#the amount of times I have wished for the ability to teleport within my sight lines

[mania-motherofsouls]

Currently feeling the type of feral that comes from listening to The Crane Wives and apparently also watching Impulse's session 7 Wild Life pov. The type where I want to sprout wings from my back, have fangs for teeth and claws at my fingertips. There's an itching between my shoulder blades and my humanity is limiting me.

[petrichormeraki]

Quirk Time!

I have come up with nearly everyone’s Quirk for my SMP Academia AU, so here’s a list and descriptions for each! 

Students:

Tommy

Quirk: INVENTORY

Inventory means the user of this Quirk can summon objects to their hand as long as they know exactly where the item is, and then return it to it’s old position. Tommy uses a chest in his room to put objects in that he can’t/doesn’t want to carry all the time, and summons items from there should he need them. 

Tubbo

Quirk: RAM

Ram is the Quirk that gives the user the ability and physicality of a ram. This means Tubbo’s legs are instead the hindquarters of a sheep, and he is amazingly agile in the face of physical obstacles. Tubbo also possesses horns, a thick skull, and can eat almost anything without any negative drawbacks. 

Ranboo

Quirk: ENDERMAN 

Enderman is a Quirk that allows the user to teleport short distances, and have a height of 7 feet at minimum. Eye contact sends Ranboo into a primal rage that is only calmed if the one who made eye contact disappears from line of sight. Ranboo is also extremely sensitive to water, and it will burn him like acid if he touches it with bare skin. 

Quackity

Quirk: DISGUISE

Disguise allows the user to transform into any other individual, whether or not they actually exist. Quackity can use this Quirk to shapeshift into anyone, including himself with different features should he wish. Quackity often uses his Quirk for humorous purposes. 

Sapnap 

Quirk: PYROKINESIS

This Quirk gives the user the ability to manipulate any open flame within line of sight. Sapnap often carries around matches to start a fire should he need it. 

Jack 

Quirk: VENGEANCE

Vengeance allows the user to be immune to death if they have unfinished business in the mortal realm. Jack often makes enemies to ensure he has a failsafe should he prematurely meet his demise. However, despite his Quirk, Jack’s body still endures the pain and consequences of anything that had killed him, causing him to be in pain almost constantly from past wounds that should not have been able to heal. 

Niki 

Quirk: UNKNOWN (aka i havent figured it out yet hgdffhjd)

Purpled 

Quirk: WHIPLASH 

Whiplash allows the user to directly return any force inflicted on them to the sender. Purpled does not use this ability often, and not even to its fullest extent unless it’s a life threatening situation, but when he does it is an incredibly debilitating attack. 

Teachers: 

Bad 

Quirk: INFERNAL 

Infernal is a Quirk that allows the user to transform into a giant demonic beast under immense pressure. Along with the other form, users of the Infernal Quirk can manipulate their life force in such a way to bind them to another individual. Bad has used this ability only once to bind his life force to the Pro Hero Diamond Man (Skeppy). 

George 

Quirk: LULL 

This Quirk gives the user the ability to instantly put someone to sleep if they make direct eye contact with the inflictor. This Quirk also effects the user, as the energy it takes to send someone into REM sleep is incredibly depleting. Because of this, George is almost always asleep. When he has regained the energy he spent on sending someone to sleep, he is surprisingly energetic and engaged, and wears tinted glasses to prevent eye contact in casual settings. 

Puffy

Quirk: EWE 

Variation of the Ram Quirk. 

Sam 

Quirk: UNKNOWN 

Connor 

Quirk: SONIC SPEED 

Sonic Speed propels the user 100 times faster than the running speed of a regular individual. (1600 km per hour) Connor has to eat ludicrous amounts of food to keep up with his enhanced metabolism. Sugary foods “recharge” him the fastest, but is not healthy or reliable for long periods of time.

Pro Heroes: 

Diamond Man (Skeppy)

Quirk: DIAMOND

This Quirk transforms the user’s skin into unbreakable diamond. Skeppy uses this advantage to be a powerhouse in a fight against a villain, since his only weakness is his own exhaustion. 

Foxheart (Fundy)

Quirk: SHIFT

Shift allows the user to change between having a human form and having an animal form. Fundy’s animal form is a fox. He uses this to heighten his senses and sneak into high security lairs to gather intel on villains. 

Slime Boy (Charlie) 

Quirk: VISCOUS

This Quirk gives the user the ability to be unrestrained to the limits of a human body should they choose. Charlie is able to save himself from damage by turning his body into a slime-like consistency at will. 

Stopwatch (Karl)

Quirk: TIME MANIPULATION

Karl’s Quirk gives him the ability to stop, reverse, forward, and slow the passage of time. As of now he can only do so for a few seconds at a time, as it takes an immense toll on him. The longest he has ever used his powers was to pause time for a full minute to rescue citizens from a collapsing building. The attempt put him in the hospital for a month and a half. 

Villains: 

Dream

Quirk: OMNIPOTENT

Dream knows all, and sees all. His Quirk has corrupted his mind, and has lead him down the path of apathetic destruction. He finds it entertaining to toy with mortals, but often underestimates what they can do since he sees himself as so much more powerful than them. Dream is threat #1 against the academy. 

Punz

Quirk: UNKNOWN 

Unaffiliated/Unknown Standing: 

Technoblade 

Quirk: WAR PIG

This Quirk gives the user the characteristics of a boar, including the ability to be an unstoppable force in battle. When Techno smells blood, he flies into a rage that is only calmed when any opposition is destroyed. This ability is blind, which has caused him to harm his allies more than once. Due to his past of bloodshed, he has been dubbed as the Blood God. 

Philza

Quirk: ELYTRON

This Quirk gives the user fragile, beetle-like wings that protrude from their shoulder blades. Flying takes about the same amount of energy as running, so Phil only really does it if he needs to. Due to his insectoid wings and his past of destruction, he has been dubbed as the Plague. 

Eret 

Quirk: LIAR LIAR

This Quirk gives the user the ability to completely waive all suspicion against them by crossing their fingers and telling a lie. (Ex. If Eret told a stranger he was their friend and crossed his fingers, they would accept him with open arms without any opposition.) Eret has used this ability to become the most powerful person in the city, but is lonely since he knows that none of his friends are truly his friends out of their own volition. 

HBomb (I KNOW WHAT I SAID BEFORE I CHANGED MY MIND BC THIS MAN IS AS STALE AS WHITE BREAD) 

Quirk: UNKNOWN

Deceased:

Wilbur

Quirk: SOULWEAVER 

This Quirk allows the user to freely manipulate souls of themself and others. Wilbur only discovered this Quirk after his death, when his Quirk brought his soul back in the form of a spirit. Prior to his death he was believed to be Quirkless. He has only used his Quirk one other time to bind two compasses to Tommy and Tubbo, using pieces of their souls so the compasses would always point to each other. 

Schlatt 

Quirk: RAM

(See above.) 

[lorenzodemedisi]

Mother’s Love.

PAIRING. 

Steve Rogers x Enhanced!Reader; Stephen Strange x Enhanced!Reader (enemy?); Avengers x Enhanced!Reader. 

SUMMARY.

After the battle in Wakanda, Thanos didn’t use the stones. No him and his army just disappeared and now he awaits, hidden in the shadows. 

The Avengers and others heroes decide to re-group at the compound, and think of a new strategy to finally defeat their enemy. Dr. Strange had a plan but is something that you might not like...at all. 

A/N.

Angst and Fluff. 

This is my entry for @captain-kelli, Captain Kelli’s 500 Fam Writing Challenge. Congratulation on your milestones girl! Prompt;  “I could do it better! And in heels.”. The theme is Strong Women, and today I really wanted to put a light on strong Mothers; their power and love. Don’t hesitate to give me your thoughts, message, and comments. Hope you will like it and thank you for reading!

Gifs are not mine, credits to the owner and maker. 

A lots of love. Lex!xxx

WORDS.3020ish. 

°°°

You felt your heart beating hard inside your chest, hurt, confusion and anger pressing your from inside out, making your body shaken hard, standing beside your husband. You felt his hand taking yours, his skin pressing your fingers together, reminding you that he was here with you but you couldn't acknowledge him right now. Not after what Strange just announced to everyone.

" You must be mistaken, Stephen. " You took a step forward, breaking the contact you had with Steve, your eyes only on the face of the man who just turned inside out your world. " Unfortunately, no. I wish we would not come to this - " " You wish! " You hissed your fuming gaze inside his regretful blue eyes, you make a fist of your hands, already feeling the energy gathering under your skin. " I will make you wish to never cross me. " You argued, your voice hard as steel, your breath ragged, but determinate to beat his ass. " Alright let's put everyone on a time out and tried to consider for a bit. " Tony interjected the little fight between the wizard and yourself putting his body in front of you. " I think we all need time to re-group and think of this new strategy-" " There is no " new " strategy to think of. " You interrupted the billionaire frowning at him before glaring toward the doctor once again. " Besides, a hard and final; no. " You snarled between your teeth, unfazed by the different gaze of other superheroes coming from other galaxies or planets.

You turned around on your heels, and quickly started to walk out of the room, leaving the other in shock, surprise but also understanding your reaction. The click of your heels echoed inside the hallway as you distance yourself from doing something stupid to the wizard or anyone else. Actually, you didn't care what they were all thinking back there, your only preoccupation was on the only person who mattered inside your eyes right now. 

"Y/N?" Steve called behind you, following you through the corridor of the compound. " What didn't you say anything? " You sharply turned around, surprising him as the blond-man froze dead in his tracks. " Y/N…" Steve sighed, his voice full of sadness and exhaustion. " This is a delicate situation and-" " No. It's not, Steve! " You cried out, furious with the lack of his reaction. "There is no need to think about it or even discuss the fact with the other. " You vaguely pointed the door behind him, where were gathered a high amount of heroes. "The answer is no. A hard no. " You declared loudly, panting. Your hands starting to shake more from anger and frustration. Why everyone acted like it was normal to consider this sacrifice and you were the only one seeing the truth? " I know that. We have to consider another alternative…" Steve tired voice told you while making a step toward your angry frame. " So why, I felt like the only one in there being alone against everyone? Why don't you had my back? " You continued to shout, interrupting him once again, tears threatening to fall on your cheeks. " I have your back, Y/N. " The Captain also yelled at your face, outraged of your accusation. He took a deep breath, calming his emotions looking down on his shoes, for a minute. " I have your back. " He repeated calmer, rising his head to look at your face. " And I already told you, this fight his a delicate one. We all need to be on the same page and threatening an ally is not how we need to handle this. " He explained, making another step and gently took your hand inside his big one.

You let your blurry sight looking away from his blue eyes, and watched the compound's ground behind the huge glass windows. The sun was almost up, and you realized that you've been locked inside the room at the end of the hall for almost all night. Exhausted you closed your eyes, and bit your lips while Steve pushed on your hand to make you take the one last step that separated both of your bodies apart. You face collied on his tone chest, and his protective arms enlaced your trembling figure inside a thigh hug.

" I will never let anything happen to our baby girl or you. " He murmured leaning his head inside the crook of your neck, his lips brushing your ear. " I promise you with all my heart that I will be long dead before someone touches her head." He added, pressing a soft skin on your skin.

You sniffed against the fabric of his shirt, holding on your tears as hard as you could, the reassuring words of your husband playing inside your brain and appeasing your worries inside your mind.

" Let's go join them. " Steve whispered, pulling his figure away from you. " We have to take a decision, together. Something which will suit everybody. " Steve declared, in his deep and firm leader voice.

It was easier to say that to accomplish.

°°°

Because of your different personalities, different historical backgrounds and also deep and true nature, it was difficult to make a conclusion of what would be the best approach to win against Thanos and his army.

" So, after hours of deliberation, we all conclude that we can't take him by force, surprise or with subtlety. " James Rhodes enumerated reminding everyone of what you haven't decided to do within these thirteen hours of searching. " So, we all going to die. That's fun. " He nodded, taking a seat next to an annoyed Clint at the huge table inside the room. " Maybe if we go with my idea…" Dr. Strange mumbled under his breath not looking at anyone in particular, standing a little bit at the edge of the group.

You snarled and glared at him, ready to cut his irritating head from his irritating body if he mentioned his horrible idea once again.

" Maybe the wizard had a point. " The One who names himself Star-Lord, winced crossing his arms on his chest. " Excuse me? " You sneered, turning your dark eyes toward the brown-haired man. " All I'm saying is that maybe it worth a shot. " He shrugged his shoulders, grimacing, even more, feeling all the eyes of the room were on him. " No, it's not. " You firmly replied to him, before Steve could defuse the situation. You raised yourself from your seat, your angriness growing once again inside your core. " Come on, Y/N. I'm sure your daughter could do it. " The wizard remarked striding toward the table, purpose inside his eyes. " She's only three, Stephen. Stop this nonsense and lets us think of something more conclusive who doesn't involve my daughter's safety. " Steve raised his voice inside the room covering the little chats amongst the different groups seating at the table.

His features resolved and set, showing no discussion could change his or your mind, but when the magician had something in mind he was ready for anything to accomplish his purpose.

" I don't agree. " Stephen grinned eying you, and only you. " She would be fine." " And I would be better. " You affirmed him, blowing your fists covering in brigh force field against the wooden table in front of you making everyone jolted inside their seats. " Good. " The wizard concluded, taking his hands away from his pockets. "Because he's here." He announced taking a deep breath.

Nobody had the time to fully understand the meaning of his words before the ground shook and devastated started to wreck everything on the building.

°°°

Dark smoke everywhere made you coughed inside your hand, while walls shooke the grounds by falling down on everything and everyone. You couldn't see anything only heard cries, here and there from people trying to free themselves from this nightmare. You closed your eyes, feeling a headache beginning to ponder inside your skull, but suddenly you felt a hand griping your arm hard and raised your body from the holes you were lied on to the surface. You gasped for air, your eyes opening wide as you felt warm hands on your face and a distinct familiar voice calling you.

" Y/N? Y/N? Can you hear me? "

You shifted your eyes toward the voice, your eyes catching Steve's blue one. He sighed seeing you alive, a faint smile creeping on his face but quickly the sharp sound of weapons clashing against one and other, guns and other powers drowned toward the enemy made him looked away. Toward the battlefield. 

" He's here. " You moaned, putting yourself into a seating position, crunching your nose when you felt the injuries inside your rib cage and thighs burning you. " Yeah…" Steve nodded faintly, raising his eyes on the battle ahead of you, looking through for the Titan. " Great. " You sighed, biting your lips hard realizing that the final battle had knocked hard on your doorstep. All of sudden you realized something, that made your blood boiled with madness. " Where's Strange? " You demanded, turning your eyes toward the battle scolding your eyes at all the individuals.

You didn't wait for an answer from your husband to raise your body from the destroyed ground and started to run. You felt all your limbs were heavy with exhaustion and injuries but you continued to run, without thinking about anything but about the teleportation abilities of the wizard and his knowledge of the location of your daughter. You passed by many Dora Milaje fighting aliens, quickly your eyes caught Tony in his suit flying above your head, followed closely by Sam and the Valkyrie. Your eyes were everywhere but you couldn't find the wizard anywhere. You groaned frustrated, unaware of being the target of aliens weapons, you heard the sharp cries coming closer, and your eyes caught sight of them, but it was too late. They were upon you a second and being thrown away from a large hammer, the next. You pushed the next wave of monsters with a wave of your hand, craning your neck to look at Thor behind you.

" Where's Strange? " You asked him, yelling over the battle shout around you. " A thank you would also be nice. " He raised an eyebrow, his hand opened in front of him to get a hold of his hammer coming back toward him, knocking a few aliens along the way. " He's over the barricade, holding down the water. Why? " The God of Thunder asked, making out a bolt of lightning with the tip of his fingers and hit with it another bunch of your enemies.

You quickly searched for him, behind your back but found yourself blown away by a huge amount of power. And this time no one was there to save your ass as your body got thrown on the ground, hard. You felt bone-breaking because of the blow you received, colliding against the rough soil.

" I heard quite a tale Miss Y/N. " A deep and mocking voice told you reaching your ears even if multiple battles screams were all around you. You groaned, feeling your injuries tearing you apart all your frame, and rose your head opening your eyes to watch the dark purple head of the Titan smirking at you. " Here we meet again. " He smiled, his dark eyes filled with mischief and darkness.

You groaned, even more, feeling the copper taste of blood on your tongue, your wobbling legs getting your body up. You stood awkwardly, patches of dirt and dry blood on your skin, your hair all messed up. It was only you and him, apparently. Good.

" Maybe I should pay a little visit to your dear daughter of yours. The wizard thinks highly of her. " He started advancing on you, still smiling. 

