FamishedPants

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

S i l h o u e t t e

"All these people with time powers and yet we're still running out."

— Samantha

Stats

Age: 16 | Gender: Female | Specialization: Time, Darkness
Powers: Third Eye | Regeneration | Teleportation
Perks: Enhanced Weapon, Enhanced Outfit, Enhanced Transformation, Martial Training, Incognito, Gifted, Awareness
Benefits: Top Aidoru, Cradle Supply, Connected, Retrieval
Drawbacks: Sadistic, Exposed, Penance

STR: 03 | AGI: 03 | VIT: 03 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03

STR: 11 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 04 | MAG: 15| LCK: 03

Samantha walked a bit past the now-frozen Sonia, her crimson eyes looked coldly upon Justine, though her hand lingered upon the girl's shoulder still. Sonia's fight may have ended with a single touch but that did not mean it had been easy. It cost the wellbeing of another magical girl before Samantha could even find a proper opening. Even though she desperately wished she could've engaged Sonia by herself, the fact of the matter was that this was the 'ideal' way to end things. Wordlessly, she thanked the insect-specialized girl who made this possible before addressing Maura's query.

"You would find that doing so yourself currently would prove difficult. As long as she's like this, she's effectively invincible," she explained. "With the dimension collapsing shortly, she couldn't get out in time even if we left her, so we don't need to do anything with her." Samantha's blade would still cut through her like a hot knife through butter if she pleased, but for now, that idea was put on the backburner. Instead, Silhouette kept her eyes on Justine and pondered their next move.

She was the last enemy that needed to be destroyed. And how, exactly, could they go about doing that? Overwhelming her was an option, especially now that she didn't have any backup. Yet just as Sam was considering voicing this, Justine, narrowly avoiding being taken out, recovered her strength by draining a thrall that had outlived its usefulness. That was troublesome! And, to be honest, a bit upsetting. Had she chosen to pursue Justine instead, Tenebra wouldn't've been killed.

...

...

...huh?

What sort of thinking was that? Samantha was startled by the fact even a shadow of guilt appeared in her mind since it was very much out-of-character for her. She had no reason to even care about Tenebra, either. It wasn't like she knew the girl or was tasked with helping her. They weren't even allies in this battle. She struggled to think of a good reason and thus decided to chalk it up to hanging around that girl in the park far too often.

Samantha ignored that minor tinge of guilt and gave Sonia's shoulder a pat before moving her hand off of it. She wasn't actually sure if Sonia was conscious or not since the people she had frozen up to this point (aside from Trixy's perverted hands) weren't in a condition to tell her afterward. Even so, she spoke up to the maid. "You know, Sonia, I think you were right about what you said. Justine's response will determine your fate." she nodded to Maura and Viridian. "I have a plan, we'll see how it goes."

Honestly, the idea Samantha had in her head was something she should find foolish given how Justine has acted this entire day. The vampire gleefully sacrificed mind-numbed girls earlier and, literally seconds ago, even personally took the life of a thrall of hers with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever. This plan did have every reason to whiff, but since it was available to her, Sam figured she would try. They seemed pretty close, at least. Besides, the worst-case scenario was Justine ignoring the bait, which was of little consequence anyway. Yet cold as her nature was, even Samantha had to force herself to speak how she did in her attempt to agitate Justine. Death was something she preferred to administer quickly, not make a spectacle out of. "Justine!" she called loudly in an attempt to reach the girl. "Would Sonia prefer a quick and painless death or an open-casket funeral? We're running out of time so I need you to answer quickly!" as she made the poorly-disguised threat, she leveled the knife at Sonia and waited to see how the vampire would react.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

H i l a r i a

"Hilaria can't eat with Lily if she's an enemy..."

— Hilaria

Stats

Age: ??? | Gender: Female | Specialization: Gravity
Powers: Third Eye | Regeneration
Perks: Dual Weapon, Enhanced Outfit, BDH, Interdimensional Home, Sturdy, Devil Trigger
Benefits: Interdimensional Home, Keijo Training, Physical Prowess, Supplier, Retrieval
Drawbacks: Lonley, Joy Eater, Big Brother, Clueless

STR: 03 | AGI: 03 | VIT: 03 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03

STR: 16 (18) | AGI: 4 (6) | VIT: 15 (17) | MAG: 08 | LCK: 04

Hmm~?

Lily passed by Hilaria in a blur and attacked Mariette. The timeless magical girl was confused at this turn of events. Weren't they supposed to be allies? She wondered why Lily defected and if maybe she would've seen this coming had she been more attentive. But in the end, all that really mattered is that Lily chose to become an enemy. Would Alex be far behind?

