[KQ] this sign can't stop me

Having literally had to hoist their houseboat onto higher ground to avoid the devastating tidal waves, Ronin had used a dragon's claws and wings to set it back bobbing along the Arclight, and he's busy beneath the waves ferrying it along now towards gods only know what, honestly. I still can't believe it, he says, his mental voice almost a whisper despite the size of the creature tugging the vessel through the surf. They'd checked their family and friends first, of course - because no amount of meteor falling nonsense was going to matter if their children were hurt - but with Torchline still utterly reeling and this ominous, violet island in the distance... well, what else were a couple of war seasoned demigods supposed to do? Let me know when you're close enough, he tells Remi. He'd promised to be safe and to be careful, and that meant no walking on the could-be-a-falling-star for the Nova. But he only plays wingman to the real danger, and he has no doubt that the Lullaby will be able to handle himself. ronin begin again, as the storm

REMI

And yet. Remi returns from the bow of the houseboat, eyeing the island with growing apprehension. With his wings splayed from his sides and his gaze shifted to try and spy any movement on the violet mass ahead of them, eventually, he calls a silent halt that Ronin should cease his towing. Close enough. I'd rather not have to repair her hull again if a wave bashes her against the island.

So saying the alchemist takes to the skies, having to put significant effort into flying through the winds that wanted to spin him around and drag him down into the sea. I will just have a quick look and see if there is any reason to go deeper in. He mentally calls out, knowing that soon his voice won't reach his husband but wanting Ronin at least to have some idea of what he'd planned.

Hovering for a moment, the Lullaby steps foot on the island with his breath held as if waiting for the porous stone beneath his foot to suddenly belch, grow teeth, and try and swallow him whole. When nothing of the sort happened, Remi straightened and looked around. Stealth was often not the predatory choice he opted for, though given the completely unknown nature of what might might be lingering, the Lullaby did not roar his presence as he might normally have done. Instead, he swept the shadows around himself as an early defense before casting one last look over his shoulder toward the Northaven before venturing onward.

---

Magic: Don't Pick Fights You Can't Win (feat) | Characters/Creatures who have a difference of 30 STR or greater compared to Remi, roll with disadvantage.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic

Magic: Kindred Spirit (Feat) | Spirit-attacks have disadvantage against him
Type: Dark | Rank: Basic

Magic: FEAT: Aint Afraid of No Ghost | Has advantage against spirit-based creatures.
Type: Light | Rank: Basic

Magic: Memory Create | Can create non-magical items based on the memories of others. Vague memories yield shadow-y items without much form that last only a few hours. Vivid memories make items that can last up to a season.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving Dutifully letting his grip on the boat grow slack, Ronin waits until he feels The Northaven steady somewhat before he shifts back, hauling himself onto the deck in time to see the departing figure of his husband on the wing. Alright, he calls back to him. Be careful, okay? If I see any fuckery start to happen, I don't care what promise I made, I'm coming for you. Not that he'll be able to see much of his husband through the storm as he approaches the shores of Starfall; between the tendrils of lashing energy, the howling gales and the choppy waves, Ronin will be lucky to see anything at all. Unless, of course, the island does try to swallow Remi up, and he waits with baited breath as the tiny figure of the Lullaby lands, and promptly ventures out of sight.

"Hello, sweet boy. You're very pretty, but I don't believe you were invited here."

The whisper comes, sultry as a ribbon of silk along the shell of Remi's ear, and he'll feel a presence behind him where previously there was none.

It's gorgeous, this place - the culmination of a work that goes beyond lifetimes, beyond coherent thought and physical experience, and Dahlia basks in it.

Her fingers yearn to press into the porous stone, wanting to grip it, to merge with it. Alas, the intruder will have to do.

And so she does just that, her hands lancing out like rods of steel, aiming to puncture through the Lullaby's lower back and squeeze.

---

Magic: First Blood | When an enemy is at full HP, physical attacks do x1.5 damage.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

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

Magic: Void Shift | Can void shift to any location.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

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

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Remi is fast. Gods, Remi is fast.

Dahlia is faster.

Before the Lullaby can move or react, her hands plunge through flesh and muscle, wrenching and grinding against the viscera of his insides, squeezing anything she manages to grip.

---

Remi: 1197/1302
Dahlia: 900/900

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

Absolutely not. I'll just send myself off to sleep and wake up somewhere else. Remi returns, though whether or not Ronin hears is another matter altogether.

What Remi hears, though, are words that sound like wine-soaked velvet tightening around his throat. Before his muscles have time to do anything more than tense in response, he feels Dahlia's claws penetrating his sides and cloying at his body the way he'd done to his own prey a thousand times before. Gnashing his teeth together and knowing from experiencing that pulling away would only aid the damage she'd succeeded in doing, the Lullaby forces himself to remain still.

Resorting to tried and true methods, the Lullaby reaches for his husband's magic in order to try and burn Dahlia off of him with three succinct blasts of starlight.

---

Remi stays still and tries to hit Dahlia with Ronin's starbolts.

