the dreamer has nightmares | closed

[pactmarshal]

🌳Who: Trahearne and others!
🌳What: A series of nightmares leaves Trahearne (and others) sleepless
🌳When: The second week of summer
🌳Where: In the dream world
🌳Warnings: Slaughter, prejudice, depression in general, maybe a lil nsfw, Heart of Thorns spoilers looks directly at cocoa

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[feralheart]

[ Ah, damn. No one's looked at him like that since he last got between the kids and a monster. He wasn't going to abandon Trahearne and these tree-kids to this weird nightmare regardless. But now, he really won't.

He leaves the reassuring speeches to Trahearne, who's better at them anyway. For his part--he sizes up the pipe Trahearne has, the sharpness of his own claws, and the opponents coming through the door. He gives Trahearne a nod in return. ]

I'll take the machines. You can handle... [ whatever the hell those things with ears are, which as a former-human would probably be rude to say ] --the rest.

[ Which is all the explanation he needs to give before he lunges. If he's lucky, this is one of those fights where he gets to claw things in half or throw things through walls, and not one of the ones where things throw him through walls. ]

[pactmarshal]

[ Insulting the asura would be perfectly acceptable to Trahearne, considering how they're maiming and mutilating the saplings. They can get away with a few scathing words.

The firstborn is inexplicably pleased to see M-21 dash in first without much prodding. The asura and their golems, similarly, are caught by surprise to see such quick initiative. The golems aren't ready to attack when he rushes in, and will take a good few hits before their programming catches up, bidding them to lift their arms.

Trahearne, meanwhile, drags his hand along the floor as he rushes forward. The ground bruises in his wake, and disgusting little creatures made of rotting flesh and bone coalesce behind him. He whips the pipe in midair, skeletal arms bursting through the floor beneath one of the asura and grabbing them.

Some of the saplings join the fight, too. M-21 will find a couple of them come up beside him--fully formed, adult-sized plant people, but totally naked. Fists up. They're unarmed, but ready for a throwdown nonetheless, it seems. ]

[feralheart]

[ M-21 hasn't fought opponents like these before, but damn does it feel good to just be able to tear into something. No overthinking, no puzzling over controls he doesn't understand or what he should do; just letting the transformation take over, or whatever the dream is doing. He doesn't care and he's not trying to process it as long as he gets to rend golem limbs from their bodies. He rains one attack after another down on them, dodging when they finally react so he can cast a quick glance over at where Trahearne is—

Calling for reinforcements. Apparently. M-21 bristles in alarm at the skeletal limbs clawing up for their opponents. There's no time in the middle of a fight to stop and stare. But from the looks of things Trahearne has things well in hand, and he can't help but remember Syrlya's voice saying warmly, "Oh, he is much more powerful on the battlefield than he seems.

Understatement of the year, it turns out. M-21 whirls back to his side of things, sizing up the unarmed saplings that have come up alongside him. He admires the spirit, but... ]

I'll make an opening. Hit them when I've got them distracted.

[ And he lunges in to do just that. Clunky, stone opponents? Please. ]

[pactmarshal]

[ These clunky opponents stand no chance.

One of the golems only just manages to raise its arms when M-21 rushes in, knocking its oddly-proportioned body to the ground. The saplings at his side, good at following directions and desperateto get out of this alive, rush in to take advantage of the fallen golem and beat the shit out of it. Bare hands. Some seem to have magic, but it's crude. Whatever it is, though, it's working.

Another of the golems, left long enough for its program to run, begins spinning with alarming speed as it slowly marches towards M-21, aiming to knock him down with the momentum. Better dodge that, wolf boy!

In the meanwhile, Trahearne and his minions are making quick work of the more organic enemies. He seems almost...gleeful to be ripping these dudes in red and black apart. It should be kind of scary, tbh. ]

[feralheart]

[ The saplings are berserkers after M-21's own heart. Kick the bastard golems while they're down, kids. He gives a smug little chuckle and turns to deal with the next opponent.

He's maybe a little bit too distracted appreciating his newly adopted pack, because he nearly fumbles his dex check and has to do a last-minute graceless roll out of the way. That's fine. He'll just go for the legs before he bounces up again, twice as mad as before and ready to do some rending and tearing.

...Which is still a lot less grotesque than what's going on on Trahearne's side of things. Soft-spoken, polite, gentle Trahearne sure is going all in with his zombie(?) minions. M-21's not squeamish, but he's distinctly reminded of Frankenstein. All that's wanting is a little cackling. Or some speeches. ]

...You've got things there?

[pactmarshal]

[ One of the smaller minions leaps at the last batch of enemies and explodes in their midst. Rotten blood and guts and bone shards fly through the air like shrapnel, shredding the enemy to pieces. Blood splatters over Trahearne and the rest on his side, but he doesn't seem particularly bothered by it. A grin bursts across his face.

He's vaguely aware M-21 has said something to him, but what he says in response doesn't really answer his question. ]

The asura will pay for touching the secondborn.

[ He points behind M-21 to the last few golems. ]

Don't let your guard down. We've not finished giving them their lesson yet!

[feralheart]

[ Rai does blood fields. That, alone, wouldn't be enough to ruffle M-21 in particular. But guts? Rotting? Bone shards?

M-21 wrinkles his poor werewolf nose at that -- hopefully not much more sensitive than a human's, or he's going to be feeling this dream for a while -- and whisks back around to the opponent he should be focusing on.

Damn, he's glad he picked the golems. ]

...Yeah. When we're done, they won't try this again.

[ And he flings himself right back to handling it. The golems are nicely inorganic, this fight uncharacteristically clean for what M-21's used to. ]