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Entry tags:
(closed.)
Who: Jaune Arc (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beaconed) and Pyrrha Nikos (metalist)
When: 11/3 IC.
Where: ViViD
What: She wants to go, but he won't let her go in alone.
Rating/Warning: Nothing (yet) — will update if necessary.
[ It had taken some doing to get them there, reasonable doubts plaguing unapologetic ambition. Pyrrha wouldn't deign to speak for Jaune but, as they materialise in a level - and it's misty, and painfully mysterious, laughing at them for the secrets it holds - she's nervous. It settles deep in her pulse, each thrum of her blood a palpable warning. It doesn't matter to her irrational heart that she can't die in here, she still cups a hand to the space over her heart, where an arrow had hit home, and tells herself: breathe.
Pyrrha does, and looks at Jaune, finding solace there. His eyes are still so clear, welcoming, even now. He's armed, Crocea Mors and whatever else he's picked up in his months in Cerealia - but she isn't, choosing instead improvisation and stretching the impoverished muscles of her Semblance. She'll never get it back to 100% if she doesn't use it at fifty percent, or sixty, or seventy.
That in itself, she doesn't (won't) consider a mistake. Selecting RANDOM / ??? at the level screen, on the other hand...
The mist clears, revealing a road that seems to stretch on for infinity. It's actually on a loop, with a fuzzy line less than a finger's width indicating where it ends and repeats, but Pyrrha's hardly video game savvy enough to notice such a thing. No, it's not the intricate little details that betray technology's imprecisions that get her attention. She knows this road, remembers it. She remembers the temperature dropping as a storm encroached, the metallic taste of blood in her mouth, fear desperate enough to bend anyone's knees...
Above them, firm letters appear in the sky. A woman's unmoving voice reads them out, in case neither one of them look up:
LEVEL 1: ESCORT MISSION
The enemies? Why, endless clones of Mercury and Emerald, of course! At five minutes to, they'll encounter a single mini-boss — but we're not quite there, yet. The timer hasn't even started counting down.
The only sign of life on the road - aside from them, of course - is a faint sound, formless but unquestionable, as if the rustling of wind through the leaves and grass could make this sound.
It can't, though.
From just beyond their eyeline, hoofbeats sound out against the packed dirt of the road: a damning, baleful clip-clop.
Pyrrha exhales, and looks east, knowing exactly what she'll see.
She's determined to meet it head on. ]
beaconed) and Pyrrha Nikos (metalist)When: 11/3 IC.
Where: ViViD
What: She wants to go, but he won't let her go in alone.
Rating/Warning: Nothing (yet) — will update if necessary.
[ It had taken some doing to get them there, reasonable doubts plaguing unapologetic ambition. Pyrrha wouldn't deign to speak for Jaune but, as they materialise in a level - and it's misty, and painfully mysterious, laughing at them for the secrets it holds - she's nervous. It settles deep in her pulse, each thrum of her blood a palpable warning. It doesn't matter to her irrational heart that she can't die in here, she still cups a hand to the space over her heart, where an arrow had hit home, and tells herself: breathe.
Pyrrha does, and looks at Jaune, finding solace there. His eyes are still so clear, welcoming, even now. He's armed, Crocea Mors and whatever else he's picked up in his months in Cerealia - but she isn't, choosing instead improvisation and stretching the impoverished muscles of her Semblance. She'll never get it back to 100% if she doesn't use it at fifty percent, or sixty, or seventy.
That in itself, she doesn't (won't) consider a mistake. Selecting RANDOM / ??? at the level screen, on the other hand...
The mist clears, revealing a road that seems to stretch on for infinity. It's actually on a loop, with a fuzzy line less than a finger's width indicating where it ends and repeats, but Pyrrha's hardly video game savvy enough to notice such a thing. No, it's not the intricate little details that betray technology's imprecisions that get her attention. She knows this road, remembers it. She remembers the temperature dropping as a storm encroached, the metallic taste of blood in her mouth, fear desperate enough to bend anyone's knees...
Above them, firm letters appear in the sky. A woman's unmoving voice reads them out, in case neither one of them look up:
LEVEL 1: ESCORT MISSION
OBJECTIVE: KEEP THE MAIDEN ALIVE UNTIL THE TIMER REACHES ZERO
20:00
The enemies? Why, endless clones of Mercury and Emerald, of course! At five minutes to, they'll encounter a single mini-boss — but we're not quite there, yet. The timer hasn't even started counting down.
The only sign of life on the road - aside from them, of course - is a faint sound, formless but unquestionable, as if the rustling of wind through the leaves and grass could make this sound.
It can't, though.
From just beyond their eyeline, hoofbeats sound out against the packed dirt of the road: a damning, baleful clip-clop.
Pyrrha exhales, and looks east, knowing exactly what she'll see.
She's determined to meet it head on. ]
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Are you ready for this, Pyrrha?
[ He can hear the sound of something approaching too, but as far as he's concerned this is just some generic ViViD level. ]
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Looking over at him, she nods. It's a slow gesture, nearly maudlin.
A cutscene plays out. They can watch it, but they can't interact with it. In fact, both of them are frozen in place until it plays out completely and the level truly begins. There's a little girl crying desolately into balled fists, there's a horse and its rider slowly appearing out from the mist... and there's the cold, quiet feeling of danger making all the hair on the back of Pyrrha's neck stand on end. She could close her eyes if she wants to - they have enough mobility for that, at least - but she doesn't. ]
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This can't go anywhere good.
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I'm afraid it doesn't.
[ Well, he had been the one to bring up Amber some weeks back. One way or another, he's going to know about the events that led up to the Battle of Beacon. Pyrrha can only watch helplessly as Amber dismounts, pulling back her hood to smile down at the little girl.
It's... strange, not seeing this through Amber's eyes. ]
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Is that... w-wait... "Maiden"? As in... you gotta be kidding me.
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[ It's too cruel for that.
A ribbon of dirt scatters into dust above the road, causing Amber's eyes to narrow in alarm. Her hands grip her weapon as she darts away from what now is very much a threat, her cloak falling away.
Emeralds and Mercurys - looking as Pyrrha and Jaune remember them, not as they did back then - crawl out of the woodwork, lining the road. The counter finally starts ticking down.
BEGIN. ]
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[ He instinctively draws his weapons. ]
What is this?! ViViD doesn't-- this doesn't make sen--OOF! [ Jaune gets a lovely kick to the face, not from Mercury though, but from Emerald who doesn't even specialize in this kind of footwork. Great start! ]
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[ Immediately, she's springing to his defense. Despite everything, nothing gets her moving quicker than Jaune's safety coming into question.
Emerald - that one particular Emerald, anyway - ends up airborne, plummeting away heavily. ]
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I'm okay!
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They end up in the trees, stretching the limits of the level. The sky flickers, almost a glitch but not quiet.
Out of Jaune's eyesight, Emerald manages to get her weapons free. There's the sound of gunshots. ]
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Which is why Jaune pulls out his gun and shoots him in the face, and Mercury immediately disintegrates. ]
--augh, what?!? Where's his Aura? Sorry!
[ That shouldn't have killed him?? It appears that these clones don't have much of an HP pool. ]
Pyrrha, I'm on my way!
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The exact moment he calls out, Emerald stumbled out back toward the road before disintegrating herself.
Pyrrha follows a moment later. ]
Jaune? Are you alright?
[ As if seeking to remind them of their purpose, he same announcing woman's voice calls out: The MAIDEN is at 75% health. ]
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This game is rigged! Since when does ViViD even replicate things that actually happened?! It doesn't even make sense, why can't there be two of me, or-- or five of you!
[ Hmm... five Pyrrhas. ]
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Perhaps we should focus on our goal, and worry about those questions later.
[ Amber is still in the centre of her own whirlwind, staff whirring through the air in a blur of motion against her steadily increasing number of enemies. Every time her HP drops, she flashes red, and Pyrrha has to bite back a wince to see it. ]
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[ He rams his shield into a distracted Mercury, throwing him off-balance while the second Mercury kicks Jaune's shield out of his hands, leaving him unguarded for a moment. He won't have time to pick it up--! ]
Pyrrha!
[ Magnet-assist pls?? ]
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[ As she's talking, Pyrrha reacts to his implicit request. Her arm moves quick, not bothering for the usual stylish guile of her Semblance in combat, and Jaune's shield flies right back to its usual spot on his arm. ]
We just need to keep her safe until the timer runs out.
[ She points up, where it's plastered across the sky. ]
15:54
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She's pretty powerful-- [ a flurry of Mercury kicks against his shield interrupt Jaune for a second ]
--I-I mean, is this really how it happened? A Maiden against two thugs? [ And she needs HELP?? ]
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One Emerald disintegrates, and then another. ]
... [ Her throat tightens and she has to force the words out— ] There wasn't just two.
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Urkk--- y-you mean-- you're talking about a third person, right? Get off me!!!!
[ He rolls around in the dirt, trying to break the hold. ]
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Rather than answer, Pyrrha uses her Semblance to send one of the Mercurys flying into Jaune's current Emerald. They both tumble haphazardly into the dirt, giving Jaune room to get up.
Well, that's something! ]
Mercury has metal in his legs. Leave him - well, them - to me.
[ It'll be taxing, but how she can exercise an injured muscle if she never uses it? ]
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[ Jaune trips up an Emerald as he stands up, then drops down on her with an elbow to her back as she hits the ground. BAM! ]
I guess it explains the whole Yang thing...
[ Standing up again, he opens fire on a Mercury threatening to harm the Maiden. It's enough to distract him as their NPC companion burns him to a crisp. ]
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A woman's voice comes on again. The MAIDEN is at 65% HP. Commencing OVERDRIVE MODE.
Abruptly, Amber's eyes edge with flame, an otherworldly grimace the only precursor as she rises into the air. Wind curls around her in a tornado, kicking up dirt and dust and pebbles.
More and more Mercurys and Emeralds flood the level. ]
Jaune! I think we need a new strategy.
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why u gotta write me in a corner jes ]
Okay, what if instead of pushing them back, we draw them a little closer to the maiden? She's clearly more equipped for crowd control. [ Defense is the best offense in this case. ] We just gotta make sure that those who slip past don't get to her.
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Because that's how I do. ♥][ Initially, Pyrrha's reluctant. There's no cure for being mentally synchronized to a dying woman, after all. It's still a common contributor to those nights (rarer now, but still present) where sleep escapes her. He's correct, she trusts his tactics, but the idea of putting Amber in harm's way turns her stomach. Even if she's aware it's Video Game Caring Potential taken to illogical extremes.
As the wind gets sharper and more brittle, Pyrrha brings up her arm, reaching over to protect her eyes and his from the dust.
The MAIDEN is at 60% health. FRIENDLY FIRE possible.
... ] Lead the way.
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D-Did that say friendly fire? C'MON, MAN!
[ he immediately dodges a lightning bolt by rolling out of the way, although he trips a Mercury along the way, too. ]
--I meant, ma'am! Sorry. Please don't fry us.
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Pyrrha watches as the torrent of "seasons" shifts, Amber's eyes still burning wildly. Leaves begin to fly through the air, unnaturally orderly, almost like a militant arrangement. Then, the temperature drops acutely. The wind sweeping around them grows brisk.
It's unnerving, Pyrrha will reflect later, to have what's essentially a copy of the script to a young woman's worst moments.
For now, she simply exclaims Jaune's name in warning - raise your shield as more Mercurys and Emeralds are fought off. As instructed, she's steadily manipulating the line, pushing them closer to Amber.
The timer continues to count down, bringing them closer to the level's miniboss.
7:26 remaining. ]
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Bam!
[ Rolling forward and getting back to his feet, Jaune hurls his shield to Pyrrha and yells a heads up. ]
Pyrrhoulette!
[ Whether or not they ever agreed to call it that move, Pyrrha should know what Jaune means. It's time to spin and orbit the shield around them, which should take care of the crowd that's coming in a little too close. ]
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The shield slows before reaching her, settling firmly into a safe position, edging her elbow. It doesn't lose much momentum before gaining it again, spinning around them in a perfect orbit, striking several of their opponents. HP dropping to 0, they disintegrate without much fuss.
She doesn't let go of it quite yet, though. He has his boots - did she even know about those? - and she has comparatively little in terms of equipment right now. Hopefully he doesn't mind sharing too much.
Because, as a striking red figure enters the scene, the timer reaching 5:00, she can already feel something off.
This is about the time that Amber loses the upper hand. ]
Jaune! [ Distracted by the imminence of battle, she hurls his shield again, warding off another smirking Mercury. What an asshole. ]
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Pyrrha! [ Is that woman who Jaune thinks it is? More importantly, his concern is with Pyrrha and not the maiden or anyone else right now. ]
1 / 3
Beyond them, Amber's clutching at her side, flashing an unhealthy red, the colour of an angry welt. That's what Pyrrha will remember most about this, later: splashes of red among nature's muted blues and browns and greys, powerful suggestions of blood, death, pain - things she remembers too well, too vividly.
More and more enemies fill the area. Jaune's shield ricochets through as many as it can, gaining momentum with every bounce like a pinball in an arcade machine, but Pyrrha knows this is risky. The last time she was so reckless with her semblance, the protective hand of her aura had shattered - more red, falling apart like glass - and she had been left helpless.
A woman's flat voice announces once more. It hadn't been a grating, hated sound at the beginning. It is now.
The MAIDEN is at 35% health. OVERDRIVE MODE now in cooldown. ]
We need to—
2 / 5
Unaffected, Cinder continues to move.
All sound seems to dissipate, giving an unearthly calm to the level.
Back to Amber. She's fighting hand to hand now, reddened and murky, no longer equipped for - how had Jaune put it? - ah, yes. Crowd control. She's desperate, she's scared. Pyrrha remembers all of this, feels it in her throat, like the feelings really were hers.
Back to Jaune. What is he doing? Can Pyrrha even protect him now? Why did she elect to come here unarmed in the first place? Was it out of some whimsical notion of pride, unwilling to let go of the weapons her mother had helped her forge all those years ago? Get points, get them back, be herself again. Not spend another minute feeling sorry for herself. Be worthy of him, for once. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time.
Back to Mercury, Emerald. Why do they fight? Cinder was a liar, but they were her age. Their age. Becoming a Huntsman is understandable. Becoming a murderer is something else entirely.
Back to— back to -
The sound isn't really gone, Pyrrha realises. Her blood is just roaring too loudly, panic a pitch she had previously thought unreachable. All other traces of fear are whited out, so uncomprehensive and big that she blocks them out as a survival mechanism, lending her an eerie calm - (like when she had walked to her death the first time) - but it takes out sound, dumbs it down. Like an explosion inches away from her head, all she can make out is a faint ringing.
More than a second couldn't have past before Pyrrha started speaking, started and stopped.
Cinder gathers three arrows across her arm, lays them on her bowstring with all the efficiency of a practiced professional— ]
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coming here?
(Her face never makes that pinch, her hands never rise to cover it.
It doesn't happen, a breakdown, but it could.) ]
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(Four arrows, and it ends. A fifth, and everything ends.)
This isn't real, Pyrrha knows that. At least, she thinks she knows that. ViViD's cruelties are someone's handmade effort, faceless programmers in CERES's chairs, showing them horrors while their souls slowly convert to immaterial energy. Maybe the system is sophisticated enough that this is little more than a generated roulette, numbers spinning and colliding in an unreal harmony. Torturing them is little more than an incidental side effect. Either way, it's not real.
Amber, in the real world, not this computer generated clone, is already dead.
(—would the sixth arrow be aimed at Jaune?)
This is entirely symbolic, a retreading of sins neither of them committed. It breaks something lose in Pyrrha regardless, ushering out a devastation so vast that the rational part of herself locked it away months ago in an attempt just to live again. She doesn't even hear the aggrieved cry that leaves her mouth, vision going briefly white as it becomes clear why you should never put a powerful magnet inside a computer... ]
I'm going to hell. I mean, done!
In a scratchy, damaged approximation of the generated voice from before, more words ring out.
ErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorError
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reconfiguring. Please stand by.
ErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorError
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reconfiguring. Please stand by.
You Lose!
Confetti explodes all over them.
Your time of survival has 1:35 MINUTES left.
Would you like to advance to the NEXT LEVEL? Select YES or NO before the timer runs out. 25... 24...
Weakly, she only just manages to look up. Black shadows dissipate from her corners and edges. ]
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Pyrrha! Are you-- t-talk to me!
[ Shaky hands rest on her shoulders, hoping he can pull her back to reality. ]
Pyrrha...
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Up above: You have selected YES. Loading LEVEL 2, please stand by.
Him uttering her name draws Pyrrha back into herself. Blinking slowly, she holds his gaze. ]
I'm sorry.
[ Head pounding, she reaches out for him. ]
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Pyrrha, you need to take a break. [ Nevermind that the next level is loading!! He figures they can just abort once it loads up, but ViViD is the least of his worries right now. ]
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The level loads in pieces, starting with the texture of the night sky. The stars are blurry and then become refined and sharp.
She shakes her head. ] I'd like to keep going.