Oh no he didn't. At the mention of her, your eyes widen in shock but also anger and hatred. Rage started to grow inside of your body erupting inside your heart.

" She's three right? " Thanos asked, still grinning. You felt the hot flame of outraged growing inside your stomach, your legs started to shake feeling warm wrath emanating all over you. " And he really thinks she can be the key to beat me and this. " He chuckled raising his arm strapped into the gold gauntlet, all the Infinity Stones bright with glow and colors. " That's a bit…too much, don't you think?" " H-He w-wanted to make an s-s-sac-crifice of her or s-somethin'. " You stuttered, your voice trembling from the boiling emotions that were exploding inside of you. You watched him stop into his tracks, just a few meters away from you, looking at you from up-down. " That's funny. Maybe I should start by killing you and then go make a little visit to her. " He suggested, starting to make a fist of his hand wearing the most powerful weapon in the world. " And, I would get to see if she's actually good enough to… destroyed me. " He shrugged his shoulders, his eyes catching the magic trick of Dr. Strange was making with his hands, standing a few feet away from you. Gold lines were appearing everywhere between his fingers.

Your eyes were only on the man who had utterly threaten your daughter's life. You couldn't feel anything, nor the ground under your heels, nor the floating glow around you but only the anger. The fury coming from you was unyielding love of a mother, that would do anything to protect her little one from this sick monster. Stephen Strange tried to hold on the Titan for a long time but with a flick of a gem, he got knocked out on the ground.  

" You really think you could have a shot to defeat me, you lower rank magician," Thanos chuckled, shaking his head at the man lying. " No…" The dark-haired man shook his head looking up at the figure in the sky. " I could do it better! And in heels. " You declared high in the sky, your eyes glowing like flame ready to destroyed and burned everything on his way. "Goodbye, you freak. "

Quickly you rose both of your hands and let the anger pondering inside of you for hours wreak havoc on the battlefield. Time stop, body froze, some felt on the ground, some raised their head to look at the firebird bright in the dark sky. You were nothing but, power. Raw power, destroying, ruining and killing the opponents by shattering their body in pieces. Your eyes were only on the man who had menaced your child, feeling the deep pool of your power breaking the smirk of his face made you pulled inside of it, again and again, your rage, protectiveness and love never-ending if it meant the safety of your child. You continued to ruin everything until nothing was left of his body, his army and his ships in the sky. Until you felt no more pain, anger or any feelings at all.

°°°

Something smooth was stroking you. Light and as soft as a feather. You slowly opened your eyes, feeling the caress trying to pry on your neck and tickled you. Bright light through the windows made you close your eyes quickly but the little sensation on your skin put a faint smile on your lips. You were awake, alive and... well had some company. You tried again to open your eyes once again, slowly this time and turned your face toward the little disturbance. The little girl opened her blue eyes wide seeing you smile at her.

" Awake! Mommy is awake." She cried out in a delicious laugh, her face lightened up. She rushed her small body against yours her little arms enlacing your neck.

You chuckled, your nose brushing her little head. You raised with difficulty your arm to stroke her back. You rose your head and caught the sight of your husband smiling at you. You licked your lips, feeling a little bit sore, your injury not completely healed and winced a bit as you pushed yourself into a seating position, your back against the bed headboard.

" Hi, baby. " You whispered, your voice hoarse and dry. " How's my baby girl? " You murmured as she pulled away from your neck and put a gentle kiss on your cheek. " Alright, Audrey let mummy breathe a little bit. " Steve announced walking toward the bed you were resting, before stroking the hair of his girl. " No, it's ok." You murmured smiling at the blond-man. " Mummy wants another cuddle, come here. " You proposed opening your arm the other still numb. " Yeah, cuddle! " Audrey exclaimed, pushing her body against your collarbone, her hand enlacing your neck once again. She closed her eyes, her head resting on your shoulder.

You put another kiss on her head, and breath, your nose pressed against her skin, reassured that she was here, with you. You opened your eyes and slid your face to look at Steve.

" What happened? " You inquired shifting your eyes toward your husband while holding on your breath waiting for his reply. One hand protectively on your Audrey's back. " Everything and everyone is fine. " Steve smiled, before pushing his body to hover yours and your little one. " Thanks to you, mama bear. " He murmured, his clear eyes bright in the natural light of the room.

Steve put a soft kiss on your lips and sat on the edge of your bed, reaching for his daughter to put her little body on his lap. The little family was reunited and started to enjoy their moment after complicate and dark times.  However, the wandering eyes spying on them through the clinic window was a colorful addition to the mix.

" Don't look like me like this. " The dark-haired man scoffed, arranging the collar of his cap. " I do what I had to do for us to win. Mother's love is the most powerful and dangerous thing out there." He shrugged his shoulders at the two soldiers glaring at him. " I had to make her angry, and that was the only way. " He continued to justify himself, as he started to walk outside the room, following by the desperate look of Sam and angry stares of Bucky. "Desperate times need desperate measures, soldiers. " Stephen Strange told them still striding to the exit, his back to them.

°°° Tag List; @jtargaryen18 @princessdancingonthesunshine @captain-kelli​ @fckdeusername​

[gem-quest]

[ O P H E L I A ... ]

“There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you’ll be free, if you truly wish to be.” 
- Pure Imagination

Real Name: Catriona “Cat” Walsh Age: 20 FC: Saoirse Ronan Species & Class: Specter Bard Guild: Moonstone 
 Description of In-Game Powers: Specters are Gem Quest’s non-corporeal undead player race.  They’re notable for only having 9 stats instead of 10, with Strength being omitted from their stat lineup because they literally have no physical bodies.  Instead, their Willpower stat serves as their Strength equivalent.  This means they have a rechargeable meter of how much they can possibly interact with physical objects before taking a rest or recharging with a spell or potion.  Beyond that, Specters are distinguished by their inability to be damaged by non-magical weapons, increased susceptibility to light magic, and inability to be healed via healing potions or traditional physical healing spells (only a period of rest or spells/potions aimed at restoring mental wellness can heal them).  The non-magical weapon immunity is amazing lower levels, but it’s not long before everything thrown at you seems to be enchanted or blessed or cursed or whatever.  Weirdly enough, as far as the whole “incorporeal being” conceit is taken in other aspects, Specters can indeed take potions, as well as eat and drink.  They get decreased buffs from some potions and foods, though.  To balance this out, spells that provide small buffs and aren’t explicitly light-aligned are extra effective on them.

There’s a lot of frustration with the class because of its “fake” weapon resistance, since any old dagger with any mild enchantment or magical effect at all on it can hit them.  They can’t viably hit physical things in combat without specifically taking Knight, Rogue, Rider, or Mage-Knight as their class.  And even then, they’re arguably the weakest race choice in the game for non-magical melee combat.  Meanwhile, a lot of physical things and all magic can still hit them very hard very easily. 

All of this said, there ARE skills to really like here, too - namely, superb mobility.  Specters can pass through physical materials five feet thick or thinner as long as those materials aren’t specifically enchanted to prevent phasing.  They float slightly by default and have a rechargeable flight ability that allows them to lift much further off the ground in short bursts.  They also have a rechargeable ability (with more uses per charge than flight) that allows them to teleport from where they stand to any spot they can see within 20 feet without a spell as long as they haven’t been hit with an attack in the past 5 seconds.  This gives them excellent mobility even in the heat of battle and allows them to have a lot of control over their position and angle.  It also means that it’s often smarter for them to worry less about defense than about being hard to hit in the first place.

Place of Birth: Dublin, Ireland

Appearance: Ophelia has a Specter’s signature slightly translucent skin, under-saturated color palette, and skirt hem/legs that trail off into mist.  Her eyes are a stormy gray, and her wardrobe is almost exclusively black and white.  When it comes to fashion, she prefers some of the more dark Victorian-inspired looks in the game as opposed to the high fantasy, renaissance, or medieval looks that a lot of other characters favor.  That said, she’s got a pretty extensive and well-curated wardrobe behind her.  She considers it highly important that she have at least one appropriate black and white ensemble to wear in each and every level in order to fit in with the theme.  That said, she also has her own signature look that she uses as her “default” (the outfit she’s wearing in her pic at the top of her audition - full-body edit to be shared later!).  Oh, and she loves gloves and capes.  LOVES THEM.  And kind of hoards them, tbh.

Places Most Likely to be Found In-Game: Ophelia’s favorite haunt at the moment is the City of Magic in Level 11.  It’s the logical home base for a character who’s both a crafting/magical class AND a ghost. There’s a high enough concentration of both useful items and ingredients AND sufficiently gothic-flavored areas and NPCs to suit all her needs, both practical and aesthetic. She’s set up her own little shop in one of the many background spooky haunted house locations within the shadier-looking part of the city, and her Aesthetic demands she sometimes hangs out at the city’s main graveyard.  

Beyond that, she can sometimes be found in various libraries and shops across the levels she can access, looking for interesting bits of crafting knowledge, hints of new items she could try cobbling together, and items that she could modify or combine with something to make can even more useful item.  She’s also been known to turn up in random wilderness or roadway portions of levels in the first half of the game, foraging for crafting components that grow or randomly generate within those environments.

Current Inventory:

Screaming Lute (x1): Ophelia is very, exceedingly proud of her combat lute.  She crafted it herself out of her bardic starter instrument.  Specter Bards begin the game with an instrument they are capable of interacting with consistently.  Cat has decided that, within Ophelia’s story, this was Ophelia’s lute in life, and it was destroyed shortly before her death as a way of intimidating her.  Anyhow, Ophelia has heavily modified her starting weapon to the point that she thinks of it as an entirely new item.  It’s covered in strange etched carvings and shifts between glowing with an eerie red light from the inside and constantly trailing wisps of white smoke.  She uses it as her primary weapon in the game, as strumming specific notes and chords on the lute lights up some of the etchings and fires off various spells and magical effects and spells Ophelia has been able to learn.  The lute downright shrieks whenever she uses it to cast a spell.  How does it work, you might ask?  That is a very long story, and one I’m saving for another post XD  Most of the spells Ophelia has at her disposal are cast through her rune-covered lute and will be catalogued in her lute info.

Whispering Flute (x1): Ophelia likes rhymes and the aesthetics of symmetry.  A secondary combat and utility weapon of hers, this is a flute enchanted to fire off up to three charges of Ventium per day, and one charge of Murmurationium per day.  A good insurance weapon to sneak into a dangerous social situation, as it’s a perfectly normal and usable flute until she uses it to unleash the fury of the cold cruel winds of death upon you XD

Empty Unbreakable Bottle (x5): Ophelia favors magical items strongly because Specters can interact with non-martial ones automatically, without having to expend any extra effort or have at least X amount of Willpower to do so.  Unbreakable Bottles are the cheapest magical container commonly for sale in game that’s capable of reliably holding liquids, so Ophelia likes to store all liquids important to her in them.  And she likes to have at least a couple of empty ones on her at all times in case she wants to take a sample of something or otherwise just needs one.

Unbreakable Bottle of Rune Ink (x5): Rune Ink is an item that can be used as permanent and unfading ink that’s nigh impossible to remove or cover up.  More importantly, though, it allows a PC with knowledge of the game’s runes, basically a language of magic that appears in a level or two and on some items, to write runic symbols that absorb nearby magical energy and store it within the object with runes written on it.

Enchanted Carving Tools (x1): Basic carving tools, enchanted to be able to create magical items and inscriptions.  Ophelia uses them for crafting both magical and non-magical items, since any given item needs to be enchanted for her to be able to actively use it for long stretches of time anyway.

Enchanted Mending Kit (x1): Enchanted mending/tinker’s tools able to repair magical items without damaging their magical properties.  Ophelia uses these to repair any repairable item sent her way, for the same reason she also uses enchanted carving tools for everything.

Paxanimi Potion (x3): A potion that mitigates psychic damage or corruption and provides a temporary boost to a player’s Psyche stat.  For Ophelia, as a Specter, this is the closest thing she gets to a reliably available health potion.

Psychometry Scroll (x1): Allows caster to make one inquiry about the past of an object or place, then projects a scene or quote from the object’s or place’s history that provides a relevant answer to that question into the caster’s mind.  Without crafting very specific questions, the results can often be vague and unhelpful, as the game will take the path of least resistance in providing a vision that meets the requirements of the inquiry.

Ictuium Scroll (x1)

Second Sight Scroll (x1) (Learning)

Assorted Random Crafting Bits and Scraps

She actually has more inventory kept hidden away within her home base rather than coming with her everywhere.  Most of it is just more tools and materials and many, many changes of clothes.

“How much does it weigh?  Can I touch, smell, and taste it?  Can I put it in my inventory?  Is it magical?  Is it combustible?  How many knowledge checks can I roll on it?  Does it match my outfit?  Can I keep it?” - Catriona, literally every time she sees any new item in D&D

Strongest character trait: Imagination

Strengths: Ophelia is an immensely imaginative and resourceful person who comes to Gem Quest from a background of extensive fiction reading and making famously effective TTRPG characters.  It helps that she researched Gem Quest *extensively* before starting and continued to be active in forums and the GQ Wiki right up through getting stuck, along with getting early advice and support from a beta tester acquaintance.  Her ideas are typically wildly innovative and a bit risky, but to her credit, they pay off more often than not.  She’s slow to trust others with much critical personal information, but pretty open to giving others a chance and to judging people based on her own experience rather than on gossip.  Thinking on her feet is second nature to her, and she’s rarely at a loss for ideas.  Her devotion to her character and planned story arc have helped her to maintain a degree of focus and stability that’s thus far proven to be her most valuable coping mechanism. 

She’s generally friendly and pleasant despite her spooky aesthetic, story, and demeanor, and she will genuinely try to help anyone who asks her for it.  In business and in social encounters, Ophelia is considerate, well-mannered, and often downright chatty, though she usually knows to take a hint when people make it clear that they don’t want to talk.  She makes and offers a selection of odd but useful items at very fair prices because she’s not here to make a profit - she just needs enough resources to keep going.  She’s earned a bit of good will based on that.  Her skill in puzzle and strategy-based quests and willingness to dispense hints on the above, along with her crafting, has garnered her a good reputation as a support player and PC shopkeeper within her guild.

Weaknesses: Even knowing that the game is now a matter of life and death, Ophelia still seems to care more about her in-game narrative and goals than practicality, survivability, or winning.  A vibrant creative type who wishes no irl harm to anybody, she has a hard time conceiving that even the most blatantly destructive PCs would truly do harm to anyone outside the narrative.  She catches most of the references you make and then obnoxiously, steadfastly denies that she has caught them if you inquire, because Star Wars doesn’t exist in the world of Gem Quest and of Ophelia, dammit!  While her coping methods might be working for her internally for now, her devotion to staying in-character makes her a bit of an acquired taste.  She is very, very particular about sticking to character, even when it’d be more practical and less annoying for her to drop it. She’s been known to make important decisions that risk her safety (and sometimes, indirectly, that of others) in the name of “authenticity” to her character and story plans. 

Far, far too curious and adventurous for someone with a Defense stat of 2.  She has lots and lots of interesting ideas, all of which she gives equal chance to, plenty of which aren’t good.  Just because her creative ideas pay off more often than not doesn’t mean that there aren’t times when they don’t pay off.  And when they don’t pay off, they tend to not pay off SPECTACULARLY.  Reasonably likely to get herself killed enacting some inventive and exceedingly high-risk scheme to take out a dangerous boss before it can do damage. 

For some folks, the mix of creepy aesthetics and backstory and acting choices with effusive goodwill and pleasantness is more off-putting than inviting.  Arguably talks too much, especially when she’s nervous or upset.  Has a weakness for getting emotionally involved with NPCs, particularly minor NPCs with chains of side quests or that can serve as temporary companions, despite theoretically knowing that they’re just chunks of code.  Seems physically incapable of just sitting back and relaxing for a few without having to start some new project or come up with some new big subplot or plan. 

Plenty of folks are happy to buy her crafted items, but she has a bad reputation as an active combatant due to a few infamous Incidents.  At this point, only the truly uninformed, the truly desperate, the truly experimental, or the truly crazy in Moonstone would willingly party up with her XD

“Death has made me less than kind.  And very, very creative with a broken lute, who knew?” - Ophelia

Player Stats: Ophelia’s defensive strategy in combat is just to not be hit at all.  Her Defense stat is dangerously low, with any points that could buff it up as she’s gained levels and experience instead going to Agility and Luck.  She prefers to draw her “defense” from stats that she can get more versatile use out of.  She’s unusually low in Charisma for a Bard and has only enough Willpower to allow her to craft with physical items.  She can’t wield non-magical weapons at all.  However, she opted to invest a bit more in Psyche than a lot of other players did since a lot of a Specter’s durability lies in their emotional stability.  She also has uncommonly high Intelligence, which combines with her Psyche and Luck to equip her well for puzzle-based and strategy-based challenges.

