countermeasures | chroma | catchall for vin

[the girls are just minding their own business when they find themselves surrounded by a bubble.

jiuqing, who doesn't particularly like sharing her past, reaches into her bag to retrieve an acupuncture needle from her kit and tries to pop it. it does nothing, of course, and with a sigh, she puts a hand to it, which causes it to glow with a soft color.

murder trials are never easy, are they? though, at least the ones here don't involve torturing suspects to make them talk.]

Edited 2022-03-07 19:16 (UTC)

[oof!

before she can really react to any of the contents of the memory properly, there's a sense of shock at seeing something that clearly doesn't belong to her at all. her hand comes up to her mouth, and she glances towards jiuqing, surprised.]

What...? That was—

[her name that they spoke.]

[that sure was something.

jiuqing frowns, her nose wrinkling.]

...another of this place's tricks, it seems. They really do not seem to want us to keep any secrets from one another.

...I'm glad somebody helped you.

[although...]

Were you alright, in the end?

Yes.

[it could have been a lot worse than it was.]

The man you saw was my teacher, Doctor Meng. After examining the Dowager Empress's body, he was able to determine the herb that was used to poison her. And when the Emperor investigated who had access to the herb, which was in extremely limited supply, he discovered that Princess Baoyang had sent her maids to procure it for her.

...So she was acting so urgent because her own fate was on the line.

[not really surprising, but still aggravating.]

[she nods]

...and because she wanted me dead. She is obsessed with Lin Yue, and as I was acquainted with him, wanted me out of the way.

[she sounds so tired when she says this. why all the het drama.]

...Perhaps he would have returned her affections were she not vile.

[why are hets this way.]

Perhaps. But he's engaged to someone else, so I really don't know why she bothered.

[she is. so tired.]

You'd think she would have started with his fiance...

[the straights are wild.]

What happened to her, after she was found out?

...she was engaged to the prince of Yan, our neighboring country. But she didn't want to marry him. Members of the imperial family are supposed to enter a period of mourning for three years after someone of the Dowager Empress' station dies, during which they're not supposed to get married.

[she sighs.]

They swept the murder under the rug and the emperor had her married to the prince of Yan anyway, for political reasons.

[ah... well, that does make her a little bit more sympathetic in vin's eyes, but she cares about jiuqing enough that she isn't going to forgive. especially because of the het nonsense, which seems entirely unrelated to the reasons she feels bad for her. anyways.]

...A shame, I guess.

[she wouldn't really wish a forced marriage on anyone, regardless of whether she dislikes her.]

It would have been wiser not to marry her to him. A few months after the wedding, she stabbed him, and now we're at war with Yan.

Oh.

[hm.]

That is... rather unfortunate.

The whole imperial family is a mess.

That is often the case with nobility.

[she nods]

...anyway, I'm sorry you had to see that. It couldn't have been pleasant to see so suddenly.

It's hardly your fault.

[she sighs at the still unpopped bubble, though.]

...I do not want to make you uncomfortable, but I'm not sure there will be another way to address this. But - many of the things I have seen are... painful.

[just as a warning, and to ask for her permission before diving right in.]

...

[she nods]

That's alright. Whatever it is... I can take it. And I won't speak of whatever I see to anyone.

...I appreciate that.

[she reaches for the bubble, hesitating for only another moment before pushing forth a burst of amber with a frown. as she anticipated, a memory begins.]

[You are running through a corridor, following behind a man who looks to be in his late thirties named Kelsier. Given the coordinated way the two of you move, it seems that you’re working together. You’re running incredibly fast, faster than anyone should be able to, reaching for a power source deep inside of you to sustain this rapid motion. You feel… wrong, as though this place itself is sapping your energy, making you feel low somehow. Still, you know that the two of you have come to this place - Kredik Shaw - to find something important.

Ahead of you, two soldiers step into the corridor. Kelsier doesn’t hesitate before slamming feet first into one of them, then flipping and jamming one of his daggers straight into the other one’s neck. Though the sight isn’t a surprise to you, it still stirs something inside of you. These were evil men, he’d said to you earlier, but - you can’t shake the way that it disturbs you.

After the two soldiers are dispatched, he moves down a side corridor, and you follow him. You both see a doorway with a brighter light shining inside, and you move towards it. This chamber is wide, with a high ceiling and murals made of silver. A mountain. A spacious cavern. A pool of light. And… something dark, too. Kelsier strides forward, and you follow in a nervous crouch. It’s suspicious to you, how empty this room is, if it’s as important as the two of you are imagining. There must be other guards or soldiers nearby. Still, the two of you approach a large oaken door leading further into the building, and Kelsier opens it without hesitation.

You were right to be worried. A Steel Inquisitor stands in the doorway, a slow and eerie smile spreading on its face. Both of you freeze for a long, shocked moment. No. No, that can’t be—

Your thoughts are interrupted when Kelsier starts to yell. “Vin, run!” As soon as he says that, the Inquisitor reaches out almost casually, grabbing the man by the throat. You freeze. You see two other Inquisitors striding in through open archways, heading towards you. The Inquisitor holding onto your companion's throat lifts him easily with an iron grip. The smile remains as he looks at the man. “Kelsier, the survivor of Hathsin.” His voice sounds like grinding stone, before he turns his attention to you. “And… you. I’ve been looking for you. I’ll let this one die quickly if you tell me which nobleman spawned you, half-breed.”

Kelsier coughs, struggling for breath, and the Inquisitor turns back toward him. He coughs again, trying to form words, and the Inquisitor pulls him closer to hear what he's attempting to say. As soon as he's close enough, Kelsier shoves his dagger into the thing’s neck. As the creature stumbles, he slams his fist into the Inquisitor’s forearm, his strengthened movement shattering bone. The Inquisitor drops him, and he falls to the floor. Gasping for breath, he looks back towards you, terrified - for you, not for himself. “I said run!” You're still frozen. This wasn't supposed to happen. They weren't supposed to be here.

Kelsier throws a coin pouch at you, and you reach out to grab it - but it moves unusually fast, propelled by an unseen force. You realize that he was trying to throw it at you, not to you, and it pushes you backwards as it slams against your chest, propelling you past the other two Inquisitors who were approaching. After you skid on the marble, you look up, disoriented. You see Kelsier standing, and the first Inquisitor moving towards him, apparently unconcerned about the dagger stuck in its neck. The other two Inquisitors stand between you and Kelsier as you look his way. “Run!” He screams, desperate and panicked. For a moment, the word echoes in the domed chamber, and one Inquisitor turns to you with its unnatural gaze, looking at you with the flat end of its spikes. Finally, the word cuts through your daze, unlocking a sudden sense of fear and urgency.

You rush to your feet and start sprinting for the nearest doorway out of here, using some kind of power to pull yourself away from the floor and through the air, near the doorway, but - something goes wrong. When you hit the ground, it’s unexpected, and at an awkward angle. Your head hits the stone floor, and for a moment, everything spins. You wonder what happened and why you didn’t make it to the destination you were aiming for, before you remember the coin pouch full of metal you’re holding - someone exerted a power on it, pulling it (and you along with it) backwards when you were trying to move forward. Just as you realize this, you see the Inquisitor shooting down the corridor towards you, and you pull some coins out of the pouch, sending them shooting with unnatural speed towards the Inquisitor - until he raises a hand and they stop in place. You’re thrown backwards again, and when you come to rest, you see the creature moving towards you once more.

You pick yourself up and run through the first doorway you see, grabbing a candelabra from the wall as a makeshift weapon - but as the Inquisitor comes into the room, it’s ripped from your hands easily before he’s even close to you. You jump, using some kind of power to force yourself over the altar in the middle of the room, while the Inquisitor continues moving towards you. He reaches into a bowl atop a pillar, pulling out what appears to be a few sharp metal triangles. His hand bleeds at contact, but this doesn’t stop the way he shoots them towards you easily. You only barely dodge them by ducking behind a pillar.

“You are trapped. Come with me.” It says. You look around to see that there aren’t any other doors in the room, and when you look towards the Inquisitor around the pillar, another triangle of sharp metal shoots towards your face. You duck behind the pillar again before it can hit you, breathing hard in outright terror. Your heart is pounding. People do not fight Inquisitors and live.

Behind the altar, you see a leatherbound book, and you wonder if this is what you came here to find - you reach towards it, then lift a flask containing an alcohol solution and pieces of what seems to be metal inside. You swallow the contents, then reach for the power that you know the metal will give you. When you look back towards the Inquisitor, something fundamental has changed. You can see different versions of him moving, a kind of echo trailing behind the one in front. This is what atium does - it allows you to view an opponent’s next move before it can make them, giving you a chance to react before they’ve actually made that move. You see the shadows of the triangles he has racing towards you, and you raise the book and follow the path they make, catching every projectile in the book. The Inquisitor looks shocked for a moment, before a hundred shadow images suddenly burst forth - a sign that he has atium, too. You won’t be able to predict his movements any longer.

You run out of the room, and see several soldiers - these don’t have atium, so they’re easy enough to get past when you can foresee their movements. You don’t kill or even wound them - that would only take more time. You’re focused on escape. As you pass the last man, you turn around a corner, relief flooding through you at the possibility of escape—

Everything happens very quickly.

Before you’ve had time to process that there’s another Steel Inquisitor standing right there around the corner, it’s too late to dodge before he shoves a weapon into your stomach, and it pierces out through your back.

You gasp in both shock and pain, hearing a sickening noise as it rips the weapon right back out with no thought or concern. You see that it’s a length of wood affixed with a great number of sharp obsidian blades. The pain is - immeasurable, almost beyond comprehension, and you sway on your feet as it's removed. You grasp your side, feeling a terrifying amount of blood seeping out from the large, jagged wound, immediately reaching for a power source that will keep you standing. You realize this is the Inquisitor from the room you left Kelsier in, and there’s a terrifying moment where you have to wonder if that means he’s been killed.

“Who is your father?” The creature asks, the voice of grinding stone continuing. The soldiers near you step aside to let another Inquisitor through the corridor you just ran through, and as you look down at the wound - it’s a severe one, and even with the power you’re using, you don’t know how long you’ll be able to stand - both Inquisitors start to descend towards you, the first one still holding the weapon coated with your blood. You don’t know where to go. As you think, panicked, that you’re going to die—

The memory ends.]

[oh.

that... is a lot. it's horrifying. one of jiuqing's hands comes to rest over her stomach - the memory is over, but the memory of the pain isn't going to be one she forgets anytime soon, even if it was secondhand - and the other comes up to cover her mouth.

her gaze flicks to vin's face, concerned.]

Vin...

...I'm sorry.

[of all the memories to see - if she thought it would be that one, she would have given further warning. her hand grips at her side as well, from the recollection of that pain, pressing against the scar it left. she takes a breath. she can guess what the most pressing concern might be, so after a halting moment:]

I lived.

[...it's not touch week, but.

jiuqing reaches out to give vin a hug anyway.]

I'm so glad you did.

[oh. the embrace, for her, is unexpected - but she doesn't pull away, even if she tenses slightly in surprise. as she relaxes slightly, she's glad jiuqing can't see the look on her face. there's a little strain in her voice, though.]

...It is as I said. I am fairly sturdy.

week three, monday

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1/2

cw: murder, gore.

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