I have now been alive for 20 years. How in the fuck.
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likes
7 mos ago
would've loved to explore the concept of a Marshmallow Marshlands.
2
likes
7 mos ago
The only time I've shown interest in a Nation RP was something based off Candyland of all things, but it was dead in the water before all of us were able to submit CSes. A shame too,
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Bio
Current Haunts: Symphony on High - Finn/Timekeeper (Co-GM)
...Yes that's it. Literally in nothing else atm, sue me.
Level: 5 Experience: 41/50 Currently In: The Under, Escaping the City of Tears Word Count: 338 (+1 Exp)
Consul F. So the wretch that attacked them first finally decided to reappear. Omori knew better than to try and attack him now, another kid or not. Seemed he'd rather do dialogue anyways, apparently thanking the seekers for taking Consul P out? He wasn't even there for that. But the red, glowing eye hadn't gone unnoticed. Nor did the sudden large gathering of bloodthirsty residents.
Oh. He recognized some of the faces in the crowd.
Oh. They were being controlled. What that implies was definitely not good...
Oh, he was not up to fighting ANY of them!
The dread creeping up his spine only grew once he understood the fact that they had willingly walked into an ambush, personally delivered to them by someone who really should meet the buisness end of the boy's knife. But that'd have to come later. What came next was absolute chaos. Omori could only go on the evasive and hope the resulting Blade Rifts don't leave anyone fatally wounded. He didn't want to fight them! Not even a while ago he had collected Cnideria for the same witch now throwing debilitating splash potions at them, and he did NOT want to be hit by that grenade launcher!
Luckily everyone else seemed to share the same sentiment of we need to get out of here. The Koopa Troop banded together to create an escape whale that Omori immediately booked it to, but of course that wouldn't be enough to deter their enemies. So like what Therion had been doing, he was helping wherever he could, begrudgingly dealing with any of the stragglers that attempted to jump onto the whale. The chaos was almost too much to keep track of. All he could do was just hold them off. Soon as their mighty vessel reached the entrance to a cheesy cave, Omori downed his swiftness potion and ran. He could endure whatever enemy fire he unfortunately gets hit with, but right now, all he was prioritizing was survival.
Michelangelo, a famous sculptor, is famously known for describing the art of stone sculpting as the slow release of a form as it emerged out of the marble block. It was his role as an artist to liberate the human form trapped inside the block by gradually chipping away at the stone surface. Removing what wasn't a human, and leaving what was. Something most Ascendancy girls can get behind.
This look into Michelangelo's mind reveals something about how he thought. As an artist, it was not his duty to create. The sculptures that he made were always there. He simply had to reveal them. His creations were always there. By his own description of his art, he could not take credit for creating them, only being the one to free them from their marble prison. Either Michelangelo never created anything during his professional career, or the world's greatest stone sculptor said something untrue about his own craft.
Are patrons different than sculptors? At first, you might not think so. They type words on a screen, put ink to parchment, they add to their canvas, not remove from their block. Not initially, anyway. But writing is just the first step. Afterwards, a patron who wishes to perfect their craft will comb their Positional-Orbital-Stalion-Transcript for weaknesses that can be purged from their work. Typos, unnecessary words, imperfections. But those are just small surface details. More drastic things can be carved away too, such as characters with no weight, weak plot points, and other such improvements can be made. "Kill your darlings" is dreaded, but important advice for anyone with an interest in storycraft, and is often the most ignored.
The short version is, less is more.
But removing things was not always the duty of a patron. Sometimes their champions were more than willing to help.
”I think, I'm all, set, my guy.” P.T. loaded a crate ten times as big as they were into the center of a magic circle. ”We ready, to boogie?”
Binky was looking out the window of Boteg's office. Allegedly, one of the last golden dragons would sit here and monitor Penrose. Well, less monitor and more ensure no harm could come to them. Binky felt a connection to this creature she had never met. One was a dragon, and the other was a frail magical girl, but both were powerless to do anything meaningful. If anything, it was Binky's coins that had a larger impact on Penrose, even if the outcome itself was undesirable and made things worse in the end. ”Yea, just, let me get the rest of my things.” Binky stepped away from the window to head towards her bedroom. A napsack in the corner of the room. Some things never changed.
"...Huh. They're still preparing to head out? Then again, time gets weird in places like this. Welp, let's go say hello!"
Not feeling like just going through the front door, Jennifer teleported inside Boteg's old haunt and into the floor other people were in, Finn in tow. "Wait. Shit. She might not be in actually. Hellooooo??? Oros??" She called out, both looking around for the false witch's contact.
Or Finn was just looking for Riona. He hadn't had time to catch up with the bar owner, after all.
When hunting or being hunted by OP pieces of shit, it is common to assume that they will take the nuclear option. There’s no reason not to. Just as Penny will always use her strength and “connections” to solve every problem, Oros should be expected to use Endless Eclipse to spot any potential hazards. Though a wise person uses all the tools available to them instead of just their strongest ones. While Oros does have a sword that lets her see the past, present, and future, even she is capable of taking action in spaces and times that patrons don’t have access to. This was why Jen was unaware of Oros's presence, presumably. In fact, P.T. and Binky had left Penrose for a time, and this was them going on their second outing. Haha, oh how wild it is to play head games with seemingly all-knowing characters.
Though this wasn’t actually a mind game. Oros was just occupied.
With a flush, Oros stepped out of the restroom and rubbed her nails against her stomach. ”Mmmmmm.” She turned to look at Finnegan ”So are you Finny, or are you someone disguised as Finny for the express purpose of messing with me? Because I have a lot more time to entertain one of those people.”
...Well what did you expect? The woman didn't have her powers running 24/7.
What a pleb, not running her powers all the time, haha!
Finn rose a brow, especially at the nickname. "No need to use my disguise artifact right now, is there?" he spoke up, turning to face Oros. "Anyways, this lady...Jen, was it? Said you'd be willing to help me with fighting Penny?" he asked, pointing a thumb at Jennifer when he mentioned her.
Oros snorted, then cracked a smile. ”She said that?” The pink haired woman pointed at Jen with her thumb. ”First of all, she lied to my face and actively participated in sabotaging my plans. Worse still, she was successful. Out of principle I ain’t doing shit for her and certainly not for free.” Oros folded her arms. ”And secondly, I’m sure you’ve had everyone and their mother tell you that Penny is invincible. What makes anyone think I can offer you anything at all? The rinnegan upgrade and everything else from that wannabe mastermind too weak for you?”
With that, the boy's expression blanked out. "Wait what. What'd you do?" His head turned back to look at Jen. She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. She chuckled.
"I owed a friend a solid and made sure to see it through. Surprised you're still not over it." Jennifer explained to him, then turned her attention to Oros. "Look bud, I already know I'm a piece of shit. But the fact is, there's nothing stoping the Grand Magnus from nerfing the poor kid the moment he makes a move against her. Not to mention Doc's upgrades are just a temporary thing at the moment." She explained. "As much as an anomaly Designation: Iron Maiden is turning out to be, I can't confront her myself. Not yet. If Finn can't kill her, I at least want him to be able to weaken her enough for me to step in. And if he's about to die, stall her long enough to get him the hell out of there."
The false witch moved away from the wall with a huff. "I dunno what the hell you want me to do to make it up to you, but the least you can to is just balance out some of his new powers, and we'll be on our merry way."
”The least I can do is nothing.” Oros said with a grin. ”Don’t get me wrong, witch. The date went better than expected. She can make me look like a bloated tic, point a cannon at the back of my head, and make our butler a robot, but I really don't care. I mean really, I commissioned a maid and a fem-fatale: Jailbait erotic robot edition. But I’m glad Nyakannis had a good time. That was what I wanted. She can pretend she hates me all she likes, but we went on a romantic outing and she enjoyed herself.” Oros crossed her brow. ”But that doesn’t excuse you of delaying a process I was trying to expedite. The fact of the matter is that there’s nothing you can offer me. You’re worthless, and the only thing that gives you value is ferrying around this shambling mess of a man.” She turned her gaze to Finn. ”Though maybe, maybe I can have some fun with you while you’re here…” Oros tapped the wall, and a shimmering portal appeared. ”Let’s go Finny, in and out, twenty minute adventure. Oros walked in without uttering another word.
Despite her words, Jen was unphased at being called worthless. She simply shrugged and left the other two to their own accord.
Finn himself was unsure if he should follow Oros through the portal. He took a moment to think, then stepped through.
And what resided on the other side of the portal? Was it a strange lab of the likes that no one had ever seen? Perhaps it was world zero, the first of several hundred worlds to fall to calamity? Maybe it lead to a japanese pagoda at the edge of the universe? No, it was stranger than all of those.
Finn’s shoes would click against the floor. White and gray tiles were illuminated by strips of fluorescent lights. Pedestrians pushed carts around, opening freezers and grabbing canned goods off of shelves. There was a palette stacked six cases high with soda, all while some country music droned softly in the background.
Wait, this was just a supermarket!
”And that, Finn, is how you should avoid acting.” Oros was looking over a can of beans before returning it to the shelf. ”There is an unspoken rule that if you’re well liked, good things will happen to you.” She walked towards the lad. ”The power that Nykannis gave you should be more than sufficient for defeating anyone, even Penny. But this world does not conform to logic. Being stronger than someone on paper is not an indication that you will win. People need to want you to win ” She shrugged her shoulders. ”Oh sure, the same tired faces will get propped up as “oldies” and “legacy champions,” and they’ll continue sucking on the silver spoon like little toddlers. But not everyone with power is so old. Sometimes the Grand Magistrate takes a shine to people for other reasons.” She stopped in front of Finn. ”I cannot give you power, or grant you the wisdom to defeat Penny. But I can teach you charisma.” She placed a hand on his back. ”Not the sort of charisma that makes people like you, but the sort of charisma that makes gods like you. What will make patrons covet your company, and long to see you succeed.”
Charisma? Not what he expected, but hey, Nykannis said he'd needed to think smart for this ordeal. Guess this is part of that. "Here I was thinking both you and Dr. Nykannis didn't like me that much." Finn said. "Whatever it takes to put the odds in my favor I suppose. What'd you have in mind?" He tilted his head slightly as he asked.
”No one likes a beggar.” Oros grabbed a shopping cart and started pushing it to the back of the store. ”So! Attaining the interest of patrons, especially powerful ones, is not the same as seducing your love interest. It’s easier to think of yourself as a storybook character. What would you like to see someone else do if they were in your shoes? That sort of stuff. But it’s made more complicated because those people also have their own champions that they are actively trying to prop up. So applying standard storytelling practices to yourself is not the full answer!” The cart had a lazy wheel, but Oros was able to force it over to make a turn down one of the center isles. ”In order to see where you’re lacking, I need to ask you some questions.” She placed a hand on Finn’s shoulder. ”Personal questions.” She leaned into him. ”You need to talk to me like I’m your therapist.” After they gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment, Oros released Finn and looked ahead. ”There are five aspects of your ‘character’ that can determine how quickly you will be endeared to these patrons. Not everyone cares about each aspect, but having all five really helps. Well, in normal situations it would.” She picked up a can of corn and held it out to Finn. ”The first is the ‘Character Arc,’ one’s ability to mature and develop over time. But I’m going to be honest, nobody really cares about this one. It’s been over four years and everyone’s still carting around the same baggage, or they left Penrose. We can just skip it.” Oros dropped the can into the shopping cart and shoved it as far back as she could. ”Motivation, on the other hand, is something that matters dearly to many. It is one’s reason for making the choices and taking on the tasks that they do. The ‘why’ rather than the ‘what.’” She let go of her cart and picked up two large jars of pickles. The special seasonal ones that were extra big for family get-togethers. ”Why is removing Penny from power, or even remaining in Penrose, so important to you?”
The boy idly followed Oros, making sure to pay attention to what she was saying. The idea of talking to her like she's his therapist did make him rose a brow, but he didn't question it. When asked about his motivations, he took a moment to think of the right words to explain.
"From what I've learned about Penrose, it's been locked in some weird cycle of conflict between everyone's favorite higher ups. And no matter what people do, nothing changes. The Mint is still at large, and Beacon is Beacon. So why hasn't anyone made a better effort to restore order?" He began to explain, looking over the contents of the isles. "The Ascendancy? I'm not concerned about them. For however long I've been on their shit list, I continue to evade capture. As much as I want to prove I'm more than the Sinner of Wrath they know me as, I don't exactly have a choice to do so sometimes. Hah, not to mention I'm still trying to settle my anger issues with my actual therapist...."
Finn picked up and looked over a bag of chips. "Anyways, for someone who calls herself a "Queen", Asimov hasn't really done anything to deserve that title. At least from what I can tell. She hasn't made an active effort to find the source of the Mint's activity, and I doubt she'd ever go against Beacon unfortunately. Instead she, what, makes one bunker and hides a quarter of the population in it?" He looked back to Oros. "A leader shouldn't just...let their people live in fear, y'know? They shouldn't have to just hide and hope things will turn out better on their own. And what of the mundane side of Penrose? If it's your city, then why not protect that side too? I wanted to focus on restoring that end but...I dunno." For a moment, he appeared a bit lost.
"I don't have a choice in this either. The only way she'd be rid of her crown is if I kill her. I don't want to resort to assassination, but if I have to be the bad guy, might as well. And I know, Maura hasn't helped much either, and now there's Wonderland causing stuff like what happened at Bolorton, but perhaps getting rid of one of the top dogs will finally cause something to change here." Finn then shrugged. "Or all of this will be pointless and we can just leave the town to the dogs, I don't fuckin' know anymore. What I'm trying to say is people are being useless and if I topple one down, the rest hopefully will follow suite like dominos."
”Oh, do we have some work to do here!” Oros continued to pick up jar after jar of pickles and loaded them into the cart. ”It’s fine to hate on people for doing a less than adequate job. Your concerns about Penny’s leadership are valid, but let’s be real, what have you done?” She gestured for Finn to push the cart. ”Maybe Penny gets everything for free, but she’s also one of the only person with her hand out. Ya gotta move that cute little butt of yours if you want to make change, Finny.” Oros whipped a deed out of her vestments. ”Just so happens I’m the proud owner of the Golden Trove. Prior to me leaving it, I was trying to get more human occupants. I’ll charge you exactly what Su charged me for it. ” She shoved the deed into Finn’s chest. ”Merry Christmas, you can wipe your tears with it if you like, it’s laminated. But that does bring us to the third aspect: Activity Level.” Oros plucked up a box of pop tarts and turned to look at her apprentice. ”It’s not quite what it sounds like. People like proactive champions over reactive ones. Again, this is something that Penny has over a lot of other patron champions. She doesn’t wait for shit to happen, she is constantly looking for things to do. I could question the validity of a lot of things she does, but by golly, the grand magistrate isn’t about quality, it’s about quantity!” More poptarts rained into the cart. ”Am I correct in assuming everything you’ve done since you’ve come to Penrose has been a reaction? Do you just follow orders and go with the flow, or do you spot problems and come up with your own solutions? Does life happen at you, or do you happen at life?”
Finn's brows rose as the deed was handed to him. Okay then. Atleast this won't stop Riona from reopening the hotel. Then they moved on to the next topic, and he tossed the bag of chips into the cart.
"I mean, I'm always looking out for new cases!" The boy seemed to perk up once he mentioned it. "The one of Mariette's missing mirror kinda went dead, but the Wonderland court has been something of interest recently. Obviously." He explained. "Maybe I may have followed orders when I first became a full-time magical boy, but with how long I've lived I eventually just do what I want. What I have to. Yknow, odd jobs!"
”Right, you know who else sought out new cases? Sammy. You know what she’s doing? Running away from the Mint. If you’re serious about one-upping Penny, you’re going to have to make sure you take on jobs that help with that aim. Forging alliances with other patron champions, discovering powerful artifacts, not, ‘odd jobs.’” Oros pulled the chips out of the cart and tossed them into the next aisle over. ”There’s no room for garbage in the metaphorical character cart! Now, let’s go to the meat section.”
"My chips..."
Oros guided Finn along, keeping an eye on the cart and its contents. ” Which just leaves two facets left. There’s the struggle. You mentioned that you have anger issues, which sort of works. Some would argue that in order for a flaw to be real, it has to hamper the champion a bit. But I don’t think flaws are really in the grand magistrate’s interests. Penny can turn on and off her monsterous urges at will. Furthermore, she can befriend people easily despite the many times she's been used by others. Even Mika's flaws went largely ignored. It’s just not something you need to concern you with. But the last one, ohhh the last one. This one is a doozy, but it’s the most important facit.
Likability.”
By this point, they were at the deli counter.
”There are many ways to decide likability, but let’s take a short list from a well renowned story consultant. Michael Hauge consults on a lot of Will Smith’s movies, and since that guy is a huge ass hole that plays likable characters, mister Hauge must know what he’s talking about. According to him, there are four traits you can give someone to make them instantly likable.” She started pointing at cuts of meat. ”They need to be good at what they do, they need to be funny, they need to be the recipient of an undeserved misfortune, and they need a strong moral code. Would you say you have any of those?”
He took another moment to think. "Now some of that's just subjective. I mean, I think I'm better at what I do than how I used to be. Not sure if people find me funny, and I've done my best to keep my moral code strong. Misfortune wise?" Finn then went silent. He frowned, glancing away. "There are some things I'd rather not dwell upon from the past, yeah. But that was then, and all I can do is just press on and not let it burden me."
”Being good at something isn’t so subjective, but it’s whatever. There are lots of ways to be likable. The possibility is there for you, certainly.” With an exhausted sigh, Oros leaned on the cart. ”The problem is, however, that our story is not a traditional one. When someone watches a movie or reads a book, they want to be able to relate to a character. Especially the protagonist. But for patrons, it’s more like a multiplayer video game. Champions they don’t control do not serve as their point of view into our world. While it is still important that you are strong in the aspects we discussed, you also have to appeal to their ego. And by that, you need to interact with the patron’s champions.” She looked side to side. ”I mean just look at us. I have no real reason to give the Golden Trove to you over anyone else. There are plenty of people who hate Penny. But none of them came to me for assistance.” Oros poked Finn in the chest before walking off. ”Follow me, let’s check out.”
Though as Finn would soon discover, there was quite a line.
”I think the reason why the Grand Magistrate loves Penny so much is because even though she’s just a blatant power gamer with a god complex, it’s the closest thing they have to someone who’s trying to stitch together this shithole. There are a few choice words I have about that, but I’d like to keep this conversation under thirty pages.” Oros grabbed Finn’s shoulders. ”So here’s what I think. If Penny is going to be scrounging up Beacon and as many magical entities as her cold, greedy, metallic hands can clasp, you need to do the same. Round up the mundane people, make alliances with the people she’s ignoring. And you can mingle with mint agents, but for the love of god, make sure they aren’t Grand Magistrate controlled ones. Unless they are controlled by the Lord of Flames, but do be on your toes.” She leaned over Finn’s shoulder. ”Oh here’s an idea! You have anger problems right? So you want to kill Penny, but part of you wants to shy away from your dark past and give Penny a chance to share her monopoly of power. Offer a bipartisanship or an election type deal so that it isn’t always ‘Queen Penny’ at the helm. Don’t kick her ass with violence, make her confess that she’s obsessed with power, otherwise she would relinquish that power knowing how easily it can corrupt herself and others. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Beacon and Mint are the two most fucked factions in this city. I wouldn’t be surprised if Penny is still La’at’s dog, secretly setting herself up to bring about a great and terrible change.” She leaned closer. ”Whaddaya think? Sounds sexy, right?”
"One of Maura's coven sisters already suggested Penny and I work together, yes." Finn mentioned. "Though somehow I doubt she'll want a shared ruling unless I'm one of her girlfriends." He sarcastically quiped, glancing back at Oros. "So that just leaves the election route. Sounds better than having to resort to violence, honestly."
"Well yes, as I’ve said several times already, she’s really just out there to get as swole as possible. She won’t share a crumb of power if she can help it. You will have to fight her, and you will do better if you have people who want to help you. Even if you can somehow defeat Penny, you have the rest of her harem to deal with." The lane was moving slowly, so slowly. It was only a matter of time before she spoke up again. "So little hitler gave you some powers, huh? And a nightmare cannon?"
The boy nodded. "Invincibility, Avatar, and Killing Blow. Dunno if the Nightmare Cannon thing could be concidered a Third Eye adjacent power, but that's mostly to throw a hit at Asimov's mental state." He explained. "I also have access to a strong Mana Font so I can make the best of this."
"Well that sounds impressive. I think we should test them." Several kanji burned through Oros’s sleeve, before the sleeve burst into flames. Her right arm had swollen with muscle, covered in blood vessels the size of pencils. "Let’s try out invincibility first!" She swung her palm at the side of Finn’s head.
Wait, we're fighting now?!
And in a supermarket of all things. How impractical. Finn visibly tensed up as Oros prepared to attack with an unnaturally buffed arm. He held back the instinct to block, instead focusing on activating his invincible state before she struck.
...Sadly that wouldn't stop him from getting knocked down like a bowling pin. But other than that, he remained unscathed.
While a few people turned their head to see what was going on at the back of the line.they noticed that the man hadn’t been roughed up, and seemed oblivious to how powerful the attack really was. To them, this was probably just a street performance. Indoors. In a supermarket.
"Man, that is impressive!" Her arm turned back to normal, and her robe stitched back together over it. "And your mana font is going to help you recoup that lost mana pretty fast! And you have an avatar one too? What’s that like?"
Finn practically bounced back up to his feet. "Right, gimme a bit to focus." He dusted himself off, and took a deep breath to enter the Avatar (Omnispec??) State. Instead of the usual pure red people seen while he's active, his visible eye became a bluish-silver, and his pupil turned into a slit.
"Appearance wise, not exactly as vibrant as the next guy's. But that never matters when in battle, does it?" He held a hand out, and a small orb of light appeared. He then formed another orb, one of water, but then let the water move around his hand like a serpent.
Oh, it actually was. Adding a bit of his usual beast magic, he had created a snake out of water. "It's interesting. I know I can't stay in this state, but it's fun trying out which magic combos work best with what." The orb of light then formed the shape of an owl, and it flew around Oros' head for a moment. The two elemental constructs caught glimpse of eachother, and tried to attack. To which, they simply went back to their previous shapes before anything else happened. "Can also do neat stuff like this, The orb of water thinned out, and he moved it to where the light orb reflected off it, creating a prism effect. "But this is just a brush of what this is capable of!"
"Oh cool!" a few more of the shoppers were taking notice of the magic show happening behind them. It was becoming harder and harder for them to peel their eyes away. "And you have a killing blow power too, you said?"
Finn's brows rose once he realized people were taking notice. Should he keep going? Did they think he was an illusionist? "Yeah! Haven't figured out a name for it yet, but..." He called off the orb of light and froze the water "mirror", letting it fall into his palm. He then flicked it back up into the air like a coin, and let it shatter, turning the pieces into falling snow. "I really don't think I can demonstrate here without severe colateral damange, hahah..." He let out a nervous chuckle.
"I don't follow. Isn't a killing blow like, a powerful, single target attack? So the damage should be minimal." Oros raised her brow. "Riiiiiiight?"
He looked from side to side, then heaved a quiet sigh.
"Well, if you say so. Mind backing up if you can?"
"Suuuuure."
When there was enough space between the two, Finn snapped his fingers, then casted his arm out. A large flurry of vantablack ravens; or the silhouettes of ones, shot out from his shadow behind him. The corvids viciously barreled towards Oros. And with a loud caw, a battle cry, they formed together into one. The giant shape closed in, talons primed to strike.
Oros flicked something out of her hand and at the approaching murder of crows. What Oros threw wouldn’t matter nearly as much as its effect. Whatever it was, it caused her to blink directly in the flight path of the killing blow.
"Yes! Come take me sweet embrace of dea-!" …Was all Oros was able to get out before she was pulverized by the grim attack. As far as survivability goes, few girls had more tricks than Oros. She was immune to pain, most forms of harm, could function even if all of her arteries were removed, and could even resurrect so long as she had enough mana to do so. But once the murder of crows hit her, there was nothing to grow back from. Her flesh and bone had been devoured almost instantly by a thousand tiny beaks. The only thing that remained of Oros was her sword, which clattered to the ground before disappearing in a puff of black mist. When the crows dispersed, there was nothing left.
The shoppers clapped their hands, clearly enjoying the vanishing act, if not understanding exactly how it had been done.
Further down the isle, Finn noticed the bag of potato chips that Oros had thrown earlier. It looked like they had landed on top of a few loaves of bread.
Once the wave of corvids finished their feast, they dispersed from their formation, and faded as they flew away. With a huff, Finn went out of his transformed state...
Then his eyes widened once he realized what happened.
It hit? She let it hit?? It killed her??? There wasn't a cadaver or anything that've prove it, but concidering they were in a public area, that might be for the best.
...
Well then. Nothing much to do now than to finish up and head back. And then he saw where the bag of chips landed.
"Hm?" He grabbed the bag again, glancing around before he...didn't put it in the shopping cart. Instead he held it in his free hand.
It was not long before Finn returned through the portal.
”Seems, you finished, the lesson.” P.T. inhaled deeply, allowing the yellow dust from her gun to whiff into her nostrils. ”Do not, worry, about, your teacher.” P.T. exhaled, but it was clear. ”This isn’t, her first, time, heh!”
Binky rubbed the back of her head. ”So what’s the plan now?”
Jennifer looked up from the book she was reading. Looks like she took a seat while she was waiting. "Wait till she pops in good as new? Not sure if the reincarnation process applies to espers. And even then, it can always differ from here's methods." She thought outloud.
”Just sayin'. This, is what, she wanted. Comin back, doesn't even, factor in.”
Finn looked between the trio, then the two newcommers. "And you two are...?" He rose a brow.
”Seriously?” Binky huffed. ”I'm Binky, Maura's head, possibly only researcher. I've been working with Oros up until, well, today. I guess it makes sense she wouldn't say much about me, given how people tend to react.”
P.T. snorted. ”Just the, personal, trainer.”
"Oh yeah, she did mention you once before! I had to get caught up to speed back at Christmas." Finn told Binky. "Just never saw you in person and all. Nice to meet you both!" He smiled.
P.T. totally fogged Finn and turned to Binky. ”Guess this, changes things.”
”Yea, I’ll continue my training without you. You can go set up whatever it was she wanted you to.”
”See ya around.” The pale woman nodded at Binky before departing, Once she was gone, the coin minter turned to look at Finn.
”I’ve gone through something of an awakening recently.” Binky closed her eyes. ”I was getting kind of depressed, but I’ve broadened my horizons a bit. Aria gave me her spell book on artificing, The beacon twins created the white coin with me, Oros hired P.T. to help toughen me up. The red coin wasn’t the magic bullet to fixing every magical girl’s problem. I was kind of down on myself for a while because of that, but it’s like a certain black clad, white haired, katana wielding school girl once told me,” She opened her eyes and smiled. ”I’m fine just the way I am. I just had to dig deep enough to find the person she was talking about. I’m here to make other people better ” She eyed Finn up and down. ”And for you, I think I can do something.” With a wave of her hand, she beckoned the witch and Finn to follow her.
Binky brought those present into her lab, which looked like a combination between a library and a minting press. On one side of the room was a laser cutter, only with the laser diode replaced with a magic wand. There was the coin press, and then a few tables covered in books and notes.
”Oros dragged all this stuff from dead dimensions for me, or so I’m told. It was in rough shape, but with some polish I was able to get it in shape. ” She reached inside the coin press and pulled out a red coin. No, it wasn’t a red coin, it wasn’t quite a ruby coin either. It was a bright red color though, vibrant enough that it left no shadows in Binky’s outstretched hand. ”I call it the Vermilion coin, after Cradle’s founding mother.” She placed it in Finn’s hand. ”It’s my greatest creation, for the moment, heh.” She rubbed the back of her head. ”It’s the only one in existence, at least for now. But the magic that went into it has all been tested, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t work.”
"Curious..." The boy uttered, holding up the vermillion coin inbetween his fingers. Seeing as Nykannis' coins didn't have any unsavory side effects he was aware of, one more couldn't hurt, right? He flipped it up into the air, using the coin as soon as it landed back in his palm-
Only Binky caught it just before he could.
”Hold on now! don't you want to know what it does first?” She shook the coin in front of his face. ”This coin is based on the same magic that spawned the shine spark as well as the red coin.” She placed it in Finn's palm. ”If you use it, you will aquire the same resistances the shine spark grants... without being converted to Beacon! It's more or less why anomolies like 'pure monsters' can exist. You can thank Penny for testing out the prototype. B-But let me skip the techno babble and get to the important part.” Binky tapped the coin in Finn's palm. ”It is a red coin. It could alter you in any number of ways, so you may want to hold off on using it right away.”
"Eh, don't blame 'em. He's been just going along with this." Jennifer spoke up with a shrug.
Finn himself was caught off-guard when Binky stopped him, but listened closely to her explanation of the Vermilion coin regardless. "Soooo hold off until I need the extra ace, yeah?" He asked, instead pocketing the coin.
”You should at least be aware of what it does before you use it, I think.” Binky folded her arms, and the corners of her mouth were curved to the floor. ”The ‘velvet spark’ as I’ve named it is a desirable feature on its own, but if you don’t feel that you need it, then waiting would be better. Especially since it will have an irreversible effect on your magical form. It’s not something I would do lightly. I’ll add that like mint coins, they cannot be detected by forms of scrying. So there’s no reason to use it immediately if you want to think it over. But once you use it, the genie will be out of the bottle.” She rubbed the back of her head. ”As for decisions that should be made swiftly, I understand this is now your establishment. What do you plan on doing with it?”
"Well a friend of mine has been looking into starting a business here. She could probably set a bar up, let it serve as a front for a weapons shop for other magicals." Finn thought outloud. "Other than that, probably just make this a normal hotel. For anyone. Even normal people concidering someone's gotta look after them. Just gotta be more discrete when it comes to any magical girls and guys that wanna stay there for a night or two. Might need a rebranding though..."
”That sounds reasonable. And what about me?”
"Far as I know most of your side of the team left town, so it's up to you whether you want to stay or go too. He explained.
”My side? I believe we all work under Maura now.” She nodded. ”But fair enough, I will talk with Maura about it later.”
"I meant- Ah, nevermind. Thanks for the coin!" Finn waved it off, and took his leave.
The world around her continued to move as she waited. Everyone fled, Cradle was alright, Bolorton was Wonderland's. She didn't exactly react to it. Until...
Jennifer's brows rose when the Queen managed to get a hit (albeit a slight one in) against Nykannis. And lo, more of the Queen's ranks flooded in soon after. And her commanders, more than willing to rain hellfire back at the Mad Scientist and her team. She didn't act yet. She allowed the Queen and Nykannis to converse for a bit longer before the latter finally left. Then the former finally acknowledged her pressence.
She smirked. Couldn't turn me down, huh?
"Quite the collective you got, Sweetheart! But this event has been going on for long enough. Can't we settle this over a nice cup of tea?" She fearlessly approached the queen and her guard. No weapons, no tricks in sight. "Though if you still wish to try your luck against me, well, how can I turn down such an offer~?"
"Halt! None may approach Her Highness!" The centaur-shaped girl ordered as she landed between Jennifer and the Queen, unfurling her wings and baring her claws. The soldiers around pointed their weapons. But then, a voice rang out from behind her: "Stand aside, Gryphon. I want this vessel to carry me for the rest of the day." The Queen had unsummoned her weapon, and waved the monster girl away dismissively. Gryphon grit her teeth, but then slowly stepped to the side, and the rest stood down. "Besides, she has piqued my curiosity..." She met Jennifer's gaze with her own, displaying a royally haughty disposition. "What do you think could be settled here in the first place?"
At this, Jennifer allowed her glided clock eye to be revealed. "Oh, just a little theory I wanna confirm!" Her intense gaze remained even as she tilted her head with an ever prevalent smile. "We bear a similar power, you and I, do you not?"
The Queen looked disappointed. "Ah. I see. A mere pawn, playing at a Power." She slowly shook her head. "Yes, someone like you would assume I also possess a boring ability like glimpsing into the future, I suppose." She sighed. "Did I get that right?"
Close, but not quite!" Jen winked, tapping the side of her head. "Sure, the concept of the Exodus of Time was limited to seeing into future willingly or otherwise at first, but since this reality's more magic based, it gives me more freedom against those dreadful limitations!" The jovial woman explained further. "The Powers-That-Be couldn't stop me from breaking the rules against time travel, could they? Hahah!"
She folded her hands behind her back. "But you can't really blame me for being curious, Queenie! How you spoke to Finnegan and Mac, your talk about being the one to "shatter" the rules of this reality, and how you will see that it reaches its rightful conclusion? Ever the more curiouser~" She tilted her head to the other side. She purposefully left out one other detail, but the color of one's eyes was a relatively minor detail.
The Queen grimaced at the mention of the Powers-That-Be. "That's right. Once I attain the Nexus, I will be able to reach beyond this plenum, and crush the Grand Magistrate. But I am merely wasting my time on the likes of a puppet like you," she afterwards said, and turned away. "The only one who could truly understand me had already left."
"Cute little analogy, but you're still no different in that regards." Jen puffed a cheek out. "Trying to release yourself from your own strings or not, you're still this chapter's bad guy. Your plot armor ain't gonna keep you safe forever! The bad guy must be defeated eventually, as all stories go." She rocked in place on the balls of her heels. "Do you even know where the Nexus is? What's your motivation for doing all this anyways?"
"Is it really all just for Alice?"
Ugh, saying that name outloud left a sour taste in Jen's mouth.
And as she gulped, she felt cold steel against her throat, the Queen having drawn her weapon in the blink of an eye. How could she not foresee this? It was as if the action was outside their perceived reality. "...Mention her name again, and it is off with your head." She kept the weapon completely still, gauging the Witch' reaction. The latter could tell her words had affected her deeper than her expression let on.
Jennifer wasn't smiling so much either. In fact, something about it seemed to trouble her as well.
"Trust me, I never wish to speak of that name ever again. This will hopefully be a one time thing, if I have any say in it."
As much as a small part of her wished to know more, the rest forbade it.
After a grueling ten seconds, she lowered the sword. "This is not just for any single person, but for us all," she afterwards spoke. "I took on the role of a villain, for only then will the script develop as I want. Their precious Penrose must be challenged and in mortal peril for the stage to be set...and for the Nexus to fully manifest." She smiled disturbingly. "That is how the letters form on the parchment, how the sentence is punctuated, right on the dot. Powers they may be, but in the end, even the Grand Magistrate bow to the laws of narrative."
The false witch listened closely. "For what good is a plot without a proper narrative, right? A willing villainess, ready to bend the world to her whim so that her desired ending may be achieved..." She noted. With that, her smile returns.
"Mayhaps we are leagues apart in strength, but our goals still align, nonetheless. Perhaps we can arrange something!"
The Queen lifted an eyebrow. "And what, pray tell, would that something be?" "Your Highness, If I may be excused." The Mad Hatter spoke up, having listened to the conversation from the sidelines. "Witches are not to be trusted. She is simply luring you to her peppermint house so she can cook you in the oven, if you pardon the metaphor." The Queen glanced at the dapper inventor, and looked back at Jennifer. "He makes a good point. What reason do I have to trust you?"
Jen pretended to be flabbergasted. "In name only, Hattie! You really think they'd suddenly exempt their rule against witches of time and space now? I only go by the title to blend in!"
She turned her attention back to the Queen. "You're not gonna get anywhere with Penrose with their current hierarchy. I know you tried to parlay with Miss Paragon-of-Penrose back there, but she was never gonna hear you out!" She told her. "BUUUT I believe if your theory holds any weight, getting rid of Penny should cause enough chaos to draw the Nexus out of its hidey-hole!"
The Mad Hatter seethed at the insult. "That's Mister Hatwington to you, hexlet!" Jen simply stuck her tongue out at him in response.
However, the Queen put a hand to her chin in contemplation, ignoring the verbal scuffle. "Hmm...That would be the kind of development the Grand Magistrate would not tolerate, considering how favoured she seems to be..." She smiled. "Yes, that might be the key to all this. So, you wish to co-operate in this, yes?"
"Yup!" Jennifer nodded.
"Excellent. Well then, I look forward to hearing about your success," The Queen spoke with a wave of her hand, followed by opening a portal. "Now, I must depart. There's so much to do and so little time."
"Hmmm, yeah, we've been prolonging this a bit too long. See ya!"
...
Though once the Queen of Hearts and her army finally left, Jen stayed behind for just a bit longer.
"...You got all that?"
”I don’t know what to say. I probably shouldn’t say anything… Let’s meet up with Nykannis later!”
The thought helped him manage a weak smile. "Y-Yeah." Though before Finn could talk further, Mayra had begun attempting to reattach his head. He quickly caught it when the first attempt didn't work.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow-"
Hammering it back down onto his neck didn't work either, if his reaction meant anything.
And then Mayra suggested welding.
Finn quickly shook his head. "HELL NO!" His short-lived fright would change to unamusement when Mayra's reaction implied she was joking. He remained silent as the dragon girl updated Penny on his condition. The implications that he was technically a monster boy now didn't exactly sound great to him like she thought. For years he tried to avoid being corrupted, and now...
It couldn't be that, could it?
Then Iron Mouse finally reappeared, thanking Mayra for getting him out of there. God, he felt mortified being reduced to this in front of the new agent. "Mhm." He answered when Mayra asked if they knew each other. He would've nodded but, yknow. Iron Mouse suggested they grab Oliver and retreat, though she worded it funny.
"That...sounds good."
God, he hated feeling so vulnerable. Hopefully Oliver won't be livid when he sees what happened to him. It may have reduced him to half his mana, but they did it! Everyone was evacuated.
"Sorry fellas, but I gotta look for my teammates! Good luck to you all!" The real Oliver would call out, hurrying off to look for Finn and Iron Mouse.
I swear to god if either of you got hurt-
The ghost would overhear Iron Mouse calling out for him. It took him a bit to get what she was refering to. Pandora's Box. Things have escalated out of their control. He ran over to them. "Jesus, I was starting to get worried!" He grinned, looking between Mouse and Mayra.
And then he saw Finn.
Oliver's eyes widened, and he could feel his blood starting to boil. "Who the FUCK-"
"Please don't scream!" Finn quickly spoke up before the sentinel spirit got any bright ideas. "Please. Let's just...get out of here."
The ghost took a few deep breaths, for Finn's sake. Whatever happened out there must've really scared him if he's like this. "Right, we're done here."
"The place is done for Justine, come on! We're leaving!"
"Good work out there, agents. But Finn, that was really wreckless of you! We're lucky you're still alive!" Once all the cradle agents were regrouped, they'd hear Maura talking to them through their coms.
"S-Sorry Maura..."
"You've done wonderfully for your first mission, 'Miss Mouse'. I'll see what we can do with these hearts we got."
...
..
Now what of dear Jennifer?
Maybe if Nykannis' rain of killing blows doesn't stop the Queen, she could have a little chit-chat with Miss Storyslayer herself.
While the meeting at the Soul Sanctum was ongoing, Omori finally found somewhere to clear up some space in his inventory. Though it did take him a moment to decide what to part with. He had a lot of weapons now, and that was discounting his trusty knife. Sunny might need something to defend himself with, so he decided to keep the combat knife. The boltok pistol was doing good for him, even if ammunition is an obvious concern. Luckily he picked up some more during sewer recon. Revolver might be worth something, but it felt interesting wielding a sword (or at least something along those lines). He had yet to see how the Boxing Glove would fair, so that leaves:
- Dance Instructions - Endless Summer Life Preserver (x2) - Serrated Knife - Machete and Pistol
Amount Earned: 820 Geo
Surprisingly, not a bad payout! Maybe he could’ve sold more of his collection of weapons, but eh, maybe someone would need one in a pinch. Now, what to do with this money…
There was an amusement park nearby…
...
Among the colorful and whimsical atmosphere of the amusement park did the black-and-white color scheme of the boy stick out. He could be seen stopping on occasion at various game booths to test his skill and luck. Definitely not cause he wanted some of the prizes! Though with how tightly he held the stuffed animals in his arms, maybe he kinda did? Omori stopped short in front of one of the roller coasters, dampened by the endless rain. He didn’t want to get his plushies drenched, but maybe it’d be fun to ride. Right?
“Oh hey! Omori!”
As the boy debated the merits of a roller coaster ride, and whether or not it would be worth a thorough soaking of both self and property, he heard a familiar woman’s voice shout his name. He turned to see none other than Ms Fortune trotting toward him beneath the colorful canopy of circus tents, a cheerful smile on her face as she waved hello. To think, it had been just over a day the two had known each other by now, and yet they’d already been through so much together, from the perilous river ride to the scrap with the pirates to the mad dash through Nyakuza Metro to the untold horrors of the Basement. So far though, it had never been just the two of them. Now seemed like a good time to rectify that.
“Heya, how’s it goin’? Saw ya from a mile away, you bein’ the only thing not done up in rainbows and polka dots.” She crossed her arms, grinning at the boy’s haul of stuffed animals. “Now there’s a nice sur-prize. Guess we both got busy. A bunch of us worked our way through this creepy place called the Soul Sanctum. It was kinda freaky, if I’m bein’ honest, but not as in-tents as the circus!” Nadia giggled to herself, tactfully and unabashedly reusing the pun she said with nobody around earlier.
Well, the unintentional tendency remained unintentional. ”I’d bet it was.” The corner of the boy’s mouth quirked up as he hugged his new plush collection close. Something was still wrapped around his neck, so perhaps he was trying to obscure it from view. ”What did you find out?”
“So here’s the deal. We found this wizard guy named Gallo, and he gave us the scoop. We’re definitely goin’ after that crappy li’l Consul who’s been pushin’ us around, P-brain. And to make it easy, we’re takin’ out his lackeys first. The one I’m lookin’ for in the Amusement Park is their top assassin, disguised as a redhead girl named Monica. I thought it’d be easy to find her ‘cause the people here are like ninety-nine percent monster, but I haven’t seen a damn thing.” The feral furrowed her brow, scratching her head. “Only human girl I saw was by the throwin’ knives, but she had, like, orange hair. Not red.” She glanced at Omori. “Wanna gimme a hand lookin’ around?”
An assassin? In here? Well, it’d be easy to slip through the crowds with how busy it is. Would anyone notice if someone conveniently disappeared? Omori nodded. He hadn’t been able to fight alongside just Nadia yet, so he was more than willing to help his friend out.
”You sure he didn’t mean like, ginger hair or something?” He had to ask. ”... Were you looking for literal red hair?”
For a moment Nadia stood there staring at Omori, her mouth slightly ajar as she blinked a few times. “...Oh.” Then she clapped both her head with wide eyes, squashing her ears beneath her palms. “Oh! Oh-oh-oh! That was- she- hot damn, I walked right by her and didn’t even think twice!” The feral’s arm flew out like a lunging snake and snatched Omori’s hand. “C’mon! We gotta get back there before she makes like a banana and splits!” With a big heave she pulled him off his feet and onto her shoulders for another impromptu piggyback ride, forcing him to hold on tight to his stuffies as she took off running through the crowded fairground.
After a few minutes, and a couple wrong turns, the two arrived at the knife-throwing game. This section of the circus actually hosted games that featured a number of throwing weapons, including axes and shuriken, as well as a couple popgun shooting galleries. Once she slid to a stop and deposited Omori on the ground, Nadia tried to calm herself down, despite her pounding heart. Gotta be subtle, she thought, taking a deep breath. With a killer assassin on the loose, and possibly in her direct vicinity, she couldn’t afford to be conspicuous. Gotta be stealthy. Come to think of it, though, her dynamic entrance had already drawn a couple stares. Had she already blown her cover? “Just act natural,” she hissed, as much to herself as to Omori. A cliff-faced nod was what he’d respond with.
She cleared her throat and put on the most genuinely excited expression she could muster. “See, there it is, just like I said!” she told Omori, hamming it up. “Just you wait. I’ll have more prizes than you before you know it!”
”And embarrass yourself even further? No way!” The boy would say in a faked amused jab against her.
Not the best setup in the world, since it not only made it look like she was competing with a little kid but also losing very badly, but she couldn’t back down now. Trying to salvage a little dignity, Nadia sauntered up to the throwing knife game and plonked down some Geo. Soon she was hurling dagger after dagger at the big painted target on the wooden backstop and…well, she wasn’t great. At least half of the knives didn’t even stick in the target, but bonked against the surface and dropped down into the moss. Those that did lodge in the wood seldom did so anywhere near the bulls-eye. As the game went on, Nadia’s groans got louder and louder. For some reason she thought that as a rogue she’d have a natural knack for knives, but as it turned out, knife-throwing was a skill that demanded as much cultivation as any other, and for a feral who fought mostly with her claws and sometimes with a sword that skill didn’t come easily.
Doggedly unwilling to admit defeat, Nadia kept at it. She also kept an eye out, though, and in the course of her repeated attempts to ace the knife-throwing game, she took note of several bystanders in the area. Naturally most were monsters of some stripe and focused on their own friends, family, and diversion than the feral’s less-than-stellar performance, but whenever a human appeared in her periphery she feigned (or at least exaggerated) a show of disappointment with herself to catch a glimpse of said person with her exasperated eye-roll. This meant that when a young woman in a fine bit still functional mage’s outfit of leather and pink cloth showed up, Nadia couldn’t help but take notice. This girl wore a cape as crimson as her eyes and short, tomboyish hair, and though hers was a pretty face, she tarnished it with an ugly expression: a derisive, condescending smirk. Whenever one of Nadia’s thrown daggers fell short, went wide, or bounced hilt-first off the target, she let out a corresponding titter or giggle, not even bothering to stifle it. Her schadenfreude rubbed Nadia the wrong way, and after a minute or so of this, she couldn’t stand it any more.
The cat burglar turned to the scoffer and gave a resigned shrug. “‘Knife’ to meet you? I’m glad someone’s havin’ a good time, at least. You gonna stand there snickerin’ all day?”
“Depends on how long you’re planning to do this, I guess!” Unabashed about her gleeful spectatorship, the other woman stepped forward into a normal range for conversation. “You’re doing it all wrong, you know. It’s honestly kind of pathetic.”
Nadia’s eyes narrowed. “What’s your problem? It’s just a game, ya know. No need to chew meowt.”
The mage chuckled, crossing her arms. “Hey, games are important. Anything can be fun if you turn it into a game.That’s why I’m always smiling.” She flashed Nadia her pearly whites, pointing them out for emphasis with double finger guns. “Still, you gotta play to win. No half-assing it, eh?”
Nadia threw her hands up in exasperation. “Well, how am I s’posed to do it, if you’re so smart?”
“Not too proud, huh? Weeeeell…I’ve got a minute or two. Guess I can give you a pointer. First of all, take that case off. It’s shifting is throwing off your balance.” Once Nadia propped her box cutters’ blade case against the stall, the stranger moved in. Without hesitation she laid hands on the Feral, guiding her shoulders, arms, and waist into the proper position. Nadia could feel the shorter woman pressing up against her back, a little too close for comfort, but she pursed her lips and allowed herself to be maneuvered. “Your technique is sloppy,” the stranger murmured, just a few inches away from Nadia’s twitching ear. “Ever hear the phrase ‘the more haste, the less speed’? Well, it’s true. Striking true with a blade is all about timing…and positioning.” After carefully turning the knife over in Nadia’s hand so that she held it by the blade rather than the hilt, she steered the cat burglar into a solid throwing stance. “You’ve gotta wait patiently for the perfect opportunity. Don’t rush it. ‘Cause at the end of the day, it’s the slow knife…”
Nadia suddenly jolted, paralyzed by pain, and her knife fell from her nerveless grasp. She tried to cry out, but her voice didn’t answer, only a dry, strangled gasp. Slowly she looked down to find a curved blade sprouting from between her ribs.
“...That cuts deepest.”
When Nadia tried looking over her shoulder, she found a devilish, sadistic grin on Monica’s face. Try as she might, the feral couldn’t speak, or muster the energy to move; her body was in shock. Only one thought filled her mind: that she’d been stabbed in the back. Again. Son of a bitch, she thought, gritting her teeth. On her a backstab like this wasn’t fatal, and her numbness meant she wasn’t going to black from the pain or anything, but it still hurt like hell. Her would-be assassin, however, no doubt expected her to die. “What, did you think I didn’t hear you asking around for a girl with red hair? Moron! Hurry up and die already,” Monica hissed. Nadia complied, letting out a convincing death rattle as her body went limp.
Monica withdrew her blade and stashed it in a flash, then immediately changed gears, projecting her voice. “You passed out again? Girl, you’ve gotta stop going ham on the beer tent. Coooome on, let’s get you somewhere to rest.” Slinging Nadia’s arm over her shoulder, Monica dragged her away from the game stalls as if supporting a half-conscious tippler, chatting cheerfully the whole time. “Seriously, I know you get depressed down here away from the sun what with all the rain, but you’ve gotta lay off the booze! One of these days you’re gonna get ten pints deep, blunder straight into a canal, and who’s gonna help you then? Not me, that’s who! Man, how’d you even get sloshed this fast? It isn’t even lunchtime yet! And why…the fuck...are you…so heavy!?”
The sneak attack against Nadia hadn’t gone unnoticed by Omori. But he knew she’d be fine, it’d take more than a stab to keep her down. Quietly, he pursued the two, keeping at a distance and using his prizes to obscure his face.
By the time Monica reached the ferris wheel, her muscles were sore, her hair was bedraggled, and her face was shiny with sweat. While dragging Nadia over she’d found out that she weighed almost three times as much as she looked, which was a lot of dead weight for a 5’2” assassin to handle. With a gasp she plopped Nadia down on a bench in the little dining pavilion, then thrust bottle after empty bottle into her hands to make it look as if she’d passed out. Nobody around seemed to notice anything wrong the whole time. “Whew!” Monica breathed, wiping her brow as she stood up straight. It would be hours before someone realized that this catgirl had been sitting there a little too long. “That was fun, eh? Minus the whole you secretly being like four hundred pounds or something. Let’s do it again sometime.” She giggled as she turned to go. “Oh wait, you’re dead.”
“Dead wrong!” Springing from the bench, Nadia smashed the bottle she’d been given against the back of Monica’s head, dropping her to the floor. The sudden sound of shattered glass caused every monster within a few dozen yards to rubberneck in surprise at the source of the noise. Nadia detached her arm and waved it around, spraying blood everywhere. “Aaaaaagh, help!” she cried, the visual part of her display more than making up for her lackluster acting. “My arm! My poor arm! There’s a killer on the loose, everyone run!”
A chorus of screams rang out as parents took flight with their traumatized children. Chortling, Nadia stuck her arm back on and turned to face Monica as she stood to her feet, holding her aching noggin. “D’you know how hard it was not to bust out laughin’ while you were sweatin’ your ass off carryin’ me here? Real fureakin’ hard!” She bared her fangs and, with her blades back at the throwing games, sharpened her claws. “Compared to that, a little payback’s gonna be a walk in the amusement park! Now that the jig’s up, why doncha show me your true face, Kronya?”
The mage’s pained grimace twisted into a malicious grin. “Ooh, this kitty’s got claws. Lemme guess, nine lives?” She shimmered as her glamor dispelled, revealing a deathly-pale harlequin in scant black leather. Orange, Nadia realized, looking at the assassin’s hair. As Kronya crouched down into a stance, ready to pounce, the odd straps that dangled from her waist arched like scorpion tails as if alive. Her dagger whirled into her hand, and she even went as far as to lick the blade. “I sure hope so. That’s a lotta lives to murder my way through!”
“Come and get ‘em then, pasty!”
Welp. It seems like their target forgot somebody! Slipping through the fearful-crowd-in-flight Omori quickly took cover behind a table, reloading his pistol and opening fire on Kronya while she was distracted.
For the second time in as many minutes Kronya suffered a surprise hit to the back, and like any good shot this one did a lot more damage with a lot less volume than the bottle. “Agh!” the assassin gasped through clenched teeth, gripping the wound that Omori’s bullet sliced through her thigh. In a flash a fan of knives flew in his direction, hurled with frightening speed and accuracy. “You miserable insect-!”
”Tch!" Omori was forced to duck back under cover and hope the table could take a stabbing or two. Right. Should’ve expected taking the ranged approach wouldn’t be easy.
She then whirled to face Nadia again, but with the swift-footed feral already just feet away, she could do much more than throw her hands up for protection as her enemy struck her with a headlong tackle. The moment her noggin made contact, with her ears hardened into spikes, she unleashed her pent-up blood pressure to launch her head like a drill. Propelled like a rocket by the bloody stream, it pushed Kronya back, her feet carving furrows through the mossy grass. When its blood loss brought its momentum -not to mention Nadia’s train of thought- to a halt she ended with a sneeze to send her head flying back before Kronya could turn her blade on it. Her body caught her head as she ran in again and rolled it like a bowling ball. The assassin flipped neatly over the low projectile and met Nadia’s claws with her blade in a loud, metallic clash, three times in quick succession.
Aiming to punish her foe’s next whiff with a knockdown, Kronya went low for a spinning leg sweep, but Nadia jumped up to perform an overhead axe kick. This Kronya dodged in turn, dashing backward with almost spider-like speed and fluidity. As the cat burglar landed her foe lunged forward with a vicious revolving slash at her belly, her dagger in a reverse grip, only for Nadia to separate at her lateral midriff scar and pop her upper body into the air. Before she could come down with a curtain-shredder claw slash Kronya delivered a door-buster kick right to the pelvis that bowled the feral’s lower half over, causing her to flinch. When her torso landed her foe double-handed her blade to plunge it down into the stump of her neck, but at that point Nadia’s head scooted in from behind and knocked Kronya’s legs out from under her, toppling her long enough for the feral to put herself back together. They leaped up at the same time and met with a terrific trade, triple-tail slam versus Limber Up, that sent both flying backward, Kronya in a corkscrew launch and Nadia with a ground bounce.
Laying on the moss where she’d fallen, Nadia propped her head up on one arm with a cheeky grin. “If you’re a killer clown, shouldn’tcha go for the juggler?”
Kronya treated her to a scowl as she pushed off the ground. “Vile worm. Your end is near!”
With Kronya’s special dagger Athame both boosting her attack and speed as well as lowering Nadia’s defense, these two seemed fairly well matched, the former with the edge in lethality and the latter more versatile. That meant things could go either way, unless the feral received a helping hand.
He just had to wait for the right moment.
Swapping out his gun for one of his knives, Omori rushed in to take a stab at Kronya while Nadia could still stall her.
“Omori!” Nadia yowled, suddenly panicked. The boy clearly meant to capitalize on what looked like an opening, but the moment Kronya hopped back up he’d be dead meat. She was faster, stronger, and longer-ranged, not to mention a trained assassin with who knew how many kills under her belt. Taking aim, Nadia fired off her left forearm in a spurt of blood, still attached by stretched-out muscle fiber. As Omori drew close, Kronya leaped up from the ground like a coiled serpent, Athame poised to rake across his throat. Instead her well-honed blade neatly took the head off one of Omori’s new stuffed animals as Nadia contracted her arm muscles to bodily yank him out of harm’s way by the wrist. A disappointed sigh escaped Kronya as she saw the plush elephant’s severed head flew through the air, knowing that the stuffing she’d scattered could’ve been blood.
Then her attention snapped to Nadia as she summoned her monstrous Striker Idea. Its veiny, milk-white heads split open to assail Kronya with a swarm of grasping tongues, and though the nightmare succeeded in grappling her, the assassin sliced through the tongues binding her just as quickly. Before Idea could slam her into the ground she sailed away, tore through the striped tent canopy that hung over the dining pavilion, and disappeared into the rainy dark.
Nadia knew this wasn’t over. After spitting out blood from the fresh cuts on her tongue courtesy of Idea’s damage transfer, she jogged over to Omori. “I know ya wanna help, little guy, but you gotta understand. This gal’s crazy, but after gettin’ a taste of what she can do, I can tell ya she’s crazy good at what she does. If you fight her straight-up you’re gonna die. I appreciate the help, but you gotta leave the cuttin’ to me, ‘kay?”
The only response Nadia would get was the genuine stunned silence of the boy. Omori’s widened eyes stared at the innocent plus life taken too soon, its body and head. That could’ve been him. But he had let that poor elephant take the hit for him.
It was clear enough. This woman needs to go. But Nadia had a point, rushing in would be a deathwish. ”Keep my distance. Right.” He nodded.
“Nooo, what? You just gonna let that airhead tell ya what to do like that?” Out from between two nearby fair attractions, Kronya strutted back into view. Her hair was a little mussed and her white skin shined from the rain, but she seemed to be in good spirits. She twirled Athame in one hand, as she withdrew another fan of dangers to clutch between the fingers of the other. “C’mon, you almost had me. One more try can’t hurt, right?”
“Gotta get through me first!” Revving her forearms like drills, Nadia charged toward her to kick off round two. With Kronya boxed in on either side, her room to dodge was limited, and the feral had a great idea. In the middle of her sprint she jumped up and shot off both legs in a blood-propelled dropkick. Kronya dodged it easily by crouching and raised her hand to hurl her fan of daggers at her opponent when she fell, but Nadia contracted her muscle fibers like rubber bands, snapping her at high speed toward her feet. “Hey, Pasty!” Before the assassin realized what was happening Nadia slammed into her head. “Take a seat!” Like a bear trap her thighs closed around Kronya’s neck in a high-pressure headlock, and her momentum promptly carried both to the ground in a brutal slam, the killer’s head nearly flattened beneath her opponent’s weight. “Guess you were right when you said my end is near!” Nadia cackled. “No if’s, and’s, or butts!”
Kronya replied by curling up and hammering the back of the feral’s head with her knee. “Me-OWCH!” she yelped, rolling off her opponent and to her feet. Nadia turned with a roundhouse kick only for her foe to catch the leg against her ribs, and the next second Athame sliced upward. She cut through the scar tissue around the calf’s separation point like butter to easily part foot from leg, then hurled the limb behind her. Suddenly off balance, Nadia hopped back on one leg and then shot off her right arm to try and slug Kronya in the face. After narrowly dodging it the assassin snipped off the connective fiber with another upward slash, then pivoted like a ballerina to hurl her fan of daggers straight into Nadia’s torso. “Damn it!” she gasped. Before she knew it Kronya was in the air, Athame descending like an eagle’s talon in a lethal overhead stab. With no other options the feral fell back onto the ground, spending even more blood to replace her lost limbs with Copycat prosthetics, and bet everything on her reversal Fiber Upper.
Luckily for her, Kronya had been too focused on the kill to try and bait anything out. She took this double-kick straight to the gut, and with a victorious yowl Nadia snapped up to her to combo off the reversal. She struck with the one-two kicks of Footloose followed up by a tail-slap backflip and finally Claws for Alarm to spike Kronya back down. The assassin slammed into the Test of Strength minigame and sent the puck shooting about halfway up the tower. Though stunned by the impact, Kronya managed to look up in time to see Nadia hurl down a level one Purrge of Vengeance, and in a blink she dodged out of the way. In the watery blast that ensued the high striker’s puck flew all the way to the top, triggering a cacophony of flashing lights and sounds.
Nadia landed as the residual water washed over the area, looking this way and that. She’d lost sight of her opponent before the explosion went off and she couldn’t hear her thanks to that racket, either. A moment later, though, the feral had her answer; a black, white, and orange blur zoomed out from the shadows. Nadia tried to block, only for Kronya to dash right past -or maybe through?- her, those magic straps that trailed behind her wrapping around the feral’s limbs. The cat burglar found herself yanked off her feet, hurled over Kronya’s head, and straight into the house of mirrors. “Ow, ow, ow!” she yowled as she smashed through mirror after mirror, finally sliding to a stop with a bunch of new cuts. Wincing, she got into a crouch and called upon her cultist striker to heal her up while she surveyed her surroundings. She’d ended up inside a maze of reflection, lit by round lights from above. Everywhere she looked she saw more Nadias, many of them distorted by the mirrors’ contours into all manner of wacky shapes. “Ugh,” she moaned. “Well, at least I’m in good company for a change.”
A sinister chuckle reoriented her to the task at hand, and when she saw Kronya appear she lashed out with a lunging slash, only for her claws to scrape off yet another mirror. “Uh oh. Which one’s the real me?” she heard the Agarthan taunt. “Better figure it out before I getcha in the ribs again, heeheehee.” Nadia whirled around, peering at the spots where the mirrors met their frames to try and figure out which of the Kronyas around her wasn’t a reflection, but before she could a fan of daggers flew her way. Nadia rushed to block them, then launched her head like a cannonball in the direction the knives came from, but her forehead just bounced off another mirror. As her noggin headed home, she heard Kronya again. “I just love that you’ve got so much blood to spill, but I’ve gotta wonder. If I cut your heart, can I kill you for real? I guess there’s only one way to find out!”
Once she popped her head back on Nadia’s left eye sparked blue. “Y’know, I’m gettin’ real tide of this.” Suddenly, a beam of pure liquid Hydro surged out from her eyes, pulverizing every mirror it plowed into as Nadia span her head like a sprinkler. “CAT-ARAAAACT!”
When the torrent tied down, Nadia could see clearly through the labyrinth of broken glass and cracked reflections to where Kronya hunkered down, covered in new scratches and trying to protect her face from any more shards. As she got to her feet the feral summoned a gang of three Copycats, and together they charged forth. Teeth gritted, Kronya whirled to face them, her daggers ready as she took the doppelgangers on. They dashed or leaped in, one after another, with overhead axe kicks, low slides, or rushdown swipes. Athame carved into their watery forms again and again, but this strategy countered her weapon of choice, and the cuts and bruises they inflicted began to pile up. “Water you waitin’ for?” Nadia taunted, circling around the action. “I thoughtcha wanted to see more of me!”
Suddenly she dashed into melee range, stopping inches from Kronya’s face. “Boo!” she jeered, making the Agarthan flinch. Enraged, she thrust her dagger at Nadia’s face, but she’d already bent low with Hand in Hand. With a thief’s dexterity she snatched Athame right out of Kronya’s hand, then drove an elbow into her gut that sent her staggering backward, winded. That gave the three Copycats all the time they needed to jump in together and perform a triple Outtake all at the same time. With a wail Kronya hurtled straight through the wall and out of the house of mirrors to roll along the moss.
Nadia stepped outside, reabsorbing her Copycats in the process. “I’ll give ya li’l credit,” the feral grinned at her, twirling her new blade. “Your knife skills were cuttin’-edge. But in the end, this kitty’s just a cut above.” She leveled Athame’s end at her exhausted opponent’s face. “Get the point?”
“Worthless scum. Enough the damn puns!” Kronya growled. Refraining from a low blow, Nadia watched as her opponent pushed herself to her feet. A dim black aura seemed to surround her, and her eyes shone a more vivid red. “I’m not done yet. Not with Desperation on the table. Now the first strike is mine, no matter what. Come at me, if you dare!”
Heaving a sigh, Nadia let her shoulders sag down. “That sounds rough.” Sticking Athame into her belt, she pulled out the Bait Launcher. “Think I’ll de-fur this to a purrfessional.”
“What?”
Foom. A prime stack plopped down on the moss a couple feet in front of Kronya. She snickered, producing two knife fans like claws of her own. “A bad joke, even by your abysmal standards. The only dead meat here…” With a manic laugh she hurled her knives. “Is you!”
Her daggers stopped short as they lodged into the belly of a tiger that poofed into existence in front of her. She froze, watching in horror as the tiger looked down at its perforated middle, then back at her. “S-Solon!” she cried out. “Help!”
But no help came.
A few moments later, Nadia stooped to collect Kronya’s spirit. Fusion with such a skilled assassin seemed very tempting, but no, not with a personality like that on her. Plus her whole aesthetic would clash big-time. Still, maybe there was a way to get around an all-encompassing change. For now though, she just pocketed the spirit. “Pain in the ass,” she sighed, turning to go. “If you’ve got nothin’ knife to say, ya shouldn’t say anythin’ at all.” She set off at a brisk pace, needing to hunt down a couple things and split before the mermaid corps arrived.
...
At some point, the boy had lost sight of the two. As much as he intended to back Nadia up, the feral more than proved she had it covered. So, he had doubled back to the knife throwing game to look for the blade case she left behind. Carefully holding it in one hand, he went to reunite it with his feline friend.
…It really sucked not being able to do much.
As if she’d rung a bell for him, Nadia spotted the first ‘thing’ on her list. “Omori! There you are!” she called, glad to see that he’d given the deadly knife fight a wide berth. As a former child herself, she knew just how little kids liked being told what to do. When he offered her the box cutter blade case, she was genuinely touched. “For me? Aw, you shouldn’t have!” By now, the chaos had died down and she’d cleared the disaster area, so things were starting to return to normal in the Amusement Park. After strapping the case back on, Nadia tousled Omori’s hair. “Thanks, buddy. Tell ya what, since that con-knife-in’ assassin girl did a number on your li’l friend, why don’t I buy ya a cotton candy or somethin’?” She put her hands in her pockets and a big grin on her face.
Omori had opened his mouth to speak, but after Nadia offered to get him some cotton candy, he simply breathed out a sigh of relief. ”Sounds good.” He smiled.
”So I guess you got her?” He’d quietly ask.
“Uh-huh,” Nadia replied, choosing not to go into any more detail. Even if her target had been a piece of work, ending another human’s life -even indirectly- felt pretty bad. Better to put that behind her, and focus on a brighter future ahead with an indelible smile. She set her sights on the fairground’s other dining hotspot, far enough from the chaos that its stalls of turkey legs and funnel cakes were totally untouched. Y’know, it’s gettin’ to be lunchtime,” she said, barely suppressing a giggle at her upcoming pun. “I’ll be frank: it’s been ages since I’ve had a good coney.”
Defeat the enemy, everything would be over, right? His plan seemed so perfect. He even ditched the camoflague once he was close enough.
The queen was injured. Still standing, but injured. Why didn't she do anything to prevent that?
His reckless plan seemed so perfect. It was too perfect.
And he payed the price for it.
It was far too late once Finn's sword collided, and in a flash of light and a sickening sound of a page torn asunder he felt himself being flung away, hitting the ground with a hard thud. It took him a moment to regain his senses, and when he did, he saw something very dread inducing.
Briar Rose, his trusty canesword, broken.
No. Nononono- How is this even possible!? Magical weapons were meant to be unbreakable, but as he kept summoning it back to himself, it remained broken.
...Why was he still laying on the ground anyways? He had to keep fighting.
Finn willed himself to get back up. But as the body in front of him rose to his feet, his perspective didn't change. No, not one bit. Its movements were strangely sluggish too. And then he glanced up.
And his dread turned into horror.
W-What.
The Queen. She had decapitated him. But he was still alive. His head was detached from his neck. But he was still alive. There was no bleeding, or exposed flesh and bone, and he was still alive. The Queen, that damn woman that could've killed him, approached his severed head. The words that followed her sickening grin only made his heart race. Even when he tried to remain composed, glaring tensely back at the mad monarch, he was afraid. Afraid of what she might do to him next.
And then she reached down towards him.
NononoNONONONONO-!
Luckily for him however, Mayra had stepped in and diverted the Queen's attention off him.
It was admittedly hard to keep up with what happened after that. If anything Finn just wanted to grab his head and get out of there. As he tried to maneuver his body back over to where his head fell, Mayra grabbed both and rocketed the both of them back to the town.
"Th-Thank you.""Damnit, what was he thinking?! Mac, Finn's still alive! I don't know how the hell that bitch did her parlor trick, but I don't feel our mental link being severed! He's okay!" Mac would hear Maura quickly informing her of Finn's condition. "Mayra's getting him out of there, but Oliver's position is being compromised, he might need some hel- Or maybe not." Things were going well on Oliver's end. The teleporter was quickly finished, the twin samurai were helping speed up the pace of actually getting people out, and a cute magician dude was offering to give him a lift outta there.
"Thank ya' for the offer, but I ain't that willing to leave my teammates to walk." Oliver grinned. Half the populace was teleported out by now, maybe they can actually relax?
Hah. No.
Oliver casually glanced at the teleporter defense being broken through. "Oh. Okay." Well then, he had plenty of mana left to expend. Maybe he can send out a few toys for them to play with. Along side whatever summons were helping with the teleported, the ghost summoned as much armored spirits and clones as he could with the full intend of stalling (or even overwhelming, on a good day!) the encroaching army.
Level: 5 Experience: 31/50 Currently In: The Under, City of Tears Word Count: 385 (+1 Exp)
Despite his hopes that only he could see the entity trailing behind him, that hope quickly died once Jesse pointed Something out. Omori tensed up, his eyes widened as he gauged out how everyone else reacted to its appearance. "You can see it." Was all Omori could say. Whatever this thing was, it seems the two had history. And not the good kind. Most of the other seekers were reasonably unnerved, even Nadia wasn't able to greet him!
Then there was Bowser, who wasn't phased by Something. In fact, he even welcomed it to the team. That managed to snap the boy out of his shock. "You could've atleast been less obvious?" He glared at Something. Surprisingly instead of just sitting there menacingly, the entity shrunk down into a scarf, catching Omori off guard. Okay. Looks like it won't be budging. This is fine. "Unfortunately...or...fortunately, this one can't really do much beside be annoying. It'll just retreat if any of us tried anything." Omori explained. Sure he was leaving out the fact that the wasn't the only Something, but the fact that he hadn't seen the other variants yet was a good sign in his eyes.
Then the meeting started. The main goal was finding more mask shards (The Knight wasn't exactly happy to hear what happened to the Dreamers' masks) and they found 3 in total so far. Then there was something Omori could barely wrap his head around. Lifelight. The flame clock. An endless cycle of fighting and fighting and fighting. The boy was already more than willing to take out the Consuls, and one of them just happened to be nearby.
Then there was the letter Nadia wanted to address, from someone named IGV. The mention of a Soul Sanctum caught the Knight's interest. A group was formed to go investigate, the pale bug included. When it glanced back at Omori, as if asking if he was going to join, he waved it off. "Go on ahead." He said, perhaps unwilling to get himself beat up once again this time.
But that just left one question for him.
What was he going to do now?
After finishing breakfast Omori and Scarfthing Something headed out the door. He hadn't had the chance to explore the town last night, why not do so now?
[Center][i][b]Current Haunts:[/b]
Symphony on High - [color=7F2A3C]Finn[/color]/[color=goldenrod]Timekeeper[/color] (Co-GM)[/i]
...Yes that's it. Literally in nothing else atm, sue me.[/center]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><div class="bb-center"><span class="bb-i"><span class="bb-b">Current Haunts:</span><br>Symphony on High - <font color="#7f2a3c">Finn</font>/<font color="goldenrod">Timekeeper</font> (Co-GM)</span><br><br>...Yes that's it. Literally in nothing else atm, sue me.</div></div>
BlazingBark
Snowdrops
BrokenPromise
rabidbacon
Tlaloc
Chronic
Lildear18
Lugubrious
Mae
Mixtape Ghost N
