It’s The End of the World as We Know It

[redlightgreenlight]

Who: Tiamat(Valdis), Clarke, The Captain and Skulduggery
What: The Beginning of the End Part 2
When: February
Where: The Bridge at Dawn
Warnings: Potential violence



After all that, waiting until dawn seems like little consequence. But wait she does, though she can’t help but send a little taunt to a particular party before making her way up to the bridge. The sun rises just over the edge of the water, the stars beginning to fade from view. She can sense Clarke not far behind, and the Skeleton must be here somewhere, though maybe they will get lucky and he’s elsewhere. Tiamat leans against the railing to look out over the realm a scared little child created, musing over the various outcomes of what is about to happen. Even if the Captain knows who she is, he’d entertained her before, there’s no reason to suspect he won’t now.

“Oh, Captain,” she says, still watching the sun come up. “Care to watch the sunrise with me?”

Comments

[sictransitgloriamundi]

[behind her.]

Why? It's exactly the same one as yesterday, and the exact same one as tomorrow.

[redlightgreenlight]

[Always behind whoever comes to the bridge. How boring.

She doesn't turn to look at him.]

Oh, I suspect tomorrow's might look a little different if some people have their way.

When our oranges get shifted

[takethatnature]

[ Wilson stirs in his sleep as the shadows sweep over him. His eyes snap open and he staggers to his feet, swinging the Morning Star at... nothing in particular? What was that? ]

[ There's a jolt immediately afterwards, when he's barely got his feet on the floor. THE SHIP BETTER NOT BE SINKING AGAIN--

He squints out the cabin window. Why is there another ship here? Is it really a ship, or something other disguised as one? ]

[freedomsuitsme]

There's a familiar, frantic rap tap tap tap tap at the door just a moment later.

"Higgsbury! Open up!"

[goodweather]

[ The death magic does not touch him. The ring on his hand does its job. In the shape of a shield, barrier, cage, it's a wall to magic all the same.

But reality blinks and Phil, very awake, very suddenly feels sick and in pain and like everything has just gone a little too far to the left; and he'll be okay in just a moment, he's sure--

but he still picks up a glass, the one holding the sprig of amaranth in the bathroom, and reels his hand back, aiming for the bath--but the little glass, the single flower. The mess.

... He puts it down. He's on the wrong side of the ship to see anything. Phil undoes the bindings on his dagger and steps into the hall with both blades on his belt, looking around, and starts moving. Listening. He cannot hear the top deck from here, but he can hear far all the same. ]

[closed]

[myagic]

[It all happens in quick succession: something (Death Magic) jolts Rita awake, and before she can even process it, everything feels...wrong and gone and for a sickening moment, she thinks maybe this is it; maybe her soul is losing its grip on the ship and she's disappearing, and she wants to scream no, not now--but it passes just as quickly.

She's left sitting bolt upright in bed, staring at Natsuno and wondering what the hell just happened when her phone buzzes. She has half a mind to ignore it, because who the hell is it at a time like this--oh, Clarke. Wait.]

What the hell do you mean it's done?!

[No, screaming at the phone isn't going to transmit the message to Clarke, but she does it anyway. They were supposed to--know what would happen and when and how is it already done?!]

[neverleave]

[Goddamit Clarke you ruined blanket time -

Natsuno's phone buzzes at the same time as Rita's. He doesn't bother looking at it, because Rita spells it out loud and clear. Natsuno agrees with the sentiment, but like with any emergency, he immediately shuts down in favor of brutal pragmatism. He hurries to the window without another word, because done means the barrier can be broken.]

There's another ship. They're coming.

[He doesn't linger to stare at it, instead moving towards the door.]

[sabigoe]

[ Suddenly, something rattles Fio awake and she sits upright having broken out in a cold sweat, panting heavily. For a moment, she wonders if her nightmares returned, but she can't recall what she dreamed of if she did. Even scarier, it feels a lot like that time long ago when her soul slipped out into the Nothing. She doesn't want to lose another month of her life.

