IT WILL NEVER END

[paraplots]

The safest place is in the eye of the storm.

While most of the castle grounds are ravaged by the tornadoes, the area around the duck pond is eerily quiet if not for the whirlpool extending to its floor. Even the giant snails and raging whirlwinds know enough of fear not to risk disturbing the glittering crystal at the bottom of the pond.

Destroy the fragile glass and end the plague, but why would you that? Everything echoes the spiral but the spiral is but a shadow of this one perfect specimen.

Do keep to one thread | PREVIOUS LINKS: THE CASTLE | CASTLE GROUNDS | CITY ROYALE

Comments

[molotov]

[Molotov looks thinner than usual, gaunt and exhausted, as she stands next to the pond, staring down at the whirlpool.

The right half of her face is gone, consumed by the spiraling hole that grew from her empty eye socket. What's left of her hair forms giant spirals, growing larger by day, standing high above her head and draining her energy from her.

She's still except for the gentle, unconscious sway of her body from side to side, caused by the sheer exhaustion.]

[the_effect_she_has]

[Katniss has been on the run for most of the day on the castle grounds, and when she comes through to the duck pond, where all is calm and still, all she can do is drop to her knees in exhaustion, to catch her breath. Panting, bent over, it takes her a few minutes to realize she is not alone ...]

...Hello? [She rasps out to the tall, red-headed woman.] Are you all right?

[sworn]

[Well this is. Not what she was hoping to see ever.

She knows Molotov has fallen prey to whatever is plaguing the castle, but she hadn't expected it to turn out like this. She hadn't expected her to be in the eye of the storm, though it somehow made sense in hindsight.

Katniss's voice brings her to Vereesa's attention as well.]

She is lost to whatever this... thing is. As I assume we all will be if we don't put a stop to this.

[molotov]

You can't stop it.

[Molotov's voice is soft and distracted, her remaining eye practically glassed over as she continues to stare into the pond. She never looks away from it, though she smiles tenderly.

Well... smiles tenderly with the part of her mouth that's still left.]

We aren't lost at all. We are saved.

[the_effect_she_has]

[Katniss's breathing slows, stills. Her jaw tightens, and her body tenses as she looks towards the redheaded woman. Then she looks towards Veeresa, who she knows and trusts. So she keeps her gaze on the red-headed woman, but she speaks to the female elf warrior.]

All right ... I stumbled onto this, but I guess you know what to do?

[sworn]

[Vereesa's confident stance doesn't change, regardless of the words that follow.]

I wish I did.

[As much as she would love to charge forward into action, Molotov is nothing more than a victim of the plague, not the center of it. She won't let Katniss or the rest of the castle down without a fight.

What is Molotov looking at...?]

But I can venture a guess that there is something in the water that will give us an idea.

[molotov]

[At the mention of the "something in the water", Molotov looks over her shoulder, hair shifting and moving to follow her turn, then smiles at the other women.]

Just let it take you. The vortex is so wonderful, look at the beautiful things it keeps giving us.

[The spiral in her face slowly turns and grows, beginning to attempt to swallow her nose.]

[the_effect_she_has]

[Horror flashed across Katniss's face, as she saw the red-headed woman's face start to twist, like the spirals. She straightened, looking over at Vereesa, whose face seemed to be staying put for now.]

[Swallowing. hard. she started to edge her way around Molotov, to see what was actually in the pond that she had been staring at so intensely.]

[fearbringer]

[And suddenly, the party is interrupted by a panicked Pitch, who bursts onto the scene and makes a beeline for the pond, carelessly shoving past anyone in his way. That whirlpool is the most horrifying spiral of them all, and he wants it gone.]

[sworn]

[Vereesa is familiar enough with the Sha--dark manifestations of negative emotions, with fear being one of the strongest--so she easily spots a panicked Pitch running into the fray. So much for taking an extra moment to calculate a plan.

She leaves Katniss for now to chase after Pitch in hopes of grabbing him before he can throw himself into the pond. Her concern for Molotov, who seems too fargone for the moment, will have to wait. Hopefully Katniss can keep her distracted.]

[fearbringer]

[Pitch whirls around and snarls when Vereesa grabs his robe.]

Get off of me!

[OOC: Whoops, I forgot to do this before: info on what sorts of characters will be able to see/sense him!]

[sworn]

[She's not letting go just yet.]

What is down there? What do you see?

[fearbringer]

[Still struggling:]

It's another one of those damned spirals, in the water.

[the_effect_she_has]

[Katniss moved around from ... whatever Vereesa was struggling with, some kind ghost man, and moved around to the pond, trying to put herself between Molotov and it. To back her away, and maybe, just maybe, get a clear shot of ... whatever that horrifying thing was in the pond.]

I think you ... need a rest. I think you need to look away, for a little while, all right?

[molotov]

[Molotov is exhausted, not immobile. She's still for another moment before lurching forward and heading for the pond, her steps heavy and trying but determined. She passes Katniss, passes Vereesa, passes Pitch, then collapses to her knees at the edge of the whirlpool, dangerously close to just falling headfirst into the pond.

Which seems to be maybe what she wants to do.]

I will protect you...

[fearbringer]

That's right. Leave me be and bother her instead. There's clearly something wrong with the woman.

[sworn]

[That word stands out. "Protect." If Molotov seeks to protect the spiral in the water, that means it must be vulnerable. If it is vulnerable, it can be attacked, and a chance it can be eliminated.

Vereesa likes these odds.

She releases her grip on Pitch but gives a warning.]

Do not get in our way. Katniss!

[Then she grabs an arrow from her quiver and quickly nocks it, making a quick run toward the water's edge, looking to Katniss to follow suit. Molotov can't stop the both of them from going after it, can she?]

[the_effect_she_has]

[Katniss needs no other order than that. So as Molotov slips past her, her fingers are on her quiver as Vereesa has already pulled hers. A moment later, the arrow is resting against her cheek, and she takes aim.]

[She shifts to the side, making sure she has a clear shot, focusing on the crystal, and little else.]

[molotov]

[Molotov's reaction times are sharp now, startlingly so, her neck twisting into a grotesque spiral as the hole in her face begins sucking in its surroundings. She's aimed at the arrows, looking to take them away, absorb them into her own head to protect the magnificence of the crystal.

Her hair is not to be left out of the party, the spirals growing massive, forming shields around Molotov's shrinking body.]

[fearbringer]

[As soon as he's released, Pitch makes a beeline for the water, diving in without hesitation.]

[the_effect_she_has]

[Katniss's gaze narrows as she takes in the scene - Pitch diving into the water. Molotov's eyes turning into swirls, and Katniss's heart picks up the pace at that. She notes the spirals turning into shields, then flicks her gaze to Vereesa, then to Pitch.

Inspiration. She looks back to Vereesa, before tilting her arrow up, way up, so it shoots well over Molotov's head, and hopefully lands next to the near ghost there. Where she can only hope he is solid enough to do what needs to be done.]

[sworn]

[Molotov looks nothing like herself now, and it causes Vereesa to shudder, repulsed by the site. There is nothing and never will be anything beautiful about those damned spirals.

When her arrows are seemingly pulled from their flight, she tenses in alarm. She fires another arrow, and another, to see just how quickly Molotov is reacting. She continues to fire low into the water while Katniss distracts her with overhead arrows.

But after she fires, her eyes are locked onto the dark figure descending into the water. What is he doing?]

[fearbringer]

[Even Pitch doesn't actually know what he's doing. All he knew was that diving into the pond might disrupt the spiraling water, and so he doesn't hesitate to do it. Now that he's in there, he's just kind of fumbling around, treading water and trying to break through the panic, get his bearings, and figure out what to do next.]

[molotov]

[Molotov manages to consume most of the arrows with either her face or hair, but she lets out a fearsome howl, totally inhuman, as Pitch gets past her.

And then she sails into the water after him, her graceful dive sending her directly down through the whirlpool, so that she might cover the crystal with her body and hair. Protect it. Save its beauty from these ingrates.]

[the_effect_she_has]

[Katniss's eyes narrowed again as she watched Molotov go to cover the crystal, and she yelled at Pitch.] ARROW! GRAB ONE OF THE ARROWS AND SMASH THE DAMNED THING!

[Because otherwise she was already moving to jump into the pond after them, and crush the crystal by whatever means necessary.]

[fearbringer]

[That... actually doesn't sound like that bad of an idea, and the fact that its shouted gets through his foggy, muddled brain. He dives for an arrow as Molotov dives for the crystal.]

[molotov]

[Spirals of damp, red hair reach for Pitch as Molotov screeches again. She curls around the crystal, but as her hair stretches and lengthens, her body seems to wither and weaken, the sucking spiral in her face growing and growing, eating away at her head.

She'll be gone soon, if this isn't all stopped.]

[fearbringer]

[Pitch stabs the arrow towards the crystal (and Molotov; he isn't exactly being careful in his aiming), wildly and half-blindly.]

[molotov]

[It goes through her arm. Directly through -- she's become so thin and frail that there's little muscle to resist, little reaction other than more ghoulish screaming.

There's blood, though, and it fills the cracks in the glass that the arrow causes, even as Molotov's hair keeps growing, keeps reaching to surround Pitch, hoping to kill him.

And then the crystal can't support the weight anymore, not damaged the way it is. It fractures, breaks under Molotov's body in a million little shards.]

[fearbringer]

[The moment the crystal shatters, the loss's effects on Pitch wear off. He just... hauls himself back onto the shore and collapses onto the grass for a moment, because seriously. He needs a breather.]