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 Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2024 3:05 pm
Quote: The Gargoyles (3) : Even when you thought you’d seen the last of them, it seems like you’re never really in the clear. A while back, there was an infestation of awful gargoyle creatures–and while every Star Festival had its fair share of oddities, this one seems to have introduced a permanent infestation upon the city. Maybe you see them perched on the roof, or hiding in the shadows, but not all of these grotesque creatures are satisfied with just escaping their interdimensional prison–some of them still have a bone to pick. They seem stony; some of them will watch with a penetrative gaze and never strike to attack, but some of them will dive down to target anyone who gets too close. The monsters come in an array of sizes and shapes, but they are no more than half the size of their target. Their goal is uncertain, but they will crumble into a pile of rocks and dust if struck hard enough. Featuring: Corvina, Helene, Kaifeng, and Lanting.
Because the weather was pleasant tonight—and more importantly, because Lanting liked the new Kaifeng—Corvina wasn’t committing himself to any particular judgments about the quality of that choice on Kaifeng’s part, nor about what it meant. But the effervescence and cheerfulness in the face of every horrible thing that came his way was certainly something that Kaifeng chose to do when interacting with the world around him.Meeting up with Lanting and Corvina after a patrol had an inherently dicey aspect to the idea, Kaifeng thought. Namely, Helene didn’t much like Corvina of Windflowers. Whenever he came up in conversation elsewhere, Helene’s face shifted in ways that looked both judgmental and displeased. Speaking of Corvina himself, Helene preferred not to say very much—which, in Kaifeng’s experience, was pretty damning. Not of anybody or their character, per se, but damning in the sense of providing him all but conclusive direct evidence of exactly how much Helene did not like Corvina.
True, Helene didn’t speak very much as a general rule. Sometimes (such as the cases of his late mother and his brother), yes, he spoke about someone very little because it pained him to do so. But Helene generally didn’t mind offering his opinions on Murikabushi or Aruna when it was just him and Kaifeng, spending time together and chatting, probably swapping stories about what they’d run into on separate patrols. In particular, Helene had spoken recently of how proud Aruna had made him, how well she’d handled running into one of those magical game-boards that liked to show up around this time of year, and how heartening it was to see her growing into her powers.
Corvina, though, Helene preferred not to speak on at all unless it was absolutely necessary.
Sure seemed like Helene just didn’t like Corvina very much.
On the plus, though, Corvina hadn’t really done anything out of pocket so far tonight. Near the foot of a large, decorative statue of some dead important figure from Destiny City history, he’d mostly stayed quiet, lurking beside and slightly behind Lanting. Sure, Corvina’s face shifted in a variety of ways in response to people saying things—and much more noticeably than Helene’s did, since Corvina’s heart seemed to be quite firmly on his sleeve while Huan-ge was far subtler and less forthcoming with most people—but Corvina hadn’t said or done anything untoward. All up, Kaifeng was inclined to give him credit for this and simply focus on people who wanted to actively participate in good times.
Like Lanting, for example, and his struggle with finding physical fitness things he enjoyed doing outside of being powered up.
“Y’know, there are actually some decent athletic benefits to old playground games from when we were kids,” Kaifeng said, thinking mostly about some friend of his da-jie’s whose undergrad had literally offered Playground Games as a phys ed elective. “Maybe we could get some other Knights and senshi together and play powered down sometime? That way, nobody can use magic or weapons to undermine the fairness of the game or anything. Would that be fun?”
Maybe a game structure will help give him some motivation, Kaifeng thought—specifically, to Helene, glancing over to him with a smile and transmitting the thought via their matched silk-moth earrings.Although Corvina kept his mouth shut in the face of Kaifeng’s suggestion, he did openly roll his eyes at it. Lanting had made it clear that he didn’t enjoy the “working out” thing that people talked about. Why they were still discussing any options where he did something like that but dressed up a little differently?
……And was Corvina crazy, or were there some shadows perched on a nearby building that looked like they were moving?
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Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2024 3:35 pm
It was nice, Lanting thought, to be out with friends on such a lovely fall evening. Well, friends and his...whatever he and Corvina were. he was happy to use "boyfriend" in his own head or with other people when Corvina wasn't around, but he certainly hadn't discussed using that term with Corvina. Partner? Maybe? Whatever. His Corvina.
Anyway, mostly he was just here with his friends, having a nice evening doing Knight things.
Even if Kaifeng's attempts to motivate him weren't exactly super....fun.....but that was mostly because nothing about exercise ever sounded fun.
"I could do that, maybe?" Lanting said. "It sounds a little silly, but it's better than lifting weights or just running on a treadmill. Blech," he wrinkled his nose. No, no, the gym was not an option. But he had to do something if he wanted to be a decent Knight.
"Corvina," he said, in an effort to engage him, because Lanting had definitely noticed that he was mostly just There, Looming, and he sort of wanted to rope his partner into this whole friendly discussion thing, "did your people have any kind of games like that? Physical stuff, but not fighting so much?"Helene, like Corvina, was mostly a silent presence. Kaifeng and Lanting, for one, were both chatty enough to fill the air, and it was pleasant just listening to them. Helene liked the new Lanting much better than the old, even if he was a little bit...mm, vocal about his displeasure with the idea of exercise. The old Lanting had been....not particularly pelasant, and as much as Helene disliked Corvina, part of him had always felt a twinge of concern about that entire situation.
The new one, however, might even be good for Corvina under the right circumstances. Such as Corvina letting anyone be good for him, or having any desire to change anything about his behavior, et cetera.
An excellent idea, he silently complimented Kaifeng, glad for the mind-to-mind communication these earrings allowed. Another level of closeness with his zhiyin; something he could be quite content with.
Still, he found his eyes moving towards the roof lines. Ever since he'd fought the gargoyle with Aruna, he felt very thoroughly on alert for them.
And there.
Movement.
"Kaifeng. Lanting." He didn't call for Corvina, because he could tell Corvina was already looking--expected, of someone raised a warrior. "Up. The roof."
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Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2024 5:27 pm
It took a moment for Corvina to notice that he’d been addressed, much less to process the question. “Hmm? Uh. Oh……er.”
He pursed his lips and looked down at the pavement, trying to decide how to answer that question. So many of the answers he gave about his culture tended to upset Lanting, and Corvina didn’t enjoy upsetting Lanting. Hence, for instance, Corvina mostly keeping his mouth shut and letting Kaifeng and Lanting talk instead of saying anything he actually thought about what Kaifeng had to say (which served a dual purpose, he supposed, because it also avoided upsetting Helene by skirting too close to the line of “insulting Helene’s Knight”).
“We did have games,” Corvina said after a moment, tension obvious in his voice as he looked back up at the nearby roofs, at the large, mysterious shadows that didn’t look like anything Corvina recognized. “Most were meant to teach skills for combat.… One was about not getting hit by objects when the other players threw them. We had obstacle courses. Got fairly intense as people got older. Games where one person was the target to focus on and they had to outfight, outspeed, or outsmart everyone else to avoid being captured and put in the alleged ‘prison.’ They could break out if they were clever, though.…”
Corvina left out the part about how, after he’d Awakened, he had always been the first one to get named as target and nobody but Varamyr and Alys had wanted him in team games. Having the senshi on one’s team constituted an unfair advantage, in most people’s eyes. Anybody who had pulled out a win would’ve endured constant questions about whether or not they’d truly deserved the accolades, about whether or not they’d truly shown the strength, agility, and ingenuity of real champions.
He also left out the parts about how many “games” he’d played back then had involved Belle needing to wield a weapon to defend himself from something or someone that had wanted to kill him. That definitely seemed like the sort of thing that Lanting wouldn’t enjoy hearing. But whether he said it or not, Corvina still had the training those games had instilled in him, and it was enough to tug Lanting out of the way with him as three huge shadows swooped down off the roof that Corvina and Lanting had been staring at.
Corvina didn’t move them very far—he wasn’t going to run from a fight and abandon another Squire and senshi like that—just enough to get himself and Lanting out of the way as one of the monstrosities rushed in at them. Artlessly, it collided with the bronze statue instead. Idiot things.While Kaifeng had been paying attention to the conversation more than their surroundings—and trying to give Corvina a warm, hopeful smile because maybe it would make him feel more welcome and he could loosen up a little—Helene’s warning made him perk back to attention. When the shadows came swooping at them, he sprung into action. He’d seen these nasty gargoyle guys before too, when he’d first run into his fellow Saturn Squire Shoqafa.
Calling his weapon to-hand, Kaifeng darted between Helene and one of the gargoyles. He swung his club hard, summoning the power of the spell that his weapon had absorbed up at his Wonder.Noir Songbird Kaifeng swings his weapon at a single target within a 20-foot radius. The target is knocked back by a burst of air, cold as death. When hit by the chill, the target is seized by a brief but powerful feeling that they have died and no one cared. This attack has three uses.
