Argenti's Palace

[beautifulknight]

The stage is set they say;
They don their masks and shields,
Shadows creep and cover their minds;
Now, what beautiful role shall they play?

𝓜𝓮𝓵𝓾𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓷 𝓒𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓵𝓮


♫

Comments

...? 3/3

[beautifulknight]

[ It's all beautiful, isn't it?

...Like a dream.

The pleasant or bittersweet scenes fade away, bringing back everyone's sight of the current room as it has been...

There is still a brief moment where everyone can glimpse Argenti again for a second as he reaches out in their direction, still high above in the air, until suddenly thick vines force themselves through the floor in a heartbeat and with unnatural speed, narrowly missing everyone, and striking the walls, alongside the ceiling themselves...not exactly intentional, but it seems more a result if anything. Until the Knight of Beauty is blocked from view. Well, not exactly.

When the dust clears, he's lying underneath trapped some large vines, eyes closed.

However...it hasn't halted the beginning of the crumbling and fall of the Palace with its precariously dropping debris in the slightest. Red spider lilies lead towards the exit.

The options before everyone are clear. What will they do? ]

[destage]

[...What a beautiful dream.

Sayaka can only think that as she watches the people, their resolve and determination--the singing of birds, something she so rarely got to experience in the city, and roses...beautiful things. They lift her spirits, to say the least, and--

The crumbling of the palace brings Sayaka back into reality, and she sees Argenti get trapped under some vines--and she knows what she needs to do.]

Hang on!

[Like hell is she spending all of this time shounen speeching to LEAVE ARGENTI BEHIND???

She'll be trying to cut the vines, first with that old kitchen knife she's held as a lifeline for so long--but it winds up breaking on her. There's a pause--it's almost strange, to lose one of the last tethers she's got from home, but...

She continues with Yi Sang's knife instead to try and cut the briars. They don't have much time, but she can't do nothing. She's not running anymore.]

[beautifulknight]

[ Good on her!

At least her efforts get some results, cutting through some of them, though...a lot of these vines are heavy. She's going to need some help! ]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ What a vision to be treated to... It's home, to him. A place he'd like to return. Yet, beholding it hardly brings Eli joy. It sinks his heart and leaves a bitter taste in his mouth instead, though he doesn't blame Argenti.

This is what he sees as beautiful, after all.

Thankfully, vines exploding in from every fucking way proves to be a fantastic distraction from Feelings. Perfect. ]

Wh...?! Tin Can!

[ Eli clambers his way across the vines as fast as he can to reach where the knight lays buried, intent on helping rip away and move vines to help set him free. ]

[beautifulknight]

[ At least he's being a helper! His efforts are helpful in some way indeed. Though it'll still take a a bit from more hands, so to speak! ]

[bloodweapon]

[In all honesty, Fray hadn't really stopped to consider what sort of a reaction Argenti would have to his words. He said them because they felt right and because he wanted Argenti to know just how much he means to Fray, not because he was seeking a reciprocation of those feelings.

And yet that's what he gets, and it feels like something has a stranglehold on his chest - his heart, his lungs, perhaps especially his voice, because he can't find the words he so desperately needs to say in response. But then Argenti reappears, looking even more radiant than usual. (Or maybe that's just the blood.)

There isn't time to call out to him even if Fray could get words to cooperate, because he's suddenly struck with a vision - one that almost hurts in how deeply he adores it. The Warrior of Light is everything to him, after all, but so is Argenti, and knowing that those affections of Fray's are returned could make him crumple to his knees. He's never known what to do with such overwhelming, positive feelings, and they threaten to crush him now.

In some ways, he's almost thankful when something else happens, forcing him out of his head and his feelings and back into the present, with an urgent shout.]

Argenti!

[Fray lunges forward immediately, sword drawn off his back to start cutting through the thicker vines. He's careful and precise with his actions - after all, he doesn't want to risk hurting Argenti - but there's an urgency and desperation to his swings that isn't usually present.]

[beautifulknight]

[ He lies there still, unmoving, unfortunately.

At least with such a large sword he is making grand efforts at getting closer. Damn, why are there so many vines, though? ]

[goei]

[Izou was already embarrassed, so the vision that while indistinct, is certainly Evocative of Certain People, just makes it worse. He is having shrimp emotions right now because on top of that situation he is truly glad they actually got Argenti back to normal.

Or well. Normal for him.

He sees the obvious path out, and recognizes the same flower that had shown in his mirror and been handed to him and thus finds a way to take this as a personal attack, because he didn't notice fray also got that one.]

As if I'm gonna leave here without you even if you're dead set on banging that other tin can!!!
[IZOU NO ONE SAID THAT YOU ARE EMBARRASSING YOURSELF???!?

anyway he's joining the effort to hack the vines off Argenti but his efforts are cut short as he gets brained by a piece of falling rock.]

[bloodweapon]

[just gonna pretend he did NOT hear this!!!!]

[chimken]

Izou, that is between Fray and Argenti! Be more respectful!

[ She looks like she is going to smack him with her staff but a rock takes him out instead. Sighing, she puts the staff under her arm and begins to drag him away to make sure he's alright. ]

[beathollow]

... Onii-san.

( just, absolutely scandalized. )

[beautifulknight]

[ What a good time for Argenti to be unconscious, then I'd have to write that he died from sheer embarrassment.

Anyway! Izou's efforts make headway until he does get beaned. RIP... ]

[gardenful]

[ That vision is like being home, as if she’s nestled back right where she belongs.

Yet… she can’t help but feel that right here is where she belongs too. It’s why, even though the palace begins to collapse around them, she turns back to aid in the others in setting him free. ]

We aren’t leaving without you!

[ She will also try to break those vines. ]

[beautifulknight]

[ Aerith's efforts are definitely to be commended for! She's helping make significant progress for sure! ]

[kandata]

[Yeah, no, Kirumi goes straight to help get Argenti out of there! Good thing she has an axe -- that's going to be helpful against the vines, probably]

[beautifulknight]

[ That they are.

A heavy axe clears the way through most of them...almost there! ]

[vogelfrei]

[ That vision is... a lot to take in. Starting from beautiful and then going to 'still beautiful but in a way that makes your heart twist itself into painful knots', the latter of which McGillis doesn't really want to examine too much.

In a way, dodging debris turns out to be a welcome physical distraction. Maybe that is why he does amazing at it (20)?? This means he's at the vines pretty sure, ready to for once in his life join a community effort.

He actually still has a knife on him! He has to use it with his left hand, making the way he stabs and cuts at the plants look really awkward, but he is at least not lacking in determination. ]

Wake up already, Argenti!

[ ... but no, this place operates on fairytale logic because that is who Argenti is as a person. McGillis turns to Fray. ]

Kiss him and be quick about it!

[beathollow]

--...Ah. That may be right, actually- behind the shadow was a monument to Beauty and the Beast-

[bloodweapon]

What—

[this is the most offended (and baffled) he's sounded the entire game. thank the gods he has a mask on so none of you know he's bright red underneath it.]

Why would I— Why are you asking me to do that.

[...someone missed the obvious fairy tale parallels smh...]

[beautifulknight]

[ There sure are efforts being made huh...in many senses of the word.

Anyway, McGillis sure does end up helping nicely in making headway through the vines, however awkward it is. ]

[chimken]

[ Falin isn't entirely sure where to help, actually. She doesn't have anything sharp and her staff is more on the lantern side of things.

What would Laios do...?

Looking determined, Falin placed the staff away she begins to pull and bite down on the vines, just to rip them up.

It's not elegant, at all, but it may just work (18)! ]

[beathollow]

( she doesn't have a way to harm the vines effectively, not with her dwindling arrows- so instead, she ducks under everyone, staying out of the way but reaching for argenti, not to pull uselessly as he's trapped but to cast diarama. )

We need leverage! Just enough to free him!

[cirquedesang]

[The vision is... truly beautiful. Whether it's palace logic preying on the depths of the heart or a manifestation of the notion that Argenti himself truly has some level of understanding of what he - and likely everyone else - finds truly beautiful is hard to say but, ultimately, it doesn't matter.

And then everything begins to crumble.

The path out is lined in death, but their princess is still bound in vines...]

Argenti--!

[No. Not their princess. Their knight. Fray's princess.

It's easy enough to dodge the debris (19), to keep an eye on the exit, to make sure they all still have a safe way out, but no one is leaving without Argenti, and, well.

He's worked for the mouse.]

Fray, we've defeated the dragon, now kiss him, so he'll wake up--!

[imperiosity]

[The vision isn’t unwelcome unlike last time, even if it does still take him off guard. But once it fades, he remains almost uncharacteristically quiet, although that quickly changes when the vines come rushing in. Letting out a curse as he sidesteps a piece of rubble, he runs towards the vines with his swords drawn.]

For real? This place really doesn’t know when to give up!

[So he will indeed assist with hacking at those vines, because they didn’t come this far and get beat up this much just to leave Argenti at the eleventh hour???]

[bloodandstars]

[ What does she do? Please. She came here for exactly one reason, and she's not leaving here until it's done. Reminding her of Kippa, of Zinn — of family, in the truest sense — just makes it all the more certain she can't forget that now.

Trust only those who would bleed for you. She does. And maybe, this time, she wants to repay that unwarranted trust just a little.

Of course Maika joins in the pileup, tearing at vines with claws and (good idea, Falin!) eventually, teeth. ]

Wake the fuck up, knight! You're not done here yet!