Candi knelt huddled behind an empty rack in the convenient store. Her bright golden eyes narrowed, Prometheus' enhanced sight letting her watch all the fighting from what she'd hoped would be a safe distance. Sure, she had powers now, but getting murdered by gargoyles was near the bottom of her nonexistent to-do list. This though, that Jezebel girl talking about a holy grail, that was very much interesting. If it was real then she could magic the whole chosen thing out of existence and get back to what was important. Coasting through college and making enough money to rent a decent apartment and afford instant margarita mix. Then if she gets lucky maybe relax with a bath bomb and dill pickle chips to go along with her drinks after work. She wasn't sure though, that sounded a little ambitious for her taste. She'd have to drive like a half hour to get to the grocery store that sold the chips she liked.
She was getting ahead of herself though. The grail might not even exist. Aw screw it, it's not like she could stay out here on her own much longer anyway. "Prometheus I know I'm like super cool and a total hottie but I swear you could have picked literally anyone else to get involved with this and it would've gone better," she grumbled to herself as she stood and started towards the door.
No response save for the overwhelming cold that refused to leave her.
"Typical."
She flung the door of the convenience store open, the bell ringing.
Her dyed electric blue hair held in place sloppily with cheap sunflower pins, and matching shade of blue makeup were her most noteworthy physical traits. Well, unless you counted the odd mix match of a croptop, short shorts, and socks and sandals as particularly noteworthy. Other than her appearance though she seemed to radiate gentle warmness.
"So I don't want to interrupt your whole chosen important stuff." Not that she really felt bad about doing it, "but I kind of saw slash heard you guys talking about stuff. And I'm a chosen too so like figured I'd say hey maybe see what the Hell's been going on here and if you know anything about how to get this god out of me. It's kind of getting in the way, and I straight up don't care about whatever it means. I just want to get back to normal."
The Light That Blinds
Amos
"Alright, alright, I'm going," Amos said, turning around and heading back to the stairs. He couldn't help but roll his eyes, once he was out of their sight. "So needy," he murmured.
He headed up the stairs, doing a quick check to make sure the battle had stopped. While everyone seemed to have redirected their hostilities towards a girl with golden wings—for whatever reason, she gave off a strong sense of kinship—no one was actually throwing around any Sacred power. That was good, at least.
"Terribly sorry to interrupt," Amos said, trying to draw everyone's attention, "but I've been tasked with bringing the wounded back to the station. If anyone would help with that, it'd be greatly appreciated."
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Fwomph
Marcus let out a lilting laugh as the nature of this intruder manifested.
Well that explains some things.
"King of hell turns up right after we get attacked by demons. Fitting! But yeah, you're probably right on the agreement front. Buuuuut... Well if we all went and ganked each other now, someone who's already been fighting other Sacred could just come in and mop up. So maybe we work together for now?"
And then some other god-host stepped onto the scene.
"Well, if you want out there's a quick way to do that. #But you're not gonna like it~#"
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Paul
He shook himself out of his thoughts at Ross' shout. Turning, he lifted the hammer and walked towards the stairs to the street. Wounded. Dead. But if we-if I-get the Grail, then will any of their deaths matter? We can just wish them away, right? So the argument could be made that their lives were meaningless. It would be so easy to fall into the mindset of "the ends justify the means" in this kind of situation. A cold and ruthless way of thinking prized by villains. But wasn't this a dire situation? He found his eyes drawn to the back of Amos' head, and his hands tight on the handle of his chosen weapon.
But as before he drew back from action. No! I'm not a killer! There is a way to do what He wants peacefully. I know it! And how could I face the others with blood on my hands?
But his grip did not weaken, and he continued climbing.
Breath of the Sun
Setsuko
Setsuko considered this, putting her knuckles to her chin. "I mean, it doesn't sound like we have to actually kill anyone. You could just hit everyone until they agree with your plan."
Sage wisdom. That's how you become Queen, kiddo. Well, as long as you avoid Buddhist monks, anyway.
She outwardly beamed at the Monkey King's praise. "So that's what I'll do. I'll make everyone play nice so we can fix everything."
Nodding at this as though it were a simple idea and not an ambitious plan to save the world, she proceeded to ignore the rest of the conversation and focus on Amos, who asked them to help gather up the injured. "Can do!" She grinned, summoning a few more clones, before all the Setsukos scattered to search for wounded and bring them down for healing.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Deranged X-Mas Figure
City Streets
"I mean, I could try and kill you, I guess. But you could try and kill me too, couldn't you? So maybe it's in my best interests not to try anything while there's over half a dozen of you sitting around, yeah?"
She reached for another chip, but her long clawed hand came up empty. "Dammit! Guess I should've got a bigger bag, huh? Them's the breaks. But it's the same with all these gods and demons stuck in our heads, ain't it? I mean, I don't mind, but it's not like I chose this. None of us chose this. You think I went up to ol' Luci and said 'hey, come jump inside my noggin, there's room to spare?' This whole thing was forced on all of us. Least we can do is make the most of it."
She scanned the convenience store for more goodies, eyes settling on Candi as she hovered between her and Setsuko.
"Like, not sure it'll be that easy, but hey! More power to ya! You wanna try snapping things back or making everyone play nice, your best bet's with the Daughters of Earth down south. They mostly keep to themselves, but they're all about ditching modern conveniences and getting back to nature. Maybe it's throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but it's not like they're going around slaughtering people or spreading chaos, so that makes them better than the other players in town. They've got their own Sacred, but if you don't go in guns blazing, you should be able to deal."
