tearmeanewone | DIX + [Fourth Wall Catch-All]

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DIX + [Fourth Wall Catch-All]

[Elizabeth]

[Action]

[Elizabeth is joining the ranks of those overwhelmed by the sudden influx of people in Luceti. Really, the crowds are starting to make her feel very nervous as someone used to more open spaces and limited interaction during her errands. What's worse, her puppy Nemo keeps trying to sniff at strangers, so Elizabeth keeps apologizing as she tries to navigate to the grocery store and back.]

[Voice]

I'm sure everybody's noticed that there are tons more people in Luceti than there used to be-- what's going on? Are there even enough apartments for everyone?

[Vastra]

[Action]

[And conversely, Vastra is completely unsurprised by what's happening. Typical Luceti, after all. It's an extremely eclectic mix of people at least, and Vastra is happy to see that. Still, it does make walking around a little difficult, and ever since the Edmundo Incident she can't feel 100% comfortable just walking around unarmed. So she has her sword prominently displayed on her back when she moves around the village and observes the crowds and interactions amongst the newcomers.]

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[Songbird lands again, perched on the house Elizabeth is hiding behind and scanning for any sign of her. He's sure he saw her come this way, but this is different from when they used to play hide-and-seek when she was younger. When she was younger, she was safe in her tower. Songbird doesn't know where they are now, but it couldn't be safe.]

[The movement he spots is Nemo running away, and then he sees her crouching in a shadow. He reaches down for her, clumsy when he's not in the sky.]

[Elizabeth's eyes go wide when Songbird reaches for her, and she tries to flatten herself against the wall of the house.]

No no no no no! Leave me alone!!

[She dodges around the hand reaching to pull her out of her hiding place and bolts for her house. Making it to her bedroom window, she pushes it open like she's done a thousand times before and tries to hoist herself in.]

[The spaces between buildings that Elizabeth is running through give him trouble. He can't fit through them, and so unless he wants to crash through all of them and potentially hurt her in the process, he has to hop from roof to roof screeching and trying to grab her.]

[When she stops to go through the window, he knows he has to catch her now before she gets inside. He reaches down and, instead of trying to fight to pull her out, he just pulls the whole window out of the wall.]

[Booker was coming back from the town square when he heard it... he knows that screech. It's enough to get him running to the house that is...currently missing a wall because it is here.

God damnit.]

Elizabeth!

[He's not about to fire a round off near the head, when that thing's got it's hand in what looks to be Elizabeth's bedroom. He's afraid that he'll hurt her. So he uses Devil's Kiss instead, aiming for the clawed feet instead. Please let this work, even for just a little bit, he does not want to die today.]

Hey! You get your hands off her you son of a bitch!

[Unlike Booker, Gai doesn't know just what that thing that's attacking the house is. But he doesn't need to know-- the only thing that matters is the fact that it just tore off part of the wall in an attempt to get at a clearly terrified Elizabeth. That, right there, makes it Enemy #1 in Gai's book.

Seeing that Booker seems to be handling the offensive side of things for the time being, Gai focuses instead on racing to Elizabeth to make sure that she's all right, one hand moving down to his waist to draw his Luger just as a precaution.]

Elizabeth! Are you all right?

[Elizabeth screams as the window comes out of the wall with her still draped over the windowsill. She can't stay off her feet long, otherwise Songbird will take her up high enough to the point where she can't escape without killing herself.]

[As she jumps out of the collapsing window frame, she thinks she hears Booker shouting and a familiar explosion of fire. Oh no, Booker and Songbird fighting again--]

[Disoriented from the run and the fall, Elizabeth is a little surprised to see Gai but she's glad to see him nonetheless. At least, for a brief moment.]

No, no Gai, you have to get out of here! [She puts her hand on the one Gai's using to draw his gun.] That isn't going to do anything, he'll kill you if you come between me and him!

[Whatever plea Elizabeth made, Songbird isn't going to hear it if it meant she was going to run away. But he was used to it, Elizabeth running away. She just had to be shown that she was safer in Monument Island.]

[The fire catches his attention, as does Booker's voice. It's gratingly familiar, and sets his eyes shifting to a bright red. He was the reason she had left him.]

[Claws out now he takes a vicious swipe at Booker, not bothered by the fire burning the grass under him.]

Shit -- !

[Booker doesn't manage to scramble away in time to avoid the bulk of Songbird's claws coming at him and the impact is like a train barreling into him - or at least what he'd imagine it'd feel like because for a moment he can't breath, lying on the ground and gasping.

Protecting Elizabeth from it is more important than anything, and Booker needs to get up. He rolls to his knees shakily. Hopefully Songbird isn't about to pound him into the ground and is instead focusing on Elizabeth.

Fortunately for the sake of his concerns over harming Elizabeth in the process, he can hear Gai and Elizabeth's frantic talking. It's enough to assure him through pumping a shell at Songbird's nearest thigh...thing.]

Get the hell away from her!

[He's pretty sure he's going to die today. Again.]

[One look at the way Songbird swiped Booker aside so easily is enough to assure Gai that his Luger will probably have about as much effect on the thing as a peashooter. No, this calls for bigger guns than that-- which, fortunately, he happens to have with him at all times.]

I'm not going anywhere.

[Instead, he moves his hand away from the holster on his hip; a moment later, his chest glows with a silver light as he reaches up and plunges his right hand right INTO his chest to pull out his Void with a grimace. When he yanks it back out, there's a sleek and futuristic-looking gun gripped in his hand, which he immediately levels at Songbird and fires a few laser beams.]

Booker!!

[Elizabeth screams when she sees Booker go flying from the impact, running to the hole in the wall. She knows she can stop this, she's done it before. All she'd have to do was surrender herself and Songbird would take her away. Where to? There wasn't a Monument Island to take her to, not in Luceti. Or was he trying to take her to Comstock House?]

[The glow is familiar, though Elizabeth is still awed to see Gai pulling his Void out of his chest with an intent to use it. But the gun was different enough that it might actually work against Songbird. Or at least keep him busy.]

Be careful, he's strong, Gai!

[Elizabeth carefully drops out of the hole in the wall and hurries over to Booker. He's probably injured.]

Booker I'm coming! Hang on, I'm coming!

[Elizabeth running by him goes unnoticed because Songbird is getting hit from all sides. Booker has his shotgun, and Gai has his own unfamiliar weapon. Perhaps it's a testament to how much of a threat Songbird considers Booker to be, but Gai is the bigger threat now with his strange laser-gun. A shotgun he can withstand.]

[With another birdlike shriek, Songbird attacks Elizabeth's window again, sharp claws still out and after Gai's blood. He isn't trying to incapacitate Elizabeth's protectors, he's out to neutralize them. His entire fist goes into the room in a blanket-attack.]

Run! Run!

[Booker has to think quickly, Elizabeth is coming towards him and she's hopefully going to listen to whatever half-cocked idea he can come up with while Songbird is still around. The beach takes time to get to and there's no way Songbird will be able to fit in the teleporter. It's literally the only way the whole damn enclosure doesn't get ripped to shreds.]

Get to the barracks, alright? You need to get where it can't find you, you need to go!

[Gai just needs to keep it's attention, and Booker will help - much as he wants to make sure she gets there safely.]

[Gai's instinctive reaction is to throw himself sideways into a roll that will get him out of the way of Songbird's fist. He can FEEL the impact, the entire floor and wall shaking from the force of the creature's attack, and for a brief moment he thinks of what might've happened if he hadn't been so fast on his feet.

But there's no time for thoughts like that now-- he needs to keep this thing away from Elizabeth. Rolling to a crouch, he takes aim and fires once again, aiming this time for Songbird's head. He may not know what it is, but the eye is a weak point on every single creature. He doubts this will be an exception to that rule.]

[Get to the barracks.

Transporters. Beach. Lots of water.

It didn't take long for all the connections to come together. The only thing that did take time was shoving journals and notes under the floorboard. Hearing the damage to the wall meant some of their work was in danger.

Which, yes, Elizabeth was a priority, but so was that work.

With that done, though, Robert could act. He could hurry to the ruckus, keeping back. The bird could be distracted. He touched the girl's arm, giving a small tug.]

Come on, Elizabeth. It's time to go.

[It's the sort of moment that Rosalind hates most - the moment that she has not studied for, where ignorance and the uselessness of understanding alone converge into a deep and impassable morass that cannot be grasped and handled calmly. The moment when she only understands enough - that Robert is taking her, again; that a maddened beast is at their heels, again - for her blood to flush hot and mind spark in burning-magnesium flecks of anger and fear.

