middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

Dawn Attack

It's been a busy few days of fighting demons, attacking keystones and fighting both on the demon and human planes. On the morning of day nine of the month of Kazoo a gate opens close to the base camp that the two teams have made.

It seems the demons have decided to focus on this unexpected threat, because it is a sizable force, with a number of the large demons. They march towards the camp with single-minded focus, the opportunity to stop these unwanted defenders taking precedence over their desire to destroy the city.

The advantage to the landscape being as ruined as it is, is that there isn't much to stop the lookouts from seeing this force headed towards them. A gate opening is not subtle. There should be enough time to make sure the defenders are ready.

Scouting Ahead

Once that skirmish is won those on the Red team will find their SCA's beeping, with an exclamation point far out to the east.

A group of demons is congregating at the location indicated. Investigate why, defeat the demons and close any gates nearby.

It will take a while to get there and there is plenty to do on the way for those that follow the exclamation point. Roaming packs of demons, gates to be closed. Exhausting work, especially for those going in and out of the demon gates.

Protecting the City

Once it is clear that these defenders are not going to be easy to wipe out, the attacks on the city itself get more frequent. The demons have changed tactics: rather than sending in large groups they open many small portals, sending small strike teams to harry and target individuals.

Some of the attacks are clearly meant as traps: they open the gates in or very close to the city, to lure the Voidtreckers in to where they will be affected by the spell. Ranged attacks may be useful here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"That is still recklessness I cannot abide by, what if--" she catches herself, stopping as she feels her temper flare from the worry. A similar memory replaying of an argument with her brother, but she shakes it off and lets out a huff instead. Casper isn't Sage, but that recklessness is similar. "My apologies."

A nod, she had planned to wash her hands regardless. Even if her flames could purify, it was smart.

The change in the boy's demeanour gives her pause, curious of what's happening. Until it clicks with her that him removing that vest could have triggered something.

"Casper? It's alright, you do not need to apologise." Her tone is immediately shifted to being nowhere near the harsh frustrated worry, but to one of a calm and soft worry. Something a mother would use to soothe a frightened child.

She does begin to let the magic work, a warm and soothing light enveloping the whip wounds, praying that nothing would go wrong.

Unfortunately, it's not a tone Casper really registers. It's not one that's ever been directed at him - the closest he ever got was clients being kind to him when he was younger.

"I'm fine. It's fine." He closes his eyes, trying to just concentrate on the healing, his body ready to close the wound as soon as the poison is pulled out.

... Bu the complication of trying to extract poison from something that is semi-living and semi-dead is a tricky one to get over at times, and the withering effects of the poison are hard to pull out. Instead of closing, the wound splits open and lengthens, crossing over his spine to reach the other side. The edges of the wound are still rotted and disgusting, the center of it oozing more reddish-yellow and silvery blood.

He can hear a high ringing in his ears, the sounds around him growing faint. He's already sitting on the ground, but his body suddenly seems to lose all strength and he slumps forward, breathing growing shallow as he passes out.

'What the fuck did you just do?!' Bob screeches at her ear, fluffing up in immediate alarm and concern.

Things seem to be going well enough until a cold chill runs down her back as things go suddenly wrong, causing her to immediately panic inside as she watches her magic horribly fail. SHIT.

"NO! It's not supposed to do that, what's going on?! Casper!" Her breathing is becoming uneven as this unexpected failure unfolds in front of her, scared that she's hurt him badly. The only time she's seen this was with someone who was horribly weak to holy magic. Bob's screeches don't help the overall situation any but it snaps her out of her irrational and racing thoughts, grounding her back to the situation at hand.

"I-- I just tried to cure and extract the poisons! I didn't think this would happen! I-- I'm sorry I didn't--" Inhale, exhale, biting her lip as she reaches for her knife to cut at her pointer finger as shimmery red-orange blood appears and mutters a spell so that it doesn't heal her immediately, letting the blood drip into the wounds. She doesn't like using her phoenix magic since it can take more energy and magic out of her due to how potent it can be using her life energy but the situation was dire enough and worth being tired for a few hours longer than usual.

