there'll be only a hole in the soil (closed)

[unsheathedfromreality]

Who: Emperor John Gaius, Illarion Albireo, various other worthies from Bone House and their extended CR
What: A duel goes very wrong.
When: The day of John and Kiriona's network post
Where: Bone House, Gaze –> the Salt Lake via the woods

Content Warnings: Inevitable violence and body horror; spoilers for MHA and Nona the Ninth; additional warnings per thread.

Choose your time, Illarion had said to God, offering him the right of one challenged. The shrike had accordingly chosen the place: On the grounds of the house in Gaze, where the Reckoning's blade had scarred the earth. He stands beside the great gash, an unassuming figure in unadorned black, and waits with Death's own patience for his opponent to arrive.

Comments

lake --> shore | immediate aftermath (Closed to Illarion)

[martyrofduty]

Having acted as bait, Pyrrha's close to Heartnest when he returns from beast form (Heartmess?). She swims for him, cutting through the salty water quickly with cephalopod legs. Her arms wrap around the thin elf and hold him to her chest. Her legs do the work, able to buoy her close enough to the surface to keep their heads above water. The rush and hurry is gone. Their companions are many, surely already looking to their wounds.

Pyrrha has him.

When her tentacles touch the silt at the bottom of the lake, she pauses. Breathing carefully, she calms herself and calms herself until the legs merge together, sealing themselves around bone, the muscle changing shape and bending, first for knees, then for feet. Pyrrha wriggles her toes in the water. Then she walks them out, both dripping wet, to the lake shore.

In a spot, within sight but slightly removed from the rest, Pyrrha sits, continuing to support Heartnest. Whether he needs it physically, she deems he needs it emotionally. Messing with him like that; Pyrrha knew the risk. Heartnest knew the risk. It's a cost they both considered worth it, but she won't leave him to pay it alone, even if he must bear the brunt of it.