Jinxer

House of Powers (reboot)

@ghastlyInc

No worries, I'm still at work myself so no rush at all.

House of Powers (reboot)

@Ornatur

Looks great, really got a feel for your character there. I'm accepting your character.

@ghastlyInc

Much better. I still feel that the occult background is a bit heavy though. I don't want it to go as it'll make for an interesting character but it still feels like it's almost the sum total of his existence until now, with a little of hos struggle against it coming through.

A slightly niggly thing on my part in terms of formatting: if you could space between paragraphs it would make it a little easier on the eyes/to read/follow.

Very nearly there. Maybe add a bit about his personality just so we can get a bit of a feel for him but otherwise I'd say we're good.

Attack on Titan: Somnium

@LetMeDoStuff

I'll leave it where it's at - if Grant wants to respond to Lauren that's cool although she's probably too out of it to notice much of a reaction.

House of Powers (reboot)

I'm re-opening this to new apps due to an inactivity. I'll only be looking for one, perhaps two players and it'll be based on character sheet quality, not first come first served.

Please make sure you read some of the IC to get a feel for the RP so that your sheet corresponds appropriately - if the mood of it is doesn't match I will ignore it.

Attack on Titan: Somnium

Snowy Mountain - The Journey Down

@LordVoldemort@Solace@FrostedCaramel@LetMeDoStuff@HecateProxy@Ambra@Aquanthe@wolverbells@QT@SheriffLlama

The first rays of sunlight peered over the horizon, reflecting limitlessly off of the snow capped mountains and illuminating its faces is bright light. Set up on the face of the mountain, the camp began to wake to the unexpected clarity of day slowly. Veteran guides and soldiers emerged from their cabins worse for wear from the previous night's activities and set about their daily chores. Remnants of the bonfire were cleared away and scattered tankards collected to be returned to the main cabin, ready for the cadets' first brew of the day; they would need to recover from any lasting effects of their long hike and the late night as quickly as possible before they began their long journey down.

Toward the edge of the camp where posts marked a dangerous cliff edge one of the older guides was staring down the mountain face with experience eyes, brow creased in thought as he looked up and down the gleaming white surface. A veteran approached him, holding a tankard of steaming tea in each hand and passed one to the older man who grunted gratefully, taking a tentative sip lest the heat burn his chilled lip, and sighed as the warmth immediately blossomed in his chest and gut. The newcomer nodded towards the remains of the bonfire while gesturing at the cabins with his tankard.

"Looks like the kids enjoyed their first taste of adulthood." The comment was made with little nuance, an observation rather than a joke or dig at the still sleeping cadets. In reply the older man grunted, turning his gaze back to the valleys far below. "Although I heard some of them were from Shiganshina. Can't really say anyone who came through that can be called a kid, really." A distracted murmur of agreement from the guide had the man sighing. He gently pushed the older man's shoulder to gain his full attention, raising an eyebrow as he asked where the old man's attention was.

For a moment the guide seemed reluctant to answer but clearly decided that he should voice his thoughts and knelt into the snow, scooping up a handful in his gloved hand and standing back up so that he could hold the white powder clearly at eye level. Blowing on it gently they watched as the snow drifted away, barely stuck together and easily picked up by the very slight wind casting around the camp.

"Wrong type of snow and with this heat..." He tilted his head back to gesture at the sun as it continued it slow ascent, barely begun for the day but already the temperature on the mountain was noticeably higher than the previous day. Even in the absence of the blizzards that had besieged them the sudden shift was unusual. Frowning, the veteran shuffled the snow around with his foot, observing how it moved and understanding the older man's concern; he had been at the camp for some time but the guides had been living in the mountains for generations and knew better than anyone what signs to look for to the point it had become instinctual.

"We were going to send guides part way down with them anyway, to look for any bodies from yesterday. I'll send some more, just in case."

Their attention was caught by signs of life from within the cadets' cabins, the young would-be soldiers eventually rising from their beds to begin the day. Nodding agreement to each other, the two men walked back to the camp and set about making preparations for the journey back down.

---

Lauren Jones

She had been awake for a good time before the first rays of light shone through the small windows of the cabin, everyone else seemingly still asleep around her. It had been difficult to sleep, having returned to her own bed for the night somewhat reluctantly. Dreams and nightmares had assailed her equally, often twisting together or veering from one to another violently with little to no warning. Although nothing like just after Shiganshina it had cause her to wake several times during the night, leaving her to lie there in the darkness and stare at nothing until a restless sleep drew her back in its tenuous embrace.

The last episode had been particularly dark, closer to a rerun of the worst of the nightmares that had haunted her and pushed her to drink and she been tempted to sneak outside and see if there was anymore of the wine available. Knowing that there was some, a release, up on that mountaintop hadn't helped her ignore the cravings scratching at her willpower, especially since she had had a taste of it without drowning herself in drink. Her second tankard had been disposed of secretly by Mora without her noticing, for which Lauren was grateful.

She glanced over towards where her friend's bed was although there was still very little within the cabin so it was difficult to see the other girl's form. It had still felt awkward when they had all headed to bed the previous night and she didn't know how to breach the barrier not set between them. Of course, it had always been there but only she had been able to see it, feel it; built of her complex muddy of emotions entangling her amorous feelings for her friend along with the guilt and self-loathing that had pursued her the last two years. Now Mora could see the same wall and it would take time for them to break it down.

Shaking away the feelings that depressed her down into hiding in the bed, Lauren forced herself to peel the heavy quilts away and slide slowly out and onto the floor. Her muscles ached from the exertions of the climb yesterday, adding to the sense of lethargy plaguing her from the little disturbed sleep she'd had, and cried in protest with every move but she could no longer stay wallowing in thoughts threatening to cause a repeat of her outburst the previous night. She found her spare boots from her pack, taking care not to make much noise, and wrapped her coat from the previous day around her form before sliding slowly and quietly out of the cabin door and into the cold.

Except it wasn't that cold. At least it was warmer than she had expected, the bright sun blinding her for a moment after the cabin's gloom but simultaneously warming her face and coat with its rays. The guides and veterans were bustling about, finishing up their clean up operation around the bonfire and there was the sound of pots and other metal clanging from the main cabin, suggesting that breakfast was being prepared. Choosing to ignore those promising sounds for now she walked across the main square and past the bonfire, nodding a mute greeting to any of the older men who spoke to her, and past two grizzled looking men who were walking away from her destination.

Now she was only separated from the cliff edge by wood posts sunk deep into the ground with frozen rope hung to warn those approaching of the imminent danger they were in. Although not her intention, she edged forwards and glanced down the face, imagining just stepping off the edge and falling to an inevitable death. For the first time Mora appeared in her head as a warning, not to guilt her but as a positive message, a reason not to contemplate an early end. A message of hope.

Her momentary temptation of suicide over, she stepped back and instead reached into coat pocket, finding the reason she had primarily come to the cliff edge. The unmarked bottle in her hand, the same one she handed to Mora to reveal her guilty secret, gleamed bright in the light, the shine glinting up at her as if attempting to increase the value of the object and prevent her from doing what she had planned. Steeling herself against those feelings holding her back, trying to drag her down and destroy the small progress she had made, Lauren turned towards the cliff edge and hurled the small bottle over it.

She watched it disappear, only the glint from its polished surface allowing her to see it distance, until finally that too blended into the bright white blanket covering the mountain surface. Vanished from her sight forever, she turned away from the cliff edge and its dangerous allures and headed back to the girl's cabin to change, feeling a small flame of pride burning within her chest. It was a small step but it was one she had made herself, without burdening someone else, and that made it all the more worthwhile.

Attack on Titan: Somnium

We're a-skipping onto the next scene.

As always, if people want to finish off something from the bonfire scene to tie up conversations/loose ends then you can include pre-skip time in your posts.

Attack on Titan: Somnium

Lauren Jones

Interacting with: @HecateProxy@Solace@LetMeDoStuff@Ambra

Gazing out at the other cadets, the raucous laughter of the older soldiers as they mingled with their young charges, Lauren was split between staying in the cabin and heading outside. She wanted to be there, where the laughter and the cheer was, amongst the people she had spent the last six months with and whom she would be spending the next two and a half years with. By the same token, the comfort and security of Mora called to her from further within the cabin, splitting her desires and needs. Erring on what she knew, she began to turn back into the cabin when she heard movement and saw Mora pulling on her outdoor gear and walking towards her with sleepiness still falling away from her.

Her friend called out and she responded, waving awkwardly to Mora as the other girl joined her by the door and looked out at the cadets sitting around the raging bonfire. Now that Mora was up, Lauren was more tempted to head outside and join the others and it must have shown on her face for Mora suggested that they do just that. She seemed as awkward as Lauren felt, all her usual tells clearly visible to Lauren as she spoke. For all the good it would do for them and their friendship, her confessions had driven a small wedge between them, erasing some of the easy familiarity that had become the bedrock of their closeness over the years.

"I'll follow, don't worry." She assured Mora then looked down at her feet, suddenly feeling the freezing air from outside penetrating even the thick winter socks she was wearing, and grinned back at her friend. "A good idea, don't wait up. These boots are a nightmare to put on." Heading back to her bed she struggled with the boots she had taken off not that long before, fastening the laces as tightly as she could and trying to ignore how damp they had become now that the snow they had been covered in previously was not melted.

Shrugging on her winter coat and making sure it was fastened tightly, she pushed her way out of the cabin and out into the cold air. It was like a slap in the face, instantly sapping all heat away from her cheeks and any other exposed skin, with the sun now down the temperature had dropped further even though the snow had stopped falling except for the occasional flurry. She approached the bonfire, catching Mora giving her a strange look, worry in her eyes plain even at that distance but she put it down to their earlier conversation. How long would it be before she had recovered enough for that look to be gone, no longer hiding just beneath the surface?

One of the older soldiers spotted her and ambled over, a tankard in each hand, and offered her one with a toothless grin.

"Here you go, lass. You don't want to be out in this cold without a bit of warmth in your belly!"

He waited expectantly as she raised the tankard to her lips and took a long swig from it, feeling the spices and the rich flavour fresher her consciousness as the warmth flooded her body almost immediately. Then she noticed the smell and nearly gagged, lowering the tankard with a shaky hand and looking up at the man who was nodding appreciatively at the now half full vessel, unaware of the shock she was experiencing. "Looks like you've had a taste before! Here, finish that one up and you can have this. I'll get meself another one, we're used to the cold up 'ere but you kids need a bit of fire in you to keep going."

Lauren stared as he gestured with the other tankard he was holding, the man motioning for her to finish off the drink she was holding so that he could give her the second vessel. She now realised what Mora had been trying to communicate to her but it was a bit late for that now. She could feel tremors running down her body, somewhat disguised by the thick clothes belted around her.

Well, a couple of these can't be too bad, surely. I mean, I'm not trying to get drunk... right?

She swallowed the rest of the drink in her hand and exchanged the empty tankard for a full one, nodding her thanks and making her way towards the bonfire and the other cadets a little shakily. The pangs of craving were beginning to hit her now that she had had a second taste, demanding more and more until she was sent spiralling into a deep sleep. On the other hand, she felt guilt; even though she hadn't realised what she was being given it still flew in the face of the progress she had made that night, the support that Mora had shown her.

