ryu and roque

[5:58 PM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

It wasn't hard to find the boat here. Ryu had Roque in tow and boared with her in hand. She didn't just drop Roque on the first deck. Ryunoske walked further into the lower deck and finally dropped Roque onto a chair. "I'll be back. I'm going to go grab some materials before we leave. I didn't come all the way to this island to come back with nothing. If you try leaving, I hope you die knowing I was the only one who did care about you," Ryu huffed. @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[6:03 PM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

Roque thumped down in the chair, and as she sat, finally let go of Ryu. She moved her hands to grip on to the arms of the chair, worn down and bloody nails digging in to the supple wood.

She snapped her head up toward Ryu, well, a little to the side of her.

"Why. Why do you fucking care." Roque asked. It didn't necessarily sound angry but- hostile and confused. "Is it because we fucked? Is that why you think I have value? Or can you somehow see something in me past that unlike everyone else?" @Aj | Ryunoske+Titania

[6:36 PM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

Roque wouldn't have been able to see her expression, but Ryu stared at the other woman blankly. Her earlier irritation seemed to of settled once Roque was finally secured here, or at least, Ryu wasn't acting on it anymore. "I don't see anything in you. I simply don't think there's any worth in meaningless death, no matter who it is," she answered.

"I don't need a reason otherwise to try and care." @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[6:39 PM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

"Do you not see anything in anyone or am I a special case of lacking anything worthwhile whatsoever?" @Aj | Ryunoske+Titania

[7:44 PM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

A silent beat passed between them before Ryu took a small step towards Roque. She cupped Roque's cheek, just like how she did before earlier in the day. "What do you think?" She asked, her voice calm and questioning. @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[7:46 PM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

Roque only slightly leaned in to the contact.

"I think you just want to be chivalrous, I don't really think you ever cared about me. It's crystal clear you never adored me like my fans do." @Aj | Ryunoske+Titania

[7:54 PM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

"And you think your fans care about you because they adore you?" Ryu asked back, retracting her hand. "What is it that you're looking for, Roque? Someone who truly loves you for you? Who can look past your selfishness? Your heartless desires?" Ryunoske snickered.

"Someone who doesn't care for themselves, but only you?" @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[8:01 PM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

"..." Roque huffed, moving her head away from where Ryu's hand had been. "I know you're fucking joking, but yes. Everything you said, yes. And I need my powers to get it. I will have it, I deserve it. I spent so much of my life in the shadows, it's the bare minimum someone could do for me to make it right." @Aj | Ryunoske+Titania

[8:17 PM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

That only made Ryu laughed. "Really? If that's the case, how come you didn't already have someone like that? You had your powers before for a while, haven't you? Why are you still here alone with no one else besides me?" Ryu snickered.

"Sounds to me like your powers were useless to you either way." @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[8:22 PM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

"I was working on it." Roque huffed. "Why do you think I've held on to the organs of my boyfriend for so long? Yeonaixho Isn't the only one to dream of necromancy, he's hardly original. If I just had more time, I'd be able to recreate Roxas in my perfect image." @Aj | Ryunoske+Titania

[8:28 PM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

Ryunoske laughed even more, his hollow laugh echoing in the belly of the boat. "Sounds more to me like you want a slave than someone crazy enough to love you through hell. You can't create someone like that, sweetheart," he sneered.

"Someone who loves you despite your flaws, your sins, and your abuse... you can't make someone like that. Trust me, I've tried. The only people like that in this world are just as crazy as yourself. There's no way in making someone like what you're looking for, because then they're not even in love with you anymore. They just merely exist on command. They don't choose to love you then." @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[8:31 PM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

"Maybe I don't care if it's not their choice. You think I'm so okay with murdering everyone who's ever been close to me, but I draw the line at that? I manifested my own blood powers so I could control people. To make them do whatever I want." Roque laughed back. "Maybe I know I'm already too far gone, and that's my only choice. No one would genuinely want me. Not after everything." @Aj | Ryunoske+Titania

[8:38 PM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

"I you can't have someone who genuinely wants you.. what's the point of having your powers? You said you wanted that genuine connection, yet you're saying you're okay with it being fake as well? Make up your mind," Ryu chuckled. "Face it. You're alone no matter what you choose. At least this way, you still have the chance to find someone who's remotely as insane as you are." @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[8:42 PM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

