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

[yournewsidekick]

By now Nimona's back on the boat, human-shaped, staring up at the black ship with the same trepidation as everyone else aboard. (Jeez, that freighter looked way smaller when it wasn't right next to the Eterna like this.) It's only because she's looking up that she catches movement from the corner of her eye.

"Gwen?" she breathes.

She's frozen for a second. Nimona's seen firsthand how agile Gwen can be -- hell, she's been on the receiving end of flips and somersaults and blows that seemed to come out of nowhere for how quick she moved -- and she finds herself waiting for a suspended beat, thinking, she's got to pull out of it, she doesn't need any help, any second now she's gonna do a twist and stick the landing.

Any second now.

Except she doesn't. She keeps falling.

I've seen the rules, the literal fabric of the multiverse. And you know what it said? That in every. Single. Universe. I die.

Nimona's jaw sets.

In a flash, she's airborne, dragon wings snapping wide from her shoulders, speeding to intercept Gwen. Six months ago, in a Kingdom a billion miles away, she rewrote one story. Looks like it's time to rewrite another.

[thismaskismybadge]

The whole way down there's a part of her telling herself to snap out of it, come on, orient yourself, come ON but it never comes. Her head's too much a mess to shake it in the time it'll take to fall, and that tired, bitter part of her just keeps thinking that this only makes sense.

Gwen Stacy falls. It's what she does.

It doesn't feel like acceptance. It feels like resignation. It feels like rage.

And then—

There's an impact, but it's not the floor. Nothing hurts. Someone— did someone just catch her?

[yournewsidekick]

"Gotcha!"

Both arms around Gwen's waist, Nimona flares her wings wider to adjust to the extra weight. She grins down at her, all fangs.

(If the grin's also a little wobbly with relief -- well.)

"You good?"

[thismaskismybadge]

For three long seconds Gwen looks almost dazed, blinking back at Nimona like she's still not quite sure what just happened—or if it happened. And then her face cracks into a shaky but bright grin of relief of her own.

"Y-Yeah, I'm— I mean my head is killing me, almost— almost very literally, there, ha, but— but I'm good. I— thank you."

Just thank you doesn't feel like enough, but it's all she has.

[yournewsidekick]

"No prob," she says, with an attempt at a breezy laugh. It's a bit shaky still. "No way I was gonna let this universe murder you."

She describes a wide circle above the ship, searching for a clear spot -- there, that part of the deck looks pretty empty. Nimona angles in for a landing and thumps down.

[thismaskismybadge]

It takes Gwen a moment to get her feet steady under her, as they land. But she does, and there's never been so much relief to the feeling of solid ground beneath her.

"Yeah, I— I really thought..." She shakes her head, and then more firmly: "But no. Not this time."