awashlogs | [ open ] Quest Catch-all!

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[ open ] Quest Catch-all!

Who: Guren Ichinose & Various
Where: All around town
When: The month of September!
What: QUEST RELATED CATCH ALL. There's an open bee prompt since Guren is a red, so anyone is welcome even if you didn't plot with me! Newbies too, once they get in!
Warnings: None. Will add if necessary!

A. Bees to see - OPEN

[Guren feels as though he's been going a little easy on the quests lately. It's time to fix that. He's antsy, he's got an empty jar in one hand and his other on his sword, and he holds it up to anyone who might pass him by.]

[And with that simple line, they're off! Unless your character has any resistance, of course, but assuming they don't, Guren leads them right into the forest.]

B. Wildcard - OPEN

[If you want to hit Guren up for a different quest, even if he's a red, feel free! Try to ruin his day? Just see what he's up to? This is my generic space to say anyone can tag me even if I didn't plot things with them, so feel free, or hit me up at

zeloser to work something out, if you want!]

Closed prompts in the comments!

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It's a spell!

[A correction, quick and with gritted teeth. Little does Damian know, curse marks don't just mean he's accepting the power— in this case, in fact, Guren is struggling against the temptation with all he's got, causing the marks to appear. That's what happens when he needs a new dose, too. This berserk spell setting him off, though, seems to be irritating this balance even more, making it increasingly difficult. He's already given a boost of power, glowing with the energy, but it's blinding, maddening, he wants to use it on anyone.

While Damian takes care of his bunch, a couple more are revealed when Guren slices the throat of a fairy holding an invisibility spell on the two— the other two follow before they can do much of anything, and Guren is gripping tighter at his face after he's slaughtered them. It's a fog, no, it's a pulse in his brain, telling him to turn around and take out all of the bodies behind him, Damian's included. It's taking all of his strength to stay here like this, fighting it. Even breaths, don't give in. It's like he wants to cut at anything, even these damn trees everywhere—]

[Swinging underhanded cuts one of the fairies in half, and then he swings back easily to cut the other.

Guren is still in the heat of things, so Damian wastes no time scrambling up, going straight for the bow. He scoops the bow up and grabs one of the arrows. Nocks, runs, then stops to raise the bow.]

Stop!

[It looks as if he plans to fire at one of the fairies left headed for Guren--instead, the bwo drops, and he fires directly at Guren's chest, praying Guren won't be too fast or too gone to split it out of the air.

As soon as he releases the arrow, he drops the bow and takes up the knife again, running head-first in behind the fairies and right for Guren, pincering them between. He needs to take them out and deal with Guren, he thinks. This isn't like last time with the sirens.

It's too far.]

I'm going to kick your ass when this is all finished, Ichinose!

[The arrow hits while Guren is too wrapped up in his own mind, but it doesn't even make him stagger. He's too busy running his sword through one of the fairies, and when Damian jumps closer, Guren catches him by the neck with his free hand too easily. Spinning like this, he throws to slam Damian right into the last fairy, and send the both of them into a tree a ways back.

It's enough force to kill the fairy, but thankfully, her magic and attempt at saving herself will be enough to keep Damian from suffering any terrible injuries. It sure will hurt, though. It's worse than the throw Guren had done to him when they first met.

That action is enough to pull Guren out of it, though. Just for a split second— enough to make the decision to swing his sword to the side, completely cleaving off his left arm. It drops to the ground, along with his sword shortly after, the red glow around him dissolves completely, and he falls to his knees.]

Damian! [Is he okay? He wants to check, he needs to check, but he is absolutely gushing blood here and that's making it a little difficult. He can't run over, but he can glance up and over, looking horrified in his worry. He hasn't even stopped to process the pain, or that he needs to press his arm back to the stump he left behind to make sure it can reattach in time.]

[Being caught is something he should have expected, and he loathes his own reaction as Guren’s fingers squeeze the air out of his throat. Getting out of the hold would be difficult but not impossible maybe, but he doesn’t even have time to think about escape. Guren is already launching him.

Hitting the fairy already hurts. Hitting the tree ontop of the fairy is Suffering.

She’s crushed instantly, and Damian lets out a loud, painful groan. His limp body plummets to the ground in a heap where the second groan comes quieter. Stunned, dazed, he spends a long minute trying to breathe, trying to find air. When his lungs finally function again, it’s a sharp gasp which draws breath into him.

His vision darkens, and he’s not sure how long he's unconscious. The next time he opens his eyes, the world spins, and he manages to roll onto one side in case he vomits. In the distance, Guren splits, doubling. There’s... red? Blood? His brain scrambles to think of why. Did Guren get injured by more fairies while he had been out? Had his arrow done more damage than he thought?

He rolls over as if he plans to push himself up and crawl toward Guren, but all he can do is lie face down in the dirt and pass out again.]

[Shit. Shit... Damian is down, and Guren is growing dizzier by the minute. But he can't pass out like this, when the kid might be hurt. Might be dead. He slides his sword under his arm to hold, because keeping it out is important in his own healing, and carefully picks up his severed arm.

It's a horrible juggling act, pressing his arm back where it belongs, keeping his sword pressed to himself and pushing himself back to his feet with a few staggers, but he manages. He's losing blood quickly, and it's painting the forest floor, but he does stop until he can drop next to Damian, sword slipping and leaning against his leg. His arm is starting to reattach enough that he can let go of it, but there's no motion in it, so it's his now-bloody right hand that grabs Damian and tries to shift him over so his face isn't in the dirt.]

Come on, come on... [He's breathing, he can see that, but the sick feeling in his gut hasn't stopped, and he still definitely has an arrow sticking out of his chest. His arm looks like it's literally hanging on by a string, because it is.]

Damian!

[The lapses of time between fainting and coming to are worrying only because he isn't sure how long they've lasted. Every time the darkness floods his vision, he's expecting to wake up dead. Again.

In a few moments, he comes to again, but unlike before, startled. There's a pause of him being tensed and ready, but not knowing what exactly to do with what will be a burst of adrenaline. Run? Dodge? Attack?

Guren.

The pinched expression on Damian's face slowly levels out into something worried. He looks surprisingly soft, more his age, a thirteen year old boy who can be afraid like anyone else. The arrow--? Nevermind that, the arm. His eyes jump to Guren's face, searching. The aura is gone. The eyes are less chaotic and more focused.

It's amazed he can seem relieved, but he does.]

You... look like shit, Ichinose...

It's just a scratch.

[He has the mind to joke in this situation, of all times and places... His own breathing is unsteady, but that's mostly because he's still working himself down from all of that adrenaline.]

One of them hit me with a spell that increased my strength and clouded my mind. You had the right idea with this arrow, but it wasn't enough. [Speaking of that, he reaches and yanks that out right now, too casually, wincing only slightly as he drops it aside.] I reacted without the ability to think. I'm sorry.

Can you move?

Scratch... [Rather than laugh, he grits and bares his teeth to stop it.] Your entire... arm is... hanging off, idiot.

[There's some intense scolding in the narrowing of his eyes when Guren yanks the arrow out. Even if some hyper-powered demon bullshit is behind the regeneration, he doesn't think it's wise to eviscerate muscle or open a hole for more bleeding.] I don't... think you need a... fairy to do that.

Next time... if you're going to... kill me, do it... and get it over with.

[For a moment, his head turns away. He looks thoughtful, assessing maybe, and then his head turns back.]

If you can help get me up... I can.

[Guren frowns at that, looking genuinely bothered by something.]

Don't say that.

[Ah, it's the kill comment and nothing else, not that he says that. He shifts to stand, carefully, and it's unsteady. For just this, he can let his sword drop as he reaches with his good arm to help Damian stand with him. It's smooth, even despite just how much he's bleeding everywhere.]

Lean on me if you have to.

[As Guren goes to gather him up, Damian's face bunches roughly into something expecting pain, someone determined to feel it and persist. But he grabs Guren's clothes and arm where he can to latch on.

Expected--the pain is sharp and sudden, and Damian bites out a soft groan as he determinedly clambers to his feet. The ache is there, but not quite as bad when he's standing, but his breathing is shallow despite being level. Any deeper breath, and his face pinches.

He hasn't let go of Guren, but he's not leaning.]

How long... is your arm going... to look disgusting? You now you can't go back... like that.

Just a few minutes.

[With Damian next to him, he can't quite lean back down to grab his sword. But again, he opens his palm for it, and it's as if something hands it to him easily. If Damian is conscious enough to be observant, he'll be able to see the disconnected parts of his arm slowly working back together. "Slowly", but really, it's incredibly fast for anything like this.]

I'm more worried about the jacket and my shirt. I only have so many of these. [Emma was his sewing buddy and she left... Still, he's trying to make light of it, even if everything about him seems exhausted.]

You should go see a healer, though. If you've broken anything, or have any internal bleeding, it'll be better to deal with it now.

[If you think Damian isn't going to watch the most disturbing display of anatomical regeneration, think again. He's seen about as worse, so he ends up being more curious than skeeved.]

Maybe it's good you won't... have the uniform cutting the circulation off... to your brain. Then you can stop... being an idiot.

[Gently, he shoves at Guren to try to get the man to start walking, though he's careful of the sword which just, hm, zips to his hand. Damian want's a fancy sword that comes when he sticks his hand out, too?? Fuck off.]

I'm fine. If I can handle dying once, I can handle a fractured rib.

I'd like to see you get hit by a spell like that.

[Berserk Damian would be hilarious, now that he thinks about it. It would have gone a lot better, and that's what pisses him off. Control didn't matter at all when it came to magic. And the control he talks about having so much... he's in denial. It's hard to know that when you have gaps in your memory. His are more subtle than Yuu's, though, so maybe he does have more control?

It's an honest mystery. He starts walking, slow and careful to keep his sword held in his good hand, but away from anywhere that it can accidentally poke Damian. It's already bad enough being out, giving off that creepy aura. Mahiru is trailing along just barely ahead of them, leaving Guren staring at the back of her head, not that Damian can tell.]

Either you go willingly, or I'm knocking you out and dragging you to one myself, brat.

Tt.

[Berserk Damian would be a hellion menace, don't ever ask for that. He already Can't Stop Won't Stop, so imagine a Can't Stop Won't Stop Until I'm Dead.]

You'll just have to knock me out then.

[The sword out is suffocating at best. It tickles in not exactly a nice way. Damian's skin crawls, and he wants to scratch or brush, like a web on his skin, unseen and annoying.

Reminds him a little of the feeling of Apokolips.

But it's also concerning. He thinks the sword out can potentially be bad news, so he gives Guren's arm a shove and draws away. Walking isn't bad, and he can keep up, his ribs just feel gritty and sting when he has to breathe.]

We're fine. Put it up. The last thing we need is for you to leap off the deep end again. [He cuts his eyes up at Guren.] I don't know why you're so worried about vampires. You're almost not any better on the destructive scale by comparison.

[Guess he's going to knock Damian out once they're out of the forest, but they can have a nice chat in the meantime. Guren watches him move away, then looks down to the sword in his hand.]

By drawing it like this, I can access the demon's powers that much better. If I put it away, I might not be able to move my arm ever again. [So, it's staying out, for now. His left fingers twitch a little, showing that it's almost there.]

You haven't seen what a real vampire noble can do. Crowley's practically a trained dog. Sometimes he barks too much, but he's under control, for the most part. If Ferid were here... even if he's working with me, I probably wouldn't be able to stop him. He likes the blood of kids better, too, which is another difference.

[So be glad the perv isn't here!!!]

Anyway, I didn't pick up this sword by choice, you know. I was the second one who ever tried cursed gear like this, as a guinea pig, and not willingly.

[Skeptically, Damian's eyes fall from Guren's reconstructing arm to the sword. He still doesn't approve, and it's written on his face. He honestly looks very much like Bruce in this one moment than most others.

Waynes.]

You say this as if you think... I don't understand. The fact is--I don't care. About how strong... they are. It doesn't matter. There's metahumans in our world... who are just as strong if not... stronger.

Superman might as well be your vampire noble. He's indestructible... fast, powerful, has a high stamina... as long as there's sun, he can get stronger, heal. But he has a weakness.

[Slowly, he comes to a stop. He isn't wobbly, but he takes the time to wince faintly through the pain and catch his breath.]

So someone just... stuck the sword... in your hand? Is that what you did... to your students?

[He doesn't say anything about Superman, because he agrees on that. But Superman doesn't have a need to live off of humans, an entire society built around viewing humans as cattle. He's not sure if any of the "metahumans" of his world have that built into them in that way. Bad people are different from a bad system, if you ask Guren. He's trying to overthrow the government in so many ways, don't mind him.

More importantly... He slows his steps to match, his arm reattached now. He lifts it, and even if it's sore, he can curl his fingers one by one into a fist.]

No. They all had a choice, even if they are encouraged to fight for the army. [It's not perfect by far.] I was forced to pick it up as the only way of protecting my friends from a monster. When I felt it starting to overwhelm me, the desire to kill my friends instead of protect them, I cut that arm off then, too. I fell into a coma for a month, after that.

The girl who was forcing me to do all of this was someone I knew from childhood. The one who completed the research on the cursed gear. The first user, and the first one to die and become a demon herself. I couldn't save her.

[Quiet, Damian watches Guren flex and situate the reattached arm and hand. Honestly, this isn't something he wouldn't also do. To protect his father, to protect his family, to protect his friends.

Though his face is still pensive, it softens considerably.]

You were children. When you... tested the gear. [It doesn't sound like a question actually.] Stop sounding so sad and stupid. Sometimes, you can't save people... no matter how hard you try. It doesn't make... their death your fault.

Is that what will happen to you... if you die? You'll become a demon? Would Crowley even bother to help us stop you if it does happen?

I was older than you. She'd been dealing with things like this for much longer than me, searching after that power just to be with me, and I killed her.

[He clarifies that immediately, looking straight at Damian as Mahiru's figure smiles in the distance and finally fades away and out of Guren's view.]