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Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2024 6:32 pm
Lanting nodded. "Actually, those kind of sound like some games we have on Earth." He paused, and the corners of his mouth dipped down briefly. "Though I'd imagine your versions were more, um. Intentionally intense?" Because it wasn't like a game of dodgeball or tag couldn't get wildly out of hand, given kids, but from everything he'd heard about Corvina, it gave him the impression that things were. Well. More aggressive, there. Even considering how cruel kids could choose to be to the weirdo in class.
(....Shuangxu had usually been the weirdo.)
"But that's okay, maybe we can--"
He really did want to make a suggestion, but he was very suddenly being grabbed and hauled out of the way, and there was a gargoyle coming down off the roof above them.
"Oh what in the ******** is that," he said, knowing full well that it did not come out like a question. "Hey-yah!"
A little focus, a sharp swing, and his little ball of razor petals and leaves went flying at the beast. Hopefully, magic was sharp enough to damage stone.Helene was not at all surprised to find Kaifeng placing himself between Helene and danger--though he was not generally one to feel as if he needed to be protected, it still felt....nice. To have it happen. To know that he and Kaifeng would gladly protect each other. And they both knew this enemy, though it seemed perhaps Lanting and Corvina did not.
"They are not impervious to magic," Helene said, "but they do not seem to have emotions that can be affected by spells like mine. So prepare to fight with your fists and your weapons, if you must."
It would not be easy. But between the four of them,t hey would take it down, especially since half their number was already experienced with the creatures. Quote: Forgotten Spell: Lanting swings his weapon at a single target within 20 feet of him. From the end of his weapon, a bundle of leaves and orchid petals flies at the target, and when it impacts, it bursts into a brief swirl of sharp-edged petals and leaves around the target.The target will experience the sensation of many small cuts where the petals and leaves make contact, with actual damage at player discretion. This can be used 3 times per battle.
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Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2024 10:01 pm
“If not for the Chaos filth infecting my planet—” Corvina grunted, throwing himself at the gargoyle that Lanting had sent his magic at. The orchid petals from his spell did seem to have done some damage, same as Kaifeng’s burst of cold air had knocked another one back and down. But if this required fists, then it required fists. Anything that threatened Lanting or his safety would die painfully, and hopefully, fast.
A strong set of punches took down one of the gargoyles. Perfect, then.
Watching his old spell knock one of the gargoyles back, Kaifeng felt a brief rush of accomplishment. But it got back up again. The force from the fall must not have been enough to take it out. A quick glance with Helene, and Kaifeng accompanied it with the telepathically shared thought, Let’s go together, fists and club?
To help make that happen, Kaifeng shifted to the side, giving Helene more room to move. This put him a bit closer to Corvina, which did feel nice, honestly. Even if Corvina’s social graces weren’t exactly things that he cared to maintain or show to most people, they were both with Order and they were fighting these monsters together. That was some good s**t.
With the thought sent to Helene, Kaifeng slipped into position and readied himself to move ahead.
Even as he watched the gargoyle he’d punched disperse into dust, Corvina hissed. He grimaced, flexed his fingers as though that would banish the pain.
Helene had said that the gargoyles didn’t entirely have feelings—and really, that wouldn’t have been a problem if Corvina could’ve used his Eternal magic. Making these stupid things cough up flower petals would’ve knocked them down hard even if they didn’t understand feeling like a walking curse who ruined everything and called down harm on the people they loved. Still, there were two gargoyles left to handle, and no matter how easily they went down with physical force, punching them felt like punching stone.
Eugh. Whatever.
Glaring at one of the remaining gargoyles, Corvina snapped a finger. He raised his hand to his lips and blew. The familiar rush of semi-translucent, red spectral flower petals flew from his hand—but they didn’t fly toward the gargoyle.
Corvina frowned, then felt a heavy chill slam into the pit of his stomach. The petals flew toward Kaifeng, and whirled around him in the way that always signaled Corvina’s magic working.Quote: Sailor Scout Attack: Petals On The Wind. Corvina snaps a finger, then blows over an open palm, sending a rush of spectral windflower petals toward a single target within 10 feet of him. The spectral petals whirl around the target, after which they are seized by a sense of fragility, both physical and emotional. Although this feeling is illusory (enemies are not actually made weaker), it is difficult to shake off. Targets feel as though small emotional slights cut more deeply (e.g., passing disregard may seem like deliberate rejection), and they feel that the pain from other attacks is magnified. This magic lasts for 30 seconds; any lingering emotional effects are at individual players’ discretion. Corvina may use this attack three times per battle.
Instead, Kaifeng felt cold.
The light breeze tonight should’ve felt cool and pleasant, but Kaifeng flinched away from it as the wind slammed into him like a freezing windstorm in the Northwest Passage. At least, it felt that way. Everything felt as though it would break him. His hand trembled, going slack around his club. Trying to take a deep breath—trying to steady himself and shake this off, because it was just magic and really, Corvina probably hadn’t meant it, he hadn’t even been looking at Kaifeng when he’d summoned his spell—trying to just get through this, Kaifeng shuddered.
What if Corvina did mean it, though, Kaifeng thought, unconsciously broadcasting his rushing thoughts toward Helene. He wasn’t looking at me. He wasn’t trying to cast at me. This was just a mistake. He didn’t mean it. But what. if. he meant it, what if he doesn’t like me, what if he doesn’t want me and Lanting to keep being friends—
Kaifeng would have kept thinking past that.
But the gargoyle who’d tried to come for Helene rushed at him instead.
Unprepared, Kaifeng got knocked back. A swift, hard thwack! rang out as Kaifeng’s head hit part of the statue. He cried out. Gasped. Let slip a whimper of pain as he went limp. Leaning heavily on the statue behind him, Kaifeng let himself collapse.
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Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2024 10:53 pm
Kaifeng's telepathic touch was met with a nod, and a thought of Together, always.
There was no other way they would handle it. Helene trusted Kaifeng implicitly; they fought together so often, he barely had to look to know that his zhiyin was right by his side. And honestly, Corvina and Lanting were both competent enough themselves. A reliable group, for the most part.
Right up until they weren't.
When he heard Kaifeng's thoughts turn, he looked away from the gargoyle for a moment--and there. Windflower petals. Corvina's magic, uncontrolled, loosed on Kaifeng instead of the damned monster, after Helene had warned him--
"Corvina!" He barked the name, furious, "we will have words when this is over--"
The gargoyle sailed past him. Slammed into Kaifeng. Slammed him into the statue.
And Helene's world tilted to the side, and something inside him got very, very cold.
He would have words with Corvina. Later. Now, though, there was a monster to defeat, to ensure it did no more harm to Kaifeng, and with the frosty, barely contained rage of a man pushed far past any reaosnable limit, Helene darted forward, grabbed the damned creature by its wings, and hurled it into the ground.
It hit with a thorough thunk, shattering into so much dust, and Helene ran to kneel at Kaifeng's side.
"Kaifeng! Kaifeng!" Kaifeng, can you hear me? Ears first, mind second--Helene was desperate to reach him, one way or the other.Everything had been going so well.
One gargoyle down, and Lanting was already turning to attack the next, grinning like a madman the whole time, twirling his cane like a performer--really, it just felt good to be doing so damn well i a fight. But something happened, and the way Helene said Corvina's name--
Oh. Oh no. His magic, something must have gone wrong, and now Kaifeng was--Kaifeng was--
"No no no," Lanting gasped, and he ran to his friend's side, calling on his magic. Still, at the same time-- "I'm sure it was an accident. Corvina didn't mean it, his magic must have--""Be silent," Helene said, cold as ice. "I will hear his excuses when Kaifeng is safe.""Okay," Lanting squeaked, because Helene was sort of terrifying, angry like this, and he focused instead on channeling, hoping that he could stabilize his friend.
Please, please, he needed to stabilize his friend.Quote: Magic: Lanting taps his cane against the ground, and he glows with a soft purple light. He is surrounded by a field of orchids that extends to a 10ft radius, and allies within the radius feel a sense of sanctuary and safety, and find that minor wounds are fully healed and moderate wounds are alleviated. In order to receive the full effects of Lanting’s healing, they must remain in the radius for his full channeling time, and if he stops channeling early, full effects may not be applied. Lanting can channel for a total of 35 seconds at this stage.
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:30 am
Corvina grimaced at the way Helene snapped his name—but looking down at Kaifeng, Corvina simply set his jaw and nodded. He hadn’t meant to hurt Kaifeng. He knew that he hadn’t meant for his magic to go after one of Lanting’s friends. But something had happened to misdirect his magic, and now, Kaifeng had gotten hurt.
Mistakes like that had gotten Corvinate soldiers killed before—both because they’d suffered for their comrades’ mistakes and because they faced a dishonorable execution after screwing up like that. Not that Corvina would simply yield when Helene deigned to have said words with him, never. But neither would he meet those words with cowardice, denying Helene his right to claim recompense for the harm done to his lover.
Still, Corvina held back, rather than immediately going to Lanting’s side now that the gargoyles were smashed and gone. He waited, giving Helene space to worry and Lanting space to work—At the sound of Helene’s voice, Kaifeng stirred with a groan. Nodding wasn’t…an entirely comfortable feeling right now. That made Kaifeng wince. But once the discomfort of it died down, he opened his eyes. Tried to smile up at Helene, but suspected it was probably not that reassuring right now, when Kaifeng felt shaky, dizzy, and other than his absolute best.
I hear you, gege, Kaifeng thought to Helene, rather than speaking. Partly because he feared that opening his mouth might make him sick.
But, for as bad as Kaifeng felt, he also felt……very safe right now. Even with his head kind of spinning, Kaifeng felt flushed with the kind of warmth that came from knowing you were somewhere that no one could hurt you. Glancing down—which felt much better than glancing up toward the lights, right now—he spotted the orchids that had sprung up around Lanting. Oh, oh, so this must have been Lanting’s magic, healing magic. So extremely helpful to have on any team.
“Didi,” Kaifeng said softly, his voice tremulous (and he really did fear being sick), “you did really well tonight. And thank……thank you for sharing your magic with me.”Honestly, Corvina wanted to stay away from Helene at the moment. But Kaifeng was, if nothing else, stable for the moment, and Lanting was quite upset. The place for Corvina to be at a time like this was beside his Knight, and so he knelt there (leaving some space between himself, Kaifeng, and Helene, as much as he could manage, lest he cause any further problems by upsetting either Kaifeng or Helene).
“Let him be angry, amra-ji-chunyu,” Corvina said to Lanting, keeping his voice low because he only wanted to address Lanting, but with full expectation that Kaifeng and Helene could probably hear him. Not that he expected either of them to know the Corvinate word he used for Lanting—which would have best been rendered in English as “my sun and rain,” though the translation lost something special, in Corvina’s opinion—but everything else he had to say was relevant to them in ways that the term amra-ji-chunyu was not. “I didn’t mean for my magic to hit Kaifeng. But it still did. If it had been his magic hitting you, I would tear him apart with my bare hands. Helene deserves the same right to be angry over something harming his beloved. Intent doesn’t matter nearly as much as the outcome right now.”
Which was as close to the words “I’m sorry” that either Kaifeng or Helene would hear unless Lanting directly asked Corvina to say that. Acceptance of Helene’s outrage or not, Corvina still didn’t apologize to people unless Lanting wanted him to do that or the person being apologized to was, in fact, Lanting.Corvina…… Kaifeng didn’t really know what to make of Corvina, right now.
It was good that he came to comfort Lanting, Kaifeng thought? But trying to think too hard about anything right now…… It didn’t feel so good. Even with the healing from Lanting’s magic, Kaifeng didn’t think it was a good idea to just……let this go too long without getting checked.
“Gege,” he said softly, reaching for one of Helene’s sleeves. Kaifeng winced as he looked back up at Helene—the light, oh, <********> the lights—but kept looking at him anyway. “We should, I think? …Destiny City Memorial isn’t far? Princess Ida is one of the nurses there.” Kaifeng didn’t know if she would actually be on duty right now, but he did recall Murikabushi mentioning that Ida was a nurse at Destiny City Memorial Hospital. “Then, like, I always read that……” Kaifeng limply gestured at his face, his neck, his head. “We should get it checked? Just in case? It—it might not be serious, but better to be safe, right?”
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:44 am
Lanting only really relaxed even a little when Kaifeng opened his eyes. At least he was conscious. At least--maybe Lanting's magic had brought him around, maybe he'd be fine anyway, but either way, he was stable. Speaking. Et cetera.
"Thanks, gege," Lanting said, softly, "and it's...it's the least I can do." Especially when Corvina was, accidentally or no, responsible for the harm caused.
When Corvina came to him, he reached over and ran his fingers through Corvina's hair, both acknowledgement and a little bit grounding method for himself.
"I understand," he said, softly, right back, even knowing they would be overheard, "I just...I trust that you would never hurt my friend on purpose, is all." Mostly. After their little disagreement about Dunnottar, at least.
"Um," he spoke up again, a little louder, "Kaifeng is probably right, though. My magic can only do so much, and head injuries can be really serious."As far as Helene was concerned, all that mattered was that Kaifeng was alive. Conscious. Speaking, responding.
Good, he thought back, and reached out to gently wrap his hand around Kaifeng's, squeezing it. Whatever Corvina and Lanting were saying--it wasn't that he didn't care, and there was a part of him that was pleased to hear Corvina acknowledge his own fault in this mess, but Helene was far more focused on Kaifeng.
"I will take you to the hospital," he said. "I will carry you--a head wound risks dizziness, dizziness risks falling and further injury. And we will ensure you are attended to." If by Princess Ida in her civilian guise, that would be idea. Otherwise, well. As long as it was a competent physician, Helene would have to trust them with Kaifeng's care.
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