EVENT CONCLUSION: BEYOND THE SEA

[nextnightmods]

EVENT LOG:
BEYOND THE SEA

characters: everyone!!
location: in the helix station under the lake, and back to the surface! (hopefully)
date/time: july 19th ish
content: After successfully exploring the Helix Station, characters have all they need to deal with the world eater stuck in the portal down below. How are they going to do it? Click and find out!
warnings: injury, body horror, monster horror, blood, maiming, you know, the usual

game plan.

Based on the votes, the consensus is quite clear: it's time to see if a creature that can destroy worlds can be killed. Characters are well armed from the finds in the test lab. Having recovered Weaver from the R&D wing, they have her assistance in attempting to use the MK VIII to assist with this task. The Key Extraction group found strong potions that might help to pacify the creature long enough to fight it. They have all they can hope to in this impossible fight — the idea is simple. Open the doors, distract the monster with brute force and attempt to pacify it with the narcotics they've recovered, while Weaver does what she can to get the drone restarted and hopefully in place for a killing blow.

If things go badly, though, the team has all agreed on a Plan B. If the tides start to turn, then the group will finish what Alastair started and shunt that bad boy back into space. It's not possible for them to change the trajectory, the World Eater will end up back where it started. However, it won't be in their lake anymore, so that's still some sort of a win. As Weaver is controlling the drone remotely, she will be the one in the control room, and will run the reversal routine if the attack begins to fail. Cao Pi is in charge of the radio to call if things start going south. Hopefully someone taught him how to use it!

boss battle.

Javert, Fitz, and Law (armed with a key Weaver provided him), with a coordinated use of the lockdown keys, manage to open the Portal Bay. Even with power restored, it is practically pitch dark in the room. It's as if the World Eater trapped in the portal manages to suck in and contain any light that dares get too close. They can hardly see the monster before they brave entering the room, though as they walk deeper into the darkness the group can see its shadowy form lodged in the portal. It's trapped around the torso, with only a small part of it visible to the group. Impossibly huge, and perhaps somewhat reminiscent of something that might have resembled a green eyed spirit, once, though it has started growing new extremities and limbs, as well as a few more sets of eyes. It rouses as they enter, and just looking at the World Eater manages to send an unspeakable wave of unease, anxiety, and hopelessness through the group.

Gregor, Stone and Jill throw the fragile bottles of sedative. They crack and settle on the skin and wide empty eyes of the monster. While it's clear it did not incapacitate the World Eater, the mental effects lessen and its movements seem to slow.

With that, it's a free for all, all members of the party armed to the teeth and determined to fight for all they have. The weapons recovered by Cao Pi, Link, and Reiju prove especially useful, though as they cut and slash, the World Eater seems to recover new limbs, new tendrils, seem to generate at random. Like a hydra, every piece they cut down seems to restore itself. Braving closer to its torso leaves the creature leaking toxic black blood over the floor. Touching it proves it is bitterly caustic, easily burning through rubber and clothing and flesh alike. It's a bitter, ugly battle, and not without damage to the fighters themselves.

The fight seems doomed to fail, even with the World Eater slowed and mostly immobilized. It's more than just slashes, heavy hits that can send bodies flying across the room. A flash of attention can leave an attacker immobilized, dark swirling terror clawing through them strong enough that they might try to hurt themselves or their company instead of the monster itself. Worse yet, any time the World Eater seems to lull, it seems to draw the living energy from any lantern nearby, rousing itself and dampening the fighter that might have been feverishly fighting a second before.

However, with the distraction provided, Weaver successfully reactivates the MK VIII. It sounds much like a giant sized bumble bee, until it rockets through the air toward the monster. The beast manages to swat the drone away, once, and for a moment all hope seems to be lost. Until the device lurches in the air and zooms right back to its task, landing on the monstrosity and scuttling deftly over the surface of the World Eater in attempt to find a weak spot. The battle swells, attempting to keep the World Eater from clawing the drone from its body before the drone has a chance to work properly.

