[center][url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/38763/posts/ooc?page=1#post-1154295][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qGY5muB.png[/IMG][/url][/center] [center][url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/38763/posts/ooc?page=1#post-1157920][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/00viMc3.png[/IMG][/url][/center] --- [center][b]The Boat[/b][/center] --- Olivia exited the bridge and made her away to the stern, the night sky and stars above her head; the fantastic rumble of splashing water sporadically tumbling around beneath her feet. She pulled out her phone and texted Kat: ‘Meet me at the stern, by the propellers. /Olivia.’ It felt she had just closed her eyes when the high pitched whine of a message received broke the hypnotic sound of the waves crashing against the boat's hull. Surely they couldn't have arrived already? No, definitely not. So what was it? Kat opened her eyes slowly as she reached out for her phone. The screen flickered to life as she unlocked it. A simple text from Olivia was waiting for her. Just when she thought she was going to get some sleep. ‘K,’ she responded. It took her a minute or two to stand, but once she did she knew she wouldn't be able to get some sleep even if she had any time left after she saw to whatever Olivia wanted. That ship had sailed, so to speak. She pulled her hair into a loose ponytail and left her room. Stepping out onto the deck was invigorating. The ocean air filled her lungs as she stared up at the stars. The night sky over the ocean was supposed to be one of the clearest. No light pollution out here, besides the boat itself. A quick walk to the back of the boat and she was face to face with Olivia. “What d'ya need, love? I was this close to a nice nap.” She said, smiling. Olivia pondered on things past with her arms crossed over her stomach and gaze pointed towards the horizon. It was something about that endless distance that mesmerized her beyond any form of logic or reason. Kat’s voice broke Olivia’s brief, though superfluous mediation. Olivia’s stern looking face quickly transformed into its usual warmth upon seeing her dark haired equal, thus she spoke: “Oh, I’m sorry sweetie! I didn’t mean to wake you, I feel terrible now.” Olivia embraced Kat for a quick squeeze, accompanied by a lighthearted chuckle. With one arm hanging around Kat’s shoulder, as if Olivia was some stud trying to seduce her, Olivia continued: “The Captain thinks we can make this rusty old thing go faster if we put our spirits to work, and guess what, your pretty face is the only one around here with the proper connections! So, do you think you could take those spirits for a whirl in the water and push this thing along?” “Hmm...” Kat mumbled as she leaned over the railing to look down at the propeller. “Yeah, I guess I could help a bit.” Kat straightened out her back and closed her eyes, focusing on the water around the boat. With a bit of effort, she was able to make it flow more efficiently around the hull, reducing the drag on the boat. She also extended her will to the water near the propellers. A bit of extra force applied there would make it go faster, she believed. There was, though, a limit as to how fast she could speed the thing up. “I think I'm doing the best I can,” she stated plainly, her eyes still closed. "I don't know much about boats, ironically, but I'm pretty sure I'm doing something.” Olivia could see the marvelous spirits performing a twirling dance with the tumbles and foam of the ocean, playful as they were in the enchanting glow, of some turquoise coloration, that emanated from their ribbon forms. Some manner of rippled streams of water slowly floated about and around the girls as Kat basked in her trance and focus, which Olivia was mesmerized by. The dark haired belle surely knew how to be one with her spirits and elements. Olivia’s arm, which had previously rested around Kat’s neck and shoulder, gently retracted behind the girl’s back upon which a hand remained and slightly rubbed. “How are you feeling, sweetie? It seems like everything has been moving so fast that we haven’t had a chance to talk,” Olivia said. Kat opened her eyes after she got her spirits in motion. They’d be doing most of the work for the time being. She smiled and turned to Olivia, leaning back against the railing. “Me? I'm fine for the most part,” she said, smiling. “I’m more interested in how you’re feeling.” For a moment, Kat was distracted by her spirits flowing freely through the air. They certainly felt at home here. They were as vibrant as she had ever seen them. Looking back down at Olivia, Kat continued. “As I’m sure you’re aware, all eyes have been on you today. How you holding up in a leading position? I think things have been going well