Scene #4343:

Owner	Pose
Sigrun Stem	One of the downsides of being a monster exterminator for hire is that you kind of have to have an office and advertise its location. Stem Monster Analysis, Control and Killing isn't exactly located in a prime spot, rather than the giant spires upheld by magic alone it's located in a poorer part of Manhattan, where most of the buildings fail to reach more than a couple floors above ground, where a lack of mainenance is showing, and where drunks and drug addicts aren't an entirely uncommon sight. Still, it's in the middle of New York City, and one constant remains true. Horseless carriages go through the streets at a decent pace, though most of the ones here are older and in need of non-urgent repairs. A pair of youth are racing one another on horseless chariots, causing a disturbance that everyone does their best to ignore. Except for the two men aboard a blue and white carriage. Some kind of bird-like wail accompanies red and blue flames that form atop it, and they start the chase. Through it all, Sigrun is trying to get some paperwork done at her third floor business office in a corner building.
Drowned Ophelia	The multiverse is a conglomeration, a whirling chaos of all the best and worse of worlds slammed up against one another. Beingss who live on floating palaces, beingss who live deep in caves, beings who live in lands of metaphor and literal truth. Beings who live in perpetual darkness or light, cybernetic enhancement or magical chains. A plethora of existance, an ouroboros turned in on itself and spun so rapidly that it becomes the flash of shattered stained glass to experience. And yet, there was always a common thread; Where things lived, things suffered. Drugs are a symptom, after all, of a heart broken; Of a life that finds it far easier to give in and float than stand on one's own strength. And the more one delivers the poison to soul, the less strength one has left to return. The Queen of Tears found this place; She followed her calloused heart's hate, the black ichor driving her grudge and her steps. And her tale begins - with a fog. Lazily rolling outwards from dark and slicked alleys between floating buildings, curling across steeps and along quickened steps of the few passerbys. It brushes along cracked brickwork, leaving faint babbled runes of frost against the stone. It licks along the curled leg of one addict, instinctively hiding his half lucid shame beneath the cowls of an alley. A faint flap of wings, a dark bird descending, and a clawed hand that tilts his chin upwards. "You poor thing. It's okay - I'm going to help you." A flash of white teeth between black lips. ".. I've got something a lot better than your rot. Something that'll make this pain feel like nothing at all.." "And then you're going to help me." A feeling in the air. An unnatural chill, something tensing like a muscle coiling downwards. This place is magical, after all - and the Black Tears reverberate.
Sigrun Stem	Sigrun is alerted to the unusual magic early. Her magical specialization is all about that kind of thing, and she immediately responds. Runes light up above her hand, and as the magic courses through, little blue globes, glowing faintly but otherwise very hard to see start to spread around in the direction of the disturbance, just to get a glimpse at what's going on.
Drowned Ophelia	The blue lights slide across the air, their illumination falling first upon the sleek form of - a woman's leg? Further up they climb, as if the shadows were clinging to this creature, revealing the blue skin with aching slowness. Her arms wrapped about an older man, head tilted aside as if in the throws of a passionate kiss. The man's arms shudder, veins blackened; Fingers clutching at nothing, stained with the faint color of an addict and their powdered crystals. Drowned Ophelia breaks the kiss, looking back over her shoulder with mock coyishness. Her chin tilts up a bit, lips pulled aside into a mocking grin. "Can't a girl have a little privacy?" The addict's head lolls backwards, eyes a dead white, black ichor trailing down from lips and nostrils. Ophelia releases the man, who stands for only a moment - before collapsing backwards to his back. Belt straining as his belly ballons upwards. THEMESONG - 'Nymphetamine', Cradle of Filth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dW6aNAZGTM
Sigrun Stem	Oh yeah, Sigrun recognizes that face. She immediately pulls out the blessed silver arrows, the question now is a simple one that's less simple to answer. Where to go to get a good clean shot. She knows that using her office for this is folly, but where else... She settles on an abandoned office building along the road, climbing up to the third floor and sending an arrow flying for the wall of the alley Drowned Ophelia is in. She doesn't quite have a clean shot, or she'd use that. The arrow is a lure, not an attack.
Drowned Ophelia	"You broke my heart." Comes the lofting, mocking tone of Ophelia - sent outwards with little to no concern as to revealing her position. "I'm pretty sure that means you fucking owe me." The Queen of Tears then turns her attention back to the man bloating upon the ground, that smirk of her growing as she hears the -THUNK- of an arrow hitting the wall. The fellow's pallid hands quivering as he slowly stands back to his feet, eyes gone a milky white. He coughs, body shuddering as the poison of the Black Tears changes him. Like sorrow changes all that it touches. "Hey. I've got an itch to scratch; Open wide." Ophelia grins, wicked and cruel, two claws stretching the man's jowls out. Her form dissolving, ichorous and liquid as it flows between the man's teeth. He convulses, before looking dully around the alleyway. Suddenly alone. And then? He begins to scratch. And scratch, and scratch, and scratch. Nails biting deeper and deeper until skin is cut. It isn't blood; It isn't inky darkness. It's ANTS. Ants that come pouring out of every wound opened, chitoneous and black, a swarm that begins crawling up the nearest building. -Hunting scent-. More and more coming out, the man scratching in every conceivable place he can, giggling in relief.
Sigrun Stem	"Fuck." That's the word that escapes from Sigrun's lips, a curse borne from disbelief and dread. This isn't something she knows how to deal with, it's a problem unlike what she encountered before. So she moves away from the walls and into the levitation shaft, floating in mid-air in the hope that the ants don't know how to deal with that.
Drowned Ophelia	The man jerks and stumbles forward, as if drawn by an invisible thread as he - now it - follows the murderous insects. Still scratching the whole time, ants dripping from him where one might expect blood. He bubbles and sighs in relief, this stumbling Hive, ants even squeezing from the corner of his eye rather than tears. Sigrun's upward mobility seems to have done the trick for the moment - the ants shuffling up along the walls and quivering to either side of her. Unable to reach her - unable to let her go. The Hive himself stands dumbly below, staring up with an empty, milky gaze as he scratches in idle fascination. There is a general hiss of aggitation, and the ant hoardes begin dissolving into black smoke. It rises, swirling in on itself, the Hive below shuddering as he deflates. Drowned Ophelia forms once more, atop the roof, smirking down. "Hey, knock it the fuck off. It's only fair; You break my heart - I break yours. It'll only hurt for a few years, I promise."
Sigrun Stem	"It was nothing personal." Sigrun retorts, and she starts sinking downwards while nocking an arrow, using the levitation shaft's elevation magic to her advantage and increase the distance. Her aiming is magically assisted, and the arrow that flies is both costly and quick, the blessed silver only remaining barely subsonic, easily dodged despite its accuracy. Really, it's the rebound that's the tricky part, in the likely case that it misses, the arrow curves around after and aims to hit Drowned Ophelia's heart on the way back.
Drowned Ophelia	The Queen of Tears jerks herself sideways, a mocking laugh dying on her lips as the arrow curls back in on itself in rebound. It whistles for her exposed back - and the creature twists her arm up, limb jerked inwards as the holy silver strikes true and through. She screams in pain, clawed hands hover over the wound - as the silver smokes. And then begins to corrode, Ophelia's eyes flicking to Sigrun as she wraps claws around the arrow. And slides it out, the ectoplasm pouring from her blue skin. "Silver. The only precious metal that -rots-." She smirks, holding up the arrow as it blackens and tarnishes even further. Wings flare out to either side of her, black as the rest of her theme, ichor tentacles crawling about her ankles. "And it's always -personal-, bitch. You can't spell 'violence' without -love-." The corrupted weapon is flung back towards Sigrun, even as Ophelia leaps up - wings beating hard - and dives -down- for the woman. Claws outstretched to grab, tackle, and rip!
Sigrun Stem	"It doesn't, though. Silver cleanses and purifies, the only reason for it to affect you is if you're in need of cleansing or purification." Sigrun answers with more displayed confidence than she actually has. Then there's an angry queen of tears diving down at her, and despite her attempts to put up a defensive shield, she can't do much to stop the incoming pain, she's pinned and those claws dig deep.
Drowned Ophelia	"Shut -up-!" Shrieks the broken creature, as she draws claws in a vicious swipe. Digging for skin, for blood, for the warmth she'd been denied - so she can deny it to another as well. "I don't -need- your cleansing! Your fucking -purity's- a fucking lie!" Wings flap about the two as they tumble, Ophelia's strikes wild and as uncontrolled as an animal. Or a woman lost in her hate, composure cracking. "I'll rip you until nothing's left but screams and tears!"
Sigrun Stem	Sigrun is pinned, and ripped at, and otherwise in trouble. She can't nock an arrow like this, much less shoot one. At least she shuts up and doesn't say more things to infuriate Drowned Ophelia, at least, until the pain of claws repeatedly digging into her flesh gets too much, and she screams in pain. That's when her codex gem's emergency spells send a notice for the Union to respond to.
Drowned Ophelia	The place? Antichthonian New York - the mirror of Earth's New York, where technology was supplanted by magic. Horseless carriages, floating buildings, and glory uneding! .. well, not really. New York was New York, and living beings always had their problems. Utopia's a myth, no matter where you live. Here, in the poorer section, where the floating buildings need maintenance and are barely holding their level a few feet off the ground, an uneven battle has begun. The Queen of Tears - Drowned Ophelia - has tackled the assassin and expert evil killer out of the levitation pillar, pinning her to the ground to rip and tear with vicious claws. Fucking brutal, like a messed up animal; Her only tactic to cause as much pain as she can. She sits up at last, then leans forward - trusses of her hair brushing along her opponent as she speaks. Madness in her gaze, black tears falling from her cheeks. ".. No. No, I'm not going to kill you.. I'm going to -drown- you. I'm going to teach you to float, just like a balloon. I'm going to hollow you out and fill you back up, and then.. then you'll be -as fucking impure as me-. How's that sound? Hm?" Claws pull up, dripping - the sharpened edges pulled along her own wound, where the holy arrow had stabbed through her forearm. Tugging the wound as she hisses. "Oh, don't worry - this part only hurts me. Yours comes next." And then she shrieks, distracted, wihle she opens that wound further; Black ichor pouring outwards.
Staren	Staren comes out of the nearest warpgate, suited up, accompanied by a humanoid construct. It doesn't look particularly human, made of basic shapes that suffice enough as head, torso, legs, arms, and hands. It begins to glow, and after a few seconds, disappears. Reappearing in the alley, 'looking' at the pair with its lack of a face. Staren looks through its eyes, and plans, and begins to glow...
Alden	Alden is used to answer to general calls, like 'please come and help us do stuff' he never had to answer to a... 'rush here I am dying help me' kind of call, and he was panicking a bit as he moved as quickly as he would. He was not even bothering with conserving his energy by now, his strongest form was also teh best at traveling, (flight can be useful like that). He just zooms towards the coordinates, with Katze perched atop his head, holding the best she can while the digimon dodges buildings, and hoping he can make it in time to actually be of assistance. "You!" he barks, clearly remembering Ophelia from a previous encounter, messing up with one of his friends (Golden), "Let her go!" he growls, eyes glowing red. For once he kinda looks a bit intimidating, growling and glaring at the Queen of Tears.
Sigrun Stem	Sigrun's mask hides her terror, she can only hope that someone will help her at this point. Yet she doesn't limply accept what's happening, she's still trying to shove the queen of tears off of her, but she just doesn't have that kind of strength. It's not until the ichor comes that her terror results in pleading, "Don't, please. Don't. If you stop I promise I won't ever come after you again." In her terror, she hasn't noticed the cavalry, not yet.
Drowned Ophelia	Clawed hands swipe wide, splattering her own ectoplasmic form across the ground. It leaks, curling across her form, joining the swirling mass that makes up her dress. The wound she leaves in herself is puckered; Vicious, sucking, debilitating. She pants, fresh, inky black tears coursing down her cheeks as her eyes fall back to the one who -broke her fucking heart-, wild and lost. And then her gaze flicks up. She practically -leaps- from Sigrun, a flickering shadow of smoke that slithers back before reforming. She cradles the wounded arm, snarling and circling back and forth like a trapped beast as she looks between Alden and the strange, glowing armor guy. "No. NO. FUCK YOU, THIS IS MINE. You can't -have- it. Fuck you. FUCK YOU. You're with HIM, aren't you?!" The last accusation hissed like a serpent, as if this was the most damning thing of all. Something is coming, even as the six-stringed sorrow bubbles into existance between her claws. Hissing, spitting at the pain in her arm even as she hefts the slender necked artifact - And then she shrieks as she draws claws across the strings, blue wake candles burning to life. Summoning her DEATH METAL. THEMESONG CHANGE: ''Witches', Candlemass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueviH4UVuvs
Staren	Ophelia actually jumped AWAY from the protection of Sigrun's allies' fear of friendly fire? Well then. The robot raises its arm and fires a missile the size of a short pencil, an explosive-tipped penetrating projectile. One of the weaker of Staren's weapons, but still, a high-tech missile. And then Staren appears by Sigrun. He was planning to appear next to Ophelia and stab her, but this works fine too -- instead, he appears holding a scoped laser rifle, and at this range, just lifts and fires from the hip a pulse of burning, superheating, exploding light! He doesn't respond to Ophelia's words yet. If she believes incorrect things about him, that's to his tactical advantage.
Alden	The digimon is as surprised as Staren when Ophelia just... backs away from Staren!. He is really mad at.. the Drowned Queen, and he honestly is thinking in a similar way to Staren, that Ophelia is doing them a favor!. He 'stands' midair, growling loudly, even after the hop, he fears the Drowned Queen is too close for what he wanted to use (one problem when most of your attacks are high explosive), "Metal Howling!" he snarls, howling loudly, and sending a powerful shockwave towards his target, not his attack of choice, but only one he dared to try.
Sigrun Stem	Sigrun is a bit relieved when the Queen of Tears pulls back, though she is in no position to fight properly, at least she can limp away and maybe hide. She keeps her bow and silver arrows ready, however, just in case. She knows she's not save yet.
Drowned Ophelia	Drowned Ophelia throws her arms up, the ebon ectoplasm swirling up and hardening as the missle crashes -through- it. She's thrown aside, screaming as a pulse of plasma splatters across her side; The burning embers briefly outlined in the morphous mass of her clothing, composed of the very same ichor that slithers through her limbs, pushed by a dead and calloused heart. And then she is struck by a metal howl, covering her face once more; Her veil of Black Tears ripped and torn, somewhere between smoke and liquid as it evaporates from her. When it passes, she stands, panting slowly while trickles of that ichor flow from her lip and nose. She spits aside, grits her teeth, and spreads legs wide in a stance. The throbbing of Death Metal reverberating without her - a pulse, a hammering bass and pounding drum that hold in place, waiting only for her to direct it. She's outmatched, it's true - but she can at least -HURT- them before she flees. "You want metal howling? Fine." She turns aside, claws gripping the neck of the Six Stringed Sorrow as her arms swings up and over - then THRASHES, a slow chopping sound, electricity crawling up along her form and grounding around her. Lights glow from the very earth, swinging up and towards the heavens, flashing crimson - before they explode upwards in fire and noise. Pot fires mixed with heavy artillery. Trying nothing less than to catch both of her opponents in it, while her eyes look for that fucking assassin. Where the FUCK did she go?!
Alden	The floating metal wolf continues to growl, waiting for a few moments, preparing himself for what was coming... of course, he was not expecting a pyrotechnics display, barely able to try to curl around Katze, before he is engulfed by the explosion!. He is momentarily dazed by the sound... and more than a bit hurt by the blast itself, at least he did not have fur to burn!. He falls to the ground, not a free fall, but a bit faster than he might like, needing a few moments to recompose, bruishes and burned spots all over.
Staren	Staren frowns. Missile didn't work. In the future he'll make sure they airburst inside her, then. Use silver, Sigrun warns. For over a decade, Staren's had a pistol with silver rounds, in case of vampires. It's somehow never come up. But now, at long last, his preparation will be rewarded-- Oh wait, no, right now he needs to dodge explosions. He shoulders the laser rifle and lifts Sigrun easily with his power armor's strength, and tries to run out of the area of her attack, the groundsplosions blasting and scorching his armor but not enough to get through it yet.
Sigrun Stem	Sigrun is carried, and now that she doesn't have to worry about using her strength to flee, she's using her strength to tell the Queen of Tears just how much she appreciates this kind of attack. She nocks another arrow, aims carefully and looses. This time, there's no trickery, but neither is there restraint. That arrow goes from no motion to hypersonic in a fraction of a second, and it's aimed straight for Drowned Ophelia's heart. And then Sigrun faints, her energy is spent.
Drowned Ophelia	The Thrash continues on, electricity building up from Ophelia as she slow-chops the Six Stringed Sorrow. Her hair beginning to stand on end as she sways side to side, arcs of brilliant light touching the alleywalls around her. "I want her." She hisses, chin down as she communes with METAL. Wonderful fucking METAL, rolling off her in shuddering waves as her performance grows. "I want her-!" A ripping canvas of noise. A slow motion as a hypersonic arrow glides through layers of SOUND beginning to blast outwards. It vibrates, passing through streams of electric fire that heat and cool it in turn. Ophelia's eyes do not even have time to widen as it penetrates flesh; And cracks against her stone heart. It's hard to break someone's heart twice - they get wise. The noise, the DEATH METAL suddenly and brutally chop short. Six Stringed Sorrow evaporating as the Queen of Tears gasps sharply. She grips the holy silver, fingers burning, her form flickering in and out. There is - for just a moment - the image of a young, brown haired woman. One hand wrapped around the silver arrow poking from above her chest - the other around her throat as she chokes, gagging. Drowned Ophelia. Ophelia, suffering, sobbing. And back again, before the arrow is ripped loose and dropped. Already tainted and corroding. She snarls, the veil of ectoplasm rising around her. ".. I'll pluck your stars from your sky one by one. Everything falls in time." She hisses. And then wings snap out on either side of her, black as a raven's heart, before she launches into the air. Her trail marked by the Black Tears as they evaporate behind her, falling from her wounds. Flee! FLEE, GOTH, FLEE!
Alden	Alden stands up slowly, after making sure the Shinki was not harmed by the blast, just in time to see the Goth Queen fly away!. He considers pursue, but... he decides to move and check on Sigrun adn the robot instead, carrying Katze, who protests about it, claiming to be unharmed, beyond a bit of singed hair. "Are you ok?" he rumbles softly at Sigrun and Staren's proxy.