AKA Nixer
Mt. Damāvand
The snake had shrieked indignantly at the Xian's dodge, and reared back to strike again – only to hesitate as her words got through, snapping at empty air instead.
Staring at Jumping Bean for the longest time, the snake eventually snorted and tore its gaze away, turning and retreating back into the earth from whence it came. Its brethren followed, disentangling themselves and slowly trickling back down from a squirming twister of serpents into a steadily shrinking, self-consuming mass, literally diving down each other's throats until there was but one left.
The green rattlesnake.
Studying the Xian for a moment, its jaw was suddenly pulled apart from within with a sickening crack of gristle, Aileana gracefully pulling herself out and slithering up onto her feet in one motion.
“...Yes, lass. I could have guessed that. I was just venting. I have little tolerance for such things,” she stated flatly, initially making to walk past the Xian without comment before pausing, placing a hand on her shoulder and shooting her a grateful half-smile.
“Thanks, lass.”
“Ooh, look. She has a heart.”
“Shut yer gob, gynoid – or I'll swallow ye whole.”
Aileana began to be consumed in a cocoon of snakes – only for Ophelia to call out to her all of a sudden, causing her to let out an irritated sigh.
“What? I have things to do.“
“You're leaving me here? Just like that?”
“Ye can fly, can't ye? Plus you've got a brewing WWIII to worry about. You... were gonna resolve that, right?”
Ophelia's eyes widened.
“#$&%!”
“Aye, aye. Have fun with that,” Aileana droned, before vanishing, leaving the conculium-powered gynoid to send a quick salute in fairwell over to Jumping Bean before rocketing off into the atmosphere.
Thomas + Selby Mechanics
“...WHAT THE #$&%?! WHAT THE #$&%?! WHAT THE #$&%?! WHAT THE #$&%?!” was the repeated yells of Kaylee as she witnessed Alex's plight and prompt passing-out in pure shock, only to be silenced by a cold, almost scaly thing from behind; which firmly clasped itself over her mouth.
“I would ask ye not to be so loud – but you're quite the beacon, lass, so I may end up thanking ye later. But first...” hissed a lilting, Scottish voice, before the clockwork manipulator felt her neck being pierced by what felt like two needles, let out a shuddering gasp, and crumpled to the floor in a heap next to her electrokinetic companion – or rather, sprawled ungracefully over the top of him.
“Strange why the gynoid is so reserved when her mother is so loud...” Aileana murmured, before flitting her eyes up and falling silent upon sight of the freshly rebirthed Matten on the verge of leaving the room, growing stock still exactly like she had done back at the mountain.
Her lips parted, evidently in an attempt to speak, but only a silent exhale came out, and the snake sage ended up simply quick-walking through the chaotic mess of discarded parts and half-finished projects that was Alex's workshop, stopping only once she was in front of Matten and planting a hand onto her shoulder in order to catch her attention and stop her from vanishing away.
Her gaze never left the daeva, not even to blink, as she numbly reached down to take her hand in her own, turning it over as if she couldn't quite believe she was real. Something seemed to give in the snake sage – perhaps a stifled, tearless sob – before she lunged for the div and wrapped her in a tight embrace, expression scrunched up in a clear attempt to force herself to stay composed.
“...Bidh sinn a 'coinneachadh a-rithist, caraid chara,”note she whispered in the faintest of breaths, letting her arms loosen slightly from around her and pulling back to look her over, a short sigh escaping her lips.
“...I never expected to meet ye again like this, but I suppose ye have to take what you've been given...” she muttered fondly, gently brushing a strand of the daeva's hair away and tilting her head with a slight smile. “...Do ye remember, lass? A lot has occurred while ye were gone...”
Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 11th 2018 at 2:17:07 PM
bork
An Ordinary Oddball
Magpie And Trickster
Magpie and Trickster were covering Ryan in case anyone tried to jump him while he fought Zachary Magnus and that other weird lady. Once the fight was over, they joined Ryan in politely accepting praises.
Once that was over with, Magpie sank down into a chair, the weight of what happened crashing down onto her. Trickster sat next to her, their feet on the chair, patting Magpie on the shoulder awkwardly. They were filled with a disgust for that witch and the man-who-would-be-king.
"We'll get the best of that fishmonger and the harlot—don't you fret just yet!" they said.
"It's not that," Magpie murmured. "The mimics are being enslaved. I'm not feeling very well at the moment."
Silence fell.
Jumping Bean
Jumping Bean brushed Aileena with her aura as she disappeared to see where she was going, and followed her to Thomas + Selby Mechanics.
Jumping Bean also called Red Tiger and Black Wolf to her location.
Then she saw Matten being hugged by Aileena.
Jumping Bean let out a few incredulous noises, let out a great "WAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!" and all three rushed towards Matten to hug her.
"I thought you were dead!"
"She was, you dolt! But thank the gods she's alive again!"
Jumping Bean, meanwhile, was sobbing unashamedly into Matten's chest, resisting all attempts to dislodge her, bawling louder for a few seconds before her disciples thought it had gotten too awkward and extricated themselves.
"In the short time that we were together, you felt like a mother to me..." Jumping Bean said at last before releasing Matten.
"At least you're okay now," she added.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Aug 13th 2018 at 4:52:39 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Dream Team
"Okay, let's you and them fight," Said the leader. It made a gesture where it raised both its hands to chest level, one palm up and the other palm down. It lifted the former up and and pushed the latter down and the world became two worlds.
Setsuko and Renvald were left in the world with the horde, while Wilma and the rest were left with the leader. The two world remained aware of each other, as if they were just overlapping each other.
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
UN HQ, New York
Zachary made no attempt to move when Ryan finally arrived and just started shooting, as he always did. He vanished in the blast, the energy disintegrating him.
USSC Global Operations Center
After the bit in Easton, Ryan's blasts set off another marker over New York. "Yep," the analyst who made the call said it with resignation. "We're at war. And its come here."
Minsk
The two presidents had not gone to far after gunfire interrupted their meeting. Both did see Americans firing on both honor guards. And even if they hadn't both heard the reports from their armies. The firefights were spreading across Europe, helped by mimics. Then the US president received the reports of nuclear activity over New York.
Technically, the whole process and communications were secret. But, if Ophelia were to hazard a guess. Between the nuclear initiations over the East Coast and the sudden clash of American and Russian arms, she had 15 minutes or so at worse, before missiles flew. The Russian side was an enigma. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
AKA Nixer
ALL AROUND THE WORLD
“$%&#, $%&#, $%&#, $%&#, $%&#...” Ophelia swore under her breath, lightly tickling (read: shredding) the tops of the trees due to her low altitude as she rocketed at a ludicrous speed towards her destination. Which was currently varying.
15 minutes at worst. Come on, give me a sign...
The sudden roar of a modified motorcycle with the muffler removed registered in her audio receptors at this, and the gynoid looked down, blinking and then blinking again in surprise at the sight of the longcoat-wearing redhead reclining backwards on a chopper, lazily sipping a champagne like she was laying on a sun lounger. While steering and accelerating the bike with her feet. Which, by the way, were covered in thick, metal-studded boots.
How?
...
If there was an answer, Ophelia couldn't find one. She opened her mouth to spea–
“Wait, no – don't tell me. Trying to stop the third world war, right?”
Ophelia blinked again, her mouth dropping into a gape as the woman on the bike simply barreled through a tree like it was made of paper mache in the middle of her question.
“H-How did you?–”
“Ugh. Thought so. Clientele are so unoriginal these days. Ah well. Tell ya what; you get them presidents away from the boom buttons, I kick ass on the front lines, end the conflict, you get quarter of my reward cookie. Gottit?”
Ophelia's eyelids were about to fall off at this rate.
“...Er... I...”
“Well, ciao,” the woman interrupted with a wave, flashing the gynoid an almost sharklike grin before speeding off into the distance, performing a wheelie for good measure. Still in a reclining position.
“...What the f–”
Minsk
A cacophonic boom occurred shortly after the purple-tinged shockwave, the ground buckling and crumbling under the gynoid's weight. Conculium bubble fizzling and crackling, she stalked forward, picked up both presidents and tucking them under one arm (the conculium shield harmlessly enveloping them like a bubble) before Ophelia extended out her wingsuit with all the subtlety and gentleness of a nuclear flick-knife and took off again with a deafening sonic boom – the soundwaves thankfully deflecting off of her shield and muffling considerably to the ears of her passengers. Not that it mattered much for the ear-splitting shriek of metal that occurred shortly after, as Ophelia tore right through a mimic-controlled chopper and plucked its pilot out with her free hand, clutching him tight around the neck.
After a few seconds, she slowed down from supersonic speed to address the presidents, naturally flitting between whatever languages necessary on the fly.
“So, what if I told you it was all the mimics' fault and you should kiss and make up?”
It was at this point that Ophelia had the horrible feeling that the rider from earlier had infected her with something.
Minsk – Firefight
Shortly after the gynoid had left, a particular motorcycle with a particularly too relaxed rider rode on the side of one of the buildings, before the living stereotype suddenly kicked off into an overly extravagant flip and sent the vehicle careening directly into the centre of the skirmish. No matter how delicate the contact, the bike would still explode.
