Vertigo

Rerun: Blackguards!

Cliche as it is, I've a halfling rogue/assassin idea for this! Potentially one specialized in mage slaying.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

Oh god, are we really planning to let Fellwing deal with Garrock?

This can only end well.

Chronicles of the Six: Magic’s Awakening: A Magical Boy RP. Reboot

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Fenghuang's sudden shout drew a hiss from the miniature dragon, his body coiling upward and teeth baring in alarm. Before he could lunge at the bird, however, human hands wrapped around his long form and lifted him off his feet.

"The fuck are you?" Noah squinted down at the creature practically dangling in his arms, then at the rest of the strange menagerie that now surrounded them. "Any of you?!"

Suddenly, Eli's alien abduction theory didn't seem so far fetched anymore. Though he'd always imagined aliens more scary and insectoid than... small and squishy. Like holy shit this thing was squishy. Reminded him of jelly.

"This ain't the beer, Conner!" Noah shouted back a little more defensively than was needed, confusion palpable in his voice. Before he could continue, though, a dolphin flew towards them and started going on about a magical realm and the elements and— shit, did any of the alcohol get spirited away with them?

At "the most powerful" part of Chesi's explanation, the little dragon in Noah's arms growled proudly, mouth opening just enough to let go of Noah's sleeve, which he had all but destroyed by now. He indicated at his chest with a paw. Not that Noah noticed; his attention was kind of stolen by his friends going through entire fucking Sailor Moon transformations, coming out looking like drama club kids on a freaky Friday.

And then they were attacked by a bear.

Milo took the fucks right out of his mouth. Noah took back a few steps out of reflex, the familiar rush of adrenaline sending him reeling. He'd been in his share of fights before, and so, he hastily reached for his pocket — only to not find his knife there. How?! He always had his knife! Holy shit, if he got mauled by a bear because he used the damn thing to cut open sausages over a stupid-ass campfire and forgot it there, he was going to be pissed. And dead. But pissed first.

The dragon, the dotori-muk looking little motherfucker, was roaring up a storm, and Noah's gaze flickered from it to the monster. A little ways away, his friends were wielding actual magic to fend off the thing. The dragon kept roaring. Right. He understood what it was trying to say. What it wanted him to do.

"All you, lil guy," Noah said, pulled his arm back, and yeeted the dragon straight towards the bear's face. Something, something food chain, right?

Expedition to Isekai

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A what now?

Duncan blinked at the mere accusation, straightening enough to catch the look on Haruko's face — but not for long, before she pulled him back down for a kiss. Well. It was more a quick brush of the lips, but considering his Japanese classmates' stance on public displays of affection... huh. Maybe this place's influence wasn't all bad. He was about to pull Haruko closer, to push his luck, but she gave him no chance to do so, already a step or two away. Damnit.

At her little quip, Duncan raised his arms in mock-defense. "Whoa, alright! Promising to quit was before we got spirited away into freakshow land. There's gotta be a clause for that."

He wanted to say something more, was sure she did too. But sometimes, when you couldn't say everything, it was easier to say nothing.

"Try not to to miss me too much. I can probably hear if you cry, you know."

Well, almost nothing.

—

He and Asahi were barely out of camp when they encountered their first — and probably craziest — obstacle on their journey. Ayana; because unlike some of the others, Duncan still refused to refer to her by the name she'd adapted. Doing so would've felt like validating her delusions, and he wasn't about to be an enabler.

Or a coward.

"I mean, you said it. It ain't like you're gonna stop us. And if you're so damn worried about everyone, maybe spend less time advertising your cult and more time scouting or killing shit or whatever." Duncan shrugged a shoulder, about to keep walking, when Asahi started shouting next to him, feet firmly planted on the ground. Great. Didn't the guy know there was no arguing with the crazy? Weird as it was, Ayana sounded pretty damn genuine in her worry, meaning she had to believe in her own bullshit. And if so, wasn't anything they could do to convince her otherwise.

"C'mon, you're just giving her attention. Let it fucking go and move that famous ass, dude. We're wasting time." He went to try and wrap an arm around Asahi's shoulders and drag him forward if that's what it took. Wasn't like it'd be the first time he had to manhandle the guy. "Got great weather for a morning jog. Gets us there faster."

Not that... Asahi seemed to be the jogging type, really. Unless—

A grin spread on Duncan's face. "Bet your boyfriend would appreciate you comin' back all toned from a run, huh?"

He wasn't sure if it would actually work as motivation, but hopefully, it'd at least work as a distraction.

SPIRITUM

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She'd done it. She'd made a cat.

Silje managed a brief glimpse of its whiskered face, the feline smile on its lips, before it all melted down into inky goo — and shot towards her. She gasped, stomach lurching so violently she feared it might jump up her throat. The world shook and spun, and then there was no world at all. Just the distinct sound of her aegis, cracking.

The next Silje knew, she was lying on her back, blinking up at a smoke-filled sky. Gerard's voice came from somewhere nearby. Physically nearby. Val was there too. Silje wanted to wave at her friend and laugh at her oopsie, but her head was spinning, she felt sick, and she wasn't done mourning her cat.

Being attacked by murderous robots did make the grieving process faster, though. Silje turned her head in time to see one of the robots swinging towards her, only for Morden to intercept it with a drop kick. The robot staggered backwards. Somewhere off to the side, the rest of the squad was engaging the other robot — or so she assumed, as per Val's orders.

Speaking of, Silje hadn't really paid attention when they'd been taught how to effectively and clearly communicate on the battlefield, so all she gave in response was a quick, chipper: "Okie!"

She stretched, pulling herself to sit. The robot Morden had kicked was difficult to look at: just behind it, a mist pocket thrummed with the intense colours of an inferno, reds and oranges and yellows.

... Hm.

"Mordie! Can you kick it back again? Just a teeny tiny inch, and then—"

Silje watched the red hues dance. Under her gaze, they started to crackle and expand hungrily, phantom fire waiting to be unleashed. And once the robot crossed that threshold...

"Boom."

Pokemon: Dream

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_{Abandoned Stellar Toy Co. Factory
@Rune_Alchemist, @XxFellsingxX, @Savo}

At this point, AI Camphor's explanations were little more than background noise to the chaos. Snuggles let out something between a growl and a yelp as electricity coursed through her, but refused to let go of the offending Pokémon. If anything, she bit down harder, ragging the electric type in an attempt to make it stop.

Chloe dashed forward out of sheer reflex, her pokédex, still spewing information about Riolu, slipping from her grasp and clattering to the ground. She'd almost reached the scene when a ball flew past her from Jill's direction, and Yuu slid forwards, towards the Snubbull. In her panic, Chloe didn't register the potion; all she saw was that the psychopath's hand was moving towards her Pokémon.

She leapt for the Snubbull, and as Snuggles realized her trainer was about to come in to contact with her, she opened her mouth and let the electric type be yanked out. One of Chloe's arms closed around the fairy type only a moment later, the other striking out in an attempt to slap Yuu square in the face.

"Get away from her, you psycho!"

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

Definitely feel you on the lack of sleep, hope you can get some proper rest in soon!

SPIRITUM

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As expected, they were winning the race to the crash site, and Silje made sure Morden was aware of it every step of the way. Not that the giant seemed to be listening, too focused on channeling mist and looking around. Silje would've called him out on ignoring her, but once they reached the edge of the crater, she forgot all about the race too. The battlemage would've likely marveled at the pillars of flame, made a joke or two about the floating debris, and definitely tried to pick the instantly wilting flowers, if she could've properly made out any of it. As things were, all she could see was the mist in the air; saturated to a degree that made her eyes water and sting.

Morden announced he wanted to scout ahead and dropped Silje off — for a split minute, anyway. Momentarily blinded and suddenly bereft of a ride, she instinctively reached her hand back towards the tall WARDEN, latching onto him with mist like a magnet to its opposite. And then they were off. Silje tried to blink her eyes open so they could eventually adjust, but even with them half-closed, she was acutely aware of the mist around them. It gathered at her fingertips, it trailed along her hair, it filled the very air she breathed. There was so much of it, and all of it out of control.

It was kind of cool.

A loud clang stole her attention, then lost it just as fast. As she turned to look, now clinging onto Morden's back with all four of her limbs like a cat, it wasn't the weird robot or its weapon she cared about, unlike Morden. It was the rivulets of colour leaking from it, carving visible — to her, anyway — paths through the rest of the surrounding mist. Silje knew of mist engines, and knew they tended to be reserved for things much bigger than this, but it wasn't that peculiarity that had her practically forgetting to breathe.

"Mord. Mordie," she whispered, still holding her breath. In her current state, she didn't think to use their squad-wide communication channel. "There's a mist engine inside, I think. But... the mist is all wrong."

Silje followed its flow with her gaze, watched it taint the rainbow of colours in the air. She tried to find a name to call its hue, tried to think of other colours to compare it to, but she could think of none. It wasn't a colour that had a name, not one she could describe, or had ever seen before.

Not one that should exist.

But it did exist, and it was mist, and if nothing else, Silje knew how to bend mist to her will. She let herself fall off Morden's back and walked towards the robot like a woman possessed, reaching out a hand, palm up. Like she'd done so many times before, she tried to call that strange new mist to her to be molded, this time to manifest it into a tangible form on her palm. A cat. She liked cats.

And so, she tried to create a small — and probably explosive — mist cat upon her palm and hold it up to Morden in all its peculiarly coloured glory. Or, you know. Cause one more mist related pocket of chaos trying.

Pokemon: Dream

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_{Abandoned Stellar Toy Co. Factory
@Rune_Alchemist, @XxFellsingxX, @Savo}

"Yeah, yeah, I know, geez," Chloe rolled her eyes at Yuu's instructions to keep an eye out and let the Snubbull out and blah, blah. Was he seriously going to yap the whole time? It'd be more difficult to cut out both his voice and face. Not that there was anything wrong with this actual face, to be fair. It was literally everything else that was the problem.

