Buy a Little Mercy [Open; Potentially Graphic Material]

[cityship]

Less than an hour after the ship leaves Agrestic's orbit, an announcement is broadcast throughout Stacy.

|| Attention, crew. Your crewmates, Howard Bassem and Charles Merriman, have been apprehended attempting to desert. They will now be given Punishment. According to established guidelines, you are all requested to report to the Observation to witness the Punishment. Attendance is not mandatory, but highly suggested. This will serve as a reminder of the consequences of treason and desertion. ||

On the observation deck, Archon Yavek, Archite Rekkti, two other Daligig and a handful of Kessek soldiers stand outside a spherical force field. Inside the bubble, Orc and Howard are suspended by tentacles looping around their wrists. Orc's ceased thrashing around and struggling against his restraints; rust-colored fissures have developed around his shoulders and forearms from the strain, but now he simply hangs there, looking defeated. Howard's nose is bleeding, and every time a drop falls to the bottom of the forcefield there's a small sizzle. He's weeping and begging the Daligig with every plea possible, but they act as if they aren't listening. Instead, they wait for an audience.

Comments

[bequiet_hescreamed]

This would be the perfect time to stand down. The Daligig had effectively ended the conversation by turning away, and it would be easier to reason himself into giving up now than to justify violence. Clef normally railed against recklessness - it was thoughtless to charge headlong into battle, leaving those on the sidelines to worry and mourn. He was a careful fighter when he fought at all, defending first and attacking only if critically threatened. One might even call him a pacifist.

"Sunflash."

With his right hand he threw a ball lightning spell at the Kessek guard. It was relatively minor as his elemental spells went, intended only to knock the alien out of the way with a quick electric jolt.

"Nightscream."

He cast that spell in the same breath as the first one, moving forwards and pointing his staff again at the Daligig who had turned his back. It was a stronger dark magic spell - meant to rend the being's body - but still nowhere near the limits of what the Guru was capable of.

There was no righteousness in his actions, and no anger - and no point. He was but one individual, and he had no hope of succeeding - a single teardrop, easily wiped away. Yet he felt compelled by something greater than himself in the way that each drop in an ocean is made to break against a stone cliff in waves. Enough waves - enough drops - and the cliff would erode, little by little.

For now, it didn't matter if he died.

[meat_mooks]

One of the Kessek tugs Yavek out of the way as the dark magic goes shooting past. The Kessek nudged aside by the lightning twists to her feet and rushes for Clef, swinging a powerful fist. Not aiming to kill, no, but simply to immobilize the threat before any of the Daligig are hurt. The other Daligig, the one that tugged Yavek away, joins in on the attack.

[bequiet_hescreamed]

Clef ducks the punch, taking advantage of his short stature to crouch and summon an ice spear to impale the Kessek from below. He's never killed another living being before - not directly, at any rate - yet doesn't hesitate as he attempts it. Before that spell has even finished, his right hand is already crackling with the electricity of another lightning spell intended for the alien joining the fray.

[meat_mooks]

Unfortunately for Clef, the spear and attempt to kill a Kessek trips Stacy's alarms that death is possible. Tentacles whip down from the ceiling and, none too gently hoist Clef up to the ceiling, binding his arms and legs and injecting him with a sedative.

So much for that.

[monster_san]

Fuu had known that Clef was the Guru of Cephiro. She had seen him easily dispatch a monster and conjure armor into existence--he had given her the magic she herself now used. But she had not actually seen him use his magic in this kind of battle. It seemed to Fuu that even if it had been a good idea to join in the fray, there was very little she could do compared to him.

She stepped back to stay out of his way, rather than the Kessek's, one hand covering her mouth as she silently prayed that he wouldn't be hurt. He showed no hesitation in confronting the enormous warriors. Irrational hope leaped in her heart as he effortlessly ducked their strikes, but the battle was over as soon as it began.

"Clef-san!" she shouted as the tentacles whipped him up towards the ceiling. "No--is he hurt?!" she demanded, whirling on the Kessek. It was ridiculous to expect them to care when he'd just been trying to kill them, but the words flew out before she could think about that.