Well, I'm going to kill her. But I'm not going to abandon my friends.
<Asha, if you have a chance, can you heal my soul again?> "I think we're close. I'm going to split up like I did the last time. Something weird is going on, though, so let me know if I'm doing something bad, okay?"
Cast Effigy. Have my body with the soul gem stick with my friends. Have the other one, carrying its baseball bat, and hopefully with additional wounds, charge into the fight.
Almost as soon as you think of what to do,
you're watching yourself run forward as you stumble backward, the chariot growing with frightening speed. There's a flash of light from behind lancing, launching towards the front of the vehicle, then another flash lancing from behind and in front, then as you feel an arm wrap around your midsection there's a third, all of the lights collapsing into each other as they impact the chariot, the lights swallowed by a mouth that screams bright red. The person grabbing you pulls back, and you stumble forward, wings unfolding from the chariot and scattering a spray of thundering rain, your hair finally being forced back wholly as the living vehicle grows ever larger into a leviathan in front of you. It lifts away from the ground as you fall and jump after it, and then Mina's looking down at you from the bottom of the chariot.
[Joy]
You extend your arm out at the apex of your jump, feeling it impact the soft underbelly of the chariot monster, and then you fall and your hand finds purchase on metal, and you squeeze, holding on as tight as you can as you're whisked into the air. The metal flexes and cracks under your grip, turning red-hot and burning your hand, though you fight the pain down and start trying to pull yourself the rest of the way up. Mina's face returns, now bearded and surrounded by diamonds, and she reaches down to you with a grotesquely long arm, smiling serenely. Her strong hand takes your club, and pulls you up into the mouth of the chariot, dropping you on the fuzzy floor, soft and comforting, and you roll over, feeling her resist your motion even though you turn over and see many unfamiliar people crammed together, each of them lashed against the wall, all smiling fake smiles. You steady yourself on all fours, then look around, down at the inside of the mansion where a horde of musicians waits to catch you, around at the confused butlers and abandoned masks. Mina's pulling you back, but it's playing hell with your sense of balance, and every motion makes the gaping hole in the chariot seem closer. You pull away from her and hug the ground, trying to stand and figure out where you are.
[Purity]
You close your second set of eyes, and focus on the world below, staying still as you try and balance. Slowly,
agonizingly slowly, everyone comes into focus, and they become more solid, more real. Mina and Asha are next to you, Tooru just ahead, watching the clay butlers. They're sprinting forward, towards you, people milling around behind them, a lake behind those people, and ash
everywhere around. Things keep twisting and mixing together, warping in shape before snapping back to reality when you catch them, it's all so confusing... but you can see the clay people coming, and you can feel your feet under you.
You can fight.Tooru glanced nervously at Alida, then back to the others. <Alida? Don't go in there, it's dangerous! That cake messed with your mind!> She hoped the girl could hear(?) her thinking; Tooru could barely make her own thoughts out over the racket. She glanced down at her gem; that was also really worrying. It wasn't even really glowing, any more, in fact it almost did the opposite. She didn't want to think about what it would mean if it got much darker. <Asha, I need you to use that thing on me, to give me more magic.>
Ask Asha for Flagellation, then use a roughly rifle-strength manabolt (saving my talismans for now) to shoot through where the engine should be on the taxi.
[Joy]
You turn back towards Asha, telepathically asking her if she can help you out, but she turns you down, and steps away, clutching at her head in pain. You turn back towards the paper-mache taxi, watching people board it, the clay monsters standing guard, knowing you need to do something. Alida rushes forward, nobody stopping her, and you act immediately. You concentrate magic in your hand as you've done so many times before, then you take a step forward as you throw the gathered magic, aiming for the taxi's engine block. Your shot flies true, coming within inches of the closer clay man's body, before slamming into the taxi and blasting a large hole clean through to the other side!
But it doesn't react as you expected. Instead of being grounded, the vehicle
screams, a high pitch piercing tone which hurts your ears even over the constant cacophony of the music. Six massive white wings unfurl from its roof, and they flap powerfully, dragging the vehicle into the air. The three clay people all bend backward at their waists, tracking the vehicle, while the last few humans that hadn't yet boarded mill about near the edge of the pier, clearly confused. As you watch, Alida leaps into the air, just barely managing to catch the bottom edge of the opened doorway with one hand. For a moment she swings there perilously, looking like she's about to fall, and then a large arm reaches out of the doorway, grabs her club, and hauls her inside. You let out a sigh of relief.
