genessia | Falling Faster (Closed)

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Falling Faster (Closed)

WHEN: May 25(ish)
WHO: Theodora, Zaveid, Libra
WHAT: F E E L I N G S
WHERE: Fayren

She’s never been more grateful for the kindness of a stranger, specifically those that had answered her questions upon arrival. Theodora’s off to Fayren, and while her head is foggy, the determination is clear with every pained step she takes.

He doesn’t want her and the heartache has tipped her too close to the edge. Her emotions are as wild as the beast twisting inside her, and she’s not even sure she’s going to make it out of the city before it takes her over… but she’ll be damned if she doesn’t at least try. Then again, she’s already damned as it is.

Her eyes, filled with pain and panicked tears, have lost their bright blue hue, a wild orange replacing it, slowly snuffing out the gentle life within. She’s covered in mud, entirely unconcerned by the looks of it. There’s so much more on her mind than the ruin of her normally tidy clothing. Maybe she should have waited to send her goodbye message until she had gotten away…

The device sits heavy in her pocket, that last shred of hope that he’ll call keeping her together enough to follow the directions she’s been given toward the mountains. It’s pouring rain- she had been told it had been this way a while- and her vision is weakening… then sharp all at once… but her eyes stay on her goal… until she trips.

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"Theodora?" A familiar voice, and a hand on her arm to try to catch her before she hits the ground. He'd been caught out in the rain himself, but he at least wasn't running like the servants of Grima were chasing him.

"What's wrong?"

He's able to steady her before she falls, but she flinches hard at the unexpected touch. She turns a startled gaze on him, snapping out of her panicked focus for just a moment, but clutching her chest all the same even as she recognizes him. "Libra... Please, I have to go... I-I can't stay here. Not in the town."

Her eyes are wide and pleading, obvious even under the downpour of rain, but her body is getting weaker.

"Theodora. What's going on?" He releases his grip, but keeps his hand outstretched, because he can tell something isn't right with her. He can't tell what, but can sense something.

"Let's get somewhere dry and you can tell me what's going on." The rain wasn't really a bother to him, but it may be to her.

She's almost shaking under the stress, but she grips his forearm tightly, even as he lets go of her, if only to keep standing.
She shakes her head again, waiting for a roll of thunder to pass before she even attempts to speak. "I-I can't, it's over. H-He... I'm-" she teeters a little. "I need to-"

Another roll of thunder drowns her out, but it's clear she doesn't need to be on her feet much longer.

He glances up at the sky for a moment, the storm was getting worse. Offering her his arm, he motions to a nearby building.

"Let's get inside. Then you can tell me what's going on."

The nearest building is a half dead bar, with the weather keeping people home, instead of out.

Except Zaveid doesn't care about the weather, but. Kinda does care that Theodora just showed up by the way he stiffens at the bar.

No no no, thanks-

She follows him helplessly, barely able to stand on her own. It's eating away at her, gnawing viciously at what's left of her broken heart even as the rain stops and there's a roof over her head-

...and then it hits her full on, the moment she sees Zaveid. There's full blown panic on her face as she freezes, eyes locked on the man she loves with every ounce of her being... and then her head is in her hands, body shaking violently as she sobs his name, a desperate plea before her legs give out...

...and wings of inky black malevolence rip from her back.

She's gone in the next instant, forcing herself into the wind and away.
She will make it to those mountains.

"Theo wh--" He's not able to get his sentence out before the black wings appeared and then were gone, and she was out the door. Looking the direction she had been before she cried out and ran away, he saw Zaveid sitting there, looking that way.

"What is going on here?"

Oh.

Zaveid stares blankly at her, then over at the... person who'd been with her. Is that at him?

"Nothin' new." He ... doesn't exactly sound his best as he says that, a little strangled, like something else was going to come out his throat instead.

... Sounds like something he needs to drown out with another drink! And like that, he turns, because he'd rather drink than think on what happens next.

Oh, sorry, did you really mean to tick off the holy man? Cause he's walked over and wrapped his hand around the necklace Zaveid wears.

"If I were not a holy man, you'd be on this floor right now." He says, in the lowest voice he can muster, other hand pushing any alcohol out of reach. There's a tug on the necklace to get Zaveid to look at him.

"I'll ask again. What. Is. Going. On. She saw you and bolted."

