[open dreamdive] no longer human

[thesettingsun]

WHO: You!
WHERE: Shuji's subconscious.
WHEN: August 18.
WHAT: Dreamdiving!
WARNINGS: Depends on how the dive goes, but a likely one is suicide.

[Maybe you weren't even in line of sight of Shuji. Just about everyone has a reason to be out and about on a Saruday afternoon, and nobody wants their day interrupted by the ground falling out from under them. Maybe you don't even instantly recognize that the library entrance you fall into would be part of Shuji's subconscious and not anybody else's.

This is how things ended up for you today, unfortunately. Might as well take a look around and see if you can't spot the man himself.

Locations are in top-levels added as divers enter them.]

Comments

A BOOK

[thesettingsun]

[You find yourself in a forest. A forest with letters floating in the sky and lining the trees, but still a forest.

You also find Shuji. He’s on the ground, unarmed, surrounded by black inky creatures that clearly do not mean well. He’s bruised and battered, but conscious, and he lifts his head when you appear.

His scythe is several feet out of his reach, laying on the ground near you.

[manufactured]

[...Right. All right, this is going to suck no matter how he chooses to handle this - there's no guarantee that Shuji can actually still use this thing, seeing as he's injured, and Wesker doesn't exactly trust himself to use a scythe well enough to not maim Shuji.

You know what, he'll pick it up anyway because holy shit, if all else fails hopefully we can get the hell out of here and to the infirmary. Test swing nowhere near Shuji? Test swing nowhere near Shuji.

...God, scythes suck as weapons - ]

Do you think you can still use this, or do you want some assistance?

[thesettingsun]

[Scythes suck as weapons, Shuji agrees 100%.]

I can try, but... [He tries to stand up and then winces from the pain, settling for rising to his knees.] Maybe I'd better not.

[manufactured]

[...Oh boy.]

My apologies, then, for anything unfortunate that results.

[Well. Fortunately for everyone here except maybe the creatures made of ink, Wesker is insane. He does not quite understand fear and he has very vivid memories of fighting some very disgusting things. So here we fucking go. Ink creatures vs crazy man who doesn't know how to use a scythe.

...For the record, he's underhanding it as opposed to trying to bring the blade down on anything. Like the world's most demented grass-cutting, only it's trying to actually kill something - he figures that doing that will at least encourage things away from him? Like, if you swing overhand you're bringing stuff toward you, that sounds like a bad idea.]

[thesettingsun]

[Fortunately for everyone except the creatures made of ink, Shuji's heart has mostly weaker Taints here. They don't go down with just one hit, but it does severely damage them, and definitely encourage them to retreat out of that scythe's reach.

...Except the sheep, which are a bit tankier and thus are going to try to take a bite out of Wesker's arms.]

[manufactured]

[Really. Okay, he is not expecting that and he is going to get rather clipped by those things, that's not pleasant.]

Why do the sheep bite, Shuji-

[Fuck this, he is just going to stop trying to think when it comes to using this thing and just start beating the shit out of things with it, that sounds good.]

[thesettingsun]

Why is writer's block a sheep, how would I know?!

[Stopping thinking seems to work pretty well, and after a few more hits the sheep Taints splatter into ink. Hope you didn't like the clothes you were wearing.

The other Taints have ranged attacks, so they're going to be trying to throw energy balls while Wesker's busy with the close-ranged ones.]

[manufactured]

[...]

This is writer's block?

[Thankfully he doesn't give too much of a damn about his clothes; he's had worse, in both this life and his past life, and if anything the splattering ink will just encourage a more thorough, almost manic beating.

...The energy balls aren't exactly his idea of a good time, trying to stay clear of them is obnoxious and he isn't going to manage to get away from this unscathed, but he doesn't seem to be deterred easily, either; he's going to maim everything here that hopefully isn't Shuji at this rate, he isn't afraid of running up and getting in whatever these things have that pass for a face, because he's changed since that fight in the city in Shuji's memories - he's more confident now, to say nothing of taking the general stance of "I'll stop when I'm dead", and he doesn't seem concerned about the actual dying part happening regardless of how roughed up he gets.]

[thesettingsun]

[The other Taints are less bulky and maimed more easily, with more ink splatters, until it's just Wesker and Shuji left.]

