un: strange / video

[rehandle]

( Forward-dated to the 7th / during the Clawing. )



[ The image opens to a view of Alem from above and at great distance. It's an awkward angle, somewhere to the side of the great stone Citadel where a couple of the smaller merchant entrances open into the Crossing. The view dips and sways, wind howling across the network as the pendant that captures it sits against its wearer's chest, floating high in chill air.

Only this for a few seconds - and then the slow zoom of an approach until Alem is much larger and the small figures of people and their wares can be seen disappearing in through one of the more secluded merchant's gates, more figures closing them up behind. Another eerie stretch of nothing but the buffeting of wind and an unaware fortress, then hands raise into the forefront of the image. Precise white scars trail the backs of all the fingers and that's the last detail there is before everything happens too fast for detail.

Those hands move through two swift patterns and a pair of vibrant orange mandala burst into life. They crash together, spark, and huge angry bolts of raw magic leap from them, hot and bright as fire and travelling in violent arcs toward an unwitting target.

They strike the gate. An explosion.

From this distance, the sounds of screams and cries for action are difficult to separate from the screeching of the wind. The broadcast cuts dead. ]



( ooc: somebody got Clawed!! He's attacked one of the rear merchant's entrances of the Crossing, so there's no pressure for anyone who is frequenting the Crossing in general to have been caught up in the blast, but if you'd like for your characters to have been there to witness first hand when the spell struck/to have been hurt in the blast that is also A-OK! No obligation to tag into this post, but if you do have your character hurt please let me know here so I can keep track.

The majority of Stephen's replies will most likely come a few hours after the attack once he's fully released from the Claw, but if anybody would specifically like to reach him while he's still Clawed, hit me up oocly (the comment linked above works, or plurk/disco!) and we can do the thing. Otherwise, feel free to also use this post as a place for characters to talk amongst themselves! )

Comments

( video | un: barnes )

[traumatology]

Strange, what the hell?

( he ain't anywhere near the commotion but he can't not say something even if it's pretty much futile.

it's not like this is gonna stop because he said something. )

text / un: strange

[rehandle]

[ It's a handful of hours later. The response is text for now - short, sweet. Too raw for anything else, too urgent to leave it any longer. This is not the impression he wishes to leave on his allies, especially not those who have known him on better days. ]

Rathakku.

[ Next time he'll be ready. What was the method Kerrastone suggested? Smash yourself over the head with a frying pan? Little too late for him this time, but if the death lord comes calling again... ]

[traumatology]

What happened?

( he has no problem switching to text. it's easier for him anyway. )

You kill anyone?

[rehandle]

The Clawing. I was under his thrall

[ That second question though, the short sharp pain of a torn bandaid. ]

Yes.

un: absterge | voice

[downswing]

( In the wretchedness of it, the raw, limb-tearing violence, he cannot tell, for a moment — cannot understand — ...that the attack was unwarranted. That one of their own acted without cause, concern or provocation. )

Pull back.

voice, (Clawed.)

[rehandle]

[ Silence for the stretch of a few seconds - then the howl of wind and distant shouts strikes up across the link between pendants. The voice is calm and still in stark comparison. ]

At ease, soldier.

[ Nobody's retaliating against that. A castle under siege has no time for such concerns as one man's strike against ill-guarded passageways. Especially not when a king in jest would forgive the odd slip of a knife along the throat of the sellers who walk beyond the gates he just destroyed. No - they have halls to reinforce. Corpses to clear. Nobody's retaliating now.

And if nobody's retaliating, there's no need for anyone to sound so concerned. ]

[downswing]

( Sinister. Hollowed. Hale. Blood curdling. )

What happened?

[rehandle]

You didn't see? I thought I caught it all.

voice | un: slothbaby - I am so sorry..........

[cosplayqueen]

[Kamala's voice sparks to life. She's clearly panicking. This is bad. This is really, really, really bad.] Okay am I totally crazy or is that Doctor Strange's signature move?! Is he here?! Is he here and totally evil or here or like possessed?! Should I can be finding Avengers?! DO WE EVEN HAVE MORE THAN ONE HERE?! OH MY GOD!!! AM I GOING TO HAVE TO TRY FIGHTING HIM?? I CAN'T LET THEM GO ALONE!

[She's trying and failing to take some calming breaths here.] We are so screwed! How are we going to fight Doctor Strange?! Do we have magic guys?! Like really good ones?! I don't want to scare anyone, but seriously we do not want to mess with him! Ant-Man made him sound super OP!

[Don't mind her. She's just literally screaming over here until someone talks her down.]

un: absterge | voice | helping this child here

[downswing]

( Slow, measured, tentative: )

Breathe.

[cosplayqueen]

Okay... okay I'm breathing. [Kamala audibly starts focusing on those deep belly breaths they taught her in school. Sometimes she does pay attention.]

[downswing]

He cannot touch you.

voice | un: off scarlet

[westviews]

[Oh boy. Stephen is off the rails but he's right that she needs to be calmed down.]

Kamala. It's okay. You're not going to fight him.

[cosplayqueen]

Uh... that's cool for you to say, but who is going to help you?! I'm really scared for you! And us. Mostly you since this seems like your kind of problem. Please tell me you have people who can back you up because if not I'm totally going with you.

[westviews]

I think he's achieved his purpose.

text / un: strange

[rehandle]

[ It's a handful of hours after the attack. No further blasts came, no great showdown between Dr. Strange and the sorcerers of the castle. He floated there at a distance long enough to engage a lone approacher, then vanished.


Until now, hours on, when a message finds her over the pendants. Text. He'd terrified her - showing his face or even calling out of the blue might be too much, too soon.

It takes a dozen re-writes. What can he possibly say? But he has to say something, and eventually he just sends what he has. ]

Kamala? This is Stephen Strange.

I'm sorry. It's over now. I want you to know that I wasn't myself. This won't be allowed to happen again.

[ Not if he can help it. If Alem can help it. And, failing and surpassing both of those things, not if Wanda can help it. ]

[cosplayqueen]

[This should have been as exciting as meeting Wanda. She should want to ask a million questions about how magic works in their world. Does he know about other dimensions? The Noor? The list goes on. Instead all Kamala feels is dread. She replies anyways with way more restraint than she's ever shown here.]

Yeah, it's Kamala. I'm glad that wasn't you and that it won't happen again.

I appreciate the apology. I'm sorry for freaking out. I know that doesn't actually help in an emergency. I just... you're from home. You know what it's like when someone really strong decides to come at us.

[She almost leaves it there. It's Kamala so it isn't long before she circles back to ask:] Are you okay? You said you weren't yourself. Did you get brainwashed or something?

action

[vdovy]

[ This is very, very stupid. The last thing that Yelena should be doing, really. The normal reaction to seeing some kind of super-powered magician blowing things up is to run in the opposite direction, yet here she is, diving into the chaos.

The man (Doctor Strange, she learned per Kamala's open network freakout, because of course that's what he's called) is still in the sky when she reaches ground zero. She probably looks no bigger than an ant to him. Easily squashed. Killing is easy when you're not in control. Waking up after the fact and facing what you did is much harder.

She waves her arms to catch his attention and projects her voice into the sky. ]

Hey, down here! I just want to talk.

[ A beat. ]

Seriously. I know that's what everyone says to get your guard down but I really do just want to talk.

action! (Clawed.)

[rehandle]

[ One little soldier wanders out of the safety of the castle. By the time she's beneath him he's already peeled open an eye that usually stays hidden, found no real threat of a metaphysical kind, and sealed it away again until he has only the two.

So when she assures him of her intent to do no harm, he believes her. No harm is inevitable. To him, like this, she is harmless.

Down he floats, lower and lower, until finally there's only a body length between himself and the ground. ]

You want to talk.

[ There's an edge of amusement to it. He's just put a hole in their fortress, and she wants conversation. ]

Go ahead. Talk.

[vdovy]

[ Yelena is a realist. She knows that taking this guy out is beyond even her abilities. She isn't here for that, she is here to make a direct appeal to the man locked inside. If she can help him wrest back control from Rathakku, the risk will be worth it. ]

Okay, I am going to ask you something. Please consider it seriously.

Are you in control? [ She has no game plan except to get him to look within himself. To recognize the dissonance between who he is and what he is doing. To scratch at that itch until he can somehow claw his way back. ]

video | un: off scarlet

[westviews]

[Well, if that's not some role reversal. She takes no joy in what she's seeing.]

This isn't you.

[It's obvious when someone is not themselves. They both know it, that creeping sensation at the back of the neck, though he's very obvious in this show of destruction.]

voice, (Clawed).

[rehandle]

[ Here, the one he must not engage. There's only one person inside that castle who is guaranteed to be able to wipe him from the board before his time. He must not lure her out.

So there's very almost no response. Then, a long minute later, the sound of whipping wind accompanied by no visual. ]

Quiet the kid. Before she hurts herself.

[westviews]

You should be more worried about yourself.

[It's a less than subtle warning. This time, she's not on the wrong side. He is. Minor, so far, but if he decides to do more...]

You need to leave.

[Before he turns this into the fight they've been hoping to avoid since his arrival. There shouldn't be any reason to be at odds here, and yet he's just gone in the wrong direction.]

text.

[rehandle]

[ And again, hours later when the worst is past and he's back to own senses again, senses undefined by the intention of a vicious death lord - ]

I need a favor.

[ No room for niceties, he hasn't had the processing time. Besides, he's owed. ]

[westviews]

What do you need?

[She expected some sort of contact once he came back to his senses, and so the reply comes quickly.]