06 . the sleepy town expedition.

[necrolord]

Who: necrolord, Gideon, Harrow, Paul, Kaworu, "Shannon," Mako, Ford, Shiro, Ruby, Luna, Faith, Willow, Ezra, Zhongli, Perell.
What: An intentional family-and-friends roadtrip to a forbidden holy ruin. A less-intentional catacombs adventure.
When: 3/14.
Where: Sleepy Town and the Catacombs.

Content Warnings: Sleepy Town-typical themes of grief, loss, and surreal landscapes. Catacombs-typical horror per the March event. Also, note all the usual warnings of this character.

[ See this doc for info! ]

Comments

for sayo

[lipochrome]

[ Gideon only knows the smell of smoke from the times Paul and Kaworu have tried to cook a meal, so when they're too far away to see the house, she offers up a very stupid: hm, wonder what's cooking?

Someone's home, it turns out, and the joke sinks like a rock in the pit of Gideon's stomach.

There are people in there. They don't look especially afraid, which is weird, but that doesn't matter. They're watching Gideon, as if expecting her to help, and Gideon is already quickening her pace.

Then the door flings open with a scream, and Gideon breaks out into a run.

If anyone in the group tells Gideon to stop, she won't listen. If they try to grab her, she'll try and shake them off. Gideon can smell the cooking flesh, is near enough to choke on hot, burning ash. It's a terrible, horrible way to die. But nobody is going to die, not on Gideon's watch. ]

Hang on! I'll get you out of there!

[forwantofahorse]

[It takes a moment for Sayo to process Gideon bolting toward the house, as her brain was occupied with formulating an appropriate deadpan quip to sling at the Necromancer about this being such an obvious trap.

And then Gideon sprints at full speed toward the shack, and Sayo stands there, dumbstruck, for half a second.

(She really was too much like Jessica.)

Then she grits her teeth and runs after her. She obviously wasn't going to listen to reason, being the only person with a remotely idealistic bone in their body in this entire party, which left one avenue:

Sweep the leg.

Working off pure adrenaline, Sayo comes up behind Gideon and drops, trying to sweep her leg and trip her up before leaping onto her. While she isn't particularly heavy, if Sayo can just lock up one of her limbs before she gets a chance to move-

As Sayo awkwardly attempts to maneuver Gideon's unfairly beefy limbs, she shouts,]

Gideon! Think for a second! Why in the blazes would a house with a family of two parents and 1.8 children be built underground in secret Pthumerian catacombs?!

[She says, totally unaware that this girl grew up on the Ninth.]

[lipochrome]

[ Gideon does not think for a second. She's not a thinker; anyone from the Ninth could tell Sayo that. Gideon is a sword, and what good is a sword who can't save a single family?

Cobra Kai has taught Sayo well, because Gideon does stumble in response to Sayo's trip move, forcing her to slow down considerably. Gideon's knees are probably decently banged up now, but she doesn't care. ]

Sayo, there's people that are dying! Also, where else are you going to raise a family, I mean come on!

[ With that, Gideon does her best to pick herself up and regain some of her speed, pushing Sayo out of the way if need be. Sorry, weird friend, it's nothing personal. ]

[forwantofahorse]

...why would you raise a FAMILY in a- forget it!

[She can unpack the disquieting implications of Gideon's assumptions about a viable living space later, but right now, she's stumbling closer to throwing herself into the fire.

If sweeping the leg doesn't work, then Sayo will try to throw her using the momentum of Gideon's own sprint. Granted, given the difference in their bulk this may not be the most effective strategy, but she's more focused on trying to argue Gideon out of her bullheadedness. Which is also unlikely to work, but Sayo's giving it all she's got because she can't do much else and she's always tried to solve her problems with words anyways.]

Think about it this way, then: with all the OTHER bullshit we've had to endure down here, why would this be any different? Sure, I guess people might live in catacombs where you come from, but this place isn't even accessible for most of the year! We fell down in here by accident! There are deadly traps everywhere! You cannot LIVE here!

This is an illusion. I stake my name as a witch on it!

[lipochrome]

[ Most of what Sayo says doesn't slow Gideon down at all, because Sayo is really just describing the conditions in the Ninth House. Which are very normal, obviously.

At I stake my name as a witch, however, Gideon stops cold in her tracks, and if Sayo is still trying to throw herself at Gideon, Gideon will stumble a few paces forward, clearly off-balance. Gideon turns around, surprise written plain on her face. ]

Wait, have you been a necromancer this entire time? Dude, what the fuck?

[ Gideon buddy there are other kinds of witches ]