imeeji_frontstage | FOUL TOXINS

[ That lands, sharp fiery pain that lets him know he'll need a sIV to look at it later, and he'll have to favor that shoulder for the rest of the fight, but he's always had a high tolerance for pain and adrenaline makes it even easier to push through.

(He could keep fighting right now with a break, a dislocation, whatever.)

The important thing is that they're outside, and being outside means he can use Cut-Tongue Sparrow on her with a thought, taking her sight, without worrying she'll lash out and hurt someone else trying to get to him. ]

[ When her sight goes dark she stumbles, barely, then sneers as she closes her useless eyes (habit) and listens for his heartbeat. It should stand out like a beacon given how she's been thundering at him. ]

[ Then she uses Nightmare Vision on him. She can't give him a vision of being hurt or killed himself, that won't do a thing, so instead she creates his nightmare scenario: if he doesn't drop his sword, innocent people will die. She conjures nightmarish images of Venti, Doctor, Persicaria, getting hacked to pieces. ]

[ At the least, it should give him a moment of pause. And she uses that to charge him. ]

[ —You know, it's not like he hasn't looked over ZRAEL's powers, it's not like he didn't know this was a thing she could do, but it doesn't make it feel any less real, so that's...

Nauseating, frankly.

If she could see, she'd get the pleasure of watching his expression hollow out, and hey: he will, in fact, even drop the sword, as soon as it ends, hand up over his mouth.

The disorientation is intense, he can see her coming but it doesn't immediately mean anything. ]

[ Oh good, his queasiness will speed up his pulse, making him easier to locate in her blindness. She uses his pounding heart to adjust her trajectory and shoves the tip of her blade into his chest, feeling it catch on the barkskin. ]

[ But waste not want not, so she uses her momentum to try and topple him over. At the least he'll have a bruised sternum, maybe some cracked ribs. And she's going to get ready to throw him another vision in a second that says he needs to drop the fancy cheater's skin, so if he's going to react and stop her it's now or after revival. ]

[ The pain's fine, the pain is — almost a relief. Grounding. He grits his teeth, eyes cinched shut, then rolls back.

He'd rather use Through the Looking-Glass, but he's too dazed to focus enough for that, can't think of an illusion to summon up in the moment — so it's Alice in Wonderland instead.

The cottage just appears around her in the middle of the city. Impervious. ]

[ When he rolls back she hadn't seen it coming, obviously, so she loses her grip on her sword and it rattles away from her onto the ground. She makes a move to retrieve it, but -- bumps into something. As she's trying to feel around to try and get past it, her vision returns -- and she sees the walls enclosing her and knows what's happening. ]

[ Confinement is a struggle for her in the best of conditions, which certainly do not describe her current predicament. With the monster in her so near the surface, it's worse than anything imaginable. ]

[ Just before the walls close above her, she screams -- not in rage, but in terror. The cottage fills in and chokes off the sound, mercifully. ]

[ She's not sure if Lupine can hear her doing it, but despite knowing it's useless, she beats herself against the wall, over and over, scratches her hands raw. Whenever Lupine lowers the walls he and whoever is with him will find her beaten and broken in the middle of where the cottage once stood, unconscious. ]

[ ...Yeah. That's — about what he expected, even if he thought the scream would sound different. He really, really did not want to actually contain her like this.

Would like to give himself at least a moment of lying there in the street before he has to do anything else, but. His shoulder's on fire and his ribs aren't much better and if he doesn't dig his phone out right now, he's probably not going to be able to.

So: ]

🐺: She's down
🐺: Not out tho
🐺: Gonna need to figure something else out

[ And then, remembering fuzzily, ]

🐺: Near the game tower

Edited 2022-09-13 03:10 (UTC)

[ And, after that's taken care of, one more text. ]

🐺: Sorry but
🐺: Think I might need healing after all
🐺: Not far from the game tower
🐺: Thanks

[ Holy shit

Lupine must be fucking dying ]

🌸🌼🌻🌷🌺🌹🍃: I'm coming!

[ He flies there, in fact -- it's faster, and easier to spot Lupine from the sky.

He lands nearby and hurries over. ]

Don't be offended, but I'm surprised you're alive!

[ A very crooked smile. He's tired, most of all. Makes an effort to sit up, wobbles, and gives up on it for the moment. ]

Yeah, well. If she'd been thinking clearer, she wouldn't have wasted so much time trying to stab me.

[ Which reminds him: gotta let down Juniper Tree. The bark recedes, revealing bruises. What Venti can see at the moment is all on his neck from an, uh, attempted strangling??? This is fine.

~~Bruised all over, cracked ribs, dislocated shoulder, some internal bleeding as a result. Sorry bb.~~ ]

[ Venti winces, but steps closer. ]

You're lucky your head and arm are still attached.

[ Let's just . . . place a hand on Lupine's arm and numb ALL OF HIM ]

[ Oh shit, that's so much better, so much of the tension rushes out of him that he's left a little dizzy. ]

Lucky? C'mon, this is skill.

[ He should help Venti get to the dislocation, huh. Gotta be able to see what you're doing with sIV 'healing'. Okay, both sweater and undershirt are just gonna come off then, with only one awkward moment when his numbed shoulder still doesn't quite cooperate.

............Between the fuzzy and the numb, though, sorry Venti but it absolutely seems like a good idea to pop it back in himself while you watch.

Bracing his shoulder, YANK. ]

[ what the fuck ]

[ SIR ]

Are you done?

[ ???? ] [ Looks up at Venti, then back down at his shoulder, then back up. ]

Well, I don't think she dislocated anything else. Ribs are definitely at least bruised, though.

[ He'd like to think he would have responded differently under other circumstances but honestly who knows, ]

[ He places a hand on Lupine's shoulder to fix any damage from the dislocation, then moves on to his chest.

There's a lot of damage here, sir . . . ]

Oof, you really got knocked around . . .

Edited 2022-09-13 19:51 (UTC)

[ Tipping his head back to make that easier, but the dizzy is receding, and he's able to muster at least a crooked smile for that observation. ]

The plan was to let her keep going until she calmed down, but I didn't really get that far.

[ His gaze flicks to the cottage. It looks peaceful from the outside. ]

—Should've dropped a cottage on her sooner. She was using those unit powers, it was only a matter of time before she realized she could make me drop the armor. But...

[ but that scream ]

[ But?

Venti flicks a glance to the cottage, though his hands never stop their work. It does look peaceful from the outside. ]

How long will that hold her?

Twenty-four hours. And then I could put it right back on her, but...

[ Breath out. ]

You should've heard her when the walls started going up. When she realized what was — happening.

. . .

Even so.

She'll thank you for it later.

...I really thought I could find a middle-ground. You know? Let her do just enough damage that she feels better now, but not so much that she'll feel worse later.

Unfortunately, the way she is right now, I don't think she'd be satisfied until she's killed you. And we both know how terribly that would go later.

[ Another glance at the cottage ]

. . . Does she need healing too?

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