[ ok so he's not going to IMMEDIATELY try to grab a vial and possibly incur death #2, but he will start to move closer to one. like. it's right there? ]
[When Baiken takes a good, hard look... the military uniforms look like they belong to these bug people. They all fit them, they don't seem stolen. They're old, though, worn and torn, and the people themselves-- they all have that desperate sort of glint to their eyes as they observe the party. They're all too thin. Whatever kind of living they're trying to eke out down here, it's not going well, and they might not be lying about preferring to stay up here; they look like they might genuinely lack the strength to deal with anything worse than the monster they're hovering over.
Ichiban inches closer to a vial, and their eyes narrow... but fortunately, there's a distraction.
Unfortunately, it's because a bugman they might not have seen crawling on the ceiling spots Throné trying to swipe a vial as she slips past.]
Ceiling Veteran
H-hey! Hey, we already said this is ours...! You can't take it from us!
[The others turn to look, and the first one, evidently the leader of this small group, growls-]
Veteran 1
Fine. No playing nice, then. Get 'em!
[Ceiling bugman drops down to try to attack Throné, while two each make a move on Baiken and Ichiban. I'm rolling this shit just once for the pairs because we're not going too deep here.
Ceiling bug, with the nat 20, drops on Throné with his scythelike bug arm aimed to pierce her. Baiken's pair, with their 11, hop to their feet and advance; Ichiban's pair had the nat 1, so they start to stand and find the dead monstrosity's limbs tangled around them. They scream, crashing back down as they fumble to slice the limbs away.]
[she did in fact try to swip the vial and teej didn't just make this up for later readers and also for me if i go back to read this in the future
anyway, throné is very confident about her ability to steal! she had a like 80% success rate with her 18. however, ceiling bugman was a surprise, and for whatever reason she didn't expect to be jumped on like that. usually when she fights things they are directly in front of her on a 2D grid, okay, she's from a pixel game. with a nat twenty i don't really see throné getting away without being absolutely pierced through, so the scythe just slips right through her torso and she collapses.
she doesn't make a sound, though. not even a gasp, even though that really had to hurt.
is she dead? not yet! probably! i don't know. she's scrabbling for both the vial (that's her PRIZE) and also for something else.]
[ out of the corner of her eye, she sees it: throné getting skewered and collapsing. this would spur her into action even more if she weren't face to face with a bugman.
the other slips, so just in case he didn't see it: ] Ichiban! Go get Throné!
[ THEN I GUESS SHE SLIPS BECAUSE I ROLLED A 5 SO THAT'S COOL. her stance is ruined. that 5 is not doing SHIT to this bugman. ]
Edited (those are exclamations) 2024-03-12 05:49 (UTC)
[ baiken doesn't need to finish her sentence; even if the guys going after him didn't eat absolute shit with their roll, throné was the only thing on his mind as soon as she fell.
despite everything, he is still only human, so he isn't fast enough to stop her from getting stabbed, but he can sure as hell retaliate and make sure it hurts. he doesn't even take the katana off his back to attack, because he's not really thinking so much as just doing right now. no, it's his own fist connecting with the bugman's nose thanks to his 18, the sickening crunch of breaking bone drowned out by his roar.
it's that same hand that cradles throné's head as he kneels down. ]
Necchan, hey, Necchan! Stay with me, okay? Me and Baiken-san, we're right here with you!
[Honestly, that was a solid enough roll and these guys are relatively weak. Ichiban takes them out by punching a bug INTO another bug, because it's cool that way...
