CYOA: Akira, Van Zieks, Alisaie, Rin

[grigori]

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AWAKE, ARISE OR BE FOR EVER FALL'N

[grigori]

[ wherever you were before, you're not there now. stepping out from the place you're calling "home" in the bustling market of ahnkeen, or browsing the wares of the market itself. exploring the world this week. simply being. it's you, and it's your daemon, and you are in a place with air so thick it's cloying, but a cold sweat is easy to feel, tacky on your skin.

the city the four of you and your souls stand within is covered in ash, ancient ruins that have been left behind with a looming tower of a mountain standing over everything. from its peak billows smoke and more ash - while this city has been cleared by a disaster long since past, the source of it still lives in that distance.

there is a skittering to be heard, off and on, under the muffled footfalls that you cause as you try to reorient yourselves to the new situation.

the source is unknown. the noise is hard to pinpoint.

any attempts to check out a direction that isn't related to a mountainous journey will come up with dead ends - a deep chasm, where you'd better watch your step; an endless barren wasteland with no shelter, no life, no trees, nothing; more of the city, all of it in ruins, the skittering and scratching louder.

take a moment to get your bearings. the mountain calls, but the pull doesn't hold too much sway, yet. ]

[veraltwin]

[Oh, ugh. The change from the hot, dry deserts to wherever they are now is immediately noticeable to Alisaie, sweat cold and clammy on her skin in the sudden humidity. Thankfully she and Taf have been doing a lot of working together over the past few days, so while she's still blind and entirely without direction in this new place, she has a general sense of her surroundings.

As well as the people around her.

Alisaie frowns, resting a hand on her hip.]

Well. It seems as though it is our turn to undertake some grand adventure outside the city. Let us pray we don't return in the same condition as the others have.

[bloodread]

Tch, it's about time. [ Akira had already been going without his jacket this week, and at least he's familiar with this type of heat thanks to Tokyo summers. It'd be better if he didn't have a boa of the non-feather kind around his neck, but fur in the heat is just terrible. Nagako scents the air with her forked tongue and a low hiss. ]

[winebar]

[van Zieks has been sour all week, possibly because he is in no way prepared for the heat. He likes layers and clearly gets absolutely no sun with how pale he is. At this point he's caved to the heat enough to be down to just his dress shirt and pants. He's scowling at the sudden, incredibly ominous scenery.

Without saying anything, he moves to stick close to Alisaie. Adelheid, as a harpy eagle, takes wing to survey the scenery from as high up as she can stand to go away from van Zieks, which isn't much, but it's something.]

It seems like there was some sort of volcanic eruption. The most dangerous thing would be to get closer to that mountain, which makes me feel that's probably our intended destination.
[The tired pessimism of a man who has fucking Had It.]

[aono]

Don't worry, I'll keep you safe.

[This is to Alisaie in particular, because of her punishment from last trial. Akira and van Zieks whomst.

The stickiness is annoying but Rin can tolerate it, for now. It looks like they'll be moving on anyway. Rin gets the feeling that staying in this town isn't for the best.]

Hey, who knows. Maybe we're supposed to do something about the volcano.

[What the hell can they even do about a volcano? They'll find out, he's sure.]

[veraltwin]

You'll what? [Oops don't tell Alisaie that she needs to be protected.] I can look after myself!

[Scowling, she turns to allow Taf on her shoulders a better glimpse of the ruins around them.]

Heading toward the mountain will likely be our intended destination, but mayhap we should look around here first. We may be able to find aught that can tell us about what happened.

[bloodread]

[ ...hm. Akira glances between them but doesn't say anything. ]

Yeah, I wanna see if there's any blood around here and who knows what else we could find.

[winebar]

[Meanwhile van Zieks is just keeping his Alisaie protecting intentions to himself.]

I suppose we might as well.
[He's just going to pick a direction and set off in it, Adelheid flying in loops over his head.]

[aono]

You just got zapped last weekend! If you're having a hard time let us help, okay?

[Look let him worry about someone who got punished and passed out. He worry.]

Blood, right.

...what WAS that thing you did with the blood before?

[Rin will go with the group but he's keeping pace with Akira for now so he can hear the answer to his question, if Akira decides to answer.]

