gocirclegogo | (no subject)

[Well, Touya's been having himself a rather awful day, judging by his appearance alone. It's a good thing he's used to roughing it or all the mud on his clothes would probably bother him. Today kind of really sucks but...so far, he's had worse. Much worse.

He has a few injuries too, but nothing serious, and nothing he wasn't able to patch up. He might not be able to use magic on himself, but he knows plenty of first aid.]

Ah...hey, Sei.

Touya.

[He told Merrill, but he had no idea how to explain to Touya or Marge so he hadn't, not yet, and right now...

His voices resonates, a low vibratto with the very fabric of the world and it is an ominous warning. Nothing about him is human right now. Kumagawa's Minus is making the seal hard to maintain. He has to concentrate on it, and right now...

it's wavering.]

You should probably get home. I don't...think it's safe out here.

[He can hear that. Every bit of it. It throws him for a moment; it's an unfamiliar sound, and one he can't quite comprehend the meaning of. Of course, Audi's been mentioning something similar to him for days - but now he can hear it so loudly and clearly he thinks it must be audible to normal ears, too. A vibration coming from everywhere at once, a vibration that cries danger. He's heard a much quieter rumble of distant danger all day, but nowhere as strongly as now.]

You...something happened to you. Or is happening. I can hear it.

[He fiddles with that ring on his finger, a ring he's never, ever been without. The distant sound of danger all day has been making him antsy and worried about his own seal. As long as he has the ring, though, he should be fine, but hearing you just now has made him concerned. Whatever is going on...if it's powerful enough to damage souls, then the seal his parents gave their lives to create might not hold.]

I...I've heard something all day, something bad. I can't tell what though. If...if it isn't safe, then I want to help. Even if I can only heal, that's...something, right? [As long as his seal holds, he can heal. If it breaks? He...doesn't want to think about it. About attacking the people here. About enjoying attacking the people here.]

...It's not that something's new. It's that I can't hide it...[He sighs, a long sound that feels the seems relax, and tighten.]

You don't need to worry about that. [And suddenly it's singsong, lyrical, music that reaches inside your soul and holds and binds. Sei's not human, that's suddenly very clear.

he never was.]

I can't explain it now. I think I know what's happening...that sound you hear is the world creaking. I'll see what I can do, but stay somewhere safe.

Audi...heard something days ago. Her ears are better than mine. Is it the same thi-- [His arms move to grasp at his chest as Audi suddenly appears very close to him. Both of them felt that. It was so loud it touched their soul, and it almost hurt physically too. Audi could hear it all the way from the Elsewhere and feel it through Touya. He feels like he can't breathe. Audi stands in front of him protectively.

More importantly, he feels Bouffallant stirring. He hears a ringing from his seal as the souls sacrificed to make it are affected too. That, more than anything else, scares him and snatches the breathe from his lungs. The seal is in danger.]

I-I...I... I-I can't... [Words. He has to say something, but he can't form words. He can barely think at all. He suddenly finds himself on his hands and knees without remembering having fallen. His breathing is too shallow still, or too deep. He can't figure out which, but nothing sounds or feels right anymore.]

[On his hands and knees and reality is always warping and entirely disgusting to be around and a shoe rests on his back.

Oh god the source of that feeling is right there and where the fuck did he come from-- Sei gets a smile and a half-assed salute of a wave. The kid he's standing on gets loomed over.]

Who's your friend?

[He was going to sing. He was going to try and calm it. But Kumagawa shows up and suddenly Sei's wings appear in all their show-offy glory, and he whistles a single, peircing note; long enough to break the aura, just for a second.]

...I'm sorry. We'll talk when this is over.

[He smiles at Touya, almost sadly, and then the moments over and he's staring at Kumagawa like someone just dropped roadkill on his lap.]

Not your problem. You've stopped pretending now?

[Awful as it is he knows this is the horror that belongs to Kumagawa, instead of the other one.

It also means he can kill him, but let's not jump to that just yet. Sei's voice has gone honey-smooth and deadly, the sweetest poison either of them will care to hear. an Aura starts to form, not the antichrist but a predator.

One wrong move is all it takes for him to find out just what he can do with his unsealed power.]

[As soon as Kumagawa gets within the area, before he's even close enough to step on Touya, the boy is forced to cover his ears with his hands. His ears are much stronger than a normal human's, and much more perceptive to magic and health and warps in reality. He can hear the pure wrongness before he can feel it.

And then the source touches him and it's even worse than the feeling that sent him crashing to the ground. Now he can feel it, and everything he's feeling he's also hearing, loud and painful and wrong wrong wrong. His head is ringing, he can't block the sound out, and even if he could that wouldn't stop the feeling. He screams and it's three voices screaming together - one is his, another comes from Audi beside him. The third seems to come from nowhere at all other than Touya's being - it's Bouffallant, roaring from the Elsewhere as his Person writhes under Kumagawa's foot.

He stops screaming when Sei breaks the aura. Touya can register that Sei has spoken. He just can't figure out what the words mean. He can register that Sei has wings. He just can't think of anything beyond the disgusting feeling that suddenly picked back up and the sound of everything around him being terrible and warped and twisted far out of whatever shape it's meant to be in. He knew of the Things in this world, he knew about the Old Ones to some extent. He had no idea there were things other than Them that could do things like this. His blood runs cold, and he's still writhing, unsure if he's actually in pain from all this or just terrified and struggling to get free.]

Edited 2013-02-24 06:16 (UTC)

[He doesn't move from his pose on top of Touya. Arms crossed and resting on his knee, on the one leg still resting on the poor crazy kid. And the broken smile doesn't leave.]

It is my problem. So you won't introduce us? That's impolite, Sei. Being rude means he's not your friend.

[Right at the end of that sentence, a he's no longer leaning on a teenager. He's leaning on a screw piercing through said teenager. See below for descriptions of misery. Enjoy being a Minus! Then he gets kicked over like it's nothing and standing completely deadfaced to Sei.]

And who cares about someone who's not a friend. Your kind has nothing to talk about with us.

[And now there's a hand ripping one of Kumagawa's eyes out and how did he get here so fast.]

Better friend than you'll ever be.

[ANd then he shoves Kumagawa back, off Touya, away, although he knows it's already too late.]

He's not like you. And he won't stay that way. I'll undo everything you're doing.

[There's a harsh note in his voice but he's already starting to do it, putting reality in place as fast as he can, undoing everything the Minus does.

This won't end badly at all, clearly.]

[Touya is screaming again; this hurts far beyond anything he's ever imagined. His two Pokemon scream with him, Audi collapsing because this transcends physical pain. Both Healers can feel and hear what this is doing, and the pain is made so much worse.

Audi's scream is pure anguish and heartbreak as Touya falls silent. To those who can sense souls there's a very clear sense of one ripping apart. Because that's exactly what happens when someone from Touya's world dies of something other than natural causes, or when a Pokemon does the same: the soul they share is ripped apart, a lonely, unimaginable pain that those who haven't gone through it can't hope to comprehend. They are incomplete, and it never ends well - except in rare cases like Audi's. Touya inherited her from his mother. This is the second time her Person has died.

A large buffalo with an afro appears from nowhere, called to this plane by his Person's pain and death. It hooves the ground, glaring at Kumagawa. He will pay for hurting Touya.]

[Of course it doesn't last, but the damage has been done. Even with the return of Touya's third of their soul, it isn't intact, still severely damaged from his death at all.

And when he returns? He's completely different. The seal isn't broken, and his ring isn't off, but it's like it is. The usual quiet, unsure Touya who wouldn't hurt a fly is gone, replaced by something wild, primal, and almost monstrous. A predator. He's more animal than human; when he rises it isn't to two feet but to all fours. He's as silent as death still - but it won't be long until he strikes.]

[Ah.

It hurts.

it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it's wonderful-

For every bit of reality Sei tries to repair, it snaps right back. And the reason is obvious once he rips his eye out. He's fought this kid before. His presence breaks everything nearby and then wipes it like it never happened and leaves ripples in its wake.

