(closed) the captain called all hands and swore

[necrolord]

Who: John and friends. This is the CLOSED log.
What: A boat trip.
When: 7/05
Where: Out on the sea.

Warnings: blood, violence, murder of helpless victims, drowning, grief, body horror, eldritch bug monsters.

[ It's time for BOATGATE, a player plot full of murder, corruption, and vengeance. This log is closed to John's close CR. Here is a timeline.

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT
1.1 - The Preparations - John invites his friends out sailing.
1.2 - The Trip - They have a briefly pleasant time.
1.3 - The Raid - John asks his kids to capture some NPC pirates.
1.4 - The Sacrifice - John asks his kids to execute the pirates. This goes wrong quickly.
1.5 - The Sinking - Mariana rebels and the ship goes down. Waves, Beasts, chaos.

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT
2.1 - Washing Up - Characters make it to shore, react to the chaos, and decide to fight or flee.
2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - Several new combatants enter the scene.
2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - Survivors limp home.

Participants, feel free to mingle and tag around below. Everyone else, please see the OPEN log for PART 3 - CONSEQUENCES. ]

Comments

0 - SUMMARY

[necrolord]

[ Add your character here, for handwaving purposes! Just give us a line about what action they'd take and how they'd fare in each stage. ]

<b>PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT</b><ul> <li><b>1.1 - The Preparations</b> - <li><b>1.2 - The Trip</b> - <li><b>1.3 - The Raid</b> - <li><b>1.4 - The Sacrifice</b> - <li><b>1.5 - The Sinking</b> - </ul> <b>PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT</b><ul> <li><b>2.1 - Washing Up</b> - <li><b>2.2 - Fight Fight Fight</b> - <li><b>2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath</b> - </ul>

John Jemperor Gaius

[necrolord]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - John invites all the participants out sailing, or you can say the invite reached them through someone else in the group. He'd give the reasons described at the bottom of the ooc post.
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - John is in apparently good spirits, but there's a tension underlying it. Sea shanties, jokes, the usual.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - John encourages Anna to attract the attention of pirates and lets the kids get worked up about a coming battle. The pirates board The Lonely Island and are handily defeated. John will heal all wounds in his crew.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - John has the whole pirate crew rounded up and gives the order to kill them. For science. When fighting breaks out, he will immobilize Deku until the ritual is complete. His Omen threatens to manifest.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Mariana smashes the boat. He will try to keep it afloat with necromancy, but this comes at the cost of defending his crew: he is so busy trying to wrangle his fight with Mariana that he does not help Gideon when she falls in and drowns. His Omen still threatens to manifest.
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - John can get a ride to shore or make his own way. He will try to h/c the kids and get rebuffed.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - John's Omen manifests and she is very bad! John will not kill anyone directly, but Lenore will try. She will fly into a berserker state and go after anyone she perceives as a threat, including Augustine, Paul, L, etc. John will try to rein her in without success. He will give Augustine the order to kill indiscriminately to simplify things, which is how Kaine gets murdered for being rude.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - John, badly corrupted, makes his way home.
  

local warden

[megatheorem]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Tolerated for being good at his job and throwing fewer punches than his other half, Palamedes arrives looking like he is already exhausted by the whole affair, because the sea is bad actually and this is a bad idea. He is terse but not moody.
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - Palamedes is not going to sing any shanties because he has self-awareness about his singing ability and also, mmph, no thanks @ moving while on this boat. He will pick a spot out of the way and not leave it, but for most people at least, he is willing to have a conversation. He is mercifully not testing his tolerance for seasickness this time.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - He'll sit this one out as he is a piece of dry pasta with glasses, lmao...
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - Ethically and like with human decency he objects, but he continues to just stand there in what he wishes were shock instead of dull un-surprise, until the trouble really starts and Ortus tips him overboard as a gesture of goodwill.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - he's in the ocean somewhere with omen rio, good luck everybody ✌️
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - As soon as Rio swims him back to shore he is grabbing Viktor and skedaddling, peace out. Text him when you are done Making Choices, buds.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - n/a
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - n/a
  

