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mayfield_rpg2012-09-07 01:27 pm
mayfield_mods) wrote in mayfield_rpg2012-09-07 01:27 pm
Entry tags:
event: portal seven | the void
The final portal doesn't seem to be a portal at all. It's a glitch hole.
Located on the lawn of the library is a hole much like the ones that have plagued every new location for the past week. As with them, it hurts your eyes to look at too long, but even if you should muscle past the pain and stare straight into it, you can make out nothing on the other side. Nothing, save for a shifting, twitching, swirling void.
Unlike the portals, which were vertically placed like doorways, the hole at the Library is strewn across the lawn: if you want to enter it, you're going to have to jump. Of course, there's no guarantee it will even lead anywhere. Touching the hole or sticking your arm in doesn't have any effect: you'll pull your arm out unharmed. As far as jumping in completely goes, those who jump in disappear from sight. As long as you're on the Mayfield side, there's no way to tell what lies beyond the hole.
There's only one way to find out.
[ooc: Feel free to roleplay up to the point your characters jump in, assuming they do. A single group subthread will be created in a few hours revealing what happens on the other side.]
no subject
and of course collective shitty luck just has all the cards under these sort of situations, huh. She may be able to keep her cool and stay even-headed despite the chaos, but now that she's got a clear look at his face...
Her eyes widen slightly. It was impossible to keep the surprise off of her face - because no, of all the times she's known Charles, as insignificant as a year might've been, this shade of panic and fear is--
She doesn't linger. The shock doesn't slow her down, but it does confirm one fact: to keep Charles in one piece inside the barrier, she'll have to fight him to stop him.. She can normally overpower him, that she knows with no hesitation, but this entire context is as far away from normal as they could possibly get. The knowledge that she's at a disadvantage sinks in directly after the acknowledgement that she won't be able to tear him away without struggle for two reasons. One: the space within this barrier is extremely confined, not to mention that presently, a normal human will have to run to keep up with its accelerating pace. As much as they can both usually regenerate, Ciel isn't keen on chancing what happens when one loses anything not from inside factors, but from the void that just seems to swallow and dissolve anything that it touches. She's already witnessed her Keys vanish on the other side several times. They are created through her own mana, and every time one disappears after repelling an arm or a drone, she loses the magical signature completely. In other words, a single wrong move can mean the end. If Charles so much as willingly reaches out...
Which brings to two. This isn't a fight over who's more powerful. The 'winning' and 'losing' conditions themselves are abnormal, the former being keeping him away from suicide even if it's against his will, the latter simply being failing to restrain Charles and have him rush forward to meet his own end. It's the added facts of operating inside a quickly moving area of restricted size while fending off the drones, as weak of a secondary factor as they may be, that ends up making this much, much more difficult than it otherwise would be. Accustomed to tense situations like these, it doesn't take her more than a second to process everything - and as grim as it may seem, what choice does she have? All she can do is narrow her eyes and deepen her scowl, as she solidifies her grip on his right shoulder and forcibly yank him back while attempting to restrain his movements by grabbing onto the elbow of his left arm. She'll then try to backstep more into the center of the sphere; stay on the edge any longer, and the bubble'll run past them both. The risk is high. She can easily lose her own footing with how much he's moving, especially if he resorts to his legs or uses his whole body to gain more momentum, but she's out of options. So she doesn't even bother gracing him with a reply, only having every nerve and muscle in her body staying on high alert - because god knows how he'll move next, and panic has always made the most routine-set of people behave erratically in ways that no one could predict.]
no subject
but yes, in a continuation of their never-ending bad luck streak, he seems damned determined to get himself to that barrier. his mind in its current state isn't seeing the obvious danger contained within this idea. the fact that it would end in his death and nothing more if he succeeds just kind of flies right over his head in the face of the idea that there is the chance - even if it's horrifically small - that Diva might be out there suffering while he's safe inside the barrier; inside Mayfield with his sentience intact, which is much more than can be said for her.
so, for that single-minded reason, he struggles. while his right arm is still mainly unhindered he'll attempt to elbow her, and if both arms become incapacitated or he finds he isn't making decent enough progress with that arm alone, that's when he'll resort to full body movement. even in the midst of heated battles, he prefers to keep a poised air, which she's seen for herself. limiting movement and attacks to his arms to avoid kicking, only shifting them to their inhuman form if necessary, and generally restraining himself in favor of a neat and dramatic presentation is how he prefers to fight.
now? he's struggling like a cat about to be thrown into a bath. there's very little composure in his wild twisting and bared, gnashing teeth as he focuses on getting a good, grounded stance so that he can try to upset her balance or push her away.]
no subject
She's already expected all this, but it doesn't make any of it easier to deal with. She can't resort to pinning shadows here, not just because there isn't enough light, but also due to the fact that this bubble is moving far too fast to risk complete immobilization. ...Dammit. If only Charles wasn't so durable, then she'd be able to knock him unconscious with one heavy hit on the nape. As it is now, it's all she can do to hold on. His right arm's a problem, so lurching herself slightly forward, she'll let go of his shoulder and try to pin his upper arm to his sides against her own torso instead. Her left hand can serve as assurance, so that the shotapire doesn't completely break away no matter how hard he tries--
--and of course it's in moments like these that makes the continuously materializing horde of drones far more troublesome - and dangerous - to deal with. They were close enough to the edge of the barrier as it is, a mere few feet away, and it's now that three twisted humanshape beings stumble in and lunge towards them both with extended arms. Gritting her teeth and timing the momentum of Charles' struggles so that it sends them tumbling backwards a few steps instead, she'll nevertheless be forced to let go of his left arm after securing his right side tightly against her. Her own left hand isn't going to stay idle though, instantly busy on summoning a jolt of lightning to repel back the approaching drones. Hopefully having his left arm free won't enable him to cause TOO much extra havoc, CAN'T YOU COOPERATE FOR A SECOND, CHARLES...]
no subject
and then LO AND BEHOLD some crazy drones actually have his back for once!! of course he isn't going to make this easy on her, he's not agreeable even when he's relatively sane. instead there's a brief pause as he realises that HEY she's totally distracted right now! (the whole "distracted because she's trying to save us both" thing doesn't really sink in as fast...)
either way, as soon as she summons that lightning, he aims to knock his left elbow into the inside of her left arm. it's not to upset her aim so much as to get that arm away from him. he shifts their combined weight just enough to find solid purchase on the ground and then reaches over to try and pry her right arm away with the intent to try hurling her like a Ciel-shaped frisbee. he's not really going to have to worry about shaking her at this rate, though; with the bubble itself increasing in speed so that the people within are almost at a sprint, staying still long enough to put up even a small struggle like this is jeopardizing them both.]
1/2
but ah well rank E luck etc we gotta deal. and figures huh, babby bats were never the easiest things to motherhen over, especially not when they're going off their rockers... (you mean it doesn't sink in at all right)
And... Hah. Has she underestimated him? Or maybe she just couldn't split her focus well enough to ensure that the drones kept their distance while holding Charles down in check. She did knowingly step in his way, and while part of her attention is centered on analyzing the increasing number of figures starting to shape on the edge of the sphere, Charles has already managed to use their difference in height to his advantage. He won't be flinging her like a rag doll, but he's undermined enough of her balance to successfully send her tumbling aside. Normally, such a push could easily be recoverable with one leap backwards, but with the lack of space inside the barrier, she had to starkly remind herself she's got no room for big maneuvers.
She can't do anything to move, so she doesn't. Ultimately, Ciel won't land on the floor. (There isn't enough room.) Just as the drones have supposedly 'helped' him, they're proving useful to her now, two of them serving as a twisted but still alarmingly thin cushion between her and the approaching void directly behind them. As for Charles, he's only a few feet in front of her. Now attempting to push herself up with her left arm amidst the humanoid bodies to regain balance, she nevertheless roots her concentration on another spell at the same time, muttering a single word easily lost to the chorus of voices while she extends her right arm towards Charles. A single magic circle appears, immediately followed by a bolt of white light aimed towards the younger boy. Ciel's always got good accuracy, and at point blank especially, this one definitely isn't going to miss. The bolt'll hit him square in the chest and send him crashing backwards, but at least that means propelling him back into the middle, if not at the front, of the barrier. There are other people at the center too, if nothing else they'll stop him midway from flying off too far. It'll put some healthy distance between him and deletion, which is all that she counted on. The shot was calibrated for impact, not damage, though he will feel a burning sensation on his chest when it hits. At worst, it'll be enough to possibly burn through a few layers of cloth and lightly singe the surface skin. At best, it'll send a jolt and shake awake his brain a little. Either way, if she's calculated the force properly, he should end up safe in the middle of the bubble.]
2/2
--Hnk!...
[Overpowering the soulless forms wasn't any problem. There might have been a few hands wrapped around her body and waist, but she's got enough strength to easily break away - even when by then, she's missing an entire limb up to the shoulder. ...Ah. Losing the left arm isn't caused by these weak puppets. It was a mix of carelessness of her part and how she's chosen to arrange her own priorities. Ensuring that Charles get pushed back to safety, as momentary as that may be, with no means of resisting was just on top of that list, is all. ...Not that this sort of wound is anything new to her, she doesn't even spare a moment to check her own injury as she deftly steps forward to put more distance between herself and the incessantly approaching cusp of deletion. Her narrowed eyes remain firmly locked on Charles, watching his movements like a hawk - she's got no time for anything else, if the boy is still so delusional that he'll try to exit the protective barrier once more.
...Just ignore the trickle of blood from that disturbingly clean cutoff point, yes. It's not like Ciel herself is giving it any heed...]
1/2
but yes terrible luck will be terrible luck no matter the place; especially in places where that sort of luck is appreciated the least.
there's a brief moment of triumph when he shakes her off - maybe a little pride, too. it's still him beneath that delusional behavior, after all - but he doesn't have the time to so much as take a step to the side before she's counterattacking again. lightning quick spells are certainly one way to derail a bat with a one-track mind... he blinks and the next thing he knows, there's a burning pressure at his chest blasting him back and the brief smell of lit cloth as the bolt catches his button-up shirt.
thankfully for the other people running along inside the bubble, he manages to avoid crashing into any of them with a precise midair twist that ends in a somewhat sloppy landing. his hand raises instinctively to his chest, but there seems to be no perilous damage, which brings him to take up an offensive posture again almost immediately. his fingers flex, and he looks back to the place he had just been after a brief pause to regain his bearings and sort his sense of direction out; or, more accurately, to sort his mind out. the impact had shaken his delicate attention, and he finds himself wondering briefly how he had managed to get into this skirmish in the first place.]
no i lied 2/3...
he stares with bizarre intensity for a quiet second and his own shoulders jerk, reminiscent of a person jolting awake after experiencing a sudden "fall" in their sleep. the voice is still there, still pressing heavily and trying to worm its way back into his conscious thought, but he's once again aware of exactly what it is and of exactly where he is.
and who he had just been trying to mow down in his way to throw himself at immediate deletion.
gaze darting between her arm and her face, he looks like he's trying to say something, but the search for words is difficult when juggling ten things too many in an already overwhelmed mind. he just knows that 1) he now recalls fully that he's inside of a bubble where a single misstep could end in something worse than death, 2) Diva might be out there, but throwing himself through the barrier would only kill him, and 3) Ciel had just lost an arm trying to prevent that from happening. there's shame (was this moment of mental weakness proving her earlier assessment of his abilities correct?), and guilt; something he has no coping mechanisms for. there's anger borne from a misguided sense of concern over her involvement, and growing alarm at the blood.]
3/3
ineptway of expressing his gratitude. she didn't have to take the time out to shake him from his stupor, and she certainly didn't have to continue trying after it put her own life in jeopardy....well, now isn't the time to look a gift horse in the mouth.]
Do something to cauterize that. [it doesn't need to be said and he knows it, knows that she already knows his lucidity has mostly returned and that she definitely knows how to take care of herself. not even blinking at an injury like that, really-- even a stranger could draw that conclusion. he might be playing it up a little in his head without realising it though, empathetic to an uncharacteristic degree over a wound causing the sudden loss of an arm to use.
however, he needs to use his voice for something and he needs to assuage that guilt somehow even if it doesn't, not at all. he can't handle himself mentally right now, but the very least he can do is prevent himself from doing her more damage or putting himself into a position where even the thought of helping Diva would be a distant dream.]
no subject
--ER...
Only after confirming the return of his sanity does she allow the tension in her body to drop a notch. A notch being more like 'a hair', but as well hidden as it was with her expression still frozen in unwavering concentration, the relief is nevertheless undeniably present.
As for how he's doing... It's awfully easy to tell when Charles is dealing with things he can't handle. (Maybe this further testifies she's spent too much time around him, for better or worse?) Instinct is to catch up and see what she can do to help even if she's aware that her own person must be the main cause of why he feels as he does now, but reason steps in first to remind her of her own condition - along with his words.
Actually, it might be his warning that finally draws to her attention that the missing arm is just that - missing.
...
It's not regenerating. The fact doesn't sink in with any shred of surprise, just... muted acknowledgement. She was aware of the possibility when discussing it with Merem during the start of the first hour. Only a complete idiot would chance to test it, so she still made sure to keep her distance - until it became necessary to act otherwise. Ah, so that's that. She's rather certain that she'll recover once they get back, but until then.
Her head lowers a bit, something of a half-nod. Hastening her pace to catch up with the rest of the crowd in the middle, she'll lift her right hand over her shoulder to stop the bleeding. Whether it's healing or through some spell is a detail no one needs to be concerned with, what matters is that it'll stop drizzling completely within a few beats. So that's that...
Eh, she'll just have to be even more vigilant and make better use of her good right arm until this ends. Catching up to Charles, now, her expression neutral.]
Can you tune it out? [he's obviously sane now, no need to ask anything to which she already knows the answer of. Let's skip the 'I'm fine' too, he can see that for himself. But if the voices are still being troublesome, she may be able to cast Suggestion on him to help blot it out. ...Up to him though, she's aware that with the state his current psyche in is, she can help as much as she can harm.]
no subject
but his attention is still scattered and divided in a handful of different directions, which causes him to miss the relief that he might otherwise have noted. what he does notice is her being able to quickly and skillfully handle her own injury. there's a part of him that wants to ask how she managed it, but he's mostly just glad that the damage the void had done is fixable at all. the thought doesn't even occur to him that her arm returning is an irregularity in and of itself; the extent of her abilities that he had seen is something he holds close in his mind, but it had been equally natural for him to assume that anything eaten by the void would be lost.
he searches her briefly when she pulls up even with him, making certain that there isn't some other gaping hole he hadn't managed to catch sight of right away. when that doesn't seem to be the case, he shakes his head.]
Well enough. [would "embarrassing" be a good word to use in this situation? probably not, but it's what he feels, anyway. being a mental fortress is definitely not his strong point and it's humiliating that someone watched him get taken down so swiftly. still... he rubs his palm beneath his eye almost expecting to catch moisture there, and wonders how he keeps forgetting that fragile scars are easy to pick apart.
at least he manages to sound steady when he speaks up again, keeping their pace matched for the moment.] I'll be fine from here. [he doesn't bother asking the same of her.]
no subject
let's skip the clowns tho
Ciel is the personification of a swiss army knife, charles. you should already know this!! But yes he can... ask her about it later, though the whole topic may be uncomfortable enough to best be never brought up again ever... And fair enough, he saw her regrow her heart, which is far more extreme than just losing an arm. He still knows far more than anyone else in town save for those from her world, that hasn't changed since.
Her head is held forward, but her sidelong glance isn't leaving his form.
...
The bubble doesn't wait however, neither does the drones. The edges are shimmering again, and unless people snap out of it, they really will risk getting overrun as time continues ticking by. She should get back on the front line...]
Mm. [A hum of acknowledgement, but.]
Charles. [She calls him out. There's nothing sympathetic or reproachful in her tone, just... As long as it can get him to at least briefly look up and meet her stare; even a split second would be enough.]
no subject
among a vast number of other things...he does!! and he might even ask her about it later but really, the topic is already a severely uncomfortable one. this might be an occasion where his curiosity is overshadowed by his pride and the need to maintain whatever scrap of image he has left by this point. he'd sooner let the whole incident slip from mind (after checking to make sure none of the damage is permanent, of course).
now that he's back on a slightly more sturdy mental plateau he's able to keep up with the bubble's pace at ease again and turns to face forward, scanning the crowd for a few familiar people both as a distraction from the noisy chaos outside and partially out of genuine concern. she does catch his attention by calling his name though, and meets her stare with a curious look cast over his shoulder.]
no subject
applicable to those too...oh dear charles, you know ciel doens't give a damn at all right... but it's ok, going at his own pace is important, hence on her side, she can wordlessly promise him that she'd never bring what happened today up in the future
unless he seriously asks for it, dire times call for dire measures....Either way, a glance is all she needed. The eerily cool and detached air is still in her eyes, as they've already settled ever since they first arrived. The cyan of her irises fade out to a paler shade. There's no telling if it'll be effective, but no matter the results, she would've at least tried.
Prioritize your own survival.]
Stay focused.
[Somewhat patronizing, all things considered, but given the situation at hand, it's the best compromise she can make between cautionary and caring. She doesn't linger after the Suggestion is supposedly cast to verify the results; mm, he's still quite capable. He should be okay now, and even if he wasn't...
She'll just have to stop him again, if any repeat threatens to occur.
With that, she hastens her step to resume her previous position closer to the front. The drones are entering more and more, time to get back to the 'usual' work.]
no subject
after he gets his thoughts sorted into a proper working order again he'll probably be concerned about exactly that, sadly. being on uneven ground is upsetting! who knows when someone could call a favor in, being on constant edge is concerning okay
BUT that's obviously not at the top of his mind right now. prioritize his own survival, huh... not something he thinks about on the best of days, but the quiet presence of the suggestion itself helps to ground him and give him something to focus on. it should say a lot that his expression barely shifts even if he interprets the words as something patronizing; being aggravated in this situation would take valuable attention away. so with only a mild frown, he watches Ciel leave to the front of the barrier and turns his own attention back to the drones encroaching on their space.
he'd deal with everything else as soon as the immediate danger passes; in the meantime, he can only shove his concerns to the back of his mind and trust in Ciel's ability to manage herself as well as always even at a disadvantage.]