songerein | 'cause there's devils in the canyon

Entry tags:

'cause there's devils in the canyon

Who: Oriphi & Diluc
Which: Closed log
Where: Out in the Wildlands
What: Hunting down the Jersey Devil, not that either of them know what a New Jersey is (Dream Board Quest no.1007)
Warnings: idk monster hunting

[ In the time since that nightmarish evening at the Cliffside, Ori and Diluc have promised each other that they would work together in their pursuit of a way to stay together even beyond the reaches of this dream realm. It is an endeavor which, in its newness, doesn't feel particularly productive as of yet. There are leads, there are ideas, but... There are so many ways they could go about this.

One thing is certain, at least: if they are to have hope of ever succeeding, they must become stronger. More powerful. They don't need solid ideas to know that it would take an unfathomable amount of magic to break through the barriers of different realities.

And so to that end, they start to venture out together more and more, spending the days when things at the winery are quiet to venture into the Wildlands in hopes of finding ways to improve their respective strengths - and maybe even clues about this world, if they're lucky.

Mostly, though, it's just to fight monsters.

This time, they're hunting a more specific manner of being, having taken on this bounty from the Dream Board. The quest has taken them quite deep into the woods of the Wildlands, and in the moment, Ori has her eyes closed and her palm resting against the trunk of a tree. Although all Diluc would hear is the rustling of branches or leaves in a crisp autumnal breeze, he would also know that she's speaking with said tree.

"Creature you seek... In these parts. Bathing the earth with blood." ]

... I see. Thank you, gentle friend. I hope you rest well in these colder months.

[ Then, she turns to Diluc. ]

It seems that we're getting close, moonlight.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Opening up about his fears of losing Ori and his plans to prevent that at al costs is easily one of the best decisions Diluc has ever made. The weight of it is easier to bear when shared, and the impossible seems less so when she's at his side. They're of the same mind, and were even before they finally talked about it.

Plus, he's not going to complain about these ventures. They're good training, both individually and in the art of working together - the latter of which they've gotten quite excellent at in recent weeks. He wouldn't trade these sorts of afternoons for anything.

He stands off to the side as Ori speaks with the tree, keeping an eye on their surroundings to make sure that she's properly covered while concentrating and vulnerable. There's something amiss in this part of the woods, even if he can't pinpoint exactly what. He can just feel it somehow.

When she bids the tree farewell and returns her attention to him, he offers her a brief glance.]

Then we need to be on our guard.

[More than they already are, at least.]

Stay close, and we'll advance.

[ She knows that being on the trail of a dangerous monster in the woods isn't exactly the proper time to be joking around, but at Diluc's remark, she can't help but respond, ]

Of course! I like having even more reasons to stay close to you.

[ as she falls into step alongside him, watching for his reaction with a smile to accompany the sidelong glance she gives him.

She's still prepared and on guard, of course. Her staff remains at the ready in one hand as they walk. But she's allowed to flirt with her boyfriend while they're on the hunt, right? ]

[If it were anyone else, Diluc would have scolded her for not focusing on the task at hand. But it's Ori, and he's so incredibly soft for her that he lets it slide and returns her smile instead. Besides, he trusts and knows her well enough to understand that she has no intentions to just play around in the woods--her focus is just as keen as his, teasing comment or not.

A rustling in the undergrowth immediately grabs his attention, and the smile disappears within an instant. He stops walking, tensing in anticipation, and listens. The source of the sound ends up being a large rabbit, which darts out from the brush a few moments later. It sprints past the two of them without even acknowledging their presence, or even realizing they're there.

It's running from something. A glance upward confirms what that something is.]

It's above us.

[With that, he draws his claymore.]

[ The smile is acknowledgment enough, and she elects not to keep teasing him ~~for now~~ especially when the sounds of jostling foliage catch their attention. Ori recognizes the sound of the movement to be that of a rabbit's even before it emerges from the shrubbery, and sees immediately that it's running to flee from something.

She looks up just as Diluc does to find their mark perched on gnarled branches, blood dripping down as it opens its maw and drops what remains of its latest catch - another rabbit - into a heaping pile of macerated flesh and fur and bones before it looses a chilling, horrid scream.

Ori can't help but flinch at it all, but soon enough she reaches over and rests a hand on Diluc's arm as his claymore comes into being. ]

For you, moonlight...!

[ She casts a spell on him to bolster his strength just as the creature overhead leaps off of the branch and descends quickly towards them. ]

[Diluc doesn't flinch at the gruesome sight and blood-curdling scream, although the latter does cause something of a twitch in his muscles. He's laser-focused on their quarry, waiting for it to make its next move. Ori's arm and the spell she casts are welcomed assistance, but he doesn't dare glance her way as he murmurs a thank you to her.