The eye's still in Sei's hand. There's still a hole in Kumagawa's face. The presence is still eating away at everything nearby but without leaving a single mark. The part that Sei could fix is gone. Because nothing's broken or warped, it just is.

He can't get rid of something that just 'is'. Not without taking everything else with it.]

You think you can? Haha... try it.

[Try it try it try it it doesn't work it doesn't work it doesn't work it will never work not even for the antichrist not unless you get rid of everything with it.

Any normal person would die from having their eye ripped out. Blood loss, damage to nerves, but not him. It. It just stands there, bleeding from one socket, pale as death, and laughs a broken little noise when the buffafro appears. Still smiling like a gash in the universe when he revives.

Sei gets a headtilt and a shrug from a monster with screws like swords for hands. It's wrong it's grotesque it's nightmarish and it speaks-] Hey. Sei. Do you know the best way to be friends with someone? It's to understand them, body and soul. That's all I'm doing here. Everyone equal. When we're all on the same playing field, everyone's free.

Just like Touya here. See...?

Understanding someone doesn't mean making them the same. You're not even trying to understand, just making them like you.

[But now he's got other problems, and Sei...considers.

He knows he can't kill it. He knows he can't beat it. And with Touya as he is...he's got other problems. W e l p.]

You don't make anyone understand anything, dragging them down to the same level has nothing to do with understanding. You're incompetent.

[And then he turns away, dropping the eye and facing Touya. He has to...something. Something.] You can't even hear it, can you? This isn't him. You killed him and broke it and called it understanding.

Touya! [He waves his scarf, like a cape to a bull.] Come on!

[Instantly, Touya and Bouffalant move together. Bouffalant charges at Kumagawa, and while Kumagawa may not be a normal anything at this point, if he can feel pain and this hits it's going to hurt for weeks to come. Bouffalant charge with enough speed and power to send entire trains flying off the tracks, after all.

Touya himself leaps for the closer target, Sei. The sound that escapes his lips isn't any language at all - it's a howl of rage bloodthirst, a battle cry. The boy is much faster and stronger than one would ever guess from looking at him. He's everywhere at once, and Bouffalant does the same.

The two of them are ultimately destructive, with neither rhyme nor reason to their attack patterns. They attack both Sei and Kumagawa, they attack eachother, they even attack Audi who is still on the sidelines, struggling not to go Berserk as well. It isn't her nature at all, but with Touya in this condition? It's a possibility it'll spread to her. She can resist it much better, thankfully, because there is no screw in her and she still has half of Touya's mother's soul to combat the third of Touya's that's screaming for blood.

Both Touya and Bouffalant ignore the injuries they inflict on eachother, no matter how severe. They just keep attacking without even slowing down. Unless the two of you have some way to stop him? Touya won't, cannot be contained. There are no friends, there are no foes, there are only targets. The look on Touya's face says that, on some level, he's enjoying this.]

[Sei's red may have been shot out in an attempt to rile him. It only gets him a blank expression of possibly mild surprise, but it's obviously the wrong kind. Sei tried to fire a bullet. He gets the face that he's a fucking idiot that completely missed the point.

He's probably seen the significantly-less-nightmarish version on his uncle many, many times.

But whatever response there might've been gets cut off by a rampaging monstrosity. Anybody would die. Anybody should die. There's the sounds of bones breaking and something solid hitting cement and momentum skidding it off a few feet. Ribs would be shattered. Organs ruptured. Unconsciousness immediately from pain and death shortly afters.

He rolls into a crouch right after equilibrium comes back, and the second time the rampaging buffalo tries mauling him, both horns get grabbed and the whole impact is taken with a grimace that's more fury than pain.

Those horns will break off before that fucker goes anywhere.]

[Unlike on Will, though, Sei kind of feels like he's doing something right with his life if he's missing a Minus' point. But he has other things to worry about now.

Touya could have killed any human, with that speed and attack, but Sei isn't one and his power's only been growing. One twitch of his wings and he dodges, turning and spinning and grabbing Touya, one hand on his throat and the other over his eyes. This is...going to suck. One powerful downdraft and he and Touya are in the air, cresting over nearby apartments and landing on a roof.

There's nothing human anymore when he speaks, and it's more like singing, a siren song of some kind of terrible incubus and between that and Kumagawa it may honestly be worse than if he hadn't but he doesn't have time for this shit.]

Sleep. [It's a command more than suggestion; he will punt Touya across London until it works but the sooner, the better; he needs to get them away from here.]

[Touya thrashes in Sei's grip; he might not be able to free himself but he'll definitely try. His instincts as a Berserker and being a Minus both have him howling pain and anguish and an overpowering thirst for blood - he doesn't care whose, it could even be his own, he just wants there to be pain all around him.

He resists the command. There's pure adrenaline coursing through his system, and the more he's held back the stronger it gets. He isn't under his own control anymore or he'd have given in. He can't hold out forever, though, not against someone with Sei's level of power. His struggles slowly weaken and then stop entirely. Even when he's unconscious, it's clear he isn't at peace.

Meanwhile, back down on the ground, Bouffalant roars in pain at the loss of his horns. It hurts, it hurts worse than any injury it's ever received before, and is almost enough to break it out of the Berserker rage for a moment. But then that moment passes and the attack grows even more frenzied. A Bouffalant's horns, while dangerous, are not its most dangerous weapon. No, that would be their diamond-tough skulls underneath all that hair and their powerful legs. The end result of any Wild Charge is always massive destruction, while they're protected from severe damage by those afros.

While Kumagawa is at close range, though, Bouffalant's immediate action is to return the favor. Other Pokemon have stronger jaws, but Bouffalant's will do. Those teeth clamp down on Kumagawa's arm and it shakes its head furiously, and then charges again. The Minus isn't getting out of this in one piece.

Audi, however, finds herself having to struggle less against the Berserker/Minus urge when Touya falls unconscious. With him down, the hijacking power of their bond weakens, and she's able to follow Sei as best she can on the ground, if far more slowly than she'd like.]

Edited 2013-02-24 23:57 (UTC)

[Dimly, he realizes there was another summon. That it went chasing after Sei when he romped off to the capital of Fuck Knows Where with Touya. But he doesn't care so much, because there are much bigger problems to keep his focus for now.

Contrary to how he acts, he's still human. Pain is still A Thing. The biting hurts. The quick shake means something gets dislodged or broken and it hurts then there's that head smashing into his side again and that kind of movement HURTS--

The Minus, indeed, does not get out of it in one piece. The Bouffalant gets an arm for his trouble and he stays on the ground in a mental flatline for a moment. Stop. Surrender. Just let it win. Any further is suicide.

But letting this thing run unchecked while Sei's off calming Touya is not an option. And when the buffalo is dumb enough to take even a step closer, a wall of physical screws are immediately introduced into its body.

The Minus is not in one piece, but it's still standing. What do you do? Attack/Magic/Item/Defend/Run.]

[Unconscious isn't good enough, and Sei knows it. He stares at Touya, chewing on his lip, and thinks. Wake up him, wake him up fast. He has to get rid of a screw, but how do you rid something stabbed through a soul?

...There's an easy answer to that and he doesn't want to do it. Instead, he pulls out the violin-he really needs to return that to Michi--and starts the play. The music spreads, and anyone in the city can hear it, because he's playing across the threads of reality such that it doesn't even matter that the actual strings snap within seconds, cutting into his hands and face. He doesn't miss a note, doesn't flinch, doesn't even react.

He can't undo all of Kumagawa's Minus but he can write it brittle, write it breakable, write a time limit. 20, 15, 10, 5--2 minutes. 2 minutes until the Screw shatters. Any more than that and he'd have to kill Kumagawa.

...Speaking of, if he dies...Sei frowns, and the violin bow twitches slightly. About that time, Bouffalant gets hit with a giant spike of ice and the streets are now all completely iced over. Good luck moving on that.]

[Touya appears to be caught in some nightmare, something violent and exceedingly unpleasant. He inhales sharply in his sleep twice - once when Bouffalant gets hit by the screws and again when he gets hit by the ice. Attacking any one of the three affects the other two as well, if nowhere near as strongly.

Because both attacks do hit. Bouffalant is clearly very injured by the screws, but it's like he can't even feel it; he continues his charge without even slowing down, without even flinching. Sure, it's going to hurt a lot - Berserkers usually have very little in the way of defense - but that's later. Not now.

Which means it's fortunate indeed that Sei ices everything over. Bouffalant would not have stopped for fire or water or anything that could simply hurt or hold him. No, it's the combination of being held down by the ice and the streets being too slippery to get any tread on. It's clear he could easily break free were the ground not slippery, and even as it is he won't be held long. He thrashes, flails, and stamps and slips.

It won't hold him long, but maybe it will hold him long enough. One minute and fifteen seconds remain.]

[Oh god suddenly ice this sucks, and it's good that the Bouffalant got frozen in place, because the sudden shift and his own erring balance means he hits one knee. But it's only a set-back.

It won't hold him long, but that's because he still has room to thrash. His remaining hand gets slammed down on the ice, along with another series of screws. Thick as telephone poles, tall as trees, standing straight or sideways or reaching up from under the ice, but none pierce the Berserker. They stand as close to flesh as possible without gouging, without breaking the ice prison, and it's pointedly obvious his attacks specialize in impeding movement.

Staying crouched after the action, prepared for any breakouts. A split second to throw them down, but hopefully it keeps it until the timer. That intent is mirrored by the glare Sei gets. With a side of "he didn't need help asshole, fuck you, he's punching you later".]

[It's amazing how Sei can convey "I don't give a fuck" with a simple wing-twitch, isn't it?

Thirty seconds. He draws the bow harsh across the strings in staccatto. Wind down, wind down, time's almost up.

15 seconds.

As soon as the screw shatters, he needs to take Touya and Audi and run. His wings spread, wide and ridiculously glorious, as he readies himself for probably getting hit with attacks as he flees. Not from Touya, but Kumagawa.

The ice frosts up along the screws, flash-freezing anyone stupid enough to come near, and starts to crawl up any nearby buildings, people, plants...a brittle ice timer on everything.

5 seconds.

Now's the time. Just as the timer ticks down to zero Sei sets the violin down and stops in one sharp motion, whistling out the final note as he scoops Touya up and dives off the side of the building to snag Audi in one gigantic swoop, gaining speed and getting the fuck out of here.]

[When the screw shatters, the seal finally comes back into effect. Whatever nightmare was gripping him ends, and it's unclear whether or not he's still unconscious as Sei carries him and Audi away. He's trembling terribly, though, and Audi is clearly still very hurt and upset, trying to reach to him but unable to get through.

With the seal back in place, Touya is no longer a Berserker. Those urges are suppressed, and with them, so is Bouffalant. However, Touya's soul is still damaged from being a Minus. There's still a harsh disconnect between him and his Pokemon. That means that Bouffalant can't go back to the Elsewhere. Although it's deathly still and quiet within that mess of ice and screws, Bouffalant is still there. He's only sedated.

There's still something very wrong with their soul, but at least Touya is neither a Minus nor a Berserker anymore. Hopefully there's a way to fix his soul, though. This won't be good for him.]

[Contrary to Sei's fear, Kumagawa just watches. Waits for that odd feeling in the air to disappear. For the presence to fade in the distance. Then staring at the Bouffalant.

The only sound he make is a broken exhale of a laugh, and it's that same drain of furious energy said buffalo just encountered. Sagging to his knees and choosing to just. Fall over right after. Staring up at nothing.

The buffalo gets a faint wave.] Break the one underneath your front hoof, lash out to the left. You can break out and follow your master.

[Helping it is dumb. It's really dumb and there's a really high chance it's just gonna trample him. But who cares. His vision is no longer on it or London, but of a schoolgirl's shoes only he can see and it's fine to close his eyes. Let it rampage, he doesn't care anymore.]

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Touya -> Kumagawa -> Sei, I guess~

Sounds good! Also Touya gets firsts <3

welp.

1/2 oh boy

2/2

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