[ the fog getting thicker worries her. that's never a good sign anywhere. the ground may be squishy, but at least it cushions whatever sound they make (maybe).
she nods to harley and readies her bow just in case. she considers sending manyue ahead to see what the shape is, but the raven already doesn't want to be here and shouxue doesn't have to heart to stress it out right now.
slowly, carefully, you approach the shape. the only reason you can even see it, at first, is because of the lanterns - and all you see at first is that thick, purple fog. does it originate here? it's hard to tell, but the closer you get, you can see the shape is maybe not as large as you thought it was.
as harley inches closer and closer, the shape doesn't move. for a second - for a second you think you see a person, suspended in the gnarled, thick shape of the trees. a female figure, lithe, beautiful, one with the trees, hanging broken above the fog itself, but you look back and it's gone.
instead, the fog melts away, and you face this. it's an aurochs - tall, certainly larger than both of you, but it is not particularly huge. it stares at you through its white, bright eyes. it does not move - only once, enough to take a shuddery, pained breath.
[why did you have to make it sound like she's dating the lorax. stop.
unfortunately, a second is more than enough for harley to throw caution to the wind and dart forward at the sight of that person. then the second passes, she blinks, and she finds herself standing way closer to whatever the fuck this thing is than she would like.
having rolled an 8, she is already shaken and there is no way her aim is steady enough to shoot this thing — unless the monster rolls a 1. technically, i have inspiration and am allowed to reroll but no we die like gay clowns here.]
[ well... ivy and the lorax could have a conversation, don't you think? ]
I wish I knew, Manyue. Fly high and keep an eye out for anything that might help. Don't get in its way.
[ sure would be nice to know a weakness.
that's all i got because i also rolled an 8. she nocks her bow and tries to aim for an eye, but again, the girls are fully octo despite no longer being A S S I M I L A T E D. ]
[ SURE WOULD BE NICE too bad viktor's somewhere in (mumbles) having (mumbles)
anyway. the lorax wasn't there? what are you talking about. there's nothing, just this... monster. harley fires at it - bam! - and the shot goes above its head, clearing it. the creature doesn't even flinch. poor shot. pathetic.
meanwhile, manyue caws and immediately flies up, up in the air high above your head. the raven looks down at the scene below, but cannot get that high up, because it's just thick, endless, darkness, and...
she says - Shouxue, I think it's saying something! hmm.
anyway shouxue also, in true octopath fashion, rolled an eight. shouxue nocks her bow and aims for the eye, and her shot goes wide, but it slices the very side of the monster - and something purplish and gooey sloughs off the side of it when it does. ew? the monster stares at them both for a moment longer, and then lumbers forward. it moves unnaturally, like its bones are broken, like its forcing itself, stumbling forward.
something burbles out of its mouth as it makes a shuddery, heaving noise - this ugly, purple magic. it lashes out at the two of you. if you'd like to get hit by it you can, but with a 13 and 15 you realize its coming and might be able to roll out of the way. ]
with a 15, i'll say she moves out of the way quick enough to get fucking blaster. but some of the magic still brushes against her leg as she literally backflips out of the way. her hands are now full of mud and so are her shoes. this is fucking disgusting. god.]
—Fuck! Shouxue! [landing a couple of paces away, she steadies herself on her feet, and
starts flossing. that was what my nat 20 was for. thank you. anyway, please allow her to buff shouxue. she's basically trying to give her the help action here for whatever her next move will be. maybe dice maiden will love us for once...?]
DOES THAT MEAN..... SHE CAN TRY TO BEFRIEND IT....? LET'S TALK TO IT............. with a 3.
she will try, after she dodges out of the way, barely missing getting hit for this failure that's about to be buffed with a flawless flossing somehow. ]
[ you know i was going to try to find a way to work that 20 into you somehow still getting injured but since you brought up befriend, harley's drip is so flawless and her flossing is so lit that shouxue, you feel inspired. when you go to befriend the monster....
for a moment - and just for a moment - you can understand it.
it stares at you with those haunting, awful white eyes. they glow so brightly that they pierce through the darkness of the fog (is it getting thicker?), but they look - awful, and the monster heaves in this awful, garbled voice: ]
... Help...me...
