STEER CLEAR OF THE SUN | OBSERVATORY EVACUATION

[lessa]

✯ — Used to Calum's earsplitting shrieks, the marten was not overly overtaken by the sound of sirens.  Rather, for a split second, she sat there confused.  The suddenness of it surprised her, and she was the not quite sure what the cause of all the commotion was.  Far worse, she realized all too soon she was by herself in the planetarium.

"Calum?" Her still recovering vocal cords stung, but she raised her voice just a little higher, torn ears flattened against her skull. "Cal?" Hadn't the hawk been right beside her before the sirens gone off?  Or had she been dosing and he left? Wearily, she shook her head, her teeth catching on the inside of her cheek.

Hesitantly, she skittered outside the room, entering the Observatory in time to watch clanmates zip.  The blaring lights hurt her good eye, but she stood where she was and scanned the room.  "C-Cal?" The marten squinted, brow furrowing, in the smoke's direction.  Please just already be outside you stupid bird...

She couldn't hear an answering call.  She did, unfortunately, feel something more pressing on her soul.  Kriff.  "Shine?!" Her mind said she'd last seen him in the cleric's hide, but no, he wouldn't be there amidst this.  He should be outside, just like Calum but neither were making smart choices today were they?

Neither was she.

As smoke began filling her lungs, she coughed roughly and followed the hallway, ignoring the protest in her lungs.  "C-Cal!? Sh-shine?" Finally, the bird shrieked, but she couldn't make out Shine in the smoke yet.  Stairs.  Lessa was small enough it was not so bad, but her breath still came in wheezes, eyes burning.  Calum was trapped on the first step, too distressed to fly.  She'd never wondered if he was afraid of fire before.  "G-go Calum, th-that way," she sputtered, pointing a paw back towards where she came before dashing down the rest of the steps.

Besides Shininglight, she could finally see the fire itself.  Closer.  The smoke heavier.  It made her remember someone that still brought sharp pangs through her heart.  Always so angry, always burning, the last she'd seen her alive, before... Lessa grit her teeth, then without anymore hesitation slipped in front of Shine, and aimed to push her friend back up the stairs with her head, while blocking the sight of the flames.  She didn't know what was going on in his mind, but she could feel it.  "W-we have to go."

code by spacexual

[VERSAILLESPALACE]

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Papi!

Sombra!

Versailles snaps into attention almost immediately, leaping into the thickening clouds of black smoke and towards the direction of Sombra and Ada with a panicked expression in her eyes. Sue can't lose her new friend, not like this, not with her cries echoing in the air of the flaming Observatory. She can't - Sombra gets on her nerves but she can't lose her. The thought is too much... it's simply too much for Versailles to stand and it pushes her to run faster, go deeper, desperate to get her to safety.

She bursts into the room, managing to dodge the flames just in time to see both Ascendants already struggling through the smoke. Versailles herself is already beginning to feel lightheaded, but she takes all the willpower she can muster and runs, aiming to wrap her teeth around Sombra's scruff and carry her and give Ada an encouraging nudge to the right direction. "We have to go and I am not letting either of you burn here alive!" Her eyes are stinging with unshed tears - whether it's from the smoke or panic, she'd never tell later on.

If either of them show any signs of following her guidance, she'd lead them back out as quickly as she could before the blistering blaze swallows them whole. She is not losing anyone today. She refuses, outright refuses to let them go. If destiny us going to take them away, she might as well go with them.

/shitty mobile post rip

TAGS • VERSAILLESPALACE OF THE ASCENDANTS • PLAYLIST

© [url=https://beastsofbeyond.com/index.php?topic=3214.0]LEXASPERATED

[adomania]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 55%; line-height:115%; text-align: justify;font-family: calibri;"]She wasn't moving. No. Scratch that. She wasn't going to move, subconsciously deciding that she was going to stay exactly where she had been in a fit of shock. Because her father was still there. Because she could save him. Because he didn't have to die this time.

