Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
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Year 45 Month 12 Arc 3-7
"It's not impossible," Li Suyin said, resting her chin in her hand. Even as she spoke, her wire limbs prodded and examined a wounded water spirit, flesh still charred where her constructs mancatcher had caught him. The wounded flesh bubbled as the wire sank into ir like warm wax. Burned flesh flaked away, scorched muscle and nerves twitched and went taut. Ling Qi grimaced as the spirit shook and cried out. It was clearly not a comfortable procedure.
"But I need the array intact for the installation of the seal, and a wild spirit of such potency… They're not known for their delicacy with human craft," Li Suyin said. "I am seriously concerned that this Piper spirit would break the siphoning talisman."
"I see," Ling Qi said with a frown. "Well, I could cover any cost…"
Li Suyin shook her head. "It's not about the spirit stones or reagents, the array uses nothing I can't get from the Sect market with some effort… but building and attuning one to lunar qi again will take two months at least."
The wires released the spirit, which shot away immediately clutching his chest and looking at them warily as he hid among the water weeds.
Ling Qi glanced around the cavern, eyes catching on silvery scales. Most had fled, from here, only watching them from the darkness of the passages. Thankfully the flesh of the giant had rapidly dissolved back into mere water without the parasite keeping its shell together, so the room was no longer cloudy with gore.
"Could I act as a conductor for the qi, keeping the draw controlled? Mediate between the spirit and your craft?"
Li Suyin frowned behind her mask. "That is incredibly risky, even if the spirit is damaged and weakened, you said it was much more potent than you. You would have no way of compelling it to obey your instructions if it decided to pull more than you and the array could handle."
"I don't need to compel it. When I can convince it," Ling Qi said.
"That's hardly reliable," Li Suyin said fretfully. "You've just met the thing, you can't possibly understand its nature well enough to feel guaranteed enough for that."
"Oh, she definitely has. Whether thats wise or not I'm less sure, but Qi's pretty sure she's got this," Sixiang spoke up, voice sending ripples through the water.
"Just consider what allowing the spirit to restore its influence over the waters will do," Ling Qi said. "We may not even need the impurity filter except in the worst locations at that point."
Li Suyin sighed. "...Well, alright this is your expedition. I'm only assisting. Let me send a transmission to Su Ling, and tell her she'll need to adjust the array.
Ling Qi smiled behind her mask. "I have a good feeling about this. Just be polite and let me do most of the talking when we meet the spirit."
Li Suyin gave her a dubious look, but nodded, gesturing for Xinghong to follow them as they took the passage upward to the crystal chamber.
It was a good thing she had gotten so well practiced.
Li Suyin's qi did not make the best impression upon the spirit, under close scrutiny.
The crystal pulsed suspiciously still, even as Ling Qi went through the motion of a deep breath beneath her filter mask. "Thank you for your understanding, Spirit of the Song,"
The 'Piper' had not yet indicated what it wanted to be called, and so she was stuck cycling through titles and feeling for approval and disapproval. It was a little vexing, even if she could understand the spirits position.
"One cannot counter a poison without understanding it, I apologize for any offense my methods have brought," Li Suyin said with stiff politeness.
"Twister of bone and flesh, the abyss beckons, its use poisons, but here and now, thy presence is accepted. You offer the bounty of Silver, guided by winter's song. To purify, to seal, this bargain is accepted."
"Then let us begin the arrangements. I am sure our enemy is not standing idle."
"It slinks, it gnaws, it musters its dead flesh against me."
She wondered that a spirit she could frighten away could occupy something so much more potent. Was it just a matter of natures, or…
No, if she had to guess its methods befitted a parasite, strongest against its own host.
"Very well, I will need to set up three tuning arrays to refocus the flow of lunar qi, will that be acceptable?" Li Suyin asked.
"Begin."
And so they did. Suyin arranged three silver tablets about the walls of the chamber, affixing them to places where the stone was bare, and as she did, she released her constructs, Horse and Ox head. Bear and Boar, Lion and Wolf, arrayed with Xinghong as their commander. She was going to have to hold while Ling Qi and the Piper drew on and controlled the flow of qi after all.
Ling Qi could feel the chill in the water growing as purest yin aligned qi rippled through the water like a blot of spiritual ink. Deep in the crystal, and all across the dark and polluted caverns, she felt the awareness of the Piper stirring, disparate shards of ego reassembling from their dispersed and defensive slumber, and all aligned in the sort of desperate hunger only true starvation could bring.
"Peace, peace, spirit of deeping caves. I have promised to guide, to keep the stream flowing, abide, else the bounty be ruined. Trust that I will abide my own words."
She sang, carrying caution, reassurance, the promise that her words were good. And as she did she sank back through the veil of the liminal, where even now a torrent of silver whirled down into this place, into the hazy, glowing geometric network that she saw as the Piper on this side of things. And with her song, her hands, her steps, she took hold of the vortex flooding in, and tamed it, made a stream of a raging torrent. She was all the more impressed that Li Suyin's formations could do this, make use of and guide these energies into much more complex patterns, when just keeping it steady tore at her grip.
But if the spirit pulled hard enough, she would not be able to keep her control, and so she sang her best reassurance and plea for trust.
And strange crystal entity embedded in the material realm connected to the funneled qi, drinking deep. Ling Qi felt her hands tremble and her channels pulse, her skin feeling clammy and cold at the overwhelming depth of Yin she held…. But the Piper drank with tense patience, and her grip held.
"All good, just hold on a bit. Hold on a bit, I can see the gray gunk flaking away, new crystal growing in, its pattern is getting stronger," Sixiang whispered soothingly, able to perceive what she could not when so deep in concentration
Cold. Sinking. Stillness. Peace.
She had never channeled so much lunar qi at once. In her cultivation, she took in what filtered down naturally from the night sky. It was the difference between sitting under lightly falling rain… and sitting in the path of a spring flood.
She cycled her qi through each channel, through her dantian, pushed the clammy cold out of her system, until she only felt it on her skin. She had endured worse.
"Trouble stirring up. The water is being purified, the impurity gunk is dying or dissolving…. But a bunch of it is just getting pulled and yanked back. Our big boy is armoring up I think."
Images, fungal flesh, mutated cave life, filthy silt, rushing down tunnels toward the section where the broken crystals lay, a thousand wriggling writhing cable like tendrils shooting out and reeling in dying flesh. It all flashed behind her eyes as she channeled away
Blue light pulsed, even here in the liminal, shining through the roaring strands of channeled silver as the corruption in the crystal ebbed away, and the passages filled with a surge of strength.
"Attuner. We recognize a bargain kept. Draw down thy artifice, the Enemy comes to war."
LIng Qi grimaced, urging Sixiang to convey the message. She couldn't split her focus.
"Got it, got it, letting Suyin know she can reduce the draw."
Finally, blessedly, the torrent weakened, leaving Ling Qi to cycle her own qi through numbed and trembling channels and limbs. She could feel the impurity parasites power gathering, distant in the liminal, beyond the bubble she occupied.
She let herself sink, and the points of her boots pierced the veil of reality, drawing her back down into the liquid embrace of the tunnels.
"Ling Qi? Oh, you look terrible. I knew this was a poor idea," Li Suyin was fretting over her almost before she'd finished materializing, pressing a hand to her forehead, artificial eye flashing in the dim light.
"Just a little fatigued," Ling Qi said, letting her get on with the examination. "I have it on good word that I'm practically a pool of yin qi anyway."
"...I suppose you've not done yourself any serious harm," Li Suyin allowed, looking at her with the sort of suspicion only a disapproving physician could manage.
Ling Qi knew it well. She worried she might have caused several spiritual doctors to adopt that face permanently during her recovery.
"...Please don't use any further yin aligned arts until your dantian has recovered equilibrium," Li Suyin finally said. "Now, what is this about the enemy? I could only understand a bare impression of what the spirit was trying to convey."
