「MENACING」
Narxis giggled, a gurgling sound. "Oh! I'm so flattered! Why, I'm blushing like a schoolgirl!" He grinned, exposing a mouth of broken, rotted teeth that looked deliberately sharpened. "I'm afraid you're all alone, little child, no one's coming to your side." He raised the hypodermic needle, flicking the syringe. A droplet of bright yellow dripped from the end, bursting into steam as it entered the air. His other hand rose, and it began to shimmer with a reddish light. "Do you want to scream first or die first?" he asked, stepping forward. "I'm afraid you have to die either way, mortal."
Narxis's senses were weak at the best of times (which had probably been centuries ago), and dulled as they were by the drugs, he could hardly sense anything. To him, Arianna was as normal as they came, despite what her bullets had done back before. Perhaps she simply had a really big gun.
Rachel, meanwhile, might sense something approaching at high speeds- A Cultist of Infinatus, heading straight for the cafe.
The woman nodded, seeing what Jack's eyes had flicked too. "You could lose them in there," she said, almost to herself. "Run for the door. They won't be able to hit you if you-" She stopped talking, eyes narrowing. "Go! Quickly!"
At that moment, both men drew their handguns in perfect symmetry and leveled them down the road. Two shots rang out, but no bullets struck Jack. The two men looked confused for moment, then tried to fire again to no avail. The barrels had been wrecked, by both bullets blowing up in the barrels. They dropped the guns in disgust and, abandoning all pretence of normalcy, dove onto all fours and charged the two Infinatus members.
The woman ran, pounding towards the clothes store, but something that looked like a shimmering transparent snake rose behind her and headed for the two foes. They might be delayed for a moment or two, but hopefully it would be enough...
The three Wisps followed Alex in, still invisible- However, Alex might begin to see them, first as faint shimmers in the air but slowly something more solid.
edited 2nd Jun '11 12:28:45 PM by Hydrall
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
"Cultists and Gifted," Clive prompted, looking somewhat bemused. Although he knew rationally that her warning should have made him wary, if not outright afraid, it served only to further fuel his interest. He wondered privately whether she'd been looking in the direction of the presences a little ways away that he had picked up on earlier... or perhaps the weirdo in the corner who was still staring openly. Everyone else at least had the presence of mind to do it while her back was to them, much like the shop's owner was doing now.
edited 2nd Jun '11 12:46:07 PM by darksidevoid
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
The Maid
Rachel stood up the moment she felt the Cultist from the rival faction approaching her location. First the creep that I cannot just kill on principle because he's from my own faction... and now one of those self righteous knights of blue show up. I couldn't ask for worse company
"Clive behind me, we're leaving. Be prepared to jump for cover" Rachel said in a voice barely above a whisper as she moved to the front entrance to leave the coffee shop.
edited 2nd Jun '11 1:30:20 PM by daltar
If I'm sure of something it's that I'm not sure of anything.
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
"Now?" He raised an eyebrow, but drained his coffee and rose, glancing back at the register. "Alright. Hey Fabio, could you look after my things for me?"
"Huh?" The middle-aged man behind the counter jumped. "Yeah, sure thing, but-"
"Thanks! Sorry, gotta go." Clive hurried after his... new mentor, he supposed. An obnoxious wolf whistle from the guy in the corner made him pause a fraction of a second to roll his eyes and give a backwards wave, but then he was out the door, right on Rachel's heels.
...
Everything in the cafe was very still. As soon as the sound of the chime from the pair's exit had faded, however, the room burst into motion. The couple at another table began to gab ceaselessly, and the guy who had been staring turned back to his food with a mumble that sounded suspiciously like, "Lucky bastard."
The old man, on the other hand, was wearing a mighty scowl. "What's the boy gone and done now, joined some kinda motorcicle gang? I always knew he wasn't on the straight and narrow, with his politicking and his weird head doctor mumbo-jumbo. What's the world coming to, anyway?"
"Now Leo-" the owner began tentatively.
"Don't you 'now Leo' me, whippersnapper!" the gray-maned man cried, jumping to his feet and pounding his cane emphatically on the floor. "Have some respect for your elders! Why, when I was your age..." The entire coffee house seemed to let out a collective groan as Old Man Leo went off on another one of his impassioned rants.
edited 3rd Jun '11 8:09:47 PM by darksidevoid
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
Ilsa trudged down the road tiredly, large bags under her eyes. She passed each shop and building, glancing at them dismissively. A corner, and then, a coffee shop.
The woman looked over her shoulder, standing still. A man on a bicycle passed her before she entered the shop.
It was busy. An old man was spewing out words angrily, while people either listened to him or ignored him. Ilsa asked for a coffee, smiling at the cashier as best as she could, and tried to pick up on the elder's rants.
She failed. He's just spewing out nonsense.
The hot coffee arrived and she carefully went through the maze of people and chairs, finding an empty seat near the door. Her hair was wet and she lazily ran her hands through it, trying her best not to ruin her already ruined hairdo.
The cup was set down on the table with a clunk and she stood up. No one noticed. The woman exited the shop, unconsciously gripping her forearm. A strange symbol was tattooed on it.
I need to find someone. Anyone.
She noted the desperate tinge on her voice. Even though it was a thought, she smiled.
"I didn't realize I was this pathetic," she told herself under her breath, her smile widening.
Simon was getting the ingedients for tonights dinner, spaghetti bolognese. Well I'm tight on money at the moment...so I'm going to have spaghetti tomorrow...and the night after...at least it's better than instant noodles.
Getting what he needed at the supermarket, Simon started to walk back to the car.
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.
Thom Raiwhat?
Jack bolted for the clothing store, skidding inside before carefully hiding behind a rack of clothing, praying that the people inside would leave him alone long enough to let him lose the armed men.
...He'd left the white-haired woman behind. Hesitantly, he jerked forward, about to leave his makeshift shelter to find her before realising that that was possibly the worst thing he could do right now. Instead,he crouched behind the clothing rack, staying perfectly still as he peered between a row of brightly-coloured shirts at the door of the little shop. The shop assistant didn't seem to have noticed him yet; she was too busy singing along* to one of the latest chart-toppers.
Anyway here's Blackwall
「MENACING」
The white-haired woman didn't appear- But the two men who weren't quite men any more did, stepping through the wall as if it didn't exist. Their faces before had been well-combed, clean shaven, and roughly handsome. Now, they'd become angular, their face contorted into a canid muzzle, and from the mouth hung a massive black tongue, covered in spines. They kept out of sight of the cashier, although she might not have seem them anyways, and walked on all fours behind the racks.
"Where is she?" one said, although his mouth didn't move. "Where did she go?"
They didn't seem to even care about Jack at the moment, sniffing the air and growling softly. The other coughed. "She's laid down a smokescreen. It'll be harder..."
The first 'man' swore. "We don't fail! We have standards!"
"Well..." As one, the two creatures turned to face Jack's hiding place. "A gifted isn't as good as a Cultist, but it's something."
"That it is."
In perfect tandem, they began to pad towards the rack, opening and closing their mouths silently.
Simon would notice a black bird sitting on his car.
Now, there's a terrible tendency with people to call things like magpies and ravens black, when it's really usually a very dark blue. However, this bird was black- Completely, utterly absorbing all the light that hit it. It gave the illusion of being without depth, in fact.
But on its chest was a red letter Omega in feathers.
Thom Raiwhat?
Jack shoved the clothing rack at the oncoming things and bolted out of the door, ignoring the outraged cries of the shop assistant as he sprinted down a nearby alleyway, heart hammering in his chest.
I need to find... that lady... Unless they got to her first...
No. I'm sure she escaped. She's probably long gone. I need to get out of here- find a safe place-
I need to get rid of this mark.
Anyway here's Blackwall
"I'm afraid you have to die either way, mortal."
Mortal?
She fired, no idea whether the shot hit his face or not, and turned to bolt, jumping onto the bin, desperately wishing, begging that she'd be able to reach the roof, knowing she wouldn't-
With one leap, she made the jump.
She landed on her knees and she thanked God that she wore pants today, though little did it help. She stumbled onto her feet, tripping, confused, and then the drain of energy from the act started to register. God, it hurt, the edges of her muscles and bones everywhere just aching from apparent exhaustion.
She couldn't run. She couldn't run.
She heard something behind her and gritted her teeth. Maybe this is what the gang had planned, a mission that would end in the death of the enemy and guarentee the blame would go on someone who was not technically connected with the Triad anymore. Fucking bastards they were.