Magic: Shooting Stars | The user may summon celestial energy as a projectile. Control is excellent, and multiple projectiles may be created at once. (In quests or other combat situations requiring dice rolling, only 3 stars may be created per post). Range: 60ft

Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
Magic: Copycat | Remi can mimic the abilities from two fellow demigods (Old Gods only). In order to mimic the ability, Remi must have been damaged by it in a thread previously. Only one ability may be used per thread.
Type: Grey | Rank: Upgraded

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

Something dark and disappointed taints Dahlia's usually delicate features, that her greeting has only been taken with a clenching of teeth and a silent riposte. No matter, though - as the celestial bolts appear, attempting to burst her away from her plaything, Remi will find that he is not the only one good at standing still.

And stand still she does - and takes it.

"Like a gentle breeze on a Flowerbirth day," she whispers of the attack, her words sensually murmured against his skin.

Since he won't move by himself, Dahlia grips further against bone and muscle, as if she might splinter them in her grip, before tearing away from Remi of her own accord - and hoping to take a great deal of him with her.

---

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

Magic: Dead Space (passive) | Celestial damage is ineffective against Dahlia.
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!

Listen Remi, there's good and bad news.

The good news is that you hit Dahlia, proving she isn't untouchable. The bad news is that those very powerful starbolts that you and Ronin rely so heavily on do absolutely nothing.

Just because Dahlia isn't injured, doesn't mean she might not be impacted by the glare of sudden celestial light aimed at her face. At least, that's the reason we'll give for Remi rolling +3 higher than her her inability to dislodge herself from the Lullaby.

---

Remi: 1197/1302
Dahlia: 900/900

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

There's no cry of pain where there very much ought to have been, and though Dahlia's claws are still hooked into his flesh, the most worrying part is the overwhelming sensation of the emotions he feels bleeding from her. The cool confidence of a fellow predator is what he might have expected, but to experience such entitlement and confidence against an opponent such as him was nearly enough to give the Lullaby pause.

Nearly. But then, Ronin had always been the more thoughtful of the two when it came to battle tactics.

If he couldn't shake her claws without harming himself, that didn't mean he couldn't shake her. Coiling into himself, Remi lashes out with a rarely used spiritual shove he hoped might give him the time he needed to unhook himself from the thing upon his back.

---

Remi tries to shove Dahlia's soul from her body!

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. (The attack is successful if Remi's STR stat is +10 greater than his opponents END stat. Based on the degree of failure, the target may experience numbness, dizziness, disorientation). Range of 30 ft
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Thing? Rude, Remi.

Finding herself unintentionally still attached to the Lullaby and his juicy innards, Dahlia cocks her head, a movement that might well be suited to a bird of prey. "I know you," she whispers suddenly, as if the tawny wings and fresh blood have stirred a memory within her.

"You're Ludo's puppet, aren't you?" She ought not sound so thrilled about it, but there's something infinitely more interesting about this little dalliance now.

And since pulling away from him didn't work last time, she pulls one hand back and resorts to a brutish strike to try to bludgeon him forward.

---

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

Magic: Dead Space (passive) | Celestial damage is ineffective against Dahlia.
Type: Dark | Rank: Basic

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

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

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Does Dahlia even have a soul to knock out of her body? Who knows, because his spiritual thrust misses.

Slamming her fist against the side of Remi's face, the Lullaby is thrown forward allowing Dahlia's claws to score him anew as they exit his body.

---

Remi: 1077/1302
Dahlia: 900/900

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

Able to smell the instant metallic puff of his blood on the breeze, the Lullaby hits the porous ground with his hands outstretched and his knees instantly bloodied. His feathers are immediately darkened where they press against his sides, and for fear of Dahlia slicing them away, the Lullaby pulls them back into his body.

"It was not Ludo's hand inside of me just now." Remi snarls as he turns. Extending out a tentacle to try and grapple the thing—a woman, as it happens—before him that he might get some answers, if only because it seemed foolish to return back to Torchline with only wounds to show for his excursion to the island.

---

Remi tries to grapple Dahlia with a tentacle.

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

Whether Dahlia hasn't heard Remi over the sudden sensory buffet of his blood on the wind, or if she's ignoring him on purpose is... well, it doesn't matter. She doesn't respond to him either way, lifting one red, dripping hand to her lips as if to paint them with a new colour. Then, of course, a tentacle snarls out towards him - and that suits her just fine. Dahlia likes being close.

Indeed, she might try to help him along more than just a little bit, trying to disappear before the tentacle can grab her only to pop up only a breath away from his lips. "They never said you were so handsome," she whispers, trying again to rake her claws across his flesh.

---

Dahlia tries to dodge the tentacle and attack Remi again!

Magic: Void Rush | May teleport to any Marked enemy.
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

Magic: Dead Space (passive) | Celestial damage is ineffective against Dahlia.
Type: Dark | Rank: Basic

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

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

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Dahlia hardly needs to work to dodge Remi's tentacle given what follows (read: a critical failure on Remi's part). As the Lullaby grows an extra limb, the wounds left by Dahlia are torn and expanded as the Lullaby's flesh adjusts. Blood pours from around the tentacle which ends up nowhere near its mark.

Suddenly against Remi, Dahlia's claws rake against his chest adding new ribbons of red over old scars.

---

Remi: 895.5/1302
Dahlia: 900/900

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!