[ASH] REPOST: ASH #121 - City of Night Part 2 actual: Nachtlich

[Drew Nilium]

On 10/11/21 1:32 PM, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> (OOPS!  Posted part 3 as Part 2.  Here's the actual part 2.)

Oop. X3

>       [The cover shows members of EUROPA (Arc, Ymir, Hotspur, Justice, ghostly
> Oni, and a woman in an unfamiliar EUROPA-styled uniform) launching attacks
> against a wall of blackness.  "We attack the darkness!" cover blurb.]

XD Ahhhh, some memes never go out of style.

>       "Yes and no," Lightfoot shrugged.  "A few months before you showed up,
> feels like longer, but there's superhero life for you...anyway, Monaco got
> caught in a time bubble sort of thing.  Split four ways, no one could get in
> or out at first.  And since then, the entire Sun got covered in a shell,
> and.  Damn.  I guess it's not really that unusual lately."

Well. X3;

>       "She means me," Tom rolled his eyes.  "Time travel.  I was born about
> fifty years ago."
>       "I remember time travel.  It never seemed to be useful for anything but
> causing trouble,"

Well! X3 X3 X3 <3

> For now, however, she
> was communicating via her invisible magnetic "ghost" form interacting via a
> piece of metal sculpture that had been pulled from the lobby and placed in
> one of the seats at the table.

That is *so* cool. :D

>       She just hoped this latest crisis wouldn't require more battlefield
> promotions.

Mmmmm yeah.

> In fact, the lack of any announcement from anyone was beginning
> to worry everyone.  In the history of "powerful entities taking over cities,"
> silence from the conqueror almost always meant that they didn't care what the
> rest of the world thought, because they were confident that the rest of the
> world would be conquered soon enough.

Dun dun dunnnnn!

> We've seen a few birds land on the
> top, but they do seem to perceive it well enough none have simply bounced
> off.

Adorable!

>       Felka stepped up and got a good grip, then tugged experimentally.  The
> rail warped slightly, but the end that met the dome didn't move.  Frowning,
> she crimped the rail down into a more solid bar and gave it a hard pull.
> With a sharp PING it snapped off raggedly at the dome end.  As they watched,
> the tattered edges of the metal slowly sank into darkness.  "Might not be
> stronger than me, but it's stronger than steel."

Niiiiiice.

>       They'd been sending emergency generators, water purifiers, and other
> supplies through the dome for the last day, in the hopes that the people
> inside were still alive and could make use of the things.  Each was
> accompanied by chemical lights so that they would stand out.  Now they had
> picked a clear area away from any of the supply drops, but to reduce the
> chances of hurting any innocents they were letting a lit-up sign reading
> "Back away" in several languages get sucked into the dome first.

God, this is good thinking. <3

> Other objects at that edge of the dome were
> swallowed up serenely, but as the boundary reached the sign again it started
> to slowly push.
>       "Okay, dass ist pesimo," Hotspur muttered.  ["Okay, that is very bad,"
> in street Eurolac - Ed.]
>       "I think we just got proof that whatever's behind this can see us, even
> if we can't see them,"

That's so cool. :3

>       Then she hit the wall and nearly stopped.  It was no longer adamantine,
> more like wet concrete.  The others struck a moment after, and they all
> struggled to force through the boundary between inside and out, between
> captives and rescuers.  If the Anchors weakened the barrier more, it would
> also further rob the EUROPAns of their preternatural strength, possibly a
> zero sum game.
>       Another moment, though, and she won through!

Hell yeah! :D :D :D Good moment!

>       Nothing so distinct as figures, or even limbs, but the shadows detached
> themselves from the ground and the walls and flung themselves at Arc.

ooooooooh love the visual

>       Justice threw stronger lightning this time, and while it seemed to slice
> apart the shadows in its passage, the harsh light cast sharper shadows which
> then came alive to cut at him.

Oh *dang* even better

>       If the mystic weapon had any reply, no one heard it as the shadows
> surged like a tidal wave and slammed them back against the wall through which
> they had entered moments before.

so coooooool

>       "Regardless, I think it's time we called in ASH," Claire told those
> assembled.  "I know, no one likes feeling like we have to run to them every
> few months, but they were the last ones to face Lady Sable, and they have
> better magic-lore people than we do.

Plus, their name *is* in the title.

>       The dome started to twist upwards in the middle, a tendril reaching up
> into the icy clear January sky.  The chill that ran down Arc's back had
> nothing to do with the wintry breeze, as the tendril resolved into the form
> of a woman hundreds of meters tall.
>       A booming contralto issued forth from everywhere at once, the dome
> itself shaking like a titanic speaker.  "Berlin is henceforth and forever
> more the City of Night," it intoned.  "The domain of Lord Ebon, under the
> regency of Lady Sable!"

Awwwwwwwwwwwww shit!!! D: :D

>       Therefore, I'm finding I have time and energy, having gotten really
> efficient at doing 125% of my job in only 100% of the time and now only
> having to do 100% of the job.  :)

Heck yeah, that's the spirit!

Drew "in a similar but more mental-illness-inflected place" Nilium