WEEK 13 - 01010000 01000001 01011001 00100000 01011001 01001111 01010101 01010010 00100000 01010010

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (13)

saturday (10) survivors Something is different. You can feel it in the air: an ominous presence that weighs down the ship like it's underwater. Try as you might, you can't escape the feeling that you're being watched, the sensation of someone just out of view tailing you. Tensions are high, and paranoia grows with it. You feel it more than see it, and that's what warps your perception of the ship. Is it darker? Are the lights dimming? Who is it that calls out to you? Why is it so cold? Who can you trust? The distinct sensation of not knowing who your back is to wraps around you. There is one thing you can trust in, however; though you feel exposed, you are not alone. Mother is here for you. taken list profiles private conversations setting rulebook ENTER COMMAND_

Comments

engineering dock - luke's nightmare cradle

[chiseler]

[There are far too many things happening all at once. The dead are back, people are running around on the ship, and Luke…has somehow been caught up and seemingly disappeared. Way to abandon your team in a time of crisis, asshole.

But in all seriousness, it’s fairly quiet downstairs for a while until you step away from the elevator toward the engineering dock. Huh. That’s strange. Why does it sound like there’s the sound of heavy city traffic coming from behind the door? Horns blare and a crash or two is heard. That sounds ominous. Might be worth checking out.]

[antietam]

[ Adam can't find Luke. That's basically the worst thing that could happen at the moment so he's going all over the ship to find him. When he gets to the engineering dock, he knows it's too late. He has to do something.

He rushes off to the pool to start scrying, not bothering to find someone to watch him. Let's just hope this doesn't take too long.

Before long, he finds himself inside the engineering room but not really. He isn't physically there, just an image of him and his mind is stretched between his body and the room so it's difficult. He has to remember what he came here for. ]

Luke? I'm here.

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Time—its own relevance seemed to be in constant flux, as if allowing them all to perform actions or take themselves places on the ship for how long or short of a time they needed. In the end, it mattered little—it became immediately obvious to Arumat that leaving his comrades to fend for themselves would not only be cruel but a foolish action to partake in. While he made head-way to find or assist them, Arumat would eventually come upon the engineering deck himself.

Unlike Adam, Arumat's form is physical, and yet he's wary all the same. }

Adam.

{ He'll acknowledge the male's presence with just the name and— }

...Luke?

Phase 1

[chiseler]

[Entering the engineering dock will bring you straight into the heart of Manhattan, New York. Buildings stretch tall and for miles to see, and the source of the honking seems to be easy to spot now. Cars are on the road but all of the drivers appear to be asleep at the wheel. The entire city appears to be asleep and the further you try to step into the city, the more you realize that things don’t quite seem right. It’s hard to tell what, precisely, seems to be happening and you may not figure it out until you realize that the blinker on the car in front of you is changing at a fraction of its speed. There’s a low rumble somewhere in the distance, but more importantly on the balcony straight ahead and several stories up is Luke. He’s leaning on the railing, watching the city below. There’s a far-too amused smirk stretched on his face, flip-flop-clad foot tapping on the ground almost impatiently.

There’s an animalistic shriek from nearby, followed by a rush of something coming close. Do you choose to approach Luke? Or do you attempt to discover what’s coming first?]

[antietam]

[ Adam's never been to New York and it's overwhelming now. There's so much going on that it's hard to process it when he's already working at a disadvantage. But he keeps repeating to himself so that he doesn't forget—he has to save Luke.

As soon as he finds him, he approaches, not fearing for himself because he can't be hurt anyway. ] Luke! Can you hear me?

[ Of course he knows this isn't Luke, but he has to start working on coaxing him out. ]

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Arumat hasn't been to New York, but he's heard of it. It's a city from Earth—or was, at any rate according to the Earth that had been devastated by that "disaster" of theirs. He'll be taking a further walk in with Adam, and he notices the sound of the animalistic shriek. He knows the dark-haired male could likely work on words, but Arumat's going to keep his wits about him, and turn his attention to whatever beast may be coming.

He merely holds his scythe, focusing on the approach of the beast, and once again (for now) leaving Adam to take on the mission of diplomacy. }

[antagonize]

[He was drawn by the noise and followed Adam and Arumat inside, and. A replica of Manhattan isn't quite what he was expecting, but it makes sense given what he does know about Luke. Once again, he'll give Adam the chance to show what the magic of friendship is all about — or whatever bullshit they're going with this time around. That doesn't mean he won't be reaching for his lightsaber hilt, readying himself for what's coming next.

... If it's a dinosaur, though, he's quitting. That is way Too Much.]

[chiseler]

[Of course he can hear Adam, but the Luke on the balcony only leans further to watch in vague amusement. With his gaze fixed on the group though it'll be easy to see the one thing that separated the real Luke from this cradle version. His eyes glint a bright gold as he props his head up with his hand, rolling his eyes at Adam's commentary.]

'Course I can hear you. I'm not the one who's deaf. [When he speaks they'll hear a ripple of something else blending with Luke's voice, something old and sinister and far too bored to be of any good. His eyes flicker to Jason and Arumat as well, snorting to himself.] And you brought back-up! That hardly seems fair.

[It's not the way the titan behaved the first time. This is something Luke could only ever envision had he let things go too far and he's unaware this is fake. As far as the illusion's concerned, he is the titan's vessel and they are in the way. He smiles suddenly glancing between Jason and Arumat and Adam for a moment.]

Welcome, little heroes. Are you here to save the world? [The rumbling's closer now and Luke looks off into the distance.] Head's up.

[Without warning, a building shakes and out bursts a minotaur, rampaging straight toward Arumat first. The shrieking soon becomes clear when Jason will register a slithering sound approaching fast from the other direction as yet another building's crashed into, cars flinging through the air as the two-hundred foot long Lydian Drakon makes her way straight for him. You might wanna avoid eye contact, Jay.

Strangely, he doesn't send anything after Adam. Instead, he's mostly watching him with the same easy-going smile Adam usually gets from the real Luke.]

It's almost time.

[antietam]

[ Kronos sure is rude! He focuses on Luke's eyes for a while, hating that he has to go through this again and trying to think up ways to fix this when Luke clearly already recognizes him.

... But then it's obvious that he needs to work faster. He looks away to see what's happening to Jason and Arumat and, God, can they deal with that? He looks back at Luke, unnerved by the too-familiar smile. ]

Time for what? Luke, you don't have to do this. You're not with him anymore, you know that.

[antagonize]

Shit.

[Nice display of eloquence, Jason Todd. Avoiding eye contact is not very hand, considering he only has one eye at the moment. Maybe he'll be fine. Maybe. Still, the point remains, and he's moving out of the Lydian Drakon's way as quickly as possible.]

Oh, yeah! And this is totally fair! [He can't look at Adam or Arumat right now, so the best he can do is yell and hope.] Adam, whatever you're going to do— do it faster!

[So. Yeah. Time to try causing this thing some damage while having zero hopes of being able to defeat it. Sweet.]

[thanatosincarnate]

...I'm with Jason on this.

{ That needn't be said, but soon Arumat's moving into action, going to try his best to quickly make a sort of last-minute side step and wide-arc swing, with his scythe, intending to carve into the minotaur to cause some damage. Because getting hit by that could spell trouble if he weren't exactly careful—the common dilemma on a battlefield. }

Tch, what a pain!

[chiseler]

[He's watching the monsters attack the two with laser weapons, the minotaur swinging its large axe to block Arumat's scythe and try to push him back, grunting in irritation and the drakon slithers around Jason to block him in, acid dripping from it and eating away at the asphalt around him. In the cradle, everything wants to destroy anyone who gets in the way.

But Adam's speaking and Luke laughs suddenly.]

Is that what he told you? What a fool. He willingly chose this path. Did you really think everything stopped with the General? You don't get to cheat death without paying a price. [There's a wave of his hand, and the three of them will soon find that no matter how hard they try to move, their movements are slowed by half and the movement of the monsters is sped up twice.] But really, you thought heading into this fight straight-on was a good idea? You'll be that much easier to control.

[With the monsters advancing, it might be a good idea to find a way to break Luke's concentration before you get attacked guys. Any ideas?]

[antietam]

[ That's a lot of pressure, guys, and he does not appreciate it. He can't move, so he just has to keep talking. Listening to Kronos is the worst idea, he's pretty sure, so he doesn't bother. He's just going to pull out what they talked about all at once. ]

Think about Annabeth. Think about everything she did to save you the first time. Remember your promise to her and your promise to me. You promised. [ But he doesn't really think it's going to be that easy and it's about to get worse. He tries to find Jason and Arumat again. ]

Don't hurt him, no matter what!

[thanatosincarnate]

{ He's pushed back when the axe and the scythe meet, and Arumat even leaps a bit back to put some distance.

Arumat could feel the situation grow more dire than it already was and he didn't know exactly what to say—he wasn't the heart of the group. That belonged to Adam, honestly, but when he felt his reflexes affected, he merely stood his ground and tried to see if he could shift a bit. Adam wouldn't find it that hard to locate Arumat for one as he had hardly moved from his position nearby in order to combat the monster that came at him. }

Luke, you need to fight it! We came here to pull you out of this mess and we sure as hell aren't leaving you behind!

