Anthony J. Crowley (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
serpentinthegarden) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
diatu2021-10-17 01:17 pm
serpentinthegarden) wrote in diatu2021-10-17 01:17 pm
Oct Event Log - Portal Chaos
The glowing portal shuddered before slamming shut behind them. It had seemed like a good idea at the time... go through the portal in order to close it from the other side. And it had worked! The portal was closed, the school was safe but the heroes who had worked together to close the portal were now trapped on the other side.
[ OOC - This is the IC log for this. Consider it a freeform playground, take these prompts and run with them or come up with your own. ]
Through the Portal
( Loki, Crowley, Alec, Beetlejuice, Sho )
Silence fell as soon as the portal closed leaving the small group standing in the middle of a crossroads. The ruined archway that ran along the top of the cliffs hinted that there might once have been more of a civilization in this world but now there were only the two pathways, one that ran down the hill into the face of the brilliant red glow that hinted at a flow of magma beyond and one that curved up a hastily cobbled together set of stairs. Of course they were free to stay right where they were as well, here in this craggy passage with the imps peering down at them from every rock and crevasse.
Rescuers
( Aziraphale, Harry, Lena, Eleven, Mal )
With the battle won most begin to relax. There was the wounded to see to and the damage to the school to repair... but gradually the more tuned in students start to notice the missing. Roll calls that were taken but never completed for some were not around to answer to their names. Then one of the injured students comes to and mentions having seen the missing students disappearing through the imp summoning portal. Clearly they were trapped on the other side and it was up to their fellow students to work out a way to bring them back!
[ OOC - This is the IC log for this. Consider it a freeform playground, take these prompts and run with them or come up with your own. ]
Through the Portal
( Loki, Crowley, Alec, Beetlejuice, Sho )
Silence fell as soon as the portal closed leaving the small group standing in the middle of a crossroads. The ruined archway that ran along the top of the cliffs hinted that there might once have been more of a civilization in this world but now there were only the two pathways, one that ran down the hill into the face of the brilliant red glow that hinted at a flow of magma beyond and one that curved up a hastily cobbled together set of stairs. Of course they were free to stay right where they were as well, here in this craggy passage with the imps peering down at them from every rock and crevasse.
Rescuers
( Aziraphale, Harry, Lena, Eleven, Mal )
With the battle won most begin to relax. There was the wounded to see to and the damage to the school to repair... but gradually the more tuned in students start to notice the missing. Roll calls that were taken but never completed for some were not around to answer to their names. Then one of the injured students comes to and mentions having seen the missing students disappearing through the imp summoning portal. Clearly they were trapped on the other side and it was up to their fellow students to work out a way to bring them back!
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As fr which way to go, the answer was always up. But saying as much would be something a team player might do. Ad that's never been Sho. He started heading for the higher route. Better to get the lay of the land, whatever the factoring hectopascal this land was anyway.
He had thought it was a summoning glyph for taboo noise, now that he knew it wasn't, he just wanted to get the zetta half back to the campus and start collecting all that sweet salvage before it got cleaned up. It would make for some flawless sculptures. Perhaps one right in the center of everything, and then one one quarter the height equidistant on eight sides...
So yeah, rather than standing around and talking, the reaper is just walking off. He doesn't seem to care if anyone follows him or not. The whole group thing has never been his style. Ask the Conductor.
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"At least one of us has made their decision. Are we actually going to attempt to stick together?" With an eyebrow raise as he looked at the others.
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Beetlejuice made a rude gesture toward Sho’s back and looked at Loki.
“I’m all for sticking together.”
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Meanwhile Crowley's attention had turned to Alec whom he had just left IN THE HOSPITAL WING and whom ought to have still been there convalescing. This dry look you were getting... consider it the worst sort of mother hen tongue lashing you've ever received. You should NOT be here!
"They won't attack me." He stabbed a finger at Beetlejuice, "Or probably him. Imps work for demons and without anyone summoning them through portals they don't have any reason to attack us."
His dark wings flared out behind him, brushing past Loki's shoulder and overall just looking damn impressive if he said so himself!
"The rest of you though..." A sideways glance at Sho who was disappearing up the trail and about whom he knew very little, "Pranks. They love their pranks."
Some where on the floor near their feet one of the braver imps scuttled around but made sure to check Loki's feet for shoelaces that might be tied together before it made it's escape back up the stone cliffs.
"Welcome to Hell."
Crowley took a moment to sniff the air before pointing.
"Sulfur pools must be over there," for there was the distinct smell of brimstone and rotten egg, "Probably those stairs lead somewhere. If you want to stick together guess we need to catch that guy up."
But even after taking a few hops up those stairs he stopped and looked back toward Alec, uncertain if he could really handle stairs right now.
"You didn't have to follow me. It's not the first time I've been down here." A beat, "Well... maybe not here, here. This particular section of Hell isn't one I've been in before, but if you've seen one magma pool you've seen them all."
no subject
If what Anthony said about the imps was true, then he wondered.... A few muttered words and a gesture with his good hand and he had wings of his own. They were more of a rust red than black, like drying blood, but hopefully that would be enough.
"Let's get this done." He started up the stairs in a determined stride. And then after a moment considered to ask. "What exactly are we going to do?"
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If there was anyone here he could erase. Been a while since he erased a player, he was getting itchy.
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Hopefully it would be impressive enough to fit in with the demons, because he wasn't going to manifest wings. Not when everyone else was doing so.
"We're going to find out where these stairs lead. Hopefully it's somewhere useful, where we can see about getting out of here."
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He clapped his hands together cheerfully. "I wonder where they have their offices and cubicles. OH. And watch out for that guy, he's batshit."
The demon gestured towards Sho. "If you wanna keep your breather breathing," he advised Crowley, "keep him away from that guy. That fella shot me in the gut during an argument. I'm gonna push him in a pit of magma later."
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"Noted."
The view from the top of the stairs was an impressive one. From here one could see the pools of magma bubbling down at the end of the other trail and a vast outcropping of buildings built into and from the numerous red rocks. Many of the imps scurried on ahead into the city, crawling into the windows and through the doorways. As the group traveled on the air seemed to grow thicker with ash from the various lava ponds and with a growing feeling of evil. Everyone had some evil in them but now the miasma of the place began to work on them, beginning to tease out at least one of the seven deadly sins from each of them. There were gambling halls those afflicted with Greed might lose themselves in. Various foods of Hell which those with a touch of Gluttony could indulge in, Brothels to satisfy Lust, and weapons of all kinds fit to satisfy anyone feeling a bit too much Envy or Wrath. Their demonic disguises were only that for now but the longer they stayed in this place the more monstrous they threatened to become.
Crowley yawned deeply as he swaggered his way between Alec and Sho who was still further up the trail than the rest of them. From some reason he was beginning to feel a touch Sloth-like.
"What we do is find some way back. There must be some way to open a new portal or find a boat... And we need to distract these imps some how so they don't follow us! Last thing that school needs is a bunch of imps taking classes."
no subject
He could feel the anger growing in him as he followed the trail, toward a stone bridge--or what looked like stone, black and twisted, blasted to hell, over a bubbling river of magma. Even though they were still a distance from it he could feel the heat and sweat was already running down his neck and making his shirt stick to his back.
On the other side of the bridge was...something. A demon maybe. A mass of sapient rock. It reminded him of the Disney movie with the music and the huge devil drawing up the ghosts of the damned. It was right in his wheelhouse. He pulled ahead of everyone, the steel of the bridge melting the rubber of his soles and heating the bottom of his feet-- and when he crossed the other side he looked up at the thing, those jeering gleaming eyes peering down at him.
"How about I kick your ass and you show us the way out?"
The demon laughed. A great sound that sent rocks falling and splashing magma dangerously close. He didn't care. He didn't. Even when it rose to a full terrifying height. A mace or a morning star or something in its hand.
Why not go for it? He took half a step back, making the movements with his off hand and muttering a defensive spell. He had nothing to lose.
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The combination had him realizing why he was feeling so right since they arrived. This...
THIS WAS A ZETTA LOVING UG!
