themightybosstone | [StarRail PSL]

[StarRail PSL]

[The world was one of a constant, strange, cyclical war.

When the night fell on the highest moon of the furthest month, a Howling Storm took the planet, cut its cities off from each other and the visitors from their homes, When the Storm's first whining, hot wind struck, the imposing gates of the iridescent metal of this world would close, folding up and over, in a wall only Qlipoth could love.

The thud of bodies, the scrape of claws, mandibles and fangs added to the cacophony that the setting of the red sun provoked. It ebbed in the morning, but never enough to be safe. Never enough for the walls to come down.

In defiance, however, in these little hubs of survival, the nightlife was something quite impressive. Loud music played, lights blared, the night market was a roar of throats - the call of sellers and the flirtation of buyers.

All to carry on like a shield wasn't holding back the certain death of nearly everyone in the spaceport.

But you're here, waiting for the tired relief of morning. For the spaceport to open back up in a week.

It should have already ended. It SHOULD have been open yesterday.

But the Storm is longer than it's ever been here...]

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[ She's-- well. Deeply embarrassed, to have to come fetch him like an unruly child, and have to use her family's money for something they would abhor besides. But once they're gone she turns back to watch him, brow furrowing instead in faint worry. ]

... I don't see how you would, if you couldn't afford your own bail. Are you going to be able to make it back?

Well, it's not going to be easy. But I've a few bounties in my back pocket I could hunt down. Get a good bit of the way.

[ It's literally how he's gotten THIS far. ]

... Then I'll be patient.

[ looks him over once more... then motions to the door for him to follow her out. ]

...

Wont let you down.

[ That's better than he deserves. Why is she...? His tail hangs low as his ears do as he follows after.

There's just-

A tick of a pause, a corridor that smells like Dan Feng-]

[ she notices his pause, so she does too, glancing at him and then down the hall. ...? ]

[Will you go down that corridor? If you do, you'll keep going for a while - and it's progressively getting colder, plunging into subzero temperatures, until you round a corner, and you see a jail cell. In said jail cell is their errant third - strung up in chains, and staked right through the heart with what looks like a giant, fuckoff, Sett-sized nail.

He does not look discomfited by any of this. In fact, this might was well be a nice napping spot, judging from the way his tail swishes up lazily back and forth on the floor.]

[ The flicker in the corner of his eye was likely expected.

Sure, she could have just opened things up.

But what fun is in THAT. Honestly, it would be BORING. ]

Heh.. wwwwooow you overdid it this time. You DO know that [ She mimes flipping through a folder, fingernails sparkling a little in the motion. ] 'evisceration' is an interpretation of fight a guy, Fengie.

...

[ His tail swishes through the air. ]

The other guy's that way.

I can't afford to bail him out, and they wouldn't let me besides.

[ But she turns down the hall anyway, to head down and check, since Sett clearly wants to. ]

I doubt he'll let himself be contained for very long.

[ WHO SAID HE WA- yeah he does. ]

Yeah. I heard em talkin' about getting the Xianzhou. They're willing to drop the shielding to get him off planet.

No idea how THAT'S gonna go.

If the Xianzhou Zhuming is coming to pick up such a dangerous prisoner it's unlikely they'll come alone. They can handle the Swarm just fine, and then we can likely leave as well.

[ She continues down the hall until they reach Dan Feng's holding cell and she just... stops, and stares at him.

Unlike how she looked at Sett, chained and muzzled, there's no pity in her gaze-- just narrowed disdain and something bordering on hatred. ]

[ That nail is absolutely not overkill, actually. Also the cold... are they trying to force hibernation or...

He glances at Val. Man... that expression. She DOES know him.

Well, this all tracks. ]

So I'd like to finish things but your bail is at like... 3 times your bounty and I don't think even the IPC has that much spare change.

Visitors! Valencia. Sett.

[Dan Feng rolls his shoulders with a wet, cracking sound, and lilts their names at them: Valencia he had gotten from the script, and Sett he had gotten from their prison intake.]

To what do I owe the pleasure?

[ She slowly looks over his restraints, just letting Sett talk.

The fourth link from the top right has a stress fracture in it, exacerbated by the cold. It'll be fragile, pulled at the strength Dan Feng is capable of. The cold itself is a good idea but not cold enough-- they should have doused him with water to freeze him beforehand, to keep him slow and miserable, because his leaking blood won't be enough with Yaoshi's influence feeding him. The nail isn't a horrible idea for being large and cumbersome but it would have been better to use many smaller, anchored blades-- ones through all of his major organs and driven into his spine. It wouldn't stop him forever, but it would keep him in place much longer.

Rather than expend this much energy to keep him contained, they should have locked him in a barrel of acid. That would at least have kept him under wraps long enough for the Zhuming to arrive. But, Val supposed, this was taxpayer dollars at work.

She finally looks back to him, silent for a long moment. ]

I was curious to see how they would choose to restrain you and, unsurprisingly, it's lacking. It's too much to hope you'll rot down here, and save everyone the trouble of your existence.

Uh...

Well, probably NOT what the Zhuming has in mind.

[ Here he'd probably ask, BRO WHAT DID YOU DO, but it's to Dan fucking Feng so like. They don't have time for that kind of answer. ]

Well, you know! They're not very well-funded; Zhuming has the more decadent options.

[He yanks at the link Valencia has singled out, and cracks in the wall of the cell spider outwards from where it's anchored, before it gives way. It's almost like he was just waiting for them???]

You should not expect much from a backwater planet like this. The Swarm wouldn't even be here if not for this young lady.

[ She jolts with alarm, eyes darting to the chain again and back-- and quickly begins to back the way they came, all the feathers on her wings slimmed down with nerves. ]

-- You keep saying this. It's far from the truth! Goodbye, Dan Feng.

[ And she spins around, quickly walking back the way they came. nope nope nope nope ]

[ HIS EARS PERK ALL THE WAY UP AT THAT SNAP. He straightens, vibrating with interest.

Except then Val GOES SUDDENLY AND-]

Nah, it aint her ship, I already checked it for eggs.

You're right, it isn't her ship.

[He leisurely starts rocking himself back and forth on the nail, working it out of him with a horrible squelching noise that's audible through the cell's audio outputs.]

I didn't think you'd travel with someone like her, my little Foxian. Did she not tell you what she was?

[ Sett can almost certainly hear Valencia shout his name from down the hall, but she certainly isn't waiting for him; while they talk, she heads to the office, all frantic energy-- ]

You need to amplify security on Imbibitor Lunae's cell right now-- decrease the temperature--

[ "It's already set to max," the guard says, clearly put off by her energy, like. First of all girl what were you even doing down there, and second-- "Dan Feng is in good hands. He can't escape that easily, we've made sure of--" ]

-- And you're a fool to think so! You need to contact the Zhuming now and have them warp here as swiftly as they can--

[ You know some things are horrible when you aren't like, up to your ears in the need to HUNT and that sound is TOP UP THERE. That HAS to hurt.

He really should go, but man, even if he gets off the nail, it'd take SETT hours to brutalize the walls enough to get free. So, eh, whatever.

Also. Little. Foxian.

The ear flicks.]

You think she's some Masked Fool or Fictionologist or somethin? ... way too big to be an overlord if we're still talkin' Swarm...

[In the time that it takes for Valencia to yell at the prison guards, Dan Feng would have slid the entire nail out, and would now be using it to pry at the anchors of his other chains.]

You know who I am, yes? What I hunt?

[He needs a little more regeneration to be able to summon his spear, but he can wait. This is fun. He manages to get his hands free- so he can slam against the glass, in Sett's direction.

He drops his voice. Almost lovingly, he says:]

How much do you think you can get for a Stellaron?

[ It isn't the splatter of gore across the clear polymerized shield, or the way the flecks of Dan Feng already start to freeze to the surface in bright red blooms- ]

[ It's the CLICK of those few dedicated, hard working neurons that put it together. Oh she's got a world cancer. Is one?

Fuck, that Swarm really ISN'T going to leave.

Little nuances like, oh, normally people just immediately blort into fragmentum on contact or oh hey she has PARENTS obviously are frankly lost on Sett. He's not a Nameless or a Stellaron Hunter. He only knows that if he's here on script-

- shit he's here on script -

then they're in deep shit.

Is deep shit.

Okay thoughts beyond THAT are beyond his pay grade. ]

[ Oh, that LAST SENTENCE.

A growl from someone the size of Sett sounds like an engine starting, honestly. ]

Nope, nevermind. She's right. You can fucking rot.

[ And with a crunching snarl, he goes to find Val- ]

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