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

[sailmods]

I believe I've already mentioned the Exposition Universelle? It's rather expanded under my leadership, and we are always on the lookout for new and interesting exhibits.

[inhairently]

So like a museum?

( you can practically hear the gears turning in his head trying to work out what the fuck she's talking about )

[sailmods]

[kindly, as if to an idiot] Yes, rather like a museum.

[inhairently]

( he nods, slowly. he gets it. )

Okay... okay.

( he's still got the bat gripped in his hands. he's not stupid enough to think he can take her out but maybe he can distract that animal she's riding just enough to throw her. maybe he can buy time for somebody stronger than he is to do something more.

so he charges, aiming to swing the spiked bat at the beast's head. )

[sictransitgloriamundi]

[the Captain suddenly stands between them, catching the bat in his hand.]

[angrycrabnoises]

Karkat has a horrible feeling in his gut when learning of the ‘exhibit.’ And when Steve rushes forward, Karkat smacks his head to his forehead, hisses, “IDIOT,” and brandishes his sickles, prepared to rush in after.

But then the Captain is there, catching the blow. And there’s something… empty about him.

“WH-WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?” Karkat gasps, looking horrified.

[sailmods]

[smiles] Just a spot of mind control! Jinn are rather notoriously truculent slaves; I'll have to take my time to break it once I've liquidated the rest of you.

[angrycrabnoises]

Several things click into place for Karkat. This is why the Captain wanted to die. It would’ve been a better fate than the alternative.

His sickles disappear back into his Strife Specibus. “HOW LONG?” he asks, looking down. “HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP HIM LIKE THAT?”

[sailmods]

... Forever?

[yournewsidekick]

The drop of her gut when she heard the word exhibit rises back up in a boiling hot rage.

"No."

It's more animalistic snarl than word. Nimona still has her wings; now, claws start to curve from her fingers to match them.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ First she kills Yufei and leaves him as a mess on the deck, now she takes control of the Captain, his worst nightmare and theirs. They've been told he has the power to distort space, that he's used it before to deflect bullets, but can he still do it at Malin's command? ]

[ They fire a shot at her head, right below the brim of her decoratively undersized hat. ]

[sictransitgloriamundi]

[the bullet stops midair before returning, with just as much force, into where it was originally fired from.]

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ Ow, fuck! Bastion makes a pained bwip sound as it makes contact. The impact resonates through their gun arm, making a loud metal-on-metal noise and populating their error log with bad news about damage and reduced function. By their standards it's not a severe injury, but it's made a mark. They pull their manipulator arm in and bring out their self-repair arm to fix the skewed, torn, and warped metal. ]

[light_mischief]

[he stood the moment the Captain materialized away from him, and after making a point to check in on Fio, he now finds himself stepping forward, using the air to nudge anyone who might be between him and the front of the quickly gathering crowd. they all want a fight, which is fair. he wants one too, to see Malin writhing on the ground, weeping like Number 2. but Malin has to know that the Captain wouldn't keep anyone who could beat him -- which means that there's no way they can beat her. at least, not for now.]

I think you've been misled by somebody. That jinn that you've just stolen is already spoken for.

[sailmods]

Oh, you'd think that, what with the extant shackle? But, no, this one had some sort of strange event happen in its life that partially disrupted the enslavement charm used by its reality. Utterly fascinating specimen. I've had my eyes on it since the Fog noticed its intrusion...

[light_mischief]

[interesting. "the Fog" noticed the Captain -- another name for the Erda, maybe, or something similar to it. and now he knows that it's a charm that's binding the Captain. that's all good information to have.]

I mean that he's mine.

[inhairently]

( the briefest flicker of shock passes over his face before he steels himself and tries to wrench the bat from the captain's hand. )

[sictransitgloriamundi]

[the bat breaks apart in his hand.]

[inhairently]

( he takes a startled step backwards as the bat splinters in his hands. well, shit. he hates the captain. he's never been quiet about that. but what she says about him is enough to make steve's skin crawl. )

Is that what you're gonna do to all of us? Get inside our heads?

( make them more docile exhibits, he thinks. )

[sailmods]

Does seem like there's plenty of free real estate in there!

[decohere]

[she watches in sickening horror, paralyzed by how powerless she is to stop it...

she can beg, but Malin won't be moved by tearful pleas for mercy when she so gleefully speaks of turning them into exhibits, things to own and trade.

she has nothing to bargain with or leverage in return, when Malin's deal was with Tayrey alone and the others already announced her as gone... when the Captain himself is the most powerful being already under her control. and clearly considers the rest of them hers to do with as she pleases. what could Ava possibly offer.

she can't fight back, she has no means of defeating the Captain to get to her. doesn't want to hurt him even if she were capable.

but it feels so wrong to do nothing. she refuses to simply do nothing when it's her friend's freedom on the line.

Ava slips invisible amongst the other failed attacks, trying to get as close as she can to blast Malin with as much quantum energy as she can expel.]

[not here-ish]

[be_seeing_you]

[Worse than the slavery, the capture, the idea of becoming museum pieces, is the threat that he and Ava might be separated. The very suggestion that she might be traded away, never to be seen again, fills him with a dread that freezes that marrow in his bones. At last, he's found a fate that would be worse to him than ending up back in The Village for all of his life. He would sooner die here than let this happen.

He can see Ava is preparing to attack. He isn't going to stop her, but just in case, he is going to tell her what he most needs her to know. He murmurs close to her ear to be heard above the noise and shouting all around them.]

Ava, my darling. Whatever comes of this, know that I do not regret a moment of the time I spent here with you. If I'd lived another thirty years at home alone, my life would never have been as full as it was here with you by my side. Strike true, Pumpkin, I won't be far behind you.

[sictransitgloriamundi]

[Ava feels her powers cut, as if a switch was flipped from on to off.]

[decohere]

[she glitches and stumbles forward into the visible spectrum, gasping out at one last jolt of scattered particles converging into far too solid singularity and... and nothing.

Ava stares helplessly at her flexing fingers, realizing what the strange heavy feeling means. but she can't even appreciate the sudden lack of pain, not like this...]

WE'RE NOT YOUR THINGS!

[prince_of_beasts]

[ This 'Malin' and the Captain both appear distracted. Oh, Dimitri wants to string her guts out for a hangman's noose, Areadbhar sings for it, but he has one chance to act, and he doesn't intend to waste it.

The Relic amplifies his Crest, turning a blow into an earth-cracking shockwave. He swings for the gangplank. ]