[SE] the sound of all things good breaking

A joy hard-learned in winter was the warming of the bed
You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs

"Okay, okay, how's this?"

Throwing his hands up in surrender, Koa takes the paper and pen. The last thing he wants is to write an ode to Vox the Eldritch Horror, but they're so fucking close to reaching Halo. If the cost of getting Noe cured is pretending he doesn't find her new bestie to be a cross between a children's clown and a monstrosity from outside the realm of what is humanly conceivable... well, he'll find some way to suck it up and pay.

Lifting his pen from the paper, Koa clears his throat and then recites:

"There once was guy named Vox
Who only wore purple socks.
He had normal arms
That never caused harm
Except for when he would box."

Is it good? No. No, not even a little bit. But technically it fulfils the brief, and what else do you want?

Halo is coming into view before them; from the bow of the skyship he hears the Captain announce that they're just ten minutes out. It's so close, they're so close, and despite the terrible circumstances that have led them here, Koa cannot help but feel buoyant with hope. "Alright, Nopester, let's see you do better," Koa challenges with a genuine smile, pushing the paper across the table into his sister's reach.

Koa Carpenter

Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within
Let your breath heat the air until you'd feel it getting thin

NOE

So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames

The trip to Halo had been, thus far, long and boring. Noe wasn’t exactly a fan of traveling with nothing to keep her occupied, and for some reason, she’d convinced herself that Koa would be good enough entertainment. Thankfully he’d finally given in to her constant prodding, enough to offer a poem to Vox for her consideration.

She snorted at his limerick, grinning widely. ”You sure that’s not just a poem about you?” she asked. She thought she knew Vox pretty well, and a boxer, he did not appear to be. Still, Koa was trying, and that was good enough for her. Noe considered her own poem, then said:

”He mimics my habits with care,
Counts breaths, blinks in time, eats his share.
It’s odd, I admit,
But I don’t mind a bit—
At least he is trying, I swear.”

After all, wasn’t Vox just trying to fit in with everyone else? Even if he wasn’t successful, it was an endearing quality that Noe rather thought others should appreciate more.

You can tell me when it's over
If the high was worth the pain

A joy hard-learned in winter was the warming of the bed
You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs

"I don't own purple socks!" Koa protests, though it's really the only leg he has to stand on. Her limerick is certainly better, informed as it is by a personal relationship with the being (the very thought of which makes Koa so physically ill he has to work very hard to suppress a retch). Don't you think if a person has to count their breaths their personhood into question?

But he does not say this out loud, though the effort it takes really should be applauded.

"Alright, well, yours might be better." He's willing to admit his defeat in this battle, given that he's about to win the war. "Should we get ready to disembark?" Their father isn't coming for another day, so they've been tasked with securing passage to the Fangs. Only another 48 hours, and his sister will be cured.

Koa Carpenter

Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within
Let your breath heat the air until you'd feel it getting thin

NOE

So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames

”Are you sure?” Noe asked, squinting at her brother. ”I’m pretty sure there was at least one purple pair in your laundry at some point.” Was it a few years ago that she last saw that particular pair? Sure, but that wasn’t important. They’d still existed at some point.

Snowcloak grew ever nearer, and Noe rose from her seat to lean against the railing. Halo wouldn’t have been her first choice for a vacation, but at least there were hot springs - even if they were a bit of a trek from the tundra’s major city. Not that it looked that impressive from here. It was nothing like Stormbreak.

Noe turned to regard her brother, shrugging. ”Sure,” she agreed. ”Please tell me you know where we’re going,” she added, raising a brow. If they had to wander in the wilderness for days, she was going to be super upset.

You can tell me when it's over
If the high was worth the pain

bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones.

---

You've encountered the OG random event! This allows you to skip one levelling requirement with the character in this thread. (Unfortunately does not count for characters over level 10, how sad.)

The skyship gave a shudder—nothing alarming, nothing drastic. Just a brief fizzle of something in the air, like the moment before lightning struck.

And then—

"Oh, Koa!" Vox’s voice slithered into being, rippling through the empty spaces between reality. "How unexpectedly delightful! A limerick! About me! And so—so—factually inaccurate!" The air hummed, as if amused. "Boxing? My dear, I can barely hold a teacup, let alone throw a punch! And yet, the thoughtfulness! I am touched!"

Then, a pause. A shift in the static.

"Oh, but No-eh," Vox murmured, a warmth in his tone that crackled with something almost like affection as he over-annunciates her name to perfection. "You understand me. A mirror, a rhythm, a reflection of existence—oh, my dear, you see it!" The unseen presence practically vibrated with glee. "How endearing you are! How willing! You truly are a treasure, No-eh."

A final, delighted fizz, an electric purr lingering in the skyship’s hull. And then, just like that, he was gone.

…Though, for the briefest moment, there was the feeling of something blinking in time with them. (Affectionately, of course).

A joy hard-learned in winter was the warming of the bed
You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs

Oh what the actual---

Koa starts violently as the air around them pops and Vox's voice snakes into being, accompanied by a hum of static and the feeling of nails scraped over slate. "What the fuck?!" he snarls, leaping from his chair, copper eyes wild as his pulse as he looks around for the inhuman horror. But there's only the sound and the sensation, nothing physical for him to punch, though Koa's hands are balled to fists, his nails biting into his palms. "Maybe it's time you learned," he mutters under his breath, thinking that he wouldn't mind knocking the smirk off that fluctuant face.

The affection with which he speaks to Noe is somehow so much worse; instinctively Koa steps closer to her sister, as though to offer protection against their invisible foe. Even as the sensation of Vox's existence fades the Dragoon remains tense; muscles taut and heartbeat thundering as his eyes flash from side to side.

They're minutes away from docking now, and Koa doesn't want to waste a second more. "Come on. Let's get the fuck out of here," he growls to Noe, grabbing her elbow to pull her along. The sooner they get to the hot springs and pull Vox and The Family out of Noe's head, the better.

Koa Carpenter

Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within
Let your breath heat the air until you'd feel it getting thin

NOE

So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames

The sudden static that crackled into being didn’t faze Noe in the least, but Koa jumped nearly out of his skin as Vox’s voice cut through the air. ”Gods, Koa, relax,” she said as Koa muttered something unintelligible. ”It’s just Vox.” If it had been Dahlia or Pierce, she could see him reacting more poorly - after all, they were intimidating even to her. Not that she thought they’d hurt her, really, but they just had that presence.

Noe wiggled her fingers at Vox’s retreating form. ”He’s really not so bad, Koa - whoa!” she yelped as Koa grabbed her by the elbow and began to tow her from the ship. ”Koa, what the fuck?” she asked, protesting every step of the way. She tried and failed to wrench herself free and settled for glaring at the back of her brother’s head. ”What is the matter with you?”

You can tell me when it's over
If the high was worth the pain

A joy hard-learned in winter was the warming of the bed
You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs

'Just Vox' sets his teeth on edge; it's as if she's said it's just a boy, or just an old school friend. Clenching his jaw so hard it hurts, Koa tightens his grip upon her elbow. It has the opposite effect of what he wanted, of course, and tension snaps up his spine as Noe tugs away from him, slipping from his grasp. "He's a mon--" he starts, then clicks his mouth shut.

You're so close, Koa. Don't fuck this up.

He takes a slow, steading breath, mentally counting to five. "I just want to get off the boat." His voice is tight and he doesn't look back at her; he doesn't trust his ability to school his expression, worries about betraying his disquiet. Heaving their luggage into his arms, he juts his chin toward the dock. "C'mon. I'll feel better once we get to the hot springs. Promise."

Koa Carpenter

Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within
Let your breath heat the air until you'd feel it getting thin

NOE

So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames

Noe's eyes flashed. She didn't have to try too hard to figure out what Koa had been going to say, and she was sick of everyone thinking it. Sure, Vox was a little strange. The whole tentacles-and-static thing didn't really tend to endear people to him. But he'd come to her taco party, he'd taken her to Starfall, and he tried so godsdamned hard to be human that it was hard not to like him.

"He is not," she muttered under her breath petulantly. If she had known that Koa was going to be like this, she might have thought twice about coming.

Koa gathered their luggage, and Noe huffed at his tone as he jutted his chin towards the dock. What was Koa's obsession with the damn hot springs? "You're very eager to go sit in some hot water," she pointed out mulishly, thinking that he was going to get himself into it even without the springs if he didn't tread carefully. "These better be the most majestic fucking hot springs we've ever seen."

