hippocarnival | Daybreak Academy

I think it's too late for that! [Both her being angry and Yuya being worried. Isn't he at this school to learn to protect people against stuff like this? Why does he feel so helpless, staring back at Kano knowing things are so much worse under that illusion?]

You don't have to face this on your own. Do you want to?

[ She'll be more pissed, and then Yuya would really have something to be worried about. This is the mother that he'd grown up with, and he know how to deal with it (by not dealing with it...) or at least he knows the best way to not escalate things so the danger will die down quick. ]

It's my problem, of course I'm going to face it on my own. I should say "Sorry for dragging you into this," or something, right? I'm already asking a lot from you, to have your familiar be my lifeline, after all...

[There's a pause. Yuya shifts on his feet, tilting his head.]

I'm the one who keeps sticking my nose in it, no matter what you asked. [He can admit, he's being nosy. That's not on Kano, but he thinks it's a little allowed when Kano's in immediate danger.

He breathes deep, voicing his strongest worry.] What if you don't make it out the window?

Mm... Then, I'll probably die?

[ It's not the time for a joke, and he knows it, but it comes out as flippantly as ever, like he doesn't even care. But he does, and he's adamant about not dying, not here, and not to that thing. It's not a situation yet where there's absolutely no escape. ]

I can fool it for a little while~ The last time was my bad, I let my guard down! It won't happen again. But I can definitely make it out of the window, if necessary.

[Yuya whines in the back of his throat. He's not feeling very jokey right now.]

I--[He glances to the door again, shifting on his feet.] If you're going to face it alone, then... can I wait out here, just in case? If it's necessary.

Hmm...

[ Obviously, Kano doesn't like that idea, with how many times he's tried to insist on Yuya going back to his room where he'll stay safe, and it's not like Kano cares much for what Yuya wants, whether being stationed there will make him feel better or more useful or "just in case." It's dangerous and unnecessary and Kano doesn't have a solid plan yet for what he wants to do, so he can't rest easy knowing that Yuya's out there without one either. ]

What would you do? There are only two exits to the room: the window, and the door. Will you fight it? Can you fight it? If I take the escape route out the window, where would that leave you? If I escape out the door, wouldn't you just be in danger too? These are things you have to think about, instead of just being there because you feel like that's right.

[Can he fight it alone, without Odd-Eyes? Probably not, but he's also not completely helpless without access to his familiar.] I can definitely escape it. Odd-Eyes isn't the only thing I have.

[Yuya squares his shoulders a little, like the emphasis on size will prove his point.] I'll know if you reach Odd-Eyes. If you go out the window, I'm fine. If you come out the door, we'll run. And if it's worse than what we expect... nobody else is going to know what's happening in that room if you're alone, right?

[ There's still no point in it, in Kano's opinion. Nobody knowing what's happening inside the room is exactly what he wants- nobody would be troubled until ("if," and it's not a huge "if") he either loses grasp on the situation, and he still believes he can keep this under wraps somehow.

But if something happened to him, Ellie would be furious for sure, Minako too, probably Imelda for it being right under her own roof, Peter had told him he could call any time he needed saving, and then there's Yuya who's being told he can't do anything but be on standby and there's no more frustrating thing than that: being told to wait, feeling helpless, and opening the door to find it's too late.

That's not fair. ]

...Not very convincing. [ He heaves a sigh, rolling his shoulders. ] How 'bout you and I escape right now? It'll be angry, but maybe we can lure it out into the mountains or something? With Odd-Eyes, we'd be a lot faster, and can put a lot of distance between us. It'll buy some time.

[ And get it away from the building and the school, minimize casualties, that sort of thing. ]

[Yuya's prepared to argue, because it's probably not convincing but Kano's attempt to lock himself in the situation isn't either. And then he suggests escaping, and Yuya's shoulders ease.]

Yeah. Then there's less people in trouble, right? [He can follow the line of logic there, and Odd-Eyes is fast. And powerful. Maybe if they draw it away, they can scare it off or... at least put it in a position they can deal with it easier.] Odd-Eyes is really familiar with the mountains. He can get us somewhere clear with stable ground.

That's how it is~

[ Here is where he wishes he'd paid more attention to class, because somebody must have talked about masked monsters at one point, how to combat them or how to dispel them, but instead, his knowledge stems from videogames and the sorts where you don't even fight the monsters head on, you run and pray.

He has no god he likes to pray to, so it's running instead, down the steps two at a time until they're outside and rounding the corner of the building where Odd-Eyes would be waiting. ]

See if you can get him to fly us by my window, so we can get the monster's attention and have it give chase.

[Yuya picks up speed, still glancing over his shoulder once and a while to see whether it's picking up on their plan. That hasn't been an issue so far, but... he can't help being a little paranoid when chased by a monster in the school. For all his bravado, he doesn't have a ton of actual combat experience.

