her leg crumples beneath her and she loudly curses—]
—God-fucking-dammit, Shouxue!
[then she uses one of her spells, trying to smack her back with a gust of wind, picking up mud and monster muck and all that nasty shit in the process as harley forces herself back on her feet. she promptly rushes at her, dagger drawn, slashing if she manages to get close enough.]
[ the wind hits her (almost like deja vu), and she's pushed back by all that muck and slime and grime. she grimaces as it sticks to her skin and slows her down.
she can't keep the most stable stance on the ground, but she steps back as much as she can. she fires off another arrow right as harley rushes at her, and the wind picks it up and redirects it enough to launch at harley's eye (because i rolled an 18).
it's not where she was aiming, but it'll do. she grits her teeth for what may come next. ]
[HARLEY IS REALLY OUT HERE JUST GETTING FUCKED UP which, honestly... is fair. her heart isn't fully in the fight. not really. there's no thrill of the battle here. only a bone deep weariness and a sense of resignation. like ripping off a bandaid, except the bandaid is a teenage girl.
the gust of wind redirects the path of shouxue's arrow. with harley leaping at the other girl, there's go good way for her to move out of the way while she's mid air.
the arrow finds its unintended target, lodging itself in harley's right eye. she screams.
but this does not stop her from kicking out with her legs as she lands, trying to knock shouxue to the ground and potentially stomping down on her. with the sudden blinding pain from the loss of her eye, she can't exactly control her strength or the force of her landing — and shouxue might find herself with some broken bones if she doesn't move out of the way fast.]
[ she can't and won't call for manyue because of how mucked up she was earlier. no, she doesn't want to fight harley with her raven. it doesn't feel right.
they're both exhausted and want this over with, but there is only way for that to happen, isn't there?
she goes down, and pain shoots up her foot, as harley lands a stomp on her foot. the bone cracks, her vision blurs even more because of the break. she bites through her lip to keep from yelling and in between labored breaths, she hisses: ]
Finish it, Harley.
[ she grabs an arrow and stabs it wherever she can make it land. ]
[there's blood drip, drip, dripping down on shouxue from where harley stands over her, hunched over and digging the heel of her foot into the broken leg. her own vision is... not great. blurry. a little bit of blood and muck getting into her remaining eye. she has a white knuckled grip on her dagger.
and then shouxue takes an arrow and stabs it into harley's knee.
she goes down, crumpling over shouxue — but no matter. she'll crawl through the mud if she has to. she will. she will. she'll drag herself up. she grabs shouxue by the the collar and presses the dagger to her throat, perhaps even enough to draw blood. one swipe, and this can be over. one swipe, and... and...]
... No.
[she stabs the dagger down, to the side. maybe pinning shouxue's hand down with it, if ara would like a little extra treat.]
[ can you imagine if i let you get slorped by slime.
harley, you feel it first. you feel this warm sensation in your chest - it's unfamiliar, but it's not bad, and shouxue, yours comes too. above your heads, in the darkness... light breaks through the clouds. it's dappling and thin, but it's there.
... that's right, isn't it?
shouxue, harley. why would you want to kill each other? this is some kind of illusion. it's some kind of falsehood, something twisted and warped by the darkness that you found yourselves in. harley, with your refusal, whatever it was that trapped you in this place breaks.
you find yourselves enveloped in something - feathers. manyue curls up against shouxue's neck, burrowing in close, and the soft, downy feeling of being held, protected, and safe has you both closing your eyes...
--
... and when you wake again, you find yourselves in a temple. it's dark, pitch dark, but you immediately feel like you're safe, at least for now. i won't spare you too many details here, but the air is thick and warm and humid, and you can hear nightbirds and the ocean in the distance. it's silent and dark, but no longer oppressive.
but more importantly, you can see a short set of stairs just up ahead, lit only by the glow of your lanterns, and something very, very important that lies beyond them.
you know you need to move. perhaps you want to apologize to each other, now that the fog of horror and paranoia has lifted.
[ she's alive. why? what is this? why did it have to go like this?
she should apologize. it would be the right thing to do, the better thing to do, but she is too injured and exhausted, physically and existentially. blood drips from the wound in the hand, and she hobbles on a broken foot. they have to move, don't they?
she doesn't need an apology either. ]
... Let's go.