She is a step behind, just enough to see the entire array of the scene, and to know that the Songbird will follow his prize to the point of death. It's the creature's single distilled purpose, that fate that all of them entangled with her cannot ever escape.

So once her brother rounds the doorjamb with the girl she reaches out to pull them the rest of the way around, to lean close not to him but to Elizabeth, voice smooth and coiled-tense as the spine of an animal ready to spring.]

There is inevitably a world in which not all of us are here. In that world, you are still in that room.

[Her eyes flit meaningfully past Elizabeth and back as she gives a short nod of her head, hand still curled in the back of Robert's suitcoat and ready to hurry them along. But she'll sacrifice a few seconds for more surety, first. She's more than had her fill of close shaves.]

[As soon as Elizabeth is crouching down to look after Booker's wounds, he's urging her to go. The order is so foreign, so strange--go? She never left him, not when Songbird was literally tearing their home apart looking for her. No, he would kill Booker if she wasn't there to put herself between them in the last second.]

[She's about to tell him what Gai told her--that she's not going anywhere--when Songbird renews his attack on her room. The room Gai is probably trapped in. Her heart stops and her body won't move. It's hopeless. They're going to die, both of them, trying to keep Songbird from her unless she does something. The flash of another laser beam shakes Elizabeth from her sick fear, and Robert and Rosalind are suddenly flanking her. She doesn't have a choice, she has to lead him away and risk not being able to outrun him again.]

[But Rosalind made a good point. Elizabeth could buy them some time, could buy Gai a temporary shield. There was, inevitably, a world in which Booker hadn't left the house, that she was in that room shielding Gai as Songbird tried to kill the only person standing in her room between him and Elizabeth. She closes her eyes, reaches out and seizes the crack her panic has created. The familiar stream of light and air sails through the destroyed wall and opens the tear. She's on the other side of it, standing in the center of the room as a static overlaid blue decoy with her fists clenched at her sides. Screaming at the top of her voice.]

STOP! STOP IT!! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU IF YOU KILL HIM!!

[Outside her room, Elizabeth holds onto Robert and Rosalind to steady herself, or perhaps to convince herself that there was nothing more she could do now but run.] Please, Booker-- [She swallows as she starts backing up, scared out of her mind, afraid to run and afraid to stay.] --don't keep him here any longer than he has to be. You know I can run fast.

[Gai knows exactly how to get on Songbird's bad side. The laser beam fired from Gai's gun hits him squarely in the eye, and he falls back screaming in pain. He's enraged now, furious, and he's going to murder Gai in the name of his cracked, broken, and oozing eye if it's the last thing he does. He rips the wall open more, unaware that behind him Booker, Robert, and Rosalind are plotting to take Elizabeth away. He's going to eliminate Gai, then deal with Booker if he has to.]

[But the appearance of Elizabeth's decoy stops him from reaching inside to crush Gai in his large hand. He listens, almost considering her words for a moment before reaching in gently to push her aside. She doesn't know what she's saying, she'll understand once Gai and Booker are dead and she's safe.]

[But it's a decoy, so his hand passes straight through. A tear! Songbird turns around to see Robert and Rosalind pulling Elizabeth away. She looks scared, and Songbird can't bear to see her afraid. Gai will have to wait, because he's going after Robert and Rosalind Lutece now.]

Elizabeth, you're gonna need to be doin' that right now.

[Booker looks right at the Lucetes when he sees Songbird wheel around and start barreling towards them, he has enough time to tell them this.]

Keep her safe!

[Booker turns then and charges up a shot of Shock Jockey, one hard enough to lay a few lines of electricity down as tripwires a few yards between him and Songbird. Hopefully it'll stall him a few steps. Enough for Booker to lay more shells into Songbird and hopefully distract him a little while more. If Gai can get out here and help, they might be able to keep him away from her.]

You're gonna have to go through me to get her you ugly bastard!

[He knows the odds of him dying are going up. Steadily by the second.]

