BCTheEntity

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Verum Autem Ex

At least the party was accepting of Hogan's assistance. If one of them had been frightened of crocodiles, Louis wasn't sure what he'd do about it; as it was, at least three of the other four were perfectly happy to have him on, if initially confused, whilst the last... Leonard could probably explain everything to her adroitly.

Then came the matter of transporting Hogan around. To this, Louis' smile only widened, now showing pearly white teeth. That was a game he'd played before.

'Why, I'd have imagined you would have ferried him in your vehicles. Or better yet, paraded him around in broad daylight. After all, who would question a group of crocodile handlers so confident they keep their charge off a leash?' he joked, chuckling lightly. He continued, more helpfully, 'Though, if your transportation isn't fit for purpose, we do always have an unmarked van or two available for transportation purposes. On the west side of the main building, there's a decently-sized white garage. It has a sign out the front, you can't miss it.

'Speaking of transportation, if that's all, then you're dismissed.' Immediately, his tone and expression shifted back to neutral professionalism, and now that the meeting had ended, his attention turned to a set of files within a desk drawer. It was clear he didn't expect or want to ask twice.

Once everyone had stepped outside, any portable devices on their person would ping as they received a new message from an unidentifiable number, reading as follows: Your first target likes to frequent the various botanical gardens and arboretums of D.C., though unfortunately, we don't have enough information to determine precisely which one he'll be at on any given day. As far as we can tell, he has been frisking people of their possessions, with some sort of comedy act involved in the matter. Considering this latter piece of information, it might also be worth researching open nights at clubs and any comedy acts being planned in the D.C. area. Further information would not be forthcoming, nor would efforts to message that number back; one would presume they had no more than that to offer in the first place.

@Old Amsterdam@knifeman@Lugubrious@ProPro@LemonZest1337

Capes of Denver: A Worm RP

Alessa Heather: Charity Fundraiser

(Post includes contributions from @Old Amsterdam.)

Alessa nodded to Inkscape’s response and his move over to Mastar, smiling to herself just a little. That was, she imagined, a good start to a new version of herself. Equally, though she tried to block out the cacophony of Ceramix’s, ahem, “music”, she was quite glad that it was helping the man sobbing to himself within the glob of containment foam to recover his senses... but damn, how long would they have to keep him in that stuff for? They couldn’t exactly restrain him forever, but nothing less than the containment foam would suffice to hold him, considering his ability... ah, but Epsilon could create machines to nullify powers! No problem, then.

And even better, it seemed like Lillian was already recovering! No need for medical help, then; as Lillian leant against her, Alessa stroked her hair, murmuring kind words into her ear as if to offer further balming for the shock she’d suffered. It might be pertinent to propose some form of check-up later on, though. And with where Lillian was looking... had anyone said anything to Margrave yet? She was sure Inkscape had congratulated him on the part he’d played in saving civilians; if not, then she certainly would.

He didn’t seem pleased with not receiving any attention immediately. Scratch that, she was going to go and talk to him now, before he got the wrong idea- and too late, for the media started swarming in before she could so much as move in his direction, and very rapidly converged around her and Lillian, not to mention most of her other teammates. The flood of questions started professional: ‘How on earth did you defeat two prolific capes so readily?’, ‘Was it fate that brought everybody here?’, ‘What part did you play in taking down these villainous fiends?’, ‘Is the mask going to become a permanent part of your ensemble, Messiah?’, and so on, to which both she and Tiger Lily responded professionally, redirecting questions toward Inkscape accordingly.

Then they started getting personal. ‘Are you and Tiger Lily dating, Messiah?’ She hadn’t honestly expected that, and she stuttered as her brain tried to come up with an answer. Here Lillian jumped in with a slight nod of her head. Before they could say anything, however, the press started to flood in again: ‘How long have you two been going out for?’, ‘What’s it like dating someone two years younger than you?’, ‘Are you lesbians, and what do you have to say to the homosexual community if so?’, ‘What on earth do you think most Americans are going to think of you for this?’ Coming up with an answer to each and every question simultaneously was not something Alessa could do, and so she was frozen for quite a while, though she couldn’t help but realise that a degree of anger was starting to build up.

The moment somebody asked about their sex life was the moment that anger peaked, but after a second of surprised hesitation, Lily managed to speak before she could, her words pointed and stiff, but respectful in tone: “Last I checked it was considered pedophilia to involve minors in sexual conduct, Sir. Furthermore, our personal lives are off-limits, thankyouverymuch, and I believe the Youth Guard would very much agree.” Alessa couldn’t help but notice Lillian’s grip tightening on her hand, and so she squeezed back, forcing herself to deliver her next sentence with the same professionalism as before, albeit much cooler than before.

‘As Tiger Lily has stated, and with all due respect, our personal lives are not the media’s business. I have no further comments to offer to any of you, and I’d appreciate not being asked any further questions on the matter.’ That, she imagined, was probably the best response she could give, which was what mattered here; with that, she began encouraging her teammate to start walking with her toward one of the more established heroes, a sort of social protection.

It was belatedly that she realised Margrave had disappeared entirely, and far too late to try and seek him out. Later, then.

Into The Dark: Tales of Maroleth

>'Almighty gods! I beseech thee, lend me your ears! I seek out your favour, for this party of many, whose near future may well be fraught with peril; I pray that you shall offer us your blessings, that we shall be gifted your favour, and that we shall be kept safe from future harms! PLEASE, O GODS, LEND US YOUR POWER!'
>gods
>Settione had just finished his circle and intoned the God of luck and trickery

Uh, what? Huh? He intoned the GODS, obviously, so, you know, he's obviously intoning all of them, not just specific ones... I'm just saying, he's not suspicious at all, in the slightest... very shifty eye movements

Warhammer 40k: Enemy Without, Enemy Within - an 'Ecclesiarchal' RP [Mature][High Casual/Low Advanced]

It's been a good time so far. I greatly hope we can keep things good for the future, too.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Verum Autem Ex

Behind his sunglasses, Louis closed his eyes and endured Laurie's outburst. His man had told her she could be uppity, but... well, he supposed the notion to take away from that was, she ought to consider getting a hold of herself. And he wasn't going to reprimand her just for getting upset, after all. If it affected her work, the team's job, then he'd think about that.

Once her outburst was done, everyone else had their fair share to say: Arthur St. Anger offered his support, granted that Louis would explain what they were to do in a given situation. Mieke Choux simply asked for more information about Stand powers, whilst Leonard commented on how, ahem, unprofessional the rest of the team was, whilst also offering to explain Stands to Mieke in more depth as they worked. And, of course, asking about what to do to those spreading the illness.

'We don't know that anyone in particular is spreading it around,' he explained. 'If it is the fault of a lone individual, then by all means ensure they can't spread it further. If that means executing them, then so be it. Otherwise...' He was interrupted by the sounds of argument, one-sided, followed by a hell of a ruckus. Ah, so Hogan had finally shown up.

Thirty seconds later, the door opened up, the visage of a man with a boot firmly planted on the head of a very annoyed crocodile making itself known, before the crocodile was encouraged to enter, and the man took his leave in prompt, some might even say impolite fashion. He really hated Hogan, it seemed.

'Thank you, Simon. As always, your work is appreciated,' Louis called after him, before sitting back in his chair and uttering 'Ladies and gentlemen, the man who just walked out was our late arrival's handler. Let him be; he's been useful in the field of ecology for a long while, though one might not recognise as much for his usual work. As for the crocodile,' he continued, gesturing to the crocodile, 'say hello to Hogan, our fifth Stand user for the day, the other remaining SWF agent, and your ally for the foreseeable future.'

A question peaked in the man's mind about whether or not he should explain what Hogan's ability actually was, but he imagined that would be unwise. He'd seen quite plainly the thoughts going through Arthur's head the moment Laurie showed off her power; revealing one's Stand ability was not something one did lightly, around anybody else, and he reckoned Hogan would be quite upset with him if he did. If he wanted to show his worth, he would. Chances were that he didn't, but alas.

Instead, he returned to his previous train of thought: 'As I was saying, this could also be a wholly natural phenomenon, perhaps a natural fluke in the evolution of the Stand virus? In which case, it'd merely be a matter of shutting that phenomenon down.' He grimaced a bit, knowing that if that were the case, they'd probably be in more trouble than they realised. At least if it were the effects of somebody's Stand ability, putting them in hospital long enough for the Foundation to gather them up and quarantine them would end the matter cleanly.

'Either way, I trust you will all have the capacity to tie up any loose ends cleanly.' Louis' hands folded over themselves, and for the first time, he smiled. 'Last chance to ask anything else you have in mind. Either way, you'll be sent the information about our initial lead shortly.'

@Old Amsterdam@knifeman@Lugubrious@ProPro@LemonZest1337

Warhammer 40k: Enemy Without, Enemy Within - an 'Ecclesiarchal' RP [Mature][High Casual/Low Advanced]

Though they'd reached parts of the ship even the attendant Ratling failed to fully understand, his mood had remained positive, singing a hymn that Alexa hadn't heard before, though it struck a bell in her mind that had her nodding along to its lyrics, albeit not humming or singing personally. That said, all were stunned into silence by the presence of an interloper within the bowels of the ship - a man who turned out to be misshapen, and then transpired to be a mutant, fearful enough that Confessor Horacio found himself trying to shoot down the humanoid monstrosity.

Alexa herself held back by offering intense internal prayer, mumbling under her breath as the creature went to its family, offering them a chance to discuss the matter further. Naturally, as their spiritual superior, the Confessor was the first port of call that Sister-Celestian Victorine turned to, and frankly speaking, his speech was about as well-reasoned as was allowable. Alexa might have proposed that the kindest thing would be to execute Old Gruk and his family immediately, followed by prayer that their souls might reach the Emperor's side and be cleansed, for to die in repentance was surely better than to live in sin, but it'd be more pertinent for it to offer its assistance first, to find both the heretic and any others who may be lurking in the bowels of the ship, so deep that the Emperor's Light failed to reach them, and indeed to at least confirm that it was living proof of its own sinful ways before ending its sinful life.

She'd had her fill of excessive speech today, regardless; thus, Alexa held her tongue, and simply nodded visibly once Horacio's proposal was done.

Static Tabs Do Not Take Up Internet - BCTheEntity's Character Links

Artoxon Shroud - roleplayerguild.com/posts/4164377
Dirk Messir A/Yuushuu Yuudaina A - roleplayerguild.com/posts/3693806
Yuushuu Yuudaina B - roleplayerguild.com/posts/4344407
Infer - roleplayerguild.com/posts/3037107
Zonbigosuto - roleplayerguild.com/posts/4481167
Charne Artemis - roleplayerguild.com/posts/5126330
Tim Conner - roleplayerguild.com/posts/4925758
Aodh Cailpeach - roleplayerguild.com/posts/5033265
Tecca Nina - roleplayerguild.com/posts/5124435
Marcus Antony Collier - roleplayerguild.com/posts/5138564
Phil Jaegger - roleplayerguild.com/posts/5001891

Capes of Denver: A Worm RP

Raymond Haywood: The Cruise Room

Psh. Patriarch was no threat to them. Not with the Broker present - the real Broker, not the clone feigning Brokerism, though he could certainly come across as another potential parahuman, depending on what other traits the Broker considered useful in him. That said, it was seemingly quite an issue to hear that both of the Rockers’ leaders were now defeated and captured - Ceramix could be disregarded entirely in favour of his immediate underling, but to hear he was down for the count too was mildly disconcerting. It went to show how potent the Protectorate could be in full force.

Though with that said, and considering the notion as he reclaimed his weapon, Raymond couldn’t care less that the Rockers were seemingly leaderless, even given how that’d affect the Broker’s plan to defeat the Community. They were second-rate at best, and if the organisation was entirely collapsed and reformed from scratch under new management, he imagined it’d still be better than what came before it. For his part, he simply shrugged, allowing others to make their statements to the downtrodden Rocker as she first received Swarm’s insincere guidance, then offered her assistance to the Broker outright, and was then offered Jason’s support... hold on, what now? Why would-

Well, he had just supposed there could be merit in seeing the Rockers reformed. Perhaps Creep would be the woman to do so. Regardless, it seemed Chatterbox was willing and able to check that Xolotl was no longer a threat once he was trussed up, and then to ask for Raymond’s help in getting him outside. As if the assassin wasn’t already planning on doing so. Though, the support might be useful nonetheless.

‘You take the legs,’ he instructed quietly, grabbing the bulky man around the torso and beginning to pull him toward the exit indicated. Even if Chatterbox was built like a twig, every little helped when it came to shifting a body.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Verum Autem Ex

Well, it seemed to Louis' eye that everyone who was going to showed up on time, give or take a few minutes. Agent Blue had been there already, with a seemingly-uncanny awareness of being watched, and though he knew down to a science exactly what she could do, his primal lizard brain still prayed she was just guessing. Over the next few minutes, so too did the new recruits show themselves - the pink-haired civilian Mieke first, sadly even weepier than he'd anticipated, though evidently pleased to introduce herself and be introduced to Laurie. Next, the wrestler Arthur, boisterous as expected, and even more keen to say hello. And finally, the hired gun Leonard - surprisingly slow to show, as it happened, though more interested in St Anger than in any other character there.

Hogan had failed to appear at all, as expected. A phone call, a minute from ten, about summed up what had happened - the crocodile was being recalcitrant again, and it'd take some time to get the creature to come along. Sighing as the clock finally hit ten, Louis put the phone down, pushed the security monitor back into the desk, and tapped the button on his comms device, saying into it 'Send them in,' before folding his hands together and awaiting their arrival with a bit of a smile.

---

The receptionist, receiving her boss' order, responded to him with a simple 'Yes, sir,' then turned to the folks in the waiting room and uttered 'The boss is ready to see you now, ladies and gentlemen' with a polite, almost refined formality. The short hallway down to his office ended with a pair of heavy wooden doors, opening automatically after but a moment's pause into a room that was designed, not sparsely, but simply, with a soothing sky blue tone to the wallpaper and paint alike, a few varnished wooden shelves with knick-knacks and electronics from various time periods within the past century scattered about, and a heavy, equally-varnished wooden desk taking up a good portion of the space.

And sitting behind the desk, the CEO of the company.

'Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Some of you may know me, most will not, but I am the leader of the Speedwagon Foundation, Louis Armstrong,' he introduced himself. His voice was not exactly harsh, but it didn't quite reach kind either. "Professional", perhaps. 'Three of you are here at my request. One is here because they are, indirectly, an employee of mine. They may ask their Employer about that.' He didn't look at Blue specifically whilst he said so, but he would glance across her mid-sentence just as he was glancing over everyone else, to see that she got the message.

'And you'll have one more agent joining you shortly. As to why you're here,' he began explaining quite bluntly, 'that'd be because we have an epidemic on our hands. Not a usual epidemic, I'm afraid, or the SWF would be more than capable of handling it directly. No, this is an epidemic that kills most who contract the illness as surely as a bullet through the brain - and those who survive through it develop abilities that I'm sure you're all familiar with. Except, perhaps, Miss Mieke Choux.' He gestured to the pink-haired girl, all but singling her out.

'She, whether or not she is aware, has been a victim of this epidemic herself, all the way over in her home state of Massachusetts. This goes to show just how far the contagion has spread, though its effects thus far have been largely centralised within Washington D.C. and the surrounding states of Maryland and Virginia. As a result of her affliction, she nearly died. In exchange for surviving it, however, she has developed what we know as a Stand - invisible to those who lack one, and capable of altering the world in amazing ways.

'But again, most of you know this already,' Louis noted with the slightest coy smirk, fading as quickly as it arose. 'The problem, ladies and gentlemen, is that this infection is consistent with that inflicted by something called a Stand arrow - I imagine you can guess what that does. Unlike the average Stand arrow, however, the disease seems to strike people down as if it were airborne, leading to a much higher infection and subsequent casualty rate than any Stand arrow could achieve.

'And... a much higher rate of new Stand users,' he admitted with some annoyance. 'Frankly, it's been an incredible strain on the SWF's resources simply to find and educate these new Stand users, let alone try and manage the epidemic's effects on top of that, or stop those Stand users who see their powers and think "gosh, I reckon I could kill or harm a lot of people with these", or "heavens, I've gained superpowers, time to put on a costume and fight crime recklessly".' About now, he seemed to realise his voice was getting heated, and took a breath before continuing. 'In the end, we've been left with two free agents, plus a triad of new hires.' Again he gestured, this time toward the group as a whole. It seemed he wasn't one for moving around much when he spoke, save his mouth proper.

'So, ladies and gentlemen, you have two jobs. One: go where we tell you to go, find the Stand users we believe to be in a certain area, and either inform or subdue them. Preferably without killing them...' His glances moved rapidly and purposefully between Blue and Skinner before he finished his sentence. '...we don't need more civilian deaths, and we especially don't need any innocent blood on the SWF's hands.

'And two: if you can find any leads, any hints as to what might be causing this illness, anything you could follow up on... by God's will, do so with all haste,' he implored the foursome. 'The longer this lasts, the more are going to die, and the more difficult things are going to become, for all of us. And yes, we've tried to track the infection pattern. It seems... inconsistent, somehow. Hence the difficulty.' The first minor hint of confusion entered the man's face, quickly smoothed over.

'Any questions?' the CEO asked, leaning back in his chair just a fraction now that the main portion of his speech was over. 'We believe we might have a lead on one group of fresh Stand users already; time, as I said, is of the essence.'

@Old Amsterdam@knifeman@Lugubrious@ProPro@LemonZest1337

Capes of Denver: A Worm RP

Alessa Heather: Charity Fundraiser

That... that was it, then. The plan worked, assisted by Lillian and by Lyn’s risky, but ultimately successful (and very loud, leaving her ears ringing a fair bit), thunderclap, not to mention Kyoshi and Inkscape taking control of a hand each, and ultimately Noble’s containment of Ceramix within another glob of containment foam. They’d done it - they’d saved everyone!

Which left a couple of problems. Notably, Shatterpoint was in a state of panic at being contained so, to the point of howling and sobbing wildly, at least as far as the foam allowed him. He was a villain, he ought to have seen that coming... but then, why did Alessa feel so horrible about the thought of keeping him in there? That was obvious, though: it was the same empathy she had for most people.

And there was not a damn thing she could do about it. Not on her own, and certainly not without risking more lives. What she could help with was how Lillian had been affected - that was, badly, to the point of being dropped to her knees and out of her dinosaur form. Kneeling down gently, Alessa pulled the girl up cautiously, supporting her with an arm around her shoulders, murmuring to her ‘Hey, babe, I’m here, I’ve got you, it’s gonna be okay,’ and lightly planting a kiss on one cheek, whilst glancing round to see that everyone else was equally alright.

They weren’t. Kyoshi’s leg was apparently broken badly, and Outsider was being checked over for some sort of concussion by Sylph. Shit. Damn it, damn it... did this count as another...? No. No, it wasn’t like the warehouse. Nobody was dead. Everyone lived, everyone was alive, they were okay! They’d won outright!

Well, Mastar, at least, seemed to think they’d won outright. She was chatting up how fun working with the Protectorate had been - and indeed, what a shame it’d be to not have that option in the future. And, well... overly-sexual actions aside, why wouldn’t she be able to work with them? Her power seemed pretty damn useful, after all...

‘Let’s get you some help, Lily,’ Alessa prompted kindly, guiding her over toward the octopus-like leader of the Denver Protectorate as quickly as she dared, grabbing the hero’s attention with the slightest glint of light, easily mistaken for coincidental, to direct his gaze in her direction before she began speaking.

‘I think Tiger Lily’s suffered more than the rest of us from Tulpa’s attack against Ceramix,’ she suggested matter-of-factly. ‘We may need to get a medic or something in here for her, I’m not sure... and, say, whilst I’m over here,’ she continued a bit more slowly, glancing toward Mastar before concluding her query, ‘I feel like Mastar really pulled her weight today. I’m no expert, but... do you think maybe she’d be a good candidate for the Protectorate?’