[ to harley, it just sounds like the agonized, garbled noise of a dying aurochs, but instinctually, it feels awful. all the hairs on the backs of both of your necks stand straight up, and you feel like the temperature in the area drops
shouxue, you swear for a second its voice sounds like the monster, and then like your mothers, moaning in pain in a symphony. ]
help mehelpmehelpmeHeLpMehelPmeHelPmeE
[ and then its jaw cracks open with another horrible, wheezing inhale, and more of that purple, black magic leaks free, rushing both at shouxue and harley. ]
[okay, well, this is the most horrifying unintelligible screeching she's heard in her life.
belatedly i remember that technically, harley can cast wind magic. so while she attempts to dodge out of the way of that purple, black magic — she's also casting a wind spell to try and push the monster's attack away from them. or just directly attacking it, if the former isn't possible. either way, she rolled a 10 for this. so. you know.
not even her flawless flossing can save us now...]
[ shouxue comes to an abrupt stop, hearing a voice she hasn't heard in so long. the ache of a memory cuts through her, and it's like she's frozen in time, remembering something horrible from years ago.
she's useless this turn. i'm so sorry. SAVE YOURSELF, HARLEY. ]
but it's too late for that. the magic feels wrong. that's the first thing - it slams into harley and shouxue both with the force of a locomotive. it's like it sucks the very life out of your body, and the damage it leaves is somehow both searingly cold and burning heat all at once. you can feel the Shadow rotting in your lungs when you inhale, thick and heavy. it strikes harley first, heavy across the stomach and her left leg - it leaves these awful, deep purple marks behind, not bruises but splatters of magic that'll never quite go away.
as for shouxue. standing perfectly still against a nat 20 - the magic strikes her right across her beautiful face. it leaves a mark - that same awful, burning cold all at once, leaving a dark purple smear across her eyes. she might feel the urge to close them, at first, the sting is so brutal and painful, but in the second before her eyes close, she sees something happen.
harley's wind magic... connects! as it turns out, this monster is actually not all that strong? the wind magic sends it flying backwards and hits a tree with an awful, wet slap. it moans in pain again - ] HeLpMehelPmeHelPmeEhelpmehHELPME
[ and harley's magic slams your mother's broken body directly into the tree. ]
[she coughs and hacks as the rot settles into her lungs, shivering in a miserable, muddy pile on the ground after the blast of magic slams into her stomach and leg. it hurts like a motherfucker. it's completely unlike any pain she's felt before, with the burning heat and the searing cold — and it's also a pain in her bleached ass because purple is so not her color.
growling, she picks herself up just enough to lift her arm and fire her gun at the monster again... this time with a 16. double tap! and she of course can't see what shouxue is currently experiencing, so. uh. oops.]
[ her cry of pain cuts itself off in a choke, as the Shadow seeps and rots into her lungs, and her hands fly to her eyes. she staggers backwards, as she shuts her eyes, and then anguish tears a scream from her throat.
she can't let her mother die again. she can't let her mother die again. it doesn't matter how it doesn't make sense. it doesn't matter that she's been dead over ten years. it doesn't matter it doesn't matter IT DOESN'T MATTER
does she know who she even is right now? does she even know what's happening? all she can hear are cries of help. she can't even see her mother anymore in the blackness. her mind goes blank. she scrambles towards who she thinks is her mother. ]
[ harley quinn where did you get a gun. the thing you are holding shoots... some kind of ammunition? but whatever it does, it hits.
as it turns out, this monster is not particularly strong. despite the strength of its magic, it rattles and makes a terrible, pained noise as the ammunition hits it. it's not quite dead, not yet. it wheezes and oozes forward from the tree, now mostly laying down, dragging itself pathetically forward - and then the second hit with the ammunition clocks it between the eyes.
manyue can't see what shouxue does. stop her, shouxue says, and the raven flutters around and then dives to the ground with a two, stopping in front of harley and dropping down to the ground next to her, wings fluttering and poofing up like she might shield her from getting closer to the monster. which is probably good.
despite the awful blackness, despite the blinding pain, shouxue, you can open your eyes - you can still see, but the edges of your vision are very, very dark. in your squinting, awful, pained vision, you see - not your mother, again, right? no. no, you see there's a monster there. the shape of an auroch. it stares at both of you with its haunting, beseeching white eyes.
and then. all at once, the purple and the shadow and the flesh start to slough off of its body with a disgusting, wet noise, melting and oozing to the ground, rotting off into chunks and viscera. it splatters some, and manyue covers harley from receiving an additional monster face mask on top of her mud body mask and injuries.
as the rotten flesh melt off the body of the creature, what stands in its place, briefly, is a perfect serious of bones in the shape of an auroch -
and then with a painfully loud clatter in the silent forest, they crash to the ground. the monster's flesh melts and rots into the forest floor, deep into the mud, and sizzles.
[smetimes you (redacted) a (redacted) and get a free mystery gun. the way she still has no idea what the fuck this thing fires for sure.]
... Oh, my god.
[she would cover her mouth if her hands weren't caked in mud. but even so, harley sounds queasy after watching the flesh slough off the monster's body. she has to swallow to keep the bile from coming up her throat. it's horrifying even by her standards.
although she can't speak bird, she still glances down at manyue to offer a quick and only slightly shaky:] Thanks.
[and then she's quickly pushing herself off the ground, stumbling a little due to her injured leg, to rush over to shouxue's side. the way we're all out of healing items and it's only tuesday. help.]
[ she opens her eyes in time to see her mother turn back into an auroch. she tries to swallow her panic and clear her mind. she let her emotions control her again.
the flesh melts and rots, and she watches it for a moment, feeling hollow. she turns to look in harley's direction. she can still see, but she also still has a cool purple stripe across her face. ]
I... I'm sorry. I'm... Are you alright?
[ she isn't okay, but she doesn't want to admit it. ]
[ technically it's not actually a gun you just never examined it closely so i could tell you that it makes other objects shoot critical hits but it's fine it's a gun now inexplicably. someone invented a gun in octopath traveler 2 and her name is harley.
manyue is shaky and covered in oily goop. she can't seem to fly, taking a couple of steps towards shouxue worriedly, trying to shake the goop from her wings. she'll try to get up... she's not doing great. additionally, shouxue, your vision is... shaky. it's still there! just fuzzy. for now.
and isn't there just something about this place. the darkness is so stifling, you know? it weighs you down. it makes you feel miserable. like you could just lay down and rot. you could let the Shadow take you. where are your lanterns? how dark is it here? can you even breathe?
it's alright. it'll be okay if you have the light. ]
[HELP. she minored in inventor while she was majoring in the macarena. it's fine. her ass is fat and so is her brain.
she'll help the bird if she can, but... whew. she takes a shuddering breath, nodding even if she's not entirely sure shouxue can see it. that purple stripe is incredible concerning.]
I'm fine. I just— The lanterns. Where are our lanterns?
[did they manage to keep hold of them while dodging and getting magically puked on? that is a good question.]
[ manyue appreciates the help, settling against shouxue and trembling. she's exhausted, and the darkness is getting to her. it's cold. but - sure, yeah, she can take the grape. she eats it with a sort of :nyeh: look but she looks like she feels a little bit better after.
the lanterns are close by - they fell to the ground during the scuffle. the light inside them flickers violently, the way that a flame does when confronted with harsh winds. they provide a little bit of warmth once you grab for them, but...
once you pick them up, it's strange. it's just... the darkness persists. you still feel uneasy. is there a way out? will you be stuck here forever? what if the only way out is...
well. how can you be so sure the girl in front of you isn't a traitor? ]
suddenly filled with that uneasy feeling, the though buzzing around her brain, harley clutches the lantern a little closer to her chest. if shouxue is truly a traitor...
well, she's just a kid. harley can deal with it. she's been stabbed in the back in the past, over and over again. it's not her first rodeo. it probably won't even be her last. it's fine. it'll be fine. this is nothing new.
she plasters a smile on her face, just a little sweaty.]
L-Let's keep goin'. Mama wants to a take a nice, long shower, and I won't be able to do that if we stick around to watch these bones turn to dust.
[ don't just let yourself get stabbed in the back, harley.
she picks the lantern up and frowns as the uneasiness grows within her. she hugs manyue closer to her and looks over at harely before holding her lantern up.
is there any sign of a path anywhere? ]
You'll have to pick a direction. Manyue isn't able to fly for a while.
