END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

[goodweather]

“Five, then.”

He’d give Sparkles a pass on the aesthetic qualities if it was the one who designed this, at least.

“Do you have experience in stabbing things? Or using long, thin, pointy implements?”

[ring_for_giles]

Well that's a loaded question.

"Some, yes." ... "Why do you ask?"

[goodweather]

Phil yanks out one of his flight feathers and snaps the tip with his teeth, then starts sharpening it against the concrete where it forms a corner in the doorway. The feather is utterly massive considering his size; he may as well be holding a small dowel.

“I’ll hand one of these to you when we start getting out. Or sooner, if I can get it over to you.”

[saltwaterlungs]

"Just don't bleed out."

Can't help those that don't want to be helped, and Darcy shuffles back to receive whatever message is being passed down presently.

[saltwaterlungs]

"Somehow I don't think anything that ants could drag back would be enough. Mais, ehn... Rum? Pirates like rum. Her ship, if she helps us take down Malin? I think I heard that Jenny lost her ship to Malin. That's actually probably a better IOU than rum, maybe let's forget the rum."

[ossie_oswald]

"Mm."

Ossie does not argue against it directly. Because who is he to take away someone's hope, even if it is entirely more work to magic individual meal portions into a collection of jail cells than it is to just not feed them.

"I've had prettier prisons than this," he muses instead.

[saltwaterlungs]

...

Darcy offers a hand out.

"We don't need to trust any of the rest of them. We just have to have faith. We're like that medieval torture thing where you put a box of starving rats up against a guy and they chew their way through him, ehn. Eventually one of us is going to break skin, because there's nowhere else to go. We just have to be ready to do our part. That's all."

[ring_for_giles]

That's... concerning. He should be concerned right now, shouldn't he.

"Thank you, it may well prove useful."

[gnighteverybody]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, April.

"A character from a 19th century Italian children's series- specifically a puppet that comes to life, goes on adventures, has zany antics, and then becomes a real boy and settles down to live a life of morality and responsibility."

Yakko gestures.

"Do we want to take this again?"

[goodweather]

If you ask Phil, this is a completely rational response and the absolute least concerning part of everything happening right now.

(This will not be the only shank he makes, by the way.)

"It's the least I can do. Kind of the only thing, actually. What am I gonna do, fly?" he grumbles above the scraping. Don't mind that he'll still be trying to make sure he leaves enough for some kind of awkward flight.

"I'd pull smaller ones if I thought they'd be useful, but uh, there's no locks." He might still make a small one to hold in his mouth and spit at someone or something if he ends up in a grapple. Maybe??? That might just be stupid. "Mm--I've heard of escapes happening by using a cord or a piece of fabric and sawing it against the bars with heat and friction. Might try that after this."

... Oh! "Actually, if I can make a long enough cord from my shirt and tie it to the quill, I could probably fling it your way without losing it if it lands in the middle of the hall."

[prince_of_beasts]

[ Dimitri is going to die. He knows this, a mortal certainty beyond reason or terror. Something in his body is wrong, and he will not survive it.

But. If he is going to die, it will not be in dereliction of his duty. His skin is clammy, his limbs unsteady, his blood a thick, cold slime in his veins, but he's grit his teeth through worse. He picks his head up, and gives Fio a clear smile. ] I'll be alright. I'm just a touch disoriented. How are you holding up?

[professionalriot]

After a while of doing the same thing, sitting and staring he clears his throat.

"Hey," He calls out to the eerie cat eyes across from him. "Who else can you see?"

[hate_gettin_older]

Edgar makes a noise somewhere between a scoff and a sigh. "Yeah, din't we all just leave one?"

Seems like all he's ever been in is prisons. Except Milliways; he misses it suddenly, achingly.

[freedomsuitsme]

"Not that I've managed to find. The absence of any sort of way to actually open the cell is a little bit concerning, of course. It implies they have no thought of ever needing to remove us from these rooms."

[not_the_last]

Nope, Cass is still at sea here. (Figuratively and literally, though there's no way to confirm the literally at the moment.)

"I think I still don't understand. Are you a puppet?"

