STANDING OVER THE LEDGE | open, breakdown. (tw)

[Cosmic]

I was fucking done. I wanted Nicole back. I wanted to see Ada and Claire. I wanted Ellie. But no. This piece of shit universe wouldn't let me catch a fucking break, could it? I wasn't fucking cut out to be a Halo, was I? Or even climb the ranks amd make a name for myself. What the fuck was the point? I was tired of going around in fucking circles constantly being betrayed, tortured, traumatized, and having my friends and loved ones taken away. I was fucking done with this bullshit. There was no end to it, was there.

I didn't want to feel anything anymore. I was tossed onto a planet with no fucking direction or objective, and it was driving me insane.

I picked up my pace, trekking through the Ascendants territory, my thoughts were racing and my body couldn't keep up. I collapsed to the ground in a sobbing heap. My claws unsheathed themselves subconsciously, my paws sprawled forward exposing previous scars from self harm wounds. A sudden voice made me weakly lift my head up.

"Look at yourself, Isaac. Already giving up? I was counting on you to come back to me. It's so cold without you."

It was Nicole, or rather a hallucination of her. Goddamn it- could this hell ever be over? I covered my head with my paws, my claws digging into my scalp a bit as I desperately waited for the voice and vision to go away. But then the pounding, pulsating headache overtook me and I gave a pained growl. Couldn't they just leave me the fuck alone?!

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" I screamed in desperation, tail lashing furiously while I still choked with sobs. I heard the footsteps coming closer and closer to me, but I couldn't move. I dared not move. The figure leaned down to get eye contact with me, and I couldn't resist. Those eyes... dammit I missed her so fucking much. But this wasn't Nicole.

"You're not Nicole- Nicole is dead!" I hissed in retaliation, but I was suddenly grabbed by the neck and held into the air. I was gasping, struggling with my weakening paws to fend off the larger creature but to no avail.

"Then what am I, Isaac? Who am I? A part of your past you can't let go? A rotting, festering memory in the back of your mind eating away at your happiness? The light of your life? Tell me, Isaac!"

The last sentence was finished by her abruptly shaking me, causing me to go limp in defeat. I sat there... until-

"Because you are an important part of my life. I love you, and if I let you go... I have no hope left..."

My answer seemed to satisfy the hallucination of my beloved girlfriend, as her expression became gentle and she set be back onto the ground. Her posture became less rigid and angry, and instead... oddly pleasant.

"Stage four: acceptance. I will be waiting for you, Isaac."

Without another word, she left me, just as I reached a paw out in an attempt to hold or touch her. She was gone. Gone, gone, gone. And I would never see her again except in my twisted, fucked up mind. She was gone. But why wouldn't my grief and these hallucinations go the fuck away?

I cried out, my voice filled with so much pain that was beyond what words could describe. My claws dug themselves into my wrist, reopening the past would that I had inflicted upon myself long ago. Blood poured out of the wounds, before I turned to bite my own shoulder hard, intent on leaving a nasty scar. I pulled out just a tiny chunk of my own flesh and devoured it, not even tasting it as I just lost my sanity at this point.

I screamed in such an inhuman, indescribable tone filled with suffering as I continued to try and tear myself apart, meanwhile the Marker symbol on my shoulder was glowing red now. That was a telltale sign something was beyond wrong.

"NICOLE! ADA! CLAIRE!"

//tldr; Play hallucinated about her dead girlfriend which was triggered by the loss of folks she had feelings of love and adoration for, and therefore the actions of Nicole did not actually happen. In fact, Play was actually holding her own throat in the moments Nicole was being violent. No one can see Play's hallucination. And now she is batshit crazy from the trauma and finally broke, reopening her scars and creating new ones in an attempt to sloely destroy herself. She's insane right now, so yeah. And the Marker on her shoulder is glowing red, as well as her eyes being the same color as those infested by the Las Plagas from Resident Evil 4, which means serious trouble for Play.

[kinglykingstone]

DALE COOPER

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Cooper wasn't doing well but that didn't stop him from trying to help everyone. He felt a tug on his chest and that feeling that normally meant someone was in trouble building. He stood on shaking paws, trudging out of his room and following the feeling in his chest. Playerone's aura bounced around in his head and he felt panic raise in his chest.

As an awful scream pierced the air and reached the canine, a small whimper left Cooper and he moved as quick as his tired paws would carry him. Adrenaline began to pump through the dog as the scent of blood reached him and he pushed forward, stumbling as he lopped across the Ascendants territory. Fear filled him as he came to a stumbling stop at the sight of the hybrid that he'd come to view as a little sister, adopting her as such. Worry clear in his voice, the worn-out canine gave a soft whisper of "Baby girl...?" as he slowly crept towards her.

[b]THE ASCENDANTS — OBSERVER — TAGS[/color]

© MADI

[Cosmic]

I heard the voice of Cooper, and it caused me a great deal of pain for him to see me in a state like this. But before I could say anything, the headache had become so much worse, and a sudden jolt of pain rocketed through my spine causing my body to contort a bit as if struck by lightning. I let out a grunt, trying to hold myself steady as I placed a blood-covered paw out to balance my body and catch myself. I could feel the desire to rip and shred everyone around me, or whoever I could find, and it was growing so much stronger by the second.

"C-Cooper... get-get out of h-here..." I stammered before yelping again as another shooting pain rocketed up my spinal coord, nearly falling in the process. I turned to look at him, but my eyes weren't the color they normally were. They were a blood red, with the whites of my eyes a light shade of bloodshot red. The symbol of the Marker on my shoulder was a bright maroon color and glowing brightly, almost seeming to pulse with energy and a mind of its own.

Within a moments notice, my conscience was gone. Whatever influence had taken me had complete control now. And all it wanted was bloodshed. Bodies to create another brethren moon. Revive the necromorphs. That is, if it could. And Cooper would be its first target.

I was gone.

The lithe figure of the alabaster feline-fox hybrid rushed quickly towards Cooper, aiming to bite down and claw on anything it could.

[kinglykingstone]

DALE COOPER

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

As the hybrid choked out an order for him to leave, the canine found himself disobeying. He couldn't leave her alone, no matter what danger it put himself in. As the fox-feline launched itself at him in attack, the canine's head drooped in submission and allowed it to happen. He couldn't bring himself to fight back, no matter what blows landed on him.

And as the canine stood there, taking the blows, he swore he heard a voice, screaming at him to run. "Run, damnit, Coop! Run! or fight back! PLEASE, Cooper! Coop!" screamed the voice, echoing between his ears. As the ghost of his long-passed husband filled him, the canine whimpered a soft "harry...?" but still refused to fight back, nor did he have the energy to fight.

[b]THE ASCENDANTS — OBSERVER — TAGS[/color]

© MADI

[Nero]

The sound of screaming was honestly a sound that Nero had never heard before. He quickly decided that he didn't like it all that much, and his ears swivelled to lay flat against his skull as he sped towards the source. If someone was making such a terrible racket, they were probably in trouble, and Nero wanted to prevent as much trouble as possible. He skidded to a halt shortly after Cooper, ruby eyes wide as he took in the scene. He couldn't help the way he salivated at the sight of blood, pupils contracting into slits as his dormant hunter instinct begged him for control. The panic managed to outweigh his bloodlust, however, the pounding of his heart clearing his mind of any residual hunger.

He opened his mouth to ask what was happening, but any words were killed on his tongue by the sight of Playerone leaping at the canine before her. Nero let out an involuntary gasp, the fur along his spine standing up in messy spikes. He thought that the Ascendants were supposed to protect and care for each other. He came to the clan in an attempt to escape the sight of death, and yet here he was, faced with it yet again. "W-what are you doing?!" He asked, his words holding equal amounts of fear and anger, foreign emotions that he wasn't fond of. But then again, the attacker didn't look to be in her right mind. The sight of her bloodshot eyes and that horrible pulsing mark made him step back and lower his head, a cautious snarl pulling at his muzzle.

