hadriel_logs | Event Log: End of Arc 2

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Event Log: End of Arc 2

Who: All characters
What: The event log for the End of Arc 2
Where: All over the city
When: November 25th-December 12th
Warnings: A full-scale battle, including character death, NPC death, and various other ways to suffer

It was bound to happen. The Null warned you, after all, and this has been building for awhile - and now it's here. First comes the initial attack, the agents of the Null attacking Hope's temple. Then, an SOS, warning the city of what's happened: a betrayal, and Hope being injured. Luckily for everyone, thanks to the actions of his guards Hope survives the attack. Unluckily, his attacker, the goddess Delight, escapes and lets the Null in.

Flooding into the cave, the Null will attack anyone who they believe is resisting them. They'll destroy buildings and deploy dangerous crowd control weapons, in addition to their sheer strength and speed. Confusion empties the monsters in the tunnels into the city, to help distract the Null. Some gods fight, others provide safe havens, but everyone is in danger.

After about a week and a half of the attack, Fear summons enough power to teleport the city. This stops any new Null from arriving through the tunnels, but the remaining Null must be hunted down and destroyed, or else they'll signal their location to the rest of their species. The danger will lessen as Null are taken out, but things won't really be safe until Fear moves the city again, so don't get too comfortable.

What will you do? Run and hide? Fight? Help the fighters? Turn on the gods yourself? Whatever you do, it's time to make a decision.

► This log covers November 25th-December 12th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you get taken out by the Null, please let us know here.

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I'm taking one.

[There's no flinch, not so much as an indrawn breath at the sting that sparks as a sharp pain in his hand and travels up his arm as an uncomfortable tingle. His fingers curl in her grip but he doesn't tug his hand free.

The cut is bloody but thankfully shallow, the damage mostly superficial.

As far as he's concerned, he will take a break when there is no longer a need to fight. Until then, he can persevere. As long as he can stand and hold a weapon, he can fight. He knows that Kate is like him in that way, and her question - while genuine - is entirely hypocritical.]

I've barely seen you sit down all day.

( And yet he's ending up more injured on his break than off it. The fuck, Ignis? )

Fine. When'd you last sleep?

( Because she gets the feeling that he's probably running on about as little rest as she is. But this is not about her. Not when she's currently not sporting fresh injuries and mishandling weapons. Hypocritical? Definitely. Kate can neither recognise that fact nor bring herself to care about it, though. She's handling the situation just fine, reaching for gauze and bandages to cover the injury, wrapping it tight. )

Could be worse. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful.

( Yes, those words are pointed as hell. )

Thank you for the advice.

[Under this kind of stress words that would have normally been meant to come across as concern are more like barbs, sticking in the open wounds created by what feels like weeks of constant strain and ever-present danger.

He doesn't react to her like he usually would. Instead the response is a sharp withdrawal and a push up to his feet, blinking the spots from his eyes and pretending he doesn't see them.

Moments later he retrieves his spear, and he's searching the shaft for the jagged edge that cut his hand.]

If you can sleep in this situation, then I envy you. I certainly can't.

( And he gets a glare directed squarely at his back for the brush off, rocking back onto her heels before she pushes herself up, a click of the tongue audible as she does. Fine. They don't have time for the argument and Ignis isn't wrong; she has hardly slept. Nodded off when her eyes can't stay open any more for the briefest of moments. But not really slept. Her limits haven't been pushed like this in a long time, even at The Agency it was rarely more than a few days without sleep.

As she stands, sparks of lilac and blue flicker at her fingers and the world around her seems to swim with colours and light. )

... Shit.

( That's definitely not good. Nor is the dizziness or the shaking of her muscles, causing Kate to take a step back to keep herself from falling over, hand once again reaching back to try and find something, someone to keep her steady. )

[Ignis is prickling with irritation but he isn't ignoring her, and is half-aware of her standing up behind him. He's ready for the argument to continue and perhaps they both need to let off some steam, but what happens instead is an instinctive reach for her arm, a hand light under her elbow, the spear neatly abandoned on the ground.

They are both at their limits. He feels himself dizzied with how quickly he moves to catch her.]

Easy...

[And he's got her, a firm anchor to keep her upright while she regains herself... or to hold her entirely if she can't.]

( Of course he is. And if she wasn't fighting to keep herself from falling over entirely, there'd be comments said - ones about how they have to stop meeting this way, with her hand reaching for him, or the fact that, yes, she's very aware of the painful hypocrisy of being a power specialist that can't even take care of herself well enough to avoid power exhaustion. But she is, so the only thing that happens is Kate lets herself lean her weight against Ignis, her exhale more a grunt.

Her body can't take much more of this. For all the flares of colour she saw just then, her own were completely dark. Extinguished.

The next couple of weeks will be fun. That's the last thought she has before collapsing against him, alongside a breath that almost sounds like the start of an I- (should've taken my own advice). )

[She might hate what happens next, but even if she's aware of it, she's in no position to argue as Ignis lifts her right off her feet with a motion that is far too easy, even given her small stature. The relocated clinic is his first thought, but after a moment, he silently reconsiders with the notion that if she happens to rouse there, she won't be able to keep herself from getting up and trying to assist with whatever is going on.]

I'd say that hypocrisy doesn't suit you, but I think we're long past 'I told you so's. [Ignis sighs, mostly to himself as he gets them both out of the way and sits down with her. At first, it's slightly awkward while he gets her into a position where he thinks she'll be comfortable, then he leans back and huffs out a breath, and feels the soreness and exhaustion of the last two weeks beginning to seep back into his body.

Held there by his sense of duty to a good friend, it doesn't take long for him to quietly doze off. So much for not being able to sleep...]

( For once - probably because she's collapsed on someone, rather than directly on the floor - Kate does manage to regain her awareness relatively quickly, but here's the thing about your powers being tied to so much of the rest of your body: once they're gone, you're fucked until your body adjusts. She couldn't do anything even if she wanted to right now, and the next couple of days are going to be a maddening cycle of sleeping and trying to feed herself. (It's a good thing Ignis reconsidered the clinic area, it would definitely have led to a third item of "trying and failing to help"). )

Shut up. ( It's probably the first thing said without any malice or frustration behind it, because she's too tired for either and too aware of the fact that it's entirely her fault. She could have avoided getting into this state, managed herself better. She gives that advice to people all too much back home but never follows it herself.

But, with the state of her body, all Kate can do right now is let herself be moved, small noises the only indication of how comfortable or not she is, head lolling onto Ignis' shoulder without reservation. She can't find it in herself to fight the contact, the way their bodies brush against one another, can't even manage to fight the closing of her eyelids. )

Edited 2017-12-05 20:16 (UTC)

I will not. [He murmurs it back to her, but the challenge that might have ordinarily been attached to those words isn't quite there.

It's an astounding thing, to be able to sleep under these kinds of conditions, but there does come a point where a person's body simply says 'enough' and gives no choice in the matter. It would seem that the two of them have managed to reach that point simultaneously, though with adrenaline being what it is, it's doubtful that they'll manage to stay asleep for long.

When Ignis stirs, he's stiff all over and comes to with a muted grunt of discomfort. He tries to move, but finds himself still weighted down by Kate's body against his.]

... Ah. [He mutters to himself, carefully stretching out his free arm and holding back a wince. His fingers curl over Kate's shoulder and squeeze gently.] Kate... if I don't stand, I'm going to need someone to carry me. I'd much rather spare myself the indignity.

( Well, Ignis might not be, but Kate is well and truly pulled under by the lure of sleep for once in her life, barely even moving from the second he finds them a comfortable position. A deep, dreamless sleep that doesn't want to let go, and when he tries waking her, it's met with a twitch and her head burrowing into the crook of his neck without thinking, as though it's a cushion she's trying to use to block out light and sound. )

Mmph.

( Wait for it-

Wait for it-

There it is. Her movements are slow, sluggish, and minimal, wordlessly shifting just enough to let Ignis slip out from underneath her. The only exception is her head, which pulls back far more sharply once she realises that the body underneath isn't a pillow.

Let's... just hope nobody saw that. )

[He's patient enough while she brings herself back around into wakefulness, as much as he feels the hairs on the back of his neck prickle up in a way that isn't entirely uncomfortable as she presses her face into the curve of his shoulder. A soft breath is drawn in, entirely unconsciously, as she does that and it is no surprise to him that she moves so quickly when she finally realises what she's doing.

Ignis moves, and stands, and swiftly clears his throat to remove the lump that had lodged there on a single solid thud of his heart against his ribs.]

Apologies. It wasn't my intention-- to... [Ehem.

Uncharacteristically flustered, he visibly takes a moment to settle himself back into his usual composure.]

Are you alright?

( Aren't we lucky ~~or not~~ that she's too tired to piece anything together right now, that opening her eyes takes several blinks and effort to do. She takes a moment to summon the strength to push hair from her face, and another to manage to focus her eyes on her friend. )

Mm. ( Yes. That's supposed to be a yes. ) 'haustion. Be fine. Need sleep.

( And food, eventually. But right now all her body craves is rest. )

[... Oh, thank the Six.]

You should get some rest. But perhaps not on the ground.

[He doesn't know how long they'd been sleeping there, but a quick look around tells him that it couldn't have been too long. A soft sigh escapes him, and he crouches down beside her again, a small, tired smile on his lips.]

Do you think that you can manage to stand?

( OH MY GOD IGNIS LET A WOMAN SLEEP. Every muscle in her body feels like it's under Phoenix Fire and the ground feels comfortable enough to rest on. But then again, what doesn't feel that way right now? She certainly wouldn't burrow her head into Ignis' neck normally.

But, okay, she can concede that he's probably right on that. Give her a moment to stretch out her legs experimentally - a test that results in a groan and a wince - before she looks up. )

... Think so.

( Not for long, but she's not about to say that. It's one thing when you've been fighting through it for so long you don't feel it any more, but now that her body's given over to the exhaustion, the very idea of standing is a pain that aches from head to toe. But fuck it. She's spent too long, came way too far to let this shit limit her. It's just another obstacle.

So let's try standing. )

[She can sleep, but if he's going to leave her to sleep it's definitely not going to be in some random corner no matter how tired she is. He stands up at her (mostly) affirmative answer, and gets one hand gently under her elbow as she makes an attempt to rise.

It quickly occurs to him that it probably won't be enough, so he puts an arm around her instead.]

You won't have to move far.

[Not far at all, in fact, before he can set her down on a few blankets in a corner of a tent and have a little more faith that she's going to be safe there.]

( She probably could make it without that much assistance if she really tried, but having his arm around her feels... comfortable. She doesn't mind having the extra support right now, even taking advantage of the assistance to not push herself further than necessary.

And, of course, the second she finds herself among blankets, somewhere safe, she's... pretty much out like a light. Sorry about that, Ignis. Her powers are wrecked, so she's wrecked. )

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Event Log: End of Arc 2

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