sword of promised halp
Zone One; Founders' Park - Witch, Faust, Areum
The cultist, who would much rather be called a religious believer but is seldom afforded even that much respect, shrieks as the glowing circle spreads across her feet. The sound is not unlike a deflating seagull.
"Oh, may the fruit save us, what have you done? You've tarnished the greenery! You shall be cursed by the Kong for this transgress—"
Her lips falter, but her eyes don't glaze over. Instead, they become quite unnervingly clear, like the inside of a washbasin, and when she speaks next it is in an everyday voice, like a normal housewife speaking to her neighbor.
"No, but I did see her fall from the sky. Really, I did. She just went like that."
She looks up and points, and then something very small and very black falls on top of Areum, covering her multicolored head with a warm clawing mass.
"DEATH TO THE OPPRESSORS!" shrieks the cloaked figure. "THE SHIP BELONGS TO ALL!"
This would quite possibly be the end of Areum, if the knife in the attacker's hand wasn't tangled in one of the giantess's bubblegum braids. As things stand, the attempts to shank her are more like attempts to remodel her hair.
But still, a concerted attempt to kill another living being is never funny, unless that being is ten feet tall, looks like sentient toothpaste, goes for mukbangs hourly, and thinks entirely in Internet slang from 2020.
Zone Seven; The Edge — Leo, Maia, Jengbish, Bondrewd and Prushka
They don't call it the Edge for nothing. Like everything else in this City, which seems to be an overly-complicated Proper Noun Which Requires Important Capitalisation To Highlight The Fact That This Is The Only Thing Of Its Kind On The Ship, the Edge is just the Edge.
In Draughtsman-speak, when you say you're going to the edge, you mean it quite literally. There's no telling what could happen from here on.
When you draw near to the Edge, you have to climb a ridged incline like a rising wave, unfurling from the topography like a tsunami stuck in time. Some fly over it, others climb, still others take the rickety and precarious set of stairs embedded in its surface. The last of these ways to get up the incline is by far the most dangerous.
From here you can see the rest of Concordia, if you look hard enough. The sentry towers and fences and outposts of Zone Seven are on the plain beneath you, arranged in a scattered wall of barbed wire and jagged concrete.
The tarmac disappeared about an hour ago. The ground beneath your feet is red sandstone today, but it could just as easily be slate or lime or even fine salt. Many a Draughtsman has fallen to his death, taken unaware by a sudden shift in Concordance, a manifestation of the Ship's chaotic will.
And in front of you and below you, filling the sky, Incoherence.
Imagine if a pair of forceps went through your right nostril and into your brain and groped around, until it grasped your most nonsensical dreams and tugged them out like strings of snot. That is the feeling in the air. The sky is mad, dancing like a jester, and tinged with the color of madness. It is green and purple and black and yellow and gray and red, all and none at once.
Beneath you everything stops making sense. The vast space beneath you is a wild menagerie of geometrical debris, windows leading to stairs leading to hatches leading to cold clanking pods with ancient skeletons in them, floating suspended and yet not suspended, intersecting each other but not intersecting each other.
That is what Incoherence looks like from the side of Concordance — nothing but an extended visual metaphor, as the last strands of the Charter's power fly like flakes into the void. The terrifying thing is that once you're inside, you won't see anything wrong with it at all.
In a moment, you will don the abseiling gear and begin your descent down the other side of the Edge, into Mapped territory. You will end up in Corridor 526A, a relatively safe passageway, make your way to Hatch 526A-Theta, and from there assay into Unclaimed Room 523179. This is your last chance to prepare yourselves, go over the plan, and make sure that nothing too drastic is missing.
It's your last chance to do a lot of things.
Zone One, Outside Kothys; Usagi and Luna, Violet, Kayne and Moko, Swain
Oh, we're not under arrest.
I'm a genius! I knew I could do it! Take that Luna, and Mama, and Miss Harada, and everyone else who doubted me. Take that, you nasty table.
"You bet I'm on the side of justice! And y'know, I've always thought I was a bit of a Peacekeeper myself, haha… where do I sign up?"
"Sailor Moon…"
I ignore Luna, just like she deserves. That girl who landed on the robber is really pretty — almost as gorgeous as me. She looks like a doll, even though her clothes are all dirty and torn, and her arms are… woah. Robot arms. Just like in one of my Super Famicom games.
"Hi there my name's Sailor Moon what's your name?"
No no no! Stop gawking like a dummy, Usagi! Sailor Moon is an example for girls and women everywhere!
Oh, but she's not looking at me. She's looking at the two people from the nice little cottage shop, Einsell and Coughis.
"Thank you for the sandwich and the coffee," she says. "It was delicious."
I'm about to introduce myself again, but then my tummy growls really loudly. I can't help it, honest, I just love food so much…
I mean, Sailor Moon is an example for girls and women everywhere. Really!
Zone One; House of Hourai - Kaguya Houraisan
There's someone new behind the screen. Not another one of your descendants, because you more or less know what they all smell like at this point, but a strangely familiar presence. It might be something about his clean starched suit, or the gaudy rings on his fingers, or the way he stands like he's the most important man in the multiverse…
"Hello, Miss Houraisan," says Darien Brand, smiling very politely as he steps in, a silver wand held genteely in his left hand. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Edited by troydenite on Jun 17th 2021 at 1:28:40 AM
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
The Edge, Hatch 526-Theta
As was their usual custom, Bondrewd, who was leading the group, and Prushka, who was not far behind and chatting with her sister and Leo during much of the trip, paused at the far edge of the cliff in The Edge and stared out into the confusing, nonsense-filled, kaleidoscope sky in admiration. Then they rappelled down the edge of The Edge's plateau along with their supplies - one at a time to ensure their weight didn't overload the ropes - and walked the distance to Hatch 526A-Theta, which would lead them into Unclaimed Room 523179.
And, as was their usual custom, they paused before the Hatch to pull out a simple glass jar, which they placed upon the ground before the portal, and into which Bondrewd placed a few sticks of incense that he proceeded to light. That done, the senior scientist faced the entrance to the Unclaimed Room and raised his arms toward it with palms upturned, as if he was beholding and praising something wondrous or greeting an old friend. As usual, Prushka mimicked him, and then, in his soft, slow and fatherly baritone, Bondrewd prayed:
"To those who offer up their bodies and challenge the chaos for which even darkness is no match, the Incoherence is said to provide all. Life and death, curses and blessings, all of it. At the end of their journey, what fate will they choose to meet? That can only be decided by the challengers themselves. O Incoherence, we offer ourselves up. Verily, through a path and fortune forged by our own wills, may we return hence safely, having accomplished all we have set out to do. And if instead we do not return, may our deaths be swift and without pain, and may we live on eternally in the memory of those we love. Let it be so."
