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Exactly Where You'd Expect to Find Him. (Mandrake)
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Post by supesman on Sept 26, 2021 4:33:19 GMT
"Oh god, oh god, oh god. What...what do I do? Who do I call, where do I go?" She was frantic. Her father had passed out in her arms. he was bleeding, he might be in shock. He was covered in a thick layer of sweat that was only getting more chilled by the second. She was jerking her head back and forth, looking from one horizon to the other, desperate to think. She had no one she could turn to, even if she did she had no idea how to contact them or which way to fly or even if they were close enough to where she was that she could move her father there quickly and gently enough to not make everything worse. She sobbed and whimpered, gasping in deep, unsteady breaths before she could do the only thing that a young girl like her could think of in this situation. "HEEELLLPPP! Somebody help please! Please I don't know what to dooo!" She said, her screaming shattering into sobs as she cradled her father in her arms, rocking helplessly back and forth, looking exactly like what she was, a little girl, in way over her head, clutching her father in her arms, paralyzed by the idea that he might never wake up again.
The manor house was hidden in a valley between a bunch of grassy hills. All of the fanbeemon simply stood around, none of them had any idea what to do about a wound that severe either. Her voice was still recognizable as coming from her younger self, basically her only hope was for the one in a million chance of someone, ANYONE to come running, or for someone to recognize her voice. She took in another deep breath, trying not to just go back to sobbing.
"Someone help us please!" She said, putting every ounce of her strength into her call, the longer she sat there in the dawning light of the sun the deeper she fell into the despair. Her father was barely breathing. The coat wrapped around his wound was soaked and slick in blood, fat lines of it beginning to roll down the outside edges of his torso. "AAAHHH-HHHAAA!" She threw her head back, her mind just fully swallowed by despair and panic. Time was running it, she had no options, no ideas. She was a grade schooler coming home to find their parent bleeding into the living room rug with exactly the emotional and mental outcome that one would expect from that scenario.
She wouldn't notice the shape coming over the hill as she held her head over her father's body, holding him close, as if she could keep him from slipping away if she just held on tight enough, that his breathing would just keep going if she listened hard enough. Like if she missed a single one of his breaths then that would be it, and she would be alone in the world all over again, because she couldn't do anything.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Sept 26, 2021 4:50:20 GMT
Mandrake was driving outside of Rosewood not aware yet of anything that might be wrong ahead. In the distance he picked up the mental signature of Marigold but not Zack. Odd but not unresonable so as he drove closer to where he was sensing her an ear splitting shriek was heard from the carseat in the back where Lilly was strapped in. Poor thing was loosing her marbles which made both Mandrake and Lothar concerned as they knew she was fine only mere moments ago.
As they got closer to Marigold, Lilly seemed to get more upset tears streaming down the little Jyarimon's face her sapphire blue eyes scrunched shut. Before Mandrake could think of pulling over Lothar called out over their daughter's wailing. "Mandrake look. There's Marigold and Zack looks to be injured."
Seeing what Lothar was talking about he came to a stop roughly ten feet from the distressed Stingmon and her tamer before practically flying out of the car and running up to Marigold with Lothar getting Lilly out of the carseat catching up mere moments later baby in hand. "Marigold, what happened to Zack?" Mandrake asked loudly trying to get her attention.
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Post by supesman on Sept 26, 2021 14:24:11 GMT
Marigold's dark green insectoid face was shimmering and polished with thick streams of tears going down her cheeks. She looked so small, so shaken, even in the towering form of that humanoid insect warrior. It was easy to tell from even a glancing look into her mind that she was in complete and total shock, a child in the depths of panic. She could hardly even bring herself to believe the sight of her new friends coming over the hill and skidding to a stop in front of her.
"Dad he...th-the Flymon and there was a stinger and I just...I could...I wasn't..." She said, her babbling being almost next to useless but giving Mandrake all of the medical information he would actually need with the two words "Flymon" and "Stinger" especially considering the actual location and severity of the wound were easy to pick out when Mandrake and Lothar would get even a moment's glance at the blood soaked rag wrapped around his lower abdomen, a massive hole punches right to one side of his abdominal muscles. How he wasn't dead already was a miracle in and of itself and meant that the stinger of that cruel insectoid digi-queen hadn't punctured anything he couldn't life without for the moment.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Sept 26, 2021 21:04:29 GMT
The sight Marigold was in made sense seeing as her father was facing possible death at that very moment and as Marigold explained, though messily, Mandrake was able to get the gist. A Flymon had impaled Zack with a stinger and though his clothing provided him some protection it was obvious it was far from complete as said tamer was bleeding out on the ground. Kneeling down next to Zack and Marigold, Mandrake checked Zack's pulse and it was not good. His odds of survival were low, unless. It was as if Mandrake had an epiphany as he rose to his feet and began glowing. "Wizardmon warp digivolve to... MedievalDukemon!"
Mandrake now at mega level once again knelt down next to Zack and Marigold and said "Marigold, please step away. I'm going to try to heal your father." His hands began glowing with a gentle and soothing light as he lowered them over Zack's wound. "Purifying Light!" he said as the light itself began to engulf Zack. Sure Mandrake had never used a healing ability on a human before but it seemed to be doing the trick as he carefully made sure not to send too much power into the tamer to cause him potential harm.
OOC: Purifying Light: Heals wounds to himself or another.(Cooldown of two posts) Cooldown 0/2
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Post by supesman on Sept 26, 2021 21:50:18 GMT
Marigold's grip almost seemed to tighten and constrict as she was asked to move away from her father. She didn't want to let him go, that fear of losing sight of him, losing the feeling of his body against hers would be the moment that he'd actually give up the ghost and slip free of his mortal coil. She whimpered though, pulling back, having to fight her basic instincts with the knowledge that Mandrake was their friend and that if he was asking her to move aside it meant that he was really trying to help them.
There was a cringe inducing sound of flesh compacting against itself as the flowing of the blood slowed and then stopped. Zack's face curled into a mask of discomfort and pain, rocking from one shoulder to the other as the entire gathered crowd could hear the healing spell working on his body, as if forcing the wound shut and then sealing it closed.
"Hhhh!" Zack gasped, sucking in a huge breath of air, his back arching away from the floor as his eyes shot open wide. He fell onto his back on the ground again and smacked his hand over where his wound had been once before, tearing away the makeshift rag bandage only to see a mark there, half hidden in the blood that had escaped him, a tentacular scar, five distinct scars shooting outward at least a few inches from the center of the mark. "Oh my GOD that hurt like the dickens..." He said, slumping back into the mud where he first noticed Mandrake and friend standing over him. "Oh...hi Mandrake, Lothar...baby..."
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Sept 26, 2021 22:07:36 GMT
Though hesitant to release her father, which was understandable, Marigold managed to pull away as Mandrake's magic began working its course. The process was hard to watch causing Lothar to visibly grimace and given the severity of Zack's injuries such reflex related movements made sense. Gently Mandrake reached out with one hand holding Zack carefully down so he wouldn't cause permanent damage to himself while the healing energy flowed from his hands. Gradually the wounds closed and Zack let out a gasp before indicating he was in much better shape by speaking.
Seeing that Zack was much better he pulled his hands away and stood up glowing before reverting back to his champion form of Wizardmon. "I'm glad to see my new healing ability worked or I don't think you would of had good odds of surviving the night." Mandrake looked over to Lilly who was not wailing like before but still had tears streaming from her sapphire blue eyes. This was the second time she reacted to negative emotions in such a way. Could she be?
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Post by supesman on Sept 27, 2021 2:08:04 GMT
"it may just be my massive amounts of trauma, I may possibly be going into shock even, but wasn't your kid a boy the last time I saw you guys-?" He said, cut off before he could fully finish the statement by Marigold zipping forward and clasping him up in her arms, visibly crushing him in her massive exoskeletal arms, making his breath hitch again as she pressed his face to her cheeks, laughing and still sobbing as tears rolled down her cheeks in thick sheets.
"DAD!" She squealed, her voice still totally shattered from her weeping and sobbing as she simply relished in the moment of holding her father in the golden, fuzzy light of the dawn as it washed over them both, holding him as tight as she can as if with the intention of never letting him go again for as long as she lived.
"Hnnn! Alright sweetie, alright..." He said patting her on the shoulder and leaning in to try and return the hug as best he can, still sore all over and the massive spiky insect girl grabbing him like a lost teddy bear was certianly not helping. "Marigold you can...nnn...let go now...I can't breath..." He said, finally wheezing as she released her hold, crawling up to Mandrake and browing her head, fully kowtowing to him.
"I owe you for this...forever..." She said, standing up and making a face at Mandrake and Lothar that made it clear that she meant that, every word of it. She would never forget them coming to her seemingly out of nowhere when she had no other options.
"Marigold..." Zack said, taken aback for a moment at how much this near miss had effected her in order to get the normally jovial and snarky daughter of his to make such a serious commitment, even to people he considered their friends.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Sept 27, 2021 2:29:46 GMT
Mandrake couldn't help but chuckle at Zack's confusion upon seeing Lilly in Lothar's hand before he said "Kshin didn't change genders he left on his own a short time after we last met. The child in Lothar's hand is our recently born daughter, Lilly." Marigold had grabbed ahold of her father in a tight hug in an almost suffocating way to her human father and Zack tried to hug back despite still being sore. Somehow Zack convinced Marigold to let go of him and she did.
When Marigold then began bowing and thanking him, Mandrake felt a bit overwhelmed but managed to say "It was nothing. I would of helped anyone in need I was just glad I was able to help." Meanwhile Lilly was no longer crying and looked content again. Mandrake was looking at his infant daughter as if confused and trying to put things together as she was wailing her eyes out only a short time ago. It was as if she was feeling the emotions of those around her so could it be? It had seemed a trait that skipped a generation had occured with the young Jyarimon cause if he was right then, like her grandfather Theron, it seemed she may be an empath.
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Post by supesman on Sept 27, 2021 14:57:15 GMT
"The fact that you would have done it for anybody makes it even more NOT nothing..." He said, trying to push himself to his feet a few times, stumbling with a grunt over for Marigold to help him up, leaving his shoulder against her torso so that he could talk to Mandrake eye to eye. "Can't kid a kidder after all, I know heroic action when I see it." He said, winking with a smile. His energy, at least in the emotional and mental sense was coming back to him at remarkable speed. He would probably want to sleep for a week once the euphoria of not being dead wore off but right in the moment he seemed to be recovering just fine.
"Hi Lilly! I'm a flower too~" Marigold said, waving the fingers of one of her silver clawed hands to the baby girl that, unbeknownst to anyone there, had been a massive factor in getting her father rescued when her empathic powers had sniffed out the panic and helplessness that had been pouring off of her in suffocating waves. "I'm glad to hear that Kshin is doing ok, I need to get around to looking in on him. I think we really bonded that LAST time you guys stopped my dad from dying a stupid death." She said, "playfully" smacking her aching father on the back and giving him a grinning but still very pointed look that communicated her displeasure for always worrying herself suck over him.
"OW! Alright, alright, I get the message." Zack said, rubbing his shoulder and mumbling to himself, he couldn't argue with Marigold's dissatisfaction, it was basically a fact that he always punched dangerously above his weight class.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Sept 27, 2021 22:34:29 GMT
Mandrake began to blush a bit but since it was underneath his cape he was glad everyone wasn't aware of it. Guess that was an advantage of having it around. "You are starting to sound like your old self again, Zack. I guess my efforts were a complete success. Though I never healed a human before."
Lothar began smirking at Zack's antics as it was as if he was trying to mess with Mandrake but the mischievous magician proved nearly unflappable in that regard. As for Lilly she was looking at Marigold and her claw waving around as if trying to figure the Stingmon out before giggling and when Marigold smacked her father the child laughed loudly. Lothar looked at the Jyarimon in his hand and said "Don't you go and get any crazy ideas young lady." Lilly looked up at him as if in thought before blowing a raspberry at Lothar causing Mandrake to laugh. Looking at Mandrake, Lothar then chuckled before he said "Looks like she takes after your side of the family. Not only is she magical in nature but has a love of mischief."
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Post by supesman on Sept 28, 2021 1:04:23 GMT
"Oi, Lothar, what are we going to do? Two fathers with daughters who've ended up smarter than us already...such a cruel world..." He says, fake crying and wiping his eyes with his finger in a very cartoonish and exaggerated manner. Marigold again giving him a playful but more than a little pointed smack across the back, just where she knew it would hurt enough to make him shut up. he yelped and rubbed his back, mumbling and grumbling to himself.
"Do not rope Lothar in with your antics, dad. He is not the one who stumbled headfirst into a hive of hostile FanBeemon because he was ticked off. But...that was really sweet, the way you stood up to her for me." He said, bringing her father into a deep hug, not deep enough to suffocate him again but deep enough that he was able to wrap his arms more comfortably around her shoulders. Zack then turned to face Mandrake.
"Oh yea, I feel like a million bucks...save for the aches down every side of my body, the mounting physical and mental exhaustion and the fat, nasty scar I'm going to have to explain to my mother." He said, truly getting back into the groove of things with his edgeless banter.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Sept 28, 2021 1:20:01 GMT
Hearing that Zack ended up at death's door because he charged a hive shocked both Mandrake and Lothar which made Lilly look at them in a confused manner not understanding the emotion coming from her parents as it didn't seem bad per say but didn't feel good either. This was a paradox her infant mind found mind blowing as she scrunched her face trying to puzzle it out.
Not noticing Lilly's conundrum, he said "Wait he got impaled by a Flymon by charging a hive? That sounds like the story Mandrake told me of when he got captured by Fanbeemon after trying to warn another human away from the hive."
"That was a misunderstanding because they thought I was with that man trying to rob honey from their hive but it did lead me to digivolving to champion for the first time even if I assisted in his escape." Mandrake said remembering Faustein. Sure he was a menace at times but didn't seem all bad despite sometimes getting under the magician's skin. It had been awhile since he and Lothar last saw him so who knew what happened to him?
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Post by supesman on Sept 28, 2021 17:45:12 GMT
Zack got a serious look on his face, leaning back against a rock and crossing his arms over his chest. he looked into Mandrake and Lothar's eyes, then down to Lilly, sighing as he figured he might as well tell the whole story. If anyone he knew could empathize with his state of mind. It would be this pair.
"When I met Marigold I made myself a promise..." He said, sniffing softly and looking over his shoulder to the half wrecked manor house that had nearly been the site of his death. "I promise that I would find the rat bastard who put her through so much hurt and give them a piece of my mind. Turns out that the kind of Digi-mom that abandons her kids to starve in the middle of the woods wasn't also the kind of person open to polite and reasonable discussion of differences." He said, standing up and walking closer, again his eyes turning to Lilly, his gaze snapping from her to Marigold before finally settling on the twin fathers in front of him. "I stood up for my kid, convinced a hive to bring down their toxic matriarch and took a shot to protect someone smaller than me. I have no regrets and I'd do it again in a heartbeat." He said, laying it all out on the line in the way that only Zack was really capable of, just dumping his moral conviction on the floor for everyone else to either accept or get out of the way.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Sept 28, 2021 20:51:50 GMT
So that was how Zack got into such a dreadful state in the first place. It was because the Flymon was Marigold's mother and she abandoned her offspring so Zack not only was protecting someone but talking to Flymon about why a mother would abandon their children.
"Sadly in both the Human and Digital Worlds some parents abandon their children to die for various reasons instead of adopting them out to others who can care for them. It's not right but that's how cruel both worlds can be." Mandrake said as Zack poured out his heart to them.
"Judging by the state you were in when we arrived you weren't looking for a reasonable discussion but a fight and picking one with a digimon higher than an in training is downright foolish for a human. You were lucky to have survived as long as you did." Lothar said in a stern tone that to an outsider might of seemed a bit harsh but the Leomon was not one for beating around the bush perferring to say what was on his mind when he did talk.
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Post by supesman on Sept 29, 2021 1:10:49 GMT
Zack looked Lothar up and down, nodding softly before letting a wide smile roll from one cheek to the other, as if a child keeping a secret from someone he knew would want to hear it. And just like a child keeping a secret, he wouldn't be keeping it for very long.
"Here's the rub, Lothar. and it's a two part test so let's see if I can make myself known. One, I DID win this fight. I convinced her "hive" to kick her out on her ass and she scurried out of her with her stinger between her legs." He said, motioning to the still smoking crater than Marigold had planted the Flymon in before she had slipped away in the confusion and chaos, most likely to never be seen harassing her fellow digimon again. "And second, how DARE you tell me when and where I can or can't fight for my kid. You wanna stand here and look me in the eye and tell me that either of you would take a fight, ANY fight for her sake." he said, jerking his head to one side to motion at Lilly, his brow furrowed in more than a little bit of offense and mounting anger. "What the hell does it matter if I'm a human? I'm her FATHER, Lothar. That means it's my JOB, the same as it is yours to step up and help her fight any battle that's important to her."
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