etraya | un: plushiewarrior | VIDEO (in which alex sends a really powerful radio signal into the night)

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un: plushiewarrior | VIDEO (in which alex sends a really powerful radio signal into the night)

( The wind's too loud to hear anything at first, catching the earpiece at exactly the wrong angle. Then Alex waves, smiling with that glassy eyed look that significantly tipsy people can end up wearing. It's dark behind her, but anyone very, very familiar with the skyscraper rooftops in Nova City will recognize she's on one of them. )

Hiii! Oh, it is... so not as cold up here as I expected!

( She laughs a little, throwing her hands up into the air and stumbling forward to likewise toss her arms around part of a metal structure, possibly a radio tower. Alex rests her head on it, her laughter trailing off as she smiles, a little bittersweet. )

I wanted to send a message. A big one! A big... message. So I thought, what if you had a lot... I mean a lot of power behind a radio signal? Won't that do something? We just want to be heard...

( Her eyes close, and it doesn't seem like she's doing anything. Then the tower starts to hum, lighting up with a soft sort of glow under her hands. Anyone tuned into its frequency will hear a humming too, almost like static feedback, that starts to sound more like a heartbeat. Hers. Then a clearer message with that beating in the background: Echo. Come in, Echo.

Then it really starts to glow, until the whole radio tower is a beacon of light. There is no way for the tower to handle that much energy for long. Alex's brow furrows as she's swallowed by the light, the overpowered radio signal shooting up a moment later, all the light abruptly going out as it fizzles upward, a misleading manifestation of what went without being visible to most eyes. Alex is left clinging to a partially melted structure, pushing herself away to stand, swaying. )

... Did that... oh. I don't... feel so good...

( Which is when she goes boneless, dropping out of frame to hit the rooftop in a muffled thud, close to passing out. Luckily her earpiece is still recording! ... About four feet higher than her current head level. Enjoy your scene of a warped radio tower and the otherwise unremarkable rooftop, Etraya. )

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[The threads vanish. She knows what she needs. He rolls his shoulders once and walks back to the edge of the tower.] Alright.

That's a quick flight. [Most things are for a dragon. He hops off the edge, and the massive dragon is suddenly once more beating at the air with his feathered wings. He sets his massive hand down on the top of the tower, giving them the platform as close as he dares without scooping them up himself.]

Better to go with what you know works.

[ Setsu holds her steady. ]

Protocore Syndrome. Understood.

[ They repeat the term just to commit it to memory. As Kaeya walks away, Setsu already has an idea of what he's doing before they even hear or feel the rush of air from his wings, and they hook an arm under Alex's legs and scoop her up into their arms as they stand. Setsu has no idea what Protocore Syndrome is, so the best they can do right now is try not to jostle her too much as they climb up Kaeya's offered hand and ensure nothing is compressing her chest as they carry her. ]

We have you. [ A little reassurance as they sit down, placing their full trust in Kaeya. ] You'll be okay.

[ They hadn't put much stock into the hospital thus far, but it was their best bet right now. ]

( Before Setsu picks her up, Alex does try to rally again, tensing and wheezing and almost this time making it to seated. She may even get to that point just by hanging around, but Setsu wisely doesn't give Alex the option. Instead, she finds herself lifted and widening her eyes a touch, a soft: )

Woah.

( Slipping out with her next breath. Clumsily enough, she gets an arm around their neck, letting her head fall against her shoulder after. Is this actually helpful? Alex doesn't know. )

Sorry. ( Inhale slow, exhale slow. Breathing exercises as her eyes close again. She trusts Setsu, and if the very pretty dragon (?) person that is definitely not a Wanderer is Setsu's friend, she trusts them too. ) For troubling you both.

Oh, consider it you owe me a drink some time. [He laughs, it sounds like the crashing of the waves. He tucks his hand close to his chest. His passengers are precious.

It still feels so jarring to be this size and connected so deeply to the sea. He flies away from the ruined radio tower and heads for the hospital. With the way he has tucked his hand they are shielded from the worst of the wind.

In no time at all he is descending to set them down before the hospital. Once they are safely on the ground he shifts, flowing down and moving to help Setsu with Alex.