"Genuine as in an undying, unconditional, devotion to me and only me. Clearly, that was something you never intended to offer me." Roque laughed. "I think the pool of people who are as insane as me is pretty low, and just because you're both insane, doesn't mean you get along." @Aj | Ryunoske+Titania

[9:04 PM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

"Well, we're both insane and get along just fine," Ryu shrugged. "You'll have to put up with me for a bit more, sorry. Looks like neither of us get to have what we want," he said with finality and started to take a step away from Roque. @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[7:35 AM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

"Whatever. Just get out of here. You know I probably can't find my way back to the mainland without falling off the dock anyway." Roque grumbled and gripped on to the arms of her seat again. @Aj | Ryunoske+Titania

[8:06 AM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

Ryu's laugh echoed in the boat as she heard that. Yeah, she did know. That was the point of bringing Roque here. Ryu quickly exited the boat, walking towards the buildings once more.

boat arrivals

[7:08 AM]🌙Vanessa🌙 | Zerada⚡+ Kal⭐:

“Right? I can’t imagine staying here with how cold it is. I miss the sun,” Kal laughed. “Without my powers, I can really feel it.”

It wasn’t too long of a walk. From the graveyard to the boat, they both arrived.

“So, guess this is it, huh?” Kal hummed as he looked at the boat. @em | enya + mallon

[2:18 PM]Sauce | Roy 🌩:

Here they were. After everything, Roy was glad that they were able to leave peacefully…

He wasn’t sure what would happen after all of this. His stormy emotions weren’t helping.

@Cap! | Valerie + Inu + NPC'S @sketti | Eben 🕶 + Isi 🍁

[3:19 PM]Cap! | Valerie + Inu + NPC'S:

Inu buried his face into his coat as he leaned on Roy's arm. Eepy. He shut his before letting out a tiny sigh. "...I just wanna go home..." He mumbled.

@Sauce | Roy 🌩 @sketti | Eben 🕶 + Isi 🍁

[4:21 PM]sketti | Eben 🕶 + Isi 🍁:

Eben had a light hand on Inu's back as they walked. He seemed to be taking every opportunity to give physical affection to the two, now that he finally could. He nodded absentmindedly at the comment, staring at the water and the island. It occurred to him that his apartment key was probably still in Roy's coat pocket.

@Cap! | Valerie + Inu + NPC'S @Sauce | Roy 🌩

[8:45 PM]Sauce | Roy 🌩:

He smiled a little, taking comfort in the contact. He let out an airy sigh. “Yeah… just… where do we go from here…?”

@sketti | Eben 🕶 + Isi 🍁 @capisnotonfire

[8:51 AM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

Madeline and Albanes got back to the boat and stepped on.

"I want to watch the island as we're leaving." Madeline said and looked over the rail back from where they had came from. @innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄)

[8:54 AM]innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄):

Albanes followed Madeline, and leaned on the railing. She'd miss this island, despite everything. The familiarity of it's mountain, it's shore.

"It feels so weird, to be leaving it..." @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[8:58 AM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

".. Very weird." Madeline said as she scanned the shoreline. "I don't even remember arriving here on this boat so many years ago but-.. I know I did. I wish I got any answers about where I came from.. All I learned was something about frogs... Not helpful." @innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄)

[8:59 AM]innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄):

Also Darcy and Glass are here too. Darcy with a suspiciously larger amount of books than he'd come with.

[9:01 AM]innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄):

"Mhm..." Albanes hummed uncomfortably. "I don't remember coming here, either... but I remember where I came from." She paused. "Not that there's anything there, anyways."

She restlessly tapped the railing. "Maybe Petrai knows where you're from..." @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[9:02 AM]innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄):

Once everyone was on board, the boat finally set away from shore. The island slowly, but surely, faded into the distance. It was over....

@everyone (even if you havent put your character here, THEY ARE ON THE BOAT barring special ekmeros circumstances)

[9:03 AM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

"Mm.. maybe." Madeline said and turned away from the railing. She looked around the deck to see if Petrai was standing up here. @innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄)

[9:05 AM]soul | peregrine 🎭 + ekmeros 🎻:

Peregrine here 👍 go whore survive cult island

[9:08 AM]sketti | Eben 🕶 + Isi 🍁:

Eben absentmindedly put a hand on Roy's arm as well, effectively having an arm around Inu and a hand on Roy now. Despite the cold, he wasn't wearing a coat. Something about being able to actually feel temperature changes I guess.

