[quote][h3][color=tomato]O[/color]ros the Mad says...[/h3] [i][color=tomato]Sup bastards! Since there’s a non zero percent chance espers are going to sling spells during this adventure, let’s pivot from the frying pan wielding nun murderer to the spider furry. Are spider girls considered furries? Are they closer to scalies because of the exoskeleton? I’ll have to ask Rika when I corner her. I feel like insect bros would want their own cringe group for themselves. Try to stay awake this time, Finn![/color][/i][/quote] [center][h1]1 Week Ago…[/h1][/center] [center] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019da7cc-5ed7-72bb-9463-d2dfe74dbd05.webp[/img] [color=a470fa]"They’re great."[/color] [color=888888]— Iris Silk[/color] [hider=Iris] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5656223]Iris Silk[/url] Max MP: 60 Current MP: 60 Casting: A lot Gear: Goggles (Inactive) Food (6) Grenade (6) Smoke Bomb (6) Leveraging: A little [/hider][/center] The bottom floor of the Golden Trove was alit with activity. Espers along with Maverick Alternative’s various monsters were going up against the weretiger mafia. The main lobby didn’t offer a lot of cover. Towards the back of the room was the clerk’s desk, and to the front was a golden koi statue. The walls to either side were lined with pillars, but gunfire and spell slinging had destroyed most of them. While the Hand’s most important members were hiding on the upper floors, Big Tony had come all the way down to the bottom floor to meet the entrance team personally. He was no less important than Dragon Fruit or Book Man, but he wasn’t one for hiding. Due to this, most of the fighting was taking place in little side areas, or they took cover behind pillars to progress. Only Billy and Tony dared to remain in the center of the lobby. The barechested titans were slugging it out while the lobby exploded around them. Maverick Alternative knew they were only here to draw attention away from the upper floors, but Big Tony was a known member of the hand and the leader of the weretiger mafia. If they could take him out, it would further disorganize the Hand and make the city that much safer. The Mavericks might have been on the side of monsters, but even they knew when their kind pushed too far. Iris hid behind a pillar with Trixy. While she found the woman’s personality grating at times, there were few people she trusted to support her with covering fire. At a glance, a nymphomaniac with a rocket launcher bigger than her daddy issues was probably the last person you wanted watching your back. But despite her instrument’s lack of finesse, Iris had yet to see Trixy ever hit one of her allies. [color=ccbfff]"Right!"[/color] Trixy turned to Iris. [color=ccbfff]"The sniper retreated upstairs, so our position should be open now. If you get in there, maybe you can help Billy take on that cereal mascot."[/color] While Iris was listening to Trixy, her eyes were scanning for threats. Sure enough, a weretiger with a tommygun had taken interest in their position. She pulled Trixy close and hid behind the disintegrating pillar. [color=ccbfff]"Oh uh, weird time for a hug Iri-"[/color] The bullets ripped through what was left of the pillar and started pelting Trixy’s back, and bruised her skin. [color=ccbfff]"Ow-wow-wow-wow-wow!"[/color] [quote][h3][color=tomato]O[/color]ros the Mad talks about Monsters and Travelers....[/h3] [i][color=tomato]If a well made frying pan is all it takes to cave in an esper’s skull, how can trixy act like a human shield against a tommy gun? If your answer was anything like ‘She must have a special ability that protects her’ or anything dumb like that, you’d be 100% certifiably wrong. It’s because the tommygun was doing chaos damage, which espers are extremely resistant to. Monsters are incapable of dealing physical damage normally. Their chaotic energies warp anything they touch, causing them to break with ease or become entwined with their own energies. Most monsters usually forgo using this world’s weapons because they can do so much more damage without them. They usually have enhanced capabilities far greater than an esper to do what damage they can, and chaos damage from firearms tends to be weak by comparison. If chaos damage guns do so little damage to espers, then why use an esper as a human shield? Well, Iris isn’t an esper. She’s something we here in the business call ‘a traveler.’ Travelers as a term doesn’t really exist in this world, monsters are just monsters regardless of where they came from. It's just a meta name for monsters that are in line with esper Patron Champions. They don’t truly have glamors as they don’t have grimoires, but for generation purposes they have all the same attributes and shit. They have a few differences between their esper counterparts, but the two biggest are their resistances and the damage types they have access to. As mentioned before, Monsters and travelers have any physical damage they deal converted to chaos damage. This includes damage from gear they may be carrying around, like shit granted from a P.R.. The second important difference is their resistances. It’s assumed that monsters are tougher than humans on average, but they take greatly reduced physical damage (to the point where most physical attacks won’t do anything), normal chaos damage (Still reduced when compared to a normal human, but more than an esper would take), and arcane damage is even more effective on them. If it was a regular human shooting at them, Iris would take way less damage from the attack and would be better suited to act as a shield for Trixy. [/color][/i][/quote] Iris, while still holding on to Trixy, dropped to one knee before falling onto her back. The stream of bullets continued to fly overhead, narrowly missing the legs she had curled around Trixy. [color=a470fa]"He’s still shooting."[/color] [color=ccbfff]"Ya think!?"[/color] Trixy rolled off of the spider woman, causing her legs to unfold. [color=ccbfff]"We’re not doing anything over here."[/color] [color=a470fa]"Hmph."[/color] Iris opened her hand, and a thick black strand started to form in her palm. [color=a470fa]"We need to reposition. Follow my lead and he shouldn’t see you."[/color] And with that, Iris became transparent. She dropped one end of the black web on the ground and started to speed crawl. Once she was out from behind the pillar, she stood into a crouching sprint and made her way to the next pillar. [hider=Umbral Web] [Self] 0 + [Trail G (lays 2 foot wide zone wherever she walks)] 0 + [Obfuscate B (Invisible/Silent outside of 45 foot range)] 4 = 4 Mana [/hider] [color=ccbfff]"Ohhhhh!"[/color] Trixy followed after her and kept her rocket launcher slung over her shoulder. [color=ccbfff]"Nice melody. I didn’t know you could do that."[/color] Iris raised an eyebrow. [color=a470fa]"Melody?"[/color] [color=ccbfff]"Yea, it’s, uh…"[/color] Trixy scratched her head. [color=ccbfff]"I forgot you were a monster for a second, heh! What do you call that magic that you just used?"[/color] [color=a470fa]"Is now the time to be asking that?"[/color] Iris sighed after she responded. After using Trixy to protect herself, the least she could do was answer her question. It wasn’t like anyone would hear them between her magic hiding their presence or all the gunfire. [color=a470fa]"It’s orbweaver’s magic, specifically umbral web. It allows us to travel undetected."[/color] [color=ccbfff]"Neat!"[/color] [quote][h3][color=tomato]O[/color]ros the Mad talks about Magic....[/h3] [i][color=tomato]Travelers have magic, but it ain’t the same thing as an esper’s melodies. They just use the same system for balance reasons. Many monsters have magical abilities that can’t be easily broken down into notes, so be ready for that. Outside of ‘in story’ lore and shit, travelers use the same casting system. Come to think of it, it’s pretty hard to tell the difference between espers and travelers, given a lot of them are humanoids with similar abilities. Though monster detection abilities will reveal a traveler for what they really are. That aside, let’s actually talk about magic now. I’m not gunna dig too deep into the individual formula of every melody (or spell, technically) because I feel they’re pretty well explained in the formula itself. I also choose to believe an ape brain like yourself knows the very basics, like that you start with a cast note and then add other notes to get the desired effect. All notes need to be unique and you can’t include a note more than once in your melody or spell. What might be a little less clear is how we get the grades of the individual notes. Effects scale with POTENCY, and mods scale with EFFICIENCY. It’s also made a little more complicated because while mastered notes can be cast at the grade of an esper’s/traveler’s attributes, proficient notes are cast below it, and basic are two below. Iris has B POTENCY and E EFFICIENCY. Since [Obfuscate] is mastered, it gets cast at B. Trail is basic, so it’s cast two grades below Iris’s EFFICIENCY, making it G grade. Oh, and just an idea, if you hate navigating the DoCS to find your notes, you could try making a spell book or something. Maybe write the ones you know down somewhere for you to easily reference later. You could even stash them on your CS if you’re feeling particularly conservative.