i'll stay here with you until this dream is gone
Remi didn't go to fight the monster. He was here to enjoy the festival with Aoife; better to let the other heroes do the things. The alchemist had no taste for that—not that he ever had—but it seemed finally his spine was suitably strengthened enough to simply say no and not feel himself crippled with guilt. So it was that he didn't hear the monster slorping its way closer over Aoife's cackles of delight, nor the ice wall being formed, nor when it was crashed through. For all the predatory instincts that violence triggered in the alchemist, none of them ever seemed to be present in surveying his surroundings.
He'd just come to have a quiet afternoon with his daughter while Ronin was at home preparing to venture into the Greatwoods to meet with Safrin. An afternoon of relaxation and joy before the final pieces were put into place so that the wagon—and the three of them—could roll off into the sunset.
Just a quiet afternoon...
Screams. Shouting. The sound of groaning ice as it split. Remi had only milliseconds to process it as he turned around to survey the scene with uncomprehending and shocked green eyes. Spears of ice were jettisoned from the collapsed ice wall, racing towards him with uncomprehensible speed; having been an animal longer than a mage, it was into the flesh of the manticore that he shifted.
Just a quiet afternoon, but Aoife would be safe behind the pelt and body and wings of his most massive shift. She'd be safe, as she always had. He'd protect her as he always had—
—pain buzzed, dulled by the ice-bright cold that had hollowed him to his core. Through his core even. Bits of glass-sharpened debris fell upon his shoulders, shredding wings, skin, and fur away until his bones were bared to the too-sunny sky. Choking in a breath and finding his lungs entirely without the ability to hold it in, his shift dissolved around him, leaving him kneeling with his back to the ice-wall that was, cradling Aoife close to him. Still struggling to breathe, Remi looked down to see a dark mess of curls pressed against his chest. Opening his mouth and finding no voice there, Remi shifted easily; shock making his shredded muscles comply if only for a few more moments. A hand came up to stroke Aoife's back, but he didn't find skin there. Instead, he felt the point of the spear that had, as a point of fact, skewered them both.
Eyes widening with an understanding his mind wouldn't dare let him believe, Remi continued to strangle-breathe while the holes in his punctured lungs continued to haphazardly let those breaths out. "N-n--n-nn-" Pulling himself backwards even as life drained freely and easily from many mortal wounds, the alchemist saw the impossible: a massive hole right in the center of Aoife's sundress. It was wide enough that he could see the ground through it. The red of her blood bloomed like roses that were never meant to be on the sunflower-yellow cloth, and he remembered how she'd squirmed when he'd dressed her only a few hours ago. "N-n-n-n-n" He sobbed again, louder and more feral this time, clutching her against him.
Her body was already cold thanks to the ice, her heartbeat entirely gone as Remi clutched her against him. Somewhere back at their home, Ronin would feel the ring on his finger beat out a frantic rhythm, and then slow..slow...slow...
He didn't scream. Couldn't, actually, though he'd tried to make his last words for Aoife. His last thoughts though, those were of Ronin.
Just a quiet afternoon...Remi didn't go to fight the monster, but if he had? Maybe Aoife wouldn't be dead. Maybe Remi wouldn't be either.
Remi has 3/340 HP. If mastered healing magic isn't applied in 12hrs of this post, he will die.
Aoife is at 0 HP.
He'd just come to have a quiet afternoon with his daughter while Ronin was at home preparing to venture into the Greatwoods to meet with Safrin. An afternoon of relaxation and joy before the final pieces were put into place so that the wagon—and the three of them—could roll off into the sunset.
Just a quiet afternoon...
Screams. Shouting. The sound of groaning ice as it split. Remi had only milliseconds to process it as he turned around to survey the scene with uncomprehending and shocked green eyes. Spears of ice were jettisoned from the collapsed ice wall, racing towards him with uncomprehensible speed; having been an animal longer than a mage, it was into the flesh of the manticore that he shifted.
Just a quiet afternoon, but Aoife would be safe behind the pelt and body and wings of his most massive shift. She'd be safe, as she always had. He'd protect her as he always had—
—pain buzzed, dulled by the ice-bright cold that had hollowed him to his core. Through his core even. Bits of glass-sharpened debris fell upon his shoulders, shredding wings, skin, and fur away until his bones were bared to the too-sunny sky. Choking in a breath and finding his lungs entirely without the ability to hold it in, his shift dissolved around him, leaving him kneeling with his back to the ice-wall that was, cradling Aoife close to him. Still struggling to breathe, Remi looked down to see a dark mess of curls pressed against his chest. Opening his mouth and finding no voice there, Remi shifted easily; shock making his shredded muscles comply if only for a few more moments. A hand came up to stroke Aoife's back, but he didn't find skin there. Instead, he felt the point of the spear that had, as a point of fact, skewered them both.
Eyes widening with an understanding his mind wouldn't dare let him believe, Remi continued to strangle-breathe while the holes in his punctured lungs continued to haphazardly let those breaths out. "N-n--n-nn-" Pulling himself backwards even as life drained freely and easily from many mortal wounds, the alchemist saw the impossible: a massive hole right in the center of Aoife's sundress. It was wide enough that he could see the ground through it. The red of her blood bloomed like roses that were never meant to be on the sunflower-yellow cloth, and he remembered how she'd squirmed when he'd dressed her only a few hours ago. "N-n-n-n-n" He sobbed again, louder and more feral this time, clutching her against him.
Her body was already cold thanks to the ice, her heartbeat entirely gone as Remi clutched her against him. Somewhere back at their home, Ronin would feel the ring on his finger beat out a frantic rhythm, and then slow..slow...slow...
He didn't scream. Couldn't, actually, though he'd tried to make his last words for Aoife. His last thoughts though, those were of Ronin.
Just a quiet afternoon...Remi didn't go to fight the monster, but if he had? Maybe Aoife wouldn't be dead. Maybe Remi wouldn't be either.
Remi has 3/340 HP. If mastered healing magic isn't applied in 12hrs of this post, he will die.
Aoife is at 0 HP.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
