druidquest

HEROIC

Bouncer was almost surprised; she hadn’t really expected any mask to stick around a scene this long, yet here the fox woman was. She pulled her makeshift mask further over her nose, slouching somewhat under the vigilante’s gaze. She had recognized Bouncer as well, which was also something of a surprise.

“What’re you talking about?” She responded to the fox’s question with another question, affecting a deeper, huskier voice and lifting her shirt up slightly to show a distinct lack of injury. “Like I just told the guy, this blood isn’t mine. I just had a bit of a thing with these other guys, got a bit messy, you know.”

Bouncer brushed past the EMT, almost acting like he wasn’t there as she circled slowly around the fox, her eyes landing on everything except the other woman. The EMT, realizing he wasn’t needed there, went off to try and assist someone else. “I saw the smoke, figured I might find a mask at its source. Someone who could answer questions.” Bouncer held up one hand, a bloodied slip of paper held between her first two fingers. “An address for a property, recently purchased. Did some digging, buyer was a dead end, so I thought my next stop would be the realtor who handled the transaction. But, well,” she gestured vaguely at the smoldering building, then locked eyes with the vigilante, eyebrow raised. “Know anything, Fox?”

HEROIC

look's like you've made your last delivery kid

HEROIC

HEROIC

Rabbit faltered. Had anyone else been hurt? She’d only paid attention to herself and the wolf woman’s boys. She glanced around the lot at the others milling around the burning building. They didn’t seem hurt from here, but those were just the few she saw.

“I’m fine,” she answered, pressing her hand against her side. Her throat felt dry, more than it had a moment before. “It doesn’t hurt that bad, really. I think you should check the others, I’ll just wait for the ambulance.”

Rabbit scooted back from the vigilante, grabbing Erik’s shirt to drag him with her, further away from the flames. The blaring of the sirens had grown loud enough to hurt her ears, and a glance toward the street showed the first of the fire engines pulling up to the sidewalk. It was joined a few moments later by a sole ambulance, doing its best to get close to the scene without obstructing firefighters or putting any injured in danger of the fire spreading. No police, though, which was a little odd; they were always slow, but to fail to appear entirely? Either they were more corrupt and incompetent than Rabbit had assumed, or something else had drawn their attention elsewhere.

The arrival of emergency response vehicles had nonetheless provided enough of a distraction that for a moment there were no more eyes on her, and Rabbit took advantage of the opportunity as medical responders carried Erik and Mateo away on stretchers to cast one last glance around the lot before vanishing with a thp. She reappeared in an alleyway across the street, out of sight of the growing line of trucks. She used the wall of the alley to pull herself up, testing her injured leg for a brief moment before vanishing again. A series of jumps took her several blocks away, enough for the energy to sing sweet arias in her veins. Usually she would spend the whole night chasing that song, but the dull pain in her side and growing lightheadedness told her that wasn’t on the agenda tonight.

Rabbit let herself sink down onto the roof she’d found herself on, taking air in shallow breaths. She closed her eyes, letting her head rest against the hard stonework as she concentrated on the holes in her side and in her leg, feeling the electricity pulse and change its tune in response to her will, gathering around her wounds with sharp tingles. She gasped at the feeling of being stabbed in reverse, the bullet in her leg inching its way back out as her wounds worked to mend themselves.

Several moments passed in silence with gritted teeth, until finally the pain faded into a fuzzy numbness. Rabbit’s clothes clung unpleasantly to her skin, wet and sticky with her own blood, but a cursory prodding with her fingers told her the wounds were gone, with no sign to show they’d ever been there beyond the pale whiteness of new skin.

Her eyes fluttered open as she sat up, taking in her surroundings briefly before standing with a faint grunt of fatigue. She saw distant smoke in two directions, one of which being the building she’d come from. The other… was that what had distracted the cops tonight? Probably. Rabbit considered for a moment, wondering if it was worth being nosy, then sighed and clicked her tongue before vanishing with a thp.

---

The scene around the building wasn’t as crowded as Rabbit had expected - how long had it been since she vanished from the parking lot, twenty minutes? Thirty? She would’ve expected the road to be crowded with trucks by now, but the former realtor’s office appeared to have warranted a trio of fire engines, which she guessed was a pretty normal amount, but… She tried to do math in her head. Assuming the initial ambulance had already carted Erik and Mateo back to the nearest hospital, then there were… Two? Two total ambulances that had responded to this call. What the hell? Were they also busy? What the hell had happened at that other fire she saw?

She flagged down a passing EMT, who stopped in his tracks as soon as he registered what he was looking at.

“Excuse me, I’m trying to find-”

“Oh my god, are you okay?! Quickly, get over to the ambulance, we need to-”

“Oh, this isn’t my blood,” Bouncer interrupted, waving his concern away with her hand. She had torn a strip off the bottom of her shirt to tie around her face as a mask, and the blood soaking part of it kept sticking to her mouth when she spoke. Unpleasant. “I’m trying to find another vigi- hero. Wears a white fox mask? She still around, or…”

Bouncer glanced around, trying to spot the woman in question. She had most likely moved on by now, but Bouncer still wanted to be sure. Just in case.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Máire Crossed her arms in front of her chest, leaning against one wall of the tunnel while the shapeshifter dug their way back toward the surface. She ignored her companions’ comedy routine, her mind still on whatever had provoked the tunnel to collapse on them in the first place, and the noises she had heard coming from beneath them. Hydra… well. Regardless of whatever it was, they would be out soon, and their time here could be freely forgotten.

She glanced over at the shapeshifter, noting a sense of growing agitation. Understandable, considering their apparent distaste for their rodential guide. Máire just needed them to remain patient for a little while longer. After that, their impatience wouldn’t matter anymore. Probably. The shapeshifter slipped further down the tunnel away from them, likely to find some respite from Rat’s chatter.

“Don’t stray too far,” she advised, pulling one boot away from where the shifter had dropped Rat at her feet. The shapeshifter’s moody teenage antics were such a far cry from the friendly persona they’d introduced themself with in the guise of a fellow templar it was almost comical. Possibly funnier than the speed with which they’d dropped that mask.

Her attention was jolted downward by a sudden whine from Rat, her guide falling to the floor in the crumpled heap. He grabbed at his head, muttering something half-deliriously, and Máire crouched down with an outstretched hand gently finding his shoulder to try and rouse him back to reality. Was this an illness of some sort? A bad drug trip? He hadn’t displayed any signs like this before. She looked down the tunnel back the way they’d come, the sound of wild beasts echoing from the deep, then snapped her head in the other direction when a sharp, inhuman shriek cut its way down the passage.

“What’s wrong?!” Máire called out, jumping back to her feet. The shapeshifter hacked violently at the rocks blocking the entrance, then burst through and was out of sight. Máire grit her teeth, swiftly scooping Rat up in one arm before dashing her way through the gap and up toward the surface.

She skidded to a halt and recoiled as a blast of heat hit her face. Something was going on; Máire looked back down the passage from the entrance the shapeshifter had carved out, listening to the steadily growing clamor of frenzied beasts echoing from the labyrinth. She shifted Rat’s weight, debating with herself whether to leave him, but deciding against it.

Máire stepped out of the tunnel, finding herself in a greyscale wasteland pockmarked with similar such holes. A dry wind blistered through the area, and the distant lights of civilization were bare pinpricks on the horizon. Seeing it for herself, she understood why they called this place the Graves. Her focus reasserted itself, and she became aware that the trio were not alone here. The shapeshifter was under attack. An assailant in a green dragon mask and a hood, assailing Máire’s companion with jets of flame. Máire really did appreciate the weird urge supers felt to adhere to a theme.

She raised an arm against the heat, squinting against blasts of steam to take in the full view of the battle unfolding before her. The shapeshifter had taken a woman’s form - was that their actual body? Additional arms grew from their back like tree branches, heads sprouted from their shoulders like seed pods. They danced across the Graves with untamed ferocity, all lashing tails and violent fangs and blasts of water to obliterate stone.

Máire had no idea what had drawn the masked figure’s ire, but it didn’t matter - imposter or not, the shapeshifter would lead her to Bayushi, and that was good enough. A blade manifested by her empty left hand, and Máire launched it into the sky, soaring into the air as it tugged her along after it. Rat began to stir and struggle against her shoulder - ”Be still,” she commanded, quiet in her intensity.

Knives formed beneath her feet, serving to halt her momentum through the air and giving her a platform to stand on, spinning like a top to lash her sword at the masked figure like a blade on a whip. The enemy ducked under it at the last moment, sending the blade clattering across the ground. It burst into silver mist on the third impact.

Máire didn’t stay still, running across the sky using knives as stepping stones, each one launching toward the woman like a bullet as soon as her feet lifted off of them. A zweihander appeared in her hand, and her other cast Rat away from her, trusting his agility to see him to the ground safely. “Go!” She ordered, gesturing in the direction of the Stoneworks. “We’ll catch up!”

Then she leapt into the air, raising her sword above her head with both hands before bringing it down toward the dragon woman.

HEROIC

maybe a little over a year. maybe a little less

HEROIC

so he lost his super suit? ya boys going meat out?

HEROIC

Rabbit watched dumbfounded as the vigilante woman emerged from the flaming office, Mateo gripped tight under her arms. She set him down, then turned and went back inside without a word. Rabbit’s legs felt numb, stuck sitting in the dirt of the parking lot with her body defying any order from her brain to move. She felt… she didn’t know what she felt. Ashamed, perhaps? Embarrassed that a stranger was doing what she had failed to? Angry at her own helplessness despite her power?

The vigilante came stumbling back out of the door, carrying Erik with her. The woman’s legs seemed to give out beneath her, and this time Rabbit’s body obeyed the command to move. She jumped forward, just enough to catch the vigilante on her way down and leaving them both kneeling in the gravel, close enough to feel the burning heat of the fire. “No, that’s- that’s everyone,” Rabbit answered, her gaze resting on Erik’s limp form. She could see his chest rise and fall, barely; still alive, then.

It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair, but how else could this have gone? She wasn’t cut out to be a hero, something she understood perfectly, and never would have attempted if she hadn’t been pushed into it by an overbearing dog in a nice coat. Rabbit scooted back away from the vigilante, listening to the sound of sirens echoing closer. Fire trucks, and likely an ambulance or two as well. Late, but enough to handle the situation when they got here.

Looking around, Rabbit saw the vigilante had come in a truck of her own. On her way somewhere else? “Thank you,” she said after some hesitation. “We- we should be fine, now. Once the… the trucks get…” She faltered. The vigilante looked like she hadn’t quite recovered from the smoke, even if she looked otherwise unharmed. Rabbit was anchored to this parking lot so long as the hero was still here, to maintain the illusion of an ordinary office worker; if the woman couldn’t leave, neither could she.

“Are you alright?” Rabbit asked tentatively. “You’re not- you didn’t get hurt?”

HEROIC

this rp sure does like fire and burning. its so romantic

HEROIC

bit of a shorter post for the king of all cosmos