[ it might be safer to watch harley from behind. it's a terrible thing to think, but she can't help but think it... ]
gathering your lanterns together helps - though you step a little apart from each other, shouxue walking behind. even still, it makes the crushing darkness feel a tiny, tiny bit less.
however. as you right yourselves, you realize that the purple fog from before has gotten worse. maybe it seeped in from the creature, or maybe it didn't - but what was at your knees is now up to your chests, and it feels thick and heavy. oppressive. it stings where it touches any open injuries you have, but at least it doesn't make your fun new purple magic burns any worse? thank gods for that. the fog itself is cloying and uncomfortable, the ground still wet and now full of monster sludge (sorry) but you find yourself still moving onwards. by now you can't really see the trees, and the oppressive, heavy silence remains. it's just you and your thoughts.
harley. what's another betrayal, right? whats another abandonment? just for a minute, the three of you were a family. a fucked up, awful family, but a family nonetheless. your collar feels tight. she probably won't attack you, she's just a kid, she was your family. but isn't that what your family does, harley? don't they just - stab each other in the back?
for shouxue, manyue shivers as she burrows closer to you, desperately trying to stay warm and keep you warm, too. your eyes are still stinging, but at least you can see. you think.
a shadow flickers in the corner of your vision. it swirls, briefly - a void - and then it disappears again, skittering away. like it might take you over, because are you even you?
the world is so full of despair. do you want to live or not, shouxue? do you want to keep walking forward? ]
[thank god the fog doesn't make the magic burns worse because, whew. that's her whole ass leg in there. the combination of mud and monster sludge feels terrible and she's regretting her A S S I M I L A T E D fashion choices so much right now, but there's nothing she can do about it.
perhaps foolishly, she stays one step ahead of shouxue while rubbing a hand against her neck, keenly aware of the sensation of the collar against her skin. almost impossibly, it feels even more oppressive now than when she first started wearing it years (a whole spanking couple of hours?) ago in a life that didn't quite belong to her — but at least that version of her wasn't saddled with the worst family on earth. just thinking about it sours her mood even further. the skin surrounding the long since healed gunshot wound on her stomach, puckered and scarred over by how many years it's been since then, feels painfully tight.
trucking forward, she's too lost in her thoughts to notice if shouxue starts to lag behind.]
[ shouxue keeps walking on. Even if the fog is oppressive and uncomfortable, even if her eyes continue to sting.
The shadow makes her stop in her tracks for a moment, but seeing harley walking ahead spurs her on.
The image of her mother dying, illusion or not, leaves her empty. Head empty, heart empty, and she can hardly remember anything else. Not the family she did or didn't have, not the care she's been given to fill the hole that's been left by her mother's death.
It's the feel of feathers against her cheek that slowly brings her back, reminds her of the warmth of people who didn't want to leave alone, of the things she still has to do whether she wants to live or not.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
she nods to harley and readies her bow just in case. she considers sending manyue ahead to see what the shape is, but the raven already doesn't want to be here and shouxue doesn't have to heart to stress it out right now.
if they die, they die.
time to approach the shape!!! ]
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slowly, carefully, you approach the shape. the only reason you can even see it, at first, is because of the lanterns - and all you see at first is that thick, purple fog. does it originate here? it's hard to tell, but the closer you get, you can see the shape is maybe not as large as you thought it was.
(there's a music change. )
as harley inches closer and closer, the shape doesn't move. for a second - for a second you think you see a person, suspended in the gnarled, thick shape of the trees. a female figure, lithe, beautiful, one with the trees, hanging broken above the fog itself, but you look back and it's gone.
instead, the fog melts away, and you face this. it's an aurochs - tall, certainly larger than both of you, but it is not particularly huge. it stares at you through its white, bright eyes. it does not move - only once, enough to take a shuddery, pained breath.
manyue shivers. What...is that?]
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unfortunately, a second is more than enough for harley to throw caution to the wind and dart forward at the sight of that person. then the second passes, she blinks, and she finds herself standing way closer to whatever the fuck this thing is than she would like.
having rolled an 8, she is already shaken and there is no way her aim is steady enough to shoot this thing — unless the monster rolls a 1. technically, i have inspiration and am allowed to reroll but no we die like gay clowns here.]
no subject
I wish I knew, Manyue. Fly high and keep an eye out for anything that might help. Don't get in its way.
[ sure would be nice to know a weakness.
that's all i got because i also rolled an 8. she nocks her bow and tries to aim for an eye, but again, the girls are fully octo despite no longer being A S S I M I L A T E D. ]
no subject
anyway. the lorax wasn't there? what are you talking about. there's nothing, just this... monster. harley fires at it - bam! - and the shot goes above its head, clearing it. the creature doesn't even flinch. poor shot. pathetic.
meanwhile, manyue caws and immediately flies up, up in the air high above your head. the raven looks down at the scene below, but cannot get that high up, because it's just thick, endless, darkness, and...
she says - Shouxue, I think it's saying something! hmm.
anyway shouxue also, in true octopath fashion, rolled an eight. shouxue nocks her bow and aims for the eye, and her shot goes wide, but it slices the very side of the monster - and something purplish and gooey sloughs off the side of it when it does. ew? the monster stares at them both for a moment longer, and then lumbers forward. it moves unnaturally, like its bones are broken, like its forcing itself, stumbling forward.
something burbles out of its mouth as it makes a shuddery, heaving noise - this ugly, purple magic. it lashes out at the two of you. if you'd like to get hit by it you can, but with a 13 and 15 you realize its coming and might be able to roll out of the way. ]
no subject
with a 15, i'll say she moves out of the way quick enough to get fucking blaster. but some of the magic still brushes against her leg as she literally backflips out of the way. her hands are now full of mud and so are her shoes. this is fucking disgusting. god.]
—Fuck! Shouxue! [landing a couple of paces away, she steadies herself on her feet, and
starts flossing. that was what my nat 20 was for. thank you. anyway, please allow her to buff shouxue. she's basically trying to give her the help action here for whatever her next move will be. maybe dice maiden will love us for once...?]
no subject
DOES THAT MEAN..... SHE CAN TRY TO BEFRIEND IT....? LET'S TALK TO IT............. with a 3.
she will try, after she dodges out of the way, barely missing getting hit for this failure that's about to be buffed with a flawless flossing somehow. ]
Are you in pain?
no subject
for a moment - and just for a moment - you can understand it.
it stares at you with those haunting, awful white eyes. they glow so brightly that they pierce through the darkness of the fog (is it getting thicker?), but they look - awful, and the monster heaves in this awful, garbled voice: ]
... Help...me...
[ to harley, it just sounds like the agonized, garbled noise of a dying aurochs, but instinctually, it feels awful. all the hairs on the backs of both of your necks stand straight up, and you feel like the temperature in the area drops
shouxue, you swear for a second its voice sounds like the monster, and then like your mothers, moaning in pain in a symphony. ]
help mehelpmehelpmeHeLpMehelPmeHelPmeE
[ and then its jaw cracks open with another horrible, wheezing inhale, and more of that purple, black magic leaks free, rushing both at shouxue and harley. ]
no subject
belatedly i remember that technically, harley can cast wind magic. so while she attempts to dodge out of the way of that purple, black magic — she's also casting a wind spell to try and push the monster's attack away from them. or just directly attacking it, if the former isn't possible. either way, she rolled a 10 for this. so. you know.
not even her flawless flossing can save us now...]
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she's useless this turn. i'm so sorry. SAVE YOURSELF, HARLEY. ]
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but it's too late for that. the magic feels wrong. that's the first thing - it slams into harley and shouxue both with the force of a locomotive. it's like it sucks the very life out of your body, and the damage it leaves is somehow both searingly cold and burning heat all at once. you can feel the Shadow rotting in your lungs when you inhale, thick and heavy. it strikes harley first, heavy across the stomach and her left leg - it leaves these awful, deep purple marks behind, not bruises but splatters of magic that'll never quite go away.
as for shouxue. standing perfectly still against a nat 20 - the magic strikes her right across her beautiful face. it leaves a mark - that same awful, burning cold all at once, leaving a dark purple smear across her eyes. she might feel the urge to close them, at first, the sting is so brutal and painful, but in the second before her eyes close, she sees something happen.
harley's wind magic... connects! as it turns out, this monster is actually not all that strong? the wind magic sends it flying backwards and hits a tree with an awful, wet slap. it moans in pain again - ] HeLpMehelPmeHelPmeEhelpmehHELPME
[ and harley's magic slams your mother's broken body directly into the tree. ]
no subject
growling, she picks herself up just enough to lift her arm and fire her gun at the monster again... this time with a 16. double tap! and she of course can't see what shouxue is currently experiencing, so. uh. oops.]
no subject
she can't let her mother die again. she can't let her mother die again. it doesn't matter how it doesn't make sense. it doesn't matter that she's been dead over ten years. it doesn't matter it doesn't matter IT DOESN'T MATTER
does she know who she even is right now? does she even know what's happening? all she can hear are cries of help. she can't even see her mother anymore in the blackness. her mind goes blank. she scrambles towards who she thinks is her mother. ]
Manyue, stop her!
[ she means harley. she wants to stop harley.
so it's a good thing i rolled a 2. maybe. ]
no subject
as it turns out, this monster is not particularly strong. despite the strength of its magic, it rattles and makes a terrible, pained noise as the ammunition hits it. it's not quite dead, not yet. it wheezes and oozes forward from the tree, now mostly laying down, dragging itself pathetically forward - and then the second hit with the ammunition clocks it between the eyes.
manyue can't see what shouxue does. stop her, shouxue says, and the raven flutters around and then dives to the ground with a two, stopping in front of harley and dropping down to the ground next to her, wings fluttering and poofing up like she might shield her from getting closer to the monster. which is probably good.
despite the awful blackness, despite the blinding pain, shouxue, you can open your eyes - you can still see, but the edges of your vision are very, very dark. in your squinting, awful, pained vision, you see - not your mother, again, right? no. no, you see there's a monster there. the shape of an auroch. it stares at both of you with its haunting, beseeching white eyes.
and then. all at once, the purple and the shadow and the flesh start to slough off of its body with a disgusting, wet noise, melting and oozing to the ground, rotting off into chunks and viscera. it splatters some, and manyue covers harley from receiving an additional monster face mask on top of her mud body mask and injuries.
as the rotten flesh melt off the body of the creature, what stands in its place, briefly, is a perfect serious of bones in the shape of an auroch -
and then with a painfully loud clatter in the silent forest, they crash to the ground. the monster's flesh melts and rots into the forest floor, deep into the mud, and sizzles.
you can have a moment to catch your breath.
the purple fog is getting denser. ]
no subject
... Oh, my god.
[she would cover her mouth if her hands weren't caked in mud. but even so, harley sounds queasy after watching the flesh slough off the monster's body. she has to swallow to keep the bile from coming up her throat. it's horrifying even by her standards.
although she can't speak bird, she still glances down at manyue to offer a quick and only slightly shaky:] Thanks.
[and then she's quickly pushing herself off the ground, stumbling a little due to her injured leg, to rush over to shouxue's side. the way we're all out of healing items and it's only tuesday. help.]
—Kid, lemme see your face. Are you okay?
no subject
the flesh melts and rots, and she watches it for a moment, feeling hollow. she turns to look in harley's direction. she can still see, but she also still has a cool purple stripe across her face. ]
I... I'm sorry. I'm... Are you alright?
[ she isn't okay, but she doesn't want to admit it. ]
Come back, Manyue.
[ she pats her shoulder. ]
no subject
manyue is shaky and covered in oily goop. she can't seem to fly, taking a couple of steps towards shouxue worriedly, trying to shake the goop from her wings. she'll try to get up... she's not doing great. additionally, shouxue, your vision is... shaky. it's still there! just fuzzy. for now.
and isn't there just something about this place. the darkness is so stifling, you know? it weighs you down. it makes you feel miserable. like you could just lay down and rot. you could let the Shadow take you. where are your lanterns? how dark is it here? can you even breathe?
it's alright. it'll be okay if you have the light. ]
no subject
she'll help the bird if she can, but... whew. she takes a shuddering breath, nodding even if she's not entirely sure shouxue can see it. that purple stripe is incredible concerning.]