Still twirling in the air about this time, the conglomerate of all things 90s withdrew a pair of pistols from her twin holsters strapped around her waist – and joined in opening fire, aiming exclusively (and rather inefficiently) at her target's skulls.
Blood was splattering her form – and it seemed to steam upon contact with her, her skin gradually paling and gaining runic markings all across its surface as the battle went on. After a while, the bullets having been gradually nicking away at her skin and forcing her to retreat back a little, she clenched her fist tight around one of her guns, causing more of the sigils to spread across it. There was another rumbling roar – and the woman's bike reappeared as if from nowhere – completely undamaged despite surely having exploded and taking another shot at barrelling through the fighters the opposite way this time.
Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 12th 2018 at 3:45:42 PM
bork
An Ordinary Oddball
Magpie And Trickster
"You don't think anything bad just happened because of what we did here, right?" Magpie asked Trickster.
"Methinks no trouble was born of this," they state matter-of-factly, completely ignorant of what was going on.
Jumping Bean + Co.
"So, that was a thing that happened..."
"...anyone up for drinks?"
"I'd like a drink."
"HELL YES!"
And they started drinking.
Wilma
Wilma steeled herself for the trial, whatever it was, that laid ahead of her.
Ignatius
Ignatius burrowed deeper under his covers, unwilling to face the madness that Easton has been plunged into. He started questioning why he even moved into Easton in the first place. Cheap housing wasn't worth this!
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Thomas+Selby Mechanics
"Er...I..." Matten near short-circuited at a loss for words for the first time ever. Between the impossible feat of Nasu putting in actual effort to heal someone (even other daeva) and Aileana meeting her like this and holding Jumping Bean "Like a mother to me"...
"Er... I'm sorry to leave you, just like that. I would say I missed you, but... I really... there wasn't anything between that flash of light and... I'm so glad you're here, and I'm here to have you."
She tilted her head, after addressing them both, as if the matter needed any thought. "I'm afraid I missed things. Like you.." she gave Aileana a look. "Missing your ascension. I would've wanted to see that."
After Jumping Bean announced her desire to go drinking, the daeva gave the place of her rebirth a searching look. "Well, obviously the planet's still here. I'll get you Xocolatl, which is Mexica, serves a similar function, and non-alcoholic. After, sister and I clean up things..."
"Pass!" Nasu, having helped herself to the owners' refrigerator, pushed past the group and out the door. "By the way. Tell Ophelia we're family now! Take these..." Nasu shoved a paper bag from the drug store into Matten's hands. "I approve, to an extent. Still, don't catch anything, and buy her two drinks or something. All she did was scream her love to you to the heavens, and you're still naked as the day you were born. Again. Now," Nasu juggled the food in her arms. "Big Sis has to work on feeding a robot. Tea is just water when you're the only one drinking, and quote me on that."
The archdaeva disappeared in an instant, flying off at just about safe fraction speed of light. If the group she left behind didn't fly apart, she had done that right. The skies in her wake finally cleared, leaving a proper day-night cycle.
Matten scowled after the elder daeva, but quickly turned to look over the mess she'd left behind. "And I've got to leave a note to settle the bill for the refrigerator and the furniture. Eh, small price to pay. Finally got to her."
Edited by CenturyEye on Aug 13th 2018 at 6:28:54 AM
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
AKA Nixer
Thomas + Selby Mechanics
Aileana smiled and drew back, a bit of her old attitude beginning to take precedence once more as the shock of the event wore off. Her actual body coiled out of her neck and around Matten's, settling in a loose loop as if the green rattlesnake had never even moved from her position, despite the fact that the previously tiny creature was now the overall length of a door.
“I doubt ye would've liked to see my ascension, lass. Splintering planes are never pretty in the process of breaking.”
She paused, forked tongue delicately flickering between her lips.
“...and I... I can confirm that vow, aye...” Aileana softly stated, having nodded in Nasu's direction at her words. “Though, um... not in so potent of words. The universe still trembled though, and I will still extend my claws out into the abyss and pluck ye out by myself if it ever comes to this again. But there will be not a second's hesitance this time. Or...”
She licked her lips again, furrowing her brow in thought and tilting her head at an angle, before shrugging and moving on.
“...Well, I was about to say remorse, but... well, ye know who I am,” she chuckled, turning and absently pacing a short distance away, running her eerily thin fingers across the devices and objects scattered about in an almost disinterested form of curiosity.
