Current Energy: 2
Current Training:
Magic Resistance (7/10)
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
City Center, Canberra
"Can you make another gap?" You send to your Master carefully, even as you pivot to allow a piece of debris to burst across your back instead of slamming into her head.
She merely groans in response, stumbling slightly from your grip to weakly pull her sword upward, ripping open a Gap infront of her. The motion isn't quick or singular, as her usual Gap creations are. It is anemic at best, a slight nick in the surface of reality that slowly expands to match the typical size of one of your Masters portals.
"Good. Take her back to Brockton Bay. I'll stay to make sure the Simurgh is driven back," Alexandria quickly puts forth, apparently having managed to regain her composure and return to giving commands.
"That will not be neccessary," you negate, helping your Master stumble into her own gap, which quickly seals behind her.
"Her Oathbound remain, so I too shall stay. Taylor will recover shortly to assist." You state bluntly, turning and drawing Gram from your back for perhaps the first time in this fight.
Your originally orders from the PRT were very clear. Neither you, nor your team, were to directly engage the Simurgh in any capacity. Prior to this, you had held to that. You had defended, dodged, and otherwise done your utmost to stay out of the line of fire.
However, as all good Heroes quickly learn, there comes a time when following orders ceases to be practical.
"You don't understand, if she can disrupt the Simurgh even temporarily, she's a strategic asset. We can't afford-" Alexandria begins to explain.
You feel for the woman, you really do. As far as you can tell, she has spent her entire adult life defending this country, and in the case of the Endbringers - the world. In return, her political station has been stripped from her, those who once supported her ridicule her, and through no fault of her own, this very battle has gone so far off the rails as to constitute a nearly complete failure.
From your point of view, Alexandria is an example of how one can do everything right - and fail anyway.
"Be at ease, Alexandria," you state, the heroic moment - and yes, you are aware that you can be sort of a dork at times like this - getting to you.
Dramatically, you flare your cape outward while brandishing Gram, while gazing fondly at your embattled comrades in the distance as they draw ever closer to the Simurgh. Whatever effect Magic Resistance has had on the foul creature, the Simurgh has clearly changed strategies, having shifted from a wide area barrage to a continuous stream of attacks directed at your Oathbound.
"We are here," you declare, before crouching downward and finally cutting loose.
It should be noted, at this point, that your average Saber servant is capable of moving at speeds roughly comparable to a fighter jet. They are capable of feats of strength and precision that would easily rank them among the greatest capes alive, including the Triumvirate, and they often have the martial skill to match it.
Your current Emulation is not an average Saber Servant. He is, in many ways, the peak of what it is to be a Saber. He is faster and stronger than nearly any other member of his class, with few exceptions.
And that is before the powerful multiplicative enchantment your Master wove about you.
So when you say you cut loose, what you mean is that the you moved from where you were, to where your team was, quickly enough to cause the very air to boil in your wake.
After getting some distance from Alexandria of course.
"Welcome to the party! We got rocks-" Trainwreck yells at you as you arrive, smashing an incoming building and then pivoting to his shoulder absorbs another such attack instead of Oliver.
"-rocks, and if you wait a minute, chicken!" He yells at you boisterously.
"Ohshitohshitohshit-" is Olivers terrified greeting as he continues to frantically swing his rifle about to fire at anything that he can draw a bead on.
"Come friends! I shall clear a path!" You reply, rocketing forward once more. A grin spreading across your face as you hone in on the eyeless visage of the Simurgh.
Somehow, it doesn't look quite so smug as before.
You are not delicate during this charge. You are strong, and you are fast, and you must be the vanguard. So you use everything at your disposal, your blistering speed allowing you to use your body, your throwing knives, and Gram, to blitz the Endbringer, creating a clear path through the debris for your team.
As you travel, you just barely make out the terrified form of Greg, his mask ripped asunder, picking his way forward through the city.
But you have no time to check on him, as you raise Gram in a moment of pure bliss, ready to cleave the Simurghs machine in twain and-
And you find yourself flying past her, then quickly slammed into the ground by an airborne building as she turns, causing you to move through the gap between herself and the machine - a sprayer of some kind, with an unhealthy green substance in a clear tank at its center.
Grunting, you push yourself upward, throwing away the rubble above you and quickly dodging out of the way of another, similar attack. Off to one side, you can see that your team has arrived in the moment of safety you provided them, and have proceeded to engage the creature, which dodges graceful around many their attacks.
Many would be frustrated at this moment.
Many would probably not understand that for the most part, the Simurgh doesn't dodge.
Attacks simply do not hit her.
Emboldened, you press the attack, launching yourself forward once more to stand with your team.
"Where's Taylor?" Parian asks you between short pants, obviously tired from the excessive running about. She is not as accustomed to pitched combat as the others. Even Oliver spends more time preparing to fight than she.
You resolve to ensure she makes it home safe, just like everyone else.
"In a Gap, recovering. How strong can you make your thread?" You ask suddenly.
"...why?" She asks cautiously while Trainwreck distracts the Endbringer, Oliver having dismounted from his back to run counterclockwise around it, providing him with covering fire.
"I require a means to catch myself when she dodges, or I fear I'll be sent past the horizon." You admit. There really isn't anything else for it. At the speeds you move, not having anything to catch yourself on can be dangerous, especially against an airborne foe.
Typically you could use Runes to circumvent this difficulty your energy reserves are... painfully low. You can't afford to waste even a single point of power unless it will guarantee your success.
Parian purses her lips in response to your question, but obviously doesn't have much time to think. Quickly, she gestures at the knit representation of your current form, which ralidly unknits itself into a bundle of freefloating threads, that then reweave themselves into a several foot long cloth rope.
"I can only hold it together if you stay in my range. If you get to far it'll tear," she warns you as she has it float towards you.
"Much appreciated," you respond, quickly winding the rop around one of your daggers.
Now then. You just have to destroy the machine, and then distract the Simurgh long enough for your Master to recover and kill it.
That shouldn't be too hard.
Should it?
] Write-In Plan. (Please include a plan name, total energy expenditure, etc etc.)
Last edited: Mar 11, 2021
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Bowler Hat Guy
Mar 11, 2021
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Threadmarks PHO Interlude, by Robo Jesus (Canon)
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Robo Jesus
Robo Jesus
Your Mechanical Messiah
CrW Moderator
Mar 12, 2021
#30,037
Spoiler: Omake Comments
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Topic: Panda Gang, Thread III
In: Boards Places America Brockton Bay
Prytaneic Priest (Original Poster)
Posted on February 1st, 2011:
Alright people, let Daddy post the rules so our Mother of Tin doesn't need to, and so we can avoid the issues of the previous threads.
First off, keep swearing to a minimum. I can understand when certain topics come up, you'll get heated and let loose a word or two in the heat of the moment. However, we need to set a standard better than our foes. Also, it'll help when I or another moderator for the thread need to see when to get involved.
Two, NO SHIPPING. Not only is this not the thread for that, it is beneath us to try and meddle in the affairs of others. In addition to this, Staff have made it clear that anyone caught shipping given the ages involved WILL be thread-banned for a week to start with, with it getting worse for repeat offenders (Staff have made it clear that if past incidents pop up again that the threads will be counted under the Three Strikes Rule, and none of us want that, including Staff). During which you will miss out.
Three, in this thread, you might be allowed to go off on hare brained tangents, but it shall not devolve past the point of no return. If we can't back track and find the thread of logic, it's time to stop. This is mostly so that people don't get TOO off topic with planning Group events and other such things.
Four, no treating Nexus as our new God Queen. She might have the power for it, but she doesn't have the inclination. Period. I personally went over and ASKED Aspirant myself. And given they work pretty closely together, that means no. She isn't going to rule over us like Arthur did the Britons.
Now, get posting.
(Showing Page 16 of 37)
Judge (Moderator)
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
I think it's time to cool your heels there little Miss Unicorn. This is your second offense. You will be in major trouble for a third offense and not just removed from this thread permanently. Do not start this argument again.
Sothoth
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
The question you need to ask @KFPeein is who profits off of this like you claimed?
eighteenzombies (nomnomnom)
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
So are they actually calling themselves a gang, or was that bit added in by others to tar them and their reputation?
OnTheBay
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
Hmm, a thread Bagrat didn't make? The god queen bit seems a bit odd @Prytaneic Priest. I mean, yeah, Nexus is powerful, but the highest praise she has gotten is I think "baby Eidolon" and she hasn't really done a lot. The times she goes ham she goes ham, but besides shooting Purity out of the skies nobody has really seen her do anything. Maybe "Lady" instead with her living in a castle or "Sorcerer Queen" for the way it just freaking popped into existence one day.
Anyways, to get back on topic, @eighteenzombies, it seems to be that they aren't being treated as an actual gang, but more of an afterschool club. Less drugs and violence, more helping each other with homework. Besides who would call a gang Panda gang if they wanted to be the usual type? It is pretty much the most sedate animal out there.
Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
@OnTheBay - Yeah, Priest beat me in making the thread. The guy's a big fan from what we all know, but thankfully not Void_Cowboy levels of bad. Still bad though.:p
I have to wonder if Aspirant is going to be giving classes to the PRT or Police in the city soon.
Also, on February 7th, Nexus captured the Butcher. So I wouldn't say she hasn't done anything.
@Sothoth - The discussion here is starting to go offtopic.
Hobknob
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
I doubt it Bagrat. Officially it's because capes like Crane The Harmonious and Teacher made it too risky for that sort of thing in general, even if it would be useful. Unofficially, it's because a lot of laws have been crafted to limit Parahuman options and force them into either illegal activities (which the authorities can then use to force them to do what they want when 'caught') or to PRT/Protectorate control.
KFPeein
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
@Sothoth: You have to admit that the land owners are making a LOT of money with recent events.
@OnTheBay: People might say that Pandas are nice and friendly and laid back, and then you get Nexus involved and then suddenly BAM!, Kung Fu Panda out of fucking nowhere!
Aspirant (Verified Cape) (Oathbound)
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
Classes are open to anyone who wants to join and can agree to leave personal grudges outside the doors.
Prytaneic Priest
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
@OnTheBay: Several reasons for it. One. Hyperbole and Exaggeration.
Two. I know more than a few normally staunch Americans making serious comments on their desire for Nexus to rule the Bay.
Three. I've been unlucky enough to have seen her in action. She's not Eidolon-lite. She's... Different...
I mean... She kinda HASN'T lost access to her powers yet, and I think I heard somewhere that they can't be turned off by that new Trump. REALLY close to rumors though, so you can go ahead and dismiss them.
Satan's Meatpuppet (Veteran Poster)
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
We're starting to get offtopic here, let's get back on topic.
End of Page. 1, … 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, … 37
(Showing Page 33 of 37)
Prytaneic Priest
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
@ExplodingPineapples: Nono, that makes a certain amount of sense. Does anybody in the Bay want to meet up by the Graveyard? One of my friends still has a Nexus Tag, so I don't think we have anything to actually worry about.
ExplodingPineapples
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
Yo @Prytaneic Priest, I'm down. Ain't afraid of no ghostss! :D
Hobknob
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
… how the fuck did your 'friends' end up with something like that?
Goopy
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
@Hobknob: IIRC Nexus handed them out earlier this week to the leaders of the Panda Gang during lunch at Winslow before leaving to who knows where.
...I guess they were distributed accordingly?
OnTheBay
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
You kids seriously need to get yourselves some sort of clubhouse. Meeting up in the Graveyard works I guess, but it is like having a meeting in a field of tetanus. And that is discounting the crazy gangers running around convinced that the Merchants or the Teeth are going to make some sort of triumphant return.
Apparently you got some sort of tinker tech teleportation device (can't believe she is just handing those out to high schoolers), but stay safe and listen to that patent Brockton Bay survival instinct.
BloodSoaked Unicorn
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
Nexus did hand out Tags to people at her school. Most of them being 'Gap tags' if I remember correctly. And yeah @OnTheBay, some in the PRT aren't 'happy' about that from what I've heard, but the Protectorate for the most part doesn't care, and neither does anyone else with any sense. Of course, the PRT have been going after those few who've been trying to buy and sell the things, which is amusing given the people involved are thinking they can pull one over Nexus on that, which is stupid given she made the things, they can only be used once, and she's cunning enough to lure in idiots and fools.
Nexus is not stupid, and wouldn't give easy access to critical things.
Goomba
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
WOAH, WOAH, WOAH, Nexus is doing WHAT now?! I can absolutely believe the PRT arent happy about this! Have these teleportation devices been tested thoroughly by a trusted third party? Are there safeguards to prevent injury/death? I don't know about you guys, but this honestly looks VERY irresponsible to me. Is Nexus trying to get herself CRIMINALLY CHARGED when something inevitably goes wrong?! And there are people suposedly trying to BUY these things???? Are they NUTS?!
ExplodingPineapples
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
Chillax Goomba, overreact much? Afaik no one sold anything as we're not lame-o's! FYI its one-use magic paper made by Nexus that she mucho limited to spit you out to a spot of her choosing. Not fancy tech, more like disposable Dauntless gear amirite? Nexus portals constantly, so prettty safe fwiw. :)
Goomba
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
Ah, so these devices aren't even REAL tinketech, but a power masquerading as pseudotech. WOW @ExplodingPineapples, I feel SO much better. /s
Don't give me that BULL about magic. Nexus APPEARS to believe in this made up voodoo junk, but that doesn't mean you have to follow HER example! You are TEENAGERS and it's not a question of IF but WHEN you manage to LOSE or BLOW UP one of these devices.
EnergyEngineer
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
They may be teenagers but at least give them some credit Goomba.
End of Page. 1, … 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, … 37
Topic: Previous Attacks linked to Events at Endbringer Shelter
In: Boards Places America Brockton Bay
IUH (Original Poster)
Posted on February 10th, 2011:
So there's been a number of attacks happening around the Bay, with a lot of unexplained kidnappings and disappearances. People are worrying that it may be a repeat of the Boston Games, and the kidnappings and disappearances have a lot of people spooked.
EDIT; There's been some confirmed attacks on civilians, mostly focused around kidnappings and abductions, and a LOT of rumors going around.
Second EDIT; We have confirmation that Mouse Protector is one of the people involved in the attacks/kidnappings/disappearances.
Third EDIT; Unless Mouse Protector has some unexplained triplets, we're likely dealing with a Master of some sort. Maybe even a biotinker or cloner or evil-alternate universe portals or something (and no jokes about).
Fourth EDIT; PRT has confirmed that there was an S-class situation involving 'evil murderous clones'. And I hate that I can say that seriously with a straight face, wtf. Here is a link to the official statement.
Fifth EDIT; One of Mouse Protector's 'evil' clones was spotted in her home territory (away from Brockton Bay, though no one knows for certain if rumors of Mouse joining up with Nexus are just gossip or have something to them). No one knows if any other evil clones are running loose. If you spot anything, report it to the authorities. Don't try and handle it yourselves.
Sixth EDIT; Yes, there are still some evil clones wandering around. While the majority of them were present in the fight that took place in the basements and sewers of Brockton Bay, there's been confirmation that there were others that weren't, and this is a big part of why the PRT made a public statement. Do not attack heroes and start claiming they're clones people. If you see anything odd, make reports to the PRT hotlines and don't get involved if you can help it. Let the authorities deal with this stuff.
(Showing Page 40 of 53)
Crypter Olympia (Unverified Cape) (Power Guru)
Posted on February 14th, 2011:
So… We had a possible Nilbog 2.0 who creates cape clones, WITH POWERS, in the same city we have people like Nexus, Dauntless, Panacea etc.
It's official, the bay is fucked and I'm moving to live with my uncle in Canberra. Can't be worse than here. Good luck to all of you.
Saline Miner
Posted on February 14th, 2011:
@CrypterOlympia, Nooooo Don't leave! Brockton's getting better! Nexus will Ascend to her rightful place, and make the Bay better again!
DaFuk
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
So wait, the attacks from a few days ago were linked to the shit here?
HotterLass
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Unfortunately it seems so. I mean, I don't think Mouse Protector is secretly part of a cape triplets and the attack on that apartment building was some fucked up S9 shit
HeroOfLoveAndJustice
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Oh god? Does anybody know if MP is okay? I don't want the best hero to die!
Tiger98
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
@HeroOfLoveAndJustice
Best Mouse is ok. PRT claimed that they rescued all the trapped capes that were being cloned.
Crypter Olympia (Unverified Cape) (Power Guru)
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
@Saline Miner - How is that a good thing!? You make it sound like she's going to turn into a god and wave her hand and everything is better?! I've lived in this city for most of my life. I've fought for it for a long time too, and one thing I can always say is that when things start looking up in the bay, it comes just before a meteoric fall.
Do you want an example? Marquis gets taken down, and not long after, we got Lung.
@Tiger98 - Not enough people actually read news articles, instead just looking at the headlines. It's kind of sad at this point. :(
Saline Miner
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
@Crypter Olympia, That's because Nexus isn't a power hungry jackass like Marquis, actually spends her time at least TRYING to get somewhere, and is dedicated to the people that need her. If she were to ask the people of Brockton, I'd bet you they'd accept her rule, and do so happily!
That's not exactly a great example there Madame. The world runs on ups and downs. This will be a most Meteoric rise, until the fall of America. Then something new shall rise from its ashes, a true utopia. A place where things will merely rock gently back and forth instead of this hellish vortex of Power.
Zcree
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Can we get back on topic people? Please? I don't want this thread locked due to people having a thirty page offtopic argument about whether Nexus makes the best pancakes or would be a better god queen, so can we please stay on topic?
Dionysus (Finds The Best Booze)
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
A round of drinks to our fair heroes for their efforts in saving the day!
End of Page. 1, … 39, 39, 40, 41, 42 … 53
(Showing Page 53 of 53)
Antigone
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Imagine if the Butcher was cloned by this monster. What would happen then? No idea.
Mechanical_Messiah (Veteran Member)
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Apparently some of the rumors that were being spread were via cellphones from some of the people at the attack, though there's been rumors of some clones fucking with things as well. That's… going to make confirming some things difficult, especially if it continues.
Maíron
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
So the huge army of capes came from a giant monster that ate people and spit out their bizarro world counterparts?
I knew powers could get weird, but that is a whole 'nother level body horror mind-fuck that I would rather not think about ever again.
I'm just glad whatever the hell that thing was stopped before it could go full Endbringer on Brockton. No-one needs another one of those abominations running around, especially not one that can make an army out of freaking Alexandria if it grabs her.
@Antigone - Clone the Butcher? Hell no!
Crypter Olympia (Unverified Cape) (Power Guru)
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Does anybody have confirmation on the rumour that Nexus and her new buddy, big guy with sword, again, took down an army of capes. By themselves. Including like a dozen Alexandrias'?
Throwaway Account #54466 (Unverified Cape)
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Nah. I can guarantee it wasn't a dozen Alexandrias. Some other Cape that got eaten , that had powers remarkably similar to hers that Nexus had managed to exterminate with prejudice.
Wyrmling
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Wait, you were there? We need more details! Spill them for us! :D
Throwaway Account #54466 (Unverified Cape)
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Haha, no.
End of Page. 1, … 51, 52, 53
Topic: Nexus, thread IV
In: Boards Parahumans Heroes
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted on February 3rd, 2011:
This discussion thread is for the Independant Hero known as Nexus, who first appeared in Brockton Bay on January 3rd, 2011. She was outed by the Undersiders, a supervillain team operating in Brockton Bay, on January 29th, 2011, where it was revealed not only who she was (though her trigger event was semi-publicly known by that point anyways), but also that the former Ward Shadow Stalker was involved in her trigger event.
Nexus is a Master/Trump, whose main power appears to be the creation of a secondary being known as "Emmy", who has powers and a personality of their own and who can permanently share their powers with their Master, Nexus. Emmy also tends to take new forms every so often, with new powers and abilities, though all of their forms seem to share the ability to become invisible and intangible. We also have confirmation that Emmy is a "Projection" created by Nexus' power, despite the fact that they are intelligent and aware, not a human who's been influenced/changed as was first believed.
These are the known forms that Emmy has taken:
1. "Line Drive", a Brute/Mover/Blaster. Known for the laughing skull symbol when they start tearing into things and going all out. LINK.
2. The Kung Fu Panda (Yes, we're being serious) known as "Po", a Brute/Striker. Was a big part of starting the "Panda" school group at Winslow High in Brockton Bay, as well as acting as a friendly super-powered hall monitor. LINK.
3. Pretty Scary Eyes Lady (seriously, do we have a name for her yet?), a Mover/Tinker/Trump. Mostly known for Portals and the ability to make items with powers of their own like Dauntless. It's suspected this also might be linked to the GIGANTIC CASTLE out of nowhere. LINK.
4. "Oscar", a Shaker. Known for creating green energy projections (didn't get involved in any noticeable incidents beyond helping the Protectorate with The Butcher, which a lot of details are still unclear on, but he did talk with students at Winslow a lot, hence why people know anything about this form at all). EDIT: There is some video of Oscar and Nexus fighting a "brute stranger" outside of Fleur's old home, but very little is known about what actually went down there.LINK.
5. Big European Guy with Sword, Daggers, and Glasses (Why was he punching the knives?!). Actual "Name" and "power(s)" unknown at this time. LINK.
Nexus has also created an organization she's calling the "Oathbound" (thread link HERE), and members include:
Nexus
Emmy
Trainwreck
Aspirant
Parian
Huntsman
Nexus is well known for the "Skadoosh" and "Time's Up!" memes. She currently owns a literal Castle known as "The Heap", which has become a very well known location in Brockton Bay given its size and the fact it literally appeared out of thin air in a single day.
(Showing Page 28 of 42)
YesNoMaybe! (Schrödinger's Answer)
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
Goomba I dunno man, this is starting to feel like it's moving into offtopic discussion territory.
Jamestownsend
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
@Filonis Please, please, stop shipping with Nexus with her own projection.
Ibat (Moderator)
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
@Filonis, I have to second that request for you to stop. Nexus is underaged. If you continue, you will be punished. Consider this an official Staff warning not to perv on teenagers.
Prytaneic Priest
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
Yes I did visit Aspirant @Dragish. He runs a Dojo for people that need help defending themselves. Heck, one of my aunts goes there. Dude was pretty laid back, though... I don't think he was all there with me, you know? Only saw something like that in one of my neighbors that lived during the Slaughterhouse's visit.
Ack Where was I... Ah, yeah. When I asked, because I wanted to make sure she didn't want the Worship/Leadership, Aspirant said she really didn't plan on... Anything really. She basically wants to live her life as she is.
Shillelagh
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
@Prytaneic Priest - Did you go there to suck his dick too? Or did you manage to suck out Nexus's farts. Jeeze, you make them sound like they're saints or something.
Crypter Olympia (Unverified Cape) (Power Guru)
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
WTF @Shillelagh, seriously that's a bit of a brutal reaction. @Prytaneic Priest is just giving an opinion, no need to go for a slap down. Plus, the same guys who help save the Protectorate, and the city from Nazis, I think they deserve being seen in a good light.
And I got a similar response when I went to Parian's shop and asked about Nexus. Before being thrown out for not actually intending to buy anything.
Xamurai1 (Kyushu Survivor)
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
Ok I have something that may or not be true that a lot of people might find interesting. My son goes to school in Winslow and he recently joined that Panda Gang (thank god he did not join the now defunct ABB) and my mother was invited with her friends to visit the shrine which was built deep in the old ABB teritory to pray for some of her old friends and my worrywart of a son gave this tag that made her grip my son shakely.
Worried, I checked on why(because I was watching TV) and saw my mother cry tears of joy as she asked where did my son get an honest to god ofuda.
To those who don't know, ofudas are basically paper talismans most commonly used by Onmyouji or what can be considered a combination of exorcists, spirit mediums, shamans, druids and even act as prophets that predict weather and communicate with the land gods and even the Shinto gods.
I know I'm rambling and all but if you ever touched one of the ofudas Nexus casually distributes freely there is something there like a weight if you focus intently on it like it's… something supernatural or such, heck the characters and language written on the stuff is really, really old, like a dead form of language old. I barely understood a word or two on it and that's because my family lived in Kyoto and I studied there for a few years before moving to Kyushu till a certain sea monster sank the island.
I know you guys would start the stuff about magic not being real and such but I'll point out again those magic nuts out there's reasoning: if superpowers are real, why not magic?
Though now I'm spending my time bonding with my mother digging information and wildly guessing if that woman Nexus's projection have taken form of was either a powerful foreign Onmyouji or Miko with a powerful familiar that has countless creepy eyes that lives in an alternate space or a powerful youkai that may or may not have been famous and recorded in our history or Aleph
Btw the youkai vote is winning because of how unnerving she is and… supernaturally hot.
Edit 1: My wife slapped me with that comment, and I don't regret it. Even she agreed with me in the end cause she was one of the salesladies that one time Glory Girl and her dragged Nexus to buy some clothes.
Randojokus
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
@Xamurai1: So what you're saying is that Nexus is magic? I can buy it lol. This thread is turning out to be almost as much fun as the "Weld is a racist robot" thread was.
Nekro1Mage_User (Cape Groupie) (Mystic Nerd)
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
Ok I got curious on @Xamurai1's post, so I did my own digging about Onmyouji and cross-referenced the information I found both in Earth Bet's and Aleph's. I don't want to flood the whole page so I'll just say that if what I found is true, we may be underestimating what Nexus can do.
Btw I know we haven't got a testimony from Nexus and the Oathbound about how that castle popped into existence, but from what I researched(even if it's basically myths and such), that castle may have been done by that Hot Noble Lady(calling it!) and it may even be a casual work done in a mix of shit and giggles to gobsmack us filthy plebeians alongside her concern on Nexus.
BESTUSERNAME
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
@Nekro1Mage_User: Ehhhh, that's what the "Trump" classification is for. I believe PRT and Police handbooks list it as "Shit gets weird, expect powers to pop up or disappear or messed with, ask for further info later". Good enough for me!
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RocksFall (Veteran Member)
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
@HeroOfLoveAndJustice - If you're making a wishlist of powers that go well with her current powerset, at least try to make it realistic.
Seriously, look at one of the items on your list. Emmy form with the power to create a sentient projection that has one of the following power-sets? Dude, it's hard enough believing she has a supposedly aware projection. You really think she can get a second one? :rofl: Wouldn't Nexus just skip the middleman and have her projection change to this sentient projection instead? :lol:
Also, we have zero evidence that her projection can get any possible power or ability. Speculation is nice and all, but come on man.
Prytaneic Priest
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Honestly, I'm curious on how Nexus's powers actually work. I mean… If you look at them, they clearly run off of a logic inherent TO them, but they're strange.
BlueCattle
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
No one but Nexus herself knows, but the few things we know she can do for certain all seem to be abilities based off of whatever "Emmy's" form can do. We don't know if the powers/abilities are the exact same or weaker, and Nexus isn't saying anything.
A previous Nexus thread came up with a pretty popular theory that argues "Emmy's" powers/abilities will swap into something she needs whenever "Emmy" changes form. A different thread came up with a theory that "Emmy" is a non-sentient projection that acts human because either it's an elaborate puppet show or it's being controlled by a delusional split personality of Nexus. Another theory argues that "Emmy" is actually an evil eldritch sockpuppet out to steal children's soles. No, not their 'souls', but the 'soles' of their shoes. No comment from Nexus of course.
Kitten, Destroyer Of Worlds
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
@BlueCattle: Has anyone actually tried asking her, if not then it''s really not that Nexus isn''t saying anything as much as no one has bothered asking. Or we could check with the PRT for their public analysis of her powers, they''re bound to have done that.
BlueCattle
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
@Kitten, Destroyer Of Worlds
You can look it up on youtube, but some schmuck got destroyed on live television after he tried asking "Emmy" about Nexus's powers. Funny thing, the reporter previously tried asking Nexus if she's single during her adhoc press conference.
ConcernedCapybara
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Is anyone getting the feeling it's only a matter of time until the Youth Guard reaches out to Nexus and the Oathbound? I understand the Youth Guard is super busy looking after the Wards' welfare, but they aren't limited to the PRT and they do contact any parahuman team with heroic minors. By all accounts Nexus has a life that doesn't revolve around being a cape, which I'm positive the Youth Guard is super happy about. I am surprised she is still attending that school, but I guess the environment would have drastically improved for her by now.
Nexus previously talked about how her team is a union and wants to make sure parahumans can live free from conscription and conflict. The Youth Guard also acts like a union and I am positive they can find common ground to help look out for all minors on her team. Seems like a win-win to me!
HeroOfLoveAndJustice
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
@RocksFall, if Emmy is sentient then that breaks everything we know about powers. So I've stopped ruling stuff out cause Nexus does what Nexus wants. Face it, Nexus is the second coming of Dauntless and Eidolon.
@BlueCattle, still better speculation than the infamous "Weld is a racist robot" thread.:D:p
@ConcernedCapybara, why get those out of touch busybodies involved? Cause god knows they will try babyproofing the Oathbound.
RocksFall (Veteran Member)
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
After the Shadow Stalker incident, I think the Youth Guard will pay more attention to the Wards ENE in particular. The Y.G. has an established method for reaching out to the PRT, but not for the Oathbound. Yes, I agree that someone from the Y.G. will reach out at some point. But I think it is unlikely they will rush it unless, for example, Nexus suddenly recruits middle schoolers.
@HeroOfLoveAndJustice - Yes, I agree Nexus is powerful. We got the message based on people claiming she is a Triumvirate tier. But maybe tone down the barrage of overhype?
First, we don't know what exactly happened during this S-Class situation. Do you really think the Triumvirate or other capes would just let Nexus take on all these clones alone? Surely she wouldn't be crazy enough to face an army single-handedly, right? :wat:
I find it worrying that people can readily believe this rumor without official confirmation. Sure, there's a chance that some part of the rumor is true, but I think it is more plausible that the Triumvirate did the bulk of the work with Nexus playing a supportive but crucial role. Remember, they have more experience than her. But if the rumor is true, that begs the question: how on earth did Nexus manage to kill these Alexandria-like clones?! And more importantly, who has oversight over her?
Second, I agree Nexus has potential. But if Dauntless and Eidolon have limitations and drawbacks, then I wouldn't be surprised if she does so as well. Sure, we suspect Dauntless will eventually surpass the Triumvirate, but no one knows if his power will level off at some point. I acknowledge that so far Nexus's projection had amazing power-sets. But we have no evidence that her projection can get any possible power. And similar to Dauntless we don't know if there is a limit to how many powers she can receive from her projection. Speaking of her projection, if it keeps getting new forms, I also wouldn't necessarily rule out her projection getting a complete dud of a powerset. Or worse, a powerset that is uncontrollable and/or actively monstrous. You cannot deny it would be a drawback if Nexus got an actively hindering power from her projection or if she had to carry around a deadweight for some time.
To summarize, we still don't know enough about her power. Yes, she is more powerful than Dauntless, but until we have more concrete evidence, I think it is too early to tell if Nexus can stand among the best.
Randojokus
Posted on February 15th, 2011:
Hey guy with a sword again and this time he is hotter than the previous guy with the sword. Does this mean that Nexus has a type of man she likes because this definitely says a lot about her power if it does
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Topic: Cute Animals, Thread #23
In: Boards Watercooler Talk
M.Night (Original Poster) (Moderator)
Posted on January 18th, 2011:
So we all know that kitties and cats and other cute animals are awesome and make us all go awww, so here is our thread to link to neat videos and pictures and clips of them being adorable fuzzballs. :D
Anyways, here's the threadtax.:D
Unlikely Friends!
(Showing Page 9 of 9)
OnTheBay
Posted on February 7th, 2011:
the cutest stampede
God I needed this daily dose of cute. You go aww at them coming down the corridor, then he opens the door AND THERE IS EVEN MORE OF THEM.
Sidenote I didn't know guinea pigs came in so many colors, like I was sorta abstractly aware of it but I haven't ever had it shoved in my face like this
(Thoroughly Broken) (Temporarily Banned)
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
Here! Have sum nice flooffy animalz!:D
Mod EDIT; Link Removed. No. Just No. Take a short Ban. -Tin Mother
Good_Girl
Posted on February 8th, 2011:
The Sound Of Music. :D:p
HeroOfLoveAndJustice
Posted on February 9th, 2011:
A Very Polite Kitty
One Dimensional Devil
Posted on February 10th, 2011:
Has anyone else seen these videos of Baby Pandas and their Nannies?
Some of the cutest things I've ever seen:
Link
End of Page. 1, … 7, 8, 9
Topic: Random Rumors In The Bay #39 (Thread Locked)
In: Boards Places America Brockton Bay
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted on December 4th, 2010:
So we all know a lot of weird and strange things happen in the Bay, and this is the thread for talking about it. Also, unless you post pics/videos/links, we're treating everything posted in this thread as rumors. Also, DO NOT talk about rumors about Cape Identities. Those are off limits and against PHO's rules. Do not get this thread locked like the last one.
(Showing Page 74 of 88)
Cancirog
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
Yo so I'm part of the crews working on Nexus' base, turning the whole place into a new Mall, and I just wanted to tell you some news… Fugly Bobs is opening a Heap Branch!
Here's a list of some of the signature dishes the workers are trying to propose to the owner for the Heap Branch:
1. The Train-car, a series of containers with fries, onion rings, chicken tenders, and hush puppies all connected (they went with making the containers look like traincar thingies and linking those, not the food).
2. The Chimera Sandwich with one of every meat the kitchen has.
3. Nexus Gumbo, a big bowl of Gumbo with sliders on the side, every time Nexus gets a new projection they are gonna have a contest for ideas for the next slider and the gumbo has bits from all of them.
4. Panda Bites, it's a plate of sliders with white and black sauces.
5. Healers Choice, the one salad in the whole menu.
6. The Dollhouse Dessert, which is basically different desserts in a container that looks a bit like a doll house.
7. The Soul Crusher, it's basically a challenger but the bread has been replaced with 2 massive Steaks and the whole thing is dripping with steak sauce.
Sam_the_man (Veteran Poster)
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
@Cancirog - Oh God No. :eek:
Filonis
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
@Cancirog @Sam_the_man Oh God Yes! :D
StrtzOfBrctn
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
@Cancirog: It's like the atherosclerosis is leaking through the screen. Probably going to be eating there though, I work in the area. Heard there might be a chinese food place in the food court as well, so some options at least.
So story time kids, and this one's weird, it's apropos the Heap though. Anybody noticed how clean the area around it has gotten recently? Like not in a "this is a nice neighborhood" way, but in a "this place is eerily clean" way. I should know, seeing as my occasional day job is city cleaner. Like, trash and pigeon shit and stuff like that just seemed to not be there anymore. As far as I know nobody else is being paid 7.50 an hour to clean the place so where tf is it going? You can't convince me that Nexus made the birds stop shitting on the streets close to her, that just doesn't make any gd sense
Whatever is causing it is going to make us city cleaners have knife fights in the streets to get it as our beat. City still pays for someone to clean it, so getting it is basically like being paid to have a nice walk.
HeroOfLoveAndJustice
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
@Cancirog, The Soul Crusher sounds worth the heart attack.
@StrtzOfBrctn, do you really want to question what our lovely overlord Nexus can do? Sentient panda, eye portals, 'magic', magically giant castle, the list goes on. I've stopped questioning this shit (Excuse my french) and am learning to live with it. I suggest you do the same.
ThatInsaneGuy
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
So a bit of a random comment. Earlier this week I saw Uber and Leet having a pie fight with a small fairy clown dressed in a suit looking like the American flag. It was weird, even for Uber and Leet. Especially as they were dressed like Samurai at the time before the fairy pulled out a 'pie bazooka' and started chasing them around with it. The thing that makes it really weird is the pies were real, and not holograms.
Prytaneic Priest
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
@StrtzOfBrctn: The bird crap and stuff's likely because it's a 'magic' castle. Wouldn't be too surprised if it had cleaning methods that don't involve people or robots coming to clean it up. Like, say, a field around it where anything inorganic not on a Whitelist gets immediately transferred/transformed into something else, if not destroyed completely.
StrtzOfBrctn
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
@Prytaneic Priest: Sure thing Myrddin. That sounds like some straight up horrifying tinker tech to me, so I guess I'm giving up my favourite beat. I'm not saying I'm shit, but I ain't stepping a foot into a 'field that transforms stuff automatically', that's like asking to be turned into dust on the wind.
@HeroOfLoveAndJustice: Everyone knows tinkers are bullshit, but I didn't think she was a tinker. What I have heard call her discount Eidolon, which is already a pretty insane amount of power for a 15 year old, but I didn't think Eidolon ever tinkered…. Don't really see why he couldn't though, he has 'every power' right? Just doesn't seem right.
@ThatInsaneGuy: There was a thread about thatt weird rumor a while ago, so you're super late with that.
Prytaneic Priest
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
@StrtzOfBrctn: Oh chill out.:) Nexus's Tinker Tech is currently Ink and Paper. If it goes fucky, it's in the Initial stages, and she's more likely to figure out it went wrong pretty damn quickly, what with it being HER tinkertech.
@HeroOfLoveAndJustice: Ah, a fellow Brocktonite! Greetings from your fellow Insane Asylum patient!
Spot3Cerberus
Posted on February 12th, 2011:
I'm going to derail this argument in the making and just report that I was at the Heap earlier today and I didn't turn to dust. The streets look clean, though I can't really say if they are "eerily clean".
That's not why I'm posting though. My day went from great, to horrific, to odd and then back to alright again, it has been a rollercoaster. So for some context, I'm hispanic and ever since the blight that is the E88 blew itself up (and may the remnants rot) me and my girlfriend thought that we could be a bit more open about our relationship. If you haven't guessed already she's white.
Today started with me sleeping over at her place. Everything is idyllic, like some fairytale morning straight from a tv show. I get myself breakfast and leave, thinking I'm going to go to work. Then when I step outside my girlfriend's some guy is leaning against the wall down the hall. Now I don't know this dude, but going by him being a big white dude, with no hair, and a turtleneck that can't just quite cover what looks like a bent tattoo on his neck I can pretty much figure where this is going. He is also looking at me like he hates my guts. So I book it.
Dude follows me. Of course he fucking follows me, hollering shit at me and implying stuff, I look back and the fucker has a knife holy shit. This just went from I might get beat up to I might legit die. I thought this shit was behind us, but I guess this dude don't get his sadistic urges taken care of by his compatriots anymore so he picked me to fuck up.
I vault out the window of the building (thank god it's on the first floor) and start running down the street when things start to get weird. I get this feeling, the sort that the tv tells you means there is a master around and that you should run away, but this feeling that safety is in "that" direction. So I follow it down a dark alleyway wtf did I do this, but the dude doesn't catch up. I hear him huffing and puffing behind me, but I keep following that feeling. Don't know how long I was running or where I was going, but at the end I just collapsed in front of Nexus's castle. Like there and the PRT headquarters might be the safests places in the city.
So I'm laying there on the ground trying to catch my breath and convinced that I just busted a lung when out marches this gaggle of grandmothers. I can't explain it any other way, it was like a knitting club, just with freaking Aspirant following behind them. When they finally get an explanation out of me Aspirant runs off with a look like he is about to deliver a smackdown and the grandmas basically adopt me.
I'm writing this from a recliner, filled up with more food than ever and I just can't this day. It's too weird. I don't know if I should laugh or cry or both. My GF is fine though thank god. I'm not the most religious guy, but I had a guardian angel I swear.
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Faustus (Banned)
Posted on February 14th, 2011:
WE WILL PAINT THE WALLS WITH YOUR FUCKING BLOOD!
-Mod Edit: Yeah, the rest of this post's threats and detailed description of how you plan on using a spork and bottle opener against everyone is being deleted. Also, take a permanent ban and don't come back.
Scriv (Moderator)
Posted on February 14th, 2011:
Well, that escalated quickly. Thread locked.
End of Page. 1, … 86, 87, 88
Topic: Statement by PRT on S-Class Emergency in Brockton Bay (2-14-2011) (Thread Locked)
In: Boards News Events America
PRT_News (Original Poster) (PRT Spokesman)
Posted on February 16th, 2011:
The PRT Department of East-North-East announced today that a S-class threat in its infancy was swiftly handled on Feb. 14 before it could get out of control. An operation led by the PRT to clean up the aftermath is currently ongoing and is expected to be completed by tomorrow morning.
Over the last few days, the department received a large number of missing person reports regarding parahumans unaffiliated with the Protectorate, as well as odd sightings and brutal attacks throughout the city of Brockton Bay. The PRT ENE immediately opened an investigation into these cases because the department has the ethical and professional responsibility to take such reports seriously.
On the night of Feb. 12, the PRT ENE responded to a call from the Oathbound, a local independent team, regarding a corpse of a known individual delivered to their headquarters. Miss Militia of the Protectorate ENE responded to the scene and met with Nexus, leader of the Oathbound. Nexus alleged that she was able to identify the corpse as a clone using her abilities and that its creator would only require skin contact with an individual to duplicate, in seconds, an evil, loyal, and murderous clone. According to Nexus, this hidden threat can also hold hostages inside of its body to continuously produce more clones.
"Due to the atypical circumstances involved in this case, I requested Thinker support from the PRT sub-organization WEDGDG for the ongoing investigation," said Director Emily Piggot of the PRT ENE. "I also instructed department officials to arrange for an autopsy to be performed by the district's medical examiner as soon as possible."
On Feb. 13, the PRT ENE started to receive reports of alleged parahuman clone activity. Around 2 A.M. ET, Nexus informed the department that she subdued an unknown clone with powers. Early in the morning, the Undersiders, a local villain team, turned themselves in to authorities after the Ratpack, a group of Mouse Protector clones, allegedly carried out an ambush and kidnapped a team member in broad daylight.
"Anyone who allegedly kidnaps parahumans off the street to duplicate evil murderous clones is a clear threat to society, and violates Federal Laws regarding S-class situations," said Director Piggot. "Our investigation found reasonable cause to believe that this threat, designated via the call sign "Echidna", was responsible for the disappearances reported over the past few days."
An autopsy conducted by the district's medical examiner found evidence from the corpse consistent with it being a clone. Thinker support from WEDGDG not only corroborated the findings of Nexus but also determined Echidna was responsible for the disappearance of forty individuals in New York in one night.
On the morning of Feb. 13, a Thinker unaffiliated with the Protectorate alleged to the department that Echidna was a member of the Travelers, a villain team new to the city, and was building a clone army to leverage against the city. According to this Thinker, local villain Coil hired the Travelers and helped smuggle Echidna into Brockton Bay on Jan. 29. Thinker support from WEDGDG corroborated the findings of this Thinker.
"In an emergency, timing is critical. In this particular situation, every second a hostage remains inside Echidna is potentially another parahuman for its alleged clone army," Director Piggot stated. "I concluded the evidence gathered in our investigation was sufficient to initiate the procedures for declaring a S-class emergency and requesting a kill order on Echidna and its army."
On the afternoon of Feb. 13, Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown of the PRT approved Echidna's classification as a S-class threat. According to the PRT, S-class threats are among the most dangerous threats in the world. In a S-class emergency, the Triumvirate and all Protectorate members subscribed to the critical situation roster are expected to be available for assistance. Thinker support from WEDGDG confirmed Echidna and its cape army are a budding S-class crisis whose threat level drastically increases should Echidna kidnap a sufficiently powerful parahuman.
On the morning of Feb. 14, the PRT ENE received approval of the kill order on Echidna and its army. S-class threats are typically assigned a kill order, a document issued by the PRT that permits the termination of target(s) with no legal repercussions. The PRT has only issued these documents in the rarest of circumstances and only after an abbreviated trial complete with sentencing.
Led by the Triumvirate, along with Protectorate members and a majority of parahumans in Brockton Bay, a host of parahumans organized at the PRT ENE headquarters to prepare for the fight against Echidna. However, Echidna prepared an ambush and assaulted the PRT ENE headquarters from below via the sewer system. In the ensuing fight, Echidna and its cape army were eliminated, with Eidolon of the Triumvirate and Nexus of the Oathbound playing crucial roles.
"This operation demonstrates how the PRT will work swiftly to take down individuals who pose a dire threat to our community," said Director Piggot. "I am proud of our Protectorate members and would like to thank everyone who assisted in the fight against Echidna and helped rescue hostages."
No casualties outside of Echidna's forces occurred during this S-class emergency. All hostages inside Echidna were successfully rescued and are currently receiving treatment at the PRT ENE headquarters. Following S-class epidemic protocols, the PRT established quarantine procedures around the site of the battle, and Echidna's victims are currently in a short quarantine to ensure no lasting biological agents.
Local villain Coil, who allegedly hired and helped smuggle in Echidna, was found among the hostages. The Echidna investigation developed enough evidence to arrest Coil for his alleged role in the crisis and numerous crimes that include conspiracy, bribery, kidnapping, and drug-trafficking. The investigation into his organization is currently ongoing. It is likely that, if convicted, Coil will be shipped to the Birdcage for his role in the situation.
"Coil is a slithering snake who bit off more than he can chew," Director Piggot stated. "Coil needs to be locked up not only for everyone's safety but for his own. Rest assured that Coil will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
An operation led by the PRT and Protectorate is currently underway to hunt down the few remaining clones that were too far away to participate in the fight before the elimination of Echidna. Members of the public in Brockton Bay are strongly encouraged to report any suspicious activity through the PRT toll-free hotline.
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0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Private Messages from Ashen_Vale:
Ashen_Vale (1-28-2011): Heys, you got your phone on you, yes? I know you're going to be busy, but still, keep an eye out, especially on your 'friend'.
BloodSoaked Unicorn (1-28-2011): Yeah Anne, I will. Love ya.
Ashen_Vale (1-28-2011): Love you too sis, just don't get hurt, or killed, or god forbid I will find a necromancer to raise you from the dead so I can kill you myself for making us worry.
BloodSoaked Unicorn (1-28-2011): Ha, I'll keep that in mind. But serious, I'll keep an eye open. I'm not going to take any stupidly stupid risks.
Ashen_Vale (1-28-2011): That's all I ask.
BloodSoaked Unicorn (2-2-2011): I...I fucked up, and you were right. About Sophia. God, what have I been doing? I knocked her the fuck ouit and left her with the PRT after she tried to sell me to the fucking teeth.
Ashen_Vale (2-2-2011): Oh ehms. I'll be by tomorrow. We'll talk then, ok?
BloodSoaked Unicorn (2-2-2011): k.
Private Messages from Miss_Emerald:
Miss_Emerald (2-8-2011): Let's make this cleaer. I don't like you. But liking you doesn't matter, and if you want to work with the rest of us, you need to prove yourself. Clock is wary af, and so am I, but our illustrious leader, who I am very annoyed with atm, asked us to give you a chance. You want me to talk with you? So answer some questions. Do you know what made her so casually cruel, so lacking in basic human decency? Because she wouldn't talk with us over even the most minor details, and the fact she was your friend is why so many of us are wary given how she behaved.
BloodSoaked Unicorn (2-8-2011): I...yeah, a little, but most of it is better said face to face, ya know?
Miss_Emerald (2-8-2011): I'll hold you to that after practice then. Also, expect the YG rep to be a complete and utter bitch.
Private Messages from Assault:
BloodSoaked Unicorn (2-13-2011): What the fuck is going on? I've been getting texts and I don't know what most of the codes mean.
Assault (2-13-2011): Memorize your damn codebook, and either get your ass to base and stop bugging me about it here, or get your family out of town quick. Either way, hurry.
BloodSoaked Unicorn (2-13-2011): Fuc, that bad?
Assault (2-13-2011): Worse.
Last edited: Jun 26, 2022
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Mar 12, 2021
#30,061
Spoiler: Plan:
Current Energy: 2
Current Training:
Magic Resistance (7/10)
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
City Center, Canberra
You have a task.
Synergy Bonus: 1 Energy
Your pulse races, and your heart thumps with the strength of a dragon as you move. The air ignites at your passing and Gram gleams brilliant under the mid afternoon sun.
It is a simple task. Kill the monster. Save everyone. You've done it a hundred times before. You will do it one hundred more.
Your attack - which moves with such force that it creates a shockwave, decimating nearby buildings - misses, grazing weakly across the tip of one ivory coloured wing.
You have power.
Your forward momentum is arrested before you can careen towards the horizon, the rope in your free hand drawing itself taught as Trainwreck halls back on it with all of his considerable might.
A power that has never failed you before. You - Sigurd - have never lost in direct combat. Your end was not met in the heart of pitched combat. Nor was it in the dueling grounds.
You were slain by treachery, and by deceit.
You are reeled back, taking the opportunity to release a dagger from your belt, then kicking it with all your might, sending it flying straight at the Simurghs blank face. Once more, she dodges by only the barest margin, the blade leaving an almost invisible line across her otherwise perfect cheek.
You have allies, fit to the task. Blood brothers who would ride with you to Niflheim and back, marching under the banner of your Master.
A rapidly fired barrage of attacks disperses the inevitable counter attack, and you send a nod to Oliver as you reach the ground, pull your rope anchor to yourself, and then immediately break in the opposite direction of Trainwreck, who has already proceeded to avoid what few attacks his surprisingly agile bulk will allow.
You are missing only one thing. That which unites and drives your fellow Oathbound onward.
"This ain't fuckin' working!" Trainwreck calls out to you as you circle the Endbringer. As she has the last few times you have attempted an offensive, Parian's three remaining dolls lunge forward, dancing about their controller in am almost artistic display of violence that allows her to rush in and quickly beset the beast from all angles. The creature isn't dodging because the Dolls have the capacity to hurt it, no. It is protecting the device cradled near its breast, which began beeping ominously some few moments ago.
You need an opening. An opportunity to land more than a grazing blow. You need something decisive. Something overwhelming.
You need-
"Oppose, Nemesis!" A great cry rings out, as your Master, still feeling tired, but healthy, takes to the field. Her aura explodes into the air above the battlefield, sweeping over everything and everyone present. The great hourglass of a black widow spider is visible for all to see, and while her Spiritual Pressure doesn't appear to affect the Simurgh in the slightest, the eight unavoidable spider limbs that pressure forms into do, digging into Endbringer and drawing what you would almost describe as a flinch from it.
You don't bother to update your Master on the situation. She can see through your eyes, and you felt her doing so for the entire skirmish.
What you need to do now is captialize on this moment.
Finally afforded some breathing room by your Master's overwhelming presence, you tilt your head downward, capturing the Simurgh in your field of view, and more importantly, in the lenses of your Crystallized Wisdom.
Unlike the last time you used these, this is a combat situation. You've no time to pick through the dross for interesting or obtuse facts.
You just need to know what to do next.
The device is intended to change the chemical composition of the rain clouds. Self propagating. Probably permanent.
You frown. Obviously it isn't enough for the Simurgh to just show up and kill everyone, she has make it rain plague forever over the country she lands in.
"Master," you quickly begin to warn her, only to be cut off.
"I know. I'll make an opening," she informs you, flicking Nemesis to the side, and causes her power - previously spread across the entirety of the city - to congeal into an endless swarm of dog sized spiders.
Spiders made of magic.
Spiders made of magic, that proceed to fire beams of pure power from their serrated maws.
"Just... an opening?" You question, even as you rush forward, obscured by the beams.
"If she dies she dies!" Taylor answers obstinately.
On the one hand, its very impressive in a teenage girls should not qualify as WMD's sort of way.
On the other, you doubt her first attempt will succeed.
There is one notable result however.
The Simurgh, for perhaps the first time since the fight began, attempts to flee.
You have pushed the Simurgh to this point. There is do doubt in your mind of that. The Simurgh does not often give the appearance of difficulty whe evading attacks.
You forced that on her.
This is not a mere attempt to evade. The moment your Master begins her barrage the Simurgh begins to ascend, her upward motion erratic and jerky as she weaves through as many of the attacks as possible, while what few land clip her largely in non-critical areas.
This isn't merely dodging. This is frantic. Desperate.
"Trainwreck!" You howl to the large man, who grins viciously and charges up along side you, then ahead of you, using his prodigous strength to bound upward and onward.
This was ways your plan.
Trainwrecks semblance allows him to 'tag' a target, and then unneringly make his way to them. Over the course of your brief skirmish with the Endbringer he had just barely managed to graze her with a punch.
But barely was more than enough.
You might not be Odin, and you might not know the the exact spell he used to ensure Gungnir always struck true - but if there is any power among your allies that will give you the chance to reach the Endbringer and defeat her precognition, Trainwreck's is the one.
The iron giant of a man ranges ahead of you, making sudden swerves and movements that you take great care to follow perfectly, as every seemingly ill time evasion is immediately rewarded with an unexpected attack or accident landing where you were just standing.
Just as you follow the man over the roof of a large building, the Simurgh flies by below you at speed.
"Get wrecked!" Trainwreck howls as he slams into her from above, the servos and gears in his armor clunking into place in such a way that he seems to fall several times faster than he should, slamming into the Endbringer's upper body and effectly stomping on her chest, pinning her to the ground.
There is a palpable sensation of irritation about the Simurgh as she casually swats him away with her telekinesis, the green sludge from her broken machine oozing out onto her torso.
But it's too late. You're already in position, Gram spinning wildly in the air before you as you too, fall along Trainwreck's path.
-1 Energy
"Bölverk-" you roar triumphantly!
...only to be struck blindly from the side as Trainwreck, who the Simurgh had apparently brought back around to hit you with, hurtles into your side, sending you of course and away from Gram, which continues to descend blindly through the air.
Then there is the hurried sound if running, and another man leaps from the building behind you to take your place.
It is to be understood that only one man may wield Gram.
It is more than just a weapon. Its an authority. It is a sword of choosing. Only Sigurd, or one who had inherited his will, and his essence, could possibly attempt to wield it.
The sheer unlikeliness of any human being able to touch it, let alone use it safely, could not he understated. The sequence of events required for it, so unreasonable, that a new Age of Heroes is more likely.
"Gram!"
And yet before you, against all possible odds, Greg Veder finishes your chant - and slams his hand, your hand, into the pommel of your weapon, plunging it straight through the Simurghs head.
And then the ensuing explosion causes everything to white out.
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Bowler Hat Guy
Mar 12, 2021
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Threadmarks Deicide 12.10
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Mar 13, 2021
#30,407
Current Energy: 2
Current Training:
Magic Resistance (7/10)
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
City Center, Canberra
You would think that an attack that leaves a crater in the middle of the city would draw more attention. Especially accompanied by the sudden cessation of the Simurgh's omnipresent scream.
Apparently - not so much.
It takes over twenty minutes for the first people to arrive. You assume many of them are still frantically digging their allies out from beneath rubble, mourning the dead, or otherwise are just... unsure the fight is over.
After all, the Simurgh didn't fly away. It would be very obvious to everyone in the city if she had. But she hadn't - because most of her lower body and several of her broken wings now lay splayed out at the bottom of the aforementioned crater.
"I'm fucking keeping this!" Trainwreck calls up to you from the bottom of the crater, where he has pull the exploded remains out a wrist and the ivory hand attached to it out of the rubble below.
Your team had all had a variety of reactions to your apparent success.
Parian had just... sat down. She'd been sitting against the same wall the entire time, and though her breathing had finally calmed down, it's clear that she is having something of a panic attack. It makes sense. She didn't originally come here to fight. Well, she did, but she probably wasn't expecting to be quite so in the thick of things.
Trainwreck had predictably found a cellphone somewhere and started posing with the corpse. You aren't actually sure why, but he seems to be enjoying himself, so your Master hasn't had the heart to make him stop. Out of all those present, Trainwreck seems the most... you want to say disconnected from the significance of current events. As a Case 53, he has no basis to truly understand the horror of the Endbringers. You yourself only really grasp it as a side effect of Ozma during your last emulation. To Trainwreck, the Endbringers are just a problem no one had solved yet because your team hadn't tried yet.
In other words, as far as Trainwreck was concerned, they had been to one fight and won one fight.
A perfect record.
Your Master was... subdued. She was happy that all her friends were alive. She was happy that she had won. But she seemed just a tad distressed over something only somewhat related that you can't... quite grasp. You would ask her directly but you feel like now might not be the time for it.
Greg was... staring into space. He was uninjured - because quite frankly if Bolverk Gram could hurt the person who cast it then it would be a terrible weapon - but seemed to have completely disassociated from things. Occasionally he shot meek glances towards you - still wearing your face mind you since his mask was nowhere to be found - but quickly returned to staring at nothing, either afraid to approach you or simply unsure if he wanted to.
Oliver had climbed into the pit and pissed on the corpse. There wasn't much more to say on the topic than that. Presently, he was helping take pictures of Trainwreck who was... presently holding the broken hand of the creature in a rude gesture.
Aspirant is... well he's meditating. Just sort of... sitting amidst the destruction contemplating the art of the creepy unholy murder ball, you suppose.
The first person to arrive on the scene, presumably after seeing to her own teammates, was naturally Alexandria.
"Where-" She starts as she lands, only to catch sight of Trainwreck posing in the crater.
"Get away from that! You have no idea what could happen!" She orders coldly the minute she finishes processing what he is doing. Trainwreck predictably responds by pointing Simurghs middle finger at her.
"Ding dong the bitch is dead!" He starts singing at her - badly. You aren't sure Alexandria actually has to breathe - there aren't exactly a ton of expose's on the limitations of the Triumvirate - but you can literally hear the sudden intake of breath through her nostrils.
"Nexus. Control your team. Endbringer flesh is a regulated substance only legally manageable by the PRT. Your friend is currently committing a felony." She says calmly.
Whatever your Master was thinking about before, being suddenly addressed by Alexandria seems to snap her out of it, because she blinks once, glances down at Trainwreck, then back to Alexandria, before blushing cutely.
"Trainwreck come on, you're embarrassing me!" She hisses down at him.
"But-" He tries to complain, but your Master turns the Hebert patented look of parental disapproval on him.
"...fine..." He mutters, throwing the hand to one side.
"Still," Taylor says, her voice transitioning to a business like tone. "It occurs to me that there are substantial - in fact, literally impossible to fulfill bounties on Endbringers. I would consider it a favour if my Tinker could have some of the corpse for research. In lieu of funds I'm sure the United States doesn't actually have."
Alexandria pivots in the air to stare at your Master like she had forgotten the girl was even there, opens her mouth to say something, and is cut off when your Master continues.
"Also I believe there was something about a date? Honestly, I like to think of myself as a fair woman, so really anything you can do in trade against that debt is fine by me," Your Master adds slyly. Behind Alexandria's back, where he has landed after jumping out of the crater with Olly on his back, Trainwreck shoots your Master a thumbs up - that she ignores.
"...The Protectorate will send a liaison to negotiate the details of the transfer at a later date." Alexandria replies through clearly grit teeth.
The woman looks like her entire body is tense in a way that would be distinctly unhealthy if she wasn't explicitly indestructible. Again, you feel sort of bad for her.
"We only wish to be fairly compensated for our achievements. Speaking of which. G-Man!" You call to Greg, who startles and turns towards you, then freezes when he sees Alexandria.
"Where is the rest of your team? Are they...?" You ask him as he carefully approaches.
"Tats got caught in the Master thing. Grue's got her stuffed in a locked room so she doesn't try and fist fight an Endbringer." He answers slowly, watching Alexandria the entire time.
You can tell - instantly - that she doesn't like Greg, although you are certain it is because of the actions of his clones, which you feel are unfair to hold personally against him. Thankfully, she appears to be professional enough not to air that particular grievance here.
"What about Regent?" Your Master asks.
"I... dunno. When people started acting weird back at camp he said he was coming and I haven't heard from him since. There was no Regent down but..." He trails off, indicating the unreliable nature of the communicators towards the end of the fighting.
"What was that attack you used to finish her off? I could see it from the fallback position." Alexandria asks, turning away from Greg, presumably because she just doesn't register him as important which... normally he isn't. A flicker of annoyance passes over your Master's face before it smooths out and she gestures at you.
"Emmy did it - I wasn't there. I was busy." She says flatly. Alexandria - begrudgingly - turns to you and away from Taylor and Greg, the latter of which sags appreciably the second her attention is away from him.
"My sword has an... alternate setting... that causes large amounts of damage to its target. I can't actually take full credit for the kill though," You begin to explain, choosing your words carefully so as not to strain Alexandria's patience with terminology not of this world. As you continue to explain, however, Greg perks up and quickly begins to frantically wave at you, crossing his arms in an x pattern in front of himself.
"...Trainwreck, actually deserves full credit for that. His power allowed me to reach her at a time of vulnerability," you finish carefully.
"Yeah so. I don't fancy places. You good for like, a Dennys or some shit? Unless you don't eat. I dunno how your fucking powers work." Trainwreck chimes in, waggling his eyebrows at her.
Alexandria's eye twitches momentarily, so fast you almost don't notice it, but then turns back to your Master.
"Return to the second fallback position for Master/Stranger screening, then we'll have Strider take you home." She orders, then rockets into the air before anyone can respond.
"...She knows I can just take us all home right now right?" Taylor muses aloud.
"I believe it was a warning to ensure we were sent by Strider - so they could keep track of us before our evaluation." Aspirant notes, standing and joining the group.
"Gr-.. G-man. Why don't you want Alexandria to know you were the one who-" You begin to ask but Greg cuts you off.
"Because it's fucking scary man! I was just- like there was the Master, and Tats was all- and like you guys were there so- and it's not even my sword so-" He stammers.
"It could be." You note, peering at him.
He freezes.
"Huh?" He blurts out dumbly. In response, you slam Gram into the concrete at your feet and gesture at it.
"I can feel it now. Gram, much like the blade you know of as Excalibur, is a sword of choosing. To its wielder, it brings inevitable glory. And inevitable death. Would you like to see if you have been chosen?" You say slyly.
In truth, you are as surprised by this as anyone else. After the battle, you had been extremely confused by the events that had brought you here. By all standards of measurement, no one should be able to wield Gram save yourself. Even setting aside the metaphysical reasons for such a blade to be inaccessible to others, there is the simple fact that it's not real. The Gram you wield is a fake. It's comprised of a bunch of things your Shard Side mind has cobbled together to behave in the way the weapon is supposed to.
Or it was.
Something else has... grasped... the weapon as far as you can tell. It still phases with you, but when this emulation passes, you doubt Gram will.
On the one hand, the effect is fascinating.
On the other.
What the hell?
Greg - clearly confused by your statement, slowly inches forward his hand hovering over the sword in indecision. However, just as he appears to muster his courage to try -
"Greg fucking Veder." A voice says at a perfectly normal volume that nonetheless manages to sound as though it were a scream.
Greg immediately freezes, slowly moving away from the weapon with an uncomfortable glance, before putting on a radiant smile.
"Tattletale! Check it out! I'm hot!" He says with your face, to his blonde compatriot.
Who promptly stomps up to him, ignoring your entire team, to slap him clear across the face. It... obviously doesn't hurt him since - again - it's your face, but the point stands.
"What the fuck, you idiot! You locked me in a closet, said you were going to keep fighting, and ran off!" She yells at him, shifting to jabbing him in the chest with one finger over actively attacking him when it proves to hurt her more than him.
"I mean I think a janitor's closet is big enough to qualify as a 'room' so-" Greg defends.
"Greg!" She shrieks at him, her hands moving to make choking motions at him before stopping as she comes to her senses and realizes there are other people here.
"...Nexus." She greets your Master lamely, obviously trying to find something mean to say - just because.
"Thanks for looking after him for us," Grue says, coming up next to Tattletale, who he was obviously trying not to get too close to.
Taylor shrugs at the man in biker leathers, gesturing at her surroundings.
"Endbringer truce." She says succinctly.
"Still, thanks," He repeats.
Several minutes later, as both groups pack up to leave - still missing Regent - Tattletale pauses to stare at the Simurgh's corpse to mutter in confusion.
"One of the wings is missing."
The truce is still on, so there shouldn't be any problems for a few more days, and school is out. You suspect you will have precious little free time once the news gets out. What should Taylor do with her free time tomorrow?
Choose Two (2). Taylor automatically continues training in her free time.
[ ]Patrol The City (Choose a target area: The Docks, Downtown, Uptown) (Choose two people to come with you: Victoria, Gallant, Triumph, Aspirant, Trainwreck, Jess, Danny, Mem)
[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.
[ ] Some of the Teeth got away. Spree, Hemorrhagia, Reaver. Aspirant seems pretty worked up about it.
[ ] You missed the Undersiders at the PRT building, so you'll have to track them down if you want to scream at them.
[ ] ...Could you start a parahuman training school? You could at least look into some candidates... (Choose one: Dojo Students, Dockworkers, Panda Gang, Police)
[ ] Armsmaster has been 'helping'. Poorly.
[ ] Parian is getting requests for 'Tinker' Fabric. She doesn't have any, but she could.
[ ] Mem & Mun need legal identities. And friends. You're going to need to talk to Piggot.
[ ] Take Time Off (Pick a Social)
[ ] Write-In
Choose two (2) interludes:
[ ] A Nameless Girl from Canberra
[ ] Regent
[ ] Greg
[ ] Legend
A/N: Okay, now the nightmare is over. I just wanna thank everyone for sticking with me so long, and hope we have a great time going forward into the next emulation vote which is looking like it's going to be soonish.
Some new info - we have a TVTROPES PAGE AND I CAN NOW DIE HAPPY.
JUST CLICK HERE
Please for the love of god, check it out, and help fill it in. This kind of stuff really helps keep me motivated. That's right, I said it - you can bribe me for more updates with participation. Truly, I am a cruel monster. I'll make an info post with this as well right after this.
Secondly, while I still have basically 0 intention of bringing crossover characters from other verses to earth bet, we've reached an okay point for some experimentation. I'm particularly interested in doing an arc here or there where Taylor planeswalks to another, so if your interested in that kind of thing (though not as a main aspect of the story so much as a breather adventure) then make sure to let me know.
Now then, hurry up and vote, so I can go back to the Update Mines to dig up the next one!
EDIT: I've been asked to make clear that you don't need to vote to talk to Aisha. That's on rails, so to speak. It'll happen regardless.
Last edited: Mar 13, 2021
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Mar 13, 2021
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Threadmarks Interlude: Legend
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Mar 14, 2021
#30,555
"Door," he called into his empty office, then stepped through the glowing hole in space that appeared in front of him almost before he had finished the singular word.
It had been two days and so far, all signs pointed to the Simurgh being... well dead. They probably should have had this meeting sooner but if he was being honest, he was too busy celebrating with his husband for anything else. Then... then he was busy speaking to the bereaved. It wasn't the highest turnover of any Endbringer fight - but it was certainly the highest for a Simurgh fight, where most of the damage was caused after the fight by her bombs. And while he couldn't speak to everyone affected by the fight, he could at least talk to the families who had expected the Protectorate to make sure their loved ones got home.
It was only right that he be the one to inform them because ultimately, he was the one they trusted to do that. A task that he had never once succeeded at completely - but that he always tried to achieve regardless.
Looking fondly back into his office - an office he didn't need, and that was entirely too large for what he used it for - Legend exhaled slowly, before turning away from the glowing portal and continuing forward down the sterile grey hallway in Cauldron's hidden base of operations.
Even if 'operations' was a very fancy way of saying 'held meetings'.
With quick measured steps, he made his way up the hall towards the meeting room. Well, one of the meeting rooms. He was pretty sure the base was using a stolen floorplan for a PRT headquarters, so it inevitably had certain affectations.
Like having more than one meeting room for an organization of seven people.
As he traveled, he took note of the dust devil full of garbage swirling along the hall towards him, and politely stepped out of its way.
"Custodian." He greeted, before returning to walking. He always tried to walk places when he had the chance. Even in costume. Yes, he could fly, and yes, it was undoubtedly faster and more efficient in almost every possible way.
But it was also alienating. A man who refused to let his feet touch the ground while leading sent a very specific message to those below him. It would present him as contemptuous of walking. Contemptuous of getting down in the dirt with everyone else. Contemptuous of those beneath him.
There were, obviously, scenarios where it was helpful. Hovering over a criminal so that your shadow fell over them and blocked the sun was a favourite of his. Anything he could do to end a confrontation before it got violent was good in his book. Still, he wasn't fighting right now - he was just going to a meeting.
So he walked.
"Legend," Doctor Mother greeted him in her usual detached manner as he entered the meeting room and glanced around at everyone. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the woman. They'd known each other for years now, and she not only refused to use his actual name - which she definitely knew - but he had no idea what hers was. If it wasn't obvious that she was like this with everyone he would be afraid she was mad at him for something.
"Doctor Mother, Contessa, Kurt, Rebecca, David. Did I miss anything?" He greeted each of those present in turn before moving to his position at the table.
"No, we were just discussing how we should proceed with the Simurgh's apparent defeat," Kurt informed him while adjusting his glasses in a somewhat officious tone.
No one had ever asked the man to track the meeting minutes, but he did it anyway, and at this point, Legend was almost afraid to point it out.
"What's there to discuss? We won - finally - and it was even with a good-aligned team of parahumans! We don't even have to worry about what they might do after this because they aren't villains." He pointed out in confusion. Honestly, everything he had read about Nexus gave him the impression of someone who got it to him. Yes, she was certainly more affected by her agent than most if some of the things she professed to believe were true, but unlike so many of her peers, she didn't seem like she felt her powers put her above normality. Quite the opposite really. Her psyche profile had made multiple notes about ways to leverage her attachment to normality against her.
Honestly, he really didn't understand the difficulty. They beat an Endbringer. Not drove off, not survived, beat.
"Keith, it's not dead," Rebecca told him seriously, causing him to stiffen.
"Rebecca it didn't have a head. How is it alive?" He asked quickly.
"Its body isn't really a body. Just a... doll. Initial research looks like it was never alive in the first place." Doctor Mother took over the explanation. He looked to David for a minute to see how he was taking things and winced at the stormy expression on his face.
"So it's a- what a projection? a golem? Did a tinker make it?" He asked, mind racing. It would explain so much about the Endbringers if they were never alive in the first place. Their strange schedule. The fact that they only existed on this earth.
"We don't know." Doctor Mother said flatly.
"Why the hell not! We have its corpse in our basement for God's sake!" He countered, before calming himself. He wasn't an angry man. Not by nature. But all of his previous good cheer had completely vanished with this news.
"I still can't path her. I can path the corpse, but I still can't path the Simurgh in any way. It's not dead." Contessa put forth in her usual robotic tone.
Then she called for a door and walked out of the room like the rest of them didn't even exist.
He'd be annoyed by that but he knew how busy she was.
"There... you have it," Kurt told him tersely.
"So... what? Do we just cancel all the celebrations? Tell the world 'oops, my bad' and that not only is the Simurgh not dead, but that we aren't sure where it even is anymore? It's not floating around in space right now laughing at us is it?" He asked tensely. He wasn't being sarcastic or rude. He genuinely needed to know. As the Triumvirate, it would fall to them to break the news. He tried not to imagine the look his son would give him when he found out.
"No. We go forward like this. Anyone who tries to get a look at the sky to see if she's there will be able to tell she's gone. If she shows up again later, we'll deal with it then. We can't afford to lose this momentum. Protectorate recruitment is up twelve percent." Rebecca countered sternly.
"We can't just hide-" He started to say in protest.
"Even if she comes back later, no one will hold it against us. I already cleared it with Contessa. Edited footage of the fight is already going to newsrooms all across the country. We can't do anything about it going missing - but we can capitalize on it. We don't help anyone by dashing their hopes like that." Rebecca explained with a touch of tiredness in her voice. He understood her reasoning but still, the damage the Endbringer could cause while everyone thought it was dead...
"David, what do you think?" He asked, trying very hard not to sound like a child asking one parent for something when the first had already rebuffed them.
"...I think I need another booster shot." His taciturn friend eventually said, glancing at Doctor Mother.
"I'll have the Custodian bring one up." She replied with a nod.
"David." He repeated sternly.
"I don't know, okay?! You were there at the end, she could have taken us both out at any time! That fucking thing was holding back the whole time!" David sneered tiredly at him before sighing.
"Look just... let's keep an eye on that girl from Brockton. Even if she didn't kill it, she was more successful than any of us were." He said finally. Rebecca immediately made a face as though she had just bitten into a raw lemon.
"Yes her projection was very forthright about it too." She noted tersely.
Silence reigned in the room for a moment, and then Keith clapped his hands together, drawing their attention to himself.
"Our next order of business. Obviously, we'll still have to dome Canberra-"
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Mar 14, 2021
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Threadmarks Interlude: A Nameless Girl From Canberra
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Mar 14, 2021
#30,678
Megan was in a bad mood today.
She didn't know why. She wasn't really privy to what happened in her once friends day to day life anymore. There was a time in her life when she would have been the first person Meg spoke to on the topic. They used to share everything.
Then they got to high school and started to drift apart.
She hadn't originally thought much of it. She was meeting new people and making new friends yes, but there was always going to be a place at her side for her best friend.
That was when the bullying started.
Little things at first, that she didn't immediately connect with Megan. Rumors about her spreading like wildfire. That she was a slut. That she was part of one of the gangs. That she was a kleptomaniac and would steal things from anyone who let their guard down around her.
It had been horrible. She had cried to Megan for weeks about it. The rumors got so bad that no one would even talk to her anymore.
Well. The boys would. But never politely, and usually because they wanted something from her that she wasn't willing to give.
She still had a few bruises from when...
Well the police coming to the school hadn't endeared her to anyone, especially when the boys that got dragged out by them were considered innocent by the rest of the student body.
Honestly, if she didn't have Megan to talk to she... she didn't think she would be alive right now. The only thing that had kept her going was their friendship, and the driving need to understand.
Who could do this to her? Why? She wasn't a bad person! She'd never done anything malicious to another human being in her entire life! And yet suddenly, someone had decided to just... ruin her. For no real reason. Megan had said she would help but nothing ever came of the search.
The day the Simurgh had come, she had been eating alone, in the girl's bathroom with her feet drawn up onto the stool so no one could see her. It wasn't a very filling lunch - her family wasn't very well off recently - but it was enough for her. She had been considering trying to lose weight anyway. She was often called fat by her detractors - which made up a majority of the first-year girls - and while she had tried to brush off the comments, she had recently started to feel self-conscious about it. Every morning she would get up and try her hardest not to look at her stomach. She wasn't bulbous, or chunky. No, she was just... growing.
Growing... sideways.
So she had taken the reduced meal portions as a blessing, trying to see the positives in things.
And also, started wearing baggier clothes.
She was only partway through her meal - half of a sandwich and a banana that she dared not eat in public lest she draw more rude commentary down on herself - when the door to the bathroom had opened, and three girls walked in.
She immediately froze, going still so as not to make any noise that could draw attention to herself in the tiny bathroom.
"I'm just saying Meg, I liked Brian. Now he's got a criminal record and it's all that bitches fault." One girl said.
She immediately identified the owner of the voice as belonging to one of the two girls who were always around Megan recently. Sara and Kaitlyn were, in the politest terms, sycophants. They had hitched their social well-being to Megans and promptly rose to prominence as some of the most popular first-year girls in the school. They were also some of the only people who didn't give her too much of a hard time in public, which was why she had a hard time parsing Sara's statement declaring her a bitch.
She would get up and ask for clarification since she was pretty sure Megan should have set the record straight on that point by now but was just plain too embarrassed to admit she had been eating lunch here in the first place. She wasn't, and probably never would be popular with her ungainly girth and unruly hair, but she at least had some sense of self-respect left to her.
So instead, she waited. Waited quietly and patiently for the other girls to leave, so she could get Megan alone for a minute to talk to her about it. Megan always knew what to do.
"Well it's not my fault he thought cornering her after school was a good idea. Honestly why are guys so dumb?" Megan replied cooly. She had to resist the urge to nod her head frantically at the blunt response.
Megan was what she would describe as a severe beauty. She was thin, had long shapely legs, and was otherwise proportioned like a runway model - a fact she took advantage of by consistently choosing to wear shorts, or skirts that were only just barely this side of following school regulations. She was also, extremely harsh in how she dealt with most people. Sharp-tongued. She honestly doubted her old friend had ever held her tongue in the face of something she didn't like a day in her life. She knew what she wanted, and fought for it like an angry dog.
"But you started the rumour that made him think it was okay!" Kaitlyn pointed out, causing her to tense once more.
What? No that was- there was no way. That didn't make any sense. Megan was her friend, she would never-
"There is a wide margin between bad talking someone and assaulting them." Was Megan's damning response.
"Yeah but-"
The girl's conversation continued after that, but she barely registered any of it.
Megan? It was Megan? But... but why?
She barely even thought about what she was doing. In fact, she didn't even notice she had moved at all. One moment she felt like her entire world was shattering around her, everything she thought was once true taking on a new sinister light - and the next, Kaitlyn and Sara were on the floor, one with a pencil sticking out of an eye socket, and the other with a concave dent in her head matching the edge of the bathroom sink. Her hands were wrapped around Megan's throat, and she felt strength coursing through her veins in a way that was almost entirely alien to her. Feeling detached from the situation as she was, she barely even registered the feeble struggling from the girl in her hands as she experimentally lifted her with no more difficulty than she might a puppy or kitten.
A kitten she wanted to kill.
This was, of course, when the Endbringer sirens had hit, causing her to finally realize the situation she was in.
Oh god, she had killed Kaitlyn and Sara. She was killing Megan as she thought this. She- she-
The siren wasn't playing the familiar away call. The Endbringer was coming here.
Panicked, and realizing the halls would quickly be filling with people once their teachers got them organized, she did the only thing she could think of to save herself. Leaving the two dead girls behind her, she rushed to her locker - which was conveniently nearby, part of the reason she ate here in the first place - tore it open, and stuffed Megan inside before slamming it shut and locking it. She expected some kind of protest at the awkward positioning but didn't think much of it until much later.
Instead, she quickly fled the scene, ready to disappear into the flock of students no doubt headed towards the shelters.
If she was lucky, the Endbringer would get the school, and the deaths would be blamed on Leviathan or Behemoth.
If not... she... she would have to face the music.
Call her crazy, but Anna really didn't feel as bad about that as she probably should.
Last edited: Mar 14, 2021
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Bowler Hat Guy
Mar 14, 2021
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Threadmarks Ascension 13.1
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Mar 15, 2021
#30,773
Spoiler: Choices:
Current Energy: 1
Current Training:
Magic Resistance - Complete!
Friday, February 25th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
"Nobody wants you here hussy."
They are the first words you hear upon waking up, and unsurprisingly, they are uttered by Nemesis, who is currently laying down on her front while her legs kick happily in the air behind her. She is at the bottom of the bed, face a few inches away from Gram where you had laid it against the wall before going to sleep.
"You're big and ugly and have too many spikes," the girl whispers to your sword maliciously, wiggling happily when it - not being sapient - fails to answer her derisive comments.
"...Nemesis?" You query carefully and quietly, after a quick glance towards your Master to see if she too is awake.
You hadn't gotten home until very late last night. Master/Stranger protocol apparently had several dimensions to it that were only relevant when someone somehow managed to stay near the Simurgh to fight her without the proper authorization to do so.
As a result, you had been mostly left to your own devices, helping to clear rubble, rescue trapped civilians, and heal those who needed it using a brace of healing tags your master stealthily left you.
Of course, you ended up staying even longer when your Master recalled the brainwashed Capes still floating about within the Gap, and had promptly released them to be processed.
The fact that she timed that action to coincide with Alexandria's presence didn't help either. Taylor obviously had fully transitioned from Idol Worship to holding a minor grudge against the elder heroine for trying to kill Trainwreck during the fight.
All that to say, while your Master would usually be awake about now, this being her usual waking time, the previous day's events have left her too tired to bother.
It's not like there's school today anyway.
"...yes?" Nemesis responds to you after freezing for a moment to process the noise.
"Are you... bullying my sword?" You ask quizzically.
"...no?" She offers, not at all sounding sure of the statement.
"So... when Master awakens with this memory, she won't reach that conclusion? Not at all?" You ask rhetorically.
Nemesis, who was ever one to choose her battles, decides to respond to this in a way most befitting her childlike stature.
She cries.
"I didn't even get to stab it! Not even one time!" She whines, tears streaming from her face as she leaps into your chest starts complaining.
"And it was like, the most stabbable thing on the planet! Everyone would have been really proud of me and everything!" She continues, nuzzling into your chest.
"Yes, yes. You're very... stabby." You try to comfort her, not really sure how one goes about comforting children.
Or... swords.
Sword children.
Hm.
"You know she's just doing that to change the topic right?" Taylor asks you lazily, watching you from the other side of the bed with tired half-lidded eyes.
"Nu-uh! You wanted to kill it too! Don't lie!" Nemesis huffs, her cheeks puffing up. Taylor has the good grace blush slightly before shaking her head.
"Yeah, cus I was angry. Not because I wanted to experience the sheer joy of a good murder." She says flatly.
"But there are so few acceptable targets!" Nemesis complains.
"There are two more Endbringers that are way easier to hit." Taylor points out with a frown as a sudden burst of anxiety slips down her link to you.
"Promise?" Nemesis sniffs piteously.
"...Yes, I promise to stab another living Endbringer." Taylor replies with a sigh before finally sitting up from bed and sliding out of it to start picking through her dresser.
"Oh good. The sweatpants are visible today." She says aloud, pulling out an old pair of grey sweats. You would feel bad about enchanting the dresser to largely hide the less aesthetically pleasing clothes nine times out of ten, but that wasn't really 'you' so you feel like it's unfair to take the blame for it.
"...Master," You ask carefully as you watch her listlessly get dressed. "Is everything alright?"
Two months ago you would have probably gotten a 'it's nothing' or 'I'm fine' out of her at this. However, your Master is not the same timid girl she once was. She is as emotionally indestructible as she is physically. Mostly.
"Am I... responsible for stuff now?" She asks, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm not sure I follow," you reply honestly.
"I mean, we killed the Simurgh. We killed an Endbringer. Nobody does that. Nobody. Not even the Triumvirate have managed it while leveraging literally hundreds of capes at a time. We did it with Seven of us. What if it was just a fluke? Are people going to get mad when they realize maybe I can't kill Behemoth? Or Leviathan?" She asks. She doesn't seem especially distressed about it. Just slightly anxious. You would almost describe her as annoyed if you didn't know her better than that.
"Does that mean you won't try?" You ask curiously. You already know the answer but it's obvious that your Master needs to work through this herself.
"I kind of have to now don't I? I mean, if no one else can do it, and I can, then that means not fighting them instantly puts all the responsibility for what they do after this on me!" She starts, her volume increasing to a low yell as she throws her hands into the air in exasperation.
"I didn't ask if you had to. Will you?" You correct her pointedly.
"Well yeah, I'm a hero," Taylor says bluntly, the same way most people might explain that water is wet, and the sky is blue.
Heroes fight monsters. It's a simple truth and the fact that she barely even hesitated before saying it makes you smile fondly at the girl who not too long ago had to construct her costume from stuff she found in a garage. Your smile widens as Taylor begins to blush in embarrassment at your gaze, sniffing and turning haughtily away from you.
"Come on, let's go train." She says firmly.
"You will need Mem for that, Master," you point out.
"Yeah, so?" She asks, tilting her head to one side.
"Mem, who you recently abandoned to fight an Endbringer." You repeat.
Taylor, apparently finally realizing the problem before her - blanches.
Friday, February 25th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
"I am very angry with you."
Those were Mem's first words upon finding Taylor stealthily trying to slink into her workshop. She doesn't bother turning away from what she is working on to greet either of you, and Mun snickers at you both when she speaks. Despite the flat neutral tone Mem uses, you can tell she means the words, perhaps more than even she can express.
"Mem I-" Taylor starts weakly.
"Master, what is my purpose?" Mem asks rhetorically, holding a hand out to Mun who drops a beaker of... something... into it that she pours over a square of rusty metal before handing the beaker back.
"Mem you're a kid, you don't have-" Taylor tries but is cut off again.
"I'm older than everyone in the building combined," Mem states. "And my purpose, is to find a way to kill an immortal, scheming witch hellbent on ruining the world."
Mem then pauses, placing a finger on her lips as though in thought.
"Am I describing the Simurgh, or Salem?" She asks acerbically, picking up the metal square on her desk and handing it to Mun, who snickers while dropping it carefully into a ziplock bag and then placing the bag in a nearby cabinet.
"...Both?" Taylor tries.
"I'm sure Master-" You try to jump in, feeling like perhaps your Master has suffered enough.
"I am angry with you too," Mem cuts you off.
Was... Mem always this curt? You feel like she probably wasn't. Also, what did you do?
"You are just as guilty as her," Mem huffs, practically reading your mind before snapping at Mun. "Stop laughing! They left us behind!"
"Chief, I dunno how to tell you this, but I didn't want to fuck with the Simurgh. I'm good." She says with a snort.
"Who taught you that word? I swear if Trainwreck-" Taylor immediately leaps on the curse word only to be stopped short.
"Trainwreck already apologized and promised to bring us next time," Mem says pointedly.
The pair stare at each other for a moment before your Master sighs and finally manages to finish a sentence.
"Mem, you're physically like twelve. I couldn't bring you. I don't regret it. But... I will consider bringing you to the next fight. If you're good." She hedges.
"I do not need your permission. I just need to get to the departure point on time." Mem huffs sourly.
"School." Taylor finally says, earning a raised eyebrow from Mem and a retching noise from Mun.
"You can come next time, but you're going to school." She says firmly.
"I don't-" Mem tries to counter again, but Taylor chooses that moment to stand up and sweep her into a tight hug.
"You don't no. But you still live in my castle, wear my clothes, and eat my food. And I don't want you to get hurt. Please?" Taylor asks earnestly.
"Boss it ain't worth it! Schools have math! And boys!" Mun quickly rushes to try and sway her own Master.
"...Agreed." Mem finally acquiesces, hugging your Master back.
"God fucking-"
""Language."" Mem and Taylor chide her at once.
You are presently wandering the grounds. Your Master doesn't actually require your presence for her current training regime, and so you have left to your own devices.
It should be obvious, but the Heap is presently completely surrounded by reporters, news crews, and vans full of recording equipment.
Only about half of them have cameras pointed in the right direction.
As a result, Aspirant has been forced to wrangle the majority of the 'kung fu girls' as the dockworkers refer to them, dragging them into the courtyard of the Castle for an extended training session. Not because they are shy. No, the problem is quite the opposite. Aspirants students are extremely zealous in their defense of the neighborhood and have no problem violently subduing anyone they see as not belonging. So naturally, none of them could be allowed to help man the fence surrounding the Heap because the last thing your Master needs is for people affiliated with her to give a reporter a black eye on the news.
Pausing curiously, you take a moment to observe the growing crowd of people outside the grounds, held at bay only by the dockworkers stationed multiple locations along the fence. You would think that your average reporter would have more dignity than to attempt to climb a fence, but as it turns out, you would be wrong.
Regardless, a disturbance has started to form at the rear of the pack.
"Scuse me, coming through. Yeah, screw you too buddy. No, I don't-" Aisha's voice rings out amidst the barrage of questions the reporters have been trying to yell at you since you made an appearance.
The crowd goes immediately quiet when the sound of a Chainsaw starting rings out.
"Yeah, that's right bitches! This ain't a prop! Lemme through!" Aisha's voice calls again, this time much more audible in the silence. You aren't sure if you should smile or despair at the girl's forthright tendencies.
Aisha didn't have an ounce of stealth in her entire body. Calmly, you march towards the entrance to the grounds, using your sheer presence to cow anyone in your way. When you reach Aisha part way to the entrance of the Heap, she is slowly back towards you with her stolen tinker tech sword raised menacingly in front of her.
"Please put that away," you ask her wryly when her back bumps into you and she whirls on you with the blade in hand. Technically, if you were anyone else you might have died, as you are forced to gently reach up and grab the rotating blade in one hand to stop it from hitting your face.
"Emmy! Oh shit! Sorry, I thought-" She blurts out.
"That I was one of these gentlemen?" You ask curiously, lowering your gaze to the chainsword still in your grip, and still very much on.
"Pretty much," She says with a sheepish shrug, causing the already wary reporters nearby to take a tentative step away from her.
"Turn that off. I will bring you inside," You say with another sigh. "As for the rest of you, please do not block the entrance."
With that, you scoop Aisha up and leap over the fence, deep into the grounds and out of sight of any recording device.
"Fuck yes! Do it again!" She squeals in delight as you touch down. You stare blandly at her.
"...Do it again, please?" She repeats herself.
"That was very foolish Aisha. You realize that crowd of people most likely thinks you are a Tinker of some stripe yes?" You point out.
"Just tell 'em it's not my sword." She says with a shrug.
"So you would prefer that we admit to the world that we allowed a teenager to wander around with a dangerous weapon." You note sarcastically.
"You guys killed the Simurgh, I'm pretty sure you could declare yourselves the King & Queen of the East Coast and no one would give you any shit for it," Aisha responds instantly, smirking at you and snaking a hand up to start poking at your well-muscled chest, causing you to sigh and drop her on the ground on the spot.
"Ow! Hey come on! What's a little groping between friends!" She whines.
As always, this girl is entirely shameless.
"...It's good you came." You finally say, setting aside how irresponsible she is for the moment to merely bask in your friendship.
"Yeah? Remember another cool story?" She asks eagerly, popping back to her feet with the boundless energy of the young. Despite her blatantly irresponsible use of the device, you notice that she is holding it exactly as you told her to hold a blade, making sure to hold her balance and keep the point down and away from anything she doesn't intend to stab.
Even if it doesn't have a point, on account of being a Chainsaw.
"No. I'll be leaving soon." You say with a smile.
"Off to kill the Nine? Can I have goatee boys dumb knife? It's probably a collectible or something." Aisha says with a jovial tone.
"No. Today is my last day, I suspect. I am glad to have befriended you, and hope the next 'me' feels the same." You explain with a gentle smile in her direction.
"...Nah come on, don't fuck with me. Don't pull this kind of 'just going to get milk' joke on me. It isn't funny." Aisha grumbles at you, her smile fading somewhat.
"I am sorry," Is your only response.
"Whatever, your just getting a new paint job right? No biggy. I'll still see you tomorrow for sword practice, right?" Aisha pushes onward, bumping you with her shoulder as she walks up next to you.
"It... does not work that way. I could be anyone tomorrow. It's entirely possible that the 'me' of tomorrow will despise you. I doubt it. But it's possible. That is why I wanted to thank you, before going. For being my friend." You say.
"That's-" Aisha starts then shuts her mouth again.
"That's bullshit," She hisses at you, rubbing at her face for some reason.
"It's my nature. Do remember what I told you about my myth?" You ask her carefully choosing not to acknowledge the tears spilling down her face.
"Cool sword. Lots of adventures. Killed a dragon." Aisha says, careful to sound as unaffected as possible.
"Yes. The cool sword. I've come to believe a new age of heroes is upon this world. Would you like to see?" You ask her, holding a hand out towards her.
Hesitantly, she reaches out to take it - then freezes when you smirk at her, pulling her into your grip and once more leaping forward with her.
Landing in a clear area along the fence, you patiently wait for the reporters there to take notice of you before waving at them.
"Ladies, Gentlemen. I believe you have questions. I am not here to answer them. However, I have an announcement to make." You say, allowing the early morning sun to glint across your glasses as you pose.
"This-" You say, putting Aisha down and drawing Gram to display it before you. "-is Gram. My weapon. The weapon that killed the Simurgh. It is a sword of choosing. It chose me, and now, it chooses another. Someday, a hero will draw this blade, and whomever they might be, I wish them luck." You declare.
Then you whirl around and hurl the blade into the ground nearby, where it pierces the earth up to the midway point of the blade - and stops.
"So what, anyone can just grab it?" Aisha asks you, desperately trying to hide her crying face from the cameras.
"No, not just anyone," You declare as the ground begins to rumble, and the very earth itself cracks open revealing a tree rapidly growing from nothing into a mighty Yew that towers above everything save the Wizard Toward of the Heap itself. At its base, embedded in one of its roots, sits Gram.
"A Hero," You declare, smiling wanly as wonder and desire spring to life in Aisha's eyes as she gazes at the blade.
"I wish you luck Greg. You will have competition." You muse to yourself, before whirling about and walking away - ignoring the questions the frenzied reporters hurl at your back as you go.
Friday, February 25th, 2011
PRT Headquarters, Brockton Bay
"Do you hate me Nexus? Did I offend you in a past life?" Piggot asks your Master bluntly as you enter the woman's office.
"No?" Taylor asks in confusion, pointedly eyeballing Director Emily Piggot's currently quite fit physique. Apparently, forcing her to get healed was all the excuse she needed to immediately begin to torment her body back into a shape she considered appropriate. The change is made even more evident by the fact that her uniform is clearly cinched to fit her vastly reduced body mass, evidently having not yet been replaced by something better tailored.
"So maybe you can explain to me why I'm getting reports that you left a weapon that kills Endbringers laying on your front lawn." The blond woman growls at your Master, slamming her fists down on her - currently very messy - table.
"Uh..." Taylor stutters, turning to glare at you for a second - again - before turning back to Piggot.
"It has a defense system in place?" She offers.
"You made a line. You charge a dollar for people to try and pull it out. That is not 'secure'," Piggot bites out in reply.
"Yeah but none of them have succeeded, right? Only someone uh... worthy... can pull it out," Taylor responds, partially on the backfoot. Under normal circumstances, she would have no difficulties with this conversation. After all, she had handily been dealing with Alexandria recently. Piggot should be nothing by comparison. It's just... she actually felt bad about what you had done. Even she felt like just leaving Gram on the front lawn might be a bit much.
"...The Triumvirate have scheduled a visit to my headquarters for later in the week. Can you guess why?" Piggot says with an exasperated sigh and fond look at a cabinet full of liquor on a nearby wall that wasn't there last time you were in this room.
"...to fail to pull out the sword?" Taylor hazards, causing Piggot to take on a puckered look.
"What do you want Taylor." She finally says, obviously done with this conversation and - probably - your Master in general.
"I have a bunch of kids with no legal identity that I need to send to school." She says bluntly.
"...Would you like to elaborate?" Piggot asks, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Well, when a mommy wizard likes a magical implement very much she-"
"Give the details to Renick in the next room. Get out of my office."
Friday, February 25th, 2011
Redmond Welding, Brockton Bay
The lights clicked on in the room, and four people shuffled up the narrow stairwell into it.
"And I'm telling you, taking this job is a bad idea." A large black man with his hair in cornrows was saying as he crested the stairs.
"Hey, we voted already dude. You lost. Get over it." A lackadaisical voice responds.
Both men freeze as they get a good look at the room beyond the doorway. They would run, or fight, or scream, but they have recently come to realize that such things are entirely pointless.
"Guys? Why'd you stop?" Greg's voice calls up from behind them.
"Oh shit she's here, isn't she." A feminine voice half whines, half yelps.
"Yes, yes, secret identity blah blah. Come on, if I wanted you gone you'd be gone. Now let's hash this out like adults." Your Master says with a lazy wave of her hand from where she is lazing on the Undersiders couch with one of the three dogs that were guarding the place in her lap. The small one.
"What the fuck Rachel?" The black man - you assume this is Grue based on his body type - hisses at the stout girl who is presently sitting in the loveseat opposite Taylor with her eyes closed.
"What?" She barks back in response, seemingly genuinely confused.
"Why the fuck didn't you warn us? You have a cellphone!" He panic screams at her.
"Didn't matter." Bitch answers with a shrug.
"Didn't- we live here. She could do anything-"
"She's sitting right here, and could still do anything she wanted really." Taylor interrupts, pointing out the fallacy in the argument.
"Hey, Taylor," Greg greets her as he gets past Grue and Regent at the top of the stairs, followed quickly by a blond freckled girl you take to be Tattletale, who scowls at your Master and then around the room - presumably unable to determine where exactly your invisible form is standing, but knowing you are here.
"Hey, Greg. You gonna be in school next Monday?" Taylor asks calmly, as though she hadn't just invaded their base of operations.
"Yeah, still smoothing things over with my parents but-" He starts to say casually only to be cut off.
"What do you want Taylor." Tattletale states flatly, dropping her shopping on the floor and stomping over to angrily sit next to your Master on the couch - surprising the dog in her lap and causing it to scamper away.
All of which was probably on purpose.
"I wanted to set the record straight," Your Master says with a shrug.
"Every time I meet you guys, you show up, throw some insults at me, then pull a Houdini on everyone. I have complaints." She says.
"Oh my god. This is really happening. You- you came to our house to complain about us! Holy shit, Brian get the-" Regent begins only for Grue to slam a fist into his gut.
"Grue." He growls.
"F-fuck off man. She's on our couch. She killed the Simurgh. She can do whatever the fuck she wants. In fact, I'm free tonight if-" Regent splutters, obviously winded by the blow.
"She didn't. Kill the Simurgh, I mean. Greg did." Tattletale says primly, peering at Taylor carefully then frowning.
"With Emmy's weapon," Taylor is quick to point out.
Tattletale looks like she is about to have an aneurysm but visibly calms herself.
"Fine. With his weapon." She grumbles, waving - accurately - in your direction, something that visibly impresses your Master, if only begrudgingly.
"So what, you gonna start checking up on us now? Here to tell us to get out of your city?" Tattletale asks sarcastically.
"Obviously not. Why are you always such a bitch?" Taylor asks, seemingly genuinely curious.
"Because some of us don't just magically get to solve all our problems with overwhelming violence and that kind of work can be a tad stressful." the blond snaps back. Taylor lifts an eyebrow at her, then lowers her head, allowing a glint of light to play across her lenses.
"Don't you dare-" Tattletale panics, leaning away from her, but too slowly to stop your Master from snorting and snapping her fingers an inch from her face, causing a burst of golden light to wash over the blond and the tension to fade from her expression.
"Okay fine, that's... that's a pretty good trick," Tattletale says, now somewhat fearfully, which is new. You would think all of your Master's other feats would be what finally instilled in her a proper fear of those stronger than her. But no, it is the act of curing her thinker headache that does it.
"So. What are you guys doing nowadays. No vague bullshit please." Taylor states dryly, leaning back on the couch lazily.
She is, in fact, anything but relaxed, but she has so many powers for operating under pressure that it's doubtful anyone but Tattletale could ever notice.
"Security. We've picked up a few contracts to run random patrols on private business interests." Tattletale finally says, glancing at the rest of the group - Greg being the only one not distressed by the current situation.
"So protection racket," Taylor says disapprovingly.
"No! Totally legal and above board! We're corporate now! Sponsored by Medhall and everything." Tattletale says smugly.
Taylor stares blankly at her for a second.
"Has... has it occurred to you that it would have made more sense to do that from the start or...?" Taylor says in pure bafflement.
"I don't wanna hear that from the girl whose first day out included suplexing the shit out of Glory Girl before getting into a weird lesbian love triangle with her sister!" Tattletale snaps. Taylor looks seriously taken aback by that for a moment before frowning at her.
"...We are never going to get along are we?" Taylor finally asks.
"No. Now get out." Tattletale replies instantly, standing up and reaching out to grab the bag she left on the floor.
"We were planning on celebrating our teammate killing an Endbringer." She explains blithely. The way she says it is just a tad more possessive than you would expect, but no one else seems to notice, or if they do, care.
"Well... have fun with that I guess. Stay away from crime, don't do drugs yadda yadda." Taylor says with a roll of her eyes, walking towards the exit.
"Not gonna use a fancy portal?" Tattletale snarks at her.
"Tats," Grue hisses at her with a tone of voice like a man who can physically feel his soul leaving his body. Taylor glances at him, then back to Tattletale.
"I figured you might feel antsy about me drawing my sword here," She explains evenly before turning to Greg.
"Also, Greg, please come get your sword soon. The PRT is yelling at me about it." She says in complete seriousness.
Then she walks out onto the street, cleaves a gap open, and you both leave the Undersiders behind.
Friday, February 25th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
You can feel it.
Two minutes before the clock is to strike midnight, you rise from the bed where your Master is slumbering with Nemesis splayed across her stomach.
This has certainly been an eventful emulation for you. But also enlightening. You made your first friend. In fact, this is the first emulation you have really bothered trying to do much of anything for yourself during. You aren't quite sure how to feel about that.
Has this growth been a result of Sigurd himself? Or is it all a result of the entity known as 'Emmy'? Will you continue to care for Aisha when you cease to be, or will you find her as annoying as your first emulation inevitably would. If your Emulation does hate her... can you overcome it to stay her friend anyway?
You just don't know.
You do know this, however. A long time ago it seems, you once intimated that continuity of consciousness was unimportant to you. That it was a purely human affectation.
Now... now you understand. You fear the change now, if only slightly.
Unfortunately, this is your nature. Not just as a Projection, and a Shard. But as a Servant. You were never meant to be permanent.
But that won't stop you from trying.
That thought in mind, you reach forward to caress your Master's hair, bend forward to give Nemesis a chaste kiss on the forehead...
And then 'you' cease to be, secure in the knowledge that in another part of the city, your legacy will live on at the base of a tree.
Omake Shop Votes:
(Only one may win, but both can lose if 'no' votes exceed 'yes' votes.)
Current Omake Shop Points: 40
Citino wants to activate Age of Heroes II for 15 Points
[ ] Citino/Yes
[ ] Citino/No
TirelessTraveler wants to activate Side Story - With a Twist for 5 Points
[ ] TirelessTraveler/Yes
[ ] TirelessTraveler/No
IMPORTANT NOTE - PLEASE READ -
Like all other new Emulation choices - this first vote is entirely a write-in. Write in as many settings as you want. The top three will go on to be voted on a second time, to decide which setting we'll be using. Some simple rules. I'm going to sleep right after posting this - so expect me to close the preliminary vote in oh, ten hours from now. - This first vote won't have a moratorium. The next one will. I know these can get heated, but be nice, don't be rude to each other, and don't start a fandom war or some shit.
So, what's next?
[ ] Write-In
EDIT: Also a member of our discord started a quest, and I'd love if you supported them! Right here! It's got Worm and Final Fantasy! Show some love guys.
EDIT2: Also we have a tv tropes page so please- *get's pulled away from the computer to sleep*
Last edited: Mar 15, 2021
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Bowler Hat Guy
Mar 15, 2021
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Threadmarks Ascension 13.2
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Mar 19, 2021
#33,804
Spoiler: Choices:
Current Energy: 20
Current Training: None
Spoiler: Current Emulation Status:
Spoiler: Base Status
Saturday, February 26th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
Your emulation process is very piecemeal, at least to observe as it happens.
Your base or 'core' form, is a barely matching collage of human parts and features, haphazardly assembled into a more or less human shape. There are no visible seams or obvious points where those features are, but for all you technically look like a human, those features were put in place with the mechanical precision of a mind that could never possibly comprehend what it is to be human.
So the form itself is actually extremely uncanny to look at, in a way most of the natives of the earth would likely be able to feel, but would be completely incapable of explaining.
From the outside, anyone watching you change is therefore likely to notice one thing above all else. It is the fact that once you have settled on a new emulation, pieces of you start to come away, only to be quickly replaced by jigsaw-like pieces of your chosen form. When all of those pieces have been fully integrated - your Emulation is complete.
"Huh. I've never actually watched that happen before," your Master says idly, shooting you a tight-lipped smile when you reflexively twitch in surprise. Looking around, you realize you are in a room you haven't seen before. It's small - about the size of the average study in a normal-sized home - and sparse. The walls are made up of unadorned metal signifying you are somewhere in the Heap, and your Master is sitting in a plain chair with her feet up on a nice looking oak desk with a closed book on it.
"Where..?" You ask curiously, rolling your now broad shoulder and flexing your hands in a way that causes your knuckles to pop.
"Come see," Taylor says playfully, standing from her seat and beckoning you over, Nemesis sheathed at her waist.
You find this all very confusing. In your experience, what you were expecting to happen was for your Emulation to change over, then for you to wait patiently for your Master to awaken from her sleep. You aren't so foolish as to believe that because she is comfortable with one of your forms sleeping near her, that she is comfortable with all of them.
Grumbling to herself under her breath, your Master draws forth a string of multi-colored orbs that she carefully weaves together into a single iridescent ball, then presses it carefully into the wall of the room you are in.
Slowly, then with increasing speed, the walls begin to shift in color, their surfaces taking on an image, not unlike a watercolor painting. More and more detail fills into the image until rather than a painting, you are presented with a practically photorealistic view of what the room would look like if the walls weren't there.
Stretching out before you is Brockton Bay at night. Even at this hour, there are enough lights on in the city to make the entire thing visible on a moonless night, and a wavering reflection of the city is mirrored in the waters of the bay it surrounds.
Your Master smiles at the peaceful sight, and the corners of your lips turn upward slightly as you smile right along with her. Two months ago, you could have looked out on the sight before you and known unequivocally that beneath the beauty of the tableau lay a roiling wasteland of gangs and crime.
Now... now Brockton is well on its way to being almost entirely held by Heroes. There are no criminal gangs, all of them having been destroyed, reformed, or defeated in your Master's prolific rise to power.
'And he shall gaze upon his works, and call them good,' you think to yourself, suppressing a snort as you turn to examine your Master's smiling face.
Your current emulation was once a man of God. When he turned to a path of bloodshed, he gave up all the gifts God had given him, believing himself unworthy of them.
Rubbing the thumb of your left hand over your pointer finger, you can't help but contemplate the realization he had at the end of his adventures. He no longer believed in his god by that point.
"I decided to stop treating it like you died, every time this happens," Taylor says out of the blue, drawing you from your contemplation and turning toward you with a wide smile.
"Before, I always sent you off with a frown. And I was too busy or afraid to greet you when you came back. I think I get now, that you never really left." She says.
"I do describe it like that, don't I?" You muse aloud.
"Only 'cus you're stupid," Nemesis chimes in, vanishing from your Master's waist and throwing herself into your arms, where she hangs from your neck like an excitable child. Off-balance because of the sudden weight, you stumble forward, and your Master catches your shoulder and holds you upright long enough for you to regain your balance. Then she too hugs you briefly before letting go. Nemesis giggles the entire time.
Pausing to consider the statement from the sword spirit, you contemplate not just your existence, but that of the man you are emulating.
"So I have been told." You answer with dry humor in your tone, readjusting your arm to hold Nemesis up.
"Since I could feel it when you changed, I made myself wake up and came here. We're in my Wizard tower," Taylor explains smugly - as she always is when describing her tower - and then returns to her seat, waving a hand over the table. A small gap opens, though much slower and with obviously greater focus than is normal for your Master. Which makes sense, because she didn't use Nemesis to make it.
With quick dextrous hands, she pulls two slices of cake from the gap, along with some utensils. Nemesis makes an audible growling noise from where she is hanging from your neck, and your Master rolls her eyes and retrieves a third plate.
"You... made yourself wake up?" You ask incredulously.
You don't know why, but you just find the idea of willing yourself to consciousness from sleep strange somehow.
"I can see what you're doing when I sleep remember? So I knew you were changing," she explains, shifting her Gap across the table to deposit a chair for you to sit in.
Nemesis happily declines similar, opting to sit in your lap instead.
"Anyway, I just thought that instead of making you deal with another problem or something, this time around we could just celebrate? And talk a little? It's kind of been a while," Taylor says sheepishly.
You smile at her, though you aren't sure Taylor can tell. Your new emulation's face is set into something of a permanent scowl. Even his smiles only barely qualify as happy expressions.
"What did you have in mind? I should warn you, this emulations home is much less... interesting... than the last," you tell her, pointedly focusing on the world war two analog instead of the state-sponsored murder wizards you made a habit of hunting.
"More like here then?" She asks quizzically, digging into her slice of cake.
"Somewhat, yes," you concede.
"Tell me about it anyway. It's always interesting to know the little differences," she asks, then shoots you a knowing smirk when you hesitate for a moment.
"Not that similar at all, is it?" She jokes.
You furrow your brows while thinking about the nationwide conspiracy to help an artificial being become God that your Emulation stumbled face-first into.
"...No, it is not," you begrudgingly admit with a sigh before launching into an explanation of Amestris and the various atrocities you encountered there - along with what bits of Ishvalan (the culture your emulation derives from) culture are required to understand the situation.
Close to an hour and several slices of cake later, Taylor and Nemesis are staring blankly at you.
"What?" You ask defensively, having long since stopped eating and instead transitioned to scratching Nemesis's head with one hand.
"...so there were bad guys turning souls into magic rocks-" she begins.
"Alchemists, and Philosophers Stones - but yes," you correct.
"-and there were these other bad guys made from the magic rocks-" she continues as if you hadn't spoken.
"Homunculi," you correct again.
"-and those bad guys were trying to turn the big bad guy into a God. And during all of that, you were mostly just randomly killing any Wizard you came across." she finishes, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"...that is accurate, yes." You conclude, although you feel strongly that boiling your involvement in things down to such is somewhat insulting. You did, after all, turn over a new leaf and help those two brothers thwart the whole plot.
You just... did that by murdering every Alchemist they pointed you at.
And several non-alchemists.
Hm.
"How- how is that less interesting?!" Your Master blurts out incredulously.
"It's less interesting than Zeus being a spaceship," you point out, drawing your Master up short.
"...point," she concedes before pondering something. "So does this guy have a name?" She asks eventually.
You look at her quizzically then shake your head no, because of course, he does not. Seeing your Master's confusion you elaborate.
"The Ishvalan people believe that their names are a gift given to them by God. They speak them with great pride. This emulation gave up on his name when he turned his back on God," you say, cracking the knuckles in your right hand.
"However, I think I still prefer 'Emmy'," you declare proudly, sharing a smile with your Master.
It's the weekend, so besides the obvious - dealing with the Media, etc, etc - what should you and your Master do today? Pick two (2)
[ ] Begin Training (Choose a skill or power.)
[ ] Patrol The City (Choose a target area: The Docks, Downtown, Uptown) (Choose two people to come with you: Victoria, Gallant, Triumph, Aspirant, Trainwreck, Jess, Danny, Mem)
[ ] Have Taylor take some time out to fortify the Heap with Onmyoudo.
[ ] ...Could you start a parahuman training school? You could at least look into some candidates... (Choose one: Dojo Students, Dockworkers, Panda Gang, Police)
[ ] Parian is getting requests for 'Tinker' Fabric. She doesn't have any, but she could.
[ ] You have the energy available to make a Shikigami. You suppose the PRT probably will want you to do your thing for them as well.
[ ] Take Time Off (Pick an Extra Social)
[ ] Write-In
You just fought an Endbringer. That calls for some time with your friends. Pick Two (2)
[ ] Victoria (1)
[ ] Amy (2)
[ ] Aspirant (2)
[ ] Trainwreck (1)
[ ] Parian (2)
[ ] Danny (2)
[ ] Oliver (2)
[ ] Jess (1)
[ ] Triumph (0)
[ ] Gallant (0)
[ ] Mem (0)
[ ] Mouse Protector (2)
[ ] Dinah (1)
[ ] Write-In
So I don't know where to ask this really, so I'm appending it to the end of this update.
I've recently been toying with the idea of brief extradimensional jaunts to past settings, like going to Bleach or Kung Fu Panda or whatever for short periods of time. I would keep the focus on Earth Bet as far as main story progression goes, but easing into some minor planeswalker shenanigans seems like it could make for a fun couple of mini arcs that don't require I constantly up the ante to keep tension like I do with Earth Bet.
I'm aware that some people might feel pretty ambivalent on that topic though.
So I'm gonna put it to a quick and dirty vote, because I don't want to suddenly pivot into it without warning or seeing what you guys think. I just think it'd be fun as a way to keep things fresh.
Planeswalking
[ ] Planeswalking/Yes
[ ] Planeswalking/No
Last edited: Mar 19, 2021
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Bowler Hat Guy
Mar 19, 2021
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Threadmarks With a Twist, A Projection Quest Sidestory
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Mar 22, 2021
#34,138
"Superheroing isn't like, a real career I don't think." He said, rolling his shoulders to work the stiffness out.
"It depends, the Protectorate certainly seems to be able to pay their bills," was Parian's half-distracted response.
Oliver paused in his response for a moment to line himself up with a nearby rooftop, then sprinted forward and leaped. His aura-enhanced jump easily cleared the gap allowing him to land in a crouching roll that he came up from with all the grace of a professional gymnast.
Then he immediately lifted his hand back up to put his cellphone against his ear. It was kind of inconvenient, but Taylor hadn't really provided them with fancy ear communicators like the Protectorate had, and Trainwreck had professed to being largely unable to engineer such a thing. Well, he had actually said that he could, but that his power insisted that a speaker which allowed your voice to be heard across the entire city, and that was big enough to crush a full-sized truck beneath its bulk was technically long-distance communication.
So, well, they hadn't done that.
"Yeah but those guys go through like, job interviews and stuff. They get training and certification and all that. I uh... I just kind of live in the base because Taylor said it was cool," he pointed out.
"I'm sure there are other ways to monetize your powers. I could use a model actually if-" Parian offered, her tone pitching up somewhat excitedly.
"No that's- I mean, I don't think going from one job where I need someone else's goodwill to function to another is really the best idea. Besides I... don't really want to be famous or anything." He quickly cut her off before explaining.
He had been thinking about this kind of thing a lot lately. Most of the team had been studiously avoiding the media crews outside the grounds ever since they had shown up. Despite being himself photogenic by default, Oliver simply felt too uncomfortable to actually talk directly to any of the reporters. At least, not without Taylor around. The whole team felt the same way to varying degrees, which was why even Parian was currently running a patrol on the opposite side of the Heap from himself.
Not that either of them ever really found anything of note to stop.
Oliver had... not really put a lot of thought into his future. If he was being honest, he felt pretty strongly that he didn't have one until recently. A lot of what he was doing was just... going through the motions. No one would say it back when he was with the Travellers but... they were sort of in a no-win situation. Sure, they all wanted to cure Noelle, but looking back on it he couldn't even tell why anymore. They had long since reached the point where it should be obvious they couldn't, and should probably just turn themselves in, but they just... hadn't. Sure Trickster usually managed to get them all out of any problems they came across, but even he was being pressured by the constant downward spiral.
If he was being honest, until recently... until the Simurgh had finally been defeated, Oliver had just been... well.. passive. He was aware that he was just coasting in Taylor's wake. His powers were so weak he never actively participated with the other Travellers. He was more like a mascot character than a real team member. So things like finishing school, what job he would take when he was older, how he would live his life in general, most of those things just hadn't occurred to Oliver. What was the point? He was never going to be able to go back to school. He was never going to have a house, a car, two kids and a wife.
He was going to die on the run.
Now he was thinking about those things, and he didn't particularly like what he had allowed himself to become.
Dating for instance, for... ah... no particular reason. Could he get a date for himself? Yes. It wasn't hard, his power was literally being attractive. But that was just a foot in the door. He imagined himself sitting at a table with his hypothetical girlfriend talking about themselves, and it always went terribly to him.
'What are your hobbies?' Oh you know, hanging around his bosses house breathing the air.
'Education?' Never graduated high school.
'Job?' Mooching off his crush, mostly.
Basically, if Oliver didn't just happen to know Taylor, he'd be a particularly attractive hobo and not much else.
So now he was trying to solve at least some of those problems but it was... hard. Mostly because he didn't really know what he wanted to do with himself, besides the fact that he didn't want to be mooching off Taylor to do it.
It was... kind of hard to ask someone on a date when all the money you planned on spending on the date was basically an allowance they gave you.
"The offer is always open. Anything on your end?" Parian asked, drawing him out of his... uh... brooding, basically.
"Nope," he responded lazily, making a popping noise on the 'p'.
"I've got someone suspicious on a street corner here but he isn't really doing anything but smoking and looking around. Going to wait a minute to see what happens," Parian replied, then hung up. Oliver sighed, then put his own phone away in one of the pouches at his belt.
Then he eyed the boundary where Taylor's 'territory' ended and the rest of the city began. The thing about patrolling in their 'zone' as it were, was that nobody was truly stupid enough to commit any kind of crime anywhere near Taylor. Some one-off villains still braved the streets of the city, albeit in a much more subdued or subtle manner than Brockton's previous supervillainous residents. But those guys had the wherewithal to understand that they might run into New Wave or the Protectorate, and that they might win that fight and might get away.
There was approximately zero chance of anyone who wasn't Triumvirate tier escaping Taylor when she felt like capturing you.
Glancing back the way he had come, Oliver warred with himself for a moment, before grunting in frustration to himself.
"Come on man. You're like, Batman now! You've got skills, you're strong, you're bulletproof." He talked himself up, pulling his hood up to hide most of his head and shadow his domino mask covered face. He had no idea what held the hood in place - probably some magic bullshit Taylor had thrown into the thing - but once the hood was up, it stayed up until he took it down. The entire cloak was convenient that way. It swished and swirled in a way that almost always hid his hands and equipment from view, even when it had to move it the most improbably ways to do it. The armor he wore was great and all - for all he didn't really need it much anymore - but his favorite part of his costume was definitely the cloak. If he closed his eyes and let it dance in the wind he could almost believe it was alive.
Taking a deep breath, he took off at a sprint. No longer held back by trying to keep a conversation going or having to hold his cellphone, he was able to really pour on the gas, and in no time he was making his way across the rooftops of downtown. It was dark out so it was hard to see everything that was going on in the streets and alleys below, but he felt like he had a decent enough grasp that if something was happening, he would notice it.
For the most part though, he just ran. He really loved aura. It wasn't just that it made him useful. It was how free he felt bouncing about like this. Like, if he wanted to he could circumnavigate the whole city and nothing could stop him. He had never been the 'sporty' type, but he wondered idly if this was what people called a runners high. Instead of stopping to take in his surroundings, he allowed himself to just... focus on the movement. Vaulting over obstructions, carefully picking his way across rooftops that looked right on the edge of collapse, breaking his falls using conventional skills to conserve his aura.
He was practically a blur as he traveled, and as he did so, he let all his worries and concerns fade away. There was just him, his cloak protecting him from the stiff night breeze, and three guys dragging a woman into an alley below.
That... that last part caused him to lose focus on running caused him to skid to a silent stop atop a nearby building to peer back the way he had come.
"...where the hell am I?" He muttered to himself as he fished his cellphone out and quickly fired off a message to the local police department with the names of the nearby streets in it.
It was an unfortunate fact, but despite Taylor's best efforts, she hadn't exactly 'cleaned up' all the normal crime in the city. The fact was, the city still had a lot of problems with poverty. With normal criminals, people who didn't have superpowers of any kind. People who were pushed to do desperate things to survive when they couldn't afford rent and couldn't find a job.
Of course, he really doubted that any of the three guys below him were dragging a cute girl into an alley because they were down on their luck.
"H-help! Someone!" The girl screeched in a sort of youngish tone that made Oliver's blood boil just thinking about the fact that she was probably Mem or Mun's age.
...Physical age that is. One was technically only a month old, and the other claimed to be a few thousand. He wasn't sure how seriously to take that second one.
Eyeballing the scenario below, Oliver considered his options, before stepping off the ledge and allowing his aura to take the brunt of the impact, as his combined mass and velocity was channeled directly into his heel - where it slammed into one of the men's outstretched feet with perfect accuracy.
Everyone he knew, knew what Oliver's powers were. They made him hot, and they made him learn skills quickly. The thing most people didn't grasp, was that his learning ability wasn't really a thinker power. He didn't magically understand things better than most. Oliver simply had perfect control of his body. Most people used the phrase 'threading a needle' to describe an overly delicate and difficult task. Oliver considered such things entirely trivial. If he wanted to move his hand exactly an inch to the left, that was what happened. There was no variance or room for error. He just did it. And he could continue to do it, perfectly, and accurately, multiple times in a row. If you showed him how to throw a perfect punch, all he had to do to throw a perfect punch of his own was to want his body to do so. And it did. So really, mastering a martial art was just a matter of having it shown to him once.
"Fuck!" The man he had landed on screamed, and Oliver obligingly lifted his foot to allow him to stumble away in pain. Knowing there was a vulnerable, squishy, civilian behind him, he was mindful of any firearms the other two men might draw on him.
Which is why he responded to the gap in their formation created by his first target stumbling away, by stepping between the two remaining thugs and swinging his fists outward with perfect accuracy, ramming both mens elbows with his enhanced strength and breaking both of their arms instantaneously. Not thinking overmuch about it - he was in the zone - he pivoted on one foot, mule kicked the knee joint out of place on the guy behind him, then unleashed a blinding combination of punches on the man in front of him.
"Good afternoon gentleman, my name is Huntsman and I will be your designated ass kicker tonight," He said with a dry tone before instantly cringing inwardly. God, that was horrible. He should just avoid bantering when he fought. It was impractical anyway. The girl he was saving must think he was a fucking idiot now. Damn.
Now, he wasn't really expecting any of these guys to banter back at him. For one thing, both of them were in significant pain, not that he... really cared. As much as he wanted to be a hero, he also couldn't help but acknowledge that he didn't have much sympathy for people who turned to crime for stupid reasons like getting laid. He'd been a supervillain, but he had also been dimensionally displaced by and Endbringer and forced to babysit what the PRT report indicated might have been a baby Endbringer.
These guys were probably just drunk, horny, and stupid.
Still, he had sort of expected some level of interaction, even if only to surrender. He was not expecting the guy whose foot he crushed to pull a gun out and point it at him.
"Yeah that's-" He opened his mouth to point out the futility of the motion, but then quickly had to step to the side when the man with the gun stumbled to the side and point the gun behind him.
"...Is there like, a henchman school? I mean, do you guys learn to be this scummy somewhere? Is there a book or something or-" Oliver asked curiously, even as he idly stuck his hand behind his back, allowed his rail gun to unfold, and stuck the barrel directly against his nearest foes crotch when it looked like he was going to try and pull his own gun out while Oliver was distracted.
"Fuck you! We weren't fucking doing anything wrong! You broke my fucking foot!" The man with the gun screamed.
"Pulped it really. If it were broken you might be able to walk again but-"
"FUCK YOU!" The man cried out again, getting angry enough to fire at Oliver instead of continuing to hold the girl behind him, hostage. Oliver braced himself against the incoming pain, and took the opportunity to use the barrel of his gun like a club, bringing it up and around to smack the other thug in the side of his head and technically saving his life, since he hit the ground like a sack of bricks, thereby avoiding the hail of gunfire that might have hit him had he been standing.
Aura had some downsides. For one thing, even though he didn't get injured by the bullets that started to slam into him, he did experience a not-insignificant amount of pain when a bullet plinked off his glowing aura anywhere that his armor wasn't covering. For another, he only had so much of the resource that made him bulletproof, which is why he was sweating slightly when the guy shooting at him finally ran out of ammo, his gun clicking quietly empty as he frantically eyed Oliver.
"Just out of curiosity, this isn't like... some kind of weird roleplay thing I interrupted by mistake right?" He asked, turning to look over the girl behind him, who had been cowering in place during the entire fight.
"No! I- I was- I just wanted to go to the corner store! I wanted a drink and- and I thought-" The girl blabbered, her short brown hair a disheveled mess. She was cute in a childish kind of way, and Oliver had a hard time determining if she was a childish-looking teen, or an adult-looking child, before shrugging the thought off as irrelevant. Both options made him angry.
"Bullshit! The girls always hung out on that corner! You lying bitch!" The man yelled.
"Yeah, I hate to tell you this man, but I'm pretty sure most of those women you're talking about are my neighbours now so..." Oliver trailed off with a shrug, before dropping his gun and dashing forward. Before the man could even determine what was going on, he had broken his wrist, elbow, and shoulder - all on the same side - then punched him in the head until he stopped screaming about it, and fell unconscious.
Oliver watched the guy pensively for a second before grabbing him by his pulped foot and dragging him back to his compatriots. Then he pulled a healing tag out of one of his pouches and ripped it in half, causing a golden burst of force to sweep across the three criminals and the girl.
"Are you okay?" He asked, finally turning towards the girl once he was certain none of the men he had bludgeoned would die or something.
Fun fact about 'assault with a parahuman power'. Did healing them without their consent count as technically illegal? Yes. But so did a civilian punching them in the head until they stopped moving so unless he did something really fucked up, he was pretty sure no one actually cared.
"Um..." The girl said quietly, obviously trying to clear her head now that the encounter was mostly over and just as clearly, not sure what to say or do.
"Do you want me to wait with you, until the police get here?" He asked again kindly.
He had sort of a code he tried to follow. Not like... an actual code of honor or anything. Just a sort of list of priorities he liked to follow. Stuff the heroes in movies never did, stuff he'd always complained about comic book characters not doing. So, instead of disappearing into the night to fight more crime - like a jackass - he walked over to the girl and pulled his hood down so he wasn't looming over her. Then he held a hand out to help her up.
"Y-yes!" She blurted out, face turning slightly red when she saw him. He typically ignored this response. It wasn't uncommon for him. His power was literally, being attractive. He didn't love it, because it made it hard to tell if a girl liked him, or just liked looking at him, but in situations like this, it made the plain domino mask he wore worth it. An attractive person was always more comforting to the victim of a crime than an ugly one.
"Good. If you were hurt before you shouldn't be now, but I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mention that when the police get here. Not uh... not really supposed to do that." He explained sheepishly as she stretched a hand out to grab his hand.
"I will! I mean, I won't! I um- so you're... Huntsman?" She asked tentatively.
"Yup. Least impressive member of my team. I'm working on it." He said with an overconfident wink he didn't really feel. He was aware that he was often considered an afterthought. He didn't really have any feats or notoriety to his name, not compared to the rest of the Oathbound. Parian was well known for her commercial exploits, Aspirant was well known in the city from as far back as when the Nazis were trying to take over, and Trainwreck...
Trainwreck had selfies with the Simurgh's corpse. Didn't get more noticeable than that.
"I didn't mean that! You're great!" The girl blurted out, before visibly calming herself and continuing. "I'm Madison. T-thanks."
"Don't worry about it. It's my job." He said with an easy smile, stepping over to retrieve his gun, then pulling his cellphone out and dialing Parian's number.
"Hello?" She whispered back to him.
"How are things on your end?" He asked curiously.
"Boring. He isn't doing anything," was Parian's irked response.
"Huh. So, don't tell Trainwreck but I kind of went way outside of my patrol zone..." He said hesitantly.
"And you want me to help you with this, how?" Parian asked. Trainwreck was pretty lackadaisical, but he was also sort of a tyrant about making sure no one was patrolling anywhere they weren't supposed to. He contended that there was always a bigger fish, and that new parahumans popped up all the time. So if someone mystically triggered with powers that trumped theirs somehow, it was for the best that they were close to home, so they could make a swift retreat.
"Well, if he thinks both of us went together..." He offered suggestively.
"Just this once. You're safe though right?" She asked him with obvious concern in her voice.
"Peachy. Saved this girl- say hi Madison - and now I'm just waiting for the cops to get here." He said easily, glancing at the girl who was watching his conversation with a weird intensity.
"Just... don't do anything stupid and text me your location," Parian finally replied with a sigh, before hanging up. He obligingly sent her the message, then put his phone away.
"Was... that T-Nexus?" Madison asked anxiously the minute he was done.
"Nah, Taylor doesn't really uh... patrol. She's sort of the nuclear option if you know what I mean," He answered with a snort. He was pretty sure that the entire city preferred Taylor stay home really. It wasn't that she was incapable of subtly, it was just that people had come to expect a certain level of... gratuitous ultraviolence... from her presence. She was just kind of intense that way, even when she was acting like nuking a city was no big deal.
"Oh. Are you and her...?" She blurted out, causing Oliver to blink stupidly at her then snort again.
"No that'd be... uh, that'd probably be a bad idea," He said, trying not to sound desperate or whiney about it. He wasn't sure if he was successful or not with that one because Madison immediately perked up at his response.
"Is she too young for you?" She asked with renewed intensity.
"No, she's like a year younger than me. Maybe two. Why-" He started to ask.
"Just curious." Madison quickly responded, blushing and turning away from him.
"Uh...huh..." He said, not sure how he felt about this.
On the one hand, he knew objectively that he was attractive. He was aware that people who didn't know him probably thought fondly of his looks if nothing else. On the other, he got out so little and had so few friends that he was kind of blindsided by the sudden interest. Even knowing that he couldn't possibly agree to see the girl - she looked too young for him, and it would be taking advantage of someone vulnerable, given the situation - it made him feel ten feet tall just to get some admiration from someone else.
"Uh..." Madison said, her eyes going wide as he looked down at her.
Then his own eyes grew wide as he realized that - while he had always been taller than her - he was not literally looming over her, his body having somehow increased in size. It passed almost as soon as he noticed it, and because of that, he was much more cognizant of the sudden shrinking he experienced as he returned to his normal height.
"Is that... a normal thing for you or...?" Madison asked gamely.
Numbly, Oliver harkened back to Taylor's once description of Aura. Strength, Durability, and a random personality-based bonus power.
"Let me get back to you on that one," He responded, before settling in to wait for Parian to arrive.
Last edited: Mar 22, 2021
697
Bowler Hat Guy
Mar 22, 2021
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Threadmarks Ascension 13.3
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Bowler Hat Guy
Bowler Hat Guy
A Hat & Its Man
Apr 7, 2021
#34,304
[X] Planeswalking/Yes
[X] Begin Training (Left Hand of Reconstruction)
[X] Mem (0)
[X] Victoria (1)
Current Energy: 20
Current Training: Left Hand of Reconstruction 5/10 -- This Omake Bonus in SPECIAL thanks to Semantron who did this sick piece of art for all of us that you can see here. Go like him. Do it. Do it for BHG.
Saturday, February 26th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
You don't go through your usual morning routine, having spent the night and the better part of the early morning just chatting with your Master. Instead, the two of you - plus Nemesis - watch the sunrise through the walls of the Wizard Tower.
"So, what's the plan for today?" You ask your Master as the warm light of the sun passes over you, leaving you feeling content in a way this emulation rarely felt during his adventures. You are sitting at the small table with your Master still. Taylor sits across from you, having consumed significantly more cake than you, with Nemesis held in her lap - like a mother with an unruly child.
"Well, I still have to talk to the news guys outside. I have to figure the PRT has a shortlist for resurrections from the Canberra fight too, so I'll have to see Piggot... again..." Taylor says, shooting you a dirty look at the 'again' part.
"I accept no responsibility for actions of previous emulations," You say bluntly. Taylor squints at you, not immediately responding, and you start to get nervous as the silence stretches on - but you don't show it. Being the strong silent type was one of your current emulations 'things' for a while.
Besides being a serial killer, you mean.
"That's your story and you're sticking to it huh?" She eventually sighs.
"Yes," You say flatly.
"I think it was cool." Nemesis chimes in, tilting her head backward to look up at your Master's face. Taylor, for her part, glances down at her sword spirit with one eyebrow raised.
"Oh? I thought you didn't like Gram," She asks.
"I don't! That's the best part! He left the dumb thing behind! See?" Nemesis says, flailing her arms excitedly and gesturing at you, and your complete lack of a weapon.
"I don't think that's-" Taylor starts to clarify but is cut off by Nemesis's continued ranting.
"No weapon! Just a bunch of weird tattoos! Emmy, tell her! You ditched that hussy right?" Nemesis demands imperiously. You make a single languid blink at her, then open your mouth to respond.
"See! He agrees! It's just like Jess says, happy wife, happy life!" She declares before so much as a single sound can escape you.
Your Master turns to you with a dryly amused look on her face.
"Well, you heard her," she says with a snort of barely restrained laughter.
"...Yes," you respond flatly, before changing the subject. "So, besides that, what else are we doing today?"
Taylor shoots you a pensive look while she effortlessly prevents Nemesis from leaping out of her lap, her eyes trailing down from your face to your arms.
"...What did you say those things could do again?"
"You know boss, I've been thinking, I'm pretty sure I've got a scheduled patrol this morning so I'll have to take a raincheck on this whole media appearance thing." Trainwreck says nervously, sidling towards the exit to his garage while making sure to keep an eye on your Master, who is patiently adjusting her costume, along with Sabah, Oliver, and Jamie.
"We don't even have morning patrols," Oliver points out in annoyance, obviously determined not to be forced out into the limelight alone.
"Yeah it's crazy, just popped up on my schedule at the last minute," Trainwreck hurries to clarify, still eyeing your Master.
"You're the one who writes the schedule!" Oliver cries out in outrage, turning away from where he is lacing up his boots to glare at the tinker.
"Yeah, but what if-" Trainwreck begins to continue to explain himself, only to be cut off by your Master.
"Wreck quit being such a baby. No one else is making a big deal out of this. We fought the Ziz and this is what sets you off?" She asks with a roll of her eyes.
"Fighting is easy though!" He complains, flinging his arms into the air. "Besides they're fucking cheating!"
"He probably turned off his ability to panic or some shit, he's supernatural hot, your supernatural hot, and she's a fucking fashion designer!" Trainwreck gripes.
There is a pregnant pause as the entire group pauses to look at each other before turning back to Trainwreck.
"...he's not wrong." Aspirant finally points out.
"Look, you don't even have to answer any questions okay?" Taylor soothes the larger man, padding over to rap her knuckles on his armored torso, then looks up at him with a cheeky smile. "It's gonna be fine."
Trainwreck looks touched for just a moment before stiffening and turning away.
"A-anyway. Speaking of fine. Where's Mouse been?" He asks, suddenly changing the topic and - noticeably - stopping his sidelong shuffle towards the door.
"I believe she has been spending a majority of her time with Jess and Danny. She apparently finds them-" Parian pauses to glance at Taylor then back down to what she was previously doing, "-amusing."
"Man screw Danny. Dickhead attracts chicks without even trying but won't even do anything with 'em!" Trainwreck grumbles, before blinking and looking down at your Master whose face has gone blank.
"Uh. I mean. You know, he's uh... a busy guy now... with all the... uh..." Trainwreck backpedals.
"It's fine. I'll wait outside." Taylor states neutrally.
"Real smooth, Wreck. Real smooth."
"Go to hell Chuckles, you're just as bad! You're fucking Dojo-" are the last words you hear before following your Master out the door of the Garage, the sounds of the team behind you vanishing the minute the door closes behind you.
You spend a moment trying to find a way to console your Master for a moment, only to be quickly shown that your concern is unnecessary.
"Ew! Why!? He made me think about my Dad having- Ugh!" Taylor whines, stomping her foot in annoyance.
"Is... that all that was bothering you?" You ask curiously, becoming solid next to her.
"Yes! I have better ways to do teenage rebellion than getting mad that he has a girlfriend! That doesn't mean I want to think about it!" She cries out, throwing her arms into the air in distress.
"Like getting a tattoo without telling him?" You ask dryly.
"Yes!" she cries out again, before rolling her shoulders and wandering over to the area of the courtyard that now contains a giant tree. The grounds of the Heap aren't open yet - your Master chose to keep everyone out until she could address the press today, and the Dockworkers working the gates were more than happy to acquiesce, only allowing the locals in to reach the gym or go to their rooms in the castle. As a result, there isn't anyone currently trying to draw Gram from where it sits at the base of the massive tree.
Well, there shouldn't be anyway.
As you approach, you are only partially surprised to find Aisha having somehow snuck in. Dressed in exercise clothes, with her chain sword laying on the ground next to her, she currently has her feet planted on the tree while she attempts to use the extra leverage to yank Gram free from its position in the tree.
"Hey, how'd you get in here?" Taylor calls out to her, causing her to freeze in place, still effectively standing horizontally on the tree with her hands around Grams handle.
"Uh...Emmy let me in?" She tries.
"I did not." You instantly respond, causing her eyes to go wide as her head jerks towards you and her grip on the sword loosens - causing her to fall on her back in front of the tree.
"Holy shit! You've got melanin!" She cries out in surprise before scrambling up and towards you. Before she can reach you, your Master steps in her way.
"Aisha right?" She says disapprovingly.
"Nah you're thinking about my twin sister, I'm Shannel - don't worry that that happens all the time. Actually, if you're looking for Aisha she just went that way and-" Aisha pauses in her backpedaling, now standing next to her sword, and sighs.
"No dice?" She asks hopefully.
"Nope," Taylor responds lightly.
"Emmy? Some help?" She turns to you, her face set in a pout.
"...She... does visit me often," You say carefully.
"That doesn't explain why she was trying to steal Gram," Taylor points out turning towards you slightly.
"Hey! It's not stealing! He said it himself, if I pull it out, it's mine!" Aisha challenges hotly.
"I sincerely doubt you can manage that," Taylor says with some amusement. You wince. You know your Master well, so you know that - despite Gram being set to be claimed by another - she is still weirdly possessive of it. More so, she is mildly possessive of well, you. That's all well and good normally - it's not like she actively stops you from doing things with Aisha - but Aisha herself is more than a little combative. She doesn't take to being dismissed easily.
"Who else? He taught me how to fight, I know all his stories, who the hell else is going to claim it? Everyone else just wants it cus it killed the Ziz. That's bullshit!" Aisha scowls, seemingly temporarily forgetting that she is effectively yelling at one of the people who helped kill said Endbringer.
Your Master takes a moment to consider that for what it is, before snorting.
"He trained you for what, a couple of hours? Are you sure you can even hold that thing up?" She asks eventually, gesturing to the tinker tech sword at Aisha's side.
"Wanna find out?" Aisha says with an expectant look on her face, quickly crouching to grab the handle off the ground.
"Sure. Just not right now. I've got stuff to do today. Go ahead and go back to failing to draw the sword and get in line like everyone else when we open," Your Master says, eyeing the sword and obviously recognizing that it's one of Trainwrecks.
You glance back and forth between your quickly departing Master and your annoyed-looking friend before waving at Aisha and leaving, receiving a smug smirk and a wave in return. It occurs to you, that from a certain point of view, Aisha has effectively just tricked your Master into teaching her how to sword fight, while also securing her continued ability to sneak in and try her hand at drawing Gram whenever she wants.
"...I can't tell if you dislike her or not." You finally say to your Master as you head towards the gate at the front of the property.
"She's your friend. I can't say I care for the way she dresses, but if all she wants is to learn how to be more like Sigurd was I can't argue with that." Taylor points out begrudgingly.
"...thank you. My previous emulation enjoyed training Aisha. He - I was sad that I had to stop," you put forth.
"Yeah well, next time you adopt a street urchin, try and find one a bit more modest. I swear if the ladies at the dojo weren't so aggressively thorough I'd be worried about her coming here dressed like that." Taylor grouses, finally arriving at the front gate of the building and stepping into place at the center of the team.
"Ready?" She asks everyone, getting a chorus of responses in the affirmative.
Then she waves her hand, and the blue glow of lesser magic spreads out before her, creating a raised platform in front of the gathering crowd at the gate that she and the rest of your team quickly step onto. Another wave and the large metal gates are gently pushed open by glowing blue hands that your Master manipulates to ensure no one is struck by the gate as it is opened.
"All right, this is only my second one of these, and I kind of hate them - so let's get this over with," she tells the crowd, before frowning and doing something with her hands that causes her voice to suddenly grow louder, spreading all the way up and down the street.
"Let's get the easy stuff out of the way. Yes, it appears we killed the Simurgh," she calls out calmly.
The reporters surrounding the platform immediately start bombarding her with questions.
"How closely did you work with the Triumvirate to achieve this?"
"Nexus, survivors from Canberra report that you weren't even part of the fighting, how could you have killed the Simurgh?"
"Is it true that you and the Triumvirate had been planning this for months?"
"Do you still have the hand that Trainwreck was photographed with?"
"Is Alexandria your Mom?"
Your Master waits for the flurry to die down, shooting a stink eye at the man who asked that last question.
"I didn't, with overwhelming violence, no, no, and ew - no." She rattles off flatly. There is a pause as the reporters take in that succinct series of answers, and Trainwreck leans in to whisper something to Taylor.
"Boss, aren't you supposed to like... make 'em like you and shit? You know, PR and stuff," He whispers to her, earning himself a shrug and a muttered response.
"I've decided to start treating reporters like cats," She says before explaining when Trainwreck ends up staring dumbly at her. "I'm not going to feed them - they'll just come back."
"I - I don't think that's how that works," Parian says with some exasperation.
"Nexus, is it true that you'll allow anyone who can pull that sword out of its spot there to keep it? The weapon that killed the Simurgh?" A reporter finally jumps in, the first to regain his equilibrium in the face of Taylor's overwhelming and obvious apathy.
"That is correct. I'm told the Triumvirate will be around at some point this week to attempt to draw it." She projects.
"Why not just give someone the sword? If Alexandria had-" A different reporter asks.
"If she's worthy she'll have it," Your Master says with a shrug.
"Are... are you implying she might not be?" Another incredulous reporter asks.
"We'll see, won't we? Speaking of Alexandria - who I'm sure is going to watch this - Wreck's schedule is open all week. You can come to pick him up at any time," She notes, turning to make sure she is peering directly into the nearest camera as she speaks.
"Boss what the fuck!?" Trainwreck hisses at her, doing his best to make his sudden distress invisible to the cameras.
"Well not on the first date I hope," She says, turning to stick her tongue out at the large tinker who ends up staring at her speechlessly.
On the magical stage, before the camera's and therefore the entire world - the rest of your team begins to grumble and exchange handfuls of cash.
Saturday, February 26th, 2011
Downtown, Brockton Bay
"So you decided that calling out Alexandria on live television was a good idea?" Vicky asks your Master incredulously.
"If there's one thing I've learned about normal Capes, it's that they live and die by PR. Alexandria sort of can't afford the PR hit that comes with crossing me here. People were already pretty cross about her whole 'subversion of the federal government' thing," Your Master says, trying to shrug but pausing when your hand snaps up to press her back into the chair she's sitting in.
When your Master had picked up Vicky and asked if she wanted to come with her while she got a tattoo, Vicky had obviously been under the impression that she was going to be getting a 'normal' teenage girl tattoo. A heart or something on her shoulder, maybe the name of her mother or a boy she liked. So while she didn't have any tattoos herself, she was aware of a number of tattoo places downtown.
What she hadn't been expecting was for your Master to ask how much she'd have to pay the guy who owned the place to borrow a needle and a chair.
There had been some obvious confusion when the man had assumed she meant to get a tattoo from him, then more confusion when she had reiterated that she just wanted the chair and the needle, and for him to leave her alone pretty much.
If she were any other cape, you're pretty sure she would have been told to piss off. Well, no, that's a lie, if she were any other Cape the owner of the parlor would have probably charged her an absurd price that she couldn't possibly afford. Being herself, and therefore, the baddest Cape in the city even before one factored in your recent achievements, the guy had pretty much just politely asked that she sit somewhere where people could see her through the front window, uttered a soft prayer, and gotten out of the way.
So now you were standing over your Master with a device you just barely understood well enough to use, hovering over you're Master while she chatted away at Vicky - who was recording the entire thing.
"Careful, calling Alexandria a 'normal cape' kinda makes you sound pretentious as hell," Vicky jokes.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with normal! I'm just saying, she's the archetypical Cape. You're literally called an Alexandria Package," Your Master points out as you delicately continue your work on her arm.
You don't know if the tattoo is taking because it's part of your power acquisition process, or if Taylor's various forms of enhanced durability are being intentionally lowered for you, but you'll take it.
"So what you're saying is... you're weird," Vicky teases.
"No! I'm a normal girl! I go to school, am uncomfortable that my Dad is dating again and everything!" Taylor whines. It's mostly for show. She's perfectly aware that she's weird. She just doesn't like it.
"Uh Huh. So normal girl, I'm setting up a double date thing for Amy - I know a lot of decent guys if you wanna join in." Vicky says, hovering up to rotate the chair she's sitting in nearby so she can lean forward over its back.
She peers at your Taylor who is halfway between a frown and a blush, then continues when there is no immediate answer.
"I know a lot of decent girls too?" She tries again.
Taylors expression remains roughly the same but she does speak up this time.
"I don't really know if anyone would actually want to date me," she says sheepishly. Victoria shoots her a queer look, as though having heard something particularly heinous.
"Taylor you... you know you're hot right? Like, make me question my preferences if I think about it too hard hot." Vicky says flatly and possibly a little annoyed.
"Which is super useful for the first fifteen seconds of interaction. I don't want to date someone who wouldn't have even looked at me before I got my powers," Taylor responds in annoyance.
"Weren't you like, the least liked person in your school before-" Vicky starts.
"Yes," your Master grates out grumpily in response.
"Well, that seems unfair. Is that on top of the beat you in a fight thing?" Vicky asks with a pout.
"...probably." Taylor finally admits.
"So is dying alone the plan or..?"
"Shut up, I'll find the right uh... person... eventually," she groans.
You idly reach out to press her back down into her seat.
You currently possess 41 Omake Shop Points
DragonGrimoire wants to activate Side Story - Death & Strawberry (Blonde) for 10 Points
] DragonGrimoire/Yes
] DragonGrimoire/No
Wukong wants to Bud [Phagemaker] for 5 Points (This bud gets appended to your main vote until you assign it to someone)
] Wukong/Yes
] Wukong/No
Okay so here's the thing.
[x] ...Could you start a parahuman training school? You could at least look into some candidates...
Technically won the vote when you combine all the disparate sub options. However, the format for a lot of those votes was hard to parse, and anyone who didn't vote for it technically didn't get a say in the suboptions. So here is *half* of the update, whereupon I will ask everyone to now vote on which of these groups (or a reasonable write in) you would like to investigate for the purposes of starting up your training school. This vote isn't to directly start the school. It's an investigation. It's preliminary. It doesn't lock the other groups out. Yet. So.
Who will you be looking into?
[ ] Aspirant's Dojo Girls
[ ] The Dockworkers Association
[ ] The Panda Gang
[ ] Write-In
The back half of this update, including Mem's social, will include the results of this vote. Thank you for your patience.
If you have any Omake Shop buys you'd like and qualify to call them - please PM me, or I'll lose it in the static. I've got this nagging feeling I'm missing someone here, so if I did PM me and I'll try to edit it in as fast as possible.
639
Bowler Hat Guy
Apr 7, 2021
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