flameguard | mygod | pc catchall

[ now that things have been reappropriated correctly, rondo can be found sitting by the fire. he's dressed in his actual uniform now, hair back in its usual ponytail, looking decidedly more knightly than he did in the weird cult fit! it's actually not that different but that's besides the point.

more importantly he is holding a bigass sword - he's just kind of staring up at it, expression pulled into a deep, thoughtful frown as the flames reflect back on the surface of the weapon, which is a darker color than it appears, tinged blue and pink like an afterthought.

he has not noticed vin yet! ]

Edited 2024-06-08 18:21 (UTC)

[rondo your jock energy

she doesn't interrupt for a bit, watching to see how skilled he is instead. vin you're going to give him a heart attack someday]

[ wow a murdergame... with a murder....

it's friday! and as of friday, rondo is standing by the pyre, his hands laced together, his eyes closed. even with his eyes closed, his expression is clearly, clearly upset, his brows pinched together in what can only be frustration, his mouth a tight line.

across his chest, the inky tattoos of the week of multiplied - the shadows and ink coalescing in more than one spot, spattering a perfectly white cloak. not being strong enough to protect the people you care for. not being strong enough to protect the people you care for. not being strong enough to protect the people you care for. not being strong enough to protect the people you care for. ]

[pyre time pyre time. she's frowning over the new rules.]

...I see.

[hi hello it's affection week which means she's trying to keep distance like a feral cat. if he wanders into the clothing store, he'll find her sorting through a few things, but when she sees him the emotion is very !! for a moment.]

...This is a strange week already.

[ well that was fun and funky fresh huh

anyway it's later in the evening on wednesday and rondo's no longer at the island ceremony. he's sitting by the water at the beach, curled up - really only recognizable because his cloak's hood is pulled up over his head and the sacred flame symbol on the back stands out like a sore thumb.

it's a very solitary moment, an unusual one for someone who tends to be the center of most social gatherings of the group. he has his arms around his knees, and as you get closer, you might here him... mumbling. ]

... it's just odder to hear you laugh. [ rondo's voice is soft and wet, vulnerable - there's a tiny laugh. whatever he's seeing disagrees, and he flinches. ] Yes, sir. I... no, I can - I can...

[ it doesn't seem he's noticed he has company! ]

Edited 2024-06-19 23:28 (UTC)

[ everything sucks forever goodbye

anyway rondo can be found at the pyre after the announcement. he's got a wet cloth pressed his cheek, and is pretty much just staring into the blue fire, mouth pulled into a tight line. ]

[ tHE LAST HOUR HAPPENED SO MUCH where are you miss vin... rondo's seeking her out once things settle down :waugh: ]

[beach time!! she's looking for him.]

...Rondo.

[ we're in the void!

vin might feel the way the world suddenly feels hot, sticky and miserable - like she's standing in the depths of hell. and funnily enough... ]

[ after your induction into the guardians of light - hasty as it was - you join the others as they make their battle plans to march on the gates of hell. between your research with king solon and the willpower of the other guardians, preparations are being made for a confrontation of a lifetime, and you feel a little out of place.

everyone here is powerful - a king, a lord, the very ringbearer chosen themselves - and they control armies, countries and politics. this is the kind of thing that sazantos would have handled, where you would stand dutifully by his side and listen, wanting to help and soaking up what you could learn, but...

... but sazantos is your enemy, now. he lounges in hell with the forces of the undead gathering under his influence and might. you haven't gotten to confront him, not yet - you only know now what queen alaune has told you, that he intends to use her older sister, the princess elrica who was executed by her cruel tyrant father, against all of them. alaune tells you all that she wants to go to hell to confront them herself, because she is brave and admirable, and the ripple of shock that moves through the room is heard by everyone, perhaps no louder than richard, stunned at her side.

immediately, you feel moved, moved by the sense of duty and purpose you always feel, and you bow, one hand to your heart, and ask alaune and the ringbearer chosen if you might join them. you know the two of you could protect the queen, and...

... and you need to go to hell, too. you need to see sazantos for yourself.

you need to ask him why.

the queen accepts your offer with warmth as always, and to the background noise of shades of the walking dead approaching the castle in droves, the three of you descend into hell through the portal. ]

--

[ hell is - not what you're expecting.

it's gloomy and dark and miserable, and the oppressive power of pure evil seems to lurk around every corner. you find yourself standing in a near exact replica of the castle of edoras, and though alaune swallows nervously in front of you, she is strong, her shoulders squared backwards: the ringbearer chosen's lantern shines with a safe, warm blue glow like the sacred flame itself, and it soothes all three of you as you begin to navigate your way through the endlessly labyrinthine tunnels of this alternate castle.

you are accosted by shades and spirits of monsters nearly every third step, but you and the ringbearer chosen are both strong and capable, and you slash them back, keeping the queen safe as you guard her journey towards her sister. each monster is twisted beyond belief - some are humanoid, flesh melting from their bones and eye sockets, creatures of rage and despair, and others are just monsters, multi-eyed beings that spit black magic and acid, all designed to torment, to kill, to cause despair. it feels like you wander for days, down plush red carpets and past structures of horrible black crystal and roots, digging up into the castle's surface like claws. the entire time, your heart pounds with purpose and necessity, and though you aren't afraid, the further you get into the castle, the further a gut feeling of dread starts to build.

your gut feelings are usually accurate, and this is no exception. when you round a corner into a hallway, now cleared of monsters, there's a burst of black, accursed flame, and walking out of its embers is none other than sazantos.

your heart stops.

sazantos looks so different than you last saw him. your last memory of the former flameguard was him leaving flamesgrace to head to the isle of orsa - white cloak, silver armor, brilliantly blue eyes, long silver hair braided with a red ribbon that you feel like you've stared at a thousand times. a man you have seen in reality, in your dreams, someone who you have spent nearly every waking moment of your life following, chasing, striving for.

here, sazantos wears black armor, his face covered in a mask - his silver hair tucked into the back of the armor, too. the accursed flame nearly oozes off of him, roiling with purple and black and pink, the same sight the two of you once fought off in berecain.

it is in this moment that you realize that everything that you have so fervently hoped was false is a reality, and the sight of him breaks your heart into a thousand pieces.

you can't help yourself. you rush forward, ahead of alaune and the ringbearer, and his name escapes you in a rush - ] Sir Sazantos...!

(to 33:14. skippable, text below matches! )

[ sazantos regards you for a moment, and then walks away from you - he is always walking away - but you hesitate, because you know how he is and it's just like in training, that surely he will respond if you give him a moment. and sure enough, he speaks after you follow him, your gaze stuck to his back. isn't it always?

"I must say. I hadn't expected to behold your foolish face even here, at the very end of the world." sazantos says, almost wry. he turns to you, holds out his hands, as if beckoning you to attack him or run to his arms - mockingly. "Have you improved at all in the time we've been apart, Rondo?"

the way his voice smooths out the syllables of your name is so familiar that your heart aches, because it used to draw you in like a moth to the flame. you have hung on his every word for almost ten years now, and you you taste something bitter and miserable in the back of your throat as you regard him.

you suck in a breath, force the lump in your throat down. you should answer the question, but you - you can't, you can't address that, you don't care if you've improved or not, because the only thing that matters is the secondary reason you came down here, what you've wanted since you joined the guardians, since you heard the news of sazantos' betrayal in the first place. your hands curl into fists at your side, trembling. ] Why...

[ and you run to him, closer to him, facing him one to one. your voice breaks with your anger and your despair and confusion and loss and hurt. your heartbreak, as you finally get your chance to confront him. your composure shatters and you shout, desperate - ] Why are you doing this?!

[ because that's what you've wanted to know from the start.

his hands drop back down to his side, and sazantos shakes his head, says your name again. "Rondo."

the timber of his tone is familiar - he's already dismissing you. "You cannot hope to understand."

(but you want to. you've always wanted to. you want to understand everything about sazantos. you want to know him, want to understand him, and he's never once let you in.)

he turns, folding his arms, and for a brief, terrifying moment, you think he's going to disappear again. "No...no. No one can."

but that's not true. can't you understand him? would he ever let you? why won't he ever let you try?

you want to run to him and shake him, impulsively, want to wrap your arms around his shoulders and shake the truth into him, that you want to understand him that you love him that he is your everything - but you don't. you suck in a breath, and drop your hands to your side, curling them into tight, shaking fists.

sazantos explains to you what pushed him over the edge. he says he never knew if human lives had any value or not - which stuns you - until ceraphina and lyblac, who showed him how greedy and desiring human beings were. how every single one of them deserved to perish, because they destroyed the world around them, based on those desires. that all human beings were evil. that they all deserved death.

you almost can't believe the words coming out of his mouth.

this is sazantos, after all. the flameguard. the brilliant, protective force who cared for the continent, who has saved so, so many lives. it's dissonant, it's wrong. after everything you've seen him do, you feel like you have to defend him from himself, from this insanity, from this darkness that's taken him over that just can't be him. you can't reconcile it. and as always, passionate and impulsive, you can't help yourself, throwing out your arm with the force of your denial - like you could reach out and wrench him back from this cliff he's standing on yourself. ] No! You're wrong - humans aren't all evil!

[ your voice starts to break - your vision blurs with tears, but you barely even notice as you take another step forward, throwing your arms out, and your words pick up volume. you're shouting, now, echoing through the voluminous hallways of the castle in hell, your desperation and despair as you try to make him understand wild and untamed.

(you don't realize it, but you've started crying.) ] You saved me and my sister, didn't you?! You risked your life for us without a second thought! That's why I looked up to you - why I wanted to be like you!

[ because you remember his back then, too.

you were thirteen years old when the bandits attacked ravus manor - when heathcote was gone. they ransacked the entire place. killed every attendant, every maid, even your swordfighting coach. they discussed you and your sister - how they'd hold you for ransom, kidnap you.

you remember how you were shaking, but you remember how you promised your sister you'd protect her. you remember lifting your sword. you remember the bandit sneering at you and your trembling hands. you remember not being afraid. you remember thinking i'll protect you i'll protect you i'll protect you and you remember -

you remember sazantos. you remember staring up at his back, at his silvery hair, strong and proud. you remember his ethereal presence, like he'd come down from the heavens themselves, out of nowhere. you remember his voice, ringing out like a shot in the middle of the night. "Come, my Flame, and engulf all who oppose me!"

you remember the blue, blue azure flame that came from his sword. you remember how with strength, grace, and beauty, he vanquished the bandits. you remember how you think you might have fallen in love with him.

you remember, more than anything, the way he looked at you, shaking in your fancy clothes but no less brave, and the approval in his voice, as he said, soft and low, "Boy... you've got the makings of the Flame, in you."

--

your last word rings out, and the heat goes out of your voice as you run out of air.

you stare at his back, again, always staring at his back, and you ask, tiny and hollow with the horror of realization. ] ... Are you saying that was all some sort of act?

[ sazantos finally turns to you again. he regards you, for a long moment.

"Well, Rondo..."

and then sazantos summons the accursed flame. it's ominous and dark black in his hands - its wrong, its so wrong, and he tells you that maybe you should ask the sacred flame that you love, instead of giving you an answer. the sacred flame that he taught you to follow.

you don't understand. you want to understand him. you want to know what happened, you want to understand why he fell to this depth, you want to know you want to understand him help him you want to know you want to be there for him, you have always wanted -

sazantos looks at you again, and you swear you can see his eyes behind that mask, their burning, pure azure blue. and then he chuckles, and his mouth turns up in an odd smile. he walks closer to you. he holds out his hands to you. he faces you.

"...You should join us, Rondo." he says, "The dark flame awaits you."

it knocks you for a loop. you stare at him, stunned, and then your feet start moving before you can even stop yourself - not sure if you're going to throw yourself into his arms or tackle him - but before you make it three steps, he's gone. you scream his name and rush after him, but the accursed flame only leaves behind sparks.

and as sazantos vanishes, your knees give out, and you collapse to the ground, staring at the space where your future used to be. ]

[you!!!!

she's just waiting for him to get out of the swamp. how's he looking...]

[ haha

well

rondo's really good at bouncing back from tragedy. he's used to tragedy, he's used to loss, but there's - there's just nothing that could have prepared him for this. for the first time, he's not running around looking for people after death has struck. today he's just sitting by the blue, blue pyre on the ground, his arms around his knees.

it becomes very, immediately clear that he's crying. silently, but he's crying. ]

[ :ben:

rondo is. well. it's fine. he's by the pyre because it's saturday, a distance away enough that he can't see aqua or be seen by aqua, and he's just kind of. sitting here, silently, playing with the little stress toy he had at trial. bleh ]

[ can you believe we're back to daily pcs again. your octopath adoption never ends.

anyway after everything is done. hello. ]

Vin, what - what in the world? Miss Camille...?

[here we are in the library! rondo u nerd. she gives him a nod when she sees him, walking over.]

Researching something?

[ i hate you with every fiber with my being

well today has been! bad! it's been garbage!!!! seeing vin like this was just the cherry on top of an absolutely nightmarish cake!!! rondo comes to sit next to vin wherever she's resting... weh... he's tried to stay in her line of sight while she's being fussed over, but once the room clears, he settles down next to her. ]

How are you feeling...? Can I get you anything?

[ rondo, thursday: you sat with me and you let me cry on you for a few hours last week!! surely that won't happen again!

anyway!!! rondo is really hard to find, today? normally he's always at the pyre, but not this time.

however, with enough searching, vin can find him still in the forest. has he even moved? it's hard to say. he's just sitting by the gravestone, curled up in a ball with his head in his knees, arms folded across them. if he has company he has not noticed it yet, but even from a distance it is like, blatantly obvious that his shoulders are shaking. ]

[ vin was absolutely definitely here the entire trial. rondo is... here, too. by the pyre as usual, though today he stands, sword tip planted in the ground, hands on the top of his sword. for once, he looks every bit the flameguard. though, in the light of the blue flame, today he just looks tired.

... ]

That... that was your monster, wasn't it...?

[ sunday! man. what a fucking week it has been.

vin can find rondo in the library! he's got a box on his hip, and he's plucking books from different shelves - when he sees her, he turns, and offers a smile and a dip of his head. ]

... The week's finally over. [ scanning her quickly for injuries, too! ] How're you faring, Vin...?

[ at some point on monday, rondo can be found at the amusement park! he's looking at the food stands with a facial expression that could be best described as wonder.

There's so much to eat, I don't even know where to start! What's cotton candy? Is that sugar? That must be. What's a funnel cake? It smells so good over here, I could.....woof

why did he brain woof. probably because he saw vin. ] Woof! [ no, wait, ] I mean - Vin, look at this place! Have you ever seen anything like it?

[whew! whew. she's coming to find him after all that, taking a seat next to him by the lake when she does.]

...Hello.

[glancing to see what his emojis are...]

[beelining for him wherever he is, with some pieces of paper in her hands]

Rondo.

[sees this asw again and shakes with rage

anyways, as they start to leave the vineyard:]

What did you want to talk about? Or - what can you talk about?

[ :tails:

well. that was a lot! but okay! here we are!!!! rondo did say he'd take vin to the apartments, now that things have settled at least a tiny bit, so... we're heading to the spooky apartments! and then up the stairs, and to one of the rooms. he puts his key in the door and unlocks it, and nudges the door open with his hip.

copypaste room description for you!

the inside of rondo's room is a little more austere than you might initially expect. the ceiling seems to stretch up far overhead, and the walls are a white stone material, the floors marble. there's a big, fluffy blue rug on the floor, and a bookshelf filled with tomes stretches up to nearly the ceiling, with an armoire parked beside it, both in fine oak. a desk with papers scattered across it (already) sits to one corner, with a chair, and above it, there's also a corkboard with several keychains of the living and dead hanging up in plain sight. a small fireplace with two chairs in front of it flickers with a fire that glows a soft, pretty blue - what should be eerie just gives off of vibes of warm and inviting, and candelight keeps the room lit even in the evening hours.

tall windows that stretch up, up towards the high ceiling are currently covered with a set of blue, velvety curtains, and a large, comfortable looking four poster bed sits off to another corner, with a fluffy blanket and lots of pillows, neatly made. there's a spot on the wall for his cloak and his sword belt, which he's just now unhooking as they enter the room, and near that on the wall hang a painted picture that is almost certainly of sazantos (embarrassing? fanboy) and another of a cute girl with blonde hair cut into a bob hang nicely on the wall.

he holds the door open for vin. ]

Here we are... [ tired. ]

[ i'll pull you in for a heart game later with someone else probably but for now the memshare floor is open. i'm just saying.

however currently rondo seems to be afflicted by the emotionshare! because when he sees vin, there's a big, bright burst of emotions - joy, warmth, affectionate, happiness. there's a little wariness underneath but it's for the way the surroundings have been fucking up, if the way he rests a hand on his sword belt is any indication, but it does nothing to dim his cheer. ]

Vin, good morning! How did you sleep?

weekend 0, saturday!

w0, monday

week 0, friday

w0, sunday

w1, monday

week 1, wednesday