[/color][/i][/quote] Iris only had a few seconds left on her spell when she rounded another pillar. [color=a470fa]"Give me cover from here."[/color] Technically Trixy outranked her, but Maverick Alternative was more fast and loose with its leadership structure than GEMINI. A respected individual was one with a high rank, but respect didn’t equate to a mind for strategy. Trixy was far better at rehabilitating monsters and minding her own powers than strategy deploying others in a high risk situation like this. This seemed to be something she understood, as she wordlessly remained behind the pillar. As the last of the umbral strand left Iris’s hand, she charged across the room. Should the weretiger gunner notice her before she could get to him, she knew she could dive behind the golden koi statue. [center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019dc726-cd27-729f-b2f8-6bc2d2b6bcbc.webp[/img][/center] [quote][h3][color=tomato]O[/color]ros the Mad talks about Maps....[/h3] [i][color=tomato]A picture’s worth a thousand words, yo. Some of you have likely wondered how the heck you’re supposed to keep track of a battle that has more than a few espers in it. For particularly outrageous battles, that’s usually when the maps get busted out. It’s a bit overkill for a scene like this. But you can see how it works. There are portraits of all the characters in their current positions. This is usually set up in an editable DoC where the patrons can freely adjust the placement of their espers to better indicate what’s going on between Grand Magistrate P.O.S.T.s. But this isn’t an excuse to get lazy. These maps are rarely one to one with the described scene. The koi statue was described as sitting across from the clerk’s desk near the entrance to the hotel, but in this image you can see it’s more in the middle with an unidentified object where the koi statue is supposed to be. Other observations would be the clearly japanese/cyberpunk accents for this hotel despite it supposedly being chinese in theme. This ain’t a commissioned piece, and is just a tool to help you make sense of what’s being written. Don’t take the map itself as gospel, but you can approximate everyone’s distance from each other or their general area.[/color][/i][/quote] Iris kept running. The koi statue passed her by, and it seemed like she might get to the weretiger before he realized what was going on. He must have thought he had killed the girls, because he was shifting his attention to the fight between Billy and Big Tony. He changed the drum shaped magazine on his Tommy before he noticed the approaching yokai. It only took him a moment to pivot his gun towards Iris and fire. She did her best to deflect the rounds. Espers and monsters were capable of great feats of agility, but she couldn’t deflect all the bullets. A few rounds managed to enter her torso, enough to crack one of her ribs, and she stumbled to cover in front of the pillar. She placed a hand on her stomach. No time to worry about the pain now. She knew he was going to try and fire at her again, and she needed to be ready. Her nerves rose up to her throat, but she refused to scream. She could see the barrel of the tommygun peak around the corner, but it pulled back when the weretiger roared. He wasn’t roaring at her though, he was roaring at the nutty girl on the other side of the lobby. Her rocket launcher was pointed right at him, and a pillar of annihilation flew out the end of it. The beam looked red at the edges, but the middle was white and left afterglows in all of Iris’s eyes. When it made contact with the weretiger, Iris threw her arm in front of her eyes to avoid getting blinded. [hider=Homesick Angel] [Beam] 1 + [Powerful (Sacrificing speed for total overkill)] 1 + [AoE H (6 foot radius explosion)] 2 + [If Foe (won’t affect Iris)] 1 + [Damage X SSS (this is gunna hurt!)] 6 + [Push SSS (70 foot push distance)] 2 = 13 Mana [/hider] It was total overkill. The weretiger was vaporized on the spot, and even his weapon melted into a metallic mist. Miraculously, nothing else was damaged. When Iris lowered her arm, she could see that the pillar and her had been unharmed by the blast. She let go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding and scrambled behind the cylinder. Once she confirmed there were no nearby hostile targets, she looked back across the lobby at Trixy. She was grinning back at the yokai, and gave her a thumbs up. Wearily, Iris returned the gesture before ducking back into cover. [quote][h3][color=tomato]O[/color]ros the Mad talks about complex melodies....