so far. Certainly there was some surprise when you were announced; hell you could see Thael quite literally dim the moment the words were spoken..." Kat stopped there, giving Olivia another warm smile. Some delightful, radiant sparks slowly emanated from Olivia’s person as some of Katherine’s spirits approached and touched the girl’s skin—precious water and brilliant lightning colliding with one another was an enchanting sight, compatible yet rival at the same time. Kat’s smile was becharming enough to force the corner of Olivia’s lips to retract and show her pearls as well, irresistible as it was. Olivia turned away from Kat and faced the ocean, tilting her head and gaze towards the sky again, resting her hands and arms against her hips on either side of her body. She sighed, as the brief smile vanished. “I’m glad that you’re alright, but somehow it feels as if everyone is holding back on me,” Olivia said, tilted her head downwards ever so slightly, and closed her eyes. “It… it feels as if people are not telling me what they want to say. You wouldn’t do that, would you, Kat? If you wanted to tell me something, you would say it, no matter what, right?” Olivia said and turned around to face Kat again. “Bitch, you know I would,” Kat said giggling. “Anything in particular you think they'd want to say?” Kat’s affectionate nickname for Olivia blessed the otherwise moody moment with much needed levity. The girl sounded akin to the individuals in Olivia’s other circle of friends, kindred such as Britney and Stacey, whom always named each other words like [i]bitch[/i] and [i]slut[/i]. In Britney’s case, ‘dumb bitch’ was a popular choice. A flabbergasted expression and bantam chuckle erupted from Olivia, succeeded by a wide smile. “Oh, I don’t know—you little slut—just something about me being the best there is,” Olivia tittered. Katherine had successfully guided Olivia back on track for the time being, perhaps even without knowing it herself, with a brief respite from the burdens of command. Olivia gently caressed Kat’s check with her palm as she passed the girl by: “Thanks, sweetie—you know just what to say and at the right time,” Olivia said and left the dark haired belle to her own devices. “Come back inside when you’re ready.” --- [center][b]Norton City: Battle II[/b][/center] --- Olivia managed herself onto her feet again with some assistance from Thael. The Mech had been destroyed by her hands, though not entirely. Whoever it was that had piloted the metal contraption was surely dead by now, either from the explosion itself or burned alive by the flames the followed. Olivia had the advantage and privilege of not having to face the person she had just killed. In the heat of the moment, she was unsure of how to feel, but she was positive that whatever reaction that she might have to this experience would surely emerge at some inconvenient moment later on. Some of her friends, however, did not have the same privilege as she did; they had to face the unfortunate soldiers that fell beneath their weapons. While some could accept the outcome of this confrontation, others could not and held onto it with everything they held dear. [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXmV5Lp92_0]*[/url] Olivia panted, wiped some dust off of her face, while she walked with heavy, determined steps over to where Kimberly had failed to understand what war was about. The Storm Guard had passed out from some magnificent physical marvel performed by Kim, but it did not matter. Olivia stopped next to Kim, who was staring at the unconscious soldier on the ground. “What’s this…? There’s no room for this…, Kim. That man dies before we move…,” Olivia said and pointed the edge of her Gunblade at the soldier’s neck, ready to puncture his throat with it. Then she stared right into Kim’s eyes with a metallic, cold gaze of which he and their friends were not familiar. “It’s not our job to take prisoners… so, either you do it or I do it,” she waited. --- [center][b]Norton City: Mistaken Identity[/b][/center] --- [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMvHTlWyxH0]*[/url] The man who was quickly becoming Olivia’s primary, personal advisor spoke true words of intelligence, respectful in his tone and posture as he addressed his Captain. His recommendation only enhanced Olivia’s already formed conceptions of the most sensible action, but his validation was exactly what she needed in order to fully convince herself. She committed to his advice: “You’re right. Also, speak with me again once you’ve learned what you can,” Olivia said and tilted her head ever so slightly to catch a glimpse of Remi behind her, “see what you can learn from these soldiers; someone is bound to know something about those platforms, if nothing else,” she finished and left the man to his own devices. [center][url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/38763/posts/ooc?page=1#post-1154295][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qGY5muB.png[/IMG][/url][/center] [center][url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/38763/posts/ooc?page=1#post-1158042][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/nmkJPIx.png[/IMG][/url][/center] Kimberly stared at the injured soldiers around them in silence. It was apparent that Norton City didn’t have enough medics. “Speak to them, hear their stories, encourage them,” the Gunnery Sergeant said, “It helps them more than you know.” Kimberly walked up to Olivia. “Olive… if… we’re not leaving soon… can…” the brunet hesitated for a moment, like a child asking his mother if he could do something that she would most likely disapprove of, “can… I heal the soldiers? T-they… ike… mi … t…” Kimberly’s voice volume lowered into inaudible levels around the end of his sentence. His head lowered down as if to match his voice volume. Olivia felt deep and great sorrow for the weakened and injured incapacitated on the ground, staring up at her and the rest of the friends with awe and reverence akin to that of divine beings. Some of these men and women had worshiped the Earth and spirits their whole lives and now they stood before the very embodiments of their beliefs. Olivia could not imagine that their experience would be anything similar to meeting an actual deity, or perhaps a Kami, but if ever there was a physical manifestation of whatever it was that basked with the stars and devised the universe, Guardians were it. Even if Olivia did not empathize, she would never have rejected the Gunnery Sergeant’s request or Kim’s desire to do what he could where feasible. “Do what you have to, Kim. I’ll walk with you,” she answered. Kimberly’s head snapped up with a ghastly smile on his face. “Thanks… Olive.” Kimberly turned to the first injured soldier in sight and kneeled down. The soldier’s body jerked when he saw the giant rush towards him. His facial expression full of pain added a hint of fear, surprise, and eventually curiosity. “The horrors this man must have endured… to go through hell and back… only to see some giant with a lunatic’s smile running straight at him… I’m pretty sure he thought his time on Atlas was over.” Kimberly heard his roommate say. Kimberly couldn’t agree more. Kimberly erased his smile to put the soldier at ease then let his ears exam the man like a sonography. There were a few fractured bones, one completely broken limb, and internal bleeding here and there. The raven-haired man’s hand reached to touch the soldier, who tensed up and attempted to back way, “NO! DO…n…t?” The soldier tilted his head quizzically. He expected a jolt of unbearable pain, but no such feeling came. Instead, the pain he had been experiencing previously started to recede. His injuries were healing. In the eyes of his fellow Guardians, the spirits within and around Kimberly began to emit a comforting light. The longer Kimberly used healing magic, more plant spirits gathered to form what looked like a floral-plant arrangement made up of light around Kimberly’s person. The plant spirits’ vines tried to reach over to Kimberly’s childhood friends almost automatically. While some continued to stretch as far as it could to reach a friend —and failing—, those closer to Kimberly had spectral plants touching them, searching them, attempting to heal them even when there were no physical wounds to heal. “Kami damn it,” Ghost struggled against the crowd of spectral plants that bombarded him with attention, “I’m fine! I’m fine! Get off!” The light and ethereal plants vanished at the same time Kimberly stopped healing the soldier. Satisfied with his work, it was hard for the giant to keep himself from smiling again. “I… can only… do minor… healing,” Kimberly warned the soldier: “rest… and eat… if you want… to completely… recover.” When Kimberly had done what he felt was right, what society expected of someone in his shoes, Olivia approached the meek soldier and crouched before him, her body barely inches away. If ever there was a time that the girl would squeeze every ounce out of her effort, this was that moment. She attempted to look as tiny and harmless as she possibly could by pouting her eyebrows together and allowing a warm smirk to appear—her facial expression was that of pity, however not condescending. “What’s your name?” “M-my name? D-Daniels…., Ma’am, Trey Daniels.” “It’s a pleasure to meet you Trey, my name is Olivia Celestine,” she said, and then she glanced at Kim: “and this is Kimberly Faye,” returning eye contact to the soldier. “You… y-you… are Guardians?” “That’s right.” “What…d-did you do… to me?” the soldier inquired, looking at Olivia, but