"Let it be so," Prushka echoed solemnly.
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
"Ah-hah."
Spoken in a descending tone. That short, fake laugh could mean many things, based on simple intonation. The same way a song may be changed radically with but a simple key change, her speech had been remixed. What normally may sound like pleasant surprise now sounded like the opening note in an overture of guarded, conniving, backstabbing talk.
Just the perfect way to approach this man.
Solely with her tone acting as a signal, her hatamoto-descendants knew to be on the ready. Kaguya had half a mind to have them strike the man down without further conversation, but this was interesting...
"It has been a while, I suppose." She held a sleeve over her mouth, hiding the slight downturn of her lips. "If only we had originally met on more peaceable terms...though perhaps we may be better off, now that I am no longer at the beck and call of a child-king." She looked toward a servant, who went to fetch the requisite Diplomatic Tea. "His best quality was the ease with which he was flattered."
"You know, with your arrival, you trail in quite a mystery. How are you visiting me, today?" She tilts her head and closes her eyes. "Have you found some way into this vessel that we don't know about, or have you found your lot with us poor souls, trapped without hope of relief?"
Breath of the Sun
Zone Six, Hate Plague
Amaterasu quickly picked up the syringe in her jaws. For a moment she wondered if she should trust him, but he was clearly distraught by what he'd done, and she didn't have many other options.
Keeping one paw on the mutating woman, Amaterasu took the empty syringe and firmly jammed it into one of her own legs. Perhaps due to her experience battling demons, she did not so much as flinch at the pain.
She carefully pulled the plunger, drawing out a suitable amount of her own divine blood. Godly as it was, it was still as red as the blood of any other animal.
Satisfied with the amount, she yanked the needle out of her forepaw, before jabbing it into what she hoped was the woman's neck, though the twisting of flesh made it kind of hard to tell at this point.
Amaterasu pushed the plunger in with her nose, forcing the blood into the woman's veins. Quickly she turned towards the bottle of painkillers.
A swish of her tail brought forth a sudden gust of wind, pulling the bottle towards her. Amaterasu caught it with her mouth, and with another tail swish cut the top clean off. Then she tilted her head so as to dump the pills into Alexi's mouth.
"Iil beh alrih muh chid." Amaterasu soothed the woman, though her words were mumbled thanks to the bottle in her mouth.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Mad Scientist
Dr. Grey looks over at the scene, watching Amaterasu inject her divine blood into the poor officer, whatever her name was.
Would the divine blood have a different effect than, say normal wolf blood? Hmmm, perhaps she would become immortal from it? Of course, there wasn't really a way to test immortality, besides in ways that would prove lethal if they were not, and he preferred not to kill people, especially for pointless reasons.
He watched as fur burst out of the woman's skin, tinged blue oddly enough. A product of certain low level mutations that were part of this sort of process, he would love to find out the gene behind that process.
The flesh began molding back into humanoid form, with the exception of a wolf tail bursting out of her lower back, along with certain other features. He'd seen that process time and time again, when he had sold his more mutative potions, a surprisingly lucrative market in Zone 5.
Then there were those traditional red, well blue in her case, lines forming in the fur. He always found such odd features interesting, and perhaps he could find his way into collecting a sample for further research. Assuming he could avoid getting arrested.
Dr. Grey wondered, what would fate hold for this woman? The woman who now looked like a blue anthropomorphic version of Amaterasu? Who knows? He certainly didn't, as he preferred to simply send a large cash sum and an explanatory note to these victims. While arguably such actions were a bit cold, he preferred not to deal with such emotional matters, not to mention he was hardly the face anyone should see after such matters.
He would try and get a sample, but the broken leg and the vigilant gaze of Amaterasu hardly allowed for him to do such a thing. Oh well, when life gives you lemons, make lemon grenades. They had tried that for real once, it didn't end well for either of them. But they were certainly happier times, compared to what had happened to them since.
...he didn't want to continue that line of thought. Should he say something? Should he give another apology? Should he be concerned about how he was going to explain this to the Peacekeepers?
Zone One, Founder's Park
"Well," I began answering Witch. "I was heading out for a jog around the park when Oliver Sudden, I saw a dead body! I swear, some crazy stuff happens around-"
Oliver Sweden an angry manlet attacks me - very poorly I might add. He insinuates I'm a tyrant, probably because he cannot handle a based and exceptionally tall woman in power. I'm both a nice and incredibly sexy person who probably hasn't done that many bad things, aside from accidentally breaking manlet bones every now and then. In my defense, humans are very fragile, and the angel lady just heals them up anyways. So is that really even assault?
"First of all," I said, suplexing my attacker for the crime of messing up my hair. "You are being very rude. I am just trying to have a good time and I'm feeling pretty attacked right now, not gonna lie. Second, I don't oppress anyone - in fact, sometimes I don't even do my job at all. So if you really think about it, I'm actually one of the most fair leaders of all time. Third, I'm extremely talented and sexy, and by killing me you'd be depriving people around Concordia of an impressive voice and an equally impressive body. Think about before you try pulling stunts like this next time."
I sighed after pulling off that epic wrestling move, looking back at Witch and the others.
"Well, that was pretty weird."
Edited by HilarityEnsues on Jun 19th 2021 at 1:46:14 PM
Witch - Zone One: Founder's Park
As the disheveled woman shrieked in response to your magical addition to the park, you almost felt as though you should be even somewhat surprised. Alas, you'd already spent far too much time in this Purgatory City, and instead you elicited a sigh and prepared to give Rodriguez the signal. This woman appeared rather clearly unhinged-
And then it hit her. Of all the mileage you'd gotten out of your power to cut through lies, you'd scarcely seen a reaction quite like this. Usually it was defiance, or indignation, or resignation, when one finds themselves suddenly unable to continue their duplicitous train of thought, but lucidity? Lucidity was a new one. Her dramatic shift in tone and demeanor was rather startling, so much so that it gave you a moment's pause. Her eyes were cloudy seconds prior, but now no longer. Perhaps...?
You gave Rodriguez a quick signal to ease up and took a step closer to the woman. You slowly raised your hand, placed it just over her head, and began another incantation. "Be at peace, Child of the Masses. Look inward, and the gods will never trouble you again." As you summoned your divine power, the unpleasant spark of light washed over you and flowed through into the woman. It had been quite some time since you last attempted something like this. Few people handled deliverance the same, and you had no way of knowing how well it would work here, but the reaction to lifting the veil of deceit was too strong a signal to ignore. It was your aspiration that it might be the push this woman needed to free herself of this madness plaguing her. You recalled the words of a teacher long lost:
"In a perfect world, there is no master but the self."