THEY, HAND IN HAND, WITH WANDERING STEPS AND SLOW, THROUGH EDEN TOOK THEIR SOLITARY WAY

[grigori]

[ alisaie and van zieks hit the ground, hard, though it's hard to say how long that they fall. the air is not sweltering, like one would expect in the depths of a volcanic mountain range. instead it's a little chilled, if dry, like hollow bones long left behind.

there's a light ahead.

alisaie will hear alphinaud's voice more clearly here, broken and frail. begging her not to leave him behind. why can't he find her? why can't he find esmerie? they took her, they must have, when they came for him - sister, please! alisaie! alisaie don't leave!

van zieks will hear proper voices now, too. sholmes, incomprehensible and almost far away. it sounds a little like he might be speaking with kim, considering the other voice in the distance, level and even but with a strained note.

but there's a sobbing little girl, louder than them. she's terrified, hiccuping words that don't ever quite make it out, cries for someone. you know her voice, barok. you know who she is. h-hurley..!

your daemons are with you. the kiln's siren call is dimmer, fainter, the caress of a whisper that cradled your skull slowly drawing away.

what do you do? ]

[winebar]

[Augh. That's fine. More bruises is fine. That's future van Zieks' problem! He's getting up, about to make sure Alisaie can stand too, when he heards those voices.

He knows Sholmes and Kim aren't here. That just doesn't make sense. This is some sort of trick. He grabs Alisaie's arm to help her up.]

Here, miss Leveilleur, are you al-
[But then, that third voice. That- No, he knows it can't be. There's no reason for her to be here. He knows that, and yet he can't help it;]

... Iris?
[Tone low and heavy with alarmed concern.]

[veraltwin]

[They fall.

They fall, but it's okay--Alisaie instinctively grabs for Taf, curling around him and protecting her head. Their landing is hard, but that's okay too; she's taken enough falls in her life to know how to get back up and keep going.

What isn't okay? Alphinaud's words. On the mountain she'd been suspicious in spite of them (something had happened to him in Krankaz to make him worry about her while he'd been gone; how could she be sure this wasn't a similar trap?) but when he mentions Esmerie, when he mentions being taken--]

Oh, gods--Alphinaud!

[Sorry, van Zieks, that's a distraction so unfortunately you're not getting thanked for helping her to her feet; instead she lunges forward to try and pull out of his grip before turning back toward him, pleading.]

You must hear them now, yes? We have to help them!

[grigori]

[ alphinaud's voice turns frightened, and desperate, as if hearing you call for him, alisaie. is it true? is it you? alisaie! please! please, they took her, i don't know where she is! it's so dark, i can't -

iris wails softly. she's lost, she doesn't know how she got here. she can't see, she can't, she can't find hurley, he's been gone for so long. please come back, hurley! please! i'm scared!

there's no way to return to the surface. there's nothing but darkness behind you, in this massive tunnel. the only way to go is forward, towards the light, or backwards, in to the dark.

you have to make a decision. it's hard to pinpoint which direction these cries for help are coming from. ]

[winebar]

That isn't- It has to be a trick, miss Leveilleur. That voice, it's-it can't be. Iris wasn't with us before. I'm certain....
[he isn't. But someone has to be, and he's the adult here. Adelheid, now a cat, meows loudly into the darkness.]

We have to keep going. Towards the light.

[veraltwin]

No--you don't understand! [She could scream, desperate--he needs to understand--]

They were brought here. The Angels took them; they brought them here because of us--

[She breaks off, looking away from van Zieks, as if maybe she can see something--anything--in the blackness of her vision. Taf, still in his black-footed cat form, is crying mournfully into the darkness around them, padding back and forth before racing back to her and leaping, latching onto her dress with his claws and climbing his way back up to his perch on her shoulder.]

Alphinaud? Do you see light?!

[grigori]

[ silence, from alphinaud's voice, but not deathly so. it's the silence of someone trying to compose themselves, before - no. no, are you near light? alisaie, it's so dark here...

but at all of the voices, there's less silence. iris cries out, some fragment of hope in her voice - she is so small, but she tries to put her all into calling out, voice starting to go hoarse with how long she's been crying and pleading. please, please! i-is there someone? i don't know where i am!

the light is still ahead. the darkness is still behind.

what do you do? ]

[winebar]

[Ugh. If it was anyone else, he wants to think he would be able to push past it.]

... Where did you come up with that idea?

[He's hesitating. He knows he shouldn't engage with this. But.]

miss Iris! Can you hear me?