"The parasite is reacting to the purifying flow of the water by concentrating itself, dragging the underworld tainted material deeper into the more polluted parts of the cave, but its in preparation for a hard assault on this place, I think," Ling Qi said, glancing to the crystal.
"It comes. It cannot tolerate this restoration, it must do its damage again, 'ere I recover."
"It wants to undo what we've just done, before the spirit can settle its recovered channels," Ling Qi said aloud, translating for her friend.
"I see… Then we should blunt the attack, and strike deeper to reach the seal target when it has overextended," Li Suyin said, frowning. "We can't risk this being a waste, the siphon won't withstand that again, while being in any shape for the sealing."
"I agree," Ling Qi said, glancing around the entrances of the crystal cavern. Li Suyin's constructs stood silent sentinel as they spoke, even as the flows of the now clear and crystalline water grew tense with the gathering of the spirits power, and the distant taste of rot wafted in on the current.
The only question was, what was the best way to defend?
[ ] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
[ ] Suyin has grown capable, all on her own. Between her and Piper they can hold this place. The liminal lies open. If you were to conceal yourself there, you might strike the creatures true vulnerabilities when a moment presents itself.
"But I need the array intact for the installation of the seal, and a wild spirit of such potency… They're not known for their delicacy with human craft," Li Suyin said. "I am seriously concerned that this Piper spirit would break the siphoning talisman."
"I see," Ling Qi said with a frown. "Well, I could cover any cost…"
Li Suyin shook her head. "It's not about the spirit stones or reagents, the array uses nothing I can't get from the Sect market with some effort… but building and attuning one to lunar qi again will take two months at least."
The wires released the spirit, which shot away immediately clutching his chest and looking at them warily as he hid among the water weeds.
Ling Qi glanced around the cavern, eyes catching on silvery scales. Most had fled, from here, only watching them from the darkness of the passages. Thankfully the flesh of the giant had rapidly dissolved back into mere water without the parasite keeping its shell together, so the room was no longer cloudy with gore.
"Could I act as a conductor for the qi, keeping the draw controlled? Mediate between the spirit and your craft?"
Li Suyin frowned behind her mask. "That is incredibly risky, even if the spirit is damaged and weakened, you said it was much more potent than you. You would have no way of compelling it to obey your instructions if it decided to pull more than you and the array could handle."
"I don't need to compel it. When I can convince it," Ling Qi said.
"That's hardly reliable," Li Suyin said fretfully. "You've just met the thing, you can't possibly understand its nature well enough to feel guaranteed enough for that."
"Oh, she definitely has. Whether thats wise or not I'm less sure, but Qi's pretty sure she's got this," Sixiang spoke up, voice sending ripples through the water.
"Just consider what allowing the spirit to restore its influence over the waters will do," Ling Qi said. "We may not even need the impurity filter except in the worst locations at that point."
Li Suyin sighed. "...Well, alright this is your expedition. I'm only assisting. Let me send a transmission to Su Ling, and tell her she'll need to adjust the array.
Ling Qi smiled behind her mask. "I have a good feeling about this. Just be polite and let me do most of the talking when we meet the spirit."
Li Suyin gave her a dubious look, but nodded, gesturing for Xinghong to follow them as they took the passage upward to the crystal chamber.
It was a good thing she had gotten so well practiced.
Li Suyin's qi did not make the best impression upon the spirit, under close scrutiny.
The crystal pulsed suspiciously still, even as Ling Qi went through the motion of a deep breath beneath her filter mask. "Thank you for your understanding, Spirit of the Song,"
The 'Piper' had not yet indicated what it wanted to be called, and so she was stuck cycling through titles and feeling for approval and disapproval. It was a little vexing, even if she could understand the spirits position.
"One cannot counter a poison without understanding it, I apologize for any offense my methods have brought," Li Suyin said with stiff politeness.
"Twister of bone and flesh, the abyss beckons, its use poisons, but here and now, thy presence is accepted. You offer the bounty of Silver, guided by winter's song. To purify, to seal, this bargain is accepted."
"Then let us begin the arrangements. I am sure our enemy is not standing idle."
"It slinks, it gnaws, it musters its dead flesh against me."
She wondered that a spirit she could frighten away could occupy something so much more potent. Was it just a matter of natures, or…
No, if she had to guess its methods befitted a parasite, strongest against its own host.
"Very well, I will need to set up three tuning arrays to refocus the flow of lunar qi, will that be acceptable?" Li Suyin asked.
"Begin."
And so they did. Suyin arranged three silver tablets about the walls of the chamber, affixing them to places where the stone was bare, and as she did, she released her constructs, Horse and Ox head. Bear and Boar, Lion and Wolf, arrayed with Xinghong as their commander. She was going to have to hold while Ling Qi and the Piper drew on and controlled the flow of qi after all.
Ling Qi could feel the chill in the water growing as purest yin aligned qi rippled through the water like a blot of spiritual ink. Deep in the crystal, and all across the dark and polluted caverns, she felt the awareness of the Piper stirring, disparate shards of ego reassembling from their dispersed and defensive slumber, and all aligned in the sort of desperate hunger only true starvation could bring.
"Peace, peace, spirit of deeping caves. I have promised to guide, to keep the stream flowing, abide, else the bounty be ruined. Trust that I will abide my own words."
She sang, carrying caution, reassurance, the promise that her words were good. And as she did she sank back through the veil of the liminal, where even now a torrent of silver whirled down into this place, into the hazy, glowing geometric network that she saw as the Piper on this side of things. And with her song, her hands, her steps, she took hold of the vortex flooding in, and tamed it, made a stream of a raging torrent. She was all the more impressed that Li Suyin's formations could do this, make use of and guide these energies into much more complex patterns, when just keeping it steady tore at her grip.
But if the spirit pulled hard enough, she would not be able to keep her control, and so she sang her best reassurance and plea for trust.
And strange crystal entity embedded in the material realm connected to the funneled qi, drinking deep. Ling Qi felt her hands tremble and her channels pulse, her skin feeling clammy and cold at the overwhelming depth of Yin she held…. But the Piper drank with tense patience, and her grip held.
"All good, just hold on a bit. Hold on a bit, I can see the gray gunk flaking away, new crystal growing in, its pattern is getting stronger," Sixiang whispered soothingly, able to perceive what she could not when so deep in concentration
Cold. Sinking. Stillness. Peace.
She had never channeled so much lunar qi at once. In her cultivation, she took in what filtered down naturally from the night sky. It was the difference between sitting under lightly falling rain… and sitting in the path of a spring flood.
She cycled her qi through each channel, through her dantian, pushed the clammy cold out of her system, until she only felt it on her skin. She had endured worse.
"Trouble stirring up. The water is being purified, the impurity gunk is dying or dissolving…. But a bunch of it is just getting pulled and yanked back. Our big boy is armoring up I think."
Images, fungal flesh, mutated cave life, filthy silt, rushing down tunnels toward the section where the broken crystals lay, a thousand wriggling writhing cable like tendrils shooting out and reeling in dying flesh. It all flashed behind her eyes as she channeled away
Blue light pulsed, even here in the liminal, shining through the roaring strands of channeled silver as the corruption in the crystal ebbed away, and the passages filled with a surge of strength.
"Attuner. We recognize a bargain kept. Draw down thy artifice, the Enemy comes to war."
LIng Qi grimaced, urging Sixiang to convey the message. She couldn't split her focus.
"Got it, got it, letting Suyin know she can reduce the draw."
Finally, blessedly, the torrent weakened, leaving Ling Qi to cycle her own qi through numbed and trembling channels and limbs. She could feel the impurity parasites power gathering, distant in the liminal, beyond the bubble she occupied.
She let herself sink, and the points of her boots pierced the veil of reality, drawing her back down into the liquid embrace of the tunnels.
"Ling Qi? Oh, you look terrible. I knew this was a poor idea," Li Suyin was fretting over her almost before she'd finished materializing, pressing a hand to her forehead, artificial eye flashing in the dim light.
"Just a little fatigued," Ling Qi said, letting her get on with the examination. "I have it on good word that I'm practically a pool of yin qi anyway."
"...I suppose you've not done yourself any serious harm," Li Suyin allowed, looking at her with the sort of suspicion only a disapproving physician could manage.
Ling Qi knew it well. She worried she might have caused several spiritual doctors to adopt that face permanently during her recovery.
"...Please don't use any further yin aligned arts until your dantian has recovered equilibrium," Li Suyin finally said. "Now, what is this about the enemy? I could only understand a bare impression of what the spirit was trying to convey."
"The parasite is reacting to the purifying flow of the water by concentrating itself, dragging the underworld tainted material deeper into the more polluted parts of the cave, but its in preparation for a hard assault on this place, I think," Ling Qi said, glancing to the crystal.
"It comes. It cannot tolerate this restoration, it must do its damage again, 'ere I recover."
"It wants to undo what we've just done, before the spirit can settle its recovered channels," Ling Qi said aloud, translating for her friend.
"I see… Then we should blunt the attack, and strike deeper to reach the seal target when it has overextended," Li Suyin said, frowning. "We can't risk this being a waste, the siphon won't withstand that again, while being in any shape for the sealing."
"I agree," Ling Qi said, glancing around the entrances of the crystal cavern. Li Suyin's constructs stood silent sentinel as they spoke, even as the flows of the now clear and crystalline water grew tense with the gathering of the spirits power, and the distant taste of rot wafted in on the current.
The only question was, what was the best way to defend?
[ ] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
[ ] Suyin has grown capable, all on her own. Between her and Piper they can hold this place. The liminal lies open. If you were to conceal yourself there, you might strike the creatures true vulnerabilities when a moment presents itself.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
[ ] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
Parry and Riposte, we don't know enough about the foe to be able to reliably launch a sneak attack, best stand with our allies and strike back when we can.
Even beyond that, we were just warned that we should be careful not to use Yin arts, most of our sneaky stuff is Yin Arts, the time has come to phase-shift to Yang and just do a Hard No.
Parry and Riposte, we don't know enough about the foe to be able to reliably launch a sneak attack, best stand with our allies and strike back when we can.
Even beyond that, we were just warned that we should be careful not to use Yin arts, most of our sneaky stuff is Yin Arts, the time has come to phase-shift to Yang and just do a Hard No.
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They've all done some pretty good work but something was bound to get in the way of it.
[ ] Suyin has grown capable, all on her own. Between her and Piper they can hold this place. The liminal lies open. If you were to conceal yourself there, you might strike the creatures true vulnerabilities when a moment presents itself.
The vote is between attack and defense and I'm more inclined to go on the attack and test out stealth attacks.
[ ] Suyin has grown capable, all on her own. Between her and Piper they can hold this place. The liminal lies open. If you were to conceal yourself there, you might strike the creatures true vulnerabilities when a moment presents itself.
The vote is between attack and defense and I'm more inclined to go on the attack and test out stealth attacks.
[ ] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
I would prefer to listen to the doctor, and I'm pretty sure most of our liminal stuff is Yin aligned. Therefore I would hesitate to use it right this moment.
I would prefer to listen to the doctor, and I'm pretty sure most of our liminal stuff is Yin aligned. Therefore I would hesitate to use it right this moment.
NoxOfUmbra
Shadow of the night
- Location
- Colombia, South América
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
[ ] Suyin has grown capable, all on her own. Between her and Piper they can hold this place. The liminal lies open. If you were to conceal yourself there, you might strike the creatures true vulnerabilities when a moment presents itself.
balling?
balling?
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Defensive Art and our construct stuff is all Yang aligned, so it should be safe to use. While our direct offense stuff is mostly Yin biased.
Weren't we warned earlier about fighting this thing in the Limenal?
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
That too, yeah, the best move right now is a hard defense using our Yang arts and the power of Teamwork rather than going stealth missile submarine, which is almost entirely Yin based, when we just got warned to be easy on our Yin stuff until Ling Qi can get her breath.
Enthusiast#117
This is not the Profile you are looking for
- Location
- United States
[ ] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
Never split the party!
Never split the party!
[X] Suyin has grown capable, all on her own. Between her and Piper they can hold this place. The liminal lies open. If you were to conceal yourself there, you might strike the creatures true vulnerabilities when a moment presents itself.
We just chose the insight wich said that everyone should work in harmony but with their own specialization (combo), i don't want to come back on that choice so soon , even though i liked both insights and was fine with both.
Also we should trust Suyin and show her that we recognize her strenght and efforts.
We just chose the insight wich said that everyone should work in harmony but with their own specialization (combo), i don't want to come back on that choice so soon , even though i liked both insights and was fine with both.
Also we should trust Suyin and show her that we recognize her strenght and efforts.
[ ] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
- Location
- Washington
But we shouldn't trust her when she says not to use Yin arts? That too is her strength and efforts.
[ ] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
Suyin recommended not using Yin arts right now. Beast King is yang, the art Ling Qi is cultivating right now, and excellent for defence.
Time for the construct army to shine?
Edit: Effort post changed my mind.
[X] Suyin has grown capable, all on her own. Between her and Piper they can hold this place. The liminal lies open. If you were to conceal yourself there, you might strike the creatures true vulnerabilities when a moment presents itself.
Time for the construct army to shine?
Edit: Effort post changed my mind.
[X] Suyin has grown capable, all on her own. Between her and Piper they can hold this place. The liminal lies open. If you were to conceal yourself there, you might strike the creatures true vulnerabilities when a moment presents itself.
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I was initially intending to vote on the waiting for a stealth attack, but the avoiding yin arts argument has convinced me.
Also, we have to remember the Piper is still in the process of reasserting their control over the waters and recover their control.
I think it's wiser to let them to focus their efforts into that by creating a wall with BKSD, instead of burdening them with the defense.
It's a good reversal of the BKSD's story as well, using the Beast Gods to break the attack of a stronger creature.
[ ] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
Also, we have to remember the Piper is still in the process of reasserting their control over the waters and recover their control.
I think it's wiser to let them to focus their efforts into that by creating a wall with BKSD, instead of burdening them with the defense.
It's a good reversal of the BKSD's story as well, using the Beast Gods to break the attack of a stronger creature.
[ ] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
Sorry i didn't express myself well enough, their are different kinds of trust, same for love, respect, hate and any emotions really. Ling Qi trust Li Suyin as a friend and as a young physician, automatist ? , alchemist and formation expert (damn she's a genius). But does she trust her as a figther ? Even with her automatons ?
I don't think Suyin sees herself as a martial type of cultivator in any serious way but cultivators, in the empire, are expected to know how to fight at least a little, i don't think we need to babysit her nor will her character appreciate it if she does not feel it necessary.
Not that i think she will be offended in this instance, i just think it will be a nice gesture of respect and trust in her fighting ability from Ling Qi's part.
As for our yin Qi overload, both our defensive and and offensive arts are yin based except for Beast King (was it Song or Diurge or something else?).
Our construct art seems to be pretty flexible so we could probably use it for defense followed by a conterattack as well as in a surprise attack.
I kind of forgot but this excursion was our construct art (BKS/BKD ?) training, i guess it might see more use with the defense plan ? Or at least it feels more in line with the art than stealth and surprise attack does.
I am changing my vote for one where our construct art will shine more, hopefully.
[X] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
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- Location
- PA
[X] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.
Block and counter is something that stylistically, Ling Qi does more then you might think, especially with how 'Dark Sorceress' she can be in styling.
Block and counter is something that stylistically, Ling Qi does more then you might think, especially with how 'Dark Sorceress' she can be in styling.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Hold here, a hard wall together with Suyin and Piper, break the parasites offensive thrust, and strike back when it is reeling from the deflection.