yoshua171

⊰Manifest Anima: Planes Divided⊱

The Finer Things

Collab between: @Celaira & @yoshua171
Day 3 - Mid-day to Evening - Darius’ Mansion

---

Aeris’ body ached as she regained consciousness. The sun greeted her through the curtains, and she groaned. ”Ugh. Fuck this." She growled, and rolled over to bury her face in her pillow. When she did that, however, her phone let out a quick vibration, letting her know that she had an unread notification. With an exasperated sigh, she rolled back over and fumbled to grab the device off of the nightstand.

It was her personal line.

It was Mai.

She immediately sat up, and unlocked the device, navigating the interface until she reached her messages.

”The 'Break went well Sis. I'm gonna crash. Head over tomorrow and wake me up maybe? Hope to see you ;) .”

Mai <3

The vampire chuckled, a soft smile parting her lips. She was going to reply, but after a moment of thought, decided it would be better to surprise him in person. With that in mind, she pulled the blankets from her body and slid out of bed. Once she was on her feet, she was able to get a look at herself in the mirror above her dresser. Another groan left her mouth. Overall, she looked dishevelled. Her hair was frizzed, and out of place; her shirt had come unbuttoned and was hanging off her shoulder; her skirt had risen well above her thighs, giving an almost complete view of the panties she wore beneath it.

She just looked unhappy. Thankfully, she wasn’t going to be seeing anyone else today… if she had any say in the matter. Thus, with a mildly disgruntled look on her face, she turned to the wall next to her bed. As she walked toward the wall, she moved a shadow along it until it was her size, and pressed her hand against it. Moments passed before she slid inside the shadow without a word to anyone else in Darius’ mansion.

In the darkness, she moved with a purpose. She knew exactly where she wanted to go, for once, allowing her to walk as though in a straight line to that destination. It only took her a few minutes before she stepped out of a shadow in Mairyell’s living room. Once there, she closed her eyes and inhaled. His scent enveloped the apartment, and she smiled as she took it in.

She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed him in the short span of time they’d been apart.

Once she’d relaxed enough, she sat down on the edge of the sofa, and took out her business phone. From there, li’l Kasio made two phone calls. One to the Good Doctor to inform him of Darius’ condition, and make sure he knew she wanted him to check up on the fox. He would, of course, be compensated for the house call. Doubly so if he were to collect materials to make an antidote for the poison Darius had been afflicted with. The second call she made was to her secretary, to let her know she wouldn’t be in today. She was given explicit instructions to hold all calls, and reschedule any meetings that had originally been planned for the day with apologies and gift baskets sent out to the individuals for their wasted time.

With business taken care of, Aeris got up from her seat on the couch and sauntered into Mairyell’s bathroom where she prepped the shower for her own use. Once it was ready, she disrobed and stepped beneath the stream of water.

Mairyell stirred in bed at the sound of the shower, but this sort of thing had happened enough times that he did not properly wake.

Twenty minutes passed before Aeris finished washing herself off in the shower. Once she was done, however, she wrapped a towel around her body, and began to work a comb through her wet hair. After it was completely combed out, she pulled a hair dryer from under the sink and began to blow her hair dry in sections. It always took her such a long time to get her hair completely squared away. Part of her hated that, but there was another part of her that took great pride in the maintenance of her hair, and body in general.

Once her hair was dry, she began to towel dry her body. This was a much quicker process than her hair, and was over in just a few minutes. When it was done, she hung the towel up to dry, and plopped the prior day’s clothes into the hamper in the corner of the bathroom.

With everything put back where it was supposed to go, Aeris made her way to Mairyell’s bedroom. The gentle breeze of the air conditioner that ran throughout the apartment trailed along her bare skin as she made her way to the side of his bed, eerily blue eyes peering down at his sleeping form. She couldn’t help but smile as she watched his chest rise and fall with his breathing.

It was moments like these that let her know that she truly did love this man.

