KoiPond

Rise of Humanity!

I'm here, well, I was gone to a wedding but I'm still here and didn't really have anything to add after my last post before we headed forward, so I was just waiting for the call-to-action.

Rise of Humanity!

Ok, thanks guys. Just didn't want to kill the fun. On we go then. Also, edited the post to add Darren's name introduction so it can go either way in the future.

Rise of Humanity!

“Oof” Darren caught the bag of wonders. His arm felt strangely full of weapons. Despite holding the weapon equivalent of a small army, he still felt like a dead weight. True, he wasn’t invited in the natural sense, but he had to make the best of it and possibly think outside the box.

“Thanks, mates. I’ll take good care of the boom bag. Though, I should probably be honest, hypothetically there is one way I can be offensive, but it’s probably stupid so I’ll just keep it for the worst case scenario.” Darren shot an awkward smile and tried to convey the sense of readiness and confidence he needed to as they prepared to head out. “Also, thanks for the gun, I’ve never shot one before, but I’ve read a few comics that had them, so it should be fine.” He knelt and removed his backpack while listening what the signal would be and put the contents of the bag in his backpack. He then put the backpack back on his back and put Mark’s .45 in one of the side-pockets of the backpack.

Rise of Humanity!

Andae said
Well, actually, regarding knowing Darren's name, Mark did say he's read files on all of them, and therefore seen pictures, so, he'd know, and since he was the first to say Darren's name, they all coulda learned it through Mark.

True, but Darren might not have even been chosen for the mission, which is what we kinda ran into. He's not offensive, he's strictly defensive which even the other characters who have defensive capabilities also have offensive talents as well. There's also this:

KoiPond said
“Huh” he came across something he didn’t remember taking. A sealed white envelope without a name or return address, but he also found a can of pork and beans, so that took priority.After the beans were cooked, he opened the letter to give him some accompanying thoughts as he finished his breakfast. The letter started “You and several other recruits will undertake a top-secret mission” and continued from there. Two options came to mind as he continued skimming the letter. On one hand, he could do the just thing and ignore the letter, after all, it probably wasn’t for him and there was no way he could get to the meeting place at the designated time.

Since most of the other characters had their letters delivered personally to them, it could be he just forgot it or he took it from whomever was supposed to have gotten it, thinking it had money or whatnot, it was also in a random bag of junk, not lying out somewhere. It's kind of a kerfuffle at this moment. He's either an annoying thief that stole his way in or he was chosen for the mission despite not having very much use outside of being a type of human shield which goes against most of the other character's abilities and their usefulness for fast-paced missions or heavy offensive capabilities.

Then again, maybe I should just bow out, I think his entire existence in this story kinda makes it more confusing rather than fun and I don't want to take that away from you guys or weigh the pacing down. Technically, you guys probably would've already left if he wasn't the wrench in the gears. Plus, it's not like he really adds anything to it. I don't know, I'll leave it up to you guys, sorry for being a headache.

Rise of Humanity!

So I have a bit of a question. Should I edit the post where Darren approaches the group, since he doesn't say his name but apparently everyone knows his name shortly after? Because, it doesn't really make sense that they've included his name in the plan if he's not actually fully introduced, haha. I guess it's more of a tiny question to try and fix a scrivener's error of sorts. Though I didn't want to just edit a past post without saying it for the record to avoid confusion going forward.

Just curious.
-KoiPond

Post that would be edited

“Well, what if someone’s powers were to turn into fire, the obvious nickname for that is a very offensive, derogatory term and would most likely not boost team unity at all.” Darren said, hearing the end of Todd’s dialogue. He squeezed in the group and sat down, cross-legged and stretched. “Plus, think about it, nick-names based on powers, if we’re going up against an enemy with any inkling of intelligence they can clearly think of how to negate all of your powers. Speed negates strength, fire negates plants, water negates fire, insanity negates intelligence. As soon as you get on the battlefield and start yelling ‘Hey Invisoguy, cover me’ they’ll be sending sound waves and watching them bounce off the mass you take up to pinpoint where your exact location is.” Darren took a breath, “Not that being invisible or being able to turn into fire or plants or being super smart are idiotic powers, not at all, they’re all amazing and can be used very effectively, but there’s always a yin to a yang.” Darren, realizing quickly that his first impression was basically critiquing everyone else, attempted to change the subject as to not be killed before the mission started. “So, umm, anyone here like the indie band known as The Beatles that were mildly popular a long, long time ago?” Darren awkwardly forced a smile and hoped his attempt at small talk would help cut some of the tension.

Rise of Humanity!

