+- Court of the Fallen (https://cotf-rpg.com)
+-- Forum: Out of Character (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=26)
+--- Forum: Important (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=27)
+---- Forum: Archives (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=38)
+---- Thread: light the match to taste the heat (/showthread.php?tid=9599)
Pages:
1
2
light the match to taste the heat - Astaroth - 06-06-2024
With the creature happily distracted to burn until the fire goes out, yet simultaneously feeling as though no progress had been made, the butcher stalks off. In fact, the fyrhund doesn’t even look at Danta before bolting into the trees of the jungle, drifting further and further until finally he’s made it into the Tanglefoot in what he’s sure will bring him that much closer to Torchline. But he isn’t quite ready to take on the throng of people and civilization, teeth grifting together and a growl of frustration leaving him once he’d finally shifted back into himself.
It is with a bit more chaos and upset that Astaroth drifts deeper into the jungle, dagger withdrawn from his shoe at about the same time that a treeflit dares to approach, getting close and into his space with its vibrating harmonies, wings fluttering in a rainbow hue. It isn’t a crow, so Astaroth doesn’t care too much, but he’s pissed off enough to seem like he really cares.
It’s a moment of overkill, the butcher gritting his sharp teeth, daring the creature to come closer, and the second it does Astaroth unleashes any of that pent up aggression on the poor thing in the form of his bloodboon magic. The knife slices easily in practiced motions, only unlike with Maea, Asta cares little for being careful around potential harm to himself. The blade sinks in, slicing at his left arm in a long slow line before lifting to run perpendicular to his collarbone, and as the iron fills the air, the target is sighted as the treeflit comes barreling through, only to drop to the ground in a helpless twitch.
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Dantalion - 06-06-2024
[say]”Astaroth what the fuck?”[/say] And that’s even before Danta realises what the other man has done - or is in the process of doing - to himself. Not having expected him to just disappear after the hulking void monster got distracted, however temporarily, by the fire they’d made, the Maverick turns to find himself quite alone in the jungle with only the flick of a fyrhund’s tail to go by.
By the time he catches up to the other man, Asta is at least back on two legs, but this doesn’t, apparently, give him back an intelligent man’s brain.
Painting, covered in dirt and leaves and trying to pull a twig (or a hanging snake, he doesn’t know) out of his hair, Danta’s blue eyes widen further to see the flash of a wicked blade and the prompt ending of… of… a bug, it looks like.
[say]”Hey, whoa,”[/say] he blurts, trying to step forward as if to take the knife out of the butcher’s hands. [say]”It’s a fucking treeflit - it’s hardly going to kill us.”[/say]
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Astaroth - 06-06-2024
Danta’s voice calls after him on an echo that’s more reminiscent of the peal of bells, causing the butcher’s nose to wrinkle despite the fact that he can glean some amount of concern in the question. He finds quickly that he doesn’t care. The blade slices through and with the carelessness of placement and his weakened state since waking, it is his first time using the bloodboon, and fuck it does a lot more to him than he remembers.
Enough that the creature falls and Asta’s hands shake, allowing Danta to take the bloodied knife from his hand, but he does nothing but grit his teeth and continues to let his arm and hand start to coat in blood, dripping down his chest from the slice on the collarbone. He ignores the comment of the treeflit, if only to let hard dark eyes find Danta’s face. “[say]We fucking failed.[/say]” He snaps instead, shaking and trembling, reflecting a portion of himself he kept hidden away from the rest of the Climb, unfortunately open for Danta to witness.
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Dantalion - 06-06-2024
[say]"And you are bleeding everywhere,"[/say] Danta hisses, quickly tucking the knife away and trying to stem the flow of blood (unsuccessfully, he is not a healer and he doesn't have a bag of holding) with his bare hands, using the pressure of his palms to keep it from streaming down the other man's front. Clearly, failing isn't something that bothers him in the slightest, and if anything he's more annoyed about the butcher storming off and disappearing.
[say]"So what?"[/say] He shrugs to the other man, his brow furrowed. [say]"We're not in charge of the Oerwoud, and no one sent us out after that stupid thing. I sure as fuck didn't come out here looking for it."[/say] Honestly, as if. But he's more concerned about the deep lacerations that have opened on Asta's skin, hissing a curse under his breath and glancing over his shoulder as if wondering how far from civilisation they are.