You can tell me when it's over
If the high was worth the pain

A joy hard-learned in winter was the warming of the bed
You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs

"They'd better," Koa agrees under his breath; tiptoeing around the issue of the Family is clearly not his forte, and every moment Noe's uncured is another opportunity for him to fuck it all up.

They leave the ship in speed and silence, the air still tense from the appearance of Vox. Koa's wasting absolutely no time. Shoulders squared and jaw stubbornly set, he pushes his way down the gangplank and toward a loitering Deepfrost Shield who he hopes can help them find a guide. There are other people he could ask, of course, but his first choice will always be a fellow soldier.

Within ten seconds his posture's shifting. First he shakes his head in disbelief; then his shoulders begin to shake as anger overtakes him. The soldier glances at Noe, then murmurs something about being "So sorry, mate,", but Koa either doesn't hear or doesn't care. The Hot Springs are ruined. Their only hope of a cure, the only thing keeping his world from falling to pieces-

-they're gone.

He says nothing, just stalks away, blind and deaf to the world. Not until he reaches a nearby alley does the soldier stop, his breathing heavy and tight. He drops the bags unceremoniously, letting them fall into the snow; and then with a shout he swings his fist forward, punching a support strut hard enough that the scaffolding above it shakes.

"FUCK!" Koa snarls into the abyss, a furious, wounded thing. "FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" Each curse is punctuated with another blow, his knuckles already splitting and red.

Koa Carpenter

Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within
Let your breath heat the air until you'd feel it getting thin

NOE

So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames

Noe waited where they’d disembarked, still annoyed and glaring at her brother’s back, as he went to find a guide to take them to the springs. She still didn’t understand his strange obsession, or the purpose of this family vacation at all, if he was going to be so… unhinged. What was he so upset about anyway? There had been no need to take it out on poor Vox, who’d always been so kind to her and tried so hard to be human. If Koa just gave him a chance…

Maybe it was girl trouble again. Koa had, after all, had his fair share.

Still, that was no excuse. But despite her lingering anger, she wasn’t mad enough not to follow when Koa stalked away from the soldier he’d been talking to. He ended up in an alley nearby, dropping their bags in the snow. She might have yelled at him anew had he not punched the fucking wall, leaving her standing in the entrance to the alley, gaping.

”Koa?” she gasped, intending for it to come out indignant but in reality merely whispering his name. ”What’s wrong?”

You can tell me when it's over
If the high was worth the pain

A joy hard-learned in winter was the warming of the bed
You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs

The world is spinning around him; he tries to focus on the stinging pain of his hand, cradling it against his chest as his breath comes in harsh, fast bursts. This isn't happening, this can't be happening, and yet he knows it is. The Springs are gone. Their journey is pointless. He has no way to save Noe.

Noe. His sister's soft voice cuts through the haze, sharper than if she's shouted or snapped. The sound freezes him like a startled animal, bringing him crashing back out of his thoughts. Gods, Noe. What do they do now?  He'd had one single hope to cling to; now that it's been ripped away, he finds himself grasping empty air.

"I'm sorry, Noe." The young man's voice is a hoarse whisper, his back to his sister, his eyes downcast. "I'm so sorry." Koa cannot bring himself to look at her, terrified of what he'll see if he does. Tentacles? A violet aura? Or worst of all - his beautiful, clever, vibrant sister, glaring with hurt and accusation, blind to the darkness that taints her soul.

Koa Carpenter

Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within
Let your breath heat the air until you'd feel it getting thin

NOE

So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames

Of all the things she was expecting, it was not for Koa to apologize. She knew he'd been acting weird the last part of their voyage, but then to come and have a total meltdown in an alley - it was all so unlike him, and she found that, more than anything else, she was worried about him. Gods, what was wrong with him to act this way?

She took a step closer, as though approaching a skittish animal, her hands held up in a gesture of peace. "Hey, it's okay," she said, voice soft. "Just... tell me what's wrong, and we'll fix it, okay?" Was he sick? Was Dad sick? Was someone dying? Or was it something else, something that she couldn't even begin to imagine?

You can tell me when it's over
If the high was worth the pain