[thismaskismybadge]

"Yeah there's no way there's a prison kitchen even has rum." Not if it's working on weird 'how I imagine a prison should be' logic. "Getting her ship back seems like a way better offer."

[myagic]

[She wishes she could hold Natsuno's hand, too. It might not get them out of here, but it would be better than peering at each other through two sets of bars.

But also--guess who has no prior familiarity with taxidermy and now has even more horrifying possibilities to consider? A shudder runs through her (and the sickening feeling deepens, at the thought of Natsuno or anyone else being stuffed and mounted for display for all the freaks in the universe to gawk at).

She grits her teeth and grinds out an additionto Natsuno's comment-]

Something tells me she has a different definition of damage than we do.

[thismaskismybadge]

As she takes the offered hand, in that put-on serious tone that quickly becomes a tell for a bad joke when you've known her a while: "Pretty sure Spider-Knave had to deal with that once."

Alright. Just be ready. "Yeah, okay. I mean, I trust you. So it's a good plan. Just different than my usual plans."

[myagic]

[On the one hand: boy, does she regret not convincing Clarke to forget the plan. On the other hand: this sure sounds like Skulduggery picking a fight with her and her friends!!]

I knew she was trying something instead of waiting around for the whole place to collapse at any moment, while you were too busy getting off with your jerkfriend to convince him that maybe living is more important than a strap-on, or whatever the hell you were up to.

[tempingainteasy]

Oh, April loves a coworker who can commit to a weird job without question!

So much though that they think about Cass's question for a second.

"Given time I probably could if you don't crease me too hard, but for the sake of stealth, probably good just to make sure my fingers are moveable. I can get someone to do the rest when I'm closer to my destination."

So, hey! with this strategy decided on, April steps over to the bars and stands right beside the gap, sizing up how compacted they need to be.

Well, they're currently about the depth of a human person, and while they're kind of hollow inside, there's still a lot of folds to undo in their papercraft form. This could take a bit of doing.

"... Okay so, I think flatten the body first, then the legs, then the arms, then the head." April decides. "Hands are gonna be more useful than the legs if I have to stay low to the ground and grab things, and I want to be able to talk and see where I'm going."

Sound enough strategy, right?

[littlefairytale]

[ Ruby is getting so very tired of this routine—waking up somewhere new, in uncomfortable clothes, with no cloak, no weapons, no emblem, no eyepatch, no powers. A part of her wants nothing more than to curl up in a ball in the corner of her cell until its all over, but the rest of her is stubbornly clinging to what little hope she can muster and the knowledge that wherever Darcy is, he won't be giving up, so she can't either.

She would really like the yelling to stop, though. ]

Hey! Can you maybe stop it with all the yelling, already? The evil lady isn't the one you're gonna be giving a headache, you know!

[ She's up by the bars of her cell, looking out as best she can when she's down her depth perception and full range of vision. She's not bothering to hide the empty socket with her hair, but the bars might do it for her. ]

You're— Steve, right? And— [ she straightens up a bit more ] is that Natsuno with you?

[not_the_last]

Honestly, Cassandra is so relieved at the prospect of something to do that she's willing to commit -- before question, if not entirely without.

"Tell me if I do anything wrong," she says, "or if I hurt you. Here first?" And she reaches toward April's midsection -- not touching until April confirms it, and then beginning very carefully to press the paper flat.

"What destination do you have in mind?"

[abhorrently]

"That's not happening. Didn't you hear her? She wants exhibits."

Said while she's running her hands along one bar, twisting a little to see if there's any give.

"This isn't where you display anything."

[abhorrently]

"...Max?"

It's a gentler voice that the one she's been using to snipe at Maxwell, trying to get his attention. She can't very well go crouch near him to speak softer, but she can at least reach out. Max has been nice. Decent. And crying like that pricks at her cold black heart.

"Try and breathe. What do you need?"

Gods above, it's a stupid question. But it might help pierce the tears.

[light_mischief]

[congratulations Rita, you wiped Skulduggery Pleasant's "why i was right and you were an impatient brat" lecture right out of his mind.]

What?!