Post-Magical Megiddo - RP Thread

Cole

At least that was what Cole hoped the case would be. As most knew, nature abhorred a vacuum; better that it be smaller threats in numbers than one singular large threat moving in to occupy the space that Grimgrin had previously occupied. Still, he was more than willing to hope for the best.

"Hopefully we can get back before the night comes...don't like thinking about what'd happen with Kirkton if the lights go out."

Cole knew just from his own experiences on the outskirts that sometimes monsters got a little frisky with his home. While none had really gotten that close, the noises - skittering, scrabbling, constant clawing - left little doubt in Cole's mind that whatever was out there late at night had no good intentions for anyone unfortunate enough to be out there.

He'd wake to find scratches and gashes on wood and stone in the morning.

As far as what Cole was good for, he thought back to his past, to what he did before he was just the town's bar singer. His hand shivered - he remembered the sparks, the fury, the great fire.

"I uh...if worst comes to worst, I could probably fight off some of the little bastards if any of them get close. I've also..." Cole tapped on his forehead with a knowing little smirk, "...got a bit of a sense for when there's something not immediately visible."

Zach

Zachary Melton winced as his head wound was tended to by the girls - by the time his head had stopped ringing...yeah, looked like the girls saved him. He looked at them, then at the guys who'd roughed him up, a cold stare at that, and then warming in time before looking at Lucy and Aria.

He gave a slight smile and said, "Gee, girls, ya didn't have to go this far for little ol' me..." He seemed to consider something.

"Y'know, I like repayin' my debts. I could give you ladies a...session...free of charge? I'm real talented!"

Edited by NickTheSwing on May 8th 2019 at 12:13:34 PM

Kirkton – Lucy Livingston

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

“N... No thank you...!” Lucy managed to squeak out after a long pause from any and all brain activity, shifting uncomfortably as she shook her head in denial. “I... there's no need... for that. Just... just you being okay... that's enough for me, okay? Just be safe.”

She mentally sighed as she managed to save herself from potentially alienating the boy, but just in case he still felt somehow hurt by her embarrassed refusal she decided to shift to a topic of a little more weight instead.

“You... they called you... a ‘freak’, right? Do you... do you have powers?”

Almost in perfect unison, the ink restraints holding the thugs around them manifested further tendrils and solidly whacked their prisoners on the heads; enough to knock them out. Releasing them so as to let them slump against the floor, the black substance congealed together as it weaved around any obstacles in its way on its return to its controller—staining against the skin of her arm and absorbing through her pores shortly after.

“I have powers too. I don't know about her,” she said absently, glancing towards the one who'd shown up just a short time before and giving her a nod. “Thanks for the help, by the way. I... I don't know what I would've done without it.”

Aria's eyebrows raised at the boy before she chuckled softly, amused at his offer. This wasn't the first time she had been offered this in return for helping one of his type; while she was tempted to take him up on it for once, she really had to get busy with more important tasks such as the supply run today. So she just flipped the pages to show the excuse she had used for these sorts of occasions.

Another day. I got something I need to do later. Just get home and rest. I can't have you serving others yet with that injury after all.

Aria gave a rare kind smile which made her blush due to how vulnerable she felt. Then her face shifted back to its harsh default expression as she observed the girl knock out the gang. A freak, eh? Good to know I'm not the only one.

She was absentmindedly rubbing her throat from the thought when she heard the thin girl's heartfelt thanks. Aria let a solid nod in reply as she knelt down to her pack to do one last thing: pull out a intricately carved handle. Then she twisted her forearm nonchalantly to delicately sort through the copper feathers already starting to sprout up. With a quick unflinching yank, she got the longest one she could find while the others shuddered and shrank back into her skin. Ignoring the blood oozing from the wound on her arm, she fitted the feather's shaft into a tiny hole in one end of the handle and walked over to stick the makeshift knife straight into the concrete of the wall behind the boy. A note she decided to leave with the object read: For the next time they bug you.

Aria waved farewell and began to turn away to leave but she stopped at the entrance to the main road once she caught sight of the position of the sun. Sh*t! The scavenging group might already be leaving by now! Cr*p...that's not good. I can't be alone for this kind of trip... In addition she was still a bit tuckered out from the long hunt she had previously, so she knew it would be wise to have an extra set of hands and eyes handy. Although...

She immediately sped back to the thin girl scrawling into her book and almost shoved it into the girl's face with the phrases: What are you doing after this? I'll need a partner for a supply run I'm doing now.

"...I see. Good to know you'll have your eyes open for threats in your group. I'll be doing the same and giving mine as much support as I can." He gave a small nod of approval to Cole before turning back to his group.

Jayce had to quietly admit that if he wasn't leading that the one in charge of the squad preferred their safety over scrap they could simply retrieve tomorrow if they were forced to retreat. Medical supplies were probably far less common than materials to keep Kirkton running, after all.

Either way, the young man started typing on that wireframe keyboard again, deciding it'd be best to get the connection to the others in his 5-person team set up now rather than wasting time doing it while out on the field. Even if typing in all those numbers only took matter of seconds.

"...Alright. Ready to move out."

Kirkton – Lucy Livingston

Lucy staggered back in surprise a little, but managed to compose herself enough to read what was on the notepad. Initially confused, it soon dawned on her the reason for such a medium—nodding slowly in unspoken understanding.

Oh. She must be mute. Poor thing.

“W-well, I was actually headed that way... our generator's acting up, and we need supplies in general...” she trailed off, before shaking her head vigorously and steeling her expression as she handed back the notepad. “If we run we could catch them. I mean... well I can swing around but I don't know if I can carry you. Maybe we should– okay let's just work it out as we go!”

A tendril shot from her arm onto the ledge of the building above, and she sent a quick glance back at Aria and Zachary for a moment before she let it pull taut and launch her upwards. She reached the peak of her height soon enough, and took the momentary period of weightlessness to ascertain her surroundings. Upon seeing the direction of the usual meeting sight, she moved her body into a diving position—cutting through the air like a meteor as she rapidly approached the ground before shooting out another tendril again and catching herself.

The process continued as such. It was... rudimentary, but familiar somehow. It also looked incredibly terrifying. But thankfully her ingrained control over the ink prevented her from approaching lethal levels of g-force. It acted as a subconscious dampener to prevent her insides from becoming her outsides.

She could only hope now that they hadn't missed them.

Aria unwittingly let out a relieving sigh at the young girl's answer. Lucky me! She took back the notebook handed to her and held up one finger as a signal to wait for her while she went to pick up her first aid kit. She had only just managed to stuff everything back in before she heard movement. She looked up to see the girl give a glance before she launched herself up onto the rooftops.

She scrambled to wrap her cloak protectively around her pack and drag it out to the main road to see where the girl was heading. A proud smirk lit up Aria's face briefly. She likes to improvise...I'm starting to like her more by the minute! Good thing I still have everything I need for the trip...now...
Immediately, she assessed the narrow alleyway and the rooftops, mentally plotting out her method of catching up to the ink-wielder. With a hurried farewell salute to the lanky boy, she backed up a bit before she ran back towards the alleyway. Reaching the entrance, she used her momentum to leap up from side to side with her hands out for balance. With a quick ledge grab along a combined push and swing of her legs, her wall jumping successfully landed her on the rooftop.

A quick scouring of the town around her earned her the sight of the those spidery ink tendrils in the distance towards what she assumed was the meeting site. Alright...deep breath...and... Aria's eyes narrowed into the eerily intense focus of a hunter at work as she launched herself into a steady rhythmic sprint across the top of Kirkton.

It wouldn't take long before she caught up to the hunting parties at this rate, from what she can tell...