STRENGTH: X

DEFENSE: 2

CHARISMA: 6

PSYCHE: 7

WILLPOWER: 7

CAUTIOUSNESS: 4

AGILITY: 8

ENDURANCE: 5

INTELLIGENCE: 9

LUCK: 8


Personality: (A lot of this is already in her strengths and weaknesses, so I’m putting a bit of a summary and some extra detail in here.)

She eats fictional media for breakfast, means well, talks a lot and talks often, has an overall spooky quirky nice one vibe (you know the type), fancies herself an actress regardless of the feedback she might receive, will (un)live and die in-character out of a fruity cocktail of artistic integrity and spite, is the Bard equivalent of a TV mad scientist who tends to cause the problem at the start of the episode with an experiment and then solve it in the last 2 minutes with a crazy genius plan that’s then shown to have not *totally* worked in a post-episode stinger, and is too smart for anyone’s good.  

Building a clear narrative here helps her bring some degree of organization and order to the wild creative whirlpool that is her brain.  She’d never considered herself much of an escapist until she discovered GQ, where she hasn’t escaped from responsibilities and work and struggle so much as she’s found an intoxicating degree of control over what her responsibilities and work and struggle are.  She can write a meaningful story here, be its central driving force, have the impact she increasingly feels like she’ll just never be able to have in real life, and stick her epic quest out to a glorious conclusion.  Ironically, she’s a weird mix of always needing an outline and a sense of narrative while ALSO constantly bursting with new ideas and clever but risky plans that she takes quite seriously.  Cat harbors perpetual mild guilt for feeling so restless and unhappy - after all, she’s lived comfortable life and has a family who loves, and it’s not like people have to like anything she makes or does or says in order for her to have a high quality of life.

“Think you're escaping and run into yourself. Longest way round is the shortest way home.” - James Joyce

Biography: Catriona Walsh was born in Dublin, Ireland to an Irish mother and an American father of Irish descent.  The family moved to New York City for her father’s job when she was just 5, but she and her mom remain close with her mom’s side of the family back in Ireland.  After 3 years in New York, the family moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Cat spent the rest of her young life, except for summers.  Most summers since she was 13, she’s stayed a couple months with an aunt and uncle who own a small tour company in Dublin.  From 16 on, she’s been helping with business while there.  Now she’s at college in Dublin and working at the company on the weekends, in exchange for staying with her relatives. She’s studying business for her parents and literature for herself.  

Cat has always had a great fondness for the tour company, though mostly for the actual tour guide end of it.  She’s a natural storyteller and explorer who delights in going off the beaten trail and sharing all she knows about xyz subject with anyone who seems interested.  Unfortunately, her improvisational bent has landed her in trouble with her aunt and uncle more than once.  There are schedules to keep and itineraries people pay to be taken through, after all.  This landed her behind the front desk of the office answering phone calls and administering group ticket sales, which she very nearly hates.

School is hard, especially with her true interest pushed to the side by necessity.  Feeling like none of her ideas ever get taken seriously is hard.  Making friends that last beyond one semester sharing a class is hard, and as she gets further into her college career, her future looks increasingly stifled and bleak to her.  Attempts to get some poetry and original music off the ground haven’t gone anywhere, ending in some spikes of faceless nastiness that prompted her to delete her one YouTube account and take a step back from social media about a year and a half ago.  Sure, she knows she’s supposed to have a thicker skin than that if she wants to go anywhere, and she *does* want to go somewhere.  But she can’t seem to make her skin much thicker.  She wants to argue with her uncle and aunt a bit more, as she increasingly disagrees with them on quite a few things, but they’re both extremely conflict averse, and she can be extremely lacking in tact about things she’s suitably worked up over.  

Through it all, she knows full well that so so many people have it worse, and that she has no reason to feel restless and dissatisfied and unhappy.  It’s just that she has a hard time connecting with people and feeling heard. She’s not alone, so why is she lonely?  Cat takes refuge in being the zany, intensely individualistic artist who’s sometimes worth inviting to a party for the interest value and who surely has friends somewhere - you just haven’t ever met them.  

For the past year or so, all the time Cat has for herself and an increasing amount of time that used to go into schoolwork has been split between her long-time refuge in tabletop roleplaying and her new favorite place: Gem Quest.  She’s part of two Dungeons & Dragons games currently being run on Roll20 (well, was a part of them, anyway), both of which she plays as a multiclassed build with some degree of casting put together for a mix of strong utility and intricate storytelling.  Gem Quest continues a years-long trend of being in love with exactly one fantasy video game at a time and playing it as much as possible, though it’s her first MMORPG.  

Catriona researched Gem Quest *extensively* before ever getting it or creating her character.  She heard about it from a fellow member of one of her online D&D groups, an avid gamer happened to be a beta tester.  Cat was drawn in by the idea of being able to entirely occupy the space of a created hero within a sprawling fantasy setting and be a version of herself designed as a protagonist in a world designed to be impacted by her.  She had a cousin who had a VR headset but decided it just wasn’t really his thing, so it wasn’t hard to convince him to let her use it for this.  After waiting to see more setting and story info during the early general release and researching everything there was to know about GQ thus far, including via discussion with her beta tester acquaintance, she entered into the game a short while after launch. She’s had time to level up, mostly in being an item crafter and utility character with a surprising capacity to serve as a highly mobile glass canon blaster (and inexhaustible source of very creative and very insane plans) in combat.

She also has a whole, novella-length backstory for her character - a summary of which I will post later! - that she treats as her character bible and guide for all in-game interactions.  It’s based on a single image of a skeleton in a black and white dress in some official art of one of the higher levels where there are a lot of scenic skeletons lying around.  This is the sort of brain Cat has XD



Ophelia, as a character, is the ghost of a minor noblewoman and court musician who was betrayed when she starting poking around into the disappearance of her older brother at court.  Her desires to find her brother and for vengeance brought her back as a Specter, but she came back a world away from the place she died and has to go on a quest to make it back and finish her story.  Cat built the character to be tied to a mid-to-late game puzzle-heavy level so she could have a big climatic Moment there.  Then, she’d continue to the end in search of her fictional brother.  Ophelia wields a spectral lute as a spellcasting focus and spends a lot of time pursuing leads about both her brother and her murderer (aka quests Cat finds thematically/aesthetically good for Ophelia).

Cat is VERY set on seeing this plot through and being the hero of her story, from start to finish, despite what’s happening with the game now.  She does her part to provide puzzle guides and crafting support for those working to beat the game, but she’s not going to rush through her story and suddenly snap back to being poor little ungrateful and inexplicably depressed Cat who has no place in anything and can’t do anyone much good with what she’s got.  While she’s in the game, she’s going to be Ophelia.  At least Ophelia has a *reason* to be unhappy and restless, a wildly creative and wildly striving brain tied to the world with a few wisps of smoke.  And at least Ophelia is good at what she does.

Never mind how much she adored aggressive exploration and creative combat at first.  She’s learned well enough that she’s just a liability there, she’s bad at being in a group, and, not so different from real life, she’s at her best when she’s just at the shop counter being support.  She’s already been booted from a couple of parties over her crazy plans, play style, and general personality. And there have been more than enough incidents with her pulling something crazy because it was in-character and genuinely seemed like a good solution with the resources given, usually with at least decent results but always with high risk, that no one in the know is willing to party up with her anymore. 

She’s kind of stuck either in her shop or going solo.  At least she makes good things, though, right?  And she’s just taking her plot slow because of she’s savoring and developing her story, not because people don’t really like conquering life beside her out here either, right?

Right?

Relationships: I’m very much open to some plotting and planning with anyone who’d like to try working something out!

In regards to side characters or such of my own, I have some ideas already for this.  I’ll fill these in as I finalize my ideas a bit more!

Char 1 -

Char 2 -

Char 3 -

Playlist: TBF Pinterest: TBF Extra: TBF

[zecretsanta]

To: @chessanator​ From: @whatever-43​ /  (mechadogmarron@AO3)

Happy holidays! I hope you enjoy this... not even slightly holiday themed fic! :)

“Aum Shinrikyo?”

“Hm.” Akane added the group to the growing list of organizations that might feasibly have a religious terrorist, writing as small as she could to leave room for even more names. “I don’t think we’re getting anywhere this way.”

“Without even knowing a nation, it’ll be difficult to narrow it down.” Phi tapped her foot, thoughtful. She and Sigma had signed on to help Crash Keys, with the understanding that as soon as this terrorism business was done, they were out, thank you very much.

“He mentioned it was a nuclear attack, right?” Sigma said. “Most countries don’t have nukes. You can cut off a good chunk of these. Should be workable.”

“Doesn’t matter, if they can provoke a nation with nukes to use them. Or attack a nuclear power plant. Once the bombs start flying...” Phi shrugged. Her friend — coworker? father? — could be an absolute goddamn buffoon, but that went without saying.

“Phi’s right. Speaking of which — Sigma, Phi, did you have any luck using Sean to access Delta’s quantum computer functions?”

“Wouldn’t’ve here listing terrorist groups if we had. Whatever protection he’s got on that thing, it’s way beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Frankly, I don’t think it’s possible without an advanced quantum computer of our own — there are forms of encryption and protection they can solve in an instant that conventional machines will never solve.”

“Takes one to break one, huh? And I assume there’s nothing on the market like that...” Akane sighed.

He shook his head. “His was one of a kind. I can’t imagine how he managed to build it — he must’ve used the teleporter. But we don’t have access to the damn thing, and dead men tell no tales. I’m tempted to try to SHIFT back and see if we can’t save it, but that doesn’t do anything for this timeline.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I wish I could SHIFT into the timeline where I don’t have to think about SHIFTing.” Junpei rolled his eyes.

“But if you did, you would still know about SHIFTing, and that you would be here and forced to learn to SHIFT. You would increase the amount of SHIFTing in the metatemporality, if by an infinitely small amount.” Akane smiled, and Phi had to choke back a groan. “Well, not exactly. It’s actually an interesting question — whether you choose to SHIFT or not already splits a timeline, so ultimately, all it does is let you choose which timeline you’d rather inhabit. In essence, that we’ve attempted to do this at all, or ever would, has already created an infinite manifold of quantum possibilities by which—“ Her face suddenly went blank, and she closed her eyes. Weird. Phi glanced over to Junpei to see if it got a rise out of him, but both he and Aoi seemed calm enough.

There was a moment of comfortable silence, and then Akane threw herself across the room, eyes snapped open. “Everyone, up and out!”

“What’s up?” Junpei asked, not waiting for an answer to rush to her side. Didn’t need to tell Phi twice, either.

“There’s a bomb in the building.”

“Any chance of disarming it?” Phi’d bothered to read up after the A-B; she and Sigma had decent chances versus anything conventional. But if two death games had taught her anything, it was just how ridiculously unconventional you could get.

“The Aoi who told me didn’t know anything about it. Roof collapse.”

“Got it.” Aoi pulled the fire alarm as they scattered, though God willing no one else should’ve been in the warehouse they’d been meeting up in.

It was a huge building, but all of them knew how to get the hell out of a place, in more ways than one. It was familiar: against the ground, go, go, go!; every eye and ear alert for the first second’s notice that it was time to SHIFT, bodies equally primed for the feeling of someone SHIFTing into them, as so often happened in times of disaster. But the door was in sight. Akane first, than Aoi and Junpei; finally, Phi, and then—

Sigma was halfway out the door when they heard the catastrophic boom, followed by screeching beams as the building suddenly weakened from the loss of support and the heat and fire. He froze, and without thinking, Phi grabbed him and pulled him the rest of the way.

“It’s not safe here,” Akane said. “Whoever did that, we don’t know if they’re still around. And none of us want to deal with cops. Aoi, send a message to all the other Receivers and let them know someone’s after Crash Keys — bet SOIS is another target. Phi, you’re driving.”

“Got it.” The five of them piled into the heavy truck, wheels spinning before the last door was even closed.

Whatever their enemy was, they’d noticed Crash Keys. Now, the game was on.

###

“So you can Receive messages even from other timelines?”

Akane nodded. “Not consistently, but Junpei’s been able to cross-Send to me before. Aoi only picked it up recently. I think the Decision Game strengthened my ability to Receive. I’m sorry, I figured you two knew.”

“Water under the bridge,” Sigma replied. Phi wanted to tell him to shut up — it was an incredible skill to have, to transfer information without endangering the consciousness — but they had bigger fish to fry. “I assume you’ve been keeping an ear out for any more information?”

She nodded. “But I only ever get snippets, so I don’t think I’ll get anything useful, and so far we all live in a timeline where no one SHIFTed back to warn us.”

“Hm. Well, we know they know about us, and they’ve got a presence in Japan. I’m guessing they could follow us even if we left the country.” Phi pulled a thoughtful expression. “They may not be a known terrorist cell; could even be something recent. Did SOIS know where we were meeting? They could have a rat.”

Akane shook her head. “I don’t share details of our operations with anyone. We have too many enemies, and a group that big, rats aren’t just likely, they’re inevitable.”

“Hm. It’s possible one of us is a rat, but there are an ungodly number of ways to track someone. If someone had their mind against us, figuring out where they were would be trivial.” Junpei shrugged. “Saw a lot of them, the past few years. You wouldn’t believe how many places you can stick a GPS transmitter.”

Sigma nodded. “We can’t ignore the possibility of a traitor, but we have no evidence towards it and no actionable way to work around it. Either way, our enemies have shown they’re willing to go to lengths against us. We can’t assume we’re safe until this is figured out. They might go after our associates, too... You guys should contact Carlos. Phi, you get ahold of Diana. I’ll talk to Sean.”

“If they have a trace on our phones, that could make the situation worse.” Phi sighed. “We’ll want burners.”

“Already got you covered,” Aoi said. “They’re in the glovebox. Akane, could you pass them around?”

Calls went quick. The critical warnings first, then the usual pleasantries: “keep Eric out of trouble, you know how he gets”; “say hi to Maria for me”; “...love you too, Mom.” As soon as the relevant news had been spread, Akane collected the phones and — checking to make sure they wouldn’t hit anything first — threw them into an odd metal bag.

“It’s shielded to block network communications,” she explained. “I’d love to incinerate them, but we don’t have time for that. We’ll want to stay on the move as much as we can for now. The first question: do you think they know about SHIFTing?”

“If they know about Crash Keys, they almost certainly have some knowledge of psionic potential, but it may be an incomplete understanding. That may be why they went after us when the expected apocalyptic date isn’t for another couple years. If they don’t have a strong understanding of the concept of timelines, they may think it’ll prevent us from using our abilities to send information about their operations backwards. After all, a dead man can’t SHIFT,” Phi said.

“According to the parallel possibility hypothesis, the less likely it is for us to survive to stop the apocalypse, the fewer timelines will be generated in which it happens. Ultimately, that doesn’t matter in conventional metrics, but it means that fewer timelines exist where we can SHIFT, meaning fewer timelines exist overall where we do... Of course, the objective temporal space hypothesis contradicts this, but a lot of psychospacial researchers believe in the former. It has to do with a contradiction between conventional quantum physics and conventional quantum mathematics — we don’t know which is correct. For what it’s worth, I subscribe to the latter.”

“So what you’re saying is that they might be in the know about the whole thing?”

She nodded. “They may even have access to a quantum computer, in which case the answer of how they’re keeping eyes on us is trivial. Awareness of the subject is growing rapidly, after all — I suspect that if the world doesn’t end, governments will begin officially acknowledging psychic phenomenon within two decades. It could be associates of Cradle.”

“Damn, I wish Delta would’ve given us more hints. Snail this and snail that, like, shut up, dude!”

“Junpei, that’s it!” Phi was too calm to jump to her feet, and she was buckled in in a moving truck anyways, but damn if she didn’t want to. “Delta’s snail was what connected all of us — what brought us to our lives. But it wasn’t connected to him. It was only because of him that we were born, and he only had us born because of the apocalypse, right?”

“So, he was bullshitting us?” Junpei said.

Phi shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think he was giving us a hint that he was connected to the apocalypse; that completes the circle, because the snail lead to Cradle, which became a prototype for his Free the Soul. If Delta is, in some way, at fault for the apocalypse, the timeline stabilizes around him; his existence creates the circumstances for his existence.”

“So he needed to create the apocalypse to stop the apocalypse so he could be born? That doesn’t make—“

“I see, I see! Jumpy, you should pay more attention. It’s an example of a bootstrap loop. Essentially, his existence was already a casual loop — as in the bootstrap paradox — so by nature, he was driven to strengthen the connection.”

“Wait, he was connected to Free the Soul, right?” Sigma said. “Phi, do you remember Dio?”

“Unfortunately.”

“He said he was the fourth generation of Left clone, back in 2074. If Delta died in that timeline, the clones would have to be raising themselves, right? So if we assume twenty years between generations, that means the first generation was born 34 years ago. They’re old enough to be wracked with grief over the death of your weird brother-father-figure. Old enough to keep manning his terrorist group, like they did in our timeline. Old enough to plot vengeance. And with Delta, their savior, dead...”

“...they might just decide the world should burn. Bombs are a huge part of their MO, too.” Phi turned to Akane. “Does Crash Keys have any experience with Free the Soul? Only some? Well, let me fill you in...”

###

“Tell me again, why did we bring Carlos?” Aoi gave the man an odd look.

“The more SHIFTers the better. We might be able to pull you along with this many. Hopefully we won’t need to, but...” Akane shrugged. “Best to be prepared. And he’s a better shot than any of us.”

“Guess no one would hear a gun all the way out here.” The remote compound that they’d found — courtesy a SOIS tip — was miles and miles from civilization, disguised as an abandoned old farm. But they all knew that behind that veneer of nasty old wood lay a sizable cell of Free The Soul adherents.

“You know, I heard in some countries they’re taking down old barns for the barn wood. It’s considered a hot commodity,” Akane said as they completed their scope of the outer perimeter. No noise, no movement, nothing. Junpei’s aerial drone hadn’t seen anything from above. By all accounts, the place was empty.

“Maybe we should call ‘em here.” Junpei waved them over to a door. With a nod all around and a creak, he opened it.

“Jesus fuck!” Sigma swore.

If not for the dozens of perfectly identical bloody bodies, it would’ve been a fairly typical cult barn (in his limited but surprisingly nonzero experience), but then there were the bodies — each identical copies, a bit older than the Dio he remembered, each coated in blood from their mouths, their ears, their eye sockets.

“What the hell is this?” Junpei shouted. Akane grabbed him before he could get any closer. “What—“

“Whatever it is, we don’t know that it’s safe. They’ve used diseases before. Did any of you see anything like this during the Decision Game? No? Alright. Mask up, all.”

Although he didn’t get too close, Sigma still took a moment to examine the corpses as best he could. Their clothes were simple and unassuming, not designed for drama and grace in the face of what must’ve been a particularly violent ritual suicide. They didn’t have any obvious wounds; it looked more like it had exploded out of them. Even with the limited viewing angles available, if there had actually been a physical cause, it would’ve had to be visible, unless someone had dressed them all after they’d killed themselves in the nude.

Which… didn’t seem beyond Free the Soul, but he didn’t exactly have a Hazmat suit on him. It definitely wouldn’t be past Free the Soul to poison their corpses, either. And God knew what the hell these men had for diseases. Radical-6 didn’t come from nowhere, after all.

“Do you think there’s a reason they did it?”

“Maybe the next batch of clones is ready to take their place?” Carlos said. “I mean, fewer mouths to feed and all that. These guys are old enough to have kids getting ready to take their place.”

“Not a bad guess, but if they’re preparing to end the world, I’d think they’d need all the manpower they can get.”

“Probably not. Radical-6 didn’t take a lot of people. Just took…” Phi trailed off. “You know. It’s how you use it, not what you’ve got. Although I can’t imagine Delta built that facility of his without some help.”

“Another perk to the clones, right? And if he had the ones who knew the details off themselves, they couldn’t rat on him. If he’d… been alive, anyways. Do they know about what happened?”

“Almost certainly. Unless he wanted them to remain in ignorance, anyways. That happens in cults sometimes, you know.” Akane shrugged. “If they know their leader is dead, it humanizes him, and weakens the cause. But I don’t think Free the Soul’s core adherents had anything to worry about with that. A clone raised in the cult is different from a regular person who joins looking for some kind of meaningful contact and applicable philosophy. Junpei, do you still have your scanner devices?”

Junpei nodded. “Do you want me to scope the place out?”

“Yeah. If this was the cell location, and not just a spot for a mass suicide, they’ve got to have some kind of living quarters.”

“Good point.” He deployed a weird little metal device he pulled from his bag, which skittered across the ground, edges rolling in circles. Soon, it stopped in place over what looked like plain dirt. “There’s something about six inches below.”

“They did a good job on covering it up. Good find.” With six people, it took no time at all to clear the space, revealing a clean metal hatch, out of place in the rustic, rotted space. It had some sort of baffling sliding puzzle lock that wouldn’t really serve to keep anyone out, just inconvienence them — one that Phi popped in a blink of an eye — and then they were looking at a deep tunnel down into darkness.

“Headlamps on. I’ll lead. You next, Jumpy. Then Carlos, Aoi, Phi, Sigma.”

“Got it.” Her tone brokered no argument.

The space beneath them was unlit, a basement of smooth concrete walls. Each door was unmarked, the inhabitants presumably well aware of the contents; opening them revealed the standard sort of things one might expect in a barracks — six simple dorms fitting four each, bathrooms with communal showers, a small reading room with only Free the Soul approved texts; largely, known scriptures, with a smattering of what must’ve been Delta’s own work.

“We’ll come back for them. Living targets first. Books aren’t going to disappear.”

“Got it.”

There were no clone tanks, no technology for producing more Lefts, which suggested that this wasn’t their main facility. But the room at the end of the singular hallway gave off an aura of something’s-in-here — despite being identical to the rest.

Akane signaled Carlos, and he readied his weapon. Then, with a flourish, she pulled the door open.

Behind the door was a familiar man — familiar in his blonde hair, in his graceful features, in his sense of dress, but not in the way he held himself.

The next generation of Lefts? But he seemed different, somehow.

“So you found us here,” the man said, and turned to meet Akane’s eyes. “My name is Left.”

“You’re planning a terrorist attack.”

“Yes. You saw the bodies upstairs, right?”

She nodded. “Killing your own brothers in cold blood.”

“Not exactly. They’re not really mine. You see, I arrived in this timeline eight months ago — the same day my brother died.” His face broke into a sad smile. “I used the teleporter, of course. I’m incapable of SHIFTing.”

“You’re the original Left, aren’t you?” Phi watched him, eyes sharp — tense and ready to respond to even the slightest indication of trouble.

He nodded. “Eight months ago, when I was fifteen, a man brought me to the teleporter and took me forward to this day. He said I might be able to meet with my brother. But I found out almost immediately that Delta had been killed. And there’s no way I can set the transporter to ensure I’ll be teleported into a timeline with him.”

“So you took control of Free the Soul?”

He nodded. “Delta had contingencies, plans. My clones listened to me, and I studied my brother’s research. Eventually, I developed a plan — one he himself must’ve seen me learn through his quantum computer.”

“A plan to destroy the world that took you from him?”

“If it comes to that. Destroying all of human life isn’t difficult, really. It’s hard to destroy it selectively, to keep a few alive. But to just decimate, with no care in the world? Trivial. My brother developed a virus for his Decision Game, one called Fanatic Bio R. You wouldn’t have seen it; it was in a game for the non-SHIFTers. But it’s completely fatal. And I’ve modified a version to be more contagious.”

“So you’ll release it on the world and — what? Even if it’s contagious, there’s no way it could spread to everyone,” Phi said.

“No, it can’t. But that’s the beauty of it — it doesn’t have to. It’ll be obvious to any scientist that studies it that it’s completely artificial. Once the governments know, the fear starts. The wars start. The bombs start. Mankind’s governments have all the power they need to end all human life — they just need a bit of a push.”

“So you’re the terrorist he warned us about.” Akane’s voice was steady.

“Yes. But don’t worry — if you do what we say, no one will get hurt.”

“Why would we listen to you, you sick bastard?”

“Didn’t I just explain why? If I’m killed, my contingencies go off. The plan doesn’t need me breathing; it’s not like I’d survive anyways. And no one has to die for my plan. You’ll even get to save a life. All you have to do is SHIFT back to before you killed my brother, and let him live — and with so many of you, it shouldn’t be a problem to take me with you.”

“You don’t have a body there.”

“I don’t have a body, no. But I have clones. It’s the same idea — I’ll be able to SHIFT into one of them. After all, if there was a transporter copy of you in the same timeline as an original self, you could SHIFT into either. It’s the same concept. And there’s none of the ethical issues with SHIFTing someone into an unpleasant timeline — I’ve made arrangements to be sure that the plan won’t fire once I’m gone. They’ll simply move eight months forward to find that they’ve been spared the work of finding the terrorist. If anything, they’ve got the lucky end of the stick.”

“How do we know you and Delta won’t go killing people in the new timeline?”

“Why would we? From what I remember, before the me left in the old timeline died, he was a normal man. For all his posturing, he only wanted to be with family. Two of you started Nonary Games, didn’t you? You’re not so different. I saw the results of his Decision Game. I saw how many people your mother killed for you in that timeline, Phi.”

Phi opened her mouth to respond, but Akane cut her off. “Let us talk about it. We’ll give you your answer in... fifteen minutes, let’s say.”

“Of course. I don’t have any way of monitoring the facility, and all of the doors here are soundproof. You can speak wherever you’d like.”

As soon as they were out of earshot, Junpei nearly exploded. “Did you hear that bastard? Playing with our lives like that? And—“

“Just a moment. Aoi, I need you to leave. Start making arrangements to stop his Fanatic Bio R plan, just in case. If we do SHIFT, our chances of pulling him are better if you’re not there.”

“Got it. Stay safe. I couldn’t bear to live without you.”

“Plenty of you already are, you know. But don’t worry — an Akane will come home for you. As for everyone else, is anyone definitely in support?”

Carlos nodded. “I—“

“Arguments later. Anyone definitely against?”

Junpei nodded. “That crazy asshole—“

“Arguments later. Phi, Sigma, you’re on the fence?”

“There’s a timeline where we do it and a timeline where we don’t. Each of those has a timeline where it was the right choice and a timeline where it was the wrong choice. It’s hard to say which one is which.” Phi sighed. “I texted Mira, and she confirmed Fanatic Bio R was in the game. Apparently she and the others injected themselves with Radical-6 to stop it from killing them.”

“Hence releasing Radical-6 to stop the terrorist — Left’s plans would’ve been useless in that timeline. Even if he survived, the disease would’ve done nothing, and even if it had, the governments would’ve collapsed before they could go to war.” Sigma nodded along as he spoke. “It makes sense.”

“Exactly. So the weapon exists, and there’s no reason to assume he wouldn’t use it. But whether a fifteen year old could establish a global network in a span of months to effectively modify and spread a dangerous disease the moment he was stopped, well, that’s more questionable.”

“So it could go either way.”

“Yeah. And that��s assuming his plan worked. There’s a good chance Fanatic Bio R kills everyone wherever he sets it off and dies without spreading. It gets blamed on chemical weapons, maybe, some terrorist group or controversial government takes the fall, and we all move on. I’d say it’s a roughly 30% chance it’s really bad, and maybe a 5% chance it’s apocalyptic.”

“Those are pretty good odds, though, right?” Junpei said. “Carlos, you should just shoot him.”

“They’re not as good as they look. A 5% chance of the apocalypse is huge. What matters is the chance of things going wrong if he’s reunited with Delta. I’m guessing it’s probably comparable.”

“I see. Then why don’t we do both?” Akane said. “Flip a coin on it — that’ll make a good point to split the timeline, so one of us can come back if we’re wrong. Then, if it’s heads, we SHIFT with him — unless someone SHIFTs back first and tells us not to — and tails, we kill him, again, unless someone SHIFTs back. That moves the odds in our favor as much as it can.”

“That’s a pretty good plan. And it works for you two, too. If Carlos is right, when we pull up tails he’ll SHIFT back and stop us. If Junpei is right, when we get heads he’ll SHIFT back. At worst, only one of us is stuck in a bad timeline, and the chance of that is pretty low.” Sigma shrugged. “Any of you have a coin?”

Akane smiled, pulling one from her pocket. “If any of you want out, it’s your last chance to climb that ladder. Goes for you too, Junpei, Carlos. You don’t have to be party to it.”

“I’m not leaving your side,” Junpei replied, and she tossed the coin in the air.

Somewhere in a Nevada desert, a gun didn’t fire.

Somewhere under a barn in western Iowa, one did.

[chiropteran-hellfire]

The Past - Full Version

Something we've never done, is to put all of these 'memories', all of these flashes of what might be, together publicly. I am not naturally open, I do not trust others with my innermost thoughts, I see no point when so many are crude in their attempts at understanding and carelessly tread upon what is held dear to myself. Both this life and within DL has taught me as to other's disregard of my emotions and innermost thoughts. Ultimately people do not care to a standard I recognise as 'care', perhaps as a result of my own high expectations.

But, I will not digress further. What I am about to put to words is what I 'know'... regardless of how unreliable such an experience can be. The malleable nature of the mind is at times dreadfully inconvenient, and does leave me on the edge of true acceptance. So, with that in mind, we shall begin.

Childhood

I was born as Karlheinz and Beatrix's second child and lived my childhood within one of father's castles, and though I struggle to remember it, originally Beatrix did have some interest in my welfare. It was however before I passed my second or third year that things began to deteriorate. Cordelia's antagonising of mother had started before I was born, and the initial stages of care was more from her natural feelings of obligation rather than a relaxed form of 'love', but, I'm not one to talk of such things, as I don't believe I ever saw her as she might have once been before my conception.

The transition away from mother's care was gradual, where more and more times I would be kept under watch by the maids within the castle. I did attempt to garter some concept of 'love' or care beyond duty from them also, but they were always resistant, and before I turned 6 I was already closing up. I had been told quite often what and who I was, and through that I justified my existence, for, to consider the thought of being 'unwanted' was far too unpleasant to dwell upon. I was a vampire prince, I could one day take my father's position - At least, that's what the maids told me. Mother would speak similarly, but with her own twist on the latter, "You shall one day serve your brother as his advisory." or such similar dismissals of my own capabilities.

Though her constant rejection of myself, I ran through many different theories or ideas as to why this might be. One point was my eyes. Though there are many who argue about it within this 'fandom', I can not see clearly without my glasses. My eyesight is not abysmal without them, but it is certainly weak enough to require them. This, for a vampire is rather a sign of weakness. If I'd been born into any position other than the one I was, I'd likely have been subjected to rather more in the way of mocking comments or teasing jabs. Later on my half-siblings certainly wouldn't refrain from such comments, though it was quickly lessened through my own 'encouragement' for them to stop.

I developed a strong interest in the sciences, particularly chemistry, an interest that later developed into cooking also, though this is where some minor motions away from the 'canon' do start to seep in. Cooking never became a 'passion' of mine, it was simply an extension of chemistry for me. I was doing it at father's behest; I did it because I was told to, it was simply a bonus that I found it mildly interesting for it's more technical side. My cooking would also tend to be a fair sight more 'interesting' for quite a time.

I experimented while younger, it's what young minds do best. The Demon World doesn't have plants like the Human World does, but it does have quite the wide array of poisonous plants, toxic and venomous animals and various other, sometimes magical, components for alchemy. I certainly didn't shy from trying everything I could get my hands on, as I was left to my own devices a majority of the time. Classes were not regularly scheduled for me as they were for Shu, so I had rather a lot of free time to explore. The area around the castle was vast, with a dark forest that usually we as children wouldn't have been allowed to enter. I'd collect herbs or other ingredients there and quickly run back to 'play' with them. I enjoyed this 'work' so much, but what I really wanted was to show my work. I didn't like to admit it, but I was often at times lonely for recognition. Companionship I was relatively content without at that age, I enjoyed what I did and that was all I needed. Books, potions and the freedom to explore those freely.

Abilities

Something else that certainly isn't covered at all within the writings of DL was our abilities. These I did attend sessions with Shu for, though they did little but to further embed the feeling of inferiority. Vampire children, specially those born with our blood would be taught very quickly to learn the use of their abilities.

Some individuals would be better in some areas that others, but for a list of them all it isn't much different to what it canonly understood:

Teleportation

Hypnosis

Flight

Transformation

Familiar Summoning & Control

Energy Perception

Along with also natural traits we were born with being above that of humans, being physical strength, physical durability, healing, sight (if you weren't me), hearing and energy perception.

Energy Perception, for a little elaboration is essentially the ability to feel the presence of others. With training yours could be lessened and you could detect others more easily. It's rather similar to the concept of auras or empathic reading that persons here can train themselves to do - or be born with a natural gift to be able to easily. It's the same concept.

Bat Forms

I remember the lessons with Shu in particular regarding our transformations into our bat form. For many families it is the sign of a child entering into adolescence, and the first time it is done to be seen as the blossoming of one's vamprism. You could see it akin to a baby speaking their first word. Unfortunately Shu was able to transform before myself, and mother rather joyously praised him infront of us as he hung upside from her outstretched hand. It is not a pleasant memory, but rather few are. There are however two stages for us with pure blood. Where's most vampires could change into a small bat form, usually for flying across larger distances, fitting into small locations, quick getaways or similar, we could also change into a much larger bat form. If you follow my blog here you may have seen them depicted a number of times.

When a pure blood vampire learns how to change into that form is is more a sign of adulthood - Which leads me to clarify that the 'ages' we have been assigned naturally do not reflect the actuality of our time spent alive. Age, as a concept works rather differently for us as vampires, but we'll come back to this in a moment. I don't recall when or how Shu learned to change into his larger form, I wasn't there to bare witness. I actually don't remember any of the others learning for the first time clearly, but we may reflect to see if we recall any in more detail with my younger siblings. I have a feeling Subaru might have done his by accident while in a fit of rage inside the mansion. My first time was outside, within the forest, isolated. So, if that is anything to go by, one might consider that the norm, and why I do not recall any other's first times. However I do seem to remember Ayato appearing flying above the mansion yelling at everyone to look at him. I can only guess that was his first time, though we didn't see the transformation it's self.

Generally speaking, we tended not to use our large forms. We had little need to, and they consumed a fair chunk of our energy to change into and to change back out of again. I know that I have seen all of my sibling's forms at least once, along with mother's, Karlheinz's and Christa's, but I don't recall ever seeing Cordelia's, which is why on the chart we made it is admittedly a guess, rather than done from memory.

Dating Memories and Time

Time is an incredibly hard thing to get down linearly when I was born in the castle in the Demon World yet later moved into the Human World. To my knowledge, time passes faster here in the Human World than it does in the Demon World, but if you were to move between them you wouldn't notice any difference till your return back to your own world. Why do I believe this the case? There's a tremendous amount of reasons, both originating from my own memories and also what is both stated, and implied in canon.

The Fire

The first time marker I have to go off of is when I discovered Shu slipping into the Human World through a gateway within the Demon World forest. I must have been the physical equivalent of around 7 at the time. The gateway lead to another forest in the Human World that eventually gave way to a small isolated town. I never visited myself, but I did catch myself 'human watching' a few times, really just a chance to reaffirm to myself my own superiority. I never spoke to any humans, but the sun was bright and irritated so I often wouldn't stay long. This eventually did lead to the rather infamous event of setting that small town ablaze. The reasons for this are complex, personal and would take us off topic to go into. So if curious, do go and read one of the wonderful character analysis some fans have written for me.

I didn't stay to watch the fire, though I wished I had. It was done at night after learning the time cycle between our worlds so that the time of day would be just right. There was a stables near the edge, and I crept in to undo the doors for all of the horses first before setting the barn alight. The large amount of straw there worked as a firestarter, and the wooden building it's self enabled the flames to catch hold. Many of the buildings nearby were also comprised of mostly wood and/or thatched roofs, allowing the flames to spread and hop between buildings. As I fled I remember hearing a bell tolling as someone spotted the quickly expanding fire.

DL, if you might not be aware, takes many notes of it's world's history from this world's. This can be seen the most with the Mukami's and their background, but unfortunately their influence I feel is something that might have distorted the original timeline. It would get into an awful lot more off-topic conversation to elaborate more on my Fictional Life Theory, perception equating to actuality and the link between this world and that of DL through mental retention while this post is already dreadfully long. So for now I'll still to my original memories and maybe at some other time return back to that of alternative timelines. Though upon saying that, due to the fact I didn't stay to watch, I actually know very little about what happened thereafter. The little I remember is simply the building architecture and the surrounding area. All I could say for sure is that it was European in origin and likely 17th-18th Century.

Returning to the Castle the next day I did hear many hushed whispers between the maids about the fire, and that, "Many humans died." Though I believe that this may actually be an exaggeration now with the death toll only reaching 20 or so when I'd gone my entire life believing it was somewhere in the hundreds.

The Castle

The Castle it's self was truly beyond anything that humans could create here. It's size was beyond any Human World structure, with a 16th Century interior and a somewhat distorted 16th Century exterior. I remember it's seemingly mile high walls stretching high into the grey sky with many arches supporting it's grandeur. This wasn't just a normal castle, it was one constructed by Karlheinz himself, and it showed that in it's might. The structure it's self was incredibly imposing, as if it was some sleeping behemoth that might start to shudder and shake and come alive in an instant. There were however a few gargoyles that would sit on the corners. They weren't made of stone, but actual demonic familiars. There weren't many, but we could sometimes see them hopping between the high arches with their wings outstretched. They were there to keep us safe from other vampire clans, but an attack never happened, so we never saw them in action.

This wasn't the castle where Karlheinz worked from/lived, but rather created solely for his wives. An amusing thought is comparing it to a holiday home, though that might also be seen as rather an insult to his work, so I'll refrain. There were three separate sections within it, one for each of his wives. Beatrix, Shu and I had the right wing, Cordelia and her sons had the centre and Christa and Subaru had the left. The design of the castle was asymmetrical, and as long as I spent living there I never got to see all of it's hidden areas. It was filled with corridors, passageways, stairs seemingly leading nowhere, a multitude of rooms for just about everything, a ball room, a swimming pool (yes even back then, there was an outdoors one also), large kitchens, a laboratory, at least two libraries, multiple games rooms and more.

Oh, I have gone off topic detailing about just about everything now haven't I? There's honestly far more that can be said, but if you're wanting to hear about that it's perhaps better you just contact me directly. I don't bite.. So to speak.

There's other events to cover, such as Cordelia and Beatrix' demise, but we'll save that for another time and jump straight to the topic of brides.

Sacrificial Brides

You might ask, did Karlheinz send you brides? And the answer would be yes, and the same fate befell them as you might already be aware. It was very rare I ever involved myself, I left most of the 'interactions' between them and the triplets usually, as they were the most interested in that sort of thing. There were only a few human girls who would try their luck with me, unfortunately I wasn't interested in being charitable any more than the others. Their interest in me would quickly wane upon interacting, and that would rather set off a chain reaction. I don't handle being ignored well, you understand. If you start something you should finish your goal, and I have little patience for those who don't follow through. I would see echoes of my past in them, as I'm sure most of us did. They were dolls we projected our lives onto, and they suffered the result of that.

However, disregarding all of the previous minor alterations from the 'canon', this is the largest fork in the timeline, as I'm unsure if Yui appeared at all. Honestly the options are between, "Yui did join us, but did not pick me. It's also unlikely she had Cordelia's heart." or "Yui didn't join us." Either case, the girls send to us was like drip-feeding, which does bring up the point of how we would feed but again, a topic for another time.

The result of Yui never involving herself with me meant that tensioned continued to rise in the mansion. Being forced into a much smaller space as we were now made conflicts more common, and my relation to Shu, though already sour was nearing it's breaking point - Till eventually, it did.

The Thereafter

I had already rid myself of mother, my next target had always been Shu. Without the counterbalance of Yui my focus shifted away from resurrecting mother, and purely onto Shu. The one who continued now to take advantage of my behaviours to live in denial and avoid the world around him. In short, I challenged him. One final duel. One final fight to the death. This wasn't practise, this wasn't brotherly sparing, this was my declaration for his end, and so we fought. Details again I'll.. Have to write another time. But this is the most prominent point of my memories. The end result was that I won, just. He'd almost crushed my skull but a split second prior to my final blow. Beyond here things do get rather.. Well, I'd say 'personal', but this entire post has been. But I was rather 'out of my right mind' after killing Shu. I took to the skies in my larger bat form, calling to father all the while before I started to relapse into old memories. My identity, my concept of who I was was that of a monster, a murderer, and so I embraced it outright. I set ablaze another town and sat upon the spire of the cathedral to wait. Looking back on it, it's honestly a rather immature cry for attention, but that's the point I had been driven to. I had nothing left but the idea to destroy that which surrounded me. The world that had rejected me, the family who had ignored me, the ones who had denied me the right to be a concept known as 'myself'. I was shaped by the world to be recognised by it, and so now I bore a scar onto the land so I might be known to exist.

I've actually written out a lot of this before privately, so this may sound to be worded slightly differently due to the fact it was more getting down thoughts for myself rather than aiming for it to being presented. 

"After a time a hunter had started to hone in on my position, and he found me on the rooftop. His attempt to kill me failed and I flew back into the sky where Subaru engaged me, tackling me at speed. I had no quarrel with him, but he did with I, and his fury was unmatched. He attacked me again and again, though I managed to talk to him enough to stop. Fighting in his batform wasn't his style anyway, he hated that form.

Ruki and Kou were watching me, a crossbow bolt flew past my head so I flew down to investigate them and ask who they were, changing back into my vampire form. However I didn't get far till Subaru in his bat form crashed down aiming for me. I stepped back in time and tried to reason with him while he was snarling at me and the Mukamis were standing to my left. I tried to convince him I was doing it due to father's plans, he didn't become convinced but it was confusing enough for him to question his choices till A bolt from the hunter earlier flew into Subaru's head. Up through the jaw through his muzzle. The hunter is Seiji. I remember him now. He shoots at me next, while I'm still stunned, it hits me on my left top side of my chest, just under my collar bone. I don't really feel it at first, I'm more furious at him possibly having killed Subaru. I'm torn to run away or fight, I don't know which to do. My emotions are pulling at me to fight but like this I'll lose.

I run towards Ruki and Kou, they step out of the way but it's just enough cover for me to escape off the side off the roof. I turn into my small bat form, causing the bolt to fall free from me onto the ground as I limp-fly away to hide in some small roof space to rest.

I stay there for many days, slowly healing from my injury. I go out at night in my small bat form to collect herbs to help with the healing as the poison on the bolt was trying to seep into my system. I'd nested in the roof of an elderly couple.. no, two elderly ladies. I remember seeing them in their living room by the fire in the evenings as I'd wake up. I was on my own now, I can't go back. I don't even know if Subaru is still alive, and without my medical assistance.. He may very well be dead. The only other who might have saved him would be father.

Blood would help me recover faster, and though these elderly ladies aren't my prime choice, in this life or death situation they are better than nothing. I pose as a visitor in the evening, I greet them and ask if I can come in for I have some wears I'd like to sell to them. Seemingly appreciative of the young company I'm welcomed in kindly. They're free with their comments about my appearance, though one is more reserved than the other, and she stays in the kitchen more while the other talks with me in the living room.

Speaking with humans is not something I've done at length before, and keeping my tongue in check is difficult, but I manage to get one lady on her own long enough to ensnare her with my eyes. Her body freezes up and I have to bite into her wrinkly neck. It's not pleasant, but the blood is life giving for me. I quickly finish up before the other returns, and the lady I fed from is freed from her spell as I excuse myself to leave.

I meet her again eventually. She came looking for me in the forest. I'm not sure when, but I remember telling her to go back home. My reserved act of kindness in return for the 'help' she'd unwillingly offered me before."

Memories past this point do get a little patchy, but I do believe that I managed to seek out father myself upon realising he wasn't going to come to me. I re-entered the demon world via a gateway in the forest of which I'd just told the elderly lady not to follow me. I made my way to Karlheinz' main castle on horseback before confronting him directly.

I do not know everything, in detail, but I do know I was ready for a fight to the death with father also, and didn't expect the reality of what he decided to do instead. Ontop of one of the towers he changed into his own bat form - Though to call it a 'bat' would honestly be a discredit to the scale of the creature he changed into. With four wings, four ears, three eyes and a continuously flowing white mane that drifted around his form as if he was submerged under water he bore down on me with his might. He told me to learn more, before encountering him again. I was still naive, immature and undeserving of his power. With those last words he eradicated me from that world, and, if my theory is to be correct, placed me into this one.

Final

The tests he has given me thereafter have emulated Shu's life to force me into understanding his perspective, his emotions and life, and to learn the concept of kindness, love, selflessness and emotions in a way I have never been able to truly grasp before. What this life deals is often times ruthless, without remorse, without mercy, but if I am to live then I will find a way to live. If it is what I must do then I will do it.

This is who and what I am. You may judge me 'crazy', a fake, a RPer, a joke or whatever else you wish. This is the truth for me, and I think unless I accept it, I will always be at ends with myself. Thank you for reading.

[certifiablyidiotic]

‘Teleponesis’ (Telekinesis and Teleportation)

This power allows User to move, manipulate and teleport objects. User can take things apart molecule by molecule and rebuild as such. They can make things disperse only to make them reappear somewhere else. For teleportation, user can teleport anywhere within a five mile radius. They  should limit themselves to one mile because the further out user goes, the more it could hurt them. User can teleport humans and animals but it comes at a price. The main drawback is the fact that the user can't do these things on living creatures such as humans and animals. Plant life is excluded from this drawback. Weight is another limiting factor. When using Telekinesis, user has quadruple the strength of a normal human, but the heavier the object to an average human, the more energy is drained when picking up an object. With Teleportation, once user teleports someone or something besides themselves, all of their powers become disabled. User can teleport 10 times in one hour. 11 will cause uncontrollable vomiting. 12 will cause them to pass out or go into a state of passing out. And 13+ destroys the user's organs slowly.

Audiokinesis

User can manipulate any sound at will. User can change low frequency sounds to high frequency ones with a simple thought. This allows for the user to create distorted sounds that can cause bleeding from the ears and migraines, thus, leading to the disabling of whoever they are fighting. The effects that this power gives off towards the opponent can be reflected onto the user’s self. 

‘Dual Sight’

User can stop and slow time using each of their eyes. The left eye can slow time while the right eye stops time. The time slowing ability slows time to half of the original speed. User can use both of these abilities for as long as their body will let them. The power requires the corresponding eye to remain open while in use. If the user blinks before they deactivate it, they will go into a state of unconsciousness. With each activation of the power, the user’s organs slowly deteriorate, getting exponentially worse as the uses increase. The effects are microscopic at first and, over time, will grow to be more painful and lethal. To reverse these effects, user simply mustn't use the power for a week for all of the deterioration to heal. 

Resurrection

User can bring any formerly living entity back into life. They simply has to touch the entity to begin the resurrection. The only known drawback is the time factor. However long the entity has been dead, there will be a set amount of time for each length. (e.i. 1 day - 2 minutes. 2 days - 4 minutes. 12 hours - 30 seconds. 6 hours - 15 seconds. 1 hour - approx. 2 seconds. 1 minute - 0.3 seconds. 1 year - approx. 12 hours.) The person User uses this power on forgets all that happened 24 hours before their death. They have no recollection of how they died.

Origami

This allows the user to manipulate any paper in their vicinity. They can fold it into whatever they please. Whatever the user folds the paper into will become realistic or act in a realistic way. A paper sword has won’t become a real sword but will cut as such. There is no known drawback besides the fact that the user must have paper on their person at all times. 

Bumblebee

User harnesses the ability to summon a swarm of up to 1000 bees. The user also holds bee-like wings. They can also retain any learned information for a long time, things like complex calculations and foraging efficiency. User can also create a honey-like substance that has healing properties by simply throwing up (Gross, but efficient). More honey is required to heal larger wounds. It hasn’t been proven that the user’s dancing abilities were directly related to the bee’s form of communications. The user has to kill all of the remaining bees to begin to summon more, so they 've made a special spray to do so quickly.

Ice Make

This allows the user to create ice from thin air and manipulate it in whatever way they please. For example, user can create simple weaponry or minor structures (Such as a small stairway). The drawbacks to this are simply the energy factor. The more ice creations that are made, the more energy is drawn from them. User can also experience frostbite or an exponential drop in their body temperature.

Time Harness

User has portal creation. User can create up to two portals anywhere they can directly look. User can also make a portal to a place they 've seen in a photo as long as they know the coordinates of it. User can reverse time for a single person while touching them. This can only go back 30 minutes and each time they uses this, the timeframe halves until they fall asleep. Then it resets back to 30 minutes. User can age a person up and down. User simply has to imagine what they 'd look like as a certain age and the other person would shift into that age. No attacks can affect the opponent. User also has to keep their eyes closed while doing so. User can see all foreseeable outcomes in a situation that will happen 10 minutes from their current time. User can also touch an item and examine the events that the object has faced within its lifetime or existence.

(For my OC, Stephen, the future vision thing has no drawback, but he does have short term memory loss, so he can easily forget what he just saw.)

Space Harness

This power has several abilities in it that makes the power itself.

Firstly, they can create a bubble that is impenetrable. No one can go in, and no one can go out. All the laws of space apply in this bubble except for the deadly cold and lack of oxygen. This is so they can have a better chance at hitting their  attacks. Only drawback to this is that they slowly suffocates in this bubble while the other person does not. Secondly, User can form a bubble in their hand that can see any point in space. Not much use for that, though. There isn’t a known drawback to this ability. Thirdly, they can create an explosion similar to a supernova but it has no damage effects. The only damage comes when it knocks the opponent backwards, potentially hitting the ground. It can also blind the person temporarily. The biggest drawback is the amount of energy it takes to use, causing them to only use it at most twice a day, not that they always has a need for it twice a day. Lastly, they can shoot an orb that, on contact, can force a person to see any point in space. They are still on Earth, but the opponent sees space. The only drawback to this is the fact that the orb has to hit. There is also a cool down of 10 minutes before they can use this again. There is a passive ability that has no known advantages. User can touch any object and examine the astral contents within it.

Inflation

This power allows for the user to inflate any part of their body. Their skin has an elasticity factor to it to allow for more inflation. If inflated fast enough, this power can be used for mobility, such as bouncing. This power can also be used as a knockback ability. User can also suppress any damage that one might take when falling from a certain distance. Much like a balloon, User goes into a state of lightweightedness and can easily be knocked back. User must inhale enough air before being able to direct it towards the body part that they wish to inflate. The user will also have to hold their breath if they wish to retain the inflated form. If a body part is inflated too much, the user will pop. 

(Luckily, I have a resurrection character who can save the user, lmao)

Light Compression

This power allows for the user to shoot a beam of compressed light particles in whatever direction they please. This laser also gives off a wave of heat. The heat must touch the opponent for a set amount of time to actually burn. User can also create a flashbang that temporarily blinds the opponent. User can, however, blind themselves with their flashbang. The user’s hands also experience burning when the laser is overused.

Radioactivity

User must touch everything with all five finger pads to activate this power. The user can melt any object they touch to a radioactive waste-like substance that allows for any kind of telekinetic-like manipulation. They can create weaponry based on the amount of radioactive waste they gather. User can experience ARS, or Acute Radioactive Syndrome, if exposed to too much radioactivity, which includes headaches and diarrhea. They can also experience, as well as the opponent, minor radiation burns if there is contact with the waste.

Acidic Spray Paint

The user can spray a material similar to spray paint that has acidic properties. It simply has a burn like boiling water. If enough is sprayed, then the user could actually burn through objects. The user can experience minor burns that are one-fifth of the potential damage the paint can cause. The color of the paint can be determined by personal wishes.

Blood Manipulation

User must get a taste of their opponent’s blood (or even their own) to be able to manipulate it. They can create weaponry and armor for protection for their own blood. If they taste the other person’s blood, they can only cause blood to rush to certain points in the body. They can move blood from the brain (but not all!) to other points in the body to cause passing out due to lack of blood in the brain. The only thing the user can’t do with the blood is remove the blood from the opponent’s heart or any other vital organs, or at least all of it. Just enough to keep whoever User is fighting alive. User also can’t move while using this unless it is his own blood. The user can also experience diseases that the opponent may have that can be contracted through bodily fluids, such as Herpes.

[theultimatestranger]

I Learned Nen So You Don’t Have To

Nen is the name of the power the people of Hunter x Hunter universe can use. It has 4 basic principles, 6 types, and varying power levels/manifestations, depending on the person's aura and how they develop it. I attempt to explain (in extreme detail) how Nen works below.

Physicality 

You have to have mastered the basics to discover what your type is. The entire system is based in a person's aura, or “presence” (to be explained later), so potentially anyone in HxH can learn Nen, but it is NOT well-known in-universe, and it can be very powerful and dangerous. Some will naturally be stronger in their auras. Nen is learning to manipulate your aura and forming a unique ability that suits you using that aura.The body has Aura Nodes (basically pores) that excrete a person's aura at a balanced rate compared to it being produced, maintaining their life force. If it isn’t maintained correctly and the person loses all of their aura, they will at least pass out and maybe die. To be able to manipulate your aure and use Nen, you have to open these Aura Nodes.

The two ways to open Aura Nodes: Training! (the normal person way, the safe, less-likely-to-die way), or FORCING THEM OPEN WITH NEN AND LETTING ALL YOUR AURA POUR OUT AND HOPING FOR THE BEST (the Wing way, a.k.a “we’re aren’t sitting through 20 episodes of two kids trying to exfoliate”) 

Goin’ Back to the Basics

Your Aura Nodes are open. Congrats! When learning Nen (the manipulation of the aura), you have to master the 4 Basics. Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu (in that order preferably - lookin’ at you, Gon).

• TEN is the ability to halt the flow of this aura and hold it closely around your body in a thick shroud. It is basically a powerful shield. It can be be broken and takes concentration to maintain, but it limits the damage taken from physical blows and blows from others’ Nen.

• ZETSU is the 2nd basic principle. Now that you have a better control of your Aura Flow, you move to Zetsu. This is where the “presence” from earlier comes in. Zetsu is the ability to completely cut off the flow of your Nen, making it basically impossible for people to sense your presence. (This is important because since it is a presence, people sensitive to Nen will be able to sense powerful sources of Nen, sometimes from city blocks away. Its good to know Zetsu for stealth.)

• REN is taking your aura and forcibly pushing it out away from your physical form. This can be used as a strong intimidation tactic, as strong emotions can be sensed through aura, such as murderous intent. It can be powerful enough to stop people in their tracks and physically force them backwards. (Usually around this time people can learn an advanced form of Ten called Gyo. Because SURPRISE unless you've studied Nen, most normal people can't see auras. Studying it allows you to see it, but Gyo is more refined and stronger, meant to be strong enough to see through Zetsu. But it also requires concentration. So you cant have a Ten shield and super Gyo sight at the same time.)

• HATSU is the final Basic Principle of Nen. It is learning to control a constant release of Ren without injuring yourself. This is the longest phase to develop, as once you have reached this stage, you can discover your Nen type and develop your unique Nen Ability, which will require years of study for some, as well as training to accomplish.

Until you have learned these basic principles, you never truly pass the Hunter Exam. All true Hunters know Nen.

You’ve passed the Hunter Exam! ... Now what?

Once the first 4 basics are mastered, you can take the water test and figure out your Nen Type. There are 6 Nen Types: Enhancer, Transmuter, Conjurer, Manipulator, Emitter, and Specialist.

• Enhancement - Enhancers literally can do what the name implies. They can use their aura to to buff their current abilities (physical and aura-based). For example, you could make a flick as strong as a gun shot by boosting it with your aura. It generally helps people endure battles. Enhancers usually have higher stamina. They can do more if creative (for example, Gon's Nen Scissors being like a sword.)

• Transmutation - Transmuters can change the composition of their Aura and use it in battle. For example, someone changes their aura into literal electricity. In order to do so, they spend 12 years literally shocking themselves at varying voltages, so they can see how the electricity feels tangibly, within them, and in comparison to their aura. After fully understanding their aura and how they want to change it, their aura can be changed to match those qualities.

• Conjuration - Conjurers can create objects with their Nen and thus imbue them with special abilities. They are visible and tangible (if the Conjurer wishes them to be). There are objects that are impossible to create, such as an impenetrable shield. You could create a super strong shield, but it will never be impenetrable. Since they are made of Nen, they can appear and disappear at the user's will. They can also be made invisible by masking them with Zetsu, thus only able to be seen with use of Gyo.

• Manipulation - Manipulators can control either living or non-living things that already exist at their own will. The biggest difference between Manipulators and Conjurers is that Manipulators’ objects already exist. Where Conjurers may spend years feeling iron and listening to it and studying it in the attempt to replicate a shield correctly, Manipulators could just go buy a shield and do something to it with their Nen. This is the Type where Conditions are most commonly implemented. The Manipulator sets up a number of Conditions going into fights using their Nen. Once the enemy has met all the Conditions, effects can take place that can (if that was the desired outcome) lead to almost instantaneous death. Manipulators must be good at manipulating their enemies, just as they are objects, since some of their abilities aren't even able to work unless Conditions are met.

• Emission - Emitters are able to disconnect aura from their body. The power level only caps at that person's Ren output, so some Emitters can be stupidly powerful. They don’t usually do good in endurance settings, as the farther from their body the aura gets, the less intense it can be. An application of this Nen Type is teleportation. It is best when matched with Enhancer Nen to boost it in strength.

• Specialization - No one knows how this ability functions. It is entirely unique and does not adhere to rules. There are very few Specialists and not all Specialists are born with the Specialist type. It is the one Type that other Nen Types can eventually evolve into. It can be literally almost anything, and no one understands how it works. The abilities developed by Specialists are still very rooted in the Basics, as in it can't be more powerful than the Aura Output someone has. Also, they are just as personalized (if not more so) as the other 5 can be.

RESTRICTIONS, CONSEQUENCES, and CONDITIONS OH MY!

Restrictions can be applied to any Nen Type and are a hindrance and buff all at once. Basically, if a Nen User places a Restriction on their own abilites, (depending on the severity of the Restriction) the power of that ability will be increased to a proportionate amount. However, that means that the Restriction must be upheld, and the user has to have a Consequence set in place for if the Restriction is not upheld. It’s a give and take. When paired with Conditions, this can result in an attack that, if meeting the Conditions and Restrictions for the ability, can result in an instant death. For example, Kurapika. He has an ability called Chain Jail that is designed to immobilize anything it wraps around, no matter how strong they are physically, and suppress their Nen. The Restriction he placed on this ability is that there are only 12 people he will ever use it on. The Consequence is that if he fails to meet his restriction, he will instantly die. That is what grants the ability its overwhelming strength.

FOR an example of Conditions, we return to Kurapika. He has an ability called Judgement Chain. The chain impales anyone he marks and wraps around their heart. He sets Conditions after it is in place. Such as "Answer my questions truthfully, or the blade on your heart will kill you."  If they lie, the blade on the chain pierces their heart. That is an example of Conditions.

Got that? Cool. There’s MORE. (But we’re almost done)

 >>> “Why the picture?” I hear you wondering. Well, young Hunter, I shall ramble farther.

Even though people are born with an affinity for a specific Nen Type, they can use the abilities of any other Nen Type if they train super hard

 >>>>> "BUT DOESN’T THAT NEGATE THE POINT!?!?" You scream!! No, let me explain.

You can only FULLY master the Nen Type you have an affinity for (which the aforementioned water test tells you). You can master the two closest on the wheel (Hexagon???) at about 65% capacity, and the two farthest from you at about 25% capacity. Only Specialists can be Specialists. So, an Emitter can fully master their Emitter abilities and make them entirely unique and their own, and then train SUPER hard into Enhancer abilities to boost their Emitter abilities. BUT if that Emitter wanted to learn Conjuration abilities, it would be almost not worth the effort. The farther you get away from your affinity, the harder it is to learn, too. So, Manipulators and Conjurers (based on the hexagon) are the most likely to develop into Specialists over time. REALLY special people can 100% master 2 types of Nen. This is SUPER rare.

And now you understand Nen. Woo!

This is based off of the explanations learned from Wing and Izunavi in the Heaven's Arena Arc. (As well as some stuff from Kurapika, because he's actually pretty smart about Nen even though he's a dumbass and didn't think about the Consequences HE SET UP,,,,, pissed)

[bffhreprise]

Entry 355

 A week ago, I joined Best Friend For Hire.  My parents insisted on helping me move in, which quickly had turned to the group of us standing around and watching as everyone else moved my stuff.  Once inside the mansion, I made some introductions as my stuff was unloaded before we ever arrived in my rooms.  Marco was more than happy to oblige in distracting my parents from anything unusual happening, and his cooking could be very distracting for hours, as it turned out.

 Mom and Dad were just as overwhelmed as I was, maybe even more so.  Just the sight of Best Friend For Hire’s headquarters was enough to awe a casual visitor.  Though only three stories high, the building seemed enormous, stretching on and on both ways from the entrance.  Part of that effect came from the wings, which weren’t as deep as the main building, but they still added substantial space.

 Once inside, the mansion was absolutely lavish.  The entrance hall was very open, allowing us to see the second story ceiling as we took in the balcony.  The other halls had carved ceilings that appeared to be telling a story, the tiles on the floor were ornate and polished to a shine.  The walls varied in different areas, but fancy woodwork was common.  Even many of the doors here were ornate rather than being plain wood.

 Mila, of course, was needed to help explain the different rooms.  The idea of a self-aware computer system aiding with everything made my parents think of several Sci-Fi stories they both enjoyed.

 When we finally reached my apartment, they were surprised by the amount of space I was allotted with so much else available to me.  Mila explained that best friends were expected to be comfortable in their own rooms when they wanted time alone.  The few additional furnishings I had requested were already in place, making my old stuff look cheap in comparison.  Emma had demonstrated her woodworking skills in front of me when making the furniture.  Through her magic, everything was grown as a whole piece in barely a second.  She took longer verifying patterns for the “carvings” with me than she did creating anything.  Even the staining and finish were plant-based components that simply happened at her desire.  Every piece was seamless, and I declined her offer to make the appearance of seams.  The Wood Family adored finely crafted woodwork, and my parents gushed over my new armoire, tables, and bedframe.

 Mom asked why I had chosen a Japanese-style table by the TV, so I just had to show her my gifts from Raine’s trip to Japan!  I had a matching set of zabuton, floor pillows.  Going by the conversations I overheard when Raine called people for verification, I didn’t want to consider the price of what I’d be sitting on.  I also didn’t mention to my parents that Raine visited the entirety of Japan in a single day, dropping off purchases as she made them.  I still had difficulty believing that she wasn’t actually teleporting.

 I didn’t let Jemal escape meeting my parents after catching sight of him down the hall.  Mila was more than happy to stop him for me.  Luckily, he was dressed, being on his way out for a job.  There was little chance that he made a very lasting impression on my parents just yet, but Mom seemed to remember me mentioning him to her a few years ago.

 The days after my moving day were very busy, and I finally understood why Jemal felt he’d never catch up on the training courses.  Instead of working myself to the bone, I took James’ comment that finishing all of the courses was impossible at human speed as a fact.  Eight hours of studying was enough per day.

 I really would have liked to warn my guild on Ancient Tribes of Earth about the rising vampire guild, but I just couldn’t until someone slipped up.  All of them were totally jealous over my new job after hearing what I was allowed to share.  Meeting Aaliyah was a highlight everyone kept coming back to.  I hadn’t known to tell them that our group would be taking a leisurely ride ot the airport in limousines for our trip to France.

 “Why aren't you hurrying?” questioned Iris shortly after leaving our limo.  “We still have to make our way through security before our flight.”

 James smiled and assured her “Don't worry.  We'll be heading to an exclusive wing, and security won't bother us.  My wife and I have a great deal of experience flying.”

 My family hadn’t flown very much, but I never knew anyone could be as relaxed as he seemed about flying somewhere.

 “Daddy!  We may starve to death before we even arrive at this rate.  Traffic is sooo slow.” complained Dani.  For the moment, she wasn’t pink.  There was an illusion spell over her that made her appear human, though still strikingly beautiful.

 “Wow.  Do you two really only have one bag?” asked Brandon, eyeing the bag severely.  Despite Brenna’s warnings, Brandon seemed like a totally okay guy.  He was somewhat tall, redheaded, and occasionally crude, but he was also willing to help in any way he could manage when not doting on his girlfriend, Deyanira.

 Laughing, Alma said, “We're planning on shopping.  This may surprise you, but I have been to France before.  I know of a few stores in Paris that I find entirely lovely, so we'll just buy what we want to wear there.  Our luggage contains gifts for family.  James and I will be expected to pay our respects before roaming the country.  Jarod, Ai, and Mai probably should as well.”

 “Mind showing me some of these stores?” asked Brenna with barely contained excitement.

 Mila had shown me some of Brenna’s portfolio when I asked out of curiosity this past week.  She had actually appeared in a couple magazines I occasionally read, though I didn’t have those specific issues.  I still didn’t really understand how the various deals worked for our company to make much profit from assisting others, but things were obviously going well.  I suspected James’ ability to win people over helped.

 “I probably already know them and can show you if she's too busy.” stated Maxine, making me cringe slightly.  She was wearing a wig and sunglasses as a disguise, but that certainly didn’t make me trust her.

 “Don't try to escape me.” warned Portentia.

 “Of course not, cretin.  I'll enjoy watching you suffer as we shop.” replied Maxine with a warm smile.

 “How will you even afford anything?” demanded Portentia.

 Maxine’s smile turned smug as she said, “I'm owed favors around the world.  Mila allowed me to call one.”

 “James!  Did you hear that?” asked Portentia indignantly.

 “Mila wouldn't allow anything criminal on her watch, and Maxine's been well behaved.  I think we can afford to trust her intent here.  She knows not to cause trouble.” insisted James in a tone that allowed no further argument.

 Portentia looked like she wanted to argue more, but she just said, “Fine.”

 Maxine worried me because she was a famous enough criminal that I had actually heard of her.  When I asked why she wasn’t turned over to the police after Portentia captured her, I received an explanation on the regenerative powers Maxine and Portentia shared.  Unfortunately, I had had doubts and said as much.  Without a care, Portentia sliced off her own finger with the steak knife she had been using to eat.  The finger was back in no time, and touching the new one didn’t make me feel any less queasy.  I mentally forced myself to accept their immortality.  Prisons were out for Maxine.

 As we boarded our “aircraft”, James watched in amusement.  The ship was huuuge and nothing like a typical airplane.  The shape was completely wrong.  Plus, there was a full kitchen, sleeping quarters, and open space with seats bolted to the floor around tables and other things.

 While we gaped, James explained that none of the systems could be examined due to an agreement with Aaliyah, who had apparently designed some of it herself.  Though I had known Aaliyah was an engineer as well as the world’s foremost game designer, I still felt a little uncertain.

“Are you sure it's safe?” I asked, knowing that Aaliyah was still a little girl despite her genius.

 Jarod laughed and said, “I trust her tech more than anything else on the planet.  Just don't try to disassemble anything.”

 “Why isn't she with us?  I thought she was meeting us at the airport.” commented Iris as she looked around.

 Mila frowned and said, “She'll meet us in France.  Mother likes taking commercial flights to annoy customs.  Her flight left hours ago.  I'm on it, unfortunately.  Please follow me.  We'll have a brief tour before take off.  The master has graciously allowed use of the bedrooms if you wish to nap, since he and Alma will be on the bridge.  The kitchen is out-of-service, unfortunately, but Marco came prepared with drink and snacks.”

 Getting used to Mila being numerous places at once was still taking some effort, but I understood how she could be in a vague sense.  Understanding how Aaliyah could possibly have the time for everything she did was harder.

 Alma being the pilot was far less surprising to me.  Mila had explained a little of the Pendreigh Group to me when I had asked about her life before meeting James.  Unlike James, she had always been extraordinarily wealthy and possessed superhuman abilities far beyond most of us.

 Shortly after takeoff, I stopped caring about being in the air at all.  Mila started running a Pathfinder RPG session during the flight.  As Aaliyah had promised, her “daughter” was an incredible Gamemaster, carrying me away in her story within the first few sentences.

[kifu]

New Nation: 2

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

Kurt sat perched at the edge of an old Berlin building. The broken road stories below him was empty. Tall, prickling weeds pushed out from the cracks in the pavement, with smaller and leafier plants filling in the spaces. Decaying paper, plastic, and other litter lined buildings where the wind didn’t reach as well. Some of the stone structures sported rotting wood over the windows as if to protect what was inside. Kurt knew the efforts were futile. Other shops and homes didn’t bother with their windows. Most were broken or cracked, but the buildup of grime on the glass spoke enough.

           Berlin was far from abandoned. Curious animals too shy or scared to venture into the sprawling capitol had hardened their resolve. It wasn’t uncommon to see smaller wildlife in the middle of the city, poking its nose around or skittering about. People still lived here, but they didn’t move freely about like before. Through the dirty glass windows, one usually would find curtains or mini-blinds permanently obstructing view into the living space. Anyone that would walk the street moved with false confidence.            

           Quiet fury burned deep within Kurt over the past many months. He did nothing to stop this outcome under Scott’s dismissive command. His people of Germany – indeed, of the world – suffered for the X-Men’s lack of action. The team had disintegrated since, and Kurt returned home to Europe.

           Even with the change in world regime, and Kurt’s unhidden efforts against the Nation, the general populace looked at the blue mutant with scorn. Humans had more spiteful ammunition against their special cousins and didn’t appreciate Kurt’s presence in fear of alliance to the Nation. He was one of Them, after all, and all mutants must have allegiance pledged to the tyrants. It was completely fabricated to justify their fears and Kurt did not pity them.

           Kurt had to watch his back and all sides to stay alive. If the Nation were to catch him, he would expect he’d be found as an enemy of the Nation and be taken prisoner or executed. Neither appealed to him. If a human aligned with the group called the Human Backbone were to find him, they’d hunt him down until his head was on a platter. Kurt imagined the scenario wouldn’t play out much differently than Kurt’s life in the freak show part of the circus – or when he’d been blamed for a villager’s death before Charles Xavier found him. Between the two extremes, Kurt knew that anyone he helped could rat him out for personal gain.

           Some people began to move about as the sun came up. Dawn, for whatever reason, was a prime time for the exchanges of black market. The Nation’s soldiers weren’t yet out in mass until the sun shone strongly at later early morning. Kurt watched over their backs until he saw signs of the Nation and then made his retreat to where he hid. Kurt would protect against civil dispute and Nation harassment at night, but couldn’t stay up all day to meddle in their affairs. He’d be identified and slaughtered if he’d pull such a stunt. Kurt had the unique ability to become one with the nighttime shadows to remain at large. He used that to his advantage.

           The progression of lighting halted as the sun reached over the distant edge of clouds. Kurt had felt the oppression of damp air throughout the night, but a storm wouldn’t break. With the gift of daylight to brighten the sky, Kurt finally saw what he sensed. The last thing he wanted was to be wet. While the dark clouds didn’t look too heavy, he didn’t chance a sudden downpour.

           In a flash and puff of brimstone, Kurt was no longer conducting surveillance over the street, but squatting in his bunker. Removing travel from Kurt’s life by teleportation helped him stay away from the Nation’s maw. He popped up in unexpected areas and immediately vacated when his life was at stake. He could fight, he could protect, but avoiding conflict was in his best interest.

           He didn’t share his space with anyone else. Either no one wanted to be around him or Kurt couldn’t find anyone he could trust. Kurt’s blue, fuzzy skin, prehensile tail, and fanged teeth caused any human to shy away from him. It didn’t matter if he helped them out. On the flip side, Kurt had enough people take advantage of his friendly personality in the year since the Nation took over. With Scott’s blunder, Kurt couldn’t depend on another’s leadership. Yet Kurt wasn’t ready to be a leader himself, even with his experience with Excalibur, those years ago.

           His recent place of sleep was bleak. After the villains took over governments, Kurt didn’t have much chance to return to the Americas and pack his meager belongings. If the X-Mansion still existed after enemy raids in the early stages of the New Nation, Kurt didn’t want his things anyway. Posters, street clothes, and unhandled swords weren’t going to help anyone. Now, all Kurt kept was a change of clothes, a relatively clean blanket, a notebook of surveillance notes, and a cheap hoard of pens. With fewer possessions, it was harder to carelessly leave things behind and easier to make a quick getaway.

           Currently, Kurt resided in an old, abandoned castle. Germany had enough of them that the government didn’t want anything to do with them. Some of the lesser villains preferred the security of the stone while others collected lavish possessions in distant mansions. All were greedy and power-hungry, regardless. Kurt liked exploring the history of his own country through the rooms. Most items were missing or broken, but enough was left to intrigue him.

           Through the modest window installed in Kurt’s chosen room, he could see that the clouds finally broke. He sent thanks to his good fortune. The drops fell in small clusters, slowly. So long as a storm didn’t accompany the precipitation, the former Nightcrawler would have a peaceful night.

           A piercing scream broke Kurt out of his barren dreams. He blinked out of confusion until the woman screamed again. He recognized pain and fear in her panicked calls. Clambering to all fours, whipping his ratty blanket aside, Kurt teleported into the antechamber at the great front door. A distraught woman in wet, clingy clothes and a young man with a similar disheveled appearance wandered urgently around the great room. When Kurt arrived, the man was towing the woman around, guiding her to a place to rest. Mixed with the rain water was a fair amount of blood from some unknown origin on the woman’s body.

           „Mein Gott, hilfe mich,“ she begged. Sobs found their way into her voice.

           „Behruhig,“ the man replied calmly. His body language, on the other hand, betrayed his panic. Along with continuously checking the young woman over for her injuries, he glanced back at the door and around the room. Someone caused this and may still be after the couple.

           Kurt stepped out from the dark corner he had teleported into. „Entschuldegung, meine Freunden,“ Kurt announced. Hopefully simply asking for their attention wouldn’t send them into a frenzied panic.

           The woman screamed even before she caught sight of Kurt. Upon seeing his obvious mutant stature, she screamed harder and moved to scramble away. The man yelled at him, threatening him. „Come closer and I swear I’ll kill you,“ he warned in German.

           „I’m not here to hurt you,“ Kurt replied in the same tongue. „Is someone after you?“

           „Get out of here.“ The man wasn’t listening to Kurt. Even with Kurt’s hands out prone in the air, he was on the defensive. Meanwhile, his partner was throwing herself into a panic attack. Now that mutants and other super powered beings with an ego took over the world, like any cliché villain aspired to do, humans had an even harder time accepting Kurt’s kind.

           „I wish to help, sir,“ Kurt persisted.

           „You’ve helped enough, freak.“ The man growled like Kurt’s old friend, Logan, and placed himself well between Kurt and the woman.

           „You’re in my castle and I have some medical background,“ Kurt continued. He didn’t want to define the structure as his property or express superiority, just explain his presence to the pair. At this rate, the woman would bleed out. She continued to whimper and scramble in the background for whatever reason, the pain evident on her face. „She needs help.“

           „Not by your kind.“ The man expressed typical human behavior. He was being reasonable, yet it was still frustrating.

           Kurt stepped forward, trying to make himself less threatening. „Please, I can only help.“

           Without verbally answering him this time, the strange man dashed forward in attack. A primal growl escaped his mouth as he lunged to punch. Kurt side stepped with ease. The man looked confused in his stance for a heartbeat when he realized his fist didn’t connect with its target. Kurt vaguely heard the girl scream behind him. Overcoming his hesitation, he turned around and tried again. Kurt ducked under his clumsily thrown punch and sidled behind him. „I will not hurt you.“

           „Dietmar, bitte. Hӧr auf!“ Her voice wasn’t as strong as it was before.

           „She needs help,“ Kurt persisted.

           Only fury shone through the man’s eyes. He was bested by a blue fuzzy freak and he didn’t enjoy the humiliation. He tried a different tactic and threw an uppercut at Kurt’s temporarily stationary form. Again, Kurt dodged the blow with ease.

           „Stop it,“ the woman begged. „The others are going to find us.“

           „Others?“ Kurt repeated. „Did someone hurt you?“

           „Shut up,“ the man snapped. He held up his fists as if to strike again but didn’t. Kurt could see the fighting calculation in his eyes, yet he was weary to be bested again. His stance on Kurt’s involvement, on the other hand, was unwavering.

           Kurt glanced back and forth between the hesitant Dietmar and frightened woman. He didn’t owe these people anything, but if he abandoned them now, all his efforts within the last year would be for naught. „Sie sind ein Dummkopf,“ Kurt muttered impatiently under his breath.

           „What?“ Dietmar demanded. Of course, now he listened, when Kurt didn’t want him to hear what he said.

           „I cannot help you if you do not help yourself,“ Kurt told him. „I cannot help her, understand?“

           „I don’t want your help. I don’t need your help. Go back to where you came from!“ He took a step forward, closer in Kurt’s range of motion, yet he didn’t strike again. Kurt remained alert, but assumed a relaxed position. Exuding anything but pacifism could tip this situation from bad to worse.

           Deciding not to comment on Dietmar’s demand, Kurt also took a step backward. It brought him closer to the woman, but displayed submission simultaneously. He hunched downwards, bringing himself closer to the stone ground. He depended further on his tail to balance himself than before, which he had tried to not bring attention to earlier. Fuzzy blue skin and pointy teeth were alarming enough.

           „Leave!“ he shouted. This time, after standing around idle but full of threats, he quickly covered the ground between the two of them. He swung another punch, which Kurt dodged as easily as the ones previously, but threw an off-hand jab with his other hand as well. The second fist caught Kurt in the gut, throwing his balance backwards and landing him backwards on his tail. He snaked his tail underneath him, brushing the floor with it so that he could push himself back into a squatting position. Dietmar turned around like a wild bull, squaring his body in Kurt’s direction.

           „I cannot leave, for you are in my home,“ Kurt insisted. His words came out breathier than he expected. He didn’t feel out of breath from the blow.

           Dietmar bellowed in a wordless, feral scream, but Kurt thought he heard another noise right before his fit of rage. His ear pricked toward the door, alerting him to something on the other side. „Remember when you mentioned that someone may be following you?“ Kurt asked politely. Dietmar seemed not to notice, but he could see the lady’s flash of alarm from behind him. „I think they’re here. I can get you two to safety.“

           „Why do you continue trying to help us?“ the lady asked. Kurt grabbed Dietmar’s attention well enough so that he broke his predatory gaze on him and looked out into the stormy weather.

           „Because helping is what I do,“ Kurt told her. „Are you okay?“

           „No. My stomach is bleeding.“ Kurt’s heart sank. Stomach wounds were terribly fickle creatures and he didn’t think he had the know-how to take care of one. It might help if he also knew the cause.

           „Dietmar, listen to me,“ Kurt begged. „I can take you somewhere they can’t – “

           Kurt was cut off when a platoon of men burst into the castle’s door, dripping fiercely onto the stone floor. They held knives and small guns easily hidden under clothing to protect them from the weather. Kurt hated dealing with guns.

           „Nightcrawler,“ one of the Nation hissed. However the man knew him didn’t matter. If he knew Kurt, then he would also know that Kurt was fully against their side. „Take out the mutant!“ he trumpeted.

           „Sheiße!“ Kurt gasped under his breath. Men with pistols pulled them out and took poor aim on the mutant, pulling the trigger before they had him fully within their sights. Dietmar yelled and covered his head, running further into the castle to get away. In his fight for self-preservation, he completely left his companion and foe behind. Kurt, on the other hand, pushed himself toward the lady, grabbing her roughly for simple contact so that he could teleport her away. „I’m sorry,“ he told her right before they ended up in a different room: Kurt’s room.

           Teleporting other people with him caused a lot of strain on both his and her bodies. She passed out, her body already weak from the wound in her lower torso. Kurt gently lowered her to the ground so that she wouldn’t hit her head. Kurt was more used to the strain on his body, having teleported many people over many years. The effort it took to move her a few hundred feet in a split second was akin to someone running with her on their back in the same distance. If that someone was conditioned, they could do it with ease.

           While the lady was out cold, Kurt decided to take a look at what he was dealing with so that he could help fix her up. He lifted her shirt just enough so that he could see the source of the blood. She was wrong. It wasn’t her stomach that was pierced, but appeared to be more to the side where her spleen was. The spleen wasn’t something he wanted to deal with, either. She need its functions to continue breathing properly. „Sheiße,“ he repeated. He lunged across the room and grabbed his clean shirt that he had laying beside his makeshift bed. He bit the fabric, pulling it, until it ripped into a long strip. He continued to pull it apart until he only had strips left. He used one strip to stuff into the wound, immediately winding another around her body and pulling it tight. He didn’t have anything else to help her out. Once she was bandaged up, he picked her up and set her on top of his blanket, pulling the free half over top of her to keep her warmer. „I’ll be right back,“ he promised her.

           Kurt whipped around, careful to pick up his tail so that he didn’t slap her body with it. With a powerful release of his muscles, he launched himself forward, darting up a wall and crawling along them as he made his way through the castle. He needed to find Dietmar.

           The first sign of life in the hallways happened to be a pair of Nation goons. Kurt heard them before they saw him, but they acted as if Kurt’s position on the walls was the best discovery in their life. One pointed up at Kurt, shouting in excitement, holding a longer dagger in his other hand. The other followed his partner’s gesture and lifted a pistol into the air. He took better care to aim than everyone had in the castle’s antechamber. Kurt teleported at the same time he heard a shot ring out from the pistol. The sound was deafening. Kurt reappeared behind the man, immediately wrapping his tail around his waist to throw him to the ground. The other man had to recover from shock with Kurt’s disappearance before he could act appropriately. By the time Kurt kicked the gun out of the first man’s hand, leaped over his body to grab it, and resituated himself to aim at the second man, he only managed to turn around.

           “Oh.”

           „Put the knife down,“ Kurt ordered. He flicked his gun downwards before pointing it back at the man’s chest. The other goon flexed to get up, but Kurt swatted him back down with his tail.

           The man set the dagger down, kicking it down the hallway away from the three of them. „Danke,“ Kurt said. In two swift movements, he pistol whipped the man on the ground and cracked a hard-hitting punch to the second man’s head to decommission them. He teleported away, popping up near the knife just long enough to pick it up, and reappeared further down the hallway, out of sight from the pair of goons. He took out enough time from forward momentum to shove the knife into the side of his pants, hoping dearly he wouldn’t slice himself open.

           Again, Kurt took to the walls, swooping up toward the ceiling only long enough to deposit the pistol in the rafters. He didn’t have a use for a gun, but he also didn’t want his enemies getting their hands on it. They had more than enough ammunition as it was. Soon enough, Kurt ended up in the castle’s antechamber. No one else was present. Without hesitation, Kurt jumped to the ground, picking the hallway that Dietmar had fled down. He used all fours to cover more ground in a timely manner.

           Another pair of Nation soldiers were searching each room in the castle methodically down this hallway. Kurt knew because the doors he carefully kept closed were wide open, the meager relics left in the castle tossed about. He reached the last room to have been opened, popping up in the doorway as he skidded to a stop. „Searching for me?“ he taunted.

           „Get him!“ the same man that had known Kurt’s show name shouted.

           „Who? Me?“ Kurt asked innocently. His answer came quickly enough. Both these men had pistols, but their aims were only as good as displayed in the antechamber. Kurt launched himself upwards, crawling into the dark rafters for camouflage. „Is that the best you can do?“ he called from the dark. He knew that if he was careful, they wouldn’t be able to see him at all.

           „Show yourself, coward!“

           „Am I the coward?“ Kurt asked them. „I’m not the one hiding behind a gun.“ In a puff of brimstone, he appeared behind one of the men, grabbing him forcefully from behind. The man let out a freak shot into the room without aiming, barely missing his partner. „I hope you counted your shots. I think you are out.“

           The soldier dropped his gun, reaching backwards to claw at the mutant holding him hostage. His partner lifted his pistol, trying to take aim behind the squirming man. „Don’t shoot me!“ his partner cried.

           „Drop it,“ Kurt demanded. He pulled the knife out from his beltline with his tail, transferring it to his dominant hand. He held it up to the man’s throat. They didn’t need to know that Kurt wouldn’t kill him, but he would certainly make it look that way.

           The soldier hesitated and strengthened his grip on the pistol, using both hands instead of one. „Please,“ his partner pleaded. „I don’t want to die.“

           „Let him go,“ the soldier with the gun demanded.

           „Or?“ Kurt prompted.

           „I will kill you.“

           “You will kill me anyway,“ Kurt pointed out. Kurt bent low at the knees, switching his hold on the knife in his hand so that he didn’t accidentally slice into the man’s throat. Grabbing onto his shirt with his free hand, Kurt flipped him over his back, sending him tumbling to the ground. Tossing his knife upwards, Kurt caught it with his tail and darted forward on all fours toward the second man. He altered his pattern so that he couldn’t take aim. The man hesitated to shoot until Kurt had already grabbed his wrist with both hands, throwing the barrel toward the rafters. They struggled for a moment until Kurt felt the man feebly punch at his chest. It hurt, but didn’t do any real damage. Kurt angled his body, throwing all his weight into the soldier until he lost his balance. The gun clattered across the floor and Kurt landed heavily the soldier’s side. He bounced up in a somersault, easily landing on his feet and whipping around. The last soldier groaned on the ground, but the other one had grabbed his gun, taking aim at Kurt. He squeezed off a shot before Kurt could teleport away. He felt hot pain enter and exit his shoulder, but at least the wound was clean.

           Kurt popped up behind the last soldier on his feet, sending a punch at his lower back, aiming for his kidney. He went down with barely a cry of pain. „What did I say?“ Kurt asked.

           He took his time in leaving the room, inspecting his shoulder as he walked. Hot blood seeped from the wound, but it didn’t appear to have hit anything really important. Kurt could still feel his fingers on that arm. He had more important things to worry about at the moment.

           Running on all fours wasn’t as much an option to Kurt as it was before. Instead, he took to running down the hallways, working at a slower pace so that he didn’t exhaust himself. For some reason, he found it harder to use two limbs instead of four when trying to move quickly. He eventually ended up in the castle’s kitchen, which was clear of the soldiers. To save time, he teleported back to the antechamber and took the last hallway to the right.

           Kurt didn’t count the number of soldiers that burst into the castle behind the couple, but if he had to guess, a half dozen would have made them up. If that were the case, he only had another couple of men to take down before the castle would be more or less secure. Then he could focus his efforts on finding Dietmar and getting the lady to a place that could help her. Both tasks were dangerous, possibly more dangerous than finding the known enemies.

           Kurt navigated the last hallway at a walk, pressing his thumb into the wound to better staunch the bleeding. It hurt like a thousand bees stinging him all at the same time, over and over again, but he did it anyway. He could be comforted in knowing that the bullet was gone, though, and that he didn’t need to worry about it getting embedded in his flesh and causing an infection. If he could find someone to sew him back up, he’d be good as new in a couple weeks. He’d lay low for a while until it healed well enough that he didn’t have to worry about it getting dirty.

           Instead of finding the pair of soldiers, Kurt ran across Dietmar again. He came at him with a knife poised dramatically over his head, shouting at the top of his lungs like a madman. Kurt ducked and threw himself forward, shooting through Dietmar’s legs and tripping him up with his tail. The man fell with a heavy thud, taking his time in getting to his feet.

           „Did you take care of the other two?“ Kurt asked. He stood at his full height, looking down at Dietmar. He offered his hand to the man to help him to his feet.

           Dietmar didn’t look too happy to be in Kurt’s presence again. He batted Kurt’s hand to the side, but didn’t attack him again. Kurt thought he was making progress. He didn’t even lunge at Kurt again when he lumbered to his feet, grunting and growling to himself as he did so. Dietmar turned to regard Kurt, a scowl plain across his face, but acted more complacent. „Ja, zwei.“

           „I got the other four before I found you. I also took your girlfriend to safety. She needs to see someone quickly.“

           „She’s not my girlfriend!“ Dietmar shouted. He bristled up as if he was going to strike at Kurt again, but held himself in place. His fists bunched up angrily by his sides, his fingers working out the rage.

           „Es tut mir Leid,“ Kurt apologized. „Friend?“

           „Sister.“

           Kurt felt a heavy weight drop onto his chest. He didn’t have a whole lot to family growing up, but he knew how important family was. The X-Men turned out to be his family once Professor Xavier took him in. „You better come quick,“ Kurt suggested. „I can teleport us there – “

           „I’m walking.“ Dietmar pushed past Kurt to walk down the hallway to get to the antechamber. Kurt had to jog to get beside him again in order to lead the way. Once Kurt was back in his line of view, Dietmar increased his pace to match Kurt’s until they reached where Kurt was staying. Dietmar shoved Kurt with his forearm, flashing to his sister’s side and falling into a kneeling position beside her. She was still out cold, as were the guards further down the hallway that Kurt had dispatched earlier.

           „Dietmar, do you know of anyone that can help her? As you can imagine, I haven’t made very many friends.“ Kurt needed to press the urgency onto the young man so that they didn’t lose her.

           „Ja …“ Dietmar said uncertainly. „Ich glaube schon.“

           „She should not be moved. Whomever you know needs to be brought here. Go get them. I’ll make sure that the soldiers don’t attack again.“

           „Why should I trust you?“ Dietmar asked. He turned around at the waist to level a glare at the blue mutant, but hand still held his sister’s. He really cared for her, but still did not trust Kurt.

           „I’ve done all I could. I brought her to safety and you to her. You will have to trust me off of that.“ Kurt stepped away from the door, giving Dietmar room to leave if he wished. „You must act fast if you wish to save her.“

           Dietmar turned his gaze back to his sister and leaned down to kiss the hand that he held. Gently setting it down on top of her chest, he rose to his feet. His shoulders were hunched and his eyes were cast down, but only for a moment. He strode forward strongly, pointing aggressively at Kurt when he passed. „You better be gone when I get back,“ he said.

           „As you wish,“ Kurt replied with a respectful bow. Dietmar left the room, leaving Kurt to watch over his sister.

           Kurt squatted beside her, checking her relative temperature with his hand. She felt a little warmer than necessary, but nothing alarming yet. If Dietmar hurried, she could still make it without a hiccup. Kurt stroked her hand and fingers, trying to be comforting even though she was unconscious. He stayed in that position for what felt like an eternity, periodically checking on the heat coming off her forehead and taking her pulse. Her breathing stayed consistent.

           Footsteps rang through the hallway, pulling Kurt away from the girl. As they approached, Kurt could tell that they weren’t the soldiers’. The soldiers wore heavy leather boots, and while they weren’t uniform, they were consistent out of the six. There were two sets of steps, and Kurt could feel the urgency from them as they came closer. Dietmar was back with help.

           Kurt scrambled to gather up his pens and notebook, grabbing the rest of his extra clothes that he hadn’t used on Dietmar’s sister. He couldn’t very well grab his blanket from her, so his belongings were effectively cut in half. Holding everything in one arm, Kurt scaled the wall nearest him and crawled into the rafters seconds before Dietmar and his friend burst into the room. They panted heavily.

           „Are you still alive?“ Dietmar asked with alarm, falling to his knees beside his sister. He turned around to his friend when he determined her life.

           „Excuse me,“ his friend said. „I’ll need some space.“ He bent over the girl with a stethoscope in hand, pressing it against her lungs. Next, he examined the wound. His tongue clucked against the roof of his mouth. „Damage to the spleen,“ he observed. That wasn’t news to Kurt. „Gun shot?“ Dietmar nodded. „The bullet still appears to be inside her. No exit wound. Hopefully it didn’t shatter inside. It appeared to miss her ribs on the way in.“

           Even though the girl was far from out of the woods, Kurt let go of a heavy sigh. The weight that pressed to his shoulders when he discovered her relation to Dietmar lifted. She was in good hands now. Much better hands than Kurt could offer her. He climbed further into the rafters, bamfing away when he was as high as he could get. He was sure that they could hear the sound from where they were on the ground, but at least Dietmar couldn’t go after him. Kurt just had to make sure that the girl was okay.

[neural-novella]

The Marked 5

Author’s Note To Self: Don’t Trust Tumblr’s Draft System!

My eyes open to the familiar purple-blue city. The sound of thousands of Mage’s debating, squabbling and practicing their techniques engulf my senses. Unfortunately I am too late as my brother is already stood in front of me, He has been waiting for me to turn up. Have I become so predictable? I’ll have to make sure I teleport to random points in the city from now on. He doesn’t look happy as he glances at me with disdain. “Do you know what you have done?” he states.

“I didn’t do anything!” I rebuke. 

“I can’t prove you warned them somehow. They knew we were coming, they scouted us miles before we got to the outskirts. Even if I can’t prove you had something to do with this I just witnessed that you disobeyed me! You left the city after strict instructions not to do so!”

My brother looks away, fire burning in the palm of his hand. He’s always been the one to look after me, to stand up for me in school and life. Ultimately his will to protect is what lead him to becoming a Hunter, and I have never helped matters since. I have always driven a wedge between his duty as a Hunter and his duty as a Brother. I make decisions or get into situations that he must decide if he reports on as a Hunter or brushes under the carpet as my brother. It’s been really hard on him... but this time I doubt he can forgive me. He’ll have no choice but to report to the Council that the Marked has evacuated, that he had failed to do what was required of him.

“This is the last time brother,” He begins “the last time I can ever help you. I wont report to the Council that you have been out of the city, but I cannot hide the fact that someone here must have warned them and the Council will find out who. I suggest you lay low for a while, hopefully they won’t find you. Next time you do something like this, I’ll be sent to kill you understand?”

I nod in weary agreement. I wish there was more I could do for him. His rank plays on his heart, he has always been tested. Asked to do things he believes are wrong but he must carry out the Council’s orders. That’s why several years ago I got in between him and a Marked he was sent to kill. An innocent, we both knew she was innocent but just because she was Marked the Council wanted her dead. I did it to save a part of my brother but lost the piece of him that cared for me. He’s finally decided now, rank over blood. And that’s fair, his rank supports his family, his future. I’ve always gotten in the way of that.

Over the course of the next week, I spend a lot of time either brushing up on certain magical skills or drinking in whatever bar takes my fancy within the city. Word on the street is that my brother’s on course to be demoted after the failure of The Society attack. He’s been given a task to investigate who warned them, which if he fails I’m sure will result in him no longer being a Hunter. Meanwhile, I remain laying low and keeping out of trouble. I contacted the telepath that had assisted me in contacting Lee and Grimmal and told her she should probably do the same or get out of the city. She seemed quite content in continuing her life, any change being seen as suspicious and the fact she can pick up the mind of anyone who wishes to harm her before they even enter the same building.

Another week passes and still no news. I haven’t seen or heard from my brother. I want to contact Lee but I know it’d be a huge risk for us both. The Council are probably focusing on anyone using the type of magic signature that a long range telepathic message gives off. My mind wanders to how this all started. about 100 years ago there was a massive human war. Some Mages felt it was their duty to take part either as medics or as soldiers on the battlefield. One Mage in particular towards the latter end of the war, saw a way of turning the tide of battle. He created a series of spells, a ritual, a way of bestowing magical abilities to humans via specially crafted weaponry. However humans being humans, they decided that no one else could have such power and ended up using the weapons against their creator. It was a huge mess the Council barely managed to cover up, killing thousands of mages and humans alike in order to make sure no one had any evidence of the mistake to share. As it turns out, about 20 years later another war broke out and a german science division happened upon research into the same magical weaponry and devised a way to imbue a human body with such abilities in order to create a super soldier. His experiments failed one after the other, until he caught himself a mage. He experimented on the mage trying to figure out where is research was going wrong. When he finally figured it out, he attempted to create a super solider again but things went horribly wrong. There was a massive magical explosion and everyone within a 2 mile radius was killed. Oddly enough though, shortly after the war there were reports of children developing the same distinctive mark on their skin. After years of bloodlines now there are thousands of Marked in the world most of them with no idea how to control their abilities and some with no interest in them at all. The Council has been paying for their mistakes this entire time.

After a month passes by, I decide its time to leave the city. No one has come for me yet and there’s no sign or reports of anyone even being close to asking me questions. I need to speak to Lee and Grimmal. I travel by foot to the furthest outreach of the city, doing my best to be as far from the Magus Council as possible. When ready I take a deep breath and begin to cast a teleportation spell again. As my body is engulfed in a blue cloud I suddenly realize I have no idea where to go; I dismiss the spell for the moment. I contemplate visiting the telepath again to see if she can track either one but again the risk this poses is too great, there’s no way she’d do it. After a few moments of thought I concoct a plan and recast the spell, focusing on the rooftop that Lee last threw me off of.

I open my eyes to a human city, the noise of busy people on the streets and cars having close calls fills my ears. The smell of decay, smog and food fills the air. I walk over to the edge of the building and blink into the alleyway once I have it in sight. A homeless guy gets startled by the angelic vision of someone randomly bursting into existence via a shower of white sparks. I smile at him and continue to the metal door of the Marked Safe House, there’s no need to wipe his memory who’s really going to believe a homeless guy ranting and raving about angels anyways. The door is locked, damn! I imagine the interior I only visited once, the dark walls and dirt floor. I blink once more within the safe house.

It’s empty, I should have expected as much. The Marked have moved on which is exactly what they needed to do, I don’t really know why this place being empty surprised me so much. Rodents scurry up and down the perimeter, running away from the bright flash I would have emitted upon entering. I sit on the ground and meditate. Contemplating how I find anyone. Then an image hits me, Sable standing there telling me about how this was my fault. I focus on her features, her dark hair, slim face. I take a deep breath and extend my right hand into the air, extending out my fingertips as I cast silver threads from each one. A type of scrying spell used to track one’s magical signature. Good for Mage’s who can never truly stop passively emitting magic into the air around them, difficult for Marked who can. I focus more on Sable’s character, her whispering voice, her average height. As I exhale I simultaneously open my eyes and clench my right hand into a fight. The threads at my finger tips transform into a single long silvery thread that I now clasp in my hand. I was just barely able to manifest it, she hasn’t been here in so long. I close my eyes again and use my magic to trace the thread, following Sable wherever she has been. At the end of the thread I finally see her and Grimmal, sharing what appears to be a cheap apartment on the other side of town. I smile, this kind of magic was never natural to me. It always took me a while to get somewhere, and to do this after she had not been here for so long is quite the feat. I let go of the thread and it vaporizes out of existence. I stand up and blink back into the alleyway, after the amount of magic I’ve just expelled in order to get to this city, into the safehouse and track Sable I am at my limits. To use any more to get to Sable would be irresponsible as a Mage, I would lack the ability to defend myself when I got there. 

“So I guess walking it is, the good ol’ fashioned way” I tell myself as I turn out of the alleyway and join the stream of people walking in different directions on the street.