1944/CatP - Finale II

CatP - Finale II
Date of Scene:	03 April 2015
Location:	A Quiet World
Synopsis:	Hickory dickory dock, The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, The mouse ran down, Hickory dickory dock.
Cast of Characters:	2, Kotone Yamakawa, Arthur Lowell, Staren, Priscilla, 152, 183, 253, Riva Banari, 570, Ayako Hasekawa
Tinyplot:	A Chime at the Precipice

---

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Once everyone has gathered before the Monochrome Castle, an even deeper silence than the one they had entered into chokes the atmosphere. Though nothing happens in particular, all of them at once would feel, implicitly, a creeping dread. That sensation would creep up from their legs, to their backs, to their heads, until every inch of their bodies feels as though it's been submerged beneath many leagues of water. Still, maddeningly, nothing happens. With every moment more pressure mounts, as though each ounce of it were a drip hitting their bodies in torture; their ears click as though they had risen into the sky on a plane, and yet the world lies motionless.

    And then there is a click.

    There's a winding sound -- a noise like a grandfather clock setting itself. Chains clink. Then, finally, the answer to those heavy feelings of before would come:

    A ringing. An echoing. Somewhere far, far away yet so close that it might occur in their own skulls, a clock chimes. The characteristic tune plays across and through Mizuki's Universe, bringing with it an earthquake. Long, black lines carve their way through the ground. Media and lethargy are cleaved from the ground and fall into an even deeper abyss than that they had already dwelled within, and the Broken Sky, only so recently mended, would be eclipsed by a brilliant white fog.

    Cascades of water can be heard as a wakes begin to drizzle off the sides of the newly formed mountain. The only stretch of land left now is that containing the blighted tower. Sounds of rocks shaving off the sides of the ground resound, but there is no complementary hint of landing -- indeed, for there is nowhere for those lost pieces to fall. They are consumed, completely.

    Then reigns another, long silence, only interrupted by the sound of the liquids that continually pour off unto nowhere. This lasts until another, mighty chime rings from the clock -- a single hit to indicate the passage of a single hour. A resonant feeling would tell all those present that this sound is certainly not the last of its kind; rather, it is a warning. A warning that, once the twelfth ring chimes, their adventure will be over. Mizuki, along with her world, will be gone. These are the final cries of a dying world.

    And as fate decrees, the door's to Sophia's palace swing open at their call. The woman herself emerges soon after, hilt of her ruptured sword held, form cloaked in darkness, blue spheres filled with unreadable emotion. She looks over the group in silence, but as should be expected, the silence does not last long. Mizuki would draw her sword as well, leveling it at her twin. Her own eyes carry a much more legible imprint -- fire, such an indignant tempest of flame that can rarely be glimpsed. Her blade's edge shimmers. Her teeth twist into a snarl.

    "... and even as this world -- yours and mine -- crumbles to oblivion, you yet refuse to cooperate with me in any capacity. You refuse to hand over your piece of the key. You refuse to allow us both to be released from this dismal cycle." She stares at her. Into her. "... and I really must ask -- why? Why are you so adamant in maintaining all this? Do you never tire of seeing this world implode upon itself? Are you truly so depraved, so primal, so archaic that you would not prefer to see it flourishing, flowering, growing?" Again, there's a silence. Mizuki's eyes narrow. "-Speak-! Answer me! At least present me with some reason! Are you really that monster, Apathy? Are you really that primordial essence of destruction so oft depicted in children's books? Or are you --" Apathy holds up the palm of her hand.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    "My wishes are irrelevant." And lowers shortly after. "... whatever the case, I am an obstacle in your path. In order to progress, you must fight me. Do so, or this day will be your last, Mizuki." She glances briefly to Arthur once she's finished, which provides Mizuki a window just wide enough to charge at her. Apathy blocks with the hilt of her own 'blade'. They remain there, metal scraping against metal, for some time yet. Eventually, though, the former relents, gliding back to put distance between them. "I will never understand you, 'Sophia'."

    "No," She echoes, "you will not."

    Afterwards, both figures remain still for a spell. In time, Mizuki looks back to the rest of them. Without words, her coutenance screams, 'What should we do?'

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "It's going to work." Arthur says, responding to Psyber's statement after a lengthy pause. Thankfully, Ayako has healed up some of his wounds, so he can speak more openly. And also enabling the part where everything gets a little bit twisted up.

    He tosses his fragment of the key into the air. Someone else will need to catch it. And then he turns around, as if rejecting Apathy's challenge, and in his hands, the KING BROOM flickers to life. "We don't have any time to mess around. Priscilla. Eryl. Psyber. Riva. Faruja. Come here. We're not fighting Apathy. The rest of you, don't let her interfere."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber stares at Arthur for a long few moments, eventually reaching into the pocket of his coat. His flask comes out, which he tips backwards and then caps again, sliding it back into his coat. He adjusts his stance, still having a light limp, but mostly compensating for it by this point.

    Psyber looks to Apathy for a long moment as Mizuki shouts to her. He then looks back to Arthur for a final time and brings a hand up to rub his face, "Fine. Let's go," He says bluntly, still thinking over that phrase stuck in his head from earlier.

Riva Banari has posed:
The final chimes begin to resound. Riva looks up as this dark core of a land of imagination crumbles, falling away into a terrifying precipice over a void. The message of the chimes are immediately understood. Time is not their friend here. WHEN something happens is as important as WHAT happens in this place, at this time.

Riva brandishes Daemon like a blade, preparing to use it to strike, to help Mizuki. "I don't understand." Riva says, simply. "You all want to be fought so badly. Is the narrative here so important? Are you being forced to play a part, or..."

Riva is about to lunge in to strike, but the moment before she does so, Arthur's voice causes her hand to pause in the beginning of her attack. "Y... You what?" Riva looks over to Arthur, uncertainty oin her expression. She looks between Arthur and Mizuki, indecision evident in her features...

But she nods. "All right." She brings a hand back to clear some loose hair from her face, watching Arthur carefully for a moment, perhaps for a sign of something, before she heads over to follow him. "I'm with you." She says.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki's eyes bulge as Arthur makes his 'reply'. What? /Leaving/?? She had thought negotiation would be on the table failing an all-out brawl, but -abandoning the fight- was not an option she had been expecting. She would open her mouth to speak, but would say nothing. Eventually, though, her jaw eases shut, and she manages a deep, gradual nod. She had promised to trust Arthur, and she will not withdraw that now. Not as it matters most. Instead, she looks back to the others. "If they go," She starts, "then we'll have a bit more of our own weight to carry here. Homura, Staren, Kimiko, Kotone, Ayako -- I will be counting on you."

    She turns back to face Apathy. "If you are really so eager to fight me, Sophia," Her sword grip tightens, "then very well." The others who were asked to accompany Arthur would receive nods of equivalent resolve from her. 'Good luck,' she seems to say.

    She isn't happy about this, but a promise is a promise.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Switch safety covers are opened on the broom. Panels light up. Warp release codes are entered. Rockets unfold. More, and more, and more thrusters. "Get over here now or you aren't going to get here. If you want to save Mizuki, if you care about /Mizuki/, then get here and hold on. We've got little time to explain and less chance to save her if any of you back out." Switches are rapidly flicked. The broom grows tremendously, harsh industrial steel expanding into a wide craft. Psyber, Riva, and anyone else on the list who gets near Arthur, will feel the sensation of gravity magic linking with their own personal experiences of gravity. They'll be coming aloing for the ride.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja follows along with the other, dealing with the dread and feeling of being utterly in over his head creeping through his entire body. The whole situation just doesn't sit right with him. What sort of apocalypse is this, with Mizuki living through so many past lives? Did the worlds crumble again and again here? Truly, this place is lost to God as it stands, so pathetically destroyed over and over.

And through it all, the girl whose palace he enters still holds on stubbornly to the idea of opposing him. To the Inquisitor, it fits horribly ill. Why would this woman be so adamant?

Suspicion alights in his natural eye as he watches the exchange between Mizuki and Apathy. His grip on his weapon tightens...then loosens. He glances to Mizuki, then Arthur as he speaks up.

The tension is a bit too high for the rat it seems, and he laughs the laugh of one in the heat of the moment.

Then he looks to Arthur, and grins.

He's over there in a flash alongside Arthur's magic, grinning.

"Something didst indeed feel /off/ about this whole affair! Lady Mizuki, if ye die by that knave's hands, I shall be most wroth! Come, Ser Lowell, let us see if whatever gambit ye hath up thine sleeve shall be successful!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    One PRESUMES Homura was helping fight Telephone and has otherwise stood by Mizuki or Psyber until now. Though now that things are reaching the final stage, being passive is no longer an option.

    A nod is given to Arthur at his request to delay Apathy, and the Puella Magi simply stands by Mizuki, still unarmed, uncrossing her arms and tensing for a moment.

    "You should stand back, Mizuki. We can't have you get injured at this point."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako shudders slightly. She can feel it. The familiar sensation of a world ticking it's way towards it's end. And then the click-and the sounds of a clock moving. Perhaps the figure of speech thought of was apt as the ringing of the clock chimes and an earthquake follows. She takes a step back to steady herself.

    Ick. A world on a time limit. But... they still have time. Before Mizuki's world c-No. That type of thought is quickly discarded.

    As she quietly watches the interplay between Mizuki and Sophia, Ayako quietly inclines her head to the side. That's odd. Sophia's acting... different than normal. In fact, now that she thinks about it... why would she sic three people on them in the first place? She's usually a lot more talkative than this. Was all of this done to... provoke Mizuki? "Sophia... you're acting kind of... strange."

    Ayako then blinks her eyes quickly as Arthur makes his announcement. "A-ahh!" She quickly stumbles a few steps and catches the key piece that Arthur flings. A cheerful smile is given to them. "Good luck, Arthur, Riva, Psyber, Priscilla, Eryl, and Faruja!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone has managed to get her arm reformed into something functional as a limb again, but the illusion it was made of flesh is utterly gone. The coiled artificial muscles, power lines and other systems are visible clearly from her elbow downward the rest is hidden by her re-patched together stealth suit's sleeve. She has recovered her gear and seems to be ready to go on. She takes a moment to wonder about what comes next. She shakes her head, how did it come to this? Seriously how did this? Mizuki's troubles has made her think about the things that people on her world are chasing, which she's got to wonder about. It's raised some notable questions about the prices of such things such as immortality or somehow fully digitizing someone might bring.

The Multiverse has proven to be a window showing both the heights into heaven such technologies could lead, or the depths of the darkest hells they could inflict, it was sobering. She's not sure which is the best way but this is a change to do something. She wonders about her self but she can't really focus on that any longer. They have a job to finish, she makes sure she's got a fresh clip. She moves on ahead to see what awaits them in Sophia's place.

The call out has been made and she now waits to hear what Apathy has to say in reply.

Arthur picks the people needed for whatever part of this plan of his needs. She's caught the hints to not act would be worse than doing nothing. She's got that information control is paramount with whatever they are doing here. She has accepted that and will trust in him and the others who know what's up. She's got a part all right, which is to fight Apathy.

"Understood Arthur, but someday I want to know just what was going on when it's safe to say. Well if it ever is."

She now turns her attention to the foe ahead and stares her down.

"Riva, Faruja, Psyber, Arthur, Priscilla, Eryl? Good hunting."

She notes before turning her attention to way lays here. She looks at Apathy for a moment thinking about their name, there's something niggling about it. She's caught the hints of what might happen if they fail here, they will get caught up in things and perhaps be trapped here. So it's sink or swim which seems to be the story of her life.

She looks to Mizuki.

"Have faith in them Mizuki."

Her weapon is ready, she's armed and she's not the entirely weak little thing she was when she first came to visit Mizuki's open invite for a day of exploring this world.

"Funny how things go, but we're not going to let you get in the way of what needs to be done here. We all know we're not going to back down, and your not either."

There's nothing else to say she's just waiting for the go to attack and is attempting to rouse Overclock.

<Hey get ready I got no idea what's going to happen here and I might need your help again.>

With that said she now waits still as a statue with none of the little movements a human might have. She seems focused and she's as ready as she's ever going to be. She's along side good people they should be able to handle this right?

Faruja (152) has posed:
"Lady Kotone, I shall expect ye to protect her! Go with God, Lady Ayako! There art no other options but victory here!"

Then he looks at the lot of them. "And for the love of Faram wouldsts ye hath /FAITH/ ye pack of heathens! Quit speaking as though this is some form of goodbye!" Somewhere along his little rant, the rat smartly tosses Ayako his key fragment.

Just in case they actually do screw the chocobo.

"Though if one of ye wouldst punch the little git in the face, I wouldst be most obli..."

Probably by then, he'll get caught up in Arthur's magic.

Priscilla has posed:
    Priscilla has already had more than enough of this by the time she stands before the monochrome castle. The omnipresent feeling of inevitability. The overwhelming sensation of something's final hours. The constant presence of something far different from simple death. She probably would have been the first to break formation had the clock not chimed and the earth crumbled around her. Despite having had all the time in the world, she still doesn't quite have the words for Apathy. She knows too little of her, and Mizuki's hatred of her alone isn't enough for her to fully make a judgement on a figure so far removed from her breadth of experience.

    It is for that reason that she is deeply surprised, and yet not at all untrusting, when Arthur decides that the best move would be to abandon the battlefield. It might behoove her to be a little more reluctant about it, but the crossbreed will eagerly second any motion from anyone who seems like they know what they're doing in this awful, distressing mess. She follows Arthur's lead, divesting her key fragment to Homura.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Two healers. That's made things quite a bit easier. Kimiko has feeling back in her left arm, though she's repeatedly opening and closing her fist to be sure the fingers are working. She hasn't transformed since, so the blood is still there, but her regenerated armor covers much of it, and lacks signs of damage.

    She doesn't have a great deal of trust for Arthur. That's not something he's earned in her presence, and she is not the sort to allow for trust by proxy. On the other hand, she has no reason to go against this decision. She doesn't have a better plan. In fact, it may have been better that he hasn't told her. Hope wins out against cynicism, by some small margin. She gives a nod of assent because she is willing to take this risk.

Staren has posed:
    Staren waits, uneasily, in front of Apathy's castle. Will Arthur's plan work? He'll just have to see things through to the end, he supposes. The feeling of wrongness makes him even more uneasy. Twitching and shifting, unable to stand comfortably.

    And then large sections of the world fall away. So, this place is the very last to fall? Time is running out, it seems...

    Apathy steps out. Mizuki talks. Staren takes advantage of his robot body to hide his emotions. The information he now knows puts Apathy's stubbornness in a new light. He tilts his head to the side slightly, as Apathy speaks. He looks at Mizuki, sees her looking back, looks away.

    Arthur speaks up. Staren looks at him. He wonders what the plan is. But apparently he will be more help here. Preventing Apathy from interfering.

    Riva's wild hypothesizing draws his attention. Damn, will the world end if she stumbles onto the truth? Arthur will have to keep that from happening.

    Mizuki speaks again. He looks at her, nods, then turns to Apathy. He raises his right arm into firing position with a bit of a fluorish, angling his face so that noone else can see as he mouths, 'I know.' to Apathy just before his visor closes.

    As Arthur and crew get ready to leave, he announces: "Good luck, Arthur. I'm counting on you."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako isn't very good at catch, it seems. She has to run a bit and even then has to take off her witch hat to use as a big catcher's mitt for a moment to catch the key fragment that Faruja tosses her way. But she does catch it. She stashes both key fragments away in her muffler and nervously glances at the two front battle about to occur. She hops onto her floating broomstick and swallows hard. Here's hoping it goes well on both sides!

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "I can't explain. I can't tell you how or why. But if you care about the Mizuki you met, the girl you've known for a year now, the girl you came here to save, the girl we all learned to care for, then hang on, buckle up, and follow my lead." Arthur says as he operates his broom in swift and intense motions. "We're leaving. We're going to save her." Arthur says, kicking his broom up to Critical Warp levels in a huge burst of shimmering magical fire. "Let's do this shit."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
+-------------------------------------------------+--------------------------+