Mirandae

The Spirits Within/Aeon

Come on now, break it up you two.

The Spirits Within/Aeon

I found this on pinterest, randomly! Pretty fucking close, eh? Wolf's head biting a sword.



@Archangel89
This is yet another great idea! I'll PM you in a little bit with something. Also, you need a little bit of GM-knowledge about the immediate plot, so that you can converse about it in-character.

Character Interview Questions

This is a fun idea! I used some questions and added a new one. Character sheet linked in the character banner on the left.

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Emilia had been waiting for an hour, perhaps more. Being stuck inside an Intelligence Division installation gave her the creeps, especially when the order was to 'just wait here'. After nearly falling asleep, slouching over the frigid table, Emilia was shocked back to reality by a burly man making his entry. He was clearly an officer of some kind, and pissed off for whatever reason. She stared at him while trying to snap out of the awakening haze. The man fiddled through some papers about this and that, psychological profile, service records, and so on. He suddenly stopped and stared right back at Emilia, not saying a word for several moments. She was just about to stand up and walk away, or at least try, but the deep, growling voice of the interrogator interrupted the atmosphere. "What do you do for fun?" (@LuckyBlackCat) He said. "What?" Emilia frowned for a split second. "Just answer the question, Lange." "Eh, play with the animals back home—maybe?" She said with a hint of doubt and confusion. The man took a zip of his coffee, not breaking eye contact for a second. The people in Intelligence Division sometimes appeared to be more unstable than the perpetrators they claimed to hunt. "If you could go anywhere, where to would that be?" (@BangoSkank) "Why the fuck am I even here?" She scuffed. The back of the quite burly man's hand came whining through the air and straight across Emilia's cheek, leaving an echoing sting in the tiny room. "Answer the question!" He growled. The slap probably hurt the interrogator more than it did Emilia, but it was not meant to be physical intimidation. That is not what the Intelligence Division specialized in. It was all psychological ploys, tricks, and subversion. "Anywhere but here. Home." She finally cracked a tone after staring at the man for a decent moment. "Who influenced your life the most?" (@LuckyBlackCat) The man continued. "Ben." The letters and word simply slipped out of her mouth. It was not what she wanted to answer, but she was unable to stop herself. The answer was way too personal. Did the slap work? No, it did not. Emilia was still in control of herself, she hoped. "Ben, who?" His voice descended to annoyance. "Benjamin Regardie." "Just say the full name right away!" He shouted and slammed a closed fist into the table, causing an uncomfortably reverberating noise. "What gives you purpose in life?" (@Dark Cloud) He said after taking a second or two to calm down. Emilia simply pointed a finger up into the ceiling, or the sky, as answer. "Speak for the record." The man pointed to microphones attached to the walls around the room. "The comet. Everything is on hold until it's gone, so that becomes the purpose." She said. The interrogator paused the questioning to write something down. He fiddled with the documents again, putting down check marks and crossing other things out. He also had a proper redacting pen, a secure marker, with which he removed entire rows of information. "I'm going to give you a couple of simple questions in rapid succession. I don't want any bullshit, Lange, just keep the answers simple—do you understand?" He continued. "Fine." She grunted. "What is your favorite animal?" (@CoffeeDrunk) "Cow." "What is your favorite scent?" (@Crimson Flame) "Rosemay." "Who do you consider closest to you?" (@Exit) "My sister." "Full names, Lange—full names!" The man suddenly and violently shouted after having been relatively calm in his voice. Emilia's frame slightly jerked at the reaction, still a bit groggy from that power nap. "Maria Lange." She sighed. The man took another taste of his coffee and piled the documents together, as if things were coming to a close. "Last question—What power do you desire the most?" Emilia stared at the man while slowly standing up. He simply waited for the answer, as he knew that the soldier before him would not go against U.D.F. orders. Her hand caressed the door handle, feeling its integrity—it was unlocked. It had been unlocked this whole time. A slight smirk came onto her lips, along with a puff of air from her lungs that was supposed to resemble a chuckle at the bizarre situation. "The power to know what is true and false." She said and left.

