[center][h3][color=silver]The[/color] [color=0076a3]Would[/color]-[color=f26522]Be...[/color] [color=8dc73f]Helpers?[/color][/h3] [hider=Let's Keep Things Simple] [center] Kain: Untransformed: 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 Transformed: 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 25 Spec, Power: Metal | Killing Blow Perks: Healing Artifact | Gifted | Male | Familiar | Closure Benefits: Chatty | Well Connected | Mystical Might | Physical Prowess Drawbacks: Expendable | Cagey | Hostile Familiar: [url=https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/18b0b2b5-d892-4eac-b84f-4f48555a1898.png]Morrigan[/url], The Raven [/center] [center] Shion: Untransformed: 4 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 7 Transformed: 6 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 9 Spec, Power: Oddball - Magnetism | Duplication Perks: Enhanced Weapon | Martial Training | Money | Environmental Sealing | Fated Benefits: [s]Black Coin(?)[/s] | [s]Non-Exclusivity(?)[/s] | Chatty | Concerned | Mana Font Drawbacks: [s]Debt(?)[/s] | [s]Betrayal(?)[/s] | Isolated | Distracted[/center] [center] Makoto: Untransformed: 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 Transformed: 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 8 Spec, Power: Time, Gravity | Killing Blow Perks: Martial Training | Enhanced Transformation | Awareness | Big Damn Hero | Healing Artifact | Flexibility | Gifted | Enhanced Sustenance | Eternal Style Monstrous Form: Devourer, Nonstandard Limbs, Second Specialization, Redirected Magic Monstrous Perks: Prehensile Tail, Bestial, Lure, True Sight, Void Touched Benefits: Focused | Subtle | Hidden Death | Magical Overload Drawbacks: Alien Mind | Formless | Empty Pockets | Monstrous Form | Rival Force[/center] [center] Summer: Untransformed: 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 Transformed: 4 | 4 | 21 | 11 | 7 Spec, Power: Oddball - Fourth Wall | Regeneration Perks: Hammerspace Handbag | Sorcery: Divination | Inter-dimensional Home | Overcity Shift | Training: Programming | Fake Parents Benefits: Perfect Life | Spark | Physical Prowess Drawbacks: Vow: Generosity | Excommunication[/center] [/hider][/center] Summer blinked. [color=8dc73f]"Why do I have the feeling something terrible just happened. No, no, this is [i]worse[/i] than terrible, there isn't a word for how bad this feels. It's like I missed something integral to my survival by forgetting it under the couch. Or like the feeling of remembering something embarrassing you did when you were younger but times one-thousand. What the hell just happened?"[/color] [color=silver]"What do you mean? What-"[/color] [color=8dc73f]"I swear, if you ask me 'what happened' after I [i]just[/i] said that I don't know what happened, I'll slit your throat."[/color] [color=silver]"... Fair enough."[/color] [color=0076a3]"Hey, that 'A's in every stat' girl is getting hurt pretty bad. That's... reassuring, right?"[/color] Everyone turned to look at their resident "explain things to us like we're idiots" girl, and then to their other when they realized that Summer had stopped paying attention and was looking at her phone. But when they went to speak up... [color=f26522]"Aria, do you have any id-"[/color] [color=8dc73f]"Hey, [i]hey,[/i] [i][b]hey[/b][/i]."[/color] Summer began, breaking out a new gravitas in her voice she'd not used in present company. [color=8dc73f]"Shut up."[/color] She began holding her phone to her ear, though no sound seemed to come from it. It took a while, but finally she set it down, and sat down on the floor with her legs crossed and head in her hands. [color=8dc73f]"Damnit..."[/color] Tay, being the only one there with no subtlety or class, was the one to break the silence. "Alright, what happened?" After several long seconds, and with a deep sigh, Summer finally said what she'd been thinking. [color=8dc73f]"I thought, when I first heard Shion's story, that bringing her brother back was a good idea. 'Kicked out of the cycle of reincarnation, bring him back and on top of it, end the situation with Patrons,' I was told was the plan. And I guess it [i]was[/i] the plan, even. So I gave her my ruby coin and the best hopes I could give her that she would succeed. But I ended up actually [i]joining[/i] this little group because I thought it could end the cycle of F̵̫̱̏͗*̶͖̪̀@̸͈͔̒^̶̳͎̆͝!̸͔̙̐$̷̦̯͠#̶̦͇̔ that we're stuck in."[/color] The others grimaced at the strange sound she somehow made. [color=8dc73f]"Then I find out that we're not strong enough to do that without the ̸̫͖̿w̵̳̆*̷̰̇̈^̸̝̤̏̃0̶̘͍̿̕(̶̧͌$̸̣̅̕' help, regardless of all the time, planning, and resources that went into it. Because we didn't have that one thing, not only could we barely do what Shion personally wanted, but we couldn't do what Makoto and Shiki wanted, and we absolutely couldn't bring out what I wanted. And now, only [i]now[/i], after failing at that, do I find out that I'm not even really that irregular. That my curse isn't unique, which it's appalling that others have to go through this garbage, but that there are those trying to obtain it, too. Why would people [i]want[/i] this? I-..."[/color] She drew in a shuddering breath. [color=8dc73f]"Anyway. The point is that my dream of living without those things is apparently the only thing out of the ordinary, not the knowledge of them. Which doesn't make any sense to me why others aren't even trying to fight, but... It sounds like even if we had done what we set out to do, that I had done what [i]I[/i] set out to do by helping you all, it wouldn't have been enough. I guess 'there's always a bigger fish' is just... true."[/color] [color=0076a3]"Summer, what the hell are you talking about?"[/color] The blue-haired girl shrugged. [color=8dc73f]"Don't worry about it, I guess. Just... You're probably better off not knowing. I'm going to lie down for a bit, wake me up if something happens."[/color] she said, gesturing to the television and jumping onto the bed in the room.