TEMPORAL TURBULENCE: THE CITY SEIGED

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: approx. 6/23-6/25
Location: All over the Hold & city surrounding
Characters: Several (tag yourselves in)
Sumamry: The civilians of the Exsilium city revolt
Warnings: Oodles of violence (notify Elle or Liz of anything else worthy of labeling)



The unrest had been mounting for days and days...With no answers or treatments to satisfy the ailing, the population was reaching a breaking point. Too much uncertainty, too much fear and suspicion...They wanted answers. They wanted results. What they were given was absolutely nothing in their eyes.

Many grew bold. They gathered weapons, formed plans and groups...They readied.

One more night of empty assurances, and things began to move in a bad way. Vandals sneaked into the Hold and tore up property in the living quarters before being discovered and chased out, escaping capture. Their valiant retelling was enough to spur the rest into motion.

Come early daylight, hundreds, maybe thousands, of civilians made war upon the Initiative.

Comments

homura & madoka

[repetition]

Homura can barely stand for more than minutes at a time. She is nauseous and dizzy, her vision goes black at the edges with alarming regularity, and she is not sure if she will be able to keep from passing out at all.

And yet here she stands, at Madoka's side, ready and willing to take on the world. Their relationship has undergone a shift since she arrived here in Exsilium, and with all the revelations of her future, Homura has been left on uneven ground, trying to find her footing in a lifetime's worth of emotional upheaval. Madoka has always been the center of everything, and so it is to her she clings, in a desperate attempt to return to some semblance of normalcy.

If only she could recall what normalcy is. There is no way for her to go back to being the girl she once was, and Mami and Madoka have both made it clear that she does not have to remain the girl she has become. Homura doubts they would let her, even if she wanted to.

But now, with these airborne rioters threatening the place that currently serves as her home, as Madoka's home, it is not the time to think of such things. Homura is no stranger to battle, and even in her current state, the thought of something as simple as fighting comes as something of a relief.

"Madoka," she says, over the familiar sound of a grenade exploding nearby, "if I take cover, I can freeze time while you shoot them."

[revelation]

Madoka stands not far from Homura, watching her carefully out of the corner of her eye when she feels its safe to take her eyes off the airborne rioters.

She knows the girls are all sick, each one different but all seemingly incurable even with the power of their magic. There is no way for her to tell just when it might get worse again, if Homura might pass out in the midst of fighting. The worry she carries in her heart is clear, even more when she lets Mami and Kyouko's own conditions come back into her thoughts.

Homura's words grab her attention and Madoka turns to fully to face her, trying to ignore the sounds currently dominating in the background and listen in. She has no battle experience, only the experience that came with practicing with her bow since her arrival but nothing that could help her in this moment. And so, even in with her worry for her friend, she finds herself relying on Homura to guide her.

"Mm, okay!" She says, drawing an arrow from her quiver with one hand and raising her bow upwards with the other. "I'll do my best, Homura-chan."

[repetition]

If she could, Homura would take on the whole of the riotous mob by herself, would not allow Madoka to put herself in such danger. But she is far too weak to fight alone, and knows, too, that Madoka is not one to stand idly by while people need help, has had that lesson drummed home far too many painful times to forget it, and this Madoka, at least, is full to brimming with a power that surpasses any Puella Magi that has come before her. It's her own fault. By rewinding time again and again, she had sealed Madoka's fate as a girl of immeasurable magical potential, and thus Kyuubey's interest in her. Her promise really had been in impossible one to keep.

She ducks behind a pile of debris, slowly so as to keep her balance, and presses herself up against a wall, out of view and looks up at Madoka, bow poised and ready. The sight of it makes Homura's chest ache, and she feels the familiar sting of tears in her eyes. She ignores the sudden welling of emotion, and reaches out to grab a fistful of Madoka's skirt in her hand. "I have to keep hold of you, or you'll be frozen too." She pauses, and regret is heavy in her voice. "I don't think I'll be able to do this long."

And then her shield turns, and time stops, airborne rioters with their jetpacks frozen in the air, bombs flashing mid-detonation. She doesn't have the strength to use her own weapons, must instead rely on a Madoka with little experience in battle, but there is a sort of comfort in this, this fighting side-by-side. It's all she'd ever wanted, to be able to stand on equal ground with this girl who means the world to her, and now in Exsilium, there is the faintest glimmer of hope that this might be possible after all.

"Now, Madoka!"

[revelation]

Madoka looks back as Homura grabs a fistful of her skirt, nodding with the explanation given and turns back, drawing the arrow back again. These arrows are nothing like the ones she can usually summon with magic alone, but training has proven she can infuse them with her own magic and causing them to glow with a faint pink light.

"Don't worry, Homura-chan! I'm grateful for your help. I won't let it go to waste!" She turns back again, just quick enough to flash a smile before giving the rioters her full attention.

Just in time too, because watching time come to a sudden halt around her was almost jarring. It sets her nerves on edge for a moment, but Homura's voice keeps her focus where it needs to be and she answers her call by letting the drawn arrow fly toward the jetpack of one of the airborne rioters. There was no time to stop, drawing another arrow from her quiver by the time the first stops half-way toward its target.

She continues this process until all the rioters within her range all have arrows heading toward the jet-packs they wear. It was not all, not by a long shot but it could make a dent in the pack and make things easier for them.

[repetition]

It is, Homura finds, immeasurably more difficult to use her powers when she feels constantly on the verge of passing out. While she could freeze time for perhaps minutes before, she finds that it's mere seconds until her head swims, until her dry mouth suddenly goes wet, as if she is about to vomit.

Time starts again, and it seems that even those few seconds were enough for Madoka. The closest rioters go flying back, propelled by the shining bolts of energy from Madoka's bow, before crashing into buildings and exploding in a shower of soft, pink light. It's oddly beautiful, Homura thinks, before she doubles over, clutching her stomach and dry heaving as the world spins around her.

She is frustrated, almost angry. She had promised she would protect Madoka, had given her soul as payment for a wish that would give her the power to do so, and yet here she is, weak and useless once again. She clenches her jaw and sits up straight, ignoring the waves of dizziness that wash over her. If Homura is anything, it's determined, and she is determined now not to let this result of temporal meddling get the best of her. She breathes in sharply through her nose, feels her head clear and her nausea subside. For now, that stubborn desire to protect what she loves overrides her symptoms, and she pulls a gun from that bottomless space behind her shield.

"I'll stop time again, when I can. Shoot anyone that gets too close." She is not used to this, to giving Madoka commands, but she finds some relief in it. She may be weak and erratic with her powers, but this she can do. She will not be made useless. She narrows her eyes and takes aim.

this is so hideously late sob

[revelation]

Madoka lets out a short sigh of air as time start again, watching as the rioters fly backwards as her arrows met their marks. Once sure she can take the moment, Madoka turns on her feet and moves to kneel beside Homura. The worry is clear as ever on her face, even more so as she reaches her hand out and rests it on Homura's shoulder.

Asking her if she's okay seems almost silly when it's clear that is anything but the case, so all Madoka can do is watch for that brief moment before she has to glance over her shoulder. The rioters were still approaching and she knows she cannot be distracted for long, despite wanting to focus solely on Homura right now. She swallows her worry down for now and stands, drawing back another arrow as she turns. Again, in a flash of pink, the rioter goes flying off course as the arrow cuts through the jetpack and is sent crashing into one of the nearby buildings. No time to celebrate, she finds because it seems for every one that is taken down another one takes its place.

She does pause, long enough to turn back and listen to Homura's words. Although Madoka hates the thought of Homura pushing herself, she knows her friend is strong – very strong. So, she nods and turns back to the oncoming group.

"Mm, okay. Just don't push yourself, because we'll be fine." Madoka flashes a smile, turning her focus on the rioters. "So, let's do our best!"

not as late as meeeee!!!

[repetition]

If Homura were the type to find humor in dark places, she would have to choke back a laugh at Madoka's warning. She has made a life out of pushing herself, of enduring long after others around her would have fallen, had fallen. Homura has pushed herself through worse things than this, has moved past immeasurable pain and suffering all for the sake of the girl who stands next to her now, hand on her shoulder. And she would do it all over again, will continue to do it until she draws her very last breath. It is the least, she thinks, she can do for a girl who saved her in every way that mattered.

But she is not the type to take note of such things, of wry, darkly humorous ironies, and so she refrains from responding at all. Anything that would ease Madoka's worry would be an untruth, and she has said before she does not like to be made into a liar.

She saves her bullets for those that Madoka's arrows don't quite do away with, and those that cross the invisible line in front of them that Homura has drawn with her mind. When the rioters get smart enough to come in pairs and small groups, she stops the flow of time around them long enough for a hail of bullets and arrows to keep them away, and no longer.

It is soon clear to her, as her head begins to swim and her vision goes dark for long moments, that she may simply not be physically able to keep pushing, that she might at long last be forced to give up. She takes a sharp breath through her nose, and grinds out between gritted teeth what is perhaps the most painful thing she has ever had to say. "Madoka... I don't think I can keep going..."