thenearshore | [closed]

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Who: Ayumu, Goku, Hakkai, Chikusa, Ken, Ginia, Gojyo, Shun, Lavi, Nia, + brief appearances by Chinatsu and Caster.
When December 8th and 9th
Where: Goku's temple and various locations in the Far Shore's western district.
What: What starts out as an ablution to purify a blighted shinki turns into utter disaster in the western district.
Warnings: Character death, body horror, graphic violence, potential references to torture, sexual violence, and suicidal ideation in the ablution thread. Will add further warnings if necessary!

[The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Even in Heaven.

In the wee hours of morning before dawn, a loud, inhuman, cacophonic shriek shatters the silence in the western district. Afterward, a large, black mass hastily passes through the region. It skitters and softly thumps across rooftops in both pursuit of prey to sate its ceaseless hunger and flight from those intent on its destruction.

As it travels through the dark, the upper silhouette of a woman astride a giant spider can be glimpsed, ghosting and leaping across distances many more lengths than its size with stunning agility. For those that can steal a glimpse of the woman's face, they'll discover that the features are those of Ayumu Yamazaki - if hideously deformed by the addition of three extra pairs of beady, black eyes sprouting up over its forehead and beyond.

Those tracking its trajectory will realize that the ayakashi is bound for the northwestern edge of the district as if seeking desperate escape from every vestige of Amaterasu's realm and influence.

A telltale sign of the ayakashi's passing are faint wisps of spidersilk hanging from high places or bits littered across the ground. However, these secretions are dangerous to the touch, blighting anyone who comes into direct contact with them. A very faint, tar-like odor lingers in the air where it's been.

Maybe it'd be wise to keep under cover or at the very least, steer clear of its path until the danger's passed.]

[OOC: Ayumu's ayakashi form looks similar to this minus the skulls, with furrier black legs, and the aforementioned resemblance and eye deformities. Players are free to reference or comment on any of the description above in their own threads or posts if they like!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Smells good.

[The voice is distorted but still recognizable as Ayumu's. It's the only warning the creature gives before lunging toward the walls of its prison, blades swinging with wild ferocity as it seeks a weakness to exploit.

It finds one directly in front of Ginia.

The ayakashi shatters the borderline like it's nothing more than glass, violently stabbing the woman through the left shoulder to pin her meal in place while spidersilk goo shoots out of her abdomen to bind her arms to her sides. Ayumu's maw opens unnaturally wide, stretching to the point it could devour a head with ease.]

[The borderline might as well have not even been there. Ginia feels the hard snap as the barrier breaks, sees the ayakashi rush at her and her hands move, heavy as they are, but the attempt to set up a line never completes.

Oh.

The ayakashi's blades slice through fabric and skin and muscle, serrations tearing and shredding its way through and plunging out the back. It's a strange thing having a body designed to withstand pain at all costs. Ginia feels the initial flash of pain, excruciating and searing before her nanites kick in and deaden her entire body into numbness.

Or maybe it's shock settling in.

Or maybe it's exhaustion.

Ginia doesn't fight as she's impaled and pinned, body limp and head hanging, an easy snack for the taking.

Elsewhere, if Caster is sleeping, he's not any longer. He's felt Ginia afraid before; only a week ago when an ayakashi threatened to drag her under. This is undiluted terror, hot and burning, twisting deep into his neck.]

[It's not Hakkai who gets caught. It's not Ken.]

[It's Ginia.]

[The shattering of her borderline almost seems to reverberate to where hers and his connects, breaking the ablution formation, and that's it, that's it. Gritting his teeth, Chikusa drops his own line, eyes snapping from Hakkai and Goku to Ginia- just in time to see one too sharp limb dig straight through flesh and spill blood.]

[His body reacts on autopilot, tossing aside any other thoughts to the side. Protect, protect, protect. His own voice sounds like it's a thousand miles a way, like it's someone else entirely, as he calls out even as his body moves.]

Ken!