One of her magic lanterns has been summoned, dangling in midair by her bedside and adding a little extra light to the entire cabin. She doesn't know when it was summoned. Perhaps in the moment that she felt terrified of losing her life again, she was about ready to fight. Taking deep breaths, she surveys the room until her gaze stops at the window, seeing the freighter outside. She doesn't know how long it's been there. Or if it's an enemy or not...

A long pause, then she picks up her phone in one hand and types out a text to her family and friends (basically any family or positive CR gets a text and if you want to handwave that she knows their cabin number to hit them up, go ahead!): ]

Do you see the other ship outside? Are those the bad guys or good guys?

[myagic]

We don't know yet. Be on guard, okay?

[makesomedeals]

Generally speaking, those all in black are the bad guys. Present company included. But it remains to be seen what variety these are.

Be prepared to hide should things take a turn for the worse.

[decohere]

[her New Year's resolution involved waking up earlier in order to support 6's goal of gaining back the strength he lost during the weeks he was held captive in the Village. a month in and she's kept the complaining about the mornings to a minimum. but this particular too early morning is full of colorful expletives, of panicked circling in place as Ava can't figure out where to go or what to do or...

her phone dings, and seeing Fio's name allows her a moment to focus. calm down and...]

i dont know

lieutenant tayrey was trying to contact somebody to negotiate freeing the other passengers

but we have to be careful what they might want in return

[fonomena]

It will be difficult to say until the captain of that ship arrives to speak with us, I expect. Until we know for certain, however, being cautious is never a bad thing.

Are you currently in your room, Miss Fio?

[pinballer]

if theyre bad ill beat them up

[yourexoduslaughing]

dunno yet! but well find out soon! if u can find sparkles go get sparkles k & tell me where u both r!

[goodweather]

Other ship? What other ship?

text to Skulduggery (after checking cabin 157 and the arcade)

[sabigoe]

[ First, Fio checks in on cabin 157. Then rushes off to the arcade as quickly as possible. No sign of the shadow there either. Before she can go on a mission to check if any shadow looks different than usual and every other place on the ship, she has to pause, take a breather...

She starts drafting out a text to give an update to Flan. Then another for Skulduggery. Her earlier text didn't get a reply. But there's no harm in trying again. He'll read it eventually, right? ]

Daddy? I'm sorry if you're really busy right now. If you've seen Sparkles, can you let me know? I can't find it but I'll keep looking.

[yournewsidekick]

Nimona wakes gasping.

(I don't want to die anymore --)

She clutches her heart, feeling it beat so hard that pain radiates like lightning along her nerves. As soon as the death magic recedes, something stutters in her body like a glitch -- something that isn't her -- and on instinct, she disintegrates into a cloud of pink sparks.

Two frantic seconds later, the sparks coalesce and zip toward the window. Nimona reforms to peer out. She's gotten so used to staring at the unbroken line of horizon that she can't comprehend the shape at first. Her eyes skip over it, stumble back; she inhales as she stares.

"There's something out there," she whispers.

And she's gone again, streaking under the door, down the hall, spiraling toward the nearest deck -- she changes back to human and her feet thud on the wood, she sprints for the railing, leaps --

A bright pink dolphin hits the water with a loud splash.

Nimona wastes no time in swimming straight for the freighter.

Maybe it's a rescue. Maybe it's finally their doom knocking on the door. Either way, she's not just gonna sit around with her thumb up her butt and wait to find out.

[angrycrabnoises]

A loud voice screeches from back on the deck, “NIMONA, GET BACK HERE! WE DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK THAT THING IS!”

Karkat is gripping the railing and looking a bit pale. He mumbles to himself, “I AM NOT LOSING ANOTHER FUCKING FRIEND TODAY.”

[blindwatchersees]

The grasp of death is a familiar, unwelcome guest, but he's only just drawn his dagger when everything on the ship shifts slightly orange.

Then, reality flickers for that tiny, imperceptible moment.

[lovethyneighb_or]

Mulcahy's on his feet in shorter than a flash. Those years in the Army never left him, and it's barely a minute before he's dressed and out of his cabin (sorry Sharky).

