DJAtomika

Mass Effect: Borealis

"Ow."

Hazan rubbed his sore behind as he advanced up with Valiss. The mutter was to himself as they came up on the rest of the crew under a withering hail of fire from snipers at the other end of the tunnel. He broke away from Valiss as he dashed up behind Serena and took stock.

The crew were mostly arrayed out around the inside of the tunnel entrance. Drono, their crazy Drell engineer, had just sent a ball of...something rolling down a side tunnel that was sparking and snapping and cracking and popping and exploding with every bounce. Serena had just sent out two of her drones to harass the snipers while she barked an order a suggestion to good ol' Vellios. The rest were hiding from the intermittent sniper fire (accurate sniper fire at that), mostly pinned down but otherwise in good shape.

Just a few minutes earlier, they'd been coming up with a game plan. Tanya and Iosif, two of their heavyweights, had suggested a truck down the right tunnel, and everyone had agreed, obviously. Now they were scattered round the tunnel, truck abandoned for now. The fork in the tunnel system lay up ahead, but that was was sniper country.

Hazan cursed his luck. First forced back to Omega on a job he wished he didn't have, now under fire from snipers without a means of shooting back. He knew Tonka carried a sniper rifle, but a fist to the face from a Krogan wasn't what he wanted.

As he peeked out from cover, he saw the purpose of Drono's big ball: the thing was jumping and popping all over the place, but smoke now bellowed out of it, obscuring their locations from the snipers. But it also worked against them; he couldn't bloody see where they were either.

He keyed his comms while moving forward, taking a place behind an abandoned mine cart.

"Hey Tanya, don't your drones have those miniature rockets? A couple of those on those sniper positions and we can move up. Maybe use the truck as cover."

Then he raised his rifle over the rock and spat fire towards where he thought the snipers were. Without means of pinpointing their locations, he could do little except suppress them.

The Spirits Within: Oakridge Chronicles

Done and dusted.

I am going to make Rogart tease Eric about how small he is. Constantly.

The Spirits Within: Oakridge Chronicles

_{O A K R I D G E    A C A D E M Y -[]- Rogart Hendrickson -[]-}

---

"It is my pleasure, friend Olivia. And yes, I am bound for Hammer. My friend Eric is going to Reactor, so sadly he will not be joining us."

The big lug smiled and shifted in his armour. The girl, Olivia, shone with energy, unlike the boy, Nicholas, who stood just behind her, brooding, most likely. Then arrived a more boisterous young man and a positively icy young woman.

She was...Monika, according to the mental list he'd memorised. The one with the big sword. She gave everyone a curt greeting, which included a brief once-over of his physique. He caught her eyes going over every detail of his build before muttering something under her breath and walking off. Both the other youth and Olivia made comments on her nature, which made him chuckle.

"She sounds exactly like a friend of mine from home. We used to call her ledyanaya koroleva," He leaned down, placed a big mitt near his mouth and mock whispered. "Which means "ice queen"."

Rogart chuckled as he straightened back up and adjusted the huge warhammer in its sling on his back. Humour was his way of lightening a situation. Taught to him by Counsellor Roberts. He liked to laugh. His sense of humour had, in some semblance, been passed on to Rogart.

Seeing Monika strut off and then get accosted again by another young man nearer to one of the vehicles, he nodded in her general direction and addressed his next question to those around him.

"So, shall we go join her? I think this is all of us."

---

_{O A K R I D G E    A C A D E M Y -[]- Eric Wormwood -[]-}

---

The young man was about to head over to where he knew other Guardians were, when he heard his name over the general din of the staging area. Almost immediately he swiveled around on his heel and headed back to where he'd heard those mentions, and was met with his old friend Olivia, standing together with Rogart, and a bunch of other Guardians whose names he wasn't familiar with. They were discussing their deployments, and upon him hearing the Reactor being uttered by two of them, a strapping black haired man and a pretty if shy blonde lady, he stepped into their discussion.

"I heard my name, is something the matter?"

Eric smiled his finest and, without pause, stepped forward and gave Olivia a hearty hug.

"It's good to see you again, Olivia. And yes, you were right, I am bound for the Reactor. Sadly my big bear of a friend here wouldn't do too well skulking around back halls or vents." He chuckled as he gently elbowed Rogart's middle. "Too big and noisy."

The big man, in return, reached down and trapped Eric in a meaty headlock, applying no pressure with his arms so he didn't hurt the youth. He playfully tousled his hair and let Eric go when he complained.

"Yes, of course, friend Eric. Too big and noisy, you call man who has frightened you at near midnight."

Eric scoffed and straightened his suit jacket and tie, making sure the navy blue tie was clipped firmly to his shirt.

"In my defense, it was dark and I didn't have my spectacles on. You know I need these things."

He adjusted them in a huff, which made Rogart burst out in laughter, a loud hearty guffaw that made those around him pause for a second, then go about their ways.

"Yes yes, friend Eric. Too dark to notice bright white shirt and grey track pants in front of vending machine, yes?"

Rogart continued laughing as he draped a big, meaty arm over his friend's shoulder. Infected by his light heart, Eric chuckled too, but mostly to himself, before he dusted himself off and stepped forward to Serenity and Ollie, extending a hand in greeting.

"I apologise for my friend's boisterous behaviour, but I do believe I heard you two were going to the Reactor as well? I am the Eric you must've seen in the roster. Eric Wormwood, to be precise. A pleasure in meeting you."

TL; DR

Rogart returns Olivia's greeting and makes a joke about Monika. Eric overhears the Reactor and finds Serenity and Ollie with Olivia and Rogart. The two friends briefly share a moment. Eric introduces himself to Ollie and Serenity.

@Prisk@FantasyChic@Rockette

The Spirits Within: Oakridge Chronicles

@FantasyChic And that's what I needed. I shall write something for Eric approaching their group in a bit!

The Spirits Within: Oakridge Chronicles

The Wicked Witch of the West went her own way.

I think I'm gonna post after someone else in either mission posts first. Gonna need a little inspiration before I write.

Persona: Crossroads

@Attis I was debating between either Crybaby or Drama queen for Taro, but I went with the single word one for simplicity's sake. XD

Because I will make nicknames for everyone. Everyone.

Persona: Crossroads

I have made Izuki unleash her inner sass and also her inner caring potential.

Because I like Charon he's so cute

Persona: Crossroads

Izuki Goemon

And just like that, the beast was dead.

It gave one final roar and collapsed. Its body began dissolving into that weird black goop even as it sank into the gap between the two halves of the car. Izuki only had seconds to avoid falling into the void as the final skull crumbled, depositing her unceremoniously in a heap on the cold metal floor. She got quickly to her feet as the hellhound roared its last, then fell over, very dead.

She couldn't help but pump her fist in excitement.

"Yes! Fucker's dead! Now all we gotta do is get outta- "

Suddenly one of the vines blindsided Izuki. It whipped her cheek as it wrapped itself round her wrists, and she yelled out in agony as pain lances shot through her wrists. The vine bound her hands together, locked tight as sheer pain engulfed her hands and arms, and she sank to her knees in barely disguised misery. Izuki struggled against the vines, but every movement brought more agony into her arms, and she gave up with a pained roar.

But as she almost gave up hope, a blue light, no, multiple blue lights filled her vision, and as she raised her head she saw the sources.

Thousands of little blue wisps, just like the one that was now a doll. They surged forward as one and tore the black vines away with their fire, engulfing the car in blue flame. But it wasn't hot. Not even painful. The vines on her wrists melted away and she stumbled backwards, still confused and aching.

The train car itself then began stitching itself together, like a tailor with two pieces of cloth. Izuki got to her feet, found her balance and watched as the environment returned itself to a semblance of normal around her, in a state of slack-jawed wonder like her other companions. The muscled girl dusted herself off, then spotted the blue glow on the floor of the train car as the others started talking.

"We… should get each other’s numbers, in case something like this happens again, just to be safe."

The unconscious boy. He was conscious. Mari hobbled over to him and held up her phone, and shortly after the crybaby slash drama queen followed suit. Obviously they were syncing their virtual phonebooks, and the silver haired boy had a point. Izuki merely shrugged, took out her phone and held it up to the others.

"Got a point there, sleeping beauty. And for your info, my name's Izuki Goemon."

"You girls really have some balls. Um, meta...meta…metaphysically speaking."

The crybaby made a quip about her and the brown haired girl, something about having more balls even though they technically, as girls, didn't have any. It fell flat very fast, and Izuki was compelled to respond.

"More balls than you sure had, but at least you pulled your weight instead of crying like a baby."

She smirked and kept her phone as it beeped an affirmative to the sync. The little blue glow on the floor still drew her attention, and as she walked closer, she saw the body underneath the flame.

"Hey...it's that blue guy."

Izuki knelt and gently scooped the flickering blue body into her hands, holding it cupped in her palms as she walked back to the group.

"Hey guys, look. It's mister blue. I think he's alive? But, like, out cold."

Zootopia Chronicles Part One: Walk Softly, Stranger (Looking for more.)

Silently, Christmas followed the rest of the cadets into the building. He idly noted that yes, ZPD HQ was indeed as fantastic looking as he'd imagined it, and the butterflies in his tummy were indeed real. You'd barely notice it past his cool exterior, but he was nervous. For them to be called into HQ so soon was definitely a sign of something bad. It felt like his days as a limo driver, getting a rushing client from Sahara Square to the Rainforest district in a hurry.

He sat down just behind Lance the Sierra fox as the rest of the cadets took their seats around them. Not soon after, the Chief was out and droning through his briefing. Fairly simple; an ambush, and a lack of manpower. Lee was contemplating suggesting one of the teams on standby go when Lance raised his paw and suggested the cadets.

Wait.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding, mate."

Lee pressed his face into his paws, hiding his disdained muttering as Chief Onyx accepted their squad as go squad. Within moments they were up and moving again, this time to the ZPD armoury. Their kit was summarily distributed to them by the female panther armourer, but as the rest left to suit up, Lee lingered.

Thoughts from his academy training called to him. And there was something missing in this kit.

He turned and went back to the armoury counter, where the cat gave him an eye.

"And what would you like? A kiss goodbye?"

"Nah babe. I'd rather an extendable baton...if you carry those."

---

With vest on and kit slung, Lee moved outside, where he saw some of the cadets already waiting, including Lance. A bear stood nearby, along with a raccoon. The bear introduced himself in short order; the big guy was Zach. Stripes didn't join in, so Lee decided to continue the "train", hefting his rifle gently to retest its weight.

"It's Lee. Just Lee."

Zootopia Chronicles Part One: Walk Softly, Stranger (Looking for more.)

Writing.