[DON'T JUST MAKE HIM BE AT SWEET PEAS AND CORN. He is at SP&CM. He glances around as if he half expected everything to somehow be completely different.
But it is still peas and corn.]
I wasn't even the one who sent any peas really. I only sent corn.
[You don't like my choice of setting for this memshare and reunion thread... wow... also he has showered and changed but he probably still has some glitter in his hair. I don't think I mentioned this yesterday but he's also taken to wearing his gifted rings on his hand because he doesn't wear toe rings, but now he has added his friendship bracelet.]
[Yes, love memsharing amidst corn, corn milk, and peas. NOT CHILDE WEARING THESE TOE RINGS AS FINGER RINGS. This is so funny. How does Essek be both charmed and also exasperated about this?]
Well, we had to make fun of you all for not checking people's ears. It was the least insane.
Maybe those of you on that side should have killed someone who can cook sooner. I am not really any kind of chef; otherwise, a kitchen may have been something I made a request for. Perhaps one will appear now with your arrival.
But it's good you were there to help our team stay fed.
If one does, I'll make use of it for the rest of you. It always feels nostalgic to cook for a group. [His big family...] Jacopo will have to take care of it now.
[Anyway they can leave peas and milk now I just wanted to punish you. Time to wander!]
You've had a lot of company over here. [THE PEANUTS]
I hope it doesn't cause you too much grief considering all of the things which have appeared for us here already.
[There will be grief. But there will also be food. WHY DID YOU JUST TORMENT ME BY PUTTING ME IN HERE AAAAAAAA. MYEKS YOU as they wander out of the damn peas and milk place.]
They were unexpected, and I wish some of them weren't here.
It's where I ended up dying in hell. [...Amends--] Rather, where I fought Ryo, and got taken out of the drinking competition. It was a pain to fight there.
[Sometimes you slip on soap and fall in a sink to drown.]
Ah, yes. He mentioned he was from the village too. [A little amused--] Not a friend of yours?
[THE FUNNIEST MURDER TO HEAR ABOUT. Don't just try to fight Satan when there is another Satan.]
Oh, I see. I do remember you writing me that you were dead. I'm finding I am running into so many of you like this, though I would rather wish you be alive.
[Now he is dead again.]
He is a headache.
[But it looks like there may be something more (fond) he isn't choosing to say.]
There others aren't so bad. I enjoy speaking to Wriothesley, [lol] Seizaburo is polite and intuitive, and Keith keeps to himself usually.
[ISN'T MEPHISTO ALSO KIND OF SATAN. IT WAS SO FUCKING FUNNY. But he laughs a little, hearing that.]
I can't say I disagree with you there. [Given the choice, he would also prefer to still be alive...] But things can change, so I'm not resigned to my fate just yet.
[Sometimes... it takes longer than a year to resign yourself to being dead in hell forever, because you have a knack for getting out of places and surviving things you shouldn't. It's fine. Also, Esschurin real? This sounds gay. Unfortunately Childe likes Aventurine way more after the meeting today. Funny
For Childe's part, he can't help a soft huff at the sound of Wrio's name, but he doesn't say anything to it.]
This must be so confusing for them. But it works to our benefit, in the end.
[what do you mean you don't want to talk about plot? also, i had to wait until i was on my computer again because i have to type it out, the suffering of ttrpg]
You can't, or I would have made a lot of fun of you. [HE'S HONEST, AT LEAST.] A little here and there. I think Seizaburo is the most up-front about game happenings.
[It's out of the blue normalcy that Childe gets a memory:
Childe is with five others (minus Caleb and Jester), wedged inside an open tunnel made of what looks, smells, and feels like... flesh. Organic. It occasionally undulates, and much of it gives in the way flesh does. Between him and the other seven is a skin-like sort of pool on the floor, separating them.
In the distance, a tabaxi, Cree, injured, is attempting to make an escape. Yasha steps quickly on Cree's long cloak, yanking her back and impaling her along the sharp edge of a blade. Cree chokes on blood and begins to go limp.
Cree calls out, "Lu...cien...!"
Childe does not have one of the red eyes yet to hear, but in Beauregard and Caleb's minds, an Irish-accent voices says, You have done well. I need you to hold them off a little longer. I'm not ready yet. Become a vessel for the pattern, and show them the way.
The five red and magical, stylized eyes on Cree swell into a bright glow, turning half of the present tunnel red. On Yasha's sword, Cree begins to violently convulse, and Yasha shoves the tabaxi away with a boot. Cree falls to the ground with the limpness of a dead body, but as it impacts the ground, it continues to writhe.
Suddenly, the back of her shoulders split open, and tendrils of meat and bone sprout from her body, drawing out more tendrils until she is turned almost inside out and bloomed into a hulking mound of flesh, bones, and teeth. The base of the monstrosity begins to draw in the floor beneath ever so slightly, grounding it, feeding it. It howls an ear-splitting screech. Childe is horrified.
