Cat In the Woods (Biting Thorns PT 1 TL)

[dreaminglynx]

Who: Lalli + Whoever!
What: Various things!
Where:  Various places! (Lounge/Cafeteria entrance/Various)
When: Day 26+
Warnings: Parasitism for the second prompt!

Creepy Crawly... Cat? (Lounge)
Aside from all of the monsters roaming around, you’d expect something creeping around in the foilage that was beginning to sprout from the strange common areas. The lounge, being how it is, is looking a little more worse for wear.

For any players that take a seat on one of the more in tact bits of furniture may hear something shuffling under it. It... sounds too big to be a cat or something... However, something is moving under there. What could it be?

Ready.... Aim.... (Cafeteria area)
Lalli watches the heron like an animal with prey. He keeps his rifle on him, waiting by the cafeteria just in case. He was watching it eat the remains of another plant-animal, or at least look like it was simulating it before dropping it.

He winces and then looks to his gun and takes a deep breath. He checks his ammo one more time before loading it properly. He doesn’t work with others, mainly by himself. However... this area was somewhere a lot of people came from and the last thing they needed was to have any kind of danger in this kind of area.

Much like a troublesome troll, it would have to go.

He takes a deep breath, and raises his gun to fire and engage with the creature proper.

Rise and Shine! (Closed to anyone who wishes to speak to Lalli after their dreams!)

Lalli is, as usual, has been working during the night in some of the areas. He has tried his best to at least keep an eye on the place like a good scout should.

He seems to yawn and rub his eyes as he wandering throughout the ship’s residential decks.

“Weird,” he mutters under his breath and hits his face. In reality, he hadn’t dealt with many dreams in other people’s. He’s very used to his own unless it was a freak accident. He seems a little tired... and seems to mention some strange comments to those who have seen him in dreams before.

He seems willing to at least chat about it for a time.

Wildcard
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Comments

Lounge/Wildcard. you know what this is

[harmoniousconsecration]

The last few days had been... more than a little nerve wracking for Sunday. With he and Fou-Lu having discovered the passenger grown into the plantlife, with the fighting and ensuing madness of all these plant animals running loose, with watching someone he loved plummet and struggling alone to carry him to the clinic in a state of adrenaline and panic, visiting him and seeing him bandaged up but still in such a state....

All of this had been a lot. Sunday was more than a little shaken.

So much, in fact, that anxiety has taken the place of good sense. The halovian, struggling to cope with all of this, decides that maybe what he needs is a nice relaxing sit down in the lounge, pointedly ignoring any animal corpses he may find. He even gets a mug of coffee from the cafeteria, solely with the intent to sit and stare up at the sky and simply breathe for a moment, or a few hours, whichever brought his racing mind peace first.

He'd promised Fou-Lu he would create his paradise in reality. Were it only so easy.

Once in the lounge, Sunday finds a nice, suitable couch, walking over to it. He takes a moment before sitting and fully relaxing, staring up at the sky and just breathing, searching for a nice cloud to stare at.

The halovian doesn't hear anything rustling under the couch. To be truthful, he doesn't hear any sounds at all from within the lounge, even with the planimals about. He is not one so experienced enough to know that the absence of noise should be a worrying thing.

Nodding sagely at the prophecy

[dreaminglynx]

The fact the Sunday doesn't realize all of the subtle shuffling around the lounge is probably his first mistake. There's something further away in the lounge that is shuffling around... as well as exactly under the said seating of Sunday.

Is that a blessing or a curse that he happened to pick that spot?

Something shuffles under the couch and two hands quickly grab onto Sunday's ankles and, without much warning, give a the biggest tug that the being attached to said hands could muster. Whoever, or whatever in Sunday's experience, is trying to tug him under the couch with them.

