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

Kalastryn · Jan 24, 2016

Denver: Coors Field: Kalastryn, Elise, Shadow, Whoever else.

Now while Kala hadn't quite given up on the idea of being a diversion by attending "Vega's" meeting, she would approach it in the most tactful way possible. First of all, she didn't exactly fly directly down to the capitol building, which would likely have been suicide. Second, if she was going to be walking there on foot... well she did want to avoid being mugged by the masses who currently hated her guts without having met her (a familiar day to day encounter sadly.) So as a result, much of her ride over was spent preparing a disguise that wouldn't garner too much attention. Not just in the physical appearance, which was easy enough to cover over with magical assistance, but also thinking about how to make it convincing. At the end of it, Kala's usually demonic looking countenance was replaced to the average onlooker with that of an average woman. Given the... patriotic crowd they would be walking among, there were also "tattoos" in the style of the american flag on her face. Red and white lines down her cheeks for about three rows each, and her eyelids speckled with stars. Was it excessively gaudy and in terrible taste? In her opinion, oh god yes. Was it patriotic? Enough perhaps to be invited to Thanksgiving dinner by several of the brainwashed masses, she figured. Overall keeping her mouth shut, she should fit right in as she began a stroll down 20th street humming a lovely little tune[footnote]Play up until about 1:30[/footnote]...

Denver: Public Zoo ARES, Ryan, Miia
On the other hand, ARES was built for passing as an average human being... in a society on the brink of humanity becoming extinct, where everyone and their grandmother owns or owned a suit of power armor (to the point where using them on enforced nonlethal settings became a form of sport. So... blending in where such a thing wasn't present was understandably difficult. Why? All of her outfits/armors in this day and age would make people scream out for John Connor. Anything they chose to come along with was a choice of looking like they don't belong, with reinforced steel between them and whoever noticed such. Or looking like they don't belong, with the ability to disappear and run away. Tough decisions... real tough... ARES did however get an idea of how to maybe get people to give less of a damn as they walked by. Instead of doing what the Accord might have ordered on a more... stealth oriented approach, ARES started thinking outside of the box now that it was a possibility to do just that. Some changes were made on the flight over, needless to say...

Walking not too far a distance behind Ryan and Miia, ARES' rather imposing Dreadnaught frame armor looked... different. On the shoulders, chest piece, and forearms of it the American flag was on proud display. The gun of that frame would be... significantly hard to hide. So they didn't hide it. Instead, ARES took the entire 200 bullet belt out of it and placed it inside the unknown space within them that seems to contain their arsenal, before disassembling it and placing the pieces around their "costume." The "barrel" undercarriage of the minigun was fastened across ARES' back, and had been (rather crudely) written on with the phrase "I made this myself in my MIT shop class." The actual firing barrel was stored inside ARES along with the ammunition. All in all, they would probably look intimidating... if the hypnotized masses would see past the disguise of basically being Liberty Prime and want to actually stop them.

Catching up to Ryan and Miia, she quickly asked over her shoulder. "When it came to "blending in" this is the best I could do. How do I look?"

Silence · Jan 24, 2016

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | The Airship: Rising Dawn | The Hangar
Morning
Diana | Katya | Everyone else

[hr]

Going through Katyas mind, Diana quickly found some common traits between her preferences. Mainly that they all seemed to have a cartoonish quality to them Still, as quickly as her mind moved, there was no use to change herself right now, to toy with Katya. To get her to a specific preference at some point of time, to constrain her mind somewhat, that would probably require some talk.
While she was reading the mind, she felt something touch her breasts softly. Sadly, this was not the first time this had happened, and she was somewhat used, if still annoyed by it. Sadly for Katya however, the mind Diana was reading was nearly at the exact same spot as the fingers she felt. Meaning it was quite obvious who was the invisible culprit. This pleased Diana. She was not one to go to any officials, this just meant she definitely was allowed to have some fun with Katya ... later, after the assignment.

Walking to the VTOLs, thinking about what kind of fun would be best suited, Diana saw Katya reappear, having changed her appearance a lot. So she could do some of these things as well ...

"[color=CC8899]You know... you look kinda familiar... have you been in any movies?[/color]" Katya suddenly asked her, mischievously.

Diana's answer was without shame. At least for Diana herself. Maybe it bore some for Katya: "Well ... yes, but I didn't take you for someone watching shapechange erotica." she said, loud enough for several other crewmembers to hear.

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | Denver | Coors Field

Diana | Annie | Kalastryn, Elise, Shadow, Edge, Boss, etc

[hr]

Having changed, or rather, shifted, clothes and make-up, Diana was not recognizable anymore when stepping out of the bus. She was still a good looking woman, but she now looked very american, and very fake. Like a brainwashed peroxide blonde. Her face was different, and she wore clothes not fit for anything, but this occasion. Including an american-flag bikini top, visible through a low cut white blouse. Adding to that patriotic tights, a mini-skirt and a tasteless fake fur-coat to top it off, people would probably not even try to look in her face to read something out of the blank, stupid, expression, instead concentrating on better parts of her body.

With Annie as back-up, Diana started following Kalastryn with a little bit of distance, down 20th street, occasionally glancing towards brainwashed people and down Lawrence street, to the mob, to adjust her appearance slightly, if needed.

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Jan 25, 2016

Drop Zone 1: Coors Field: Rugal,

After another briefing, Rugal once again found himself on the field of battle, but there was something...off about him.
The events of the last few days were weighing heavily on his mind, as well as what was going to happen to him once this was all over.
Sure, Kazuya was in the medical bay and would remain there for as long as it took, but would he really stop at just Bison and his cohorts? The lengths he went just to find these people and he was just going to let his former master walk away with a slap on the wrist?
Either way, it wasn't like he had much choice, he wasn't about to let Bison go free just to spite a former employee.
Stepping out the bus in his usual attire, he cracked his neck a little before stating "Right...I got Violet's map data. If I'm looking at this right, we have 2 Mobs between us and the first police checkpoint. I want constant contact between all units, The second you think Bison is getting into your head, I want you to let everyone know. A mind is a terrible thing to lose and I know personally how much Bison loves taking them. Now lets get going."
With the order given, Rugal began to make his way to Brainwashed Mob No. 2, the distant sounds of halfhearted protesting lingering the air around them.

Drop Zone 2: Denver Zoo: David,

David was a lot calmer then most times he was on a mission, guess just being back in a city rather then a military base or a college was comforting.
Nice high buildings, open streets, plenty of line of sight for his targets, he had a good feeling about what was to come.
Part of this however was undercut when he met up with Ryan, currently trying to lug a massive snake-lady across the city.
Strolling up alongside them after they had finished their chat, The Irishman said "You know, the average weight a soldier is expected to carry around at any given moment is 140 pounds...Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm pretty sure the weight of the average human is higher then that and I can't imagine Naga's weighing less..."
Glancing around awkwardly, he then asked "...Is there really no better way for her to move around? I know "Low Profile" and all, but I think this is kinda taking the piss...
...Also, I'm pretty sure Lady Liberty's hair was green..."

After that rather insightful comment from David, Dr. Insaneo made his usual loud entrance into the conversation, talking about some fireworks.
"Yeah, nothing says 'Merica better then illegal fireworks made in China. If you see anyone with a Vega Campaign Staff shirt or whatever the hell they wear, be sure to give them a nice "Pyrotechnic Display". Heheh-...uh..."
He stammered a moment as he held his head a little, pausing before popping another travel aspirin from his jacket pocket.
"Ahhh...Christ, you fall out of a helicopter once and your head never lets it go..." he grumbled as he made his way towards Brainwashed Mob No 6.

Denver: E 21st Ave: Batter

As he wandered into the city, there was a great sense of dread in the air, like a dark cloud hanging low above the settlement.
It was an Evil Spirit, but one far stronger then a lot of the ones he had managed to Banish thus far.
As Batter went down the pathway called "Downing Street", there were 2 large hubs of activity nearby: a mass of people all chanting in some strange disconnected manner to the north (Brainwashed Mob No. 4) and a large checkpoint of sorts towards...whatever "E 18th Ave" was. (Police Forces No. 5)
While the essence of the spirit was getting stronger the more he moved towards this "Capitol", there was also a large concentration of negative energy to the north, it was most likely connected.

Denver: E 17th Ave/Brainwashed Mob No. 5: Dolores

A quick stride from the Zoo and Dolores got a great idea of what exactly they were up against.
It was a large public gathering with a makeshift stage set up, everyone in it looking blankly up at a Vega Campaign official as he raved some nonsensical BS about how the current President wanted to legalize weed in order to-...do something, it was kinda hard to make out exactly what he was saying over the blaring loud music.
Speaking of, it would appear that the staffer was using "Patriot Tunes: Vincent Vega's Personal Favorites" to subdue the crowd (Which was just a bad cover of "America the Beautiful" on repeat for 60 minutes) though speakers that were hanging off the 3rd and 5th floors of 2 commercial buildings on either side of the street.
Judging by the fact the loudspeakers looked older then she did, it was most likely either a tape or CD they were using.

Other notable features of this angry mob was the fact that most of them were also gathered around burning effigies of the Rising Dawn and burning "50 Saints flags" (Which were just normal american flags with the Saints logo instead of stars).
On top of that, one of the mob was going around handing out crayon drawn leaflets of Bison's polices, which was just a picture of the man himself on a motorcycle and a M60 machine gun.
He went to peddle his wares at Dolores, not really making much conversation outside of undead-style groans.

Denver: 20th Street/Police Unit No. 2: Kalastryn, Dream

Her casual stroll was soon stopped as she came up to a police checkpoint, the officers stationed at it currently killing time with some Hearthstone while a few protesters rubbed their bruised limbs in the back of a Riot Truck.
"Reno Jackson ************! Ha-ha, I'll accept your surrender now...Hey, who the hell is that?..." One of them said as Kalastryn got their attention.
Instantly, one of them made their way towards the woman and said "This area is off limits to civilians. Turn back and I won't have to ruin that pretty face of yours."
To show that he meant business, he pulled out his Baton, a strong static discharge flowing off it that rivaled most elemental blades she saw in her lifetime.

Dream meanwhile could see a few of the protesters attempting to pick the electronic lock on the riot van's backdoor, not really getting anywhere.

Rising Dawn: Medical Bay: Kazuya, Dillon

[color=9f2b68]"..."[/color]
A blank vacant stare was on Kazuya's face as he breathed dull sighs into his oxygen mask.
The phantom pains of his shredded limb weren't affecting his mind nearly as much as all the sedatives he was given.
Doom was always the one who angered him the most, everyone else had at least earned their damnation under Rugal's dominion, but what did he actually do? Nothing, but constantly screw up.
This angry thought mirrored countless others, such as why he didn't just kill Violet, how Elise got in his way and how though it all, Rugal got out smelling of roses.
The second he was out of this bed, he would ensure that his authority would be respected.
That was until a strange figure entered the room, clad in black, what the hell was this? why wasn't his guards stopping him.
While his expression didn't change, his heart rate did begin to increase which was mirrored on the monitor, he called for countless assassinations like this before and he had a good idea of where this was going.

Least until the figure undid his IV drip, slowly freeing him from his chemical bonds.
Confusion sunk in far faster as feeling slowly returned to his face and limbs, but that was nothing compared to the reveal of who it was he was talking to.
A labored breath escaped his mouth as he attempted to talk though his numb face and vocal cords, wondering how and why Dillion of all people was here.
[color=9f2b68]"[sub][sub][sub][sub]...why-...are-...you here?..."[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]"[/color]

Kalastryn · Jan 26, 2016

Denver: 20th Street/Police Unit No. 2: Kalastryn, Dream

"Reno Jackson ************! Ha-ha, I'll accept your surrender now...Hey, who the hell is that?..."

Instantly, one of them made their way towards the woman and said "This area is off limits to civilians. Turn back and I won't have to ruin that pretty face of yours."
To show that he meant business, he pulled out his Baton, a strong static discharge flowing off it that rivaled most elemental blades she saw in her lifetime.

Guess we should have seen this coming what with the militarized lockdown, eh genius?
...They aren't that scary.

True, getting hit with whatever it was he just brandished at her would be... unpleasant, especially because of the parallel she's naturally drawing towards enchanted maces from Eberron... but... that lets her see things differently, doesn't it?

Little fool... the police forces here opted out of one of the greatest strengths humanity has, to augment themselves with machines. Where they put metal, no muscle will ever surpass their current strength through hard work. Where they brandish weaponry that is... impressive for it's crude and brutish nature, I can nearly guarantee
that that would be exactly how he'd swing it. The muscles they've replaced restrict them from ever improving them through their use, so what do they fill their free time with? Even the time they're on the clock?

Utter laziness. Someone could be getting mugged right now and they're playing games. They stop me and they have to brandish what they could do to me if I don't back down, probably to justify the replacements they've made. The impressive equipment they've "earned." No I think not. No material makes a man out of someone.

Still... we're on a mission here. Might as well humor them rather than confront them on such.

And at the end of that line of thinking, Kala had already formed a plan. Swiftly backing away a couple steps from them with her hands in plain view in front of her, she very quickly apologized.

"O-oh. S-sorry... I guess I didn't get the memo on just how far away things were locked down. I'd... well I just wanted to ask for some directions. I'm flattered you think I'm pretty, handsome... but did you really have to pull out your stick in the first ten seconds?" she asks with a barely repressed snicker.

Normally, Kala would likely have done one of two things. Firstly, she'd have rebuked him on his poor dedication to his job and brought up the Rising Dawn and... request an escort to the meeting to which they were technically invited. Or secondly, attempt to either kill them/knock them all out and proceed. Two things did impede her from doing either of those. Firstly, some... recent events did make her reflect on the violent nature of her day to day life.[footnote]Thanks Miia[/footnote]
Second, the image of the Rising Dawn was being smeared in blood across the nation as monsters. Were they terrible people? No... but it would be hard to simply ask for passage through a barrier meant to impede you on such a commonly accepted premise. She'd... prefer not to have to fight her way through it once they reacted to that information. Kala was simply done with being looked at like a monster.

So instead of doing either of her normal behaviors in this scenario, she's opted to act like someone completely different.

"That aside I'll leave if it's that much of an issue but, well is there anywhere I can get a look at the capitol building, the closer the better, that well... isn't off limits? It was really brave of Vega to invite those... monsters to his front door. I wanted to get a look at them if I could... they buried my homeroom class in rubble about a week ago. She asks, trying to get just a small bit of empathy from those who don't seem to take their jobs too seriously. If you were to look at the sudden shift in mood from an innuendo on having a weapon pointed at her to her bluff on why she's even there, it would be pretty convincing. She didn't quite break down and cry, but her eyes got a bit more moist than normal, as if she really could start at any second. She slumps her shoulders down and crosses her arms down by her stomach, and she starts shivering- if only a little. Even as she was asking for those directions, she looked down and to the side.

"I don't mean just the building either..." she concludes with a sniffle, waiting for an answer from them.

Neuromancer · Jan 26, 2016

One more morally righteous than Eddie could have potentially felt a sliver of guilt for turning down the loligoddess' plea for help, and it genuinely seemed that, from the frown she was throwing at his general direction, she was trying to guilt trip him. That, or she was thinking of murdering him. Whatever the case, Eddie was merely acting based on the portofolio he was given. As the Herald of what was basically the anthropomorphic personification of the laws of reality and the multiverse itself, he was teaching the demiloli an invaluable lesson: The universe is large, cruel and uncaring, and mortals and gods alike were insignificant to it. Due to her power and portofolio, Lady Luck was in the center of all God realpolitik, she had forbidden him from showing any kind of favouritism, for though no god was any threat to her, as the spiteful being that they were, the political ramifications for something as simple as doing a job for free could be wide and far-reaching. But would more importantly cause him to lose his powers for half a millenia, and that was no fun.

So there was more to his decision to turn her down than simple apathy -even if it played a large part to it-. Not that he cared about how she perceived it. Holidays loomed on the horizon, and all that was keeping them away was the delivery.

She backtracked to the canteen with him, and he had to admit, without all the rabble it actually looked pleasant enough if a tad small and limited booze-wise.

"That should be the one you seek, Eddie."

[color=5B9C64]"Thenk ye kindly, Rory. Good luck on your whole saving the world thing."[/color]

He walked to the bar with a wide, indulgant grin. The holidays were so close he could taste them. He placed the paper bag on the counter and tapped on it toget the barkeep's attention. The angel formely known as Morningstar turned to face him and...

He felt a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time. A most unwelcome, most unpleasant feeling: Surprise. Lucifer wasn't the one he was looking for, despite being the one he, for all intents and purposes, was looking for.

[color=5B9C64]"Excuse me,"[/color] he said, grabbing the paperbag and bolted away from the counter. Things were suddenly a lot less clear, and if worst came to pass that could mean fine print abuse. He was suddenly feeling very, very nervous, for he had been fucked over by fine print before, and since then had made sure to get as clear instructions as possible. The note said the delivery was for the Bartender of the Rising Dawn, which Eddie assumed to have been Lucifer, since he was one of her favourites. In doing so, he had broken the first rule he had set himself when it came to taking contracts: Never assume. In his eagerness to start his holidays he had made the most amateur of mistakes.

Code:

"They are not."

[color=5B9C64]"Indeed they aren't!"[/color] he said as he sat down opposite of the that's-not-an-axe-it's-a-Halberd wielder. [color=5B9C64]"This is not the boozeserver that I'm looking for."[/color] He was visibly disturbed, [color=5B9C64]"I don't like this. If this is her idea of a joke, it's way past time for the punchline"[/color]

"Oops! Sorry!" came the voice of a little girl walking into the canteen, and Eddie couldn't help but sigh. Great, first his delivery goes to hell and now kids show up.He hated kids, despised them even. Nothing else in the universe could get away with the shit kids do. Being a kid was like having an infinite supply of "Get out of Jail Free" cards in monopoly, and enough money to buy all the tiles from the start. Which reminded him, the only other kind of being that could match a child's thirst for wanton destruction and arbitrary cruelty, not to mention obnoxiousness, was the fabled Neo-liberal. Probably because they were of the same mental age.

He turned to look at the child, and he felt his most hated emotion spring up again. He stared at her wide-eyed, double, triplechecking.

There was just no way...

He checked the note of the delivery: "To be delivered to the Bartender of the Rising Dawn", along with the universe and timeline coordinates for him to follow. Said coordinates lead him here. He had checked on arrival that he'd gotten them right, so that wasn't the error. Then what was going on?

He turned to face Lucifer, playing along the role of his undercover identity, cleaning glasses. As the most mentally capable of this ragtag bunch, perhaps he'd be able to shed-

And then it hit him. The Bartender of the Rising Dawn. The Bartender of the Rising Dawn. Lucy wasn't a bartender, it wasn't his vocation, he was just pretending to be one as his cover. Therefore he does not technically count as the bartender, and thus isn't elligible.

But this girl were?

This looked like a timed delivery: The item could only be delivered after the conditions of delivery were met. in this case, "Bartender of the Rising Dawn" was both the receiver and the condition.

It was rather simple. then. All he had to do was timejump to the time the girl became the bartender and deliver it then. He gazed into the future, looking for a time the criteria where met, but came to a most alarming of revelations, a most startling of conclusions. In this timeline, the girl didn't become a bartender.

One wouldn't need fret to see the paradox here. He was supposed to deliver the item when she became the bartender, but she wouldn't become one in this timeline, and since the order was specifically for her in this timeline...

[color=5B9C64]"Oooooh you gotta be SHITTING ME!"[/color]

He was gripping the table's edge so hard that the metal was starting to bend. Or was it made of wood? It didn't matter, he didn't care. Rage filled him, the kind of rage one slowly build up over countless millenia of being screwed over by stupid gods that should've known better. His cup of piss had runneth over. Where his eyes once barely shined, now they glowed radiant, power overflowing from around his twisted, rage-crazed face. His entire body shook, and around him reality itself bent, twisted, twirled and swirled, as though it was actively breaking down. Deep, fury-filled breaths escaped his mouth, before he abruptly stopped, breathed in for a second, and...

[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-[/color][/HEADING]

[hr]

In the deadly jungles of Swahililand, a place of myth and legend, blood was about to be spilled. The Onans, eternal enemies of the Riddocks, had themselves allied with the Nonentians, shifting the thousand-year-old power balance. And from this advantagious position, the Onans, known for their dark black robes, issued an ultimatum: The Riddocks were to sacrifice their chief's oldest daughter in a ritual, or the entire tribe would be exterminated.

Now, the thing to know here was that said daughter had manifested a power very rare. Due to how difficult the mystic script of fabled Swahililand to translate is, the closest translation thousands of veteran translators got was "Bullshit No Jutsu", with the user of such power being recognised by their "Wierd Eye Shit". The Riddock chief had hoped to use his daughter's gift to defeat the Onan's "Dark Bog Bitches" known for their variety of dark black dresses and dark clothing, each one having a wooping 3-dress wardrobe that was largely impractical for bogs or woods, but they didn't care, because they utilised their "Stupid Incorrect Alchemy for Plebeians", along with a variety of dark black magic. They were the only thing keeping the Onans alive, for otherwise, the Riddocks, with their stealth and stealth chainmail that made no sound would have been able to defeated them once and for all.

And so, with no other realistic option left to him, the chief ordered his daughter to become the sacrifice, and took her to the temple of the Dad, which was in Nonentian territory. The temple was of the chief Nonentian Diety, who was said to have sacrificed himself to defeat Backsyde, a demon of some sort. He walked his daughter to the central dome, where the High Priest awaited. He was short, athletic looking, with perhaps the smallest pair of dark black leather wings the chief had ever seen. The Nonentians were of another race, called "Black Malaks" , known for their aforementioned wings, small stature and emo lifestyles. Historians theorised their obsession with Dad's sacrifice resulted in a culture of daddy issues, and travel agents advised comatose girls to steer clear of Nonentiland.

"lay dow On your knees" said the priest and took out a ritual knife, "we must kill YOu to stop backsyde from Coming back also favurite aime is on in ten minutes" Two other Malaks, a tad taller than him seized the girl and placed her in the middle of the altar. The high priest started chanting what strangely sounded like the second opening of Naruto. Unfortunately, the Swahilis had no lawyers and thus couldn't press charges. As he raised the dagger high, though, something echoed in the chamber, growing louder by the second, causing the earth to quake

[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU[/color][/HEADING]

"its dad"
"hes Angry"
"she Is blessed By hym"
"TEh black bog bitches must pay"

And that was how the extermination of the Onans, the world's first genocide, started.

[hr]

[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"[/color][/HEADING]

screamed Eddie off the bottom of his lungs, finally running out of breath, his hands trembling and the entirety of his facial muscles involuntarily twitching.

