blastiafreak | [video]

[The ghost pauses only briefly as Tyr's foot passes through its ice-cold body, and then it resumes its touches, the hand against Tyr's chest pressing, then passing right through clothing to touch skin.

For her part, Rita realizes they're still growing in number, and a panic starts to overtake her. They're both caught, they're both trapped by these things that they can't even fight, and she can only guess that the monsters are trying to kill them. Even knowing that, all she can do is struggle with all her strength.]

G-go away! Get back!

Agh-

[ He thought they were cold when their hands just touches his clothing; he wasn't prepared for how that hand would feel when it touched his bare skin. Even if all it did was stop for a moment, he raises his leg to kick it again until he realises that, if it can pass through his clothing, it could easily pass through his body and kill him from the inside. He thrashes violently and tries to pull back, screaming. ]

Get your hands off me! You- [ Whatever they are. He ends it with a frustrated sound.

He's too concerned with his current situation now to consider Rita's, and his eyes are closed so that even if he was considering her, he wouldn't see the how the ghosts try to pick her up with one grabbing her by the knee to pull her off her feet. ]

[Tyr's screams make Rita even more desperate to break loose as she gasps and her heart pounds. And then, when they start to lift her off the ground, she shrieks, kicking and twisting and trying to get out of their freezing grip any way possible.]

Stop! Get off! Get off, or I'll- [She doesn't even know what to threaten them with.

Unfortunately, Tyr's right about the ghost's aim. The other phantoms hold him tightly, half a dozen of them crowding around and forcing him still, as the first one presses harder against his skin, until the fingers begin to pass through...]

[ It's bad when Rita can't even make a threat. He vaguely wonders if she's experiencing the same thing he is as tears sting his eyes, and he screams out in pain. His body shivers - it's so cold it feels hot - and he feels like he's going numb from the ghosts' hold with his body effectively immobilised. As much as he'd rather deny it, he's starting to accept he'll probably die like this.

Even though she's kicking and screaming, the ghost hold onto her better than any group of humans would, with their hands gripping her sides and wrapping around her arms like a vice. They laugh at her unfinished threat with a cruel, childlike sort of giggle as they lift her off the ground like she's as light as a doll. ]

[She yelps from panic and pain as the pull her up. If she wasn't crying out, her teeth might almost be chattering from how cold she is--but that's barely on her mind, not when she's almost certain they're going to die.

There's really nothing more terrifying than something they can't fight.

In response to Tyr's reactions, the ghosts clamour closer. It's like they're savouring his pain, and then the first one pushes its hand further, towards his ribcage-

Suddenly, the ticking stops and there's a loud chime from the clock, a deep and almost angry sound.]

[ His heart skips a beat when he hears the clock chime, and he waits to be released - but there's nothing but a second, deep ring of the chime that seems to shake him. Or maybe he's just shivering violently enough to think he is as he feels his bones being caressed like that one stroked his arm earlier.

If they could at least fight, if he could move or concentrate long enough to cast something, then he wouldn't feel so pathetic. Even when Kanone had him, he could fight (for all that worked for him)... He hangs his head and bits his lips shut to keep himself from screaming and to unsuccessfully distract himself from the pain.

There's another chime, and if Rita were on the floor, she might have been able to feel the floor shake with it. As it is, one ghost simply cups her face with its hand, smiling at her, but its touch soon turns violent as it digs its fingers into her face to force her to look straight up the tower. ]

[A wash of relief comes over her when she hears the chime. Midnight means the end of this horrible curse...But as the chimes continue, her relief goes right back to cold fear and panic. It's not ending.]

N-no... [Her glower at the smiling ghost isn't even convincing now, and then she gasps in fear and pain when her face forced to look up. What now? And what are they doing to Tyr? She can't hear his cries now...

A fourth chime sounds as the ghosts begin to become restless, and now others join the first and press their phantom fingers right through his clothing, touching his arms, legs, back...]

[ He shakes and his muscles tense, whimpering for how powerless he feels. Even when he tries again to pull himself free, but that's only met with pulling him back and running their hands along him, over his sides, his fingers, his stomach... It's the sort of pathetic death he'd be ashamed of; he can't even stop crying and twitching.

The fifth chime rings, and the ghost decide they should stop just carrying her up, and flip her over so she can stare down the spiral staircase and the floor far below her, and from the distance she's being held, it'd unclear if Tyr's alive or dead from the way his head hangs and he's being held up. ]

[At first, she screams, and then the sound dies in her throat as she looks down. No, no, no, she hates being up high unless she's the one in control. She's too scared stiff to even struggle--and they might just let her go, anyway...

And Tyr--the way he's being held makes her stare fearfully down. He's moving, right? It's hard to tell with all those things clustered around him.

As many ghosts get close as can fit around Tyr until they're blocking everything else from view. They're all eager to touch him, to feel and steal away his life, and as the chimes go by, they start to dig their fingers into his skin, too.]

[ When she screams, he lifts his head, but even when he opens his eyes, his vision is too blurred to know what's happening; he just knows he sees her because she's the only patch of colour up there. Maybe she's dead, for the way her scream just cut out like that... He mumbles out her name, but even if she were close enough to hear, the chiming drowns it out.

Their bodies cold and pressed against him, their fingers touching and passing through his bones and sapping the heat out of his body, holding his staff is one of the only things keeping him from letting his eyes fall shut again and giving in. He's lost track of the chimes, but now figures it doesn't even matter.

As the chimes go on, the ghosts start to loosen their hold on her, some hands slipping to just hold her by her coat and her hair. They want to see what she would do now that she's decided to stop fighting. It's not fun if she's not lively, afterall. ]

[As nauseous as she feels keeping her eyes open from that height, she keeps staring down at Tyr, and makes a little gasp when she sees him lift his head. He's alive--but they're still trapped.

Another sharp gasp escapes her when she starts to slip, and her heart leaps into her throat as she dangles there in the air. They're really going to-] N-no! Stop!

[Rita's completely lost track of the chimes, but the ghosts haven't. There's only a couple left, so they have to hurry, and sap at Tyr's strength wherever they can. One even presses its hands to his face.]

[ He shakes his head and tries to throw those hands off him, but it feels like every way he moves, there's just another cold touch waiting for him.

But at least Rita isn't dead yet. She hardly sounds okay, but she's not dead, so...he feels a little bit of hope. His protests just come as rough mumbles. ] Get off of me! Just...

[ The ghosts that circle Rita laugh, and before they go - as few of them as there are left - they let go of her arms, her coat, her hair, and just hold her by her legs. Their hands go through her boots to sap the warmth out of her skin in the time they have left. ]

[Rita shrieks again, clamping down the impulse to kick her legs as she hangs helplessly and just keeps shouting no. There's no chance the ghosts won't kill them, no chance she and Tyr can even help each other like this.

And they're all surrounding Tyr wherever they can, pressing their hands deeper to numb him with their cold-

Until the final chime sounds, loud and echoing.]

[ It's so cold, he doesn't even know if he could move if he tried; their hands covering and inside his body, and if he makes it through this, he thinks it would be a miracle - he feels dead now. There's no way he can help Rita like this, and he's sorry for that...

All he can do is helplessly watch her blurry form be released and plunge down out as the ghosts that held her release her. If they can't have her join them, they'll at least make her death as painful as possible for her.

As that last chime comes to an end, Tyr feels his own body collapse into cool sand and his eyes look out to the deep blue of the night sky. He hears Rita fall to the ground not long after he does despite how far up she seemed to be. ]

[As the curse ends, there's a disappointed wailing from the ghosts as they lose the prey they were so close to having...

Rita makes a choked-off scream when they release her and immediately tries to summon her magic to try something--anything--that can slow her descent-

But just as she squeezes her eyes shut, she comes to abrupt, jarring stop in the sand. Achy and shivering, she lies there dazed and gasping for breath. They're alive, but...she just can't feel grateful right now.]

[ Tyr's own chest aches from the pounding of his heart and his laboured breathing. Everything hurts and everything is cold; even the sand feels warm right now. He wraps his arms around himself, letting his staff lay beside him. In the back of his mind, he wonders if this is his own fault for wanting it so badly.

But as long as they're alive, and that's what matters, though he can't say they're in good shape. There's phantom sensations of their hands inside him still, and burying his face against the sand doesn't make them go away. As he turns his head, he can see her laying just a few feet away from him, but he's still reeling too much to say anything to her, let alone cast. He does scoot a little closer, though. ]

[Her breathing is shaky as she rolls onto her side. She's almost tempted to just curl into a little ball right there, but she hates that even more, so she stubbornly pushes herself up into a sitting position instead. They're somewhere on the beach, with the ocean stretching out before them., but that doesn't really matter to Rita.

Instead, she looks over to where Tyr's laying nearby, and remembers how she couldn't tell what happening before.] Tyr...H-hey, Tyr...

I'm okay...

[ Even though he doesn't feel okay right now, and his voice cracks. Seeing her sit up, he pushes himself up, too, and wipes his face on his arm. He's not afraid of looking weak with Rita, but that doesn't mean he's okay with looking weak at all, either.

Right, don't look weak. He crawls close to her to get a better look at her, but aside from the sand in her hair and the scrapes in her coats from when she was dragged earlier, she looks okay. Of course, he doesn't look any different, either... Still, with that fall... He reaches out to her. ]

Are you okay...?

[She lets out a little sigh.] I...

[But although Tyr doesn't seem injured, she doesn't entirely believe he's okay, not after that...So she can't really say she's fine, either. Instead, she looks grimly down at the sand.]

...It's over.

...Yeah.

[ His eyes follow hers to the sand. There's not even a sign that anything else was ever there. Like nothing happened. Aside from some scrapes and bruises, there's no sign that anything even happened.

He falls silent - he's not sure what to say, and he doesn't really want to talk anyway - and just close the distance between them, leaning forward to rest his head on her shoulder as his arms wrap around her. ]

[At a loss for words herself, she keeps staring at the sand until Tyr hugs her, and she pauses in surprise, looking at him.]

Huh? Tyr...?

[...He feels cold, she realizes, and suddenly she's glad he's ~~probably~~ not hurt too badly, so she puts her arms around him a little awkwardly.]

I'm cold...

[ Which isn't really the reason he wanted to hug her, but it's the easiest reason to give. He's just happy she's okay, and...he just doesn't want to let her go now. His arms hold her a little more tightly as she puts hers around him. ]

I can feel it, but...

[It must've been the...the monsters. (Who is she kidding? They weren't just monsters.) She holds him a bit tighter, relaxing her grip.]

[ He wonders if he's making her cold, but... She's hugging him back, so she can't mind it that much. Sighing, he lays against her shoulder. At least his breath is warm.

There's no point to making another excuse even if he could think of one. He wishes he knew how to make her feel better instead of just himself - now more than ever. All he can think to do is start mumbling out a spell. ]

[She doesn't mind the cold--embracing Tyr is way different than being touched by those ghosts--and she thinks he might be warming up a bit as she holds him.

The fall did leave her with a few aches, mostly just a headache. She doesn't quite catch his mumbling, though, and asks with a quiet voice-] What is it?

action; ♥! Sorry for delay, making a cake!

action; ♥! It's okay! That's a delicious reason for delay! :9

action; ♥! Hee, I hope so! Delicious apple cake~

action; ♥! Oooh! That does sound yummy :D

action; ♥! It does! :> We won't try it until tomorrow, though-!

action; ♥! Ah, it is pretty late, huh? |D;

action; ♥! Well that wouldn't normally stop us. 8D; It's my dad's birthday cake for tomorrow. :>

action; ♥! Ooh!! :D Happy birthday to him! ♥

action; ♥! Thanks! :3

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action; ♥! Morning! :D

action; ♥! Hehe, good morning~! :3

action; ♥! /o/

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