DJAtomika

Crestwood Hollow - A Superhuman RP

Quietly stalks the RP because it's one of Wraith's RPs and those are always good.

𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚝

@Poet You there bud?

Mass Effect Andromeda: Frontier

Something Something A Man Wakes

Ryria scrutinized at the name on her Omni-tool. Her lips curled into a frown and flipped back to the cryo pod’s console display, pulling up the listed occupant’s information. Hazan Volintis...Turian, male and a part of the APEX team. At least this one wasn't dead, she thought. Her hand shoved away the confirmation information before her ears caught a young nurse step closer, her timid voice stated what Ryria already knew.

“None of these pods have the individual we are looking for, should we check another room?”

The Nexus systems had been damaged, first during the crash with the Scourge and then during the mutiny. Engineers had been primarily focused on getting the primary systems up for survival rather than the less important ones. Like the pod lists, forcing most the medical staff to manually check each individual pods for their target patients and deceased.

Straightening upright, Ryia shook her head, “No, I found him. Prep the examination table and the tools.”

“Yes, doctor.” Came the quick reply before the woman walked to the cabinet.

As the nurse did her job, Ryria went to work on hers. Her hand flew across the pod console causing it to pop up he vital signs, followed by temperature and finally the code pad. Wasting little time, the asari punched into the eight digits of numbers and letters. The pod quietly hummed as it injected a murky fluid into the host’s carapace near the neck. Its main purpose was to revive and encourage his vital organs to once more pick up their biological functions. While waiting, Ryria carefully monitored his vitals to prevent any complications. Then came the temperature, the degrees slowly raising.

She couldn't help but notice there was some appeal to his facial features, easily seeing why some females would find him attractive. When the procedure drew to its end, Ryria stepped back far enough her patient could exit his pod. However she remained near enough to assist should his body fail to hold him upright.

A blinding light flashed before Hazan's eyes as he woke, followed immediately by a rush of blood to his face and ears, along with everywhere else. He woke up with a gasp and nearly smacked his forehead against the glass of his pod, just barely remembering that he was even in one. The stiffness in his very bones gave him the answer to the first question that formed in his mind. His sleep was over. The Nexus was in Andromeda.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he noticed an asari standing just shy of the pod as it hissed and opened up. Still very weak, he clung to the sides of the pod and pulled himself slowly into a sitting position, catching his breath and looking around the chamber.

”Woah… so that's what it feels like to sleep for six centuries. Damn.”

“Yes, but better than being a skeleton or corpse,” Ryria shot off in a crisp, clear tone, “Describe what you're feeling to me and remain sitting upright.”

She stepped closer then placed a single device upon Hazen’s chest. It was a high tech stethoscope as it counted, monitored and reported his heartbeat back to her omnitool. Her eyes fixed on it while she listened to the turian’s report.

”Well… I feel like the whole world's spinning, my bones ache really badly, I'm really really hungry and also kinda groggy. And tired. Wait, did you say corpse? What happened while I was asleep?”

“Short version: on route to the new system, some of the cryo pods were damaged. Some didn't make it.” Ryria said cold and bluntly.

”Woah… You're telling me some of the colonists are dead? Shit… Wait, that means-”

Hazan started out of his pod but sat back down, his head still swimming as he groaned and held his forehead in his talons. His vision went blurry as he tried to regain his focus after six hundred years of sleep.

“Take it easy,” Ryria snapped abruptly. As she spotted Hazan’s figure give out from under him, her mind immediately went to vertigo and stress for the cause and checked his vitals.

“Getting worked up isn’t going to save someone that doesn’t need it, focus on yourself first. Then you can worry about what comes next,” The asari medic explained.

Her hands then tilted up his jawline enough she could examine each eye, noting any imperfection caused by the de-thawing process. Gently she shifted the head side to side before releasing her grip. She held a blank expression, giving nothing away, before she typed something into her notes and then held one finger up.

“Follow my finger with your eyes only,” Ryria requested, her finger drifted slowly from right to left then back. Noting the whole time how well he was tracking it.

He tracked her finger well enough, eyes following the digit left and right and back again as he laid down and tried to relax. A million questions swam through his head but he kept quiet for the sake of recovering faster and getting answers further down the line.

”Am I okay, doc? I feel okay...ish.”

“I’m just checking all my bases. So far your ocular responses are normal for your experience, but you if feel a slight pinch behind your eye or something off then let me know immediately. It could be a nerve had suffered frostbite.” Ryria answered then removed her finger and constructed a omnitool light.

She leaned in, “Stare ahead and don’t blink. Tell me about the earliest you recall to ensure there’s no memory issues.”

”Earliest...my time in the military back on Palaven. Scout training. And before that...school. Hearing about the First Contact war on the news.”

Ryria noted as she took stock of his eye movements, any word slurring, or notable concern in his speech. She typed another observation in her omnitool before she urged him on, “Alright, what about your last memory before the cryo pods?”

Before cryo? Hazan chuckled.

”The party. Finding my friends and knowing that I wouldn’t be alone, coming to Andromeda.”

Ryria nodded, then asked, “Now, raise your arms at about ninety-degree angles from your torso and wiggling your talons.”

Hazan nodded and raised both his arms rather unsteadily to the position the doctor required, giving his cold talons a little weak wiggle.

“Any odd sensation or stiffness?” Ryria asked, observing the fingers’ wiggle pace and the movements. Her fingers darted over her omnitool for a moment to update her notes.

He shook his head.

”Nope. Just cold and weak. Like I haven’t exercised in a while.”

“You’ve been in cryo for over a few decades, that’s natural.” Ryria leaned forward then held out out finger, “Now lowers your arms and touch my finger.”

The turian silently complied, lowering his arms first, then reaching forward to touch her finger with the tip of his talon.

“Alright, good,” She pulled back then made another quick clicks in her report. "Now stand upright for me and take your time. I can’t have you falling over from vertigo.”

”Okay…”

Hazan took a bit to collect himself before slowly pushing himself to sit on the edge of the cryo pod, legs hanging off it. He slowly lowered himself until his feet were firmly planted on the floor, then stood up very, very slowly, wobbling a little to either side since his legs were still rather weak.

Ryria watched carefully. Her biotics on standby to catch the patient and gently push him back onto the table, preventing serious damage. She had even stopped typing to witness his wobbly victory.

“Any pain, discomfort or odd sensation?”

He shook his head and steadied himself against the side of the cryo pod.

”N-nope. Just wobbly, feeling a little light-headed from the cryo.”

“I see, give me a moment,” Ryria shifted over to look through the various medical cabinets.

After a few moments of searching, she pulled a small bottle out then popped two out. She then passed the small capsules over to Hazan, “The light-headedness is expected from the cryo sleep, but take these to help reduce it faster. Then do a squat for me.”

The turian took the two capsules in his talon and swallowed them right down. After a moment or so of letting his head rest, he slowly lowered himself into a squat on the floor of the med-bay, then stood back up, taking his time to do so.

Ryria studied each movement with intense scrutiny. Her fingers making notes then sliding her pad to the side, typing additional tidbits before she came to a stop. Placing her omnitool away, she addressed Haze.

“Now, how do you feel? Any sudden pain or unnatural stiffness?”

”Just a little dizzy, kinda weak, but that’s to be expected, right doc?”

“Yes, I’ll have you assigned a small dosage for two to three days since stock is limited. If it hasn’t faded by then, notify me immediately. It might be connected to a more serious problem,” Ryria stated as she returned to the cabinet. Her arm reached for the medicine and poured about four proper doses into a new bottle, her hand ticking off the number in the stock listing. She then handed the bottle to her patient.

“I believe you’re fit for duty now and can leave through that exit,” she pointed to the nearest door that several patients were already departing at.

”Thanks doc. Hopefully I, uh, won’t be seeing you so soon.” The turian extended a hand for her to shake as a gesture of thanks, trying to suppress a shiver now that he realised the room was freezing.

Ryria paused. Her hands still close to her as she eyed up the gesture, raising a tattooed eyebrow.

“That isn’t necessary. I assume you’ve been around a few humans and that’s where you learned that gesture?”

Hazan nodded. ”C’mon doc, indulge me. Treat it like you’re the welcoming committee, y’know?”

“There’s other people actually better suited for that-”

“Ryria, will you just shake his talons and stop stalling. You still have another patient waiting for cryo defrost,” came a shout from a Turian nurse, her tag printed with the words Surerax Leneiros on it.

Ryria exhaled, then cautiously took Hazen’s outstretched hand. She gave it a brief, but firm shake before retracting it back to her side.

He returned the handshake warmly and gave Ryria a smile. ”Cheer up doc. New galaxy, new future! Don’t have to be such a sour fruit all the time.”

“It could be off to a better start,” Ryria replied, through her tone held a hint of sadness. She checked down at her omnitool for the next patient’s name, “If you don’t mind, I have a turian female to dethaw and pair of asari on my list to ensure are still alive.”

”Right then. See you on the flip side, doc. Maybe a bit later when everything’s settled down, if you want to have a brandy with me.”

Before Ryria could decline, Surerax popped in.

“Yes, she would. I’ll make sure she’s ready...What time?”

”Maybe after work. I’ll send you my omnitool address.”

Surerax ignored the glare Ryria’s frowning face gave her, finally resigning herself to whatever fate her companion was setting up for her.

“Deal, she’ll be ready and waiting.”

Hazan chuckled and made his way out of the cryo bay to go find whoever was in charge of APEX. He had a recruitment interview to sit through.

𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚝

David's hands were shaking. Being one of the last few to escape the building, he'd left with the images of the monster he'd taken a photo of in his head and in his camera. He was just behind the cop as the motley group gathered outside the staircase that led to the street, each one catching their breath as they took stock of the situation. He was in shock, mostly. The sight of that...thing in the hallway...coupled with the funny smelling incense candles and the weird placement... The ex-journalist was in agreement with everything being said right now, out in the Seattle cold. The moment felt right as well, right for...a bit of documentation. David fiddled a little with his camera to get the settings right, moved a little ways from the group to set his camera down on the pavement with a timer set on the shutter. He adjusted the focus, making sure it was angled at the group by propping it up with a pebble, then hit the shutter button and went back to stand with the group.

Five seconds later and his camera made itself known with the shutter going off again. Satisfied with the result, he went over to pick it back up and put the strap around his neck. You never knew when you'd need to take another picture...

The cop did hit it on the head: Dr McCoy was suspicious. Something was up with him...how he'd been so snappy in their little group therapy and how he vacated the room like his life depended on it after he lit up those candles. And that...monster. Why did he get that feeling of 𝚍é𝚓à 𝚟𝚞 when he'd taken its picture? Like he'd seen it somewhere before? But that was...impossible.

David shook the thoughts out of his head and collected himself. There had to be something to be done, right? And as he looked over the group, he noticed something...

"Uh...guys? Someone's missing from our gang of misfits. I counted six of us including myself up there, minus the doctor. Now there's only five. And as much as I'd like to go pursue Doctor McCoy, I think we should try to find the missing guy too."

Mass Effect Andromeda: Frontier

Serena and Hazan, overlooking Hangar bays, day 2 of shore leave.

Hazan sighed, a drink in his hand as he stared off into the nothingness of the Nexus hangar bay. The last two weeks had been hard but fair, as he’d expected for a military outfit like APEX. Nothing too difficult but it really broke him back into the old rigorum of the military life. He rested on the guard rails and took a sip of the triple-distilled turian brandy that sat in the glass in his talons. He thought back to the times when he was still on Palaven, undergoing the same type of training, working with his platoon in the Navy. It just...didn’t feel the same though. Out here, six centuries away from home, away from the people he knew. His family was still here, as was his former crew, but it just didn’t feel the same.

Serena walked up on Haze, eyebrow raised in mild amusement as she caught him drinking by himself, staring off in the distance. He did always like to be at least a little melancholy from time to time.

She sauntered up, sitting herself down unceremoniously next to him. ”You know, the last time I found you drinking alone and staring off into the distance, I had to convince you that a bed was a better place than a rickety chair to go to sleep in, and that was after a failed mission. This mission went off without a hitch, so why the ‘by my lonesome’ drinking game? I’m sure there are plenty of people in the Vortex Lounge for you to drink with, and we can call Dex anytime. If she hasn’t already shacked up with someone for Shore leave.”

The turian raised an eye ridge at Serena’s sudden appearance, not like it surprised him. Somehow she always knew how to find him, even when he’d gone to extreme lengths to hide himself back on Omega to follow up on his very last job there. He nodded briefly in greeting to her as took another sip of his cold drink.

”I dunno. Feels more...comfortable this way, I guess.”

”Comfortable? Are you getting melancholy on me again Haze? Do I have to go on another exciting adventure like the time I saved you from the thugs about to mug you by tricking them into thinking I’m lost in Omega and getting your attention?” Serena nudged him lightly with her elbow, smirking at him. ”I can you know. Just run off and I’ll do it again.”

”Oh Serena, please no. I don’t think the Chosen would just mug me for credits.”

”You’re right, I may have to improvise this time. Pretend to have a piece of Remtech or something, you know to really get their attention. Then, while I have cleverly and selflessly distracted them and saved your life, you can shoot them in the back! And owe me another chess game.” She grinned at him. ”That’s right, I haven’t forgotten.”

Hazan chuckled and smiled a little. ”Right, like the time you ‘pretended’ to get lost on Omega, eh? I can still remember that look on your face when you stumbled onto me. I had a plan to get the jump on the muggers anyway, I just got surprised. And are we still on that chess thing? It’s been six hundred years, surely I can catch a break, Serena.”

”Yep. One hundred percent an act. I knew exactly where I was and what I was doing, and was in no way confused or lost in the hateful maze that is Omega alleyways.” Serena deadpanned, before snorting. ”Of course we’re still on it. You cheated to get out of it last time, and then bailed on my conversations on the Borealis every time I brought it up!” Her eyes rolled to the heavens. ”And we always had a plan. But the Riggers luck with plans was generally ‘its gone to shit, time to improvise!’”

”Hey, last time I had to drag you screaming from the wreck of a shuttle while two battleraged krogan were destroying an entire mercenary base trying to find us. All while Tanya was screaming in my ear to get the hell to her shuttle while we still could. And the base was on fire. I think I deserved that for pulling your ass out of the flaming debris.” Hazan chuckled a little and took another sip of his brandy.

Serena held up a finger, counting out her points. ”Okay, for one, you were leaving BARAT behind and pulling me by my shoulder with shrapnel in it. My screaming was justified. For two, it is not my fault that the guy we thought was dead wasn’t, that he then warned the krogan brothers that we had infiltrated their base and stolen their data right when we were about to leave peacefully without a hitch, and that I had to fly because in the ensuing chaos we got in literally the only shuttle without either an autopilot or any of our pilots. And! And! I got pretty far before slamming through that wall.” Her protests were filled with mock indignity, interrupted by laughing laughing.

”In all seriousness, how have you been since those days Haze? I mean, aside from sleeping for six hundred years, and then having this general shitshow to deal with. After Omega you needed some space so I didn’t really keep up in contact. What’d you get up to without my wisdom to guide you?” She smiled, eyes twinkling goodnaturedly.

”Well… I became a glorified security guard for a few years. I got back in touch with my family on the Citadel and went back to work for my dad. After that, well...a lot of paperwork and mostly doing desk work until I found the Initiative.”

”Better than me. I ended up being a travelling mechanic, going from either desperate colonists who had no money to pay me or desperately annoying collectors who had too much money to pay me but found reasons to skim off. ‘Oh you scratched it.’ ‘Oh now it makes a noise.’ ‘Oh you fixed my precious antique but now it works like it's supposed to and not how I was told so obviously you broke it.’” She shook her head. ”I was seriously contemplating resigning up with the Alliance when I found the Initiative.”

”I am glad that you got back in touch with your family Haze. They really missed you while you were on the Borealis and you needed to see them again. I do trust you turned your newly found chess skills on them and established yourself as a master turian chess player?”

”What? No, I mean- most of my family were too busy trying to keep the business afloat rather than play chess with me. We, uh… The market for private security in those times was pretty bad. Eden Prime had gotten attacked earlier that year and...it just didn’t sit well in my gut to stay there. The Initiative was my idea for our family to maybe find somewhere else safer to live, that needed the expertise of a bunch of security specialists like me and my mother and father and sister.” Hazan sighed and swirled the brandy in his glass before taking another sip. ”They’re...still in cryo. My dad and I were woken first for the riots and unrest, but after that he volunteered to go back into cryo to soften the supply crunch the Nexus had before the human ark got here. I’ve been alone ever since, not until now with APEX and you guys around.”

”I see I’m still the only one who sees the virtues of playing chess as much as possible.” Serena sighed dramatically, before focusing on Haze again. ”Hey.” She said putting an arm around his shoulders, or as much as she could given the height difference. ”We’re gonna keep them safe. We’re gonna make the planets Ryder fixes safe. And then we’re gonna wake your family up and you’re gonna introduce me to them and then I can establish myself as a master turian chess player.” She grinned at him, squeezing his shoulder.

”We’re the shield of the Initiative, Haze. And we’re not gonna break.”

At the squeeze to his shoulder, Serena could feel Hazan shudder, almost like she was putting cracks into his emotional dam. He suppressed a rather long sigh of sadness and tightened the grip on his glass, collecting his thoughts before he gave her a reply. ”Thanks, Serena. I just wish it felt that way in the minute, y’know?”

”That’s because you’re focusing on all that needs to be done, rather than what has been done. We’ve got a Pathfinder. Eos is viable. We have allies in this cluster who are willing to help us. We’ve struck back against the Kett and won. Everything is on the up. We’ll tackle the other problems one at a time, and get them done, because we’re not gonna accept anything less.” She smiled encouragingly, before it dropped a bit. She was worried about that shudder. ”I know you can probably recite this by heart, since I said it all the damn time to everyone on the Borealis, but you know you can talk to me about anything right? I’m always gonna be here for you. You’re family.”

”I- we’re-...family…”

The turian winced a little at the words, but they did make sense; the Borealis crew had been his friends...his family for several years. He hadn’t connected with them the same way he’d been with his former friends in the Navy or his actual family, but the team had heart. Hazan suppressed the urge to bawl his eyes out and instead wrapped an arm around Serena’s slender shoulders and returned the squeeze.

”Thanks...thanks for everything then, Serena. Suddenly it feels like life on the Nexus is going to be worth it after all.”

𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚝

Will make a post soon, if someone goes before me.

𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚝

Posted.

𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚝

As David awoke from the near trance he'd been in, he looked around and saw expressions of panic in most of the other attendees, hell all of them were anxious in some way about the weird noises and the eerie atmosphere and everything about the entire situation seemed very off. The ex-cop, Trisha was her name, stood up and peeked out of the room, along with the other young lady. He was tempted as well, even as he unconsciously pulled his camera from his messenger bag and held it in his trembling hands. The noises weren't getting any softer and he sure as hell wasn't getting any younger. David crept out from his seat, even as the younger lady (Ash, was it?) stifled a shriek and hid behind the cop, who drew her firearm in response.

The room was lit only by the street lamps outside and the candles within and yet...all the light didn't make the atmosphere any less creepy. It didn't help when he heard that unearthly shriek as whatever it was that made those noises spotted them. At the cop's discretion, David made his way out of the room, ducking underneath her gun since she was aiming out into the hallway. Regardless if anyone followed him, the journalist in him wanted to know more...what was the cop facing down that had her sounding so scared? The temptation was too much to resist...

Slowly, David turned to face the horror in the hall. Everything he knew about the world vanished in that instant. The tentacled, spiked abomination that stood in the center of the hallway was clearly not human. Despite the cop's demands for it to identify itself, he knew the monstrosity wouldn't speak. It knew only action, for it felt real. Real enough that perhaps maybe a bullet or two would stop it from advancing on the rest of the unarmed civilians, him included.

His hands trembling, David did the only thing he knew how to: he raised his camera to his face, centered the monster in his lens and depressed the shutter button.

Zssh-click.

𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚝

Been a tad busy with life but I'll have a David post up tomorrow, hopefully.

𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚝

David is going to Fatal Frame the shit out of that monster.

Meaning he's gonna take its picture then run away like a little girl.