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In —(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)— → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Lawrence B. Ellison


On a bright battlefield at night where everything is going to shit.


Lawrence had no time to feel relief at the lack of impact on his back as he moved away from the Eyepion to relative safety. Trusting that he had bought himself a few seconds, he finally had time to catch up on what had been happening around the battlefield since his power had been disabled, and what he found quite frankly pissed him off. Kusari, clearly recovering from being injured and sporting some kind of new hardware on her body. Emma, wasting her time trying to help the member of the group who was "basically immortal" as she had put it during the truck ride over. Christmas on the ground, alive but clearly injured, Sander charging in without restraint, and Hazel still choosing to prioritize his safety over that of their healer.

A faint glow around his body signaled the witch's spell fading, and Lawrence severed his connection with Christmas in response. It was pointless to calm the boy in his current state.

In a perfect world Lawrence would have magic that would actually be of use for turning the battle to his advantage. Their advantage. As it was though, remaining calm was no longer an asset. No, now emotion would be their strength. A stoic did not simply feel nothing, rather he controlled what he allowed himself to feel. Anger, self doubt, fear, all of the emotions that were considered more harmful than good could be countered with reason, and logic, and practiced indifference. Now though, could they be considered more harmful? Here in a place where his life was in danger? No.

Aiming his shotgun once more, he took note of the magic that his two opponents were readying. Fear pricked at him, an emotion that was easily battered aside by logic. However, this time he made no attempts to do so, no efforts to reassure himself that fearing the uncertainty ahead of him would do more harm than good. Instead, he felt the beating of his heart speed up, and his gut begin to tie itself into knots, and fired. Aiming for the first time directly at the witch, but closing his eyes as his finger squeezed the trigger.

He didn't expect the attack to kill the witch. Monsters, as it turned out, were very good at not dying to conventional weaponry. It wasn't an attempt to end the threat in front of him so much as to deafen himself to the world around him. For a brief moment on the battlefield, with his eyes closed and his ears deafened, Lawrence was alone with his thoughts.

These people he was fighting with, these incompetent children who had no real grasp of their powers were certainly doing a much better job than he had upon first arriving at the Institution. Self loathing began to flow through him at the memory, but he welcomed it. Loathing was something he deserved, being so weak and yet afraid of what he was capable of, what he was.

A power to control people's emotions. It was a simple thing on paper, and certainly limited in application. However, it was something that made him a pariah among his peers. When he had first arrived as USARILN East Lawrence could not turn his power off and on at will. Could not choose whether he was going to start making the people around him start falling in line with his mental state. There was no consent involved, and there was no Meditations to help him control how he felt. Some had even called him a mental rapist, and he could hardly argue with that. Had he not just done something similar to Christmas earlier? Was it not even worse when he actually had control of his ability? The prickling fear from earlier began to intensify, joined with even more self loathing.

He was a weak man, that is why he needed the crutch of his philosophy to find any strength whatsoever. A cardboard cutout encased in steel, cut off from the rest of the world. Still, beneath that outer shell there were names scrawled across that cardboard. Some tiny, and barely noticeable. Names like Emma and Hazel. Others still were larger, and as the names grew in size more and more of them were scratched out.

Cynthia.

Thomas.

Richard.

ELIZABETH


Lawrence's breathing turned ragged as crushing loneliness joined the ever escalating sense of fear and loathing. He was trembling as the reality of his existence crashed on him like a tidal wave.

He was afraid.

He was worthless.

He was alone.

He could not say, though, that nobody could ever understand how he felt. With tears beginning to fall down his face unabated, Lawrence opened his eyes once more and engulfed his opponents in a glowing white light.
In —(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)— → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
@DiggertonDidn't you already rewrite it all once?
In —(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)— → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Lawrence B. Ellison


On a goddamn clusterfuck of a battlefield. Population: Lawrence, Hazel, Sander, Chistmas, Kusari and Emma. Also Blue Team, Green Team, Pink Team, a random assortment of monsters, some trucks and useless (some dead) muggle guards.
@January


Lawrence didn't have time to feel any sense of satisfaction as his slug shattered the orb in the witch's hand, the world went to shit far too fast. Firstly, and least important: The released glitter shredding him with superficial wounds. Blood and pain danced across his flesh in equal measure, but did not inflict nearly the level of damage on him as it did the witch. Secondly, a spike of panic filled him as the monster retaliated with a magical spear that thankfully didn't skewer him. Thirdly, that black spear did apparently shut off his magic, or stripped it from him completely, an idea that he would have to explore in more detail later. Either way, the effect it had on him was immediately clear as the familiar glow surrounding him shut itself off at the moment of impact. Fourthly, a scream from behind him confirmed that throwing his power onto their healer had been a wise move on his part, and now the boy was probably going to get himself killed without it. Fifthly, the monsters advancing upon him, now stripped of his meager powers with and carrying an unloaded firearm, demanded his attention instead of stopping said panicking healer. Sixthly, due to said now-unloaded shotgun, his ears were ringing again, adding yet another layer of irritation to this rapidly deteriorating battle.

Lawrence was, quite frankly, sick of this shit.

If the situation slipped out of your control, you simply had to go with the flow. Right now, he needed to stop himself from being killed, all other goals were secondary. Judging by how easily the Eyepion had flung his teammate away just a moment ago getting kicked by it would hurt. Being on the receiving end of that was not exactly high on Lawrence's to-do list. His shotgun had done little to penetrate it, and it had also survived a blow from his presumably supernatural-strength teammate. Still, it was an eyeball...

With little to lose and no time for alternatives, Lawrence scooped up his temporarily forgotten beverage from the ground and unscrewed the lid with a sharp twist. Steam and the smell of coffee greeted his efforts, the thermos having done it's job admirably to keep the beverage hot. Seventhly, and mostly sadly, Lawrence would not have a chance to finish his final coffee of the day. Now he would have to survive this battle, lest he let his last chance to taste the drink go to waste.

Fully annoyed by this point, and glad for his power's current malfunction, he threw his coffee into the Eyepion with a snarl, just as a great flash was erupting across the battlefield. Wondering just how bad the situation had to be for Ethan to drop a nuke, he discarded thermos immediately after and snatched his box of shells off the ground in one movement. Intent on getting the Hell away before it had the chance to retaliate fully. The witch was of course still an issue. And the dog things. And the dolls. And probably the Eyepion if his great sacrifice turned out to be a wasted effort, but he had to focus on one threat at a time.

As he began running, adrenaline beginning to pump through him, Lawrence broke the action on his shotgun once more and the spent shell ejected over his shoulder, quickly being replaced by a fresh one. With each pump of his heart he could feel the cuts covering him throb, and soak a little bit more blood into his white shirt. A shirt he would now have to replace.

Battles were a pain in the ass.
In —(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)— → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Lawrence B. Ellison


On a goddamn clusterfuck of a battlefield. Population: Lawrence, Hazel, Sander, Chistmas, Kusari and Emma. Also Blue Team, Green Team, Pink Team, a random assortment of monsters, some trucks and useless muggle guards.
@January


Tch.

Lawrence couldn't exactly move out of the way of the doll's attack with Christmas right behind him. Not that he was particularly eager to throw his life away for a stranger, but keeping the boy behind him alive was his biggest priority. Bracing himself, and hoping the impact didn't kill him before Christmas could heal his wounds, Lawrence held the shotgun out in front of him defensively, feeling a rare adrenaline spike as he did so.

...

...

The impact never came. His eyes, closed briefly in anticipation of being smashed to pieces, opened to see Hazel moving in to his defense. She had said that her number one priority was to protect him, but plenty of nutjobs said plenty of things they didn't mean. He didn't actually expect her to be serious. His suspicions that his roommate wasn't quite normal were confirmed a little bit more every time they interacted. Still, this wasn't the time to be thinking about that.

It was only after Hazel, thankfully, intercepted the oncoming attack that he let the full effect of that glitter bomb from earlier sink in, and the stinging on his hands and face began to register. The pain was noticeable, but hardly severe or widespread. His jacket had stopped most of the damage. He tried to disregard the attack and focus on the battle once more, but paused at the sight of his bleeding hand as it loaded another shell into his gun.

Blood.

"Shit!"

A quick glance behind him confirmed that, yes, the attack did much worse harm to people with thinner clothing. The wounds still looked superficial to him, but the sight of Christmas bleeding was a problem. His blood was kind of fucking important to the group. As such, Lawrence wasted no time in slipping off his jacket, digging the box of shells out of the pocket as he did so, and barking an order to the boy behind him:

"Put that on!"

Lawrence savored the feeling of not being shredded to ribbons while it lasted, and dropped to one knee. There wasn't much more he could do defensively, he had to at least try to attack. The sight of the witch's sphere sucking in the surrounding glitter stuck in his mind more than anything else. A sphere that she still held out, in plain sight on top of the Eyepion. He didn't know if it had any other uses, but at least if he managed to get rid of it then it might halt another glitter attack for fear of friendly fire. If he managed to miss it, he might at least hit the hag instead. His mind made up, not deterred by the sight of Sander charging in from the corner of his eye, Lawrence took aim and let the explosion of sound overwhelm him once more as he pulled the trigger.
In Moonscratch Chronicle; Cycle One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay
Chillax, you worry too much. Focus on life for awhile Crumbs.
In —(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)— → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Another wild post appeared.
In —(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)— → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Lawrence B. Ellison


An Apartment Somewhere on Campus. Again. Population: Lawrence, Hazel, and Emma
@Diggerton@GreenGoat


Lawrence's day had been surprisingly... typical after a morning that started with a nudist roommate. Classes, moody Aberrations interrupting his reading in the library, a cheap dinner from the cafeteria, and of course more coffee than could be considered healthy. Boring was the way he preferred life, and it looked as if the day was going to turn out to be a good one after all.

Then he got back to his dorm. Both of his roommates had returned for the day, and Lizzy was as ever present and hungry as she usually was. He took a sip from the same mug he had been using earlier- refilled with coffee from a different part of the Institution- before opening his mouth to greet the three.

Then everything went to shit.

The alarm, the briefing, his anklet changing, his dreams of a boring day shattered. To add to this Hazel quickly turned to him and started spouting nonsense.