Melvin nods at Cole's first statement about getting back to town before nightfall. The night was a dangerous place without light. Especially for an established town full of people. Solo travelers actually had better odds of avoiding the dangers of night.

"I guess you can be the lookout then. I'll scout for scavengable parts, you watch my back. If anything comes after us try to deal with it. Quietly if you can, or warn us so we can get away before it gets too close."

He glances back at the cart attached to his bike at the moment it only had his bow and quiver in it, he then glanced at Cole, contemplating lending the man his primary ranged weapon while they were on the trip since it looked like he had left his gun with his motorcycle before they had departed.

Cole

"Sure thing, Melv. I'll make sure nothing gets the drop on us." Cole looked out toward the distant horizon - it had been a long time since he'd been out here. He wondered if everything was still the same, or if the marauders had made things more desolate than they were before.

His thoughts at the moment were not upon the present comrades - but on the past, and what happened to drag him away from what he knew.

Zachary

"Oh...ohhh yeah...I'm...I am actually a metahuman...it's just that—-" Then Lucy and the other girl were off, and he cursed his awkwardness around pretty girls. He just froze up like that - ironic considering his gifts. Seeing some of the battered and strangulated thugs starting to get up, Zach made a move.

Extending one hand, he witnessed a quick snap freeze starting, the wind suddenly getting cold in the alley - the skin crackling as frost built up, the thugs slowing in movement.

He swore, he was far less awkward around guys, and he wondered what being more awkward around pretty girls as opposed to handsome guys meant for him.

Looking at the frozen over thugs, Zachary figured the freeze up would probably not be too deadly, then again, he was not exactly in a position to be merciful to those types.

Instantly after Aria finally caught sight of the gathering site, she began to slow down incrementally. She stumbled on occasion due to the distraction her now-aching side and burning lungs were providing, but she just gritted her teeth and pressed on. F*ck! Maybe I should've taken that offer from the boy...at least the workout from that would've been more pleasant!

Despite her agony, Aria put two fingers to her mouth to let out a shrill whistle that could be heard for a long ways and put up a waving hand once she knew she was in sight of the scavenging groups. Several did turn their heads her way but some of them recoiled a little in recognition. She only snorted derisively at their behavior. Guess they're still sore about that brawl from the other week...too bad they had to learn the hard way about attempts at breaking my silence.

The harsh mumbling of the townsfolk she caught as she stomped over with heavy breaths only confirmed Aria's suspicions. So with a roll of her eyes, she held up a barely readable sign she had hastily scratched onto her chalkboard before arriving: Another girl and I are coming too. Who's got room?

Kirkton (Expedition Site) – Lucy Livingston

“I-I'm here!”

Lucy landed a short distance away with a slight swell of ink cushioning her fall—tendrils having shot up to latch onto tall objects around her to help soften her descent along with it. She looked a little flushed from exhilaration and out of breath similarly to Aria; however she wasn't exhausted to the point that she was.

She managed a small smile despite some of the glares she received, and pointedly ignored them as she walked up next to her new acquaintance. She looked a little chipper from the excitement of her arrival, at least. But the euphoria would probably fade away with time.

Still, she kept herself composed enough to nod reassuringly to the rest of the party; letting them know without words that she wasn't there for trouble. Giving Aria a short pat on the shoulder helped. Even though she was taller than her.

“Sorry. We were late. Generator's packing up at home for me. Bad connection. I think I'll be looking for some solder for that.”

Well, it at least the group Jayce was with looked...capable. Whether they'd actually manage to work together, that remained to be seen. At least there were almost finished getting ready to go. Didn't stop him from impatiently tapping a wrench against the box he was carrying.

And with more people arriving, he couldn't help but be somewhat surprised. Still, more people meant more supplies being brought back. In theory at least as he hopefully pointed the two newcomers to a trio that needed two more team-mates.