{ Arumat has little idea of what's going on with Luke in this version, but he'll try fighting and reaching out to him if he has to. He's racking his brain for an idea, or some way to distract Luke as well, but... well. He'd have to hold his scythe up for a second to cast. }

[antagonize]

[Yikes. Slowed movements, and faster monsters. This is just fun for the whole family, isn't it? The most he can do is avoid getting hit by the acid. If it can do that much to the asphalt, the illusion or not, he doesn't want to find out what it's capable of doing to human flesh.]

Can't you— I don't know, kick him in the nuts?! [Jason, that's a bad idea and you know it. But, yeah.] Luke, if you don't snap out of it, I'm giving you a second shoulder injury!

[chiseler]

[Jason don't tell people to kick him in the nuts, that's horribly rude. Luke looks affronted by the idea and he rolls his eyes, speeding up time just enough to send Jason flying toward a slope of acid. He'll be nailed if he doesn't parkour off of a car or something.]

Man, you are obnoxious, aren't you? [This time the voice sounds like Luke's, scowling at Jason.] You won't be of any use. We'll get rid of you in the new age first. [A look to Arumat as the Minotaur fights back, pressing in and unaware of what the scythe's prepping to do.] You all got his hopes up that he wouldn't be left behind this time. But how are you gonna stop this? He has a bigger purpose. You just aren't a part of it. [But he steps away from the balcony, smiling at Adam again.]

Promises, promises. You promised something that can't be obtained because the world is dead. As for Annabeth...[And for a moment it's Luke that looks pained by the thought.] What does she need with someone she's already said goodbye to? [A shake of the head, and he's lost control again.] She did her part, and it was a broken promise anyway. [He picks up Backbiter then and turns, cutting a slot through the air.] You've wasted enough of my time, and now you'll pay the price.

[Time syncs up again and Luke steps through the ripple in the air to disappear, leaving them with a wave of monsters. What will you do now, heroes? Will you run, or will you fight? You should probably make a decision quickly.]

Phase 2

[chiseler]

[Luke might have disappeared, but there's a wave of monsters he's left in his wake. Adam, Arumat and Jason will have to fight their way through the city, avoiding thrown vehicles thanks to the minotaur, the footsteps of angry giants, the shrieks of winged harpies divebombing to attack and others just to throw them off-track. If the group manages to make it through the army alive, they'll find that the path clears and leads right into the lobby of the Empire State Building. They will see the back of Luke disappearing as he steps into the elevator and the doors close, the lights above lighting up to reveal he's heading for level 600.

Will you enter? You might want to make your choice fast seeing as the army's turned around and spotted the three of them from outside.]

[antietam]

[ Everything is phasing through him but that doesn't make this any less terrifying, or less real when he flinches as something comes in to attack him. He can run through quickly but he's clearly torn between waiting for Jason and Arumat and going after Luke.

He sticks with them ultimately, but he ends up somewhere near Jason to address what he last said. ] I told you not to hurt him. There are other ways to do this—I promised him I wouldn't let anyone hurt him if it came to this.

[antagonize]

Relax. It was just a suggestion.

[Chill, Adam. Chill. The boss battles are good and all, but they should probably get moving. So.]

If both of you want to stick around to kill some monsters, that's fine by me. But we should probably go after our princess before he locks himself up in another castle.

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Yeah, they really should- they're running out of time here. }

Hmph, like I'd want to waste my time to do something like that. We've done enough of that already.

{ Without waiting he'll just go straight ahead to enter then since that's their only choice - to catch up with Luke. }

[chiseler]

[Upon entering the elevator they'll see...well, an elevator. It looks like a normal elevator and though it shouldn't go up to 600 floors it most certainly does. Once they're inside and press the button to head up, they'll find that the higher they climb the more the lights dim.

Additionally, they'll hear a voice from somewhere.]

What do you think you're doing? [If Luke sounds vaguely annoyed, it's because he is.] I thought I would have lost you in the battle outside. Do you even know where you're going?

[Is he waiting for an answer? It's hard to say, but the three of them will also find they're soon starting to feel just a liiiittle sleepy. Will you fight it off, or fall victim to slumber? It is a nightmare cradle, after all.]

[antietam]

To get you. [ Can he even hear them? Probably. Who cares.

Once the sleepiness begins to kick in, he leans himself against the wall of the elevator. They have time if they're going up six hundred floors. ] Are y'all feeling that?