vax is... in bed! he's in one of the resting areas with (mumbles about healed state of injuries for right now) but seems to be at least conscious. that's good. spotting nogiku, he gives her a little sup nod, though doesn't move too much more than that. owie. ]
[ what a great way to describe this garbage place.
vax leans against the bar with his own beer, lifting it in a cheers. ] Nothing says ending up somewhere weird like having no fucking answers. Except weird dreams and tattoos, I guess, if you can call those answers.
[ the tone of his voice suggests you cannot do that ]
you're at the bottom of a hole. vox machina and their friendly band of adventurers have just fought off a beholder in a tomb - the tomb of the champion of the raven queen, in search of a vestige, a godly weapon to help you defeat a conclave of dragons as they attempt to raze your world to the ground. the beholder, while annoying, powerful, and armed with a terrible disintegrate ray, was ultimately not much of a match for you all. you're down at the bottom of this hole, retrieving kima, one of your allies, and you wait for scanlan to throw down the rope so you can clamber back up.
the chaos happens while you're away. you climb, and you climb, in a good mood at the idea of getting out of this damp fucking tomb - you hear a distant thump, and then the sound of footsteps, but that's not unusual.
and you pull yourself to the top of the hole, and you look at your friends, all gathered together, and the joy and easy warmth of a victory on your face turns to nothing.
because as percy turns back to look at you, you realize that he's holding your sister propped up against his body, and she's not moving. not breathing.
and your entire world stops.
you're moving before you can even really realize it, the entire world narrowing down to just vex'ahlia, her wide open eyes, her slumped frame. you shove past zhara and kashaw and you drop to your knees in front of vex, your hands shaking, your heart pounding
and you barely have it in you to say: ] ...The fuck happened?
[ your voice is impossibly hoarse, small, barely there, as tears well up in your eyes and drop down your cheeks, as the world seems to go topsy turvy in front of you. not thirty seconds ago, you could hear vex, cooing delightedly to percy about some treasure or other, you looked away for one second just one second and she's -- she's gone.
vex. vex, your sister. your life. your whole heart. she's gone.
you panic. you reach for the strongest healing potion you have and you pour it in her open mouth. nothing. nothing happens, nothing is happening, as the rest of the party stands shellshocked around. it does nothing - you barely even hear as kashaw appears at your shoulder, nudges you away from her, saying something about a ritual, or casting, or something. you want to shove him back, push him away, vex'ahlia, vex'ahlia, vex'ahlia, but you see the glimmer of diamond in his hands and hope sweeps into your being, desperate, flickering. desperate.
"I can bring her back." kashaw says. your chest heaves.
he pulls diamonds, he hesitates because of something, and you, desperate, yell, yell - ] The fuck are you hesitating for?! Do it - what are you hesitating for? Do it!
[ kashaw says something about his god, or something, that she could destroy the entire world in the process of doing this, but you don't care. you don't fucking care, fuck the entire world and fuck the people in it, you don't give a shit if it means that vex'ahlia comes back. you cannot live without your sister.
percy helps first. (and percy adores your sister, but you're so angry at him. you've never been so angry in your life. when this fades, when this is fixed, because it will get fixed, you think i will never trust you again.) zhara helps next, vex's friend, a powerful, kind woman. (to 4:30:02, for more details.)
and then it's you.
and you know what you're going to do.
you sit in this temple, in this tomb to the goddess of death, the matron of death herself, the raven queen (and you see her standing behind your sister, waiting to take her soul away - you can see her silhouette) and you think to yourself
no.
you push past kashaw and you grab your sister's body, and you pull her close, and you look that silhouette straight in the face. and you say, with all of the fury and the misery and the grief driven courage that you have, because you have never been afraid of anything more than you are afraid of vex'ahlia dying, and you will move the heavens and earth to bring her back: ]
Take me instead, you raven bitch.
[ the dark, female form stares back at you. the raven queen. you know it, just by looking, and you don't care. you face down god herself, and you'd kill her, if you had to, if that was what it took to bring the limp body in your arms back.
she steps forward, and reaches her hand towards you. you do not break. you stare at it.
she nods.
and then, suddenly, you feel the rush of magic through your veins - and you wait, and you wait, and you stare this figure down, down, down - and the silence kills you, one moment, two
then the raven queen is gone.
and vex'ahlia takes a deep, gasping, living breath.
and just like that, the pact is complete. (@ 4:32:54.) ]
The memory ends, and Nogiku stands there — frozen. Like she's not sure of what she just saw, or how to even begin to interpret it. Her mouth opens for a moment. Closes. And then, quietly, unsure:]
[ this isn't the first time vax has relived this memory - not just here, but in his nightmares, too. he takes a deep breath when it finishes and has to shake himself free of the reminder of vex'ahlia's cold body and the promise he made.
