[Eyn Sof is a sacred place to a man who protects secrets spilled and petty complaints given with it. Those four walls are noose - one he willingly wears. It doesn't surprise him the reaction is this serious.]
I see.
What do you intend to do? You aren't the type to dole out judgement based on speculation, unless Azathoth has a power to discern the ownership of items. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised at this point.
I can guarantee that she won't see it that way. I feel confident that I can predict her justification for this, which is already exhausting.
She's come in several times to try to understand what a person would gain from telling their problems to a stranger rather than a friend or family member. Unsurprisingly, nothing I've explained or tried to demonstrate has had much effect. I wouldn't be surprised if this was simply her taking matters into her own hands to try to understand, by any means necessary.
Not that that excuses it, of course. Understanding her reasoning will not make me more inclined to show mercy. Not about something this important.
[Incredible - a brick wall continues to be a brick wall. There's no consolation prize for the willfully ignorant, even if she's a child. Especially because she's one, coddled and cared for by the masses, in a world that will be unforgiving the second caretakers leave.
He doesn't care - that much is true. Privacy, his own, is all he values. People risk having secrets spilled when they give it to anyone or state it aloud. Only the mind is a haven, and even that can be exploited. Maruki can unload whatever he wants - it's irrelevant. Text on a screen.]
People often forgive children easily due to their youth and judging from what I've seen, her overall punishment will be minimal. A public shaming will likely be her only repercussion.
Though I have to wonder if that will make her a target for others. You do have some volatile clients who may enact vigilante justice all their own.
Some may try to kill over it. Attack. Maim and destroy. It may be someone you don't expect.
It might be you. I wonder - how far does your mercy truly go?
Regardless, I look forward to the outcome. Are you going to continue counseling?
All concerns that I already have. Well, except for the possibility that I might hurt her. I won't.
I'll do my very best to mitigate any possible physical damage. Any public confrontation won't be the first time my patients hear of this. That would be cruel to them and dangerous for her.
But perhaps this will impart a lesson on her about painting targets on others.
[ Probably not!
That last bit gives him significant pause. The answer is yes, of course. He'll work with Vil on maximizing the office's security and he'll reopen once he's positive something like this can't happen again. He won't quit over this. He won't quit at all. Can't.
Still, though... ]
As far as your question is concerned, I don't know.
What would you do? Besides not get yourself into a stupid situation like this.
[Probably not - she didn't seem deterred in the slightest about her baseless accusations put on the network. Unlike her hit list, she at least is afforded the opportunity to defend herself.
It doesn't matter.
Neither does the follow-up question - what would Akechi do? Not-
The last line read. An answer predicted.]
I stand by my original statement - if you're learning something from this ordeal, then it's still a valuable venture.
A betrayal after extending kindness and understanding to another - I think there's no better lesson to be gained.
You could stand to have more experiences of that nature.
Though it's as you said - I would have never gotten myself into a foolish situation like this to begin with, so my answer is as meaningless as the work you do.
[ Maruki has never tried to change Akechi's mind about counseling, nor even asked him to disparage it less around him. He takes every hit on the nose, including this one.
It does feel meaningless, at the moment. He's standing in the middle of Eyn Sof, half-reassembled, staring down at his phone, and what's the fucking point of any of it? ]
I'd prefer to experience less betrayal, but otherwise, I agree. There are lessons to be learned here.
The office will be closed for a long while, so I have time to take them to heart and think of how I'll proceed.
It would be best if it didn't reopen, probably. That paranoia will always remain and eat him alive every second he's in that office.
But it's none of his business if an ant drowns.]
It would be wise to use the opportunity to recoup fully, no matter how long that takes. Those whiners need to learn to be okay without you - whether they manage to do so is up to them.
I wonder, Maruki, how much more you can take. You always seem to push through the worst, however -
The day you snap will be a dangerous one for all. Your persona is too strong to go unchecked. Your ability too powerful to stop before it takes hold. If you don't find a way to maintain a balance with your mind, you could end up in a difficult situation.
It's not only murderers that can harm and damage, after all.
It's a culmination of months of frustration with his work here. All he's ever wanted to do is help people. That's all. It's led him to make terrible mistakes that he regrets entirely and would never alter if given the chance, because they still helped people, in the end. In the future, it might drive him to madness, but it will never be anything but sincere in its intent. Maruki is sure of that.
What drives him?
Selfishness. A desire for some small amount of control over the pains of an unjust world. An unstoppable need to fight back, to never simply lay down and take it. And altruism. And altruism. Genuine, earnest, all-consuming altruism. He's always hated to see people in pain, always wanted to mitigate it where he can, ever since he was a child who should have been too young to be concerned about such things– there hasn't been a single day of his conscious life where he wasn't putting others first.
It's fine if people don't respect that. If they judge him for it, if they make astute observations about how little he values himself in turn or if they're simply paranoid of his intentions and methods for no good goddamn reason. It's fine. It's never stopped him. It won't ever stop him.
I wonder, Maruki, how much more you can take.
Is there an upper limit? Maruki doesn't think so.
People here think him soft, weak. Useless. If he was soft, weak, useless, he wouldn't still be standing, much less fighting. He wouldn't have ever made it to Somnius in the first place. Would have given up years ago. He has already taken on more than his fair share, and he will continue to take it on until the day he shreds this false reality to ribbons to get home.
Until that day, he's here for them. All of them. Even if they don't give a shit about what he does. Even if they breach the one thing he's repeatedly stated is most important to him, even if they renege on promises to not do so again, even if they compromise the safety of every person that has walked through that door.
That will never change. But at the moment, he's so fucking sick of it.
Akechi upholds his end of the deal, as he always does; he doesn't hold back, doesn't falter, doesn't stop. He attacks ruthlessly, relentlessly, doesn't go down easily, matches Maruki's energy every step of the way as they systematically destroy one another in the clearing behind the castle that's become their training ground.
It's been too long. Weeks spent with Akechi in an altered state every goddamn day, a small, warm weight against his chest nearly every night. Maruki wouldn't trade it for the world, but he's missed this: The Akechi that he knows, that knows him, both of them having sunk their teeth into the very rotten core of one another's souls and found that a poison so similar to their own couldn't hurt them. Sneering at him, snarling his vile hatred, taking hit after hit after hit and doling them out in kind, spitting blood and fury to match Maruki's own, even if the sources differ entirely.
Maruki's knees buckle under another attack as he forces himself to stay standing, fists clenched at his sides, teeth grit so hard that they could shatter in his mouth. He isn't tired yet. He isn't done. ]
You're getting too predictable. I hardly even felt that. Try again.
[ Or! Think fast, idiot! Eternal Radiance time as he's talking shit! By the way, it has a high chance of Dizzy, turns out. Good luck. ♥ ]
Vile. Vicious. Brutal. Air charged with a god's unrelenting power and it
pummels.
Wraps tight around throat, body, and soul - a persona that can warp and distort at the helm of everything.
For once, it feels like Maruki's wish is being fulfilled. Every matched parry, slam of body against ground, crack of weapon against flesh, bless against curse.
Call of Chaos buffered again and again - erratic, and free, against newly unleashed and indomitable. Barbed words running loose - Akechi doesn't know what he's saying. It's all caustic, meant to hurt, meant to distract, meant to provoke. Maruki doesn't waver - never does. Tonight is different.
They stop at this point, on a normal evening, before their limbs go numb and minds turn from static to dull fuzz. They don't. Akechi doesn't. Maruki doesn't. No end to it - it's a fight to the death, but not a physical one. Destroy a mind, a soul.
Everything is clear - more than it's ever been. Throat numb from chattering. Words stop flowing as easy. It's serious.
He hates Maruki.
He hates Maruki.
He hates Maruki.
Call of Chaos again - over and over. More times than he's ever done it in a row - it's thrilling, enthralling. Loki blooming and churning as he dodges those grotesque eyes in mass.
One hits - Dizzy afflicts and he feels his world turn upside down with the sudden attack.
More words flow - cruel as ever. Voice hoarse and he continues to strike with Riot Gun. An extensive attack that might hit, despite his waning vision.
He doesn't care - he's never felt more alive and -
As Riot Gun barrages, Akechi puts itself in the midst. Harisen Recovery done as he charges forward, moves closer.
They keep going.