There is no way this is not a battle.
Yasha scrambles back, and the abomination reconfigures the claws on the tendril which was once an arm in a new direction completely to swing at her, slicing her across the front.
Caleb, in another area with Jester, is unsuccessful in his attempt to retrieve the threshold stone now being consumed by some of the flesh of the ceiling above.
Every so often, its body blurs for half a second, revealing holographic symbols, fractals tethering it to the city of Aeor. Fjord dives in with powerful swings, slashing, splitting the former Cree open. In the space of the slash, more flesh rises up, and Cree's face twists by through it, yelling in agony. Spines of bone extend, piercing Fjord for daring to harm it.
Childe is next, having watched this, having felt the depths of rolling fear and apprehension watching this all happen. He shakes what he can off, attempting to focus. He draws his hands in front - Hold Monster - but the abomination is too powerful, or perhaps he doesn't have enough focus. When it fails, he turns and runs for cover behind one of the fleshy stalagmites. Patterns of bizarre red eyes and those same unknown fractals pop up here and there in front of his eyes, muddling his thoughts briefly.
The rest of the fight is a seesaw of unfortunate timing, bad luck, and fortunate hits. Veth spares them any more suffering by destroying the abomination before it can start burrowing beneath the ground. It liquefies onto the ground when a crossbow bolt pierces the head of Cree which swirls by in the flesh.
In the aftermath, gathered, the five realize Veth is now sporting a glowing red eye on her forehead. Worried, everyone begins to check one another: Fjord has one, on the palm of a hand; Childe thinks he's fine, looking over himself to find nothing, but as he pulls the mantle aside, Yasha notices a red eye emblazoned on his right shoulder.
Idk if you care about TTRPG especially the battles of TTRPG, but if you want to watch it, you can here, but it goes on until about 1:18:00. There's a jump list pinned in the comments!!]
[YOUR TTRPG!!!! You are so kind... me who didn't prepare any new memories for this game really, help.
BUT THIS AIN'T ABOUT CHILDE--it's about Essek, and this encounter with a clearly fearsome beast of his own. If he'd watched this from a distance, the way he saw memories in hell, he'd probably perk up with interest, watching with an avid gaze for a glimpse of the power Essek's told him about. Living through it, though, is a very different thing. This horror, this fear, the desperate struggle--they're not his, but at least for now, they feel like they are.
It takes him a minute to come back to himself, when it ends; once it does, he doesn't bother pretending it didn't happen, turning to look at Essek curiously.]
[Didn't you say there are seven of you, childe says--no I'm kidding, He is deeply curious, but he has enough tact not to interrogate Essek about this... monster possession situation when he's clearly reeling from this memory.]
[There's a long pause, for... reasons, and then--]
So, just to be clear... the last thing you remember is going up against a fearsome beast, and then you wound up here, with no idea of how things have been going for your friends in the aftermath?
There was... a bit more after we defeated Cree. We... [A small sigh.] Caleb and I managed to utilize a gem we had found in the city. We were able to use it to give us all a sort of... rest. Rejuvenating us.
That... is the last thing. Our rest before what I can only assume will be a battle with Lucien. He is incredibly powerful, and now... possibly even stronger.
He wants to ask about Lucien sooooooo bad but he has a modicum of self-control despite what everyone has been led to believe, so he sighs instead.
Lightly--] I'm glad you got a moment to rest, and not only because we would've been far too similar otherwise. [WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING.] It's a shame you died here before you could get your hands on one of those items on the other side. They probably would've come in handy.
[SO FUNNY. Please ask about Lucien. Becoming very evil and immensely powerful is right up Childe's alley.
THEY KEEP BEING THE SAME, ALSO FUNNY.]
...I know. We shall... do what we can with what we have. There can be so many branches of reality, but if Laudna is at least a little to go by... I am at least alive in some future.
[Wry.]
You and I have too much in common. Do you know the outcome of your battle, or...?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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But it is still peas and corn.]
I wasn't even the one who sent any peas really. I only sent corn.
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I'm not sure that's the defense you think it is.
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Well, we had to make fun of you all for not checking people's ears. It was the least insane.
[Ears of corn...]
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Hey, don't look me about that! It ruined our plans too, you know.
[SOMETIMES... YOU DO NOT CHECK THINGS ON PURPOSE... but you also wanted them to be checked.]
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I assumed as much, but it felt more exhilarating sending you all mocking corn.
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Shakes his head...]
To be honest, with all the food, I really expected you to have a kitchen over here. It'll be a little weird not to cook for the team.
[He got into the habit of it...]
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Maybe those of you on that side should have killed someone who can cook sooner. I am not really any kind of chef; otherwise, a kitchen may have been something I made a request for. Perhaps one will appear now with your arrival.
But it's good you were there to help our team stay fed.
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If one does, I'll make use of it for the rest of you. It always feels nostalgic to cook for a group. [His big family...] Jacopo will have to take care of it now.
[Anyway they can leave peas and milk now I just wanted to punish you. Time to wander!]
You've had a lot of company over here. [THE PEANUTS]
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[There will be grief. But there will also be food. WHY DID YOU JUST TORMENT ME BY PUTTING ME IN HERE AAAAAAAA. MYEKS YOU as they wander out of the damn peas and milk place.]
They were unexpected, and I wish some of them weren't here.
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[ODDLY SPECIFIC but he doesn't seem inclined to clarify. Instead--]
Which ones?
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[He has fought ice trolls, and they are big, so this is all he is imagining right now. Their house.]
Aventurine.
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[Sometimes you slip on soap and fall in a sink to drown.]
Ah, yes. He mentioned he was from the village too. [A little amused--] Not a friend of yours?
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Oh, I see. I do remember you writing me that you were dead. I'm finding I am running into so many of you like this, though I would rather wish you be alive.
[Now he is dead again.]
He is a headache.
[But it looks like there may be something more (fond) he isn't choosing to say.]
There others aren't so bad. I enjoy speaking to Wriothesley, [lol] Seizaburo is polite and intuitive, and Keith keeps to himself usually.
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I can't say I disagree with you there. [Given the choice, he would also prefer to still be alive...] But things can change, so I'm not resigned to my fate just yet.
[Sometimes... it takes longer than a year to resign yourself to being dead in hell forever, because you have a knack for getting out of places and surviving things you shouldn't. It's fine. Also, Esschurin real? This sounds gay. Unfortunately Childe likes Aventurine way more after the meeting today. Funny
For Childe's part, he can't help a soft huff at the sound of Wrio's name, but he doesn't say anything to it.]
This must be so confusing for them. But it works to our benefit, in the end.
[More people to brainstorm achievements...]
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Gale of Waterdeep, and I won't accept it from you.
[YOU ARE SO DESPERATE TO GRASP AT STRAWS!!! Don't just like Aventurine after that insane meeting.]
They weren't sure why they were here. Started here no less. I don't know if it's something which should be looked into, or simply a strange anomaly.
But, yes. They offer us a bit of leeway.
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I couldn't very well tell you not to disappoint me only to turn around and disappoint you instead, now can I?
[AMBITIOUS FUCKS!!!! ALSO GIVE ME A MEMSHARE SO THEY STOP TALKING ABOUT PLOT BEATS YOU UP. Starts wandering towards The Cage.]
Have they shared very much about the games they came from?
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You can't, or I would have made a lot of fun of you. [HE'S HONEST, AT LEAST.] A little here and there. I think Seizaburo is the most up-front about game happenings.
[It's out of the blue normalcy that Childe gets a memory:
Idk if you care about TTRPG especially the battles of TTRPG, but if you want to watch it, you can here, but it goes on until about 1:18:00. There's a jump list pinned in the comments!!]
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BUT THIS AIN'T ABOUT CHILDE--it's about Essek, and this encounter with a clearly fearsome beast of his own. If he'd watched this from a distance, the way he saw memories in hell, he'd probably perk up with interest, watching with an avid gaze for a glimpse of the power Essek's told him about. Living through it, though, is a very different thing. This horror, this fear, the desperate struggle--they're not his, but at least for now, they feel like they are.
It takes him a minute to come back to himself, when it ends; once it does, he doesn't bother pretending it didn't happen, turning to look at Essek curiously.]
Those were the companions you mentioned before?
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He swallows gently.]
Yes... Those are the Mighty Nein.
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...How long ago was that?
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...A few hours, probably.
[Guilty by way of going through some shit and then coming here and pretending he hadn't been freaking out.]
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So, just to be clear... the last thing you remember is going up against a fearsome beast, and then you wound up here, with no idea of how things have been going for your friends in the aftermath?
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There was... a bit more after we defeated Cree. We... [A small sigh.] Caleb and I managed to utilize a gem we had found in the city. We were able to use it to give us all a sort of... rest. Rejuvenating us.
That... is the last thing. Our rest before what I can only assume will be a battle with Lucien. He is incredibly powerful, and now... possibly even stronger.
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He wants to ask about Lucien sooooooo bad but he has a modicum of self-control despite what everyone has been led to believe, so he sighs instead.
Lightly--] I'm glad you got a moment to rest, and not only because we would've been far too similar otherwise. [WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING.] It's a shame you died here before you could get your hands on one of those items on the other side. They probably would've come in handy.
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THEY KEEP BEING THE SAME, ALSO FUNNY.]
...I know. We shall... do what we can with what we have. There can be so many branches of reality, but if Laudna is at least a little to go by... I am at least alive in some future.
[Wry.]
You and I have too much in common. Do you know the outcome of your battle, or...?
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