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Astaroth - 06-06-2024
“[say]Yes.[/say]” Asta says in a tone that’s more like obviously. But his jaw works and his nose wrinkles and he tries desperately to not shake and tremble as much in the face of his own frustrations and shortcomings.
Honestly he’s just upset at how weak he is. And the proof is here with how much the bloodboon had harmed him, another little tick on that shorter growing list of his own failings. “[say]So what? It means if another comes trundling down our way to the Grounds, what then?[/say]” Sure, part of it would be safe, but the rest of it? He shakes his head and laughs a dark tone of disbelief, dark eyes focusing on Danta with a rage brimming beneath it.
It’s a different kind of manic, one he doesn’t know what to do with, hence the utilization of his magic on a bug. “[say]What then, Dantalion?[/say]” He snaps.
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Dantalion - 06-06-2024
[say]"Then we'll be in the Grounds,"[/say] Danta says, his own tone one of obviously. [say]"Where there's a gigantic bonfire for us to burn it in - if it even gets as far as the Inner Quarter. Not to mention the Spire, which I happen to know has a hulking great cannon in it that we can use to blow it to Halo and back."[/say] And you know what - the Maverick is pretty proud that he's remembered all of that, given that both his hands are currently dripping with Asta's blood where he's trying to stem the flow from his arm and collarbone.
[say]"Not really the time,"[/say] he snaps, clearly taking the wrong information from the use of his full name. [say]"Fuck sake, Asta - you need to see a healer or something."[/say] Clearly what the other man has done is beyond Danta's mediocre first aid skills, doubly so since they're in the middle of the jungle and there's nothing and no one around to help.
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Astaroth - 06-06-2024
The words only alleviate his frustration a fraction of what it should otherwise do, and he leans slightly into the pressure offered, blood spilling between Danta’s fingers as it begins to slow a small amount but not quite enough to be noticeable initially. His jaw works and he huffs out a curse, shaking his head.
Dark eyes focus on the other man and he reaches up with a shaky hand to cover Danta’s at his chest, the blood hot and slick. “[say]I will. Eventually.[/say]” Comes the dark vow before he sighs. “[say]I am just not in a good mind space right now.[/say]” He offers as if it isn’t obvious enough — but Danta’s never quite seen this side of him, not unlike the shift that the Maverick had in Torchline that long ago, just more self-destructive than anything else.
He isn’t used to talking this much in his state, but it’s clear it’s more autopilot than anything else.
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Dantalion - 06-06-2024
Eventually isn't good enough, is what Danta wants to say, between scolding Asta for almost cutting himself to the bone over a bug whilst out and in the middle of fucking nowhere. But he manages to keep the words bitten behind his teeth, inhaling deeply and letting it out again and about to pull his hands away when one of the butcher's comes up to cover his own. [say]"Right,"[/say] he murmurs, knowing, of course, what it is to not be in a good headspace but simultaneously at a loss as to what to do.
[say]"Right,"[/say] he says again, glancing back into the undergrowth as if expecting to see the Void Horror lumbering after them still. When it doesn't, he returns his attention to Astaroth. [say]"What... what will make this better?"[/say] It's not quite the same as saying is there anything I can do, but gods if it isn't almost there. [say]"Do you want to go hurt something? Or talk about it? Or...?"[/say]
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Astaroth - 06-06-2024
The repetition of rights that Danta says are met with the lessening of the rage in his dark gaze that slowly begins to shift into dull uncertainty. His hand tightens against Danta’s, slick and hot compared to the chill in the air and the sudden paleness to his bronze skin. What will make it better? Gods, something to sink his teeth into, something to keep the sudden anxieties of his things being taken away from him at bay, take your pick.
“[say]I don’t know.[/say]” And gods if that isn’t a frightening statement leaving the butcher, paired with his shaking hands and his sudden deflation. “[say]I… Sorry. When I failed…[/say]” He trails off, referencing the Climb, hoping that Danta follows his thought process. “[say]Punishment was…[/say]” He grits his teeth and sighs, hand twitching over the other man’s as he works his jaw again and his posture seems to curve, probably from the blood loss.
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Dantalion - 06-06-2024
Danta isn't used to Asta not knowing, and it shows in the sudden frown that shadows his face. Giving a nod that seems much more decisive than the Maverick actually feels, he steps in against the other man's side as if to take some of his weight, nodding towards the vague light in the distance that he hopes is the jungle thinning out into Torchline's beaches. [say]"We're going to walk this way,"[/say] he tells him, an arm slipping around his waist so he can direct them.
[say]"Torchline has that clinic place, right? And the healing water. We'll get you patched up there."[/say] Because that's easy, dealing with the immediate lol u fucked up of the whole situation. It's easier than thinking about everything else Asta has said - not that there's much else to do as Danta urges them to start walking.
[say]"You didn't fail,"[/say] he murmurs eventually. [say]"And even if you did, who do you think around here would punish you? Me?"[/say] He raises his eyebrows, scoffing. [say]"Everyone who might have tried is gone, and they have been for a long time."[/say]
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Astaroth - 06-06-2024
“[say]Alright.[/say]” The butcher says with a sigh, leaning onto the blonde as they start to walk, guided easily even as his weight grows heavier on Danta’s side. The trees and branches begin to thin out and the white beaches of Torchline come into view and Astaroth works his jaw. “[say]Yes, they do.[/say]” He says quietly, a hint wearily as they wander.
His admission is met with silence initially, and there’s tension blooming in his chest, swallowing down a breath of air as he tries to focus on anything else but his clotting and deep wounds. Latching onto the Maverick’s words, Astaroth’s fingertips dig into Danta’s shoulder. “[say]I don’t know.[/say]” He says, in terms of who would punish him. The gut reaction says anyone, and based off of the ruthlessness of Danta’s previous encounters with him before their long slumber, an irrational part of his mind suggests the other man might.
But he knows better.
“[say]I am sorry.[/say]” He says after a moment of silence.
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Dantalion - 06-06-2024
Nodding again, mostly to confirm to himself that they've got a plan - or at least the pretense of one - before Astaroth passes out entirely from bloodloss, Danta keeps them moving until the white sands and welcome heat of Torchline creeps upon them at last. Glancing sidelong at the butcher, as if worried about what he'll see if he looks at the man outright, the Maverick feels a curious mix of confusion and outrage churn in his gut.
Of all people to be rendered near speechless, he'd never have expected it of Asta, and Danta slowly draws them to a stop a few feet from the small path that will lead them into town. [say]"I forgive you,"[/say] he says, straightening up enough to grasp at the other man's shaking hands as if to still their trembling while he checks the state of the cuts Asta has inflicted on himself.
[say]"For fucking off into the jungle without so much as a goodbye - I forgive you. But there's nothing else to apologise for."[/say]
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Astaroth - 06-07-2024
He half expects the typical answer – the snark, the subtle you should be, and yet when he receives the answer in a straight enough answer, the butcher’s shoulders deflate ever so slightly, as if all the tension of worrying whether or not he’d beat into him have suddenly fled the cavern of his chest. Drawn to a stop as he is, his dark gaze harbors nothing now as he watches Danta check the wounds, as he grasps his hands to keep them from trembling that feel just a bit too cold, but not enough to worry about yet.
And Danta continues and he releases a soft little breath, leaning forward to press his forehead against Danta’s in a chaste but quiet touch, needed to ground himself as he starts straightening up again, trying to take a deep breath to calm himself. “[say]I needed to clear my head.[/say]” Which, as it turns out, requires a lot of blood loss. And maybe it isn’t entirely clear either right now, but at least he has something else to focus on other than the gnawing stress and anxieties that have bubbled to the surface.
RE: light the match to taste the heat - Dantalion - 06-07-2024
[say]"Should be pretty clear now there's no blood left in it,"[/say] Danta scolds, though there's no real anger in his voice, and he closes his eyes for a moment as Asta leans in. Squeezing his hands as if trying to impart some extra warmth into them, they can't really afford to stand around while the other man bleeds out, so the Maverick soon ducks back beneath the other man's arm to ferry him onto the path.
[say]"It's a long way back to town,"[/say] he mutters as if only just realising it, and whilst he pointedly looks not worried as he glances at the butcher, it's a difficult thing to keep out of his tone. [say]"And it's not like we can cauterise those cuts. Might need to hail down a cart, or see if anyone has some emergency fountain water..."[/say]
Neither planning nor caregiving are things Danta is used to, so he's woefully out of his depth, but no one can deny he's doing his best.