kate; (
morns) wrote in
isleofavalon2022-05-01 01:39 pm
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Entry tags:
the waking nightmares aren't as bad as dreaming, i suppose
🧙 WHO: Kate (
morns) & various (and maybe you?)
⚔️️ WHAT: Sometimes you get canon updated. Sometimes that canon update tells you your brother died. And sometimes you take that really badly.
🕒 WHEN: End of April through May
🗺️ WHERE: Various places throughout Avalon, check the prompts for locations!
⚠️ WARNINGS: Violence, loss, grief, probably other things eventually.
she comes to with a crick in her neck, aches from passing out on a couch that was never meant for sleeping, pains that numb the knowledge rattling around in Kate's head long enough that she manages to take in the sights of her flat first. everything looks the same, down to the half-drank coffee she had been nursing before her unexpected nap.
except for the dark haired woman staring at her, perched motionlessly on top of Kate's coffee table, a flash of yellow twisting between her hands.
... that's new.
and in that moment, as eyes still heavy from a too-long sleep take in the yellow fabric and her mind puts together the pieces, the dam the aches of her rest created breaks.
the memories return. the solemn, echoing voice of Faith as she stands outside the hotel door and grips her uniform's hat too tightly.
You should know, Marc was found in the break room today at lunch. He'd turned to stone.
she expects pain. a tearing of her chest and the shattering of foundations. but all that comes is a buzzing, hollow noise ringing in her head. the echoes of two simple sentences.
turned to stone
dead
dead
dead
her eyes turn to her familiar, and the obvious becomes clear.
she knew. all this time, she knew. she had to have known.
"Get out."
— caster / the lightning and thunder ignite a wilted rose.
— archer / maybe i'm wretched and deserve this, i don't know.
— rei / don't save me, i'm almost glad if this is how i go.
— wisper of trouble / the monsters in my bed want to beat me to it though.
— auction / every word that they've said goes round in my head.
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⚔️️ WHAT: Sometimes you get canon updated. Sometimes that canon update tells you your brother died. And sometimes you take that really badly.
🕒 WHEN: End of April through May
🗺️ WHERE: Various places throughout Avalon, check the prompts for locations!
⚠️ WARNINGS: Violence, loss, grief, probably other things eventually.
prologue
she comes to with a crick in her neck, aches from passing out on a couch that was never meant for sleeping, pains that numb the knowledge rattling around in Kate's head long enough that she manages to take in the sights of her flat first. everything looks the same, down to the half-drank coffee she had been nursing before her unexpected nap.
except for the dark haired woman staring at her, perched motionlessly on top of Kate's coffee table, a flash of yellow twisting between her hands.
... that's new.
and in that moment, as eyes still heavy from a too-long sleep take in the yellow fabric and her mind puts together the pieces, the dam the aches of her rest created breaks.
the memories return. the solemn, echoing voice of Faith as she stands outside the hotel door and grips her uniform's hat too tightly.
You should know, Marc was found in the break room today at lunch. He'd turned to stone.
she expects pain. a tearing of her chest and the shattering of foundations. but all that comes is a buzzing, hollow noise ringing in her head. the echoes of two simple sentences.
turned to stone
dead
dead
dead
her eyes turn to her familiar, and the obvious becomes clear.
she knew. all this time, she knew. she had to have known.
"Get out."
— caster / the lightning and thunder ignite a wilted rose.
prompt reference
Enter the Edge of the Dusklight Wood and seek out the Shadlins. Though their eyes are haunting and you won't forget about them soon, those brave enough to chase after them will find themselves utterly lost in an endless forest so dense that you cant see the ground or the sky for the treetops and foliage. Don't try to find your way out, just keep walking, listening, watching and following whatever direction you see the eyes of the Shadlins next. Travel with another as the silence of the forest can be deafening and has been known to drive people to talk to themselves, hear voices that will attempt to coax them into doing harmful things to anyone else they run into, or even attract ear wyrms-- a tiny draconic creature that curls around a person's ear and gruffly (they are wyrms) sings the last song they hear endlessly on repeat until they hear a new one-- and doesn't let go unless someone else whispers a song into their ear... at which point, it will switch to theirs. Good luck tricking someone else into trading ear wyrms!
( the dusklight woods are a foreign place to Kate, but maybe that's what she needs now. she doesn't hear the call to go into the woods, but she's here nonetheless, the darkness steadily enveloping the space around her until it fills up her vision and blanks it out.
she keeps walking, deeper and further still into the unknown, the silence baring its weight down so heavy that thought escapes Kate. it breaks something apart, renders time irrelevant in the face of nothingness. the ground beneath her feet and the motion of taking one step after the other the only sign this isn't a freefall.
wherever she'll end up doesn't matter. maybe it never did. she's just one little cog in an endless machine, a soldier. a blade.
she's always known it, but that pointlessness has never seemed so clear before. the scramble for purpose, the reason to keep going even if she hates it, has turned into stone. swiped away from her in one stupid action.
so what does it matter where she'll end up?
well, if it's so bad, shouldn't others feel it too? the whisper comes from somewhere behind her shoulder. if nothing matters, nobody here does!