“Although... ah... that's not to say that the phrasing of that weren't true, leannan,” she paused, a rare, genuinely sweet smile stretching across her face as she turned back to Matten, albeit making no move to retrace her steps. “After all, it's fact that Nathrach was not shy in his... comments. Why... why shouldn't I be the same...?”
Her tone had shifted – dropped. One would realise that she wasn't directly talking to Matten as much as herself at that point. A slight waver in inflection, an unsure tremble of the voice, and a tightening of her fists indicated the discomfort and daresay even timidity she was all too suddenly displaying.
“I... I... oh, by God this is hard...” she laughed shortly, bringing her hand up to her forehead as if in attempt to focus, before forcing herself to relax; letting her eyes close and the words fall out of her mouth.
“...Tha gàol agam ort. Tha gràdh cho mòr agam ort...”
Her fists unclenched, but she remained silent for a few moments longer, eyes still shut – presumably in mild shock and disbelief in regards to her own statement. Eventually, though, she exhaled; despite her humanoid husk having no need for breath. Perhaps an old habit or tic leaking through without her notice.
“...Well, there ye go, lass. I would tell ye what it means, but I'm sure ye can find out. The Scots' Gaelic shouldnæ be that hard to convert to a more used tongue, aye?”
As if in a sudden hurry, she sent a tense wave to them all, biting her lip none too nervously as her snakes cocooned her. Her rattlesnake form remained with Matten, though, staring sidelong at her with an unreadable expression.
“If ye'll excuse me – Daileass has indirectly screwed up time and space again through me. Sloppy bastard. I shouldnæ be too long. Then... well, what say I extend the Xian's offer into something more celebratory? Meet up with me in Loch Lomond when ye can, aye? Bring the atomic one as well, if and when he's free. I feel as if we deserve a good old-fashioned celebration among friends. 'Til we meet again!”
She vanished as the cocoon became opaque, before her snakes limply dropped to the floor, beginning the process of devouring each other to vanish themselves along with their mistress. Aileana's tone at her last few words had seemed to pick up in enthusiasm – the first indication of conventional joy heard by those gathered from the serpent sage.
The Highland Catacombs
Her first order of business was replacing the fragment with the full blade. She could feel some of her kin acting up and growing impatient – a sure sign of the anomaly fueling them becoming unstable from the less-than-adequate medium holding it all together.
So, she appeared – again, not directly in the chamber, but a little outside it, lest she be torn apart in the most abstract of fashions. Stepping inside the broken space, she carefully treaded along a memorised path to the centre, where the detached shard of forged metal lay. Its mirror-like surface glinted in the kaleidoscopic light like it were underwater – a truly enchanting sight, but Aileana resisted the almost otherworldly sense of awe drawn from it.
She dropped to one knee – taking a moment to inwardly pray that this would all go as well as she had hoped – before rapidly swapping the fragment with the whole of Daileass' sword, reality violently shuddering but (for the most part) holding together for now. She let out a sigh of relief, vanishing the fragment in her sleeve, before getting up, turning and making her way back out of the inner catacombs.
Mt. Damāvand
To her dismay yet expectance, the rift in reality had indeed expanded even more in her absence. Thankfully, though, it had been close enough to the mountain's entrance so as to only assimilate a small portion of its interior in its chaos, leaving most of the immediate outside world intact.
Pursing her lips, she stepped forward, approaching even more tentatively than with the primary anomaly. She did not know this one – never studied its patterns nor memorised its saner paths – and so it was with great trepidation and caution that she walked. Each plant of her foot against the disturbed ground was calculated, tested, and precisely settled upon; for there was absolutely no room for mistakes.
After a painstaking length of time, she was upon the rift – or near enough so as to accomplish her goal. It had grown another half an inch in the time spent to get there, but she ignored this – flicking the shard out of her wrist and taking careful aim...
Only to suddenly hiss, plunge her other hand beneath her robes, and draw out the squirming and indignant form of a particular bluish-grey anaconda, rearing the shard back and viciously stabbing it in its skull.
“Shh...” she soothed, rubbing its blood off of its snout with her finger in a calming manner, subsequently snapping the slitted yellow eyes that were very quickly becoming glassy from the mortal injury to attention in the process, boring into her own in a confused, yet strangely accepting manner.
“No drifting off just yet, Daileass... I owe my love... my role... and my life to ye. This... this is the least ye deserve...”
The anaconda's eyes almost seemed to widen as it was thrown in – shard and all – into the epicentre of the rift, quickly becoming engulfed in its kaleidoscopic geometry. It shuddered, before deflating somewhat, its gradual expansion instantly halting as it instead refined its form into a more circular, rounded shape.
