FujiwaraPhoenix

Boundary's Edge -- An Urban Fantasy RP

Ren watched with bated breath as the white-haired girl leaped forward to follow behind the oni, making good on her promise to break through the horde. While the teenager from earlier had jumped into the fray was well, Ren found the sudden appearance of the shrine's priest to be of the most note here. Everything was strange here, yes, but the fact that he seemed to know more about the situation than all of them combined probably meant more than it seemed.

The sound of an explosion quickly dragged Ren's attention back to the group engaging the gashadokuro, and its source seemed to be pretty obvious at this point; the teenager's bokken had essentially blown up on impact, causing the giant skeleton to recoil for just enough time for the speedy girl to slap the talisman on its head. The youkai, as well as all the smaller skeletons around it, seemed to stop moving before their bodies seemed to crumble into dust...

Save for the big one, in which case everything except the skull seemed to disappear. So long as it was just the skull, then...

With the problem at hand now settled, Ren turned towards the shrine's priest, who was rapidly beckoning the group to come over; of course, someone else had beaten him in getting through the portal, but the question he asked didn't seem to put the priest in a very pleasant mood.

"Is that any way to speak to your elders?" he asked, whacking the boy on the head with a paper fan as the group funneled back in through the portal. "No manners, I swear. You ought to learn some instead of stalking around the shrine like you were. We may not look it, but this shrine has eyes everywhere—both literally and figuratively, but mainly the latter."

With that minor lecture completed, the priest motioned towards the empty main hall of the shrine; as the other visitors were out near the donation box and the mikos busy handling those affairs, the place was relatively silent...

Which may have been in part due to the glowing circle beneath them that extended itself into a barrier around them.

"...In any case... Introductions. I am the priest of Koumi Shrine, Shinohara Izawa. I feel as if explanations are in order, considering how I failed to maintain the seal on today of all days.
This shrine is a gateway to what my ancestors called the 'city of mirrors'; though its true name has long since been lost to time, the land itself has not faded into obscurity. Centuries ago, our world and that world were split apart, with only a few places from which they could be accessed if not sealed away. That seal, however, seems to be weakening. Regardless of my attempts as of late, the hole in the barrier here seems to be growing stronger.
Here begins the root of your last problem and the start of many of mine. This 'city of mirrors' has long since been tainted by disease and corruption, and though I can purge the spread of it with things like the circle beneath your feet, I cannot feasibly defeat any creatures that end up making their way through. If this shrine was to fall, then the city would likely soon follow, and what would come after..."

Izawa trailed off for a moment and, after shaking his head, continued on.

"...Would not be pretty. I fear that gashadokuro that you have just defeated is only the harbringer of troubles to come, and so I must ask: can you travel through the portal here to handle problems that may occur? I know many of you are of supernatural origin, given your recent performance, and contacting anyone like the police or military would likely lead to me being brushed off as insane."

At the conclusion of that lengthy amount of exposition, Ren took a moment to stare at the priest before asking a few questions of his own.
"...Well, what about me? I've got no way to fight or anything, so--"

"The fact that the gashadokuro's minions dragged you in meant that you had more than enough potential within you. It is simply a matter of finding it."

"...What about that whole 'disease' bit? Aren't we all infected, then?"

"As I said, this barrier cleanses impurities like those. However, if you spend too long without removing them within this other world, you may end up falling and becoming like the enemies you face."

"...And the fate of the city is at stake?"

"Yes. Of course, I would assume that as word spreads about this ordeal, other people might ask requests of you as well. Any rewards they might give are yours for the taking; of course, if anything urgent arises, we will let you know posthaste and also reward you accordingly."

With a sigh, Ren placed his right hand on his forehead and stared up at the ceiling from his place on the floor, the light and darkness intermingling with every passing moment.

"...Aaaaagh, I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I? Feels really hard to accept this as reality, though..."

"That is to be expected. If you have any more questions, I would be happy to answer them; otherwise, I would recommend you leave through the back entrance so as to not cause a disturbance outside."

Strange Gospel: An Urban Fantasy RP

The sound of an all-too-familiar voice caused Keita's pace to slow to a halt, his shoulders slumping down a bit at this usual routine. Every year since she took at spot, every day since he began to swap clothing after classes, the same old song and dance would play out.

Well, it wasn't as if he was breaking any rules, per se, but that never seemed to stop him from being held up.

He had almost forgotten about Yamada-san being her usual self. Maybe getting away with it every so often after the whole Strange Gospel incident had lowered his guard. Oh well.

"Yo, still on duty after classes as usual, aint'cha, Chief?" he asked, turning around with a smile on his face. "As for the answer to that old question... Well, you already know, right? Class is long over, and it's much easier to change in school than right after I leave it. Besides, it's not like I'm one of those bigger offenders, like that delinquent crew. Though I guess you really can't chew them out if they're never here to begin with, right?"

The other students seemed to not mind the scene as much, if only because it played out so often over the course of their high school careers—fair was fair, though; routine events like these were seldom a cause to speak up. Instead, their attention was... Still focused on that app. It wouldn't have been far off for him to say that it had possessed the school's collective psyche at this point, but that fact reminded him of something else to pass on—information.

"Oh, right, before I forget: still been workin' on trying to decode that app everyone's been all abuzz about. Progress is pretty slow, but I made a breakthrough earlier today with one of the networking guys in the club... Kind of. We tried finding the server that the app connects to, but apparently whoever made the thing had the connection routed through at least twenty different proxies before it kinda... Disappears. Connections don't just disappear like that, so the data coming in and out is pretty shady stuff... Adding onto what's already causing mass anxiety, I'd rather keep that info under wraps. 'course, I assume the people on the case already knew this, but I don't think they'd just tell a student about it, right?"

With a sigh, Keita pulled his bags back up onto his shoulder and slipped his hands into his pockets with a shrug.

"In any case... Your gatekeeping almost done for the day? You looked like you were about to doze off or something. I'm one to talk, though; thankfully, it was a quick nap during lunch, else you'd be on my case about that too, right?" he joked, waiting for a response.

Fate/ Transcendent Paradigm (A Fate/GO Based RP)

owo;;

*waves arms*

I'm waiting on 3 people right now: @KoL, @Raineh Daze, and @VitaVitaAR for Babylon side events.

Aside: Heaven's Feel movie release date, Apocrypha anime release date, and Extra Last Encore release date all out now. Woooooo.

Strange Gospel: An Urban Fantasy RP

"...God dammit, I swear this project's gonna be the death of me..."

With very slight bags under his eyes, the young man grumbled to himself as the day reached its end. He had long since changed out of the school's uniform and back into his usual attire—the good old vest, collared shirt, and tie combo that never failed to make him more confident about himself. It was a bit of a hassle, having to change into these clothes at the end of each day, but he never knew what opportunities could strike at any given time.

Thus thought Motoyama Keita, whose opportunism knew no bounds. While his lunch break had (sadly) been shot through by some weird dream, he found himself attributing it to all the work he had been putting into understanding Strange Gospel.

Yes, the very same one that everyone and their dog seemed to be talking about these days. Just the spontaneity of its popularity was enough to have him test the application out, if only to attempt to delve into its mysteries and understand what made it work. The recent incidents only served to bolster his curiosity; while some other people in the programming club seemed to be sticking to less... Dangerous matters, there was no good way to get him to stop. After all, the thought of him cracking this whole mystery and getting the whole school back to normal was enough to drive him. He'd had enough of people pestering him, asking him if anything new came up.

This was painfully slow work, and he damn well knew it.

The only feasible explanation the boy could give for his repeating dream was some sort of subliminal message on part of the application itself; whether or not it was intentional was a matter entirely it own, but the answers would likely come within grasp eventually.

"...Alright. I think that's all, then," he said, looking at himself in the bathroom mirror as he tightened the tie around his neck and picked up his bags from the hook from which they hung. Today was another day of work, and at the very least the lunchtime naps meant that he had a bit more energy in his tank to power through more code.

Now, if only his bento boxes didn't have to be scarfed down every day...

---

"Ah, god damn it I'm sick of that language! Who even decided it was a good idea to write a language in something that arcane?! How the heck is it even functioning?!" Keita shouted as he slammed his right arm down on the table, his right eye twitching for a few moments before he calmed himself and smoothed out his clothes. The time for extracurriculars had ended, and with it the time had spent in the programming club as one of its senior members. People would occasionally poke him for help, and that was fine, considering it meant not having to puzzle out that code for a few minutes.

But even if it was irritating, the payoff felt like it could be worth so much more than the effort he had put in thus far. And so he kept going, regardless of his irritation at the entire thing.

Packing up his equipment (namely, his laptop and mouse), Keita sighed and, with a weary smile, waved goodbye to the rest of the club members. They had become used to his exasperation by this point, and it wasn't as if such feelings were unfamiliar to them, either.

And so Keita walked past the school gates, bags slung over his shoulder as he continued onward.

Maybe he'd head home... Or get some ingredients to make some food instead. That bento definitely wouldn't last him the night.

Fate/ Transcendent Paradigm (A Fate/GO Based RP)

I mean more along the lines of 'don't bring anything back that might fundamentally alter history any more than it has already'. So things like... Well, the aforementioned oil example, yes, but also things like a katana from Hideyoshi's sword hunt.

Some things will be fine to take back. Not everything. Just putting that out there.

Fate/ Transcendent Paradigm (A Fate/GO Based RP)

While you're talking about the possibility of striking it rich in the Middle East over oil, I would like to remind you that the butterfly effect is indeed a thing, and I would recommend you not attempt to tamper with the space-time continuum to that degree. Just saying.

Boundary's Edge -- An Urban Fantasy RP

@Kuroyomihime: Given the current situation, I say go with the former. The current scene should conclude soon, and then the RP will actually begin.

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

Tiral followed silently along as the rest of the Knights rode forward, remaining as such as the group scouted out the area... Save for Tyaethe, who seemed to be following some sort of routine. The mage didn't much mind it, though he didn't much care for it, either; religion had always been something respected but not followed for him, after all, and he had no reason to change any time soon.

The elf taking her leave from the group, though, was well appreciated by the knight, who still had the recent incidents of insubordination fresh in his mind. In a way, she snuck out of punishment, but if that sort of reaction actually meant anything, it was probably best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Not like it mattered all that much anyhow.

The Captain's prompt order to start searching for clues was, while a bit delayed, expected enough for him to already be slowly combing over the area for any evidence of anything notable. When she stopped and began to stutter, though, the mage quickly moved over to see what the reason for it all was.

His own reaction, of course, was a sigh as he massaged his forehead.

"...It's necromancy. Bones picked clean of flesh and blood like this are only seen in that line of magic. Another goddamn necromancer," he swore, encasing the bones in ice to make sure they wouldn't spontaneously reanimate. Never hurt to be safe, after all.

"...Well, this is some heresy if I've ever seen one. Raising the dead in a shrine to the goddesses. That's one way to piss off the clergy."

Boundary's Edge -- An Urban Fantasy RP

With a nod of his head, Ren handed off the talisman as the electric dashed into the shrine to ring the bell instead. Though he felt particularly bad about leaving this whole ordeal to a complete stranger, Ren himself had no confidence that he could do anything on his own at the moment. The sudden appearance of a girl with... Fox tails and ears... Was more trivial than anything, but--

Hold up, was the one with the brush being overrun?

A few drops of sweat formed on his forehead as he watched the scene, his hands clenched into tight fists before the sound of a bell resonated through the shrine grounds. Ren looked about in confusion as the sound of the bell slowly rang louder and louder with each swing after it was struck, and how what he had assumed to be the skeletons gaining the upper hand was nothing more than an illusion.

So that fox-tailed girl...
Probably a kitsune. God damn it all. Friendly? Didn't quite seem that way.

The sound of the bell seemed to be much larger than what anything of that size should reasonably have been able to create, though that may have been in part due to how much force it was stuck by. The young man instinctively covered his ears as the ringing resonated throughout the shrine, causing the giant skeleton to stop its advance and hold its head in pain.

...

Could that thing even feel pain?

"I think this is a good a time as any to try, then!" Ren shouted as the ringing of the bell began to die down. "G'luck!"

As that was going on and most of the group was focused on handling the gashadokuro, a magic circle behind the bell began to glow, and soon after a white portal seemed to open on the other side, where an older man was seated, his brow creased in concentration as the portal seemed to waver. A few moments later, though, the gateway seemed to stabilize, and the man let out a sigh of relief.

"To think that this seal would fracture now... In any case, you people over there! Please, hurry and seal that youkai away! As things are right now, it would cause untold amounts of destruction if it made it back to the city!"

Ren turned his head in surprise at the sudden appearance of a new person, but rather than make a beeline for freedom, instead turned around and gritted his teeth. If worst came to worst and everything fell out, then there was no way he would live with himself. He was the backup, and that was that. No more, and no less.

Boundary's Edge -- An Urban Fantasy RP

@Kuroyomihime: Accepted. \o/