we both matter, don't we?
aristea arrives with celimene to assist the medics in giving aid to the battlemages who are determined to take down the bone dust dune, but aristea's magic makes her have a change of heart.
final gold count:
thatwickedkitty: 46 gold mawkmouth: 42 gold
aristea
it was comforting to know that cel was willing to go with her, wherever she decided to go, and even more comforting when celimene directly interfered in her fate, forcing her to duck as a piece of debris flew past with such force it nearly dislodged rip and sent him flying.
when she had recovered her breath and somewhat stilled her racing heart - and of course made sure that rip was alright despite being quite disgruntled - she took celimene’s hand with a sly smile all her own, big blue eyes sparkling. “i promise i’ll be careful,” she assured her, before boldly striding toward certain devastation.
aristea tried to comfort herself with the knowledge that she wouldn’t have to fight as she had with the hunt for the ravenous beast, but still she worried. her powers were certainly not strong enough to fight /this/ great monster. the closer they got, the worse the dust storm became, yet still aristea pressed on, determined to find the other healers, until -
“ah!”
she cried out as a shard of something cut across her left cheek, stinging viciously as she immediately cupped a hand to it, not thinking about what would happen if she didso. in that moment, the minds of those around her opened up, filling her with their rage and hatred of this monster. tears welled unbidden in her suddenly wide eyes, and she felt rip as he climbed up and curled around her shoulders as if to protect her but it was no use - once the connection was opened, it was hard to close.
below the noise of the minds around her, she felt something deeper - louder. a pain, a great unbearable pain, and she cried out against it, clutching her chest, but her empathy only swelled, filling her with that same pain. it was someone - no, something now.
by grace, it was the monster! she could feel it’s life sputtering, feel it’s pain as the winds slowed, feel the ache of it’s bones as if they were her own as the battlemages raged on with their attacks. “stop - grace, please make it stop!”
“you have to help it, aristea,” rip murmurs in her ears, voice choked with the same emotions she was flooded with. “go to it - go now!”
without warning, she released her companion's hand, and charged directly into the storm - all previous intentions lost as she was flooded by the sheer amount of agony being inflicted upon her.