[/h3] [i][color=tomato]When making more complex melodies, it can be really important to put notes in the right order so that the Grand Magistrate understands what sort of harebrained plan you’re trying to hatch. If those notes were arranged in a slightly different order, Iris could have been vaporized along with the werechump. It’s always good to start with the cast type, followed by any enhancements. Since almost all notes are influenced by POTENCY or EFFICIENCY, it makes sense to put notes like [Powerful] or [Quicken] first. This melody is extra complex because it has effects that we only want to activate when they hit an opponent, so any effects that we want to work no matter what need to come before that. As an example, if we accidentally hit Iris with our shot, we still want [AoE] to go off so that it can catch any potential targets. So you’d place that before [If Foe] so that it activates. Then everything after that is going to pretty much activate at the same time. [Damage X] and [Push] can be placed in any order you like since they all activate instantly. There just wasn’t anything to push. Oh, and a reminder that all smart notes are usable by everyone, as they don’t need to be in an esper’s lists to access. That includes conditions and logic gates. Multicast technically falls under the smart note umbrella but it does require higher EFFICIENCY to use those notes. [/color][/i][/quote] Iris was wounded, but there was no time to heal herself. Not when Billy was still engaged in a fight with Big Tony. Actually, he looked like he could use some treatment too. Billy was strong, but the immortal big cat seemed to recover from any wound that was inflicted on him. Her mana weaved itself into a chromatic web that wrapped itself around her blade. Lights shining the full spectrum of the rainbow walked across her face as she steeled herself. With the big cat distracted, she pointed her odachi at the feline’s back, and the glowing web shot forward and slung itself into a multicolored ball of spider silk. As if tethered to the ball by an invisible string, Iris soared after it. She was moving too fast to be stopped. The ball of web exploded when it struck Tony’s back. Blue threads coiled around his magical enchantments and shattered them. Red threads eroded his flesh like acid. Yellow threads coiled around his wrists and pinned them to his sides. Green threads stuck to Iris and Billy, and the purple and orange spiders that lingered on them crept into their wounds and went to work mending them. As this all happened, Iris’s momentum carried her blade forward and she stabbed Tony through the back. [hider=Spider Jump + Strings of Fate] [Self] 0 + [Pull B (50 foot pull towards Big Tony)] 2 + [Backfeed (Early notes part of separate melody on self)] 1 + [Dynamo G (Melody after Backfeed is a projectile that orbits blade for 2 rounds)] 0 + [Powerful (POTENCY to A, EFFICIENCY to F)] 1 + [AoE H (6 foot radius explosion)] 2 + [If Foe (Big Tony)] 1 + [Damage X A (Not too shabby)] 6 + [Dispel A (break possible enchantments)] 6 + [Restrain A (Attempt to bind Tony’s arms to his sides)] 4 + [Else (Iris, Billy, targets that aren’t Tony)] 1 + [Heal A (Heal a major wound in 6 seconds)] 6 = 30 Mana [/hider] [quote][h3][color=tomato]O[/color]ros the Mad talks more about complex melodies....[/h3] [i][color=tomato]Calm the fuck down, Iris. That was half of your mana. Firstly, yes, the notation suggests that Iris is using a melody, but that’s just because most of the patrons have espers blah blah blah. The only thing I want to draw attention to is that you can have multiple condition notes. A pretty common setup is a spell like this where you want half of it to affect bad guys and the other to affect good guys. Notes between two condition notes are only concerned with the first one, unless a logic gate is involved. Though situations where logic gates are necessary are pretty niche. Dynamo might feel kinda random in this melody, but it’s there to get the timing right rather than sell the visuals of the spell. Without it, Iris’s entire spell would go off before she was pulled to Tony’s position. Now it goes off the moment she buries her sword hilt deep in the fuzzy bastard’s back. I bet Tony didn’t think that was great, huh? [/color][/i][/quote] Tony was not like most intelligent monsters. He was less an enemy combatant and more a force of nature. Destruction was all he knew. Even the ability to speak was something he had never learned how to do. Surrender wasn’t something he was unwilling to do, it was something he didn’t understand. So he struggled against his bonds, and they gradually began to break. But neither Billy nor Iris planned to let him get free. Billy used his mechromancy to create an axle out of thin air, and proceeded to use it as a club on the feline’s head. Iris never stopped cutting. She twisted the blade before pulling it out of Tony’s back, only to begin hacking away at his shoulders. His body still tried to heal the wounds, even as they inflicted more. But it couldn’t keep up. Until his last breath, the only thing Tony did was howl in rage. Iris’s blade eventually cut through his neck, and his head tumbled across the floor. His ever regenerating body stopped mending itself, and his torso collapsed to the side. There was fighting elsewhere in the Golden Trove, but the Lobby was quiet at last. [color=d3d3d3]"I say, I say, I think he’s finally kicked the bucket!"