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( mini-plot post: open to all )
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jawdacity & all of cerealia!
When: towards the end of the event (so this won't conflict with any event threads you may already have going). 2-3pm.
Where: Abandoned village + surrounding jungle
What: THERE ARE EXPLOSIONS. And mushrooms.
Rating/Warning: Possible NSFW for gore?
Details about this mini-plot HERE
(theme song of this post, courtesy ofmoribound.)
[ it's another muggy, meandering day in the jungle; nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. ]
IN THE VILLAGE
[ if your character is near the center of the village, they'll bear witness to the curious sight of a herd of shuffling mushroom beasts. in terms of threat level, to the experienced hunter they may have ranked low on the scale: slow, lacking an external fang or claw, they seem to be interested only in their endless march forward.
but, if your character is close enough, they may catch sight of a red-haired young man, a manifesto of anger written across his face. one breathless moment, the calm before the storm, and then he hurls a metallic pair of gloves at the closest beast, the gloves trailing arcs of flame.
what may strike your character first is the searing heat, the thrum of the earth below their feet. the whole village is demolished in a moment, the dying cries of the beasts rising above the din. the explosion lasts much longer than it should, the line of mushrooms going up one after another.
if you're too close, you might be torn in two. you might lose a limb, or two, or three. you might go deaf, you might lose your sight. you might lose all your eyelashes, your clothes. maybe the bag of mushrooms you'd collected for dinner is now little more than ash.
keep running. the smoke trails into the air. someone is screaming. the smell of charred meat follows you even after you disappear into the jungle. ]
IN THE SURROUNDING JUNGLE
[ if your character is close enough to the village, they'll feel the blasts, one after the other. the jungle is on fire, quickly spreading. maybe you'll hear the screaming, too; maybe your lungs will fill with smoke. maybe you'll run into one of the last mushroom beasts, fleeing from the explosion only to trigger a lesser one in the depths of the jungle.
it came from the village, didn't it? maybe someone you love was swept up in the explosion.
if you manage to escape the stampede of terrified jungle beasts (some of which may stop to crunch you up as a quick meal as they dash away from the blast), maybe you can venture closer to see what's happened.
or maybe you should get as far away as possible. ]
jawdacity & all of cerealia! When: towards the end of the event (so this won't conflict with any event threads you may already have going). 2-3pm.
Where: Abandoned village + surrounding jungle
What: THERE ARE EXPLOSIONS. And mushrooms.
Rating/Warning: Possible NSFW for gore?
Details about this mini-plot HERE
(theme song of this post, courtesy of
moribound.)[ it's another muggy, meandering day in the jungle; nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. ]
IN THE VILLAGE
[ if your character is near the center of the village, they'll bear witness to the curious sight of a herd of shuffling mushroom beasts. in terms of threat level, to the experienced hunter they may have ranked low on the scale: slow, lacking an external fang or claw, they seem to be interested only in their endless march forward.
but, if your character is close enough, they may catch sight of a red-haired young man, a manifesto of anger written across his face. one breathless moment, the calm before the storm, and then he hurls a metallic pair of gloves at the closest beast, the gloves trailing arcs of flame.
what may strike your character first is the searing heat, the thrum of the earth below their feet. the whole village is demolished in a moment, the dying cries of the beasts rising above the din. the explosion lasts much longer than it should, the line of mushrooms going up one after another.
if you're too close, you might be torn in two. you might lose a limb, or two, or three. you might go deaf, you might lose your sight. you might lose all your eyelashes, your clothes. maybe the bag of mushrooms you'd collected for dinner is now little more than ash.
keep running. the smoke trails into the air. someone is screaming. the smell of charred meat follows you even after you disappear into the jungle. ]
IN THE SURROUNDING JUNGLE
[ if your character is close enough to the village, they'll feel the blasts, one after the other. the jungle is on fire, quickly spreading. maybe you'll hear the screaming, too; maybe your lungs will fill with smoke. maybe you'll run into one of the last mushroom beasts, fleeing from the explosion only to trigger a lesser one in the depths of the jungle.
it came from the village, didn't it? maybe someone you love was swept up in the explosion.
if you manage to escape the stampede of terrified jungle beasts (some of which may stop to crunch you up as a quick meal as they dash away from the blast), maybe you can venture closer to see what's happened.
or maybe you should get as far away as possible. ]
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But then the flames disappear all of a sudden, and even though it still hurts it's such a relief. Ene can barely process what's happening before she's being grabbed, letting out a strangled scream because that does in fact make it hurt more. She flinches and looks up at who has her -
It's Ket. Ket is here, he saved her? All Ene can do is whimper, curling up against his chest and trembling. She's clinging to him like a child but she can't help it, it's too much. The smell of burning flesh is so overwhelming, it's everywhere, and without seeing Ket's back she can't tell if that smell is from him or her or any of the other people caught in the blast - oh god, who else was here? Are her friends okay? Is Ket okay!?]
