c3p-0h

Why We Fall (Loosely based on The 100)

ok so we've got smarty, tate, ceta, rumiko, and me. anyone else?

Lantern

we interrupt your regularly scheduled horror show to bring you artemis contemplating her navel and pretending she can use actual logic on hellmurder island. p'shaww

Lantern

Artemis, exhausted and on her back, looked up at the sky. The surrounding trees had been burned away. All that was left to break up the ever present blackness of the night was the moon and a mass of stars. Both were foreign to her. She idly pondered at the others who looked up at this alien sky. They probably used the moon's rotation to tell time in the absence of the sun. But… if the island sat in eternal night, that either meant the sun was nonexistent (and thus couldn't reflect off the moon to make it visible) or the globe didn't rotate (and the moon would only change its position relative to months, and not days). What of the seasons? Did the world move around the sun, spinning on its axis only enough to keep the island in the shadows? Was there some land mass on the opposite side of the world bathed in eternal sunlight? Maybe the island wasn't cursed at all, and the world's orbit was just so massive and slow compared to what the humans were used to that one global day here seemed like decades to them.

The gryphon beside her had grown bored and plopped its head on the ashen ground with a huff. Artemis' hand drifted over to its head and started scratching at the soft feathers just above its beak, between its eyes. It wouldn't do if the beast got fed up with her and decided to leave her stranded.

A voice cut through her aimless thoughts. Artemis immediately tensed, her hand stilling on the gryphon. It was a man's voice, smiling and distant, but still close enough to be heard clearly. She forced herself to relax, and moved her arms to push herself up into a sitting position. Leaning back on her hands, her eyes found the source of the voice. A man, wiry and dark skinned, sat above a cracking fire. The flames cast dancing, ghoulish shadows across his face.

As far as Artemis could tell, people were either Kith or Pirates on the island. Masks or iron. The few Kith she'd run into hadn't seemed… horrible. They'd all been unpleasant children, but had seemed at least as wary of her as she'd been of them. But her relations with the Pirates weren't much to look at, either. The first one had turned into some bloodcurdling shadow demon and thrown her into a river. The other two were less nightmare inducing, but Artemis had also robbed them. That likely hadn't bought her any favors with Pirates on the whole.

The man wore no mask. But Artemis wasn't sure she could spy any iron on him, either.

Blood-rats. Why why why did everything on this island seem to be some horrid, people-eating abomination.

Remembering his question, she turned her head to look around and the charred remains of the forest.

"Hmm," she hummed, pretending to contemplate. "No, this one wasn't me." This one, at least. Artemis wondered if that fire she'd accidentally set with the Lantern had been put out yet. She looked back at the man and sat forward, meeting his eyes. A hand casually fell to the staff in her lap while the other found the gryphon's head again. "And for the record," she said, idly turning her gaze to the gryphon, "I happen to have an expert rat catcher with me, so I think I'll nap as long as I please." Artemis was fairly certain she'd never be able to sleep on this island. Not with things like blood-rats and monkey-bats and, heaven forbid, children running rampant. There was a slight playfulness to her voice, no real edge to her words. Her head cocked to the side a bit. "What's keeping them off you?"

Heaven and Hell, she hoped there were no blood-rats around.

Heroes are we

aaaaah i have internet!!!!! Q.Q

you can decide the actual cause of the explosion and how you wanna do that. i'm thinking the healer probably had some subtle hand in it, but i know you have some villains you wanna play with too. my only request is that aya gets away without anyone realizing.

Heroes are we

Wes/Likho

Wes was frozen as he watched the strangers introduce himself and… partner up with him?

"Ok, hang on," he cut in, annoyance staining his voice. "I'm not leading anyone anywhere." He pulled his hood back and ran a hand through his hair. "All that's gonna happen is she," he pointed at Aya, "is going to tell me everything she knows about the Healer, and then I am going to deal with him. Alone. If you wanna take it upon yourself to protect her then by all means. Don't let me get in your way."

He looked back at Aya, surprised to see her finally pushing herself to her feet. She winced a bit at the various scrapes littering her body and Wes felt a twinge of guilt at that. At least it looked like they'd stopped bleeding. When she'd finally reached her full, unimpressive height, Wes waited. Her eyes were glued to the ground, not meeting the gazes of anyone else.

"I," she started, only to close her mouth again. Her eyebrows crinkled together as her gaze darted over the ground, as though her answers were hidden there. "My dad died. A few years ago. My mom's not really around. After… I got put in the system and… there's good people, I'm sure. People who do it for the right reasons and care for the kids they take in. I just… didn't meet them."

We shifted his weight, glancing around at the others. He wondered where Aya was going with this.

"I tried running a few times, but they always found me and brought me back to…" Her mouth was still open, some unsaid word trying to force its way out of her throat. She clamped her mouth closed again and took a breath before continuing. "I did something. You could call it self defense, but it doesn't…" Her voice wavered and her eyes started to glisten again. "The Healer found me after. Said he could protect me, take care of me if I just –" Aya brought hand up to wipe at her eyes. Wes glanced at the others, uncomfortable and frustrated – pissed as hell that the monster would victimize another person like this. Wes needed to end him. He needed Aya to tell him how to do it.

She clamped a hand over her mouth, as though that would halt the emotions threatening to overtake her. Her eyes squeezed shut. Wes stepped forward.

"Hey," he said quietly, trying not to startle her. Awkward and unsure, Wes slowly raised his free hand. Aya didn't seem to hear him. "It's ok. You're ok." He lowered his hand to rest it lightly on her shoulder.

And then the building they were all standing atop exploded.

Aya/Cosmos

Aya watched the different vigilantes talk about what to do, almost seeming to reach some sort of consensus for what to do about the Healer. About her.

Voices warred in Aya's head, telling her to come clean. Others shouted back that doing so would only get everyone on this roof killed. She couldn't just deny that she was involved anymore though. Likho had her dead to rights, and now it seemed the others had come to the same conclusions. They wouldn't let her leave without answers. But maybe Aya didn't need to give away them all.

And so she began. Her history wasn't something she spoke of often, and it showed with how raw the harsh edges of her life cut at her.

She clamped a hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shot when a sob fought to break free. God, this was pitiful.

Likho, clearly uncomfortable, was stiff and awkward beside her. But he still tried, in his way. Aya felt a hand, warm and heavy beneath the glove, make its way to her shoulder. And then there was chaos.

Something erupted beneath them, and there was an explosion Aya felt more than heard. It rattled her bones as the roof lurched and started to crumble. She was fairly certain she screamed. The hand at her shoulder moved, replaced by a pair of arms wrapping around her. The world was a mess of smoke and ash, the aftershocks still ringing in her ears. When it came back into focus, Aya found herself lying in the rubble, dusty and shaken. New pains arced through her body, but nothing debilitating. Though, she supposed it was hard to tell through the shock. Her eyes found Likho, a short distance away. His body moved in a sluggish, pained manner, but he didn't seem to much worse for wear. Her sense of hearing trickled back to her. Dogs barking, people shouting, car alarms blaring… they slowly formed the backdrop to the chaos.

Aya searched for the other four. Instead she found a tall, cloaked figure standing in the distance. A man made of inky black, darker than the night sky. A short, flat hat rested atop his head. Both gloved hands rested on a long walking cane. In place of a face was only a long, beaked mask, glassy circles in the place of eyes.

The Healer.

She felt her heart stop, fear freezing her veins. The Healer watched for a moment. Then he turned and slowly faded into the night. Aya looked back to the others, watching them all get their bearings. Then she forced herself to her feet as quietly as she could, and disappeared. Aya escaped without anyone being the wiser.

Why We Fall (Loosely based on The 100)

hey, can we get a roll call going? just so we know for sure Who's Here^TM?

Lantern

jfc what an entrance

Heroes are we

Still… trying with the internet. I'm still here not to fret. Just… yeah.

Lantern

Happy birthday mokley~~~~~~

Heroes are we

So Internet has been out for the better part of the night and afternoon. I'm on my phone. I'll see if it's back up tomorrow morning. Thanks for the patience xi~~