⇨ DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone out in the library.
When: Day 59
Where: The Athenaeum
What: Towards the end of the visit, we are visited by a series of worrisome NPCs, who may or may not be illusions. There will be at least 5 NPC toplevels posted overall, all happening in a similar time period ICly (in rough chronological order), so not everyone needs to be in every thread.
Warnings: Possibility of very real danger to anyone who participates. Remember that Sans has told everyone to travel in groups, so if you aren't, you'll probably get a scolding later.

TURNING THE PAGE↴ As the carnival continues to explore the Athenaeum in the pursuit of more information about the legendary Miracles, the tension is thick with the knowledge that the Summer Court could be in pursuit any day now. On Day 59, a series of threatening encounters will begin manifesting - but are they real, or an illusion?

Comments

[npcarnival]

The Lady is grabbed by Malachite's massive hands, lifted up and throttled. She makes sickening choking noises, followed by death noises, followed by going completely limp.

[stompadour]

This was... unexpected, to say the least, for both of Malachite's component parts. She blinks, the two pairs of eyes just slightly out of sync. Then she slams the limp form of the Lady of the Lake against the wall of the cavern, extremely hard, just to make sure. For her part Jasper is sure this was too easy, but also she very badly wants to have won.

[mirrortide]

And, much to Jaspers' probable dismay, another pair of hands reaches up to grab the thoroughly pasted fae.

And brings it right up to her awful mouth.

And plops the body right in there. And swallows. The Ringmaster is probably pleased somewhere.

[stompadour]

Jasper does indeed register her disagreement with this course of action, but it's not a particularly strong disagreement. She really does not like the Lady of the Lake.

While Lapis is doing that, though, the pair of eyes that roughly correlates with Jasper most of the time is scanning the cavern for anything that might possibly constitute a way out, and not really... finding anything that looks promising...

[npcarnival]

This probably seems like a good idea for a whole of fifteen seconds, until it becomes obvious that Malachite has made a terrible, terrible mistake.

What starts as a sharp pain in here gullet will turn into a sharp pain in her everywhere... but somehow not enough to split her, or make her lose her form. She'll feel something moving inside her, something growing - like branches of a tree becoming bones through her body of light.

Bones she can't control.

Malachite loses control of her hands, and they lift to her neck, applying that same vicious pressure to her throat. It's like she's being puppeted from inside.

[mirrortide]

The middle hands wrap around what passes for Malachite's upper stomach as pain spreads through her form, and she near doubles over on herself.

And then, without say from either Jasper or Lapis, her top hands wrap around her throat and squeeze, the lower pair move up as well to grasp at the top set, trying to pull them away.

"Stop that!"

[npcarnival]

Her body doesn't listen. Next, Malachite is thrown forward into the water, essentially forcing herself to drown in the equivalent of a puddle.

[stompadour]

Even scrabbling to push herself upright is impossible. Her arms just won't do what she wants them to; all she can manage is a two-voiced roar of anger and pain.

The sensible thing to do might be to separate. Unfortunately, Jasper is holding on for dear life.

[mirrortide]

"Let me go!" Malachite roars with the voice that's mostly Lapis. Though it's probably clear in the mental space, it likely comes out more muffled considering the water.

At least Lapis does have the sensible idea to separate. Unfortunately, it seems like the literal tides have turned on Lapis this time, because Jasper is holding on way too strongly.

[stompadour]

Jasper will not -- which means that Malachite is trapped there by the Lady's will, unable to even physically struggle against the awful force keeping her face down in the water.

It takes longer for her to drown. Her torsos heave against the inevitability of it, to no avail. When it starts to be absolutely unbearable Jasper finally relents her frantic grip on the fusion, but it's too late, by then. Her four eyes dart around in increasingly sluggish panic, until at last they flutter closed and her massive, monstrous body goes as limp as the Lady of the Lake's grip will permit.