"Everything okay, boss?" Rodriguez inquired as you took a step back and lowered your hand. You nodded, and turned towards the good doctor in your presence who unsurprisingly appeared to not recall you. "Call me Witch," you said. You considered offering your hand to shake, but also unsurprisingly Doctor Faust was already inspecting the corpse herself, and there was little point in a needless additional distraction. "I don't believe we've properly met before. I know of you by reputation of your deeds assisting the Draughtsmen. This is my apprentice, Private Rodriguez." Your own rank was casually left out; It had no bearing at the moment, and less so in the unfortunate presence of a member of the Diet.
"Pleased ta meet'cha, Ma'am. I hear you're pretty sharp," he chimed in, yet again catching on quick and adding in his own embellishments. "We'd definitely appreciate your insight here for this investiga- woah!"
You'd already seen the blur by the time Rodriguez reacted, as you'd made the foolish mistake of continuing to acknowledge Areum's existence. The decision proved marginally amusing, at least, as the would-be assailant that dropped onto her head immediately became tangled in the banshee's ridiculous hair, only to be rewarded with a suplex into the ground for his efforts. You quickly hid the slight smirk on your face as you drew your sword and proclaimed "You're under arrest. You'll come quietly, and the courts will decide your fate."
Rodriguez sprung into action and pressed a tiny protrusion on the metal ball still in his hands, hurling it at the now grounded assailant. "Gotcha!" He shouted, the ball expanding rapidly as it flew through the air. If the troublemaker wasn't quick, he would soon find himself tightly bound together by dozens of iron bands as the "ball" collapsed upon him.
Omega Overlord. Or superjwren329. Either or.
Zone 1, To Founder's Park.
After politely excusing himself to deliver a few orders and requests from people living at the outer-zones to some of the stores in the Business District, Elliot soon found himself with a fair bit of free time before he'd have to take those orders back.
And after grabbing a snack from one of the nearby cafes, Elliot was probably lucky to avoid getting caught up in most of the going-ons. Well, until he arrived at Founder's Park, looking somewhat bewildered at what just happened. Sure, it looked like it had been handled already...probably. But still! It'd be surprising if that person would still be standing after getting slammed into the ground with...whatever that move was.
At least in the unlikely event they managed to make a break for it, well, they wouldn't be faster than him. I mean, the guy who got introduced to the ground had to be a jerk to deserve it, right...?
"...Kind of feel like I'm missing a bit of context on what's going on here. Uh, still, good afternoon! ...I think!"
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day.
Breath of the Sun
Zone Six
The woman fell still, the flesh receding, and for a moment Amaterasu was relieved.
Then fur burst from her body, the same fur that covered the goddess, followed by a tail, and the markings of the celestial brush painting themselves upon her skin. Sure enough, Amaterasu could feel a faint divinity within Alexi - could feel her own light reflected back at her.
"I'm sorry this was thrust upon you, my child." Amaterasu tilted her head, murmuring a brief mantra of safety for the poor woman.
Then she rose, and spun towards Dr Grey, growling as she stalked towards him.
"You." Amaterasu said, genuinely angered. "Should she so desire it, you will find a way to return this woman to her mortal form. And you will face punishment for whatever other crimes you have committed. I have sworn to never kill mortals, but know this..."
She got up close to his face, until her nose was almost touching his. "I have your scent. If you escape, I will hunt you down, no matter where you flee."
Amaterasu backed away, calming herself and turning to Everett. "Thank you for coming, Everett. I'm sorry to trouble you further, but could I ask you to look after these officers, and this villain? I wish to keep moving, as Andradite may still be in danger."
She turned to look over the other downed officers. "Also, the Peacekeepers are not the fondest of me. I tend to ignore mortal laws."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Mad Scientist
Zone 6, Dr. Nathan Grey
Dr. Grey paled.
"Do you think I wanted to do- do you- do you..."
He trembled.
"I didn't intend. I didn't intend. I didn't intend. I didn't- I didn't I-I"
He fell silent and blankly stared outwards.
Zone 6, Approaching the scene, Senior Peacekeeper Officer Horace Redd
Officer Horace stopped the van, seeing the scene.
He got out along with the rest of his team, walking over towards the suspect.
He briefly stopped and looked at Amaterasu.
"Amaterasu. I expect to hear your statement for all of this. Especially all these civilian reports of Peacekeepers going mad and some fleshly abomination. And why the hell is one of our officers looking like something out of a deleted browser history? I certainly hope you'll bother to comply with procedure this time."
He kneeled down in front of Dr. Grey.
"And what about you, Doctor?"
He stared at him, and Dr. Grey continued to blankly stare.
Officer Redd looked back at Amaterasu.
"Another thing, what the hell did you do to this guy, he looks catatonic! Well, maybe this'll help 'em."
Dr. Nathan Grey, 1 and a half seconds later
Dr. Grey felt a sudden pain in the side of his face, snapping him out of his brief breakdown.
Right, had to stay focused.
Okay, so Amaterasu had just told him to create a cure for that poor woman despite the fact he was already working on a difficult cure already, not that they knew that, had also promised to hunt him down once he managed to escape, and a Peacekeeper was talking to him in a stern voice.
Okay, he needed to figure out what to do.
Firstly, the cure prospect.
He hadn't really been able to find a way to fully reverse mutation, at least while not reversing back to the state of runaway mutation. Which judging by the fact that staying in such a form for more than a minute ran the risk of cancer, dementia, and death, was likely not a good solution.
He could displace the mutation with another, but he wasn't sure if that would suffice for Amaterasu.
Luckily, he could at least delay problem one if he took care of problem two. How would he get away from Amaterasu?
She had his scent, so he would have to either go somewhere far enough that she couldn't pick up the trial, which was unlikely as she was one of the bloody founders, having free reign of the city, unless he left Concordia entirely.
Obviously, he couldn't do that, less he end up devoured by whatever monsters were out there, starve to death from a lack of food, or suffer some fate even worse than death, a harrowing prospect.
So that was clearly a no go. What he changed his scent? He would lack the resources to do so, unless he mutated himself, which was a last resort option.
That was a maybe, but perhaps there was a somewhat better option. He knew someone who might be open to helping ensure his continued freedom, admittedly a somewhat restricted freedom, but better that than a prison sentence, where his work would never be able to be completed.
He didn't want to do this, but compared to the other options, it was a better choice than others.