Though as he rushes to Throné's side, someone might want to deal with Ceiling Bug still standing right there, scowling as he takes a swipe at Ichiban (17). The nat 1 crew have recovered enough to start coming at Baiken after she slips (15).]
she has been very close to death before. this isn't the first time. throné can feel the blood in her lungs and the way it rises up in her throat, she knows the smell of it. she hates the smell of it, hates the image of her hands covered in it, hates the way it makes her feel. it's so, so much worse when it's other people, though. at least when it's her, she deserves it. the sensation feels like a punishment, feels right after throwing bodies into a metal beast for her own gain.
but she made a promise. she promised. so she has to try.
ichiban has got her, and she chokes, coughing up a nasty clot of blood as she tries to say something. more than anything, it's frustrating.
but she thinks about healing. she thinks about castti, bringing her pain relieving herbs, she thinks about temenos gently bonking her on the head with his staff and murmuring, be healed, you reckless fool - and she tries to summon whatever strength she's got before the lights go out to tap into her ego.
if ichiban is listening, he might hear her cough out something that sounds like flame--]
[ the thing baiken knows best is the sword. even with more bugmen advancing, she sticks to her familiar tactics - with disappointing results. that 7 isn't going to get her anywhere. and her frustration builds, but instead of giving her unyielding focus, she just whiffs it again. this is bad. she isn't one to run from a fight, and it's not going to help bringing the fight to throné and ichiban. since she can't move forward, she takes several steps back hoping, if nothing else, it pulls at least some of these bugmen away from the other two. ]
[ ceiling bug can try all he wants, but ichiban refuses to go down easily. his 13 means his arm gets a little sliced, but he's able to block the brunt of the attack and push his attacker back by using his katana's sheath. it's just a scrape, nothing he hasn't dealt with before. throné's wound, however...
he hears throné's whisper, but has no idea what she's doing, what it means.
that's okay. he trusts her, just like he trusts baiken to trust him. ]
[Ichiban weathers that attack, and as he watches Throné...
She reaches for her E.G.O. She thinks of Castti, of Temenos, of healing and warmth, and she successfully draws upon its strength.
"I will pray for you, so that you will surely break."
The Abnormality this E.G.O. was extracted from is a symbiotic presence within her, in the moment; she can feel it, feel its desires and wishes, what it was meant for. It is full of radiance and judgment, but not only that-- there is warmth in it too, suffusing her as she takes on its power in order to save herself. Bright wings of light unfurl from her, gold and teal and glowing, and the wound through her glows with healing light as her body is knit back together.
It's enough to get her stable again after a fatal blow like that. She'll have a hard time, but she isn't dying. As the wings fade, the light and presence leaving her, the impalement wound is now just a gouge in her chest that's no longer bleeding freely.
While this is going on, Baiken is able to lead the remaining two bugs away, and both they and Ceiling Bug are disoriented from the light. Hopkins and Aya can't take advantage of this because so are they! Sucks for them.]
[and just like that, she's alive. or - well, she is at least a little less dead.
she coughs, trying to pull herself up to sit - instinctively, she holds onto ichiban as she does, expression gritted. she's not exactly focusing on it, but something in her laughs at the idea of telling temenos about this later. sacred flame, her ass.
I promise.
but no time to think about that now. no time to think about how absolutely wild it is to think throné of all people, managed to do healing, managed to call on any sort of light magic. she reaches for her knife, trying to pull herself to her feet so she can help baiken fight. unfortunately, she is woozy, and it takes a second.]
[ the frustration gnaws at her. through the void of detachment that has hollowed out her soul, the only thing she has left to keep her from her grief. a grief so deeply entrenched in her she only knew rage as a way to externalize her pain. it will never go away. and she's wasted her entire shitty life trying to find the one thing that should have put an end to it.
she's frustrated. she's pissed off. she's going to do as she's always done when she's indulged in her anger: she's going to kill these guys.
she can only focus on the disparity of her wasted life, when she should have stayed put, when she should have done anything else than pusue her vengeance.
"you're the only person who could talk me out of my revenge."
except that doesn't mean anything now. not when she's ended up here, doing this, facing down these pathetic excuses of opponents.
through that grief and hollow void she pulls out her rage. her regret. it doesn't matter, nothing matters, and that is very quickly going to be these bugs' problem. she is going to crush them like the insects they are. ]
[ ichiban doesn't question what happens before his eyes—he just knows throné is alive and she'll pull through this, and that's enough for him. he helps her back onto her feet, holding her steady as he grits his teeth through the pain now shooting up his arm. it's okay, he can handle this, what else is this stupid strong body good for if he can't help anyone with it?
once throné looks like she's good to stand on her own, ichiban finally takes the katana off his back (still sheathed, of course, hate that i have to keep specifying this) and rushes to baiken's side. ]
Give 'em hell, Baiken-san!
