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 Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:37 pm
She wanted to go home, thought Astrophyllite. She wanted to go home at least as badly as she had the night she'd been sent on patrol with McCarthite and Bowerclase and they'd expected her to kill a Mars page, and maybe even more than that. The door was alive she thought, squirming under its motionless gaze. The door was maybe, probably, a youma, and if they unchained it, then very, very bad things were going to happen. Which was why she was going to let Atë do the honors, but that seemed unlikely to do her any good as they were both standing right in front of the thing. "Please," she said, but the word died on her lips. Atë hadn't even known they were looking for a door a few moments ago! There was no chance on earth or in hell that she knew what their find was going back, and she was probably, actually, legitimately insane. At least as insane as Bischofite, who'd tried to drag all of Destiny City into the Rift. Maybe even more insane. "I don't like how it's looking at me," she said, in a very small voice. "We really shouldn't. We really, really shouldn't." But she made no attempt to move, because being chained up when that thing finally burst open seemed like the worst position to be in of all. Bischofite would have never made me do this, she thought desperately. He'd left her out of all his darkest plans - perhaps he'd believed she was too dumb to contribute. Avalon wouldn't make me do this. Avalon had left Astrophyllite to be master of her own fate. Natron would be so angry if he knew I was here. He hadn't given her an order. He would have probably ordered against this. "What do you think it will do if you open it," she asked nervously, trying again to figure out Atë's motives. She wanted power, right? Everyone wanted power. But this didn't seem like the right way to get it...
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Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:10 pm
With a shuddering breath Ate reined in her emotions. She couldn't stand weakness and watching Astrophyllite fighting back the fear the door caused in her was almost pitiful. Somewhere inside her a little squeak of humanity reared its annoying head and the Senshi soften slightly, although by all outward appearances nothing had changed. She approached the Captain, slowly, as if she were a butterfly about to escape and Ate ever so gentle laid a hand on her shoulder, her mouth showing gritted teeth through her smile.
"Dear. Sweetheart. Nothing bad is going to happen. Only wonderful things. You found something that Metalia left just for us. We will go down in history at finding this beautiful device. It could be a gateway to Metalia herself. It could lead to treasures we can only dream off. Surely anything that will aid our Goddess is worth seeking out hmmm?"
There was only one answer that Astrophylitte could answer without condemning herself and Ate knew that all too well. She would get the girl on her side through trickery or force. "To refuse to open something that could help the negaverse because your a little scared is foolish! And we are not fools are we?"
Again with the pushing Ate nudged the Captain towards the towering door, the metal peppered with what looked like aging flesh stretch tight all over it. It seemed to twitch and pulse with every step they took and the eyes began to blink in random as if bringing them into focus.
"Now...I want you to...stand here and I want you to follow what i am about to do. We are going to break the chains but I cant do that without your help, ok?" She didn't really care if the Captain was ok with anything other than her doing what was said which up to now, albeit with a few deviations along the way the girl had accomplished. Now she just needed to do this one last thing and everything would slot into place.
She let go of Astrophyllite slowly, as if doing so would make the girl bolt for the door. When she saw her chance she turned and ran to one of the crystal clusters poking though the earth, searching until she found two uprooted shards no longer glowing a powerful chaotic aura. It still sent pins and needles up her arm as she held them but it was weak enough that she could hold on without fear of them dropping. Running back she staked one through the middle a large chain link nodding for Astrophyllite to do the same. The chains were now rusted but she knew it had been powerful enough once to keep those outside from getting in. Well now was the time to end all that.
"I need you to twist the crystal round the opposite way to me, get it taut, tight and twist, twist with all your strength you hear me? Ok...Ready?" She said the word with determination brought on by the thrill of what was about to happen. She grabbed both ends of her crystal shard and began twisting it round, the metal biting into it so pieces crumbled away but it held steady. The force it took to twist the chain even once brought sweat to her forehead but she pushed on screaming at Astrophyllite to do the same.
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Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:52 pm
If whatever lurked behind the door was a youma, Astrophyllite told herself, it would eat Atë first and then maybe it wouldn't be hungry anymore and she could make friends with it. That... was not actually a comforting thought, because her chances of commanding a greater youma were incredibly slim. Anyway, she didn't believe Atë's proclamations about wonderful things at all - it had already been proven that she had no idea what she was looking for, so now that they'd found the door, how did she have any idea what was behind it? But she wasn't getting out of here, so the best she could hope to do was minimize the damage. Atë could open the door. Astrophyllite would help her, even - she didn't have much choice in the matter, after all. But should anything terrible come out of it (and she was certain that something terrible would), Astrophyllite was going to shove the senshi through. "Oh- okay," she said, following Atë's lead. She grabbed a crystal shard and dug it into her own section of chain... slightly further back from the center of the door than the senshi, of course, that was only safe. It wasn't easy going - she still reserved the hope that they would be unsuccessful, but she also knew that Atë would never, ever give up. They would be down here until they got the door open, or they died. Whichever came first. Finally, one of the links broke, and the chain went slack around the door. Astrophyllite dropped the section she was holding and stepped back as it creaked open and ominous black smoke swirled out. She felt no kinship from this darkness. No comfort of like calling to like. "We shouldn't have done that," she said, taking another step backwards. Atë is closer, she thought. Atë will be eaten before me. "We really, really shouldn't have."
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Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:49 am
Atë smiled in triumph as Astrophyllite followed her lead, twisting the chain albeit without as much enthusiasm as the corrupt would have wanted but she was still doing it at least. The sweat on her forehead ran down her temple in little rivets as the pressure of breaking the chain bore its mark on her muscles. She was no shrinking violet, she worked out daily and had an impressive set of guns on her but this was still punishing and she knew even without the little help from the Captain she wouldn't have been able to open the door. Throwing her weight behind the crystal Atë roared out in pain as the metal finally twisted and snapped against itself, the crystal shattered in their hands as the chain dropped away and fell in a heap at their feet.
They did it.
Apprehensive as she was at the defining moment Atë threw a smile, a genuine smile Astrophyllite's way. She had helped, she had actually helped her. They would be remember for this, they would go down in history. They had done this and they would be rewarded. They would be heroes.
"Thank you-uuhHH!?" The black mist that Ate has so far ignored trickled out around their feet at the merest gap of an opening now burst forwards with a force that threw them back. Like a tidal wave of corruption and years of containment it reared back as if burnt by the outside world, before lashed out in to the opening space spreading itself through the cave, swarming over the walls, ceiling and floor as it flooded the cave into darkness, the smoke oppressing their senses and clouding their vision. It smelt of death and destruction, it moved like oil around them and clinged to their forms, covering them from head to toe. And above all that they could hear the screams. The terrible deafening roars of pain and anger from within the door growing louder and louder as more erratic voices joined in. Each a more horrible blood curdling pitch than the last and the noise of footsteps, loud footsteps, beginning to build into a run as the sound echoed closer and closer to the ********!" Atë only had seconds to regain her footing before the door shuddered with a weight that smashed into it from the other side. It did it again, and again, the frenzied attacker howling as it scratched and punched at the barrier. The door having been sealed shut for so long had rusted into place was now being forced open by whoever was waiting on the other side. As the door open wider and wider with each hit claws and decaying hands and arms, tentacles and all manner of limbs began scratching around the opening, pawing at the freedom they had craved for for so long. Their screaming voices penetrated Atë to her very core as with each second that went by more of the monsters hidden behind the gateway appeared in the ********, ********, move! MOVEEEEE!" Twisting on her heels she grabbed hold of Astrophyllite and began running towards the cave entrance, the light barely there as the smoke that swam around them blocked out their exit. But it didn't matter, Atë just ran, ran towards the last place she had seen the light and pushed her body forward with every step. The screams now took on the echo of the cave. The first few Youma that had escaped from their entrapment started running after them, their horrifying moans and cries chasing them as they burst into the light of the rift.
"Teleport! FOR ******** SAKE TELEPORT NOW! NOW!" Ate didnt care where or how, they needed to get out of here, they needed to leave right ******** now. This had been a mistake. This had been a mistake. " GO - NOW!" She didn't wait for the Captain to disappear as she fumbled for her ability to transport, her heart beating so loud and so fast she couldn't think for more than a few seconds as she grasped at her magic and stepped into the void that was teleporting. She was so frightened it threw her out near the hall of shadows in a cloud of dust, her body hitting the floor causing debris to fly up as she collapsed in the dirt, her mind shocked and her body frozen as she lay there unable to move from her spot her thoughts running over the same thing again and again.
This was a mistake.
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Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:45 am
She'd left her. Atë had left her here, the senshi's smoggy aura disappearing in an instant, leaving Astrophyllite to face the tide of youma all by herself - and there were a lot of them, and they were angry, and she didn't think that any amount of finger-fed energy or fancy Negaverse ranks would save her. Teleport. That was Atë's last order, Astrophyllite thought desperately as she turned and broke into a run. She'd always been truly terrible at that, liable to squinch herself, or worse, just not go at all. But right now - right now, with untold numbers of the most terrible youma chasing after her - right now she really needed to do it and she needed to do it right and she needed to do it fast-- She stopped very suddenly, jammed her eyes shut, and desperately thought about being anywhere but here-- --And she felt a tentacle wrap around her leg-- --And she felt the world change around her. Astrophyllite opened her eyes. She was standing in the back room of a Claire's, the youma's severed tentacle flopping ineffectually at her feet, out of time to the beat of soft pop muzak. Atë left me to die, she thought, heart racing even though she was now out of danger. Or - no, she wasn't. They'd opened a door to hell and let all the demons come pouring out. This was just starting.
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