ENDPLOT | ROLL THE BONES, PART 1

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: Early/Mid November
Location: Under the shell
Situation: It's either Malicant or the Foreigners... and their worlds.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The Foreigners had begun their counterattack by trying to possess the Great Turtle whom Malicant had taken, and although the movement had failed, some vital information had been uncovered. Under the shell lay Malicant's weakness, and inside the Dreaming was where he could be fought.

Any help from the kedan is uncommon. They're wary, watching, as a group beginning to lose sight of the community. Their family groups are more tightly-knit than ever, and any approach from the Foreigners is answered by suspicion at best and violence at worst. That makes daily life difficult, when the majority of the city refuses to have much to do with them. Why aren't you doing anything? they seem to say. What good are any of you? All you've done is make things worse. We'd be better if you'd never come.

The Foreigners are unwelcome in Keeliai. The cultists are becoming a majority. Now is the time.

There aren't many left of the Foreigners left, but inside the Dreaming the limitations of the waking world no longer exist. For every Foreigner and their worlds, their loved ones, this is the chance to make themselves safe for good. And all of them will be needed.

---

LINKS
Beneath The Shell/Midnight Hotel | Malicant’s Tools/The Vilii Stone | OOC Plot Post

OOC
There are two main headers, one for preparation at the Hotel where Milyn and Eva will be available to speak with The second section where they will be able to search the caves beneath the Shell inside the Dreaming to find the Vilii Stone, and where the boon'd characters will be affected. If you are threading something that doesn't fit one of those categories, just add it to the bottom of the post. Questions go to the plotting post, please! Once the Stone has been acquired the second half of the plot will go live in the logs comm.

Comments

[skeletonenigma]

Skulduggery wasn't sure what sort of response he expected. But whatever it was, the hug ranked somewhere on the bottom of the list.

He didn't know what to do with it. He knew how hugs worked, in principle, but he didn't know how hugs from Anton worked. He didn't know what to do with a hug he hadn't initiated for someone else's comfort. He didn't know how to accept comfort.

He didn't know how to accept such an obvious gesture of forgiveness.

In the end, Skulduggery settled for wrapping one arm around Anton's shoulders. "They should," Skulduggery said. "But they don't. Am I missing something?"

[gistful]

"Only because you refuse to let others offer them in the first place." It was a tired, weary sort of argument, one Anton had no energy to fight right now and one they had no time to do so at any rate.

Except they had to, because the knowledge of what Malicant had done would only serve to bolster Skulduggery's ability to resist. So Anton would spare the time to explain that. That, and he was still shuddering, and he wasn't sure his knees would hold him enough to walk until the gist had wound down some more. "You were wearing Larrikin's face," Anton said. "You were taking his mannerisms, like Hopeless used to do."

[skeletonenigma]

A very weary argument, and not one Skulduggery was going to ponder when they were so close to winning such a long and weary war.

He stiffened. The motion didn't make much difference in a skeletal frame which usually remained utterly still, but the change was still perceivable to those who knew him well. Larrikin's face. Larrikin's mannerisms. No wonder the hug had been Anton's reaction; it wasn't Skulduggery he was hugging.

"We're going to kill him," Skulduggery said simply. "Do you need help walking?"

[gistful]

Anton took stock, shifting slightly without actually releasing Skulduggery. His knees trembled but held, and after a moment he shook his head. "No." Finally he let Skulduggery go, not quite looking Skulduggery in the face even though he wasn't currently wearing a face.

Instead he deactivated Gilgamesh's mask and went to pick up the machete, Hopeless's machete, and Daisy. The former he sheathed. The latter he checked to make sure it hadn't discharged when he dropped it. "We need to go back. There are others who will be needing the help to break his control."

[skeletonenigma]

"I know." Skulduggery checked his own gun was still in its holster, but it hadn't moved. He hadn't expected it to. He remembered the fight itself; he just didn't know the face he'd pulled up was Larrikin's.

Really. Starting with fire was the pedestrian choice of an amateur. Following it with Larrikin's face had been nothing more than a parlour trick, and thanks to Anton, it hadn't worked.

"Where did you get the armour?" Skulduggery asked as he followed Anton back towards the Hotel. "I haven't seen it before."

[gistful]

"It was a gift from Dante," said Anton as he moved toward the Hotel with as quick a pace as he could manage without falling. His movement cast that morphing purple-pink-orange light across the walls and floor, from the greaves and shoulder-plates and single gauntlet still manifested.

"He felt I might be able to make better use of it." Anton lifted the gauntlet to watch the lines change colour, keeping Daisy pointed at the ground and close at his waist. "Larrikin would have appreciated someone finally getting me into pink."

[skeletonenigma]

Larrikin would have appreciated the spinning kick, too. Skulduggery chose not to mention that part. Instead, he chuckled. "Most employees give their employers gifts to impress them, or to earn their favour. Is there something else Larrikin would have appreciated, Anton?"

It shouldn't have been as surprising as it was that Skulduggery hadn't already known about the gift. It was, after all, a gift, and even a gift that could be used as a weapon wasn't necessarily something Skulduggery would have had any reason to know about. It still felt like something of a failure on his part, however, and he wasn't entirely sure why. Jealousy? Doubtful; Skulduggery had never developed an urge to wear pink and purple armour, nor was he about to start. Perhaps he was still feeling the blow to his pride he suffered when he was manipulated so easily only minutes before.

[gistful]

Anton gave Skulduggery an impressively blank look, though to someone who knew him well there was a tiny glint in his eyes. Malicant couldn't demean Larrikin's memory so easily. Larrikin demeaned himself well enough for anyone, and didn't care.

"No," he said firmly, "Larrikin would have remained continuously disappointed." Particularly with the fact that Anton had had Dante in his bed and declined to take advantage, or make an offer. Larrikin would just have to get over it.

There were shouts from up ahead, like others possessed, and Anton abandoned the conversation to break into a jog.

[skeletonenigma]

In Dante, Skulduggery didn't ask, or in your refusal to hear him out?

Apparently, there was a little more of Larrikin's spirit in their conversation than there should have been. Skulduggery didn't complain, though he did try to ask it nicely to come back once they weren't in the middle of a battle. There were others being subjugated even now, and Skulduggery needed to find Wreath before the necromancer numbered among them.

When Anton broke into a run, Skulduggery followed.