phantasmemes | TEST DRIVE - BELLMARE MOUNTAINS

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TEST DRIVE - BELLMARE MOUNTAINS

Hello and welcome to Phantasmal Rift's Test Drive Meme!

Test drive threads are assumed to be game canon for accepted characters unless otherwise noted, so don't feel like you'll have to introduce yourself a second time to everyone you meet! As an added bonus, participation in the test drive comes with the chance to earn up to two items of loot for your trouble! Characters who are accepted can earn one item for having a top level, and one for tagging out to someone else's top level! Your SWEET LOOT will be included with your acceptance notice.

Additionally, characters currently in game can earn themselves a piece of bonus loot for the dungeon by tagging people's top-levels on the test drive! Existing characters get their bonus loot along with the rest of their loot at the conclusion of the dungeon.

This test drive takes place in the Bellmare Mountain range, a chilly environment even when it's not locked in the dead of winter. Considering that November is just starting to bite - or is it, with the Fissure's time-displacement effect in place? - that makes for an extremely chilly reception for all of the new arrivals. If you're a person at risk of frostbite, you'd better hunker down in one of the scattered mountain cabins or find someone with extra snow gear, and quick.

Once you're a bit more warmed up, exploration of the area will reveal that it's largely abandoned, but there's still some evidence of past human habitation. Old chair lifts stand guard over untouched ski slopes, the remains of what was once a resort, and a handful of hiking paths twist back and forth through the mountain forests, the snow melting off them due to the magical crystals in the gravel that lines the paths.

LET IT SNOW

Chances are that, upon arriving, you find yourself outside in the snowfall. Hopefully you weren't from somewhere too terribly warm, but chances are that unless you were specifically in a cold environment before, you're going to be feeling the chill now. (Unless, of course, you're not human and don't get bothered by the cold. That happens.)

Fortunately, there are plenty of paths scattered around that are warm enough to keep the snow melted off of them - it shouldn't be that hard to stumble across one. The question then becomes, which way to shelter and civilization? You'll have to take a bit of a gamble, but it's almost certainly better than staying where you are and freezing.

LOCKED IN

How fortunate, then, that you were able to find shelter against the cold - at least for the time being. The wooden cabin is the exact opposite of luxury, but there's a bed and wood to make a fire in the fireplace, so you can't ask for terribly much else. Especially once night falls - or when the snow outside begins to fall in more than flurries - it's far better to be outside than in. Even if you can't figure out how to start the fire, the dimly glowing crystals that serve as fire starter will at least keep your hands warm.

Of course, with only a limited amount of shelter to go around in these mountain trails, it's fairly inevitable that you would have to share with someone... Hope they're friendly, otherwise this place is going to get awkward fast.

FROSTY THE - OH, MAN!

And if you're still running around outside, sooner or later you're almost certain to run into a deep patch of snow that rises up to meet you. These giant snowmen, ten feet tall and aggressive, stand up in response to anything that isn't the local wildlife approaching - and their goal is quite simple. Better watch out, because these guys are your own personal avalanche, seeking to bury you under themselves until either the cold or the weight saps the life out of you.

One's dangerous, but it's not uncommon to find them in groups of 3-5, either, which is where things start getting to be a problem. Luckily, it's possible to melt them down to nothing, or just blast them apart with pure force - the scattered snow won't rise again, at least not any time soon.

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Oh, probably. Might even be enough for the troublesome Glaive in front of me.

[You're trouble and you know it, Nyx.

Izunia takes the hand almost delicately - not that there's much space to touch it without putting pressure on the burns that coat it. Curatives won't do much more than speed those into scar tissue, as Ignis' face can attest.

But the flame still burning inside, the one that flickers at the touch of a king, needs to be taken care of first. He closes his eyes and pushes, willing the magic back and down, the will of the Ring itself subservient to his own.

It takes long enough that he winds up sitting on the floor, no pride to be wounded by it, as he squashes the flame down to embers that will cool and vanish in time.]

[For all the trouble he's been in and caused in the last 24 hours alone that comment gets a flash of a feral grin, something satisfied and challenging all at once.

It's short lived though because Izunia's taking his hand and the first push of magic against the fire within him is enough to leave him breathless. There's a moment where he wants to push back, where the dulling of the magic makes him panic and the pains in his body reassert themselves and he feels helpless. The delicate touch of Izunia's hand doesn't matter then because Nyx is clutching at his hand, hard enough to be painful, trying his damnedest to focus his breathing and not freak out any more than he already is.

It's quiet the power or let it kill him. He knows that, knows that he can't go on sustaining that fire but Serpent save him, he hates letting it go.]

