Undo the Theophany (Closed to Hornet)
Jun. 7th, 2019 12:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penultimatevessel[End? Can that idea be registered in a vessel like them? After giving so much all this time, all their efforts, a struggle that felt could go on for all time, could a fight like this be over?
The vessel had prepared for the possibility of giving up everything. The King had given them the tools to fight the Radiance, to prepare for an endless fight and die over and over and over again.
But at the middle of their ceaseless struggle, writhing in the throes of the Radiance’s fight for dominance, another vessel had come. Together, or mostly the vessel and the semi-vessel had found the means to something the Hollow Knight had never considered: defeating the Radiance once and for all.
And now...where did the Knight go? Where had they gone? Between the one instance and the next, they found themselves on a bench, a relic of memory from long ago.
Lost, they reared, ready to defend….in spirit. In the end, the action only resulted in sagging forward, the weight of their nail holding them down.
What now? What does one do when they had only the task of containment, the long job of suffering and enduring for the kingdom, only to end up here on a bench?
Those were questions Hollow Knight couldn’t answer. They didn’t have the chance to even have the capacity to approach it outside of their protector role. Perhaps for now...they could stop.
Everything had gone on for so long. Perhaps for once...they could not continue their assigned task. And just rest on this bench. For once.]
The vessel had prepared for the possibility of giving up everything. The King had given them the tools to fight the Radiance, to prepare for an endless fight and die over and over and over again.
But at the middle of their ceaseless struggle, writhing in the throes of the Radiance’s fight for dominance, another vessel had come. Together, or mostly the vessel and the semi-vessel had found the means to something the Hollow Knight had never considered: defeating the Radiance once and for all.
And now...where did the Knight go? Where had they gone? Between the one instance and the next, they found themselves on a bench, a relic of memory from long ago.
Lost, they reared, ready to defend….in spirit. In the end, the action only resulted in sagging forward, the weight of their nail holding them down.
What now? What does one do when they had only the task of containment, the long job of suffering and enduring for the kingdom, only to end up here on a bench?
Those were questions Hollow Knight couldn’t answer. They didn’t have the chance to even have the capacity to approach it outside of their protector role. Perhaps for now...they could stop.
Everything had gone on for so long. Perhaps for once...they could not continue their assigned task. And just rest on this bench. For once.]
no subject
Date: 2019-06-08 04:09 am (UTC)But it was all too clear that the Hollow Knight was in no way, shape nor form fit for combat. She may have been cold, she may have been stern, but she was not a murderer, nor a bully.
It would be shameful, to engage now. Especially when the light of the infection had dimmed from the vessels eyes. What would be the point of killing them?
The silence hung in the air, as she considered what to do, unintimidated by their stance nor their size, until at last, she settled upon her next action.]
Sit down.
[An order]
There's nothing left to fight, and you are in no fit state for battle now.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-10 12:19 am (UTC)Was there an advantage gained fighting them now there was no ultimate purpose? Now that the Radiance had left, the half-sibling was no enemy to them.
The Hollow Knight staggers. It's an order. The Knight knows enough to tell when one gives them an order.
What point was there in contesting? They remained in their shaken stance, staring blankly. And then, like a massive bodily sigh. They sit back down.
The sheer collapse against the steel of the bench leaves a cloud of dust in their wake.
Too worn out. It was too long.
The vessel glances around at the kingdom that has gone on in their painful stasis. The question remains, silent as their imposing quiet figure but implied all the same: what now?]
no subject
Date: 2019-06-11 04:40 pm (UTC)Whatever concerns she once had in regards to the Hollow Knight were quickly ebbing away as the true scale of the damage the vessel had taken became apparent, now convinced that there was nothing more the old knight could do.
And all at once, they went down, crumbled and worn like the ruins of the kingdom around them.
For a time, she stood there, watching them, waiting to see if they'd try to do anything more, until at length, she began to approach again.]
... The infection has passed, but the ruins are no place for those who cannot raise their nail.
[They'd not be able to defend themselves, after all, and something, some strange, soft feeling, kept her from just leaving them there.]
Collect yourself, we will be leaving for Dirtmouth in an hour's time.
[We. The damaged vessel would at least have an escort for that journey]
no subject
Date: 2019-06-12 05:57 am (UTC)They wouldn’t do anything. They had no reason to. Not to someone who hadn’t taken arms against them at present.
The words register in the Hollow Knight as a tone of finality. The vessel examines their one arm, flexing fingers that were now free of a disease. It was true before, but now it felt real. No more infection to eat away at them.
The Hollow Knight observes around them as she raises a warning. Truly, have these towns changed so much, time moving past themselves for so long?
There was logic in what she said. They knew enough to recognize the truth in that. Staying here wasn’t an option for them.
They look firmly at Hornet, the words ‘we’ resonating within them. Slowly, deliberately, the Hollow Knight points a definite finger at themselves before slowly pointing it back in Hornet’s direction and then back to themselves. We.
...very well. No matter the case, the Hollow Knight would take the hour to lean against its nail, nearly a security blanket for them at this point. And rest. For the sake of the future journey.]
no subject
Date: 2019-06-12 05:21 pm (UTC)We, knight.
[A phantom, but a far cry from the little ghost who's shell lay halved in the egg. They were the knight, and they'd be referred to as such.
For that hour, she didn't speak to them, allowing them that rest and silence. The being couldn't speak after all, coupled with their obvious exhaustion, it seemed pointless to talk idly. Instead, she tended to her needle, whetting the edge as she alternated from observing her blade, to watching the knight, thoughtful.
What to do with them, when they reached Dirtmouth? It'd be a long journey, them being hobbled by the previous fight. They'd need to be careful, the ruins still swarmed with enemies, though the husks of those infected would have at least stopped moving by this point. Wouldn't stop the wild, dumb beasts wandering the corridors here from jumping them though.
Ten minutes before the end of that hour, she'd finally speak again.]
We will have to move with care, and deliberation. I will not fight all the beasts of Hallownest to reach the surface.
[Because they certainly wouldn't be able to do it.]
The trip back to Dirtmouth from here could take the rest of the day, and into the night as well, if we are to make it without meeting an enemy.
Once we begin to move, there will be no returning, and I will not stop.
Do you understand?
no subject
Date: 2019-06-12 08:35 pm (UTC)The silence was appreciated. Even if Hornet did pass the time, the vessel wouldn’t know how to respond. Not because of their own silence but just because...they never figured out the intricacies of talking to other people. They had one task their whole life, anything else, any other skill was deemed unnecessary by the King.
The Knight merely reflected on what awaited, a world they haven’t seen for so long. Would there be more infected souls they would need to cure with their nail or would the Knight receive a kind welcome. Out of this trail of thought there was a faint wish to maybe...just maybe see the King. But they didn’t such a task could be possible. Not now.
Outside they merely tipped the massive weapon in their hand back and forth, a pendulum unconsciously tracking the time.
The time was soon done and they felt rested….rested enough to rise again, at least. They didn’t think the wear from their long struggle would be gone for such a long time. The rose, a black monolith of a soldier ready to move on. They understood that their journey would not end. They were used to shouldering their own effort.
Yet what Hornet says perplexes them. No fight? Hollow gently lifted their weapon, brows furrowed.]
no subject
Date: 2019-06-13 04:54 pm (UTC)[If she can help it.]
Damaged as you are, you would be easily overwhelmed in a battle. It would be too troublesome, and deadly, to protect you all the way to Dirtmouth.
I won't sacrifice my life in the interest of time.
[Cool and curt. They were standing well though, which at least meant they had plenty of energy to walk. It was with no further comment that she began to move, unfurling her map as she did to begin plotting out an appropriate path to the surface.]
The passing of the infection upon Hallownest will have at least made these tunnels all the emptier. We will not have to contend with animated husks.
With the proper planning, I imagine we can make it to Dirtmouth with little incident.