YAN-PARA au master post

[earthflames]

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE BOX.

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[tracings]

[Watches Diarmuid list to one side, almost in disbelief.]

...are you serious?

[beautymark]

[Just

Sits, heavily. And yet he's still staring.]

Can't look at it...

[tracings]

[He has half a mind to haul Diarmuid back to his feet, pick him up, and drag him off, but Archer thinks better of that plan. He can't let impulse get the better of him again, and for all his mocking he knows that at some point, he'll be kicking a hornet's nest.

So instead he lets Diarmuid stay put, choosing instead to watch Diarmuid's back, because he doesn't like the look in these fishes eyes.]

...we can't sit here. Something wrong, and we need to figure out what sooner than later.

[beautymark]

Of course something's wrong.

[Reluctantly, slowly forcing himself to accept looking at the scenery.]

I told you, it's not real. Only usually there's only a few things that aren't real and a lot that are. But now there's just fake things, and you.

[He reaches out and grabs a fish, rolling it between his hands like dough.]

....I usually can't touch it, either. But you always bring these.

[tracings]

I bring those things?

[He grabs at a fish himself, because he's critical.

Also why fish]

[beautymark]

[They feel like they're made out of construction paper, only if you squish them it's more like play-dough.]

All the time. Everyone has something... When you do something bad, they have teeth.

[tracings]

...then I'll do my best to not unleash the kraken.

[a sigh]

Are you ready to go now?

[beautymark]

A kraken?

[Good job, you have given him ideas. There might be something big and shadowy in the river now.]

[tracings]

[Oh my god no you did fucking not]

...I'm not explaining that further, you'll get more stupid ideas.

[Yep, we're going. Now. Grabbing Diarmuid's arm. Come on. No krakens. Please.]

[beautymark]

[He only gets up because Archer is pulling on him. But of course he doesn't like being suddenly grabbed, so the world is instantly plunged into a stormy kind of darkness.]

Wait, don't--

[tracings]

[He sees this, and this is most certainly the opposite of what he wanted. Startled and just a little frustrated, he can't help but snap]

Don't what?!

[beautymark]

[It's reflexive to flinch, and he squeezes his eyes shut against the changes that fear brings. There's sharp, cracking thunder and lightning, and the fish all double in size, twisting into grotesque, toothy monsters.]

I don't like this. It's not supposed to be the whole world!

[tracings]

[Congratulations, Archer, you did the exact opposite of what you said you'd do in less than a minute flat. He has a moment, a split second to realize that he needs to stop setting new personal records like this, and he tries to even the tone of his voice in response.]

It doesn't look like you have that choice. Calm down before something else happens.

[beautymark]

I can't! Cu says to look at real things and wait for him, but there's nothing real to look at and he's not here!

[Quickly descending into panic, now that he's been set off. There is not much that helps these fits at home, and none of the things that do are available here. All they have is a landscape quickly turning warped and a many-tentacled thing crawling out of the river.]

[tracings]

Then look at me!

[Or his back, at least - remember that thing about being a big, damn hero? He can't drop it - not in an impulse moment, like now. He steps in front of Diarmuid, swords drawn, watching the tentacles ooze towards there]

[beautymark]

It can't touch you. It can't touch if it's not real...

[Nevermind that they could touch the fish. "It can't touch you" is key phrase in his process of keeping himself together, so he's clinging to it even when it's blatantly not true.]

[tracings]

I'm not going to count on that, you know.

[He backs up, watching that thing's movements. Dear self: keep your fucking mouth shut next time.]

Unless you want to test that theory for me.

[beautymark]

Well you can't just fight it!

[Can we pull Archer away and run? Let's try.]

[tracings]

[He'll allow himself to be pulled, but not without an argument]

Then what do you want to do with it?!

[beautymark]

Run away!

[It's all in his head. He's sure it is, so they just need a door.

Once he thinks that, there's a doorway in the middle of the grass, attached to nothing. He pulls the door open without a second thought and shoves Archer through before him.

Inside is a neighborhood. A poor, dirty, City neighborhood of the sort that exist just about everywhere. It would be a totally mundane scene -- if it weren't for the carnage. In this neighborhood there's nothing but dead bodies, blood smeared and splattered everywhere. Everyone has been indiscriminately killed, from the smallest child to the frailest grandmother, and some have been outright mutilated in the process.]

[tracings]

[Archer stumbles through the door, and once he gets his bearings, his expression is, for just a moment, sickened and incredibly displeased. He has to compose himself, for his own sake and Diarmuid's most likely, and so he straightens up and tries to not look at... all of that. Which proves difficult, though his shoes prove to be a convenient point of focus]

Thank-you, this is much better.

[beautymark]

[Once they're there the door disappears.

Also once they're there, D freezes. His face goes completely blank for a moment, and then that terrible smile starts to creep across it.]

Ah... this is...

[tracings]

Not something you should be looking at.

[He's seen that smile before, and knows all too well that stabbings (or worse) follow on its heels. Archer walks straight at Diarmuid, trying to give him forewarning before he claps his hands over Diarmuid's eyes]

Hurry up and hallucinate another door.

[beautymark]

[He lets Archer put his hands over his eyes, but he doesn't come up with any doors. Instead he laughs, unhinged exactly how Archer could have expected. His voice is sing-song and shaky, and he holds perfectly still.]

I can still see it. It's a memory.

[tracings]

[If this is futile, then he'll simply let go and put a fair amount of distance between himself and Diarmuid - close enough to be able to leap at him if necessary, far enough to be able to anticipate any sudden attacks]

And not one that should be dwelt upon. You don't need to bring this up now, so cut it out.