[Gai is no fool. He doesn't need to be told to get out of the house; the moment Songbird turns around, he makes a run for it, racing past the giant creature and out into the open, where he has room to run and dodge. The odds are more even now, in his eyes. Songbird may be big, but it's slow, and he's got enough faith in his own ability to be quicker than it is when push comes to shove. The one thing he's gleaned from all of this is that Songbird doesn't seem to be out to kill Elizabeth. It's for that reason and that reason alone that he allows the Luteces to lead her off and instead focuses his own attention on firing off a few more shots at the massive thing.

Between him and Booker, they could at least distract it for a little while, hopefully long enough to get Elizabeth to safety out of its sight. The scent of ozone hangs heavy in the air from the combination of Shock Jockey and his own Void gun-- it's invigorating, in a strange and perverse way.

This is what he's good at. This is what he knows. And this is one fight he doesn't plan on losing.]

[Robert puts an arm around Elizabeth, ready to grab and pull if she resists. Will it make her angry? Yes. That is wholly possible. But to save her? He'll take any and every bit of anger she can throw at him.]

We're going to run.

[The words are low and even. Worst case scenario, he can abandon Rosalind and Elizabeth, act as another human shield against Songbird, another distraction. It shouldn't come to that, but if it does, he'll do it without hesitation.

His eyes narrow briefly, and he looks between the bird and Elizabeth.]

We just need to get to the barracks. Be ready to run. Once we run, Elizabeth? You do not stop. Do you understand me?

I think she understands running.

[It would be a dry, cutting remark were it not so breathless, hissed as Rosalind slamming the door shut for all the good it will do them. Another obstacle, another barrier to line of sight and paltry few dozen pounds of resistance to a beast that has the strength to barrel through it like butcher paper.

It's what she can do, though, before she's pulling both of them into a sprint with her, uncaring of who it upsets or offends. DeWitt, if he ever was their priority to begin with, certainly isn't now.]

[Songbird starting after them is the last push Elizabeth needs to back into Robert and Rosalind and start running. Yes, she understands running very well. She can't even really remember where the barracks are, but she's afraid of what happens if Songbird finds her and carries her off. Without a Monument Island or a Comstock House, they could fly around for days...]

[But even if she's running, she can't help but look over her shoulder at Gai and Booker still fighting. She sees the telltale flash of Shock Jockey and Gai's laser gun, and Elizabeth wonders for a horrible moment how long they can hold Songbird off before someone dies.]

Just take me halfway! Then go back for them, if I can get halfway there before he comes after me, I can make it!

[Why hadn't Booker learned that when he faced down Songbird, bad things happened?]

[There isn't anything that's going to stop him from getting to Elizabeth. The Shock Jockey slows him down, and he jerks with every single line he struggles through. But then there's nothing between them except for a shotgun. Booker first, then Gai.]

[Songbird draws his claws back and strikes, intending to crush Elizabeth's deadbeat father into the ground. He wouldn't be interfering again.]

[Booker is not known for thinking things through and he's fully aware of that. Even more so when Songbird draws his big spiked fist back and sweeps it towards him.

Booker is almost out of Salts and bullets, but he needs to try and make this last. He stumbles backwards, attempting to try and dive away from the fist but only just flailing out of the line of the claws. Next time he won't be so lucky.

At least he's close enough to aim the barrel of his gun true to Songbird's face. Or at least, what should qualify as it's face. He remembers, vaguely, that the glass orbs that functioned as it's eyes were sensitive. He was a little busy drowning at the time but that did happen.

Hopefully the spray of the shotgun might do some helpful damage.]

[Meanwhile, Gai fires off another barrage of shots aimed at Songbird's eye, glad that his Void isn't a weapon that requires reloading. Shock Jockey or not, he's not sure how long Booker will be able to hold out against this thing, and he's not sure of Booker's fighting abilities when that and his gun are removed from the equation. (Although on second thought, that's probably a moot point as there isn't much of a chance of either one of them being able to take Songbird on unarmed.)

If he can lure it away from Booker, maybe it will give the other man a chance either to reload or to find some more of that Shock Jockey potion. He at least is confident in his ability to keep Songbird occupied for a while, if nothing else.]

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DIX + [Fourth Wall Catch-All]

sure! :)

Eeeeeee!

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boop. hope this is alright!

Enter the fiance too

So we're going Songbird > Booker > Gai > Elizabeth for now! :D Luteces may come later!

k!

i'm so happy this is happening

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/slinks quietly off to bed because work...

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