[It's an order in a single word, because they don't have time for anything else, because he trusts his partner, because he wants him to be safe. Chikusa leaves it to his partner. Himself?]

[He jerks his limbs in the direction of Hakkai, not having to think twice about it. On a plane distant from everything he is, his body is probably screaming in exhaustion from the length of the ablution... but senses like that were dulled in him a long time again. He forced it to move, one hand jerking up. His line has fallen, but that only leaves him free to send a line slicing right towards the limb pinning Ginia.]

[He's 'away', now. It doesn't matter what- or who- he's cutting through now.]

[Chikusa's borderline is quick but so is the ayakashi, especially when its opponent is fatigued. It doesn't have time to pull its arm free so instead, it whips the limb - with Ginia still attached - to block the line.]

Edited 2018-06-29 05:36 (UTC)

[Hakkai's breath hisses between his teeth as Ayumu's insectile leg swishes across, Ginia's body dangling from the impaling blow, to place her between itself and the line. Did Chikusa cast with enough care that it'll cut the ayakashi, and not her victim? He doesn't know. There's no time to worry.

There hadn't been time, either, to freeze, but he's moving now, energy gathering in his palm as he dashes towards her. Someone has to get Ginia away before that wound gets any worse. Someone has to stop Ayumu before she kills. He may be the only person here who isn't exhausted; his own transferred blight is bad enough that he can barely use his hands, but he hasn't been holding a borderline for hours, and Goku's blight is far worse.]

Ayumu! [Will she still respond to her name? How much of her mind is left?]

Over here, Ayumu!

[He's unarmed, and calling Chikusa or Ken won't change that. Both of them have animal forms. No; he can distract her, and sting her with his chi, and that might be enough to offer a chance to save Ginia.]

[Ayumu's mind had died the moment the transformation had completed; all that remained was the starving monstrosity within her mutated form. The gathering energy catches its attention though, clear as the moon in a starless night. Sensing a new potential threat, the ayakashi flings Ginia's limp body onto the ground with a loud shriek and begins to advance quickly upon Hakkai.]

[Hakkai sets his feet, bracing his wrist with his free hand, inhales, and--

-- finds himself frozen again as he meets her eyes. He should strike at her; he knows that, knows that with her transformation gone so far there's no way to get her back.

And yet, her face is the same. Ginia's blood is still spattering from her upraised claws, but Hakkai can't bring himself to release the chi attack blazing in his right palm, not as he looks up into the pair of eyes that have remained the same, amongst the handful of ayakashi eyes swelling like abscesses above and below them.]

[It's Chikusa. It'd be, perhaps, boasting to say that he's the best borderline user out of the entirety of the newest generation of shinki and gods, that strange generation that doesn't belong... but, certainly, he's one of those who's practiced the most diligently, and without a doubt the shinki who has participated in the most ablutions so far. He knows what he aims for with his line, and what he doesn't. Ginia won't be hit by that, not with the full force of his line. At worst, she'll be jolted against the limb that already pierces through her... but it won't cause harm.]

[Unfortunately, it won't cause harm to the ayakashi, either, and just the effort puts Chikusa off balance for a moment, dazed and exhausted. He sways, body wanting to lay down, but- no, he can't. He can't, not while Ken is there, not while Hakkai is- Hakkai, who is running ahead, calling for ~~Ayumu~~ like and idiot, and Chikusa forcibly ejects himself from his own body without thinking about it. Exhaustion doesn't matter. Pain doesn't matter, has never mattered.]

[All that matters is forcing his body ahead, lunging forward to grab the back of Hakkai's shirt and yank him back, feet dug hard into the ground to steady himself. He's a thin person, but he's a person running on adrenaline and unable to feel his own limits. That lends a lot of strength, sometimes...]

[But, at the same time, it puts him right in the path of the charging ayakashi that's right upon him. Even as he tries to move his hand for a line, Chikusa already knows... he won't raise it in time.]

[That doesn't stop him from trying.]

[Ken's not even in the path of the ayakashi - of Ayumu - but his life flashes before his eyes, all the same. Not all of it; just the parts that he remembers. Specifically, the parts that matter.

Ayumu, laughing as they make cookies. Chikusa, throwing food at him across the table. Hakkai smiling as he picks out a movie for them to watch.

The pain of Ayumu being gone - of those memories being unbalanced, one-sided with her - is still so fresh that Ken's barely even begun to feel it yet; it's too much to process all at once. But he can feel the numbness of the loss, and now he's in danger of losing Hakkai and Chikusa, too.

Terror moves him faster than even his animal reflexes could, and he shoots a borderline directly between Ayumu and her intended targets. It's as strong as he can make it, undr the circumstances - so much of what's important to him is behind it, after all.

The problem is that, under the circumstances, even with all the strength he has left to muster, it's too weak. He hasn't had time to recover from the prolonged ablution, and there's only so far Ken can push himself.]

[It's not enough.

The borderline breaks before the ayakashi just as easily as Ginia's had. It happens so quickly; one moment Chikusa's standing, trying to cast his line, and the next, there's a deadly sharp leg tearing through the teenager's stomach, pinning him to the ground. Just as quickly, a serrated arm stabs through his chest. It opens its maw just as it had with Ginia, descending on Chikusa's beanie clad head. The creature's other arm, curves around Chikusa's shoulders as if pulling him into a grotesque embrace--]

[His vision swims, head hitting the ground hard, and his mind doesn't know what to do for a split second. Everything is dizzying, a blur, and, if he could forget Ken's frantic cries and Ginia's blood and Hakkai, frozen, tense, before him, he thinks he could almost see Ayumu above him. The real Ayumu, with her dark hair falling over her forehead, light around them like in the light of the kitchen...]

[It's an illusion that lasts only for a split second, his eyes blinking again to regain some sense of stability, and he catches the repulsive shine of eyes.]

[No. It's not Ayumu. It's an enemy, a thing, a creature to dispose of, because if he doesn't- he thinks of Ken's twisted and tormented expression, of the tenseness that had been so overwhelming in Hakkai's frame from where Chikusa could feel him from his fingers twisted into his shirt...]

[His body isn't his own, anymore. He's a stranger again, and there is only one purpose, there has only ever been one purpose, and he takes a breath as he stares up at the revolting thing above him- ]

[He chokes.]

[Half of it is surprise, and the surprise is because half of it is because blood is suddenly welling up through his throat. The rest of his body jerks against the ground again, a reaction to the leg that's broken through his chest coming more than a little belatedly. Chikusa wheezes out a cough, blood splattering out from his mouth onto blight-poisonous limbs and over his shirt. When he tries to breathe again, it's half blood that goes down with the air, and his chest doesn't feel right at all.]

[Then again, it shouldn't. Not with the spearpoint sharp limbs that have pierced through him- a distant part of his mind, more distant than most, notes the way one leg has pierced straight through his stomach. The other, his chest- where? Not his heart, he'd be dead already, a lung? A lung, his sternum, shattered into half a dozen little pieces that all spread apart and press up strangely into his skin and dig into the bits of flesh around them. Another exhale, another splatter of blood, and something is wrapping around his body, pulling him close, and when he looks up with eyes so dilated as to be holes, looks up into that void of a maw...]

[Without thinking about it, his mind disregards everything else. His body is a lost cause; he comes to terms with this immediately and simply. Yet there is still an enemy before him, and important people behind him. This is a truth more important than anything, that goes deeper than blood and bone. It's a truth that forces his body to move.]

[His legs can't move anymore, something in his spine strange and not in place correctly. Chikusa barely registers it. The only thing that matters is his hand, fingers able to curl again his palm, and he reacts on instinct.]

[Knowledge he's been hoarding for months now bubbles up past saliva and blood, pries his jaws open- ]

Line.

[His arm is heavy, clumsy, and doesn't move as well as he would like, but it's not the gesture which matters in a line. It's the will. It's the revulsion.]