He nods.] He can't fly, but he can definitely get us in view of the window.

[It's not hard for him to scale three stories up a building, anyway. Odd-Eyes is still sitting, attention up at the window until he picks up their crunching feet and looks down at them in--confusion?

Yuya flashes a smile and waves his hand.] Change of plans. Kano and I need a ride so we can lure it away from the school.

[Not that he explained to Odd-Eyes what 'it' is yet. Yuya deftly climbs up on the dragon's back, bracing his feet on his back as he grabs one of Odd-Eyes' horns with one hand. With the other, he leans over to offer it to Kano if he needs help up.]

[ Why the fuck can't a dragon fly. He's huge enough that Kano had always assumed, but- doesn't matter, the assumption was his mistake, and they can still make it work. He takes Yuya's hand up to sit upon Odd-Eyes' back, but he has no idea what to hold onto that won't have him falling off the moment Odd-Eyes starts moving, so he's just going to wrap his arms around Yuya's torso and pointedly not look at him. ]

Sorry!! You'd probably rather this were done by a cute girl, huh? I can make that happen, to make up for all this?

[Yuya's waist is probably the best bet without a saddle, and Yuya shifts to make it easier for him to hold onto.

He laughs suddenly, briefly.] Ah, I don't have my eye on any girls here... [He leans over, patting Odd-Eyes' face before he grips both horn tightly in each hand.] Okay, can you get up to the window and make sure she sees us? And when she starts coming, we're going to run up into the mountains.

[The dragon lets out a confirmatory sound.] Hold on tight, Kano.

[He's got a second to make sure his grip is steady before Odd-Eyes rises up on his hind legs and grips protrusions in the wall to scale up. It's a smoother ride than it seems, the way Odd-Eyes makes large stretches with his limbs to haul them to the third floor in seconds.

He curves his neck to look into the window as he gets level to it, where Yuya and Kano and peek in as well.]

[ The laugh is hard to place, but Kano doesn't get any more time to ponder over what it means, as he's got to make sure his grip is tight enough that he doesn't slide backwards, clutching Yuya close enough that his face presses against his back, watching out for any figure in the window.

The window was already open from when he had intended to jump, originally, and he hadn't closed it the entire time he'd led the monster into his room. That makes it easy for the monster to spot the three of them, but it also allows the monster to scramble over to the window and place her foot up onto the windowsill in the exact same position he was in before, stomach lurching when he hears her voice.

"Shuuya— Shuuya, no! That's dangerous! You'll fall!" Panic, worry, desperation. Over him. He needs to make this stop. It's his fault she's feeling these things.

The monster opens her arms wide, foot and a knee balanced on the windowsill.

"Come back to me! Shuuya!!"

Her voice breaks, choked with a sob, and all Kano can do is sit there and be silent, squeezing Yuya even tighter or else he'll be tempted to leap back into his mother's arms. ]

[Yuya feels Kano squeezing him in response to his mother's pleas. They have it's attention and they can't stay long, but... he can't help but feel a little pity even knowing that this might be a ruse, so see her so alarmed.

He offers the hollow a smile, strangely reassuring and confident.] Don't worry. I'm not going to let Kano be hurt.

[That includes by her. He doesn't tell Odd-Eyes the leap down, but his familiar knows exactly when to anyway--pushing off the wall as he releases it to land straight to the ground with a head thud that sends snow flying everywhere. He doesn't straighten up all the way, giving both of them a more horizontal ground to be standing on, but he does crane his neck up to see if the hollow is going to follow them straight out the window.]

[ Even if it's a ruse, it still hurts to hear it- in that way, it's already too late to promise that Kano wouldn't be hurt, because this does and has ever since he'd caught a glimpse of the creature. He should have found a way to deal with her early, instead of letting her draw nearer and nearer until she's right there in front of his face. Maybe selfishly he wished to see her again, maybe selfishly he wished for her to get close.

Selfishly, he gets his prayers answered, and the monster leaps from the building and crashes into the ground, kicking up a little cloud of ice- that does nothing to deter her, as she blasts out of the snow straight towards Odd-Eyes with inhumane speed.

"Give him back! GIVE HIM BACK!! DON'T YOU DARE TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME AGAIN!!" ]

—never mind baiting, just run! We gotta run!

Right! Let's go, Odd-Eye-eeeeeees! [Yuya doesn't even finish speaking before his familiar also bursts off, powerful legs carrying them at incredible speed in the direction of the mountains. Yuya tightens his grip until his knuckles turn white, looking back as he trusts Odd-Eyes to maneuver them as they leave the school grounds.

What Odd-Eyes lacks in flying, he makes up for in the power and dexterity of running and jumping. They are going clear over the back wall in one leap. He's moving with direction, even if Yuya isn't telling him where to go--honestly because Yuya doesn't know where to go, so he's relying on his familiar's intelligence.]

We need--what, a cliff? A cave?

Won't we get trapped if we head into a cave??!

[ Kano doesn't know either, where to go! There's no way he can direct Odd-Eyes, so he's left their lives up to the dragon's mercy. He can barely hold on, trying to glance over his shoulder to see whether they're gaining distance or losing it, but it's so hard to tell with how much snow Odd-Eyes kicks up with every step. At the very least, he hopes that deters the monster, even a little. ]

You pay attention in class, don't you, Yuya? How do you get rid of these things?! A weakness, a weakness... Never mind that— what are Odd-Eyes' strengths? We'll play to his strengths!

I didn't pay attention in this class! [He doesn't even know if he took this class! And now they're both learning the hard way why education is actually important.]

He's--strong, physically! Smart, he breathes fire?! [God he hopes the weakness is to just pulverize it and not something like silver.

Odd-Eyes rumbles something, steering his direction more towards the left.] What if we knock it off a cliff?

But you go to class!! Maybe you absorbed something through osmosis!

[ That's a thing that happens, right, and under intense stress like this, you suddenly recall miraculous solutions?? Now's the time, Yuya!!!!! ]

It survived jumping down three stories, so I dunno what a cliff's going to do! But maybe we can use fire? If we can find a river and break through it, and have it wash the monster away?

[ It'd have to be a roaring river for that to work, though, and it's going to take a LOT of fire. ]

[Technically humans can survive jumping three stories, it's just gonna hurt.]

Break through--? Wait, the ice! [That's right, it's winter. Yuya straightens up, starting to push the pieces together.] I get it. The water underneath is still running, so if we can knock her into a stream that's stronger than her, she'll get carried away!

[Realistically a river that fast won't actually freeze over to begin with, but Yuya has also not been paying attention in his natural science class. That's not impossible, given their proximity to the rivers that run close to the alps.]

You can find a river like that, right Odd-Eyes? [Another growl, and then Odd-Eyes turns quickly and picks up speed to start to weave through trees in a northwest direction.]

[ But can they jump three stories and get right up and give chase? Whatever that thing is, its pain tolerance is very high to nonexistent, so they'd either have to KO it in a fight, or otherwise get away from it, so he really hopes this works.

Alright alright alright, no looking back and wondering and questioning, they've got to get to a river first and then he can worry about the logistics. ]

You and Odd-Eyes keep an eye out for a river. I'll take care of slowing the monster down.

[ The only power he has on his side is his illusions, and its range is much smaller than he'd like after never practicing enough, never taking any of this as serious as he should, but it'll be enough. Immediately behind them, the trees shift places, standing where gaps should be and the air thickens with fog and ice, hiding their position and if the monster gets too close, it'll—

a tree shakes several meters behind them, something having run right into it. It's a little too close for comfort, but Kano won't make it easy to catch up. ]

[The sound of the tree being hit startles Yuya, too, but he braces himself for the sound again.]

Right! Hang on, Kano! [Kano's not wrong when he says that Yuya gives it his all, but he's just as incensed to do his best when he sees other people making the stand, too. He can't let Kano's plan fail now.

It takes a couple minutes that feel longer than they are. Odd-Eyes is just as fast as the hollow, with long claws that help him keep his footing through the ice and snow, and the sound of the rushing river gets closer and closer. It's too powerful to be iced over, and it's wide. Deep.]

There! [Odd-Eyes skids to a stop at the bank, whirling around and letting out a shrill, loud roar in challenge.]

[ Wide and deep and Kano makes a mental note of its width, all its twists and turns as far as the eye can see, trees falling off the closer they get to the river bank but the thick fog remains, and the river... The next time Yuya looks, the river is gone, covered with a thick blanket of snow just like the rest of the clearing all around them, complete with footsteps across where the water should be to hide the fact that there's any water at all. Visual illusions are his specialty, but auditory ones take a bit more, the rush of the water dampened but not completely obscured, so he's glad Odd-Eyes had taken the initiative to mask the noise with his roar.

"Shuuya..." The monster steps out of the fog, calm as can be, as if she'd just opened the door to his bedroom and came to wake him up. "Shuuya, what's gotten into you today? You're so worked up... Come home with me, Shuuya..."

Kano lets go of Yuya- finally- and makes to slide off Odd-Eyes. ]

I'll have her come to me. Stay back for a bit, alright?

... Okay. [Yuya watches Kano slide down, but he keeps his place on Odd-Eyes. A firm tug on his horns is enough indication not to move yet, and Odd-Eyes' noise comes down to a little quieter of a rumble--enough for Kano to speak over--as the dragon keeps his gaze between both Kano and his mother.]

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