Kate waves a hand at the nothingness, in the vague direction of the whispers wrapping around her. )
Fuck off.
— archer / maybe i'm wretched and deserve this, i don't know.
prompt reference
Yesterday, you may have seen my work! My new Balloon Spell! Turn any balloon into a death trap, all you have to do is convince your target to take the string! The string will wrap around their waist and become impossible to break, then the balloon's helium will increase to carry them high into the sky, much like the weather balloons they use on some planets. I will send the instructions to any who wish to learn how to do it on one condition: you must use it to rid the world of at least one despicable person. I wish to clean up the roads of Camelot and Elphame! Rise up, vigilantes! Raise your enemies high into the sky! Rise, Heroes!
(OOC Note: They will come down... eventually. Rapidly. Balloons pop eventually. Splat.)
( spells are such simple little things. a few pieces or words and you can do something like this.
Kate's eyes flick from the instructions on her burner phone to the business she's already looked up. there's plenty of dark web rumours about this owner — blackmail, embezzling, choking smaller businesses. and that's just his business transgressions; the list of rumours about his personal sins was much, much longer.
seemed like a perfect fit for this request, in Kate's eyes.
of course, the question becomes: how to get him to take a balloon? locating them isn't a problem, she's already noticed a promotional event a couple of blocks down. but would he even go that way? she frowns. if he's close enough to one, kinetic magic should do the job of getting his hand around it, at least.
hm...
she's so caught in watching the door of the business that she doesn't notice she's not the only person crouching suspiciously in this alley. )
— rei / don't save me, i'm almost glad if this is how i go.
( her feet lead her this way. but that seems to be the theme of things now. her usual restless urges taken to the max. work becomes a weight around her neck rather than an escape, and by the second lesson of the day, she's aching to leave. to stop with the charades of being groomed and sociable, patiently explaining concepts that should be obvious by now.
her staff try to raise questions, pipe up with are you oka— because this has been happening for weeks now — Kate arriving, starting work, and dipping before lunch. she doesn't bother to answer, leaving them to cover the rest of the day by tossing the keys for locking up and all but sprinting out of the place.
and now, after more than a day riding her horse until she finds herself at the edge of everything, she's walked herself to this damn cave. of course she recognises it, how could she not? the damn thing that sprung up fears that, once upon a time, Kate would have shrugged off as the product of an overactive imagination and never going to happen. because Marc was clever enough to know better than to get himself in that situation. clever enough to —
yeah. apparently not.
she steps inside as her stomach knots with a humming, buzzing rage. how dare he be that stupid? nothing was worth it. no power or job in the galaxy could be worth the risk, and yet he took it anyway.
she steps inside because she has to know: just what can a cave of fears show you when you've experienced every worst case scenario life can throw at you? what could she possibly be scared of any more?
and the answer it gives is simple: nothing. the cave transforms into a bleached white space, an empty expanse of nothingness where the only noise is Kate's footsteps as she walks further in. it holds itself there, featureless and bland, and Kate laughs.
of course. )
— wisper of trouble / the monsters in my bed want to beat me to it though.
prompt reference
I've caught a not insignificant number of wisps that came for us a couple of weeks ago and have used advanced sealing spells to trap them in my basement until they have angered and possessed the various household objects I left for them to rage about in. Anyone interested in invading the business of your enemies with a battalion of brutish brooms? All you need to do is round them up in a carriage and open the door at theirs! Rounding them up and driving the carriage with them in there is on you!
( Kate is staring.
and Kate is staring because, well, those are some pissed off looking brooms. the sight is so strange, even after so long here, that the numbness in her head eases off long enough for Kate to turn to her partner for this whole thing, a brow raised, and ask; )
Sure y'wanna use these?
( she thinks murder might be easier and less chaotic than this sabotage plan. just saying. )
— auction / every word that they've said goes round in my head.
prompt reference
The auction begins and despite expectations, money isn't the only thing you're allowed to bid. There are fae involved, and the black market. You can bid organs, services, hot dates, control of your name, all kinds of things! Outside of the the grand prize of the hourglass coins, a glimmering set of coins forged from frosted glass that are able to filter and stabilize time magic on a small-scale, but extremely breakable that is necessary for the success of the Bermuda Station mission later this month, there are other prizes you can win, such as:
Legendary Phoenix Feather - These feathers are extremely rare, from the original phoenix herself. They can be used to defy death and bring back loved ones with healed ailments, no rot or injuries, in perfect condition. (However, it is not legitimate. It is just incredibly shiny. You have been scammed if you bid on this item.)
( at first, Kate only plans to sit in the back of the auction and ignore it. she doesn't particularly want to be here, even if she's dressed for the occasion in a well fitted all-black suit. were it any other month, this should, could be interesting, could be a night of information worth gathering and names to remember, but all Kate sees is a sea of meaningless people given chances her idiot brother robbed himself of.
...not that he'd be here, unless he was busting the whole thing, but that isn't the point. the point is they're all alive and getting to do whatever the fuck they want. they'll have lives to go back to. loved ones to greet. chances Marc decided he didn't fucking want any more.
he's such a fucking idiot.
and her mind continues on the tangent as the auction begins, a blur of hands raising for a myriad of strange items whose descriptions wash over Kate until
... used to defy death and bring back loved ones...
she sits straighter, more alert, dawn cracking through the endless night of her expression as the pieces fall into place.
she could save him. maybe. who knows what the multiversal regulations were but after everything Avalon has done, why couldn't it revive her brother, even across dimensions?
her hand's up before she has a chance to think anything more about it. she needs that feather. she has to try. )
no subject
A familiar voice, at that.
It's enough to snap her out of her daze, at least. But the question is how does she get out of here? The last time, this place just dragged them through harrowing scenarios.
But this? This is literal nothingness. )
Oi! Let me out, I'm bored.
( yelling at the cave's... one way of trying to deal with it. And for a second, the walls tremble, as if the cave's considering her words, the emotions it can sense warring within her.
It doesn't dissipate, but something changes. )
... Rei?
( Kate blinks, exhales, and almost laughs again. Of course they'd be stuck here together once more. )
no subject
[His frown evens out again, regarding her with more curiosity. He's seen her laugh more in the last five minutes than he has in the whole year he's known her, but it doesn't feel too mirthful.
Well, he's never been one for tact. One hand in his pocket, he observes:]
Looks like you got fucked up since the last time we were in here.
no subject
The hell are you talkin' about?
( as responses go, it's terrible and even Kate knows it. The shift in what the cave's showing isn't exactly subtle, but if she says it with enough irritation, enough dismissal of the idea, maybe he'll believe her.
Or at least not try to pry any further.
Which... Yeah, she'd be kidding herself if she thinks that would hold. The cave is shifting in response to allowing her Rei's company, opening a door in the white that wasn't there before. A new way to illustrate her demons. )
... Great. Playin' the fucking Crystal Maze.
( what shitty puzzle of her psyche is through here? There's only one way to find out. And stepping through reveals — well. Something that looks more like the initial cave before it morphs to a place of fear. Something that would say, you're out, you're home free.
Were it not for the statues littering the place. People, some Rei may recognise from Avalon itself — Akira, JJ, among others. People who were there and not — and others Kate flinches away from as she passes them. A tall man with dreadlocks down to his waist, grinning easily and waving. Teenagers, their faces chipped away and indistinct. A woman and a man, holding hands as they walk — the man lanky, head sprouting wild curls, his wife shorter and with the same long nose and sharp jawline Kate has. A child, her hair the same mass of wild curls as the lanky man inches away from her, grinning as she holds a medal, dressed for running.
And the one that least surprises Kate: Marc. Same as last time, his curtained hair turned to dull, stiff rock, his hand pressed to his mouth as though he's just popped a pill. )
Thanks. ( Last time, the fear had her frozen. This? This just makes her angry. ) Can I get the fuck out of here, then?
no subject
He takes in every statue they pass, staying quiet, just watching Kate react. Some of these statues are familiar, but most of them aren't. But he slows to a stop in front of Marc. This one... this one he remembers. And apparently, so does Kate.]
..So, that's what it is.
[Rei looks at her. Expressionless, just watching. Instead of bitter laughter, she now reacts with rage, irritation. Her defenses are back up, her vulnerability bruised.]
What did you come here for if you knew what you'd find?
did i say this was gonna get worse? because it's getting worse
Caring.
Right now, she hates it. Hates it as much as she hates this hall of death, these statues frozen and unblinking, staring at her in ways that feel accusing.
Why are you the one who gets out? The one who lives, who's supposed to save our world? )
That's none of your business.
( Kate, speaking in full and emphatic sentences, is a rare thing. She bites out each syllable as she steps between the statue of her brother and Rei, hand curling into a fist. Whether she wants to hit the statue or the living man in front of her is debatable, they're both pissing her off.
But she doesn't get the time to make that decision.
There's a shift, a noise of stone scraping against stone as the first statue begins to move, shambling its way towards the two living beings in this room. Well. Not both of them. )
... Shit.
( They have no interest in Kate. )
Rei, move!
( Where? She has no idea. Just out of her way so she can do something about these things. )
no subject
Then the real danger starts, and everything else falls by the wayside.]
