all it took was one knife. the rider faded away in a swirling mass of pixels, joining his lizard partner in... the wherever monsters in this place went they died. a.i. heaven?

the string of beads that were wound tightly around it before went slack, clattering to the floor. with a flick of ten's wrist, they came sailing back. in the dim lamplight, he could make out more chips along the glass of the beads; it was a wonder that he managed to hold on to it without the thing disintegrating in his hands. maybe that was where all his luck went.

he was vaguely aware of rai staring at him, so he turned, raising an inquisitive eyebrow -- and then, he heard the question. he couldn't hold back his instinctive, answering snort.

"regretting it, now? my, grandmother, what fine hindsight you have." still, rai was the only reason why ten was still standing; it wouldn't be fair to needle him too much. ten felt the familiar pinpricks of guilt and self-loathing that he hadn't been able to help much, but he buried as well as he could under a thick layer of 'thank god i'm alive'.

somehow, he was still alive. ten held out his lamp, the flame casting long shadows down the path back. "nice night for a walk."

Rai // yeahhh