"Wait."

Ryo had been about ready to head for bed himself, but Willow's distressed yells had been impossible to miss. He'd arrived in time to see her cut her finger, and he puts a hand out to stop hers before her blood falls into Casper's wounds. He doesn't know exactly what phoenixes are capable of, but this seems extreme, to say the least.

He glances at Casper's wounds - they're ugly, but ugly isn't exactly new to him - and looks back at Willow. "I think I can handle this. Let me try first."

Ryo's voice makes her visibly jump as she's stressing out, pausing what she was doing and looking up at him with a shaky nod when he puts his hand out.

"O-okay. I tried to heal and purify the poison... but it only made things worse. I-- I don't know how it happened." More deep breaths, trusting Ryo's healing abilities more than her own at the moment.

Casper hits his Sense in such an odd way it's impossible to mistake him as entirely human; the demons here are malicious; and Willow is a phoenix. It's entirely possible that everything is just one extremely bad allergic reaction.

"I don't either, but what's important is that we fix it." He lays a hand on Willow's shoulder for a moment, trying to be comforting. "It'll be alright."

But he can't linger for long, and he turns and takes a knee next to Casper, laying a hand on his bare, uninjured shoulder and reaching out with his magic. Casper is complicated, and it's difficult to get an accurate read on his life, but Ryo can tell a few things: that Casper isn't in immediate danger of dying; that that will change if something isn't done soon; that fixing the damage will take everything he has left for the evening; and that he can fix the damage.

Good enough.

He looks at Willow. "I can heal him, but you're going to need to help both of us get to a tent afterwards." Even if Ryo is conscious after this is over, he won't be capable of helping move someone who isn't.

Another nod and deep breath, trusting Ryo's words as she moves herself back just enough so that he can do what's needed. His hand is a comfort on her shoulder, glancing at him, Casper, and then back at Bob.

"I can do that, just don't do anything too damaging to yourself Ryo."

Even if her physical strength is nothing like others of her kind, she's still physically fit enough and stronger than humans. Even without the strength of an archer working in her favour.

"You don't need to worry - I've done this before." Kind of.

He pulls his pack out of his arms band and removes a shirt from it, placing it on the ground and tucking it around Casper's hips. This shirt isn't going to survive this, but that's okay - he'll get more clothes from the train later. He puts his pack back in his arms band, places both hands on Casper's shoulders - since there's no room to get any closer to the wounds - and closes his eyes.

He reaches out with his magic, easing into Casper's life and establishing a connection. Complicated though Casper may be, he's going to need that accurate read on Casper's life in order for this to work. He sorts through Casper's injuries - the ones on his back are heavily corrupted and will need special attention, but the ones on his arm are clean, and he nudges his magic in that direction. Casper's life responds to Ryo's magic, the wounds on his arm close, and it gives Ryo the details he needs to be able to separate Casper's energy from the poison in his body.

Okay. Time for the hard part.

He shifts focus, concentrating on the poison and drawing it towards the open wounds on Casper's back. It's a long, slow process, made even more complicated by the corruption in those wounds and the fact that pulling at it too quickly or with too much force will cause even more damage, but eventually he draws it to the surface of the wounds, letting poison and infected blood seep out of the wounds and onto the shirt he'd placed there for exactly this purpose.

Eventually, the last of the poison seeps out, and Ryo checks once again - double-checking his work and making sure there's no poison left - before turning his attention to closing the wounds themselves, a much quicker and easier task now that the poison is out of the way. It's a matter of seconds to close the wounds themselves, and Ryo does one last sweep - he's fine. Casper should be fine - before easing the connection apart and laying his hands in his lap, completely spent. "He'll be alright," he says, doing his best not to waver. He needs to take care of that shirt - that poison shouldn't be left laying around, to say nothing of the blood. He needs to make sure Casper gets someplace safe to rest. He...

He needs to stay upright. That's step one.

"He just...needs to rest."