The hell?
[Rei's seen Kate fight before-- getting out of her way and behind her is an easy decision. Still, absolutely anything can happen in this damned place; he's uneasy, tense gaze jumping between the statues that are advancing and those that have yet to budge. Time to figure out whether to fight or flight. Why are they targeting him? He thought these were her loved ones.]
When did this cave get combat capabilities?
no subject
It isn't satisfied with simply showing her all the people already gone. There's one more person it can tear away from her in here.
That's why it let him in.
And, fuck, this is probably a stupid idea — stone is hard and she doesn't so much as have a knife on her person right now — but there's a calcified lump of anger in her gut that allows her to bypass the fear the cave is trying to inspire, and she's had quite enough of this. She braces for pain when she kicks away one of the faceless teenagers but the thing crumbles to dust instead.
Some go down easier than others. The teenagers are all batted away without an issue, but when Ainsworth starts ambling towards her, she pauses and inhales sharply before shattering him. (Sorry, dude. Does that count towards her sparring wins?)
It's the force with which her foot connects to the head of the smiling little girl that's the most vicious, as though Kate can't stand to even see the memory of who she once was, grinning up at her with all the oblivious hope childhood offers. Her parents almost make it through, their expressions a snapshot of her last memories of them, so vibrant and normal that her limbs tremble when she cuts them down. )
Fuck's sake.
( she's had quite enough of her psyche for a lifetime, but they're not out of the woods yet. )
... Is he moving?
( she's not sure which answer she'd rather hear. )
kate 🥺
[Marc's statue remains still, hand over its mouth, stony eyes unseeing. If it doesn't move, Kate doesn't have to strike it down-- but she does have to look at it, take in all the carved details, all the remnants of her brother.
How hellish.
With most of the threats to their person gone Rei chances a look at her, studying her expression. He can pull together some of the symbolism here. (If Rei lets himself think about it, it's actually a familiar feeling.)]
...There're all kinds of ways to mourn, but I really think this is a new one.
she can have some vulnerability as a treat. (for me. the treat's for me.)
( The rest of them are gone, and Kate looks... well, as pissed off as she ever looks, mouth a hard line and jaw set firmly. But her eyes are darting around, preferring to look at the cave rather than the one statue left.
These damned pieces of stone. She's seen them too many times. Too many rebels overseas taking pills they don't understand the risks of, or simply don't care about the risks of, in order to get a boost of power that might not even benefit them.
Too many times they've gone wrong and been left, standing out abandoned and waiting to shatter or decay under the pressures of time. She hates them. Hates the people willing to let others die like this for a quick profit.
Hates the fact that Marc was stupid enough to get caught up in it. Hates him for knowing every shitty risk of these pills and doing it anyway.
He isn't moving, isn't a threat, but her fist swings at his statue anyway and the stone shatters like crumbling sand under her touch. The cave shifts, ever so subtly, barely perceptible lights fading as the last of the illusion blows away with the dust of the last statue and all the tension in Kate's body with it. Not just the tension of minutes, hours, however long she's been in here, but the weeks since she woke up and all the months and years before it.
All at once it's like every last band holding the pieces of herself together snaps, falls apart as easily as the statues did when she attacked them and Kate all but collapses against Rei's chest. )
Don't. Say. Anything.
( It's a bit hard to sound threatening when you're grumbling that into a chest but she makes it work. Sorta. )
AND ME
...
[He knew this already, but Kate is very small.
He lifts her hand, holds it in his own, runs his thumb over the skin she'd broken on stone.]
A meathead to the end, huh. [Physical girl.]
sawft
That's probably why they get on. )
Marc— ( her voice catches, the word is gets stuck in her throat because, well, that isn't the right word any more is it? ... Shit. How many weeks has she walked in a daze with the thought in her head and yet this is what makes the emotion swell? ) —were th' brains.
( But apparently no amount of brains buys common sense in the face of potential power. )
no subject
Rei could say a lot of things, here. He usually would; Rei is no stranger to passing judgment, even when it's not his place. No matter who the other person is: a prime minister, an enemy, a partner, a friend.
But instead... he holds her close for a while longer. As long as she needs it.]
...
[Finally, softly.]
C'mon. Let's get you home.
juuust rounds this off
There's nothing she can do to change that, and it sucks.
If going backwards isn't an option then... she'll just do what she's always done. Keep going. Though for what purpose, she no longer knows.
Luckily for both of them, the thought settles quickly and the spell is broken, Kate swiping at the corners of her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose as she pulls back, the cuts on her knuckles stinging with the movement. (She has got to stop punching things without proper hand guards. That's the second time this month.) )
This never happened, aye?
( Same as last time. What happens in the cave, stays in the cave along with the crystalline proof that this time, she fought her fear. )