[/color] Billy kicked the massive weretiger’s corpse just to be sure. [color=d3d3d3]"I say he kicked the bucket real good!"[/color] Iris didn’t have the stamina to be so celebratory, especially with more hostels on the way. She nearly fell over, and needed her additional legs to support her. [color=a470fa]"We can’t rest yet."[/color] [color=d3d3d3]"Ya gotta relish the little things, Iris! And ya gotta relish the big things too!"[/color] He slapped her back, which didn’t help her balance. [color=d3d3d3]"Ya did fine, girl. I say ya did damn fine! Morale is gunna be sky high thanks to you."[/color] [color=a470fa]"We did it together, Billy."[/color] She leaned up against a pillar. [color=a470fa]"I couldn’t have beaten him myself."[/color] [color=d3d3d3]"Ya ain’t gotta be so modest! It’s fine to think you’re hot stuff every once in a while!"[/color] Billy placed his hands on his hips and turned to look at the stairway leading to the next floor. [color=d3d3d3]"I’m tellin’ everyone that ya killed him. Ain’t gunna change my mind either, and doncha dare try to tell anybody else otherwise."[/color] [color=a470fa]"Mmmph…"[/color] Iris watched Billy disappear up the stairs. That guy was in an entirely different league than her. Though she’d be lying if she said it didn’t feel good to have her abilities acknowledged like that. The corners of her lips curled into a smile. They had secured the area, so maybe it wouldn’t hurt to rest for a moment and catch her breath. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she prepared herself for the next round of fights. She hadn’t fallen asleep, and by her recollection, she couldn’t have been meditating for more than a few minutes before she heard Trixy whispering in her ear. [color=ccbfff]"Heyyyyyyy cuuuuutie!"[/color] She followed it up with a giggle. Iris sighed, opened her eyes, and turned her head. Her vision was filled with Trixy’s toothy grin. [color=a470fa]"I was meditating."[/color] She understood calling Trixy desperate was an understatement, but she had told Trixy previously to mind her personal space. Though after thinking about it, she thought she understood what might have caused her to behave this way. [color=a470fa]"I was not trying to be affectionate when I hugged you earlier. I knew that you would hold up better to the gunfire than I would. But if you’d like me to heal you, I can do that."[/color] [color=ccbfff]"Oh, I know all that. And thanks for the offer, but I feel fine. However, you’ve gotta answer a question for me!"[/color] Iris sighed. [color=a470fa]"Okay."[/color] [color=ccbfff]"Well, if you don’t want me oogling you and calling you cutie, then why did you change into a swimsuit for me?"[/color] [color=a470fa]"I what?"[/color] But no matter how long Iris stared at Trixy’s grin, it didn’t stop her eyes from wandering all over her. Her own eyes rolled down to the front of her body and she could see that her outfit had changed quite a bit. She pushed herself away from the pillar and ran her hands and legs all over herself. [color=a470fa]"What did you do!?"[/color] [color=ccbfff]"What makes you think I had anything to do with this?"[/color] She giggled. [color=a470fa]"You!"[/color] The words caught in Iris’s throat as she pointed at Trixy. [color=a470fa]"Because you’re also in a swimsuit! And your cannon is a giant squirt gun!"[/color] [color=ccbfff]"Wha?!"[/color] Trixy looked at herself, and there was genuine surprise painted on her face. [color=ccbfff]"Wow! I had no idea! I guess I got tunnel vision when I spotted you."[/color] [color=d3d3d3]"Um, fellas?"[/color] Both girls looked back to the staircase. The giant ten foot tall mechromancer was wearing nothing but his mask and a mankini. [color=d3d3d3]"I think we’ve just been put on an indefinite ceasefire."[/color] [quote][h3][color=tomato]O[/color]ros the Mad talks more about Finn....[/h3] [i][color=tomato]The bastard fell asleep again!? That’s it, I’m done! No more tutorials for you bastards! I’m done![/color][/i][/quote] [center][h1]Today…[/h1][/center] [center] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019da7cc-03c2-70ee-8932-299507f09069.webp[/img] [color=ff6347]"You know nothing, Ashley Avenir."[/color] [color=888888]— Mika Fang, Cerberus[/color] [hider=Mika] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5656223]Mika Fang[/url] Max MP: 30 Current MP: 30 Casting: N/A Gear: Clip Light (3) Taser (3 shots) Handcuffs (3) Flash Bang (3) Leveraging: N/A [/hider][/center] [sup][@Ponn][/sup] [color=ff6347]"I guess…"[/color] Mika stepped away from the mirror. [color=ff6347]"He’s annoying. I wanna punch him in the nose, and I don’t care if he’s spying on us right now."[/color] She was speaking a bit louder, almost like she hoped the shark man could hear her. [color=ff6347]"Whatever, let’s get out of here."[/color] Mika and Ashley had never been especially close. Though prior to the siege on the Golden Trove she had become a lot more agreeable to Ashley. Prior to very recently, the girl would always be quick to point out her leader’s shortcomings, but that was not happening anymore. It was more than just being cut off from the rest of GEMINI. The good doctor was still her favorite person (if Mika could like people enough to have a favorite) but it was starting to seem like Ashley had finally gotten Mika’s respect. They left their room and headed towards their destination. [hr] [center] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019da7cc-5ed7-72bb-9463-d2dfe74dbd05.webp[/img] [color=a470fa]"Not the babysitting gig I was expecting."[/color] [color=888888]— Iris Silk[/color] [hider=Iris] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5656223]Iris Silk[/url] Max MP: 60 Current MP: 60 Casting: N/A Gear: Goggles (Inactive) Food (6) Grenade (6) Smoke Bomb (6) Leveraging: N/A [/hider][/center] [sup][@Emeth][@Nakushita][@Ariamis][/sup] Iris’s situation was weird. She didn’t consider herself a senior member of Maverick Alternative, but she might as well have been with so many brand new faces. There hadn’t been any time to integrate everyone in when all the true senior members were here. It shouldn’t have been a problem, but… [color=a470fa]"Boss?"[/color] Iris was amused with the moniker, even if she didn’t show it outwardly. Nina made a lot of strange noises that she didn’t understand, but she did understand what a thumbs up meant. So long as that was approval, they could work through anything else. Whatever the girl was thinking inwardly, that was none of Iris’s concern. Scypho was very much a girl locked in her own head. She hadn’t said much since joining, and Iris got the impression she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be here. When she finally spoke, it was to comment on what the shark man might have done with everyone. [color=a470fa]"Well, I’m a spider woman, and I haven’t dissolved and devoured anything yet."[/color] It was hard not to be a little offended at Scypho’s statement, but Iris chose not to start the morning with a debate about yokai and the creatures they borrowed their powers from. [color=a470fa]"If Dan was going to eat us, he wouldn’t have to go through this much trouble to do so, I think."[/color] That was probably a diplomatic place to leave things. Nukkelina was even more detached from everything, a puppet without its strings or a girl without her heart. But even without apparent emotions it seemed she opposed the idea of rushing in. Not that anyone voiced they were for that. [color=a470fa]"Did I give the impression that I was going to treat him poorly? I had planned to be civil and- Did you say charm?"[/color] It was hard to hear the word charm and not think of Trixy. She was friendly enough, but tended to go overboard with that friendliness. The idea that Dan might be the same way caused Iris’s head to sink between her shoulders. [color=a470fa]"I think playing with his emotions like that would be more dangerous than simply asking him directly. Depending on how he responds, we can change our approach."[/color] They’d have time to think about it further before they got there. [hr] [center] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019da7cc-b13f-7278-88b4-6ed3cffd3f54.webp[/img] [color=ff7f50]"Can’t a girl say she’s fun without it coming across as flirting?"[/color] [color=888888]— Bionca Herrmann, Knight of Tonight[/color] [hider=Bionca] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5656223]Bionca Herrmann[/url] Max MP: 30 Current MP: 30 Casting: N/A Gear: Goggles (Inactive) Kunai (5) Frying Pan (5/5 Durability) Food (5) Disguises (Inactive) Medical supplies (5) Smoke Bomb (5) Leveraging: N/A [/hider] [/center] [sup][@Yankee][@Majoraa][/sup] Bionca’s shoulders squared up as soon as Jack wrapped her arm around her. [color=ff7f50]"Hah! Yea, the disappearances are a little mysterious, but I don’t think I’d worry too much about it. It’s like uh…"[/color] She squinted her eyes. [color=ff7f50]"Jack here says, nothing bad can happen to us. Trust me, if someone’s going to go missing on a beach vacation because they did something stupid, it woulda happened to me on day one!"[/color] She had heard Jack’s name in passing a few days ago. Bionca worked in the public long enough to develop a pretty good encyclopedia for names and faces. She still remembered all of the regulars at her waitress job when she was a teenager. [color=ff7f50]"I came here for business too, but I don’t think people are doing much business right now. We should be having fun instead!"[/color] She reached for Alice’s waist and pulled her close. The three of them were standing shoulder to shoulder. [color=ff7f50]"Let’s try to get our steps in sync so that we don’t break our butts going down the stairs. Adeup! Adeup! Adeup, tup,trip, four-adeup…!"[/color] [quote][h3][color=gold]J[/color]ack senses something from beyond the veil....[/h3] [i]Something smells vaguely familiar and… Earthy. Though the further you walk, the less noticeable it is. Once you get outside, you can only smell the salty breeze of the sea.[/i][/quote] [quote][h3][color=8c5673]A[/color]lice hears the chattering of the lonely lunatic....[/h3] [i]You’re being watched.[/i] [i][/i][/quote] [quote][h3][color=tomato]O[/color]ros the Mad breaks her vow to talk about watcher messages....[/h3] [i][color=tomato]Okay so maybe one more tutorial! Any time a specific character learns about something, it might appear in a stylized box like this or the two above. This is true for info granted by your P.R. but sometimes watchers can impart information to you too. What’s extra cool is that it’s not clear what you’re going to get from them or why, though there are a few extremely vague hints or shit if you care about that kind of stuff. Now I’m really done so you guys and the sleepy plague doctor robot can go screw yourselves![/color][/i][/quote] [hr] [center] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019da7cd-0b25-72f8-8bb0-a15515b74f73.webp[/img] [color=77bb99]"Katy Perry has some deep lore in California."[/color] [color=888888]— Book Kidd[/color] [hider=Kidd] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5656223]Book Kidd[/url] Max MP: 50 Current MP: 50 Casting: N/A Gear: Clip Light (6) Disguise (6) Gift (6 Probiotic Supplements) Grenade (6) Molotov (6) Smoke Bomb (6) Handcuffs (6) Leveraging: N/A [/hider][/center] [sup][@Chevaleresse][@The World][/sup] [color=77bb99]"Californian? Like from California?"[/color] Kidd rubbed the back of his head. [color=77bb99]"Well, sorry about that. You just kinda looked like an oriental. Is that a bad word, oriental? I didn’t mean anything by it. B-but Californians are cool too. I mean, you’re probably blond in human form and really good at surfing, so you’re probably set up for these strange times, even with the gas tax being as high as it is. Do you own an EV?"[/color] Kidd got so wrapped up in his own ramblings that he seemed to miss Rika’s suggestion. For better or worse, Marrie interjected with her own suggestion, which was more or less an attempt to appease Kidd and get everyone moving to Caesar Beach. [color=77bb99]"Maybe, but I don’t think so. He turned them this color. It happened when I-"[/color] [quote][h3][color=77bb99]K[/color]idd can feel the rust moving through his veins....[/h3] [i]You are aware of the interlopers.[/i][/quote] … Kidd’s mouth slowly closed. [color=77bb99]"Alright, I’ll uh, I guess I gotta calm down a little bit."[/color] He nodded and pursed his lips. [color=77bb99]"Let’s get going, I know a shortcut."[/color] [hr] [center] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019da7cb-a89b-72d1-9319-2f3dab5a65a1.webp[/img] [color=a4f4f9]"It’s shark week again!"[/color] [color=888888]— Dan Daggernose[/color][/center] Dan waited patiently at Caesar Beach. He was standing on top of a picnic table with his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out. For an anthropomorphic shark man, he was pretty ripped [url=https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019dcae9-551e-764b-999b-fa0e90250d13.webp][s]for an AI monstrosity[/s][/url]. He remained like that as if he was a statue, and his stomach didn’t even move, which might suggest he wasn’t breathing. The first group to arrive were the Mavericks. They had all gathered in the lobby before departing. The next to arrive were the freelancers accompanying Bionca. They were only a few seconds behind them, and managed to get down the stairs without tripping once. The third group to arrive were the two GEMINI agents. They had only been a few seconds behind, and had more or less been trailing after the group of freelancers since they departed the Golden Trove. Despite being the closest to the beach, the last group to arrive were the freelancers accompanying Kidd. But despite that, they had also only lagged behind the GEMINI agents by a few seconds. It was almost as if everyone had been carefully told to come to the beach with their travel speed taken into account. [color=a4f4f9]"Hi guys!"