EVENT #010

[larkers]

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: New Amsterdam and any other megacity the Displaced happen to be in/travel to!
WHEN: May 28, 2512
WHAT: Golden-eyed monsters stream into New Amsterdam and other megacities the world over.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence, death, body horror, mind control, and transformation.

> EVENT #010

It starts in the middle of the night, when most everyone should be fast asleep in their beds, whether they're still taking up a cot in the safehouse or staying in their own apartment. One moment it's quiet, with most of the rest of the city having also turned in for the night, and then in the next? It isn't.

There will be mass confusion as the scope of the situation becomes clear. Monsters stream out onto the streets, thundering up the stairs of a train station, skittering out of construction sites, or climbing up the walls. Some of them fly. Others slither. Others run, loping forward with only one goal in mind: to find something to sink their teeth or claws into and to leave destruction in their wake at every turn. They are a horde, a swarm, a teeming mass of creatures that have no intention of stopping. All of them have eyes or bodies that shine gold and wherever they go, they seem to leave decay. Concrete turns black and porous where they step; plants wither and die.

There is no real preparing for an attack of this scale. New Amsterdam will awaken as the sound of these monsters crashing down on cars or bursting through storefronts or into homes forces people to run screaming from their dwellings or places of work. There is no discrimination in who these beasts might target, and no discernable pattern in where they go.

All that one can really tell is that they seem to want to spread out. They're constantly on the move, leaping from victim to victim, and they're relentless. No one knows why they've come, where they're come from, or what will make them stop. At least for now, the only option seems to be to cut down their numbers. It's time to fight the horde.

The first night will be utter chaos as everyone reacts to the monsters' sudden appearance, but by the morning hours news reports will start streaming in. This is not only happening in New Amsterdam, or wherever else a Displaced might be staying, but seemingly everywhere. Some cities seem harder hit than others, but practically every megacity is overrun with the creatures.

With no way of knowing who might have unleashed the monsters, all of these cities have essentially been turned into battlefields. Not many civilians are prepared to fight for their lives, and it will take a mobilization effort from the police, Morningstar, the Displaced, and anyone else who's willing to take up arms in order to survive.

◉ As a note, this attack starts simultaneously in multiple cities. While it's the middle of the night in New Amsterdam, the monsters will appear at other times of the day in other parts of the world depending on the timezone!

> BESTIARY

So as to not make this post overly long, we have compiled all of the monster descriptions into a Google doc here for everyone's reference!

> (NOT SO) SAFEHOUSE

For those Displaced who stay at (or spend any time in) the safehouse under the hoverbike shop or the Red Wings bar, they may become aware of the presence of the monsters sooner than others, due to the fact that at least a few of the giant mole monsters will end up burrowing up through the concrete basements to wreak havoc. The screeching noise of steel claws tearing through the floor will be sure to wake up even the deepest of sleepers.

This won't just be an occurrence on the first night of the attack, either. Unless something is done to deter them, tunnels leading straight into the safehouses will continue to be created, allowing even other types of monsters to find their way through (the smaller ones, that is). Where exactly they're coming from won't be entirely clear, though it's a safe bet to assume that they must have originated in the cave system somehow.

Suffice to say that El won't be happy about the safehouse being compromised in this way, though this isn't a possibility that ze or anyone else could have really prepared for. While ze can't do much to physically help with containing the invasion of the monsters, ze will offer whatever resources ze can—though Morningstar is going to be busy in plenty of other locations, as well, and they only have so many resources.

The Red Wings, being a Displaced-operated location, will also be in need of assistance, especially if it's meant to be a point of safety and a hub for handing out supplies. Speaking of—

> RED WINGS HQ

As things begin to deteriorate, Clarke Griffin and Stephen Strange sink their resources into Red Wings, adapting it into a base of operations for the Displaced. Clarke also called in PRESERVE to set up a checkpoint here, too, and anyone—from the Displaced to civilians—will be able to seek aid here. (Of course, Red Wings will be just one of a few locations throughout the city where they attempt to set up shop, but Red Wings may prove to be more fortified thanks to the talents of the Displaced.) Civilians will not have access to Red Wings' safehouse, however. That's still something that Clarke and Stephen want to keep under wraps, for now.

In the bar proper, there will be medical aid, supplies, and even weapons for those who can use them. During rare moments of downtime, the gang at Red Wings will also work on reconnaissance missions to find safe spots throughout the city to provide much needed protection and safety for the people of New Amsterdam. This task may be much easier said than done. Gathering intel on the monsters is a high priority, too, and for anyone who tries to capture a monster to learn more about them, the basement might be a good place to hold them. If the Displaced are going to be able to fight back, they need to know exactly what it is they're fighting.

However, the truth of the matter is that this attack happened quickly, and in the middle of the night to boot. As much as the group at Red Wings tries, resources are stretched thin, and they didn't have time to prepare as much as they wanted to. Supplies need to be rationed, bandages and stitches used for wounds that really need them, and if you're not a great shot, it might be best to let someone with more training take that gun you're eyeing.

More than anything, despite the difficulty, this is a way for the Displaced to help out as many people as they can, and a way for them to cement their humanitarian efforts and affect the population's opinion of them. The citizens of New Amsterdam are sick of this cycle of destruction, and are just waiting to be empowered. Now's the time to teach them to fight back and help them protect their city.

Red Wings' safehouse underground will be damaged by burrowing monsters as well, and will need protection. The bar itself will escape relatively unscathed.

> INVESTIGATING / GATES

Maybe the best way of dealing with the monsters isn't violence at all. Maybe there's a more strategic way to deal with this.

The monsters will be moving from city to city via the gates, just like the Displaced do. There might be a way to keep them from spreading, or at least slow them down, by shutting down the gate network. Of course, with the mag trains shutting down, getting back home could be an issue. One option is the delivery network of hover trucks. They'll still be running to get supplies from city to city, but their batteries don't run indefinitely, so these will be relatively local trips only. No getting from New Tokyo back to New Amsterdam with this method, unfortunately, and convincing a driver to let you hitch a ride might be a challenge, but it's doable.

Of course, there's also the question of where these things are coming from. Intrepid characters might be able to track them back to their nests, which are tucked away in wildly different places depending on the city. In New Amsterdam, they might be in the caves below the city. In other places, they might not be in the city proper at all, but just outside of it. It's important to keep in mind that the nests are far away from any of the action taking place elsewhere. Tracking these origin points may provide some answers, but the cost would be less involvement in the crisis taking place.

And then there's the matter of the monsters themselves. How can you fight an enemy you know nothing about? For those determined or crafty enough, capturing them might be an option, although this will take some creativity. Once these creatures are captured, they'll need to be kept contained, and kept alive. Just because they're monstrous doesn't mean they don't have to eat, after all, and some will need special environmental considerations as well, such as the mind control slugs.

What happens after that is up to the Displaced. Is dissecting them the best bet? Their internal anatomy won't be wildly different from most "normal" animals, with the exception of some creatures who have strange appendages or the like. Still, this might give the Displaced a better idea of how they operate and what their weak spots are. Sending samples to a lab is another possibility, if the Displaced can figure out how to safely store those samples. After all, the world is in a crisis, and no one is running tests at the moment.

All monsters, though, seem drawn to the blue light. When a Displaced uses a power or activates the empathy bond, the creatures will lock onto it, utterly transfixed, and if this is done enough times, that gold glow of theirs will intensify. What does it all mean? Maybe figuring that out will be a pathway to stopping their attacks.

> PITCHING IN

While all of this is going on, it certainly won't be just the Displaced who are heading out into the streets to try and stem the flow of the monster attack. These creatures are certainly not holding back, and no matter how much work might be put in, their numbers are overwhelming. Plenty of people will end up dead as a result, ripped to shreds or dragged off somewhere to be eaten. Yet, for some reason, these monsters are not as vicious toward the Displaced. They'll engage them in a fight and injure them, but they never go so far as dealing a fatal blow.

Seeing how that's not the case for the rest of the populace throughout the world, however, some groups and organizations will be rising up to do their part.

Police departments will be mobilizing in every megacity to put the monsters down, and while they are armed, it's not on the same level as the UNA. They also don't have any sort of training that's prepared them to fight monsters, but they'll still be putting their lives on the line to put a dent in the monsters' onslaught. When it comes to enforcing regular law and order, they certainly won't have the bandwidth for anything like that. Then again, most people won't be in any position to take advantage and commit crimes either, given the chaos that will be a constant everywhere.

Morningstar will also be jumping into action around the world. The New Amsterdam branch will be most likely to work alongside the Displaced and share some of their resources, particularly with those who are signed up as official agents or those who've supported them in the past. In cities like New Prague and New Beijing where the Displaced have made some contact with Morningstar before, they'll also be open to working with the Displaced. However, their resources are by no means robust. Morningstar is an organized rebel group, but they're hardly an official army in any sense of the word. They might be able to hand out a weapon here or there and they have a safehouse set up in almost every city, but beyond that, they'll mainly be getting boots on the ground to help with the fighting.

UNA soldiers who have been left without any sort of purpose or guidance will now have an opportunity to put some of that training to use. Their involvement will be much more scattered, though in some cases small groups of these soldiers who used to work in units together will reconnect in their effort to fight off the horde. However, having been cut off from the UNA in an official capacity, they won't have much in the way of gear or weapons. They're still formidable fighters, though, and now might be the perfect time to reach out and make a connection with some of them.

Mercenaries belonging to various different outfits, depending on what city they're based in, will also be joining the cause. Whether they're acting out of a basic desire to survive the attacks or if they're actually being paid by someone to go out there and risk their lives will be less clear, but they're some of the best-equipped fighters (other than the police). They also won't really find much reason to protest any of the Displaced pitching in to fight with them. The more firepower, the better, right?

A group of regulars from the New Amsterdam fighting rings will be rising up to add their fuel to the monster-fighting fire, as encouraged by Hawke and whoever else might know them well enough to reach out. Given that some of these people have illegal mods to enhance their strength or cybernetic attachments that can do impressive amounts of damage, some of them might hold their own against the monsters. Hell, some of them might even ask the Displaced to demonstrate some of their powers if they end up fighting together, as word of their abilities has become more known among their ranks. Either way, they'll be jumping into the fray with quite a bit of gusto.

PRESERVE will be involved on the other end of these efforts and will be doing their best to tend to the wounded and the dead, along with finding shelter and safe spots for people to barricade themselves from the attacks. It's not like the grand majority of civilians could stand a chance against these monsters, after all, yet not all of them can rely on their homes to be safe enough to stay in. They'll be quick to accept an offer of Displaced help, as they'll be doing their best to try and drag the recently dead to hospitals to get them put into medi-units before they're too late. Along with what's set up at Red Wings, they'll also be cobbling together other relief spots throughout the city for taking care of wounded and offering up what supplies they have (food and water, medical supplies, etc).

And what are the corporations doing in all of this? Well, suffice to say, mainly just panicking. Unsurprisingly, they're not much help during a crisis like this, with most of the super-rich opting to hide away in whatever highly secure bunkers they might have. Too bad that these bunkers might not prove so secure in the face of these attacks. Could that prove to be an opportunity if someone went looking?

> FINAL OOC NOES

Please refer to the OOC EVENT POST for all OOC info, including suggestions for directions on how to engage with the event. Given the spread out nature of this event, as well as the amount of additional details provided here, please direct all questions to our QUESTIONS thread below. This is, naturally, a huge event in terms of scale, and so we're certain there are aspects of it we haven't covered and questions that have yet to be answered. We do encourage that all of our players use the event planning post for any additional ideas and for touching base!

Please do not begin to thread out any aftermath until AUGUST 8, 2020, which is when we will put up the aftermath log and OOC post. If this date changes, we will provide a gamewide update as needed! As a note, the August calendar will be posted alongside the aftermath!

As a reminder, there is one power level up available for this event, granted for a thread of at least 5 log/action comments containing your character utilizing their power in some way during the event itself. They will need to reach the 5 comments required by SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 to be eligible. Submission will be handled on the wrap up post.

Our Activity Check will be posted AUGUST 1 at 12 AM UTC. It will run for seven days and close on AUGUST 8 at 12 AM UTC.

Have fun and fight some monsters! Or … whatever else you might do with them. 😉😏 Your secret's safe with us. 😙

> NAVIGATION

Comments

[variate]

[ still, despite the barrage of complicated and uncomfortable feelings, he doesn't let go. he doesn't even flinch. this is what he can do to help, then he's going to put everything into it. the empathy bond sears, glowing a bright blue as he grips onto her, his knuckles bloody. ]

Stay with me.

[ but it's a harsh, gritted, low tone. not one that's soft. ]

[dragonwarder]

[This is what she's been missing. She realizes it, even while her whole wing feels like it may fall off from the sensation of the burning. It's what Jon and Rey and the two Rens give her, in moments like this. The support that shows up, even when she isn't at her best.

That was often, lately. This is perhaps the worst of it, because this has hurt people. She let it get out of control.

But Ren is still there, asking -- demanding her to stay. It makes the process that dissolves the rage that threatens to take her a little more bearable. And with the other beast momentarily (or, perhaps, permanently) flown off to lick its wounds, she can be allowed to finally rest her large head on the ground and close her eyes.

It doesn't take long for guilt to settle in.]

[variate]

[ whenever anyone was in the middle of anything, it became complex. in his experience, even as he changed hearts dressed up as Joker, that everyone needed to work through their own convictions. there was an aftermath that no one talked about after a resolution, where those changed hearts tried to work their way through healing, but it was never easy.

he doesn't release until he feels the wash of melancholy hits him like cold water. ]

You did good, but we have to go. Can you turn back? Do you need help?

[ show me. ]

[dragonwarder]

[She is exhausted, and so the transformation back into herself comes easy once the rage evaporates. The process isn't exactly swift, nor is it a pleasant thing to witness as the dragon's skeleton shrinks and compresses back to the smaller human frame of Daenerys Targaryen.

She does not return unscathed, but since Ren is not the first one to experience the process, she knows to cover the worst of her injuries until she is human again. The strike on her belly left by the other dragon leaves an ugly, scaly and bloodied gouge that runs the length of her torso.

The transformation had gripped her unexpectedly, and so she is without the supplies she's learned to carry whenever she is expecting the change to occur. As a result, she knows that the walk to somewhere safe will be something of a struggle while injured, dehydrated, and bare.

Still, she tries to stand with as much swiftness as she is capable of, one arm draped protectively across her stomach.]

Thank you.

[Her voice is gravel when she says it, expression stone as the melancholy settles in.]

[variate]

[ as she shrinks and the scales retract, he's going to work removing the hoodie that's hanging over his shoulders and pulling it from his wrists. when she returns to normal, he's draping it over her shoulders to cover her. they're both tattered and bloody, and he doesn't have much in terms of supplies to patch her up, which means she'll need to be taken somewhere immediately. ]

Don't yet.

[ jostled, bruised, and full of adrenaline he moves to lean down and pick her up, half swooning on his feet. he's determined, and that's enough, right? ]

[dragonwarder]

[She is not particularly heavy, so when he sways, she clings to him a little tighter. The smell and sight of blood stirs unpleasant memories, and she looks around briefly.]

Where is...?

[She is slowly running through the list of people she's encountered in the past few hours, swallowing uncomfortably. She remembers Jon and Akechi, at least, but she cannot remember at what point they left her company]

[variate]

[ there's enough in him to get back to Red Wings, using his more thief-ish senses to remain out of sight. he ducks behind the first corner he can find, and weaves down a few of the closest alleyways to tuck the two of them back into the shadows, keeping cover. it wouldn't be good to get caught by more monsters in this state. if they do find them, at least there's limited direction.

he names the city's district. ] I'm taking you to Red Wings. What do you remember?

[ it might be good to start there. ]

[dragonwarder]

I remember...the monster.

[It was a shapeshifter. It had seen her traveling with Jon on the way to the labs, and it had struck swiftly. In an environment where adrenaline was already running high, it was not difficult for the creature to goad her into a transformation.

She brings one hand up to her head, as if expecting to find a wound where there isn't one.]

Jon Snow was with me. And then Akechi...some others. I do not know how long I was...fighting.

[Fighting isn't exactly the right word, but its the only one that comes to her. It is all very blurry. But she remembers.]

Did you see anyone else?

[variate]

[ yeah, the monster. his mind sticks for a moment when she says Akechi, as if he's pulling apart velcro, and then pivots back with Jon Snow. ]

No, I saw you and we fought the monster. [ he admits, heavy with questions that take a back seat to their current situation. ] It's gone now, I don't know where.

[ ... ]

I can send a message to Snow.

[ to meet them? to ensure that he's still alive? for some kind of reassurance? all of those, possibly.

(as for Akechi, well—he knew Akechi was tough. he wouldn't like him otherwise. it does make him wonder, but that's a question for a different time.) ]

[dragonwarder]

No--no, it's alright.

[She does not want to think about Jon right this second. The feeling of the bond snapping like a whip when he was thrown from her back was more memory than she cared to harbor, at the present. If she spends energy on wondering about all of the build up surrounding that moment--

Well, she'll go mad. The guilt already weighed upon her enough. And Jon, no doubt, would do something reckless when he figured out the other dragon had gotten away.]

He will be alright.

[She tries to sound sure.]

[variate]

[ sureness or not, he just gives her a nod. the rest she can decide from there, and his goal is to get her back to Red Wings.

Ren is about as spry as he looks, sliding behind corners and shifting her slightly when one arm begins to ache. the adrenaline is beginning to seep from his muscles, and if he stops, he won't be able to keep going. the rest of the journey back to Red Wings is quiet, with Ren pausing to listen to check if they're being pursued.

when they reach the doors, Ren takes her through the back way and into the kitchen so they can get some clothing without fully announcing her presence. it's packed enough that most people don't seem to notice. he shifts slightly to let her down. ]

I'll get a blanket and a kit. Can you stand?

[ he's beginning to look a little bruised around the edges, his hair sticking up in all directions with blood and tangles. ]

[dragonwarder]

[When he lowers her, she grabs for the nearest surface to steady herself, and nods slowly as she distributes her weight between weak knees and a countertop. Now that she is out of sight, she can relax a little.

When she gets a good look at Ren, she realizes that she cannot tell where his blood ends and her's begins. She is sure he did not make it out of a dragon fight unscathed -- and it dawns on her how far they have traveled.

She very nearly grabs for his wrist and demands that he see to himself first, but a wave of dizziness hits her. So, all she can really manage is:]

Bring ice. You have swelling.

[She's hurt and inadvertently killed enough people in the last week. The least she could do was make sure Ren took time to deal with his own injuries as best she could.]

[variate]

[ while he wants to open his mouth and say I'll be fine, he's also suddenly astutely aware of what he must look like. he runs his fingers back through his hair, and it sticks up more. he's beginning to fell the heat where the fire had singed him. ]

I'll ... get ice. [ all right, he won't deny her there. there's a little wobble in his step as he heads off to get supplies, looking like he's on the last legs of his own energy.

when he comes back it's with a blanket and towels over his shoulder, a small package for wound cleaning, and some ice in his hand. he sets what he can on the counter, and hands her over the blanket. ]

When you get cleaned up we can find some clothes.

[ no matter how much both of them probably want a shower right now. ]

[dragonwarder]

[This wasn't the most blood she's ever been soaked in, but it was definitely close. It would be hard to beat out a whole still-warm horse heart's worth of blood.

Some time while Ren had gone out to gather supplies, Daenerys had pulled herself up onto the counter to sit. She would never be able to clean a torso wound standing while she was as weak as she was. There was no sense in being proud over it -- not after Ren had needed to carry her there.

With some maneuvering, she manages to wrap herself enough inside of the blanket that she is shielded from the air, but still able to move and deal with the wound she sustained. There is nothing to be shy about when it comes to being bare, so she sets Ren's borrowed sweatshirt aside.

She beckons him closer and holds a hand out for the ice.]

Come here. Let me see.

[If he has a head wound, he won't be able to treat it. And it is easier to think about keeping Ren on his feet than it is to think about needing to spend time cleaning in between what scaly skin had been left behind.]

[variate]

[ when she beckons, he heads over without much question. no matter how defiant he comes off, there are times when he's definitely no more than a pushover. he's felt a little off-center from the fall, but there's nothing cracked enough that would cause major issue. there's bruises on his face, a cut somewhere covered in the mess of hair. part of his shoulder is singed, holes in the undershirt that he's wearing and patches of red skin.

if tending to him gets her mind off of some things, then he doesn't mind obliging. ]

What was it like?

[ being a dragon. ]

[dragonwarder]

[He isn't the first to ask that question, and so a flicker of amusement passes over her face before it disappears. The answer in the past had always been easy: It had been horrible, painful, and disorienting. She never enjoyed interacting with her powers. It always felt like she was being forced to stare at something ugly within her, and she had never felt that way about dragons before.

Well, certainly not her dragons.

Today hadn't been different, until Ren had shown up. She still isn't entirely certain what he'd done to pull her out of her rampage that was different than what Jon or anyone else had done, but she knows that she feels...differently.]

It is difficult to describe. But it is normally quite unpleasant.

[She knows that deep down when it happens -- it feels good to unleash, if only briefly until she's forced to confront that she has no control. Daenerys doesn't let herself examine that for too long.

She busies herself with carefully combing her fingers through sticky hair, taking care not to tug when she feels too much resistance. He has enough of it that it makes finding the source of the bleeding difficult.]

I always retain my memory afterward, but when it happens -- [She pauses to find the words.] -- I cannot control it without someone else's assistance.

[She is sure Tyrion or some other old man would tell her that is part of the game -- sharing your power with other's.

It is hard not to resent it.]

[variate]

[ it's a mass of very thick hair, uncombed, unstyled and a little wild. it would most likely be softer if he wasn't an absolute mess, but he carries himself admirably for someone who just tossed himself into the fray. some blood flakes off in red dust.

(what he'd really like right now is a trip to the bath house. a sudsy wash and then sinking into some fragrant water.) ]

We wear a mask when we present ourselves to the world. When we take it off, there's something else underneath.

[ he keeps his words quiet. ]

Where I come from, it's called a Shadow. When you can control your Shadow, it becomes your Persona. I had a lot of different Personas. [ many different reflections of humanity. a wildcard. ] Their power was dependent on my connections with other people. It made them stronger. [ a pause. ] They made me stronger.

[dragonwarder]

[She pauses in what she is doing to look down at Ren, blinking a few times while she processes what he is saying to her. Somehow, it is just like him to have such a perfect answer to relate to what she is dealing with. And she hadn't even needed to detail it very much.

Of course, it only confirms what she doesn't say. Things she doesn't want to acknowledge.

It cuts close, and so she withdraws just a little. She is no doctor, and any field medicine she knows is lightyears out of date. The most she can do is reach for the wound cleaning kit to pull out some of the gauze pads and the bottle of antiseptic. She is perhaps a touch too generous with soaking the pad before she reaches up to gently dab at where she believes she's located the wound.]

And when you can't control it?

[It wasn't like she hadn't tried, after all. She had some low level control when she wasn't in danger. It was when peril or anger came, and she needed to defend herself.]

[variate]

[ it came with the territory. his knowledge on the workings of the heart didn't come to him with ease, they came after suffering and work put in to help others. the cognitive world worked in metaphor, exposing vulnerabilities and ugliness that the real world painted over and let dry—doing it over, and over again.

for the mess that his face is, he looks momentarily contemplative. ]

The desires of the person become twisted if they grow out of control. [ he says carefully, but there's no reason to cloud the truth. ] The Shadow effects the person in the real world. In the Metaverse, the distortion materializes into a Palace. It's like the corruption of the Shadow becomes the person.

[ the rest doesn't need to be said. ]

[dragonwarder]

[Bleak. But then, she hadn't really expected a different answer. There was no real upside to being in possession of an out-of-control behemoth, especially if that behemoth was just you.]

It was different, this time.

[She confesses this quietly, looking away from Ren's face to instead focus on cleaning the wound. It makes talking easier.]

Normally when someone triggers our bond, I become disoriented for a time.

[And afraid, but she won't admit that out loud. Ren no doubt felt it there when he had connected to her, if only briefly, but that doesn't mean she needs to verbally acknowledge it..]

Your powers kept my focus in tact.

[variate]

[ it wasn't the end, but it was the unfortunate truth. there were natural changes of heart—Mishima and Akechi both had them, allow themselves to change without a forcible removal of their own twisted desires from the Metaverse.

he doesn't move when she fusses with him, but puts a hand out to make sure he can steady himself on the counter. ]

It's the first time that it did something like that.

[ it wasn't the expected result, but it was the better one. he'd kept his power to himself for the time since he used it on UNA soldiers, and on monsters, but not other people. perhaps there was that deep-seated fear that he might hurt someone instead of help them, like he tried to help the UNA soldiers. ]

[dragonwarder]

[Daenerys understands that feeling. Her transformations had not always been like this. They had been small and unnerving in their own way, but nothing was quite like the terror of her first full transformation. Nor the fact that she had nearly harmed Rey and Kylo Ren quite badly. Had it not been planned...]

I am very grateful.

[She remembered him saying not to thank him until they were safe, but he had managed to gift her some of her agency back even if it was only for a few moments. There would never be enough words for that.

She sets about using what is left of the antiseptic pad to try and clean just a little bit of his hair around the wound, but it is no use. The gauze isn't made for that, and neither is the antiseptic.]

You will need to wash soon, or it will become infected.

[As did pretty much every wound a Westerosi took.]

[variate]

[ there's a curt nod of acknowledgement. he'd do it again if she needed it, but she's right—he should go. it looks as if it suddenly occurs to him.

after she mentioned Akechi, he should go find him. given everything, Akechi can take care of himself. Ren would expect him dead on his feet before he gave in, still spitting curses and barbs through gritted teeth. still, they were a pair, and he should go find him. ]

Yeah, I'd kind of kill for a bath right now.

[ it comes out a little absently. even a bath where the old man at the bath house turned up the heat until he was flush and dizzy on rainy days. ]

Are you going to be okay?