watching it now, it feels strange - like staring at it from a distance, with the sort of hindsight he never really had. he reaches up, rubs at his chest, and realizes that nogiku has said something not a moment later. ]
... yeah. [ vax's voice is a little rough. ] Yeah, she was fine. Didn't even remember it happening.
hey nogiku. vax is.. here! he's in the medbay. he's given up the actual pods to the ladies first because he drinks his respecting women juice, and is at the moment just sitting and trying to undo some of the braids in his hair.
when he hears the door open though, he glances up, and offers her a bit of a smile, ducking his head. ]
So, it may take more time to reach that stage for others? Riff-san said it was too late to do anything for him at that point. But before that stage, maybe the other refracted could be saved.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
week zero, saturday.
That sure happened!
Nogiku is looking to cool off at the rooftop when she notices Vax is already there. She pauses, and then:]
You haven't noticed any changes in yourself, have you?
not me falling asleep immediately after you sent me this
Changes? You mean cause of the thing earlier?
[ he shakes his head. ]
Feels like I just shook off a charm spell. Sucks, but it doesn't usually leave anything long lasting.
it's fine i also fell asleep
[She watches him carefully for a sec... and then she notes.]
Well... That's good. Though, I wonder if the other group will get their memories back at all.
rip us
[ sometimes you are simply a ye olde fantasy boy ]
... Feels like I was just waiting for something fucked up to happen, honestly.
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Well, it did. And now we wait to see what else will get tossed our way... It's a pain in the ass.
week one, thursday.
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vax is... in bed! he's in one of the resting areas with (mumbles about healed state of injuries for right now) but seems to be at least conscious. that's good. spotting nogiku, he gives her a little sup nod, though doesn't move too much more than that. owie. ]
...hey, Nogiku.
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[Sir, your injuries? She stares particularly at his legs, frowning.]
All your injuries were seen to?
week 2, monday
yeah,
here is vax at the bar. he's behind it at the moment, so when he sees nogiku, he gives her a little sup nod. ]
Hey. You want something to drink?
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What do you recommend?
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[ he taps a beer wherever they are! ] This one's alright if that's your thing.
If not... Iunno, I can probably try and find something Vex would drink.
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Least this place was nice enough to hand over the drinks after the shitshow of last week, huh?
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It feels like using a plaster on an festering wound.
[She says this but. She still takes a swig once the pint is in her hands? Yeah.]
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[ what a great way to describe this garbage place.
vax leans against the bar with his own beer, lifting it in a cheers. ] Nothing says ending up somewhere weird like having no fucking answers. Except weird dreams and tattoos, I guess, if you can call those answers.
[ the tone of his voice suggests you cannot do that ]
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week 3, monday. my kyuu cr this game were struggling. cr spoilers!
my sisi cr.....!
The memory ends, and Nogiku stands there — frozen. Like she's not sure of what she just saw, or how to even begin to interpret it. Her mouth opens for a moment. Closes. And then, quietly, unsure:]
... Your sister. She was okay after that?
<3
watching it now, it feels strange - like staring at it from a distance, with the sort of hindsight he never really had. he reaches up, rubs at his chest, and realizes that nogiku has said something not a moment later. ]
... yeah. [ vax's voice is a little rough. ] Yeah, she was fine. Didn't even remember it happening.
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[But the bubble is still here. And Nogiku frowns at it... But doesn't touch it, just yet.]
And, what about you?
week 3, sunday
hey nogiku. vax is.. here! he's in the medbay. he's given up the actual pods to the ladies first because he drinks his respecting women juice, and is at the moment just sitting and trying to undo some of the braids in his hair.
when he hears the door open though, he glances up, and offers her a bit of a smile, ducking his head. ]
Hey, Nogiku.
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[It has been. Such a fucking day. She smells a little of cigarette smoke when she enters the medbay, but it's not too strong.]
Have you gone into a pod yet?
[Asks the girl who is still limping.]
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Not yet. Waiting to get a chance. [ but behaving himself, at least. vax gives a little nod down. ] How's your leg?
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... About the same as yesterday. It needs a couple more hours, but the people who were injured today take priority.
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'm alright, if you want to get in there. [ sometimes you just get roasted literally a lot, this is a normal thursday for vax.
... after a little pause though: ] ...what a fucking day.
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Yet another problem to deal with. Like we didn't have enough of those.
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[ though, admittedly - percy surviving doesn't feel like a problem. it's the rest of it. ]
...Talked with the Residents about it. Iunno - they said the refracting's like a sickness. That it just came onto Malik really fast.
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That is, if we can find them.