The Spirits Within/Aeon

Okay, reality check. I realize it's the middle of summer, but I gotta beat this horse so it doesn't completely die. I'll move us forward to some action in my next post. Transitions aren't super fun to write, really, so I don't want that to keep anyone back.

@FollowthePath@nodogs@RezonanceV
We alright over here? Throwing you a friendly nudge.

@metanoia
Let's continue the comments here. I still have your old name printed in my mind, for some reason. Anyway, you know you're good, I know you're good, everybody knows it. But, there is just something about your posts that is high tier engaging. This flow you have between dialog, description, and narrative is uncanny—especially when you use NPC interaction. You also seem to balance yourself out very well in regards to the type of character you write for. The collection of tropes in your character could easily get out of hand in the wrong hands, but it really shines in yours. Your writing is also on point. I mean, it checks all the marks, all the tricks, all the flavor.

The Last Avatar.

Lovely design.

The Spirits Within/Aeon

@Archangel89
Wow! Look at that. That's amazing. Great initiative! I'll certainly make room for this kind of stuff after we survive the customary brick wall we ran into called 'summer'.

@metanoia
Not at all bad. Finally some action! I'm glad we're getting some posts, at least. I'm updating the character banners with names, so I'll start adding new ones to character as people post. Here's yours:

Hider

The Spirits Within/Aeon

There you are @Rockette. You ready for this?

Even if there's only one post so far, I know a few things about you to make a some comments here. I think you've reached the zenith of your forum writing—that balance between full-on 18th century and contemporary prose is so sweet that I actually get a taste of vanilla and raspberry in my mouth. I absolutely adore your take on present tense to the point of having to actively resist doing it myself. After all these years, you remain the single best writer I've ever met on the internet. I've tried to imitate you so many times—you won't believe—and every time I've felt guilty and ashamed for trying and thinking that I'd be able to replicate what you do. And then there are your characters—oh boy. They're always so flowery, rich, high concept, and full of depth and meaning. Funny thing, after I saw the image for Scylla, the model you use began to appear on my pinterest—spooky.

The Spirits Within/Aeon

@RezonanceV
Good to see that you are still here! The character banners is how I keep track of who that is sort of active. I'll just add you back when I get home. You are good to post. It's still easy to insert yourself.

The Spirits Within/Aeon

Continuing my comments.

@Archangel89
You shouldn't beat yourself up that much. I think your posts are and have been very iconic—they stand out a lot. You've got the comedy-melancholy mixture down to a fucking science. Of all the people I've written with, anywhere, ever, you're the one that has had the best improvement over time. The only thing that is missing now is fleshing out the details to make the posts a bit longer. I'm no writing wizard myself, but I follow two simple tricks: 800-1000 word goal + write a little over time—don't do it all in one sitting. If I didn't do these 2 things, I'd never get anything out that people can work with. Besides this, your writing has become very clean and popping ever since the first game we did years ago. You are also very fast to adapt and understand character dynamics. How you follow up on cues and details from other players, use it, and then execute an interesting follow up is and has always been a strong point of yours. It makes me very excited to see what you do whenever I interact with you in-character.