[harmoniousconsecration]

He hears the shuffling much too late. Something grabs his ankles, and yanks him. The halovian screams, frightened and pulled off balance. The coffee cup spills and clatters as he does, smashing into the floor as he's tugged under. Any loose feathers on his wings are knocked out, either falling onto the floor or are stuck into the couch as he's roughly pulled under it, leaving a fairly incriminating scene.

Pain shoots through his nose-- something warm under his skin. Blood pools, and follows him as he's yanked the rest of the way. Dazed and with tears in his eyes, blood dripping from his nose, he glares furiously at Lalli, recognizing him from the dream, but much more focused on the pain hammering into his sinuses.

"Were you raised by an animal? You have two seconds to tell me what that was about."

Sunday still doesn't think any explanation would be good enough, but demands one anyways.

[dreaminglynx]

Lalli is indeed there! He pulls with all his might and manages to get the bird man down to the floor. As the cup crashes, Lalli hisses and is quick to frantically tug Sunday under the couch the rest of the way.

The strange mage scuttles next to him and looks him over. He notices he's bleeding and points to his own nose to indicate as such. He's... not talking? He seems strangely tense but not exactly worried. If anything he looks relieved that Sunday looks mostly fine!

Lalli quickly covers Sunday's mouth when he speaks and listens for something. He gasps again when he feels the sense he thought had gone dead finally sing in his head, even though dread pools in his gut quickly after. He points to the side as listens.

He hears a deep growl to their left as something seems to emerge from the overgrowth. A large cat made of leaves and shrubbery, not unlike the tiger that had once stalked the halls. The low rumble like a blend between an engine and the rumbling of an animal growl. The light clicking of metal against the floor.

[harmoniousconsecration]

He doesn't understand, and is too angry to try.

"Don't you look at me like that--" Sunday's mouth is covered mid sentence, and he shuts up, as Lalli seems to react to something. The other man points, indicating for the halovian to watch. Something stalks out of the foliage, some sort of large cat. Sunday's heart leaps up into his throat.

It was so close, so near. He could have died. The halovian's wings fan out, and he struggles to breathe, as if Lalli's hand were choking him, and not simply trying to cover any noise he makes. Panic grips him, his eyes locked on the beast. It was so close. He could hear it growling, could imagine it tearing the couch apart just to get to them. He couldn't stop it if it wanted to, couldn't protect himself or anyone. It was just him and this weird guy and it was going to find them and they were going to die horribly.

The thoughts don't stop, only getting worse the longer it stays here, the more the beast prowls. Sunday feels like he can't get enough air into his lungs, his breathing shallow and quick, starting to hyperventilate. He feels lightheaded, frozen in place.

He was going to die. They both were. He needs to breathe, he needs to be quiet, he needs it all to stop.

[dreaminglynx]

Lalli doesn't respond to the comment and simply gives him an annoyed look back as if he was the one being inconvenienced and even turns his head to make sure Sunday sees exactly what he is seeing. He's not going to be talking when they have quite the problem on their hands. He's not Sigrun, he's not running in to take it down if they don't have to.

The large cat stalks into the main area with long slow strides. Big paws even manage to push aside a few coffee tables like they are inconveniences. It cranes its head around and stops for a moment.

Lalli holds his breath and can feel the quick breathing from the other person beside him between his fingers. He clamps down harder as if it would somehow keep him quiet, though he doesn't try to cut off his oxygen. He assumes the bloody nose isn't exactly helping either. "Sh!" he hisses.

This man is impossible. Just be quiet. Breathe and be quiet. It's the first rule children learn in his world: Stand Still Stay Silent! It's easy!

[harmoniousconsecration]

The tables being shoved aside make Sunday jolt with a shriek, frightened, flinching. His heart beats a mile a minute, frozen on the large cat. Lalli tries to shush him, tries to silence his breathing, but Sunday just can't breathe. There isn't enough air, it's going to find them it'll tear them apart---

The beast stops, clearly listening. Sunday gasps for air much louder than he means to, knowing it could hear them somewhere, trying to wrench Lalli's hand away, trying to breathe, but his hands are too shaky, his face sweaty and pale. The halovian's blood seeps over and through Lalli's fingers, smearing over his face. He tries to relax and focus on the taste of it, but all it makes him think of is the mess his corpse would leave once the cat was done with him.

He has to stop, he needs to. He can't, his brain thinking of all the ways the large cat...thing could rip him to pieces and he wouldn't be able to stop it and no one could save him and how much it would hurt and how devastated Fou-Lu would be. His halo thrums with waves of fear and panic.

Goodnight sweet bird

[dreaminglynx]

The noise makes Lalli suck in breath and hiss, "Sh!" Can this man not see common sense!?

The cat looks around and seems to listen to try to find them, it moves over to the love seat besides them and pushes it over, sending it toppling down. Oh it could easily tip the couch over if it wanted to.

It seems if anything Sunday's breathing gets worse as he tries to tug on Lalli's arm to pull his hand away. Lalli isn't the strongest person and he's not exactly in a great spot. He can feel the blood on his fingers making him slip a little.

Upon seeing the cat's actions, he doesn't see much of a choice. He has to snap him out of it the only way he's seen it before. He lets go of Sunday's mouth and aims for his head, with enough force to try to knock some sense into the man.

[harmoniousconsecration]

It gets closer and closer, toppling over the furniture next to them. They were going to die. This was it. His eyes are frozen, stuck on the cat. He can't even bring himself to apologize to the other man for bringing this fate down on them. He can't bring himself to do anything.

The bloodied hand withdraws from his mouth, raising up. Sunday's eyes flick to it, confused. Did Lalli have a plan?

As it happens, he did. The fist collides with his temple and Sunday goes down like a sack of rocks, incapacitated and finally silent.

[dreaminglynx]

Lalli pauses as the head drops, and he has the sense to grab both sides of his head before his face meets the floor. The cat paces around, watching, toppling a few more of the furniture to try to see if it can find the two beings huddled under the furniture.

Lalli didn't exactly plan to send Sunday to dreamland, but hey, he's quiet now!

Lalli pauses and waits watching it begin to stalk more and more at the other side and topple more furniture and making its own racket.

He decides to use that to his advantage. He slips to the other end of the couch and pauses. When hears the crashing of some decoration a little further from them he ducks down and grab onto Sunday's legs to try to pull him out from under there. He nearly falls over when one of his shoes come off and winces. He pauses only for a minute to hear the nearby table be flipped with more breakable things. He puts the shoe in his teeth and pulls again, dragging the man off. He does distantly hear what sounds like a big piece of furniture being moved (possibly the couch they were under).

It's only when he's dragged him safely into the hallway and far away enough from the beast that they can't hear them. He takes a look over Sunday and accessing the situation, he tries to drag the man by the shoulders.

[harmoniousconsecration]

Sunday is very limp. He's not waking up anytime soon.

His head lolls backward as Lalli tries to drag him by the shoulders, forcing the halo behind his head into the other man's chest.

[Lalli will experience every emotion, all the time, all at once. It manifests as a pounding headache that ricochets violently through his head.]

[dreaminglynx]

Lalli feels this is the better option when he switches sides to carry him properly. He's no doctor but it's probably not a good thing to be dragging someone like that.

That is until the pounding headache hits him so hard he hisses, bites into the shoe a little bit, and immediately drops Sunday back on the ground with a thunk and clank of the halo and head colliding with the floor. Lalli gives himself a minute to let the pain ease before looking down at the man.

So much for protecting the head from further injury.

He takes the shoe out of his mouth and spits out the odd taste, sticking his tongue out in displeasure. Not fun! He glances back down at the man and then the shoe before and makes sure Sunday is lying on his back placing it on his chest, going to grab his ankles again to drag him down the hallway so he can deliver him to a clinic.
---
To anyone who’s just happening upon this scene: The lounge is a bit of a wreck, but a notable change in in the midst of the... redecoration of the place is a broken coffee cup that looks to be from the cafeteria. There doesn’t seem to be any animal around now at the very least. Not too far from it is a small splattering of blood and a collection of feathers, the exactly colouring of Sunday’s feathers.

This mix of a blood and a mild feather trail leads off into one hallway, up to a point.

For those who either follow this path of feathers and blood (or those who just happen to run into the scene with even less clue what happened) will eventually find this scene:

Lalli is dragging Sunday by the ankles, blood on one of his hands. Sunday’s hair is completely dishevelled with his face bloody (there may be also a reddened spot where he got punched on the side of his head). He also notably is missing a shoe, it placed on his chest instead. Despite the scene, Lalli seems to still be dragging this man slowly down the hallway as best as his noodle arms can muster.

[unihilism]

Why... the fuck... is there a trail of blood leading away from the lounge? Malos doesn't even bother bending down to inspect it, he recognizes those feathers - shit. Sunday seems like such a nice kid. Is one of those fucking planimals dragging him off?

Malos takes off at a run, only to scramble to a halt when he actually finds what's dragging Sunday around. Uh. Who the fuck is this guy??? Why is he dragging Sunday by his ankles??

"What the fuck," Malos says, accusing. "Is he okay?! What happened -"

Fire! (Cafeteria)

[screwubbaboo]

"Doin' a bit of hunting?" Boothill was just approaching the cafeteria when he saw Lalli preparing to fire on the big heron. He had the strangest feeling that he recognized him - but maybe he'd just seen him around the ship. "You got more than one shot in that thing? I doubt one bullet's gonna be enough to put it down."

Although Boothill looks quite different than he appeared in his dream, his hair and facial features are close enough, especially the double birthmark under his eye. His arms and torso are both obviously metallic, though it might be possible to mistake them for metal armour.

[dreaminglynx]

Lalli nods, "That ugly thing is a danger." He states this rather frankly. He lowers his gun just for a moment to speak to the gunman. He grimaces, "I have a few, Executor Federico showed me some techniques too. And I have some magic if things go wrong."

He blinks a little bit and says, "You look different. More shiny. But armour makes sense with everything going on." Lalli immediately quells his own confusion on all the shiny stuff on Boothill. "Flashy stuff is better for rock selling though, not hunting things."

[screwubbaboo]

"Yeah, it's gettin' a little too close." He didn't want anyone getting hurt either. "Well, if you want some backup I'll cover you. Sound good?"

He tilts his head, wondering what Lalli's talking about - this is his usual level of shiny, thank you very much. It takes a minute for it to click. "You're that kid who was in my dream." So he'd seen Boothill before he'd gotten his new body. "What do you mean, rock selling? You saying I don't look like a real hunter?" Should he be offended?

[dreaminglynx]

Lalli nods, "Mrrr.... I don't like it." He looks back at the gunmen and nods, "That would help. It's... screwed a few things already." Lalli gestures over to the bits of twigs and metal over to the side to show some of the unfortunate plantimals that have stuck around too long.

Lalli pauses and tilts his head to the side. "Yes," Lalli states. "You showed me around your home.... the second time at least." Lalli scrunches his nose up and says, "Ven's got a lot of shiny bits on his outfit, he's a rock seller. You don't look like that, but you look armored like Fridtjof. Awkward but good for protecting."

Hearing the flaps of wings suddenly makes him go tense as the ringing of in his senses start. The creature takes off into the air quite quickly. Lalli raises his rifle to take a shot at, missing the first- but landing the second. It remains fairly on course. Lalli moves quick to try to get out of the way.