Willow watches Ryo closely, keeping a watchful eye over him as well. She believes him and in him, but it's the sister figure and healer in her that worries, needing to act fast should something suddenly not go right. Even with her own failure moments beforehand, she's still got her Duty to help others first and foremost.

She watches the poisons be pulled and watches where they go, eyeing the shirt they're placed onto. Those will have to be dealt with later, but for now her attention is on Ryo, watching for signs of exhaustion or distress. She's impressed and interested in the process of how Ryo heals, pulling it out isn't something she's seen magic-aligned people do, only those who're incapable of removing poisons.

Once Ryo finishes, Willow can tell he's tiring, and moves quickly to steady him should he topple over. As well as gives a glare to that shirt, flicking one wrist to engulf it in a purifying white flame until it becomes ash, watching it flicker a sickly green as the poisons are burned. She does this without even thinking, knowing that it's unwise to leave lying around.

"Thank you, Ryo. As for needing rest, so do you. My tent is not far from here, you both may rest there. Can you stand?"

Bob has been watching from Willow's shoulder the whole time, but he fluffs up again as the poison is removed. The wounds close fast, faster than normally it would take for Ryo, the skin becoming smooth and healthy in an instant. Casper's eyes flutter open and he groans, shaking his head as he spots Ryo wavering.

He reaches out to steady Ryo, turning and putting a hand on his shoulder. "'M okay. Sorry..." His voice is slightly slurred, exhausted as he is, and he hears the question from Willow, attempting to help Ryo upright. "C'mon..."

It's too much, all at once, when what he needs is space to breathe and center himself again. They should know not to crowd a healer after a healing like that-

And why would they? They're not from his world. They don't know him in this capacity.

It's a terrible time to be very suddenly very keenly aware of the homesickness that's been weighing on him ever since he got here, but...here he is.

Gods damn it all.

"Stop." He puts as much authority as he can in his tone, pushing Casper's hand firmly away. "Casper, you need to relax. Willow, if you can get him to the tent and cleaned up, I'll be there soon." Gods, just give him a moment to breathe first.

A glance to Casper and back to Ryo, stiffening and then relaxing now that Casper is waking up, exhaling a held breath she hadn't realised was held.

"Yes, I can do that. Nova will be easy to spot waiting outside the tent, please don't take too long." She doesn't want to leave him there alone, worried for him, but she trusts he'll be along soon. Her tone betrays her worry as she turns back to Casper, putting his apology away for later since she's the one who really needed to.

"Come on, let's go Casper. Do you need help to stand or can you get up?" Fret fret fret over both boys, it's impossible to help being so concerned. Almost motherly at them.

Casper stifles a whine at being pushed away. Now isn’t the time for that. He stands, mentally checking his body as he does and switching his pain response back on. He can feel his body aches again, but that’s a good thing. His hoodie and shirt are stuffed into hammerspace, but he doesn’t let go of the bulletproof vest.

In and out. In and out. He just focuses on breathing, not how exposed he feels. Not on how scrawny he knows he looks. He’s fine. “Yeah let’s... let’s go.” Bob flutters over to him, landing on his left shoulder. The circle of raven feathers tattoo-that-is-not-a-tattoo is very visible now that there’s no injury. Bob knocks his head into Casper’s chin.

With a relieved sigh at Casper standing, appearing to be fine in her eyes, she gives him a once-over before determining that her initial thought is correct. His scrawniness does give her some concern but it's not the place for addressing that, she can do so later in private if he'll accept it. For now she starts to lead the way back.

"If you need it, you may lean on me. I'm stronger than I look." A pause before turning her head back to Bob. "I am sorry for what happened, I did not expect that."

Thankfully for him he's stronger than he looks too, it's just that his body doesn't reflect it. He shrugs and smiles a little.

"I don't blame you. Did you give her trouble?" 'I was worried.' "... Sorry about him. I think it has something to do with me being both alive and not alive? Usually healing magic is fine on me, it's just that I think the poison complicated it."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

Assuming they've crossed paths a couple times in camp already for names?

cw: gross wounds, blood, fainting

cw for panic and minor self-inflicted injury

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject