Shia surprise

Ronin's attack misses. 

Dahlia HP: 1020/1020
Flora HP: 394.25/616 **Mark round 1
Ronin HP: 915/915
Sunjata HP: 1140/1140

but baby i've been here before; i've seen this room and i've walked this floor

Flora’s scream tears through him like a blade, clean and bright and meant for someone else but cutting him anyway. Remi flinches—not away, but inward—his body tensing like a bow pulled to breaking. He feels her pain, not through any bond but through blood and memory, through ten thousand echoes of her laughter and a hundred times she’s leaned against him half-asleep on a boat or beach or barstool.

He wants to give her his strength. Gods, he wants to. But there’s a more immediate way to save her, and even if she’ll never forgive him for prioritizing the fight over her in this breath—

Turning sharply, with a snarl tight behind his teeth and Sunjata’s water still falling in droplets around them, Remi focuses past the blood and silk and pain. Past Dahlia’s grinning mouth and the impossible twist of space that’s brought her back to Flora’s side. He doesn’t aim for her hands. Or her face. Or even her body.

He goes deeper.

Magic coils in his fist, not bright but ancient, pulled from the marrow of his soul where love and rage live side by side. He steps once—just enough to close the gap—and punches, the blow not meant for skin or sinew but for whatever passes for a soul inside the Reaper. Not to kill, not yet. But to shove it loose, to stagger her the way Flora’s scream staggered him.

Get off her. The words aren’t spoken, but they crash through the bond to Ronin and Sunjata anyway, pulsing with all the fury Remi doesn’t have time to express aloud.

---

Remi uses his soul strike!

Regional Score bonus: +15 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +15 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.

Magic: Soul Strike | If successful, knocks the soul out of the body. An out of body soul can't affect its environment for 1 turn during combat, or for 20 seconds in normal threads. Contested END(Remi)/STR (opponent)/LUCK roll. Range of 60ft
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Remi's attack misses.

Dahlia HP: 1020/1020
Flora HP: 394.25/616 **Mark round 1
Ronin HP: 915/915
Sunjata HP: 1140/1140

SUNJATA

the flood

but am i too late? or hearts to your spades,
if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?

A lot happens all at once. The mockery of a blown kiss, the missed attempts to attack or cure, all of it. But it’s what happens after that Sunjata will remember for a long time.

The scream triggers something long, dark, and deep within Sunjata - especially as his attack misses. As he watches the water fall like rain down onto the golden, bloodstained street. It drags that visceral reminder of Korofi — of being on the marble tiles of his father’s floor, listening to Lusea’s scream as the blade plunged through her. And while he often did his best to try to atone for all the sins he’s committed, the Flood takes a shot in ignoring Ronin’s advice.

Because motion continues to happen, and nothing seems to land, and his anger gets the best of him as he snags the rose from Ronin’s hands, snarling as he surges toward Dahlia in what he feels like a Hail Mary, trying to use the distraction Remi hopefully poses. “Fuck you, Dahlia.” He snarls, trying to stab her with the thorns of the rose.

---

Sunjata ignores Ronin and takes the rose to rush at Dahlia and try to stab her with the thorns!

Magic: Second Shot (FEAT) | Rolls with advantage if his last attack misses
Type: Light | Rank: Basic

Regional Score bonus: +1 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +1 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.

so we're not written in the stars,
but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything

Sunjata's attack misses. (BY 4 Q___Q)

Dahlia HP: 1020/1020
Flora HP: 394.25/616 **Mark round 1
Ronin HP: 915/915
Sunjata HP: 1140/1140

Dahlia can’t help herself as not once, not twice, but three times in quick succession, the squad of Caido’s finest demigods manages to royally fuck up, and she laughs. The sound is high and manic, near hysterical, because she’s no stranger to the effect the rose they’re waving around will have on her. But gods, she can feel each scream from Flora’s throat destroying something within them, and the Reaper smiles sweetly.

”I’m going to kill her in front of you,” she whispers, ”and you’re such sorry excuses for heroes, you’re going to sit here and let me.”

