[ You walk into an operating room, all stainless steel and linoleum. ]
[ In the center of the room is Cobalt, lying on his back on the floor. You can tell from a distance that he's very dead, which probably has something to do with the enormous tree growing out of his chest, splitting open his ribcage. The tree's canopy spreads out across the ceiling, blocking out the fluorescent lights with its silvery, red-edged leaves. ]
[ The room is very quiet, and very still. It's just you, a tree, and a corpse. ]
[He was expecting it, but it doesn't stop him from flinching, a little]
[It takes him a beat, but he grits his teeth - clenches his free hand into a fist, and steps forward to see if he can disentangle Cobalt from the roots]
[ Cobalt appears freshly dead. His expression is twisted into a mask of fear and pain. Tears are still wet along the sides of his face. One of his antlers has been broken off, and a tuft of foliage is growing out of his mouth. ]
[ Under the skin of his arms and neck, you can see the bulge of the roots that have grown through his limbs. The tree in his chest goes straight through him and into the floor. There's no moving him with this tree there, sadly. ]
[ There's a red-tipped spear laying beside him on the floor, just out of reach of his cold, outstretched hand. ]
[It's super fucking effective. The tree is instantly engulfed in flames like it's made of wax paper, flames spreading through the branches and turning the whole ceiling into a roof of flames. The roots spontaneously combust everywhere across the room, where they crawl up the walls or thread through the tiles. Every inch of this thing is burning.]
[You, holding the spear, are immune to Fira, of course. It licks over your skin, gentle and warm and harmless, even as it tears the whole room to shreds.]
[The tree burns and burns and burns, straight to cinders, then to ash, then it disintegrates into a hot pile of smoking dust. The flames flicker and go out as they run out of fuel, and a black cable that was tangled in its branches swings free and clatters to the floor.]
[At the end, all traces of the tree are gone except for the lingering smell of bonfire. Somehow, everything else in the room is untouched. Cobalt's body is still there, and his chest is a gaping hole where a trunk once was. But somehow, it doesn't look nearly as gruesome as you would have expected. His chest just looks like a big red splotch.]
[With the tree gone, and his eyes closed, you could almost imagine he is simply resting.]
[Thorn bows his head, just briefly, before turning for the door]
[There's no time for sentiment, after all. When the sun goes down, the daemons won't wait for anyone; he'd better get these lights back on and then head for Verecundiam]
[The yellow cable snakes in through the door and lays there on the floor with nothing plugged into it. The black cord is also laying here on the floor, plugged into nothing.]
[That tree must have grown through the middle of them, forcing the two apart. But with the tree gone, there's nothing stopping you from plugging them back together again.]
[You plug in the light and there's a hum of electricity, and the room seems to brighten, like the buzzing fluorescent lamps overhead have suddenly converted to sunlight and washed the room clean.]
[The room is bathed in a soft glow, and somehow... it feels a lot easier to breathe. The anxious feeling in this room feels calmed, and Cobalt's body seems to be resting peacefully, as if simply napping.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Arboribus
[ You walk into an operating room, all stainless steel and linoleum. ]
[ In the center of the room is Cobalt, lying on his back on the floor. You can tell from a distance that he's very dead, which probably has something to do with the enormous tree growing out of his chest, splitting open his ribcage. The tree's canopy spreads out across the ceiling, blocking out the fluorescent lights with its silvery, red-edged leaves. ]
[ The room is very quiet, and very still. It's just you, a tree, and a corpse. ]
Re: Arboribus
[It takes him a beat, but he grits his teeth - clenches his free hand into a fist, and steps forward to see if he can disentangle Cobalt from the roots]
Re: Arboribus
[ Under the skin of his arms and neck, you can see the bulge of the roots that have grown through his limbs. The tree in his chest goes straight through him and into the floor. There's no moving him with this tree there, sadly. ]
[ There's a red-tipped spear laying beside him on the floor, just out of reach of his cold, outstretched hand. ]
Re: Arboribus
[Then he reaches out to take the spear]
Re: Arboribus
[ While holding this spear, you can cast Fira at will. ]
Re: Arboribus
[He puts his ice spear away in the Armiger - reaches out, briefly, to touch Cobalt's face again]
Re: Arboribus
Re: Arboribus
[You, holding the spear, are immune to Fira, of course. It licks over your skin, gentle and warm and harmless, even as it tears the whole room to shreds.]
[The tree burns and burns and burns, straight to cinders, then to ash, then it disintegrates into a hot pile of smoking dust. The flames flicker and go out as they run out of fuel, and a black cable that was tangled in its branches swings free and clatters to the floor.]
[At the end, all traces of the tree are gone except for the lingering smell of bonfire. Somehow, everything else in the room is untouched. Cobalt's body is still there, and his chest is a gaping hole where a trunk once was. But somehow, it doesn't look nearly as gruesome as you would have expected. His chest just looks like a big red splotch.]
[With the tree gone, and his eyes closed, you could almost imagine he is simply resting.]
Re: Arboribus
[Maybe he finally can, now]
[Thorn bows his head, just briefly, before turning for the door]
[There's no time for sentiment, after all. When the sun goes down, the daemons won't wait for anyone; he'd better get these lights back on and then head for Verecundiam]
Re: Arboribus
[That tree must have grown through the middle of them, forcing the two apart. But with the tree gone, there's nothing stopping you from plugging them back together again.]
Re: Arboribus
Re: Arboribus
[The room is bathed in a soft glow, and somehow... it feels a lot easier to breathe. The anxious feeling in this room feels calmed, and Cobalt's body seems to be resting peacefully, as if simply napping.]
[It feels like things are going to be okay.]
[The light has been restored.]
Re: Arboribus
[Then he turns again for the door, en route to Verecundiam]
Re: Arboribus