manhattan ♔ there is no knot so steadfast | it won't go broke in the middle of monsoons

[silvermaid]

♬ two years before the mast - astronautalis

WHO || Violet Reedhym, Luthir Reedhym, Myrilandel de Tanos, Finnick Odair, Anastacia O'Keefe, Faith O'Keefe, Nicholas Starkweather
WHAT || The Knights attempt to free Vi from the influence of the Nightmare God Malaak'a
WHERE || Manhattan, New York
WHEN || June 7th, 2014
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

Some choices are almost impossible to make. For a year, the Knights have watched Violet fading, the way she always does with the winter thanks to her connection to her mother Persephone. Except in this case, there was no getting better with the arrival of spring. If anything, she's only spiraled further into depression, and it's clear that if this continues, it will spell the end of her sooner than later.

Keijen Blade appeared to several of the Knights in their dreams, to caution them of Vi's impending fate, and to tell them that their plan to save her will end in blood. Of course, he had his own alternative to offer: that she take a deal from Malaak'a that would allow the god to see through her eyes into this world. Realizing that the plan offered by Sehanine to use Faith O'Keefe's dreamwalking ability to sever the connection might simply result in someone giving their life to save hers, Vi agreed to take the offer in one month. However, on the evening of their wedding, Luthir talked her into going through with the goddess' plan, promising not to go into her dream with them.

Their car pulls up in front of Des' horrible rundown apartment building, where they're meant to track down Nicholas Starkweather - a friend of Des', who is apparently also a unicorn. Look, he knows people.

Comments

[witchwoman]

[So this is the first time Myri has been to Des' apartment and she is... not impressed.]

Is this... the right place?

[Wow Vi wasn't kidding about how bad this place looks.]

[graveflowers]

Un-fucking-fortunately. [ fire. fiiiiiiiire. she scowls at the building before basically shoving herself out the door to march inside. she should have gotten shots. ]

[65]

It's ... well, no, it's actually worse inside. [finnick's here to be ur little rainbow. he follows in after vi, holding myri's hand and pulling her along.]

[silvermaid]

[ there is absolutely none of your judgment reflected in anastacia's smile as she looks up at the building as if it were bright, shiny, and brand sparkling new. she's practically glowing. ]

All this time, he lived just around the corner. [ and she happily heads up the stairs looking around at everything as if it were OH SO MAGICAL ]

[graveflowers]

Teaching kindergarten, yeah. Is it just me or is anyone else really weirded out by Des, Mr Liar Liar Pants on Fire, being friends with the actual epitome of goodness and light magic? Just me? Okay.

[ KNOCK KNOCK. she has that little piece of paper des gave her with the address, so she just bangs a mariachi beat on the right door. ] Candy gram for Nick Starkweather. I hope you like caramel cremes!

[desperatewarning]

[There's a lengthy pause after Violet stops knocking, followed by the sound of several locks being undone in rapid succession. The door opens a crack, held back by the door's chain and half a bespectacled face peers out at them, taking them in with a suspicious look.

And then it must hit him, because he awkwardly backs away and starts to undo the chain.]

Oh! Yes. Right. You must be- you must be Violet. I, ah... wasn't expecting so many of you. Not a problem. Not a problem at all. Just... might have to make more tea is all. Give me a second. Bloody door.

[And he finally throws open the door, revealing an extremely tall, thin man with black-framed glasses, blonde hair with streaks of silver shot through and blue eyes. He's tall enough that he has to bend a bit to actually see them, because he's.... taller than the door frame. He waves pleasantly.] Hello!

[Just behind him, you can see his apartment, though tiny, is actually quite clean and neat.]

[65]

I was almost expecting a talking horse. [FINNICK JUST COMES RIGHT OUT WITH IT. and strolls on in, taking a look around. it's so clean. praise the lord.]

nightmare ♔ faith, nick, vi, luthir

[moonheart]

[ ♬ possibility - lykke li

for vi, it does feel just like falling asleep. so much so that when she finds herself in her familiar dream, it's possible she might not even remember what she's there for (without a wisdom check of 15+). it does, however, feel different, more lucid than ever, which is frightening given how potent it usually is.

she sees a familiar battlefield, one she's seen hundreds of times by now. ]

[graveflowers]

[ she just barely remembers (wis 16), but it's enough to keep her from acting on the scenario around her -- it's a battlefield, her instinct is to fight. but she dips her head and closes her eyes, arms curling around her abdomen in a protective hug, and doesn't move. this isn't real.

except it is. ] Oh please tell me I'm not alone.

[luthir]

Never. [ the familiar voice speaks up with all that quiet confidence behind her, and then she feels luthir's hand, warm on her shoulder. when she turns, she'd see faith, nick, and her husband behind her. nick is still... in unicorn form. luthir looks beyond vi with a frown at the battlefield. ] Where is this?

[desperatewarning]

[Yep. This battlefield has a unicorn. Nick is staying protectively close to Faith, and given that it's impossible to read expressions on a fucking horse, it's hard to say how he's feeling about all this. He definitely doesn't like it, though. THIS IS NOT FUCKING NARNIA, OKAY. UNICORNS DON'T BELONG ON BATTLEFIELDS.

He snorts and shakes his head pawing at the ground with a hoof.] I don't know what I expected...

[graveflowers]

[ at luthir's question she looks up, glancing around to get her bearings so she can answer him. ] This was my home. We might... want to... not be here, actually. It's not... safe. [ because home for vi meant monsters hunting down her and her fellow legionnaires. it's not the middle east, not yet, she was too young -- it's her home being destroyed by monsters that don't know they're supposed to be just myths. an elephant trumpets somewhere and vi's head twists around to find him. ]

Hannibal. [ yes. the elephant is called hannibal. he crushes rocks. as she's looking around for her elephant, her eyes land on nick. ] We really shouldn't be here. This... this isn't good.

[ monsters, people. m o n s t e r s. and they have a freakin, pure white bastion of goodness. he sort of sticks out in the sea of demigod blood. ]

[moonheart]

[ faith takes a step forward, looking out over the field towards the elephant noise, staring at the thing for a second before she turns to survey the small group, shaking her head. ] Wait. Something's wrong.

Did someone else--

Was someone else touching us, when I pulled us in?

nick's apartment ♔ anastacia, myri, finnick

[silvermaid]

[ anastacia waves a hand in front of faith's face, and finds no response there, so she turns to look at the others ] It must have worked. [ she moves to the window, to gently push the curtains aside and look out ] So we just have to keep them safe and undisturbed until they're finished.

[witchwoman]

[Little miss paranoid over here will nod and go to check the locks on the door and all the windows. Not chancing anything happening to her girl. Also she lives in a state of fear of random bad shit going down.]

[65]

I think we can manage that. [still trying to be ever the optimist over here. which is hard, considering he's usually such a pragmatist. BUT HE CAN FORCE IT FOR VIOLET >:( he positions himself against the arm of nick's couch, looking at everyone standing there frozen in place and shit.]

[silvermaid]

I suppose now comes the difficult part. We wait. [ she goes to pick up the platter of tea and carries it to myri, offering her one. ]

[witchwoman]

[myri takes a cup and heads back to the couch to sit next to the arm Finnick is perched on. She glances to Vi as the group of them, then sweeps the room, then looks down at her lap. She's not comfortable with this waiting game.]

[65]

[no tea for finnick huh?? :| naw he doesn't care, he's not thirsty. as myri sits next to him, he touches her shoulder. it's meant to be a reassuring gesture, but how reassuring can he really be when he's feeling essentially useless?] I don't suppose there's a time-table, is there?

garden ♔ luthir & vi

[luthir]

[ ♬ cloudbank - julianna barwick

luthir gives vi a boost through the window before hopping in gracefully after her. the moment their feet hit the ground, however, the scene looks vastly different than it did through the 'window'. the ground is covered in dead leaves and plants, the sky above them clouded and gray. the air itself feels dead. only ahead, behind a strange grove of trees that seem bent together and moving slightly, does she see a bright living light that appears to be held back by the copse.

luthir takes a few steps that way, staring in wonder, and as he gets closer he can see that the trees are actually made of that shadow material, and aren't trees at all, so much as grasping horrible hands, the branches fingers, that are keeping that light at bay. he stops and turns back to her, amazed and disturbed by the sight as realization slams home. ]

I think it's-- what's been trying to return to you since spring came, Helillóte.

He has been holding it back from you.

[graveflowers]

[ she stoops down, brushing her fingers against the dead plants. poor dears. ] Is it weird... that knowing this is what I feel like... makes me feel better?

[ it's nothing, just some crinkly dead leaves and stale air, but it's a tangible, physical presence of vi's depression. it's nothing, but it's like a picture of her emotions and seeing it makes it easier to reconcile in her mind.

and there, in the back, what she's supposed to feel. ] I'm guessing we can't just stroll on over to it, can we?

[luthir]

[ ♬ sleep - my chemical romance

he opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out because he's staring at that river of shadow stuff that's been leaking over the sides from the throne room into the 'garden'... and is now winding its way across the cracked tiles to the space between them and the tree, where it rises in an oily eerie spiral to fashion itself into a figure who grows taller and taller - a familiar outline to vi - but only his outline. a nightmare shadow silhouette of the armored nightmare lord himself, carrying a sword which oozes more of that wispy shadow substance, making its outline hard to decipher.

glowing red eyes fixate on violet, and she can feel the weight of that terrible familiar gaze boring into the small remnant of her soul that she does still carry - that she doesn't have hostage behind that wall of shadow.

CHILD.

YOU HAVE BEEN FOREWARNED. YET, STILL YOU RESIST ME. ]

[graveflowers]

I'm my mother's daughter. [ she doesn't so much as flinch (will save nat 20) as she moves to stand between luthir and her literal nightmare. she's terrified, but luthir is here because she asked him to be. this is her fight. ] It's a force of habit.

[luthir]

[ luthir tenses when she moves in front of him, tightening his grip on the hilt of his blade. ]

She isn't interested in what you have to say.

[ the shadow creature tilts its head the tiniest bit, shifting its gaze between them. it has no visible mouth, and its voice seems to resound more inside their heads than anywhere else.

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE.

THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN DEFEAT ME IN COMBAT. NOT HERE, IN MY DOMAIN. NOT AS WEAK AS YOU ARE, IN STRENGTH OF BODY, MIND, AND SOUL.

YOU ARE A SHRED OF NOTHING NOW.

RELENT. COME TO ME FOR THE POWER YOU CANNOT MUSTER ON YOUR OWN. ]

[graveflowers]

You know nothing. [ jon snow. she's still scared, fingers trembling still as she pulls out an arrow, but her voice is firm. as firm as it can be in the face of this. ] I'm a princess. The entire Underworld is my birthright. Life and death are my domains.

And you know what? [ she raises her bow. ] I'm a woman. That makes me better than you by default.