They don't stop. ]
What a goddamn tantrum you're throwing - it's so pathetic. You're so worthless. You're nothing - absolutely nothing!
[The knife he's spent-
Hours. It feels hours trying to slash against flesh and bone - he can't get close enough to rip his face apart. It doesn't stop him trying to do it again and again. Aiming for face, for neck, for chest - aims to kill, aims to hurt.]
The tentacles are ever-present to shield him, but some of the static rain still glances off his skin to leave thin, streaking burns. They frizzle and fade quickly, though the scorch marks and the sharp ache both persist.
There's no time to take stock of the damage when Akechi lunges at him with that knife again. Maruki reels back, both arms coming up to guard his face and neck–
And the tentacles are just a few seconds too late.
The erratic slash of the blade makes contact, slices cleanly through the sleeve of his shirt to gouge a long gash across his forearm. Maruki yelps as blood blooms up all at once to begin soaking into the torn fabric; he clamps his other hand over the wound on instinct as he staggers backwards, as the lesser tentacles do their goddamn job and rise up from the ground to form a barrier between them. ]
I'm throwing the tantrum? Is that so?
[ No, he's not doing this shit. He's not letting Akechi get near him with a knife again. With nothing more than an irritable snap of his fingers, that barrier of tentacles becomes a violent mass intent on wrapping Akechi up and wrenching him down to the ground by any means necessary. If he manages to slice one, two more will appear to take its place. Maruki's focusing all of his energy on that, the bleeding unstaunched as he laughs, nearly delirious with it.
The Tentacle of Healing is down. It almost always is when they battle nowadays. ]
You've made yourself psychotic enough times that I fear it's going to permanently warp your cognition.
[ His palm is slippery with his own blood. Arm gripped tighter. Teeth clenched in a rictus grin. ]
Will you even recognize yourself tomorrow, Akechi?
[It's akin to drowning - weighted down by unstoppable power and wrath, a sprawling mass dragging him to the earth. He doesn't bother attacking.
why bother
They come back
They trap.
There's always more.
There's always more.
Always more.
Taken down to the earth
again and again
and again and and again.
He's down. Mass all encompassing - around legs, body and throat as if it will stop him. Nothing will stop him. Nothing can stop him. Loki is strong - Akechi is strong. A soul combined and meant to conquer everyone
everything
Even false gods spewing shit from thrones of stolen gold.
Azathoth - resplendent and brilliant. A man broken. Attacked. Taken by more than Akechi's knife - wounds were there, festering and burning. Akechi let it free - let the rot out. Wants to keep letting it out. Likes the way Maruki looks when it's all let out and-]
Screw you - I'll do anything to rip you apart! I don't care what the hell happens - you piss me off!
[Angry - so angry. He's
so angry
He's never angry. He's strong - vicious and cruel. Not angry, only propelled by profound need to drag the unjust down with him.
He'll drag Maruki down.
Become a righteous noose that tightens with every sin.
Eigaon targets a few centimeters behind Maruki.
Intentional. With meaning. Akechi is close - Akechi is close. He's so close. He can-
Dig into decayed spirits and drag it down, down, down into the writhing mass of shit he's forced to yield to.
Akechi slams his knife into Maruki's leg when he gets within his reach - whether he steps forward to avoid the attack from behind, whether he's there, whether he was alwasy there.
He's always there.
Always there.
An impossible to decipher timeline - there's the man, a blade, and a shared resolve between them.
It blade twists around muscle, stops at bone. He turns it askew until it's affixed. A guiding light.
Doesn't let go and-
Uses it as a grounding force to pull, drag, rip himself free of the mass around him - pointed tip into bone, exhaustion persistent and intense throughout his own body and-
It doesn't matter. It won't ever matter. Maruki is still standing and he refuses to lay at this bastard's feet.
A pop in his own leg - he would sooner tear himself to shreds than stay in its grip. A dizzying nausea accompanying it. A burning agony behind it. All forced down by the dull hum of Loki. He'll crush his own bones to kill Maruki. He'll do anything to kill Maruki.
The blade starts to slip from sweat and blood against his palms, shredding through a man's leg. He twists it again - digs it further down, hopes it goes through muscle and points out the other side.]
Worry about yourself, you stupid piece of shit! I hate you! I can't stand you - anything about you. Worthless piece of human garbage!
The blade sinks in, and Maruki cries out – twists, digs, slices, and his voice goes so loud and broken that he chokes on it – stabs farther, wrenches him apart, flesh flayed from muscle flayed from bone, and there's so much blood soaked into the leg of his trousers, pooling in the grass between them, he feels hot tears stinging his eyes as he goes dizzy, can't even hear the noise he's making, a deep animal hurt ringing out through the trees.
His vision swims. The Tentacle of Healing regenerates, sways over him as he drops down to the knee of the uninjured leg, hands coming down to catch him as he starts to sprawl into the grass.
Akechi is right there, blade still dug into his leg, and he could pull it out at any moment, go for the chest next, kill him before Azathoth has time to react.
It's never a fair fight when they get down to this. He nearly died the last time.
They should stop.
They really need to stop.
They won't stop.
He's knitting back together, but it's not without its own struggle, his stamina finally starting to flicker too much for a full heal. Maruki gasps as the blade wrenches free thanks to the help of some lesser tentacles, grips his leg, there's so much blood on his hands now, there's so much blood– ]
I'm not done with you.
[ Hissing, vicious, unrelenting.
A tentacle rises up from the ground, sharp and sudden, for Piercing Strike to hit him again and again and again as Maruki rolls and staggers away from him, back up onto unsteady feet. One thing's for certain: He won't stay down on the ground near Akechi, won't give him the opportunity to get the upper hand like last time. As tempting as it is to wrap a hand around his throat and slam him back down into the ground, that's a fight he won't win.
This is, though.
He will win.
He's forgotten that at one point, they really were training.
Amplify Force and the Tentacle of Protection's Shapeless Guard hit at once, his own strength building as he gears up to be able to pummel Akechi into nothing. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
I see.
What do you intend to do? You aren't the type to dole out judgement based on speculation, unless Azathoth has a power to discern the ownership of items. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised at this point.
no subject
Oh, I know who it is. I'm almost positive. I have enough circumstantial evidence that it isn't speculation. It was Webby.
no subject
The duck. Of course - why would it be anyone else.
I wonder if she knows such acts of deception could be considered evil. However, I'm more surprised she has an interest in what happens in your office.
The whole thing is baffling.
[This shithole is a nightmare.]
1/2
She's come in several times to try to understand what a person would gain from telling their problems to a stranger rather than a friend or family member. Unsurprisingly, nothing I've explained or tried to demonstrate has had much effect. I wouldn't be surprised if this was simply her taking matters into her own hands to try to understand, by any means necessary.
Not that that excuses it, of course. Understanding her reasoning will not make me more inclined to show mercy. Not about something this important.
no subject
But the breach of privacy is unforgivable. I figured you would understand that part.
no subject
He doesn't care - that much is true. Privacy, his own, is all he values. People risk having secrets spilled when they give it to anyone or state it aloud. Only the mind is a haven, and even that can be exploited. Maruki can unload whatever he wants - it's irrelevant. Text on a screen.]
People often forgive children easily due to their youth and judging from what I've seen, her overall punishment will be minimal. A public shaming will likely be her only repercussion.
Though I have to wonder if that will make her a target for others. You do have some volatile clients who may enact vigilante justice all their own.
Some may try to kill over it. Attack. Maim and destroy. It may be someone you don't expect.
It might be you. I wonder - how far does your mercy truly go?
Regardless, I look forward to the outcome. Are you going to continue counseling?
no subject
I'll do my very best to mitigate any possible physical damage. Any public confrontation won't be the first time my patients hear of this. That would be cruel to them and dangerous for her.
But perhaps this will impart a lesson on her about painting targets on others.
[ Probably not!
That last bit gives him significant pause. The answer is yes, of course. He'll work with Vil on maximizing the office's security and he'll reopen once he's positive something like this can't happen again. He won't quit over this. He won't quit at all. Can't.
Still, though... ]
As far as your question is concerned, I don't know.
What would you do? Besides not get yourself into a stupid situation like this.
no subject
It doesn't matter.
Neither does the follow-up question - what would Akechi do? Not-
The last line read. An answer predicted.]
I stand by my original statement - if you're learning something from this ordeal, then it's still a valuable venture.