Despite the approaching threats, Hilaria didn't trust Mariette's wellbeing to the harpy, and that ended up being the wise choice as Lily had likewise gotten past her, too. Unless Lily intended to kill Mariette right then and there, whatever other plans she might've had for the witch weren't going to come to fruition while Hilaria was tasked to watch her. She had to make sure of that. Because if there was one thing Hilaria hated besides trying to hit wild canines with a sizable sword, it was people who would deny her her right to a feast! And, of course, Mariette would probably not be too willing to join Hilaria for food if she was dead or upset.

So, she moved just as more people began to appear, parting with her axe and using merely her shield. If she had more time to waste, she might've been impressed with the strange way MDP spoke. Unfortunately, the lack of spare time meant she had to temporarily ignore the new arrivals in favor of helping Mariette out of the poor situation she was currently in. But as she did so, a gunshot rang out and it sped towards Lily.

Hilaria wasn't in the way of it, but she also couldn't do anything about it, either. So she could only react after it hit, missed, or whatever happened. She was prepared to swat Lily off of Mariette with her shield non-lethally, but whether this was out of concern for Mariette or Lily was anyone's guess. Yet if somehow Mariette was freed from Lily, Hilaria would waste no time in picking the witch up and cradling her to safety. It was becoming a bit too difficult to protect her otherwise.

The Wayfarer's Guild

Wow. Just a bit too late, huh? Well, good luck my dudes.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

S i l h o u e t t e

"I-I only want to touch her chest for the sake of expediency, t-that's all, b-b-baka...!"

— Samantha

Stats

Age: 16 | Gender: Female | Specialization: Time, Darkness
Powers: Third Eye | Regeneration | Teleportation
Perks: Enhanced Weapon, Enhanced Outfit, Enhanced Transformation, Martial Training, Incognito, Gifted, Awareness
Benefits: Top Aidoru, Cradle Supply, Connected, Retrieval
Drawbacks: Sadistic, Exposed, Penance

STR: 03 | AGI: 03 | VIT: 03 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03

STR: 11 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 04 | MAG: 15| LCK: 03

Silhouette's blood was pumping in anticipation of the culmination of this vampire's reign. But despite the many girls vying for her life, Samantha knew she couldn't hesitate or relax around her or her ally, Sonia. With Sonia dead or disabled, Justine was as good as done. Yes, she was ultimately Samantha's target as she pursued the two as they fled (or advanced, technically).

Her plan was not to wear the girl down, although that was a rather viable option given the numbers advantage they had. No, Samantha wanted this to end, at least on her side, with a single move. Thus, she pursued but was biding her time and forming an idea of when best to attack. Ultimately, Sonia seemed to exist for Justine's benefit and could be said to be a mirror image of Sam had Veronica been on the line. She imagined what opportunities that would open up.

...I see, it's simple, then.

If you're too busy focusing on protecting someone else, you often leave yourself open to being taken advantage of. Yeah, that was the plan. Sam would eye the next attack she imagined Sonia would try to deflect and then attack the girl at that moment while she was preoccupied. Boring, but effective.

...yet, the addition of yet more girls threw a wrench in that particular plan. The insect-wielding girl now burst onto the stage with reckless abandon. Samantha wasn't sure exactly how effective the attack was with all of the insects making it difficult to see Sonia, and she also wasn't able to approach Sonia while this was still happening. Damn, I just need one touch! Did it have to be right now!?

She would have preferred to take Sonia out herself, but unless it appeared as though these insects weren't going to suffice (in which case, Sam will attempt to touch Sonia (uwu) with her free hand and you can assume she does the equivalent of what I'm about to write but with Sonia/Lea), she shifted her attention back to Justine who was simultaneously being attacked by a different girl. Unlike the insect girl, however, Samantha could feasibly attack provided Justine wasn't too far into the air.

In this case, Samantha would have no trouble using Freya as a distraction in order to attempt to land a sneaky hand on Justine. She would use a quick, explosive movement to launch herself at the vampire while her attention was drawn and it didn't particularly matter where she touched Justine, though naturally, she would lean towards the face, chest, or a limb, prioritized in that order.

There!

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

H i l a r i a

"Um, be careful~! I hear if you land on a boy this becomes a low-budget, half-finished harem anime~"

— Hilaria

Stats

Age: ??? | Gender: Female | Specialization: Gravity
Powers: Third Eye | Regeneration
Perks: Dual Weapon, Enhanced Outfit, BDH, Interdimensional Home, Sturdy, Devil Trigger
Benefits: Interdimensional Home, Keijo Training, Physical Prowess, Supplier, Retrieval
Drawbacks: Lonley, Joy Eater, Big Brother, Clueless

STR: 03 | AGI: 03 | VIT: 03 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03

STR: 16 (18) | AGI: 4 (6) | VIT: 15 (17) | MAG: 08 | LCK: 04

*Yawn*

Justine was giving a rather flamboyant speech as Hilaria struggled to stay awake. It was cool the first few times, but these displays happened quite a bit more often than you would think. It definitely didn't help that, unlike a lot of people here, Hilaria had basically no clue what the deal was. Some vague understanding that Justine had been stopped not too long ago and Mariette had something to do with it.

Wait. With so many people clamoring to attack her, was Mariette actually the bad guy here? And if she was... Was this what Dan wanted? Pleasant feelings regardless of who they came from? The thought was somewhat dark, admittedly, but considering how he forced everyone to stay in his dimension for a week, there was the possibility. She exhaled almost listlessly.

She would be lying if she said she couldn't work for someone like that. Morality had kinda lost its appeal somewhere down the line. She preferred to focus on more important things like not being bored or eating. Mostly eating. Besides, she had done things unbecoming of a magical girl, and pretending otherwise would be hypocr1tikal. She was leaning good, but this was only evidenced by her refusal to take hits like an assassin.

Hilaria caught herself becoming strangely aware of the presence of the Beacon present. Her mind wandered then to the Ascendancy, and then to Isabella. O sister of mine, must thou fandangle escape attent much longer? I fancy not to idle for eternity. Hilaria lamented the fact her sister chose her job over the sibling she had finally reunited with. So much for atoning for her betrayal.

At least it seemed the tomfoolery was at its end with Reaver's summoning. It was almost a shame to see him on the other side. "Mmm," she then glanced towards Leena who was fuming. People were really angry at Mariette, huh? The dimension started to collapse as if to agree with that statement. She had better take things a bit more seriously now that her life was very much threatened.

Hilaria had to admit Leena had a unique trick up her sleeve and, judging on how Alex was beginning to panic, she imagined a rather frightening one. Made moreso by Mariette almost collapsing. "Hilaria wonders if you are okay~?" she would have caught the little witch with a hand had Dina not done so. Instead, she took note of the general situation and listened to the others come up with a plan, giving Dina a smile and a nod in response to her request. "Okie dokie~!"

Then it was that Mariette wanted to reach her basement, while Alicia began to charge. "~!" she gave a delighted squeal when Eli mentioned destroying the roof. "You need look no further~!" her gun disappeared and her shield morphed into gauntlets. She flexed an arm, "Hilaria is on the job~!" What resistance the roof had put up was too negligible to be seen, and a sizable chunk of it was now broken by Hilaria's doing. If they intended on dropping through, there was more than enough space to do so. Having finished, she reverted back to her shield and axe.

By this point, Alicia was closing in on, perhaps, Dina, who was now something more than she was moments ago. The knight would motion for Eli and Mariette to carry on and place herself between their would-be attacker and those two. She was the shield after all and would play the part in the moments to come.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

S i l h o u e t t e

"Can't believe I'm two weeks from retirement. Oh, and Trixy? I have something I want to tell you after all of this is done."

— Samantha

Would Sonia catch on to her in time? Would she predict this attempt and be ready to counter? Or would she be caught unawares and suffer a fatal blow as she recovered? So many options running through Silhouette's mind in a fraction of a second, yet none of them were correct.

"Ngh!"

With a grunt and a thud, Sam hit the ground and transitioned into a sloppy roll. Shit! Damnit, I could've had her...! Irritated as she was that her plan failed, it took only a moment to realize that the cause of her premature landing was because of a sudden nullification zone. The area-of-effect was large and it severely restricted the ways in which magic could take form. Not only that, the dimension itself, being magical in nature, began to groan and scream as it began to rupture (actually one of those might have been something else). Didn't take a genius to realize that soon enough it would tear itself apart along with anyone unfortunate enough to be in it when that happened.

But Sam did not panic; she acted. There was no time for vacillation. Her focus was ahead, in the direction both Justine and Sonia fell, and she took off in a sprint towards them. She could smell the blood in the water. And while the null zone affected everyone to some degree, it unquestionably hit those two harder than it hit her. Justine would be much less a threat with no magic, and Sonia wouldn't be able to escape as she wished.

