HP: 20-11 = 9/50 Action: Yeeting a rock and not liking the loneliness bit but hey he's near someone so? (will fill and adjust) Damage: 7
With all the small things gone Procyon felt a bit better about how things were turning out but then that big one, the source of it all, let out another roar, and his chest tightened. Pulling an arm up he tried to shake it off, tried not to think about things. It wasn't how he was but this was forcing up things he'd moved on from.
Flickers of that dead world, barren and silent with the slow-moving waves of toxic water crashing against the little bits of land that he'd wandered over. It hadn't been good, hadn't been pleasant but he'd pushed on through. Ever since getting to Earth, there were so many people there even if he didn't know most of them. Just the possibility that he could know them was a breath of fresh air.
He knew there were others here, ones he was supposed to be making sure were alright. But the names seemed hazy for a moment and he didn't like feeling cut off again. Shaking his head again, he knelt down and grabbed a rock. Looking around he saw so many others and the princess was still nearby so he did what he could and threw the rock at the thing. Any small bit to help, to do what he could because everyone else was trying. Even if he didn't know most of them and might not see most of them ever again he tried to focus on the fact that he wasn't alone in this exact moment even if that's how he was feeling.
"Are you okay? I'm here still and I won't go anywhere alright? It'll be okay, I know it will be." Even with how hectic it was, he wanted to try to help as many people as he could. Looking around, he thought he spotted someone he recognized, but it was so hard to tell. Perking up just a bit he waved slightly.
"Oh oh no I think that's the human senshi I pulled along."
Waving more intently as he jumped, he pulled both hands to his mouth to help project his voice. "Pleione! Over here!"
Sleet Tempest Snape
still can't see Selinur, sorry the bby is short but he thinks he saw Pleione
Ellicott was doing her best to shake out the fear from the zombies when the large little s**t roared once again. Rather then fear hitting her this time though... sadness washed over her. Loneliness and grief rolled over her. Her chest tightened and a spike of pain flashed through her as she tried to hold back the tears that tried to form. Mum... momma... why? Why did you leave me?
Her mind was dragged into the well of sadness that always lurked within her when ever she was in a dark space. When ever she realized that she had forgotten yet another thing about her mom. What was her favorite color again? Song? Food? Her hugs? Her kisses? Her love? She had forgotten so much. Her mother was gone and she would never see her again. Her heart ached and her very soul was screaming in pain.
But the young girl gritted her teeth, even as a few tears escaped and rolled down her cheeks. She was heartbroken but she was also pissed. So very pissed. Years had passed since her mother's death. Years of grief dulled by the passage of time. She did not appreciate the magical dagger slicing open that healing wound. Needing to do something, anything, to keep from breaking down into childlike sobs the Senshi spun on her heal and stomped towards the knight that had helped her earlier.
Ellicott looked sad and pissed and all kinds of twisted but as she got closer she was able to weakly smile, "Time to ******** that thing up... Dancing to War" She called out her second stage attack and let the magic guide her through the steps, letting the magic sooth some of the pain and anger she was feeling. It wasn't enough but for her it helped her mentally rebuild the walls around her heart. It still hurt but it wasn't as debilitating.
Quote:
Super Sailor Scout Attack: Dancing To War
Ellicott does a strong, driving, war dance and as her feet pound out the steps on the ground the members of order around her feel a practical well of strength, courage, determination, and power surge up from the ground. Only the order members in a 10 foot diameter feel the affects of her dance and the affects last only as long as the dance does or 30 seconds, which ever comes first. The affect of the dance is actually stronger then the first attack. This can only be used twice in battle.
--First use of this magic for this event--
((You all are welcome to use or not depending on your character's location and desire))
Part of Daphne might have been going through the motions to keep a promise for a friend. The other part of her was living in the present for the first time in weeks. Her teeth dug just slightly into her lower lip as she looked at the massive beast, still standing. Her heels dug into the ground. Standing side by side with the others, there might have been the start of a spark in her eyes.
The roar snuffed that out in a moment. Daphne took a stumbling step back.
She choked on the grief, coughed first and then sobbed. Alone. That was all there was, all that there would ever be. It was like there was a stone, a gravestone, sitting on her chest and crushing out the air.
She knew that there were other people around, but she knew that loneliness was all that there would ever be for any of them.
She saw Fang. She saw the way that Fang sank to his knees. He'd been so hopeful when everyone had gathered, and Daphne hadn't wanted to snuff that hope out, but there was no protecting him from the truth.
