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

open to anyone who can see her (maxwell, max, gwen, darcy, anyone who escapes their cell)

[yournewsidekick]

She hit the deck as a wolf. She wakes up on the concrete as a human.

Groggily, Nimona pushes herself upright, rubbing her head. "Owwww," she groans under her breath. Through the pain, she tries to take stock of her surroundings. The last thing she remembers, she was lunging for the Captain to try and rip that collar off his neck. How did...?

The wooziness snaps into an aching sharp clarity once she spots the bars. Okay, yikes, but no problem, she'll just -- she sucks in a quick breath and --

Nothing. No sparks. No change. Nothing but the itch slowly crawling up her ribcage, like sandpaper scraping her bones raw.

"No," she whispers; whimpers, really, as she drags herself to her feet. "No, no, no no nonononono -- "

It's the tourney all over again, but there's no way out this time -- she grabs at the bars, rattles them -- "Nonononononono please -- " tries to climb higher and slips the moment she can't shift her muscles and her balance into the right spots -- "NO -- "

And screaming, raw-throated and feral, Nimona starts attacking the bars. Fists, legs, teeth, her whole soft squishy defenseless human body: they're the only weapon she has anymore.

[saltwaterlungs]

"They don't budge."

A familiar French accent, sounding significantly steadier and calmer than their last meeting.

"All you'll do is hurt yourself. Take a breath."

[thismaskismybadge]

Another familiar voice follows quickly, "He's right, Nimona. I couldn't budge them either. All our abilities are shut off. This is the last time you want to end up hurting yourself."

[yournewsidekick]

"I can't shift." Her voice is high, panicky, half a sob; the Demon Horse/Rhino of Death that tormented Darcy never sounded like this. "Gwen, I-I gotta get out of here -- "

She slams her shoulder into the bars again, not even caring when the pain judders through her collarbone. She can handle pain. Pain's a thousand times easier than the way her skin feels like it's shrinking, squeezing, trapping her worse than the cell bars.

[saltwaterlungs]

"Take. A deep. Breath."

Great, pink girl and Gwen know each other, that cuts down on introductions substantially.

"You can be locked in here and panicking or locked in here and not. One is worse. Deep. Breath."

[thismaskismybadge]

Gwen stands close to the bars to try and get the best view between them that she can, with how tightly packed the things are. "Hey, hey, I know. It's weird enough for me right now, it's gotta be a hundred times worse for you. But we're gonna get out of here. One way or another. You just gotta try and calm down a little until we can figure it out."

[yournewsidekick]

Nimona grips the bars tight with both hands, but doesn't rattle them this time. Instead, she leans to rest her forehead against them and tries to do what Gwen and Mr. Annoying Person Who Never Let Her Play With Swords say.

It helps, kind of, that she can imagine Ballister saying it, too.

Deep breath in. Out. Her lungs press uncomfortably against the inside of her chest, and she lets out an involuntary sob.

[saltwaterlungs]

"There you go."

They need everyone operational for this break-out to work, they can't afford to have anyone be freaking out. Even the annoying ones.

"Nimona, right? I'm going to give you some good news. I know how our powers are locked. Friday runs that. When we get her back on our side, she'll be able to turn them back on. But we need you to keep your head for now until we can."

[thismaskismybadge]

Gwen glances back at Darcy, "Wait, it's Friday? Huh. Okay. I was expecting like... a big red button or something. Villains love their big red buttons. I think the Village had a big red button."

Shakes her head, "Anyway, yeah, point is, we'll get our powers back and then this Malin woman won't know what hit her."

Screaming Solves Nothing

[freedomsuitsme]

Despite the horribleness of the situation, Maxwell doesn't have a lot of patience for emotional breakdowns. Actually, it might be because of the horribleness of the situation that he's especially focused on keeping dapper.

"Could you not?" he hisses, and suddenly he realizes he's without his glamour, pointed teeth and gnarled claws out for the world to see. So that's why his feet hurt, they're no longer convinced that they fit into shoes fit for a human being. Immediately, he bends down and starts working to remove his shoes to alleviate the crushing pain, though he's still trying to lock eyes with the panicking person across the hall.

"Flailing around until you're a bloody pulp isn't going to help you get to whoever did this, you know."

[yournewsidekick]

Nimona snarls, like she's trying to match Maxwell's fangs with her own, and slams her body against the bars for the umpteenth time. Bruises are already starting to rise, but she doesn't notice.

"Oh fuck you," she snaps. "I can't -- " Her chest rises and falls in a few rapid crests as her panic overtakes the rage again. "I can't do anything to anybody unless I get OUT -- "

[freedomsuitsme]

"And you're not going to get out by beating yourself up against an unmoving object," he replies flatly, not taking even a beat to let himself feel insulted. "Stop wasting your energy and take a moment to think. You aren't doing yourself or anyone any good right now."

[yournewsidekick]

Sadly, taking a moment to think has never been Nimona's strong suit. She slams her fist into the bars... but this time, there's not as much force behind it, and she doesn't pull back for another strike. She just leaves her hand pressed there a moment before letting it fall away.

Breathing raggedly, Nimona sinks to the ground.

"I can't shift." Her voice cracks. "I-it happened at the tourney, too. I gotta get out of here."

[freedomsuitsme]

"There's no question that we need to get out of here. The question is how we get out of here. Now tell me, what can you see from your cell?"

He's not processing that this is the pink rhino that turned him into a bloody skid mark during the melee.

[yournewsidekick]

She draws her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Another awful shudder zips through her as she instinctively tries to change shape, only to have her component parts refuse to be rearranged.

Okay. If -- if Ballister were here, he'd probably say something like that, too. Stay calm; think; take a look around. Nimona's gotta hope he wouldn't just sit in the cell and wait for death like he did the first time. He'd figure it out, if only for Nimona's sake.

Hopefully.

"You," she mumbles. "Um... oh, I think that's Murder Guy across from me." (Someone, once upon a time, glimpsed Nepeta's shipping chart with Max Maximum right at the center and completely misinterpreted it.) "Gwen and Darcy over there. That's it."

[freedomsuitsme]

"'Murder Guy?' No matter. I'm not sure how Darcy's been affected by whatever's occurred, but see if you can get her attention. I know she has some connection to the dead, so for all I know she might have a different sense of what's going on."

[yournewsidekick]

Nimona draws in a deep breath and nods. Scooting to the opposite side of the bars, she sticks a bruised hand through and tries to flag Darcy down.

"Hey. Hey! Darcy!" Her voice isn't exactly sotto voce, but it's gone hoarse from all the screaming. "Can you, uh..." She wiggles her fingers around, like she's approximating a ghost. "Sense anything dead stuff? I don't know, the fancy guy with the fangs a couple cells down's asking."

[teethoftherisk]

A familiar furry face comes to her bars later, after the screaming has stopped. He shoves his nose between the bars, knowing it must be a nightmare for her to be in one single shape. "Nimona, I'm here."

[yournewsidekick]

"Siffleur -- "

Nimona's voice cracks into a sob before she can stop it. She shoves herself right against the bars in kind. He's alive, he's okay enough to be moving around, he's not even in a cell; that's something, at least. More than something.

"Are you stuck too? How'd you get out?"

[teethoftherisk]

He presses the wet nose against her forehead, giving the top of her head a few licks.

"Yes, I'm in one shape too. I spoke to Friday, she listened even though she hated to, and she ran off after I told her to save herself. But the bars were weaker when she left, so I know she did that for me."

He gives Nimona's a tug but they're the same as Siffleur's were before - stiff and unbending.

[yournewsidekick]

Oh, no, she's gonna cry even harder. Siffleur's always so gentle with her, even at her wildest, and the nose-bump plus hair-licks remind her so much of when she first visited him in the Tommy Bahama. She wants more than anything to shrink down to mongoose size and hide in the curve of his tail again.

Nimona draws an aching breath, shuddering as her ribs stay as unyielding as the cell bars.

"She talked to you?" A little bewildered; a little hopeful. "I thought -- I thought she was like the Captain. Chained up and forced to do whatever Malin told her."

[teethoftherisk]

"She has been chained up and forced to do what the Captain wants for longer than most worlds have been alive. But even on the ship, she found ways to be a person when everyone saw her as a tool. She has found ways here too." Terrible to say, but all of the Captain's terrible behaviour and ignoring of Friday's own feelings and needs have come to help them here. "I do not think she can directly free us, but I believe she can help us in little ways."

[yournewsidekick]

Nimona nods. If it's only the Captain under Malin's control, that'll help a ton. (Hopefully all those sodas Nimona gave Friday the one time will, uh, make up for setting half the ship on fire.) But...

Smaller, she says, "But you said she ran off?"

[teethoftherisk]

"Yes. I said things that were painful for her to hear. She had to go away. But I do not know where she went... that will be one of the next things to figure out." He's worried about her. But the best thing he can do now is help everyone else, and work on freeing her.

If they free the Captain, that will be the payment he demands for helping. There will be no chance for him to avoid it this time. Friday must be freed.

"I will pass on all the information and words of kindness that I can while we figure out a plan."

[yournewsidekick]

"Okay." She draws another shaky breath. "Okay."

Nimona swallows, still too aware of every constriction in her body. What can she do stuck like this, anyway? Siffleur's on it; he'll find Friday soon, everybody'll bust outta here, they'll figure out how to get their powers back, and... and in the meantime she just has to. Hang tight. Maybe try not to literally gnaw on the bars again, but no promises there.

"Tell Flan I'm alive? And Karkat and Nepeta? And that I hope they're okay too?" Even smaller: "Thanks."