roedeer: (pic#18179764)
roe deer | agent grapes. ([personal profile] roedeer) wrote in [community profile] cultor2026-01-13 02:21 pm

[closed] WE are so normal

Who: Roe Deer + The Assembled Team (You Know Who You Are)
What: Resurrection Ritual
When: Mid-post battle of the Rat King
Where: One of M42's secret rooms
Warnings: Gore, rituals, Subaru is like an inch from death but our doctor will hold him down

this is where all of that situation goes. play out any scene to your heart's desire. if you need kim soleum for anything, he's your guy. sign him up coach.
dedicate: (pic#18185316)

waking up breaking out this is what it's like to be free

[personal profile] dedicate 2026-01-14 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ at first, when the spell is finally cast, the only sign of its success is the subtle rise and fall of agent choi's chest.

give him some minutes though, and he'll eventually roll from his back onto his side—start coughing up a storm, including some red and black sludge onto the grimy tunnel floor. his head hurts. his body hurts. everything hurts. that's his first thought. it's only as that awareness is accepted as his reality that he has time to remember, vividly

the taste of fresh blood on his tongue, the pain of his injuries, of subaru's injuries, the look on kim soleum's face as he was pushed out of the way, and then—

black.

silence.

stretching out endlessly until, within the depths of that darkness, he sees them: eyes. he hears its whispers, and feels its dread, looming heavy in the distance.

...

a bloodied hand comes up to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. ]
schietto: (pic#18214256)

[personal profile] schietto 2026-01-14 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ Dante comes down to crouch next to Choi, pulling his handkerchief from inside his coat and silently offering it to the other man so that he can wipe his face with something clean rather than his own bloody hands.

Dante simply watches for a moment, looking as if he's staring through Choi at something unseen before he will finally close his eyes and exhale softly. It seems... okay? Choi is alive and moving without trouble, so it should be fine.

He nods politely to Choi now in greeting. His voice is soft in volume as he speaks briefly.
]

...Try not to make a habit of such things, Signor Choi.

[ he'll go to get to his feet without another word, particularly so he can be out of the way of the others that have been worried about him. ]
dedicate: (pic#18185313)

[personal profile] dedicate 2026-01-14 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ the first face that agent choi looks up to see isn't one he had expected by any means. it was dante, wasn't it? that kid from earlier in the tunnels, though choi hadn't taken him for a doctor, and his expression now is deeply grave, as if searching for something that isn't what he's looking at with that gaze.

but while the relief, at least, is easy to read, he has to ask: ]


Make a habit of...

[ his voice is hoarse, but a strained grin begins to stretch across his features. it's something not quite happy, and more habitual than sincere—uncertain, but at the same time, suspicious of knowing. ]

What, exactly, if you don't mind me asking?
schietto: (pic#18204888)

[personal profile] schietto 2026-01-14 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ That's an unexpected response, but at the same time... why is it, really? Someone dying probably doesn't really understand that they passed. For the other, it's perhaps nothing more than getting knocked out and waking up like you've been hit by a train.

In fact, that makes perfect sense to Dante.

It's not really his place to explain to Choi what happened to him, though, right? That's something he needs to hear from his friends that have clearly been upset and worried over him as well as were part of the incident. Still, it would be rude not to answer, and so he just smiles a bit like he's ever so faintly amused.
]

Allowing me to return a favor to you so quickly, of course.

[ okay, but seriously: ] Your friends can explain to you better than I can.
schietto: (pic#18214228)

b.

[personal profile] schietto 2026-01-14 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ yeah, what a fucking weirdo. Dante says nothing and pretends he didn't see it.

...Nah, actually he's just staring at the other and waiting to see what other normal things he manages to do.
]
schietto: (pic#18203912)

[personal profile] schietto 2026-01-14 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ okay. goes up to him now and taps him on the shoulder, then. ]
dedicate: (pic#18025669)

[personal profile] dedicate 2026-01-14 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
Haha...

[ well that can't mean anything good.

but, fine. he won't press the issue. instead, he spares a bit of a glance to the ones behind dante—that kid, guren, and grapes, but... there's something missing. a presence that has been there almost since he first arrived, and has grown so used to carrying with him that its absence feels like an aching wound of its own. like something wrong.

his attention sets back on dante. ]


Where's Subaru?

[ he's already trying to push himself up. ]
dedicate: (pic#18185314)

[personal profile] dedicate 2026-01-14 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
Grapes...

[ his voice comes softly, but clearly with great strain, still hoarse. ah—his neck really doesn't feel great, but more loudly this time: ]

Hey, Grapes. Don't tell me you're leaving already...
schietto: (pic#18214333)

[personal profile] schietto 2026-01-14 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ he doesn't know who Subaru is, in particular, but he can make a guess. Dante will go to help Choi up when he sees him trying to do so on his own— and assuming he can get up with Dante's help, the young mafioso will turn and motion for Choi towards the end of the room where Subaru has been resting. Julian may or may not be there, still.

Dante will hold onto Choi until he moves away, just to make sure he make his way to the others man's side. Alternatively, if he really has to... he supposes he'll help Choi physically get over to Subaru, too, if needed.
]
schietto: (pic#18214393)

[personal profile] schietto 2026-01-14 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
He seems to not be having any adverse reactions to the ritual. So, I'll be taking my leave. Take care, as well— you and the young lady look like you both could use some rest yourselves.

[ He doesn't really know what else to say, especially if the other won't even look at him. Dante honestly can't imagine what this little group is going through, though, and while he had to come help, he understands he and Nicola are not part of this; which probably makes it awkward for all of them to try and deal with their friend being alive again.

So to him it's best he exit as quickly as possible and maybe they can all start to unpack what's happened to themselves and Choi. He is stepping back and turning to signal to Nicola for them to depart.
]
dedicate: (pic#18185313)

[personal profile] dedicate 2026-01-14 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
C'mon, I know you're not the type to push responsibility to someone else.

[ he does know, and that's exactly why soleum is one of the first people he looks to—and for, as he finally manages to gather his bearings to the situation.

he can't just let soleum walk away. not like this. ]


I have something to say to you. Come back here.
dedicate: (pic#17904870)

[personal profile] dedicate 2026-01-14 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ that's not... what he was going for, but it's fine. it's not like he can blame grapes for acting this way either, even if he thinks to himself that he would never greet someone like this after what had happened, were he in the same position.

...

but it's hard to say that for sure, when he's not, isn't it? ]


Just wait... Hold o—

[ in trying to pull himself up to his feet, he overexerts his still-injured body and ends up coughing up a storm, including some more of that nasty sludge coughed into his hand, but it's fine. it's fine. he's already up to his knees, he just needs to lift— ]
schietto: (pic#18214200)

1/2

[personal profile] schietto 2026-01-14 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ huh what was that? some kinda weird hand smacking?

what does it even mean, help?

it seems like it's supposed to be positive, but he's never even seen it before nevermind had someone do it to him.
]
schietto: (pic#18214194)

[personal profile] schietto 2026-01-14 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ okay, well, there's actually no need to worry about what it means other than it's clearly the other's attempt to make some kind of positive departure between them.

So he'll glance at his hand after it's clapped against the other's curiously before smiling a bit (kind of a silly gesture, but memorable, he guesses?)

He'll nod at the thanks.
]

Seems like that's what I'm here for. Glad I could help. [ as for him repaying him ... eh, Choi and Roe Deer both had said they were only doing their jobs when helping Dante, so what makes Dante doing what he did much different? No sense nitpicking it with the other outloud, though. ]

If you must, but seeing you again without repayment is also more than fine.

You and the others shouldn't stay down here much longer, though.
dedicate: (pic#18025669)

[personal profile] dedicate 2026-01-14 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
[ he can hear the footsteps, but his body is wracked by the coughs, thick and grimy slime coming up from his lungs. it does stop eventually, and when it does...

he looks up.

the expression on his face can't quite be called a smile, but still, it's something close. relieved.

he wipes his hand on his shirt for a moment before holding it out to take soleum's. ]


We're teammates. I can't just let my kid run off on his own after something like that, right? And besides, this...

[ all of this. ]

Was your doing, wasn't it.
sacral: (pic#15343124)

[personal profile] sacral 2026-01-14 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's not a far distance to the other end of the room, though blood smears mark the path across in footprints and long, dark swaths. Blood smears and the slow, sticky drift of succumbence's dust, motes catching in the strange light.

He is alive, resting; there's just enough tension and color to him to signal that he survived. His rest isn't fitful, nor does he seem to be in any immediate pain, his stability tendered by an experienced doctor's hands. But stability is as far as it goes, the evidence of runic backlash painting a gruesome picture of his last memories. As if all that language shifting beneath his skin turned against him, bursting and spilling out in one unlucky draw.

And unluckier still, there's nothing to be felt in it. Nothing searching, or reaching, or aware. Their tether — or whatever it became — is gone.
]

Page 1 of 5