then at Kim. Olivia seated herself next to Trey and looked to Kim as well. The soldier seemed confused and afraid, but it was only natural. The simple life of being a soldier, a grunt, was probably all that he knew. Things like Guardians and spirits, magic—whatever you wanted to call it—were a distant fantasies to people like Trey Daniels, and difficult to understand. Kimberly had no idea why Olivia was looking at him. Was she expecting him to answer Trey’s question? Really? She knew that Kimberly was as skillful at talking as much as a sloth was a master of running. Why was she making him talk? Couldn’t she answer the question? Olivia had better communication skills than Kimberly would ever have in a hundred lifetimes. The giant’s eyes darted around, searching for an appropriate answer that could satisfy Trey. After a long pause, he finally replied, “I healed you.” Silence. Ghost stood there, staring directly at Kimberly with a straight face. He began to clap mockingly. “Bravo. That was brilliant. Thank you, Captain Obvious. No one would have known that unless you stated it.” Feeling his face turning hot, Kimberly combed his hair with his fingers so that his black hair would cover up his face more. “Sorry,” he whispered. [i]That was a stupid answer.[/i] "No, duh." [i]Shut up.[/i] The poor soldier was still confused and bewildered at what it meant, exactly. Olivia’s head was half way tilted downwards, yet her eyes were staring at Kim. Her mouth was slightly open, relaxed, and her eyebrows were pushed together quite firmly, which formed an expression that could only be described with the words [i]‘are you kidding me?’[/i] Olivia looked to the soldier and began to speak, caught slightly off guard. “Uhm… what Kim meant was… that his spirits set your body and mind on the right path again, sooner than they would naturally, which means that you’ll recover from your injuries much faster,” she said. “Well…t-thank you very much, sir,” Trey said to Kim, “I’m very grateful, but I don’t understand how it all works… with spirits and such things,” he said. “What happened to you, Trey?” “We were ambushed by what seemed an endless amount of those soldiers with jetpacks. It was a massacre…,” he said and cringed, “they seemed to come out of nowhere, death from above as they say. I mean… t-there… was nothing we could do, that I could do, so I… I hid… I hid underneath by best friend’s dead body,” he said and broke into uncontrolled sobbing. Olivia immediately repositioned herself onto her knees and wrapped her arms around the poor soldier and pulled him close. “I’m a coward,” his muffled voice, drenched in tears, sounded from within Olivia’s embrace. “You can’t blame yourself for this, Trey,” the girl said. She then looked to Kim and spoke soundless words to him, moving her lips and jaw excessively: [i]Say something[/i]. Even though his hair covered his eyes, Kimberly could feel Olivia glaring at him, expecting him to speak again. “You’d think, as Captain, she’d understand the extent of each of her soldier’s abilities. Maybe she does fail as a leader.” Kimberly saw Ghost pass by him through the curtain of hair. Ghost looked down at the crying soldier with annoyance, “what’s with it with these types of people?” [i]The man has been through a lot.[/i] “And so has everyone else.” Ghost sighed deeply before exploding into a rant, "so what if you were a coward? What would have being 'brave' accomplished in that situation? You're alive because you wanted to see another day instead of trying to be some hero. What's wrong with using what you can to survive? If your friend was your best friend, I don't think he-she would be mad at you for hiding under him-her." Kimberly’s roommate smirked, "unless you're the one who killed him-her." [i]Hey.[/i] “What? It’d be the perfect crime if he did!” Ghost turned back to the soldier, "if your friend cared about you, he-she would have been happy you survived; that his-her useless dead carcass managed to save even one life. He-she saved you. And what are you doing? Regretting that you lived? If you feel so bad why don't you use that life your friend saved to save other lives? Survive this war. Live a long life, raise a family, tell your grandchildren about your friend... Don't let your friend's death be in vain. Don't use his-her death as an excuse to do nothing... It should be a reason to change, for the better." His head turned to Olivia's direction, "don't let the dead be a burden." Ghost glanced over his shoulder to look at Kimberly, "if they are, you're better off forgetting about them." Kimberly stood there in another long silence, before realizing how he must have been standing quietly the whole time. He needed to cheer up the soldier somehow. Olivia wanted him to give Trey some comforting words. "Wars... are won by surviving," his voice barely managed to say, "th-the... more that survive... the better..." Ghost stared at him: “Seriously?” Kimberly mumbled something under his breath and excused himself to continue healing other injured soldiers. Olivia gave a gasp as a plethora of words came out of Kim’s mouth, some of them quite rude even if their intent were genuine. The poor man regressed even deeper into his sobbing, Olivia embracing the man further. She stared at Kim with annoyance, then she whispered loudly: “What’s wrong with you?! Do you even know what you just said? How do you get off calling someone’s friend a ‘useless dead carcass’?” Olivia stared at the man as he excused himself from the situation. “That’s right, go on… we’ll talk about his later,” she finished. [center][b]***[/b][/center] After tending to the poor soldier for just a few more minutes, Olivia left the man to give him some space and time to think. She trod amongst the injured and the nervous, giving her words of advice and words of comfort where they were needed. Some of the soldiers seemed to appreciate it, whereas other did not seem to care, but it was all the same to Olivia. If she could help, then that was great. If her help was not needed, then at least she had tried. Soon enough, the girl stumbled upon Magdalena—not by accident, but by intention. Olivia waited a few steps away from the girl as she addressed some soldiers who appeared to be bewildered by her words, perhaps even distraught. Even if what she meant was encouraging, her tone did not inspire. When Magdalena had said what there was to be said, Olivia approached her and led the girl to sit down with her: “Sit with me,” she said. The brunette rumbled through a few things of hers and pulled forth a ‘potion’-syringe that she had procured in Doral. The medical device was fairly bantam, no larger than than a few inces from tip to handle, made of plastic. The contents were of some glowing, asparagus-cerulean coloration, ever flowing and evolving. Olivia occasionally glimpsed at Magdalena as the syringe was being prepared, and when she caught eyecontact, she spoke: “You think that nobody will notice when you stroll around looking like that?—you think that [i]I[/i] won’t notice?” Olivia gently touched and led Magdalena’s forearm to rest on Olivia’s tight where she was seated. The girl paved way for the syringe to be inserted into the pale, fragile skin. However, before proceeding with the treatment, Olivia spoke again: “I know you don’t like it when people touch you, let alone stick things into your skin, but this is me now… just remember that before you decide to do something foolish,” Olivia said, and then smoothly inserted the syringe into Magdalena’s dark vein, clearly visible on the white backdrop. The revitalizing contents of the ‘potion’ instantenously let itself flow through the girl’s system, coursing through her veins and blood, respecting all the internal, infernal properties of her body. Whatever injuires that were still wreaking havoc began to recede, perhaps not instantly, but a matter of minutes would surely do the trick. When the modest procedure was finished, Olivia gently pulled the syringe out of Magadalena’s skin, and quickly applied a small piece of cotton that she had previously ripped off of the syringe itself. “See… better already,” Olivia said, glancing at the girl’s mesmerizing eyes once more. [center][img=http://i.imgur.com/cAgJoM8.jpg][/center] [b]Norton City: Sewers (Boss Fight I)[/b] The entrance into the sewer systems was not elegant. The friends practically tumbled down the rabbit hole into a darkness for which they were ill prepared; treading on each other and other tiny, alive things on the moist, bricked floor. “Aow!” Olivia suddenly exclaimed in the dark. “Jyn! You stepped on my foot,” she chuckled in what was an utmost superfluous pain, humorous more so than anything else. The narrow passages and dim light did not offer much in terms of assistance when it came to navigation or personal comfort, being the epitome of spaces for various phobias; tiny insects hastily vanished into cracks and cubbyholes, some manner of ripples sailed across the surface of the greenish pestilent waters, and the foul stench was nearly unbearable. How could they have ended up in place like this? Surely, this shortcut would spare the friends hours, perhaps days of fighting the enemy and potentially never reach their destination, but Olivia began to question whether or not it was worth it. She had become so used to being superficial and pretty that she had forgotten what being in the (literal) gutters was like. This was the perks of war, a reality check. The trek through the sewers was a nightmare. Some passages were spacious enough to allow Olivia to stand up straight, but most of the time she had to tilt her head downwards. She could only imagine what kind of Hell this was for the mountains of the group, Thael and Kim—they were almost crawling on the floor, it seemed. And then there were the insects, which Olivia was uncannily uncomfortable with. She had no idea why the tiny creatures insisted on nibbling at her skin and crawling up her legs. Surely, she was used to boys trying to crawl up her legs, but these foul things were much worse-…. or, perhaps not. When they finally reached an expansive intersection, in which the ceiling was beyond the two meters that Thael and Kimberly reached on a daily basis, Olivia called for a short breather. All manner of commotion could be heard from above; the screams of soldiers, explosions from various weapons, and the screeches from what Olivia could only assume to be xenomorphs. Humanity had not had a confrontation amongst themselves like this in many years, ever since the Calamity struck, and the mysterious lack of motive and provocation for the attack bewildered everyone. However, the xenomorphs did not care. This was the ideal moment to strike at both sides of the battle. The intersection-waterworks of the sewers was akin to some mess hall of military structures, however, clad with numerous vertical pipes, valves of different shapes and sizes, and the sound of heavily channeled water running about their designated paths and filters. There were also a number of old, wooden crates on which to sit. They appeared to be empty and ready to fall apart. Whoever had left them here did so in a hurry. Perhaps they dated back to the Calamity. Olivia thought she heard some dark, growling noise coming down from one of the passages, of which there were at least six leading to the intersection. She quickly ignored it as it did not repeat. However, moments later, she heard it again, but this time it appeared to be louder and closer. Then suddenly she saw it. With only a slight churning to mark its rise to the surface of the large pond-like gathering of tumbling water in the middle of the intersection, the thing slid into view above the pestilent, dark waters. Vast, Caudata-like, and loathsome, it darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares into full view of the friends, about which it flung its gigantic scaly arms, the while it bowed its hideous head and gave vent to certain measured sounds. [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsG80RGxzNM]*[/url] “What in the world is that thing?!” Olivia gasped at the horrid creature. Whatever it was, it was not about to calmly cuddle with the friends and stroke its scaly skin against their legs. Without warning, it suddenly twisted its body in a forceful movement that chucked waves of disgusting water around and its tail across the space where the friends were situated, destroying some of the old crates and busting several pipes that whined with steam. This creature was clearly some form of hive-mind xenomorph capable of directing the smaller creatures on the surface. Perhaps the friends had accidentally stumbled upon its hiding grounds, or maybe the attack was deliberate. After being thrown about and soaked by sewer-water, Olivia did not hesitate to draw her tagger gun and immediately fire a round into the flesh of the creature, and then unsheathe her Gunblade. This fight was going to be different from what they had ever encountered before. [hider=Summary] The first boss initiates with 'Tail Swipe,' which hits everyone and throws them about. [/hider] [hider=Tagger Information] [img=http://i.imgur.com/ZTLsvCx.jpg] [b]STAGGER[/b]: 5295/10,000 [b]ATTACK[/b]: 780 (65) [b]FIR[/b] Weak [b]ICE[/b] Half [b]LHT[/b] Weak [b]WAT[/b] Immune [b]AIR[/b] Normal [b]ETH[/b] Normal [b]GAV[/b] Normal [b]LIG[/b] Normal [b]DAK[/b] Normal [b]Tail Swipe[/b]: Physical, all enemies, +250 stagger [b]Pestilent Breath[/b]: Spirit attack, all enemies, Despair [b]Sewer Drain[/b]: WATER-element, +300 stagger. [/hider] [hider=Player Stagger (Limit Break)] [b]Olivia[/b]: 1810/3500 (180/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Thael[/b]: 1030/7500 (75/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Freddy[/b]: 1030/6000 (65/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Katherine[/b]: 1030/3000 (105/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Jynnette[/b]: 1030/4000 (85/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Kimberly[/b]: 1030/5000 (105/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Remiel[/b]: 1030/4750 (65/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Royce[/b]: 1030/3500 (105/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Magdalena[/b]: 1690/4250 (275/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Emily[/b]: 1030/3000 (85/1000) [DESPAIR] [b]Aaron[/b]: 1030/5250 (65/1000) [DESPAIR] [/hider]