"You're still technically here on time. Not all of us have departed yet, some are still making a few last second preparations. And it'd be highly likely you find some solder. Especially considering what I've heard about what people have found out there."

Edited by TheRealWren on May 15th 2019 at 11:25:15 PM

Aria nearly stiffened at Lucy's unfamiliar touch but she forced herself to ignore it and give a polite nod in thanks to Jayce for his help. After all, she was more focused on catching her breath than anything else at the moment. Besides that, she didn't like the wary looks the group Jayce pointed out were already giving her. Great. Just what I needed...a f*cking welcoming party to brighten my day.

Once she felt her head had cleared Aria noticed Cole within Jayce's group. Remembering one of the other reasons she came, she took off the cloak wrapped around her pack to rummage around for the extra meal she bought.

Ah good...still warm.

Aria pulled it out but then awkwardly stared at it for a moment. Can't believe I'm doing this but...ah f*ck it!

She rushed over to shove the paper package into Cole's hands before quickly spun around to pace on over to her new group. As she walked, she wrapped her cloak tightly around her shoulders in a rather useless attempt to hide her uncomfortably embarrassed expression. She subconsciously slowed down just enough to allow Lucy to catch up to her though.

Cole

"Oh, hey girls, glad to see we've got some beauty in this sausage party..." He gave a wave at the girls - and he was then surprised pleasantly when Aria brought over some fresh food. He guessed she found her way to the market - good to hear. Cole did feel pretty good having a back up meal ready.

When he got to work using his...gifts...he was usually left famished afterwards. Took a lot out of him, using em like this. Things weren't the same.

"Well, now that everybody, I think, is accounted for...we good to go, Melv?"

Cole looked out at the direction of the goal - wondering what they might find out there. He seemed to go wistful, remembering something from a time long past.

Melvin winced as the whistle pierced the air. Better hearing wasn't always a blessing. Once the pain passed he turned around at the sudden commotion as two later arrivals joined the group. Well commotion was a strong term, but a few people were clearly unhappy about the newcomers. Things sorted themselves out fast enough without his involvement though so he simply shrugged and got moving again.

"Come on people, don't spend too long lollygagging. We got work to do."

Scavenging / Theme

As the group headed out, everyone would be able to see the ravaged, devastated state of the world outside of Kirkton; the streets were torn up, some presenting holes and points of entry into old subway stations, others just proceeding deep underground - leering too long into these holes would before long result in something leering back out.

The skyline was obscured by the remnants of skyscrapers - most of these completely lacked light...except for a scant few, which occasionally turned back on for brief moments.

The ground level was equally abandoned except of course for the creatures still scurrying about. There was no doubting that the city had a new kind of inhabitant. As the group arrived, about four small goblins hurried back inside one of the torn open holes in the ground, growling and hissing.

The stores and buildings were dead and quiet, except for the occasional hint of activity inside from some monster or creature that used the place as its erstwhile home.

Evidence of the battles fought here was likewise present - the ground was occasionally littered with old parts of weapons, some alleyways held small pieces of encampments, and those so attuned would be able to feel the aftermath of a number of powerful spells still lingering in the air.

The old world had died in cities like this.

Cole looked around with the rest of the squad, taking up his role admirably well, looking out for any traps or areas where the ground would cave in. As they passed by an alleyway, Cole saw an old flag still laying there with an emblem of a red circle with an X at the middle, each point of the X pointing outside of the circle and met with a sharp angle at each point.

His expression of determination softened - he at once seemed to recognize the flag, and momentarily stopped moving. "...they were here."

Scavenging – Lucy Livingston

Needless to say Lucy was glad her hoodie was so oversized. It his her form well. The leers from the local inhuman residents unsettled her—and in an environment like this, it'd be better to be safe than sorry.

Upon discovering the flag, she blanched, and quickly moved past. Cole seemed nostalgic. Or resentful. She couldn't tell which. She just needed solder.

And food, and water, and...

