songerein | [Open] My head down low

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[Open] My head down low

🧙 Who: Zidane Tribal and You!
⚔️️ Which: Open
🕒 Where: Around Reverein
🗺️ What: Love is in the air and work is on the ground! A February catch-all!
⚠️ Warnings: Bleeding Heart infected. Emotions may become radical which, in turn, actually affects his powers.

I. Road Repair

[Unfamiliar with this route himself, Zidane took one look at the cobblestone to incline and had to agree with whoever posted the Quest: yeah, it needed to be fixed. Simple enough for someone just on foot or a mount to traverse, but this would be hell on anyone trying to drag a cart, or they didn't have sure footing.]

[It long days' work, but he would be found there working to help demolish, terraform, and rebuild the road. There's no monetary reward, he knows, but there's the assurance in knowing that no one would be at risk using it once done.]

Huh, I wonder if we could theme the road to the installation somehow...

[He's just thinking out loud, don't mind it too much.]

II. Spider Thread Traps

[Well, didn't someone get overzealous setting these traps. It's almost like they learned how and just wanted to keep doing it. That's almost a waste of pretty good spider thread, and that's not even mentioning how things kept getting trapped that probably wasn't intended to.]

[Like a spice noodle that already didn't like being out in this weather.]

I'll have you out. Take it easy, bud...

[Though he's occupied, he wouldn't deny help.]

III. High Tide for Crime

[Reverein wasn't Treno and he rather liked it that way. The uptick in crime does not go unnoticed by the ex-thief either. This place was not a rich one, or divisible by class. Everyone was making due with what they had, abilities and otherwise; which meant, it was only fair to help people out with his own abilities, dusty though some of them may be.]

[Besides, would someone really raise a fuss over thief-on-thief crimes? He's only stealing to return what's taken to their rightful owners. Maybe catch him in the act of returning said stolen goods, or even suspect he took them in the first place. He does seem rather pleased with whatever he's up to.]

IV. Bleeding Heart (feat. Dreamscape)

[Valentine's Day... first time he's hearing about it, but it looked like everyone in Reverein was gearing up to celebrate it. And why not? It's a day to share love and there's plenty of people around to share it with, platonic and romantic. In fact, Zidane's a little into the mood of making sure some couples were taking time to get ready and enjoy themselves.]

[It was just watching from a distance, really because getting too close, it was making his chest hurt. People look so happy, and he's happy for them! Really! But he placed his hand over his chest, trying to smother the red light glowing beneath. It felt like it wanted to burst out and latch onto someone else - maybe he wanted to reach out to them himself? - but he couldn't let it do that. Just smile and wave, smile and wave...]

Hey, I think there's a deal on chocolate if you need it.

[His dreamcrystal shifted.]

[Darkness...

There, but a single chair - a throne of stone adorned with a crown of spikes.

It is quiet, empty, and Zidane just sits, unmoving.

Alone...

... alone...

All... alone.

And the red bleeds too bright...]

V. Wildcard

[OOC: Wanna do something unlisted from the prompts? Hit me up at

demidemonLove or PM so we can plot! Also, these prompts can have Zidane already infected with the Bleeding Heart, just note in the subject if you want that!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She couldn't see anything. What was this? She'd had her fair share of dreamless sleeps, but what in every shard was all of this that she could see nothing but herself floating through a void?

But it was palpable, suffocating, this loneliness. She tasted peaches on her tongue, if only but for a moment. Madhuri shook her head and clapped her hands to her temples. Focus... maybe she needed to focus- There. A throne, so many needles, and a singular figure.]

Zidane...?

[She kicked and fought to right herself. That red light was familiar. Terribly familiar. Who would fit in this situation? There was no primal of the heart really, nothing that would aptly suit the situation. She should change, right?]

Zidane! Zidane!

[But first she needed to see if he was... alive? No, active. This was all a dream.]

...

[No response. Zidane remained sitting prone despite the pulsing red much like a muted heartbeat. Thump, thump, thump, but all sounds drowned in nothing.]

[The voice in Madhuri's head must sound loud as it asks.]

Who?

[There's a brief cringe with the voice in her head. Familiar, and terrible. She could do without something being directly into her brain-]

You know who! I'm here to talk to my sneaky friend who is good with the stabbers. This isn't what he likes to dream about.

Now shoo, it's impolite to scream at a lady's brain!

Sounds like a person. What does he like to dream about? Do you know? Has he dreamed lately?

[The voice that speaks is undoubtedly familiar, but it's flat and dulled, matching the dream so well.]

Impolite? But this is what we do. And while I can, I should do more.

Everyone dreams. He dreams of home and of his lovely songbird.

[She folded her arms.]

He needs to wake up, if you'd be so kind. He'll need his beauty sleep before we do brunch and talk peaches some more!

... Songbird?

[The darkness swam. For a moment, maybe there'd dare be gray - a little peak of light and the muffled tune, but Zidane grimaced. The red in his chest swelled brighter.]

No. I want to wake up. I want to do what was always meant to be done.

[Hm. Interesting. It reminded her of the dance hall, those moments of clarity...]

Hm. And what might need to be done, pray tell? Pitch your case. I'll see if it's any good.

I'll prepare this world and make them live again.

[A world which anything can be willed back. It could continue, those eternal lives lost... Around them, the darkness swam again, but the gray this time was stone. Smoking columns and pillars, tube-like and abyssal - inorganic and cold despite something burning. The stone throne was even gaining a platform surrounded by almost petal-like thorns, but they too similarly look like eyes.]

[Zidane grimaced again, fingers curling tight. The surroundings don't become any clearer.]

And that planet... the fusion will succeed this time. Feeling will not stop me.

...Like a Rejoining.

[Her expression flattened, and her hands went to her hips.]

My world is also broken into a bunch of pieces. Forcing them back together will end so many lives! That we know for sure, as Rejoinings have happened before. That's not making anyone "live again". That's genocide for those on the colliding shard!

So? That's always how our planet as survived. Why should I...?

[But it's that muffled tune again. Zidane's lips were moving as they're pulled back into the black, but his brow furrowed as the red pulsed harder.]

Not... me. G-Get it out...

[She narrowed her eyes. After a nod, she felt her heart racing. It would keep pressing on and on. The only response to relentlessness was relentlessness.]

...Then I have my answer. I've never been any good at doing the 'big dramatic speech' thing. But I know when a friend is in a tough spot, and the cancer that's feeding on the negativity must needs be excised.

[Surely it'd be as easy as equipping a job stone and becoming a warrior. She'd always become something else entirely to solve a problem. Maybe it was time to become her entirety.

A breath in, and a breath out.]

Right. I'll pop over to your place and give this nasty thing whatfor. Hold tight, Zidane! Please!

I-I'm trying...!

[He's been trying. He doesn't remember when the thing latched onto him either, but he'd seen one come off someone else. He'd been trying not to let it affect anyone else...]

[But in turn, it allowed that. Moving out from behind the throne, waving a hand over Zidane to put him back to sleep, it was still 'Zidane'. Thinned pupils within red eyes watched Madhuri closely as they stepped forward, clawed hands flexing. She's seen the form in her dream, but the clothes? The cloak over the shoulders and long skirt over bared legs and feet. The tail curled behind him.]

No. I need him to stay here.

[Something was wrong. It would feel like flying, ascending until she gasped and awoke again. But it was like something weighed her ankles. Though it left her tail scales rattling with bunching nerves, she lifted her nose and tapped a foot once. She'd learned enough about keeping her wits about her. Fear wasn't what Zidane needed.

He was fighting for his very soul. So she had to cast everything off and stop being a chocoboshit.

She recognized the form, but some parts of it were new. There was an energy all but radiating from this new figure, something she'd felt countless times at the end of her dance. She felt it radiating off of folk like Alastor.]

...Alright. Fine.

