jigokulogs | [OPEN] The end of the storm

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[OPEN] The end of the storm

Who ⬤ The team members and ANYONE!
What ⬤ The mission was a success! Time to face the music from friends and family.
When ⬤ Just after the tower expedition
Where ⬤ Outside Kaigo no Bou, probably moving around
Content Warnings ⬤ References to violence and horror imagery

All at once, the rains cease.

The damage remains, both to the city and to her inhabitants, but reality reasserts itself, and the ill wind that's blown through Jigoku-cho has—for now—come to an end.

Emergency services have borne away the injured, including the Daitengu and the freed Enma, leaving a gaggle of people emerging into the night.

[This is an OPEN IC MINGLE. Go forth and icly rubberneck or speculate or collect your friends back home to get some rest or yell at said friends for taking risks without telling them they were chosen for this mission out of some misguided attempt to get them to not worry. Who would do something so stupid, anyway.]

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[ The sound of the bike's engine cut through the quiet of the square outside the tower as Lio cut his way through to the entrance, killing the motor and peeling off his helmet as he dashed inside.

He was mainly there for two reasons; check in on Minato and his boss, and check in on Cain. Most other things were secondary, but it wasn't like he wouldn't recognize everyone else.

The building was still starkly dark, with the power out, but everyone had enough lights that he found them fairly easily. ]

Boss! Minato! Cain!

[He was coming out, exhausted but alive. Truthfully he wasn't sure what was going to be waiting for him when he got outside, but even before he could check if the rain had stopped, he heard a voice calling his name.]

Huh? Hello? Is someone there??

[The group was handling the Daitengu well enough without him, and Aurora had already pointed himself towards the voice, trotting over to in front of the shorter man. He followed the wolf until he was in front of where he assumed the other would be.]

Is that...Lio?

[Some parts of his uniform and hair were singed and he looked utterly exhausted, but otherwise was fine.]

[ Cain would get Lio in his vision a moment later from, of all things, a hug... a hug he was going to pretend didn't happen aftwards, sure, but it was sincere in that moment. ]

Holy shit, you're okay! M-mostly...

[Hey! No need to sound so surprised, Lio! Even if he was a dumb meathead of a himbo. And he wanted to acknowledge the hug, but..well, the expression on Lio's face told him no.]

I am, yeah. Our team is pretty much all okay...The Daitengu and the Enma are both pretty beat up but we honestly came out a lot better than I was expecting for some of it.

Is everything okay outside? Are YOU good??

[ Yeah just... Let him adjust his jacket and calm himself down a bit. ]

Y-yeah, I'm fine. I peeled over here as soon as I saw the sky clear up.

[ Which was pretty reckless on his own part, since that certainly wasn't a guarantee that the area was safe. ]

It looks like everything about that curse is just... gone.

[Well, Cain himself was just happy Lio and everyone else outside was alright. It was finally over for now. He could definitely feel his energy flagging, but Aurora then brushed up against his leg, staring at Lio before sniffing his hand.]

Oh right! I don't know if you know Megumi, but he lent me one of his familiars. He really saved us up there too. I'm glad to have so many people looking out for me here...even if I did worry them.....

[ Lio knelt, offering his hand for a sniff, then a light petting of Aurora's head, offering up what was probably the brightest, most sincere smile Cain had seen on Lio. ]

Good dog... Thanks for caring for them. I'll get you some jerky for this, okay?

[Aurora's tail wagged gently as he was pet and then a bit harder at the mention of jerky. He's certainly going to be getting a ton of treats later, that was for sure. Still, the smile on Lio's face was cute, though Cain felt it was a rare occurrence. Well...at least he could be genuine to someone.]

Yeah, I'm sure we'll all gonna spoil him when we get the chance. I....

[Oh, now the dizziness was setting in. Cain hadn't realized how much of his mana he'd used while tanking that thing for everyone else. Cain does look a little bit unsteady at first, but catches himself.]

Ah, so...do you know if anyone else needs my help? Or like take a statement from me?

[ Lio quickly rose to his feet again, hands moving to help steady Cain, even if the other guy thought he had it under control. His grip is pretty firm, and his expression turns fairly serious. ]

What you need to do is get yourself checked up on, medically, and then rest.

You've done your part.

[ More than, even. ]

[Rude, he was fine! Well honestly he was not, even if he tried to pull away from the smaller man's grip.]

I'm honestly fine, really. None of us got injured. And I'm just drained.

[He paused for a moment, only if because things seemed to wobble again. Ah. Yeah, he'd only felt like this once before but he was pretty sure he knew what was happening.]

Well actually, you're probably right. If everyone is okay I'm just gonna....

[Brace yourself, Lio. He's coming down.]

[ Lio may have been short, but he was well stronger than he looked, supporting Cain's weight as he started to give out. Eventually, he settled the guy into something of a bridal carry, though remaining low to the ground before he opted to take him anywhere. ]

Easy, easy now... [ Look at that! A smile? Maybe... ]

I'm gonna carry you with the others to the hospital, alright? They'll check you out there.

[It was a good thing Lio was the one to catch him, or it might have gone very differently. Nevertheless, it took him a moment to come around again and realize he hadn't actually hit the ground. Oh. Someone had caught him.

Aurora had come up behind Lio, and after making sure that Cain wasn't actually injured, just sat there and stared at the shorter man.]

Huh? I'm just tired, really. It's all good. You can let me up....

[Not that he has the energy left to stand, really.

Don't fuss about it or I'll just drop you and be done with it.

[ Said with a smirk, at least. He probably wasn't serious. Probably. ]

I'm sure you're not used to being the one in this position, but for once, let someone else rescue you, alright?

[ God, he was talking like Galo. Disgusting. ]

At the very least, let me get you back to my bike.

[ Though fitting himself, a mostly limp Cain, and Aurora all on one bike was... a task. ]

No, it's fine..a knight's meant to serve...

[Hey, Lio was nice and warm, and seemed like a good place to sleep on him. Cain did try to move however the shorter man pushed him, but for the most part he was dead weight. Aurora was more helpful, though he just sat by the bike and waited.]

[ Well... No time like the present to flex his freshly re-minted powers a bit more. ]

Stand back, Aurora.

[ He was going to need room to work. Once the dog was clear, he extended his arm slightly from beneath Cain's legs, snapping his fingers.

Neon flames erupted forth, enveloping the bike and swirling around the machine rapidly. One could hear it... the shaping of metal. As if something was being forged right before them, born from flame and hammered by Lio's own will.

The simple, single person bike transformed into a flaming cruiser, with an armored side cab for Cain and Aurora. ]

Alright, let's get you both buckled in.

[ But yes it still had seatbelts. ]

Don't mind the flames. They won't burn you.

[The roar of the bike cuts through Minato's semi-sleepwalking state in the lobby. He's trying to keep out of the way of emergency services (after one of the medical staff sniffed him over, in case he had worse than bruises and superficial cuts all over from being ragdolled around, then waved him off with orders for bedrest), but the -- to him -- unfamiliar sound of of a motorcycle wakes him back up.]

Lio?... Toraguma left with the ambulances, you just missed him...

The ambulance? How bad off was he?

[ Lio, of course, assuming the worse and not realizing Toraguma was accompanying Cloud there or anything but he was also still very much in panic mode. Give him a moment. ]

[It takes him a moment to absorb how that must have sounded. oh gods he's tired.]

No no no, not like that! He was harrying them to get someone on his team to the hospital. I didn't get a good look before they left, but he was shouting up a storm, you know how he is... [that literally means less than nothing for Toraguma.]

...it must have been bad. I don't think even he's sounded that mad before.

Well that...

[ Didn't sound surprising. ]

I guess that makes sense. What about you?

[ He didn't look that beat up, but they'd just been in the heart of the beast, for lack of any better descriptor. ]

The hell did you see up there?

Mm. I didn't realize how lucky our team was, until...

[At that question, Minato tenses up instantly. Besides that, the careful lack of expression from him is probably more telling than any visible reaction.]

...

You were right, Lio. It's not from the city at all. It...

[For all his reading, he's at a loss for words at how to actually describe what he saw. That last word just hangs in the air for a moment.]

Hey hey, take it easy...

[ His hands go up to steady Minato's shoulders. ]

Breathe. Just walk me through what happened, okay?

[The gesture is a little unexpected; Minato gives him a brief smile, gently pushing his hands off.]

It's alright. I only -- I can't describe what it looked like, Lio. It isn't hyperbole. We saw it had the Enma chained up in his office, but you couldn't look directly at it. It was like -- the aura coming out from the tower, only... concentrated in a person.

[If it was a person.]

...it's all gone, though, isn't it? If you and everyone else can get here...?

[ Something he couldn't even look at? Lio was having trouble imagining what that was like, but there was nothing about Minato's way of describing it that seemed insincere or overly figurative. He was telling the truth, that was for certain... ]

It's thanks to that incense you could even survive up there, I'll bet. But yeah, as far as I can tell, the city's been cleansed... mostly, anyways.

[At that news, he lets out all the air in his lungs, leaning against the building. It's not that he didn't think the faction leaders (well... at least Toraguma and the Daitengu; and presumably Lady Tenkohime with the rest of the support) would have dispersed if they didn't believe the heart of the curse had been dispelled, but... It was really over.]

The incense and Knightley. He stood up to that thing like it was nothing. I think if he hadn't, we wouldn't have had the courage to keep going.

[~~Sorry Cain you have been sold out in the name of an innocent compliment~~]

...what do you think happens now?

[ He'd definitely scold Cain later, for what little good it would do him. But he also wasn't surprised to hear that guy pulled something off like that. It was so very him. Annoying, but... really admirable, too. A complete idiot, but a noble one... he couldn't help but be drawn to that.

As for everything else... ]

We heal.

[ What else could they do? ]

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[OPEN] The end of the storm

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