Event | Landfall | Death

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and every!
Date: August 10th - 31, 2013
Location: The realm of Death as accessed via Sinbrilee
Situation: Death is the third of the realms; characters that wander here are subject to their worst fears and nightmares.
Warnings/Rating: Please place content warnings in subject headers!

Sinbrilee | Dreaming | Death

Life. Dreaming. Death. Three realms overlaid upon one another and yet each distinctly their own. They dwell in Life and do so live upon the back of the great turtle as those of Sinbrilee did upon the shell of his sister. However, there stand numerous arches of marble throughout the ruined city that are inlaid with runes beyond understanding. Those that live and breathe which step through those whose runes have crumbled round the etchings slowly ooze a black goo find themselves entering into the realm of Death.

Those expecting the malleable invitation of Dreaming are met by disappointment and decay. Death is final and unforgiving, having no mind or function to share its control or plan. Unpredictable to when it strikes, this realm is in a persistent state of flux of decay and regrowth. The is but one constant here: Fear.

Fear permeates the air and the mind, carrying with it misery and extreme temperatures that may shift from frigid to desert-hot in seconds. It is everywhere in the ruins that represent Sinbrilee here and it is everywhere in the city that rises at random, enjoying the height of its glory before crumbling with the eerie screams of thousands dying. Graves emerge here and there, frosted by the cold -- then suddenly, the tombstones are cracked from the wear of time.

Malicant's taint seeps into all things here and Death flourishes for it, stirring up visions and stags of one's deepest fears and the darkest parts of their lives. It holds its own parody of life, sensing intruders and acting to inspire the most terrifying heights of fear that it may. Sometimes it ebbs for a few minutes, only to renews its assault of nightmares with redoubled effort.

Fear and misery; the landscape and events play out without mind to the peace of these visitors. And yet, for every terrifyingly real detail, nothing here exists beyond this realm; 'constructs' simply fade if taken through the archways and even the greatest scientific minds or tools will reveal nothing of its source. This is an ancient magic of an ancient realm, too malicious to allow any to walk away with some trophy of it.

Note: Due to the fluid and highly individual nature of Death, no official subheaders will be provided in the comments of this post. Feel free to post and thread however you like, so long as the rules of Death are adhered to.

Comments

[wingedwarrior]

[Princess Diana od Themyscris, Wonder Woman, was really trying to bust her out a cage. The world, even the mental one, is full of surprises, isn't it. God only knows what will happen next.] You and I aren't exactly friends in my world.

[bridgetothemyscira]

Are you not also a part of that league? [Okay, randomly hitting it won't work. Diana starts looking at the cage a little more, trying to see if there was some other method she could work with to break it open. What a time to lose powers.] Are you not one of my sisters? I see no reason not to help you.

How do you open this cell?

[wingedwarrior]

[Sister. Diana just called her one of her sisters. Sure, she did that with practically any female in the world, but she hadn't called Shayera that in months.] They're calling me those names for a reason, I hope you know.

[She simply shrugs.] Beats me. It just... formed around me when the people came.

[bridgetothemyscira]

[She slides down the cage, this time examining it like a puzzle. Brute force was useless on it, so another approach was in order.]

I am quite aware. It is your memories, after all. [Hmmm... doesn't seem to have some sort of lock for her to see if she can work with it.] You can inform me about it when we find a way out of this.

[wingedwarrior]

No. These aren't my memories. Not all of them, at least. [She was never entrapped so forcibly like this, or put on display like a rare animal. Though display is a bit of a stretch, more like put out for ridicule.] Trust me, you won't want to know about this.

[bridgetothemyscira]

I believe I would be a better judge of that. Whatever it is, it certainly is big enough to manifest this. [Hmmm...] What is binding you to this cage?

[wingedwarrior]

You have no idea. She brings her knees up to her chest, as though she's curling in on herself.] That I can't fight back, and I deserve it.

[bridgetothemyscira]

For what? [Okay, this was taking too long. Going back to the first approach of smashing it until she gets tired since a lock wasn't showing up. Not with Shayera so down.]

What can you not atone for that you believe that you are to be exiled?