The creature descends, and Diluc is able to jump back enough that its claws swing at nothing but air. While the creature is distracted by its missed strike, Diluc swings his claymore upward and easily severs its outstretched arm.

It screams again, louder and filled with pain and fury atop of its murderous intent.]

[ Ori likewise moves away just in time to avoid a claw attack, and gains her bearings quickly enough to catch the way Diluc cleanly slices its arm off with one powerful swing of his claymore.

Though there's nothing romantic about their current circumstances— spirits, does she adore this man, and she glances at him lovingly and with no small amount of pride and joy despite the heinous screeching coming from their quarry.

Focusing back in on the encounter, Ori then grasps her staff tightly, holding it out in front of her. With a quiet incantation, light coalesces at the top of her staff, and then she sweeps it in a wide arc, sending the arcane light in the creature's direction. The light encircles it before forming drops of water that then grow larger and larger until they amalgamate into a Watery Sphere to engulf the hellish, chimeric monster. ~~Now it's time to trigger a Vaporize reaction!~~ ]

[~~He's very good at those!~~

Once the creature is immobilized, Diluc infuses his sword with Pyro and strikes with three large swings: one downward, one upward, and the last a spinning attack. All three hits land, and the the creatures screams intensify as it flails uselessly in response.

Once he regains his balance from the spinning, he tries focusing on a source of power he's less comfortable with to try and finish it off: nightmare energy. Lack of experience coupled with the inherently chaotic nature both work against him, and all that he manages to accomplish is a dark wisp of energy that blasts upwards, away from everything and therefore a waste of effort.]

Damn it.

[ Diluc's fiery blade makes contact with the Watery Sphere and then cuts through, dispersing it in a fog of searing steam and blood that causes the creature an immense amount of pain, judging from hits piercing screams. Were Oriphi a less seasoned adventurer, the sight and sound of it all might have caused her to flinch again, but her gaze stays trained vigilantly on the creature as it falls almost lifelessly to the ground - and on Diluc as he begins to harness a power that she herself has yet to truly draw from.

With bated breath, she looks on. She knows it'll be okay. This isn't like Eustace having lost himself to nightmare energy and being helpless to it. This is Diluc trying to harness it for his own power. To come to terms with it, to accept the dark that accompanies the light, as Phantom had told her.

The dark energy misfires and hurtles upwards into the sky, and finally she breathes again. ]

It's— It's alright, moonlight!

[ said, reassuringly. At the heart of it, however... She has no idea how to help or even guide him. She's helped others who had struggled with their dreamotion before; in those times, it had been a matter of getting them to focus on their positive emotions, their hopes. But when it's nightmare energy...

The train of thought is abruptly stopped by the creature screaming once more as it gains a second wind, a bit of a final, desperate attempt despite its sorry condition. As if renewed by a new desire to hunt, it crawls across the ground wretchedly and with an unnatural speed towards the tiefling, aiming to swipe at her with long, gnarled claws. ]

—!

[For as much as his own hesitation is slowing down Diluc's progress with nightmare energy, he's still miles ahead of Ori in terms of comfort level and control. It's coming much more easily to him than harnessing dreamotion does, and there's probably something deep and unflattering to unpack there. He's not terribly interested in doing so.

Especially not right now, where Ori is coming under attack like this. He charges in to intercept the creature, kicking it hard in the side to throw it off course and cause its claws to miss their target. The monster hits the ground, and he makes sure it stays there by skewering it with his claymore.]

Don't. You. Dare. Move.

[He practically growls it, admonishing the creature for even attempting to bring his starlight to harm.]

[ Diluc is quick to act, as always, and before she can even wrack her mind for a spell to counter with, he's there with his claymore embedded solidly through the devil's body. In relief, she releases the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. ]

Diluc...!

[ Still, the fight isn't quite over yet. Ori grips her staff tightly in her hands and brings roots and vines forth from the earth to grapple and ensnare the creature. With it restrained, perhaps there's another opportunity to truly finish it off with nightmare energy. ]

Phantom told me... You have to accept the nightmare, to use it. Where there's light, there's shadow, and the dark parts of you are there as much as the light, but... Remember, it's not all of you, okay?

[ Perhaps that will help... ]

[Ori's arboreal restraints hold the creature down far more effectively than steel could, so Diluc removes the blade from its torso and sets it aside. Somehow, it still draws breath. Perhaps it's cruel, using its prone and defenseless state as target practice for another attempt at using nightmare energy.

