break a neck. the poison flies in every direction. ]
no subject
His arms reach for Jiaoqiu's neck, trying to close around it. If they manage to do so, they'll suddenly extend, pushing him back and down against the corner of the room, trying to crush his throat so he can bear down on what used to be a fellow mage. But it doesn't matter because Jiaoqiu disgusts him. Mages disgust him. This world is fucking disgusting and he's tired of it.]
no subject
[ she's fully transformed now, not quite as monstrous as the other two, but still taller than anders and shadowheart, looming, with increasingly inhuman features. ]
[ shadowheart attacked first, so!! there she goes!! she roars in pain and rage, swiping at her--- but. ]
[ there might be a trace of humanity (elfanity?) in her, because she almost seems to be... holding back? a little? aiming to slam the sword out of her hands, rather than directly attack. (mind you, she still hits like a truck) ]
[ for as long as this may last ]
no subject
Shadowheart you strike out with lightning and it jumps from demon to demon like a chain, wracking its way through bodies and out to the floor - it's a good, solid hit and will leave a mark everyone, though it doesn't seem to be slowing them down entirely yet.
jiaoqiu and kaworu lock into battle with each other, kaworu taking the full brunt of poison coursing through his system - boiling its way along his veins, his vision narrowing to a dark tunnel as it starts to take hold, and hissing against flesh wherever it hits - but he presses his arms, his weight against jiaoqiu's neck and starts to cut off his breath, his claws and teeth scrambling and digging into flesh - tearing at jiaoqiu face, across an eye and leaving skin in tatters.
charlie, as you attack you feel something press at the back of your mind. your mother's voice in your ear, the feeling of a warm hug around your shoulders. `Don't worry, dear. You're helping them. You're doing the right thing.` ]
no subject
this is something different. it was different when there were three mages fighting against them, too, but she was so focused on escape, on staying fierce and steady, that she didn't register it then. but now, she no longer has that same adrenaline of needing to survive, needing to make decisions, coursing through her. this isn't a fight she imagines she could possibly win, not against all of these monsters. nor does she feel very certain of herself right now. she remembers all too well the close call in the fade. the way she'd told that man, "perhaps, maybe, but..." instead of no like she was meant to. she has to wonder, is she next? she didn't feel any different, but would she? or would it just happen to her, burst out of her suddenly?
she's petrified by the sight of the wolf monster as it comes towards her, unable to move even to defend herself, but when it simply rams her out of the way, attacks the other demon, she can't register in it any sort of protective instinct or desire to spare her. it only looks like a mindless monster, and she somehow evaded its jaws for the moment through a stroke of luck.
nor does she register any sort of hesitation in charlie's features or actions. she's too terrified, trying too hard to steady her own heart. but it's hard, it's almost impossible, to think to drive this sword through a creature that still looks even a little like charlie. charlie was the first person here to ever be kind to her, the one who reached out a hand towards her no matter how much she tried to push it away. the first person who made her feel that if she wanted to try to trust and form friendships here, that might even be possible.]
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
[it used to be charlie, but charlie is gone now. she doesn't hold back. she will summon the golden glow of light around her sword again and drive it with all of the enhanced strength she was given into the demon's body.]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)