“Aye, the least ye deserve...” Aileana hissed bitterly, turning away and trudging off, furiously rubbing the tears away from the corners of her eyes. “Maybe this way... ye can find atonement for what ye have done... to all your victims... the falsehoods ye have spread... and the pain ye have wrought.”
She stopped, turning a slight fraction back. Long, blackened serpents were dripping from the anomaly, collapsing onto the floor in a heap with a wet squelch of freshly shredded skin. A... thing was forming out of the dust, gradually. A lump. A pale lump.
Aileana hesitated, before shaking her head and stepping behind a tree, vanishing away out of existence with only the cool, lilting whisper of her voice echoing behind her.
“...Farewell, Daileass.”
“Are ye a fool? Ye can't fight the beast head on! It's suicidal!”
“It is not ‘suicidal’ – it's my duty!”
“Your duty?! Your duty to what? Die? You don't have the right!”
“God damn it, woman! I'm trying to–”
“No, Daileass. I won't be listening to this. We won't discuss this any more.”
“Mhairi...”
“Daileass. Go. Home.”
If Matten's rebirth could be described as a simple act of waking up, the rebirth of the so-called 'Daileass' could be described more as an acid trip of colours, senses, and flaring pulses of sudden thought ramming someone into consciousness with all the delicateness of a freight train crashing into a watermelon. It was excruciating, to say the least, and the first thing the gradually forming husk did upon regaining his voice was scream in absolute agony.
Dust swirled around as snakes and serpents of an oily, pitch black colouring flared and burst out from all places in the immediate vicinity of two to three metres, forming a flailing, shapeless mass of twisting things that protectively surrounded the slowly forming humanoid in the centre. They were whipping around so fast as to even slice through their own brethren like whips, caking the rebirthing one in the blood of his kin in the process.
His fingers clutched his scruffy mop of hair tight enough to almost tear it away from his scalp – and his shrieks of pain soon evolved into manic, wheezing cackling, and he reared his head back further than should be possible for a being with any semblance of a vertebrae, eyes bugged out to either side from the pressure brought about from the angle.
His slitted, yellow tinted, serpentine eyes.
Eyes that – cautiously flitting around to face all angles – soon landed upon a spot nearly right behind him, the detached portion of the blade sitting directly in the centre of the chaos that was swirling around the initial space within the mountain.
“...Heh... always knew... ye were a special one, lass...”
His hoarse laughter, unused to such frequent exposure, echoed around the valleys for what felt like eternity afterwards.
Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 13th 2018 at 12:56:11 PM
bork
An Ordinary Oddball
Magpie And Trickster
Magpie and Trickster walked back outside to the NJI jet and boarded it.
The Jumping Bean Gang
Jumping Bean only just realized that it was probably rude to get sloshed in some near-strangers' dwelling and teleported her gang back to their house.
And they proceeded to continue getting sloshed.
Wilma
Wilma shuffled her feet nervously. When were the trials going to start? Hopefully soon.
Ignatius
He sighed and went back to sleep.
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
chaos catby with a flannel shirt addiction
dreamland
Echo stood next to Wilma, feeling slightly forgotten about. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. I used to plug my deviantart here but turns out the link was too long.
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Thomas + Selby Mechanics
"You must widen the range of what you find pretty. There's alot to appreciate." Matten gave the workroom/home a once over. "Though sometimes things get wrecked." She, with great effort, dragged the refrigerator back to where it came, leaving deep skids in the floor before laying the young couple on the couch in a more respectful position. "I'll call a guy about this at some point."
She still had work. The tv in the shop showed a busy news day. That robot from earlier abducting two heads of state and a crazy woman tearing into two armies and above all of this a cosplay version of Dexter ruled the world... Of course, Occam's Razor said the face on the tv was Dexter, but common sense and experience around the man told the daeva that the everything was off. At least I'm back in time to grab a mop.
Matten gave Jumping Bean's group a nod as they left. "We will get something to drink—that you can drink, a tad later. I have to start somewhere." She tucked the young couple under a blanket on the couch before taking off.
Skies over Minsk
Wherever Nasu wanted to go, she stopped in front of Ophelia to give the android a hug and a kiss on each cheek. "Just so, you know, bestie..." she dramatically cleared her throat. "We. Are. Family." She tossed bottles of champagne to Ophelia's audience before stuffing a cigar into Ophelia's mouth. "Come on everybody sing!"
"Get your dad a nice gift. I'll catch up with you later, whatever-the-term-for-what-relative-you-are-now-is!" Nasu, still smiling ear to ear, vanished, flying off a large fraction of light speed.
Her cloud over the skies had long since gone, and that the mimics were again indistinguishable from human wasn't her problem.
Edited by CenturyEye on Aug 15th 2018 at 11:45:25 AM
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
AKA Nixer
Thomas + Selby Mechanics
The young couple seemed all to comfortable in their newfound position on the couch, and had almost immediately snuggled into each other's embrace. A mechanical whirr indicated somebody's entrance – pausing at the sight of the pair – before continuing, two small, metallic hands drawing the slightly loosened blanket back into position.
With a pneumatic hiss possibly representative of a sigh, the robotic presence retreated away to leave Kaylee and Alex in their privacy.
Skies Above Misk
The champagne bottles tossed towards the presidents bounced off of the tops of their skulls with a hollow rattle, knocking their slowly reawakening selves back out in an instant. Frozen in place, as Ophelia often found herself whenever interacting with Nasu, the gynoid waited until the daeva had flown away before letting the cigar drop out from between her lips.
“...Damn it, now I'm obliged to spend time with her...”
The Minsk Below The Skies Above Minsk Below The Skies...
The wine glass, still somehow holding its entire supply of champagne, twirled lazily a good twenty feet above the slaughterfest below, Beatrix having used a combination of nigh-impossible and absolutely impossible acrobatics and gunplay to turn the armies that had now both elected to oppose her simultaneously into glistening red ribbons. She was caked in blood, her skin having become pasty white and seating with crimson sigils, her eyes having shifted into blackened sclera with red irises, as an overall aura of potent darkness emanated from her body.
Wide gashes and bullet-holes riddled her form, her regeneration too slow to negate them completely, but she still moved like a force of nature. Chained headshots, punches and kicks vicious enough to shatter jaws, and the occasional cheeky summoning of her motorcycle using the seals covering her skin made for quite the brutal display.
And then there was one.
Who was evidently intelligent enough to have attempted to sneak up on her instead of facing her head-on.
The champagne glass was shortly joined by one of her pistols in its graceful twirl, before it became knocked into a more wild spin by the bullet impacting its trigger, the kickback from the resulting shot jostling its momentum out of its beautiful arc. The single remaining soldier crumpled like a sack of potatoes, the indirect shot having hit him straight between the eyeballs.
Beatrix sighed, casually holstering her first gun and catching the second with her now free hand in one smooth motion, carefully keeping it handy in case she missed one as she confidently extended her other hand to one side to catch the champagne glass.
It smashed on the floor two feet to her right, and she instead caught a cigar between her fingers.
She was still for a long time, eyes closed and seething, before shaking it off, muttering to herself repeatedly under her breath to just “let it go.” Placing her new cancer stick between her teeth in a sullen manner, she let out a piercing whistle between her teeth, the inexplicably immaculate motorcycle rocketing up to her feet like a graceful steed (barring the running over of the corpses in its way).
“Good job, Stephen. Kicked ass, as always,” she muttered to the bike as she hopped on, revving it up with a slowly brightening expression as the roar of its engine seemed to shake the very earth beneath it. “Let's try getting a martini this time, hm?”
The breathing embodiment of action clichés gave one last flip of the bird to the chaos behind her, performed a quick donut, before rocketing away, aiming for the nearest decent bar in the area.
The Skies Above The Minsk Below The Skies Above...
“OI! FREAKY ROBOT GIRL? I #$&%ED UP EVERYONE ENOUGH TO TURN 'EM INTO JAM, SO...”
A pause.
“...SO YEAH. JUST WANTED TO LET YA KNOW!”
Her mechanical brain initially going haywire as to how the mercenary's voice could carry up so far, Ophelia eventually shook herself out of rational thought and reminded herself that this very same individual had managed to expertly drive a bike using only her boot-covered feet while also balancing an alcoholic beverage and not even looking where she was going. So applying reason to her would probably be like criticising M.C. Esher for nonsensical geometry.
With a pneumatic sigh, she turned her attention down to the presidents in her grasp, knocking their heads together to awaken them and inwardly wincing at the lumps forming on their head. Whoops.
“War's stopped. By... one way or another. I suppose you wanna go back now, huh?”
Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 15th 2018 at 6:09:06 PM
bork
Breath of the Sun
Dream Time
As she was separated from her friends, Setsuko growled. She'd end this quickly, then help the others beat the hell out of the leader.
With a wordless roar, she and her clones charged, nearly breaking the sound barrier as they rushed forward in a flurry of swinging staves.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Dream Team
A pair of manifold horrors like of undead
hekatonkheires came barreling out the crowd at all the Monkey Queens. Each had many arms whipping about in every direction, just trying to grab one of the clones and drag it to their maw. They moved as fast as nightmares should, which is just fast enough.
Another was a giant gray skinned head with no eyes running around on stubby little legs. It charged for the young weapon master, it's lips curling back and its whole skull popping out of its face to try to take a chomp of the God Slayer.
Dream Team
The leader watched this violence dispassionately before turning back to the pair left with it.
"Very well, you and I, we will not be engaging in such simple melee. I have a different battle in mind.
"We shall play the oldest game, the game of form. Do you know how?"
An Ordinary Oddball
Wilma
"No, I do not know how. Do explain, please," Wilma said evenly.
Meanwhile, she was fretting the edge of her coat with her left hand, which was the only sign that betrayed her nervousness.
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
AKA Nixer
Ignatius's Abode
There was a knock on the door. Or rather, three. Expertly timed, like the one on the other side had carefully measured the silence between each rap on the wooden surface. A bit too expertly timed, thinking about it.
There was also an odd shadow blocking most of the sunlight to the place. As if something colossal was positioned just above. Another oddity.
And then there was the thick stack of papers on the table. They surely weren't there before...?
Any attempt to read them would result in the words being jumbled up in an incomprehensible fashion. Probably just early-morning grogginess. The now indignant knocking on the door had resumed as if on cue, so the matter of the strange tower of papers could wait.
bork
An Ordinary Oddball
Who Could It Be Now?
Ignatius got up to open the door, groaning slightly. His age was definitely catching up to him.
"Alright, alright. Why are you here at this ungodly hour of the morning?" he grumbled as he opened the door.
Magpie And Trickster
Magpie fiddled with her top hat for a bit before saying, "Hey, Trickster, I get that you want to seen mysterious and all, but can you please drop the Shakespeare act? It grates on my nerves."
"These modern words weigh on mine tongue, but I shall do as you say," they responded, and then grimaced. "That sounds...stilted."
"That's not the way to say it. Repeat after me: OK, cool!"
"OK, cool!"
"Now you've got it," Magpie gave Trickster two thumbs-up.
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
chaos catby with a flannel shirt addiction
dream team
"Same here."Echo tried to sound less nervous than she felt. She thought it would probably be for the better to at least try and somewhat keep up the morale. She managed an awkward smile.
I used to plug my deviantart here but turns out the link was too long.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Kyle simply looked at the abomination in front of him, wondering what he was supposed to do, but looking at the nervousness of Wilma and Echo, he placed what hoped was a reassuring hand on their shoulders.
Edited by Blueace on Aug 18th 2018 at 6:09:28 AM
Wake me up at your own risk.
AKA Nixer
Ignatius's Abode
A man dressed in a semi-casual suit was standing outside, absently looking up with his arms loosely crossed behind his back. He was exceptionally tall, easily rocketing past the six foot mark, and had quite the impressive hairdo – vertical with gel and slightly swept to one side – and oddly delicate, nigh-feminine features, contrasting with the incredibly low pitch of his voice when he finally noted Ignatius's arrival and spoke up.
“Ah, apologies. Didn't mean to awaken you so abruptly. However, this is of a very serious matter that I'm afraid you may have been missing,” he stated, extending one hand in front of him and gesturing to the stack of papers that had mysteriously positioned themselves just behind Ignatius. The letters, now clear as day, red in bold text: EVICTION NOTICE.
“It is inconvenient, I know – but I have been sending those for months and have received no reply from you, sir. I'm afraid my accommodations have already been built,” he explained in a tone of respect, although there was a vague hint of pleasure in his voice as he gestured up with his primly manicured finger to the vast obelisk of a skyscraper positioned directly above the apartment building, supported by four colossal constructions stretching out at an angle so as to provide plenty of free space to the buildings below. Which, it was to be noted, were all eerily quiet.
The man gave him a grin with too many teeth, and clasped his hands behind his back again, arrogance practically dripping from his voice as a sadistic glint of red pinpricked the backs of his retinas.
“It is my deepest regret that I'll have to ask you to leave ASAP. Pack your belongings and exit the premises within the next three days, or I'll have to take this to court.”
bork
An Ordinary Oddball
Soon-No-Longer-Ignatius' Abode
Ignatius looked at the paper.
He looked back at the man.
He looked back at the papers.
He looked back at the man, uttering an incredulous "Months? MONTHS?" before collapsing on the floor in a swoon.
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
AKA Nixer
Ignatius's Abode
The man let out a rumbling chuckle, leaning forward slightly over Ignatius's prone form, the red glint in his eye even more prominent than before.
“Of course, for months. There is no question of it, surely. And if you did question it, who would believe you, hm? As far as legality is concerned, those papers have been collecting dust for fortnight upon fortnight.”
He extended a hand out to shake, one that even despite its thin shape would dwarf Ignatius's own. “I am Axel Adams, of Axel Tech. Perhaps you have heard of me, but judging purely by your reaction and current position on the floor I severely doubt that. As well as your intelligence... ahem. In any case, you are privileged to meet me personally. I was considering sending a messenger, but there is a degree of satisfaction to this. I'm sure you understand. Nonetheless, you are not alone in this, you are to be assured. If you haven't noticed, the entire district below my tower has been vacated overnight. My seals are wondrous in design...”
He cleared his throat, discreetly looking from left to right.
“Now get up. Preferably without embarrassing yourself further.”
Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 19th 2018 at 3:03:56 PM
bork
An Ordinary Oddball
Ignatius' Soon-To-Be-Former-Abode
Ignatius got up from the floor and gingerly shook Axel's hand.
He scratched his head and said, "Well, it's not like I can do anything about it..."
The fire spirit was still screaming internally, as well as wondering what the heck the red glint in the shady fellow's eyes meant, as well as what "seals" he was referring to.
Ignatius was not too versed in magic, but he was almost sure that this meant trouble.
Oh, well. Housing was cheap in this place anyways.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Aug 19th 2018 at 12:32:26 PM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Ryan - NJI
Ryan and the others, onboard the jet, returned to the NJI HQ.
Any of the downed Mimics were suspicious only in their total absence, but Ryan guessed they were gathered up and summarily either disposed of or left to their devices.
Kris met them at the landing site, shaking Ryan's hand, even though Ryan felt like he didn't really do much of note in this event. Sure he destroyed Zachary Magnus / Azi Dahaka, but he failed to stop him in time, and the Babylon woman got away.
Kris sighed, "Look, I can tell you're not feeling up to your best. But right now we have to take what we can get. For right now the storm is over, Azi Dahaka is gone, and we can proceed and, hopefully, move past Dexter's little attempt to assert himself over the world...he's dead if he tries this shit again."
There was an unsettling edge in Kris' voice, especially with that last part.
Ryan did not much feel like testing the willingness of a man that can shrink down to subatomic sizes to undertake such an oath.
Ranvald
Ranvald felt the most tertiary he'd ever felt in his career as a warrior in training.
Ranvald wound up getting a pittance of black Embodigems out of the deal as Setsuko basically carried the whole of their part of the fight.
"I...er, will be of...fighting...too..."
He stabbed a Dream Eater right through with a red energy sword, converting it into a embodigem, sighing. Freakshowing Godlings...that was the right term, wasn't it?
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Thomas + Selby Mechanics
Alex's forehead felt cold to the touch. And that was before it began to bulge. What looked like a giant boil pushed itself out of his head, dragging Alex down with the weight before it pinched itself off, leaving Alex's forehead, intact if a bit gooey. A hand pressed out of the still growing 'boil' and the whole mess fell over on the table, shattering the thing and sending glass all over the floor. The same glass finally shred the the skin of the 'boil', leaving a woman, covered only in her long hair, groaning on the floor.
"That table was probably..." Nasu had made herself at home, sprawled on the couple's work bench and was currently scarfing down the contents of their refrigerator. She'd pulled it next to the table for easy access, giving little regard to the food slowly spoiling. "Ok, the table was probably cheap. But I bet they liked it, Matten."
Matten groaned, pushing herself up from the mess. "You know my name?" She shook her head, trying to get her bearings. "Wait, I'm ..not..." ''Well, this is clearly not nothing. "Sister," she pushed herself into a semi-respectful sitting position. "I've never known you to. Er. Thank you."
Nasu stared hard at Matten before shooing her off. "Walk. I had to walk, so you do too." She cut her little sister off when she began to say something. "Walk, sister dearest. If you must be sappy, go do it with your purse, or shoes, or whatever you're raising Aileana to be."
Matten, so soon after her inexplicable recovery, pushed her luck with Nasu. "I kind of have no bearings. I don't know where or when this is, so could you?"
"Walk. And read. We'll catch up, and discuss your final attack. And maybe, I'll let you out of Duzakh after dawn again in a thousand years or so."
"Wait! I'm not some child!"
"No, you were a dead one!"
"Exactly! What have you got to worry about now?!"
"Just what I'm going to do to you if my little sister frays my newly grown nerves anymore!"
Matten shrunk before Nasu before nodding and standing. And apologizing to the owners about their table. She gave Nasu a slightly pleading look before leaving. "Um...clothes?"
"Walk. Read. And gather. You're a pioneer again."
Edited by CenturyEye on Aug 11th 2018 at 8:24:10 AM
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives