capeandcowllogs | Where your eyes don't go a part of you is hovering

Where your eyes don't go a part of you is hovering

WHO: Everyone who's signed up for the Shadow Märchen plot and the people who get involved with them.
WHERE: All over the City.
WHEN: February 1st through February 9th. Specify the dates when you tag in.
WARNINGS: Probably a lot, since this is a festival of dark sides.
SUMMARY: The City plays host to a twisted theater of the mind as numerous imPorts become darkened, monstrous versions of themselves.
FORMAT: To be chosen by the thread-starters.

The start of a new month shouldn't mean anything special for the City--but this time, it does. Even if it's only because of an accident.

The pull of despair within each victim might come from nowhere, or it might seem like the most natural extension in the world of their current circumstances. However it manifests, the results come quickly: one living shadow all too eager to broadcast its nature far and wide, attached to a monstrous witch that warps the world around it in order to feel at home.

Where once there was an ordinary building, there now might lurk the entrance to a distorted dimension controlled by one of those witches. Where once there was a friend, there's probably now a monster. Can't find the friend that's become this monster? Don't worry too much about missing the chance--the familiars of their witch roam the streets looking for those who can be dragged into the labyrinth.

But take heart: what's within is still the same familiar person...in its own way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I saw," is all she had to say in answer to Nepeta, and she certainly didn't acknowledge the voice that seemed to echo in response to them, but coming to a similar conclusion about the environment disturbed her. This wasn't right, none of it. This wasn't what any palace fit for Feferi should look like. She didn't make any similar movement to draw her weapon, however, her attention is instead on the staircase.

It was too far up, and staying on the path determined for them had raise Kanaya's ire. She wasn't inclined to walk into a trap. She wasn't fond of all of this darkness.

It took some work to estimate the angle of the incline, as she would have to largely take a blind guess, but she wanted a shortcut. She reeled in a portal from somewhere in the darkness, somewhere higher up the stairs. She could see the other side, so she pushed a hand through to test if she might have hit a wall or not and to cast some of her own light across whatever was waiting.

Nepeta chewed her lip worriedly, just barely resisting the urge to make another face at that horrible voice following their every step and slinging some insults of her own back at it. This was a dangerous enough situation as it was; she didn't need to go exacerbating it just because of her first impulse.

Her attention was quickly drawn from the malicious echoes of the palace (and what a horrible palace it was) to Kanaya and her actions. Nepeta only had the most basic understanding of what she was doing but hovered close behind all the same, ready to strike out if the portal yielded something decidedly more threatening than a dead cuttlefish.

What Kanaya saw would be... more stairs; how anticlimactic. However, there was more to these stairs - they were more ornate and inlaid with gold, and the walls were painted a richer, more tyrian purple. There were also dark torches laid into golden sconces every few feet; if only she had some way to light them.

She was afraid of that. She didn't have any patience for torch puzzles, and her purse was still outside the barrier if she wanted to get any matches. Pulling it in might be possible, but it felt so much farther away than when she last checked.

She stepped through the portal, digging her nails into her palms to brighten her glow so Nepeta could see, and waited for her to step through behind her before letting it close. "I suppose that saved us some time, but not as much as I'd like. The climb could be endless from here, and aside from that obnoxious voice, this entire palace seems dead. Almost as if it's been forgotten. Or simply the inevitably isolating product of very unfriendly architecture."

"Or we're just the only people silly enough to want to come in here," she offered back with a small grimace. Nepeta had about as much patience for this whole thing as Kanaya did - she was tired of taking boat rides and climbing stairs and just wanted to find the shadow empress and get this over with. She didn't like feeling as if she were someone else's plaything.

Her gaze wandered up this new staircase, trying to gauge some sort of end to it. With nothing like that in sight she merely sighed and gave Kanaya a shrug. "I guess we should climb until we figure out something better to do."

It's awfully adorable that you two think you're here of your own free will.

The moment the two crossed the threshold, however, those dark torches suddenly burst into life once more, illuminating the stairway - and, as it would seem, the top... or at least something much like it. The light didn't quite reach into the darkness thirty or forty steps above them, but the room seemed to stretch out into something much larger than the relatively confined staircase...

...which was lined with statues of trolls, each unique, their faces contorted gruesomely as if in death.

Kanaya shielded her eyes at the sudden flare, sneering at the taunt of the voice. She was half-tempted to leave right then, just out of spite for its insistence of control, but she couldn't well leave Feferi here. Perhaps she was right on some level, but it was only duty to a friend that robbed Kanaya of her options.

"There's no other direction for us, really. See if you can't remove one of those torches for your own use." Kanaya had her own light, but it wouldn't do to leave Nepeta without in case something unexpected happened. Slowly, she continued her ascent.

"I'll grab one of the ones near the top," she replied. It would be wiser to try and remove a torch burning near them now, but Nepeta is finished waiting around. She darted ahead of Kanaya, ascending the stairs at a fast clip, not enough to tire but enough to speed up the climb. At this point she'd almost welcome some interference.

Be careful what you wished for, Nepeta. The whole stairwell was filled with a resonating, deep laugh - and as soon as she passed one set of statues (or were they statues?) they moved, grasping the weapons in their hands and swinging them down at the olive-blood. For the time being, they weren't moving from their alcoves, but swords were coming at your head either way.

Kanaya felt her heart skip a beat when the swords started moving. Quickly, she dashed up the stairs, making a dive for Nepeta to knock her out of the way before the trap came down.

Nepeta barely had the time to look up at the sudden movement in the alcoves before she was shoved out of the way. Her instincts kicked in as she rolled into a low crouch, claws brandished and ready for the statues to make another move. At this point she couldn't really rule anything out.

The statues kept moving, swinging swords wildly with stiff, creaking joints - until the stone at the base of their feet began to crack. Then one wrenched free of its alcove, stepping into the stairway and beginning a slow, relentless approach towards the two trolls. It raised its weapon to strike.

No! Stop! You have to leave them alone!

The statue attacked.

"I will not!" Kanaya shouted, entirely mistaking who the voice was speaking to. First they capture Feferi, and now they're trying to hurt Nepeta? She wasn't having it. Everyone overprotective bone in her body was screaming at her that she couldn't let it happen.

Launching off of the stairs, she put all the weight she could into her shoulder, hoping to topple it.

Nepeta was less swept up into a frenzy of emotions, but only because her mind was humming too loudly with the familiar adrenaline of a fight for her to really listen to anything the echoes of the shade had to say. Her eyes flicked to Kanaya's action, gauging that it would be probably more than enough to take the statue out by itself if all went well. That meant she'd be better off making sure that none of the other decided to gang up on her friend.

So with a grin that is far too many teeth for polite company she darted towards one of the statues still struggling to remove itself from an alcove near Kanaya, claws flashing out to try and slice off its arms.

Nepeta's claws dug deep into the statue's arm, but whatever stone the golem was made out of proved resilient, and she didn't quite slice through. Kanaya's attacks, on the other hand, had a greater effect - the statue toppled backwards and fell, skidding down the stairs and coming to a halt on its back, its limbs moving awkwardly as if it was still upright.

But there were more statues awakening up and down the staircase, all reaching for stone weapons of some kind. Far too many to fight, one might think.

The disembodied voice was more desperate now, its tone younger, more innocent. I said stop! You have to stop! They're my friends! I order you to stop!

Once the emotions of the moment subsided, Kanaya realized this wasn't going to work, there were too many of them. They were surrounded. Nepeta's claws had little effect, and she could expect the same of her own weapon. Their only hope was to either knock them all down or simply try to avoid them.

There wasn't space for another portal, not while their light was so limited. It would be another shot in the dark, and there was no promise they'd be as lucky the second time.

"How are you with climbing?" she asked Nepeta quickly, trying to keep calm as she sorted through their options. "Will you be alright clinging to my back?" It made the most sense. She had speed on her side, and while it might make her a little slower carrying another, at least this way they wouldn't have to worry about being separated. If Someone attacked them from the front, Nepeta wouldn't be the one to face it, if she did this right.

The paltry blow made Nepeta hiss lowly under her breath in frustration and disappointment. This wasn't good if her best weapon barely made a dent in what were probably only minor adversaries here. Her gaze flicked to Kanaya as she spoke, albeit distractedly - with a blow like that there was no telling if the statue would get up again.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she responded. "I can handle whatever you need me to."

She was going to have to; they didn't have many options.

None of the statues moved to strike, although they were definitely starting to crowd in around them. But perhaps more worrisome was the sound they might have heard from below them in the stairwell - the sound of rushing, rising water.

And the voice came again, pleading. Run! You have to run, it's not safe!

--it returned to its earlier, cold and low timbre. Why run? Stay here, join us. There's plenty of room for everyone.

Edited 2013-02-25 21:52 (UTC)

Kanaya ran to the wall, holding her hand out to Nepeta. "Come on, we'll need to be quick! ...Try not to damage my shirt." She readies herself to kick off into a leap out of their range the moment Nepeta's secured herself.

"Oh geez," Nepeta mumbled as she took Kanaya's hand and scrambled into place, claws temporarily clicking back into their sheaths to avoid damaging her friend or her friend's apparel. This was quickly getting out of hand and she'd be much happier to put some distance between herself and all this chaos.

I told you, run! You have to run as fast as you can!

That sound of rushing water is getting louder. And if you look down the stairwell, torch after torch is disappearing, but not before it illuminates an oncoming, rising and burbling mess of swirling foam.

Kanaya spared a glance down, that was enough for her. Running was just the thing on the agenda from there, no other way to fight a thing like that.

Bracing herself a moment, she leaped up along the wall, then kept her momentum running by bouncing off to the next. She didn't dare stop, just continuing to jump and transfer, onward, upward, forward. Away from the statues, away from the torrent spilling in, hoping to reach the top, to find Feferi, to solve whatever it was that started this problem in the first place.

Nepeta kept her grip tight and her gaze firmly locked on the rising water. Despite the speedy scaling of the stairs they didn't seem to be ascending rapidly enough - she couldn't help but worry that if they didn't arrive soon enough something else might stand in their way, and frankly she didn't want to deal with that.

As you went, there were more statues along the walls that animated, taking swings at you with stone weaponry - perhaps even clipping you - but Kanaya and Nepeta would soon find that if they went far and fast enough along the stairway, they would burst into an open chamber...

...where the entire floor was water. Have fun getting wet, guys.

It didn't take Kanaya long at all to realize that she's run out of wall, but she had no idea what was waiting for her below until she was close enough to illuminate it. By then, it was too late to form a proper response. Sure, she could try to pry Nepeta off her back and hold her over her head while she--

Or not. She just splashed right into the drink.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject