[ on this backdated tuesday, kazunari will find himself in a bubble with vax!
... he just sort of looks at him, for a long moment, and then closes his eyes. ]
's get this over with, yeah?
[ and then reaches out to gently flood the bubble with marine. ]
[ you are standing on an island, where the ground is made of broken glass, on the edge of a crater, and feeling a sense of complete, utter, despair.
the rest of vox machina is moving with the same numb feeling that you must be. beyond your exhaustion and pain, beyond the blood seeping from your injuries, from your mouth, the emotional toll is worse. your sister is a wreck, sitting on the ground, and percival's head is in her lap. he's dead.
he's dead, and pike isn't here to revive him, and vex'ahlia's sobs ring in your ears.
still, you all are making the quickest work of this place that you can. grog gets up to deal with anna ripley, the woman who took percy from you all - she's dead, now, too, thanks to the efforts of the remaining members of vox machina, who took no mercy and destroyed her with everything they had.
but as you stand there, you lift your head, and you lock eyes across the battlefield with a young man.
kynan. you've already spoken to him during this battle. once, twice, three times - you begged him, with desperation in your voice, to drop his arms and to rejoin your side. you haven't seen kynan since you were in emon, since before the chroma conclave, despite how much you searched for him, because this young man is one of your greatest, deepest regrets.
(you tried to teach him a lesson, that adventuring was hard, too hard for someone so wideeyed - but it was clumsy, and awkward, and harsh. and he took that lesson to heart and vanished from emon no matter how many times you tried to find him.
... and now, here he was. fighting at hte side of anna ripley, one of the most foul, dangerous human beings you've ever had the displeasure of knowing, and fucking terrified the entire time. fighting against you, when all you'd wanted - you'd tried - )
...
you stare at each other for a moment. in the last second of the battle, kynan had his chance to murder any of you with the dagger whisper, a black blade with the power of the gods, but he didn't. he listened to you, and with trembling hands, he came not to your aid, but at least not to your harm.
and now this.
you can still feel, after all - you tear yourself free from your daze and you hurry to him, as grog says, "i forgot, are we killing this guy?" over your shoulder. you can't even imagine - tunnel vision, hurrying, you make it to his side.
you are so, so fucking worried. you are so fucking worried, and you care so much, and when kynan whispers, how can i help?, your empathetic heart shatters into pieces. you say just do whatever we say, desperately trying to get across the ache that you feel, trying to make him understand.
how guilty you feel, how miserable, how afraid you are for this young man, and how desperately, desperately, you want to do things right. how badly you want him to be safe, how badly you want to pull him out of the spiral of darkness and depression that you know he's leapt into because of the things he's now seen. (because you screwed up. no matter how. many times you wanted to fix it, it was too late. always too late.
and now - now, maybe, maybe you can take this trembling, terrified young man and try to help him heal like he never should have had to. maybe now, you can be the mentor he wanted you to be.
you put your arm around his shoulder when you leave glintshore, broken and defeated, grog carrying percy's body, and all of you left with the heavy weight of your own sorrows to carry, too.) ]
The fourth wall. The thing that separates us and the audience?
[ duh? but okay. he'll tick these off on his fingers. ]
Bystanders, murderers, victims, detectives - they're all roles in the murder mystery, dude! We all start as bystanders, but you never know when that could change!
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w3, tuesday! backdates sweats
... he just sort of looks at him, for a long moment, and then closes his eyes. ]
's get this over with, yeah?
[ and then reaches out to gently flood the bubble with marine. ]
no subject
Oohhhh, the drama. That's one way to tug at the audience's heartstrings! I bet they loved it, right?
[ i'm sorry i really want to react properly rattles the bars ]
no subject
it's an old memory, at least. vax steps back from it, as it finishes, frowning, and shakes his head, then turns to kazunari.
... ]
... Sure, yeah. 's real life, kid.
no subject
Buuuuuut Percy's still here.
[ in case you didn't know ]
no subject
[ ... he tilts his head. ] What do you mean about the Prism?
no subject
And I don't know what you mean! Everything that happens here is totes real.
[ winks! ]
no subject
no ] Seems like you're playing a role even now.
no subject
Aren't we all, though? I'm not special! We've all got our roles here - but shhhh!
[ lowers his voice as if someone might be listening in. ]
We shouldn't be breaking the fourth wall! That's no good when we're in a dramatic scene!
no subject
[ local medieval peasant does not understand the fourth wall ] Give me, uh. A refresher. What kind've roles are we supposed to play?
no subject
The fourth wall. The thing that separates us and the audience?
[ duh? but okay. he'll tick these off on his fingers. ]
Bystanders, murderers, victims, detectives - they're all roles in the murder mystery, dude! We all start as bystanders, but you never know when that could change!