How fluid his body is when he decides to be dragon and not human is hard to deal with sometimes. He doesn’t let himself think about it.] Besides. A little excitement never hurts so long as you live through it.

[ It's dark, and less cold than it could be when his hand closes around them and holds them close. It's likely only because of his size and proximity that they can hear him joke like that.

Anything Setsu has to say, to Kaeya or to Alex, would probably be drowned out by the whistling of the wind. They hug Alex closer, and tilt their head to the side to gently tap Kaeya as a silent thanks.

And once they land, they quickly hop off to give Kaeya some space and Alex some fresh air. To Alex, they gently add: ]

You understand, right?

[ That means she can't be doing things like this...and that's about as far as Setsu can go in reprimanding her right now, carrying her through the doors to the hospital as Kaeya opens them. At any time of day or night, a hospital should be staffed, though right now, there's only a single bot milling around the lobby. ]

Excuse me—Protocore Syndrome, where are the supplies to treat it?

[ And hopefully the bot knows and Alex doesn't need to attempt to direct them. (Or worse: Setsu and Kaeya have to just search for them.) ]

( Alex has closed her eyes since they left the rooftop, the pull of seeing what was happening fading into the odd comfort of being carried (by two vastly different persons at the same time). She forces them open once the sense of gravity returns in predictable ways, slitting them at least halfway and numbly nodding her head.

The pain's settling into a throb, not as dangerous as when she'd been fighting with Zayne against the man running the Fountain of Atai project. She can't exactly tell either of them that — too much context, and she's focused on breathing evenly to pull enough air into her lungs.

The companion bot Setsu approaches turns to them attentively, wearing a stethoscope as a belt around its narrow waist. The diaphragm of the stethoscope is attached over where a human would have their heart located, slightly off to the right of the chest. )

Cardiology.

( She states, clarification as she tenses in Setsu's arms, bearing with the pain. Note to herself, as already implied or stated by Setsu: do not do this. She hadn't realized how much she was pouring in, and it's not like it's all her power — but that second, unstable core in her heart had been upset.

The bot lights up and leads the way to the elevators, guiding them to the cardiology 'wing' and subsequently the locked medical cabinet where the shot — and it is a substantial looking injection — sits in a carrying case. Alex isn't quite tracking events clearly by then, breathing in and out as steadily as she can manage, which is not as steadily as she thinks. If she's asked, she'll flop one arm out as an indication for where it should go... and murmur about veins. )

[The word is unfamiliar but, she knows what she needs. And the bot’s attire gives him a clue. He clears the way for the little troupe. At 6’6 as a dragon he is hard to miss. He waits until the last door closes to say,] Stay awake, you’re the only one that knows what you need.

[He snorts as he glances at the bot.] Other than them, I mean.

[Another bot with a little hat drifts out and the pair go about the usual medical procedures. Kaeya sits in a nearby chair, tail curling around the bottom.] Exactly what did you do on the tower?

[Questions can keep one awake. Or at least conscious enough to be worked on.]

[ Once the bots start taking over, Setsu gingerly lays Alex down on the bed before quickly stepping out of the way to allow them to work. They watch the bots connect Alex to monitors to observe her vitals—heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen level—and set up a tray for the injection.

None of the information displayed means anything to Setsu, but they don't need to be able to read Alex's vitals to be worried about her condition. With nothing else to do to help, they can only stand there stiffly beside Kaeya with their arms folded in front of them, ready to act at any time regardless.

Kaeya's question, however, pulls Setsu's focus back, too. They glance between him and Alex, questioning if Alex can even string together the words to explain herself right now, but— What was she doing that put her in this condition? ]

( If the pain wasn't ramping up again, Alex would have told someone, the bots? Just to jab her, treat it like an epipen, not like an infusion, but she just doesn't have it in her to do more than concentrate fully on breathing. Not passing out either.

She briefly glances toward Kaeya with his question, but it's not until the bots set the injection down and look like they're about to set up a saline line for her that Alex rolls herself toward the tray, grabs the injection, and holds it over her own arm. Let it never be said Alex hesitates when it comes to injecting herself. She knows her own veins after years of hospital visits, just usually not from this particular angle.

Apologies to gathered bot and person audience, but Alex grunts a little in the spike of pain that moving and jabbing herself provides, depressing the full injection faster than perhaps necessary. It's too hard to regulate right now, and she's fully getting the painful sense of how stupid her extremes had been, versus if she'd done, say, a less drunk approach.

Black is threatening at the edges of her vision again as she flops back against the raised bed, but she fights it off through sheer willpower. Kaeya had asked a question. She needs to answer it. Doesn't she? Her heart rate is evening out, no longer beating erratically if still too fast, but even that is starting to slow down. )

Gah. I sent out a signal using the radio tower. I would have used a satellite, but I didn't see one when I was driving the islands...

( She exhales, making herself... tense to stay away. Even if the pain is much reduced by merit of the therapy that would, for most people, either only slow down their dying or help contribute to them becoming something else instead. )

Ugh. I used way too much power resonating with that tower. ( She finally glances between them, brow furrowed, but less from pain than earlier. ) Was it really melted?

Oh extremely. A Pyro Genshin couldn’t have done it better. [He knows the exact one he could think of to do it. Complete with casual treating himself harshly. He leans forward, studying her for a moment.

Workoholic or adventurer. Or both.] Are you going to be alright? You can take your time answering.

[Archons he hopes so. She was very pale when they brought her in.]

[ Setsu jumps a little seeing Alex inject herself. At first, they don't even know if she's capable of knowing what she's doing in her current state, but the entire process happens so quickly that, by the time Setsu snaps out of their shock, it's already done.

And she's talking again. ]

Just for that?

[ The words slip out automatically in response: A mix of disbelief and disappointment. There is so much they want to say to her at the moment, but now really isn't the time for it.

First, they want Alex to take her time recovering from whatever "resonating" does to her body. With how rapidly she declined, even if she answers that she's fine now, Setsu doesn't know if they'll be able to believe her. Nevertheless, they look back at her with concern and wait for her answer. ]

( For a moment, tired as she is, Alex looks struck. More by what Setsu's saying, but she turns wide eyes toward her friend, feeling suddenly very small. Just for that? Alex's voice and demeanour is subdued, having no ready answer for Kaeya. Just the smallness, and Setsu, and those three words. )

We're stuck here. Echo doesn't talk to us, Aurora can't talk to Echo for us, we have to get past here. Outside this bubble. And I don't know how else to do that except scream as loud as I can and hope someone, somewhere, hears me when I'm saying we're all here.

( Her voice gets progressively quieter, Alex drawing her legs up so she can wrap one arm around them. The other one's connected to too many wires. Her heart rate is dropping down into more normal ranges, still slightly elevated, but it beats steadily, no skips, no murmurs. That is what the injection did, along with cutting through the haze of the pain. Now it's just the aches that come after, and the slide off adrenaline and into the dark.

Alex feels her eyes burn, and she furrows her brow, blinking as furiously as she can manage. It's not all that fast. Evol exhaustion on top of what her protocores do when acting less stable means she's got very little energy left to burn, and her crashout is looming high and dark behind her eyes. Not quite ashamed of it, but definitely not happy with herself, Alex lets her head drop down onto her legs, voice muffled and small. She doesn't have the energy not to cry right now. She also doesn't have the energy to do more than feel the hot, wet trails it leaves coursing down her cheeks, coming under her chin and falling down onto her chest under the weight of their own gravity. )

I miss home. I miss my friends. I miss work. I miss knowing I'm helping make sure no one else goes through what I did. But I'm here, and so is everyone else, and Echo won't even talk with us. How are we supposed to work anything out if it won't talk with us?

[The man behind the forest of masks he calls a smile waits until quiet descends. Everything she’s saying ricochets around inside his heart. He shares those feelings. His voice is quiet and tired as a bit of the real Kaeya of clan Alberich slips out.] We can’t. And that’s the problem.

If someone doesn’t talk to us we can’t do anything to see if we’re being told the truth or not. It feels like running to someone else’s tune and for what?

It isn’t fair. [He gets up and quietly requests a box of tissues and some water from a bit. He pulls his chair closer to her bed. With him comes the sense of the sea. He dims it down to a low background as if they were not far from the sea shore.] But we have to be smart about how we rattle the bars. Stabbing ourselves with them isn’t going to return us to where we belong. And to the lives we were taken from.