[Cosmic]

Whatever force was controlling the hybrid was relentless, but completely new to this body, so its attacks were minor, but the sounds that errupted from its vocal coords was bound to send a shiver down people's spines. It did not sound like Player at all. It sounded much more feral and alien. This wasn't Player. Not by a long shot.

At the shriek of the child, its attention was turned towards Nero. A loud shrill cry came from the hybrid as it quickly dashed towards the child, hoping to pin him down and tried to bite down onto Nero's shoulder.

[Nero]

Nero wasn't prepared for the possibility of an attack. His breath caught in his throat as the hybrid leapt at him, pushing him to the ground and forcing the air out of his lungs. Since he hadn't been allowed to leave his room in the past, there was little opportunity for him to get injured. Therefore, as fangs dug into the flesh of his shoulder, the fiery pain that enveloped the area was completely new to him. Nero grit his teeth, pained tears pricking his eyes and he squirmed and writhed beneath his attacker. "Get off me! Stop it, you're hurting me!" He pleaded, batting at Playerone's stomach with unsheathed claws. He didn't want to harm anyone, but his mind was kicking into overdrive. Nero would regret it later, but at the moment he didn't have much of a choice.

[Cosmic]

The creature cared not for the pleas of Nero, and instead was infuriated by the pitiful attempts to scratch its underbelly. There was tufts of fur being removed, and a few small cuts, but nothing the adult hybrid it was inhabiting couldn't handle.

It then would try something incredibly savage; something Playerone herself would never ever do. It aimed to tear a chunk of flesh from the child's shoulder it had a hold of, whipping it's head upwards violently if successful.

The entity, or being- whatever it was, was savage and would stop at nothing to accomplish its goal to try and create more necromorphs. But on this world it was likely impossible, but the creature did not know that. It's objective was to simply kill.

[BASTILLEPAW]

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SING, GODDESS, OF THE RAGE OF ACHILLES

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Shouting drew his attention, and Bastille headed quickly in their direction at the sound of it. It wasn’t until he got closer and he could hear what they were screaming that he started running, and as he slid to a stop he did a quick analysis of the situation: Coop, Nero, Player. Fuck, Player — Bastille didn’t even care who she was right now, so was on his people and he’d be damned if he let fear of harming her stop him from protecting them. ”Get off of him,” he snapped, stalking towards the two as water swirled together with a strong burst of wind in front of him and slammed into Play like a jet, trying to fling her off of Nero. He kept moving forward, ready to step in front of Nero and block her off from him the second she was out of the way.

[b]BASTILLEPRISONER — ASTRAL SERAPH — ASCENDANTS — TAGS

[Margaery]

MARGAERY FOLIE-MIKAELSON

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MAKE ME QUEEN OR
I'LL MAKE YOU BLEED

[b]"Now, now, if you don't stop, I'll have to kill you, sugar! While I'm certainly not complaining, I'm sure you'd find death at my hands far from enjoyable."

A bargain, Margaery had made but one, simple bargain and now Genevieve was here and she was angry. While Gen was more than aware of the fact that her counterpart was projecting feelings of protectiveness over both Coop and Nero, she couldn't find it in herself to generate even slight annoyance. If she got to dig her teeth into something, she'd be sated. Easy as that. And by the looks of things, Player deserved what she had in store for her.

In one fluid motion, she had shifted from a domestic cat to a mountain lion, her tether to Margaery broken. It was all her in this body - and Maarit and Ingrid, but she didn't expect any opposition to what she was about to do, not this time anyways - and for a brief moment, she relished in the unshackled freedom it extended to her. But that moment came and passed and then she was stalking forward, copper eyes narrowed. Even without Margaery's influence, she still felt the same, strong feelings- nobody touched her family or friends. Nobody.

Without a second thought, she aimed to use her larger size to her advantage- attempting to pin Player to the ground. She did not make any move other than that one though, instead gazing boredly at the girl. Gen didn't know why she hadn't attempt to rip her throat out yet, just that some small, almost good part of her was telling her to wait. To watch. Surprisingly, Genny heeded its request. 

© MADI