["Oh please... oh please, oh please, can we come out now?" Whispered the voice in the corner of her mind. Now wasn't the time for a song and some pretty theatrics. Madhuri decided to finally be a big girl and embrace that little bit of her that had been pacing, hungry and angry, for months. She had no job stone while she slept... but she would have to make do. This wasn't some foreign piece. This was her, and had lived with her for her entire life.

It all tore free of its confines with a snarl, black scale patches blooming and thickening as they rended false dream clothing to pointless flecks of stray dreamotion. Modesty wasn't the priority, scaly armor dotting her body sparingly as the whites of her eyes faded to black. Her eyes aglow amid the black seas seemed surprised, taking in everything around her before, with the flex of newly-formed claws, the new form breathed a long, misty sigh of pleasure.

Madhuri had to exert as much focus as she could, tying the leash tight. She was on her own now, without the crystallized memories of past warriors who spent their lives learning to live with and train their own Inner Beasts. Hopefully, the promise of a target would be enough.]

Then what you need is a proper spanking! I'm taking the man with me, whether you like it or not!

[Ope, well, here she comes. She lunged with claws extended, sick of talking. It didn't flex the sore muscles. It wasn't fun.]

[It's a dead-eye red stare as she transformed, the only change in expression a slight angle in his brows. It hadn't been long enough; he still needed more time, but at the same time, it's worth measuring what opposition he might encounter that day he slipped - the day this... unworthy form of himself gives in.]

[And on that day... likely he wouldn't be contained by a parasite either.]

[Fur and hair rising, his tail swayed as he floated, one hand rising to summon those daggers Zidane had before. He had no comment on the form Madhuri had taken, but there was a glint in his eyes: destroy.]

[Taking the hit on crossed arms, 'Zidane' flipped back and repositioned himself.]

Let's measure your worth.

[Not that it would ultimately matter. Energy gathered in his claw and spread to the blades of his daggers. The sharp edges could be seen glinting before he shot back at her and swung.]

Edited (italiiics ) 2022-02-11 04:42 (UTC)

[She struck but it was like a collision with stone. Upon withdrawal she rolled her back, letting the joints pop after being taut for so long. This was a thrilling, brand new sensation, becoming one's entire self without any restrictions of warrior discipline.

This was another man seeing if she was worthwhile. Was this going to be her life, then? Because it was really pissing her off.

He came at her and she braced, teeth bared as glinting blades collided with black scales and newly-grown wrist blades. She planted both boots and brought to bear that craggy black tail, an organic whip to come crashing in.]

And you steal my lines, too! Naughty little nightmare!

[Maybe a little fur loss at her strike and all, but the noctaere had seemed uninjured otherwise to return that attack.]

[As well, he doesn't seem too keen on being hit by that tail, zipping back, but now cataloging the reminder that she had one. A nuisance that could be dealt with if needed.]

You intend on measuring my ability? What I was created to do?

[She's seen Zidane summon the runic script before, but the noctaere did so in a different manner. In a line before him, and with a wave of his hand, it turned into a spreading wave of energy that would crash in a spreading cone flow if she didn't move.]

[She had intentions to test him for sure. So she let a little risk slip through as the wave was unleashed, bracing for it. But after her heels initially dug in, the nothingness seemed to give beneath her, pushing her back. The malice swept around and even through her, bringing with it full intent on what this creature's mission was: He would unmake everything, in an attempt to bring everything together again.

If only had she the strange and ungodly power as that damn Warrior of Light person.

When the smoke cleared she pushed through the pain. She hadn't any forms of fancy rays or magic, but would continually feed on her own anger, building that high to strike only harder as she closed in.]

[He'd probably be amused if he could feel that, but the soft red light still within Zidane's chest prevents him from feeling anything. The red eyes just stare and see how she slid back. He can at least respect her from attempting to prevent the inevitable - defying fate was just so like the friends he picked out.]

[She was coming again, and he would be polite to meet her in the middle.]

[What a gentleman. Shame he had to be genocide-y. Once at center she worked to pay him back for that little ray of energy bullshit, more accustomed to hand-to-hand herself without her axe handy.

