[META 4 START] A hole in the world

[chiickadee]

"You don't gotta go in none," she told him. "You got ... I dunno, college and important people stuff t'do." You matter.

She nods to his second comment. "Ah s**t- yer too stupid in love with magic s**t t'run away now." It's casual, almost like another one of their bar conversations. "Well now's yer chance t' say <******** it, Hawthorn." It was a joke. Even in end times, a joke.

His arm is the only thing anchoring her to this world or the next. "I promised I'd back him up Jack. We gotta jump too." She has a passing thought; Will Chris be okay?

She lets go of his arm and-

runs.  

[MoonRazor]

He'd known when the weather had changed that something was coming. He'd told the Chief, maybe one day soon he'd miss work or something. Something to do with the weather. Cas had heard the same spiel, and both Cas and the Chief had told him - Ry you're not a ******** detective, leave that s**t alone.

Rylan was inclined to agree, but the magic of this world was such that, he figured, there was no good way to resist it. There was a big ******** tsunami coming his way, he might as well ride the wave and see where it took him. It was the same part of him that made him run into fires, throw himself off cliffs - the threat of death made him feel so incredibly alive, and these were things most people would never see in their lifetime.

So he followed the call to Come and See.

On the other side of town, Vespertine reacted only because, to her horror, the call reminded her so much of last time. And it felt necessary to see, because she'd finally realized she was part of something bigger than herself.

And all of it... it was worse than she'd imagined. She latched onto the one person she found remotely familiar, the firefighter she'd seen in the news, who she knew peripherally as the friend of a friend of a friend. He didn't seem to mind - shot her a grim smile that only made her horror deepen, but then he said, "I'm in this just as much as you, right?" and she felt a little less despair.

"How do we even fix this??" Ves asked, wide eyed, staring past Sunny into the Rift, thinking still that she ought to have stayed home. It was never a good idea to Come and See.

Rylan managed a laugh. "The ******** if I know," he admitted. "I'm not the smart one. But something, something, the greater good? If I can save people, I will." In his head, he heard Cas scoff and tell him he was a damned fool for thinking the world deserved saving. But he gave Ves a helpless shrug. "Once more unto the breach?"

Might as well.

He reached for her hand and with the other, plucked a small feathered form out of the sky and stuffed it peeping into his coat pocket. "Just in case," he said to her with a wink that seemed oddly nonchalant.

And then they went.  

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg held tight, even as America and Shun and Jeremiah tried to will their magic to do anything, but Sunny was magic and she seemed to simply rip and tear and pull it into herself. The professor still gripped his husband, still focused his own abilities on keeping the other grounded in sight of Sunny's cataclysmic ascension.

When they started to go he could still taste it on his tongue and in his mouth and it wasn't fear that kept him there but the overwhelming feeling that someone had to stay. To Algie it was not age or power, it was that someone should witness should it all fall apart, and Sunny in whatever form this was shouldn't be left alone to her own devices (not that he thought they could stop her). And if he was going to die- well at least he'd be staring his destruction in the face.

The professor glanced around as people began to throw themselves forward, glanced behind him and saw Nathaniel and all he could do was reach for the young man and tangle his fingers in his sleeve.

He was too new.. not ready.. maybe just maybe...

azuredreams

kuropeco

u got grabbed

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

For everything that Sunny is: witch, god, demon, she's also just a girl, Preacher thought. She didn't really understand what-all the red-haired chick and Mercer were doing - probably some jiggery pocus, but it just... made things weird. And then everyone (aka a couple of people) leaped into the void. She gaped, then switched her eyes back to Sunny, then to the chasm. Guess it was time to act like a lemming or some s**t. But Sunny's hands were dark with blood and she wondered how much the girl would break before falling.

"Hey, Sunny! Iffin I jump, you gotta catch me! That's how this works, OKAY?" If only she had a ********' bullhorn. Preacher edged closed and stared down and down and down into nothing. It seemed to swallow people like a hungry maw. But she didn't jump, not just yet.

shibrogane

prolixity

bro if u wanna

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance made a weird, huffing noise that maybe in another situation, might be a laugh. "I've only ever been sure of one thing in my life." And that was the thing she failed most at. Magic swelled around Sunny and she gasped as the pounding words in her head fractured.

Then people started jumping. She lurched forward of her own will, instinctively moving in an attempt to hold someone back. She couldn't, of course, but then Detective Mercer was telling Zac to go and she tangled her hands tighter around him. At the end of the chasm waited... what? Nothingness, maybe. Death. She didn't want him to jump in.

"W-will you?"

endejester

 

[Smerdle]

They hadn't needed to push him so hard.

Rabbit hadn't had much—or anything, really—to say about the Ascension ending the world in front of him, all he knew was that whatever this was, it had to be stopped. He'd said as much. And, okay, he also knew it wouldn't be stopped by holding hands and wishing it better, because nothing ever was, but it was a nice sentiment anyway. Heartwarming. He might have joined in, but he found he couldn't move. He actually had a thought that jumping in might be A Thing, but he was chalking that up to too many late night sci-fi movies. He was also terrified. It was easier to just keep on standing still when you were terrified.

He was jolted to life again by Alexis's shove because he had to be. Rabbit was flung back, and if he hadn't caught himself, he would have ended up half covered in muddy rainwater, and that was no way to jump into a mysterious death chasm. He mitigated the damage by breaking his fall with his umbrella, regaining his balance as it snapped under his hand. Then he followed at a jog before he could think, tipping himself into the rift while trying not to piss himself.  

[endejester]

For a moment he's caught - watching the glitches, hearing the words. For a moment it's his own mind that stutters with a thought, just one more question they should have asked. Why had he never thought about it before? It's right there in the difference between when America first reaches out, to what happens as the others join in.

What you put into it matters, that fit, that fit with his concern that cutting throats led to this new far more blood thirsty and less childish Sunny.

But there is more.

Everyone has been so damned concerned with breaking] the cage. What if bringing them home would have opened it. The difference in words might seem slight, or silly, but he suspects its the difference between say ...

Opening a bag of chips carefully, pulling gently to open just the top.
Or grabbing it and wrenching it apart. Both accomplish opening the bag. But one, pun intended in a bit of dark humor - makes a bloody MESS.


He turns to Temperance and nods.
"I will!" He says loud and clear.

"But I do think it's important what we do, Every choice has consequences! Even if we get separated, I think that's important... I think that's why we're all in this. Our choices drive how this all turns out, that's why they can't guide us, because we're unpredictable!!"

He squeezes her hand.

"Let's do this, Let's try and set things right."

"Hang in there Sunny!! Maybe for once, maybe JUST once I'll do something right!!" He called to her across the gap. "I wouldn't give Mister Tenebrous to just anyone!"

The S3mblance of Unity

whomever wanted to hear that silly thought

sh3brogane

 

[cibarium]

"Power corrupts?" Eve whispered, anxious and observant, at that first little glitch -- for a second Sunny was a regular girl. Not a sweet or innocent one, no; not a tragic darling. Still flawed. She and Leila would probably never like the girl, not after what she did to Jeremiah, but it was clear there was a difference between the Sunny who bummed cigarettes from people on the beach and the Sunny who was goading them like a proper villain now.

Leila sighed, and groaned, at the offer the girl gave. Of course they were jumping in, and she was so weary at the prospect of more magical adventure that she almost wanted to grab Eve and Julian and just drive far away from Ashdown and never look back.

Where would a gateway to nothing even go?

But America, Zac, Jeremiah... the town at large was in danger. Hiding and avoiding could have worked for the frenzied werewolverines, or the first meeting with Pax, but every time the magic of Ashdown swelled up to reveal more of its secrets, more people were pulled in. Now it was, quite obviously and dramatically, pulling in everybody -- the magic was Sunny, the town was Sunny, even people who lived here and weren't gathered at this epicenter of disaster were in some form of danger, and there was no time to run through the streets like the mythologized version of Paul Revere and warn everyone.

Leila and Eve loved this town and they really would do anything for its wellbeing. Running recklessly into the very literal unknown included. With a steeling breath, Leila said, "Well... let's go," and Eve reassuringly gripped Ashton's hand, and they headed into the rift.

daekie

 

[Smerdle]

People were jumping into the pit. People were jumping into the pit.

Chester backed away a step instead, wishing for another option to appear as hard as Jeremiah and the others were pouring magic into Sunny, but nothing appeared and he still couldn't leave.

"I don't know much beyond the fact that there is magic... she is magic, and she has the power to end us all."

It was ominous, maybe even a little over the top, but there was no better time to be dramatic than when half the people in town were throwing themselves to their probable deaths. He didn't want to go. He wasn't ready for all of this to be over.

"I don't think we can stop her. This is crazy."

quite uneventful

 

[quite uneventful]

As she waited for a response from the other, Veronica was startled by the hand on her shoulder, eyes darting to the woman who'd approached her before relaxing some after seeing she was simply offering her a dog raincoat. She stared at it some, opening her mouth before closing it and looking at her own hat. She offered the other a tense, unfocused smile. "That's really sweet of you, but I think I'll be alright." She responded, eyes lowering to the sticky ground, thankful her shoes were a little sturdier than she'd thought they were, even if they were totally ruined. She looked back at the woman, eyes moving to the distorting woman across the pit. "Darcie, right? I'm Veronica, though I don't think it'd matter soon enough, considering," She stated, watching the laughing figure and tensing with each glitch and pull in her mind. She watched her motions, the blood on her hands making the hairs on her neck stand. A stuttering voice echoed in her head, and Veronica clenched her fist, the scream only serving to startle her more. GET OUT, she screamed, FIX IT, she heard, and it was only when people began to jump that Veronica was truly frighted.

"Oh my god," She gasped, watching as one by one, one of the groups of people near them fell into the black chasm in the ground. Veronica's jaw dropped. "What are they doing," She exclaimed, tempted to walk nearer, but not wanting to get pulled into the rush. When he'd finally responded, Vero merely swallowed-- Magic? "Y-you're joking, right?" But Veronica knew she was kidding herself-- What had called to her, with the singe of sage? What was happening? She couldn't quite describe it, and while usually she'd try to think of a logical explanation, there didn't seem to be one for the glitches besides maybe a projector, but it just looked too real, and that chasm they'd thrown themselves in seemed very real. "...I don't think we can do anything, if she is magic. And throwing themselves in the pit doesn't seem like the right answer..." She'd felt it too, the pull drawing them to her somehow. Veronica bit her lip in worry. "Were we called here just to die?" It was a rhetorical question, of course, but Veronica definitely wasn't ready. For any of this...!

Micillia

Smerdle

everyone else

YOU GUYS ARE CRAZY

 

[Micillia]

Darcie O'Hare
Meta 4
Darcie's eyes grew wide and frightened as the people in the group slowly started to disappear. The walked with their own two feet into the, something, Darcie could not rightfully call it anything. A rift? A hole? Focusing on it hurt, so she stopped. The woman she had introduced herself to, Veronica, was even more in a panic, and Darcie found it hard not o join in on her feelings. Darcie hardly noticed it, but her own feet carried her forward. She looked around frantically, and locked eyes with the baker Aracia, before her feet simply moved against her will towards the hole.

quite uneventful

KitsuneAura

 

[shibrogane]

For the ones who jumped into the rift: silence. Blessed, perfect silence, and stillness, and the stars.

For those who remain outside it: Sunny's mocking laughter.

"Here's your chance, your one perfect chance, and you hide from it? You coward, Algernon! You liar, Jeremiah! But I knew that. I know everything." It's easy to believe she really does, lit up from within like that. "You all go in. All of you."

Glitch. But it's shorter this time, too fast to catch. "All in. Or those who've already gone will stay that way. And I'll still be free in the end."

It's very unsound super villain tactics to let them try to stop her. Maybe she's just that sure that she'll win.

Quote:

Those who have already jumped in: hang tight :')
Those on the outside: :3

show spoilerhide spoiler

Blade Kuroda

iStoleYurVamps

Smerdle

Cibarium

Elkbones

Kolina

PeanutButterPies

Prolixity

Saedusk

Melancholies

Daekie

Lizbot

KitsuneAura

The Semblance of Unity

ephebe

Endejester

Amitotic

Hetzerei

quite uneventful

Chickadee

Micillia

medigel

MoonRazor

StarSpaceCase

Seussi

Grey Dragon

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg's face twisted angrily at the god-girl, clearly not afraid or as cowardly as she accused. Just as he knew his husband wasn't a liar.

"We are what you led us to be. You're just an angry little child with all time in the universe, and lots of room for double talk and manipulations. Someone who needed to shuffle around her pawns, for everything from cigarettes to figuring out how the world worked-" He shook his head. The professor didn't want to bother with her, he simply had been hoping to look his death in the face when it came and give it a big ******** you.

Nathaniel was released for the sheer purpose of Algie flipping Sunny off.

His face turned to his husband, his hand tightened and he leaned into his ear to speak to him through the noise. He couldn't tell if the cacophony was in his head or filling the forest around them, "Jumping in head first Jeremiah, you and I. Just like old times?"

azuredreams

paaaast the point of noooo retuuuurn, the final threshooooold, our passion play has now at least beguuuuun

kuropeco

ur free he needed that hand to be obscene

shibrogane

 

[medigel]

Eyerolling came naturally at Chel's statement, end of the world or not. Always important people stuff. And now with Sunny's ultimatum, his choice was taken away from him once again.

"We were called here to play along," he answered someone, eyes boring into the rift. (And the rift stares back.) "What you think doesn't matter."

And then, after passing Connor and Temperance a look, Jack hurled himself into the opening. At the very least, if s**t was going to go down, he'd be with his people.

quite uneventful

chiickadee