BrokenPromise

Symphony of Espers

Veronica allowed Finn to leave without stopping him. There were enough distractions in her vicinity that she didn't feel too pressed to look after him. "Careful!" was all she managed as the boy slipped into the darkness.

"Who's idea?" Oros raised an eyebrow at agent Leroux. "Oh! You mean to make the Diver the way it is?" The cultist grinned. "Have you thought about what makes a monster a monster, ma'am? They can look a lot like espers can't they?" With a chuckle, she pointed at Stacy. "I mean is she a monster or an esper? You need to do more than look to know the answer. A monster is just a creature or person who has come here from another world. Behemoths as we call them are a bit different. The Diver in particular was the result of trying to shove a harp shaped object through a human shaped hole. An experiment. Everything is kind of bullshitty in the space between dimensions and weird things happen when people try to cross that barrier." She waved her hand at Veronica. "Let Mrs magical scientist here figure it out. Why do you even care? You walked off to have a cute moment with Mika!"

"Are you done talking to yourself?" Fritzi narrowed her brow.

"Yea, I guess the four of us should depart so that we can be part of our own cute scene, amiright fellas?"

"Wonderful." Veronica turned to Samuel. "Seems they have everything under control, but I wouldn't care if you wanted to look after them. Alternatively, Finn should be watched. He looked exhausted, and I'm sure he's trying to confront Betty. I need to return and make sure Binky's alright. She should have called me already." And with that, Veronica stepped into the shadows and disappeared.

---

Darkness.

Finn could see nothing but darkness. The sky was pitch black, and lightning had destroyed the wiring for the apartment complex. A pistol and bandages were a great help if he needed to fight as a human, but it did little to assist him in these conditions. Eyes open, eyes shut, it all looked the same.

The only way Finn could get around was by touch or sound. With a hand on the wall, he listened for anything and moved forward. The sound of a footstep? Furniture moving? A heartbeat? Nothing came to his ears. He might have been able to use his cellphone, but that only threw enough light to get spotted.

Then sound and sensation came at once. His foot struck something while he took a step. Then with a click, his vision filled with a brilliant light that burned his eyes. A flashlight was shining on him. He had been spotted.

”...Time Keeper?” Pac-A-Fist had never met Finn, but his relationship with Betty had become a legend on Shimr. He couldn't make out her body, but her voice was coming from the source of the light. ”You're not here to fight, right?”

It seemed that Finn had kicked over a fake plant. The decorations in some of these apartment complexes were weird.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

What is everyone else playing?

@SleepingSilence

Omega Strikers.

And Darkest Dungeon. It was only 4$ on the Halloween Steam sale. It's not really something you want to spend your entire weekend playing but you can play a few dungeon runs at a time without it feeling repetitive.

Grimoiric Heart

At this time, Mika was staring into her sword. She had the tip of her thumb inserted in her mouth as images flashed across the blade. She had been away for several months and was still getting caught up on everything. But with all the recent destruction and corruption going on, Mika had a lot of more recent snooping to catch up on. Stuff like that interrogation she wasn't invited to and the party she was suppose to oversee.

"Hmmm..."

Valeria was a massive hussie, wasn't she?

More pressing was that this student-only event was getting turned into something for everyone. That bothered Mika. Not because she had some aversion to the more experienced magical girls, but she thought this was going to be her event to oversee! If the others were going to show up, what was the point?

Fortunately, that was a very easy question to answer.

Mika traced her finger in the air and several clones stepped out of portals behind her seat.

"Alright girls, let’s get dressed for the occasion."

---

What do you wear to a pajama party?

Silvia considered herself a bit of a fashionista. She had all sorts of outfits for nearly every occasion. One of the many things her parents instilled in her was the need to look her best regardless of the occasion. It didn’t matter who she decided to hang out with. A combination from her wardrobe let her fit in anywhere.

But who needs more than a single pair of pajamas?

Or in Silvia’s case, a night gown. It was purple with some frills around the neckline and sleeve, but was otherwise as plain as it sounded. Though she did decide to wear a few other accessories with it. She had a nightcap on and a pillow stashed under one of her arms. Her blanket rested on her shoulders like a giant cape, swaying with each step she took. Silvia looked tired, or maybe it was just her apathetic gaze at work.

That didn’t change when she noticed the music room had been demolished and replaced by a gothic castle.

She would have been more surprised if the music room had been left alone. Silvia had spoken with Bonnie prior to coming and understood they were going to be ghost hunting. That must have been a ruse to surprise them with what was essentially a carnival attraction. If that was the case, they failed. Silvia had seen a lot of different spells in just her year at the academy, and spectacles like this lost their luster once you realized it was just magic. Probably the work of a legend or myth, if she had to guess.

Wonder if the construction work scared off the ghosts.

There were no ghosts, of course. Even if the original room was still in one piece, she figured most ghosts would vacate the premises rather than stick around until a magical girl exercised them. Did ghosts even exist? Silvia kind of doubted it. Everything paranormal she had ever seen was the work of a magical girl or a pageless. She was more here to honor Bonnie’s request than anything else.

Speaking of which, it seemed like she had already showed up with a few of her friends. That was good actually. If Bonnie was talking with Olivia, that meant she didn’t have to. Though it did make her wonder if anyone else was going to show up. If she was lucky, it might even be someone she’d enjoy talking to.

Symphony of Espers

Upon hearing news of Breacher's death, the smile ran from Veronica's face. ”I knew this was going to be a rough one.” When asked about why she arrived so late and where all the other espers were, she pursed her lips. ”Yes...” She put her hands on her hips. ”While we expected retaliation, we did not realize how well organized they would be. It's like every monster faction in the city banded together for the occasion. I was expecting them to lay a trap for the freelancers and the Mavericks, but we were more discrete with our planning. I think Justin was here as a last resort, to hold the line against any stragglers. It was inevitable that they would notice the convoy Binky and I were protecting. all of Gemini's agents are here right now. The top brass hasn't seen fit to send us more espers yet. Regardless, I can't imagine the enemy will continue fighting us now that the Diver is gone.” When Finn suggested they try to catch the brainwashed espers, Veronica's smile returned. "Agent? Can you even conjure a melody in your current state? As admirable as your enthusiasm is, it is unnecessary. With Justin dead their dark blessing should be far weaker now. Curing it should within the realm of possibility. But if you'd like, I can-”

”What happened to mom?!"

It seemed Mika hadn't been unconscious after all. She had become fully alert after Finn and Jacqueline mentioned Su was dead.

"Oh! You're Mika?” Veronica let out a nervous chuckle. "I had no idea you were an esper! Did you get a hold of Breacher's grimoire or is that something you've always had?”

But Mika was not in the mood to talk. She shook her head while stepping backwards. ”She can't be!"

"I'm inclined to believe her squad mates. I doubt they have any reason to lie.”

Mika brought her hand up to her mouth, but that didn't stop the tears from rolling over her cheeks. She took off across the cat bridge back to the police station.

”Mom! Mom!"

The precinct roof looked like a war zone. Everything was soaked in blood. That said nothing of the frog entrails, like corpses, flies, a scorch mark caused by a lightning bolt, puss that had leaked out of various boils, locust corpses, and that said nothing of the looming darkness. But despite all that, she did find a pile of wrecked cars. And among them...

She sunk to her knees. ”Not again..."

Veronica held her chin. "When she calms down, she could make for a good agent.” But veronica's attention was stolen away when Jacqueline asked about the stranger and harp. "They got pulled out of the Diver, didn't they?” She furrowed her brow. "It's not uncommon for behemoths to have some mundane object as a power source. But I'm not sure why there was a person in there.”

”Yea about that." Oros, half dragging herself, inched closer to the group of espers. ”I'm sure you guys could tell, but Holy Diver wasn't exactly your average run-of-the-mill behemoth." Her sword scraped against the asphalt roof. ”To avoid a history lesson, that harp right there is a grimoire. The idea was to make it invincible to attack, but like any good organ, they tend to stop working once they're removed from the body."

Veronica half chuckled when she turned to Oros. "I suppose you're here to make sure we don't capture them?”

”Negatory. I'm just here to pick my date up." Oros winked at Marrie. ”Assuming that you don't wanna just duke it out. But last time you bastards did that it didn't work out great. So I'm all for postponing our epic battle for a later time."

"I see.” The vermillion esper looked at Stacy, then Marrie. "So what's your roll in this?”

”I may be the meta character, but you're gunna have to clarify."

"You've arrived just after I did. I don't believe for a second that you're just here for a date. Though it's clear you know something about this mad house escapee and at least one other esper here. It doesn't seem like you were behind this attack.”

”That's right." Oros puffed out her chest. ”Look, uh, I know it's only mid day, but the city's been, like, totally ravaged and stuff. You probably wanna figure out where everyone else is, assess things, you know? Government stuff?" With a huff, she extended her hand towards Ashley. ”You wanted to date me too, right? Or was it a 'totally just wanted to look after my little sister' kinda thing? Whatever, you're still invited, and it's the least painful way to interrogate me." Provided she didn't run off, that is.

”I'll come too!” Stacy struck a flamboyant pose. She made a "v" in front of her eye with her fingers. ”I know a cool place where we can play some board games!”

Veronica's gaze shifted towards Agent Orion. "You've encountered her before?” Provided she didn't run off, that is.

Symphony of Espers

They did what they could in the face of despair.

Fable was not deterred when the giant didn’t bleed. If his weapon could cut its flesh, then he could decapitate it. He pressed his sword into the Diver's neck and surged forward. Each time he circled its neck the blade would cut deeper.

Mika did as she was instructed, and her second fist sunk inside the Diver’s flesh., though it was not easy to punch through. ”It’s like mo-lass-sees!" But while Mika struggled, Ashley drew closer with her glowing wand.

The more experienced espers weren’t holding back. Sam made sure the area was locust free, allowing Jacqueline to fire a stream of stones.

Mika drew back her fist as the melody landed. It made a crater, and the ensuing blast from Ashley’s wand made it bigger still. Surely Mika would be able to destroy the harp now. She plowed her fist into the creature’s flesh. Her fist struck the harp.

But it was too slow to do any damage.

The harp remained in one piece, but Mika didn’t give into disappointment. ”I think I feel something!" While too hard to punch through, Mika could maneuver her fingers inside the creature’s flesh. She forced her hand open and was able to get her fingers around the harp. ”I got it! I got it!" But pulling the harp free would prove to be a challenge. She had planted her feet on the behemoth’s chest, but she was sinking into it faster than the harp was being removed. Ashley and Sam took hold of Mika’s waist to help pull her out. It had to help, but now all three of them were sinking into the Diver.

Finn was tired, but he made good progress. He needed to slow down a bit to balance on the Diver’s collar bones in total darkness. But racing around its shoulders and back were a simple matter. He just needed to lean towards the neck to ensure his footing. But as he maneuvered around the behemoth, he spotted a white shape in the darkness. A giant skull. That of some long dead animal.

"Yee of little faith! Why doth thou try so hard?" Chernabog, or maybe Baphomet, floated behind Finn. "If thou can not save thy sister, why not get thee gone? Why risk thy life in a plot thou can not change?" The skull pressed into the side of Finn’s face. "Are thou…mad?" By this point, Finn had cut as deep as he could. The hilt of his blade was pressed up against the Diver’s neck. When Finn blinked a few times, the skull disappeared. He really was tired.

Something tore out of the Diver’s back. A pair of butterfly wings with a fluorescent glow. Unlike the Diver themselves, the wings had every color one could think of. A rainbow of shades from tip to tip. The Diver was starting to float higher in the air. It was clear what was about to happen.

The Diver was leaving, and it was taking the firstborns with him.

"About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again."

— Exodus 11:4–6

But off in the distance, Finn could make out a green-skinned person standing on a railing with a young woman. Or at least, he could hear them. It was still pretty dark.

”I thought you had a plan!” The zombie chuckled. ”But that’s fine. I play a lot of board games so you know I have a strategic mind. Backup is probably going to arrive late so it’ll just be you and me.” Stacy turned to the Diver. ”Here’s an idea, let's hit it as hard as we possibly can!”

Most espers had olympic level fitness, but many monsters possessed strength in another league entirely. When Stacy leaped off the balcony, most espers would assume she was a monster by her athletic ability alone. The metal handrail bent as Stacy propelled the duo through the air. They soared through the downpour of blood towards their target. Stacy pointed her feet towards the behemoth and landed square on the back of its head.

CRACK

The diver’s head would normally be too strong to kick off, even with a monster delivering the blow. But Finn had cut deep into its flesh, and necks were hollow by their nature. The partially severed spine was the only thing that held it in place, and it gave out when Stacy landed her blow. The head rolled off of its shoulders.

Below, Ashley and Sam were still pulling on Mika. The snapping of the Diver’s spine caused their eyes to look upwards. The Diver’s bioluminescent wings offered just enough light to make out the head. But it wasn’t possible to tell if the Diver had been killed or not. Its wings were still moving, it still floated higher into the air. The weak point had yet to be destroyed.

Agent Leroux wasn’t quite done yet either. With all the other agents tugging on Mika, she had finally scaled the giraffe to help them. But when the head came tumbling down, there was an opportunity. She held onto Mika with one hand, and swung her war pick at the Diver’s falling noggin. The intent was not to destroy it, but to imbed her weapon in its flesh. If the three of them couldn’t pull Mika free, maybe the weight of the Diver’s own head would be enough.

The other agents caught on. Ashley and Sam held onto Jacqueline and Mika. They locked their arms and limbs around each other however they could. The problem with using such a massive object is that there was the chance they could be pulled off of Mika without pulling her free. And of course, none of this would matter if Mika’s hand slipped off the harp. But there would be no time to think of all the possibilities. Once the head fell and pulled everyone taught, it was over. The Diver’s chest detonated like a bomb. The espers could feel the strain on their bodies as their limbs were stretched as far as they could. But there was some relief when something gave inside the Diver’s bosom. And there, soaring through the air, held sternly in Mika’s paw, was the harp. Even with the blood and tar flying through the air, it shined in the dull neon glow of the Diver’s wings.

But Mika wasn’t the only one holding onto it.

On the other side of the hand was a young woman, bald and wearing a straitjacket. She had a white knuckle grip on the harp and didn’t seem like she was going to let go. Mika’s pupils dilated when she realized how close they were to each other. She could understand the whole esper thing. Her mother had told her about it from time to time. But she was at a loss as to what to do here. They were all falling, and she had no idea if she could trust this new person or not. But did she even have a power that would work here? As intuitive as being an esper was, she drew a blank. The ground was coming at them faster and faster.

Then out of the darkness came a massive inflatable stunt bag, the kind that stunt men use when falling off of buildings. The more advanced ones are able to accommodate multiple stuntmen, and could reset themselves between individual impacts so that nobody “bounced” once they landed on them. It was softer than landing on the asphalt roof of the building, but the espers had the wind knocked out of them on impact.

Meanwhile up above, Finn, Marie, and Stacy stood on the Diver’s shoulder. ”Looks like I killed it! Why didn’t you guys try hitting it in the head?” The trio lost their footing as soon as the Diver’s headless body crashed into the roof. Before it could do any real damage, the behemoth’s molasses-like body lost its shape and seeped off either side of the building. Even the wings were melting. The remaining espers (and monster?) fell onto the stunt bag along with the other Gemini espers.

Samuel, Jacqueline, Ashley, Finn, Marie, Stacy, Mika, and the woman in the straitjacket were all present. The latter of the bunch had fallen unconscious, but even in sleep retained their grip on the harp. Even with the Diver dead, the harp was in one piece.

A ninth person slipped out of the darkness and landed before the group. Veronica stood before them with a tea cup in one hand and a platter in the other, but her smile was not present.

”Kept you waiting, huh?” She folded her arms. ”Seems our enemy was able to predict the Diver’s arrival. But you were able to complete the objective regardless.” Veronica looked over everyone present. ”Where’s Breacher?”

Feature Request Thread

Mmmm, yea, but this would be more for specific posts. Notifications tend to disappear regardless of how many posts on a page you've read.

Feature Request Thread

I wouldn't mind a bookmark function. I realize we sort of have a rudimentary one. Each post has a link to it, so you just need to save that link if you ever want to pick up where you left off. But RPs can be complex things where posts don't always happen in order. It would be nifty to be able to flag posts so that you can come back to certain ones later. Maybe to read something that doesn't pertain to what you're character's doing at the moment.

I'd also like some control over notification settings. Stuff like getting notified for just IC posts or when certain users post in a thread.

Grimoiric Heart

<Snipped quote by Majoras End>

More like I react to basically every single post as a bookmarking method.
Very effective, especially for Advanced-size RP post chains. XD

@Lewascan2

A bookmark function would be pretty useful.

Regardless, you're catching up quickly.

Grimoiric Heart

Oh hey there @Lewascan2.

Grimoiric Heart

_{@Lonewolf685@Majoras End}

"Thank you, Suzy." Mika did not seem bothered that Suzuya was walking away from her, and would soon be out of earshot. "That couldn't have been easy, and I appreciate you giving Cell a chance, even if she didn't take it."

Lupin didn't have to chase Mika very far. She hadn't moved a single step since their confrontation. "I see listening is not your strong suit. I would have expected otherwise given the size of your ears." Mika pinched the bridge of her nose. When she lowered her hand, she was wearing a pained smile. "Tell you what? No one is thinking straight right now. Go apologize to Suzy before the day is over. Then we can put this event behind us." It was unusual that Lupin came around so quickly, but Mika wouldn't complain.

Anyone could have seen that Suzuya did nothing wrong. The issue more had to do with how schools operate. Teachers and student counselors are not police officers. Nor are they judges, juries, or executioners. Their jobs are hard enough when everyone behaves, and many do not have the ability or desire to properly deal with infighting among students. This becomes even more difficult when you involve the parents who will often be unhappy regardless of what you do. This is why most schools have a zero-tolerance policy regarding "bullying." All aggressive behavior is punished equally. In an idealistic world, this would encourage everyone to be their best self.

Suzuya may not have directly interfered with Lupin, but her confrontational language and choice to start a fire would warrant intervention from anyone. This was ultimately a matter for the faculty to handle, and a student involving themselves just complicated things. If anything, both students should be relieved Mika was going so easy on them. This would have been a detention at any other school.

As for why Mika was so easy on Tesni, that was anyone's guess. How Tesni conducted herself during an emergency was more an issue for the grand minister or her teacher.

_@TheWendil

The student counselor nearly jumped out of her skin when Ozma boomed her voice through the room. She pretended to clean her ear with her pinky while the non-faculty told everyone what was going to happen. "Excuse me? we haven't even looked at the hexes in question. Moreover, where do you get off-" Her eyes drifted onto Merlin before she clinched her teeth. "Never mind, as you were." She waved her hand dismissively.

_@KoL

She walked over to Eins and wrapped a hand around her shoulders. "It's a bit crowded here. How about we go to my office and hammer out some ideas. Sound good to you, Strudel?"

Mika chose to ignore the eldrich blow-dryer. That wasn't to say the gesture wasn't appreciated. Fresh air was nice, as was having dry hair. But they were departing, so Mika would have to thank them later.

---

_{@The 42nd Gecko}

Bonnie set out to slip the letters under everyone's doors. As soon as she entered the hallway, she spotted Mika. She stood there with a smile on her face.

"Oh! Is there one there for me?" She wiggled her fingers before slipping her letter out of the stack. It wasn't clear how she had noticed since it was buried. "You know, you did well earlier." She peeled open the envelope and scanned the letter before chuckling. "You have very nice handwriting. I would love to help out with this." She walked back towards her office without looking away from the letter. "Very nice handwriting. Almost like calligraphy."

---

_{@The 42nd Gecko}

Silvia was a little surprised to see Bonnie skootching under the table with her. Part of this was because she appeared shell shocked seconds ago. Now she had her composure back. Equally surprising was Bonnie choosing to walk through several sprinklers just to get to her. That couldn't have been comfortable, and Silvia wasn't feeling too hot either. There was something about being wet, shivering, and squatting under a table that made her feel undignified. She felt a bit like a clown gazing out of a sewer drain at a kid who lost his paper boat. But the "Kid" had joined her under the table. Bad move, Georgie.

"...You sure you're okay?" Her tone was filled with concern. Though it wasn't clear which of the two girls the concern was intended for. "I'm Silvia. But if it's easier to call me Stripes, that's cool." Bonnie had asked Silvia about going to a sleepover in the same breath she asked her name, but she chose not to answer.

Anyone who knew the introverted misanthropist wouldn't bother to even invite her. It wasn't really her thing. She hated crowds as a rule, and had an idea the more social students would be all over this. That and the idea of of her classmates parading around in their pajamas didn't rub her the right way. It felt juvenile.

But she couldn't say no either. Silvia wasn't able to remember the last time she had been invited to anything. She knew Bonnie was being polite because Silvia had asked how she was doing. But even knowing that, this was still a rare occurrence. She wasn't going to force Bonnie's hand however. It seemed silly to sign herself up for something that was just a formality and-

_{@Majoras End}

A jacket flew under the table and landed on Silvia's shoulders.

"O-oh." Her eyes darted between Celina and Bonnie. She didn't like groups but kindness like this was nice. Nice, but it made her feel self conscious. "I don't think I look that bad, do I?" She avoided looking at either girl and played with the end of her hair. Were they just concerned for her? "I'm fine guys, r-really. Bonnie was fighting Roma directly. She deserves your concern more than I do." A warm, eldritch wind blew through the ruined cafeteria and warmed everyone up. This caused Silvia's head to snap over, though she noticed Xolys was doing this for everyone and not just herself. The attention of three different people would have been way too much. "Xolys has the right idea. He's helping everyone." Silvia stood up, bumped her head on the table, but still managed to stumble out into the open. "Weren't you going to beat someone up or something? I'm glad you calmed down." She rubbed her head while looking at Celina. "Do I still look bad? I pride myself on my appearance." Silvia ran a hand through her hair. "I'll go look in the mirror in my room."

---

That night...

Silvia was a pretty light sleeper. Something slid under her door.

There was just enough moonlight to see an envelope. She crawled over the sheets and reached for it. It didn't seem like recovering the letter from her bed was possible, so she transformed. Then she used her staff to trap the envelope and slide it closer to her bed. With a sigh, she picked up the letter. She turned it over in her hand, unsure of why something would have been given to her. Though after opening it and seeing the hand written letter in side, Silvia didn't even have to read to know who sent it.

"Guess I'm going."