The Spirits Within/Aeon

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DAY 1 《》 UDF: CETRA EAST COMMAND [Briefing Room - Surface] 《》 06:00AM 《》@Archangel89@Salsa Verde Emilia caught a glimpse of someone she had not seen before. While conversing with Amanita, a well kept yet exotic man likely a few years senior to herself flowed them by. Her first guess was that he were of Anatolian descent of some sort. Emilia did have a personal interest in other Aeons, collecting their names and doings like trading cards, but she had only ever learned about the Cetra based Guardians and to some extent Renegades. All the Aeons from Anatolia were still a bit of a mystery to her, even if she had heard some names here and there over the years. He must be from Anatolia... I gotta speak with him later, her mind wandered. The serene moment that Emilia was blessed enough to have in her mind and conversing with Amanita saw its end rather swiftly. Aaron had the most uncanny ability to disrupt any act of contemplation and scare the shit out of her, all at the same time—just as he had done with that awfully loud and obnoxious laughter when the General mentioned Ben by name. Emilia was not stupid. She knew what he was laughing at, but in his defense, she thought it was kind of funny as well, if not deeply ironic. The smooth skin in her face frowned and wrinkled for a brief moment at Aaron's comments. Prick..., her mind chuckled to itself. "Look, dude, it's just a job. I don't care who it is, but yes, I have nothing in common with Ben anymore." She sighed, but found new optimism somewhere deep inside. "Just make sure to bring your A-game on this one, yeah? He is a tough guy, so we gotta be ready if this turns sour." Emilia smirked and gave Aaron a good fist bump on his shoulder. Emilia continued down the various corridors with Amanita. Eventually, all them found their own spaces to gear up and bring whatever they needed. As they walked past the General, Emilia was rather surprised that Isolde Featherswallow had come along this far. It was extremely difficult to not know some of the royalty and high-profile Aeons that were active in the UDF. Isolde was far more famous than Emilia herself, at least in the social and professional circles that mattered. Perhaps the word 'famous' was a distasteful pick—'celebrated' or 'distinguished' was more in Isolde's league. If they had to bring someone of her caliber in on this, then there was more to it than just a missing Aeon. This was nearly always the case in UDF matters, and only IntDiv ever knew what was really going on. Maybe Aaron knows what this is all really about... I have to ask him later, she thought to herself. When she had a moment to herself, Emilia sorted her chest rig and backpack before heading to the the Armory. The sound of boots walking and running throughout the corridors of the underground complex gave a sense of urgency. Various messages were constantly broadcasted throughout rustic sounding speakers. This kind of state of alert usually happened when Navigation Division arrived, especially Air Mobile—everything had to happen fast before they were gone again. After a few shoulder bumps and near collisions, and signing autographs here and there to various soldiers, Emilia arrived at the Armory where she checked out her weapons. Along with her trusty assault rifle and combat sword, she also grabbed a breaching shotgun and a crowbar. Emilia also made sure to grab a set of communication devices especially designated for either Advanced Risk missions or S.W.A.R.G. business. The technology in the devices made sure that the lines were isolated and encrypted, so no external parties could listen in. A small contraption attached to a chest rig or clothing connected to a thin 'choker' strapped around the neck, which had an ear piece wired to it. When communication is desired, the user can gently press against the choker around the neck, which will register throat vibration and sound. This helps to isolate the voice in the ear piece from other noise that a regular microphone would pick up. Stuff the set of com-devices down her backpack made Emilia think about the fact that she had thrown her phone away. "You don't happen to have a Redberry, do you? You know, a touch-phone?" She asked the man checking out all her things. "This is the UDF, Captain—not some Embergate shopping mall." He scuffed. "Right, sorry." Everything was chaotic and loud as Emilia reached the surface. She caught a glimpse of the Anatolian man again, boarding one of the gunships. She figured that it probably was Errikos 'Conductor' Rigas, but Emilia was not entirely there in her conviction. There were a few other Anatolian names on that S.W.A.R.G. list, so it was anyone's guess, really. Emilia hurried to the dual-rotor personnel carrier. A couple of soldiers hitching a ride were already ready and strapped in. She secured her gear in a seat close to the pilots. "Is the Guardian team ready, Captain?" One of the pilots spoke with an elevated tone to overpower the noise of the technology around them. "Just about. I'll be back, shortly." Emilia responded and headed outside again to see that everyone were able to board the transportation in time. Lore Redberry 《》 A brand of touch-screen cellphones that are widely used along a few other brands. Quest Steps If you want to extend further in your post, you can describe NavDiv Air Mobile taking off and following the route I've marked in the local map. The transport should take about 3 hours, so mark that in the timestamps. As Steelwater approaches, you can describe the 'World Eaters' battalion readying up to attack the city, being far from passive on the outskirts. NavDiv will land near the battalion instead of inside the city. The bombing run from NavDiv jets still happens and can be described as well, if you want to.