A betrayal after extending kindness and understanding to another - I think there's no better lesson to be gained.
You could stand to have more experiences of that nature.
Though it's as you said - I would have never gotten myself into a foolish situation like this to begin with, so my answer is as meaningless as the work you do.
no subject
It does feel meaningless, at the moment. He's standing in the middle of Eyn Sof, half-reassembled, staring down at his phone, and what's the fucking point of any of it? ]
I'd prefer to experience less betrayal, but otherwise, I agree. There are lessons to be learned here.
The office will be closed for a long while, so I have time to take them to heart and think of how I'll proceed.
no subject
It would be best if it didn't reopen, probably. That paranoia will always remain and eat him alive every second he's in that office.
But it's none of his business if an ant drowns.]
It would be wise to use the opportunity to recoup fully, no matter how long that takes. Those whiners need to learn to be okay without you - whether they manage to do so is up to them.
I wonder, Maruki, how much more you can take. You always seem to push through the worst, however -
The day you snap will be a dangerous one for all. Your persona is too strong to go unchecked. Your ability too powerful to stop before it takes hold. If you don't find a way to maintain a balance with your mind, you could end up in a difficult situation.
It's not only murderers that can harm and damage, after all.
1/2
no subject
I can endure a hell of a lot more than this. But the concern is valid, and appreciated. I'll be realistic about what I can take on.
no subject
[There's a solid thirty minute delay and-]
You don't get a warning before you break, Maruki. You don't know what the limit is, until it's long gone and out of grasp.
You don't come back. There are no second chances. It's impossible to mend.
That's my final statement on the matter.
no subject
If neither of us trip and fall into a crack in time, we ought to train tonight. It's been a little while due to recent events.
[ Also, he wants to blow something up. ♥ ]
no subject
I'll see you tonight. Be prepared to give it your all.
no subject
1/3
no subject
OH OKAY.]
no subject
Call of Chaos is happening the second Maruki walks through the door!!!
Good luck king ❤️]
1/2 for thread tracking counting purposes later
> action !!
It's a culmination of months of frustration with his work here. All he's ever wanted to do is help people. That's all. It's led him to make terrible mistakes that he regrets entirely and would never alter if given the chance, because they still helped people, in the end. In the future, it might drive him to madness, but it will never be anything but sincere in its intent. Maruki is sure of that.
What drives him?
Selfishness. A desire for some small amount of control over the pains of an unjust world. An unstoppable need to fight back, to never simply lay down and take it. And altruism. And altruism. Genuine, earnest, all-consuming altruism. He's always hated to see people in pain, always wanted to mitigate it where he can, ever since he was a child who should have been too young to be concerned about such things– there hasn't been a single day of his conscious life where he wasn't putting others first.
It's fine if people don't respect that. If they judge him for it, if they make astute observations about how little he values himself in turn or if they're simply paranoid of his intentions and methods for no good goddamn reason. It's fine. It's never stopped him. It won't ever stop him.
I wonder, Maruki, how much more you can take.
Is there an upper limit? Maruki doesn't think so.
People here think him soft, weak. Useless. If he was soft, weak, useless, he wouldn't still be standing, much less fighting. He wouldn't have ever made it to Somnius in the first place. Would have given up years ago. He has already taken on more than his fair share, and he will continue to take it on until the day he shreds this false reality to ribbons to get home.
Until that day, he's here for them. All of them. Even if they don't give a shit about what he does. Even if they breach the one thing he's repeatedly stated is most important to him, even if they renege on promises to not do so again, even if they compromise the safety of every person that has walked through that door.
That will never change. But at the moment, he's so fucking sick of it.
Akechi upholds his end of the deal, as he always does; he doesn't hold back, doesn't falter, doesn't stop. He attacks ruthlessly, relentlessly, doesn't go down easily, matches Maruki's energy every step of the way as they systematically destroy one another in the clearing behind the castle that's become their training ground.
It's been too long. Weeks spent with Akechi in an altered state every goddamn day, a small, warm weight against his chest nearly every night. Maruki wouldn't trade it for the world, but he's missed this: The Akechi that he knows, that knows him, both of them having sunk their teeth into the very rotten core of one another's souls and found that a poison so similar to their own couldn't hurt them. Sneering at him, snarling his vile hatred, taking hit after hit after hit and doling them out in kind, spitting blood and fury to match Maruki's own, even if the sources differ entirely.