The rough treatment did very little to spur her out of that, if anything it made her even more obstinate, snarling in Ada's face as the girl tried to rouse her out of her mind. "No!" the snarl could compete with that of a feral animal, and the weasel scurried back from her, baring her teeth defensively, eyes wide and seeing but not her. No, it was not Ada infront of Sombra's face, it was every single person she hated. Everyone she wanted to kill. Everyone who had been there and watched everything burn simply because they could.

Ada was only lucky that Sombra's mind was too preoccupied with different things at the given moment, or she would have surely thrown herself at the girl's throat the second she had touched her.

"¡no me toques!"

Spitting at Ada she turned around, desperately clawing at the furniture in her room to try and clamber up and away from her reach, to get as far away from her as possible and to save him. She wouldn't let him die. She refused to let him die. Not again. Not now. Not when she had a choice.

"¡No dejaré que lo mates!"

She wouldn't let them kill him.

In any other instance, perhaps seeing Versailles could have calmed her down, could have done anything to get her to stop panicking. But she was too far gone in her mind to understand, trying to fight with a fate that had already passed, trying to change what had already happened, all under the false pretense that it was still going on. That she was five, but at the same time so much more, and that somehow... this time things could go better.

It was why, when the girl picked her up, Sombra fought back yet again, shrieking curses in both Spanish and English and demanding to be put down, no matter who it was or what they wanted, to either save her deceased father or, this time, die with him.

[Suiteheart]

SUITE
HEART

Smoke. The clouds of it were dark and dangerous, and it choked anyone that came close. The scent of it leaked into Suiteheart's room, and her heart was immediately seized with fear. The white feline picked her way quickly to her door before throwing it open. The smoke met her at once, and she could hear the fire raging, raging, raging not too far away from her.

Screaming filled her ears.

She was frozen as her mind was taken back to her home before this. The floating islands they lived on were collapsing. There was mass hysteria. Everything was coming apart at the seams. Her mind's eye rolled out the incident as easily as if it had happened yesterday. Loved ones were falling, being pulled down with the islands. She herded everyone she could to the staircase, but the damage was already done. Lives had been lost. Their home was destroyed.

She remembered reaching out for someone. They were clutching onto the edge of an island as everything crumbled around them. Suiteheart remembered each tear that rolled down their face. She could still see the absolute fear in their eyes and could still hear the terror in their voice. She had reached for them. White paws had moved too slow; the edge fell away, and so went the individual. After that, Suite watched as families and friends were swallowed up in the destruction. She could still hear their screams.

As these visions played out in her head, Griffin had slipped into a pseudo control. The former life of Suite's was projecting the end of her life for Suiteheart to view once more. Quite often, Griffin was silent, but now was different. This catastrophe was too similar to what had ended Griffin's life. The firestorm, the poor misunderstood girl, had caused the destruction of her village, her friends, her family. In an unfortunate power malfunction, Griffin had set her home ablaze, killing everything she had ever known. Griffin could still hear the screams too. And though she was dead, she claimed to still feel the flames lapping at her body.

The white feline shook her head as a headache assaulted her. Her vision was blurry as her eyes tried to come to terms with what she was seeing. Suiteheart's eyes could see the Observatory walls, but due to Griffin's rise, she was seeing another time and place. Two separate instances were overlapping. 'My fault, my fault, my fault, my fault, my fault,' Griffin's voice shouted in her mind. 'We have to save them, S... We have to save them, S. Please. Can't you hear them?'

"Diya? Cerasus? Margaery?" Suiteheart called in a voice different from her own. Her eyes were wild with panic as she finally moved from the threshold of her room. Her movements were unsteady as two individuals were fighting for control of the vessel. "Where are you?" She was coughing now. Phantom images passed through her gaze, and she kept moving after them when there was nothing there. "Cooper?" He must still be in his room. He was probably too sick to escape.

A flurry of different names left her lips, almost to the point where she was calling off every member of the Ascendants. She could faintly scent Bastille, Ada, and Rinny through the tang of the smoke. She could see Aaliyah, Roy, and Atreus. She watched as Lessa tried to move Shininglight. She watched as Versailles moved Sombra. But Suiteheart moved deeper into the smoke, determined to find her family and friends and rescue them.

Griffin. Suiteheart. They had to save their people at least once.

[b]suiteheart folie-mikaelson . ecliptic admiral . the ascendants . tags

© [color=black]MADI

[Cosmic]

I was fully awake when the sound of sirens went off and I had looked up from my book. What was happening? I got off my bed and rushed to open the door, only to see hordes of Ascendants retreating from the Observatory. And then I smelled the smoke, and my immediate rescue instincts kicked in.

I heard Ada, rushing to meet her and follow her, but then I lost her in the crowd. Damn it! She probably hear someone call for help and went to save them. She would need help herself, and we had once worked together. I pushed through, keeping an eye out for anyone who needed my assistance on the way to meet back with my girlfriend.

"Ada, wait!"

[VERSAILLESPALACE]

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Sombra's movements cause her to stumble but she holds on, holds on as desperately as she could because letting go would be letting Sombra die and Versailles - Versailles can't let that happen. She latches onto her and ignores the struggle, ignores the fighting, ignores the unfamiliar words flying out of her mouth like bullets. She's not going to let Sombra die like this, stuck in her memories, in her grief, in her past - she's not going to let Sombra's fire go out like that.

A part of her wonders what Sombra is seeing - a part of her wonders if she's going to start seeing the same thing too. Her gaze is already growing blurry, her mind pounding and swimming all at once. Her throat is itchy, screaming for a cough, but doing so would cause her to drop Sombra and so she holds it back, lets it irritate her throat further. Each breath comes out a wheeze, a noisy stutter that's being yanked from the back of her lungs and tearing away at her respiratory tract with each smoke-laden inhale. She feels like her chest is going to burst. She feels like she's going to explode.

Versailles turns back, reaches out her prehensile tail and aims to touch Ada's shoulder, telling her to follow - follow quickly - before trudging along and being careful not to accidentally drop Sombra. Just the state of her is tearing at Versailles' heart, and in the end she is crying - it's too familiar a situation, it's too close to home, it reminds her too much of...

Sombra, please, she begs, too afraid to say it out loud, too afraid to let her pleading be heard. Her head is beginning to ache, to swirl, it's getting harder and harder to walk with all the smoke and the asphyxiation. Her entire body is only a few seconds away from collapse but she can't give up, can't give in - she needs to keep fighting, for Sombra's safety, for Sombra's sake. Even if she gets violent, even if she tries clawing or biting or tearing at her flesh, Versailles won't let go - ever so gentle, ever so patient, she'll keep marching until they're both outside the Observatory.

She'll take whatever punishment Sombra has in store for her then.

TAGS • VERSAILLESPALACE OF THE ASCENDANTS • PLAYLIST

© [url=https://beastsofbeyond.com/index.php?topic=3214.0]LEXASPERATED

[Shininglight]

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Creatures rushed past him- not away from the flames, but towards them. Shining's look of anger gradually fell apart, as he watched them dash into the flaming chaos. Although he couldn't sense it, the feline knew they radiated determination, courage, and hope. They were attempting to save loved ones, those trapped and afraid within the fire. Selfless, risking their life for someone else. Not caring for the possibility of their death.

Wasn't he like that? Didn't he sacrifice all his time and energy to help others? From leaders of tribes and clans, to the smallest of children. Parents, families, allies and even enemies. He had shown everyone love, tried to save them from the fires of hate. He may have failed at times... and yet other times he changed a creature's life for the better. Got them off the path of destruction and self-harm. Why was he standing here now, frozen in place?