anna, for short

[hauntedsavior]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Despite how this will be the first real time she's spoken to Teacher since she began tugging at his threads, she agrees to join. Her loved ones have long since made it out of the water, so that gambit won't work, but she'll agree to an expedition to learn more about the nature of Sleepers. Besides, a ship can't get far without its captain.
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - It's time for another rousing, a cappella chorus of the Wellerman. And she's not gonna stop until everybody's singing.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - Slowly getting caught back up in the way it feels to be the Dread Captain Amaranth (and overcompensating for the time she spent as a victim of the Lonely), Anna gives into Teacher's goading to bring a crew of pirates aboard and rough them up a little. It'll be fun for the kids, too, and a good way to make sure that the pirates know who owns these seas.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - Voiced by Paul. Horrified into silence as her body stops obeying her.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Rescued by Dekubus because she's 1) extremely dense and will sink with the boat; 2) swinging between apoplexy and catatonia fast enough to metaphorically generate her own magnetic field.
  
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - Lands safely on the beach, drawing her sword to try to handle the threat that's made itself known to all of them.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - Anna fights until Kainé dies.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - Stricken with grief and bleeding for vengeance, she returns home and vows to drag everyone who sent her into this Hell back down with her.
  

the demon that comes when people call its name

[the_obedient_servant]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Chara will show up as one of Jemperor's students and as a friend and ally of Paul's. They'll be polite but insufferable as they usually are. Your tolerance may vary.
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - Under absolutely no circumstances will they sing. They might speak like a pirate in front of Deku, but with absolutely no change to their nondescript but vaguely american accent and tone of voice. They'll be actively very curious about John Jemperor's goal and will
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - Chara will utterly demolish any pirate in their path. The only thing stopping them from killing them was that they were ordered to bring them onto the boat alive, but they will sever a few limbs at least.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - Chara will raise their hand like they're in class and ask if Jemperor Jod Jaius wants them all dead at the same time or just in general. After that point of clarification they will immediately stab their own captured pirates in the heart one by one. If anyone tries to stop them, they will fight over this. If anyone doesn't fight them but clearly doesn't want to do it, they will gently offer to kill their pirates for them.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Chara is getting rescued by Deku. Surely he will not regret this. Chara thinks Marina is a bit of a dick for this :/
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - Chara will show up and be as fine as they ever are. They'll be quick to speak on Paul and Jod's defence, saying that everyone else is being wildly immature for assuming that they could stick to their precious ethical principles about killing.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - Chara will fight in Paul and John's defence, and due to Oscar showing up uninvited, they will seek to make an example of him and kill him. Just to make it clear that they have no qualms about killing anyone else if they continue to get in the way. This will backfire when an enraged Willow decides to kick the shit out of them. They will get their ass kicked a lot but it'll end inconclusively after they stab her and they'll both run away quickly.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - Heavily corrupted and drowning in nihilism, they will escape to rest and recuperate before continuing their murderous rampage against NPCs and Sleepers who get in their way alike. After roping their partner into it of course.
  

Willow Rosenberg

[frogfear]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Of course Willow's going to gladly help her very good friend who stopped her from wolfwalking by messing with her soul. Corruption's already a problem that she's failing to recognize (or just plain ignoring), but it's fine because she can do magic again.
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - She'll hang out on the deck, and mess with magic she hasn't been able to use in almost a year (probably mostly floating things). Like the last boat trip, she will refuse to sing.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - Willow will most likely hang back and try to stay out of most of the fighting.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - She might need a little nudging, but she will kill pirates with magic, which will push her into black hair, black eyes full corruption mode.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - tba
  
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - Willow will land safely back on shore either under her own steam or with someone else's help.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - She will be seriously injured trying to kill Chara, after they kill Oscar.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - Faith will bring Willow to Constantine's old cottage to recover and gather her strength.
  

Paul Atreides

[terriblepurpose]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Paul approaches the boat trip with a spirit of optimism and trust, assuming that he has been told everything he needs to know about the expedition.
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - Paul assists with navigation of the Pthumerian Sea and busies himself otherwise looking after anything that needs attending to on board. Ginger candies are liberally distributed.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - This is a fun, light-hearted fight from Paul's perspective, and a chance to show off a little.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - The pivot point. Paul uses the Voice to prevent interference in John's orders and participates in the sacrifice.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Paul attempts to reach Gideon. He instead finds his Patron, and she is disappointed. He is rescued from the depths by Kaworu, who has made a bargain with Mariana to do so.
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - Paul is deposited on the beach by Kaworu, who is in full fledged Beast form. He is confronted by the need to address this problem, and several others, by Midoriya.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - Paul's first confrontation is with Faith, who is stymied in her efforts to give him what he has coming by Gideon's spiritual intervention. His second is with John's Omen, Lenore, after she injures L Lawliet. This leads Paul to manifest everything he's got in a fight with her: his timeline slicing knife, his precipice of Corruption, and his Desolation-granted fire powers. It is messy. He is knocked unconscious by Augustine before he can attempt to intervene in the other attacks on John.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - Paul is recovered by L and taken off the beach to be restored by a Moon Drop.
  

Ortus Nigenad

[noniad]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Ortus is invited by proxy as an emotional support cavalier and mule.
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - Ortus clings pathetically to the railings, managing to turn green through skull face paint.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - He stays out of the way, not being able to contribute much beyond words of (magical) support.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - With little time to intervene, Ortus does what he can: he shoves Palamedes into the ocean to get him out of this particular harm's way, and attempts to make his way to Harrow and Gideon before he is Voiced.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Rib cage boat and restraining Harrow from attempting to go after Gideon in the sea.
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - On the beach, Ortus attends to Harrow and the reception of Gideon's body and sword from Beast Kaworu.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - No one has ever seen a potato man this blazingly furious. Ortus still isn't worth much in a fight, but he's willing to try it on with anyone who comes within an Ortus-cursing radius of the Ninth.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - He returns to the mansion in Gaze with Harrow and Gideon's body. They are not staying there.
  

gideon nav

[lipochrome]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Gideon pulls up to the boating trip in relatively good spirits. She's armed with her favorite sword, wearing her favorite shirt, and hanging out with her favorite people. Also her dad is there.
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - Gideon is absolutely useless in terms of the actual sailing, but she will cheer people up who seem seasick and make horrible weather-related puns. She will groan a lot at the singing, but will join Anna in one (1) round of the Wellerman.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - Here's Gideon's chance to show her stuff! Turns out you can swashbuckle with a six-foot zweihander, and Gideon holds her own well against the pirates.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - Record scratch. Hold up. This is not how Gideon wanted things to go. She will balk at the execution, and will be Voiced by Paul into not interfering with the murder.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Gideon drowns. Kaworu rescues her from the depths of Mariana's sea, and shepherds her body to land.
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - Ortus and Deku receive Gideon's body and sword. Gideon's soul now resides in the body of Faith Lehane.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - Gideon uses the last vestiges of her consciousness to stop Faith from seriously wounding or killing Paul, in a struggle for control over Faith's body.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - Gideon will be fully unreachable, her soul a furnace in Faith's body and her own body lifeless.
  

Izuku "Deku" Midoriya

[wannasmash]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Invited by Paul
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - Learning a few sea shanties, exchanging bad piratespeak with Chara, carrying seasick Kaworu around in his strong arms, continuing to be mostly in the dark about villain-flavored necromancy.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - Very good at capture without serious injury to either him or prisoners. Any maiming done by others... we can fix that, right? with necromancy? 🙃
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - He will try to reason with Jemperor about the prisoners, fail, get Voiced by Paul, that fails per canon, Midoriya tries to attack Jemperor, is immobilized by Jemperor until the ritual is complete.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Midoriya, corrupted, carries people through the air to the beach. RSVP here!
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - After Beast!Kaworu drops it off, Midoriya briefly assists Ortus with Gideon's body. Beast!Kaworu rampages. This is concerning. Paultholomew Bart Atreides, you get your ass up and you FIX THIS TOO.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - Midoriya saves Kaworu from Beasthood with his warmblood. Paul helps. Midoriya tucks Kaworu safely away. Midoriya patches up L and provides a little covering fire from a distance while Paul makes bad decisions regarding Lenore.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - Midoriya safeguards L exiting with Paul. Midoriya finds Kaworu gone and fails to find him. After learning where he is, Midoriya (upset) returns to Paul at L's safehouse.
  

Kaworu Nagisa

[peripheries]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Kaworu goes along easily and is simply delighted to be there!
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - Bad. He gets seasick and his unconscious connection to Mariana gives him uneasy vibes that he can't explain.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - Kaworu assists in the raid. He has little regard for the lives of these pirates.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - Kaworu tries to interfere, not for moral reasons, but because he is aware of Mariana's great power (having been consumed by the Leviathan and sunk deep into her seas) and knows this is gonna be REAL. FUCKIN. BAD.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Kaworu struggles to swim in the waves and starts to drown. At first, he accepts this, remembering the gentle but cloistered embrace of Mariana from before. Then he sees others drowning and can't stand to see them hurt. He converses with Mariana, trying to bargain gain power to save their lives. In the moment, she is impressed with how he's changed since she first met him and agrees.
  
  He arises from the ocean as a beast. He saves Paul and Gideon's body.
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - At first, Kaworu seems to have received Mariana's blessing by being a beast with some sense of self. Then he realizes that Gideon is dead and he failed to save her, like the whims of the sea, a sunny day becomes a maelstrom as Kaworu completely succumbs to beasthood and even more powerful than before.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - FUCKS A LOT OF SHIT UP.
  
  Paul and Midoriya manage to save him from Beasthood.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - Heavily corrupted and somehow left alone with Jod, he either agrees to return or is taken back home to Bone House. He believes everyone is angry with him for being a beast and has no where else to go, so there he stays.
  

[hearthebell]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - Fretting onshore
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - Fretting onshore
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - Fretting onshore
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - Fretting onshore
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Fretting lots onshore, due to orca whale omen Lycka unable to get really close to the wreckage and feeling any physical pain Paul might feel.
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - Freaking OUT onshore and trying to get close enough to locate and grab Paul. This is difficult, on account of the BEACH FIGHT going on.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - L can pretty much take one good hit and it belongs to Bugwife! He'll survive this thanks to Augustine's cover and Deku's immediate help. Fighting's not an option; he can mostly just scramble away bleeding while Paul fights Lenore.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - After Augustine manages to knock Paul unconscious, L grabs his boy and gets him off the beach with Deku's help. He takes him to one of the safe houses he uses for his cases, giving Paul the only moon drop he will probably ever earn for courage, valor and selflessness.
  

faith the witch slayer

[slayerskiss]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - She's just happy to be invited, honestly. She'll do a lot of heavy lifting of supplies and stuff, even though the skeletons could probably do most of the work. She's a bit wary of John at this point, but she feels she owes him the benefit of the doubt and is happy to be here with friends.
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - She'll do sea shanties/The Wellerman. She's not a fucking nerd. She'll probably try to cheer people up if they look like they're feeling unwell.
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - Oh this? This is her jam. She'll be a bit puzzled by the order to take them alive, because even though she thinks murder is wrong she absolutely does not get the vibe that John is super squeamish about this kind of thing, but whatever, she'll discard her weapons and take her jacket off and leap onto the other ship to kick the living shit out of them.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - Oh okay. Faith will... not loudly object, but she'll definitely freeze up and not do anything except say that she can't (she can, it'd be so easy). Then Paul will take over her bodily autonomy and freeze her, and she'll sit there going feral with rage and rapidly corrupting.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - She'll attempt to save as many people as possible, having just enough foresight to know that she can murder Paul Atreides when they're all safe. I think the plan was for John to save her here? But I'm good with anything. She'll start feeling extremely sick and will probably throw up into the ocean. She'll also feel a profound sense of loss, as well as a creeping feeling like she's being watched.
  
  (It will be an extremely familiar sensation to her, sharing her head like this with a stranger.)
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - She will arrive, still feeling her body revolting against her, and she'll be between consciousness and unconsciousness, but she'll eventually get to her feet to see what's going on, zero in on Paul and immediately prepare to BEAT! HIM! TO! DEATH! Except then Gideon will revolt against her even more so, and will stop her with so many nosebleeds and migraines.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - She'll... try her best???? To fight John/Augustine/All the Beasts/Anybody just randomly attacking people??? But again, she'll be very out of it. I probably won't thread this part.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - Very corrupted and deeply confused, Faith will scoop up Willow's unconscious body and take her to Constantine's cottage.
  

"it's complicated"

[butnotyet]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

• 1.1 - The Preparations - God invited him privately. He's keeping the details private. Privately. In private. To himself, privately, as it were. (No sex was involved; he'd probably talk more freely about the rest of it if it had been.) Even Alfred is keeping the details private (for once).
  
  
• 1.2 - The Trip - He'll be in orbit around God, same as always, checking in with the people he's got any degree of fondness (or protectiveness) for. The vibe is Weird. Clearly it's time to pull a Mo Lowda and Curse the Weather, right?
  
  
• 1.3 - The Raid - Has his doubts that God is actually interested in having A Friendly Chat with pirates. Is equally unsurprised that God wants them all alive right up until the moment He wants them all dead, because that's how thanergetic reactions work — the bigger the initial blast, the more you're going to be able to get out of it, right? Will be wherever needed (as will Alfred) to keep someone from getting maimed/killed/injured on the Home Team and also do some healing.
  
  
• 1.4 - The Sacrifice - He'll be, ah, over there, smoking a cigarette, ready to smite any pirate who manages to break free and try to kill one of the kids and otherwise just Keeping Watch in the Other Direction.
  
  
• 1.5 - The Sinking - Well, shit, this was an even stupider idea than he'd thought right from the start, wasn't it? He's not going to defend God and he's not going to try to defeat Mariana — he's got a very unique perspective on the power-trip perspective, and from three seconds after God flung that spear at her, it was really obvious that they were all completely screwed — cue the wards and the blubber-and-skin based life rafts, apparently, but wards will also limit the number of head injuries caused by falling objects!
  

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT

• 2.1 - Washing Up - He's almost definitely going to be making inflatable-raft life boats out of pirate parts, sry2say, but hey, Alfred is really good at swimming! They'll haul ass to shore, with anyone they can grab who isn't taking the Dekubus, except for God. He can find his own damned way to shore. (There are spare pirates, though.)
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - Hey did you know that not even experience makes it easy for a necromancer to fight these things? Also, when one of them is God and one of them is His Omen, actually killing either is virtually impossible — sadly, for all those getting a face full of the horrible bug wife.
  
  (The bit with Paul goes in here somewhere; iirc Paul is gonna try to draw aggro from Lenore, possibly because she's trying to eat Augustine at the time; once God calls her off, Paul comes up crazy-eyed drawing breath to Voice everyone again and then Augustine knocks him out to save him from himself/destroying his relationships with everyone he loves, then hands him over to whoever is going to get him off the beach fastest/safest, which presumably turns out to be L and Deku. Get in the karate van, Paul, it's right up there on the boardwalk! It isn't safe on the sand!)
  
  Also, everyone else here is also trying to kill God, which is incredibly RUDE, how do you people not realize that Augustine's prior claim takes precedence?! You know what, fuck it, he is going to listen to the order request that he clear a path back to Bone House, and woe betide anyone (Kainé) getting in the way of that (especially by trying to go after God again).
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath - As soon as he gets God's Horrible Wasp Self locked into the house, he's bolting to the Archives to find that one book he read that time a month or two ago, he's gotta find a way to Fix This Shit once and for all...
  

Kainé

[foulhussy]

PART 1 - BOAT FIGHT

N/A, she's waiting on the beach.

PART 2 - BEACH FIGHT


• 2.1 - Washing Up - Locating Anna, trying to save anybody else that seems like they need it once they've washed ashore, if she's managed to do the former.
  
  
• 2.2 - Fight Fight Fight - During the fight, she confronts John, cussing him out and threatening him, and is killed by Augustine.
  
  
• 2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath -
  She's dead. By the time Kainé revives a few days later, Anna has transformed and gone on her rampage of revenge.

1.1 - The Preparations

[necrolord]

Invites.

[necrolord]

[ Things have been quiet, for a little while. So it's on a completely unremarkable afternoon that God approaches you, holding a tray of tea— or a beer, or a book— and begins with: ]

It's been a while since we took a field trip.

[ Never mind that the last one was to Hell, and he didn't come. ]

1.2 - The Trip

[necrolord]

Boat Bonding.

[necrolord]

[ The weather is bad. It's hot, muggy, and threatening to thunder. The ocean is as choppy and violent as they've ever seen it, and the locals on the docks seem to think an outing now is foolishness: the Reckoning is coming, they explain, like they're just waiting for a storm to break.

John ignores it all. It's with a fierce, unsettling cheer that he leads the preparations, skeletons constantly clamoring and swarming across the deck. Maybe he rounds back to the kids long enough to egg everyone into sea shanties. Maybe you catch the tense, inscrutable energy between him and Augustine. Or maybe he steps up to your side on the prow, to look out into the whipping wind. ]

1.3 - The Raid

[necrolord]

The Pirates Arrive.

[necrolord]

[ With Captain Amarande at the helm and the kids riled up for an adventure, it isn't hard to lure in something worth fighting. The only pirates willing to sail through Reckoning's month are the most desperate, the hungriest, the most warped by seawater and Corruption. The ship flies tattered sails and the crew are horrible all over, marked by scales and suckers and the frantic gleam of half-Beasts.

So John really doesn't think anyone will protest the chance to burn off some steam. ]

They want a fight, we'll give 'em one.

[ He smiles, but it's in that hard way he's adopted lately: it is more a baring of teeth, a laugh over open fury. He turns to each of his combatants in turn, like a pep talk, like a blessing. ]

Let's clean up a bit while we're out here, yeah? Corral 'em all here on deck and we'll have a friendly chat.

[ The enemy ship creaks closer, closer. The warped pirates jeer and shout. The Lonely Island is about to be boarded. ]

It's go time, kids.

1.4 - The Sacrifice

[necrolord]

The Kill Order.

[necrolord]

[ To the surprise of probably no one, it gets worse.

The pirates have been gathered on deck. Many of them are worse for wear, but all are alive, even if John had to provide a friendly reminder of "I said chat, let's not be too rough with them" along the way. It's a crew of about a dozen, some armed with enhanced weapons— coldblood cutlasses, a few vileblood daggers, nasty stuff— and they put up a solid fight. It could've gone worse.

God walks the deck and rewards his children with an approving touch to the shoulder, a clap on the back. Wounds knit shut in his presence as though they were never there. Everything has gone very quiet and still, now: the loudest sound is the slapping of waves against the ship, the snarling of a few gagged pirates, and the creak of their abandoned vessel. ]

Well! Fantastic job all around, I love to see it. We can finally get back to the point, here... And these fellows will help us with it.

[ He turns to survey his crew— Anna playing captain, Augustine dogging his steps like a wary shadow; Palamedes owlish and Ortus grave; Kaworu looks back at him with trust, Willow with the air of someone expecting a trainwreck. It's his combatants he really turns to, in this moment: Gideon, Paul, Harrow, Faith, Chara, Midoriya. ]

For a year now— can you believe it?— I've been trying to puzzle out this ocean. Some of you kids have seen the River... the place where all our dead go. The River is mine. [ This he says very easily, the same way you'd claim a house or a room or a name. ] This place, though? Total mystery. I can almost see to the currents in the depths... I can almost see where it joins the River, and the rest of everything out beyond. I am constantly a hair away from getting it.

This is the frontier that really matters, here. This is the brink. I can steal us a glimpse of our place in this universe... the people we've left behind... [ And so what if there's something familiar in the way he says it: a wistful note that Augustine must know down to his tired bones, that might make Harrow recall an old poem. ] But, like most things, it'll take sacrifice.

[ Not one of those pirates looks human, anymore. Nothing of value is being lost. ]

Apologies to the squeamish, but death has always been our power. Go ahead and do the honors.

1.5 - The Sinking

[necrolord]

God vs. Mariana

[necrolord]

[ So, that went poorly.

For all the noble protests, the pirates still collapse like puppets with their strings cut. The necromancers present will feel the hit of available thanergy like a gasp of pure oxygen, like all the lights coming on: then it is transfigured into something else altogether, as the blood of the victims bleeds upwards into the air. It coalesces into a long, thick spear of muddy red.

The needle of blood drops into the ocean like a missile. God drives a spike of power downward and elsewhere and into Mariana.

For a moment, in the last gasp before the wave hits, the world is darkened under stormclouds. God's eyes glow an unholy burning white. There is nothing human in his face at all.

Then it all really goes to shit.

The ocean comes alive with a roaring fury. The ship rocks in great surging waves; lines snap, and the pirates' vessel comes loose to be dragged away by the wind; rain hits in a sudden, torrential downpour. The water is frigid in one moment and scalding in the next. It feels like something big, something powerful, is screaming.

There is Omen smoke boiling around John, shuddering off his body like steam, coming in great greasy billows. Among all of this, he says: ]

No, come on. I just want to talk.

2.1 - Washing Up

[necrolord]

[ They make it back to the beach. Most of them, anyway.

It isn't pretty. ]

kaworu - the beast II

[peripheries]

[He makes it through the waves of beasts that Mariana sends at them. Perhaps because in this state, they see him as one of their own. Or perhaps because she saw it as more interesting that way. But Kaworu isn't thinking about that. He can't isn't think about anything at all except getting Gideon and Paul to shore. His beast body moves through the sea as if it was made for it, shining and iridescent like the surface of the sea and other parts dark as the depths.

His bestial feet touch the shallows and he deposits Paul roughly before gently setting Gideon down on the sand. She doesn't move. He nudges her with a clawed hand that's even bigger than her and all her biceps. Nothing. He shoves her harder, growling low, annoyed. Her limp limbs drag in the sand, creating small valleys.

No. N̴o̴.̷ N̶̦̤̪̄̃̍͊o̶̮̝̹̙̿̇̄̍͜.̶̢̥̗̖͛͛

Ń̸̛̝̫̉͘O̷̠̭̥͆̚.̴̖͗̿̈Ṉ̷͖̪͕̂͑O̷̠̎̈́.̷̻̺̃̕̚͝N̵̡̥̑̑͌̅Ō̵̰.̶̧͖̰̭͆͌̽Ņ̶̼̝̀Ò̸̪̻̘̍.̷̜͎̿̽͜ ̵͓̜̇̓͠Ḯ̶̢̟ͅT̴̼͚̥̠̓̒ ̵̙͙̺̉͝W̸̼͓͒̇Ả̴̢̝̪̝͂́̚Ş̷̖͈̜̂N̸̢̰͎͎͛͛͐͘'̶͉̼̗̰͆̏̉̈́T̴̢̢͙̗̚ ̴̤̹̘̪̃͋̄S̶̛̝̆U̴̡͍͚͊̏̃͂͜P̶̝͓̜̩̔̔̏P̵͇̒̚O̸̟̮͝S̴̹̬͈̿̊̉̿É̴̞̱͓̐Ḏ̷̗̒̅̀̌ ̴͖̣̳̾̔̋͋Ṯ̷̹̎̊O̴̮̱͘ ̴̙́̓̍B̵͍͕̺̎È̸͚̆̏ ̵̖̀̓͌L̶̼͍͎̬͗̓͝I̶̝̜̬͒̔̕K̴͉̏E̵͖̖̳͛̐ ̸̰̰̈T̵͇̆͂̋H̸̻̪͒̽̿I̴͇̣͍̒̾̈S̶̫͍̀̽̽.̴͍̰̟̽

There is no control and there is no freedom. That's what she'd said before he promised to give her everything.

He misunderstood from the very beginning. He only believed what he wanted to believe. Now there was nothing but the world as it was. And there was nothing for him in it.

The facsimile of control vanishes. No one can control beasthood more than they can control the sea. Any attempt is foolish and fleeting. What remained of Kaworu Nagisa sinks into the depths. He doesn't even reach for the surface.

Now the beast turns its gaze to the people on the beach and closes in, like hurricane clouds overtaking the day's sunlight.]

2.2 - Fight Fight Fight

[necrolord]

MEET THE BUG WIFE, cw: body horror, monster bugs

[necrolord]

[ It is at this point that God totally comes undone.

His face has twisted into a snarl, and with it, something has changed; there is a newly hollow look to him, his skull too visible beneath the skin. His mouth is too wide, the hinges of his jaw whitely visible. His fingers are too long and segmented, the skin flaking away like so much ash to show what is beneath.

He is a skeletal thing, all bone and glossy iridescent chitin, rainbow-on-black like an oilslick. His flesh is constantly dissolving away like ash, and what's visible underneath is horribly honeycombed, impossible, difficult to look at. The depths of his body glitter with Darkblood like old nebulas. When the wings finally peel wetly off his back, they shiver with a low and horrible hum.

And there are two of him, one worse than the other. Because his Omen— eight feet of bone and chitin and eddying Darkblood, the world's worst skeleton meets the world's worst bee— unfolds herself into existence from the smoke at his feet, and she takes to the air. She holds herself a few paces to the side of him and behind, like a cavalier.

Those without necromancy will find them unpleasant to look upon. Those with necromancy will feel the skittering, raw-nerve terror of beholding a Herald.

And God says to his Omen, in a buzzing voice that clicks in all the wrong places: ]

Babe, can we not do this right now.

2.3 - The Immediate Aftermath

[necrolord]

[ The survivors scatter. ]

[peripheries]

[He doesn't remember much of the details of being a beast. He remembers the power, the feeling of it in his hands, the knowledge that he could crush nearly anything. That he could tear anything with his teeth. Tear anyone apart. It hadn't mattered who. He remembers feeling Paul's body start to cave under the force of his grip. In that moment, he was finally more like the other Angels. More like the living embodiment of Adam. And he liked that.

Now, he feels weak and shaky, miserable, and after heaving up an impossible amount of seawater, he realizes that he is completely alone. He's naked, covered only in a cloak, with blood splattered across his pale skin like dark stars in white sky. He doesn't know where Izuku and Paul are. Only that they're not there. And Gideon is... He swallows bile instead of seawater.

He raises himself up and sees, over the small debris he had been set against, Teacher. The man who had saved him from the sea. The man that had thrown him into the sea. The man that saved him. The man that killed Gideon. The man that was warm in a quiet dinner at home and the man had nothing but coldness in his eyes as he moved to strike down Mariana in a bitter attempt of hubris.

He goes towards him because he has no where else to go. He's had only one home.]

Teacher?