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Ene. [ Now he does pull back, voice and grip gentle but firm. Calm, strangely enough. ] Close your eyes. [ He doesn't want her to see. But whether she obeys or not, he'll turn around and attempt to hoist her onto his back. At least the blackened flesh still covers his spine. ]
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Being told to close her eyes is concerning and strange though, what is he doing that she needs to close her eyes??]
Wh, what? Ket, why-
[Her voice croaks out slowly, weak, not enough time for her to finish speaking before she's thrown over his back. Ene gasps in horror.]
Ah - Ket, your back!
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Don't think about it. Think about – [ He starts striding forward, away from the former village, trusting the flames to part. They do. They're still nothing. Ene might feel the heat rushing in as the fire closes in behind, occupying their previous space, but it'll never touch her. Ket won't allow it. ]
Think about home. Think about... think about everyone you're going to see again. [ Not this. Not him. Not Ket, who still can't Shift others, even now. Not unless he views Ene as an object. And that's impossible. ]
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That's - Th-That includes you, that 'everyone' so, hurry up - get those taken care of...!
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I... I will. [ It's not a lie. He does intend on taking care of his burns; they're just not a priority. ]
Don't worry. [ Despite himself, he smiles. ] You always worry too much, Ene. Way too much. You'll get wrinkles at this rate, then you'll moan about looking old. [ It surprises him, actually, how easily he can slip back to his normal self. He's a terrible actor – he's been told as much, and he believes it. But there's no tension in his voice, and part of him wonders if that's a bad thing. ]
– Guess that's okay, though. You'd still be Super Pretty Cyber Girl Sir Ene-chan. Mm, yeah. That's enough. [ But this... this isn't. This speed is far from enough, and they're still far from a clearing. Ene might not last much longer. She needs to be still. Stable. She needs to be those things, while not surrounded by fire.
He could just Shift them. He should Shift them. There's only half a chance of him Shifting Ene's head off her body, or her body back into the fire.
Or he could just give the fire nothing to burn. That's... not a bad idea, actually. Create a ditch around the safe point. Block off the fire's path. Keep the smoke Shifted on him, away from her, while he looks for a healer. It's really not a bad idea. ]
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You... Wh-Who's the one making me worry... Take some responsibility.
[They'll get out of there soon, right? Ket's moving the flames away, it'll be fine soon, they'll both be fine and they'll find some magical healer and the pain will stop. It has to be fine!]
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As you wish, Captain. [ Lack of tension is one thing. Keeping humor in his tone is something completely different, and he can't quite pull it off. Not in a way that doesn't sound forced. Len could, but hers came with apathy, and Ket can't ever bring himself to not care. What he's about to do could possibly scare Ene, but he can live with that.
Now that he's no longer moving, Shifting the surrounding flames back is easy. And not just the flames. Trees, bushes, smoke, earth – none of them stand a chance against Fast Shift. Blink and they're gone, scattered in heaps around the semi-circular ravine Ket just made without so much as a crash or a ground tremble. Turning, he repeats the Shift, completing the circle. The ravine is... deep, actually, deeper than Ket expected, by tens of meters (because Augmentation is a thing, and Augmentation of Displacement is also a thing, even if Ket doesn't know what either of them really are, let alone how to control them). Expectations are irrelevant, however; there's no way the flames will be able to cross, and that's what counts. Ket's handiwork is clean, too, their 'island' being almost perfectly central to the crater. Like something out of a math textbook. If he were thinking straight, he'd wonder how he'd done it so fast. Then again, if he were thinking straight, there's no way he'd be able to pull it off.
He'll be trying to put her down now. Trying to lay her down on the charred earth in what he hopes is the recovery position. Gently, of course. Don't struggle, Ene; he doesn't want to use more force than he needs to. ]
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What Ket does next does, in fact, scare her, because she doesn't realise it's him displacing everything at first, there's no warning, everything is just suddenly gone. Is there an earthquake on top of the fire!? But she didn't feel anything. Ene yelps, making the effort to raise her head and look around at the ravine they're in, to figure out what just happened, except then Ket is gently placing her down and she really doesn't have the strength to struggle, doesn't want to anyway since it would make it harder for him, and she's looking up at Ket instead.]
This... Did you just do that?
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Ket doesn't want to let go. Not really. And – there it is again. That sensation of having done this before. It burns brighter than the sun, yet smothers like the night, and for a moment he feels like choking. His eyes widen, and he stops, but only for a second, and to Ene it shouldn't look like much more than a noncommittal pause. The sensation itself has no form, no reason, and it's not so much a memory as a lack thereof, a tear in the nameless white void of the person 'Ket' used to be.
Somehow, one thing is clear.
That person didn't let go last time. That person refused. And it cost him. It cost them both.
Ket's instincts haven't failed him so far. He's failed, but that's a different story altogether. His instincts are telling him to let go, that just staying here with Ene, waiting and hoping, would be too indulgent. And like he just said – the flames can't reach her like this.
So he lets go, stepping back to scan the smoke-infused skyline. (He's tired, suddenly. It's dim, like an afterthought, and he won't let it show. But it's there.) ]
I'm going to go look for a healer. Back in, uh, sixty? Sixty seconds. I'll keep the smoke out.
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No--
[Don't leave her, don't run off back into that fire, don't go! It's too much, to be lying here unable to move, all alone, while someone precious is far away in need of help too. The last time this happened, both her and that person ended up getting murdered and her best friend killed herself to save them, she ended up losing everything and she can't face that loneliness again. Ene becomes acutely aware of her body and it's limitations; the pain sears through her again, she can't breathe and she doesn't need to but it still triggers that painful memory of lying there, gasping, crying, while Kenjirou stood watching. She doesn't want to remember that right now but she can't push it out of her mind.
Ket is so similar to Haruka, isn't he? He's that same kind of blithe, carefree idiot who drives her crazy and embarrasses her all the time. Who makes her feel so happy. It's a terrifying similarity. Ene can't help but feel that if she lets him go, he'll disappear just like Haruka did. She tries to surge forward, reaching towards him, but her body won't comply and she collapses back down on the ground with a pained whimper. No, no no no, move!]
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Sixty seconds, okay? Have some faith, Ene. Sing a song in your head. [ ... Speaking of songs. He blinks, metaphorical lightbulb shocking him out of his growing lethargy, and stuffs his hands in his charred pants pockets. Moments later, he draws out a highly battered yet intact CereVice, quickly flipping to his last played song – Felton Bob's 'Candle in the Wind' – and hitting the repeat button. 2% battery, good enough. ]
Here. I'll be back before the song finishes. [ Placing the phone next to Ene's hand, he flashes another grin and teleports into the sky, careful to keep the smoke Shifted away from Ene. At this distance, it's easiest to keep it concentrated around him, so he does that – but don't worry, he's keeping it away from his head so he can actually breathe. She might see his form Shifting here and there in the sky, never too far out of sight, never in one place for too long.
He's back at fifty nine seconds, looking rather more tired but very much alive. Smoke-free, too; he left that cloud somewhere outside the ravine.
Please be alive, Ene. ]
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Come back, please come back, please! she begs in her head, she's alone and trapped again and it's terrifying. Ket is up where she can't reach and endangering himself and that's even more terrifying. Why did this happen? What happened, she doesn't even know, doesn't care, just make it stop already! Ene lies there, immobile, shivering and crying until he finally comes back.
And when he does, she's so, so relieved. He's okay, he didn't disappear, he didn't leave her alone. There's no doctor with him like he promised but that doesn't matter, he's here. She gasps and tries to reach for him again, her arms are still weak but she tries damn it.]
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People who can cry aren't yet dead. That's what Len had said. It feels so coldly analytical, and Ket hates that, but he can't deny the truth in it. He crouches, clasping Ene's hands in his. Right now, he'd take healing power over Shifting. ]
Apologies, sir. [ If he can't take the pain away, he'll attempt to take her mind off it. ] Didn't know you were a 'miss' until much later. 'Sir Ene' has a better ring to it, anyway. [ He winks, letting go and standing once again. ]
I need another sixty. [ 'And I would have liked to have known you, but I was just a kid...' Thanks, Felton Bob. 1% battery now. ]
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Ene struggles to get the words out, her voice small and raspy and trembling with her tears.]
Please... Ket...!
godmod courtesy of Minato-mun ( ' - '
I saw something over there, I think. [ He nods north. It's true; he'd glimpsed movement within the flames, but time had been running out. At least he knows where to go this time. ]
Ene? [ A beat. ] Thank you. For – [ "For waiting. For being my friend." But no, that sounds too much like a goodbye. ]
– for Star Wars. Good movies. Kind of sad. We should watch together sometime. [ And he beams, his smile a promise as he teleports back into the sky.
At thirty seconds, he finds what he was looking for. Flames, dissipating altogether, far too quickly to be natural. A shadow. It's either a jungle beast or someone's power, and Ket hopes against hope that it's the latter. But before he can approach them, he has to go back to tell Ene.
Forty seconds. He's no longer tired. Hope's driven it away, and away is where it should stay. Forty-five; he's at the heap encircling the ravine now, the stacked debris causing the flames to burn higher than ever. But they're no closer to Ene than before. They're still nothing.