“Umm, I kinda do have...a question...too...” Darren spoke up, despite the sensible part of his brain telling him that Beau was hostile towards him. He felt like he needed to ask his point quickly as to not raise his ire.

“So, I can create barriers with soundwaves, but I have to be stationary, since I have to keep refocusing new waves to keep up the barrier. The barrier is about the size of one and a half people at it’s strongest and only weakly can protect two people at most, I have no offensive capabilities with my power, and since you said we have to be, and I quote ‘fast and efficient’ wouldn’t my abilities be counterproductive?”

Darren felt worthless. He wanted to suggest aiding Murray and Alex but knew that they could back each other up and all he could do was put up a barrier to one of their backs. Then again, if he went with the rest of the group, he’d just be an over-glorified cheerleader. He needed to think of something, at least a suggestion to aid everyone and get some good will from the group.

“All I could really think of is to watch the door to the tower, but with my current charge, I could only put a barrier around it to keep out any stray ETs for about 5 minutes and 11.14 seconds before my batteries died and I would most likely follow them quite rapidly, haha......” Darren shrugged, his powers sucked. He muffled under his breath “...and I left my pompoms at home...” Darren, slightly confused as to what his role was in the plan, looked at Beau and the others, waiting for some response or to tell him to go home and die since he was right about being nothing but a hindrance to their mission.

Rise of Humanity!

Darren was pulled from his amazement by Todd’s approach and his interest in the box that Darren had taken from Mark Dean. Before he could answer Todd, he heard Mr. Dean speak up and request that he return the box to its rightful owner. His mind was torn between the two requests.

He got on his feet, adjusted his hat and spun the box on his finger like a basketball. He turned to Todd and spoke under his breath to avoid Mark Dean from hearing them. “Eh, this box isn’t that great man, you wanna see something cool? Check this out.” Darren switched on his hard-drives. He tossed the box in the air and as it fell, he tightly focused a stream of sound waves to stop it’s descent into a forward motion, aiming it at Mark Dean. He then guided it into his pocket, smiled and switched off his hard-drives. He smiled at Todd, self-assured of his feat, even if it wasn’t that impressive. The entire thing took exactly 1.33 seconds and only used .12% of his remaining battery life.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about ‘Twain, I don’t got your stinking box.” Darren said as he puffed air out of his mouth and headed over to listen to the plan since it felt like they were all about to put it into motion soon.

Rise of Humanity!

Will be posting in a little bit, it seemed like everyone was busy this weekend, and I was at a wedding, hooray. This weekend was universally busy.

Rise of Humanity!

“Wow, I mean, wow. I believe this might be the most perfect box I have ever laid my eyes on, it’s inspiring.” Darren said as he marveled at Mark’s invisibility box, which he had taken during his rousing speech. “I mean, the edges and the vertexes and the faces, everything is a pristine and perfect calculation of measurements.” Darren’s eyes glowed with the wonder of a child in a candy store. “It almost makes you feel...love and wanted...amazing. I’m going to name it Bob, we’re going to be best friends. Bob the box.” It wasn’t the inability to not take items that fueled his kleptomania, it was the appreciation for “perfect” things or items that seemed to hold worth. It is probably a combination of this and his not hearing the part of Mark’s speech about cutting off hands if someone stole the box that led to Darren taking it and having been far removed from company led him to accidentally speak out loud instead of in his head.

Rise of Humanity!

“Well, what if someone’s powers were to turn into fire, the obvious nickname for that is a very offensive, derogatory term and would most likely not boost team unity at all.” Darren said, hearing the end of Todd’s dialogue. He squeezed in the group and sat down, cross-legged and stretched. “Plus, think about it, nick-names based on powers, if we’re going up against an enemy with any inkling of intelligence they can clearly think of how to negate all of your powers. Speed negates strength, fire negates plants, water negates fire, insanity negates intelligence. As soon as you get on the battlefield and start yelling ‘Hey Invisoguy, cover me’ they’ll be sending sound waves and watching them bounce off the mass you take up to pinpoint where your exact location is.” Darren took a breath, “Not that being invisible or being able to turn into fire or plants or being super smart are idiotic powers, not at all, they’re all amazing and can be used very effectively, but there’s always a yin to a yang.” Darren, realizing quickly that his first impression was basically critiquing everyone else, attempted to change the subject as to not be killed before the mission started. “So, umm, anyone here like the indie band known as The Beatles that were mildly popular a long, long time ago?” Darren awkwardly forced a smile and hoped his attempt at small talk would help cut some of the tension. "Also, I'm Darren, what's up?"