Maruki's knees buckle under another attack as he forces himself to stay standing, fists clenched at his sides, teeth grit so hard that they could shatter in his mouth. He isn't tired yet. He isn't done. ]
You're getting too predictable. I hardly even felt that. Try again.
[ Or! Think fast, idiot! Eternal Radiance time as he's talking shit! By the way, it has a high chance of Dizzy, turns out. Good luck. ♥ ]
no subject
Vile. Vicious. Brutal. Air charged with a god's unrelenting power and it
pummels.
For once, it feels like Maruki's wish is being fulfilled. Every matched parry, slam of body against ground, crack of weapon against flesh, bless against curse.Wraps tight around throat, body, and soul - a persona that can warp and distort at the helm of everything.
Call of Chaos buffered again and again - erratic, and free, against newly unleashed and indomitable. Barbed words running loose - Akechi doesn't know what he's saying. It's all caustic, meant to hurt, meant to distract, meant to provoke. Maruki doesn't waver - never does. Tonight is different.
They stop at this point, on a normal evening, before their limbs go numb and minds turn from static to dull fuzz. They don't. Akechi doesn't. Maruki doesn't. No end to it - it's a fight to the death, but not a physical one. Destroy a mind, a soul.
Everything is clear - more than it's ever been. Throat numb from chattering. Words stop flowing as easy. It's serious.
He hates Maruki.He hates Maruki.
Call of Chaos again - over and over. More times than he's ever done it in a row - it's thrilling, enthralling. Loki blooming and churning as he dodges those grotesque eyes in mass.One hits - Dizzy afflicts and he feels his world turn upside down with the sudden attack.
More words flow - cruel as ever. Voice hoarse and he continues to strike with Riot Gun. An extensive attack that might hit, despite his waning vision.
He doesn't care - he's never felt more alive and -
As Riot Gun barrages, Akechi puts itself in the midst. Harisen Recovery done as he charges forward, moves closer.
They keep going.
They don't stop. ]
What a goddamn tantrum you're throwing - it's so pathetic. You're so worthless. You're nothing - absolutely nothing!
[The knife he's spent-
Hours. It feels hours trying to slash against flesh and bone - he can't get close enough to rip his face apart. It doesn't stop him trying to do it again and again. Aiming for face, for neck, for chest - aims to kill, aims to hurt.]
You'll die back here - I'll make sure of it!
cw injury, blood
Maruki weathers it–
He is so goddamn tired of weathering it.
The tentacles are ever-present to shield him, but some of the static rain still glances off his skin to leave thin, streaking burns. They frizzle and fade quickly, though the scorch marks and the sharp ache both persist.
There's no time to take stock of the damage when Akechi lunges at him with that knife again. Maruki reels back, both arms coming up to guard his face and neck–
And the tentacles are just a few seconds too late.
The erratic slash of the blade makes contact, slices cleanly through the sleeve of his shirt to gouge a long gash across his forearm. Maruki yelps as blood blooms up all at once to begin soaking into the torn fabric; he clamps his other hand over the wound on instinct as he staggers backwards, as the lesser tentacles do their goddamn job and rise up from the ground to form a barrier between them. ]
I'm throwing the tantrum? Is that so?
[ No, he's not doing this shit. He's not letting Akechi get near him with a knife again. With nothing more than an irritable snap of his fingers, that barrier of tentacles becomes a violent mass intent on wrapping Akechi up and wrenching him down to the ground by any means necessary. If he manages to slice one, two more will appear to take its place. Maruki's focusing all of his energy on that, the bleeding unstaunched as he laughs, nearly delirious with it.
The Tentacle of Healing is down. It almost always is when they battle nowadays. ]
You've made yourself psychotic enough times that I fear it's going to permanently warp your cognition.
[ His palm is slippery with his own blood. Arm gripped tighter. Teeth clenched in a rictus grin. ]
Will you even recognize yourself tomorrow, Akechi?
cw: violent thoughts, murder, violence, gore, suicide
why bother
There's always more.