[And Chikusa has more than enough, ablution be damned, to go right through the legs pinning him in place.]

[As if fortune is granting a tiny mercy in exchange for his life, the line cuts through the limbs neatly. The injuries are enough to force the ayakashi into retreat. Without rending to destroy it, the ayakashi will eventually heal. But for now, the broken limbs remain impaled in Chikusa's body, a terrible symbol of temporary victory.

The ayakashi hurriedly leaps off into the darkness to tend its wounds before it can hunt again.]

[Line, Chikusa says through the blood bubbling on his lips, and the legs are severed. He's sprawled on the ground; one leg is pinned through his stomach, one through his chest, and as Hakkai jolts into movement, falls to his knees beside him, it's brutally clear that the wounds are not survivable. His chest is a ruin, caved in around the impaling limb, and the puddle of blood around his body is widening rapidly. It soaks into Hakkai's slacks, hot against his skin with the warmth it's carrying away from Chikusa's body.

His hands glow with chi as he reaches, but--

-- he already knows it's too late, even as he focuses his energy on the wounds. There's no way he can close them both before Chikusa is long dead, no way he can stop the bleeding in time. His breath is catching in his throat. There's only one thing he can think to do; he's done it before to snatch his shinki from danger. But Chikusa is an animal in his other form, and those wounds would be even more devastating on the fragile body of a bird.

But he's dying.

Hakkai's tone is eerily cool and even, as his hand presses at the edge of Chikusa's chest wound, as though to stop bleeding far too profound for pressure to make a difference.]

Come, Chiki.

Edited 2018-07-05 02:00 (UTC)

[When Ken's borderline snaps, the ache and fatigue of it drops him to one knee. But he still gets a view - a good view, a perfect view - of Ayumu, bearing down on Chikusa. On her limbs driving through him. And if Chikusa doesn't feel the pain of that, it's fine; Ken feels it for him.

It's like being catapulted forcibly back in time. It was a shotgun last time that caved Chikusa's chest in last time, not a spider leg, but Ken had never cared what actually did the deed. To this day, he probably would need several seconds to answer the question of how it happened. All that matters is that the last time Chikusa was injured like this - less than this, because Ayumu's impaled him in two places - he'd died. And he's dying again, and Ken couldn't save him.

Ken forgets everything. That they're shinki, that Chikusa is technically already dead, that he'll (probably) come back even if he's lost his memories - it's all gone. Chikusa's dying, and Ken couldn't save him - can't save him - and nothing else could possibly matter.

Because, dumb as Ken is, and even at a distance, he knows exactly what a mortal wound looks like. And Chikusa's got two.

The way Ken screams isn't even close to being words. It sounds like something wild and wounded, clawing his throat raw on its way out. He launches himself over to Chikusa and Hakkai, and for all his loyalty to Hakkai he's barely aware the man is there, much less is paying attention to anything he's doing. His tear-blurred eyes are hardly seeing anything anyway, but there's only one thing they're looking at.]

Kakipi...! [The word is strangled, almost sobbed.] I'm sorry...don't leave me again!

[It hurts so much. Hakkai can try not to feel things all he wants for his own part, but Ken's grief and agony and guilt (and some blooming blight to go with it) are crashing in like a tsunami whether he likes it or not. Ken's reliving the worst (and, incidentally, the last) moments of his life, right in front of him.]

[It takes Goku a minute to come back to his senses. To unwind Ayumu's feelings from his own and to dismiss both their fears. To shake off the wave of relief and loss.

When he gets back to his feet and turns to look at what he's unleashed, it's just in time to see Chikusa hit the ground, a brief glimpse of a monster he can barely recognise running away behind him.]

Ayu...

[It's all their worst fears realised. Losing yourself to an outside power, driving you to be a monster, to hurt people who don't deserve it, who you cared about- ... And it's happened to Ayumu. Goku feels cold. He knows a lethal wound when he sees one, knows that whatever Hakkai's doing is in vain, but it's hard to process that. Then he hears Ken scream.

Right. Of course. Chikusa is dying.]

[Gone whispers a part of his mind deeper than coherent thought, and in a way that aren't entirely words, as he watches the mutilated and horrific body retreat. It's a relief in more ways than one because, without the ayakashi's limb holding him upwards, he hits the ground again.]

[This time, when the world swims, his vision doesn't clear up nearly so fast.]

[As his eyesight is a slow recovery, and one he doubts will last, he feels everything more than he sees it. With the threat gone, if not vanquished, his mind has a lot more time to take stock of the ruined state of his body. There's an impact by his side, a strange feeling as energy tries to knit flesh and veins together, but all it does is prolong an inevitable outcome. In the meantime, with his consciousness still mostly intact if fractured... He lay there, dazedly exploring the multitude of strange things he can feel, now. The last time he'd died, he'd barely registered what was happening. He'd been hit, he'd fallen, and there had been Ken, bloody and yelling and warm.]

[Chikusa is warm now, too. He can't feel his legs no matter how much he tries to so much as twitch his toes, and breathing makes his chest feel like a shattered ruin from the inside.... But his back is warm, clinging to him, and there is a hand against his chest and...]

[Someone is yelling something, and Chikusa already knows before his mind has had a chance to process it that it's Ken. It'd been the same the first time, too, hadn't it...? Just like then, he wants to reach out for him. Unlike now, however, with foreign energy buoying him just barely... He can do it. So he does, with hand soaked crimson from the blood which has been spreading out beneath him, fingers shaking violently even as he blindly reaches out to press them against Ken's throat.]

[He's in Japan. He's been speaking Japanese for over half a year, now. But he is Italian born, has spoken that for much longer, and so it's Italian that he speaks to the boy at his side who's been with him about as long.]

Ken. [One word, and the fragile breaths he's been taking- all of it has his chin slick with blood.] I'm... here. We're always...

[Too much blood in his throat washes away any other words he could say. And then, after a second...]

[Come, Chiki.]

[He doesn't get the chance to try again. As his eyes fall wearily shut, the rest of Chikusa's body falls apart into light from the name aching against his waist. It's the same procedure as usual, only now the scent of blood is heavy in the air: that strange transition from body to vessel. And yet... For a moment longer than it should, the light stops. There's no change from lanky human body to that of a long and delicate crane. Instead, the light seems to stay there, suspended i time for a second... before suddenly bursting outwards. It's not light, not anymore- only a mist pale enough to be mistaken as it, the shift so subtle as to almost be indistinguishable. It comes, and keeps coming, thicker than mist, thicker than a fog, enormous and all consuming... And with it, the overwhelming scent of rain although none falls, drawing along the heady scent of something almost reminiscent of the herb garden back at a certain temple.]

[It's going to be a very strange experience, for all of the people caught in the midst of it, to suddenly be right in the middle of a cloud, unable to see anything else.]

[....But there is something that Hakkai will feel, at the very least. That connection, solid, unsevered. Alive.]

[He feels it. The blood soaking his pants is still there, cooling, growing sticky. The mist around him is blindingly thick, and he finds himself lost, on his knees in the puddle of blood that no longer surrounds a body, blind in the fog--

-- still feeling the presence of four shinki. Ken's agony crushes the breath from him, too terribly familiar for Hakkai to find a way to separate now and then, Ken's feelings and his own, but Chikusa is there, too. The name remains. The conscious presence remains.

Is this how it feels when one of the new shinki dies, and returns?

Or is it something else entirely?

It feels like a long time before he can draw breath against the choking agony seizing his chest. Ken's, mostly. Hakkai's own shock and grief hardly register in the tumult, but despite

(because of)

the pain, his voice is still eerily calm when he speaks again. He could scream, but he doesn't have enough air for that. He could get up off his knees, up out of the blood. Theoretically. Instead, he simply speaks a name.]

Chikusa...?

[Ken doesn't know what's happening. The initial transition as Chikusa's name is called as familiar enough, although there's an absolute twist of agony (enjoy that, Hakkai) as Chikusa's body disappears - Ken's hands automatically reach out to him, in fact, trying to cling to him, because the terror and grief of losing Chikusa can only get infinitely worse when not even his body is there anymore. But, of course, there's nothing there to grab.

But then things get strange; Chikusa's body disappears, but the crane Ken knows doesn't appear. In fact, nothing really seems to appear at all. Instead, a light bursts forth that changes into a sort of obscuring fog, damp and fresh-smelling, and Ken looks over at Hakkai in bewilderment.]

Hakkai-sama...? [The words he want to ask are locked behind a lump in his throat. He wants to ask where's Kakipi?, but he's afraid that the answer will be "he's dead". Not that Ken doesn't know he was dying; Ken's seen the dead and dying before, and he has no illusions to cling to there. But that answer - on top of being devastating to actually hear, when it's still too fresh and too much, wouldn't really tell him what he wants to know. Where did Chikusa's body go? Where did the mist come from?]

[Chikusa vanishes in a flash of light, evaporating into thin air, and Goku's stomach leaps up into his throat. He takes a few steps forward and reaches out, hand hovering over Ken's shoulder. ]

Hakkai? [Hakkai looks calm, but Goku knows he can't really be. Not after that.] ... What's going on?

[Is this just what happens when shinki are killed? Where did the fog come from? Goku has no clue what's happening right now, which isn't unusual but is concerning when he knows he should be stepping up right now. He should be helping Ken and Hakkai. But he doesn't know what to do.]

[There's the faint stirrings of... some sort of emotion in the connection shared between god and shinki. It's very similar to that feeling of dissociation that Hakkai has felt before, but subtly different. Yet it's only when Ken speaks up that there's a voice to the feeling.]

Ah... [The fog around them seems to shift, and there's a strange sound against the grass as if the wind has hit it too hard.] Ken...? Hakkai...

[More strange sounds- as if water is hitting the ground and grass, a strange rustling sort of noise, and the fog twists around them, away from them, until the mist pulls away sharply...]

[Only to reveal that it's coalesced into one enormous mass that rests against the nearby gathering of trees. It's enormous, larger than some planes, and the mist seems to curl off of it in tiny doses. The shape of it is hard to make out for a moment, just some sort of large shape that shouldn't exist. Yet there's something further from the trees that finally adjusts itself, much smaller forms of mist seeming to flow from patches of a long... long... neck. Pale and a ghostly sort of blue that blends in perfectly with the mist it is emerging from, it turns its head, and a pair of enormous eyes stare, a little unfocused, at the group still down on the ground.]

[Like this, it's much clearer to see that this isn't just fog. Instead, it's some sort of giant crane.]

[Chikusa's voice is distant, uncertain. Hakkai is still and silent for another second, then two, before his hands clench on the blood-soaked knees of his slacks and he forces himself to his feet. There's no pain, no injury on the strange misty body of the gigantic crane settled beside the trees, and its eyes -- Chikusa's eyes -- look clear, if confused.

Chikusa has not died.

He's heard of this: of shinki sacrificing their lives and becoming more than they had been. Yukine had done it, hadn't he? Become--

-- hafuri, that was the word. So had Kazuma, although he hadn't mentioned anything but the title.

Which means there's still one more shinki here who needs his attention. Her body is sprawled on the other side of what had been a triangle before the borderlines fell, and the blood there is bright, too.]

Chikusa, return.

[He forces himself into a run towards Ginia. She's losing blood, too; not as much as Chikusa had been, but--]

Ken, look after him!

[--but it has been almost a minute since she was shaken free from the claw, and if she's lost too much, Hakkai's powers will be useless to save her.]

[ Going to assist with an ablution, what can go wrong?