It takes Zaveid a puzzled moment to realize what's going on, and even then he's just... drunk and a bit confused.

"That's gunna stop you?" Didn't stop some other supposed holy or good men he knew. Exorcist with standards, maybe-

And his mood sours more. Why did his drink go further away-

Zaveid does look at him, even though it's with this boneless lean away at the same time. Like his necklace was the middle of a cat that didn't want to get picked up.

"She hates what I am now. And she's dying, again." Drunken (incorrect) certainty.

And maybe that last part isn't sinking in quite right.

"Whats it matter to you?" Give him his drink back-

Oops, his hand tips the drink over so it spills on the other side of the bar. He'll have to come back and pay a nice tip to the people who run the place.

"Yeah, well, I think she might still care a little with that reaction." The grip on his necklace tightens. "And she won't be dying if I have anything to do with it." There's a pull.

"I'm normally not a violent man, but I will drag you with me if I need to."

Zaveid stares blankly at his drink just. Spilling away, then back at the so called holy man.

She might still care. Why should she, its not like he can ever keep to his name, like he could save her - the only saving he ever manages to do-

Zaveid snarls, both at his own spiraling thoughts and at the man holding his attention.

"Try it." Try hauling him off-

Anything so he stops thinking.

Eyes narrow.

"I will." And he twists his hand in the necklace and pulls at him to try to get him on his feet. He doesn't look as strong as he is, the robes hide the majority of the muscle.

"I don't know anything of the world you two came from, but if I can save a friend from possession by a god, then you and I can save her."

While the two argue at the bar, Theodora finally makes her way to the mountains, though... there's little thought power left in her to celebrate. She all but falls out of the wind, arms wrapped tightly around her middle as the pain of transformation courses through her body. The wings are only becoming more prominent, less misty... and the winds of the storm are picking up.

Odd, how it might sound like a woman's whimpering on the gusts tearing through the trees in town.

And Zaveid is drunk and lighter than he looks. Problems with being wind.

While Zaveid is used to fighting in close quarters, he's drunk, and he's upset, and its a very bad combination.

Probably for him.

The wind seraph tries to hook a leg behind the human's, and also maybe smash his head against his face - given he's being pulled closer.

... He's most likely going to fall over attempting this though.

He doesn't have time for this.

The way it looked, Theo didn't have time for this.

"We can have a bar fight later, there are more important things to attend to." He takes his free arm to grab the axe from his back and use the handle try and trip Zaveid onto his back.

"We're going to go find her. Now."

"Rather fight now-" He's not stable enough - in a few ways, at the moment - to resist falling. And with how close they are to the bar, there's a nasty thump as Zaveid cracks his head.

Somehow he's not fully stunned into crumbling, which is helped by Libra still having a hold on his necklace.

It's almost a welcome distraction, the pain, but instead of adrenaline to follow up, he's just left with a clearer head.

Find her and save her. Of course, it's happening again.

Always happens-

"Yeah, sure. If she's already gone, s'your problem. I'll let her eat me this time." Zaveid this guy probably doesn't even know what happens to seraphim.

Edited (There we go) 2018-07-05 22:49 (UTC)

"I really don't care what you want." He says with a smile. Twisting the hand with the necklace, he starts pulling Zaveid for the door. He glances at him when he comments again.

"Whatever happens, know I will do what I can to bring her back."

Zaveid just... lets Libra haul him for a couple steps. Why bother, why not make this as hard on him as possible -

Because this kinda hurts and not in the fun way.

"Of course you don't." And that grip on necklace will turn to a grip on a breeze, as Zaveid turns to wind. He drops out of the air a moment later, and wobbles from his new place just out of easy reach. Studying the guy who wouldn't leave him to trying to drown his... Everything, really, it's not just sorrow he's trying to avoid.

"Sometimes, the only saving you can give people is death." And then his gaze slides off again, because he told the shepherd that at Eizens mountain too. Someone else he failed to keep promises with.

"Hope you're ready for that."

Libra's eyes widened when the man he was holding became... wind, apparently, and then reappeared, smartly where he couldn't just grab at him again.

Holding his gaze for a minute, he took a breath. "I had a friend. Robin. Who gave their life in order to kill a dragon god, to keep him from returning." A pause. "While I may not understand the specifics, I understand what I would be willing to give."

He takes a few steps towards the door before turning back to check that the other was following. "And if I don't return, well, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

... Okay, he guesses then Libra gets it, as much as humans can.