FOR SO I CREATED THEM FREE, AND FREE THEY MUST REMAIN

[grigori]

[ you fall, rin, akira. you fall hard, and you fall far.

landing is hard. the trip is not ideal, but at least you aren't on the face of the mountain anymore, trekking up towards the kiln proper. your ghost friend is no longer with you. wherever he is, wherever those survivors are, frightened and alone and separated from the living in the realm of the dead, they are at least not here.

you're lucky in that you've been dropped out of a different tunnel, partway into the grand remnants of some petrified garden. it's barren, with nothing alive remaining. no trees that aren't bleached bone white (or are those truly bones?), nothing but brittle grass, an empty river basin full of rocks and bones and no water.

a giant tree - a little familiar, to akira from the temple mural - stands not quite centered in the garden, but not quite cast aside.

there stands your companions. alisaie and van zieks will be able to turn and see you, dropped from a fissure in the side of the steady slope. uriel, the angel of dust, glances that way as well. the serpent remains still, halfway in the river basin.

the trumpet sounds again. it's closer this time. thunder rolls in the distance, and a great mass of clouds can be seen on the horizon. uriel looks that way instead. ]

HE HAS FOUND US. YOU MUST GO.

[winebar]

[Oh. Well. No need to go find Akira and Rin then, huh!!! Adelheid lets out a little bird cry at the sight of them.]

Who's found us and where must we go?

[WHY ARE YOU SO CRYPTIC. Alisaie can figure out of the boys are injured or whatever, van Zieks is having a bit of biblical tunnel vision atm to be honest.]

[veraltwin]

[Those are questions Alisaie wants the answers to as well, but she'll start making her way toward the boys as they wait for an answer. Her ears should be able to pick it up.]

Akira, Rin--are you hur--Twelve forfend...!

[Yeah, Taf's clued her in. And the smell of that much blood is definitely noticeable! She breaks into a jog, thankfully able to navigate the garden without faceplanting.]

What do you need?

[bloodread]

[ That fall is the last thing he needed right now, but at least he's properly angry again so he can think a little bit. ]

It's—[ Actually he's not that stupid to finish that sentence, and he grits his teeth. ] We're breathing, we can deal with this all later. Where the hell are we now?

[aono]

[Rin, on the other hand, is going to notice that all four of them are at least alive (though in rough shape) and instead turn his attention to Uriel, the snake, and the cloud rolling in. Because that feels Important and a shounen protag will magically know just where to look when it's thematically important]

Uh...guys? That thing told us to run. So we probably should, yeah?

[mmmmMMMM WHAT ARE THOSE CLOUDS???]

[grigori]

THE LORD REGENT. I HAVE NOT SEEN THE CHARIOT IN AEON, NOW. HE MUST NOT GET THE CUTTING. HE MUST NOT TAKE YOU. SURELY, HE HAS FOLLOWED YOU HERE - BUT HE WOULD COME SOMEDAY, REGARDLESS.

GO. GO FAST, AND SWIFT. INTO THE DESERT.

[ they press something else into van zieks' hand - four feathers, one for each of you, golden with dust. the serpent rears up out of the river basin, a slow hiss audible as it does. but the clouds don't need to be overhead for the threat to be clear.

a golden figure descends like a shot from the roiling clouds. it is coming. it's coming straight for you, and the tree, and uriel. there is a weapon in their hands, terrible and bright and sharp to the eye, and as they speed downwards...

it's another angel. and they are not friendly.

do you go back into the tunnel? do you heed uriel's urgent warning and proceed into the desert? or do you stand your ground? ]

[winebar]

[OBVIOUSLY WE ARE GOING TO DO WHAT URIEL SAYS!!! van Zieks puts the clipping and the feathers into his bag. He'll distribute the feathers later. We gotta fucking go. He glances at Uriel a moment, opens his mouth to ask the angel to come with them but. Hazards he knows the answer. So he nods.]

Thank you. Go in peace.
[Looking at the others, as he grabs Alisaie's arm just because they gotta run and he doesn't want her tripping.]

We need to go. No arguments.
[LETS BOOK IT FOR THE DESERT.]

[veraltwin]

[There's a string of curses from Alisaie as she's trying to help the others to her feet, as Taf is giving her consistent feedback on what's rolling in toward them. She can feel the tension in the air, hear the hiss of the snake, almost hear the tremor in the air of their foe bearing down on them (or maybe that's the pounding of her heart, knowing they're sitting ducks).]

The two of you first--go!

[That's to Rin and Akira, trying to push them onward. She grits her teeth at the feel of van Zieks' arm on her hand, then yanks her arm free so she can just grab his hand properly. A longer tether and a longer reach will serve them far better right now. And she speaks, the words rushing out as quickly as she can form them; she has a lot to say and they have no time.]

Listen to me. We bring up the rear. We must needs return that cutting to the others above all else.

Satariel unlocked my aether last week. If need be, I can distract them and be fine--I swear to you, van Zieks, with my aether I can make up the distance in a heartbeat, even as I am now.

No heroic sacrifices--not from any of us.