So.... how useless am I gonna be when this is done?

[He tries to keep the tone light, playful even, but there's a tremor of fear there and, of course, the iron grip he has on Izunia's hand.]

[He could damn near break Izunia's hand before the man would complain. There's enough focus that it takes a moment before he responds to the words.]

Can't say yet. I'm not exactly a medic.

[Right now he's focusing more on whether Nyx will live than how laid up he'll be afterwards.

But the flame recedes, recedes, recedes.]

Right now, I'm a bit more worried about seeing you live to be laid up at all.

[He's quiet after that, not really wanting to elaborate on the fact that not having the magic at his call is panic inducing. He wasn't exactly prepared to be alive but he's even less prepared to be helpless. Sure he'd gotten a few good hits in, resourcefulness taking over in desperation but he'd had no barrier, nothing to protect himself or even evade with and that's how he'd gotten so messed up in the first place.

Being left like that again is... well it's terrifying. How could he protect anyone else if he couldn't protect himself?]

Oh I see, now you're worried about it.

[Teasing and desperate to lighten his own fears and only after it's out of his mouth does he realize how much of an asshole that makes him. Shit.

His hold on Izunia's hand gentles, his thumb stroking an apology over his knuckles.]

So I guess now's a good time to remind you I'm a dick when- [Swallow your pride, Ulric. Just say it.] -when I'm scared.

It's alright.

[Who wouldn't be scared, now that the adrenaline is crashing down, the pain coming back now that there's a moment to breathe and think? At the end of the day, Nyx too is only human.]

I've dealt with far worse.

[It being Nyx, it's probably for the better that the man have to sit without so much magic coursing through him for a few minutes. Force him to actually rest, even if it will strengthen and help his recovery in the long term. Decide on that later.

As it is, it doesn't fade away quite entirely, simmering down instead to what won't hurt, a Glaive's baseline. There's a king here to grant him power still, after all.]

Now's the time when we see how many potions you can stand before you pass out.

[He relaxes a little with the reassurance, tries to at least, as much as his body will let him now that he's beginning to crash from all the adrenaline, the magic that had been fueling him through the battle draining away to leave him shaking now. He's been so over charged for so long now that the standard baseline that had been his norm for so many years feels distant and weak.

Even as the power quiets and Izunia turns his attention to his injuries Nyx calls a small flame to his hand, letting the fire dance over his fingertips and only when the spark answers him does he finally, finally slump back in his chair and let himself collapse as much as he can.

Fractured ribs only allow for so much slumping but hey, he tries.]

Depends on what you've made them from.

Mostly soda and bottled tea, they're readily at hand back at the Station. You don't have to drink them, you know.

[Nyx might be the only maniac would understand his appreciation for dr jalapeno, though.

For now, Izunia notes that pained slump and charts it in with the rest of his tally of injuries.]

What are we working with?

[Look they started adding sweet to counteract the heat for the damn Lucians, it's a travesty. Light his mouth on fire any day.]

Ginger soda? [A hopeful little perk of his expression, he... hasn't actually ate or drank anything since... shit since before his shift started 24 hours ago. But as he starts rattling off the major injuries he also starts unfastening his uniform jacket which is when Izunia might realize exactly how wet everything below his ribcage is.]

Uh... Dropped about three stories with an airship on top of me? So I know I dislocated the knee, there's probably fractures higher up. Two fucking hollow points. [And with the coat unfastened he can peel his tee away with a sticky, wet, sucking sound. And yep there's two neat round holes, one dead center in his gut, the other a little higher and to the left. High enough it might have nicked a rib.]

Couple of broken? ribs... I don't even know what all Drautos did to me, between the fight and the magic I wasn't tracking injuries.

Meant it when I said my life was nothing. I wasn't walking away from that with or without the ring.

Well, with your life no longer looking like an hours-old birthday candle, there's no point in not looking at the rest.

[One ginger potion coming up, set in Nyx's lap while Izunia gets a good look at the rest.]

Damn, wish Jet were here... I'm going to focus on getting you stable until the actual medic can get a look at you rather than trying to fix all this, it's beyond my skills.

[He cracks another potion over the bullet wounds, to bring the worst of the bleeding down. Then ribs - he'll survive without the leg if he has to, or with a limp.]

I have actual bandages and the like, too, if you think you can get out of the coat and shirt.

[If not, they'll probably have to cut it off. No great loss, between the blood and the charred parts.]

[Most of the blood was, thankfully, old, not dry but drying. The wounds had closed up a great deal with the ring's power stabilizing him. Of course... the bullet fragments were still lodged somewhere in the vicinity of his spine but he wasn't going to bleed out, at least.

He leans back as Izunia dumps more potions on him and he just sips at the ginger soda/potion. The shock at least is less problematic, the odd feeling like he's only partially there, the way his body screams it's agony. His hands grow steadier with each sip and he does at least manage a wry smile for Izunia.]

A shot of bourbon and this'd be perfect.

[A strained little laugh that aches but doesn't make it feel like his insides are being shredded.]

Stable's still better than I was expecting to happen. [A shrug and then he's drawing his knife from the thigh holster again, flipping it smoothly in his grip to hold the blade and offer the hilt to Izunia.] Just, try to leave the sash intact?

Alcohol makes a muck of the restorative properties or I'd give you one.

[He's royalty. He's carrying.

Izunia looks at the knife and then shakes his head.]

I've got proper shears if we're going that route. Benefits to carrying an entire city's worth of supplies.

[And indeed, he pulls a pair of fabric shears out from that crystal sparkle and sets to work, cutting things apart in neat, careful lines.]

Course it does.

[At least this is tasty enough without the burn. And the healing properties are doing more than the numbing burn or liquor would, he knows that, but fuck if knocking himself out right now doesn't sound like a good idea.

His dagger goes back into the thigh sheath, the extra strapping and reinforcement from that probably the only reason his leg didn't give out sooner. At least the left side of the uniform doesn't take much to peel it off. A single slice along the top of his shoulder and the entire jacket can be pulled away. The shirt will take a little more doing but it is a thin fabric and hardly worth using the sheers on.

There's a part of him that despises the very idea of disgracing the uniform like this but he knows, logically, there's no saving it at this point. Once the fabric is slit and cut away though the extent of the damage done by the ring becomes more apparent. It's not just his arm, his left shoulder, a large expanse of his chest on the left side fans out into the lines that crawl up his face. The network of fissures spanning across the top of his chest, skating over his clavicle to meet up with the older scaring. Both sides of his neck, both cheeks, down over the back of his shoulders and meeting beneath his hair. Thin streaks of silver now coloring dark hair where the scars have crept up to his scalp.

Nearly everything above the bloody smears of his abdomen is covered in the scrawling lines of magical burns. He'd felt it, before, of course he had. But now, looking down at the wreckage, he sucks in a hard breath, pale eyes flicking up to Izunia for one panicked moment.]

Shit.

[Izunia doesn't even look twice at the extensive burns - with the Old Wall active, he hadn't been in Nyx the way he was in Ignis, but he knows them well enough, not quite as though they were his own but in a way that's something close to it.

Even if the shirt underneath is about to fall off, Izunia trims it away anyway. Less pressure on the wounds that way than just ripping and pulling it.]

You're alright. Focus on breathing and leave the cleaning up to me.

[The blood he can handle, it's the healing that's difficult for him. The fact that Nyx is still conscious even as the adrenaline and magic both wear off is probably a good sign.

It's a good thing the burns don't much bleed, because that makes the cleaning up much easier.]

[It takes a moment for him to rein in his breathing. A hard swallow of potion that he takes as though it were hard liquor and then he slams his head back so he can't look at it. Calm down, Ulric.

But it's hard to breathe around the pain and the settling realization that he's maybe not going to die. He's not entirely sure that's the better option right now. If he's pushed himself too far. If he's wrecked himself so thoroughly that he's not going to be able to keep fighting later then really what was the point?

He has to be able to keep moving and sitting here taking stock of his injuries is making it harder to believe that's a possibility. Especially when the only soothing voice he has belongs to the person that condemned him to this in the first place.]

If there's no fixing this... I'm never going to forgive you for not killing me in the first place.

[A rough snarl, all threatening bravado to make himself feel better.]

[There's only a brief pause, and Izunia raises himself a little to look Nyx dead in the eye.

It's Noctis' blue, in contrast to Ardyn's uncanny yellow, if Nyx had ever paid the Chancellor enough attention to notice that.]

If I didn't think you had a damn good chance, I wouldn't bother. I'm not an innocent who doesn't know the harsher hand of mercy, Nyx.

[The hand that kills and cauterizes rather than letting infection seep in.]

I will do everything in my considerable power to see you live, and not only for you.

[For himself, as well. For reclaiming the part of him the Ring took, for making right what he can make right, when there is nothing to do to fix things between him and Ardyn and Ravus won't even allow him to try.

This he can do.]

Turn your thoughts to the tomorrow you'll be seeing, because that is what will get you through.

[Most of what he's seen of the chancellor has been from afar. On TV or from a distance at the gala the night before the signing. But he recognizes the Prince's startling blue and it is strangely reassuring, really. Familiar in a way, humanizing.

The words are too, the knowledge that if he was beyond all hope Izunia would put an end to him rather than let him suffer. He nods, slowly. A wry smile tugging at his lips at the line about the future.]

Never thought much about a future for me.

[Giving a future to those that wanted it, that deserved it. People like Lunafreya and Libertus, people that weren't too jaded to appreciate the time they'd been given. What was there for him to look forward to?

But then, in this new world, who knew what might be possible.

He slumps in the chair, settling back against it, his clean right hand dropping down to settle over Izunia's arm for a moment, squeezing once. Reassurance, gratitude. A silent offer of thanks. The future. Isn't that a novel idea? Something to look towards that's not just more fighting, more war. Maybe even the kind of peace Petra cherished so.

Once he makes the conscious decision to let himself relax, to let Izunia do what he needed and not fight to stay perfectly aware and scathing the entire time it's easier for him to let himself drift into a hazy kind of semi-aware state, focusing on the crackle of the fire and the smell of coffee and ginger instead of pain and potions.]

As they say, welcome to the club.

[There was no future beyond the Dawn, not for anyone of the royal line. No place in which anything could be better, for any of them.

Except that now, there is. Except that there's Ardyn Tenmyouji and somewhere some Noctis running a cat cafe and Prompto and Ravus and Nyx, here in front of him, and the world that they can create going forward.

Izunia squeezes that hand back and sets to work. Burn cream, gauze, bandages, he has to make Nyx lean forward for a bit for that last but otherwise does his best to not disturb the man. The repetitive winding, in particular, seems to help calm Izunia's own nerves, until he's done about all he can do.

There might have been another elixir or two sprayed onto the worst as he worked. Not as though he can't make more of the damn things later.]

Still with me?

[Nyx shifts as he's instructed to but no further. The binding may calm Izunia but the very physical sensation of restraint and compression only makes his own breathing come a little harder, less from pain and more from the creeping sense of unease. It's not hardly enough to restrict his movements any more than the injuries themselves are but it's still unsettling at best.

Then Izunia speaks, draws Nyx back up into the moment and what, exactly, is happening and he nods. Vaguely at first before he blinks a few times, focusing hard on the man in front of him.]

Fine.

[Which was a lie and they both knew it but it didn't stop him from saying it.]

[Given Ardyn, given everything, Izunia is well practiced at waiting for that particular fog to clear, and he's patient as Nyx comes back around.]

I've done all I can for now, so I think it's probably best if we move you to the bed until the medic can get here. Think you're up to it?

[He says it knowing full well that Nyx will probably try, rather than let himself be carried.]

Yeah... yeah of course.

[The answer comes immediately and he's already trying to shift to his feet before he's even done speaking. Not that he manages more than rocking forward, hissing as it pulls at the wounds in his gut and then slumps back in the chair again.

A slow, steadying breath. And then he looks up at Izunia, lifting his relatively undamaged right hand.]

I guess... I might need a hand up though.

Not a problem.

[Really, Nyx. Izunia still is prepared to carry him if he needs it, but for now he works more on the living crutch end of things, compensating for the bad leg with his own body. It's not exactly easy, being as tall as he is, but eventually they get over to the bed, Nyx's ruined clothes left behind them on the chair and floor.]

And if you need anything, I'll be here, and I'm more than well-supplied.

Can you... hang onto what's left of the jacket?

[He might not be able to fix it but he can at least salvage his hood, the coeurl horn, his crest, and his sash. Eventually he'll need to put something over all the bandages but he imagines that's going to be after this medic of Izunia's shows up. For now there's a bed and blankets and laying down, straightening out, hurts like a bitch but also feels so damn good.]

Of course. Consider it done.

[The blood on it won't even dry in the Armiger. Not that that means much. For firsts, though, Izunia pulls another blanket out of his Armiger in a whoosh of blue sparkles.

Are you ready to get tucked in by the fucking Founder King, Nyx.]

[He just cocks a brow. Is this seriously happening right now?]

I'm not going to sleep y'know.

[Look at him, too badass for sleeping. Shame he's going to be out like a light in about ten minutes.]

You've been up and fighting for something like 28 hours at this point.

[Don't even pretend otherwise, Nyx. He's not even entertaining it.]

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hardbargain - 2019-01-06 20:01 (UTC) - Expand

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TEST DRIVE - BELLMARE MOUNTAINS

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CW: bullet wounds, blood, dislocations, the list goes on.

injury cw continues

injury cw continues

injury cw continues

injury cw continues

more of the same

but he's not going to last much longer at least.

go to BED Nyx

you can't tell him what to do!

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