People didn't come back from death. Worlds didn't, either. Chaos took and took, and maybe you could rip it apart but you couldn't claw anything out of its jaws. Maybe they'd destroy this chrysocon, but they would leave Fang with an empty world.
Maybe, someday, she would find a way to fight the Chaos on Daphne, and she would leave herself with a mourning ritual, with a list of names.
She missed them. She missed all of them so much. She missed the way Lars always cooked for her when she came home, and the way one of her mothers would always tuck her hair behind her ear for her when she was crying, and tell her that she could do it, that she could be the senshi. She missed another who would go out with her to the savanna at dawn and listen to the birds with her, and tell her their names. She missed her sisters, her brothers, even some of the teachers who she had butted heads with.
They were never coming back. No matter what she did. No matter what anyone did. They were gone, destroyed. They'd left her behind, alone.
She sank to her knees, herself, tears streaming down her face. She stared blankly at the chrysocon, at the others.
It didn't matter. None of it mattered.
She missed them. She missed them. She missed them she missed them shemissedthem-
Kaifeng, Squire of Saturn HP: 43 - 11 = 32 HP / 75 Action: Being extremely upset by this EMOTIONAL DAMAGE. But using the rest of his magic pool + Ellicott’s buff to attack the boss anyway. Damage: 10 + 2d4 [6] + 10 (Ellicott’s buff) = 26 damage.
The physical healing from that kind senshi’s amulet helped considerably. No, Kaifeng didn’t regret having gone over to help anybody when, again, having each other’s backs very much seemed to be the point of coming out here with such a big group. But the pain and the general ouch factor of the injuries he’d taken from running into the fray with the little beasts before—it did have him listening to Helene’s call for him to be more careful.
Gege was right. Nobody would help Fang at all if they got themselves too wounded to keep fighting.
Kaifeng was readying himself for another attack—preparing to summon up the last of his magic pool and use those precious seconds of channeling on the big boss monster—when she roared again. Gods, no, Kaifeng hated letting this monster roar, why hadn’t some senshi of putting gags on people come to the fight so they could, y’know, muzzle the enormous chrysocyon beast? He gasped softly as a heavy chill washed over him, a waterfall of emotion that made Kaifeng shiver and froze him in place for a moment as the same memories from before rushed back to him.
He wasn’t on the planet Fang, wasn’t in the ruins of this old town square. He wasn’t even Kaifeng of Saturn. He was Huang Zhìháo, and the door handle of the hallway closet refused to budge when he jiggled it. Because he was locked in there. How long had he been locked in there? Long enough for the hunger pangs to have started dulling into barely-there background noise because, even though he couldn’t do anything else right now, Zhìháo couldn’t handle thinking too much about how hungry he felt. People kept shuffling by the door but never stopping. The tumblers in the lock never turned. Nobody put a key in the hole.
He was alone. Zhìháo was trapped in here. All alone. By himself. He couldn’t escape (even if he could have, then what might have happened to his younger siblings to punish him by hurting them). Nobody would come for him. Probably, they didn’t even want to. Because why would anyone have ever wanted to have Zhìháo around, not even Zhìháo himself ever wanted Zhìháo around so much as accepted it because he couldn’t divest from himself in the way that other people could so easily get rid of him—
He gasped again, head snapping up as he felt something else well up inside him.
Something felt like warmth and war drums. Something felt like dancing, like power. Kaifeng looked around for a source—and he managed a smile when he noticed one of the dancer-looking senshi he’d gone to help earlier (Ellicott). If they had time later, he’d need to learn her name so they could keep in touch, maybe provide each other with backup as necessary. “Thank you,” he called out to her, with a little wave of one hand to help make sure she saw him.
Breathing not entirely steady, Kaifeng turned back toward Helene and tugged on his zhiyin’s sleeve, gently but still in a way that demanded attention. Whatever Kaifeng had felt from the loneliness magic in the chrysocyon beast’s roar, he had to imagine that Helene had felt it even worse. Not that misery poker ever went well for anybody, but……objectively, there was a considerable difference in scale between Helene’s thousand-some-odd years of isolation, plus his grief over losing Xingyi-ge before that happened, and Huang Zhìháo and his siblings having gotten locked in the hallway closet, or the attic, or the basement, or in any number of isolated places as punishment for……whatever their parents or grandparents had seen fit to punish at the time.
“I have to get closer to channel my magic and hit the beast,” Kaifeng said softly. “Come with me, gege?”
Trusting that Helene would follow soon behind, Kaifeng moved up closer to the beast. He did his best to avoid getting too close to anybody else. Fang looked more than worse for wear already (and the beast’s magical attacks had to be hitting him hard; the Chaos on this planet might’ve had), plus he had Michel-ge nearby him and some lovely-looking senshi decked out in blue roses (Ilse), and Kaifeng didn’t want to make things worse for them. If the shades his magic summoned hit any of them and made an even bigger mess right now? No. No, bad, not okay.
Finally planting himself close to the beast but hopefully out of range of the others, though, Kaifeng swung his club at the air before him and called upon his Wonder’s magic. Let the ghostly shades claw their way up and scramble to attack the big boss. Whatever extra strength the dancer senshi had gifted him with her magic, it made Kaifeng feel that much more certain that everyone could bring the best down together.
Quote:
Kāifēng swings his club like a baseball bat. When the swing is complete, ghostly shades claw their way out of the ground within a six-foot radius of Kāifēng. Anyone within the six-foot radius—including allies and Kāifēng himself—will feel a sense of recognition, like they should know who these dead people are, but the shades appear too mangled by death and decay to be recognizable as any particular person. The shades will attack anyone in the six-foot radius but Kāifēng, including allies, but being incorporeal, they do no physical damage. For the duration of his channeling, anyone hit by one of his shades will feel deathly chills and a heavy feeling of being watched. The chills stop as soon as he stops channeling; any lingering emotional effects (from the magic or seeing the shades) are up to individual players!
Kāifēng can channel his magic for up to 30 seconds at this stage.
Noir Songbird
Helene~ emotion_bigheart (also, Ilse proximity!)
Fiction1119
Thank you, Ellicott!! Kaifeng appreciates the buff!!
genovianprince
Fang proximity (but Kaifeng is doing his best not to get Fang hit in the crossfire, I promise!!) emotion_bigheart
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Michel proximity (but Kaifeng is making his best efforts to get out of range so his shades won’t hit Michel 🥺) emotion_bigheart
Lucien - Cat Form HP: (25 - 11) 14 Damage: N/A Action: Being held by Alastor. Too injured and worn down to fight.
“I apologize,” Lucien winced as Alastor gathered him up. He could feel the tear in his shoulder and arm from the teeth of that creature tainted by Chaos. He knew he should have been more careful, but it was either get himself out of a risky situation, or potentially end up injured further.
The magic he’d used -- a pure concentration of energy -- made it difficult to even stand. But he was grateful that he wouldn’t have to, what with Alastor tending to him.
It wasn’t ideal. He didn’t want Alastor to lower his own defenses in order to take care of him. He was grateful, but also regretted the turn of events.
“If you need to release me to use both hands, I understand and would not be upset with you,” he said through gritted teeth. Better that Alastor and Sessrumnir make it out in one piece. He was certain he could heal after a bit of time, but if anything happened to his bonded? He would never forgive himself. Especially if it was his fault.
“That thing needs to be dealt with,” he reminded Alastor, his ears back as he bristled when the chrysocyon howled again. There was a pain in his chest that he couldn’t quite understand. His memories were too muddled to know what it was, but he looked to Alastor with concern, certain that he would be affected as well.
Sessrumnir, Knight of Jupiter HP: (55-11) 44 Damage: (Direct Damage 10 + 3d6) 17 Action: Staying near Alastor and Lucien. Attacking.
The smaller chrysocyons were gone. But the victory was brief.
He could hear the wails. The gut wrenching sobs. He could feel the heartbreak --
Was that his own heartbreak he was feeling? Was it the necklace he wore?
Sessrumnir knew he needed to focus. He knew he needed to concentrate on getting rid of this undead creature. Once again, he held out his stormglass to channel his magic, surrounding the creature with wind and rain and lightning strikes.
‘I’m here, Devyn,’ he thought, almost desperately so. He needed it for himself. He knew -- knew he wasn’t alone, and yet this feeling of misery and loss and loneliness…
‘I’m here,’ he thought again. If he could feel this way, if he could hear how others felt through their cries, then he knew Alastor -- who had been alone for hundreds of years --
Sessrumnir took a step back, his eyes never leaving the chrysocyon, but he reached behind him to place his hand on Alastor’s shoulder. He needed it as much for himself as he wanted Devyn to know he was with him.
Quote:
Magic pool of 45 seconds. A thunderstorm erupts within twenty feet of Sessrumnir with a fifteen foot radius, and is heaviest around the immediate area where the magic is directed. Those affected by the magic will experience impaired vision and hearing due to the intense rain, wind, and occasional flash of lightning and crash of thunder. Movement is slowed due to the storm conditions, with the rain and wind being strong enough to knock someone off balance. Effects of the vision and hearing impairment can last longer, depending on player desire. While in the magic, targets can be struck by non-lethal lightning strikes capable of causing a sharp burning or stinging sensation at player discretion, but these strikes can cause lasting burns and other physical impairments depending on player desire. Once the magic ends, the area remains wet, but will dry quicker than natural.
Eternal Sailor Ilse HP: 44/100 Action: Third stage direct magic damage Damage: 10 + 9 = 19
The little monsters went down, one by one. Michel helped keep them away; her own magic tore through them; everyone else--dozens of people--that had shown up to help carved them down, until it was just them and the massive monster once more.
But that howl.
Ilse felt her knees go weak. Worse was Fang's agonized wail, like it was tearing itself from somewhere deep inside him. A well of pain and loneliness that she longed so, so much to help with. She knew, deep down, that she would never be able to fix it completely--fixing people just wasn't in her makeup, no matter how much she wished it were--but she wanted to help him, at least.
Even as the cold sense of empty, lonely loss crawled throguh her. Even as it made her inhale, desperately pained.
She had given up so much, to leave the Negaverse--had left an entire life behind that she couldn't even remember. And the people she'd come to--
She was never going to be enough to be worthy of the things that had been sacrificed to save her. Fundamentally, she was always going to be alone. Lysithea and Muchel had each other. Fang had so many people who cared about him, what did one brainless bimbo matter for anything, to anyone--
Ilse's breath hitched. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. It felt like such a foregone conclusion. That this loneliness would never end. That she would be lost, forever. (That perhaps she ought to pack up and retreat to her world, where at least--at least--at least she wouldn't face her misery every single day, at least there would be a reason for her to be alone, at least she would be making the choice herself--)
But this wasn't about her.
Stupid, stupid, to make it about herself.
She reached for Fang again, gently putting a hand on his arm. She was piteously inadequate, yes, but at least--at least she could be someone there for him.
And she called on her strongest magic, letting it flow, hoping that it was powerful enough to make the monster hurt.
genovianprince
heart
Quote:
Ilse speaks the name of her attack, and spreads her arms wide. A burst of blue petals flies out around her, spreading to a radius of 15 feet. The petals will stick to enemies within the radius, but disappear otherwise. For the next 45 seconds, those with petals stuck to them will feel a deep yearning for something or someone they consider unattainable, which can be a person, a thing, a dream, or anything else. Targets are also consumed with the urge to cough, and if they do so, it will bring up blue petals as well as thorns. These create a sensation of pain in the throat, and can leave actual damage at player discretion. The magic lasts for 45 seconds, and Ilse can use it once per battle.
It was strange, to feel so suddenly and deeply alone despite being surrounded by people. Elsa staggered with the force of it, with the realization that should not have been a realization.
Honestly. Of course he was alone. He'd given everything up to chase a half-remembered history on a world he was too afraid to visit. And before all that, he'd let his loyalty to the Mirror cloud his reason and good sense, He'd pushed away someone who genuinely cared about him--and Murikabushi's forgiveness had to have limits. Someday, someday soon, he would remember that Elsa was a miserable person to be around, that there was a monster in him that had nothing to do with his old, broken magic, and Murikabushi would leave.
It was what happened, inevitably.
His parents were gone. Dead, sure, and only sort of mourned, but still gone.
He'd pushed Charlie away because he was fundamentally incompatible with being in a relationship. He'd believed so firmly that he could fix him, and he'd been wrong, because that wasn't how people worked. So he'd broken that, too.
Murikabushi--Reiki--had been his friend. Had been so incredibly precious to him. And Elsa had dragged him into the Mirror and ruined his life.
Elsa had walked out on his sister and sister-in-law and his little, unborn niblings, because he was selfish, because he couldn't let a mystery go, because there was something fundamentally broken in him that meant no one ever stayed.
He was alone and lonely because of his own choices, and he was always going to be alone, because who could ever learn to love a beast.
He wasn't sure when his knees gave out--one moment he was sure he was standing, and the next he was on the ground, legs splayed out to his ********, he was pathetic. Here he was, collapsed on the ground, and Murikabushi, who had an actual right to be upset--he'd only had to abandon his family because Elsa had dragged him into the Mirror, had broken everything--was managing to spit defiance at the monster. How pathetic was he, anyway? This wasn't about him, he needed to focus and fight. He could have his breakdown later, where it wouldn't mean failing to help someone Murikabushi cared about. He would never be able to repay everything he'd damaged, but he could at least do this, couldn't he?
The nice thing about having fallen to the ground was that it was now within arm's reach.
Elsa pulled off one glove, then the other, letting them drop to the ground beside him, and pressed his bare palms to the dirt.
"Endless. Void. Of. Emptiness."
He'd only used the magic once before, but it sprang from him, a flood of shadow and void and cold, lashing out at the monster.
At least if he was going to be crushingly lonely, it could be crushingly empty.
amorremanet
just elsa spewing some feelings~
Quote:
Elsa speaks the name of his attack, and must touch the ground with his bare hand to finish the activation. A whirl of shadows spreads out around him to a radius of twelve feet. Within the radius, enemies feel as if they have been reduced to an empty husk--devoid of all emotion, will, or desire. They will also feel extremely cold, as if something is freezing them from the inside out, centered around the heart. These effects last for 50 seconds, and this attack can only be used once per battle.
Super Sailor Helene HP: 29/75 Action: Second stage indirect damage magic Damage: 10 + 7 + 10 [Ellicott buff] = 27
It seemed as if this beast was determined to send Helene back to his empty, lonely planet. To the darkest places he had found himself. To years, decades, centuries of silence, as everyone around him died, as his world crumbled around him, as he endured.
And endured.
And endured.
For so, so long, he had been alone. For so long, he had carried the profound grief of an entire world, the knowledge that he was the last, that in so many ways he was---
Alone.
Forever.
The last scion of a world that would never exist again.
Helene shuddered, full body, a hand coming up to clutch his chest as if that might drive the ghosts from his heart, for even a moment. As if it might stop him remembering the profound isolating loneliness of Xingyi's loss, of the plague taking so many of the people he loved, of being cut off from his family and left to...
To live. To be forced to carry on, to be denied the rest of death and a chance to be reborn through the Cauldron. To be the lonely carrier of an entire world's memories and legacy.
There was a sound. A sound of drums, the feeling of dancing to them, of knowing that he must fight.
It jolted him out of the grip of memory, and he turned, seeking the source--the Senshi Kaifeng had helped (Ellicott.) He gave her a sharp nod of appreciation, and when Kaifeng asked for him to come, he followed, with no hesitation.
"I am with you," he said, softly. A reminder for himself as much as Kaifeng.
When they were close enough, he let his magic loose too, hoping that it, and the boost from the brave dancer Senshi, might bind the monster and make it hesitate. Might slow it down. Might hold it so that it could be felled.
amorremanet
zhiyinnn~
Fiction1119
The Nod of Acknowledgement.
Quote:
Helene speaks the name of his attack, and makes a sweeping gesture with his hand. Enemies within a 15-foot radius of him feel overcome by inhibition, as if every action they might take would be shameful and worthy of judgment. This feeling lasts for 35 seconds, and Helene can use this attack twice per battle.
[Danube, Page of Cybele] HP: 25-11 = 14/50 Physical Damage: 1d8 Action: attacking the big Chrysocyon Damage:6
Danube appreciated the woman standing in front of her and the other person nearby, but she wasn't there to hide. Looking down at her arrow and wishing it was maybe a bit more impressive, Danube slipped out from behind her and rushed the Chrysocyon. Just in time for the roar.
That hurt, and Danube swore reflexively as a result, clapping her hands over her ears and skidding to a stop. She felt it through all of her body again, and it was a moment before she could remember--past the pain--what she was doing.
Attacking.
Right.
Gritting her teeth, Danube continued, realising as she did so that she was being overtaken by another feeling entirely. That is, the feeling that she better do what she could against the zombie now. Because no one was going to be coming for her. She needed to save herself if she expected to be saved at all.
Well, except... She glanced over her shoulder at the woman who had been determined to stand between them and danger.