Thank you. Are you okay?

[scythegun]

[...Ah.

Well, the letters in the sky and the inky creatures aren't exactly appreciated, but Shuji certainly is!]

It's good to finally see you! Stay where you are, I'll take care of this.

[The first thing he's going to do is pick up that scythe and carry it over to you, though. Just in case. He's always been confident in his abilities and he should probably be able to take care of things here even without his artes, but he doesn't want to leave Shuji with no way to defend himself just in case.

Jaeger's arm and shoulder aren't exactly in great shape, but he transforms his weapon into its scythe form anyway and rushes the monsters. Let's go!!!]

[thesettingsun]

[Shuji at least manages to struggle to sit up, so there's that, but he definitely appreciates Jaeger taking care of things.

The monsters around Shuji aren't the strongest, and rushing some of them will cause them to splatter into ink in one or two hits - sorry about your suit - but the sheep are the most tenacious, and will try to take a bite out of Jaeger's arms.]

[scythegun]

[Today is just really not a good day for his suit. Goddamn.

He'll switch to shield form to block the sheep and throw them off, which should hopefully give him enough time to switch to sword form to finish them off. The sword is faster than the scythe, at least, and he handles it just as well. Don't worry, Shuji, he's totally got this!!]

[thesettingsun]

[He totally has got this, and soon the sheep are ink puddles as well.]

My hero. ...Sorry you had to come all this way.

[scythegun]

[Whew. Glad that's over with. He's not letting his guard down entirely, but he'll return to check on Shuji.]

Oh, don't worry about it. This sort of thing happens sometimes, ja?

[He shrugs at that. He's not sure if Shuji knows what happened with Dazai or not, but he's certainly not going to bring it up right now.]

Are you injured? Can you stand?

[thesettingsun]

[With some effort, Shuji manages to get to his feet.]

I think I'll be okay. Let me borrow your shoulder?

[scythegun]

Of course.

[You're taking his right shoulder, since the left is where he was hit. He's right-handed so he'll transform the sword back into the briefcase form before switching hands; here, he's got you, he's stronger than he looks.]

So where do we go from here?

[thesettingsun]

Home, I guess.

[There's another flash of light, and suddenly Jaeger will find himself where he was before he fell into the dreamscape.

You did it!!]

[strawberrypunch]

[Well this sure looks bad.

He's definitely reaching for the scythe first thing. Second thing- can he jump over the monsters and into the center with Shuji?]

[thesettingsun]

[That scythe is really heavy - it's half Shuji's height and almost entirely metal. If Tatsuma doesn't have enhanced anime strength he's probably not going to easily lift it, much less jump while carrying it.

Some of the inky creatures are around the height of a sheep and could feasibly be leapt over, but some are the height of a human and would pose a challenge.]

[strawberrypunch]

[He absolutely has enhanced anime strength and enhanced anime jumping, so you bet your ass he's going to use both to get himself and the scythe over to Shuji, lifting the scythe with a grunt before jumping so hard from the ground, it leaves a serious indent.

Those red, gash-like marks over his face, and totally white eyes? Probably fine. Don't worry about it. Because despite appearances, he's still entirely himself. This is just a fun side-effect of drawing on those powers.]

Shuji!

[He'll plant the butt of the scythe on the ground - if Shuji is able, maybe he can use it to climb up?]

[thesettingsun]

[It's fine. It's totally fine. Shuji doesn't have the energy to freak out about it anyway.

He grabs onto the scythe in order to support himself and get to his feet. His legs are shaking, and he looks like he might tip over at any second, probably bringing the scythe with him.]

T-Tatsuma...

[strawberrypunch]

How do you fight them?

[Because he's not so confident he can get Shuji out otherwise, but anything's worth trying, now.]

[thesettingsun]

Hitting them should work?

[Tatsuma has anime strength to spare, so: it should work.

Speaking of them, a sheep-shaped Taint is going to try to bite Tatsuma right now.]

[strawberrypunch]

[Oh good so they're solid enough to hit.

He sidesteps it and slams a super-powered fist into the top of its skull.]

[thesettingsun]

[They are indeed solid enough to hit! They'll take a couple of hits to go down, though, and in the meantime the human-shaped-ones are sending balls of energy Tatsuma's way. What do?]