lucetilogs | Zompania Draft - Draftees and Reinforcements, mid-day 4-early 7

How am I a threat? I'm not attacking you at all! You're the one who's been following me!

[Is this girl freaking insane? He doesn't get it at all.]

No, you are not attacking me. However, you did use your magic to will me out of existence a number of months ago.

[The memory of which causes its expression to sour, tightening its grip on its sword.]

My vessel may have forgiven you for that display of magic, but in truth she was not the one who required an apology.

[Her- vessel-

Oh god. Oh god, that's right. Kari- Hoshikyo-

Shit.

He flinches and jerks back, putting some distance between them. He'd been so out of his mind when she'd told him that it was easy to forget, and... truth be told, he'd tried his best to put all of that behind him. Months ago, maybe he'd have just let her do as she pleased, but now, knowing what he knows, with all the progress he's made?

Like hell. Not here, not when one wrong move can get a lot of people killed. Apologizing is one thing- he'll never stop apologizing for that horrible week he'd created for everyone involved. But anything else, and he's out of here.]

That wasn't... really me. I didn't want that to happen... I'm sorry.

[There's not much change in its disposition, even with the apology. Truth be told, even if he had somehow known about the existence of the spirit and apologized, without doing something in the spirit's favor to make up for it, the apology wouldn't have done much good on its own.]

An apology carries no weight if you do not truly understand the gravity of what you did. How am I to believe such a thing couldn't come to pass a second time? My vessel and I are tied together by a powerful physical and spiritual connection. You may have gotten lucky the first time, but there's no guarantee that my host's body would survive being severed like that again.

[Just as there's no guarantee that severing that connection would do any harm to Kari -- but Billy doesn't need to know that.]

No... I get that. I know what I did was practically unforgivable.

[Kari was pretty chill about it, but the reaction of everyone affected had been very different. He would never assume that saying sorry would fix everything, even months later.]

I stopped using magic for six months because I thought that would help to prevent it from happening again. But I know now that it won't- that I have to keep using it, practice it and master my own powers. That's the only way I can make sure that I can't be used to hurt people like that again.

And you believe such a strategy will work out in your favor, do you...

[How foolish. Kari believed in the same strategy -- she believed that by perfecting her own magic, she could gain control over the spirit residing in her body. Little did she know, that strategy was only strengthening its hold over her...]

[But if this boy believed in that same strategy, perhaps it would be better to keep him around after all? It would be more beneficial to have a potential enemy as an ally instead. If it worked with the shrine girl, it could probably work with him, too.]

...I suppose I could find it in me to forgive you. That is, on one condition.

[Hey, all he can really do is try, right? Especially when there doesn't seem to be a better alternative available.

The forgiveness is another big surprise, though, and his brows lift, only to narrow slightly as she finishes.]

What's the condition?

The true owner of this body is likewise working on refining her own magical ability. However, even with my attempts at assisting her, she has been rather slow on the uptake. Even now, I'm certain she has only unlocked less than 15% of her magical potential.

[A truly sad amount, given how long she's had her powers. A stronger vessel might have been fully corrupted by now, but as it is, the spirit can only take control for so long before it's forced to return control to Kari.]

But if someone with more developed powers were to assist her, I am confident she would be able to greatly expand that potential. And then perhaps I wouldn't need to worry over her well-being quite as much in situations such as this.

[...it's not technically lying when it says it worries about her. It just worries for all the wrong reasons.]

[...Is she trying to make him die of shock, here? Nothing she says is what he expects her to say. Geez.]

You... want me to help her learn magic? There's so many people more qualified to do that kind of thing, though...

That is true. You would be far from my first choice to do so. [Wow rude.] However, there is no one else who I believe she would willingly accept help from. Her personality is not the sort that meshes well with others, whether in her true form or this one. [So rude.]

And for that matter, you are one of the few who knows of her two forms... and now, I suppose, the third as well.

[This... sounds complicated. And probably more trouble than he ought to be digging his hands into. But he likes Kari, and he feels like he does kind of owe this... person... whatever's possessing her, even if he doesn't want to trust it.

Even if he's unqualified, hopefully it won't hurt to help.]

...Okay. I'll do what I can to help her, then.

There's a good boy. [Gee, that was easier than it thought it would be! Perhaps it was too quick to judge this boy. Certainly with his influence, its vessel's skills could grow even faster than they had been before!]

Of course, you will need to be the one to bring it up yourself. She will retain little, if any memory of our little conversation here. It was all I could do to preserve her sanity when she arrived here on this battlefield, after all.

[He grimaces at that, glancing around. Speaking of which...]

Yeah... yeah, I'll do that. But we should talk about this later- back at the village, maybe, or when we've won. When we're safe.

[He's just. Going to assume that they'll both survive until then, because the alternative is unacceptable.]

There's still fighting going on out there... we should be helping.

I have no desire to "help" more than I have been. At this moment, I fight only for the benefit of my vessel, in both preserving her life and improving her... hm.

[It wasn't lying when it said Billy wouldn't have been its first choice in who would help train Kari. He might be strong compared to Kari/Hoshikyo herself, but for the spirit, he wasn't too impressive.]

[Perhaps there was something it could do about that?]

...were those forcefields you were using earlier the best you could do? Or are you perhaps holding back while you fight?

[The best...forcefields? Why is she suddenly interested in that?]

I... probably not. It's not intentional. I only just started using magic again last week, so I'm really out of practice... it's been improving more over the last couple of days, though, what with the fighting getting so much more... intense.

[The proper word is traumatizing, but he hasn't seen her around and he doesn't remember Kari's name being on the initial drafted list, so she probably just got here. She hasn't seen or experienced the worst of it.]

I see. You did mention you stopped using magic for a period of many months following that incident...

[After a few moments of thought, the spirit looks up... and smiles. There's something intensely off about it, much in the way a bad actor may try to play a happy character in an infomercial or something.]

In that case, I shall offer you my assistance in re-polishing your skills!

[....That comment combined with that smile is... incredibly worrisome. He's already instinctively backing up.]

Um- no, really- that's okay. I mean, back in Luceti maybe I can be on the look out for sparring partners, but- it's too early to need that kind of thing-

[Although the spirit's voice had been painfully monotone up until a few moments ago, now there was a sickening cheeriness to it, far more reminiscent of Hoshikyo (or perhaps her after having a few dozen shots of caffeine).]

Nonsense! Spars are nothing compared to the experience one can receive when their lives are truly at stake! And what better place to receive such experience but a battlefield?

[It holds out its sword -- not pointing it at Billy, but the way the blade is starting to glow is all too similar to how it looked before the spirit slaughtered that cultist earlier.]

Why, we can make a game out of it! Go on, I'll count to 10 and give you a headstart! And then we can play!

[Shit. Shit.

She's actually serious.

His eyes widen, wasting two of his ten seconds staring in shock at her (and her glowing sword), then abruptly takes off into the sky. He's actually about to jump straight into a teleportation spell and get the hell away from this crazy girl, but suddenly a cultist is flying at him out of nowhere, and he doesn't have the time to cast. He lurches out of the way, breath catching in his throat, and charges magic around his hands, summoning his staff to at least give him a weapon against incoming attacks.]

W... wait! We're under attack again- we should be working together! Focus on the real enemy here!

...5, 6, 7...

[As one cultist flies up at Billy, another begins making his way up to the Hoshiko, who quickly takes him out with a single swipe of her sword as she continues counting. The cultist bursts into flames and cries out, but the spirit remains focused.]

...9, 10! Ready or not, here I come!

[And already, it's on the move, preparing to charge its sword to use the same attack as before -- but this time toned down a little since Billy is the only target. What, its not actually trying to kill him, after all!]

[But if the cultist does? Well, that wouldn't be its fault, now would it?]

[Oh geez, oh god, oh crap-

Billy splits his forcefield in half, conserving his magic and allowing that corner of the circlet around his body to take the impact of Hoshikyo's attack and using his staff to clash against the cultist's weapon (a spear, apparently, which makes him even more nervous, because range + blade = bad news for his dinky little stick). The cultist backs off and thrusts his blade forward, but Billy tucks himself up into a ball, bracing himself for the impact of one more energy ball. The clash of magic sends him flying again, mercifully out of range of the cultist's attack, and since he was ready for it, he wasn't jostled about quite as violently.

Apparently practice is what he needs - not that he needed her to tell him that - but he's still pissed that she chose here and now to do it. Maybe he'll have time for a teleport n-

-no, wait-

He sees it coming at him from his peripheral, turning his body slightly to see what it is, and that's the only reason he manages to avoid being gutted by the arrow flying at him from the opposite direction. More cultists have stumbled upon their feud, all too happy to help with his "practice". Instead, the arrow tears through the hole in his forcefield and slices his side, ripping through his costume and the cape behind him. He curses, one hand pressing over the wound, the other shooting a bolt of lightning at the archer from his staff.