"I suppose we find somewhere to live." He wasn't particularly thinking, for once.

@Sauce | Roy 🌩 @Cap! | Valerie + Inu + NPC'S (sorry for skipping a turn I just had to get one more in)

[9:08 AM]innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄):

Albanes glanced around- she saw Petrai, but the woman was talking with Teya. "We can ask her when we get closer to shore." @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[9:12 AM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

"Mhm." Madeline nodded and looked back over at the disappearing island. Very shortly, it was entirely out of view. The sunset to the west of them was setting the whole sky a brilliant orange and pink hue and reflecting off the choppy freezing water in dazzling shapes.

"What do you want to do when we get to where we're going..?" @innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄)

[9:20 AM]🌙Vanessa🌙 | Zerada⚡+ Kal⭐:

(I assume that a bit of time has passed so Kal and Enya may have split-)

The thumping of footsteps could be heard approaching Kal from behind. He stopped walking on the boat as a wide grin spread across his face.

“Kal? Kal!” The familiar voice called out. ”Kal!”

Kal’s smile widened further. He turned around in time to catch Zerada as she jumped at him. The two cousins hugged each other tightly. Kal started laughing as he twirled Zerada around, just as he had when they reunited the first time.

“Good to see you again, lil’ cousin!” Kal laughed.

“Kal- Are you okay?! Are you hurt- Are you good? Okay? Everything fine-”

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Kal reassured as he set her back down onto her feet. Zerada gave him one final squeeze before she let go to look over Kal.

“Kal, your powers..” Zerada trailed off. “I’m sorry..”

“Pft, it’s fine,” Kal chuckled with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Y’know, sure they helped me do a lot, but I was able to do a lot without them. I’ll be good! It’s fine, Zerada.”

Zerada looked unsure, even as Kal ruffled her mess of curly hair.

“.. We can talk more about it when we dock,” Zerada spoke quietly. “Okay?”

“Sure, we can.” Kal laughed. “Everything’s gonna be just fine, Zerada.”

Zerada wasn’t so sure about that, but it was always reassuring to hear those words from Kal.

power returns

[10:17 AM]innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄):

With a stabbing pain, almost like a knife driven into each of their chests, those whose powers had been taken away had their abilities abruptly and completely restored. @everyone (if ur character's power returning scene is gonna have special effects please keep them limited to your characters general area)

[10:38 AM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

Roque had been waiting at the table. Waiting for... Something.

She felt the boat begin to move and the commotion of everyone else who had been leaving entering the boat.. They sounded happy, or at the very least, relieved.

But she was.

She was furious, spurned, and empty. She had come to gain more power and blood, but she was leaving lower than she had ever been.

It was so much more than beneath her.

Then, in one painful blow, her heart ached. It didn't stop- the blood it was pumping it.. It was turning to a dark ichor once again, pumping poison out to the rest of her body that was freshly healed. Not at all ready to receive any of this.

Then- everything she had done to prepare her body for her powers. It was happening again. Bones were snapping, organs were shutting down, joints were repeatedly bending in impossible directions as her entire body jerked.

She collapsed on to the table in front of her, dark black blood pooling out of her mouth and spreading across it. Her whole body was trembling from the overwhelming pain, self inflicted torture that she had spaced out across years all replaying within moments of each other. She could hardly think of anything else to do besides wheeze and go limp against it.

Various other sensations came back along with the agony though, mainly, her ability to smell everyone's blood around her. She could smell everyone who was on board, and especially those that were in the room.

And especially those she had drank from.

In slow, agonized increments, she twisted her head to the side on the table to face where Ryu was standing. Her eyes had never returned, but her abilities gave her a very strong sense of where Ryu exactly was.

".... ryu.." She managed to speak, just loud enough to hear over the blood and spit pooling out of her mouth at the same time. She coughed once- spilling out a vast amount of blood all at once- and cleared her throat. Her beautiful voice was back now, just barely muffled by the various other things affecting her at the moment. "Ryu. In about twenty seconds. I need you to. Take a picture of me. And send it to my label. They'll know. What to do with it."

She pushed herself up from her seat not letting her broken legs and body stop her from standing upright. It just sounded awful as she stood up. @Aj | Ryunoske+Titania

[10:53 AM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

"To never leave his side."

Those were the last words Jymaiyri said to Ryu. Ryunoske always found it odd, how there were people out there who loved shamelessly and selfishly, eternally. Stories and tales Ryu read when she was a child always depicted love as something never ending. How idiotic, Ryu always thought. To want something so deeply... She wondered how anyone could ever drown in a sensation like that. It sounded impossible to her, and it always will.

Her steps were light as she carried the boxes of body parts with her. The boat swayed just the slightest when she first entered. There were more people here now, some she recognized, others she couldn't care less about. Despite spending all of her time for the past week or so with these people, Ryunoske didn't feel much for any of them. They would all be empty faces to her as soon as this boat docked back in the mainland.

Heading back towards where she had left Roque, Ryu leaned against a near by wall and dropped the boxes. She took one last smoke on the island, green and red smoke filtering from her lips once more as she waited for the boat to start. It was only when Roque suddenly stood up and spoke to her did Ryunoske give her attention. The blood and the jerks of breaking bone didn't alert her, but it made her curious. Especially with the specific request made to her. "What's the name of your label?" Ryu asked, calm and unbothered. @Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline

[1:07 PM]sketti | Eben 🕶 + Isi 🍁:

Isi trotted across the ship, looking around, looking for someone, with little luck. She paused, the stench of blood hitting her even through the sea air. She continued cautiously, then seeing the splintered railing, the blood. Instinctively she stepped back, away from the dangerous opening and the horrid smell. As she did so, her hoof hit something with a tiny clink.

She looked down at the little jar, threatening to throw itself overboard with every pitch of the ship in the waves. She picked it up quickly, edging farther away from the railing and the blood. It didn't take long for her to put two and two together, and she held the jar closer to her chest, more carefully now. The spider on her shoulder cringed away, moving farther back.

Despite the dangerous nature of this worm, it felt so wrong to just abandon it. If Madeline really wasn't here anymore, maybe the least Isi could do was take care of the thing that helped her jumpstart all this trouble, that she'd been asked to communicate with. Best case scenario, she'd see Madeline on the docks, and this blood and stuff was completely unrelated somehow!

She looked away from the blood and the railing, and continued walking, now more troubled and contemplative.

[3:21 PM]Mads|Roque🩸+Hannah🦈+Madeline:

(1/2)

"Rayes Records." Roque replied just as simply and held her hands out in front of her. Her fingers were shaking as she did so, and blood began to pool around them, rising up from a growing portal in front of her from the floor. The blood started to reform in to a staff between her hands, just about the same girth as her scythe had been. She smirked as she felt the familiar sensation in her hands. It just felt so right to have it. How she had missed it. "The reformation of my scythe with my new look will be pretty striking, hm?"

Just as it seemed like the double sided blades of the scythe were about to reform, a bloody hand reached out from the portal. She had entirely failed to notice it as he entire attention was set to the reforming weapon. The warm, gooey fingers wrapped around her ankle and yanked her, sending her careening to the ground. She dropped the staff in to the open portal as she fell, yelling on her way down.

She hit the wood with even more awful cracking noises. But what hurt her even more than falling on her already broken body was what she could smell. The one who tripped her had been none other than that overgrown sack of blood which she couldn't bring herself to get rid of.

"Roxas! You-" Roque huffed and kicked her legs wildly in the direction the hand came from. "I didn't call you! You can't just leave! Cease! Stop!"

She commanded him repeatedly, but he didn't do any of those things. He continued rising out of the portal, dragging his bloody limbs out fully in to the boat. His striking green eyes stared right at Roque, even though she couldn't stare back.

He gripped on to Roque's ankles with both hands, the blood seeping in to Ryu's borrowed clothes. Then, he began to descend back from whence he came, dragging Roque along with him.

"NO! You bitch- you can't do this!" Roque screamed and tried to kick her legs out. "I own you, I command you! Stop!"

She held her hands out toward him, and his bloody form morphed, but didn't cease. Once her feet had entered the portal, she finally started genuinely panicking. She dropped her hands to the floor and rolled over, digging her patchily black painted nails in to the floorboards and leaving long gashes in her wake.

