coming at you fast, midnight

[cosmiccon]

Comments

[matriarchate]

Are you afraid Bonnie is heading up the movement to have you possessed?

( But, she knows he's talking current events and not Bonnie.

Allison stumbles a second, but regains her balance. Her hand goes into her bag as she awaits what Sam reports on. )

Do you see anything?

[maleficum]

Nope. Worried that if I do get possessed, she'll be collateral damage.

[Sam shakes his head, before grabbing his gun and inching closer. He reaches the edge of the boat and the boat bumps again, and he quickly reaches out to steady himself.

Perception checks, everyone.]

[matriarchate]

Won't we all? I don't know much, but when I knew you were involved I did what research I could. The demon inside you left a high body count. Substitute an ancient witch...

( Allison hovers her hand between her ring dagger and her cross bow. She gets a (16) for perception. )

[maleficum]

[David is distracted by the question (5), and Sam can't make anything out in the water (9), but as David is considering how to answer, Allison catches a long tail of spikes coming up over the water - these much, much bigger than the crocodile's.

The boat rocks again, this time more violently, and David grips the side of the boat.]

We'll come back to this later.

[matriarchate]

Tail!

( Allison braces herself, trying to stay alert for the next move of whatever's underneath them. )

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam glances back in the direction of the tail and his eyes widen:]

Lindworm!

[And he and David try to brace themselves (18, 9) - Sam holds steady when the tail connects with the boat, but David stumbles, hitting the floor of the boat with a groan.]

[matriarchate]

( Allison stays steady on her feet (15). )

Is it after the boat or is it trying to get to us?

[imnot_likeyou]

It's more us existing in it's space than anything else.

[Sam stumbles forward to take the wheel. He guns the engine and does his best to push them forward, out of the range of the lindworm's reach, trying to find the edge of it's territory.]

They're technically endangered, but it's mostly because they need to fight everything, but you don't want to fight them either.

[matriarchate]

( Allison drops her crossbow back into her bag before helping David back to his feet. )

Are you okay?

[maleficum]

Yeah, I'm fine.

[Though he takes the hand with a nod. His eyes wander over her shoulder, and the spikes are still following them in the water.]

I wouldn't put that away yet though. It's still coming.

[matriarchate]

( She retrieves it, then. She doesn't have to be told twice. )

Have you tangled with a Lindworm before?

[maleficum]

No. Most of the time, I want to live.

[Because you take on a lindworm alone, and you usually don't.]

But they're not invincible. They're just big, strong and tough.

[matriarchate]

And hopefully done with us soon. How long until we stop disturbing its' habitat?

( That's for Sam.

And in case, she keeps her crossbow up. )

[imnot_likeyou]

That's what I'm trying to find out. Just keep an eye out for if it's mate is coming.

[Because that's the last thing they need, for there to be two lindworms instead of one.

But eventually, they hit an invisible line where the lindworm has decided it's not going to cross, and the spikes above the water wind around and start to pull away.]

[matriarchate]

( Allison's guard remains up as she keeps her crossbow in hand. Slowly, she lowers it. )

Okay.

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam exhales, then starts to slow the boat back to a normal clip.]

Everything seems quiet here. I wonder what lives here that it doesn't like.

[It takes a lot to scare a lindworm.]

[matriarchate]

It rammed the boat because it doesn't like its' neighbors? So much for a carefully built ecosystem.

( She relaxes then, keeping her eyes forward. )

[imnot_likeyou]

It rammed the boat because we were the disturbance. But it's not going to follow us because it doesn't like who lives next door.

[So Sam is going to slow down, to the point where they're inching forward, trying to disturb the water as little as possible.]

[matriarchate]

I don't know what's worse, two things working hand in hand at bringing our boat down or one not liking the other one enough to leave it alone and going toward that one.

( Equally, she decides, finally turning her attention back to David. )

After we do this for you, what comes next?

( Will this determine the scale of this oncoming witch war or will it stop it altogether? )

[maleficum]

I have a dinner date with the other potential participants in the Gauntlet, and we decide how we're going to do this.

[Ezra says Sierra's agreed to show up and he hasn't actually seen her in almost a decade. He doesn't know if he'll be able to convince her, but he hopes that he can.]

If it all goes to plan, we kill our parents, take over the day to day running of the Colony and try to make it better than it was before. Or we burn it all to the ground. Whichever comes first.

[matriarchate]

If your parents die, will that bury the Gauntlet?

( Or, if they burn everything to the ground. Will that bury the Gauntlet? )

[maleficum]

It will certainly end the Gauntlet.

[But will they be able to get to them before things get started? Hard to say.]

I don't know how timing is going to go though. Things still might get messy before they get better.

[matriarchate]

I would argue things already are.

( Her boots, for that matter, and this swamp. )

I'm not going to judge you. I don't know what I would do if something possessed my father. A trickster spirit calling itself the Nogitsune possessed a friend of mine. It sought and wreaked chaos. We were able to save him. ...Are there no loop holes for your parents?

[maleficum]

Oh, there probably are. But my parents aren't people that are worth saving, and it would probably do more harm than good. They'd want to be in charge, and from what I remember growing up, they're not interested in making the changes needed or reducing harm.

[It's a much cleaner solution to the problem if they just end the old guard entirely.]

This isn't a problem to be solved by heroes. And as much as I respect what you're trying to say there, my hands are already dirty. A little more won't tip the scales too far.

[matriarchate]

( The Colony really makes collateral damage a calling card. )

Some things are unavoidable.

( Or, they're believed to be unavoidable. )

Are you worth saving?