Alright, that was a plan. Now onto the final problem. Wait, what had he been saying this entire time? Only one way to find out.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat all that? I was busy plotting."
The officer stared incredulously at him, and then turned to his fellow officer.
"Jack, give the doctor healing fluid, and then throw him in the paddy wagon."
Officer... Jack he assumed, a large silent fellow, grey skinned, took out a needle filled with a green substance, and brought it to Dr. Grey's arm.
Dr. Grey looked away, he never did like needles, ironic for someone like him. The injection brought a relieving sensation through his body, as wounds began to rapidly heal themselves.
Then Jack picked him and threw him into the back of the nearby van, which Dr. Grey crashed into.
"...Jack, I didn't mean literally throw him. You know what, nevermind. Let's just start taking statements and get this guy down to the station." The (commanding?) officer stated, shutting the doors as he did so.
Well, on the bright side, at least he now knew what a paddy wagon was.
Edited by Mindris on Jun 28th 2021 at 6:01:48 AM
Wait, he isn't dead! Shia Surprise!
Zone Six, vicinity of the Egress Eternal
You feel a migraine coming on as you listen to the Thinker's pitch. You never could stand motormouths.
Well, that's not entirely true. There was one who grew on you. But you haven't seen him in years, and he was nothing like this guy.
After the Thinker sighs, you screw your eyes shut and let out one of your own. Then you force yourself to open them. "Look. I get that you have good intentions—"
Whatever you were going to say next dies unspoken. Not because of any sight or sound, but because of what you feel. The sudden awareness of divinity, of a power that had not been there a moment ago. You turn towards it, just in time to see that churning mass of flesh and sinew ripple and reshape itself, becoming something furry and lupine and not unlike the massive wolf which was pinning it to the ground.
You stare at the second Amaterasu in shock. "A divine inheritance?" The words are a murmur, spoken only to yourself. "But how..."
Then it hits you. Slowly, you shift your gaze to the Thinker, to gauge his reaction.
He looks… covetous, almost. Like the creature before the two of you is a fascinating new guinea pig to study and experiment on, and not someone who just had a painful transition to godhood forced upon them.
Your pulse pounds in your ears. Current flows from your heart to crackle at your fingertips. Your eyes literally light up and your lips peel back in a snarl. Does this son of a bitch have any idea what he's just done?! You ought to give him a taste of his own medicine: break his other leg, fry him until his bones turn to jelly, let him see how it feels to have his body warped and twisted—
But Amaterasu—the original—is in the Thinker's face before you can do any of that. And as you watch him crumple like a piece of wet tissue paper, your rage cools into something between pity and contempt. Wordlessly you redirect the banked lightning back up your arm and down your legs, letting it dissipate harmlessly into the ground. You have more important things to do than brutalize this pathetic wretch.
At Amatarasu's request, you gesture to the Peacekeepers that had just shown up. "No need. They seem to have it well in hand." You watch as some of the officers sedate the Thinker and throw him into the back of a van. Part of you winces at the rough treatment, but another part of you is grimly satisfied. "Besides, that ferret's not going to find himself."
Your gaze falls on the second Amaterasu then. A thought occurs to you, and you frown and cup your chin. "Although..."
What you're thinking of might work. Then again, it might not. You aren't even sure if you can still do that; you haven't had the need to use it or the chance to try since you first wound up here. Even if you can, this is a god from a different world with different rules. They might not be compatible with your own. And even if they are, that's no guarantee that the second Amaterasu will go back to being... whatever the hell she was before the Thinker did whatever he did to her.
A lot of unknowns here. A lot of ways this could go horribly wrong, for both of you. If you had any sense, you wouldn't even be considering this.
But they would want you to help. They'd be disappointed if you didn't at least try.
You sigh once again. "...I might be able to do something for... whoever that is. No promises, though."
The Danse Macabre Codex
Mad Scientist
Zone 6, Officer Horace Redd
"Her name is Alexi Vult, one our more terrifying officers. I'm personally not sure if being turned into a blue humanoid version of Amaterasu will help or hinder that aspect" Officer Redd replied.
Redd looked over towards Everett. "So, are you the one who apprehended Dr. Nathan Grey over there?" He pointed towards the Doctor, who was currently pacing around in the wagon, as seen through the iron bars on the opening. "Cause, there's a bounty on his head, and we'd need to take you down to the precinct to sort it out, since those bozos in Zone 5 set it as one of those stupid adjustable bounties so we'll have to figure it out ourselves." He signed.
"I swear, those idiots couldn't pick out a criminal even if they were hog-tied and placed on their doorstep. Not to mention they can't seem to keep a guardian around for more than a month for god's sake." Redd ranted profusely.
"But moving on, we'll also need your statement on the entire experience, especially the whole 'chemical gas release' thing." Redd stated.
One of the other officers mumbled "Not like he'll admit anything about the whole Dr. Gabriel Black thing."
"Shut your mouth, Vance. You're not supposed to talk about that." Redd admonished.
Zone 6, Dr. Nathan Grey
...
Dr. Grey wondered what was taking those officers so long, he needed to get to his cell so he could make his way out of this mess. At least that healing fluid was doing it's job, he barely felt any pain now.
He decided to look outside and take a look. It seemed the officers were examining their fallen comrades, getting statements and collecting evidence. What little there was, like-
He stopped and got closer to the opening in the doors. They were taking the hand of.. Andradite was it? Either way, it did mean that he could still have a chance of getting a decent look at it. Once he contacted...
...did he really want to do this? Did he actually want to steal a kidnapped person's hand?
...no.
But he didn't have a choice did he? After all, he had to fix what he had done such a long time ago. Two years... almost three. It felt both so long since that day, and yet he remembered it clearly like it was yesterday.
He sighed. This is why he hated these kind of moments. All he had to do was to think about all his mistakes and sins. He sat back down and tried to distract himself from the darkened thoughts in his mind.
Edited by Mindris on Jul 9th 2021 at 3:04:10 PM
Breath of the Sun
Zone Six
The authorities arrived faster than she'd anticipated. She almost expected to hear the ravens, but thankfully the scent of demons did not come with them today. Though this lead officer was stern, he did not radiate darkness, and for that she was grateful. She wouldn't have to fight the urge to whip someone with her rosary.
"Apologies, officer. I happened to bump into this man, and noted he was carrying the severed hand of a friend of mine. You might have heard of Andradite, a crystal person who works at the Egress Eternal." Amaterasu explained. "Though Andradite can reattach his limbs, seeing that severed hand, I assumed the worst and interrogated the villain, and he threw a poison gas bomb that disfigured that woman and enraged the other officers."
She nodded towards Alexi. "He told me to give her nonhuman blood, so I used my own. And that was the result. I informed him that if he tried to flee justice, I would hunt him down and force him to find a cure. Perhaps I frightened him a little too much."
Amaterasu smiled, slightly sheepish, slightly relieved - for she could tell that the Doctor was actually feeling remorse. That was good; that was the first step to atonement.
"Speaking of which, I would like to return that hand to its rightful owner. If I may." Notably, she had left out the part about Andradite being kidnapped; she'd prefer to keep the Peacekeepers out of the search. Given her status, she and the Peacekeepers shared a mutual distrust since their inception, made worse by that man becoming their leader.
She turned to Everett, ears twitching at his words. "Wait for her to awake, please. While I trust you, otouto, it should be her decision on how to address her newfound divinity."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Mad Scientist
Officer Redd
"Well Sorry, but I'd prefer not to simply hand over valuable evidence just because you asked." Redd retorted. "If your friend needs their hand back, she can have it back once we've finished sentencing this guy."
He sighed. "Though take a bit longer due to that oddity in his file, speaking of which... Cook! I need you to send off a runner for Witch!"
Officer Cook yelled back questionably, "Why?!"
Redd shouted back, "Look, I don't know anything about more than you do! The file of that Dr. Grey fellow just says to contact a Guardian if he's caught. I don't understand it as well as you do, so just suck it up and send out a runner already!"
Officer Cook quickly acquiesced yelling back, "Fine! I'll send off the god damn runner!" He proceeded to run off, hopefully towards the Courier's Guild.
Dr. Nathan Grey
Oh *beep*. They *beep*ing knew, they definitely *beep*ing knew. He was *beep*ed. He had to get the *beep* out of dodge. And what the hell was beeping so much?
Officer Redd
"Pollok! Stop messing with that thing and put it in an evidence bag! Now!" Redd yelled towards a short chicken-man officer.
Redd sighed, and mumbled to himself, "The most insubordinate group of idiots I've ever had to deal with... but seriously, what the hell did the Mad Doctor he do that required a Guardian to step in?"
Wait, he isn't dead! Shia Surprise!
Zone Six, Vicinity of the Egress Eternal
The head officer is getting in your face now. You tune out most of what he says. Why he thinks you'd give a damn about his opinions on how a rival precinct does things is beyond you, and between him, Ling Ya and the Thinker, you've had enough of people unburdening their life stories-slash-personal problems on you for one day. One thing does get your attention, however.
"A bounty, huh?" It'd be nice to get an actual reward for your efforts, for once. Depending on how much they're offering, it might be enough to square the rent for the next month—maybe even the next few months. It might be enough to pay back what you owe for the meal you ate not to far from here just a short while ago. Hell, it might even be enough to let you afford such meals for yourself, to eat like a normal person on a regular basis without relying on the kindness or the charity of others.
It tempts you. It really does. But going down to Zone 5 to collect it will take time. And time is in short supply. There's a ferret waiting for you to find him, not to mention an unconscious woman—Alexi—who needs your help.
There's really only one choice you can make. It's the choice they would want you to make.
You grit your teeth and force yourself to smile. "Keep it." It takes all your willpower to not wince as the words leave your mouth. "I don't want it."
Amaterasu steps in then. You raise an eyebrow as you watch her field Officer Too-Big-For-His-Britches's questions. What happened to wanting to keep moving, then? But then she addresses you. You know what the word "otouto" means, but the thought of anyone calling you little brother almost makes you snort. Almost.
Instead, you face her with a serious expression. "Do you have any idea what it's like, Amaterasu? To be a normal person living a normal life, and then suddenly have this thrust upon you?" You slap your hand to your chest. "It's a heavy burden to bear. You should know that better than anyone. I shouldered it because I didn't have a choice. If I can spare her from it, I should."
The Danse Macabre Codex
Mad Scientist
Officer Redd
"Hmmm. You know, I don't really blame you for that. Something tells me you have something important to do, not for yourself, but for another." Officer Redd muses.
"Well, whatever that something is, you can always come by the Precinct to claim your reward once you're done with it. Honestly, I have no idea why Zone 5 keeps putting out those bloody adjustable bounties. I mean, take a look at this!" Redd rants and pulls out a wanted poster
, before pausing and looking at it.
"Wait, that's the wrong one." He puts the poster away and takes out a different one. "Take a look a this! A bounty between one thousand marks to ten thousand! I have no idea what I'm supposed to actually pay you. And there's risks of corruption, bias influencing the payout due to some aspect of the claimer, and the general loss of man hours figuring out what to pay out and-"
Another officer comes by and interrupts Redd, "Sir, we've secured all evidence, materials and we're ready to go. Where are we taking the prisoner?"
Redd stops, breaths in, and turns to the officer. "We are taking Dr. Grey over to Precinct 9, they're the ones with the jail cells. We'll also take the evidence and materials to the evidence lock-up over there."
The other officers protests, "Sir, won't that run the risk of someone taking the Doctor and his materials at the same time?"
Redd retorts "If they're going to the expense of breaking out Dr. Grey, I doubt separating him from his materials will stop them securing them. Besides, who the hell is he gonna contact? He's practically an unknown to most other criminals, none of ones who do know him are powerful enough to break him out and have the will to do so."
"But sir, I-"
"But sir, nothing. Let's just get out of here before something else happens."
"...alright sir."
The Peacekeepers quickly leave the scene, with Dr. Grey in tow.
Dr. Nathan Grey
The van began to move, taking him to a destination he now knew as Zone 6 Precinct 9. It was rather good that this Officer was so loud.
That guy needed a vacation, or at least some anger management.
Well, all he had to do now was wait until he was left alone in his cell, and the rest would be simple.
He was a genius after all.
Dr. Nathan Grey's story will resume once he gets thrown into a cell and left the hell alone.
Edited by Mindris on Jun 30th 2021 at 8:07:51 AM
Transcender of Gender
The Edge, Hatch 526-Theta
Sometimes, having the power of a god wasn't all that great.
If said power was contained in a vessel that was otherwise painfully human then "sometimes" became "a lot of the time" and "wasn't that great" turned into "was dangerous, miserable, and a whole host of other nasty synonyms." Leonardo Watch had the power of a god, and yet spent most of his days feeling powerless.
The Incoherence was a case study of both statements.
Upon cresting the Edge, spine recovered but a little sore from keeping pace with the others, Leo wiped the sweat from his brow and then made the mistake of looking down into the Incoherence while Bondrewd and Prushka set up the abseiling gear. His body stiffened as heat immediately started to bloom beneath his eyelids, a low hum rattling through his skull.
He saw colours that no living being had witnessed before. He saw shapes as they are, and as they were, and as they will be. He saw nothingness and creation. Space and time and both and neither. He saw the patterns where there were none, he deciphered the unsolvable chaos, he held at his fingertips the knowledge to tame the Incoherence and meld it like putty.
And then that knowledge travelled from Leo's Eyes to his brain, where it melted into incomprehensible sludge that did naught but burn his senses.
This wasn't the first time he'd fallen sway to the Incoherence's effect, and he was brought back around by a small, furry fist knocking gently at his jaw. Sonic stared up at him, wide-eyed as ever, and Leo scratched his chin in repayment. "Thanks. I'm alright."
Once they were ready to descend, Leo fitted his goggles over his eyes and then followed after Prushka and her father. He stumbled upon hitting the ground below and lamented that his back had recovered too cleanly to take the blame for his natural klutziness. It was annoying to think that the stupid herbal patch might've actually been helpful.
Finally, the group made their way to the Hatch. Leo didn't follow suit when Bondrewd and Prushka conducted their usual prayer, instead scanning the surrounding passageway with his eyes.
Though he didn't share their belief, the least Leo could do was make sure it was safe for them to conduct it.
Edited by whizzerd on Jul 3rd 2021 at 1:03:12 PM
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob
Mad Scientist
Zone One, Kothys; Xavier Solitaire
Haha! What a show! Too bad it seems to have died down.
Perhaps he should enter while tensions are still hot? It would be a glorious tableau of violence!
Then again, the old man was here, and while it wouldn't be that hard to break out of any prison, he had done it before, it would be a goddamn waste pile of time when he could be doing violent stuff for profit!
If only someone was offering money for it, then he take his cake and eat it too! He never understood that phrase, you could just eat part of the cake, and you would still have it!
So, should he engage or not engage? Assuming the choice wasn't taken out of his hands by someone recognizing him as the brutal merc he was! He almost wanted that to happen, would make this whole thing a lot more fun!
Mancunian Candidate
Jengbish, The Edge, Hatch 526-Theta
You let the incense fill you and with it comes nostalgia for the smeared fat and the expected words, for all the proper ways a thing should die and every mode of quittance when they did not. You shattered the staff and lost the drum and every man who knew the songs died more than half a century ago, but for this briefest moment you let yourself stand again between the roaring fire and the hide of the ger. You tap a quiet tattoo against the command-studs of the skull on your belt, a good man, a slow man, but a man who knew the songs by heart.
Smiling, you think in the words of the enemy; sanguis enim sanguinem deus. Because here too is the saddle and the sword and the heads suspended by their scalps, sentenced to watch with eyeless sockets the glory of their defeat.
Your blood is up, you realise, fire lit in your belly ever since you crested the Edge and laid eyes on the blur. And this is good. This is your proper function.
"The winds are at our backs," you say, "and like the hawk we fly, bidden only that we return to the hand that loosed us. Laugh and strike as summer lightning. Let it be so."
And then, all preparations finished, you draw your sword and put the fire within it.
Edited by OG-Sama on Jul 6th 2021 at 11:22:23 AM
sword of promised halp
Zone One; Founders' Park - Witch, Faust, Areum, Eliot
"DEATH TO — wuuuugh!"
The black assassin turns into a black ragdoll, crushed under the weight of the Areumite hips. You think you hear a few ribs go. Then Rodriguez's bands wrap around those ribs and squeeze tight.
For a few moments, the only thing you can hear is the sound of ragged breathing. Then the sound gives way to a bubbling squeak, and you realise that the ragdoll is laughing.
"Alright, I gotta admit, that was pretty cool."
The hood falls from her face. Despite her youth, she looks like a piece of hardened mud, all pockmarks and freckles on soot-blackened skin. Her hair is like cut charcoal, stiff and spiked, and through the grimace of pain on her face you see nothing but defiance.
"It's you!" says the cultist. "You were the one who dropped from the sky."
"Yeah," says the assassin. "What about it?"
"But why did you kill that woman?"
"Test run. Had to start somewhere. I didn't think that the bubblegum bitch would be so… so big."
The assassin smirks, then gives a horrible-sounding cough and rolls over, groaning. She stares balefully at Witch.
"What are you waiting for? Just take me away. Throw me into the void, just like you did to the rest of them. But just so you know, there's a killword on my uvula. Bone to flame. All I have to do is think and touch it with my tongue, and you'll all be dead along with me."
There's enough fear in her eyes to convince you that she isn't joking.
"Let me go. I'll do it, try me. Get out of here, delivery boy. You don't have anything to do with these pigs."
The cultist sways dreamily, clearly caught in a moment of spell-induced delirium.
"It's true," she smiles. "You are the judgment of the Kong."
Kaguya Houraisan; House of Hourai
"Without hope of relief? Well."
Darien walks over to your dais, pulls a chair out of his pocket, and sits. You don't even know how he did it, it just appeared. The chair is surprisingly staid and looks like it's made of brown plastic.
For the second-richest man in the multiverse, he doesn't seem to have much preference in chairs. Or does he?
"Miss Houraisan, I got here the same way that we all got here," he says, crossing his legs. "With sweat, spit, and a great deal of luck. I hope you'll forgive my vagueness, but there are more important things I have to discuss with you."
The silver wand in his hand glints, like a slender drooping threat. He taps it on his chin, looking remarkably calm. Given that he spent the better part of five years chasing you and the Party across the Multiversal Mausoleum, back when that was still a thing, you wonder if he's already thought this all out.
"You recall, of course, that two things were stolen from my possession. The first is the Gem Andradite, which I bought legally, and the second is the Oculus which Rum-Eyed Rufus has in his head. Either of those would be cause for me to liquidate your assets entirely."
He claps his hands together.
"However, I am merciful, and willing to let bygones be bygones. I will settle for the return of one of these items. In exchange, you will have my friendship and aid, with all the resources of Artifacts Incorporated at your service."
He smiles. The chains in his eyes glint, all fourteen of them crossed over his red irises, like shackles over the sun.
"How long has it been for you here? A hundred years? Two hundred? There's a lot that your Diet doesn't know."
Zone One, Kothys; Usagi and Luna, Kayne and Moko, Violet, Swain, Xavier - The Sane Clown Posse
Lured by the thought of cake, the robbers look at each other, visibly distraught. At last, Clown Face speaks, in tones of deep contrition.
"I mean, it's really nice of you, but there… there really isn't anyone who put us up to this. We were just looking for a place to rob that wouldn't be too difficult to, uh, rob."
"You can deliver the cake to jail," says Sugar Daddy, beginning to sob. "Oh, my wife and daughter!"
"Poor Agnes!"
"Poor Wisteria!"
Sailor Moon, she of the sailor-suit and justice, is beginning to sob as well.
"I-I w-wish I g-g-got a free cake! Help me, I'm so hungry!"
The only person who seems to be completely unmoved is Violet. She walks over to the table and begins to pack her typewriter away, after inspecting it for coffee. At length her blank eyes land on Xavier and focus, slowly.
"My name is Violet," she says. "I type letters and missives. Do you wish to have something written down?"
The Incoherence; Corridor 526A - > Hatch 526-Theta -> Unclaimed Room 523179
When we consider the gravitational bias of the bipedal, land-oriented being, it becomes much easier to understand the standardized shape of Corridor 526A. A fluid-oriented being, such as a plasma floater, would dispense with the floor and use the walls as a form of capillary chute. A non-Euclidean being, such as a xpiqerjnsadlfj, would simply fold itself into the next available space, possibly bypassing the Hatch entirely.
However, as the vast majority of Concordia's inhabitants do have legs and sometimes use them, the Corridor is exactly that. A long dim passageway, lit with flickering fluorescent lamps, which flicker because the strobe-time has to be maintained at a precise ratio to prevent imagination leaks and are lamps because lamps are good solid objects that everyone can understand.
The walls are crooked, there are no portholes to speak of, and the air is filled with a vague but omnipresent smell of rust. Occasionally you pass a shimmer that suggests something from your dream last night.
It gets on your tongue, the rust. Sometimes even further down.
You have Leonardo, perhaps the best heuronaut there's ever been, and Bondrewd, a consummate master, whose experience in delving extends far beyond his history in the Ship. You have Maia, who has never failed under stress, and probably doesn't even know the meaning of the word. You even have Jengbish, who can reduce most threats to a fine pulp with a stern glance and an oath. But even with these luminaries, you brought a pocket epistemeter, because having an audible whick-whirr to determine the enroaching levels of chaos is a remarkable tool, despite its inaccuracy.
whick-whirr
It keeps you on edge. You have to be on edge.
whick-whirr-whick
The Hatch is a small door locked with twenty-four intricate wheels and dials, all of which have to be turned in the precise order indicated by the Guild. The opening is usually entrusted to the Doorman, but the sequence itself is mandatory knowledge for all Draughtsmen, even the lowliest clerk in Zone One. If any Hatch were to be left ajar, the Incoherence could weaken the integrity of mapped space. If any stage of the opening sequence fails, the automatic lock triggers, and the subject is trapped.
whick-whick-whick-whirr-whick
No, but something isn't right.
Unclaimed Room 523179 is meant to be as benign as they come. There haven't been any disturbances ever since it was discovered. It's a reasonably flat room, filled with a bit of grass and moss, maybe the occasional hungry salamander.
So why…
whick-whick-whirr-whick-whirreEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
As the final dial turns something dark and wet and fetid shoots past Jengbish's cheek, wraps itself around Leo's face, and tugs him right into the darkness.
It's worse than worst-case. You've lost your heuronaut.
Leo; Unclaimed Room 523179
the room is mud and there's something around your face but you can't tell what it is and it smells like the inside of a gutter is in your teeth but your eyes
can see everything and you see through the thing around your face and realise that it's
a woman made from the insides of trees and she lifts her arms to hug you tight but then you see the worms and maggots
she's full of them, they're dripping
and the things around your face are worms worms wet and wide as roots and undulating like
whiteskinned lovers
Edited by troydenite on Jul 7th 2021 at 3:12:33 AM
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Mad Scientist
Zone One, Kothys; Xavier Solitaire
"Heh. No thanks Jack of Hearts, or perhaps you're more of a 4 of Spades type?"
Xavier looks out towards the others at the scene.
"Those two are almost certainly 9 of Spades kinds. The old man is certainly a King of Diamonds, but I already knew that. The girl in the sailor fuku outfit is definitely a Queen of Hearts. The woman with dark hair is likely a Queen of Clubs, and the man in the top hat is... perhaps a King of Diamonds? No, more likely a King of Hearts."
He pauses.
"Hmmmm, perhaps that might be worth writing down Jack of Hearts?"
He of course, was Jack of Spades. He was at least somewhat self aware, as self aware as a crazed mercenary with a bounty on his head could get, which is to say, not much.
Edited by Mindris on Jul 6th 2021 at 12:12:50 PM
Breath of the Sun
Zone One, Outside Kothys
Another twitch of his claw, and the demon hands loosen further, allowing the criminals to their feat. The hands remain on the back of the mens' necks, ready to squeeze at a moment's notice.
Beatrice suddenly squawks on his shoulder, and another raven swoops in, to perch on his opposite shoulder. It squawks in response, and Swain 'hmms' as though it just told him something interesting. Which it probably had.
While communication lines run through the rooms, wireless communication is still made difficult by the structure of the city. And so runners were utilized in many situations. As were messenger birds; due to Swain's influence, the sight of ravens had become all but synonymous with the sight of the Peacekeepers.
The ravens used by the Peacekeepers could speak, somehow. Could whisper their message into the head of the recipient. Perhaps the rumors held some merit - that Swain's bird was a demon who had taught all the others its dark magic.
Or maybe they were just really smart birds.
"Fortunate that it was Zone Six." Swain murmured to himself, as the second raven flew away. "Witch would be the only one I trust to handle that."
Clearing his throat, he gestured for the robbers to start walking. "Come along then. The sooner I can get back to the rest of my day, the better."
As they leave, his eyes once more moved to Violet. "Miss Violet." He said, "I can tell from your eyes that you were once a soldier. Should you ever desire something more than writing missives, I'm certain I can find some place for you in the Peacekeepers."
And then his eyes locked onto Xavier, and he scowled. "As for you, Solitaire, my patience is quite thin today. I am in no mood to fight. But if you start any trouble within Zone One, I will kill you. Understood?"
Without waiting for a reply, he pushes the robbers forward.
Zone One, Pax Primis
The headquarters of the Peacekeepers was designed originally in the same horrible mish-mash of architectural styles one would expect from early Concordia. At some point, someone with common sense managed to intervene, and redesigned it into a more coherent, pun not intended, form.
Gleaming white columns trailed upward to a great bronze plaque, where was inscribed the motto of the Peacekeepers: All Equal Under the Law.
Here, in these halls, even the Diet were bound by rule of law. Though nominally the Peacekeepers enforced the Diet's will, the Diet was not a monolith (not for lack of trying on the Houraisans' part) and so no one, not even Swain, could claim absolute dominion over law.
Swain's notable distaste for his fellow Diet members rubbed off on his subordinates, as well. As they walked through the pristine halls to a processing station, they passed a lounge wherein a dart board was hung up, taped with pictures of Areum, Kaguya, Jengbish, and Amaterasu. (The latter was not a member of the Diet, but still many Peacekeepers disliked her, blaming her for much of the crime they failed to catch in Zone 4.)
The building was clean, well-maintained, and efficient. Within minutes the three robbers had been fingerprinted and mugshots taken for posterity. The officers seemed to work faster under Swain's gaze, though whether out of respect or fear was unknowable.
Finally, after the proper procedures had been handled, the group was brought to a room where Swain sat behind a metal desk. Papers already lay spread out before him, ready to record their statements.
"Now," Swain said, "You will each state for our records the events which transpired, as clearly and as accurately as possible. Do not blather. Do not dawdle. I am a busy man, and if you waste my time with nonsense, I will be most... unhappy."
Beatrice cawed for emphasis, her talons clicking softly on the desk as she trotted over it.
Zone Six, Outside Egress
"...I cannot say." Amaterasu bowed her head to her fellow god. "I have always been the sun. I was weakened, when I first came to this Ship, but I do not truly know what it is like to have once been mortal."
She rose, giving him a soft smile. "As I said, I trust you, Everett. So I'll entrust her to your care."
Amaterasu stretched out a moment, turned, and then bolted, running onward in the direction of Andradite's scent. "Tell the officers I'm sorry, otouto! I still need to find Andradite!"
Wolves run fast, it turns out. Especially when they're also gods. Grass and flowers bloomed from her steps as she sprinted, further hassling anyone foolish enough to try and chase after her.
Edited by kagescorpionakki on Jul 6th 2021 at 1:24:20 PM
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
A dogged fellow, aren't we?
Maia - Hatch 526-Theta
Now that the team has deployed, the easy-going android looks much more serious, expression fading to a blank mask as her eyes scan two and fro. The others have mentioned that the sight of the Incoherance is unpleasant, an uncomfortable sensory overload. For Maia, it's not so drastic. Self-censoring pattern-sorting processors disarmed the truly harmful inputs before they reach her core consciousness, extrapolating around the edges to rebuild any blind spots with near-enough facsimiles. The more benign sights and sounds of unreality were simply recorded and filed as any other sensory input.
The programs that let her examine the Incoherence were adaptive, self-iterating genetic algorithms. Some she had started from seed code when she was first deployed by the Draughtsmen. Others were already in her memory banks when she woke up, mature and extremely complex. She'd run the numbers, and the oldest probably took several hundred thousand hours of exposure to reach its current iteration.
One day, maybe she would be able to share some of them with her comrades, like Leo. For now, she took her point position beside Jengbish, laser pistol drawn and charged as Bonedrewd said his usual prayer. Participating in the call-response procedure wasn't mandatory, but Maia usually figured it couldn't hurt.
This expedition, however, she was more worried about that whick-whirr.
"Epistemetric reaction outside expected parameters." She intoned, flat voice belying her concern. The epistemeter isn't particularly accurate, but a reaction at this magnitude was still notable. "Noncombatants to rear-line posit-"
The epistemeter shrieks. Something whips out and takes Leo. Freeze-frame analyses - dark, fast, possibly pseudo-organic.
Maia goes low, down on one knee, pistol up and steady, wide eyes flashing with orange light as she sweeps a laser-fan across the room, auditory processors using the epistemeter's alarm as a sonar pulse, passive sensors at maximum gain. Tactical algorithms desperately sucking up as much data as they can, the android trying to build a picture of the inside of the Room, searching for threats, for Leo.
They might only have seconds. For a positronic brain on overclock, that's an agonizing eternity.
Edited by LittleMako on Jul 7th 2021 at 6:51:10 PM
Mad Scientist
Zone One, Kothys; Xavier Solitaire
...well. That was certainly lucky, he supposed.
Although part of him was itching for a fight, the more logical part of him realized that there was a good chance that the Old Man could actually kill him.
Hmmm, well now that the Old Man, the 9 of Spades pair, the Queens of Hearts & Clubs, and the King of Hearts had all left, he didn't really have much else.
"Perhaps it's time to draw a direction from the stocks."
He took out his favorite deck of cards, made specifically for him, and drew a card.
A Jack of Diamonds. Seems like he might find a light haired liar soon. Not really relevant.
He put the card back in, and drew another.
7 of Clubs. Might get some new business soon, though he assumed he wouldn't have any romantic trouble, due to not being one for romance.
Well, if new business was due, perhaps speaking to Greed would help? Xavier did still owe him that favor for helping him get set up as a merc.
Yes, he would go see Greed. Perhaps he could finally figure out if he was a King of Spades or a King of Clubs.
He stopped leaning on the wall of that shadowy alleyway, and turned towards the typewriting Jack of Hearts.
"Sorry, Jack of Hearts, but I must get going. I've got a King to speak to, of either Spades or Clubs, and since no blood will hit the floor over her, I got no reason to stick around. Maybe if we meet again, you could type up a set of playing cards for me? I do enjoy collecting them, and one typed out would be a good one for my dear collection. Now then, time to act like a card for The Talon and leave."
He explodes in a shower of playing cards, and disappears, reappearing on a nearby rooftop, waving goodbye, then does it again, until he disappears from view.
“What!?” Dr. Grey shouts as he leaps to his feet in shock, only to fall back down against a nearby wall due to the pain from his broken leg.
“…oh godamnit. I hate it when I accidentally steal evidence. I’d ask why you and Amaterasu are investigating this rather than the Peacekeepers, but considering the whole nebulous corruption and what not, it’s perfectly understandable.” He mentions understandably.
“Well, I don’t suppose I can at least have the opportunity to analyze the hand at least. I mean, surely you remember the Crystal Bombing? If I can get a good analysis of that hand, I might be able to finally make a cure for crystallization, a cure I’ve been trying to find for years now.” He pleads. “Please, I beg you, I’ll even help you figure out who’s blood this is.” He takes out the alien blood sample from earlier. “Which is almost certainly someone other than this Andy chap, considering I doubt crystals can bleed.” He briefly muses.
“So? Will you allow me this one hope? I don’t even care if you arrest me at the end of this, considering that besides finding that Kayné person, which I haven’t been able to do despite working over a year at it, this is my only lead to a cure.” He sighs. "I don't really have any options left at this point."
Edited by Mindris on Jun 16th 2021 at 6:47:00 AM