blastiafreak | [video]

[Huff, it's less satisfying to trash a room that's already falling apart. Rita dashes after him towards the other door, broken glass cracking under their feet, and she spots some pale, translucent figures rising from the fallen frames...] No--hurry up!

[ Tyr looks over to her, somewhat confused, but those figures... Maybe they'll chase after them instead of the one that touched him before.

But it won't matter if they do, will it? Tyr shakes his head. ]

They're not real! We don't need to run like this.

[ He trails beside her at the same pace, though, towards the door. ]

You think they're just imaginary or something?!

[Didn't one grab Tyr's hand earlier? If he felt that, she's positive they're not just illusions, and she's quick to fling the next door open.]

Ghosts usually are!

[ Ignoring the fact that if he could feel one caressing him, he could just as easily feel one strangling him.

As she flings it open, something falls to the floor like a sack if stones. It's a hunched figure - humanoid, though the way its body is bent and its legs are twisted behind it, it's obviously not a person - and it's obviously not dead, either, as its hand reach out to grab Rita's ankles. Like a greeting, it lets out a high-pitched screech like a bird would make. ]

[Any reply she might've made is completely forgotten when that thing grabs at her. She shrieks right back at it--why is everything grabbing her feet?!--and hurriedly backs up, lashing out at it with her whip.] G-get out of here, you!

[In the meantime, one of the ghosts moves for Tyr and reaches out to touch him with its ice-cold fingers.]

Wha-

[ Tyr's about to start kicking at...that thing with her, when he feels those icy fingers on his skin. He gasps and spins around to look at the ghost, taking a defensive stance even though he's unarmed now. He'll wait for it to attack him. ...Not that it can, right?

Her whip hits the creature with a hollow snap, but the figure doesn't give up on her after it's finally found her again! It laughs at her, though its head is bowed, and grabs for her legs again, nails drawn in case it needs to use them to grip onto her. ]

N-no way... [With a growing feeling of horror, she realizes it's the thing that crawled out of the portrait earlier, and remembers that her magic couldn't kill it. She tries backing away again to get some space to cast a spell, anyway. Even if they can disable it long enough to get away...

The ghost pauses while one of its partners approaches too, and then another...There's at least three or four of them now, and they all fix their hollow, dead eyes on Tyr and reach out to him.]

[ Tyr clenches his fist tight, fingertips digging into his palms. As much as he wants to help Rita, Tyr feels like this is his own battle to fight now. The way Rita sounds now, though...No, she can definitely handle herself. His eyes look from figure to figure, trying to see if there's some sort of weak point, but...they're ghosts! What does he do with them?! (Other than back away some more so they don't touch him.) If he had his staff, he thinks, he could swing at all of them at once... He finally just swings a punch at the first one's head to see if that does anything. ]

Get away from me!

[ The figure scratches at her and tries to hold onto her boots like it's trying to use them to pick itself up. Its bones crack as it slowly drags itself closer as she backs away. It makes a whiny, groaning sound like it's pleading with her. ]

[She only dimly hears Tyr's voice, aware that the other ghosts are still there but too focused on the hideous thing grabbing at her to tear her eyes away from it.] Let go of me!

[When Tyr punches the ghost, his fist passes through it, though the phantom does recoil--not without Tyr's hand going ice-cold from the contact, though. As it recovers, the others crowd closer, all reaching.

Trying to pull back, Rita bumps into Tyr and shivers. They're trapped by these...things. She can't stand doing nothing and letting them do whatever they want, so she starts casting and shouts at Tyr.] Stay still! I'm getting rid of these things!

All, all right!

[ He can't stop himself from stuttering, and he stays still just as Rita says. He grips his hands, surprised at how cold his hand could get even with his glove on, but doesn't take his eyes off the ghosts. He can't even tell if that hit actually did anything... If he knew what Rita had planned, he might join in casting, but he wasn't going to risk messing up her spell by trying to help her.

They keep coming closer to them, though. The ghosts reaching out to touch them, the...thing clawing its way closer to Rita again. But they're cornered now, so it'll have her eventually! ]

Don't move! Just stay here!

[She repeats it with a shrill, nervous voice, pressing against Tyr's back as the things all come close...Not that she's trying to stay close to him for any reason other than to keep him safe from her spell, of course-!

She casts as quickly as she can while the ghosts come closer and reach for Tyr's chest, and then Rita's casting her Tidal Wave spell. She can control it just enough so that Tyr won't get swept away as long as they stay together like this, so she unleashes the water on the room and the monsters around them.]

[ He nods; there's no point telling her he won't go anywhere when he presses himself closer to her to try to avoid being touched. He almost holds his breath as she casts - maybe because he's afraid of what the ghosts could do if they touched him more - and doesn't breathe easy again until her spell washes over the room.

He braces himself, staying back-to-back with her, and manages to not move while the ghosts and the portrait monster are washed away and tossed against the walls with the furniture. In the back of his mind, he thinks it's a good thing he chose to not help her, but more immediately- ]

—Now let's go!

[ He turns back around to face her and takes hold of her arm. They have some time now while the monsters recover, so they shouldn't waste it! ]

[Rita feels a small amount of satisfaction at watching her spell toss the creatures around. Only a small amount, though, because she doesn't think it'll stop them, and she can't stop thinking about what those things will do if they catch up...]

Just hurry up! [She immediately starts running after him. Can they even find Tyr's staff like this?]

[ Tyr cares much more about getting away than he does about finding his staff. He doesn't know what those ghosts will do or what that thing attacking Rita even was. Her order is met with silence; it's not like he's staying still, though running through the water that's left over from her spell doesn't help him run faster either. He's barely waiting for her to keep up.

He decides to run through the new hallway the monster came from, under the logic that going the other way will trap them between the ghosts again. ]

[Rita makes no complaints about the direction; like Tyr, she just wants to get away. She hates giving up on the staff, but important or not, it's not worth their lives...

But she still hates it. Why can't she decide?] Dammit...

[This hallway's in the same terrible shape, even worse now that it's waterlogged and the floors are slippery. But more dangerous than the floor might be the old bookshelf against one wall which, seemingly without warning, starts to tip over as they get near it.]

[ He doesn't question her little muttering, assuming she's just aggravated by the situation with the monsters. Tyr himself has no intention of giving up on his staff - they'll definitely find it somehow, or he'll make a trade for it - but if he knew Rita was really that concerned about it...he'd be happy.

That thought doesn't even cross his mind, though, as he slips to a stop, fingers digging into and scratching through the molding walls. He barely stays upright as he watches the bookcase fall over, some of its books falling on Tyr's feet, until it lays diagonally between the two walls. ]

Ah-! [ He hisses. His poor, poorly protected foot... ] This place...

[She doesn't want to just forget about the staff, even with everything that's happening...More immediately, though, she bookshelf gets her attention as she nearly stumbles into Tyr. And she's attacked his feet during a curse or two, so she knows they're not the most protected...]

Hey! You didn't break anything, did you?

[A laugh echoes down the hallway at his pain. Rita glares around at the walls but sees nothing besides the dust settling.]

[ He pulls his feet away as he stands up straight again. It hurts and he knows it must be bruised pretty badly, but...if it is broken, he'll just have to deal with it later. His voice is strained when he responds. ]

I don't think so...

[ With that laugh, Tyr does the same, but of course there's nothing to see. He's going to hate this place even more if he leaves without his staff now. With a heavy sigh, he pulls the hood of his cloak over his head to provide himself with a little bit of protection as he rests a hand on the top of the bookshelf. ]

...Forget about that. Come on, we can't stop here.

Really? [She's aware of the strain in his voice, but...She doesn't have any gels and they can't stop, so she sighs and makes to follow him up.]

I know, I know. Let's go!

Really!

[ He says it more strongly just because she questioned him. And right now, the pain is being numbed by his drive to keep going, and he ducks under the bookcase and crawls under as quickly as he can. He can feel the wood splintering and getting caught in the fabric of his cloak, but if it tears, well, he can get it mended. ]

Fine, whatever! [She is concerned about him, but she's just as impatient to get moving...so she hesitates for just a split second before following after him, even though she doesn't particularly like going under the bookcase that just tried to fall on them.]

[ Tyr makes it out to the other end without a problem, and he takes a few steps back to let her out as well. The other end of the hallway looks the same as it did before the shelf fell, at least, but there's still no sign of whatever was laughing.

Except another ring of laughter as another book somehow falls from one of the shelves and onto Rita. ]

Ow-! [She curses when the tome falls on her, and shouts out her frustrations at the seemingly-empty hallway.] You things are so dead, got it?!

[Not that they aren't already....She crawls out from under the bookshelf, rubbing her head with a scowl.]

[ He looks over at her, but he's not too concerned (though he could hear that thunk when the book fell on her). ]

Come on, we need to find them before we start making threats.

[ With a glance back to see that the ghosts don't appear to be following them (yet?), he starts walking more carefully down the hallway. ]

I'll threaten them all I want!

[Because it doesn't feel like they're really accomplishing anything else...Nevertheless, she strides forward down the dark hallway, walking quickly but keeping her eyes open. The hallway seems to end in a spiral staircase that winds upward, though there's a few doors on their current floor. If they want to find the staff, they can't go up...]

...Come on. Let's go right.

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