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

[fonomena]

[Change of plans--well, it seems that regardless of what has actually transpired at the bridge, Clarke has managed to extricate herself...

But not without some form of consequence, evidently. In a way this, too, is rather grimly unsurprising...but there's no need to remark on this just yet. Natsuno, clearly picking up on the bloodloss first, takes off in a run; Rita sprints after him; Jade...trails behind them, though he does use a fairly brisk stride that has him able to properly appraise Clarke from a distance while Natsuno and Rita converge upon her.

Yes, that sure is plenty of blood. Wonderful. Jade's expression is still unreadable as he approaches.]

--Rita, are you carrying any gels on your person? We will likely not have the time nor luxury to reach the infirmary at this point...

[skaikru]

( she hears a rush of footfalls before actually turning to look. a few too many blows to the head within the last two weeks (impressively from the same two people) have time twisting and elongating before her eyes, making immediate reactions a little hard once her guard lets down. but turning to face those bearing down upon her.

the blood around her nose and mouth and dripping down her neck has long since begun to dry, flaking off when clarke forces herself to crack the slightest of smile at the sight of her friends. there'd been a worry that maybe darcy had set out in hot pursuit, and only hadn't descended upon her because they'd gotten distracted by the likes of natsuno or rita. or — oh, that's jade bringing up the rear. a sight that shouldn't surprise and does not disappoint, but does complicate seeing as he'd been the only one out of the three she'd outright lied to. the bitemark on her left wrist has begun to throb so severely that she keeps it cradled near her chest, but raises her right hand to wave and flag them down.

some of the prey-instinct fear of being alone in times of crisis fades immediately now that she has some sort of pack, but bitter vulnerability flares up when jade's kneejerk reaction is to fuss. they don't really have time for that, and even if they did it serves her little to be perceived as weakened in the current battle state she'd led the ship into. so — )

It's not as bad as it looks. I'm fine.

( always is. )

[neverleave]

[Natsuno reaches her first. Behind them, Jade is asking Rita about first aid, but Natsuno tunes them off. If they can do something, they will. In the meantime he takes in Clarke's injuries: broken nose, bruised face and swollen neck, something that smells deep from the hand she's cradling to her chest.]

You're not.

[He takes the elbow of her uninjured hand, gently. The attack has been both expected and brutal - if Clarke managed to escape, even worse chaos must be unfolding on the bridge.]

Status update?

[Who did this. What are they doing up there. What's the plan.]

[myagic]

[It almost doesn't parse at first; Clarke looks more like she's been splashed with ink than beaten, but as Rita gets close enough to see the crooked nose, the swelling, the way she's gingerly favouring that arm--]

You seriously are not! What the hell-

[Natsuno sums the question up more pertinently, and--oh yeah, Jade was asking her about gels, so...her face turns to him, plainly unhappy.]

No... [Her fake house in the Village had some, but nothing from there was brought back... And neither of them can use healing artes, either.]

[fonomena]

[A negative on gels, from Rita's end; Jade sighs. He only carries a few pineapple ones on his own person, which won't actually help much with the kind of injuries Clarke's currently sustaining...but well, it can't be helped. Not as if they've had much time to prepare for addressing immediately violent conflict...or really to prepare much of anything at all, for that matter.

And whose fault is that?

Jade draws to a halt beside the rest, studying the extent of that peculiarly black bleeding.]

Not much to be done at this point, then, aside from the rough bandaging already done. If she thinks she's fine enough, then she's fine. She is esstentially at the head of this operation now, after all. [Jade's expression is still flat when his unnaturally red glance locks with Clarke's at length.] So yes, tell us, if you'd be so kind. What is the plan of action from here? --Who exactly is on that ship out there, Clarke?

[skaikru]

( is it odd that this feels... normal, now? a chaotic reunion with her friends almost always guarantees at least one of them is bleeding (and yeah, that tends to be clarke) and one is screaming (usually rita) while one focuses on the next steps (natsuno) and another is upset about it all (jade). and after spending the last 12-36 hours (what day is it?) stuck in a black void of shadows trying not to let the intrusive i'll never see them again thoughts win out, she finds herself grateful for their reliable range of reactions.

flinches ever so slightly when natsuno reaches for her elbow, but he isn't going for her wounded arm and the physical contact is as reassuring as it is gentle. they're not to the point where she needs to lean on him for actual support. luckily. for now. she opens her mouth to recount exactly what went down on the bridge before jade interjects and clarke realizes she's got to backtrack in order to fully explain herself, having rejected the earlier chance.

who exactly is on that ship? )

The author of the letter Tayrey received in response to her beacon, hopefully. The one who provided the string to negate the Captain's powers and claims they could be our liberator.

( more to natsuno and rita specifically now, because it does feel like she owes them more of an apology. any promises made to jade had been flimsy, but for the other two she'd really meant to do better... )

I'm sorry. That I didn't text you. There's something named Tiamat wearing Valdis' body, I found her rooting through Tayrey's cabin and she dragged me into a shadow void right after she agreed to help. But it's done. ( obviously, for better or for worse. ) The string turned into a collar, by the way. The Captain lost his human form. Skulduggery's still got a bit of Vile in him. Darcy threatened your lives. Ava was losing against Tiamat when I left.

And now, we just need to meet up with our mysterious "friend". I thought if they sent an envoy, it'd dock here. And if I'd stayed up there, well...

[neverleave]

[Natsuno's expression darkens. Something wearing Valdis' body? Dragged into a shadow void without a chance to let them know, to form a contingency plan? This has bad decision written all over it, but what's done is done. The captain is subdued - truly enslaved, if the string turned into a collar and stripped away his glamour. Small wonder Skulduggery attacked.]

Darcy and Skulduggery can go to hell.

[A "bit" of Vile, yeah right. The memory of Clarke's corpse at the winter resort flashes before his eyes; her escaping now only means Skulduggery would try to do worse later.]

If they dock here, everyone will catch up.

[myagic]

[Rita sucks in a breath and is on the verge of interrupting Clarke several times. Who the hell would work with Valdis--or Tiamat? What the hell's going on there? Shadow void? When did that even happen? Why the hell would Clarke get some Valdis-adjacent weirdo to help, anyway? But ultimately, what comes out is an immediate and vehement agreement with Natsuno-]

Screw those two; they can drop dead!

[An angry huff as she tries to sort through everything for the most pertinent information. Collar--unpleasant but not unsurprising--and everything else is...not important. Instead, they have a ship on the horizon to wait for, and she starts tapping her foot.]

Or we just get ahead of the game and go out to meet them before someone does something stupid.

[fonomena]

[It's rather a lot of information to parse at once, about now. But Jade is parsing it, much as he very briefly almost wishes he weren't. Because there's...well, not a single encouraging word in any of those sentences, honestly.

Apparently Clarke had at least one bit of help after all, except it was an outlier--Valdis? As someone else? The first name is passingly familiar, but he has no context for the second, and at this point there isn't immediate merit in pursuing it. Far more pressing is the fact that the red string apparently turned into a collar. Enslavement. Now isn't that lovely? (It's not. In the least. There's a nasty little reminder sonewhere in the back of thought, of how many replicas in Auldrant were pulled into slavery as soon as they were first discovered by the wider public. The memory places a highly unpleasant taste in the mouth. No, even for the Captain, he wouldn't have been inclined to delivering such a condemnation as that--)

Little wonder Skulduggery would have tried to murder Clarke on the spot if he were anywhere near, Jade muses almost detachedly--because it's either detachment, or having to deal with far less useful feelings for the present situation, like something surprisingly very close to genuine anger if he examines it too close right now. Not as if the practically flippant lay of the rest of the details really helps, after all. A "friend"--no name even given to work with? Who claims to be their liberator?]

Well, as I'm sure you're all in fact quite aware, neither Skulduggery nor Darcy are in hell or dropping dead anytime particularly soon. Much less anyone else either sympathetic to the Captain or disinclined to supporting the enslavement of another being. You've just made yourself some numerous and rather powerful enemies, Clarke. --Who will likely be furious enough to come after all others affiliated with you too. [Especially Rita and Natsuno, Jade's realizing, in a bitterly sinking sort of way.] I suppose you have as much of a plan for dealing with this as you do for dealing with this "friend"? How exactly do you intend to make that deal while murder's at your back? Having an entity of unknown power approaching is not the time for our numbers to be splintering and in-fighting among each other. Or perhaps you're hoping this new arrival of ours will be diverting enough to unify everyone all at once?

[A short scoff, and Jade's glance cuts away to scan the horizon past the tender for the ship's approach.]

It will likely not be diverting in the way any of us want. A person inclined to placing collars on others is not a person who will be in the business of "liberation". [...Alright. Okay. Anyway--] ...So, with all this considered. Perhaps getting ahead somehow may be your best chance at something, but I certainly don't know how you could--

[--Huh.

Was that a pretty loud and almost crunching sort of thud from somewhere up above, just now?]

[skaikru]

( just because natsuno and rita reject the danger that is skulduggery pleasant and darcy lejeune setting after their lives doesn't mean the anxiety in clarke's chest unravels. something small had broken into familiar pieces within her, and the words stick in her throat when it comes to mentioning she'd retaliated in the moment by trying to take out one of darcy's eyes. there's only enough room in any given friend-group for one extremely reckless party, and if anything happens to them because of this —

but they're moving on to business. natsuno mentions that others may catch up, and clarke looks up towards the bridge, already thinking about ways they could possibly keep other passengers at bay. rita taps her foot impatiently and wants to make for the freighter, and clarke's reminded that she can't row as her wrist throbs painfully. but that sure is an idea, it might be worth a try...

except then there's jade. who, come to think of it, even if she'd been in the mud at his murderous feet in the midst of his memory — she's never actually seen properly angry, has she? nope, that cool drip of disdain as he recites their situation and all the short sights that blinders were slapped over in the effort to get here. powerful enemies made, murder at her back, the lack of information they'd had about their "friend" and the consequence of that that'd manifested in the form of a collar. the moment is ultimately too fresh for this dressing down to humiliate — adrenaline's still pumping in her ears, next steps still whirling in her skull out of order and useless, and fear is the ultimate operator here.

but that doesn't mean the stubbornness just evaporates on the spot. a lump in the back of her throat begins to form, reminiscent of the choking collar of air skulduggery had placed around her throat and clarke feels the heat of blood rushing to her face. and by the end of jade's scornful scolding, she's talking over him. )

I'll give it wasn't a neat plan, but this whole reality is on the brink of destruction Jade, I had to do something —

( then suddenly the side of the large black ship is casting them in shadow, blotting out the sun. the boom of the gangplank follows before anyone can truly react it feels like. she hears it, feels the reverberation in her teeth and beneath her feet. and wrenching away from natsuno to lean over the railing and stare up at the large plank of wood several stories above her head, the pit in her stomach twists like some horrible alive thing. it can never be easy can it... or forget easy — it can never even just go right. )

Goddammit.

[neverleave]

[This whole reality is on the brink of destruction. Yes, this is what Tayrey said before she vanished, this is what Ava confirmed to Clarke. Low maintenance and horrible excursions weren't going to cut it for much longer, they had to something, they had to they had to he couldn't lose them he didn't want to die -

The loud thud and the shadow of the freighter cut off any thoughts.]

Clarke. Don't freak out. [Because it won't help.] Everyone will be focused on this person now. We can assess the situation without them going after us.

[myagic]

[Ugh. She already knew Jade was pissed, already knew he had good reason for it, but turns out that knowledge is in fact not able to prevent the immediate discomfort sprung by his very unimpressed dressing-down of--Clarke's plan, but also all three of them. But this isn't just a stupid fight with stupid Darcy, this is about more, about making an attempt at saving them all before it's too late to try anything further and they never get another chance. Because no matter how much she disliked what was written in that letter, the reality of their situation didn't exactly leave a lot of room for anything but a desperate measure...

But like the others, she's suddenly blinking at the massive shadow.]

Geez--how about some warning? [A little huff, but Natsuno's right, and she turns to the others.] That's up near the bridge, isn't it? Let's hurry and get up there before--who knows what happens.