EVENT: ORIGIN'S ORIGINS

[fairwind]

Who: explorers!
When: Day 31, night
Where: The Jungle

[The sun has gone down when the heroes receive an unmarked message:

This Star has secrets you should know. If you want to find them, follow the light.

Should they look outside, they will in fact see a light -- a thin but bright pillar rising from the overgrown town out in the jungle.

It's still raining, still covered in frogs, but there's definitely something going on.

And in the direction of the beach, there's also a faint, bell-like ringing. But that's not what's calling you right now... is it?]

[PREMINGLE ★ NOTES ★ SESSIONS ★ AFTERMINGLE]

Comments

[bondkeeper]

[ "Sophie."

she snaps. it's like suddenly 80H isn't even there, suddenly the chains aren't even there, even though they subconsciously tighten under Sophie's grips when her hands shoot out to grab onto Ras's throat themselves, all while she just starts screaming, really only half-coherent. ]

You're meaningless to this world! You don't care if it all goes to shit! That's exactly what you've always wanted! The moment I let you out of my sight you'll just disappear off to Hades or Malice or whatever other convenient darkness you can use as an excuse to not care about anything again! How could I save you without Athena when all I'm good for is hurting people and ruining everything and even there I'm no match for your stupid fucking strength?! It was so hard! It was so hard to kill you and I couldn't even do it any better way, but I thought at least I'd accomplished something! But everything I do is meaningless to you! If you're just going to give up on it anyway then give it back! Give me your life back, you son of a bitch!

[rolebreaker]

[ he'd expected-- no, wanted an explosion. he'd laid the bait-- full of purpose and the breadcrumbs of familiarity he still had with her, that gave him the ability to cut with words, with intent. the perfect example of why you shouldn't lay yourself bare... in truth, he'd wanted her to snap. to kill him. of course. they both knew this.

but this was not the reaction he was expecting.

he can barely keep up. there's too many paths, too many leaps and missing gaps. too many things he never had the tools with which to understand in the first place. his head is spinning, though that may simply be the growing lack of oxygen. certainly... that is to blame for his only being able to latch onto the last part. that last demand. ]

..... you want my life?

[bondkeeper]

Yeah.

[ presses down on his windpipe with her thumbs like she's trying to crush it, voice gone soft but for the faint underpainting of mania ]

No one else gets to kill you. Shut up and die again, Rasmaki mou.

[rolebreaker]

[ Rasmaki mou.

he reaches up to grasp her wrists. not pulling her away. her face is swimming in his head. her face. her face. her -- ]

Is this what love is... to you?

[voreaciously]

[Breeze obsessively tunnel visions, blind to 80H.

Good. Then she will not see her coming.

She has since let go of the chain, gloves singing slightly with the force of the electricity, but intact. She can marvel at the durability of her clothes later.

For now, she slides behind her and snaps a hand, her fingers together, to the back of her head in a sharp blow.]

[bondkeeper]

[ the face she makes at that question

ultimately doesn't really matter since then she just crumples over unconscious. tunnel vision is bad, kids ]

[rolebreaker]

[ his arms move-- but it's too slow. she's already to the ground before he actually fully registers to catch her.



no. why is he trying to catch her?

he stands there for a moment, just. still and stiff and staring down at her prone body in a heavy daze.

before he steps back a couple of steps. and without even looking at 80h, turns to leave without a word. ]

[voreaciously]

[don't worry, she catches Sophie before she can tumble to the ground, it is the less do before heading towards Ras.

Without setting Breeze down, water begins to gather around his hands to heal them.]

[rolebreaker]

[ he stops immediately. practically wrenching his hands out of the manifesting water, ]

I said I don't need it.

[voreaciously]

[He may certainly try, but the spheres adhere to him like they are his skin. A iittle hard to shake, that.]

You, in fact, do. And I broke them to begin with. I am only righting what I wronged in the first place.

[rolebreaker]

[ ... big dislike. he tries to shake one of his hands out again. like a cat. a very discomforted cat. ]

I don't need your pity, and I don't feel like relieving your guilt.

[voreaciously]

[She closes the distance and moves her free hand.]