She wasn't a fool though, and only moved ahead one building. Thankfully the door had been long busted in, though the lack of light and the thick dust gave her pause. Plus the clinking of claws against the floorboards in the shadows. She thought she saw something scurry past, and her breath hitched—instinctively backing back out to the others and keeping her eyes firmly locked onto the open, pitch black doorway.

Her fist clenched, then solidified under a thick layer of ink. A solid hit to the throat (if she could even locate it to begin with) would be ideal. The thought alone made her shudder, but she knew it was necessary. Depending on if the creature inside was brave enough to come back out.

This is stupid, she decided, but I can't think of any other way.

“I-Is everyone okay?” she ventured—thankful that her voice automatically came out several decibels lower than normal anyway. “I-I know there's something in there... I didn't see if anyone got... y-you know... snatched up.”

Yeah, no. This is really stupid.

Wilma Printer—Scavenging

Suddenly, there was a panicked screech from inside the building from whatever monster was stalking about inside it. A few clangs and the sound of slashing rang out, and the dead corpse of the monster was kicked out onto the street. It collapsed into what looked like black dust or ashes, which Wilma kicked around after it attempted to reform.

From out of the darkness of the house emerged Wilma, with the same odd black dust smeared onto her clothing. Her clothes were a little torn and she was beaten and bruised, but still standing.

"Hey guys!" she said cheerfully, though her eyes betrayed just how tired and disgruntled she was. "I was just clearing out the rest of the area here. That was the last Dream Eater. It ran into that house to escape, but I managed to get it in the end. I think it would probably be safe to declare this area monster-free for now, but we still need to be careful, yeah?"

She wiped her paper sword on a dead tuft of weeds and sheathed it. Wilma walked over to the scavenging group, idly dusting off her coat and wiping at her face, then sticking her hands in her pocket.

From a little ways behind Lucy, an very annoyed Aria lowered her cocked bow that had been aimed right at the doorway in anticipation of the threat Lucy had spotted. She strided past Lucy with a little well-done pat on the small girl's shoulder for her efforts while she pulled out a tiny notebook from her vest. Her furious scribbles on it were shoved into Wilma's face with a unimpressed glare to match: A lot more forewarning there would have helped you not nearly get A F*CKING ARROW IN THE FACE!!!

"It wouldn't have been dramatic if I did it like that..." Wilma said with wide eyes. "Sorry, I keep forgetting that life's not supposed to work that way..."

"Anyways, it's over and done. You didn't shoot me—thanks for that, by the way," she said placatingly. "I dunno if I'll ever find what I'm looking for. Seems like they're pretty rare..." Wilma muttered as she backed away, trying to change the topic.

Edited by JumpingFruit on May 19th 2019 at 10:20:47 AM

Scavenging.

With some already checking buildings, Jayce glanced at the ones with flickering lights. If there places had power, there was likely something electronic to salvage. Places closer to Kirkton wouldn't exactly have much left to find...but advancing too far from the others to search was just asking for trouble as he cautiously moved forward.

And while there was probably something that could be salvaged or even repaired from the weapon parts lying around, getting something to keep the generator for Kirton running was the priority. Scrap and materials were next on the list and sure, there was probably at least one weapon that could be repaired or at the very least salvaged if anything still worked.

...but that could wait. Sort of like trying to find a new filter for his coffee machine. Still, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Wilma speaking up and hoping her arrivial hadn't drawn unwanted attention before glancing at the flag.

"...Someone mind clarifying on who that belongs to?"

Melvin twitched when Wilma burst out of a building bringing along a monster corpse in the process. But he had heard the sounds of combat and the approach to the door long before it had happened, she he didn't actually jump away in shock. Well, he did jump back a bit, but that was mostly to ensure he didn't get hit by anything, and to make sure whatever came out wasn't close enough to melee him as he drew his handgun. He sighed in relief when he realized it was a non hostile and holstered the weapon before pulling his bow and quiver out of the cart on the back of his bicycle prepping them.