[ she checks to see if manyue is with her before she limps her way up, trying not to hiss every time she takes a step. ]
[she wishes she could say all's well that ends well, but... it's not over yet, is it?
wiping the blood from her face with the back of her hand, the only thing keeping her from collapsing again is her sheer bullheaded stubbornness. the arrow is still sticking out of her face. there are two more embedded in her leg as well. blood trails down her face and leg in rivulets. but even like this, she still holds out an arm to shouxue.]
... Come on, kid. We have two legs between the two of us.
[ yeah no guess what you don't get to die yet! no rest for you guys. this is true octopath actually, where the mobile game tells you to go fuck yourself when you're crawling through a dungeon dying.
at any rate. the girls hobble their way upstairs, slowly but surely. at the top of the stairs is an octagonal dais, and nestled in that is a large metal torch structure. it's not so tall that you couldn't see over the top of it, but it is big, and you get the sense that it's important. it even feels a little familiar.
the warmth in your chest flares. there's kindling at the bottom of the torch, but the light has been snuffed out.
you have your lanterns, and you have each other. you both feel very, very warm. ]
[ the girls toss their lanterns in to light the kindling.
it feels like there should be more fanfare - but there's not, not really. the fire in the lantern that you kept alive all this time touches the kindling, and something sparks. it takes a few tries. once. twice, three times.
but on the third, the flame catches, and it begins to light - blazing a pure, bright blue and beautiful. shouxue, for a moment your form flickers like it too, in harley's eyes, but you don't really notice it; instead, the flame takes your attention entirely.
this, you realize with a start, is the sacred flame. it's one of four parts of it, sent off to the different corners of the continents to protect the people who live in solistia. it's the basis of the faith of the order of the sacred flame, but it is the protection of the entire continent. it is its hearth, its home. it is the dawn.
("And the people of Solistia may live in its light, warmth, and protection, evermore." says a soft, familiar male voice.)
the sacred flame relights. and with it, the two of you are swept up in its warmth, protected like being lifted on the wings of an angel. you close your eyes into the blue, blue moment, and you let the sacred flame guide you...
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
her leg crumples beneath her and she loudly curses—]
—God-fucking-dammit, Shouxue!
[then she uses one of her spells, trying to smack her back with a gust of wind, picking up mud and monster muck and all that nasty shit in the process as harley forces herself back on her feet. she promptly rushes at her, dagger drawn, slashing if she manages to get close enough.]
no subject
she can't keep the most stable stance on the ground, but she steps back as much as she can. she fires off another arrow right as harley rushes at her, and the wind picks it up and redirects it enough to launch at harley's eye (because i rolled an 18).
it's not where she was aiming, but it'll do. she grits her teeth for what may come next. ]
cw: eye gore
the gust of wind redirects the path of shouxue's arrow. with harley leaping at the other girl, there's go good way for her to move out of the way while she's mid air.
the arrow finds its unintended target, lodging itself in harley's right eye. she screams.
but this does not stop her from kicking out with her legs as she lands, trying to knock shouxue to the ground and potentially stomping down on her. with the sudden blinding pain from the loss of her eye, she can't exactly control her strength or the force of her landing — and shouxue might find herself with some broken bones if she doesn't move out of the way fast.]
no subject
they're both exhausted and want this over with, but there is only way for that to happen, isn't there?
she goes down, and pain shoots up her foot, as harley lands a stomp on her foot. the bone cracks, her vision blurs even more because of the break. she bites through her lip to keep from yelling and in between labored breaths, she hisses: ]
Finish it, Harley.
[ she grabs an arrow and stabs it wherever she can make it land. ]
no subject
and then shouxue takes an arrow and stabs it into harley's knee.
she goes down, crumpling over shouxue — but no matter. she'll crawl through the mud if she has to. she will. she will. she'll drag herself up. she grabs shouxue by the the collar and presses the dagger to her throat, perhaps even enough to draw blood. one swipe, and this can be over. one swipe, and... and...]
... No.
