exsilium | ♙ cinq. (video; action threads also accepted)

--lease desist!

[ a scuffle can be heard as larsa's tablet drops on the ground, picking up a cloud of dust and dirt as he struggles, boots crunching and scraping across the broken cement beneath his feet. the camera's damaged; it flickers a few times, giving a worm's eye view of a few figures grasping larsa's arms. he's stumbled, one knee bent, like he's about to collapse. whatever damage has actually been made to him is hard to see with the tablet flickering, especially so when a boot comes up to cover some of the already flickering feed.

there's a rustle of fabric and a yelp from larsa, a wheeze following afterward. ]

P-peace cannot be found with fighting me or... or any other Transport. Do believe me, I pray you! You are scared. Wars are-- [ a gasp, and the feed flickers again as the wind's knocked out of him. more flickering occurs, and it's hard to hear the response of the figures before one grasps the emblem hanging from around larsa's neck.

larsa has been a pacifist so far, but he has lost almost everything in the war back home. the sight of someone using his house crest makes him panic, and he starts to cast. immediately, the figures react, two still holding his arms yanking him back against a crumbled wall--it doesn't stop his magic from bursting across all of them.

they all freeze. larsa gasps as he yanks himself out of their grips and slumps to the ground, holding his house crest close to his chest.

he tries to get up--the damaged tablet is scooped up and held close, the camera timing out as he hurries away to try to get as far away as he can. disable would not hold forever. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hi. It's Sonya.

[She's smiling, but there's something quite savage about it - she's all teeth, no warmth, and her voice is sharp.]

Did they give you their names at any point?

[ by this time, larsa's crouched down near some of the more local establishments near the housing unit--he's a little more in control of his breathing and himself. he can't... quite put his finger on why sonya feels more harsh. ]

No. [ his voice is quiet. ] I do not know their faces.

Think you could identify those faces if they came up in front of you again?

Ah...

[ he closes his eyes, trying to visualize them all in his head. ]

Perhaps.

Good. Don't strain yourself. Get somewhere safe and get some sleep.

Sleep? [ he feels like he's living on an adrenaline high in that moment. larsa's never been too good at the command 'go to sleep'. ] I... I suppose.

[ hesitantly; ]

Is everything alright?

[Sonya shoots the camera an appropriately confused look. For once, she doesn't have any snappy remarks or off-the-cuff wit; the best she can manage is - ]

What?

You seem...

[ as larsa tries to get up, his knee wobbles, and he catches himself with his back against a dilapidated wall. ]

... sharp.

You're fu -

[For once, she swallows her profanity. It doesn't go down easy, and so she has to struggle for a moment to reorient herself - ]

I'm pissed. For the obvious reasons.

[ there's some mild confusion on larsa's end.

protectiveness and anger at his well-being (or, rather, when people threaten his well-being) is never shown the way sonya shows it. he is used to grave promises and layers upon layers of cryptic secrecy, things for him to uncover to realize that people do care about him. concern has never been clear-cut, even with drace and gabranth, and certainly not with basch. larsa never just knows he's important to them for emotional reasons, even if he's attached.

the stagger in her words at first make him wonder if she's struck out something she wanted to say, and it dawns on him that he's being unusually dense. ]

--oh.

[ he bows his head a bit, holding his bruised arm as he holds the tablet with his other hand. ]

I apologize. My head is... aching. I was not thinking.

[Here's the thing: Sonya's a big sister to two kid brothers. Mehrdad is a bit more rough-and-tumble, but Omaid is timid and sweet and unassuming, and in the past few years especially, since she graduated from law school and got a bit more confidence and independence and became more outspoken, she's become pretty frank with him. To get him to buck up. So she speaks to this kid, the boy-emperor, like she would to her own little brother if that was her brother who just got his ass kicked - ]

What the hell are you apologizing for? Get to safety and remember their faces and their voices so I can take their asses down later.

[ larsa nods shakily. ]

Of course.

[ he's still not all quite there--larsa is a mage most of all, and being hurt because of his magic makes him a little curious as to what else is not acceptable here, but he's never been quite forthcoming with this kind of information. he does, however, turn off the feed. he doesn't need it getting more damaged. ]

[Maybe half an hour later, she sends a follow-up text:]

Tell me when you're ready to talk This is getting taken care of

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