"Alright, people, we're here so split up into your squads and get to scavving but try to be safe."

He looked for a spot to hide his bike in as other's talked to the newcomer. He turned about as he did that responding to Jayce's question somewhat pointlessly given he didn't have an answer.

"I've seen the flags around before, but can't say I ever actually tried to learn who they belonged to."

With his bike camouflaged and his bow and quiver secured, Melvin zipped up his vest to keep it tight to his body, and headed towards one of the buildings with flickering light. Expecting his squad to follow him, he turned to face them.

"Alright, I'm gonna do a quick scout of the first floor, make sure the place is clear of nasties, then you guys start scavving, as I scout the next floor and so on and so fourth. And remember be quiet."

With that he'd enter through the front door if it wasn't sealed, or otherwise find an open/broken window on the first or second floor to enter through instead.

Cole

"Easy...easy there Hawkeye...easy."

Cole said regarding Aria as Wilma burst out, trying to take a calming tone - she damn well shocked everyone, Cole included due to his momentary lapse in concentration - his eyes had been on that encampment, and he let himself get distracted. He breathed and sighed, that was...really not what he was expecting.

And Wilms? Out here?

What was she thinking? Was she thinking?

"Wilms...look. Sweet to see you out here and all, but this is a real damn dangerous place to just go spelunking."

Hearing Jayce voice some question about the flags, he figured given the squads were separating now he could fill in some explanation.

Looking around he responded to Jayce, "Those flags...have the coat of arms of Clan Asher on them. They're a militant group - they fight Alpha-Leunis' warlords, and anyone else out there trying to set up tyranny. I'll admit they can get pret-ty extreme at times, and don't exactly play nice with Old Government types - only people w—-they answer to is the Hunter Association."

Cole listened in to what Melv was saying, and decided once he was done explaining that to get to work. He seemed to bite his lip and raised a hand in front of him, only his index and middle fingers extended. He took a breath - made a preparation by taking position, feet planted nicely.

"In short, extremist freedom fighters with a potentially large amount of firepower to take caution around if any are still in the immediate vicinity. ...Thanks for the head's up." Still, he couldn't help but give a slight, if humorless chuckle at Cole's comment at Wilma.

"To be fair, we're essentially doing the same thing, but with the potential advantage of having numbers. She'll be fine. ...Either way, Melvin's given the order, so I better get moving before my squad rushes off without me."

The green-haired young man gave a small wave as he turned to leave, hoping not to get left behind.

Scavenging – Lucy

Lucy had damn near had a heart attack upon Wilma's abrupt arrival. But upon seeing who it was, she sighed with relief—willing her heart to stop beating so heavily as she adopted a tired smile.

“Hey, Wilma. Please don't do that again. You scared us.”

Thankfully, the situation was resolved relatively quickly, and Lucy instead moved on to listening about the subject of the flags. Some sort of resistance group, it sounded like. Extremist resistance group. She wondered how long they'd last compared to the thousands of others.

Hopefully they were the exception somehow.

“If I get up someplace high I could scout ahead, now we have some taller buildings...” she suggested—raising her ink-covered fist. “Only problem is that I'd be on my own... but I think I could handle it. Or draw them away, or something. That way they'd all be focused on me, too.”

Wilma Printer—Scavenging

"Yeah, sorry about that," Wilma apologized. "I got the idea this morning. It seemed like a good idea at the time...Common sense left me in the dust. It was a lapse on my part." She scratched her head sheepishly. "But at least it seemed to work!"

"If we can't find anything, you can probably give me things I can pretend is whatever you're looking for. If I don't think about it too much, maybe it'll actually work..." she muttered, looking to make further reparations. "I don't want to drag everyone down. You all work hard. I just wanna help."

Edited by JumpingFruit on May 25th 2019 at 10:29:36 AM