[she stabs the dagger down, to the side. maybe pinning shouxue's hand down with it, if ara would like a little extra treat.]
Fuck off, kid. I'm done.
no subject
the dagger goes through her hand, and she cries out again in pain, falls over, and lays there.
maybe if she lets the slime and sludge take her, she can rest that way. she's done, too. ]
no subject
she just. takes in a deep breath, heaving.
and rolls over to lay on the ground, too.]
no subject
harley, you feel it first. you feel this warm sensation in your chest - it's unfamiliar, but it's not bad, and shouxue, yours comes too. above your heads, in the darkness... light breaks through the clouds. it's dappling and thin, but it's there.
... that's right, isn't it?
shouxue, harley. why would you want to kill each other? this is some kind of illusion. it's some kind of falsehood, something twisted and warped by the darkness that you found yourselves in. harley, with your refusal, whatever it was that trapped you in this place breaks.
you find yourselves enveloped in something - feathers. manyue curls up against shouxue's neck, burrowing in close, and the soft, downy feeling of being held, protected, and safe has you both closing your eyes...
--
... and when you wake again, you find yourselves in a temple. it's dark, pitch dark, but you immediately feel like you're safe, at least for now. i won't spare you too many details here, but the air is thick and warm and humid, and you can hear nightbirds and the ocean in the distance. it's silent and dark, but no longer oppressive.
but more importantly, you can see a short set of stairs just up ahead, lit only by the glow of your lanterns, and something very, very important that lies beyond them.
you know you need to move. perhaps you want to apologize to each other, now that the fog of horror and paranoia has lifted.
you're both alive. ]
no subject
she should apologize. it would be the right thing to do, the better thing to do, but she is too injured and exhausted, physically and existentially. blood drips from the wound in the hand, and she hobbles on a broken foot. they have to move, don't they?
she doesn't need an apology either. ]
... Let's go.
[ she checks to see if manyue is with her before she limps her way up, trying not to hiss every time she takes a step. ]
no subject
wiping the blood from her face with the back of her hand, the only thing keeping her from collapsing again is her sheer bullheaded stubbornness. the arrow is still sticking out of her face. there are two more embedded in her leg as well. blood trails down her face and leg in rivulets. but even like this, she still holds out an arm to shouxue.]
... Come on, kid. We have two legs between the two of us.
[might as well limp up those stairs together.]
no subject
at any rate. the girls hobble their way upstairs, slowly but surely. at the top of the stairs is an octagonal dais, and nestled in that is a large metal torch structure. it's not so tall that you couldn't see over the top of it, but it is big, and you get the sense that it's important. it even feels a little familiar.
the warmth in your chest flares. there's kindling at the bottom of the torch, but the light has been snuffed out.
you have your lanterns, and you have each other. you both feel very, very warm. ]
no subject
she stares at the torch structure. it shouldn't feel familiar, but it does. ]
Should we toss our lanterns in there?
[ she doesn't think she has any other way to light it up than using the flame in their lanterns. ]
no subject
Might as well. There's nothin' else here...
[carefully, she will scoot down to the kindling to light the torch with her lantern. she'll help shouxue keep her balance, too.]
no subject
it feels like there should be more fanfare - but there's not, not really. the fire in the lantern that you kept alive all this time touches the kindling, and something sparks. it takes a few tries. once. twice, three times.
but on the third, the flame catches, and it begins to light - blazing a pure, bright blue and beautiful. shouxue, for a moment your form flickers like it too, in harley's eyes, but you don't really notice it; instead, the flame takes your attention entirely.
this, you realize with a start, is the sacred flame. it's one of four parts of it, sent off to the different corners of the continents to protect the people who live in solistia. it's the basis of the faith of the order of the sacred flame, but it is the protection of the entire continent. it is its hearth, its home. it is the dawn.
("And the people of Solistia may live in its light, warmth, and protection, evermore." says a soft, familiar male voice.)
the sacred flame relights. and with it, the two of you are swept up in its warmth, protected like being lifted on the wings of an angel. you close your eyes into the blue, blue moment, and you let the sacred flame guide you...
... back to the cavern of the sun and moon. ]