of those blackholes & revelations

[capemods]

WHO: All imPorts.
WHERE: Atropos.
WHEN: January 7th to January 14th.
WARNINGS: Death and destruction.
SUMMARY: Atropos has risen in the night, and the inevitable has come: with her jaws she shears away the City from Earth and swallows it whole.

But the City is not yet dead.
FORMAT: Whatever you please.



The formless mass of metal haunting above, hovering like a lunar tombstone, begins to take shape. Asteroids plummet into the cheeks, the eyes, carving out bone structure. Her features howl with fury, with triumph, as she stares down below, savoring her conquest. A cavity opens. Metal swoops to form jagged, angry shears. Her teeth are born.

She waits as the world rotates, its spin more wobbly than it used to be.

And then she leans down to feast, her bite vampiric. She takes the City and then some, and all that it encompasses, so that every single imPort is captured. She takes the time to drink in any stragglers, any imPorts elusive to the City's thrall.

She holds the City on her tongue as she draws back her fist to punch the world.

And then teeth close to the shuddering, glass shattering vibration of a cosmic laugh. The jaws close, and there is no light for about an hour -- until Atropos begins to siphon solar energy from the sun into her veins. She is dissatisfied with its dying tint, or perhaps she cannot stand the redness of color, so once she injects this energy into her her body (her most intimate domain), she turns it bright yellow again. The universe within her is illuminated.

The City is a floating chunk of broken skyscrapers and puckered asphalt streets. The trauma of consumption has wrecked the usual infrastructure: buildings are half collapses, or skeletal, vehicles are flipped and strewn across the layout. Whatever vegetation that is still clinging onto life has rejoiced under the return of normal sunlight.

You can breathe. It isn't too hot, or too cold -- it's unusually pleasant, in fact. The sunshine veins that light your world are not overwhelming. There is no blue sky to complement the atmosphere, and whatever water still in the City will be constrained to the bottled kind found in shops.

But there are other floating pieces of worlds, and they might have water. Or food.

If you live in the City, your possessions should still be in the City. While about 76% of the natives have fled the City (which had gotten the brunt of focus over the past week), there are still some natives who were too sick, too sentimental or too stubborn to leave.

You'll find that your powers work normally, though you can't teleport within Atropos. You probably wouldn't want to teleport outside of her, anyway.

She swallows, and the City gentle glides down a slick throat. Dust and particles create stunning visuals, like the aurora borealis, except in warmer colors. Light reflects so easily from solar veins and starstrewn flesh.

While you can breathe easily, gravity is fickle. Physics is often defied. Atropos was never one to play by the rules.

Comments

[glassbox]

[ lil turns around at the sound of her name, squinting through the dirt and dust. it takes her a moment, but after a second or two, she recognizes the figure running towards her. her breath catches a little, her own relief swelling in her chest. finally, a familiar face-- a good one, too. ]

Renee.

[ long legs make short work of the remaining distance between them. impulsively, she meets renee with arms eager to wrap around her, easily picking her up off the ground in an embrace that completely neglects consideration to the wound lil has yet to notice. ]

[glassbox]

[ the sound renee makes causes her to stop, tensing before she abruptly sets the other woman back down on the ground. concern colors her expression. ]

Hon -- are y'hurt?

[glassbox]

I'm fine.

[ lil answers the question impatiently -- if only because it's obvious to her that the more pressing concern is renee's injury. it looks as though she's bled a lot, and lil can't tell if the wound seems worse because of how much blood there is or if it really is all that serious. ]

Lemme have a look at you. What happened?

[glassbox]

[ lil seems surprised by the joke at first, like she wasn't expecting humor just then. but at length, after a pause, she offers a small, tired smile. she is glad to see renee. and despite the injury, she seems to be doing better than a person could be, considering it's the end of the world.

she reaches out to take renee's hand in hers, squeezing it. ]

Are y'sure? Maybe y'shouldn't be wanderin' around just now.

[glassbox]

[ fair enough. the hugs can wait. she's reassured enough by having found a familiar face, anyway.

her voice is a little wry when she replies: ]

When I met y'in that bar, didn't figure we'd be facin' the end of the goddamn world t'gether.

[glassbox]

[ she glances around as the mood between them becomes more somber. it's on her mind too -- she wants to know that everyone who matters is alright. there are people on her mind. but there's so much devastation. ]

I don't even know where t'start. [ she exhales. ] Anybody y'wanna look for?

[glassbox]

[ there's probably more people on her list than she cares to admit -- and more than it would be possible to find in all this chaos. some are expected, like rick and nelson, but others less so. she wonders about danger, her rival and occasionally something surprisingly like her friend. of course, she thinks about frank.

but out loud, she simply sighs, lifting a hand to brush hair back from her face. ]

Yeah. Got some folks I wouldn't mind seein' right about now. City's a big damn place though, even without all this shit goin' on.

[glassbox]

[ lil's eyebrows pull together a little at the mention of jack. after weeks of bathing and feeding renee's unconventional pet, she'd become rather fond of the animal. there was always the slight hope that he had escaped -- dinosaurs were resourceful creatures, weren't they?

she exhales again, running her fingers tiredly through her hair. ]

Maybe he got away. He never really seemed t'like bein' too cooped up anyway. [ she glances around, not sure what she expects to find or see. ] Y'gone back t'your place yet?

[glassbox]

Sure, hon.

[ if there's anything left of the place. but lil doesn't want to say that out loud. there's no point in letting cynicism make things worse than they already are. they need every scrap of hope they can get at this point. ]

Gives us some place t'start anyway. [ a pause, then a bit ruefully: ] Hope that bike a'yours made it. I kinda loved that thing.

[glassbox]

A gal can always hope, right?

[ that's said with a little, almost wistful sigh. it's hard to imagine they all lived in this place before -- it looks so different now. desolate, broken. lil's eyes wander around the ruins as they walk together. ]

S'pose a bike wouldn't do us much good right now anyway. Y'managed t'get any supplies yet?

[glassbox]

[ she's never been a particularly planning type, so it's nice really -- better than nice -- to have renee around to keep her straight. lil's always been reckless, and it isn't really the time or place to be reckless. ]

I ain't got nothin' too important. Some sentimental stuff, I guess. Y'think that's worth goin' back for?

[ things that remind her of people. that's all that she owns that really matters to her. ]

[glassbox]

[ she wonders what happened to the box of her husband's things that she used to keep under her bed. the last time she pulled that out, it was to give frank some spare clothes. maybe things like that are better left buried in the ruins. ]

Yeah. Maybe. [ she breathes out. ] Let's hit your place first. Maybe Jack'll be there. Damn critter's the closest thing to a kid I've ever had.

[glassbox]

[ it's surprising how reassuring a little human contact can be -- even just that small touch on her arm. she's doing her best to be as tough as she always says she is, but even diamond lil can't brush off the apocalypse. ]

I'm okay. I just. [ she doesn't know how to say it. ] I got a lot on my mind. A lot I'm worried about. [ another exhale. ] Same as everyone else, I guess.