DruSM157

In This Fine Town Of Arkham - A Lovecraftian Mystery

Alvin focused on the rocking of the carriage and the sound of hoofbeats as they traveled towards the manor. His mind was already anxious, constantly going over exactly what he needed. It wasn’t as if he was used to these kinds of things, but instead, he’d felt as if an invisible force was pushing him forward, pushing him towards Wilde Hall. Pushing him like-

It was the cold that had awoken his senses more than anything else. The cold feeling of saltwater encompassing him, and drawing him deeper into its darkness. The small fishing boat above was already turning murky in his vision, and the only thing below was-

DARKNESS. THE COLOR OF PITCH BLACK NIGHT, ONLY BELOW YOU INSTEAD OF ABOVE. NO STARS TO GUIDE YOU HOME, ONLY PITCH DARKNESS BELOW TO DRAG YOU FARTHER INTO THE ABYSS AND-

Arms hoisted his thin frame up, dragging him from the encroaching black towards the hazy gray light of the sky. Towards the boat, and towards safety. But as he was pulled upwards from the depths, he swore he saw something…

EYES.

Alvin shook himself back to reality, out of memory, and back to the reality of the coach with his mismatched companions. He looked even paler after that...lapse...in concentration. Sweat beaded upon his brow. How many years ago had that memory been now? More than ten, at least, and still he felt constantly hounded by the memory of the boat trip. But even worse, that feeling of dread and absolute horror was building in the bottom of his stomach, something he hadn’t felt since he stared into the black expanse.

“Apologies,” Alvin muttered, taking a handkerchief from his coat pocket and dabbing his brow. “I seem to have lost myself in thought…”

In This Fine Town Of Arkham - A Lovecraftian Mystery

"Why, thank you, Al-Oh, I mean, Mister Cobalt."

Alvin peered at the young woman from behind his mask's eyes. She knows me. Her playful giggle and coquettish nature hinted at her youth; meaning she was most likely a classmate of his. He didn't recognize her from any of his upper-level linguistics and ancient language classes; those were smaller and entirely male. Perhaps from one of the science courses, he was completing? He dredged his mind for a moment, trying to picture every pretty face he was too shy to spend more than a moment's glance staring at.

Perhaps...

What would Lancaster do? One of his closest friends, an anthropology student and drama aficionado who tended to walk around with a local girl on each arm every Friday night at the local bar. He was a silver-tongued devil, and also the impetus on which his mission began. It was Lancaster's roommate, another friend of theirs, who'd been invited to Wilde Hall, after all. But instead of Lancaster, the man whose dramatis personae was always the hero, it was up to the spindly Alvin to uncover the truth.

No, old Lancaster seemed...uncomfortable with the plan. "Stay away from that place, old boy," he'd muttered to Alvin in private. "You know I'm not one for old folk tales like you and Professor Wilmarth, but something about those kinds of folks feels...off."

And yet, Alvin had pressed on and found himself in the carriage with a young woman and a giant man. He didn't have the sheer charisma to simply whisk this beauty away off her feet, and the presence of the intimidating man alongside them killed any fanciful notions of the sort. However, she was acting familiar and his hope was that it would give him an ally in a party full of his betters.

Alvin considered Lady Gold's question. "I find masquerades intriguing. The purpose was to obfuscate one's standing and class amongst one another, to allow everyone to engage with one another freely, without any pretenses." Something he could relate to, in a sense. Someone like him would never get to rub shoulders with his betters. "And I've never stepped foot inside of a manor either. I find it quite intimidating."

Gundam 0094 (Invite Only Roleplay)

_{Near the Ares Asteroid}

Several Griffon mobile suits floated around a refuelling station attached to a large asteroid; though a better name for it would be something akin to a small colony. Mobile suits floated around the superstructure, as did various vessels moving in and out. Fuel, ammunition, supplies. Everything was being gathered at this point, ready to perform something incredible. The small squad of Griffons that had attacked the cargo vessels were busy refuelling, and the squad’s leader seemed preoccupied speaking with his own commander.