[wingedwarrior]

I lied to Earth. To the League. Everyone. And it almost got them all destroyed. [She's been trying to atone for it all since being let back into the League, but some days, it just didn't feel like it was enough.]

[bridgetothemyscira]

What? [That ends up stopping Diana from her mission, frowning as she looked down into the cage at Shayera.]

Shayera, what did you do exactly?

[wingedwarrior]

I lied. [There was no other way to put it, even if there was more to it than that.] I betrayed Earth. Told them I was a detective back home, but I was really a lieutenant in the Thanagarian army send ahead as an advance scout to Earth. To see if their defenses could handle the Gordanians coming to attack them. I'd been undercover for five years, and when the Thanagarians came, things got so bad, they took over the planet for a day.

That's what I did.

[bridgetothemyscira]

You did what? [That? Was anger. Definitely. Diana's grip on the cage didn't loosen, but she narrowed her eyes at Shayera, grounding her teeth.]

Why?

[wingedwarrior]

Because Thanagar was at war. [Shayera turns her head away, closing her eyes as the thoughts run rampant through her head.] I thought I was fulfilling my duty to protect my people, and helping Earth.

[bridgetothemyscira]

Why Earth? Surely, making certain that the defenses of the planet were sufficient, but why would the Gordanians attack us? [Something was off. Why would you trap them if you wished to help them?] Why did your people take over the planet?

[wingedwarrior]

The Gordanians attacked countless planets before. Decimated them. They don't care where they attack next, they just do. We were going to build a force field generator to protect earth from them. [None of it ever got easier to talk about, it always hurt.] At first, I thought it was just because we really needed their cooperation for this to work, to help defeat the Gordanians. But now I know it was because they needed to build a hyperspace bypass. The Thanagarians wanted to use it to jump past Gordanians defenses, and attack the home world. But it would've destroyed Earth in the process.

[bridgetothemyscira]

Shayera... [Anger. Displeasure. Disappointment. Pity. Remorse? ...]

Did you know about it before? When you betrayed Earth? [The choice of words were harsh, she knew, but now she was just watching, waiting for an answer as if trying to tell whether to believe her next words or not.] Be honest with me.

[wingedwarrior]

If you mean about the bypass, no. I don't think they trusted me since I'd been around the humans for so long. [She gestures back to Earth.] You saw the angry Thanagarians, right? You can guess what happened after I learned about that.

[I let down everyone.]

[bridgetothemyscira]

[There's a brief moment of silence as Diana contemplates her words. Her expression doesn't soften, still upset and close to rage, but she manages to reign it in as she weighs in what Shayera said.

Two minutes later, she's slamming her arms against the cage again with renewed vigor.]

[wingedwarrior]

[And her's the mix of confusion and surprise on her face as the rattling of the cage echos in the plane. It almost shocked her out of moping. Almost.] I don't get you people. You barely know me, and yet you fight for me as you would a close friend.

[bridgetothemyscira]

You [Clang!] misunderstand. [Bang. Clang! Bang!] I am not doing this to fight for you. [Bang!] I simply want to hit you right now.

[wingedwarrior]

[There's a quiet, sadly bitter laugh on her end, and she flicks a hand in the air as if she can't bring herself to care.] There's the Diana I know, always gotta land a punch.

[Though the cage is beginning to wear down, dents very visible in the bars.]

[bridgetothemyscira]

Are you just going to sit there and wait for this to break then? [Oh look, it's giving. Good. She focuses on the parts that are dented, hitting those even harder.]

[wingedwarrior]

When I've let down more people than I can count that I care about. I deserve punishment, however bad it may be. [Enve if it scared her these things could happen, she probably wouldn't stop them. The bars begin to bend more, close to the point of breaking.]

[bridgetothemyscira]

[Good, that's much better, and she starts putting more effort in her hits even if her arms were starting to strain with the effort to move. She's been at this for long, and she didn't have her strength to back it up. Still, she was determined to break it down.]

This isn't punishment. [Going to pry this open now.] This is self-pity. Have you not learned from your mistakes?

[wingedwarrior]

That doesn't mean Earth forgot. [She knows where her allegiance is now, but a lot of Earth, hell even some of the League, doesn't accept her back yet.]