When I get close to magic burn, I usually need to eat and rehydrate. Are you similar?

[ Setsu takes in a sharp, quiet breath, and they feel their chest begin to squeeze.

They're not sure if they've ever heard Kaeya sound quite like this. Or seen Alex be so hurt...

It hurts, to listen to her reveal her feelings like this. They get it. They get Alex's motives here, and they get what Kaeya is saying, too. They really, really get it. They just need a few moments, hanging back at the side, to let their heart relax a little.

It's great that Kaeya is taking the lead in looking after Alex, because the bots, without any direction at this point, busy themselves with retrieving a box of tissues from a nearby cupboard and leaving the room to bring in some water.

Setsu takes in another, measured breath with their hand curled in a loose fist at their chest. Alex and Kaeya are their friends, and they both have lives to return to—Setsu wants to protect that hope for them.

That's the thought they choose to hold onto to steady themself as they finally step to Alex's bedside, more withdrawn than before, and their voice softer. ]

I'm sorry. That was too harsh... I shouldn't have said that. You just wanted to try everything you could to change the situation, right? I understand that...

...But what Kaeya said is true, too. Hurting yourself in the process of trying everything is still hurting yourself. Next time, don't try to do it all alone. Okay?

( Alex keeps her face buried in her legs, listening to the people around her move, to the click of the bots feet on the tile floor. She wants to close her eyes, knowing when she does the dark eating at their edges will engulf her. Will need to soon enough anyway, because how she heals is always with sleep and food and frustration at a limit she only recently learned can kill her — but can't keep her dead.

The scent and sensation of the sea when Kaeya moves his chair over to the bedside has her unconsciously tilting her body a touch his direction: she misses the sea, the shoreline that Linkon City shares with it, the white beaches and the rocky stretches and the endless familiarity of fifteen years of living within their reach.

Both what Kaeya and Setsu say is right. Alex knows that, even as her tired mind goes, I didn't mean to in a whine she won't voice, because intention is not the same as resulting effect. Her voice is still small, answering: )

Okay. ( And ) It's the same. For me. Drink water, eat something. I'll sleep too, if the adrenaline drops.

( If? It already has. She's pushed through the crashing before when it's been a matter of saving lives and pursuing the one responsible for killing patients with promises of immortalized hope. People who had protocore syndrome. Ones who were turning. People who never had a real chance, because the failure rate is so astoundingly high, and it was all being covered up, and...

And nothing. She knows why her thoughts are wandering, so Alex does what she can to rein them back in while she can still pull her focus. )

I just... I want us to be heard. Aurora can't fix that.

( Small as her voice is, on that note, she sounds sad. Unutterably sad over something that feels like a incontestable truth. And because she had not been thoughtful enough, had not planned at all, had not believed it would shake out like this, that she'd worry Setsu, or even Kaeya who doesn't know her from a frog on a log, she feels... guilty. Guilty and deeply regretful. (Gorgug, Dwayne, Julie...) )

I'm sorry.

[He gets up and snags another chair. He sets it in respectful distance from the bed and that sense of the sea dails up a bit. He saw that it helped. But his voice remains calm and soothing. He knows how to charm anyone but this is about helping.] I know. We’ll work on that.

[He signals to a bot and asks for some cheese and fruit to go with the water.] You’re right that she can’t help us with that. I think she’s bound by Rules. But we’ll talk about that in a bit. Let’s take care of you first.

[He thanks a bot as they bring in water and what looks like a charcuterie board on a small mobile table. He flicks down the lock the wheels with his foot.] We can plan later. They brought you well. Not what I asked for exactly but close enough. Will this work?

[ Setsu finally sits down. The sense of the sea that accompanies Kaeya is something Setsu associates only with Kaeya, but in that way, it is nice. A familiar sensation, here in this hospital room, where Alex is still curled into a ball and looks so small...

Now really isn't the time to discuss anything. By all accounts, the situation thus far has been so unchanging that, unless Alex's move just now had a dramatic and immediate effect on something other than her own body, they have all the time in the world to plan and allow Alex to recover. Setsu wonders if Alex had considered that there would be a personal aftermath to her actions...

But Setsu themself doesn't need to say anything. Kaeya has the situation handled easily, as always, though Setsu is still ready if needed. In case there is an immediate effect they don't yet know of.

The only thought Setsu chooses to voice: ] You don't need to say sorry. I'm happy you're okay...

( Kaeya setting the subject aside for now means Alex can too. She doesn't have enough lingering energy to properly talk about any of it, and only tries to eat because he brought the table of food nearby. Alex lifts her head, face tear-streaked and splotchy but also less pale than earlier. She's losing the energy to even cry right now.

She does manage to reach out and take a piece of cheese between her fingers, nibbling at it instead of eating it all at once. That, too, is deliberate and slow: she may not look like she's in the same pain as earlier, but she's definitely fading fast. )

Mm. When I wake up. ( Which she will. The problem is there is nothing she has to fight right now, nothing to keep her conscious and aware and pushing against the consuming dark. There's the sense of the sea now, too, cool and salt tinged; there's Setsu, who she thinks of as a friend and who she feels regret for worrying.

She may not even be finishing that piece of cheese before she's passing out. Her mouth almost feels too dry to swallow, but she manages, regardless. ) I might... pass out. Real soon.

Don’t fight it. We’ll be here when you wake up.

[He snags a bit of meat and cheese from the plate. Nothing big. She needs to rest more than anything else. She can rehydrate and all the necessary things after.

And without a clue what this protocore business is, he can’t and won’t heal her. Better to let her recover naturally. For now.

He looks at Setsu. He is sure they want to remain and his vineyards have been tended to. He doesn’t have anywhere to be.] I’ll introduce myself when you do.

[ A small, grateful smile tugs at Setsu's lips when Kaeya says, "We'll be here." Even if he hadn't said it, Setsu would have stayed; waking up to your friends still at your side is easy to take for granted, until it's gone.

After all this, Setsu was sure the three of them were all friends—until introductions are brought up, and Setsu looks up at Kaeya like a deer in headlights, unsure of what to even say to that...and ultimately, they can only weakly chuckle in response. ]

Let's save that for later.

[ Alex is fading fast. As she wavers there, struggling to finish a single bite of food, the image of her collapsing on the rooftop looms in Setsu's mind. Wordlessly, they stand up and help ease her down onto her pillow. ]

Sleep well, okay? See you soon.

[ Since Alex broke down, Setsu's voice has become particularly gentle towards her. And seeing her tear-stained face, it's even harder not to be gentle and linger there.

It's after they step away from Alex's bedside that they turn to Kaeya again. ]

I had no idea you two didn't know each other. Alex...isn't usually like this...

[ Not that he seemed to look down on her, and Setsu won't try to justify her actions. ]

Anyway... Are you hungry?

[ Which feels like a random question, but when he mentioned "magic burn," they began to wonder. Kaeya's done all of this so smoothly, but they have no idea how he's feeling. ]

I am. I think we could both use something while we wait. [He stands up and stretches. There’s a satisfying pop from his back. Alex will sleep for a while. From personal experience…]

I already guessed she isn’t usually like this. That felt like hitting a limit. [His hasn’t been hit yet. But it is coming. The icy cage he stuffs a lot of emotions in has been rattling more often than not. He rubs the side of his neck and looks towards the hall.] I think we all will find ours along the way.

[He looks back at them, a tired little smile on his face. It doesn’t reach his eye.] I’ll tell you a story while we eat. I’m sure you would like to know what magic burn even is.

[ They'll all find their limits along the way... Setsu hums in response, unable to disagree but not entirely willing to accept it, either. No matter what, Setsu knows they need to be stronger, or they will reach that point, and if that happens, they won't be able to help anyone...

The pain in their chest has mostly subsided, leaving only a dull pressure that's easy to ignore. Seeing Kaeya smiling like that, though... They force a thin smile to their own face, like an acknowledgement that doesn't need any comment, and then let it drop. ]

... Yeah, I would like to know. It seems pretty serious...

[ Setsu gives Alex another look, pulls the sheet up over her shoulders, and turns back towards the door. If they're going to eat, it should definitely be now, so they can make sure they're back by the time she wakes up. ]

I'll let you pick what we have. To be honest, I'm not really that hungry right now...but I should eat.

Alright. Sandwiches, I think. [He turns to the bot hovering nearby and puts in the request. Then leans back, crossing one leg over the other.

This isn’t a great story. Most stories like this aren’t.] It can be serious. It depends on if you ignore it or you take some time to rest.

If you hit that limit in the middle of a fight and ignore it? Well. The results aren’t pretty. Early on in my captaincy before I became second to the acting Grand Master,

[He glosses right over his saying his rank out loud with a breezy tone.] My men and I were investigating a report of some activity in a ruins that was exposed due to a storm.

That happens sometimes. Teyvat is littered with the wreckage and bones of civilizations past. [The bot shuffles in with a few others leading a trolley. There is a plate of sandwiches stacked high. Some snacks, and mugs of hot chocolate. Apparently Alex crying may or may not have influenced them. Have to help.]

Within a lot of these are old machines. We can’t make those kind of things these days. The cataclysm five hundred years ago set everyone back. The machines…were once supposedly called Field Tillers for how they reaped the opposing side.

That’s a rather apt name. And to those without the technology to oppose them, more fitting yet. But most know them as Ruin guards, hunters, and the like. For good reason. One might argue, the same reason.

Now, Genshin like me are rare. We are at best. 1-2% of the population. We had one when we went in. In reality we needed at least three. Two experienced, plus their captain the one recovering from another skirmish who hadn’t been one that long.

Ideally not recovering. My hindsight on this one is quite clear.

[ It's times like this where Setsu leans towards believing that the bots do have the capacity to think and feel. Setsu takes a mug of hot chocolate before sitting down, and just lets the warmth permeate through their gloves as they listen to Kaeya's story.

As they listen, their face is carefully focused as they note a few things: First is that Kaeya is a captain and has been for some time; second is that the machines in ruins he had made mention of during the last mission are significantly larger threats than Setsu had believed; and third is, above all, that this is a story about him.

Their brows knit. Despite how firm they want to appear, they can't help the way their expression grows downcast as they realize that. More than simply telling them about magic burn, he's telling them about himself—himself, his men, and a battle where they were almost guaranteed to fail. And they feel like this isn't going to be a story of Kaeya recognizing his own condition, seeing the odds stacked against them, wisely making a strategic retreat... Thinking of that, even though the Kaeya before them is alive and well, they feel anxious.

(And how old was Kaeya when this occurred? He doesn't look that that much older than them, but he was already a captain with others under his command, so... No, that's not the thing to focus on right now.)

This story, the set up already feels unfair to those involved. But, they guess, that's just how it is for those that have to protect others, in every world. ]

Ideally, I imagine a lot of things should have been different there... It sounds like an impossible situation to be put into. How did you choose to proceed...?

[He picks up a sandwich and takes a bite. He can remember the whole thing like it was yesterday.] We entered. At the time, there had been reports of activity from a few things we didn’t want getting their hands on a possible Ruin machine factory.

It would have shattered the peace we have had compared to other nations. If Grand Master Varka and our older knights were still around it wouldn’t have been a problem either. As it was. I made the call. It was routine for a while. We determined it wasn’t a factory. However.

[The rest of his sandwich is gone. He picks up a mug. He takes a swig.] A lot of ruins have defenses. We accidentally tripped one of them while we were deep inside. It wasn’t ruin guards. It was automated defenses and I didn’t think.

I acted. I had never used magic that fast and that much at once. It was a thick ice dome that blocked anything coming at us. But I wasn’t seeing anything. Magic spent that fast makes you feel light headed.

Draining too much like that is…I was dizzy. I had never used so much even in previous fights. I hadn’t needed to. That’s of course when the ruin guard in that area woke up. It was recognized I couldn’t move on my own.

They pulled me into a side area and again. I sealed it with ice. Ruin Guardians are set to patrol a specific area…usually. We got lucky. [He takes a sip of his cocoa.] Which is a good thing. I had saved their lives. We would have been done if it had pursued. Instead. The men got a rest and I passed out. My ice remains unless I die. It was a decent barrier.

un: plushiewarrior | VIDEO (in which alex sends a really powerful radio signal into the night)

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