theianlogs | The point of no return

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The point of no return

Who: Eiji and Ankh, Open portion HERE
When: October 7, night, continues for 46 hours
Where: Shopping district
What: The power of the music of the night
Warnings: Standard monster-fighting violence, addiction (thanks to the monster), some self-harm/semi-suicidal undertones to conversation

There is a phantom who's been singing late at night in the shopping district. And this angel of music has been drawing a lot of monsters. And Eiji being Eiji, he can't just leave this alone.

A flash of light from LaToraBatta doesn't do much to distract the monsters, and they begin aggressively beating Eiji now that he's closer to wherever the singing is coming from.

"Ankh, I think I'm going to need a combo for this one," he calls back, trying to block while at the same time slashing at another monster. "There's too many!"

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Ankh, meanwhile, isn't sure why they couldn't just leave the horde of monsters be and just tell everyone to leave it alone and not get themselves killed. But of course that's not a good enough answer and Eiji had to be stupid and check it out personally.

Now that they've gotten close, it's resulted in both of them having the unfriendly attention of the monsters... as if that wasn't predictable.

"Tch. Just don't overdo it." He gives Eiji the last medal needed to give him the full LaToraTah combo. The last thing he needs is Eiji running out of energy and passing out in the middle of this mess, but if nothing else, that combo is one of the easier ones for getting away if they need to get out fast.

He himself shifts to his fully armored Greeed form as a couple of the monsters close in on him. He's been making do with fire so far, but it's quickly becoming obvious he can't keep them at a distance much longer. Not with how many there are.

Eiji knows how Ankh feels about this whole thing, but they're not going to get out of this place if they don't do something about all of these monsters, right? It's smart, so shut up.

"Got it," he answers, switching to LaToraTah with a rush of relief. The speed gets him through the monsters a lot easier, without him having to pull out the purple Medals--the longer he can avoid that conversation, the better.

With him better able to get around the monsters, he can see the singer in her full, creepy glory.

"I see the phantom!" he cries out. "She's got to be controlling them!"

Ankh looks over in the direction Eiji's indicating. He can't see anything from where he is, and he's dealing with enough interference from monsters that he can't get over to him. In fact, trying to get anywhere on the ground is going to be pointless. He kicks a monster away, giving himself enough space to manifest his wings and take off into the air. From that angle, he can see what Eiji is talking about.

Unfortunately, that means she also has more reason to take notice of him and lashes out with a dress tendril that he only narrowly manages to avoid.

There is a tiny part of Eiji's mind that panics when he sees the tendril coming for Ankh. He only just brought him back--he can't risk losing him again.

He's relieved somewhat when Ankh manages to avoid it, but it doesn't mean he's not already running straight for her, flashing light to grab her attention.

Grabbing her attention and everything else's in the area in the process, good job, Eiji. Though with everything focused on the reckless moron on the ground for the moment, that at least gives Ankh plenty of space to throw fireballs at anything and everything trying to get to Eiji.

He even feels a little pleased with himself when he manages to catch that strange dress on fire--up until he realises that it doesn't seem to bother the phantom at all, and just means that her weaponized dress now has flames along with it. That did not go as planned. But at least he's still succeeding in keeping the monsters off of Eiji for now.

Well, that didn't work. The panic has gone down a bit, if only because Eiji knows fire doesn't hurt Ankh, but it doesn't mean he's all that okay with it.

"Ankh, are you..."

But now, the phantom turns her attention straight to him, and Eiji finds himself stopping in his tracks. She's singing directly to him now, and he can't help but listen.

It'll be easier to hear if he's not OOO, right? Before he even knows what he's doing, he reaches down and deactivates the driver.

Ankh notices the way the phantom directs her attention at him, and the way he seems to go a bit limp in response. That's already bad enough, but about the last thing he expects is Eiji cancelling his transformation.

"Eiji!" He calls, trying to get the moron's attention, even as he flies down closer. "What the hell are you doing?"

Eiji's currently unresponsive, starting to smile as he makes his way forward. The music is closing in around him, even as the phantom ensures he has a clear path toward her.

"It's beautiful," he says, his voice dreamy. "I've never heard anything like it before. It's like it's inside my mind."

Of course he's not listening.

"EIJI!!!!" Ankh yells at him as if being louder might be all it takes to overpower the song. He tries to get closer, to grab him away from the phantom, but every time he does, a flaming tendil comes whipping at him.

Eiji's close enough to her now that he's face-to-face with her, and his face just has a very stupid expression. He doesn't know what's going on at all, but unusually for him, he figures it out when she puts an arm around his neck and pulls him closer.

He kisses her, and it feels better than anything he's ever known in his life.

Eiji gets closer and there's nothing Ankh can do to stop him from where he is. Yelling isn't getting anywhere. The damned phantom has decided to try to grab him and hold him at a distance, and all he can do for the moment is be grateful he's not badly affected by flames. Then she pulls Eiji close and kisses him and there cannot possibly be anything good about this situation.

The only saving grace is that her focus on Eiji makes her loosen her grip on him, enough for him to escape and actually get to Eiji this time, immediately grabbing him by the shoulders and yanking him away from the phantom, giving her a very intense glare in the process. "Eiji, we're leaving."

There's something thick and disgusting against her lips, but the feeling going through him is just so good that he doesn't even notice.

And then Ankh pulls him away. He stumbles, landing against him with a goofy grin.

There's blood all over his mouth.

Well, yep, he was right about that not being a good thing, that's for sure. Ew.

Though he doesn't waste any time in grabbing Eiji in a tighter hold and taking back to the air. The phantom is less than pleased at having her victim stolen away, and lashes out, and it takes all Ankh has to try to get them both away without getting wrapped up in the tendrils again or letting Eiji get badly burned now that he's back to being human and has no protection. He succeeds, but it's a struggle, and by the time he manages to find somewhere away from the horde of monsters to land, he's a bit worn out. He only hopes they're sufficiently sheltered to not have other monsters to deal with any time soon.

Eiji's not in much better shape, not that he notices the cuts around his mouth.

"I've got to go back," he mumbles. "Ankh, you've got to take me back to her."

It wasn't bad enough that Eiji almost got killed or mind controlled or whatever it actually was that phantom was trying to do. No, he had to try to go do it again. There were times when Eiji seemed like he understood why that was a terrible idea. Then there were other times that he lost all sense of reason and seemed dead set on going back, and Ankh was by this point very frustrated with having to talk him out of it over and over again.

So, when he sees someone nearby, he is more than okay with enlisting help in this endeavor. Right now, he's firmly planted with a strong grip on Eiji's wrist while the other one tries to wriggle himself free so he can go right back to having his lips melted off by a clearly evil creature. Ankh directs a glance at whoever else happens to be there.

"Oi! Make yourself useful and tell this idiot not to get himself killed."

Right. Well. Questions of relative safety aside, those words aren't anything he wants to deal with right now. Just what kind of a spell did she have him under?

"What nonsense are you babbling?"

"I don't know, I just have to."

And that's...really it. Eiji can't say he really wants to go back to the monster opera and get mind-controlled again, but...something about the kiss was good enough that he feels like he has to.

Whatever cute stage Eiji was going through after his kiss with the phantom has definitely worn off. Right now, he's sitting on his bed, curled up with his head against his knees and clenching his fists together tightly.

"Ankh," he mumbles. "I've got to go back."

Ankh has been put through hell over these past couple days, waiting for whatever the phantom did to Eiji to wear off. At this point, he's starting to wonder whether it's going to, but either way, it's not like he's going to let him go back. He got his mind messed with and his lips cut up the first time; who knows how much worse it would be if he hadn't pulled Eiji away?

But that doesn't mean he's happy about any of this, having dealt with Eiji being varying degrees of weird this whole time, sometimes rather unsettling reminiscent of how he was affected by that one Yummy. Now it almost seems like he's in pain, but it's not like going back would actually help that any from Ankh's perspective. He looks over at Eiji from where he's more perching than sitting in a chair that's way too colorful.

"When are you going to stop saying that?"

If and when this wears off, Eiji owes Ankh well more than a year's supply of popsicles. Of course, he can't see it that way, clenching his fist even tighter to the point he can feel his nails digging into his palms.

"When you let me go back."

There's an edge to his voice that's not normally there, but it might seem uncomfortably familiar. It's similar to a dark time from their past, one Eiji usually does his best to try to avoid bringing up.

Ankh can hear the threat in that, and the way he tenses a bit at it is unconscious, though for now, he doesn't move. But he's ready to, and watching Eiji intently.

"That's not going to happen."

"Why not?"

Eiji looks up at him, glaring. The scabs on his mouth are starting to bleed again, and he's sweating.

"It hurts, Ankh. If I go back, then..."

Then...it'll stop? He doesn't know. He just has to go back. He's never been so sure about anything.

"Then you'll probably die." He finishes the sentence for him, and they've been through this enough times that he's really getting sick of saying it. He's never had to try this hard just to keep someone alive, even when the someone in question is Eiji, who actually puts himself in danger on a regular basis. This whole thing is stupid.

"And? At least it'll stop hurting."

Ankh should know better by now to try to use "you're going to die" as any deterring argument on Eiji.

He finally gets off the bed and starts trying to push past Ankh.

"If you're not going to help me, then I'll just take care of it myself."

"Oi." He hops off the chair and grabs hold of Eiji's arm to keep him from leaving. "I am helping you." And really, whenever this actually wears off Eiji better thank him for it. But he at least has the presence of mind not to say that part right now, when Eiji's too warped from whatever the phantom did to see it.

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The point of no return

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OPEN; in the 48 hours following the first part, anywhere

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Closed portion, 46 hours after part 1

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