cage match: thistle vs clover

[eonsadrift]

WHO: Clover, Thistle, and spectators!
WHERE: Thistle's yard
WHEN: Day 31

Comments

[shortforever]

[An elemental burst to the face would be enough to end a fight in most cases, yes. Hell, it would be enough to end someone's life entirely sometimes.

Odin is not one to accept defeat so easily though, and he has to at least try to defend himself. Which is why he throws his hands upwards, pushing all of his ability out through his hands, forcing them up while Zenith stomps down. The stomp is strong and his arms almost buckle under the force of it, but he grits his teeth and keeps pushing upward with his ability.

As he does so, red marks starts appearing on his hands and crawling up his arms, signaling that he is overexerting himself at the moment. But he seems unaware of the change, his gaze is focused only on Zenith right now.]

[survivaltricks]

[Lupin's scrap with Caster had kept her busy, and his attention off of Zenith vs. Odin. but once he runs out of juice, he glances over at his teammate and Clover's Shepherd. . . just in time to notice those red marks crawling across Odin's body]

[and his heart freezes in his chest]

-- ODIN! Odin, stop!

[he's exhausted, but he scrambles to his feet nevertheless, stumbling towards his teammate to grab at him, heedless of the tornado of wind that whips around the field]

[eonsadrift]

[ It's admittedly impressive that Odin can tank his entire burst, but surely that means he must be wearing out- not that it matters, since Zenith is forced back to the ground once his burst wears out.

He exhales in a huff and readies himself to go back in despite the red marks, and is only stopped by Lupin's shout. ]

Cowards!

[ He's not stopping. ]

[noarchitact]

[ as soon as he hears lupin call out for odin to stop he hastily tears his eyes off of zenith to look at the kid... and things finally seem to be going for worse to a complete fucken mess. ]

[ fantasia hops the fence as he summons tempo to his side, the ground rumbling beneath zenith as a burst of vines explode out to grapple him completely. ] Enough's enough! [ he snatches tempo out of the air as the vines constrict zenith, trying to wring whatever strength he's still got out of him. ]

[eonsadrift]

[ With how long he's been fighting and the energy that Caster is draining from him, he's basically on his last reserves as it is.

...so he's yanked back pretty easily by the vines as they wrap around him. He gives a token struggle against them before he deflates, not because he's giving up but because Kaveh is yelling at him. ]

I-

-I wasn't done yet.

[noarchitact]

Zenith. [ he doesn't let up on the pressure, his red eyes gleaming with his own brand of murderous intent. ] I'm calling the shots now, and you. are. done.

[belltolling]

-- Zenith!

[ Caster's new outfit and her weapon have dissipated now, at least, so she's not as much of a draw, and she's running to check on him ]

Are you alright?!

[eonsadrift]

[ He's still restrained by Kaveh but he doesn't seem too damaged, especially once she stops drawing on his energy. Mostly he's embarrassed because he's being held back from continuing to fight. ]

...I'm okay.

Did you win?

[belltolling]

[ she visibly looks relieved at that. definitely is not making any attempts to free him though. ]

I did... You tired him out already, though, which definitely helped.

[noarchitact]

[ an excellent call on her part,
because the vines will strike without prejudice. ]

[eonsadrift]

Your powers are much more useful than I expected.

...good work. I think we made our point clear.

[belltolling]

[ she has been praised! she looks a little flustered, but gives him a nod ]

I think so too.

... I might just need ... a little rest after all of this. I don't want to tax you too much.

[eonsadrift]

[ He's too exhausted to argue, and he might not have even if he did still have energy because there's something about the way Kaveh looks at him. ]

...fine.

[noarchitact]

[ he hates to release him prematurely ( he's still pissed ) but he does so in order to form a hydro curtain around them, his vines needed to weave in and out of the water and summon dendro cores. it's a literal minefield out there, so hopefully nobody tries to get any closer. ]

[ at least he's not arguing with him. ]

[eonsadrift]

[ He doesn't argue, he just brushes himself off as he's released. All in all, other than being entirely drained of energy, he's not too hurt. The good luck buffs really came in clutch.

He hesitates, looking away from Kaveh as he grumbles: ]

I wasn't going to actually kill them... I just wanted to scare them.

[noarchitact]

Congratulations. [ the sarcasm is like venom dripping from his tongue. you did it, zenith, you have the kids worrying like crazy. it's not all his fault, he realizes, because odin wasn't about to back down either, but zenith is an adult and should know better than to push himself and others well beyond their limits. ] You did what you set out to do and everybody saw. [ hooray. ]

[shortforever]

[He's pushing up, eating all the extra damage and feeling the creaking in his arms as they're probably reaching their breaking point. It hurts, he's going to be injured and sore when this is over, but his immediate worry is being stomped to death. He'll deal with the other stuff later.

'Later' comes sooner than he expected though, as he hears someone calling his name- it sounds so distant, the ringing in his ears is drowning it out- and then someone grabs him and drags him away.

Almost instantly he drops his gravity control, letting out a shocked gasp as he does. He's shaking a little as he takes in quick breaths of air, feeling like no amount of air will be enough to make him stop feeling dizzy.

He tries to speak, but it's like the words won't come out of his mouth. Shock, maybe. He still doesn't understand what's going on, this has never happened to him before. He feels like he's going to pass out and his chest is going to burst.

The marks linger on his arms for now, but their ascent has stopped at about elbow-height.]

[survivaltricks]

[. . . vaguely, he's aware that there's an audience. vaguely, he's aware that Zenith isn't the only one seeing this-- everyone now has a front-row seat to a secret Odin has been keeping close to his chest since the very first time he arrived in the pasture]

[with his jaw set, with his own bones aching, with his face and head fully bruised-- Lupin drags Odin into his arms, wrapping them tightly around Odin's back, fingers stealing into those red locks immediately]

Odin. . . Odin. It's me. It's Lupin. I've got you. I'm here.

Listen to me. Hold onto me. Focus on me. Stay with me.

[noarchitact]

[ while he's squeezing zenith half to death he looks over to lupin and odin, his concern spiking because he's not sure what the hell is going on ( or why ) but he can just tell that something's up. ]

[ he manipulates the water in bluebell's moat to form a curtain of hydro around them, the vines dropping zenith to instead weave through that - prompting a number of dendro cores to appear. if anybody so much as tries to get past the wall, then they're going to be in for an explosive surprise. ]

[ sorry, everybody, show's over and this area is off limits. ]

[survivaltricks]

[NTS: BIG THANKS FOR FANTASIA LATER ON]

[noarchitact]

[ he calls over to him once he's done reprimanding zenith. ] Let me know when you'd like me to drop it. [ he's hoping that people will leave now that the fight's over, but if he needs to sustain the curtain for a while... then he will. ]

[survivaltricks]

[a few long moments pass where all that can be heard are Lupin and Odin's muttered voices. . . but eventually--]

Thank you.

[a genuine expression of gratitude comes from the other side of the wall]

I think we're okay now.

[shortforever]

[THANKS FOR THE PRIVACY FANTASIA!

It's probably good anyway, because this is when Odin's legs give out from under him and he just collapses. Either to the ground or against Lupin, depending on if Lupin lets him drop or not.

His eyes seem a bit distant at first, like he can see but he's not really focused on what's going on. The ringing in his ears feels like a deafening roar.]

Lupin...

[He sounds a bit urgent. His mind is trying to warn Lupin that he didn't beat Zenith and the guy is probably still around, but forming words is hard.]

[survivaltricks]

[Lupin is vaguely aware of the sudden wall of water and plants surrounding them, and he can vaguely think that he needs to thank whoever is responsible. . . but most of his attention is on Odin. on holding him tightly, on lowering him to the ground so he can rest. on holding him close and keeping him grounded so-- so that god's influence doesn't take him entirely]

It's okay.

[his voice is even. exhausted, but even]

I think it's over. . . for now. You can rest.

[shortforever]

[Lupin is such an important person for Odin and honestly his presence does wonders for keeping him grounded. The ringing from before is getting quieter, his chest hurting less and less with each breath. The marks starts to recede, the color draining first before the outline fades away. Down his forearm, reaching his wrist. Likewise, Odin becomes more coherent and his eyes can focus once more.]

Did I keep him from hurting anyone?

[Odin is bleeding from dozens of cuts, both small and large, and he very likely has several cracked or broken bones. There is a bit of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. And yet he still worries about the other Thistles more than himself.]