I do not feel guilt nor pity. [but especially not the latter.]

Do not mistake my intentions. It is as I have said: fighting in such a way will only invite Malice, and I will not abide that.

You may continue your tantrum after we are finished.

1/2

[rolebreaker]

I am not having a tantrum. [ he snaps. irately. in a tone that would suggest a tantrum. ]

2/2

[rolebreaker]

[ ... hah. ]

But she was right. If it's "inviting Malice" that you're so worried over, you should have let her kill me.

[voreaciously]

You would simply return, and I doubt that would please her and so she would have to do it again and again and again. No. Absolutely not. I do not know the entire scope of your relationship, but she is trying to be better. She cannot be if she succumbs to such obsessive madness.

We have enough to concern ourselves with as it stands.

[rolebreaker]

....... [ "she is trying to be better" ]


Then you should keep her away from me. If you really care that much, you'd remove me from the equation entirely.

[voreaciously]

...You truly did not listen to a word she'd said, did you?

[She sighs, and she wonders if this is what it's like to deal with her, a little. Amane will have to try and be better herself, but she cannot blame Ras for wanting to flee.

It would be her first instinct too, after all. She knows her own cowardice.

But she is nearly done fixing his hands, her own glowing and moving in the water at his sides.]

She is not shy of speaking, so if she has gone so very far to tell you all of that, she must have said such things before only for them to fall on deaf ears then, too. I cannot condone such homicidal behaviours and the driving forces are concerning, to say the least, but it is no wonder she is so frustrated.

[rolebreaker]

[ ... he. what. ]

I was listening. She said that she wanted my life. [ she literally told him to die? what are you going on about.

honestly he should leave it at that. every ounce of himself is exhausted, physically. mentally. but something inside of him pushes him to keep speaking, like an illness. ]

You said that she is trying to do better. If you truly care about her-- if you want to see her succeed, then removing me from the equation is the only way. [ he's certain. after all... after all, they, ]

My existence is a poison to her.

[voreaciously]

[fine, we're just going to have to do this the long, hard way.]

And why does she want your life?

[80H hears the rest, but it is irrelevant, or rather, it is actually part of the problem, here.]

She very literally told you.

[rolebreaker]

[ ...

is he being talked to like he's a child?

he doesn't even fucking remember literally anything else sophie said to him but now he's just Irritated. ]

Because it is her duty. She cannot suffer a specter, and a traitor, to live. She hates me, for good reason. [ he should leave it at that. too bad he's Mad now. ] You don't understand anything, so either do as I say and keep her away from me or butt out.

[voreaciously]

[her eyes are blindfolded, the rest of her face schooled into neutrality, and yet she might be exuding judgement or disappointment, or nothing at all, it is difficult to tell.

Breeze feels...heavier all of a sudden, even if 80H does not need to adjust her grip in the slightest. Perhaps it is with the frustrations and anger. No, frustration, singular. It seems like the other woman has been angry at the same thing for quite some time, over and over.

With multiple people.

She doesn't want to care.]

I actually, unfortunately, stupidly understand better than you think.

[let him chew on that, or maybe he won't try. she is betting on the latter and that is half his problem.]

I have no doubt that that hate is genuine, but that is because she is not the only one who should be trying to be better, but you do not even appear to realise your own failings, at least how she sees them.

[it isn't like her to get involved in what amounts to a stranger's business without permission or invitation. she doesn't care, doesn't want to care, it's easy to disregard.

But.

But.]

But I will not remove myself from this situation, and I will not do as you say, because she is my teammate. I will not abandon her to her hatred, nor will I allow her to suffer it alone.

[rolebreaker]

[ if he senses any of the disappointment he frankly doesn't care. how she thinks about him-- what she thinks he understands and doesn't understand, and more saliently what she thinks he doesn't know about himself-- all of that is complete meaningless, aggravating noise to him now.

if she won't remove herself, then he will remove himself. ]

Then stay with her. [ he responds, final and curt. in the end it still serves his purpose. he's walking away from this conversation. ]

[voreaciously]

[she will watch him go, but will not try to stop him. she needs to attend Breeze.

...how did it turn out like this.]