Palace Game 6/5

[fujimaru]

The Dreamer In The Grand Temple
Humanity Foundation Value: ????

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Comments

[fujimaru]

Dantes just stares, unblinking, and then deliberately exhales his smoke in Kaine's face. There is something that somehow feels just a little amused at the comment, though, for all that it does not manifest in his voice.

"You already walk amongst the dead, in the bowels of Hell itself. There are worse things to worry about than what will kill you more slowly."

His gaze cuts to Minato for a second, his expression hardening.

"Do not indulge them. That is only a path to madness, unless you wish to add your voice among the masses."

[markofkaine]

[can't believe i'm agreeing with the edgelord here]

Seriously. Don't forget, we're here for Ritsuka. You can't befriend every single damned soul on the way, or there'll be nothing of you left.

[messianic]

[ ...... he dips his head in a slight bow, to both Kaine and Dantes. ]

I'm sorry for the trouble.

[ a slow breath in and he straightens. ]

Can we keep going?

[fujimaru]

Dantes exhales another long plume of smoke. "The path back will be bad," he says. "The path forward will be worse. With that in mind, what will you pick?"

[markofkaine]

[Snaps,]

Don't patronize us. We're not going back.

[messianic]

[ Minato just nods quietly but resolutely as well. Kaine's right!!! ]

... We're here to save Ritsuka. That won't change.

[fujimaru]

"You cannot save her from all of this," he says, but he does begin to walk again, the path opening in his wake again. "Even the King of Men is not responsible for the whole of what you have found in this place."

[markofkaine]

[Mutters,]

More cryptic nonsense... Look, she's got her own demons. We're just here to put her back in her body.

[messianic]

[ at least they can move forward again! Minato follows Dantes, sticking close to Kaine.

He'll keep his opinion on whether or not Ritsuka can be saved to himself. That seems like a conversation she should be present for. ]

[fujimaru]

He does not answer, though maybe he doesn't have to. The things in the blood and in the darkness beyond the faint light he casts are still restless, stirring; if either of them look, they can see more body parts that occasionally rise to the surface, reaching and falling away again: a hand, a tentacle, part of a human head, barely more than red skin over a skull.

At one point, though, there is definitely the reflection of huge, huge eyes in the dark--eyes that are probably as big as Minato is tall, and it is staring at them, unblinking.

[markofkaine]

[Kaine glares back at them, hands tightened into fists and ready to usher Minato behind him at the first sign of danger. YOU WANNA GO, PUNK? FUCK YOU.

All this protectiveness is doing a great job of distracting him from the actual fear and guilt bubbling in his heart.]

[messianic]

[ Minato is doing his absolute best to try to avoid looking at the limbs and body parts that reach for them as if it's a cry for help.

... ... ...

He blinks back at the eyes. ]

... Hello?

[fujimaru]

"Do not," Dantes says, without slowing his pace. They can either follow or fall behind, but he does not appear to willing to pause. "There are little worse than that one."

Those eyes do not blink, but they do appear to be moving closer, with an alarming sort of speed. From the way the liquid around their ankles slosh, it's not because the creature is rushing at them, but their footsteps are just that big.

This maybe is a good time to run.

[markofkaine]

I think. We should pick up the pace.

[Whispered urgently to Minato, before he starts to pick up the pace. Just in case, he takes the kid's hand so he doesn't fall behind]

Get a move on, Dantes!

[messianic]

[ Minato just nods firmly, squeezing Kaine's hand to let him know he's there--he'll follow at a run.

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN TO HIM, even Minato has Limits to things he wants to interact with. ]

[fujimaru]

"Even if we ran, it would be poor luck for us." Dantes does not actually move faster, but his gaze does cut to the side. It's maybe the first sign of real concern he's shown. "Do not make any further eye contact. She may be distracted along the way."

The thing in the dark makes a noise: maybe if it were normal-sized, it would be a sob, or a moan; as it is, it's a roar of raging despair: a mother abandoned by her children, a woman whose family has been torn away, a goddess whose people have long since faded to dust.

[markofkaine]

That really ain't reassuring...

[MINATO. MINATO WE ARE COUNTING ON YOU NOT TO FEEL SORRY FOR THIS THING AND LOOK AT HER.

as it stands, Kaine finds it easy to steel his heart - he who never had a mother to speak of, and thus it is one of the few things he feels no guilt over.]

[messianic]

[ THIS IS ASKING A LOT OF HIM, the bleeding heart protagonist. Still... he can at least recognize that putting Dantes (fake or not) and Kaine (definitely real) at risk just because of that isn't something he can do.

And they really do have to focus on finding Ritsuka... so he presses his lips together tightly and steels himself as best he can and nods. ]

... Okay. Let's keep going.

[fujimaru]

"I wasn't trying to," Dantes said. There is something that might be humor in his voice, sharp as his teeth, though he keeps glancing at the figure that is making her way towards them. "She is a sin that none of us can outrun, if she chooses to make her move. We can only hope to pass her interest, or to fight."

But even as he says that, he is starting to move just a little faster. Just in case.

[markofkaine]

...What, like original sin?

[LET'S ALSO MOVE FASTER]

[messianic]

[ TROTTING ALONG HERE, YEAH, SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN. ]

[fujimaru]

"Nothing as simple as that," Dantes said. "The sins of humanity are less succinct than those written about in the Holy Book. These are not what the Savior carried away, upon his death! These are the things that humans cling to, and cannot let go in its progress forward. I will not speak its name here."

The beast in the darkness cries out again, that same mournful call--a mother seeking now, searching for what she has lost, long gone as it is. All the other things whispering and hissing in the dark have fallen silent.

"Instead," says Dantes, his voice loud only because of the quiet, "run."

[markofkaine]

[YOU DON'T NEED TO TELL HIM TWICE

KAINE PICKS UP MINATO AGAIN (sorry but, your legs aren't as proportionally speedy as a spider) AND BOOKS IT. HONESTLY HE MIGHT EVEN RUN PAST DANTES AT THIS POINT]

You stupid melodramatic asshole, if we die I'm blaming you for running your mouth instead of getting to the point!

[messianic]

[ oh my god

ALL ABOARD THE SPIDER EXPRESS

minato can't even really protest honestly, aside from a slightly startled noise ]

[fujimaru]

They can certainly run! And it's probably a good thing they do, with hands and other unidentified limbs grabbing and pulling at Kaine's feet as he runs. The voices of the restless dead rise in their wailing, furious and confused, some of them actually rising half-out of the blood to make a more concentrated grab for him--

But after maybe a minute or so of that, it begins to die down... and there's no sign of Dantes. Somewhere, in that mad dash, he seems to have disappeared.