apocalypsehowcomm | Event - Apocalypse How

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Event - Apocalypse How

Apocalypse How

A grand, circulate ballroom done in gold and blue.
(cw: spiders, manipulation, brief physical control/restraint)

All at once, it's over. The last room–you know it is the last–and whatever lies beyond it. You and your companions or you, by yourself, open the door and find yourself faced with a grand, circular ballroom. There are too many doors leading off from it–around the walls, in the floor, in the ceiling–and they all seem to open simultaneously to reveal the other off-worlders who entered this house. The ones who are still alive, anyway.

The space you look upon must once have been host to extravagant balls and feasts… if it ever actually existed. Now, its gold and blue gleam are smothered beneath thick, ropey webbing. At the center of the room is an archway of webs along with two familiar faces: Reyes Amador and Bonnie Gale, the latter with a half-healed cut over one eye. The pair are hugging one another, but pull apart as they find their solitude broken.

Reyes flexes their fingers and for just a moment, your body is not your own. You can see faint strands connecting to each and every person to their fingertips. The spider silk simply holds people in place, rather than forcing them to do anything.

"My friends," Reyes says. "We have found it. We have done it. We have created a way to get out of this place. To get home. Thank you for coming when we called. When my Bonnie and the house called." Bonnie raises her hand awkwardly before wrapping it around Reyes' arm. "Witness now. We are ready to make this happen. I learned from someone who came to this world the same way we'll exit. I know what we must do."

They take a breath, then turn to the archway. Reyes raises the arm Bonnie isn't holding and speaks, their voice reverberating unnaturally in the space as the webs vibrate and hum and seem to draw something from everyone.

"Upon a wide and open plain, there sits a house that once was famed for fifteen windows tall and thin, designed to let intruders in. Twisting round this white-washed frame are vines and thorns and metal chain… and links that rust in dusty brown and burn and bite into the ground. Come to this house and see inside, all ups and downs and side-to-sides. And feel the things we fear the most in broken self and time and ghosts. Come here upon this hallowed ground and hear my voice, my call, my sound. Hear me now, oh, dreadful things, the blood that sings inside my veins:

"Hear me now, you things that bite,
And rot and dig and flee and fight.
And burn and hide and change and know
And bleed and fade and spin and show
A side that is not truly there
And stretch the endless, cosmic tears.
Hear me now, you things that weave
Who pull the strings to let us leave!

"Hear me–hear us. And exit!"

A deafening sound rips through the room at the same time everything is overtaken by a blindingly white light. The power holding people in place is gone, severed with the burst. When sight and hearing return, the ballroom is shaking, the webs straining and snapping in places, but at the center, in the archway, is a bright, sickly glow of deep purple energy. Bonnie is holding Reyes where they seem to have partially collapsed on her shoulder.

Reyes lifts their head. "My friends… go! We must go while we can."

➥ Mod Notes

GENERAL - Players may speak with Reyes, Bonnie, and/or each other here. Ultimately, they are going to have an ICly limited amount of time to make a decision about what to do. You may tag in for NPC threads until 11:59 PM Pacific Time on 8 January. Players are welcome to tag in for threads with each other beyond that!

The choice is to stay or to leave. For those who wish to leave, they will be able to do so before anyone can stop them. If your character would choose to stay ICly, but you OOCly want them to leave, easy enough to say a friend pulled them or the power of the portal dragged them in because they were too close.

For those who wish to stay, effort will need to be made to get out of the house before it collapses or you may find yourself dead. If your character would choose to leave ICly, but you OOCly want them to stay, easy enough to say the portal destabilized before they could get through for one reason or another. There's no fear gauntlet to face on the way out of the house. All of the Entities are pressing at the barrier to the places beyond this world that have opened up. However, it is still dangerous as the house falls down around your ears.

A final post will be made after the results of the poll that will provide an overview of the world anyone who stays will be stepping into. For those who leave, your ending is your own to choose, whether that's another DWRP game, going back to your own reality, or going to a different reality. Regardless, if you leave, you are marked and you carry some piece of the Dread Powers with you to infect the next world you arrive in. Perhaps they get there before you or perhaps it's after, but they will be present in this new reality now, whether or not your character lives to see their rise and potential fall.

Please be sure to vote in the OOC POLL so that we know where characters will be going to decide the endgame state. The date to respond to this poll is the same as the NPC tag-in cut off: 11:59 PM Pacific on 8 January.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The only one of them tempted, and it's the one who has never once thought he'd want to leave this world. But this world has always had Yelena in it.

It still has Kate, though. And Steve. And Rue. And Martin and Cortana and Hunter and Eda, if they all decide to stay.

Kate and Steve would be enough, really. He's had three solid pillars supporting his personhood for so long, and Kate and Steve are the remaining two. He can't lose either one of them or he doesn't know what he'd become, anymore. He snakes his arm back around Steve, clutching more than hugging, and nods shakily. He's staying with them.

"Can we shoot them," he asks. That might make him feel a little better. It might well be their fault Yelena's dead.

Kate accepts Rogers' hand and holds it tightly with both of hers. She squeezes it and meets his gaze. She's still there. Winter is still there. Rogers is still there. They have each other and that's the most important thing in this moment.

She is relieved to hear that Rogers agrees with her. She had been afraid that he wouldn't and Winter would go with him leaving her all alone. She doesn't think she could bear that. She nods her head at Rogers and then turns her gaze back to Winter.

It is their fault that Yelena is dead. It's also Kate's fault or else she feels that way. If she hadn't fallen for the compulsion, if she hadn't made her way into Dogtown, hell if she just would have stayed off of the network, Yelena might still be alive. It's a guilt that's going to eat away at her slowly.

"We can't shoot them Winter," she says but doesn't offer a good reason as to why they shouldn't. "They've made their choice." Maybe it might spare Bonnie and Reyes' world from desolation but it might also provoke the pair into dragging everyone into the portal.

There is nothing wrong with being tempted. Nothing at all, any more than there is anything wrong with wanting to undo what had just happened to Yelena. They just - can't. Which means they go forward. Together. And deal with the rest of it later.

But in this case, going forward means staying put. He's sure of that, too.

Still, Winter's question makes him laugh a little, not necessarily because it's funny, but mostly because he wishes they could, too. But, "I don't even know if shooting them will do anything."

It won't bring Yelena back, that's for sure.

Admittedly, his eyes are on the portal and the hand not in Kate's is tightening on Mjolnir where it's held tight against Winter's side. "I don't like the idea of turning my back on that portal, though." He can't stop anyone walking through it. But will it... close? What will happen when it does?

"Brought C4 and grenades," Winter says hoarsely, feeling the vague urge to step back, away from the thing, to pull Rogers and Kate further away. If he's staying here he doesn't want to be dragged into it... and he doesn't want his people dragged, either. He doesn't trust that not to happen. He doesn't trust this place not to make things worse. "Could bring down the whole house if the portal doesn't close."

She nods her head in agreement with Rogers. Shooting Bonnie and Reyes would make her feel better in the short-term. It would do nothing in the long-term.

Not wanting to be dragged into the portal either, Kate takes a slight step backwards before turning around. Her back had been facing it. Rogers is right. They shouldn't turn their back on it.

"I still have a grenade in my jacket pocket too. I didn't give them all to Winter." She considers something, "We might not have enough time to escape."

Rogers is maybe trying to keep his and Winter's larger bodies between Kate and the portal, even if only peripherally. But he wants one of them to be able to grab her if something happens, the way he doesn't really want to let go of Winter, even if the man decides he can stand on his own.

"Well, aren't I lucky to know so many people with grenades," he chuckles, even though (maybe especially because) nothing is funny anymore. Especially because Kate is right.

"Maybe not all of us," he says, quietly. That's a reality he's willing to accept, but he doesn't want to accept that none of them will. He glances at Kate, then Winter. "You two could get a head start."

"No," Winter says, more than a little desperately, clinging to Steve's shirt and groping blindly for any part of Kate he can reach with his free hand. "No, we are all getting out. No more. I can't. No more."

If that means they leave now, then they're leaving now. They can set the C4 on the way out if they need to.

Kate takes one hand off of Rogers' and reaches for Winter's free one. "I agree with Winter. We either all go or..." Her voice trails off. It's almost unbearable to even think. "No." Her voice is firm. "We're all going to get out of here." Or die trying.

It's not really an option he'd wanted to take, and he can't deny the warm wash of relief (even if this is no real time for relief) when both of them refuse to accept that possibility.

"Okay," he says, quietly, and doesn't argue. If they're going to all get out... then they're going to all get out. If that's the decision, they'd better make it happen.

"Then we need to put some distance between us and it," he decides. They can lob some grenades, set the C4 if they have to, but the way Reyes spoke... it doesn't seem stable. And neither does this house. That means if they want to stay, to weather this, they need to make sure they're not here when it fails. He looks around the room, to the others, feeling helpless, but - he can't decide for them. He won't decide for them.

"Anyone who's staying, I think we should get out!" he calls, and then looks to Winter, to Kate, and tilts his head toward the nearest exit.

Okay. Okay, that's a mission. Get them out. Get them all out. Winter latches onto it, which gives him enough steadiness to stand up fully on his own, step away from Rogers and scrub at his face with the hand he'd been clutching to him with. "Yes."

He raises his own voice, making it cold and even again, because that's the only way he can carry out a mission right now. "Everyone not going through that thing. We are going and. Not leaving this house standing when we do."

It's a good mission and by all accounts, an honorable one. They will not force anyone to come and they will try to protect those that want to get out. If they perish, it will be for good reasons and not something selfish.

She looks at the exit and then back to everyone in the room. If they all run and move quickly enough they should make it.

"Please come with us," if you want to live. It's almost makes her laugh that she thinks that line after speaking. "Please." She is already turning towards the exit but doesn't immediately run through it herself because it's more important to her to make sure that Winter and Rogers follow.

All right. They're leaving, and whoever's going to stay will stay, and whoever's going to leave will leave.

Rogers reaches out to Winter, free hand open, palm up. "Give me some of the C4." They'll both set some on the way out. "We all stay together." He tilts his head slightly at Kate, letting Winter know he plans to let her set the pace. Neither of them is a super soldier anymore, but they could probably outstrip her without meaning to. That's definitely not the plan. "Head out of the house as directly as we can, make for the fence where we got in."

Winter shuffles around in the pockets of his utility belt, pulling out two of the small shaped charges to offer to Rogers. "As soon as Rue comes with us," he promises. They're another one he can't stand to lose. "That's when we blow it."

It's another almost funny moment. Kate reaches into the pocket of her coat and offers Rogers the grenade that had stashed there. She had been keeping it safe just in case. She only offers it now because she doesn't want to accidentally blow anyone up.

She is walking as fast as she can but every other moment is spent looking back over her shoulder to make sure that she's not leaving anyone. The boys have the training to move more quickly than she does. They could very easily leave her behind. She doesn't want to leave Rue either. Rue is her friend too.

"Not without Rue," Rogers agrees, because Rue is going to make it out. The three of them are going to make it out. They'll give everyone else who wants to get out the chance to make it out.

He collects the charges from Winter - and the grenade from Kate, with an almost rueful smile. "Thanks." That, he clips to his belt as they start to make their way out.

He makes sure Kate takes the lead, but isn't far behind her because he's not sure what kind of resistance - if any - they might meet on the way out. The way in was... well. It was what it was. But out seems to be better - or, at least, more straightforward. The house is clearly unstable, less about trying to keep them in and more about not necessarily trying to stay up while they make their way out.

"Kate, watch your step. Keep an eye on the ceiling," he calls as he pauses to lay one of his charges near a large, gaping doorway. "Winter, we'll take turns covering her."

And keep moving. They've got to keep moving. And keep an eye out for their friends.

Winter hasn't had a proper Winter Soldier stalk going on for a while, but he unholsters his gun and squares his shoulders and follows the two of them out with clear purpose, now. It's not quite the same without his mask, but he doesn't wear that anymore, so at least everyone can still see his face. His eyes are everywhere, looking for those awful shadow people-- they mostly seem to have fled, though, so it is just the house itself now to escape.

He pauses to set one of the remaining charges at the doorway to that central room, the chamber with the portal, then prowls after the other two.

"Come on," he calls over his shoulder to the rest, counting their number, noting how many to look for coming out again.

Then it's out into the hall and towards freedom.

They're not taking a path out past Yelena's body. He doesn't think he can handle that and keep to the mission.

It appears that everyone has made their choice, either to stay or to go. Those that have chosen to stay start to file out behind them. The house seems to want to protest the amount of people that are staying. It creaks and groans, something crashes above them that causes Kate to stop and look up. But she stops for only a moment. After the pause she quickens her step.

Dust falls from the ceiling and there's another crashing noise. It seems that the house is starting to cave in on itself starting at the top. "We've got to move quickly people." She looks back at the boys, Winter and Rogers. And then at the rest of those following.

They are definitely not taking the path out that would carry them past Yelena's bloody body. It's a corridor and then another and then finally the front door. Kate uses the windows to navigate herself. She recognizes the front door. They are so close but then the floor shakes. The basement supports are not going to last long.

Kate gets to the door only to find it locked via a deadbolt with no key for it in sight. "It's locked! Who locked it?" They can't have made it this far only to be stopped by a locked door... right?

Kate's doing a fine job of leading them through the house, moving cautiously but quickly. There aren't many charges to lay, and it doesn't take long to set each as they make their way out.

But then they run into the last door. And it's locked.

And Rogers is done. Yelena is dead, others might be dead, and they are going to make their sacrifice worth it. They are getting out.

"Both of you, stay back."

He may not has super strength, but he has a Norse god's hammer. And by God, is he going to use it.

It may or may not be smart. It's going to cost him. But he doesn't even think as he simply hefts the hammer, winds up like it's a baseball bat, and as the air starts to crackle, he swings, bringing it to bear as both a blunt weapon and a lightning rod in the larger front entrance of the house, aiming the bolt that comes through the door with the intention of destroying both metal and wood.

Edited 2024-01-26 05:38 (UTC)

Winter had been eying the door, ready to take a solid boot to it. It can't be that solid: the house is old, after all. Magic or not.

When Rogers says to stay back, he gives him a quizzical look, but does so, letting Rogers take first crack at it. He'd assumed it would be a shoulder or, as he'd planned, a boot. Rogers is just as big as he is, after all, if not necessarily as heavy. He could definitely kick down a door.

What he gets is electricity, filling the air with is familiar, awful crackle. Not even Asset calm can stand in the face of electricity, and he lets out a sharp whine, scrambles backwards against the nearest wall, and wraps his arms around his head, instinctive, refusing to let it take him again. He has people here, he can't forget, he can't, never again--

What a time for Mister Extra Rogers to be Extra^TM.

She isn't sure what to think when he says to get back but then outcomes this massive, fuck off hammer. What's he going to do? "What are you doing?" Hit the door with it? That's what he's going to do... right? NOPE! Shit.

The air starts to fill with electricity and enough static that it causes Kate's hair to stand on in. She backs up into the wall, near Winter. She can hear him whining but she dare not touch him. She would shock him and he doesn't look to be in a position that he wants to be touched. Instead, Kate stands near him and covers her face with the palms of her hands due to the ever increasing brightness in the room.

When the front door explodes, Kate lets out more explicatives. She is glad that her face is being covered by her hands. The wave of concussed air hits them. If not for the wall behind Winter and Kate, they could have been blown backwards. The wood pops and sizzles, a few pieces catch fire.

The house is still crumbling in all around him. They still have to get out.

When the lightning strike is over with, Kate lowers her hands. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" She doesn't realize that she's yelling. The blast had been loud and damaged her ears temporarily. "WINTER ARE YOU OKAY?"

Look, between wanting to get everyone the hell out and wanting to just hit something, he might have gone a little overboard.

He might have also not been thinking at all about how Winter might react to all that electricity pent up in one place. He's just thinking he wants out, and he wants to make sure it happens.

The door, at least, blows apart exactly like he wanted - and now there's nothing in their way. His ears are ringing from the blast, though, particularly his left, so it's a good thing Kate is shouting. Plus, it draws his attention to Winter, and he whips around. Winter should have known to get back -

"I wanted to make sure!" he yells back, staggering a little. That had taken a lot out of him, and now some of the anger and desperation are bleeding away. But only some.

He reaches for Winter, for Kate, with singed fingers. The house is still falling apart. "We need to go! We can go now!"

Mostly protected by his arms, Winter can hear at least relatively well still, and he flinches from all the shouting, eyes still squeezed shut and mind still halfway sure he's about to be zapped by something-- cattle prod, Chair, something.

It takes the wall behind him coming to pieces and wood bits raining down on his protective arms before he shakes himself out enough to actually move. He nudges Kate ahead of him, still looking ashen and unhappy, but at least... mostly present. Go, Kate. He's right behind you.

"Good job!" Kate yells back. Just like with throwing a grenade before, her bell has been rung. She really ought to see a doctor about a possible concussion or worse. Later though, not right now. Right now they have to get out.

Kate moves forward at Winter's nudge. She reaches Rogers and then the door as quickly as is possible for her. Then it's outside to freedom. Once through the doors she doesn't stop until she feels that she is a safe distance away. The house is going to implode in on itself and it is for the best if they aren't close to it especially with all of the explosives that have been set.

Rogers takes Kate from Winter like they're passing a ball - but he stays in the doorway (or what's left of it) even as he makes sure Kate is on her way out, one hand gently pressing to her lower back and guiding her through. Because that's only half their party, and he is not turning his back and leaving Winter. He never wants to leave Winter behind ever again, and if he looks away, even for a second, something could happen before he can stop it.

(Something could happen before he could stop it, anyway, but at least this way it's easier to convince himself it won't.)

He reaches out one hand for Winter, maybe a little in apology, certainly a lot in desperation. It won't be until he's got a hand solidly on Winter's forearm - he doesn't care which - that he'll start moving himself, to get them both out and catch up to Kate.

He's coming, he's coming. Even if he shies aside a little at Rogers' touch, looking a little wild-eyed as he bumps into the door frame. But then he's skuttling out, fumbling for the detonator for the C4. The house is already coming down, but he'll be happy to finish it off.

Only once he's sure it's safe. He turns, once he's clear of the rickety porch, looking behind him. "Is everyone out."

Event - Apocalypse How

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I... assume Rue makes it? ;;

they're supposed to! not gonna ask people to tag in though XD

let's assume that everyone makes it!

I'm so sorry for the delay ;;

s'all good <3 can probably wrap soon anyhow unless we want to play out getting to town?