With a wistful sigh, the woman leaned down and gently pressed her lips against his. As she did so, she moved down onto the bed, pressing her bare body into his. When she broke the kiss, she bit her bottom lip, mind wandering to other things she could do to try and rouse him.

A smile crossed his lips and he shivered, stirring some more, still, he decided not to move--even though he was definitely awake enough to reciprocate now. He was so glad he’d sent that text, definitely a solid decision. He mentally high-fived himself.

FADE TO BLACK

After things had calmed down, the two were quiet; the silence broken only by the sound of shallow breathing as they recovered. After a few minutes had passed, Mairyell finally broke the silence; a smile on his lips as he spoke, “So, am I a good lay or what?”

He knew the answer, but making her say it was always amusing. Plus, it’s not like it was off topic!

”God dammit, Mai." Aeris spoke through laughter, her body nestled into his. ”You already know the answer. You ass." She chided, still laughing.

“Do I?” He said with a grin, as he stroked her cheek affectionately, squeezing her lightly with his other arm.

She smiled up at him, her eyes resting their gaze on his. Instead of vocalizing her response, she simply kissed him softly on the lips, her hands pressed firmly against his bare chest.

Smiling as she kissed him, he kissed back, still laying down, before she retreated, leaving him a little breathless, but more importantly--grinning. He loved that side of her, or well, he loved every side of her, but that was beside the point. He relaxed back into the bed, but before he could get properly comfortable he heard his phone go off. Sighing a bit he sat up and reached over for it, pulling it into his hand and then to himself before he laid down again.

It was a text from Raiden.

”Hey, could you check on Alice and the kids? I’m worried and please do me a favor, if you see Emmett try to make it sound like more of a casual visit. Else he’ll never let me forget it. I’ll pay back the favor later.”

Raiden’s Text

Frowning a bit he sighed and glanced over at Aeris, his eyes meeting hers. He didn’t want to go, but Raiden was a colleague and an old friend. He trusted the man, and if he was worried then maybe it was best to do this sooner than later.

“Sis, I’ve gotta go.” He said, his tone serious, though regret was in his eyes.

Aeris didn’t even question him, she only kissed him on the cheek and nodded.

Team Battle Roygal

Kaelia Katela – The Guardian

---

Up. She didn't look, no time. Moving instinctively, she tensed her legs. Her foot came down and she pivoted, swiveling into a 180 degree turn. Using her will to pull silver from the wall, the second vial, and her own armor she formed a helm in the same moment. The obsidian bombarded her, but touched not an inch of flesh.

Finishing her pivot, her other foot hit earth, and was immediately used to push her forth in an blur. Sophia dodged, eliciting a smile from Kaelia; she brought her blade up in preparation for a strike whilst, silver trailed in thin streams through the air behind her, following in her wake. Again, Kaelia pushed off the ground, using Augmentation magic to dial up her speed. Easily, she overtook Nayeli, putting herself between the young girl and her partner in an instant. She pivoted and spun as she stopped, turning her forwards momentum into centrifugal force, blade spinning out from her form to strike at both combatants whilst they lunged, or arrived, at Sophia's former location.

Things were about to get hectic.

Pride Incarnate [Griffintaur V.S. yoshua171] Rhay's Champion

Raelis Vaerkturian

Theme

---

Right before Raelis entered Tharr's winged range he flapped, coming to an abrupt stop; a blast of pressurized air flying forth even as the hilt of his blade grated against the side of his armor. The blast of wind, instantaneously, became one of heat as well; the added spark of metal on metal igniting it all into a wave of flame 9 feet high and 12 feet across. It was like a single burst from a massive flamethrower, or perhaps the breath of a dragon itself. Capitalizing on the volume, breadth, and intensity of the attack, Raelis shot down and forwards, making contact with the ground just within the creature's range. He dodged to the left, his weight barely upon the ground as he used heat and wind to stay partially aloft. He made his approach, the wall of flames obscuring his location and drowning out any sounds he made as he ran towards Tharr. Similarly, the blast acted as an attack in its own right, thus serving a dual purpose.

Raelis would not be pulling a single punch, as it were.

[+]

Heat Rate

All are in Fahrenheit.
Blade of Rhay: 240 p/turn (currently 3 times its norm).
Armor Rate: 200 degrees p/turn(currently double its norm).
Ambient Heat Rate: 40 degrees p/turn.
Maximum heat created/generated p/turn: 480 degrees.

Heat Tally

Armor Heat: 200+200-200(200).
Blade of Rhay: 240+240-120(480)
Ambient Heat: 40.

Flame Wave: Takes from the Ambient heat, armor, Blade of Rhay, and a measure of natural heat from combustion.
150(Ambient)+200(Armor)+400(Natural)+120(Blade of Rhay)=870 degrees Fahrenheit.

One Piece: New Horizons!

Indeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed

In Defense Of The Genre [Part II]

_{<Snipped quote by Yoshua171>}
No, it isn’t.

But that fear might not be exclusively the fault of the administration. Over the last few months there have been efforts, intent aside, that have caused spread of distrust and possibly damage of the infrastructure. I won’t even mention diverting moderator time away from thread management to deal with duplicate accounts with intent to cause sitewide dissent. The moderators on RPG are not draconian by any measure, but if they are getting more assertive or exhausted I don’t blame them for doing so knowing what has occurred since Mahz’s return. This ripple effect you mention is not exclusive to the moderation team but also the opposition, dissenters, and disenfranchised whom have intentionally or unintentionally created a domino effect that has led to damaging the site and what I imagine is wasting the time of key staff members on a vocal disruption.

Also, if we want to talk about misunderstandings – what about cherry-picking Discord conversations to create a narrative of incompetence or totalitarian administration using out of context quotes?

@Inkarnate

At no point did I say that non-mod individuals don't cause ripples. In fact, the entire point of my argument is that mods create bigger ripples, implying that normal people also create ripples.

Additionally, I was there when many of these cherry picked discord conversations, were had, many of us were. The thing is, a whole lot of discord conversations are had in which PERHAPS legitimate points or counterpoints were made (facts included), but that doesn't mean they were seen. As with the mods, the players typically have lives outside of this medium and as a result can equally not be expected to see everything. Still, the thing here is, that even should the many users of the Guild also be responsible--which you're right, we all probably are to some extent--many of those "thoughts," and "issues" came from the fact that concerning things did in fact happen, and then were not addressed.

However, seeing some of the responses here I think I'd like to reevaluate a part of my stance.

I agree that it mods should not have to "answer to the public," or tell everyone why people were banned. Fine, very well, they do not want to create MORE drama aside from people getting banned to begin with. However, I do think that the person who gets banned, needs to be told WHY they were banned and that some sort of discussion should be had with them perhaps prior to the ban taking effect. Why? Because then even if they are angry they know why it happened to them. This allows the people to reflect on their actions, rather than remaining in a confused, sort of upset, limbo that makes them want to lash out because they don't know why these bad things are happening to them. Furthermore, if you have users know why they were banned, then if anyone wants to find out what happened they can just go ask.

Then you get less spread of confusion, and less fear of the unknown gaps, which creates a generally calmer and more stable social climate. Also, in the case of this post, I can concretely tell you that it was never Cyndyr's intention to cause site wide dissent. Anyone who knows her at least a little can attest to that. Hell, anyone who read the first post should know better, especially given that the thread was unlocked because she is being polite and understanding in the interest of causing discussion. Soo...I don't know, I feel like that bit kind of speaks for itself.

Anyways, at the end of the day that's just my opinion and the thoughts of how I think the problem could be resolved. It's really nothing too drastic to be honest.

In Defense Of The Genre [Part II]

It's kind of odd, I must say, that unlike a proper ruling body, the mods here don't seem to be at all accountable to anyone but themselves--which is a recipe for disaster. Did you ever consider that perhaps there would not have been any drama--or at least as much--if the bans had been explained to begin with? If there had been proper responses to some of these questions? If a number of the issues addressed had been dealt with when they'd happened rather than let to escalate.

I was there for a number of these things, lurking, or communicating with observers or those who were also directly involved in an effort to just understand what was going on. When you, and the other mods, choose not to answer questions, or at least make an effort to actively explain to someone why they were banned you PLANT THE SEED FOR DRAMA. Sorry, but silencing people (which I have seen done in the discord channel before--not in a figurative banning, but in mods LITERALLY deleting posts in a futile attempt to stifle discussion) is not the way to make them stop thinking about, discussing, and eventually bringing forth issues.

It makes people angry, it makes people feel as if something more is going on, and in the absence of REAL ANSWERS, they create their own and MORE drama is created, rather than less. It creates a systematic and recurring issue where past drama continues to create future drama, which leads to further issues for you mods to deal with.

This is one such example and it is not the first time this sort of thing has happened. The other examples, posted in the OP of this thread, are also indicators that telling people to shut up (or shutting them up forcefully, either unintentionally or in a way that it appears you have done wrong) does not fix the problem. Furthermore, when you say that the mods do not have to explain themselves to ANYONE...well, it makes A LOT OF PEOPLE raise their eyebrows and ask "Well why the hell not?"

Like, the mods aren't unbiased, perfect decision making machines. You're people who can make mistakes, get emotionally invested, or misunderstand a situation just as easily as the rest of us. The only difference is the mods have the power to ban people, lock threads, delete posts (on the forum or in the discord), and make what amount to executive decisions for what they see as the betterment of the guild (or to keep the peace, as it were).

People with power, moreso than people without, should be accountable for their actions, because their actions create bigger ripples whether they like it or not. Just like how I imagine none of you enjoy the fact that threads like this pop up. Additionally, the mods seem to act like their reputations don't exist, they do. The reality is that when issues of the same vein are not resolved and are instead silenced or ignored you lose face, and when you lose face people feel less inclined to talk to you about things that worry them, things that you very well might want to address if you knew.

I know quite a few people who have looked at this thread and probably said to themselves "Is it worth saying something, knowing that in the past people have (by all appearances) been banned for speaking against the mods? Do I want to risk a ban just to express my worry and my opinion?" That is not a fear that people should have here on a place we all come to have fun and, often, relax to escape the stresses of real life. People shouldn't have to be afraid of talking to you and when you don't explain why you make drastic decisions, you create ripples, and those ripples create misunderstandings, and those misunderstandings become "unknown gaps," in people's knowledge.

And you know what they say @Hank, there is no fear stronger than the fear of the unknown.

The Prophecy

Well, here's my question: How far away from Zerul City are they in terms of travel time?

Beyond that I'd say I'm really not terribly partial to either option, though the longer I don't play I'on the less attached to him I get, which could be bad in the long run. So I suppose the sooner things become intermingled, or the sooner I can play him again, the better. I would honestly say that you remove the necessity for the two groups to meet, but stay open to the possibility of such happening. Besides, I don't think I'on and co are allowed to leave Zerul for awhile due to the Fixer Incident so they very well may run into eachother anyways.

Lastly, I'm totally up for a skip to the next morning since I'on won't be awake till around then anyways and that'll give me the opportunity to start posting with him again. So yeah, there's that.

Rambling done.

Pride Incarnate [Griffintaur V.S. yoshua171] Rhay's Champion

@Griffintaur You still around buddy?

One Piece: New Horizons!

@yoshua171
I don't.

What I was asking is if you minded that BS was kind of her 'child' in spirit, so she acts like his mom even moreso than the other crew members.

@Banana

I'm totally cool with that haha. Do you think they get along?

One Piece: New Horizons!

Mind if I ignite the relationship between BS and Lily by having BS basically be her kid?

@Banana

Go on?

Additionally. Does anyone mind if Lily joined after Bonesword?