Twisting like a serpent between the three of them, her claws still buried in the Doubletake’s side, her free hand comes up to join the fray and lances downwards to carve another set of new scars into Flora’s flesh.

---

Dahlia laughs at these fools and goes after Flora again, since no one is stopping her.

Magic: Maker's Mark | On a successful physical attack hit, enemies are Marked for 3 turns.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Magic: Claws | Dahlia's fingertips become curved, elongated claws at will, counting as a Mastered weapon.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Magic: Mania (passive) | Dahlia's damage increases by 50% following every successful attack to the same target.
Type: Dark | Rank: Basic

let me put my lips to something
let me wrap my teeth around the world

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Dahlia's attack hits.

Dahlia HP: 1020/1020
Flora HP: 194/616 **Mark round 2
Ronin HP: 915/915
Sunjata HP: 1140/1140

flora

The pain is unspeakable. She doesn’t have words for it—just raw, shredded sound that rips out of her throat as Dahlia’s claws dig in again. Not just a slice. Not just a gash. In her. Like she’s being dug through, split open at the seams and left to feel every precise movement, every cruel twist of the Reaper’s fingers.

Flora screams, the sound wet and helpless, her mouth gasping and stretching and choking on her own breath. There’s no air. No ground. Just blood and heat and white-hot agony so vivid it pushes the world to the edges of her vision. The sky blurs. The golden stones blur. Even the voices of her fathers—gods, she knows they’re fighting, knows they’re right there—fade beneath the screaming in her head.

She can’t move. Can’t think.

Pierce hadn’t been like this. Pierce had been clean, cold, impersonal. His blade had sliced into her, yes, but this—this is slow. This is meant to be felt. It’s mockery laced in talons, and she’s nothing but a ragdoll in Dahlia’s grip.

Fingers slick with blood scrabble at her side, shaking as she drags the healing ring across her torn skin. It flares to life—light flickering against her ribs—but it’s not enough. It's a drop in an ocean. A whisper in a hurricane.

---

Flora heals herself with her ring and Taylor swift’s the damage.

Healing Ring | A golden ring made by the fae, capable of delivering mastered

Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Basic
Lucky you | A ring that when worn grants +3 luck. Must be included in all PQ/PQ+/KQ/DROP posts to be counted. healing via touch.

Torchline: Torchline has taught you to survive her weather and her terrain. Once per PQ/PQ+/KQ/Drop, you can 'shrug off' half the damage from ONE non-lethal attack. (In order to use this ability, you must put a clear note in the bottom of your post immediately following the attack you want to 'shrug off').

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Dahlia HP: 1020/1020
Flora HP: 345.625/616 **Mark round 1
Ronin HP: 915/915
Sunjata HP: 1140/1140

RONIN

the white knight

light is easy to love.

It’s happening again. Another child dying in front of them, and there’s so pitifully little he can do about it. He misses. @Remi’s attempt to snare the Reaper’s soul goes wide. Sunjataollows suit with all he’s got and it’s still not enough, and all Ronin can hear is Flora screaming. @Dahlia’s lips move, mocking and enjoying their failure in a way that would normally have him seeing red, but the radiant light that splinters out of him is born of nothing but fear and cold dread.

You don’t have much time. That warning is for Sunjata - the magic that has brought him to their side will be fading soon. We’ll fight until the end. However that might look.

In the meantime, though, the Knight seizes the rose and tries - for everything all of them are worth - to blunt the Reaper’s claws and banish the void from her blood.

---

Ronin warns Sunjata about the Rescue magic’s time limit, takes the rose and tries again to cure Dahlia. He uses his feat to try twice if (when) the first doesn’t work!

Magic: Once More With Feeling (FEAT) | Twice per combat (e.g. KQs, PQ+s, PVP) Ronin may use two actions in one turn.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered

Magic: FEAT | Now You! | When Ronin successfully hits a target, the next ally who posts gains advantage on their attack.
Type: Light | Rank: Basic

Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Mastered
Vi's Roses (rare): A beautiful crimson flower with thorns of deep gold, it is rumoured that these roses are coloured with Vi's lifeblood. When planted, they have the ability to cleanse the area around them.

Magic: Foe of the Family | Is able to see the true form of the Family and those who are Friends of the Family. Void damage is super effective.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Regional Score bonus: +15 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +15 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.

show me your darkness.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ronin's attack, to the surprise of everyone involved,  Hits. Dahlia has been cured.

Dahlia HP: 10/10
Flora HP: 345.625/616
Ronin HP: 915/915
Sunjata HP: 1140/1140

but baby i've been here before; i've seen this room and i've walked this floor

The world narrows to blood.

It smears beneath his boots, sticky and warm, and it slicks Flora’s skin like oil, her dress soaked through and torn apart as if by a storm. But it’s not the blood or the jagged wounds or even the scream that splits her throat again that undoes him.

It’s her eyes.

There’s terror in them—real, consuming, childlike terror—and Remi is already moving before Dahlia finishes her threat. He doesn’t see the moment Ronin lands the blow with the rose, doesn’t clock the way the void recoils from the Knight’s strike, not really. All he knows is that Flora is still breathing, still bleeding, and that’s enough to make the Bastion drop to his knees.

“Hey—hey, petal, I’ve got you,” he murmurs, his voice hoarse and cracking even as he gathers her against his chest. His hands are steady, but his heart is not; it slams against his ribs as he cradles her like something made of glass. He doesn’t care that his arms are already stained with her blood. Doesn’t care that it soaks through to the skin. One hand smooths her curls back from her face, slick and matted though they are, while the other presses firmly against the wound as if his body might hold her soul inside.

“You’re alright. You’re alright, Flora. You’re not alone. I promise.” His magic surges out of him—not flashy, not wild, just steady, just his, a tide of strength and vitality flooding into her broken frame like warmth returning to frostbitten skin.

His wings—bright and shimmering and terribly soft—wrap around her, shielding her from the sun and the world and whatever might come next. He presses his mouth to her temple and lets his breath tremble there. “You’re safe. She’s not going to touch you again.”

Only then does he glance up—dazed, desperate—to find Ronin.

The sight of Dahlia marked, blood blooming at the edge of the rose’s thorn, makes something inside Remi sag. Not in victory. In relief so sharp it nearly hurts.

He swallows hard, shifting to shelter Flora more fully in his lap. “I’m never making fun of you for falling down the stairs again,” he says, a whisper cracked open with affection and ruin.

---

Remi gives enough HP to Flora to bring her back to full health.

Regional Score bonus: +15 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +15 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.

Magic: A gift | Can give up to 100% of his remaining HP to another character within 60ft.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered

Dahlia HP: 10/10
Flora HP: 616/616
Ronin HP: 915/915
Sunjata HP: 1140/1140
Remi: 1274.625/1515

SUNJATA

the flood

but am i too late? or hearts to your spades,
if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?

He doesn’t know the limitations of the magic that binds him here for the moment, so the warning is a grateful one (for while they’re remaining in combat, at least), and while the rose is easily given, Sunjata’s movement is stunted the second that he spots the landing snare of rose thorns in Dahlia.

The promise of it working, the hope that it fills, explodes unhelpfully through Sunjata’s scars, only a moment of hesitation as Remi reaches for Flora and Sunjata - retreating back to a version of himself decades ago, rushes to Dahlia like Ronin had. Only this time, not to try and press the thorns in against her, but to instead enact all of that enforcer training bred and beat into him.

“We’ve got her.” He mutters hoarsely, his jaw set tight as he reaches out to snatch Dahlia’s hands, pulling them behind her back to pin her there. “Does she need more healing?” He asks regarding Flora, unknowing of Remi’s magic while his heart thunders his chest, only finding the echo of the horrific void lingering through Dahlia, only making his grip tighter to ensure she doesn't squirrel out of his grasp.

---

Sunjata apprehends Dahlia!

so we're not written in the stars,
but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything