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

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

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?”

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[Geez, they're doing an awful lot of scrambling this morning--scrambling for the bridge, then the tender launch, and now right back to the top deck when the crash of the gangplank coming down indicated that the tender launch was the wrong place to be. They arrive in time to hear, well--that this was about as bad an idea as Rita initially thought.

This old biddy is way worse than Number 2. Dammit, this plan was a total mistake, they never should have--but it's done and there's no going back, so now what? She's refusing to even see them as people, and Rita's shaking with barely-contained disgust and fury at this pompous slimeball. But hey, look, she's not charging in to try and immediately blast her! She has learned a modicum of restraint. Barely.

Besides, there's plenty of people here--Fever's there, and Crichton, and if anyone can either rip this old biddy apart or talk some sense into her, those two are pretty good candidates. Instead... Rita glances around, gaze settling on the ship. Hm...

She starts to skulk away from the chaotic gathering, from Jade, Clarke, and Natsuno. Not because she doesn't want her friends to notice, but because she's suddenly very focused.]

[Natsuno tries his best to live without regrets. You will never know whether a choice was truly right or truly wrong, will never know that lies down the road not taken.

But today is still the biggest this was a mistake moment since the night he ran out of his house to look for Tohru and got himself cornered by three vampires, or the day he woke up after Jinx's bomb.

He can feel Rita shaking with rage beside him, but unlike her, he feels nothing at all. Just cold detachment as he watches the crowd's reactions, the attempts to attack Malin which are blocked by the captain. Can anything be done against her? Crichton tries to negotiate, but Natsuno doubts this woman agrees to or even respects a favorable deal. Maybe the only way is to find the true point of no return, the last chance to end it for good. He wasn't going to die as a battery and he won't be an exhibit...

Rita's attempt to sneak away snaps him out of these thoughts. He starts after her, not bothering to alert Clarke and Jade.]

What're you doing?

[She'd been foolish to think that Natsuno choosing to side with the plan would make it easier when it actually happened--now that they're facing the prospects of actually getting turned into museum exhibits by this sick jerk, the thought of Natsuno getting forced into a fishbowl against his will is just-

The disgust is visceral, and she wants so badly to have the capability to send that old biddy flying straight out beyond the horizon, into some torturous hell that Fever could probably describe better than her. But she knows it's not that easy. Instead, find something--else. She doesn't know what yet, only that the ship is as good a place to start as any...

Natsuno's voice interrupts her thoughts, and she turns to him, biting her lip, hands curled into tight fists.]

I need to do something, before... I can't let her do what she wants, but I can't just attack her head-on. So--I'm going to her ship. Maybe there's something there powering her, or I could disable the whole thing so she's just as trapped as anyone else.

[She's not--going to think about the odds. She manages to keep her voice low, because if she doesn't, she'll lose composure and start screaming.]

I have to try. I'm not just going to stand here and watch her--put us out for display like--like we're just a bunch of...

[She can't finish the sentence, so instead just shakes her head.]

[She doesn't need to finish the sentence. The bunch of barely dies out on her lips before Natsuno replies:]

Okay.

[His voice is soft, but only because he doesn't want anyone to hear. There's no tenderness, no emotion in it.]

I'm coming with you.

[Better odds? Probably not. But Rita is going to try, Natsuno has to be by her side.]

[If she feels any surprise, it's so mild and distant as to barely register. Of course he won't turn down the chance to try something. She can't even make a confident quip about two heads are better than one, or anything else; she just nods--though there is gratitude there.]

Alright. Let's get down to the deck below this one.

[And as they get going, she'll explain. Since her blastia's finally repaired, she does have one trick up her sleeve...] Going straight up that plank is just asking to get launched into the sea, so let's go under it. I can levitate us across, and it'll be our cover.

[He follows close behind her.]

Good idea. Hopefully everyone keeps her busy long enough. [...] She might have crew inside. I can take care of them.

[If he can hypnotize someone, surely it'll be easier...]

[What's done is done; they can't turn back time, so the only way is forward, even if it means Natsuno has to use his hypnosis. They both need to do what's in their power now.]

Thanks--I'll be counting on you.

[Deck Six, and they can see the buckling beneath the massive gangplank as they walk underneath, into its shadow. She looks across at the freighter--it's a long way, and it's high up, but what do heights matter when she's in control of the magic herself? It's going to use up a hell of a lot of her energy to go that far, but--she'll damn well make sure it lasts.

She turns to Natsuno.]

Ready? Hold tight onto me the whole way, okay?

[Natsuno wraps his arms around her. His expression doesn't change, but suddenly he squeezes Rita in a tight hug. Just a moment, before his grip shifts - still holding steady, ready to take off, but no longer desperate.]

Ready.

[That does prompt momentary surprise, and her heart breaks all over again. Oh, Natsuno. She has to do everything she can to keep him, and everyone they care about, out of this new and horrible prison. She reaches up to his arms, giving them a squeeze with her hands, before taking a deep breath--as much to ready herself for the magic as it is to tamp down some of the emotion that threatens to spill out.]

Okay...here we go.

[They lift gently into the air, hovering just a few inches off the deck at first. Satisfied that the levitation magic is working, she tightens her focus to the freighter. Up, up, over the deck railing, then into mostly-open air--sticking just beneath the gangplank to hide their approach, but now with nothing but the water far below. She'll steadily propel them forwards and up, following the gangplank to the freighter. Further, further, ignore how much magic she's using, they have to get all the way there and she's not going to break her focus until there's something solid under their feet where they can land.

She does keep her fingers squeezed tight over his arms, though.]

[they do land on the ship.

only to be faced with the two men from before, staring at them. one assumes? they clearly are still seeing something for all their eyes are covered by large buttons sewed into their skin.]

[That's creepy as hell, but he doesn't have time to freak out. They need to get past these too while Malin is occupied on board.

Natsuno's eyes flash red as he breaks into a supernaturally fast dash. If these guys are flesh and blood, he can feed on them, and if he can't - it's best if they hit him first. He regenerates and Rita needs time to cast.]

[Ostensibly Rita shouldn't have time to freak out either, but-]

What the hell--ew! Are those buttons--on their eyes?!

[what the hell what the hell what the hell ewewew gross creepy that better not be what that slimy old biddy has in store for them]

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

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cw: implied suicidal ideation

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