The Escapist Avatar Adventure: An Open RP (Now Re-Opened!)

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Cloudtop Citadel: David West, Cloudtop Citadel personnel

David was sweating like nuts once they got into the Foundry, even going so far to take off his trademark jacket, revealing a white running top underneath.
He was so warm he was even attempting to get the last drops of liquor out of his broken flask once Vihaan introduced him to Janet.
"Ah, sorry about that. I swear, you need to get some AC in here. David West, UNIT Special Envoy to the Rising Dawn. Pleasure to meet cha." He said before offering his hand to be shaken.
"Hell of an operation you got going here. Did a bit of Metalworking over the years, mostly weapon mods, partly car mods, made a pair of custom cuff-links once too." He pointed out, attempting to sell himself before the professional.
"Just if there is any spare tools or something, I might fix up my flask. Just-...bit of a run in with the Colonel and I'd like to get it fixed. Kinda a good luck charm, the kind you'd pass onto your kids, you know." The sniper then asked before bringing the two pieces of the flask.

 

[BlackHarte]

Cloudtop Citadel - The Rising Dawn
Security Private Peter Moore


"Private Moore," Morrison said. Peter jolted to attention and swung his arm up in a haphazard salute.

"Yessir!" Peter replied.

"Take Mr. Graham to the Canteen and get him acquainted with his new world. I'm going to take the rest of the squad to meet up with Citadel security and upload our combat data from the Black Mesa incursion to the database." Lieutenant Morrison waved for the rest of the squad to follow him as he left.

There was a simple silence that followed between Peter and Joshua. the two men were about the same height and build, but Joshua was not only older, but also carried himself in a way that was altogether different from the air of inexperience that followed Peter like a cloud. Peter cleared his throat and nodded as Joshua as he led them toward the Canteen. "We've been engaged in combat for the past week or so non-stop. Though it does feel like it's been a year or four."

The two men walked in the red-washed hallways, footfalls echoing in the empty corridors. "The Rising Dawn is a proactive peacekeeping unit, so it's our job to look out for threats and stop them before they become a problem. A lot of the time that also means having to stare down the full force of a mobilized enemy." Peter turned a corner into the Canteen.

The large ceiling-to-floor windows in the Canteen gave a spectacular view of the Citadel's internal hanger. From the sheer amount of lights, whirring machines, and moving bodies below - the simple scale of the operation dwarfed civilization itself in the post-war Mojave.

Peter looked up and noticed two engineer corp members working on patching a hole in the ceiling just over the bar. A little further in, an officer was sitting at a table with a couple of heroes. He blinked away the shadows in the red light. Lieutenant Selmy? he grimaced, wasn't she gravely injured in the deployment to Denver? Maybe the darkness was playing games with his eyes.

"I'll order something for you to eat and drink, anything you'd like in particular?"



[HEADING=2]Rising Dawn: Canteen ------------------------------------------------------------------ 02:00 AM[/HEADING][hr][HEADING=3]Lt. Dolores Selmy[/HEADING]

I held my breath as I watch Katya settle down. The tears that rolled down her cheeks glimmered in warm red light. "Is that really how you see me?" I couldn't truly understand the feelings stirring within my own heart. There was happiness and yet there was also pain. A deep throbbing wound that shuddered as my spirit roused. I reached out and placed a hand on her shirt, letting the weight of my fingers pool into the folds of the thread.

I smiled, "Thank you for your kind words, truly."

Yet if your insecurities were really that easily overturned, you would not need me.

Laeta sat back down with a bounce. She seemed more than relieved that the tension in the air had slackened. I had never noticed, but her eyes shone in the darkness like amethysts, cast purple by red light. Saren hit the floor with a dull thud, lazily turning over in a drunken stupor. Laeta bent down to help the younger girl up, making sure to gently crease her jacket so that her sensitive skin would not come in contact with the cold metal of the chair.

Katya pulled up a chair and sat down. In a matter of moments, there were cups on the table and an assortment of liquors. I tried to remember what they were by the shape of their bottles, but I couldn't remember. I knew that I had worked with drinks for a long time - in both part time jobs before the Rising Dawn, and for some time thereafter. Yet, as I reached for the flared neck of a heavy-bottomed bottle I couldn't help but feel that the cool glass was foreign and rough. Still I poured both of us a glass of the amber liquor. I took a small sip. It slid down my throat like glass and left a trail of fire. I coughed.

I put the glass down and let both my hands rest gently in my lap, "I said a lot I didn't mean to say," I started, "a lot of it comes from deep down, to be completely honest, so deep that it's from the time before, well... my first memories."

Laeta sighed and stood up, picking up Saren as she did, "If you're going to try and tell that story, I'm going to go get Isaac."

I looked up, confused.

"Like it or not Lola. And I am speaking to you big sister, Isaac was the first person to find you the day you lost your memories, and he's the one with the best interpretation of what's actually wrong with you." Laeta grimaced, her eyes gleamed, brilliant like a hawk's. I never noticed, but Laeta had the same eyes as both my father and mother. Fierce, strong and predatory. But she had always hidden her true nature behind a guise of foolishness and promiscuity that it was impossible to gauge her capabilities.

"Hold on a second," I said, chewing on my lip. I didn't particularly want to know what Isaac knew, "Let's not go too deep, too quickly." I looked at Katya, "You have been good to me," I said, reaching for her hands, "even though I've only known you for several days, I can say that I feel like I've been with you for years. If you want to know about me, I cannot deny you. Yet, if you would rather for use to simply drink and whittle the early hours away watching anime, I'd be more than fine with that."

Mankind's greatest folly is his desire for independence. Yet the ties that bind have the capability to be just as dangerous, isn't that right, Dolores?

 

[Sithmorack]

AA Verse | Cloudtop Citadel | The Rising Dawn | Canteen
[color=8a2c0f]Joshua Graham[/color]​

[hr]

Joshua watched as the Lieutenant left him to be escorted by a private Moore. Graham quickly did his best to covertly scrutinize the private. The kid was young and inexperienced that much was apparent. There was a time when he remembered being that green but those days were long gone. The kid was a bit nervous with him which was fine. Joshua preferred to negotiate from higher grounds and the kid was talking fast enough that he didn't really have a chance to reply anyways.

He listened to the private talk for a few minutes as the two of them walked through the halls of the Rising Dawn. The kid has said something about being in combat constantly for the past week. There was war wherever he was and he imagined he wouldn't stay out of it for long. A small smile graced his lips as the private said how the past week felt like a year. Joshua knew the feeling a little too well as he continued following. During his days as Caesar's Legate many of the battles seemed to drag on. Your worst moments in life always did seem to last the longest but God had always been there by his side to see him through.

The disconcerting red lighting in the halls didn't bother Joshua much as he realized it was more of a high security state rather than an active attack. He mulled over the privates next few words as he thought about their peacekeeping unit. It seemed almost hypocritical in a way to enforce peace through violence but he had yet to really see anything they had done. He had to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. He could admire their bravery at least if the private's words were truthful.

Then he saw the view as they entered through a doorway into a new room. He had seen a lot of things serving Caesar but this took the cake. The Mojave and the entirety of the East couldn't even begin to compare to what he was seeing in this one room. He did his best but he paused for a moment and his hand shook. That was all the outside indication he gave but on the inside his mind (to put it simply) was imploding. Everything he understood about the world he lived in was drastically changed. It was like he was back in the Old World he had never even lived in. There were so many people, lights, and ships? He had never even seen most of these advanced aircraft before. The sheer scope of it all made him pause. He was quick to regain himself however but remained quiet for the rest of their short journey.

He had so many questions going through his head. Where was he? When was he? Was he even in the Capital Wasteland anymore? This was... Normal for the people here? Everyone acted like the jobs they were doing were menial and boring. Was this a miracle from God himself? Who had bestowed this kindness on him? The Burned Man silently thanked the Courier for his kindness now.

The two were in what looked like a bar of some kind. If he remembered right, the private had seen canteen. Joshua had almost missed Peter's question due to the previous room but answered, [color=8a2c0f]"Just... Water please."[/color]

 

[Zepherus14]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Airship Rising Dawn | Outside the Library (Above the Dawn!)
"WHERE IS MY PACKAGE OF PEANUTS!"
Ruby Babbage-Lovelace | Nina Zaczoltski Phillip!!! |​

[hr]

"That's like what? Four people now? Five?" Nina questioned aloud, about to once again cross through another threshold of a portal from this to that. Each one had been different from one way or another, so as the wind started rushing passed Nina as she plummeted to her death, she was left with one thought in her mind. 'Ruby really needs to learn from Ryan or Sloth, this portal kinda sucks..!'

With the high winds blasting passed Nina, she could only try to bring up an arm to break some of the blow back so she could look around. This was certainly an unorthodox method of travel she thought, even with Sloth's portal at least it got them to a destination immediately even if they needed to make a quick pit stop to make the whole thing work. Nina'd dealt with air travel in the past, connecting flights certainly weren't unheard of, but she was starting to feel like this was taking it a bit more literally than was necessary.

Phillip was feeling something entirely different to Nina however. After making a last minute attempt to pull them back through the portal to safety, he'd been jettisoned aggressively out of the portal in turn. He still clung to Nina's side, fighting against the roaring wind which was seeming rather difficult. Due to his light weight, large surface area, and the constant battering of Nina's hair against him at nearly 195km/h; Phillip was finding it particularly annoying to keep connected with Nina. "WHAT!?" Nina shouted tilting her head back to Phillip, not really able to see him through her sea of yellow. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!" unable to hear Phillip's complaints. Now Phillip did resist blunt force, but much like water torture, there's a limit one would be willing to take. As such one tentacle, despite the wind, grapple the mass of hair assaulting him and forcing it down close to the back of Nina's head. Oddly enough in this situation, the hair made a makeshift chute of inspiration.

While Nina had been falling in a rather unimpressed upside down fashion, she wished she had a nice stylish pair of goggles, the air was making her eyes tear up. It made it really hard to see after all, and with it being so loud, she was left to her own thoughts. 'What's taking so long? Do I need to do something special? Ugh where'd Ruby get off to anyways, I can't see her with all this w-!' Nina thought before she suddenly slowed down! "OH! What wait? Phillip?!" Nina looked up to see Phillip had been busy. Grappling a large amount of Nina's torso to ensure they stayed connected, Phillip had extended a hefty amount of tentacles behind them to create a pseudo chute. Despite this, Nina was still in serious danger if she tried to land now, easily breaking many things, but at least she could make out what Phillip was saying. "YA, I KNOW! I WAS JUST THINKING THAT TOO! THIS IS TAKING FOREVER!" She shouted back, Phillip obviously replying in turn as she continued. "YOU'RE RIGHT, WE SHOULD ASK RUBY!" Nina agreed as she started scanning the way below, Phillip giving her a squeeze of her shoulder before a guiding tentacle pointed her in the right direction.

"W-What is that? Oh. I SAID, WHAT IS THAT!? Oh... Well why didn't you say anything before?" Nina relayed as she saw the ribbon approaching them. "You get the feeling that's important..? Good, it isn't just me then! LET'S GET IT!!!" She proclaimed as Phillip adjusted some tendrils to start their fall towards the pink savior. Given Ruby's magical ribbon, what would have been a monumental task would be made child's play. Simply getting relatively close to the ribbon caused it to lash out to grab Nina's arms securely..

With Ruby acting as the pivot, Nina swung as the ribbon slowly took over supporting her weight as she approached equilibrium. Both the ribbon hold and Phillip's chute allowing Nina's arms enough time to adjust to this without them being ripped off. Once she was hanging proper, Phillip would reduce his size while keeping his tentacles out. "HEY! SO WE ALMOST THERE RUBY? NOT TO BE A NUDGE BUT THIS IS EASILY THE LONGEST PORTAL TRIP WE'VE GONE ON!" Nina called out finally reunited with Ruby.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

[RETRACTING CUZ WAS SUCC]

 

[NotYetForsaken]

[[Secondary Scenario]]​

[hr]

Maiden's Wish

side story

​

[hr]

"Never ask for anything, but desire everything."​

Janet took the flask from David's hands and gave it a look over, "It's nothing special, but if it means that much to you, I'll give it a good once over." She placed the two halves of the flask in the red embers of her furnace and let them sit until they were red hot. "A run in with the Colonel eh?" she whistled as she retrieved the two halves and placed them on a rounded anvil. "She's a hot-headed one that lass," Janet continued as she started to solder the two halves of the flask back together, "Not from around here. When she first arrived, she was no more than a child. A strange looking one too. Tiny, skinny, holding onto a spear as if it were her own mother. Wore strange clothes too. All white and gold from head to toe. Didn't speak a lick of English and was scared to death of men." She put the flask into a water trough to cool. The sudden flash of steam caught Vihaan off guard and he stumbled backwards.

"But in the end, I think she's a good soul. Wants nothing more than to go home, wherever that is." Janet took the flask out and put it back in the furnace before stoking the coals. "The rumor is that she's from some other dimension or whatsit. I don't believe it, but to hear her talk about her homeland, well. She's a good storyteller and a convincin' leader. That much is true." She pulled the flask out and started to smooth out the scar on the flask with a narrow clamp. "Don't hold it against her, she means well, but isn't very good at talking. That's why I think she surrounds herself with so many people that love her. So she don't need to speak much. English isn't her first language, and every now and again I can hear her lapse into whatever it is she speaks. It makes her uncomfortable to be here, in society."

Janet handed the flask back to David, ship shape and none the worse for wear. "Don't hold it against her lad, she's a good girl. Quick to act and of few words. She's lost, afraid, and wanting for her home."

---​

The dagger flashed as Yona dashed forward. Her movements were segmented and broken, as if between each step her form vanished into another world. Mio saw the footsteps coming by the dust that kicked up on the floor each time Yona landed in her stride. The room glowed bright and hot with the shimmering light of sparks.

Steel danced against steel and the screeching song of grinding metal tore deep into Mio's skull.

Yona landed several steps in front of the white-haired pirate. Her blue eyes were framed by the dying embers drifting around her.

"Let's not get hasty now, Colonel." Mitte said cheerfully as she sheathed a broadsword back into a holster hidden on her outer thigh. "The poor girl didn't know."

Yona gave Mitte and Mio a deadly glare before spinning her flame-kissed dagger in her hand. "Zero-tolerance, no alcohol."

Mitte capped the flask in Mio's hand for her. "It is so," Mitte said, "please refrain from drinking while you are outside of the Rising Dawn. There are a lot of sensitive instruments that would be adversely affected by vaporous alcohol." Mitte smiled and cocked her head.

Yona put her dagger away and turned back toward the window. There was a silence before she spoke, her voice was hard and unwavering, "With many of the things you desire, we have no ability to assist you. That being said however, there is one thing we are working on." Yona turned around to face Mio. She rest her hands on her hip, looked sternly at Mio and said straight-faced, "We're working on the technology to breach dimensional walls and facilitate inter-planar travel for mortal peoples. In more simple words, we're trying to learn how to send people back to the worlds they came from."

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

[HEADING=2]The Rising Dawn Adventures[/HEADING]The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: King Leoric's room | King Leoric, Nadalia
​

[hr]

"It is quite alright, Iron Queen. Should you ever need my aid, merely ask and I shall provide as best I can. Thristram has fallen but their nobility and pride live on though me." Leoric remarked as he got changed back into his Royal Armor, fresh off a quick polish and gleaming in the electronic light.
The Servant backed off as his fake facial hair began to burn from Nadalia's heat, the lot of them soon returning to the enchanted Gorget now that their mistress had been served.
"Now then, shall we be off? I wish to examine this "Cloudtop Citadel" for myself. They appear to be allies of the brave warriors of this vessel and I wish to help forge an alliance to secure my new kingdom." Leoric then asked, looking suitably royal (Lack of flesh not withstanding) as he lead the two of them out of his chambers.
"You know, I feel you would have thrived in our world. With the Eternal Conflict ever raging, it has left humanity lead by-...well, sheep. They know nothing of a strong leader and you could be just the type of monarch they require. I used to think myself as one but-...I believe you recall my fate..." He then suggested, rather liking the idea of the Iron Queen ruling a region near Khanduras, perhaps she could find her place in the sands of Aranoch.
For now, it was time to correct the suspicions of anyone who thought her weak...

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Cloudtop Citadel: David West, Vihaan, Janet

"Figured it was something like that...Poor woman...Growing enough is enough of a battle for a kid, nevermind fighting in someone else's..." David remarked as he heard the colonel's story from the blacksmith.
While the Rising Dawn had a number of under-age members, David still made his stance of putting children in the line of fire, now, if they grew up and still wanted to serve, more power to them, it's what he did.
His political views were soon pushed aside when he noticed the flawless finish on his flask once Janet handed it back to him.
"...Damn...I think it's in better condition now then it was when I bought it! Hellva job, ma'am." He remarked as he examined it, looking nothing like the cheap pile of crap he purchased while waiting in line at a cafe in Iraq almost a lifetime ago.
"Well, you'll be glad to know that she's not even in the top 10 biggest jackasses I've met with that rank. Thanks again for this. Listen, you need anything done? Let me know. Once UNIT pick up those dirtbags in the brig, I'mma have a LOT of sway with my people and an outfit just as fancy as the Admiral's here." The Sniper joked, patting Vihaan on the back and unknowing marring his outfit with a dirty oily handprint.
"But real talk: Means a lot to me. Need a favor and I'll make it happen."

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

The Rising Dawn
Med Bay
Morning

[hr]

Diana | Jenny​

"Oh, that's alright. I was just trying to distract you." ^_~

Diana then stumbled forward as the Gardevoir seemed to disappear from-...well reality if I'm being honest.
There was no trace of her and even her wheelchair seemed to vanish as the shapeshifter looked around, finding the entire medical bay to be strangely-...empty...There was no other souls to be found, no sound could be heard apart from a pair of short-stride footsteps."It's over Diana. You've lost. Now, can you please tell me what you did to Dr. Violet?..." Jenny asked as he walked into view, no longer clad in bandages, walking around as if she as 100% healthy and now sporting a crimson hue to her normally green hair."Confused? You let your guard down just long enough...We are currently in your head right now actually...You can think of me as a little..."Virus", uploaded directly into your mind's Hard Drive." The mimic coyly pointed out before tapping the side of her head."There are two ways this can play out...Either you give me what Jenny wants and I leave or..."

Moving her hand out, a large medical-looking filing cabinet began morph out of the floor underneath but this one was special, hence a large marker drawn label that wrote "Diana's memories".
"I'm going to just have to start tearing though these until I find what I'm after and, believe me, if you think you are confused now...Just wait until I wipe out the last 20 years of your life..." She then threatened before sliding the first drawer open...

---

While Diana entertained Jenny's phantom within her mind, in the Real World the Shapeshifter's monstrous form dozed lightly at the base of Jenny's wheelchair.A smug look appeared on Jenny's face before she wheeled herself back into Dr. Violet's room, waiting for her "Clone" to get what she needed out of Diana's mind.And hopefully before Diana pushed her buttons and made things worse for herself

 

[BlackHarte]

Cloudtop Citadel - The Rising Dawn
Security Private Peter Moore

"Asamatte! Hidahei!" Peter called out to the kitchens. After a short pause, a darkness came bursting out of the thick steel doors. It loomed toward Graham's table and slammed a bottle of water in front of him before turning around and leaving. Peter smiled awkwardly, "Sorry about that, he's Asmora, one of the automatons that we were given. He runs errands for the staff members when we're in high-alert." Peter paused, "Not that we're in high alert or anything. The power generators short-circuited due to some strange EMP earlier. All the back up systems are running right now."

Peter motioned toward the water, "Please drink up."

The world had changed a lot in the past four years. He looked out the windows into the hangar. A lot. He wondered when he could go home... it's been way too long since he'd seen Rachel. She'd have grown up by now... When did he leave home? How long ago was it? Peter furrowed his brow and hunched over on the table, placing his hands on his cheeks. His memories from before joining the Dawn. They seemed... so distant. As if they were physically far away. "What in the world..." he muttered under his breath.

"Oh, my apologies once again. You're with a friend, are you not? Shall I .. leave you two be?"

"No, no." Peter waved at Nadalia to sit down, "Please, take a seat and join our conversation." Peter turned back to Graham and tried to shake the feeling of unease from his shoulders. "I should probably go over where and when we are, shouldn't I?" He forced a laugh, "It's the year 2013, and you're in the Rocky Mountains Rage in Colorado. Where exactly, I'm not sure. But it's the United States of America. I don't know if that helps, but that's what I can give you right now. If you would like, I could see if Intelligence could scrounge up some maps and records for you to read in your down time."

 

[NotYetForsaken]

[[Secondary Scenario]]​

[hr]

Maiden's Wish

side story

​

[hr]

"Never ask for anything, but desire everything."​

Vihaan ran his fingers through his black hair and grinned. "Good," Vihaan spun around and put a finger on David's chest, "for there are some things that I need from you Mr. David." The jewelry on his uniform jingled as he moved. His gemstones seemed to catch the light from the forge and glow a soft pink. "You are in quite a privileged position to be on the Rising Dawn." Vihaan fished around in his robe and pulled out a USB stick.

The forge seemed to quiet, the air cool, and the dust stopped drifting. The world around them seemed to be locked in time. Vihaan handed the USB to David, "In your ship, there is an old walled-off section of the vessel. It'll be hard to get to, you'll have to go into uncharted areas, but within the old cabin, there's a weapon's lab that's locked away and sealed. Plug this into any computer there and wait for the program to finish. Once it's done running, get it back to me."

The world around them burst back into life. "There's some important data we need before our project can move forward. I'll tell you now in good faith. We're looking for information on forcing exotic matter to stabilize in our world, and the Rising Dawn, with how many extra-dimensional travelers it's collected, it the prime subject for our analysis."

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

[HEADING=2]The Rising Dawn Adventures[/HEADING]The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
King Leoric | Nadalia | [color=8a2c0f]Joshua Graham[/color] | Peter Moore
​

Leoric caused more then a few heads to turn among the staff of the Citadel.
Sure, their job description practically involved "Being willing to deal with weird shit all day" but a walking Skeleton was a new one for the bucket list.
"...Strange...where are all the men?...Are they out on deployment?..." He asked out loud, soon staring at the staff almost as much as they stared at him, making a few of them rather uncomfortable
He was a bit worried he was over-shadowing his friend's return to form, least until they both ran into Peter and a strange man in bandages.
"...2013?....It's really that far into the future?....Hm." Leoric mused, recalling the year in his home realm to be somewhere under 1300 (then again, his perception of time as always a bit off-kilter since he "Died")
"Well, I thank you for your offer but I'd rather stand. I am King Leoric, former monarch of Khanduras, current monarch of the Rising Dawn. And my comrade the Iron Queen Nadalia whom you already know. I wish to speak to the commander of this keep, I have several questions relating to the security of our borders I wish to ask him." The Skeleton king then remarked, clearly unaware of how many female members of the armed services were on site.

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Cloudtop Citadel: David West, Vihaan, Janet

"...Really? You want me to put out on the first date? We didn't even have dinner..." David asked in a annoyed but clearly sarcastic tone.
Classic spy move: Befriend someone and get them to do your bidding, something he knew something about even before he began dating a super Ninja-Spy bombshell.
His gaze turned to the USB he was holding, it seemed normal enough but if Die Hard 4.0 taught him anything (outside of the fact that John McClane doesn't get paid enough), it was that computers were crazy in the right hands.
"...Alright, I'll ask our support AIs about it. They'll want to scan this before they put it on our network. Last think I need in my life is Katya wondering why the internet isn't working, you get me?" The sniper remarked before putting both his USB and Mr. Boozy 2.0 into his jacket.
"Though that does beg the question, if it's just data you are after, why not ask them instead? They'd know more about our systems then I would, I just shoot people for a living. Oh, and unrelated but damn son, your pick-up game needs some work. I mean, the sweet suit is a plus but it only gets you so far..." He then asked in a mocking tone, hoping to incite a bit of laughter from present company.

 

[NotYetForsaken]

[[Secondary Scenario]]​

[hr]

Maiden's Wish

side story

​

[hr]

"Never ask for anything, but desire everything."​

The boy admiral took several steps back and spun around, his cloak fluttered in the breeze he made and shed the ash and grime that had stained it. His footfalls sounded like chiming chords, the soft bend of the cloth of his boots kicked up a circular winds that wrapped around him, blowing embers high into the rafters above them. The ringing of the forge echoed loudly and clearly. Vihaan Valduur cleared his throat and ran his hand across his eyes. The crown around his head burst into golden brilliance and his irises took on the same heavenly light. He grinned, shining as if wearing liquid light.

"It's a good question you've asked," Vihaan said, letting his show settle around him as he approached David. "But it's the wrong question." He put a hand on David's shoulder. "If it was so simple, I would have indeed already asked. The question you must ask is rather, 'what is stopping you from using public data?' and the answer to that is very complicated."

Janet laughed, "And that's there is why the ladies around here are so sweet on the boy. He's got charisma when he wants."

Vihaan gave Janet a grin and a thumbs up before turning back to David and looking him right in the eyes, "Don't panic when I tell you this but, the Rising Dawn has long since been compromised. Your AI, your staff, even some of your heroes, they've all been affected by this phenomena we're trying to prove exists."

No matter how dense David was, he felt the sincerity in Vihaan's voice. It wasn't his magic, nor was it his speech. Rather it was something that appealed to his instincts. His gentle smile, his trusting eyes, even the sound that his jewelry made as he moved. It was calming and relaxing.

"The data that we need to mine from the weapon's lab is so rare and so sensitive that should anyone other than yourself know about it's existence, the waveform we need to observe could become overwritten," Vihaan straightened David's shoulders, "You are special, normal beyond measure. Despite being on the Rising Dawn, you are a native to this world, born and raised a human. You haven't felt... off, tormented by the unnatural times passing through this world. You are dumb, dense, and painfully mundane. You are the only person that can do this." The admiral smiled, "I know you can do this for us, my trust rides with you, David West, and so do the hopes and desires of everyone in this base."

---​

"Yooohooo, King Leoric!" Hanna called out from her perch in the hole in the Canteen roof. She grinned and pointed at herself. She was twenty-something, blue-eyed, blonde-hair tied into a ponytail that still fit snug into the belt-loops in the back of her pants. Beautiful, but fit with strong arms and hands familiar to metalcraft.

She jumped and landed next to the Skeleton King. She put a hand on his forearm and ran a finger between the clean dry bone. Hanna whistled, "So that's what it feels like. I've always wondered what you felt like."

Peter seemed rather distraught at her sudden appearance. "Is that what they call a uniform around here?" he said, rolling his eyes.

Hanna pulled on the knot keeping her shirt from snagging on her work belt, "What, you wanna see more, skyboy?"

"I want to see less," Peter snarked. He shook his head and turned to look out the windows of the Canteen.

Hanna leaned back and cracked her back with a good stretch. "Whatever the case, if ya want to be seeing Colonel Isami, I can lead you to 'er. Played Diablo all the time when I was a kid, it'd be an honor to escort the real deal around for a little bit today."

 

[Sithmorack]

AA Verse | Cloudtop Citadel | The Rising Dawn | Canteen
King Leoric | Nadalia | [color=8a2c0f]Joshua Graham[/color] | Peter Moore​

[hr]

Again, Graham barely even heard the private's words as the "shadow" came and deposited his drink on the counter. A lot of questions were running through his head right now. There was no way this was the Capital Wasteland. He had been across most of it and there had never been anything like this. In fact he doubted he was even on the same world. The technology, the people, the greenery, even the cleanliness of it screamed of a new world. He was confused but almost pleasantly so. He just needed to collect himself for a minutes and...

And it looked like the private was having problems of his own. There was an odd silence coming from the man but before Graham could so much as utter a word they were met with another person. She was clean like all the inhabitants here but there was something else. A certain warmth that covered something else, a certain cold dark, it was incredibly strange. That didn't even touch on her mannerisms. Her articulation was strange to say the least but he didn't particularly mind that.

This feeling was put off for now as he realized that she was rather nervous. He got that from time to time whether it was his bandages or his infamy. His posture relaxed as the private replied for him. His calm demeanor came back as he processed new information until he saw a walking talking skeleton. This time his mind didn't really say anything as he simply stared at the thing. He had seen many skeletons in the Wasteland but none of them ever walked or TALKED. He was then informed it was the year 2013. That was why everything was so green. This is what it was like before the bombs. In all actuality Graham had never studied when exactly the bombs had dropped but from what he had heard it was around this time. A new worry began to set in his stomach as he thought about what this place could become.

He needed to protect this place, this world, from ever becoming like his own. Whether this was a new world or just the past he didn't know or care, he just knew he had to protect it. A calm determination washed over him as he finally caught up to speed on what the private had said. It was a few moments before he replied, [color=8a2c0f]"Maps, records, history books, anything you can find would be invaluable to me."[/color] He appreciated the private taking the time to introduce him to the Rising Dawn.

Finally he turned his attention to the woman, Nadalia, if he remembered right. He had been quite rude to her up to now. He decided to correct that as he replied, [color=8a2c0f]"excuse me, I was elsewhere when you began talking. I've had a lot to take in these past few... Hours."[/color] He was unsure how much time had passed since he had been on the ship. At least an hour he supposed. [color=8a2c0f]"My name is Joshua Graham, it's a pleasure to meet you. If you would be so kind, please join our conversation. It has been enlightening so far.[/color]"

He spared a glance towards the blonde woman that was addressing the private but ignored her as she was more interested in the skeleton.

 

[Zepherus14]

He helped out a bit

And she helped out even more!

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Cloudtop Citadel: Hanger: Rugal, Hillary, Ton Ton, Cadolbolg, Teri, Garm

To Rugal's relief, Hillary would set him down gently shortly after he replied to her celebration of her new look. Although Hillary didn't skip, hop or bound for joy, she definitely continued her frolic in her glistening euphoria. Put simply, imagine if a woman got the perfect dress, how they would react to wearing such a lovely garment. Turning and posing to see every curve and look they can? Now make that same dress a gift, even better right? All in all, Hillary was having a very good day now, so much so she didn't notice Teri and Garm approaching.

"Ah, there you are. Hillary, this is my daughter and the Rising Dawn's chief field medic Teri Gravel, along with her compaction Garm. Come, we were just about to ask the commander of this base if we can help this one get home. She suddenly ended up here recently and I'd like to get her back to-...to her-..." Rugal introduced the woman and her companion, Hillary's eyes were finally peeled away from herself and spot the very large doggy. "Oh! Hello there!" Hillary waved over to the two approaching. "It's very nice to meet you-you..." Hillary started her introduction when a thought dawned on her, making her pause for a moment.

"...Teri, dear, has something happened to you? Your Aura it feels-...different..." Rugal remarked.

Teri tilted her head in confusion, (a motion mirrored by her canine companion, to Rugal's amusement) before making a little "Hmnn...". Her brows furrowed in thought as she answered back, [color=0E59E4]"You know, it's funny - I don't really 'feel' that different; a little lighter I guess? I remember the last thing I did, after some busy work in the Med Bay was that I went to my room and meditated for a little bit. I've been so busy after the whole incident with the Prison, I hadn't really given any alone time to Big G and..." [/color]

She stopped there, trailing off before perking again; a lightbulb practically appearing above her head as she answered, [color=0E59E4]"That's it! I hadn't spent any time really talking to the man upstairs, so that must have changed something!"[/color]

Garm nodded after his charges conclusion, adding in, [color=356D60]"That would make sense. We fought a lot in that prison, so we've both gotten stronger, no doubt. From what I've seen, you've been doing a lot better since we've gotten back, a change I approve of."[/color]

Following this, the rather large wolf sniffed at the air near Hillary, his ears perked inquisitively as he examined the strange new being, [color=356D60]"A new member, huh? The Rising Dawn pack grows every day it seems..."[/color]


By this point, Hillary had slowly turned her head over to Rugal, this look of deep guilt across her face. With her finally distracted from her own looks, she finally remembered that being metal meant she'd just become far stronger than she normally would. Now in all fairness, she didn't feel any stronger, but this was one of those things she'd worked on to remember while on the Laplace. She didn't know why Rugal hadn't said anything to her, but with that look from her, Rugal understood without saying a word. "Please, I used to headline the King of Fighters. And they have actually allowed people to bring guns into the fights." He boasted, his words putting Hillary at ease once again. "You must be very strong then indeed. But Hillary will be much more careful to not do that again!" Hillary answered back with gumption.

Teri, on the other hand, had finally broken out of her little reverie and made note of the metallic space alien. Gasping loudly, she exclaimed, [color=0E59E4]"Oh, Where are my manners?! As Dad said, my name's Teri, it's nice to meet you, Hillary! "I can't say I know terribly much about alien anatomy; but I'll do the best I can if you find yourself in a pinch."[/color] She extended her right hand for a handshake, the sleeve of her robe falling back to reveal an interesting assortment of equipment underneath. What started with a gloved hand, which bared a silver chain with a cross dangling from the wrist. This continued with a hardy looking bracer covering her forearm, up until the darkness under the rest of the sleeve. It was a sharp contrast to the young woman's clothing, which looked more akin to a priest's vestments; colored sky blue and white. However, despite this contrast, her expression was friendly; a sentiment shared somewhat by the canine she sat atop of; who was making himself busy sniffing Hillary for anything unusual.

Hillary would reflect Teri's cheerful expression both literally and figuratively. Be in lack of knowledge of wolves or simply being overly friendly, Hillary didn't seem to be worried about Garm, letting out a giggle as he continued sniffing at her. "Hehe, okay doggy it's nice to meet you too~ Your name's Garm right? [small]Now how did Timea say...[/small] Oh!" Hillary made a fist and slowly moved it towards Garm's nose for him to sniff at like dogs normally like. "Now for Teri's turn." She reached an arm up to shake Teri's, Hillary's hand having zero give making it feel like Teri was doing shaking a statue. Her grip was also quite loose. "That's not too much right?"

In the meantime, Ton Ton and Cadolbolg watched this scene unfold quietly, before Ton Ton asked the question that was on their mind, [color=15650D]"Pardon me for asking, but how exactly did you do that? That...Skin shifting thing? It's very unusual; even for a place like this one..."[/color]

Finishing the hand shaking for now, Hillary looked back to the two little ones. "Skin shifting thing?" She asked, head tilting before her eyes widened and she looked back down at herself. "OH! You mean this? This is just something Hillary does when she's not in Garton... That's the town Hillary grew up in, slime all over the place. Hillary got told on the Laplace it might be how she eats, but she doesn't think that's right. Hillary doesn't eat lots of things she changes into after all. What's important is whenever Hillary touches a lot of something, she'll change into that something, so because of Rugal's metal apple I look like this now~" Which despite wanting to keep her focus on her hosts, her attention was absorbed back into her lustrous body, coos and giggles included.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

[HEADING=2]The Rising Dawn Adventures[/HEADING]The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
King Leoric | Nadalia | [color=8a2c0f]Joshua Graham[/color] | Peter Moore
​

"...Clearly, the years have eroded things like manners..." Leoric muttered in a displeased tone as Hanna apparently seemed to "Come onto him".
There were so many things wrong with that, even before you get to the part where he was entirely bone and demonic magic.
Luckily(?) for her, She then made a far more grave error: Speaking of the Lord of Terror himself.
"Played Diablo all the time when I-"
Before she could finish, Leoric swung his mace upward right though the table, upending it and knocking poor Hanna to the ground.
"WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?! WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?!" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICSVEL1-iB4][footnote]Warning: Extremely Cringey waste of millions of dollars[/footnote] He shouted as he towered over the Private, holding his mace right before the woman's throat like a sword.
"Ohhhh, I understand now. You are just like Lazarus. Come here so I may bring your head to your dark master MYSELF!" He then roared before nearly crushing Hanna under his mace as she rolled to safety.
What then prompted was a rather strange scene as he chased her around the canteen, upending tables in what was once a threatening manner but in reality, the only thing that was missing was Benny Hill music.
"Stop running! You're only making it worse for yourself! Ha-...Get back here! Stop you Wretch!" He panted as he chased after her around tables and people getting food, unaware of how silly it looked.

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Cloudtop Citadel: David West, Vihaan, Janet

"...Okay, was the part about me being dumb, dense, and painfully mundane really that important for the sake of your speech?...I mean, you've sold me but really?...That last one is bullshit. I date a ninja for crying out loud..." David muttered in a dumb, dense and painfully mundane way as his tiny ego was bruised by Vihaan's cruel words.
Still, David was starting to come over to the admiral's words and he had a point: What if there was something up with the ship and it's crew.
"...Alright, sir. I'll accept this mission, just so long as you agree to my terms. You might not know them too well, but those guys are my family at this point. I'll get your data but if any of your "Research" so much as scratches one of them, you'll find out just how "Painfully Mundane" bullets being inserted into your body really are..."
And with that, David spat into his hand before offering it for Vihaan to shake, an old Irish custom for deal making said to symbolize having "Clean hands" in relation to the agreement.
"...you don't have to spit as well if you don't want to, I know people find it weird and gross, but such is the way of old customs." The sniper then remarked as he fiddled with the USB with his "Dry" hand.

 

[Zepherus14]

This gal helped out a whole bunch!

[HEADING=2]The Rising Dawn Adventures[/HEADING]The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Library
Nina Zaczoltski | Phillip | Molli and John | Naamah
​

It wouldn't take long for them to drift down to the flying Dawn, Phillip using his tentacles to reach outwards to the hole and worked to pull the two in with him. "Oh hey! We made it!" Nina exclaimed excitedly from the ceiling as she noticed they appeared to be in the library they were looking for! "Slow and steady, but we got there in the end! Isn't that right?" Nina laughed, pretty chipper for almost falling to her death.

Grabbing the library shelves like a ladder, Phillip would pull the two down to the ground, allowing enough distance to stop them from simply being pulled out of the hole in the ship again. Once her feet were firmly on the ground, Nina blew a sigh of relief and stretched her arms out before giving her hair the once over and adjusting some clothing, free fall does a great job of ruffling clothing. "Well we're finally here! Now time to find my hat!" she proclaimed as Ruby guided her to the lost and found, where low and behold the treasure they'd long searched for was found!

The hat [http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/wrfrench/HatCapNewsboy.jpg][footnote]It'd look fairly close to this, probably with a bit more cloth than leather.[/footnote] in question was visibly old and well used, but still in good condition regardless. The way Nina picked it up off the pile and dusted it off, it was clear even with Nina's questionable mental state, she cared about this article of clothing quite a bit. A scutinous eye would spot something stitched into the inside portion, the flap in the inlay covering what it might be.

A voice cut through the howling winds that invaded the library, "ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE THIS IS!" The bookshelves rustled as a storm of a little girl came barreling into view. Her loose gold jeweler rattled together as she ran, the sheer cloth veil she wore over a head of long dark brown hair whipped in the wind as her black scarf and wooden staff followed haphazardly in her footsteps. Whoever this scantily clad girl was, she was awfully upset. 'What even is that sound..? Did, did someone leave a window open in here?! We're on an airship! Why would you have windows?!' Sticking a finger in her ear.

She ran up to Nina and clutching her head screamed at the young woman, "You no respect for the sanctity of this place have? You just come crashing down through someone's head at will? Half a mind to jail you Naamah has!" Her black scarf raised it head and glared at Nina with a singular green eye. Phillip who was sitting on Nina's shoulder's would mirror the scarf's glare with his own, eyes not included. Nina didn't immediately turn to face the irate woman however, only once Ruby tugged on Nina's sleeve did she turn around to notice Naamah, clearly confused why this woman was yelling at her.

"Colonel, colonel, please calm down!" Molli said in between breaths after she finally caught up to the pint-sized colonel. Molli gasped for breath and stood up, curly red hair falling over her face. A man entered the library not long after, well dressed and well groomed. "Ah... christ..."

"The Colonel is quite fast despite her small size," John said casually, "let me pull up a seat for you Molli."

"Thanks John," Molli answered before she collapsed onto her knees.

"What for yourself do you say!?" Naamah pouted at Nina.

"I'm sorry for her rudeness, John said as he helped Molli into a chair, "the Colonel is quite on edge ever since she got back from Denver. There was a lot of damage done to both the ship and the crew, and it weighs heavily on her mind."

"Definitely," Molli added, "we both nearly lost something very dear to us. We," she motioned to herself and John, "and her." she motioned toward Naamah.

"Naamah an explanation, an apology, and compensation demands!"

"Lord have mercy..." Nina groaned, using one hand to rug her temples. Nina held up a finger to Naamah as a 'Just a moment' before turning to Ruby "Honestly, I was hoping to take you back to your fam jam, but... Well I'm getting the feeling this'll take a bit longer to get worked out. So to save you a long winded, but... constructive discussion, you wanna just head out and we can meet up later for some magic lessons or something?" Nina asked Ruby, which after a bit of consideration, she conceeded she didn't want to have to deal with Naamah. She looked pretty upset after all, so with Ruby heading back to her room Nina turned to Naamah.

"So she's a colonel?" She addressed Molli, disbelief practically dripping from her voice as she pointed down at Naamah. 'Trying to be swindled by a Gypsy posing as a Colonel... What a day.' "Alright look, I don't see what right you have to shout at me like that, but from the place I'm standing, I'd imagine you're the one in need of some apologizing. I find libraries quite pleasant, even helped with Ruby's mistrust of libraries only an hour ago. And I have not crashed through anyone's head, far from it. The only thing I've crashed through recently was my home, and that was only because Eddie the Sped felt it in his best interest to smash through my house!" Nina crossed her arms.

"But hey, you two are right, everyone's probably a bit on edge. I for one was feeling rather flabbergasted I managed to misplace this." Tipping her hat as she placed it on her head. "So, how about we all just take a deep breath, and maybe Molli or... Joe was it? Or John, sorry!" Nina corrected herself as she looked to Phillip a moment. "Right so John, could explain things a bit more calmly?" Nina requested, trying to set an example for Phillip on how arguments should be handled.

John leaned back onto a table and nodded, his soft brown curls bobbed lightly in the breeze coursing through the library, "It is so," he said, "it would please me to introduce Colonel Naamah Blackheart from Rising Dawn High Command. She's not in any direct command of a division like other officers of her rank, instead she's one of the chief officers in the Intelligence department."

"And how you the hole above us explain?" Naamah cried as she pointed at the jagged opening leading to the outside. Several black sinews were trying to reach each other from each edge, hoping to close the breach in some capacity. 'So that's where the window is! Weird place for a skylight?'

"The little Colonel is also a technopath of some sort. None of use are too sure on the details, but she has some sort of connection with the ship superstructure itself," Molli added. She pointed at the black sinews between the hull's superstructure, "Those things are like a living creature and they help make impromptu repairs when the ship is damaged. It's not unlikely that Colonel Blackheart sees the organism as another 'person.' With all of the heroes coming through hull breaches, it's also likely that's what Colonel Blackheart sees as 'breaking through someone's head.'"

Naamah continued to move about angrily, waving her arms and running around in a small circle.

"She is also the Chief Librarian for the Rising Dawn. Not just this ship, but the organization as a whole. This place however," John motioned toward the Library as a whole, "is where she spends most of her free time."

"Nonetheless, since you are a civilian, if you would come with us we can arrange for you to be taken home, and if necessary we will provide you with a check for the damages done to your place of residence." Molli offered.

Naamah stopped ranting and glared at Molli, "Are you truly so ignorant? She not a civilian is. She a hero is!" Naamah pointed at Nina, "It fate herself that was that on this ship her put. Just at her look!"

This last comment from Naamah caught Nina off guard. A hero, really? Nina gave the pint sized colonel a dubious look. "Thanks for the compliment, I guess?" Clearly not following Naamah's train of thought. Heroes after all had super powers, fancy costumes, gadgets and gizmos, flashy cars and a meriad of adoring fans. Even with her being accepted to live here on the Dawn by Ryan, and his warning about not going out on a mission; she hadn't really thought in earnest about being a hero. Thinking back with saving the crowd of brainwashed fellows, dealing with the missile, attempting to help Nadalia, that whole run from the bugs; she'd thought of it as just being helpful, but it did have a bit of a heroic flair to it. Regardless with the information dump out of the way, Nina did have a plan forming in her noggin, one that had a smile curl across her face.

"But you did give me an idea. So! Those black things don't hurt right, if Phillip helps to connect them, he'd be alright, right? Phillip's been wanting to get back home to check if we can get any of our stuff back from home. Ryan already gave us the go ahead to live up here already, but had to take care of some other things on his own." Nina stated, following with a clap, Phillip moving up a bit more to perch on Nina's shoulder proper clearly interested. "So how about this? We help get that window or whatever closed, we came through a portal Ruby made, so that's clearly the work of someone else's, and then we take a trip down to Denver to my place, gather our swag, and see how it goes after that? Not sure how much of it'd be left, but I can't sit back and let it all go to the dump, [small]least of all the unmentionables...[/small] So what do you say, we got a deal?" She asked, presenting a hand to shake, shifting it from Molli to Naamah unsure who'd really be the deal maker here.

 

[BlackHarte]

[HEADING=2]Rising Dawn: Canteen ------------------------------------------------------------------ 02:15 AM[/HEADING][hr][HEADING=3]Lt. Dolores Selmy[/HEADING]

We settled into a state of uncomfortable silence. The red light cast by the low-power light above drew awful shadows across all of our faces. I moved uncomfortably in my chair. "I... I'm sorry for bringing any of this up. Let's leave it alone. There's a time to cross this river, but it shouldn't be today." I looked at Katya, and her expression seemed kind of far away, hard to place, lost.

Laeta walked over and leaned against my chair, "Awful night it's been hasn't it?"

Saren gurgled a half-response from her face-down seat at the table.

"You can say that again, you drunkard piece of trash," Laeta chuckled. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around me again. It was comforting to feel her familiar soft warmth. It was clear that out of all of us, Laeta was the most like mother. Strong beyond human belief, yet still warm and caring. Not to mention that out of all of us she looked the most like mother.

PFC Hanna Coors landed on our table. Our eyes met. She smirked and jumped off, long strands of her golden hair fluttered behind in her wake. Laeta pulled me backwards so fast that I almost fell out of my chair.

And then everything was flying through the air. Bottles and drinks landed on the floor in a spectacular shatter of broken glass. Katya dodged backwards, angry if not shocked. Saren slumped onto the floor unable to move, covered in shards of broken glass. "Stop you wretch!" bellowed Leoric, the Skeleton King. His mace broke tables and chairs as he dragged it along behind him. His heavy footfalls shook the ground as he followed Hanna as she weaved over tables and chairs in a display of acrobatics unique to the 121st engineering division.

I felt Laeta pull away. She was next to Saren, lifting her up and dusting the shards of glass from her body.She tore open her jacket and ripped open the fishnet shirt underneath. Saren's naked skin was bathed in red light, but the darkness that ran down from her collar bone was unmistakable. Laeta bent down and wrapped her lips around the wound, sucked and spat a mouthful of fresh blood onto the ground besides her. Then she pulled Saren off the ground and dusted off as much ground glass as she could manage in the darkness before setting Saren in my lap.

I held onto her lightly, the skin on her chest was an angry red, stained slightly by the still flowing wound underneath her collarbone. "Saren..." I held her face with my hand gently, "how badly does it hurt?"

Saren stirred, the alcohol was dulling her pain, but without her keen senses it would be impossible to assess the damage to her frail and sensitive body.

"I'll be right back," Laeta said. Her voice was dripping with venom of the same type I often saw in father's words. She walked forward two steps and then vanished.

"Leoric!" she bellowed, appearing before the Skeleton King. She kicked a foot outward and caught the gap between Leoric's plackart[footnote]top half of the breastplate[/footnote] and his fauld[footnote]the thing around the waist directly below the breastplate[/footnote], Laeta twisted her body and grabbed Hanna by her belt and pulled hard. "Hanna Coors!" She threw both of them down on the floor with a horizontal spin. When she landed Laeta popped her arm back into its socket and twisted her knee and hip back into place.

Hanna stared at Laeta, shocked by her sudden loss of momentum. Leoric likewise sat on the floor with his great mace settling some feet away from him.

"Honestly," Laeta growled. Her eyes gleamed violet in the red light, "both of you should know much, much better than to be doing these sort of theatrics in an area with glass and weapons."

"Could'a given me whiplash right there," Hanna said as she recovered from her hard landing.

"You're an adult, you need to behave like one," Laeta chided. Then she turned to Leoric and put a foot on his chest and leaned forward, "and you are a king. Act like one." Laeta walked back toward Saren and me and picked up Saren.

"I'm going to take her to the infirmary to get this wound properly cleaned. God knows what'll happen if her ampules become infected." Laeta turned to leave, Saren unconscious in her arms. As Laeta left, her silhouette against the light coming in from the door reminded me of someone else. Long brown hair flowing behind her, the subtle bob of her hips, and confident clack of her heels. I had taken my eyes off of my sister for a mere four years and in that time she had grown into an entirely different league of human than I was. Despite everything, I was jealous of her. Of all three of us, she was Mustafia's true daughter.

[HEADING=3]Pvt. Peter Moore[/HEADING]

Peter was more than just flabbergasted at what happened. He stood up from his chair and brought their table back to proper place before sitting back down. He knew Hanna well from his time in Cloudtop Citadel, and he knew her playful and irresponsible nature, but such reckless and dangerous behavior was beyond even his anticipation. He could do nothing but watch as the two cat-and-mouse players got manhandled by a young woman.

He turned toward Graham and cleared his throat, "Yeah, I," he paused and cleared his throat again, "I'll get some maps and records to you as soon as I can."

 

[BlackHarte]

[HEADING=2]Rising Dawn: Library ------------------------------------------------------------------ 06:42 PM[/HEADING][hr][HEADING=3]Lt. Molli Faust[/HEADING]

John, the sweetheart, smiled and took Nina's hand. "Given Colonel Blackheart's petty anger towards you, I'll oversee all of the activities you will be participating in today." John swiped his bangs to the side to reveal his glimmering blue eyes. He let got of Nina's hand and put his hands on my shoulder. I smiled. My heart had calmed down now from the dead sprint that Colonel Blackheart had lead me across the Rising Dawn the moment that the breach occurred. It would not be a surprise if the Colonel decided during repairs to strip off the entire ceiling of the vessel.

"If you follow me, Ms. Nina, I'll lead you to the hanger where we'll send you down to Denver." John smiled kindly.

[HEADING=3]Airman Cecil Olpich[/HEADING]

Cecil ran his hands over all of the switches in his new VTOL, 311-C to make sure everything was set for take off. He was transporting another young, blonde, woman. He coughed uncomfortably. His age was slowly catching up to him. Too many smokes, too much meat. He could feel the tightening in his chest as he pulled the lever back to start the VTOL's engines. The last time he had anxiety this bad was back in the Arab Spring conflicts. He remembered the young woman he let off in Denver the first time, the Lieutenant. He had heard she did not return well, and that made him sick to his stomach.

311-C pulled out of the hanger as Lieutenant Langley stood waving on the observation platform. They took to the air and spun away from the Rising Dawn back toward the smoking ruins of Denver. The ship they left looked awful, thick black burn marks ran the course along her armor belt. The three turrets along her broadside were still smoking from the prolonged barrages. The rest of the ship was marred with small puncture wounds left by enemy flak and kinetic weapons. The rear thrusters glowed weakly as it forced the ship along toward the mountain range in the distance.

The journey took thirty minutes at cruising altitude before they started to make their descent into the ruined city of Denver. As they broke the cloud cover, another airship was lingering over the city. It was huge, dwarfing even the Rising Dawn in scale. Long, flat, and fit to the brim with auxiliary docking arrays, the Stormglaive was drifting above the city in standby as hundreds of specialized VTOLs, some piloted, some drones, descended into the city to initiate repairs.

The Stormglaive buzzed into his communications systems. "311-C, this the Stormglaive admiralty. Please indicate yor pilot number and your purpose in this airspace."

Cecil flipped the switch on his headset and set the engines to a gentler output, "T0104, requesting landing permissions in Denver. I'm delivering a hero to her previous place of residence." There was a pause as two drones arrived in parallel to his VTOl craft. They ran the length of the vessel before breaking formation and returning to the city below.

"This is Stormglaive admiralty. You have been registered under Stormglaive data registries. You are free to land now. Stormglaive admiralty out." The voice clicked off of the communication channel. Cecil let out a sigh and took the VTOL down toward the coordinates on his GPS.

He turned around and looked at the young woman, Nina. There was something off about her, something unsettling. The entire flight that feeling of anxiety never left. He really needed a smoke after this mission was over. He flipped several switched and set down the VTOL on top of the roof of the scarred apartment building that was specified.

"Alright, we're here. Watch your step on the way out, and I'll be leaving in an hour, so be back here before that."

 

[NotYetForsaken]

[[Secondary Scenario]]​

[hr]

Maiden's Wish

side story

​

[hr]

"Never ask for anything, but desire everything."​

Vihaan spat in hit hand and grasped David's hand firmly, "I'm glad that you've come to the right conclusion." The winds around Vihaan began to die down and the stifling heat of the forge began to bear down on David once again. Vihaan put his other hand over David's mimicking the motions that Dolores had done earlier in the night, "And I hope with all my heart that by the time this is over, no damage has been done to anyone," he paused. "Bar one." He let go of David's hand and took several steps back.

"Come, I will lead you back to your ship. You have only twelve-some hours before everything goes to hell in a handbasket once again," Vihaan started to walk into the main machine shop of the forge, beckoning David to follow, "and it would be quite unfortunate for us, but for me in particular, if our ace-in-the-hole wasn't quite ready for her maiden voyage."

 

[Zepherus14]

[HEADING=2]The Rising Dawn Adventures[/HEADING]The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Denver Ruins
Nina Zaczoltski | Phillip | Cecil
​

It hadn't been overly long since she first arrived here, and HO-BOY did it look totally like a dump now. Thankfully the explosion that'd rocked the final battle for Denver was largely perpendicular to Nina's housing complex so the block's buildings had helped to buffer the full brunt of the blast wave. This still didn't stop practically everywhere else to be covered in a large wave of debree. At least they were able to land on the roof. "Hey thanks for the lift! One hour right? Sure thing!" Nina confirmed she'd heard Cecil right over the engines, offering him a fist bump and updating her phone before hopping off the VTOL. Phillip had been in Nina's duffle bag for the trip, having seen the pilot prior something told her he might have taken issue with the noodle monster. Once she got inside the stairwell however, she didn't wait to let him out, Phillip practically bursting from the bag on his own.

Nina reflexively snatched an escaping tentacle in turn as Phillip dangled in place. "Woah woah woah! I know you want to get to that food as fast as your little legs can go, but there's probably glass and broken everything everywhere. You don't have your tetanus shot yet, and I-" Nina stopped as Phillip tried pushing at Nina, swivelling as best he could to try and break free from his dangling hold. "Hey! I'm serious here! Tetanus isn't something you can scoff at mister. You get that and buh bye any chance of every cooking alongside Gordon Ramsay!" And just like that Phillip stopped his thrashing, just hanging there for the moment, pointing a distinct tentacle up to Nina's face. "Oh ho ho, just try me! You'll be the best cook when you are stuck like this. [http://www.deadseriousnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Stuck_Face.jpg]" Phillip immediately pulled himself up to Nina's arm, and quickly pulled himself over to her shoulders and made himself fairly small to boot.

Eventually getting the door open to her apartment, the place was totalled like really really totalled! All the windows were shattered, multiple pieces of furniture across the floor, and speaking of, the floor by the window in the kitchen was completely obliterated thanks to Eddie. Not to say that it'd looked much better prior, as if anyone had followed along with Nina they'd have seen the place had looked pretty ghastly from the start. [https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/162/417062984_04727ecf7f.jpg] The fridge thankfully was far enough into the building to have avoided direct contact, but the floor clearly was barely supporting its weight. Not that Phillip cared as he hopped off Nina by the doorway and started to swell up to his full size. He then plucked the fridge up in its entirety, lifted it up over himself and allowed it to sink into him. Despite the size difference, the fridge appeared to have fully disappeared within him, even when he shrunk back down.

Nina grabbed a broom from her storage closet to at least give Phillip a path into the apartment so that he could stand there worry free. His tendrils able to reach the vast majority of the apartment if he extended them far enough. Once Phillip had better access to the rest of their home, Nina set to work collecting what she could salvage from her wrecked house. Grabbing some cardboard boxes she'd meant to throw out ages ago, she set to work packing as much as she could manage while Phillip grabbed some of his spice racks. Pictures of family and friends, a nice assortment of clothing, her hat collection, a half can of febreeze she'd wished she'd had earlier, a can of Raid! which she's also wished she'd had earlier, her money stash, that nice coconut shampoo conditioner she'd managed to get in bulk, and [small]the unmentionable that were mentioned quite a bit it seems[/small] were all packed up as she set them down for Phillip to swallow up. Once she'd finally satisfied her need to protect their things from the unnamed looters that be, she went back to the doorway for one last look. "You know... this is where we first met? I walked in, found you watching Food Network on the old television I'd forgot to turn off. Hehe, ya it was rude of me to throw that colander over you... It's sad to leave this place, don't you think..?" She spoke, wiping a couple tears from her eyes as they came before looking down to Phillip and smiling. "Heh, ya you're right. The kitchen is a total mess, you wouldn't be able to make anything with it in this state. Come on, I'm alright! Let's get back to Cecil, can't keep the poor shmuck waiting up there." She ordered, taking in a deep breath through her nose. She picked up the one box Phillip had refused to intake, and started making her way back up to the roof.

Now Cecil in that hour wait had had a well deserved pause from the anxiety he'd experienced, but as the hour grew to a close it quickly returned. This time however, he knew where it came from as Nina threw open the door to the stairwell. Huffing and puffing, she'd carried the heavy box, her duffle bag and Phillip up the long flight of stairs, the elevator having long lost power in the battle. Phillip being fully visible this time around, Cecil wouldn't have to wonder what was causing this pit in his chest as he knew that THING! was the cause all along! "Ugh, S-sorry I'm late! *Wheeze* Phillip.... tetanus... heavy-porn... Gimme a sec!" Nina called out to the man as she sat herself down on the cardboard box and wiped her brow of sweat. "Oh fuck me..!" She facepalmed as she realized Phillip was out in plain view. "Don't use that word by the way, it's a no no..." She then pointed at Phillip. "He's cool, he's with me!" She called out to Cecil again.