Let the zero take point for the 1/60th of a minute. What did Sho care if some yoctogram got erased.
He had his powers back! He could feel them, now that he was paying attention. He rolled his shoulders as his wings spread out from his back.
Let other reapers have small dainty wings if they wanted. His had grown exponentially!
And if he could have his wings back....
He focused and called up some Noise.
Jungle boomer! He could work with that. He was tempted to summon up something truly big - the boomer being just slightly shorter than he was - like Dub Rhino, but that could wait. Besides, he wasn't sure yet if Taboo would be needed. Best to make sure any Noise he summoned first would be loyal to him.
"Times to erase some Zeroes!" he said happily, and you could almost hear that he used an X in his head for times rather than the word. Because what was the fun of speaking if one didn't make math references constantly? "Who wants to be divided first?!" He asked as a maniacal laugh bubbled up from deep within him.
He didn't know this UG, it wasn't Shibuya... but it was about to be his!
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"Yes, because that is such a brilliant idea right now, idiot." Loki didn't bother to keep the snark from his voice. Then their annoying lone-wolf was manifesting his own show-off routine. Which did at least provide a good opportunity for Loki to reach out and attempt to drag Alec back to the group. "You, stay put." Turning to a group of imps that had followed them, the god pointed--moving to reach out with his mind. "You!" He intoned while gesturing. "Keep that one busy!" Pointing in the direction of the demon and Sho. Smirking as they chattered then headed in that direction, and he turned to Crowley, Beetlejuice, and Alec. "We should keep moving."
cw: crass comment
He did think Loki was probably right. There had to be better places to see than this section of New-Hell.
To Crowley as an aside, "D'ya think he's compensating?" with a chin thrust towards Sho's wings.
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Sho's wings seemed to hover over them like a backdrop. Big, flashy, and yes perhaps compensating for something. Who could say? He had never met the kid before and he wasn't the least bit interested in doing math with him. Not his subject math.
"He speaking in tongues?"
That did some times happen in Hell to those who were unprepared or unusually susceptible to it's influences and it would explain why very little of what the kid had said made any sense to him.
The imps were simple creatures and very easily influenced. They quite readily took to Loki's mental suggestions and ran en masse towards the demon. Ready for a fight the dark winged demon had raised it's hand to smack at the insects who had dared to challenge him but now he found his hand covered from fingertips to elbow by nasty biting and clawing imps. The demon's howl of surprise was deafening but it was distracting enough to give them all time to slip away... if that's what they wanted.
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The first of which was that he would always be a human that no one superhuman took remotely seriously for good reason and that would be the same no matter how good he became at magic, he'd still be scraping the bottom of the barrel.
The second of which was that he was posturing for no reason and while he tried not to feel humiliated by his own foolishness, his brain refused to listen to his commands.
The third of which was to be distracted when facing a demon the size of a small hill was a really bloody stupid idea. The creature barked a laugh and rose, backhanding him before he had time to react. Driving the breath right out of him.
He managed to come to as he was hurtling through the air and managed to use the wings to cushion the fall but landed hard on some blackstone rocks, bouncing once before scraping his back against the heat. He was at the base of the mountain again, arm throbbing, staring at the orange red glow of the perhaps sky and wanting the ground to swallow him.
Someone would come for him he was fairly sure and though he'd like to think he'd rejoin them under his own steam, he knew he wouldn't manage. So for the moment he lay there blinking upwards and wishing the ground would swallow him.
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He applauded as he approached. "Not half bad. Of course for a target, he was so zetta slow. Tell you what, when I claim this UG for myself, I'll add you to the roster. +1 Reaper, that add up for you? Take me to your Composer and I'll challenge to a Reaper's game here and now. Winner take all! I'll find my beauty in this inverse matrix and run this UG with my flawless calculations. And I'll FOIL anyone who tries to stop me! First Outer Inner LAST!" he proclaimed happily as more Noise formed around him in a show of strength.
He leaned back while standing, as if unconcerned, hands in his pockets while his wings leisurely opened and closed. "SOH CAH TOA," he said as if satisfied that he was clearly the undisputed victor here.