[color=5B9C64]"S-she TRIcked m-me! Sssshe TRICKED me!"[/color] he pointed his hand at the Heavens [color=5B9C64]"I can hear you laughing! Stop! STOP LAUGHING!"[/color] he turned to Rory, [color=5B9C64]"She played! Like a violin! Cello! A fucking ukulele!"[/color] He started taking deep breaths [color=5B9C64]"AaaaaaaaAAARGH!"[/color]

[color=5B9C64]"This little girl is the delivery target! Do you know what that means?!"[/color]

If the recepient and the conditions of the delivery did not match, then it was his job to make them match. This was a rare type of delivery that only Lady Luck could issue him, as it required that he actively meddle with a timeline's path and change it, something only she had the authority to allow.

[color=5B9C64]"I have to babysit this girl to adulthood, and ensure she takes the mantle of Bartender."[/color] He turned to the little girl, a miserable look on his face, [color=5B9C64]"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"[/color]

NotYetForsaken · Jan 26, 2016

in Pain
Location: East 17th Avenue | Denver, Colorado
Of all the things that I see, none are so fine as the things that I do not.

Dolores Selmy

was a little flustered when he came up to me, his voice droning, eyes dead, but I sent him away kindly. He seemed, in a word, nonthreatening. I continued onward, alone. While I had anticipated that some of the heroes would have followed me, I was not entirely surprised to find myself alone. I bit my lip.

The skies above hung with a blue depressing cold. The wind bit at my cheeks.

The crowd milled around me as I walked. I could barely peek over the shoulders of most of these people. I chewed on my lip and blinked. It's not like any of the heroes ought to have followed me, after all they probably already had strong team compositions already. The shoutmaster continued his speech over the music and drowned out my own footfalls. I cast my eyes down. "Alone again," I said underneath my breath, "it's not any different than any other time." I shook my head as I left the mob and continued onward toward the capital building.

"Then why does it hurt so much this time."

I pressed my hands against my chest. It felt tight, I could feel my eyes getting misty. The wind bit at my cheeks still. "I should have listened to Molli, I never should have come down." En vas voor ante lo istriphtate. Before I knew it I had come to an intersection.

"Eighteenth avenue?" I muttered. How did I get here? "Ha ka'eshemere lit lun iumutu..."

The wind whipped up. I closed my eyes tightly to brace against the cold. I put my hands in my jacket and hugged myself tightly. My skirt danced against my legs and I pressed my hands hard into the thin cotton on my chest. It was cold. I was cold.

Kat, Kat, Kat... I shook my head. Why was she so familiar? "Now is not the time to think of these things Dolly... please. Get it together. You're a soldier. You're strong." I opened my eyes and looked up, the wind was still howling. I could feel my hair getting caught in the current, I could feel the cold wet wind seeping into my boots. It gave me goosebumps, this wind.

They had taken a hold of me without my notice. They had wracked my body in hysterical convulsions. I knelt with my knees together, my back was bent over. I could hear the girl crying, but it was hard to tell it was me. Tears ran down my cheeks. It hurt, it hurt. I don't know why it hurt, but my heart was overflowing with pain.

S'hae teymme, tanda lo, seykana ota mene.

"You are not a soldier, da ze. You are a good girl." the girl said. She smiled and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Her eyes were a blue as cold as the winter air. Her scarf danced in the blowing wind. She unbuttoned her jacket to reveal the thin sheer camisole she wore inside. She shoved her hands in her pockets and walked forward, taking long aggressive strides. She pulled her lips back into a beautiful grin. "But I am the soldier, da ze."

[hr]

Good Intentions
Location: Canteen | Rising Dawn
To seek truth is to invite deception.

BlackHarte

Code:

[b]"Like a damned fiddle~"[/b]

she echoed.

Naamah leaned onto Rory and made herself comfortable as both Eddie and Ruby made a commotion. There was talk, a smattering really, of time and causality and of Gods and possibility. Naamah did not care much for those things, for her domain was the past. It was Solomon's jurisdiction to govern the possibilities of the future. Speaking of which, she had recently felt the reclusive personality make himself known. A faint essence of his past presence still lingered in the Canteen.

To Naamah, this Ruby child looked familiar. Not visually, for there was nothing like her that Naamah herself had ever observed, but rather her wavelength was quite similar to another individual aboard the ship.

Code:

[b]"A construct she is?"[/b]

Naamah said absentmindedly. She was not addressing anyone, nor did she make the object of her speech very clear. Still, this Ruby child piqued her interest.

Then he appeared.

Code:

[b]"Do you eavesdrop upon every conversation that occurs?"[/b]

Naamah said. Her voice was poison.

"For the greater good, I observe all, always." he replied. Niflheim to a sarcastic bow toward Rory and Naamah, his bristles flared and let loose a flurry of his fireflies. They hung in the air like stars, as still and as ethereal as the real things.

Naamah once again dropped her more formal and playful voice, "Whatever happened to that old creed, 'Man's folly is his lust for independence.'"

Niflheim shook his head. "Ajarsorna i katto i s'hem'em, it has been, as it will always be, our one creed. I merely satiate a fondness for words."

"So now the Many decide that you are a poet?"

"Nothing so crude, I decide this myself." Niflheim turned toward Eddie, "all' ekeivo ouk epxomai. For you I have come - much to speak of our fears. Do not draw such stress unto our world unnecessarily. It is difficult to think that a being of your caliber would allow yourself such leisure in discipline. Your actions reflect poorly upon your sovereign.

"And your actions say that thy sovereign has a stick up their ass."

Niflheim ignored Naamah and continued to address Eddie, "We would like to ask compliance - in recognition of your strength - that while you work to further your sovereign's will, that you do not disrupt too much of this timeline. To that end we would thank you for your cooperation." Then the beast raised himself out of his bow to his full height and eyed both Ruby and Farber.

The monster took three strides to the left to allow the humanoids some room.

Code:

"That one I mislike,"

Naamah declared as she settled back into her role as Rory's scarf.

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Jan 28, 2016

Violet [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/tekken/images/d/d6/VioletTTT2FULL.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120923124538&path-prefix=en] | Farber | Ruby | Naamah | Rory | Eddie The Dead
Location: Rising Dawn Hanger/Canteen

Violet was kind of a nervous wreck, first he had the "Duty" of picking up the mess that Kazuya had made, then he had to deal with ordering around a small army of pissed off mercenary that would most likely try to kill him before this day was all and all while trying to head an operation that was illegal on so many levels, it would take a Presidential Pardon to save his silky smooth ass from an International Prison.
Sheesh, no wonder Kazuya was always in a bad mood all the time! he thought to himself as he nervously watched everyone's locations on the Battlefield display, sure, he did this before but he was merely the help, now he was the leader and hating every second of it.
"Alright...Dolores, you seem to be in the middle of a Brainwashed Mob, can you please report...Dolores, you're kinda isolated from the others, is everything alright?...Hello?...Hello?...Gah, this thing even on!?" He grumbled as he checked his mic, finding that it wasn't on at all.
"Hey, who the hell-Where's the Radio guy? How come I don't have a feed?!"
Glancing around the room, he found the "Radio Guy" sitting at his old desk, currently after prying open the snack drawer and helping himself to it's contents.
"OI! Get back to your dammed post! This radio isn't working!"
"It isn't working because it hasn't been turned on."
"...And please tell me why it isn't turned on and don't sa-"
"You didn't ask."

Violet looked fit to explode right there and then, so he did.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? WE'RE CONDUCTING A GLORIFIED KIDNAPPING OF A US POLITICIAN IN A MAJOR URBAN AREA! IT WOULD GO WITHOUT SAYING THAT BEING ABLE TO CONTACT THE PEOPLE WE'VE SENT IN TO DO THAT WOULD BE OF GREAT ADVANTAGE TO OUR EFFORTS! TURN THE FUCKING MACHINE ON!"
"Fine...[sub]Queer[/sub]..."
"I HEARD THAT YOU SON OF A-"

[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"[/color][/HEADING]

Eddie's swear echoed though the entire ship, making every object in the room shake as well as slightly cracking Violet's favorite glasses.
"...Well...is no one going to check to see what that was?..." He said in the silence to his captive employees who all stared at him for a moment...
...
...Before completely ignoring him and going about their business.
Letting out a lout groan of annoyance, Violet then left his post before marching towards the canteen, he could feel the stress shave entire years off his life already.
Before long, he made his way to the source of the disturbance, adding to the chaos by shouting "Alright, something tried to break the sound barrier in here, If it's some kind of inter-dimensional invader, Tell them to FUCK OFF!"
...
It was then that Violet realized his error when he saw that child from the medical bay, as well as realizing he had cussed right in front of him.
"...W-w-w-what I meant to say was-...*Sigh* you know what, that was what I meant to say...deal with it...Now I need a drink..."

Generic NPC 22 · Jan 29, 2016

[hr]

The Rising Dawn's Hacker attempted to remember what on Earth it was that drove her to teaming up with a couple of misfits like David West and Doctor Insano. There was a reason that fireworks were shot into the sky, that being the fact that they were explosive. If the group was determined to minimizing civilian casualties, firing uncontrolled rockets at them would hardly be a means to accomplishing that goal. On top of that, explosives were a rarely used tool when attempting to sneak into an area.

If that wasn't bad enough, there was Ryan and Miia, a couple of walking signs that practically screamed "Shoot me! Shoot me now!" Still at least Miia's heart was in the right place.

"[color=BA0025]Even the kids aren't ... looking too great. Isn't there anything we can do Ryan?[/color]" The Lamia asked as they passed none other than Katya's own partner in crime ARES-35. As ridiculous as ARES would have looked in any other location, she seemed perfect in this location. It seemed that M. Bison's message resonated strongly with the Republican party, which meant that the typical Bison supporter wouldn't have had a problem carrying a gun in public or dressing up in some sort of military/militia-esque disguise to show their support.

"When it came to "blending in" this is the best I could do. How do I look?"

".. Uuhhhhh- well, you look naturally pretty, as always. But when it comes to your outfit? That's probably going to draw way more attention than Miia here could and she's in a Statue of Liberty cosplay, hanging off my shoulders. .. And here I was, afraid we might be targets for the police to investigate. Are you sure that's something you want to ... stand out in?"

"[color=CC8899]I think she's going to fit in fine.[/color]" Katya said defensively on ARES' behalf, "[color=CC8899]Given the presence of Bison's mechanized police force, she looks like she's throwing her support in that direction. All she has to do is throw a thumbs up in the piggies' direction every so often and scream 'Blue Lives Matter!'[/color]"

The young woman had veered off and started walking next to one children that was walking with the zombified mob. Forming a small globule of nano-agents on her finger she flicked the ooze onto the child's skin, where it disappeared a moment later, the agents burrowing into the kid's body. Safely inside the child's body, the agents migrated up to the kid's brain and started trying to determine the method of control Bison was using over the citizens of Denver.

"[color=CC8899]And don't worry Miia, I'm working on a way to break the kids out of Bison's control.[/color]" The Hacker muttered moving close to the Writer, B3WP's memory block keeping her from feeling too self conscious in the presence of Miia or Ryan but block or no block, even the strongest of brain barriers couldn't stop Katya's personality from making an appearance "[color=CC8899]Also, if you're getting too tired, Ryan, I could carry her for a bit. I wouldn't mind having a couple of pillows pushed up against my back.[/color]"

[hr]

[hr]

The young child looked slightly apologetic as she helped the whining Imp into an upright position while her ribbons, moving about like an extra set of appendages, cleaned up the mess that she'd made by knocking over the unfortunate little creature. Bits of broken glass and bent utensils were picked up and placed on the tray while the puddle of drink was soaked up by the cloth before bring wrung out over a trash bin.

"What is that? Some kind of really sick Ish?" Farber asked as Ruby finished helping the little Imp clean up the mess she had made.

"I'm sorry about that. I'll be more careful" The young girl said before addressing Farber's question. Remembering some of the lessons she'd had regarding Hell's Denizens, she explain that, "No. They're called Fire Imps. They reside in the Underworld called Hell. They're one of the lower ranks of demons that reside there. They assist in running the day to day affairs of that domain. I guess someone on the ship..."

[HEADING=2][color]"[/color][color=5B9C64]FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK![/color][color]"[/color][/HEADING]

The giant's primal curse word seemed to reverberate through out the ship, causing the hull to vibrate sympathetically with the ogre's pain filled scream. Having realized one eighth of the way through that what the colossus was screaming at the top of his mammoth lungs wasn't so much a "World was against me" sort of scream so much as a giant curse word, the Rising Dawn's Resident Nine Year Old girl not only covered her ears with her hands but covered Farbers ears using two long strands of ribbon. The two children stood there, their ears covered for what seemed like an eternity until finally the behemoth's curse ended, leaving him sucking in vast lungfuls of air and staring directly at Ruby.

"[color=5B9C64]I have to babysit this girl to adulthood, and ensure she takes the mantle of Bartender.[/color]" He stated with a miserable look on his face, "[color=5B9C64]You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?[/color]"

The child stood there, wondering what it was that the gargantuan grey skinned man meant by her taking on the mantle of Bartender. She was all of nine years old and Bartender was far down on the list of things that she wanted to be when she grew up, right under politician and above stripper, a fact that would probably disappoint Dream. Not only that, she was simply too old to have a babysitter, let alone an immense brute that looked at Ruby in a manner which made her want to look for the nearest window and jump out it just to get away from him.

Despite the fearsome aura that dripped off the anthropomorphic mountain like hair activator, Ruby's proper upbringing couldn't help but kick in for a moment.

"That's a bad word, sir." The Child Magician murmured as she uncovered her and Farber's ears as she looked around the Canteen, her eyes catching a glimpse of what was beyond the window, namely a view of the world from several thousand feet in the sky, "Wh...wh...what?" She stammered with excitement, "No... way! No way!" Ruby continued as she ran past the enormous hulk to the window, "We're on the Rising Dawn! Farber! We're on the Rising Dawn! No way!!"

The Girl's Mothers, Titania and Deborah, had told her bedtime stories about the Adventures of the Rising Dawn. Ruby had been told about the people that lived aboard the traveling ship that seemed to accidentally run into adventure right and left. She'd been raised on their personal interactions and tragedies and rivalries.

"It's really real, Farber, it's real!" She ran to the two eyed cyclops of a man, "Mister! We're on the Rising Dawn!"

A shadow fell over the girl, blotting out her excitement for a moment as she saw the darkened mass known as BlackHarte. Of all the beings that she's heard about, Blackharte was her least favorite... though she never understood why. The dark humanoid mass had what were arguably honorable intentions but he seemed unable to voice them in a fashion these concerns in a manner that wasn't utterly creepy, scary or in a know it all fashion.

"Do not draw such stress unto our world unnecessarily. It is difficult to think that a being of your caliber would allow yourself such leisure in discipline. Your actions reflect poorly upon your sovereign."

Ruby rested her case with that.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Observing Eddie's outburst from a far, the Death's Priestess continued eating the simple meal that had been presented. Rory was not unfamiliar with these loud outbursts. Anyone who had spent enough time in the Realm of the Gods had witnessed at least one of these outbursts from any number of the Demi-Gods that served the Realm's denizens. Emloy's Apostle was content to settle back and watch the events unfold, though, truth be told, her hand didn't stray too far from her Halberd. The Apostle had no fear of Lady Luck's own Apostle for he was bound by his own strict set of rules. Rather it was the appearance of Blackharte and his commentary to the Berserker that caused Rory's cautiousness.

"Do not draw such stress unto our world unnecessarily. It is difficult to think that a being of your caliber would allow yourself such leisure in discipline. Your actions reflect poorly upon your sovereign." Said the dark being.

The young looking woman frowned and noted the murderous look that Eddie shot Blackharte. Chastising the man in that manner was like chastising a volcano in that while most of the time the volcano would be unmoved, there were times where it would simply explode in one's face. Were it so come to blows, the Priestess had no doubt that the collateral damage would have been enough to drive the airship into the ground, killing many of those who resided below and within the Airship.

With Blackharte out of the way, Rory turned to the children that had entered the room.

"My my, I didn't know they allowed child soldiers in this place?" The Demi-Goddess teased, "The last time I was in this world, they frowned upon that, or so I was lead to believe.

The girl known as Ruby turned to face the source of the comment and saw not Rory Mercury, but an absolutely adorable Gothic Lolita outfit. The Nine Year Old's face brightened as she rushed over to where Rory was sitting.

"Whoooa! That sure is a pretty dress." The Rising Dawn's Future Bartender said, "Did your mother get it for you?"

"*hurk*" For a split second, the Demi-Goddess of Death's face twisted into one of pure and utter annoyance as Ruby found Rory's pet peeve and hit it right between the eyes. Taking a moment to calm herself, Emloy's Apostle smiled once again." No no, little one. These are the robes of a Priestess who serves the God Emloy.

"Emloy? I... have never heard of him." The brutally honest kid said as she picked up a corner of what looked like a scarf, "What's your scarf made of... it doesn't feel like cloth."

Silence · Jan 30, 2016

Avatar Adventures | Denver | 20th Street/Police Unit No. 2
Morning
Diana | Kalastryn | Possibly others

While trying to listen to the conversation between Kalastryn and the Police Unit, which to her did not seem all that fruitful, Diana watched the protesters trying to pick the van door, wondering what the hell they were trying to do. She walked closer to them, and said:

"What, like, are you trying to do here? Can I help?"

That was, when she heard a weird sound, seemingly transcending reality.
[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]"-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-[/color][/HEADING]

It did not go on for long, but it still bothered her. Was this the reality thing Sloth had talked about?
... as nothing else seemed to follow, Diana got back to the task at hand.
"That lock seems pretty dumb. Let me just ..." She placed her fingers on the lock, making sure nobody could see what she was doing by blocking the view with her body and fur coat, then shifted strength into her fingernails, to break the door of the van open.

"That was easy." she said, while moving to the side, ignoring the alarm coming from the van. While the protesters were distracted by the open van, the police distracted by the protesters at the van, she slowly moved to the other side, hoping this was enough of a distraction to just slip by.

Sithmorack · Jan 30, 2016

Denver Coors Stadium: Shadow, Elise, Probably other people?

Taytum liked her at least. She was rather friendly and didn't seem too up stuck like some of the other members of the Rising Dawn. She was about to reply when the spider woman pulled out the phone Ryan had given her. Before Taytum could answer the woman, Elise again began talking about her author and how she was going to locate Bison. Taytum silently pulled on Agent's/Shadow's wrist before whispering to him. [color=9966CC]"She talks a lot doesn't she?"[/color] Agent merely chuckled at her before turning back to Elise.

"With that said, we could camp at the Denver Art Museum until further notice. We'll make our next move there, but our top priority is getting close enough without giving our position away."

That was at least a start to a plan. Honestly Agent could have gotten there on his own much easier but he had to blend into the crew of the Rising Dawn. He just needed to follow her lead for now. He hadn't gotten a response off yet before she said something about fashion and dashed off. At least he had a moment to look around. [color=9966CC]"She's kind of weird but I like her."[/color] Taytum said as Agent half listened. [color=848482]"She's strange alright but we'll stick with her for now. Just need to get to the capitol and I think eventually we'll have to split up."[/color] He said reverting back to his normal voice for a minute before she came back.

Upon her return, he listened to the woman talk about her author again, and about her choice in costume before replying. "Why are you asking like your "author" is here?" He said reverting back to Shadow's voice. He supposed if she couldn't truly hide her spider like features that she might as well use said features to hide herself, though the outfit was going to draw a few stares. Taytum seemed to be staring at her outfit and smiling. Something about the outfit either made her want to laugh or she just really liked it.

"What do you think? American enough, yeah? I heard how much money these superhero movies make, and it's criminal to say the least."

Well, He supposed she'd fit in well enough as of now. "I suppose the people here will just think you're a, What is it called? A cosplayer? It doesn?t matter. It will work for now at least." He may have looked like a shifty drug dealer but he probably wouldn't turn as many heads as her. He didn't need a map to know where they were going so he hadn't brought one. However he couldn't use his real powers without the rest of the Rising Dawn eventually finding out. "I did not bring a map so you will have to lead the way. I will follow." He simply stated as took in his surroundings again.

Denver: Downing Street: (Brainwashed Mob No. 4): The Batter

The Batter had to make a choice. He either went north towards another dark energy or decide to keep heading towards the original dark source of energy. He sighed to himself before making his way north towards the mob. They seemed distant and non-caring to him. Not that he was exactly caring himself per say. He just knew there was something wrong with the people around him. The way they acted just seemed off to him.

That mattered little however to him as he proceeded north. Following the scent of whatever dark energy this was. He'd purify it like all the rest he'd encountered.

NotYetForsaken · Jan 31, 2016

in Pain
Location: 18th Avenue | Denver | Colorado
Of the things that I can see, none are so fine as the things that I do not."

The First Lieutenant

y name is not Dolores. Dolores is someone who suffers, a girl wracked in constant pain and tortured by insecurity. I am not Dolores Selmy. With that being said, I was still caught off guard and had no response for Nadalia, Iron Queen of the False Flame. I looked at her and leaned back, tilting my chin up as my eyes scanned her. "As you say, Iron Queen."

I closed my eyes.

She opened her eyes, a joyous lively green in color, and tears welled again at the corners of her eyes. They held a soul of profound brilliance and obscene naivete inside. In the winter wind the tears began to flow again, flooding her cheeks with meandering streams. "M-m-m-muh-muh-ma-muh-ma MASTER PYROMANCER!" Dolores cried. She was equal parts mortified and surprised. She threw herself forward in a bow and fell off balance, slammed into the Iron Queen, and the two women fell to the floor.

I could feel the cold of the Iron Queen's hands against Dolores' skin. The stumble had thrown the two close against each other, and the Iron Queen's hands had slipped into Dolores' barely-there top. "Uee, ue, ehhhh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Dolores cried, her cheeks flushed a red so deep that it would mask even blood. Dolores grabbed the Iron Queen's arms and threw herself backwards onto the ground and zipped up her coat quickly. She unconsciously crossed her arms against her chest and curled up. "Master Pyromancer," she said, casting her eyes away from the Queen, "I... What... What are you doing here?"

S'ha sa a'iemmasa mediara.[footnote]She wishes to help you. S'ha (she) a'iemmasa (fem. "to help while alongside" from emmoso, asa, ese "he helps, she helps, it helps") sa (fem. "you") mediara (fem. "intends to" from medioro, mediara, mediere)[/footnote]

"Oh... to the capital building? I... I would be honored, Master Pyromancer, that you would accompany me." Dolores stood up and helped the Iron Queen back up to her feet.

[hr]

Good Intentions
Location: Canteen | Rising Dawn
To seek the truth is to invite deception.

Naamah

Code:

[b]"Tug on me not! I, a piece of clothing, am not!"[/b]

Naamah reared her head to glare at Ruby. Her body shimmered with the images of stars.

Code:

[b]"I am Naamah, the record keeper! I am Naamah the third-born, I am Naamah of the adamant vigil! I am Naamah the star-born!"[/b]

Then the technomorph-turned scarf settled down.

Kalastryn · Jan 31, 2016

[HEADING=2]The Rising Dawn Adventures[/HEADING] Location: Drop Zone 2: Denver Zoo: Dr. Insaneo, Ryan, Miia, David, ARES, ect.

".. Uuhhhhh- well, you look naturally pretty, as always. But when it comes to your outfit? That's probably going to draw way more attention than Miia here could and she's in a Statue of Liberty cosplay, hanging off my shoulders. .. And here I was, afraid we might be targets for the police to investigate. Are you sure that's something you want to ... stand out in?"

Once the rest of their conversation had concluded, ARES did reply to Ryan "No actually, this is something I'm pretty sure I wanted to make a half hearted attempt to blend in with. You know I was designed for that... but I was designed for that in an era where these armors were even owned by the general populace, to the point where there was a sport made with their use. So I'm sorry, but since my options for attire were some incredibly bulky armors, or a "futuristic" nanosuit which could end up vanishing from sight in front of someone... have you any better ideas for blending in and being ready if things head south? I'd be open to suggestion as always, but it would take me about 5 minutes of being absolutely obvious to change."

Then, ARES paid peculiar attention to David's headache... as well as all the propaganda they were trudging through in the midst of a yet unprovoked brainwashed mob. He hadn't complained of headaches prior to now... at least not that ARES had heard. Which is why they promptly walked up behind him and administered a smack upside the head.

Texas Joker 52 · Feb 3, 2016

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Denver, Colorado | 18th Avenue
"Some people would say that talking to yourself is weird, but hey, who am I to judge?"
Sloth | First Lieutenant Dolores | Nadalia

[hr]

One of the more common misconceptions regarding the Vices was that most consider them to be one-note, nothing more than the embodiment of their "sin", with no extra emotional baggage. That wasn't entirely true. So, as one of the group started to go off on their own, murmuring to themselves as they delved into the crowd, Sloth found himself trailing after her, along with another young woman close behind,

He couldn't help but feel a vague sense of responsibility, since her rambling and lost demeanor was awfully familiar. If verbal, instead of mental. So as he followed her, he focused on the brainwashed masses in their path. They didn't need to worry about the suspicious duo and the perfectly normal crossing guard. They weren't a threat, weren't a problem. So the three of them moved through the crowded street without much problem at all, even as he spared a few glances at the nearby buildings.

"But I am the soldier, da ze."

Now that was odd. The lost, rambling girl seemed to be replaced by a much more capable young woman, the aforementioned soldier. Interesting. And he wasn't the only one to notice the change, either.

"Usually, the common warrior would not break down within the walls, but that's not for me to judge. I recognize you, my child. Dolores, a name that was spoken before my own ears. Why would one like yourself, weep to the sky? If the idea doesn't hinder you, I will assist you on this journey to reach the capital, sorrowful soul."

Sloth stepped forward at that point, giving them both a half-smile.

"And count me in. No one will think twice of a crossing guard, getting you to where you need to go. Especially since you're going to evacuate these guys." he pointed out.

Not long after, he could hear a familiar voice carrying over the wind in the distance. A very, very angry one.

[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"[/color][/HEADING]

[hr]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Realm of Vices | Wrath's Room
"His scream is the scream that pierced the heavens!"
Wrath | Envy | Gluttony

[hr]

Wrath was bored. As she strummed the six-stringed bass, Boom of Creation, sitting on a wide, fur-covered bed in the midst of her room, she was reminded that there was nothing around for her to destroy, and no one for her to get under their skin, at least no one that she hadn't already done that to for centuries before.

Pride was almost more infuriating than ever, especially since Sloth was gone. Sloth was no fun either, since she rarely ever got a rise out of him. Gluttony was pathetic, Greed was busy, Lust was... Doing something that she didn't even want to think about. And Envy? She was too easy of a target. As she flopped back on her bed, she looked around her room. What parts of the walls weren't lined with blooded weapons she had stolen from the corpses of those she'd felled, were covered with band posters, except for one that had to do with a pink cartoon horse. That was when she heard it.

[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"[/color][/HEADING]

The giant of a woman abruptly sat up and looked around. She knew that voice. It was Eddie, Lady Luck's disciple, and as close to a personal friend as she had ever gotten. And she knew exactly what he was feeling when he made that outburst since it fell nicely within her purview as the Embodiment of Anger: Utter frustration, a rage against the heavens, and a profound feeling of being royally screwed over. In fact, she was sure it could be heard elsewhere. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/540.882880-Storms-of-Steel-and-Diesel-A-Mad-Maxian-RP-Started-PM-if-Interested?page=2#23499191]

"The fuck is going on?" she murmured to herself, before the door to her room was flung open.

Standing in the doorway was one of the most emaciated men imaginable wearing a faintly bloodstained butchers apron, along with a somewhat gangling young woman. Or, what could have been a young woman. Her figure was distinctly feminine, but her face was completely hidden by a curtain of dark green hair.

"H-hey Wrath, d... Did you hear that just now? Wh-wh-what w-was that?" Gluttony stammered, even as he stroked a starved-looking rat with a skeletal hand, eyes darting nervously around the room.

~Even I managed to hear it, and you know how that would be difficult.~ Envy pointed out with worry.

Wrath shook her head as she stood up, towering over her fellow Vices and scowled.

"That," she said, "Was Eddie the Dead. And he was pissed..."

[hr]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Denver, Colorado | 18th Avenue
"... Mistakes have been made."
Sloth | First Lieutenant Dolores | Nadalia

[hr]

Sloth was more than a little surprised that the other two didn't even seem to hear the outburst. The young soldier, however, did hear the third member of their little party, and turned to greet her.

"As you say, Iron Queen."

Then she closed her eyes... And seemed to change back to the lost girl he had started to trail behind. She referred to the "Iron Queen" as a Pyromancer, and practically flung herself at her. Or at least, it looked like that from his angle, and even then he couldn't be sure. After some scrambling and stammered apologies, she pushed herself back and looked around with that same lost expression she had earlier. But it passed quickly before she stood, and pulled the "Iron Queen" up to her feet.

"Oh... to the capital building? I... I would be honored, Master Pyromancer, that you would accompany me."

Capital building? Why would they need to go to the capital building, unless... Oh no.

"Wait a sec. Aren't we the evac group, or whatever it's called?" Sloth asked with a worried frown.

He had the distinct feeling that he screwed up somewhere down the line.

[hr]

[hr]

Whatever concern Farber had for the hairless, Ish-looking creature was gone the moment Ruby started to help them up and clean up the resulting mess. Seeing the ribbons and bits of cloth moving so easily like little snakes was pretty amazing. She had to be a really good magician to be able to move them like that without so much as breaking a sweat! Once the creature was on it's way and Ruby had apologized, she turned to him.

"No. They're called Fire Imps. They reside in the Underworld called Hell. They're one of the lower ranks of demons that reside there. They assist in running the day to day affairs of that domain. I guess someone on the ship..."

But that was as far as she had gotten when a nearby man took a deep breath and screamed. He looked like he was a dead man walking too, and Farber had to wonder how someone who looked like they should be in the ground could be so loud, even with Ruby's quick ribbons covering his tufted ears.

[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"[/color][/HEADING]

By the time the scream was done, Farber had crouched and squeezed his eyes shut, hands clamped over both Ruby's ribbons and his ears. He had to take a moment before slowly standing back up and lowering his hands. Then he glared up at the gigantic zombie and scowled, even as the zombie bent down to speak to Ruby.

"Could you be any louder? I don't think they heard you in Hell." he grumbled, naming the first place that came to mind.

Ruby, on the other hand, merely chastised the man for swearing in front of kids, something Farber was all-too-familiar with. But once she glance out of a window, she was practically giddy.

"Wh...wh...what? No... way! No way! We're on the Rising Dawn! Farber! We're on the Rising Dawn! No way!!"

The little Ish frowned as he followed her to the window and shrugged.

"What are you talking about? What's the 'Rising Dawn', some kind of boat?" he asked, before stepping up and looking out of the window next to her.

All he could see was clouds and open sky. And no ground or sea beneath them. With a yelp, he backed away and grimaced.

"Oh, crap! Where are we?! Are we falling out of the sky?!" he asked as he scrabbled against the hard floor to get away from the window.

Grabbing his tail, he curled up into a ball and braced himself for a sudden impact. All the while, really, really hoping that he wasn't going to die because he ate chocolate that wasn't his.

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Feb 3, 2016

Drop Zone 1: Coors Field: Rugal, Elise, Shadow, Taytum

Once he got a glance at Elise's attempt at a disguise, Rugal couldn't help but comment.
"While I'm sure you'll impress any small children in the area, I can't say the same for the adults." He explained as he seemed to have changed his appearance, namely ditching his trademark suit for one that made him look more like a High Price Washington Lobbyist peddling influence [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHyUv-MN6cU].
Turning to Shadow as he mentioned not having a map, he then said "Well, we are moving on Brainwashed Mob No 2., next to 22nd St. The sooner we clear them out, the less we'll have to worry about them later. Now come on, we're burning daylight."
And with that, Rugal lead the way to the mob...

Brainwashed Mob No 2.: Rugal, Elise, Shadow, Taytum

A brief walk later lead them to one of the several crowds that had formed until Bison's demands.
This one stood out as they seemed to be building literal stakes upon which to burn people, like the witch hunts of old, while a Vega Campaign staffer with a hard hat directed them with a megaphone.
A haunting cover of classic patriotic music on za droned in the background from 2 speakers on lamp-posts above the stakes, connected to a a media player in the staffer's little office (Which was basically a Prefab office [http://www.parkut.com/wp-content/uploads/prefab-office-09-1631.jpg] he had his lackeys "Borrow" from a construction site, they didn't even take the labels off!).
"Get a move on, We have a lot of Saint's Voters to burn before the election starts!" He barked at his slaves as they broke chairs and tables to make the wooden piles.

Rugal was watching this from the safety of an alleyway with his allies, noting the set up.
"Right...controls for the speakers are in that office. If we can get in there, we can disable it and we mightn't even need to so much as fire a bullet if we do it right. Be careful, if that staffer sees us, he will no doubt sic his "workers" on us. Direct approach is out. Suggestions?"

Drop Zone 2: Denver Zoo: David, Ryan, Miia, ARES, Dr. Insaneo, Katya

"...Alright, whatever works. Just-....Do you best and we'll figure something out." David sighed, figuring that this line of conversation wasn't getting them anywhere (That and he didn't want to find out how pissed off angry snake ladies could get).
His mind going back to the mission, he then said "Right, now, I believe we are en route toooooo-...23rd Ave, where Brainwashed Mob No 2. is. Alright, should be a cake walk, all we need to do is-"
That was the most he could get out before his face soon ended up hitting the pavement after a steel hand struck him in the back of the head with enough force to flatten him, almost knocking him out cold outside of some weak groans he made while on the ground.
Turns out hitting people with metal hands REALLY hurt...Well, least he isn't going to be brainwashed anytime soon!

Katya meanwhile got the following findings from her attempts to track the psionic brain waves Bison was using to control the population.
From her findings, sourced from a child who was living in this city and had been exposed to those brain waves at some point in the last week, it was mostly though an interruption of the targets brainwaves followed by the implanting of ones designed by Bison though his psycho power.
These other brainwaves would also trigger large amounts of Dopamine, which would then be used to heavily suggest what motor movements to take to the captive brain, resulting in the dazed look a lot of the brainwashed had.
By making recordings of himself projecting these, he could not only relay simple instructions but also weaken the mind's resistance, allowing him to quickly assume direct control of anyone nearby who had comprised pisonic defenses.
However, due to how spread out Bison's brainwaves were, the effect was lessened and would most likely be much more potent should Bison directly transmit the brainwaves, rather then just recordings of him doing so in the past...
...
...I will now clench my butt-cheeks and hope this techno-babble makes somewhat a lick of sense otherwise I'm going to look dumb 6_9

Brainwashed Mob No. 6: David (Once he wakes up), Anyone heading that direction

This mob was one of the more tame ones, simply comprising of a of a group of people sitting perfectly still in the middle of the road as they watched some of Vega's Highlights of the Election, including his speech from after the President deemed him a terrorist and a few other attacks he had made on the current administration.
They were watching it on a large projector screen that had been draped over the shaded side of a building, the projector itself being housed on a 3rd floor window on the building opposite.
The mob was totally quiet as they watched, kinda like a movie screening where everyone came without their mobile phones, hell, a pair of overweight Staffers were even making a killing out of popcorn sales (Even if everyone there lacked the motor skills to actually put the popcorn in their mouths properly).
While they didn't seem to be armed or even trained in combat (Judging by the fact neither one of them looked like they've been to the gym since they were born), so long as the projector was on, all they had to do was point and yell and they would have an instant riot.

Brainwashed Mob No. 4: Batter

As Batter walked though the crowd, he then noticed the reason they were all gathered here, a pair of men in "Vega 2016 shirts" were holding some kind of "Fight Club" where the crowd acted as both the audience and the barriers stopping the fighters from escaping.
At the moment, the two "Fighters" were merely a pair of protesters who were wearing Anti-Armstrong shirts, displaying their outrage over the changes to the cities police force and laws.
"-And whomever is the last one standing shall walk away, not only as a hero...but they'll get to walk away Period! HAHAHAHAHA!" One of the staffers said, getting a forced "yaaaaaaaay" from the crowd.
Their pleading did little to aid their plight as it was drowned out by recordings of Vincent Vega's Podcast being played out of a series of 3 carry around speaker boxes that were attached to the belts of random people in the crowd, ensuring that they and everyone around them was brainwashed.
The dark energy oozed out of them as the ramblings of a mad man played on, getting the crowd slightly animated as he talked about "Freedom Fries" of all things.
"Hey!? How come you two ain't killing each other!?! Get to it before the crowd gets restless..." The event organisations demanded, prompted half-assed booing from the people as well as slurred death threats.
If he didn't do something now, those Protesters were done for...

Denver: 20th Street/Police Unit No. 2: Kalastryn, Dream

While the Cops were mostly metal, Kalastryn's play on emotion still worked, namely because they opted out of those "Emotion Suppressing Nanomachines" that the actual Cyborg soldiers used.
That and the officer she was talking to had a feeling he'd get lucky if he let her pass, besides, she'd have an escort, what was the worst that could happen?
"...Well...I shouldn't, but...You know what, just to spite those murdering bastards...Frankie! Ben! Watch the road, going to take this one into the perimeter!" The officer bellowed to his partners, who were busy fighting Fatigue Wars with Warrior Decks.
"...Ah, they heard me. Come on, we'll take my car." He said before leading Kalastryn into the police cruiser's passage seat and making off towards the capitol, playfully putting on the siren, Bitches love sirens.
Barely a minute after he left and the alarm on the prisoner van caused both remaining officers to leap into action, literally.
While the protesters made a break for it, one officer jumped right over the van before landing right in front of the fleeing prisoners, the other landing behind them to trap them.
"Now what do we have here, Frankie?"
"Looks like a Code 1099: Fleeing from arrest, Ben...What should we do about it?..."
"Well, only the guilty have anything to run away from...So I don't think we need bother the courts with this..."
With an evil chuckle, both police officers then pulled out their batons before going to strike at the protesters.
Dream could easily get past now...but it would appear her new friends weren't nearly as swift on their feet as they began to cower at the advancing cyborgs.

E 17th Ave/Brainwashed Mob No. 5: Dolores, Nadalia, Sloth

As Dolores and Nadalia exchanged a clumsy meeting, the crowd stumbled on, not really paying much heed of either of them, even Sloth wasn't really harassed, this was a really low energy crowd.
In fact, if it wasn't for the guy with the crayon drawn leaflets creepily staring over at them as they were on the ground, having watched the whole thing, the only part Dolores had to be embarrassed about was just when she accidentally groped her squadmate.
Outside of that, the staffer raged on, seeming to be getting short of breath from all the yelling he was going about fascist government providing healthcare while the music carried on, stopping only to repeat for the millionth time.
They were all offered another leaflet, this time with Bison giving a anime-style personification of the UN building a lead-sandwich served by a .44 Magnum while also giving the current, crying President a wedgie with his other hand.

Coors Field: Annie,

Code:

Ghost?

While Annie was keeping to her disguise, she wasn't getting much business as she was still in the "Sane" part of town.
The fact she went around saying Bison rather then his cover name "Vincent Vega" didn't really help either, but it was the rude man from presentation that was the one kind enough to point it out to her.

Code:

*TSK!* "You know, if you used the right name and moved towards where the sheep-le are, you could make a neat buck..." *TSK!*

The de-facto Leader of G-Corp's armed forces said as he walked up to her display, helping himself to one of these rolls.
He then scanned the area for a moment before saying

Code:

*TSK!* "Hey, mind walking this way for a moment?..." *TSK!*[/color].
Firmly grabbing her by the arm, he then lead Annie out of sight into a nearby alley, away from prying eyes and, more importantly, away from their allies.
Once he figured he was safe, he then clicked at a pair of latches on his helmet, a hissing noise filling the air before a familiar scarred face face came back into her life.
[color=teal]"Kept you waiting, huh?..."[/color] Deadshot winked before taking a bite of his roll.

[quote][b]Violet [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/tekken/images/d/d6/VioletTTT2FULL.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120923124538&path-prefix=en] | Farber | Ruby | Naamah | Rory | Eddie The Dead
[u]Location[/u]: Rising Dawn Hanger/Canteen[/b][/quote]

Violet was kind of a nervous wreck, first he had the "Duty" of picking up the mess that Kazuya had made, then he had to deal with ordering around a small army of pissed off mercenary that would most likely try to kill him before this day was all and all while trying to head an operation that was illegal on so many levels, it would take a Presidential Pardon to save his silky smooth ass from an International Prison.
[color=violet][i]Sheesh, no wonder Kazuya was always in a bad mood all the time![/i][/color] he thought to himself as he nervously watched everyone's locations on the Battlefield display, sure, he did this before but he was merely the help, now he was the leader and hating every second of it.
[color=violet]"Alright...Dolores, you seem to be in the middle of a Brainwashed Mob, can you please report...Dolores, you're kinda isolated from the others, is everything alright?...Hello?...Hello?...Gah, this thing even on!?"[/color] He grumbled as he checked his mic, finding that it wasn't on at all.
[color=violet]"Hey, who the hell-Where's the Radio guy? How come I don't have a feed?!"[/color]
Glancing around the room, he found the "Radio Guy" sitting at his old desk, currently after prying open the snack drawer and helping himself to it's contents.
[color=violet]"[b]OI![/b] Get back to your dammed post! This radio isn't working!"[/color]
"It isn't working because it hasn't been turned on."
[color=violet]"...And please tell me why it isn't turned on and don't sa-"[/color]
"[u]You didn't ask.[/u]"

Violet looked fit to explode right there and then, so he did.
[color=violet]"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? WE'RE CONDUCTING A GLORIFIED KIDNAPPING OF A US POLITICIAN IN A MAJOR URBAN AREA! IT WOULD GO WITHOUT SAYING THAT BEING ABLE TO CONTACT [u][i]THE PEOPLE WE'VE SENT IN TO DO THAT[/i][/u] WOULD BE OF GREAT ADVANTAGE TO OUR EFFORTS! [b]TURN THE FUCKING MACHINE ON![/b]"[/color]
"Fine...[sub]Queer[/sub]..."
[color=violet]"I HEARD THAT YOU SON OF A-"[/color]

[HEADING=2][b][color=5B9C64]-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"[/color][/b][/HEADING]

Eddie's swear echoed though the entire ship, making every object in the room shake as well as slightly cracking Violet's favorite glasses.
[color=violet]"...Well...is no one going to check to see what that was?..."[/color] He said in the silence to his captive employees who all stared at him for a moment...
...
...Before completely ignoring him and going about their business.
Letting out a lout groan of annoyance, Violet then left his post before marching towards the canteen, he could feel the stress shave entire years off his life already.
Before long, he made his way to the source of the disturbance, adding to the chaos by shouting [color=violet]"Alright, something tried to break the sound barrier in here, If it's some kind of inter-dimensional invader, Tell them to FUCK THE RIGHT FUCKING FUCK OFF UNTIL I AM DONE FUCKING FUCKING UP THIS FUCKING FUCKERS FUCKING FACE!!"[/color]
...
It was then that Violet realized his error when he saw the two young children in the room, as well as realizing he had cussed right in front of him. Several times in fact.
[color=violet]"...W-w-w-what I meant to say was-...*Sigh* you know what, that was what I meant to say...deal with it...Now I need a drink..."[/color] He grumbled before sitting at the bar and reaching for one of David West's personal concoctions, he was too sober to deal with this right now.

Silence · Feb 5, 2016

Avatar Adventures | Denver | Police Unit No. 2/Military Force 1
Daylight
Diana

As she walked away, Diana looked back at the Cyborg Police Unit hunting and killing protesters with disgust. Stupid, obnoxious, amateurs. She did not care about the civilians. There were enough of them. But she was half in a mind to go back, and show the police unit what it meant to be hunted. Because there were not a lot of things more annoying than the waste of human resources for sport in her mind.

Sadly, doing this would probably endanger the whole mission. Dragon-sighting near the capital, that surely would not go down well. She simply had no real reason to go back. Protecting the civilians would be a waste of time. It would have been fun though, the realization in the eyes of the police people, when they learned that what they had done to the civilians was about to happen to them - only much slower, much more painful, and without a quick end. And without wasting their flesh.

Also annoying was that she had to walk while Kalastryn was brought by car. She never would have guessed that her stupid ruse would actually work. Showed how dumb an average human was, however. Should have known better.

As she walked around the corner, onto the broadway, Diana changed her appearance slowly. Her American, civil fakeness went, instead her face showed only small signs of make-up, otherwise it was one of an average looking woman with harsh features and shoulder-length, brown, hair. Her clothes changed as well, showing themselves as a black catsuit.

This way, looking like she belonged to some kind of special ops team, Diana approached Military Force 1, looking them, their equipment, and their clothes over, subtly changing details of her own suit to fit in. "Let me through, I have to take care of some things there." she stated to the first person looking at her questioningly.

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Feb 6, 2016

Strider Katana (Blade) & Strider Hime (Furiae)
Location: World Marshall Supply Depot, Outside of Denver [http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17g9gv5p5cdqqjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg]

After a thankfully uneventful flight, the two Striders soon reached their objective, An abandoned looking factory that Katana's contact said Hien was seen entering and exiting recently.
Getting set up on a hill-top overlooking the plant, the duo waited for their target to show up...
...And waited...
...And waited...
...And waited...

"...Dammit...where is this bastard!?" The Groyvle uttered in impatience as he looked at the guard though a pair of binoculars, namely at how he kept adding to a growing pile of cigarette butts on the ground near his feet.
With a sigh of annoyance, he then put his binoculars away before sliding back down to their base camp at the foot of the hill.
"Still no activity. Only thing that's changed is the box of smokes the guard at the gate is using...Think this might have been a bust..." The pokemon grumbles before briefly soaking his face with his water canteen, his flesh Absorbing it quickly.
".... Let's just wait a tiny bit longer. Didn't master always say something like "Become a shadow, know thy enemy"? We gotta be ready to jump at any second, even if that means being bored to tears..." Hime replied, hiding a yawn as she checked her watch.
"Yeah...I know. Just this trail is getting colder by the second and unles-..."
"...Unless wha-"
"Shhh....you hear that?..."
"...Yeah, I do!"
A distant rumbling sound could be heard before it quickly picked up in pitch as it got closer, painfully so as a VTOL Aircraft transport [http://orig15.deviantart.net/6e0d/f/2012/052/0/c/0cf605ba57b57beab23e22a056adcf5e-d3evnt7.jpg] with the World Marshall LLC logo flew overhead.
Quickly both Striders scrambled to their overlook to get a good view of who was getting out.
"Alright, come on, come on, come on, come on..." Katana mumbled to himself as he landing gear unfolded and the passagers inside got out.
First to disembark was a pair of Strider Elite Guards, a branch dedicated to protecting key members of the organisation, followed by The man himself [http://i.imgur.com/SJreU.png].
"There you are you bastard....Hey...isn't that-"

Strider Hien & Inuart Iprisson
Location: World Marshall Supply Depot, Outside of Denver [http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17g9gv5p5cdqqjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg]

"-Hey "Rockstar", Get a move on, Unlike some people, I actually do real work for a living..." Hien bitched as he and his men got off the aircraft with the "Dead Music Sensation" in tow.
"Hey, don't say that so loudly! I'm supposed to be dead...." Inuart protested as he stepped out into the open, Hien taking the chance to twist the knife.
"Believe me, if you were "Supposed" to be dead, you would be. Your friend "Bruiser" can attest to that..."
Anger flared up in the former bard as he grit his teeth before spitting back "who gave you the right to talk about him like that?"
"Oh no! I'm talking negatively about a dead rapist ape who failed to be an assassin. What ever is the world coming to?..." The strider shot back with a condescending grin before motioning to the building in front of them
"As part of our arrangement with Bison, we'll be spending the day there. It's connected to World Marshall HQ so we'll get a good view of the action. But unlike World Marshall HQ, it's nice and out of the way. Just in case those Rising Dawn bastards actually decide that they can take us on in a straight up right. Heh, that'll be the day..." He said with a smug tone as he got cleared by the guards.
"Now come on, watching the Rising Dawn finally get what's coming to them is going to be a historic moment and I'm not telling my kids that I was stuck out here waiting on you when it happened..."

Zepherus14 · Feb 7, 2016

Avatar Adventures | Off Thread Earth | Nina's Apartment
Nina and Phillip

The smell of baking filled the air of the 4th story apartment area home. Pots and pans, mixing bowls and utensils scattered across the counter top or haphazardly thrown into the sink, while the nearby black mass of tentacles sat on a stool seemingly looking at the running oven, its tendrils moving. It had been a startling morning to say the least, having been interrupted twice now already, but Phillip was determined. He would conquer the souffl? that day, come hell or high water.

He wouldn't need to wait much more however, a matter of minutes in the oven left before removing it and letting it rest to cool. The 'hard part' was over, and only patience and the universe not conspiring against him were the final hurtles. As the time grew closer, one of Phillip's tentacles reached up to the timer on the oven top, clicking off the alarm as to not disturb his creation. He waited there on the stool for a short time more, staring at the window and at the two birds that had previously ruined souffl?s one and two. Once it was time, Phillip gingerly opened the oven door, and grabbed the tray out with some mitts. Setting it lightly on the oven, Phillip then stopped moving, his tentacles stopping rigidly as to not disturb this unholy concoction of hair pulling nightmares. Things would be different though this time, this time-

[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!!!"[/color][/HEADING]

Avatar Adventures | Denver | Nina's Apartment/Brainwashed Mob No. 6
Nina and Phillip (David and his co-horde are in the area)

[HEADING=2][color=5B9C64]"-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!"[/color][/HEADING]

The entire building shook as it felt like it was sent to some other reality, Phillip tightly grabbing the stool as it tried not to fall off as everything rattled. To Phillip's horror, just as the rumbling finally started to subside, the souffl?s gave up and ruptured in a rather anticlimactic pop. While the remnants of the shaking finally finished, Phillip hopped from the stool up to the counter beside the oven, and looked at his fallen creation. The mass of tentacles pooling with despair, the time completely wasted once again. He was about to throw it out in the trash as a door leading to a bedroom burst open.

"What happened!? Who was that? Was that you Phillip?" Nina exclaimed, currently wearing some pajamas apparently having been just woken up. "Your souffl?? No, we can deal with that later." She answered back, rubbing her eyes as she walked barefoot towards Phillip on the counter, who had now pulling itself up more into a proper spherical mound in protest to Nina's comment. "Come on, I didn't mean it like that, you know that. I just wanna know who woke me up is all." She replied, looking at the failed attempt before picking it up. "You done with this by the way?" She asked, and after a brief pause moved over to the trash near the window. As she shook the remains off the tin, Nina looked out the window to the outside, which was when she noticed the patrons sitting watching Vegas' announcements on the streets below. "Phiiiillip, hippies are protesting or something in the streets again." She commented, Phillip leaping across the counter tops, and then crawling up Nina's back so it perched on her shoulder to look out too.

After some time looking at the scene, Nina shrugged as she moved to get changed, Phillip staying by the window. "Today's Saturday anyways, might as well see what's going on. Could be fun. Already got my drawing stuff, so get over here so I can put you in the bag with your stuff. You probably need some fresh air too." Nina said as she returned, now dressed similar to the gal in the orange. [http://g01.a.alicdn.com/kf/UT8DZOHXaxdXXagOFbXy/200997309/UT8DZOHXaxdXXagOFbXy.jpg] Phillip crawled along the counter top before launching itself off and merely bounced on the ground as it continued to approach Nina. She'd then pick up the pile of tentacles with both hands, and stuck it into a gym bag of sorts, complete with a fairly inexpensive Ipod with podcasts of different recipes set into it with headphones for Phillip to use. "Alright let's go!" Nina exclaimed as she turned to the door and walked out the door.

The hallway looked odd, the thought crossed Nina's mind if the walls had always been that particular colour or texture, but she was investigating the hippies at the moment, and she'd have plenty of time to look at her apartment complex's walls on her own time. Getting to the lobby, she walked through briefly wondering where everyone had gotten off to, maybe they were doing something with the hippies, and for that matter why was she not invited? Regardless, she stepped outside and looked from the pacified mob sitting on the ground, and then up at the scene. "They're watching some movie?" She mumbled to Phillip, moving over to a pillar near the apartment complex entrance to sit on, just to see what all the hype was about that people would actually stop traffic for it.

Neuromancer · Feb 7, 2016

The Concert Hall
The Custodian

The multiverse is a song, its notes encompassing all creation. From the smallest, most insignificant single cell organism, to Demiurges, Devils, and everything between and beyond, all have their part in it, be it a single one or an extravagant suite. And in this song, for a single, infinitesmall moment, a terrible cosmic dissonance ensued. And though the dissonance resonated for but that single moment, the song itself shifted, changed. How much, and to what end, only one could possibly know, though some results were immediately apparent. Fates irrevocably changed, countless lives were created, ruined, bloomed or erased, souffles popped and entire universes merged, split or snuffed out like candles, the darkess of eternal oblivion encompassing what they once were. A single entity observed all this change, this irrevocable, insurmountable paradigm shift.

She observed, and smiled.

For a second, the only sound echoing in the room was that of heavy panting.

He was pissed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd be so vehemently aggravated, and chances had it that this was the first.

Eddie the Dead, Eternal Herald of Lady Luck, mercenary of the Gods, Ender of Universes.

Tricked into babysitting.

He breathed deep breaths, sucking the air in the room like a hull breach on a spaceship, trying his damnest to find a reason not to fling a meteorite in this direction. This was beyond the gravest of insults, the most terrible of slights. He was tricked! Robbed of his vacation! By his own patron, no less! No words could possibly describe the utter outrage he was experiencing, nor the intense craving to let loose, consequences be damned, on everything in the vicinity [footnote]The vicinity being the solar system[/footnote]

"That's a bad word, mister." said his jailor, "Could you be any louder? I don't think they heard you in Hell." followed her impish companion and Eddie, in his grand anger, realised he was being chastised by children. To add insult to injury, a metrosexual entered the room and started throwing profanities at him.

"...W-w-w-what I meant to say was-...*Sigh* you know what, that was what I meant to say...deal with it...Now I need a drink..."

[color=5B9C64]"Grrr..."[/color] came a barely audible growl, as such behaviour was quickly extinguishing what little remained of his already depleted patience. While the grown-up, being a grown-up, did the responsible thing and started drinking, the children, being children, were childishly sidetracked by the fact that a)this was the Rising Dawn, and b)they were in the sky.

"Are we falling out of the sky?"

That could be arranged, thought Eddie, fuming as he were. Causing this antediluvian relic's engines to fail would have been as easy as a wavy of his hand, and the screams of fear as everyone on board came to realise these were the last fleeting moments of their miserable lives would provide him with comfort, albeit small.

"Mister, we're on the Rising Dawn!" said his responsibility as she run to him, and her youthful enthusiasm gave his murder-fuelled thoughts pause. Conflict arose in his mind, as he debated whether to punch her brains out or leaver her be and begrudgingly accept his position. Before he coame to a decision, though, a black entity appeared before him, towering over the girl.

"all' ekeivo ouk epxomai. For you I have come" it said, and Eddie wondered if it would repeat everything it said

Much to speak of our fears. Do not draw such stress unto our world unnecessarily. It is difficult to think that a being of your caliber would allow yourself such leisure in discipline. Your actions reflect poorly upon your sovereign." the entity continued, and by that point a smirk slowly started forming on Eddie's lips. It was a cruel smirk, one that promised violence and misfortune. "We would like to ask compliance - in recognition of your strength - that while you work to further your sovereign's will, that you do not disrupt too much of this timeline. To that end we would thank you for your cooperation." it finished and stepped back, and by the time it did Eddie's smirk had fully transitioned into a grin. Where does one even begin with this one?

He got on his feet and stared the black beast down, still grinning. A few seconds passed, and then...

[color=5B9C64]"I refuse."[/color] he flatly stated, his grin already vanished, [color=5B9C64]"Your words betray your ignorance. 'Good' and 'Evil' are nothing but words; the reality is much, much worse. A being of your limited understanding has no right to criticise, much less presume what reflects how on my patron. I shall do whatever I deem necessary to finish the job, your infantile concerns be damned. My single guarantee is my well-established professionalism."[/color] he finished, stepped away and turned towards the bar, [color=5B9C64]"I am inclined to inform you your hubris cost you a strike. Slight me twice more, and you shall invite my patron's wrath upon you,"[/color] he turned his head and stared at it once more, [color=5B9C64]"Exercise caution, lest you wish that I feast on your heart."[/color] and walked away, indifferent to whatever twice-uttered rebuttal it had in store for him. There was just one loose end left in this travesty, one last thin he had to do before it was time to reluctantly get to work.

[color=5B9C64]"Barkeep!"[/color] he declared as he reached the bar, [color=5B9C64]"The finest drink you have for my friend here!"[/color] and gave Violet a rather forceful pat in the back, [color=5B9C64]"I'm buying. No, no,"[/color] he leaned on the doctor and gave a grin that said he wouldn't take no for an answer, [color=5B9C64]"I insist"[/color]

[color=5B9C64]"I must give it to you,"[/color] he sat beside the doc and spread an arm across his shoulders, [color=5B9C64]"You don't look like it, but you've got balls. A healthy amount of stupidity too, but you have balls for telling me to deal with it after that little outburst."[/color] he tightened his grip, [color=5B9C64]"So I'll make things clear."[/color] and pulled the doctor close.

[color=5B9C64]"Two strikes!"[/color] he growled, still grinning, with two fingers pressing against the doctor's cheeks beneath the eyes, [color=5B9C64]"Two strikes until I get my hands on you. I'll hunt you down across all dimensions, all of your alternate selves, everything and everyone even remotely related to you. I'll build a palace out of your bones, and stud a crown with your eyes![/color] he let the doctor go, [color=5B9C64]"So keep that in mind."[/color] and got up, leaving him with a mocking [color=5B9C64]"Enjoy your drink."[/color]

He was feeling a lot better after that. Nothing quite like telling a couple of ants how close they were to getting stomped. Not quite enough to completely calm him down -That would require driving the ants extinct- but enough that he wouldn't suddenly decide to play pebbles with the solar system. In his current demeanour, it was reasonable to assume he would be able to handle interacting with children without a certain Dead Kennedys song stuck in his head. And so, he approached his young companion, who seemed to have manged to unnerve both Rory and her clothbot. By that alone, he had a feeling they'd get along fine.

[color=5B9C64]"My sympathies, young one."[/color] he said as he squatted down beside her, [color=5B9C64]"But it seems you have attracted the attention of a most cruelly apathetic diety. Suffice to say, you live and die for her amusement."[/color] he sighed, [color=5B9C64]"Something we seem to have in common. So, Rory," [/color] he turned to the annoyed demigoth and grinned mischievously, [color=5B9C64]"Guess your wish came true, eh?"[/color]

NotYetForsaken · Feb 8, 2016

Conflict Internal
Location: Canteen | Rising Dawn
gerasko d' aiei polla didaskomenos;

Naamah

For the briefest moment, it seemed as if Niflheim had taken offence at Fate's servant's words. He kept a silent vigil on the otherworldly guest. Then for an even briefer moment Solomon's own servant moved forward as if to speak. He had drawn himself to his full height and the bristles that lined his back shivered with excitement.

By the gods.

Code:

"Niflfifle,"

Naamah cooed as Ruby tugged at her body,

Code:

"to me do not say that you have actually grown angry!"

Niflheim turned to face Naamah, he was bristling.

Code:

"It seems ever so to me that you indeed are!"

Naamah said,

Code:

"Try your best to remember your place Niflfifle - you are not Solomon - whatever strengths that the Collective has, you do not possess them. You, Niflfifle, are an autonomous unit. Do not let your 'fake' emotions get the better of you."

His green eye glared at Naamah. He had nothing to say.

Code:

[b]"Do be at ease,"[/b]

Naamah continued,

Code:

[b]"while the egos of planestriders such as himself are quite large, I am quite confident that the Collective's misgivings toward him are unfounded. He will not stall your 'great plan,' as it were, any more than any other individual. While his perspective is wide - his thoughts are narrow. That is to say - he is more human than you will ever be, Niflfifle."[/b]

"And on what base do you found such knowledge, Prime Unit Fatima?" BlackHarte towered over Naamah, towered over Rory. His malice was real. He had grown upset.

Code:

[b]"I am founded upon myself, O Niflfifle, for I am a Prime Unit. You who serve Solomon serves me also."[/b]

Naamah was taking a perverse joy in picking on Niflheim. He was always too much of a stick in the mud for his own good.

"I do not serve the Exiled One." Niflheim turned to leave. He was very angry.

Code:

"I am no longer 'Mistress Fatima?'"

Niflheim made no response as he left.

After a brief pause Naamah returned her eye to Ruby.

Code:

[b]"Child, would you stop prodding me with your hands."[/b]

Generic NPC 22 · Feb 8, 2016

[hr]

The Rising Dawn's Digital Drama Queen maneuvered herself through the brain dead mouth breathers that watched Bison's speech as if it was this century's most excellently crafted film. In a way, it was. Bison's use of the victims' brain chemistry was more than a little depraved. By triggering a torrent of Dopamine within their brains whenever they followed one of his orders or listened to one of his words, he didn't just have a mindless drone army at his disposal, he had a mindless drone army that was addicted to following his orders. Still this made things slightly easier than Katya had anticipated. They only needed to perceive that they were getting orders from Bison in order to get their Dopamine reward.

Turning her head towards the screen, the young technophile watched the broadcast for a bit, her eyes recording the transmission and saving it onto the internal hard drive within her mobile phone. If she could record enough of his speech and rearrange the order of the words, take over the television broadcast station and broadcast Bison giving the civilians commands to exit the city, that would solve the issue of dealing with a mass of chemically addled hillbillies, even if they were under the influence of their own brain chemistry.

"[color=CC8899](There.)[/color]" Katya thought to herself as she finished recording and generating a new jumbled up recording. Looking at her phone's screen, she quickly reviewed the video.

Katya's Bison Video said:
"mY FELL-ow Coloradans! May-or walTer Wite oF NEw MEXiCO haS orDERred hiS TRooPs TO OuR BoRDer! Ass You-r SUPER-EEm LEE-DER, I orDER yoo to wa-LK to the BoRDer and DEF-end the Neo Vega REPuBLIC!"

The young woman frowned at the video. The thing was janky as hell and looked like it had been lifted from Max Headroom himself but it should have been good enough, hopefully. She just needed to test the video out on a mass of these brain dead Bisonites. Of course she just so happened to be standing in the middle of a large group of test subjects. Patching into the Rising Dawn's communications channels, Katya relayed her idea to the rest of her group.

"[color=CC8899][small]Hey kiddies, I've got an idea for moving this mass out of town. I just need to test it on this group here.[/small][/color]" The Rising Dawn's Resident Gamer Girl said over the channel. Turning she noticed the two members of the A/V club standing guard over the projector. "[color=CC8899][small]Ryan... could I borrow Miia for a moment? I need her boobs to distract the Einstein Brothers on the third floor of that apartment building.[/small][/color]"

Katya grinned at this last little bit. It might have been stereotypical but all geeks, Katya included, had a weakness to boobs and fanservice and Miia had the biggest ones and was the most fanservicy in the group. What right and proper honest ubergeek could resist the possibility of getting those melons pressed against them?

Exiting the crowd, the young ubernerd accidentally ran into a woman standing at the entrance of the apartment Katya was going to infiltrate.

"[color=CC8899]Wh00pz13z![/color]" Katya semi-apologized to the artsy fartsy looking dame with the duffel, "[color=CC8899]M@i b@d.[/color]"

The junior member of the Rising Dawn paused for a moment, an uneasy knot having formed in the pit of her stomach, threatening to upend the semi-digested breakfast Pocky right out of Katya's mouth. Standing there for a moment, she waited for the sensation to pass. There was a brief and irrational thought that she was suffering from morning sickness before remembering that one actually had to have sex before one got pregnant. Leaning up against another pillar, Katya turned to the woman with a slight grin on her face.

"[color=CC8899]H31l V3g@! G10r10u5 d@y w3'r3 h@v1ng 15n't 1t? H31l V3g@![/color]" Incognito Katya Rostikova asked the stranger as she waited for Ryan's response.

[hr]

[hr]

During her time aboard the Airship Rising Dawn, it was likely that Naamah had encountered few if any crew members that shared a traditional parent/child relationship so it was unlikely that the Airship recorder had been exposed to proper technique for addressing a young nine-year old female human child. When attempting to make a child follow your directions, you do not, as a general rule of thumb, order the child to stop manhandling you and then proceed to do something that the child would find fascinating to an almost obsessive degree. This includes projecting the images of stars on your skin.

"That... was... amazing..." The nine year old child and future barkeep said almost reverently as she tugged on the midnight scarf to get a better look at the varied stellar images she saw. While there was no way for the technomorph to know this, it had been a secret dream of Ruby's to be one of the founders of the first Martian Colony. If this desire had been allowed to come to fruition, the child magician would have been able to provide her fellow colonists with protective clothing that functioned better than current designs, but weighed the same amount as a standard NASA jumpsuit. Unfortunately for Ruby's hopes and dreams, it was likely that Eddie would never allow this to pass.

"Child, would you stop prodding me with your hands." Came another request that would be ignored.

"Ruby," Rory's singsong voice interjected after recovering from the irk she felt at being referred to as a child, "Naamah is unfortunately quite delicate. If you keep tugging on her she will tear and I don't think even your magic could fix that."

The child paused for a moment before gently releasing the masked mass that had draped itself around the Demi-Goddess' neck. Instead she stroked the soft cloth-like material before stopping. She understood. Naamah was not a toy that could be tugged upon. She could not be used as a tow line on an ice skating rink. She could not be used as an anchor for Ruby to slingshot herself around Miss Rory. She was a scarf that moved much in the way Ruby's own ribbons did, albeit Naamah appeared to move under her own power.

Noticing the slightly down trodden look on the future bartender, tucked a finger under the child's chin and lifted it so that Ruby was looking into the Demi-Goddess' crimson eyes.

"I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure Naamah will let you look at her once she gets to know you." Rory said with a smile as she watched Ruby turn to Eddie.

"[color=5B9C64]My sympathies, young one but it seems you have attracted the attention of a most cruelly apathetic deity. Suffice to say, you live and die for her amusement.[/color]" Said the Metal yet Melodramatic Apostle of Lady Fate, "[color=5B9C64]Something we seem to have in common.[/color]"

Ruby simply looked at the giant and smiled, blissfully ignorant of the ghoulish giant had said rather, the nine year old girl instinctively walked over to the small impish figure that had gone to the fetal position on the floor of the canteen.

"Farber, stop acting silly." Ruby said as she poked the Ish on the side, "We're not going to fall from the sky. The Rising Dawn's only ever done that a few times and that was because someone shot her from the sky! We're totally safe! So get up! I still haven't eaten anything."

Watching the two children restored the smile of Emloy's Apostle to its full wattage. They were just at the beginning of their lives. In time, Rory would see what sort of lives Ruby and Farber had lived... but hopefully for not some time. A shadow fell upon the shortish former Love Goddess.

"[color=5B9C64]So, Rory,[/color]" Eddie had turned to the annoyed demigoth and grinned mischievously, "[color=5B9C64]Guess your wish came true, eh?[/color]"

"I know better than to make a wish when it involves you, Eddie." Rory said, returning the mischievous smile with one of her own, "The wishes you help grant often come with a heavy price. I'll say that I'm not unhappy with your Goddess' decree but I pity the mortals on this ship. Soon they won't be able to hide behind the rule of three."

She felt a slight amount of pity for Doctor Violet. He'd only met Eddie a few minutes prior and he was already down to two strikes.

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