Her fingers slipped into her sleeves and slid two stilettos into her hands. He was there, behind her, she could hear him breathing. If a bullet to the face wouldn't work, maybe a blade in the eyes might.
edited 3rd Jun '11 6:04:50 AM by Aralyn
When I walk on the street counting my steps, magic keeps silent and reality stalks me.
Simon noticed the letter on the crow immediately. The symbol and the unnaturally black colour of the crow gave this man the creeps. Calm down, it's only a bird...it will just fly away when I get driving in my car.
He got the groceries from his trolley, opened the trunk and put his bags in there, trying to ignore the bird.
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.
「MENACING」
Narxis had been hit, the bullet turning his head into a blasted stump, bloody mist scattering. He swayed on the spot for a moment... And yet he kept breathing, sucking in gurgling, bubbling breaths.
Then, he laughed.
"Hu... Huhuhu... That was a surrprise. Guess I'm a biitt... Dulled." Something began to push its way up from his throat, ripping apart the clinging strings of flesh from his ruined head. "But... Gifted orr not..." His head ripped its way out, covered in a bloody silver shroud, like a newborn. He reached up and tore it away, his eyes opening and a grin appearing.
"It's going to take more than one bullet."
Narxis followed Arianna to the roof in an easy leap, pulling a second needle from his jacket. "Sorry, girl, it's pain now." He began to move forward.
The bird made a sound like a sneeze. "It's rude to ignore people," it said.
The shopkeeper would likely be a bit more angry as the two canids tore their way out of the rack, all claws and teeth. They dove for the door to follow Clive, but one stopped, looking back at the shopkeeper. "Go on," he snarled, "I'll deal with the cleanup."
The words gave Simon a massive shock, he dropped one of his grocery bags upon hearing them. However, Simon convinced that the bird did not talk.
"Must be my imagination" said Simon, trying to reassure himself.
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.
「MENACING」
"Afraid not," the bird said sympathetically. "I'm not a bird, though, so you're slightly correct."
Looking straight at the bird, Simon was dead silent. His mind matched his mouth, blanked by shock from what was happening right now.
edited 3rd Jun '11 7:20:31 AM by JustaUsername
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.
"It's pain now."
Her mind raced as she leaped forward to attack him. Plan: shock, dodge, incapacitate, shock, killing strike. She was fast, she knew she could do it, but this was a person she shot at blank range and didn't die.
Her hands jerked forward to hook, blade held at a right angle, but a moment before she made contact she saw his face and something is wrong.
edited 3rd Jun '11 7:50:54 AM by Aralyn
When I walk on the street counting my steps, magic keeps silent and reality stalks me.
Only One Avatar
Alex was sitting on a bench in front of a fountain on the ground level of the mall. His head was hanging over the back, his face facing the ceiling four stories high. The air conditioning was too high. Everything in the mall seemed pristine and sterile except for the insides of trash cans, much unlike his neighborhood on the South side. People leisurely walked past involved in their shopping.
Some parents were dragged to the fountain by young children. When his sister was little, his father wouldn't let her throw away money, so she would have tantrums. When Alex was as young as she, he would just hold those feelings in, even though he wanted it just as badly.
Looking toward the fountain, he saw a greenish thing, nearly invisible. When a person looks into a light, optical illusions like that appear and fade. However, this thing didn't fade away, and there were others floating atop the fountain. They were wispy like clouds, and about the size of a medicine ball. Alex had goosebumps for the second time this day; it wasn't a pleasant one.
After about three minutes of feeling uncomfortable, he tried to stop a passerby. The first one kept walking, but the second, a middle aged woman with greying hair, was willing to stop for a moment. "Do you see those?" he said, pointing to the indiscernable green clouds at floating at above the fountain.
"The jewelry shop?" she said.
"Uh, no." He paused. "I meant above the fountain."
The woman had a confused mien. She focused her eyes on the top of the water fountain, squinting. "Oh, there's a tiny jet that's out of order. Yeah, they should probably do something about that. Just one little mistake can ruin the whole aesthetic."
Alex felt a sinking feeling in his chest. "That's right," he said slowly, looking at the woman's feet, and then up at the green clouds. "Thanks."
edited 3rd Jun '11 9:17:44 AM by Grain
Anime geemu wo shinasai!
「MENACING」
The bird shuffled around in its feet, its eyeless black head staring up at Simon. "What, is this really the most surprising thing to ever happen to you? Nothing like, say, waking up with a tattoo you didn't know was there...? Hey, hey, you know what I mean, right?"
Narxis brought up his hand and, with an almost insulting amount of casualness, blocked the knives with his needles- Obviously, it wasn't just something he'd picked off the street. He took a step back, papery face stretching in a disturbing grin. "Now now, child! Don't go running with knives, you could hurt someone!" He whirled to the side with surprising speed, before thrusting one of the needles at Arianna- Not especially trying to strike her, instead trying to drive her back, to play with her. Narxis was having the time of his life. "Play with syringes, much safer!"
The three Wisps bobbed in unison as Alex acknowledged their presence, before one drifted over towards a door- An exit, according to the sign over it. Alex might not remember having seen such a door before, especially since it appeared to lead straight into a small furniture outlet. The other two began to float around him, trying to usher him towards the door. One of them flashed briefly- A circle with a cross in it appeared in the cloud.
edited 3rd Jun '11 1:06:15 PM by Hydrall
The Maid
Rachel walked straight towards her motorcycle with Clive just a few steps behind her. As she neared the machine it turned itself on by itself with a mighty roar of it's motor. Suddenly the lid of the storage compartment flew open as Rachel reached with a hand to grab the black helmet stored within.
With a casual movement of her hand she lobbed the helmet at Clive while she put on her sunglasses with the other one "Put that on your head and hop on, you in front"
If I'm sure of something it's that I'm not sure of anything.
Only One Avatar
Alex was having a red-pill-blue-pill moment. He had very good reason to belive he was hallucinating: an impossible doorway suddenly appeared. Inexplicably, he felt that the green clouds were there to help him. Why did nobody else see them when his sister could see the tattoo.
It sounds truly crazy. And true, the vision's hazy, but somehow he could see that that door would open the gate into an entirely new reality. A reality all to do with his decisions. A place where he had power and people cared about what he thought and did.
"I'm having delusions of grandeur!" Alex said aloud. "How can I make myself understand all of this? Am I drunk? Or maybe I'm dreaming. I oughtta be screaming; I'm suddenly having hallucinations or delusions." He remembered something he'd been told long ago. He turned his back to the doorway and began walking away. The wispy things continued to follow him. He felt reluctant about leaving these visions, and that feeling frightened him.
edited 3rd Jun '11 2:10:53 PM by Grain
Anime geemu wo shinasai!
Guy that posts sometimes
As he dawdled along the street, Ferald Onager felt it difficult to avoid staring at the silvery mark he’d found in, or rather on the palm of his left hand that morning. The mark, a circle with an “X” inside, had stopped his train of thought rather abruptly, and he was just now getting it back on track.
His destination was a street in the nicer side of town; he typically stopped at the local coffee shop there for a quick shot of caffeine, and while he wasn’t exactly tired anymore, he decided he would buzz in anyway, if only to confirm that nothing catastrophic had happened to befall it.
Then again, maybe I am worried, he pondered;unconsciously, his pace had begun to quicken
edited 3rd Jun '11 2:39:51 PM by Zautse
I think every idea is a good one, except for the ones that are bad.
The apartment was nothing special. In fact, it was spectacularly unordinary, even below average, if you will, being only one in a long line of similarly debilitated lodgings. But hey, it was the only thing he could afford at the time. And it was near the Mall – or rather, in a small, relatively abandoned side street near the Mall. And brown was a cool color for a place of residence. Right.
Inside one of these buildings, on the second floor, Jason Thrall leaned back in his chair and cursed his luck. Biting back the urge to unleash a veritable fusillade of foul words, he instead smashed his fist into the desk – then pulled it back, hopping around in agony while clutching his injured extremity.
“Ow. Ow. Ow. Dammit! I was just about to get it, too….” On the computer screen was a page from a popular auction site, proclaiming, “The Nonya – H.Simmons. Limited Edition, in mint condition. Unread.” The price was just above the amount of money in his bank account - $350.
As he turned dejectedly to walk towards the bathroom to ready himself for work, he stumbled over a pile of books on the floor. Which was nothing out of the ordinary for him, as the floor was practically littered with books, disregarding the rather forlorn – looking bookcase in one corner of the wall. What did matter is that when he picked himself off the ground, he noticed a strange mark on the back of his left hand. An infinity symbol.
What?
“I don’t remember getting a tattoo….” he muttered. He scratched it to see if it would come off. It wouldn’t.
“Ok... this is freaky....” Perhaps he would think about it in the morning..
Wait. It was morning. Ten am, to be precise.
How long had he overslept? “I thought it was..dammit!”
After rushing into the bathroom and hurriedly cleaning his teeth, he dressed in his work clothes (white shirt, bowtie, beige sweater, brown shoes) and rushed off towards the coffee shop for a bite to eat, taking his bicycle and almost crashing into several people along the way.
Finally, after ten minutes of frantic pedaling, he alighted at Café Eve, panting heavily, hair disheveled. As he half walked, half stumbled past, he noticed a girl with unusually bright, blue eyes talking to a man animatedly, on a motorcycle. The mark on his left hand was uncovered, and was showing plainly to basically everyone in sight...
Of course, he thought nothing of it, and continued towards the cafe.
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
"I don't know a thing about riding motorcycles," Clive admitted, snagging the helmet swiftly from overhead and fitting it on his skull, "but whatever you say." Swinging a leg over the seat of the bike, he did as she asked. "These people had better not wreck the only coffee shop in this town I actually like, though," he grumbled more quietly, discreetly eying the bespectacled man nearby.
In the last sixty seconds, he'd marked the existence of no less than four more people who, based on scent, he could only assume had been empowered in the same way as he and Rachel were. When he had first taken note of this sensory phenomenon he was experiencing, he thought he'd spontaneously developed some sort of synesthesia. This change was especially strange not only for its suddenness, but also for the fact that he could tell quite clearly it was separate from his original senses, which were all still functioning properly.
Nearly the entire world 'smelled' and 'tasted' like various bland shades of gray, and he alone had been an island of color. When he observed the two presences a little ways from the cafe and heard the beginning of Rachel's explanation, he'd started to connect the dots. Yet, all of these newcomers smelled like either blue or green, not the red he'd begun to associate with Omega. He could easily infer from the infinity symbol on the most recent one's hand that the blue entity from earlier and the incoming being of a similar hue probably shared identical brands somewhere on their bodies, but... The questions just keep piling up. I was right. This is going to be an interesting day.
edited 3rd Jun '11 9:54:14 PM by darksidevoid
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPsIlsa headed to her apartment. Another day had ended. Another day wasted. Another day of nothing.
The woman pursed her lips and grabbed the handrail. Her foot was on the first step, but a strange figure in the shadow of the backdoor caught her attention.
She narrowed her eyes.
It was more of green smoke that formed up into a human-like figure than an actual person. It stayed there, watching her. She expected chills to go up her spine but none did, and she was actually very calm, if not surprised. She knew from experience to let these things go, and if she was involved she would know.
The smoke drifted away, out of the apartment building. A strange feeling went through Ilsa's body and she decided to bolt away, following the green smoke.
"Alright then..." Rachel leaned back from the table, putting both hands one on top of the other on the table. She briefly closed her eyes and took a little breath before she started talking once again, her gaze fixed on the back of her hands.
"Me and my kind are called the Cultists... and our coming amidst the silver rain heralds the end of your world. We were born as normal people, just like anyone in this coffee shop... but we are marked, changed and claimed by the silver raindrops fallen from the heavens" After saying this her clear blue eyes moved to stare straight at Clive "Just like you where"
"You are a Gifted now, not yet a Cultist nor ever again a mortal. You possess power, but you lack the experience and knowledge to really make use it..."
At this point Rachel stopped, her gaze moving to a wall on the other end of the little shop... her expression giving a hint of irritation and worry.
"... Of all people that could have come to deal with that it had to be that pathetic creep..."
Rachel's hand moved towards one of the pockets on her black jacket, she briefly looked at Clive before her gaze returned to that far wall.
"Clive, trouble is here... You might hear something ugly in a little while. Try not to be scared... it may pass without involving us. I'll tell you what to do when the noise comes"
"Now... where was I?"
If I'm sure of something it's that I'm not sure of anything.