It never occurred to Caster to confirm where exactly she went, to help who with ablution. Now that the wave of intense emotions - fear, anger, desperation and pain - hit him, he curses himself for lack of a bit of forethought. But how could he tell, and asking his shinki to tell where they are going each time they leave a temple would be treating them like children.

They're not that, they're comrades. And now one of them is in danger. Since he knows wherabouts of other two, that leaves only Ginia.

But using just their link as a lead to teleport isn't as easy as it could be, and it works only after the link falls deathly silent. Suddenly he materializes on the side of the scene. It's hard to discern what's going on- what just happened. More or less familiar faces around that he pass by looking for one- Did he missed her again?

No, not this time. ]

Ginia- [ Caster whispers and steels his heart as he finally notices her lying in the pool of blood. He approaches from the opposite side, steps quick, he probably makes it to her at similar time to Hakkai. Thoughts racing- god medicine, right. Caster never was made to be a healer, he never liked using magic either- but in moments like that they are of use. Without thinking, he inscribes a short spell above Ginia, for now just intending on strengthening her body, her link to life if there is any. To buy time for anything more complicated. ] She's still breathing...

[ That much he can tell. ]

Can you save her? [ He directs the question to Hakkai ]

I can try.

[He doesn't hesitate, falling to his knees beside her and reaching out to place both his bloodstained hands over the brutal gash in her shoulder. There's another power supporting her, strengthening her heart, holding her back from shock and death; Caster's, he thinks. It's unfamiliar, but it doesn't interfere with the heat of his chi rising to his palms, and so he ignores it as he focuses on the wound.

Through and through; the edge is ragged, shredded by the teeth of Ayumu's insectile arm, but by some miracle it had missed the major arteries. The bleeding is terrible, but--]

-- yes.

[His tone is distant, his focus on the energy he's pouring into the wound, coaxing abused tissue to knit, torn veins to seal. Yes, he thinks he can.

He doesn't want anyone else to die of his decision tonight.]

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futhark - 2018-07-23 09:42 (UTC) - Expand

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[Ken stares in absolute bafflement at the massive crane, trying to figure out where it came from. In the depths of his confusion - and it runs quite deep - it takes awhile for Ken's brain to connect crane with Chikusa. And, to be fair, the crane Ken's used to Chikusa being never looked remotely like this, so his needing time to connect the dots can perhaps be forgiven.

It doesn't help that his brain has been stunned almost senseless with grief, either, although confusion has temporarily outweighed sorrow. Partially because, if he doesn't know what's happening or where Chikusa is, he can't even confirm that the worst has actually happened, which means he's not sure what the appropriate response is right now.

But as Hakkai moves away, the words sink in. Chikusa, return. Hakkai's calling Chikusa, so...then the weird mist-bird really is Chikusa? Does that mean he's okay...?]

Kakipi? [Ken's voice is somehow small, with so much pain and uncertainty and hope locked in a three-way war that no one is winning.]

[At the call of that name, the twisting fog which makes up the enormous bird twists and warps, pulling back into itself in defiance of the commonly known laws of nature. It shrinks, and tugs, and becomes all the smaller, glowing with light back into the much smaller form of a human back on his own two feet.]

[Chikusa Kakimoto stands there, no more dead than he's ever been in the Far Shore.]

[The utter blankness in Chikusa's eyes is no doubt familiar to Ken, a sign that he's as away as his mind can possibly go, and he sways unsteadily from side to side. His clothing is still soaked through with blood, despite the fact that he's quite clearly alive, and that fact is very clear considering that the only holes around are in his clothing and not his actual torso. Fresh scar tissue can be seen, stretching across his chest and stomach where he was impaled... but that's all.]

[Yet while his body might be healed, that doesn't erase the fact that it went through some extreme trauma. The after affects of blood loss, the shock.... All of it has thrown his mind for a loop. Now that there's no threat for him to automatically focus on, Chikusa tries to take a step forward, and immediately fails as his legs buckle out from underneath him and his face starts to go towards the ground.]

[He's really not fine here.]