Her human side was completely gone. She became mad with power. Now... [He glances down to the katana, and slides it away.] She's inside of this sword.

[It's not the entire truth. Mahiru stabbed herself with Noya. She absorbed him, became one with him, and became Mahiru-no-yo. It's true that Mahiru died because Guren didn't save her— she was gone before that moment and he considers it her fault. But to the public, he killed her, and that might as well be the truth.]

If I die, I just die. That's all it is. The sword could be used by someone else, after that, but nothing else happens to me. If I were to become a full demon, though... then my human personality would vanish completely, and I'd become a demon. A maneater that would kill anyone around me for pleasure.

Crowley would probably have fun taking care of the latter, since it would actually be a challenge for him. Even if he's gone, I have a backup plan in case of an emergency like this town screwing with my mind.

[Ah. Damian's brows draw together gently, and he doesn't turn away from Guren's look. Perhaps being honest is one the best things Guren can do with Damian. He's tired of being treated like a child. He understands more than people figure.

And he has absolutely less judgment regardless of what someone tells him because he knows all of the awful things he has done being just thirteen.]

Mahiru.

[It's the word Guren used on the island when drawing the sword, summoning the strength. He thought maybe it was a spell, a ritual, but now he knows it's a name. He wonders if he could kill Jon if the other boy ever went rogue like future Tim claims. He's not sure he would ever try, and for that, he feels bad it had been a last resort for Guren.]

What's that supposed to mean? [He levels Guren with a very scolding glare.] I already know it's probably something extremely moronic, so just go ahead and tell me now.

[Thankfully, Guren's the last person to not take someone seriously just because of their age. His world and situation helped with that entirely. Whether or not he shares things with Damian depends entirely on whether he thinks it will cause Damian more suffering to hear it or not— and so it's a balancing act for him, since he's an idiot who wants to keep all that sadness to himself.

He considers that, though, and places his right hand on his hip, still stretching out his left arm.]

Dextera's purification. It's probably the only thing outside of someone like Crowley or Superman that could stop me, if it came to that.

[Honestly, even Superman might have issues because of Magic? He wasn't clear on all that Superman was saying about it, but he likes to have a backup plan, and he created this before he ever got here.]

[Welp. Damian knew it was going to be STUPID, and sure enough, it was fucking stupid. It'll work perfectly, honestly, as far as he knows and he's going to assume, but it's still stupid because it's forcing Dextera to do something uncomfortable.]

I knew it. You idiot. [Shifting, Damian begins walking again, heading toward Guren and then, after, right by Guren.] You're the one who told me to quit making him... purify animals in the forest, and you're going to turn around and get him to purify you?

[Actually. When he gets to Guren, he gives the man a swift kick in the calf even if it grinds his ribs and makes him grimace. He isn't even completely aware of their relationship. He just assumes they're closed based solely on Guren being chosen for strawberry sharing, and Guren being worried about Dextera.]

I'm not going to let that happen. You'd be gone, and then we'd have to deal with him flying off the handle because he had to do it.

[Ow?? Except it doesn't hurt all that bad for someone with pain tolerance, and he doesn't even give Damian the satisfaction of wincing. He just kind of stares at him, waiting for him to be done before he speaks himself.]

That's exactly why I told him to do it. If I know that it puts him at risk of suffering, then it's even more motivation to not screw up.

[He's not sure if the kid will understand that, but for Guren, he hates himself. He has no will to live half of the time. It's painful, it's a struggle, but he keeps going for those around him.

He won't lose himself if it puts Dextera at risk. Not without trying his absolute best to resist it, in every way.]

Like I said, it's a backup plan.

You better hope it only is.

[Regardless of whether or not Guren is following, Damian keeps walking... though it's not terribly fast when each bump makes him incredibly sore. The pain and heavy sink after a lot of adrenaline is probably why he's grouchier than usual.]

If you don't stop trying to stick your nose into everything so you have to use more and more power, you are going to become a demon sooner rather than later. And then who are you going to be able to help? No one.

[Guren may honestly need to just knock him out so he shuts up.]

[It's coming.]

I'm avoiding that. I'm in complete control. There's magic that has the demon sealed. It can tempt me every day with power, but I only take what's necessary. You sure are a nosy know-it-all.

[He's walking pretty casually, and he's good at hiding when he's got intent to do something less-than-casual. His footsteps are silent, too, and so it's easy to catch up with Damian enough from behind.]

It's time for brats to take a nap.

[Honestly, he says that just so Damian can have the split second warning in his memory and still not have it be enough. He hits the back of his neck enough to make him unconscious, moving to catch him before he falls. Time to carry this stubborn boy to a healer.]

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bittybat - 2018-09-14 19:10 (UTC) - Expand

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