It feels as if it takes hours for the drone to locate a weak point, though the reality is it doesn't take much longer than a handful of minutes. The sickening churn of flesh, bone and blood resonates in the room as the drone buries successfully inside the monster. Those lingering for the fight aren't spared, as even as the device whirls inside of it, the World Eater keeps up the fight, reaching for and lashing out at whoever remains close enough. There's no running for cover, as the fight rages until the very last.

There's no warning for when it happens. The World Eater cries out, a terrifying bellow that echoes throughout the station. With the cry comes a flash of bold light, brighter than any of them have seen since arriving in Beacon. The light builds, pushes outward, and the explosion deafens suddenly and completely. The room is bathed in light and anyone in the Portal Room is thrown to the sidelines, bouncing like ragdolls off the sturdy metal walls. The implosion paired with the light existing inside the creature floods through the room, likely to leave characters blinded and deafened for a few seconds after.

However, as they come to their senses, they find the World Eater felled, lying in multiple bloody burnt pieces. Troubling, some of them do seem to keep twitching and moving. Still, it seems to be over. The fight was not without consequences, and certainly not won easily, but it was won all the same.

return to the surface.

With the beast felled, and the party much worse for the wear, the group collects back in the submarines which have thankfully had a chance to charge this time around. The ride isn't exactly fun, but there's no alarm messages or rides in pitch darkness, at least. Even if there's still a good chance that characters might suffer decompression sickness, dizziness, queasiness, and headaches as they head back topside.

It's a battered and bruised group that makes it back to the docks. Plenty will need medical attention, and there might even be some with broken lanterns that will need to be taken to the lab and repaired immediately. Those that died in the fight will awaken in 3 days, however, there might be some consequences when they revive.

Those that are in better shape have a lot to share. What they've seen, what happened, and what should happen next. They've had a rough go of it, characters on the surface have their own oddities to share, too. There's a new guy in town, after all... And boy does he have some ideas and opinions.

ooc notes.

For refreshers on the first part of this event, please see the first event post! The results of this event are based on the voting found here. If your character was involved in the portal room fight, we have provided a comment for injury rolls here. If your character died in the fight, please head over to the Death Page to report it. Thanks for taking part in the first major event of our Next Night! It was quite a ride but we hope you had as much fun as we did!

Feel free to use this post for action tags set during the fight, as well as meeting up and sharing information with the others topside. As of this event, new NPC Weaver will be ashore with her submarine to offer her aide to the residents of Beacon after their help with the Helix Station. Keep an eye out for more from her soon! She will be staying at the docks in a submarine. If anyone has a cot a bunny can borrow, hit a girl up...

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Comments

QUESTIONS.

[nextnightmods]

Re: QUESTIONS.

[worthallthis]

Important question: is the distance from door to portal too far for people to leave their lanterns just outside where the world eater might not be able to do them and or at least as much damage?

[immortalaccursed]

So about hopelessness and being immobilized with terror...

Say you are literally Link. Does this particular ability actually effect him or would the Triforce of Courage keep him fighting?

[countershocks]

a q about medical attention! i mean this might end up useless if law's dead and can't do anything, but if he isn't — is there... a limit to fixing the damage? i mean, he should be able to attach back limbs so that they retain at least some functionality, as well as fix burns (he literally saved the lives of two ppl who'd been burned with magma and they were left with just scarring). granted, he doesn't have his medical facilities here so he can't do as much.

asking because i don't want to mess with the consequences of the battle too much but also law's stupid powers.

INJURY ROLLS.

[nextnightmods]

Any character that participated in the portal room fight should comment here for an injury roll! There is a designation for opting out of certain injuries, but bear in mind fighting a World Eater might have grievous consequences. There will be a chance of death.

<b>PLAYER:</b> your name! <b>CHARACTER:</b> character name and journal! <B>OPT OUTS:</b> please let us know what kind of injuries are off limits for you.

[callada]

PLAYER: Lauren
CHARACTER: Rosinante (this journal)
OPT OUTS: With a fight like this? It's all on the table. Come at me.

[policier]

PLAYER: rachel
CHARACTER: javert policier
OPT OUTS: loss of limbs or eyes, but anything else is fair game

[dodgeshot]

PLAYER: Kal
CHARACTER: Jill Valentine (dodgeshot)
OPT OUTS: Would prefer for her not to lose her right hand or right fingers (or her legs for now) but if you want to take the left hand/left fingers or severely burn/scar anything, go for it. I'm good for anything else including death.

[countershocks]

PLAYER: celen
CHARACTER: law ( countershocks )
OPT OUTS: loss of eyes + limbs for now, he's already lost his arm once okay... let's wait a little before that happens again. but everything else is fine!

[scarsolderthanyou]

PLAYER: Gail
CHARACTER: Stone @ scarsolderthanyou
OPT OUTS: None. Come at me.

For reference, he is going to be winged-form attacking the world eater... wings for buffeting, spines for skewering and protecting his own back and neck, and claws for slashing.

[rereremembered]

PLAYER: Keri
CHARACTER: Fitz Kreiner rereremembered
OPT OUTS: Limb loss, but that's basically it. After getting the portal bay open he's likely going to try and be fight-adjacent but Shit Happens.

[immortalaccursed]

PLAYER: Psi
CHARACTER: Link sublimebeast
OPT OUTS: Nothing off limits but it's worth explaining that Link is resistant to some of the fear-based abilities of the World Eater (preternatural courage, yo!) which means he's more in the thick of the fight. He has two shields, both the Hylian and the paper one, and he will be protecting his teammates and slashing at the World Eater in melee or hanging back and using his bow as the situation calls for.

I am down for him sustaining whatever injuries this could cause!

[p0isonpink]

PLAYER: Del
CHARACTER: Reiju - this journal
OPT OUTS: Would prefer no major limb or sense loss.

[catholicisms]

PLAYER: kitty
CHARACTER: matt murdock, ~catholicisms
OPT OUTS: if the blow is fatal y'all can do whatever you damn well please. if he has to survive it and live with it, no limbs lost or other senses irreparably damaged. impalement is a ok tho

[ultraviolents]

PLAYER: carlee
CHARACTER: elektra natchios, ultraviolents
OPT OUTS: no limb, eye, appendage, or permanent sensory loss (temporary is okay). if she dies, all of the above still applies and i’d prefer a psychological effect or a sensory effect (ie deafened in one ear instead of completely deafened).

[nekrosmanteia]

PLAYER: leu
CHARACTER: Gregor Allaine and this one!
OPT OUTS: just like before, I'd prefer if he didn't lose any limbs he can't put back on later. otherwise, rip in pieces bro.

Soldat | OTA

[worthallthis]

I. Sitting Out a World-Eater

For once in their life that they can remember, Soldat willingly does not participate in a fight. Between the certainty that they could be shut off by one wrong hallucination, the worry that the people not fighting could be attacked if the remaining spirits on the station could be controlled by the world eater, and a desire to have someone capable of patching up the survivors if anything happened to Law (who is fighting), it just seemed prudent. So during the fight, Soldat patrols from portal chamber door to control room and back again, stomping the occasional mimic spirit and keeping watch for trouble.

Then when there's success, they're flying into the portal chamber to get people out who need to get out, carrying when people need carrying, applying what first aid they can right on the spot or outside as wished, directing Misty to whoever needs actual magic for healing. They even stab one of the twitching tentacles, for good measure. Just in case.

Once everyone is patched and settled back out in the submarine hanger where everyone's been congregating, they bring everyone capable and interested in it dinner, in the form of grilled cheese and tomato soup-- just the soup with some extra veggies mixed in for Law and Rosinante and Weaver, though Weaver can have toast too if she wants it. Somebody's gotta do it. Might as well be them.


II. Going Top-side

The ride up in the submarine is every bit as bad as the ride down, with the added bonus of Soldat having not slept more than an hour or two at a time in the past week and a half and the shakiness of both the world eater fight (which, sure, they didn't participate in directly, but it was still stressful) and the care afterwards.

They step out into the open air unsteadily and sit down immediately on the dock, just out of the path of everyone else exiting the submarine. They feel extremely stupid for being as unsteady as they are, when they're not even hurt. But it doesn't change that they are.

It does make them easy to come question if anyone wants to get info from someone clearly unhurt, at least, while the more injured and affected by the world eater battle get move somewhere more secure. Eventually they'll follow, see what they can do to help, but for maybe half an hour? Sitting. Breathing. Listening. Not being in a pressurized atmosphere for the first time in what feels like forever.


III. Let's Get Busy

Soldat gives themselves a day to just sleep, and cook, and eat. Then it's back to work: checking in with everyone who stayed top-side, resuming patrols, going back over what they missed on the network, and making plans. Soldat can be found back at their usual routine, maybe with a little more time spent at the Invincible where it's easy to find them, and of course making the rounds to people both left behind and brought back up, in case anyone needs anything.

Staying busy is always best.


IV. Birthday Surprise - Closed to Misty

It's hard to celebrate a birthday while stuck in a creepy haunted submarine station, but Soldat didn't forget. After a day or two to of being back on the job, as it were, they actually reorganize their schedule-- this is a big thing-- to spend some time at the B&B while Misty is away at the greenhouse for the "afternoon".

When Misty gets home, she'll find an only slightly-amateur cake sitting on the coffee table, and Soldat sitting somewhat nervously on the couch beside it, waiting for her. "Happy birthday, Misty. It's a little late. I'm sorry."

iii.

[countershocks]

It's a couple days after everything that Law, his entire torso still wrapped in bandages but actually awake again, suddenly appears in the place of a chair in the middle of the Invincible — the chair is temporarily back in his room... it's okay, though, he'll switch it back when he leaves.

(He's still not supposed to be moving all that much, so concessions have to be made. Lucky for him, his power is handy for things like this.)

He nods his head at Soldat.

"You got any coffee ready?" Because what is eating something actually nutritious after being in a healing coma for two days... right? Caffeine is far more important.

iii

[policier]

( Javert isn't faring quite so well. He hasn't slept since their return from the station, and his already scant appearances in the bed & breakfast are becoming even fewer. What purpose does he have to be there, when he cannot even rest? When every moment he closes his eyes, he sees the faces of those he cares for rotting away and blackening to dust? He fills his time instead with patrols and projects, hoping it will keep the nightmares at bay.

It doesn't, of course, but what choice does he have? He cannot throw himself into the river, he already promised Soldat that he wouldn't. He eats, but even the food tastes like soot in his mouth and he doesn't derive any enjoyment from it. He goes about his patrols with his hat pulled low over his eyes, hiding them from view and avoiding Soldat's gaze when they meet. )

All is well. ( He says, speaking of his patrol. It's a fortunate thing that the town was not attacked while they were absent. )

IV, appallingly late

[shadowsran]

There had been mention of it on that little excursion, and considering the draining circumstances Misty was more than pleased with the assumption that would be the whole of it. That he remembered it when she's said it all of once is itself fairly flattering.

A cake, upon sighting, elicits an immediate hand at the back of her neck, a shrinking, humble hunch of her shoulders. It would be hypocritical of her to call any cake not made out of a box anything short of impressive, and she looks it. He's too kind, as seems typical.

"Pretend I'm hugging you, please." She won't, understands the rule of thumb, but damn if she wouldn't like to. "Late isn't anything, this is-- very sweet, I'm not sure what to say. 'Thank you' seems too tiny. I appreciate the trouble, and expect you're gonna take at least half yourself."

Open - At the Surface

[paletteswap]

a. Patrol
Kuai has been pacing the shoreline the entire time that they've been gone. Sure he pretends that he's on his patrol route, but the majority of his time is along the lake, peering into the distance as if he'll be able to see below the water and to the dome.

The submarines will probably return to the dock, but he's further along the beach, eyeing every rock and chunk of wood he comes across.

Because while he's optimistic that those who went below are excellent fighters and know what they're doing, he's been here too long to not be aware of reality. Anything can go wrong at any moment.

So he's been looking for lanterns. For any indication that the dome shattered, the fight was a failure, that those who went to help might have walked (or swam) into a trap. As the days progress he's not sure if finding nothing is a reassurance, or an affirmation.

They've been down there a while now.

b. Rescue Party
As soon as the submarines start popping up to the surface he'll be at the docks to receive them. And from the grim faces of people he's seeing, it doesn't look like good news. But the most pressing matter are those who are injured, and anyone who's fallen.

"Who needs medical attention? Let's get them off the dock first."

Anyone around him he'll start giving orders to, because making sure everyone survives is his primary concern. "You, get bandages. Water."

Because the water of the lake is suspect.

b

[callada]

"It's Law, he's- but-"

Rosinante and Law are in a pretty obviously sorry state as people emerge from the submarine they rode up in. Law's seat has been broken down and bolted back into place so he can lie down, and he's wound in bandages around his torso. Rosinante is covered in blood, meanwhile, but judging by Law's state it's a safe guess that a lot of it isn't his. Some might be, though - he's got his own patch-up job from an earlier fight, with bandages wrapped around his arms and stuck to his neck and face, and when he moves it's stiffly, like there's probably more under his clothing.

"He'll be fine if you don't touch him," he explains from where he's seated beside his unconscious companion. "Don't even think about moving him out of here until he says so." And even then, maybe, depending on how stubborn he wants to be, but from what he's seen, Law takes medicine very, very seriously and wouldn't risk his health unless it was an emergency.

trafalgar law | closed prompts + ota | will match format

[countershocks]

i. fight the world eater they said, it'll be fun they said — closed to rosinante

One moment, he's in the middle of the fight. Another, and he's... not. He can hear the flies, the insistent buzzing, he can smell the cloying, metallic blood, almost like the air itself is unable to be rid of the scent. And there — the creaking sound of wheels, one-two-one-two, slowly but surely moving.

Law can't breathe.

This can't be.

There's shouting — he wonders who it is, because no one should be there left to shout. Everyone is gone — he feels a pressure on his chest, and he doesn't know if it's panic or the weight of corpses that's preventing him from drawing breath.

He turns towards the sound, or tries to; he knows he must have yelled in pain but he can't hear the sound from the buzzing. Slowly, the two overlap: he can see the walls, just as he can see his home, can hear Cora-san's voice just as he can hear the wheels turning, still.

Faintly, he realizes he must be bleeding.

And yet... all he can manage to say, when he has enough air to do so, is,

"Cora-san... don't —

Don't take me back there." Because he is here and he is in Flevance and they both exist, at once, overlapping in the hazy mess of his mind, and even if it's just in his head... he can't go back. He won't. Don't let them take him.

ii. it's like the injured treating the injured — closed to elektra

[ it's only once he's stopped the bleeding and stitched his wound up well enough that he's 99% sure it won't just open again if he moves a little that he makes it to where elektra is; he asked soldat to look after those with smaller injuries, knowing that he wouldn't be able to treat but only the few more serious ones, before he'd be forced to rest. even now, he's mainly running on adrenaline and sheer force of will; his wound throbs, still, and he's careful with his movements, enough so to actually shambles himself next to her to avoid walking.

maybe it's a weird sight, a guy with a torn-up shirt and blood all over his chest and arms suddenly appearing next to her, staring at her with intensity. ]

Your arm. If you want it to heal well, it needs stitches, now.

[ what's that about introductions?? who needs them. he gets straight to business. ]

iii. two days laterrrrr — open

[ for those coming back from helix station, they may notice that while law is certainly there with them on the submarine... his seat has been weirdly assembled so that it leans back, and though he rests on it, he's clearly far from conscious. and this is the way he remains, near-comatose there on the submarine, for two whole days after they make it back to the surface. in case anyone thinks of moving him and isn't strongly discouraged to do so by rosinante, they'll find there's a note stuck on the chair next to him, written in handwriting that clearly belongs to a doctor that reads:

Don't move — wound opening leads to death.

and he'd rather avoid that, thanks.

but on the evening of the second day after returning from helix station, law wakes up... and in short bursts of shambles, makes it back from the submarine. feel free to see him on the way, stopping at certain intervals because using his powers so soon after being so badly wounded is a whole strain on its own... or run into him when he finally makes it back to the invincible, heading to get a cup of coffee before going back to the room he shares with rosinante and mary. ]

iv. wildcard

[ u know the drill! hmu with anything and everything, no need to ask, or if you want to plan out something specific shoot me a pm or holla at me on plurk @ celen! ]

[callada]

Whatever Law is saying don't to, he doesn't much care right now. He'll care in a second. Rosinante's priority, above all other things, is to get him out. "Out of the way!" he snaps at those behind him focusing on their shared enemy, at those who might rush forward to try and help. Others can finish this fight, Rosinante just wants Law to live to see the end of it.

There's a balance to be struck here, between quick and careful. It's a good thing he's big enough to carry Law easily, to try and keep him level in his arms while his blood spills around them on the floor. Once just outside the room, out of that thing's life-eating gaze, he sets Law down next to the wall, then both their lanterns beside, and tries to keep calm - another war, here, between a lifetime of training to handle crises in combat, and the sheer panic over the severity of Law's wound.

"What do you need? Tell me-" he gasps, and shrugs off the pack he'd brought along. Mostly filled with things like ammo, honestly, but whatever first-aid supplies Law would have put in here before they stepped into the submarines, whatever's left after his own various injuries from before, he should still have it all now.

matt murdock. ota.

[catholicisms]

ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN.

( despite the fact his entire existence is darkness, there's something heavier about it this time. the way it sinks in around him, the nothingness that reaches out and holds on tight. the last he remembers is the fight, until suddenly he couldn't fight anymore.

Matt has no idea how long it's been or how the fight ended up when he startles back into existence, body stiff but somehow not sore, considering he'd just been in a fight for his life. for the lives of everyone in Beacon.

it takes a minute to get his bearings, recognize the cavernous echoes of the church. he winces as he finds his lantern on the floor underneath a pew, his head spinning a little as a light he can't sense flickers a little. ) Damn it, ( he mutters, more or less putting together exactly what waking up in the church means without needing to be told. ) Is someone there? ( he thinks he senses someone, but with his senses frayed and his head a little spinny, he can't tell. but also, and most importantly: ) Elektra. Where's Elektra?

AFTERMATH.
set after he is revived, so three days after characters return to the surface!

( Matt is doing his best to get his bearings back. he's checked in with Elektra, reassured his tree baby that he's as close to fine as someone who has managed to die twice in the past month can be. he knows the fight is over, and against all odds, they managed to win.

he's around to chat with anyone that might want to touch base. he's easy enough to find at the Invincible Bar, usually spotted with a whiskey neat that he's a bit slow to finish. he will occasionally be by the harbor, looking of in the distance towards what is left of the Helix Station, dwelling uncomfortably on what they found there. and of course he can be found in the church, praying in a low whisper.

usually, he seems perfectly fine. on occasion, though, no matter where he is, Matt seems to be having dizzy spells lately. he can't see it, but any time he feels weak, his lantern is flickering dangerously low. maybe you could mention it to him?

and maybe you can keep him from passing out on the floor when the dizzies hit. that would be nice, too! )

the third day

[ultraviolents]

[ elektra’s barely slept since they’ve gotten back, intent on getting to the lab and to work at reviving him as soon as possible, and then to see if their attempt would work. it had before, but who’s to say it would again, especially so soon after he’d been revived already? not that she’s let herself consider the possibility that it wouldn’t. her past three days have been spent in the church, occupying a nearby pew with a few meager supplies and the toddler tree spirit, waiting for him to wake up.

sheer exhaustion has ended up getting the better of her, and she’s dozing fitfully when she hears movement and then his voice. she’s up and beside him in a matter of seconds after she hears him call out for her, kneeling beside him and clutching his hand in her good one. ]

I’m here. [ it’s choked with emotion and relief and she presses forward, still gripping his hand as she kisses along his forehead, temple, and cheek. the tree spirit isn’t far behind her, whimpering a little, and she turns to pull him into her lap (cautiously; her wrist’s been set but it’s still fractured), letting him hold matthew’s other hand. ] I’m here, we’re both here.

Stone | OTA

[scarsolderthanyou]

I. The Church - Three Days After the Return

Stone takes a long few minutes to pick himself up off the pew he found himself in. He's not sure whether it's the new people handling the lantern repair, or the World Eater being involved, or some consequence of dying, but shit, he is tired. And everything still smells like death. Ugh.

He does finally push to his feet, because the church is not where he'd like to nap if he's going to nap, and there's probably some people worried about him. His lantern in hand, he wanders sluggishly out, heading for Bonfire Square and the Invincible. Maybe someone will have food out he can graze on, get this taste off his tongue. Yuck.


II. A New Friend

Really, Stone isn't one for looking in mirrors. Why bother? He can't see well enough to get much out of it, he doesn't actually bathe in the bathroom of his inn suite more often than not, and he doesn't really give a shit what he looks like. So he doesn't immediately notice the little... oddity... that has cropped up since his death. Maybe it's someone in the Invincible who notices it first, reflected in a window. Maybe it's in the lake when he goes for his winged-form swim-slash-bath.

But if nobody else points it out, he finally wanders into the Invincible again, and demands of anyone else there, "Okay, what is wrong with my reflection? It looks funny, but I can't shitting see it well enough to tell what it is."


III. Forging Ahead

There aren't a ton of people left Stone really cares about, after Masaomi vanished. Rosinante, Ashford, Mary. That's no way for a social species like a Raksura to live. So dead mirror haunting or not, he's going to do something about it. Prowling around Beacon and the downtown area, he's looking for people he doesn't know, and he's going to aggressively get to know them.

Well, "aggressively". It mostly amounts to, "So remind me what your name is, again?" and "Are you going to eat all that?" and "Hey, just ignore the dead guy in the mirror, I don't actually think he's there."

It also amounts to a big, ghostly, winged dragon-like creature swooping around Beacon proper and jumping from rooftop to rooftop in downtown, or splashing around in the lake sending splashes at anyone on the shore with his tail. In case anyone wants to meet a giant-ass dragon, instead of a weirdly pale old man.

I.

[patriotnow]

"No more complaining about my swimming." Or failure-to-swim, that is.

Ashford's voice comes from the apse. He'd been coming to check on Stone day to day after the news of his death and on this occasion wandered farther up to peer curiously at the stained glass. The place was strangely reminiscent of the Behemoth, in no small part due to the fact that his ship had been a church they had...er....appropriated and transformed into a warship.

At the sound of the shuffling from Stone's pew, Ashford had turned his attention back to the point at hand, and now stands like some wiry, bedheaded inquisitor just up the main aisle.

Reiju | OTA will match formatting

[p0isonpink]

01. Special Edition Full-Color Issue! Poison Pink vs The World Eater!
Until now, Reiju has carefully avoided any revelation of her (former) position in Germa 66, going so far as to dissemble intensely in her tense conversation with Rosinante and Law earlier in this expedition, but that time is now past. There is no way she is taking on this creature without the benefit of her raid suit.

It has only been a few weeks since her arrival in Beacon, but that is longer without donning the raid suit than she has gone since she first received it, and the feeling of enhanced power and invulnerability feels like a fresh revelation. With the enhanced garment-as-weapon, gravity holds her only lightly, and her very breath and touch can wither and kill. She is Poison Pink, beautiful and strong and deadly.

01a. Going into battle
She's a ruddy streak in the dimness as she darts forward, eagerly taking the front lines against the creature and drawing its attention to her. The chance to properly fight feels amazing -- she can rely on her strength, speed, and power instead of being hypnotized into docility.

And -- it is unlike her, but the previous experiences of dealing with this uncanny, unnerving place have left her feeling more connection to the other explorers than she would normally experience. Instead of ignoring her fellows-in-arms to fight directly against the creature, she keeps an eye on them. More than once, she leaps between another combatant and the monster, trusting her armor and ironlike skin to absorb more damage than the unenhanced humans she fights beside. The thing lashes out, slamming her into the wall; she feels her body dent, but her bones do not shatter. The caustic, toxic black blood stings and hisses on her skin, but she is Poison Pink; toxins mean nothing to her, and the burns are only an inconvenience.

(She is carefully not looking toward either of the men from North Blue. Law and Rosinante doubtless recognize her, and she does not want to deal with their inevitable hatred. No one from North Blue can look kindly on a member of the hated Vinsmoke dynasty.)

But, perhaps, her performance on this battlefield can show her to be more than the comic-book villain or the daughter of a would-be conqueror. She throws herself into danger, acts to protect others, and fights with full will and gritted teeth against the monster.

01b. Hypnosis
The battle is long and hard. Even as they manage to beat it back, it lashes out with deadly force. She watches in horror as Stone is torn apart by the world eater.

Despite her battlefield focus and intensive training, despair starts to overcome her -- uncharacteristic. crushing, filling her with a sudden exhaustion not of limb but of mind. Before she can stop her swirling thoughts, she alights on the metal decking and begins to walk -- slow, steady, unhurried -- toward the beast, her blue eyes wide and unseeing.

It is hungry. She feels its hunger. She knows its hunger. And she is so tired. For days she has been here, beneath the killing water, sleepless and nerve-wracked in the spirit-ridden dark. It is hungry, and when she sates it, she will rest.

She has nearly reached its jaws before she shakes herself into awareness -- possibly with some help from another fighter calling out to her, snapping her out of her suicidal walk into the jaws of (re-)death. At the last moment, she flings herself out of the way of its jaws, flicking out a quick shower of poisonous darts as she rolls aside. Her mouth is filled with the taste of fear and coppery blood, although a quick wipe of her hand across her lips comes back clean; the taste is only illusion.

Exhausted and now newly wary, she fights on.

02. After the Battle
The World Eater is dead. They succeeded. Reiju is deeply weary in both mind and body as she seals away her raid suit, returning herself to the stained and rumpled clothing she wore before the battle.

02a. Preparing to leave
She has choices in how she can handle the revelation of her alternate identity -- to most of the people here, it will mean nothing, and she decides that the easiest way to deal with it is to throw herself into helping. That way, anyone who wants to talk to her can talk about how they're treating and moving the wounded, about how to divvy up the survivors between the submarines -- other topics that are not the dramatic transformation sequence of the raid suit. The last thing she wants is to be asked about it. So instead, she bandages and lifts and carries those who need it, saying little and only when directly spoken to. When she does speak up, it is only to talk about practicalities. She may say to someone visibly injured, "Can you move on your own? If not, I can help you into the submarine."

02b. The return
The prospect of getting back to dry land eases the first portion of the return journey. Reiju slumps in a seat, head tilted back, and attempts to doze -- but is unable, as the ascent of the submarines and accompanying decompression leaves her aching and queasy.

Instead, she looks to distract herself with conversation, if anyone appears willing to chat.

03. Wildcard

(( I'm open for just about anything! If you wanna plot stuff, I'm always happy to chat @ whalesharks ))

02b-ish

[callada]

The fight itself hadn't been the time to bring any of this up, and immediately afterward, Rosinante had had his hands full with making sure Law was able to survive the injury he had sustained. Now, though, he's just gotten Law settled into one of the submarine seats, and watches people pass by as they load up to head back, and that's when he spots Reiju.

"Hey."

It's sort of a growl, though he's less angry than she might imagine him to be. Mostly, he's startled. His ties to North Blue are more tenuous than he lets on, and so for him, Germa is an occasional disturbance in Marine activities in the North Blue and not some long-standing enemy. He knows loosely of their history, and is honestly more familiar with the fictional accounts in the comics Law used to read.

(Still reads? Perhaps. But he can't ask right now, with the man passed out beside him.)

"You're Germa," he says before she can run off, and this time it does sound a little like an accusation.