She would keep close as best as she could, but wondered what more she could do. This form was strange, new... a few scales seemed honed to blades along the wrists, and a number along her tail. Note to self: Do a check-over later.

Until then, she'd let her anger build and strengthen her swings. That seemed to power her abilities as Warrior... surely she could carry some over. The blows seemed to be getting far less playful now.]

Why do you drive me away!? I just want to talk for a minute, up close and personal...!

[Shame she wanted to live. And staying close was maybe something she wanted, but not something she would overall enjoy. That's just how it was fighting someone crafted to cause as much damage and death as physically possible.]

[Even as the fight goes on, the noctaere was storing her combative prowess in this form - noting it as something that would have to be handled in the future. Trapped within the dreamscape, it wouldn't mean much... but he would make sure she remembered the experience.]

Distance will not change the outcome.

[She grit her teeth and focused into the wrist blades. It was the same as if she had her crystal, some flipped switch of realization in her mind telling her to do it NOW! When she swung again, a power seemed to run in thin and honed cords, makeshift blade's edges as a makeshift Fell Cleave offered her the brutality of a battleaxe without wielding one.]

I've heard something like that before. What makes your attempt different? Huh?

[Her last word was punctuated with another whip of the tail. She doesn't see an ascian robe on you, what have you got?]

[To his credit, he took the pseudo-Fell Cleave like a champ, maybe taking only a slip back. He tilted his head, eyes focused on her and maybe not so much the tail - or he's quite aware of the tail given how one of his weapons glinted.]

Whoever you speak about was far too kind to you. But remember, I will do everything I must.

DON'T--!

[As he dodged and the blade met her tail, that's just enough to make Zidane yell out and shoot up in his treehouse, knocking his chair to the floor. He placed a hand on his chest, the red light strong again. At least he was awake again, but was that before or after the damage was done? Even then, he grimaced.]

[All she remembered was rage. The insult. Yet when she awoke with a terrible scream, clawing at shadows in the dark of her room, she was wracked with pain that arced down her spine into her tail that... felt nothing.

Her tail felt nothing at all.

With a frenzy she scattered the sheets and searched for it, knowing that it may have fallen off somehow and she'd- Gods. Oh... Oh, Gods... it was there, but she couldn't feel it. Between the scales something dark shimmered, hairline cracks that bled; myriad memories of so many injuries she'd taken in training, while hunting and while working to aid the world flooding her mind. Dreams... it was all dreams.

But the pain in what she could feel certainly felt real.

Zidane. Forget about yourself and find Zidane. He could still be trapped.]

Damn it...!

[Up and out of bed, throwing a coat on. She knew where she needed to be. Would she scold someone else for doing what she was doing now? Sure. But she knew full well she was a hypocrite.]

[Straightening up his chair, he sat down again with a heavy thunk and groaned, letting his head drop to the table. Dammit, he usually had better control over those stupid thoughts. Stupid nightmare during that one event, and this damn thing in his chest. He had the smallest idea on how to get it out considering how he got it, but he didn't want to...]

[Not if it meant someone else probably having the same issues. His tail slack, he turned his head on his table and stared out the window. Could he ask Beatrix? Probably not. Madhuri? After that bullshit? Not a chance...]

Hrrrm... You're not helping.

[His dream crystal was still doing its usual whirling in its lantern, but he's trying to push the images to something better. Block that version of himself out.]

Edited 2022-02-18 01:08 (UTC)

[It was here, if she recalled right. But in trying a leap up to the platform, she managed about half her body. With a whoosh of lost breath and a cough, Madhuri rather awkwardly scrambled her way up, gasping for breath.

Right. Tails were needed for balance.]

Zidane...??

[She stood upright and invited herself in; wasn't even going to bother knocking. Gods knew what condition he'd be in.]

I. Road Repair

II. Spider Thread Traps

III. High Tide for Crime

IV. Bleeding Heart (feat. Dreamscape)

V. Wildcard

IV

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69th comment. ~naisu~