Time Restart.

[automated]

Who: The survivors.
What: The fallout. There are only a handful of non-native survivors. There are bodies and wreckage everywhere both in and outside the cities.
When: After Homulilly's defeat.
Where: Everywhere.

The giant witch in the sky has fallen, but not without great cost. Though the familiars took care of most of the bodies, there are still a great many that line the streets.

Orsa is still in a state of uproar. Their coddled lives within the barrier have not prepared them for such a tragedy. They're pointing fingers and struggling to dispose of the corpses in a clean way. The city is in a state of political upheaval - some of the highest ranking political figures lost their lives in the chaos. The bodies aren't even cool yet, but their competitors are rushing for their positions. It's not a good time to be here for anyone.

Orsun is in shambles but it is nothing that the people aren't used to. They can rebuild. It's exposed walls leave it open to monster attack, and a great many hungry beasts are slinking towards the scene. Orsun will endure, as it always has.

Comments

action

[switchback]

[ just outside Orsun, after a night of being dead and bleeding in the sand, Dave wakes up. it isn't like a god tier respawn (not that he's had to experience one of those just yet), there are no flashing lights and pretty colors. he just opens his eyes and gets on his feet, still in pain but nothing he can't endure. the more he moves, the more it fades.

he does feel a little nauseous, though. and dizzy. he brings one hand up to his face and realizes his shades are missing. he'll have to look for them later, when the dizzy spell passes. his vision feels too clear. when he glances around he can see for miles. even the smoke and fires rising all the way over in Orsa. his eyes are bright, bright neon red and he's going to be wanting to cover those up pretty damn soon.

but in the meantime... ]

Ngh. What happened?

action

[pranking]

[ john had been off adventuring for some time, having left orsa as soon as his friends were kicked out. his return was timed poorly and john only barely missed the worst of the fighting. though he hardly surfaced unscathed, his injuries weren't enough to keep him from looking for people in the chaos.

when he found dave dead hours later, he flipped, then took his place to guard dave when john finally calmed enough to rationalise that he would revive — because he had to, right? there was no way that any death in all that could have been just (though he couldn't speak for heroism; john was only hoping that wasn't the case either).

he's got his back to dave when he rises, rusted hammer in hand as he waited for the flash of lights that would signal the revival. when that fails to come before his voice, john startles and nearly drops his hammer. ]

Uh, shit.

[ fumbles for a moment before whipping around to face dave. the eyes startle him, but he's cracking a smile at just seeing dave up, so john fails to bring it up for now (because, hopefully, if he doesn't point it out, dave will not mention that john looks like he'd gotten a bit teary-eyed not too long before then). ]

That wasn't supposed to be an answer, though I guess it is also pretty true to say that shit happened.

action

[switchback]

[ he turns his head with a bit of a start—he's out of it enough that he hadn't realized there was anyone near him. anyone alive, that is, because he's already taken notice of the scores of dead bodies all over the place in the few moments that he's been conscious.

it's probably a little ironic that Dave thinks John is the one who doesn't look well, but that's mostly because he can't seem to remember what happened to him right now, and also because he isn't in possession of a mirror.

he doesn't fret about the missing shades just yet. so his eyes are showing, big deal. there are, uh, more pressing matters right now. as long as they aren't like totally lost or broken he'll get over it. ]

Yeah? I don't remember much. I feel like I'm coming off a wicked bad caffeine crash or something. [ ugh, fuck. holding his head and pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. ] Were you here the whole time?

action

[pranking]

[ john doesn't look too good, to be honest. there's blood in his hair and on his face, and he's covered in little nicks and scratches. it looked worse not too long ago, before what's left of his breath powers did it's work at helping him heal most of it. ]

No, I just got back in the middle of some big fight. Or, I guess nearer the end of it probably?

I, uh, think you didn't do so good in it.

[ running on the assumption that dave knows he was dead, even though the lack of flashy god tier revival has him wondering. but whatever, john has never claimed to understand how everything works — maybe it's different for knights or something.

puts away his hammer, the tight double-handed grip he's had on it finally letting up for the first time in hours. he's finding it hard to keep smiling — there's so much destruction, wow — but he really is relieved to see dave up and moving that it helps him relax, just a little. ]

Sorry it took me so long to work my way back here.

action

[switchback]

Fight?

[ well obviously some kind of shit went down over here, that would account for all the dead people, but right now he has literally no recollection of it. not of what took place, not of how he went charging headlong into the thick of it like an idiot, and not how he got mowed down indiscriminately pretty much right away for exactly that reason.

he just rubs his head a little more, looking around, and then slowly drops his hands to his sides. ]

It's cool, I guess. I basically have no idea what's going on so for once it's starting to look like you've got good timing. Far as I know, anyway.

action & audio

[embodies]

[ She's seen this before, not not to this scale... This... Terrible, terrible scale. Madoka holds a hand over her mouth and struggles not to breathe in the smell of blood and death, kneeling in a pool of blood left by whatever poor soul rushed to protect her. Homulilly is gone from the sky, the Witches Barrier has crumbled leaving the entire grim scene illuminated for all to see.

She can't take it.

She vomits away from her now very much deceased savior and climbs to her feet. She's barely twenty feet outside the city. In the barrier, she's sure she would have been right under her. Maybe she wasn't. Maybe she was here the whole time, cowering while other people who the remains of her friend out of it's despair.

The pip-boy is still in tact. Taking a deep breath, she presses the button and starts a feed. ]

Is... Is anyone else... Is anyone else [ alive ] okay?

action

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya comes from around the corner, wiping away the red from her cheeks. is she proud of herself for taking advantage of the fallen dead like this? not in the least. but she's been so hungry lately that she can hardly resist it now.

her eyes are wide and a little wild when she realizes one of the blood-bathed bodies is still alive. she approaches slowly, carefully, before extending a hand, glowing brighter now than it has in weeks. ]

It won't do to stay outside. Not like this.

action

[embodies]

[ She jumps at the approaching footsteps, turning around slowly to see the pale glowing figure.

I could have stopped all of this... If I'd made the contract. I could have had the power to save her.

She takes Kanaya's hand with a mute nod. ]

action

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya doesn't have time to distribute blame. emotionally processing any of this isn't a luxury she has, not in front of madoka. she needs to be strong to set everyone else at ease. they can't see her distress, they can't see her cry. she'll save that for later, whenever "later" may end up being.

she can't help noticing the blood on her leggings, and looks at them with some concern. it's lucky she's already eaten, this could put her in a very compromising position otherwise. ]

You aren't hurt, are you? We'll need to be careful walking if you're... [ slowly bleeding out? ] ...badly injured.

Re: action

[embodies]

No. It's... [ She looks at the body of the mutant native again, swallowing hard and looking back. ] It's not my blood. I'm okay. I can walk.

audio

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya doesn't come in all that night. orsun's too open to predators, and she has too much fire in her veins after taking her fill of the chaos. she'll make prey of the lot of them if she has to, and in the morning maybe sell off what's left. she'll protect whoever remains.

of course, that requires an inventory, so she pulls out her pip-boy a few hours after sunrise to check in. ]

If you can hear this, tell me you're still alive.

audio

[smackdown]

Define "alive".

[the feed is all heavy breath and the sound of bones cracking; he has no idea whether or not she was talking to him, but he happened to overhear it]

I feel like a fuggin' train ran me over.

audio

[glowsferatu]

[ she hadn't expected him, but she's not about to shut him out now, either. ]

What is the state of things in the city? It's horrific enough in here, but I can't entirely discern how well-guarded you may have been.

audio

[switchback]

Barely.

[ he basically sounds like ass, but that's better than being witch roadkill, at least. ]

But I'm here.

audio

[glowsferatu]

[ nce she hears him, she sounds slightly frantic. ]

Dave! Where are you? Have you seen any of the others?

audio

[switchback]

I'm outside Mutantsville. Thought I saw Dirk before— [ before he got curbstomped, which he barely remembers ] —uh, before all that shit went down, but I don't see anyone now.

What about you?

audio

[glowsferatu]

[ there's the sound of rustling as she stands to her feet, taking the time to see if she can spot him before making a run of the perimeter. ]

Which side are you approaching from? I've been guarding what inadequately passes for our boundaries through the night.

You should come in quickly, it isn't safe out here alone.

audio

[miasmajesty]

I'm here. Where ever here is.

[ Somehow, this poor bastard ended up all the way in Orsa. ]

audio

[glowsferatu]

Whatever coordinates your "here" has, it seems to possess a quality that's very distinctly "there". Is it at least safe in your mysterious there?

audio

[miasmajesty]

Safe as a nebulous location can be. Not dead to boot. Is everyone alright over in your there?

audio

[glowsferatu]

No. I would dare say a great many of them are not.

audio

[pranking]

I'm here, and also alive.

[ which may be a bit of a surprise — john went away from major cities exploring for a while longer than he'd intended, and a poorly timed return lead him into the chaos of last night. thankfully, he'd managed to pull through with little more than some sore cuts and bruises. ]

audio

[glowsferatu]

[ john holy shit. ]

W-- ...What? [ she never even properly met the guy, mostly just knowing about him through mutual friends and one conversation years back. but right til now she'd been sure that dude was so dead. ]

audio

[pranking]

Oh, geez, is this thing not working?

[ talks more loudly, as if that means more clearly: ] I said I'm here and alive.

audio

[glowsferatu]

I heard you from the start, it's simply that...where the hell have you been?!