[ he doesn't know she's going to actually be killing them rip ]
[Throné stands and starts to ready herself. Ichiban rushes to Baiken's side to back her up.
And Baiken, as she reaches for her E.G.O., steeps herself in rage and regret... finds that something different happens. It isn't like when Throné felt the presence of the Abnormality within and alongside her, its influence.
"This straightjacket... isn't nearly enough to contain my violence. The hammering in my mind... head... turning to metal....
Ends. Begins. Ends. BEGINS. ENDS!"
She feels its rage filling her, overwhelming her with violence, taking over her mind and body both as the E.G.O. corrodes her and warps her body into something more grotesque. Her companions can at least still tell that this is Baiken, one eye visible beneath the warped metal, body still roughly the same.
Raging out of control, absolutely consumed by the need for violence, she lashes out indiscriminately. She no longer distinguishes friend from foe. She only wants them all to hurt.
The first slamming impact takes out the two bugmen she was facing, and likely knocks Ichiban and Throné both off their feet. Hopkins yells in alarm in the background, and Ceiling Bug stands there frozen, absolutely terrified by the monstrous sight in front of him.]
throné stands up just enough with ichiban's help only to get knocked off her feet again by the impact of the slam. she hits the ground with a wince, but doesn't make a sound. instead, she scrambles backwards, looking for her knife, trying to get out of baiken's way. you go ahead, girl, kill those dudes. she's going to grab said knife, and move the fuck out of the way, rasping after ichiban:]
Move - move out of her way!
[it is time to let baiken do carnage, she thinks. she'll freak out about the body horror in a bit she's currently disoriented as fuck from nearly being dead.]
[ there's no freaking out here. only wrath. she is going to keep snarling and howling as she slams the new twisted metal into the ground with force, writhing against the constraints to go, move, obliterate all in her way. those bugmen? she isn't going to stop until they're reduced into a bloody pulp - and that goes for anyone else in her way. ]
[ ichiban doesn't even have the chance to comprehend baiken's transformation thanks to his fuckin 5. he immediately gets sent flying in baiken's blind rage; his skull connects with one of the walls with a heavy, hearty THUNK before he slumps to the ground in a heap of a man.
a roll of 4 means he doesn't get up as blood starts to trail down from the top of his head. ]
I-- I don't care if you are the Red Gaze's minions, this isn't worth my life-! We've barely gotten in here! If none of you come back, I'm just reporting you dead--
[Seeing a Corrosion right in front of you sure changes things. Your rude megane buddy scoops up the Enkephalin he's been quietly collecting in the background with an entire (19) and just fucking books it. Absolutely not.
Aya, meanwhile, has not quite managed to get back off the ground after the initial tremor of Baiken's transformation; she's working to steady herself so she can fire her energy gun thing.
Ceiling Bug? No longer a problem. He's definitely Floor Bug now. As in, he's quickly becoming one with the floor as Baiken smashes him into a pulp.
[i feel like this six that i just rolled is thematically appropriate.
anyway, hopkins takes off and throné thinks, very briefly, about throwing her dagger at him and murdering him as he runs away. just briefly! she decides that she does not have time to do this. instead, she turns to ichiban, coughing as she takes his face in her hands and tries to see if he's even conscious.
she can't heal, she already did - she healed herself, and there's a guilt there, something winding and horrible. selfish, she thinks, that was selfish. with a little gasp of a sound, she gently puts ichiban back against the wall, and stands up to face baiken, knife in hand.]
Baiken!
[stop!! except she rolled a six for persuasion so like, i'm assuming she's about to get smeared across the wall.]
with my first double digit roll of 14, there is a fleeting second where maybe baiken heard her name — haha nah she slams down onto the ground again, just norrowly missing pulverizing throné. but that shockwave is gonna aggressively knock her on her ass again. if ichiban wasn't already bleeding out on the floor, it'd get him too. as it stands, he gets more like. aggressively jostled, i suppose. ]
apparently, getting sent to the corrosion wiggler is exactly what ichiban needed to regain the will to continue on. against all odds, he uses his katana to push himself up and stagger back onto his feet. he wipes the blood out of his eyes with the back of his free hand before he bellows, ]
SNAP OUT OF IT, BAIKEN-SAN!!
[ and he charges at her, angling his approach so that her attention is mostly on him, not so much on throné. ]
SHE GOT A 1, SO. She attempts to fire her weapon, and it misses completely, shooting off into the hallway beyond them! That won't be a problem for later!]
Aya
Whoooops~
[She's still kinda shaken.
While Throné and Ichiban contend with her... Baiken is still lost in the Abnormality's corrosion, still awash in violence.
All that time wasted, and for what? It's not like she'll get to kill him in the end anyway. It was all just...
A life lived in violence ends that way. Begins. Ends. Begins. Ends. If you can't destroy what it is you want to destroy, you might as well just...
there's no way that she could stay standing up with that, she's still unsteady. she gets knocked back against the wall pretty fucking hard, and while she doesn't hit her head, she does absolutely get the wind knocked out of her. there's a pretty alarming cracking sound as one of her ribs decides it's giving up the ghost. she slides down the wall, leaving a streak of blood behind her, and decides she's just... going to let ichiban handle this...
get that bread, buddy, fight the like-like, she's going to sit here, completely rattled.]
[ ichiban's words do nothing to quell the violence tearing through her very core. she thrashes and screams, smashing into the side of one of the walls and causing another small quake. in her thrashing and gnashing, her attempt to crush ichiban goes sideways, and instead she hits the floor and writhes. ]
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[ ok so he's not going to IMMEDIATELY try to grab a vial and possibly incur death #2, but he will start to move closer to one. like. it's right there? ]
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Ichiban inches closer to a vial, and their eyes narrow... but fortunately, there's a distraction.
Unfortunately, it's because a bugman they might not have seen crawling on the ceiling spots Throné trying to swipe a vial as she slips past.]
[The others turn to look, and the first one, evidently the leader of this small group, growls-]
[Ceiling bugman drops down to try to attack Throné, while two each make a move on Baiken and Ichiban. I'm rolling this shit just once for the pairs because we're not going too deep here.
Ceiling bug, with the nat 20, drops on Throné with his scythelike bug arm aimed to pierce her. Baiken's pair, with their 11, hop to their feet and advance; Ichiban's pair had the nat 1, so they start to stand and find the dead monstrosity's limbs tangled around them. They scream, crashing back down as they fumble to slice the limbs away.]
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anyway, throné is very confident about her ability to steal! she had a like 80% success rate with her 18. however, ceiling bugman was a surprise, and for whatever reason she didn't expect to be jumped on like that. usually when she fights things they are directly in front of her on a 2D grid, okay, she's from a pixel game. with a nat twenty i don't really see throné getting away without being absolutely pierced through, so the scythe just slips right through her torso and she collapses.
she doesn't make a sound, though. not even a gasp, even though that really had to hurt.
is she dead? not yet! probably! i don't know. she's scrabbling for both the vial (that's her PRIZE) and also for something else.]
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the other slips, so just in case he didn't see it: ] Ichiban! Go get Throné!
[ THEN I GUESS SHE SLIPS BECAUSE I ROLLED A 5 SO THAT'S COOL. her stance is ruined. that 5 is not doing SHIT to this bugman. ]
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despite everything, he is still only human, so he isn't fast enough to stop her from getting stabbed, but he can sure as hell retaliate and make sure it hurts. he doesn't even take the katana off his back to attack, because he's not really thinking so much as just doing right now. no, it's his own fist connecting with the bugman's nose thanks to his 18, the sickening crunch of breaking bone drowned out by his roar.
it's that same hand that cradles throné's head as he kneels down. ]
Necchan, hey, Necchan! Stay with me, okay? Me and Baiken-san, we're right here with you!
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[Honestly, that was a solid enough roll and these guys are relatively weak. Ichiban takes them out by punching a bug INTO another bug, because it's cool that way...
Though as he rushes to Throné's side, someone might want to deal with Ceiling Bug still standing right there, scowling as he takes a swipe at Ichiban (17). The nat 1 crew have recovered enough to start coming at Baiken after she slips (15).]
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she has been very close to death before. this isn't the first time. throné can feel the blood in her lungs and the way it rises up in her throat, she knows the smell of it. she hates the smell of it, hates the image of her hands covered in it, hates the way it makes her feel. it's so, so much worse when it's other people, though. at least when it's her, she deserves it. the sensation feels like a punishment, feels right after throwing bodies into a metal beast for her own gain.
but she made a promise. she promised. so she has to try.
ichiban has got her, and she chokes, coughing up a nasty clot of blood as she tries to say something. more than anything, it's frustrating.
but she thinks about healing. she thinks about castti, bringing her pain relieving herbs, she thinks about temenos gently bonking her on the head with his staff and murmuring, be healed, you reckless fool - and she tries to summon whatever strength she's got before the lights go out to tap into her ego.
if ichiban is listening, he might hear her cough out something that sounds like flame--]
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he hears throné's whisper, but has no idea what she's doing, what it means.
that's okay. he trusts her, just like he trusts baiken to trust him. ]
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[Ichiban weathers that attack, and as he watches Throné...
She reaches for her E.G.O. She thinks of Castti, of Temenos, of healing and warmth, and she successfully draws upon its strength.
"I will pray for you, so that you will surely break."
The Abnormality this E.G.O. was extracted from is a symbiotic presence within her, in the moment; she can feel it, feel its desires and wishes, what it was meant for. It is full of radiance and judgment, but not only that-- there is warmth in it too, suffusing her as she takes on its power in order to save herself. Bright wings of light unfurl from her, gold and teal and glowing, and the wound through her glows with healing light as her body is knit back together.
It's enough to get her stable again after a fatal blow like that. She'll have a hard time, but she isn't dying. As the wings fade, the light and presence leaving her, the impalement wound is now just a gouge in her chest that's no longer bleeding freely.
While this is going on, Baiken is able to lead the remaining two bugs away, and both they and Ceiling Bug are disoriented from the light. Hopkins and Aya can't take advantage of this because so are they! Sucks for them.]
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she coughs, trying to pull herself up to sit - instinctively, she holds onto ichiban as she does, expression gritted. she's not exactly focusing on it, but something in her laughs at the idea of telling temenos about this later. sacred flame, her ass.
I promise.
but no time to think about that now. no time to think about how absolutely wild it is to think throné of all people, managed to do healing, managed to call on any sort of light magic. she reaches for her knife, trying to pull herself to her feet so she can help baiken fight. unfortunately, she is woozy, and it takes a second.]
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she's frustrated. she's pissed off. she's going to do as she's always done when she's indulged in her anger: she's going to kill these guys.
she can only focus on the disparity of her wasted life, when she should have stayed put, when she should have done anything else than pusue her vengeance.
"you're the only person who could talk me out of my revenge."
except that doesn't mean anything now. not when she's ended up here, doing this, facing down these pathetic excuses of opponents.
through that grief and hollow void she pulls out her rage. her regret. it doesn't matter, nothing matters, and that is very quickly going to be these bugs' problem. she is going to crush them like the insects they are. ]
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once throné looks like she's good to stand on her own, ichiban finally takes the katana off his back (still sheathed, of course, hate that i have to keep specifying this) and rushes to baiken's side. ]
Give 'em hell, Baiken-san!
[ he doesn't know she's going to actually be killing them rip ]
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[Throné stands and starts to ready herself. Ichiban rushes to Baiken's side to back her up.
And Baiken, as she reaches for her E.G.O., steeps herself in rage and regret... finds that something different happens. It isn't like when Throné felt the presence of the Abnormality within and alongside her, its influence.
"This straightjacket... isn't nearly enough to contain my violence. The hammering in my mind... head... turning to metal....
Ends. Begins. Ends. BEGINS. ENDS!"
She feels its rage filling her, overwhelming her with violence, taking over her mind and body both as the E.G.O. corrodes her and warps her body into something more grotesque. Her companions can at least still tell that this is Baiken, one eye visible beneath the warped metal, body still roughly the same.
Raging out of control, absolutely consumed by the need for violence, she lashes out indiscriminately. She no longer distinguishes friend from foe. She only wants them all to hurt.
The first slamming impact takes out the two bugmen she was facing, and likely knocks Ichiban and Throné both off their feet. Hopkins yells in alarm in the background, and Ceiling Bug stands there frozen, absolutely terrified by the monstrous sight in front of him.]
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throné stands up just enough with ichiban's help only to get knocked off her feet again by the impact of the slam. she hits the ground with a wince, but doesn't make a sound. instead, she scrambles backwards, looking for her knife, trying to get out of baiken's way. you go ahead, girl, kill those dudes. she's going to grab said knife, and move the fuck out of the way, rasping after ichiban:]
Move - move out of her way!
[it is time to let baiken do carnage, she thinks. she'll freak out about the body horror in a bit she's currently disoriented as fuck from nearly being dead.]
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a roll of 4 means he doesn't get up as blood starts to trail down from the top of his head. ]
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[Seeing a Corrosion right in front of you sure changes things. Your rude megane buddy scoops up the Enkephalin he's been quietly collecting in the background with an entire (19) and just fucking books it. Absolutely not.
Aya, meanwhile, has not quite managed to get back off the ground after the initial tremor of Baiken's transformation; she's working to steady herself so she can fire her energy gun thing.
Ceiling Bug? No longer a problem. He's definitely Floor Bug now. As in, he's quickly becoming one with the floor as Baiken smashes him into a pulp.
Good luck with your PvP.]
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anyway, hopkins takes off and throné thinks, very briefly, about throwing her dagger at him and murdering him as he runs away. just briefly! she decides that she does not have time to do this. instead, she turns to ichiban, coughing as she takes his face in her hands and tries to see if he's even conscious.
she can't heal, she already did - she healed herself, and there's a guilt there, something winding and horrible. selfish, she thinks, that was selfish. with a little gasp of a sound, she gently puts ichiban back against the wall, and stands up to face baiken, knife in hand.]
Baiken!
[stop!! except she rolled a six for persuasion so like, i'm assuming she's about to get smeared across the wall.]
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with my first double digit roll of 14, there is a fleeting second where maybe baiken heard her name — haha nah she slams down onto the ground again, just norrowly missing pulverizing throné. but that shockwave is gonna aggressively knock her on her ass again. if ichiban wasn't already bleeding out on the floor, it'd get him too. as it stands, he gets more like. aggressively jostled, i suppose. ]
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apparently, getting sent to the corrosion wiggler is exactly what ichiban needed to regain the will to continue on. against all odds, he uses his katana to push himself up and stagger back onto his feet. he wipes the blood out of his eyes with the back of his free hand before he bellows, ]
SNAP OUT OF IT, BAIKEN-SAN!!
[ and he charges at her, angling his approach so that her attention is mostly on him, not so much on throné. ]
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SHE GOT A 1, SO. She attempts to fire her weapon, and it misses completely, shooting off into the hallway beyond them! That won't be a problem for later!]
[She's still kinda shaken.
While Throné and Ichiban contend with her... Baiken is still lost in the Abnormality's corrosion, still awash in violence.
All that time wasted, and for what? It's not like she'll get to kill him in the end anyway. It was all just...
A life lived in violence ends that way. Begins. Ends. Begins. Ends. If you can't destroy what it is you want to destroy, you might as well just...
Destroy everything else that you can.]
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there's no way that she could stay standing up with that, she's still unsteady. she gets knocked back against the wall pretty fucking hard, and while she doesn't hit her head, she does absolutely get the wind knocked out of her. there's a pretty alarming cracking sound as one of her ribs decides it's giving up the ghost. she slides down the wall, leaving a streak of blood behind her, and decides she's just... going to let ichiban handle this...
get that bread, buddy, fight the like-like, she's going to sit here, completely rattled.]
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aka he punches her with the power of friendship i can't follow this up with anything else goodbye ]
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