But then... nightmares themselves are cruel. They're dark and chaotic, dredging out the worst of dreamers and twisting their thoughts and feelings into something sinister and unrecognizable. And for him to have any chance of acheiving his goals, he has to learn to embrace the chaos and harness it. Failure is not an option; to fail is to succumb to the nightmare. He's willing to set himself aflame if he must, but he refuses to drag those he loves down with him. Should he turn noctaere, he won't have the luxury of being able to make that distinction.

There's a terrible familiarity to how using nightmare energy feels. When he wields it effectively, he can swear that he feels his father's Delusion on his left hand.

No doubt due to his own experiences and associations, the nightmare energy takes the form of dark purple chains emerging from an ominous band of energy that encircles his left wrist. He focuses his gaze on the creature, taking aim, and the chains suddenly lash out toward the creature and embed themselves into it with sharpened edges before separating, effectively ripping the monster apart.

The creature screams one last time in its death throes. Diluc doesn't hear it. Instead, he hears a screaming that sounds suspiciously like his younger self. It sounds like his soul felt when his father died... when Kaeya..... and the Knights........

No. To succumb to the nightmare is to fail. He closes his eyes and clenches his jaw, trying to drag himself out of the dark place inside that he's torn open.]

Edited 2022-11-15 03:53 (UTC)

[ With no small amount of trepidation in her heart, Ori looks on as Diluc draws upon the nightmare within him - a feeling that soon sinks deep, deep into the pit of her soul when that dark purple energy manifests in wretched, interconnected links of nightmare energy. Because she remembers— she has seen these chains before, in a dream from months ago carrying memories of the worst day of Diluc's life. Of the power that destroyed his father.

Nightmare energy may hold the key to their salvation. Their deliverance as a pair of star-crossed lovers from worlds that were never meant to interact with one another. They must master the power of dreams and the power of nightmares in tandem to even hope to strive towards their goals, but...

Ori watches as the last bit of life is snuffed out of the creature as it's torn apart, viscera and carnage spreading across the clearing, hitting the bark of trunks, blood seeping into the leaf-littered forest floor on this cold, autumn day. And her gaze turns to the man responsible, an unequivocated image of his father from that dream— no, that nightmare, the one from which Diluc has drawn his present power. And she also finds, in his eyes, the young boy who screamed to the heavens in grief.

And her heart breaks.

A part of her realizes, then, that if they are to ever have a hope of finding each other once again, they must do this. But... what good is it, if they destroy themselves in the process? If Diluc destroys himself in the process? She sees his eyes close and his whole self go rigid, and she knows. She knows she's got to pull him back to shore.

Her staff falls to the ground as she closes the distance between them, her hands immediately coming up to frame his face. ]

Diluc, I'm here. The nightmare is not all of you. Please, remember. Don't let it take you. Don't stray too far from me...

[For a few moments, everything is dark and cold. There's a light that he can feel inside of him, but it seems distant and increasingly difficult to reach into. Not that Diluc stops trying--he has to if he wants to walk away from these woods unscathed. He has to if he wants Ori to walk away unscathed, and that is the much more important reason. And beyond the here and now, he has to find a way to control this chaos, to wield it instead of letting it overwhelm him. Nightmare energy is a weapon, albeit a very dangerous one. No more, no less.

He cannot let himself...

He can't...

He...

...

Hands cup his face, warm enough to feel like burning, and Diluc's eyes fly open to find Ori looking up at him with all matter of emotions written in her features. She pleads for him to stay with her, to stay lucid, and those words are enough to keep him steady despite the storm brewing within him.

The icy feeling of the nightmare ebbs away, replaced with a tightness in his chest and a lump in his throat. Eventually, with a slightly broken voice, he responds to her.]

I'm here. I'm not going anywhere.

[He reaches up and mirrors her position, gently cupping her face in his hands. They're trembling slightly.]

...thank you, starlight.

[ Ruby meets gold in the autumn hues of the forest, and so too in Diluc and Ori's eyes as he returns to the paradoxical waking world of this dream, pulling himself out of the nightmare threatening to drag him beneath the fairy tale-like veneer of this realm. Though he finds a gentle smile upon Ori's lips, there's no masking the relief and worry still playing upon her features, the sigh that falls out of her as she pulls him gently down towards her to press their foreheads together. ]

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have encouraged you to try— I... I don't think we're ready to do this...

[ Much as it pains her to say. Much as she'd like to wake up tomorrow feeling sure that the both of them will have a way to find each other if they were to find themselves without the other one there, just as they had when Thoma left. Much as she wants to believe that she's strong enough to face the consequences of what they seek.

She'll need to talk to Phantom some more, it seems. He's the only one she knows who's managed to attune to nightmare energy. She knows that it's due in no small part to the nature of his being, but - she wants to try. She has to try, for both hers and Diluc's sakes. They can't do this without knowing everything that they can know. Perhaps spend some more time at Trahearne's Archives, too. ]

I promise we'll figure this out together. But for now, please, I... I don't want to see you risk yourself for my sake. I'm not...

[ worthy. But she doesn't give voice to the words. Instead, she angles her head to press a kiss to his forehead, then to the corner of his eye, his cheek, and finally to his lips. ]

[She's trying her best not to show it, but Diluc can see plain as day that what has happened here has Ori spooked. He can't blame her; in all honesty, he's a little thrown off as well. Wielding nightmare energy felt too... natural. Familiar. Easy. And he shudders to think what might have happened without Ori here to anchor him.

The apologies and doubts that follow are not unexpected, but his heart still breaks to hear them. What happened here isn't her fault for encouraging him to make the attempt. It's his for doing it so recklessly. If they're to accomplish the impossible, he has to be much more careful going forward.

For now, what matters is the gentle relief of her lips on his skin, the way they find his and kiss him so lovingly. In response, he releases her face from his hands and instead wraps his arms around her.]

You are.

[He murmurs the words into her lips when the two of them part for air. He knows her well enough by now to know what the unspoken part is.]

But I have no interest in hurting you for the sake of this. I'll hold off on making another attempt until we're ready to move forward.

[He hates it, but she's right. What's happened here and his recent conversation with Venti have both made it abundantly clear that they need to proceed cautiously, much as he would prefer to act more quickly.]

[ This, on the heels of what happened to Eustace not all too long ago, and knowing the emotions and memories Diluc had drawn upon to manifest this energy definitely has her spooked. For now, at least, it seems her anchoring has worked, and it’s no small cause for relief as she presses in close and rests her head against his shoulder after they kiss, holding herself carefully and mindfully with her horns. ]

Thank you…

[ For his agreement, and for his reassurance. It’s not the first time that she’ll have such a thought, but Diluc will be there each and every time to remind her.

She knows that they’re both eager to find a solution to their seemingly insurmountable pursuit, and that every day that they don’t have an answer to it is means another day of uncertainty, another day spent wondering if this will be their last together. But she also recalls their sunshine urging them, so many moons ago, to treasure the time that they do have together. She can’t help but wonder what he would think, seeing Diluc and Ori like this.

They owe it to him to go about this in a way that won’t destroy them. Either of them.

And speaking of… Something occurs to Ori in that moment, and it has her pulling away from him with a more serious look on her face. ]

Take your coat off, moonlight.

[ She will peel it off of him, if needed. ]

[They do owe it to Thoma to find a way to do this without destroying themselves in the process. Diluc knows that just as much as Ori does. Moreso, in some ways--their sunshine never shyed away from telling him in no uncertain terms when he was being stupid and needlessly self-destructive. He'd certainly have Words about what's happened here today, were he present.

That realization just makes the ache of his absence feel that much worse.

Before his thoughts can go too deeply down that route, Ori pulls away and randomly demands he remove his coat. He blinks a few times at her, bemused.]

My coat? All right...

[He shrugs the coat off and sets it down on the ground next to him.]

[ Her abrupt request of him has a reason; she remembers that despite their best efforts, neither of them are entirely rid of the nightmare energy that they’ve been exposed to through injury. When he removes his coat, Ori is quick to take his right arm and roll up the sleeve of his shirt to examine his old puncture wound in an effort to discern whether his use of nightmare energy has agitated or even reopened the wound in any way. ]

How does it feel…?

[Once Ori starts rolling up his sleeve, it clicks: she's checking where the wolf-thing bit him earlier in the year. Where the bulk of the nightmare energy he carries was injected into him.

Luckily, there's no sign of anything unusual. The scar is the same as it always is--a stark reminder of a terrible night and difficult morning, but otherwise harmless. The dangerous part, he suspects, sits much closer to his heart than on an extremity like this.

Which is, of course, much more dire. But it is what it is.]

It feels fine. But thank you.

[He leans in and kisses her cheek gently in an effort to comfort her and ease her nerves.]

[ Relieved though she may be from the sight of it - still scarred over but not active again in any way - her brow remains furrowed, lips still pulled into a frown as she continues to scrutinize that part of his arm. What if it just looks okay right now? Or what if there's something she's not seeing, below the surface?

Her fingers tighten around his arm, nails digging just slightly into his skin... And then loosen when he leans in and kisses her cheek. She finally releases the breath she's been holding unwittingly. ]

...

[ She lifts his arm so that she can nuzzle his wrist and press her lips to the scars, with a healing pulse of dreamotion causing flowers to bloom over his skin. Just in case. ]

I love you. And I will always remind you that even though nightmares will dwell in you, there's just as much light...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

'cause there's devils in the canyon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject