Affogato Cookie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
submittome) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sticksandbones2024-07-01 09:53 am
submittome) wrote in sticksandbones2024-07-01 09:53 am
fifty words for murder and i'm every one of them
Who: Snakegato + Clotted Cream, White Lily, Mizuki and whomever wants to jump in after the deed
What: Suri has given Affogato a task to make Pure Vanilla suffer by harming those he loves dearest
When: The Night after returning to the Grove
Where: The Grove, round about Cookie House
Warnings: snake (in more than one sense of the word), the effects of snake venom including excruciating pain and the bodily reactions that accompany it (including emeto), death, note specific topping cws!
Affogato's been given a second, immediate order by the Black Sun. Cause Pure Vanilla pain by targeting those he loves - since hurting the Martyr himself won't do anything - in revenge for taking Nene away from it.
And seeing as how Affogato may hate the other Cookie a little, it's only something he's too glad to do.
So the night back, Affogato sets aside his little Seaborn baby Mizuki gifted him so Mizuki can "be with him" at all times, and carefully leaves the therapy building. Once outside, he dons the amulet the God gifted him with the intent to enact his will. The transformation is instantaneous and soon - once he figures out how to move - a black snake is carefully winding it's way through the grass of the Grove towards it's targets. Black dahlia patterns speckle its scales, scattered with marigolds in a stained corrupted look.
It will do it's best to avoid detection, using the dark of night to hide itself, as it winds its way towards its target.
What: Suri has given Affogato a task to make Pure Vanilla suffer by harming those he loves dearest
When: The Night after returning to the Grove
Where: The Grove, round about Cookie House
Warnings: snake (in more than one sense of the word), the effects of snake venom including excruciating pain and the bodily reactions that accompany it (including emeto), death, note specific topping cws!
Affogato's been given a second, immediate order by the Black Sun. Cause Pure Vanilla pain by targeting those he loves - since hurting the Martyr himself won't do anything - in revenge for taking Nene away from it.
And seeing as how Affogato may hate the other Cookie a little, it's only something he's too glad to do.
So the night back, Affogato sets aside his little Seaborn baby Mizuki gifted him so Mizuki can "be with him" at all times, and carefully leaves the therapy building. Once outside, he dons the amulet the God gifted him with the intent to enact his will. The transformation is instantaneous and soon - once he figures out how to move - a black snake is carefully winding it's way through the grass of the Grove towards it's targets. Black dahlia patterns speckle its scales, scattered with marigolds in a stained corrupted look.
It will do it's best to avoid detection, using the dark of night to hide itself, as it winds its way towards its target.
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Carefully he reaches out with his snout and presses it into Mizuki's cheek. Closes his eyes and remains there for just a moment, before pulling away and heading off towards the woods again.
Someone will find him. And if they don't, Affogato will return once he's returned to normal. And he will scream and cry, because he must. ]
1/2 haha ha ha h a
Ah well. He's been working in his workshop all morning, getting his things some semblance of organized so he'll be able to be productive when he goes back to whatever tinkering he has to do next. He's recently visited Ain's tailor shop to get his clothing patched. All normal, mundane things.
As normal and mundane as being outside for some fresh air.
Until he rounds the corner, and is met by the most bright, luminescent blue he's ever seen.
Except he has seen it before. He knows he has. It calls up a memory immediately to the forefront of his thoughts, of him knelt next to the river using his long claws to help pry open the lanterns keeping baby, injured seaborn trapped inside. He remembers gently pulling them out as they slid them safely into the arms of the river.
He's moving before the words leave his lips.]
Mizuki-
[His boots thunder across the grass as he rushes up to the scene, oblivious to the agony that's been sewn through the home just yards away, stretching all the way to out here...to where Mizuki is curled up in a little ball on the ground, looking impossibly small. Impossibly still.]
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Yet, the way he reaches down to gently lift Mizuki into his arms is nothing short of delicate, as if he were made from porcelain. He doesn't look physically injured, at least not from what he can tell at a glance, but the glow immediately sets Sesa off. He's trying not to panic but Mizuki isn't moving, he isn't reacting to being lifted, he isn't-]
Mizuki- Mizuki. Hey-!
[What's wrong? What's wrong?? Sesa isn't smart enough to know he's been bitten at first, at least not until Mizuki's little body lifelessly sort of shifts in his grip, and his arm falls to the side enough so that he can see those bites. Three of them, all in different places, oozing blue blood, and-
And.
He lifts him (he's so light, so light) and holds his chest to his head, listening. Hoping, desperately, to find his pulse.]
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Yet, picking him up will be at least a bit soothing, excess moon magic wafting off of him as apparently, in his last moments, he'd been doing his best to try and heal himself.
He failed, clearly. ]
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It's the worst thing he could have ever imagined.
Sesa feels his body quake uncontrollably as he rises to his feet, still holding Mizuki in his arms. He holds him close, Mizuki's face near to his own, as if he might be able to feel his breath on the off chance that maybe he's wrong. But even as he looks down at him, still and looking as if merely asleep, his vision of the little Seaborn swiftly blurs as his eyes glass over with tears, a heavy sob caught painfully in his chest. He blinks them away hard, and when he sees that they've landed across Mizuki's cheeks, he'll quickly reach up one shaking hand to brush them away. Brush his hair off of his forehead, his claws shaking so violently that he has to quickly clench them into a fist so he doesn't accidentally scratch him.
Then, when the Vouivre turns to make for the clinic, people will hear him long before he ever arrives. Crying, screaming, incoherent begging for help as he runs as hard and as fast as he can back towards the clinic, cutting through anyone and anything that might be standing in his way.
Someone, anyone.
Help.]
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He's in the clinic, up late because the Ebalon Family tends to do this — they worship the moon, it's a thing — sitting at the front desk sorting some files and enjoying the nighttime. This immediately changes when Sesa practically breaks the door down.
He doesn't register at first that Mizuki is dead. Merely in need of help, merely injured, and so he shoots up ushers Sesa into the treatment room and has him set Mizuki down.]
I need to go fetch Pure Vanilla for assistance. I will be back shortly.
[Sesa can stay if he wants to or head out or?? scream, but Harque is running across the road as fast as a man with a weak constitution possibly can and BANGING his fists on Pure Vanilla's door.]
Pure Vanilla, sir, if you could come to the clinic urgently...! Mizuki is hurt!
[Buddy Mizuki is dead.]
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You wicked vile thing, you really went all out, huh?
He's weary as he climbs to his feet, using his staff to brace him as he heads to the door, promptly stepping out and moving swiftly to the Clinic. ]
How bad?
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[Deep breaths, Harque, he's probably fine.]
I can handle it, if you need me to, but I'm not sure if I'm good enough. You're much more experienced than me.
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Please go back to my house and ask Felicity to fetch more lavender, and the second to last moonstone from my box.
[ If it's what he thinks it is... He stops at the clinic door, his hand on it, bracing himself, before pushing it open and stepping inside, instantly looking around. ]
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Sesa had gotten him to a spare bed to lay his body down, but that was about as far as he was able to manage before he just fucking collapsed. If his presence is a hindrance and he's told he's in the way at all, he will move in the respect of getting Mizuki some...any kind of help as quickly as possible, but the thing is?
Harque has not seen a dead body. Maybe Pure Vanilla isn't familiar with the way organic life appears when it dies. But Sesa has seen far too much death for his years. He's seen the instant deaths people die in battle. He's seen the slow, agonizing way people die from Oripathy. And he's seen the aftermath of a catastrophic laboratory explosion, in which there were no survivors.
He knows, deep down, that Mizuki is dead. As much as he wishes it weren't so, he's seen too much to be delusional about this.
Which means Sesa is no longer standing up, begging those around him to save Mizuki, fix him, do something. He is crouched on his knees at Mizuki's bedside with his head pressed into the mattress in the space just next to Mizuki's, one of his hands tightly- yet delicately- clutching Mizuki's even as the fingers stiffen around his own.
He hasn't stopped weeping, and will not for some time.]
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*he's still being polite.]
Felicity-noona, Pure Vanilla is asking that you bring lavender and the second to last moonstone he has to the clinic.
[The face he wears says "something happened", but he'll explain on the way, quickly making haste back to the clinic just in time to see Sesa fucking sobbing.]
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But-
Gently Pure Vanilla moves his fingers to Mizuki's neck, searching and pressing into the spot his pulse should be.
.... His shoulders slump, and he moves his hand to gently press his palm to Mizuki's forehead, his voice soft, broken. ]
I'm so sorry.
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Right.
( which is all she says before running off into the house again, and then back with the requested items. but given that harque's already gone by the time she's got everything, she can only rush to catch up...
... wait. is that...? )
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Wh-what...? What do you mean? H-he's...
[He knows what those words mean. "I'm so sorry", words said only when someone passes away. He remembers them bitterly, because they were the last words he said to Noah before Harque himself died. They're meant to placate, to soothe, to express condolences.
Harque feels that they don't do anything like that. Not in this case. His hands fidget with the middle of his robes, squeezing the fabric as the shock rips through his body all at once. An unfamiliar tightness blossoms in his chest, tears welling up in his eyes, and he stares down at the floor for a moment.]
No, no, I can... I can fix it. Just give me a moment...
[He is a time mage. He can take them back, he can fix Mizuki. All he has to do is rewind everything, bring Mizuki back. It should be easy. It should be...
Harque strides forward and leans over Mizuki's bedside, putting a hand upon that cold forehead, and another upon his chest. He closes his eyes and lets the magic take hold, the phases of the moon flickering above his head, rotating. New, crescent, half, gibbous, full, and then back again. And time moves, under the call of his magic, time starts to march backwards.
But there's resistance. The Grove itself is a time anomaly, and it does not appreciate Harque's interference. Time skips back ten seconds and then snaps forward again, and Harque takes a deep breath.
The first of the tears fall upon Mizuki's cheeks.]
I-I can... I can fix it.
[He can! He can make it better. And so he tries again. On this attempt, time backs up thirty seconds before lurching forward again, returning everything to what it just was. Pure Vanilla and Sesa may find themselves moving backwards before suddenly being thrust back to where they were, a sense of deja vu hitting them — and everyone else in the Grove.
The moons spin furiously overhead, while Harque slams his hands harder into Mizuki's chest. He needs to go back further. He needs to fix him, he can fix him, why is he so useless?
His fingertips shake. Again and again, time moves backwards and rubberbands forward. Forty-five seconds. Sixty seconds. Harque looks liable to collapse at any moment, sobs worsening throughout each attempt. Seventy-five seconds. Ninety. A solid two minutes, and that's as far as he gets before his hold over the hands of time breaks completely. The moon symbols shatter, and Harque falls forward, catching himself narrowly on the edge of the bed and gasping for breath.
He's pale. Sweaty. But still, through the tears—]
J-j-just... gi-give me... I c-can...
[But he cannot. A tearful, heartbroken wail escapes his throat, and he presses his face down into the corner of the bed and bawls.]
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It is...a disorienting, awful feeling, to be forced to relive the last few minutes of his life over and over. Because- for Sesa- this means he has to relive bringing Mizuki to the clinic, sobbing over his body, finding his body, over and over and over-
It's too much. The deja vu is one thing, but reliving that kind of unique trauma is wholly another. He feels sick by the 90 second mark, yet it doesn't stop until two whole minutes have been manipulated, and by then it's a good thing he left off kneeling beside the bed, because he didn't think he'd manage to stay upright any longer.
It stops, finally it stops, and Sesa is shaking harder than he was before. He hears Harque break down, which...good thing, because Sesa was genuinely seconds from blowing up at the man, shrieking at him to stop, just stop already. Fortunately for himself and everyone, he doesn't do that.
He simply remains where he ended up, struggling now to just barely keep himself upright, reeling. Silent, beyond the sound of his great, heaving breaths.]
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And then he passes by Pure Vanilla stepping out looking sad and hears the sobbing from within the clinic proper, and Gnosis steels himself for the worst, gripping the handle of the door firmly as he shuts it behind him. It's not like he's expecting much. Someone is probably just in pain, or maybe they're just being loud over here while someone is sick, or...
...
Or dead. The worst-case scenario, the one Gnosis didn't want to acknowledge at all, because it would've been far easier if he simply had to walk in and tell people to shut up so he can sleep. Far easier. Far better.
The soft, ever-dimming glow of Mizuki's body weighs on him. Gnosis stands in the doorway for a second too long as the others sob, takes a breath, and spins on his heel to head to another room. Add used to keep proper medical equipment somewhere in here. If Pure Vanilla had rearranged it at all, he'll find it in time, and pace back to the room with his arms full.
When he's upset, the only thing he knows how to do is work until he collapses. That's precisely what he'll do here, biting back any number of comments or stifling sobs or requests for people to simply move out of his way.
He wordlessly looks at the injuries, bite wounds with motifs of a black sun, and closes his eyes. His feathers are puffed out, and there's a mourning call that wants to build in his throat, but...
Instead, Gnosis simply pulls out a needle and several vials.]
They look like snake bites. Mizuki shouldn't have been able to get poisoned, but it's possible that it was an allergic reaction, or some sort of venom that melts bodily tissues. I don't know, but I'll find out.
[It's a simple matter drawing blood right now before rigor mortis has set in and the body has, essentially, become frozen — he takes five vials, which feels like overkill and may just be, but if it's venom, they need an antidote for others who might get bitten by this snake in the future.
It'll be clear to Sesa in particular that Gnosis is barely holding it together, a glassy look in his eyes as he works. If there's no need to cut the body open for a proper autopsy, he won't be back, and so he simply stands and takes the chilly-feeling vials with him.]
If I find anything with this, I'll let you know in the notebook. Otherwise, I'll be back.
[And off he goes, back to the lab to set to work.]
fuck it im jumping in cause
But it's stopped now and his body is gone and someone took him.
How dare they, that is HIS.
For a moment Affogato doesn't know where, or what to do- until he spots the cavalcade of people coming out of the clinic. There. Has to be.
Get the fuck out of the way Gnosis, Affogato will brusque puszh past the man as he comes out to look around. Where-!
There!
He gives no fucks about Sesa, ignores him to move over to Mizuki's side. He knows he's dead, he knows because he killed him, but he sits on the edge of the bed anyways. Takes Mizuki's hand. ]
... How am I supposed to command you, if you're gone? Hm?
[ Idiot. Fool. Stupid boy picking up a snake!! ]
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It's the second time he's lost a brother. It doesn't particularly matter to him, knowing that Mizuki will very likely return. Not everyone does, it's not guaranteed, and just the reminder is enough to make tears sting angrily at his eyes again.
He catches what Affogato whispers to him.
How am I supposed to command you, if you're gone?
He doesn't like it. He will remember it.]
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Oh now this is interesting.
Timekeeper only finds herself reeling backwards for that first few seconds of an attempt, and then she seizes the local time around her in her own grip, smile widening as she feels it resist. Usually, this isn't hard, for her. But she'll take the challenge all the same, keeping that time bubble in place as everything else around her stutters backwards and snaps forwards again. The anomaly is originating from... there. Easy enough. She's on the Embroider and zipping towards the source in a moment, taking note of the distressed and confused expressions on those she passes. So normal people are experiencing and remembering this to some degree? Sloppy.
She whisks through the clinic door and lights gently on the floor. Ah yes, there's no mistaking it, the anomaly came from that person there! The one crying over a corpse, who she's going to blithely approach.]
My, my, what is going on over here that necessitated such reckless manipulation of time!
[Timekeeper asks it even though, well, she can very well guess. It's not a scenario she's unfamiliar with - such things happen all throughout time, and few people would not try to turn back time for a loved one, had they the means.]
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I'm trying to save him.
[And he gestures to Mizuki, hours dead at this point, still softly glowing as Seaborn are wont to do.]
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[Timekeeper sounds vaguely bored by this, but not exactly admonishing. She looks between Mizuki and Harque as she flips her giant pair of scissors up behind her back, hooking her arms around it casually. Her smile is small but present, and as unreadable as ever.]
Hmm, no, his time has run out, it appears. Too long ago to save, given that time will not even turn much to my will here. Although, that makes your little show quite remarkable! If messy. I should like to know more about your technique, sometime.
[Meanwhile, Continuum Cog floats out from over Timekeeper's shoulder, hovering over Mizuki briefly to investigate. It then dips down towards Harque, circling around him slowly - perhaps curiously, although its expression is even blanker than Timekeeper's.]