It's while he's hurrying to the top that he runs into this stranger. "Yo! Sir!" he calls out as he approaches. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

[knotawolf]

Reality blinks, and in that nanosecond the thing that's now Yufei feels again what it was like to not exist. That instant where he stopped being what he was; before he woke up like this. But then it's gone, and he's falling out of the ceiling of the atrium with an anguished howl.

An extremely long howl since it's a two story drop, which doesn't seem to phase him at all, landing on his feet in those orange flip-flops he wears constantly. He stands there for a second looking all around himself like he expects something to be there, something on the ground if the way he's tilting his head is any indication.

It's only a brief survey before he screams in frustration and everything in a 50-yard radius goes to static. Phones, televisions, smartwatches, all of it crackles to life for the duration of his screaming and then goes silent.

Then he turns and runs out of there, far faster than a human, and quicker than someone wearing flip-flops should be able to. He's going to find what caused this, and he's going to rip it apart with his bare hands.

[inhairently]

( steve stands on the deck, spiked bat in hand as he squints at the freighter on the horizon. his lips curl into a grimace.

he didn't really know what to expect when natsuno woke him not twenty minutes ago, shouting about the barrier being down, but something about that vessel in the distance fills him with dread. )

Yeeeahhh... ( deadpan. ) That's not good.

[professionalriot]

He's been in his room translating Maxwell's spellbook for what felt like days. There is a knot between his shoulder blades that throbs. His legs are stiff from sitting. But, he just keeps going, hoping something in all of this will make everything make sense and give him a way to fix it.

Ash is tense but not anxious. Anxiety and fear aren't emotions he feels often. Feeling a sudden flash of those emotions makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, a shiver rolling down his spine. The feeling was a flash. Gone as suddenly as it had struck. Which was unusual enough to stir him from his stupor of Latin translations.

Grabbing his phone and tucking a gun in the back of his jeans he left his room.

When he reached a deck where he could see out to the water his steps immediately stopped. There was another ship. Which sent another shiver of down his spine. As he moved to the railing he sent a text to Valdis and Max.

To Max: There's another ship. I'm going to find Valdis and see what's going on. Be careful. Maybe go hang out with Daisy?

To Valdis: Where are you? I felt something strange and now there is another ship.

Standing at the railing he watches the freighter. That's not ominous at all. He sent another text, this one to Crichton.

To Crichton: We have company. Another ship. I'm on the sports deck.

text - >action

[ss_buttcrack]

[On my way.]

He's not going to waste more time than that asking questions over text. Another frelling ship! That could be good news, or it could be very bad news. He's got his pistol primed at his thigh just in case it's the latter.

As soon as he's in earshot of Ash, "Any idea what the hell is going on? You feel that mule kick in the chest, too?"

post-bridge

[skaikru]

open —

( she flees the bridge as an invisible flurry with a light splattering of a black blood trail appearing sum-five feet behind her at any given point. anyone traversing the stairs that lead to the sports deck are likely to get wordlessly bowled into and never get the chance to ask so much as a what the fuck? before she's gone again. the expectation for how this moment ended had never been grand, but to be flat out running for her life is still a bit of disappointment. at least there's a destination in mind, with a stop or two along the way...

a few levels down, the stairwell door busts open on deck 3 and one clarke griffin flits in and out of view for a few seconds when she fumbles the stolen cloaking sphere. away from immediate danger, it becomes too much of a hassle to hold in her dominant hand, the one attached to a mangled wrist still steadily drip-dripping blood onto the carpets — so the sphere is stowed in a pocket of her leather war jacket, and clarke just keeps her head bowed to avoid anyone getting a good look at her mangled face. her general disposition still reeks of messy however; every inch of exposed skin ruddy and sweaty, blonde hair tousled way beyond bedhead, chest heaving. and every so often she reaches up to paw at the air around her throat — currently bruising, still remembering what it felt like to have a noose of air wrapped tight.

then down further into the ship, working against the crowd of panicked passengers as it ebbs and flows, until she can step out onto the right side of the deck. leaning heavily on the railing, she fixates on the shape of the ship rapidly approaching them. if silently willed thoughts could project, she'd be screaming get here faster and i did what you asked, now liberate! but whoever may or may not be coming to their rescue still isn't currently here, and threats to her friends still live so...

fishing out her phone, clarke can be seen hunched over and rapidly texting... )

closed —

Tender launch.

( that is the only follow-up message the likes of natsuno yuuki and rita mordio receive. and even that had been a little hard to type out, as adrenaline begins to wane and that freely bleeding bite wound on her wrist bone demands attention. it's been a while since they've used this place, clarke thinks to herself while finally allowing her legs to buckle and sliding gracelessly to the deck floor. we were herded onto the boat for the battle royale island here, then walked willingly in order to visit the tropical island.

a quick search of her pockets turns up nothing useful for once. no bandages, no antiseptic. a bag of prepackaged peanuts, but that won't do to stop the bleeding. so she eventually takes the knife still smeared with darcy's blood and cuts away at the hem of her tommy bahama athleisure shirt to at least make some form of a bandage. ties it tight, then hauls herself back up to watch the approach of the dark freighter. watch for any sign of a skiff departing the vessel and making its way here, the most logical landing point.

...right? because in hindsight, she's got no idea how pirate jenny went between her ship and the serena eterna and if their new guest just blips into the bowels somewhere and she's got to track them down, so help her god — )

[neverleave]

[Tender launch. Natsuno is a bit relieved that Clarke's not sticking around near the bridge, because once the captain's defenders realize what she's done, they will want to hurt her like they hurt Tayrey and worse. He heads down the staircase without another word, knowing Rita would follow since she got the same message.

He wonders if Clarke's intends to take a lifeboat and head towards the freighter, since it doesn't seem to be coming any closer. He doesn't think it's the best idea, but first they need to regroup. The relief vanishes when he goes down a level and the scent of nightblood hits him with all it's familiar, sickening, appetizing glory. The scent becomes stronger with every step, and he notices traces of black blood all over the stairs.]

She's hurt, [Is also he says before he breaks into a run.]

[sailmods]

[the ship seems to stay at the very edge of the horizon for a strangely long amount of time.

until it is directly beside the Eterna, and everyone learns very quickly that it was very, very far away, because now it is very, very big. large enough that when the gangplank swings down with a heavy thud, it crashes directly onto the top deck.

and then... nothing? seems weirdly quiet.]

[light_mischief]

[as much as Skulduggery would like to investigate his newest enemy, he isn't about to leave the Captain's side to do so.]

pre-boarding.

[abhorrently]

Sunrise, and it's all beginning to fall apart. She'd heard the scuffle from the decks above, but the shift in reality was awkward enough to be noticed. As if someone had shifted all her organs a fraction to the side. And then the black freighter, and her stomach drops out from under her.

Someone found the thread. Someone who knew. She'd thought it'd vanished with Tayrey, hidden somewhere it might never be found, or just dissolved as the contract bearer was absent. Clearly, that was foolish. There's only one thing to do, and she heads back inside for it.

It takes little time at all to be armored, to be equipped. Nothing is left in her room she can't afford to lose. And her strides through the halls are quick, purposeful. Those she encounters, she gives a significant look, one to seize their attention for a moment.

"It's time."

Wake your friends and take your weapons.

[not_the_last]

"Fever --"

Cassandra's in her armor, with her wingcloak on, white as chalk.

"It's happened. It must be."

pre-boarding

[not_the_last]

I need to find some of the others, she'd told Fever, and the trouble is there are too many people she wants to find, and she needs to get above to find out what's happening. She can't go in multiple directions at once, and she doesn't want to use her Boots of Haste yet in case she needs them later, and every second pulls at her like a tiny dragging hand, like a voice chanting hurry hurry hurry.

One sweep of the passenger cabins, she resolves, and one of the Promenade, and that's all she'll allow herself to find her people before going out and seeing what's come.

Mindful of a promise, it's Okie's cabin she makes for first.