Okay, no teleport. But this is getting to be too many enemies for him, especially when he's already hurt and tired. He has to get out of here...]

[Goodness, he really is out of practice! Or he was just never that good to start with. The spirit doesn't have too many memories of Kari seeing him fight to compare to, so for all it knows, he's just always been this way.]

[But he's not dead yet, and that means he can afford to fight a little harder, right? How sturdy was the average human, anyway? Kari could certainly take a beating and go on fighting, but then, she did have her time-delay armor to fall back on...]

[Well! Let's just see how much more he can handle. It fires off another round of star-beams, this time being a little less precise with its aim -- so a few of those beams may just knock away some of the cultists instead ~~b-but it's not like it cares or anything so don't think too much of it~~.]

[He's insane. That's the only explanation he can think of, here. Flat out, one-hundred-percent, certifiably insane.

His forcefield is already faltering and he doesn't have the time to boost it back up now, not with his tongue temporarily all twisted up in the pain of his new injury, so instead he shifts his powers into boosting his movement, his hands acting like miniature propulsion engines that allow him to dodge attacks left and right. Her star beams are admittedly easier to dodge, being so bright and visible in the middle of the dark battlefield; it's the arrows and the cultist attacks that are giving him the real trouble. Childishly (when he has half a second to spare thinking about it) he hopes that grates on her nerves. The fact that she's enjoying this is beyond infuriating.

So much for teamwork. Is he seriously going to get taken out by an ally?]

[Hmmm perhaps its attacks are getting too predictable now? Maybe it should mix things up a bit?]

[It powers up its sword again, but this time there's no array of stars shooting out right away. Instead, the sword starts to glow brighter and brighter, until white-hot flames begin dripping off the blade and fizzling out on the ground.]

[And that's when it decides to fire again, this time the stars coming out one at a time -- but super-heated, and dripping with flames. Although the fire fizzles out as soon as it strikes, it still packs both a punch and a sting -- the first star strikes one of the cultists, burning the feathers right off the edges of one of his wings.]

[Of course, what the stars gain in power, they lack in aim -- so hopefully Billy's prepared for some dodging practice, because if one of those hits, it's going to hurt.]

[The time it takes for Hoshikyo to power up her blade gives Billy enough of a breather to take down a couple of the cultists chasing him and put some distance between her and where he's fighting. Duking it out with two or three cultists in the air is still exhausting and terrifying, but it's a step up from fighting half a dozen and dodging her magic missile things. Honestly, he's amazed he's lasted this long, especially since he can feel the blood trickling steadily down his hip now.

He needs to finish this, and fast.

Distracted by the enemy fire (and maybe inwardly hoping her pause means she's getting attacked or has decided to stop or something, ha, because he's usually that lucky), he doesn't notice the next round of energy blasts coming from her direction until it's almost too late. The first one clips him, and he flips away, dodging a couple more until the last one slams into his back. He can't help screaming this time, burned by the red-hot flames, wings and cape set alight for a moment or two before the fire flickers out. It's still enough to knock him right out of the sky, stunned and in too much pain to think, the blue light of his magic winking out. For a long, terrifying moment he's free-falling, the ground coming up to meet him far, far too fast.

Suddenly a weight slams into him from the side, and he has about three seconds to think that maybe he's been saved. That feeling of tremulous relief only lasts as long as it takes him to look up and meet the cold eyes of a cultist. The huge-winged maniac had grabbed him halfway down, one hand gripping Billy's arm, the other winding around the neck, and is rocketing towards the ground at a terrifying speed.

...Oh. Shit. Instead of saving him, they... were just finishing the job.

He opens his mouth to speak, to try and cast a spell, but the hand on his neck tightens and cuts him off right before he they slam into the surface of the world, and he-

-he inhales with a sharp gasp, because instead of hardness and pain and death all he feels is cold and wet. He regrets it immediately; rather than the ground, he's been slammed into the river, and that first gulp only served to fill his lungs with murky water. He scratches and claws at the cultist's hand, desperate, choking, as he feels his body dragged across the surface of the river. His back scrapes over pebbles, sand, and slimy reeds - the shore? - until they both stop, and he looks up in fear and despair from beneath the surface, nails digging into unyielding gloves.

Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god, he can't breathe, he can't move, he can't cast, he can't do anything-

help me

help me

idon'twanttodie]

Zompania Draft - Draftees and Reinforcements, mid-day 4-early 7

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it would help if I tracked the thread eh

yeah probably lol

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