[screwubbaboo]

"Yeah..." Boothill still only remembers bits and pieces of it, but he does remember showing Lalli around the old place, letting him meet his memories of Nick and Graey and his daughter... there's a few complex emotions there, which he's happy to set aside in favour of looking slightly disgruntled at being called awkward - and wait, by 'rock seller' named 'Ven' does he mean Aventurine? Hah. He's gonna have to make fun of Aventurine for that one. "Well it ain't like I got something else to change into. This ain't armour, kid, it's just me -"

Well, he's not gonna stand around yapping when the bird is coming for them. Lalli gets off two shots and then he whistles loud and sharp to get the bird's attention, the crosshair in his visible eye glowing red. "Bring it on, fucker!" He holds his position as the bird changes trajectory, sacrificing his chance to get out of the way to unload once into its chest with his gun - and then bring up his left hand as his pointer finger shifts into a pistol barrel, emptying that into it as well.

Sorry It delieted itself so I had to rewrite it

[dreaminglynx]

Lalli remembers a good portion, like if it had actually happened in reality. The peaceful rural landscape that reminded him of Iceland, the energy around the place that burned with nostalgia he couldn't place. The brief glimpse of Fire. He decides to focus on the bird instead. If this is how mages were like, maybe they did more than simply look after the passing of the dead? Perhaps that was another job of the mage. Maybe that's what foreigner mages do as apart of their jobs...

He, however, has no idea what he's given Boothill on account of Aventurine's nickname. How unfortunate.

If anything he's relieved when Boothill talks about the armour, and he almost responds if not for the bird swooping in.

Lalli's eyes go wide as he turns around apparently to see the scene. Lalli hasn't seen someone with that kind of guts since Sigrun. It reminds him of her people, the troll slayers of Norway who would fell down giants and beasts and considered wandering into the Silent World as a mere vacation.

The bird, however, seems quite sturdy, but not quite sturdy enough. It crashes onto the ground, the sounds of metal scraping against the deck before it collides with Boothill, the creature lucky enough to pierce it's beak into his shoulder and making a shrill noise as steel grinds against steel. It uses its talons to try to pull back, stretching it's wings-

"B-" Lalli tries to call out to make sure he's still alive but his mind whirls to try to remember. No time for memory. His mind runs to the first thing he can think of. "Bullet!"

Lalli manages to get a bullet piercing its wing as it raises them to take flight. It shrieks and tries to pull away to get a good vantage point, its wing injured but its was hard to tell if it could still fly. Lalli begins to rush in to try to get a better opening to shoot a more vulnerable location.

[screwubbaboo]

For a moment there's silence from the Galaxy Ranger as he deals with the impact of a large amount of plant bird landing on him and definitely fucking up his shoulder joint more than a little, but in response to the concerned yell of his erstwhile partner, he lets out a torrent of profanity. "Son of a fucking bitch, you think you got me, you wilting motherfucker? Get fucked, weeds for brains!"

He's thoroughly tangled up in the beast, too tangled to get out easily or fire again, but what he can do is impede its motion as it tries to rise up and take flight again or get away. He hauls back on it, making it scream and thrash as Boothill exposes its chest and belly. "Take the fucking shot, kid, this thing's strong as balls!" Even with Boothill hauling on it, it's pulling towards the gap in the middle of the ship, trying to flee to get some space to recover.

[dreaminglynx]

If Boothill had told him before he saw his homeworld that he lived in Norway.... Lalli wouldn't have even questioned it. He watches in shock and he manhandles the thing with such strength. Lalli can't even pick up a wheel barrel's handles when its full of stuff.

Lalli does try to aim for the wing before he hears Boothill's cry. He changes course and fires into it's chest and belly. Boothill could hear something snap and something groan within the beast. It twitches hard, twisting like something is wrong with it internally.

Lalli takes it being stunned enough to try to grab for Boothill. However, the cat's luck isn't exactly amazing. As Lalli tries to yank the beak out of the shoulder, the beast beats its wings hard, pulling all of them more towards the edge in a clumsy fashion. Leaves and metal drop out of it as if it were bleeding out, but instinct is clearly forcing it to move with its remaining strength. It tries to rear its head, albeit sloppily, to try to get it out of Boothill's arm to properly tab again.

[screwubbaboo]

"Ah, shitballs." There's the screech of tortured, twisting metal as the bird pulls its beak free and Boothill feels the joint separate - it's not pain, exactly, but it's definitely some fucking sensation as it swings free, still lodged into the bird. Boothill lets out a laugh - not exactly a sane one, his teeth bared in a shark-tooth grin. "Aw, you wanna play fuckin' rough, buddy? Bring it, birdbrain!"

His situational awareness is maybe not the best right now, focused as he is on the bird, and he doesn't realize how close to the edge they're all getting. He manages to pull his legs and body free and flips himself upward, toward the head that's now snaking around, free and uninhibited, and the beak meets him halfway, slamming into his torso with another horrible shriek of metal on metal. Between his own leap and the force of the heron's strike, it penetrates between two of the plates with a burst of blue fluid as it rips open something inside.

Boothill grunts in effort - that was probably important, this is probably getting bad, but if he lets go now that bird is definitely going to go for Lalli. He isn't gonna let a kid get hurt on his watch. He forces himself to raise his legs, locking them around the heron's neck, not even trying to get free from its beak but instead sliding up it like an angry boar spitted on a spear, yanking his remaining arm free and cocking his finger pistol, intending to aim one last shot directly into its horrible avian head.

[dreaminglynx]

Lalli as they get dragged does the one thing he thinks he can do. He feels something sting harshly, the bits of leaves and metal of the wing striking him hard as it beats them. He gasps at the nasty blow and aims at the splayed wings collapse into limp vines and leaves. There's no way it's flying away now. Something stings in his side... but he doesn't have the time to focus on that now.

The next moment moves too fast. Boothill stabbed again before Lalli can react.

Lalli grabs at his face to wipe away blood that had creeped out of his eye ducts.
He's just in time to see the shot go off, and the bird tumble off the edge. To his shock, they seem to be going with them. He raises his hand and for him appears to be a cat's paw reaches out and presses on the broken head, dislodging the beak and giving Boothill a shot.

However, ,it costs Lalli, who manages to only barely grab onto the last ledge before the drop. He squints at the blurry vision, trying to find a way up, looking around as well for his hunting companion. Assessing, trying to read what's going on. The pressure of from his magic took a little more energy than he was looking for, but he looks around with blurry vision to see if Boothill even managed to grab on.

He's not even sure that he can get up properly.

He promised Ven he'd stay alive right?
He can't give up yet, it's never been in him to simply lie down and give up. But his side and arms sting... and he can feel them shaking.

[screwubbaboo]

Boothill's not sure he actually sees a big cat's paw shoving the bird off of him, his processors are starting to lose power, but something frees him before they plummet fully into the abyss and he's able to grab hold of the ledge, the metal creaking and scraping under his fingers. He can feel the beak still buried in his gut, system alerts starting to crowd his vision.

He dismisses them with a shake of his head only for them to start popping back up immediately, but it clears his vision enough that he can see the kid struggling to hold on, just a foot or two away from him. He looks bad, face streaked with blood - when did he get hurt? - and his arms shaking. Boothill tries to get more leverage to pull himself up so he can help Lalli, but the servos of his arm groan in protest, sparks flickering over his elbow. Dammit, losing an arm is always a pain in the fucking ass.

He manages to inch himself closer, bracing himself against the metal bulkhead the ledge sticks out from with his legs. It feels like he's going to drop anytime, but he's finally within Lalli's reach. "Hey... hey, kid." He grins at him, his voice rasping harshly. "We fuckin' did it. That was some nice shootin' there. You should be goddamn proud of yourself."

He calculates angles, trying to figure out if he can do this. There ain't no way to get both of them up, but he's not going to let Lalli fall if he can help it. "You gotta get off this ledge. When I say now, you're gonna let go, all right? Just trust me. You're gonna be fine."

He gets his legs into the best position and takes a deep, unnecessary breath, that just sounds like something metal is rattling in his lungs. "Now, Lalli!"

As he pushes off the wall with his legs he grabs Lalli's belt and heaves forward with all his remaining strength, pushing him up onto the ledge before he has to let go, feeling gravity take hold as he plummets downward to join the bird.

If Lalli manages to turn fast enough he'll see Boothill falling with his face turned upward, a grin on his face and his remaining hand on his hat.

Cough ADV 1 Ch 15 spoilers :')

[dreaminglynx]

Lalli seems at least relieved to see Boothill. "You..." Blue eyes glance over the blue liquid leaking from the beak the lack of an arm. Lalli can feel the places where the metal scratched and bruised him (he thinks that's all at least).

He tries to scramble up, push himself up. He hisses with the effort before he nearly slips again. He looks back at Boothill and scrunches his face, "No... You're hurt. I can't be proud of that." The frustrated impulse, a rare thing from Lalli, slips through his mouth. "I should've shot better. Couldn't hit the head. Should've hit the head."

That had been his original shot... The one he missed, he shouldn't have focused on containing it and just aimed for the squirming part of the body. He's not Sigrun... but he almost wishes he was right now. Troll slaying was her job, she probably would've taken it down in half the time. Normally Lalli doesn't compare... but right now it's put them in a horrible position.

Lalli wants to protest, and he does. "You need to get up too." However, Lalli knows he's not strong. He can't lift the man up. There has to be a way right? Then they'll drag themselves to the clinic. He doesn't mind if he has to, he's already dragged the weird bird man down the hall. Should be a piece of cake compared to what they just went though. And if the living one can't handle Boothill's wounds then he'll stomach the dead one. He looks back at him and mumbles, "Okay, I'll be quick. Just hold on."

He only does it because of the hope they can maybe both walk away from this. Yelling and screaming isn't going to help either of them.

He listens, even if his instincts are shrieking that he's going to die. He takes a deep breath, nearly following Boothill's breathing. He forces himself up and pulls himself back up as quickly as he can.

He gets up, crashing onto the safety of solid ground, scrambling to get up and back over the edge.

His eyes widen as he tries to reach out to grab onto him. He feels the smooth cool fingers that ones he knows even if he managed to catch Boothill would only equal to their deaths. He doesn't want to die and he knows this. He promised Ven he couldn't die and how he knows he shouldn't allow for something so futile.

Why does he always reach out when its futile? When the swan had long since been circling and now it dives for Boothill.

"NO!" Lalli shrieks at the top of his lungs.

So when he sees the man fall, the man grinning like he had a victory. It feels nothing like that. What Boothill sees instead is horror and sorrow.

Because to Lalli is mind is reaching for another as well at the same time. In the back of his mind he remember what happened to her.

It's when Boothill vanished out of sight with the bird. Lalli freezes, eyes glued to the spot. As if he will blink and the man will be there again like a resetting dream. If only Boothill could do that again.

But the image burns in the back of his head.... A grim thought entering his mind.

Did she look up to the sky when she had sunk further and further? Was she as peaceful as Boothill seems to be?

He lets his body slump to the floor in shock. He doesn't bother to wipe away the blood streaking down his face, he lets the water swim in his eyes and lets his vision blur into a mass of grey. His mind is like trapped spirits stuck in a jar much too small for them. The screaming and shouting so much that all he can do is remain there like a doll.

Slowly he curls in and clenches his fist. He smacks his hands against his face and pulls at his hair. He grits his teeth and makes a noise of distress and anguish over losing another. Failing again. Just like how he had lost Tuuri back in the Silent World weeks prior. Another one had bitten the dust.

Sure, Boothill and him weren't close, they had met once, but he should be better by now. He should've been able to save him.

Yet it has happened again.
And this time, it was because of him.