Chloe did open the bag to let Snuggle out, but didn't raise her gaze otherwise. She was busy staring at her reflection on the screen, making sure she was doing alright after that whole clambering in through a window thing — which the other two had been suspiciously graceful at, by the way. Jill more so; she could've given some Pokémon a run for their money, Chloe was sure.

... Wait, did Jill say she'd been locked up in a cell before? By— by like, the fashion police, right? By the fashion police, right?

Before she could actually pose that question — or reply to Clarissa for that matter, at least she seemed to be okay still — she heard an AI Camphor describe Snubbull. By... calling them uncute? Umm, what!? As if she needed any more proof that the professor sucked at her job!

... Though she did get a giggle out of her final comment at Yuu. Okay, maybe at least this version of her wasn't all bad after all.

But also wait, like where did those two get off scanning her Pokémon without permission? And should she have also— ugh, fine. Partly in retaliation, Chloe turned her own Pokédex to scan the Rotom, Riolu, and Aipom while she was at it, only for the device to pick up a sudden fourth Pokémon: a Magnemite. Without warning, it attacked the Aipom, and Jill went on to aim at it with a slingshot!? Oh my god?!

"Stand back, it might come for you next!" she called out in concern, stepping forth with an arm extended to make sure Jill wouldn't run closer to it. Meanwhile, Yuu was trying to mansplain her own Pokémon to her, and ughhh, she just didn't have time for him. "Snuggles, Fire Fang, pin it do-"

"... directly at Chloe."

"What?"

Oh my god, was he like actually, clinically, insane?!

Snuggles, already running towards the Magnemite, understood what was about to happen, and pushed herself off the ground, jaws open and ablaze, ready to catch the Magnemite mid-air like a particularly weird shaped frisbee in at attempt to save her trainer.

Expedition to Isekai

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From the moment Duncan woke, realized how early it was and that he couldn't just go back to sleep, he started having second thoughts about the upcoming expedition. His body might've not required as much as sleep as it used to, but his head sure could've used the rest. He was not a morning person.

Still, it made sense to leave early so they'd be back that much faster, and Duncan had no doubt that if he didn't get his ass up right now, Asahi would take the opportunity and fucking run. So up he got, grumpy about it as he was. He gathered what little belongings he thought he might need, which included, useless as it had been so far, his phone. Duncan felt weird leaving it, and if they really did manage to find a portal or some other way to communicate with the real world, who knew. Maybe it'd come in handy.

Duncan had just stepped outside and, much to his relief, noticed his smokes had dried overnight, when a bento box was practically shoved into his face. He followed the arms that held it to a familiar face. Kumi. She looked like shit.

"You stayed up for this? Shit. Thanks," he took the box, about to slip it into his bag, when he realized he had no bag, and that he should probably find a spare one, when an even more familiar face emerged from the shelter. Duncan froze. Well, shit, he'd hoped he could slip out without having to say a thing. He was so fucking bad at stuff like this. He straightened, about to say something, but Haruko was faster.

Duncan was, for all intents and purposes, a superhuman, with the strength and endurance of one. He could endure blows, falls, probably — no, definitely — being shot at, and worse. And yet, the slight bump of Haruko's forehead against his chest stung like nothing before. So did her words.

Did he have to go? Honestly, no. Not really. He could let Asahi go alone into what would probably be his death, taking the mystery of the mountain with him, perhaps forever. It could even be a good thing; maybe that way they'd delay having to return to the real world a while longer. Maybe it was better to leave the mountain alone in the first place; maybe it was a trap.

But... much as he hated to admit it, Asahi'd gotten his back more than once so far. He'd helped him on that first night, back when they'd both been just some dudes in over their heads with no superpowers to their name. He'd been there for Yuki. It didn't matter what his personal opinion on Asahi — and the shit he'd seen in the guy's head — was, he owed the guy a solid. Besides, if Asahi found a way to return to the real world, Duncan needed to be there. And so—

"You know someone's gotta watch the idiot's back," Duncan half-smiled as he rested a hand on Haruko's head. He ruffled her hair slightly, carefully, as if afraid he'd hurt her. She'd always been so damn small, so damn cute, it'd made him wanna pick her up and just carry her around in a pocket or something. But now, with his Awakened powers that had nearly made him hurt Akito for real yesterday, she seemed so small he felt as if he shouldn't touch her at all. Like she might break if he did.

Was he really about to leave her behind? Again?

He leaned down to hug her, more awkward than he'd hoped. "I'll be back before you know it, babe. Here," he pulled out his cigarette package, took out one cig, and handed the rest to her. "You hold onto these for me until then, yeah? You know I haven't exactly aced this whole quittin' thing, so I gotta be back fast."

He grinned. Then remembered there was one more thing he had to do before he finished up his see-you-laters. "Now, uh, I need you to look away for a bit. I gotta... I gotta bleed before I go."

Hopefully they had spare containers, and hopefully his blood didn't have an expiration date.