guiltrip | WEEK 5

WEEK 5

WEEK FIVE

21 Vacationers

The weekend sure was something, wasn't it? Tempers flared, explosions burst, and some were treated to an immersive sand bath experience. Come Monday at least, things seem quieter though not in the unnatural still way—the distortions on the islands have receded sometime in the night (with some impressive firework-like booms that may have stirred your sleep, at that; and the waves seem a little higher this morning) and the various amenities on the island have been made orderly again. Though, as always, some traces remain in the landscape; the waterfall looks like it has seen better days, though it's no longer in danger of coughing up debris on your head if looked at wrong.

This week like the rest brings new locations for you to explore, on Kakapo's Nest though it seems like only one of them really fits the vacation vibe. Hope you like snow!

!
WEATHER ALERT:

Bulletin:
Starting Monday morning and continuing throughout the week, pollen counts will be elevated. This is expected to last until late Thursday

!
TASKS:

Breathe Freely:
Enjoy the great outdoors with a fellow vacationer! It's never too late to appreciate nature.
(REWARD: RARE!)

(( Yes, only one task this week which is memshare with someone else. Have fun!
REMINDER: Task submissions are due Friday by 9 PM EST/6 PM PST. ))

(( OOC: Murder proposals are due by Tuesday at 4 PM EST / 1 PM PST, for the current week's murder, which is the last week of standard murder, week 6 being endgame!!

Also, as always, your admins can be contacted for a chat. ))

MONDAY • TUESDAY • WEDNESDAY • THURSDAY

Locations Proposals PCs Check-in Submissions Profiles Network Main Nav

code

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Zelkov said not today scaley

Taking a lesson from the fight against the Grape Nomu, he isn't going to Leroy Jenkins this and rush in. Instead he'll bring his sword down to the ground and send an energy wave towards the flame he sees in through the smoke.

He hopes that's the dragon. If it isn't... he didn't do it! ]

[ zelkov will just go ahead and engage while wang lu's doing that so he can be ready to back him up — so the Cool White Hair version is back!! and he's got a proper sword equipped now instead of his basic knife.

ready for some dragon on dragon violence. ]

[ dragon and meteor and energy wave on dragon violence, more like. the combined force of the energy wave and the meteors seems to be somewhat effective. there's a moment where it stumbles... or something to close to it with the way the light of its flame moves, coupled with a roar of pain. how much that actually managed to wound it remains to be seen, given the whole fog and hitting it from far away thing.

but it was the dragon! good job.

the ranged attacks seems to give it an idea, however, and it moves towards what it assumes to be their general direction. the light in the distance brightens, increasing in intensity, until...

you guessed it right. dragons breathe fire, and they're getting fire. it moves along the fog, aiming to force them to move and reveal where, exactly, they are. ]

[In the planetarium, they were easy targets. Out in the open, even with Zelkov's fog...there's nothing for them to pin themselves behind. This really is a pickle.

She's exerting herself quite extensively by now, but she easily has the juice to keep their haste buff up. Waltaquin peels off from the others, moving in a direction counter theirs. As something of an AOE expert, she knows that clustering is certain death.]

When did I become such a weakling... [It's annoying. She's annoyed!

And she will need at least a turn or two before she has the capacity to cast another bigger spell. It's probably worth it!]

[ Go get your rest, gurl.

He's going to send energy up his blade again to prepare for another strike, and then something bright starts coming towards them. He's going to move at the dragon's breath and aiming to swing his sword through it to break through the fire putting him closer to the creature as well as in firing range! ]

[ excellent, this is exactly what zelkov was preparing for. though the fog dissipates, as wang lu strikes at the fire, he'll jump up behind him to aim at that clearing with a hard-hitting torrent of water blasted from... some kind of big dragon claw, i don't know how to describe this.

ANYWAY, aside from blasting the dragon it will also mildly flood the area for a short time, which should again help to mitigate the damage from the heat. ]

[ not zelkov's yaoi hand

this is where the indignant roar would be if the dragon wasn't so busy spitting fire. without the fog, it's clear to see that the strike from before has, in fact, done some damage... small amounts of blood scattered across scales near the place of contact of his energy blast, and from quin's meteors. so at least they don't have to worry about grape nomu regeneration.

or the fire breathing, as the space wang lu's created for zelkov to blast the dragon gets its jaws snapping shut. the fire around its body dies down with a hiss from the water, igniting once more with less intensity as it regains its bearing after being forced backwards.

with its targets in sight, it slams down claws with great force in their direction. while the damage sticks, it's almost like it makes it stronger — desperate attempts to live, regardless of the cost.

good thing quin doesn't seem to be in its thoughts at all, so she has her moment to rest. wang lu and zelkov? not so much. ]

[Delightful.]

Scion of ruin and slaughter... stray of hell...

[That rest is what she needs to gather the EP strength to do this.

Though he is much less impressive at this juncture, amounting to only the size of a Golden Retriever rather than all of his massive skeletal glory. Though he cannot breathe fire, what he can do is shoot an appropriately-sized uh. Laser. Beam. Directly at the roaring flame, eager to see another flicker.

All things struggle not to die, but death persists.

She'll be more vulnerable so long as this lil boy is up, so hopefully they listened earlier.]

[ Giving the fans (probably just Seto) what they want and having him hit by some of that water. How? Good question.

He's going to keep the dragon's attention on him by blocking it's clawsies from stomping time. How much strength does it have, anyways? He'll try to tank it even if it'll wind up knocking him down or breaking some bones. ]

[ zelkov will split off from wang lu and move to cover waltaquin while she's working her literal magic — and give her a little of that sweet passive healing — and will have his sword ready for whenever he needs to jump in.

in the meantime, he's trying to pay attention to the dragon to see if he can identify anything that might look like a potential weak spot to strike at now that the fire has weakened, or if they just have to keep wearing it down. ]

[ its clawsies have a decent amount of punch behind them. a little above what'd you expect from a decently sized dragon, really, so if wang lu does want to meet and tank those hits for the group (what a swell guy) and he can't handle that... then, well, he's going to get knocked down, and potentially stomped on. not gonna judge if he enjoys that.

not that the dragon can keep up the assault for too long with the addition of golden retriever lasers. they hit the dragon directly, the flames around it dying again as it steps backwards, revealing to zelkov the thing he's looking for.

while most of it is covered in black scales like armor, there's a section that is not, somewhere between its front two legs? arms? he has a moment to catch that before its back on the offensive, this time looking to stomp past wang lu and strike at zelkov, waltaquin and her summon. ]

[Ah...perhaps she can see that, too, but there's nothing she can do about it with this weapon lacking in such precision.]

Aha... haha - I see, I see!

[Here comes a special boy! Here he comes! The smaller skeleton dragon waddles its fat little ass closer, its own claws ripping at the ground as it prepares to stomp, just in case a tank swap is needed. It may be little, but it will be more of a foe than her skeleton warrior as long as its controller can stay in operation.]

[ Since the dragon didn't get to kiss a twink, she can step on a twunk instead.

He will tank clawsies until he's knocked down. Wang Lu will immediately try to roll away but the dragon can go stomp stompy on his arm. There will be a crack from something breaking.

Then it's heading to give Zelkov and Waltaquin some loving. Getting into a kneeling position to try to send one last energy blast from his sword to it while it's heading to them. It's on you now Zelkov and special boy! ]

[ zelkov sure doesn't like the sound of that crack, but he's not going to get distracted by it now. now that he's seen that weak point, he's going to go after it as soon as an opportunity presents itself.

if it rears up to strike at either him or quin, he'll switch over to the short throwing sword and aim for that unarmored spot. ]

[ so glad xiao got to step on a twunk.

despite its durability and persistence, the marks on even its armored body shows that their strikes have been whittling it down. the additional energy blast from wang lu is another scar upon many, made even beyond this very fight, and it— she— stumbles again with that strike.

waltaquin's waddly ass dragon is a golden retriever mosquito, and the dragon's claws smash around it in an attempt to completely tear it apart as it struggles to move back into a proper position. this is enough, this is enough, and—

—it is enough, as zelkov hits the mark despite the dragon's attempt to move last minute to protect its weak spot. the roar, the shriek it lets out is guttural, and the flames burst to life in a last desperate attempt to live, though they flicker once more. it staggers, unmoving, that weakness in full display.

that wasn't the strike that'll kill it, but it's given them the best opening they'll get. ]

Now! Now, now, now -!

[The skeletal dragon is fraying at its bony seams, on its way back to the hell it crawled out of. But even as it's beginning to fade into oppressive dark energy, it latches its jaws around one of Xiao's forearms and clings and shakes and drags, ripping her to the side so the very heart of her weakness is bare. Even as it's crumbling it will use the last of its strength to hold her there so the ones with pointy objects can drive them home.

Waltaquin is down to one knee in the field, her breath outrageously and delightfully hard.

This is it - it is enough - and despite her exertion she is unblinking and does not look away from the fading flame.]

[ Why didn't his master teach him anything useful like more projectile?

He's hissing under his breath as his arm moves as gets up. He's had more broken bones than this before, but it's been a while. Time to throw his all into one final attack! He's going to lift his sword up and adjust it's size so it's easier for him to handle with the one hand. Then he's using both his super speed to get over there. Just going to attack the dragon from behind with a strike.

Zelkov can get the finale. ]

[ he intends to do just that. he switches weapons one more time back to the holy sword yato — which was, he remembers corrin telling him before, forged specifically to fight against those among the first dragons who opposed humanity. it only seems fitting.

with the breaking effects of waltaquin's and wang lu's last attacks giving the perfect opening, zelkov lunges forward to lodge the long sword deep into its chest. ]

[ it's far too weak to fight combined against the dragging, slowly being worn down combined with the strike from wang lu that draws more blood, dropping its body forward as zelkov comes at its—

—at her heart with yato. there's another cry. of pain, of anger, of many things... with the last of her strength, it lets out a final blast of fire, hoping to at least take something down with it, all of them, even, though she hardly aims the attack properly as death finally comes to claim her.

slowly, the flames die down, that unintelligible speech returning as the dragon falls back. ]

■ ■■■■—

[ the form of that dragon begins to dissipate in slow flickers of fire, scales scattering like petals, those growls becoming clearer though still murky, words as fleeting as a final breath— ]

I̶̼̒ ̸͒ͅo̸͚̓n̴̰̾l̸̼̕y̶͕̌ ̷̜͝w̸̡͐i̷̠̐s̴͖̕h̶͚̅e̴̯͘d̵̠̓ ̴̛̫t̸̜͝ỏ̷̥ ̵̂͜ś̷̰é̴̱ḙ̵̂ ̶͖̐ý̶͓o̴̘͝ȕ̴͓,̴͔̎ ̷͙̚L̸̗͛ò̴̻w̸͍̒ē̷͙l̷̰͘l̴̻̈́.̷̀ͅ ̴̨̚T̷̼̈́h̷̘̃e̸̳͗ ̵̩́s̸̩̋t̶̜̑a̶̝̾r̴̥̾s̵̫̚.̴̯̋.̵̼̂.̵̠̓ ̶͍̚ä̸̞́r̵̠͋e̶͇͂ ̵̬͆b̸̲͝e̸͎̕ã̵̩u̸͛ͅt̷͕̂í̴͉f̷͓̏ų̴̚l̵̖͊.̵͕̂

[ and with that, the form of the dragon is gone, leaving only the form of its embers... now, quite obviously, human.

xiao is ~~still kissless~~ dead. ]

[The darkness recedes around her as Waltaquin's dragon, too, returns to embers. The necrotic energy, the smell of death - it all begins to lessen and fade. Tenderly she rises to her feet again. Zelkov's healing and the fog have done a good job at keeping the worst of the fire at bay, but she's sure there are parts of her dress burned onto her somewhere.

Lips pressed, she looks down at the body.]

Ah... so those were the flames of hell that Sonya felt, all those weeks ago. Xiao... What drove you to this?

[...Why does it feel as if they're all running out of time?

Oh, fuck, Wang Lu's arm - She isn't sure she can handle another invocation.]

[ At first he feels victorious for having to stop whatever creature they were experimenting on this time.

Only for those scales to fall away until there was nothing left but his wayward Cabana-mate instead. ]

Ah. [ That's not good. The combination of the weight of what they just did and Wuxiang Bones kicking into effect is making him feel much more tired than he usually is. He stumbles forward, dropping his sword in the process, to check on the still form of Xiao. ] Why was she even like that?

[ while there's nothing particularly surprising to zelkov about a dragon turning into a human — that's just how dragons work in elyos — he somehow hadn't been expecting it to be someone he knew here. maybe he should have, since they'd all seen xiao's fire powers in person before.

as his own appearance returns to normal and the sword vanishes from sight, he looks down at her, frowning. perhaps if he'd gotten to know her better, he might have some understanding of what had led to this.

...but it's done now, regardless. and even if he'd known who she was, he can't say he would have done otherwise, not when two others were putting their own lives on the line fighting alongside him.

his duty is to neutralize threats, whatever form they take. ]

I could not say. ...And I do wonder what it was she seemed to be searching for when you first arrived.

[Xiao's body remains battered and bloody and covered in ashes from everything that transpired before, though luckily the scale of the dragon's injuries don't seem to have transferred over one-to-one -- or she might have been obliterated in the process of whatever-this-was.

Others may be able to tell a tale of where she came from, or where this started, at least, but here they are at the very end.

On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be a body announcement forthcoming right now -- perhaps it's a good time to give the body a quick lookover while there's nothing to interrupt.]

[There will be time to lick their wounds later, when everyone has come running and reconvened.

Waltaquin kneels down next Xiao so that she might do exactly that. What can be found on this former dragon as she sweeps some of the ash off of her with the back of her hand?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

!WEATHER ALERT:

!TASKS:

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

mini-body invest

no subject

no subject

!
WEATHER ALERT:

!
TASKS: