YOU AND I, WE CAN BRING BACK THE LIGHT;

[sincendiary]

WHO: Luci, Persephone, OPEN
WHERE: Maurtia Falls + various
WHEN: Blackout, first 48 hours
WHAT: Inanna goes missing. A search party goes chaotic.
WARNINGS: Likely graphic violence, mental illness mentions, others to be edited in


A: ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE, OTA
[ No one would ever think blackouts could pose an issue to most gods. In fact, what better time to offer the public some divine intervention with your abilities, maybe earn that reputation for once? It's such a wonderful idea, but things happen. Sometimes one of you just so happens to get ported out in the exact seconds before they shut down. Sometimes you accidentally leave behind a pair of gods who are also deeply unstable teens. Sometimes, bad decisions are made while you're out, and this would be phase one.

Any known friends of Inanna, in the biblical sense or otherwise, might expect Persephone and Lucifer teleporting themselves over to check anywhere they could possibly be. Even bystanders may end up eavesdropping. Surely nobody's got anything better to deal with than these freaks! ]


B: IN THE PIT, CLOSED
[ That could have gone less terribly. Now in their despairing little corner of the underground, Persephone is curled in on herself and rapidly spiraling downwards. Thing is, she's with another ruler of Hell who's never been a fan of the Fall. At least as it applies to herself and hers, thank you very much. ]


C: MAURTIA FALLS, OTA
[ LATER, HERE THEY ARE, tearing down the streets in one bigass motorcycle right out of the apocalypse. Because who needs godly fast-travel when you've got an aesthetic to uphold, that's why.

See, when the Queen of Heaven with their command over starlight mysteriously vanishes, that poetic "look to the stars" message has a way of resembling a more direct hidden threat. The new plan? Hunt down these conveniently-escaped criminals and see what they can get out of them, by any means necessary. If you're an imPort in need of rescue in the right place at the right time, this is your lucky break. If you're more likely to get in their way, careful you aren't mowed over.

Like the idiot who just jumped in Persephone's line of traffic brandishing a gun. Is he even alive? Who knows. ]

Comments

B is for Bad Bitches Begin Berserking

[pummelgranite]

[ Maybe Luci's never spent much time in the true Underground, at least not in this life. To Persephone, the space has it's charms. Dark- too dark for a human to see, but divine senses replace that easily enough. It is quiet, too. Quiet enough that a mortal may suffer from sensory deprivation; to her it's peaceful. But none of it's normal comforts can do shit for her now. Inanna is gone. How far away? How out of her grasp? Is she powerless again?

Her head swarms with it, the plasma boils. Somethings got to give one way or another, implode or explode. But the way she presses her back to the wall, slowly sliding to the cool floor suggests she's tipping towards the former. ]

C is for BATMAN ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT HAVE TIME FOR YOUR SHIT RIGHT NOW GOD DAMN IT (closed)

[pummelgranite]

[ You know what's always a good choice? Crucifixions. The foreboding form of the cross, the way the victim is spread so vulnerably across it. It's always a classy addition.

That's why currently, there is one (1) large crucifix made of bright, glowing vines, two (2) Divine Young Ladies, hanging out with one (1) of the 417 convicts who is also "hanging out" (get it?? GET IT???). His arms are buried in the greenery, as are his legs. The vines on the right side of the cross twist slowly, punctuated by a hideous tempo of pops and snaps and strangled screams. ]


When you think of something useful, let us know, yeah?


[ How he's supposed to do that with a glowvine deep enough down his throat to choke on is anyone's bet. ]

[sincendiary]

[ Well if nothing else, it's clearly there to muffle him screaming bloody murder when Luci gently cradles his face in searing hot hands. Her girl is doing so beautifully well at retribution on her own, but she can't just not put in some work for their bad cop/bad cop routine. How embarrassing would that be for Satan?? ]

You have plenty of time to become a Good Samaritan now, don't you think? By the way, I'm sure you realize that passing one over on the Lord of Lies is quite a bit different from cheating the polygraph. Something to mull over in the interest of safety.

[ A load of bullshit itself in that her porter-given sin reading functions just about as erratically as a polygraph? Yes. True-to-form bullshit? Absolutely. ]

[the_caped_crusader]

[In another situation maybe he could talk them down from this, but right now the goal was immediate deescalation and saving this man's life. And right now, he needed to get Lucifer off of him, which would hopefully draw Persephone's attention away and on to Batman. The sound of his cape against the wind is Luci's only warning before he swoops in from above and drop kicks her in the face with full force. She's a god after all, right? She can take it.

On the ground, crouched in front of Persephone, he growls his demands.]

Enough. Let him go.

A is for this asshole

[heckblazer]

((@ John's house prior to Batman throwdown))

[ On the one hand, John ought to reinforce the protective wards he's laden on the house, especially if the electricity was buggered. No matter the world or the times, people reverted to their nasty, natural state when the order of things failed. It would mean riots, looting, break-ins and other such pleasantries.

On the other hand, John was right too hungover to goddamn move. The lights not working at least spares him their penetration of his uneasy eyes. Small victories.

If someone like, say, the children from Hell, were to teleport unannounced to his house again, they would find John still in his coat and shoes, half-sprawled across an armchair. ]

[pummelgranite]

[ YEP SHE BASICALLY JUST TROMPS RIGHT THE FUCK IN ]


Inanna-? Inanna, are you here?



John, have you seen Inanna?

c is for murder

[idesof]

[March is doing pretty well because he's a nutty murderer with a hotel he's filled with other nuts and murderers with plenty of overlap. Anyone who hurts the Castile is going to regret it. Anyone who breaks in will be regretting it soon and doing their damnedest to break back out, unless they're also capable of being a nutty murder. So it goes.

Some vagrant has managed to start shit outside the Castile, however, and he's not keen to let the world know there's a blade inside of his cane. So there he is, just outside the hotel, trying to reason with this man shouting tons of nonsense about the former owner, about how he never would have given the place up...it's not actually nonsense but the way March is just shy of rolling his eyes, all calm and collected, to the man's rage and threats helps along the idea this fellow is absolutely full of shit. More so when he pulls out a gun, and March immediately puts his hands up. The man keeps shouting, getting more and more drowned out by the sound of a badass motorcycle. It is, of course, the motorcycle and riders who draws March's attention more; this results in even more shouting from the man, who lifts the gun to fire just over March's head. His attention is drawn back as it was meant to, and he wonders...perhaps...]

My God, man, please! I have a wife! A family!

[Loud and with a pinch of desperation that almost drowns out the mockery. Difficult to tell in the chaos, at the moment, but maybe later, if they think about it, that tone will stick out. He's not actually begging for his life. He isn't actually afraid. Kinda fun to mimic all those people who begged of him, thus the mockery — of course he is not really afraid, but calling out just in case these songbirds on their bigass bike are out trying to do "good." If they are, sweet, they'll fix this issue and actually not do any good. If they're just using it an excuse, EVEN BETTER. And if they're just riding around adding to the problem, this is also acceptable. March can kill the man himself if he has to, but.

Why not see?]

Re: c is for murder

[pummelgranite]

[ Oh no!! Someone is threatening their beautiful bootleg Vincent Price!!! She swings the bike around, and revs the engine, then starts a charge right at the dastardly foe. ]

C

[alreadyhuman]

[ WOW that is a lot of loud noise and a really big motorcycle and WHAT IS THAT and oh boy it sure did just mow over that criminal who was vaguely threatening him

Vivi drops his spell out of pure shock, fire vanishing from his staff, and he drops it to grip onto his hat because he definitely learned from last time. But he does recognise at least one person on it. ]

Um. Um -- excuse me! [ Only Vivi would try to shout politely at a motorcycle probably already speeding off. ] Is-- Is everything okay?! Do you need help?!

Re: C

[pummelgranite]

[ The bike comes to a hard stop in the space between where Vivi's standing and the would-be-mugger got bumped. ]


Wh- oh my god! What are you doing out here?

a for alcoholic

[brushoff]

[ There is no power. That means that the fridge is going to stop working. That means everything in the fridge must be eaten or drunk. That means Dorian's going to have a supper of cold leftovers and so much booze. Maurtia Falls is cold this time of year, so Dorian's got the entire contents of the fridge, both mixers and alcohol, sitting out on his balcony to chill as he fixes himself a margarita. A Styrofoam container of half-eaten Thai food sits on the countertop next to him.

His apartment's government housing, so the layout is nothing special, but the decor is expensive as hell. The couch is leather, there's the newest version of this universe's Playstation equivalent plugged into a huge television, and candles cover almost any surface that Dorian could put a candle on.

Most notably, there's a large canvas in the corner of the room, covered with a dropcloth. If the power's out, that means the banks are fucked. Once the first twenty-four hours had passed, Dorian hauled ass to the bank to pick up his portrait from the security deposit box he had it stored in. It had been stolen far too many times in situations like this, he was going to leave it somewhere safe, where he could keep his eyes on it.

Which was going to be shove it in the closet in the next five minutes. But the Muppet Babies of gods decided to show up instead. Let's just keep it cool and hope they don't ask about said dropcloth covered portrait. ]

This is the last of the margarita mix, by the way. Would tequila sunrises work? I have a fuckton of grenadine that's sitting out on the balcony, trying to stay cool.

Re: a for alcoholic

[pummelgranite]

[ Well they had INTENDED to show up all wrath and bluster, but fuck it, if he's going to help them get hammered she's not going to turn him down. She hops down off the window ledge she let herself onto. ]

Yeah, that'll work.

C

[nextlevel]

[ After the porters come back on line, a certain pair of figure skaters show up. While they're not actively being attacked, they're still clearly in need of help - because Viktor's arm is bandaged, Yuuri looks like he might anxious himself into dust, and both of them are just about clinging to each other. ]

I thought it was back this way. I could have sworn it was down --

[ And then this motorcycle full of crazy people show up. And mow down the criminal that they were about to walk right into. Yuuri yelps at that, jolting back a step. ]

W-what was that?

[fourlevels]

[ He backs right up into Viktor who's already on edge that his arm automatically wraps around Yuuri with his non-bandaged arm, pulling him backwards even farther away from the scene and letting out an uncharacteristic curse in Russian. ]

Еб твою мать!

▸ C

[mantlepieces]

[ Reggie is not specifically in danger by criminal pursuit, although that might not be obvious by looking at the way he barrels forward into the road with reckless, panicked abandon.

All the commotion has rather tenaciously pulled him down into the grasp of paranoia and PTSD that he'd long since thought he'd gotten over; it wasn't just the criminals and general chaos he was uselessly attempting to run from, but all the shadows and ghosts he also thought he could see and hear somewhere behind him.

His head hurts like he's being electrocuted, his vision and thoughts so tensely focused on irrationalities that he almost doesn't even notice the motorcycle -- but then Reggie turns at the last second, tripping over his feet like a girl in a horror movie before he falls ass-over-teakettle at the side of the road.

Ow. No, wait-- ]

H-hey -- hey, stop! Wait, don't leave me here!

[ He doesn't even recognize Persephone yet, thinking only that a motorcycle seems safer than continuing to try his luck on his foot. ]

[pummelgranite]

[ They really have better places to be. They really really really have better places to be. And it's not so much that she even quite hears him, so much as his earnest plea is close enough to a prayer that blah blah blah a duty to the subjects of her hell, whatever fine, and she is whipping the bike around. She comes at him so fast that it might seem like she's gunning to just run him the hell over, but her bike skids to an improbable stop right in front of him. She has no helmet and her hair is braided back, but certainly she's still easy enough to recognize.

She looks him over critically. ]


You look like shit.

SPOOKY DARKNESS FOR BATMAN

[pummelgranite]

[ The coils of darkness are unrelenting as they pull him under. It's instantly apparent that he is not simply underground, but in her Underground. The ground is cool and even, but the darkness is velvety and perfect. Whatever low-light gizmos he still has opperational will be to no avail. No light will penetrate far enough to illuminate, no other sensors can pick up shit. The only sound around him will be his own breathing. ]

[the_caped_crusader]

[He's alarmed, at first. His urge to escape her tendrils is as immediate as the futility of it, and then everything is black. One thing's for certain: he's not dead. He can work with that. His breathing is measured, heartbeat like a metronome-- he can tell because it's all he can hear. He speaks normally, presuming that if this is a place of her own creation, she'll be able to hear him without yelling.]

If you're hoping to scare me, Persephone, you'll have to do better than that. [A beat.] You can still stop this.

SPOOKY DARKNESS pt 2

[the_caped_crusader]

[He holds out his hand to her.]

Do you mind? [He looks away.] The beginning is always the hardest for me.

[pummelgranite]

[ Her gaze on him is steady then. Her eyes follow the blurry streaks where his tears had been. Her hand slips into his without hesitation. ]


Yeah. Of course.

C

[apotheoppose]

[Persephone and Luci aren't the only gods out and about in Maurtia Falls. Though, unlike the two of them, Tara doesn't know Inanna's missing, so she's mostly preoccupied with work and daily life. And taking care of the looters and criminals taking advantage of the blackout. Not out of any heroic impulse, but as this particular group of toughs tried to mug her first, Tara considers them fair game.

Which is to say, Persephone's tear past a city park might might be interrupted by a familiar burst of light. Streaks of pink and yellow and blue fill the blackout as Tara blasts some unlucky fellows through some trees. The outfit, a red-and-white bodysuit with some strategic cut-outs, is new. But that mask? The mask is unmistakable.

Looks like Tara's in town.]

[pummelgranite]

[ A bike that was passing on an adjacent road does a screeching turnabout to head towards those lights. Is that...? It can't be. It looks like it's coming straight at her, but swerves at the last moment to smack into some poor bastard trying to come up on her from behind, then banks to a screeching halt. The driver may not be immediately recognizable, but Thin White behind her surely rings a number of unpleasant bells. ]


Fucking Tara? What the fuck!

[purple_reign]

[Its certainly taken long enough, long after all the kicks to the face and needless terrorizing of friends, but finally Persephone's phone chimes with the alert of a new text message with a GPS location attached—not far from the Heropa residential area.]

too much going on to divine where u are. Come here?

[pummelgranite]

Ye


Yes.


Inanna oh my god


tw eny mitnre


twenty minuts

[sincendiary]

[ Sure enough, a matter of seconds after Persephone replies ]

Before you ask, the real blackout party ended an age ago. Your loss.




now for god's sake just stay put

[ Fucking autocorrect spelling out the g-word for her LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE ]