Raegan Byrd July 8th, 1907
Raegan opened the creaky door of their home, hearing the familiar squeak assault her ears. Even though she was used to it - or rather, should've been used to it by now - she still cringed. At the door, she wiped her shoes on the straw welcome mat, kicked them off to the side, and stepped out onto the cold, concrete floor. With arms full of paper grocery bags, she hobbled over to the kitchen table, and dropped them down, finally freeing herself to hurry back to the front door and lock it.
When she turned around, Cecil I came hopping to her feet to greet her. With a warm smile, she crouched down and picked him up into her arms.
"Nice to see you too, Cecil," she cooed, massaging her fingers into his thick fur. "I got some nice deals at the market, today, you know. Made it there after classes..."
Her voice trailed off as she caught sight of her father, sprawled out on their one, dingy couch, fast asleep. Almost involuntarily, she hushed herself with a quiet "shh," as she set Cecil back on the ground, letting him follow her, hopping behind her heels.
On light feet, she tip-toed over to the couch, grabbing a blanket folded across the top of it, and she carefully threw it out, letting it flutter down on top of him. For a moment, she stood there, watching her father and listening to his quiet, wheezy snores. He'd always had problems with breathing - always most prominent in his sleep.
She sat down on the arm of the couch, at her father's feet, and looked at him... closely.
Over the years, it was as if he gained one wrinkle every day for every hour of work he spent in the sun down at the docks. His leathery, sun-spotted skin served as a stark contrast to her own; youthful, and bright. His eyes, both droopy, were more often seen closed like this than open, and even more rarely were they alert, and looking at her.
But when they were...
A snore of his got cut off by a waking snort, and he shifted, sleepily looking up at Raegan with his vibrant, warm, brown eyes. With a grunt and a stretch, he arched up into a sit.
"Hello sweetie," he grumbled, though his tone was kind. "When did you get home?"
Ragean smiled softly, sliding down into the couch beside him.
"Not long ago. You didn't miss much."
He nodded slowly, leaning back into the couch, "Mmm. What kind of day was it?"
Raegan leaned to the side, putting her head on his shoulder. "Hmm. Just... a day."
Her father hummed with understanding. "One of those," he replied, before falling back into silence. For a moment, Raegan wasn't sure if he'd fallen back asleep, but then he spoke - to which, she grinned bittersweetly.
"Tell me about it," he said quietly.
Raegan, fully knowing that he would fall asleep a minute or two into her story, reached over to the small table in front of the couch and grabbed his hat. With a little "boop" she placed it on his head, where it belonged, shading his eyes.
"Okay, papa."
Raegan Byrd March 20th, 1912
Madness. It was all madness.
Raegan could feel the fear coursing through her veins as she beheld the sight of the gigantic blue amalgamation of many faces. As Lysandre lead the charge in the fight with the monstrosity, Raegan began to search the rubble around her in a panic. She didn't have her sword. She didn't have a shield. She was defenseless, and, though a healer, more a liability if she didn't have something to fight with, because there was certainly no punching that thing to death.
Her eyes caught sight of a trident in the cracked stone hands of the plaza's figurehead. She ran over to the impromptu weapon and picked it up, assessing how it felt in her hands. It was heavier than she would've liked, but she didn't have the luxury of choosing at the moment. As she secured the trident in her grasp, she looked back over to the vibrant stream, catching sight of Anberlin with her head completely submerged in the water, and Brayel pulling her out. With eyes wide, she ran back over to them, setting the trident aside as she came up behind them.
Without a word, she laid a hand on both of their heads, uttering a spell. Within seconds, cyan rings of water appeared around their heads, before mistifying in a spinning circle as they seemed to spin from the top of their head to their shoulders. It was a common spell she used to calm troubled animals and bring pain relief, and gradual, slow healing - though for Anberlin she also added something to help her recover from being submerged under water.
However, before words could be exchanged, a disembodied blobous blue arm from the creature fell only feet from them with a thud. Raegan jumped, letting out a small squeak, and fumbled with her hands as she reached back down for her trident. She could recall hearing voices - voices that were not her own - calling to her in her head. But a her eyes locked on the arm twisting and forming into a humanoid shape, bearing three eyes, it was as if the words went in one ear and out the other. Perhaps they were commands, since Anberlin's tone always carried authority, but that was neither here nor there.
The creature swung its arm at them, hardly moving it's feet from its spot at its arm stretched out like a whip. Raegan met it with her trident, her eyes still wide as when she first saw the giant creature in the square. Stepping in front of Brayel and Anberlin, she approached the monster with another swing of her trident - but it felt awkward. She was used to a blade... not this. Flustered, she ducked the next swing of the creature instead of stabbing at it.
"The eyes!" Finally came through her adrenaline clogged hearing, and when given an opening, she pierced the trident through the giant eye in the center of the creature's body, pleased to find that the three pronged weapon also got another one in the same motion. The eyes burst like squashed berries, and she pulled the trident out with a firm tug. The creature, briefly stunned, provided another opportunity for Raegan to make a jab at the last remaining eye through its back.
As the last eye burst, the creature seemed to almost melt - instantaneously going from solid to a goopy blue liquid pooling on the ground, lifeless and inanimate.
Breathing heavily, Raegan took a look back at where the two had been, but saw that they were gone. Swiveling around to try and find them, she spotted Brayel, with gun in hand, sending shots out at... bombs?
BOOM! An explosion went off by one of the giant creature's many arms, turning it to the same inanimate goop as the smaller beast she'd fought. Three more shots followed, and Raegan - marvelling at his accuracy and the progress it seemed to make in hampering the montrous creature from fighting - stared as three more explosions were set off, covering the field in a cloud of dust that advanced towards them.
Raegan shielded her eyes with one arm, and still held her trident in the other. She tried to look for any more monsters that would rush out to get her or the others, but it took a moment for the dust to settle. Making out Brayel, on the ground with his gun, she rushed towards him - but as she met up with him, she could see two figures just ahead in the field of rubble, standing in what looked like a stalemate, locked weapon and weapon.
It was Anberlin and... Lysandre? Wasn't that the woman who helped them earlier? Why would...
Anberlin called out, in their minds.
"Get back! I've... lost her.... I've lost her."
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