Aeternum

After the Asteroid-Closed

@Oliver I dunno, I've seen times where that would have been necessary. Random troll posts from random people and all. But that was back in old guild, so. Also, people who insisted on auto-killing despite warnings.

After the Asteroid-Closed

@Oliver Because I like to hear myself talk, I can certainly say, that I haven't a clue if it's still open, but I suspect it is.

After all, I still have room to create another character I'm sure.

Technically we have 20-50 living powered people in our bunker, and I'm sure we haven't even hit 20 powered people yet, technically.

Please, take electricity or earth/metal bending or one of my wild ideas!

Actually scratch that. You do you, you may have amazing plans I haven't thought of yet.

After the Asteroid-Closed

This was not the funny tale I had in mind when I started this. Darn. Oh well, I got nothing.

Omake: Raiding the Elven Treehouse

Omake: Raiding the Elven Treehouse

Josh and his band of merry men had been wandering the wilderness for a long time. Two years had passed since the Asteroid had hit. Many had died, but he and his crew had survived. All of them had lost friends. All of them had killed before. That was just life, and it was the only way to get by in this harsh world.

With a shake of his arms, he shook off some of the blood. Slowly, he retracted his metallic blades back into his body. When there was only a few inches left of thin blade, he morphed the metal into something like a needle and let the rest of the blood drip off. He dispassionately considered the body before him. A young man, it seems, probably around the age of sixteen or seventeen. A blonde, who somehow still had baby fat on his face.

He glanced over the corpse. His clothing was made of skins, pretty well done actually. He squatted down and did a quick search of the body. Interesting, he still had a running watch. It was also clear that the kid hadn't more than a day or two's worth of grime on his body. A kid like this didn't survive on his own for along and the rest of his group hadn't been the best of fighters. There had to be a larger group somewhere around. A group with a base.

He signalled to one of his crew. A scrawny weasel of a man trotted over.

"We gonna hunt?" the man asked.

"We're gonna scout. You know what to do." Josh corrected him.

Josh watched as Trey began moving around, the area, looking for clues only he seemed to find. Trey's powers made him very good for scouting and tracking. He was highly observant, whatever mental powers he got helped him pull together information from his surroundings. Trey examined a tree, and some crushed undergrowth, and then set off like a bloodhound on the trail.

By this time, the rest of the crew had noticed what was going on and had finished looting the corpses. When Trey set off, they followed at a bit of a distance. Josh waited long enough to wipe the rest of the blood off his blade before he let it disappear into his palm. He rose to his feet and followed.

Time had changed all of them. Once upon a time he would've fallen apart at the thought of killing a man. Once upon a time, he would have considered diplomacy. He'd been a negotiator once. That had changed with the asteroid. It occurred to him that he was getting tired of wandering. A new base might be nice. He'd have to see how big the other group was, first.

---

They had seen much over the time, but this... This was new. A gigantic squat tree sat in the middle of the forest. It towered over the rest of the trees, but more than that... It was clearly being lived in. The weird thing about it was that one gargantuan root curved over a nearby stream and had railings growing out of it. There was no other word for it than "grown." It was one seamless whole covered in smooth bark.

Stairs with proper railings had also grown out of the trunk of the gigantic tree, winding around and leading to some sort of house about ten meters off the ground. It was a house, make no mistake about it. It had a porch, wooden railings, windows, and even flower boxes hanging out of those windows. Vines with massive leaves trailed down over the inside of the windows, making drapes. Further up, were a couple more housing areas. From what he could tell, this tree and its housing was big enough to safely hold a few dozen people.

He wanted it.

The feeling of a home brought up a surge of nostalgia so bad, he couldn't help but want to take over this place and make it his. Movement in a window distracted him for a moment, and he saw something he hadn't seen in a while. A woman.

From the quickening of breath near him, he could tell the others saw her too. He managed to rein himself in, and warned the others not to do anything stupid. Whoever had made this place was ridiculously strong. It had to have taken a lot of power to make a massive tree house right out of a fantasy book. This amount of space the tree house had for residents, made it clear that woman wasn't alone. They would have to be cautious.

---

The tree house held women. Yes, women, plural. For the last week, he and his crew had prowled around far enough to avoid detection, but close enough to keep an eye on the comings and goings around this tree house. He'd seen it all before. Every day, this group sent its people out hunting. A few were left inside to defend it, including some women. He'd just have to wait for them to get going, and then he and his crew would slip in and strike fast. They were going to take the base, and the women for themselves.

His mind raced with the ideas of what he'd do then. His pupils dilating, his breath quickening. With a great deal of effort, he managed to calm himself down, as the hunting parties set out. Plant girl would be coming out soon, to check on her garden. Grag would make his move soon and use his illusion powers to distract her and get the drop on her. They'd put her out of commission first, and then slip in.

Josh gave the signal, and they moved. It all went wrong when Grag tried to knock out the woman. By some chance, she managed to sense him coming, and she'd screamed. There was a massive groaning sound, and then Josh's crew were staggering around like drunk sailors as the earth trembled. Massive roots ripped themselves out of the ground and start spearing through some of his men. A couple of trees uprooted themselves and began approaching.

Josh cursed. There was no choice, they'd have to kill the girl. He rushed towards her, extending his blades as he went, until suddenly he felt something wrap around his ankle.

Shit!

It pulled, and he went skidding across the ground. He cut himself free and managed to get to his feet before he heard a sound he was familiar with. The sound of flesh tearing. He watched in horrified fascination as a tree root tore its way through his aortic arch. Then came the hideous pain. He heard a faint gurgling noise, and looked into the terrified face of his killer. A spurt of crimson, and then all was dark.

After the Asteroid-Closed

@Kyrisse That's how I felt after a week or two of binge-reading fanfictions.

The pages and pages of posts to read. Yay. Much fun. :P

After the Asteroid-Closed

@Wick See, you're giving me ideas. I'm already struggling with the electricity powers, and earthbending powers and all the other powers I could totally use to do interesting things if I had the time and the willpower to manage multiple characters and keep pulling out random crazy ideas.

@King Tai True, true. It would definitely take a lot of time and effort. While the roots might be happy with the plentiful water, they might also be sad because of too much water. Other than that...

Word Vomit

If we did manage to get a gigantic elven tree house, it might get attacked by raiders. The horror as an angry gigantic tree uproots itself and begins hunting down its attackers...

Actually, that sounds like a great idea! It should totally be implemented! Alright, that's too BS, but it'd be all sorts of hilarious.

While we're at it. I'd like candied flowers. Y'know, just up the glucose or something in the flower petals. We can eat dainty violets or something all the time. Actually... hm... dried flowers as rations?

Dammit now I'm thinking of making a cooking/food procuring power. One that allows the user to alter taste and nutrition of food by changing one thing to another. Like perhaps taking a gigantic potato and changing some of the starches into other nutrients. Actually, this would work better with a mixture of animals and plants to get the proper nutrients. Use that to make travel rations that will be sturdy and last a while (maybe create shells on the outside to protect the inside from bacteria and contamination).

Actually... this would be more like bio-manipulation I'd say. Admittedly, bio-manipulation wouldn't be limited to food, could also double as a healing power, and could be used to (with the right nutrition, minerals, etc.) alter living creatures/organic mass into something possibly more efficient or stronger.

Huh... that'd be just as interesting as earth-related powers. Wait, don't we have kitty litter boy!?

Dust manipulation... hm... how to apply that to fixing the pipes... Erm... if we could get clay dust and if Jae could do range, it might theoretically be possible to make a clay patch on the pipe and sort glaze the inside with sand and fire? Hm... actually the heat necessary to glaze the clay might melt the pipes too.

Wait a sec...

@FunnyGuy Lex can turn into dust right!?

Is there enough space for us to have Dusty fall down in that pipe area, toss a few tools down, and have him fix it?

---

EDIT:

Omake: Flower Boy (Food/Bio-manipulator)

 
A delicate looking man hummed a little tune as he sat at a table in the dining hall. Before him sat a few piles of bundled flowers. At his feet lay a bag of turnips. In one hand, he held a stalk of lavender, in the other, a turnip. He touched the stalk of lavender to the turnip and his brow was creased ever so slightly in concentration. Beneath his hands the buds of lavender became larger and softer almost four times its previous size, while the turnip in his hand seemed to shrivel. After a couple of minutes, a wide smile broke out across his face and he held the stalk of lavender over a bowl.

A few moments later, and the lavender buds began to drop off the stem into the bowl. Next he reached for a rose bud. He held it in his hands, and gently rubbed his fingers over the surface. The petals slowly opened in his hands and flared out. With practiced movements he deftly and delicately widened the petals and lengthened them. Part way through he paused and reached for another turnip. The rose in his hands took on a beautiful pink hue, each petal was perfect, and meticulously altered with the biomass from the turnip. When it was done, it was about the size of his hand. He buried his nose in the rose and inhaled its fragrance. Rich and deep it was a sweet and slightly spicy floral scent.

He opened his eyes and, after a moment's deliberation, he plucked off one of the larger petals and tasted it.

Knowledge of the biological make up of the petal poured into his mind unbidden. Another smile of satisfaction.

It tasted sweet, and crisp, almost juicy. There was a flavor only a rose possessed there. A fragrance on his tongue. Better yet, it was nutritious, like all the other works he'd made.

It was packed with glucose and fiber, for a quick, but tempered energy boost. Better yet, it would aid with digestion, and was a treat to his senses.

He laid the rose down on a large tray nearby, one of a dozen roses he'd finished.

There was so much more to do, but he loved his work.

After the Asteroid-Closed

@King Tai Good point, but at least it's an idea for the future.

@Wick
More ideas:
Manipulate/alter the tree root to be something like a pipe. Have it grow wider and flatter and curl around in a way to seal holes in piping I suppose. Or find the tree the root comes from and use that to seal or slow broken pipes. Possibly use it to clear pipes. I'm not sure exactly what's wrong with the pipes, so I'm just throwing out ideas.

---

Ooooh! I know. If you can alter plants sufficiently, perhaps replacing the pipes with a network of hollow, self-repairing roots and bark might be an interesting way to go about it.

Admittedly, someone with earth/metal related powers would probably do better, but you make do with what you've got.

While we're at it. I want a gigantic elven tree house. The kind where you actually live in the tree.

After the Asteroid-Closed

Hm... for me, I've mostly been reading fanfictions, translations, and web serials. I did actually get started on Machiavelli's The Prince, but well, I haven't gotten far. Too many fun and hilarious pieces to read right now.

Say, @King Tai I was wondering. Perhaps Nina could do something about that tree root? Her ability was plant manipulation, wasn't it? Then again, only Harley and the Commander know about that tree root there.

After the Asteroid-Closed

Whoo! Barely made it in 20 hours. Posted for Day 6.

And sorry about that @RumikoOhara.

Not sure there's much I can do about that. Maybe read some interesting stories?

After the Asteroid-Closed

Robert Moore

Day 6:Morning

Robert awoke miserable. He was feeling much better now. It only felt like a trio of burly men had beaten his skull with rubber mallets for one thing. For another, his stomach had settled enough that he only felt like he was on a tiny boat in the middle of the ocean in a mild storm. He was actually feeling human enough to notice the smell and the unpleasant grimy feeling in his mouth.

He managed to ease himself off the bed. It took a minute to steady himself from the sudden bout of dizziness before he began the task of stripping his bedding. He managed to ease his door open with a big armful of sheets and pillow cases and blankets bundled up in his arms. He looked around the hallways. Either it was too early for many people to be out and about, or it was late enough that no one was wandering the hallways of the living quarters.

He set off for the laundry rooms. This was getting to be a routine, he felt.

It took a lot longer for him to get to the laundry room than he had expected. His limbs were trembling by the time he'd made it there and he had to fight off bouts of dizziness on the way there. However, once he'd gotten to the laundry room, it hadn't taken long for him to load his laundry.

Another half hour later, and he was in the showers. With how weak he felt, he was careful to always lean against a wall to prevent himself from slipping. He reveled in the sensation of clean skin as he washed off the accumulated sweat and grime. He couldn't help but notice that he seemed even thinner than before. He frowned. That would have to be remedied soon. When he was done, he was feeling almost human.

He made his way to the dining area and stumbled upon the breakfast preparations. Apparently he had woken up early, rather than late. He paused then made his way to the kitchen area. The scent of food was like a stab to the gut.

He couldn't remember when he'd last eaten. In fact, it just occured to him that he didn't even know how long he'd been sick. He hesitantly approached one of the people preparing breakfast.

He opened his mouth to ask a few questions, and found that it took a few tries before he could get a sound out. He cleared his throat and managed to croak out, "Uh, sorry to bother you, but what day is it?"

After the Asteroid-Closed

Sorry, I made my catch up post for Day 5. Is it alright if I do Day 6 tomorrow? Well, technically it'd be today, actually. Tonight technically? Something like that. I'll try to get a post for Day 6 within 20 hours basically.