Funny, that. They seem to be getting closer. To him, not Ene. He looks down, confused. Is he falling?
And then he sees no more. Flames and smoke were nothing, but carbon monoxide turned out far more deadly. The fire catches him, igniting his already lifeless form in a blaze of welcome. Ardeo had wanted him, after all.
Next to Ene, the CereVice beeps a warning.
'Your candle burned out long before...'
The screen blinks off, battery exhausted. ]
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She tries to watch out for him, Ene prays any second now Ket will pop his head back over the side and come down to her, he'd promised, any second now--
The music stopped.]
/crashes in late with a healing spell
That figment will just have barely vanished before she hears that shattering sound again. This time it's followed by the manifestation of Skadi- the subsequent drop in the air's temperature is telling, clearly coming from the figment and cooling off the flames rapidly so she'll no longer be in danger of suffocation.
All of this plays out in less than a minute, and then there's the sound of someone approaching, rushing as fast as his tired legs and exhausted body will carry him.]
Ene-san - Ene-san! [Minato's beside her in a flash, in spite of his voice being barely audible due to the amount of smoke he's inhaled over time. He shakes his head shortly after while catching his breath and ignoring the rapid beating of his heart, having feared the worst when he saw her from a distance.]
Can you walk? [A few more deep breaths are taken; he hasn't yet noticed the ravine.] We need to get out of here, it's still dangerous.
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Not that jungle monsters heal. It's unexpected, and such a huge relief, even if it's not completely Ene gasps, some pain is better than pure agony and while that's definitely a good thing, she's still confused who healed her. Where did that horned monster lady go? Ene tries to push herself up, finally spotting Minato as he races towards her. He's Ket's friend, that means Ket found someone, thank goodness!
...Except Ket isn't there. The panic settles back in and Ene leaps up, she cannot in fact walk, because she doesn't have feet, but she can certainly fly now her limbs are working again.]
Minato - Ket! Where's Ket?!
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I- I didn't see him... [It's barely a hoarse mumble off his lips, starkly contrasting with frantic glances all around them the moment he registers his friend's name among the missing people in the village.
He only sees the gaping raving moments after spotting the debris, vision already narrowing as is from light-headedness and an incessant heartbeat that seems to roar inside his head. The adrenaline from before is rapidly receding, replaced by a substance far more toxic- fear, the fear that he's too late as he catches himself mid-stumble to look again, the fear that he's lost someone dear to him, and most of all the fear that he'd nearly died trying to stop the fire, only to fail.
Instinct tells him that no ordinary person could have survived in such a blaze especially not when he must have had something to do with the debris and ravine, but desperation triumphs over reason and he has to move, do something before he just keels over from tiring himself out. He's staggering and has to use his sword to balance himself, eyes strangely unfocused as he stares ahead, but he's still coherent at least.]
...Over there? [Minato raises a finger to point vaguely at the debris by the ravine, having seen a patch of green that looks out of place in the rubble. As it is though Ene will have better luck flying over there, since Minato is in no shape to run no matter how he wills himself to do so.]
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Y-Yeah, right, I'll go look so you - you rest, okay? A-And I'll come back with him.
[...This is probably the most hypocritical thing in the world to be saying after how terrified she was about being left alone, but the fires are mostly out around them and Minato should be safe, needs to sit down before he keels over, and she really needs to make sure Ket is okay.]
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A clatter follows as he drops onto the ground to sit, an almost lone figure in the wreckage all around them. Already his mind is working to smooth over his feelings- everything will be fine, there's nothing to be worried about.
Right? His response is soft but clear.]
Be sure to scold him for me when you find him.
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Of course~ He's causing us both quite some trouble, I'll make sure he makes it up to us. I'll be back soon.
[And once Minato iss settled on the ground she'll zip off, flying up into the air to get a better look at where Ket might have gone. Please, please don't be dead, please.]
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And wait.
It's all he can do right now, and that thought hurts more than any injury inflicted by the flames.]
Please be safe, Whiss-san...
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That's a dreadful thought as well.
She should have been able to find him without looking near flames.
He should have been away from those, searching for doctors. Not getting caught up in them.
Even though it scares her, even though her entire body is screaming at her to stay away, she has to circle overhead to look for him. Even then, Ene doesn't spot any signs of movement. But she does spot something, a figure down in the ravine still swept up in the flames, not moving at all.
The sight of it makes her sick. She wants to run, she wants to cry, she wants to scream.
In the end she only does one of those things, letting out a strangled scream as she dashes towards it, please please don't be Ket, please!]
(no subject)
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I finally get to use this IC!
Live your traumatised dreams!
1/2
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no regrets
HOW DARE
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