“So, you came back empty handed?” The voice inside the pilot’s cockpit was dark, masculine and calm. But there was an undertone of disappointment from the voice. “Why?”

“We were getting low on fuel and a new ship and mobile suits appeared. We decided it would be best to regroup and-”

“And lead them back to our location?”
“No sir, we weren’t followed. They seemed more concerned with the wreckage than us.”

“Once you refuel, you need to double back and take care of that new ship. There’s no need for survivors at this point. We’re almost ready to move into the final stages of Commander Brinz’s plan.”

“Yes, Lieutenant Odo.”

“Remember, these small sparks of conflict will fan the flames, and end the wretched story of all those who cling to the sight of earth.”

The pilot responded in the affirmative, but the idea of Commander Brinz’s plan was...well, it bordered on insanity. Man of the pilots in ARES had some reason to hate the Federation, and others had reason to hate the weak politics of the colonies, but the concept of Brinz’s plan scared many of the pilots who still had some tinges of loyalty to their old home. None of them ever had a reason to return, but to burn the bridge in this way…

“Sir! We’ve finished refuelling.”

“Alright, let’s head out! No more playing it safe. They all think that the worst is behind them, let’s really ruin their day!”

---

Marlowe walked through the halls of the Cathartes cradling something in his arms. He’d picked it up along with the rest of the salvage from the two destroyed vessels, though he was unsure exactly what it was or who it belonged to. It looked almost cartoonish, a heavy round sphere with two eyes, and little flaps on the sides. It was cute, like a child’s toy. Who was the child, though? There were no children of families in the group of survivors they’d rounded up. Was the owner of this little thing lost out in the debris field? The idea made him shudder, and he wondered exactly who would do such a thing to such lightly defended freighters.

How many years ago would he have played with something like this? Probably no more than seven or eight years probably. So how old had the owner been? His head began to hurt, another problem of his constant over thinking. He’d decided to skip his grandfather’s “welcome” address to the survivors. He knew that there would be a sense of animosity and annoyance from these interlopers, after all, they didn’t belong on the Cathartes. The vessel was home to outcasts, misfits and those that lived on the fringes of society, not to honest working people like those in the freighter. Still, Marlowe was excited, because new people meant new stories to hear. What was going on back towards Earth?

He noticed Disker Issacs leaving the “mess hall”, and stepped up his pace to approach him, before he nearly collided into one Gaida; apparently leaving the briefing as well, ”Oh! Excuse me, Miss Gaida,” he said with a hint of deference; another tick of his that tended to annoy many of his fellow pilots. He referred to everyone as “Miss” or “Mister” regardless of how few years separated them. The only two he didn’t give the honorifics to were his grandfather, who he simply called “grandad” and to Ezmy, who simply was referred to by her own name.

He waved to Disker, cradling the green sphere against his chest. “Mister Disker! Can I talk to you for a moment?” He motioned to the green toy in his arms. ”I found this during the salvage run,” he began, ”And I wanted to know if you’d be able to repair it.” He’d learned early on not to badger Irma with things of this nature, especially when there was actual salvage going on. Around her, he risked getting smacked in the head with a wrench. Disker was at the very least an affable sort, and less likely to cause grievous harm to Marlowe.

---

”Well, if there are no questions, the crew will help you settle into your quarters. You’ll be using the extra bunks towards the central hub of the ship. It’ll be cramped, and usually uncomfortable, but it’s better than floating in space.” With that, many of the survivors shuffled around, some out, following Kellen as he led them to the bunks, others mumbled and talked amongst themselves. But one person approached Cornell, an older man wearing a Federation uniform.

”Sir, I’d just like to thank you for assisting these people,” the man said, extended a hand. ”I’m Lieutenant Commander Spare Infield, from the EFSF.”

”You’re welcome. But my suggestion is to relax the military attitude around here,” Cornell noted, giving a knowing wink to Ezmy as she scowled in the corner. ”My ship welcomes all people who’ve given up their homes. I’d like you to ignore any disrespect you’ll probably get if you keep up with the stuffed shirt routine.” The old man was wily, but he was damn honest as well.

”I take it you have issues with the Federation as well?

”I was the head engineer of a little colony named Texas back in the ‘60s, during the big economic bubble in the colonies. Of course, that didn’t last very long, and by the time the 70’s came around, I found myself out of the job until the Yashima company picked up the bill. But when you lot and those Zeons took up war, Texas and all of Loum got brought into it. You know the rest of the story.” Cornell took a small tin of coffee and downed it.

The Federation man stood there in silence, closed his eyes and sighed. ”I understand. I promise that I nor anyone under my command will cause problems on your ship. Just get us to Mars safely.”

”Now that, I can do.” The old man gave the officer a toothy grin.

In This Fine Town Of Arkham - A Lovecraftian Mystery

Mr. Cobalt. More specific than red and far less regal than gold, Alvin assumed the moniker fit him well enough. He was too lost in his thoughts on his mission to take notice of the young Chinese woman joining him and the literal giant of a man. Had he been in a calmer mind, he would probably have recognized her from his own walks throughout the University on less-dreary days. Though the days of late had been exceedingly dreary, both in weather and in an emotional sense. The one thing he did focus his eye on as the coachman beckoned them to climb aboard was the shotgun, bathed in the shadows, but still noticeable with the lantern-light. Arkham was far from the safest town in America, of course, but what cause did a man need to carry a shotgun so openly? What exactly awaited them at Wilde Hall?

Alvin snapped his mind back to the real world and nodded to the young woman and large man. "I would hardly be a gentleman if I did not allow the young lady on the carriage first," he remarked to Rosanna. That was something of a bald-faced lie. He came from working-class Irish immigrants, and their only claim to "gentle" behavior was not starting fights at Sunday mass and keeping quiet when their father came home red-faced and drunk. He then turned to the hulking Drachen, "and since I was the last to arrive, it's only right to climb aboard last." He tried to not let the man's enormous visage worry him too much. If they had all worked they wait to receive invitations to this party, they were all probably good sorts, even if some looked beastly. He did wonder how comfortable sitting in a carriage would be for a man that large. Still, there was something comforting about having a companion as dangerous looking as this fellow; if he stayed on his good side, he doubted anyone would try and start trouble around him.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Laughing Warg Tavern-- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Benkei had spent many full days in the Laughing Warg, piling over maps, discussing and trading information with various traders and traveling wayfarers, and doing his part to try and set up work for the rest of the group. "We have to start pulling our own weight here because, at this point, we're in the same boat as the people living in these cities. There's no reason to rile them up and have them chase us with pitchforks and torches. That had been his main fear lately, especially after seeing what the Matron was capable of doing. Seigfried lived, but that had only been the start of the tension between the two.

"If we don't go out there and close that dungeon, we will have an army of monsters at the gates of the city! There will be nowhere to run or hide!

"And there's no way in hell I'm dragging my sister into a place like that just to die!"

Tensions ran high that day, but things had never gotten as bad as it had between Benkei, Kazuma, and Graves. Between them, things were...better, to say the least. And with Graves off on the job for the city, he could work off that aggression on the monsters, regardless of how weak they were.

But that was the point. The only thing anyone felt comfortable doing was taking on the safest tasks, the ones where the threat of death was almost completely impossible. If only the dungeons had been like that, they would be able to find comfort and safety in this place. But that threat kept looming. Benkei read over a letter he'd sent for and sighed. Another village was lost. He went to the map of Thorinn's lands, and crossed out a large red X over the area the village was supposed to be. How many was that now, three? And they were moving closer to the larger towns.

How much longer until refugees began pouring into the city? Where would they stay? And how many beasts would be following them behind? His mind wandered back to the wounded dire bat from the dungeon, and wondered how many people the creature could have killed if it had left the dungeon with no wounds? How many players could that thing kill? How many denizens? Just sitting around and waiting for someone from the game to appear and tell them everything would be fine wasn't working. And he'd still heard no word back from the party that had left. He'd begged them to wait just a little longer until they could get a large fighting force with healers and supplies, but no. This was their duty. And when the time came to venture to the dungeon, would they bury them outside it, just like they'd done for their friends?

And if they died too, who would bury them?

Gundam 0094 (Invite Only Roleplay)

U.C. 0079, January 15th

_{Sydney Australia}

---

Talk of the war was distant in the morning, with the hazy heat of the Australian climate mixed with the hustle and bustle of the metropolis. Tensions were high, especially when newspapers reported on the nearly billion deaths in some of the colonies. Nuclear arms, nerve gas, mass murder...there was a solid question of exactly who were the villains in this situation.

Many newspapers held exposes on the Zabi family, and the drama surrounding their rise to power in Side 3. The Australian Times even had the charismatic Ghiren Zabi front and center; with the tagline ”Ghiren Zabi, the Next Great Orator? Or Next Great Dictator?” There had been a sense of excitement around the major cities. Would there be a great war? Would they see federation fighters flying overhead? What would the 80’s bring?

They were only 21 years away from the end of the first century in the Universal Century. Would they need to rename it after all? The Universal Millenium? Life continued on. Cars honked, birds flew, and it was peaceful. But in some neighborhoods, dogs seemed nervous, pulling at their chains. Rats scurried out of alleyways. Something was coming.

And then it broke the sky, like a devil descending in the fires of the apocolypse. For those on the ground, they would be unable to even make out the name “Island Iffish” from the side of the superstructure. It fell, but its velocity seemed stagnated as if the inevitable end was coming in slow motion, increasing the terror from below.

Screams. Prayers. Silence. It was all deafened by the nuclear explosion as the reactors went critical on the colony piece. And in seconds, the city was gone. The continent would shake; tsunamis would break down flooding coastal areas in Asia, Africa and even North America. But worst of all was the effect of the animals: the fragile ecosystem of Australia would be ravaged by the effects of the colony. By U.C. 0082, most of the species in Australia would be extinct.

---

U.C. 0079, January 15th

_{North America}

---

The house stood atop a small hill, and overlooked more hills of green. It was comfortable, it was beautiful and it was nice. The father had worked for years to save up enough to purchase the home, and he was happy, if only for a moment, to find himself away from war and conflict to celebrate with his family.

”Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Jon-” The earth shook, and the singing stopped. The singer, a large man with broad shoulders and a bushy beard, quickly set the cake onto a table and took his child into his arms. ”It’s okay, it’s just an Earthquake,” he reassured his son, as he pulled the elementary-aged child under the large wooden table of the house.

The shockwaves came next. Glass shattered; the windows, the television, picture frames; everything. His son began to scream. He held him tighter. The walls of the house creaked. The sound of wood splintered broke through the deafening ringing in the father’s ears. And then, everything began to collapse. The world broke into thunder, and the roof fell in with an earth-shattering crash. No one knew what had happened; but only a hundred miles north, sections of the Island Iffish colony had fallen onto parts of southern Canada and the United States. Even though they were far away from any major chemical damage, the shockwave itself shook the land, and caused mass destruction in its wake.

Darkness enveloped the two for what seemed like hours. The boy roused first, barely able to move. There was so much weight over him. His father’s weight. ”Dad,” he grunted, shaking the older man, ”Dad, wake up.” It was when he noticed the blood dripping from his father’s bushy beard that he realized what had happened. In the darkness, with only his father’s body keeping him warm, the boy began to weep.

How long had the boy been in the darkness with his father’s corpse? Hours? Days? Weeks? Time lost meaning in the pain and darkness. But eventually, after an eternity where tears could no longer fall from his face, the sounds of life returned. And then, after the fluttering of bird wings, the howling of dogs, he heard the sound of tires, the slamming of doors, and the sounds of human life.

“Check the rubble! The Major is supposed to be here!” Wood, stone, the shifting of the world buried on top of the boy filled his ears. Light began to trickle from small holes above him. He wanted to speak, but he could make no sound.

“There’s someone here!”

Light erupted around him, and the cold wind of day beat the cold darkness away.

---

U.C. 0094, March 3rd

_{Asteroid Field}

The Federation Carrier Belarus had been traveling for six weeks now. Six weeks of quiet, boring travel, and most of the crew on board enjoyed it. This was your standard trading mission; delivering supplies and gear for Mars in exchange for food supplies for the colony. An easy trade; and something they were happy to do. After the events of the second Neo Zeon war, things had been stressful over the convoy lines. Fears of terrorist factions emboldened by the war brought an air of tension for these low-armored convoys. They had no need for a heavy escort, after all, they were delivering frozen corn and potatoes, not weapons. Still, they had whatever old suits they could spare. A few GM-IIs, old relics from the 80s. They were still better than a Ball.

“Sir,” the communications officer spoke on the bridge, “Sensors are picking up heavy Minovsky particles in the area. Should we go on-”

Something shook the craft. An explosion?

The captain grimaced. “All stations, let’s go ahead and enter red alert. Everyone needs to put on a normal suit, now.”

One hour later…

“Uhhh….Remia? Can you check the navigation charts? I’m getting a lot of minovsky particles in the area. Like...a lot.”

”Kellen, you are the biggest coward in the entire universe.” The young woman sighed, pushing up her glasses. ”Our job is to salvage combat sites. There’s always going to be some residual particle-oh.” The woman was surprised to see the density of the particles. They’d just missed a battle. She clicked a comms unit. ”Salvage team 1, go ahead and suit up. We’ve got some fresh corpses to gut.

In the hangar bay, several suits began to power up. One eye glew from a mobile worker, Another from the head of a Rick Dias.

The Rick Dias head, attached to a patchwork body and other MS parts, stepped onto the catapult first. “Marlowe Voltus,” the voice from the junky mech echoed around the hangar bay, “Launching!”

***

”It looks like a massacre,” the voice from the Ball echoed in Marlowe’s cockpit. “There’s a feddie ship and a zeon ship. But the weird thing...they’re both cargo vessels.”

”Do you think they fought each other?

”No. Looking at the angle of the damage; it looks like they were both attacked at the same time. Still, there’s no sign of any other craft or mobile suits that aren’t Fed or Zeon.”

”So it was a total wipe.”

”That means keep your head on a swivel. Go ahead and call the others and the retrieval team.”

”Wait! Look!” Marlowe raised his mobile suit’s arm to point at the wreckage. “There’s someone there!”

In the open hangar bay the broken ship with a Republic of Zeon crest, a gray Geara Doga pressed against the bay, its beam machine gun held ready to fire at anything that came too close. As they approached, the Mobile Suit aimed at them.

”Wait! Wait! We’re salvagers! We’re civilians!

”Wait, look in the distance! It’s verniers!” The color of the verniers of multiple mobile suits appeared in the field, all becoming smaller and smaller. Perhaps the sudden arrival of the Cathartes and its crew was enough to scare them off. For now, at least.

***

Two hours later

The survivors of the both ships were huddled in the mess hall of the Cathartes, alongside most of the crew. At the center, sitting on a metal chair, was an old man. His hair had long gone gray, and his face was wizened. His hands were gnarled from years of working on machines, but the crew gave him enough reverence as the head of a family. After all, he was the captain.

“Welcome to our home, the Cathartes,” the old man began, addressing the survivors. They’d given them warm thermoses of coffee and soup; something that several engineers complained about. “We’re sorry to hear about your encounter with pirates. It seems this sector is becoming more and more dangerous. Our job is to salvage destroyed ships, and to re-acquire important documents, materials and people that have been left behind after battle. Since the attacks from this mysterious pirate group have become more regular around these parts, we’ve been sent here to clean up, so to speak.”

He motioned to the various uniforms, and the accusatory glances several gave to one another. “On this ship, we gave up our affiliation when we became salvagers. We ask that you treat this ship like neutral ground. Here there is no Federation or Republic of Zeon. It’s just this old Vulture and her crew.” He stared down the people in the room. “That means we leave our egos at the door and we focus on the job. Which now-” he said, pressing a button on a round disc set on one of the tables. A holographic star chart appeared in front of the crowd. “-is delivering you all, and our salvage to the Mars station. There you can contact the Earthsphere and charter passage. We won’t charge you for ferrying you there, because we’re kind and-” the old man grinned. “Your scrap is worth enough.”

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

doublepostwhocares

Taken so far in no particular order:

Fool
Priestess
Emperor
Hanged Man
Temperance
Sun
Moon
Star
Devil
Death prolly

@Hero

That's a lotta characters

A lot of boy characters

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

@DruSM157

@Potemking

SOMEONE GETS MY DUMB JOKE

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

A New World Fool

5'7| 60.1 kg | 16 | 2nd year | Male

ＰＥＲＳＯＮＡＬＩＴＹ

Quiet and unassuming, Hiroichi seems like a kind and open young man-and that isn't a false mask. He is caring, but underneath his kind exterior is a mass of complexes. Hiroshi is constantly questioning himself, his ability as a student, and his place in the world, especially when dealing with the recent loss of his mother. He suffers from extreme imposter syndrome. It's due to this self-destructive mindset that he puts too much of himself in his schoolwork, and will overexert himself, especially around mid-terms and finals. He keeps very few close friendships because of this, throwing himself into his work because of his belief that he's "failing his family" if he falls below the top 10 in his class.

ＡＲＣＡＮＡ

The Fool

ＰＥＲＳＯＮＡ

Faust, from the legends of Dr. Faustus, the doctor who traded his soul for knowledge. Different stories tell different sides of the doctor, from portraying him as a con man and sinner to someone who wants to use his forbidden knowledge to help the world. Faust takes the appearance of a male figure wearing black robes, carrying a demonic tome in his hands.

ＳＫＩＬＬＳ

• Bufu
• Eiha
• Pulpina

ＴＲＡＮＳＦＯＲＭＡＴＩＯＮ

Hiroichi dons flowing magus robes with infernal symbols painted over his clothing.

ＷＥＡＰＯＮ

Hiroichi specializes in clubs, from sports equipment to maces.

ＨＩＳＴＯＲＹ

A prodigy. A brilliant boy. Born for greatness. Hiroichi spent his childhood hearing his family speak about him to others as if he was some perfect angel. Hiroichi came from a relatively poor family, and due to his natural talent and intelligence, found himself with countless opportunities for greatness. And then the car accident occurred, taking his mother from him. His father grew withdrawn after the tragedy, rarely coming home from work, and their house became filthier with every passing day. Hiroichi kept up appearances at school, still attempting to appear like the boy wunderkind, but even then he began to drop from 1st in his class to 3rd, then 5th. Since his behavior at school was still quiet and unassuming, no one reached out, isolating him further from others.

ＭＩＳＣ

Former top student in the 2nd year, now somewhere around 7-8th in the class.

Drew's testy place.

Wild Expanse: A Sci-Fi Western Concept

Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying. -Arthur C Clarke.

There was a ton of human lore about first contact. Hopeful stories, war sagas, horror flicks. Each had its own take on when mankind would finally reach out into the reaches of the endless sea of space and make its mark. But the most common theory was the one that seemed truest when we began to seed other planets: the Fermi Paradox. Humans had been searching for signals from other lifeforms for centuries as they colonized planet after planet, and each time it remained dead silent.

We assumed we were the only intelligent life out there.

We were wrong.

It wasn’t a galactic conflict or some great war. It was a massacre. Countless human colonies were destroyed. The intergalactic highway we’d developed crushed in an instant. Fermi assumed other intergalactic civilizations would have killed themselves. He could never have imagined the might or the cruelty of the Rhelnast Empire. They had no interest in our resources, our people, or our technology. They just wanted to make sure they were the only player on an intergalactic scale.

Humanity was forced to flee the Milky Way. The old colonies, even our mother planet of Earth, were lost to us. But in the wild reaches uncharted space we found other races like us. Others had been crushed underfoot, eking out an existence in the wilderness of uncharted stars—a new frontier loaded with interstellar immigrants, making a mark on these wild galaxies.