Samantha would have to thank whoever did this later. The potential to immediately kill both Justine and Sonia was there thanks to the dimension's collapse, and they would be a lot less tricky to catch. But things looking too good to be true had nearly killed her before. She knew she had the drop on that Beacon girl yet it still ended with her being flung out of a warehouse. The reality was that Sonia not being able to teleport was a bigger disadvantage to Justine than it was to herself, so she wouldn't just roll over and die. Justine could be exceptional at close range, too. Nothing was impossible.

When Viridian suddenly appeared in quite the flamboyant manner, seeking to join Sam on her assault, this fact was further reinforced. Samantha did not slow down for a second so that she could continue to pressure Justine and Sonia, and Viridian presumably kept up with her. Hastily, Samantha touched Viridian's arm and directly buffed her ability to react (Assume Sil also buffed Maura if she joins alongside). "I can concentrate on Justine," she told Viridian, hinting that they should deal with Sonia. "We can do this. We'll end them here and now, while they're vulnerable."

This wasn't just about assisting Mariette. It wasn't about getting vengeance for herself or the others than Justine had wronged. Avenging people she did not know wasn't a motivation for her. No, instead, if she could pull this off and kill Justine, then maybe Veronica would be proud. Trixy might be too.

She could not fail here!

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread

@SleepingSilence

Like a 3 or 4?

I played 7, 12, 13 (1, not 2), before touching FFXIV. Knowing older games in the series more or less just gives you a bit of 'teehee' factor when you recognize things, and there's a lot of bosses you'll probably recognize if you're a dedicated fan. Isn't a requirement, however, and I doubt I would feel too left out even if I've never touched a game.

I think others have mentioned that beyond the blandness (YOU CAN GET THROUGH IT I SWEAR), the story picks up during Heavensward and on. Likewise, dungeons and trials do, too. I find new dungeons to be some of the most fun you can have in the game once they start becoming a decent challenge, much like trials. Also you get rewarded with great OSTs (It's a FF game so that's generally the case).

Also primal bois represent.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread

<Snipped quote by BrokenPromise>

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

This VN wastes so much time on needless fluff and none of the routes are good

Fuck Fruit of Grisaia

@Ammokkx

Don't listen to this guy, @BrokenPromise. He probably put Katawa Shoujo at the top of his list. Stick with me and you'll eventually get through any worthwhile VNs that are currently translated. I won't let these hooligans taint you.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread

@Ammokkx If I get back into it, they made it pretty easy to visit other people's worlds and quest together. The only thing you can't really do off server is join a FC or squat in someone's mansion.

But I picked up some steam games, and I'm still going through Muv-Luv Alternative, which is a 50 hour visual novel. So it'll be a bit before my cat grill returns to play.

@BrokenPromise

You seem like the kinda guy who needs to hurry up and finish MLA. Here, you can have this for no reason in particular.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

S i l h o u e t t e

"Sam and Hilaria make the best of friends!"

— Samantha

Lurking in Mariette's shadow some moments before they confronted Justine personally, Silhouette nearly sighed in relief. This decision would probably encourage Viridian to retract her earlier order. Sam didn't really desire to make things more complicated by letting Ronin near as it would not only obviously piss Mariette off, but there was a big chance it could cause other complications -- Justine was still out there, after all.

Justine was the real problem here and the point about not leaving before she was dealt with was perhaps the first thing Viridian said that Samantha had ever agreed with. Not that they spoke much... or really at all. It was mostly Viridian giving orders so far and Sam acknowledging such. Su would probably kill her if she knew Sam had yet to do as she promised, but to be fair, there hadn't been enough downtime for her to follow up on it.

"~"

"..."

"~!"

"...?"

Making Samantha feel awkward was quite the feat, considering she was often ignorant of things that would evoke this sort of emotion. Trixy was usually the only one who could do that. But here, this girl whom she didn't know, did so on her first try! What was she doing? Most people should be oblivious to her at this time. But she didn't even pretend like she was looking at Mariette.

Wait, this is the one that talks weird, I think. Wasn't she at that beach dimension?

"Oh, how miserable you must be to live in the shadow of another~!" the girl chatted, confirming Sil's suspicions. It wasn't just how she spoke that stood out, but how she did so despite it potentially distracting people, blowing Sil's cover if the enemy somehow had vision on them, and frankly even with context, speaking to a shadow was weird.

A tar-like substance began to rise from Mariette's shadow until it molded into Silhouette's form. Because she intended on assisting Mariette, she only moved just far enough to not disturb the Portal Witch with what she hoped to be a short conversation with this strange woman.

"You seem to share the same sight as me," she mentioned. "What is it that you want?" her tone was laced with irritation at being disturbed. This apparently didn't faze the girl as her expression remained blissful and she continued where she left off.

The girl produced a piece of paper that had been tucked away behind her huge shield and handed it to Sil, whose confusion was made more severe by what was written on it. In perhaps the most beautiful handwriting she had ever laid witness to, the words "Invitation to Eat" were drawn upon it. But that was all and it was blank otherwise. Addled, she looked towards the girl for an answer. "If you're still alive when this is over, Hilaria wants to invite you to join a celebratory feast~!" she explained, clearly eager to hear a positive response.

Sam looked back down to the paper. "So... you're passing these out in the middle of this commotion?" she asked to confirm. Hilaria shook her head, surprisingly.

"Nope~ She didn't have enough paper to do that~"

"...What? What do you mean by that? What is this, then?" she held the invitation up and received another shook head in response.

"Hilaria only made one, and it's in your hand~ She wouldn't call that 'passing those out', would you~?"

Sil pinched the bridge of her nose. "So why did you give it to me, then?"

"Hilaria thinks everyone else looked too busy and you were over here doing nothing, so that's why~" she bluntly stated. "She was worried you were feeling left out since people haven't been talking to you, either~"

Sam wasn't sure if Hilaria was trying to help her or piss her off. But it was clear which of those she was succeeding at. "Excuse you. You understand what we're doing here, right? I've been here to thwart any attempts at attacking Mariette directly. I wouldn't call that 'nothing'." she did not chide Hilaria on the talking part because, well, she wasn't exactly wrong there, but it still annoyed her.

"Rejoice~! Hilaria will relieve you of your post, then~!" she suddenly declared, placing a heavy hand on Sil's shoulder. Sam was tall for a magical girl, yet this girl's height was even above her own. She had to wonder what this girl ate to become so big. But much like she resisted the urge to slap her hand away, Sam did not ask her about that.

"What are you playing at?" Sam questioned.

Hilaria took a small step back and encouraged Sam to check her out. "Hilaria is afraid she won't be able to keep up with a foe that wants to run, so she should stay back and defend our cute little charge~" she went on to explain, glancing at Mariette and, if she looked back, giving her a wink.

Samantha had to agree that if Sonia and Justine wanted to play tricky, she couldn't imagine Hilaria being able to prevent it. She wasn't away of what her spec was because she hadn't seen it in action, but Hilaria gave off the impression that her spec was supplemental rather than the focus of her strength. Still, this was her own task and she couldn't just hand it off to some girl she wasn't familiar with! How irresponsible would that be---

"Oh, but Hilaria does not blame you if you would like to remain protected back here~ Hilaria knows exactly how scary fighting can be, and she won't hold it against you if you hide like a frightened child~" Still, she spoke in such a playful and nonthreatening tone it almost sounded genuine.

This bitch.

"Me, scared?" Samantha scoffed. She was technically a veteran, and she had seen more than her fair share of combat, death, and pain. Clearly, this girl was just a big fool. She had probably won a fight or two, seen one or two people die, and then thought it was enough to steel her resolve. To try to talk down to other people because of that was just absurd! "I wouldn't allow something so petty as fear keep me from fighting," she said as she let something so petty as obvious bait entice her into fighting. "If you really want to take my place so badly, I expect you to use your life doing so."

Hilaria smiled much like she had before but it was now that Sam realized she had just been baited. She briefly considered a curse on Hilaria but opted instead to swear under her breath before throwing her arm out to the side and summoning a generic Schatten which would then sink into Mariette's shadow much as she had done earlier. This would be insurance in case Hilaria failed to protect Mariette, as it was instructed to sacrifice itself if Mariette was going to suffer a strong blow. It couldn't prevent particularly powerful attacks but it may soften them, and when it was destroyed it would alert Samantha immediately.

With that, Mariette and the others would then begin their confrontation with Justine. This involved some taunting, some singing, and some shooting. As weird as it was, she didn't question it. Weirder things have happened. Samantha acknowledged that removing Sonia would make Justine far more vulnerable, so she would concentrate her efforts on doing just that. She explained her plan to the time-enhanced Portal Witch, so that she would open a portal whose location relied upon how Sonia reacted in an attempt to catch her recovering. This will, most likely, take the form of an immediate attack on Sonia if she attempts to teleport away --- after she teleports.

Hilaria on the other hand did the opposite -- she would remain by Mariette's side, on standby, being the wall she generally was and, ideally, making it difficult for someone to even land a blow on Mariette. Hopefully, this would later inspire the witch to eat with her instead of flaking like last time. Jeez.