...Best not to count on it--
Danube swung on the giant zombie with as much force as she could manage and then hurried back to where there was safety in numbers. Exhaustion was making her arms and legs tremble, but she was determined not to let that show.
Tikal frowned, ignoring the heaviness in her chest as she pulled back her string of gemstones and lashed forward at the giant zombie monster.
Amasis
Everyday Blob
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Amasis rolled 1 8-sided dice:
7Total: 7 (1-8)
Amasis
Everyday Blob
Offline
Posted: Fri May 10, 2024 11:34 pm
[Stromboli, Page of Uranus] HP: 25-11 = 14/50 Physical Damage: 1d8 Action: attacking the big one now Damage:7
Stromboli frowned, both at the squabbling next to him and the feeling of loneliness that swept through him at the giant zombie's roar. Loneliness was an unfamiliar feeling for him. He had never really wanted for friends or family. But the feeling that they wouldn't be coming for him, that they would never want to see him again...
Well, it wasn't a very comfortable sensation, that was for sure. He took a deep breath, looking around for his son and son-in-law. He hadn't seen them since they'd all arrived, but he knew they were there. Somewhere.
He couldn't see them in all of the madness, so he would have to just have faith that they hadn't abandon-- that they were still alright. Stromboli stepped around Abzu and Ibirapita, set his jaw, and threw his frustration into the next swing on the giant monster.
The loneliness hit him worse than the roar did. It staggered him, took his breath away, his hand flying to his chest to clutch over his heart. Wet pricked at the corners of his eyes.
No. No.
No.
He wasn't going through this again. Of course they would come for him. When he'd needed them, they'd been there for him.
But how long had that taken? How long had he suffered in silence before someone had noticed?
It wasn't that they hadn't noticed. It was that he had deliberately covered up the bruises and cuts. It hadn't been that hard. He'd covered them up, said he was busy, didn't come over, let Jason tell him it was for the best, that they would just side with Jason anyway. They would understand how troublesome he was and why it'd had to happen.
If he said anything, he'd lose all of them--
Desperately trying to distract himself, Amoris brought his astrolabe down onto the giant monster again.
It figured that the moment Basiluzzo looked away would be the same moment the kid got himself in trouble. He followed where Encke was going as he moved over to help Ran, but Basiluzzo wasn't going to let them go alone.
No, he wasn't letting them be alone.
Covering Encke's movement and healing, Basiluzzo took a whack at the giant monster on the way over.
Ran summons a card and flicks it toward the target. When the card comes to rest, a shallow pit ten feet in diameter opens up around that point. The pit is no more than 3 feet deep, but is slick and difficult to simply run out of. The pit lasts for about 30 seconds and can be used three times.
Action: recovering from near KO and attacking Damage:13
The relief was palatable, and it took him a moment to realise it was Encke coming to his rescue. There was a murmur of thanks, but he wanted to appear strong. He pushed back against the loneliness, against the reminder of being at Hillsworth for the first time and knowing no one, knowing he was only there to keep him out of jail. Of not really knowing if his mothers and sister would talk to him again, despite how much they'd said they weren't mad at him.
He didn't have time for this. He had to appear strong.
With another thanks, he staggered to his feet and pushed on to throw the last card at the big Chrysocyon.
They had taken down those smaller wolves quickly, at least.
What they were replaced with, though? Another one of those roars, and another rippling effect through all of them. He saw the way the alien that had gathered them all there had collapsed. He felt the way that Amoris froze and gripped at his chest with the way they were pressed to each other's backs.
He also felt how it pulled at him.
Hunger was not something he had a lot of experience with. Loneliness, though? Not something he had felt in a while, not something he had felt since he had all of his husbands in his life, but something he had felt with Elliot's absence that had driven him to vent to anyone who would listen. But he knew he had him back, and that they had everyone back as a concrete whole.
That wasn't going to happen again. One of them was against his back, or had been, anyway--
It was something that he had felt before that point, too. He had been a teenager! An older teenager, sure, but perhaps it was foolish for him and a fellow member of his scout troop to act on horniness in the campsite bathroom.
What had happened afterward had hurt. He had the Eagle Scout rank to prove how much he had poured into it, a rank he couldn't lose. That didn't mean he had been allowed to come back. That didn't mean he maintained his friend group. Part of how he had ended up falling into the online communities he had was as an escape route.
Promethei swallowed hard.
Had that been the right result? For where he was now, yes.
Then?
He shook his head and swung on the monster himself.