"Then, I recognize you as my handler, access Alpha, ID 2EFD89. Please do not hesitate to give me any orders. Keep in mind, I will prioritize the handler's safety first, my survival second, and any other orders third. I cannot comply should any orders conflict with the first or the second. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask."

There was too much information hitting Lawrence at once to process all of it. Instead he took only the important bits and began to move. Mission: That was important. Menagerie: Slightly important, knowing the opponent wouldn't change things right now. However it did mean that monsters should be expected. Lawrence being deployed: IMPORTANT. Hazel's handler: Important, but could be sorted out later. Team designation: Not important. He'd deal with what he was given because he had to.

"Lizzy! Jacket!"

He didn't have much time to waste before his door would be assaulted by the Institution's guards. First priority was to secure morale: his coffee. He hastily set his cup on the desk, spilling some of the precious liquid within, and ran to the kitchen. Throwing open one of the cupboards, he removed an impressively large thermos and began filling it with the remains of that morning's brew. A thump in the livingroom indicated Lizzy had done her job, and he met her half way towards his bed, snatching up the jacket and slipping it on as he knelt beside it.

Pounding began to echo in the room then, accompanied by shouting:

"You guys need to MOVE, this is an emergency!"

"One of you open the door!"

Emma, apparently, was the first to move, quickly complying with his request. He would have given her a "Thank you." but now wasn't exactly the time for politeness.

After barking his order, Lawrence reached under his bed and pulled out a footlocker that was nearly as wide as the bed was long, throwing it open to reveal an assortment of small arms. Lawrence was never deployed for his combat capabilities, it was always in support. Keep the injured calm, keep the soldiers from losing their nerve. To think he had been safe this entire past year was completely absurd though. No. He had scars to accompany his tattoos, and had taken liberal use of the requisition forms in his time since arriving.

Still he had no time to hunt for the best equipment. Monsters. That meant a shotgun. Might be at range, so a shotgun that was passable at a distance. A knife. Utility.

"HURRY UP!"

No time. He yanked the lid shut after pulling out a third item and slid it haphazardly back under the bed. Now that he had roommates he should start locking it, but he could deal with that later. In front of him lay exactly:

A breech-loaded 12-gauge shotgun.

A box of 12-gauge slugs, shoved into the pocket of his coat.

A switchblade, stuffed into the pocket of his jeans.

Finally, a flare gun with a single flare, tucked into an inner pocket of his jacket, over his chest.

As satisfied as he could be under the circumstances, Lawrence stood up with shotgun in one hand and thermos in the other. He both gave a nod to the guard and motioned his roommates to follow him. Lizzy, for her part, knew better than to try to follow him, and instead contented herself with licking some of the coffee he spilled off of the floor. It was abundantly clear that her master's safety was not the first thing on her mind.

Lawrence wished he could say the same.

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” ~ Meditations by Marcus Aurelius



Discomfort wasn't really the right word for what Christmas felt, bundled into the back of a military truck with five other subnaturals, three of them black X's. "Fear for his life" was more accurate. He found himself wedged as far as he could go into the corner, sandwiched between Sander and the guy he recognized from the containment chamber as "Lawrence." Both were intimidating in the same way the weather stilling into calm before an approaching storm was.

But for all his terror, he had been raised--coerced, really--into a good boy.

"And good boys know how to help others, Christmas! Isn't that right?" his mother's honey-drenched words were fire pokers in his mind. Compelling in the most fearsome ways.

"Sander...?" he turned to the boy beside him, Director Zhang's information about Sander still parsing in his mind. "Do you--" he gulped, wondering if he could really offer what was on the tip of his tongue "--n-need blood?"

Lawrence stopped reading mid sentence as Christmas' words reached his ears. He tried to let his flash of annoyance slide- it was after all the first combat they'd seen- but he found it harder than usual to let go of. Perhaps the stress of the day was starting to have an affect on him. Slowly, he slipped the book into his free pocket and gripped the boy's shoulder, in a non-magical attempt to calm him down. With an effort to keep sarcasm out of his voice, he answered before Sander could.

"Your blood is the single most valuable commodity here. You need to value yourself like gold, because we may need every drop of it here shortly. Be stingy, evaluate who needs it with a level head, and don't get yourself killed. We might just need you tomorrow too." He took a sip of his coffee, as if for emphasis, before continuing.

"If he needs blood I'll volunteer some of mine first, but I need a level head to do my job properly. He'll need to look elsewhere to get the whole gallon."

His eyes flicked meaningfully to the guard, before flashing the man a reassuring smile. Truth be told using them as living bloodsacks was a smart, if cold, move. No need to give Subnaturals a worse name than they already had though.

Christmas saw the gaze, but didn't follow Lawrence's look. There was only one person sitting in that direction anyway, keeping as far a distance as possible from everyone with an assault rifle at the ready.

The more pressing matter (in more ways than one) was the insistent hand on his shoulder, a gesture he was more than familiar with every time one of his parents bent down to speak with him. He had long been conditioned to understand that gesture as a response to a mistake.

Looking down at his feet instead, Christmas nodded soundlessly.