"Wrong, wrong... Lies and deception..." Shining spoke aloud, more clearly than usual. "You don't tell the truth. You press your sick, wicked thoughts onto me. Your Eyes show me a twisted world. Not what it has to be... Not what I want it to be..." The feline stepped forward-

Someone slipped in front of him. A small marten, with legs of metal. Lessa's head pushed up against his body, sending him back towards the stairs. Shining's focus broke from the blaze, as he looked down at his friend. He began to resist. "Save them. I have to save them..." he started coughing near the end, the smoke finally getting to his lungs, stinging his eyes as it grew thicker. "Can't let them die... Can't let them burn."

[tori]

I WANT TO BE FOREVER YOUNG! { .:*・°☆ } ——— [size=10pt]info

Being the species he was, Alex had the ability to sniff things out from a good distance away, which meant that smoke came before the sirens did. That was enough to get his ass up and moving with a good dose of anxiety already biting at his heels.

The sirens themselves, however, were what really set him off. They were loud, piercing sounds and were the harbinger of chaos without a doubt. Everyone was screaming, demanding, ordering and somehow that mix of aggression was louder than the thing that was supposed to be violently loud. The wolf pup grit his teeth, whining and pawing at his ears. He felt his heart would burst with how fast it was going, just completely give out or something. It was rushing in his ears, which did nothing to help literally everything else.

Alex stumbled down the halls from his room, legs shaking so violently that it impeded his ability to walk and destroyed any possibility to run. He coughed, the smell of smoke was disgusting and invasive. If he didn't die of smoke inhalation, the fire would finish the job. His eyes watered, but he wasn't sure if it was from the smoke or if he was just crying from fear. Both, maybe?

"Live or die, live or die, live or die-"

He wasn't moving any faster, and felt his entire body shut down. He was going to vomit. He was too young to die, but...he couldn't bring himself to move. Everything hurt. He was useless, a liability. He took a deep breath, which wasn't a good idea as he soon found out after inhaling another gust of smoke.

[color=white]"You're not useless. You're not alone anymore."

One more push and his emotions completely shut off. He was still shaking real bad, but all concern for his own wellbeing had been pushed down within himself. He stared back into the smoke, like staring down an enemy much bigger than himself. A monster. He could have sworn it growled at him, or maybe it was just the fire.

"Suiteheart!" Everyone else was fine, supported, or backed up the rear. Suite was going back in, he...he couldn't just run and let her be alone in this pillar of smoke and death. He pushed himself back into the dark grey cloud, hacking up a lung and almost headbutting her side when his vision was impaired.

"I'm not scared, i'm not scared, i'm not scared."

[Character Graveyard.]

[align=center][div style="text-align: justify; width: 45%; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -1px;"]Ada would send a look of alarm in Sombra's direction as the other female attempted to get away from her. Then Versailles came into the ablaze room. A frown plastered itself onto her maw as she would make her way out of the room, looking over her shoulder for anyone else behind her.

Since there hadn't been anyone else that seemed to be needing help, Ada made her way back out of the Observatory and she went over to Playerone.

[MirrorEdge]

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Fire. Something Thea herself had never dealt with, and didn't know. But it didn't take much besides getting close enough to feel the fur on her body singeing to come to the realization this was something she should keep away from, as the young Arabian leopard tried to navigate through the maze of flames that had been created.

She had been late to making it out, mostly due to the fact she was unused to the layout of the Observatory, and that had led her to a few dead ends, and costing Thea valuable time as she tried to backtrack, only to find the paths she was familiar with cut off, leading to more confusion and frustration for the guardian.

The sirens, if anything, made it even more disorienting, hard to focus, and Thea stumbled, not used to this feeling of helplessness. She hated it. Hated it so much. Patches of burned fur and skin could be seen, and the Fireball could feel her lungs fill with smoke, slowly but surely preventing her from breathing what little clean air was left. "Guys? Guys!"

She pushed on, fire occaisonally licking her paws and legs as it crept too close, and she was quick to jump back, with the feeling of burned skin keeping her going.