[/color] Dan waved to the group as he stepped off the picnic table. Dan was far taller than a normal man, and was able to take the step as if he was stepping off of a footstool. [color=a4f4f9]"I’ve got all kinds of fun activities planned for you today! For starters, we have… Volleyball!"[/color] Dan pointed down the beach, and there were several nets set up. Each net had its own volleyball resting next to it, waiting to be kicked. [color=a4f4f9]"And we’ve also got… Beach ball!"[/color] Dan pointed in the other direction, and there was a giant plastic crate filled with more beach balls than anyone would ever need. In fact, the sea winds had blown some of the top most beach balls out of the crate, but by luck or magical forces, they never rolled off of the beach entirely. Even the ones that inevitably rolled into the sea were thrown back on a subsequent wave. [color=a4f4f9]"And…Sand…Castle…Buckets!"[/color] Dan pointed at the sky, and a far smaller crate filled with buckets and plastic trowels fell in front of him. [color=a4f4f9]"But if your walk here was enough of a morning workout for you, there’s plenty to eat for breakfast!"[/color] The table he had just stepped away from suddenly filled up with plates of food. Grilled fish with a crunch char, Fruits and vegetables that were almost too vibrant to be real, and there were more tropical versions of existing food, like stacked pancakes topped with tropical fruits and whipped cream, and even more classical things, like an egg and cheese sandwich on a crispy croissant. Mika wandered over to the picnic table. Her eyes scanned everything, but she wasn’t going to eat anything. She never did, but it was evident she was tempted by it. She looked back over her shoulder at Ashley before looking back at the food. This wasn’t the first time Dan had put out a feast like this, and somehow he always managed to put out different items that look equally tasty. Iris was less phased by the spectacle, and promptly headed towards Dam. [color=a470fa]"Is this everyone that’s left?"[/color] The smile ran from Dan’s face. [color=a4f4f9]"Ah, I think there’s a few people out there that are arriving late."[/color] [color=a470fa]"But the people who are arriving, there’s less and less of them every day."[/color] Dan hung his head. [color=a4f4f9]"Well uh, I guess not everyone likes the event? I’m kind of getting bummed out honestly…"[/color] Iris folded her arms. [color=a470fa]"It’s impossible to leave here, so where is everyone going?"[/color] [color=a4f4f9]"How should I know?"[/color] [color=a470fa]"Isn’t all of this your doing? The beach vacation?"[/color] [color=a4f4f9]"Yea! And it’s a little hard to keep track of everything!"[/color] Dan threw up his hands. [color=a4f4f9]"You know there are still cultists trying to perform sacrifices on people? I have to personally show up and punish them!"[/color] Iris could sense Dan’s frustration, and remembered what Nukkelina told her earlier. [color=a470fa]"We are capable of dealing with cultists, Dan. If you need help-"[/color] Kidd immediately placed himself between Iris and Dan. [color=77bb99]"First of all, sir, there’s been a huge mistake!"[/color] He bit his lower lip. [color=77bb99]"The ritual involving that virgin woman was never going to come to fruition. You see, I was actually going to cut her bindings, so you kind of jumped the gun when you gave all of us ugly swimwear."[/color] Dan shrugged. [color=a4f4f9]"I don’t believe you."[/color] [color=77bb99]"Please, you need to change me back!"[/color] His sobbing was cut short when a beach ball bounced off the side of his head. Meanwhile, Bionca had positioned herself at the top of the crate filled with all the beach balls. She was covered up to her waist in them, and was chucking them at the other espers and monsters. [color=ff7f50]"Mwa-hwa-hwa! Beware my beachy fury!"[/color] She chucked another beach ball, but this time it was aimed at Rika’s head. Dan, like a distracted child, found his gaze drifting towards Bionca. He chuckled to himself as he watched the spectacle play out.