Kusari looked on silently as Christmas offered to give his blood to Sander. He seemed a little too ready to give it up, almost as if he felt he had to. Thankfully Lawrence explained to him exactly why that was a bad idea. Kusari leaned towards Christmas and glared at him with her crimson eyes. "When you first tried to help those students that were shot, I assumed you were perhaps more courageous than you appeared. But you're really just kind of stupid, aren't you? How about using your head before you try so desperately to act like a hero? You shouldn't be giving more than two pints of blood anyway, unless you have a death wish. You keep trying to rush in to help at your own detriment and we'll be the ones to suffer, got it?" She said. Her arms crossed, and she looked to Sander as Christmas shrank even further into his corner seat in response to her sharp commentary.

"I'll give you all the blood you need. My body is basically immortal. The blood will regenerate soon after, at least it should." Kusari had never explained her ability to people her own age before, it felt odd, like she was flipping up her skirt or something. "All that you NEED, no more..." She added, suddenly remembering Sander's behavior since she'd met him. The boy seemed to have a strong fixation on blood, just like a real vampire.

Sander lifted his gaze, if only just, to give Christmas a puzzled stare, his reeling mind still hadn’t finished processing what the blond boy said. When it finally did though, someone else, an older boy with messy blond hair, had spoken up and refused in his stead.

“He’s right.”-Sander gave a shrug that was barely there, his gaze dropped again – “It does not matter to me where it comes from.”

The words barely left his mouth before his second roommate, Kusari, spoke up. Her words were abrasive, as usual, but it was her revelation that surprised him. – “I see…”-He looked up from the floor once more, arching an eyebrow- “So your accommodation assignment makes sense. But…”-He glanced sideways at Christmas, hesitated to finish his sentence. He didn’t, in the end.

“I will do what I can”-Instead, he just gave Kusari a tight-lipped smile, something akin to hunger gleamed in his blue eyes.

"That perverted smile does not engender any confidence in your self control, Sander... Kusari groaned, noticing the disturbing look on her roommate's face.

Emma had been mostly quiet up until now, offering up little more to the conversation than a nod in agreement with Lawrence’s assessment and a glare of disapproval at Kusari’s admonishment of Christmas’ willingness to help. She suppressed any comments she had; she wasn’t in the mood for an argument, which owed largely to her silence. In truth Emma was living more in her head than in the current moment. She never dreamed she’d ever describe what she was doing as ‘riding into battle’.

Despite her urge to keep quiet she looked at the others. She felt the need to say… something. She was used to being people’s emotional support, even if this group didn’t see her as such. She knew they were going into a dangerous situation… after all, the voice said that Menagerie, a precursor, was out there and that he was the enemy. “Let’s just… let’s all do our best, okay! Things are going to be dangerous but… if we work together we’ll all be fine, yeah?” She gave an encouraging look to the others, hoping that they could all get along.

Christmas continued staring at his feet, afraid to make any more mistakes in polite company.

Kusari looked over to Emma, who appeared to be trying to cheer them on as if this were a football game. She let out an audible scoff. "Platitudes aren't going to do anything to help us. We need actual plans if we're going to survive." Kusari looked the girl up and down. She didn't appear particularly strong, but then again neither did many of them. "We don't even know what ability you have, you can fight, right? Or is your ability cheerleading?"

Emma’s smile was slowly replaced by a slight frown as Kusari turned her apparent scorn towards her. She felt Kusari’s eyes examining her, trying to determine her worth- Emma estimated that the girl’s assessment wasn’t a positive one. Emma was slow to respond, “Well… I’ve never really been in a fight before, but I do have powers like everyone else…” the sentence felt strange as it came out of Emma’s mouth. She wasn’t used to telling people that she had ‘powers’, and her awkwardness was only amplified by the fact that she just made her uselessness evident.

”I’m able to summon creatures powered by my emotions… they all have do different things based on what emotion I use to make them… but I’m not really good at using them to fight…” Emma trailed off. It was clear that she wasn’t confident in battle, and it felt odd describing her power to someone else- something she had never really done. It was like telling someone what color panties you were wearing; It simply felt like an oddly private piece of information.

”But either way we all need to do our best, right? I will too… if we all work together we’ll make it through this!” Emma did her best to seem confident, but she quickly realized she was merely echoing the same sentiment that Kusari had already disapproved of. She almost wanted to take her statement back, for she was sure that it would only serve to further Kusari’s mistrust of her.

Kusari let out a sigh, and veered her gaze away from Emma. The girl didn't fully understand how to control her power, that wasn't her fault. She herself had only recently learned that her body was nearly immortal, before she simply assumed her ability was limited to accelerated healing. It wouldn't make sense to continue berating Emma, if anything the fact that she was able to be positive and not break down was a good thing. "That's it? Fine, just... Try not to die when we get there, I'd rather not see that again." Kusari ruffled her white hair in irritation, She wasn't accustomed to working together like this. "If you get into trouble just stand behind me. I can take a hit, you can't."

Emma gave Kusari a slight smile, nodding. "Thanks... I'm Emma by the way." She said cheerfully, encouraged that they might actually be able to get along.

Kusari's eyes glanced at Emma for a moment, then went back to staring out at the passing scenery. "I'm Kusari, Kusari Bloodworth."

Lawrence was content to ignore the back and forth bickering as long as it didn't evolve into anything further. Instead he focused on his weapons, those being his shotgun and Hazel. Trying to think of the best way to phrase his question, he set his coffee in his lap for a moment and removed a shell from the box in his pocket. Breaking the action on his gun, he set the shell in and let it rest, bent, in the crook of his arm, ready to fire the moment he snapped the barrel back into place. Satisfied, he finally looked up at his ward, question ready:

"So, can you explain to me exactly what your power is? And more importantly what I can expect if I remove your collar? I don't want to do something without know what I'm getting myself- and everyone else- into."

He paused for a moment to take a sip of his coffee, before adding:

"I suppose it's a bit rude to ask without returning the favor. I guess you could say I have a bit of mind influence going on. If I'm calm I can make people calm, if I'm angry I can make people angry, and everything in between. I mostly help Aberrations stay sane when their stigmas are going off the charts."

Christmas leaned away from the shotgun as Lawrence prepped it, shoving himself against Sander without thinking, before quickly backing off and realizing he actually had no way of existing any less between an effective vampire and a guy with a shotgun. Despairing quietly, he settled for a fearful stare at the gun on Lawrence's lap.

The simple motion knocked Sander out of whatever train of thoughts he was entertaining at the moment. He leveled a curious glance at the blond boy, trying to decipher the cause behind his actions. After a few seconds though, he dropped his glance and tried to move away from Christmas, giving the boy the space he clearly wanted. Noticing the new elbow room, Christmas breathed a bit easier, hoping it would remain that comfortable for the rest of the ride.

Hazel opened her eyes, having been addressed for the first time since she got on the truck. "It has been called, Void Impact. Range, 15 meters. It has been classed as a variant of telepathy, using one's limbs to focus the ability. Effects, material displacement of anything within range, and powerful impact towards living beings." She paused, before continuing. "To visualize the effect and how it works, it would be akin to a larger version of the affected limb being used to attack."

Blinking, she tilted her head slightly. "Would you like to know more?"

Once again, Sander lifted his gaze, but this time he directed it at Hazel. He regarded her quietly, eyebrows crunched up in concentration as his nostrils flared. A look of realization dawned, then his eyes dropped to her collar. His frown deepened momentarily before turning away.

Christmas's lips parted in a grimace of fear as Hazel described her powers. He kept his eyes on the floor, but couldn't help the mounting sense of dread.

Lawrence paused. 15 meters? He could, at max, stay about 50 yards away from the enemy if he was required to keep her under the affect of his powers. Not ideal, but it was room to work with.

"What about non living things? They work like your limbs, so can you catch objects out of the air or block magic with them? Essentially, does it have practical defensive applications?"

"Any objects would be destroyed should I use my ability on them." As for that last part, she did not know. Perhaps the people back in that facility knew, but she certainly did not. "I have not tried my ability on magic."

"And that collar, how exactly do I remove it, and what can I expect to happen after?"

She froze but for a moment upon hearing that, barely noticeable, but there. Holding the collar by the logo on its front, she rotated it to display the hinge on the side, and then again, to display the simple lock mechanism on the other. "Simply depress the button here, and pull. It would stop suppressing my ability and everything that it brings."

He sighed in reply, running a hand through his hair. She was either being dodgy or didn't know herself. Either one was problematic for him. He would just have to hopefully keep the device on, or deal with the consequences of remove it when the time came. Perhaps he could take her to Ground Zero after the mission to get a relatively "safe" idea of what exactly he was dealing with. Provided they survived.

"Thanks for the info Hazel, we'll try to keep it on unless it's a last resort then."

As far as he could tell, only two or three of them could do much damage in combat, magic wise anyway. His own "conventional" firepower was enough to take down most animals on earth without much of a fuss, especially at 50 yards, but monsters weren't exactly in the same class as wildlife. Still, he could only do what he could do, and he fished out his copy of "Meditations" from his pocket and began reading from it. A final comfort to take the edge off his stress now that the conversation had finished.

Christmas tugged on the sleeve of his jacket repeatedly, chewing on his lower lip and wondering how and when to bring up potentially important information without interrupting the other important conversations. And now Lawrence was reading. Was that important, too? He squinted at the book, trying to discern if Meditations and Lawrence were two things he could safely step between for a moment. Lawrence had mentioned needing to be calm to use his powers, so perhaps interrupting here would destroy any hope of that.

Still trying to figure out when best to open his mouth, Christmas unconsciously leaned a bit towards the book, staring at it intently.

Tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and...

The narrative in front of Lawrence crumbled as an intrusion made itself known. A curious glance, burning holes into the cover of his book. Christmas. Lawrence dog-eared the passage, an act that obviously common staring at the corners of the pages, and closed it. It was not as if he was completely engrossed in the book at the moment- after all he nearly had it committed to memory by that point.He offered it to the boy, adding:

"Interested? I've read it a hundred times by now. I can find another copy."

"O-oh..." Christmas automatically took the proffered book, uncertain if refusal would be rude or expected in the situation. He fumbled with it in his hands for a bit before looking back up at Lawrence. "Uh, thank you," he mumbled, eyes skittering left and right for a moment as he tried to put together the information he had been told earlier by the staff member.