I'm fine. I just— The lanterns. Where are our lanterns?
[did they manage to keep hold of them while dodging and getting magically puked on? that is a good question.]
no subject
can she give manyue the grape she has? maybe harley needs it more, but she is prioritizing her bird. (sorry, harley.) ]
This darkness... I don't know. I'll look.
[ slowly, since it is harder to breathe after being magically puked on. she looks for any speck of light or sign of the lanterns.
where are their lanterns? ]
no subject
the lanterns are close by - they fell to the ground during the scuffle. the light inside them flickers violently, the way that a flame does when confronted with harsh winds. they provide a little bit of warmth once you grab for them, but...
once you pick them up, it's strange. it's just... the darkness persists. you still feel uneasy. is there a way out? will you be stuck here forever? what if the only way out is...
well. how can you be so sure the girl in front of you isn't a traitor? ]
no subject
suddenly filled with that uneasy feeling, the though buzzing around her brain, harley clutches the lantern a little closer to her chest. if shouxue is truly a traitor...
well, she's just a kid. harley can deal with it. she's been stabbed in the back in the past, over and over again. it's not her first rodeo. it probably won't even be her last. it's fine. it'll be fine. this is nothing new.
she plasters a smile on her face, just a little sweaty.]
L-Let's keep goin'. Mama wants to a take a nice, long shower, and I won't be able to do that if we stick around to watch these bones turn to dust.
no subject
she picks the lantern up and frowns as the uneasiness grows within her. she hugs manyue closer to her and looks over at harely before holding her lantern up.
is there any sign of a path anywhere? ]
You'll have to pick a direction. Manyue isn't able to fly for a while.
[ it might be safer to watch harley from behind. it's a terrible thing to think, but she can't help but think it... ]
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gathering your lanterns together helps - though you step a little apart from each other, shouxue walking behind. even still, it makes the crushing darkness feel a tiny, tiny bit less.
however. as you right yourselves, you realize that the purple fog from before has gotten worse. maybe it seeped in from the creature, or maybe it didn't - but what was at your knees is now up to your chests, and it feels thick and heavy. oppressive. it stings where it touches any open injuries you have, but at least it doesn't make your fun new purple magic burns any worse? thank gods for that. the fog itself is cloying and uncomfortable, the ground still wet and now full of monster sludge (sorry) but you find yourself still moving onwards. by now you can't really see the trees, and the oppressive, heavy silence remains. it's just you and your thoughts.
harley. what's another betrayal, right? whats another abandonment? just for a minute, the three of you were a family. a fucked up, awful family, but a family nonetheless. your collar feels tight. she probably won't attack you, she's just a kid, she was your family. but isn't that what your family does, harley? don't they just - stab each other in the back?
for shouxue, manyue shivers as she burrows closer to you, desperately trying to stay warm and keep you warm, too. your eyes are still stinging, but at least you can see. you think.
a shadow flickers in the corner of your vision. it swirls, briefly - a void - and then it disappears again, skittering away. like it might take you over, because are you even you?
the world is so full of despair. do you want to live or not, shouxue? do you want to keep walking forward? ]
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perhaps foolishly, she stays one step ahead of shouxue while rubbing a hand against her neck, keenly aware of the sensation of the collar against her skin. almost impossibly, it feels even more oppressive now than when she first started wearing it years (a whole spanking couple of hours?) ago in a life that didn't quite belong to her — but at least that version of her wasn't saddled with the worst family on earth. just thinking about it sours her mood even further. the skin surrounding the long since healed gunshot wound on her stomach, puckered and scarred over by how many years it's been since then, feels painfully tight.
trucking forward, she's too lost in her thoughts to notice if shouxue starts to lag behind.]
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The shadow makes her stop in her tracks for a moment, but seeing harley walking ahead spurs her on.
The image of her mother dying, illusion or not, leaves her empty. Head empty, heart empty, and she can hardly remember anything else. Not the family she did or didn't have, not the care she's been given to fill the hole that's been left by her mother's death.
It's the feel of feathers against her cheek that slowly brings her back, reminds her of the warmth of people who didn't want to leave alone, of the things she still has to do whether she wants to live or not.
She keeps walking forward. ]
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cw: eye gore
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