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

[crab]

With gravity the way it is, I don't know if we could rely on that, even if by some incredible twist of serendipity we managed to find one.

[ Karkat points out, thinking wistfully of SGRUB, when everything he could ever have wanted was a couple of dead imps, a captcha code and an alchemiter away. He turns away from the edge of the City, picking his way back to Rua with a sigh much like his. ]

I guess so. But I've been wary of going too far into most buildings. Sometimes they collapse without warning. They don't even always collapse downward, as I'm sure you've noticed.

[ There's movement out of the corner of his eye, for an instant, but it could just as easily be an errant shadow, levitating rubble. ]

[deformer]

Yeah...

[He grimaces, sighs and looks around.]

We don't really have a lot of options though...we just gotta be quick and. I dunno. Maybe have someone stay outside as a spotter to let the other one know if something weird hap -

[His communicator beeps. He looks at the motion detector, then looks around. He doesn't see anything, prompting him to let out an annoyed sigh.]

This stupid thing doesn't work either... [He cracks open the back of the communicator.] Swear to fuckin' God, my stupid power isn't good for anything....

[crab]

[ Having reached Rua, Karkat comes up to peer over his shoulder at the protesting communicator, frowning. ]

What's it supposed to be-- [ With seemingly no provocation, Karkat breaks off with a sharp inhale, and whips around, scanning their surroundings for-- something. There is a distinct defensiveness in the way he holds himself, the way his strife specibus appears in his hand.

Murderous intent is a negative emotion, after all, and Karkat's empathy never stopped being a thing. His next words come out a hiss: ] Fuck that, forget about your communicator. We have to get moving. Keep your head down and keep quiet. Someone's here.

[deformer]

[Rua quirks an eyebrow at first, then grimaces as he realizes something is up. He closes his communicator, drops it into his pocket and starts to walk. He tries to listen to Karkat, but after a moment, the anxiousness gets the better of him. He starts throwing nervous glances over his shoulder]

Who's here? How can you tell, anyway?

[crab]

I'm an empath, stupid, and I don't know who it is, and judging by how much murderlust I'm experiencing right now, I'd actually prefer it stay that way.

[ Karkat hangs behind Rua, an attempt to cover his back, and also an easy position from which to shove him if he feels he isn't moving fast enough, which he demonstrates right then. ]

Now shut up. I'll let you know when they're out of range.

[deformer]

Okay. Geez. [He scratches his head and tries to pick up the pace a little.]

...it's probably just. Someone who doesn't want us getting too close to them or where they're staying, right? [His tone betrays that he's getting a little nervous.]

[crab]

We're being followed. [ Simple, blunt. His emotional input isn't getting weaker, the way it would if they were getting further away from the source -- occasionally, it actually gets stronger. ]

So, no. Probably not. More likely it's someone who's about to try and shank us all the way back to our original universes, so try and prepare for that. [ Karkat's voice is more confident than he feels. They're both dehydrated, tired, and a considerable distance from anyone who might have been able to lend them backup. ]

[deformer]

Well...

Shit.

[Rua takes off his backpack and pulls something free from a sidestrap as he keeps walking - a metal bat. Probably not all that useful, but, it's better than his bare hands. When the bat is in his hand, he swings his backpack back over his shoulder.]

....can you go high?

'Cause if you can go high, I can go low.

[crab]

Yeah, I can-- [ The remainder of Karkat's sentence goes unsaid -- there is the sound of rapid footsteps, and their pursuer finally makes himself visible: a short, stocky male with robotic legs emerges from the rubble of what would have been an apartment building, once upon a time, and bears down on their left side. Those bionic legs propel him with much greater speed and longer strides than human ones would.

Karkat shoves Rua again, hoping he has the sense to drop the backpack. ] Move it, asshole!

[deformer]

Oh, shit!!

[Rua runs for all he's worth, which turns out to be quite a bit. He's cognizant enough to catch the metaman's metallic legs and realize his backpack is weighing him down, so he dumps it and the bat.

He's unfortunately not careful enough to avoid the not plentiful holes in the road. One catches his foot and he troops and slams into the ground on his side, letting out a long string of curses that eventually becomes quieter as he tries to pull himself up.]

[crab]

Rua! [ Stupid, stupid, stupid! He doesn't bother trying to pull Rua up -- it would only make both of them easy targets -- instead whirling around to face their pursuer.

A large amount of rubble seemingly vanishes into thin air around them -- and several objects (bags, a chair, some more stray concrete) shoot out of his now-overstuffed sylladex, bombarding their attacker. It causes him to stumble, and slow. No longer charging now -- it appears more as though he's sizing them up. Calculating. ] Get up, you useless pile of fermented trash! I am not going to carry you!

[deformer]

I'm up, I'm UP, SHIT! [As he scrambles to his feet, he grabs the nearest heavy, pointing looking rock he can find. When he's back up, he doesn't immediately run again, he spins and hurls the rock at the metaman as hard as he can.

Then, he runs again, shouting back:] COME ON, LET'S GO!

[crab]

Rua, Rua, wait!

[ Karkat doesn't follow, instead remaining frozen in place, sizing up his metaman in a similar manner, both attempting to ascertain what the other is capable of. He breaks eye contact, briefly, to shout in Rua's direction-- ]

He has robot legs, brainless, and you're a fucking technopath! Get your ass back here and make yourself useful! St-- [ Stop, he intended to say, but he breaks off due to the metaman having made a sudden motion with his right arm, and Karkat sends another volley of sylladex-launched concrete chunks in his direction, forcing him back onto the defensive.

The metaman doesn't seem to be directly attacking them, yet. More like searching for an opening, and defending in order to find that opening. An opening for what, though, remains to be seen. ]

Stop running away!

[deformer]

[Rua stops, turns and looks. He looks at Karkat, then at the metaman. He sees his legs - they have to run on some kind of computer. If he used his power of them, he could connect to it with his communicator and maybe make the legs do something...?

But...]

Dude, it's not like I can just wave a magic wand and have him jump off a building! [He lowers his voice as he speaks to Karkat.] I...I have to get close to use it - he'd kick me into next year before I could do anything!

[crab]

I'll get you close to him.

[ Karkat says it uncharacteristically softly, and this time, he doesn't break eye contact with the metaman to do it. Karkat's rubble launching capabilities apparently came as a surprise -- he is being reevaluated as a threat. The standoff can't last, however. ]

I'll distract him, you just focus on getting to his legs and not vigorously fucking this up for the pair of us. Be subtle, if you're even capable of that, okay?

[ He takes a deep, steadying inhale. Their metaman, quite slowly, almost leisurely, begins to walk towards them. ]

I can take more punishment than you squishy apes can anyway.

[deformer]

I'm pretty sure I'm not! [He takes in a few increasingly nervous breaths as the Metaman starts closing in on them. He gulps and starts rubbing his hands together. Eventually, he swipes one off the other and they start glowing blue.]

Just...okay. Distract him for a second and I'll try to do something, but. Don't get your face kicked in!

[crab]

Ugh, one of these days I'm going to have to sit you down and read you my upcoming five thousand page thesis on how much you suck. Just don't give him any reason to believe you're much of a threat. Pretend you're useless.

[ Karkat takes another deep breath, tightens his grip on his sickle, and abruptly darts off to the side, attempting to circle around behind the metaman -- he punctuates the movement with another medium sized piece of concrete, flung with intent of striking his head. It misses by a long shot (a weaponized modus was never known for its accuracy), but the combined movement and assault grabs his attention, at least, and he makes a sudden move of his own--

-- His hand detaches. His hand detaches. And soars toward Karkat like a homing missile. He doesn't think about it, he just dives, and ends up eating a fairly large amount of gravel, and the fucking rocket hand soars over his head, to smash through the already-cracked window of the nearest storefront, where it detonates -- the earsplitting explosion brings the remains of the building down. ]

Fuck. [ Explosives was not something he anticipated. Dust from the collapsed building fills the air, impairing visibility, and Karkat starts to get back to his feet, spitting out little bits of concrete as he does so -- only to... get kicked in the face before he can quite manage it.

Going by the aggression with which the metaman kicks him, which puts Karkat almost flat on his back and almost definitely broke his nose, missing the explosion really pissed the guy off. Karkat rolls to the side before he can give new meaning to the phrase curb stomp, spitting out a few front teeth as he does so, and scrambles upright again, aiming a desperate slash at the metaman's upper arm. ]

[deformer]

[Rua drops to the ground and throws his hands over his head when he sees, hears and feels the explosion. He stays there for a couple seconds, wondering if there's gonna be another before he cranes his head up and looks over in Karkat's direction to see him getting the shit kicked out of him.

He stares in horror for a few more seconds before it sinks in - the metaman has his back to him. He shakes his head, trying to get the ringing in his ears out. It doesn't go away. He pulls himself up anyway and sprints the short distance between himself and the metaman.

At the end of the sprint, he goes into a sliding, tumbling jump forward and throws his arms around his lower body, latching on as best he can. He throws his right hand over the leg that just finished curb stomping Karkat. He's completely unfamiliar with the mechanics at work here - he has no idea how to control it, so he just tries to get it to overload, self destruct, stop working, something. The blue glow over his right hand becomes more intense and starts to pair with a crackling noise as he desperately tries to exert his influence over the bionic appendage. If nothing else, he hopes to give Karkat an opportunity to get out from under him before he gets stepped on again.]

[crab]

[ The broken nose hurts, but truthfully, it's the blood more than the pain that makes Karkat angry. While Rua launches his own assault, Karkat holds the metaman's attention with increasingly more aggressive hooking and slashing motions from his sickle. One advantage to fighting in such close quarters is the man can't set off another explosion without blowing himself up, as well.

Blood belonging to both Karkat and the metaman spots the ground, as they struggle. The metaman makes another motion, intending to kick him again, this time in the stomach, only it's at that point that Rua's arms lock around his lower body, and, quite suddenly, the metaman's legs freeze. He can still move his arms -- demonstrated by how his attention diverts from Karkat with a hail of punches directed at Rua, which lasts until Karkat hooks the blade of his sickle around the man's throat, pressing it against his jugular for a very real threat.

The metaman goes very still. ]

You lose. [ Karkat snarls. The crackling noise gets louder. There's a slight smell of burning. ] I mean, you'd lost from the moment you decided to pick a fight with Rua and I out of all the imPorts on this miserable floating hunk of garbage in the first place, but now the breadth and depth of your failure is official, along with your ensuing humiliation. Just soak it all in. We've got time.

[ He gets no answer, only the sound of the man's slightly labored breathing. The bionic knees buckle. Blood is still pouring freely from his definitely crooked nose. The blade of Karkat's sickle trembles slightly, against the man's throat. ]

You know we have to kill you. [ Karkat says, although he doesn't sound convinced of that fact.

He's never killed someone before. ]

[deformer]

[Rua drops off the guy and throws his hands up over his face as he gets punched repeatedly. It doesn't do much and by the time Karkat has him stopped, Rua's sporting a bloody nose as well. The good news is, Rua has control of his legs, so he's not going anywhere. He slowly pulls himself to his feet and puts a little distance between himself and the metaman.

His gaze abruptly snaps to Karkat at the use of the k-word.]

H-hey. [He gulps. He wasn't expecting this.] C-can't we just knock him out or something? It's not like he can chase us.

[crab]

[ No good self respecting, Condesce fearing troll would allow someone who just tried to blow them up walk away breathing. Karkat is acutely aware of this, as he gazes down at the kneeling metaman, trying to catch his breath, grasps a handful of his hair. He tilts his head back, to better expose his throat. No good troll would let the man live.

He swallows, uncomfortable, and turns his attention to Rua, seeking to stall for time. ]

And what about when he wakes up? He has to be with Vulcanus, Rua, and you want to let him just waltz off into the sunset to continue merrily attacking and exploding imPorts at his fucking whim? What if he'd attacked Ruka while we were gone?

He just tried to slaughter us. Why should we let him go?

[ He almost sounds hopeful. Like he wants Rua to give him an out. The metaman lets out a quiet snort of laughter. Mocking. ]