"Someone told me it just takes fifty milliliters of my blood to heal small wounds," he blurted out in one breath. Another big breath into his lungs and his mouth ran through the rest of the information like he had wanted to get it off his chest for a while, "And, uh, more blood helps things heal faster and I can--um--put my blood on things? To make them heal that way, too, but it's not as good and I--that's all she said and I thought you should know because it seemed important but I didn't want to say anything because you were talking to the others and--and I didn't know if I could interrupt, but then I was looking at your book, uh--and I can't heal myself and--" Christmas paused to breathe properly, taking several deep breaths this time "--sorry."

Lawrence nodded slowly, partly in exasperation. If he had the jitters this bad before the battle even started... Well, it wasn't a good sign. Still, the information was useful. He wished that he had a piece of paper to write it down on, but there were a lot of things he wished he had at that moment. Thankfully, coffee was one of the lucky few possessions. After a sip of appreciation, he answered Christmas once more.

"I appreciate the info, it'll come in handy. Try not to get too worked up about what other people are doing though, especially if it's important. Somehow I think that book would do a lot more for you than me at this point, give it a read sometime."

"O-okay," Christmas nodded quickly in response, tucking the book into a loose hug around his stomach, looking to all the world like he was cradling some precious treasure. "But--um--I can't read in cars," he looked up at Lawrence again, sheepishly. "I get carsick. S-sorry, I'm sorry. I, uh, promise I'll read it later instead of playing my video games," he blurted out before quickly falling silent.

Lawrence was content to leave things at that, grateful for some peace before their ride was completely over. The trip had been bothersome, but productive. He couldn't say that he was amazed at the selection of powers in the vehicle, especially compared to Ethan Sonnino, but he had to work with what he was given. Perhaps if the "basically immortal" one of them survived the mission wouldn't be considered a total failure. He didn't have time to contemplate further though before the truck finally came to a stop.

He was about to be thrown onto the battlefield again. What a pain in the ass.

"The strength of magic will enable us, a small but faithful band, to overcome the multitude of the faithless." ~ (Not Quite) Robert Guiscard de Hauteville


"Just try not to be shown up by the newbies!"

Lawrence called out to Eric as the, well, brief briefing concluded. He wasn't quite friends with the other mages that were deployed, but a year at the Institution had bred a certain sense of familiarity with most people that were there. After all, they were expected to fight for their lives together, that tended to forge a bond no matter how unlikely it would be under other circumstances.

Still, there was no time to waste catching up. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew his switchblade and tossed it to Kusari. Nodding towards Sander afterwards.

"You agreed to donate first right? I'll take second rotation."

Lawrence tried to take note of what they were fighting before engaging. However, as with most monsters, there was no precedent for the situation in front of him. Fight only dragons and you could at least learn how to kill them pretty effectively, such as with nukes. These though? Fuck if he'd ever seen anything like them. In particular, that eye seemed like a dangerous threat. Life could hardly be called fair, but magic at least had a weird sort of logic to it. If something took time to power up, it was usually more powerful than something that could be cast instantly. Also-

“Um… Do you… think he needs help?”

The bastion of cowering uncertainty from the truck broke him away from his thoughts. Lawrence, of course, had taken note of the screaming, and their naked comrade lying on the ground. It hadn't, however, registered as unusual to him. He had seen a lot over this past year, much of which he'd rather forget, but a shapeshifter was one of the more tame oddities.

"He'll be fine, he's just readying his magic. Some of us are luckier than others in that department."

Speaking of magic, Lawrence and Christmas began to be surrounded in a visible white glow. It was the telltale sign Lawrence had flicked his own power on. The others, are far as he could tell, were at least stable while being faced with the battlefield. Christmas on the other hand had been obviously on edge since the truck ride over. Influencing him without his permission wasn't the most polite thing to do under the circumstances, but risks were not something he wanted to be taking right now.

"Try to relax, all right? Stick close to me and I'll try to keep us both alive."

After those words, he turned to the others in the group once more.

"I mentioned my power on the ride over? This glow means my magic is being used. Normally I'd ask you guys ahead of time before screwing with your heads, but this is a life or death situation. You can bitch at me afterwards if we live."

As the younger boy grabbed his Jacket, he focused his attention once more on the eye-leg-thing, now fully upright and glowing once more. Lawrence dropped to one knee and closed the action on his shotgun, aiming high on the eyeball to at least try and topple it over again if the slug didn't penetrate. His only warning was a quick:

"Cover your ears!"

Before firing. Instantly he regretted his lack of ear protection, an unfortunate side affect of being rushed into the battle. He opened the action once more, waiting for the ringing in his ears to subside, ejecting the spent casing automatically. As he fumbled for a new shell in his pocket, he spoke a final time.

"I suggest whatever we do we start doing it quickly."

In —(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)— → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Lawrence B. Ellison


An Apartment Somewhere on Campus. Population: Lawrence, Hazel, and Emma
@Diggerton@GreenGoat


By the time Lawrence returned to his apartment exhaustion was the only thing on his mind. Had he really only been gone thirty minutes? It was his second welcoming ceremony in a row that had ended in blood being spilled- thankfully not his. Of course there were the minor incidents of his peers backtalking him, but he would be lying if he said he cared. He was pissed off too when he was first brought to USARILN East, and people bitching at him was nothing new.

Not liking the answer doesn't change it.