It was then that Amos made his grand entrance. Jezebel could sense him as soon as he came up, and her feathers literally fluttered. "Well hot damn!" She zipped on over, wings flapping at rapid speed before skidding to a halt, twirling her tail as she sized him up. "Gotta say, not bad! I mean, nothing against the rest of 'em, but they aren't kindred spirits or anything, ya know? Bit too green. But you know how all this really works, don't ya?"
Edited by kkhohoho on Feb 7th 2021 at 3:01:53 AM
Doctor Who — Long Way Around: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13536044/1/Doctor-Who-Long-Way-Around
Bona-Fide Mastah
Convenience Store
Inside the store’s freezers, a knocked about and clumped pile of fallen shelves and half eaten junk shifts and stirs.
Cold here...safe here
It had been...yes, three days since he left the safety of the labyrinth to forage and feed. The cold packets and jugs had enticed him to close his eyes for just a while.
Loud...noise...fight?
He groans, sitting up.
Notsafenotsafenotsafe
The mutterings of the Minotaur serve only to exacerbate the ringing of his ears.
Sacred here. Sacred dangerous!
“B...e...qui....et...”
His own voice, like one that regularly gargled gravel, strains to push the voice back. Back...back...back...
The freezer door slams off the hinges from his weight as the monster of a man shuffles out of his makeshift bed, then back out to the deadly streets. An axe, nearly as tall as he was and nearly as thick as an arm, picks up sparks as it drags behind him.
“S...o...loud! So...lo...UD!”
The Light That Blinds
Amos
"Hm?" Amos frowned a bit before it clicked. "Ah. I suppose they are, in a sense. I imagine we all have grand, incompatible plans for what we'll do with the Grail." Including me. "I'm guessing you felt it too. That sense of...kinship. Mind telling me why that might be?"
Before she could answer, though, he saw an absolute giant of a man shuffle towards them, dragging an equally large axe behind him. Half the color drained from Amos's face, and he slowly lifted an arm to point.
"Or perhaps we should take care of...that, first?"
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Streets
Nestan rolled the head of a dead imp, examining the thing. None of you chose this...
"You can start fixing sooner than you think," she said to Setsuko. And added, for the other demon. "I have no 'grand' plans for the grail." There's much to do with this planetoid though and especially a nature themed sacred.
"And you," the priestess tilted her head at the giant, answering him directly. "just missed a legion of demonic beasts rampaging through the streets and the screams of their prey and victims. If that woke you, you should be able to return to bed now." 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
Candi laughed bitterly, and bit her electric blue lip. "Great, I love this for us. There's some demon horde and now a bull guy coming towards this. God, being a sacred just gets better and better."
She looked to Amos. "You. You said you were taking the wounded back or something right? I have some powers to help, so let's go do that like right now. It sure as Hell beats waiting around to get eaten by some buff bull man."
She imagined bringing her power of unyielding to the surface along with her regeneration, picturing it as some sort of energy just below her skin. The cold pit in her stomach began to kindle into a gentle hearth, warmth rushing through her veins. She was ready to transfer them over to whatever rando needed them most.
Fwomph
"Oh hey a minotaur. Great, another fight. Should I make the 'looks like meat's back on the menu boys' joke or does someone else wanna?"
I am slightly concerned about how readily you joke about violence. Has he gotten his talons in you?
Marcus shrugged and summoned his swords to await how this approach panned out.
Bona-Fide Mastah
Streets
“No...fi...ght...ing?”
The bull man scratches his chin, a puzzled look crossing his features.
Have sword! Big danger! Scaredofus!
“But...they no...attack...?”
The giant sits on the ground, handle of the labrys leaning on a massive shoulder.
“Me...no like fight...Asty...no like...too...”
Paul
He lumbered up the steps, blinking a little at the light. When he saw the bull-man, however, Paul felt the God within him recoil, then a rush of pity nearly overwhelmed his mind, making tears spring to his eyes. Before he could stop himself, Paul found his feet moving against his will. Planting himself in front of the huge creature, ancient Greek began to spill from his lips.
"I am not my brothers or sisters, but I apologize for the cruelties they inflicted on you since before your birth. I know what it is to be spurned by the Gods, and offer you my heartfelt apologies. What can I do to make up for this crime?"
City Streets
"I would advise not taking the advice of a girl who appeared after a horde of killer imps at face value," Nestan said, pointing her head at Jezebel. The girl boasting about how she was chosen by Lucifer helped with that point alot. "Or who chose to host the essence of the devil of at least three religions."
"Some of those 'chosen' by the dead gods may still try to kill all of you over a grail that is 'the answer to all of their problems'." Nestan all but shrugged on mentioning the grail.
"What came before was no dream," the priestess still addressed this makeshift group more than Jezebel. The lack of effort she put into projecting her voice to the rooftop made that obvious. "There were just under 8 billion people on this planet alone that were swept away and millions of years of evolution worth of diverse life and a civilization that took millions of years to build. Outside these walls—or whatever stopped the ruin here, you could see them disappearing in real time. Those words though, the grail gives you the chance to pretend that was all a dream."
She pointed around them. "You can look things up like that Roman thing by the way. There are still books and data storage here along with the network of people." She flicked a finger at a nearby body, nearly shredded from imp claws and teeth. "While they're still alive." Well, the priestess could get essence form the dead, but it wasn't something worth discussing.
"There's alot you can do with divine essence." It was an obvious statement, but still one these chosen could miss if Jezebel fired them up about a Genie in a bottle. 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