Vertigo

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

Will get a post up for this in the next few days, then I'll be gone for around a week and a half!

Planescape: Search for Tir na Og

For copyright reasons, I must insist any similarities to existing franchises are purely coincidental.

Planescape: Search for Tir na Og

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_{Manyroads' Maps, Tradegate, the Outlands
@Lurking Krog, @XxFellsingxX, @Abstract Proxy, @Guardian Angel Haruki}

Garnet's declaration didn't quite net her the oohs and aahs she'd hoped for, but it did catch the big guy's attention, at least. The goliath turned around, spotted her newly acquired compass, and asked about its origin.

Garnet cracked a grin.

She held up the item in question for him — and the rest — to see, proud as if she were a mandrill holding up a newborn lion cub. ...Which was a weird simile, but did invoke a pretty vivid scene.

Anyway.

"O'er there," the goblin answered matter-of-factly. She proceeded to point at the exact spot on the floor with her free hand, nudging her disproportionately large head in the same direction for good measure. "Was jus' lyin' 'round so I took it."

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

I love Runa.

What, if any, would Fellwing know about trolls in general?

Magic in the Park - Modern Fantasy/Hidden World Anime

Will keep an eye on this

SPIRITUM

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Completely unaware as to why Collette was backing away from her and her wild gesticulating, Silje followed without a second thought. She took a step forward for every step the princess took back, like they were part of some strange dance choreography. Maybe they were! Silje liked the thought.

She did not like Gerard and Justice's answers when it came to keeping the princess. "But missions change!" she insisted, hands in the air. "Ours did! Like a bazillion times today alone! We were supposed to be on a road trip, then we had to make friends in a corner store, and then avoid raining robots, and blow up sharks, and—"

They weren't even listening—!

Not that Silje was, either. She was expertly tuning out the rest of the conversation as she pondered on what to do. They weren't handing the princess off right this second, so there was still plenty of time to come up with a plan to keep her. But... for that, she would probably need an accomplice. She might be able to convince Gerard, because Gerard could be convinced to do anything that seemed fun(ny), but then Justice would just look at him all meanly and convince him right back, so that was a no-go. Kali was super important to her, but not ideal for a mission that required stealth and subterfuge and specifically not killing anything.

Speaking of people important to her, though, there was—

With a slowly forming grin, Silje turned to her childhood friend, who's attention was on Gerard. Silje inched closer, tugging at her sleeve and leaning closer the way she had back at the monastery, whenever she'd had a good intrusive thought idea to share.

"Heyyyy, Valfriend," she whispered, employing a term reserved only for the direst of times. Surely she'd know Silje meant business just from hearing it. "I think you're right, we should adapt and improvise. And... if I was going to do something very adapted and improvised at some point when we run into... um, problems, you should definitely help me."

Symphony on High

Cheesy Post-op Banter

Ciri hadn't managed to get a word in edgewise with Trixy, and by the time the other stepped away, she felt even more drained than she had directly after being hit with a plasma beam. Fucking extroverts. Exhausting.

Even so, she did try to stand up a little straighter and stiffer in the presence of the Big Boss. "Yeah, I'd better be, after everything it took to get the damn dragon here." Ciri groaned, but her tone was considerably more polite than usual — and her lips did threaten to curl into a proud smirk. Because hell yeah she deserved the praise. She’d nearly gotten her ass roasted back there.

She looked back towards the girl and shrugged one shoulder. "No damn clue. Some unfortunate chick the GEMINI really wanted dead. So, probably like us. ... You, I mean. A monster."

She turned fully to said, presumed monster girl. “Got a name?”

It hadn’t been that long since Amanda’s harrowing escape. As drained as Ciri felt, she had nothing on this teenager, who looked like a standing corpse. With a voice just loud enough to not be considered a whisper, she said ”Amanda.”

Well, at least she could still talk, as harrowed as she sounded. Ciri took that as a win.

”That’s a nice name!“ Trixy’s response was just fast enough that it sounded prepared.

... She took Trixy joining in on the conversation as a loss.

”Are you a monster?“

”Gemini are the real monsters.” She hugged herself, and her voice started to crack. ”They, they killed-” Her voice cut out completely.

”Thou art of the glass one’s lineage.“ Boteg attempted to explain. ”Me saw thou’s forebearer shattered on the ground in the old drinking hole.“

Billy gave a single, slow nod before looking at Ciri. ”I uh, don’t suppose ya can make sense of that, can you?”

How'd she ended up as a translator!? Ciri sighed, resigned. "... She's Dante's kid. The GEMINI bitches killed him, at the diner." Her brows furrowed as she added on her own: "Shattered the corpse too, by the way, for good measure. And killed tons of others.” She nodded at Amanda. “So, yeah, we pretty much agree on who the monsters are. But they’ll get what’s coming to them, we’ll make fucking sure of that."

But Amanda only broke down more, to the point where she was sobbing.

Shit. Ciri looked to her colleagues for help, because comforting a crying girl was not her strong suit.

”Ah, Dante.” Billy looked at the ceiling. ”He was a rootin’ tootin’ good man if I do say so myself. Wanted to remain neutral in everything that was going on. But we’re all on sides regardless of how we want to live. Monsters and humans can’t live in harmony it seems.”

Ok, that probably made it even worse. Thanks, Boss.

Billy looked at Amanda, but spoke to everyone. ”We’ll talk more later. Lots has happened, and you should all rest. We’ll see to it that our newly arrived have rooms.”

Ciri nearly stopped him. She wanted to hear her praises sung some more and be promised like… a promotion or something, not be left alone to deal with a kid who’d lost her dad and the literal definition of a Manic Pixie Dream Nightmare Girl.

Billy excused himself, but Trixy remained behind. ”And what’s your name, tall dark and golden?“

”Boteg!“ The dragon man looked very proud of his name.

”I like it, very unique!“ She nodded a few times before looking over at Ciri. ”I’ll go prepare their rooms! Was there anything you needed?“

“Yeah, some medical assistance. Without any damn boo-boo kissing. Just work your magic like a normal person, please, Trix.” Ciri half-pleaded, exhausted as all hell. “And look her over too. She… fell, I think.” She looked over to Amanda, who was presumably still crying. “Hey, Amanda! You… uh, injured? Like, physically?”

Amanda covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head.

”No kissing…“ Trixy squinted her eyes. ”So like, no physical contact?“ She said in an attempt to make it seem like Ciri’s very specific request was not necessary, despite the fact that everyone in the area knew it was. ”I don’t have any magic like that, sorry! Maybe turn back into a human? That’s what I do when I need to heal up and there’s nobody around. I’ll see if I can find Luna. She’s got normal healing magic!“ Looking rather proud of herself, Trixy scuffed her way down one of the Bastion’s many corridors. Ciri, Amanda, and Boteg were left to their own devices for the time being.

“I mean, yeah, I can turn into— but that won’t— ah. She’s gone.” Thank god. But also fuck you, a little bit? She was in pain here!

With a sigh, Amanda wiped her eyes. ”Is there any place to sit down?”

Boteg immediately noticed a giant spool of cable and slid it behind Amanda. The bastion was constantly under construction, so such things were usually just laying around. Billy must have recently carved out the area, because the walls were unfinished. In a few days, they’d cover the walls with slates of stone, or repurpose buried concrete if they were feeling especially fancy. Amanda took a seat and placed her hands on her knees.

While Mr. Bootleg was being all gentlelizardly, Ciri did in fact turn back into a human, gasping as she did. Instinctively, she reached to touch her back, even though she knew the injuries were gone — for now, while she stayed human. Which probably wasn’t long.

”What, is your name?” Amanda looked to Ciri. ”I don’t think you told me.”

“Huh? Oh. It’s Cirilla. Ciri’s fine,” she answered, at least a little less awkwardly now that Amanda was attempting to talk and not just cry her eyes out. She shifted her weight from one leg to another, avoiding eye contact at all costs, and hazarded: “The other girls are okay. Just, if you were wondering. Pretty sure they got out.”

That was, assuming the fleeing teenage girls she’d seen had been Amanda’s friends. For all she knew, they could’ve been her bullies or something. In which case fuck it, she was officially done trying to comfort anyone ever again.

Briefly, Amanda’s eyes shot open. It looked like she might have started crying again, but she just sighed. ”That’s right, we were going to meet up today. Then dad said it was too dangerous to go outside and, a-and, I never called them back to tell them not to come.” She placed a hand over half of her face. ”I thought it was stupid to worry about.”

Oh, shit. So that backfired. And here she was actually trying to help for once!

"It was stupid to worry about," Ciri tried hastily, groaning. "Is stupid to worry about! They're fine. Probably just worried about you. So just... focus on you for a sec. Like, you need anything?” She spread her hands as if a vendor displaying wares. ”Water? ... Beer? I can absolutely get you a fucking beer if you need."

Amanda blinked, her eyes looking like they had glazed over while Ciri rapid fired out words at a pace most teenage girls would. ”I don’t really like Beer. B-but I wouldn’t mind some water.” She kicked her feet in the air. ”Though I’ll take a juice if you have it. Grape is my favorite, but I will drink anything.”

Grape juice? Damn, she really was still a kid, after all. Somehow made things worse.

"Yeah, sure, I can grab you some jui—"

Boteg sniffed the air. ”...Melty gold?“

This caused Amanda to sniff as well, or she was trying to prevent snot from leaking out of her head. ”I-is that pizza that I smell? You don’t have any of that left, do you?”

Ciri arched a brow at Boteg, then at Amanda when she mimicked the dragon's motion. "Melty...?" She craned her neck to look in the direction they were sniffing, realizing her own stomach was pitifully empty, too. "Dunno what the pizza status is, but we're gonna make sure we get some. C'mon."

She gestured for the two to follow her further into the hideout, then narrowed her eyes at Boteg as they went. "And it's called cheese, dude. If you wanna get one word right, it’s cheese."

💀

20 | Female | Maverick Alternative | So(ME)thing On Your Mind
Kiss & Make Up | Handgun | Physical | We Are But Dust and Shadow
Hellspawn | Streetside Devil
Friends on the Other Side | Shadow | Abyssus Abyssum Invocat
[Obfuscate, Intangible] Damage X (6), Restrain (4), Blink (4), Minor Heal (2), Summon (4), Enhance (2), Powerful (0), Homing (2), Avoid (2), AoE (2), Bend (0), Construction (4)

DAMAGE: B | SPEED: C | SENTINEL: E | 1000

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: E | 1000

That was a little over a week ago, and Ciri could've really used another pizza right about now.

Like last time, Ciri was the only Esper that Maverick Alternative had to spare for today's operation. That meant she'd gotten to make her way to the meeting spot in blissful silence, alone save for her ever watchful shadow. Be that some tension remained between them still; they'd never really worked out their differences when it came to the conclusion of their previous mission, after all.

In other words, Ciri was still pissed, but refused to talk about it.

Anyway, unlike last time, Ciri wasn't going to be the only Esper on the case as a whole, and that didn't help with her mood any. Somehow, the big shots had managed to hire two freelancers to aid with their cause, no doubt in exchange for a hefty sum of money. No way those greedy bastards would've moved their asses otherwise.

Ciri could only hope that being able to hire freelancers at all meant that the GEMINI, who would abso-fucking-lutely show up today too, weren't in too good a financial situation.

"Can we just ditch them if they're late?" Ciri sighed up at Boteg, leaning against his leg, nose buried in her phone.

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

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... Of all the-!

Used as Elaeshor was to the concealed jabs and veiled threats of nobles at court, the outright ridicule of a peasant was preposterous enough to make the kitsune bristle underneath his well-crafted smile. Still, the man had been generous and cooperative enough, and letting his ire show would've done him little good now — on the contrary, he suspected, it would've only fueled the fire. Pride had a time and place.

So, instead, the 'elf' offered the distancing fisherman an exaggeratedly sheepish smile and a bow, hollering after him: "Why, good tidings to you and yours, kind sir!"

And to think he even received a bucket, not needing to touch the gape-mouthed, bug-eyed, slimy little thing himself! How wonderful. Humming, Elaeshor picked the bucket up, coat tails swishing in lieu of an actual tail, as he turned and made his way back towards the others. Who, he soon found, had fared much better than him.

Though not, he assumed, without having had to both figuratively and literally dirty their hands.

Alandri joined them soon enough, taking in their catches. Upon meeting her gaze and the look of understanding reflected in it, Elaeshor offered her a curt nod of confirmation.

Once the gnome was done doing her rounds, complimenting each of the others in turn, she handed them all another Bubbling Scale — and, more disconcertingly, a few words. "This is for tomorrow! See you then!"

... What in the seven hells awaited them tomorrow? Had he missed the part where doing her bidding had become a recurring duty?

As the Kobold called out for the gnome to negotiate for a fish, Elaeshor leaned closer to the other two, veiling his concern with a chuckle. "Surely she does not... expect us to be back to fish for her tomorrow as well, now does she?"

Gods, they could not make their way back to Teacher Ot's office soon enough.

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

@wanderingwolf Nah that'll work. Fleur doesn't do manual labor.

@PatientBean

Her and Ele def have that in common, then!

On that note, changed the name to Elaeshor now. Will post in a bit, gotta walk the pup first.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

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So unpleasant was the hollow feeling that seeped into her core, that at first Fellwing was sure her magic had gone awry, and the Void Moon had denied her request. She no longer felt like she'd been freed from the confines of a physical realm; she felt as if she was no longer part of it at all, unable to hold onto it even if she'd wanted to. She felt a ghost.

Then she moved. Not because she'd wanted to, but because her legs did, thus she had little say in the matter. The next she knew, she was tearing apart the threads that blocked the entrance to the mines. Then the world went dark — or, rather, bright.

"Ugh..." the Seer blinked open her eyes, disoriented at first, until her eyes happened upon another's. She would have screamed, but by the time she was awake enough to do so, she had no time to fill her lungs before the creature she had stared at scurried away from her. Scared, like her. "W-wait, wh—"

Fellwing tried to reach out a wing, but too late. Her head was still spinning, and she wasn't entirely sure she wasn't just seeing things anyhow. She'd never seen a creature like this before.

"It's... it's quite alright," she said slowly, voice even, as much to herself as to the creature now cowering a little distance from her. "I won't hurt you. I'm Fellwing, a drake. Just a drake. See?" She stretched her wings slowly, looking down at her own, lithe form. "I'm quite far from scary! Who... um, who are you? May I help you?"

ooc

Fellwing rolls to Study Someone, and with a 7, asks "What does your character wish I’d do for you?"