He had almost protested being led back to his apartment by guards, but kept his mouth shut. Wisdom was knowing which battles were worth fighting. Instead, finished his coffee on the return trip and let his thoughts occupy him along the way. Two women was certainly a different arrangement than he had been expecting. He knew of course that the Institution didn't give a damn about mixing genders, his last roommate had also been a woman. Two though was going to be a different experience. That and these two were both Aberrations. He had a feeling that his life was about to change drastically, and wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

Still, nothing to do about it now. Once they had reached their destination the guards quickly made themselves scarce, and Lawrence finally turned to his two roommates. Neither had spoken at the debacle earlier, and even if they had it wasn't exactly the type of situation where you got to know somebody's true self. Simply put, the two of them were a mystery, and both were Aberrations. If they hadn't gotten bitchy back in that situation then he doubted he could do much to rile them up, but he was still cautious of having his head bitten off.

"So yeah, name's Lawrence. Sorry that your powers manifested, but now you're here and we'll be living together. I don't really know what your powers are but please if you're going to blow the place up make sure to do it when I'm out, or at least when I'm awake. My own alarm is bad enough."

"I'm Emma, but I guess you know that already... it's nice to meet you Lawrence, and you too Hazel. I'm sorry if we're intruding Lawrence, but I hope we can get along..."

As she spoke Lawrence took his key and unlocked the door. Emma and Hazel, huh? He took a second to try and internalize the names before pushing the door open. Almost as an afterthought he added:

"Oh, I hope neither of you are allergic to d-"

STARE

On the other side of the door sat a creature of hunger and energy. With a gaze that could bore holes into the side of a mountain, and a tenacity for attention that could rival any pop diva. A beast of instinct. An animal so fierce that it would charge a group of monsters and try to herd them like cattle. The average Border Collie.

Lawrence crouched down in front of it and met the creature's gaze, instituting a battle of wills. He knew what it desired, what it demanded, and yet held his ground. Slowly his hand reached forward, as if afraid to touch it.

Swish

It's tail answered him, flickering between the approaching hand and Lawrence's face.

Swish swish swish

Finally, contact. His hand reached the back of the beasts ears and began a welcoming scratch. Lawrence finally spoke:

"I don't have any food with me this time, Lizzy."

Immediately the swaying of her tail stopped and the dog replied with a snort of derision. She wasted no time in standing up and marching towards his bed, curling up beside it. A crushing disappointment she'd no doubt forget in a moment. Ignoring her, Lawrence stood and stretched before removing his jacket and hanging it up beside the door. Afterwards, he took a quick moment to look over the apartment for any mess he missed.

Overall, the place could be called spartan. Lawrence clearly didn't have an eye for decoration, and it overall looked much the same as any of the other apartments that his peers would be settling into at that moment. Of notable different was the stack of books (The Alexiad. Heart of Darkness. Sarajevo Marlboro. For the Common Good: The Bohemian Land Law and the Beginning of the Hussite Revolution. Swordsmen of the British Empire.) resting on the counter of the kitchen, and his coffee pot just a short distance from them. Of small note was a loaf of half-eaten bread also occupying the counter.
Satisfied that the place was sufficiently tidy for the new arrivals, he turn to them once more, scratching the back of his head as he spoke:

"You guys have had a longer day than I have, you can have first dibs on the shower tonight if you want. Fridge is pretty empty, but there's a pot of coffee if that's your thing, but I figure you'll want to be heading to sleep instead of staying up. Your welcome was... well, about the same as mine, it's probably better if you try to relax and not think about it too much."

"Thank you Lawrence, but... I just got here so I'm going to collect my stuff, then I'd like to take a look around campus, alright? I'll be back before curfew."

Lawrence merely nodded in response to her. It seemed like both of his roommates were the quiet types, or at least shell-shocked. He would take all the peace and quiet he could get at the moment. And the future. That, however, was another matter entirely. Seeing as how neither of his roommates had taken upon themselves to occupy the bathroom, Lawrence began heading that way in earnest. While he had already showered before the first time he had fallen asleep that day, exceptional circumstances called for exceptional action. He needed to relax.

Ignoring the reflection in the mirror as he locked the door behind him, the mage ran the shower as hot as he could handle before stripping down and climbing in. He ignored the (admittedly cheap) soap and shampoo resting against the wall of the shower, and instead focused on the water hitting him. He wasn't here to clean himself, at least not physically. As the waves of heat flowed through him, he let the days events flow out. The new arrivals, their words, the dead soldier, the injured students. He could, at this point, do nothing to alter the events of the past, and reflecting on them would not change his actions in the future. Instead, he sorted through them, one by one, and cast them down the drain. Rushing away in a flood of hot water.

He stayed like that for some time, unconcerned about the sleep he was losing, and relaxed. It could, after all, be his last chance to do this without someone pounding on the door to ask him to hurry up. His last roommate had been like that. Until her death, anyway. Another thought to let disappear, another face he'd eventually forget.

C'est la vie.

Finally satisfied, Lawrence turned off the water and began drying himself, an act he would usually do in the living room. Times change. Still he ignored the mirror, now covered in steam, and focused on the task at hand. Fatigue was finally staring to hit him in waves, an empty mind combined with boiled muscles. Any sleep he managed to get tonight would be potent, no matter how little. Hopefully his roommates kept up their quiet streak at least until after he'd woken up.

Hopefully.

After finishing Lawrence eyed his dirty clothes before slipping them back on. He had only worn them for little under an hour, after all, and he had managed to avoid soaking them in blood during the commotion earlier. They were still servicable, at the very least. That, and he really didn't want to deal with sneaking around half naked on his first night with his new roommates. Two women at that. Twice as bad as his previous experience. Times were going to be interesting, if nothing else.

Sighing at the thought, he slipped his clothes back on and exited the bathroom, steam following close behind him. It looked as if Emma was still out, and Hazel was sleeping soundly. Wasting no time, he made his way over to his own bed and slipped into it, fatigue quickly evolving into pure exhaustion. He barely registed the thump of Lizzy jumping up to curl behind his legs before he slipped off into sleep.

Coffee, Exams, and a Nudist. Lawrence ponders if USARILN East is any different from your average college campus.


Commotion.

Lawrence ignored it, enjoying his bed for as long as possible. His alarm had yet to go off, and that meant he had at least a few more blissful moments of rest left. His muscles were still in euphoria from his shower a few hours ago, and his damp hair had failed to make him sick before it dried overnight. A perfect morning. No, he would not be-

Nudge

- disturbed by anything. How many chances would he get like this again after all? Once his roommates had settled in there was no doubt that he would find his rest constantly disturbed. Either by music or morning routine. One had to take life's opportunities as they presented themselves. And this morning presented the perfect one to be lazy. An opportunity he planned to take full advantage-

Nudge

"Jesus Christ."

He muttered, hitting Lizzy with a full on glare from beneath his blankets. The dog had plenty of flaws, but impatience usually wasn't one of them. For a beast that seemed to be hungry all the time, she was usually accomodating to his morning routine. An admirable amount of restraint, all things considered. So why was today different? Was she still miffed about being shunned the night before?

His eyes though did not meet hers. She was thoroughly occupied with something else across the room, ignoring him entirely at this point. Curious, he followed her gaze until it became obvious what held her attention.

Jesus Christ.

And he had been worried about sneaking around half naked after his shower last night. Clearly that wouldn't be much of a concern with his current company. He gave appreciative consideration to the woman across the room from him for a moment before turning his attention back to Lizzy and scratching her behind the ears. Letting out a sigh as he did so.

"Why do you even care? You're naked too you know."

With that bit of dog-philosphy out of the way, Lawrence slipped out of bed and stretched, waking up his thoroughly relaxed muscles. Not sure if he was supposed to be admiring the sight in front of him, or missing it on account of being asleep, he decided to take the safer option and turn away. Still dressed in his clothes from the night before, the kitchen became his goal, calling out behind him as he started walking:

"Not that I don't appreciate the show, but at least let me get my morning coffee in me before we get to know each other that intimately."

Not that he was entirely unphased by the whole event, but it wasn't exactly the first naked woman he'd seen in his life. On the razor thin chance this was some sort of seduction game after his comforting charm the night before- he wasn't interested at the moment. A woman was the last thing he needed right now, let alone a strange one. It seemed that at USARILN East "strange" was the only variety they came in. No, he'd try and sort this all out after his morning brew.

Once in the kitchen, he fished out a container of dog food from beneath the sink and began filling a porcelain bowl appropriately marked "Lizzy". The effect was immediate, as the pitter patter of paws echoed across the small apartment and the dog presented herself on no time flat. Barely waiting for Lawrence to finish filling before digging in with an almost admirable fervor. His first task completed, Lawrence then turned on his coffee maker before fishing out a couple slices of bread from a loaf sitting on his counter and popped them into his toaster.

It wasn't long until he emerged from the kitchen into the living room once more, buttered toast in one hand and coffee in the other. A very satisfied Lizzy following closely behind him. Casually, he leaned over over Emma's should and began reading the exams she was working on, ignoring Hazel at the moment in order to put off a potentially annoying confrontation. When he was young and stupid, he too believed these tests were important. In the end though it was all rubbish. They would either die, or survive and have no potential career paths outside of what the government commanded them to do. It wasn't as if anyone gathered here had a future in the private sector, all things considered.

Still, he had taken them seriously at the time, and hadn't done too poorly. Rather, he had done exceptionally in some subject, and average-to-rubbish in others. Even before receiving his Arbiter mark he hadn't planned on becoming a mathematician though, so low marks in that subject hadn't exactly bothered him. Still, he kept these thoughts to himself, there was no purpose in shattering the new arrival's hopes of a normal future yet. Instead he took a thoughtful bite of toast, before stepping back.

"Looks like you've got that covered pretty well, looking to get yourself on the fast track to success?"
In —(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)— → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
@JanuaryHey, so clarification: Should we start the next day in our next posts? You mentioned timeskipping until morning, but is that something we're going to have to wait on after (So, another week like this one where everybody posts once and then you move things forward) or are we covering the end of that scene at the very beginning of our posts and then moving on to the next morning in the second half?
In —(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)— → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Jan is allowing pets.

I'm not saying I'm going to copy an old character of mine from another RP for the first time ever.

But you may just see this added to Lawrence's CS.

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