moonbasebahamut | garlean jail

Focused vitriol may actually be beyond him, it seems, because as she approaches and speaks to him he seems to have nothing to say in return. Instead, he sinks at the shoulders, turning his head away for a moment - only to abruptly turn his gaze towards her, red eyes peeking through his bangs for the first time. Their pupils are slit, their irises glowing in the time lighting.

...And only a moment after that, the device holding his arms shackled behind him shifts and clicks open. He sags downward as his arms fall free, with some metal still wrapped around his wrists and forearms even as they separate from the wall. He grips at the floor, bending forward, a ragged breath shooting through him.

He lunges for her, sparing her no moment of realization. It's a bestial motion, thoughtless and wild - instead of finesse, he's bearing his weight and strength against her, aiming to tackle her to the ground.

There's movement in the corner of her eye and Val turns toward him as he falls from the shackles. Her breath catches even as he draws a ragged breath and, for a moment, all she knows is terrible worry for her friend. She's seen him struggling before, suffering under foul influence, and she had hoped that would have been the end of his troubles - but he is a friend of hers and, as such, would have been drawn into something sooner or later.

It makes her want to renounce all her friendships and go live in the wilds somewhere.

As she reaches for him, he lunges for her. It's certainly not the first time something's caught her by surprise; she's been battle-hardened, after all. It's not even the first time a friend - or someone wearing a friend's face - has come after her. It's definitely unexpected, in this case. (As she yelps, it's in the back of her mind that she likely should have been a little more paranoid.)

Val is slight and short; Estinien, had he ever been so inclined, probably could pick her up and toss her around with one hand. Her saving grace is that she's quick, as it always has been. She drops as Estinien lunges and she feels his hands rake through her hair. Her shoulder takes the brunt of her fall, but she rolls with it and then to her feet.

"Estinien?" She is almost certain the he's not hearing her, but she has to try. "It's me, Valeria."

If only it mattered whether he could hear her or not. The force driving him defies all of that, running on pure physical and emotional impulses that cannot be altered by knowledge or rational thought. It's a prerogative that defies what he hears and what he sees.

He doesn't hesitate. He can't hesitate. Instead, he only roots to the floor for a moment before launching himself again, this time upwards at a rapid pace, only to dive downward against just as quickly.

A shockwave of energy and heat explodes out around him, a familiar dark red aura radiating around his body. As soon as he's struck, he's lunging forward again, with clear intent to grab her at the cost of all else.

He doesn't hesitate even for the slightest moment. Val curses, short and sharp, as Estinien gathers himself for that attack. She's seen that a thousand times before and always with deadly intent behind it. She dances backward, one arm over her face to shield the brunt of the energy, and still doesn't raise her weapon.

(She's an idiot. She's an idiot, she knows it, but this is Estinien and she wants more of a read on the situation before she simply attacks him.)

So she's on the defensive, by her own choice, and using that natural quickness that has served her so well before to get out of his way. There's precious little more she can do, not without a moment to actually peruse her surroundings.

She tries to give herself that, spinning away from Estinien and heading for the unlit edge of the room.

At some point while they do this, the bulkhead doors slide closed behind them.

Some part of him notices that slim chance of freedom slipping away, while the rest of him focuses in on Val as she dashes to the other side of the room. If there was any hope of her escaping, it's just been made significantly more complicated. With wild, incoherent need he wishes she would just leave, or if not that, that she would stop eluding him.

He wants it to stop, the pain of being driven like this causing more anguish than the moral consequences. He buckles at the knees, his claws digging at the metal floor, as fury and agony boil in his gut.

He cries out in a horrible roar, the kind that Val may remember from her battles with Nidhogg himself. A destructive force that goes beyond mundane sound, it tears through the air with an impact that bends metal. It's a cry of his spirit more than a cry of his actual voice, and it's filled with his pain.

That roar stops her, not because of the destruction in it or the dread that carries it, but because of the horror that fills her soul when she hears it. Her foot skids on the metal floor as she turns to face him - briefly taking note of the bulkhead that's now closed behind them - and her breath catches. Her dread and horror are not fear; not for her, at least.

She's danced this dance before with Estinien, but she had Alphinaud at her side then. (Alphinaud and his tireless faith when even Valeria herself had been near to calling it a lost cause would have been a boon to her spirit at this moment.) She doesn't want to hurt him, but she also has no plans on simply laying down and dying.

Any plan, though, would be an improvement to her situation here.

"Can you hear me at all, Estinien?" she calls, her gaze darting around the room and onto Estinien.

garlean jail

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