alittlerampage | (no subject)

Alisaie hates working at Stickyroll. Swirlybun. Swirlyroll. Whatever it’s called, they make her stow her rapier in her employee locker, and she has to wear this ridiculous visor, and ‘non-slip sneakers’ and ‘employee uniform’ instead of her usual attire. But needs must, and they require money for their apartment, small though it is, so here she is, dressed in her finest food service garb and lamenting to Alphinaud how frustrating it is to constantly repeat ‘Thank you for shopping at Swirlyroll, have a swirl of a good day!’

“It’s demeaning is what it is,” she’s saying, not for the first time even this week. “And what even is a swirl of a good day? It’s nonsense. We need to find other work.”

She’s still going, her visor pushed up so it doesn’t squash her fringe to her brow, when she sees the creature up ahead. It looks similar to the Voidsent that Abby had killed, knife and all, and Alisaie gasps and grabs Alphinaud’s arm.

“Look! It’s another of those creatures.” They’d each seen one before, though they’re still so unlike the Voidsent they know from Eorzea or the Sin Eaters of the First. Seeing it lumbering and stumbling towards a shimmering rift has Alisaie’s sense of adventure stirring. She looks at Alphinaud, her eyes sparkling.

“We should follow it,” she says. She doesn’t wait for his response. In her horrendous black non-slip sneakers, she gives chase, drawing her rapier as she goes.

The creature vanishes ahead of her, the rift rippling with its passing, and Alisaie leans into her sprint. The shimmer ripples around her as she passes through it as well, and as she steps through she sees…

The exact same thing she’d seen a moment ago.

No, not exactly. The creature is still there, yes, and so is Darrow, but it’s… different. Its mien is utterly filthy, broken and ashy, cut through with tentacles and heavy motes not unlike those they’d seen on Valentine’s Day. She skids to a stop — nearly pitches forward when her non-slip sneakers hold fast against the ground as intended — and lifts her crystal and sword, ready for anything.

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As is to be expected, Alphinaud has a relationship with the Swirlyroll and its totalitarian regime, administered by the ever sharp-eyed Linda, that complements that of his sister's-- similar and yet not a true reflection. He hardly minds a uniform (though he truly wishes it were a more flattering outfit), and fussing over the small details, now that he knows how best to mind them, satisfies something deep within him.

A true pity they cannot keep their weapons closer, that is an opinion shared with Alisaie, for the food court is an ever-changing sea of personalities and quarrels. Beefs, their colleague Krystal has named them, these problems that are perhaps more shallow than the geopolitical problems he's used to solving-- and yet no less intense.

He's been expecting another day of gooey pastry and bringing empty trays to sparkle when the creature appears. There's barely a moment to spare, to recognize the look of it from that night in the woods, before he's once again running after Alisaie as she plunges headlong into danger.

And then he careens into her, just barely keeping himself standing as he takes in the new world around them. "What is this place?" he asks, turning to what must have been their doorway, only to find it gut-droppingly closed.

"A Reflection of Darrow, I should think," she answers, shrugging him off of her with her elbow. The creature turns at their commotion and Alisaie smirks. "Perhaps the true home of the creatures we've been hearing tell of." She looks over her shoulder at her twin. "Shall we?"

The creature shrieks and begins to lumber towards them. That seems answer enough, and Alisaie flings a jolt spell at it.

In a strange way, Shion feels at ease here in this mirror Darrow. He's come down here and gone back a handful of times, and he's confident in his ability to do so again, as he is in the knowledge that he can defeat anything down here that comes his way. It's a boost to his ego, really, soothing after spending so many months all too aware that he's used to working as part of a team. So far nothing down here has helped him get home, but he's sure that, sooner or later, something will click. There has to be an answer. He just needs to keep looking.

Though he keeps to the rooftops when he wants to avoid the creatures, he still has to stay vigilant, and he leans over the edge when he hears one of them screech, craning his head and searching for the source. It's a lone being for now, though more might come at its call. More interesting is what's caught its attention, two familiar figures teamed up against it.

With a casual hop down, he strolls across the street, hands in his pockets, cooler bag bumping against his hip. They've got this in hand, he's sure, which means he can just watch, curious as ever about the use of magic. A hint of movement in his peripheral vision changes that, though. "There's another one coming," he calls. "To your right and back."

"I do not see that we have any choice," and it's not as if Alphinaud is admonishing his sister at this very moment, but rather the whole situation. Another world? How-- how incredibly irritating, if he's to be honest. He can only hope this to be a temporary change of scenery.

Drawing his grimoire and feeling his aether well up inside, he casts the Broil spell while he can, before Alisaie takes any damage. Without the Warrior of Light or similarly-aspected friends, he'll have to work harder to keep her on her feet.

A voice distracts him, only slightly.

"Shion," he calls, swinging about to cast again, this time at the new creature, placing him back to back with Alisaie, "well met! Keep yourself from this fight if you can."

Alisaie flings a verthunder towards her first target, but glances towards Shion and then the creature he warns them of. They're too far apart for her to use her wider-reaching area of effect spells, but she's certain they can handle this together.

The creature stumbles towards her, limping under the onslaught of Alphinaud's broil spell and her own followup attacks, and Alisaie flicks her blade against it in graceful, whip-fast slashes.

"I'll try," Shion responds, "but they may have other ideas." He acquitted himself well enough alongside Alisaie during the Purge, he figures, though that wasn't too difficult a night. Humans are more predictable than these things, if only because sometimes one shows up he doesn't recognizes and he has no idea what weird gunk it's going to spray out of which unexpected orifice. This place is a nightmare, honestly.

He's not keen on going another few rounds, though, and if the twins want to take it on, well, he has no doubt they can handle this pair of brutes just fine. He stays on his guard, watching for any newcomers or any sign his interference is needed. "You just get here?"