So Zaveid sighs, and starts his wobbly way after the holy man. His winds pick up, and he flinches a little.

"If she's a drake... We might have a chance. If she's a dragon, hope you're good at dragon slaying, I don't want to do it again..." and maybe that's most of it, right there. He's lived it once before, with Theodora, he's going to have to get around to living it with Eizen, he didn't know many of the wyverns and drakes he's hunted nearly so well as those two-

The winds shift and he shudders again. "Over at the mountains." Zaveid might not be the only one hearing whimpering on the wind anymore.

"That sound. It's her, isn't it?" He asked, then covering an ear with a hand. It wasn't something fun to hear. "We'll hope for the best, but plan for the worst." It was a good strategy, but not something he wanted to face.

"Let's go."

Zaveid spends a moment shaking off memories - black wings and being near killed by hellions, just long enough to make another failed promise.

"You got what you need? I can get us there fast."

An axe at his back alongside a healing staff. He only needed those two things.

"Yes. Let's go."

"Hold on to your lunch."

With that very helpful comment, Zaveid vanished and the winds picked up. A lot.

And also picked up Libra.

Hope the monk enjoys flight, because that's more or less what's happening.

The mountains get closer and closer and Libra might be able to tell where Theodora is by some extra unnatural storm clouds, but the winds don't bring him right there.

Instead he's dropped to the edge of those clouds, in the arms of a weirdly dry Zaveid.

That...wasn't what he was expecting, but let's be real, he didn't know what to expect with this man. He was still expecting him to take a swing at him. Instead, he was being princess carried for a flight to wherever, and soaking wet. This was something he could deal with, honestly.

"I'm assuming she's in there."

"Yeah." ... Eh, he doesn't feel like actively drying the guy. There's an uncomfortable shift, like something stings.

"Her domain's bad enough I can't tell if she's a drake or gone." Which.. might almost be semi visible, depending on how well Libra could sense something was up with Theodora earlier. Some purple-black haze.

There's a roar from within the mist, but whether it's from wrenching pain or anger at their presence is impossible to tell.

Doesn't really matter either way. They're about to be met with a large pair of glowing eyes and a whole lot of teeth as she flies over them.

Sorry Libra, because there's a disconcerting feeling of Zaveid's arms melting away, and then gravity remembers that there's a human up there.

Zaveid doesn't forget about Libra for long, catching the monk then making a quick but more or less safe landing. Zaveid might have tumbled after dropping Libra the last half a foot but he pops back up to his feet and is much more like the wild mess from before he got knocked on his ass.

"Drake! That's a drake!"

Damn it Zaveid.

There's a very not so graceful scramble to grab something before Zaveid catches him and then drops him... right on his ass.

"A drake?" He looks up and sees the dragon above them. Well. Shoot.

She circles them, tail whipping wildly back and forth as she stares them down and pins them with another earth shaking roar.

Should probably be careful. Between the stinging of the rain and that tail, she's quite a little force to be reckoned with.

"A drake!" for whatever reason, Zaveid still acts like this is great news.

"Gimme a sec-" And the wind seraph fishes in his gun holsters, coming up with a phone.

He fiddles with it for a good minute.

"Ah, fuck it." Back into a holster his phone goes.

"Why try relying on a maybe when I've got a yes?"

Only he pulls out Siegfried, which could be alarming but, well, that would require recognizing it as a gun.

"Drakes can be purified. There's a chance-"

"So, drakes aren't the end all, then?" He heard that last sentence and glanced over to look at the strange weapon Zaveid now held. He pulled his axe from his back.

"I'll follow your lead."

They'll have to excuse the irritated looking mini-dragon as she shakes her head side to side (almost as if trying to rid her mind of something), then lunges their way, teeth bared at Libra as she goes for Zaveid with that tail-

"Nah." Zaveid almost laughs it, even as the winds pick up around him.

"Shits weird here, if ya can see her this clearly, but figures."

Zaveid rolls away, a hand and a pendulum slapping at Theodora's passing tail. He's learned your favorite way to knock him about, remembers it... A little too well.

But his hand is shaking as he points Siegfried.

The dragon gives a sharp cry and diverts her attention back to Zaveid properly when he slaps her tail away, twisting midair to poise herself to strike him head on instead.

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Falling Faster (Closed)

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