[ it feels like time stops, just for a second, with that wan little smile. for a second, all of the chaos and noise whites out, and all temenos can do is watch. maybe it's a mercy this time. what's worse? waking up in the morning and finding a corpse? or watching someone dive into danger, two seconds away from your grasp? the fleeting despair of knowing, once again, there was nothing to be done?
the worst part is he's not surprised.
everything moves again, and temenos grits his teeth. it's not real, that isn't really crick, no matter how much it looked sounded acted like him, because crick is dead, and he has no more time to think on it. he has to keep todomatsu, who is real and has no magic and right here next to him alive. he has to find kazuki. has to get to owner. who - owner was talking to the announcer, he might have been questioning him. his gaze snaps towards the hole he made earlier and he grabs tighter onto his staff. ]
Come on - move, come on. [ if he can get todomatsu to the craft, to adrastea, then maybe he can get him up into the ship - then he can go roast this plant over aelfric's open fire. he's barreling in that direction - firing off a luminescence spell directly in front of their path to try and clear the way with a - illuminate the darkness! for another spell, and then, to be heard in the earpiece over the chaos - ] Adrastea, Kazuki!
[ wait— wait, no, the mood had seemed better there for a moment, when he and his brothers had been flinging insults at each other as normal. that was how it was supposed to be. he'd started to believe again that things really would be fine. because...
...well, they have to be getting close to the end of this stupid mission at this point, right? and two seasons in a row, that had been the pattern. the emotional pain and the deep existential fears of loss and change — those were the things that were supposed to happen in episode 24. and then episode 25, the season finale — that was when everything they'd just been through got overturned and they went back to their over-the-top, zany antics again. the opening theme would play as they all made their final move together, and win or lose, no matter how close they'd come to being torn apart, they'd all be reunited again in the end.
why doesn't it work like that anymore?
he's stayed attached to temenos for almost the whole mission up until now, following along with his every step, but now he hesitates, digging his heels into the dirt as the ground rumbles beneath them.
the music should start playing any moment now, right? he just has to wait for his cue. ]
[ how many people have you failed to save? too little, too late. you don't think it, but you do at the same time, temenos. roi. your own father. crick. too little, too late. will you fail to save them, too?
adrastea's voice cuts through the chaos. owner is gone, long gone from their sight. kazuki has disappeared into a tunnel that no one can access any longer. but there's still hope somewhere. ]
I'm going to try and get him. Stay alive, Temenos. Put your helmets on!
[ that's all they have for him, right now. the winds are roaring - audible, now that the glass of the atrium is destroyed - and the overgrowth floods through the warped metal of the broken structure.
the warning comes a little late, though. because you both feel the burn in your lungs of something creeping in, feel the ache on your skin, feel it in your very muscles. you're lucky in that the holy light has burned away much of it around temenos - but it can't keep it at bay forever. not when the flame fights to stay lit.
unfortunately for todomatsu, he's not in the right genre anymore. and the soundtrack for this episode is nothing but anguished screams, the cacophony of broken glass and mangled metal, the rush of wind.
it's just him, now. the last sextuplet standing. and a thought that isn't yours, but is at the same time. didn't you want to get out from under their shadows? you don't have to worry anymore.
a tangle of vines, making it almost thick as a tree, comes crashing down towards them as the pollen and spores fill the air. ]
[ too little, too late. in reality, temenos never lets him think it for long. he never lets himself wallow in it, because he can't. keep moving. keep walking forward. keep following the light until it illuminates the truth - solve the mystery for roi, for the pontiff, solve the mystery for crick. don't think about the way they died. don't think about how you still doesn't know what happened to roi, even now. don't think about how when you solve the mystery and you find the truth, you will come home to nothing but your own loneliness, to a house with one chair and the yawning, gaping darkness of loss. don't think about how aelfric called you his chosen and granted you powers beyond belief, in what almost felt like mockery for all that was lost.
don't think about it. too little, too late.
adrastea's voice snaps through like a beacon, and he can't, he won't let himself linger. he has to stay alive (because no one else ever did.) temenos' hand shoots up to turn the earpiece to a helmet like he's told, lets the pain of it try and keep him anchored to truth and reality. the world fills up in pollen and spores and color and violence, and he realizes that todomatsu isn't coming.
the vines come rushing downwards, and temenos doesn't have enough time to do anything else, but a - ] Todomatsu! [ and then fires off another sacred shield. it's not right, it's not as strong as it usually is, there's not enough energy to make it a higher powered spell, but he throws himself in the direction of the vines and the shield along with it, shiny and bright of holy light. let the shield protect todomatsu, aelfric lend us your light, do something - his reflexes aren't fast, but his magic is, and he can't stop him from getting hit, but maybe he can stop him from dying.
[ he can't deny he's thought that thought before. he's always known he's capable of being more than he is, and it's always been them that dragged him back down. he's been so angry at them so many times. but...
i mean... they do piss me off sometimes. actually, i want to kill them all the time. but being sextuplets is pretty fun.
...
there's an explosion of pollen, and all he can do is laugh even as it burns his eyes and lungs. really? this is what they're going with? this is how we're ending things? this had been a stupid gross-out gag in a tidbit collection. he remembers taping up the windows with his brothers, trying to keep the pollen from breaking them down and pouring in; he remembers jyushimatsu vacuuming the pollen off of karamatsu, all of them getting trapped in their own allergy snot bubbles— how the hell is he supposed to take something like that seriously now? how is he the only one here to appreciate how ridiculous this is?!
he hears temenos shout his name — it's the wrong voice, it's not who he should be hearing right now, but that at least helps to snap him out of it — and rubs the tears from his burning eyes just in time to see rapidly approaching vines and the shield of light that forms in front of him.
[ maybe todomatsu is still a little bit in the right genre.
but there's no snot bubbles this time. there's just the holy light of a shield that fractures under the weight of the vines, helping to protect him from being killed and little else. temenos is slammed into the ground next to him, but the impact causes the pliant vines to bounce briefly.
it's not much of a reprieve, considering another series of vines comes snaking out while you're both winded. and they take temenos with them.
breathing is already hard enough, with the burn in your lungs. being winded and battered by the local plantlife that's trying to smother you in pollen and turn you into tortured art pieces doesn't exactly help.
you'll never see them again. why would they even want to see you if you did? you left them. you ran to save your own hide and abandoned them again. ]
[ todomatsu blinks at the spot where temenos was a moment ago — where he'd landed after jumping in to protect him, only to be torn away a second later before he could fully register what had just happened.
ah. he probably should have thanked him. that's what he gets for rescuing someone without a heart.
coughing hard into his hand, he makes a shaky attempt to get back on his feet. his vision is still blurry with tears and his head is swimming, but he tries to get a handle on the situation as best he can — are the vines still coming? or is it quiet now, aside from the very vocal presence of his own self hatred? ]
[ there are still vines, unfortunately, but there's also still people. it's not just todomatsu being hunted for sport by the flora of the planet. but there's no more familiar faces left for him, here.
above, the craft they arrived in is trying to find stability in the winds of the veritable storm that's broken out over the planet. it's the only sign of hope right now, and even that is in a delicate balance now, slowly lowering as the door remains open.
did todomatsu ever activate his helmet? he didn't, did he?
having your face smashed into the ground without protection can't be very pleasant, and the burn in his lungs intensifies. maybe it really will be his allergies that take him out this time?
a vine wraps around his ankle as he lays there, and pulls. ]
[ no he sure didn't. he's probably already forgotten he has one, he was so distracted when adrastea's message came in. it's not like he's supposed to need that kind of thing anyway. a helmet's just part of a costume.
he yelps as the vine grabs onto him and pulls, and — self hatred or not — instinctively tries to reach for anything he can take hold of. a railing, a rock, a— probably not a root. anything that isn't going to move and isn't going to turn on him. there's got to be something, right? he can't just be out here on his own. ]
his beautiful face is cut up in the process of being dragged across the glass covered ground, ruining his makeup more than his earlier tears did. if his wig isn't secure, that's getting ripped off as his clothes are torn, snagged on thorns and glass and debris from the atrium being ruined. his palm is sliced as he grabs at anything he can reach that won't betray him.
with the grip that the vine has on his ankle, it's probably going to be twisted if not broken as the vine jerks.
but his hands land on a 2x4 length of metal from the atrium frame. it comes along with him as he's dragged and cut up.
[ his wig is on very securely, actually; he's not enough of an amateur to wear a wig to an action scene without plenty of hairpins and a strip of lacefront tape to keep it in place. unfortunately this actually works against him in this situation, because when it snags and tangles on the thorns and gets pulled off, it yanks his own hair and scalp hard, twisting his neck at a painful angle and ripping out some strands that were stuck to the tape at his hairline.
the upside is that he's already focused enough on that pain that he doesn't feel it at full force when his ankle bone snaps a second later. again, small fucking blessings.
as for the piece of metal...well, that figures. but fine, then, he's just going to use this stupid piece of shit for something else if it won't help him the way he hoped. his hand is already cut up and bloody, but he uses all his strength to grip onto the metal and swing it at the vine, aiming to both slice at it with its sharp edges and beat it into submission if he can.
after how much these stupid plants and the shitty people behind all of this have already taken, he has no intention of giving them a damn thing more if he can help it. ]
[ ouchies. at least the pain offers clarity to go with anger and desperation, and he gets himself free by slicing and smashing the vine. it's... still around his ankle, but the part there is no longer attached to the whole, so he's suddenly motionless on the ground with this newfound weapon on hand.
it's also getting so much harder to breathe, todomatsu.
your lungs burn, and your eyes water as your muscles spasm intermittently. it feels like something is filling you up from the inside out, and it's trying to get out now, growing, pulsing. the pollen needs to be breathed in to take effect, but every open wound tingles miserably from exposure to it as well, a terrible toxin inside and out.
Hey. Cover your mouth, son.
more of the vines are rearing back, preparing to strike. ]
[ he's still riding high on that anger and desperation when he hears that instruction from— somewhere, and his instinctive reaction to it is— ]
The hell?! I'm fucking dying here and you're going to lecture me on my coughing manners?!!
[ though it's probably barely intelligible when he's wheezing and coughing between every word... especially since he does, in fact, cover his mouth with the hand that isn't still gripping onto the piece of metal, tasting blood and glass as he does so.
...
oh. right. he was supposed to put on his helmet or something, wasn't he?
he holds his breath as he takes his hand off his mouth again and fumbles around for the button... though he wonders if maybe it's too late for that to make a difference at this point when he's probably got 8000 times the recommended amount of pollen in his lungs by now. ]
[ only time will tell? imagine you came back to the eudora half a tree person, would that be fucked up or what.
at least the helmet going up protects his head from more hairpulling and cuts, since it's riddled with those now. whether it'll keep him from being added to the true Hanging Gardens is hard to say - at least it doesn't get any worse, but it doesn't exactly get any better.
especially since there's still vines moving around. the screaming, at least, has died down, but not for the reason you'd hope it would. the chaos continues, and your own blood is smeared across the ground as the vines whip out again, slamming forward.
[ the wig falls off of the vine and lands on top of his helmet.
at least there's no new pollen flying into his eyes now so he can start to cry out what's already in there. it's an improvement. he grips his metal piece as the vines whip out toward him.
[ with this goddamn 18, the wig stays on his helmet after it plops down.
he also pulls an owner and cuts the vines in such a way that it parts the red sea, so to speak, for the single coolest thing that todomatsu has ever done.
except no one fucking sees it. no one will ever know that you were this cool, in this moment, because no one is alive or there to see it. to the side, you hear more metal and glass being destroyed, screams in the distance dying out. the vines are in pieces, shredded and beaten away, but there are still more of them surrounding and filling the atrium. your ankle is broken. you're bruised and cut into, bleeding everywhere on your ruined dress, but god. god you're alive.
it gets a little easier to breathe, for a moment. what's the next move, femme fatale? ]
wait, NO ONE SAW THAT? THROWS DOWN HIS METAL PIECE
then hurriedly picks it back up, that thing is his datz office chair now and it's staying with him until he dies, which he REFUSES TO LET HAPPEN ON THIS SHIT PLANET.
that said, he has no idea how he's supposed to accomplish that, and he's really bitter right now that the tools he brought with him were a fucking screwdriver and a flashlight. he doesn't know if his earpiece is even working at this point, but he's going to shout into it between coughs anyway as he tries to (fastly) limp away. ]
Kind of preoccupied at the moment, Matsuno! Haul your ass over to Kazuki - where are the other two?
[ the ship is... trying to land, where that crashing crushing noise was. adrastea has some sort of long ranged weapon that you can't see, because the opening for the gangplank is on the other side of the craft, but there are bolts of blue that are being fired off to get through the vines there.
but then, there's a wave of energy that bursts outwards. the ship is buffeted, causing the officer to swear, and the vines... convulse. their movement becomes even more erratic, like a snake with its head cut off, the body seizing and whipping around. he gets smacked by a stray one, for one last insult to injury.
except... despite the rough landing, there's a familiar sigh. but it's less tired than when you, your brothers, your mother had that scare. that same voice is your thoughts, but not again. it's warmer than the self loathing that's plagued you since the loss of your brothers.
Hey, come on... you did pretty good today. You need a hand up? ]
[ he doesn't get around to answering the question before the energy blast hits, though it hardly matters, since his answer would have been that he didn't know where the hell any of them were. he gets smacked by that vine and goes down, and curses under his breath.
and then he hears that other voice, much too familiar and casual for this crazy situation, and freezes. ]
...Dad?
[ he tentatively turns his head to look around, hoping this really is just another voice that's all in his head. something his subconscious is using to encourage him to pull himself up.
he doesn't want to watch another member of his family meet their end in this stupid, terrible place. he doesn't want to be the only thing mom has. ]
[ adrastea has no answer for that, but it's fine. he can see where the craft is, as it lowers unsteadily and closer to the ground so that adrastea's figure can be seen just outright jumping down before it even lands properly.
there's no sign of his dad anywhere, fortunately - just a warmth that feels like familiar hands, on his back, his arms, encouraging him upright and onto unsteady feet. like maybe, maybe this time things turned into a shitshow... but he did good. he did pretty damn good.
maybe no one actually saw that, but your dad's approval and encouragement feels awesome.
you can make it if you run, even if you have to grit through the pain. ]
[ ah. his eyes are full of tears already but they just spill over completely at this, stinging harshly as they sink into the bloody cuts and scrapes that cover his face. with a sniff, he nods to himself, and makes it onto his feet. (along with his chunk of metal, just in case.)
he can still do this. mom and dad are still there. he has to get home for them.
[ todomatsu draws closer to the craft, where it has actually managed to land on the no-longer-moving vines. adrastea is... nearby, having climbed a swarth of them where they're trying to free kazuki, it looks like.
their helmet is off, but their back is to him, so all he can see is dark, short hair.
no more vines move, at least enough to matter more than a twitch, but the warmth stays. just a little more. just a little more, and you'll be alright.
temenos' voice can be heard over the earpieces: ] ... Owner. I'm... going to find him.
he finally comes to a stop a short distance behind... adrastea, apparently; and, taking their lack of a helmet to mean they don't need them anymore, he takes his off too. (the wig slides off, and he picks it up and... puts it back on his head in a bit of a daze, his own hair very much visible under it now that he's lost his wig cap.)
his vision is still blurry and he's squinting to see what's going on up ahead. ah... they found kazuki? that's good.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
TEMENOS & TODOMATSU
no subject
the worst part is he's not surprised.
everything moves again, and temenos grits his teeth. it's not real, that isn't really crick, no matter how much it looked sounded acted like him, because crick is dead, and he has no more time to think on it. he has to keep todomatsu, who is real and has no magic and right here next to him alive. he has to find kazuki. has to get to owner. who - owner was talking to the announcer, he might have been questioning him. his gaze snaps towards the hole he made earlier and he grabs tighter onto his staff. ]
Come on - move, come on. [ if he can get todomatsu to the craft, to adrastea, then maybe he can get him up into the ship - then he can go roast this plant over aelfric's open fire. he's barreling in that direction - firing off a luminescence spell directly in front of their path to try and clear the way with a - illuminate the darkness! for another spell, and then, to be heard in the earpiece over the chaos - ] Adrastea, Kazuki!
no subject
...well, they have to be getting close to the end of this stupid mission at this point, right? and two seasons in a row, that had been the pattern. the emotional pain and the deep existential fears of loss and change — those were the things that were supposed to happen in episode 24. and then episode 25, the season finale — that was when everything they'd just been through got overturned and they went back to their over-the-top, zany antics again. the opening theme would play as they all made their final move together, and win or lose, no matter how close they'd come to being torn apart, they'd all be reunited again in the end.
why doesn't it work like that anymore?
he's stayed attached to temenos for almost the whole mission up until now, following along with his every step, but now he hesitates, digging his heels into the dirt as the ground rumbles beneath them.
the music should start playing any moment now, right? he just has to wait for his cue. ]
no subject
adrastea's voice cuts through the chaos. owner is gone, long gone from their sight. kazuki has disappeared into a tunnel that no one can access any longer. but there's still hope somewhere. ]
I'm going to try and get him. Stay alive, Temenos. Put your helmets on!
[ that's all they have for him, right now. the winds are roaring - audible, now that the glass of the atrium is destroyed - and the overgrowth floods through the warped metal of the broken structure.
the warning comes a little late, though. because you both feel the burn in your lungs of something creeping in, feel the ache on your skin, feel it in your very muscles. you're lucky in that the holy light has burned away much of it around temenos - but it can't keep it at bay forever. not when the flame fights to stay lit.
unfortunately for todomatsu, he's not in the right genre anymore. and the soundtrack for this episode is nothing but anguished screams, the cacophony of broken glass and mangled metal, the rush of wind.
it's just him, now. the last sextuplet standing. and a thought that isn't yours, but is at the same time. didn't you want to get out from under their shadows? you don't have to worry anymore.
a tangle of vines, making it almost thick as a tree, comes crashing down towards them as the pollen and spores fill the air. ]
no subject
don't think about it. too little, too late.
adrastea's voice snaps through like a beacon, and he can't, he won't let himself linger. he has to stay alive (because no one else ever did.) temenos' hand shoots up to turn the earpiece to a helmet like he's told, lets the pain of it try and keep him anchored to truth and reality. the world fills up in pollen and spores and color and violence, and he realizes that todomatsu isn't coming.
the vines come rushing downwards, and temenos doesn't have enough time to do anything else, but a - ] Todomatsu! [ and then fires off another sacred shield. it's not right, it's not as strong as it usually is, there's not enough energy to make it a higher powered spell, but he throws himself in the direction of the vines and the shield along with it, shiny and bright of holy light. let the shield protect todomatsu, aelfric lend us your light, do something - his reflexes aren't fast, but his magic is, and he can't stop him from getting hit, but maybe he can stop him from dying.
for once. ]
no subject
i mean... they do piss me off sometimes. actually, i want to kill them all the time. but being sextuplets is pretty fun.
...
there's an explosion of pollen, and all he can do is laugh even as it burns his eyes and lungs. really? this is what they're going with? this is how we're ending things? this had been a stupid gross-out gag in a tidbit collection. he remembers taping up the windows with his brothers, trying to keep the pollen from breaking them down and pouring in; he remembers jyushimatsu vacuuming the pollen off of karamatsu, all of them getting trapped in their own allergy snot bubbles— how the hell is he supposed to take something like that seriously now? how is he the only one here to appreciate how ridiculous this is?!
he hears temenos shout his name — it's the wrong voice, it's not who he should be hearing right now, but that at least helps to snap him out of it — and rubs the tears from his burning eyes just in time to see rapidly approaching vines and the shield of light that forms in front of him.
huh...? ]
TODOMATSU
but there's no snot bubbles this time. there's just the holy light of a shield that fractures under the weight of the vines, helping to protect him from being killed and little else. temenos is slammed into the ground next to him, but the impact causes the pliant vines to bounce briefly.
it's not much of a reprieve, considering another series of vines comes snaking out while you're both winded. and they take temenos with them.
breathing is already hard enough, with the burn in your lungs. being winded and battered by the local plantlife that's trying to smother you in pollen and turn you into tortured art pieces doesn't exactly help.
you'll never see them again. why would they even want to see you if you did? you left them. you ran to save your own hide and abandoned them again. ]
no subject
ah. he probably should have thanked him. that's what he gets for rescuing someone without a heart.
coughing hard into his hand, he makes a shaky attempt to get back on his feet. his vision is still blurry with tears and his head is swimming, but he tries to get a handle on the situation as best he can — are the vines still coming? or is it quiet now, aside from the very vocal presence of his own self hatred? ]
no subject
above, the craft they arrived in is trying to find stability in the winds of the veritable storm that's broken out over the planet. it's the only sign of hope right now, and even that is in a delicate balance now, slowly lowering as the door remains open.
did todomatsu ever activate his helmet? he didn't, did he?
having your face smashed into the ground without protection can't be very pleasant, and the burn in his lungs intensifies. maybe it really will be his allergies that take him out this time?
a vine wraps around his ankle as he lays there, and pulls. ]
no subject
he yelps as the vine grabs onto him and pulls, and — self hatred or not — instinctively tries to reach for anything he can take hold of. a railing, a rock, a— probably not a root. anything that isn't going to move and isn't going to turn on him. there's got to be something, right? he can't just be out here on his own. ]
no subject
his beautiful face is cut up in the process of being dragged across the glass covered ground, ruining his makeup more than his earlier tears did. if his wig isn't secure, that's getting ripped off as his clothes are torn, snagged on thorns and glass and debris from the atrium being ruined. his palm is sliced as he grabs at anything he can reach that won't betray him.
with the grip that the vine has on his ankle, it's probably going to be twisted if not broken as the vine jerks.
but his hands land on a 2x4 length of metal from the atrium frame. it comes along with him as he's dragged and cut up.
something. ]
no subject
the upside is that he's already focused enough on that pain that he doesn't feel it at full force when his ankle bone snaps a second later. again, small fucking blessings.
as for the piece of metal...well, that figures. but fine, then, he's just going to use this stupid piece of shit for something else if it won't help him the way he hoped. his hand is already cut up and bloody, but he uses all his strength to grip onto the metal and swing it at the vine, aiming to both slice at it with its sharp edges and beat it into submission if he can.
after how much these stupid plants and the shitty people behind all of this have already taken, he has no intention of giving them a damn thing more if he can help it. ]
no subject
it's also getting so much harder to breathe, todomatsu.
your lungs burn, and your eyes water as your muscles spasm intermittently. it feels like something is filling you up from the inside out, and it's trying to get out now, growing, pulsing. the pollen needs to be breathed in to take effect, but every open wound tingles miserably from exposure to it as well, a terrible toxin inside and out.
Hey. Cover your mouth, son.
more of the vines are rearing back, preparing to strike. ]
no subject
The hell?! I'm fucking dying here and you're going to lecture me on my coughing manners?!!
[ though it's probably barely intelligible when he's wheezing and coughing between every word... especially since he does, in fact, cover his mouth with the hand that isn't still gripping onto the piece of metal, tasting blood and glass as he does so.
...
oh. right. he was supposed to put on his helmet or something, wasn't he?
he holds his breath as he takes his hand off his mouth again and fumbles around for the button... though he wonders if maybe it's too late for that to make a difference at this point when he's probably got 8000 times the recommended amount of pollen in his lungs by now. ]
no subject
at least the helmet going up protects his head from more hairpulling and cuts, since it's riddled with those now. whether it'll keep him from being added to the true Hanging Gardens is hard to say - at least it doesn't get any worse, but it doesn't exactly get any better.
especially since there's still vines moving around. the screaming, at least, has died down, but not for the reason you'd hope it would. the chaos continues, and your own blood is smeared across the ground as the vines whip out again, slamming forward.
roll to either eat shit or do sick shit. ]
no subject
at least there's no new pollen flying into his eyes now so he can start to cry out what's already in there. it's an improvement. he grips his metal piece as the vines whip out toward him.
no subject
he also pulls an owner and cuts the vines in such a way that it parts the red sea, so to speak, for the single coolest thing that todomatsu has ever done.
except no one fucking sees it. no one will ever know that you were this cool, in this moment, because no one is alive or there to see it. to the side, you hear more metal and glass being destroyed, screams in the distance dying out. the vines are in pieces, shredded and beaten away, but there are still more of them surrounding and filling the atrium. your ankle is broken. you're bruised and cut into, bleeding everywhere on your ruined dress, but god. god you're alive.
it gets a little easier to breathe, for a moment. what's the next move, femme fatale? ]
no subject
...
wait, NO ONE SAW THAT? THROWS DOWN HIS METAL PIECE
then hurriedly picks it back up, that thing is his datz office chair now and it's staying with him until he dies, which he REFUSES TO LET HAPPEN ON THIS SHIT PLANET.
that said, he has no idea how he's supposed to accomplish that, and he's really bitter right now that the tools he brought with him were a fucking screwdriver and a flashlight. he doesn't know if his earpiece is even working at this point, but he's going to shout into it between coughs anyway as he tries to (fastly) limp away. ]
WHERE! IS! THE SHIP!!!!
no subject
[ the ship is... trying to land, where that crashing crushing noise was. adrastea has some sort of long ranged weapon that you can't see, because the opening for the gangplank is on the other side of the craft, but there are bolts of blue that are being fired off to get through the vines there.
but then, there's a wave of energy that bursts outwards. the ship is buffeted, causing the officer to swear, and the vines... convulse. their movement becomes even more erratic, like a snake with its head cut off, the body seizing and whipping around. he gets smacked by a stray one, for one last insult to injury.
except... despite the rough landing, there's a familiar sigh. but it's less tired than when you, your brothers, your mother had that scare. that same voice is your thoughts, but not again. it's warmer than the self loathing that's plagued you since the loss of your brothers.
Hey, come on... you did pretty good today. You need a hand up? ]
no subject
[ he doesn't get around to answering the question before the energy blast hits, though it hardly matters, since his answer would have been that he didn't know where the hell any of them were. he gets smacked by that vine and goes down, and curses under his breath.
and then he hears that other voice, much too familiar and casual for this crazy situation, and freezes. ]
...Dad?
[ he tentatively turns his head to look around, hoping this really is just another voice that's all in his head. something his subconscious is using to encourage him to pull himself up.
he doesn't want to watch another member of his family meet their end in this stupid, terrible place. he doesn't want to be the only thing mom has. ]
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there's no sign of his dad anywhere, fortunately - just a warmth that feels like familiar hands, on his back, his arms, encouraging him upright and onto unsteady feet. like maybe, maybe this time things turned into a shitshow... but he did good. he did pretty damn good.
maybe no one actually saw that, but your dad's approval and encouragement feels awesome.
you can make it if you run, even if you have to grit through the pain. ]
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he can still do this. mom and dad are still there. he has to get home for them.
so, he runs and doesn't look back. ]
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their helmet is off, but their back is to him, so all he can see is dark, short hair.
no more vines move, at least enough to matter more than a twitch, but the warmth stays. just a little more. just a little more, and you'll be alright.
temenos' voice can be heard over the earpieces: ] ... Owner. I'm... going to find him.
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he finally comes to a stop a short distance behind... adrastea, apparently; and, taking their lack of a helmet to mean they don't need them anymore, he takes his off too. (the wig slides off, and he picks it up and... puts it back on his head in a bit of a daze, his own hair very much visible under it now that he's lost his wig cap.)
his vision is still blurry and he's squinting to see what's going on up ahead. ah... they found kazuki? that's good.
he coughs and waves weakly. ]
I'm here...
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