Force and Fury

Code Vein (Closed)

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_{Location: A Record Store @ The Ruined City // Date: February 23, 2057 // Time: 16:48 // Interactions: collab with @Exit, @Medili, and @FunnyGuy}

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Lys cracked a lopsided smile as she rolled up to Akaia’s find. “Well, wouldja lookie here: it’s a radio, complete with…” She paused, furrowing her brow. “Ooh, it’s an old one.” She tucked some hair behind an ear, body language halfway between exhausted from her recent narrow escape and excited.

Erik grinned widely beneath his mask as Akaia unveiled her discovery. He crouched down to get a better look. “Now this is a find!” He gave Akaia two thumbs up and stood to allow Lys to fiddle with the radio.

She bent over and played around with a few things. “Heh, that’s a record player on top. It was considered ‘classic’ even before the collapse. I… know someone who used to have one.”

“Oh my. A record player," Cerise remarked, "huh… Sure brings back some feelings of nostalgia, doesn’t it?” She giggled briefly and Lysandra flashed a quick smile back, but she had become engrossed with the machine, mind evidently swirling with possibilities as it was wont to do. Perhaps her inner child couldn't help itself. After a few moments, however, she blinked and straightened, half-twisting to look at Akaia. “It’s absolutely lovely. Looks like it somehow escaped any really serious water damage too.” She glanced at the others - “Been a while since we’ve had a good radio…” - and turned on the spot, eyes roving curiously across the room. “Think we can spare literally two minutes to poke around?” She addressed Erik and, as she spoke, of course, she was already reaching into a pouch on her backpack. ‘No’ clearly wasn’t going to be an acceptable answer, but it was clear by his body language that he also couldn't wait to work on it. “Two minutes?" he laughed, I was thinking five!”

Lys tossed a pair of flashlights onto her lap and flicked one on, settling it between her knees. “We’re in a music store,” she said matter-of-factly, “which is a mecca for things like this. You’re going to look for big black discs -” she gestured out the approximate size with her hands “- and little rectangular things with two holes in them, for the cassette player. They might be in packaging, so open things up.” While she spoke, Erik proceeded to look around but only in his immediate surroundings to start - almost as if he already knew what he was searching for. Lys bit her lower lip for a second, probably not keen on being out later, but too tempted to be prudent. “If you need a flashlight, by the way, I have an extra.” Her eyes darted about. “I know we’re on the clock, so maybe we can divide and conquer? I’m gonna look for something else: been trying to find a new mic for the karaoke machine and I’d rather not have to make one from scratch.”

Erik glanced her way momentarily, and then at Cerise. “You can take the flashlight if you want, Cerise, and you know, I'm still wondering what happened to that thing.” He added at Lys' mention of finding a new mic for the karaoke machine.

“Truly one of the Commune’s great mysteries,” she sighed.

“Oh sure, big bro!” Cerise managed to get a word in and she took the flashlight. Lysandra knew that she actually already had one herself, but the group's scout was never one to say no... to anything.“Anyways, just look for records and cassettes, right?" Lys nodded by way of reply. Got it~” Cerise proceeded to do just that, turning on the flashlight while looking around the store for those items. It wasn't a particularly difficult task, considering that they were in a music store, even if it was a long-abandoned one.

Lys, meanwhile, made an immediate beeline for a door near the back behind the counter area. That was where all the goodies were in stores like this: usually in boxes. Of course, ‘beeline’ was a ferociously relative term at that moment. After wheeling at full tilt away from that Tsar Bomba, her arms felt little more useful than her stupid legs. Of course, that too was relative.

As the others were searching, Akaia gingerly picked up the player and placed it in an empty space on the counter. She turned to stand next to it and looked over the first batch of items Cerise had found. Nothing in particular stood out to her as the splash of colors and words seemed to coalesce into an unintelligible thing.

Naturally, the door that Lys was trying to open was locked. Naturally, Lysandra Tran, once Fresh Haven’s best scrounger, had a solution for that. She reached into her bag, fished a set of thin strange–looking metal hooks free, and jerried the lock open with one. Inside was a treasure trove: dusty old boxes just positively filled with audio junk. Grateful for Erik’s enthusiastic “five minutes”, she eagerly set to work and, before long, her lap was laden with dozens of items. Then, she hit pay dirt. “Found it!” she called, at full stretch to fumble down a box with an image of a microphone on it. It half-fell into her arms and she grinned like a Cheshire cat. Lys came rolling out of the back room, quite pleased with herself. “It’s karaoke time!” she chirped, pulling up beside Akaia just on time for Cerise to arrive and show off the smorgasbord of audio delights she’d found.

“Well, I’ve managed to scrounge some up." Go ahead and check these out, Lys!”

Lysandra grinned broadly. “You're the best, Cherry." She took a few seconds to sift through them before realizing that there were far too many. She straightened. "Promise I'll do it, homey, but on our way back. This is such a haul!” She bobbed up and down and sways from side to side a bit, smiling and snapping her fingers. “I can feel the music already! Ugh, this place is great. We need to come back if we can. There’s a lot more here. Speaking of which…” she twists to look for Erik. “What’d you find, gramps? Got us some good dadrock?”

Erik's head popped up like a prairie dog from the furthest aisle. “I wish! I didn't really find anything on this end.” Beside him but unseen by the others were the remnants of a revenant ash pile. “I grabbed a few tucked away vinyls around, but I'm kind of afraid to take them out of their jackets. Might need a more delicate hand.” He took a quick reflexive glance back at the aisle as he walked up carrying four white vinyl jackets in one hand and a miniature orb shaped barrier in the other. The faint light coming off the orb was a makeshift torchlight.

Cerise looked very much pumped up at the prospect of having a little karaoke party back in the Crows’ Nest. “Hehe, karaoke huh? I can’t wait for it! It’ll be just the perfect thing to lift everyone’s spirit after what we just went through.” She clapped her hands a few times, looking giddy. “Who knows, maybe one or more of our newer friends are actually really good at singing, and then we’ll have a singer that can accompany me playing the piano in the Great Room~”

“Ahem,” says Lys, “Are you saying I’m not talented?” She posts her hands on her hips for a moment, but then removes them and takes everyone in. “But seriously: they say all’s well that ends well, whoever the proverbial ‘they’ are. Doesn’t mean that wasn’t hell, though. I think we could all use a wind-down.”

Akaia nodded at Lysandra in agreement and it was, without doubt, the most unarguable shared sentiment of the day.

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Piranha Plant Pipes Up!

Nice to see a legit-ass sports fan on here. Based purely on RP interests, I don't know how much of each other we'll see, but welcome aboard and I'm sure you'll find plenty of stuff within those fandoms to sink your teeth into!

Stay awesome.

Hi.

INB4 you win 'Most Interesting Member of the Year'... were that a thing around here. I found the forum the same way, TBH. Based on your interests, I imagine you'll fit in just fine around here and we way just see a bit of each other. If you need anything, I'm just a DM away. Stay awesome!

hello!

OMG. You had me at Southern Gothic!!

Welcome aboard, new person. Here's hoping we'll get to RP together at some point. If you have any questions or want some pointers, feel free to drop me a DM anytime. Stay awesome!

Hi!

Welcome aboard, new person! I'm a sucker for all of the same things, though I'm not much of an artist. Really hoping to see you around in some RPs. Iif you have any 'getting started' kind of questions, feel free to toss me a DM anytime!

Code Vein (Closed)

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_{Location: Near the Dying Mistle @ The Ruined City // Date: February 23, 2057 // Time: 16:08 // Interactions: none}

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There are some things a person doesn't have to be told twice, Lys thought as she whirled on the spot. They were instinctual, automatic survival behaviours, like "OMG run for your life." The problem, she decided, as she frantically paused to strap her bow to the back of her wheelchair, is that my instincts are all wrong. Even after four years as a paraplegic, her monkey brain still hadn't gotten the 'line down' memo and was still trying to send messages through a cable that was out.

The Bomba lurched to the side, shuddering and flailing. Its 'head' was almost split in half at the mouth and the top flopped back disgustingly as it began to reform. Lysandra put hands to wheels and was starting to pick up speed when a piece of rubble snuck up on her and thumped beneath one of her caster wheels. She pitched to the side and swerved and, when she glanced down in front of herself, noticed that one of her feet had been jarred from its footrest and was dangling limply in front of her.

The others blew past her, shooting concerned glances her way, but Lys shook her head tightly at them. She didn't need anymore help even if, truly, she did. Instead, she let out a sigh of vexation, grabbed her leg as she was coasting, and shoved the errant foot back into place. The gigantic grime let out an ear-ripping howl and thrashed some more and, had she the ammunition, she'd have turned right around and done her damnedest to kill it, if only to protect Akaia's precious find. How the scientist yearned to have a crack at that mistle: a real, live specimen!

Yet, she pushed that to the back of her thoughts. The next twenty meters were all dodging divots and bracing for rubble. Her chest heaved, her arms and shoulders burned with exertion, and she had to push herself further up into her seat twice. Then, just like that, she was in the clear and it was a nice, straight, gentle downhill. Lysandra's face lit up with a relieved smile and she more or less flew. The Tsar Bomba was well behind her now and had evidently decided that anything that could hurt it so badly was pointless to chase until it was fully recovered. By then, Lys had plans to be in a van, headed back to the Crows' Nest. She counted the others ahead of her and, eventually, far enough away and having to deal with some slightly trickier terrain, she scrubbed most of her speed and let herself coast, hands lightly on her wheels for 'just-in-case'. She reached up to brush a few sweaty locks of hair from her eyes and took a deep, satisfying breath, feeling a twinge of sympathy for the others who could no longer do the same. Mission accomplished, she thought to herself. Now the real work begins.

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The Avatar Upstairs (Forum Game)

My neighbour seems to be a fan of extreme closeups.

New Here!

Welcome aboard, new person! I hope you find what you're looking for here! Catcha down the line sometime.

Code Vein (Closed)

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_{Location: Near the Dying Mistle @ The Ruined City // Date: February 23, 2057 // Time: 16:06 // Interactions: Ajax, Vincent, Cerise}

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𝅘𝅥𝅮 / 𝅘𝅥𝅮

Lys’ thoughts mirrored Ajax’s. The Bomba was in turns recoiling or lashing out, unleashing terrifying wails and roars. There was… something about it that filled her with a sense of primeval terror in a way that more humanlike Lost - even ones just as powerful - didn’t.

Ajax sliced a tentacle free, which thrashed and wriggled like a giant dying worm underfoot before dissipating, but a new one just grew up in its place, the damage impressive in appearance but ultimately negligible. Lariat struck true and the beast roared, weeping blackish pus from its damaged eye-hole. A whitish grey mist spread through the area and it took Lys a moment to notice it through Sky Princess’ camera. She pulled her mask away from her mouth for a second and shouted at the top of her lungs. “Protect your eyes, people! That stuff is blinding! Desmond: mask on!” She suited words to action and sealed hers back over her mouth and nose.

A bolt from Poppy’s crossbow struck true along with one of Princess’ rockets. The glowing red pits ruptured, and pungent, corrosive slime splashed down across the battered pavement, burning and scarring the concrete. The Tsar Bomba let out a higher-pitched shriek that reverberated through the evening sky. Lesser lost scampered about, snarling, chattering, and gnashing their teeth. This was bad: really bad. The massive grime had slowed, but was still headed broadly in the direction of the group.

Then, Lysandra got an idea. “Ajax,” she called, “Vincent. I need you two to make it feel some real pain. I need it facing me and roaring!” The mouth. That led directly inside it. That had to be a point of vulnerability, but one that the melee types couldn’t reach. If she could feed it some high explosive, that might really do some damage. She’d have to hope that Cerise would catch on as well. Poppy had switched targets as needed and was cleaning up Thralls, and Erik seemed to be working on something with Dallas but he, too, had taken out some of the nuisance enemies.

”Oh, I can do pain!” Vincent called out, though it was hard to hear Lysandra over the noise the massive grime and surrounding Lost were making. He stood on the pile of rubble he had perched on to avoid the mist, cracked his neck, then brandished his improvised weapon as energy flickered across his shoulders and down his arms once more.

He then leapt from his perch and into an open second-floor window of a nearby building. He sprinted down the length of the floor as the building worked to provide cover, though he still had to jump over and slide under the occasional tentacle. As he made his approach, using holes in the ceiling to ascend a couple more floors, a flash of inspiration hit him. ”Ajax! Sync up with me!” he yelled. With that, he crashed through the window on the far side of the building and launched himself at the Bomba. He landed on the base of the nearest tentacle and began to hop from one to the next, using them as platforms as he ascended higher up the monster.

Vincent and Ajax were doing their thing. Lys knew they would give her the opening that she needed but, to her horror, as she watched, the surface of the Tsar Bomba began to bubble around its eye holes. The three eyes that had seemingly been taken out reemerged, no worse off than before. Its ability to take punishment was unbelievable!

The Sword in the meanwhile had been pinballing in a circle around the creature, putting his agility on full display. Throughout varying aerials and swift slashes, he’d been keeping an eye on Vincent’s position. When falling down into the gas cloud, he shut his eyes. Having taken a mental snapshot of his landing position, he rolled upon impact with the ground. Using the momentum from the motion, he sprung up into a jump up and out of the cloud again.

Now able to see his surroundings again, an arm smashed through a window on the opposing building from Vincent to grab hold. Ajax turned his head behind him to see his contemporary leaping from the creature’s tentacles. Remembering the admonition from both him and Lys, Ajax began to climb up higher with Vin’s pace in mind. When near the top, he looked down to where Vin was one more time to confirm the timing. Then, pushing off of the wall, he let himself drop to sync his downward attack with Vincent’s upward.

Of course, it wasn’t all quite as smooth as the two of them thought. Ajax’s agility was stunning and Lys let out a low whistle, mostly inaudible, in appreciation, but there were still a lot of tentacles. She had to expend two more rockets on protecting Vincent from being blindsided, and one on Ajax, which she hoped she’d be able to tease him about later, assuming they all got out of this intact. Only five left, she lamented inwardly, making a snap decision. She set Princess to follow a specific target and sync her fire with it, moving the drone out of the colossal grime’s range. Then, Lysandra flipped back her headset, grabbed her bow, and plucked a very particular and rather heavy arrow from her quiver. She nocked it, raised her bow to the right angle, and pulled back, ready to loose.

Vincent looked up to see Ajax in freefall above the grime and knew it was now or never. He leapt off of a final tentacle and held his improvised weapon over his shoulder. Time seemed to slow down for him as he drew in a deep breath through his mask. He tightened his grip on the rebar as he felt power flow through his muscles. His silver eyes flashed red and, with a roar, he swung with all of his might. As his weapon made contact, the Tsar Bomba’s flesh rippled as a low boom could be heard.

The two of them impacted at almost exactly the same time: Vincent smashing and Ajax slashing, the latter carving a deep furrow in the beast’s disgusting flesh. Lys didn’t even wait for the roar. She sighted where its mouth would open, pulled back with all of her considerable arm strength, and let the nitroglycerin-packed arrow fly. The Tsar Bomba unleashed a deafening noise and the bellow was so loud that most of the people close by visibly flinched.

Lysandra’s eyes followed the arrow as Ajax and Vincent wasted no time in clearing the area. Into the great grime’s mouth the projectile flew, joined moments later by a bright barrage of smaller projectiles as Sky Princess unloaded her entire payload. From a distance, the repeated fire of Cerise’s Lariat could be heard. Lys eyes widened and she grinned in malevolent glee as a colossal explosion shook the Tsar Bomba. For a moment, it was only visual, before the sound and shockwave reached her. Her hair whipped about her head and shoulders like so many tendrils of her own and her jacket fluttered behind her. “Fuck you, Eldritch motherfucker! Hahahahaaa! Eat it!”

She had calculated on the fly as best she could: just enough explosive force to stop the monster dead in its tracks without triggering its self-destruct instinct. It took a moment for the flash and smoke to clear and Lys lowered her bow, ready to behold the results.

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the alphabet game. lol

Redundant