Jump to content

yui

Jack of All Trades

Posts posted by yui

  5. Posted · Edited by yui

    bh7.png

    IC

     

    Battle Horizon is KaibaCorp's new and highly successful foray into virtual reality. The concept was simple: Create a massive online game using the cutting edge of virtual reality, lay down some infrastructure to allow duelists to carry their decks over between the game and reality, and see what happens. While initially just an experiment to see if it would stick, Battle Horizon took off and exceeded expectations for a handful of reasons. With the first anniversary of the game's release soon to arrive, fans are speculating and preparing for what new content may arrive. Of the most note is the connfirmation that during the anniversary, a boss stated to be harder than everything else so far will be announced and revealed for a future patch. In-game teams are already preparing to try and be the first in the world to take down this future superboss, and new ones are forming with the same goal.

    You are members of a brand-new team, newly-formed with the objective of preparing for this superboss, and striving to be the first to take it down in the world. With the usual world-first champions - Royal Flush - having split up, hopes are high that it's anyone's game to take the crown, become the first to down a boss of unmatched strength, and be recognized as the new top team for high-end content.

    RULES

    Spoiler

    1: am host, my word = final say
    2: don't be a dick
    3: have fun
    4: Any form of Blue-Eyes deck is strictly forbidden in this RP. Other decks may also be not allowed at the start of the RP, but this is extremely unlikely to come up.

    APP FORMAT

    Spoiler

    Name: Your offline name. This can be private in the app, but I need to know it all the same so DM that to me if you opt out of putting this out for the world to see.
    Username: It IS an MMO, after all.
    Age: 
    Gender: 
    Appearance: Okay I needa elaborate on this one a bit. Since Battle Horizon is an RP meant to primarily take place in a VR MMO, we'll mostly be seeing your character in-game. User avatars are highly customizable, and you can even load appearance data from certain monster cards registered to your account! (For collision reasons, large monsters such as Monarchs are scaled down when used as a user avatar.) Please focus first and foremost on your in-game appearance, but you get extra brownie points for covering the offline as well if they're different, since there will be segments of the RP that don't take place within the game itself.
    Personality: 
    Biography: For logistical reasons, please ensure your character currently lives somewhere in Japan (being from there natively is optional). You can also DM this to me if you wanna keep it secret, and I highly encourage you to have some sort of personal goal aside from the team goal of "world first the upcoming superboss".
    Deck: Please note that you probably won't have EVERY part of your deck right out the gate. It's fun to get exciting new cards over the course of the RP. Custom cards are also acceptable; please put them in a spoiler with your deck.
    Duel Skills: Time to get creative! Every player gets three of these, and they can have all sorts of neat effects. They've also got a turn cooldown (it only goes down on your turn). More on these in the database. Additional note: In the event that your character uses a Duel Skill that only works in a Raid Duel, feel free to add a replacement for it to use in solo duels, just in case.
    Misc: Other fun tidbits

    DATABASE

    Spoiler

    Duel Skills

    Spoiler

    A feature exclusive to Battle Horizon. Duelists can use a Duel Skill at any time during their turn (unless otherwise stated), with the skills themselves having all manner of effects. These skills then go onto a cooldown, which is reduced by 1 during the user's Standby Phase. Of note, players can only equip three Duel Skills at a time, and there are no Duel Skills tied to specific archetypes. Additional Duel Skills can be unlocked through certain sidequests in-game. When dueling against other users, both parties are able to review their opponent's Duel Skills before the duel begins.

    Example Duel Skills

    Spoiler

    Last Stand
    If you have 2000 or less LP: Until the end of your opponent's next turn, all damage you take is halved, and all monsters you control gain 500 ATK/DEF. (Cooldown: 4)

    Thousand Cuts
    For the rest of this turn, every time you resolve a card effect, or deal damage, except by this skill's effect, immediately deal 100 damage to your opponent. (Cooldown: 5)

    Duelist Reborn
    Can only be used in Raid Duels. Target 1 player with 0 LP; return that player to the Duel with 4000 LP. (Cooldown: 10)

     

    Raid Duels

    Spoiler

    Like any MMO worth its salt, Battle Horizon has powerful, multi-phase raid bosses that can be defeated for better loot. Duels against bosses are generally done in teams of at least two duelists, but some lower-end bosses or bosses you fight as part of the main story are fought solo. When in a Boss Duel, the following changes to the rules are made:

    • The boss's starting LP is multiplied by the amount of players (min. 2), but the base amount varies.
    • When a boss's LP reaches zero, if there is another phase, it will regain its LP in full and proceed to the next phase.
    • In addition to any monsters they control, a boss is able to personally attack other monsters or players. Attacking a boss while they control no monsters still applies damage as a direct attack.
    • Bosses have access to upgraded versions of player cards, which cannot be obtained by players.
    • A boss's deck has at least 10 cards. If they would deck out, their GY banished zone, and face-up extra deck are instead shuffled into the deck, and they proceed as normal. This deck can change between phases.
    • Player turn order is determined at the start of the duel by the players, and the boss takes a turn after every player.
    • Any effects that a player's card effect or skill applies to themselves, such as drawing a card or gaining LP, can be willingly applied to other players instead.
    • If a player reaches 0 LP, all cards they own are removed from the Duel, but they are still eligible to receive loot if the boss is defeated.
    • Alternate win effects cannot be applied by players.
    • Additional rule changes may and very likely will apply to specific bosses or phases.

    Upon successfully clearing a Raid Duel, all participating players immediately get a piece of loot, and the boss additionally will drop some extra loot as well, for which players can roll against each other to see who gets a given drop. These drops can include cards, cosmetic items, pets, mounts, and more.

    Teams

    Spoiler

    Battle Horizon teams serve the same function as guilds in other MMOs. A group of players united for a larger goal, though what that is can vary from team to team. Teams also have a four-letter tag associated with them, which is visible above the player's name. This tag is unique per team to avoid confusion.

    Known Teams

    Spoiler

    KaibaCorp <CORP>
    The official KaibaCorp team, reserved only for company employees who play the game. This includes game moderators, customer support, community managers, and unrelated employees who just happen to play Battle Horizon in their free time. Rumor has it if you can impress a KaibaCorp employee, you might get something nice.

    Royal Flush <FLSH>
    Every game has a "best team" revered by the community. Creature Slayer has Team Darkness, Hall of Heroes has SJT, and Battle Horizon has Royal Flush. Owing to incredible coordination and being made up of actual pro duelists, Royal Flush is noted to have world-firsted the highest-end boss in patch 1.0, then proceeding to world first the final challenge bosses for every subsequent patch as well. However, due to a major disagreement between members, three of Royal Flush's original five members left the team recently. While they've since been replaced, people believe it's now anyone's game to take a world first from Royal Flush.

    Heroes of the Horizon <HOTH>
    Battle Horizon's foremost RP team. Anyone who's in the game's RP community most likely either is part of this team, or knows someone who is. On a gameplay level they're largely casual, but the quest for good cosmetics has prompted some of them to become among Battle Horizon's finest solo players, and the team's loremasters can be startlingly good at translating their lore knowledge into gameplay knowledge, the latter of which has been an invaluable service to discovering hidden bosses in the past. It's unspoken community manners to leave them alone if you see them in a large group, since it's likely an RP event.

    Team Quake Reactor <QRRE>
    One of two teams founded by a former Royal Flush member. A PVP team that wasted no time cleaving through the ranked ladders, thanks in no small part to their incredibly aggressive playstyles and their leader being the most successful PVP duelist in Battle Horizon. They don't seem to have any real interest in raiding, but where there's an event to pit them against other players, they likely won't be far. The team only ever has three members, but the two non-leader members seem to change fairly often.

    Squad 21 <NIJU>
    One of two teams founded by a former Royal Flush member. Much like Royal Flush, it's a raiding team, and the exact differences between the two besides roster aren't entirely clear for the most part. The only clear difference seems to be that while Royal Flush was fully committed to hardcore, high-end raiding, Squad 21 is also open to more casual content. In fact, it's quite rare for them to do high-end content, but the looming promise of the game's first "superboss" seems to have caught their attention. The semi-casual atmosphere of Squad 21 has lent itself well to a large roster.

     

    (NPC) Players of Renown

    Spoiler

    Kaibaman

    Spoiler

    latest.png

    Not to be confused with Seto Kaiba, who has a Battle Horizon account but only logged in once to join the official KaibaCorp team, while the game was still in beta stages. Kaibaman is an anonymous KaibaCorp employee who serves as Battle Horizon's main community manager, and runs both the official Battle Horizon social media accounts and the official OurTube channel with enthusiasm and a sincere love for the game. He also is responsible for in-game announcements and game moderation, and can regularly be found participating in game events during his downtime. Overall, he is both one of the most beloved players of Battle Horizon for his enthusiasm and transparency, and an invaluable KaibaCorp employee who does his best to make sure the game stays fun for everyone.

    Affiliation: KaibaCorp (employee)
    Deck: As a moderator, Kaibaman has access to every card available in Battle Horizon, and he likes to change decks often to keep his gameplay experience fresh and exciting.
    Offline identity: Unknown

    King

    Spoiler

    latest.png

    Of the power couple that founded Royal Flush, King is the thinker. While much of Royal Flush's initial roster was comprised of pro duelists, King is notably not one himself. Rather, he's a longtime MMO veteran, very used to doing high-end content as a raid leader. Combining his MMO experience with Queen's dueling abilities, and taking advantage of game mechanics that can only be properly taken advantage of in the Raid Duels offered by Battle Horizon, the pair quickly rose to be the greatest raiding team at all with some assistance. He seemed to have taken the team's breakup rather personally, disappearing from the game and social media for a time after it happened. With the anniversary about to start, however, he's started logging in again.

    His status as the leader of the game's greatest raiding team, and his in-game avatar, may give off an intimidating appearance, but anyone who's actually interacted with him has attested that the reality is King is anything but. Even in the comments of his OurTube videos dissecting boss mechanics and counterstrategies, King is kind, helpful, and a bit of a softie. A common misconception for people who don't look past the surface level of raiding is the idea that King is the single greatest Battle Horizon player; an idea he won't waste any time firmly denying, claiming that he's just a good planner, and is in fact middling at best in every other regard.

    Affiliation: Royal Flush (leader)
    Deck: Dragon goodstuff feat. Red-Eyes
    Offline identity: Unknown

    Queen

    Spoiler

    latest.png

    Of the power couple that founded Royal Flush, Queen is the force of action. Headstrong, abrasive, and fiercely protective of King, she was formerly a high-ranking pro duelist who retired early in life to live happily ever after with her husband. Once Battle Horizon hit, the combination of her dueling ability and King's experience in forming MMO strategies proved to be a match made in heaven to see Royal Flush become a raiding team with unparalleled success. If any one person in Royal Flush can be credited for the team's success, it's her, as while King is responsible for forming overarching strategies, it's Queen who not only puts them into action, but improvises backup plans if King's plans get thrown astray.

    Queen is also responsible for managing Royal Flush's recruitment. While her stanndards were already strict before the team broke up, afterwards they were elevated to such standards that not a single applicant has been granted entry. As it stands, the team's only members are herself and King, but she seems confident the two of them will still be enough to clear future content.

    Affiliation: Royal Flush (member)
    Deck: Dragon goodstuff feat. Supreme King
    Offline identity: Sayoko Ikeda, former pro duelist

    Magpie

    Spoiler

    82183_WHHWwsRQ.png
    made using Picrew #82183

    An American pro duelist who came to Japan after becoming the champion of her home country, in search of stronger and stronger opponents. She took an interest in Battle Horizon mostly because it's a novel experience, and there are unique twists to dueling in the game that simply wouldn't work in real life. While she still attends real-life tournaments, to great success at that, her attention in the last year has largely been focused on Battle Horizon, where her extremely aggressive style of dueling has seen her become the game's single-greatest PVP duelist. Has no interest in weak opponents, but ending up on her radar could be seen as even worse, depending on who you ask. It's generally believed she's directly responsible for Royal Flush's breakup, and some of her fans speculate she orchestrated the whole thing just to watch other teams scramble and fight to fill the power vacuum it left.

    Affiliation: Royal Flush (former member), Team Quake Reactor (founder)
    Deck: Dinomorphia
    Offline identity: Madeline Harper, pro duelist

    AppleT

    Spoiler

    459ea80e1c139cda2c1d99bf1667c4274824a5ff

    In short, an incredibly unlucky person. While AppleT was technically a pro duelist once, he'd never won a tournament or even gotten past the second round, and nobody had even heard of him before. In-game, he initially attempted to find his niche in PVP, and was met with equally disastrous results. How did such a person end up being a major contributor to the former strongest raiding team in Battle Horizon? By happening to be in the right place at the right time, of course, with a deck that just so happened to fit in perfectly with what the team needed. AppleT wound up becoming something of a people's champ, since the reality was that he was just a casual player who stumbled into something way over his head, and he made a point to never forget it.

    After Royal Flush broke up, AppleT expressed some hesitant relief on social media, stating that he hoped to remain on good terms with his former teammates, but that hardcore raiding was more work than he'd expected. He'd shortly after go on to found the more casual Squad 21. He is now learning that managing what is quickly becoming one of the most popular teams in the Japanese server is also more work than he expected. While executive power is ultimately his, he's left a lot of the management to trusted team members, having since given up on pro dueling to try a career in streaming. Considering it's AppleT, who fans joke is the universe's punching bag, it's actually going pretty well when technical difficulties don't get in his way. His laid-back attitude and engagement with chat - fans and haters alike - has done wonders to expand a base that got established as part of Royal Flush.

    Affilitation: Royal Flush (former member), Squad 21 (leader)
    Deck: Dragonmaid
    Offline identity: Name unknown, former pro duelist, OurTube streamer

    TheSilentBard

    Spoiler

    134965_3jM4hJcZ.png
    made using Picrew #134965

    Battle Horizon's number-one loremaster. Although he leads the game's primary RP team, Bard only very rarely participates in RP events himself. He also doesn't raid or PVP. Instead, his field of interest is exploring the world KaibaCorp's development team put out for the game to try and unify the myriad archetypes of Duel Monsters into a single cohesive universe, and compiling his findings to share with others. While his following is rather small for a Battle Horizon content creator, his videos have been extremely valuable for both RPers and for completionists looking for hidden bosses. Although Bard's not a bad person, his no-nonsense attitude and tendency to correct others can make him difficult to get along with.

    Affiliation: Heroes of the Horizon (leader)
    Deck: Burning Abyss
    Offline identity: Unknown

     

     

     

  7. Posted

    9 minutes ago, Nico said:

    This slaps waaaay too hard for video Pictionary in the NES days!

    Tim Follin just kinda does that, makes stuff that goes way too hard for the game in question and that sounds like it shouldn't even be possible on an NES sound chip.

     

  10. Posted · Edited by yui

    Last night had been hell. It started with a simple phone call...

    Ember, you aren't gonna believe this! Cassandra's alive!"

    "Is she, now? Please pick someone I got along with next time, because this is a pretty shit joke.."

    "Girl, this isn't a joke! She's right there! Oh, she's got the mic! She's saying that... the world... is gonna end!?"

    "Look, I'm just gonna hang up and pretend this call didn't happen. Please try again with something that's actually believable, or at least funny."

    In the end, she never did get that second prank call. Instead, her phone was blowing up with G3 alerts about riots, general discord across Skitty, et cetera. And of course, mentions of Cassandra's apocalyptic prediction. Here she was hoping for a nice night of sitting on the balcony, cigarette in one hand, wine glass in the other, watching the lights and sounds of the night of revelry from afar. No such luck, it would seem. Instead, she'd worked into the small hours of the morning maintaining order in her general vicinity, until things seemed to have just about settled down in her neighborhood.

    "Of course CASSANDRA had to fuck it all up," Ember groaned, her last words of the night, as her head collided with the pillow of her bed after a night's volunteer work.

    Which brought her to today. She'd been cut a bit short on her sleep, but it was nothing a cup of coffee on the way to work couldn't make up for. The secret was to not rely on the stuff - that was an easy way to build a dependence and a tolerance - and to only get a cup in unusual circumstances like this. Coffee and a donut on the walk to G3 was a good thing, and it gave her the good momentum she would no doubt need for a day like this. She'd been asked to be ready for a special meeting of some sort.

    Regarding such things as costumes, Ember only ever had one made because it was some sort of requirement? But there also seemed to be no lower end for how much or how little effort needed to go into it, so she opted to keep things simple and functional. Ultimately, the costume amounted to a tank top and some shorts, since something that covered lots of skin would be counter-intuitive for her abilities. The only thing setting it apart from any other tank top & shorts combo was it being made of leather, a choice Ember had made mostly out of inspiration from an old band she'd become a fan of because of one of her gangmates back during her villain career. It did come with the downside of her needing some sort of hoodie for outside once the days started getting colder, but material aside, it also happened to be perfect for the unexpectedly hot meeting room.

    “Fucking goddamn piece of horseshit! Cass goes off the grid for who knows how long and then decides to pull this fucking stunt. Did they know? They must have known. Surely they realized what would happen next, right? So they just left everyone else to clean up their mess, huh?”

    You're telling me, Ember mentally huffed.

    The capes sharing the room with her were Aeon, Override, and Bard. The first, she was pretty sure was older than G3 itself, but had never bothered to actually look into the matter. She didn't have much info on Override, because, again, she didn't really pry into the details regarding her co-workers. Bard was by far the one she was most familiar with in this room. She had encountered him once or twice before joining G3 herself, but that was about as far as personal experience with him went. It would probably have been beneficial to check in with him if she had a bad feeling about one of her wards possibly being in danger, but it was her firm policy to not involve anyone else in protection; every additional eye or mouth that knew who was under her watch was one more that could end up leaking information, even if it was by accident. Even her reports to Sekelsky only ever said "witness is still protected."

    Speaking of reports, that was somewhat similar to what brought everyone here today. A report was the opposite of a prediction, but the concept was close enough to call them similar, right? In short, the end of the world was coming, and while this was just about the most blatantly S-Class threat to ever exist, it was also the vaguest one to ever exist. So, it fell to these four capes to meet up with the heads of the big three gangs in order to negotiate how to handle the situation. And, as per her personal agreements with G3, she wouldn't be present for negotiations with Caesar of Gibbons. Apparently, Sekelsky had another job for her after wrapping up with the Moray Clan & Zodiac.

    Zodiac would be an interesting meetup for sure. Ember had run paid arson for all sorts of gangs in the past, up to and including them. It was quite some time ago, though, and she wasn't sure if the boss now was the same as the one from back then. She'd never met the leader face-to-face anyway, so it wasn't like either one would know the other. The Moray Clan by contrast, she wasn't sure if they were even a gang back during Ember's villain career. Her gut was leaning toward no, but even if they were, they certainly weren't one of the big three back then. To be quite honest, she was looking forward to meeting them.

    "Well, guess I can talk to those kids a bit and settle em down for you, Victor. But you know, I can't really say I won't get into a fight or two. You know how it is, what if they're really boring or decide to try and mess with us while we're there? So no promises on that front buddy, I'm sure you get it."

    "I said you couldn't start a fight. If they're messing with you, it means they started it, right?"

    Director Sekelsky's glare shot from Thessa to Bard, but instead of saying anything he just sighed.

    "Oh, well then there's no problem! Ya here that? If they do anything I'll be sure to take em all down right there, and you'll get to see it happen! Ain't that exciting?"

    "...you want us to basically become hero liaisons towards the villains in a manner to which appeals to them and allows us to get extra hands on deck to this mission to save the world. Just how, may I ask, do you intend for us to make this happen without any causalities?"

    "If there is combat, it means the initiating party will have broken one of if not the most sacred treaty. You don't start fights under a flag of truce. You don't start fights under a flag of truce. If they start it, they're one more S-class to deal with, one certainly more scrutable and temporary than our current one."

    "You don't start a fight under a flag of truce," Ember nodded in agreement, going over the papers regarding the Fates. "I've seen it happen, and the result isn't pretty. Luckily, it shouldn't come to that, not with the Fates or Orphi... Ophic... I hate that damn name, the Zodiac leader. But with Caesar," - Ember also pronounced it ˈsi zər - "I have my doubts, to be frank. Keep your guard up around him."

    "I suppose that's all my general questions at the present time. If anything else comes up, I'll have P.I.X.E.L. send a direct line to you."

    "No questions here either, sir."

    Not for the director, at least. Looking to her fellow capes, Ember posited a question to the three of them. "Any prior experience with these gangs, you three? Papers and files are great, but there's no better resource than personal experience."

  11. Posted

    Things were going from bad to worse on this floor. Still beset by hounds and men of bones alike, a new foe had entered the fray alongside them. Another hound, but quite a bit larger than the others so far. There wasn't really time to sit here and dilly-dally, more so than on the other floors Robin had seen up to now. With such a large creature though, Robin didn't fancy the odds of Chris or Lana just running at it without some sort of supporting fire. That would be her job, then, quite literally. Robin took aim with what good hand she had left, trying her best to aim right between the eyes with her off-hand.

    She'd fought pirates, navymen, stormy seas, and worse! Like hell she was going to let a dog who left its flesh at home get between her and that Spark!

    “There’s not a lot of honor to my name but I swear on whatever it’s worth, you will not harm her! Yeah, that means you too. You’re not getting her either.”

    "That's the spirit! Now, would you mind setting her down and leave the protecting to me? Even if I'm down an arm, Ziun and I should be more than enough to guard one person while you and your axe-swinging cohort chop that beast up so we can all get the hell out of here. I'll even give you an opening."

    And so, she pulled the trigger, blasting a shot of flame in the hound's direction. A shot that the hound seemed to brace itself for, and a shot it ducked down at the impact of. The hound seemed to shake off the shock - if skeletons could feel such a thing anyway - of the fireball it had just taken in the same way a normal dog would shake off water after coming inside from a rainy day. But still the creature moved. That wasn't what Robin wanted to see at all.

    Once again, Robin filled the gun up with flames. Rather than simply shoot like before, though, Robin brought up her usual dominant hand that had been injured earlier. She wasn't in a state to use it for gunplay, and definitely was't going to do some accurate fireball-slinging with it either, but there was something even a wounded hand could do. Robin filled her empty hand with fire, and threw it. Rather than aim at the hound, however, she aimed just in front of it, hoping to distract it, if only for a brief enough moment that an opening for Robin's more up-close-and-personal cohorts to get closer without being the center of the big hound's attention.

    Though Robin had trouble making it out from across the flames, it succeeded to some extent. The hound had stopped, and did some sort of hop to the side to try and avoid the fire. Turning toward Lana and Chris, Robin made the call to arms for her allies.

    "Now! No quarter!"

  18. Posted

    As the skeleton hound moved to attack Robin's chest, the "dread pirate" reacted in turn, dropping the gun in her hand to instead fill her hand with magical fire. A ball of fire that she promptly drove into the ribs of the hound, before giving the beast a push and releasing the fireball from her grasp, kicking it back enough that Robin would be only trivially singed by her fireball at worst, but she definitely felt the surge of heat from the blast.

    “Keep moving, uh, that way!”

    "Aye-aye!" Picking up her guns from the floor, Robin hurried back to her feet as best she could with her good hand barely being usable. It would definitely be harder to aim her guns like this, but actually throwing fireballs was definitely out of the question in these circumstances. Guns it was. Putting away any non-magical firearms, Robin resolved to only use the runelock pistol if her aim was going to be less than ideal. It would be a shame to waste perfectly good bullets, after all.

    "May wanna mind yer head, Chris!" Robin called out, taking aim as best she could manage with her bad hand, and firing a flaming shot at one of the skeletons not presently occupied with the boy. While it wasn't as clean of a hit as she would have liked, Robin was still able to land a shot on one of the other skeletons, blowing off one side of its upper body in the process. It did seem to drop the walking bag of bones, at least.

  20. Posted · Edited by yui

    seinoname.gif

    After some time spent aiding the rescue efforts in the trail of destruction Stratford's building-gone-monster had left, Sei returned to the rooftop located away from the action, where she had left her bag before getting involved. Much to her relief, the building it rested on was more or less untouched, but there was definitely some cleaning of junk and debris to do outside. And with no roof access, the bag was still there, exactly as Sei had left it. Confirming the contents hadn't been messed with by some unknown figure, Sei looked westward. Megalopolis University still needed that form. And with the destruction that had just sliced through so much of the city, Sei knew the trains would be delayed, if not stopped entirely, for some time. Which only meant one thing. Making the rest of the trip, and quite possibly her return trip - on foot.

    Certainly doable, but not something she wanted to do. Least of all in her current state, but she didn't have time to get patched up.

    Happy friggin' birthday, Sei.

    Megalopolis University, 1:58PM

    This wasn't the first time Sei had to run an errand for Alice, nor was it the first time said errands took her all the way across town like now. The campus was certainly a far cry from the rainy slums she currently resided in, generally for the better at that, but if she had to pick one or the other, Sei would go live in the 13th District any day of the week. Out of the way, generally little foot traffic, and the district wasn't fractured in what Sei considered a glorified gang war. Luckily, people generally didn't bother her, so she had no reason to bother them either.

    As Sei entered the building she needed to in order to turn in the form, the first thing she noticed was that the receptionist working here today wasn't the one she used to see coming here. While she hoped they were just out sick today, she did know that this would be an awkward conversation.

    "Excuse me," Sei said, stepping up to the desk and pulling the form out of her bag. "I need to turn in this form on behalf of Alice Solari."

    The receptionist looked up from his phone, to Sei and the paper she had set down. He seemed to be taken aback by the busted-up state Sei was in, but also seemed to dismiss it fairly quickly. Sei wasn't sure if that was just professionalism or if this university was really that violent, but she hoped it was the former. "Form for Alice Solari... and you are?"

    "I live with her."

    "She couldn't deliver it herself?"

    "She said she'd rather not do it in person if she can help it. I'm only here because there was a problem with the university website stopping her from sending it online."

    "So why's she sending her flatmate instead? One who seems to be a bit torn up, at that."

    "With all due respect, is that really any of your business? Alice's paperwork is right here, that's what matters, right?"

    "Ma'am, I'm gonna be completely honest with you, this is my first day working this desk, and I'm just trying to make sure you aren't submitting forged paperwork."

    "I can call her if you want." Without waiting for an answer, Sei reached back into her bag. It seemed she'd missed a few texts from Alice, but nothing important. Call her phone, and after a moment of waiting...

    "Hello?"

    "Hey, it's me, I'm at the university and... what's that noise?" Through the phone, Sei could hear some sort of background noise coming from Alice's end, that she didn't normally hear in these calls.

    "Oh, tha--AAH!!"

    Sei heard the unmistakable sound of a person falling down, and several metal objects clattering against the floor.

    "Alice!?"

    "Everything's fine! I just slipped! What's up?"

    "Right... I'm at the university. This guy at the desk wants to confirm you're real and I'm not forging your papers."

    "Seriously? Put him on."

    "Sure." Holding the phone out for the boy on the other side of the desk, Sei said "She wants to talk to you."

    "...hello?"

    "Hi, this is Alice Solari. Student ID number XXXX, major is theology. I'm not sure what's up with the website, but I wasn't able to submit that form online, so I sent Sei to do it for me. If I'd realized this would turn into a whole thing I would have just emailed my professor instead, but here we are. We were able to submit forms like this in the past with no problem, so I don't know why it's any different today."

    6th District, 3:00PM

    After a frankly infuriating amount of back-and-forth between Alice, Sei, and the poor boy working the desk who was a bit too vigilant against potential forgeries, culminating in the form finally being submitted, it was time to go home. While she was glad to leave the campus, Sei remembered that she still would have to make the return trip on foot, likely as not. Especially since she wanted to check the site of the disaster of the day, to make sure everything didn't go back to shit while she was gone. Between her earlier injuries, exerting the power of the kami to hasten her trip to the university, then doing it again to get back to the scene, Sei was barely standing by the time she got back to the Samsara Titan's resting place to confirm that it was still immobile, and that efforts were still underway to fix things up. She couldn't help but wonder how they planned to get rid of the building.

    Her Fount senses were tingling though. In addition to at least one Fount still aiding in the rescue efforts, she could detect a small cluster of them in a bar nearby. Probably the group that had helped fight the thing earlier, if she were a guessing woman. Dragging her feet to the place in question confirmed her suspicions. It seemed Elita was receiving questions from someone, but Sei didn't pay much mind to the details of the conversation. Instead, she scoped out an empty seat at the bar, put herself in it, and promptly flopped her head against the bar. Mentally exhausted from the chaos and death from just a few hours ago, and physically exhausted from the trip to university and back, Sei was more than happy to just sit here for a while.

    That was, until she felt yet another Fount's presence. Turning enough to look at the door behind her while still keeping her head on the bar, she saw... someone familiar, but she couldn't put a name to the face at this exact moment. But she definitely knew who this guy was. Him and that power of his. Good kid, really.

    "I... I surrender..." He managed to get out, his voice barely a whisper. "I-I'm sorry..."

    "For what, exactly?" Sei groaned. "You don't seriously think you did all that, right?"

    "You don't have to try to make me feel better..." Karna muttered. His hands was still shaking as he took a deep breath. "I always knew this Fount Power was dangerous... I just... never thought..."

    "It absolutely is dangerous, but that's not what I meant. Elita here and myself were inside that tower monster thing earlier. Someone... hypnotized the mayor or something, I guess. However they did it, or whoever it was, it couldn't possibly be you. If you really wanna do something to make up from a crime you didn't commit though, I'm sure nobody would say no to some extra help in rescue & cleanup efforts. I'd help, but my legs feel like warm pudding after going to the university and back. And I still have to get back home too..."

    kiyokonanashi.gif

    6th District, 3:00PM

    "‼↨☺♀♀☼↨."

    Above a pile of debris, a rift in the world opened. The face - or what seemed like a face, anyway - of something that defied imagination reared its head from within. Its mouth opened wide, and from within came a number of tongues, reaching out, grabbing piles of rubble and metal, and pulling them into the mouth from whence they came.

    "¶◘↕☼↨."

    Elsewhere in the affected area, a long, jagged tentacle reached from what seemed like thin air. Each of the suckers on the tentacle seemed to be a small arm in its own right, each one scooping up some of the wreckage in the area and tossing it aside, clearing the way to find would-be survivors stuck in the rubble and debris. Survivors that, if Kiyoko were to find any, would surely be greeted with a passionate welcome and explanation of the life-saving greatness of the Old Gods.

    "♥☼♀♀♣♥¶."

    In a part of the affected area Kiyoko noticed she'd been neglecting, a few smaller, more easily-described arms descended upon the ruined area. They reached down, picking up whatever loose ends needed removing from the streets to ensure people could get through with ease, and bringing them upward into the hole in the world that accommodated them.

    Quite frankly, this was a whole lot of work! Far more than one person could ever hope to accomplish alone, even with some otherworldly assistance. And Kiyoko had been hard at work since the Samsara Titan stopped moving. A break was more than well deserved, and it was probably wise to confirm the other Founts that had helped during the crisis were all alright. Closing up the holy book for the time being, Kiyoko turned, and went a few blocks over, to a rather beaten-up bar that had tragically lost its roof in the chaos from earlier.

    Inside were several Founts, most of whom Kiyoko recognized from the efforts earlier today. Including one who was asking a lot of questions. Well, if it was answers she sought, Kiyoko was happy to provide.

    "Pardon me," she said, approaching the questioning blonde in question. "I mostly played a backing role, but I may also be able to provide some insight on the affairs that happened here."

    "You sure you wanna speak?" April raised a brow as the other young girl approached her, "I'm not exactly keen on questioning kids."

    "I'll have you know I am a legal adult. And while it may sound silly, I've always wanted to receive a press interview. Though I do wish it were under better circumstances..."

    "Better circumstances, huh? What circumstances would those be?"

    "Something like... "New Religion Takes Megalopolis By Storm!" perhaps. "Exclusive Interview With Head Priestess Kiyoko Nanashi: Learn More About The Divine Grace And Unfathomable Glory Of The Old Gods!" A girl can dream, right?"

    "You sure can," April smiled a bit... before her expression dropped entirely. "Not interested. I'm not going to be a mouthpiece for yet another cult."

    "Please, this isn't a cult. A cult is something like those Hyperion folks, who believe so fervently in something so obviously fake. What I preach is very real. More real than us, perhaps! Plus to qualify as a cult we'd need more than one member, but that's not the point. The Old Gods are very much real, and I've got the book to prove it right here." Gently extending the Necronomicon in April's direction, Kiyoko smiled "Read it if you don't believe me. Just a little peek, and you'll never see this world the same again. Surely you'd have nothing to lose if it's so fake, right?"

    Alas, it seemed Kiyoko's attempt to get someone else to read the holy book's pages had fallen on deaf ears. Either April wasn't listening anymore, or had spontaneously lost her sense of hearing entirely.

    Very well. Transgressions are meant to be forgiven, so I'll wave this one off. I'm sure she'll come around eventually.

  21. Posted

    Burnout Gifted Kid

    Spoiler

    ember.png

    "To be frank, if I had known hero life was like this, it would have saved me a lot of mistakes when I was younger."

    Name: Ember (birth name unknown)
    Age: 32 going on 24
    Gender: Female
    Faction: G3 Hero Organization

    Appearance:

    Spoiler

    1649970_OQTkIowA.png
    made using Picrew

    Height: 5'8"

    Biography:

    Spoiler

    Ennui. A word that plagues Ember's youth. Blessed from birth with an incredible power that only got stronger with age, great familial wealth, and what would surely be one of the most brilliant non-Thinker minds in Scarlet City if she would just put it to full use, it seemed from the onset that Ember more or less had it all. However, there was one thing she lacked. A goal. A challenge. Just a general sense of any direction for her life, really. She coasted through childhood in effortless complacency, drifted through high school in much the same manner - realizing around this time that she could not only unleash powerful bursts of air, but ignite those bursts as well - and before she knew it, adulthood hit.

    Ember was the youngest of four, so no expectations to take over the family estate were placed on her. This meant that she was free to do whatever suited her fancy. So, she did what any high school graduate with incredible power and nothing better to do with it would do: Cause trouble. Ember disappeared from her family home one night, joining up with a small-time gang led by a villain with the ability to permanently alter someone's appearance with prolonged skin contact. Wearing a new face and adopting a new name, Ember had cut herself off completely from the cushy ennui-filled life of nothing she lived back home. It wasn't until it was too late to turn back that she realized, for the first time in her life, Ember had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

    The gang Ember was affiliated with mostly worked as extra hands for hire, earning their keep by either doing things larger gangs couldn't be bothered with or running decoy/interference for whoever was willing to pay. It was soon apparent that setting buildings on fire was an exceptional distraction, on top of her powers being useful for the inevitable fights against heroes and villains alike, and Ember soon became the MVP of the team, so to speak. Over the course of an entire decade, hundreds of contracts, and several changes in management, Ember was eventually the only member of her gang left from when she first signed up. Everyone else either quit, got arrested, or was killed by other villains. Eventually it was just her and a handful of green newbies who she'd given full executive powers to because she simply didn't want to be bothered with management. That proved to be the gang's undoing.

    The final job Ember's gang took was from one of Scarlet City's big-name gangs, none other than the gang Gibbons, who had sent several denied requests for Ember's gang to merge with them prior to this. As it turns out, however, the whole thing was bait to lure their star arsonist out; the rest of the gang would have just been a nice bonus if an official merge was carried out. Ember was captured, and given what sounded like a request but was clearly a demand. "Ditch your old gang, and join us instead."

    To this day, Ember remains firm on one point about that whole incident. Her capture was in clear violation of the agreement Gibbons had made, and she wasn't about to take that sitting down. Through a combination of clever power usage and dumb luck, she eventually escaped, though it was more difficult than she'll openly admit. She sent a resignation letter to the rest of her gang afterward, urging them to disband or join a bigger gang for fear that Gibbons would target a bunch of dumb kids who had nothing to do with her anymore. Ember herself, meanwhile, elected to turn over a new leaf before she could be tracked down again, and signed on with a faction she viewed as more powerful than any singular gang. The G3 Hero Organization. It was all uphill from there.

    After a cautious parole period to confirm she could actually perform a hero's duties appropriately, Ember was approved for membership, giving her an extra layer of protection from Gibbons. She was able to live a normal life for the first time since leaving her family, but she's expressed no desire to return to that specific life, content to earn a modest life that is entirely her own. Most importantly though, her hero career at long last filled that hole in Ember's mind. Anyone with fire powers could set a few buildings on fire. Anyone could fight others with some grit and determination. But saving people? Holding yourself up to a higher standard for the sake of your job? Knowing when to restrain yourself and when it's okay to let loose in full? It was the challenge Ember had craved this whole time.

    Ember has been an official hero with G3 for four years. Rather than fighting villains though, Ember's career is mostly focused on rescue missions, consultation, and when necessary, witness protection. She rarely attends major events, and only heard about Cassandra's prediction because a friend who was attending the Annual Hallowmas Bash called her immediately afterward.

    Personality:

    Spoiler

    Ember tackles day to day life with a competence matched only by her general desire to not work hard. Ask her, and she won't hesitate to talk about how if given the option, she'd rather take the path of least resistance, work smarter not harder, and just take it easy. Although she says this, perhaps even believing it herself, nothing could be further from the truth. Ember is a perfectionist, and holds herself up to incredibly high standards, even for a hero. If eating dinner at her house, she'll say the meal she cooked was no big deal or just something she casually whipped up, but rest assured she's cooked that exact dish at least fifty times, painstakingly adjusting her recipe until there was nothing for her to nitpick about it. She is very much her own harshest critic, and actively works to try being someone that she finds impossible to criticize in any way.

    Although she says she wants to take it easy, Ember is by far at her best when she's working under pressure. The challenges of deadlines, additional circumstances, and other difficulties spur her on to give not only her full effort to a task, but her full attention as well, amplifying her efforts as a result. Having an obstacle to overcome gives her a goal to achieve, which drags her from the dull boredom that usually occupies her. Despite a decade spent as a villainous mercenary, Ember still carries herself with the air of someone raised in an upper-class environment. This isn't to say she's a snob, but there's a certain quality to her mannerisms; she clearly cares about her image, chooses her words and actions carefully as a result, and holds professionalism and propriety with the utmost importance. 

    Power:

    Spoiler

    In addition to being incredibly fire-resistant, Ember's body is able to function somewhat like a combustion engine. After inhaling gaseous matter, she's able to expel it from other points of her body, with the additional ability to ignite the gas on the way out. This can be used to perform feats such as bursts of movement, blasts of high-pressure air or fire, igniting parts of her body, and even creating small-scale explosions or smokescreens if she's inhaled some sort of smoke. Additionally, her body contains a specialized "third lung" designed to store large quantities of air until such time as she needs to expel the contents from her body.

    Misc.

    Spoiler
    • It's not explicitly written in her contract with G3, but there is an unspoken agreement between Ember and the organization that she is not to be deployed for any jobs that involve the presence of Gibbons unless absolutely necessary.
    • The villain in charge of Ember's gang when she first joined was arrested a couple of years into her career, but has since gotten out early on good behavior and changed their ways. Her close contact with them is a significant part of the reason Ember excels in witness protection among G3's ranks, since with some time to work their magic, money for the trouble, and her ward's consent, they'll simply turn the witness into an entirely new person. Naturally, Ember keeps this relationship top-secret, refusing to even tell the higher-ups at G3 anything about them.
    • Even with G3, Ember is extremely particular about contracts and paperwork. If there's any mission that's planned in advance that involves her, she will insist on writing and signing a contract for the job, even if its only purpose is to confirm the job happened. In the case of spontaneous hero activity that requires her more immediate attention, she'll write a detailed report of her contributions afterwards, and have the higher-ups sign it to confirm she participated in this job, as a sort of "reverse contract".
    • In another timeline, where she was born without powers, Ember would have most likely been a lawyer.

     

     

×
×
  • Create New...