Taken down to the earth
again and again
He's down. Mass all encompassing - around legs, body and throat as if it will stop him. Nothing will stop him. Nothing can stop him. Loki is strong - Akechi is strong. A soul combined and meant to conquer everyone
everything
Azathoth - resplendent and brilliant. A man broken. Attacked. Taken by more than Akechi's knife - wounds were there, festering and burning. Akechi let it free - let the rot out. Wants to keep letting it out. Likes the way Maruki looks when it's all let out and-]
Screw you - I'll do anything to rip you apart! I don't care what the hell happens - you piss me off!
[Angry - so angry. He's
He's never angry. He's strong - vicious and cruel. Not angry, only propelled by profound need to drag the unjust down with him.
He'll drag Maruki down.Become a righteous noose that tightens with every sin.
Eigaon targets a few centimeters behind Maruki.Intentional. With meaning. Akechi is close - Akechi is close. He's so close. He can-
Dig into decayed spirits and drag it down, down, down into the writhing mass of shit he's forced to yield to.
Akechi slams his knife into Maruki's leg when he gets within his reach - whether he steps forward to avoid the attack from behind, whether he's there, whether he was alwasy there.
He's always there.
An impossible to decipher timeline - there's the man, a blade, and a shared resolve between them.
It blade twists around muscle, stops at bone. He turns it askew until it's affixed. A guiding light.
Doesn't let go and-
Uses it as a grounding force to pull, drag, rip himself free of the mass around him - pointed tip into bone, exhaustion persistent and intense throughout his own body and-
It doesn't matter. It won't ever matter. Maruki is still standing and he refuses to lay at this bastard's feet.
A pop in his own leg - he would sooner tear himself to shreds than stay in its grip. A dizzying nausea accompanying it. A burning agony behind it. All forced down by the dull hum of Loki. He'll crush his own bones to kill Maruki. He'll do anything to kill Maruki.
The blade starts to slip from sweat and blood against his palms, shredding through a man's leg. He twists it again - digs it further down, hopes it goes through muscle and points out the other side.]
Worry about yourself, you stupid piece of shit! I hate you! I can't stand you - anything about you. Worthless piece of human garbage!
cw injury, blood, VIOLENCE YAY
The blade sinks in, and Maruki cries out – twists, digs, slices, and his voice goes so loud and broken that he chokes on it – stabs farther, wrenches him apart, flesh flayed from muscle flayed from bone, and there's so much blood soaked into the leg of his trousers, pooling in the grass between them, he feels hot tears stinging his eyes as he goes dizzy, can't even hear the noise he's making, a deep animal hurt ringing out through the trees.
His vision swims. The Tentacle of Healing regenerates, sways over him as he drops down to the knee of the uninjured leg, hands coming down to catch him as he starts to sprawl into the grass.
Akechi is right there, blade still dug into his leg, and he could pull it out at any moment, go for the chest next, kill him before Azathoth has time to react.
It's never a fair fight when they get down to this. He nearly died the last time.
They should stop.
They won't stop.
He's knitting back together, but it's not without its own struggle, his stamina finally starting to flicker too much for a full heal. Maruki gasps as the blade wrenches free thanks to the help of some lesser tentacles, grips his leg, there's so much blood on his hands now, there's so much blood– ]
I'm not done with you.
[ Hissing, vicious, unrelenting.
A tentacle rises up from the ground, sharp and sudden, for Piercing Strike to hit him again and again and again as Maruki rolls and staggers away from him, back up onto unsteady feet. One thing's for certain: He won't stay down on the ground near Akechi, won't give him the opportunity to get the upper hand like last time. As tempting as it is to wrap a hand around his throat and slam him back down into the ground, that's a fight he won't win.
This is, though.
He will win.
He's forgotten that at one point, they really were training.
Amplify Force and the Tentacle of Protection's Shapeless Guard hit at once, his own strength building as he gears up to be able to pummel Akechi into nothing. ]
cw: violent thoughts, graphic violence, attempted murder, gore, self harm (???)
cw violence i guess
cw: violent thoughts, violence, gore, murder, suicide, suicidal ideation sorta kinda
cw suicidal ideation and a short tag for a thread like this
cw suicidal ideation ???? 1/2
2/2
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cw: suicidal ideation SORTA