You watch the taxi rise into the air for a couple more moments, and then movement catches your eye below. You look down again to see the three clay familiars sprinting directly at you!Asha barely managed to hear Aleksandra complaining about the music, and she noticed the unaffected Alida walking slowly in a fair distance in front of the group. She wanted to reach to her through telepathy, but the noise was making it really hard to focus. And then Alida's voice echoed clear and audible in Asha's head, which she used to focus her mind.
<Ah- Healing your soul? Yes of course, but wait, Alida! It's not going to be as light as the last time, where are you going? We should real...st...k...gether->
Aaah that noise! I can barely focus!
She then heard Tooru's voice in her mind, severing her focus on Alida.
<Tooru? Yes, I can use my powers on you, but we really need to do that in a safe place. I think it could hurt so bad you won't be able to maintain consciousness.>
Asha realized she didn't check on Tooru's soul. If only she had done it earlier! <Please let me check your soul once we get the occasion! And please try to stop Alida!>
There are too many uncertainties in the situation, Asha feels an immediate Flagellation would be too risky for the group. She first tried to get used to the deafening music, and if it seemed Alida could not be stopped, she tried to get to her. Can't let her go alone!
You take a step back, holding your hands over your ears and grimacing in pain. It's just
too loud, to the point that it's almost difficult to hear the others'
telepathic statements! You try and focus as best you can, keeping your hands over your ears as you look up. Alida's already caught, Mina's got her arm around the blonde's waist... but there's a second Alida, rushing towards the taxi. You're confused by there being two of her, and are just about to follow when Tooru throws a manabolt at the taxi, blasting a large hole in the front end of it. The taxi seems to
writhe, and it lets out a screeching cry, loud enough to be audible even over the constant din of the music, causing you to wince and take another step back. Then the giant white wings on the back of the taxi unfurl, and it flaps, dragging itself into the air. Alida jumps after it, barely managing to catch it in time, and when someone reaches their arm out of the open doorway, and hauls her up into the vehicle, you start to panic.
You can't do anything for her.You frantically look around, trying to figure out what to do, and your gaze falls on the trio of clay people that had been standing around the taxi. They're all bent backward at their waists in a spine-breaking position, their faces following its rapid ascent. Then, as one, they straighten out and turn back to face you. Or... no, they're facing Tooru, just a couple steps in front of you. You have a half second to consider this, before they all simultaneously break into a sprint, rushing straight towards her. Your grip involuntarily tightens around the rusty metal shiv you grabbed for Alida, a sharp edge in it cutting into your palm and reminding you of its existence.
Permission? Sounds like permission. ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.
<Alida, I can not hear you when you speak out loud, the music is too loud. Say again?>
Ascertain Alida's current state! Does she seem dangerous? Try not to get too close, in case she's being possessed by something, hehe.
There's a lot of potential threats out here... If those minions suddenly attack and Alida is out of it, the best option would be to grab her and drag her back into the mansion. If Alida is lucid, it still might be necessary to retreat, but at least we'll have both hands free to keep those beasties at bay.
You take a cautious step away from Alida as you inspect her, inside and out. Her heart is beating fast and she's shaking a little, but she's not the only one. The others all seem scared, too. You step back closer to Asha, as a second copy of her body
steps out of her while holding her bat, a perfect imitation in every detail aside from lacking her soul gem. The second Alida rushes forward, and you see the nearest clay man take a step towards her. An instant later, Tooru throws a manabolt forward, missing the clay man by
inches, and you grab Alida with one arm, dragging her back so she's out of the way of the fight. You try and drag her back, but she fights you, and she's
much stronger.
[Bravery] vs
[Bravery]You fight against her for a couple seconds, and end up only managing to send the both of you tumbling to the ash. You end up over Alida, her face staring up at you with confusion and irritation, her eyes constantly flicking around between things that don't exist. You keep fighting with her, up until she has a particularly violent fit, and accidentally swats Aleksandra in the face, knocking the young girl back through the door to the flooded mansion. With that, you decide to try a different tactic, grabbing her swatting hand and pulling her with you as you get to your feet. She does as well, though unsteady, and clearly having trouble balancing. You tug her back towards the door, but she pulls away and stands on her own.
Only then do you look past her and notice that the taxi is gone, the three clay people who had been standing near it charging towards you. Your halberd suddenly feels very heavy.Falling to her knees, Aleksandra screams at the top of her lungs, as loudly as possible.
"Witch, your music choice is horrible! Either play something better, or make it stop! I HATE ROCK!"
You screw your eyes shut, and scream as loud as you can at the witch, insulting her taste in music, and by way of association, insulting the Beatles. It feels futile; no matter how loud you scream, it feels like you're at best only
slightly louder than the music, and nobody seems to hear you, witch or otherwise. Still, you continue to insult the music, trying ever-more-creative curses to throw at the damnable sound. You continue until someone slaps you in the face out of the blue, sending you tumbling backwards, through the doorway into the flooded mansion cave that you left seconds ago, and suddenly,
blessedly, the music is silenced. Then an instant later you hit the carpet, and drench your head and back.
You lay back in the cool water for a moment, relaxing and enjoying the silence despite being wet, before you realize that you're not holding your grandfather's rifle anymore! You scramble to your feet, then spot it lying in the ash just outside the door where you fell to your knees. You reach out and grab it, being careful to not let your head go past the door's threshold, and then sigh in relief as you pull it back in to you. You brush off some ash, making sure that the weapon is okay despite its fall, and smile once you're sure that it's fine.
Then you notice the three clay monsters charging at you and the other girls, the taxi nowhere to be seen.
((Next update on Sunday the 18th, or early Monday. Current labyrinth track is The Beatles - A Day in the Life (Instrumental).))Soul Gem: shiny!
Form and location: shapy and pinned...?
Age: enough
Hair Color: baby blondie
Health: reaaallyy awesooommmeee
Inventory: a stik on a chariot, some AWESOME SHOES on the ground, where shoes go, silly!
Totem: clubbing club for clubbing fishies
Stats:
Bravery: wow~
Joy: yeah!
Innocence: kay...
Purity: kay...
Mercy: yeah!
Creativity: awww ;-;
Love: awww ;-;
Abilities:
hopping Lvl2
hitting Lvl3+1
clubbing Lvl2
AHAHAHAHAHA! Lvl3 ON; OW! (easy now)
(❂‿❂) Lvl2
mememememe Lvl1 (MEME!)
Soul Gem: Glowing with a Vibrant light.
Form and location: Ring, worn on her left ring finger.
Age: 13
Hair color: Ashen
Health: Fine, if very wet! And covered in asha!
Inventory: One ribbon. And a long rusty metal shiv, salvaged from a broken chandelier.
Totem: A Ribbon. The one her late sister wore.
Stats:
Bravery: Skilled!
Joy: Cursed ;-;
Innocence: Cursed ;-;
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Talented~
Creativity: Amateur...
Love: Skilled!
Abilities:
Mobility: Level 3
Close Combat: Level 2
Totem Manipulation: Level 1 (+1)
Heal and Steel: Level 2 (Active: Next attack rolls on Mercy)
Soothe: Level 3
Flagellation: Level 3
Memento: Level 1 (Given to Aleksandra)
Soul Gem: Glowing with a warm light.
Form and location: Ring, worn on her right index finger.
Age: 14.
Hair Color: Bright green.
Health: Dazed, a bit bruised from her fall, and covered in ash.
Inventory: A halberd! Which I can't stop visualizing as a Black Knight Glaive!
Totem: A halberd.
Stats:
Bravery: Amateur...
Joy: Skilled!
Innocence: Amateur...
Purity: Skilled!
Mercy: Cursed ;-;
Creativity: Talented~
Love: Cursed ;-;
Abilities:
Mobility: Level 2
Close-Combat: Level 2 (+1)
Regeneration: Level 2
Sixth Sense: Level 3
Semblance: Level 2
Projection: Level 2
Soul Gem: Glowing with a shadowed light.
Form and location: Necklace, worn around her... neck...
Age: 13
Hair Color: Bright scarlet.
Health: Fine! Somehow dry aside from her feet, but very ashy.
Inventory: Seven paper talismans
Totem: Ofuda talismans, primarily thrown as manabolts.
Stats:
Bravery: Cursed ;-;
Joy: Talented~
Innocence: Skilled!
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Cursed ;-;
Creativity: Amateur...
Love: Skilled!
Abilities:
Mobility II
Mana Bolt III (+I)
Regeneration I
Totem Manipulation II
Invigorating Passion I
Outburst II
Duet with Reality II
Ward: Glowing with a foolish light!
Age: 12
Hair Color: Black.
Health: Fine, though her ears still hurt. Also, she's drenched.
Inventory: A cute blue ribbon tied into her hair, and an ancient partially-loaded AK-47 held in her hands. She's wearing Alida's coat, it's a bit big and baggy for her, not to mention somewhat ratty... but it's surprisingly comfortable.
Stats:
Bravery: Skilled!
Joy: Skilled!
Innocence: Talented~
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Cursed ;-;
Creativity: Cursed ;-;
Love: Amateur...