"Ryu! Help me- help! PLEASE!" She begged as her waist dropped below the portal. She swung her arms wildly and grabbed on to a nearby table, temporarily grounding her in place. She laughed in triumph- just in time for one of the bloody arms to reach out and grab her by the back of the shirt. It pulled back, and in sudden shock, she released the table.

"NO!" Roque screamed as her torso fell in as well now, her hands scrambling for leverage anywhere, but finding none.

"Fuck you! Fuck ALL OF YOU! You don't know who you're FUCKING MESSING WITH! I CAN'T DIE! YOU CAN'T KILL ROQUE RAYES!"

And, to most people, those would be her final action before being sent straight to hell, maybe?

But one person would know her true fate. And they would probably find it quite satisfying.

[4:45 PM]innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄):

Oh, she was satisfied, all right.

Petrai had been watching, moreso listening to, Ryunoske and Roque's conversation with the kind of mild interest one reserves for pre-teens they're supposed to be watching and their own mortal enemies- it's really only worth getting involved if they start screaming.

When the screaming did start, she turned to the two to observe the familiar portal and the familiar blood boyfriend, all with her own eyes til Roque was dragged away into her own dimension, so like how she had once been dragged away.

Oh, how glad she was she had the powers she did. For the first time, Petrai was glad she could see into Roque's blood dimension, if only because she was treated to this sight. Her smile, dangerously bright, only grew as it continued. "Hah!" She exclaimed, victorious, as the show reached its grisly conclusion. To no one in particular, she proclaimed. "Serves her right."

[4:58 PM]Aj | Ryunoske+Titania:

To say the least, Ryunoske didn't help Roque. She had taken a simple step closer to Roque as she began to summon her scythe, but the moment the portal opened up behind her, Ryu stopped. Watching the scene unfold in front of her, Ryu's interest and curiosity solved itself. Even as Roque struggled and begged, Ryu did nothing. The intense stare Roxas gave Roque, the strength and the total control he had in bringing Roque down told Ryu everything she needed to know about what was happening. She didn't even need to ask Petrai what happened after the portal disappeared.

Ashes from Ryu's cigar fell onto the floor as the room fell silent once more. She closed her eyes and settled back against the wall. Curtains closed.

[5:31 PM]innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄):

Glass felt her powers return as sharply as a knife through her chest, piercing through her ribs until it was suddenly yanked out. She had been standing on the top deck of the boat, by one of the railings, and nearly tipped over the edge as she vomited up everything she'd eaten in the past 24 hours. It wasn't a lot, but the action still drained her. She leaned over the edge, holding on as tightly as she could, and hoping that would be the end of it. She hoped it wasn't what she thought it was. (vomit ment)

Oh, but it was. From the center of her chest, where she'd that first, pantomime pain, a greater ache radiated. It was moving outward, towards her skin- it wasn't the familar ache of her transformation. It was just her body, getting used to her powers again. It passed in seconds, and for a moment she hoped that would be it. Of course, it wasn't. Like electric static in the air, the ache clung to the outer layers of her skin, til, in onion thin layers, it began to replace her new, organic flesh with perfect, crystalline glass.

Glass shrieked as she transformed again, clinging to the railing so she wouldn't fall. As she writhed in pain, the glass coating that had once been her skin flaked and shattered off, cascading around her. It revealed the red wetness inside her body, which in turn was only transformed further and further. Layer by layer by layer, Glass was revealed and consumed, til she was nothing but glass and bone. She weeped the entire time.

By the end, Glass was out of breath, out of stamina, and out of will. She curled up on the ground, letting the motion of the sea rock her away. She sobbed false tears- even her tearducts had been transformed.

All that, for a dream and a day? She'd thought she'd be able to live. She'd thought she had a chance. She'd thought she had time

What an idiot she'd been.

docking

[2:19 PM]innsjo (glass🎸+ darcy🖋+ npcs❄):

After hours of travel, the boat finally docks, once again, at the Ninjago City Docks. The night has passed, and the sun is rising over a stark, cold winter's day.

Petrai stands by the ramp leading down out of the boat, watching each person leave but not speaking to any of them. There little she needs to say, now. She'll let them all leave in peace.

It's over. After five days for the contestants and over forty years for her, the nightmare has passed.

She looks up to the sun, and smiles.

@everyone

(tourn over!!! feel free to post something in ⁠after-tourn about what your character is up to now!)