Yankee

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

So much exciting stuff to read...!!

Hewo XD

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Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

Someone offers to do my math for me I let 'em. Thus I trust Estylwen completely if she puts I got zero W and zero P I'm like welp must have spent it at some point.

Hi there!

Welcome!

Hell on Earth: Supernatural & Demonic Detectives

As for your connections, tell me how comfortable you are with me controlling/making stuff up regarding them. Keep in mind, the more input/control you want for them, the more questions I'm going to ask you. If you have plot ideas (which would probably more come up when the IC is up), send those to me too.

@OwO

100% fine with it, though will let you know if anything comes to mind.

Hell on Earth: Supernatural & Demonic Detectives

Barbatos

"Uh, no, I will not be losing the mullet. Or the goatee. It's funny."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Name (Translated to English):

Barbarous Dark Bane of Magicians, Junior

AKA:

Barbatos the Younger

Age (in human years):

68 (appears in his 30s)

Gender:

Male

Race:

Demon

Description:

Tall, broad shouldered, and thickly built, with shiny maroon scales stretching across his limbs, back, neck, and ears. A pair of horns with interlocking scales of the same kind rise up from his temples, and a large, thick, matching scaled tail not unlike a crocodile's protrudes from his lower back, long enough to drag slightly on the ground behind him. In addition to those features he sports a few sharpened teeth and slit pupils in vibrant red-orange eyes that smolder like fire. The rest of his body is humanoid. He has thick black hair worn in a mullet and a patchy beard growing over a goatee in the shape of an arrow ("it's a forked tail, haha!"), and his once pale skin has gotten a healthy color since moving to New Helle and soaking in the sun.

Though he's lived in the city for quite some time now, he still dresses like a tourist. His wardrobe consists of loose, comfortable clothes: tees, tank tops, Hawaiian shirts, cargo and board shorts with flip flops. On occasion he can be wrestled into more formal attire (sometimes quite literally), and though (to the surprise of many) he can clean up extremely well and cut a striking figure, he much prefers the look and feel of casual outfits. When at work he'll normally wear a more appropriate outfit whenever the assignment calls for it, namely swapping out his jorts for joggers and his sandals for sneakers.

Barbatos is a jovial demon who has become smitten with the human world ever since arriving. He loves nothing more than relaxing on the beach with some friends, and spends most of his free time pursuing simple pleasures. And not so simple ones, too. He isn't shy with his affections and tends to get physical with others, both friend and foe. His fellow investigators know to avoid him if they aren't in a touchy feely mood, otherwise they'll have to endure his arm being slung around their shoulders, or a tail curled around their leg, or even Barbatos' whole weight draped over them.

He takes an interest in people's lives and easily gets invested in others. He enjoys helping people, having no ulterior motives while doing so. In that way he differs a lot from his family back home. He comes across as what some humans might call a 'himbo' because of his stature and good nature, though he isn't actually as dumb as he looks. He is shrewd, perhaps even wise - but he's also sort of young for a demon of his bloodline. Basically he just enjoys goofing off and taking things easy. A grown man acting like that comes off as pathetic to some, but he doesn't care.

Despite his easygoing nature, he does take his work seriously... for the most part. He's still the same person at work that he is at home, after all. He tries his best. He looks after his team and can get protective of them, preferring to put himself (who he sees as tougher than the other investigators) in harm's way when shit goes down rather than risk a friend. Woe to whoever may manage to piss him off for real.

And yes, he considers every single other member of Section 7 to be a friend. He likes to think they see him as a friend in return, or at least like a cool, caring older brother. He does kind of give off deadbeat dad trying to reconnect with his kids energy instead though.

Background:

Barbatos (or Barbie, Barb, Barbs, Dark Bane, Junior, Dude, Himbo, That Guy, Lizard, Demonic Garbage Disposal, really any nickname is fine with him) did not have any background in public safety or service before being drafted into the affairs of Section 7. In fact he was normally on the opposite side of the law, getting slapped with infractions for unlawful contracts with humans. Listen, it was on the humans to get the permits - why did he have to get punished just because he didn't bother asking questions? He just liked helping all those people get cool magic! ...and he really needed money to recoup his gambling losses!

He came to New Helle almost two decades ago, eager to soak in island living and human culture. For the most part he's succeeded, and has been happy with his life in the city. Of course when he arrived he was near penniless, and with little actual work experience he had to find someway to fund his cool new lifestyle. Piña coladas and boogie boards didn't buy themselves after all. The easiest way to do that was getting paid to form contracts with humans, then doubling his money at the card tables.

And, you know, sometimes it didn't work out. After one too many final warnings about his 'illegal power gifting' (seriously, what was the issue with letting a little dude get stronger?), he turned to other avenues of money making. Tough and built, he frequented fighting rings for chunks of quick cash. He took easy work as a doorman or hired muscle for various groups, most frequently Gehenna whom he had some passing familiarity with. And, alright, fine - he still drew contracts up because it was neat seeing a human breathe fire. Sometimes they completely burnt out their esophagus which wasn't cool, but that didn't happen most of the time.

So how did he find himself working for the Bureau of Public Safety? What reason did they have to induct him into their ranks besides his very lovable personality and his special talent in benching four hundred pounds with just his tail. It could have something to do with his heritage. Barbatos comes from a long line of powerful demons, and his father is a particularly notorious figure back in Hell, an affluent businessman with huge influence: Barbatos the Older.

His father's influence extends to New Helle as well, if the rumors that he has some involvement with Gehenna from the other side of the veil are to be believed. As far as Barbatos Jr. knows they aren't rumors at all, and investing in the smuggling field has been very lucrative for his old man. Naturally the run of the business, both the criminal and legitimate sides, were expected to fall to Barbatos the Younger in the future.

...but he kinda, like, didn't want to do any of that shit?

So he left Hell for the human world and became a beach bum.

His is the classic story of a multi-millionaire's son inviting his family's scorn by not fitting the mold, getting cut off from the fortune and having to learn to live in the real world after being raised in luxury and decorum. Though there have been some rough patches, the majority of his life in New Helle has been pretty damn sweet so far - even the fighting ring was fun, and good exercise too. The worst part about it had been how sick he felt after those curses were slapped on him, those sucked. Oh, and the infractions he had to keep paying from the illegal contract work.

Which brings things back around to his involvement with the BPS.

Barbatos was picked up and held in jail after those final warnings actually ran out, and paying yet another ticket wasn't going to cut it. He expected a public defender, but instead he got a visit from an agent in the BPS' Section 7 whom took him back to their crappy hideout. They were looking into Gehenna and had sniffed out his connection to them, but unfortunately he had nothing useful to tell them. Yes he'd met with members of the organization before, afforded them the same cordialness that they did to him (which he assumed was due to his family ties), and had even worked for them a number of times as what basically amounted to a temporary goon, but he didn't have any information that the BPS didn't already have too.

They must have felt he could still have a possible connection that would help them, or maybe they thought his abilities and general eagerness to help might be a benefit to them. Either way, they kept Barbatos around. He wasn't really a criminal anyway, he was basically your average citizen, so being told he was now a cop was sort of an upgrade. He's been an investigator with Section 7 for a few years now, and he likes it well enough. The work is... interesting to say the least, and the paycheck is steady.

Abilities:

In his role as an investigator, Barbatos usually plays the "good cop" and sometimes acts as a negotiator. He has a way about him that generally lets him meet people halfway and level with them, so if any situation needs a chill person on site to calm people down he's there - before the more intense members have their chance to ruin things.

When things inevitably do go tits up he relies on his physical capabilities, which are well beyond a standard human being's. His skin is tough even where his scales don't reach, increasing his resilience. His strength is great enough that he can dent steel and lift cars. His tail especially is quite strong, and one clean blow with it can shatter bones and damage internal organs. He isn't built for speed, but he does have a slight advantage in reaction time over the average man. His stamina is also higher, more so if he has a reserve of extra energy in the tank.

As a demon, Barbatos possesses inherent magic as well. He generally wields heat and fire, able to heat his body up to extreme temperatures hot enough to melt through some materials, and vent flames from between his scales or spit fire from the pit of his stomach. He's an adept contract writer and happily lends said power out. He's also quite skilled in prestidigitation.

More uncommonly, Barbatos has what is referred to as an "Infernal Incinerator" in his body. Anything that goes in swiftly gets reduced to ash in the flames of his stomach and absorbed as energy, from physical matter to magic. Indeed, he can consume spells and artifacts somewhat safely. Excess energy gets stored in his body (and can be seen in how bright the thin gaps in between his scales glow or how hot his skin is to the touch), which can be burned off the usual way or used to power his own magic. If the store of energy swells too heavy, or the power level of one source of magic is too much, it could begin to leak out and adversely affect Barbatos and those around him... but he wouldn't know until he tried eating it.

Lastly Barbatos has an affinity for animals that may as well be magical. Though he can't assume command of an animal's mind like his old man, he likes animals and they like him - so he's basically a Disney princess in that if he asks nicely, they might help him out.

Artifacts:

None at this time.

Connections:

• Barbatos the Older
  • Barbatos' father, also known as "yes, THAT Barbatos." A ruthless dark lord who made his cruel fortune on the backs of others - aka a CEO. He's cut his son off from the family bank account but hasn't disowned him yet. Both of them still hope to reconcile within the next hundred years. Resides in Hell.

Misc:

• Color code is #F95736
• He's adopted dozens of animals and they come and go regularly from his domicile

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Word Count: 1323 (+3 exp x2)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 289/90
Location: Inside the Qliphoth, The Dead Zone

While keeping an ear out for how the allies behind him were doing, Ace focused his offense solely on the Gravemind. Yato felt good in his hands, and he took full advantage of the fact that the Guardian had chosen to turn its own attention on Sectonia and Grimm for the moment. Each stroke of the sword was powerful, able to rend the Gravemind's flesh, and they were only getting stronger. The fervent fang gem that the Cadet had slotted into one of the notches on Yato swiftly built up increased damage the longer the hunter went unchecked on top of its base increase, and Ace's own skill with a longsword meant that he could move through spirit combos swiftly. His blade bit through pounds of the monster's flesh, carving its trunk and the base of its nearest limb. Its skin sagged to fill in gaps, and when it finally had suffered enough to address the hunter below it Ace was prepared.

He backed off slightly when its massive body shifted unlike when it moved to strike out with its tentacles. When it brought its head low, the Cadet thought it might try to eat him - in which case it would be in for a big surprise. He flexed his rigging in preparation, but instead the Gravemind regurgitated a fresh horror. Ace avoided the stomach acid that rain downed, and he raised his sword when the animated ball of corpses hit the ground and rushed at him.

It didn't even look like it had a front or back end, just mashed together bodies with out of place metal plates fused onto it, but it had chosen one side of itself to slam into the Cadet. Ace caught it with the broad side of the blade, raising his other hand to brace the weapon as he forced the thing to come to a halt. He winced, because in his experience these kinds of swords weren't meant to block - but the Yato held up. Ace pushed back against the macabre sphere, flicked the sword onto its sharp side and drew it deep across the monster in one quick, long slice. Though blood sprayed, the creature was dense. It didn't fall that easily.