Forcing herself to act as normal as possible she walked past Olivia and Reese, the girl easing up against the reluctant boy, smiled at them despite herself, winking at them suggestively and then moving on. She thought she could hear Grant singing dimly, although everything was blurring at the edges as she struggled with her cravings and panic and she couldn't be sure that she wasn't merely hallucinating. After an age she made it to Mora's side and sat down with deliberate slowness and care and flashed a weak smile at her friend.

Turning her head back to gaze across the group her eyes fell on Grant whom she hadn't seen before, the bonfire having obstructed her view, and she could just make out a large red welt on the side of his face around his eye. Her brow furrowed and she passed her tankard to Mora, thrusting it into the girl's hands distractedly before making her way over to the giant sitting and sketching in the snow.

"Let me see your face." She ordered, firmly taking his head in her grasp and tilting it so that she could see the mark on his face a little better from the bonfire's light. "Did you fall or something? There's no cut but you're going to get some swelling there if you're not careful." She scooped up some snow and held it in front of him so that her message was clear. "In the morning make sure you cool it down and wash it with some of this, fresh though. Come to me if it gets itchy or overly sore, I might have some ointment or something that might help."

The distraction resolved, she turned back and headed over to sit once again by Mora. Her earlier panic was fading a little, the brief reprieve and the absence of further drink in her hand giving her some security and dampening her cravings somewhat, although they still preyed at the edges of her will and she resisted the urge to snatch her drink back to sate her thirst. She shivered slightly, despite the warmth from the bonfire, as a breath of cold air blew across the camp site and made the fire dance wildly for a brief moment.

Out of habit, perhaps, she scooched closer to the other girl, shoulders and hips touching and forming a small block against the wind wrapping around them. It took her time to realise that, in light of the knowledge Mora now had of her feelings, the action may come across as overly pressuring. She almost moved away but that would inevitably draw undue attention. So she stayed, her face a little red and not just from the wind chill.

Aware of the acute awkwardness between them she strove to find a topic, a normal subject, and glanced around at the faces grouped around the fire. "Have you seen Jade? I hope she's not hiding away from everyone. Although I don't see Sano either..."

House of Powers (reboot)

Arthur Seymour

Interacting: No one directly.

It seemed to Arthur that reception to their trainers was mixed, some feeling lucky with who had been chosen to tutor them and others less than happy about who they were stuck with. He himself had no strong feelings about his own trainer, an impassive man who didn't appear to have any particularly noticeable character traits beyond being Russian. Most residents, and tutors, appeared to be from the States as far as he had seen so far. Arthur wondered how he had become infected, seeing as at least most of the others were from the same continent even if they were still from far across it.

Shaking away his thoughts, they were of no use without more information to make useful deductions, he made his way to the kitchen and quickly brewed himself a cup of tea. Grabbing some biscuits on the way out he took a seat at one of the tables and ate the biscuits in between taking sips from his still scalding hot tea. He was lost in thought as others arrived to view the snacks available from the vending machines, considering everything that happened so far. So far they knew very little, although everything that the researchers had said seemed logical, at least on the basis that the core issue was valid: that they had powers caused by an infectious illness.

He took another sip, locking his worries away for now. They still knew so little and he had yet to get a proper read on those who ran the facility. Suspecting that his own tutor would continue to be as impassive as he had been so far, Arthur cast his eyes over the other residents, wondering how he could gather information without alerting the researchers. If they were honest then all was fine and they had nothing to fear.

If they were lying to them then that begged the question: what and why were they doing? And how could they make it out?

With a sigh, he realised that it was coming up on time to return and he pushed himself to his feet, swallowing the last of his tea and popping the final piece of biscuit into his mouth. After returning the crockery to the kitchen he walked back in the direction of the auditorium and the private session rooms, nodding at the other residents as he passed, too consumed by his thoughts to enter into much conversation for now.

Upon returning to the room his tutor, still nameless to him, nodded towards the treadmill and held up a fistful of electrodes. Arthur let the man place them across his body and then stood onto the machine. He started on a low setting worked his way up, letting his body warm up as the muscles got used to the strain he was putting them under; he was in good shape but his days as an athlete were long gone and he exercised less than half the amount he used to.

The tutor occasionally changed settings on the treadmill, adjusting the speed up or down as well as the elevation and taking notes on whatever he saw on his computer screen, presumably displaying feedback from the electrodes on Arthur's body. After a good twenty minutes the tutor signalled for Arthur to slow his pace down and climb off the treadmill before nodding his head at one of the weight machines.

They carried on this like for roughly half of the machines in the small room before, finally, the tutor put down his clipboard and pen, signalling for Arthur to stop but made no suggestion that he should move onto another task.

"That's it for today, Arthur. Tomorrow we will use the other machines and then we will start from the beginning the day after. Your body needs strength to fight this illness, to control it. You are not in poor shape but you can be better. Go and relax now, you are free until this evening."

Arthur nodded, exhausted, and walked out of the room feeling as if his body was ready to fall into a puddle at any moment. Sure, he'd been running and to the gym in recent months but nothing like that full workout. He had a sense that, at least with his tutor, it wasn't just about measuring his vitals and keeping him fit; the end goal was to make Arthur as fit as he could possibly be to maximise his chances of beating the ailment afflicting him. At least, that was the story the tutor was giving him.

Making it to his room, Arthur stripped off his sweat soaked clothes and then stood under a maximum temperature shower, letting the scalding hot water roll off his head and shoulders, soothing his muscles screaming out for relief. Reluctantly, he left the shower and changed into clean clothes, before noticing there was a folder on his desk that hadn't been there before.

Curious, he approached the desk and opened the folder carefully, seeing a stack of papers inside. Instantly his eyes were drawn to the logo at the top left, the insignia of the university he lectured at, and pulled the pile of papers out and cast his eyes down the paperwork submission form. There was a sticky note attached to the top paper and he pulled it off, reading the words written large on it.

Apparently they insisted you mark their work as usual - we'll collect it from your room when you're done!

With a small smile, Arthur scooped up the paperwork and grabbed a small container off his desk before heading from his room to the lounge area. He liked to be somewhere more open when he marked work, rather than cooped up in an office and that was the same here, his room felt too isolated and confined.

Pushing his way into the lounge he glanced around the luxurious room before his eyes fell on a fully stocked bar. Leaving the file on a table he circled round to the other side of the bar and found a kettle and an all singing all dancing coffee maker and made himself a quick brew before returning to his chosen table and sitting down with a sigh, looking at the pile before him.

Despite everything, this small piece of normality was reassuring and, after a moment's contemplation, he leaned forwards and opened the folder, pulling out the first paper and turning the top page over.

Attack on Titan: Somnium

Snowy Mountain Cabins - Bonfire

@LordVoldemort@Solace@FrostedCaramel@LetMeDoStuff@HecateProxy@Ambra@Aquanthe@wolverbells@QT@SheriffLlama

Unnoticed by the cadets who were consumed in the joyous release of the moment, having descended into a snowball fight one would equate to belonging in childhood memories, night had fallen steadily on the snow capped mountains. Although already dark with even the now relatively light snowfall dimming all light, the final descent of the sun soon cast the cabin grounds into almost complete darkness. Lanterns outside the cabins and torch fires around the camp perimeter, set as warnings against absent minded cadets wandering past the security of the cabins and inevitably falling to a snowy death, were the only sources of light; the moon shone too dully to pierce through the still falling layers of snow.

The camp monitors, mostly veterans retiring from long service with a few mountain guides local to the region, emerged from one of the cabins marked off for senior staff. They saw the antics of the cadets, the adrenaline release at their success, and laughed, applauding some particularly spectacular hits, before retrieving large logs and planks from the wood store. Piling this in the centre of the grounds to which all the cabins were ringed around, they soon had a raging bonfire lit and were warming their hands against it. A pair, seeing the fire, kicked their way through the door of the main cabin struggling with a large cauldron between them, steam rising aggressively from its contents against the chill night air. The smell of berries and spices wafted behind them as they approached the bonfire.

"Come on, young ones! Get something warm in you or you're going to freeze out here." One of the older soldiers called to the cadets, gesturing for them to come and join them around the bonfire. He, like the other men, was holding a tankard filled from the cauldron and took a heft swig from it and then sighed in appreciation. "Mind you don't drink it too quickly though, you young'uns might not keep it down!"

The other men laughed but all the same hurried the cadets good naturedly to join them, pushing tankards of mulled wine into their hands. Specially brewed with spices to enhance the warming sensation it induced, along with hefty alcoholic content, it was certainly going to warm their cockles. Growing louder and louder, more raucous as the drink flowed, the veterans mostly kept to themselves although occasionally approached the cadets, usually to top up their drink or crack a joke.

The young would-be soldiers had made it past one of the more gruelling trials of their long years of training and it was worth a celebration. Unknown to them, but known to the veterans, some of the cadets who had not made it to the camp never would and would probably never be found. That night, the bonfire, the flowing drink and the camaraderie were to allow them to celebrate their survival, their success, unblemished by thoughts of lost comrades. That was something for the morning, the night was for the living.

---

Lauren Jones

From the depths of sleep, the rising volume outside the cabin penetrated her dreams, the first she'd had for over two years. She slowly came to, blearily seeing Mora's sleeping face barely a foot away from hers. For a moment she lay there, confused; trying to work out why she had been asleep in the same bed as her friend.

Then she remembered. Her fears. Her guilt. Her self-loathing. Her addiction. Her... confession.

She resisted the urge to jump off the bed and sat up slowly, turning and dangling her feet off the edge of the bed as she try to collect herself, going over their conversation not long before. No one else was in the cabin yet and the sounds outside suggested that it hadn't been that long and yet she felt refreshed. Lighter, the weight of two years of guilt partially lifted from her shoulders and from around her heart.

It wasn't all gone, there was a renewed sense of pain she felt from subjecting Mora to everything at once. Her plan had been just to tell her about her dependency, to seek help and from there work through what plagued her dreams bit by bit. The release had been too much though, it had unleashed a need to be free of what held her back and she had lost control as everything poured out of her, seeking forgiveness and understanding from the only one who could give it.

Her confession? That had been the last thing she planned on happening. It had been tied up with her pain but now it was for Mora too, she had hoped to keep her feelings hidden until a better time, a more neutral time. She turned to look at her friend's sleeping face and couldn't help but smile. She hadn't been scared away, she hadn't recoiled and she hadn't rejected Lauren. She could not have hoped for any more.

She gently squeezed Mora's shoulder and whispered to the sleeping girl. "Thanks, Ra." Standing up she made her way over to the cabin door and listened to the sounds outside, working out whether she could face other people or not at that moment.

Attack on Titan: Somnium

@LordVoldemort@Solace@FrostedCaramel@LetMeDoStuff@HecateProxy@Ambra@Aquanthe@wolverbells@QT@SheriffLlama

Afternoon all. I'm posting this as things, inevitably, get lost in the Discord channel.

With wolverbells and QT busy and shortly to be away, I'll temporarily be taking over as GM (I'll be working with Solace, of course).

We will be continuing with the cadets' training - there's three years between the start of training and graduation and so far we're six months in; a LOT happens in three years (especially when characters are at this turbulent age) and we won't be rushing to get to graduation/Trost and missing out the important growth that will happen in between.

The first step will be moving onto the already discussed bonfire scene (still at the cabins). If there's anything you wanted to get done before we move on then let me know ASAP.

I'm always open to suggestions - PM me though so I can better keep track. Pester me in Discord and I'll get grumpy and stubborn. No one wants that. (Seriously, no one).