Hands and arms sprouted from the corpse ball, joining the limbs that already stuck out of it that served as its legs. There were more than a half dozen of them, and when the ball lurched towards Ace again they all extended their fingers to scratch, slap, punch, and snatch at him. At the same time the ball swung its bulk around, going for several body slams if it could just catch the hunter with one to start. For the most part it was unsuccessful; Ace stood his ground and parried its movements, countering when he could. He didn't want this little fight to spill over and interrupt the others after all. He sliced off limbs and pieces of the ball, but it didn't appear to slow down itself either.

The monster hunter narrowed his eyes. He studied it while he fought, and though he didn't find any obvious weak points there were, curiously, those metal plates. They were haphazardly grafted to the corpse ball, and though it was easy to dismiss it as just a byproduct of being some sort of fused golem it was possible they weren't so randomly placed on its body.

Then, he heard something disconcerting from the nearby battle with D. He was still close enough that he could discern the shouting, the taunts, and everything else from the Consul and Seekers nearby - and he'd judged that they were still alright, without the need for him to jump in. He trusted his companions had the situation in hand, at least up until right that moment. Juri's exaggerated pleading might not have turned his head if she had't specifically mentioned Nadia. Ace tore his eyes from the monster in front of him, snapping his gaze to the side to find out what exactly was going on. He saw the two women battling, a flash of confusion on his face as he tried to parse out what happened, and it was then that the corpse ball found its opening and pressed it. The creature used the opportunity to tuck all but its legs back into itself and push against the ground, careening toward the Cadet like a runaway boulder and slamming its full weight into him.

"Ghk-!" At the last moment Ace pushed back against the ball so that he wasn't completely thrown to the ground. The slam had shoved him back closer to the Gravemind, hard enough that he still felt some reverberations through his armor. The corpse ball was already gathering its legs beneath it for another run when he recovered.

"Think you're on a roll?" Ace said. Though when the ball barreled through again he dove out of the way. It continued forward and slammed itself into the Guardian, seemingly doing more damage to itself than the creature that spawned it. Ace was quick to get back in close - he wedged his sword and the blade of one wing of his rigging into the flesh around one of the ball's metal plates, prying the slab off of its body. Its arms reappeared to try and stop this, but the other half of Ace's rigging severed them. "And you can't even handle this?"

It turned out there was a different looking section of its body here, one that looked less like hastily jammed together corpses and more like one fleshy bulb. The Cadet raised his sword, flipping it over in his grip so he could stab it straight down into the core. The corpse ball writhed, bucked the hunter off of it and twisted itself around for round two. At this point though, Ace had its number.

Overhead, while the insect-like Seekers continued their assault, a huge spear made entirely of dark magic slammed into the Gravemind. The impact shuddered across the area, and though it brought a boon with it for the Seekers it also radiated waves of shadow magic while it lingered. "Oh Gog-forsaken–" Ace began to curse when he felt himself tense up at the same time the corpse ball lunged at him once more.

The Cadet grit his teeth and forced himself to move in time to avoid a direct hit. The creature clipped him with another body slam, painful but not anywhere close to debilitating. In return, Ace stepped onto it and hoisted himself on top of it with a leaping slash, where he could easily access the next plate.

By the time reinforcements arrived in the form of Zenkichi and Edelgard, the Cadet had dispatched the corpse ball and taken a small bag of lifepowder from his pouch. He threw the dust into the air where it rapidly spread high and sprinkled down, healing himself every Seeker in the immediate area that were doing battle with D and the Gravemind. It looked like Juri and Nadia's fight was over too, so it was back to going after the Gravemind for the Ace Cadet. First, he called out to those fighting it with him.

"Hey! I don't know if its even possible, but if we could do something about its arms those are the biggest problem right now!" He still thought the Gravemind could most likely regrow its limbs, but the way its tentacles branched into smaller tendrils made him think there was a limit at least. The more energy it had to expend to regeneration was less it could use on attack anyway. With that in mind Ace turned his sword back to the base of its arms. With the Gravemind rather stationary, it would be a good time power up now that the dragon dances were wearing off too. The Cadet pulled in a breath and used Devouring Demon, significantly increasing his power just before he went back on the attack.

Word Count: 668 (+1 exp x2)
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 193/80
Location: Inside the Qliphoth, The Dead Zone

No one had any way to touch O, so at the moment all those present in his exhibit area could do was think, prepare, and evade the consequence of the Consul's whims. The next of those were the crocodiles that burst from the water, snatching Junior and Blazermate and dragging them under the surface before the angel could even spin around to try and help. Thankfully neither stayed underwater for very long (though Pit didn't think Blazermate actually needed to breathe), and after that point he was sure that the lot of them could take a couple of crocs.

Pit turned back to O, and the adjacent battles. He saw the observation tower rise up and the Gravemind dislodge a hoard of flying minions, and decided to take on the latter. He still didn't have a way to hurt O, and the building would just break itself - so he sniped drones from the air as they fanned out, too numerous for him to single-handedly take all of them out with his bow though not for lack of trying.

For good measure Pit tried being a little sneaky, targeting the drones but directing a few arrows to swoop at the dismembered eyes while O was seemingly distracted. Of course nothing got through to O, besides anger at his creations being destroyed.

Ugh, how are we even supposed to fight this guy?!

Hmm. With the power he's showing off -remote viewing, summoning buildings, commanding animals, altering the landscape- I wouldn't be surprised if he was some kind of deity. Then again, he mentioned cost so maybe not. Palutena's voice chimed in telepathically in Pit's head, unexpected but not unwelcome. Apparently she'd stayed tuned in since Pit had talked to her during the trek up to the Guardian's room. And if he's a mere mortal, then he must be close by.

So you think he really is around here, just invisible?

I don't think he would be able to do everything he's doing if he wasn't.

What she was saying made a lot of sense. His building ability was pretty precise, so there was no delay between what O was seeing and what he was doing. If he was present, then he could be targeted! That would really put a stop to the Consul. They only had to find him.

Any idea who he is in the first place, Lady Palutena?

...from just a pair of eyeballs? You flatter me, Pit!

Finding O sounded like a plan, but it was immediately clear it was easier said than done. Pit got a higher point of view from which to search by leaping up onto one of the remaining trees in the habitat and scrambling to the top. He looked around wildly, trying to see anything that might be O's real body - or any places he could have concealed himself in. Needless to say it was a monumental task, spotting something like that amid the incredibly chaotic battlefield. Not to mention he couldn't spend all his time just searching when everyone, including himself, were being harried by horrors great and small. A deimos drone had finally managed to sneak up on him, clearing away the buffs the dancers had bestowed before he wriggled free and sliced it in two with a huff. He continued striking down the Gravemind's minions as he scanned the area, light arrows streaking through the sky to put down floodfested on land and in the air.

A shadow passed overhead, making Pit look up as one of the Gravemind's tentacles began rapidly descending on the habitat - and the tree he was in. His eyes widened and he abandoned his perch, leaping from the branches and only just clearing the huge green limb. Pit rolled when he landed, back on his feet in no time.

"Finding his hiding spot is gonna be like finding a needle in a haystack!" he shouted in complaint, evidentially about to undertake a different method from the Koopa siblings in regards to this unconventional battle.

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

<Snipped quote by Yankee>

@The Savant

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

<Snipped quote by Yankee>

Thank you thank you.

If you want, we could do a collab for funzies.

@The Savant

Just a joke haha, but we still have to at some point!

@Yankee What was the situation with Smoke Risers? Did you collab out anything with Lana, or did you want to explore the secrets there a bit?

@Estylwen

Not yet! That's on me though, I haven't sent anything over to Lana yet. Although I was planning to do so after secret-finding, ya. I just wasn't sure how much I had on my plate this week so I didn't want to overextend myself.

I'll be going through a lot in the next couple weeks and while I'm hoping I won't slow down too much, its definitely a possibility ^^;